MLB Season 2022. Playball!

[XXXIV]

My brother was a Dodger fan til he was in his forties.

He mocked cub fans for the stooges they are yet now he worships the monkeys.

Its embarrassing.

Proud to say my brother is the ultimate phony band wagon cub fan as he is a true representation of the morons.

[RobVarak]

I just went through this whole "bandwagon" fans kerfuffle with the Blackhaws. Fans are fans. Attacking the bona fides of a supporter is really only an attempt to disparage the team as a whole or boast about one's own fandom. The implication is always either "the Cubs suck because their fans don't support them the 'right' way," or "You're a $hitty fan because I've backed Team X for 20 years and they haven't won a thing." Both of them say more about the critic than the criticized.

I totally get the anti-Cubs and anti-Cub fan backlash. Cubs fans are ubiquitous, partly because it's such a large market team and partly because for an entire generation there was a superstation churning out pro-Cubs propaganda. But I don't think it's really fair to assume that most of these fans are jumping on the bandwagon. They've been drawing 3 million fans per year since forever, even in the deepest doldrums of Theo's rebuilding years, and only the Yankees and Red Sox are in their league at drawing on the road.

I'm sure that Cubs fans are headed for the same blowback as Red Sox fans, who overnight switched from being sympathetic figures to being almost universally derided outside their tribe. Since that is all a result of on-field success, bring on all the hate you have.

[XXXIV]

I know... you are a real fan we had this discussion during WoW over ten years ago.

I sat in the bleachers in the late 70s so I do get it the real deal.

Just saying the buffoons like my brother do exist as do the poor saps like you who have suffered since before the automobile...

[dbdynsty25]

I'm sure that Cubs fans are headed for the same blowback as Red Sox fans, who overnight switched from being sympathetic figures to being almost universally derided outside their tribe. Since that is all a result of on-field success, bring on all the hate you have.

No that's mostly because sports fans from Boston are insufferable jerkoffs who think they are gods gift to fandom. Not gonna have that issue in Chicago.

[sportdan30]

If the Indians have a chance, they have to win game 1. They at least better split the two games in Cleveland, or this series will be over in 5.

[sportdan30]

Heyward is on the bench tonight.....nice $23 million dollar signing by the Cubs. Thank goodness the Cards didn't sign him.

[pk500]

I'm sure that Cubs fans are headed for the same blowback as Red Sox fans, who overnight switched from being sympathetic figures to being almost universally derided outside their tribe. Since that is all a result of on-field success, bring on all the hate you have.

Red Sox fans were Massholes BEFORE they won the Series. Now they're just insufferable Massholes.

The perception of Cubs' fans, at least here in the Northeast, is fun-loving losers. So please, keep the fun-loving part if you shed the loser label after 100-plus years. We don't need another "INSERT TEAM NAME Nation" of assh*les.

New England sports fans are intolerable, period. The worst of the worst. Loyal, passionate, idiotic. The educated rednecks - no, that's not an oxymoron - of the sports world.

[dbdynsty25]

Heyward is on the bench tonight.....nice $23 million dollar signing by the Cubs. Thank goodness the Cards didn't sign him.

Apparently the Braves picking Freddie Freeman over him was a decent decision.

[MizzouRah]

Heyward is on the bench tonight.....nice $23 million dollar signing by the Cubs. Thank goodness the Cards didn't sign him.

Amen! I can't believe people were bitching about not signing him.

[10spro]

If the Indians have a chance, they have to win game 1. They at least better split the two games in Cleveland, or this series will be over in 5.

You think? So did the Jays and that's how well it ended for them. They got some key rotation injuries this year and they still fought thru it because different players keep coming up with timely hits and key pitching when they needed to. No superstars, no big egos, they maybe the underdogs but if they get key hits early, they got a strong bullpen to back them up.

[Diablo25]

If the Indians have a chance, they have to win game 1. They at least better split the two games in Cleveland, or this series will be over in 5.

That Indians pen is LEGIT so Chicago better get after the Indians starters.

[10spro]

What a performance by C.Kluber. Just plain dominant with the two seamer. That ball was just dancing in the strike zone. And again the timely hits here and there, they just have a nice hybrid team where a nice mix of speed, power and smart pitching brought them here. You just don't want to give them any lead, Cubs fans know now how solid that bullpen is.

Good luck hitting Miller.

[RobVarak]

Kluber was ridiculous, as was giving up 2 HR to the player with the lowest SLG in the AL.

Tough start, but that's the game CLE had to have. Not great fun leaving all those guys on base down the stretch, but that's going to happen against pitching of that caliber. Hopefully the Cubs get the split tomorrow, weather permitting.

I took the most satisfaction from the tremendous boost given to the Robo Ump movement by Larry Vanover. I think the awful strike zone just about evened out as the game went on, but he had himself a disastrous evening.

Let's put the "human element" back where it belongs... in the broadcast booth. Nothing better than watching Pete Rose promise Schwarber would go 0 for 3 with 3K's and Smoltz blathering on incessantly about how Schwarber couldn't possibly handle Kluber-caliber pitching, only to see both of them have to eat crow. Smoltz took it like a man, Rose like the cowardly clown that he is.

[dbdynsty25]

Soooo...the ledge is getting closer. lol.

I mean I'm all for tortured fanbases, hell I'm a Suns fan, but this is ridiculous. How can the Cubs NOT win this one? Hopefully they can come back.

[dougb]

Jays and Red Sox fans were thinking the same thing in the previous series against the Indians. Pretty much everything Francona has done has worked and nobody is able to consistently score runs against the Indians. Hell even the supposedly weak starters have gone in there and made the opposition batters look ridiculous and once you get into the late innings its been lights out.

Just a team that seems to have the magic this year like the Royals last year.

Doug

[wco81]

What's crazy is that the Indians are down to one starter from the regular season?

Of course the one starter has been pretty dominant in the post season, as starters often can be.

[RobVarak]

Incredible stat from last night: Through the first 4 games, Kluber/Miller/Allen have pitched 54% of the innings and compiled a 0.60 ERA

It's postseason baseball. You just need to get on top to prevent the aggressive bullpen usage that has become de rigueur of the last few years, or it's tough. People want to make out like the Cubs offense has been stricken with some sort of wasting disease, but it's just great playoff pitching. The cumulative offensive numbers for all the postseason teams this year are a staggering .219/.286/.357. That is absolutely ridiculous.

The Indians gave up 2 runs last night and their runs give up per game for the postseason when up!

I'm not saying that the Cubs offense shouldn't be doing better, but you really do have to consider the context.

I'm not a proponent of using starters on short rest, but Kluber was a data point for the other side of that argument. He wasn't as dominant as in Game 1, but he was certainly good enough.

[RobVarak]

Soooo...the ledge is getting closer. lol.

I mean I'm all for tortured fanbases, hell I'm a Suns fan, but this is ridiculous. How can the Cubs NOT win this one? Hopefully they can come back.

It's been a crazy season. I really expected them to win Friday, but that's baseball.

I will still never forget being at a World Series game, in Wrigley, on my birthday. This was something that I really had never even dreamed of...

[XXXIV]

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pk500]

VERY cool, Rob. Happy belated birthday, fossil! (Yeah, I know I'm older than you. I'm older than nearly everyone here. )

[XXXIV]

VERY cool, Rob. Happy belated birthday, fossil! (Yeah, I know I'm older than you. I'm older than nearly everyone here. )

years are going by turbo now...

[10spro]

VERY cool, Rob. Happy belated birthday, fossil! (Yeah, I know I'm older than you. I'm older than nearly everyone here. )

years are going by turbo now...

Ahem, just celebrating mine today. A pre Halloween party going on, speaking of fossils, you got one here with a bandana.

Back to the game, yeah I did warn everyone about the Indians bullpen before the series. Glad you enjoyed the tight game on Friday Rob, remember these guys swept one of the hottest offenses in the league in the Bosox, took care handidly of my Jays and it's a formality right now.

[XXXIV]

VERY cool, Rob. Happy belated birthday, fossil! (Yeah, I know I'm older than you. I'm older than nearly everyone here. )

years are going by turbo now...

Ahem, just celebrating mine today. A pre Halloween party going on, speaking of fossils, you got one here with a bandana.

Back to the game, yeah I did warn everyone about the Indians bullpen before the series. Glad you enjoyed the tight game on Friday Rob, remember these guys swept one of the hottest offenses in the league in the Bosox, took care handidly of my Jays and it's a formality right now.

Happy f***in bandana to you too 10s!

I dont recall you mentioning your bday or was I too wasted?

Anyway James and Rob you are too extremely cool guys its been my great pleasure to know!

HAPPY HAPPY boys.

[10spro]

Thanks XXXIV, you just don't advertise your drivers' license when you reach my stage. Luv you too Bro, good games last night.

[RobVarak]

Thanks, guys. Feeling better tonight.

We're a good Jake Arrieta outing away from seeing the city of Cleveland find a sudden, unexpected empathy for the Golden State fans. If the Cubs force a Game 7, Kluber or not, they will be terrified.