Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Cubs takeaways from Dodger Stadium: “This is the standard.”

Transcript

Cubs takeaways from Dodger Stadium: “This is the standard.” · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:06
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks 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. The injuries
0:17
Speaker 1: don't stop for the Cubs.
0:19
Speaker 2: Thankfully they have a healthy, you know, lineup and position
0:24
Speaker 2: player group for now, because it seems like, if not
0:29
Speaker 2: every day, every other day, there is another name added
0:32
Speaker 2: to the injury list. The latest Riley Martin, who was
0:39
Speaker 2: out there like grimacing and doing things with his elbow
0:43
Speaker 2: or with his arm that at Wrigley a few days ago,
0:47
Speaker 2: as said everything was fine and like kind of dismissed
0:50
Speaker 2: when counsel and the trainer came out but didn't recover well.
0:55
Speaker 2: His recovery days didn't go well, and now he's on
0:58
Speaker 2: the IL. I think he Well, tell us what's the
1:01
Speaker 2: situation with him. I think you went through like multiple
1:05
Speaker 2: names over the weekend of guys that were there briefly.
1:09
Speaker 2: Just give us a pitching update. Here you're out and
1:11
Speaker 2: I think now you're in San Diego, but you were
1:13
Speaker 2: out in LA for the weekend, and you know that
1:17
Speaker 2: there's a lot going on.
1:20
Speaker 3: I'm still teching I'm in Pasadena, Okay, driving down to
1:25
Speaker 3: San Diego after we record here on a Monday morning,
1:30
Speaker 3: and you know, look, no one likes to do the
1:32
Speaker 3: like injury update stories or shows. You know, certain players,
1:40
Speaker 3: you know, sort of rise to that level and you
1:41
Speaker 3: have to do it. And other times it's just like
1:44
Speaker 3: the sheer volume of it is newsworthy. It's frustrating for
1:49
Speaker 3: the team. Fans are confused, and I think it is
1:52
Speaker 3: the yes I wrote in the Athletic this is the
1:55
Speaker 3: blinking red light among several really strong indicators for this club.
2:01
Speaker 3: And even Council is not Cubs manager Craig Council is
2:06
Speaker 3: not totally downplaying it. Cubs president Jed Hoyer acknowledged that
2:12
Speaker 3: it's a constant source of concern and being a Dodger stadium,
2:18
Speaker 3: obviously that is the standard. As Jed Hoyer said, they
2:23
Speaker 3: announced two time defending World Series champs about ninety times
2:26
Speaker 3: a game.
2:27
Speaker 4: That was Jed's quote, which which.
2:29
Speaker 3: They absolutely should. That was his point of, like, you
2:33
Speaker 3: have to if you want to do anything, you have
2:36
Speaker 3: to go through that place. And so it just made
2:39
Speaker 3: me think about how last season ended and how Craig
2:42
Speaker 3: Counsel at the Winter meetings, said, you know, if we
2:45
Speaker 3: had to keep going in the playoffs, it would have
2:47
Speaker 3: gotten daunting just because of the state of their pitching staff.
2:51
Speaker 3: And they made it such a huge offseason priority, and
2:56
Speaker 3: you know, by and large, they did a pretty good
2:58
Speaker 3: job of adding interesting arms to their group, but too
3:03
Speaker 3: many of them are getting hurt, and it's like one
3:06
Speaker 3: month into the season, it already feels like they're burning
3:10
Speaker 3: through their pitching depth at an alarming rate.
3:14
Speaker 4: And so on.
3:16
Speaker 3: If we go through the roster chur in here of
3:18
Speaker 3: you know, just you need guys to just sometimes mop
3:21
Speaker 3: up innings, and Vince Velasquez was that guy. On Saturday,
3:26
Speaker 3: he gets defade. On Sunday, they bring in Charlie Barnes
3:32
Speaker 3: and Yaxel Rios as part of Sunday's moves. There'll be
3:37
Speaker 3: more moves in San Diego. The Cubs expect to activate
3:42
Speaker 3: Phil Mayiton. Ethan Roberts probably needs at least one more
3:47
Speaker 3: rehab outing with Iowa. Daniel Polencia will throw a bullpen
3:53
Speaker 3: on Tuesday and that will determine his next steps. But
3:57
Speaker 3: they're pretty optimistic about that one. As you pointed out
4:00
Speaker 3: to hot End that it's on his non throwing side
4:03
Speaker 3: and it wasn't kind of the it was what a lat.
4:07
Speaker 4: Issue, not an oblique issue upon further review.
4:11
Speaker 3: Uh So, like all this stuff and we'll get into
4:15
Speaker 3: some of the good things that are happening too, but
4:17
Speaker 3: like this is something that if you're paying attention, if
4:20
Speaker 3: you're following a team, and maybe you're not locked in
4:23
Speaker 3: every single day, like you look at the record, Hey,
4:26
Speaker 3: things are going great, but then you see this, like
4:29
Speaker 3: for our listeners, like this is what the team's decision
4:32
Speaker 3: makers are most concerned about right now, Like they know
4:35
Speaker 3: it is a problem.
4:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know how they couldn't see, Like, like
4:40
Speaker 2: you said, it's a It's not like this is like
4:42
Speaker 2: some hidden issue, like it's a big red flashing light
4:45
Speaker 2: Like this is like, what's what's this blinking red light here? Oh,
4:48
Speaker 2: we better better figure this problem about. It'sah, I mean,
4:51
Speaker 2: it's a it's it's gotten like almost comical. I don't
4:56
Speaker 2: want to laugh at injuries, but like I just like
4:59
Speaker 2: I see the updates and I was like, are you
5:01
Speaker 2: kidding me? Another pitching injury? And I like I think
5:06
Speaker 2: part of it is fans start freaking out, like what
5:09
Speaker 2: and fairly like I don't want to like say, like
5:12
Speaker 2: fans shouldn't freak out when you see this many injuries.
5:14
Speaker 2: You have to question what's going on? Is this an
5:17
Speaker 2: organizational issue? I don't want to put place blame on
5:21
Speaker 2: any specific group within the organization because it's just so
5:24
Speaker 2: hard to know, Like I am almost early on in
5:29
Speaker 2: these injuries. Jed was talking about, like you have to
5:33
Speaker 2: kind of look at and review your processes and make
5:36
Speaker 2: sure that everything like are we missing anything? Is there
5:39
Speaker 2: anything that we're doing completely wrong or that we completely
5:42
Speaker 2: missed along the way, whether it's with Kate Horton or
5:46
Speaker 2: any of these injuries that have happened. I think it's
5:50
Speaker 2: incumbent upound them to do those things. But also it
5:53
Speaker 2: sometimes it like the injuries just pile up. You can't
5:56
Speaker 2: just say like, well, there absolutely is something wrong. Like
6:00
Speaker 2: sometimes it's just like you just get waylaid by these
6:03
Speaker 2: injuries and it's just like, wow, I don't know if
6:06
Speaker 2: there's any specific, like if there's anything connected within these
6:10
Speaker 2: outside of like pitching, it often leads to injuries and
6:15
Speaker 2: the cubs you're going through it going through one of
6:17
Speaker 2: those stretches. Uh, the Dodgers kind of did at this
6:20
Speaker 2: time last year, the Dodgers were just like racking up
6:24
Speaker 2: the injuries, both at the major league level and in
6:26
Speaker 2: the minor league level, and there was a lot of
6:29
Speaker 2: talk about like, oh, is there pitching development? Is there
6:32
Speaker 2: something wrong with it? Are they doing something wrong? You know?
6:35
Speaker 2: I think just the way pitchers train nowadays leads to
6:39
Speaker 2: more injuries too. It's not ideal. Hopefully the Cubs are
6:44
Speaker 2: doing a very deep dive, you know, and trying to
6:47
Speaker 2: figure that out. I I like, I think there is.
6:52
Speaker 2: I think you did. I think the good news is
6:55
Speaker 2: there though, like there is, there are names that are
6:58
Speaker 2: coming back. The fact that you've already gone on to
7:00
Speaker 2: Vince Velaska, is Charlie Barnes, yaxel Rios. That is concerning,
7:06
Speaker 2: though I don't like, I can't downplay it just by
7:09
Speaker 2: saying that there are guys coming back where it looks
7:11
Speaker 2: like they're about to come back when you have that
7:13
Speaker 2: many names that were like I don't remember seeing yax
7:18
Speaker 2: Orios in major league camp. He may have been there,
7:22
Speaker 2: but then like a lot of these guys, it's like
7:26
Speaker 2: I don't want to, like you don't expect to see
7:28
Speaker 2: them outside of like maybe hey, like that guy's gonna
7:32
Speaker 2: be the twenty seventh man on a doubleheader day or
7:36
Speaker 2: something like that. But seeing them that many of these
7:39
Speaker 2: names in April, and it's not because like this guy
7:42
Speaker 2: was so too good in Triple A we had to
7:44
Speaker 2: call him up. That's that's when you're start to wonder, like,
7:48
Speaker 2: how do you get through this? And to be fair,
7:52
Speaker 2: the Cubs have done a remarkable job getting through this.
7:55
Speaker 2: It's just how much more can you take it? Almost?
7:58
Speaker 2: I guess we could say that it kind of caught
7:59
Speaker 2: up to them finally.
8:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's a good way to phrase kind
8:04
Speaker 3: of the end of that Dodgers series Friday night, an
8:08
Speaker 3: amazing comeback win. Ryan Rollison one of those kind of,
8:16
Speaker 3: you know, one of those projects that they took on.
8:20
Speaker 3: Former first round pick of the Rockies, claimed off waivers
8:23
Speaker 3: from the White Sox and I think he might have
8:25
Speaker 3: been on the on the way on the transaction wire
8:30
Speaker 3: a couple other clubs this past offseason. But look, he
8:35
Speaker 3: pitched great. I believe it was three scoreless. He benefited
8:39
Speaker 3: from some awesome defense, which all these pitchers will. I
8:43
Speaker 3: think that's a point in the cubs favor. Cubs do
8:49
Speaker 3: usually find a couple guys every year like that who
8:53
Speaker 3: were not talking about in spring training and they wind
8:55
Speaker 3: up having really nice years.
8:57
Speaker 4: So all that's possible.
8:59
Speaker 3: But you just really see how things are connected, particularly
9:03
Speaker 3: at Dodger Stadium of like you know, we have Colin
9:07
Speaker 3: Ray going and Javier assad As the guy behind him,
9:11
Speaker 3: Like you know, there's some games that are just you
9:14
Speaker 3: almost have to punt. You kind of look at the
9:17
Speaker 3: odds and you know that they're not in your favor
9:21
Speaker 3: that particular day. And like everything they want to do
9:24
Speaker 3: with this pitching staff, you know, every in game decision
9:28
Speaker 3: of when to push the starter, when, if you want
9:30
Speaker 3: to pull early, if you want to maximize your best relievers,
9:35
Speaker 3: you're planning for the next issue that crops up, Like
9:40
Speaker 3: we just can't assume that the starting rotation will stay
9:44
Speaker 3: healthy the whole year. So like this is something one
9:48
Speaker 3: month in it's weird. I mean, the Cubs are on
9:51
Speaker 3: pace to win around one hundred games, but they're also
9:55
Speaker 3: just like gone through so much pitching that it is
10:00
Speaker 3: absolutely a concern.
10:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wanted to quickly touch on something you said there,
10:04
Speaker 2: like you have to punt the game in and I
10:07
Speaker 2: agree they like they d like you almost have council
10:10
Speaker 2: has to think beyond the game that's in front of him.
10:12
Speaker 2: He has to try and win that game. And I
10:15
Speaker 2: think the way he would say, like some people want
10:17
Speaker 2: him to just admit, like you stop trying to win
10:20
Speaker 2: Saturday's game, I don't think he looks at it that way.
10:23
Speaker 2: He looks at it as someone else has to step up.
10:26
Speaker 2: I can't go to these other guys. So I need
10:29
Speaker 2: Javier Asad. He looks pretty bad after that first inning.
10:33
Speaker 2: I need him to get it together and keep us
10:35
Speaker 2: in this game because I can't go to anyone else.
10:37
Speaker 2: I can't have Javier Asad pitch two thirds of an
10:40
Speaker 2: inning because now we're losing more than one game. We're
10:43
Speaker 2: losing tomorrow and maybe the next day too, and maybe
10:46
Speaker 2: causing some injuries, and it like impacts beyond you know,
10:51
Speaker 2: just a couple games. Like That's that's how he's looking
10:54
Speaker 2: at it. So you could say, like he needs so
10:58
Speaker 2: you need surprise performances. You can say that guy looked awful,
11:02
Speaker 2: like Asad didn't look good on Saturday. Why did he
11:04
Speaker 2: keep him in because he had no other option, Like
11:06
Speaker 2: he has to try and get more outs from that guy.
11:09
Speaker 2: I mean, you could have said he was punting Friday's
11:12
Speaker 2: game at one point, he's letting Ryan Rolinson pitch three innings.
11:16
Speaker 2: Nobody that like, you know, like that, but he was,
11:19
Speaker 2: he didn't, he he was he needed someone to step up,
11:21
Speaker 2: and Rollinson stepped up and was awesome and like had
11:24
Speaker 2: that whatever seven pitch first inning or whatever, and he
11:27
Speaker 2: pushed him like that's so you need surprises sometimes when
11:30
Speaker 2: you're this short in the bullpen or you just need
11:32
Speaker 2: to like you need guys that you wouldn't expect to
11:34
Speaker 2: step up to step up. And I think that's, you know,
11:37
Speaker 2: kind of what he needs at times. So it's I
11:42
Speaker 2: think he had.
11:42
Speaker 4: I think he had like three pitchers available out of
11:46
Speaker 4: the pen on ship.
11:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm remembering correctly, And I told him an empty
11:51
Speaker 3: the tank.
11:51
Speaker 4: The third third time.
11:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not ideal, but it's kind of how these
11:57
Speaker 2: things have to work sometimes. Let's take a quick break,
11:59
Speaker 2: talk a little bit about the some things that I
12:02
Speaker 2: guess went well, and just kind of the end of
12:05
Speaker 2: this ten game winning streak out in La.
12:10
Speaker 1: We love our Dogabella, who's really just a Counts cushion
12:12
Speaker 1: in our house, and.
12:14
Speaker 5: You would do anything for her. A quick message from
12:16
Speaker 5: today's sponsor the ASPCA Pet Health Insurance Program. If you've
12:20
Speaker 5: ever been frantically searching what to do for an issue
12:22
Speaker 5: with your pup, you are not alone. The program offers
12:25
Speaker 5: customizable accident and illness plans, making it easier to get
12:28
Speaker 5: your pet the care they need. When you enroll in
12:31
Speaker 5: an ASPCA Pet Health Insurance plan, you could get a
12:34
Speaker 5: twenty five dollars Amazon gift card. It's a little treat
12:36
Speaker 5: for you while you're doing something great for your pet.
12:38
Speaker 5: To explore coverage, visit ASPCA Pet Insurance dot com slash
12:43
Speaker 5: foul that's ASPCA Pet Insurance dot com slash foul. Eligible
12:49
Speaker 5: restrictions apply. Visit ASPCA Pet Insurance dot com slash Amazon
12:53
Speaker 5: terms for more info. This is a paid advertisement. Insurance
12:57
Speaker 5: is underwritten by either Independence American Insurance Company or United
13:00
Speaker 5: States Fire Insurance Company and produced by PTZ Insurance Agency Limited.
13:05
Speaker 5: The ASPCA is not an insurance and is not engaged
13:08
Speaker 5: in the business of insurance.
13:11
Speaker 2: Patrick Obviously the Cubs ten game winning streak. Their winning
13:16
Speaker 2: streak was extended with a great game on Friday that
13:19
Speaker 2: got it to ten. That was the type of game that,
13:23
Speaker 2: like you know, the rest of the series was kind
13:26
Speaker 2: of a stinker, so it but like that set up
13:29
Speaker 2: would look like, wow, this is gonna be a fun battle,
13:31
Speaker 2: like some great defense and fun comeback, just really good
13:36
Speaker 2: you know atmosphere, I'm sure, and just really fun game
13:40
Speaker 2: to watch. But I mean what we talked about caught
13:45
Speaker 2: up to them, like they're pitching, caught up to them.
13:48
Speaker 2: I think part of what you saw the past two
13:50
Speaker 2: days was a really disciplined Dodgers team. And Colin Ray
13:57
Speaker 2: and Shoda Monaga have had a lot of successes here
14:00
Speaker 2: getting guys to chase. The Dodgers don't chase makes it
14:04
Speaker 2: a little harder and and and they made them pay
14:09
Speaker 2: like they were just like little things. Like every single moment,
14:11
Speaker 2: it felt like every single moment that you know, it
14:17
Speaker 2: felt like a game swinging moment. It went in the Dodgers'
14:20
Speaker 2: favor the past two days and the Cubs couldn't get
14:23
Speaker 2: that big hit and the Dodgers seemed to come up
14:25
Speaker 2: with big hits that kind of whether it extended their
14:29
Speaker 2: lead or kind of buried the Cubs were was that
14:32
Speaker 2: felt like the theme Saturday and Sunday.
14:35
Speaker 3: You know, they they had their chances and I think,
14:39
Speaker 3: you know, you look at this ten game winning streak
14:42
Speaker 3: they had. It's pretty remarkable given the the circumstances. And
14:49
Speaker 3: you know that is what you know, surges your playoff odds,
14:53
Speaker 3: It creates good momentum, it avoids the you know, I
14:57
Speaker 3: love reading in the Athletic about you know, know all
15:00
Speaker 3: these dysfunctional teams of just like what's going on with.
15:03
Speaker 4: The Red Sox, that's the leaves, the Mats.
15:06
Speaker 3: Like we have some really good reporters on those beats,
15:10
Speaker 3: and it just makes you sort of it gives a
15:13
Speaker 3: lot of context to what the Cubs are going through
15:16
Speaker 3: right now. And I think this offense like isn't a
15:21
Speaker 3: place where your council used Dansby Swanson as a designated
15:26
Speaker 3: hitter on Sunday, Like that's how good he's been rolling
15:31
Speaker 3: Saya Suzuki, heating up, seems to be finding his swing,
15:39
Speaker 3: you know, Bregman with a huge swing on Friday, and
15:44
Speaker 3: you had you know, Nico saying like this is the
15:47
Speaker 3: guy that for a long time you've either wanted on
15:51
Speaker 3: your side in the box for that at bat, or
15:54
Speaker 3: he's the guy you don't want to be.
15:56
Speaker 4: Facing in those situations.
15:59
Speaker 3: And so Bragman got booed like every app I'm assuming
16:04
Speaker 3: every at bat, like every like.
16:06
Speaker 4: It felt like that.
16:07
Speaker 3: I don't think there was a single point where his
16:09
Speaker 3: name was announced and he was not booed. Same went
16:12
Speaker 3: for Pi Crow Armstrong, which I think really added to
16:21
Speaker 3: the atmosphere there. Like the I think the Cubs are
16:29
Speaker 3: definitely like a worthy opponent at this point. That's not
16:33
Speaker 3: guaranteeing that they'll be back in October or that the
16:37
Speaker 3: Dodgers are worried about them. It's just more of the
16:39
Speaker 3: we've been on these trips before where it seems like
16:41
Speaker 3: the Cubs you just look at the lineup, you look
16:43
Speaker 3: at the pitching staff, and it's like eh, and there's.
16:46
Speaker 4: Just kind of a lot of.
16:49
Speaker 3: You know, celebrity fans from Chicago kind of floating around
16:52
Speaker 3: and you know, stuff like that.
16:54
Speaker 4: But the Cubs have like a legit team.
16:57
Speaker 2: Now.
16:57
Speaker 3: They obviously did not win the series, but there were
17:02
Speaker 3: these you know kind of moments in each game where like,
17:05
Speaker 3: if you get the big hit, maybe you're going to
17:09
Speaker 3: kind of your your a plan for your bullpen, or
17:12
Speaker 3: maybe you're you know, you're pushing different buttons than not
17:16
Speaker 3: I mean moises by a steros. You'll like this side
17:20
Speaker 3: if I asked Counsel yesterday if he thought that Moises
17:24
Speaker 3: could hit four hundred this year, and he burst out,
17:28
Speaker 3: He burst out laughing. He said, why don't you how
17:32
Speaker 3: about you asked me that in June, And I said,
17:35
Speaker 3: all right, but I said, the ideal would be the
17:39
Speaker 3: ideal would be that he hits four hundred but does
17:42
Speaker 3: not get does not have the minimum plate appearances to
17:47
Speaker 3: win the batting title because Craig has shackled Moisest to
17:52
Speaker 3: such an extent.
17:56
Speaker 4: So well, I said, we'll get We'll get back to
17:58
Speaker 4: him in June.
17:59
Speaker 3: But just a really impressive young hitter that I think
18:07
Speaker 3: will have some, you know, some big moments at Dodger Stadium.
18:12
Speaker 4: Over the course of his career.
18:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think this offense will see how
18:20
Speaker 2: healthy the pitching staff can get and like how it
18:23
Speaker 2: looks when they're at full force again, Like if guys
18:25
Speaker 2: can get in a rhythm, like the bullpen can kind
18:27
Speaker 2: of figure things out and get healthy. But I think
18:29
Speaker 2: this offense can hang with anyone. Like I know they
18:33
Speaker 2: got shut out on Sunday. I know they didn't come
18:36
Speaker 2: through on Saturday with some big hits. They were one
18:39
Speaker 2: for sixteen. I want to say over Saturday and Sunday
18:42
Speaker 2: with runners in scoring position, and I like, I don't
18:45
Speaker 2: want people to focus on that, Like they were constantly
18:47
Speaker 2: putting pressure and they didn't come up with the big hit.
18:51
Speaker 2: They're going to more often than not. I shouldn't say
18:53
Speaker 2: more often than not, but they're going to come through
18:55
Speaker 2: with the big hit. With the hits. It's not like
18:59
Speaker 2: they were overpowered by better pitching and couldn't couldn't deliver.
19:03
Speaker 2: They just didn't deliver. But I really like the way
19:06
Speaker 2: this offense is looking, and there's a lot of weapons
19:09
Speaker 2: up and down the lineup. Uh, it is a it
19:12
Speaker 2: is a deep lineup, and like you said, Moises by
19:14
Speaker 2: Steros makes it like his emergence really makes it like
19:18
Speaker 2: I think that's him coming. Like breaking out like this
19:21
Speaker 2: and looking this good is huge for this group because
19:25
Speaker 2: it's like, where's where's the weak spot in the lineup,
19:28
Speaker 2: Where's the obvious out, the easy out? You want Pete
19:30
Speaker 2: to get going. That's probably when you look at everything
19:34
Speaker 2: up and down the lineup, that's probably the one that's
19:37
Speaker 2: like you want to see him just like pull a
19:39
Speaker 2: couple out of the ballpark. He did that. I think
19:41
Speaker 2: he's done it once in Saint Petersburg. He did it
19:45
Speaker 2: against the Rays, and that's it. You really need him
19:48
Speaker 2: to get going with the power. Outside of that, I
19:52
Speaker 2: feel like there's a lot of trustworthy bats right now
19:56
Speaker 2: that are that are playing at a really high level.
19:59
Speaker 2: So I think that is kind of where they need to,
20:04
Speaker 2: you know, continue that that's what they need to kind
20:06
Speaker 2: of continue to ride to get back on a winning streak.
20:11
Speaker 2: But I felt good about this offense. And I know
20:15
Speaker 2: fans struggle with the runners in scoring position, but that
20:18
Speaker 2: can fluctuate, that goes back and forth, so I rarely
20:21
Speaker 2: do think they're in a good place right now. Let's
20:24
Speaker 2: take a quick break and just kind of talk about,
20:27
Speaker 2: you know, this playoff preview week that we've had or
20:31
Speaker 2: six game stretch that they're in the middle of. All right, everyone,
20:39
Speaker 2: I'm so excited to go see John Mullaney this summer.
20:42
Speaker 2: I'm going to take my kids out to Wrigley Field
20:45
Speaker 2: make sure that they get to catch some baseball games
20:50
Speaker 2: either at Wrigley or knock off another ballpark off our list.
20:53
Speaker 2: Which is why I want to give the sponsor of
20:55
Speaker 2: today's video see Geek a huge shout out with over
20:59
Speaker 2: thirty five million download. Sea Geek is the number one
21:01
Speaker 2: rated ticketing app. There are more than seventy thousand events
21:04
Speaker 2: listed on sea geek, including concerts, sports, festivals, and more.
21:11
Speaker 2: Major League Baseball is in full swing, the NBA and
21:14
Speaker 2: NHL playoffs are in the thick of it, and the
21:17
Speaker 2: NFL schedule is coming out soon. You can get World
21:20
Speaker 2: Cup tickets on seat geek as well. And with and
21:26
Speaker 2: of course I have a code for you guys. You
21:28
Speaker 2: can use code Territory ten for ten percent off your
21:31
Speaker 2: next set of tickets from at sea geek. That's ten
21:35
Speaker 2: percent off any tickets with promo code Territory ten. Make
21:38
Speaker 2: sure you click the link in the description to download
21:41
Speaker 2: the app and have the code automatically added to your
21:43
Speaker 2: account so you can use it later later. Thank you
21:46
Speaker 2: sea Geek. All right, Patrick, we are in the midst
21:55
Speaker 2: the Cubs are in the midst of a six game
21:57
Speaker 2: stretch here that you know probably had circled on the calendar,
22:03
Speaker 2: especially once they got hot and they had once you know,
22:07
Speaker 2: they kind of beat up on the Mets and Phillies.
22:09
Speaker 2: You knew this this stretch was was going to be
22:13
Speaker 2: big for them, you know, lose two out of three
22:16
Speaker 2: to the Dodgers. But I think we just we said
22:18
Speaker 2: that they can hang with them. And now the Padres,
22:21
Speaker 2: this is a you know, playoff preview. It feels like
22:25
Speaker 2: they this week is these are the teams that are
22:29
Speaker 2: looking early on like the class of that now.
22:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I don't know, I feel like the Padres
22:36
Speaker 3: are a little bit like the uh, the Brewers in
22:39
Speaker 3: the sense that they keep making these moves and you
22:43
Speaker 3: think like, oh, like this is like the bill's going
22:45
Speaker 3: to come to now and they've managed to, Ah, you
22:52
Speaker 3: get off to a great start here.
22:55
Speaker 4: Obviously they're involved in the sale process. It'd be interesting
22:59
Speaker 4: to see.
22:59
Speaker 3: How that impacts what they do the rest of the year.
23:04
Speaker 3: Here they got Lucas Giolito, who obviously won't be ready yet.
23:09
Speaker 3: But I was told the Cubs offer or interest was
23:13
Speaker 3: not all that strong. In the end, it was a
23:16
Speaker 3: pretty easy for decision for Giolito to pick the Padres.
23:22
Speaker 4: And yeah, I always look at these. It's kind of
23:27
Speaker 4: it tests.
23:27
Speaker 3: You know, you get off to the start, you avoid
23:30
Speaker 3: the catastrophics start that some other teams in the National
23:33
Speaker 3: League are going through right now, and just that the
23:39
Speaker 3: cushion they've created with that ten game winning streak, I
23:41
Speaker 3: think cannot be under sold right now. And you know,
23:48
Speaker 3: peckholl Park is, you know, one of the best atmospheres
23:54
Speaker 3: in baseball. It's different than Dodger Stadium, but it's similar
24:00
Speaker 3: in that that they've created just an amazing environment, allowed
24:06
Speaker 3: a lot of energy, and I think, you know, the
24:10
Speaker 3: takeaway on this trip last year was, you know, I
24:12
Speaker 3: think the Cubs offense was scuff him a little bit.
24:14
Speaker 3: I was like that was, you know, playoff caliber arms
24:19
Speaker 3: like you wanna you want to get You don't want
24:23
Speaker 3: to fall behind early and then have the Padres just
24:26
Speaker 3: go to uh, you know their top guys.
24:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, some of those top guys right now are struggling.
24:32
Speaker 2: One guy that is not struggling is Mason Miller. You
24:36
Speaker 2: can't go into the ninth with the deficit, but the
24:39
Speaker 2: Padres right now, against the Padres, you will likely lose
24:42
Speaker 2: that game. They're starting. Pitching has been has been really solid.
24:45
Speaker 2: Michael King, Randy Vasquez, who I don't really remember, is like,
24:52
Speaker 2: like I should notice that he's been awesome. Why, Like
24:55
Speaker 2: I saw this the other day and I was like,
24:58
Speaker 2: why don't I know more about this guy? He had
25:00
Speaker 2: a solid season last year. But I guess, well, I
25:04
Speaker 2: mean he had good, good results, but that strikeout rate
25:08
Speaker 2: is has doubled. I'm looking at his numbers right now.
25:10
Speaker 2: Literally had a thirteen strikeout rate and it's twenty six
25:13
Speaker 2: point three. What is going on? Okay, so this guy
25:16
Speaker 2: has figured something out this year. That's an amazing turnaround.
25:20
Speaker 2: I don't see that very often, that type of strikeout
25:23
Speaker 2: rate jump when you have like an actual sample size.
25:26
Speaker 2: Uh So, obviously, I think that's their strength. They're they're
25:29
Speaker 2: pitching is their strength that I don't know how strong
25:31
Speaker 2: their offense is. So it's going to be strength where strength,
25:35
Speaker 2: I guess in San Diego it is, you know, a
25:39
Speaker 2: return of a you know, the playoffs. It was a
25:43
Speaker 2: playoff matchup. I feel like the Pod like the Padres
25:46
Speaker 2: just feel like a different team. There's like, who do
25:49
Speaker 2: they faced? Pivetta, Dylan Ceese, you Dart, Like a lot
25:52
Speaker 2: of these starting pitchers are not the guys that they're
25:54
Speaker 2: gonna see. You know, I think Paveta's still there obviously,
25:57
Speaker 2: but Dylan Cees is gone, you Darvish is on the shelf.
26:01
Speaker 2: It's kind of a different team still, you know, Like
26:04
Speaker 2: I said, those a lot of those bullpen arms. The
26:07
Speaker 2: results don't look great right now for the Padres, but
26:10
Speaker 2: they're still I would not assume that, Like I think
26:13
Speaker 2: Morajone has like a five era, He's still He'll probably
26:16
Speaker 2: still go out there and pitch some brilliant innings this
26:19
Speaker 2: these next three games. So I like this. I like
26:22
Speaker 2: that the Cubs were playing well and come into this series,
26:27
Speaker 2: like these two series. They may not be at full strength,
26:31
Speaker 2: but they were playing well and they need to. You know,
26:34
Speaker 2: it's a nice early test. It's like, Okay, you're you're
26:37
Speaker 2: being tested with injuries. Here's tests on the field as well.
26:40
Speaker 2: And I think they need that and kind of measure
26:43
Speaker 2: themselves against these strong NL caliber teams, like NL championship
26:49
Speaker 2: caliber teams. Yeah.
26:52
Speaker 4: I mean, it's.
26:52
Speaker 3: It feels like a long time ago that playoff series
26:57
Speaker 3: at Wrigley Field, and obviously the Padres've gone through some
27:02
Speaker 3: turnover yet again, you know, different manager, you know the
27:12
Speaker 3: I also think the Cubs have sort of quieted what
27:17
Speaker 3: I think a lot of people would look at when
27:18
Speaker 3: the Cubs roll in there, like, well, how come the
27:20
Speaker 3: Padres have all these guys on nine figure deals? You know,
27:23
Speaker 3: why can't the Cubs do that, and the Cubs have
27:26
Speaker 3: have begun.
27:27
Speaker 4: To ah you know, quiet a lot of that talk
27:32
Speaker 4: by you.
27:33
Speaker 3: Know, bringing in Bregman, extending Nico, extending Pete like they have,
27:39
Speaker 3: you know, just built a more credible team, you know,
27:43
Speaker 3: just watching them against the Dodgers. We'll see the Padres
27:47
Speaker 3: obviously they were a very good team last year. We'll
27:50
Speaker 3: see how the pitching holds up. But just like the lineup,
27:56
Speaker 3: the defense, you know, when the pitching is right, like,
28:00
Speaker 3: they have a lot of interesting elements here.
28:04
Speaker 2: Absolutely. All right, Well, let's wrap this one up and
28:08
Speaker 2: we'll be back with a couple more episodes this week
28:11
Speaker 2: talking about that Padre series and maybe hopefully no more injuries.
28:15
Speaker 2: But we'll see where the pitching staff is that next
28:18
Speaker 2: time we come back. Thanks so much for listening to everyone.
28:21
Speaker 2: This is North Side Territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
28:24
Speaker 2: subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic
28:27
Speaker 2: where Patrick and I are on top of all things Cubs.
28:29
Speaker 2: Thanks everyone, Take care,