OT: Cubs Offseason Thread

[Dresden]

Cubs look like they are cooked. Again they score first, but the pitching can't hold the lead.

[Dresden]

Cubs manage to squeak one out today, made 4 runs hold up all game, barely. Good job by the pen. At least they won't get swept.

[Chi town]

I think the Cubs get past the Brewers with a healthy Horton. Their pen is that good.

Next year we will have Wiggins and Steele too.

Let’s see if we can win one more at Wrigley and give us chance in a game 5

[Jo Jo English]

Cubs survive to play another day. Win Thursday night and you never know what might happen. There are some definite problems with this roster, and some sizable changes are likely coming in the off season, but no matter what happens in game 4, this has been an enjoyable season.

Go, Cubs, go.

[Dresden]

Boyd on the mound for the Cubs tonight.

[Dresden]

Cubs score in the 1st again- Happ knocks a 3 run homer! I heard something like 13 out of 15 runs they've scored have been in the 1st inning, and that was before tonight's game. They're only hitting .150 after the 1st inning though.

[Stratmaster]

They really need to start having ball and strike calls automated

[Dresden]

They really need to start having ball and strike calls automated

I like the human element.

[Stratmaster]

They really need to start having ball and strike calls automated

I like the human element.

I prefer accuracy lol

[Dresden]

Bases loaded in the 5th with one out and they can't score. That would have broken it open. Now gotta hope the pen can do the job.

[Dresden]

They add a run in the 6th and one in the 7th and are closing in on evening things up.

[Chi town]

Cubbies have all the momentum. We are using up their pen too.

Close it out and let’s get our game 5 on the road at Cubs north.

[Chi town]

Fly the W!

Sing the song!

Go Cubs Go!!!

[Ccwatercraft]

Whelp... I officially have plans for Saturday night, on my couch...watching game 5!

[Dresden]

Cubs showing a lot of heart and fight, winning these last two. Hopefully their bats are coming around now too. I have a feeling we'll need a lot of runs to win game 5.

[Jeffster81]

They really need to start having ball and strike calls automated

I like the human element.

ABS is coming and I fully expect it to be better than the "human element."

For the most part, I do believe umpires do a good job calling ball and strikes, ABS is simply for the times they miss the call.

[Chi town]

Playoff Javy is a freak.

[SalmonsSuperfan]

They really need to start having ball and strike calls automated

I like the human element.

ABS is coming and I fully expect it to be better than the "human element."

For the most part, I do believe umpires do a good job calling ball and strikes, ABS is simply for the times they miss the call.

https://www.mlb.com/news/abs-challenge-system-mlb-2026
Mixed feelings. Something needs to be done and I prefer a challenge system to fully automated luxury space baseball, but check out the implementation above. I'm concerned about how they're actually measuring the strike zone. It's based on player height with no mention of batting stance. Batting stances are a bit more homogenized than they have been in years past, but there's still plenty of variety and I worry that every player will change their stance to whatever most efficiently takes advantage of the new technology.

As an example of variant strikezones, Jeff Bagwell and Craig Counsell are the same height but had wildly different stances and thus strike zones. It seems to me under this new system, they would have the exact same strike zone regardless of how they are standing. Players might also change their stance based on the count, right? I don't think the technology is going to adjust for that. How do we know it's even calibrated properly in the first place? Where the ball is shown as crossing the plate on TV is not necessarily accurate and there are several websites that track it as well and often give different positions. ABS will be good for obvious misses (which happen far too often) but I worry about close calls. I'm also of the opinion that veteran pitchers should be given 'close' calls...the strike zone being a perfect box strikes me another example of standardization that baseball has been trending toward for a while now. I find that a little unfortunate, but perhaps 'fair'. I hate the DH in both leagues (the DH in general), it's my 'old man yells at cloud' take.




These guys shouldn't have the same strike zone!!!

[Chi town]

So whoever wins the first inning will win tonight?

Vet Pomeranz our starter.