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The End: Cubs’ season is over after no-show performance in playoffs · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory Filed Territory Network's Cubs podcast. I'm
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at The Athletic. Patrick, the Cubs
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: season is over. They go out with a whimper. Two
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: losses in a row to the San Diego Padres. Not
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: a single postseason win for a team that scored the
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: most runs in baseball in Had the best defense in
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: a very long time, arguably ever, with records setting as
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: far as outs above average and different metrics in the
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: stat cast era. One of the best defenses we've seen.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: They didn't have enough pitching, but you can't put this
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: squarely on the pitching with the way they performed in
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: the postseason. And this was, as Alex Bregman put it,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: it was a failure the way they ended. They need
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: to win. He said, we need to win. They didn't.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: They didn't get a single win in the postseason. That
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: just feels... I was on foul territory yesterday and said,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure if I'd call it a failure if
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: they lost tonight. This was yesterday. Watching it unfold, I
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: feel like I have to change that. It was a failure.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: They didn't... Not coming away with a win and not
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: really feeling like they ever had a chance... It never
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: felt like they had a chance. They were in a game.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: That's a failure. They failed in the postseason. And it happens.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: It was disappointing. But they really went out without any fight.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Not saying they didn't try. Not saying they didn't do
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: everything they could to win. They just didn't get the
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: job done.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: In an amazing bit of symmetry game to end it
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: exactly at 10 o'clock on the West coast or the
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: moment when October started at Wrigley field and the Cubs
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: 150th anniversary season was extinguished right at that second. Bregman
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: was hard to hear cause he's a bit of a
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: low talker and he was in the corner there, but
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: I was glad to hear it and, read it in
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: your piece because i feel like sometimes these post-mortems become
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: a little too happy or self-congratulatory and i do think
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: we'll get into more of the off-season stuff later but
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: i think bregman is going to be an important figure
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: in this as someone who has won it all and
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: knows what the standard is but uh yeah this was
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: just a just a flat out embarrassing showing. I think
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: there's kind of no way around that. I mean, to
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: not have a lead at any point of those 18 innings,
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: and I believe they were trailing for 17 of those innings.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: I think it was like 0-0 after the first inning
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: of game two.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: I mean, your postseason last 27 hours. Given how much
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: money was poured into this team, the expectations that were
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: raised during those two 10 game winning streaks as Pico
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Armstrong ascended into the superstar stratosphere. I mean, there's no
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: way to just sort of shrug and say, Hey, it's
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: just baseball. And like the Padres just outclassed them in
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: every phase of the game for two nights.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Eight hits total in the series for the Cubs.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Seven of them were singles, one double. It didn't come
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: until the ninth inning of Game 2, Nico Horner. Two
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: for 15 with runners in scoring position. There were moments,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: especially in Game 2, there was the third inning, I
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: believe it was. Dansby Swanson comes up, the first two
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: men reach. He gets ahead 3-0, takes a fastball down
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: the middle, which, you know, you do that at 3-0.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Then chases... Two straight fastballs out of the zone. It
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: was not a good at-bat. But then, you know, he's
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: the ninth hitter. You don't expect him to put up
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: a perfect at-bat. Pete Kramstrunk pops out. Alex Bregman flies
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: out weakly. Scoring threat over. Happened again a couple, maybe
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: an inning or two later. Dansby comes up. I believe
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: it was they scored a run. two men on. They
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: bring in a reliever. They chase Pavetta, bring in Bradgley Rodriguez,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: and this is the Padres' strength. You've got to give
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: them credit. They have a dominant part of their team
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: that showed up. The Cubs have dominant parts of their team.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Their defense showed up, I guess, but sometimes it can't carry.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: It's hard for the defense to always carry you. You
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: know what I mean? It's not something like the offense
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: had to show up. It didn't. The Padres' bullpen showed up.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Bradley Rodriguez blows Matt Shaw away with three fastballs. It
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: was like a non-competitive at bat. He just, he swung
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: and missed. Two of them were right down the middle.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: He did not, he could not catch up to them.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: He hits Carson Kelly to load the bases and Swanson
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: gets another shot and is aggressive looking, hunting a fastball.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: And it was, you know, located well. Weak fly out again,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: the threat over. I think at that point it was,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: two to one, and then they hit a two-run homer
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: off Daniel Palencia. That kind of felt like, oof, this
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: team's not scoring four runs tonight, not off this group
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: of relievers. When you have such a... The pitching really is.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: We're going to talk a lot about it this offseason,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: but that's so much of what this is going to
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: be about. How does this team... build a pitching pipeline. Uh,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: you have to develop pitching. You have to add pitching.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: You have to, you have to have so much depth.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: They tried to do that as far as building that depth. It, it,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: you can't, I don't think they were unprepared. It was
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: just like, they did get waylaid by injuries, but I
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: think the biggest failure is the, is the lack of development, but, uh,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: of pitching, but still like the offense just didn't show up.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: And like your, your biggest stars didn't show up, uh,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: there just wasn't enough done. And again, a lot of
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: guys in that room said, you got to give them credit.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: They did pitch really well. I agree with you, what
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: you said about, uh, Bregman and a lot of these guys,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: and I get it. The season's over. Uh, you have
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: this tight knit group that, uh, and now you're going
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: to be spending months away from each other. And who
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: knows when they're back for spring training, uh, it could be,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: it likely will be much longer than normal. Uh, but
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: there was a lot of reminiscing. You know, we may,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: it may be the end of some guy's tenure with
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: the team. So there, there was a lot of that,
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: but Bregman was very straightforward and just like, and I
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: thought we can get into Pete in a moment. Pete
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: was pretty straightforward for the most part as well. Even
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: if it took him a little while, sometimes to get there,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Bregman was short to the point we failed. We need
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: to win. We have to get better. I'm looking in
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: the mirror and telling myself I got to do these things. He,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: I think he's been eliminated before, and it's painful. But
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: these guys, I was surprised at how little we saw
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: from the offense. I know there are fans that are
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: going to point out, like, look at the week before.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: That happens so much in baseball. Sometimes you have a
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: terrible week leading into the playoffs, and it doesn't matter.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure if the last week was any indication
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: of anything real. I just think they got shut down
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: by the and the bats, the most important part of
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: the teams, didn't deliver.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think back to the 2015 NLCS and it
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: felt like there were all these takeaways and ideas you
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: could draw from of where they need to get better
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: and how it was an eye-opening experience for parts of
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: their players. I don't think these two games told us
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: much that we didn't already know. I mean, the pitching...
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: was problematic. It was a question mark. It was this
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: guessing game of who they would start in game one.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: It was the focus at the trade deadline. It was
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: the focus of last offseason. It was the issue that
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: unraveled their previous championship core. We knew all of this
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: going in, that they were going to have to piece
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: it together and execute their game plan almost. Obviously, I
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: think we all thought the offense would do more. It
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: would almost be impossible to do less in terms of
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: getting no hit for these long stretches, all those zeros
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: up on the board. And, you know, I think the
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: other thing I just felt the sort of like vibe
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: around the team or the Online discourse or some of
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: the energy from fans just felt very different. Last year,
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: we were talking about this on the service level at
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: Petco Park before going in. Last year, they had won
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: a playoff round. They pushed the Brewers.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: To that game five. They restored that big game playoff
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: energy at Wrigley Field. No, it didn't end in a
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: parade down Michigan Avenue, but it felt like tangible progress
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: building towards something. This was.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: At least a small step back and certainly not a
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: step forward.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I thought, uh, Nico had one of the more
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: honest responses, uh, talking about how he was kind of
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: reminiscing about what went well this season, right? Pete had
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: this historic season. Uh, they, there were some great accomplishments
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: this regular season. There's no doubt about it. It was,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: there were some pretty amazing things that happened for the
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: Cubs this regular season. Uh, And he talked about the
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: environment of Wrigley and how much that energizes them and
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: how exciting it is to play there and how unfortunate
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: it is that they didn't get a home playoff game.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: And then he kind of said, like, we left some
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: wins on the table in that final month. And that
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: is absolutely true. They squandered home field advantage. I don't
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: know if that completely shifts the series, but I can
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: tell you, like, you did not want– Something I was
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: thinking from the start of game two was the Cubs
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: need to score first and just quiet this crowd. The
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: crowd is so into it. I don't know how much
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: that impacts the actual team. I don't know. It's hard
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: to say. It does. It did feel like when they
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: had mentioned the Danes v. Swanson, two men on, no outs,
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: that it did quiet down significantly. Those just a couple
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: hits and everybody was quiet in that ballpark.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: I don't know how much that impacts things, but it,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: you know, it's one little factor and they, they, they
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: did not do the job down the stretch to keep
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: that home field advantage. They were in the driver's seat
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: and they failed in that. Patrick Pete, Pete was upset
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: at his, at his locker. It was clearly, he, he was,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: so him and Bregman were combined. Oh, for 18. with
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: eight Ks. I believe he was 0 for 7 with
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: four Ks and a walk. You just saw like what
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: he could do if he just gets on base, right?
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Like he got on base, he immediately stole and got them,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: like he created a scoring situation. They didn't score, that
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: was game one, but immediately they like, that's what he
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: does just getting on base and he couldn't do that enough.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: He just was not He had zero impact on this series.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Fernando Tatis was the best player on the field
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: in game one. That leadoff home run, the way he
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: just ran wild on the bases. Obviously, Tatis was established
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: before Pete broke into the league, but those were the
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: PCA moments that we saw at Wrigley Field. so often
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: throughout this year. And, you know, when I asked Pete
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: about what it will take to get to the next
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: level and prefacing it with like, it's hard to get here,
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: it's an achievement to go in back-to-back years, but still
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: there is that ultimate goal out there. And he said, it,
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: it starts with me. It starts with me showing up
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: in these games. And obviously that's, um, he can be
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: very self critical and I'm sure over time he will
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: sort of let the season go play out again in
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: his mind and come at it with a different sense
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: of appreciation, but he was pissed. He felt like he
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: let the team down. He was pretty disappointed to play
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: in that manner on such a big stage. No one's
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: pinning this on Pete. I know we say your stars
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: have to show up, no doubt, and the Padres did,
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: if you include Manny Machado, Jackson Merrill, their bullpen's kind
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: of the star, too. I guess we want to look
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: at it that way. I mean, Michael King was also
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: probably heading into this series the best pitcher, and he
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: performed that way as well. And so, you know, Pete
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: is still the main character here. I think everything the
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: Cubs do going forward will have to be about kind
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: of maximizing his prime window here. And I think we
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: both agree that you can't just take this for granted.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: You know, these once in a lifetime seasons don't just
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: happen year after year. Like that's the reason why they're
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: so rare and unique and special. And like Pete could
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: have a huge drop off next year and still be
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: one of the best players in the game. Like that's
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: just kind of how that was just the stratosphere he
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: reached in this kind of, magical year. And, you know,
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: we've covering that 2016 team. We were around some dazzling
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: young talent players who did amazing things at a very
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: early age and still had very good careers, but they
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: took lots of different weird turns. I mean, even, you know,
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: I mean, Kyle Schwarber is obviously still doing it in
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: the playoffs. It is not, you know, you could ask him.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: It has not been smooth. He needed like bad things
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: to happen to get to a better place. And so
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: that's these next few chapters of Pete's career will be
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: fascinating to watch. Yeah.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: And, and we can also point to Schwarber of how
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: hard it is to, to win a championship. Like he,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: he won one to like kind of start off his
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: career and he's still chasing that ring, another ring. Pete had,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: according to Fangraves at 10.6 war, This is second best
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: Cubs season ever. It's more than seven times that it's
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: happened since the turn of the century, but seven players.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: He's the seventh player to have 10-plus war since the
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: turn of the century. These seasons don't grow on trees.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: These aren't the type of seasons that you can just say, yep,
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: he's going to do that every year. It just does
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: not happen very often, and you're right. He could... he
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: could be worth three or four fewer wins and he could,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: he'd still be one of the best. I mean, he, that's,
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: that was like what Jacob Mizorowski and, and all as
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: Shohei and Ellie, they all had like six war seasons.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: Great season. That's MVP type season, easy all-star, uh, nothing
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: close to what Pete just put up. And, and we
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: don't know if we'll ever see that again. Uh, It is,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: you know, I understand counsel after this season, you know,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: in his end of season presser was kind of asked
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: basically about you have all these great things happen. It
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: doesn't feel like you didn't take advantage of it. And
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: I think it's a fair answer. He's like, whatever. Essentially,
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: you can throw out all these stats. It doesn't matter.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: It's the playoffs. Everyone has good positives and negatives. And
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: what do you do in the playoffs? You just throw
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: it all out come the postseason. That is the beautiful
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: thing about playoff baseball. It's incredibly frustrating as well. We're
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: going to get a ton of overanalysis about these two games.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: We can analyze the two games as they are. I
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: don't know if we should draw grand conclusions and change
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: what the issues are for this team. We will talk
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: about it over and over again. They have to invest
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: in more pitching. They have to figure out a way to...
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: It goes beyond just investing in pitching. They have to
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: figure out a way to fix their player development, their
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: talent acquisition, their young... They had nobody coming up from
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: the system I understand all the injuries. I understand you
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: built depth in one way. You had no depth coming
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: up through the system, and that's a failure of the organization.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: And this discussion just isn't going to stop because it
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: is a thing that we've been talking about since, you know,
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: for a decade now with this organization. They had a
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: brief moment, a blip, where they develop some guys, but
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: it just hasn't been good enough. They have to, they
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: have to turn that around. I don't know how quickly
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: you can turn it around. All right, Patrick, I, I
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: don't know if the Padres are going to go to
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: the world series, but they're going to face the, the Brewers.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, I was thinking about this earlier
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: of the eight teams playing in, you know, this wildcard round,
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: the Padres, who would you least like to face? Who's
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: the toughest opponent of those eight teams, including the AL teams?
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: It's the Yankees and the Padres. Those are the two
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: teams that it's like the Yankees with their pitching, terrifying.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: Those three pitchers that they can throw out in a
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: three-game set, that is scary. The And you have a
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: lead after five innings like they showed. A lead after,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: what was it, four and a third? Whatever it was
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: last night. the game was over. Just to, you know,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: like there, I think it was three and a third,
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: maybe it, they did. I don't want to make excuses
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: because you, you, you play who you play and you gotta,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: you gotta win. You gotta, you gotta put up more
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: of a fight than the Cubs did, but they, they,
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: face to what I think was probably the second best,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: if not the best team. Uh, that's also an indictment
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: of the Cubs. The Cubs should have been the best team, uh,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: in this round, you know, they, they should have, they weren't, uh, and, uh,
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's the way it is, but they did
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: have the, uh, pretty tough matchup. Uh, I think the
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: Padres have a really good shot of, of knocking off
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: the Brewers. Um, But it was an ugly series in
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: that sense. But this is going to be a fun
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: one between the Brewers and the Padres. Let's make this
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: our Fox One On Deck segment.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's hard to think of a less taxing wild card.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: series for a team that advances. Yeah. I mean, uh,
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: obviously they, they threw their a relievers, um, in a
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: clinching scenario, but I think to get kind of get
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: the juices flowing in the post season and get back
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: into that rhythm, um, get a couple of post season
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: wins under your belt. I definitely think, uh, that helps.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: And I think the, as long as the brewers keep playing, uh,
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: we're going to keep pointing to that gap between Chicago
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: and Milwaukee. Uh, but if the Padres knock off the
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: brewers or if the brewers get swept out of Dodge,
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: out of the NLCS again, like I think that'll be
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: fair to point out as well, as we're trying to
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: think about how the Cubs kind of get back to that,
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: next level but no doubt this is a better Padres
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: team than the one that the Cubs eliminated last year
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: and that was a very tense narrow series the Padres
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: still have stars but their pitching is a little bit
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: of a better place their bullpen is still awesome and
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: they just have a more kind of functional roster and
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: ability to kind of match up and you know kind
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: of play the right pieces at the right time in
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: a way that I think was difficult for them last year.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: And you, they, they, they had all, they had every answer,
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: you know, and it just felt like the Cubs just
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: could not respond at any point. And that is the
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: nature of these series. You kind of have to hit
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: it really fast. I guess we'll see what the, uh,
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: Phillies do on Thursday night in terms of that team
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: that wins game one uh in this wild card round
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: uh you know how many of them you know it's
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: close to a clean sweep um I think it was
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: 15 of 16 heading into this year and with the
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: Yankees Padres and White Sox all advancing um there's This
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: definitely feels like a, like a trend, something to, to monitor.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: And ultimately the Cubs obviously have to make the playoffs,
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: but avoiding this first round, it's taking it out. It's
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: like winning a series. You know, Jed Hoyer talked about
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: that leading up to the trade deadline in terms of
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: his urgency and aggressiveness. And that's played out thus far.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah. They have, they haven't come close to not, you know,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: to getting that by, uh, they just have not come close. They, they,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: they are not within shouting distance of the brewers when
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: it comes to the regular season. Uh, I do not
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: think the talent gap is like seismic. I don't think
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: it's insurmountable. Um, what, and go back to it. The, the, the,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: the huge gap is the, the farm system and, and
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: the development of talent primarily pitching, uh, the Brewers that
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: are going to open that series with, with Jacob Mizorowski
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: and Logan Henderson. And they're going to have a, you know,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: those are two guys that are dominant pitchers who they developed,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: they drafted and they developed. The Cubs can't say that,
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: you know, the Cubs have some, some young talent that,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: I mean, I shouldn't say young talent. They have guys
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: that they developed. They aren't here. Justin Steele wasn't healthy
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: this year. Cade Horton got hurt right away. It's a
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: huge gap. That's where the huge gap is between these
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: two teams.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: No doubt. I mean, I think we'll get into more
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: of these offseason questions. We'll see. what economic system emerges
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: from the next CBA, whenever that is finalized, whenever that
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: lockout ends. So I think it's hard to draw too
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: many conclusions or jump that far ahead in terms of
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: like Brewers Cubs moving forward, because there probably will be some,
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: at least incremental differences, if not substantial changes that kind of,
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: change the entire picture here but uh yeah cubs are
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: simply just not good enough i think they they left
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: no doubt about that at the end i think we
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: watched those last couple weeks and you have to give
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: them credit for a lot of the things that went
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: right you can't make any assumptions. The Padres looked awesome
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: for two nights in San Diego. They get their doors
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: blown off.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: Of the NLDS.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: That is baseball. But the nature of this series, how
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: they lost, was just tremendously disappointing for people in uniform,
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: the people in khakis who kind of run the team
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: obviously fans um and you know for us the Cubs
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: remain a fascinating team to cover that will uh never
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: change and um I think this did not quite feel
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: like that building block not saying the Cubs will be
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: bad next year but there we'll get into this next
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: episode but just a lot of questions, a lot of
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: open spaces on next year's rosters and, um, a lot
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: of different ways they could go to try and, um,
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: actually play in October next year. Yeah. Yeah.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: The, I mean, the off season is always fun. It's
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: going to be a frustrating off season with the impending lockout. Uh,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: but the off season, how they, this is a team
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: that has a core, uh, they, they have, uh, I mean, obviously,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: you have the likely reigning MVP on a long-term deal. Bregman, Swanson, Horner, Bush, Pete,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: they're all coming back. That's a good starting point. They
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: have a lot of work to do in the offseason,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: a lot of holes to fill. We'll see how that goes.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Before we wrap this up, You can catch all the
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: games of the NLDS, NLCS, and World Series on the
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: Fox One app. MLB on Fox is streaming on Fox One.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: The postseason is here, and we have your front row
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: seat to the wildest walk-offs, lights-out pitching, and clutch plays
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: all playoffs long. Stream each NLDS and NLCS game, then
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: the 2026 World Series live on Fox One, at home
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: or on the go, live or on demand. Never miss
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: a moment. Stream now. Start your Fox One three-day free
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: trial today at foxone.com. All right, Patrick, that is it
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: for us. We will be back to kind of preview
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: the offseason, preview Jed Hoyer's comments. He's going to wrap
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: this season up. We'll see when he does that, and
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: maybe our next episode we'll be wrapping that up. I'm
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: not sure exactly when he's going to talk. But, yeah,
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: that'll be, if you're interested in what this offseason is
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: going to look like, we'll be talking about it a lot.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening, everyone. This is Northside Territory.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: Make sure to rate, review, subscribe. Subscribe to the YouTube
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: channel and subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and I
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: are on top of all things Cubs. We really appreciate
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: your support all season long. Thanks for listening and watching, everyone.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Take care.