Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / After all that work to stay in the race, the Cubs’ slim playoff chances take a big hit

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After all that work to stay in the race, the Cubs’ slim playoff chances take a big hit · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: To me, it just got, like I said, kind of
0:01
Speaker 1: sort of hit me of like oh wow, Like okay,
0:03
Speaker 1: this guy is a true difference maker at the major
0:06
Speaker 1: league level and let's see what happens over the next
0:08
Speaker 1: several years.
0:13
Speaker 2: Welcome into Northside Territory, Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
0:18
Speaker 2: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. Were your Cubs
0:22
Speaker 2: beat writers over at the Athletic and the red hot
0:26
Speaker 2: Cubs had a really rough loss on Monday night? That
0:31
Speaker 2: was that was more like the Cubs, I guess, you
0:34
Speaker 2: know of May and June bullpen struggling after a brilliant starting,
0:40
Speaker 2: starting pitching performance. You know, I don't I'm not going
0:44
Speaker 2: to take too much away from Jorge Lopez's one bad
0:47
Speaker 2: outing with the Cubs so far. If you want to
0:50
Speaker 2: freak out about this possibly being lingering issues from him
0:54
Speaker 2: being hurt, You're more than welcome to. But you know,
0:57
Speaker 2: there were a couple of bloops there regally feel Homer.
1:01
Speaker 2: You know, that type of stuff happens, And I think
1:05
Speaker 2: the bigger concern right now would be justin steel. Patrick,
1:09
Speaker 2: you scratched from Tuesday's start, you know the I mean
1:14
Speaker 2: leave it to the Cubs to have all these positive
1:16
Speaker 2: vibes come into town and then and then they lose
1:20
Speaker 2: that first one of the homestand in heartbreaking fashion, and
1:23
Speaker 2: then announce that their ace is scratched the next night.
1:27
Speaker 1: Oh man, it was just like and I I don't know,
1:29
Speaker 1: I just as you know side of when you cover
1:31
Speaker 1: a team for a while, like you know, you just
1:33
Speaker 1: have this like sense or instincts. I was like, all right,
1:35
Speaker 1: if they were red hot on the road trip there,
1:37
Speaker 1: they're gonna lose eventually, right, And I just had this
1:40
Speaker 1: sense of like, all right, I'm back on coverage tonight.
1:44
Speaker 1: You get a much needed break after traveling, is like
1:47
Speaker 1: something like this is gonna happen. And the one two
1:50
Speaker 1: punch of the blown save and the postgame news dump
1:55
Speaker 1: was really disorienting, you know, because it was all about
2:00
Speaker 1: vibes and how great the offense was. That was kind
2:03
Speaker 1: of the pregame talk and how the Cups have you know,
2:07
Speaker 1: solved a lot of things over the course of the
2:09
Speaker 1: year and they've earned the right to have fun in September,
2:12
Speaker 1: and I guess it said the scene in the Wrigley
2:17
Speaker 1: Field interview room. Council was asked you know, a question
2:21
Speaker 1: about does it feel what does it feel like to
2:27
Speaker 1: have a missed opportunity here in early September, and he
2:30
Speaker 1: said feels like a loss, and Council was seemed to
2:36
Speaker 1: be a little chapped, which he normally isn't as we
2:39
Speaker 1: know by this point, and then just as an aside,
2:43
Speaker 1: he said, oh, and Kyle Hendricks will be starting tomorrow night.
2:48
Speaker 1: Justin Steele's been scratched. He has elbow sort of. And
2:51
Speaker 1: then we're all so like start to like, you know,
2:54
Speaker 1: you're writing it down when you're kind of getting the update,
2:58
Speaker 1: and then you know, none of us had the presence
3:00
Speaker 1: of mine or the time to like really like have
3:03
Speaker 1: it fully register. And by the time I looked up,
3:06
Speaker 1: but Council was already standing up and walking away from
3:10
Speaker 1: the microphone. I'm not whining or complaining. It was just
3:13
Speaker 1: like so shocking because before the game, Council was asked
3:18
Speaker 1: about Kyle Hendricks and it was Kyle Hendricks is available
3:20
Speaker 1: out of the bullpen tonight and then we'll see where
3:23
Speaker 1: it goes. You were on that road trip last week,
3:27
Speaker 1: and there were no indications right about Adjustin Steele injury
3:33
Speaker 1: concern on the horizon.
3:35
Speaker 2: No I was. I was more watching Tye on he
3:40
Speaker 2: threw a bullpen Saturday, which which to me was like, okay,
3:46
Speaker 2: so Jordan Wicks is definitely starting on Sunday. There was
3:50
Speaker 2: a mention of like, you know, he could use an
3:53
Speaker 2: extra day. I'm not sure how much this was talked
3:56
Speaker 2: about in the press box, but on teev he they
4:01
Speaker 2: kept showing Tyne getting one like a heat thing on
4:07
Speaker 2: his back. Clearly his back had been bugging him, but
4:11
Speaker 2: not I mean, he's heilt through seven shutout innings. This
4:15
Speaker 2: is something that has popped up throughout Tyane's career. I
4:19
Speaker 2: don't think that's concerning. This elbow thing has happened with
4:25
Speaker 2: steel before. He's never missed significant time. I think he
4:29
Speaker 2: had an eyel stint. Was that last year or this
4:32
Speaker 2: year didn't Wasn't there something arm or something?
4:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, things that when we don't have any
4:44
Speaker 1: information sound alarming when you're talking about a great pitcher
4:48
Speaker 1: and elbow, four arm stuff like that. And you know,
4:51
Speaker 1: I think by the time we get there Tuesday to
4:55
Speaker 1: really field, they'll have at least some more information. But
5:00
Speaker 1: I'm kind of in the mode where like it comes
5:02
Speaker 1: about so many injuries this year and the timelines have
5:04
Speaker 1: been vague, and I get that's kind of the nature
5:07
Speaker 1: of what they do. There's not a lot of time
5:09
Speaker 1: left on the calendar, obviously, and it just felt like
5:15
Speaker 1: that blown save and the Steel News just severely damaged
5:20
Speaker 1: what was already a very slim possibility of making the
5:24
Speaker 1: playoffs this year.
5:26
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yes, I mean it dampens the positivity that
5:30
Speaker 2: was surrounding the team, right, yes, right, like you barely
5:33
Speaker 2: could enjoy what they'd just done and the fans could
5:36
Speaker 2: barely enjoy it at Wrigley, and that that lead was
5:41
Speaker 2: lost quickly. I think it was a matter of like
5:43
Speaker 2: eight pitches that Lopez through where where it went from
5:47
Speaker 2: three nothing to four to three. Yeah, no, it's it's
5:52
Speaker 2: a I mean, here's something that I think fans need
5:56
Speaker 2: to recognize as well. All the ones that are saying
5:59
Speaker 2: they should have gotten rid of Kyle Hendrix, who'd be
6:01
Speaker 2: starting right now if it were in Kyle Hendrix, they
6:04
Speaker 2: don't have anybody at Triple A that could have made
6:07
Speaker 2: this start. So this is why you keep someone like
6:11
Speaker 2: Kyle Hendricks around even when he's struggling, because starting pitching
6:16
Speaker 2: depth is like gold in Major League Baseball. You can't
6:19
Speaker 2: just get rid of guys, especially at this time of year.
6:22
Speaker 2: You don't know when injuries are going to pop up.
6:25
Speaker 2: They're really lucky that Jordan Wicks is healthy right now. Frankly,
6:29
Speaker 2: like that's that's probably the best thing that's happened right now.
6:33
Speaker 2: Wicks is healthy and able to give them innings because
6:37
Speaker 2: that they'd be in a big bind right now if
6:40
Speaker 2: it weren't for Kyle Hendrick still being on this team.
6:43
Speaker 2: In Jordan Wicks getting healthy, so you know, things can change,
6:49
Speaker 2: you know, right back into their favor. If they can
6:51
Speaker 2: beat Paul's schemes, it would be a tall task right now.
6:55
Speaker 2: This is why when everyone is saying, well, these these
6:57
Speaker 2: wins don't matter, because these teams still well. Jerry Jones
7:01
Speaker 2: and Paul Skeen's and Mitch Keller are tough pitchers, and
7:03
Speaker 2: they beat them last week and now that they put
7:06
Speaker 2: up three against Jerry Jones is it was was a
7:09
Speaker 2: nice job. Now they got to do it again against
7:12
Speaker 2: Paul Skeen, So like this is it's not going to
7:15
Speaker 2: be an easy task. We knew they dug themselves such
7:19
Speaker 2: a big hole in May and June that just because
7:22
Speaker 2: they had a hot Uh, hot road trip doesn't mean
7:26
Speaker 2: anything was guaranteed. They gotta they got to figure out
7:29
Speaker 2: ways to win these games. Uh. The Yankees this weekend, Uh,
7:34
Speaker 2: I think Nester Cortes, Garrett Cole uh and one other. Uh,
7:40
Speaker 2: I'm not sure who the other. I think it's like
7:41
Speaker 2: Will something. I'm blanking on the name. So the pitching,
7:45
Speaker 2: you know, Nester Cortes isn't having the best season, so
7:47
Speaker 2: basically be a tougher series as far as pitching goes
7:49
Speaker 2: with the Pirate than than the Yankees. But you know,
7:53
Speaker 2: you still have to face one Soda and Aaron Judge.
7:55
Speaker 2: So uh, but we'll see what the pitching looks like,
7:58
Speaker 2: what the Cubs pitching looks like. I'm very curious to
8:01
Speaker 2: hear the explanation on the details on Steel. Uh yeah,
8:07
Speaker 2: I don't know like it. This podcast could have been
8:12
Speaker 2: sounded very differently, right if they hold on to that lead,
8:16
Speaker 2: even like steel news is big, But the way they
8:20
Speaker 2: performed over the weekend, I know, like everyone wants to
8:25
Speaker 2: point out the competition, but when you like they they
8:28
Speaker 2: weren't beating bad teams before, so like they were doing
8:31
Speaker 2: their job and really looking good or for you know,
8:36
Speaker 2: a long stretch there. We'll see if they bounce back
8:38
Speaker 2: against schemes, it's going to be a tough, tough evening
8:41
Speaker 2: for them.
8:43
Speaker 1: Was to me just underscore is what we've talked about
8:46
Speaker 1: for a while now, how they gave themselves no margin
8:48
Speaker 1: for error, right, And it's like it takes so much
8:52
Speaker 1: time to just like almost get back to even a
8:56
Speaker 1: little over five hundred, to like pull within a few
9:00
Speaker 1: games of playoff spot. But when you do that, it
9:04
Speaker 1: can also just like vanish, maybe not a vanished, but
9:08
Speaker 1: you can just go away so quickly like that, whether
9:12
Speaker 1: it's the momentum, the playoff odds creeping up, pulling within
9:20
Speaker 1: a couple of teams, passing a couple of teams, like
9:23
Speaker 1: you have to keep your foot on the accelerator the
9:27
Speaker 1: entire time, all the way through Game one sixty two
9:31
Speaker 1: to give yourself a chance. If you're in the Cubs
9:34
Speaker 1: position here and as we're talking Tuesday morning here three
9:40
Speaker 1: and a half games behind the Braves, but it's really
9:42
Speaker 1: more like four and a half, right, because they lost
9:45
Speaker 1: the season series, lost the season series against the Mets
9:48
Speaker 1: for only half a game behind the Braves. So you know,
9:54
Speaker 1: the Cubs are still mathematically alive. I think they've certainly
9:59
Speaker 1: like passed the eye test more recently. And I'm not
10:04
Speaker 1: getting too hung up on oh, they only beat you know,
10:06
Speaker 1: bad teams like one, That's what you have to do.
10:09
Speaker 1: I think this has been a pretty mediocre year across baseball, right,
10:14
Speaker 1: I mean there's been stuff like that, like those one
10:17
Speaker 1: hundred win behemoth teams aren't quite out there, and so
10:24
Speaker 1: I don't know, is there anything you're taking away from
10:28
Speaker 1: that road trip to Hotev of like, you know, is
10:31
Speaker 1: the offense closer to what Jed Hoyer described as, you know,
10:37
Speaker 1: six most runs in baseball last year? Are you seeing
10:41
Speaker 1: good signs out of the bullpen? Do you think Counsel
10:45
Speaker 1: has maybe started to trust really trusts, you know, some
10:49
Speaker 1: of his coaches. What was your when you left DC?
10:52
Speaker 1: What before what was kind of a disastrous late Monday night,
10:57
Speaker 1: late Labor day night, what was your What were your
11:00
Speaker 1: takeaways from that road trip?
11:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean the offense clearly has turned a corner.
11:06
Speaker 2: They I mean it's just, you know, the simplest way
11:10
Speaker 2: to put it is it's deeper, right, like Amaya's hitting,
11:13
Speaker 2: Bethancourt is hitting, and then PCA looks like a different player.
11:16
Speaker 2: I think Pca is a menace on the bass pats.
11:20
Speaker 2: He causes havoc every single time he gets on the bases.
11:25
Speaker 2: Dansby Swanson, you know, for all the criticism he took,
11:28
Speaker 2: like he's he's really turned it around and he's pushing for,
11:32
Speaker 2: you know, to be almost as valuable as he was
11:35
Speaker 2: last year. Overall, he's an elite defender obviously, and and
11:41
Speaker 2: his offense now is has been huge. Uh yeah, I
11:46
Speaker 2: mean the offense looks different. I dug into some of it,
11:49
Speaker 2: and some of it is like, Okay, they needed to
11:52
Speaker 2: do this for a while. They're crushing fastballs, right they
11:55
Speaker 2: they hadn't been doing that. They needed to do that.
11:58
Speaker 2: There's some there's some of it that's just like I
12:00
Speaker 2: think it's really about like this is the randomness of baseball.
12:03
Speaker 2: I think they had sixty six two out RBI in
12:07
Speaker 2: August and that was like wow, Like that was like
12:11
Speaker 2: I can't remember the exact number, like six or eight
12:14
Speaker 2: fewer than they had in May and June combined. Now,
12:18
Speaker 2: like yeah, like that's they didn't just figure out how
12:23
Speaker 2: to hit with two outs, right, Like some of this
12:25
Speaker 2: is just like balls are falling, They're like teams are
12:28
Speaker 2: making mistakes and they're capitalizing on them. I mean, it
12:31
Speaker 2: even happened last night, Monday night, right like that, the
12:35
Speaker 2: two runs they scored to make it three nothingca beat
12:39
Speaker 2: out a ball that should have been a routine double
12:41
Speaker 2: playball right beat out at second that never happens. And
12:45
Speaker 2: then and it's two outs and and Ian half triples
12:48
Speaker 2: two runs in like that, Like that type of stuff
12:52
Speaker 2: just wasn't happening for the Cubs before. And that's not
12:56
Speaker 2: that's not like just luck. It's the randomness of base
13:00
Speaker 2: ball sometimes, like sometimes things fall and sometimes it happens
13:03
Speaker 2: in clusters. Now, I don't know if that's sustainable or
13:06
Speaker 2: if like they just need to hit. Ultimately, what I
13:10
Speaker 2: came away from when I started digging into the numbers
13:12
Speaker 2: of the offense is like they're not going to put
13:14
Speaker 2: up the same numbers that they did in August. They
13:17
Speaker 2: they're just not. But they need to have they need
13:19
Speaker 2: to play. They need to pitch like they did yesterday.
13:22
Speaker 2: The starting pitching needs to pitch like that, and then
13:24
Speaker 2: they need to be an above average offense. But basically,
13:26
Speaker 2: if the if they can, you know they can't, it's
13:30
Speaker 2: gonna be really hard to replicate August. I think they
13:33
Speaker 2: would have been on pace for like nine hundred and
13:35
Speaker 2: fifty runs if that's if that's how they that's the
13:38
Speaker 2: pace they put up in August, so that that's not
13:41
Speaker 2: gonna happen. Okay, to just be an above average offense
13:44
Speaker 2: and continue pitching like they have and they have a
13:47
Speaker 2: shot to have a good September. You know that that's
13:51
Speaker 2: it's well, what's the likelihood that they catch the teams
13:54
Speaker 2: ahead of them? Not not great, but just put up.
13:57
Speaker 2: You just got to do what you gotta do, right.
13:58
Speaker 2: You got to try and win as man for sure. Yeah.
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15:06
Speaker 1: One of things that really kind of smack me in
15:10
Speaker 1: the face here was just in part reading your coverage
15:14
Speaker 1: and also just taking a little bit of a step
15:16
Speaker 1: back last week of like what PCA might not have whatever,
15:22
Speaker 1: like a thousand ops for his career or whatever he's
15:25
Speaker 1: doing now, and like Miguel Amaya might not hit like
15:28
Speaker 1: you know, whatever Aaron Judge or wants. So how he's
15:31
Speaker 1: at crazy numbers, we all realize they're gonna right, Like
15:36
Speaker 1: if those guys are like legit every day two way players.
15:42
Speaker 1: It's kind of a mind blowing development. I think we
15:45
Speaker 1: operate at a time when prospects are just so overhyped
15:50
Speaker 1: and like we've heard about these guys for so long.
15:53
Speaker 1: Like I remember talking to Miguel Maya might have been
15:57
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen in South Bend before he was going to
16:01
Speaker 1: the Futures game and then you know, with the COVID
16:06
Speaker 1: shutdown and other things, you know, I hadn't seen him
16:08
Speaker 1: for a while, and I was very impressed. Like he
16:11
Speaker 1: came up to me years later, shook my hand and said, hey, Patrick,
16:14
Speaker 1: how you doing. Like I was kind of blown away
16:18
Speaker 1: that clearly there's something there. He's an intelligent guy and
16:21
Speaker 1: he's well liked. He he does seem to care and
16:26
Speaker 1: puts in the work. But that doesn't mean you're a dude, right,
16:32
Speaker 1: Like maybe you're more of a career backup. But like
16:35
Speaker 1: if you were starting, if we were starting expansion team tomorrow,
16:38
Speaker 1: like what would the two hardest things be defined? It
16:42
Speaker 1: might be a legit two way center fielder and an
16:45
Speaker 1: every day catcher, you know. I mean, like Dansby might
16:51
Speaker 1: is having you know, a decent year, you know, but
16:56
Speaker 1: even he was having a good year, he might be
16:57
Speaker 1: what like the sixteenth seventeenth bet chort stop at baseball.
17:00
Speaker 1: I'm just exaggerating here, but it's probably easier to find
17:03
Speaker 1: like a premium shortstop than those two positions. And if
17:06
Speaker 1: like PCA can do stuff like this for the next
17:11
Speaker 1: several years, and if a Maya is someone that the
17:14
Speaker 1: coaches and the pitchers trust and he can hit just
17:16
Speaker 1: enough like that, that changes the calculus for me. Like
17:21
Speaker 1: that's like, okay, you have those two guys as anchors.
17:25
Speaker 1: That makes a really interesting sort of base to move
17:29
Speaker 1: from this offseason.
17:31
Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, you know, I don't want to hide them
17:35
Speaker 2: too much because, like you said, repeating August over the
17:38
Speaker 2: span of one hundred and sixty two games just isn't happening.
17:42
Speaker 2: But especially with PCA, he's opened eyes and he just
17:47
Speaker 2: looks like a different player. Overall, I think a lot
17:51
Speaker 2: of credit should go to the hitting group, the hitting coaches.
17:55
Speaker 2: They stuck with them, they worked with hard with them,
17:58
Speaker 2: and you're seeing rail development at the major league level.
18:02
Speaker 2: That's something that we've talked about a lot over the
18:06
Speaker 2: years with this organization and something that they want to
18:09
Speaker 2: see and that Craig Council emphasizes. I think there were
18:13
Speaker 2: a lot of There was a lot of heat on
18:15
Speaker 2: the hitting coaches right when they slumped May and June,
18:18
Speaker 2: when this team slumped through May and June. And clearly
18:21
Speaker 2: they're having an impact, especially on young players. You could
18:25
Speaker 2: say they're having an impact on multiple on some veterans too,
18:28
Speaker 2: the work that's been put in with Dansby. You know,
18:31
Speaker 2: Michael Bush has had a great year. He's a young player,
18:35
Speaker 2: but these guys have gotten better as the year has
18:37
Speaker 2: gone on. I think that that's on the players mostly,
18:41
Speaker 2: but the like, especially with the young guys, the coaches
18:44
Speaker 2: get some credit there. Yeah, I agree with what you
18:48
Speaker 2: said about Amaya being like he is well liked, and
18:51
Speaker 2: I think that goes a long way. I think there's
18:54
Speaker 2: another aspect here about prospects that we need to consider that.
19:01
Speaker 2: You know, we've talked about a little bit, but not
19:04
Speaker 2: a ton. You know, Triple A to the majors is
19:06
Speaker 2: just such a huge jump. And part of the reason
19:09
Speaker 2: for that is because the lower miners has been gutted,
19:12
Speaker 2: right Like, we don't have short season baseball. When you
19:16
Speaker 2: draft twenty players or whatever, that means you're getting rid
19:19
Speaker 2: of twenty players too, right like, and they just like
19:24
Speaker 2: Triple A. I was talking to someone about this. They're like,
19:28
Speaker 2: think about it and think about the competition. They're like,
19:31
Speaker 2: we really have to analyze, like what type of competition
19:34
Speaker 2: are these guys facing. And I was like, yeah, some
19:36
Speaker 2: of them are just like four A quality hitters, right,
19:38
Speaker 2: And they're like not even that they're like two and
19:41
Speaker 2: a half A because they're getting pushed to higher level.
19:45
Speaker 4: Yeah.
19:45
Speaker 2: I feel like, so you have someone like Daniel Palentzia
19:49
Speaker 2: who is clearly a borderline major leaguer, right, like an
19:53
Speaker 2: up and down guy who goes to Triple A and
19:55
Speaker 2: just dominates, and you're like, you have to give this
19:57
Speaker 2: guy a chance, and then he comes up and he struggles, right,
20:02
Speaker 2: So it's easy to say, like, I mean, you see
20:05
Speaker 2: like rehab performances and guys are just crushing the ball,
20:10
Speaker 2: you know, and it's it's there's there's a pretty big
20:14
Speaker 2: gap here right now, and it takes a little while
20:17
Speaker 2: to adjust to the big leagues. I mean, Jackson Holidays
20:22
Speaker 2: the number one prospect and he took it took him
20:24
Speaker 2: his second stint before he found his you know, really
20:28
Speaker 2: got going as a big leaguer. It's just it happens
20:32
Speaker 2: over and over again watching James Wood with Washington. You know,
20:38
Speaker 2: it's not like they're still excited about him, but he's
20:40
Speaker 2: not consistently tearing the cover off the ball. Dylan Cruz
20:44
Speaker 2: had some grade at bats, and then he he looked
20:46
Speaker 2: flummoxed out there a couple of times too. So you know,
20:50
Speaker 2: it just doesn't it's not the way. It doesn't feel
20:53
Speaker 2: like it did in twenty fifteen when kids were coming
20:57
Speaker 2: up and just hit the ground run. For there's a
21:00
Speaker 2: bigger gap here and it's going to be a tougher process,
21:04
Speaker 2: which is, you know, when everyone's calling for minor leaguers
21:08
Speaker 2: to come up on September first and supplement the roster.
21:13
Speaker 2: First of all, where's the playing time? Who's are you
21:15
Speaker 2: sitting Ian Happ for Owen Casey orre you sitting say
21:17
Speaker 2: a Suzuki? Is Michael Bush not playing anymore? Like? What
21:21
Speaker 2: are you doing to get these guys at bats? That
21:26
Speaker 2: that's one thing, and the other thing is you can't
21:28
Speaker 2: just assume that they're going to hit when they come up.
21:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm just on PCA's Baseball Reference page here. He
21:36
Speaker 1: made his major league debut on September eleventh last year,
21:40
Speaker 1: and it's kind of just amazing how much he's grown.
21:44
Speaker 1: And we've talked about this before, just how understandably like
21:49
Speaker 1: jumpy he was and how hard he was trying to
21:51
Speaker 1: like make things happen.
21:55
Speaker 2: Just looked.
21:57
Speaker 1: Really rushed in center field on a basis and then
22:00
Speaker 1: just overmatched at the plate. And we realized it was
22:02
Speaker 1: a small sample size. But you know, when the Cubs
22:07
Speaker 1: were spiraling earlier this year, I think we're kind of
22:10
Speaker 1: looking around like, well, where's where's that bounce? Where's that
22:14
Speaker 1: like push that adrenaline from within? Like where's that young
22:18
Speaker 1: talent like you? Everyone says you have this great farm system,
22:22
Speaker 1: Like where is it? And when you see PCA just
22:25
Speaker 1: impacting the game in different different ways, when you wrote
22:29
Speaker 1: about how he sort of gets in pitchers heads, like
22:33
Speaker 1: that he can just make things happen by his presence,
22:37
Speaker 1: Like last night up in the press box looking at
22:42
Speaker 1: that ground ball through a team double play, like what
22:47
Speaker 1: ninety nine out of one hundred times and PC eight
22:50
Speaker 1: beats it out and then Hap gets that to out
22:54
Speaker 1: two run triple into the right field corner. Like when
22:58
Speaker 1: you have a guy like that who can just fly
23:02
Speaker 1: all over the field, it does to me it just got,
23:07
Speaker 1: like I said, sort of hit me of like oh wow,
23:09
Speaker 1: like this is not like I think we've seen enough
23:13
Speaker 1: to not annoint PCA, but be like, Okay, this guy
23:17
Speaker 1: is a true difference maker at the major league level,
23:19
Speaker 1: and like, let's see what happens over the next several years.
23:22
Speaker 2: Right, they had this stat on Marquee. I'm just double checking.
23:27
Speaker 2: I can't remember exactly what they showed, but I didn't
23:30
Speaker 2: realize it. But since July twenty seventh, he has thirty
23:34
Speaker 2: six hits I believe that's right. So before that, including
23:40
Speaker 2: you know, his cup of coffee, last year he had
23:42
Speaker 2: thirty two hits. So justin still like twenty seventh, he
23:45
Speaker 2: has four more hits than he did in his entire
23:48
Speaker 2: career previous to that, which I mean just feels insane.
23:52
Speaker 2: You know, like over like a month and a week, essentially,
23:55
Speaker 2: he's put up the production that he did over the
23:58
Speaker 2: entire season plus cup of coffee. He's just a different
24:02
Speaker 2: player right now. He's he's developed. He looks you know
24:06
Speaker 2: what you said right there is I think is we're
24:10
Speaker 2: seeing happening. Right. He has a chance to become an
24:12
Speaker 2: impactful player for years to come. On this team, which
24:16
Speaker 2: changes a lot of the way you think about things
24:20
Speaker 2: with regards to this team. I think it's less so
24:23
Speaker 2: with Amaya, just because you know, like there's so much
24:28
Speaker 2: that PCA does that kind of changes the way you
24:32
Speaker 2: do look at things and how he can impact the team.
24:36
Speaker 2: Not that Amaya isn't impactful, it's just that A, I'm
24:40
Speaker 2: not there yet, that I'm not sure that it's gonna,
24:44
Speaker 2: you know, stick as far as like him being an
24:46
Speaker 2: everyday player or the starting catcher going forward, and B
24:50
Speaker 2: it's just what PCA does is electrifying. It's you know,
24:55
Speaker 2: it's hard, It's it's hard not to like kind of
24:59
Speaker 2: just be on the edgy seat watching him and kind
25:01
Speaker 2: of like, Wow, this guy just changes games. He's he's
25:07
Speaker 2: someone you game plan for almost and you have to
25:10
Speaker 2: like it's in the mind of the opposition when when
25:13
Speaker 2: he is on base, when he's playing defense, when whatever
25:16
Speaker 2: it is, even at the plate now. So he's kind
25:19
Speaker 2: of changing the narrative around his career already.
25:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's a good point too. Like Amaya is
25:27
Speaker 1: a few years older than PCA. He plays a really
25:31
Speaker 1: demanding position, Like I don't know how many the catchers
25:36
Speaker 1: that you can really count on to the everyday types
25:40
Speaker 1: year after year after year, not many of them floating around.
25:45
Speaker 1: That's why they get enormous contracts when they're able to
25:50
Speaker 1: stay healthy and productive and cashed in. But I do
25:55
Speaker 1: think it was an interesting way to kind of look
25:57
Speaker 1: at this September here, that the Cubs are probably gonna
26:02
Speaker 1: be mathematically alive for a good bulk of this month,
26:10
Speaker 1: so there will be something to play for, and that
26:15
Speaker 1: switch will be flipped towards like evaluation and like what
26:21
Speaker 1: does it mean moving forward? And we're talking about players
26:23
Speaker 1: like Amaya and Pca, a coaching staff that you know,
26:30
Speaker 1: I think has done some really significant in season things.
26:34
Speaker 1: We haven't even gotten to what you've written about Mike
26:36
Speaker 1: Napoli and the base running, which has sort of taken
26:39
Speaker 1: off in a really interesting way after a slower start,
26:44
Speaker 1: and then just still, you know, you kind of are
26:47
Speaker 1: what your record says you are. And I go back
26:50
Speaker 1: to a Tom Ricket said at the end of last
26:52
Speaker 1: season what he said spring training. You know, we don't
26:56
Speaker 1: play for consolation prizes, you know, stressing that the payroll
27:01
Speaker 1: is more than enough to win a division that years
27:06
Speaker 1: when the Cubs don't make the playoffs have to be
27:09
Speaker 1: considered disappointment. So, like I think it was Terry Francona,
27:15
Speaker 1: I remember him saying once like the season.
27:16
Speaker 5: Doesn't wind down, it just like comes to a complete, abrupt,
27:21
Speaker 5: jarring stop, going from constantly worrying and thinking about things
27:27
Speaker 5: and having to b places to just nothing.
27:29
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be like that with the
27:31
Speaker 1: Cubs too. Of just the the vibes were great on
27:35
Speaker 1: the road and they looked good and that's more of
27:38
Speaker 1: kind of what they expected. But still they're still looking
27:41
Speaker 1: up at a lot of teams in the National League
27:44
Speaker 1: right now.
27:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, the essentially can I'm kind of guestimating here,
27:50
Speaker 2: but I think I'm right on this. They can go
27:52
Speaker 2: five hundred the rest of the way and one more
27:54
Speaker 2: games than last year, you know, and I don't think
27:57
Speaker 2: anybody I don't think it's a stretch to say they'll
27:59
Speaker 2: go five hundred, right, Like, they're playing enough baseball, they
28:02
Speaker 2: have an easy enough schedule, they're good enough team. They're
28:06
Speaker 2: going to end up where both you and I kind
28:08
Speaker 2: of thought they would at the end of the season,
28:12
Speaker 2: right I thought they'd have more wins because my whole
28:14
Speaker 2: thought process was they were going to be better at
28:16
Speaker 2: the deadline, and then they'll be aggressive and add someone
28:19
Speaker 2: that pushes them to another level. That didn't happen, But
28:23
Speaker 2: the talent that I saw on this team was like
28:25
Speaker 2: eighty five ish wins, and that's about where they're probably
28:29
Speaker 2: going to end up, and it's likely not going to
28:34
Speaker 2: be enough. They need to play at the clip they
28:36
Speaker 2: were playing at on the road. Well maybe not on
28:39
Speaker 2: the road, but essentially I think it was before. Yes,
28:43
Speaker 2: So now they're twelve and four in the eighteen game
28:47
Speaker 2: stretch that we kind of circled, right, you want to
28:51
Speaker 2: go probably now you want to win this series and
28:53
Speaker 2: go fourteen and four that they're kind of have to
28:55
Speaker 2: go on that type of run again the rest of
28:57
Speaker 2: the season after these two pirate games. Uh, and and
29:02
Speaker 2: then you can and then you have to hope that
29:04
Speaker 2: that Atlanta and New York are playing just like barely
29:07
Speaker 2: above five hundred long shot, but not impossible. Not yeah,
29:12
Speaker 2: not impossible, not likely. Also, I think you're right, like
29:17
Speaker 2: they can play great baseball down the stretch. They can
29:20
Speaker 2: look like their progress was made, and ultimately the season
29:24
Speaker 2: is a disappointment. I don't want to call it a failure.
29:26
Speaker 2: When when players develop, and you and great council kind
29:31
Speaker 2: of observes and sees like these coaches are making a difference.
29:35
Speaker 2: I need to make adjustments here, and like you know,
29:38
Speaker 2: or you know, Justin Steele takes another step forward in
29:40
Speaker 2: a season, Jameson Tyne stabilizes, showed to Monaga, all these things,
29:45
Speaker 2: there's a lot of there's a lot of steps forward.
29:48
Speaker 2: Doesn't mean it's acceptable and that that fans should be
29:51
Speaker 2: happy coming up short. U sets them up nicely for
29:55
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five big off season that we've been talking about,
29:59
Speaker 2: whether they would not you know, like all that stuffy.
30:02
Speaker 2: When I say big off season, I mean critical like important. Yeah,
30:07
Speaker 2: not spending five hundred million on one Soto. Uh, you
30:11
Speaker 2: can spin it however you want. Ultimately, not making the
30:14
Speaker 2: playoffs is a disappointment, and I you know, I don't
30:17
Speaker 2: want to crush optimius hopes, but that's that's likely where
30:21
Speaker 2: they're headed, just falling short, even if they have a
30:24
Speaker 2: strong finish here, which you know they're primed to do.
30:27
Speaker 2: But that's ultimately what what what the season is is
30:31
Speaker 2: looking like.
30:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just I didn't get a chance to write
30:35
Speaker 1: this in my story off off of Monday but I
30:39
Speaker 1: had kind of filed it away for you know, this
30:44
Speaker 1: conversation is we're gonna be talking about it, like, you know,
30:48
Speaker 1: was the season of failure or not if they don't
30:49
Speaker 1: make the playoffs? And I just go back to we're
30:51
Speaker 1: both old enough to remember when the Cubs just gutted
30:56
Speaker 1: their coaching staff after a third straight trip to the NLCS,
31:00
Speaker 1: guys who helped them win their first World Series title
31:04
Speaker 1: in one hundred and eight years. I mean, they kind
31:07
Speaker 1: of blew out their coaching staff again after winning ninety
31:12
Speaker 1: five games in twenty eighteen. I think after that ninety
31:16
Speaker 1: five one season, was that when THEO said our offense broke.
31:18
Speaker 1: When you had that like like been like a seventy
31:21
Speaker 1: five ninety minute press conference of just this like sort
31:25
Speaker 1: of like one man show of airing grievances and frustrations
31:30
Speaker 1: and disappointments. And I still think that has to be
31:34
Speaker 1: the center of everything an organization does, of like getting
31:39
Speaker 1: towards October, and that if you write off too much
31:48
Speaker 1: for development and you know, saying positive things like if
31:51
Speaker 1: you're not in the playoffs, particularly in an expanded playoff field,
31:56
Speaker 1: is one of the worst divisions, one in which you're
32:03
Speaker 1: the big market team, and when the Cardinals, Reds, and
32:07
Speaker 1: Pirates all have remain either stagnant or plateaued or taken
32:12
Speaker 1: or kind of drifted backwards, like and you took the
32:17
Speaker 1: Brewer's manager, this hometown hero away from them, and they
32:23
Speaker 1: still run away with the division. That's going to be
32:28
Speaker 1: the tension to me of all those exit meetings and
32:32
Speaker 1: off season planning sessions.
32:34
Speaker 2: Absolutely no, I agree with all of that. All right,
32:38
Speaker 2: they have a big one tonight. In my opinion, I'm
32:41
Speaker 2: very curious to see how like I like, especially the
32:44
Speaker 2: offense looks that they're going to need to step up
32:48
Speaker 2: with with Kyle Hendricks on the mound. You know, you
32:51
Speaker 2: just don't know what you're going to get from Kyle Hendricks.
32:53
Speaker 2: He could put up a good game, but you just
32:55
Speaker 2: don't know. And the offense needs to kind of step
32:58
Speaker 2: up and grind through Paul's teams as best they can.
33:01
Speaker 2: It's not an easy task, but I think that's what
33:03
Speaker 2: lays ahead of them tonight because you do not want
33:05
Speaker 2: to lose this series. You need to try and start
33:08
Speaker 2: getting back on the winning track and take this series
33:11
Speaker 2: and hopefully take one from the Yankees over the weekend
33:13
Speaker 2: to kind of feel good about the rest of the
33:16
Speaker 2: month and their chances to kind of, you know, make
33:19
Speaker 2: a run here. All right, that's our first episode this
33:23
Speaker 2: week of Northside Territory. Thanks for listening to everyone. Make
33:26
Speaker 2: sure to subscribe, rate and review. Subscribe to the podcast
33:30
Speaker 2: there is the podcast the YouTube channel, and subscribe to
33:34
Speaker 2: The Athletic, where Patrick and I will be writing about
33:36
Speaker 2: the Cubs all month and into the off season. Thanks
33:40
Speaker 2: so much for listening to everyone. Appreciate it. Take care