Latest / North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast / How the Cubs reset ahead of Game 2 in Milwaukee

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How the Cubs reset ahead of Game 2 in Milwaukee · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory, Foul Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm
0:09
Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your
0:12
Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic Patrick, where we
0:17
Speaker 1: are recording on Sunday night. So it has been over
0:21
Speaker 1: twenty four hours. Cubs fans hopefully have recovered. But that
0:25
Speaker 1: was a brutal start to the series. And it was
0:32
Speaker 1: the second time in four games that Craig Council has
0:36
Speaker 1: immediately been questioned for a decision. He made Matthew Boyd
0:41
Speaker 1: last two thirds of an inning on three days rest.
0:46
Speaker 1: You know, it just didn't go well for him. He
0:48
Speaker 1: left pitches up. Then there was, of course the critical
0:52
Speaker 1: error by Nico Horner. I don't think anybody's going to
0:55
Speaker 1: be bringing their hands over Nico Horner, whether that's something
0:59
Speaker 1: that happened again he made four areas all season elite
1:04
Speaker 1: defender at second base. This stuff happens, and you cannot
1:08
Speaker 1: make mistakes against this team. Of all teams, this is
1:11
Speaker 1: the one that will capitalize almost every time, and they
1:15
Speaker 1: sure did. It led to four more runs two were
1:18
Speaker 1: already in and nine to three finals. Just a thumping, I.
1:25
Speaker 2: Mean if the Cubs lose this series, and that's not
1:27
Speaker 2: going to be like the entire theme of this show,
1:30
Speaker 2: but if they do, we'll look back on that first
1:33
Speaker 2: inning as just kind of encapsulating everything that's difficult about
1:38
Speaker 2: this matchup at this particular moment, whether it's Milwaukee's lineup,
1:44
Speaker 2: the way they just put pressure on opponents and force
1:46
Speaker 2: even great defenses to make plays over and over again.
1:50
Speaker 2: A deeper lineup than the one they saw in the
1:54
Speaker 2: wildcard round, like San Diego has Tatis and Machado, Jackson, Merrill,
2:00
Speaker 2: but the bottom half got it was a lot easier
2:03
Speaker 2: to navigate. And then you know, Cubs expended a lot
2:08
Speaker 2: of energy, not just celebrating after Game three, but just
2:12
Speaker 2: the way they rode their pitching. It's what you have
2:15
Speaker 2: to do in the postseason. That's not like a criticism
2:19
Speaker 2: of the management of that group is just like to
2:23
Speaker 2: win a playoff round just takes a lot out of you,
2:26
Speaker 2: and Matthew Boyd didn't have it, and I think the
2:31
Speaker 2: Cubs will be I'm just gonna have to play catch
2:33
Speaker 2: up for the rest of the way here. Like you
2:36
Speaker 2: would hope that the Brewers maybe would come out a
2:39
Speaker 2: little flat or we need some time to find their rhythm,
2:42
Speaker 2: and they just absolutely blew the Cubs doors off.
2:45
Speaker 1: Yeah. I don't know how different things would feel if
2:48
Speaker 1: Kate Horton was healthy. Yeah, you know, I don't know
2:53
Speaker 1: how many games because that changes everything. You don't know
2:55
Speaker 1: how many games the series goes against San Diego. Who's available,
2:58
Speaker 1: who starts game one? But it probably wouldn't have been
3:01
Speaker 1: someone on short rest. You just feel more comfortable with
3:03
Speaker 1: your top four than whether it went three and jameson
3:07
Speaker 1: ty Own started game one or whatever. I just think,
3:12
Speaker 1: you know, you're going to things change, but that's not
3:15
Speaker 1: their reality. That's not what they're facing. So you know,
3:19
Speaker 1: you can criticize Craig Council all you want. I think
3:23
Speaker 1: it's fair game to criticize him for that decision. I think,
3:29
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know how different that game looks
3:31
Speaker 1: if Nico Horner makes that play. If Nico Horner makes
3:36
Speaker 1: that play, that's probably out of that inning with just
3:39
Speaker 1: two runs, because you can't assume what every everything that
3:42
Speaker 1: happens afterwards, but he's probably out of that inning with
3:45
Speaker 1: two runs. And then you know, Nico made the point,
3:49
Speaker 1: and it's a very valid and fair point it's possible
3:54
Speaker 1: he settles down and gives them four or five good
3:56
Speaker 1: innings of two run ball. I don't know, but that
4:01
Speaker 1: it has to be questioned because that was the result.
4:04
Speaker 1: That's what happened. He didn't look great, and it toss
4:08
Speaker 1: to the team the game. They were never in that game.
4:10
Speaker 1: It's hard to kind of like analyze anything beyond those
4:14
Speaker 1: two things. The decision to start Boyd and the error,
4:17
Speaker 1: like those are the things that happened, and beyond that,
4:21
Speaker 1: it's just like hard to really look at that game
4:23
Speaker 1: in any big picture way.
4:26
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just unbelievable though. How We're all looking
4:29
Speaker 2: forward to covering this series, and it was like Counsel
4:32
Speaker 2: and Milwaukee and Pat Murphy and all the best team
4:36
Speaker 2: in baseball and the Cubs fans taking over Wrigley North,
4:40
Speaker 2: and I gotta say, like around twelve fifty, it was loud.
4:46
Speaker 2: I mean, the booing was thunderous. You could tell the
4:49
Speaker 2: energy just kind of walking around the concourse. There were
4:52
Speaker 2: a lot of Cubs fans there and then the Brewers.
4:55
Speaker 2: Just Michael Bush the lead off home run. You know,
4:58
Speaker 2: we're getting these stats of last postseason leadoff home run
5:01
Speaker 2: since Dexter Fowler. I think Bobby Denier was on that
5:05
Speaker 2: list from nineteen eighty four. And then the Brewers just
5:09
Speaker 2: absolutely even silence like their own crowd. Obviously Brewers fans
5:13
Speaker 2: were happy, but it turned from this like electric, raucous
5:17
Speaker 2: atmosphere and too honestly, like we've been there before on
5:21
Speaker 2: like Getaway Dan Milwaukee. It's just like, Okay, well this
5:23
Speaker 2: game's pretty much over. Let's move on to the next one.
5:27
Speaker 2: It just is crazy in a five game series, first
5:30
Speaker 2: ever postseason matchup between these two franchises, to have it
5:34
Speaker 2: just to flate like that. I guess you never know
5:37
Speaker 2: what you'll see when you come to the park.
5:38
Speaker 1: As they say, yeah, it was, I mean it was
5:42
Speaker 1: kind of like what the Brewers do. They didn't They
5:47
Speaker 1: didn't let up, They didn't give away any outs, they
5:49
Speaker 1: didn't give away any at bats. The Perkins, I believe
5:55
Speaker 1: the Perkins at bat in the first inning that kind
5:58
Speaker 1: of ended at all. I feel like it ended Matthew
6:01
Speaker 1: Boyd's day. It led to more runs being scored eventually,
6:08
Speaker 1: just a really good battle and and just the type
6:12
Speaker 1: of thing that the Brewers can do. They wear you down.
6:15
Speaker 1: You cannot make mistakes against the Brewers that fourteen game
6:18
Speaker 1: winning streak. If you watched those games, some of them
6:22
Speaker 1: were like bang your head against the wall, and like
6:25
Speaker 1: how does this happen? You know, if you're playing the Brewers,
6:29
Speaker 1: it's like, really that this is gonna this is how
6:31
Speaker 1: we lose U. But they do it over and over again.
6:35
Speaker 1: They put pressure on you at all points. It's just
6:40
Speaker 1: a it's I don't think it's the sexiest way to win,
6:45
Speaker 1: but they won ninety seven games with it. And now
6:48
Speaker 1: that they have a one o lead and the nlds
6:51
Speaker 1: doing exactly what they do the one here here are
6:54
Speaker 1: the things that I basically said going into like kind
6:59
Speaker 1: of exiting that game was okay, Freddy Peralta is not
7:04
Speaker 1: starting for the Brewers on Monday. That's that's a win
7:08
Speaker 1: for the Cubs. And the score is zero zero, Like
7:12
Speaker 1: those are the two things. It's it's a what like
7:15
Speaker 1: they they've faced a one zero deficit before, They've been
7:17
Speaker 1: down in series before, they've lost the first game of
7:21
Speaker 1: a of a series in the regular season. Playoff teams
7:25
Speaker 1: have been down plenty of times. These things happen, Uh,
7:30
Speaker 1: you just have to flush that and this team has
7:32
Speaker 1: done that. So, like I guess, move on and see
7:35
Speaker 1: what happens.
7:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, if the Cubs leave Milwaukee with a split,
7:42
Speaker 2: I think you kind of take that going in turning
7:45
Speaker 2: it into a three game series with home field advantage.
7:52
Speaker 2: But yeah, just it was just just a bad, bad
7:55
Speaker 2: look all around. Like it's just hard to like especially
7:59
Speaker 2: if three those three games against the Padres. If you're
8:03
Speaker 2: watching the TV, I'm sure it was a similar experience
8:06
Speaker 2: being in the building. It was just like every pitch
8:08
Speaker 2: was just this like, yeah, urgency, and for that to
8:13
Speaker 2: just totally dissipate by the first or second inning was
8:21
Speaker 2: pretty pretty jarring.
8:23
Speaker 1: All right, let's take a break, and let's let's do
8:26
Speaker 1: what the Cubs should do and move on past Game
8:28
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8:31
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9:35
Speaker 1: A rare occurrence on the off day, Patrick, we got
9:38
Speaker 1: a game two starter.
9:40
Speaker 2: I nearly fell out of my chair. I could could
9:43
Speaker 2: couldn't believe it.
9:45
Speaker 1: Showda in Managa starting game two. I don't think anybody's
9:49
Speaker 1: too surprised about that.
9:52
Speaker 2: You know.
9:53
Speaker 1: The other I didn't mention this in the previous segment.
9:56
Speaker 1: The other good thing about game one, if you want
9:58
Speaker 1: to take a silver lining from it, is is none
10:00
Speaker 1: of the high leverage relievers reused. So Council with a
10:04
Speaker 1: day off, that's three full days off for the entire
10:07
Speaker 1: high leverage group of Palencia, Kittridge, Keller, Pomerantz, and Thelbar.
10:13
Speaker 1: That doesn't happen very often. To get those guys multiple
10:17
Speaker 1: days off in a row, all of them fresh. He
10:20
Speaker 1: will he leaned on those righties and he can do
10:24
Speaker 1: that if he wants to. If show the shoves, then
10:27
Speaker 1: we'll see how long he can go. It didn't sound
10:30
Speaker 1: like Council was hell bent on having a super you know,
10:34
Speaker 1: like being super aggressive with his bullpen. But he he
10:38
Speaker 1: can be if he wants to. And I think, you know,
10:42
Speaker 1: Shoda does have good numbers against the Brewers this season,
10:47
Speaker 1: or solid numbers. But you know, I don't know if
10:51
Speaker 1: you feel like he instills a ton of confidence right now,
10:57
Speaker 1: but he he has. I think it would be unfair
11:00
Speaker 1: to not to you know, to think that he can't
11:03
Speaker 1: give you a lot of good innings, you know, a
11:06
Speaker 1: quality start and a chance to win. He was. He
11:10
Speaker 1: was very good against the Padres, and I think he
11:13
Speaker 1: does he does pitch well generally against the Brewers.
11:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, I looked up his overall numbers, very small sample
11:21
Speaker 2: are not great because he had one bad start in Milwaukee.
11:26
Speaker 1: Is that last year?
11:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was kind of the beginning of showdo Mania.
11:30
Speaker 2: It was like, I think it was maybe his ninth
11:33
Speaker 2: or tenth major league start and the Brewers just lit
11:36
Speaker 2: him up for like seven runs. Otherwise, I feel like
11:40
Speaker 2: this year he's been like pretty good but not dominant.
11:43
Speaker 2: I mean, we've seen Shoda at his best. It seemed
11:46
Speaker 2: like it's kind of more battling and grinding through against
11:51
Speaker 2: the Brewers. But I think it'll be fascinating to watch
11:54
Speaker 2: him pitch. We can mentally prepare for a playoff starter
11:57
Speaker 2: and kind of what to expect, and you know, I
12:02
Speaker 2: was just saying about the expectations of Shoda, you know,
12:05
Speaker 2: coming in, we all thought maybe he's like a back
12:08
Speaker 2: of the rotation starter, and then he started to give
12:11
Speaker 2: it pretty good and it's like, well, can he keep
12:14
Speaker 2: doing it, How will the league adjust? Will his fastball
12:17
Speaker 2: have that same carry the deeper we go into a season,
12:22
Speaker 2: and you know, he was he was fantastic last year,
12:26
Speaker 2: and he was very good overall this year. It was
12:29
Speaker 2: just that that Blippy had the end of of the
12:31
Speaker 2: year was concerning. I mean, the idea of having an
12:34
Speaker 2: opener in front of Shoda. Had the Cubs reached the
12:38
Speaker 2: playoffs last year, I don't think he would have even
12:40
Speaker 2: considered something like that. And it obviously went sideways again
12:45
Speaker 2: by letting him pitch to Machado, But otherwise that one
12:49
Speaker 2: pitch he really contained the padres and looked pretty good.
12:53
Speaker 2: And I think you're right in that, Yes, council will
12:57
Speaker 2: have to be aggressive, but I don't think the Cubs
12:59
Speaker 2: can keep just like having their starters go like two
13:03
Speaker 2: or three. They're only down to I mean, how many
13:06
Speaker 2: trusts were theyse starters, Like do they have in the
13:08
Speaker 2: first place? Yeah, we thought, you know, when you're leaving
13:12
Speaker 2: jave Asad off the roster, it kind of tells you
13:15
Speaker 2: their level of trust in him, because we thought he
13:19
Speaker 2: was kind of part of the that bulk group and so, yeah,
13:24
Speaker 2: I'm out of something up in the athletic in the morning,
13:28
Speaker 2: just talking to Tommy Hottavey about how they're trying to
13:31
Speaker 2: really just keep hitters honest of having to move his
13:33
Speaker 2: fastball around. He can't just kind of be up with
13:36
Speaker 2: it if you got to be pitched in and out
13:38
Speaker 2: just you know, can't let them sit on the soft
13:42
Speaker 2: stuff low And I think they were pleased with how
13:45
Speaker 2: he executed that plan against the Padres And still I
13:51
Speaker 2: don't know for me, he showed it still someone you
13:53
Speaker 2: just kind of believe in, just like just like watching
13:56
Speaker 2: him pitch, his personality kind of what he's done. There's
14:00
Speaker 2: no sort of model or metric for me to back
14:04
Speaker 2: that up, but just on a show, the vibes, I
14:07
Speaker 2: feel like, you know, just as someone who came through
14:11
Speaker 2: for his country in the WBC. Everything he's done to
14:15
Speaker 2: get to this point. Maybe it doesn't work, but this
14:20
Speaker 2: seems better than you know, pitching Matthew Boyd on three
14:23
Speaker 2: days rest.
14:24
Speaker 1: Certainly, Yeah, yeah, I feel pretty good about what SHOWDA
14:29
Speaker 1: can do on Monday night. I completely agree he will
14:34
Speaker 1: not be overwhelmed by the moment. I don't see that
14:38
Speaker 1: with him. You know, if he gets beat, it's because
14:41
Speaker 1: he doesn't execute it's not because he can't handle the pressure.
14:46
Speaker 1: He's shown that. That's that, Like, I have no question
14:49
Speaker 1: in my mind about his ability to do that. I
14:53
Speaker 1: do think Freddy Peralta not being on the mound gives
14:58
Speaker 1: the Cubs offense. You know, this is just like this
15:01
Speaker 1: rotation is it's different than the po like so the offensive,
15:06
Speaker 1: like the matchup between Cubs pitchers and Brewers offense, that's
15:11
Speaker 1: tougher than the Padres matchup. I think Brewers pitchers first,
15:17
Speaker 1: Cubs offense. Outside of Peralta, it's a better matchup for
15:21
Speaker 1: the Cubs than the Padres. That the like Pavetta sees
15:27
Speaker 1: Mason Miller coming out of the bullpen, morejone, uh, just
15:31
Speaker 1: none of them. Those are bad, bad matchups for the Cubs,
15:34
Speaker 1: and those are the guys they saw the most. And
15:36
Speaker 1: then once they faced Darvish, it was like a relief
15:39
Speaker 1: almost because this is a guy going east west instead
15:41
Speaker 1: of north south. They're starting Ashby to start the game opener,
15:47
Speaker 1: and the likely going to Priester Priest is really good,
15:50
Speaker 1: but he's not this North South guy with nasty high
15:53
Speaker 1: fastball I spin rate fastball and a nasty breaking ball.
15:56
Speaker 1: It's like sinker guy, you know, you could very well
16:01
Speaker 1: shut them down. I just think it's a better matchup.
16:05
Speaker 1: And here's here's what I wrote about, and here's what
16:09
Speaker 1: I kind of feel like really needs to be emphasized.
16:13
Speaker 1: The Cubs have six home runs in the postseason. They're
16:16
Speaker 1: all solo home runs. Now, you can't control that. Really,
16:20
Speaker 1: what they need to do is get men on base
16:22
Speaker 1: and slug their advantage. They are even with the Brewers
16:26
Speaker 1: in so many categories. When it comes to offense, Brewers
16:30
Speaker 1: have a better batting average and because of that, they
16:32
Speaker 1: have a better on base percentage. You look at strikeout rate,
16:34
Speaker 1: it's the same, you look at walk rate, it's pretty
16:36
Speaker 1: much the same. Where the Cubs they both don't chase,
16:42
Speaker 1: but the Brewers don't swing in zone either. They have
16:45
Speaker 1: the lowest swing percentage in baseball in the zone. Cubs
16:48
Speaker 1: are up in like the top five, very aggressive in
16:52
Speaker 1: the zone. They don't chase, and they're aggressive in the zone,
16:54
Speaker 1: and that leads that helps them get to their power
16:58
Speaker 1: where they have a giant bandage. The Cubs are if
17:01
Speaker 1: you want to look at ISO or if you want
17:03
Speaker 1: to look at home runs, the Cubs are like top five,
17:05
Speaker 1: top six in those categories. Brewers are bottom ten. They
17:08
Speaker 1: are not a power hitting team. This is where the
17:11
Speaker 1: Cubs need to lean in and they have to get
17:13
Speaker 1: men on base and drive them in with some slug.
17:17
Speaker 1: They need to slug. And I realize, Look, you can
17:20
Speaker 1: win in different ways, but in the playoffs, guys don't
17:23
Speaker 1: walk guys as much. It's better pitching. You're not gonna
17:26
Speaker 1: get walks. You like being patient and working counts and
17:29
Speaker 1: stuff like that. That's fine, Wait for get your pitch,
17:32
Speaker 1: but you're gonna like you have to be aggressive and
17:36
Speaker 1: slug and that's how you win games in the playoffs.
17:38
Speaker 1: And that's the Cubs really, that's one of their strengths
17:41
Speaker 1: and they have to lean into it. It's their huge
17:43
Speaker 1: advantage over the Brewers. I think we'll see it. I
17:48
Speaker 1: do think we'll see it, but I think you have
17:51
Speaker 1: to see it for them to win.
17:54
Speaker 2: Did you ask counsel if he's preparing a good three
17:57
Speaker 2: run homer speech before they win.
17:59
Speaker 1: We took joked about that. I said someone someone said
18:03
Speaker 1: something about it can't be this. So you're giving the
18:06
Speaker 1: wrong speech. You're giving the home like you got to
18:08
Speaker 1: give the men on base home run speech, not the
18:11
Speaker 1: solo home run speech. He agreed he needs to change
18:14
Speaker 1: it up.
18:17
Speaker 2: No, I think we can get into the next segment.
18:20
Speaker 2: But I think our listeners would be curious to just
18:23
Speaker 2: hear kind of what the mood or atmosphere was like
18:26
Speaker 2: during Sunday's workout day. And I think if if you're
18:29
Speaker 2: a Cubs fan, it'll probably be pretty encouraging.
18:33
Speaker 1: Yep, let's take a break and get into that FT fam.
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Speaker 1: I think the Cubs were ready to turn the page
19:40
Speaker 1: pretty quickly after.
19:41
Speaker 2: Game one, but I like the third inning.
19:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And you know, this team has been
19:51
Speaker 1: really good at doing that. We've talked about it during
19:55
Speaker 1: the season. You know, one losing streak over three games,
20:00
Speaker 1: and that happened at the end of the year. Uh,
20:03
Speaker 1: there were moments. I go back to that series in
20:06
Speaker 1: Saint Louis, I can't remember what when it was exactly,
20:10
Speaker 1: but they it was a four game set and they
20:12
Speaker 1: lost the first two and looked pretty bad doing it,
20:15
Speaker 1: and then they come out and just thump them in
20:17
Speaker 1: the next two like they weren't close, and and that's
20:21
Speaker 1: that's that's kind of what this team has done.
20:23
Speaker 2: They lost that.
20:24
Speaker 1: I think they got their butts kicked by the Yankees
20:27
Speaker 1: game one of a series, and then and then took
20:31
Speaker 1: the next two. And they've done that against good teams
20:34
Speaker 1: I think they did that at home against the Dodgers.
20:38
Speaker 1: They've done that a lot this season. They've they've done
20:41
Speaker 1: a really good job of you lose the first game,
20:45
Speaker 1: where you lose a game badly, or you lose two
20:47
Speaker 1: games in a row and you look like crap, or
20:50
Speaker 1: just like, oh no, here here comes a long losing streak,
20:53
Speaker 1: Here comes the stretch where they can't play well and
20:56
Speaker 1: make all the mistakes that that just didn't happen this team,
21:00
Speaker 1: it does. And you know there's reasons why they have talent, obviously,
21:04
Speaker 1: but it's a veteran group. There's like there there's plenty
21:07
Speaker 1: of really talented kids, but there's Dansby Swanson, Nico Horner,
21:11
Speaker 1: Ian Happ, Justin Turner, Jameson ty Own, a lot of
21:14
Speaker 1: guys in that clubhouse that make sure that you know
21:17
Speaker 1: that they're not gonna dwell on the loss. And it
21:20
Speaker 1: felt like, you know, today, there's not really much concern
21:25
Speaker 1: about game one and what happened.
21:28
Speaker 2: I think you asked Stansby the question what was the
21:31
Speaker 2: soccer analogy he gave me.
21:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, basically asked him, you know a version of what
21:38
Speaker 1: I just said. You know, this team has been resilient
21:40
Speaker 1: and and he said, yeah, it's it's not you know,
21:43
Speaker 1: it's not Champions League where the score holds over right.
21:48
Speaker 1: He said he wasn't sure how many people I think
21:50
Speaker 1: he said he said that to the group where you
21:53
Speaker 1: know they use the aggregate score for the standings in
21:56
Speaker 1: Champions League soccer. He he wasn't sure how many people
22:01
Speaker 1: understood the reference, but he's right, who cares that they scored?
22:06
Speaker 1: Whether like, it probably would have been worse if the
22:08
Speaker 1: Cubs lost that game four to three, because then they're
22:12
Speaker 1: using their high leverage pitchers and it feels like a
22:14
Speaker 1: gut punch and you're thinking about it more and over
22:17
Speaker 1: analyzing everything that happened. Now you can just like, like
22:21
Speaker 1: you said, they moved on. In the third inning, they
22:23
Speaker 1: were like, okay, let's just try and have some good
22:26
Speaker 1: at bats. Maybe we can get their bullpen working or
22:29
Speaker 1: something like that. But other than that, it was like,
22:31
Speaker 1: let's just like game two. That's good going for that one.
22:36
Speaker 2: So the Cups had an optional workout Sunday afternoon. They
22:41
Speaker 2: had a pretty good showing at into a full head count,
22:45
Speaker 2: but a lot of a lot of players were there.
22:52
Speaker 2: I think something Ben Brown said in his press conference
22:55
Speaker 2: is something I had observed as well of just like
22:59
Speaker 2: comes are really comfortable at American family feel like they've
23:02
Speaker 2: been there a lot. It's close to home normally, they're there,
23:06
Speaker 2: friends and family are coming anyways, even if it's not,
23:09
Speaker 2: you know, the playoffs. The clubhouse set up, I think
23:13
Speaker 2: it's pretty ideal from a player's perspective, like just how
23:16
Speaker 2: close it is to the dugout. It's just a very
23:19
Speaker 2: functional space. They're used to pitching there, they're used to
23:23
Speaker 2: hitting there, So I think that adds to it as
23:29
Speaker 2: well of just like for a team that wants everything
23:33
Speaker 2: every day should feel the same. There's a lot of
23:36
Speaker 2: familiarity in Milwaukee period.
23:39
Speaker 1: That's yeah, that's a really good point. It's funny I
23:43
Speaker 1: drove back up here today and they're like literally trees
23:47
Speaker 1: that I recognize. I'm so used to doing this drive.
23:50
Speaker 1: It's like, oh, like I like I'll see a tree.
23:52
Speaker 1: I'm like, I know what's coming up. Oh, there's that
23:55
Speaker 1: that hotel that I always see. Like it's everyone's very
23:59
Speaker 1: familiar with it. And Ben Brown, who's barely been around
24:04
Speaker 1: his point was like he he's he feels comfortable in
24:08
Speaker 1: the Lucky because they play there, so much. And I
24:11
Speaker 1: don't know if that that's that's the mental factor that
24:14
Speaker 1: we're talking about, and I think, yeah, sure, that's probably
24:17
Speaker 1: what you You know, like a big part of this
24:19
Speaker 1: right now is just getting like moving on mentally and
24:23
Speaker 1: then feeling comfortable mentally and then you know, and then
24:26
Speaker 1: the talent has to shine through, and that's that's a
24:30
Speaker 1: big part of Monday and going forward. But I I feel, no,
24:39
Speaker 1: I don't feel any different about how I look at
24:42
Speaker 1: this series, uh and trust that this team can can
24:46
Speaker 1: win this series. I think I in our predictions, I
24:49
Speaker 1: picked them, I expected it to go four or five
24:52
Speaker 1: and for them to win it has to so like
24:56
Speaker 1: nothing really changes. They're healthy, who's gonna pay wh is
25:00
Speaker 1: still lined up, so you know, I think they know that.
25:04
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone's overthinking anything. There's zero sign of that.
25:08
Speaker 1: And you know, these days off kind of I think
25:11
Speaker 1: some of them probably wanted to get back at it today,
25:14
Speaker 1: but it's probably for the best. Yeah, it's probably for
25:17
Speaker 1: the best that they have this extra day off, at
25:18
Speaker 1: least for the bullpen those ritis in particular.
25:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree entirely with what you're saying. I think
25:27
Speaker 2: it's still just has to be said of like winning
25:30
Speaker 2: three or four against the best team in baseball. Like
25:32
Speaker 2: if if they were where the Brewers were wearing Dodgers uniforms,
25:37
Speaker 2: I think the level of freak out would be a
25:40
Speaker 2: lot higher. Like this is still going to be extremely
25:42
Speaker 2: challenging to eliminate this team. Like they've they're not as
25:51
Speaker 2: underestimated as they were earlier in the year, obviously, but
25:54
Speaker 2: I still don't quite think the Brewers are thought of
26:00
Speaker 2: in kind of that same stratosphere as the Dodgers, And like,
26:07
Speaker 2: you know, they keep finding ways they execute at a
26:11
Speaker 2: really high level, Like they're fully lined up here in
26:18
Speaker 2: terms of kind of like rest and things like that.
26:21
Speaker 2: And we'll see if the Cubs have enough to kind
26:25
Speaker 2: of out out Brewer, you know, play Brewer baseball and
26:29
Speaker 2: kind of out maneuver them. But also, like you're saying,
26:33
Speaker 2: one one huge swing, one three run homer, like just
26:38
Speaker 2: kind of totally changes everything. And maybe, you know, late
26:41
Speaker 2: Monday night or maybe after midnight into Tuesday morning, they're
26:45
Speaker 2: heading back into Chicago and it's it's either a totally
26:48
Speaker 2: new outlook or they're on the brink of elimination.
26:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, there's no let's be clear that there's no
26:57
Speaker 1: lay up here because in ninety seven and win Brewers
27:00
Speaker 1: team they are tough to beat, and it's it won't
27:05
Speaker 1: be easy, Like they have to play clean baseball. They didn't.
27:10
Speaker 1: They made one mistake and that cost them. So you
27:13
Speaker 1: can't do that against this team. I also think it's important,
27:17
Speaker 1: like people like to talk about the Brewers like they're
27:20
Speaker 1: this scrappy team that does all the little things and
27:22
Speaker 1: the Cubs are the big bad Cubs. The Cubs do
27:25
Speaker 1: all the little things. That's why they finally had this
27:29
Speaker 1: really good season. They cleaned up all the mistakes. They're
27:32
Speaker 1: a great defensive team, they're a great base running team.
27:35
Speaker 1: They're scrappy too, but they're also the big bad Cubs.
27:38
Speaker 1: Big bad Cubs in quotation marks. You know, they have
27:41
Speaker 1: the bigger payroll. They're in the bigger city, so they
27:44
Speaker 1: get more press. I understand all that Brewers are a
27:48
Speaker 1: damn good team and should not be overlooked. They're not.
27:51
Speaker 1: I think that they have this chip on their shoulder
27:54
Speaker 1: and they talk about themselves like they're underdogs. I think
27:56
Speaker 1: they kind of like that mentality and they feed off
27:59
Speaker 1: of it, and they've they've got a point because I
28:03
Speaker 1: think people You're right, people still do overlook them, even
28:06
Speaker 1: though they've won ninety seven games. I haven't I should
28:10
Speaker 1: go count the number of people that picked the Brewers
28:13
Speaker 1: versus the Cubs in our in our predictions. Uh, but
28:17
Speaker 1: I'm guessing it's at least even probably if not in
28:21
Speaker 1: favor of the Cubs. And then beyond that, like I
28:25
Speaker 1: think people just yeah, they they underestimate, underestimate this team,
28:29
Speaker 1: and we just like it's the running joke on this podcast,
28:35
Speaker 1: how I always think that, oh, this is the year
28:37
Speaker 1: the Brewers are going to be bad. I stopped that
28:39
Speaker 1: two years ago. I decided to finally stop that. But
28:42
Speaker 1: still it just that's what the Brewers are, and they
28:45
Speaker 1: it's just time to like, damn good team. They may
28:48
Speaker 1: not win in the Yankees way with power. They don't
28:51
Speaker 1: have the power that the Cubs have, and that's why
28:54
Speaker 1: they probably don't get the same attention. But and they're
28:57
Speaker 1: in Milwaukee, not New York or Chicago or LA. But
29:01
Speaker 1: this won't the rest of the series won't be easy.
29:03
Speaker 1: I think the Cubs are right there and have a
29:06
Speaker 1: great chance to win it. We'll see how the rest
29:09
Speaker 1: of it goes, all right, Patrick, we will be back.
29:15
Speaker 1: I don't think we'll be back Monday night since so
29:18
Speaker 1: we'll be talking to you all early Tuesday. Well, we'll
29:22
Speaker 1: have a podcast out at some point after Monday's game
29:25
Speaker 1: getting ready for Game three. We will see if that
29:28
Speaker 1: is that Game three in Chicago is you know, come
29:34
Speaker 1: back against the wall or if they're feeling good about
29:38
Speaker 1: themselves and then tie the series up and then heading
29:40
Speaker 1: back to Chicago looking to take a serious lead. All right,
29:44
Speaker 1: we'll be back at it soon. Thanks for listening to everyone.
29:47
Speaker 1: This is Northside Territory Foul Territory Networks Cubs podcast. Make
29:50
Speaker 1: sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,
29:54
Speaker 1: and subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and Iron top
29:56
Speaker 1: of all things Cubs. Thanks for listening the.
30:06
Speaker 6: Name anything about the