Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / With best record in NL, Cubs keep taking care of business

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With best record in NL, Cubs keep taking care of business · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:04
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
0:09
Speaker 1: Sadev 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: remain red hot. Really seven series wins in a row.
0:22
Speaker 1: They you know, they've just played twenty one games against
0:26
Speaker 1: teams under five hundred. Coming into it, we talked about this,
0:30
Speaker 1: this is a time to kind of clean up, try
0:33
Speaker 1: and you know, build a bigger lead, try and get
0:37
Speaker 1: x games over five hundred, whatever it may be. Fourteen
0:41
Speaker 1: and seven would have been like a nice base Okay,
0:44
Speaker 1: this is a good stretch of games. You've in theory
0:48
Speaker 1: you win every series. In that scenario, you could have
0:53
Speaker 1: handled like one sweep, one series loss. They didn't lose
0:57
Speaker 1: a series, and they went sixteen and five with two
1:00
Speaker 1: sweeps in there of arguably the two worst teams in
1:03
Speaker 1: baseball and the White Sox and the Rockies. If you
1:06
Speaker 1: want to point to a week record for or a
1:10
Speaker 1: week schedule and an inflated record, I mean, that's your prerogative,
1:14
Speaker 1: but this is what you're supposed to do. You got
1:17
Speaker 1: to play the schedule in front of you and the
1:19
Speaker 1: Cubs did really well during this stretch of play.
1:23
Speaker 2: May it be wrong to down play this or dismiss
1:27
Speaker 2: it just because they're playing some bad teams. I don't
1:30
Speaker 2: think the Nationals are like a terrible team by any means.
1:34
Speaker 3: They have some real nice pieces.
1:37
Speaker 2: And look the last couple of years, we've seen this
1:40
Speaker 2: where the Cubs, you know, lose the series in Miami.
1:43
Speaker 2: I think they might have lost the series in DC
1:46
Speaker 2: a couple of years ago, and it was still early,
1:48
Speaker 2: like there was a ton of time left and they
1:50
Speaker 2: were already kind of like that could really come back
1:53
Speaker 2: to haunt us, and it did. And we've seen how,
1:57
Speaker 2: you know, close the margins are when you're trying to
2:01
Speaker 2: make the playoffs. Now, back then they were more trying
2:04
Speaker 2: to like sneak in as an extra wild card.
2:08
Speaker 3: This division, they are controlling it. And also they kind.
2:14
Speaker 2: Of had to play at this clip when you look
2:16
Speaker 2: at the Cardinals, after doing like nothing all off season,
2:21
Speaker 2: are playing really well.
2:22
Speaker 3: The Brewers looked like, oh, here it is.
2:25
Speaker 2: This is the year the Brewers are finally gonna sort
2:27
Speaker 2: of recede. And maybe they do in the end, but
2:31
Speaker 2: they're a nice team. I think we both think the
2:35
Speaker 2: Reds have a lot of nice pieces. Hasn't figured it
2:38
Speaker 2: out yet. So the goal is it's something I said there,
2:46
Speaker 2: but they got read, all right, But this is what
2:53
Speaker 2: you have to do, Like this is what the twenty
2:56
Speaker 2: sixteen Cubs did. Teams that win their divisions, they clean
2:59
Speaker 2: up against the teams they're supposed to beat. And I
3:02
Speaker 2: know we'll get into this later, but it's also been
3:05
Speaker 2: a nice time to sort of figure out the pieces
3:08
Speaker 2: you have and let certain units, something of the bullpen,
3:13
Speaker 2: kind of stabilize and really get things to a good
3:18
Speaker 2: place for what will be two very difficult series here
3:21
Speaker 2: coming up.
3:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's remember the years twenty three, especially the bullpen
3:29
Speaker 1: would get overused by this. They're doing things in games,
3:33
Speaker 1: so I mean Wednesday's a good example of look they're not.
3:40
Speaker 1: It's a two nothing game, one nothing game, whatever it
3:42
Speaker 1: was at the time. Matthew Boyd was pitching really well.
3:45
Speaker 1: The offense just wasn't getting it done against Mackenzie Gore
3:48
Speaker 1: and you end up not using any of your best
3:50
Speaker 1: relievers in a two nothing lost. That's how you kind
3:53
Speaker 1: of want it to be sometimes if you're going to
3:55
Speaker 1: lose the game, Hey, you don't want to lose games,
3:59
Speaker 1: but you don't want the use up your best relievers.
4:02
Speaker 4: You got a.
4:02
Speaker 1: Really good outing for Matthew Boyd. The starting staff, isn't it.
4:08
Speaker 1: We've talked, We talked about this last episode. We're going
4:10
Speaker 1: to continue talking about it. They need to add to
4:12
Speaker 1: the starting staff.
4:13
Speaker 4: But they they did.
4:16
Speaker 1: They have really good pieces, like a nice foundation for
4:20
Speaker 1: really good staff.
4:21
Speaker 4: So it's not like it isn't.
4:23
Speaker 1: As if this this staff is devoid of talent. Jamison
4:26
Speaker 1: Tyne has been great, probably one of the lesser talked
4:30
Speaker 1: about stories of this season because it's just so quietly consistent,
4:36
Speaker 1: the way he goes out there, stabilizing force in the rotation,
4:41
Speaker 1: a really great clubhouse guy and leader among that staff.
4:45
Speaker 4: Matthew Boyd just been amazing. What is signing fantastic?
4:50
Speaker 1: Just a brilliant signing there. It kind of was one
4:54
Speaker 1: of those things like if he's healthy, he's going to
4:56
Speaker 1: be good. But the healthy part was such a big thing.
4:59
Speaker 1: And this this stretch is really look at. We'll see
5:03
Speaker 1: how good the bullpen is. They're not this good because
5:06
Speaker 1: people like Brad Keller, Drew Pomerantz, Chris Flexen, there's someone
5:12
Speaker 1: else that they just haven't given up tailed Fieldbar. They
5:16
Speaker 1: haven't given up a run in like a month. Any
5:19
Speaker 1: of those guys, that's not going to happen. That's not
5:22
Speaker 1: going to They're not Chris Flexen and Drew Pomerance aren't
5:25
Speaker 1: gonna have zero e ra as. But they're clearly very
5:28
Speaker 1: good relievers right now. All these guys are really effective.
5:32
Speaker 1: The Cubs went from having all these questions about lefties
5:35
Speaker 1: to two really good lefties in their bullpen right now.
5:39
Speaker 1: And remember this is all without Porter Hodge. Porter Hodge,
5:42
Speaker 1: who we thought entering the season like this is probably
5:46
Speaker 1: their best reliever, and he's been on the injured list
5:49
Speaker 1: during this for the majority of this stretch of play.
5:53
Speaker 1: They've they've really stabilized. They didn't even bring up Daniel Palencia.
5:58
Speaker 1: The group is stabilized. It looks it looks like a
6:00
Speaker 1: really solid group with a ton of depth, so much
6:03
Speaker 1: depth that they're able to DFA Tyson Miller. I think,
6:06
Speaker 1: I think Jed Hoyer, the organization as a whole, I
6:12
Speaker 1: think Craig Council gave them some love a couple uh
6:15
Speaker 1: maybe last week when when they were in town and
6:17
Speaker 1: we were asking questions. The whole organization deserves some love
6:21
Speaker 1: for their their pitching infrastructure.
6:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, look at we're at the first full
6:29
Speaker 2: weekend of June, past the Memorial Day marker, and the
6:32
Speaker 2: Cubs have the best record in the National League, a
6:37
Speaker 2: plus one hundred and six run differential, a five game
6:44
Speaker 2: lead in a division that's been better than we've anticipated.
6:50
Speaker 2: Like all of the indicators are strong, and there are
6:57
Speaker 2: obvious question marks. Well, we'll talk about the rotation like
7:02
Speaker 2: every week until the season's over, Like that is just
7:06
Speaker 2: one of those areas that you never quite feel like
7:10
Speaker 2: you have enough. But all the other stuff, like you
7:14
Speaker 2: kind of have to, you know, judge this against your
7:18
Speaker 2: expectations coming into the year. You have to judge it
7:20
Speaker 2: against kind of the rest of the playing field that
7:24
Speaker 2: you're competing against.
7:25
Speaker 3: And this has been.
7:28
Speaker 2: Just a fantastic start and what you know, I think,
7:32
Speaker 2: by all accounts, is just one of those special type
7:36
Speaker 2: of seasons. I mean, that's just kind of you can
7:39
Speaker 2: feel the momentum at Wrigley I think you had that
7:41
Speaker 2: Wrigley Field is rocking headline. Like a couple weeks in,
7:45
Speaker 2: we've written about kind of the vibes in the clubhouse,
7:48
Speaker 2: the chemistry, the camaraderie, I think that is winning obviously helps,
7:56
Speaker 2: but that's a big.
7:56
Speaker 3: Part of it.
7:57
Speaker 2: And then to your point of organization, like they're supposed
8:01
Speaker 2: to be good now, like this rebuild really sort of
8:06
Speaker 2: started what was the end of twenty nineteen of behind
8:11
Speaker 2: the scenes kind of overhauling baseball operations, scouting, player development,
8:18
Speaker 2: you know, major league manager and coaching staff like you
8:23
Speaker 2: a couple down seasons, you collect draft picks so that
8:27
Speaker 2: you can have a Cad Horton come in and help
8:30
Speaker 2: your rotation, or you know, to have Matt Shaw as
8:34
Speaker 2: an everyday third basement, which again, like you said, is
8:37
Speaker 2: a reflection of player development, because he looked in survival mode,
8:42
Speaker 2: he looked defensive. He did not look that comfortable when
8:45
Speaker 2: he was sent down in the middle of April, and
8:47
Speaker 2: now he's back and really thriving as a nice two
8:52
Speaker 2: way player at the one spot where they needed a
8:54
Speaker 2: guy like that step forward.
8:56
Speaker 4: Yeah, real quickly.
8:57
Speaker 1: You talked about Matt Shaw there, and it made I
9:00
Speaker 1: think part of I'm going to write about Matt Shaw
9:03
Speaker 1: and just how this how the lineup is kind of
9:05
Speaker 1: complete with him there, and and what what that means
9:09
Speaker 1: to me is, uh, no one has to know you
9:13
Speaker 1: don't need one or two players to carry the offense.
9:16
Speaker 1: Look at how much I half struggled when he first
9:19
Speaker 1: came back from the IL, and then look at how
9:22
Speaker 1: he looks the past few games. He looks like a
9:24
Speaker 1: different player. He can carry this team for for a
9:27
Speaker 1: week or two if need be, but he doesn't have
9:29
Speaker 1: to do it for six months. Kyle Tucker can have
9:31
Speaker 1: a slump like he did and get back like kind
9:34
Speaker 1: of you know.
9:35
Speaker 4: Whatever was going on.
9:36
Speaker 1: He can be on the shelf for three games to
9:39
Speaker 1: what however long he was out for, and and then
9:43
Speaker 1: come back and and impact the game significantly.
9:47
Speaker 3: Uh.
9:48
Speaker 4: It's it's a really deep talented lineup. Uh.
9:51
Speaker 1: And and actually, let's let's touch on that real quick.
9:54
Speaker 1: Let's let's get to our arena club player spotlight. Patrick Patrick.
10:02
Speaker 1: The player we're gonna spotlight as someone we probably should
10:05
Speaker 1: have been talking about a little bit more and we haven't.
10:08
Speaker 1: We probably take him for granted. Nico Horner. Nico Horner
10:14
Speaker 1: is had a you know, he didn't have a down
10:18
Speaker 1: year last year because by the end of the season
10:20
Speaker 1: his numbers look like they always do, but he was
10:23
Speaker 1: playing hurt for the majority of that year. He didn't
10:27
Speaker 1: look like himself at times. And one thing that I
10:31
Speaker 1: think we all noticed was he wasn't getting that big
10:34
Speaker 1: hit like he normally does, and this year that's absolutely
10:40
Speaker 1: not the case. Get this, he's hitting four thirteen with
10:44
Speaker 1: runners in scoring position his I mean, that's I believe
10:49
Speaker 1: I just saw that was fifth in baseball. That's fifth
10:51
Speaker 1: in baseball. That's actually fourth, tied with Freddie Freeman. He's
10:55
Speaker 1: behind Will Smith, Aaron Judge, Jacob Wilson, who's a really
10:58
Speaker 1: talented rookie with that let and tied with Freddy Freeman.
11:03
Speaker 1: He has I think I saw a lot of people
11:05
Speaker 1: saw this on the Marquee Bought broadcast. He's currently tied
11:10
Speaker 1: for the most hits in baseball with runners in scoring
11:13
Speaker 1: position right behind him his PCA and Sayas and Zuki. So,
11:18
Speaker 1: I mean, just incredible what he's doing. And that's not
11:23
Speaker 1: even that doesn't even talk about how he you know,
11:28
Speaker 1: his defense and how valuable he is there.
11:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I'm glad we have him in this
11:34
Speaker 2: segment because I feel like he's someone we need to
11:38
Speaker 2: write about soon, someone we.
11:39
Speaker 3: Have not talked about.
11:43
Speaker 2: As much just because there have been so many good
11:46
Speaker 2: things happening around this season. But part of it is
11:48
Speaker 2: you need players to hit those top end projections, and
11:53
Speaker 2: that was something that when the Cubs looked at these
11:56
Speaker 2: last couple of years of like twenty twenty three was
12:01
Speaker 2: a nice surprising surge, in part because Nico had a
12:06
Speaker 2: five point five WAR season per Baseball Reference, and now
12:10
Speaker 2: last year he had a good season, but three point
12:13
Speaker 2: seven WAR, and a lot of it is kind of
12:16
Speaker 2: tied up, you know, as you say, in defense, sort
12:21
Speaker 2: of base running, and when he's not getting that big
12:24
Speaker 2: hit and having that impact offensively, the Cubs feel it.
12:27
Speaker 2: And now it just feels like he's the perfect complimentary
12:32
Speaker 2: player for this group. Watching him and Dansby, we probably
12:38
Speaker 2: take it for granted. It's just like ground ball hit
12:41
Speaker 2: to the middle of the field, double play, and that's
12:43
Speaker 2: something that frustrates, you know, coaches and managers and pitchers
12:47
Speaker 2: when those things don't get turned. But the Cubs just
12:51
Speaker 2: make it look easy because of their up the middle combination,
12:57
Speaker 2: and really, I think you see Niko. I think we
13:00
Speaker 2: said it at the time, Nico would have been like
13:02
Speaker 2: that perfect hitter for the post twenty sixteen Cubs. Like
13:07
Speaker 2: seventeen eighteen, he got off his parents couch in twenty
13:11
Speaker 2: nineteen and made a cameo appearance, But like absolutely has
13:18
Speaker 2: those battball contact skills.
13:21
Speaker 3: That was a missing element.
13:25
Speaker 2: In those post championship years though, as THEO said, our
13:30
Speaker 2: offense broke. You need different types of hitters, and Nico
13:35
Speaker 2: is absolutely delivering in some really clutch moments for what
13:40
Speaker 2: might be the Nation League's best team.
13:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, he is an elite defender. Whether you're using the
13:46
Speaker 1: eye test, whether you're looking at the advanced numbers by DRS,
13:51
Speaker 1: he's third in baseball all positions. Wow outs above average,
13:56
Speaker 1: he's tied for ninth in all positions. So it's not
13:59
Speaker 1: it's not just it's it's advanced metrics, it's the eye test,
14:03
Speaker 1: it's talking to people around the league. Elite defender, really
14:06
Speaker 1: fun run, fun player in that sense, but tremendously underrated.
14:11
Speaker 1: I think we've talked about that, even when we did
14:13
Speaker 1: the All quarter century team. I just feel like he's undervalued.
14:16
Speaker 1: I think we watch him so much and it's like, oh, yeah,
14:19
Speaker 1: this guy saves runs every day. I'd really like to
14:22
Speaker 1: watch him in the postseason because I wonder if that
14:24
Speaker 1: that like clutch gene translates in October, it'll be fun
14:29
Speaker 1: to see see what happens there. All right, Patrick, let's
14:32
Speaker 1: open our arena clubs flab pack. See what player we got,
14:38
Speaker 1: what card we got obviously hoping for Peak arm Strong.
14:42
Speaker 1: Let's get Peak Armstrong. Let's see what is it? Okay,
14:48
Speaker 1: it's it's Jack Centurio. Cubs fans, the the nice thing
14:56
Speaker 1: about arena club is is you can trade this, can
15:00
Speaker 1: trade his card and and go get your h Go
15:03
Speaker 1: get your Peak for Armstrong or Nico Horner or or
15:06
Speaker 1: Matt Shaw signed rookie card, whatever you want. Uh there
15:10
Speaker 1: there are ways to to get that done. Trade for uh,
15:15
Speaker 1: your your favorite player, your favorite card.
15:19
Speaker 4: Uh.
15:19
Speaker 1: But Jack Centurio, I think Cubs fans, you're gonna you're
15:23
Speaker 1: gonna be seeing a.
15:24
Speaker 4: Lot of him. Uh.
15:26
Speaker 1: The Brewers are back, like we mentioned before, they're they're
15:29
Speaker 1: back in this.
15:29
Speaker 4: They're not going anywhere.
15:31
Speaker 1: Uh So you're you're gonna have to get used to seeing,
15:35
Speaker 1: uh seeing Jackson Curio and and uh whatever frustrations he
15:39
Speaker 1: may bring, because he's he's an incredibly talented player on
15:42
Speaker 1: a team that's trying to make some noise.
15:45
Speaker 4: And then el Central.
15:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, and and when you think about pe Crow Armstrong,
15:51
Speaker 2: you know why the Cubs, you know, wanted to lock
15:54
Speaker 2: him up before his breakout season. The Brewers, under different circumstances,
15:59
Speaker 2: were able to do that with Trio. That's why Cubs
16:01
Speaker 2: fans are going to see him for a long time,
16:05
Speaker 2: eight year, eighty two million dollar deal before his first
16:09
Speaker 2: at bat in the majors. The agreement it could be
16:14
Speaker 2: worth one hundred and thirty million over ten seasons. And
16:18
Speaker 2: that's part of why the Brewers are so annoying to
16:25
Speaker 2: Cubs fans and Cubs personnel is that they do seem
16:31
Speaker 2: to think ahead. They're able to identify young talent, put
16:37
Speaker 2: him in the right positions and.
16:40
Speaker 3: Kind of keep that roster churn going.
16:44
Speaker 2: We've seen the Brewers sort of change their identity over
16:49
Speaker 2: the years. They've become way more athletic and defensive oriented,
16:56
Speaker 2: and obviously Jackson.
16:58
Speaker 3: Is just a huge part of that.
17:02
Speaker 2: As Milwaukee, as much as Cubs fans wanted to burry them,
17:07
Speaker 2: they got off to a bad start here. We are
17:10
Speaker 2: heading into the weekend thirty four and twenty nine, five
17:14
Speaker 2: and a half games out, and the playoffs on Baseball
17:18
Speaker 2: Reference have that forty four point five percent, which is
17:22
Speaker 2: pretty good considering how dire it looked for them very
17:25
Speaker 2: early in the season.
17:29
Speaker 1: Patrick, I was a big card collector as a kid,
17:33
Speaker 1: and I feel like this slab packs here Arena club
17:36
Speaker 1: kind of mixes the old school with the new generation
17:40
Speaker 1: and technology. You kind of get that childhood vibe of
17:44
Speaker 1: opening a pack, but it's it's in front of you
17:48
Speaker 1: on your computer. You can also have them send the
17:51
Speaker 1: card to you when you get this. When you open
17:55
Speaker 1: a slab pack right now, you can get twenty percent
17:57
Speaker 1: off your first lab pack or card purchase by going
17:59
Speaker 1: to a arenaclub dot com slash foul and use the
18:03
Speaker 1: code foul. Again, that's arenaclub dot com. Slash foul and
18:07
Speaker 1: use the code foul. All right, Patrick, That's not what
18:13
Speaker 1: I wanted to do. Uh all right, Patrick?
18:17
Speaker 2: Uh?
18:18
Speaker 1: Three against the Tigers best record in baseball. I believe
18:24
Speaker 1: that's still true. Just a remarkable season for them so far,
18:31
Speaker 1: our buddy Scott Harris having you know, I thought they
18:35
Speaker 1: were going to take a like kind of step back
18:38
Speaker 1: this season after that amazing run that they had into
18:44
Speaker 1: the postseason last year, that kind of shocking run into
18:47
Speaker 1: the postseason, and now and now here they are the
18:51
Speaker 1: best team in baseball with the I guess, inarguably.
18:57
Speaker 4: The best pitcher in baseball.
18:58
Speaker 1: I don't know what the debate would be because Derek
19:01
Speaker 1: Scoble looks like he's about to win. You know, we're
19:05
Speaker 1: in early June still, but he's the heavy favorite to win.
19:08
Speaker 1: Another Cy Young kind of emerging as a picture of
19:12
Speaker 1: a generation right now, and the Cubs have to face
19:14
Speaker 1: him Friday.
19:15
Speaker 4: Quite the test to kick off this series.
19:18
Speaker 1: They did just split a series with the White Sox,
19:21
Speaker 1: so maybe they're not invincible, but that doesn't mean this
19:25
Speaker 1: won't be easy.
19:26
Speaker 4: I mean this will be easy. It's going to be.
19:28
Speaker 1: A tough series for the Cubs, and it kicks off
19:30
Speaker 1: a really hard stretch of a ton currently a ton
19:36
Speaker 1: of winning teams that they're going to be playing after
19:38
Speaker 1: this easier stretch, and they cleaned up on it.
19:41
Speaker 4: That's why it was such a big deal.
19:42
Speaker 1: Now you got, you know, really tough teams starting with
19:45
Speaker 1: Detroit and then Philly.
19:48
Speaker 5: Yeah.
19:48
Speaker 2: And I don't think you need to overreact one way
19:50
Speaker 2: or the other, like if they win to series or
19:53
Speaker 2: if they lose five of six here, but I do
19:55
Speaker 2: think it's valuable information. I go back to the West
20:00
Speaker 2: Coast trip in April, and you didn't quite know what
20:03
Speaker 2: the Cubs had. They were still kind of figuring things
20:06
Speaker 2: out and and I think this will give them a
20:09
Speaker 2: ton of good information.
20:12
Speaker 3: On their bullpen. I think it'll be fun to see
20:17
Speaker 3: p Crow Armstrong and Jave Baias on the same field. Obviously,
20:23
Speaker 3: that'll be an obvious storyline.
20:25
Speaker 2: And our buddy John Greenberg and The Athletic had a
20:28
Speaker 2: good column that posted Friday just on the relationship between
20:32
Speaker 2: Cubs President Jed Hoyer and his Detroit counterpart Scott Harris, who.
20:39
Speaker 3: Uh, you know, really.
20:42
Speaker 2: Made a mark in Chicago's front office as kind of
20:45
Speaker 2: the the young whiz kid who like was available around
20:50
Speaker 2: the clock whatever Jed and THEO needed, had really strong
20:56
Speaker 2: relationships in the clubhouse, in the front office, and learned
21:00
Speaker 2: a lot by working at Wrigley Field, earned his World
21:04
Speaker 2: Series ring, and is now has really kind of merged
21:08
Speaker 2: what was some really nice players that the previous regime had,
21:12
Speaker 2: you know, acquired, but it didn't quite fit together. And
21:16
Speaker 2: now you have our buddy Cody for the Athletic as well.
21:20
Speaker 2: It's done a really nice job of kind of explaining
21:22
Speaker 2: what the Tigers do and it's you know, kind of
21:27
Speaker 2: some old school ideas and also very new school substitution patterns,
21:32
Speaker 2: whether it's uh, you know, the pitching chaos they unleashed
21:36
Speaker 2: last October heavy on the platoon matchups, really trying to
21:41
Speaker 2: maximize each roster spot and take advantage of matchups. So
21:48
Speaker 2: I think in that sense too, I think inning and
21:52
Speaker 2: inning it'll be fun to watch and see how that unfolds.
21:57
Speaker 1: That when when you talk about that, playing the matchups
21:59
Speaker 1: and things like that, they they have a really good
22:02
Speaker 1: offense and I'm looking at their these like their players,
22:08
Speaker 1: all of them are above average offensively.
22:10
Speaker 4: There's no like pure superstar. Maybe Riley Green's bordering on.
22:14
Speaker 1: That, uh, but but they don't have this like dominant
22:18
Speaker 1: MVP force like Kyle Tucker or Pete Grew Armstrong, but
22:23
Speaker 1: they all it's just an incredibly deep lineup and and
22:26
Speaker 1: it it's almost like it's I don't think it's as
22:30
Speaker 1: random as that that twenty twenty one Giants team that
22:34
Speaker 1: Scott Harris was GM of, that that team played matchups
22:39
Speaker 1: like every single game, and it was constantly a chess match,
22:43
Speaker 1: and it was, uh, it was really tough to arguably
22:48
Speaker 1: impossible to rep replicate because of the human element. I
22:51
Speaker 1: remember talking to some people about this. You have to
22:54
Speaker 1: have buy in to make that work. They they got
22:57
Speaker 1: that and it was working. It was working. And if
23:00
Speaker 1: one thing, one platoon doesn't work, suddenly someone gets upset
23:04
Speaker 1: and it's like I should be playing against lefties. Uh
23:07
Speaker 1: and and and it throws off the whole whole rhythm
23:10
Speaker 1: of it. But this is I don't think that's purely
23:13
Speaker 1: what they're doing on offense with the Tigers, but they're
23:15
Speaker 1: certainly a J. Hinch is a good manager and knows
23:19
Speaker 1: what he's doing with that stuff.
23:20
Speaker 4: Uh.
23:21
Speaker 1: Scott Harris has put I mean, you got to give
23:23
Speaker 1: him credit. He's put together a solid team here. And
23:25
Speaker 1: I think the pitching is is you know Schooble and
23:28
Speaker 1: the pitching and uh, this is this is a really
23:32
Speaker 1: talented team. I did not I did not see this coming.
23:37
Speaker 1: I'm a little surprised by it. But it's it's there's
23:40
Speaker 1: there's a lot of good things happening here. Uh and
23:43
Speaker 1: and you know what, some of their top draft picks
23:46
Speaker 1: are finally living up.
23:47
Speaker 3: You need that.
23:48
Speaker 1: It looked like they had a couple of bus or
23:51
Speaker 1: or injury prone guys and now Casey Mais and Spencer
23:54
Speaker 1: Torkleson are both key key pieces to their success. I
23:59
Speaker 1: what you said at the start, I think is important
24:02
Speaker 1: for Cubs fans to remember they're going to start losing
24:07
Speaker 1: some series.
24:08
Speaker 4: There's going to be a stretch of struggles.
24:11
Speaker 3: Yeah.
24:12
Speaker 1: Do you want them to go sixteen and five in
24:14
Speaker 1: their next twenty one again, yes that Cubs fans want that,
24:18
Speaker 1: and it would be amazing if they could pull that off.
24:21
Speaker 1: If they're hovering, if June is a month where they're
24:25
Speaker 1: just a game or two above five hundred or hovering
24:29
Speaker 1: around five hundred for the month, I think you'll take that.
24:32
Speaker 1: Looking at what this is, what was it twenty six
24:35
Speaker 1: and twenty seven. That's insane. If that's right, that's twenty
24:38
Speaker 1: six and twenty seven days. I think that's right. That's
24:41
Speaker 1: a lot of baseball. It's really good teams. I think
24:45
Speaker 1: currently the only under five hundred team that they play
24:48
Speaker 1: in that.
24:48
Speaker 4: Stretch is Pittsburgh.
24:50
Speaker 1: It's just a they're going to probably face Paul Schemes
24:54
Speaker 1: in that series. Just an incredibly tough run. But it
24:59
Speaker 1: also preps you for October. I'm not saying, uh, this
25:03
Speaker 1: is any I'm not saying anything other than it's they're
25:05
Speaker 1: they're playing some tough teams. Uh, they they have to
25:08
Speaker 1: they have to perform. Well, you don't want them to
25:10
Speaker 1: get their buttskicked every other game. But I think it's
25:13
Speaker 1: a nice test and it's and they they got they're
25:16
Speaker 1: they're getting healthy. We mentioned Porter Hodge, he's he should
25:20
Speaker 1: be coming back soonish. I think he just threw a
25:22
Speaker 1: bullpen showed in Managa.
25:25
Speaker 4: Uh is he threw what a live BP the other day?
25:32
Speaker 1: And so now when when you get there that now
25:35
Speaker 1: we're talking about game action stuff, rehab action rail rehab games.
25:39
Speaker 1: I don't think these guys assuming no setbacks, These guys
25:42
Speaker 1: aren't too far off. Those are two key pieces of
25:45
Speaker 1: the team. You get them back during this stretch, gets
25:50
Speaker 1: keep getting healthy. This this team, uh, this team you
25:53
Speaker 1: know looks looks imposing. I think this is a nice
25:57
Speaker 1: test in June for them, and it will also get
26:00
Speaker 1: had more information as to what you know, what exactly
26:02
Speaker 1: do we need? Is it more than what we thought,
26:04
Speaker 1: like little the little things like we mentioned last episode
26:07
Speaker 1: about like do they need to get a righty bench back?
26:10
Speaker 1: Things like that, like you get more information on that
26:12
Speaker 1: against really good teams.
26:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, just as these days fall off the calendar, you know,
26:17
Speaker 2: stuff is going to happen, and so if you're in
26:21
Speaker 2: Jed's position, say, okay, who's healthy By the time we
26:25
Speaker 2: get to the beginning of July.
26:29
Speaker 3: You know, I'm just looking. The Brewers have won nine
26:32
Speaker 3: of their last ten games.
26:33
Speaker 2: The Cardinals had that surge to get back, you know,
26:38
Speaker 2: nicely above five hundred, and yet both of those clubs
26:44
Speaker 2: are five at least five games out of first place.
26:48
Speaker 3: So like the Cubs have maybe withstood.
26:52
Speaker 2: You know, the the hot streak from their division rivals
26:57
Speaker 2: and that they can probably afford to lose, you know,
27:02
Speaker 2: a couple series here, now that that's what they're setting
27:05
Speaker 2: out to do. But they've just they just built the
27:08
Speaker 2: cushion that they have not had over the previous couple years.
27:13
Speaker 2: And so they'll they'll be tested, they'll gain more insight,
27:20
Speaker 2: see who's healthy who's not. I think obviously Showeda's return
27:24
Speaker 2: will be one of those dates we circle on the
27:27
Speaker 2: calendar to make sure he has no setbacks and to see,
27:32
Speaker 2: you know, just how he feels coming back out there,
27:35
Speaker 2: because he had said he had never really dealt with
27:39
Speaker 2: something like this before.
27:40
Speaker 3: Obviously it's not.
27:40
Speaker 2: An arm injury, but just you know, you see show
27:43
Speaker 2: to how he pitches, how really any effective pitcher performs.
27:49
Speaker 2: It's you have to use kind of the lower half.
27:52
Speaker 2: It's rhythm, it's timing, it's feel, and you know, this
27:56
Speaker 2: is kind of the first time where you know, showed
28:00
Speaker 2: a uh hasn't been that rock for the team. You know,
28:04
Speaker 2: he showed up. We had no idea what he's gonna expect.
28:06
Speaker 2: Then he was just like awesome from the jump. He
28:08
Speaker 2: just kind of assumed he's gonna be like an All
28:11
Speaker 2: star Cy Young caliber pitcher, and he very well could
28:15
Speaker 2: end up there by the end of the year about
28:17
Speaker 2: what we you know, expected, But they've done a good
28:21
Speaker 2: nice job of weathering that, and we'll just see what
28:25
Speaker 2: else goes wrong and how they have to go fix that.
28:28
Speaker 3: But certainly they've shown a lot of resilience here.
28:31
Speaker 1: Let's take one more quick break and then and then
28:34
Speaker 1: wrap up the show.
28:36
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29:13
Speaker 4: Patrick.
29:13
Speaker 1: I just talking about show day and I just wanted
29:16
Speaker 1: to give some love to Kate Horton, who has not
29:21
Speaker 1: lost a game since coming Like they have not lost
29:25
Speaker 1: any of the games he's pitched in. I don't think, right, Yeah, yeah,
29:29
Speaker 1: that's remarkable to to lose your best pitcher, your best starter,
29:35
Speaker 1: and not collapse. This is after losing Justin Steele. I
29:42
Speaker 1: think I think Kate Horton deserves a ton of credit.
29:44
Speaker 4: He's he He pitched.
29:46
Speaker 1: Through this, this soft landing, you could say, learned a
29:51
Speaker 1: lot about himself, started using more of his arsenal.
29:56
Speaker 4: Uh.
29:56
Speaker 1: He looks legit, he looks really good. Believe I just
30:00
Speaker 1: thought there was a scoring change for his last start.
30:04
Speaker 1: So it was only one earned run. So I mean
30:07
Speaker 1: he's he's been brilliant. I think Cubs fans should you know,
30:13
Speaker 1: PCA gets a ton of headlines. Matt Shaw's looked really good,
30:17
Speaker 1: Michael Bush is a great young player. Add Kate Horton
30:21
Speaker 1: to the list. As far as I'm concerned, he looks.
30:24
Speaker 1: He deserves a ton of credit. And I think there's
30:27
Speaker 1: a lot of young talent. Didn't mention it, but Ben
30:30
Speaker 1: Brown gets to start today against Schooble, So there's another
30:34
Speaker 1: young guy that did he.
30:36
Speaker 4: Take a step forward? Let's see.
30:38
Speaker 1: I think this is this is a big start. You know,
30:40
Speaker 1: he's not going up against Schooble, so to say, he's
30:43
Speaker 1: facing the Tigers lineup, but it's a big start. You know,
30:47
Speaker 1: Scooble may shut down the Cubs offense. But however, however
30:51
Speaker 1: Brown does well, you know, just a little bit more
30:53
Speaker 1: as to like, how desperately do they need another starter
30:56
Speaker 1: and what level starter do they need?
30:59
Speaker 2: It feels like every start is a big start for
31:02
Speaker 2: Ben Brown of just like you know, him figuring out
31:07
Speaker 2: what works at this level. Uh, clearly the Cubs are
31:15
Speaker 2: going to be looking for more starting pitching. We'll see,
31:18
Speaker 2: like who gets healthy. I mean, to this point, the
31:21
Speaker 2: Cubs have not had that guy who's you know, knocked
31:26
Speaker 2: him out of the rotation. But obviously when they made
31:30
Speaker 2: this decision, you know, before the season started, of this
31:36
Speaker 2: is the guy who has a high ceiling, like let's
31:39
Speaker 2: kind of see what we got and maybe capture.
31:43
Speaker 3: You know, some of this talent. And it we've seen flashes,
31:46
Speaker 3: no doubt, we get why.
31:48
Speaker 2: They see it. And you know, Ben is an intelligent guy.
31:52
Speaker 2: I think he really cares about his craft. He's he's
31:56
Speaker 2: very thoughtful about how to go about it. I think
32:00
Speaker 2: he listens to some very well respected and knowledgeable veteran teammates.
32:05
Speaker 3: But you also have to put it.
32:07
Speaker 2: Together at some point, and you know, give length, particularly
32:13
Speaker 2: during this stretch. I think he said it was twenty
32:15
Speaker 2: six and twenty seven, Like can't be having like the
32:20
Speaker 2: three year inning starts.
32:21
Speaker 3: Or four inning non competitive starts.
32:24
Speaker 2: It's like, get some length, get into a rhythm, and
32:30
Speaker 2: you know they're gonna need more for him, just because
32:33
Speaker 2: like eventually Kate Horton's gonna get like lit up one start, right,
32:37
Speaker 2: I mean, like not that he's been dominant, but like
32:39
Speaker 2: he's been able to man like there's gonna be a
32:40
Speaker 2: start where he just doesn't have it, where he can't
32:43
Speaker 2: manage it, and he's gonna get knocked out early.
32:45
Speaker 3: And then you know, we'll see how he responds. But
32:47
Speaker 3: just like.
32:49
Speaker 2: You know, to get this team, to keep this team rolling,
32:53
Speaker 2: you're gonna need just some measure of consistency from Ben
32:58
Speaker 2: Brown because we don't know, you know, how long can
33:05
Speaker 2: Matthew Boyd do this? Think as long as he's healthy,
33:07
Speaker 2: he's good. He's been great to this point. There is
33:11
Speaker 2: just you know, we all can look it up on
33:14
Speaker 2: Baseball Reference, like he has not pitched a full major
33:16
Speaker 2: league season in a while, and he's been pitching just
33:20
Speaker 2: at this fantastic level.
33:21
Speaker 3: Like is he going to regress a little bit?
33:23
Speaker 2: Jameson Tyne another guy that we probably haven't written about
33:27
Speaker 2: enough or talked about enough, which is absolutely solid. And
33:30
Speaker 2: that rotation, and yeah, we'll see how Counsel rolls with
33:35
Speaker 2: the openers as well. I think you are starting to
33:37
Speaker 2: see some of that Milwaukee imprint on this team in
33:42
Speaker 2: terms of how he goes about solving the puzzle each day.
33:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, this will be a nice test all around. Ulpen
33:50
Speaker 1: started pitching everything everything. We'll get more information and more
33:54
Speaker 1: understanding of where they stand. Obviously, I think we all.
33:57
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone denies that this is a really
33:59
Speaker 1: good offens. It feels like the bullpen has has settled
34:03
Speaker 1: in how good are they against really good teams?
34:05
Speaker 4: And then the starting pitching? What holds are exposed here?
34:08
Speaker 1: We'll see it over the next few weeks and have
34:11
Speaker 1: a lot more to talk about.
34:12
Speaker 4: All right, thanks so.
34:13
Speaker 1: Much for listening to everyone. This is Northside Territory. Make
34:16
Speaker 1: sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,
34:19
Speaker 1: and subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and I are
34:21
Speaker 1: on top of all things Cubs.
34:23
Speaker 4: Thanks for listening everyone. Take