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What would realignment mean for the Cubs? · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:04
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
0:08
Speaker 1: Sahadev Charma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
0:11
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic. Patrick, you are
0:16
Speaker 1: in La enjoying some Cubs baseball. There's been a lot
0:22
Speaker 1: of discussion lately.
0:23
Speaker 2: This is because the commissioner was talking.
0:29
Speaker 1: I believe was he at a Little League World Series
0:31
Speaker 1: game or was it at where he was?
0:35
Speaker 3: He was, Yes, in Williamsport. He was Sunday Night baseball.
0:40
Speaker 3: And it was kind of a classic, a classic Manfred
0:43
Speaker 3: moment of just kind of being asked a general question,
0:48
Speaker 3: and uh, you know, Manford has this way of just
0:52
Speaker 3: kind of like creating news, not just because of position,
0:55
Speaker 3: his position, but also because you know, some of the
0:59
Speaker 3: skeptics around his office at times, and also just you know,
1:05
Speaker 3: this moment coming up when you have a labor deal
1:10
Speaker 3: about to expire after twenty twenty six, like the local
1:14
Speaker 3: TV model sort of blowing up and and Manford, you know,
1:18
Speaker 3: towards the end of his final term here, you know,
1:21
Speaker 3: it's talked about kind of retirement plans and you know
1:24
Speaker 3: where baseball wants to go. It's just such an interesting
1:28
Speaker 3: moment that you know, realignment is just one of those
1:33
Speaker 3: things that gets into people's heads. It's a great like
1:37
Speaker 3: just great fodder, great content.
1:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think it's fascinating. I think expansion
1:44
Speaker 1: is fascinating.
1:46
Speaker 2: Yeah.
1:46
Speaker 1: I distinctly remember the expansion years in the nineties, Like
1:51
Speaker 1: it was really interesting to me even as a kid.
1:56
Speaker 1: And now, you know, I'm fascinating to see what direction
1:59
Speaker 1: they go assuming Las Vegas is locked in place. They
2:04
Speaker 1: had very I don't know what if you want to
2:07
Speaker 1: call it groundbreakings. It was supposed to be ground baking ceremony,
2:12
Speaker 1: but it seemed like very you know, a ceremonial rather
2:16
Speaker 1: than official in my opinion.
2:17
Speaker 2: But you know, I just.
2:18
Speaker 1: Don't fully trust what's going on in Vegas yet until
2:22
Speaker 1: like I see like you know, yeah, until I see
2:24
Speaker 1: steel beams and like everything like actually built, and even
2:28
Speaker 1: then I'm gonna wonder, like what's going on?
2:29
Speaker 2: It just feels weird.
2:31
Speaker 1: Tampa finally feels a little settled now that they've sold
2:34
Speaker 1: the team. Once that gets official, everything's done there. It
2:37
Speaker 1: sounds like this guy has some connections. He's a Jacksonville resident,
2:40
Speaker 1: but but wants to keep them in Tampa. I think
2:43
Speaker 1: that'd be great for the city of Tampa. I think
2:46
Speaker 1: that'd be great for the team. We'll see where that goes.
2:48
Speaker 1: It feels it sounds like it. Rob's always Rob Banford's
2:52
Speaker 1: always said like, let's get those finalized and done, and
2:55
Speaker 1: then we expand. And then with that is going to
3:00
Speaker 1: come realignment. You're gonna have sixteen and sixteen everyone assumes
3:04
Speaker 1: for four teams in four divisions in each league. Our
3:11
Speaker 1: our buddy stephen nesmitt Nesbit, I thought nailed it with realignment.
3:18
Speaker 1: You need what you need to happen is either Nashville
3:23
Speaker 1: or Charlotte. I think everyone assumes it's Nashville, and then
3:27
Speaker 1: Portland or Salt Lake City, maybe Vancouver or something like that.
3:31
Speaker 1: You need a West coast and you need a more
3:33
Speaker 1: East team. And then and then he kind of got realignment.
3:39
Speaker 1: I looked at this and I'd seen some others, and
3:42
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, you're tearing apart leagues, You're tearing
3:45
Speaker 1: apart rivalries. This kind of keeps everything in place, a
3:51
Speaker 1: little bit of a shakeup of leagues. Each league has
3:55
Speaker 1: a new team, and each each league has a kind
3:59
Speaker 1: of a rag up in Division I would say, But
4:02
Speaker 1: the rest of it is, the rest seems really smart
4:06
Speaker 1: and well thought out. You know, I'm looking at these
4:10
Speaker 1: teams and it keeps a lot of the main rivalries
4:13
Speaker 1: in place.
4:14
Speaker 3: Which means it's probably not going to happen, right and
4:17
Speaker 3: maybe ye endless hunt for efficiency has created, you know,
4:26
Speaker 3: I think some natural and understandable skepticism, like what are
4:32
Speaker 3: we doing here? Because I think most people who care
4:38
Speaker 3: about baseball understand, like, you can't break up Giants, Dodgers, Yankees,
4:46
Speaker 3: Red Sox, Cubs, Cardinals. You know, I still think there's
4:52
Speaker 3: a big benefit to like, you know, having like your
4:58
Speaker 3: National League team and your American League team. I think
5:00
Speaker 3: that's like how you know, enough people think that it's
5:05
Speaker 3: kind of nice to.
5:07
Speaker 2: Keep that.
5:08
Speaker 3: I don't think we need the Cubs in White Sox
5:10
Speaker 3: to play twelve times a year. I think that would
5:14
Speaker 3: that would get old pretty fast. I think you have to.
5:21
Speaker 3: I'm just pulling up so that our our listeners know
5:24
Speaker 3: exactly what we're talking about here in terms of what
5:27
Speaker 3: it would look like for the Cubs. So the Nesbit plan,
5:29
Speaker 3: which is very similar to Jason Stark's plans, but have
5:32
Speaker 3: the Cubs, Reds, Brewers, and Cardinals in an NL North division,
5:38
Speaker 3: which I think would make a ton of sense. Uh
5:43
Speaker 3: you know, It's it's funny too, how the Brewers have
5:47
Speaker 3: become such a great rival to the Cubs.
5:50
Speaker 2: That rivalry just.
5:51
Speaker 3: Keeps growing and growing and growing. I think you gotta,
5:53
Speaker 3: you know, keep that together. You know Reds, you know,
5:57
Speaker 3: another long time historic rival here. So I think this
6:02
Speaker 3: plan would kind of do the least amount of harm.
6:07
Speaker 3: I don't know, off harms, yeah, the right word, but
6:09
Speaker 3: it's it's kind of more of a measured take to
6:12
Speaker 3: it and not doing like Eastern and Western conferences like
6:16
Speaker 3: to satisfy some streaming company while alienating generations of baseball fans.
6:22
Speaker 3: It just doesn't make sense.
6:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I think.
6:26
Speaker 1: I mean, if the league sees this and doesn't say
6:30
Speaker 1: like that makes a ton of sense, I don't know
6:31
Speaker 1: what they're thinking. You should really check out this piece
6:35
Speaker 1: because it kind of It even has the visuals, so
6:38
Speaker 1: you don't even if you don't want to read the
6:40
Speaker 1: whole thing, you don't have to.
6:41
Speaker 2: You can get all the information.
6:43
Speaker 1: I feel like Seattle would benefit so much from having
6:47
Speaker 1: these changes and having a new team closer to them
6:50
Speaker 1: and then just not having to travel to Texas all
6:52
Speaker 1: the time. Like what a disaster that is for that
6:55
Speaker 1: team every year they travel way too much. It kind
7:00
Speaker 1: of like the teams that are moving that, like Colorado
7:03
Speaker 1: would leak change, not a lot of history. It's okay,
7:06
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay would league change. It's okay, we can survive this.
7:09
Speaker 1: If you can survive the Brewers changing leagues, we can
7:13
Speaker 1: servive and the Brewers in Houston changed leagues.
7:16
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, that's what it was.
7:17
Speaker 1: I think people can survive Tampa Bay and Colorado changing leagues.
7:23
Speaker 2: You know. I think the one rivalry that you may
7:26
Speaker 2: lose out on and this.
7:27
Speaker 1: Plan would be Atlanta shifting to this new I guess
7:30
Speaker 1: it would be NL South Division and they'd be with
7:34
Speaker 1: the Marlins, Rays and the new Nashville or Rally team. Yeah,
7:39
Speaker 1: you know, Atlanta has a solid rivalry with the Mets
7:43
Speaker 1: and the Phillies. I think it's okay. I think you
7:46
Speaker 1: keep the Mets in Phillies together. I think that matters.
7:49
Speaker 1: And then obviously the Cubs, Cardinals, Reds. I think those
7:52
Speaker 1: are the three you lose. The Pirates, it's fine, they
7:55
Speaker 1: go back to the NL East where they were back
7:57
Speaker 1: in the late eighties early nineties as you remember, Well,
8:02
Speaker 1: we assold people, Patrick and myself, I don't know.
8:06
Speaker 2: I think it's fun. I love this stuff.
8:08
Speaker 1: I'm excited to see where it goes as far as
8:12
Speaker 1: what's next for the expansion and when it actually happens,
8:17
Speaker 1: it's going to happen like these are the types of
8:19
Speaker 1: things that like, you know, it's balls and strikes.
8:22
Speaker 2: You know these things are going.
8:23
Speaker 1: To happen, and and it's just a matter of time. Patrick,
8:27
Speaker 1: Let's let's take a quick break and come back and
8:31
Speaker 1: talk about I forgot what we're going to talk about,
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9:36
Speaker 1: All right, we were talking about the starting pitching. That's
9:38
Speaker 1: what I wanted to talk about. This is this is
9:42
Speaker 1: going to so full full disclosure where we're recording on
9:46
Speaker 1: a Friday and this will publish on a Saturday. So
9:50
Speaker 1: I don't know what happens Friday night. I don't know
9:52
Speaker 1: who's pitching yet. I don't think that's been announced unless
9:56
Speaker 1: we got a text recently. We they need to figure
10:00
Speaker 1: that out because they had five games in four days.
10:04
Speaker 1: Maybe it's Ben Brown, whatever it is. You know, Kate Horton,
10:09
Speaker 1: that's a bit of news that I don't think we
10:12
Speaker 1: talked about on the podcast yet. But he's fine. It
10:16
Speaker 1: sounds like he's making his start Saturday. Kate Horton is
10:19
Speaker 1: good to go. That's a big deal for this team.
10:24
Speaker 1: This starting pitching has been remarkable. Patrick Jameson Tyn came
10:28
Speaker 1: back pitched six brilliant innings after looking really shaky in
10:33
Speaker 1: that first inning and then just locked it in, stabilizing
10:37
Speaker 1: force for their rotation. Showed him Anaga, another guy that
10:42
Speaker 1: I didn't think. He looked great the first couple of
10:44
Speaker 1: innings on Thursday and then locked it in. Made one
10:47
Speaker 1: mistake and that's it, and locked it in. Matthew Boyd
10:51
Speaker 1: didn't have his best start, still having a great season.
10:55
Speaker 2: You have three guys like that, you have Kate.
10:57
Speaker 1: Horton breaking out, and Colin Ray. I got to give
11:03
Speaker 1: him a ton of credit as well. I was ready
11:06
Speaker 1: to kick him out of the rotation. I think a
11:08
Speaker 1: lot of people were just a really steady presence, great
11:14
Speaker 1: veteran ad You know that the Cubs deserve a lot
11:18
Speaker 1: of credit for making sure they have the depth because
11:20
Speaker 1: they needed they needed it all season long, and to
11:24
Speaker 1: lose Justin Steel for the season, to be without James
11:28
Speaker 1: and Tyne and showed him Naga for a month and
11:31
Speaker 1: a half. I think it was like six to eight
11:32
Speaker 1: weeks for each of them. And to have such a
11:35
Speaker 1: good starting rotation era. In fact, since June twenty fourth,
11:39
Speaker 1: it's like a nearly a third of a run better
11:43
Speaker 1: than anyone in baseball.
11:44
Speaker 2: I want to say. I wrote it was three oh
11:46
Speaker 2: one ERA.
11:47
Speaker 1: Since June twenty fourth, it was around there, three on one,
11:49
Speaker 1: low threes, almost three. You know, I don't think we've
11:54
Speaker 1: given enough credit to this pitching. I don't know how
11:57
Speaker 1: long it lasts. I don't think I. You know, what
11:59
Speaker 1: happened has happened, and that's what matters. They've made sure
12:04
Speaker 1: that this team hasn't had while everyone is up in
12:09
Speaker 1: arms about the offense, they've made sure that the team
12:11
Speaker 1: hasn't sunk in the sense that they still lead then
12:15
Speaker 1: a wild card race and are one of the best
12:17
Speaker 1: teams in baseball record wise.
12:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, this feels like one of those things as soon
12:22
Speaker 3: as you like talk about it and sit down and
12:24
Speaker 3: write that story like two or three players are going
12:27
Speaker 3: to get hurt or something like that. But you know,
12:31
Speaker 3: it is big to have tie on back. I think
12:34
Speaker 3: a way to kind of think about him, you know,
12:38
Speaker 3: like in any work environment, in any company, like he
12:41
Speaker 3: is just the guy who gets his stuff done, is
12:45
Speaker 3: totally dependable, is on time, he stays late, he gets
12:51
Speaker 3: there early. Just all of those things like he brings
12:57
Speaker 3: on a daily basis, and that doesn't necessarily vow you
13:04
Speaker 3: all the time, like is he's starting game seven of
13:07
Speaker 3: a World series, Like you know, maybe not your first choice,
13:11
Speaker 3: but in terms of like building a good team and
13:16
Speaker 3: having some dependability, he'd be you know, at or near
13:22
Speaker 3: the top of that list. And you know the silver
13:25
Speaker 3: lining you council has been asked about this, Tyne has
13:29
Speaker 3: of just maybe he's a little more fresh for the
13:32
Speaker 3: stretcher on. I mean that's not really how he looks
13:34
Speaker 3: at it, because he's has the track record you know
13:38
Speaker 3: of durability. He's been built up. But I don't know,
13:42
Speaker 3: you have to kind of, you know, play the season
13:45
Speaker 3: in front of you and find the positives. When he
13:48
Speaker 3: showed up as Counsel said, might have knocked like fifty
13:51
Speaker 3: innings off his innings total for this year because of
13:56
Speaker 3: that earlier injury, which was not an arm in which
14:00
Speaker 3: makes you feel actually neither one of them was. That
14:02
Speaker 3: kind of makes you feel a little better about the
14:05
Speaker 3: kind of projectability going forward down the stretch and like, yeah,
14:12
Speaker 3: I mean it's at that point where right now, like
14:15
Speaker 3: the pitching is gonna have to carry them until this
14:17
Speaker 3: offense kind of figures out, and you just hope that
14:21
Speaker 3: the offices are figuring things out, and then three or
14:24
Speaker 3: four guys are sidelined and you're totally scrambling.
14:27
Speaker 5: Uh.
14:27
Speaker 3: And that's what I think this West Coast trip will
14:30
Speaker 3: be interesting. It's never easy to come out here. You
14:33
Speaker 3: got a course field series at the end of this
14:37
Speaker 3: even though the team, that team is terrible, it's just
14:41
Speaker 3: one of those places where you know, no one wants
14:44
Speaker 3: to pitch. So I'll be interesting to see how they
14:48
Speaker 3: kind of, you know, map out the innings puzzle, as
14:51
Speaker 3: mister Counsel would say, on a day to day basis.
14:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're playing three losing teams.
15:00
Speaker 1: I think Colorado did Colorado just know they did not
15:04
Speaker 1: win the series against the Dodgers. They they took they
15:07
Speaker 1: took just one, I believe. Uh, but you know, like
15:11
Speaker 1: you said, it's tough to play in Colorado. San Francisco
15:13
Speaker 1: has talent. They're not playing well at all, so but
15:18
Speaker 1: I just don't like that they played bad at home too.
15:21
Speaker 2: Yeah.
15:22
Speaker 1: I just don't like those series against teams that have
15:24
Speaker 1: talent though, even though they're not playing well.
15:27
Speaker 2: You just never know.
15:28
Speaker 1: You don't know when you know, Raphael Devers will have
15:30
Speaker 1: a you know, a three game set where he just
15:32
Speaker 1: goes off.
15:33
Speaker 2: Whatever. They have good players, they're not they're not performing
15:37
Speaker 2: well enough. Obviously. That's a disappointing team after the moves
15:41
Speaker 2: they've made. Uh.
15:42
Speaker 1: And then Anaheim or the Angels maybe I don't even
15:47
Speaker 1: know who's on that starting staff. I don't know like
15:50
Speaker 1: many of their players. That's that's a team that I
15:53
Speaker 1: just have has been off my radar, so far, off
15:55
Speaker 1: their raidar, off the radar. I don't think Kyle Hendricks
15:58
Speaker 1: is pitching this weekend, and uh, but you'll maybe you'll
16:01
Speaker 1: get a chance to say hi to him.
16:04
Speaker 2: Outside of that, I don't know what's going on. Well,
16:07
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just.
16:08
Speaker 3: A total state of Major League Baseball. The probable pitchers
16:12
Speaker 3: is TBD for both the Cubs and Angels for all
16:16
Speaker 3: through series. So that is yeah, Manfred ball and kind
16:20
Speaker 3: of laptop ball of just you know, out getters and
16:25
Speaker 3: yeah in the innings puzzles and hey, maybe I'll bump
16:29
Speaker 3: into Kyle Hendrickson say what's up. Yeah, things like that.
16:33
Speaker 1: Uh So, I mean, yes, the pitching has carried them,
16:39
Speaker 1: made sure that they haven't fallen apart.
16:41
Speaker 2: I think they.
16:42
Speaker 1: That that's one of those things. Also, like I was
16:45
Speaker 1: looking at the numbers, they're not going to get love.
16:48
Speaker 2: They're not.
16:49
Speaker 1: This isn't a star studded rotation. This isn't These aren't
16:54
Speaker 1: like strikeout guys. And I prefer strikeout guys, but they
16:58
Speaker 1: don't have them. And and I think it goes to
17:00
Speaker 1: show a there are I mean, we know this. There
17:05
Speaker 1: are different ways to find success. You don't have to
17:08
Speaker 1: be a strikeout guy. But the Cubs have built something.
17:12
Speaker 1: As far as they have a really good defense, I
17:14
Speaker 1: think they have really good game planning. They deserve credit
17:18
Speaker 1: for those things because the pitching on paper should not
17:23
Speaker 1: be as good as it is as the results they're getting.
17:27
Speaker 2: And that's how you know, that's what baseball people would say.
17:29
Speaker 1: I think that's what like War numbers say, the starting
17:33
Speaker 1: pitching during this stretch of really good baseball, even that
17:38
Speaker 1: War has the middle of the pack while the ERA
17:40
Speaker 1: has them best in baseball and they're getting the job done.
17:43
Speaker 1: They're really good at missing barrels, not as good as
17:48
Speaker 1: missing bats. They're really good at limiting walks. They don't
17:53
Speaker 1: give up the big hit as much, so you know,
17:57
Speaker 1: credit to them really well put together. Their staff will
18:01
Speaker 1: see if it holds up. I think I think you're right,
18:03
Speaker 1: like you're just gonna have to. You're gonna be holding
18:05
Speaker 1: your breath if this offense turns, and maybe it can
18:08
Speaker 1: maybe gets a spark over this uh over these next
18:13
Speaker 1: ten days, because you want to see. I do think
18:17
Speaker 1: Wrigley Field can have when the wind is blowing in.
18:19
Speaker 1: I do wonder what type of mental impact when you're
18:22
Speaker 1: already struggling offensively that has maybe getting.
18:26
Speaker 2: Out in West Coast.
18:28
Speaker 1: It's supposed to be hot in Anaheim, and then obviously
18:31
Speaker 1: it's always good. Offense in Colorado. San Francisco is weird.
18:34
Speaker 1: But we'll see, we'll see if things turn around. But
18:38
Speaker 1: the pitching has to keep it up for a little
18:40
Speaker 1: bit because and let this let this offense figure things out.
18:44
Speaker 1: And maybe that's the benefit that had the pitching to
18:46
Speaker 1: allow them to get through this speed bump. All the
18:50
Speaker 1: more pressure on the offense to get going though, because
18:52
Speaker 1: I don't think either of us really feel as much
18:55
Speaker 1: credit as I want to give them.
18:57
Speaker 2: I just don't know what I'm gonna see going forward.
18:59
Speaker 1: It's not that type of staff where it's like these
19:02
Speaker 1: guys are locked in. I like showed a ton stable
19:04
Speaker 1: guys like jameson Tywn. I don't know how much more
19:07
Speaker 1: Matthew Boyd has. I want to just I want to
19:09
Speaker 1: believe he's forced us to believe in a sense, but
19:12
Speaker 1: also it's like, can he keep that up for the
19:16
Speaker 1: rest of the season. But you know, they've done a yeoman's.
19:20
Speaker 2: Work so far.
19:21
Speaker 1: Let's take a quick break and talk about I guess
19:24
Speaker 1: where this team is in what our expectations are for
19:28
Speaker 1: the rest of the season.
19:29
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20:00
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Speaker 6: of those packs and try and get what I want.
20:11
Speaker 5: Absolutely the excitement I heard Kip say before. The excitement's
20:15
Speaker 5: in the chase. You sold it back. Now you get
20:17
Speaker 5: to open another one. I enjoy when you slide it
20:19
Speaker 5: across the screen there and the pack opens.
20:22
Speaker 2: You know where to go.
20:23
Speaker 6: Arenaclub dot com slash foul twenty percent off your first
20:26
Speaker 6: lab Packer card purchase.
20:27
Speaker 2: Get after it.
20:30
Speaker 1: All, right, Patrick, You know, I think we a month
20:35
Speaker 1: and a half ago, you and I were both saying,
20:37
Speaker 1: you know this team wins the division. You know, or
20:41
Speaker 1: has a really good chance to win the division, and
20:45
Speaker 1: is one of the best teams in baseball. I you know,
20:50
Speaker 1: maybe it's that feeling of the last Thursday game, but
20:52
Speaker 1: it's going to be really hard to win this division.
20:54
Speaker 1: It's going to take kind of a miracle run. This
20:57
Speaker 1: looks like a wildcard team right now. I don't know
21:01
Speaker 1: if that's a terrible thing. I don't That's not a
21:04
Speaker 1: knock on the talent of the team or how good
21:06
Speaker 1: they are. It's just what's happened and how the season's
21:09
Speaker 1: played out in this insane Milwaukee run that they've had.
21:13
Speaker 3: I mean, we're recording on Friday morning and Baseball Reference
21:17
Speaker 3: gives the Brewers a ninety five point nine percent chance
21:21
Speaker 3: to win the division, the Cubs at four point one percent. Yeah,
21:28
Speaker 3: I mean, not winning the Vision would be a disappointment
21:33
Speaker 3: at least in the moment, and then it becomes, you know,
21:35
Speaker 3: what can you do in October? Can you make it
21:39
Speaker 3: into October? Because I don't know, I don't look at
21:44
Speaker 3: the Brewers as like, oh man, you do not want
21:48
Speaker 3: to face them in the playoffs, you know, but it
21:55
Speaker 3: taking that three game wildcard series off the table is
21:59
Speaker 3: a big deal. I mean, that's basically what council has
22:01
Speaker 3: said of like you got it obviously, you have to
22:05
Speaker 3: get in, but the goal is one of those top
22:08
Speaker 3: two seeds, so you can kind of sit out the
22:12
Speaker 3: sort of randomness of a three game series. And right
22:17
Speaker 3: now it's not impossible for the Cubs, but it's not
22:20
Speaker 3: really in their control. I mean, looking at the Brewers schedule,
22:27
Speaker 3: it's like the Cubs obviously have to take care of
22:28
Speaker 3: business on the West Coast, but they have a seven
22:32
Speaker 3: game homestand against the Giants and Diamondbacks, which looked a
22:36
Speaker 3: lot harder a month or two ago. Then they go
22:40
Speaker 3: to Toronto, which won't be easy. Then they have the
22:43
Speaker 3: Phillies at home starting on Labor Day. So it's like,
22:49
Speaker 3: I don't know, can the Cubs make up a couple
22:51
Speaker 3: games during that stretch to like at least make things interesting,
22:57
Speaker 3: But they really can't just keep you know, having weeks
23:02
Speaker 3: go off the calendar without putting a dent in that
23:07
Speaker 3: division lead. And at the same time, like they can't
23:13
Speaker 3: ease up, you know what I mean, Like, I know,
23:15
Speaker 3: like the Mets have not played well, the Padres are
23:18
Speaker 3: playing really well. You know, the Reds have played better,
23:23
Speaker 3: and the Reds get the Cubs a bunch of times.
23:26
Speaker 3: Like I don't think it's gonna be. I don't think
23:28
Speaker 3: they can just like skate into the wild card here.
23:31
Speaker 3: So I think you just you have to, you know,
23:34
Speaker 3: in Council's words, just kind of like embrace it, you know,
23:38
Speaker 3: bring it on man, whatever he was saying. You know,
23:40
Speaker 3: the major league schedule is challenging, and no one in
23:45
Speaker 3: there is scared of it. That's how Council framed it,
23:48
Speaker 3: and that's how you have to look at it.
23:50
Speaker 2: Yeah.
23:50
Speaker 1: No, I like the mentality take what you know, take
23:54
Speaker 1: on what's brought your way.
23:57
Speaker 2: They're up for the challenge, all that. All that stuff
24:02
Speaker 2: is great.
24:03
Speaker 1: I do think fans have have kind of at times
24:07
Speaker 1: lost the plot with the team that I am not
24:12
Speaker 1: going to pretend that the offense isn't a concern for me.
24:15
Speaker 1: It has gotten to a point now that it's too
24:17
Speaker 1: long of not coming through, uh that you know, I
24:22
Speaker 1: wonder like will they get I do believe they'll find
24:26
Speaker 1: their rhythm again, but it's really hard to believe after
24:29
Speaker 1: games like Thursday. You know, fans could be listening to
24:33
Speaker 1: this on on Saturday after a breakout performance Friday night
24:37
Speaker 1: in Anaheim. I don't know, uh, but I just like
24:42
Speaker 1: those types of you know, these these games where just
24:48
Speaker 1: it seems listless. You're just waiting for things to wake
24:52
Speaker 1: up and and for the offense to show that spark
24:54
Speaker 1: that we know, uh it's capable of. But all that said,
25:02
Speaker 1: top five team in isolated power that's just an indication
25:07
Speaker 1: of your power production. Bottom four team and strikeout rate
25:13
Speaker 1: and I mean lowess strikeout rate in baseball, Top ten
25:16
Speaker 1: team and walk rate by you the Fangrafts Defensive Metric
25:23
Speaker 1: number one in baseball, by Fangrafs base Running Metric number
25:27
Speaker 1: three in baseball. We just talked a lot about the
25:30
Speaker 1: starting pitching recently touch base. It touched on the high
25:36
Speaker 1: leverage relievers. Really good group. I think that group is
25:41
Speaker 1: really solid. You have five six guys that you trust
25:46
Speaker 1: at the back of that bullpen. This is a really
25:52
Speaker 1: good team. I don't know what happens in the playoffs,
25:56
Speaker 1: really hard to predict. If they don't know this division,
25:59
Speaker 1: if they don't yeah, if they don't make the crazy
26:03
Speaker 1: run to win this division, those three games are a
26:06
Speaker 1: toss up and you want to avoid them.
26:09
Speaker 2: But this is a good team that can win and
26:13
Speaker 2: go deep.
26:13
Speaker 1: In the playoffs because they have a lot of different
26:15
Speaker 1: ways to attack you There is no doubt that the
26:18
Speaker 1: offense needs to get going. There's no doubt that it
26:20
Speaker 1: needs to be better to win the World Series, to
26:23
Speaker 1: make a deeper run, to feel good about everything. The
26:26
Speaker 1: offense needs to turn a corner and look similar maybe
26:29
Speaker 1: not at April levels, but just show me some similarities,
26:34
Speaker 1: and especially Kyle Tucker. But got to remember how good
26:40
Speaker 1: and well rounded this team is. They have a lot
26:43
Speaker 1: of different strengths. It's not just one thing. So when
26:46
Speaker 1: people get frustrated and say they only do this, it's
26:49
Speaker 1: just not true that they're a well rounded, deep team.
26:52
Speaker 1: And you just, you know, right now, because of how
26:56
Speaker 1: things feel, people don't believe that we don't know what
27:01
Speaker 1: they're gonna look like six weeks from now, and if
27:04
Speaker 1: some things start to click, this could be a very
27:06
Speaker 1: dangerous team in October. Just you know, you just never
27:11
Speaker 1: know what you're gonna get in October baseball. But they
27:13
Speaker 1: have a lot of the ingredients to win some games
27:15
Speaker 1: and to make a run.
27:18
Speaker 3: The only thing I would dispute is I'm going to
27:20
Speaker 3: defend our sickos and saying that in terms of losing
27:25
Speaker 3: the plot of just like this team like until proven otherwise,
27:29
Speaker 3: this is not a playoff team, Like we're not talking
27:31
Speaker 3: about that. We're not talking about the Dodgers. We're not
27:34
Speaker 3: talking about you know, the New England Patriots dynasty or
27:38
Speaker 3: like you know, the Boston Celtics or the LA Lakers
27:41
Speaker 3: what they used to be in the NBA.
27:43
Speaker 2: Like, I don't know.
27:44
Speaker 3: I think everyone sees the same things here of like
27:48
Speaker 3: an offense that has been lost. You know, your your
27:51
Speaker 3: best player. We've gone over the Kyle Tucker saga just
27:55
Speaker 3: kind of popping up all at once.
27:58
Speaker 2: I think everyone.
27:59
Speaker 3: Has similar concerns about the pitching staff. So yeah, like
28:03
Speaker 3: I think the Cubs are a good team. They should
28:05
Speaker 3: make the playoffs. I don't think the division is totally
28:09
Speaker 3: out of reach, so it's gonna be very difficult. And yeah,
28:12
Speaker 3: nothing happens, no one knows what happens in October. It's
28:16
Speaker 3: it's the crapshoot. But I still think there's enough like
28:22
Speaker 3: warning signs here, there's enough recent history to have legit
28:27
Speaker 3: questions and to you have to acknowledge the possibility this
28:31
Speaker 3: could still go off the rails. It's the Cubs, right.
28:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, I don't absolutely agree with all of that.
28:38
Speaker 1: I'm trying to I'm just trying to like, we're not
28:43
Speaker 1: like this isn't like crisis mode just yet, but we
28:47
Speaker 1: could enter.
28:48
Speaker 3: That that'll be like our next episode.
28:50
Speaker 1: And I certainly feel different about the offense that I
28:55
Speaker 1: did even ten days ago. So you know, the more evidence,
29:00
Speaker 1: I'm waiting for it to wake up. I believe it will.
29:03
Speaker 1: You hope it's not too late. Uh, They've they've done
29:06
Speaker 1: enough to kind of steady the ship and stay in
29:09
Speaker 1: it and stay atop the wild card. Uh maybe that's
29:12
Speaker 1: all they need, should be steadied during these down moments
29:15
Speaker 1: and and win enough and not avoid a complete collapse
29:20
Speaker 1: because the offense has just not been good enough and
29:21
Speaker 1: it needs.
29:22
Speaker 2: To be better.
29:23
Speaker 1: Uh.
29:23
Speaker 2: So we'll see what happens a week this weekend in
29:26
Speaker 2: in l A.
29:27
Speaker 1: And and and you know all week out west, Uh,
29:30
Speaker 1: stay stay cool out there. And it looks like it's
29:32
Speaker 1: pretty hot in LA so so good luck with that.
29:36
Speaker 1: Uh And and I think it cools down for you
29:39
Speaker 1: in San Francisco. So we'll see how well the Cubs play,
29:43
Speaker 1: how everything goes. Thanks for listening to everyone. This is
29:45
Speaker 1: Northside Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
29:50
Speaker 1: subscribe to The Athletic, where Patrick and I are.
29:53
Speaker 2: On top of all things Cubs. Thanks for listening everyone,
29:55
Speaker 2: take care.
30:00
Speaker 6: The game
30:05
Speaker 2: At the day