Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / With Cubs on brink of elimination, we’ll see how resilient they really are

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With Cubs on brink of elimination, we’ll see how resilient they really are · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory Foul 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, that was
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: one of the weaker playoff performances we've seen from the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Cubs in a little while. Obviously, it's not like they've
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: had dozens of playoff games in recent history, but that
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: did remind me of kind of the end of the
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: 2016 season. Royal series era, some of those offensive performances
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: that they put up, uh, really that last game against
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: the Dodgers, that was a, a blowout loss game five
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: of the, uh, I guess it wasn't the last game
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: against the Dodgers, but that was like the last time
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: they made the NLCS right. 2017 when they, uh, lost
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: in five, if I'm remembering correctly to the Dodgers, uh,
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: it was, uh, I mean, not one phase of that
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Cubs team did well Tuesday night. And from pitch one
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: of Matthew Boyd getting sent to deep center field by
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Fernando Tatis, it was just a failure of a game.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: It was not a good game. Yeah, it was kind of,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: I was surprised to see it was that bad of
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: a performance. I think we both picked the Padres to
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: win this series, but that, that was a poor performance.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: I think you can even start with Michael King blowing
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Pete Crow Armstrong away on three pitches to, to lead
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: off the game. And, you know, another writer asked me
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: while we were waiting for the elevator to go down
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: to the clubhouse level, like at the Cubs been shut
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: out or, you know, kind of that worst playoff performance conversation. And,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: I just thought back to the 2015 NLCS of just
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: how the Mets dominated that series, and they had that
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: momentum on their side, the crowd into it in New York,
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: this precise pitching plan that really picked apart the 2015 Cubs.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: But that was a team that was on the upswing,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: that wasn't supposed to be there, that did not have expectations.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: This is a much different group. Craig Council said this.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: This is an older team. It's a very experienced team.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: you'll have nights where you don't hit. You'll have nights
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: where the pitching just doesn't quite come together. But for
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: the defense to betray them, to have nothing go right,
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: biggest game of the year, just kind of astonishing how
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: bad it was. I don't know if people were staying
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: up late back in chicago to watch this west coast
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: game i hope you got you know i hope you
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: didn't have to look too hard for the peacock uh
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: screaming streaming service wherever that game was on maybe you
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: have an out after a certain time period but just
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: uh kind of a dream game for padres pans and
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: just just a nightmare for for the cubs.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah their their big names showed up uh tatis and
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: machado uh with big home runs in the first inning
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: and just continue to pour it on they had multiple
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: big moments uh i feel like tatis's steal and then
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: the error and getting around the bases was kind of
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: just like an exclamation point on the game that was
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: already embarrassing for the cubs i can't remember if they'd
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: had their first hit by then i cannot remember what
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: inning it was but at that point it was just
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: uh an embarrassment of a game and it's one game
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: and it's baseball and, and you're going to have games
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: like that, but to have that as the curtain opener
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: for your playoffs, you know, when there's, we all know
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: that there are high expectations for this team, but that was,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: and that they're coming in limping in a way, but
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: that was, that, that was just, uh, you know, they
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: got stomped on and, and it seemed like the, the
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Padres weren't taking their foot off the gas the entire time.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: And they shouldn't not. I mean, they, they, you know,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: if you can score, if you can take advantage of things,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: go do that. And when your stars are hot and
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: putting on a show, that's great. It's not like Pete
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have done the same thing if he, if given
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: the opportunity, uh, but their, their star showed up. The
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Cub stars did not. I haven't seen, uh, Alex Bregman
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: have that poor of at-bats in a while. And I
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: looked it up. He had three strikeouts, I think, six
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: times this year. Only one. It was April 15th were
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: all three swinging. And my guess is I didn't go
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: and look at those each individual at-bats. They were not
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: all swinging at balls outside the zone. He swung at
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: sweepers outside the zone three times, his first three at-bats,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: to strike out. That is rare. That's something you don't
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: see from Alex Bregman. And that's not me speculating anything.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: I think he's fine. I think Sunday proved that. They
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: were just bad at-bats, and they're coming at the worst time.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: it was bad timing for that.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: No that's what i asked him post game of just
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: how this all happened so fast the facial fractures.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: He endured uh.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: The various medical opinions he gathered how hard he's pushed
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: to get back in the lineup that i think it's
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: all of us it's been kind of difficult to like
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: take a step back and be like what is going
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: on here and He dismissed the question, I mean, politely,
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: just like no excuses. I feel fine. My vision's fine.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: I was just chasing too much, need to execute better,
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: which is kind of what you'd expect him to say.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: I'm certainly not pinning this loss on a foul ball
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: that happened over a week ago. But it just added
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: to this overall– feeling around the Cubs heading into the series.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: If you want to go back to just how they
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: squandered the top wildcard seed, how they had to travel
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: crisscross the country to get in the final stretch of
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: their 162 game season. And I'm sure this came across
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: on the TV broadcast, but Petco Park is an awesome environment.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: You can tell how the Padres are feed off of
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: that energy. And we saw when the Cubs are facing
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: elimination last year, heading on Milwaukee, they responded with two
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: big games at Wrigley field. They won't, they won't have
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: that kind of support, uh, in game two.
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Uh, there, there certainly, it is, it is, uh, crazy
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: environment uh it is fun it's fun to be be
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: around that and uh we experienced uh from the cubs
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: side last year uh that was really cool to to
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: watch and uh this was this was a crazy environment
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: for sure the the towels the the yellow towels i
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: don't know what they call them uh but those were
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: definitely uh swinging before like we were they were like
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: hyping them up like 30 minutes before first pitch, I
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: think we were all like, oh, it must be time
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: to start the game soon. And then we were like,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: wait a second, they haven't even sung the national anthem.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: What time is it? So they were getting the folks
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: hyped up early on there, and the fans in San
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: Diego delivered. I don't think that was the main factor
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: or anything. The Cubs were outplayed in every facet of
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: the game. All right, let's take a quick break and
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: talk about how they can regroup.
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: Kratzy, just because the website says the tickets are sold
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: out doesn't mean you can't go see the Brewers in Milwaukee,
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: see the Dodgers in L.A., see the Rays in Tampa Bay.
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: You can go to SeatGeek and find the best seat available.
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: Pick wherever you want to sit and buy one.
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: There's no bad seats in Milwaukee because the stadium is
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: right on top of the field. It feels like you're
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: in the grass. L.A., just don't get a seat near
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: the speakers. But you can find out where the best
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: seats in each stadium are on SeatGeek. And of course
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: I have a code for you guys. You can use
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: code TERRITORY10 for 10% off your next set of tickets
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: at SeatGeek. That's 10% off any tickets with promo code TERRITORY10.
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: Make sure you click the link in the description to
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: download the app and have the code automatically added to
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: your account so you can use it later.
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: And you know what? If your team's not in the playoffs,
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: it's no big deal. Because SeatGeek's got you for tickets
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: for NFL, for concerts, anything that you want.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Sorry. Okay, there. Now I'm unmuted. Patrick, I think it's simple.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: We'll talk more about the pitching, but how do they regroup?
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: The stars have to show up. The biggest names that
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: the reason they're here, the reason they got here was
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: their offense. That has to deliver. They can't coast by.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: I don't think this team is gonna win like a
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: a one nothing game tonight if they're going to win
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: i i don't think it's uh i don't think they're
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: gonna win a one nothing game uh they're they're gonna
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: have to uh they're gonna have to outscore uh the
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: padres on on wednesday night that's gonna be hard with
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: nick pavetta on the mound uh I know he hasn't
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: pitched much this season, but he's, you know, he's not
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: a good matchup for anyone. If he's on tonight, this
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: is going to be a tough, a tall task for
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: the Cubs.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: You and I were sitting next to each other in
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: a press box during game one, kind of going over
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: our angles, talking it through. And, you know, we both
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: had the same thought of like, Cubs haven't even pushed
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: the Padres to use their A relievers that, That bullpen
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: will be completely recharged. You can already start thinking, how
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: many outs does Mason Miller get? You can line up
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: Morajon for P. Crowe Armstrongs, whatever. Second at bat, third
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: at bat, I don't know. I haven't looked at, I'm
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: not privy to all of San Diego's plans, but you
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: can start to see it of like, well, they can,
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: you know, the Padres can really go for it and
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: try and end this thing with one of the best
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: bullpens in baseball while the Cubs are kind of reeling
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: here in desperation mode, in just simply survival mode. And,
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: you know, I think it's important to convey to our
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: listeners and our readers, like, the mood in the clubhouse.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: And it was.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: Pretty calm. I mean, they were definitely disappointed. It was
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: very quiet for most of the time. You could only
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: kind of hear the showers running off in the distance.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: Not a whole lot of chit-chat. Not a lot of
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: players at their lockers. I spoke with Dansby Swanson quickly.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: Alex Bregman was there. We'll get into Kevin Gosman later. Obviously,
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: Matthew Boyd is a stand-up guy, really thoughtful player, and
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: that's just the general kind of group personality with this team,
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: that they are composed, experienced, process-oriented. The problem, though, and
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: Craig Council talked about this heading into this series, is
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: like process will only take you so far. Like this
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: is just a different format. It's a totally different rhythm.
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: And at least in game one, the Cubs just looked
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: totally out of sync.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah i i mean it'd be interesting you know if
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: they if they get swept or anything if there are
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: any excuses made if the travel just got to them
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: i'd be surprised if that has anything to do with
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: it uh it it just they should be used to
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: that stuff i mean they like it it wasn't that
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: crazy for them uh you know they have a chartered
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: flight right after the game they're used to jumping on
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: flights right after games. Uh, this wasn't a complete, uh,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: you know, up ending of their lives in any way. Uh, but,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: and it wasn't like a, what was that? Was that
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: 2018 when they play like 40 something games in 40
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: something days, something ridiculous like that to end the season. Uh,
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: that was a little, that was crazy where you're just
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: like playing nonstop. They had breaks, they had days off. Uh,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: you know, it, I think we'll get to the pitching,
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: but I think that's really what upended them. Their pitching
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: plans were thrown off. Who knows if it would have
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: worked any better if everyone was healthy, but this team,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: I'll give them this. It feels very negative right now,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: and we've had plenty of moments in this season where
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: it felt very negative, and they bounced back. they, it's
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: not hard for them to win two games in a row.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: It's not like they've, they've had like terrible, it's not
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: like they haven't had terrible games and then shown up
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: the next day and looked like a completely different team.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: It is, it is hard to, it is hard for
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: fans and hard for us from the outside looking in to,
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: to feel positive about it right now, I think. But,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: you know, I don't think they're in panic mode by
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: any means, but these series are so quick. It's one game,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: and then suddenly your back is against the wall. So
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: the tenor can change quickly. This one just felt like
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: an immediate. It wasn't even like your back was against
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: the wall after the game. Their back was against the
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: wall from the moment the game started. Yeah, and that's
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: what makes it feel the way it does, I think.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'm with you on sort of the travel
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: end of season narrative. I mean, council said it here,
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: like you're in sunny San Diego. This is not a
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: doom and gloom place. Everything is very compact when you
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: talk about the hotels, the ballpark, the water, restaurants, you know,
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: just a really.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: Great venue.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: For baseball. And so they will have that opportunity to reset.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: There's also a much smaller media crew following them here too,
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: like less cameras and things of that nature. I mean,
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: I will say though, I didn't realize how tilted these
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: wild card series have been historically. I mean, it's a
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: rather short history, but since 2022, when this best of
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: the format was implemented, the game one winner has advanced
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: 15 out of 16 times. Last year's Yankees came back
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: against the Red Sox. So it's certainly not impossible, but
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: if you, kind of understand the rhythm of the sport.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: If you know this particular Cubs team, like they've been
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: pretty good at sort of like managing period and sort
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: of just getting through adversity. There's not, not the same
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: amount of time. That is not a luxury that they have.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: And all of a sudden, just all of the momentum
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: has shifted towards san diego's side i mean they can
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: kind of go for it tonight um if it gets
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: to a game three um i still think they'd be
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: in a better position just sort of like playing at
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: home and uh you know this comes down to stars
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: we've talked about this for a long time stars matter
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: uh pete has become that superstar And, you know, he
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: did draw a walk, steal a base. Like, the Cubs
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: had a couple chances early. There was that Xander Bogart's
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: throwing error.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: That error, yeah.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: They just couldn't convert and at least make it a
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: sort of close game where you're putting the Padres in
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: a high leverage pressure situation. I mean, it's just kind of,
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: Joe Musgrove has had a very nice career. He's a
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: local guy. Big part of kind of the franchise's resurgence. But,
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: I mean, to basically not pitch for two entire seasons
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: and then come in for the ninth inning.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: A game one best of three wildcard series. It's mind blowing.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: And it showed you what the Padres really thought of
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: the Cubs in that moment.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you're right when you mentioned that they
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: had their chances early on after the Seah error or
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: Seah gets on via error. And then when Pete took
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: the walk, those are two opportunities. I think both, maybe
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: not both, were with two outs. I'm pretty sure Pete
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: was with two outs. But those are opportunities where you're
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: still in that game. and you need to at minimum
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: chip away or get a big home run, something like
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: that to kind of swing the momentum. Momentum in baseball,
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: I don't think it's something that carries over day to day.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: I think you can feel it in a game, though,
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: and when it's 2-0 and they're building it to 3-0, 4-0,
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: if you can chip away and make it 2-1 or
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: get a big hit and tie it up, obviously it
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: changes both managers' thinking, especially with how they're Before we
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: get to the pitching, let's talk about one thing real quickly.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: Trading on Cal Shee, the Cubs are 22% to advance
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: to play Milwaukee. If you are interested in trying out
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Cal Shee, download the app and use code baseball. to
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: get $ 55 added to your account instantly. All right, Patrick.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: Kevin Gossman is starting game two. You know, this was
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: something where the Cubs wanted him to start game one, uh,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: this was the plan. Uh, nothing has gone according to
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: plan when it comes to their pitching this season. Uh,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: if it had, we'd be talking about a game that
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: Kate Horton just started and that Ben Brown was about
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: to start or Justin Steele was about to start. Uh,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: none of those guys are on the playoff roster because
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: none of those guys are healthy enough to pitch or
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: didn't have healthy enough seasons to pitch, uh, for the Cubs. And,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: and now we're talking about completely different players, uh, And
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: Kevin Gossman is injured as well, or pushing through an injury, where,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: you know, we'll see what he can do. Before we
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: really get into this, let's make this our Fox 1
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: On Deck segment. Okay.
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: What Kevin Gossman can give them, but he is going
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: to be out there trying to give them everything he can.
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: Well, that's what I want to start with because you've
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: sort of mentioned this here and there. You were in
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: Tampa coming off that bullpen session on Sunday, if I'm
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: remembering correctly. And you've kind of mentioned this in our
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: Slack channel or just as we're chatting, working through coverage
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: ideas like, we don't know kevin gossman that well he's
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: obviously a great he has a great reputation throughout the
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: game uh and he's really like funny insightful um thoughtful
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: um and so maybe we're reading too much into it
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: but like how does it sound when he's been answering
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: these questions about how he's feeling.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, look, you know, I think we're used to guys saying, like,
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: just give me the ball. I'm going to go out there.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: Don't worry about it. Like, not even talking about the
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: possibility that this injury that they have is going to
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: impact them. When he was asked last night how he was,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: it was, you know, we're going to find out. Feels
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: all right. Good enough to go out there and give
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: it everything I got. That's what I'm going to do.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: So that's not him saying, like, you know, I'm a mess.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: I don't know how I'm going to get this done,
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: but you know, what are the options? It's nothing like that,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: but it is, you know, we're going to find out
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: isn't doesn't like give you a ton of confidence that
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: he's fine. I don't think that it matters much to
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: be honest, as far as what he says, but I
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: just don't like you're used to guys saying different things.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: Maybe this is why he was such a good fit. Canada.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: He's such a nice guy and he's very straightforward. Very soft-spoken.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: Not someone that is going to give you those rah-rah
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: quotes or say I can pitch through anything. He's just
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: very honest and straightforward and I think that sometimes can
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: throw us off because we're just not used to hearing
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: those types of quotes. Again, we haven't Like you were saying,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: we haven't spent a lot of time around him. So
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: is this just how he always is? He's just going
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: to be honest and straightforward with us, and maybe he'll
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: go out there and dominate. I don't know. But it does,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: you know, clearly he's not 100%. We know that the
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Cubs wanted to give him this extra day at minimum.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: I wonder if they would have won last night. if
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: they'd be holding Kevin Gossman back even further and trying
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: to win game two and hope he can start game
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: one in Milwaukee. Now your back's against the wall. You
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: have to go with... I think you'd go with who
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: you think is your best chance to win. I think
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: it's a little worrisome that your best chance to win
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: is a guy coming off an injury and who's like,
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: we'll see.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: It's just how the Cubs ended the season.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: They just.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: did not put themselves in a good position at all
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: obviously the Brewers winning the division forced them uh into
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: this wild card round they wind up having to go
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: on the road rather than taking an advantage of playing
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: at Wrigley Field and they sort of had to sweat
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: it out there just to even clinch that playoff spot
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: they were certainly I think pushed beyond a threshold that
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: we thought they would be when you looked at the
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: standings kind of after the trade deadline, deep into August,
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: like arranging the pitching for this series was somewhat challenging.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: And I think if you're looking forward, if the Cubs
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: are able to somehow survive an advance, which we both
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: agree is not impossible, It just does not set them
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: up for success against the Brewers. I mean, this is
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: what we saw last year of how much energy it took,
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: how many pitching resources they had to pour into eliminating
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: the Padres.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: And now.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: The Padres have a chance here, if they can close
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: it out, to actually be in pretty good shape. to
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: face the Brewers, to kind of get the playoff nerves
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: out of the way, to get into the flow. If
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: you do that without burning too much of your pitching,
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: that's a really nice scenario to be in.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, the Cubs, they're going to use all
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: their pitching. Um, they, they have, I saw David Peterson
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: and Shota Imanaga starting to warm. They didn't like, they
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: weren't on the mound, you know, warming up fully, but
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: they were both stretching and kind of like doing their
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: pre warmup activities. Uh, it ended up being Javier Assad, right.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: Who came in for a very short period of time. Uh,
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: but you know, Imanaga is in the bullpen. He's going
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: to give them multiple innings if, if needed. Uh, David Peterson,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: same thing. we'll see how short the leash is on
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: Kevin Gossman. I've seen some people wondering, hey, we traded
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: Jefferson Rojas for Clay Holmes. Why isn't he out there?
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: Why isn't he getting this start? Over his last four starts, 16.1%
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: walk rate, 8.24 ERA. Yeah, could he lock it in
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: and be great? I think so. I think that's, you know,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: that's not a ridiculous ask. It is a risky thing
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: to ask when it's the playoffs. And, uh, and you know,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: you can't like, you needed him to show you something
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: more on Friday, uh, during that double header. Uh, and,
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: and his command is just not there right now. Uh, Patrick,
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: before I let you talk, I just wanted to say that, um,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: If the Cubs do advance, you can catch that on
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: Fox 1 because the NLDS, NLCS, and World Series games,
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: all of them will be available on the Fox 1 app.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: MLB on Fox is streaming on Fox 1. The postseason
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: is here, and we have your front row seat to
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: the wildest walk-offs, lights-out pitching, and clutch plays all playoffs long.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: Stream each NLDS and NLCS game, then the 2026 World
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: Series live on Fox 1 at home. At home or
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: on the go, live or on demand, never miss a moment.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: Stream now. Start your Fox One three-day free trial today
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: at foxone.com. Yeah, so the pitching, this is– we'll see
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: how they can get through it, if they can get
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: through it. But it is– I don't think it's like
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: out of the blue really for what we expected. But
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: Kevin Gossman injury, you know– days before the playoff start
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: was not ideal.
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: No, I mean, we've seen so much already this season
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: and the Cubs have proven us wrong at various points.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: I would expect a much cleaner game tonight. I guess
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: I really couldn't have gotten much worse than last night,
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: but I don't think... this series will be won or
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: lost because like the.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: Cubs were.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: Tired or like distracted or overwhelmed by the moment. We
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: just may be seeing the Padres as kind of this
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: runaway team in the national league. I mean, the, the
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: team that, you know, if they win this into would
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: be well positioned to beat the Brewers and And it
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: would be the team that the Dodgers would not look
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: forward to facing in a potential NLCS. And whoever comes
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: out of the National League will have survived a much
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: tougher league, a more difficult playoffs.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Bracket.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: So it should be a good one.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we can talk about this more if they're eliminated.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: But we're talking about the same thing we were talking
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: about last year, and it's the pitching. It has to
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: be better. I know injuries happened. This was like pretty
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: devastating when you look back at all the injuries. But
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: that we're, we talked about it all last off season,
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: how pitching was the focus, you know, whatever happens with
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: the lockout that, you know, we can talk about that later,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: but it's going to be the focus again. You can't
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: go into a playoff series like this. You can't go into,
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: and if they somehow advance, you can't go into the
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: NLDS looking like they are. the Brewers are just going
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: to be waiting for them with Mizorowski and Logan Henderson
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: ready to just dominate. So it's frustrating to see that
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: it's the same issues. Again, I understand why it's a
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: different situation than last year, but it's pretty difficult to
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: have to talk about the same thing, biting them. And again,
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: we'll talk about it if they're eliminated, but What a
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: shame it would be to waste Pete Krohn's strong season.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: One of the best offensive teams, the best offensive team
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: in baseball by metrics, and the best defensive team in baseball.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: And you may not advance in the playoffs. That's rough.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: All right. That's it for Northside Territory. We will be
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: back with more episodes this week. Thanks so much for listening.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: Make sure to rate, review, subscribe. Subscribe to the YouTube
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: channel and subscribe to The Athletic. We're Patrick and I
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: are on top of all things Cubs. Thanks for listening
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: and watching, everyone. Take care.