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With the National League Central race all but over, how will the Cubs respond? · North Side Territory: A Chicago Cubs Podcast

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory Filed Territory Network's 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. And Patrick, the
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Cubs lose a tough one on Labor Day in Milwaukee.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: And I think this is, for me, this is one
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: of those situations where when you have a suspect bullpen,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: you start to question the manager because the manager just
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: doesn't have the perfect moves to go to. And, and,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: and that's what happened on Monday afternoon in Milwaukee. I
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: think it's easy to, to second guess those moves and
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: even first guess them. I, so let me just set
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: up the, the scenario. Seventh is seven. They've completed seven innings.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Matthew Boyd's been great. The Cubs are up two to one,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: I believe. Is that right? Uh, and, and Boyd comes
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: in to face the eighth and ninth hitter lefty. And
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: then righty, uh, Joey Ortiz, who is, you know, great defender,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: not great on offense. Uh, Boyd walks the first batter.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: I'm blanking who that lefty was. Uh, Garrett, Garrett Mitchell.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Thank you. Garrett Mitchell, uh, walks him and then gives
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: up a double to Joey Ortiz. Ryan Zephyr. John, John
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: comes in. Um, quickly gives up, you know, the go-ahead
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: RBI single. It was like a dribbler that got through
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: an infield that was in at least halfway, maybe all
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: the way in, and got through the infield. And that,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: you know, basically they got another run at some point
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: in that inning, but that was kind of the game
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: right there in a sense. I know Pete hit a
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: ninth inning home run, but who knows how the sequencing
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: goes if it's three to two at that point. Whatever.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: That's the moment. You can question every single step. Should
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: he have let Matthew Boyd start that inning? Should he
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: have pulled him right after the walk? Is Zephyr John
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: the right call? I'm not sure I have a ton
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: of issue with any of it. He's got to push Boyd,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: I think. I think it makes sense to push Boyd.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Boyd has been pitching well. It was either 82 or
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: 87 pitches entering that inning. Just not enough reason for
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: me to not have him start that inning. And if
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: you have a problem with right after the walk, he's
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: got he's got a bunch of lefties on the bench.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Pat Murphy does. So it's a, you know, pick your
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: poison type situation. It didn't work. And I think a
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: lot of times that's that's just how baseball is. We're
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: going to look at the result and say he should
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: have gone the other way. I think going when you
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: go to your bullpen, you know, it's like a coin flip.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Like what what's the right decision here? Uh, I don't
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: think it was an awful choice. Yeah.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: If you're a Cubs fan and you hate the decisions
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: and you are sick of the manager, like go for it.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Like the, the way, the way the game unfolded certainly, uh,
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: leads to a lot of complaining.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Understandably.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: I would say like personally up in the press box,
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: chatting amongst our colleagues, I was not, uh, you know,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: taken aback by the idea of Matthew Boyd, you know,
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: facing the bottom of this lineup one more time. I
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: think there's situations where you have to push one of
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: your better pitchers. And I don't really trust most of
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: this bullpen at this point.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: You know, if you go, if you go to that guy.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: And they give it up.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: So it's like, I understand where the manager is coming from.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Obviously Cubs could have gotten a couple more hits, scored
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: a couple, more runs. If they were able to keep
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: it at 3-2, maybe that ninth inning is a little different,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: especially when Pedro Ramirez hit another one out towards the
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: right field wall and the Brewers make a spectacular catch before.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: So there's not a guy on base when Pete hits
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: that home run. I just felt very October-ish in terms
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: of you know, there's a couple key decisions that if
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: it works, you look like a genius. And if it
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: doesn't work, you look like an idiot. That's just kind
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: of playoff baseball. And I think we saw kind of
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: glimpses of.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: That on Labor Day in Milwaukee.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: But, you know, ultimately, this is what the Brewers do.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Like they.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: They have the Jake Bowers ready to come off the
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: bench to counter your move. They make the routine defensive
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: plays as well as the spectacular catches. They have a
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: far superior bullpen than the Cubs. And they have that
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: kind of front-end dazzling pitcher in the Miz that Cubs
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: have depth one through maybe even six if you're including
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: javier asad though he's working out of the bullpen right
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: now um comes have a lot of nice pieces but
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: it just does not add up over the aggregate against
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: the brewers in the nl central.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah i mean i can't disagree with any of that
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: and and in a over 162 games the brewers continue
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: to prove that they're the better team uh I see
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: no reason why the Cubs can't beat the Brewers in
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: a five game series. When I say that, I mean
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: like this game was a coin flip. Well, except for
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: the bullpen. Well, no, no, no. I was going to
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: say like, I, it's not like the Cubs are without weakness.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Like the bullpen is absolutely a question. And there's a,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: there's a, certainly a chance that over the next little
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: less than three weeks, the, the Cubs figure some things
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: out with their bullpen and you feel a little bit
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: more comfortable, but I, I, I mean, right now it's
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: just hard to say that, you know, that they have
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: a bullpen that you can trust, but you know, this game,
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: a couple inches here or there with the, with some
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: hits and the Cubs have a few more runs than
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: they did. They've certainly hit the ball better than the
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: Brewers did yesterday. They didn't get, not every ball fell,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: but that's baseball. and I think what you said about
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: like the, essentially the, the Milwaukee brewers have create built
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: a team where they're going to win on the margins
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: almost every single time, no matter who they play. And,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: and that doesn't mean that they're going to win every game,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: but they're not going to give you little, very many
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: chances to, you know, take advantage of mistakes because they
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: just don't make mistakes. And then if they do, it's,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: it's really hard to, to make them pay for it
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: because they're just going to clean up the mess. Uh,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: just a, just a well-run org. We've said this so
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: many times, just a remarkably well-run org that does seemingly
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: everything well. Uh, the one thing they don't have, and
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: you do need this in the postseason, in my opinion,
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: is power. Uh, they don't have a ton of power, uh,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: that can come in bunches sometimes in the post season.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: And maybe that allows them, maybe it does come, but
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: also relievers are the most volatile group in baseball. And
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: it's not like this is a talentless group that the
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Cubs have. It's just a group that has an instilled confidence. And,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: and that that's, you know, Webb looked shaky yesterday. It
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: was his first time back after taking the liner off
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: the arm. I still trust him, but when someone's been
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: good for five months and, I get a little worried.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Like when's the bad stretch coming? He's the bad stretch
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: was at the very beginning and that he was great.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: And I just, has he been overused? Is it too much? Whatever.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Zephyr John is not locked in since he's come to
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: the Cubs. Daniel Palencia is, is far from locked in and,
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: and we'll see what else they have. I don't know
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: if there's a Ryan Rollison has looked a lot better.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: I think it's, it's interesting that every single time I
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: point out like someone isn't doing well, or is, Like
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: I said, Matthew Boyd isn't missing bats, and then he
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: missed a ton of bats yesterday. I pointed out that
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: I thought Rolison may be struggling, and now he's put
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: together three or four great outings. So maybe I'll just
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: continue to criticize some pitchers, and things will work out
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: well for the Cubs in that sense. Let's take a
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: quick break and just talk about this division essentially not
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: being a race anymore.
• 9:13
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• 9:16
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• 9:19
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• 9:22
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• 9:24
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• 9:27
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• 9:29
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• 9:32
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• 9:34
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• 9:35
  Speaker 3: Essentially, your team's either in the playoffs or the team
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: they're playing has a chance in the playoffs. So all
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: these games in September, you got to get on there,
• 9:44
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• 9:47
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• 9:51
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• 10:11
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• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Patrick, I guess we could have made the argument before
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: this series started that if the Cubs Win all three,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: they have an outside shot. Coming back, it still would
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: have been very much outside. But now, I think you
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: wrote eight games out, 17 games left.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: And the Brewers won the season series. So it's almost
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: like they kind of lost two games yesterday from that perspective.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: So we can... I think we've been talking about putting
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: this to rest for months, and then they made that
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: little run, got to three games, I believe, three games
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: not that long ago, and then have hit the skids again.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: And it's not like the Cubs are playing terrible baseball.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: It's just that the Brewers don't really play– like don't
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: have like these longer stretches. I think the Brewers are–
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: I'm looking at the standings. They're 5-5 in their last 10.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: and that's like a bad stretch for them. Like they don't,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: they don't have like these long three and seven, three
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: and whatever, 10 stretches. They have maybe one of those
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: a year. And this is one of their better seasons
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: right now. I'd say they're, they're, they're playing really good
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: baseball consistently. They just are consistent. Like it was 10 game,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: They won the division by 10 games in 2024, and
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: that led Council to probably give some of the most
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: pointed remarks he's had. As manager, the Cubs needed to
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: be better. I do think they're better, but, man, this
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: is just a hurdle they cannot cross. The Brewers are
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: just better, seemingly, in every way. Maybe not every way, but...
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: maybe the most important way. And that's pitching. It just
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: seems like they're light years ahead in that, in that department.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I, you look at the Cubs developmental pipeline in
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: terms of pitching at these junctures. And obviously like if
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: Boyd gets out of that inning and, you know, Zephyr,
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: John and web close it out. we're writing a totally
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: different story and having a, an episode with a totally
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: different tone. It would be, Oh, this is the blueprint
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: for October, you know, a starting pitcher. I don't think
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: council would ever let a starting pitcher go into the
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: eighth during a post-season game, but you know, a superb
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: pitching performance, Pico Armstrong being the best player on the field,
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: you know, hitting, hitting a home run, stealing bases, just
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: causing havoc. And then just kind of coming through in
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: those one or two spots, those high leverage moments out
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: of the bullpen, you know, you can start to think, hey, well,
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: they have time to kind of get this thing right.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: And then, you know, just, you know, in counsel's office yesterday,
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: I asked him, I'm like, what's, I know there's a
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: big gap in the standings, but watching these two teams play, play.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: It just feels like it's back and forth.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: All the time, just very small margins that you're working within.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: What's your eye test? How would you describe how these
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: teams match up? You've got to bring it in all areas.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: Against the best teams in the game, you have to
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: do almost everything right in all phases for the vast
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: majority every single night.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: The Cubs just haven't.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: Done that yet. The Cubs formula works against most nights,
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: against almost all of Major League Baseball. I'm with you
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: that if we have to do postseason picks and it's Cubs-Brewers,
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: I would say it's going to go five. I'd probably
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: lean towards the Brewers just because they have home field
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: advantage and picking against the Brewers in these scenarios doesn't
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: really work out well, but I don't I didn't drive
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: home from Milwaukee last night and be like, oh, man,
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: the Brewers are a World Series locker or something like that. No,
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: it's just they do what they do so well and
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: extremely consistently.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, everything that happened in that game, it's
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: just like they're really good at putting the ball in play.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: They're really good at taking advantage of it. The walk
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: is probably the biggest mistake in that eighth inning. Uh, and,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: and that's, you know, that's what everyone probably wants back, uh,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: on the Cubs side, uh, when Boyd walks a lefty, uh, and,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: and it just, you know, once that happens, there's an
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: unsettling feeling when you're facing the Brewers. It's like, how
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: are they going to take advantage of this? Uh, even
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: their ninth hole hitter can, can be a pain in
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: the butt. Uh, so it's, it's a, it's a team that.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Seems to do everything right when they need it most.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: I just don't– like I struggle to take away too
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: much from this stuff though because in the end, like
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: who knows what happens in five games. The Brewers are
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: the better team. They're the better organization. They've been doing
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: this year after year. And when I say they're the
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: better team, I mean that's record-wise– When they face head-to-head, like,
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: I agree with you. I just don't see, like– I
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: don't say, like, man, how are they going to beat
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: this team? And I have felt that way in years
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: past where you watch them and they're, like, they're just
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: outclassing them. This type of stuff is just– bounces here
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: and there. I don't think there's, like, some huge gap.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: Even if the standings say otherwise, I don't think that.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: It's going to be, like– For fans, I think, and
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: I've said this before, I think having a bad offense
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: is the most boring thing to watch. When you have
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: a team that has terrible offense, it's really boring. When
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: it's bad starting pitching, it's like, well, we're never in games.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: I can barely give credence to what I'm watching. having
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: a bad bullpen or struggling bullpen is the most frustrating
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: things for fans. Cause it seems like everything's in place
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: and that's how it is with this Cubs team. It
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: really does seem like a lots in place. Elite defense. Great.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: The best offense in baseball with a likely MVP. Can
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: we say that in PCA? And then, and then a
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: starting pitching that has been really reinforced that has been
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: reinforced really well. And now you have this one, area
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: that is going to drive you nuts. It just has
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: to be the focus for the next three weeks. I mean,
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: I don't know. We've said it so much. We wrote
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: it so much. This is what we're watching in September.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: It is not going the way they need it to.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: Let's take a quick break, Patrick, and talk about maybe
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: one name that may be coming to help at some point.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: We'll see.
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• 18:44
  Speaker 1: Okay. Patrick, uh, one name that we have been talking
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: about for a little while now, uh, finally had a
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: back to back over the weekend, Shelby Miller. Uh, I
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: get like, they've been, the way I've been hearing things, uh,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: my understanding is they do expect he's going to help
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: this team this year. You know, like, uh, you know,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: we got less than three weeks, uh, He's going to
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: come up. It's just about timing now. When does he
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: come up and what type of impact does he have?
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: One thing I want to say, I don't think the
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: numbers look very pretty for Shelby Miller. I don't think
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: I have talked to one person that cares with the Cubs.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: It's about stuff and how he's feeling. That's all they
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: seem to care about right now. And both of those
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: seem to be in good shape. What have you heard?
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: What's your latest from what you gathered while you were
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: in Milwaukee yesterday?
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know how some of these answers are sort of.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: elliptical or conditional but I mean it sounded like it's
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: not unreasonable to think that by next week he could
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: be pitching for the Cubs that's you know we're recording
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: on a Tuesday morning so that's a very you know
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: fairly wide range considering how few days are left on
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: the regular season calendar but I just remember adding him
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: means subtracting someone else and as shaky as the bullpen
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: has been the Cubs don't want to just lose pitchers
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: so definitely that's kind of the name I think we've
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: circled now that Ben Brown is out of the picture
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: yeah Justin Steele is also rehabbing but the Cubs talk
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: about him in a very, in very different terms than
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: Shelby Miller, that Steele would just kind of keep doing
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: his thing in the minors. And the Cubs will sort
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: of see where that goes rather than Miller, who's been
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: really kind of pushing this. I think he underwent Tommy
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: John surgery last September, correct? Yeah. He's been, I mean,
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: he's been, he's been forcing the issue. So, Again, I
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: was looking at the comments section in The Athletic, and
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: one of our commenters made a good point of this
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: idea of someone from Iowa coming to the rescue is
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: just silly. And it's exactly right that they have to
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: figure it out with the guys that they have. But
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: Miller's sort of this wild card that they're at least–
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: we're following– the lead of the Cubs here, like how
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: they're talking about him is different than some of these
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: other guys. I guess Gavin Hollowell's back pitching again with Iowa.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: You know, we'll, we'll see. And then the kind of
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: the big name, the one that, you know, is going
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: to have to be a factor is, is Dansby Swanson,
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: you know, that he was out there on Labor Day
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: running around, going through his routine and, on the field
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: in Milwaukee, and that counsel said, quote, everything is good
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: with Dansby. We are probably getting closer to hopefully putting
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: a final schedule together. Counsel's talking about Swanson progressing towards
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: hitting off higher velocity once they get back to Wrigley
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: this weekend during the Pittsburgh series. And then once he
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: does that, you know, they'll be ready to quote, start
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: talking about playing in games. Uh, I would assume that
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: would be in the minor leagues first, but barring any setbacks.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: And again, obliques are, are tricky injuries to deal with. Um,
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: you know, things at the moment are trending in the
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: right direction and, you know, fairly positive under the circumstances
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: with dance with Swanson.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: Uh, Yeah, that's huge news. I feel like him coming
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: back healthy and having a week or so to get
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: ready for the postseason is a big deal. I know
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: people get frustrated with his offense, and the defense hasn't
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: fallen off a cliff. It is better with Dansby Swanson
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: out there. Your team is better. You have a deeper team.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: I just want to touch on Shelby Miller really quickly.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: His numbers... with Arizona last year before he was traded
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: and he was kind of hurt. 198 ERA, sub one whip, 28%
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate. That was 36 and a
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: third innings. Man, if you can get something close to that,
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: he's going to miss bats. I think that is clear,
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: very consistent with him, whether it's the minors this year
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: or whatever. He's missing bats. Uh, he has the stuff
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: as Velo's actually looks a little higher than it was
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: with Arizona last year. You have to hope, like, I,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: I agree with that commenter. If this is what you're
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: relying on these guys. Yes, it's not, it's a, it's
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: a not ideal situation. Uh, they need to get the
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: guys that they have. Right. But if Shelby Miller can
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: be close to what he was with Arizona last year,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: and even with a lot of what he was for
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: Milwaukee before he got hurt, uh, I think he had
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: like one or two bad outings and, and, Like one
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: of them was right when he got hurt. So yes,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: I think his combination of experience and, and talent, it
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: allows you to kind of dream on him a little
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: bit more than if we were talking about Jackson Wiggins,
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: that would be fantasy land, you know, like, you know,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: like even if, even if Jackson Wiggins were like the
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: number one guy right now and like looking great, that
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: would just be like, praying that this prospect did something
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: that you've never seen him do. This is just like,
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: is Miller healthy and ready to go? And if he is, then,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: you know, let's see what he's got. He's got two-ish
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: weeks to show that, hey, you can be a high
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: leverage reliever. The Cubs need another arm. Take the pressure
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: off other guys. Don't lean on these guys as much.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: I do think it can still happen with him. But
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: I agree with that. like I agree with that commenter.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: If you're in this situation, you're in a, in a
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: rough situation. Essentially, if you're dreaming on guys at triple a,
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: it's tough. Like we haven't even heard, like you didn't
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: even mention Edward Cabrera. And I'm not saying that's a
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: mistake on your part. I don't even know like what
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: to expect from Edward Cabrera. So, um, Shelby Miller's number
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: one in my mind is like this guy, if this
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: guy can come in and help, um, you can be
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: a little bit more patient with the other guys like
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Palencia and Zephyr John. I do think Zephyr John has
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: looked a lot better. I did not think he was
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: a disaster yesterday. Probably the one thing was the walk
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: to Terang that was most frustrating, but that's going to
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: happen every once in a while. He does walk, guys,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: but he's looked better. It was a difficult situation to
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: put him in. That's all to say, like, this is,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: it remains the thing we're going to be watching, whether
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: it's Shelby Miller coming back, whether it's Zephyr John getting
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: back on track or Valencia, whatever. I think that's just
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: our focus for the next three weeks and the Phillies.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: Can they hold off the Phillies, right? It's just kind
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: of what we're going to be talking about, and it's hard.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: It feels a little repetitive, I guess, because it's what
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: we've talked about a lot, but it feels like all
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: that matters because– This is a great offense. This is
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: a great defense. I like some of the starting pitchers.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: They probably have enough starting pitching. Can they get through
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: the season with the postseason, especially with the bullpen they have?
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: We'll see.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: That's it for today for Northside Territory. We'll get back
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: to you soon. Thanks so much for listening. Make sure
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: to rate, review, subscribe. Subscribe to the YouTube channel and
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and I are on
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: top of all things Cubs. Thanks for listening and watching, everyone.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: Take care.