Sports
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.
The NFL Continues To Reward Violent Hits
Despite scientific research and Congressional hearings, the NFL is still not serious about the safety of its players due to concussions. In fact, the current NFL rules rewards teams of players who inflict a concussion.
The latest example occurred during the Packers and Panthers game on December 17. During the game Panther Thomas Davis launched into Davante Adams resulting in Adams being removed for the game due to the obvious helmet-on-helmet hit. A personal foul was called on Davis, but he remained in the game while the Packers lost one of their most important players.
Players who may be concussed must be removed from play until doctors confirm it is ok for him to return. In this case, the right thing happened while that has not always been the case. However, how is it that the player causing the injury, unnecessarily, is still allowed to play?
Treating concussions is important but equally important is preventing concussions from happening in the first place, and that will not happen without immediate and significant enforcement on the field. All direct hits to the head should result in an immediate ejection, and this rule should be enforced not only by on field officials but also by replay. At a minimum the NFL ought to have a booth review, as is the case with the NCAA, but I favor the booth being able to eject such players at any time.
The bottom line is that the current approach of only reviewing and penalizing such plays after the game is over is not sufficient in deterring such hits and violates the spirit of the game. The life time health of the players demands extreme action. If the NFL is unable to police itself then Congress must step in with regulation. Right now it appears profits are outweighing safety.