I admit it...

[Quality Start Machine]

Every Jake Arrieta start is potentially his last one as a Cub, and it makes me a little sad.

Others may have been better overall for longer, but he was, for a time, bar-none the best pitcher I've ever seen in a Cubs uniform. Or any other.

Since the start of the Liveball Era in 1920 no qualified Cubs starting pitcher has as a lower ERA than Jake (2.73). Damn right he was the best. Kyle's not far behind though at 2.98

It'll be a bitch seeing him in another uniform, but winning teams know when to say goodbye. You can bet your ass I'll give him the Standing O before hoping the Cubs beat his brains in.

[SKO]

Every Jake Arrieta start is potentially his last one as a Cub, and it makes me a little sad.

Others may have been better overall for longer, but he was, for a time, bar-none the best pitcher I've ever seen in a Cubs uniform. Or any other.

Since the start of the Liveball Era in 1920 no qualified Cubs starting pitcher has as a lower ERA than Jake (2.73). Damn right he was the best. Kyle's not far behind though at 2.98

It'll be a bitch seeing him in another uniform, but winning teams know when to say goodbye. You can bet your ass I'll give him the Standing O before hoping the Cubs beat his brains in.

He put together a very good second half and hopefully he has a few more good postseason starts to make but I'd be scared shitless to offer him a long term deal. His velocity and command have both declined a ton over the last two years and he had to basically completely reinvent himself as a sinkerballer to survive and I'm not sure he'll be good for much longer.

[Quality Start Machine]

Every Jake Arrieta start is potentially his last one as a Cub, and it makes me a little sad.

Others may have been better overall for longer, but he was, for a time, bar-none the best pitcher I've ever seen in a Cubs uniform. Or any other.

Since the start of the Liveball Era in 1920 no qualified Cubs starting pitcher has as a lower ERA than Jake (2.73). Damn right he was the best. Kyle's not far behind though at 2.98

It'll be a bitch seeing him in another uniform, but winning teams know when to say goodbye. You can bet your ass I'll give him the Standing O before hoping the Cubs beat his brains in.

He put together a very good second half and hopefully he has a few more good postseason starts to make but I'd be scared shitless to offer him a long term deal. His velocity and command have both declined a ton over the last two years and he had to basically completely reinvent himself as a sinkerballer to survive and I'm not sure he'll be good for much longer.

That'll be for another team to worry about. We've got all winter to get into that - let's enjoy whatever the Cubs give us on the field in the meantime.

[Saul Goodman]

...I still like Bryce Harper.  Sean Doolittle is also ok.  The rest of their team can go fuck themselves.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

I feel a little bad for Dusty Baker.

[Armchair_QB]

I feel a little bad for Dusty Baker.

I don't

[SKO]

I feel a little bad for Dusty Baker.

In May 2003 my Grandpa suffered the first round of hemorrhagic strokes that would take his life. They gave him a few weeks. He and I watched Mark Prior K 16 Brewers from his hospital bed.

He held on though. The Cubs kept winning. He started to recover. "My God," I said, "the Cubs are going to win it for Grandpa." I had the phone ready all throughout Game 6. We were gonna talk about the Cubs going to the world series together.

And then the 8th inning happened. And Dusty sat on his fucking hands and did nothing--NOTHING as it happened. And they lost. And I never made that call. Grandpa died that January.

Sports are stupid and irrational and you should remember these are people yada yada yada but I wanted a World Series with my Grandpa before he died and this inept, aw shucks, excuse-making sonofabitch sat on his hands and kept that from happening. I will never, for one goddamn second,  feel sorry for him.

[Bort]

I feel a little bad for Dusty Baker.

I don't

Oh goodness no. I hope he fails forever.

[HumbleJerry]

I feel a little bad for Dusty Baker.

I don't

Oh goodness no. I hope he fails forever.

[Brownie]

I feel a little bad for Dusty Baker.

In May 2003 my Grandpa suffered the first round of hemorrhagic strokes that would take his life. They gave him a few weeks. He and I watched Mark Prior K 16 Brewers from his hospital bed.

He held on though. The Cubs kept winning. He started to recover. "My God," I said, "the Cubs are going to win it for Grandpa." I had the phone ready all throughout Game 6. We were gonna talk about the Cubs going to the world series together.

And then the 8th inning happened. And Dusty sat on his fucking hands and did nothing--NOTHING as it happened. And they lost. And I never made that call. Grandpa died that January.

Sports are stupid and irrational and you should remember these are people yada yada yada but I wanted a World Series with my Grandpa before he died and this inept, aw shucks, excuse-making sonofabitch sat on his hands and kept that from happening. I will never, for one goddamn second,  feel sorry for him.

Say what you will about Joe, but Dusty's role in this win should not be forgotten.

[SKO]

I feel a little bad for Dusty Baker.

In May 2003 my Grandpa suffered the first round of hemorrhagic strokes that would take his life. They gave him a few weeks. He and I watched Mark Prior K 16 Brewers from his hospital bed.

He held on though. The Cubs kept winning. He started to recover. "My God," I said, "the Cubs are going to win it for Grandpa." I had the phone ready all throughout Game 6. We were gonna talk about the Cubs going to the world series together.

And then the 8th inning happened. And Dusty sat on his fucking hands and did nothing--NOTHING as it happened. And they lost. And I never made that call. Grandpa died that January.

Sports are stupid and irrational and you should remember these are people yada yada yada but I wanted a World Series with my Grandpa before he died and this inept, aw shucks, excuse-making sonofabitch sat on his hands and kept that from happening. I will never, for one goddamn second,  feel sorry for him.

Say what you will about Joe, but Dusty's role in this win should not be forgotten.

I don't hate Joe. I bitch about him a lot but there's not another manager out there other than maybe Francona that I'd take over him. He's a great manager that does a lot of dumb shit sometimes largely because he overthinks things. I don't particularly care for how smarmy and defensive he gets when questioned on some of those Galaxy Brain moves, either.

I've said before it's no coincidence his teams player better in the second half, that they seem remarkably resilient, that they're close-knit, etc. He does all of the things fans can't see very well, obviously, and he's not the worst we've had at the other stuff. I'd certainly take his "my special number really likes this matchup for Heyward even if he's been dead for two years" methodology over Dusty's "second baseman bats second, dude" dumbshittery, even if both can be frustrating.

[Quality Start Machine]

I feel a little bad for Dusty Baker.

In May 2003 my Grandpa suffered the first round of hemorrhagic strokes that would take his life. They gave him a few weeks. He and I watched Mark Prior K 16 Brewers from his hospital bed.

He held on though. The Cubs kept winning. He started to recover. "My God," I said, "the Cubs are going to win it for Grandpa." I had the phone ready all throughout Game 6. We were gonna talk about the Cubs going to the world series together.

And then the 8th inning happened. And Dusty sat on his fucking hands and did nothing--NOTHING as it happened. And they lost. And I never made that call. Grandpa died that January.

Sports are stupid and irrational and you should remember these are people yada yada yada but I wanted a World Series with my Grandpa before he died and this inept, aw shucks, excuse-making sonofabitch sat on his hands and kept that from happening. I will never, for one goddamn second,  feel sorry for him.

Say what you will about Joe, but Dusty's role in this win should not be forgotten.

I don't hate Joe. I bitch about him a lot but there's not another manager out there other than maybe Francona that I'd take over him. He's a great manager that does a lot of dumb shit sometimes largely because he overthinks things. I don't particularly care for how smarmy and defensive he gets when questioned on some of those Galaxy Brain moves, either.

I've said before it's no coincidence his teams player better in the second half, that they seem remarkably resilient, that they're close-knit, etc. He does all of the things fans can't see very well, obviously, and he's not the worst we've had at the other stuff. I'd certainly take his "my special number really likes this matchup for Heyward even if he's been dead for two years" methodology over Dusty's "second baseman bats second, dude" dumbshittery, even if both can be frustrating.

He's taken the Cubs at least to the NLCS all three years he's been here. I don't care if he's got a tic-tac-toe chicken from Chinatown picking the batting order.

[SKO]

I feel a little bad for Dusty Baker.

In May 2003 my Grandpa suffered the first round of hemorrhagic strokes that would take his life. They gave him a few weeks. He and I watched Mark Prior K 16 Brewers from his hospital bed.

He held on though. The Cubs kept winning. He started to recover. "My God," I said, "the Cubs are going to win it for Grandpa." I had the phone ready all throughout Game 6. We were gonna talk about the Cubs going to the world series together.

And then the 8th inning happened. And Dusty sat on his fucking hands and did nothing--NOTHING as it happened. And they lost. And I never made that call. Grandpa died that January.

Sports are stupid and irrational and you should remember these are people yada yada yada but I wanted a World Series with my Grandpa before he died and this inept, aw shucks, excuse-making sonofabitch sat on his hands and kept that from happening. I will never, for one goddamn second,  feel sorry for him.

Say what you will about Joe, but Dusty's role in this win should not be forgotten.

I don't hate Joe. I bitch about him a lot but there's not another manager out there other than maybe Francona that I'd take over him. He's a great manager that does a lot of dumb shit sometimes largely because he overthinks things. I don't particularly care for how smarmy and defensive he gets when questioned on some of those Galaxy Brain moves, either.

I've said before it's no coincidence his teams player better in the second half, that they seem remarkably resilient, that they're close-knit, etc. He does all of the things fans can't see very well, obviously, and he's not the worst we've had at the other stuff. I'd certainly take his "my special number really likes this matchup for Heyward even if he's been dead for two years" methodology over Dusty's "second baseman bats second, dude" dumbshittery, even if both can be frustrating.

He's taken the Cubs at least to the NLCS all three years he's been here. I don't care if he's got a tic-tac-toe chicken from Chinatown picking the batting order.

Yeah, and this is a fair answer. I complain about lineups etc because those are just things that as a fan you can observe and argue you with and be an armchair manager over. Disagreeing with him doesn't mean I want him fired or hate him.

[Canadouche]

Yeah. He created the atmosphere that allowed a team to repeatedly overcome the crushing pressure that accompanies a Cubs playoff trip. As far as I'm concerned, he can stay until the day of his choosing.

And since this is the "I admit it" thread...

Until the late innings of last night, I haven't been stressed out at all about this post season. I track my resting heart rate on my Apple Watch. In 2015 and 2016, it frequently touched on 110-120 during games while I was lying in bed.

Last night, I hit 110 during a few of stress-filled innings. Otherwise, I've been floating between 80-90. I don't know what the atmosphere is like at the park, but it has to be a lot different from past years.

[SKO]

I feel a little bad for Dusty Baker.

Also if it helps remember his personal fluffer Bob Nightengale wrote these words just last week:

Now, with a toothpick in his mouth, and boulder-sized chip on his shoulder, Dusty Baker, the 68-year-old manager of the Washington Nationals, is embarking on a vengeance tour.

It starts at 7:31 Friday (TBS), in the National League Division Series, when the Nationals play the Chicago Cubs, the team that fired him 11 years ago, and he never forgot.

Fuck Dusty. If he ain't over it, why should I be?