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Cubs are on the verge of clinching a playoff spot, but are they trending in the right direction? · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory Foul Territory Network's 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 may
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: not be the prettiest going on with the Cubs right now.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: They are not at peak form, so to say, but
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: they are inching closer to clinching a playoff spot. Magic
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: number is three. I believe, after the Diamondbacks lost last night.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: The Cubs also lost, so they weren't able to get
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: that down to two. They would have been able to
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: wrap it up tonight with a win and a loss
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: for the D-backs. But playoffs are looking all but certain here.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Tell me what the vibes are like, despite, you know,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: kind of like these opposite forces working, I feel like.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there was a lot going on for a Friday
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: game in Cincinnati against the Reds team.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: That's going nowhere.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: We'll get into more of the off-day field trip to
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Churchill Downs later. But the visiting clubhouse in Great American Ballpark,
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: kind of walking through the carpet there, and I'm like,
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: did I just step in gum? And then I realized...
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: The Dodgers had been in there and they did their
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: big clinch celebration. So it was like, oh, that's why
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: all this black leather furniture was out in the hallway
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: on the service level of the stadium and why there
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: were these kind of fans set up. And even Cubs
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: manager Craig Council noticed a bit of an odor in
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: the locker room just because the Dodgers had blown it
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: out for their clinch celebration so you kind of have
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: that going on I think the Cubs had a really
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: nice homestand there against the Pirates and Braves winning those
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: two series really drained some of the drama or the
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: potential crash out factor and then you had a game
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: on Friday night which you know Cubs just did not
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: play great I mean Clay Holmes, one of their big acquisitions,
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: the trade deadline, gave up, what, five walks and six runs.
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: Kind of out of character. And we are on this sort.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Of nightly, you know, playoff rotation watch of like, oh,
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: who's up, who's down.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: Holmes has just had trouble sort of finishing plays. uh,
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: his outings.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: If you remember that game against the pirates, like Jacob
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Webb came in and got a big ground ball against
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: O'Neill Cruz, uh, getting out of the jam that Holmes.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: Had left him.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: And then, yeah, Michael Bush base running gaff ends the
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: game and council just flat out called it a, a
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: dumb play, stupid moment.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: And he said, Oh, that's on me. That's my, my fault.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: And, you know, Bush called it inexcusable, but in essence, uh, he,
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: He ran, tried to take second base.
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: The Reds sort of saw this coming. It was sort of.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: A– not a full-on pitch out, but it was definitely
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: a play they were ready for. And he gets thrown
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: out with Ian Happ up at the plate. He had
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: just hit a home run in that game. He really
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: got a hold of a ball, but just mistimed it
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: in that at-bat. And he hits– extremely well at great
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: american ballpark he went to the university of cincinnati here
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: always seems to have some some big games and so
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: it was yeah a little all over the place um
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: and yet the cubs still moved a little bit closer
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: to that playoff spot thanks to the diamondbacks.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah that like the home stuff is concerning in the
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: sense that you'd like him kind of cruising into the
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: playoffs and five walks for a guy like him um
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: that's not ideal i i don't think he's a I mean,
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: he's not a big strikeout guy. We know that, or
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: hasn't been this year. Uh, I don't think walks have
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: been generally an issue for him in the past. Uh,
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: but I mean, he's not a, he's not like a
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: super command artist. He can, his walks can get up there,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: but yeah, that's not, not ideal. And, uh, that, that
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: sixth inning was kind of brutal. Uh, Small little things.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: It wasn't a save situation. It wasn't a, it wasn't a,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: like a leverage situation, but Jacob Webb had a scoreless
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: inning with two strikeouts. Just take that as a small
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: step forward. Yeah. Other than that, like they, they didn't
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: provide enough offense, right? Like this is a team that
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: may give up four or five runs, four or five,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: six runs. And they're going to have to outscore people
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: sometimes if, if a pitcher has a bad day. Uh, and,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: and that may even be like a playoff scenario like that.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: That's their reality. They're, they're going to need to come
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: up big in the big moments. And that, that stolen
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: base attempt, they were baited into that so much, like
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: not being held on. He thought he was getting a
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: free bag. It's a bad moment. Like you can't allow
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: that to happen. Like it's a meaningless base. Um, and yes,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: I get it. Like it, it keeps the force out,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: out of play, takes that out of play. Uh, But
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: you have to be you have to know that you're safe.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: You have to know that like you can't can't make
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: that the final out. It's it's it's embarrassing way to
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: end when you're like trying to round into playoff form.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: And this is kind of like the final leg of everything.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: And not not a good that's one of the dumber losses,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: I guess you could say, like in the sense like, oh,
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: that's annoying. That's not. a pretty loss or yeah, you
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: can just brush that away. It's just like, ah, these
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: are things that shouldn't be happening. Clay home shouldn't be
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: walking five guys. Uh, you know, you shouldn't have a,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: a base runner by one of your key play, a
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: base running mistake by one of your key players, but
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: you know, they, they gotta, they know they gotta be better. They,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: they gotta, they are on the verge of getting into
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: the playoffs. So I guess you can cling to that. Um, but,
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Not a fun night in Cincinnati to start this final stretch.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: They certainly got things to clean up, and it looks
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: like this three-way race between the Padres, Phillies, and Cubs
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: may come down towards the end, and those tiebreakers in the.
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: Cubs' favor could turn out to be huge. I think
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: we've seen.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Wrigley Field would be a big home field advantage. I
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: think Petco park would be huge for the, uh, Padres. Uh,
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: and we've seen Philly's atmosphere on, uh, sometimes I think,
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: you know, getting away from that could.
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: Also be helpful too.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: I think you kind of talk, you can kind of
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: talk yourself into any, anything as counsel would say, like,
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: that's the story you're telling yourselves afterwards. And that's kind
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: of what I asked Carson Kelly of like, On the
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: one hand, you want to be peaking at the right time.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: And then on the other, everything resets at zero. And,
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: you know, Kelly said he didn't even know what the
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: magic number was. It was four at that point. But,
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: you know, his whole idea was like this group comes
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: in every single day as if it's a new day
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: focused on the task at hand.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: And that is.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: Coach speak or player cliches, but I think the Cubs
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: have sort of lived that out, uh, over this season,
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: you know, 150 something games, uh, heading into the final
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: week of the regular season, uh, in a really strong position.
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: Um, it also was just hilarious.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: It was so Cubs to have this huge off day
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: at Churchill downs and like go viral winning the horse race, uh, uh,
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: celebrating and then just have kind of a, a flat performance,
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: a clunker in Cincinnati, uh, leading into that series, not
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: saying there's a cause and effect.
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: It's just, it's just funny. Right.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: Uh, so they are, this is like, I don't want
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: to read too much into who's hot and who's not,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: because I feel like it can, it can change quickly.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: And it has, right? Like the Phillies were the hot
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: team of this trio a week ago. They were red hot,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: and it seemed like they couldn't lose. Now the Padres
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: are the hot team, and they seem like they can't lose.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: It can change quickly. It's a three-way tie. We don't
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: know where the Cubs are going to be. We don't
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: know where we're going to be after they end the season,
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: a regular season in Boston. Literally, it could be back home.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: It could be Philadelphia. It could be San Diego. It
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: could be Atlanta. That's a situation they've put themselves in.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: Right now, they are 16 games over. 500 after, what,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: like a month ago? Less than that. They were 21
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: games over. 500. They were kind of hot. And this
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: could turn. Like, it still could turn. I know it's
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: eight games, and you think it can. They could just
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: get hot down the stretch here, or they could get
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: hot in the playoffs. Who knows? But, yeah. The... the
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: timing of everything, I guess, wasn't, wasn't perfect as far
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: as having such a, you know, a fun, the semi,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: moment on the getaway day and then it not being
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: an ideal night on Friday. Or I guess it was
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: the off day, right? Thursday was the off day.
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean, Wednesday night was viral.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: I mean, you have Craig Council talking about how, you know,
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: people are going to be telling their grandkids about P.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: Crow Armstrong's season.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: And then Thursday, they flew to Louisville to see one
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: of Bregman's horses.
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: This is also something that.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: Craig Council– He has family connections as well or family
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: interest in horse racing kind of over the years. And
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: so this is something he had been really eager to
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: do and kind of just show kind of a different
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: world to a lot of different players here that, you know,
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: council described it as kind of like the Wrigley Field
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: of horse racing.
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: And so there's a really funny... exchanged.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: I'm sure you saw Ryan Rolison, the left-handed reliever. So
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: kind of what, the way the story went down was
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: they're in a pitcher's meeting and they're going over, hey,
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: this is kind of an off day idea we have
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: that someone suggests, hey, this would be a good rookie
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: dress up trip. Someone says, well, Rolison, that's you, man.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: And He's like, hey, I'm not a rookie, which technically
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: he's not. He exceeded it with the Colorado Rockies in 2025.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: And Council's like, if you have to say you're not
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: a rookie, then you're a rookie.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: And so.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: You and I both had this thought of seeing the pictures,
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: seeing Craig Council actually smiling in street clothes is probably
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: jarring to a lot of people.
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: And I did think it was kind of a vibe story.
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: I thought it was interesting.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: Revealing on some level about how the Cubs kind of operate.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: Obviously every team has rich guys with money and free
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: time and connections to make things happen. Um, so I
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: don't want to blow it out of proportion, but look,
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: you have Craig council does have a really good feel
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: for this. You know, you can question his decisions here
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: or there in game, but like players really enjoy being
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: around him, like his, his energy and, I think suits
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: 162-game season. His perspective as a former player matters. It
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: creates credibility. Bregman's intangibles were a huge reason why they
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: gave him that five-year, $ 175 million contract, which is a
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: totally different offer structure than what they did a year before.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: Even though he got a year older, they came in
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: with a bigger and better proposal. And it was just
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: this team... we've been around this group for a long time. Um,
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: outside of Pete, they're not, uh, super flashy or like
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: unpredictable in their interviews, but they do genuinely enjoy being
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: around each other. And, um, it was just kind of, uh,
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: very much a cubby occurrence to have, to have them celebrating.
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: Like they clinched something on Thursday night.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: To have a game that would just like, no doubt,
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: enrage a certain segment of the fan base.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we can... You can quickly put it
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: in the rearview mirror if you have two more... If
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: you have two good games to end the weekend in Cincinnati.
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: It also is.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: It's a fun... So this team is... They seem to
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: enjoy each other. I don't know if it's super out
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: of the ordinary, but they're certainly a tighter... like a
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: tight group, a tight-knit group, and it's obvious and it
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: stands out. And I also think it's interesting, you talked
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: about counsel. We don't see that side of him a lot.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: I think you saw there was, was that this summer
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: or last? I think it was this summer where he had,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: maybe it was the spring. It was during spring training, right?
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: He took a day or two off to go watch
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: his daughter play. was, is that right? Am I remembering
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: this correctly? A win a basketball state championship. Um, and
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: you saw like a video, some fan must've taken a
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: video of him kind of celebrating, uh, that moment. And,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: you know, you see him being a dad and just
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: like celebrating his kids, uh, big moment that, you know,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: anyone that's a dad and that has kids playing sports
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: or whatever it may be, it understands that feeling. And it's,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: It's cool to see this human side of Craig Council
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: who is very buttoned up in post-game, pre-game interviews can
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: sometimes seem, I think fans sometimes misread some of those
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: comments where he has like this dry sense of humor
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: or just very matter-of-factly they think he's being rude or
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: curt with us. And I just like, I never really
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: feel it that much. Yeah, sometimes he gets annoyed by
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: certain questions, but he has a dry sense of humor.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: You don't, You see him in the dugout. He's, there
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: are moments where you see emotion in the dugout. I
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: think the biggest moments you'll see sometimes like a, you know,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: a little bit of a fist bump after a big
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: out or, uh, a grumpy face after a big home
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: run hit by the opposition, whatever it may be. Um,
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: exasperated face may be the, the correct description there. Uh,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: but to see him like really in the middle of
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: that was kind of cool. And it's like, this guy's
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: won two world series, been in the middle of two
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: huge world series wins. Uh, and, and that's kind of
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: how it looked like him celebrating with his team. Uh,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: I like that. And, and you talk about like this
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: togetherness and you talk about like a team that's willing
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: to do whatever, like, uh, Dansby Swanson came back yesterday.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Pedro Ramirez has been great playing every day. Of course,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: Pedro Ramirez is just going to be like, yep, I'm,
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: I'm on the bench now and I'm a utility guy
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: and I'll take any role.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: He's a rookie and that should be his mentality anyways,
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: but there's no like thought that he's going to cause
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: a stink in the clubhouse. Pitchers have been moved to
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: all sorts of different roles. So starting pitchers move back
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: and forth. David Peterson moved out of the rotation, back
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: in the rotation. Um, Colin Ray out of the rotation,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: guys have stepped up and there doesn't seem to be
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: any issue. Uh, David Peterson was asked about that the
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: other day and just basically says it starts with counsel.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: That's the mindset he instills. And it is. In spring training,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: we've heard this since he's been there. He's very straightforward
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: with these guys. There's no hiding the ball about what
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: your role is or what the expectations are. So when
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: the expectations are set like that and the manager basically
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: frames it in the sense like, look, we're going to
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: do whatever we can to win. Then this is the
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: best path we see to winning. I think most guys
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: will embrace that, especially when you're winning, uh, when you're
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: headed to the playoffs, when you have the, uh, past
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: that council does the, like the gravitas that council does.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: He comes in with like a lot of experience and
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: a lot of, uh, success as a manager. Um, he
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: needs to top it off with some extreme post-season success,
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: I guess, like make a world series, win a world series. But, uh,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: he has a lot of, uh, you know, people see
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: the resume and respect him immediately. And, uh, And I
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: think that's big for this team. It's worked well for
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: this team.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: I mean, this is the arc of like every council season. Granted,
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: there's only our second one here, but if you look
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: at generally, it's okay going to spring training. He's very
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: organized as a former player. There's a familiarity with the
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: players perspective and understanding the media. obligations, then adversity hits
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: in terms of all those pitching injuries. I think council
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: and the staff get credit for piecing things together and
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: problem solving on the fly.
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: And then once they hit a lull, it's like, are they, like,
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: do they need more fire?
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: Are they a little too comfortable? Where's the urgency? And
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: then the season's so long, inevitably it's momentum will shift
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: in a another direction or two or three or four. Um,
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: and I think that everyday mentality does make a difference
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: over the long haul.
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: They're a nice position. You'll see, you know, we're assuming
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: they're going to clinch in the next few days or
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: several days.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: Uh, you'll see that different side of council of him
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: just soaked in, in champagne and beer and everyone will
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: give him credit for, uh, you know, being able to,
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: maintain even keel amidst these highs and lows. And then bam,
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: it's the playoffs and every manager decision is either a
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: genius move or just a dumb decision. And then, you know,
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: the last manager standing, you know, gets hailed for all
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: these creative, innovative ideas and just feel for the moment.
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: And then the manager that.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: Loses, is constantly, constant reaction shots in the dugout. So
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: I think that is a thing with Council of just like,
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: can he win one as a manager the way he
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: did as players, twice as a player? And so he
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: becomes that central character again. I think sometimes.
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: The players, no doubt, deserve most of the attention, but
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: his moves are going to be magnified here real soon.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and with the bullpen that they have, they're going
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: to be extra magnified, right? Fair or unfair, if things
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: don't work, people are going to be like, you should
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: have gone to this guy, you should have gone to
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: this guy. It's just how it's going to be. The
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: answer probably is his hands were tied. He didn't have
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: very many great options. when you're the manager who's being
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: paid this much and, and like, you know, the way
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: you got here was highlighted in such a big deal.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: Those moves are going to be extra scrutinized. And I think, uh,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: there are going to be expectations fair or not of like,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: he has to be the creative pop problem solver in
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: these big moments. Uh, how does he figure things out
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: with this group that is clearly, uh, you know, not
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: in the best place heading into the playoffs, uh, we'll
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: see that they have, they have talent, they have pitching.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: Can he put the pieces in place to really like
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: execute in the biggest moments? That is his job. Uh,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: it's their job to execute, but he has to put
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: them in the, in the place to succeed. Uh, let's
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: see what happens. I'm, I, you know, I, obviously they
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: haven't clinched yet, but I, I think that's how he
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: uses his pitching staff in the postseason. It's going to be, uh,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: really fascinating. Uh, It'd be more interesting if they get
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: past that first round. How does he use it in
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: the longer series? Can he be creative enough to get
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: through some tough playoff matchups? Obviously, it's going to be tough.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: There's no such thing as an easy playoff matchup. All right.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: That's it for this week's episodes. Make sure to rate, review,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: subscribe to Northside Territory. Make sure to subscribe to the
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: YouTube channel and subscribe to The Athletic. where Patrick and
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: I are on top of all things Cubs. Thanks so
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: much for listening and watching, everyone.
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: Take care.