jcubs55's Season Long Chicago Cubs Thread!

[jcubs55]

2 more.

 

[jcubs55]

1 more.

 

[jcubs55]

World Series CHAMPIONS!!!!! I'm glad I came to Cleveland for games 6 & 7... best sports experience of my life! Will use my 3,000th post to do a final summary of this thread with all futures included. Got the $10,000 winner on the World Series!

 

[818Dartman]

Yeah bud! I wanted to chime in many a time during the countdown and didn't want to jinx it. After this year, maybe jinxes are a farce. Still can't believe we did it. As Rizz said, wire to wire. Absolute bliss. Way to hit the biggie. See you next year!

 

[varkeyboy]

JCUBS,

Congrats to your Cubbies and congrats on a fine year in the bases!!! Looking fwd to your selections next year.

My buddies were in Cleveland for GM6 & GM7 as well. They said the SAME EXACT THING!!! Best experience of their lifetime. What an amazing end to your night w/ winning $10,000 for the Cubbies winning the World Series!

I was out partying w/ my best friends who are die hard Cubs fans. Was with them throughout the entire postseason for every single game (but Game 5 of the WS). LOL this is kinda funny but they call me their "rally monkey." The entire bar kept rubbing my damn head, hahaha. We have respect for each other (even though I'm a die hard White Sox fan) because they know that I know the game well, and we love talking baseball, PERIOD. Shoot i even took off of work Thursday & Friday to enjoy all the festivities w/ them in the city. My liver is absolutely shot. Man oh man, as a Sox fan, even myself.....I am physically & emotionally drained. Taking a break from alcohol for a few weeks to get back to "normal" status, haha.

You gotta give props to where they are due. As soon as the Cubs were down 3-1 in the series, i told them do not panic. Your Cubs have won three+ games in a row 18 TIMES this season. That is not easy to do, but it was very possible for this amazing team. Again, thanks for an amazing season & CONGRATS TO YOUR CHICAGO CUBS!!!!

 

[jcubs55]

My 3,000th Post: Season Recap


Well... what can I say? How can this be captured in words? This was a historic season for the Chicago Cubs franchise and I was glad to be a part of it as a lifelong diehard fan and season ticket holder. We were also able to capitalize on the teams dominance from a monetary aspect, which is always nice... but really just icing on the cake.

So, I'll be upfront... this post will have a gloating/bragging theme... but that's pretty hard to avoid after a season like this. Let's get into it!

From the beginning...

158800486-3

11/23/2015 4:17 PM

Manual Play

(fp) 1,000.00

10,000.00

Pregame Play

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I did place a futures wager on the Cubs to win the 2016 World Series. I asked my local early in the offseason to get down on this and we agreed to a price of 10-1 in early November (he's lazy and took a bit to get it documented on the system). The odds weren't up on his hosting site yet so he manually entered it with this name but rest assured this is a futures wager on the Chicago Cubs.

This was one of those times where line value actually ended up mattering(!). I was lucky to prioritize getting down on this as early as possible last year... what is now over a full calendar year ago and getting the 10-1 payout netted me a few extra thousand for the diligence.

I have no other wagers down at the moment but am looking to get down on the team win total over.

I saw reports of lines opening at 89 for the Cubs and am hoping to get somewhere around that number before the public bets it up.

I had been trying to get down large on a wager the second the lines came out about two weeks ago but my local was out of the country for a week. We got in contact with him the day he returned and it took him almost a week to confirm (possibly laying off/confirming line and price since it's not out at all books yet) but I was able to get my wager officially booked. I don't know if the line is available at any books anymore (moved on at least some that I've seen) and there's no point posting my wager amount but I thought I'd make some mention of it to offer at least some disclosure. I'm hoping the Cubs can have a very successful year. Let's go!

I was hoping to clue a few people in here without causing a scene because we all know how trolls like to target people who claim to make large wagers... but at this point I couldn't care less and want to tell the full story of the season: I had $11,0000 risked to win $10,000 on Cubs Team Wins Total Over 89 -110. It was by far the largest straight wager of my life (at that point) and fortunately turned out to also be the easiest. My brother and I had each originally planned to ask for $5K each but when we saw the line was already trending upwards elsewhere, we asked for $10K with the intention of buying some back the other way once the line popped. We ended up riding it all out and I'm glad we did. Never in doubt!

Throughout this thread I'll make random predictions, such as this: The Cubs will make at least one notable pitching acquisition by the trade deadline.

Prediction: If the Cubs underperform this year, the reason will be our bullpen.

Well, the first prediction came to fruition and as a result the second didn't. Theo and Jed knew we needed another dominant arm so they went out and jumped the market to get Aroldis Chapman. The lack of high-end arms in our pen started to show towards the end of the season and I'm glad we BARELY made it out alive in extra innings of Game 7 of the World Series... phew!

I'm interested to see odds on Kris Bryant to win NL MVP.

The kid is out of this world. Last year was NOTHING. He is only going to get better. The smartest, most composed and mature prospect I've ever seen firsthand. His natural power is indescribable... you just have to go to a game and watch. I was sitting in the left center bleachers when he hit the top left of the new jumbotron and I was floored. His swing is so effortless too... that's the part that shocks me so much. Combine that with his disciplined eye and ability to adjust to pitchers MID AT BAT and his offensive potential is immeasurable. I'll circle back to this one...

163353468-1

3/26/2016 4:54 PM

Future/Prop

(fp) 500.00

4,500.00

Pregame MLB - Prop 2016 MLB Most Valuable Player National League MVP Kris Bryant (CHC) +900

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The (fp) as the risk stands for Bonus Play. I cut a deal with my local to get 10% Bonus Play back on losing weeks so I have some accrued that I like to use on long-shot props. This is a no-brainer for me with Bonus Play at my disposal so I can't really speak to others risking actual cash on this. The futures lines my local uses are vigged pretty heavily so if you are going to bite on this I recommend shopping for a better line (5Dimes has +1000 available at the moment). I can't shop because I only have this Bonus Play at this out but I'd rather have a worse line using Bonus Play than the best line risking cash. Also looking at Arrieta Cy Young winner +600 for Bonus Play while there are some +700-750s out there.

Anyway, I've pretty much already said why I like KB above. I'll add that he's worked with Mallee this offseason to flatten out his swing which should reduce his number of strikeouts and increase his number of homers. It's good to get it up in the air at Wrigley when the wind is blowing out but half the time it's blowing in and you need to hit lasers to get it into the bleachers. Too many times last year did he hit rainmakers that ended up being caught on the warning track. Maddon has also mentioned the importance of getting guys on base in front of Rizzo/Bryant so while he will be toying with the lineup at all times and we will see a lot of variation, I expect most of KB's at bats to come in the 4/5 slot which will give him an unholy amount of RBI opportunities. I think KB wins multiple MVPs in his career and if he plays less than 20 years we've got the odds (9-1 or better) and the supporting cast to take a stab at this... especially when he's playing on a team that is the preseason favorite... W's always help an MVP campaign!

One down, at least one more to go.

Warm it up, Kris!!!! BOOOOM! CASH IT! And it really wasn't even close. One dumbass NY Post Mets Beat Writer voted Murphy first with KB second... what a moron. If not for that biased lunatic, this would've been UNANIMOUS. Kris is now the only player in history to win the Golden Spikes award as the best college POY (2013), the Minor League POY (2014), MLB ROY (2015) and MVP (2016)... capped off with a WS Championship. WOW!

163384846-1

3/27/2016 2:06 PM

Future/Prop

(fp) 500.00

3,000.00

Pregame MLB - Prop 2016 MLB Cy Young Winners 2016 NL Cy Young Winner Jake Arrieta (CHC) +600

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I missed this one, but don't regret it. Jake has some of the best stuff in the game and that didn't change. What really caused his "struggles" this year was control/command. For some reason, it just wasn't clicking consistently this year. That being said, this was still good value and I put "struggles" in quotations because he still had a very solid year (when not unfairly holding him to 2nd half 2015 Jake standards) and was able to throw his second career no-hitter and finish 9th in the Cy Young voting.

So, a final updated including all props/futures:

FINAL Plays YTD Record: 65-43 +$6,422.93

FINAL Futures YTD Record: 4-1 +$18,500 (5-1 +$28,500 with SWT o89)

FINAL Overall YTD Record: 69-44 +$24,922.93 (70-44 +$34,922.93 with SWT o89)

I want to say thank you to everyone that chimed in over the course of the season or tagged along on any of the action... it was fun sharing this special season with you guys!

I leave you with a few photos from the trip my brother and I made to Cleveland for Games 6 & 7 to witness history as well as the victory parade!

EDIT: Well, it looks like the pictures are not cooperating. When I try to upload them I get a red circle with an exclamation point in them which seems to imply the upload failed... perhaps because of sizing. When I try to compress them they won't upload and when I drag them over as attachments they don't show up. If anyone is interested in seeing some pics and has tips for how to get these up, just let me know. <attachment></attachment>