World Series IGT: Chicago Cubs @ Cleveland Indians Game 2

[TL1961]

Now a rod is getting carried away

Schwarber is our best hitter?

Love the guy, think he'll hit tons of bombs but pretty sure he's a career 240 hitter (which will improve) but rizzo and bryant are already much better hitters

He's a huge threat in this lineup.

 

[DanTown]

He hit .246/.355/.487 literally a year after being drafted which is frankly pretty insane. And the only reason his line was that "low" was because he hit .143/.213/.268 vs LHP. He hit .272/.392/.544 vs RHP... in his first showing vs MLB pitching... with very little time spent in the minors... To put that into context, Kris Bryant who was older when he debuted hit .284/.376/.499 vs RHP(the better of his two splits). And while you'd like to see him hit lefties better, Rizzo at 23 in 2013 was still hitting .189/.282/.342 vs them 2 years after his initial debut. Schwarber was 22 last year.

Long story short, if you want to take Rizzo or Bryant over him I think either is an interesting debate. However, it's not as unrealistic as you're making it sound. Schwarber's ability to come in and just hit with almost no time shows how good he is. I made the case last year that it's possible Schwarber ends up being a better hitter than Bryant. I stand by that though admittedly that was before Bryant substantially dropped his k rate. And whether or not Schwarber is better isn't really the point of my argument. My argument was more his bat is Bryant level of good which basically makes him a top 5-10 hitter in baseball. People don't destroy the minor leagues as hard and quickly as Bryant and Schwarber did. Their performance in the minors was an order of magnitude from "good."

As for ARod's comments, he knows hitting. As I said, I think you can make a case Rizzo/Bryant are better but both have weaknesses. Bryant size makes it difficult to cover all of the plate and as such he's had K issues in the past. Rizzo is a hell of a hitter but he doesn't have as much power as Schwarber and overall good pitching still can beat him as seen in his post season slump to start the post season. So, I think ARod's argument would be more from a potential stand point he feels Schwarber has fewer weaknesses than those two. And honestly, are there even 5 guys in the majors who could miss 2 months of a season and come in hitting like Schwarber has? And Schwarber has missed over 5 months.

The Cubs won 103 games and they could legitimately upgrade the team by adding Schwarber, getting a bounce back year from Heyward, getting a full year of Contreras behind the plate, and continued development from guys like Almora, Baez, Russell, and the only player who probably won't be back in the lineup is Fowler.

Crazy how deep this organization is.

One thing I want to point about Schwarber: he played baseball at Indiana and only had 72 PA against lefties in AA/AAA before getting called up so while Schwarber clearly struggled with lefties, he's still only at about 140 PA against AA+ lefties. To compare, Rizzo had 205 PA against lefties JUST THIS regular season.

 

[bamainatlanta]

Tomlin has terrible splits against RHB but he has pitched well since September.

 

[SilenceS]

Besides getting the W, getting this game in and getting the win was huge. I did not want this game postponed. It would highly favor the Indians giving Kluber full rest and Miller another day to recoup.

 

[DanTown]

Tomlin has terrible splits against RHB but he has pitched well since September.

Tomlin is a true finese pitcher. Here are the Cubs splits against finese pitchers (pitchers who finish bottom 3rd in the league in K+BB)

Fowler- .293/.403/.515
Bryant - .327/.400/.621
Rizzo - .364/.425/.690
Zobirst - .279/.400/.428
Baez - .335/.372/.514
Contreras - .283/.352/.442
Soler - .267/.353 /.458
Russell - .239/.316/.436

 

[greg23]

Besides getting the W, getting this game in and getting the win was huge. I did not want this game postponed. It would highly favor the Indians giving Kluber full rest and Miller another day to recoup.

Unless game 2 was postponed wed and thurs it wouldn't have given kluber full rest.

 

[SilenceS]

Unless game 2 was postponed wed and thurs it wouldn't have given kluber full rest.

They weren't going to play tom. And there is 100% chance of rain in Cleveland tom. The rain is suppose to get bad past midnight on. It was big to get this game in


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[greg23]

Tomlin is a true finese pitcher. Here are the Cubs splits against finese pitchers (pitchers who finish bottom 3rd in the league in K+BB)

Fowler- .293/.403/.515
Bryant - .327/.400/.621
Rizzo - .364/.425/.690
Zobirst - .279/.400/.428
Baez - .335/.372/.514
Contreras - .283/.352/.442
Soler - .267/.353 /.458
Russell - .239/.316/.436

I get the love for schwarber but I'd seriously consider those 8 as my starters as Timlins splits are pretty huge starting soler in rf might be the better play and keeping schwarber for a key ph situation later in the game vs anyone other than miller

 

[greg23]

They weren't going to play tom. And there is 100% chance of rain in Cleveland tom. The rain is suppose to get bad past midnight on. It was big to get this game in


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If they were going to use him on short rest in game 4 then this scenario would have just allowed them to use him on short rest in game 3 on Sat then game 7.....otherwise if they waited for game 4 on sun he wouldn't be able to start again unless more multiple day rainout

End of the day.....ill like our chances against him 2nd time around, preferably up 2 games to 1

 

[bamainatlanta]

If they were going to use him on short rest in game 4 then this scenario would have just allowed them to use him on short rest in game 3 on Sat then game 7.....otherwise if they waited for game 4 on sun he wouldn't be able to start again unless more multiple day rainout

End of the day.....ill like our chances against him 2nd time around, preferably up 2 games to 1

Especially if the wind is blowing out. He only struck.out 1 of his 15 batters(could be wrong) in game 1 with some hard hit outs in there too

 

[bamainatlanta]

The Cubs won 103 games and they could legitimately upgrade the team by adding Schwarber, getting a bounce back year from Heyward, getting a full year of Contreras behind the plate, and continued development from guys like Almora, Baez, Russell, and the only player who probably won't be back in the lineup is Fowler.

Crazy how deep this organization is.

One thing I want to point about Schwarber: he played baseball at Indiana and only had 72 PA against lefties in AA/AAA before getting called up so while Schwarber clearly struggled with lefties, he's still only at about 140 PA against AA+ lefties. To compare, Rizzo had 205 PA against lefties JUST THIS regular season.

Not to mention the Cubs played 6 games under their expected win-loss theorhetical.

 

[freakazoid]

Sowwy for lateness to the party,but I'm mostly football/hockey fan.This is pretty eyepoppin' stat;the Cubbies run diff was +252(uber domination) compared to the Tribe's "measly" +101.Cannot w8 to Friday's atmosphere @Wrigley.

 

[Mr. Cub]

Feels a little relief to get a win and even it up. Now just gotta sweep the next 3 to win it in Wrigley.

 

[Parade_Rain]

Yeah, that's why it will never happen, but it wouldn't be a bad thing to go to 154 games.

They could also consider putting a few more straight double headers in the schedule and charging more for those tickets or something along those lines. I know another poster mentioned day/night DH, but I'm not sure how travel days would work out with these. It's an interesting conversation though.

 

[TL1961]

Well, there's no conversation, really.

Owners won't give up gate $, and players union won't give up off days or agree to multiple DH's.

Much to our chagrin, the genie's out of that bottle.

 

[Parade_Rain]

Well, there's no conversation, really.

Owners won't give up gate $, and players union won't give up off days or agree to multiple DH's.

Much to our chagrin, the genie's out of that bottle.

Stuff like this should be on the table at the next CBA. If it shortens the season while adding a few days off, the players would be smart to support it. If the season can end sooner, with the same number of games and less viewer fatigue at the end of October, the owners win, too.

 

[Parade_Rain]

It's amazing what one win can do. Cubs are back to being the favorites to win the series. The thing that seems bothersome to me is all the players left on base.

 

[Spunky Porkstacker]

I just saw the weather forecast for tomorrow night, wind blowing out with sustained 20 mph speeds with 35 mph gusts.

 

[fatbeard]

Not to mention the Cubs played 6 games under their expected win-loss theorhetical.

brett05 laughs at your Pythagorean Wins while wearing his 2016 World Champion Texas Rangers commemorative hat and exclusive Rangers "It's Clutch Time" t-shirt.

 

[Parade_Rain]

They were slight favorites before last night's game and the line kept moving in their direction suggestive of volume going on Cubs. The LOB stat is disturbing but it is also a function of a top of opportunities they are generating.

I couldn't give a crap about betting lines.