BCB After Dark: Pick your poison

We’re open here at BCB After Dark: the hippest hangout for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and spend some time with us. The dress code is casual. There’s still one or two tables available, but you’d better hurry. Bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

How do you solve a problem like Drew Smyly? Smyly was poor yet again tonight as the Cubs fell to the Tigers, 8-6. I don’t think anyone expected Smyly to be a star pitcher this season, just a competent fifth starter. And for the first half of the season, he was. But recently, he doesn’t look like he should be out there anymore. But the Cubs are already down a starter with Marcus Stroman on the injured list and there are only question marks that could replace Smyly in the rotation. But at this point, it doesn’t seem like any of those “question marks”—Hayden Wesneski, Jordan Wicks, Shane Greene, Caleb Kilian—could possibly be any worse than Smyly.

In previous times, the Cubs would pick up a starter in trade who had cleared waivers. But that option is no longer available. Thanks, Rob.

Last night, I asked you if Javier Assad would get a start in the playoffs this year. The vote was close, but 53 percent of you thought that he would not get one. Let’s hope that because there are four other starters who are just a lot better and that Assad will be needed in the bullpen for a couple of Game 7s.

On Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I don’t normally do a movie essay. But I always have time for jazz, so those of you who skip that can do so now. You won’t hurt my feelings.

Tonight we once again feature the all-woman jazz supergroup Artemis in a piece recorded earlier this year. This is “Empress Afternoon.” It features Renee Rosnes on piano, Ingrid Jensen on trumpet, Nicole Glover on tenor sax, Alexa Tarantino on tenor sax, Noriko Ueda on bass and Allison Miller on the drums.

Welcome back to everyone who skips the tunes.

I thought about asking you about Drew Smyly tonight, but what are you going to say? He stinks? And I don’t think that most of you have been following the minor leagues as closely as I do to have a real opinion on who should get a chance to replace him in the rotation. The best option would be for Stroman to come back healthy and effective, but I don’t think the Cubs can count on that anytime soon.

So I’m just going to ask you a simple question tonight that is going to ask for you to be optimistic. I know that Cubs fans are either very optimistic or very pessimistic—some of them even at the same time—but tonight I’m going to ask you to accept that the Cubs will make the playoffs. And I’m going to ask you to accept, for our premises here, that the Cubs win their best-of-three Wild Card Series. Yes, I know that’s a lot of ifs. If tonight is any judge, the Cubs could fall flat on their face the rest of the way.

But it sets up what the real question is. The best two teams in the National League this year are clearly the Braves and the Dodgers. Those two teams are almost guaranteed to have to the two byes in the Wild Card round.

So if the Cubs were to advance to the Division Series round, they would have to play one of those two teams. Which one would you rather the Cubs faced? Which one do you think is more “beatable”?

I don’t want to hear any clichés about “I don’t care who we play, We can only worry about ourselves.” You (probably) don’t play for the Cubs. No one is going to take anything you say as bulletin board material.

And I also don’t want to hear “To get to the World Series, you’ve got to beat them both so it doesn’t matter.” No, that’s not true. You know as well as I do that the Phillies or Brewers or whomever could get hot in a five-game series and upset one of those two teams. Heck, that’s what we’re hoping the Cubs do. So pick the team you think the Cubs are more likely to beat.

Now that doesn’t necessarily mean that you think the one you pick between the Dodgers or Braves are the weaker team. It could just mean that you think the Cubs match up better with one of those two teams. Or I suppose it could mean you live in Southern California or Georgia and you think you can get tickets. If that’s the reason for your vote, I can’t stop you, but that’s not why I’m asking the question.

So between the Dodgers and the Braves, which team would you rather the Cubs face in the Division Series?

Thank you all so very much for stopping by tonight. We were feeling a bit low earlier this evening, but you stopping by really picked up our spirits. Please get home safely. Recycle any cans or bottles you may have brought. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow for more BCB After Dark.