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As Cubs limp into playoff rematch with Padres, a look at what matters now (and what doesn’t) · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory Filed Territory Network's Cubs podcast. I'm
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic. Patrick, the playoffs
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: are set for the Cubs. It's almost set for everyone.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: The Phillies are collapsing and making it a little questionable
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: as to whether it's them or the Diamondbacks in that
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: final spot, but the Cubs are locked into the five spot.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: The Padres are locked into the four spot. The Cubs
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: are will be going to San Diego. Uh, but before
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: they go to San Diego, they will play a game
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: in Tampa Bay against the Boston Red Sox.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Uh, because this week has just been.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Insane, uh, in both in like so many different ways, obviously, um,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: started the week started with Alex Bregman getting hit by
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: a foul ball. Uh, And as it's gone, the Cubs
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: have gone one and four. They, their one win was
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: the clinch against, uh, the Marlins on Thursday, uh, Bregman
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: returned to the lineup on Friday in a Friday double
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: header in Boston and, uh, where the Cubs got swept, uh, essentially,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: you know, putting them on the brink of losing, of
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: not getting home field advantage. That was, uh, confirmed last
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: night when the Padres won. Now we are in St.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: Pete.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: I am in St.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Pete with the Cubs waiting for the final game of
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: the season, which is now meaningless.
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, by the way, the Cubs clinched a playoff
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: spot and Pico Armstrong notched a 40-40 season. That was
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: just like an absolute blur. Obviously, during our time covering
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: the Cubs, there's been lots of crazy weeks, and this
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: one was Maybe not crazy, just hectic. Definitely for a
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: regular season, for a team that had a really strong
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: chance and almost certainty to make the postseason, there's just
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: a lot going on. I don't think this is really
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: how you want to be rolling into the playoffs, but
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: I guess everything starts over from zero anyways, even if
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: they were kind of in the Padres situation. Everything's rolling great,
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: but that doesn't necessarily carry over and i guess that's
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: what the cubs will be hoping for we're recording sunday
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: morning so i'm very curious to hear what sort of
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: uh one-liners craig council uh has for you and how
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: they how they sort of frame this in the clubhouse.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Uh yeah well if you're if you've been watching the
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: cubs this past week the concern for fans at least
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: is now the offense uh look it's a It's easy
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: to just freak out about whatever is not going well
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: at the time. I think we watch enough baseball to
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: know that offense comes and goes. It just does. It
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: doesn't matter how good your offense is. It's really hard to,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: for six months straight, just put up, you know, what
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: do they average, like five and a half runs a game?
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Five to six runs every game consistently is not how
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: that happens. There are going to be some lulls. The
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Cubs have avoided long lulls.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Outside of May.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Outside of May, they've avoided long offensive lulls. So, I
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: wrote this this morning, Patrick, and I don't think it's
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: completely off-base. I think it's completely fair to be concerned
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: about everything. You worry about whatever you want to worry
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: about as a Cubs fan. There's plenty of things to
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: be concerned about because this is a flawed team, but
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: a really good team, obviously. But there were two things...
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: that kept them from having a good week offensively. The
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Wrigley weather, the Boston weather, and Alex Bregman not being
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: in the lineup. He wasn't in the lineup for four
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: of those five games. And the one game that he
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: was in the lineup, it was just like he was
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: trying to get some at-bats in, essentially. That's what that was.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Both those things matter. I don't think they're excuses. It's
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: just the reality. And I'm not saying that going, playing
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: in the trop and then, you know, going to San
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Diego fixes everything for the offense. And it's just, the
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: reality is that probably win two more games if the
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: weather's a little bit better or different, I should say.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: But it's also, you know, who the hell knows what
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: happens in the playoffs.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: Like baseball is such a game to game sport.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Really hard to, to predict what's going to happen. I,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: and I think if you're concerned, if you know, Alex
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: Bregman is such a big part of this lineup, the
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: concern should be like, can he get back in a rhythm?
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Can he, he was, um, after the game on Friday
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: in between games, I should say on Friday, he said, uh,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: you know, his mechanics were a mess. He didn't feel
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: right at the plate. Uh, mechanically his hands were going back.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: His body was going forward. Uh, He said his vision
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: was fine. Vision was great. That wasn't an issue. Just mechanics.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: He'll he's going to work on that and he'll get
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: back to where he where he was in his words.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: So I think it's fair for fans to be concerned. Like,
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: can he can he actually get back to who he was?
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: And that's a fair question. I don't I don't know.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: We're going to have to see. Like, how much does
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: he play in today's game is a question. How much
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: do the regulars play? We got Shota and Managa starting.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: I assume that's kind of like a shorter start. Maybe
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: I'm wrong on that.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: We'll talk more about the Padres matchup in the next segment.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I don't think I'm not going to be,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: I'm not at a place where I'm freaking out about
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: this offense. I think there are other things to be
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: concerned about when facing the Padres.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: Maybe not freaking out, but I think this offense will
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: have to step up. Like I don't see them winning
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: a lot of like two, one, three, two games. That
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: seems kind of like a recipe for, uh, disaster.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: Very curious about Bregman just because he does seem to
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: like to tinker and it took him such a long
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: time to get going this year. And then he was
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: so good once it locked in and, you know, this is, uh,
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: I want to say like a legacy defining moment for
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: Alex Bregman. Cause he's had such a great career, but
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: you know, it does make you wonder like if he
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: does have a huge post season, like, is he going
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: to have kind of a couch or moment? Will the
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: Cubs play long enough for him to kind of make
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: that mark in this particular post season? But I will say,
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: you know, the Cubs have dealt with a lot of
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: adversity this year that they've haven't made a ton of excuses.
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: They've certainly given context around some things that have happened,
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: but they, you know, have chosen to kind of keep
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: pushing through. And I don't think that will change. Um,
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: but the Padres, I think are just, they're in a
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: much better place than they were when the Cubs won
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: their season series. That's for sure. Yeah.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: Uh, let's take a quick break and discuss, uh, what, uh,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: what the Cubs are going to be looking at when
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: facing the Padres.
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: So Jay, do you ever find yourself crashing in the afternoon,
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: needing a boost, but not wanting to have caffeine that
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: you know is going to ruin your sleep?
• 8:02
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• 8:04
  Speaker 4: a lot lately. And sometimes, you know, it can be
• 8:07
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• 8:12
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• 8:17
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• 8:19
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• 8:22
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• 8:24
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• 8:27
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• 8:29
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• 8:54
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick. Cubs Padres. The Padres are hot on offense.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: They are hitting well.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: We have Fernando Tatis, Jackson Merrill, and Ty France are
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: three of the last I looked there, like three of
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: the top ten offensive performers in the second half. Uh,
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: if you want to counter that as a, as a
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Cubs fan, you can say that Pete Kerr Armstrong and
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Alex Bregman are the top two performers of the second
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: half and offensive performers of the second half. And, and, uh, um,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: and say a Suzuki's like top 12. Uh, so, you know,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: it's not like the Cubs can't match them on offense. Uh,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: but this is going to be, this is shaping up
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: to be, uh, an offensive battle that like, that's what this,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: that's what this, uh, matchup kind of looks like. Yeah.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: I mean, you have some awesome individual talent on the field.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: And I think if, you're a Cubs fan, you can
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: at least feel good about the Cubs can match that
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: in a way that in previous years, I think we're
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: always curious about of like, do the Cubs have enough
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: star power? Are they just sort of a nice collection
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: of depth and versatility and sort of baseline competence? It's like, no,
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: They will have the best player on the field in
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: Pete Crow Armstrong. Maybe they have Alex Bregman as that
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: complementary piece. I'd be curious to see what Seiya Suzuki does.
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: He might have been their most dangerous hitter in last
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: year's playoffs. And if he wasn't, it was Michael Bush
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: who just had a fine season, but not kind of
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: that next level. He did not really build off of it.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: That momentum did not carry over from one year, uh,
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: to the next. So, you know, you know how it
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: is in the post season it's pitching defense and timely hitting.
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: And I think both sides are going to feel really
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: good in that regard. Yeah.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: Uh, I mean, I, I still don't know who, how
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: the Padres rotation is stacking up. I assume Michael King is,
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: is the guy that they, they send.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: Out there for game one.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Um, he last pitched on the 22nd, so he's going
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: to have plenty of rest.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: Uh, he did give up.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: He has, uh, been a little shaky or, you know,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: hasn't been as dominant of late, but, uh, that last
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: start against the Dodgers was a rough one. Uh, the
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: Cubs can hit anyone I think is, is the reality.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: I don't think, I mean, maybe this, maybe this series
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: does come down to pitching in the sense of like who, which,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: which pitchers can shut down these hot offense or these
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: good offenses. Uh, I think the Cubs right now have
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: a lot of questions on, on with their pitching staff.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: I don't know who, uh, who's going to start game one. Uh,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: I just got word. I believe, um, let me, let
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: me double check this, uh, to make sure I read
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: this while half asleep this morning. Um, Shota Imanaga is
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: starting Sunday, this game in Tampa Bay.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: I think the Cubs were going to avoid starting.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: The Cubs were going to start lefties against the Phillies
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: and righties against the Padres. I think Gossman is the
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: obvious choice. We'll see how he is health-wise. I guess
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: we haven't recorded since he got hurt, which was... You know,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: a cubby occurrence in a season full of them, I guess.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: We'll know more about his status.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: We can talk about that a little bit later.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: But I think he's an option to start game one.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Clay Holmes is kind of a mess right now. He's
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: walking more guys than you'd like to see. Maybe mess
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: is too far. Maybe that's too harsh of a word. but, uh,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: he's certainly not pitching at his best. Uh, and those
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: are your two best righties. Uh, so I'm, I'm not
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: sure how exactly this lines up. It's going to be interesting. Uh,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: Matthew Boyd pitched the clincher on Thursday. My guess is
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: they'll set him up for game two. If I had
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: to guess, like if Gossman is healthy, he's game one and,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: and Boyd game two, that that's just my guess.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: Uh, I don't know how safe of a guess it is.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: It feels very up in the air.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: Um, and to think, uh, you know, the biggest question
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: a week ago was who's gonna, you know, can this
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: bullpen stabilize? I feel like that's an afterthought at the moment.
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, this is, it's going to be fascinating to watch
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: how Craig council and Tommy, how to be deploy these pictures. Uh, Padres, uh,
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: have a, rookie manager in Craig Stammen, who to his credit,
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: who guided them to 90 wins with a pitching staff that,
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: you know, our colleague Dennis Lynn at the athletic does
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: a great job covering the Padres. And I felt like
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: every other story was like, you know, a setback for
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: the very similar to the Cubs, a setback for this
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: pitcher or this starter is a question mark. And how
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: are they going to piece this thing together with like
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: duct tape and chewing gum? And they've, It's kind of
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: unbelievable to have two starters in King and Walker Bueller
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: make 30-plus starts, and the next guy has 22 starts,
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: Randy Vasquez. Huge drop-off from there, but they do have
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: that awesome bullpen. Obviously, everyone knows about Mason Miller, Morahone,
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: that lefty. I feel like we talked about it a
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: lot just because Cubs people referenced Pete Crow Armstrong's at
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: bats against him and how impressive it was the way
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: that he battled and, you know, really showed, uh, his
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: growth in that regard. Um, so I don't know, I
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: expect this to go to a game three, the late
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: innings of a game three. And, you know, I would
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: probably feel better about the Cubs chances if they were
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: playing at Wrigley, but I don't think it's like, uh,
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: you know, a foregone conclusion by any means that, you know,
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: the Padres are winning just cause they're at home. But,
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: I will say Petco Park is easily one of the
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: top venues in baseball. It was electric in April when
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: I was there for some night games against the Cubs.
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: I can only imagine what it'll be like here over
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: the next few days.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: I haven't been there in a while now that I
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: think about it. It has been....
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: Just sellout crowd after sellout crowd.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: It's been a long time. I feel like you've taken
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: those Padres series when we have gone to San Diego
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: in the recent past. So to actually cover a game,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: I don't think I've been there since like 19. So
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: it has been a really long time.
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: I think I could be completely wrong. I, you know, yeah, I,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: I don't, I honestly can't remember the last time I
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: was there, but yeah, it should, I agree that it's
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: going to be like a last minute thing. That's how
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: this season needs to be. I think it just has
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: to be that way. We shouldn't know where we're, where
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: we're headed. At least we can at least, At least
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: with travel, it's like we're going to Chicago either way
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: because they're either done for the season or they're going
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: to Milwaukee. So we could just go back to our
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: homes and either drive up to Milwaukee or go to
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: the end-of-season press conference. Real quick here, if you are
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• 17:21
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• 18:09
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• 18:20
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: So I was talking about Kevin Gossman there and if
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: you didn't see on Wednesday, it was Wednesday, right?
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: He went to go make a.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: Tag at third base, sliding tag, diving tag, and got
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: the out, but hurt his left shoulder, a shoulder that
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: he had previously dislocated when he was in high school.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: It's his left shoulder. It's not his throwing arm. Still, there's...
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: you know, he feels it and it hasn't been great. Uh, I, uh,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: the way council put it is Sunday is a big
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: day for him. Uh, I believe he said that after they,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: the Cubs got swept in Boston, um, swept in that
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: double header in Boston. And so today is Sunday. He
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: will throw a bullpen today. I believe he was the
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: planned game one starter. If they played San Diego, they
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: are playing San Diego. Uh, Uh, this obviously throws a
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: wrench in those plans.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: Like, do you, do you still start him with, if he's,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: if he feels great today, I guess you're starting him
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: on Tuesday. Uh, uh, knowing Craig counsel, we're not.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: Getting any of that information right away. We're not finding
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: that out today. Maybe we'll find out Tuesday morning.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think you put it well. That's
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: kind of what Dansby Swanson said the other day of like,
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: of course, this season is ending this way of a Northeaster,
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: a doubleheader flying from Chicago to Boston to Tampa. And
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: now the itinerary will include San Diego. I still think
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: you feel good about Gossman, just knowing his postseason experience.
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: And again, we're only talking about maybe going four and
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: a third innings here, you know, like 70 to 75 pitches.
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: Although turning it into a bullpen game, like I don't
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: know if you feel great about that when you look
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: at San Diego's bullpen versus the relievers the Cubs have assembled.
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: But just another one of those sort of like nagging things,
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: whether it's Bregman's injury, the rust that he'll have to
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: shake off, Gosman's shoulder thing, which is not his throwing shoulder,
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: but he made a point of how he sort of
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: positions his body and how he tries to create leverage.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: Like with all pitchers, everything's connected, and that's just another
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: X factor that if you're the Cubs, you just don't
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: want to have to be thinking about right now.
• 21:09
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: Um, I, I mean, I don't, I'm not sure how
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: I'd feel about any of these pictures, even if they're healthy.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: I feel like Imanaga is the guy that's throwing best.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: He's just not the best matchup for the Padres. Uh,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: it's a, it's interesting because this week they've gotten really
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: good pitching, like the starting pitching. If the offense had
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: just been average instead of bad all week, uh, would
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: be having different conversations right now. Nobody, obviously no, literally
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: if they score like two more runs in Friday's game
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: one and one more run before things got up hand
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: on Tuesday, that's it. That's all it would have taken
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: for people to not be freaking out about this offense.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: And we could focus more on like, huh, is the
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: starting pitching kind of settled in? Are these guys pitching
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: at their best when it matters? Outside of Clay Holmes,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: I feel like you could say that about Like Matthew
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Boyd's looked a lot better.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: He's not missing bats still. I don't love that.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Uh, that's always a concern for me when, when you're
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: relying on so much contact, but that's why Clay Holmes
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: is the way he is too, because he doesn't miss
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: bats much. Uh, and, and, uh, he can't afford to
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: walk people and he's doing that. And when the ball's
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: in play so much, you're leaving so much up to chance.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: I don't care how amazing this defense is. It is great,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: but you hit, you have to strike some guys out. Uh,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: and Gossman was looking really good in his final outing there. Uh,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: obviously it didn't go his way and he gave up, uh,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: he gave up a Homer to Kyle Stowers, right. Who was,
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: who kind of crushed the Cubs for a little bit there. Uh,
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: that was all, that was his only mistake.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: He looked good. It looked like a good tune up
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: before the playoffs for him.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Um, yeah, it's a, it's a, If I'm being completely honest,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: I don't feel great about the way that series lines
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: up for the Cubs. But we can talk about maybe
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: predictions in another episode. We'll see what our recording and
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: travel schedule is like.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: We'll see.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: I think Bregman playing again today. If he's in the
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: lineup today, that's something to keep an eye on. How
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: the offense does in general.
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: Can.
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: Does one game matter? I don't think so.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: But can it matter as far as just like feeling
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: a little bit more confident about yourself? Like just maybe
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: for fans, it'll put fans' tensions at ease if the
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: Cubs score eight runs today and.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: The regulars get a few hits. We'll see.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: I don't know what matters today, if anything, as far
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: as the results playing out on the field.
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess the silver lining, like, since we last recorded,
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: or kind of over the course of our last several episodes,
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: like Daniel Palencia and Ryan Zephyrjohn have looked better, and
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: I think the body of work this year should give
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: you a little bit of confidence that the Cubs can
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: game plan and arrange the innings in a fashion that,
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: you know, keeps them competitive here. I know they don't
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: have a Mason Miller to work backwards from, But if
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: you maybe ask less from certain starters and kind of
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: line up relievers in certain ways, it's not unrealistic to
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: think the Cubs will have a decent chance to win
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: this series. It's just, yeah, it just seems like two
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: teams who are trending in different directions. But I don't
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: know if that really matters once game one starts.
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: I completely agree.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: I was about to say it's like, yeah, the Cubs
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: are limping into the playoffs. But would you be surprised
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: if they completely turned it around in game one and
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: immediately looked like the team they looked like.
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: You know, offensively in August?
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I would not be surprised if they suddenly got hot,
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: if they suddenly, you know, went on a run. But
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: that's because that's how baseball works and that's how the
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: playoffs are.
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: I really don't think we can read too much into
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: trends right now. it's about health and like.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: There are two key injuries, uh, or two key guys
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: like coming back from injury, I guess you could say.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: Uh, so we'll.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: See how in there too, like they could be two
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: very important pieces as far as if Gossman is starting
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: game one.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: Um, so, so we'll see where they're at. I agree
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: on the bullpen.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: I feel like it's just like, it's kind of stabilized.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: Valencia looks great. And Zephyr John seems very comfortable out
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: there now. Uh, So I'm not as worried if you're,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: you know, when you have like three to four guys
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: in the bullpen, especially in the postseason, it could work.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: I'm curious to see how guys like Zephyr John, Ryan
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: Rolison handle postseason big moments. They're probably each one is
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: going to have some big moment over this week in
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: San Diego. We'll see how they handle it. I just
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: don't envision a scenario where there aren't. some like huge
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: high leverage Cubs bullpen innings that matter a lot and
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: see if that ends up mattering. Cause it's suddenly become
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: been put on the back burner after like months of us,
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: weeks of us, like focusing in on the bullpen. It's like, actually, uh,
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: these other things are a much bigger concern.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: Uh, all right.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: We will be back with episodes this week from San
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: Diego talking about this series. Uh, thanks so much for
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: listening to everyone. This is Northside territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: Subscribe to the YouTube channel and subscribe to The Athletic
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: where Patrick and I are on top of all things Cubs.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: Thanks for listening and watching, everyone. Take care.