Speaker 1: Our pitching department does a great job of preparing us
Speaker 1: every single day, every single series to bring out the
Speaker 1: best in each of us.
Speaker 2: Hey, we've got Matthew Boyd of the Cubs joining us
Speaker 2: right now infout Territory. Matthew, great to have you back on.
Speaker 2: First off, nice and simple. What's the best most underrated
Speaker 2: part of being with this organization? Like, give me something
Speaker 2: that you didn't expect that they do really well. It
Speaker 2: could be something super simple like they have the best
Speaker 2: cookies in the clubhouse or whatever, or could be something
Speaker 2: about the ballpark.
Speaker 3: What are you seeing it and how you doing.
Speaker 4: Doing good? Man?
Speaker 1: Loving being a Cub. The clubhouse is amazing. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know yours. You heard about it from the visiting side.
Speaker 1: The visiting side at Wrigley, you know is is older,
Speaker 1: it's gotten better over the years. But you know, it's
Speaker 1: like you hear about how great the home side was.
Speaker 1: The home side's amazing. It's it's it's really special. The
Speaker 1: food's a lead. Getting to play at Wrigglely every day
Speaker 1: is really awesome though. Man, I mean that's that's like
Speaker 1: three things. I'm I'm sold on it. But it's a
Speaker 1: wriggly day. Game.
Speaker 4: It is special.
Speaker 3: Man, is it Matthew or matt Which one is it?
Speaker 3: Before I dig in here?
Speaker 1: Whatever you want, man, Matthew, is the game that you know?
Speaker 1: That's the name that you know that mom and dad
Speaker 1: gave me and go to make does you?
Speaker 3: And when they get mad at you? What does your
Speaker 3: mom and dad call you?
Speaker 5: Matthew?
Speaker 6: Robert Matthew, Robert matd Bob mad Bob.
Speaker 5: Matt Bob So Matthew.
Speaker 6: First of all, there's a couple of things I want
Speaker 6: to say. You know, the clubhouse is great. It looks
Speaker 6: like a club. Scot's jealous. I mean he's only got
Speaker 6: one eye, but I mean all the neon lights and
Speaker 6: all the stuff they have that goes on in there
Speaker 6: is pretty cool. I have to admit it's a cup hater.
Speaker 6: I have to admit that. But now playing it Wrigly,
Speaker 6: you don't know this because you're only played at the
Speaker 6: new Wrigley. But back in the day before they put
Speaker 6: up those scoreboards in each side of the thing, it
Speaker 6: was awesome, right, I must to call me, old guy,
Speaker 6: get off my lawn. And I wish they would have
Speaker 6: taken those and just left them down and just had
Speaker 6: the one score work because you'd be behind the plane
Speaker 6: and you're like looking up at the game and you're like,
Speaker 6: number eleven's pitching for Cincinnati against number two for Pittsburgh.
Speaker 6: And then you have to go look at the roster
Speaker 6: and you're like number two is this guy? Number eleven is?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 3: Okay, now who's pitching?
Speaker 5: Right?
Speaker 3: Like that was the charm of Wrigley.
Speaker 5: Now they don't have that.
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 4: I'm still trying to figure out.
Speaker 1: The centerfield scoreboard is like with the numbers on the
Speaker 1: starting pitcher, Like, is that is that the number they
Speaker 1: are on the roster because it's not the playing numbers,
Speaker 1: Like what do you know what that is?
Speaker 3: Like, that's what I'm saying. It's the number on the roster.
Speaker 6: So you have to kind of like I think it
Speaker 6: goes alphabetical, so if you kind of know the teams,
Speaker 6: you're like, all right, habit, Green Lodolo.
Speaker 3: You're like, okay, okay, maybe I'm on this one. I'm
Speaker 3: not sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm still I'm still figuring that out. It's cool though, man,
Speaker 1: Like the history behind it is so.
Speaker 4: It's it's it's just it's special.
Speaker 5: You walk around, you walk around a lot, I mean
Speaker 5: talking to guys that play there even for a year
Speaker 5: or like five years and become like Cubs legends. They
Speaker 5: always talk about walking around the stadium. Do you ever
Speaker 5: do that? And like do you get noticed or you're
Speaker 5: not get noticed?
Speaker 4: You get noticed a little bit. You know.
Speaker 1: It's such a cool like regular Ville is such an
Speaker 1: awesome area. So uh, it's just so so different. You know,
Speaker 1: it's a stadium in a neighborhood, so you get to
Speaker 1: there's so many cool things to do, get spots to eat.
Speaker 1: So we're a huge family. We got four kids, man,
Speaker 1: so you can't really miss the Boyd family. So uh,
Speaker 1: you know we're getting noticed a little bit. But yeah,
Speaker 1: we walk around and experience it and it's again, it's
Speaker 1: so special.
Speaker 5: Man.
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm grateful to be a Cub and get
Speaker 1: to you know, call that place my office right.
Speaker 6: Now, Matthew. Two things about this one. You know all
Speaker 6: the workers they are a white Sox fans. So don't
Speaker 6: let them full you. They're all white Sox fans down, okay,
Speaker 6: because you know how many well come employees I have,
Speaker 6: we would play Cubs white Sox.
Speaker 3: That they would be like, hey, listen, I might be
Speaker 3: wearing this color but go White Sox. I really don't
Speaker 3: like them.
Speaker 6: So just keep We'll keep that quiet for now. And
Speaker 6: then second of all, I played in the Kingdome and
Speaker 6: that place was a rat trap. Okay, So I mean
Speaker 6: from go from Kinggo to the Safega was like, oh
Speaker 6: my gosh, like what a great place. But the King
Speaker 6: Goo that it wasn't quite as bad as like Old
Speaker 6: County Stadium, but it was when that place went down,
Speaker 6: it wasn't like there wasn't a lot of people crying,
Speaker 6: except for maybe some inters. All right, But when you're
Speaker 6: in Chicago and you say you have four you know,
Speaker 6: you have four kids, you're walking around, what's your spot?
Speaker 6: You I don't want you to tell me where you
Speaker 6: i''m assuming you live somewhere around Wigleyville, right, do you
Speaker 6: have a spot you kind of sneak into with your
Speaker 6: family just to get away.
Speaker 4: We're finding some right now.
Speaker 1: You know, it's still it's still new to us, right,
Speaker 1: Like we're we've we've hit up some good restaurants and
Speaker 1: uh and uh, we've we found some places really like
Speaker 1: my wife and I are finding some good date spots,
Speaker 1: you know, but uh, the kids, the kids found a
Speaker 1: good ice cream spot and they're they're all about it.
Speaker 1: You know, there's that Jenny's ice cream in the area,
Speaker 1: and uh that's a real treat for them right now.
Speaker 5: So yeah, all right, No, My my question is we're
Speaker 5: going to bring up a picture here and we talk
Speaker 5: about jerseys and jerseys changes. Can you confirm or deny
Speaker 5: for me? Is that a jersey that doesn't button the
Speaker 5: whole way down? Is your Is that a shirt or
Speaker 5: is that a piece of velcrow that's holding that holding
Speaker 5: your jersey clothes? Because you have a top two buttons undone.
Speaker 1: So I yeah, I like the top. I like the
Speaker 1: top buttons undone. That's a that's a Happer move right there.
Speaker 1: Ian happm uh in spring training he was he saw that,
Speaker 1: he saw the jersey open. He's like, hey, you gotta
Speaker 1: try stitching it like this, and.
Speaker 4: His is stitched all the way down.
Speaker 1: Is Danny the clubhouse you know, clubhouse manager. He kind
Speaker 1: of puts a little seam in there. So I tried
Speaker 1: it out in Tokyo. I'm a fan. You know, it's
Speaker 1: got to go over the top. You can't un button
Speaker 1: it anymore. But uh, yeah, I like that. That's a
Speaker 1: that's a hat tip to Ian happ right there.
Speaker 5: So you got your jersey customized and last year Nike
Speaker 5: said no customizations. Did you have to get this? Did
Speaker 5: you have to get this like passed by the league?
Speaker 5: Are you allowed to do this? And do you think
Speaker 5: other guys are going to follow? I?
Speaker 1: Okay, so it happened in the clubhouse. After the fact, Danny,
Speaker 1: Danny's navigating all those things. If there was anything, I
Speaker 1: know nothing of it. No one's gonna follow a thirty
Speaker 1: four year old left handed pitcher in terms of fashion sense.
Speaker 4: Let's just say that, right.
Speaker 1: If they do, that's cool, you know, and that'll be
Speaker 1: a first for me. Hey, my wife likes the way
Speaker 1: I look in the uniform, so that's all that's that's
Speaker 1: going for me. You know, That's what matters.
Speaker 2: Most FT fan by now, you know, if you're buying, selling, trading,
Speaker 2: collecting cards, Arena club is the spot. We've been talking
Speaker 2: about them all season long. But I do want to
Speaker 2: focus on the slab pack experience, scrats, since you've been
Speaker 2: ripping some slab packs digitally and what happens.
Speaker 5: I mean, as a kid, you wanted to rip open
Speaker 5: the packs. How can they do this digitally? Oh? Baby,
Speaker 5: this is exciting how the graphics come out and everything.
Speaker 5: And oh yeah, the card that you pull you can
Speaker 5: actually get that John physically, so it's perfect. It's all
Speaker 5: in one place and it's a super exciting experience.
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Speaker 6: Matthew, are you I was never on button my jersey guy,
Speaker 6: Like I just took it off every time, Like, never
Speaker 6: un buttoned to put it on, never on. So you
Speaker 6: must be a non unbuttoned guy, right, you just pull
Speaker 6: it off? Yeah, like a shirt. Now, I think at
Speaker 6: the top, Now, now, is there a reason for that?
Speaker 6: Because I was just lazy? Now, there were times that
Speaker 6: I would get mad and I would rip them off
Speaker 6: and all the buttons would go flying like whole coomnia.
Speaker 6: But I don't think with the new style that I
Speaker 6: can be stuck. So I don't know. I like it,
Speaker 6: but I don't know. It's not practical. When you get angered,
Speaker 6: you're like, I know, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean I I don't think I had that kind
Speaker 1: of grip strength, like you had to pull that thing
Speaker 1: off and let the buttons stead of shooting everywhere.
Speaker 4: You know, I've anger wise, I don't know if.
Speaker 1: The jerseys what's gonna get you know what the anger
Speaker 1: is gonna get taken.
Speaker 4: Out on the jersey mean for me?
Speaker 1: But uh yeah, you're not tearing those stitching. That thing's reinforced,
Speaker 1: so uh something else is gonna go before that stitching does.
Speaker 4: Danny does a good job with that thing. All right.
Speaker 5: Now, actual baseball questions, Okay, with your history with how
Speaker 5: you kind of came back last year, injuries that you
Speaker 5: were coming back from when you sign this contract. We
Speaker 5: talk about it all the time, starting pitchers, injuries, starting
Speaker 5: pitchers on teams that want to make the playoffs. Cubs
Speaker 5: are in place to make the playoffs. Do you fight
Speaker 5: back against organized or the organization front office if they're like, hey,
Speaker 5: we want to make sure you're healthy for the postseason,
Speaker 5: We're going to miss a start, We're gonna go to
Speaker 5: six man here, we're gonna do a bullpen day. Do
Speaker 5: you fight back against that?
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, when those situations arise, Counts us such a
Speaker 1: great job and Tammy of like, you know, they have
Speaker 1: a plan for everything, right, So when I'm sure there's
Speaker 1: nothing we can't talk through, you know, I know, I'm
Speaker 1: already over my innings total for the regular season and
Speaker 1: the playoffs combined last year. That being said, I feel great.
Speaker 1: You know, I think the ball's coming out of my hand,
Speaker 1: you know, in terms of velocity better than it really
Speaker 1: ever has, and feel like you were in a great
Speaker 1: spot with that. The training staff has been awesome, and
Speaker 1: you know we've got a good plan going forward. But
Speaker 1: I mean Counts has a lot of experience, Tommy has
Speaker 1: a lot of experience bolst on the coaching and the
Speaker 1: playing side. So when those situations come up, the goal
Speaker 1: is to be healthy all the way through the end
Speaker 1: of October. The goal is to be ready and pitching
Speaker 1: your best. So you got to be open to everything
Speaker 1: that's going to help the team win. You got to
Speaker 1: be open to just have the conversation.
Speaker 4: You know, I don't know what.
Speaker 1: The future holds, but if any of those things come about,
Speaker 1: you just talk it through, right and and you know
Speaker 1: those guys have a lot of wisdom to lean back on.
Speaker 2: Well, I want to ask you about the bullpen. Then.
Speaker 5: I don't know how much you know.
Speaker 2: You focus on individuals around you and what changes they make,
Speaker 2: But the bullpen for the Cubs over the past month
Speaker 2: or so in terms of BRA has been towards the
Speaker 2: top in baseball. Is there something that you can pinpoint
Speaker 2: that's done within the organization or by pitching coach and
Speaker 2: manager that helps guys really find themselves Because this isn't
Speaker 2: the marquee, big name bullpen at least right now that
Speaker 2: I'm looking at on paper. It's some guys that have
Speaker 2: kind of bounced around the league and now end up
Speaker 2: as valuable members of a really strong bullpen that's also
Speaker 2: missing a couple pieces.
Speaker 1: We have a lot of awesome guys down there, We
Speaker 1: have a lot of awesome arms. Our pitching department does
Speaker 1: a great job of preparing us every single day, every
Speaker 1: single series to bring out the best in each of us.
Speaker 1: But I think one thing that's always preached here is
Speaker 1: just like we we all have unique strengths and that's
Speaker 1: what makes us like who we are. That's what got
Speaker 1: us to where we are, whether it's you know, Press
Speaker 1: or Palencia or Palm or you know, anybody else. Like
Speaker 1: it's across the starting pitching side too, is that we
Speaker 1: you know, we all have game plans, we all know
Speaker 1: what the opponent does, but like what we do and
Speaker 1: what makes us inherently like you know, who we are
Speaker 1: individually is that's what that's what got us here. So
Speaker 1: you know, I think you see guys that you know
Speaker 1: it's it's preached to like, you know, double down on
Speaker 1: our strengths.
Speaker 4: There's a lot of good.
Speaker 1: Veteran leadership in the bullpen too, and you know that's
Speaker 1: what makes this club as.
Speaker 4: A whole really special.
Speaker 1: It's just the top to bottom, we got good people
Speaker 1: and we have a really fun clubhouseman to be a
Speaker 1: part of. We really like being around around each other
Speaker 1: and that's a it goes a long way when it
Speaker 1: comes to a baseball season, right and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: you're around these guys more than you are your own family.
Speaker 1: So I mean, we have a lot of fun. We
Speaker 1: pull for each other, we make each other better and uh,
Speaker 1: you know that's definitely the case down of the bullpen too.
Speaker 6: Okay, so you said that happ was the one who
Speaker 6: came up with the jersey idea, right, pie Crow Armstrong
Speaker 6: changes us hair every day. Dansby Swanson is like the
Speaker 6: All American perfect kid.
Speaker 5: Right?
Speaker 6: Did you expect the offense out of this team that
Speaker 6: you're getting? And can Pca win the MVP? Because I
Speaker 6: think he's kind of a little dark o course there
Speaker 6: for the old PC and he needs to go back
Speaker 6: to the stars in his hair now would help him.
Speaker 3: But like, what do you.
Speaker 1: Think, Yeah, we got a great offense, man, it's a
Speaker 1: it's a really deep lineup. We got guys that attack
Speaker 1: you in different ways. You know, they know how to
Speaker 1: work in a bat in different ways. We got guys
Speaker 1: that can run the ball out of the yard, give
Speaker 1: you along at bat. I mean, I think what's so
Speaker 1: special about this offense is like when you get to
Speaker 1: sit back and watch it, is like we can like
Speaker 1: score runs in so many different ways, whether it's a
Speaker 1: long ball, whether it's taking an extra base here, whether
Speaker 1: it's just getting a guy over, like I said, working
Speaker 1: in a bat, and it's really cool. Pete is special, man.
Speaker 1: What he can do in all facets of his game,
Speaker 1: whether it's on the base paths, how he plays defense,
Speaker 1: and how he can work in at bat, how he
Speaker 1: can you know, I mean.
Speaker 4: The power that he has.
Speaker 1: It's it's really fun to watch, man. It's like watching
Speaker 1: them dude really come into his own and he plays
Speaker 1: the game.
Speaker 4: At a at a at a high level.
Speaker 1: And I'm grateful he's in center field behind me, man,
Speaker 1: because there's balls that you watch get hitting the gap
Speaker 1: and like you just see him close on it.
Speaker 4: And you're like, oh, that's that's nice to have on
Speaker 4: our team. It's really special. All right.
Speaker 5: Last one, you're projected to start tomorrow. Correct, you're starting,
Speaker 5: So we're gonna let you go so that you can
Speaker 5: make it to your uber, your bus or your taxi
Speaker 5: at I mean, you're making some big cheese. Now are
Speaker 5: you still getting on the team bus to go to
Speaker 5: the field? And what does that schedule look like the
Speaker 5: day before a.
Speaker 1: Start coming up with those Tiger teams, I took way
Speaker 1: too many taxi cabs and ubers to beat the veterans
Speaker 1: to the field, you know, like Francisco Rodriguez and salta Lamachia,
Speaker 1: I mean salty was making like if you were there,
Speaker 1: if you beat you to the field. It was not
Speaker 1: good on any level. So you know, life was going
Speaker 1: to be miserable for the foreseeable future. So I did
Speaker 1: my taxi Uber time. Yeah, I'm hopping on the team
Speaker 1: bus and I'm not ashamed to say it. It's it's
Speaker 1: it's there and uh, you know, prestart, it's it's going
Speaker 1: over and going over. The guys I think are gonna
Speaker 1: be in the lineup tomorrow, understanding who's gonna you know,
Speaker 1: understanding some tendencies, seeing their swings for guys I'm not
Speaker 1: familiar with. And it's, you know, just kind of a
Speaker 1: prep day. Make sure you're getting to your top speeds,
Speaker 1: you know, weight room and you know, throwing wives and whatnot,
Speaker 1: and uh, just preparing for tomorrow, you know, and tomorrow's
Speaker 1: the fun day.
Speaker 4: You can deal compete.
Speaker 6: Yeah, ain't no way You're taking taxis. You make way
Speaker 6: too much money. So it's bus or Uber black.
Speaker 3: Dude.
Speaker 6: These people don't understand, like I tell them, like, I'm
Speaker 6: taking Uber black, and they're like, you gotta get the
Speaker 6: XL man, you gotta get the Uber the Ruber super small,
Speaker 6: Like we're tall people. I need the extra leg room.
Speaker 6: They get all mad at me because it costs like ten.
Speaker 6: I'm like, no, we're getting the big bar because I'm
Speaker 6: a big leaguer.
Speaker 5: Ten I mean.
Speaker 2: Not ten dollars.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Also, sometimes zuber X gives you a better car. Do
Speaker 3: it like an escalade.
Speaker 2: No, but you don't.
Speaker 3: Always get a big car.
Speaker 2: Sometimes you get like a little.
Speaker 4: Lincoln or whatever.
Speaker 3: When you get the blacks black is not you're getting
Speaker 3: a black or the XL.
Speaker 6: You ain't getting the You ain't getting the taxi, the
Speaker 6: yellow taxi.
Speaker 3: Like back in the day we used to take taxi
Speaker 3: because there was no Uber. But he he's a big leaguer,
Speaker 3: he ain't taking a taxi.
Speaker 1: I'm on the bus now there's always la him on
Speaker 1: the bus, you know, so I'm not not a shame
Speaker 1: of that.
Speaker 3: We're gonna get a bus from now on that.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, you guys should give me a prevost
Speaker 6: and I'll take it to have all the four wings.
Speaker 6: You know what, you guys can you I might even
Speaker 6: let y'all sleep on.
Speaker 3: Thank you. We're getting a party bus.
Speaker 5: But Matt's got to get on his bus.
Speaker 2: So Matthew, thanks for joining us Man really appreciate it.
Speaker 4: Good luck tomorrow.
Speaker 3: We'll catch you again in a few weeks.
Speaker 4: Thanks guy, have a good one.