Pitting the unpittable: Or, Cecil admit your mistake here.

The BBQ Pit
21

Come on now, we all know what would really happen. The series would go to game 7, which would go to extra innings; both teams would use all of their pitchers and then . . . .

Bud Selig would come out and call the game. Nobody wins.

22

Thank you, David Gerrald

23

So the Cubbies are tied for the division lead with a handful of games against twinkies who’d have trouble beating their AA affiliates.

If they can’t pull it out, it’s definately a TANK.

24

Sheesh, I start a realitvely tongue in cheek pit thread defending my beloved Cubs and it turns into my own personal shame spiral simply because I dared to besmirch Cecil just a tad.

I still don’t think you can qualify what the Cubs went through as a tanking. It was definitely a struggle, but I firmly believe that for a tanking to be taking place you would have to fit one of the following categories.

  1. Giving up completely (by not trying, ignoring the coach, ignoring the system). An example would be this year’s Arizona Wildcats football team.
  2. Being a team that should be good but for whatever reason never got things together and basically stumbled through the season. If things keep up, the Raiders or Eagles of this year could be good fits for this category.
  3. Being ridiculously ahead in a race and then blowing it despite all logic that says it can’t be done. Sadly, the 1969 Cubs fit the bill here. From up 9.5 games to down 8 games in under 2 months. The 1978 Red Sox also fit here by giving up 15 games to the Yankees in 2.5 months.

A mid-season stumble does not a tanking make, even if it is done by a team that is expected to tank at some point. The Cubs were a bad, bad team last year and have rebounded to be a decent team in an uninspiring division. But, if they miss the playoffs it won’t be because they tanked.

25

That might be the worst attempt at spelling relatively that this board has ever seen.

26

The Cubs tanking? Inconcievable!

:wink:

27

Let’s see… On August 8, the Cubs lost 3 - 1 to the Dodgers. During the game the Cubs managed to get 3 hits, one of which was a solo home run by Aramis Ramirez in the 2nd to give them a 1 - 0 lead. All 3 hits were off SP Andy Ashby, who went 5 innings and was credited with the win.

I think it’s safe to assume that Cecil was watching that game, and that his tanking comment referred to it in particular.