Monday Morning Cubs Show

NLDS Game 5 Preview: The Cubs Earned The Right To End The Brewers Season

• Carl + Mahoney • Season 2 • Episode 66

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One game can bend a season, and tonight’s Game 5 in Milwaukee carries exactly that weight. We break down why the Cubs own the opening edge, starting with Drew Pomeranz as an opener against a right-left Brewers lineup that doesn’t love to be shuffled. Pomeranz has lived on the black all series, stealing timing and limiting hard contact, which forces Milwaukee to either re-sequence around Christian Yelich and William Contreras or live with a tougher first look. That early discomfort matters, because Jacob Mizerowski’s profile screams volatility—huge fastball, inconsistent breaker, and adrenaline that can turn counts into traffic if we stay stubborn in the zone.

We also dig into the Brewers’ bullpen math. Pat Murphy’s usage has left Ashby and Koenig overexposed while keeping Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill strangely underdeployed or mis-timed. That creates a timing trap: if Milwaukee saves their best for a lead, Chicago can punch first and tax the bridge; if they spend early to stem a rally, their ninth gets thinner. On our side, a clean script—Pomeranz for a frame or two, Palencia’s swing-and-miss in the middle, Keller/Thielbar to shape pockets, and Kittridge for poise in leverage—lets us cover six to seven innings without mortgaging the endgame. The key is plate discipline in the first two innings to inflate pitches and force decisions the Brewers don’t want to make.

We keep the lineup steady because it’s working. Michael Busch setting table, Nico Horner in control, Ian Happ’s timing returning, and Seiya Suzuki better when he’s in the field create a balanced threat without panic moves. The bat to watch is Dansby Swanson: his path matches four-seam life, and in a tight, defensive grind, one heater he can lift may swing everything. Win early, and the leverage tilts our way; drift to the seventh without forcing Uribe or Megill, and the edge flips back to Milwaukee. Margins decide October, and we lay out where to find them—discipline, sequencing, and the quiet confidence to let their volatility beat itself.

If this breakdown helped you get ready for first pitch, subscribe, share with a Cubs friend, and drop your Game 5 hero pick in a review. Let’s go win a flight to the NLCS.

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 for a Game 5 special edition preview. It's Saturday, October 11th. A lot of people are calling this the greatest sports day of all time. It is Carl. This is a solo show. Um, we're talking specifically Game 5 preview here, guys. And it's a little bit after starting pitchers were just announced. And this is a post-production edit because I have to interrupt myself at the point and say they were initially announced as Colin Ray vs. Mizorowski, but we don't get to the pitching until later in the show, around 30 minutes was where we do the matchup. And by that time it's clear that Pomerans is opening for the Cubs. So I've done my best to edit out the parts where I've mentioned Colin Ray versus Mizorowski, but this is just a quick editor's note, so back to the show. So just a couple things off the top. Now I did have a COVID test come back negative, but I do still have a lot upstairs. So if you hear me breathing into the mic, I'm doing my best. You know, not a trained professional just out here just grinding through whatever this is, it could be ground zero for something new. So if anybody else is out, got something else out there right now. This could be like the opening act of Outbreak, which is a movie I enjoyed. And nothing anybody wants to hear me talk about. Just a couple programming things here, guys. Some people thought they'd use Ashby. Some people we some people thought they'd use Ashby because they used him game two as an opener, kind of unnecessarily. And that's I believe they don't use openers. The Brewers might have done it once or twice a season. So they're giving it seems and sounds like this. Could be wrong. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. It sounds like Mizerowski's starting. That's what the source says. And I think that's the most important thing off the top. So that's just an announcement. That's an announcement, guys. That's why the show's late. I'll apologize. I wanted to do the show yesterday. I just didn't have the information. I think it's better to do it this way. Now that we know Mizorowski's towing the pump. So, uh, for those of you that enjoyed the game for recap, thank you for those of you that did it. You know, it's a game for recap. We get excited. You know, it's fun to get like that every now and now and again, every now and again. And I think that's just a lot, a lot of emotion pouring out after game four, so to say. Maybe that's one way to think about it. Moving forward, we're sharp here, guys. We're clean. These are tight post and pregames. This is a game five preview for game five tonight in Milwaukee. So I'll give you what I think about it. And also, just audio only, Spotify and Apple. Those are the two channels. That's how we distribute this baby. If you get a chance, you want to share it, you want to send it to a buddy. I've been right a couple things. Last time I went on a diatribe about Ian Hap, I got a buttload. How about that? Watch it off words. I got a buttload of pushback, mostly DMs, mostly people who passionately hate his guts. And I very much personally, selfishly, I'll be selfish, enjoyed the fact that he pissed on not just that first ball in the first inning of game four to set the tone 3-0, but then proceeded to make like a quarter of a mile worth of outs. All balls caught on the warning track. One should have been gone. He should have had two, he should have had a grand slam. He should have had two jack seven RBIs. And I said I thought he was seeing the ball well. I have a couple notes. Maybe I'm not as crazy as you guys think I am. Maybe there's something in this sauce here of the 2025 Cubs. Maybe tonight is our night. I'll say this: the Brewers are in big trouble. A lot of people didn't believe me when I said the same thing about game four. They kind of created their own problems. Freddie Protha did not need to pitch 95 pitches in game one. I have a pitching breakdown for the Brewers. It's kind of goofy. Can I say that? It's goofy. Why'd he throw 179 pitches? Aaron Ashby's thrown 91 pitches. That's a lefty out of the bullpen. The other guy who's thrown a lot of pitches, both Ashby and Jared Koenig have pitched in three games apiece. They have a number of guys who've pitched in three games. Nick Mears is pitching three games. Chad Patrick's pitch in three games. And if you're curious about the Cubs, we've only used two pitchers in three games, Palency and Pomerance. So I got some quotes too I want to point to about Pat Murphy versus Craig Council. That I think are important to stand behind going into game five. Why I have like a ton of confidence in Craig Counsel. Pat Murphy could be a rah-rah guy for 162. He has said a couple things in the media this week, at least going into game five. I think are worth pointing out. And you know I don't love doing stuff like that unless it stands out. So here's the schedule. Obviously setting a theme. Obviously setting a theme here for the Monday Morning Cub Show. We always do that. I'll say it. I think it's important with everything going on that this should not go longer than 35 minutes because we need to be tight and focused. And maybe even under 30. Most important thing is that you guys have a good understanding about where our lineups are going in against a guy like Jacob Mizerowski, to what I think the Cubs are going to be doing with their bullpen. So we'll go through a theme. I'm going to talk about Thirsty Vicarrol. You better believe it. No F words. I want to publish an episode without an E next to it. You know, this is a weekend. You could sit down with Junior. You could share some insight with the youngster. I won't be talking about the stuff I normally do. Maybe I will. Do I hold back? It's Saturday morning. It's Saturday morning, boys. And tonight we have an opportunity which reminds me I'd like to turn it over to my friend Herb Brooks here to just share a word with you guys and just kind of generally pump people up. If you guys don't mind, everybody Herp. That's good stuff. And that's exactly where I want to start with the theme of the show. This is a special day. This is a special moment. You know? We have earned the right to go up to Milwaukee one game. For one game. And give ourselves a chance at the World Series. Tonight, we've earned the right. And that's the theme. And that's what I want people walking around in their heads tonight. I don't give a shit how Mizrowski pitches tonight. And I'm happy we're sending Colin Ray out there. And if Colin Ray couldn't pitch and we gotta go next man up, so be it. And if he can't pitch and we gotta go next man up, so be it. And so be it, and on and so forth and so forth. Okay? I don't care who's pitching for Milwaukee. CC Sabathia 2008. Bring him back. Rub the cream in the clear. Use the technology. Clone his ass. Put him on the fucking mound. Watch my F words. There goes the E. Fuck it. Why stop now? I don't care. Eric Danye, juiced out of his mind. Bring him out. I don't care who's pitching for Milwaukee tonight. The theme of the fact is we have one game. I don't care about the hole we've clawed out of. How many people said it was over, how bad Matt Boyd was game one, how much of a leader he was in game four. Forget about all that. We got one game tonight. That's the theme. Enjoy it. Now you do whatever you gotta do. I brought this up on the game four recap. I think this is important. I think this is extremely important. Everybody in baseball, every baseball fan has something they're doing, a little superstition, a little something they did. What you to get the what did you do? Did you get up during the sixth inning, pace rapidly, change places on the couch? You don't normally eat dominoes, you ordered it anyways. Personally, I like Papa John's. That garlic sauce always hits. I'll squeeze those jalapenos dry. Topping-wise, I'm open-minded. And I'm not even saying I prefer Papa John's, and they're certainly not paying for this. What I'm just talking about is what are you doing to put the Cubs in a chance to win game five? Because everybody has a little bit of that. Everybody has a little bit of this. I'm wearing the pink sweatshirt. I'm wearing the pink sweatshirt. Haven't taken it off. I've showered. You don't care, but I have. I'm just saying, I haven't taken the sweatshirt off. Except to shower. My point is, what did you do? Some people like to dip. Obviously, I've done this before. A rally dip. I haven't, I don't enjoy, and people do. I know some of this stuff's owned by BlackRock. I'm not going to be a conspiracy theorist. That's for you. That's for your if you're into that stuff. Some people said you like Zinn. That's owned by BlackRock. BlackRock's owned by China. You know, like I give a flying fuck who owns the buzz that's getting me through the day. Sure. Go right ahead. Go own. Wow. I don't care where this fucking thing comes from. But my general point is I have lost a taste for that. I did for a long time ago lost a taste for Grizzly Mint. That used to be a heavy hitter in the rotation. You know? So people listen to this, you got stuff out there. Copenhagen snuff, toughest guys in the fucking world listening to this. Toughest guys in the world using the snuff. What are you, a wrestler 165 12 years ago? Still in a drop of a moment will firemen carry a stranger? If he what? Personally offend you? What are you you're banned from a couple Buffalo Owl Wings? Fine by me. Fine by me. Let's go to Chili's. Speaking of product placement, let's let's hear let's hear what I've been doing during games to kind of bring us good luck. The reason we're in game five is because this show is brought to you by Thirsty Big Carroll. A Mexican-style soda with, say it with me, signature spicy finish. Classic. All bite, no rattle. Three different flavors. Habanero with a mezcal. That's a personal recommendation. Or non-alcoholic, which I've enjoyed just as much, if not a little bit more. Goes great with the sandwich. Had it with tacos the other day. I challenge you. A vaquero is a delicious beverage. A thirsty vaquero is a delicious beverage. You can get it at Yaxis. Might be sold out at Sluggers. I got a text the other day from somebody. Mad. Waited in line to get a thirsty vacero sort of sold out. So maybe we're doing too good. So you can get it on Amazon. That's a big time recommendation. And that's what I've been doing on the couch. A little rally, vaquero, excuse me. Cubs come back down to nothing. Why? Vaquero's up. All bite, no rattle. I'm trying to think if there's something I'm missing on this, other than the fact that's utterly delicious. Like Mexican style soda, what is that? It's one of those things you just have to try to understand. I can tell you about the Grand Canyon, you can go see it for yourself. If you've been there, you know what I mean. I can tell you about a thirsty vaquero, you can order it for yourself. You can taste the signature spicy finish for yourself. Then and only then will you understand what I'm talking about. No, you will not post, you will not send a postcard to your ex-girlfriend. Thinking about you. No. And speaking of conspiracies, there's something about the Grand Canyon. They don't let people down there. So there's a double conspiracy to start the show. You know what I'm saying? And I'm not like that either. I think I did have one more conspiracy in the prenote I wanted to talk about. I didn't even want to go Grand Canyon. I'm saying I saw it the other, let's see, two years ago for the first time. Took my breath away. That's how I feel about a thirsty Pacero. Took my breath away. God bless someone made this. God bless we're allowed to come out and enjoy this piece of just what is it? It's an American monument. But it's so much more than that. I mean, really. Is it a wonder of the world? No. That's only man-made. Is that mostly man-made stuff? I gotta get researched on this. I spent too much time getting ready for game five. Spent too much time getting ready for a podcast that I thought would go 35 minutes, and I'm over here talking about the Grand Canyon, guys. Listen, this is generally just where we're at mentally. You know, I am loose. I am free. I am easy. I came in here the other day. I was so anxious. It took me so many. I'm take one, one take only. Almost, let's see, 99.999% of the time. Ask anybody who knows me. I hang my hat on being a one-take guy. Question my authenticity. One take. You go do one take. What was the preview show I did solo? Game four? Which one was that? That was game four? Thursday's game. 40 takes? How many takes? I just couldn't let go of the season. I wasn't ready. I thought this is this is fucked up. Freddie Pralta at home. I pointed out a lot of flaws from the Brewers. But deep down inside, I had a hard time of trying to spin it without just completely pushing all of. I mean, it's not, let's see, not anxious. It's not like you gotta lock me up in Arkham. I'm saying like it's just this general vibe that I don't think meshes well with what we do here on the Monday Morning Cub Show. What we're here for maniacs is what's the positive spin? Mostly, not like overly optimistic. You know, I've been extremely mad at a number of players. But we look for silver linings. And again, I'm not taking a victory lap. Ian Hap's a good example, talking about the patience that he's showing, even if it means a couple of big strikeouts late. I do love the demeanor, and I do love that he hasn't changed in his approach, and I do think that's gonna pay dividends. Because people will be aggressive with him at some point, and he is gonna unload. I mean, I think I said that word for word, and I think I backed my way into that cautiously just because I know how many of you hate him. And like quite literally, game five because of him. And now now, is that because Ian Hap's amazing? I think that's more the nature of this game. And I would stress that's a good point to everybody to just like take a step back. These guys are all freaking really good, except for maybe Joey Ortiz, he blows. Not the throw shots. No, he's fine. He's gonna beat me tonight when I say shit like that. That's a good joke. I mean, but for real, if you're gonna say one guy in that team, what are we gonna do about Ortiz? Uh I would throw get the batting practice guy out there, make sure he doesn't get walked. Alright, now that's a tangent. I did some homework. I did some homework particularly on our bullpen usage, and then I compared it to the Brewer's bullpen usage. I think that's a good thing to talk about. I think overall, though, we could start with just the biggest general observation. I really like the way the Cubs have played the last two games, obviously. Down the stretch, everyone's gotten a piece of the action. And I would say there's one person who has in that two-game stretch at Wrigley did not do their absolute best, and that's Andrew Kittridge. And this guy's like a frickin' veteran in the Civil War. I mean, stare that guy in the eyes. That guy's seen some shit. You know what I mean? That guy's lived through the advent of Penicellin. You do if you think an extra base to hit to Jackson Cheerios off the glove of Pete Crow Armstrong is going to rattle that guy in the lease, I got news for you. Like, I just he's just a dialed-in guy. That's what I think. Am I wrong about that? Maybe I am. But that was a huge highlight that I have as a general observation of this series. Now, there are a couple other observations about this series, and it pertains to the Brewer's bullpen. And then let's be fair and biased of like, you know, we're not just pounding our chest to pound our chest in bravado and machismo. I am still jacked up from the fact that we've earned a game four. But I'm going to give credit where it's due when we talk about the brewers, and we'll get into this more specifically. I do think they have a couple weapons that we haven't seen at all. Like they're starting pitching blows, but McGill's awesome. Yuribe, if he's healthy, unless I'm missing something, I'm looking at the pitch chart usage. We've ripped we've seen 34 pitches from I think they're their two best relievers. I don't follow the Brewers. Someone can buy more than I'm more than happy if you guys want to come in here and correct me and tell me Abner Yuribe is not a top two reliever that Garrett Anderson is. Or Dak Gasser guy game four was absolutely so brutal. If there's a chance we get him to pitch tonight in the most meaningful, have him pitch the second inning. Man, that guy. I felt bad for that guy. Not really, because he's getting paid a lot of money, but man, he stinks. And I don't mean stinks like like he really stinks. I don't say that very often about big league pitching, if at all, because most of these guys are good. That guy stinks with a capital S on both ends of it. Stinks. Okay. And then most importantly, too, okay, let's just get to this. The Brewers listed. I don't know if Pat Murphy is this type of, you know, uh zig and zag type the guy with the media. Is he? Does he have like a nasty, nasty crossover? Will he look me dead in the eyes, tell me who's available to go, and then, you know, flip a switch? Here's what was reported officially. Murphy officially listed. Now I'm not saying that this was like on a list published by Major LeagueBaseball.com, but someone had asked him. Someone had asked him, right? Along the lines of A, well, the pitching staff's chaotic for Milwaukee. There's reasons for that. We talked about it in the game four preview, which is heavily predicated on the fact that they went Quinn Priester game three, opener game two instead of flip-flopping those two. Because fuck, what if Quinn Priester went seven, eight, seven, eight innings or something? You know, and as the Brewers' offense showed, they ended up using way too many pitchers. So then when they have that off day, they go to Quinn Priester, Quinn Priester can't get out of the first inning, then they have to use way too many pitchers. We pulled up a statistic in the game four preview. I want to be specific. Again, this isn't victory lap stuff. This is more we're building a relationship here on the Monday Morning Cub show of the type of stuff I'm looking at that I think is important to a game. And I said, How often do the Milwaukee Brewers play a game on the road, lose by one, and use five or more pitchers this season? And including game three, it had happened uh it had happened nine times. Now, including the results of game three, the Brewers are two and seven after giving up, you know, after losing by one on the road and using a ton of their bullpen. And that's more just like bounce back stuff. You know, you lose a tough game, use a ton of your pitching staff. Typically, if you use if you lose a one one run game, you've used your top bullpen guys, which means in the following game you're gonna see a different mix, which I think we did. We haven't seen Abner Yuribay, we haven't seen McGill really in a meaningful situation, I should say. Um, I think Chad Patrick's a fantastic pitcher for the Brewers. We're gonna talk about that. These are just general observations as we get into game five and stuff, and a lot of it's just gonna be about the pitching because in these tight tense games, this is Steelers versus you know, who is it? Who has the big defense? I'm thinking early 2000s, it's a snow game. Who are the Steelers playing? I don't know. I'm just thinking Pittsburgh Steelers. The Ravens, of course. I'm a moron. It's Ravens Steelers, early 2000s. Ray Lewis is out there, Joey Porter's out there. Who's the big guy from the Ravens? Everybody loves. Not that talented, but very lovable. Tony Siragusa. Love that guy. Love that guy. Has not said one insightful thing in his media career. That's okay. Love having Goose around. Love him in the sideline. They cut to him, they amp the crowd noise. So he's got to yell as loud as possible. Alright, when I'm talking about game five, this generally speaking, I would I would imagine is going to be unless listen, unless there could be grand slams, there could be multiple, there could be you know back-to-back to back extra base hits. This could break out. And of course, I would love to see the Chicago Cubs win this game fucking 10-1. You know, excuse that minor little F-word. That would obviously be awesome. But my general, you know, uh outlook in these situations, even if it's his Mizorowski and Ray, we're gonna get to those two pitchers, is that you're it's the same, it's the same main uh um mind frame and makeup of what was that shitty analogy I just used. The Steelers versus the Ravens. Early two early 2000s playoff game. Like you know it's just gonna be it's just gonna be an absolute grind to get in that end zone to for to get a run across the board here. That's what I think it should be. Okay? That's my general outlook on this. And then drilling down into Cubs observations, I think that's fair start there. We'll do Cubs observations, Brewer observations. The Cub ones, I think, are easy, and the easiest one of that lineup. I'd be stunned if the lineup changed. So Kyle Tucker, he has to be hitting three. You know, we've made these arguments before. He played great in game four, obviously hitting the home run. You know, people, it's super easy to just say, yes, um, Kyle Tucker's back. So no one would ever deviate that from that. And then Nico Horner, obviously, to hit two in Michael Bush one has almost an a thousand OPS as the leadoff hitter, which is crazy to think about. And even worse is that you know, I've criticized Michael Bush in the leadoff role and not Michael Bush individually. What I've said is why would he not hit cleanup? Hitting him leadoff is goofy. He's been so good as the leadoff hitter. And then going back to Ian Happ, I don't think there's anybody who could look better than him. You know, where's Sea, right, in this conversation? And where Seya is, is he's still hot, obviously, right? I feel very good about that mix. And he traditionally plays much better uh when in the field than Versus a DH. I think that's a fair comparison. Someone's gonna have to double check that. So I need someone out there to make sure I'm right about this. Say a Suzuki in the field is a better player. He doesn't want to DH, he's a team guy. Who am I to say he doesn't want a DH? What's he getting paid?$18 million? I'm sure he'll DH. He'll fill the Gatorade bottles, I'm sure.$18 million, he's got no problem DH. But we're talking about, as far as production's concerned, just real marginal little stuff here. It's good to know Kyle Tucker as a DH a role he has not performed in, not because he hasn't performed because he sucks, because he just hasn't played in it. Do people want to test that theory? Fine, let's test this theory. I'll test it. Kyle Tucker has 85 played appearances at DH this season with a 688 OPS. So maybe he does blow in it. 85's enough. You know, he's an 866 OPS in the field. I guess the point to that is it's good to see him, you know. Doesn't get a lot of reps at DH, I guess, and then when he does, he sucks. We tested the theory. Turns out he sucks at DH. All right? Doesn't perform there, underperformance, no performance, whatever. If you do the split stats too on it in his career, I think it's worse. I do believe it's worse. It's better. 723 OPS. You know, see, I don't get everything right, guys. And I'm not I could easily pause, edit this, make myself sound like the fanciest dude you know. No, this is a raw relationship. This is a game five preview. And they're sending Mizarowski to the mound. And just quickly about the Cubs lineup, I do feel good about the fact that we're gonna see what we have seen, you know, Michael Bush, a very underrated. If we want to sit here and go through this is how these guys have done, I got no problem. At least in the playoffs, Nico Horner's hitting 429. Nico Horner's everything you want. Nico Horner's perfect. I've said this before in a lineup preview, I'm gonna emphasize it again. I would let him perform open heart surgery on me. And not under emergency circumstances. Can't land the plane, you know. I have a bad piece of what? What do they serve on transatlantic flights? I don't know. Is d is there a bone in the chicken? Is it lodged in my throat? Is there something where he has to come in and relieve me and break skin? I would trust him to do that with a pen. What brand? The bic the good one, the old school one, the plastic clear. Those are the ones I prefer. A lot of grips, you know, those get worn. I never really enjoyed that stuff. Or at least found him too valuable. My point is he's hitting 429 in the playoffs, if you want to do that sample size, which I think is more important than this Brewer series. This seven games. The Padres had good pitching. The Padres had, especially at the end of the bullpen, and I think Nick Pivetta in a game two would have looked much better than Freddie Pralta. And I would have hoped Mike Schultz wasn't stupid enough. I can't emphasize this enough about Pat Murphy throwing Freddie Pralta 95 pitches. Say what you want about Craig Counsel and Pat Murphy. I think Craig Counsel would be in jail if he threw Freddie Pralta. What were they up 9-1? What was that for? Do you guys know Freddie Pralta historically, kind of? I didn't say totally, I said kind of, wears down February, October into playoffs. Historically, kind of. That's why in his last start he only threw two innings. And the start before that, five. So it's not like they're morons about him. They were obvious. So what do they think? That like now it's the playoffs. Alright, perfect time to throw him 95 pitches in the meaningless game. Hello, Mike Stirk here. You know me as Carl. Die Hard Cubs fan. Alright. Take the blood sample. What blood type am I? Cubs fan. Oh negative. I don't know. I should know that stuff. Or shouldn't I? Question. What percentage of people know their blood type? In actual hindsight? Like, I think that'd be. Well, I know there's if you take away medical conditions, because there's people who know their blood type, because obviously, right? You guys are fair game. Or I'm not fair game. I'm fair game. You guys are off limits. What I'm saying is run of the mill, rank of file. Just a regular Joe walking around knowing their blood type. Is that normal? I'm be positive. If someone told you that, like in, but what would be the reason they know that? They sought it out? If you say if you seek that out, just a quick second here. If you seek out what blood type you are for conversational purposes or just to know, then you're on a list. Now, if you obviously know it for donation, medical purposes, serious purposes, something where it's not you just figuring it out for the sake of what? I don't know. But I know this. If you drew my blood, it would say I'm a diehard Cubs fan. And as a diehard Cubs fan, I'm just saying I have absolutely no freaking clue how anyone could describe game one as anything less than completely meaningless. And I'm not saying you sacrifice Freddie Pralta at 95 pitches, but you at least have to consider 207 innings in the regular season, the body of work, and the fact you're going back to him soon. And as this isn't a victory lap, but just a good reference point to let people know we talked about this in the game four preview was their decision to go on game four. People say that is on four days' rest. Again, I have to go back. This is a guy who does require a Little bit more rest at the end of the season, and a guy that they did rest a little bit more at the end of the season, and a guy that the Milwaukee Brewers were very sensitive about having prepared perfectly for the playoffs. And the fact that they knew to start him, obviously, you have to start Freddie Peralta game one. No arguments there. But the question is game four or five for him, and it's like five at home Freddie Peralta against obviously the Cubs are going to send Colin Ray out there tonight. That is a unbelievable, that would be an unbelievable advantage towards the Milwaukee Brewers that they ignored. And when Pat Murphy was asked about it, he had specifically referenced, as we talked about in the preview show, was his availability for the NLCS. And Murphy said, if we're going to be able to get him in game two, we have to use him in game four tonight. And looking ahead to make sure that he's available. And I believe, I believe, and I'm fine to be held accountable for this and wrong about this, but I believe that Pat Murphy had mentioned either game one or game two, meaning Pat Murphy's like, we could just completely destroy. That's his subtle thing of saying we could just completely destroy the Cubs today. For him to say, I don't know if he we want him ready for one of the first two games, I know they wanted him ready. And then the fact that Murphy admits their willingness and want for him to get ready in the NLCS, and then that is why they're using him for game four, I think is Tom Foolery. Notably, I think it's a little, you know. But here's why I would criticize Murphy. He's too much of a baseball guy to criticize. Most of the time in the media, it's Milwaukee. How many guys are there? Four guys. This is a real under-the-radar guy, and I've said this before on Twitter. Okay, so I'll say it out loud here now for all of us, diehard Cubs fans. If they want to do a 30 for 30 on anybody in baseball, my vote's Pat Murphy. I don't know why he left Arizona State. Recruiting violations, probably something along those lines. The amount of guys he put into the first round from Arizona State, just how loving he is. He's honestly people take a bullet for him. And then when they cut to him in games, you just see him chewing the gum hard. You know, he does love his players. They do play hard for him. They have 97 wins in the regular season more than anybody else. And he's definitely a tougher guy than like just about anybody in any other dugout without trying to be a tough guy. Remember Gabe Kappler? He was trying real hard. Pat Murphy would just don't even get me going. When you just look at Pat Murphy, you obviously know he's a baseball guy inside and out. You obviously know that Pat Murphy is a very solid dude, and there's everything that anybody could say about him as a solid dude. Tough guy, just a classic baseball guy and well respected, who's never been held really under any media microscope. So some of the quotes I have, I might as well just say them. You know, he talked about this before game four. We're five wins away, or I should say this is before game five. We're five wins away from the World Series. I've learned a lot about this team. And one thing is they're resilient, they bounce back. Obviously, they're resilient and they're bounce, they bounce back. I don't think we're five outs, and this is small stuff, but just even just jumping ahead. We're five wins away. I mean, this is meatball. We're Cubs fans, we don't even count outs, but playing pitch to pitch or at least communicating to everybody. We're just five wins away from the World Series is A a lot, especially considering the uh Dodgers. But to simplify it or something like that, that's a bad quote. You know? I do think that's a bad count. I do think that's a bad quote. I had another one on him. I can't find it. He was talking about game, he was talking about using Freddie Peralt in game four so he could get to the NLCS. And we don't have to drill down too too hard into that. And now we're kind of a little bit all over the place in the game five preview. Because I just had a couple I just had a couple other things to say. It is 35 minutes here. We gotta keep this, let's keep it under 50. And as I say that, Drew Pomerance is announced, which is a great sign, you know, because we didn't get into the starting pitching matchup yet. We have kind of been bullshitting around a little bit longer than we should have. I went through the Murphy quote I didn't like. I don't like him talking about the World Series. I didn't like the fact that he used Freddie Peralta poorly. I didn't like how they use Quinn Priester. And I think generally if you're going to talk about who's used their pitching staff better, it's much more clear that Craig Council has. Murphy got challenged to use it. I don't think he's looked that great with it. And I do think our bats are hot. But I'm happy I said the quotes. Now that I don't have to talk about Colin Ray. We can talk about Drew Pomerance. I have no pro I have absolutely no problem with this. He threw nine pitches Monday, 15 pitches Wednesday, another 15 pitches Thursday. Three appearances, 39 total pitches. Which challenges them immediately because they're gonna go Christian Jalich one, and now do they want to start Bryce Tarang hit three? Or are they gonna move him to four so that William Contreras would hit three? These are questions I would I would I would guess that are immediately on the brewer's mind. Drew Pomerant's aren't as huge because Christian Yelits really has not been that good either. And if we're just looking for these marginal, you know, if we're looking for these marginal advantages, I like it. I don't want to call this guy out too because he's awesome, but Jackson Churio is very freaking good. His leg is obviously busted. You can you can tell that like his leg is kind of not awesome. The other thing too, big time free swinger. And so Drew Pomerance, from the perspective of commanding his stuff, right? He's not this like elite, he's not just like gonna come out and try and throw 94 miles an hour past you, he's pitching to the edges of the strike zone. And sorry again, I'm sick. I'm gonna have a sip of something here. I'm not pausing this. We gotta publish this. But it's just important to remember about Drew Pomerance here. He's pitching to the edges of the strike zone. And Churio's OBP at home. And I know just generally, this is who cares, but at 286, it's not great. He is only hitting 233 at home. He hasn't been awesome. I do think the circumstances, too, I don't know too much about this guy. Other than what, he's 21 years old. Pomerance can feed into his aggression. Now I don't know this guy personally, I'm just saying specifically about Jackson Curio. If Drew Pomerance is going to be pitching to the edges of the strike zone with his traditional two-pitch mix, breaking ball, fastball, fastball 93-95, maybe a little bit higher just circumstances, but coming in and off day, had pitched back to back, coming in and off day, and has had success against the Brewers. So, as we're just talking about the matchup, like I think it's good for Jelich. I thought he struggled game four. I know he's been good. He's a great player, he's one of the better players. Just generally. I don't know how you want to frame that. We'll talk about him later. He's just good. Just treat him as a good player with who played poorly game four and had a terrible strikeout with runners on second and third down three against game four in game four. With probably chip on his shoulder, you know. So the matchup with Pomeran's just right out of the gate against him, solid. And then just looking at Cherio, I know right on left, you know, there's advantage there. But I think Pomeran's pitching to the edge of the strike zone, the type of left-handed pitcher he is, sets up well because he does command his stuff well for Cheerio. And then there's the question for the Brewers. Do you go William Contreras three and keep Bryce or Bryce Turing? And I I would guess, based on what I understand, the Brewers would do, is they might just go right, left, right, left. They might just flip it completely. They might have Yelich hit two. They might have to change the lineup substantially. That's just a thought. Would you rather change the lineup substantially? And so I'll just monitor and see if the Brewers are going to post the lineup. Again, at the time we post this here, it's just a little bit before lunch here, guys. So right away that's just a counter. And and the question I have is can I assume that Mizorowski is pitching now because I was wrong about Colin Ray. So just a general thought I had. But as I like Pomerance, it's going to do one of two things. It's either going to neutralize Christian Yelits right away to start the game, and I shouldn't say neutralize, but just create a good advantage for the Cubs. And then obviously the second thing is it's going to force the Brewers to think about their 3-4 hitter, which will then set up better for the Cubs because we do have pitchers that are good, you know, for the righty righty mix. So I think that's just generally a good thing to have back-to-back righties, which the Brewers don't like to do. You know, they generally don't, especially with Perkins now, who Pat Murphy's obsessed with, who I think has to play center field. Churio's got a really bad leg, who's not a good bat, hate to call the guy out, not diginks anything, anybody. But just generally speaking, Pomerance as an opener does create a lot of advantage. I I think, and maybe not a lot, enough, a game of margins, a game that could just come down to like inches here, you know, some bad first base call. Could go could come down to who knows what. But that's enough from Pomerans. And then the good thing is if the Brewers do decide to try and take advantage of Pomerans, like would they change it enough for the first inning? Would they change it enough for the first six hitters? Would they would they show multiple righties? You know, are they that? Probably not, would be my guess. My guess is they would probably keep it righty lefty, righty lefty again. I can't stick around too much until the Brewers preview is posted for the lineup to be posted. This is just speculation stuff. But if Pomerans is gonna go, then I think obviously we're not gonna see Soda. I'd be stunned if we see Soda come out of the bullpen, just something he wouldn't do. Somebody that people are talking about, Ben Brown, I'd be stunned if we see Ben Brown. I'd be stunned if we see Soroka. Some people have said they want to see Sioka. I think what you have to do is you go Pomerans, you know, at least one inning. If they're gonna go righty lefty, righty lefty, just see how he does. Pomerans has been, quite frankly, in my opinion, I think Drew Pomeranz has been sensational. You know? Five innings. He's faced 15 hitters, he's given up zero hits, he has five strikeouts. So, like, if he faces those first three hitters and he's comfortable, is it crazy to say Pomerans can go out and throw the second? Obviously, I'd like to see what they do. If they go lefty, righty, lefty, you know, here's kind of a weird great scenario. The Brewers could start Andrew Vaughn, have him hit what is that, five normally for Drew Pomerance. Pomerance can get through the first inning. We can have a righty come in for Vaughn. They might take Vaughn out of the game. Like, there's a bunch of scenarios that jump into my head. Now, again, at the time of the morning, we're just generally talking about stuff. The fact that we're seeing Pomerance means he could go one or two innings. I think it'll depend on what Milwaukee does with their lineup. And I'd be surprised if Milwaukee's doing as much thinking as they've ever done about their lineup because they have to. As I look at their pitching staff and what Milwaukee's got with their bullpen, I love the fact that we've seen so many of their guys three times. I'm like absolutely obsessed. We've seen Ashby and Koenig three times. They're two top lefties. Both of those guys have thrown a lot of pitches, especially Ashby's thrown 91. Koenig's throw 40, 40 pitches. Nick Mears, we're not gonna see. He's thrown 37 pitches. And this is a quote I didn't love from Murphy. He told us who we'd see Ashby, Aribe, Koenig, McGill, Patrick, and Mizarowski. Now, obviously, Ashby and Koenig are their two lefties. Ashby's better than Koenig. Ashby, again, though, has thrown 91 pitches. Nick Mears, we're not gonna see. We're gonna see Chad Patrick, who was a starter until the end of the season, pounds the zone, fastball cutter. And I think he's a very good matchup for a number of Cubs hitters. And I think it's just a matter of like, are we willing to make an adjustment to this guy or do we think he's gonna make a mistake? I don't think he's necessarily a big mistake guy, but I do think he's a guy we can make adjustments against. I don't think he's amazing, but I think we can get up in the box. I think we can look the other way against him. I don't think he has overpowering stuff, but I think if we're just gonna, if we're gonna expect him to make a mistake and be aggressive, uh, I think he can have a lot of success against us. But again, this would be the fourth time we've seen him, fourth time in five games. So, you know, again, Murphy listed six pitchers that we're gonna see today. And of these six pitchers, we've seen three of them three times already. Both of their lefties. Then McGill, we've only seen twice in a rebay, we've only only seen once. They've only thrown 34 pitches against us. That's kind of a huge advantage for the Brewers. Just a rebate's awesome. McGill throws 102. He looked like shit at Wrigley Field. Now, here's the thing. I think McGill, and I don't care if this gets back to him, I think he's weird. I think he's kind of a pussy. Like, I think he's kind of a pussy. And you may say, why do I know this? And the answer is because I've met him and I've hung out with him before. Not in a big social environment at some like baseball clinic. And fuck it. I like the guy, he's kind of cool, but relative to a big leaguer, like I've hung out with big league. I know not, I'm not doing this to do anything other than tell you what I think of McGill relative to a regular big leaguer. And I think he's kind of a weirdo and kind of a softy. And I think kind of like a mopey call mom guy. Nothing wrong with that. I'll call mom at I'll call mom after this. I'm gonna call mom right after this, probably. Here's I'm just telling you what I think of the guy because he's only pitched twice this series. He hasn't thrown a ton of pitches, maybe 20, 21-ish. He could play a huge factor tonight. A lot of tickets available on Stub Hub. Hope a lot of Cubs fans show up. You know, this is a guy who I think has had a lot of success in Milwaukee because there's no spotlight in Milwaukee. Am I just pointing this out to point it out or am I being dead serious? Answer on being dead serious. The other guy I'm surprised we just haven't seen your eBay because nothing's really mattered. Like we saw him, when did we see him? Monday? We saw him game two. I'm surprised we haven't seen him. Why haven't we seen him? I like your ebay a lot. But this is a guy who's worn to shit. Historically in his entire life, worn to shit. I don't even I'm not even trying to be mean. He's thrown 75 innings already this year. Obviously 16, 70 RA, he's been just a stud, lights out, 90 strikeouts. Everything about this guy just lights out. Hasn't given up a run in God knows when. I mean, just absolutely sensational. My only thing about this guy is that 75 innings is like twice as much as he's ever pitched in his life. My only thing about this guy is they've only used him once a series. I don't understand why. Someone smarter from the Brewers tell me why. He's been awesome the second half of the season. There's like nothing bad to say about him at all, in the least bit. Nothing. Other than he hasn't pitched a series. Why I don't know. We're gonna see him. We're gonna see him. And then obviously Mizorowski. This is this is who people say are gonna start. I'm just refreshing again one more time to see if it's listed. It's not. Drew Pomerans is still listed for the Cubs. I would expect the question is how long are they gonna wait till they can tell Mizorowski that he's starting? Because the longer you wait to tell him, the less time he has to freak out. And if he starts, great, he can freak out. Again, what what do you want to know about Mizorowski? We don't already know. Power fastball, power stuff, shitty breaking ball, a guy we should absolutely fucking smash inside out, no questions asked. And I'm sorry, watch my language, but somebody I just don't necessarily respect as much as the stuff. A guy that they questioned leaving off the playoff roster, they could use him, they could use one of these lefty openers. I think it'd be stupid to use the lefty opener. I think it wasn't game two. I think that was stupid. You know, if my if I was running the Milwaukee Brewers, A, I wouldn't have made Chad Patrick or Lever. B, I would have let him start, you know, or I would have had Quinn Priester start game two so we could at least consider him for a game five. He was so bad in game three, there's no way they're putting him back out there in this series. That was so stupid. You know, Ashby's throwing 91 pitches. A lot a lot of it's like you could use McGill early. The best you can get from McGill is two innings. So you could wait till maybe you have a lead. You would probably want to wait to use your ebay till you have a lead. If you've only used him for 13 pitches this season, what do we what do we not know about your eBay? This is driving me nuts why this guy's only pitched one time. And it was a last inning of game two. He struck out the side. Why didn't we why didn't we see him in game three? Again, maybe they didn't need him. They could have been saving him for game four, and there was never a situation to use him game four. So that's our rationale. Because again, this adner uriba guy stud, McGill stud, McGill a little weird, you know, not being mean, I liked him. Conversational, funny, all this stuff. I'm saying relative to a big league reliever, a guy who throws 103, let's see if we have to compare the two. Uh yeah, he's soft. He's weird. You know, that's as much as I'm willing to say. I'd say relative to big league pitching, big league pitchers are weirdos. They're not friends, they're not conversational. They're David Bednar at the All Star Party, crushing Coors Lights alone in the corner. Felt bad for that guy. That's a great story. That's an off-season story. All right, legislation generally speaking, Abner's eighth inning, you know, has been eighth inning, started the season six, seventh inning, really flourished. So as we just talk, we preview, we're getting ready for this. We have their closer, we have their eighth and their ninth inning guys that haven't really pitched well or haven't pitched at all. The ninth inning guy, Miguel, has pitched early in game four, like shit. And Abner hasn't pitched at all except for it like them getting him work. Then they didn't use him in game three because they didn't need him, and then obviously didn't need him game four. My question is, how many innings are they willing to use him? When the most innings he's thrown this entire season was in June, he threw two innings. And the most pitches he's thrown in an entire appearance this year are 36, then 29. And all the reason I talked about this guy in the inning load, this guy's hurt his entire life, blown frickin' meniscus. You name it, this guy's been through heck heck and back. How about that? Woo! 25 years old. We'll have a great career. But dude, this is the reason I'm talking about him. One of their most effective weapons hasn't been used in the season. They could have deployed him in game three, figured they didn't need him, sure. Wonderful. Uh could have deployed him for Quinn Priester, stopped the bleeding, didn't. So as we go into game five, he's a name where I'm sure Brewers fans are saying, well, we got him to use him a buttload. But historically speaking, I mean, if he's thrown, what, 36 pitches in June? You know, when was that? May? June? May? April? You keep going down the list. I mean, really, since August, they haven't used this guy for more than 25 pitches. Alright, great. So that's called what, one inning? An inning and a third? McGill could give you two innings. So just talking through the Brewers bullpen, if there's only six pitchers available, it's really just going to come down to Mizorowski's presence. And this is a guy who just walks so many people and is so amped up. This is a guy who's just so unbelievably uncontrollable that the Brewers didn't even consider putting him on the postseason roster. My guess deep down, that's a psychological thing to get him amped up. He did look phenomenal when they used him earlier in the series. So that was kind of scary. I mean, in a certain sense, right? Like he is a pussy. And when I will do the lineup preview, my message to the masses will be fuck this pussy. We're gonna run it down their throats. And I'll do my best to jack people up because that's the point of lineup previews in a social media presence in the first place. News flash. That's the point of that stuff. This between us, this preview, you know, this conversation, this is for the this is a serious, this is serious shit, right? And I do think Mizarowski, to a sense, is a pussy, not like McGill, but very much compared to Major League Baseball players, the guy's a pussy. And these are the assumptions we're making if he does start. So if he does start, we're just gonna try and work our counts. We're gonna try and get on base, blah, blah, blah. Guys are hot. I said this about our lineup, it's the perfect part about all this. We don't really have to try too hard about Mizorowski because he's gonna be the one trying too hard. And I want to point out, I think it's the Brewers made a mistake without Patrick because if we see him early, I think he's good. Koenig and Ashby are the lefties. Ashby's worn to shit. Both of these guys will see him four times, including Patrick. So there's just a huge advantage to the lineup, I think, in a short series, seeing somebody four times in five games. Where for Pomerance, again, though, that's basically the argument I'm making. But my argument back is in the three appearances he's made this series, he's faced 15 hitters, he's given up zero hits. He's thrown 45 pitches, he's thrown 39. I'm sorry, he's thrown 39 pitches in his three appearances, faced 15, 15 hitters, gave up zero hits. The same cannot be said for Ashby, who threw 90 90 something pitches. He's just we've seen him way more. So you know, are these huge advantages? No, guys, this is these are marked this is marginal shit. A couple other things to call out. A lot of respect for William Contreras, the way he plays the game. You know, I think that's a fair thing to do at this point in the series. Before it's over, I just want to say a couple players I like on their team a lot. The right fielder, Sal Freelick. The second baseman, Bryce Tarang, although he swings like an asshole. Um Caleb Derlib Durbin, the right um the Lake Forest kid, the third baseman. He's fine, but I do love a local kid, and I like their catcher a lot. I do like that catcher a lot. William Contreras. Now, what Wilson Contreras' brother, no shit, all this stuff. I think they're different players, big time. I think the way William Contreras calls a game, commands a game, I think he's just a different kind of catcher back there. And I think they're different, much different hitters, but this is a completely different conversation. I just wanted to use an opportunity to say something. You know, I don't, I'm not out here to tell you, yeah, fuck the Brewers. We're gonna run it down their throats. You know, they're a good team. The advantage we have, this Mizorowski guy, he's wild. The circumstances, the environment, I think lend themselves better to us just saying, fine, we're gonna get Drew Pomerance out there. And I wouldn't be surprised if the Cubs match some of their better bullpen arms, saving Kittridge and saving uh Keller and saving Tielbar towards the end. But up front, if that means they use Palencia and they use Pomerance, they also said Tayan could be available, Colin Ray is going to be available, Aaron Savali is available. I mean, I'm whatever, fine, Shoda and Brown are available, Siroca's available. But between the mix, if if there was some way we could save Kittric, Keller, and one of in Teal Bar towards the end, but if even if we have to go Kittric two innings early, Palencia two earlings, two innings early, Pomerance, two innings early. They said Taeon would be available. Maybe that's for extra innings. But in my head, there's a mix for us where like we can go six innings and I feel really good. For the Brewers, it's like, do you think Mizorowski can go six innings? And if you think Mizorowski can go six innings, I think you need your head examined. So who are the other people that would be able to go for them? Quintana's not available. I think Chad Patrick would be available. Do you go to McGill and your rebay early, or do you wait and see if you have a lead? That's a big question for the Brewers. And so I do think at this present time, the advantage is to the Cubs early. I'm not saying it's for the game. I think there's an advantage to the Cubs early. Put pressure on Mizerowski so that they have to use Patrick and force them to use either Euribe or McGill early. If we let this game go late enough, seventh inning, and they haven't used Yuribe or McGill, then the advantage is going to switch to the Brewers. If it's a tie game, obviously if we're down, aren't the advantages to them. But I'm just talking generally, our advantage lies immediately up front, out of the gate. If it's Pomerans versus Mizarowski, advantage cubs. And the longer that we can string out, if it's Pomerans for two innings, that's freaking incredible. If it's only for one, that's fine. If it's four hitters, that's fine. If they want to go righty, lefty, righty, lefty, and he can get the first three and get into the next lefty, that's perfect. But it creates some different things for the Brewers to think about. And I do think the Cubs lineup is hot enough where it's like we're only going to need three or four innings to get a crooked number on the board, and that could be the advantage for us. We just need to use if it's up to me, I'm using maybe it, maybe, maybe if it's up to me. I'm saying I'm going Pomerance, then I'm going Palencia, and then I'm going. I'm going Pomerance, I'm going Palencia, I'm going Kittridge. Those are the first three guys I want out of the bullpen. I know I was being selfish. I said I'd like to save Kittric and Tilbar and Keller for the end. So, and maybe I'm wrong. Maybe save Kittrich for the end and use Keller in the middle for two. Guys, this is really, we're splitting hairs here. Uh, this is the game five preview for the Monday morning Cubs show, keeping it under an hour. How about that? Overall, I do think that the Chicago Cubs win this game. I think it's a close game, and I think somebody else steps up and has a huge moment for the Chicago Cubs. I think there's somebody, it's not going to be Ian Hap. It could be Dansby Swanson because he's so good against forcing fastballs. And historically speaking, I like picking just completely obscure things. And the obscure thing for me is that despite defining his postseason success thus far with his glove, is that there's going to be an opportunity at the bat today. He's going to jump on it, and people are going to be celebrating for a whole different reasons. I'm serious about that. So Dansby Swanson's the pick to click, which is pretty hard to say to be honest with you. Dansby Swanson's the pick to click. I do think the Cubs win in a close game. Uh, and overall, I think it's important to reiterate that this is a blessing we get to a game five. We've kind of defined that 2025 legacy as a team that backed into a corner, has resiliency, has come out, has performed well, has put themselves in this opportunity. And before first pitch, I'm very comfortable in saying I do think we have the advantage for the game. Overall, I think it's kind of a coin flip. And then down the stretch, if we let the Brewers take a lead, then we got our work cut out for us. But at the very start, at the very start of this game, we have the advantage. And I'd ask you guys, the maniacs, if at the beginning of the season you said we have an advantage at first pitch in game five of an L N LDS, would you guys take it? I have bad COVID, but my answer is yes. My answer is you guys should go get a Thirsty Vacaro from Amazon. My answer is that going into a game five under these circumstances, after how we get here and how much resiliency we've seen and the heroes that have emerged in this entire ride, I'm taking it. And I feel very good that tonight, when I sit down to do a recap, we're gonna be celebrating the fact that we're going to the NLCS. We're first one pitch at a time, and it starts with Drew Pomerant setting the tone. And I love that. So let's go do it. Go Cubs. If you guys get a chance, throw a subscription on here, leave five stars or something. I'll be back after the game, win or lose. I'll be back after the game, win or lose. You know, why do I do this? For 30 minutes, maybe? I don't know. But I promise you guys we'll have something to talk about at the conclusion of tonight's game. But gun to my head, you know me. AK 47 to the temple. However you want to say it. End of the day, I think. We're gonna be sitting down and having a nice old celebration tonight. I love you, maniacs. Go Cubs.