Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / Shota Imanaga leads the Cubs to their 18th no-hitter in franchise history
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: When all is said and done, assuming they don't make
- 0:03Speaker 1: a playoff round here, he's gonna end up being the
- 0:05Speaker 1: story of this season. Welcome into North Side Territory, Foul Territory,
- 0:15Speaker 1: No Works Cubs Podcast. I'm Sahadev Sharma with my partner
- 0:18Speaker 1: Patrick Mooney, who's at Wrigley Field right now. After Shota
- 0:23Speaker 1: in Managa through seven no hit innings capped off by
- 0:27Speaker 1: Nate Pearson and Porter Hodge for the Cub's second combined
- 0:32Speaker 1: no hitter in the past three years, three or four years,
- 0:35Speaker 1: and they're sixth no hitter.
- 0:40Speaker 2: In the past like fifteen years, sixteen years.
- 0:42Speaker 1: I mean, just after not seeing one since the seventies,
- 0:45Speaker 1: this team is suddenly no hitter happy, Patrick was what
- 0:50Speaker 1: was this scene like at Wrigley Feel tonight?
- 0:55Speaker 3: It was, I think really encapsulated this season in a
- 0:59Speaker 3: lot ways of like you kind of count this team
- 1:03Speaker 3: out and switch into the mode of you know, I'll
- 1:07Speaker 3: be honest that Mike Google doc had the words you know,
- 1:11Speaker 3: Cubs toast in it and today's date, because that, honestly
- 1:15Speaker 3: was vibe or my expectation kind of walking in today.
- 1:20Speaker 3: They just lost two tough games to a last place team.
- 1:26Speaker 3: They put arguably their best picture on the injury list,
- 1:29Speaker 3: and Justin Steele as well as Jorge Lopez, a top reliever,
- 1:36Speaker 3: and you're just you know, their playoff odds were Accorny
- 1:39Speaker 3: fangrayup grafts about one point seven and then showed him
- 1:43Speaker 3: Minaga goes out and just does his thing, and even
- 1:50Speaker 3: that was not totally clean either of You have your
- 1:55Speaker 3: Creig counsel making the decision to pull him. So like
- 1:58Speaker 3: the onfield scene wasn't you know, and maybe we're spoiled
- 2:02Speaker 3: by like Jake Arietta at Dodger Stadium with you know,
- 2:06Speaker 3: the that you know, his journey and the onesie with
- 2:12Speaker 3: mustaches all over it.
- 2:14Speaker 4: This was kind of like.
- 2:17Speaker 3: Really a bunch of dudes who had no idea the
- 2:19Speaker 3: no hitter was going on. That to me was one
- 2:21Speaker 3: of the funniest parts of the postgame press conference of
- 2:26Speaker 3: showed it didn't know. Catcher Miguel Maya didn't know or
- 2:32Speaker 3: didn't until you know, a smaller crowd thirty thousand plus
- 2:37Speaker 3: started booing. Nate Pearson, the reliever, came in, did not know,
- 2:43Speaker 3: but once people started booing, he felt like something Ye
- 2:46Speaker 3: had an idea that something was on the line, and
- 2:48Speaker 3: even Porter Hodge, who closed out the game, said he
- 2:52Speaker 3: looked at the TV in the bullpen right around the
- 2:54Speaker 3: same time Pearson did, but of course he didn't want
- 2:59Speaker 3: to say anything to like jinx it, and Pearson just
- 3:02Speaker 3: kind of kept going. So I've just laughed. I was like, yeah,
- 3:05Speaker 3: that dude has no idea what's going on. So just
- 3:09Speaker 3: like a perfectly like, you know, perfectly enjoyable cubby occurrence,
- 3:15Speaker 3: I would say, I'm just like, you never know what's
- 3:18Speaker 3: gonna happen when you walk into Brigleyfield.
- 3:22Speaker 1: Yeah, it was funny watching from home you see Jack
- 3:27Speaker 1: Neely warming up to the second inning, and yes, you
- 3:32Speaker 1: know it turns out you hear about it afterwards in
- 3:35Speaker 1: the post game that council said he got there late
- 3:37Speaker 1: and just kind of needed to throw up. But it
- 3:42Speaker 1: was kind of funny. You're thinking, like, oh man, this
- 3:45Speaker 1: season just went to hell quickly. If Showna's coming out
- 3:49Speaker 1: after two innings, he did, you know he did. I
- 3:52Speaker 1: think he walked two guys in that inning, or at
- 3:55Speaker 1: least had two long advats in that inning, and you
- 3:58Speaker 1: know he doesn't walk anyone, so it was it was
- 4:00Speaker 1: a little odd. Obviously, he was fine, and he pitched brilliantly.
- 4:05Speaker 1: And I think you know, when all is said and done,
- 4:08Speaker 1: assuming they don't make a playoff run here, Uh, he's
- 4:12Speaker 1: gonna end up being the story of the season. Right. Like,
- 4:15Speaker 1: as far as the positive stories, Showeda has nearly cemented that.
- 4:21Speaker 2: You know that it's.
- 4:23Speaker 1: We've talked about it on and off throughout this podcast,
- 4:26Speaker 1: but but showed is just such a bright spot, a
- 4:31Speaker 1: home run signing for this front office. Uh. And and
- 4:36Speaker 1: just you know, like kind of an anchor for the
- 4:38Speaker 1: next few years when you look at this rotation.
- 4:41Speaker 2: Uh, just such a it's beyond him just pitching.
- 4:45Speaker 1: Well, every single time I watch him go out there,
- 4:48Speaker 1: every single time I listen to him speak afterwards, Uh,
- 4:51Speaker 1: he's he's got this presence about him that makes it like,
- 4:55Speaker 1: has to make Craig Council feel comfortable when he takes
- 4:57Speaker 1: them out.
- 4:59Speaker 4: Was that down?
- 5:00Speaker 3: I was the one who asked that nearly question because
- 5:02Speaker 3: I looked at our buddy Jordan Bastion when they announced
- 5:06Speaker 3: Jack Neely is warming up in the bullpen and we're
- 5:09Speaker 3: just like really, and I'm you know, I'm preparing the
- 5:13Speaker 3: tweet to be like you know, showed in Managa exits
- 5:16Speaker 3: a game, but obviously he was late arrival, the guy
- 5:18Speaker 3: who's replacing Steel on the roster, And.
- 5:22Speaker 2: I don't know, I just had to.
- 5:23Speaker 3: I just wanted to, like, you know, triple check, like
- 5:26Speaker 3: you know, and Howcol's like, huh, you guys, you guys
- 5:30Speaker 3: like notice that it's like, well, yeah, it feels like
- 5:32Speaker 3: this season, you know, is kind of on the brink here,
- 5:35Speaker 3: but you know, to your point, when you have showeda
- 5:39Speaker 3: it just gives you a chance. I think the Cubs
- 5:42Speaker 3: are now twenty and six and it starts, which is
- 5:48Speaker 3: pretty amazing. And you and I had done a lot
- 5:51Speaker 3: of homework and digging into, like along with our colleague
- 5:55Speaker 3: Ken Rosenthal, is like what other teams saw and kind
- 5:59Speaker 3: of there expectations, and you know, part of it was
- 6:04Speaker 3: and that Carrie on his fastball, Carrie all the way
- 6:08Speaker 3: through and here we are after Labor Day and he's
- 6:11Speaker 3: still is that anchor. He still just gives keeps giving
- 6:17Speaker 3: them a chance and really just kind of a model teammate,
- 6:24Speaker 3: someone just the staff trusts implicitly, and someone who's just
- 6:31Speaker 3: really curious, engaged and experience that he's constantly and that's
- 6:39Speaker 3: kind of what I asked counsel as well, because I
- 6:41Speaker 3: had to recover after asking what he probably thought was
- 6:45Speaker 3: like a dumb ass question. But I was like, all right, well,
- 6:47Speaker 3: you always talk about making adjustments, competing.
- 6:50Speaker 4: In the moment.
- 6:51Speaker 3: What does that say that he's going through this and
- 6:54Speaker 3: has no idea there's zero hits on the board. And
- 6:58Speaker 3: he got that point just like he's always thinking about
- 7:01Speaker 3: the next pitch, the sequence, how to you know, set
- 7:05Speaker 3: up this hitter, how to navigate the next part of
- 7:07Speaker 3: the lineup in it. It came together on just kind
- 7:11Speaker 3: of one of those weird, out of left field days
- 7:14Speaker 3: that you get around this team.
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- 8:09Speaker 2: T uh Imanaga is a two ninety nine e R.
- 8:14Speaker 1: Now. I don't know if he's I mean, he's probably
- 8:16Speaker 1: gets some down ballot uh Cy Young Award votes if he,
- 8:21Speaker 1: you know, ends strong here because he's gonna he's gonna
- 8:24Speaker 1: have the innings, he's gonna have the starts.
- 8:26Speaker 2: It's not like he's short on any of that. He
- 8:28Speaker 2: does everything well.
- 8:29Speaker 1: Uh and you know, that's the fifth best era right
- 8:34Speaker 1: now in baseball.
- 8:35Speaker 2: You know, I was high on him coming in.
- 8:38Speaker 1: I wasn't. I did not expect this. So he's he's
- 8:41Speaker 1: been stand out, brilliant.
- 8:44Speaker 2: You know, the Cub.
- 8:45Speaker 1: Season right now is just so odd to to try
- 8:49Speaker 1: and analyze that loss on Monday, I think is the
- 8:52Speaker 1: big one. You can you can kind of uh, you know,
- 8:55Speaker 1: you lose to Paul's schemes. Couldn't get the big hit
- 8:57Speaker 1: when you needed it. That happens, but that loss of
- 8:59Speaker 1: Monday stings now when you have this win and you
- 9:02Speaker 1: kind of look at how hot Atlanta is and how
- 9:04Speaker 1: the hot the Mets are, But uh, we can we
- 9:08Speaker 1: can save the the playoff chase for for another Yeah, Yeah,
- 9:16Speaker 1: I mean I think there is I think we saw
- 9:20Speaker 1: so Jorge Lopez this other guy going on the I
- 9:23Speaker 1: l right, And I think that's interesting in the sense
- 9:25Speaker 1: that we saw one of the guys that could that's
- 9:27Speaker 1: going to have to step up and and and kind
- 9:30Speaker 1: of eat some of those innings that Jorge Lopez was
- 9:32Speaker 1: and Nate Pearson, who's who's been really good lately, and
- 9:36Speaker 1: you know, if he attacks and doesn't walk guys. There's
- 9:40Speaker 1: a reason Council likes Jorge Lopez in those big moments,
- 9:43Speaker 1: and it's because he doesn't. He trusts him not to
- 9:45Speaker 1: walk guys. Right, We talked about this, but like those
- 9:48Speaker 1: are two bloops that he gave up before a three
- 9:50Speaker 1: run homer to Brian Reynolds.
- 9:52Speaker 2: He didn't.
- 9:53Speaker 1: That's essentially serve as walks, right, Like he got the
- 9:57Speaker 1: contact that he wanted to. But like councils of to
- 10:00Speaker 1: avoid a situation where men are getting on base and
- 10:04Speaker 1: then the big hit happens. Right, if Pearson can limit
- 10:07Speaker 1: the walks and occasionally he's giving up a solo home run,
- 10:10Speaker 1: I think Council actually is fine with that. You know,
- 10:13Speaker 1: it's not gonna work in a one run game, but
- 10:14Speaker 1: if he's not, if he's limiting base runners and and
- 10:18Speaker 1: you know, if the big issue is that occasional homer,
- 10:22Speaker 1: I think they can survive that.
- 10:24Speaker 2: He and uh, who's who's the other guy?
- 10:27Speaker 1: I was thinking he's gonna have to step up now,
- 10:29Speaker 1: have forgotten who it is, but but it's but Pearson
- 10:33Speaker 1: was the main guy. I was thinking, like, this guy
- 10:35Speaker 1: needs to step up with with Lopez down and and
- 10:39Speaker 1: he looked good yet again.
- 10:41Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you're right to bring up the bullpen
- 10:43Speaker 3: because this was like a team effort, and I do
- 10:49Speaker 3: think it's interesting, like those two guys closing it out,
- 10:53Speaker 3: I think kind of shows a lot about this bullpen.
- 10:56Speaker 3: Right of Pearson, who was a first round pick, a
- 11:00Speaker 3: high prospect, but ultimately a disappointment with the Blue Jays
- 11:04Speaker 3: and the guy that they targeted in that for them
- 11:08Speaker 3: a sort of unconventional trade deadline deal, though it's very
- 11:12Speaker 3: much in their change of scenery wheel house here in
- 11:16Speaker 3: Porter Hodge, someone who counsel had said was not on
- 11:20Speaker 3: the Major League great Arm spring training. I mean you
- 11:23Speaker 3: you had written about him and sort of mentioned him
- 11:25Speaker 3: as like a guy to watch, but I certainly didn't
- 11:28Speaker 3: see him really coming on the scene the way he did.
- 11:34Speaker 2: This season.
- 11:36Speaker 3: And I think it kind of gets to like why
- 11:39Speaker 3: this Cubs team has hung around, Like they don't raise
- 11:43Speaker 3: banners for trying, but there is something to like just
- 11:51Speaker 3: sticking with it. I think that's what this group has done.
- 11:56Speaker 3: And the group has changed over these last months here
- 12:00Speaker 3: to where the bullpen has weathered a lot and become
- 12:05Speaker 3: a strength. It looked like, I mean, pitching with an
- 12:07Speaker 3: eleven run twelve run lead is easier, but there is
- 12:10Speaker 3: a lot of pressure to get those last six outs right.
- 12:14Speaker 3: And yeah, it is kind of funny just seeing them,
- 12:17Speaker 3: you know, in the interview room afterwards, you know a
- 12:22Speaker 3: little bit of oblivious sniss, some like giddiness, just all
- 12:26Speaker 3: of that coming together for two guys who knock on
- 12:30Speaker 3: what could be like big part of this team, not
- 12:34Speaker 3: just this year but next year, and if they stay healthy,
- 12:37Speaker 3: could really like kind of grow into whatever the Cubs
- 12:39Speaker 3: are going.
- 12:40Speaker 1: To become Yeah, absolutely, I mean, we'll talk about this
- 12:44Speaker 1: more tomorrow, but this game, I guess featured a lot
- 12:46Speaker 1: of like if you want to be optimistic for beyond
- 12:50Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, this game featured that you know, showed
- 12:54Speaker 1: to the two relievers we just talked about in PCA
- 12:57Speaker 1: having another big game.
- 12:58Speaker 2: We're gonna have to spend more time.
- 13:00Speaker 1: On him, Miguel Amaya, the catcher there. Uh, and and
- 13:05Speaker 1: he that matters, I know, Uh, it's it's hard to
- 13:10Speaker 1: you know, measure that. But when when guys catch a
- 13:14Speaker 1: no hitter, I think that that means a lot to them,
- 13:17Speaker 1: and and it means a lot to the coaching staff,
- 13:19Speaker 1: and and you know, it's a big deal. And and
- 13:22Speaker 1: he's developing a lot back there. Uh, the offense has
- 13:25Speaker 1: come around, obviously, We've talked a lot about that. But
- 13:27Speaker 1: he gets a lot of praise for that. The staff
- 13:30Speaker 1: appreciates the work he puts in the time he spends
- 13:33Speaker 1: to get.
- 13:34Speaker 2: Better, uh and make them better. Uh.
- 13:37Speaker 1: He he deserves a lot of props for for kind
- 13:39Speaker 1: of pushing this staff and and getting the most out
- 13:42Speaker 1: of them because as he works to get better himself
- 13:45Speaker 1: behind behind the plate. So it's a it's a it's.
- 13:49Speaker 2: A nice story right now after those two losses.
- 13:53Speaker 1: It's this team impossible to try and predict what's gonna
- 13:57Speaker 1: happen next, you know, three with the Yankees. We'll talk
- 14:01Speaker 1: about that next time we record Patrick. But it's like,
- 14:05Speaker 1: I'm not putting anything past this team right now because
- 14:07Speaker 1: I don't know what to expect.
- 14:09Speaker 2: It.
- 14:09Speaker 1: Certainly didn't expect them to answer these two disappointing losses
- 14:13Speaker 1: with the no hitter.
- 14:14Speaker 3: Yeah, I think one one thing to add on a Maya,
- 14:18Speaker 3: just from observation, it seemed like in the moment on
- 14:22Speaker 3: the field after the game and even in the interview room,
- 14:25Speaker 3: I think it might have meant the most to him,
- 14:27Speaker 3: or at least he was the most emotional me he's
- 14:29Speaker 3: been around this team, this organization the longest. He's had
- 14:34Speaker 3: a hard road to get here in terms of coming
- 14:38Speaker 3: back from injuries and a really steep learning curve at
- 14:42Speaker 3: a difficult position behind the plate. And we were writing
- 14:48Speaker 3: it that you know, he was part of you know,
- 14:50Speaker 3: like the worst catching baseball at one point and this
- 14:57Speaker 3: season and it's pretty amazing what he's done offensively, the
- 15:04Speaker 3: adjustments he's made in season. I think we both would
- 15:10Speaker 3: agree or had. We're told like part of his kind
- 15:14Speaker 3: of offensive creating early was because he cares so much
- 15:19Speaker 3: about the catching side and his defensive responsibilities that it's
- 15:23Speaker 3: hard to you know, there's only so much time in
- 15:25Speaker 3: a day, there's only so much energy in bandwidth you have,
- 15:28Speaker 3: and he put it. He poured it all into defense,
- 15:34Speaker 3: and you know, I think the pitchers trust him. They
- 15:39Speaker 3: certainly noticed that, and you know, for a guy who's
- 15:45Speaker 3: worked a long time, it was kind of nice to
- 15:47Speaker 3: see him sort of smile and they take this nice photo.
- 15:52Speaker 3: I guess the interview room sequence was counsel walks in
- 15:56Speaker 3: and he's like he hat this like sheepest look on
- 15:59Speaker 3: his face. It's like all right, like I've ad it,
- 16:01Speaker 3: Like he knew he's gonna be asked about why he pulled.
- 16:05Speaker 3: And then uh, you know, Shoda comes in with his
- 16:08Speaker 3: interpreter and does something. And then after that you get
- 16:14Speaker 3: a Maya and the two relievers and then showed and
- 16:18Speaker 3: they did a nice photo and you know, they had
- 16:20Speaker 3: a ball I'm assuming from the last out and someone
- 16:23Speaker 3: asked what they were going to do with it, and
- 16:24Speaker 3: amyas like it's going to the Hall of Fame. So
- 16:28Speaker 3: I think that really it was summed up for him.
- 16:30Speaker 3: You know, you never know, you know when you're gonna
- 16:32Speaker 3: get these type of moments. You have to appreciate it.
- 16:37Speaker 3: They got an off day and then it's gonna get
- 16:41Speaker 3: hard and with the Yankees and a road trip to
- 16:44Speaker 3: Dodger Stadium and course Field, but there's plenty of time
- 16:49Speaker 3: for us to get into that later. Just really kind
- 16:52Speaker 3: of a mind bending night at Rigley Field.
- 16:56Speaker 2: Yeah. And and I think it's a sign of the times.
- 16:59Speaker 1: We don't need to dive into this right now, but
- 17:01Speaker 1: I think it is a sign of the times that
- 17:02Speaker 1: we've barely talked about that that Council pulled Shoda. I
- 17:06Speaker 1: I didn't give it a second thought. I thought it
- 17:08Speaker 1: was the right move. It makes sense for his career,
- 17:11Speaker 1: makes sense for the season, makes sense for a thousand
- 17:13Speaker 1: different reasons. There's gonna be fans that disagree. I just
- 17:16Speaker 1: disagree with that. That's like I'm not I'm not going
- 17:19Speaker 1: to spend much time on it because I just think
- 17:21Speaker 1: it was the right move. Like, you've got to think
- 17:22Speaker 1: about the guy in his career. Uh And and you know,
- 17:26Speaker 1: and Council absolutely is the type to do that as well.
- 17:29Speaker 1: He's not going to overthink those situations. Uh and and
- 17:33Speaker 1: just watching the post game, I don't think Shoda was
- 17:35Speaker 1: like broken hard.
- 17:38Speaker 3: If he doesn't get fired up about it, it's hard
- 17:40Speaker 3: for us to like press him on it, you know
- 17:43Speaker 3: another language. They do still have something to play for here,
- 17:49Speaker 3: you know, like it's not and no one knows how
- 17:52Speaker 3: it's going to end here. It's unlikely that they keep
- 17:55Speaker 3: playing into October. But I clearly you have to keep
- 18:00Speaker 3: that in mind, that he has to carry a rotation
- 18:03Speaker 3: that you know won't have justin Steele for a couple
- 18:06Speaker 3: of turns. And like you were saying, Sata, this is
- 18:09Speaker 3: like an absolute building block guy, a marquee attraction and
- 18:16Speaker 3: someone who's really exceeded so many expectations here that you
- 18:20Speaker 3: just don't want to mess with that.
- 18:23Speaker 1: All right, let's wrap it up here, Patrick, thanks so
- 18:25Speaker 1: much for everyone listening to North Side Territory.
- 18:28Speaker 2: Make sure to rate, review and subscribe to the podcast.
- 18:30Speaker 1: Subscribe on YouTube, make sure to subscribe to The Athletic.
- 18:35Speaker 2: You can read Patrick's piece.
- 18:36Speaker 1: On the No Hitter and We'll be at it all
- 18:40Speaker 1: weekend against the Yankees. Patrick will be on the West
- 18:43Speaker 1: Coast trip to Denver in La Thanks so much for listening. Patrick,
- 18:48Speaker 1: thanks for the dispatch from out of Wrigley, Fun night
- 18:51Speaker 1: at Wrigley and long night for you obviously writing as well,
- 18:55Speaker 1: so thanks for coming, Thanks for putting this together and
- 18:57Speaker 1: making sure we recorded.
- 19:00Speaker 2: Thanks everyone, take care,