Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / No-hitter alert (and no panic) in Milwaukee

Transcript

No-hitter alert (and no panic) in Milwaukee · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: Listen. You have to monitor his innings. I get it,
0:02
Speaker 1: but this guy looks pretty damn impressive. Welcome into North
0:10
Speaker 1: Side Territory Foul Territories Cubs Podcast. I'm Sahade Sharma with
0:14
Speaker 1: my partner Patrick Mooney. We cover the Cubs for the Athletic.
0:19
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening, Patrick. The Cubs offense has been
0:24
Speaker 1: a mess. It finally woke up for one inning at
0:27
Speaker 1: least on Tuesday night and got them a win. But
0:32
Speaker 1: as as nice as that felt for fans, I'm sure
0:36
Speaker 1: to finally see some offense. I think. I think the
0:38
Speaker 1: story of this evening, of that evening was Ben Brown,
0:44
Speaker 1: seven no hit innings. This this is a guy like
0:49
Speaker 1: It's It's fascinating. Back to back nights, Cubs starting pitchers
0:54
Speaker 1: have dominated a really strong and potent Milwaukee Brewers offense.
0:59
Speaker 1: It was, I belie leave by a few metrics, the
1:02
Speaker 1: number three offense in baseball coming into this series. These
1:07
Speaker 1: are two pitchers who lean on two pitches for the
1:10
Speaker 1: most part, and they pitched well enough to shut down
1:15
Speaker 1: this offense. And Ben Brown we keep talking about when
1:19
Speaker 1: he's gonna move to the bullpen. You know the Cubs
1:22
Speaker 1: need more help there. Jordan Wicks made another rehab outing
1:29
Speaker 1: in Iowa. He'll make another one in you know, four
1:32
Speaker 1: days from that, five days from that. What happens with
1:35
Speaker 1: Ben Brown is the question, right that everyone's asking. I mean, listen,
1:41
Speaker 1: you have to monitor his innings. I get it, but
1:44
Speaker 1: this guy looks pretty damn impressive.
1:46
Speaker 2: I mean, I guess the Cubs did put like the
1:49
Speaker 2: hottest pitcher on the planet on ice and showed it
1:52
Speaker 2: at Minaga. So I guess we can't assume that just
1:55
Speaker 2: because Ben Brown throws seven no hit innings that he's
1:59
Speaker 2: there to stay in the rotation.
2:01
Speaker 3: But a pretty impressive audition.
2:06
Speaker 2: I think JD on the broadcast last night was saying,
2:10
Speaker 2: you know, if you take out one inning and his
2:12
Speaker 2: major league debut, his er this year is off the charts,
2:17
Speaker 2: kind of in that not quite showed up, but maybe
2:20
Speaker 2: in the Javi or asade Ti owned.
2:23
Speaker 3: Territory, which is extremely impressive. And like.
2:29
Speaker 2: That's what the Cup need, Like they need guys to
2:32
Speaker 2: just kind of break out of the box and put
2:37
Speaker 2: together seasons that are unexpected. Like that's how this team
2:42
Speaker 2: is going to get from that eighty three win range
2:45
Speaker 2: up towards ninety because they didn't necessarily buy it in
2:50
Speaker 2: bulk on the.
2:51
Speaker 3: Free agent market.
2:52
Speaker 2: They made a relatively under the radar trade for Michael Bush.
2:58
Speaker 2: Like they need some internal improvements, and I mean you
3:01
Speaker 2: were there, you could speak to kind of the scene
3:05
Speaker 2: and the environment. But like, what if this guy's a
3:08
Speaker 2: dude and that they have, you know, at the back
3:12
Speaker 2: of their rotation, just a physically imposing guy who throws
3:20
Speaker 2: super hard, even by the standards of today's game, and
3:24
Speaker 2: also someone who literally like studied.
3:28
Speaker 3: How counseled would you use pitchers with the Brewers? A
3:31
Speaker 3: very thoughtful guy who's serious about his craft.
3:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, just some numbers to back this up.
3:40
Speaker 1: I mean, you don't even need to throw out that
3:42
Speaker 1: first outing. I get why you would, it was it
3:45
Speaker 1: was a lot of bad luck. But I mean two
3:47
Speaker 1: seventy two ERA overall, twenty nine point nine strikeout rate,
3:51
Speaker 1: nine point two percent walk rate, Like those are those
3:54
Speaker 1: are the type of numbers that you know elite starters
3:58
Speaker 1: put up. What's the innings total? The innings total is
4:03
Speaker 1: forty six and a thirdy I mean, he's he's doing
4:06
Speaker 1: a lot. I believe he has six starts and thirty
4:08
Speaker 1: innings in those starts, and he's just a lot of
4:11
Speaker 1: those starts were like him still building up him, you know,
4:14
Speaker 1: filling in spots starts like it's it's pretty amazing how
4:20
Speaker 1: he's just been so malleable and able to fill any
4:24
Speaker 1: role for them. We've seen it before, right, We've we've
4:27
Speaker 1: seen guys fill different roles before outside of a Sad,
4:32
Speaker 1: I don't really remember someone doing it so seamlessly and
4:37
Speaker 1: like so still well right Asad did it.
4:40
Speaker 3: And against good teams too.
4:41
Speaker 1: Right, right, these aren't Yeah, he's not. He's not facing
4:45
Speaker 1: weak teams. Uh, he's doing it with two pitches. Yesterday,
4:50
Speaker 1: council called to the fastball angry. He said it was
4:52
Speaker 1: an angry fastball. It averaged ninety six point four, ninety
4:58
Speaker 1: six point nine yesterday. That's a tick up half a
5:02
Speaker 1: mile up from that year average. I saw like I
5:07
Speaker 1: happened to be looking. I was eating dinner and saw
5:11
Speaker 1: like the beginning of the Brewers broadcast in the in
5:14
Speaker 1: the media cafeteria there, and it said something about like
5:18
Speaker 1: average fastball velocity for starters, and Ben Brown wasn't up there, right,
5:23
Speaker 1: but Freddy Parolta was and was like ninety six point three.
5:26
Speaker 1: So Ben Brown, Like if he qualified for that, he'd
5:30
Speaker 1: be he'd have one of the hardest, Like I think
5:32
Speaker 1: Freddy Paroulta was like fifth right on whatever list they had,
5:35
Speaker 1: and Ben Brown would be up there for hardest fastball
5:38
Speaker 1: velocity for a starter if he qualified. The Cubs don't
5:42
Speaker 1: really have that, right, Like who's who's their fastball like
5:46
Speaker 1: their big velocity guy in their rotation, Right, it's that
5:51
Speaker 1: guy's not really there now. He is at this point
5:56
Speaker 1: in time, you know, seventeen looking strikes with the fastball,
6:02
Speaker 1: like he's got guys guessing he's got he's got ten
6:06
Speaker 1: whiffs on the curve ball. It's right now, it's impressive. Right,
6:11
Speaker 1: We'll see if the league catches up to him, what
6:15
Speaker 1: happens as as he progresses. How they have to monitor
6:20
Speaker 1: his innings, like you said the monitoring Shoda's innings. They're
6:25
Speaker 1: monitoring how they're using Shoda. That the council isn't afraid
6:29
Speaker 1: to do unpopular things. He pulled the guy with the
6:33
Speaker 1: no hitter with seven through seven innings, right, I don't
6:37
Speaker 1: think anybody was surprised by that. That's been watching baseball
6:39
Speaker 1: over the past ten years, right, especially with council. I
6:42
Speaker 1: think Council has done that before with other pitchers in Milwaukee. Like,
6:48
Speaker 1: once it got through like four or five, I was like, Okay,
6:51
Speaker 1: it's pitchcount slow, but he's not going over ninety five
6:55
Speaker 1: one hundred pitches. Like I think one hundred was his max.
6:57
Speaker 1: I would have been surprised if he even hit one hundred,
7:00
Speaker 1: but like, there was just no chance he was finishing
7:03
Speaker 1: that unless he had these insanely efficient innings. But it's
7:08
Speaker 1: we've focused so much on the bad offense that I
7:13
Speaker 1: really think we're overlooking the starting pitching. And it's not
7:17
Speaker 1: just yeah, and it's not just good. It's been great,
7:22
Speaker 1: and it like completely, at least for me, really unexpected.
7:27
Speaker 1: I did not expect them to be this good of
7:30
Speaker 1: a pitching staff. Starting wise. I thought that'd be fine.
7:36
Speaker 1: But three point thirty ERA from the starters is sixth
7:40
Speaker 1: best in baseball, second second in the NL to a
7:44
Speaker 1: Phillies team. That's just been awesome.
7:49
Speaker 2: I thought back to at the end of last season,
7:52
Speaker 2: the Cubs are eliminated and David Ross is doing one
7:56
Speaker 2: of his pregame sessions and someone kind of I don't
8:00
Speaker 2: know if it was like a lot of softball, but
8:02
Speaker 2: kind of the premise was like, you know, hey, what
8:06
Speaker 2: a building block for this year and guys get an
8:09
Speaker 2: experienced and Ross's mind went straight to, well, you know,
8:12
Speaker 2: we had a lot of guys we were counting on
8:13
Speaker 2: this year and they didn't really show up. And Ben Brown,
8:17
Speaker 2: it wasn't his fault and it would have been like
8:19
Speaker 2: kind of an aggressive ahead of schedule push, but there
8:22
Speaker 2: was a time where they thought he could help in
8:24
Speaker 2: that bullpen. He got hurt, season got off track. He
8:27
Speaker 2: wasn't necessarily like the guy that Ross would have been
8:31
Speaker 2: thinking of. He was certainly in that kind of bucket,
8:35
Speaker 2: and you know, if things click for him. We've seen
8:40
Speaker 2: hid was an Eski make major contributions already. You see
8:44
Speaker 2: jave Rasad taking that next step. There are a lot
8:50
Speaker 2: of things that you can point to of like, okay,
8:53
Speaker 2: this is why when the offense is scuffling, you can
8:57
Speaker 2: see this Cups team staying in the hunt all the
9:00
Speaker 2: way until the end.
9:02
Speaker 3: And I think for.
9:04
Speaker 2: Us who followed this kind of system and organization for
9:08
Speaker 2: a while, it's important to see results at the major
9:12
Speaker 2: league level and that should be obvious, but it's kind
9:15
Speaker 2: of not because of the way prospects are covered and
9:19
Speaker 2: how much you know, energy and effort was expended around
9:23
Speaker 2: all these different trade deadlines. And you know, I think
9:27
Speaker 2: people feel good about pie Crow Armstrong and Kevin al
9:29
Speaker 2: Contara is super young, so there's a lot of time
9:32
Speaker 2: for these deals to kind of be reevaluated. But the
9:37
Speaker 2: twenty one trade deadline hasn't really like wowed anyone yet,
9:40
Speaker 2: right in terms of like major league results or what
9:43
Speaker 2: they're counting on at the major league level. And you
9:45
Speaker 2: know that David Robertson for Ben Brown trade is looking good,
9:52
Speaker 2: still looks good for the Phillies. Mean, I think Dave
9:54
Speaker 2: Roberson pitching the World Series for them. So this is
9:56
Speaker 2: not at Philly thing. But our colleague Mat Gelb had
9:58
Speaker 2: written at the time of Philly's had like maybe two
10:02
Speaker 2: or three pitching prospects that were just like off the table,
10:05
Speaker 2: and I don't think either. I think it was Mick
10:08
Speaker 2: Abel and maybe Griffin McGary, like guys who are not
10:11
Speaker 2: in the majors yet. And so if you have and
10:17
Speaker 2: I believe was an Eski deal came around that time too,
10:20
Speaker 2: So like if you.
10:21
Speaker 3: Like one, if it comes, get like two starters off
10:24
Speaker 3: of that tradeline, not the big one that everyone was
10:26
Speaker 3: talking about of Bryant Rizzo and Hobby, but just looking
10:33
Speaker 3: at Ben Brown, I mean, the guy's just enormous.
10:37
Speaker 2: And maybe this is like we've listened to too many
10:40
Speaker 2: old scouts over the years, but it's kind of nice
10:42
Speaker 2: to see someone who's like legit six five six six,
10:45
Speaker 2: who's gotten a lot bigger. He's coming to the Cup
10:48
Speaker 2: system and is not just oh wow, he throws really hard.
10:53
Speaker 3: It's like, no, he knows how to pitch. He has
10:55
Speaker 3: a curveball, like he has some composure and presence out
10:59
Speaker 3: there on the mound. And I mean just coming up
11:03
Speaker 3: huge at a time when the Cubs needed it. And
11:06
Speaker 3: I know you were.
11:07
Speaker 2: You were sitting there at your laptop, like that's something
11:10
Speaker 2: about that stadium, Cubs Brewers like crazy stuff happens late.
11:15
Speaker 2: So I'm sure you were in rewrite mode a couple
11:18
Speaker 2: of times there.
11:19
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I had the a story where I wouldn't
11:23
Speaker 1: I had a feeling not to write it right, Like
11:26
Speaker 1: I had a story prepped for Jed on the offense,
11:30
Speaker 1: but I wasn't gonna fit. I was like, if this
11:31
Speaker 1: guy pulls off a no hitter, if he actually goes deep,
11:34
Speaker 1: if it's a combined no hitter. Obviously I had to
11:36
Speaker 1: change course, but I like I just didn't trust either,
11:42
Speaker 1: Like I just you're right. When I'm in the walk,
11:45
Speaker 1: it's like this is first of all, I'm like high
11:47
Speaker 1: alert for a foul ball to the stuff. Secondly, I'm
11:52
Speaker 1: just like, weird crap is going to happen, and like, frankly,
11:55
Speaker 1: weird crap did happen. The way that rally started for
11:58
Speaker 1: the Cubs was kind of insane, Like that line drive
12:03
Speaker 1: to McGill. It hit his elbow and we could hear
12:07
Speaker 1: it clearly, like the sound of it was pretty was
12:11
Speaker 1: pretty sick, and and you could see him. It's not
12:16
Speaker 1: funny because the guy was in reial pain, but you
12:19
Speaker 1: could kind of see him like immediately react and start
12:23
Speaker 1: walking towards the dugout, but then like look at the
12:25
Speaker 1: ball and kind of consider, like do I pick this up?
12:28
Speaker 1: And it was like nope, I'm heading back to the
12:31
Speaker 1: dugout like I'm done, and like you know, I think
12:34
Speaker 1: the third basement had to like run to go get it.
12:36
Speaker 1: Vasquez scored right, and that started the big five run
12:41
Speaker 1: rally the Cubs had there in the tenth, but it
12:43
Speaker 1: was it was one of those things like you don't
12:47
Speaker 1: you know, that's it's typical crubs, Brewers. Weird stuff happens,
12:51
Speaker 1: you don't expect it to the Hector NAIs book. That's
12:55
Speaker 1: the first time I've seen council just like flat, like
12:59
Speaker 1: pretty annoyed after we asked him a question and not
13:02
Speaker 1: annoyed at us, but like someone asked about the Bok
13:06
Speaker 1: and and he just like said like that, like basically
13:10
Speaker 1: he didn't think it was a Balk and that you know,
13:13
Speaker 1: the league does this, They let it go, they let
13:15
Speaker 1: it go, they let it go, they don't make the call,
13:17
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden they call it in
13:19
Speaker 1: the critical situation. And he's like, and I don't think
13:21
Speaker 1: it was a Bok either anyway, And I believe Megan
13:24
Speaker 1: Montemuau of The Tribune talked to Neris, who said the
13:27
Speaker 1: same thing. He's like, it was just he said. The
13:31
Speaker 1: only reason He's like, maybe they were confused, because essentially
13:34
Speaker 1: I think his point was maybe they were confused because
13:36
Speaker 1: he was quicker to the plate that time. But he
13:38
Speaker 1: does I mean, you're supposed to vary your time. That's
13:41
Speaker 1: what richards do, That's what good pictures do. I still
13:44
Speaker 1: I never saw a replay. I don't know, it's as
13:48
Speaker 1: clearly people were. There were plenty of people pissed. And
13:51
Speaker 1: I believe Daniel Moscow's got thrown out. Yen c al
13:54
Speaker 1: Monte got thrown out of all the dude on the
14:00
Speaker 1: this is a bit that you got thrown out. So
14:03
Speaker 1: it was a wild one. There was the stolen home
14:08
Speaker 1: run from Cody Bellinger, like it looked like Williadamas had
14:11
Speaker 1: had another big hit, another big home run. Willia Damas
14:14
Speaker 1: ends up hitting the game, getting the game tying single,
14:18
Speaker 1: Like that's this is a fun This is just a
14:22
Speaker 1: fun matchup, a fun rivalry that obviously has gotten more
14:26
Speaker 1: intense with counsel around, you know. Council was was asked
14:33
Speaker 1: more about about Monday's reception. Uh, he really does seem
14:40
Speaker 1: like he's just like all good with it. Who knows
14:43
Speaker 1: if if he you know, if it hurts him deeply,
14:47
Speaker 1: But I I don't.
14:48
Speaker 3: I don't if you got a forty deal.
14:54
Speaker 4: To move and you know, yeah and get to yeah,
15:01
Speaker 4: get to manage a big market club and and you know,
15:06
Speaker 4: one of the more well known teams and across sports.
15:10
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, I think he's doing fine. He's he's good
15:13
Speaker 1: with his decision. I joke it. I I thought, my
15:18
Speaker 1: so my favorite sign. I can't remember if I said
15:20
Speaker 1: this yesterday, but my favorite sign was something to the
15:26
Speaker 1: effect of will we'll never forget you Greg with a
15:31
Speaker 1: G and I just I just thought that was hilarious.
15:34
Speaker 1: I was like, it's not. It wasn't mean spirited. It
15:36
Speaker 1: was just you know, having fun and and and joking around.
15:42
Speaker 1: I liked that sign. I asked counsel if he had
15:45
Speaker 1: a favorite sign. Uh, and uh. He started to talk
15:49
Speaker 1: about it, and then he realized like there were too
15:51
Speaker 1: many people and cameras around and Uh, I think it
15:55
Speaker 1: may have Essentially it sounded like he he came home,
15:59
Speaker 1: the fan family was around at the table, sitting around,
16:03
Speaker 1: joking around, having some fun and and a lot of
16:07
Speaker 1: his kids had gotten texts and screenshots of of various signs. Uh,
16:13
Speaker 1: and they were sharing them with their dad and and
16:16
Speaker 1: kind of laughing at it. And and I think some
16:18
Speaker 1: of them were weren't shareable with the public, but but it,
16:24
Speaker 1: but it sounded like they had some fun. The kids
16:27
Speaker 1: especially seemed to be getting a chuckle out of some
16:30
Speaker 1: of these signs. So I thought that was fun. How counsel.
16:34
Speaker 1: Even his kids are given him a hard time and
16:37
Speaker 1: enjoying the moment a little over the top. I mean,
16:40
Speaker 1: that's what fans do. It's it's fun, you know, have
16:42
Speaker 1: fun with it. As long as it's not mean spirited
16:45
Speaker 1: or hate filled. I have no issues.
16:48
Speaker 3: I mean, he's.
16:50
Speaker 2: Pretty sarcastic guy, like it doesn't really come across during
16:55
Speaker 2: those press conferences, and he kind of doles it out
16:58
Speaker 2: with us.
16:59
Speaker 3: Like in smaller portions.
17:02
Speaker 2: But you know, I think it was Justin Steele who
17:06
Speaker 2: said it towards the end of spring training and was like,
17:09
Speaker 2: was asked about counsel and he's like, he's a.
17:12
Speaker 3: Lot more funny than I thought he would be.
17:14
Speaker 2: He seemed so serious across the way, and the other
17:17
Speaker 2: dugout and I talked to Ryan Flaherty, the Cubs bench coach, recently,
17:22
Speaker 2: and just ask a general council question. He said the
17:26
Speaker 2: same thing. He's a lot he's a lot wittier than
17:28
Speaker 2: you think, and that he has a presence when he's
17:32
Speaker 2: addressing the group. And so because of his sarcasm and
17:38
Speaker 2: he has a little bit of cynicism, he has definitely
17:41
Speaker 2: has an edge to him. So that's why I could
17:43
Speaker 2: totally see him getting a kick out of some of
17:46
Speaker 2: those signs, especially since he landed in such a great
17:52
Speaker 2: spot and had done his job for such a long
17:55
Speaker 2: time and had kind of you know, hit.
17:58
Speaker 3: A ceiling for the most part, and wanted something different.
18:01
Speaker 3: And I do think from what we've.
18:04
Speaker 2: Heard and kind of observed, like it's a pretty genuine,
18:08
Speaker 2: like family person and certainly like rooted in Wisconsin. You know,
18:12
Speaker 2: you can't like dispute his credentials in that regard as
18:17
Speaker 2: someone who grew up the son of a brewer's employee
18:19
Speaker 2: and played for the team and you know, could have
18:22
Speaker 2: lived anywhere he wanted and chose to go back to
18:26
Speaker 2: Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin. And so I do think we're kind
18:32
Speaker 2: of just at the start of this.
18:34
Speaker 3: I think, you know, let's see as the years go on,
18:38
Speaker 3: like how much more anger and you know, how he
18:43
Speaker 3: responds to some of this stuff.
18:44
Speaker 2: It could certainly get like a little more chippy, because
18:48
Speaker 2: you're right, like the press box there when you say
18:50
Speaker 2: like worrying about fal balls hit straight back like it
18:53
Speaker 2: is a low open press box. You know, you can
18:57
Speaker 2: turn over your left shoulder and there's a huge invent
19:01
Speaker 2: from you know, whatever fal ball came there and like
19:04
Speaker 2: busted up part of the press box, and.
19:08
Speaker 3: So it is an awesome place to see a game,
19:13
Speaker 3: like great environment for for Cubs brewers.
19:18
Speaker 2: And I'm curious, since you were there talking to Jed Hoyer,
19:25
Speaker 2: what does the team president think of where things are
19:29
Speaker 2: right now with the Cubs.
19:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think you'll be surprised to hear that
19:33
Speaker 1: Jed Hoyer is not panicking, he's not freaking out, he's
19:37
Speaker 1: not trading everyone, he's not calling up every tripa a
19:42
Speaker 1: bat to fix this offense. He is trusting the players
19:49
Speaker 1: that they, you know, expected to put together a great
19:55
Speaker 1: season right like these are. I know, I'm getting it's
19:59
Speaker 1: interesting that there's a lot of people that are like,
20:01
Speaker 1: what what track record do they have? Well, what's the
20:04
Speaker 1: track record of these players? And it's like, yeah, they're
20:08
Speaker 1: not superstars. I get what you're saying. If your point
20:11
Speaker 1: is they're not that they haven't won a ton of
20:14
Speaker 1: World Series or playoff games or outside of Dansby Swanson
20:19
Speaker 1: and Cody Bellinger, Uh, I get that right, They're not.
20:23
Speaker 1: They're not all a bunch of MVPs, but they're all
20:28
Speaker 1: all of them, not all of them, but all all
20:31
Speaker 1: the veterans on that group are better offensive players than
20:34
Speaker 1: what they've put up this season. Yes, Like Dansby Swanson
20:38
Speaker 1: is like an eighty one and like an eighty way
20:41
Speaker 1: to runs great A plus. I mean that's not like
20:43
Speaker 1: I get it. He's never been the superstar on offense,
20:46
Speaker 1: but he's never been that either. Yeah, Like he's last
20:50
Speaker 1: two years it's been like well above average. Right, Ian
20:54
Speaker 1: happ is at one hundred way to run screat a plus.
20:58
Speaker 1: He's that would be or one o two that would
21:00
Speaker 1: be the worst of his career. Saya Suzuki, Yes, I
21:03
Speaker 1: know you've seen struggles from him at times. His average way,
21:08
Speaker 1: Like over two years, he's put together a one twenty
21:10
Speaker 1: two way to runs great at plus, he's at one hundred. Like,
21:14
Speaker 1: these guys are better players than this. They're better offensive
21:18
Speaker 1: performers than what we've seen. The expectation from Craig Council,
21:24
Speaker 1: from Jed Hoyer, from a majority of the people in
21:28
Speaker 1: that front office, uh and that coaching staff and on
21:31
Speaker 1: that on the field are that they're going to perform
21:33
Speaker 1: better offensively. H So there there's no panic there, And
21:40
Speaker 1: the reality is Jed Hoyer, Craig Council they've seen struggles
21:44
Speaker 1: from their teams only to see them turn it around.
21:46
Speaker 1: It wasn't that long ago. Last year the Cubs were
21:49
Speaker 1: ten games under five hundred, got to ten, got to
21:52
Speaker 1: eleven games over five hundred by September. I believe it
21:55
Speaker 1: was ten games over in June, ten games under in June. Right, yeah, year, Yeah,
22:01
Speaker 1: last year the Brewers were I want to say, eighteen
22:06
Speaker 1: and nine. Eighteen and nine, they were thirty four and
22:09
Speaker 1: thirty four later that season, essentially the same thing that
22:15
Speaker 1: they got swept by Colorado during that bad stretch and
22:20
Speaker 1: Oakland like they weren't. It wasn't even like a tough
22:24
Speaker 1: stretch for them as far as schedule wise, they were bad.
22:31
Speaker 1: They won ninety two games. So I mean, these guys
22:38
Speaker 1: have seen this before. They are not going to panic.
22:41
Speaker 1: And again, I'm gonna say this probably a lot during
22:45
Speaker 1: this podcast. I get it. Fans. You're allowed to panic,
22:48
Speaker 1: You're allowed to react to every game, You're allowed to overreact,
22:51
Speaker 1: you're allowed to be angry. Their job is to not
22:56
Speaker 1: be that way. Their job is to trust what the
23:00
Speaker 1: like that they've done the right things, or if they
23:04
Speaker 1: see things that they know that they're Like I was
23:06
Speaker 1: worried about this in the first place, and they're seeing
23:09
Speaker 1: it play out. Yeah, they'll make moves. I mean, it's
23:11
Speaker 1: not like they haven't made changes. It's not like they
23:14
Speaker 1: haven't called guys up and tried different things. Uh, it's
23:19
Speaker 1: you know, I I under I think we like I
23:24
Speaker 1: would that that brewis that really hit me? Like I
23:26
Speaker 1: was just curious. I was going to go back through
23:28
Speaker 1: the years and I had to go back just the
23:30
Speaker 1: last season and I was like, wow, ninety two wins
23:35
Speaker 1: and they blew a huge, you know, a nice start
23:38
Speaker 1: to the season and they still end up at ninety
23:41
Speaker 1: two wins, Like this is just normal in baseball most teams.
23:45
Speaker 1: I think a lot of this stems from four Cubs fans.
23:50
Speaker 1: The best season they've seen. There were no hiccups. There
23:53
Speaker 1: was one ten and fifteen stretch in twenty sixteen, but
23:57
Speaker 1: that's what they think a great season has to be.
24:01
Speaker 1: Like a good season is that and only that. Right,
24:04
Speaker 1: It's like we almost have almost forgotten about twenty fifteen
24:07
Speaker 1: when they were five hundred around till like June right
24:11
Speaker 1: or July essentially.
24:13
Speaker 3: I mean the trade deadline.
24:15
Speaker 2: I believe they were in Milwaukee actually, and it was
24:17
Speaker 2: they were at that point. Maybe they were a couple
24:21
Speaker 2: of games over five hundred, but it was kind.
24:23
Speaker 3: Of modified by at the trade deadline.
24:25
Speaker 2: Then caught fire really when the Giants came in as
24:29
Speaker 2: a defending champs that I want to say early early
24:35
Speaker 2: to mid August, and that's when it was Joe Madden
24:39
Speaker 2: said like it's go time and pulling Jason Hammel right,
24:42
Speaker 2: moving Starlin off shortstops. So you're right, I think councils
24:48
Speaker 2: teams have finished strong historically, that this Cubs team is
24:55
Speaker 2: built to be a second half team.
24:57
Speaker 3: When you look at the schedule, when you look at
25:00
Speaker 3: the trade deadline.
25:00
Speaker 2: There are still some you know, cards they can play
25:05
Speaker 2: or levers they can pull from the pharma system. That's
25:08
Speaker 2: not like a right this second thing. But I think
25:11
Speaker 2: it's not that hard to envision Council at some point
25:14
Speaker 2: just throwing up his hands and be like, I want
25:16
Speaker 2: PCA and center.
25:17
Speaker 3: You know, I want defense, I need I want more
25:19
Speaker 3: defense here. You know, if you know.
25:26
Speaker 2: What Michael Bush is going through, is what name your
25:30
Speaker 2: favorite Cubs prospect is going to go through on like
25:32
Speaker 2: a deeper, probably more extended level. I mean, that guy's
25:38
Speaker 2: what like twenty six and just crushed it in the
25:40
Speaker 2: miners and had a lot of played appearances at the
25:43
Speaker 2: high levels of the miners.
25:45
Speaker 3: Like I don't know if you really need to throw
25:48
Speaker 3: you know, an Owen.
25:49
Speaker 2: Casey in there right now, and then we'll see with
25:53
Speaker 2: injuries too, I mean, that's how they're gonna have to respond.
25:58
Speaker 3: But look, if you pitching like you have.
26:02
Speaker 2: The last couple of days, even in Saint Louis, it
26:08
Speaker 2: wasn't it wasn't like bad pitching.
26:10
Speaker 3: Like, if you can.
26:12
Speaker 2: Get that on a consistent basis, which I think the
26:15
Speaker 2: Cubs will, like, you can make those other tweaks in
26:20
Speaker 2: the weeks ahead, at the trade deadline and down the stretch.
26:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, maybe they do go get another bet, right,
26:28
Speaker 1: and and maybe they I mean they're certainly getting relief help.
26:33
Speaker 1: They're they're just not gonna sit on their hands when
26:35
Speaker 1: it comes to the bullpen that there will be at
26:37
Speaker 1: least at least one reliever acquired. And I expect, I
26:43
Speaker 1: just expect this to turn like this. This this team
26:47
Speaker 1: is too talented and the starting pitching is too good. Like,
26:51
Speaker 1: maybe maybe that turns and it makes us all moot
26:54
Speaker 1: and and the pitching falls apart. It's not. It wouldn't
26:57
Speaker 1: be the first time we've seen that, right.
26:59
Speaker 3: We see see what showed it against the Brewers.
27:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Like it's it's very possible that the pitching
27:06
Speaker 1: falls apart, right, I get that. And you could say
27:08
Speaker 1: that they've wasted good starting pitching. Sure, fair enough if
27:13
Speaker 1: that's if that's what happens, that's what happens. It doesn't
27:17
Speaker 1: seem like they it seems like they very much have
27:20
Speaker 1: the depth to overcome that. At the moment, it seems
27:24
Speaker 1: like they do. It's you mentioned it before, but we've
27:29
Speaker 1: we've kind of been waiting for this. You and I've
27:32
Speaker 1: kind of like joked, like, where's this pitching? Like I
27:34
Speaker 1: thought I thought they had a lot of pitching depth.
27:37
Speaker 1: Where are the guys coming from? And it's it's finally arrived. Right,
27:41
Speaker 1: It's more than just one or two players, you know
27:45
Speaker 1: that that you can point to. There's there's a lot
27:47
Speaker 1: of homegrown pitching now on this roster and and probably
27:51
Speaker 1: more to come. Uh you would obviously, I understand, you'd
27:55
Speaker 1: obviously like more in the bullpen. But nobody's going to
27:58
Speaker 1: complain about really good darting pitchers being developed through the organization, right,
28:05
Speaker 1: and you know, I'm very curious to see how they
28:08
Speaker 1: handle Jordan Wicks's return, if they bring him back right away,
28:11
Speaker 1: what they want to do there. He's got it. He's
28:15
Speaker 1: got one more start, at least, I believe. So he
28:18
Speaker 1: went three and two thirds or maybe three in a
28:21
Speaker 1: third on Tuesday night, and they kind of gave him
28:25
Speaker 1: a three days rest and now it'll be normal rest
28:29
Speaker 1: for his next start and then they'll kind of evaluate
28:31
Speaker 1: from there. But I think that's going to be a
28:34
Speaker 1: fascinating decision. People are going to look purely at results
28:38
Speaker 1: and see like why bring back, why move Brent Ben Brown?
28:42
Speaker 1: Jordan Wicks had like a five ERA or whatever. I'm
28:44
Speaker 1: not going to argue with that. I do think Jordan
28:47
Speaker 1: Wicks has a chance to be a really impactful pitcher
28:51
Speaker 1: this year, and for this team, it's going to be interesting.
28:56
Speaker 1: Like the pitching is a strength, and when you have
28:59
Speaker 1: starting pitching you can compete, Like there's there's a way
29:03
Speaker 1: to make it work even if the like the offense
29:05
Speaker 1: can't be like this can't be the worst in baseball.
29:08
Speaker 3: Baseball for the next four months like that.
29:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that that wouldn't. But even if the offense
29:14
Speaker 1: gets back it gets to average, you know, league average.
29:17
Speaker 1: If you have great starting pitching and you piece together
29:20
Speaker 1: the bullpen, which you know, hey, great council apparently good. Yeah,
29:26
Speaker 1: you know, you know, earn that earn that paycheck by
29:29
Speaker 1: by piecing it together, then you have a good team. Right,
29:35
Speaker 1: Maybe not a great team, maybe not a World Series
29:37
Speaker 1: winning team, but you have a good team division yes, yeah, yeah,
29:42
Speaker 1: and in a division that is still up for grabs.
29:45
Speaker 1: I mean, you said it yesterday. They we could be talking.
29:48
Speaker 1: We'll talk again after this series is over. One loss
29:52
Speaker 1: was panic, right, it was. It was more of the
29:55
Speaker 1: same on offense. They take these next three, they've taken one, right,
30:01
Speaker 1: if they can take three, you suddenly feel very tipperally
30:04
Speaker 1: about everything that that's going on with this game. I'm
30:07
Speaker 1: not saying they will because I I don't trust anything
30:10
Speaker 1: that happens in Milwaukee. That's the four game series. It
30:14
Speaker 1: just feels like split written all over it in my opinion.
30:18
Speaker 1: But no doubt, no doubt, we'll we'll see what happens
30:22
Speaker 1: over the next couple of days. We'll we'll be back
30:24
Speaker 1: at it. We'll we'll be uh talking to you guys
30:26
Speaker 1: again Thursday night. Maybe maybe you'll hear us Friday morning.
30:32
Speaker 1: We'll see how that works. But there's a there's two
30:34
Speaker 1: more games in this series and then what what is
30:37
Speaker 1: this weekend? Is it Cincinnati?
30:40
Speaker 2: Uh?
30:40
Speaker 3: At Cincinnati off day? White Sox.
30:44
Speaker 1: Okay, so it's a lot of okay, So things should
30:51
Speaker 1: lighten up a little bit. Yes, you would you would
30:55
Speaker 1: like to think that this is a moment in time
30:58
Speaker 1: where the Cubs could get going. And again, at a
31:02
Speaker 1: certain point, if they do get going and they're beating
31:06
Speaker 1: up on weaker competition, we can have this discussion of hey,
31:08
Speaker 1: this team needs to show us they can beat good pitching.
31:11
Speaker 1: Right Well, we can have that discussion at some point,
31:13
Speaker 1: but right now, it's just like, get some wins, get
31:15
Speaker 1: back on track, start looking like a good offense and
31:18
Speaker 1: a good team again, and we can start talking about
31:21
Speaker 1: more more things in depth because what we had seen
31:25
Speaker 1: obviously wasn't acceptable offensively, but but they had one inning.
31:29
Speaker 1: Uh maybe that maybe that can be the sigh of relief.
31:32
Speaker 1: They have great pitchers and and showed him Anaga is
31:36
Speaker 1: gonna try and show what he can do in Milwaukee?
31:39
Speaker 1: Is this did he face the Brewers last time? Do
31:42
Speaker 1: you remember h.
31:46
Speaker 3: Question?
31:46
Speaker 1: I just want to make sure before we go. Let's
31:50
Speaker 1: let's just check that because this could be his first
31:54
Speaker 1: time facing a team twice and it is not. He
31:58
Speaker 1: did not face the Brewers. Okay, so he still hasn't.
32:02
Speaker 1: He still won't be the second time he faces a team.
32:05
Speaker 1: We'll see how that goes for him. You know, two starts.
32:10
Speaker 1: If it's a third time that the Cubs shut down
32:12
Speaker 1: a Brewers' offense, that's a really impressive way to go
32:15
Speaker 1: to start the series. We'll see what happens. Thank you
32:18
Speaker 1: for listening. This is North Side Territory. Make sure to
32:21
Speaker 1: rate and review, subscribe, do all those good things that
32:24
Speaker 1: you do for a podcast. Read. Patrick and I work
32:27
Speaker 1: at the athletics. We've got the Cubs covered for you.
32:30
Speaker 1: Will be on the road a lot, and then we're
32:33
Speaker 1: at every home game, so make sure you're checking the
32:36
Speaker 1: side out. Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back
32:39
Speaker 1: at you later this week. Take care,