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The Cubs are falling apart: How is this happening? · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic and Patrick, let's
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: talk a little bit more about this Brewers series. For
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: three games, the Milwaukee Brewers just took it to the Cubs.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: This is a team that repeatedly, year after year, shows
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: that they are not going anywhere. I think I'm long
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: past the point of doubting them. They will figure out
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: a way to be good. It may not be the
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: way that every other team does it or the most
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: obvious path to success, but the Brewers have found a
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: recipe and frankly, they're just you know, the Organizationally, they
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: are better than the Cubs. I'm not sure if you know.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna say this, it's it's May May twenty first,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: as we record this.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Is it is not.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: The division isn't over. It hasn't been handed to the
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Brewers just yet. But the way the Cubs played, they
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: were outplayed. It didn't look good and I understand why
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: fans would be panicked or frustrated or concerned. Whatever the
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: reaction is it's not going to be a positive one
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: if you're a Cubs fan, because they didn't look good.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: They played some really poor games, and frankly, I didn't
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: I never felt during that series that the Cubs were
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: coming back because constantly they were behind early and often,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: and it never felt like they really had the ability
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: to come back against a team that just seems to
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: overcome any obstacle you put in their path.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: Just a flat out embarrassing series for the Cubs.
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: And we'll.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: Know it's it's a long season, you know, you know,
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: are they are they battling for the right to get
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: swept by the Dodgers and the playoffs?
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: Like, we don't know, right, but I think.
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: The spin zone version of this will be have the
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: Cubs at least are It should be a wake up
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: call that, like at the trade deadline, it will not
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: be a time for half measures, that they are going
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: to need all of their resources to win this division
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: and get that first round by and set themselves up
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: for a nice October run. But right now, the Brewers
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: are just that team that really sort of embarrasses every
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: part of the Cubs operation, you know, you look at
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: from ownership business side, They're like, I'm sure they're wondering, like,
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: why are we spending one hundred million dollars more year
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: than than the Brewers and looking up at them at
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: the standings. They're pitching infrastructure that just trades out all
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: stars and finds broken prospects and fixes them in real time.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: At the major league level, their international operation is rolling.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: I know you've heard good things about that. We can
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: see some of the players that they've brought up to
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: the show and just they have a certain mold that
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: they like for hitters. They know the traits they want, speed, contact, athleticism,
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: constantly putting pressure on what's a really good Cubs defense
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: and making them break. Will get into this more. But
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: Craig Council is a very good, accomplished manager. But the
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: Brewers don't seem to miss him at all. And when
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: you put all this together, it's great theater. It's a
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: super entertaining rivalry. I think they play ten more times.
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: Would be fun to see another playoff series between these
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: two rivals.
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: But like.
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: Right now, it feels like everything is going wrong for
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: the Cubs.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, this was you hope Cubs fans certainly hope this
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: is the low point because the way they played was
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: just there were obviously the errors, the mistake by Petek
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Armstrong in center field. Some Brewers magic there with getting
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: the runner on base with the catcher's in appearance of
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: barely touching you know, the strings of the glove. That's
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: that's you know, that's the randomness of baseball sometimes. But
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: the Brewers do find a way. They have injuries, they
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: have plenty of injuries, and they trade away in ace.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: They they lose star players, it doesn't matter. They they
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: have a deep system. You mentioned international free agency there.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: Their top two prospects are international free agents. Uh, they're
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: going to be up at I don't know if they'll
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: be up this season even, but they're they're both like
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: where are the Brewers weak points? Third base and shortstop
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: right now at the major league level, that's the position
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: their top two prospects play. They they have pitching for
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Miles and Miles it never ends. Jacob Mazerowski's obviously awesome,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: you know, one of the best pitchers in.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: The game right now.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: They trade for Kyle Harrison, who was kind of seen
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: as like this former top prospect that just couldn't nobody
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: could coax out the talent and now he's pitching just brilliantly,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: like strikeout rate over thirty percent, just a dominant force
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: on the mound right now. And it's just it doesn't
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: seem to stop with them like the Cubs. The Cubs
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: are comparable at the major league level. The Cubs are
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: not comparable organizationally. They don't have the system, they don't
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: have the pitching development, they don't have the international free agents,
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: they don't have these guys. Can they get there someday, maybe,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: but it took a little while for the Brewers to
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: get to this point, and it's a well oiled machine
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: right now. I don't know if the Cubs are getting there,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: if they you know, if the process that they have
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: set up right now is the right one to get
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: them there. But it doesn't feel organizationally like they're at
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: the same level. That's not to say that they can't
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: compete with them right now at the major league level,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: because the Cubs advantage is money, right that's supposed to
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: be their advantage.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: And they went out and they spent.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: On players and finally they added a you know, big
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: name in free agency, and that you know, that's supposed
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: to be their advantage. That is their advantage. They you
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: mentioned it, you said, the business side must be like,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: how are we spending so much more than them and
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: they're still better than us? Well, they have to leverage
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: the money. They started to do that this offseason.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: It isn't.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: It hasn't quite worked out just yet. Let's let's talk
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: a little bit about that. Let's uhh, this is it.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: It's time for our Daily Dingers presented by Fan Duel,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: and for our Daily Diggers segment. We're going to talk
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: about the Cubs offense and in particular Alex Bregman. That's
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: the big money guy that they went and got and
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: and this isn't This should not be put all on
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: Bregman's lap here, like this isn't all his fault.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: He's been okay. He started out really slowly. He's been a.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Lot better lately. But it's just it's that it's okay.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: You know, you can take whatever sample you want over
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: like all of May, the you know, last couple of weeks,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: whatever it is, nothing stands out as brilliant. The power
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: has not been there. I believe it's four extra base
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: hits this month. Alex Bregman is not the problem with
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: this offense, He in halfs striking out at a thirty
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: three percent rate. Right now, Dansby Swanson is hitting like
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: one eighty. Pete Armstrong struggling, Moises Biasteros is in a
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: huge slump. Nico has been in a little bit of
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: a rough patch. There's a lot of players struggling. So
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: when you know there's a lot of things going wrong.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: But I think Alex Bregman not being the guy just
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: yet that you hoped he would be when you signed
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: him to that big deal has to be, you know,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: a point of frustration early on in this season.
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: He was supposed to be the difference maker that and
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: we've heard a lot about his leadership components and now
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: would be a good time to sort of demonstrate that.
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: But I think it really comes down to more of
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: that on field production, like they need that bat to
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: sort of be a catalyst and re energize everything or
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: come through with that big hit that changes the game,
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: maybe changes a series, and gets that sense of momentum restored.
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: Bregmant Wednesday night was at his locker. He basically gave
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: them the same version of the It's going to turn
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: speech that he did for their.
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: First ten game winning streak. I believe.
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: That was kind of the day before their first of
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: fifteen consecutive wins at home, saying how the cream rises
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: to the top over one point sixty two, YadA, YadA, YadA,
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: but like it's it's time for him to get going
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: and not just be like an okay, you know, peace,
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: but to really.
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: Have that impact. And you know, I think.
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: His track records suggests it'll happen. But like even great
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: players sometimes have those years, and as players get older,
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: it's hard to sometimes recapture what they had done early
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: in their careers, and so it was just.
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: A really just really bad timing.
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: Like I don't think this is you're looking at this
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: as like a sunk cost or second guessing why they
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: targeted the player for so long, But there just hasn't
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: been a whole lot of there there.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, look, I agree, I think we need to point
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: out that Bregman hasn't been good enough. I also think
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: when he says it'll turn, I understand what he's saying.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: Like this stretch that they're in is pretty remarkably poor.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: They are not this bad so results wise as far
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: as wins and losses. When they were twenty and three
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: over a stretch. They were not that good. Like we
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: had to understand that, you know. I think we did
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: point that out at the time. They're not this good.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Some things are going their way, and that's great. You
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: want stretches like that to have it. So suddenly come
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: go swing in the other direction has to be frustrating
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: for fans. But it's hard to put in perspective that
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: this is not how bad they are. They are not
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: going to be this bad the.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: Rest of the way.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: And I think a big part of this is the
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: runners in scoring position is such a frustrating aspect. I
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: think there are two parts of baseball that fans and
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: even us as observers, we really struggle with understanding in
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: the moment that this is just the weirdness and randomness
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: of baseball.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: The bullpen can sometimes.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Be like a frustrating do these guys stink and then
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: they kind of figure it out after a while, But
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: those those losses are the most frustrating, I think when
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: the bullpen comes in with the lead and blows it.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: The other part is runners in scoring position. There are
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: times when a guys just it seems like it's snowballs
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: and it has the past ten ish games or whatever,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: and I'm going to be writing about this. The numbers
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: are awful and they need to get back on track.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: They just need a couple of big hits, but they
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: have not. I think there's been two games where they've
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: had good, you know, good outings with the runners in
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: scoring position. But it has been one of their roughest
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: stretches in recent memory. And it's it's only ten twelve games.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: And Craig Council will push back if you point that out,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: say that's a small sample, and then it's a small
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: sample within a small sample because it's only concentrating on
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: those at bats. Uh, there's some there's some bad luck
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: in there, and there's just some poor performance in there,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: and and it and these things happen over the course
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: of a season, but they certainly need things to turn.
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: I mean.
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: Pete's errors on the field and his profane exchange with
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: a fan on the south side of it's really overshadowed
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: everything else. Edward Cabrera's injury was kind of the news
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: alert from Wednesday night's game, but that has really just
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: provided cover for like a group like nothing is going right.
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: I mean, like Council pretty much said it of we
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: went through a long stretch where it seemed like every
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: part of the roster was on it, and now it
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: feels like almost the entire.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: Roster is just off right.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: And that is the nature of a baseball season. That
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: is what you sign up for. According to Counsel, he
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: was even you know, quoting Joe Madden before Wednesday's game
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: of the you know, you have, like I remember Joe
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: Madden saying, you have thirty minutes after a win or
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: loss to you know, celebrate or you know, get frustrated
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: about it, and then you just have to turn the
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: page and move on. And so you know, you've used
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: this line, I've used these lines of you know, they
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: all can't be oil paintings or throw that game in
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: like Michigan. Uh. It's just the feeling of whiplash from
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: when it felt like the Cubs were just like invincible
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: and we're like, you know, talking about going out and
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: getting logan web and now it's kind of like, do
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: they have five starting pitchers to compose a rotation at
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: this moment? Like it has been It has been really
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: a staggering turn about here.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and when they were going right, it really felt like, hey, look,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Bregman's not hitting yet. You know, Dansby Swanson hasn't gotten
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: into his super hot streak just yet.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: There were you know, peek.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: Row Armstrong isn't great yet, Like there were players that
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: you could point to and say, oh, this is good
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: that others are stepping up when they have inevitably slump.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: These guys can get hot, and that's kind of how
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: a baseball season should work. It's not all nine guys
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: at once performing, and it just feels like now it's
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: all nine guys kind of slumping outside of maybe like
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Michael Confordo.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: So it's it's a it's a it's a rough, rough
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: rough patch. Right now.
• 16:02
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• 17:05
  Speaker 2: Patrick.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: There is a name that everyone's going to point to
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: in this rivalry. The Cubs stole Craig Council from the Brewers.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: If you want to say, if you want to word
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: it that way, however you want to word it. He
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: went from Milwaukee to Chicago. He's the leader of the Cubs.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Now this is year what are we ad? Year three
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: of Craig Council, and year after year the Brewers proved
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: to be the better team. This year is not over again,
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: emphasizing it's may. The Cubs could go on another twenty
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: and three run. Who knows, they could start getting hot
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: this weekend against the Houston Astros, a team that you
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: should get hot against. But right now it hasn't looked
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: like they you know they won that, you know, plucking
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: away their manager. Oh here we stole this great mind.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: That's not ripping on Craig Counsel. I think Greg Counsel
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: is a very good manager. I think there's frustration among
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: some onlookers and fans that Craig Counsel isn't the fire
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: him up type manager. And we've talked about this. This
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: is not the first time. This won't be the last time.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Every single time there's a slump, this is going to
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: come up. Is he pushing the right buttons? Is he
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: doing enough?
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: I want to remind people before we go any further
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: with this. He was pushing every.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: Button, the right button when they were twenty and three.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: I don't think he's doing anything wrong. I don't think
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: he's He's made slight tweaks to the to the lineup.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: You can't just keep benching guys like Ian Happensay Suzuki
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: have to play. They're high level players and they were
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: carrying the offense at certain points. Yeah, you can switch
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: up the lineup, but I'm not sure who's hitting so
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: well that you have to move he and happen, says
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: Azuki down. So like they're like, he has to go
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: to the guys he has in the bullpen. He has
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: to try and push his starting pitchers a little deeper
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: so he doesn't overwork his bullpen. U these are I
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: don't see anything glaring that he's doing wrong, But I
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: understand the optics of it, and the fact that they
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: took the manager from the Brewers and they're still not
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: better than the Brewers. So who won that move? The
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: easy answer is, well, the Brewers still win because they're
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: the better team.
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And this goes back to the Cubs kept telling
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: us what a great leader David Ross's. They groomed him
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: to replace a Hall of Fame caliber manager in Joe Madden,
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: and they unceremoniously dismissed Joe Madden and handed David Ross
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: kind of the the fragile remains of their only championship
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: corps of the last century, and David.
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: Ross was learning on the job.
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: There were some growing pains, but by and large he
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: conducted himself very well.
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: The Cubs.
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: Won a division they were their budget was kind of
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: starved during the COVID years, and like they made they
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: were turning a corner, they were heading in the right direction,
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: and Jed Hoyer made a decision that I think a
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: lot of people understood. I don't think everyone would have
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: made that decision. It was just super awkward and you know, unpopular,
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: uncomfortable even within the base baseball industry. So when you
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: do something like that, you expect outside results. And I
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: think Craig Council is very good as a job. I
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: understand Jed's rationale. I mean, we've talked to all of
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: the people involved here many times, and like we understand
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: the landscape. But like when you do something like that,
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: you expect these grandiose results. And I think there are
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: people who just sort of watch Craig Council from afar
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: and like he's not for them, you know. I think
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: we enjoy talking to Craig off camera. I think we
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: see a side of him that gives us some insights
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: into why players trust him and why players like playing
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: for him.
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: I think when you're covering something every.
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: Day the way we do, you understand that there has
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: to be kind of a sense of proportion and calm
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: throughout a season. But you're right, like this happens every year,
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: like every baseball scene at season ever, teams go through
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: rough patches, and with the Cubs and with Craig Council
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: and the circumstances in which he took this job, and
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: the ways in which the Brewers continue to excel, like
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: it's going to sort of keep coming back to this
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: until the Cubs win a division, beat the Brewers in
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: the playoffs, and win a World Series, because that's why
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: Craig Council came to Chicago.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah didn't. I mean you said it there? How how there?
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: Every season has like these moments where where we're wondering
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: what's going on. The Brewers started off red hot, then
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: they went to ice cold, and now they're red hot again.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: It is a long season, and I understand, and we've
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: said this so many times, and it's important to mine,
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Like I think I tried to say this during the
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: hot stretch too, like enjoy this because it's not it
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: won't be permanent, like they are going to hit skid.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: I remember someone.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: I saw maybe I heard a fan saying, well, at
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: least that was the low point after they you know,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: after the they lost two series in a row to
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: start that Texas Atlanta road trip, and I was like,
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: you think that's going to be the low point? Like
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: things are going to get worse. I don't know if
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: it's gonna happen right now, but have you not watched
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: a baseball season.
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: They are going to have.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Like a two and fifteen skid, or maybe not that bad,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: but they're going to have a bad skid. That's how
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: baseball works. It's just inevitable where you have Even when
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: they were when they started four and six or whatever
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: they started six and eight. I was talking to one
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: of the players and they're like, this is baseball, Like
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: we're gonna bounce back. Well, we'll have a hot stretch.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: They're like, probably won't. This probably won't even be our
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: worst stretch of the season. Like that's just how it goes.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: Like hopefully it is, but that's that's just how seasons go.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: They understand that, the players understand that. I think they
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: appreciate Craig Council's even keeled nature about that. Where look,
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: maybe there are times to get like a little riled up.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: I don't think it's during a two and what was
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: this too and seven stretch? To in nine stretch, whatever
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: they're on right now. I don't think it's it's at
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: this point, just because it's so early in the season.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: If you're flipping tables, if you're screaming it guys, if
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: you're benching guys, it's going to be looked at as
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: reactionarya like an overreaction, like this guy's losing control. Craig
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Council's even keeled, Like you said, he's not for everyone.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: Like some people want the yeller and the screamer that
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: can go awry quickly, even keeled lasts a little longer.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: I'm telling you.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: They like he he knows what he's doing here. Sometimes
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: when the injuries pile up, especially, you need his calm,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: steady hand and someone that isn't going to overreact because
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: it's easy to panic and say whoe is me and
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: wonder like what what do you do? He doesn't have
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: a lot of answers and a lot of options to
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: go to right now, so nobody's playing well. You can't
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: just say like this guy has to play every day,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: like it's just sometimes it feels like he has nowhere
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: to go. But I think he's doing a perfectly fine job.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: The players have to perform and the offense especially what
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: what I was going to say, what I forgot to
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: say during when we were talking about the offense. Look,
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: there's been so many injuries to the bullpen and the rotation.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: To get through this, they needed the offense to stay hot.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: They had to have the offense staying hot. That it
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: isn't that it's gone cold. That means it's inevitable, like
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: this stretch had to if you're off wasn't going to hit.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: You cannot weather this storm of injuries. The pitching is
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: not deep enough and talented enough right now to get
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: through this. They can hold their own at times they can,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: but the offense needs to score five, six seven runs
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: a game like that's just if you're going to win
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: a lot of games. But they haven't been putting any
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: runs up, so that's like it's it's a rough patch
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: right now and the offense needs to get hot again
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: just until they get healthy. They have to like weather
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: this storm right now. It's not about going twenty and three.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: It's about weathering this storm, staying in the division, hoping
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: you're you're within shouting distance when Matthew Boyd comes back,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: and hopefully when Justin steel comes back and then you're
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: still in it and and well above five hundred at
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: the deadline and adding reinforcements. That's like it's about treading
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: water and getting you know, fighting and staying alive and
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: staying you know, getting you know, to ten fifteen games
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: over five hundred and kind of steadying the ship.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: It's not an easy path right now.
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: Got to hope that Edward Cabrera's blister issue is relatively
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: minimal and not a very disruptive thing, because Counsel is
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: going to really have to earn his money during this stretch.
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: If Cabrera is down for an extended period of time,
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: I mean your depth starters who are supposed to be
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: in the bullpen are already in the rotation. I mean
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: triple a Ias rotation depth was already kind of avert
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: your eyes several weeks ago. And so I think there
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: is a path here if Cabrera's fine, If show Doas
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: just has a bad matchups against the Brewers but pitches
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: like an ace, if they can stabilize things on the rotation,
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: just a couple guys get hot offensively and it becomes
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: a little more contagious rather than this like kind of
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: malaise that has sunk in it could drink quickly against
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: a you would see it looks like a pretty bad
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: Astros team. But yeah, until it does, it's going to
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: be this. Craig is sort of the front and center
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: character every day, talking before and after every game, and
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: when the team is losing like this, there's not a
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: lot of great things to say that's going to sort of.
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: Entertain the masses.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll see how they do against the Astros.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: They need to. They need to find.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: A way to get going against that team and turn
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: things around, because you can't have another losing series right now.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: It's been too many in a row.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: And this time it's against a foe that they should
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: they should be to score some runs against. They should
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: be able to beat up on and and kind of
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: get get right right the ship before.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: Seven game road trip.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: I believe Pittsburgh and Saint Louis, so that they'll face
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: some good pitching, probably in Pittsburgh and then maybe not
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: some great pitching in Saint Louis, but a good.
• 29:17
  Speaker 4: Offense that sounds like a problem.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, looking for to that one. All right, we'll
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: wrap it up there. Thanks so much for listening to everyone,
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: this is Northside Territory. Make sure to rate, review, subscribe,
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: subscribe to the YouTube channel, and subscribe to The Athletic
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: where Patrick and Iron top of all things cubs.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: Thanks everyone, take care.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: They dined among the land