I’m very happy to be back in the hoodie season. It won’t be long before winter coat season becomes complete, but I love my hoodies, man.
- The Chicago Cubs single-handedly destroy the Philadelphia Phillies’ season. I’m exaggerating a bit, but going 0-6 against the Cubs is a blow for a team that’s right there on the edge of the last Wild Card spot. If the Phillies had just SPLIT the season streak with the Cubs, they’d be in second place Wild Card, a half game ahead of the padres.
- It’s still a little mind-boggling that neither the Cubs nor the Phillies have swept in the all-season series in 139 years until yesterday:
- We made jokes about the Cubs winning the NL East this year because they topped those teams, but it wasn’t just a lot of wins – it was their best winning percentage EVER:
- The victory was another of the increasingly common performances of “all-home pitching”, with Javier Assad, Michael Rucker and Keegan Thompson combined on the shutout. Thompson just continues to look dominant in his multi-inning relief outings (although I know he’s had some good starts as well, and I get that he doesn’t want to close that door completely until you’re there obliged), and Assad looked as capable as ever in depth. hall. Funny enough you say Assad might be more likely to continue starting next year, but Thompson is much more likely to contribute hard-hitting innings at big league level next year. I guess we don’t know for sure what Assad would look like as a multi-inning relief guy, but it seems like, for a guy whose greatest asset is a very diverse mix of usable (but not overwhelming) terrain, the depth starter is the right role.
- Rucker, by the way, continues to make the case to keep his 40-player spot this offseason. The 28-year-old right-hander has his ERA for the season at 4.10, around 2% behind the league average (FIP is around 10% behind), but the ERA is only 2 .38 over the past month. Peripherals, however, were only mediocre. You don’t want to just throw in a guy with minor league options left who has shown he can throw proficiently at the big league level, but the crunch is going to be real enough that the Cubs may have to risk it and count. on their ability to produce more Rucker-level pitchers in 2023. If Rucker doesn’t stick, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see him claimed on Waivers almost immediately.
- As for the responsibility of the Cubs in the Wild Card race, no worries for yesterday, at least. With the Cubs winning, the Brewers could have taken possession of that third Wild Card spot, ahead of the Phillies, but they did this instead:
- Now you can go all the way back to June 16 and say the Cubs have had a winning record since then. With the context of the roster, it’s quite impressive! …but, of course, those first two plus months happened, and they torpedoed the season. That can’t happen in 2023, and that surge of second-half performance and optimism MUST continue strongly into the offseason. This group of players, with this group of coaches, just push-push-push every day. They deserve strong additions in the offseason so they can keep pushing in 2023 since the first day.
- I talked about it a bit in the last “Onto Waveland” actually:
- One last record-breaking note for now: if the Cubs can settle for sharing those last six games with the Reds, they’ll avoid 90 losses over the season. I admit it: even last month, I would *NEVER* have thought it was possible. It’s a totally arbitrary line, but there’s something about 73-89 that looks way better than 72-90.
- Looks like we might not see (returning) Justin Steele in these last six games, though. He had successful relievers and could throw one more “intense” reliever before a final evaluation, but the way the quotes read from David Ross, I’d say Steele definitely finished: “What good 2 innings where a guy proved that [he can be a big-league starter]?” Ross said. “I think the main thing is that he works on stuff. The bullpen was intense — just continuing to build on that and getting into the right offseason is important. Come back and start, get out of the bullpen – whatever we would ask him to do with where we are and have enough pitching – it makes sense to me to go ahead and send him on a good note.
- Ross isn’t wrong. I want to see Steele once again as a fan, and I’m sure Steele himself wouldn’t hate one last outing to put a bow on a 2022 breakout, but none of this would fundamentally change anything. that is. Steele has busted and locked himself into a rotational spot for 2023 no matter what happens this offseason. That’s saying a lot.
- The Mets will bring up top prospect Francisco Alvarez today, according to multiple reports, where he’s expected to help primarily as a right-handed bat (i.e. they say he won’t do much catches, if applicable). I think that’s probably true, but in reality, you’re doing it now in case he catches fire against pitchers who’ve never seen him before, and then he continues to rake the playoffs. The 20-year-old was going to be eligible for Rule 5 this offseason anyway, so add him now and see what happens. I respect him.
#Phillies #gotta #hate #Cubs #history #local #throwing #Steele #Cub #balls