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Speaker 1: Listen. You have to monitor his innings. I get it,

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Speaker 1: but this guy looks pretty damn impressive. Welcome into North

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Speaker 1: Side Territory Foul Territories Cubs Podcast. I'm Sahade Sharma with

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Speaker 1: my partner Patrick Mooney. We cover the Cubs for the Athletic.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for listening, Patrick. The Cubs offense has been

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Speaker 1: a mess. It finally woke up for one inning at

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Speaker 1: least on Tuesday night and got them a win. But

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Speaker 1: as as nice as that felt for fans, I'm sure

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Speaker 1: to finally see some offense. I think. I think the

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Speaker 1: story of this evening, of that evening was Ben Brown,

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Speaker 1: seven no hit innings. This this is a guy like

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Speaker 1: It's It's fascinating. Back to back nights, Cubs starting pitchers

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Speaker 1: have dominated a really strong and potent Milwaukee Brewers offense.

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Speaker 1: It was, I belie leave by a few metrics, the

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Speaker 1: number three offense in baseball coming into this series. These

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Speaker 1: are two pitchers who lean on two pitches for the

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Speaker 1: most part, and they pitched well enough to shut down

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Speaker 1: this offense. And Ben Brown we keep talking about when

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Speaker 1: he's gonna move to the bullpen. You know the Cubs

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Speaker 1: need more help there. Jordan Wicks made another rehab outing

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Speaker 1: in Iowa. He'll make another one in you know, four

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Speaker 1: days from that, five days from that. What happens with

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Speaker 1: Ben Brown is the question, right that everyone's asking. I mean, listen,

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Speaker 1: you have to monitor his innings. I get it, but

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Speaker 1: this guy looks pretty damn impressive.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I guess the Cubs did put like the

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Speaker 2: hottest pitcher on the planet on ice and showed it

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Speaker 2: at Minaga. So I guess we can't assume that just

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Speaker 2: because Ben Brown throws seven no hit innings that he's

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Speaker 2: there to stay in the rotation.

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Speaker 3: But a pretty impressive audition.

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Speaker 2: I think JD on the broadcast last night was saying,

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Speaker 2: you know, if you take out one inning and his

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Speaker 2: major league debut, his er this year is off the charts,

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Speaker 2: kind of in that not quite showed up, but maybe

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Speaker 2: in the Javi or asade Ti owned.

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Speaker 3: Territory, which is extremely impressive. And like.

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Speaker 2: That's what the Cup need, Like they need guys to

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Speaker 2: just kind of break out of the box and put

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Speaker 2: together seasons that are unexpected. Like that's how this team

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Speaker 2: is going to get from that eighty three win range

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Speaker 2: up towards ninety because they didn't necessarily buy it in

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Speaker 2: bulk on the.

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Speaker 3: Free agent market.

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Speaker 2: They made a relatively under the radar trade for Michael Bush.

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Speaker 2: Like they need some internal improvements, and I mean you

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Speaker 2: were there, you could speak to kind of the scene

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Speaker 2: and the environment. But like, what if this guy's a

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Speaker 2: dude and that they have, you know, at the back

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Speaker 2: of their rotation, just a physically imposing guy who throws

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Speaker 2: super hard, even by the standards of today's game, and

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Speaker 2: also someone who literally like studied.

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Speaker 3: How counseled would you use pitchers with the Brewers? A

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Speaker 3: very thoughtful guy who's serious about his craft.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, just some numbers to back this up.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you don't even need to throw out that

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Speaker 1: first outing. I get why you would, it was it

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Speaker 1: was a lot of bad luck. But I mean two

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Speaker 1: seventy two ERA overall, twenty nine point nine strikeout rate,

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Speaker 1: nine point two percent walk rate, Like those are those

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Speaker 1: are the type of numbers that you know elite starters

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Speaker 1: put up. What's the innings total? The innings total is

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Speaker 1: forty six and a thirdy I mean, he's he's doing

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Speaker 1: a lot. I believe he has six starts and thirty

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Speaker 1: innings in those starts, and he's just a lot of

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Speaker 1: those starts were like him still building up him, you know,

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Speaker 1: filling in spots starts like it's it's pretty amazing how

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Speaker 1: he's just been so malleable and able to fill any

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Speaker 1: role for them. We've seen it before, right, We've we've

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Speaker 1: seen guys fill different roles before outside of a Sad,

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Speaker 1: I don't really remember someone doing it so seamlessly and

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Speaker 1: like so still well right Asad did it.

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Speaker 3: And against good teams too.

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Speaker 1: Right, right, these aren't Yeah, he's not. He's not facing

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Speaker 1: weak teams. Uh, he's doing it with two pitches. Yesterday,

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Speaker 1: council called to the fastball angry. He said it was

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Speaker 1: an angry fastball. It averaged ninety six point four, ninety

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Speaker 1: six point nine yesterday. That's a tick up half a

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Speaker 1: mile up from that year average. I saw like I

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Speaker 1: happened to be looking. I was eating dinner and saw

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Speaker 1: like the beginning of the Brewers broadcast in the in

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Speaker 1: the media cafeteria there, and it said something about like

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Speaker 1: average fastball velocity for starters, and Ben Brown wasn't up there, right,

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Speaker 1: but Freddy Parolta was and was like ninety six point three.

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Speaker 1: So Ben Brown, Like if he qualified for that, he'd

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Speaker 1: be he'd have one of the hardest, Like I think

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Speaker 1: Freddy Paroulta was like fifth right on whatever list they had,

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Speaker 1: and Ben Brown would be up there for hardest fastball

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Speaker 1: velocity for a starter if he qualified. The Cubs don't

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Speaker 1: really have that, right, Like who's who's their fastball like

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Speaker 1: their big velocity guy in their rotation, Right, it's that

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Speaker 1: guy's not really there now. He is at this point

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Speaker 1: in time, you know, seventeen looking strikes with the fastball,

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Speaker 1: like he's got guys guessing he's got he's got ten

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Speaker 1: whiffs on the curve ball. It's right now, it's impressive. Right,

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Speaker 1: We'll see if the league catches up to him, what

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Speaker 1: happens as as he progresses. How they have to monitor

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Speaker 1: his innings, like you said the monitoring Shoda's innings. They're

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Speaker 1: monitoring how they're using Shoda. That the council isn't afraid

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Speaker 1: to do unpopular things. He pulled the guy with the

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Speaker 1: no hitter with seven through seven innings, right, I don't

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Speaker 1: think anybody was surprised by that. That's been watching baseball

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Speaker 1: over the past ten years, right, especially with council. I

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Speaker 1: think Council has done that before with other pitchers in Milwaukee. Like,

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Speaker 1: once it got through like four or five, I was like, Okay,

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Speaker 1: it's pitchcount slow, but he's not going over ninety five

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Speaker 1: one hundred pitches. Like I think one hundred was his max.

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Speaker 1: I would have been surprised if he even hit one hundred,

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Speaker 1: but like, there was just no chance he was finishing

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Speaker 1: that unless he had these insanely efficient innings. But it's

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Speaker 1: we've focused so much on the bad offense that I

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Speaker 1: really think we're overlooking the starting pitching. And it's not

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Speaker 1: just yeah, and it's not just good. It's been great,

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Speaker 1: and it like completely, at least for me, really unexpected.

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Speaker 1: I did not expect them to be this good of

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Speaker 1: a pitching staff. Starting wise. I thought that'd be fine.

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Speaker 1: But three point thirty ERA from the starters is sixth

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Speaker 1: best in baseball, second second in the NL to a

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Speaker 1: Phillies team. That's just been awesome.

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Speaker 2: I thought back to at the end of last season,

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Speaker 2: the Cubs are eliminated and David Ross is doing one

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Speaker 2: of his pregame sessions and someone kind of I don't

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Speaker 2: know if it was like a lot of softball, but

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Speaker 2: kind of the premise was like, you know, hey, what

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Speaker 2: a building block for this year and guys get an

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Speaker 2: experienced and Ross's mind went straight to, well, you know,

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Speaker 2: we had a lot of guys we were counting on

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Speaker 2: this year and they didn't really show up. And Ben Brown,

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Speaker 2: it wasn't his fault and it would have been like

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Speaker 2: kind of an aggressive ahead of schedule push, but there

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Speaker 2: was a time where they thought he could help in

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Speaker 2: that bullpen. He got hurt, season got off track. He

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Speaker 2: wasn't necessarily like the guy that Ross would have been

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Speaker 2: thinking of. He was certainly in that kind of bucket,

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Speaker 2: and you know, if things click for him. We've seen

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Speaker 2: hid was an Eski make major contributions already. You see

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Speaker 2: jave Rasad taking that next step. There are a lot

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Speaker 2: of things that you can point to of like, okay,

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Speaker 2: this is why when the offense is scuffling, you can

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Speaker 2: see this Cups team staying in the hunt all the

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Speaker 2: way until the end.

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Speaker 3: And I think for.

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Speaker 2: Us who followed this kind of system and organization for

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Speaker 2: a while, it's important to see results at the major

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Speaker 2: league level and that should be obvious, but it's kind

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Speaker 2: of not because of the way prospects are covered and

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Speaker 2: how much you know, energy and effort was expended around

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Speaker 2: all these different trade deadlines. And you know, I think

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Speaker 2: people feel good about pie Crow Armstrong and Kevin al

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Speaker 2: Contara is super young, so there's a lot of time

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Speaker 2: for these deals to kind of be reevaluated. But the

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Speaker 2: twenty one trade deadline hasn't really like wowed anyone yet,

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Speaker 2: right in terms of like major league results or what

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Speaker 2: they're counting on at the major league level. And you

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Speaker 2: know that David Robertson for Ben Brown trade is looking good,

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Speaker 2: still looks good for the Phillies. Mean, I think Dave

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Speaker 2: Roberson pitching the World Series for them. So this is

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Speaker 2: not at Philly thing. But our colleague Mat Gelb had

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Speaker 2: written at the time of Philly's had like maybe two

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Speaker 2: or three pitching prospects that were just like off the table,

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Speaker 2: and I don't think either. I think it was Mick

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Speaker 2: Abel and maybe Griffin McGary, like guys who are not

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Speaker 2: in the majors yet. And so if you have and

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Speaker 2: I believe was an Eski deal came around that time too,

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Speaker 2: So like if you.

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Speaker 3: Like one, if it comes, get like two starters off

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Speaker 3: of that tradeline, not the big one that everyone was

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Speaker 3: talking about of Bryant Rizzo and Hobby, but just looking

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Speaker 3: at Ben Brown, I mean, the guy's just enormous.

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Speaker 2: And maybe this is like we've listened to too many

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Speaker 2: old scouts over the years, but it's kind of nice

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Speaker 2: to see someone who's like legit six five six six,

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Speaker 2: who's gotten a lot bigger. He's coming to the Cup

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Speaker 2: system and is not just oh wow, he throws really hard.

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Speaker 3: It's like, no, he knows how to pitch. He has

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Speaker 3: a curveball, like he has some composure and presence out

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Speaker 3: there on the mound. And I mean just coming up

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Speaker 3: huge at a time when the Cubs needed it. And

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Speaker 3: I know you were.

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Speaker 2: You were sitting there at your laptop, like that's something

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Speaker 2: about that stadium, Cubs Brewers like crazy stuff happens late.

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Speaker 2: So I'm sure you were in rewrite mode a couple

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Speaker 2: of times there.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I had the a story where I wouldn't

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Speaker 1: I had a feeling not to write it right, Like

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Speaker 1: I had a story prepped for Jed on the offense,

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Speaker 1: but I wasn't gonna fit. I was like, if this

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Speaker 1: guy pulls off a no hitter, if he actually goes deep,

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Speaker 1: if it's a combined no hitter. Obviously I had to

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Speaker 1: change course, but I like I just didn't trust either,

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Speaker 1: Like I just you're right. When I'm in the walk,

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Speaker 1: it's like this is first of all, I'm like high

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Speaker 1: alert for a foul ball to the stuff. Secondly, I'm

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Speaker 1: just like, weird crap is going to happen, and like, frankly,

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Speaker 1: weird crap did happen. The way that rally started for

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Speaker 1: the Cubs was kind of insane, Like that line drive

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Speaker 1: to McGill. It hit his elbow and we could hear

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Speaker 1: it clearly, like the sound of it was pretty was

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Speaker 1: pretty sick, and and you could see him. It's not

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Speaker 1: funny because the guy was in reial pain, but you

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Speaker 1: could kind of see him like immediately react and start

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Speaker 1: walking towards the dugout, but then like look at the

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Speaker 1: ball and kind of consider, like do I pick this up?

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Speaker 1: And it was like nope, I'm heading back to the

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Speaker 1: dugout like I'm done, and like you know, I think

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Speaker 1: the third basement had to like run to go get it.

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Speaker 1: Vasquez scored right, and that started the big five run

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Speaker 1: rally the Cubs had there in the tenth, but it

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Speaker 1: was it was one of those things like you don't

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Speaker 1: you know, that's it's typical crubs, Brewers. Weird stuff happens,

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Speaker 1: you don't expect it to the Hector NAIs book. That's

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Speaker 1: the first time I've seen council just like flat, like

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Speaker 1: pretty annoyed after we asked him a question and not

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Speaker 1: annoyed at us, but like someone asked about the Bok

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Speaker 1: and and he just like said like that, like basically

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Speaker 1: he didn't think it was a Balk and that you know,

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Speaker 1: the league does this, They let it go, they let

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Speaker 1: it go, they let it go, they don't make the call,

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Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden they call it in

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Speaker 1: the critical situation. And he's like, and I don't think

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Speaker 1: it was a Bok either anyway, And I believe Megan

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Speaker 1: Montemuau of The Tribune talked to Neris, who said the

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Speaker 1: same thing. He's like, it was just he said. The

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Speaker 1: only reason He's like, maybe they were confused, because essentially

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Speaker 1: I think his point was maybe they were confused because

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Speaker 1: he was quicker to the plate that time. But he

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Speaker 1: does I mean, you're supposed to vary your time. That's

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Speaker 1: what richards do, That's what good pictures do. I still

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Speaker 1: I never saw a replay. I don't know, it's as

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Speaker 1: clearly people were. There were plenty of people pissed. And

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Speaker 1: I believe Daniel Moscow's got thrown out. Yen c al

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Speaker 1: Monte got thrown out of all the dude on the

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Speaker 1: this is a bit that you got thrown out. So

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Speaker 1: it was a wild one. There was the stolen home

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Speaker 1: run from Cody Bellinger, like it looked like Williadamas had

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Speaker 1: had another big hit, another big home run. Willia Damas

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Speaker 1: ends up hitting the game, getting the game tying single,

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Speaker 1: Like that's this is a fun This is just a

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Speaker 1: fun matchup, a fun rivalry that obviously has gotten more

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Speaker 1: intense with counsel around, you know. Council was was asked

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Speaker 1: more about about Monday's reception. Uh, he really does seem

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Speaker 1: like he's just like all good with it. Who knows

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Speaker 1: if if he you know, if it hurts him deeply,

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Speaker 1: But I I don't.

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Speaker 3: I don't if you got a forty deal.

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Speaker 4: To move and you know, yeah and get to yeah,

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Speaker 4: get to manage a big market club and and you know,

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Speaker 4: one of the more well known teams and across sports.

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Speaker 1: Uh yeah, I think he's doing fine. He's he's good

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Speaker 1: with his decision. I joke it. I I thought, my

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Speaker 1: so my favorite sign. I can't remember if I said

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Speaker 1: this yesterday, but my favorite sign was something to the

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Speaker 1: effect of will we'll never forget you Greg with a

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Speaker 1: G and I just I just thought that was hilarious.

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Speaker 1: I was like, it's not. It wasn't mean spirited. It

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Speaker 1: was just you know, having fun and and and joking around.

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Speaker 1: I liked that sign. I asked counsel if he had

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Speaker 1: a favorite sign. Uh, and uh. He started to talk

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Speaker 1: about it, and then he realized like there were too

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Speaker 1: many people and cameras around and Uh, I think it

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Speaker 1: may have Essentially it sounded like he he came home,

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Speaker 1: the fan family was around at the table, sitting around,

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Speaker 1: joking around, having some fun and and a lot of

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Speaker 1: his kids had gotten texts and screenshots of of various signs. Uh,

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Speaker 1: and they were sharing them with their dad and and

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Speaker 1: kind of laughing at it. And and I think some

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Speaker 1: of them were weren't shareable with the public, but but it,

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Speaker 1: but it sounded like they had some fun. The kids

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Speaker 1: especially seemed to be getting a chuckle out of some

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Speaker 1: of these signs. So I thought that was fun. How counsel.

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Speaker 1: Even his kids are given him a hard time and

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Speaker 1: enjoying the moment a little over the top. I mean,

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Speaker 1: that's what fans do. It's it's fun, you know, have

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Speaker 1: fun with it. As long as it's not mean spirited

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Speaker 1: or hate filled. I have no issues.

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Speaker 3: I mean, he's.

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Speaker 2: Pretty sarcastic guy, like it doesn't really come across during

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Speaker 2: those press conferences, and he kind of doles it out

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Speaker 2: with us.

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Speaker 3: Like in smaller portions.

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Speaker 2: But you know, I think it was Justin Steele who

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Speaker 2: said it towards the end of spring training and was like,

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Speaker 2: was asked about counsel and he's like, he's a.

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Speaker 3: Lot more funny than I thought he would be.

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Speaker 2: He seemed so serious across the way, and the other

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Speaker 2: dugout and I talked to Ryan Flaherty, the Cubs bench coach, recently,

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Speaker 2: and just ask a general council question. He said the

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Speaker 2: same thing. He's a lot he's a lot wittier than

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Speaker 2: you think, and that he has a presence when he's

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Speaker 2: addressing the group. And so because of his sarcasm and

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Speaker 2: he has a little bit of cynicism, he has definitely

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Speaker 2: has an edge to him. So that's why I could

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Speaker 2: totally see him getting a kick out of some of

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Speaker 2: those signs, especially since he landed in such a great

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Speaker 2: spot and had done his job for such a long

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Speaker 2: time and had kind of you know, hit.

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Speaker 3: A ceiling for the most part, and wanted something different.

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Speaker 3: And I do think from what we've.

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Speaker 2: Heard and kind of observed, like it's a pretty genuine,

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Speaker 2: like family person and certainly like rooted in Wisconsin. You know,

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Speaker 2: you can't like dispute his credentials in that regard as

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Speaker 2: someone who grew up the son of a brewer's employee

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Speaker 2: and played for the team and you know, could have

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Speaker 2: lived anywhere he wanted and chose to go back to

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Speaker 2: Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin. And so I do think we're kind

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Speaker 2: of just at the start of this.

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Speaker 3: I think, you know, let's see as the years go on,

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Speaker 3: like how much more anger and you know, how he

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Speaker 3: responds to some of this stuff.

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Speaker 2: It could certainly get like a little more chippy, because

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Speaker 2: you're right, like the press box there when you say

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Speaker 2: like worrying about fal balls hit straight back like it

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Speaker 2: is a low open press box. You know, you can

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Speaker 2: turn over your left shoulder and there's a huge invent

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Speaker 2: from you know, whatever fal ball came there and like

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Speaker 2: busted up part of the press box, and.

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Speaker 3: So it is an awesome place to see a game,

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Speaker 3: like great environment for for Cubs brewers.

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Speaker 2: And I'm curious, since you were there talking to Jed Hoyer,

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Speaker 2: what does the team president think of where things are

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Speaker 2: right now with the Cubs.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think you'll be surprised to hear that

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Speaker 1: Jed Hoyer is not panicking, he's not freaking out, he's

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Speaker 1: not trading everyone, he's not calling up every tripa a

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Speaker 1: bat to fix this offense. He is trusting the players

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Speaker 1: that they, you know, expected to put together a great

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Speaker 1: season right like these are. I know, I'm getting it's

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Speaker 1: interesting that there's a lot of people that are like,

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Speaker 1: what what track record do they have? Well, what's the

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Speaker 1: track record of these players? And it's like, yeah, they're

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Speaker 1: not superstars. I get what you're saying. If your point

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Speaker 1: is they're not that they haven't won a ton of

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Speaker 1: World Series or playoff games or outside of Dansby Swanson

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Speaker 1: and Cody Bellinger, Uh, I get that right, They're not.

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Speaker 1: They're not all a bunch of MVPs, but they're all

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Speaker 1: all of them, not all of them, but all all

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Speaker 1: the veterans on that group are better offensive players than

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Speaker 1: what they've put up this season. Yes, Like Dansby Swanson

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Speaker 1: is like an eighty one and like an eighty way

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Speaker 1: to runs great A plus. I mean that's not like

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Speaker 1: I get it. He's never been the superstar on offense,

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Speaker 1: but he's never been that either. Yeah, Like he's last

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Speaker 1: two years it's been like well above average. Right, Ian

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Speaker 1: happ is at one hundred way to run screat a plus.

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Speaker 1: He's that would be or one o two that would

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Speaker 1: be the worst of his career. Saya Suzuki, Yes, I

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Speaker 1: know you've seen struggles from him at times. His average way,

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Speaker 1: Like over two years, he's put together a one twenty

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Speaker 1: two way to runs great at plus, he's at one hundred. Like,

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Speaker 1: these guys are better players than this. They're better offensive

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Speaker 1: performers than what we've seen. The expectation from Craig Council,

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Speaker 1: from Jed Hoyer, from a majority of the people in

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Speaker 1: that front office, uh and that coaching staff and on

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Speaker 1: that on the field are that they're going to perform

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Speaker 1: better offensively. H So there there's no panic there, And

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Speaker 1: the reality is Jed Hoyer, Craig Council they've seen struggles

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Speaker 1: from their teams only to see them turn it around.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't that long ago. Last year the Cubs were

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Speaker 1: ten games under five hundred, got to ten, got to

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Speaker 1: eleven games over five hundred by September. I believe it

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Speaker 1: was ten games over in June, ten games under in June. Right, yeah, year, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: last year the Brewers were I want to say, eighteen

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Speaker 1: and nine. Eighteen and nine, they were thirty four and

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Speaker 1: thirty four later that season, essentially the same thing that

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Speaker 1: they got swept by Colorado during that bad stretch and

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Speaker 1: Oakland like they weren't. It wasn't even like a tough

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Speaker 1: stretch for them as far as schedule wise, they were bad.

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Speaker 1: They won ninety two games. So I mean, these guys

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Speaker 1: have seen this before. They are not going to panic.

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Speaker 1: And again, I'm gonna say this probably a lot during

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Speaker 1: this podcast. I get it. Fans. You're allowed to panic,

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Speaker 1: You're allowed to react to every game, You're allowed to overreact,

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Speaker 1: you're allowed to be angry. Their job is to not

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Speaker 1: be that way. Their job is to trust what the

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Speaker 1: like that they've done the right things, or if they

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Speaker 1: see things that they know that they're Like I was

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Speaker 1: worried about this in the first place, and they're seeing

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Speaker 1: it play out. Yeah, they'll make moves. I mean, it's

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Speaker 1: not like they haven't made changes. It's not like they

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Speaker 1: haven't called guys up and tried different things. Uh, it's

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Speaker 1: you know, I I under I think we like I

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Speaker 1: would that that brewis that really hit me? Like I

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Speaker 1: was just curious. I was going to go back through

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Speaker 1: the years and I had to go back just the

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Speaker 1: last season and I was like, wow, ninety two wins

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Speaker 1: and they blew a huge, you know, a nice start

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Speaker 1: to the season and they still end up at ninety

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Speaker 1: two wins, Like this is just normal in baseball most teams.

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Speaker 1: I think a lot of this stems from four Cubs fans.

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Speaker 1: The best season they've seen. There were no hiccups. There

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Speaker 1: was one ten and fifteen stretch in twenty sixteen, but

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Speaker 1: that's what they think a great season has to be.

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Speaker 1: Like a good season is that and only that. Right,

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Speaker 1: It's like we almost have almost forgotten about twenty fifteen

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Speaker 1: when they were five hundred around till like June right

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Speaker 1: or July essentially.

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Speaker 3: I mean the trade deadline.

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Speaker 2: I believe they were in Milwaukee actually, and it was

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Speaker 2: they were at that point. Maybe they were a couple

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Speaker 2: of games over five hundred, but it was kind.

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Speaker 3: Of modified by at the trade deadline.

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Speaker 2: Then caught fire really when the Giants came in as

403
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Speaker 2: a defending champs that I want to say early early

404
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Speaker 2: to mid August, and that's when it was Joe Madden

405
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Speaker 2: said like it's go time and pulling Jason Hammel right,

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Speaker 2: moving Starlin off shortstops. So you're right, I think councils

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Speaker 2: teams have finished strong historically, that this Cubs team is

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Speaker 2: built to be a second half team.

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Speaker 3: When you look at the schedule, when you look at

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Speaker 3: the trade deadline.

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Speaker 2: There are still some you know, cards they can play

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Speaker 2: or levers they can pull from the pharma system. That's

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Speaker 2: not like a right this second thing. But I think

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Speaker 2: it's not that hard to envision Council at some point

415
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Speaker 2: just throwing up his hands and be like, I want

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Speaker 2: PCA and center.

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Speaker 3: You know, I want defense, I need I want more

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Speaker 3: defense here. You know, if you know.

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Speaker 2: What Michael Bush is going through, is what name your

420
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Speaker 2: favorite Cubs prospect is going to go through on like

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Speaker 2: a deeper, probably more extended level. I mean, that guy's

422
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Speaker 2: what like twenty six and just crushed it in the

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Speaker 2: miners and had a lot of played appearances at the

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Speaker 2: high levels of the miners.

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Speaker 3: Like I don't know if you really need to throw

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Speaker 3: you know, an Owen.

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Speaker 2: Casey in there right now, and then we'll see with

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Speaker 2: injuries too, I mean, that's how they're gonna have to respond.

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Speaker 3: But look, if you pitching like you have.

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Speaker 2: The last couple of days, even in Saint Louis, it

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Speaker 2: wasn't it wasn't like bad pitching.

432
00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:11,080
Speaker 3: Like, if you can.

433
00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:15,679
Speaker 2: Get that on a consistent basis, which I think the

434
00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:20,399
Speaker 2: Cubs will, like, you can make those other tweaks in

435
00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:23,959
Speaker 2: the weeks ahead, at the trade deadline and down the stretch.

436
00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:28,280
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, maybe they do go get another bet, right,

437
00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:32,800
Speaker 1: and and maybe they I mean they're certainly getting relief help.

438
00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:35,800
Speaker 1: They're they're just not gonna sit on their hands when

439
00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:37,600
Speaker 1: it comes to the bullpen that there will be at

440
00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:43,280
Speaker 1: least at least one reliever acquired. And I expect, I

441
00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:47,800
Speaker 1: just expect this to turn like this. This this team

442
00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:51,040
Speaker 1: is too talented and the starting pitching is too good. Like,

443
00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:54,560
Speaker 1: maybe maybe that turns and it makes us all moot

444
00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:57,119
Speaker 1: and and the pitching falls apart. It's not. It wouldn't

445
00:26:57,119 --> 00:26:59,000
Speaker 1: be the first time we've seen that, right.

446
00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:01,720
Speaker 3: We see see what showed it against the Brewers.

447
00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:06,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Like it's it's very possible that the pitching

448
00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:08,800
Speaker 1: falls apart, right, I get that. And you could say

449
00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:13,400
Speaker 1: that they've wasted good starting pitching. Sure, fair enough if

450
00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:17,399
Speaker 1: that's if that's what happens, that's what happens. It doesn't

451
00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:20,560
Speaker 1: seem like they it seems like they very much have

452
00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:24,160
Speaker 1: the depth to overcome that. At the moment, it seems

453
00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:28,960
Speaker 1: like they do. It's you mentioned it before, but we've

454
00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:31,960
Speaker 1: we've kind of been waiting for this. You and I've

455
00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:34,560
Speaker 1: kind of like joked, like, where's this pitching? Like I

456
00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:37,040
Speaker 1: thought I thought they had a lot of pitching depth.

457
00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:41,480
Speaker 1: Where are the guys coming from? And it's it's finally arrived. Right,

458
00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:44,800
Speaker 1: It's more than just one or two players, you know

459
00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:47,280
Speaker 1: that that you can point to. There's there's a lot

460
00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:51,080
Speaker 1: of homegrown pitching now on this roster and and probably

461
00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:55,359
Speaker 1: more to come. Uh you would obviously, I understand, you'd

462
00:27:55,359 --> 00:27:58,680
Speaker 1: obviously like more in the bullpen. But nobody's going to

463
00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:03,600
Speaker 1: complain about really good darting pitchers being developed through the organization, right,

464
00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:08,240
Speaker 1: and you know, I'm very curious to see how they

465
00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:11,480
Speaker 1: handle Jordan Wicks's return, if they bring him back right away,

466
00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:15,760
Speaker 1: what they want to do there. He's got it. He's

467
00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:18,600
Speaker 1: got one more start, at least, I believe. So he

468
00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:21,840
Speaker 1: went three and two thirds or maybe three in a

469
00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:25,600
Speaker 1: third on Tuesday night, and they kind of gave him

470
00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:29,000
Speaker 1: a three days rest and now it'll be normal rest

471
00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:31,600
Speaker 1: for his next start and then they'll kind of evaluate

472
00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:34,679
Speaker 1: from there. But I think that's going to be a

473
00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:38,600
Speaker 1: fascinating decision. People are going to look purely at results

474
00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:42,080
Speaker 1: and see like why bring back, why move Brent Ben Brown?

475
00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:44,840
Speaker 1: Jordan Wicks had like a five ERA or whatever. I'm

476
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:47,600
Speaker 1: not going to argue with that. I do think Jordan

477
00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:50,719
Speaker 1: Wicks has a chance to be a really impactful pitcher

478
00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:55,880
Speaker 1: this year, and for this team, it's going to be interesting.

479
00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:59,000
Speaker 1: Like the pitching is a strength, and when you have

480
00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:03,080
Speaker 1: starting pitching you can compete, Like there's there's a way

481
00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:05,880
Speaker 1: to make it work even if the like the offense

482
00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:08,720
Speaker 1: can't be like this can't be the worst in baseball.

483
00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:10,640
Speaker 3: Baseball for the next four months like that.

484
00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:14,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that that wouldn't. But even if the offense

485
00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:17,360
Speaker 1: gets back it gets to average, you know, league average.

486
00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:20,520
Speaker 1: If you have great starting pitching and you piece together

487
00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:25,800
Speaker 1: the bullpen, which you know, hey, great council apparently good. Yeah,

488
00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:29,680
Speaker 1: you know, you know, earn that earn that paycheck by

489
00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:34,400
Speaker 1: by piecing it together, then you have a good team. Right,

490
00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:37,480
Speaker 1: Maybe not a great team, maybe not a World Series

491
00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:42,240
Speaker 1: winning team, but you have a good team division yes, yeah, yeah,

492
00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:44,880
Speaker 1: and in a division that is still up for grabs.

493
00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:48,240
Speaker 1: I mean, you said it yesterday. They we could be talking.

494
00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:52,520
Speaker 1: We'll talk again after this series is over. One loss

495
00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:55,760
Speaker 1: was panic, right, it was. It was more of the

496
00:29:55,760 --> 00:30:01,120
Speaker 1: same on offense. They take these next three, they've taken one, right,

497
00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:04,600
Speaker 1: if they can take three, you suddenly feel very tipperally

498
00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:07,800
Speaker 1: about everything that that's going on with this game. I'm

499
00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:10,760
Speaker 1: not saying they will because I I don't trust anything

500
00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:14,479
Speaker 1: that happens in Milwaukee. That's the four game series. It

501
00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:17,280
Speaker 1: just feels like split written all over it in my opinion.

502
00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:22,360
Speaker 1: But no doubt, no doubt, we'll we'll see what happens

503
00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:24,280
Speaker 1: over the next couple of days. We'll we'll be back

504
00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:26,880
Speaker 1: at it. We'll we'll be uh talking to you guys

505
00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:32,040
Speaker 1: again Thursday night. Maybe maybe you'll hear us Friday morning.

506
00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:34,920
Speaker 1: We'll see how that works. But there's a there's two

507
00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:37,840
Speaker 1: more games in this series and then what what is

508
00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:39,240
Speaker 1: this weekend? Is it Cincinnati?

509
00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:40,120
Speaker 2: Uh?

510
00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:44,000
Speaker 3: At Cincinnati off day? White Sox.

511
00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:51,600
Speaker 1: Okay, so it's a lot of okay, So things should

512
00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:54,920
Speaker 1: lighten up a little bit. Yes, you would you would

513
00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:58,200
Speaker 1: like to think that this is a moment in time

514
00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:02,880
Speaker 1: where the Cubs could get going. And again, at a

515
00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:06,000
Speaker 1: certain point, if they do get going and they're beating

516
00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:08,840
Speaker 1: up on weaker competition, we can have this discussion of hey,

517
00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:11,240
Speaker 1: this team needs to show us they can beat good pitching.

518
00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:13,520
Speaker 1: Right Well, we can have that discussion at some point,

519
00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:15,479
Speaker 1: but right now, it's just like, get some wins, get

520
00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:18,800
Speaker 1: back on track, start looking like a good offense and

521
00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:21,720
Speaker 1: a good team again, and we can start talking about

522
00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:25,120
Speaker 1: more more things in depth because what we had seen

523
00:31:25,160 --> 00:31:29,080
Speaker 1: obviously wasn't acceptable offensively, but but they had one inning.

524
00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:32,400
Speaker 1: Uh maybe that maybe that can be the sigh of relief.

525
00:31:32,960 --> 00:31:36,320
Speaker 1: They have great pitchers and and showed him Anaga is

526
00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:39,320
Speaker 1: gonna try and show what he can do in Milwaukee?

527
00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:42,240
Speaker 1: Is this did he face the Brewers last time? Do

528
00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:44,240
Speaker 1: you remember h.

529
00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:46,560
Speaker 3: Question?

530
00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:50,000
Speaker 1: I just want to make sure before we go. Let's

531
00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:54,600
Speaker 1: let's just check that because this could be his first

532
00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:58,600
Speaker 1: time facing a team twice and it is not. He

533
00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:02,640
Speaker 1: did not face the Brewers. Okay, so he still hasn't.

534
00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:05,200
Speaker 1: He still won't be the second time he faces a team.

535
00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:09,840
Speaker 1: We'll see how that goes for him. You know, two starts.

536
00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:12,760
Speaker 1: If it's a third time that the Cubs shut down

537
00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:15,080
Speaker 1: a Brewers' offense, that's a really impressive way to go

538
00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:18,640
Speaker 1: to start the series. We'll see what happens. Thank you

539
00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:21,440
Speaker 1: for listening. This is North Side Territory. Make sure to

540
00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:24,320
Speaker 1: rate and review, subscribe, do all those good things that

541
00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:27,720
Speaker 1: you do for a podcast. Read. Patrick and I work

542
00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:30,720
Speaker 1: at the athletics. We've got the Cubs covered for you.

543
00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:33,560
Speaker 1: Will be on the road a lot, and then we're

544
00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:36,600
Speaker 1: at every home game, so make sure you're checking the

545
00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:39,040
Speaker 1: side out. Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back

546
00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:40,480
Speaker 1: at you later this week. Take care,