Sports
The Packers have fired Mike McCarthy, which given they will not make the playoffs, is in my opinion the remaining best outcome for this season.
I am a long critic of McCarthy. I don’t like how he contributed to running Brett Farve out of town. The team has clearly regressed in the last few years and while there has been a depletion of talent, McCarthy did not adjust well the personnel that was available.
Aaron Rodgers has been playing hurt and there isn’t enough talent on the offense to help pick him up a bit. I expect that if the Packers lose a couple more games to be completely eliminated from the playoffs, Rodgers will go on IR.
The real downside is that all the injuries provide an excuse to keep Mike McCarthy.
Ten years ago I was bemoaning another Cubs playoff loss. Ten yeas later, another Cubs playoff series loss. Of course the big difference is that within those years the Cubs won it all. :)
So, it turns out the 2018 Astros were not any better than the 2017 Cubs.
Nothing is static, particularly baseball. It is not likely your team will be exactly the same, someone is going to get injured. More importantly, the competition is not going to stay the same, they are going to get better.
The gist of the articles currently being written about Aaron Rodgers and the Packers is that the Packers are wasting what time they have left with Aaron. Frankly, I had the same complaints about how the Packer’s treated the second half of Brett Farve’s career.
You have one of the best, if not the best, quarterbacks in the league, but you do not keep him surrounded by good talent. Good receivers, running backs, offensive line, or defense. You put in place a coach who frankly doesn’t appear to have a sense of urgency.
The Packers were very fortunate to have drafted Aaron and that he was better than they most likely thought when he was drafted. Most teams do not replace one hall of fame quarterback with another hall of fame quarterback. It is not likely they will do the same when it comes time for Aaron to step down, and that means that every season that Aaron plays in which you don’t win a Super Bowl could be another year added to many, many years of not winning one.
I disagree a bit with Epstein’s view on the leadoff spot in the Cubs lineup. It clearly has been a problem, but it is also about the 2nd spot. When the Cubs have had success it has been due to the catalyst in the 1 and 2 spots in the lineup.
Theo Epstein on the Cub’s hitters:
It’s probably time to stop evaluating this in terms of talent and start evaluating it in terms of production
Yes, exactly! Looking forward on the conclusions and actions taken as a result of such an evaluation.
Looking back, it occurs to me that my analysis of the Cub’s performance in last year’s playoffs might be applicable to this year too.
The Cubs did make moves to address their bullpen, but the closer the signed, who pitched for the Dodgers last year, is not playing due to injury. The closer’s backup is also not playing due to injury and the result is that all the remaining arms in the pen are doing things unexpected of them.
Overtime Baseball
The Cubs and Brewers are playing game 163 starting at 1 PM EST to determine who wins the NL Central division and who will have the best record in the National League and with it home field advantage through the NL portion of the playoffs.
On paper the game appears to come down to momentum versus experience. The Brewers have won seven straight to finish the season and force this game, while the Cubs have been in the playoffs the last three years and won the world series in 2016.
For me the Cub’s chances to win the game weigh heavily on Quintana’s ability to keep Lorenzo Cain off the bases so that he can pitch around Yelich. Cub’s need to hit and score runs early as the Brewer’s bullpen is superior and this most likely will turn in to a bullpen game early. The Brewer’s bullpen enables them to follow the same formula as the Royals did when they had their playoff runs.
Anxious to see how this turns out. While the Cubs at worse will end up with the second-best record in the NL, they go in to playoffs as the weakest team due to injury and the grind of playing on 40 of 41 days to end the season. In some ways this is a must win just to get a few days off, but I don’t think Maddon will manage in such a manner.
The Packers made an incredible comeback last night because of Aaron Rodgers. The fact that team is so dependent on one player is nearly negligent. Wouldn’t it be prudent to have an experienced backup?
Last night the Cubs played much better and broke out of a hitting slump to beat the Tigers 8 to 2.
I took pictures while at the Cubs/Tigers game last night.
No joy in Wrigleyville; the mighty Cubs could not score more than one run last night. I hope to see more runs by the Cubs tonight. I say put the no guy in the line up.
Is there a Cubs victory at the end of this rainbow?
The Cubs picked up Daniel Murphy in a trade with the Nats. It is an interesting signing of a player who seems to hurt the Cubs whenever he plays them. A bit surprising as a depth sign at Second considering they have Zobrist.
I am heading down to Comerica Park to watch the Cubs and Tigers play.
IPad+Lightening Digital AV adapter+HDMI cable+MLB At Bat app = watching the Cubs on the hotel room TV.
The Cubs lost another game to the Braves. The Braves look for real.
The Cubs put Yu Darvish on the 10-day DL for the flu?!
Watching the Cubs play the Cardinals. So far two calls have been overturned by replay. Replay is showing how bad baseball umpires are, you can almost say something like 25% of all calls made in MLB history before replay were wrong.
Life of a scouting report: How the Cubs have streamlined an age-old process theathletic.com
Might be only significant to a life long Cub fan such as myself, but the statement in the article above about how the Cubs value players who hate to lose more than those who love to win really resonates.