I've felt pressure in every sporting event in which I've ever competed, from pee-wee wrestling to pickup games of racquetball. My financial circumstances have never factored into how I approach athletic competition.

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to bet the Mets.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

If you care about something, you always feel the pressure to excel. No pressure is for guys like Starlin Castro.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Probably elbow ligaments. Arrieta is not 100%.

no

I think it would be fun for them to lead for 30 seconds in a game this series or lead off an inning with a hit.

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You know me like that.

that is absolutely correct.

The guys who act the loose-est are often the ones with the most internal pressure. The ones that truly are the loosest are the ones who are too dumb to know any better or the few that are just about at the autobot level.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

This is the most obvious statement you'll ever hear, but this has killed them, IMO.

I don't think the Cubs have some unusual amount of pressure due to age or history, but it has to be crippling to play from behind every game in a situation like this. A lot of people are arguing that the Cubs pitchers, on the whole, haven't pitched that badly, but when they are giving up the runs seems to be as important as how many they are giving up.

Every game, Cubs are down by 2 or 3 from the first inning, they all start pressing and trying to hit home runs (because that's also the "identity" of this team), and they end up seeing very few pitches and seemingly never having anyone on base. This isn't 2000. It is rare to score nine or ten runs on bombs alone.

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I can provide this guarantee to Cub fandom.

I will be in attendance and the Cubs are 2-0 in Dr. Ken Playoff Games and 2-0 in Dr. Ken Division Clinching Victories.

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You know me like that.

The due factor is in play.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

God knows it sure doesn't seem to be at this point.

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You know me like that.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

wow. I can't say that, I was there for the Atlanta Clement game and game 7 against Florida.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

CF Fowler
RF Soler
3B Bryant
1B Rizzo
2B Castro
LF Schwarber
SS Baez
P Hammel
C Ross


Ross is EXACTLY what this squad needs right now

Ross

I know Montero has been crap this series, but I think I would rather take my chances that he could get a big hit over Ross.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Is it possible Maddon has Lester backing up Hammel so he has Ross in there to start (would be crazy but I dont know)

I doubt it. I think he is leaving Lester alone for tomorrow.

I think he just wants an extra righty in there vs. the LH. I was expecting to see Denorfia in LF.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

So you think Ross is in there for his bat huh?

I dont know man. I think something else is up

I don't think it is Ross per se, but the fact that he is a righty. He can justify taking Montero out with his 2-20 stretch and his miscue behind the plate. You can't really justify taking Schwarber out of the lineup right now. He is one of the only guys to show a pulse this series.

I will be very surprised if Lester pitches tonight.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

well at this point ross' bat isn't too different than montero's, so it might be a moot point.

the cubs have simply got their asses kicked by the mets. yeah i know the cubs shoulda/coulda played better, but this series is about the mets going out there and dictating the flow of the game to the cubs.... they go out and take early leads every game, weather some comeback attempts by the cubs, and i dont think they've given up the lead this whole series. that's flat out domination that i think is more than "we're not hitting" or "our defense is exposed" or "those umps aren't helping" --- at least in the short term, the mets' plan of having !!!!! pitching to the extent i really think this is the best rotation in baseball is > THE PLAN, which pretty much neglected drafting any top end pitching to stock up on as many position players as possible, figuring that through FA/trades/discards they could get some guys to pitch well enough to supplant a "core four" or 5/6 or whatever that would be significantly better than the core of any other opponents that they faced.

obviously pitching is more prone to injury, wearing down, and obviously being out there every 5 days as opposed to every day, so it's entirely possible that THE plan eventually overtakes the mets' plan.... but this is what i was trying to warn ppl about back in may when i said "beware the mets because if they stay healthy this is a team that can pitch to the cubs for the next 5-10+ years, as their window is opening up at the same time as the cubs" --- but i was quickly reminded about wood and prior in 2003 and how bright that future was, maybe a natinals reference, and then the cubs hung up 4+ ER on degrom, welcomed syndergaard to the bigs with 3R in 5+ IP, and harvey pitched well and was beaten..... c'est la vie.

so yeah, right now i think the cubs gotta throw everything out there and pray.... maybe pressure lets up off of them cuz they're back in a situation where they have nothing to lose (cuz in the last ~2+ months the only pressure they had was possibly WC/game-163 but when they staked an in-form/god-mode arrieta a lead very early and the pirates assumed the position, welp, no pressure there.... they felt sme pressure in game 1 of the NLDS when lackey went into the 6th with a no hitter, but then starting in game 2 they had magic timely HRs (cuz note their bigtime clutch hitting to erase deficits and establish leads was pretty much all the longball.... i think after the NLDS there was a stat like 14/17 cubs runs came via the HR, so that was somthing that worried me heading into the NLCS when the best rotation in baseball wasn'[t going to give up as many HRs) --- and yeah, this team is still young and the future is so bright dr who has to wear shades and all..... but right now i think "the plan" as been exposed as forgetting about pitching a little too much in order to stack up the lineup with top-end position players.... and this might eventually be the right call, but right now you're seeing that THE PLAN might not be the best plan in baseball for immediate success when good pitching (esp en masse) can pitch to good hitting.

but yeah, unless the series takes a radical departure from what we've seen, this series goes down as the mets coming out and kicking the cubs' asses out of the playoffs behind their best-pitching-in-baseball thing. i think this is very possibly a playoff matchup we're gonna see a lot, and i think if the core guys stick around and keep on seeing the mets they're only going to get better at hitting them.

not to mention next year the mets arms prolly wont be as on point from all the extra IP pitching into/through the world series, so look at the 2010s giants and remember that next year i think this cubs' team with the stockpile of position players will have a much better chance at smashing their way thru the playoffs (cuz honestly, i think the mets were the only team that could beat them, but even i didnt see it going down like this) and yeah, it's gonna be fun to watch this cubs/mets rivalry build up over the next 5-10yrs cuz unless the diamondbacks get some legit pitching and/or the dodgers spend wisely, i think these two teams are the best in the NL going forward indefinitely..... but the onus is on the cubs to really improve their pitching and to get more clutch / better-at-hitting-top-pitchers cuz quite frankly, this series and this whole playoff run is all about their pitching.... and i think it really should get its due as the best in baseball very soon now.

LATIN TRANSLATION COMING LATER..... STAY TUNED TRUE BELIEVERS!

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You ended up being right. I stand behind the thought though. For every Mets, 90's Braves and 00s A's there are 10 young gun rotations that dont work out for one reason or another.


The Mets might be the 90's braves (probably not nearly as long)

Just in case people were worried that there wouldn't be enough "ghey" involved in tonight's game .... http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/13938163/rookie-year-actor-thomas-ian-nicholas-hopes-henry-rowengartner-bring-chicago-cubs-good-luck?sf14372539=1

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

welp right now it sure looks like i'm right, but this series isnt over and i've seen some ppl on here say if the cubs can win the hammel game tonight that the pressure is all on the mets.... and if the cubs get crazy hot and start whacking out timely 2-3R HRs they can beat the mets 4 in a row, as they did it at least once en route to 7-0.... and while the mets are having way more of that "team of destiny" stuff right now its not like they've got the 27 yankees offense alongside their pitching.

i cant even say that the cubs should have drafted a SP with their high draft picks cuz how can you hate on bryant and schwarber big picture? schwarber has "the clutch gene" or whatever (it didnt take him 21 games to hit a HR, and he only had his rizzoesque ~.149/1/9 in 150 ABs after he was like .350/10/30 or something) and bryant, despite his shortcomings/youth/inexperience being paramount this series, still looks like he's gonna be the main bat in the middle of the lineup for a decade.

but at the same time, the cubs were collecting position players almost exclusively and just kind of assumed they could do a patchwork pitching staff to supplant that until they bought spahn and sain and HAARP time to create some rain, and maybe for the short term that wasnt the best thing to do.... but right now the cubs have to assemble a pitching staff cuz as the ol adage goes "you're only as strong as your weakest", and even at 0-3 in a 7 game series yeah you can say it doesnt matter, but having to go with a god-awful hammel when your playoff lives are on the the line = "the plan" needs to hit on some top top pitching..... and since they're not going to tank to a top-5 pick, they gotta take some first/sandwich/2nd round pitchers and they gotta hit. theres plenty of top big league pitchers drafted 15-30 overall, and now the cubs gotta do a mad dash to get "THE PLAN: PITCHING EDITION" set in a year or two cuz as others on here have said, it's folly to assume you're penciled into the NLCS for the next 5-10yrs by default, so you cant just assume that you have 3-4 years to build up pitching while maybe you get lucky and duck the mets for a year or two and slug your way to a title.

if the situation was reversed the mets would be relying on steven matz to save their ass tonight, and i think he's up there in that harvey/degrom/syndergaard tier its just that he had injury problems once he made his MLB debut this year.... but check his stats this year and check his minor league stats too.... that 5IP 3ER game 4 against the dodgers was his worst game in the big league level. this is a guy who i think would be at least a #2 starter in any other playff rotation other than cubs/mets.... and the cubs need to get to a point where when they're in the playoffs they never end up with jason hammel having to save their ass. thats where they need to upgrade, even if it's 0-7 in the postseason david price with people going all hawk saying "he's due"

TLDR = the cubs have the harder part of THE PLAN here, unless pitching was never part of THE PLAN and just kind of assumed to be something they could piecemeal together cuz i think lester was the only homegrown SP on the 04/07 red sox, right?

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jimmy is awesome

Cubs roll 8-1.

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See how much everything has changed with the new management?

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

but of course you can assume the mets pitchers, three of which already have had tommy john, will always be healthy.

zach wheeler will be back next june too, so if they stay healthy you're looking at degrom/syndergaard/harvey/matz/wheeler? i take that over the nats any day.

dude, you're assumig arrieta and lester have perfect health, let alone hendricks/hammel/price/greinke/etc?

i believe i said that THE PLAN might be better than the mets plan in the bigger picture cuz of the reasning mentioned, cuz as we know pitching health is a crapshoot.... but dude right now is it wrong to say that having 4+ stud pitchers > having 4+ stud young position players when the mets are in the midst of kicking the cubs' ass out of the playoffs without the cubs even getting a lead all series?

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A four game winning streak can and will be done.

eagerly awaiting 1st pitch