Beautiful

If I remember correctly Aramis hit a walk off last year turned the Brewer's whole season upside down.

thank you to all those that explained to brewcrew what constitutes a better player, pretty sure it is stats and fielding ability, so i am baffled as to how he concluded the Brewers were stronger in 7 of 8 positions???? Brewcrew, care to weigh back in because whatever you have to say would clearly be priceless....

Fact of the matter is the Cubs have been better then the brewers in not only record, but stats as well- thus they are the team to beat. No batter how you try to rationalize the brewers are better, it simply is not so.

I will say though to my fellow cubs fans, let's not start acting like school-girls and scream world series loudly, we are just getting to the all-star break; yes it is ok to be excited, we have an amazing ball club, but proclaiming nonsense only makes us look ignorant as whole, but just gives something for these brewers fans to harp on as they cannot talk about much else....

btw, i need to verify but i believe Sheets has been on the DL more the past 3 years then Harden- so i guess the "injury risk" complaint should be one weighing more heavily in your minds.

Great post Frankie08.  I will take it a little further if you don't mind. 

I absolutely agree that it's too early to bank on anything, but personally when the Cubs made the deal with the A's I sighed a big sigh of relief.  I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that when the Brewcrew acquired Sabathia it had me worried.  The Brewers are a very good team and acquiring the reigning AL Cy Young award winner is huge, and it made our 3 1/2 game lead (at the time) seem a lot smaller.  But Kudos to Jim Hendry.  He took a lot of wind out of the Brewers' sail by making that deal immediately, rather than waiting until the trade deadline.  Hendry responds by getting not 1 but 2 quality starting pitchers with a postseason resume and sent a message not just to Milwaukee, but the rest of baseball saying the Cubs are a serious team to contend with this year.

Ben Sheets and Rich Harden have both seen their share of time on the DL.  The last full season either has pitched without a DL stint was in 2004.  Sheets has made more starts in that time (63 to Harden's 33).  Sheets and Sabathia stack up pretty evenly with Carlos Zambrano and Harden.  I think the Cubs are a little deeper 3-5 with Ryan Dempster, Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis/Chad Gaudin.  There are 2 key differences between the Cubs and Brewers rotations however that I think play big in the Cubs favor, especially since we are talking about 2 potential playoff teams. 

First off, the Cubs rotation has 5 starters with postseason experience, the Brewers have 1 with CC Sabathia.  Also, the Cubs have substantially more depth at pitching.  If Sheets were to go down (based on his past a strong likelihood) his replacement is Jeff Suppan who has not pitched well at all this season. After Suppan, there isn't much of a viable option in Milwaukee.  If Harden were to go on the DL, the Cubs have Marquis/Gaudin, Sean Marshall, or Jon Lieber waiting in the wings, all except Marshall have postseason experience.