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What’s going on with Kyle Tucker? · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:04
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
0:08
Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
0:11
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick. The Cubs,
0:17
Speaker 1: they're playing this middling brand of baseball right now. They
0:21
Speaker 1: do not look like the fun, exciting, powerhouse offense team
0:26
Speaker 1: that we saw for much of the season. Really, they
0:32
Speaker 1: just seems, I don't want to say that, it looks,
0:37
Speaker 1: you know, like twenty eighteen version. This hasn't extended long
0:42
Speaker 1: enough to look like even last year, the two months
0:47
Speaker 1: of just an empty offense. But it's been a couple
0:52
Speaker 1: series now where the offense hasn't really looked like itself.
0:56
Speaker 2: That ending to.
0:59
Speaker 1: The series was nice, you know, it was some good
1:04
Speaker 1: signs of some hard hit balls going into the seats.
1:06
Speaker 1: That's what you want to see. You want to see
1:09
Speaker 1: a little bit more of men on base with when
1:12
Speaker 1: those balls go in seats. But it's a nice start
1:15
Speaker 1: and hopefully that's a sign of things to come. But
1:19
Speaker 1: I think what we're everyone has noticed, what everyone noticed
1:23
Speaker 1: in July and what is kind of continued into August
1:27
Speaker 1: is Kyle Tucker is not playing like Superstar Kyle Tucker.
1:34
Speaker 1: He talked about it, councils talked about it. Even Jed
1:37
Speaker 1: Hoyer was asked about it. You're getting different answers kind
1:42
Speaker 1: of on whether it's the finger. Kyle Tucker's answer was basically,
1:50
Speaker 1: everyone's dealing with something. Just got to go out there
1:53
Speaker 1: and play. Jed Hoyer has said it's a fair question.
1:57
Speaker 1: I don't know essentially, is it is it bugging him?
2:01
Speaker 1: Is it healed? But he made some adjustments to play
2:04
Speaker 1: through it originally, and now that's kind of thrown off
2:06
Speaker 1: his mechanics. Who knows, and Craig Counsel doesn't believe that's
2:11
Speaker 1: an issue. Craig Counsel does not believe the finger is
2:14
Speaker 1: causing any issues here. So you know, ultimately, the bottom
2:19
Speaker 1: line is he's playing. He's healthy enough to play, he's
2:22
Speaker 1: not looking like Kyle Tucker, and it's a little weird.
2:27
Speaker 3: I love the array of answers on this one. I
2:30
Speaker 3: don't know if anyone really knows. And baseball is a
2:34
Speaker 3: weird sport. As Anthony rizz would say, it's spaceball, that's spaceball,
2:38
Speaker 3: and you know it. He got off to such a
2:41
Speaker 3: great start that, as he called off, you know, his
2:47
Speaker 3: numbers were still awesome, and now his numbers are solidly
2:50
Speaker 3: above average. A very good season, but just not delivering
2:54
Speaker 3: that same sort of impact. And I think if he
2:58
Speaker 3: since he got a lot of the credit for the
3:00
Speaker 3: team's great start, he has to shoulder some of the
3:04
Speaker 3: blame here for a club that's looked that has just
3:08
Speaker 3: been kind of like figuring out ways to get by
3:12
Speaker 3: and you know, not totally bottom out. They still have
3:15
Speaker 3: not gotten on that sustained hot streak really since early April.
3:20
Speaker 3: I think that's what even internally they had been waiting
3:24
Speaker 3: for of like, okay, you deal with this the show
3:27
Speaker 3: to and steal injuries, you know, kind of grind through
3:33
Speaker 3: the middle of the season. But the great teams find
3:35
Speaker 3: a way to like take off again, and they really
3:38
Speaker 3: just haven't. It's not like the trade deadline is going
3:44
Speaker 3: to give him that huge boost, like those guys could
3:46
Speaker 3: be helpful, but in terms of like a oh wow,
3:49
Speaker 3: look who just walked in the room. That didn't really happen.
3:54
Speaker 2: And so for.
3:56
Speaker 3: It's been interesting to follow the waves of like, oh
4:02
Speaker 3: my god, they have to extend Kyle Tucker, you know,
4:05
Speaker 3: just write the check. And to now it's like well,
4:09
Speaker 3: where's this guy been? I mean, it's it's the the
4:13
Speaker 3: lack of like impact has been noticeable. Now, he still
4:19
Speaker 3: contributes in a lot of different ways. He's still a
4:21
Speaker 3: great player to build around, but the timing of this
4:26
Speaker 3: has not been good. And it's really going to be
4:29
Speaker 3: on him to see how he how he finishes here
4:33
Speaker 3: and really makes that kind of closing kick before he
4:38
Speaker 3: hits free agency, which now is just it was already
4:41
Speaker 3: kind of obvious. I think now it's basically just you know,
4:47
Speaker 3: the facts on the ground. We kind of know what
4:49
Speaker 3: we're working with here.
4:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I think he he made some good points,
4:55
Speaker 1: and this is Counsel's point, and I think this is
4:57
Speaker 1: what Council really believes is happening.
5:00
Speaker 2: He's just missing his pitch.
5:01
Speaker 1: Uh. You know, you watch enough baseball, you see this
5:05
Speaker 1: when and the central point is you when against major
5:10
Speaker 1: league pitching, you're not going to get a ton of
5:11
Speaker 1: pitches to hit. You maybe get one and at bat
5:14
Speaker 1: if you're lucky. Right now, Kyle Tucker is fouling that
5:18
Speaker 1: ball off. And then what happens is it's it's extending
5:21
Speaker 1: the at bats and either he's putting a ball in play,
5:25
Speaker 1: that's not the best pitch of the at bat, but
5:27
Speaker 1: you know, good enough to swing at or he's taking
5:30
Speaker 1: a walk. He's he's done it. He's not chasing, he's
5:33
Speaker 1: not swinging at bad pitches. Uh, he's he's done a
5:37
Speaker 1: remarkable job of staying you know, productive, if not MVP
5:42
Speaker 1: level productive, He's he had a three eighty on base
5:46
Speaker 1: percentage or something like that in July, just I mean
5:49
Speaker 1: a bad month for him where when and his OPS
5:53
Speaker 1: was slightly above league average for the month.
5:56
Speaker 2: You know, that's that's sending alarm.
6:00
Speaker 1: Across the you know, Cubs dation when this guy isn't
6:03
Speaker 1: playing at this you know, insane level. And it's and
6:07
Speaker 1: it's fair. It is fair because there's no power there.
6:09
Speaker 1: I think he had one home run in July. Basically
6:13
Speaker 1: since July first, I think he has one right correct, Yeah,
6:18
Speaker 1: that's where I think the concern is. He also made
6:21
Speaker 1: a point and I've noticed this because like when he
6:25
Speaker 1: has hit the ball hard, even like for a hit,
6:29
Speaker 1: it's been right at someone.
6:30
Speaker 2: So it'll be like a.
6:31
Speaker 1: Hard line drive, one hop single right to the right
6:34
Speaker 1: fielder ten feet to the left or right that goes
6:37
Speaker 1: to the wall, and that's a double and now you're
6:40
Speaker 1: feeling a little bit better about the power production.
6:44
Speaker 2: It's still not enough.
6:45
Speaker 1: It's still not like he's if he were batting three
6:47
Speaker 1: hundred with a bunch of singles and you're saying, like, oh,
6:49
Speaker 1: he's just not finding the gap and the home run
6:52
Speaker 1: power will come. There's obviously something off, and you hope
6:58
Speaker 1: it's just tie and like slight mechanic tweak rather than
7:04
Speaker 1: the finger is lingering and this is just something that
7:07
Speaker 1: he has to play through. My I think the optimistic
7:11
Speaker 1: take would be the injury. The finger injury happened on
7:14
Speaker 1: June first. I believe it was June first, exactly, and
7:19
Speaker 1: he had an absolutely monstrous June, just an awesome month.
7:26
Speaker 1: It was his best month of the season, one of
7:29
Speaker 1: the best months of his career. And that's the optimistic
7:34
Speaker 1: take of don't worry about the finger, because look what
7:37
Speaker 1: he did when initially the finger. He could have banged
7:40
Speaker 1: it up again sometime in July he could or it
7:44
Speaker 1: could just be like again like what Jed said about,
7:46
Speaker 1: like did he develop a habit here and now he
7:48
Speaker 1: can't fully get rid of that habit, So we'll find out.
7:51
Speaker 1: I think he's a huge piece of this. I think
7:53
Speaker 1: there's obviously I'm not breaking any news there, but that
7:59
Speaker 1: combined with Michael Bush struggling since All Star break, say
8:02
Speaker 1: Suzuki basically having two good game or two, a good
8:06
Speaker 1: game or two after the All Star break and struggling.
8:09
Speaker 1: Great game on Wednesday, by the way, great sign for him.
8:11
Speaker 1: Every at bat, every played appearance was was great. That's
8:14
Speaker 1: that's important. Pc A going in a little bit of
8:17
Speaker 1: a funk over the weekend and into UH and into
8:20
Speaker 1: this past week.
8:22
Speaker 2: Who am I missing?
8:23
Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker, Michael Busch, p c A, Daisby Swanson's been
8:27
Speaker 1: up and down lately. I inhaps finally hitting the ball
8:30
Speaker 1: hard again.
8:31
Speaker 2: So there.
8:32
Speaker 1: I mean, there's just not enough for those four guys
8:35
Speaker 1: of p c A, say, Michael Bush and Kyle Tucker.
8:38
Speaker 2: That's your power. You need. You need them to produce.
8:41
Speaker 2: And if all of them aren't producing.
8:42
Speaker 1: Once you get this Friday to Wednesday kind of malaise
8:46
Speaker 1: of offense that that we saw, you just hope that's
8:50
Speaker 1: all it is, like a two series stretch of really
8:53
Speaker 1: bad offense.
8:54
Speaker 2: If that's the worst it gets, you'll take it.
8:57
Speaker 1: But you know, there are other factors that we'll talk
9:00
Speaker 1: about that in a little bit. Let's take a quick
9:03
Speaker 1: break and get back to more cubstock.
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10:10
Speaker 2: Patrick.
10:11
Speaker 1: A lot of handwringing over the lack of an impact
10:15
Speaker 1: starter not being brought in at the trade deadline, and
10:19
Speaker 1: it's completely fair that it was my initial reaction as well.
10:26
Speaker 1: But after doing some digging, it seems like, and this
10:29
Speaker 1: was something we were hearing beforehand. To get one of
10:34
Speaker 1: those Joe Ryans or Mackenzie Gores, you were going to
10:38
Speaker 1: have to subtract from the major league roster. And the
10:41
Speaker 1: name that just kept coming up in trade discussions was
10:45
Speaker 1: Kate Horton. I don't think anybody that's watched this team
10:50
Speaker 1: regularly would think that that would make sense to give
10:55
Speaker 1: up Kate Horton right now. And then the way he's
11:00
Speaker 1: performed lately, it just like you can't remove him from
11:05
Speaker 1: the team right now. You can't not for a long
11:08
Speaker 1: period of time.
11:10
Speaker 2: This is this guy is.
11:14
Speaker 1: Critical not just to the future, but he's critical to
11:18
Speaker 1: the present. He may be your number three starter in
11:23
Speaker 1: the playoffs, you know, put all the inning stuff and
11:26
Speaker 1: all that to the side. They're clearly managing him. They're
11:29
Speaker 1: being ultra careful, and I think that's thinking about his future,
11:35
Speaker 1: his future beyond twenty twenty six. But or twenty what
11:38
Speaker 1: years it twenty twenty five, but also but also twenty
11:43
Speaker 1: twenty five. And you know they're not going to say
11:45
Speaker 1: we need him to impact the team later. They're not
11:48
Speaker 1: going to directly say that, you know, we're saving him
11:52
Speaker 1: for October, but they're they're making sure that they have
11:57
Speaker 1: the best version of this guy throughout the season.
11:59
Speaker 2: That's how good he is.
12:00
Speaker 1: I've been you know, he's I'm a strikeouts guy. I
12:05
Speaker 1: want to see pitchers strike guys out. He hasn't fully
12:08
Speaker 1: done that yet, but I think he's getting better and
12:11
Speaker 1: better and we're going to see more and more of
12:13
Speaker 1: that as he really learns how to pitch or attack
12:16
Speaker 1: hitters and understand the best way to use his stuff.
12:19
Speaker 1: But he's he's blown me.
12:22
Speaker 2: Away with how.
12:24
Speaker 1: Calm and consistent and kind of you know, that bulldog
12:29
Speaker 1: nature that you kind of love.
12:30
Speaker 2: To see from pitchers. He's got it.
12:34
Speaker 3: No doubt. I Mean, he was a total wild card
12:36
Speaker 3: coming into this season. For him to come up after
12:40
Speaker 3: Showeda's injury and really stabilized things was super impressive. I Mean,
12:46
Speaker 3: he had a real nice debut in New York, not
12:49
Speaker 3: the easiest place, and he's learned how to pitch at
12:53
Speaker 3: Wrigley Field. I think kind of using the elements to
12:56
Speaker 3: his advantage and you know, throwing strikes, just bouncing back
13:01
Speaker 3: from one start to the next. I think back to
13:05
Speaker 3: his quotes after getting lit up in Houston and just
13:09
Speaker 3: being like I got my butt kicked. It was not
13:11
Speaker 3: a whole lot of you know, I really felt good
13:13
Speaker 3: about my pitches and the execution like it was bad luck.
13:17
Speaker 3: It was like, no, I got my butt kicked. And
13:19
Speaker 3: I think that has really endeared him to the coaching staff,
13:23
Speaker 3: Craig Counsel in particular. You know Craig you can tell
13:29
Speaker 3: with his certain word choices he uses and describing him
13:34
Speaker 3: as whatever, clearheaded competitor, clear eyed competitor, whatever the term is,
13:40
Speaker 3: but something he used with Justin Steele, who was kind
13:44
Speaker 3: of similar of just getting into attack mode and trusting
13:47
Speaker 3: your stuff and not overthinking it. And yeah, I mean
13:53
Speaker 3: also just to stay healthy this long. I mean, this
13:55
Speaker 3: is not someone who's logged a lot of innings, you know,
13:59
Speaker 3: going going back to his time in college at Oklahoma,
14:03
Speaker 3: was not exactly a workhorse there. I came off a
14:06
Speaker 3: really disappointing season last year and for him to put
14:08
Speaker 3: it together to this extent and to have him be
14:13
Speaker 3: like a viable option for October. And maybe it is only,
14:19
Speaker 3: you know, pitching three plus four innings in Game three
14:22
Speaker 3: of a playoff series. That would still be amazing if
14:25
Speaker 3: he could reach that point, given all the questions he
14:28
Speaker 3: had coming into this year.
14:31
Speaker 1: They use more more info than just what we have
14:35
Speaker 1: available Patrick to make these decisions.
14:38
Speaker 2: But just one little, one little thing.
14:40
Speaker 1: He averaged slightly above his forseeing passball average velocity for
14:46
Speaker 1: the season, and he hit ninety eight point five. I
14:49
Speaker 1: remember looking up and seeing that at the time and saying, wait,
14:52
Speaker 1: I had to go make sure that he hadn't hit that,
14:55
Speaker 1: like he wasn't like sitting there and I just you know,
14:58
Speaker 1: I'd not been paying attention. He hit it just once,
15:00
Speaker 1: but it's still impressive. The fastball is not getting the
15:07
Speaker 1: type of whiff that it was in the minors, but
15:11
Speaker 1: it's it's an incredibly effective pitch for him in the
15:15
Speaker 1: big leagues, and he's he's started to rarely lean on
15:18
Speaker 1: it since the Houston start and.
15:21
Speaker 2: Trust that pitch.
15:23
Speaker 1: He talked about that with us, I believe after I
15:27
Speaker 1: think it was after that, I'm not sure if it
15:30
Speaker 1: was after this most recent outing or recently he that
15:33
Speaker 1: that's what he feels like has changed the most. He
15:36
Speaker 1: just trusts the four seamer. He's going to it a
15:38
Speaker 1: little bit more. He just looks like it. I think
15:42
Speaker 1: he also understands how to pitch, which is rare for
15:46
Speaker 1: these youngsters.
15:48
Speaker 2: He trusts so many of his pitches.
15:52
Speaker 1: He's not We've we've heard about this slider for years,
15:55
Speaker 1: the sweeper for years. He doesn't just go to it
15:59
Speaker 1: all the time. He trusts curveball, He's gone to his
16:01
Speaker 1: change up more. I think this, you know, again, he's
16:07
Speaker 1: not putting up the huge strikeout numbers, so I'm not
16:10
Speaker 1: sure if he's going to get much recognition just yet nationally.
16:16
Speaker 2: But I do feel.
16:17
Speaker 1: Like this this is a guy that's like building up
16:20
Speaker 1: and everyone's kind of said it. Jed said it, Craig
16:23
Speaker 1: Council said, it feels like he gets better each time
16:27
Speaker 1: out and it and like watching it, that's what it
16:30
Speaker 1: feels like. It feels like this is like a crescendo
16:33
Speaker 1: happening to like this big moment, and like when what is.
16:36
Speaker 2: That big moment? I don't know, but I do feel.
16:38
Speaker 1: Like he's he he has even more to show us
16:42
Speaker 1: and has a chance to be this special type of pitcher.
16:47
Speaker 1: I don't think they ever considered moving him. I don't
16:49
Speaker 1: think there was even something that entered their head. But
16:52
Speaker 1: this is the stuff why, this is why you keep
16:54
Speaker 1: guys like this. This is why they made him the
16:56
Speaker 1: number seven pick. This is why, like it was outside
16:58
Speaker 1: the box thinking kind of a time. It was an
17:00
Speaker 1: aggressive pick. Was he showed flashes, That's all it was.
17:04
Speaker 1: He didn't have extended periods of success, but they trusted
17:08
Speaker 1: enough to kind of believe that, Hey, what we saw
17:10
Speaker 1: in the College World Series was just the beginning, and
17:13
Speaker 1: I think what we're seeing right now is kind of
17:15
Speaker 1: just the beginning of what could be.
17:18
Speaker 2: You know, some fun help matters.
17:20
Speaker 1: You got to continue to work, you got to do
17:22
Speaker 1: all that stuff, but you got to be excited about
17:24
Speaker 1: what Kate Horton brings.
17:26
Speaker 3: I mean, he's had fifteen career major league outings, and
17:30
Speaker 3: maybe two or three of them would be considered like
17:34
Speaker 3: bad or an off night. I mean, he's repeatedly consistently
17:39
Speaker 3: gone out there and given his team a chance to win,
17:44
Speaker 3: which is really kind of the bottom line with major
17:46
Speaker 3: leagues starting pitching, even if you don't like feel great
17:50
Speaker 3: or don't have everything working. He just continues to battle,
17:55
Speaker 3: you know, like I said, one or two clunkers, a
18:00
Speaker 3: couple sort of toss up games, but by and large
18:02
Speaker 3: has just repeatedly delivered, which for a guy who is
18:06
Speaker 3: about to turn twenty four, who has these huge developmental
18:11
Speaker 3: gaps in his you know, amateur and professional career, is
18:15
Speaker 3: super impressive and final thought, you nailed it, like the
18:18
Speaker 3: health aspect of this. You know, you you have to
18:21
Speaker 3: capitalize when these young pictures pop. You know, the Cubs
18:27
Speaker 3: in twenty three they rode Justin Steele but couldn't finish
18:31
Speaker 3: it in September and earn that playoff spot. And I
18:35
Speaker 3: think with Wharton here, you know, it's it's fun to
18:38
Speaker 3: dream about what he could be for years to come,
18:40
Speaker 3: but sometimes with these young pictures, you just have to, like,
18:44
Speaker 3: you know, capitalize when the moment arrives. And he has
18:47
Speaker 3: certainly taken advantage of this the point where, yeah, like
18:49
Speaker 3: if if they had traded him off this major league roster,
18:52
Speaker 3: everyone had been like what do you what are you
18:54
Speaker 3: doing here? Like, what's what's the point, right, Like subtracting
18:57
Speaker 3: from major league roster just not like not feasible.
19:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely sixty seven pitches yesterday. I think that, look,
19:05
Speaker 1: it's it's not a lot. They're just gonna be aultra
19:07
Speaker 1: careful with them. They're going to look for the right
19:09
Speaker 1: moments to pull them. It was the right moment because
19:11
Speaker 1: there was a guy coming up in Allie de la
19:12
Speaker 1: Cruz in a one run game who has huge, massive
19:15
Speaker 1: splits versus compared righties versus lefties. He's a switch hitter,
19:20
Speaker 1: but he's just not as good from the right side,
19:23
Speaker 1: you know. I think it goes from like forty percent
19:25
Speaker 1: above league average as a lefty to like twenty five
19:29
Speaker 1: percent below league gaverage as a righty. It was the
19:32
Speaker 1: right time to pull him when you're searching for ways,
19:35
Speaker 1: like every sing like he was remarkably efficient. He gave
19:38
Speaker 1: you five and two thirds innings. I think that's what
19:40
Speaker 1: we're going to see. I don't know if they unleash
19:42
Speaker 1: him during the playoffs or if this is the plan
19:44
Speaker 1: the rest of the season. They're going to look for
19:46
Speaker 1: ways to get this guy rest. They have to because
19:49
Speaker 1: he's going to be needed for bigger moments.
19:52
Speaker 2: It's big right now. Obviously we'll talk about that.
19:55
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21:04
Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, you're scoreboard watching as a Cubs fan,
21:10
Speaker 1: you are a frustrated person right now. I've watched some
21:15
Speaker 1: of these Brewers games, and you know, like I said,
21:19
Speaker 1: if you're a Cubs fan and watching these games, you're
21:21
Speaker 1: you're gonna be kicking things because sometimes they get these
21:25
Speaker 1: hits that score these runs. You thought, if you watched
21:29
Speaker 1: Monday's game against the Reds, the Brewers win a game
21:34
Speaker 1: like that every other day where the Cubs, you know,
21:37
Speaker 1: the the Reds got a bunch of like dinky hits
21:39
Speaker 1: to get get a couple of runs in the Cubs
21:43
Speaker 1: don't score the tying run because Dansby Swanson doesn't touch
21:47
Speaker 1: first base on what looked like an infield single with
21:50
Speaker 1: two outs. Like just random stuff not going their way
21:55
Speaker 1: and going the other team's way. It's the opposite for
21:57
Speaker 1: the Brewers every other game. I'm not saying they're not
21:59
Speaker 1: playing good baseball, but they're also getting every bounce and
22:02
Speaker 1: it's when that happens you get a run like this,
22:05
Speaker 1: which is just been incredible. I believe this was before
22:11
Speaker 1: Wednesday's win. They had their best ever sixty game stretch
22:15
Speaker 1: in franchise history. Now it's the best ever sixty one
22:19
Speaker 1: game stretch because they won again on Wednesday, another.
22:23
Speaker 2: One run win.
22:24
Speaker 1: They're just playing really good baseball, timely hitting, good pitching.
22:28
Speaker 1: Everything is working for them, and they've built somehow remarkably
22:33
Speaker 1: a four game lead and the Cubs aren't bad. They'd
22:37
Speaker 1: be in first place in every other division. And this
22:42
Speaker 1: is what happens, and this is why you have that
22:44
Speaker 1: hand ring, because I wonder if they weren't in a
22:48
Speaker 1: division with the Brewers, would there be as.
22:49
Speaker 2: Much angst among Cubs fans.
22:51
Speaker 1: Would they just be like, hey, they're not playing their
22:53
Speaker 1: best baseball right now and they're still in first place
22:55
Speaker 1: where they're still you know, it's just you can't say
22:58
Speaker 1: that because the other teams just playing out of their minds.
23:03
Speaker 3: It just seems like every time I look at the standings,
23:07
Speaker 3: just occasionally look at that kind of slap shot, a
23:10
Speaker 3: snapshot of last ten, it just seems like Brewers. It's
23:13
Speaker 3: like nine and one ten and oh, I mean it's crazy.
23:18
Speaker 3: I mean, and if you were a Cubs fan, you know,
23:22
Speaker 3: a Cubs convention, and if someone told you, you know,
23:26
Speaker 3: the Cubs have a better record than the Dodgers in
23:29
Speaker 3: the middle of August, Like, would you have taken it?
23:31
Speaker 3: You probably, yeah, But at this point, I think we
23:36
Speaker 3: just have to start thinking about the Brewers as what
23:38
Speaker 3: the Tampa Bay Rays were kind of when they were
23:41
Speaker 3: at their peak of just so frustrating teams in the
23:46
Speaker 3: American League East. I mean, the Rays haven't totally fallen
23:50
Speaker 3: off off the map, and they're obviously like the kind
23:53
Speaker 3: of the leader historically of just kind of working these
23:57
Speaker 3: small market miracles. But the Brewers are doing it at
24:00
Speaker 3: such a high level right now that you know, you
24:03
Speaker 3: can't be surprised anymore when they pick up some guy
24:06
Speaker 3: off the scrap heap or make some minor trade and
24:09
Speaker 3: all of a sudden, that guy is, you know, beating
24:12
Speaker 3: the Cubs at the major league level. And I'm curious too, Like,
24:16
Speaker 3: I know, the Brewers schedule is, you know, supposed to
24:19
Speaker 3: be tougher than the Cubs in the second half, but
24:21
Speaker 3: you look at some of these surprise sellers and it's
24:23
Speaker 3: like they come off that trip to Wrigley Field and
24:28
Speaker 3: they have a home stand against the Giants and Diamondbacks,
24:31
Speaker 3: which looked like it would be hard not that long ago,
24:35
Speaker 3: but those are kind of diminished teams right now. And
24:40
Speaker 3: you know the Cubs are after August twenty first, assuming
24:43
Speaker 3: no rainouts, they're not getting another head to head chance
24:46
Speaker 3: against the Brewers, and so you can they Brewers keep
24:52
Speaker 3: this up? Probably not, But I don't see them like collapsing.
24:57
Speaker 3: You know, They're not just gonna totally fade away, like
24:59
Speaker 3: they may come down, you know, come back to the
25:01
Speaker 3: pack a little bit, and you know the Cubs will
25:05
Speaker 3: obviously have to perform well in those head to head matchups,
25:09
Speaker 3: but the idea of them just tanking in September is
25:15
Speaker 3: is just not realistic.
25:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I was gonna say, I remember seeing that
25:20
Speaker 1: when whenever I saw that graphic that the Brewers had
25:24
Speaker 1: like one of the hardest schedules and the Cubs had
25:26
Speaker 1: one of the easiest. And then I looked at the
25:28
Speaker 1: schedule recently and I was like, it doesn't look as
25:31
Speaker 1: hard as what that graphic was insinuating or suggesting.
25:35
Speaker 3: It.
25:36
Speaker 1: Just you're right there, there's something that they're like some
25:38
Speaker 1: of these teams that have decent records right now, they're
25:41
Speaker 1: not as intimidating as they were. The Giants are one
25:44
Speaker 1: of them. I don't know, what the Diamondbacks record is.
25:47
Speaker 1: I don't think it's awful. I don't think they're above
25:49
Speaker 1: five hundred right now. Uh, but still they're just not
25:53
Speaker 1: These aren't intimidating teams any longer.
25:55
Speaker 2: And the Cubs, you know, they they have a tough
26:00
Speaker 2: look A yeah, it's probably a tough road trip.
26:04
Speaker 1: You know, going to Saint Louis, doesn't matter how Saint
26:06
Speaker 1: Louis is, it is always tough. And then Toronto's the
26:09
Speaker 1: only team other than the Brewers that has a better
26:11
Speaker 1: record than the Cubs is Toronto and they have to
26:14
Speaker 1: go play there. Look, the Cubs can. The Cubs have
26:17
Speaker 1: to beat good teams. The Cubs have to you know
26:20
Speaker 1: that that's part of it they need and they can
26:22
Speaker 1: beat anyone. I think it's it's what we talked about before.
26:27
Speaker 1: The offense needs to get going and really needs to
26:29
Speaker 1: show that power. The best players need to play like
26:32
Speaker 1: they're the best players. I don't you know, I do
26:36
Speaker 1: think this is when it comes to bad stretches of play.
26:43
Speaker 1: This you'll take this for the Cubs. They're playing around
26:46
Speaker 1: five hundred. Nobody plays, you know, seven hundred ball all
26:51
Speaker 1: season wrong long nobody nobody averages six and a half
26:56
Speaker 1: runs a game. There was a bound to be a moment.
26:59
Speaker 1: What they need to do is make it short. It
27:02
Speaker 1: can't be the two month stretch that it was last year.
27:05
Speaker 1: Can't be that they the past two season. Previous two seasons,
27:08
Speaker 1: they were doing this too often, where we'd see these
27:11
Speaker 1: extended stretches of poor play.
27:15
Speaker 2: They need. The Brewers are on an insane heater. This
27:19
Speaker 2: level of play can't last. I agree with you. I
27:23
Speaker 2: don't think a collapse is coming. I just don't like.
27:26
Speaker 1: They're a really good team, and I don't you can
27:29
Speaker 1: go look at that lineup and say they don't have
27:31
Speaker 1: any stars on this lineup. You can go look at
27:34
Speaker 1: everything about that team and say, where are these superstar
27:37
Speaker 1: impact talents.
27:40
Speaker 2: I don't know.
27:41
Speaker 1: But whatever it is, you know it's working, and it
27:44
Speaker 1: continues to work year after year after year. They find
27:49
Speaker 1: the right players that work in their system, and then
27:51
Speaker 1: they go to another place and they're just not nearly
27:53
Speaker 1: as impactful.
27:55
Speaker 2: So that's that's just.
27:56
Speaker 1: You know, they're they're just a really well run or organization,
28:01
Speaker 1: and I'm not I'm going to stop short changing them.
28:03
Speaker 2: I don't.
28:04
Speaker 1: There's no point in it because they're just an impressive.
28:09
Speaker 1: It's it and uh it's not flashy and it's not
28:15
Speaker 1: and there's nothing you can point to and just say like,
28:17
Speaker 1: well there, that's what it is. It's it's just well,
28:21
Speaker 1: they're good defense, they're speedy, they they you know, they
28:25
Speaker 1: don't hit for a lot of power. And that's the
28:26
Speaker 1: one thing that I think may ultimately cost them in
28:30
Speaker 1: the postseason. But they're going to get there, and they're
28:33
Speaker 1: going to be a torn and ever inside.
28:35
Speaker 2: And I don't I'm not. I'm not giving them this division.
28:38
Speaker 2: It's four games right now.
28:39
Speaker 1: You'd like to see the Cubs be much closer by
28:42
Speaker 1: the time the Brewers come to town. But it's going
28:47
Speaker 1: to be a fun race. I think this is just
28:49
Speaker 1: a down moment for the Cubs. I think they'll get
28:51
Speaker 1: back and make it closer. I have no clue if
28:53
Speaker 1: they can win this division because the Brewer is just,
28:56
Speaker 1: my lord, the way they play, it's every game they're
29:00
Speaker 1: in it. And and they come up with Andrew Vaughn,
29:03
Speaker 1: I think it's probably the poster boy of this all.
29:04
Speaker 1: It's like, what the hell is going on? Quinn Priester
29:07
Speaker 1: and Andrew Vaughn, Like these two guys, it's like they
29:10
Speaker 1: just weren't nearly as good anywhere else, and then they
29:12
Speaker 1: come here. Andrew Vaughn in particular, was just seemed like
29:16
Speaker 1: a wasted draft pick for the White Sox and immediately
29:19
Speaker 1: becomes this impact player.
29:21
Speaker 3: So you know, I mean, if pile Tucker can go
29:25
Speaker 3: through a slump, Andrew can go through a slump too,
29:28
Speaker 3: I guess that would be the that would be the
29:31
Speaker 3: thought process there. And also, you know, they did not
29:34
Speaker 3: exactly blow everyone away with the trade deadline either. Maybe
29:38
Speaker 3: that is a missed opportunity for them. Not that I'm
29:43
Speaker 3: in a position to second guess the Brewers front office,
29:46
Speaker 3: but you look at some of the things, it's like, Okay,
29:50
Speaker 3: some of these guys will probably recede a little bit.
29:53
Speaker 3: They did not make that they did not go acquire,
29:57
Speaker 3: you know, a CC Sabbathia type deadline reinforcement. Players get injured,
30:04
Speaker 3: Stuff happens, Stuff always happens the Cubs. The Cubs have
30:10
Speaker 3: a chance here, they have their path towards October.
30:13
Speaker 2: But.
30:15
Speaker 3: You know, at a certain point they're just gonna have
30:16
Speaker 3: to beat the Brewers, beat good teams, and really what
30:22
Speaker 3: we've talked about before just finding that next gear, like
30:25
Speaker 3: they have not imploded. They've been good at salvaging series
30:30
Speaker 3: and avoiding sleeps sweeps. But at a certain point you
30:33
Speaker 3: just need a little more. You need more sustained performance
30:38
Speaker 3: at a higher level.
30:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm getting ready. I'm pumped up for that series,
30:45
Speaker 1: that that five game set. The last time I think
30:48
Speaker 1: the Cubs had a five game set in two thousand
30:51
Speaker 1: and three against the Cardinals. Am I remembering this right?
30:56
Speaker 1: I just remember like this huge five game set at
30:59
Speaker 1: Wrigley Field where the Cubs one four or five against
31:02
Speaker 1: the team that they played. It could have been two
31:04
Speaker 1: thousand and three. I could be misremembering their years. It
31:06
Speaker 1: was against the Cardinals. I remember a lot of that.
31:12
Speaker 2: Series. It was a fun series.
31:13
Speaker 1: Hopefully it's close to as entertaining a week from now.
31:19
Speaker 1: But they got six to go three or nine to
31:22
Speaker 1: go three against Saint Louis, three against in Toronto and
31:25
Speaker 1: then Pittsburgh before that five game set with the Brewers.
31:30
Speaker 1: I will have one more episode this week. Patrick is
31:33
Speaker 1: on vacation. Will let him enjoy his time out in
31:35
Speaker 1: the Jersey Shore. You guys can send me some questions
31:39
Speaker 1: and I'll answer them after the first game of the
31:42
Speaker 1: Cardinals series. Thanks for listening everyone, this is Northside Territory.
31:45
Speaker 1: Make sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube
31:48
Speaker 1: channel is subscribed to The Athletic where Patrick and I
31:51
Speaker 1: are on top of all things cubs. Thanks for listening,
31:53
Speaker 1: Take care. They don't the name on any name Aga