Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / The clubhouse scene as the Cubs clinched their playoff spot

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The clubhouse scene as the Cubs clinched their playoff spot · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory File Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
• 0:08
  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
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: have clinched. You were there in Pittsburgh. First playoff appearance
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: since twenty twenty. It'll be their first playoff appearance in
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: the twenty twenty, first one in front of fans since
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: twenty eighteen. Well, we'll see if they can lock down
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: home field advantage. They still have work to do, but
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: that you know, we talked about like how rowdy the
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: celebration would be if they if this very businesslike team.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Would would party. I figured they would.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: It's an opportunity to kind of let loose after putting
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: in all.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: That hard work.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: And we saw it, fans were likely watching it was
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: it looked like a pretty pretty fun celebrate. It tell
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: us what it was like in the middle there and
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: in some of the scenes that you saw.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was funny because this team is not a
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: hard partying team. It's not a very outwardly emotional team.
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: So while I didn't think they would just like you
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: go read a book or check their iPads or something
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: after the game. I was curious the extent to it,
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: Like those you you were around those teams in fifteen,
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: sixteen seventeen, just how like you're almost like animalistic.
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: It could be they were.
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: Just like bouncing off the walls, it felt like.
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: And you know, baseball has changed. Baseball is not.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: As much of a guys sitting around drinking beers at
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: their lockers after game discussing what happened that night.
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: Like this team is tight.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: Uh, they enjoy talking, but it's not as much of
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: an outwardly clubhouse nightly thing that I think some of
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: our older colleagues would have seen you almost every night
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: on almost every team. This team is more professional, and
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: Dansby made that point of especially for a group that's
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: this kind of focus and process oriented, it's important to
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: let loose a little bit and really savor these opportunities
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: that don't come around very often, and you have to
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: really remember the full scope of this season, like they
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: reported or open spring training on Super Bowl Sunday.
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: That's crazy.
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, when you kind of put it, put it that way,
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: and I think part of it too is Tuesday. It
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: was probably after after we recorded. I was just out
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: for a walk in Pittsburgh and right along that pedestrian
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: path next to the Allegheny River, I saw like three
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: Cub staffers walking to work. There is almost seven hours
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: before first pitch, and I know that, like that's just
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: their schedule, like they do it all the time. It's
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: not like the Cubs are more hard working than every
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: other team. It's just like for certain roles, certain jobs
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: in baseball, that's just the requirement and the expectation every
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: single day that it is just all consuming and relentless.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: And when I mentioned that to Council, he kind of
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: nodded and understood where I was going with the question
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: of like, yes, that's why you have to celebrate those moments.
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: It's because you.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: Know, there are people to make this team run. There
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: are people who don't wear a uniform, who are not
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: out on the field, who don't get all the glory.
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: But on a day like.
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: When when they're passing out victory cigars and dumping Budweisers
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: on each other and spraying champagne, like they feel connected
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: in a totally different way. And I think that is
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: kind of what hit me the most in Pittsburgh.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I gotta say it obviously I read everything you write,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: but I really enjoyed I really enjoyed the clinch piece
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: just because it you know, it wasn't just that day.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: You did a great job of summarizing what this season meant,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: like how long this season has been for this team,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: all the little, little and big things that have happened
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: this year. You touched on everything in there, and it
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: wasn't that can be overwhelming to try and pack in
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: all that information, but you did a good job of
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: like not overpacking it, but like getting every little.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: Bit of what this season, what happened.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: From the good, the bad, the sad with Rhino's passing,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: everything was in there, and it uh uh just really
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: all encompassing. And I do you know the people behind
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: the scenes, we see them a lot. Uh They're they're
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: doing They're constantly working like it's the smallest things, but
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: we always see them running around doing different things.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: And you're right.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: I think sometimes people don't realize how long these days
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: are and how difficult it can be to work beyond
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: the scenes and not get much recognition. Uh. I think
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: those people get love within the clubhouse, but absolutely they're not.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: I think council, I think I either saw it on
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Marquee or you. It was the quote in your piece
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: where he talked about like that, you know, we we're
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: the ones out on the field getting all the recognition
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: or in the dugout the recognition, and and they're actually
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: doing so much and this is their opportunity.
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: Uh It.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: It was nice to see a group that, you know,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: a little reserved kind of going nuts.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: They were.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure what scenes you saw, but Marquee caught
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: some fun stuff. I thought Kate Horton getting doused and
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: dance by Swanson like kind of screaming at him to
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: keep his composure, keep your composure as he was being
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: interviewed and getting doused and couldn't get words out. Daniel
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Palencia seemed to be enjoying himself quite a bit, and Pca,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: I guess is you know someone we expected to enjoy
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: himself and really have fun with that moment. Who did
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: you see as far as really what are some images
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: that stood out in the celebration?
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: I well, certainly Pete.
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: I'll have to pull it up here because I didn't
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: use a ton of it from him, but yeah, he was,
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: you know, shirtless, he had the eyebat black still sort
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: of smeared, yeah, fading on his face, and you know him,
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: he was, of course, just like bringing it back to
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: all the people who helped him get to this point,
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: the people behind the scenes, you know, doing all the work.
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: And I forget who. It may have been, our colleague
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: Mattie Lee, but she asked just the idea of like,
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: is this sort of what you pictured? He's like, I
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: didn't think it'd be this cold, and like he's sureless
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: in like, you know, the fan expands and my feet
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: are cold now it's creeping up towards my upper body,
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: and just like you could really tell how much he
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: is a part of the team that like I don't
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: know if little brothers quite the right way, but like
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: there are a lot of people who have looked out
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: for Pete and have had patience with Pete and supported
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: Pete in a lot of different ways. I thought it
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: was cool you saw different groups like come over here,
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: take a picture, so like I believe, like the starting
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: pictures and then like the strength trainer, strength coaches and
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: athletic trainers. Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts was there sort of
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: on the perimeter, just kind of taking it all in.
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: He had a like a Budweiser in hand, and like
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: the Cubs hat and the T shirt on, and yeah,
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: I got to give him credit as someone who for
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: being someone who doesn't like seek out the spotlight and
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: isn't like just showing up like oh yeah playoff spots
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: clinched like look at me, like I think he.
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: Just was taking it all in.
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: And there was a Jed Hoyer and a group of
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: front office officials. I think they were kind of like
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: flew in day in, day out just to kind of
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: be a part of that.
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: And then I'm.
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: Just trying to catalog here, like basically, the the smell
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: is probably what I remember most of just how awful
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: it smelled, like it'd take you back to of just
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: like Cooks and Andre, the cheap champagne, some various prosecco's,
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: and then just just the garbage, I mean just the
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: garbage bins just filled up to the brim. And then yeah,
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: like I said, just it was a little jarring is
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: too strong a word, but it wasn't quite surprising, but
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: it was just like off, you know how it is
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: we walk into the clubhouse before and after one of
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: us is there for almost every games, spring training we're there.
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: One of us is there every day, and it's just
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: such a mellow place, and that is the point of
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: that's kind of council viewpoint.
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: But as Nigo Horner explained.
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: One of council strengths as he lets the players shape it, like,
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: this is not like a Craig Council show.
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: This is what the players want.
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: They want more information, they like to stuck their opponent,
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: they like to get into the finer details of those
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: baseball y plays, and so that is the workplace every day.
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: I'm sure Jamison Towney admitted it. He's like, I know,
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: these quotes sound pretty boring, but this group is so
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: process oriented.
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: This is what we like.
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: That's what they that's the environment they wanted and have cultivated.
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: But when they clinched, that went just like totally out
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: the window. It was just you know, cigar smoke everywhere,
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: just the you know, champagne flying back and forth, people
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: just walking up, dumping beers on each other. Matt Matthew
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: Boyd's doing an interview and you know someone does the
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: you know.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah back of the shirt.
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, firepool just right down back. So uh definitely, it'd
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: be fun. It'd be fun to see kind of the
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: day after reactions, Uh, Thursday in Cincinnati. Back to that's
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: what Dansby said. I asked him kind of about this
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: whole idea of how you have to celebrate this group,
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: and he's saying, you know, we wanted so many different ways.
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: You know, this means lots of so many people. We
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: got to represent the logo. And then he just kind
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: of laughed. He's like, I'm back to work tomorrow. And
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: then it's just you can tell he was just kind
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: of like I caught him at the tail end after
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: they did the group photo on the outfield grass and
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: he was I was like, it was like, dang, you
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: got it just one second and he didn't hear me,
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: and then he kind of heard me turned around. He's like, yeah,
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: sure he came up, but you just tell he was
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: just kind of like almost drained. It was just like
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: that was like walking on the healed after a game.
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: They just partied for about forty five minutes to an hour,
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: and then obviously they had to catch a flight to Cincinnati,
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: and you just I was like, that was a lot
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: time on to Cincinnati, as I think Bill Belichick would say.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: Right right, and they have work to do they have.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: They're not done.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: It's not like they can just coast the next whatever, eleven,
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: twelve games, whatever it is, ten games.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: I believe, all right.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: It has been since twenty seventeen since they had one
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: of these celebrations. In eighteen, they didn't get to celebrate
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: because they didn't win the division and they were saving
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: it for that. There's one connection to that pass. Well,
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: we'll talk a little in half when we get back.
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• 13:22
  Speaker 1: So you talk about this team being very process oriented
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: and you know, sticking to what they know and really
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: digging into baseball and you.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: Know, being students of the game.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, not sure if there's a better
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: example than Ian Happ as far as sticking to the process.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: Is a guy that loves to quote his ex wOBA
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: when he gets a couple of blue pits, I'll give
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: him hell and say like that x wOBA was going down.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: But I mean he he joined. He was drafted in fifteen?
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: Am I remembering right? Patrick? He was drafted in fifteen?
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Was I believe in the batting cages with Andy Haynes
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: when they won the World Series in twenty sixteen and
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: showed up in seventeen and look, he didn't he got
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: an NLCS run, he and that was pretty much it
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: like a shortened playoff in eighteen that they didn't do much.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: They'd you know, eliminated very quickly. And then twenty twenty,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: if you want to count it, I don't think many
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: people really look at that as like a playoff season
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: in sixty games. It's been you talk about the you know,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: you have to cherish every moment of this and every
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: single time these things happened because you never know what
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: it's going to happen again.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: I think he's the perfect example.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: He probably thought this was going to be a regular
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: occurrence and it's been it's been eight years since he's
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: had an opportunity to really celebrate eight like this, and
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: I you know, go all out and then hopefully get
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: the chance to play playoff games in front of fans
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: at Wrigley Field, hap as.
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: You know, is great for kind of bouncing ideas off
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: of in terms of hey, do you remember this or
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: contextualizing this kind of moment in franchise history. And I
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: spoke to him Tuesday just to kind of work ahead
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: and kind of compare notes, because you were there in
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: twenty seventeen in DC after they eliminated the Nationals, and that,
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: to me, it wasn't when they won the Pennant or
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: the World Series in sixteen. The wild Card in fifteen
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: was pretty raucous, but very raucous. That night in DC
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: was just like sort of mind blowing. It was a
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: crazy game.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, series was insane y. Yeah, it was alway.
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: That short series and then they're gonna have that fast
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: turnaround to LA and I don't know if it was
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: partially to just the layout of the visiting clubhouse in DC,
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: but just felt like the cigar smoke and like just
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: the the heat, the the smells, it was just all there. Yeah,
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: really hard to escape. John Lesler gave an amazing interview.
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: I don't know if it was live TV, but they
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: were certainly rolling.
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: That.
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: They just they just had an absolute blowout that night,
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: and you know, it felt like the Cubs were really
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: kind of believing in their own mythology at that point
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: that just the way they won that series and just
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: their survival instincts, and it felt like like, hey, back
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: to the NLCS, you know, one step closer to another
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: World Series. And obviously it didn't didn't happen that way.
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: And going back to eighteen, they.
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: Did not.
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: Have a celebration when they clinched because it was kind
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: of later. They want to wait till they won the division.
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: I was thinking at one hand it was sort of
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: arrogance of like when we clinch, but it was also
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: a recognition of, like the Brewers behind them just kept winning.
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: And let's be honest, when you have one of those parties,
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: your lineup the next day, your kind of reservoir of
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: energy for the next game maybe isn't quite there, the
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: locked in focus, and so maybe you didn't want to
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: concede a day after the clinching game. But it was
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: a misopportunity. I think there's some regret there because they
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: didn't celebrate because they lost Game one sixty three, they
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: lost that wild card game. THEO says are offense broke
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: nineteen a disappointing year and end of an era. As
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: Joe Madden leaves, and then yeah, twenty twenty, because of
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: health and safety protocols, they could not do much. I
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: think even what they did, a sort of toast around
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: the really batting cage, is probably out of bounds per
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: the you know, MLB, MLBPA agreements. But that was certainly
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: not anything close to this. And then, long way of saying,
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: half remembers back in seventeen when they clinched in Saint Louis,
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: he said he remembers it very vividly of John Lackey
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: coming over him saying like, don't take this for granted.
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: I'm playing a long I've been playing this game a
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: long time. You never know when you're going to get back,
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: and so HAPs like I internalize that, I remembered that,
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: but still it's hard to not sort of think, look
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: around the room, be like, well, we got all these
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: all stars, if all these players under club control, they've
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: done it before, you think you're gonna be in the
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: mix every year, and it just doesn't.
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: Work that way.
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: Baseball is hard, as we all know. And I thought
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: that's why I was appropriate for him to sort of
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: address the team yesterday before they really did it up
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: in the clubhouse there.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and just as far as his performance on the field,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: I mean, he's at it again. He's red hot right now,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: and he's back to his numbers, and I you know,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: we've talked about his story before, but what what year
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: was it?
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: Twenty one? After?
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: It was after the twenty one, So twenty two he's
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: he's you know, he's the last remaining or one of
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: the few remaining players from that winning team, that winning group.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: He obviously wasn't there for the World Series, but he
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: was there. He was with these with these guys, and
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: he reinvented himself. He was known as this guy that
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: was all or nothing at the plate. He'd hit a
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: home run, or he'd strike out, or he'd walk and
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: and it just wasn't productive enough. And he closed up
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: a lot of holes. He improved his defense, made himself
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: a goal glove winner and left field, and he's doing
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: it again year after year. It's the same offensive numbers.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: His numbers are actually better this year. And you know,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: he'll tell you what his x WO is. He's having
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: one of his best seasons. If you look at that,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: he's hitting the crap out of the ball. There are
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: times when he hits the ball and I have to
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: look and his exit velocities aren't the highest of his career,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: but he's one of the hardest.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: He puts out the.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Hardest contact on this team pretty consistently. It's probably it's
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: not the hardest, but it's impressive how how consistent he
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: is with his hard contact.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: He hits the ball on the line a lot.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: I've been impressed with his bounce back this season, where
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: it looked like he was gonna have a semi down
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: season and nope, red hot to end the season. I'm
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: really curious to see how he does in October. He's
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: hot at the right time.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: He has.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: He's someone that can and maybe this I don't think
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: it's just an online thing. I think people are hard
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: on Ian Happ in this city. Cubs fans can be
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: hard on ianhap you know. I think this is his
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: opportunity to kind of make a name for himself among
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: Cubs fans and do something fun in October.
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: It'd be great for him to do that.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: You're right, he was the one that deserved to speak
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: to the team kind of gone from I mean, this
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: it's a normal progression, but you don't know what a
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: guy's gonna be as far as the leadership, and he's
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: kind of become that. Not always the outspoken leader, but
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: you know, he is someone that when it comes to process,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: it's sticking to that. Look, you're doing the right things,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: stick with it, don't overthink this, get back to the basics,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: do this, do that. You know, he's never going to
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: overthink it. He if he's doing the right things, he
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: will stick with it. And I think that's a good
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: example for young players especially, don't constantly tweak if if
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: the process is right. He's a great example of that.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: Like I said, I'm just really looking forward to see
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: what he can do in the playoffs because it would
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: be nice if he can kind of change that outside
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: narrative where some people think like I andhaps not that good.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: Oh he gets his numbers at the end of the year,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: but does he do anything clutch or anything like that.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: I don't think that's true, but it would be nice
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: to kind of erase that narrative and have him valued
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: for valued properly.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: Patrick.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: It's it's almost impossible to do a show now without
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: getting a Kyle Tucker update.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: So we will take a break and come back and
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: do that.
• 22:51
  Speaker 6: Krats, I'm gonna still a line right from the top
• 22:53
  Speaker 6: here about Meyundi's a cut for every butt. I took
• 22:59
  Speaker 6: a line that I feel like you would enjoy, but
• 23:01
  Speaker 6: then you stole my thunder with show and tell.
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: What do you have there.
• 23:06
  Speaker 7: Besides a huge Baduka dunk. This is my pair of
• 23:10
  Speaker 7: me Undies that I got. I'm not gonna show you
• 23:12
  Speaker 7: the other pair right now because I got them on.
• 23:14
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• 23:22
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• 23:43
  Speaker 6: That's me undies dot Com slash foul promo code foul
• 23:46
  Speaker 6: for up to fifty percent off me Undie's Comfort that's
• 23:50
  Speaker 6: made for fall.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, it sounds like Kyle Tucker is getting
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: a second opinion, and he probably is in Tampa going
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: through something there. Can you explain what's happening, How concerned
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: are the Cubs, how concerned should fans be? And and
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: what's h what are fint next steps here?
• 24:13
  Speaker 4: There definitely should be some concern. I think.
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: Look, I mean, the maaster of the team acknowledged that
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: because they are not making progress with this injury, they
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: are running out of days on the calendar, and he
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: left the club when they were on the verge of
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: clinching a playoff spot. Now that I think, you know,
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't read too much into that last one. I mean,
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: players have been very consistent in terms of what Tucker's
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: brought to the team in terms of like his energy
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: and just kind of how much he's in his element
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: in the clubhouse. But it it's very unw usual now
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: it's it makes sense to Tucker. It's not unconventional in
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: Tucker's mind, according to Council, because he's worked with this
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: physical therapist before.
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: He's from Tampa.
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: The facility or the organization is based in the Tampa area.
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: According to Council, when.
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: Tucker fractured his shin last year with the Astros, he
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: sought their help to get back and return at full
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: strength from that injury. So the idea is essentially it
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: was Tucker's idea, that's according to the council, to try
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: something different, to get a new set of eyes, to
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: take a different approach here with the hope of speeding
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: things up finding some sort of breakthrough. Tucker's expected to
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: rejoin the team next week in Chicago. I don't know
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: when that would be as an active player, but we've been,
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: you know, we've been kind of asking about this. It's
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: been like, oh, kind of in the same place, and
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: are you concern Well, you're concerned when you're not making progress.
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: And then.
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: Wednesday morning, when Counsel sat down in the visiting dugout
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: at P and C Park for his.
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: Daily pregame.
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: Media briefing, he started with, well, I have some news
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: and dropped that on us, And it was very surprising.
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: We talked about this last show or we've it feels
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: like we talked about it every show now. But like
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: the Cubs are always going to sort of underplay the
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: injuries any team would, they're going to frame it a
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: certain way. You're dealing with Tucker, who was a very
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: low key personality. You're dealing with Counsel who's very unemotional
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: about just about everything.
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: So you're kind of left to.
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: Interpret a lot of this stuff, and there was not
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: a whole lot of interpretation yesterday.
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: Like this is a.
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: Not totally unusual, Like pitchers do this a lot, you know,
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: particularly you know, they're lots. Yeah, like I think of
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: like you know, doctor, I think was a Keith Meister
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: works for the kind of the Rangers, like they have
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: like certain institutes or like all these players, whether it's
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: private hitting coaches or you know, off season strength coaches,
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: like they're you have to think of a player as
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: kind of their own corporation. They have lots of different
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: kind of consultants or experts or resources at their disposable
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: that are not all within kind of a US logo system.
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean you're just looking at how much
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: time is left. Like if he doesn't play in a
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: regular season game before the playoffs, I'd be like.
• 28:11
  Speaker 4: Almost a month layoff.
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and you're talking about a best of three series
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: where maybe you get one good pitch to hit every
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: at bat, Like those are the margins in the playoffs,
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: and like right now he's not in a good place.
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: He could get there.
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: He's an accomplished postseason player when he's right, one of
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: the best hitters in the game, but they're just not
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: there yet. I mean, thinking that he's going to be
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: a difference maker in October is kind of a leap
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: of faith at this point.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think it's yes, very obviously there
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: should be concern if you're a fan until you see
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: him out on the field, you know, you want to
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: see him in one of these Look if he's not
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: out there next weekend, so you know, at Wrigley the
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: final weekend I Wrigally against the Cardinals. Obviously, like you
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: have like all it's you know, the five alarm fire,
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: I guess is what you'd call it. And it's just
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: kind of a weird situation because this isn't some unless
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: I don't think this, This doesn't sound like it's misdiagnosed.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: It just sounds like he's not recovering properly. Maybe we'll
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: find out, maybe maybe there will be more information given
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: I don't know when council will have an update, uh,
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: but maybe there's more to know. But if it's like
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: he just isn't progressing, and that's kind of weird. But
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: also I guess not because sometimes muscle injuries it's just like, yeah,
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: this is lingering and maybe it needs longer rest, maybe
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: it needs a different type of treatment. Is that I
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: assume part of it is that he's going to get
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: treatment out there as well. Is there you know, who
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: knows what what the process will be and what he'll I.
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: Should also add that the cub set of medal of
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: a member of their medical slash training staff is going
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: to be accompanying Tucker during this time, presumably to give updates,
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: to coordinate whatever plans they have in mind, so that
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: so that he's ready and ready for the playoffs. Like
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: it's it's funny when you're saying like by next weekend,
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: like there's just not a lot of games leapt there
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: are not a lot of that bats to be had.
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: And the only thing I thought of while we were talking,
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: I mean, I guess like Kyle Schwarber didn't hit all
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: year and then he was the man in the World Series,
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: so it can be done. I mean, that was an
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: even worse injury and a way longer layoff.
• 30:56
  Speaker 4: But as we see, Kyle.
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: Schwarber's kind of a very special, unique individual in this sport.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna look it up
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: right now since we're gonna wrap up soon. But Kyle
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: Tucker came back from a much worse injury last year
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: and put Yeah. I don't know if he if that
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: happened right away or if it took a week ten days,
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: but his played like a seventy something game season last
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: year and was dominant. Uh so he's done it before
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: and with a worse injury, We'll see, we'll see where
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: he is.
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: He just needs to get on the field. Like but.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: That more in our next episode. But uh, they you
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: want to have Kyle Tucker. Obviously I'm not virtual there.
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: Get get Kyle Tucker healthy, get him on the field.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: I guess is the biggest the biggest concern going forward
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: right now?
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: When will Kyle Tucker return?
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening to everyone. This is Northside Territory.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: Athletic where Patrick and I are on top of all
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: things Cubs. Thanks everyone,