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Speaker 1: Score some runs. Breaking news like this, can't get no

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Speaker 1: hit like you know once a week, you know, quite

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Speaker 1: a homestand it's got a change.

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Speaker 2: Welcome into north Side Territory. I'm Sahadi Charman with my

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Speaker 2: partner Patrick Mooney. We're both Cubs beat writers for The

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Speaker 2: Athletic and this is our new Cubs podcast that we

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Speaker 2: do with Foul Territory. We're happy to have you listening.

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Speaker 2: Make sure to subscribe, rate and review all that good stuff.

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Speaker 2: Thank you to all the people behind the scenes doing work.

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Speaker 2: We're doing this at night and and who knows how

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Speaker 2: how late they have to stay up to get to

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Speaker 2: get to this, but I appreciate it. And well, I

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Speaker 2: mean Patrick, there's not much to talk about outside of

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Speaker 2: what's going on with this offense. The Cub's lost again

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Speaker 2: to Atlanta. They lose two of three, they got shut out.

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Speaker 2: This is like what we're seeing with the offense has

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Speaker 2: been going on now long enough that you know, it's

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Speaker 2: it's fair to be concerned. It's fair to wonder what's up.

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Speaker 2: Their season has not been decided, they've not it's not

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Speaker 2: dictated that they are a bad offense. But this stretch

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Speaker 2: that they're on after after the first Like basically it's

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Speaker 2: like two seasons right now, right, the first twenty six

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Speaker 2: games and the last twenty five games, And they're hitting

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Speaker 2: one ninety nine in their last twenty five games, right,

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Speaker 2: and like it has nothing to do with situational hitting

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Speaker 2: or they don't have this. They don't have that. They're

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Speaker 2: just not hitting. There's nothing going on, no consistent attack.

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Speaker 2: If it weren't for they're like nine and a half

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Speaker 2: percent walk rate during that stretch, it would be abysmal,

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Speaker 2: Like this would be like on it almost is unwatchable

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Speaker 2: at times because some of what the talk that you know,

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Speaker 2: I hear from fans in the press boxes like this

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Speaker 2: is boring. They're not like yeah, it's not like we're seeing,

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Speaker 2: you know, them put up a fight much on offense.

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Speaker 2: Like a lot of this stretch has been like Okay,

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Speaker 2: they have the occasional home run, but it's really like

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Speaker 2: sacrifice fly ground out, RBI ground out, Like where's where

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Speaker 2: where's the excitement? Like even that seven run inning in Pittsburgh,

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Speaker 2: six of it was via walks, like come on.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean not staying there's a north side territory jinx,

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Speaker 1: but I mean I run their obfositive number since this

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Speaker 1: podcast launch. It is abysmal. And yeah, I mean it

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Speaker 1: was a seven game homestand in which they had one

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Speaker 1: nothing walk off win and another game that they won

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Speaker 1: in the tenth inning, I believe, so that kind of

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Speaker 1: tells you where they are right now. I've read your

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Speaker 1: latest piece up in the Athletic. Was it five shutouts

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Speaker 1: in the last twenty five games? Does that sound.

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Speaker 2: Right after zero in the first twenty six?

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Speaker 1: Okay, uh yeah, I mean if they're not panicking yet,

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Speaker 1: I certainly think this is more than just some of

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Speaker 1: the valid reasons for this offensive downturn. I think both

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Speaker 1: sides can be both things can be true of facing

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Speaker 1: good hitting, sorry, facing good pitching. Hitting is cyclical, there

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Speaker 1: were injuries, the schedule what I want, fine, but this

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Speaker 1: is a significant amount of the season. And it also

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Speaker 1: gets to like, you know, the pessimist view of what

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Speaker 1: this season could be, what like the low end of

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Speaker 1: some of the projections would be, like the kind of

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Speaker 1: devil's advocate. If you're looking at this team and spraying

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Speaker 1: of stuff you've been righting about for a long time,

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Speaker 1: where's the star power? Like who's the guy that can

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Speaker 1: carry them? When things don't go well, like where's the

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Speaker 1: It's one thing to have depth, but that doesn't mean

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Speaker 1: you have like a deep, complete lineup that puts pressure

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Speaker 1: on the other team. And you know, our understanding at

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Speaker 1: this moment is they're not like frantically calling Triple A

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Speaker 1: Iowa looking for a solution. Maybe that does happen at

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Speaker 1: some point, and not ruling out people losing patience overnight

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Speaker 1: on the way to Saint Louis, but like there isn't

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Speaker 1: a savior down there. Memorial Day weekend is not the

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Speaker 1: time to bench someone like Ian Hat But I don't

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Speaker 1: know if they're fifty one maybe games in now, like

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Speaker 1: another couple of weeks, I think, you know, the intensity

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Speaker 1: or frequency of those conversations are going to pick up

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Speaker 1: because this is not sustainable and we haven't even gotten

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Speaker 1: into like what it does for the pitching or what

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Speaker 1: it says about where this kind of program is going.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot it's this last week or so has

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Speaker 1: really it's not quite the wheels falling off, but it's

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Speaker 1: kind of like the you know, if things goes wrong,

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Speaker 1: this is what the season could look like. And there's

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Speaker 1: plenty of time to turn around, but that still has

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Speaker 1: to happen before we can kind of move on from this.

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Speaker 2: We have to acknowledge some things, right, Like they were

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Speaker 2: injured for a good chunk of this twenty five game downturn, right,

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Speaker 2: and these guys need to find some rhythm that have

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Speaker 2: gotten healthy. But they're healthy now, right. Dancy Swatson looks

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Speaker 2: like Okay, Dansby looks better since he's come off the aile.

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Speaker 2: Not seeing you know, bad strikeouts, You're seeing quality at

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Speaker 2: bats and him hitting the ball hard. There's some decent

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Speaker 2: signs right like Ian happ Okay, I see something there.

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Speaker 2: In the past few games, you can feel like he's

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Speaker 2: digging himself out of this hole. Christopher Morrell, this is

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Speaker 2: a really weird stretch of baseball that I've watched with him.

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Speaker 2: He looks really good at the plate, and I know

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Speaker 2: fans are gonna say, like it a certain you know,

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Speaker 2: after a certain amount of time, you can't keep talking

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Speaker 2: about bad luck with individuals, and it's fifty ish games.

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Speaker 2: You can't, Yes, bad luck happens for fifty games, and

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Speaker 2: he's been above average despite having some bad luck. Like,

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Speaker 2: I'm not worried about him. It's just maddening to watch

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Speaker 2: and be like he's doing everything right and not getting

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Speaker 2: rewarded for it often enough. But there's some things that

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Speaker 2: like Cody Bellinger is in a little bit of a

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Speaker 2: slump now, and you wonder, like is he pressing? Is

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Speaker 2: he trying to do more because the offense is struggling,

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Speaker 2: Like just seeing him get a little bit out of

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Speaker 2: his zone, which he has hasn't done much in his

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Speaker 2: time with the Cubs. You know, Michael Bush is a rookie.

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Speaker 2: He is going through an adjustment period. You have to

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Speaker 2: ride this out like he is a part of the

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Speaker 2: future and the present right he needs to be solid

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Speaker 2: above average offensive player for this to all work correctly,

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Speaker 2: says Azuki, has looked a little off. I'd like to

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Speaker 2: think that Thursday's game was a step in the right

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Speaker 2: direction because I was starting to wonder what was going

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Speaker 2: on with his at bats, because it was looking way

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Speaker 2: too much like July, with those ugly, awkward swings. They

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Speaker 2: were becoming too frequent, and you start to worry. They're

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Speaker 2: like I came into the season expecting big offense. I'm

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Speaker 2: not jumping off that prediction just because of this downstretch.

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Speaker 2: I still think they can be that it can be

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Speaker 2: the strength of the team. It's just it's getting to

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Speaker 2: a point where it's like, WHOA, what's going on? Here's

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Speaker 2: I just want to point out a couple of stats

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Speaker 2: that I have in my piece. First twenty six games

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Speaker 2: one hundred and forty runs. Last twenty five games, seventy

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Speaker 2: eight runs. They had five or fewer hits just three

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Speaker 2: times in those first twenty six games. Today Wednesday or

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Speaker 2: Thursday was their twelfth time in the past twenty five games,

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Speaker 2: so nearly half of those games have had five or

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Speaker 2: fewer hits. They're just not doing enough. It's just like,

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Speaker 2: I can look at all the advanced stats I want

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Speaker 2: to about this if they're not hitting. Like we were talking,

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Speaker 2: we were talking in postgame like, I was like, they

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Speaker 2: have a one ninety nine batting average, and the person

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Speaker 2: it was, Bruce Evine, who I've known forever right said said, oh,

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Speaker 2: now you're into batting average. I was like, what I

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Speaker 2: mean when you're hitting one ninety nine, yes, unless it's

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Speaker 2: somehow you're you're slugging and and.

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Speaker 1: They don't get hits and they don't score runs, but

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Speaker 1: everything else looks pretty good under it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, right, So I mean there's just there's not a

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Speaker 2: lot to grasp onto it the moment outside, And this

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Speaker 2: was kind of the theme in post game in my opinion.

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Speaker 2: As far as the positive spin from Council, I heard

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Speaker 2: it from Horner, I heard it from Bush. What like,

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Speaker 2: what has happened in the recent past isn't the best

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Speaker 2: predictor of what's going to happen these A lot of

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Speaker 2: these A lot of these players have established themselves and

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Speaker 2: know what their baseline is. The past twenty five games,

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Speaker 2: isn't their baseline right now? If you want to say

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Speaker 2: Michael Bush hasn't established himself, fine, that's fine. I'm gonna

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Speaker 2: I'm not going to argue on that point. But outside

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Speaker 2: of a very select few, which I think in the

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Speaker 2: past twenty five games, there's three guys with over one

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Speaker 2: hundred way to runs great A plus it's Talkman, It's Bellinger,

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Speaker 2: and it's morell Morel's been just good, right good, not great.

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Speaker 2: He needs to be great. I think he has the

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Speaker 2: potential to still still be great. Bellinger is in a

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Speaker 2: little mini slampier over fourteen and Talkman actually with his

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Speaker 2: over today. May that that number may have dipped below

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Speaker 2: one hundred over the last twenty five, but guess what,

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Speaker 2: it's been great Like he's I'm not going to complain

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Speaker 2: about Mike Talkman's production.

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Speaker 1: Their best hitter this year, right, right, right? But he

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Speaker 1: shouldn't be right, with all due respect, like a guy

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Speaker 1: you love to have on your team, tremendous presence, but

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Speaker 1: if you look at his contract and his salary and

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Speaker 1: his track record compared to a lot of the other guys,

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Speaker 1: there shouldn't be their best hit.

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Speaker 2: Right. Yeah, when it's it gets a little jarring after

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Speaker 2: a while watching this over and over again. Uh, I'll

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Speaker 2: be honest, I'm getting tired of hearing facing good pitching. Thankfully,

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Speaker 2: that wasn't what was said today. I get it Max

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Speaker 2: Freed on Wednesday he was dominant, right, But it's what

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Speaker 2: you're going to face in the playoffs, good pitching. You

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Speaker 2: know you want to be a good team. You want

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Speaker 2: me to buy into this being a top tier offense

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Speaker 2: got to hit good pitching, and they have the had

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Speaker 2: these moments where they like. The reason I used this

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Speaker 2: twenty six game cut off is because that that twenty

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Speaker 2: six game was a seven to one win over the

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Speaker 2: Red Sox against Cutter Crawford, who was having a really

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Speaker 2: good season up to that point. I think he's still

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Speaker 2: having a really good season. If I if I looked

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Speaker 2: up his I think I looked up his numbers earlier today,

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Speaker 2: still having a great season. The Cubs like took it

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Speaker 2: to him because they had good at bats, they had

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Speaker 2: multiple innings where they had multiple hits, and we're constantly

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Speaker 2: putting pressure on them. That game against Bobby Miller, I

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Speaker 2: think I brought that up last podcast, that the start first,

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Speaker 2: the first Jared Jones game, the first Jared Jones game,

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Speaker 2: the one that Cody Bellinger hit a home run on

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Speaker 2: one hundred and one mile power fastball. Those are the

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Speaker 2: types of games, Those are the types of bats you

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Speaker 2: need to see more regularly. And it's like kind of

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Speaker 2: vanished for a moment here, even like there's just there's

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Speaker 2: not enough of it. There's not enough of the big innings,

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Speaker 2: there's not enough of these really tough at bats that

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Speaker 2: kind of grind down the starter. Ian Happ said it

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Speaker 2: after Wednesday's loss, just talking about facing tough pitching. We

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Speaker 2: need to have better at bets. We need to grind

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Speaker 2: down the pitcher, we need to get into the bullpen.

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Speaker 2: That's essentially what he was saying, and it's right, like, yeah,

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Speaker 2: bullpens are much tougher nowadays, but still like you're facing

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Speaker 2: tough pitching, you got to put up good at bets.

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Speaker 2: Maybe you're not going to score six runs against them,

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Speaker 2: but get them out of the game by fourth and

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Speaker 2: fifth inning, like that's it's just not happening enough, and

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Speaker 2: it's and it's I don't I said this last podcast.

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Speaker 2: This isn't missed opportunity. It's just bad. They're just not

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Speaker 2: playing good baseball. They're they're they're lucky to be three

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Speaker 2: games above five hundred.

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Speaker 1: Well the a opportunity. They missed the playoffs by again.

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Speaker 1: But I love how I loved your tweet last night.

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Speaker 1: It summed up how like numbingly bad the offense has

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Speaker 1: been during the stretch. Your tweet, Max Reid is perfect

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Speaker 1: through five here Wrigley third time parentheses that I can

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Speaker 1: remember off the top of my head that the Cubs

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Speaker 1: have been no hit for at least five innings this season,

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Speaker 1: Louis of Renowball, Skimes and now free like it's just

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Speaker 1: like commonplace, yeah, like matter of fact over the last

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Speaker 1: couple of weeks. So yeah, like obviously skiings enormous ceiling

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Speaker 1: you know sev Reno's at his moments. Freed certainly has

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Speaker 1: a very good track arger but just this like kind

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Speaker 1: of like way in which teams just have their way

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Speaker 1: against the Cubs, to me, I think we'll lead to

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Speaker 1: a serious re evaluation here at some point, like council,

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Speaker 1: as you know, when he walks into the interview room,

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Speaker 1: it's really hard to tell whether they won or lost.

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Speaker 1: We're told he's the exact same way in his office

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Speaker 1: interacting with the front office players. So he's probably not

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Speaker 1: going to like flip out publicly, but we'll see in

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Speaker 1: his actions. You know. I still think it's a little

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Speaker 1: early to start varying players or benching players or kind

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Speaker 1: of like crossing your fingers and hoping, you know, Owen

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Speaker 1: Casey or someone like that can like, you know, figure

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Speaker 1: out major league pitching. But we're getting there, I mean,

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Speaker 1: it's and I also think it will factor into the

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Speaker 1: evaluation of the trade deadline. Like at this time of

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Speaker 1: month ago, pictures were getting injured left and right, and

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Speaker 1: obviously the bullpen still needs work. You can never have

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Speaker 1: enough pitching, so that that clearly is going to be

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Speaker 1: a focus towards the end of July. But I I

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Speaker 1: don't think you can feel great about this this lineup,

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Speaker 1: like where is the guy? And maybe it is Bellinger

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Speaker 1: has a stretch like he did last summer that was

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Speaker 1: three months of like basically being an MVP. Well you

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Speaker 1: know baseball right now, you know, someone's explained to me,

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Speaker 1: like every team has like five dudes whose only job

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Speaker 1: is to figure out how to get you out. And

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Speaker 1: so like he puts up good numbers, you want him

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Speaker 1: on your team. But I think a little bit of

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Speaker 1: this is like why didn't he get that eight eight year,

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Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty million, two hundred million dollar contract,

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Speaker 1: And so he's he's a solid, like a very good

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Speaker 1: two way, versatile player who loves baseball and has a

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Speaker 1: great cup clubhouse influence, but like right now, he's not

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Speaker 1: that guy. Saya Suzuki is not one hundred million dollar

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Speaker 1: player right now. And you you were kind of on

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Speaker 1: this of like the half swings the hesitancy is back

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Speaker 1: a little bit, and Craig Counsel said, uh, yeah, I

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Speaker 1: think you're right. Dancy was what batting eighth today? Your

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Speaker 1: your franchise shortstop, the catcher position. It kind of like

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Speaker 1: you know, flies under the raider because everything else, you know,

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Speaker 1: when everyone's getting no hit, like you know, you know,

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Speaker 1: we're not like yeah o thing. But the catching position

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Speaker 1: is becoming offensively sort of like what first base was

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Speaker 1: and DH was last year, like during the Cosmo Mansini

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Speaker 1: kind of revolving door until they brought in in Jamber

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Speaker 1: and things stabilized a little bit when they got closer

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Speaker 1: back towards the middle of the pack. But like that

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Speaker 1: right now is just an offensive black hole that like

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Speaker 1: needs to creep up a bit. Otherwise there's just a

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Speaker 1: lot of empty at bats here and spots where other

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Speaker 1: teams can just really be pretty pretty comfortable. There's not

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Speaker 1: a lot of pressure being put on them at all,

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Speaker 1: and that to me is something that even if you

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Speaker 1: have a good weekend, even have a good week, I

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Speaker 1: think it's hard to just ignore this as you move

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Speaker 1: forward and think about what they can do to get

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Speaker 1: to October crats.

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Speaker 1: Go check it out.

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Speaker 2: Catcher position is we're a fifty six way to runs

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Speaker 2: great a plus for Miguel Amaya. That is, you know,

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Speaker 2: he's Yeah, you could make the argument he's a little

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Speaker 2: unlucky there, but that's I mean, with good luck. What

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Speaker 2: is it? Maybe eighty Jon Gomso is a major concern

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Speaker 2: in my opinion. Offensively, it's thirty six. This is not unusual.

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Speaker 2: People are like, well, but he was average last year. Sure,

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Speaker 2: he's thirty six and he's a catcher. These are the

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Speaker 2: profiles of guys that you know. He's not a superstar

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Speaker 2: in offense. He was, I mean, he was a really

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Speaker 2: good offensive player early in his career, and he showed

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Speaker 2: signs of that last year that oh, oh yeah, this

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Speaker 2: guy knows how to hit. When you hit thirty six,

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Speaker 2: you hit mid thirties as a catcher that's been catching

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Speaker 2: like for a long time. This can happen. You lose

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Speaker 2: your lower half and you just struggle offensively. You know,

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Speaker 2: he doesn't look Yeah, it's catching positions definitely an issue.

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Speaker 2: Thirty two way to recreate post so sorry, twenty six

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Speaker 2: after today after jeez, wow, that's I mean, and he's

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Speaker 2: striking out at nearly a forty rate. Yeah, I mean,

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Speaker 2: there's a reason he's your backup catcher. I get it.

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Speaker 2: But they're getting nothing there. It's it's it's rough. I mean, okay,

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Speaker 2: let's there are a couple positives, right, Primarily, I mean

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Speaker 2: Ben Brown looked really good again, and I brought up

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Speaker 2: the Jesse Rogers stat the eggs velocity. I I double

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Speaker 2: checked that, and he's he gives up a lot of

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Speaker 2: hard contact. I don't something maybe maybe just don't care

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Speaker 2: about that. And and the fact that hey, this guy's

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Speaker 2: pretty good. He misses bats and whatever role he's going

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Speaker 2: to hold for this team, I think he can help them.

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Speaker 2: It's very clear. Uh, he is a positive impact on

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Speaker 2: this team. He's not going anywhere, and like that's there's

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Speaker 2: there's a little bit of you know, okay, here's some stability.

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Speaker 2: But you know, what happens when this team gets healthy.

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Speaker 2: What happens when this team finds a rhythm offensively. Okay,

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Speaker 2: they have some pieces that make you feel good about things.

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Speaker 2: The pitchings there, the starting pitching is better than we expected, right, Brown,

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Speaker 2: if Ben Brown is in the bullpen. Uh and Hayden Wisnsky,

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Speaker 2: who looks pretty good in the in the bullpen. I

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Speaker 2: know he gave up a home run to Jared Clinic,

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Speaker 2: but you know that's it's not the end of the world. Perfect, yeah,

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Speaker 2: you got you gotta score runs right like we we

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Speaker 2: I noticed that. And Kyle Hendricks whoor bullpen outing because

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Speaker 2: the Cubs offense is awful but right now but in general,

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Speaker 2: like you need, I'm seeing some positive signs with the

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Speaker 2: pitching and feeling better. It's like, do they have something

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Speaker 2: with the bullpen? Jose quass is outing and Wednesday makes

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Speaker 2: you concerned the back get like he's like some of

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Speaker 2: these things. It's like council people are like, why is

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Speaker 2: he going to pitcher X? In these situations, it's like

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Speaker 2: do you know who's available? Like not very many people

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Speaker 2: were available today, like like pitch a thousand.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's just and and I do think this

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Speaker 1: is where the offense there is a kind of cascading

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Speaker 1: effect to these things of like you know, Dustin Steele,

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Speaker 1: you know, I'm personally not concerned about him. I think

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Speaker 1: he certainly has a smaller runway to be like that

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Speaker 1: impactful like you know five six war type cy young

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Speaker 1: contender that they got last year. But like, you know,

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Speaker 1: if things were a little more in order, like do

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Speaker 1: you push steal out to the seventh the other night

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Speaker 1: if you had kind of your you know, even our

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Speaker 1: head relievers, you're a bullpen lined up. Your starters are

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Speaker 1: working under enormous amount of pressure. You have relievers you're

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Speaker 1: either trying to kind of get up to speed in

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Speaker 1: the majors or worked their way back from whatever issues

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Speaker 1: Jose Quils and Kyle Hendricks are going through. You know,

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Speaker 1: someone like Mark Leder Junior is not going to be

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Speaker 1: perfect and gets zerous every time, and so it's going

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Speaker 1: to be the one time he gives up a run,

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Speaker 1: Like is that going to be like a blown save,

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Speaker 1: like a crushing loss in Saint Louis And so you know,

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Speaker 1: just hit a three run homer once in a while,

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Speaker 1: like have a beginning that sets you up for the

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Speaker 1: rest of the series too, right of just like if

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Speaker 1: you're playing one run game after another, you know, gonna

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Speaker 1: wear out your yeah, your top believers too.

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Speaker 2: We saw, we saw, we saw yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So like score some runs, you know, it help

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Speaker 1: helps breaking news like there's just can't get no hit,

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Speaker 1: like you know, once a week, you know, quite a

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Speaker 1: home stand, like it's got a change.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So three in Saint Louis, right, three in Saint

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Speaker 2: Louis coming up. The Cardinals looked like a pretty bad

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Speaker 2: team about two weeks ago, a week ago, but they

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Speaker 2: are on a little bit of a run. They have one, one, two, three, five,

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Speaker 2: eight of ten, eight of ten against you know, Milwaukee,

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Speaker 2: the Angels, the Red Sox in Baltimore. So one bad

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Speaker 2: team they're in the in the Angels, and then they

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Speaker 2: just swept Baltimore, swept Baltimore for the first time, and

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Speaker 2: like I can't remember the number, but they haven't been

405
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Speaker 2: swept in a in a long time, Baltimore. That's right, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 2: And uh, this is a bad time for the Cubs

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Speaker 2: to catch the Cardinals. I listen, I get it. I don't.

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Speaker 2: I don't think the Cardinals are going to uh make

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Speaker 2: the playoffs this year. I don't think they're going to be,

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Speaker 2: you know, a top ten or even top half team

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Speaker 2: in baseball when all is said and done. But the

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Speaker 2: Cubs are not feeling good about themselves, right, They're gonna

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Speaker 2: They're gonna tell us everything that how like how they're

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Speaker 2: keeping their heads up, But it's hard to keep your

415
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Speaker 2: head up when you're when you're playing this type of offense,

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Speaker 2: especially and they're going into a team that's kind of

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Speaker 2: feeling themselves and feeling good about things. There are rival

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Speaker 2: that probably feels like, oh, these guys think they're better

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Speaker 2: than us, and and they're like they're going to Saint

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Speaker 2: Louis for the first time. I think. I think this

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Speaker 2: is going to be a tough series, and the Cubs

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Speaker 2: are about to hit like they are hitting a moment

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Speaker 2: that's like, Okay, this could be like a like how

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Speaker 2: bad is this going to get? How are you going

425
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Speaker 2: to allow this to kind of wheels fall off? You know,

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Speaker 2: really long stretch of poor play right right now, they've

427
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Speaker 2: weathered this storm in a sense where they're not playing

428
00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:26,199
Speaker 2: good baseball. They're ten and fifteen, I believe is what

429
00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:29,199
Speaker 2: I wrote in these twenty five games where the offense

430
00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:34,480
Speaker 2: stinks and like at a certain point it gets where

431
00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:38,880
Speaker 2: it's out of hand, right where you're like, Okay, they're

432
00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:41,639
Speaker 2: lucky to have built that eight games over five hundred

433
00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:46,720
Speaker 2: little cushion and allowed them to not feel like they're

434
00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:48,760
Speaker 2: out of it because of this ten and fifteen stretch,

435
00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:54,199
Speaker 2: you know, but it feels like a danger point, Like

436
00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:58,119
Speaker 2: it's like going to play your rivals that are playing well,

437
00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:03,120
Speaker 2: that aren'trobably aren't a good team, but they're playing better

438
00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:05,320
Speaker 2: than you right now, flat out. That's just the bottom line.

439
00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:08,239
Speaker 2: And sometimes that's how baseball is. I don't care like

440
00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:10,720
Speaker 2: how good each team is or which team is more talented,

441
00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:12,560
Speaker 2: how are they playing at the time. Baseball is so

442
00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:15,359
Speaker 2: much like that. Things can turn on a dime too, right,

443
00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:20,320
Speaker 2: they can, but it's just the way they're going. I'm

444
00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:22,560
Speaker 2: not sure what the pitching matchups are off the top

445
00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:24,679
Speaker 2: of my head, but yeah.

446
00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:31,119
Speaker 1: Last I tell you it was Miles Michael Inside and

447
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:35,720
Speaker 1: Michaelis and showed Uh. And then I saw a bunch

448
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:38,480
Speaker 1: of tvds for the Cardinals. I don't fade updated it.

449
00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:41,679
Speaker 1: I think they just have double this week. So, like

450
00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:43,920
Speaker 1: you're saying, it's sometimes it's not who you play, it's

451
00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:48,000
Speaker 1: when you play them. And uh. The Cubs still haven't

452
00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:51,040
Speaker 1: had a three game losing streak this season, but their

453
00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:54,280
Speaker 1: longest winning streak is five and three of those were

454
00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:59,600
Speaker 1: like in April sweep of early April sweep of the Rockies,

455
00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:04,520
Speaker 1: So we haven't had that moment yet of what you're

456
00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:09,080
Speaker 1: hinting at. Historically, Saint Louis and Bush Stadium is the

457
00:27:09,119 --> 00:27:13,760
Speaker 1: type of place where weird stuff and frustrating moments happen.

458
00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:17,440
Speaker 1: It's lessened over the years as the Cubs have gotten

459
00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:22,320
Speaker 1: better and the Cardinals have receded. But I don't know

460
00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:27,159
Speaker 1: you've you've spent enough time there to know that, like

461
00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:31,639
Speaker 1: the later innings there, like stuff happens, like the crowd

462
00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:34,879
Speaker 1: gets into it. You think your story's written, you can

463
00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:39,080
Speaker 1: out to the airport and something happens and Holy forces

464
00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:44,119
Speaker 1: you to rewrite, and then you're scrambling. So that I

465
00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:48,240
Speaker 1: do think how they respond to this, how Craig Council

466
00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:56,240
Speaker 1: maintains his kind of public persona, you know who, who

467
00:27:56,320 --> 00:27:59,920
Speaker 1: really like pops off like postgame first. I think that'll

468
00:27:59,920 --> 00:28:03,359
Speaker 1: be interesting to see whenever that happens. Maybe it's not

469
00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:08,440
Speaker 1: this weekend, but you have kind of all these forces

470
00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:12,680
Speaker 1: lining up to go into an environment like Bush Stadium.

471
00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:17,080
Speaker 1: And then Councils returned to Milwaukee, where those Cup to

472
00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:21,639
Speaker 1: Brewis games are always wild, and then we're getting past

473
00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:26,960
Speaker 1: that Memorial Day marker where teams can you really begin

474
00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:29,720
Speaker 1: to obsess of like what they have, what they need,

475
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:34,760
Speaker 1: where they're going, and so uh, there's not a lot

476
00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:40,960
Speaker 1: of like reassuring signs at the moment. But you know,

477
00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:45,360
Speaker 1: Mike Talkman makes another crazy catch at the wall and

478
00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:49,920
Speaker 1: someone hits You're at Homer first inning showed as awesome,

479
00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:53,000
Speaker 1: Like we have a much different story.

480
00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:58,280
Speaker 2: Michael is five seventy seven ERA his last start with

481
00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:01,800
Speaker 2: solid five innings one against the Red Sox. But that's

482
00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:04,840
Speaker 2: that's pretty much one of his best starts of the season.

483
00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:08,760
Speaker 2: You know, at a certain point, you got to stop

484
00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:11,440
Speaker 2: talking about good pitching because that that's not a good

485
00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:14,479
Speaker 2: pitcher anymore. Like that's you know, league average below average

486
00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:16,240
Speaker 2: so far this season, but let's call him a league

487
00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:18,800
Speaker 2: average pitcher. They got to hit him, like it's time

488
00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:20,640
Speaker 2: to get out of a rut, you know, Sonny Gray

489
00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:23,280
Speaker 2: on Sunday. So so that's going to be a tough

490
00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:25,880
Speaker 2: one if the offense doesn't find its confidence and find

491
00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:33,280
Speaker 2: its rhythm. Yeah, look, Patrick, this is I don't like.

492
00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:36,760
Speaker 2: Bad offense and bad bullpen are two of the harder

493
00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:39,520
Speaker 2: things to watch. I think, like when you just don't

494
00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:42,720
Speaker 2: have the talent with the starting pitching, like you get

495
00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:47,080
Speaker 2: it right, like that was twenty one, twenty one right

496
00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:48,760
Speaker 2: when yeah.

497
00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:52,080
Speaker 1: The game whatever eleven game was.

498
00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:56,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, And you just kind of because you see it

499
00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:58,880
Speaker 2: from the start, right it's like you know, Jake Arietta

500
00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:02,240
Speaker 2: and Milwaukee, Like right away from like pitch one, you're like, oh,

501
00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:05,000
Speaker 2: this isn't going to go well, right, Yeah, you just

502
00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:07,600
Speaker 2: kind of go into games knowing they don't have much

503
00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:10,360
Speaker 2: of a chance. But when you blow games with the

504
00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:13,240
Speaker 2: bullpen and when your offense can't do anything, those are

505
00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:16,320
Speaker 2: two things that are just difficult. The blowing of the

506
00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:19,800
Speaker 2: bullpen is hard to watch. It's most probably demoralizing for

507
00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:24,240
Speaker 2: the team. The bad offense is the toughest to watch.

508
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:27,440
Speaker 2: There's just nothing going on. Like I said before, it

509
00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:30,840
Speaker 2: has to change. It has to like it just purely

510
00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:35,320
Speaker 2: for entertainment value. It has to change. Like fans like

511
00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:39,479
Speaker 2: are likely losing their minds just based on mentions and

512
00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:42,840
Speaker 2: what I see on Twitter. They certainly are reading some

513
00:30:42,920 --> 00:30:46,240
Speaker 2: of the comments there. They want action, right that they

514
00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:48,800
Speaker 2: want this guy bench and this guy moved, and like

515
00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:51,320
Speaker 2: you said that that's probably not happening just yet, but

516
00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:56,120
Speaker 2: it's it's getting to a point where you know that

517
00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:58,400
Speaker 2: they've got to make they got to make things happen

518
00:30:58,560 --> 00:31:02,760
Speaker 2: on the field. Uh. Three in Saint Louis, they got

519
00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:05,200
Speaker 2: to wake up and you'd like to think that this

520
00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:08,840
Speaker 2: could be a point. And then four in Milwaukee. That's

521
00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:14,920
Speaker 2: will will likely wrap this up. We'll we'll likely have

522
00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:17,360
Speaker 2: one probably for them on Monday, a podcast for the

523
00:31:18,040 --> 00:31:21,160
Speaker 2: uh for the people on Monday to preview that series.

524
00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:22,800
Speaker 2: Wrap up Saint Louis, and.

525
00:31:22,760 --> 00:31:24,680
Speaker 1: Well, definitely, I think next week got to get going

526
00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:29,560
Speaker 1: on some kind of fan interactive stuff. Will start posting

527
00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:36,080
Speaker 1: uh for you know, whatever questions you guys have, and

528
00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:39,360
Speaker 1: we can try to provide some managers answers. But we

529
00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:42,440
Speaker 1: think that'd be a really fun way to connect. And

530
00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:48,040
Speaker 1: it always helps us to like know what you're thinking

531
00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:50,680
Speaker 1: about and what you're curious about because that helps our

532
00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:51,840
Speaker 1: writing and reporting.

533
00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:57,200
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, Uh, thanks for listening. This is you know,

534
00:31:57,680 --> 00:32:02,200
Speaker 2: episode three, and I feel like we apologize for not

535
00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:06,080
Speaker 2: delivering Cubs Wins to you right away, so let's uh,

536
00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:09,000
Speaker 2: let's ope it. Then there's some more to see.

537
00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:13,320
Speaker 1: The first point, like right when this launch is perfect timing,

538
00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:13,680
Speaker 1: on our.

539
00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:17,680
Speaker 5: Perfect timing, we definitely want fan interaction and we'll try

540
00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:20,800
Speaker 5: and ease your pain or at least allow you to

541
00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:26,200
Speaker 5: release some frustrating a grievances. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, this is

542
00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:27,360
Speaker 5: Northside Territory.

543
00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:30,480
Speaker 2: I'm Saadi Sharma. That's Patrick Mooney. Make sure you read

544
00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:34,840
Speaker 2: our work at The Athletic. Make sure you rate, review, subscribe,

545
00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:39,040
Speaker 2: do all those good things for this podcast. Thanks for listening.

546
00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:42,440
Speaker 2: We'll be back at you early next week. Thanks to

547
00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:42,840
Speaker 2: take care