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Playoff X-factors now that the Cubs know they will face the Padres · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:04
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory File Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
0:08
Speaker 1: Saada Charma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
0:11
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick. The Cubs
0:17
Speaker 1: are going to be facing the San Diego Padres next week.
0:20
Speaker 1: We still don't know where it's it's it's hopefully that's
0:25
Speaker 1: figured out by tonight so we don't have to keep
0:27
Speaker 1: booking hotels or figure out flights whatever. Uh, But right
0:32
Speaker 1: now they know that they know who their opponent is.
0:36
Speaker 2: Uh.
0:36
Speaker 1: You know, I don't know how you want to describe
0:39
Speaker 1: how they're playing coming into the postseason, but you know,
0:43
Speaker 1: I feel like the offense has looked better that they have.
0:47
Speaker 3: They've had a good week.
0:49
Speaker 1: Uh, the wins aren't piling up, but you know, the
0:52
Speaker 1: Padres are a team littered with talent, but also they
1:00
Speaker 1: have so many flaws as well a decent amount of injuries.
1:07
Speaker 1: I would not I would not put the Cubs as
1:09
Speaker 1: like some sort of huge favorite here, but I think
1:13
Speaker 1: I'd give a little bit of an edge to them
1:15
Speaker 1: early on. We have questions as to what the team
1:18
Speaker 1: will look like. We'll get to that in the next segment.
1:21
Speaker 1: But yeah, Padres. I think coming into the season that
1:26
Speaker 1: that was a scary matchup.
1:28
Speaker 3: It doesn't. I don't think anybody's scary anymore.
1:32
Speaker 4: No, I think the Padres are like most of the
1:34
Speaker 4: rest of the National League, not all that dissimilar from
1:38
Speaker 4: the Cubs of kind of banged up, kind of hoping
1:42
Speaker 4: something clicks in October that flip switches. Because you're right,
1:49
Speaker 4: I mean, they have high end talent. It's just a
1:54
Speaker 4: matter of his Fernando Tatis Junior going to come up
1:59
Speaker 4: huge in those moments. Jackson Merrill has not had the
2:03
Speaker 4: same season he did last year, you know, in part
2:07
Speaker 4: because of injuries. The padres best starting pitcher at the
2:12
Speaker 4: moment is probably Nick Pivetta, which is not necessarily well
2:18
Speaker 4: not probably like certainly their best pitcher. And that's you know,
2:22
Speaker 4: because you know, Michael King, you Darvish have each basically
2:26
Speaker 4: had like a half season. Dylan Ceze has made thirty
2:30
Speaker 4: two starts, but his e er A is four point
2:33
Speaker 4: five to five. So obviously those aforementioned pitchers are very talented,
2:42
Speaker 4: but they have not had the wire to wire seasons
2:44
Speaker 4: you would have expected. They're probably their best trade deadline
2:49
Speaker 4: edition or a very impactful Trade headline edition. H just
2:52
Speaker 4: went down in just so I get it. Pronounce his
2:58
Speaker 4: name right fromote Ramon and Loriano has been one of
3:03
Speaker 4: their their best hitters, but he's kind of already ruled
3:06
Speaker 4: out for that first round series against the Cubs, And
3:11
Speaker 4: so as you kind of run down the list, like, yeah,
3:14
Speaker 4: there are some big names there. They have a lot
3:18
Speaker 4: of playoff experience recently. I sorry, Jason Adam is another
3:21
Speaker 4: like big part of their bullpen that has removed from
3:23
Speaker 4: the equation. So like when you're kind of running down
3:25
Speaker 4: this list, and I'm sure I'll think of like another
3:28
Speaker 4: name or two here in a couple of minutes, it's like,
3:30
Speaker 4: wait a second, Like they're not exactly peaking at the
3:33
Speaker 4: right time either.
3:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, the whole like how you're doing coming into the playoffs,
3:39
Speaker 1: I think it's a little bit you know, overplayed. Anyways,
3:43
Speaker 1: I think it help matters absolutely, how like how are
3:46
Speaker 1: you doing help wise going into the playoffs?
3:49
Speaker 3: But how are you doing overall? It Like it.
3:52
Speaker 1: Just doesn't seem to like the data doesn't support that
3:56
Speaker 1: everything that I've everything that I've read about, or all
4:00
Speaker 1: the studies done or you know, it's not like a
4:02
Speaker 1: deep dive study.
4:03
Speaker 3: It's just like, go look at.
4:04
Speaker 1: The last month of playoff teams and it doesn't really
4:08
Speaker 1: tell you that much about how they're going to do
4:10
Speaker 1: in the postseason. Uh, is your number one starter healthy
4:14
Speaker 1: and ready to go?
4:15
Speaker 3: Uh? And and is he dominating?
4:17
Speaker 1: Okay, well then maybe you're you're going to uh run
4:21
Speaker 1: through a bunch of teams and make a World series run.
4:25
Speaker 1: It Also, you know, there's there's something to be said
4:29
Speaker 1: about the postseason, and Council said this yesterday the postseason.
4:34
Speaker 1: Someone asked them about, you know, is it a time
4:36
Speaker 1: for the stars to shine? And like, like I said,
4:38
Speaker 1: the Padres have those like that, they have Manny Machado,
4:41
Speaker 1: they have Fernando Tatis, Jackson Merrill. These are really talented players. Uh,
4:48
Speaker 1: is it a time for them to shine?
4:51
Speaker 3: Yeah?
4:51
Speaker 1: Maybe, but but it also it's like it's also a
4:55
Speaker 1: time for like names to like pop out of nowhere
4:59
Speaker 1: and jump up out on the national stage.
5:01
Speaker 3: Hobby Baias wasn't a.
5:03
Speaker 1: Household name in twenty sixteen, like Cubs fans knew who
5:07
Speaker 1: he was, but he wasn't a household name. And then
5:10
Speaker 1: he's the star of the NLDS NLCS and suddenly now
5:16
Speaker 1: he's one of the most famous players in baseball. That
5:20
Speaker 1: can happen in October suddenly, like players make a name
5:23
Speaker 1: for themselves. I think a recent one was Randy Rose.
5:27
Speaker 1: Arena had that monster postseason. I think that was twenty
5:32
Speaker 1: twenty weird season in general, but still like this is
5:37
Speaker 1: how you.
5:39
Speaker 3: Get known October. You show up in the biggest moments.
5:43
Speaker 3: Who knows who that could be.
5:45
Speaker 4: I do think it's interesting. You know, you wrote about
5:48
Speaker 4: this on the Athletic in terms of moist by a
5:51
Speaker 4: stereos and some other kind of thoughts on who steps
5:55
Speaker 4: up in the playoffs, and Council I'd ask him this.
6:00
Speaker 4: I believe it was in Pittsburgh maybe, but it had
6:05
Speaker 4: been kind of an ongoing conversation here as the Cubs
6:07
Speaker 4: playoff probabilities were hovering around ninety nine percent. This idea
6:12
Speaker 4: of you know, Air quotes a big game player, and
6:17
Speaker 4: Council does not dismiss that idea. Like he's like, there
6:22
Speaker 4: are certain players that maybe you wouldn't want to bet
6:26
Speaker 4: on over the course of one hundred and sixty two games,
6:31
Speaker 4: but there are certain players who love those moments, who
6:35
Speaker 4: seem to thrive in those moments, that step up in
6:40
Speaker 4: the big situations, and then I think that's just sort
6:43
Speaker 4: of the human element of the game that Council acknowledge exists.
6:49
Speaker 4: And because of that, I even look at Counsel's own career,
6:52
Speaker 4: right like, this is someone who won a couple World
6:56
Speaker 4: Series rings and was in some really huge moments. He
7:00
Speaker 4: was a trade deadline addition for the Marlins when at
7:04
Speaker 4: the time I believe he was playing in Triple A. Yeah,
7:08
Speaker 4: and the Marlins needs someone right away, and all of
7:11
Speaker 4: a sudden, you know he's he's scoring that run and
7:14
Speaker 4: you know, running across the field and getting getting mobbed. Like,
7:18
Speaker 4: those moments do happen. Those players do emerge, and it'll
7:22
Speaker 4: be fun to watch to see who does. And also
7:25
Speaker 4: you know who just has to wear it when they
7:27
Speaker 4: don't call up in that moment and they're talked about
7:28
Speaker 4: for years later as well.
7:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's uh, let's talk about moises by a stairs
7:36
Speaker 1: our draft and put him under our draft games player spotlight.
7:45
Speaker 1: All right, Patrick moises by a stereos, I asked Counsel,
7:49
Speaker 1: is he kind of hitting his way into the playoff roster?
7:53
Speaker 1: A Council is, yeah, he's like, look at where we're
7:57
Speaker 1: batting him. I think that tells a lot about what
8:00
Speaker 1: we think about him. He's opened some eyes. They they
8:04
Speaker 1: haven't skipped a beat as far as offensive production with
8:07
Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker down. Kyle Tucker, you know, is a team
8:10
Speaker 1: playing perfectly right now. No, but Kyle Tucker has been
8:14
Speaker 1: out and the offense has looked really good. The offense
8:16
Speaker 1: has basically since that. And I've said this a few times.
8:20
Speaker 1: There was that awful Monday in Atlanta. Uh, you know,
8:24
Speaker 1: you take it. Yes, did they struggle against Hunter Green?
8:27
Speaker 1: Did Andrew Rabbit dominate them yet again?
8:32
Speaker 3: Yes?
8:32
Speaker 1: But outside of that, they've they've really been putting pressure
8:35
Speaker 1: on pitchers and Moyes Baysteros is one of the big
8:39
Speaker 1: reasons why he puts up tough at bats. He comes
8:44
Speaker 1: up with big hits. He's a contact guy, so he's
8:47
Speaker 1: always putting the ball in play. Uh. And and that
8:50
Speaker 1: you know that that's he's like Nico Horner with with
8:54
Speaker 1: a little more power and less speed in that sense,
8:58
Speaker 1: Like you know, he's it's been impressive in the sense
9:04
Speaker 1: that when he first came up, you could tell, like
9:06
Speaker 1: he said, I'm putting too much pressure on myself.
9:10
Speaker 3: You know, he was.
9:11
Speaker 1: Rolling over on the ball didn't look very good, looked
9:14
Speaker 1: like the moment was too much for him. That has
9:17
Speaker 1: not been the case since his second stint was one
9:19
Speaker 1: day and he had that huge hit in Milwaukee, and
9:23
Speaker 1: now it seems like every other day, every other game,
9:26
Speaker 1: he's coming up with a big hit or in the
9:28
Speaker 1: middle of the action. I think it's an easy call
9:31
Speaker 1: for whether he's on the playoff roster.
9:35
Speaker 4: Same. I have a hard time envisioning him being left off,
9:39
Speaker 4: and it kind of reminds me of I guess was
9:42
Speaker 4: maybe last year when Cody Bellinger was out and everyone
9:47
Speaker 4: was how are they going to replace? When's Bellinger getting
9:49
Speaker 4: back and Mike Talkman was very quietly doing as well
9:55
Speaker 4: as Bellinger was, maybe even better in that particular moment. Now,
9:58
Speaker 4: obviously Cody Bellinger has the ceiling, he has a longer
10:01
Speaker 4: track record, you know, a better career. But there are
10:07
Speaker 4: players for stretches that can outperform expectations, that can produce
10:12
Speaker 4: at a star level, and Biasteros is not there yet.
10:17
Speaker 4: I still think Kyle Tucker's you know, entire package of
10:23
Speaker 4: skills is needed in the postseason, but definitely impressive, especially
10:32
Speaker 4: after an underwhelming trade deadline when everyone was wondering, you know,
10:37
Speaker 4: where's where's the big move, where's the good get for
10:42
Speaker 4: a frontline starting pitcher. The Cubs also basically just said no,
10:47
Speaker 4: thanks to the best relievers out there, like that prospect
10:49
Speaker 4: price was too much. And we don't know exactly where
10:53
Speaker 4: bi Asteros fit on other teams lists, but clearly you
11:00
Speaker 4: kind of understand why the Cubs were extremely reluctant, if
11:05
Speaker 4: not outright dismissive, of the idea of moving him at
11:08
Speaker 4: the trade deadline.
11:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, and and you know, we'll we'll talk about this
11:12
Speaker 1: more in the off season. But performance like this helps,
11:16
Speaker 1: you know, like, okay, what do they do in the
11:19
Speaker 1: off season?
11:19
Speaker 3: Now they have this bat?
11:20
Speaker 1: Like you want to play him every days next year? Right, Yeah,
11:27
Speaker 1: that's a that's kind of how it feels. Okay, So
11:30
Speaker 1: what does the roster look like? He it's a good
11:33
Speaker 1: problem to have. Having too much talent is never an issue.
11:39
Speaker 1: All right, Now, let's turn it over to Alana Rizzo
11:41
Speaker 1: for our Northside territory pick.
11:43
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11:47
Speaker 2: they're in the playoffs. However, the Bronx Bombers can still
11:50
Speaker 2: win the Al East and claim the ale's top seed,
11:54
Speaker 2: the Blue Jays. They are reeling and no Toronto owns
11:57
Speaker 2: the tiebreaker. I'm taking the Yank to win the Al
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13:09
Speaker 1: We're recording this on Friday morning, so you know there
13:13
Speaker 1: there's going to be more news and updates as the
13:16
Speaker 1: day goes on. But the biggest, the biggest piece of
13:20
Speaker 1: info that you're waiting on is what's up with Cad
13:24
Speaker 1: Horton because he's your Game one starter if he's healthy.
13:29
Speaker 3: I think it like it feels.
13:31
Speaker 1: Like Moist is by a stereos is a slam dunk
13:33
Speaker 1: for the postseason roster. It also feels like this is
13:37
Speaker 1: kind of obvious start kid Horton for Game one. You
13:40
Speaker 1: know that he's your best picture right now the there
13:46
Speaker 1: Obviously we thought it was nothing right, the first update
13:51
Speaker 1: is nothing to worry about. All day Thursday there's snow,
13:56
Speaker 1: or all day Wednesday there's no update. He's off to
13:59
Speaker 1: get an m R. Okay, well, we got to go
14:01
Speaker 1: talk to the doctors after the game and there was
14:04
Speaker 1: no update. That makes you feel a little cagey about
14:09
Speaker 1: the situation. Basically, what the way counsel put it is.
14:15
Speaker 1: Here's what I took away from counsel. I think there
14:17
Speaker 1: was a lot of stuff put out on Twitter. I
14:20
Speaker 1: tried to put as much as I could of his
14:22
Speaker 1: quotes out. The fan reaction is all over the place.
14:26
Speaker 1: I think people aren't clear what's happening, and that's because
14:29
Speaker 1: there's an area of concern in the ribs. That's how
14:34
Speaker 1: it was described by council. That's what the MRI showed.
14:37
Speaker 1: They're gonna have another set of doctors look at it.
14:41
Speaker 1: Why is this like that's obviously concerning in one sense
14:46
Speaker 1: an area of concern. You're always concerned about an issue
14:51
Speaker 1: that's not fully resolved. I think what they want to
14:53
Speaker 1: find out is is this something that he can that
14:57
Speaker 1: can get worse by throwing or is it just like
15:00
Speaker 1: it could be a little bit of an irritant but
15:01
Speaker 1: he can pitch through it. Sounds like he feels fine.
15:04
Speaker 1: Sounds like I think the word that council used, I'll
15:09
Speaker 1: find it.
15:09
Speaker 3: He said.
15:09
Speaker 1: Kate is right now, Kate is a go. He's on
15:12
Speaker 1: track still. It really seems like they're gonna let him
15:18
Speaker 1: throw on Friday and see where it is from there.
15:21
Speaker 1: If he feels fine, and as long as doctors say, look,
15:23
Speaker 1: he's not risking long term injury, I think he's fine.
15:27
Speaker 1: I think that's the optimistic view. I think just because
15:31
Speaker 1: of history and us covering so much baseball and injuries,
15:35
Speaker 1: you can't just say all is well. That's the problem
15:38
Speaker 1: with this. You can't just assume that until you see
15:41
Speaker 1: him on the mound and pitching for six seven innings.
15:44
Speaker 3: It's just hard to assume.
15:46
Speaker 4: That pitchers get hurt all the time. And obviously this
15:52
Speaker 4: is getting ahead of ourselves. But if he does start
15:58
Speaker 4: game one, how is this impact? It is rotation, his mentality,
16:03
Speaker 4: just kind of that whole build up. The Cubs, to
16:05
Speaker 4: their credit, have very carefully managed his workload and gotten
16:08
Speaker 4: to a place where he's one of the hottest pictures
16:11
Speaker 4: in the game right now. But yeah, you hear rib
16:18
Speaker 4: You know this is it's getting into an area where
16:23
Speaker 4: you have a picture with injury history, who throws really hard,
16:33
Speaker 4: who has great stuff and has what the Cubs hope
16:36
Speaker 4: is a really bright future ahead of him. So like, yeah,
16:39
Speaker 4: as we're recording, there's still roughly four more full days
16:44
Speaker 4: for things to happen, and we'll kind of have to
16:48
Speaker 4: wait and see. And I think this is something that
16:52
Speaker 4: by now Cubs fans should understand and maybe it's worth
16:57
Speaker 4: asking Council here over the weekend of just the gray
17:00
Speaker 4: areas that we're dealing with with some of these medical
17:06
Speaker 4: issues that you think, oh, they go for them, right,
17:09
Speaker 4: then there's some sort of like definitive yes, yes or
17:12
Speaker 4: no answer and it's not. It's maybe let's go ask
17:15
Speaker 4: another doctor to interpret kind of what we're seeing here.
17:20
Speaker 4: And obviously Cad Hordon, like virtually every pitcher ever, says
17:26
Speaker 4: I'm fine, I want to pitch through this. If this
17:29
Speaker 4: is a playoff game, we wouldn't even be having this conversation.
17:33
Speaker 4: And then I thought, you know, Council's answers are certainly
17:38
Speaker 4: more revealing than random tweets on social media, and you
17:43
Speaker 4: can't like jump to too many conclusions in the positive
17:49
Speaker 4: or negative direction, but obviously this is something to monitor.
17:53
Speaker 4: And then circling back to our previous segment, the Padres
17:58
Speaker 4: don't hit lefties very well. So I don't know what
18:03
Speaker 4: did you see from showed to in Minaga last night
18:06
Speaker 4: and really kind of in the second half here where
18:09
Speaker 4: he's been like good but not great.
18:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I think you're you're right, he's been good
18:16
Speaker 3: but not great. And why why is that?
18:19
Speaker 1: Because he can limit damage because he doesn't walk people.
18:21
Speaker 1: He doesn't give up any hits when he gives up
18:24
Speaker 1: hits their fly balls during the season, Yeah, that wasn't
18:29
Speaker 1: the case last night.
18:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's why it was so bad.
18:32
Speaker 1: He walked the guy, uh, I think just one, but
18:35
Speaker 1: it led to a run. Uh and he and he
18:37
Speaker 1: gave up some singles before three run homer and that
18:41
Speaker 1: was that was it. That was the issue he was
18:43
Speaker 1: he never gives up a bunch of hits in succession.
18:47
Speaker 1: And then you know, I think the other day in
18:49
Speaker 1: uh Cincinnati, he gave up was it three home runs
18:53
Speaker 1: and allowed three earned runs like before under four runs.
18:59
Speaker 1: So I mean this is that's what was out of
19:02
Speaker 1: character that there were so many men on base and
19:05
Speaker 1: he was dealing with so much traffic do you feel
19:09
Speaker 1: super comfortable with? Showed him an Auga on the mound
19:12
Speaker 1: right now. I wouldn't say that he's not. He Someone
19:16
Speaker 1: asked like, where's your confidence at? And he said, I'd
19:19
Speaker 1: be lying if I just said, oh, I'm really confident.
19:22
Speaker 3: He's like, I think you'd know I'm lying. I think
19:24
Speaker 3: you just like say you're lying or something like that.
19:27
Speaker 1: And he wants to get back to where his pitches
19:32
Speaker 1: are moving the way he wants him to, Like I
19:34
Speaker 1: think yesterday last night was more the splitter. The fastball
19:38
Speaker 1: has been an issue. He just needs to locate it's command.
19:42
Speaker 1: This is a guy that knows how to execute, knows
19:44
Speaker 1: how to pitch. I could see him stepping up in
19:48
Speaker 1: the right moment. I could also see him you know, Okay,
19:51
Speaker 1: if you see a home run and it's like can
19:55
Speaker 1: he get you through three or four? That's kind of
19:57
Speaker 1: the question and limited to two or three runs, because
20:01
Speaker 1: that's kind of how the playoffs work. If your guy
20:04
Speaker 1: isn't at his absolute best, like be an out getter,
20:08
Speaker 1: then get some outs. Save your boat, like get as
20:11
Speaker 1: many outs as you can and limit the damage. Does
20:14
Speaker 1: that sound sexy? No, but just get the job done. Uh,
20:18
Speaker 1: Just a couple of things I wanted to touch on
20:20
Speaker 1: with with Kate Horton. No throwing Wednesday and Thursday. So
20:23
Speaker 1: the first time he's throwing is is now going to
20:25
Speaker 1: be uh today which is Friday. And no more scans,
20:29
Speaker 1: no more tests. It's not he's not going to the
20:32
Speaker 1: doctor to get more tests. There someone else is looking
20:35
Speaker 1: at them. Ari Why because different doctors can see different things,
20:40
Speaker 1: they can notice different things that they may have more
20:43
Speaker 1: experience with these things. I wouldn't I wouldn't freak out,
20:47
Speaker 1: and I also wouldn't dismiss all.
20:49
Speaker 3: This is how I would take it. And I think
20:52
Speaker 3: when you get an MRI.
20:55
Speaker 1: And and like that's the initially that you should always
20:58
Speaker 1: be like, oh, what's going on? So this is if
21:01
Speaker 1: you want to be positive. I think it's fine to
21:03
Speaker 1: be positive with this update. But we won't know anything
21:06
Speaker 1: until he's out there starting. So that's like it just
21:09
Speaker 1: seems like everyone wants to be like, this is what's
21:12
Speaker 1: going on when like this is a bad announcement. Yeah,
21:17
Speaker 1: it's not like a good announcement is he's starting game
21:21
Speaker 1: one and he's fine, everything is all clear.
21:23
Speaker 3: This is just like kind of a what you said,
21:26
Speaker 3: it's a gray area like this is.
21:28
Speaker 1: We're not sure where we're at, so don't if you
21:31
Speaker 1: if you are, if you're the type that wants to
21:32
Speaker 1: freak out, please go go ahead and freak out.
21:37
Speaker 4: As good advice in general, run with your feelings. Spaceball.
21:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think showed is going to be a big,
21:46
Speaker 1: big piece for this puzzle either way, Kate or no, Kate.
21:50
Speaker 1: You need showda to have a good start, and Thursday
21:54
Speaker 1: was just not a good development.
21:55
Speaker 3: But I don't. I think.
21:57
Speaker 1: I think he's probably gonna give a home run up.
22:00
Speaker 1: But are there two men on base when he does
22:03
Speaker 1: that or is it a solo shot? And that may
22:05
Speaker 1: just be the difference between winning and losing a game
22:08
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. All right, let's take a quick break
22:10
Speaker 1: and touch on some maybe like a little bit of
22:14
Speaker 1: a season recap and see where the team is heading
22:16
Speaker 1: into the playoffs.
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23:19
Speaker 1: Patrick get It probably shouldn't have been a big weekend,
23:23
Speaker 1: but it kind of is a big weekend for a
23:25
Speaker 1: few reasons. Obviously, we're raiting on the cad Horton news.
23:28
Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker is expected to be in the lineup on Friday,
23:34
Speaker 1: and frankly, the Cubs just need a couple wins. They
23:37
Speaker 1: need two wins and then you play home games in
23:41
Speaker 1: the playoffs. It has been a while since Cubs fans
23:45
Speaker 1: have been able to fill up Wrigley and watch playoff games.
23:50
Speaker 1: They got one in twenty eighteen. They haven't seen a
23:55
Speaker 1: win in a very long time. That was seventeen. Jake
23:59
Speaker 1: areat against the Dodgers in a series. They lost four
24:03
Speaker 1: to one, So it was they were down three to
24:05
Speaker 1: zero at the time. If I'm remembering things, Yeah, that
24:08
Speaker 1: sounds about right. Yeah, so it wasn't even like they
24:13
Speaker 1: had a lot to celebrate. But it has been a while.
24:16
Speaker 1: I think, Look, I don't think it's the end all
24:19
Speaker 1: be all. I don't think it completely swings a series
24:24
Speaker 1: right now. But the Cubs are a good team at home.
24:29
Speaker 1: And we just talked about Showda in Minaga's home run problems.
24:32
Speaker 1: What direction is the win going to be blowing? That
24:35
Speaker 1: could factor in to how Showda pitches, how anybody pitches,
24:40
Speaker 1: how the offense looks. This is an offense that has,
24:43
Speaker 1: at least in the first half of the season. They
24:45
Speaker 1: certainly did this, and they've shown a time still now
24:48
Speaker 1: they can score in multiple ways, and that's what makes
24:50
Speaker 1: them dangerous. They don't need the long ball. Everyone wants
24:53
Speaker 1: the long ball, but you don't always need it. And
24:56
Speaker 1: the Padres are not a good team on the road.
24:58
Speaker 3: They're just not. Their record indicates they struggle on the road.
25:01
Speaker 3: They're just a much better team at home. I don't
25:04
Speaker 3: know if that's randomness. I don't know if in a
25:06
Speaker 3: three game sample size it matters. But you want every
25:10
Speaker 3: single tiny bit of an advantages you can get. That's
25:14
Speaker 3: what front offices are always looking for in the offseason
25:16
Speaker 3: when they're building teams or and that's what coaching staffs
25:20
Speaker 3: and teams always want. Just any advantage you can get,
25:23
Speaker 3: So get into two magic numbers two. Any combination of
25:28
Speaker 3: Cubs and Padrey's losses that equals too. And the Cubs
25:30
Speaker 3: have home games next week.
25:34
Speaker 4: That was the goal as soon as they clinched in Pittsburgh.
25:37
Speaker 4: That was a talking point. I think internally the Cubs
25:42
Speaker 4: stress that, like even in the clubhouse right afterwards and
25:45
Speaker 4: in meeting with the media. That's what Council had said
25:50
Speaker 4: as well, of like bringing October baseball back to the
25:54
Speaker 4: fans at Wrigley Field, you know, was significant into them,
25:59
Speaker 4: even if it is more just kind of symbolically. But
26:02
Speaker 4: I gotta tell you, after making that road trip in
26:05
Speaker 4: April to Dodger Stadium and pet Goo Park, Cubs players
26:09
Speaker 4: were talking about like this is a good test for us,
26:12
Speaker 4: Like these environments are sort of playoff type environments, and
26:17
Speaker 4: like Peco Park was electric on like weak nights in April,
26:23
Speaker 4: so I could only imagine what it would be like
26:25
Speaker 4: for a best of three playoff series. And I gotta
26:29
Speaker 4: think you'd much rather have that crowd energy going for
26:35
Speaker 4: you rather than against you. And clearly who has home
26:42
Speaker 4: field like isn't going to absolutely determine this series. But
26:47
Speaker 4: like you said, these organizations obsess over finding like the
26:52
Speaker 4: smallest competitive advantage, the you know, triple a reliever who
26:58
Speaker 4: does one thing sort of okay, but there may be
27:01
Speaker 4: one adjustice. So clearly they'd rather play at Wrigley Field
27:05
Speaker 4: than go to Peco Park.
27:07
Speaker 2: Yeah.
27:08
Speaker 1: I do think it'll be a fun environment, exciting environment.
27:14
Speaker 1: There won't be you know, probably the last time we
27:17
Speaker 1: covered to get well more of twenty sixteen, there's this
27:19
Speaker 1: nervous energy. I don't think it's gonna be like that
27:22
Speaker 1: right now, just like fans are going to be excited
27:25
Speaker 1: and want to see playoff baseball they're itching for it,
27:29
Speaker 1: and I think Cubs fans deserve a little fun at
27:32
Speaker 1: Wrigley in October.
27:33
Speaker 3: It's been too long.
27:36
Speaker 1: One thing I do want to point touch on that
27:38
Speaker 1: we didn't touch on in the first two segments.
27:41
Speaker 3: It was a good series for Saya Suzuki.
27:44
Speaker 1: I said after Tuesday's game, you hope that first that
27:48
Speaker 1: that base hit that he got that tied up that
27:50
Speaker 1: game that they eventually lost, was a turning point. He
27:52
Speaker 1: got a double on Wednesday, two huge home runs and
27:56
Speaker 1: they weren't cheapies on Thursday. Like that that that looked
28:01
Speaker 1: like first half. Say up, I don't know, I don't
28:04
Speaker 1: like that's that's three extra base hits in the last
28:07
Speaker 1: two games.
28:09
Speaker 3: Is that a turning point?
28:10
Speaker 4: Uh?
28:11
Speaker 3: I don't know, but you want to see that.
28:14
Speaker 1: It had been geez, it's been like months since he'd homered.
28:20
Speaker 1: It's been a really long time since he sent one
28:23
Speaker 1: out of the bark and he had too that that's important.
28:25
Speaker 3: We can you can have questions about the pitching. Uh.
28:28
Speaker 1: I do feel like and how talker looks this weekend
28:32
Speaker 1: is going to you know, uh, either put people.
28:35
Speaker 3: At ease or or or freak people out one way
28:39
Speaker 3: or the other.
28:40
Speaker 1: Uh, but I do really feel and I've been saying this,
28:44
Speaker 1: I'm going to reiterate it. I think the offense has turned.
28:48
Speaker 1: It may not matter if the pitching is what we saw.
28:51
Speaker 4: We need to we need to clip that, yeah, because
28:54
Speaker 4: you'll either be look like a genius or be another
28:58
Speaker 4: you know, just awful run of Cubs offense and.
29:01
Speaker 1: The Yeah, if they get outscored like nine to one
29:04
Speaker 1: in two games, clip that and send it back to me.
29:08
Speaker 3: You are allowed to mock me. I get it. But
29:11
Speaker 3: that's also baseball, I understand.
29:13
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, and it.
29:14
Speaker 1: Very well could Like they just could just be completely
29:17
Speaker 1: shut down. Dylan Cees has had a rough season, or
29:20
Speaker 1: by era hasn't been great, but he also has a
29:22
Speaker 1: thirty percent strikeout rate, So who the hell knows? You
29:25
Speaker 1: could just dominate the Cubs. So yeah, I like where
29:30
Speaker 1: the offense is headed. I like some of these relievers.
29:33
Speaker 1: I'm you know, the pitching is right now up in
29:36
Speaker 1: the air. The starting pitching is up in the air.
29:38
Speaker 1: But get home games and see what happens.
29:41
Speaker 3: We said it.
29:42
Speaker 1: Everyone has questions. The Padres have plenty of them. The
29:47
Speaker 1: Cubs are the Cubs are not the only flawged team
29:50
Speaker 1: entering the playoffs, and they're not the only team with concerns.
29:54
Speaker 3: You just want someone to step up.
29:55
Speaker 1: I really liked with Counsel that to say, it's not
29:58
Speaker 1: about it's not just about Pete, kro Armstrong and Kyle Tucker.
30:02
Speaker 1: Somebody we don't know, and it may not be Moises
30:05
Speaker 1: by a stereos, it may not be any like who
30:08
Speaker 1: knows who it's going to be. But you need someone
30:10
Speaker 1: to step up and perform, probably a pitcher frankly, for
30:14
Speaker 1: the way that things have been looking.
30:17
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's refreshing to hear because we ask a lot
30:22
Speaker 4: of questions. We listen all the time and it's this,
30:25
Speaker 4: you know, our process, our routine, and that's that's great,
30:29
Speaker 4: Like that's gotten them to a good place, but it's
30:33
Speaker 4: time to put on a good show for the fans
30:35
Speaker 4: at Wriggley Field. You know, say his home runs. You
30:38
Speaker 4: mentioned Pete, what Tucker did in the first half, like
30:43
Speaker 4: that was a big part of the story of the season,
30:46
Speaker 4: how Wrigley Field was coming alive again. I think you
30:49
Speaker 4: might have had that headline in like even April, and
30:52
Speaker 4: it was accurate because you could sense, like, all right,
30:55
Speaker 4: this team is interesting. There's some different l elements here
31:01
Speaker 4: going on. You could tell the city was sort of
31:04
Speaker 4: starve for like a competent sports organization. And obviously the
31:13
Speaker 4: rebuild that could not be called a rebuild, was a
31:15
Speaker 4: long time coming in terms of showing some results here.
31:19
Speaker 4: So it's like, yeah, like go out and produce, step up,
31:25
Speaker 4: do something, because I know they clinched on the road,
31:30
Speaker 4: so that changed a little bit of the dynamics. But
31:33
Speaker 4: they've been in this place for a while now. You know,
31:37
Speaker 4: in August, you know, the playoff odds ninety eight, ninety
31:40
Speaker 4: nine percent, you know, a very very small chance of
31:44
Speaker 4: catching the Brewers, which did not happen. The trade deadline
31:47
Speaker 4: was super deflating. So like, I have not quite felt
31:54
Speaker 4: clearly you're right, the nervous energy is gone, Like it's
31:56
Speaker 4: not nineteen oh eight, it's not a century and counting
31:58
Speaker 4: championship drought. I think people are curious, people are excited,
32:04
Speaker 4: but there hasn't been that same sort of build. It
32:08
Speaker 4: felt like there was a lot of momentum early, a
32:09
Speaker 4: lot of enthusiasm and energy on the front end of
32:12
Speaker 4: the season, and that's just been kind of like checking
32:15
Speaker 4: your watches waiting for the playoffs.
32:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, and and like like you said, look, Griggley can
32:21
Speaker 1: get so intense and it's a fun atmosphere.
32:23
Speaker 3: To work, like do our jobs.
32:26
Speaker 1: Hey, when when those guys are When when we can
32:28
Speaker 1: feel the energy in the press box. Yeah, when it's
32:31
Speaker 1: like shaking, Yeah, when it's almost Yeah, when it feels
32:34
Speaker 1: like what is it like I can actually feel the
32:36
Speaker 1: press box move.
32:37
Speaker 3: That's that's fun. That's exciting.
32:39
Speaker 1: Uh So, yeah, I hope Cups fans are able to
32:42
Speaker 1: bring that energy and it's it's a fun week at
32:45
Speaker 1: Wrigley Field. Uh. Neither one of us want to have
32:48
Speaker 1: to book flights to San Diego, so uh.
32:52
Speaker 3: So we'll see if get that done.
32:55
Speaker 1: Uh here this this weekend, all right, we will be back.
32:59
Speaker 1: We're we're gonna be talking about playoff games, whether they're
33:02
Speaker 1: in San Diego or Chicago whatever. You'll be hearing from
33:06
Speaker 1: us previewing this series early next week and whatever happens
33:10
Speaker 1: during that season. Thanks so much for listening. This is
33:13
Speaker 1: Northside Territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to
33:16
Speaker 1: the YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick
33:19
Speaker 1: and I are on top of all things Cubs. Thanks
33:21
Speaker 1: for listening to everyone,