Latest / Foul Territory / Cubs legend Jon Lester joins NST as regular contributor

Transcript

Cubs legend Jon Lester joins NST as regular contributor · Foul Territory

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory File Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Sahad Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney, and if you're
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: watching us on YouTube, you see that we have a
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: third host with us a guest today, John Lester, world champion,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: multiple world champion, John Lester. Thanks so much for joining us. John,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: How are you doing. How's the ten year reunion stuff going?
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: How how crazy has this year been so far? And
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: are you looking forward to getting back to Wrigley and
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: being honored soon.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been great. I mean, we obviously started off
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: with a bang in January with the Cubs con and
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: all that stuff, and it's great to get back and
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: see the guys and you know, get up to Chicago
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: and all that stuff. So Cubs have done a great
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: job with all that stuff obviously, and you know, I
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: look forward to getting up there in a few weeks.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: I got a busy few weeks with with kids, travel
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: baseball and then becoming in hot to the to the
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: to the reunion on the seventeenth or eighteenth whenever it is.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that travel baseball, you run your life. But I
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: know that go ahead, Patrick.
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I was gonna say what's your your uber rating
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: now as a driver?
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: Still so five s.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: No, No, it's far from five star. I think if
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: they could, they'd give me negatives. I haven't even got
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: to zero yet. It's bad.
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: We you know, we we we've been looking to have
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: you know, a former Cups player on and you know,
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: to do this more more regularly. And you know, we
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: thought of you as a great fit because you know,
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: people asked us like, oh, what's what's so and so like,
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: and you know, obviously you had a great reputation with
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: you know, people behind the scene and side.
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: And I would laugh about is like.
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: You know, you'd be in the clubhouse and you'd always
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: have your game face on and if one of us
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: will go up to to like, hey you got a minute,
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: and sometimes you'd be like.
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: What you got? Like you know, like you know, you're
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: always in a.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: Hurry, and then we'd wind up talking for like twenty
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: minutes almost every time. And you know, I was wondering,
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: you know, looking at this, you know kind of ten
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: year reunion, do.
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: You think do you or do people maybe appreciate it
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: a little more? Like how how hard it was?
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: I feel like, you know, those last several years in Chicago,
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: it was like, you know, when's the next one gonna happen?
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: And I think you kind of really, I don't know,
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: I certainly came away from it like just how hard
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: it is to do what you guys did.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think that was kind of repeated
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: in the clubhouse from the players a lot. You know,
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: after sixteen, you know, we we'd make a run and
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: then come up short, and seventeen in eighteen, and you
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: know even in nineteen and you know, you realize that
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: to get to that, to that end game, the end
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: of the season game where you know, trophies on the line,
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: it's very difficult and a lot of things have to
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: go your way. You know. Obviously a topic of today
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: will be injuries. I mean, you need to be pretty
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: injury free for the majority of that year with your
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: you know, kind of your core guys, and not to
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: take away from you know, maybe the platoon guys or
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: the guys that maybe don't get as much attention on
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: a day to day basis, because you definitely need those
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: guys as well. But when your core guys are hurt,
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: it makes that run even harder and then you need
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: a little bit of luck you know, you need to
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: get hot at the right time. You need your pictures
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: to you need you need your pitchers and your hitters
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: to be you know, to be linked up and and
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: rolling at the right times, especially in the playoffs. Uh,
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: you know, And that's a that's a big, big part
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: of it. Yeah, man, it's hard. It's not easy. If
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: it was easy, you would see the same team winning
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: every year, or the same teams winning every year. But
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: luckily that's not the case. You get new new contenders
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: in there every year.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: John. Obviously, your career with the Cubs was was special
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: and you had a lot of highs. I was just
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: looking at the numbers. You did get off to that
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: slow start when you signed the big contract. You come
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: to a new city, a lot of pressure. Obviously you
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: figured it out pretty quickly though, but that first month,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: I don't I mean, I remember the slow start, I
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: don't remember the fan reaction quite as much, but kind
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: of yeah, can you kind of talk about the the
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: pressure you felt, the idea of Obviously we were watching
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: Alex pregnant struggle right now. A huge contract, huge pressure,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: all that stuff that's happened that probably happened to you.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Different guy, different situation, but still maybe the there is
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: more pressure on you because it was about like lifting
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: this curse and being part of, like being this huge
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: key to THEO and Jed's plan to break this curse
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: in Chicago or whatever you want to call it long Drought,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: if you don't want to call it a curse, Yeah,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: you can you kind of describe walk us through the
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: emotions and what you were feeling in that first month
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: when things weren't going the way you wanted and you
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: know how good you can be and it just wasn't
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: happening on the field at that point in time.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think for a picture it gets
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: a little harder. You know, at least a position player,
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: you get to get in there every night and try
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: to right the ship. I guess. Yeah, I mean that
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: first month was probably one of the longest months I've
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: ever I've ever had in the big leagues. You know,
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: you I wanted the season. I wanted the season total
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: numbers in April as opposed to just doing what I've
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: always kind of said in my career is like, hey,
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: if I just do my job every five days, show up,
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: pitch thet innings, and give my team a chance win,
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: then the numbers will be fine at the end of
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: the year, and you know, you lose sight sometimes of
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: who you are and what you've done in the track
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: record and that sort of thing. So I think for Bregman,
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: I don't want to speak for him. I don't know
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: him very well. I've met him a few times. I
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: think he might just be pressing a little bit, uh,
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: you know, and wanting wanting to be bragman, wanting to
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: hit you know, whatever that two seventy to two ninety
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: with twenty five thirty homers or whatever he's hit the
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: last couple of years. You know, he wants to hit
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: that four run homer or the four home runs before
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: his first at bat. Like I said, I don't want
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: to speak for him. I don't know what he's going through.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: He may be banged up a little bit. We don't
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: know that, but you know, I know he's definitely out
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: there grinding and he's definitely you know, giving it everything
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: he has. That doesn't make the fans any happier, you know,
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: they want a product, you know, but hopefully he can
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: he can kind of hold on and that where he's
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: at right now, and then maybe we get hot here
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: in the next month or so, and you know, beat
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: bragman like numbers towards the end of the season. Yeah,
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: that's absolutely the hope.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Let's Patrick, Let's take a quick break before we get
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: back to John here.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Hey.
• 7:28
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• 8:26
  Speaker 2: Thank you to see geek.
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: John.
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: I was just curious when you look back on that start,
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: what kind of got you through it? Because on the
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: position player side, Bregman, you know, Jed was obsessed with
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: this guy for a couple of free agent cycles in
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: the same way that you know THEA one said, I
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: was ready to soak myself and dear your and to
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: sign John Lester, Like.
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: What did what? What did like you know what you're
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: kind of going home at night or leaving the park
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: or you know, showing up every day. How did how
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: did you kind.
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: Of just push through it and let your like natural
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: talents come out.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: I think Rossie was a big part of that. We
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: had a I know we were at home. I don't
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: remember what started was, but he came in and he
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: yelled at me and was like, hey man, you know
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: you can't pitch the seventh inning before the first inning.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: You know you need to you need to relax, you
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: need to you know, not worry about you know, it's
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: easier said than done when it's not you, right, like
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: when Rossie's yelling at me, he's not worried about living
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: up to one hundred and fifty five million dollars, you know.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: So the biggest line, the biggest line that I took from,
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: you know, the whole interaction was he's like, hey, listen,
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: if you suck, then I get taken out of the game.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: So I want my third at back. And I was like, well,
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: that's okay. I mean, it's allid point, so you know,
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: that kind of relax and just realize like, hey, we've
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: done this. It's it's it's not hard to just go
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: out and compete and quit worrying about living up to
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: six years before we've even gotten to the first month.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: And that was the biggest The biggest thing for me
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: was just trying to you know, I didn't want to
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: be everybody. You know, when I signed a deal, everybody's
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: talking about what was it going to be a bust?
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: Or is it going to be this? Is it going
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: to be that? And you definitely or I definitely didn't
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: want to be the bust. So I think that was
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: just the added pressure of Okay, I want to make
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: sure that THEO gets rewarded for this contract and Tom
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: and the City of Chicago, and it's a it's a lot,
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: it's a it's a lot of added things. And you know,
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: once we had that conversation, it kind of really relaxed me.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: And I think in the next that was towards the
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: end of April. I believe in the next couple of
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: weeks I got my first win there, and then it
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: was kind of like, all right, say, once you get
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: the first out of the way, you know, you kind
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: of settle in as a pitcher. I know as a
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: hitter it's probably a little bit different, but yeah, I
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: mean it's hard. It's it's you as a competitor. And
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: I know Bregman enough and competed against him enough. I
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: know that. You know, he's down there grind and he's
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: working and he's trying to figure it out. You know,
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: I see watch games and see highlights and stuff, and
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: I mean he's not given up defensively, he's still making
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: great plays. You know, he's saving runs that way, so
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: he's at least you know, he's giving you everything he has,
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: even though he's not really hitting to the Bragman status
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: right now.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So with as April wrapped up of the twenty
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: fifteen you had an ERA over six May. First you
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: made a start, you went seven shutout against the Brewers,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: and from that point on you had a sub three ERA.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: For that season.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: I think everyone who remembers your career with the Cubs
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: knows how like you had a great twenty fifteen overall,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: so that that April quickly got put in the rear
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: rear view mirror. Those a pretty impressive Cubs career as
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: far as anyone's concerned. And with one of the things
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: that is a holdover from that time, one of the
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: people that's currently with the club is Tommy Hotteby. He
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: was kind of behind the scenes back then. But the
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Cubs love to kind of trumpet their pitching infrastructure. They've
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: done a good job. They've built out a good group
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: of guys, obviously different from you know, you had Chris
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Bosio and different people behind the scenes helping you guys out,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: but Tommy was there obviously rose to a different role
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: now pitching coach. I'm curious what you saw behind the
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: scenes from Tommy, what what kind of helped, whether it
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: was younger guys, I know, you and I've had chats
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: about how much the group helped out Kyle Hendricks and
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: what he figured out in that I believe it was
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: the twenty sixteen season when he really figured some things out.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: But how important are the behind the scenes things that
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: are going on? Especially nowadays? It feels like a decade
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: ago it maybe wasn't, as you know, it didn't impact
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: pitching as much as it does now. It seems like
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: there's so much more that pitchers go through and can
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: the tiniest things with whether it's you know, all the
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: info that they have, all the tech that they have,
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: it seems like they can tweak everything and maybe change
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: things quicker than they used to do back in the day.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: But what did you see from Tommy in that group.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: Thing with him? As he was always prepared, You knew
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: what you were getting from him as far as the information,
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: you know, and to your point, I want to hit
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: on it before I get sidetracked. But the analytical side
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: of pitching has gotten as far as and you know,
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: I know I was hard headed when I played about
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: the analytical side of pitches. And you know, okay, if
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: you throw this pitch in this zone, it has this
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: percentage of getting hit or whatever. I didn't like that
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: aspect of it. But on the mechanical side of the
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: of the pitching now, with the analytical and the biomechanics
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: and all the stuff that these guys have access to,
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: I think would have been huge for me just being
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: a mechanical and a field person in that aspect, you know,
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: to be able to go, okay, well, my landing foot
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: is x degrees open when I land, and as good
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: of a pitching coaches there are in the big leagues,
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: you can't tell that it's you know, one degree open
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: when you land right. So now you have that information,
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: you have a baseline you can go back and be like,
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: all right, well this is what's causing me to be
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: a little bit rotational, or this is why my cutter's
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: flat or whatever. So I do like that aspect of
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: where the technology of the game is gone. You know,
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: as far as the people behind the scenes, I think
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: that they don't get enough credit for the time I
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: put in. You know, they're there before the players, they're
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: there after the players. The life that they live is
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: is beyond demanding that you know, hardly get any praise
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: for what, you know, what they do. When the players
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: don't perform, they're the first ones to get fired. And
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: you know that kind of is that that whole hierarchy
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: of of things that you know, I don't necessarily agree with,
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: but we won't go down that road anyway. Yeah, I mean,
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: I like, I think Tommy. The crazy part is is
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: you know, you're you're getting towards the end of your
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: career when you're you know, your coaches are guys you
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: played with, you know, so that was a little you know,
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: even when Rossie was there, that was a little weird,
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: you know, having somebody that I competed against and with
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: that is now telling you, you know, what to do
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: and what pitches to throw and and all that aspect
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: of it. But you know, I think I think he's
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: done a great job with that whole analytical side of
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: of you know, hot and cold zones and how we're
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: to attack guys. And you know, like I said, to
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: go back to my original point, prepared. If you know
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: a coach is prepared and giving you, even if you
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: don't necessarily fully agree with the information he's given you,
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: you know that he's put in the time and the effort,
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: and that makes your decision you know, making process out
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: on the mound a little bit easier. Yeah.
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: I do think that's kind of a The Cubs have
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: changed a little lot obviously since since you were there, John,
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: but I think some of that pitching stuff kind of
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: what Mike Borzello and Chris Bosio you know, started. Yeah,
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: obviously that helped get the trade. Yeah, it's very, very,
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: very old school. But I think that and uh and
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: the and the great, the great defense as well. I
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: think that was one of the big takeaways from twenty
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: sixteen of like how how they've built this team. It's obviously,
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: you know, haven't reached the same heights yet, but.
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: They catch the.
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: Ball, if they throw the ball, they make through team plays,
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: they make the spectacular plays, and that that usually plays.
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean that as a pitcher when you know that,
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: you know, especially in a Wrigley or really in that division,
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: with the exception of maybe Saint Louis, you know, they're
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: not exactly easy places to pitch, uh, you know, as
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: far as dimensions and and the way the ball flies
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: and all that stuff. But when you're at Wrigley and
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: you know that if the ball's hit, there's a likelihood
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: that we're going to get an out. That's a that's
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: a reassuring feeling on the mound, you know. Un to
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: your point, I mean you look at the defense. I
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: mean we we had Hobby Bys on the bench a
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: lot of the games, you know, for for whatever reason.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: And this guy is probably one of the best defensive
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: multi position players that you'll that you'll see, So that,
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: I mean, that just goes to show you the depth
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: of what we had, uh, you know, on the field.
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean defense, You know, defense wins championships.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: You know, your your offense is going to go through
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: ups and downs throughout the season, and so is your pitching.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: But defense, if they stay steadfast and keep making those plays.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: You know, I always said, I don't I don't necessarily
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: need the flashy play. I need the routine play. And
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: if you had guys on a team that make routine
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: plays day after day after day, that's just going to
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: keep you know, adding up to those outs, and the
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: faster you get, you know, to to twenty seven outs
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: usually means that you've won that game. So you know
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: that that that's that was a big proponent of mine.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: I try to tell my my middle school guys that
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: I've been helping out down here. You know, hey, guys,
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: just I don't care about you know, getting the necessarily,
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: I want to teach you guys how to play baseball.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: But at the same time, you know, turning a double
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: play at their age is a little difficult. You know,
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: you don't always have to go for the lead runner.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: Just get out because if you guys get out, the
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: other team's defense isn't as good as you guys. You're
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: going to hit, you know, you're gonna drive in more runs,
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: You're gonna be on the offensive sides. So you know,
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: at the end of the day, just continue to get
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: out and usually things work out.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: All right, let's take a quick break. I got a
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: question about the rollercoaster like season that the Cubs are having.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: John I remember John Lackey would grumble at us and
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: tell us, you guys act like it's one hundred and
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: sixty two seasons. But it was good. I'm glad he
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: said that because it sticks in my head and it
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: makes it It really makes me remember, you know, these
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: short segments that feel like they last forever, you got
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: to try and put them in perspective. You cannot overreact
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: to ten games twenty games or whatever it is. It's
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: the full season that you know you have to judge. Still,
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: what the Cubs have gone through has been kind of wild.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: Two ten game winning streaks and a ten game losing
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: streak before we even got to June.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: That happened.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: It feels like now it happened a while ago, but
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: it's kind of wild how that happened. You didn't have
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: those extremes that I recall, but you certainly had there were.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: I mean even sixteen you had that lull before the
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: All Star break the team did seventeen that you guys
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: kind of started off at a slug. Obviously, the way
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: eighteen and nineteen ended it was, you know, these really
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: tough moments. I I'm just curious, like, how did you
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: handle that? How did you try and stay steady during
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: those And what are the different things you noticed in
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: a clubhouse that either were good like this guy's handling
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: it well, or how you had to maybe reset someone
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: or go up to someone, or what were some moments
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: how did you have to help others kind of get
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: through those moments. A guy that I remember watching at
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: least I watched him struggle, like at least when he
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: personally struggled was Schwarber. Schwarber seems like someone that's really
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: matured in that area where he'd wear that, he'd wear
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: those struggles, and that's something that he must have learned
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: over his career. He can't wear the day to day struggles.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: Obviously he's thriving now and figured a lot out with
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: his career. But that's one guy that popped into my
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: mind that just early on maybe wasn't as great at
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: handling that day to day struggles.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I don't even know what to say,
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: like how the season has gone for the Cubs, because
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: I mean, I've never experienced anything like that, you know.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: I mean, if you have a you have a ten
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: game winning streak, you would like to think that your
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: season is pretty good at some point. They don't happen
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: that often. Uh, And then to follow it up with
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: a ten game losing streak. That's that's like the high
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: of the high and the low the low right there?
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: You know, it's it's it's hard. I don't I don't,
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: Like I said, I don't really know how to to
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: answer that. I think, to to go through a season
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: and and you know, like I've said before, you know
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: you want to be you want to be on the
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: kiddy roller coaster hopefully, and that means it's a good
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: you know, usually a good season as opposed to the
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: six flags roller coaster. Kind of like what you know
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: the Cubs are going through right or went through, you know,
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: the the losing. Losing sucks. Losing is hard. I think
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: as you get older, you learn two kind to put
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: the responsibility on yourself and not so much the responsibility
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: of the whole team, if that makes any sense, you know,
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: I think to Sharber's point, I think he learned that,
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: you know, we we would if lost. It wasn't his fault,
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: you know, you know what I'm saying, So like he
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: would put the whole responsibility of the game on himself,
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: you know, and he had three at bats or he
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: had maybe two plays in the outfield or whatever it was.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: And you know, you can't over one hundred and sixty
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: two games, you can't do that. You can't mentally, you
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: won't last if you do that. So over the years
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: he's learned, Okay, we lose as a team, we win
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: as a team. I'm gonna do everything I can in
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: that game to make sure we succeed, and if we
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: don't evaluated after the game, when I leave the field,
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: I'm onto the next one, you know, I think that's
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: how you try to combat some of these some of
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: these losing stations are losing streaks, you know. I think,
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: you know, it can kind of go back to what
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: we were talking about in fifteen and with Bragman a
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: little bit. You know, you get a team that and
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: this this this is like a positive negative thing. You
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: get a team that cares so much that you have
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: each individual up there trying to win the game every
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: single swing. And that's where that's where those games, those
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: streaks can kind of get a little bit longer. And
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: I think Dansby I saw an interview he did a
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: while back where he's just like, you know, we all care,
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: and we're all pressing something of the along those lines.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: I'm not quote, but you know, everybody in that clubhouse cares,
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: and they all want to win the game. And sometimes
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: a clubhouse can care too much and get in their
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: own way. And and I think that's where you know,
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: especially talented teams. Now, if you don't have a talented team,
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: you know you're going to kind of expect these these
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: losing streaks, but you have a talented team like they do.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: You know, you get guys up there pressing and trying
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: to hit you know, the Grand Slams with nobody on,
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: and that's where you know, that's where those those streaks
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: can maybe get a little bit prolonged.
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's we've talked to here. It's probably
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: a whole entire episode if you want to talk about
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: kind of leadership and chemistry, but just something. David Ross
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: has been in the news this week of you know,
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: being linked to the Mets job.
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: Maybe, I mean that's.
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: Kind of the beginning of a search that you won't
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: start in earnest, probably till the off season. But oh,
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: I think it's been kind of nice to see him
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: kind of re emerge during those losing streaks. There were
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: people on Twitter like, where's that David Ross fire. You know,
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: It's just funny how how things sort of work. I think, like,
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: you know, like where where's ROSSI you know, where's the
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: director of Red Ass just you know, you.
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: Know, lighting people up.
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: And you know, I think I think his tenure in Chicago,
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: you know, looks it didn't look bad when he left,
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: but I think it looks better over time, and I
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: think it's you're obviously much closer to it, John, But
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: from as an outside observer, I think it's been nice
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: to see him kind of back on ESPN, like back
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: out doing his podcast with Rizzo.
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: I mean, people are probably sick of Rizzo on TV
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: at this point.
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: But I think, you know, ross ross coming like I think,
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: I think when you have a ten year reunion, sometimes
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: you need like there's a reason why it's ten years.
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: Like you know, whether it's you know, Schober.
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: Ross like it didn't Joe Madden like, it didn't like end,
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: it wasn't a fairy tale script. And I think that
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: the tenure buffer is is nice, is probably warranted in
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: a lot of cases.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, to your point with Rossie, it is
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: nice to see him back in the game a little bit. Uh.
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: He's got a lot of knowledge in there, and you know,
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: to comment on the people saying, you know, where's the
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: Rossy fire and that sort of thing. The hard part
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: with you know what the big leagues is most of
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: the time when you're in those stretches, it's not necessarily
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: bad baseball. You know, it can be a little bit
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: of bad luck, you know, you get second and third
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: with with two outs and a guy hits a screamer
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: to the shortstop and it's right at him. You know,
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: it's part of the game. It sucks, and you know,
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: when you're going well, he hits the ball off his
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: handle with a broken bat and it falls over the shortstop.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying. So like, sometimes it's not
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: always just needing the fire. Now, with that being said,
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: if you're playing shitty baseball, then yeah, you need to
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: get your butt torn up, you know, if you're making
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: mental air. Physical airs are one thing. Physical errors for
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: physical errors. You know, I've had this conversation with both
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: of my kids, on the batting side and on the
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: feeling side. I said, listen, that's not the last air
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: or that's not the first air of the last air
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: you're ever gonna make if you continue to play baseball.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: I'm like, that's not the first strikeout or the last strikeout.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: With you know, runners and scoring position, you guys are
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: gonna have. Like, this game sucks, but it's also beautiful
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: when you when you really die into it. So you know,
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: like the fire part of it is needed at certain
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: points of the season. And you know, I think you know,
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: fans sometimes get lost in the fact of you know,
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: they only see what's on the field, right they don't
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: see what's in the clubhouse. They don't see what or
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: hear what's heard in the clubhouse. You know, they don't
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: hear the message that whoever the manager is is portraying
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: to the to the to the guys and the coaches
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: and hitting coaches and the grind that goes into it,
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: which I think is sometimes good, but in losing situations
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: it can be bad, you know. So but yeah, the
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: ten year thing, man, it is nice. It's nice to
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: come back and you know, see guys and hang out
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: and you know, you start remembering, you know, other guys
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: that that were you know, a part of it, and
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: stories that were linked to those guys, and you know,
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: all those memories kind of kind of come back and
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: you start talking about the season. You forget certain aspects
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: of the season and what happened here and what happened
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: there and and big big moments and funny moments and
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: you know all that stuff. So it is it is
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: good to have a break, and then it's it's nice
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: to to come back kind of you know, like our
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: hair is on fire even if you don't have any,
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: and get back together and uh, you know, and enjoy
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: enjoy each other's company.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: John, We're gonna bug you have plenty about that ten
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: year reunion and other things. You'll be a regular guest
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: with us, which is great. We're looking forward to having
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: you on regularly talking about this current team, talking about
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: the old team, and and just to having you share
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: your knowledge with us. It's it's really great that you're
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: able to do this. But let's wrap this one up.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening to everyone. Thanks for joining us, John,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: this is Northside Territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to the Athletic
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: where Patrick and Iron top of all things Cubs. Thanks
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: for listening and watching.
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: Everyone. Take care,