Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / What we’re hearing: How the Cubs are lined up for the stretch run

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What we’re hearing: How the Cubs are lined up for the stretch run · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Welcome into north side territory foul territory networks cubs podcast
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: i'm sahadev sharma with my partner patrick mooney we are
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: your cubs beat writers over at the athletic and patrick
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: since we last spoke to our audience uh the cubs
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: wrapped up a four game split with the milwaukee brewers
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: uh they are as we record they'll be wrapping up
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: three games in Miami. They've won that series already. We'll
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: see if they can sweep it. Now they're going to,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: after that, they're going to head to Milwaukee for another three.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: So seven games with Milwaukee in a kind of a
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: 10 day span here. Look, the division is, is all
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: but one for Milwaukee. We can, you know, if you
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: want to dream, you're allowed to, but this is, it's,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: it's a seven game difference. We got, three weeks, less
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: than less than 20 games or 21 games. Uh, yeah. Uh,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: less than 19 games left as we record. Uh, it's that's,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: that's not going to happen.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Uh, no, no math doesn't work.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Uh, That's all to say, look, the Milwaukee Brewers
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: are going to run away with this division in all likelihood.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Maybe it'll end up looking closer by the end of
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: the season. But they've dominated this division for a few
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: months now. But we were just talking before we started
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: recording here. I don't look at the Milwaukee Brewers, I
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: think you agree with this, and say, like, how are
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: the Cubs going to beat this team in the playoffs?
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: They lost a game. uh, started by Mizorowski, uh, that,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: you know, frankly, they should have won. And we'll talk
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: about the bullpen in a little bit, but they, they
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: put five runs up on Jacob Mizorowski and four innings.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: That's better than any other team has done all season long.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: They hit him.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Well, uh, they hit Kyle Harrison. Well, uh, this team
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: has offense. This team has some solid starting pitching. And
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: if they can get the bullpen, right. I don't see
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: why they can't, uh, take down the Brewers, it's going
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: to be, if they face them in the playoffs, it's
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: going to be another one of those coin flip series
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: where it's that one moment kind of makes everything, makes
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: all the difference.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the Brewers have sort of embarrassed the
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: Cubs over the last several years. Like, it's a constant
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: source of frustration. You know, hiring Craig Council away didn't
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: fundamentally change things The Cubs do this with, you know,
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: are looking up at the Brewers in the stands again
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: with a much bigger payroll. I think what the Brewers
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: do on the pitching side is super mysterious and interesting,
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: which doesn't make the Cubs look great. But at the
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: same time, I'm with you. Like, I don't, even going
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: beyond the fact that the playoffs are a crapshoot, like
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: baseball's kind of, random. You never know what happens in
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: a short series. I think just watching these two teams,
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: they played 10 times, have won six and outscored the
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Cubs by five runs. And so you saw what happened
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: in last year's playoffs. It came down to a couple
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: games in an elimination game. And the Cubs are right there.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: You've got Al Tucker comes up with a big hit,
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: maybe it's a different story. And so, like, we can't, like,
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: the Cubs don't get, you know, parades for sort of
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: being competitive with the Brewers. But you know how those
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: guys are in the clubhouse. If this winds up being
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: another Brewers-Cubs series, and granted, Cubs have to make the playoffs,
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: and they would have to, we're assuming, advance through wildcard
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: round and probably come in a little bit. but even
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: under those circumstances, I think they would be extremely confident, um,
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: going into a Wrigley field North.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah. There have been moments in this rivalry, whatever you
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: want to call it over the past few years where
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: we're just look like, how can the Cubs, like, how
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: are the brewers doing this and why are the Cubs
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: so far behind? Uh, like you look at the standings,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: I think you can, you, you may feel that way.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: I think when you watch these teams play, I do
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: not feel that way. It's very much felt over the
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: years where the Cubs would be kind of close early
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: on in the season. And they just looked like different
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: teams looked like it just looked like the Brewers just
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: were doing things better than the Cubs. I think when
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: you look at the Cubs now that there's something, you know,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: where we're, they have an elite defense. They, they don't
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: make mistakes on defense. Uh, council kind of touched on
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: it on Tuesday. They have to be great on defense. Uh,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: I think he was just a, I'm not sure exactly
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: what he was. His point was at that point in time,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: because I, I do think like the bullpen just kind of, uh,
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: had a mini meltdown that night, uh, two nights in
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: a row, really. They just, the, the bullpen wasn't pitching
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: well enough. Uh, but when you watch this team, it's
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: like they have an elite, they have two elite groups.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: When you look at their defense and their offense, like
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: these are two of the best, uh, I mean, arguably
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: the best defense and the best offense in baseball. And
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: then when you start getting good starting pitching, um, it, it, it,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: it just comes down to, to one area. And I
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: guess we can, we can talk a little bit about that. Um,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: That Brewer series just brought about more questions. Since we recorded,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: Jacob Webb took a line drive off his forearm. That
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: has not ended up putting him on the IL. X-rays
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: were negative. When we talked to him, it was swollen.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: He thought he was going to miss the IL. It's
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Sunday now. He hasn't pitched since, but he also... hasn't
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: been put on the IL. So I think they're just
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: trying to get through this without putting him on the IL.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Something that I've noticed, and I'm sure everyone's noticed after
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: Saturday's win, Ryan Zephyrjohn looks a lot better. And it's
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: not just like he figured one thing out. He's using
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: different pitches. He figured the sweeper out. He's throwing that
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: for strikes. And now he was such a heavy four-seamer pitcher,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: and now he's just like, going to that sinker a
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: ton and that sinker paired with that sweeper is a
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: really good pitch, especially when hitters are up there thinking
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: his main fastball is a four seamer. They're not barreling
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: it up. Uh, he's, he's putting the ball on the
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: ground a ton now, and he can still come at
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: you with the 99 mile per hour for a seamer
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: elevated and get some swing and miss. Uh, You want
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: to see him stack the good outings together, but he's
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: starting to look like the guy. It's not the exact
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: version of the guy that they acquired, but the Cubs
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: are like, hey, use this pitch a little bit more
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: because your four-seamer isn't moving the way it was early
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: in the season when it was a dominant pitch. Let's
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: switch things up a little. And it's worked out really
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: well so far. I'm really curious to see what he
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: can do going forward and how good he can actually be.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the important idea is stacking those good
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: outings because with the way this bullpen has gone recently,
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: I feel like we could record this, and then all
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: of a sudden Milwaukee will see. You know how those
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: games are in Milwaukee, just the back-and-forth nature of them,
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: and let's see it in a high-leverage spot. But your
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: council keeps saying this for a reason. They have to
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: get the guys who are already here and in the
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: majors right and they can't pin all their hopes on,
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: you know, the, the Iowa rehabbers, like, you know, it
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: would be bonus if some of these guys pop and
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: are able to contribute and we'll get to them in
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: a second, but it's just not like realistic or very
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: strategic to like plan on these guys to all of
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: a sudden just like be lights out at the most
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: important time of the year. And, you know, I'm curious
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: out of we've, we were told that Ben Brown is
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: out for the rest of the season. What was your
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: takeaway from, you know, that confirmation the other day?
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's, that's a good question. There were a couple
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: of things. First of all, like it, I think we
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: kind of understood that this was the likely conclusion. They
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: just wanted to exhaust all options and make sure Ben
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: was comfortable before going forward and announcing this. We've talked
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: about with so much of this stuff that time was
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: running out once he had that setback. Honestly, my takeaway,
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: and I didn't hammer this too much in my writing,
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: but I just don't know what his future holds. I
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: don't want... to speculate too much. I guess we won't
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: know when spring training starts. We don't really know when
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: we'll be able to talk to these guys again after
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: the season ends. But the conclusion that the Cubs came
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: to after this, and I know people are going to
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: criticize the training staff or whoever they want to criticize
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: the medical decisions that they make. Uh, I think it
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: makes sense. They waited until there were no symptoms. Uh, and,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: and he was able to progress without pain. I think
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: that makes sense to do that. Like sometimes, sometimes x-rays
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: or MRIs or things, they don't come back perfect, but
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: it's like, look, this isn't like a full break or
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: a tear or whatever you can, there are ways we
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: can work through this. Um, And he started to feel
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: the pain again. That's a setback. And now the conclusion
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: is it has to be 100% healed. They had another,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: I think I asked the question imaging. So I don't
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: know exactly what scan he had, but they had more
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: imaging done. There is still, as counsel put it, like
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: an injury, quote unquote, there. It's not 100% healed. So
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: now you have to wait for it to be 100% healed.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: So my questions are, how long does it take to
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: get 100% healed? And then does that eliminate the recurrence?
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Was it not 100% healed when he started throwing again
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: whenever it was before the 2025 season? And it just
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: took a year and a half to have the pain again?
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: I'm unclear on that. I guess they didn't have an
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: exact diagnosis prior to 2025 or an incorrect diagnosis prior
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: to 2025. So there's some things that aren't like super
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: clear here and i think the only way we're going
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: to get answers is you know down to the future
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: and this is a much further down the down the
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: line topic because we don't even know what the offseason
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: holds or what next season holds but man do the
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: cubs have a lot of questions for 2027 and beyond
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: about their rotation which is why when we talk about
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: like hey can they resign say a suzuki can they
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: do this They have to invest so much money into
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: the rotation or so much, I shouldn't say money, so
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: many resources, trades and or money. So like Ben Brown's
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: future is just like a question for me. You know,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: you want to be optimistic for the guy. He's a
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: guy that is easy to root for because he's super
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: positive and he's overcome a lot and looks so good.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: And like fans obviously want the best version of Ben Brown.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: But that's the question I have. That's what I came
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: away with. thinking like i just don't know what to
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: think about this guy's future anymore like you cannot pencil
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: pencil him him in to the future rotation obviously he's
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: he's not a part of the 2026 season going forward
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: um he just would have been like you would feel
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: a lot better if if we were like talking if
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: this episode right now was like hey ben brown's probably
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: going to be activated in milwaukee or something like that
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: i mean how good would you feel about the bullpen
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: in the sense that like hey zephyr john's coming along
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: and now they got this guy ben brown coming back
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: like You know, as long as Webb's healthy, this is
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: a fun situation and you can let Daniel Palencia kind
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: of figure things out, work some low leverage. You don't
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: feel as much pressure on him or the other injured
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: guys coming back as well.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's important to remember these are all kind of
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: fluid situations. We're sort of hearing these things third or
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: fourth hand. You know, counsel is getting... updates and the
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: player is sort of filtering this information, which there is
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: sort of an art to this. It's not always strictly science.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: It's interpreting kind of what they're seeing on the screen.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: And Ben has been a very thoughtful kind of honest
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: interview over these last several years but it feels like
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: even and i this is not like pointing figures at
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: anyone but it seems like he's been getting sort of
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: like conflicting theories uh you know in regards to that
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: initial you know what sounded like a misdiagnosis uh as
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: well as this idea of will he have to totally
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: alter his mechanics or not like ben was the last
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: time i talked to him about this was kind of
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: conflicted on that idea. So it was definitely something to
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: kind of put on the back burner. They have a
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: lot of time to try and figure that out, but
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: I think it just really underlines why they can't just
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: like pencil Justin Steele's name in for October. Although Steele
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: and Shelby Miller are going to try and make it
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: interesting here and become a factor.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so we got back-to-back outings for Shelby Miller Friday
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: and Saturday. I think that I saw on Twitter, I
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: saw his box score. It doesn't look great on Saturday,
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Shelby Miller. What the Iowa broadcaster tweeted was he basically
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: struck out the side, and the third strikeout they didn't
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: challenge for some reason. He wasn't clear on that, and
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: then it kind of unraveled after there. The results haven't
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: been perfect. Everything that I'm hearing and everything that I
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: see on like StatCast, the stuff is there. He's sitting 96,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: touching 97. You know, you just hope like you just
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: hope like a veteran like him comes in, locks it
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: in and and is able to to help the team
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: as long as he's feeling good today. Today's the test, right?
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: They're going to find out. Maybe council will know. by
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: now at some point when he talks to reporters or maybe, uh, we'll,
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: we'll have a better understanding when we're in Milwaukee tomorrow. Uh, it,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: it sounds like he's going to be someone that they'll, uh,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: give a look, uh, down the stretch here and try
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: and incorporate into the bullpen. Um, steel is supposed to
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: pitch as like today we're recording on a Sunday. Uh,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: that'll be a second outing after making an outing Wednesday. Um,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: To me, it's still hard for me to see how
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: he gets incorporated well before the season ends. But I
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: think the way I can see him impacting the team
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: is if he gets up to two innings and he's
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: a two-inning burst guy, two-plus even, if that's possible, I
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: don't know exactly what they're looking to do. Could this
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: be a situation where they don't need him where they
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: look at him as like a multi-inning guy that could
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: go every other day, every like with the two day gap.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: Can you roster someone like that in the post season?
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: Can you, can you continue to gain confidence in him
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: as you advance in the rounds and use them in
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: different situations? I think those are the questions that are
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: like really hard to answer because this is one of
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: those more unique rehabs and, and like, we don't see
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: this that often where guys been out for 18 ish months,
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: maybe not that long, but we're approaching that every hasn't
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: been to the big leagues in that long. And then
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: you want to use them in the playoffs. It's just a,
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: you don't see that a lot, but also someone that
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: has proven like, you know, he has the, you know, uh,
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: the ability, you know, he has the toughness, you know,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: he has the mountain presence, all the like, uh, the,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: both the tangible things and the intangible things, you know,
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: he can handle these things. Can he physically do it?
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: And is he ready to. Yeah.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, in the end, we're sort of talking about
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: guys around the edges of the roster, like bubble players.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: And I think if you want to be optimistic, you
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: can look at clay homes, who I think we both
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: would agree is looking like a game one playoff starter, uh,
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: Kevin Gossman has certainly looked like a front-end playoff starter.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: It hasn't been entirely smooth. There's been some blips, but
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: when he's on, he's been outstanding, and he has the
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: postseason pedigree that I think you have to trust. I
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: think Matthew Boyd, during his time in Chicago has proven
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: that he's someone, uh, you can trust. It hasn't been
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: the smoothest year for a lot of different reasons. Uh,
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: but still, I think you'd feel good if he's starting
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: a game three and then, you know, Shota Imanaga had
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: that bounce back outing this weekend that, um, I think
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: he needed, um, to sort of change the narrative or
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: shift the momentum. Um, And, you know, reading Vinny Duber's
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: story in the Sun-Times, I thought Council made a good
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: point of just, like, people seem to overreact to Shota's
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: bad outings. Now the Cubs sort of, like, fueled that
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: by totally avoiding him in Game 5 last year in
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: Milwaukee and declining their three-year option on him last offseason.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: But I think the point stands. that his body of
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: work as a major league pitcher is really really good
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: they're not going to ask him to throw like 90
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: pitches in a playoff game but could he go through
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: a lineup one time could he get you six outs
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: can he give you some insurance. If you have to
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: win four playoff rounds this year, I, I think the
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: answer is yes.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Um, I, I, that's a good point about like
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: people tend to overreact to show does bad outings. Look,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: it like, I think that happens because home runs can
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: be jarring and when they're not solo shots, they, you
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: start to get concerned. Um, And you nailed it. The
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: Cubs gave us reason, gave people reason to be a
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: little wary of what he can do. His velo isn't
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: what it was at the beginning of this season, but
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: it isn't as bad as it was at the end
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: of last season. So, you know, I'm not at a
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: point where I'm super confident in Shota Williams. but I
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: do think he can help this team. And, and I
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: do think down the stretch, I'm curious how he can,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: how he performs and how it kind of like, can he,
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: can he earn back that trust of everyone? That's kind
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: of like, I don't know how I feel about showed up.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: I do think it's interesting that Javier Assad is up and,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: and this is like, you know, we're not, we're not
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: in Miami. So we have, I need to read like the, uh,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: check out if anybody's like kind of asked like what
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: the plans are, not that council's going to tell us
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: what the plans are for the rotation, honestly. But like,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: I think it's like a day to day thing with them,
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: but like, I doubt he's going with six man for
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: that long. Uh, but it is interesting. And I do
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: think it helps showed up probably the most. He's someone
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: that really does better after a little, you know, an
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: extra day here or there. Um, And I'm looking at
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Gossman's run with the Cubs after his latest outing and
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: kind of processing that Cincinnati outing, which wasn't good as
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: far as, you know, I think he gave up two
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: homers and five or six runs. That was a game that,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: if I'm remembering correctly, where the weather just sucked at
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Wrigley as far as pitching conditions was. So it's really
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: just like one really poor outing against the nationals and
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: a lot of good outings, um, good to great outings. Uh, I,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: I feel incredibly confident with him. He's missing a ton
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: of bats. He's not walking guys. He looks a lot
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: more like the, like the, it's not the best version
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: of Gossman who was a Cy Young contender, but maybe
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: like the savvy veteran that, um, who has a ton
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: of experience and will step up in the biggest moments. I,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: I have a ton of confidence in him. Like when
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: you have a one, two with him in homes, um,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: I think you can figure out the rest. David Peterson
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: had kind of a stinker in his most recent outing.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: I also felt like that was a tough day to
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: pitch where, um, it was the same day Mizorowski struggled, right? Uh,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: just a tough day to pitch. Uh, like it seemed
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: like Peterson just couldn't get a great handle on the ball.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: Like couldn't get a grip on the ball that day. Um, but, uh,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: that all said, like I, I'm feeling good about the rotation,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: the front of it. And it's kind of like, okay,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: figure out like three, four, five. You're not going to
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: use five starters in the playoffs, but figure out those three, four, five, six,
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: even with the Cubs. Get one or two of them
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: looking a lot better. We just talked about Shota. Matthew
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: Boyd had a, did he have a, he had a
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: solid outing his last outing, right? He's starting to look
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: a little bit better. I'm feeling a little uneasy with
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Matthew Boyd because he's not missing bats like he used to.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: But Holmes and Gossman have me feeling like, okay, you
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: have a 1-2 in the playoff. Get this bullpen right
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: and you should be looking a lot better.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: Especially if you have a spillover where Peterson is asked
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: to get five outs rather than five innings. I mean,
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: even you know, a good playoff start now is like
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: giving up two runs over four innings. Like that's kind
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: of where the, where the bar is at this point. Um,
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: but I think you'd have confidence in council and his
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: coaching staff, uh, having a good feel for their, their personnel,
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: the strengths and weaknesses, you know, the spots and the
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: opposing lineup that they can attack. Um, And then it just,
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: they just have to be right. You know what I mean?
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: Like they can have like the best intentions or all
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: these great theories. And if they don't execute, the camera's
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: going to be finding counsel looking, you know, walking over
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: to the bullpen phone when William Contreras, you know, just
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: crushes one out to, you know, out to the highway.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: But it's, this is setting up to be really like,
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: interesting final stretch here i feel like there's a lot
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: of like players sort of percolating whether it's you know
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: dansby swanson's eventual return the pitchers in iowa players really
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: competing for spots and i can't believe we talked this
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: long without talking about uh pete crowe armstrong like there's
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: a lot going down going on down the stretch here
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: that will uh keep us entertained.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll see if Pete can get to 40-40. I
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: think he got his 33rd steal Saturday. I'm losing track
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: of days. I'm terrible with days now. But I believe
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: he's at 39-33, home runs and stolen bases. The Cubs
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: got to fend off the Phillies still. uh, it'd be,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: I don't think it's the be all end all to
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: get home field. You just don't want to fall too
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: far down there. They're not in too much danger right now.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: They've righted the ship after it did look Rocky there
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: for a while. The bullpen was getting a little worrisome.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: They've won three in a row and two of those
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: were one run games.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: The bullpen made a Saturday night, a one run game,
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: but they were got, look, uh, Can I do a
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: real quick mea culpa? I think last time we recorded,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: I said Ryan Rolison looked like he was kind of
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: trending down. I think he's had two or three outings
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: since then, and he looks like huge outs, looks really good.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: I think maybe he is the number one lefty. I
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: still want to see it in the playoffs where he's
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: facing the best and gets them. Um, and then it's like, uh, yeah,
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: now I really, okay. I was, I was off on that. I,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: I liked Rawson coming into the season. I, it's just
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: a little worrisome to see him as the number one lefty. Uh,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: but Hey, if he gets the job done, prove me wrong. You're, you're,
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: you're ready for the big moment. Great. Go do that. Um,
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: So yeah, hold off the Phillies. I, I, I really,
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: I think I'm kind of rooting for a Cubs Brewers
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: and LDS again. I think it'd be fun. I want
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: to see the rematch and I think it like it
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: last year was really good. Let's see if we can
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: get it again and what the Cubs can do this
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: time around.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening. That's all we have this
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: week for Northside territory. We'll be back with updates from
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: Milwaukee next week. Thanks so much for listening to everyone.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: This is Northside territory. Make sure to review, subscribe, Subscribe
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: to the YouTube channel and subscribe to The Athletic where
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: Patrick and I are on top of all things Cubs.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and watching, everyone. Take care.