MLB 2018 regular season thread

There's no guarantee he'd have a 0.96 ERA, 0.75 WHIP and 41 strikeouts through 28 innings with the Pirates.

Only 9 other pitchers gave up more homers than he did last year to go along with his 4.26 ERA ... 19th best in the NL ... behind Nova.

 

There are no guarantees that McCutchen would be struggling with the Pirates. Also, all the talk about McCutchen's current numbers ignore his recent history of slow starts. I believe that was the trap Dickie fell into with his thread about McCutchen sucking. He didn't realize that more often than not, the guy starts slow.

Or maybe the fast starts by Cole, Dickerson and the Pirates as a team and McCutchen's rough April are all illusions that will burn away this summer.

 

Or that he will maintain anything like this. I am inclined - as I have stated repeatedly on this thread - to wait for longer than 19 plate appearances or, here, 28 innings before rendering judgment.

 

Seems like Cole will be getting the blister curse next.

You guys don't understand the power you brazenly wield.

 

Yet you were happy to render a judgement of McCutchen based on 67 at-bats. As I said, the samples are large enough to be valid when you like what they tell us, too small when you don't like the result.

 

It felt like Jim Riggleman was the manager of the Cubs for a good eight or nine years for some reason. I was stunned to learn he was there from 1995 to 1999.

 

Five-Inning Jake on the bump tonight for his bi-weekly start against the red-hot Pirates. Pretty compelling April matchup.

 

Pens-Flyers on the ice ... Phils-Bucs on the diamond ... it's a Pennsylvania Sports Party, yo.

 

A stadium full of people from Pittsburgh and Philadelphia is how I imagine hell.

 

I had to ride the train to work on the day of the Cubs' World Series parade.

That was mine.

 

As long as there are a few cuties from Grove City, that's a hell I could tolerate.

 

Five-Inning Jake had an interesting outing last time out. He threw well into the seventh inning and only hit 88 pitches. He only struck out one. Maybe he's learning to pitch more efficiently so he won't be Five-Inning Jake any more. That said, I remember Chris Sale tried that for a year, and started off really well. The next year, though, he was back to trying to throw the ball through the backstop.