Monday Morning Cubs Show
A show every Monday morning about the Chicago Cubs from Carl and Mahoney.
Monday Morning Cubs Show
THE CHICAGO CUBS ARE MOVING ON - GAME 3 RECAP
The city exhaled and then roared. We break down how the Cubs took a tense three-game set from San Diego by leaning into the stuff that never blinks in October: elite defense up the middle, relentless bottom-of-the-order pressure, and Craig Counsell pushing buttons one inning earlier than anyone expected. If you felt the game tighten and then tilt our way, you weren’t imagining it—those little margins were the plan.
We start with the plays that don’t always make highlights but win series: Dansby Swanson’s transfers and footwork, Nico Hoerner’s internal clock, and Pete Crow-Armstrong erasing flight paths in center. Layer in Carson Kelly’s pro at-bats and Suzuki’s late-season surge, and you’ve got a lineup that turns the page even when the top isn’t loud. From there, we get into Counsell’s playoff mode—Kittredge as an opener, Palencia in leverage, and the Shota vs. Machado decision that looked odd until you map the matchups two innings out. It wasn’t chaos; it was calculated. Jamison Taillon’s composure and slider feel were the backbone of Game 3, and we talk through how that sets the rotation chessboard against Milwaukee.
Then we widen the lens. Why Chicago’s depth can outlast the Brewers’ balance. How the bullpen-by-pockets approach neutralizes star bursts. Why the Cubs can win a series on first-to-third baserunning, soft contact outs, and clean internal timing. If you’re looking for the “why not us” case, this is it: a team that wins the edges, manages with intent, and keeps stacking playable at-bats through nine. Tap in for the joy, the strategy, and a tease of our full NLDS scouting dive—because the vibe is real and the road is open.
If you’re riding with us, follow, share with a Cubs fan who needs the juice, and leave a quick review telling us your pick for Game 2’s starter. Let’s make Wrigley North loud.
Thanks for tuning in!
- Carl & Mahoney
And we're clear. Good morning, good afternoon, and evening Chicago Cubs fans. Welcome back to the Monday Morning Cubs Show. It is Carl. It is Thursday, October 2nd. The Chicago Cubs are moving on.
SPEAKER_00:We are on to the divisional round, baby. And as we like to say, Carl, excuse me for interrupting, we're rope.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. We're moving on. And as I like to say at the start of every show, it's good to see you, Mahony, my friend.
SPEAKER_00:See how excited I got just jumping in. You know, just cut you off right off the bat. No, good to be back. Unbelievable the fact that we're recording right now, and the Cubs have their first series win since what 2017? Let's go.
SPEAKER_01:I'm logging some minutes here alone, so it's good to have you back. I think that's maybe you're jumping the gun because you just you're short two hours now on the speedometer. You know, we keep track of these things. Here's the thing back to you. If I how about this, what do you think it would look like if I asked you, Mahoney? Hey, I've got hepatitis. Can you I've got covet? I actually do have COVID. Mahoney, I have COVID. Yeah, I do have hard COVID right now. Uh, don't touch my microphone. Would you do a show solo? What do you think that's like?
SPEAKER_00:I I would rip one, it might be a little more aimless than the audience would appreciate, to be quite honest and straight. However, Carl, one thing that I'm very happy that we made the decision earlier on in the week with you know, I had a somewhat of a situation, couldn't make it Monday. The fact if you're feeling spicy and you're feeling dangerous, yeah, you you go, you go, boy. We're not making the maniacs wait during the playoffs. Not if I have to take my kids to school with the doctor, none of that matters to anyone else but me. And the fact that Carl had delivered just eloquent, beautiful, all that, you know, just breakdowns. It got us up, it got us down. And when even yesterday, after the loss, you're like, everyone needs to chill out. It helped me get through this past week. So, Carl, a round of applause because that's not easy. But like I said, don't ever wait on me to hit that button. Yeah, if you're if you're feeling ready to go.
SPEAKER_01:I won't. And you know, we shouldn't be burying a lead too hard. We did just beat the Padres game three. I thought we did an excellent job recapping game one, previewing game one, recapping game two, previous, and putting ourselves in a position where hopefully we weren't surprised by too much. So I'll just get a couple things off the top, like that. I thought were like really good big things for the Cubs that we we were right about. The first is like we had an advantage against the Padres defensively, and they didn't really make any bone-headed plays, but you could just see how much we thrived. The other advantage that we have, um, you know, obviously not just the home field advantage, but there's their six, seven, eight, nine versus our six, seven, eight, nine miles apart between our Carson Kelly, peace, PCA, Dansby Swanson. Now, Matt Shaw didn't look great. Matt Shawden looked great. That's okay. It is his first playoff series. He is nervous, he cut the guy some slack and everybody else. But compared to what their six, seven, eight, nine did against us, which I had isolated very significantly to say, you know, it's a lot of these mediocre lefties that kind of blend in together, particularly six, seven, eight. And not to those guys are fine, they're above average ball players. They'll get you to the night. That's a 90-win lineup. Um, but we had great strategies against those guys, and and nobody who was really a threat. And give Freddie Furman their nine-hitter credit. He was he was he did more damage than I had anticipated, but you know, just off the top, I just thought our when you look at the Cubs and you say what makes us great now, our one through four, our one through five, is that spectacular? I don't necessarily, you know, it's solid, it's solid. Don't get me wrong. I'm not calling anybody out, it's solid. But if you wanted to pick out where our bread and butter and say what makes us like you know, a good team and where's the difference against the padres, it's defensively one, and then our the quality of our the bottom of our lineup really just showed through. Um, and this is before we even get to the fact, you know, Jameis and Taeon today pitches balls off. So let's just give him a thirsty vaquero right off the top, baby.
SPEAKER_00:There's a little bit of the spicy thirsty vaquero right off the top. Ciudado, Jameis and Teon, Ciudado.
SPEAKER_01:This is a Mexican-style soda, guys. The official beverage partner and one and oh in playoff series of the Chicago Cubs of the Monday morning cub show, I should say.
SPEAKER_00:As soon as official beverage partner started flowing in Wrigley, the Cubs win a playoff series. That's not nothing.
SPEAKER_01:We're basically unbeatable at Wrigley Field since we got the Thirsty Vacaro partnership rolling. I believe our overall record right now is six and three with Thirsty Vacaro on the streets of Clark Street in Wrigleyville. Available at Yaxis, available at Sluggers. And the nice thing is, I'm starting to see some traction on social media of people that are interacting with Thirsty Vacaro in the wild. That's a guaranteed retweet here, folks, at Carl's Beef. Guaranteed retweet. Get those impressions, get yourself a Thirsty Vacaro. 10% real juice, Mahoney. So when you get the watermelon sandija, buddy, that is that has 10%. What 10% of the concoction is fresh watermelon juice with agave nectar with the with the nectar.
SPEAKER_00:There's probably some puree in there, but the nectar is gonna bring it all together. Think if you're making a breakfast and an omelet with an egg, the nectar is gonna hold that flavor in the thirsty vacero can. The taste is unbelievable. It's taking Wrigley by storm, and it's taking the Monday morning maniacs by storm.
SPEAKER_01:Guys, get yourself some on Amazon. Mahoney's gonna tweet out the link. I'm gonna tweet out the link. If you're not on Twitter, you know, that's basically the platform. I don't mess with TikTok, I don't mess with Instagram. I'll save that for a solo show. I'll explain why. The algorithms are a little too prickly for me. Uh uncomfortable on X. That's where we're gonna send it out on Amazon.com. You can find it, the Thirsty Vaccaro store. Mahoney loves it. All right, so Thirsty Vaccaro, just a quick little story about this. Uh, I go into Yaxis and I told a story on a solo show, but I haven't told it to you. And so I go and I'm talking to Leah because Leah sells Thirsty Vaccaro. And I'm before game one, if you guys had seen this, ticket prices had plummeted. There were like bleacher tickets for 30 bucks. Like the ticket price had had plummeted so much that I like almost love the wild card round because it was guaranteed. I'm like, I'm absolutely gonna go.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, like they didn't release more, it was just like, hey, ticket prices are dropping.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I put down the sales calls for Stirk Family Farms for the day. I had a couple deliveries I had to make, and I was just talking to myself, I you know what, I gotta go into Wrigleyville for the day. And so I'm at Yaksis, and a guy sitting at the bar spotted me a ticket on the house behind home plate. So, me and just a solo stranger, his buddy was gonna come, his buddy couldn't make it. I think he had COVID too. This is mighty where I got the COVID. But Wrigley was rocking, is my point. Thirsty Vaquero kind of made it happen because the reason I went to Yaksis is because I wanted to get a couple vaquero bombs because Leah sells them there. So I go into Yaksy's and I'm drinking the thirsty vaquero. The guy next to me is like, hey, you're friends with Leah, right? Now Leah owns Yaksy, she's operates it, she's part of the sister group. I should know more about the family. I'm sorry. All right, she's she's the boss. Go to Yaksy's, get a thirsty vacarero. But I'm sitting there drinking a thirsty vacarero. I felt like Robin Williams in Goodwill Hunting. You know, and a guy comes here at the bar before the playoff game, but instead of seeing about a girl, just yeah, giving him a thirsty McCo. I was seeing about a thirsty McCarrow. And the guy next to me had a free ticket, so I ended up going to the game, and the game was awesome. So, uh, you know, so that's a long-winded stuff. Some observations else come out of the playoff series. How good does it feel, Mahoney? I'm gonna turn over to you. Sad state for Chicago Sports, probably like the last decade or so. Uh, we get a playoff series victory on the board now. What does it mean to you as a father who lives in the suburbs?
SPEAKER_00:Can I say one thing off the top? Game one, I'm happy that you got to do like a little bit of a solo-ish experience at a playoff game. That's great. But my experience was flying back from Michigan to get home. My mom was watching the kids, made it back at time for the first pitch, all was well, had some IT stuff. Now, what it meant to me though, Carl, just that first win, I was literally I had both kids in my arms right in front of the 74-inch Roku television, and they got to witness their first Cubs playoff win, and it almost brought a tear to my eye because of how much I appreciate these moments.
SPEAKER_01:What was holding back the tier? Do you think World Series tier and LCS tier? When does the tier come? When does the tear duck go to work?
SPEAKER_00:Like, I mean, I want I want Milwaukee, so that has a lot to do with it, and it was just game one. I I may have shed a tear this afternoon after you know this early evening when we had won, but I got to hold both my kids see their first playoff win on the television screen, and from there I got to hold them both, and then they get to see their first series win.
SPEAKER_01:And I'm like, guys, are you teaching them the difference? Are they going, Why are we celebrating these games?
SPEAKER_00:Here, kids showed the bracket, started pointing, saying, We have to win this many, we have to win this many, and then next time we have to win this many. So it's accounting and a math game, but honest to God, dude, it was one of the coolest moments of my life. The fact that when we talked with Joey about taking the time and appreciating these moments, next time you might be, you know, at your retirement party, what whatever it literally is kind of like segments our lives in a way, and that's where I started reflecting just this past three days, and that's what why I hold it so true now because it's so much different than the earlier runs, but it's just as sweet, just as meaningful, and I'm just as grateful, just as sweet.
SPEAKER_01:Maybe it's a little bit different. I it's different doing the show. I'm thinking to myself, I want to keep doing more lineup previews, I want to be in the middle of the action, I want to scout Milwaukee. You know, I'm in it, man. I'm in it, I'm not in it like I'm trying to sell a t-shirt. Haven't, you know, there's no coach for sale. Excuse me, guys. You're you're in it, that's what I mean.
SPEAKER_00:Like you're pulling it. I'm gonna record right now, and I was like, just go, dude. So that's the type of thing. If you're in it, Carl, just go keep going.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know what that means. What I'm saying is that I'm in it, I'm in it like I'm in the dugout. I feel like a pitching coach right now. I'm so locked into these playoffs, and I'm thoroughly excited that we get a chance to play the Brewers, who are 18 and 20 over their last 38 games, which I think there's a huge advantage here for the Chicago Cubs that I'm excited to get into. Uh, but let's talk about the playoff series against the Padres. Let's talk about a couple big things. Yeah, so like, first off, that Mason Miller guy is really good for the Padres. I know people liked him. I just want to remind everyone the Padres traded away like the number one or number two prospect of baseball, who will be very fucking good. Better than just about anybody who's played on the cut, and probably for a long time type of prospects. Yeah, this guy's awesome, and the Padres traded him away to get Mason Miller, so this is just a good circle back moment because there's so many people who bitch mind piss moan and complain throughout the trade deadline era that you know Jed didn't do enough, and people love pointing out the Padres, an example of a team who does whatever it takes to win, and they're so willing to win and all that stuff. And there's a lot of people listening to this who have those opinions, and there's also a lot of people listening to this who are connected to people who have those opinions, and this is a good opportunity opportunity. Remind all of these people who carried these opinions to just go right ahead and suck my fucking dick. You know, Mason Miller's out of the playoffs, guys. They gave up the top prospect on baseball to get Mason now. Mason Miller could be great next year. I'm sure he's awesome. He dominated this playoff series every time he touched the ball, but the it's over, like that's just the way it works. Playoffs, it's over, it's over. So, like all that bitching people did about Jed Hoyer and all that stuff. You know who got the last couple outs? Andrew Kittridge, who cost us a fucking bucket of baseballs. So give the front office some fucking credit, even without Kate Horton, even without Justin Steele, even with Shoda Imanaga throwing absolute fucking meatballs and Colin Ray coming on the bullpen, and really no closer except Palency now pitching in the fifth, six inning. Even with all this shit going on, people still bitch and moan about Jed Hoyer, and that really bothers me because I think a lot of those people are clowns in hindsight now that the Cubs are going on the NLDS. And if they continue to advance, you'll only look like a bigger fucking moron in the process. Finally, last thing, how much did Dansby Swanson show up in this series defensively? All the time, people all they did, all people did piss bitch moan, whine, complain about Dansby Swanson, and that motherfucker went out and just balled defensively, worth every single penny. It didn't matter if he was swinging a toothpick in the box. Dansby Swanson, fucking MVP of the series. Watch my language.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely phenomenal stuff from Dansby up the middle throughout. I mean, every time I was looking up, they were calling his number with something spectacular happen. Before your other point regarding the front office and such, the playoffs really force you as a fan to look at things a little bit more bigger picture, and it makes a lot more sense. We had mentioned how we're gonna see Craig's you know cards a little bit more, you know, as the playoffs go on, and like we're gonna see the lineup that that that's the lineup, right? Now, with Jed, the moves he didn't make, as we have mentioned, are just as valuable as any of the moves that on the other team has made in the past season, and that's a fact jack. And the what when we look at everything collectively, as I always like to say, just what Jed has put together for this type of run, getting into the wild card. We beat we beat San Diego and now on to Milwaukee. The division really didn't matter, and I hate to say that, but this team is built to compete right now.
SPEAKER_01:They are there's a cut, there's a couple maybe wrinkles here we could say if they really cruised and they won 103 games, but like one thing it didn't matter how well Milwaukee played, so it wasn't gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly, and and one thing too. I know I was a little bit all over the place there, Carl, but when you look at us versus San Diego, we were the more put together and deeper team throughout. I'm talking from you know, hitting, fielding, pitching. That is what I saw, and why I'm so happy that one, we're moving on, and two, now I have even more confidence moving forward. Yeah, well, I think that deeper seven, eight, nine. Like our like I I you could see those kinds of things in a playoff series, you know. Everything's a little more heightened, so yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, I'm just happy.
SPEAKER_01:Do not say I don't know, don't do that. Don't say I don't know. You just made very valid point, very strong opinion about and then I kept talking.
SPEAKER_00:I'm a little rusty.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I'm a little rusty, honestly. And then you're pirouetting with an I don't know. I mean, you know, I don't know, bro. You see, the thing is, Joey, always sunny. No, this is how we got it. We got to tighten this up a little bit here. I need crisper play from you as we're in the playoffs. You do know, and the reason you do know is we went through it position by position in roster wars, which we're gonna do with the Milwaukee Brewers in our next episode as we get ready for the NLDS, but we scored it 10 to 5 in the 15-point position. So, in the in the nine, you know, with the DH, one through eight with the DH. Then we went through the top three starting pitchers. We went through bullpen, we went through bench, we went through manager, and I think it was pretty clear the Cubs had a significant advantage, both complete players defensively, guys that put together at bats, and just the narrow margins of this series, substantial. Celebrate tap dance. We should do more celebrating. We played such great defense, but I guess I'm inclined to explain. I mean, just really the margins, and this is why we should have confidence about the Cubs because the game comes down to these margins, and these margins are where the Cubs are drastically separated themselves. So, a margin, for example, would be our middle infield play, okay, is tier one rock solid. Now, there is a chance they make a mistake, it can happen or whatever, but fundamentally, the footwork, the accuracy of the throws, the communication that these guys have, the first step that Danby Swanson takes, the athleticism Nico Horner has at second base. I mean, this stuff's so much higher than the Padres, and in multiple times, especially today in an elimination game, that stuff was tested, and that stuff shows up for the Chicago Cubs. Now, obviously, fuck it would be much easier if Dan'sby Swanson goes three for four with two doubles and you know, whatever. Right, but like that stuff is gonna come, it's not gonna come. But kind of like football with the special teams in the defense, that shit travels. That shit always travels. Your special teams and your defense travels, your infield play travels, it's gonna show up 162 fucking times a year, and the same thing goes with Pete Crow Armstrong every single time there's a ball in center field, unless it's a no-doubter, like like Machado hits the ball, you're like, Oh fuck, that's gone. Yeah, but for the most part, if the ball's in the air, as a Cubs fan, I've never felt more comfortable. It's like Devin Hester returning punch, it doesn't put him like that. Perfect.
SPEAKER_00:I don't care where the ball is hit, it could be in either field. It doesn't even need to be within the realm of the gaps. He's might chase it down and go grab that thing.
SPEAKER_01:Nice to get Ian Hap going at the end of game three because he was he was 0 for nine with six strikeouts to start the series.
SPEAKER_00:So ripped one, ripped one Happer ripping one. Did he put down the butt today?
SPEAKER_01:I was so he did lay down a butt, which I didn't necessarily love, but you know good to see. Yeah, I mean, fine, whatever.
SPEAKER_00:I just like to see good playoff baseball, Carl. Guys laying down good solid bunts.
SPEAKER_01:No, I saw people love the bunt. I saw people were like, This is my this is the best butt. It's like whatever.
SPEAKER_00:I'm a here's why I'm whatever. I think council's just an absolute genius. He's worth every goddamn every single penny of that 500 million, dude. Council just operates in the playoffs now.
SPEAKER_01:Go right, go right ahead. Go right ahead, Sylvie. Go right ahead. He does, he does. He's worth every penny. Is he? Is he was he worth every penny when the nationals came back to beat him six years ago with a 3-1 lead and the best reliever in the history? What was the problem there? Not uh didn't have the talent when they completely fell apart three to one with that league. That's not on council, and I don't want him poke for listen. Craig wins his first playoff series as a manager for the Cubs. Shout out to him, goes to the bullpenner lead. Love his usage of Palencia. He's doing stuff a little bit differently than has been done all season, which you know is stuff to reflect on. Because I said going into this, we'll learn more about council and his legacy, and how do we reflect on Craig? So much of that story, half of it at least, is going to be told on how the team performs in the playoffs. So a good example would be show to him and I've never pitched the second inning of a fucking game. He still did that. Okay, that's a little zany. Here's another good example for you. Andrew Kittridge hasn't opened since 2014.
SPEAKER_00:And he had pitched 12 hours before. I know that it was like not like a heavy load, but the fact that was not on the bingo card there, Carl. When you see him showing up as the starter, you knew where the head was at, you knew you were gonna use Shota, but they throw Kiddridge out there, and the game was one nothing, did it essentially.
SPEAKER_01:Another one taking Matt Boyd out in the what is that in the fifth inning, and then going to Palencia. So he's like never taken, he's never taken a starter out that early, never put Palencia in that early. Then that all works out really well. So then we apply Craig, and that's great. So we're just learning more. And I guess what I would say, and how I would title this chapter of his career legacy would be guy doesn't give a fuck if he's never done it before, dude. Like most managers, I'm stunned. I guess I should be less intense about this, but as I'm replaying this in my head, it's like kind of crazy that like old pencil dick Craigie is like going into the playoffs, the most important, the most important baseball games, period, and is like, yeah, that's fine. Have we done this before? We haven't, don't give a fuck. Perfect, do it now.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, the opposite of what you were thinking you were gonna get from him, and even in this postgame, he had mentioned, yeah, I just thought Shota was pitching good. Had he's not a feeling guy, he's not gonna ride with a guy just because he thinks you know, if he has that gut instinct. I want to he kind of admitted that he did do that with the the Shota.
SPEAKER_01:I want to explain the Shota thing, uh, because it made a lot of sense to me, and I know people were mad I didn't spend time on it in the solo show, so I want to talk through the Show to thing, but I first just want to really establish that we're clear. Craig Council didn't give a fuck. You have 162 opportunities to do stuff like this, don't do it at all, ever, not once. You get and you're like fuck it, whatever. I mean it's that is that is crazy to me.
SPEAKER_00:See, and that's the kind of like thing where I'm like, he's you know, he was zigging all season long, and then he zags, and it's like, wait a second, is this absolute savant stuff? Is this another? I am like, Oh my god, Craig knows what he's doing. Uh, and like, I don't know, continue.
SPEAKER_01:He's our Belichick. This is his Belichick because the football, hey, I can hide stuff and save it for the playoffs. It's hard to save stuff for the playoffs, and you gotta play 162 baseball game. He saved it, he saved it. If motherfucker figured out a way to be like, here's Palency in the fifth, boom, didn't see that one coming. Or how about him using three lineups in a row? The exact same lineup. Nobody saw that one coming.
SPEAKER_00:How's about it? Yeah, how's about it? That was actually kind of nice for once.
SPEAKER_01:All right, Jamison Taeon. We're gonna get to show that in a second, but first, Jamison Taeon, obviously, credit to him. Amazing game today. He really felt his slider. I'm gonna put him in the same bucket of Daniel Palencia because Palencia's been more online, meaning just more direct towards the target, smooth, less herky jerky. Taeon was really masterful and controlled to the extent that I'd like to see him pitch again in the playoffs. You could tell this is an older guy who's relishing the opportunity to compete on a stage for his teammates. You could just tell it's a different something clicked in his head, and I saw it. So I'm like, I will pencil Jamison Taon into an unbelievable 2025 postseason uh stat line. Done guaranteed. Saw everything I need to see after the first inning today.
SPEAKER_00:And Carl, when he had an interview last night, you know, they had him in the locker room and we're talking about his start to likely today, which had happened, obviously. And he was very much, this is the moment you live for. This is everything you're thinking about, you know, growing up, you know, going through the everything. This is the moment that I want. And he absolutely was not bullshitting. And I mean, you could see it in his eyes, you know, when somebody's really giving an honest answer where it's coming from the heart, and he did, and then he showed up today and absolutely executed. I have more confidence in him than I have at any point in the season, and I my confidence was high on him throughout the year, but now I'm like, all right, he's the type of guy I want in these spots, especially at home in Wrigley.
SPEAKER_01:Can Soda start a game two in Milwaukee? Can he can show to start a game two in Milwaukee? Can he? That's the question for Maniacs today. Do you start Jamison Tan? Jamison Tan has a huge edge at Wrigley, where it's a major advantage if you let him start at Wrigley Field against the Brewers. If you pencil in J-Mo for game three, but does J Mo deserve to go game two, five? Whoever pitches game one pitches game four, two pitches five. You just have a third. So we're back and we're only three. So he pitches game three at Wrigley, it's a huge advantage, right? Mm-hmm. So then tell me this does show to pitch game two? Do we go opener game two? Do we hope somebody gets hurt and Cade Horton is healed and we can move Kate Horton? The only way Kate Horton can come off of the list that he's on right now and join the active roster if his ribs are healthy, is if someone were to get hurt. So do we stab Mike Siroca tonight at the team?
SPEAKER_00:Give him a shot to the kidney.
SPEAKER_01:Mike Siroca can't walk, broken toe. Carl stepped on his foot with a steel encased. Fuck you, Sioka. You bum.
SPEAKER_00:I think you start Shota, honestly, only because um it he's been a little shaky the past month, you know, early on in ball games. A little? I'm just saying, like I was very nervous with him in the game at that point. I was actually kind of nervous throughout, but the opener thing didn't really do much, right? It's like you wait to see him, you know, miss Machado and what you know, those dudes in the first go around and then just leave him in at that point, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. So start him short leash. Other than that, you know, I I just don't think it's a good idea for Shota to not get the ball in his hands in the first inning.
SPEAKER_01:All right. So the thing that makes sense to me, and I talked about this on the solo show, is that the biggest priorities are that Tatis and Machado who have an advantage over Shota. And at some point, you know you're gonna have to retire Tatis and Machado in some meaningful fashion. You're gonna have to get them out four times in this game. Hopefully, four times, maybe five times with Tatis Jr. And so the thinking is the first batch to get them out, it's much more conducive, I guess, to the overall game strategy, or it's better the overall game strategy to take the high percentage of getting them out first when you're going against Dylan Cease and you know they've got Mason Miller looming for a couple innings. So I think to the Cubs idea was like Dylan Cease is really bad when the game's tied. He's very good when he's pitching. When the Padres are up, Dylan Cease is awesome. When the Padres are tied or behind, Dylan Cease sucks. So I think some of that came into play too. And Kittrich is pretty fucking good, and we have a deep bullpen. Now, here's the reason why Shota sees Machado. If you get through Machado, you can keep Shota in to get to these shitty lefties after. You can get him against Jackson Merrill, who's he's a good matchup. I thought Showday was a fine matchup against Bogards, and I think Shota's an elite matchup against the meatball lefties that the Padres have. So the only reason I'm arguing for this is I think that Council had some intelligent. I think Council had some intelligent thought. The big criticism I would say is then why not just walk him and give Shota a huge advantage? But then the other thing is Machado's the type of guy who would chase. So then it just goes back to Shota for fucking giving him something to hit because Shota was in the position. If you do execute sweeper, breaking ball, splitter, etc., Machado was ready to swing out of his shoes the whole season. He left one, yeah. Definitely was he one for 10, one for 12 in the series?
SPEAKER_00:That was it, yeah. One for 12 or one for 13. And you could tell Shota had just left one right over the plate, and he was feeling it immediately.
SPEAKER_01:So I think that's pretty clear. Like council trying to explain that to the media is tough. To me, I thought I'm like, this isn't that's almost why I didn't talk too much about it on the shows. Like it made it made complete sense to me why they had him in against the question. Would be do you want to walk him to get to Jackson Merrill? The reason you wouldn't, though, is that it would be nice if you get Machado, then Jackson Merrill can start the sixth inning.
SPEAKER_00:See, that's where I was confused, to be quite honest. Was that that exact reasoning? And I had tweeted something last night, like I didn't understand the show to facing Machado thing, and that's really probably the reason why. Runner on second, you know, you could have just put him on, but it made a little it makes more sense now in talking to you, you know, moving forward.
SPEAKER_01:So, no reason here for us to be taking victory laps, but you know, if you listen to any of these game previews, series previews, I don't think we could do, I don't think it could be done better as far as preparing you for what you can expect to see from another team. A top heavy bullpen, you know, shoddy stuff. We have more depth from the starting pitching, more defense. I went through position by position. I thought we had a deeper bench that didn't come into play at all. I said they have a better bullpen. I thought Jamison Tayan was a much better starter than whoever would be.
SPEAKER_00:Garvish washed like that's spot on. Garvish had nothing for us today. If they left him in, it would have been a much you know larger margin. How good is Carson Kelly? Just a professional, putting together professional at bats, like squaring up the ball. Everything about him, I'm so happy that he's been, you know, the Carson Kelly we kind of saw earlier, but even so, just an absolute professional.
SPEAKER_01:They're most impactful players for Nato Tatis Jr. They're obviously best in historic. Players, Machado. Their most impactful player day to day is Tatis Jr. Saya outplayed him by a mile in this Suzuki.
SPEAKER_00:Guess who's back, ladies and gentlemen? Riding that hot hand through the end of the season. And yes, Suzuki, I was thinking, you know, we're gonna need Tucker, Hap or Suzuki to just light up a little bit for this first round. And it was Seya. And that's what helped, you know, push us over the edge in that first game and still, you know, squaring up the ball today.
SPEAKER_01:Can you come our right side of the infield between Nico Horner and Michael Bush versus there's not even a comparison? Jacob Cronenworth and Luisa Rise. No, sir, my friends. Michael Bush and Nico Horner, complete game changers. I'm dude, I'm itching because I'm like, I think this team has a whole gear to get to in the NLDS. Obviously, I have questions about what to do with the starting pitching. I think our bullpen's crazy deep. Sure, we don't have anybody that's like a true Mason Miller, whatever, but there's like seven fucking guys that can come out of the bullpen. I'm like, I think okay, great, perfect. And even with our starting five innings, if we're five innings starting staff now, I don't give a shit. I honestly like Pomerans in Teal Bar and I like the misfit toys that Craig Council's playing with at the back of the bullpen.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, dude, like with three runs, zero fear when everyone was coming. Like, I knew who we had lined up, even when Keller gave up that one to Jackson Merrill. I knew it was gonna work out okay at that point in the game. I have nothing but trust in the bullpen. Um, yeah, it's a thing of beauty, and I think that like we're gonna ride these guys into Milwaukee hard.
SPEAKER_01:So let me just get let me take the platform for a second, and and I won't go too long here, but I have a question for people. You could be driving a car right now, you could be on a tractor, you know, and I should just tell you quickly had a great weekend the other day at the plow matches. Everybody knows I moved out to rural America. There's an old contest that's been going on since 1880 in my township of who can plow the straightest quarter mile. No joke. What? Yes, and they've got different weight class divisions, 1920s and early 1920 to 1940, 40 to 60, and then modern day technology, and they measure talking like the make and model 1920 plower. These are called the plow matches, these are called the plow matches, my friend. And these have been going on since the 1880s, out west of Aurora in America's farmland. I've got friends out there. I live out here, I live in the cornfields in the forest that surrounds the cornfields. It's a magical place. But the plow matches now, Mahoney. I don't even remember why I'm telling you about the fucking plow matches, but I was there the other day and I had an epiphany, and it was just about how straight these fucking guys work in the process and the effort, and it goes into cultivating a crop. And every year the crop rises, every year the crop falls, and every year the crop rises, and some fucking years are better than others. And what I have going on in my head as we get ready for the brewers is this is a special fucking crop, my friend. If we were at the plow matches and I was planting fucking seeds, okay. I'm telling you, the 2025 Cubs are one of those corn stocks. 20 years from now, you're sitting around telling your grandkids you wouldn't believe the sweet corn fest we had.
SPEAKER_00:The green into October is something that you've never seen before.
SPEAKER_01:You wouldn't believe it. The girls were coming out, the corn was boiling, just how sweet and juicy each kernel was, each bite. That's what I really think of the 2025 Cubs. As we get ready for the 2025 NLDS against the Brewers, the question I have is why not us? Why not us? Why can't these juicy corn kernels grow just a little bit bigger? And the people who've been whining and bitching, folks, Nick Pivetta is the best pitcher we will see on this side of the bracket. Nick Pivetta is better than anybody on the fucking Brewers, he's better than anybody on the Phillies, on the Dodgers. He's better than anybody on the Red Sox, not named Garrett Crochet. No, he's just about one of the best pitchers, and we beat his fucking ass, buddy. Even with the shadows, with the shadow, yeah, a lot of shadow influence this week, and he was rolling, he had nine strikeouts in five innings. He was it wasn't like we beat a shitty Nick Vivetta. So, my question for you guys is why the fuck not us? No, the reason I asked, and I said, Why was I talking about the plow matches? Wherever you are, if you're driving a truck, if you're driving, if you're delivering something package for Amazon for Uber, you're at the gym right now. You could be on a tractor, you could be in the plow matches, driving plant and see the kernel. You know what I mean? A mile at a time, yeah. Who am I?
SPEAKER_00:Vin Diesel, Vin Diesel of the Corn Plow Circuit.
SPEAKER_01:I am Paul Walker. Rest in peace. So I didn't know how much people liked Paul Walker until I was at a bar one time and I ordered a Paul Walker shot, and I was at benchmark, I was upstairs, and the server's like, I didn't know what that is. And I was like, a Paul Walker shot. I'm at a big table. There's a bunch of people, probably girls from I have Ohio there that you know, obviously. Yeah, okay. Is this an off-collar joke? No, I'm saying I'd like a Paul Walker. I thought it was the same thing as ordering, and she's like, yeah, you don't know what a Paul Walker is, and it's just an Irish car bomb with like a little chaser shot of a fireball. Okay, I explained that to the server, and like this lady was like ready to set the fucking trade out and slap me. She's like, have some fucking respect. Oh, yeah, Paul Walker was I think Paul Walker trained. I was like, I thought that was a fun. It's Paul Walker, he's a legend, like that guy. Live by live fast, play fast. Like, he's all time, all time legend. He's our Paul Dean, Paul Dean, right? James Dean, Paul Dean Paula Dean has a sausage, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, she's not doing so hot herself. I think she's stuff suffering from a lot of vitro and stuff after whatever. What do you mean? What was she? I think Paula Dean got canceled for you know, just a little bit too south, a little too spicy.
SPEAKER_01:Tim, you can call her racist. It's okay. Like, you can't get canceled if she got canceled for being racist.
SPEAKER_00:But the thing is, I don't know exactly what happened, so I just would rather not shoot in the air. But no, my cousin starred in a movie with PW Killer Paul Walker before, and he like says he was the chillest, nicest guy, like everything about him. I never knew about the shot. That's a learning experience for me today, and it sounds like it was decently tasty.
SPEAKER_01:Did you you said your cousin starred in a movie with Paul Walker?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, one of those like straight to DVDs kind of thing back in the day, right on the shelf at Blockbuster.
SPEAKER_01:Confirmed, Paula Dean, racial slur controversy. Yeah, confirmed. Because now you have me second guessing. Do I should should I not be accusing Paula Dean of that title and bigotry, etc.? So all right. So here's what we're gonna do. This was a big, obviously, series win for the Chicago Cubs, and I'm really proud of a number of fucking things that had happened throughout the series. Pete Crow Armstrong was great today, Kyle Tucker can be better, Michael Bush was good, Tancy Swanson great with the glove. The bat gets going if Matt Shaw's back gets going, but at the same time, Carson Kelly's bat was super hot, but Ian Happ was really cold, but PCA got hot. So you just go down the list. What stuff makes you happy? What stuff makes you mad? I think the collective is that we have a really good baseball team. We have a team that competes back up against a wall. We saw better velocity, we saw better stuff, we saw better stuff than we're gonna see from the Brewers, and we saw a better lineup than we'll see from the Brewers. We saw more superstars than we saw from the Brewers, and we should have a ton of people up at Wrigley up at Wrigley North, right?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah. Oh, dude, it's like I'm already looking at tickets right now, and there's gonna be a massive collective there of fans per usual. Yeah, do you freeze on me? I am frozen. Oh, all right. So no, it's gonna be unbelievable. And if you look at it, we're the ones who are rolling right now. We've been playing baseball. Milwaukee's been sitting on their hands, have been playing that great skating into the end of the year. The time is now, and Carl, why not us?
SPEAKER_01:These tickets are juicy, baby. That's why I froze because I had to pull up the Seat Geek map. All right, I could tell you we're doing some action. I'm not gonna, hey, I'm not, I'm not putting that, I'm not editing that in post-production. Uh, we have some juicy tickets here for for Wrigley Field, I should say. I can only pull up. What do I want to see? I have the Wrigley Field to game three tickets in the door right now is 353. In the door right now, upper deck of the bleachers is 353. Uh, I got a section 207 for 238. Let's see that's not bad.
SPEAKER_00:That's not bad. 207 for 238. Jump on those if you're listening right now.
SPEAKER_01:232 is lowest we got. 232 is the lowest we got, my friend. Fair divisional series. So I'm looking for the Milwaukee Brewers right now.
SPEAKER_00:Did they do one of those things where like you can't buy tickets if you're out of the area code? They've done that in the regular season. No, not wonder if you can do that in the post.
SPEAKER_01:No, I got standing room only right now in Milwaukee 191. I got upper upper deck. I mean, I don't even know if they got bathrooms as high in the stadium, just the way plumbing works. 216 apiece. You know, it's like too steep. Who pipes at, you know? No disrespect. And I got family that's local 387 that won't get up there. No, sure, my friend. What does the sprinkler fitting look like at a retractable dome? Um, I said 387 meant 597. I apologize. No disrespect to pipe fitters. I mean 597. I'll get slapped for that. I'll get slapped. I'll I'll get uh would say beat up because I'd probably I can handle myself at this point against Uncle Timmy, but you definitely throw a beer can at my head. You fucking piece of shit. Um, all right. Tickets are available if you guys want to go. I encourage you guys to go. This is the time. Now, the first game is Saturday, which means today is Thursday, which means tomorrow night. Tomorrow night I'm gonna record a preview.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you gotta get full lineup breakdown. I want to know everything about the pictures. I want to know everything about like the reliefs, like how you know who their nanny was when they were a child. Like, almost I want you to go deep.
SPEAKER_01:I'm gonna be so deep. I'm gonna be so fucking deep. I'm gonna smell Pat Murphy's fucking girlfriend's fingers when I'm done. Do you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah, dude. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:You better know that guy likes a rusty fucking trombone. Um, and that's just because he's a passionate guy for life. Like, he doesn't, he's a little zesty. So we're gonna fucking take it to the brewers. You guys think I'm joking around? A little bit of a looser episode. We did win, we did celebrate. I have had a couple beers since we won the celebration, so you know, if I want to smell Pat Murphy's girlfriend's fingers, I will.
SPEAKER_00:And Carl, this is like your COVID pot. Like, this is your COVID recording. This kid's loose on COVID right now, extremely deep. I could see in the eyes, and Carl, you're still just delivering. No one would know uh, no one would know the difference.
SPEAKER_01:People that don't believe in COVID should come over here and smell my armpits right now and how much I'm sweating through the charcoal the charcoal deodorant I use because I don't buy the big big box stuff anymore. Because once I found out about how much aluminum is in that, I'm out.
SPEAKER_00:Have the yeah, has the body aches got to you yet?
SPEAKER_01:No, I body aches no, dude. I went through maybe why for COVID body aches?
SPEAKER_00:It's coming. I just had the same, I think I had the same strain as you, and I'm telling you, I was on the shelf for a good day and a half.
SPEAKER_01:Could be the hiking, you know. Could be the hiking, could be would be terrible if I had a real serious illness. So let's hope it's just COVID.
SPEAKER_00:Sweating's good, sweating it out is always good as we were sweating out this last series, and the Cubs winning is also good.
SPEAKER_01:Anything else you got for the maniacs? Anything on your mind?
SPEAKER_00:No, nothing. Glad to be back, glad to be recording. Honest to God, thanks for all the kind messages. It was nothing other than couldn't make it Monday, doctors' appointments, a couple 911 calls in between. All is well, and thank you for holding down the four carl. Honest to God, that's really what I wanted to say was appreciate you just running through things and uh continuing to live for the maniacs as you do. You're not a you're not the first guy to have a bad case of crabs, my friend.
SPEAKER_01:No, fake news, you know. But if you are out there struggling, we don't have a sponsor for that stuff yet. So if you do are using an ointment, something that chips directly your door, I'm not saying I have anything, I'm just saying this is good stuff because they're always trying to get into the type of market that we have here from the maniacs and stuff, and we're always looking to expand the brand in the show, you know. Respect the thirsty Bacero. But if there's a hemorrhoid cream out there too, yep. And yes, hemorrhoids bring them our way.
SPEAKER_00:We will we will throw you on the broadcast and get you out to the masses.
SPEAKER_01:So we played it. What the game is Saturday. I guess I'm gonna drop the fucking preview tomorrow. I'm gonna do my research tonight, and then the preview will be out tomorrow morning. So I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna talk to Mahony, we're gonna get on the same page, schedule, we'll figure out what works. Um, but we got to get this going, baby. We need to get this going. I need good vibes, I need everybody positive. Be grateful. We're moving on in the NLDS. We have a huge advantage over the brewers. Doesn't feel like it, I don't give a fuck. Your buddy wants to talk shit, tell him to suck mine. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So, until we talk next time, go cubs, enjoy this, baby. Playoff victory doesn't happen often. Enjoy it, go cubs. It's great.