Monday Morning Cubs Show

NLDS Game 4 Preview: The Chicago Cubs Own October 9th

• Carl + Mahoney • Season 2 • Episode 64

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The city is pacing, the coffee’s gone cold, and every breath feels like a countdown. We’re staring down Game 4 at Wrigley, and the path forward is oddly clear: turn gratitude into urgency, and urgency into a plan that squeezes Milwaukee’s choices. We dig into why the Brewers’ handling of Freddie Peralta—95 pitches in Game 1, an opener in Game 2, and a short leash yesterday—has created a bind that benefits Chicago. If they use him tonight, they compromise his early NLCS availability. If they hold him, they might not get that far. That’s not noise; that’s leverage.

On our side, Matt Boyd doesn’t need to dazzle. He needs to turn adrenaline into mis-hits, live on the corners, and let the crowd magnify every borderline strike. We talk through how Boyd’s Wrigley profile plays against a lineup that wants to ambush and how a patient approach against Peralta—spitting at the ladder up, refusing chase east-west—can bleed pitch count and push the game into a bullpen battle the Cubs are ready to win. Four runs is the target. Not a slugfest, but a sequence: early pressure, long at-bats, and timely contact.

We also get honest about the mental math. Milwaukee is trying to plan two moves ahead, mapping Peralta for an NLCS that isn’t guaranteed. Chicago has one job: win tonight. That single-task focus shapes everything—lineup choices around Hap, inning-to-inning matchups, and the trust in a bullpen that’s already felt real leverage. We name the arms who could bridge the middle, the platoon spots that matter, and why “house money” at home isn’t luck; it’s a license to be aggressive with decisions and disciplined in the box.

If your heart is pounding, you’re in the right place. Tap play, feel the stadium rise, and ride with us as we break down how to force Game 5—one pitch, one plate appearance, one moment at a time. If you believe, share this with a Cubs fan who needs a steady voice today. And if you’re new here, subscribe, leave a quick review, and tell us your Game 4 score pick—we’ll feature our favorites next show. Go Cubs.

Thanks for tuning in!

- Carl & Mahoney

SPEAKER_00:

Good morning, good afternoon, and evening Chicago Cubs fans. Welcome back to the Monday Morning Cubs Show. Today is Thursday, October 9th, and this is a special edition Game 4 NLDS preview, Cubs vs. Brewers, tonight at Wrigley Field, 8 p.m. And now excuse me while I catch my breath, because this is unquestionably the most jacked up I've been as a Cubs fan in honestly a decade. Like I cannot begin to tell you how much Game 3 met. We did a full recap last night. If you want to hear the stuff about that, it's available 45 minutes, infield fly lineup, all that bullshit, pitching changes, a lot of reaction stuff. This show is just more about tonight, the prep. You know, starting pitching hasn't been announced. Freddie Pralta versus Matt Boyd, right? That's what people are saying. You know, do the Cubs use Matt Boyd? We'll get to that. What's the situation with Freddie Pralta is actually significantly, significantly crazier. And if you if you're following, you know I just caught an F word there, and we watched those. And I I don't want to be too vulgar in this episode. What I'd like to do is just calm myself down and have a good conversation about what I think game four looks like. You'll notice a couple things here. I am out of breath because I am just incredibly anxious about tonight's game. I'm just so anxious. I'm not nervous. I'm not excited. I'm anxious. I just like I can feel it in my bones. I don't even, I can't sit still. I've been pacing around the house since I got up. Um, hardly slept a wink last night. And the reason I say this so confidently is I know that just about everybody listening to me is in the same boat. There's a lot of people that are just, we are, why are we the way we are? We'll dig into that in the offseason, maybe. Maybe I'll sit down with a psychiatrist, we'll just broadcast and think. Why do I care so much? Why did game three shave 10 years off my life last night? You know, that's an opening personal note for you guys, and I'm here with you. I'm here, like when I say maniacs, like you know we don't sell merch. You know I don't cram parlays down your throat or any of this profit-driven shit. Like, you know, it's literally this is a show for people who give a shit about the Chicago Cubs. This is a show for people that like it just means more to you. It just means a lot, right? Like, and should it get to more comfortable fans or people that are just getting into baseball, it's nice to meet you guys. My name is Carl. I'm a just kind of like a bona fide psychopath when it comes to baseball, but you know, we've built this up for a very long time now. And to get to this point with the elimination game last night and it today where we have fresh life, and I'm gonna get to this where I think the brewers have serious problems now. I really do. I'm not saying that for the bravado of the machismo. I'm not pounding my chest, I'm not asking you guys to run through a brick wall with me. I'm being dead serious that I think the brewers have some serious internal questions that they put on themselves. So we'll talk about that. You know, the game three recap, go check that out. If you want to hear about game three, obviously just go check that out. We're moving on, we're in a game four preview. And I'm so fired up. If you guys hear me breathing into the microphone heavy today, it's because I still have a little bit of the COVID, but I like just can't I haven't been able to catch my breath for like 14 hours now. And maybe that's a symptom of the COVID too. No, that's symptomatic of playoff baseball and just being obsessed with your team. Now, this year means a little bit different to me, obviously, leaving Barstool. This year's just a kind of like a different attachment point for me. Um, and I know there's people in the audience that have different attachment points to this season for their own personal reasons, right? I've got a bunch of friends out there that um, you know, you go through stuff and and then you can lock into something. You can put your hands on something and say, like, well, I really care about this, and then that becomes your thing, and that's what the 2025 Cubs have been for me. I'm sorry, guys, I'm just really anxious and fired up and just jacked up and like trying to do the preview show. I've been too fired up where there's too much of this, you know, the brewers are fucked. Which gets away from the strategic conversation that I want to have, and that's what we're here for, right? That's what we're here for. So here's the theme for the Monday morning Cub show today. And I think it's simple. A little twofold, but I still think it's simple. The first part is we're grateful. We're grateful for another day of the most meaningful baseball we can watch. We're so lucky to be Cubs fans and to support a team that down 2-0 comes out and battles their ass off in game three. That's the first part of this. The second part of this, the second part of the theme, we own today. October 9th, 2025 belongs to you. You want a big lunch, go get it. You know, there's something you've been missing out in life, go get it right now. You've been meaning to email your boss about that promotion, you fucking email him or go see him in person. Or maybe there's a vendor or a client that's let you down in the past. Reach out. You know, if there's somebody, if there's something there in your life that there has been an element of fear, trepidation, anxiety, something where you're like, you know what, not now. Now is the time. Now is the time. And I'm not trying to pump you up unnecessarily. What I'm saying is we're grateful as Cubs fans to have this team to come out and fight and battle. And if you're a maniac and you're the type of person that watches April West Coast baseball into the eighth and ninth inning, locked in. Now here's the time of the season. This matters so much. This matters so much. And if you're the type of person that just gives a shit, now take advantage of the fact that October 9th belongs to you. This day is your day. Or maybe make the sales call you've been waiting to make. Ask the girl out for fucking dinner tomorrow. You know, it's an off day. Hey, if the Cubs win today, what do you say we get some dinner tomorrow? You know, have fun with it. Figure out a way where like this really belongs to you. October 9th belongs to you. October 9th, 2025. Cubs going to play game four elimination. This is your day. You have the best day that you can have. And you support yourself with positivity around you. And don't worry about any of the what if we lose when the season's over? Just enjoy the fact that at 8.08 tonight, the Chicago Cubs are gonna go out and play a game at Wrigley Field in front of 40,000 people on their feet screaming, and it's gonna be a magical experience, and this is why you sit through and you give a fuck for 162. Right? We've kind of moved off this postseason show talking about like, well, this is how we're gonna do strict opening comments to the game for preview. We should feel grateful we have another day of baseball. This is what this 2025 Cubs team has done for us. If they give us. I woke up today feeling so good about myself, so good about the fact I get to watch more baseball. The alternative I'm not even ready to discuss. The alternative of that. They don't it's not available to us. Why? Jamison Teon went out and pitch his balls off last night enough to compete. He wasn't perfect, but he battled through adversity. And that's why I'm saying today, October 9th, belongs to you. What's adversity in your life that you can go out and you can just say, you know what, I'm gonna take control of it right now, the same way Jamison Teon did last night with that bullshit and field fly rule. So these are my opening comments. We're going a little bit long. Obviously, everything here is brought to us by Thirsty Vacero. A Mexican-style soda with a signature spicy finish. That is, they'll deliver it to your front door from Amazon. And everybody listening to this has an Amazon account. You just go to Amazon and type in Thirsty Vacaro, add the cart, ship to front door. Playoff success. Now, is it unfair for me to tie Thirsty Vacaro to Cubs playoff success? Maybe that's a little bit too commercial. Maybe, but maybe not. You know, it's a game of margins here, guys. I imagine the Cubs lose a one game, like one run game, and you didn't have a Thirsty of Carol in hand. That's crazy. Which is predatory at my end to tell you to get it because the Cubs will lose if you don't get it. But at the same time, how about we just do this and take a step back? I'll open up to you guys, I'll be honest about some of the personal anxiety I have around the Cubs, how much this this season means to me. And then I want to tell you guys that the Thirsty Vaccaro guys like propped me up for the postseason run and were like, you should I'll just okay, fine, fuck it. One of my best friends owns Thirsty Vacaro. We played college baseball together, there's three guys behind it, and one of my closest friends from Illinois baseball, and he's a diehard Cardinals fan, he hates the Cubs, but we love each other. And he's like, hey, what if you know, what if I threw some dough behind you to to like do more for the Cubs in the postseason? Down the stretch and stuff. Like, if I if I threw some dough your way, would you like fucking buy in on this and we can like build this up together? It's a Cardinals fan. This guy who hates the Cubs. This guy spent years in a college baseball clubhouse arguing with him about Cubs versus Cardinals. He's one of my closest friends. And he's like, you know what? We're launching this thing. This guy's such a big hit, he doesn't need to fucking support the show. And while we're doing the Thursday because it's so big in Texas, like it's funny to do these ad reads in Chicago because it's like we're in Yaksis. The reason we're in Yaksis is because we did a taste test, and Leah was like, This is the best fucking thing I've ever had in my life. You know, shout out Leah Spagnoli. Then we take it down to Sluggers, you know. And Ari's like, holy shit, dude. You know, David's like, holy shit, Zach's, holy shit, this is good stuff. We could sell, we people love this stuff. Um, you know, and these are just tangents into getting the game for a preview because I got the anxiety, but as we're doing the ad reading, is I'm just trying to tie in this thirsty vicaro partnership as we get on the postseason. I'm just encouraging maniacs, like you get a chance, check this stuff out. I know I outed the owner as a Cardinals guy, but you guys know that when I said originally, they're Anheuser-Busch people, veteran beverage guys, some of the best people I know. You know, and I'm making it sentimental now as we go into an elimination game. If you guys have a chance to support the brand, the reason that we've been able to publish 15 shows in the last 30 days, this will be the 16th Monday morning cub show in 30 days. And it's because of the guys from Thirsty the Carol that have like propped it up to be like, you just love doing this, and we want to get behind somebody who loves doing what they're doing. So, like, that kind of makes me emotional, you know, and it all ties together. And I think this is a good thing to reach back to you guys and say what's your attachment point to the 2025 Cubs as we go into another elimination game tonight. And I've got close bonds with people in the audience. I can I know there's personal stories, struggle, losing somebody, going through something personally, losing a job, um, raising kids, just doing stuff where like this team matters to you because it's maybe the words escape, or maybe maybe the word is it's a place for you to be yourself without any of the external bullshit that goes on in life, that you can just dial into a fucking baseball game and really care. And the fact is the 2025 Cubs have like reignited my love for Chicago Cubs baseball, and that's a personal thing I'll get into maybe in the offseason about the relationship with baseball. You're working for Barstool, you're putting stuff out there, you're trying to go viral, you're doing all this stuff, and like over time you just kind of get away from you know the winning and the losing and giving a fuck because you're more interested in, you know, you're more interested in whatever else is out there and the clicks and the likes and the engagement, all this bullshit. And like I just want to just again, I'm sorry to do this ad read so long. I'm sorry this intro's taking so long. I'm sorry this is taking so long for me to put the preview out here. But the way we won game three last night and propped ourselves up for game four, I just feel so lucky. And what happens from here on out, obviously, we're I'm gonna give the pitching previews and all this stuff how I think at the time of recording the Cubs are coin flip. It's a minus 110, minus 110 game, it's a pick'em. But it really means a lot that we got to this point. I just be a stupid sucker to spend one more minute talking about this Cubs, uh, this Cubs team without telling everybody that's listening to this, just say thank you and how much it means to me. And and there's a lot of times I end shows and say I love you guys, go Cubs, or I'll do that with post-games. And I do really mean it to the community that like you guys have you guys have really put a lot of love into me. And I and I'm just so pumped for this game four, and that's why we're gonna fucking talk about it, boys. That's why we're gonna get ready for game four. So thank you for letting me get the sentimental shit off my chest up front. But this is game four. And the Brewers got a big problem on their hands. Specifically, what are you doing with Freddie Peralta? And what are you doing with the rest of your pitching staff? Because you got cute in game two and you used an opener and then you use Quinn Priester in game three, and he couldn't get out of the first inning. You're out of starting pitching. So now the Brewers are going, are we gonna make it to the NLCS and use Freddie Peralta? Do we need to use him now? They wanted a sweep so bad yesterday, I cannot even explain to you guys the advantage shift between the Brewers going into yesterday and today. And I'm gonna temper them my cheese mow and the bravado and all this stuff. I don't need people running through brick walls. What I need is just this mindset, like we're gonna see Freddie Peralta tonight. Freddie Peralta is one of the best pitchers in the world, and I have to I have to like frame this around the fact that like this is the sixth time we've seen Freddie Peralta. And it's not like the Brewers are running Freddie Peralta like out on a Tuesday night, you know, against the Marlins at home or something in May, and it doesn't really fucking matter. Like they're gonna be like, hey, Freddie, we need you to pitch tonight just so we can bring you back. I mean, if you look at the NLCS, it starts on Monday. They play games on Monday and Tuesday. Today is Thursday, Thursday night. So if they use Freddie Peralta tonight, they won't be able to use him for the first two games of the NLCS. If they use him for game five, if they say fuck it, we were not gonna use Freddie Peralta tonight, we're gonna throw whatever. And again, at the time recording this, the starting pitching matchups haven't been announced. But this is a problem the Brewers created when they didn't start Quinn Priester game two. When they did opener game two and then Quinn Priester three. They just kind of fucked their whole thing. So now they put themselves in this weird decision. Okay, use Freddie Peralta tonight at Wrigley Field. Significant disadvantage to using him game five, but they can't use him game five. I'm not like talking around this. You know, I don't I don't know how much people are sinking their teeth into this point, but like the fact that the Brewers took a 2-0 series lead killed us in the first inning of both games. You know, I shouldn't say game two, they tied at 3-3. But the resiliency of the Brewers and the way that their lineup's put together, and now you're looking at them going, you need to use Freddy game four. Well, if they don't use Freddy game four, they have to use him game five, right? Is that a guarantee? So put yourself in the position of the Brewers making this decision. You have a choice. We can throw Freddie game four, and then if Freddie throws game four, then maybe we can use him game three of the NLCS. Or do you not throw him at all and you're like, fuck it, we'll just win one of the next two games against the Cubs. We don't need to use Freddie Prath. We'll save him for game one or you know, two of the NLCS. Or throw him tonight, and then the best thing you can do is bring him back game three. You know, Quinn Priester couldn't make it out of the first inning of the NLDS. So then that's where you guys are going in the NLCS. Now, this is the look ahead shit I'm not doing with the Cubs. I'm doing it just for the Brewers. The Brewers have to look ahead way harder and firmer because they have a guy like Freddie Pearl. The Cubs is like fucking throw Aaron Savali right now. You know, that's a different conversation we're gonna get to. But when I say the Brewers have created a problem for themselves, it's when you go Ashby game two, or when you make Freddie throw 95 pitches game one. You know, and this is where I got to temper myself. I'll get too excited for criticizing a team that's above us 2-1 right now in a playoff series. But you didn't need to throw that guy 95 pitches. I made a point, and people criticized me, they're crazy. You could throw 45 pitches, they would have won game one. And then it'd be fine to throw him game. You wouldn't have any problem about his rest. They threw him 95 fucking pitches game one. Gotta watch the F-word. They're gonna have to bring, they cannot not use him for game four. You would save him for game five would be the dumbest thing because then you'd be saying, We have to assume you're a pick'em tonight against the Cubs. Minus 110. We're gonna see Freddie Peralta tonight for the sixth time. Sure, he's on regular rest, whatever. But when I say the Brewers have created a problem, it's like if we win game four, if we win game four and Freddie Peralta starts, then I'll throw a big G guarantee on a game five win. Now, if the Brewers don't start Freddie Peralta tonight, they're stupid morons. You know, and at the time of recording, they say they still have not announced the starting pitching matchups with this, which is like bona fide crazy. But if we see Freddie Peralta tonight, it's our sixth time seeing this guy. You know? And I'll just go back to Cubs starting pitching before I get into lineup matchups against Freddie. I can't fathom a world where the Brewers don't put Freddie Peralta out game for. Like you'd have to be such an arrogant cunt to not start Freddie Peralta tonight. Which I maybe some people are listening to this and be like, yo, obviously, dude, you're a moron for making a big deal out of this. But put yourself in the position of the Brewers. We start him tonight, Thursday night, he can't pitch Monday. He's off Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Can he pitch game two? How many pitches did he throw in game four? That matters tonight, right? There's a lot of considerations for where the Brewers want to go in the postseason that are directly implicated back to what do you do for four, what do you do for five? Where the Cubs are like, we'll fucking play the house money. I already said, hot dog guy. I'll pitch, Ronnie Woo-woo, who's pitching tonight? You know, there's a little bit of this house money at home 8 p.m. Which is shitty matchup analysis stuff, but just the subjective thing I think is important is to say, you know, if we're up to the Brewers, they would they would have they they wanted to win bad yesterday so bad. They needed to win yesterday so bad that now there's kind of this host of problems where the Cubs are like, fuck it, we could throw Matt Boyd. We get three scoreless for Matt Boyd. You know, we'll jump into somehow that Matt Boyd, because the Brewers do rigy lefty, righty, lefty, righty lefty like crazy. But I mean, I'm just like crazy if I don't bring up the fact. I know Freddie Peralt is one of the best pitchers in the National League. Right? Do you want to save him for a game five? Do you burn them now? You could say we don't need to throw him for game four, they're gonna throw him game four. This is his six start against the Cubs. It's as good of a situation as you can think of for facing Freddie Peralta. It's as good of like a 2-1 NLDS situation you could ask for. It could be so much worse. And we haven't even talked about the fact that Matt Boyd You know, he doesn't pitch that well against the Brewers. And that's a lineup that sees Matt Boyd well. And what Matt Boyd does to succeed is he enhances your aggressiveness. So say I'm a major league hitter. Hi, I'm Carl, I hit three. Who do I hit three for the Nationals? I'm a big hitter, I'm righty. I hit fucking I'm I hit 45 bombs a year. You know, I love the ball up and over the plate. It's such a good Thursday big arrow. But just assume I just assume I'm a three-hitter for the Nationals with 45 home runs. I see Matt Boyd. I'm like, man, I'm gonna tag this guy 91-92. You know, there's nothing about him that makes you intimidated as a hitter. If anything, it makes you anxious, you're ready to go. I want to piece of this, it's up and over the plate. And so this goes back to the Brewers lineup of being a team that doesn't chase, doesn't look north. If you've listened to previous shows, we've talked about, you know, north, south, up and down in the strike zone, north up, south down. You know, we've talked about east in on righties, west, north, south, east, west. And what Matt Boyd does really well, similar to Shoda, is he takes advantage of the fact that hitters want to be aggressive against him because he's only throwing 92, 93. You know, you don't see that. In Major League Baseball right now, every guy coming out of a bullpen has 97 plus. There's something about having that. Here it is. And I think Matt Boyd very much carries that. The problem is, as we match up against the Brewers, they don't really, they don't buy into this. Uh, here it is. That they're like, that's a false flag. That's a conspiracy theory. We don't believe in your curveball. You know, or what however you want to frame this shit. You know, Matt Boyd feasts on the very aggressive and the egomaniac baseball player that's like, I'm about to get, I'm a I'm gonna light this motherfucker up. Matt Boyd has made his entire career off of people that get in the box and go, I'm gonna light this motherfucker up. Especially in modern baseball, the transition. Because when Matt Boyd was coming up originally, it was this guy's a swing and miss lefty. Swing and miss lefty was a guy that threw 94, 95. And he can still, maybe he could still touch a f he could still touch a 95. But the whole essence of Matt Boyd has evolved into this guy. It's like if you are a very aggressive hitter, Matt Boyd's gonna eat your fucking lunch. There's a reason he's 12-1 with the 2-5 VRA at home at Wrigley Field over 15 starts, and that's because he's so masterful at nibbling the corners of the strike zone. And getting you to feel like that pitch you want up, you're like, oh, this one's up. It's actually not up at all. It's gonna break late, it's on the edge of the strike zone. And not to go full meatball, but Wrigley Field enhances that, you know, because on the wayside, you're pumped. You're like, you're at Wrigley Field in this amazing atmosphere, and you are more juiced up. You know, this is really esoteric stuff, as we're getting into preview for game four. This really subjective psychological stuff. But the reason Matt Boyd is good at Wrigley Field is that he's like not this dominant. I'm gonna shut you down, I'm gonna shove it up your ass, you're gonna be sad you had to face me. But rather like the complete opposite of like you feel so good about yourself. Like you're such a good player, you're a major league hitter, you're here, it's playoffs. Like you're seeing this guy throws 93, it's over the middle of the play. You should hammer this, right? And so that's where Matt Boyd creates his advantages. That's where he gets chase, that's where he gets you uncomfortable, that's where he gets weak round outs to Danzby Swanson. So I know it's extremely easy to look at game one and just say this guy blows, we're fucked. But in my heart, I think this situation aligns perfectly for Matt Boyd. 12 and 1, 2.5 ERA at home. Brewers have pressure on themselves because they're not sure. Do we start, you know, like they're gonna start Freddie Peralta. They have to. You can't not pitch Freddie Peralta today, save him for a Phantom Game 5, which could happen, and then he's fucked for the NLCS. Like, you have to run him out there now, and the problem is they ran him out there for 95 pitches in the first game, which I had said repeatedly, like, why would you they they could have been just fine using Freddie Plalta for 60 pitches? Whatever. He didn't have to throw 95. The Brewers created a problem for themselves, and I think the Cubs are gonna take advantage of it. And I think Matt Boyd, in this circumstance, this is such a long-winded way to go about this. I don't care. I got a little bit of COVID. You know, we should have been knocked out last night. The fact we're even doing the show is such a blessing from God that we get to sit here and talk about the Cubs tonight. Fredd Peralta at Wrigley against Matt Boyd. You know, Matt Boyd wants it so much more, like this is so I'm in such a perfect meatball area here to just lay into the fact that this lines up so well for the Cubs. It sets us up for heartbreak, but if I were to, I I can't think of better circumstances where like, alright, fine, we'll run Freddie Peralta out there in front of 40,000 at Wrigley Field tonight and let Matt Boyd pitch three innings and then turn it over to every single bullpen guy that got a taste last night. And while you're doing that, tell me we don't have an advantage. Tell me we don't have tougher guys. You know, I'm not throwing a big G guarantee on this, but just from a game four preview perspective, it's like Freddie Prawd is about to make a six start against the Chicago Cubs. Okay, Matt Boyd has been chopping at the bit to prove himself in these moments. And the last time he faced the Brewers at home was in that five-game series against Brewers. He did five, he walked three guys in the second inning. You know, there's probably some nerves there. We got a lead early. He pitched with it, and I just trust a guy like this that has been through so much in his career, not just as a fucking cub. I'm going back to like pre-Oregon state days with Matt Boyd. It's like every time he picked up a ball, you know, as a young pitcher, like I want those moments. I want those moments. So in 2010, 2020, this is a guy who was in college as a lefty when Madison Bumgarner was just putting the Giants on his back to win three World Series championships. I'm not, I don't even give a fuck. I have no clue what the connection is between the two. What I'm purely trying to say is Matt Boyd has waited his life for this moment, just like Jamison Tanne did the other day. And not that Tan went out and dominated, but he did enough. He did enough. Can we ask Matt Boyd to do enough? Am I an insane person to say that I think under the circumstances the Milwaukee Brewers are going to be a little bit more aggressive, just given all of everything that goes into this? They need to win this game. If they start Freddie Peralta today, they need to win this game so bad. Because if they have to go back to Milwaukee for a game five, they're going to burn their bullpen, they're going to get crushed in the NLCS. This is shit nobody who's in charge of the Brewers is ever going to talk about. No one would ever talk about this stuff. But internally, they're sitting in the conference room, they're like, what do we do today? Because quite honestly, they're so fucked that they have to start Freddie Peralta in game four here today. You know, if it were up to them, they would absolutely not be in this position so that he could pitch game one or two of the NLCS. And that's where the Brewers' heads are at. Now, comparatively and competitively, like the Cubs are playing this series pitch to pitch. And this goes back to just like a general preview standpoint. I'm trying to give you guys information about like the the Brewers are standing around going, well, how do we use Freddie for game two in the NLC NLCS? Have you heard anyone even close to Cubs Fandom talk about the NLCS? No. Not at all in the least bit. We're here right now competing our dicks off. We still have to get game four, and then we got to go get game five. The Brewers are making decisions right now, entirely predicated on how does this line up with whoever we see from the Phillies and the Dodgers series. And I know this is like a crazy silver lining, but there's something about the fact that, like, all right, you got to beat us at home right now. You know, and they're nervous because they're thinking about like, well, what about when we go to LA? You're not going to LA right now. You're not. No one said you were going to LA. Not right now. And not to Philadelphia. Not till that gets decided. Like we still have to go out and play baseball. And there's something about the fact that the Brewers are sitting around going, we got to use Freddie Four so we can use him in the LCS, so we can get ready for game two. We can't do it for five. All that bullshit consideration takes away from the fact that like tonight, 8.08 p.m. Central Standard Time, you know, we're going to be out there competing to play game four, to get to a game five. And my entire sense of the Milwaukee Brewers is that they're like locked into this. If we do it this, then we can't do it that. If we can't do it that, then we can't do this. And if we use this guy, then we can't use that guy. And if this guy can't go, then this and this and this, and we gotta put the Cubs are like, well, fuck it. Aaron Savalio throw fucking six innings tonight if we have to. You know, I'll rule out Colin Ray because he threw 60 pitches in game at two. But my point is that like everything on the table for the Cubs is ready to go right now. And I again have to manage my bravado and Machismo. But my general point about this team is that like right now in this moment going into game four, if it is a Map Boyd versus Freddie Pratt to just straight up one on one, the Brewers are sending Freddie Pratt out to the mound under the premise of like. We gotta win this game, and we have to do it in a way where we can use union the NLCS. The Cubs are sending Matt Boyd to the mound to be like, just get us nine outs. Six? Whatever. We don't care. Now, for the grand scheme, what's the advantage? Not the conversation I want to have. For tonight, that's an advantage to the Cubs. If you're gonna take the best pitcher the Brewers have, you're gonna start them tonight under the premise of we need your availability for a series that like doesn't really exist yet. They haven't earned it. But that's why they're using Freddie Peralta tonight. And then going back to Matt Boyd. I like the fact that this whole pressure kind of bleeds itself into the Brewers Clubhouse that then applies itself to Matt Boyd's stuff. Pitching on the fringes of the strike zone, using your own aggressiveness against you. And it starts with Kristian Yalich as a leadoff hitter. It really does. It gets a Bryce Tarang as a three-hitter, it gets a Sal Freelak as a five-hitter. This left-on-left stuff where Matt Boyd can make you feel very uncomfortable. And he'll be an extremely difficult at bat for William Contreras. That's a fact. Whatever's happened before, I don't give a fuck. There's it's so easy to sit down and do the splits on this. I don't care. Under these moments, Matt Boyd has a ball in his hand, opportunity to shut down the Brewers at home, 12-1, 15 starts with a 2-5 ERA. With everyone behind him, after he shit his pants in game one, threw 30 pitches. How insane do you have to be to not support Matt Boyd as a Cubs fan right now? Like everything in his life leads to this moment to go out and just like, you know what? I'm gonna make good pitches tonight. What happens, what happens. But I'm gonna make good pitches tonight. And that's why I have so much confidence in Matt Boyd tonight for a game four. I really do. I think there's a game five in Milwaukee. I think Milwaukee has to burn through fucking Freddie Peralta to get there, which is a crazy thing. But they have to do that because you can't honestly pursue the NLCS if you don't throw Freddie Peralt in a game four. If you're saving Freddie Peralta for a game five and saying maybe we'll just win this one anyways, you deserve to lose a game four. So they have to throw him game four, and then that's a huge advantage for us because it's like we're gonna see Freddie Peralta at home in front of 40,000, 8 p.m. Central Standard Time. Perfect situation for us to face Freddie Perl. Way better than facing him in Milwaukee on a Saturday. So fuck it. Well, let's knock out their number one tonight. Let's get to 2-2 and let's go play game five in Milwaukee. Like that's generally where my head's at about this. And I know people think I'm crazy. I know this, I know this show is later than it should have come out. It's taken me so long to put this together because I bet I don't want too much false bravado out there. You know, I'll say this: I did my homework. I told you guys I would. And I did. There's been nine instances where the Milwaukee Brewers have gone on the road, lost a game by one run, and used at least five pitchers. And they lose seven of the nine games after that. There's some historic circumstance. They lose four in a row, five in a row. They get their dick smashed in when they lose by one and use five or more pitchers, which is exactly what happened yesterday. It's happened nine times this season. They've lost the next game seven of the nine times. They've gone on losing streaks five of the nine times. So when we talk about like, is there an opportunity for the Cubs to come back down two in the NLDS against the Brewers? I'm fucking fine. Quinn Priester couldn't make it out of the first inning. You want to use you want to go ahead and throw Freddie Peralta today at Wrigley Field because you're nervous about the NLCS. You're not even thinking about getting to the NLCS, you're just nervous about it. So you have to use Freddie Peralta today against Matt Boyd, who's 12-1 and 15 starts at home with a 2.5 RA at Wrigley Field. And a bullpen ready to go out and do its fucking job. You know? Like this is ideal circumstances, game four. You know, at home, a guy who needs to prove a little something after game one against an arch rival right-handed pitcher that's made six now's sixth start against the Chicago Cubs this year. Like these are just perfect circumstances. Just shove it down the brewer's throat. And again, for the last time, like I'm not saying that to be arrogant, or I'm not saying that to like, you know, incite false bravado about how good the 2025 Cubs are. I'm just saying, objectively, as I look at this, the fact that the Milwaukee Brewers are confused about like how do they manage their best pitcher as it applies to like what their future could hold. Whereas it comes with like, dude, we got 40,000 ready to roll on Clark Street right now, gassing fucking beers and thirsty McEros. Everybody's ready to roll. Like, you're gonna be coming into Wrigley Field, nervous as all hell. We're gonna take this game decisively, and then we're gonna make you go back to Milwaukee and play against us where you don't have your best pitcher because you already burned him in a game four, because you were nervous about how it lined up with the NLCS, because you already fucked with how you used Quinn Priester and an opener. Like these are problems the Milwaukee Brewers created for themselves. And while we play bad baseball in game one and two, we have an opportunity. We came back in game three, we took advantage of the opportunity. Now we have game four in front of us. You know, that's how I feel through COVID. You know, through a lot of stuff here, is I'm just trying to take in this game. This is an elimination game for the Chicago Cubs. There's so much emotion that goes into this. And I'm thinking to myself, if they're sending Freddie Peralta for a game four against a Matt Boyd, and Matt Boyd only has to throw three innings. We have a full rested bullpen that knows how to get after the Brewers in these high-levered situations. The Brewers bullpen has not had to face the Cubs in any high-levered situation. They they they they don't they haven't had that experience. They've been in the driver's seat. So let's put them on their heels for a second. You know, let's come out and and score more today in the first run, you know, in the first inning. Let's come out and just set like a little bit of a tone. We don't need Matt Boyd to go six, seven innings. But I'm just saying is from the perspective of game four preview, like the fact they they have to go to Freddie Peralta. They need Freddie Peralta to throw like 75 pitches so that Freddie Peralta is available for the whole ethos of the Brewers' operational strategy right now is like we have to keep this going so we're ready for the world series. The Cubs are like, fuck you guys, get through us first. And in that fight, I like the Cubs. Tonight. I do love them tonight. I do very much love the Cubs tonight. And whether we keep Ian Hap in the lineup or not, you know, that's out the crack. That's a tough decision. Moises Biasteros is probably the better player right now. But like, what message does that send to the clubhouse? Personally, I'd probably keep Ian Hap in the lineup. I think that would be insane to take him out of it, but I can understand if we don't. You know, that's a real tactical strategy thing. And I'd rather stay in the subjective mindset of like this is where we're at right now. Where we're at is we earned the opportunity to play game four today. We're very grateful to be here. You know, as a Cubs fan, I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of watching those guys go out and just fucking compete their balls off. After two really horrific games in the NLDS, just compete their balls off in game three. So you tell me game four, it's only gonna get better in game four. And I think between two tough teams, I think it goes towards the Cubs. Two tough teams that don't want to let the fan base down, two tough teams that just like don't want to give up on the season. If it's between that and Freddie Peralta's got a pitch tonight at Wrigley Field against Matt Boyd, sure, the Brewers have had way more success against Matt Boyd. But my general and overwhelming positive thought about this Freddie Peralta's sixth start against the Cubs. You know, he works north and south against lefties, east and west, in and out against righties. We've seen him a thousand fucking times. We only need score to four runs and win this game. Like that it's as simple as that. Just as it was yesterday. Our bullpen's gonna be ready to go in the third, fourth inning if it has to. And this before we even talk about, I'm not even trying to present this as a positive, but we got bulldogs, baby. We got bulldogs. We got Aaron Savalize a Bulldog. I'll say the name Ben Brown just so I say the name Ben Brown in this preview. I don't love him. There's something in the back of my head that's like Craig might use him tonight, just because he's been like, I guess, fostering some sort of culture where Ben Brown has to go prove himself again, or there's something there with the Ben Brown where I'm like, I think maybe he has a huge spot tonight, just the way they've managed him, because he doesn't believe in himself. That's what you think from the outside. But on the inside, I think there's a way where we've kind of cultivated this environment. Whoever gets a ball today, I think is gonna fucking pitch your balls off. And if Matt Boyd's perfect, Matt Boyd goes start three innings, Matt Boyd pitch seven innings. I don't give a shit. Aaron Savali wants to come in. Soroka, I make me puke my guts out saying that name. But the overwhelming thought about this is that every guy in this roster, anybody who touches that ball tonight, anybody who takes them out at 1060 West Addison in an effort to keep the Chicago Cubs season alive, whoever it is, if it's Siroca in the second inning, if it's Savali in the third, if it's fucking Matt Boyd has to come out in the first because they bring in Ben Brown or Ben Broncos, whatever that looks like, I know in my heart of hearts that it's the right mix. I trust Craig Counsel. I think these guys have been through it enough. I think whatever happens tonight, I trust it implicitly that we're gonna get the job done and go see a game five. And I think if the Brewers are stupid enough to start Aaron Ashby game two, then they're stupid enough to earn themselves a game five in Milwaukee where Freddie Pralt was not ready to pitch because they were too stupid to think ahead of the NLCS, and we're gonna take advantage of it. We're gonna be the eighth team in the history of the wild card era to come back from a 2-0 series deficit and an NLDS and advance to the championship series. That's what I mean in my heart of hearts. And I think we have the roster, I think we have the guys, I think we have the whole makeup to get us there, right? I think we have the fan base to do it, I think we've got Wrigley Fields gonna be rocking. I've I I honestly couldn't feel better from a tactical mechanical standpoint. If we keep Ian half in the lineup, do we move Moises by Asterios in there? Is Pete Carmstrong come up from seven to five? You know, these are so much smaller considerations to the overarching principle of the fact that we have that chip on our shoulder right now, while Milwaukee's trying to like set themselves up for the NLCS. We're over here being like, we're gonna fucking run it down your throat, game four. And that's ultimately how I feel about this. You know, and I mean it. I could be wrong, could have egg on my face, I could look like an idiot with this, but I do feel like we're here for a reason, for a purpose, and we have the right guys for this mix. And I've talked through what I think Matt what makes Matt Boyd special. You know, these brewers, they're they should be more aggressive than they are typically. And if that's the case, Matt Boyd could feast. He could he could throw seven scoreless tonight. If he gets the brewers in a situation where they're aggressive, we score one or two early, and they feel that pressure like they gotta get on the board, Matt Boyd's gonna eat, he's gonna feast. You know, I'm not predicting that, I'm just saying that that's on the table. And I do very much believe that the 2025 Chicago Cubs are the type of team that brings that shit to fruition. It's been one of the hardest things I've ever had to do as a show. I'm so jacked up. My heart rate, I've bet I my heart is pounding out of my chest. I didn't sleep at all last night. I have made this team to mean so much to me that it makes it almost impossible to talk about. So I have to just say thank you to everybody who's tuned into the Monday Morning Cub Show and prepared themselves for game four tonight. You know, come hell or high water, we'll be back for a recap. But um from the bottom of my heart. You know, from the absolute bottom depths of the aortas. Or the what are they, the fucking the chambers of the heart. The deepest place I can go emotionally. I just wanna say thank you to the maniacs. Thank you to people who've supported the Monday Morning Cub Show this year. I am happy to report it's not over, baby. We're gonna win tonight. There's gonna be a game five on Saturday in Milwaukee. We're gonna get there. But first tonight we gotta blare our balls off. You know, and if you don't believe in the Chicago Cubs and you shouldn't be listening to this fucking show at this point, because there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that we come out tonight and we stuff it down the brewer's fucking throat. I mean it. So let's go see it. In the meantime, I love you guys. God bless go Cubs.