@marvin100 thanks for the link. That does account for the DL, not necessarily for the players that are day to day. The cubs have several not on the DL though also not able to fully play every day. That is partially due to their 30 days of scheduled games without a day off that they just finished (and went 18-11, there was more than one rain out and make up games on regularly scheduled off day.
Showing up to play then having a rain out does not constitute a day off in my opinion, the guys spent several hours at the park on those days, never fully able to relax their minds and bodies like on a proper day off.
Sure, it’s not perfect, but it’s pretty clear that the Cubs aren’t particularly beset by injuries (I mean, pretty sure any adjustment made wouldn’t bring them up above, say, 15th or so on the list). Meanwhile, LA’s best player–Corey Seager–has missed nearly the entire season and isn’t coming back.
Psst, Giants fans: Unless the Dodgers sweep their next series and the Rockies get swept, the Dodgers will be in San Francisco for the NL West race to be decided. SF may have a chance to play spoiler!
@marvin100 yes, I knew about that Thursday as it was unfolding. It is a big loss talent wise. I think it may also be a loss of locker room drama and distractions, which is a good thing. And it now opens up a spot for Bote to play every day.
Nervous Cub fan here. Read a lot, but rarely post anymore. Magic # for Division now 5. Brandon Morrow didn’t have much chance to make a difference, so he can’t be missed, IMO. Russell can easily be replaced by Báez, and AR had no bat to speak of this season. More worrying to me is the potential loss of KB.
For what it’s worth, I think the WS winner will come from the AL.
Cubs… Enough said. It seemed like most of the season they had like 5-7 pitchers on the dl list at the same time. Every time I checked there was like someone new. They keep bringing up minor league guys that just produce like Botte. Some how they are still on top and at times it seems like they are just running on fumes.
Thanks to all the old guys who have come in during the year to augment and replace the injured and underachievers for the Cubs this year. I have no idea who the heck ranked the Cubs so low on the injury front, but half the team has been on DL and many others have underachieved this year relative to the last couple of years. The Cubs has been running of fumes for the last couple of months but luckily they’ve had a few blowout wins (and blowout losses) this past week to keep the bullpen fresh.
The NL is pretty even from 1-6 and a pretty good team will be left out. There’s no dominating pitcher (nope not even Kershaw this year) on any teams going into the playoffs in the NL so it’s wide open. Hopefully Daniel Murphy gets really hot like he usually does in the playoffs.
It’s going to be hard to beat Boston…and hard to beat the Astros…those are two teams I would not want to be up against. And the Cubs. So, yeah, oy, it’s hard to be rooting for one of the teams that is not one of those 3.
Yeah, the smart money’s on BOS and HOU. But hey, it’s baseball, and you have to actually play the games. As a Dodgers fan who vividly remembers the '88 WS, I know anything can happen, and I wouldn’t rule out any team on any given day.
The thing about Cleveland is they clinched a long time ago. They have had a lot of time to rest players and get their pitching rotation together. They will either be so ready and blow everyone out of the water or they will have lost their edge and sink quick. I hope they make it to the WS and I hope they win unless they are playing the Cubs.
Except with that bullpen, they may not even win one playoff series. It’s incomprehensible to me that they can have a bullpen that’s blown 50% of their save chances since the All-Star break, and win so many games. In the playoffs they won’t be carrying 5 and 6 run leads into the late innings every game, like they do when playing AAA teams like the Orioles.