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Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory File Territory Networks Cubs Podcast. I'm

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Speaker 1: Sahadev Sharma with my partner Patrick Mooney. We are your

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Speaker 1: Cubs beat writers over at the Athletic and Patrick spring

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Speaker 1: training is kicking along and we have our first bit

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Speaker 1: of news, or not first bit of news, but a

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Speaker 1: bit of news today. And you know, Craig Counsel made

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Speaker 1: sure to start off his media session with the announcement

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Speaker 1: that Matthew Boyd, who returned from the WBC today we're

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Speaker 1: recording on a Thursday, he is your opening day starter.

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Speaker 1: I don't know if this is a surprise. I think

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Speaker 1: we heard it down to two guys between him and Horton.

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Speaker 1: I think it makes sense to give it to Boyd

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Speaker 1: as good as Horton was down the stretch. Great story,

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Speaker 1: great dude. We all know how Matthew Boyd's just like

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Speaker 1: one of the kindest people we've talked to in baseball.

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Speaker 1: But that doesn't get you an opening day start. It's

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Speaker 1: the performance on the mound. All Star season right now.

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Speaker 1: Looking like a great signing by the Cubs a year ago,

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Speaker 1: a little over a year ago, someone a lot of

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Speaker 1: questions coming into last camp, he had very high expectations

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Speaker 1: for himself and he delivered on it. And now he's

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Speaker 1: returning from a WBC Team USA stint and named the

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Speaker 1: Opening Day Starter.

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Speaker 2: It's funny, I always like the Opening Day starter story

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Speaker 2: to like look up who the guys were in previous years.

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Speaker 2: I actually realized I have not been to a Cubs

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Speaker 2: opening day since I think twenty twenty three, because you

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Speaker 2: were in Texas for the in a council era, and

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Speaker 2: then you were obviously partying it up in Japan. But

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Speaker 2: it is an interesting decade of you know, Arieta, the

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Speaker 2: reigning side Young.

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Speaker 3: Winner opening up in twenty sixteen.

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Speaker 2: I think we all remember that game of just like

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Speaker 2: an absolute like first pitch to last pitch, just dominance.

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Speaker 2: And I think that might have been the game too,

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Speaker 2: where like Area like we would go over to his

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Speaker 2: locker and almost like I think he like took his

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Speaker 2: shirt off for the for.

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Speaker 3: The for the cameras.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that was entertaining. And then you got three straight

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Speaker 2: years of John Lester, three state straight years of Kyle Hendrix.

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Speaker 3: Though one of them was that.

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Speaker 2: Awful twenty twenty or eerie, I guess it actually wasn't

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Speaker 2: that awful because we were able to get out of

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Speaker 2: the house. Yeah, that summer of twenty twenty. But yeah,

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Speaker 2: then Stroman Steel showed a over the last three Matthew

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Speaker 2: Boyd well deserved. I think it was fun to sort

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Speaker 2: of think about, you know, maybe it could be kid,

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Speaker 2: but when you look at the body of work last year,

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Speaker 2: including the playoffs, I mean just boy just pitched so

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Speaker 2: much more than Horton, And I still think it's going

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Speaker 2: to be interesting to see, like how they sort of

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Speaker 2: manage Cade this year. I liked your story of Council

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Speaker 2: sort of pumping the brakes on this idea that there's

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Speaker 2: like a next level for Cade. But no doubt Boyd,

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Speaker 2: you know, is the guy that you want to set

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Speaker 2: the tone. And really, I don't know when the Cup

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Speaker 2: signed him, I don't think anyone really thought of him

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Speaker 2: as like a team USA starting pitcher on, like a

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Speaker 2: loaded WBC team, even if they had a kind of

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Speaker 2: awkward week thus far in Houston. Matthew Boyd an All

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Speaker 2: Star deserving and yeah, like you said, just an absurdly

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Speaker 2: nice individual.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's his third opening day start. The first came

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty, the second in twenty twenty one, so

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Speaker 1: this will be his first in front of a capacity crowd,

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Speaker 1: like a full capacity crowd, because obviously twenty twenty no fans.

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Speaker 1: Beginning of twenty one, it was I think when he

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Speaker 1: pitched at Detroit it was like half capacity, and now

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Speaker 1: Wrigly he was he was really grateful. I think the

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Speaker 1: words that Council used were humble and grateful, and that,

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Speaker 1: you know, I think that describes Matthew Boyd well though

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Speaker 1: he certainly came across that way and was excited to

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Speaker 1: be able to do this at Wrigley for the fans

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Speaker 1: in Chicago. He said, this should be an opening day,

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Speaker 1: should be a holiday in Chicago. He was very you know,

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Speaker 1: full of praise ends and we talk so much about

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Speaker 1: how nice he is and like grateful and humble and

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Speaker 1: all these things. I think it shouldn't be overlooked, Like

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Speaker 1: how much of a competitor he is. He's very focused

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Speaker 1: on his craft, and he has high expectations for himself.

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Speaker 1: He's both humble and confident, like he comes. Like I

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Speaker 1: said a year ago, when I spoke to him a

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Speaker 1: year ago in spring training, I was a little surprised

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Speaker 1: at how confident he was that the best is yet

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Speaker 1: to come, I'm going to deliver, like, I know what

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Speaker 1: I can do, I know what I'm capable of, And

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Speaker 1: all season long there would be questions about are you

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Speaker 1: kind of almost surprised at how good you're performing right now?

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Speaker 1: Because remember like up until like he had maybe a

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Speaker 1: three start stretch in September where things weren't he'd set

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Speaker 1: such a high expectation that they weren't great. They were

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Speaker 1: probably middling starts. But up until that point, it was like,

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Speaker 1: is this guy going to get down ballot young votes type,

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Speaker 1: like who's having a really impressive season? And he whenever

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Speaker 1: asked those questions. He's like, I don't want to sound boastful,

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Speaker 1: but these are my expectations for myself. This is what

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Speaker 1: I expect to do. I expect to be great every

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Speaker 1: single time I step on the mound. And it never

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Speaker 1: came across as brash or like this guy, this guy

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Speaker 1: thinks so much of himself, thinks he's you know, amazing.

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Speaker 1: That never came across that way. It was just, you know,

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Speaker 1: you want to be confident. You don't want someone out

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Speaker 1: there doubting themselves, and I respect that with Boyd, like

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Speaker 1: he he's he believes this is what he's supposed to do,

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Speaker 1: and he's delivered on it a year into a two

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Speaker 1: year deal.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: I liked his quote there about the idea of how

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Speaker 2: it's kind of a holiday in Chicago and I know

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Speaker 2: you've been in the heat in Arizona. The weather here

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Speaker 2: has been all over the place this week. I want

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Speaker 2: to say it was like kind of like seventy fifty thirty,

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Speaker 2: you know, going from turning the heat on to opening

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Speaker 2: the windows in your in your house, and so it's

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Speaker 2: always you know, they felt like more of an opening

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Speaker 2: day type day. It was rather brisk, and it is

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Speaker 2: fun to like look ahead at the schedule and start,

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Speaker 2: you know, mapping out some coverage ideas. And yeah, I

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Speaker 2: mean the Nationals and Angels, the Cups have a real

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Speaker 2: nice chance to get off to a nice little start there.

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Speaker 2: And I think you have to pick an opening day starter.

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Speaker 2: But I think a decision like that really just underlines

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Speaker 2: how much depth they have and how.

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Speaker 3: There isn't a ton of separation.

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Speaker 2: Even though he was kind of an obvious choice, there

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Speaker 2: still were other guys that you know, you could put

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Speaker 2: in there and we'd be able to write a coherent

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Speaker 2: story on why and what it means boy I think

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Speaker 2: it's probably just the most natural fit at this point.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a You hope that the rotation is a strength.

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Speaker 1: That's what they've tried to build here, and you and

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Speaker 1: the Cubs certainly hope that Boyd gets them kicked off

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Speaker 1: on the right right foot here, and like you said,

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Speaker 1: it should be. It looks like on paper, two teams

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Speaker 1: that aren't expected to compete. And there aren't a lot

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Speaker 1: of I wouldn't say like flat out tanking teams this year,

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Speaker 1: but those are two teams that I think going into

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Speaker 1: the season, nobody is like, I think it could be

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Speaker 1: a dark horse. I don't think anybody's saying that. Weird

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Speaker 1: things happen in baseball. I couldn't tell you all the

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Speaker 1: players on either of those teams, but I don't think

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Speaker 1: anyone has very high expectations for them. Patrick, Let's take

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Speaker 1: a quick break and come back and talk about where

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Speaker 1: where Matthew Boyd just was out in Houston. There was

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Speaker 1: some WBC madness, Peak or Armstrong had some good. There

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Speaker 1: was some weirdness as well, But let's take a quick

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Speaker 1: break and come back and talk about that.

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Speaker 1: All right, Patrick, Let's talk a little WBC before we

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Speaker 1: start talking about it. All of our WC WBC coverage

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Speaker 1: which is live stream all of your Fox favorites together

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Speaker 1: in one place, including all WBC games over the next

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Speaker 1: few weeks, and after that the best MLB action all

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Speaker 1: season long, from the WBC through the World Series to

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Speaker 1: trial today. Offers are subject to change. Download Fox one

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Speaker 1: today and stream the World Baseball Classic live now through

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Speaker 1: March seventeenth. Go to foxwe dot com for complete terms

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Speaker 1: and conditions. Fox one streaming now this Friday. We have

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Speaker 1: quarterfinals starting. It is not it is not going to

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Speaker 1: be our guy, Jamison Tyne starting for Team Canada. Apparently

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Speaker 1: Mike Soroka against Team USA. Make sure to check that out.

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Speaker 1: I believe foul Territory has some postgame shows or some

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Speaker 1: of these bigger games, so make sure to check that out.

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Speaker 3: Patrick.

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Speaker 1: It was an interesting I mean, the Mark Durosa drama.

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Speaker 3: I don't know.

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Speaker 1: We don't need to get too far into that. When

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Speaker 1: we were recording. This was all kind of happening, Uh

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Speaker 1: last time. Sorry, you're I haven't everything? Yeah there you sorry?

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Speaker 1: What were you saying?

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Speaker 2: Well, we were like we're talking about kind of WBC

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Speaker 2: takeaways from the Cubs, and yes, there was this like

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Speaker 2: unbelievable situation that was perfect for foul Territory.

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Speaker 3: I do like.

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Speaker 2: I feel like those guys were really able to jump

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Speaker 2: on that, and obviously there are some personal relationships there,

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Speaker 2: you know, with the coaching staff, the foul Territory announcers,

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Speaker 2: Mark de Rosa. You know, I'm sure there was an

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Speaker 2: enormous sigh of relief, and it was just one of

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Speaker 2: those weird things that just crossed over. I feel like,

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Speaker 2: you know, baseball wants to be in the news at

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Speaker 2: this and that was just one of those things that

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Speaker 2: people just grabbed onto U so quickly.

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Speaker 3: And yeah, it did make me think of David Ross.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 2: It's like DeRosa I think deserves credit for seemingly getting

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Speaker 2: a lot of these guys together. It sounded it sounds

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Speaker 2: like he made a major effort and recruiting and obviously

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Speaker 2: he has an excellent resume. I believe the Cubs wanted

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Speaker 2: him to be Joe Mann's bench coach at one point.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I was talking about that with some reporters.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, But like you kind of look at it,

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Speaker 2: it's like, you know, he's kind of like what what

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Speaker 2: David Ross was before David Ross jumped into the manager's

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Speaker 2: seat for a real, you know season, and he's just

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Speaker 2: kind of hanging out in the bullpen after, you know,

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Speaker 2: accumulating a lot of really good, you know, life experiences

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Speaker 2: and management experience, and I guess they win, you know,

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Speaker 2: it's it'll be you know, less than a footnote. But

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Speaker 2: that whole situation just really really kind of blew up

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Speaker 2: on him.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, it was. It was an odd situation, and

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Speaker 1: it seemed like he didn't know I don't know, like

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Speaker 1: the way he managed the game didn't seem like he

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Speaker 1: knew all the worlds exactly. And I don't think that's

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Speaker 1: really just on him. It's on a lot of people

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Speaker 1: around him too, not just coaching staff, but like, you know,

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Speaker 1: I think Albert Pouhols kind of talked about this, how

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Speaker 1: he doesn't even know every rule, but he.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and he started PCA, so you know, I think maybe,

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Speaker 2: you know, just like let Pete play center and hit

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Speaker 2: bombs and you'll look smart, you know.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean so obviously they lost to Italy, but

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Speaker 1: that game was getting out of hand, was out of hand.

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Speaker 1: I think it was eight to one when Pete delivered

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Speaker 1: the three run homer. To make it a little more interesting,

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Speaker 1: he delivered a solo shot late. Two homers, just absolute shots.

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Speaker 1: I think in a previous at bat he even hit

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Speaker 1: one just foul. You know, like, this is fun. We've

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Speaker 1: seen this. I I looked it up. He had five

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Speaker 1: multi home run games last season. That was tied for

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Speaker 1: third most. I want to say cal Rally had a

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Speaker 1: level A couple guys had seven, and then there was

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Speaker 1: Pete with a couple other players tied for third or whatever.

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Speaker 1: It would be fourth with five multi homer games. He

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Speaker 1: can get hot. He gets red hot sometimes. We've seen it.

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Speaker 1: We've seen Pete at his peak, and we've talked about this.

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Speaker 1: We know, like, if you're a Cubs fan, you know,

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Speaker 1: you know how the season went four months of absolute brilliance,

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Speaker 1: borderline if not, you know, close to front runner MVP,

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Speaker 1: and then it's of like really bad offense. What makes

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Speaker 1: Pete valuable that you can play him every day is

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Speaker 1: he's an elite defender and if you can just find

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Speaker 1: a way on base, then he's an elite base runner

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Speaker 1: plus base runner. Maybe he's not elite yet, really really

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Speaker 1: talented individual and you see these flashes, you see this,

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Speaker 1: you see these moments of greatness, and it's just like, oh, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I understand, I see what it is polarizing guy. I

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Speaker 1: was on Dodgers Territory the other day. They definitely shared

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Speaker 1: a clip about me talking about Pete and Dodgers fans

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Speaker 1: were not having my excuses for him. Basically, it wasn't

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Speaker 1: an excuse. I you know, I think I think Pete

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Speaker 1: likes to talk, and I think Pete has a lot

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Speaker 1: of things to say. I don't think there's malice in

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Speaker 1: his heart when he talks a little smack about Dodgers fans.

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Speaker 1: But I and I also think it's good for the game. Frankly,

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Speaker 1: like guys like Pete are fun to cover to watch

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Speaker 1: for opposing fans to boo, he's going to be booed

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Speaker 1: a ton because he's going to succeed a lot. And

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Speaker 1: he's a talker and he's emotional and he wears his

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Speaker 1: emotions on his sleep. Like that's who Pete is. I

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Speaker 1: think that that stuff's good for the game as long

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Speaker 1: as you know you don't cross certain lines. And you know,

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Speaker 1: obviously fans are going to react differently, But I think

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Speaker 1: it's good.

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Speaker 3: No doubt.

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Speaker 2: I mean, you know, us watching some of the game

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Speaker 2: the other night, like it just reinforced the idea that

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Speaker 2: like he is must see TV like his at bats.

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Speaker 2: I think Council mentioned it when Sammy Sosa came back

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Speaker 2: to Wrigley last summer. It's the type of guy where

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Speaker 2: you kind of stop what you're doing. Like if you're

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Speaker 2: in the press box, you know you're not going to

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Speaker 2: get a cup of coffee or a glass of water.

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Speaker 2: So what is Pete going to do if you're buying

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Speaker 2: a beer or a hot dog in the stand. You

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Speaker 2: might want to wait a couple beats to see if

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Speaker 2: Pete hits one onto the street, like you know, knocks

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Speaker 2: himself over, like swinging out of his shoes, you know,

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Speaker 2: swinging for Michigan, as our guy Jesse Rodgers might say.

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Speaker 2: But at an event like that really draws out the

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Speaker 2: magnetism that Pete brings. And I think Craig alluded to

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Speaker 2: something we saw with Hobby baias what Joe Madden would

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Speaker 2: always talk about, you know, a mind one stretch has

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Speaker 2: a hard time of going back and that when he

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Speaker 2: plays on a stage like that and performs at such

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Speaker 2: a high level. Not that Pete exactly lacks for confidence,

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Speaker 2: but it you know, I think if you're the Cubs,

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Speaker 2: you'd hope that will help him push through the inevitable slumps.

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Speaker 2: And I mean clearly, he is the most electric player

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Speaker 2: in a Cubs uniform and on that short list of

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Speaker 2: guys that can annoy the other team and like can

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Speaker 2: sort of you know, carry a team and be like

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Speaker 2: a crossover face of the franchise.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, he's fun to watch. He's you know, I understand

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Speaker 1: why fans love him. Cubs fans love him, and I

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Speaker 1: understand why opponents are frustrated by him. And he you know,

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Speaker 1: he's kind of a perfect He's a perfect candidate to

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Speaker 1: extend while young, while still on this rookie deal, makes

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Speaker 1: a lot of sense for Pete to be around for

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Speaker 1: a while. We'll see if anything happens there. I think

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Speaker 1: we've talked about it when spring started, like who are

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Speaker 1: the candidates, And you know, there's a lot of candidates

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Speaker 1: in the sense like young players and expiring deals, and

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Speaker 1: I think you and I both agreed, like the most

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Speaker 1: obvious candidates are Pete row Armstrong and Niko Horner. We'll

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Speaker 1: see if there's any movement there, but I think but

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Speaker 1: I think Pete makes the most sense and always has.

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Speaker 1: Something we talked about, price has gone up. Price has

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Speaker 1: got up since last spring. But no doubt, I think

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Speaker 1: both sides probably understand that. We'll see if they can

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Speaker 1: come to an agreement on that. I think that's that's

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Speaker 1: something we'll keep monitoring and have to pay attention to,

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Speaker 1: because I don't think it kind of goes away.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, No, I mean, like I said, it's hard to.

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Speaker 2: It's still just so unbelievable that, you know, the Hovey

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Speaker 2: Bias was one of those few people on the planet

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Speaker 2: who could make baseball fans all over the world pay attention,

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Speaker 2: and the Cubs somehow wound up trading him and getting

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Speaker 2: like kind of the air apparent in that way of

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Speaker 2: just doing like crazy things in this.

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Speaker 3: Really kind of a.

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Speaker 2: Small athletic body and just you know, crazy defense, you know,

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Speaker 2: off the charts, power, entertainment value and these kind of

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Speaker 2: emotional swings, like you just can't keep your eyes off

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Speaker 2: of those types of players, and yeah, I would think

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Speaker 2: that you'd probably just want to play pete and center

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Speaker 2: for as long as US is in this tournament.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely. All right, let's wrap this up, but we'll be

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Speaker 1: back with our final episode of the week later on

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Speaker 1: this week. Thanks so much for listening to everyone. Make

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Speaker 1: sure to rate, review, subscribe, subscribe to the YouTube channel,

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Speaker 1: and subscribe to The Athletic where Patrick and are on

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Speaker 1: top of all things cubs. Thanks for listening to everyone.

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Speaker 1: Take care,