I love how Reason is on board with the Cubs having statistics in November. He has already accepted a World Series appearance. Big blue train is rolling.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Cubs starting pitchers are averaging an ERA+ of 149.

In 2015, the Cardinals' SP average ERA+ was 136.

2004 Cubs SP average ERA+ was 124.

1998 Atlanta Braves SP average ERA+ was 144.

Historically good.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

I have been thinking recently how much of this staff has to do with far superior defensive players? I am sure some dope has a metric for that.

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Elections have consequences.

Somewhat...but not entirely.

Arrieta, Hendricks, Lester and Lackey are all in the top 15 in NL for xFIP. So they get the job done through no home runs and a good k/bb ratio...as well as the tiny WHIP they all have, including Hammel.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

A couple of those guys probably have tiny other things as well. Its a side effect I hear.

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and, of course, historically inferior competition

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

Uh huh...

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Definitely the best staff in Chicago history, if not all of Major League history.

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Hopefully in the playoffs they can match (or exceed) the production of the 2005 World Series Champions.

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We'll see. Regular season is a better sample size.

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Sure.

"Best Regular Season Of All-Time" doesn't have the same ring to it though.

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It doesn't matter to me what happens in the playoffs as long as we finish the regular season with the best record.

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Yup. Don't even watch the playoffs.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I probably won't. I'll be on pins and needles the last two months here, though.

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When people talk about the 1998 Atlanta Braves rotation being the best ever, they don't talk about how the team didn't even make it to the World Series.

If the Cubs keep this up for 6 more weeks... the Cubs and Braves will be 1A and 1B.

The Cubs having one of the best rotations in the history of the game and the Cubs winning the World Series are two separate things.

The first can help the second, though.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Don't pay attention to wins or losses. Pay attention to the Pythagorean theorem.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

This guy gets it.

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Really? There isn't one Hall of Famer in this Cub rotation. Atlanta had three.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

There are so many things out of control of pitchers this is dumb to even talk about.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Yes, really. We're discussing actual performance over a given season. I'm not really sure what the other ~15 years of a pitcher's career would have to do with discussing the best pitching staff in a single season of baseball.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Well, not yet. They're still playing, dummy.

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And which one do you think might have a reasonable chance to make it in?

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

Lester and Hendricks

You're still one short. Maybe Hammel will rise to the occasion.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

Arrieta and Lester are locks. Hendricks has a good chance. If the Cubs wind up with the best regular season this year, Lackey has a good chance, too. Hammel is borderline.

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True Cub fan.

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Arrieta blows. Stop making Cubs fans look stupid.

This rotation isn't better than the '64 White Sox.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

It absolutely is this season.

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