*** Official 2025 Chicago Cubs Thread***

[CYdTracked]

Starting pitching is coming down to earth and exploiting the lack of dominant top of the rotation arms. The last turn through the rotation shows this:

Tonight: Taillon 4 IP 8 ER 3 HR 3 K
Brown 5 IP 8 ER 4 HE 3K
Rea 5.1 IP 7 ER 4 HR 2K
Horton 4.2 IP 3 ER (6 runs) 0 HR 2K
Boyd 5 IP 2 ER 1 HR

None of them made it through 6 innings and 4 of the 5 got hit pretty hard. Depending on how his next couple starts go I would not be against trying to get a 2 starting pitchers at the deadline and moving Horton to the long guy in the pen. He's done well this far with his first taste of the big leagues but the division is won in September and with his injury history and not throwing this many innings in a season by then you have to wonder how his arm holds up late in the season in a high pressure game. Also with Boyd he has not had this kind of workload in 5 years. A healthy Shota and Taillon give you 2 consistent guys but playoff series are won by what your top 3 guys do in a series and right now I have concerns that if we get to the playoffs that Shota, Taillon and Boyd are not enough to win a series. Even if you add 1 top end guy that 3rd and 4th spot in the rotation is playing with house money right now.

Batting Swanson 5th is mind boggling. He gets hot for a week or 2 once in awhile but if you look at his splits he hits the best batting 7th or 8th and the worst batting 4-6.

 

[1SEIACLONE]

What’s the deal with the attendance? Pat and Ron have been shocked by the small crowds the last 2 nights. They said they can’t remember seeing it that sparse aside from maybe late season games when both teams were out of it.

The fan base is pissed off that the team has not been spending money on the minor leagues, to keep up the major league team. To many players getting up to the big leagues and have not learned how to play. Throw in the fact that the FO stated very early that this was going to be a season to play the young kids, move the older veterans, lot of fans are not going down this season.
You have to remember that for years, Cardinal fans planned their family vacation on going to St. Louis, to watch the team. After last season, many are not going to the games. You can see that in the drop in ticket prices in the secondary market last year and this. Now will that change if they stay in the race most of the season, I would guess, but I do not plan on going down this season, many other Cards fans are doing the same.

 

[KidSilverhair]

What’s the deal with the attendance? Pat and Ron have been shocked by the small crowds the last 2 nights. They said they can’t remember seeing it that sparse aside from maybe late season games when both teams were out of it.

Expectations were really low for Cardinals fans this season, and there was quite a bit of displeasure with the front office not making any big free-agent moves in the off-season. And the impression of the owners is they’re just money-grubbing, pulling as many dollars out of ticket buyers and Ballpark Village as they possibly can without putting any of it back into a contending team.

So the Cardinals are way over performing this season, but that doesn’t seem to be enough to change fans’ spending. I’m a bit stunned myself seeing all the empty seats, especially for a Cubs series … when I looked at tickets recently, the Cardinals aren’t even selling the corner upper deck seats in left and right, at least for weeknight games. That’s really unusual.

(Edit: or what @1SEIACLONE said)

 

[swiacy]

What’s the deal with the attendance? Pat and Ron have been shocked by the small crowds the last 2 nights. They said they can’t remember seeing it that sparse aside from maybe late season games when both teams were out of it.

IMO, the fan displeasure started with the firing of manager Mike Shildt which stunned the fan base. He had been in the Cardinal system and worked his way up, righted the ship at the MLB level for two years and was shockingly fired the next day after losing in the playoffs by Mozeliak. The fanbase, primarily in St Louis, know that the Cards are a top revenue franchise but spend like a small city team. The GM Mozeliak has an arrogant smug persona which doesn’t help and has a history of trading off good young players who do well after leaving. On top of all this negativity toward ownership, the owner allowed Mozeliak to stay on this year in a farewell tour instead of canning him which was the last straw with the local fans. The St Louis fan base that’s under 50 have more interest in soccer and are too young to have been part of the fan base from the glory days of Gibson, Brock et al.

 

[NoCreativity]

schedule

We’ve played awful teams.

This isn't true. We had the toughest schedule in the majors through mid-May, then we had an easy stretch and have played the Tigers, Phillies, Brewers, and Cardinals in June.

 

[NoCreativity]

Wicks got pulled last night in the 3rd inning after about 30 pitches so not sure if they plan on calling him up for some spot starts or bullpen depth.

 

[1SEIACLONE]

schedule
This isn't true. We had the toughest schedule in the majors through mid-May, then we had an easy stretch and have played the Tigers, Phillies, Brewers, and Cardinals in June.

The Cubs were holding their own against the tougher teams early in the year, then went on a winning streak when they hit the horrible teams for a month, and their fan base started to think they were going to run away and hide. Now they are back playing the better teams again, they are coming back to the mean, and are an average club. Win one of the next two in St. Louis and they will be fine, they just cannot get swept, win both games and they are right where they started when the series began.

 

[RoseClone]

Is "regress to the mean" the latest buzz phrase in baseball?

 

[NoCreativity]

Is "regress to the mean" the latest buzz phrase in baseball?

It's just an excuse when we go through a tough week or 2 like every other team. The Mets have lost 9 of 10 I think and I recall the 2016 having a bad stretch at some point.

 

[TClone99]

The Cubs were holding their own against the tougher teams early in the year, then went on a winning streak when they hit the horrible teams for a month, and their fan base started to think they were going to run away and hide. Now they are back playing the better teams again, they are coming back to the mean, and are an average club. Win one of the next two in St. Louis and they will be fine, they just cannot get swept, win both games and they are right where they started when the series began.

Even if the Cards sweep I think the Cubs are gonna be fine. Starting pitching has been the glaring problem during this recent bad stretch, and the rotation is going to look a lot different in a month. They're in a great spot to add aggressively and the GM is in the last year of his contract.

 

[cyfanatic13]

I’m not gonna freak out like the Cubs Twitter people and half this board is. 162 is a lot of games and these kinda stretches happen for every team. 2016 team lost 5 out of 6, won 3 in a row, then lost 9 out of 10 in pretty much the same time as this year. It’s a long season. Shota is back and at least one more starter is coming too which will be a big help. I hope the FO looks into getting a role player bat or two so there can be some sort of pinch hitting presence and potentially some 3B help.

Brewers scare me a lot more than the Cardinals do for the division. The Misiorowski cat they brought up looks like a stud and Woodruff is back soon. Buckle up!

 

[BigJCy]