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Six Games Left And A Wild Card To Hold · Monday Morning Cubs Show

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: And we're clear.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning, good afternoon, and evening, Chicago Cubs fans, and welcome back to the Monday Morning Cub Show.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Today is Monday, September 21st.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: I am your host, Carl.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm lucky to say I'm joined by my pal Mahoney.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's good to see you, my friend.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: Carl, yeah, it's good to see you as well.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, wish we were doing this in a parking lot at a country club on the south side.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: We are not, but it's wonderful to see you regardless.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's wonderful to be here with you and the maniacs on this Monday morning, September 21st.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why you don't tease stuff in content.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is a principle of mine.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Until it's done, don't tell people we have this great thing planned.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now we got rained out.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Mahoney, what was the thing planned?
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: You say country club on the south side.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Be specific.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's historic, it's famous.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: We were going to Beverly, Carl, to play in a really, really solid golf outing.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: It was going to be a full day, steak dinner afterwards.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: We were meeting up early in the parking lot to get in an hour for the maniacs, for me and you, and then we were going to go out and enjoy ourselves.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's been piss and rain.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Here we are.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't want to disparage the country club.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I was going to tell you, I told you parking lot.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: What we were what we were going to do is set up on the ground slightly outside at 87th and Western to catch some of that great traffic.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we don't do the video, but like that's why.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because when we do do the video, it's going to be hilarious.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: So Mahoney and I had this thing planned.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: It gets crapped on.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Last time we played, though, you were awesome at Kemper Lake.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I wanted to see a tackle Beverly.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's a great track.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Would have been a nice opportunity to get you with Uncle Timmy, but alas, here we are, my friend.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, here we are.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: And them's the breaks, and we got a week of baseball left.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, speaking of bad weather, that Bears game yesterday, God bless.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: I said this on Twitter, didn't think it would go viral.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: I was really just trying to send a message, but it it's it's sincere.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: God bless the 60,000 that sat through the three and a half inches per square inch of rain.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, just real tough stuff, Mahoney.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Start to finish.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, tough stuff.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: My brother-in-law was one of those individuals.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he's a season ticket holder.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: He splits it, you know, with a couple other buddies.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: I think he goes to four games, but he was at a wedding with me the night before, and he was out late and then didn't sleep at all because the dog was barking when he got home.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: So he was out, you know, having a great old time, a couple beverages, and then he's on the metro in the morning with an electrolyte, uh, a vodka, whatever the heck, vodka with some thirsty vaquero.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, just that whole the whole thing from start to finish sucked, and that would all be not the best pilgrimage to make to Soldier Field yesterday.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: No, I mean it's a tough place to get to to begin with.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is why we talk about the people that are really upset about the idea of going to Hammond, Indiana.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'll say this a lot of people have to walk at least a mile and a half as soon as that game is over, from the time they stand up from their seat to get even to a base for like their next transportation.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: And most of those people have to hit two legs of transportation.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, yesterday's a perfect example of like you can complain about ham in Indiana all you want, but what you can't tell me is that the 60,000 that have to leave that Bears game after watching them hang three points, I mean, that's as bad as it gets, folks.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: 59 at Carolina, coming in confident, watching Caleb Williams get hurt, just that death march out of Soldier Field.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: To me, there, how do you solve that?
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: And if the leadership in Chicago can't, you know, the idea of spilling out of something into like a nice communal village where there's bars and the thing's been rehabilitated beautifully, maybe that takes this thing out a little bit more, I suppose.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Do you do you have do you want to apply our three-point loss yesterday?
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Or I mean our our rousing attempt yesterday to our stadium development situation in Hammond, Indiana, or do you just want to say we're one and one?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just get on to next week.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, one-on-one, let's move on to next week.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's a Cub show, but you're right, Carl.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's not many folks that know about the buses that go to the Millennium Park Garage.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: There's only nine of those running.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: They just started doing it again this year.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: So think about that.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna have to go to the Millennium Park Garage to get on one of those buses.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: Hope you're one of those individuals that, you know, got to be early, but neither here nor there.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's been a shit weather weekend all around.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: And heads up, guys, back to Cubs baseball.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: There's a nor'easter hitting Boston.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: So we might run in some trouble later in the week with some serious weather hitting the East Coast and the Boston area with them in a race, us in a wild card race, season coming to a close.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be interesting.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: Keep your eye on the skies, folks, and keep your eye on the Doppler.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it really throws a wrench into a lot of plans here.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now, most importantly, though, are the plans of the Chicago Cubs.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Mahoney, you bring it up.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is a Cubs show.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: We are technically in first place in the wild card with six games left this week.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, why though do I not feel pressure after having gotten our doors blown off by Milwaukee in similar Monday mornings before, where we've done the show and we've said this is a huge week.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now, in comparison as the final six games come upon us with this Monday off day, I'm kind of going back and going, I feel like those weeks where you and I sat down and talked about the Milwaukee series, and that's happened a couple times this week, this the internal nerves of whatever were significantly higher at this point.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I know we're not gotten to Bragman yet, and there's some other stuff, but just generally as a vibe, like we aren't first with the wild card six games left.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: The theme attitude, am I wrong in saying that?
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Or where's where's your sentiment?
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: You're not, swear to God, took the words out of my mouth.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: The internal nerves aren't there, not in comparison to the Brewers week when we're coming up, but when there still was that little shot at the division, it is I feel very relaxed on this Monday.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I just I think because we know it's going to be a wild card thing, we want the home series.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: But if it doesn't even, if that doesn't happen, is it the end of the world?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so no, I'm feeling pretty good, Carl, and couldn't have said it better myself.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well, okay, let's get into it, guys.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: This is the Monday Morning Cub Show.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, you know what that means.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's presented by Thirsty Paquero, Mexican style soda with the signature spicy finish.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's all bite.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's no rattle that you can get on Amazon three bold flavors has been coming into play sensationally across the Stirk House.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: I know in the Mahoney household, it is just a sincere privilege.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Last night we sat down for some Buffalo chicken uh flatbread, homemade flatbread by Mrs.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Carl, you know, start to finish scratch.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if she did the pita herself or got it at a farmer's market, but baby, that thing was soft, yet crispy coming out of the oven, paired perfectly with the spicy watermelon.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the type of stuff I'm talking about with the flavor profiles, where I know I'm gonna get that salty, beautiful buffalo crunch.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna have a little bit of the green uh onion celery, the blue cheese has got a flavor profile.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then just to go out of that into a spicy watermelon, you want to talk about a party on the palate, my friend.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: I encourage everyone to check it out.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's a thing of beauty about going out on Amazon.com and you know, search at Thirsty Facero and getting yourself a vigilante pack because you could pair that with a buffalo chip, you know, you said what, spicy watermelon with your buffalo pita.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, think about it if you were eating an Italian sausage on the grill and you're gonna want the lemon limon ladron.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: There's so many different flavor combinations that you can attack with the vigilantes, and it's just a thing of beauty.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: It really pairs well with the finest dishes, you know, across the country.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: So check them out on Amazon, not hard to find, linked across, thirsty vaquero, spelled exactly as it sounds.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Q U E R O Vaquero.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Mahoney, we like to pair our vaqueros with awards every week.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to kick us off with our spicy, spicy watermelon?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yo, quero, thirsty vaquero.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, yes, I do want to kick it off.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's a spicy watermelon.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: I believe this is number 13 in a row.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: Ladies and gentlemen, it's P C A Henry Crow Armstrong leading the pack.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: Spicy watermelon hits another dinger again yesterday.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Dude's on fire.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: He might get to 50.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: What else can I say?
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: He's not leaving spicy watermelon for the rest of the season, folks.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know what's interesting about Pete Crow Armstrong, and this will be the only time I bring this up because I'm doing a lot of work now in the trading card industry, and just the more stuff that I learned, uh, you know, and there'll be time for these discussions in the offseason.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Certainly not with six games left going into playoffs.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: But one thing that I just found interesting is that the general card market, uh, which is expensive.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, these guys spend a lot of money on shit, right?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, I think one of the statistics I like to say is that two to two the baseball trading cards will generate twice as much revenue, top line revenue, as all 30 major league baseball teams combined this season, which is something that's insane.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's a huge financial asset market.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the questions that the market has is they don't think Pete Crow Armstrong this season is like who he is, they think it's just a complete uh like a complete anomaly.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: So when people are talking about how much is Pete Crow worth, the big the big argument against him in this financial asset area, I shouldn't even call it a financial asset, but in the investor speculative market is saying Pete's not for real.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: And when I hear that stuff, it's just like these people don't know fucking shit.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: These people obviously, for all the money they spent, you probably don't know fucking shit.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you're looking at Pete this year and going, This is just a special Brady Anderson anomaly, no fucking way.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm sorry for the language and I'm trying to tone it down.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: But what we've seen from Pete Carl Armstrong this year, sincerely in my heart, is like when Sandberg broke out and people are like, Was this a great year?
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's the player you have.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: This is the guy we have.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is this is the future of the Chicago Cubs, and it's crazy anybody would doubt him.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: He's so good, Mowney.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I mean the people, if they're doubting him and they're on the you know, speculative card market and what have you, that would be me being a silver and gold expert, but having no idea how the US dollar is actually going to be moving against it.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, what are you gonna do there?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: I know who Pete is, you know who Pete is, the maniacs know who Pete is, and I I mean that's that's that.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: I I think that the adjustment that he made, it is sustainable, clearly.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: And this is our player, this is our guy, and it's the MVP of the league.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: And it's against lefties too.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's against righties, it's against great pitching, it's against bad pitching, it's in high leverage, low leverage, it's the leadoff games, it's the end games, it's not in any way other than just the absolute best across the board.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, next flavor we have is Morte.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna throw Ian Hap some love here, and it's it is because mostly, I mean, he needs some love.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: He's gonna get sad against left uh against left-handed pitching for the duration of the year if they're gonna have Tyr Taylor hit cleanup against left-handed pitching.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I just want to give Ian Hap some some flowers here because we are gonna have some bigot bats from him down the stretch.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I I know there's gonna be a moment where we're relying on him against big velocity righty, and he's gonna turn on one.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just kind of like that mango muerte, where it's like, you I know you're gonna go for the spicy watermelon first, but do not think for one second you are not gonna love a mango muerte when you need it.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: 1000%, Carl.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: A few weeks back, we baller striked about that specific thing with Tyrone Taylor, Ian Hap against lefties, not lefties.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like he was getting benched.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: We wanted to throw him Muerte over to Hap because think about this.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: He was dealing with a lot of that knee soreness, you know, knocked him out of the lineup, set him back a bit against Milwaukee, but then he comes back, he's part of that RBI parade, you know, against Cincinnati.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: He's he's never not gonna show up when he's in that lineup, dude.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: So that's what I know about Ian Hap.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: He's he's never bitter, he's never pouty, besides when he's on the field and playing, right?
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: You never hear him bitch about anything outside of that or managerial decisions, etc.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: I love Ian Hap.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: What a what a great run as a cub, if this is it.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: And here's your mango muerte, sir.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: You're one of the vigilantes of the week.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna get to Lamon Ladron.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Just two quick notes on Ian Hap.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: I believe he's about to crack top one or top ten, his next home run will put him in the top 10 Chicago Cubs all time.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I also saw I believe he is fifth or sixth of active players uh who have played for one team.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Most games played for one team in the duration of their career.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: So while we see while a lot of people complain about him, there are aspects, vintage aspects of Ian Hap that I feel are completely underrated and overlooked.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: And they know he's got a lot of a lot of moments in his career that have frustrated people, but I don't think you could ask for kind of a worse duration of a career if you said you have to spend 10 years with the Cubs.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's 10 years in the 50s and the 60s, 70s coming right off, too.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: The home.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: No taste.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: First at bat.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think he was leading off the game.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: I think.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: If not, he hit a homer, I'm pretty sure.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: And it was like, oh, hell yeah, man, this guy.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's gonna be able to ride this wave and just another addition.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: No taste of the 2016 success, other than to be in the clubhouse with the guys who did win it.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: His first exposure was a team who finished under 500 in the first half, then bowed out mercilessly against uh against the Dodgers, and then he's part of the team that collapses and blows it and is awful against Colorado.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Then he's part of the team that collapses and misses the playoff in 2019, then you're part of the team in 2020 that wildly underperforms.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Then you're the reason that they get rid of Kyle Schwarber, is he good, like part of it, it's like Hap will just play left field instead of Schwarber, then you know.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you can just go down the list of like, okay, then he's there when they got to sell off Rizzo, he's there when they get to get rid of everybody else.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: He's got to go through the Frank Schwindell years, he's got to be there when they hire David Ross.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: Just kidding.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now he's fired, he's got to be there for Craig Council.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: He's getting bitched at the whole time.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, we have the worst pitching staff in baseball, and people sit there and point their finger at eating happen the ninth, tenth year of his career as a cub.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: So he's he's he gets the muerte this week.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go quickly into Lamone drone for you, Mahoney.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: I just have Carson Kelly against left-handed pitching because it's just so smooth and reliable.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: Carson Kelly over 500 slug against left-handed pitching, and he's gonna hit eighth against lefties in the playoffs.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna see lefties in the playoffs.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we don't we don't give our catchers our flowers on this show.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: He gets a Lamone drone this week.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: There it is.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like you said, Carson Kelly, Lamone Ladrone, ABS Challenge.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Fucking yeah.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: Really good at those.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: The the kid, the king of the ABS Challenge, uh Carson Kelly, which clearly is not an accidental skill set or anything.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: It has to be such an intuitive practice.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: He must be so dialed back there if his conversion rate is that much higher than major league average.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: God bless what's going on between that guy's ears.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I mean.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: You have to be thinking about it.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you had on like a completely different level.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'll say it.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: He's probably he has to have some sort of spectrum towards the spider strike.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: We're we're so on the same page today.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: Because that's that is kind of what I was thinking.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: You have to have that uh an additional brain wave to be able to address those ABS while your hundred other things are going on in a baseball game.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of data points.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: So let's get it, let's get in a symbol or strike that we put together for this week.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think I liked what we did last week with the show, and as we get into playoffs, I think what we did last year was we like did we ended up putting out like we end up putting out so many episodes pregame, post-game for the playoffs that I had to upload our credit back end to like put more hours on yeah, you have only X amount of hours for sure.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I think we're I think we're just gonna stay on that path.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: Path.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we're gonna be doing.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: We'll have a Friday show.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: We missed the last couple Friday shows because quite frankly, I've just been busy with this big project that's outside of the Monday Morning Cup show.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I I apologize for that, but that's in anticipation of what I I see as a big stretch run into the playoffs.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now, before we get to the ball or strike, you bring this up loosely, and I'm inclined to say it.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you're a maniac, like I'm a maniac, Mahoney is, even though we host this show, we're part of the community.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I feel good about the fact we've been in front of a number of storylines that have materialized throughout the season, and as we go into the last six games have kind of crescendoed here.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what do we look like with left-handed pitching?
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: The fact we spent so much time about Ian Hap in high-leverage moments, is Craig gonna go to Tyrone Taylor?
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: So there's some ball or strike here that I think is gonna tee us up well for playoffs, but my head is just on these lineup matchups because now with Bregman out, there is there is more room to be creative to exercise creativity, but I'm a little nervous about Alex.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of my attitude as we get into the ball or strike.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: So why don't you start?
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: Why don't you kick us off, buddy?
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: What do we got?
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so we got winning these two series, ball or strike or a ball or strike, winning these two series, it should change our opinion of the Cubs more than getting swept as we did in Milwaukee.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give this one a strike, and this is because I am considering the difference between getting swept by Milwaukee when the bullpen completely falls apart, and I'm willing to just give up on Webb.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't, I'm not even thinking about it like that first compared to winning a series against the Braves when they're in must-win mode against the Dodgers, and then the way we win against the Reds by spanking them on Sunday, that to me is more important.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why these last two series is a strike.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: But I understand if maniacs are calling it a ball because they're going, it doesn't matter if we can't beat Milwaukee.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: It may it does make sense, and I have it as the same after the Milwaukee series, you know, you're kind of looking left and right to be like in handshaking a little bit, like, oh shit, are we gonna collapse?
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: You're looking at the calendar and looking at other people in the race, and it's like, dude, I mean, I mean, I know we're 97% gonna make the playoffs, but there's that 3% now.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: What the hell?
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: And then we come back, it goes right back up.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, this team they continued to perform, they weren't broken by a series, they were never going to be the professional baseball players.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: So it does change the opinion for me going into the playoffs as this offense is still really, really good, and that's how they're gonna win right now.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: And it didn't necessarily that's all I gotta say.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna, yeah, I'm just gonna start to talk into the ether, and there's no reason to do so.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to drag that.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna point out and say, you know, we get swept at Milwaukee and then we bounce back and we win a series, you know, against Pittsburgh, we win a series, against Atlanta, we win a series on the road.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so I mean it's like, yeah, we could have swept the pirates, but I guess in the collective, I'm more interested in the fact we haven't laid down, you know, if we played our best baseball, absolutely not.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the distinction I would just make on the ball or strike here.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm calling this a strike.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: I think if people are calling it a ball, your actually your strike zone's a little too tight.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think you're freaking out a little bit.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you're saying that it doesn't matter because we got swept by Milwaukee, because we collapse against Milwaukee, because we score five runs against Mizorowski, and then we can't get over the hump with a win against Milwaukee.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh again, that's all stuff in the moment, very mad about.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, now that I mention it in hindsight, still mad about.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: But I can look at that series against Milwaukee and the way we played against Milwaukee and say, at least I know that there's enough there where we wouldn't we can compete against Milwaukee.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: We can absolutely go compete against them.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we can compete against the best in baseball.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then a very good example of that, despite getting swept in Milwaukee, would be the Braves are doing everything they can to catch the Dodgers when they showed up at Wrigley Field, and we take the series from them.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: And importantly, we take the series in a rubber match, and importantly, that leads us to our next baller strike, Shoda Imanaga, eight strikeouts, no walk, six innings, one earned.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, in a really big game, Mahoney.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: In a really big game, baller strike, you would even entertain the idea of Shoda over Matt Boyd for game three in the playoffs.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: That baller strike assumes Gossman and Clay Holmes are pitching game one and two.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: Baller strike, you'd even entertain Shoda after that start against the Braves.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: Ball.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: I would not entertain Shoda after the start against the Braves.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's that's very much some recency bias.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: And Matt Boyd has to be the guy.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: He can he's gonna be eating innings all year for Craig.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: He doesn't blink, he's got the look.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: Imanaga's been way too inconsistent up and down.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: Command is it's is his command gonna be there, right?
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: How many home runs is he'll gonna give up?
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: I would never want him in this situation, you know, in a playoff scenario.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: So right now that's a ball if if you're saying Shota has a chance over Boyd.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's just we're recency bias work in the favor.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Shota looked good, that's great.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: Matthew Boyd's hit.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: What's this saying?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you have to ask the answer's yes, or the answer is no.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: In this case, if you have to ask and the answer is no.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you're having if you're actually no, yeah.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, if you're asking me, then like, no, I don't I'm not gonna be swayed by one last start.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the thing.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: I got eyes on this.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Showta goes out and pitches this week and strikes out 12 and gives up three hits, and that fastball looks like Shota looks when he gets into that stretch where he's kind of unhittable that we've seen in stretches of his career as a Cub.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: You may come back and throw this pitch to me again before the playoffs start.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll just get an idea of where does he fit in.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of a nightmare situation the Cubs have because Gossman and Clay Holmes should pitch game one and two.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: But after that, again, I th I feel confident in Matt Boyd.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: Then you are faced with the question of and we'll probably get into some of this, but like these.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: the these guys who don't start now will you showed as an example does that what does that mean for the bullpen is he is he is he gonna pitch a fifth inning would we use him in a situation like that because it's not like we have dominant anything at the back end of the bullpen you know I just I'm just I just wish I had more a clarity or at least an idea of what Craig can do with some of the starters that aren't in the mix so let's keep it fired baby I need to talk about Alex Bregman all right this is Baller strike getting Bregman healthy is more important than home field advantage we should have opened with this awful injury man off awful injury right now right next to Caleb Williams hamstring oh dude it was almost back to it was like within the 30 minutes of each other hey Craig Counsel's a jerk craig count someone asked Craig Council they're like what impact or what influence or something along the lines in the sentiment of of Bregman stand Bregman's close guys be honest be be dead honest at Bregman stand and at a 30 45 degree angle of home plate in the pitcher mound line so like we're not talking about the classic what do they set that up almost 90 75 degrees he cheats it he walks onto the grass he gets close one of the one of the beat reporters asked counsel and he he was like that's not fair you can't you can't you can't go there the guy's like are you saying he wasn't too close or I can't he said that's a bad question mahoney is that a bad question or a fair question first it's a it's a fair question and it's a bad response if you're gonna protect your player in the media protect him while he's on the goddamned field craig tell him to step back a little bit how about it if you could do anything as a manager you could be like hey that makes me nervous step back but then you you bitch at a purporter for asking the question if he if he should be there come on Craig you're it's a you're just a great I'm just gonna say you're better than that but sometimes you're not and he gives responses it's a great distinction if you're gonna be a player's manager I love that Mahoney I love it he she is standing too close.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now here's the thing you can't tell Bregman where to stand.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now he probably won't stand that close against against lefties.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: He'll probably wear a face guard I don't know what this looks like moving forward.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: I still just want to talk for a second though about where he's positioned why he's injured in the first place and how Craig addressed the media and how Cubs fans truly maniac should be interacting with it and you should be shaking your head.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now the problem though is that Alex is just way too far in his baseball life for even an umpire.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: No but no but the man the opposing managers won't bitch because it's Bregman.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: If it was PCA other managers would bitch other teams would bitch because he shouldn't be out there he shouldn't be out there like that.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: Correct but Bregman has so much inherent respect throughout the game and across the industry that like it's just it's whatever.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's like I'm not bitching at this guy.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: And you have friends like that in your life there's certain friends you bitch at and there's certain friends you just go like well whatever it he is who he is.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: And this isn't because it's a waste of time to bitch at Bregman he just has too much respect.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: So you know now you're hurt.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: Now here's the problem obviously he's not playing this week and the next time he takes a field would be in the NLDS that's the first problem or in the NL wild which is that just blows because he's red hot and I know he's a guy hates taking days off hates has having days where he's not in the box.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: So first thing that's the problem a honey would you like to add to the problems because I'm gonna get to the good part soon.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: I mean the other problem is the fact that his eye is entirely swollen shut you hope that that opens up by the time we are in the playoffs so that he can at least see a baseball that's that's one of my concerns that is a nasty nasty shiner would you would you all right would you but yeah I want him swinging the bat like he has been too and then you get a week off like he's not going to be able to get in the cage.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: So now I'm double guessing my good side I need your help on this I need your read can you bird dog this because I was I was about to look this up so I saw on Instagram he took a picture and it was bad my initial reaction if remember to the recurring Cubs Monday morning cub show guest thread featuring Jolie Molinero was that oh it's right eye yeah we're happy that it's right he's like go ahead sorry no you tell I'm being yeah you're like well he's left hand he's left eye dominant yes we were like I had to look and I'm like wait right eye left eye okay yeah I guess if he really needs to see the ball I need every maniac right now just crane your neck like you're in a batting stance and pretend like you're looking out at the mountain and what you're gonna find out oh my god is that your right eye contributes about 20 to 25 percent of the visual you can take in if you're in a good bat now if you tilt your head too much you're gonna lose some of that torque power and I believe Bregman stays nestled with his chin into his shoulders so that would mean he is extremely left eye down so if this is a right eye injury they I said good side I didn't listen funny we're talking about a guy broke his orbital fist yeah our best our our best right handed hitter by a mile and a guy we paid 35 million for is out with a socked uh socket is getting him more important than getting home field advantage that's a strike yeah that's a strike him we were gonna need him that's a strike I can't believe I took this long to get to whether or not that was a strike I apologize that's quite all right do you disagree?
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like no I we need him we need him he's a part of the reason why this lineup is is is what it is and it's nerve wracking but I do agree I was craning the neck uh how many one eye batters have there been in the history of the league well the problem is when you only have one eye then you lose depth perception it's kind of like you have it a pinky and pitchers yep pitchers in the in the big guys pitchers are going to be able to eat your lunch you're screwed if you don't have depth perception you're but but if one guy in baseball is mechanically trained enough to hit off one eye I think it's Alex Bregman.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: If there's one guy who I think is like has enough of the mechanical whatever what do you call it you know he's he's taken so many reps Mahoney as he's like muscle memory muscle memory instinct feel of the game the way he just goes right into Spanish in the interview and just starts talking about just a real perfect clean fluid Spanish with just like the nice full tilde that's the shit I'm talking about.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's the same thing with a bat like he just get right as soon as he gets in the box he can do it.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: So it is a strike though we need him now again last here's the other good side though is that you know this isn't good it's horrendous we agree it's horrendous and we agree we're significantly worse without him however we do have competency to fill a void if something happens where we go we can't or we can't hit we Bragman's out now what it does is we go fine Suzuki will hit second Matt Shaw is going to play third it's not ideal and it's not perfect and I'd much rat I promise you I'd much rather have Bragman playing third base and hitting second behind PCA in all playoff games.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: However in worst case scenario this is where it does come in handy that we do have uh you know Shaw is probably the starting third baseman on 18 other major league baseball teams right so yeah I mean we have people to fill in so it isn't the end of the world but it is more important to set him back than it is with an advantage.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: He's like the best right handed hitter in the national league in the second half so it's like we definitely would want him.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: So um okay here's let's change it up let's have a little fun here that sucks by the way losing Bregman sucks that absolutely blows um I want to have some fun though all right baller strike if and when Pete Crow Armstrong steals his 40th base.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: I want to play a hypothetical here all right this baller strike baller strike if he steals home for his 40th solemn base the Craig Council should sub him out in the top half of the next inning regardless of where we are in the uh you know wildcard chase to a to a rousing ovation at Wrigley Field.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like regardless of where we're at if Pete steals home for his 40th Pete gets lifted in the top half of the next so that the faithful can go nuts for five minutes and give him give him a standing ovation the kid deserves not a walk off standing oh I don't want music in the background I just want no no Ozzy Elbe's or Ronald Acunia stolen base record bullshit picking it up yeah I just want I want it like take him out just all business take him if it's home base if it's home base he's home plate that's a strike you take him out you take you stop the game let it go for 15 minutes if need be in the top of the game let him bring it top half just let let him take it and soak it all in that's his 40th 40 40 first yadda yadda yadda yadda yada you take him out if he just steals a regular base you stop the game you celebrate him and you don't pull him because he's you know our best all around player 100% but if it's home that's a strike Carl it's a strike it's a strike they have to do something uh now this is where I just know the Cubs are gonna let me down on the video montage it's gonna be bad if he gets 4040 at home and you have any expectation that it's gonna be a good a good celebration the only thing I trust is that Pete's gonna go about it the right way at this point.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think he's gotten I think it the where he was from the beginning of the season where he is now he'll probably give a little suck it into the dugout you know what I mean but he'll be all class.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: He he will he's he can handle it he he really takes these things in stride.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: He's living in the moment like but he's not letting the moment you know live him or whatever the hell that is so it's it's it's perfect and uh well uh yeah you sub him out if he steals home if not we're gonna give him a rousing I think that that's gonna happen too with this Miami series uh you know this week it it could line up that way so I would like to call out there was a moment now I just can't remember what game it was I just know it was some point before we recorded the show and in between the last recording this is something I'd like to give Pete credit for he hit a big home run it was late it was a but just an absolute bomb and we were not up we were down and we still weren't high game can we give this guy credit because he has the instinctual difference of like as soon as he hits it head down sprints around the bases touch home plate touch touches home plate picks up the bat back in the dugout yeah boom boom boom does a real a real loop gesture when he's rounding third love it that's a pro.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean that's just be impersonal but he's throwing that bat 15 feet in the air if it's a go-ahead bomb you know that's why I'm okay with him throwing for his guys yeah he could do a bat flip do anything you want that's what allows him to do the bat flips because when he has the sense for the moment to do it that's the beautiful thing about the guy because he's not in my sense and estimation embarrassing us you're not embarrassing the team when you have that attitude of fucking put your head down and sprint your ass around the base and now still give your love to the team but hey if that's a tie it up and you want to do that bat flip flap fucking whatever he does on home plate thing that we love and you want to look in the dugout and tell him to suck your dick and flex or whatever that's awesome.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: Just please don't do that when we're down two and you didn't and that's why I love you.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: Gosh I love you so much.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay let's keep it rolling my friend great observation Carl that's a great great observation um something I didn't notice but makes me feel even better about Pete baller strike Carl Daniel Palencia should be getting the toughest inning in October when I say toughest inning I'm not saying close Daniel Palency should be getting the toughest inning in October even if it's the sixth ball or strike.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: There's a moment over the weekend that's going to make me say strike here and I'm gonna I'm gonna take back what I've said because they've already they've they've they've this is why I don't work in baseball because now I'm trying to see the light in which Jed has managed this through Craig and how they want to bring Palency back.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: They brought him in the sixth and seventh now I've said forever Palency is a closer he needs the music the flames the fireworks and all stuff I'm gonna say strike here Mahoney and I'm gonna look back now over since Palency came back from the aisle and they're obviously using him for these moments they used him against Cincinnati and Craig went to take him out with two outs in the seventh and nobody on and Tommy Hottay pulled him back and said no.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then Palencia recorded a strikeout for the last inning or last out of the inning and they were high fiving and going nuts and Brendan Miller posted this on Twitter.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: Unbelievable I mean like just so good and I think it's a true testament okay to a what Hotovy wants from Palencia Palencia's ability in these moments now do we want Palencia in these moments the other question is who can come in in the sixth seventh to bridge the gap to get big strikeouts to get big outs in those high leverage moments when they first appear and so if we're gonna say fine Palencia is not our closer then he's gonna be this guy but my only restraint on this take Mahoney is that we don't say Palencia can do that and pitch a clean ninth with the Dami Moss Gasoline intro.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: We pick one or the other and should the Cubs decide that he'll be the high leverage six seventh first guy up the way college baseball has a role it's first guy up you're what you're not there's not a your best nah I shouldn't say your best reliever is your closer but every college team has a guy they go okay you're the no matter what you're the first guy that comes in for the starter.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: If we want to use Palencia in that role in the playoffs I love it.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah but yeah have him have a role one way or the other like you said I feel and this is what Tommy Hotovy alluded to about a month back he won I think he wanted Palencia in a closing role to be used to that moment moving forward and they Craig didn't want to do that.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_01: This is I'm speculating speculate baby hot Hottay kind of mentioned something along those lines but him stopping Craig in that moment is fantastic because he knows Daniel needs that pizzazz he needs to feel it he needs to be there he needs to and we need to have him feel a little bit of pressure on himself before the real pressure begins next week or week and a half whatever so I think I have that as as a strike but I think it does have to be specifics like if we're gonna be bringing him in the sixth and seventh then I don't think we're doing gasolina all right are you going to be Andrew like you just we can't do that.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I know either way I agree I like where your head's at and I think that that was a great move by Hotovy I think Palencia is going to be critical to any success in the postseason.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't know who gets the now this is it's like I now I don't know who gets the ball in safe situations but I'm not even worried about that.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: So okay how about this?
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: I want to stay in the bullpen for a second this once again another little bit of a hypothetical here but just playoffs are coming up we're gonna be watching games with other people right so here's a ball or strike on etiquette when you're watching the 2026 Cubs all right specifically in the playoffs ball or strike you would rather watch alone than be with someone who would say something to the effect of relax dude we're up four what's which which I should say you would rather be alone than be with people who have not watched the 26 Cubs that say things out loud during a playoff game like relax dude we're up four which which one I suppose in this case then is worse ball or strike you know it's strike it's strike three and you're out if you're saying that because if you've been watching this team hey yeah early on in the year I'm saying that all the time don't who gives a shit we got we're up four right now but were you watching the Braves series the bases were juiced one swing of the bat then they would they're and they're up we had them it was that game was long over somebody tells me that with the way that these that this Cubs bullpen has been I don't really want to be watching the game with you so yes it's far worse than watching alone even if it's just I got one buddy over I'll be like all right buddy hit the bricks buddy you're out of here but yeah that that's a strike dude that that's very annoying because it's just imploded time and time again I mean how many we were up on the uh Brewers in that series twice I think we had at least a two three run lead in two different games so yeah get get fucking lost pal hit the bricks beat feet I have nothing to add i i just it's awful i think it's I think it's just a great opportunity for us to exercise some etiquette here we're gonna be running it will happen it will happen and and folks I haven't been watching the games with my groups of friends like I used to in my 20s and 30s so it's an adjustment and we're just preparing you for it you just got to be ready to to deal with that random fodder I watched game seven of the I watched game seven of the world series with a group of my friends uh from college from the fraternity and on old the pledge class above me there's a couple guys I'm really close with and one of the guys is married we watched the game together is married to Jason Kipness's best friend from childhood and we're playing game seven and it's like the eighth inning or the seventh in whenever the cut we were up like seven three or something and she's like I feel so bad for my friend from high school oh and I think I said I know I think I said something like I feel bad for it's gonna be okay or I said something comforting and then two of my buddies looked at me and they're like don't you don't you dare and I felt bad then they tied it and then I'm walking outside I'm like I'm the god to respond I'm responsible for comforting for comforting so in this moment as I'm talking about etiquette mahone now granted this is 10 years ago but like I'm saying I have tape where I need to be sharper.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't want anybody as we get into this etiquette discussion saying you know one thing or the other this can happen to any of us I'll tell you just one quick thing I don't think it was game seven but it was game you know Cleveland versus the Cubs World Series.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_01: And there was a Cleveland fan in there and I'm like let everybody and watch the game together that's fine but too we man he cut deep fast didn't didn't like it.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: Made a little bit of an uncomfortable watch for the for the start of that game but it was it ended up being a fun one either way yeah good to know Carl we could probably we should do offseason episodes we bring on people we watch the 2016 playoffs with um okay I think you have one ready.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah I got I got one for you here Carl baller strike David Peterson would help this team more out of that bullpen in October than in the rotation.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_00: So this is a strike but this is a strike mostly just out of supply and demand that like if it's old school baseball where everything's five seven series whatever you know yeah then you're having that conversation where I think it's like Shoda or Peterson as that four maybe you know does he does he does he start to creep into a seven game series conversation maybe but certainly to start I I just have no this is this goes back to like for the first playoff series that's three games there's no way he gets a start and then for the next playoff series should we get to the NLDS's five games and I'd say there's no way he gets a start and then it gets confusing with the seven game series but where it get confused for the first two series in in the in the playoffs with the three and the five game is this goes back to I have no clue what Craig is going to do.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's the thing I have no clue where Peterson even slots into a bullpen I don't even know if he's because here's the thing people don't realize is if you're starting you have you have days to get ready you have you have so you have a routine you've got treatment you've got a throwing program there's music you listen to all these guys are like this there's very few guys in major league baseball who just take the ball and go on the mound.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're going all right now it's the biggest games of all of the entire year and you haven't really now to the extent we have used him a little bit out of the pen but these are considerations people just gloss over because they don't realize that the players are actually you know like players you know they they have their they have they're people they're not baseball cards they're not it's not a baseball game it's not fancy like they're actually guys that have routines that got shit they want done in play yeah yeah in my mind too I'm like well david pearson is has pitched himself into a role for this team I think he should be a part of it in the plays but then you know the other side of that coin as you had just allute like explained is he used to that it would he be okay with coming in with a runner on second you know I'm sure he would be but I don't know and I don't know you know so that that's the one thing that that's tough is I do think that I mean better than any a lot of the other names that we've been seeing I'd rather have him there but at the same token like you you just don't know and I'd be making bullshit up If I could be like, yeah, we need his ground ball efforts, and you know what I mean?
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like is he okay with coming in with a dirty inning down two runs or you know, or whatever it is?
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: And here's the real crummy thing is that we do lead Major League Baseball in blown leads, and so you can just look at two or three games, and then that would give us the comfort and the flexibility over the final six to start mixing and matching guys and start giving people some different roles, or at least over the last two weeks.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_00: So now if we talk about all right, we didn't blow four or five games, and I'm not even talking about catching the central, I'm just talking about having the comfort and the flexibility to mix and match pitchers down the stretch, so that when we get in the wild card, we have a little bit more.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_00: All right, now we can use this guy, but we're not.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, people are going, Shodi Imanaga pitched so well against the Braves, maybe he should pitch against Matt Boyd.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like the fact that that is even a talking point in the final week of the season stinks.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_00: So, what you got for me, Carl?
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's September off day, which is today, baller strike.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_00: A September off day under all these circumstances is more stressful than an actual day game.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a strike, Carl, and I'm gonna tell you why.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of I don't know's in the last David Peterson baller strike when I was talking about the rotation of the bullpen, how we're gonna use people.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of I don't know's.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_01: A game gives me something to react to in real time.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_01: All right, an off day that's we have we're watching this some scoreboards, looking at the standings.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_01: We're right now I'm imagining worst case scenarios for tiebreakers.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_01: There's not an outlet for my anxiousness right now, except the Monday morning cup show and all the maniacs.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: So this is kind of nice.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: Don't get me wrong, don't get me wrong.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_01: But uh a September off day is worse and it's not close, dude.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_01: There's just too much turning upstairs, the mouse is running on the wheel, playoffs are right around the corner.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'm worried about a nor'easter in Boston.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_01: What the hell?
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_01: Why am I thinking about the weather in Boston that we haven't even played Miami?
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, Carl, that's a strike for me.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_00: I I think the biggest thing I'd latch on to and agree with you on that is that there's so many I don't know's.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_00: I just I'd love to see I would love to see us in a situation where we had it's not real, it doesn't exist, but it's a just gonna open.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's a shame.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's a shame we have so many question marks.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, and I feel like today is a little bit stressful just coming off yesterday.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_01: Bregman injury, uh unrelated Caleb.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like that was just frightening for people in Chicago.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so yeah, it's a little stressful.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh September is is it's a strike.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's a strike.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: Modern medicine in Alex Bregman should coincide well.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I feel like he's open to whatever treatment they're gonna offer up.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_01: Just steel comp cold steel compress, boxer style.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody just shove that thing into the swelling.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have any disagreements.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: I agree with you.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: These off days, it would be better too, obviously, if the Bears didn't win, because then most of the like I normally have the radio on, uh sports talk radio on in the office.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_00: Now, in this situation, it's just tuned to classical music because I can't.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_00: There's no way I can.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_00: There's just and I'm not trying to be lame, it's just good back, it's way better background music than people lamenting over like Caleb Williams injury right now.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_01: I listen to classical music when I drive for that.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_00: It just helps, man.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's such a stress reliever.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, all right, you got one more?
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I got I got one more for you, Carl.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_01: So ball or strike, Michael Conforto.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_01: Is it gonna be our first lefty bat against right-handed pitching?
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I this is again, I'm not right needs to be all strikes.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not talking about pinch hitting.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about in the playoffs, we have we see right-handed pitching.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, then becomes a question of who and how do the lefties get to play?
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_00: Now we have to assume Bregman's gonna play because Bregman's gonna be at third base.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_00: We have to assume that for purposes of this conversation, that when we see, okay, so say we play the Phillies and we're facing now, this is right-handed pitching, so it's not gonna be Christopher Sanchez.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_00: But the question about Conforto is would we DH Conforto play Suzuki in right field?
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_00: Or do you dh can do you DH Suzuki and play Schalser in right field?
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_00: Or do you where do you take the liability?
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_00: Because Schalzer's a better right field than Suzuki.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_00: Is Confordo is bad enough to outweigh?
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then people are gonna come back and go, what about Pedro Ramirez?
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_00: Should Pedro Ramirez play third base?
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's just a lot of questions here.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_00: So who's the lefty bat against right-handed pitching?
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_00: That Craig goes, all right, well, we need this bat in the lineup.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_00: And the question is, is it is it Confordo?
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's a strike for the playoffs because you want his slug against right-handed pitching.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's where I ultimately settle on Conforto.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_00: If I'm Craig Council against right-handed pitching and I'm going, where can I get a left?
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_00: I want to get Confordo into the lineup.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think that takes primary over.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_00: I want to get Pedro Ramirez in the lineup.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_01: Too many moving parts for me, Carl.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just going to agree with you and say that that's a strike down the middle.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_00: Now here's baller strike for you.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_00: Cubs are hosting the wild card round next week.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_00: This time next week, we are talking about us hosting the wild card.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, I think it's a strike.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's a strike.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not super nervous about this last week of baseball.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm not super nervous about the Padres.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_01: They're pretty hot right now.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not super nervous about the Phillies.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think that the cards are gonna play out the way that they have really all season, and that we're gonna still be in that number one wildcard spot come the end of the year, and we'll be hosting that game in Wrigley strike.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_01: Fair.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I'm not gonna disagree with that, right?
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_00: This this stroke this show could just be called strike, strike or strike, because it just strikes everywhere.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_01: But like sometimes I just I'll write five, just ten straight down the middle strikes for you.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_01: What do you want?
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_01: At least we had some parody.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_01: We had some parody here today.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_00: I thought we were very balanced, Mahoney.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I don't have any I don't have any areas.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, one thing I didn't sneak in here that I thought would come up organically, it didn't, is do you think Michael Bush has any like regret or trigger happy or is or is Gunshire has any kind of like head trash about the fact that because it's a check swing and Bregman standing close, and it would just suck if Bush was getting on the team bus back to the you know, back to the charter flight and had guilt in his head about it.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_01: He could.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_00: He could.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_00: He's a nice boy.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's a nice guy.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I mean.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_01: And but it's a check, I mean, that's you shouldn't be standing there kind of thing.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like, but anyone would feel players feel horrible when you know somebody gets smoked in the face in the stance.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_01: So imagine how it is to your with your buddy, like, oh shit, like but they know that like no one meant to do anything, but you're still feeling it a little bit.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_00: It was your bat, you know.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_00: Most of them are more sensitive than fans would understand.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_01: People, they're people.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_01: These aren't robots.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_00: Here's a situation.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I kind of feel bad now.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of feel bad.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_00: Here's a situation Bush could Bush could feel bad.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_00: Bregman's gonna be out this week, and then Shaw's playing third.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_00: Shaw hasn't played that much third this year.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_00: Shaw makes a couple airs, makes a bad throw.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_00: Bush should have picked it.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_00: I should have picked it, even though it was a bad throw.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's my fault.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_00: Bregman's not playing.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_00: Then some guys are bitching, they're like, Yeah, we're just not the same team when Shaw's out there, we need Bregman back, and then Bush is in the back of the charter flight.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is on me.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_00: This is on me.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_00: I hope he's not that guy, and I hope the team isn't one of those teams, you know.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it just sucks because what we should have been talking about with Alex Bregman this entire show is the moment of them celebrating at Churchill Downs because his horse won.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_00: And we joked about there's the intro to the DVD.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_00: The chats were flying.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_00: We were going, we were so pumped about that.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're just sitting here going, please, dear God, I hope his I hope his eye heals, even if he's left eye dominant.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_01: I hope he's like, but I wanted to talk a B like because I sent a sarcastic tweet out being like, boys shouldn't have been out celebrating the horse win last or night, nice day at the races, boys, after they lost the game.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_01: But like, you know, they're out there having fun.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_01: That was an awesome thing.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, you're right, kind of got overshadowed by his shadowed eye.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_00: So one thing, and then here's our closing point.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, go check out some Thirsty Vicero.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_00: We were gonna do a radio party, and I'm circling back to say, hey, the permitting process is significantly more difficult.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_00: I have to accept a lot of liability in order to do this.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm kind of like, I don't know if I want to do that.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_00: One, two, the storm situation kind of makes it difficult because if we are gonna do it, it's going to be this Friday evening.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, yes, this Friday evening.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_00: Now, yeah, in my research, the least amount of liability in forest reserves exists in Kane County.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_00: So King County on a Friday evening.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's like that's a tough ass that filters out some people who can't make it, but at the same time, you know, it's off 88.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_00: If it's in the it might be in Geneva, because you can work directly through the village of Geneva, and I believe their jurisdiction supersedes.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_00: They've got some parks that close till that are open till sundown.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_00: So there's some moving pieces.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_00: I have to sort this out in the next like 24 hours so I can broadcast it.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_00: But I just wanted you you to know in the maniacs to know.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we'll figure it out.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_01: Stay tuned, folks.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_01: We'll just we'll let you everybody know on social.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_01: This is the last week of Cubs baseball.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_01: We have Miami Marlins coming to town for a stretch of three and then off to Boston.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_01: Be careful that nor'easter for anyone traveling out that way.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, a couple shots, one quick shout out.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_01: I want to say, is to uh Doc from Perth, Australia.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_01: He's coming to Chicago next week.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this end of this week.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_01: He's a maniac, diehard.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_01: I gave him some recommendations.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_01: Have an awesome time, Doc.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_01: If I get to make it under Wrigley and you know, meet up for a beer, I'd love to, but you know, scheduling sometimes is a little crazy.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_01: Either way, I appreciate you reaching out to me and asking for some recommendations.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you have a great day, you know, even when the cubs are out of town.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_00: And let the record show Mahoney's available for that type of stuff.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, if yeah, if you if you met you're the guy I'm responding, I shouldn't just say available, qualified, qualified and available.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_00: The two most important characteristics in taking recommendations.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_00: Are you qualified?
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_00: Are you available to give them?
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's Mahoney.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_00: You can find him online.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_00: You can also find the show on Spotify and Apple.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_00: You can share it, you can review it, you could leave a rating.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate everyone that pushed us over 290 on Spotify.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_00: I saw that.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_00: I saw it.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_01: It was almost watched it turn.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_01: Watch the count turn.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_00: This is the Monday Morning Cub show.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_00: We'll be back Friday uh with just more in-depth stuff of as we get into the Boston Red Sox series.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I promise you on that, regardless of what's going on in personal life, and uh, and and I'll have an update on what's going on at the radio show.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_00: Until then, guys, thanks very much for tuning in.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_00: We love you guys.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and we'll and we'll be back until I go cups.
• 54:54
  unknown: Go cubs.