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Cubs mailbag: Can they catch the Brewers? Plus more on potential playoff rosters and free agents · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory File Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick, it is
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: time for a mailbag episode. Let's get some questions in
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: from the fans. Always great stuff with its post deadline.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: People are interested on what's gonna happen. We're in this
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: weird phase of going from the Cubs had no pitching
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: to oh no, they have too much pitching and a
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: lot of questions. We're focused on that. Here's first one,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Don Finucci, how do they parse the potential editions of
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Edward Cabrera, Justin Steele, and Ben Brown to the postseason
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: pitching staff? How does everyone fit in?
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Patrick?
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Why don't you just give us an the latest update
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: on got more on Cabrera and Brown? I think Steele
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: is kind of on the back burner. Let's start with that. Like,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't assume Steele's going to be pitching for this
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: team in the postseason, let alone, like he may get
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: in some games this year, but I think the goal
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: is getting any games, whether that's minor leagues or big
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: leagues for Steel, like that's the first thing. We'll We'll
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: get to Steele much later. I think like we need
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: to hold off on talking about him. I don't think
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: he's like on the precipice of coming back, so we
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: need to be a little bit more careful with projecting him.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: But Cabrera and Brown, we have real updates there.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: One hundred percent uh. Cabrera is expected to be activated
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: off the injured list to start Sunday at Wrigley Field
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: against the Cardinals. Council said the Cubs are not going
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: to go with a six man rotation at least for now,
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: which means someone would get skipped, if not bumped. I'm
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: just assuming it would be David Peterson, but.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: You never know.
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: I mean, there could be another potential injury that pops
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: up here, or maybe there's something that presents itself during
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: this series against the Cardinals that makes them change their plans.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: Cabrera has a lot to prove, in my opinion. I
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: think they want to get him in a rhythm as
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: a starter and see what he can do. But I
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: can't imagine he's going to get the longest runway of
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: this group. And Ben Brown on Friday morning through a
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: bullpen session at Wrigley Field, and he was very optimistic,
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: like he is on a progression to where he thinks
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: he can be activated in three to four weeks. And
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: Craig Counsel said, that's not unrealistic. He is on a
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: calendar or a schedule to get back pitching on a
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: major league mound. That remains the expectation councils. And so
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: given how well he's performed in multiple roles within this season,
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: I think he would have a pretty good chance, you know,
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: as long as everything stays on track, to have an
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: impact on the October Cubs.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean as far as how they fit in.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: I think Cabrera has has the potential, which we have
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: not seen him reach yet this year, to be the
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: best bat missing.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Starter in this current rotation.
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: And that's really valuable, whether it's regular season or postseason.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Like, he has a chance, he.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Has that upside to be a really good starter, and
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: we were seeing that in his rehab starts in the minors.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: We'll see how that translates on Sunday. Let's see how
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: he does. But I think right now he looks like
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: a potentially one of the better rotation pieces for this team.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: As far as Brown like high leverage reliever, He's already
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: performed in that role, so keep doing that. I think
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: he has a chance to be a really important reliever
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: for this team.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: We'll see where that leads. But obviously has a lot
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: of potential.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: But Cabrera right now just seems to fit in as
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: a starter, and he could be one of the better ones.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: I think you just wait and figure that stuff out.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: I don't think you need to overthink it too much.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: And wonder, you know, where does this guy fit? Where
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: does that guy fit? All right, let's go to the
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: next question from a certified troll t I didn't get
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: a real name, so I just went with the Twitter
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: handle who closes a game in the playoffs if Polencia
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: is healthy? I like this one because I think there
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: are so many possible answers. We know that Palencia hasn't
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: looked great in the minors.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: He's I think.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: It's mainly like a mechanics thing. He's trying to get
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: his mechanics locked in. This is this is stuff that
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: he's dealt with in the past. This isn't the first
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: time he's looked like this. If he gets it locked in,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: we know how good it can be, and he can
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: hold a bunch of different roles. We just talked about
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Ben Brown. He can hold that similar role that Polencia
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: had last year. So there are different there are different
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: ways to go about this. I think there's a thousand
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: different answers you could have. Jacob Webb is probably like
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: the I don't know, like he's probably the odds on
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: favorite right now just because he's been doing it.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Palencia makes sense. I think Ben Brown is a wild card.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Like suddenly, like what if Edward Cabrera doesn't you know,
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: what if all the starters are doing great and you
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: want Edward Cabrera.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: What if Clay Holmes is moved to the bullpen.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: I think there's just like a thousand answers here, Like
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: there's there is no obvious answer her and I think
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: it may just like kind of what if like one
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: of those starters, you have really good starters, all five
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: of them or six of them are doing really well
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: going into the playoffs, and one of the starters, you're like,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: this guy's great, but I'm putting him in the bullpen,
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: and he's and he's capable of pitching every other day.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: So it's it's a really hard answer, and I don't
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: and I don't want to say, like this is where
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: I feel because I'm disconfident about it, because I'm just
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: not confident about what direction they'd go.
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: Let's answer it this way. Daniel Plenzi asks to show
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: that he's good enough to close the game in the playoffs.
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: So we hear we hear this every off season, the
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: Cups talking about how unpredictable reliever performances are.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: It's such a volatile.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: Position, So why should we assume that Palencia will just
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: be like awesome. I mean, Counsel has made it a
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: point repeatedly saying that he just hasn't pitched a lot
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: this year and he's get into a rhythm and so
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: he has to do that first and then kind of
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: earn a one. That's what Ben Brown was talking about
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: on Friday. We're just like saying, I need to prove
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: that I'm healthy, to prove that I can pitch well
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: and like earn that spot. There's no givens here on
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: a team that's talented.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and like that that goes for everyone, right, Like, well,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: we have to see how everyone performs. I didn't even
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: mention Zephyr John's if he has like a dominant final
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: six weeks and heals like the best reliever, He's got
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: closer stuff, so he could end this season looking like
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: the best reliever. That's why I said, like, there's just
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: no answer here. But when it comes to specifically Palencia,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: you're right, he's gonna have to earn his job. All
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: these guys coming back, everyone has to like that. It's
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: just a one to eighty from where we were not
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: that long ago. As far as like there's so much
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: competition and it's a good thing, it's just a little
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: it muddies things up and you just don't know what
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: direction they're gonna go.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: All right, let's take a quick break and get back
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: to these questions.
• 8:07
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• 9:07
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, let's get back to the questions you've mentioned.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: They won't re sign Saya Suzuki. How do they replace
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: his production? He hits great pitching and seems to get
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: crucial hits. I don't see anyone on the roster that
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: could replace him, al Culter, this is completely fair. I
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: don't see anyone on the roster that can replace that production.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: He is there. He is their best bat, and like
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: it's a look, best power bat, I should say he's
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: their best power bat. You're right about him hitting good pitching,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: but they're not going to resign him in the sense that, well,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: I shouldn't say they're not in all likelihood they're not
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: going to resign him, right because this is someone that
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: this is a free agent class that's kind of, I
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: should say, kind of that's very weak in the position
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: player side, and Saya Suzuki looks like he's going to
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: be the top bat heading into free agency, and the
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: Cubs are going to invest their resources in pitching. They
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: have so much free agent, they have so many free
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: agents on the pitching side that they're going to have
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: to really fill that roster up. They have questions. We
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: don't know what Ben Brown is going to look like
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: next year, We don't know what when King Horton is returning.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Justin Steele just needs to get in games right now,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: like some game minor league game action before you can
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: feel good about twenty twenty six or twenty twenty seven,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: and even even then you don't know. So just a
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: lot of questions with the rotation, and that's where the
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: money will be spent. How do they replace, sayes production,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: They're not going to It's that moneyball answer where Billy
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Bean says you're not replacing What was it Jason Giambi.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: You're not replacing his home runs and RBI. You're improving
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: in some way that may be easier to improve, which
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: would be the pitching. Like I know the Cubs have
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: had good results pitching wise, but by war their pitching
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: is not good. They you add more strikeouts, you add
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: more stuff to the rotation, you improve in different areas.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Can you get a better right field defender? That may
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: be hard according to some metrics, but you know, maybe
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: they feel better about Matt Shaw and right field. I
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: think if you put match, if you go into next
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: season with Match on Pedro Ramirez in your corner outfield spots,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: maybe you feel good about your future. But the immediate present,
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: power wise, it's a downgrade. Like it's really that's going
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: to be hard to match the power production, even the
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: overall offensive production. I know Ian happ is polarizing, but
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: those are those numbers aren't easy to replace.
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: I was like a supporting to remember like, like you said,
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: this is a likelihood they won't sign, sayah, like maybe
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: like stranger things have happened, right, Like I don't anticipate
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: the Cubs going all out to sign an over thirty
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: slugger who's the top hitter on the market. But I
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: don't think they would absolutely rule it out. I still
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: think it would ultimately pivot, like you said, toward pitching
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: and reshaping the roster in different ways. But Al's right,
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: like Saya might have been their best hitter in the
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: postseason last year. He can hit elite pitching. And this
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: is kind of the player the Cubs hoped for when
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: they signed him, you know, several years ago, and he's
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: become that guy.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I've seen people post recently like like, he's one
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: of the top ten right hitters over the last right
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: right hitters, right handed hitters over the last like five years.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: If you look at the last five.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Seasons since he's come up, uh, come Stateside, he's he's
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: one of the best hitters in the game. He's he
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: is a consistent producer, and he's reached this level the
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: past two years that he's a borderline All star if
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: not should should be an All Star as far as
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: the overall production. Uh he and and there's just so
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: few talents like that. We saw how coveted right handed
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: pitch hitting was at the deadline, It's going to be.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: Coveted in the off season.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: Uh, we'll see what happens with the lockout and and
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: the new CBA if any of that changes the way
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: we feel about this. Uh, but I'd be surprised if
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: they can bring him back. And you just got to
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: figure out a way to upgrade the team.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: That's all.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: That's that's going to be their focus. How do we
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: get better as a team, not how do we replace
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Saye Suzuki's exact production, which is probably will be very
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: frustrating for certain fans. That's going to drive them nuts,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: because I mean, there is something do that and say
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: is just like such a key. We saw what he
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: did yesterday against the Cardinals Friday against the Cardinals, He's
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: the reason they won that game is they couldn't score
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: any runs outside of that. He's an incredibly important power
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: bad for this team.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: John Rose.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: Could Shelby Miller be a late season playoff edition in
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: the bullpen? Short answer is yes. Like I think he
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: needs to keep going out there. He needs to get
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: more outings in the miners. He's looked good when he
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: has been out there. The stuff is there, the results
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: are there. What I think the biggest hurdle is can
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: he pitch like two out of three days. Can he
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: go on back to back days? And that may be
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: that I don't know if they absolutely need back to
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: back days, but you need to be able to pitch regularly.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: You can't be the type of bullpen arm that is
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: a detriment to the bullpen because you're not available regularly.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: But he seems to have the talent and upside to
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: do that. He seems healthy enough. It's just about like,
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: how regularly can you go. We've seen this guy be
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: a high leverage arm, one of the better ones as
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: far as relievers go. And then if he can do that,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: depending on when he gets back, does he have enough
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: time to be like, yep, he's a playoff edition, which
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: I think is possible if he's back in September, I
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: think you have a month to kind of use him,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: and if he's dominating, yeah, you add him to the
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: bullpen and the playoff for Uster.
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: Definitely an interesting name that we've heard now since I
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: don't know, maybe it was like June, it was like, Oh,
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: this guy is really attacking his rehab and putting himself
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: in position to be a really intriguing X factor. I
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: think you'd probably just hope he does get to Wrigley
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: Fields by September and can show something and then you know,
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: maybe he's not in there for the wild card round.
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: But we saw how things change as you keep playing
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: deeper into October. And if the Cubs are going to
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: have to win four playoff rounds to win a World Series,
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: I think it's not crazy to think in that scenario
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: that maybe Shelby Miller does wind up getting some big
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: outs for them.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: All right, let's take a quick break and wrap it
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: up with one final question.
• 16:28
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• 17:30
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, final question is one that I think
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: you and I were dismissing a month or two ago. Well,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: not yeah, a month ago, Let's say a couple of
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: weeks ago, when they were seven games back. It just
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: didn't seem like, well, I think it was mostly like
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: they're probably not winning this division, but we'll.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: See where they go. Well, let's answer that in a month.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: Do the Cubs have enough in the tank to catch
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Milwaukee in the last quarter of the season?
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: Ed Halensky.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think they do because it's three games right
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: now as we're recording entering play on Saturday. Obviously, if right,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: I have that right, right, it's yes, it's it's three games.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: If if milwalk or if the Dodgers had closed them
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: out on Thursday. Uh, they're they're having they're having major
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: closer issues with Edwin Diaz right now out in l A.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: We it'd be even closer, right they they wouldn't have
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: lost that game on Thursday the Cubs, and it'd be
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: a two game lead.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: But three games right now they have? Is it six? Seven? Seven?
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: Head to head? Right? Seven? Head to head?
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: You keep this within two or three, Like once it
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: gets to five, that's a lot.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: I mean, three is.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Still a lot. The odds are against them. That's just
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: how it is when you're when you're behind like this.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: But it isn't two weeks. It's six weeks of baseball left.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: That's a lot of time. The Cubs have to continue
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: to play well. The Brewers are a little banged up,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: they're a little you know, maybe this is their cold
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: stretch that they're entering, and everyone has it. Everyone has
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: their cold stretches. I know the Cubs had extremes, but
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: like every team struggles, the Brewers may be heading into
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: something that's coming at a bad time.
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: I think it's possible.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to say it'll happen, just because you
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: just don't know what pops up. But the Cubs are
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: in a good situation right now. They're healthy, they're playing well.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: The schedule isn't easy, but it isn't overwhelmingly tough. So yeah,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: absolutely they have enough, especially when you have the depth
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: that they have in all facets. Right now, they're healthy
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: and they're playing.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: Well, and I think you're right on the schedule part.
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: What was it seventeen in a row and then it
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: was something ridiculou us after that with only one day
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: off within twenty something days at the top mat I
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: can't remember it, but once it does feel like they've
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: gone through so much that you can see begin to
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: see the finish line here. The pitching staff has been
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: reinforced in several different ways. I think they're okay there.
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: They had been very healthy on the position player side,
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: you know, I mean, one injury could kind of change
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: that outlook in terms of having enough in the tank,
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: you know, if someone wears down. But they've done what
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: they had to do to make this an interesting September.
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: Milwaukee seems kind of, you know, recession proof, like they
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: don't have those collapses. But they're not a perfect team either,
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: and it should be. You know, a couple of awesome
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: series there of Cubs Brewers and looks like it might
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: be it might be another playoff previous and it's it's funny,
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: you know, with the Cardinals in town. Obviously they're the
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: historic rival, and I don't think it's ever going to
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: like go away, but it does feel like we spend
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: a lot more energy and focus on the Brewers now,
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: whereas the Cardinals are a little bit, uh, a little
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: bit of an afterthought at this moment.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the Cardinals will be back in the
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: discussion in short order. Yeah, they have the right front
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: office in place, in my opinion, and they have. They've
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: been impressive this season as far as what you know,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: compared to expectations. If they hit on some pitching young pitching,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: that they're gonna be scary by twenty seven to twenty
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: eight probably, you know, twenty seven will probably be a down,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: you know, not a great year for them. But uh
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: that that's a that's an org probably with the arrow up,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: they seem to know what they're doing once again. But
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: the Brewers always a thorn in the side. They're more
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: than a thorn in the side because they just keep
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: winning the division. They're they're the division champs. Uh, and
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: the Cubs are trying to chase them down. I think
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: it's very possible. I think this you know that they
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: are not they they seem to be, you know, about
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: to hit like a little bit of a skid. We'll
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: see if it, if it's extended. Uh, and how they go,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: because I think Cubs fans would really enjoy that, like
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: and it should be fun, like this is good, make
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: it a race, make it entertaining. Uh, let's see some
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: you know, trash talking maybe on the field like a
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: little Let's make sure these games are intense and everyone's
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: having fun and and fans are up for it, because
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: I think that's uh, you know, that's what makes us
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: all worth it. It should be an exciting finish. All right,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: that's it for us. Thanks so much for listening everyone,
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: This is Northside Territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
• 22:48
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• 22:51
  Speaker 1: where Patrick and Iron top of all things Cubs. Thank
• 22:54
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• 22:57
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• 23:00
  Speaker 1: this show go. Thanks for listening and watching everyone. Thanks
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: take care