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How the Cubs stack up in the National League wild-card race · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory Filed Territory Network's Cubs podcast. I'm
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at The Athletic. Patrick, after a
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: rough sweep at the hands of the Brewers, the Cubs
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: restored some order here against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Nice wins
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: on Friday and Saturday. The win on on Saturday was, uh,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: that was a hard fought victory. Maybe they didn't deserve
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: to win it in some ways. That's one of those
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: coin flip games that went your way. Maybe, uh, you talk, we,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: we always, I think we dwell on the ones that
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: they blow or, or the ones that you should have
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: won that one. Uh, and they didn't, well, they, they
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: probably stole that one from the pirates. Uh, and, and
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: you enjoy it. You take it, uh, couldn't get the sweep,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: pull off the sweep, but, no dramatic blown saves, no
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: disaster outings from the bullpen. The bullpen looked pretty good
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: and has been fine for a couple, you know, a
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: few games here now. So maybe it's, maybe things are stabilizing.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: It's probably going too far because we need more games
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: to really feel good about it. But, you know, here
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: we are. They're tied for the wildcard lead and two
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: weeks to go and we'll see what happens.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: Coming off that Milwaukee sweep, they definitely needed a weekend
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: like the one they just had in Wrigleyville. You get
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: a nice, comfortable blowout win, winning on a day when
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: Paul Skeens pitches, even though he's maybe not kind of
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: his usual dominant self, still very much a quality victory there.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: On Saturday, that did feel like one of those– am
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: I going to have to totally rewrite my story because
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: Zephyr John just gave up like a huge bomb or
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: something like that and did not happen. It was pretty
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: orderly there. I think you saw Craig Council, you know,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: kind of reading the game and piecing things together. You know,
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: that's going to be hard to do all the time,
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: but there is some, some talent out there. You wrote about,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: Alex Bregman for the athletic Monday's piece. Definitely check that
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: one out. Cause I think that is part of this
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: season too. I mean how he's worked his way back
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: into this. And I think that does give you some
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: confidence of this, this lineup and this defense is top notch.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: And if they could just dial up the pitching a
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: little bit, they'll be in good shape. Yeah.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: I think we've said it, but it, it bears repeating again.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Like you don't want to waste the seasons you're having.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: I think I, I kind of, it kind of hit
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: me the other day that is, am I going to
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: have to give Alex Bregman like a down ballot MVP vote? Like,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: is he going to be in my top 10? And
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: looking at the numbers, it's like, yeah, he's having one
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: of the best defensive seasons he's ever had by some metrics,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: the best defensive season he's had. By some metrics, he's
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: just been on fire at the plate. Barely missed a
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: home run yesterday. Just been really consistent getting big hits
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: for the team. And with him and Pete, you have
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: this one-two punch. And it works because if Sia goes
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: in a little mini slump, it's like, okay, Bregman's stepping up.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: And Pete's pretty consistently there. And this is what this
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: lineup is. It's so deep. You know, other guys can
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: step up as well. Other guys will have big hits.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: And then you look at all these guys and their
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: defensive value and the depth of the defense. It's just
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: a really talented position player group. You don't want it
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: to all come crumbling down because of the pitching. But yeah,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: that I thought about that MVP talk for Bregman. Again,
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: he's not going to get first place votes. I think
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Pete's all but wrapped this up with Shohei going on
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: the IL. And then Shohei likely finishes second. And then
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: you have Eli De La Cruz. And then it's going
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: to be like kind of scattered, those final seven spots,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: because you have 10 spots for MVP vote. So Bregman
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: is going to get some votes. I didn't bring this
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: up to Nico Horner when I talked to him. I said,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: he's really turned his season around. Like it's, it's like,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: I'm like, he's having, you know, a typical Alex Bregman
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: season after we thought it was like kind of a
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: lost season stat stats wise. And he's like, yeah, he's
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: going to get some MVP votes. And I was like,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: I didn't even need to lead him there. He just
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: gave that to me. So he's thinking about it. And
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: he's right. It's been a, an incredible turnaround and it's
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: been a, and I, I don't think I fully realized
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: how good the defense has been, but like it's every
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: game yesterday. He made multiple plays where it's just like,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: I expect him to make those plays. Now these, these
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: high hoppers that like he grabs on short hops that are, yeah,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: there was a bare hand. Like he just makes these
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: plays and it's like, yep. Okay. You're like, damn. But
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: also I expect that from him.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: I mean, Pete, with two weeks to go probably has
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: the MVP wrapped up. It may be even a unanimous vote.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: There's usually one or two contrarians and obviously Shohei's pitching
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: contributions cannot be ignored. But once again, this is a
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: historic season on a lot of levels. I mean, to
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: be honest, I didn't obviously know how good the defense is.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: And I think the offense comes and goes. And I
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: feel like, some of their numbers have been inflated against
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: position players or come in blowouts, but it's hard. I mean,
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: the next run will be their 800th run. I mean,
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: leading the major, it's kind of, I don't, watching it
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: every day, I don't think you feel like this is
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: the highest scoring offense in baseball, maybe because the defense
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: is so good and the pitching injuries have been such
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: a story and Pete has been such a focus, but
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: it is kind of staggering when you look at where
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: this offense and defense ranks. And, yet there's still a
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: little bit of anxiety about whether or not they'll actually
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: make the playoffs or not.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, of course there is. I, I, um, I said
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: that they probably stole one on Saturday. The wind probably
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: stole one away from the Cubs on, on Sunday. Pete probably,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Pete should have had two home runs on a, you know,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: neutral day. Bregman would have had another home run on
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: a neutral day. And that's, that's what, you know, that
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: that's how baseball works, especially at Wrigley field. You're not
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: going to get every single, uh, it's not always going
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: to bounce your way. Sometimes it takes away from your
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: offense instead of providing for offense. Let's take a quick
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: break and then talk about the, look a little bit
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: at the race and where the Cubs stand.
• 7:19
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• 8:21
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, we're in the stretch run here. It's
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: two weeks left, 12 games. Do I have that right?
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Is my number right? 12 games. 12 games left. Let's
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: make this our Fox One app segment. On Deck is
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: presented by the Fox One app. Patrick, the Cubs are
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: currently tied. with, uh, with the Philadelphia Phillies at the
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: top of the, I'm doing this while trying to find the,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: something I'm supposed to put up on the screen. There
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: we go. Uh, they're tied with the Phillies atop the
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: wildcard race, uh, 83 and 67, both teams. They're one
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: and a half games ahead of the Padres two and
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: a half. Do I have that right? Two and a
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: half games.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: No, no, no.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: That's Four, four, that's two and a half games. Yeah,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: two and a half games ahead of, no, four games
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: ahead of the Diamondbacks. Okay, I'll get that right.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: Plus the tiebreaker advantage they have.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: They have the tie, so technically they're tied with the Phillies,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: but it's essentially a game up. We can look at
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: it that way. They have the tiebreaker. This is the
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: opposite of what happened in 23. Three.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: They would have had to, they lost all the tiebreakers
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: in 23. This year they have the tiebreakers. It's a
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: nice little bonus. They have squandered a much bigger lead.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: The Phillies have three against the Nats in Washington and
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: then three against the Mets this weekend. They're off day
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: to day. So the Cubs win tonight. They have a
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: half game lead. It's, you know, I don't know. I
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: don't know if I'd feel like I don't feel like
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: home field advantage is like the biggest deal in baseball.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: I do feel like after last October, there is something
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: about Wrigley Field right now that I don't want to deny.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: And I don't want to pretend like it doesn't matter.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: I think it does right now. So it does feel
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: a little important to just stay even with the Phillies
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: the rest of the way. Don't collapse here. I don't,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: you know, we'll see how hot the Phillies get, but
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: if you can just hang with them and stay where
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: you are, you're winning the wild card.
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: I mean, council would give one of his look answers of,
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: of course they want to play as many games as
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: possible at home, but they're certainly not going to shrink
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: from the challenge if they have to go to Philadelphia.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: And I think, you know, the feeling around the team
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: is like no one until like the first champagne bottle
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: is popped. Like you can't really feel too comfortable. Like
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: we saw what happened in 2023 when the Cubs, I
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: want to say it was around Labor Day weekend. They
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: had 90 plus percentile probabilities to make the playoffs. And,
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: you know, seeing the state of this bullpen and some
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: of these, you know, games they've lost, I think you can't,
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: rule out like it's it's there is a non-zero chance
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: they missed the playoffs but i think you saw this
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: weekend like i think them kind of finding finding another
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: gear or just kind of you know resetting things in
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: a way that you know they just have to kind
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: of hold serve here uh because having having those uh
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: tiebreakers in terms of the season series is huge and
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: you know There's lots of intricacies to the schedule. Obviously,
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: the Padres and Diamondbacks, I believe, play the last weekend
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: of the season. You look at the Cubs' schedule. There
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: are some difficult series there. The Braves at Wrigley Field
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: will not be easy. I'm curious. You'll be at Fenway
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: Park at the end of the season, at the end
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: of the regular season. How much are the Red Sox
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: going to have to play for? Will the Cubs be
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: kind of locked in at that point I know the
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: Phillies and Padres have some difficult clubs on their schedule
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: but again it's like if you're the Padres and you're
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: going to Dodger Stadium what do they have to do
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: at this point so I think still the likely scenario
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: is Cubs at home and then having to go to
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: Milwaukee if they win just like last year but everything's
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: still very much up in.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: The air yeah looking at that Boston may like just
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: be locked into where they are Yeah.
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: Let me punt that.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: So like, why would they pitch any of their good
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: pitchers that could bode really well for the Cubs, uh,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: depending on what the standings are at that point. Um,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: I agree with you. I think, you know, home field
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: advantage for the first round, Milwaukee, second round. I think
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: we all want to see that. Uh, like I, I
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: think that would be really fun. I'd be looking forward
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: to it. Great storylines. Uh, great. Uh, you know, can
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: the Cubs get revenge or does Milwaukee continue to dominate them? Um,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: I think it'd be like, you know, there are some
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: perfect like scenarios for us to write about if they
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: come up. Uh, can Alex Bregman come up with the
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: big hits that Kyle Tucker couldn't, uh, last, last October? Um,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: I was joking with someone in the dugout yesterday after, uh,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: after we were done interviewing people, um, and, and they suggested, uh, uh,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: I hope Carson Kelly gets a huge at-bat against Abner Uribe.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: There you go.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: Still talking about the B.J.
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: Murray pitch.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: So, I agree. I think that would be a great
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: scenario for us to re-litigate in the press box. But, yeah,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: first things first. They need to win the wild card. And, yeah,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: I do think they're set up nicely here. It's mostly
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: series that could... This, this week, these next three we'll see,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: I think sale is set up for game three of
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: this series. But I'm not, it's still unannounced. So that,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: that's going to be the toughest one, obviously. But we'll see,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: we'll see where everything lands with that. And their biggest obstacle,
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: you know, you'd like to see some, Some more consistency
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: from Gossman, obviously, after those. He's had some rough outings.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: He's had some great outings. Get him locked in. Matthew
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: Boyd has been pretty good since his rough stretch. And
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: then Clay Holmes looks consistently like the number one. And
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: Shota Imanaga, we're so hard on him, but maybe just
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: as like, even if you don't trust him like a
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: third time through the lineup, The way your staff is built,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: it's like if he goes four or five innings, you
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: can go long with Savali or just piece things together
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: with a bullpen that we're still trying to gain trust
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: back in. Why don't we take– let's wrap this up
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: and we'll talk about the bullpen in a moment. MLB
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: on Fox is streaming on Fox 1. The race to
• 15:56
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• 15:59
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• 16:03
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• 16:07
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• 16:17
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• 16:23
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick. Bullpen. We have a few things going on.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: First of all, you were there when Edward Cabrera was activated.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: He still hasn't gotten in a game, but they're going
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: to look for, I assume, well, you tell me what
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Craig Council had to say about Edward Cabrera's transition to
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: the bullpen.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: It was the full council experience. I think one of
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: his first answers was, quote, he is a member of
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: the bullpen, which I thought he was just going to
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: kind of play the out-getter, we'll see how the game
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: presents itself line of answers. But he actually was quite
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: expansive in a way that I was sort of stunned
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: comparing him to Roki Suzuki and what he did for
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: the Dodgers during their world series run, uh, last year. And,
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: you know, for, for context council, probably like most managers
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: hates these cops of the front, front offices do it
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: all the time. Uh, media people do it all the time.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: Scouts always have these kind of snapshots in their head.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: It's just a way to contextualize things. No one's saying,
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: you know, player X is going to do what player
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: Y did, but like, It's a complicated game. There's a
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: lot of numbers floating out there and just a way
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: to kind of ground it. I think back to people
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: asking about Crow Armstrong after he signed his contract extension,
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: you know, coming off an all-star season. And Craig literally
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: said that like you, you have kind of a mental
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: Rolodex of players you've seen at that age, you know,
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: it's ahead of him. And I of course tried to get, well,
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: who does he remind you of? And he said, was
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: not going to go there, but I think it shows
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: how with Cabrera, they're sort of desperate. They don't have
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: a whole lot of other options here. And I think
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: it's a way to try and get buy-in from the player,
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: maybe pump a little confidence into him, you know, send
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: a little bit of a message through, through the media.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: But that's, this is what council expressed to Cabrera in
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: their meeting when he was activated of, look, this is
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: the roadmap here. You know, does it, does it mean
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: it's going to happen? No, but it's something they have
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: to keep, they have to be open-minded about. It's because
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: Suzuki did not have a great regular season last year.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: He was injured for most of it. He wasn't lights
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: out during his rehab appearance, appearance, sorry, rehab assignment at AAA,
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: but he, He pitched in nine postseason wins last year
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: and some real high leverage moments. And, you know, the
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: Cubs likely path is, you know, almost certainly through the
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: wild card start to their postseason journey, potentially. So you're
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: going to need a lot of pitching and, you know,
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: the other comp he threw out there was Clayton Kershaw.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: And now that was a broader one of just like,
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: you know, you have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: His point was that Kershaw closed out, I believe it
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: was the 2018 NLCS. It was just like one inning playoff.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: I think it technically wasn't a safe situation, but everyone's
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: sort of on call if you're a pitcher during the postseason.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: And Cabrera, I don't think he's going to be Roki Sasaki,
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: but I just thought it was interesting that that was
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: a name that was thrown out there.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: So here's how I look at that cup. Roki Sasaki
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: was a huge disappointment as a starter last year. his
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: fastball was a huge disappointment. It was like, what's wrong
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: with this fastball? Why like it, it, he throws his hard,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: but everyone hits it or he can't command it. That's
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: where I see the comparison. Like Edward Cabrera has been
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: a really big disappointment as a starter. And he has
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: a fastball that's electric in one sense, velocity wise, but
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: just gets hit hard, whether it's the sinker or the,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: or the four seamer. Like it's, and that's not to
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: say he can't thrive in this role. And that's like,
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: that's where I see the comparison. It's like, this guy
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: has been a really big disappointment and then he, and,
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: and he turned it on at the right time in
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: a different role. That's what Roki Sasaki did. Can Edward
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: Cabrera do that? Like, it's not something you bet on.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: You're not going to bet on that and say, I'm
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: feel very confident that this is going to happen. I'm
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: not going to rule it out. I need to see
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: him miss bats. I need to see that curve ball
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: look sharp again. I need to see him be confident
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: out there and like, He is a big, imposing figure.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: Go out there and shove and dominate and look like this.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: I know that's all intangibles and not exactly how it
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: all works, but go out there, use your nasty stuff,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: have confidence in it, and overpower the opposition for one inning.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: That's all you have to do. Can you do it?
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: Let's see. My assumption is he's not going to put
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: him out there. He didn't use him the last two
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: days because those were close games. He very well could have. Uh,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: but he didn't, he didn't use them in either situation.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: So that tells me is at least for the first
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: time he wants to get them in a, in a
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: softer landing.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: Right. Uh, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. For sure.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So, so we'll see after that, but got to
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: get them out there, whatever the score is and, and
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: see what he does. And then can you, can he
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: gain council's trust and become a difference maker? They need
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: another difference maker. I will say this in the bullpen.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: It was nice. Uh, Webb went back-to-back games? Am I
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: remembering this correctly? Now the games are all starting to
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: blend together. Webb pitched this weekend. He was huge on Saturday.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: I mean, it was bases loaded.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: He got, I believe it was O'Neal Cruz to ground
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: out to keep it a one-run game. Went back out there.
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: Got four outs. Go to Rolison. Zephyr John gets the
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: last out. And I think one of the takeaways from
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: Sunday was Daniel Palencia walking off the mound after getting
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: a whiff on a 100-mile-an-hour fastball. That's something you need
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: to see if the Cubs are going to have a
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: long playoff run.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Right. He had five swings and misses. This is courtesy
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: of Jordan Bastian that we were talking in the press
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: box because– I'd notice how I was like, this guy's
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: not getting any swing and miss. I think I mentioned
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: this last podcast. That's where I got concerned. I was
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: always like, he's going to find his rhythm. He's going
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: to find his rhythm. But then I was like, what?
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: No swing and miss is really concerning. And I think
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: it was... I think it was over his previous five outings.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: You know, I should really double check this, but it's
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: over his previous five outings. It was combined to swing
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: and miss something like that, something ridiculous. And he got
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: five and one outing. It hadn't happened in a little while.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: Big deal. That is a big deal for everyone. It's
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: a big deal for him. Confidence wise. It's a big
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: deal for council and the staff confidence wise. And it's
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: a big deal for us observing him to be like, ah, okay,
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: you can still do it. It's there. It's in the tank.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: Can he do it consistently? Stack this. Next time out,
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: how much swing and miss? How confident does he look?
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: Is he hitting 100? Is he going over 100? Can
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: he get back? Look, if he's the guy that we
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: all know he is, that is a dominant relief weapon.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: If he can be the best version of himself, it
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: is a no doubt dominant version. So here's how the
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: best case scenario, right? You have him and and Edward
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: Cabrera is good. And then you have Jacob Webb, who's
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: not your eighth or ninth inning guy, but your seventh
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: inning right-hander. And then we have other names, Shelby Miller,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Justin Steele. I don't like, I just don't know what
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: to expect from any of them right now. When is
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Shelby Miller coming up? I assume he's still on target
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: to come up this week. It would make sense. Had
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: an outing yesterday at triple a, uh, such a huge
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: injury that he's coming off of so quickly. Can he, my,
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: my feeling on him is similar to Cabrera in one sense.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: It's like give him one outing. And like, if council
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: says like, yeah, there's, I trust that stuff. The stuff
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: is there. He's, he can get major league hitters out.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: And with his experience, he's probably like easier to trust
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: because you know, he can handle an eighth inning and
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: ninth inning and, at the highest level and against the
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: best of the best. You know he has that intangible quality.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Is the stuff there? Can he do it? Can he
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: do it two out of three days? All those, those
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: are the types of things that I guess council will
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: probably want to be seeing. Don't have a lot of
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: time to get there, but, and I guess ultimately this
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: is not where you want to be with the bullpen
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: at this point in the season, but this is the
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: scenario they're at. There is a path. There's still this
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: ridiculously narrow path And I'm not saying it's the likeliest one,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: that it kind of locks in.
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: Cubs have two weeks to define their season here. If
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: making the playoffs is the goal every single year, getting
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: there matters. It's how organizations, front offices, coaching staffs are evaluated.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: The Cubs are still very much on track. But there
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: is that sort of, what was the phrase you used?
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: Narrow track, narrow pathway where it just goes completely off
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: the rails. And so it should be fun. Kind of
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: what we're talking about in the middle segment there of
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: every game matters at this point. Should be fun to watch,
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: I'm guessing. I'm curious to see what the environment is like.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: Is that Wrigley, you know, September? I know school's back
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: in session, but it's crunch time here.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. It's always fun, though. Like, Council has said it
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: multiple times, and I think it.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: You know, he's usually very matter-of-fact, but I do feel
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: like when he talks about this stuff, it does feel
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: like a little whimsical about the fun of baseball, you know,
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: like in kind of... This is what you work all
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: year for. Yeah, like this is what you want to
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: get to. These are the fun times. Let's see what
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: they can do.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: That's it for this episode of Northside Territory. Make sure
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: to rate, review, subscribe. Subscribe to the YouTube channel and
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: subscribe to The Athletic. We're Patrick and Aaron, type of
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: all things Cubs. Thanks for listening and watching, everyone. Take care.