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Speaker 1: Welcome into Northside Territory. Foul 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, Patrick, the Cubs

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Speaker 1: are above five hundred. They have swept the Athletics in Sacramento.

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Speaker 1: An interesting series that was filled with offense, especially from

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Speaker 1: the Cubs. You know, if not for a disaster on

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Speaker 1: Sunday from the bullpen, I think there'd be a lot

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Speaker 1: of excitement for this team right now. But even with

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Speaker 1: it five and four after the first nine games, feels

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Speaker 1: like a pretty solid, solid place to be. We can

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Speaker 1: talk about the bullpen, you know, how, the confidence in it.

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Speaker 1: We could talk about the competition they're facing. I think

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Speaker 1: there's a lot of storylines right now. I think the

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Speaker 1: first one that pops up to me is you paid

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Speaker 1: big by a trade for a superstar, and nine games

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Speaker 1: into the season, you're getting a superstar in Kyle Tucker.

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Speaker 2: The guy I.

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Speaker 1: Guess, I guess we know spring training doesn't mean anything

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Speaker 1: for veterans. Maybe don't pay attention to that too much

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Speaker 1: for position players, especially because this guy's a stud and

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Speaker 1: almost like I've forgotten what it's like to watch, Like, say,

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Speaker 1: Suzuki is a really.

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Speaker 2: Good player, Ian App's a good player, but.

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Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker is a superstar. It's it's fun to watch

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Speaker 1: him go about business.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it's just gonna be fascinating to see

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Speaker 3: kind of the reception at the field he'll get for

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Speaker 3: the home opener and really throughout the season, because I

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Speaker 3: think we're all like looking at this as this huge

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Speaker 3: test case of like, like how good is this guy

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Speaker 3: gonna be? Is there any chance the Cubs are gonna

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Speaker 3: keep him? Like every home run? Like is this price escalating?

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Speaker 3: But like this is the guy they absolutely needed. And

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Speaker 3: I'm seeing a lot less cam Smith on my timeline

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Speaker 3: and stuff like that. Right, Like that was the moment,

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Speaker 3: and cam Smith, I bet will be a really good

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Speaker 3: major league player for a long time. But what did

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Speaker 3: this group need? What do we always talk about the

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Speaker 3: guy who hits a three run homer and gives your

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Speaker 3: bullpens a breathe room.

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Speaker 2: Now it didn't work for you? I think?

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Speaker 3: Was that getaway day in Arizona where he hits the

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Speaker 3: victor and homer story rights itself And then what the

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Speaker 3: Diamondbacks put up all those runs and you know, flip

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Speaker 3: your script while you're trying to rush to Sky Harbor.

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Speaker 3: But over the long haul, like this is this is

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Speaker 3: the guy they needed, right, this is what we've been

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Speaker 3: talking about for like years and he has arrived.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it was kind of like, what was it.

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Speaker 1: It's been eight years since they've traded for Jose Quintana,

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Speaker 1: and leading up to that, we talked a lot about

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Speaker 1: you know, just in general. People talked about one of

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Speaker 1: the Cubs need, they need a young starter that you know,

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Speaker 1: can work at the front of the rotation that's under

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Speaker 1: control for cheap like they they've been They've been talking

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Speaker 1: about that for years and ever since the big trade

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Speaker 1: off in twenty twenty one, what have we been talking about?

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Speaker 1: How do they find that superstar bad? How do they

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Speaker 1: get it? They have to pay a lot for it

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Speaker 1: and prospect cost and player cost. I don't I don't

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Speaker 1: think you can dwell on that. This is look at

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Speaker 1: the result. Look at how good this guy is. Look

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Speaker 1: at how he changes the lineup. It's it's it's really

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Speaker 1: impressive to watch him, and just it does change things.

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Speaker 1: It just you know, it really changes the way pitchers

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Speaker 1: approach the lineup. I think it does make the players

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Speaker 1: immediately surrounding him a little bit better, and it just

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Speaker 1: deepens the lineup right like.

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Speaker 2: And you can you can debate whether it improves anyone.

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Speaker 1: All it does is I think Madden used to say

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Speaker 1: a council kind of says it to it. It lengthens

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Speaker 1: the lineup out and and it makes things. It just

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Speaker 1: makes it more difficult to go through guys. You can

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Speaker 1: push guys down a spot, whatever it may be. Kyle

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Speaker 1: Tucker is a superstar and he's changing the way this

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Speaker 1: this offense looks. It's a I don't you know, we'll

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Speaker 1: see it's nine games in. I don't want to I've

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Speaker 1: been I've been confident about this offense in general. I've

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Speaker 1: felt like it was gonna be a better year and

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Speaker 1: I think I think it will be still and nothing

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Speaker 1: that's happened has changed my mind.

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Speaker 2: But it's nine games.

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Speaker 1: I'm not gonna do a victory lap and said, see,

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Speaker 1: I told you, because it's it doesn't matter.

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Speaker 2: We need to see. They haven't played at Wrigley Field.

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Speaker 1: It's supposed to be rainy, and I don't know how windy,

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Speaker 1: but it's not supposed to be great weather this weekend.

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Speaker 2: Who knows how they do?

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Speaker 1: Right? Can they can they play in those conditions and

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Speaker 1: and still put up six seven runs or can they

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Speaker 1: just outpitch the competition?

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Speaker 2: What do they do? We don't know yet.

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Speaker 1: Uh, but the offense looks really good right now, and

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Speaker 1: it's beyond Kyle Tucker, right and part of what the

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Speaker 1: reason and I felt that ways like you had Tucker,

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Speaker 1: but I felt like Michael Bush would be better this year.

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Speaker 1: And then you just can't be as bad at catcher

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Speaker 1: and in third base as they were to begin last season.

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Speaker 1: Like those were awful starts. And it's not like Mitt

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Speaker 1: matt Shaw's like gotten off to this red hot start,

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Speaker 1: but he's got like an ops at like of like

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Speaker 1: six fifty and that was better than what the Cubs

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Speaker 1: were putting up at third base last year around this

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Speaker 1: time or like even two months into the season. Miguel

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Speaker 1: Amaya has been good. Carson Kelly's been awesome. He hit

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Speaker 1: for the cycle cycle a catcher.

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Speaker 3: A catcher cycle.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, So I mean the offense looks good.

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Speaker 1: I don't want to I don't know if that's Sacramento,

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Speaker 1: yeah good, Oakland or Oakland. The Athletics pitching is you know,

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Speaker 1: I think that's a good offense, a good solid team. Uh.

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Speaker 1: But but they did they they beat up on them,

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Speaker 1: and and I think that's a good thing. You want

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Speaker 1: to see that, whether they're whether that athletics team is

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Speaker 1: good or not, that's what you wanted to see.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, Tucker and Council would probably roll their

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Speaker 3: eyes or shake their head at something like this, but

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Speaker 3: just sort of the narrative of the new player getting

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Speaker 3: off to a good or bad start, Like it would

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Speaker 3: be almost impossible for Kyle Tucker to get to like

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Speaker 3: May first and have bad numbers now right, like when

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Speaker 3: you like it just kind of carries you for a while,

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Speaker 3: like those numbers on the Wrigley field board will will

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Speaker 3: look good for a while. And also he is a

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Speaker 3: presence that helps some of these guys while they're struggling,

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Speaker 3: right It takes some of the load off Matt Shaw

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Speaker 3: or Pete Crow Armstrong and just allows them, you know,

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Speaker 3: for Pca to play defense and for Matt Shaw to

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Speaker 3: like learn how to survive in the big leagues. When

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Speaker 3: you have a guy that can carry your offense, it's usual.

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Speaker 2: And even like Saya, like say, he.

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Speaker 3: Has been a very good offensive player. There's been some

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Speaker 3: you know, he would acknowledge some rocky moments over the

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Speaker 3: last couple of years. But like if you have a

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Speaker 3: guy who's just like a superstar and then Saya sort

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Speaker 3: of does this thing all of a sudden, like everything

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Speaker 3: just just pops.

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Speaker 2: I mean, that's how they got to win this year. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I mean the question probably early on that everyone has

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Speaker 1: is is this bullpen any good? Is this bullpen going

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Speaker 1: to cause issues? Is it going to sink the team?

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Speaker 2: Listen? It was.

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Speaker 1: It was ugly on Sunday. That was That's not what

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Speaker 1: you want to see.

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Speaker 2: Uh, it was.

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Speaker 1: It's not really excuses to be made for the performance.

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Speaker 1: I think if you want to debate the usage of

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Speaker 1: those guys, you could say, maybe Colin Ray should have

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Speaker 1: been out there, if that's if that's what you want

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Speaker 1: to go with. Once it was a six to two game,

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Speaker 1: maybe that's Colin Ray time. I don't know how long

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Speaker 1: it takes for him to get warm. That that's a question.

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Speaker 1: The bullpen was limited that day, right, Craig Council used

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Speaker 1: everyone that was available that I think there were four

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Speaker 1: relievers used in all, maybe five. He used everyone that

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Speaker 1: was available Julian Merriweather was down because he had gotten

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Speaker 1: warmed twice twice in two different games over that weekend.

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Speaker 1: He you know, Ryan Presley was down, Porter Hodge was down.

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Speaker 1: It was like it was an ugly situation. It was

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Speaker 1: an ugly game. It didn't look good. Eli Morgan had

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Speaker 1: looked great.

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Speaker 2: In two outings and then looks terrible, you know, in

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Speaker 2: that one.

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Speaker 1: It didn't seem like anything like they weren't missing any

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Speaker 1: any of the pitches that were meatballs, and that's a

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Speaker 1: really good offense. It was game four of seven straight

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Speaker 1: after a weird build up in spring training.

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Speaker 2: So there are excuses you could make.

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Speaker 1: I think fans don't want to hear excuses after the

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Speaker 1: last two seasons the way they begin with the bullpen.

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Speaker 2: So I understand that.

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Speaker 1: And and I think the biggest thing, and this has

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Speaker 1: nothing to do with Sunday, people are jumping on Ryan

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Speaker 1: Presley and and just assuming that this guy's cooked. I

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Speaker 1: don't know if he's as much of a disaster as

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Speaker 1: as some people seem to be suggesting, like everyone has

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Speaker 1: decided that this guy's cooked right after after a couple

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Speaker 1: uh after a couple outings.

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Speaker 2: I don't I don't know.

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Speaker 1: I like his velocity seems like about where, you know,

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Speaker 1: it's not it's not dreadful, it's not dropping, and he's

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Speaker 1: I think the biggest thing is like he's supposed to

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Speaker 1: use his breaking balls more, don't don't use that fastball

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Speaker 1: as much, and he isn't. He's using the breaking balls more.

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Speaker 1: I think he's gonna be okay. I don't know if

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Speaker 1: he's the closer. I don't know, Like Porter Hodge looks

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Speaker 1: pretty nasty when he goes out there, but I don't

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Speaker 1: think he's this Like, he's not Hector and Nerris who

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Speaker 1: just got d fad by the way, by the by Atlanta.

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Speaker 1: He's I think he's a high leverage reliever still.

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Speaker 2: But you know, it's.

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Speaker 1: Easy to jump down his throat because he had he

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Speaker 1: has you know, he has looked shaky at times, but

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Speaker 1: it's again, it's nine games into the season. If I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna pump the brakes on on the offense, I think

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Speaker 1: it's it's only fair that we pumped the brakes on

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Speaker 1: any negativity as well. But I also get it's hard. Listen,

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Speaker 1: we probably tried to pump the breaks on Hector and

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Speaker 1: Aris and we were if we did. We were wrong,

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Speaker 1: right he was. He was not good enough last year.

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Speaker 1: I think it's a different situation, uh, with with Ryan Presley.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and it also seems like, you know, there are

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Speaker 3: times too where like, yes, Hodge pitched the eighth, but

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Speaker 3: he was going against the other team's best hitters, right Like,

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Speaker 3: there is a matchup element there where it's not like,

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Speaker 3: oh man, you burned Porter Hodge against the bottom of

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Speaker 3: the lineup. And I do think Council's more than given

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Speaker 3: himself some flexibility here, but give Presley the space. I mean,

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Speaker 3: he's been awesome in the postseason. Like I feel like

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Speaker 3: you just can't dismiss that. Like on March twenty whatever,

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Speaker 3: that game was like we hadn't even gotten too April yet.

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Speaker 3: And I do think one takeaway here is just looking

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Speaker 3: at how the season started in Tokyo, Like the Dodgers

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Speaker 3: are going to make a lot of teams look bad,

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Speaker 3: right Yeah. The Tigers, you know, it's kind of sort

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Speaker 3: of the Darlings for part of last October rolling there,

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Speaker 3: they get swept.

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Speaker 2: I mean, the Braves are you know sinking here, you know.

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Speaker 3: Formally one of the most stable franchises, right Like, since

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Speaker 3: since we've started following baseball even as kids. Right, the

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Speaker 3: Braves are good read almost every year, and to see

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Speaker 3: them roll into Dodger Stadium and leave still winless on

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Speaker 3: the season, like didn't need to overreact to Tokyo and

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Speaker 3: let's just see how some of this plays out. But

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Speaker 3: no doubt, like being five and four coming into Rigley

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Speaker 3: Field is better than being you know, two and seven.

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Speaker 3: And I still we have to remember, like when we

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Speaker 3: write our stories, you still have to think of like

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Speaker 3: you know, someone you you know, see at a bar,

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Speaker 3: run to the grocery store, picking up your kids. Like

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Speaker 3: there's still people who are like, hey, the Cubs are playing,

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Speaker 3: Like are I think good this year? Like we can't

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Speaker 3: be so like micro focused on every single like bullpen

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Speaker 3: thing or like oh it's doomed. It's like, look, let's

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Speaker 3: let's just let this play out. And you know, they're

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Speaker 3: certainly like how this team is set up, they're going

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Speaker 3: to give themselves a chance to be really good and

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Speaker 3: play meaningful games all the way till the last regular

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Speaker 3: season game.

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Speaker 2: Field this year.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Choda in Monaga will will start the opener, the

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Speaker 1: Wrigley Field opener. He's looked good to start off the season.

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Speaker 1: I mean his his seven innings. That Arizona team is good.

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Speaker 1: They're like we talk about the Dodgers. Arizona's really talented.

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Speaker 1: That offense is obnoxious to face. Like I think I

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Speaker 1: said that a dozen times while we were in Arizona.

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Speaker 2: Uh, just pesky.

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Speaker 1: Really hard to strike out a good team. Uh, when

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Speaker 1: you looking up and down the lineup, if you're not super,

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Speaker 1: if you're only familiar with the big names, you may

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Speaker 1: not notice how good that team is.

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Speaker 2: Uh.

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Speaker 1: Caatel Marte and Corbyn Carroll are are probably the biggest names.

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Speaker 1: AU Henny Suarez. If you're a Cubs fan, you probably

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Speaker 1: know who he is. Right he kills the Cubs and

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Speaker 1: he did it again. They're they're they're beating up on

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Speaker 1: the Yankees now too, that they're good offense. Uh, and

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Speaker 1: showed a pitch seven strong against them, that that this

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Speaker 1: early in the season.

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Speaker 2: To do that. I was impressed.

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Speaker 1: I've been I've been curious to see how he how

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Speaker 1: he'd do bouncing back after you know, a brilliant rookie

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Speaker 1: season and and you know, two starts in he's looked

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Speaker 1: pretty good. He's walking more guys. But whatever, I have

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Speaker 1: no idea if that's gonna last. I doubt it does.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure he locks in the command soon enough.

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Speaker 2: One little thing. Jameson tie and looked awful in his

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Speaker 2: first start.

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Speaker 1: He looked pretty damn good yesterday against the Athletics. And

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Speaker 1: I looked this up because I was kind of like,

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Speaker 1: what is going on with all the swing and miss?

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Speaker 1: He's throwing this new change up that you know, you know,

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Speaker 1: Sarah's wrote about it at the Athletic that the kick change.

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Speaker 2: Every year we got a new pitch that we got

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Speaker 2: to talk about. Uh.

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Speaker 3: He asked me about that in spring training we sat

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Speaker 3: next to each other at the Cleveland.

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Speaker 2: Is that good year of the facility there? Yes, Like

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Speaker 2: you talked to time with kick change, Like, excuse me,

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Speaker 2: what are you talking about?

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Speaker 1: Like?

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Speaker 3: I was not current on that, but definitely check out

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Speaker 3: you know's piece. Like he does such a good job

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Speaker 3: at like finding stuff out and getting players to talk

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Speaker 3: about stuff and really you know, granular interesting ways, but

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Speaker 3: also explaining it to fans in a very easily digestible way.

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Speaker 3: So definitely check check that out. But it was kind

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Speaker 3: of fun, I'm like, what are you talking about? Like

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Speaker 3: the leading frid Japan in twenty four hours.

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Speaker 1: I don't know what's tell He threw seven of those

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Speaker 1: change ups and got whiffs on four of them. Okay,

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Speaker 1: and he got nineteen whiffs in total. You know, the

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Speaker 1: last time he's gotten nineteen whiffs twenty twenty one, you know,

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Speaker 1: his career high in whiffs twenty He got nineteen whiffs.

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Speaker 1: A guy that was really struggling with with getting swing

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Speaker 1: and miss last year.

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Speaker 2: That's encouraging to me.

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Speaker 1: I have no idea if the A's are going to

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Speaker 1: be like this disaster strikeout team whatever it is. Like,

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Speaker 1: he's like, that's really good for him, and like he

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Speaker 1: that's that's a really good sign after what he did

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Speaker 1: last year. I think his velo is up a tick,

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Speaker 1: maybe half a tick. Let's let's see. His sinker is

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Speaker 1: averaging ninety three three. That's almost a.

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Speaker 2: Full mile per hour higher than last year.

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Speaker 1: And it's four seemers ninety three, you know, zero point

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Speaker 1: seven higher than last year.

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Speaker 2: That's that's great.

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Speaker 1: Early on, especially you usually gain velocity by Maine June.

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Speaker 1: My understanding is he's feeling really good. He made some

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Speaker 1: slight tweaks in between starts that that was a that

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Speaker 1: was a really good start. I think that is encouraging.

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Speaker 1: You have showed him and Aga, James and Tyne. Look

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Speaker 1: justin Steele, I don't know what's up with the home runs.

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Speaker 1: I'd be surprised if that last I was kind of

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Speaker 1: impressed by himself in and going like he looked it

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Speaker 1: looked like he was going to go like three innings,

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Speaker 1: three or four, right, and he ended up going was

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Speaker 1: it six?

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Speaker 2: Uh? Or was it five and two thirds? And I

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Speaker 2: think he remember or was it six and two thirds?

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Speaker 2: It was six and two thirds? Yeah? Yeah, okay, uh.

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Speaker 1: I mean that overall, this is still my concern right

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Speaker 1: the starting pitching and maybe the first time through the

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Speaker 1: rotation it was looking a little shaky. Now like Matthew

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Speaker 1: Boyd looked great against the Diamondbacks, you know, like they

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Speaker 1: Ben Brown has you know, Ben Brown has the stuff

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Speaker 1: that we're that this team is looking for from the starters.

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Speaker 1: It's if if your biggest concern is, like you know,

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Speaker 1: Eli Morgan or something like that, I think you can survive.

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Speaker 1: Uh and and this team could could be pretty good. Well,

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Speaker 1: we'll see that this is not getting any easier. They

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Speaker 1: played the undefeated Padres this weekend, so you know that

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Speaker 1: the tests continue and we'll have a really good barometer

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Speaker 1: of where this team is, right, like, are they I

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Speaker 1: guess we'll know if they're good, right, if they're if

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Speaker 1: they're above five hundred. At the end of this month,

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Speaker 1: we'll be like, Wow, they just went through some of

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Speaker 1: the best teams in baseball.

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Speaker 3: We went through that last April though, I wrote they

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Speaker 3: should trade for Justin Verlander after they swept the you know,

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Speaker 3: the Astros or whatever in April, and our buddy Chandler

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Speaker 3: Rome at the Athletic and on the Felt Territory Network,

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Speaker 3: you know, was pretty much convinced that the Astros were

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Speaker 3: about to collapse, that this was finally the year of

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Speaker 3: catch up to them. And they did, you know, backslide

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Speaker 3: a bit, but they certainly had a good charge to

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Speaker 3: get back into the playoffs.

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Speaker 2: So, you know, definitely.

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Speaker 3: Curious to see how it kind of looks at Wrigley,

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Speaker 3: see what the crowd's like, what the environment's like.

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Speaker 2: It should be it should be a good time.

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Speaker 3: Also, you know, the fireworks display wasn't that last year

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Speaker 3: where Council joked his eyebrows were singed when they were

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Speaker 3: running out of the dugout. They have these little littleworks,

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Speaker 3: So I want to see what the budget for fireworks was,

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Speaker 3: like maybe counsel like driving back and forth to Wisconsin,

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Speaker 3: like did he find like, oh, maybe that's something we

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Speaker 3: could we could ask him, uh this weekend. I'm sure

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Speaker 3: he would a very droll response back.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, he should be in a good mood, right

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Speaker 1: winning streak. Yeah, I totally forgot about the fireworks display

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Speaker 1: that that. Yeah, I hope they have a better, better

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Speaker 1: way to open up the slate at Wrigley.

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Speaker 2: You know one thing I don't doubt like that will

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Speaker 2: show up.

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Speaker 1: Right, it's supposed to be a crappy day tomorrow. Is

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Speaker 1: it supposed to be rainy? Last I checked, it was

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Speaker 1: supposed to be Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Last I checked it was. It has kind of flop

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Speaker 3: by I think Friday and Saturday don't look great. But

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Speaker 3: you can tell like when the Cubs are back, you know, definitely.

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Speaker 3: People treat it as a sort of unofficial holiday, you know,

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Speaker 3: a tradition, and for as cynical as we can be

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Speaker 3: in our jobs, like, it is still awesome to just

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Speaker 3: walk in there and just see it. It is amazing

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Speaker 3: how it is held up over the years, and so yeah,

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Speaker 3: we'll see.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's That's one of the things I try

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Speaker 1: and remind myself every year. It's like, oh, yeah, this

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Speaker 1: is where I work every day. I got to try

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Speaker 1: and remind myself as I'm like cursing whatever it is

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Speaker 1: that we're dealing with that day, or digging into some

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Speaker 1: nonsense story that's frustrating us, or.

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Speaker 2: Or the team is frustrating us.

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Speaker 1: It's like, really, we got to write big picture because

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Speaker 1: they're out of it already at this point of the season.

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Speaker 2: So all right, so five and four Cubs. We'll have

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Speaker 2: more this week.

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Speaker 1: We'll have more on the home opener, we'll have some

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Speaker 1: we'll have some talk and some other things and and

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Speaker 1: then uh and then next week we'll we'll have we'll

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Speaker 1: be in the middle of the Wrigley slate and deeper

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Speaker 1: into April and and you know, more and more information

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Speaker 1: on how this team is doing. All right, Thanks so

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Speaker 1: much for listening everyone. This is Northside Territory. Make sure

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

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Speaker 1: The Athletic where Patrick and I are on top of

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Speaker 1: all things Cubs. Thanks for listening to everyone. Thanks take care,