Monday Morning Cubs Show
A show every Monday morning about the Chicago Cubs from Carl and Mahoney.
Monday Morning Cubs Show
The Big Cat Interview: Wrigley Takes, Nostalgia, And 2026 Predictions
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A good Cubs season starts long before the ivy turns green. We kick things off with the signals that actually matter in March—Matt Shaw holding serve while learning another position, Dansby Swanson finding rhythm, and fringe bats pushing for a real job—then thread those details through a bigger, brighter picture of what this team can be when the games start to count. With Dan “Big Cat” Katz in studio, we revisit the jolt of 2015 and Arrieta’s absurd heater, not just to bask in nostalgia but to draw a blueprint: conviction, roles that fit, and a crowd that makes every pitch feel heavier.
From there, it’s all about levers. Seiya Suzuki’s WBC swagger looks like more than a weekend mood; if he stays upright, a career year is on the table. Alex Bregman brings everyday certainty—long counts, hard contact, and respect from every dugout—that travels in cold weather. And PCA’s first-pitch aggression isn’t recklessness; it’s intent. Craig Counsell’s calm, relentless bullpen management gets its due, because it turns thin nights into chances and chances into wins. The key variable? Justin Steele. If he returns at full throttle by early summer, he becomes the deadline addition everyone begs for without the prospect tax, sliding Shota into a truer role and letting Cade Horton’s innings pop on a smart leash.
We don’t dodge the uncomfortable parts. Tom Ricketts clears Chicago’s owner bar but still leaves ambition on the table for a franchise that should play in the deep end more often. We stack 2016 vs 2026, position by position: the old rotation still rules, but today’s group has a path to echo that dominance if Steele anchors and the lineup’s contact profile holds. Along the way, you’ll get Wrigley lore, the 50-50 obsession, foul-ball nerves, and the eternal hot-dog debate—because the little rituals matter as much as the big swings.
If you love smart Cubs talk with heart, this one hits the sweet spot. Subscribe, share with a fellow maniacs, and drop your win total prediction—we’re calling 95 as the number to beat. Want more of these deep dives all season? Follow, leave a review, and tell us the one matchup where 2026 beats 2016.
Thanks for tuning in!
- Carl & Mahoney
Opening Banter & Guest Setup
SPEAKER_00And we're clear. Good morning, good afternoon, and evening Chicago Cubs fans, and welcome back to the Monday Morning Cubs Show. Today is Monday, March 9th. It is Carl joined by Mahoney quickly and later for a very long interview with a good friend of the program, Dan Katz. You may know him as Big Cat from Barcelona, Chicago.
SPEAKER_01Well, Carl, I couldn't quite make it for the full episode this week, so we got a solid replacement. I'd say probably one of the best replacements that you can go out and get to fill in for old Monday morning Mahones here.
SPEAKER_00Like Matt Stair's late 90s, early 2000s coming off the bench. Uh Big Cat's got nothing but massive takes and rips for it, which it is convenient to say he did some for you. The reality is we've talked uh, you know, for a little bit now for like offseason. The problem is his schedule. I'd feel bad asking him, can you come on for a Cubs podcast? You can laugh all you want. It is a ridiculous amount of programming that Big Cat does.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, almost absurd in terms of the like amount of you know colors on his calendar, you know, on his phone. I can't imagine the sliver of time that he'd have to put aside to help a Monday morning Cubs show that's not particularly in his network, but it's great that you two have stayed connected. You talked about this a bit in the past, and now it came together beautifully. Of course, it's the one time that I have a staunch, cannot miss work obligation during almost that entire window that he could have. So, of course, Carl, I didn't want to go back to you like, nope, doesn't work for me. Let's see if he could do Thursday. You don't miss on the opportunity cost when you could get big cat um in studio, too, from what I've been told. Beautiful session to be able to sit down and yuck it up in person, eye to eye.
SPEAKER_00It was cool to do it in the PMT studio. I haven't done an in-person since with you on my front lawn. Do you remember that in like June of 2024?
SPEAKER_01I do. Yep. Front lawn. We had the camera a good 50 yards away, and I had sunburn on my knees so bad because I was wearing shorts and just never caught the screen on the edge of my knees.
Sponsor Shoutouts & Housekeeping
SPEAKER_00Well, we just made the commitment to do this show uh virtually because that would be the standard bear. And in hindsight, like I guess I have not done a show sitting next to person, uh, next to the person I'm talking to. So that would be probably uh the only up front it was all I had to get adjusted to that quickly. It was cool to be in the PMT studio and see PFT as I'm sitting in the chair, basically get his blessing in a and I would say just an unbelievably good person behind the scenes. Obviously, everybody knows the character, but just the guy behind the scenes PFT. So just very nice of them, uh Dan in particular, to have me in the studio because we were gonna do it on a link, but even then, that's kind of like you know, that's that's almost harder to schedule than just say, like, yeah, I can set outside the production. So we'll get to that interview. It turns out to be much longer, and I had said it multiple times. I think we're going a little bit long here, but once you get the ball rolling, especially on some of these topics, so there's good 2015 rehash stories, make predictions for the 2016 team or 2026 team, obviously. My favorite exercise that I've gotten to do is compare this roster to the World Series roster, specifically player by player, which one would we rather have for the start of the season? So it's fun to go back, a lot of nostalgia early in the show, good perspective from him on Tom Ricketts as an owner. The leadership review segment goes long. We pitch clock uh the P. Crow Armstrong stuff. So, like, that's cool to hear his perspective on Caleb Williams and PCA, them spending time together. Uh, and then just like picking his brain at the end with a mailbag pitch clock segment, some stuff that I like talking about first base coaches versus third base umpires, you know, if you could have this job. So we'll get to that. There is some current stuff, Mahoney, that I do think is relevant. Um, so let's just start there. And before, obviously, thank you to Thirsty Vaquero for sponsoring today's episode. An all-bite, no rattle, Mexican style soda with this signature spicy finish.
SPEAKER_01One of the best beverages you will have if you haven't had the chance to taste it yet. Thirsty Vaquero, get it on Amazon.com. Best way to get fulfilled there quickly. Thirsty Vaquero has four different flavors, all of which give a different kind of pizzazz to your taste buds. So please, thanks to Thirsty Vaquero for sponsoring the Monday Morning Cub show and to support the show and Thirsty Vacaro. Go out and get yourself a couple four packs.
SPEAKER_00If you're in Texas, you can find it at a Circle K, widely distributed in the Loden Star State soon. You know, I can't break news for these guys, but like the distribution is growing. You should be able to reach into a cooler and find it at your local grocery sometime this year, next year. Again, I didn't sign an NDA with these guys. I'm just telling you, they're growing rapidly. It's fun to be on the ground floor. And just a very longtime old cult, uh, close personal friend of mine who used to work for a very large beverage company and had made the pitch we need to take a look at non-alcoholics, not laughed out of the room, you know, a couple of years ago, but we talk about it like it's just an unbelievable beverage. And it will be a great story one day to laugh about how X amount of people passed on it, whether it's the watermelon, the lemon lemon, the drone, Lamon to the drone, sir. Muego muerte, put it in the cooler, treat yourself to something nice. Your old lady's gonna love it, no doubt about it.
SPEAKER_01Thirsty Vicaro, Amazon.com, sponsor of the Monday morning cub show.
SPEAKER_00Hey, speaking of old ladies, if you guys have a chance, support mine. Monday morning cub show has a promo MMCS 20% off all Stirk Family Farm products. This won't be a long ad read. I'll just tell you, we do have a new face balm, a new hand bomb, lip balm, miracle cream, eye cream. It's that time of the year you're gonna want to look good. Uh, I can't say enough good things about the product. It's a beef tallow, all-natural skincare solution for any and all needs. Eczema, you name it. It's great in the morning, it's great at nighttime. The fact that you have a couple of grown men like me and Mahony sitting here just staying by the product, uh, you know, says everything you need to know.
SPEAKER_01Carl, let me ask you this. Do I look like I was yucking it up with the boys for a good 48-hour stretch in Milwaukee? Yeah, I was gonna ask you. I'm fresh face though, baby. Look, I had the eye cream on underneath. I'm looking better than I did yesterday, pal.
SPEAKER_00How do you look so good after like just a couple of 40-year-old, how what is it, a dozen of you guys go up to Milwaukee and just raise hell every year for no particular reason?
SPEAKER_01Yep, no particular reason other than just celebrating, getting older, I suppose, sitting a sports book for a good 12-hour stretch on Saturday, nothing but light beers, all every single type of fried appetizer. So we're not eating healthy, but great times with the boys, nothing but good stories. And then all of a sudden you're back here at home, and I was so happy to wake up this morning and have some Stirk family farm sheen on my face because I'm I'm looking blessed.
SPEAKER_00Promo code MMCS for 20% off checkout. We'll ship anywhere. We've shipped to military bases, so don't be bashful, folks. Um, can we just talk quickly about this weekend? There's stuff we'll get to with spring training. I've got a good, bad, ugly list for spring training, some comments about the world baseball classic, and obviously we'll get to the big cat interview. But off the top, I just think it's really cool. It's not a bachelor party, it's not like somebody died. It's not like, you know, you guys are celebrating that someone's returned home from overseas. It's literally just you guys have this weekend to get away from your kids and act like college idiots.
SPEAKER_01100%. It's a bookend, it's a traditional thing now. We're going on year five of doing so. So, yeah, it's really one of those things that you have in the calendar a year ahead of time. No one can really give you any pushback because there's nothing but notice for this thing. You hope to God everyone's healthy in your family and that y'all get out. Every once in a while, one person might not be able to make it for some extreme situation, like they're in a president's club or whatever for their existing jobs. But that said, that person will be there next year. And like that's the it's always the same dudes, same kit and caboodle, and it's a really, really good time and something just building that tradition. It's because we had like even the monthly pizza club came up in conversation this weekend, and we were saying how important that is as you get older to do those kinds of things to maintain the relationships that you have with the important people in your life outside of just your family.
SPEAKER_00Well, tips and tricks for younger guys if you just got married or you're settling down, or maybe you're in your early 20s, late 20s, etc. It doesn't really matter. The applicable advice here is the sooner you have this stuff annually, um, you know, the more sacred it will be a when you get older, and the harder it will be to turn it down. So even if it's just a golf trip or whatever, because the longer you have it going on, if you're saying, babe, we've been doing it for six years, it's seven years, babe, we do it's the bi-monthly pizza club, we've been doing it forever. That's the stuff that's really hard. And as you get older, there will be reasons to say, you're definitely not going anywhere. We're watching Wheel of Fortune, you're making the fucking lemon panchetta pasta, we're doing the laundry, you know, etc.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So great time and yeah, great advice to get something going, as you could do on an annual basis. And it's something that you'll cherish, you know, throughout the rest of your lives.
SPEAKER_00Hangover, severe, hangover, gradual.
SPEAKER_01Where are you at? Absolute severe, like scale of one to ten to twelve yesterday. Couldn't sleep, could barely keep my eyes open, sweating, perspiring from orfices that I didn't know exist. I mean, it was just nonstop, just weird sweats, weird feelings, brain dead, would not be able to hold a conversation with you right now. So if we had to record yesterday, I'm sorry, I wouldn't have been able to make that either. But fantastic. I feel so much better today because I was allowed a nap when I got home. That typically does not happen, and got great amount of sleep last night. So it's a beautiful Monday here in Arlington Heights. It's a beautiful Monday across the Chicagoland area. We're gonna see temperatures of 71. Just enjoy it, everyone. Put on the put on the headphones, go for a walk, listen to the big cat interview with Carl. And I had just a quick follow-up with that. How nice is it to have somewhat of a full production team at your beck and call when you guys did the interview?
SPEAKER_00And did you expect that? Did I glaze memes? I maybe I was saving this. I can't thank that guy enough. Memes from part of my take sat in studio for it was a full hour and a half. I've cut it down. There's some stuff, pleasantries off the top, you know, stuff at the end. But for the most part, you know, like what we get from this interview here is what we had in studio. And memes sat through the whole thing, uh, dare I say, engaged. I mean, you're working the sticks, obviously, your mind is wandering. But then how about this? All the uh, you know, talk about them going to Netflix. I don't know if these cameras existed before when it was YouTube or if Netflix made them buy these cameras, but the footage comes out just an hour and a half. It was a 16 gig file. If you've worked ever on any side of video production, an hour and a half should not be 16 gigs, but they multi-cut it on the spot from seven cameras, they've got the software and the technology to do it. The lighting's just incredible. Uh, so I don't know how much of that is because of the huge deal that they have with Netflix, but I can tell you that the camera technology is not anything we've used before on the cuff show.
SPEAKER_01I mean, and I felt like we were rolling early on with some multi-cam. We had four A angles. The lighting in the basement might have been a little bit tinged, but you know, it worked for us at the time. And then, yeah, you get into an actual studio studio, it's like, holy smokes!
Spring Training: Good, Bad, Ugly
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was great. It was again, can't say enough nice things about Dan for having me in studio like that. Um, so before we get to that, let's just do quick, like topical stuff from spring training. I do have some good observations. You know, it's gonna start with Matt Shaw. He has had a good spring training so far. We're asking him to learn a new position for the second time in a row. I would be disappointed if he went in and looked like shit. I also know that there'd be a lot of chirping online if Matt Shaw started like shit. So we're just saying off the top, we don't read way too much in his spring training stats, but it's good to see him have a positive spring.
SPEAKER_01One note and follow-up on that, it's great to see him having a good spring and at the same token. Yes, if he was having like odd play in right field or, you know, multiple errors in a game, we would absolutely be hearing about that. And I haven't read one thing about Mac Shaw being shaky in you know, his him getting those starts in right field and et cetera. And it also it doesn't sound like we're trying to make him into some super utility. It's focus on this position and then third base, you could spell as much as need be. So it's great to hear that we're not hearing anything. And yeah, I'm happy for the guy, and I think that that's gonna be great for the ball club.
SPEAKER_00And he gets to play third while Breckman's at the World Baseball Classic. So it's good to get those reps. But I also think if he was ripping it up, you wouldn't hear that much about him. He's still people are cautious to even say, like, Matt Shaw looks pretty good. So that's just something the Monday Morning Cup show is gonna proudly stand behind in a similar fashion. Blaster, we were overly hard on Matt Shaw. I think this year we're gonna be overly appreciative of his efforts. Well, 10-4, absolutely. Okay, second guy on the list here. Good. If he was having a shitty spring training, same thing. You'd be hearing about it. He's ripping the cover off the ball. It's Dansby Swanson. So just great to see him. We've talked about swing changes before in the past. You'd like to see him just get a hot start. Like he's very much a rhythm hitter. If he feels good now, that's one of those things. If he looked like shit, I'd be I would be a little nervous. Again, we don't care too much about spring training stats. But Dansby's one of these guys. If he looked like shit out of the gate, you'd be nervous about his start to the season. So so far, so good on Dansby.
SPEAKER_01So far, so good on Dansby. I'd like to add the component of having Braggman. I know he's not right there right now, given that that US uh the world baseball classic, but not having to ask Dansby to be the consummate professional role model for the locker room. And I know we have other season pros, but not having him to be the guy, I think, is is going to be nice just from a personal standpoint for Dansby Swanson in the season, and I'm assuming would contribute to more positive play on the field.
SPEAKER_00An average Dansby Swanson season at this point is four wins above average on baseball reference. Like that's him not being that good offensively relative to what you expect at$27.5 million, which for four wins above replacement for a veteran shortstop, I think is very much deserving of$27.5 million. My point in saying that, we haven't seen a career season from Dansby in a Cubs uniform. I think this could be the year for what you're talking about. He he's so far removed from being considered the guy or anything other than somebody who's going to hit seventh and see a ton of fastball.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, absolutely, 100%. And so this could be the year, man. Let's do it. I'm I'm optimistic about that. I want to see a career year out of Dansby 2026 campaign.
SPEAKER_00All right, last one, and totally contradictory to the fact that we don't care about spring training statistics. Dylan Carlson's had a good spring. The reason that's important, obviously, just seeing some injuries, there's going to be opportunity for you know the 26 man. He was one of these minor league camp invites. Chas McCormick's been okay at 250. Again, if you're just going to look purely at the numbers, Carlson's been a little bit better. Hammer McCormick, they've been good enough to where we're not really freaking out. Again, if these guys looked like shit, I'd be a little nervous. But uh seems like one of them should be able to stick.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that would be a beautiful sight to see. Dylan Carlson's one guy I don't think we've talked about much on this show at all. So even just seeing new names come up with the capacity for injuries, et cetera, over the course of a year. Welcome sight. That's uh in the the good uh good section.
SPEAKER_00And that's basically our biggest positive about the spring training is we're not really doing any position battles. We're not really interested in you know these veteran minor league deals that could turn into somebody who gets 500 plate appearances. Like at best, he's on the team and contributing, but for the most part, yeah, the roster is locked down. It's it's been a very comfortable spring training from afar.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it really has. And then the distraction that the world baseball classic has brought this weekend has been a welcome site, too, which I know we'll get to shortly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so let's just run through the bad stuff. Um, you know, we can do a lot on these guys. I just want to reference it. You know, showed his velocity's up. He is getting hit around a little bit. I know part of that was the White Sox start. It is him early spring training. These guys don't even have double-digit innings under their belts, but he hasn't looked very good. Uh, neither Jamison Tayan, who's now pitching in the world baseball classic. Uh, you know, that's a guy he's gonna be fine when the season starts. I it would be hard to trust someone more than Jamison Tayan to be Jamison Tayan at this point. Like Shod, on the other hand, I am nervous about. We're gonna get to that with Big Cat, where like, you know, him as a four or five is great, but the idea of him pitching as a two right now just seems so far away.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, it does. And like, I don't know if that has anything to do with him adjusting to his uptick and velocity and working those pitches around that fastball. We'll see. Also, not worried about Jameson right now. I do think he's the type of guy that is consistently just working on certain things, specific things in spring training. So you don't want to buy into and any numbers into you know, busy RA and what have you at this point.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think he's more mechanical, I think he's more trying to feel stuff, and he's so far along in his career where I think it's more about the physical readiness. So if he gets a hit around early in spring training, you know, that kind of leads credence, what we're talking about. Not really nervous about spring training say it's showday, you know, one of those guys, it would just be nice if you saw him come out and he was just breezing through it. But I think that might be a little uphill battle this year. And then the last thing, I don't know how much I want to care about the bullpen. The one thing with Caleb Tielbar is we did reward him with a contract, and I just I would hope he's so far along in his career, late 30s, 38, 39, or something, you know, where like he's seasoned enough where it isn't impacting him mentally. But there is kind of a world where it's like you went out and you earned yourself a deal for them to bring you back, and now you're the guy. Is he carrying a little bit different type of expectation or weight around in his head at this spring training? Where years before it would be, you know, I got nothing to lose. In this case, they are trusting him, and he is starting the season as somebody they are gonna rely on. So I would just ask you, he's your age. Would you really give a shit? Like, do you think Caleb Tilbar is somebody I need to be nervous about?
SPEAKER_01I mean, you might want to be nervous given the age, but at the same token, if I'm him, I want to get an additional contract too. If I'm gonna be a mid-reliever, you know, not throwing tons of pitches throughout the year, I'm looking to get another contract towards the tail end if you see some of these older relievers in the game. So that's what I would want to be. I also could see him being my age and not really caring after getting a bag of money.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he is getting this is like the first time in a while he's entrusted to be uh somewhat of a you know leader. So just again, this is like a small body of work getting hit around a little bit. He could be feeling different breaking balls. This this is kind of where we should be at as Cubs fans is you know, we're kind of asking the questions if we should be nervous, but the broader answer to anything pitching related in the spring training stuff is it's just way too early.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, too early to tell, too, too soon, but not too early to get hurt.
SPEAKER_00So just two guys that go to the IL. My understanding will start the regular season. This is just the last note I have on spring training. Porter Hodge and Jordan Wicks. Porter Hodge had an opportunity to like work his way into the staff. I thought, you know, be good for him to be around the veterans. A lot of injury history with this guy, big max effort thrower. And then Jordan Wicks, you know, is unfortunately going down this path where like he could just be a bust purely from an injury standpoint, and that would really suck. It does suck.
SPEAKER_01That's the took the words out of my mouth. That just sucks. It seems like I've seen Jordan Wicks on the IL many times over the course of his career, and not at a point in his career we he can have that where he can again any semblance of momentum to get going, you know, with his like you know, major league impact.
SPEAKER_00I definitely had him flagged as like an Andrew Abbott style where he's like definitely not overpowering, but he can get a ton of swing and miss because he's unique in the strike zone. He's got a different look to him, he's got a filthy wipeout uh change up that kind of sets everything else up. But again, with the injury risk, it just sucks. Like it definitely sucks that you spend a first round pick on this guy, and we haven't even gotten a chance to truly see you know what type of pitcher he is because he can't get healthy. And this is the perfect staff and spring training environment to be competitive around and work off these guys and train together, just like the mix so much. So it just sucks for those guys and uh speedy recovery. I hope.
SPEAKER_01Yep, speedy recovery. Here's to it. He's probably one of the dudes I was highest on over the course early on in his career that has faltered and fallen off, and you know, sadly a little bit disappointed, but you got to hope for the best.
SPEAKER_00One thing I wanted to talk to Dan about, didn't get into it. Uh, opening day starter, I think it's Matt Boyd. I I don't, you know, I don't know if it if it is Kate Orton. I'd like to see it be Kate Orton because he is the guy, but at the same time, the Trump card for Matt Boyd is that we signed him on an like under slotted or kind of a valuable deal. He was banged around and hurt. We we got him for a two year thirty million dollar deal in the opening day starter stuff. Will matter when you go to the market again as a free agent one, two. It also matters to Cade Horton if he's the opening day starter at the arbitration table and don't put it past the Cubs to say we'd rather give it to Boyd. It makes us look better to free agents. Conversely, if we give it to Kate Horton, it's going to be tougher at the negotiation table. His agent will use that to drive the price up.
SPEAKER_01You know, I read this outline a bit earlier and when I came across that I had to ask the question of why. And there you go. Yeah.
WBC Check-In: Seiya, Bregman, PCA
SPEAKER_00I mean if Justin Steele's healthy it's his staff, obviously. Um and just on Kate Horton with the Cy Young odds, people were asking why is it 75 to one? You know, when Paul Skeens is like two to one or something. Cade Horton was the pitcher of the year the second half, I should say. You know, he was so good. Why would it be 75 to one? I just have inning count. Like obviously Paul Skeens is is a stud. Obviously there's great pitchers in the National League. But like why would Kate Horton be so far removed from the top? I think it's just inning count. Like I think you're going to see him in the buck 20, buck 30 range max and you're not going to get these deep games that's going to matter to sports writers at the end of the year.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, dude, I could see that and then just with strikeouts is that this it goes hand in hand, right? He's not going to strike out a ton of batters like Paul Skeens, but that goes back to him still having an inning count. He's not going to be getting those numbers added up later on in the games over the course collectively in the season. So yeah it makes sense man.
SPEAKER_00And he's not really been a big striker guy to begin with. So even if he doesn't have those gross totals that'll come with the inning count you're also not going to see the 11.5 per nine inning you're not going to see those big dominant stretches. That's really just his identity though as a pitcher and we like that. I actually prefer that in the long run. I think that's going to help him you know for a number of reasons we can get into now we'll save it for later in the season mahoney. Awesome. Yeah let's save it. All right world baseball classic uh you know some cubs in play I think the three most important obviously we want to talk about your guys say it looked so good for Japan three for seven two bombs and just rolling baby I know and if we can in some way get that Japanese like it wasn't a wave but they chanted Suzuki and Seiya see and up and down and up there's no way we could coordinate that at Wrigley Field.
SPEAKER_01But I mean what an awesome time to see him play in front of his hometown and um just seeing the how much respect they have for him and the celebration how much they love their players it's been an awesome experience to watch that's just one of the moments across the WBC that I've thoroughly enjoyed throughout the weekend.
SPEAKER_00Yeah he him being with the team we get into it again with the big K interview that's his pick the click for the season you know how much time does he have to play in right field we'll see but if he's healthy it's a 40 homer season. Yeah that's what we're hoping for and looking for and I think that I could see it. Now a great part from the United States team I really want to draw attention to because people have talked so much about Alex Bregman being worth the money etc like this is where he slots in the USA team hitting second hitting fifth as the everyday third baseman just such an unbelievably respected player. Against Brazil I want to say he he walked and got hit by a pitch in four straight uh plate appearances he's looked pretty good so far.
SPEAKER_01Your reaction on Bregman getting uh you know such respect in the lineup the discipline at the plate against shitty pitchers is unbelievable. Like you know Brazil's not going to be throwing the toughest dudes at him but no dude seeing him and his patience against any level of professional competition is impressive. So I was I'm just doing shtick there.
SPEAKER_00But the truth be told um yeah him at slotting in at second now I have the vision for him slotting into two you know and games at Wrigley and beyond and it's just it's great dude what he got hit by a pitch twice or once yeah no once some of the injury risk we don't like to see by Buxton goes down and then obviously Pete Crow Armstrong gets his playing time but the thing that jumps out with me and Bregman is just how many pitches he's seen and you point out exactly like of course it's subpar pitching to what he's going to see at the big league level but like the fact every single plate appearance for him is going four five six pitches uh the outs he are he is making are extremely hard outs like this is the exact type of Alex Bregman we're going to get at Wrigley Field. Cannot wait uh you know for that to come to fruition people get to realize just how good he is on a day-to-day basis.
SPEAKER_01Yeah and just seeing him suiting up and just seeing professional baseball players playing something meaningful was sick this weekend. And the passion that people are showing they means a lot more than I really anticipated originally.
SPEAKER_00And the big thing with PCA finally uh you know he's swinging at the first pitch. He's very aggressive in his counts I think that's the number one thing I was interested in is um you know we went through this last year in the second half where he was being more patient his chase rate went down he was taking more pitches and so I was very interested early in the world baseball classic is he going to get in the box and rip and that's exactly what he's doing. So I'm not saying that's who he's going to be all season long, but um I definitely wanted to see him aggressive and that's what he's been so far. And I'm assuming if he's aggressive now he'll be aggressive this season as well. There's your world baseball classic roundup did I miss anything important you know who cares if Tyrick School bull pitches again for the Tigers or whatever. Like as far as the Cubs are concerned I like what we're getting from Bregman. It does suck Byron Buxton is just like the unluckiest guy of all time getting drilled um you know forcing Peter Armstrong to get more playing time than he probably would have but uh yeah so far so good.
SPEAKER_01Like you said the injury is going to be the the most worry some aspect from a fan watching perspective but you know we escaped the pool play on unscathed.
YouTube Plans & Production Notes
SPEAKER_00All right so with that in mind let's get to the big cat interview again thank you to Thirsty McCo if you guys want to support the show. A five star rating on Spotify or Apple you know we very much appreciate that. See those numbers go up means a lot. If you guys want to support Thirsty McAro please do so they're behind the lineup previews this season all Monday morning Cub shows. And then I have the video from the Big Cat interview we're gonna put it on YouTube when the season starts excuse me we're gonna launch a YouTube page more on that later uh we'll have like Friday interviews I'm gonna do there's some sort of daily programming I'm trying to figure out if it's pregame or post game but we will have the YouTube aspect set up for the season.
Big Cat Joins: 2015 Memories
SPEAKER_02A lot of people have reached out about this the problem as I've talked before just a lot of legwork on thumbnails and graphics and shit I'm naturally not that good uh at doing but we will put it together this season I do think it is going to be a little subscriber slash heavy subscriber based but just had that in the notes before we get to the big cat interview some housekeeping stuff we will have YouTube rolling this season uh some opportunities of support on that obviously Monday morning cub show the MMCS promo 20% off sturt family farms and go support Thirsty but girl please do gang and let's get to that big cat interview baby I'm sorry I missed it but we'll be plenty more opportunities in the future all right we're in the interview portion of today's show uh we are joined by Chicago Cubs season ticket holder Dan Katz thank you very much for joining the Monday morning Cub Show I'm excited to be here I'm a listener uh I thought you guys you and Mahoney getting getting us pumped for all the playoff games like I mean we've known each other for very long time so I I know you very well and like just hearing your um your thoughts especially because I know Mahoney missed a couple because he had work stuff but like your unfiltered just stream of consciousness thoughts before like a brewer's game four was just awesome. Put me at ease.
SPEAKER_00I appreciate it. Yeah it was fun it's become a good format for the diehard to come out because sometimes you don't want to go on long-winded rants but then I find myself you know like the basis of why I do baseball content is because I am willing to spend eight minutes talking about you know pitch usage and the eighth inning from some marginal reliever nobody really gives a shit about.
SPEAKER_02I also loved it because I was like you know obviously the Brewers series didn't go our way uh but I you had me like thinking we were so much better than them and I needed that confidence going in because I think we all felt it at the end of the season last year as awesome as it was to get playoff baseball back at Wrigley and all the stuff and all the good vibes we were kind of on fumes when it came to our starting pitching at the end of the year and we're just like and Kyle Tucker was a zero and it was just like where are we going to get this from so you get you gave me the confidence. I was like fuck yes ultimately we did have nothing but yeah but we had you know we had more than I thought like I was like damn this is going to be tough especially how it started and I went to three out of five of the games so you mentioned the season ticket holder I I've had season tickets with our our mutual friend one of my best friends uh Miller since 2013 I want to say and uh we've gone all over we started in the bleachers we went uh right field wall I think we went left field wall for a minute and then now we're we're we're finally uh at a good spot uh behind the uh first base dugout one of my great moments in live sporting events and live any any Chris Bryant's debut I believe he struck out four times more importantly though Matt Kemp playing right field for the Padres uh singled you out and called you fat and you weren't really that fat but I was fat enough and he yeah that Chris Bryant day was to paint a picture we all had been waiting and it was the whole nine was it nine games that Theo kept him down so that we got his uh his his his timing for an extra year we went to I want to say Sluggers might have been Dark Horse R.I.P. Dark Horse uh one of my favorite bars that back remember that back patio patio um just vibes couldn't be higher Chris Bryant is finally here we get there beautiful day kind of not that full of of like Wrigley was not that full because it was we still sucked and yeah I think he struck out three or four times. Yeah but that was okay and I mean it's it's more sad where Chris Bryant is today.
SPEAKER_00He would go on to bounce back and win rookie of the year than next year near unanimous uh MVP and winning the World Series. So I'd say we caught him at the right time he's a great memory.
SPEAKER_02We did but yeah that was that was a fun one and yeah there's nothing better than uh having season I remember vividly the Miller uh his season ticket number came up on uh you know in like 2013 because we were bad and he emailed a bunch of us me and like a bunch of my friends he's like anyone want to split and I was like instantly I was like yes absolutely because I used to do the packages like the 10 game packages but they you get like five games in April and then like one game in August and then in 2016 after we won the World Series I replied all to the emails like looks like me and Miller made the right choice uh to all the people who didn't who passed on the season tickets so it was a it was a good choice.
SPEAKER_00We went to I went to probably 60 games in 2014 and 15 and it was just the best because I just walk right up catch like six innings if I you know was late then leave it was the best there's some things we're gonna get into segment wise that we do on the Monday morning cub show because Big Cat is filling in for Mahoney so we're gonna stay structured here obviously got a heavy pitch clock some ball or strike yep but I do want to stay in 2015. I think this is like a pivotal year for Chicago sports. And so as we're talking about Chris Bryant's debut in the I'm sitting here thinking between the Cubs run 1516 into the World Series and then having the Blackhawks run to start 1315 obviously in 10 yep which one was more important do you think for your own personal content or your branding yourself in in Chicago?
SPEAKER_0215 was probably the biggest year just because you had the Blackhawks Patrick Sharp was the best guy in the world where he in 13 and 15 he let me just party with the team to a level that like I never asked for it. He just like I remember in 13 I went he told me he was like I can't even remember what bar it was in the West Loop. He's like hey the cup's gonna be here come take a picture and I was like yeah definitely so I come take the picture um hang out for a minute and I'm like dude thank you so much appreciate it like I I can't thank you enough and I I was like I like appreciate it I'm gonna get out of here he's like what are you talking about? I was like what do you mean he's like you're coming out with us like I am all right and so I go out with him in 13 then 15 it was even more so where it was the cup was at his house in on Southport he's like come over to my house then we roll from his house to uh what was Rocket remember Rocket was was wonderful part yeah the and then we went from there to the stadium I'm standing there they're like yeah we're gonna have the cup out on the field before the game and I was like oh awesome I get I get there and like as I'm like standing there they're about to walk on Sharpie's like dude you're coming with us I was like what do you mean I'm coming with us and then he's like yeah you're coming with us like okay I'm coming with us so yeah it was awesome and then I would say I I think you probably agree but like the 2015 Cubs were like one of my favorite Cubs teams just because they were a year too early and I always look back and I remember it and I actually we Rizzo when he came back this summer I was able to hang out with him a little and I was talking to him about it and I was like what was the moment that like everything clicked and he said that it was that Giants series when we went the Giants that were off a World Series we beat them four games in August and then we went out uh to Stanley's another R.I.P. This sucks to just say all these bars that are R.I.P. Stanley's with uh I went out with Theo and I did karaoke with Theo and Rizzo and that was the moment when we're like oh shit we're better than we thought like we're actually a really good team this year and then the the Cardinals series was incredible obviously the NLCS was bad but it was I mean that was a special special time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah surprising yeah right for everyone Arietta just being the best pitcher in the world a lot of things clicking at the right time yeah and hanging out at Stanley's and stuff I mean obviously baseball has just become such a metric driven sport but there is so much behind a team that gets together cares gives a shit about each other guys are willing to take a day off or at least play harder and just coming together in the locker room they had so many personalities and like shifting now towards this team it is just completely different. Not to be nostalgic but just sitting here as you're talking about like Sharp telling you like yeah come out of the field like it's fair to say it just isn't like that.
SPEAKER_02No no and it's like obviously the internet has gotten so much bigger we were a small blog then and it was like kind of you know everyone it was like not that not that we're not cool. I mean there's some people who don't think we're cool but we there was a there was like an underground like band factor to Barstool in those days where it's like oh yeah like we shouldn't be reading this at work. Yeah so and I think like those guys embraced it and uh even Kane Kane I remember vividly just was like who the fuck invited the blogger and Sharpie was like no he's cool because Kane had gone through everything with you know Mifflin Street and the cab driver all that shit so he didn't trust anyone in the media and Sharp was like no no he's with me he's cool and Kane was like all right cool I think Theo Epstein's brother in law confused me for you at a team party one time and the drinks were flowing a little bit and he was like you son of a bitch going on local news doing karaoke or whatever it's gonna get Theo in trouble.
Arietta’s Run & Pittsburgh Wild Card
SPEAKER_00I'm like you got to be talking to that guy. Oh uh that's a good memory those are like I said these are all good memories those 20 yeah that 2015 team though like I mean you remember like Arietta was like every every Arietta's start was like he might throw no hitter. He's so unbelievably dominant in that stretch that when we were working together and we would meet people whether it was in person at the All-Star game or just guys zooming in for an interview or whatever you would have to take the five to ten minutes yeah for them to glaze Jake and not just respectfully and it's not really a sport where the players are overly complimentative to one another because you know the difference between like very good and just like being outstanding is is really kind of razor thin. But like we'd get on these interviews it it didn't matter who it was I remember meeting Aaron Judge on the red carpet not just name dropping but just for relative purposes. This is Aaron Judge in the midst of an MVP season and him having to double take and be like holy shit Jake no way I can't believe dude that run and it would be funny to get his perspective outside of these interviews where he'd be like how many times are people going to tell me how great I was in 2015 but that's the reality is like you know in the history of baseball and the annals of the game like it really does stand out as just like the most dominant stretch anybody has ever put together since uh you know what 1929?
SPEAKER_02I don't I don't know how far back you have to go he was he was actually unhittable so in the month of August he gave up two earned runs in the month of August he gave up two earned runs think about that in the month of in the month of September he gave up one he gave up three earned runs from August first on it's insane he was just he was out of out of this world like every and and you look at his stat line it's every single every single start is seven innings like two hits zero and runs eight innings three hits zero and runs it was just that good and it was just it was the best it was the absolute best and last thing from the bygone era before the Pittsburgh Pirates game him publicly declaring that they didn't stand a chance I mean you want to talk about something that'll never happen again at least in baseball like him just telling the entire city of Pittsburgh yeah yeah pounce in and then he went out and did it great moment in that game they drilled him it was I believe in the fourth or fifth inning and the idea was like they wanted him to charge the mound there's a lot of shit talking so the idea was like if we drill him he may come out to the mound instead he goes to first base steals second base on the next pitch or the second pitch after that end up scoring on a single and that was his big fuck you to the Pirates. Yeah and then there was the uh the my favorite story from that game too is the uh Schwarber when he hit that fucking tank into the river and then got into the Rizzo told me that uh he went into the hallway the tunnel and just screamed at the top of his lungs suck my fucking dick Pittsburgh because he was so jacked up from that home run. He was the absolute best. Yeah all those guys it was just they were the best.
SPEAKER_00All right last personal thing on 2015 as we get into the 2026 season because I do want to talk to you about this team. I do think this club is really good. But do you think you have a better chance now to sing the seventh inning stretch or is that completely gone off the table?
SPEAKER_02It's got so funny enough the Cubs did come into this office the last couple like maybe a month ago because they wanted to do something with me. They wanted to do the 50-50 raffle and have me do like a 50-50 raffle day and I was just laughing with them because I was like I was supposed to do the seventh inning stretch somewhere in like the 2017 18 and then the like crazy nutbag blue check mark brigade came out and was like you can't like they can't be letting this guy do this they can't be letting him you know so they pulled me I was there I flew I was living in New York I flew to Chicago was going to do the seventh inning stretch they pulled me from it and so that was a good lesson though where it's like as much as I like you know meeting with the Cubs a c a month ago and talking about plans I was like listen you guys got to understand like anything we do like I'm gonna have I'm gonna I'm gonna always be cautious because like I flew out to do the seventh inning stretch and you at the last second you're like no you can't and they all apologize they're like yeah it's it's a different time so I would say out of spite I'll never do it.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02Out of spite have a grudge. Because like that is the number one honor I think absolutely I I threw out a couple first pitch one of them was doesn't come close. No doesn't come close one of them was uh we raised a bunch of money for Rizzo's foundation it was like me and like 20 kids throwing out the first pitch. Like I was the only adult it was like Kramer doing the karate so that was a little weird. But yeah no the the obviously the the seventh inning stretch is the honor. Or bat boy. Bat boy would be sick.
SPEAKER_00That would be great. That would be so sick to they let adults be bat boy we're about to make it happen. Like if it doesn't happen I think that's I don't want to do foul ball territory because like it like that's just too much in play and Wrigley doesn't have a lot of space. So I you don't have to put me on the stool up against a the left field line but I think bat boy or like assistant bat boy would be sick.
SPEAKER_02That would be sick. That'd be so sick.
SPEAKER_00Can we do a quick leadership review? Yeah all right so let's just start with the Ricketts family or Tom Ricketts your perspective do you generally consider him a good owner whether it's in Chicago relative to you know McCaskey and Reinsdorf I think that's pretty simple or do you think he's like a good owner in baseball like take that one for a test in Chicago he's a good owner obviously yeah because that's the bar is so goddamn low uh in baseball no and like I he's a nice guy I'm not like saying like I don't think he's a bad guy.
Seventh-Inning Stretch Saga
SPEAKER_02I don't think he has bad intentions. I think the Cubs and and and they could be they can prove us wrong at any moment like Bregman's signing was obviously huge. I think the Cubs are a real estate company that has a side of baseball and that's unfortunate but it's kind of the truth. Like what they've done with Wrigleyville awesome I I you know I I was actually saying this with the whole soldier field bullshit I will say that like in defensive Tom Ricketts so I missed some of the bars I missed some of the charm of Wrigleyville but he has made it so that the Cubs will never not play in Wrigley which is good because not that they would have moved but you see what's happening across all sports where every single team is like how do we how do we get more money? We build a bigger stadium with more suites and stuff. So that's set. But yeah I don't think he spends like a a big market should I think it's a a a combo of one he is probably the best owner in Chicago which is is crazy but it's it's the truth. So he knows that like the competition isn't Like the the Bulls aren't going to spend, the White Sox aren't going to spend. The Bears have spent, you know, thank God we got Ben Johnson. But other than that, it's been a shit show. Um and two, I think he he realizes like you're playing in the NL Central, so there's no other big dog that he has to compete against. So he's like, if we spend, we're gonna always outspend the rest of the NL Central, we should be able to make the playoffs with that. It's like okay, but you should be able to compete for a World Series with how big the Cubs are.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the last four years have been brutal.
SPEAKER_02Brutal. And it's like we've had the patience. I think the I think Cubs fans are pretty patient in terms of like we understood that you had to tear it down after, you know, we uh the 2016 team, like you thought they would be around for a little longer, but you had to move on from that. But like all these big name free agents that we're just not even in the ballpark for. It's like, why?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's a good period there where, you know, not even a conversation for Machado or Bryce Harper. Now, not saying that that makes sense on the roster or whatever, but there's also this weird period where Theo left his contract earlier and Len Casper left to go do radio and you know, call a World Series game or whatever. But there's some like weird signs from that time, and they have been in that like limbo status. That Tom's a tough guy to get mad at because he is the best owner in Chicago, but like you do want more from the guy, but it is a great experience, Bennett Wrigley, especially as I get older.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, I agree. And it it is like my anger level for the various Chicago owners. It's Tom Ricketts is probably on the lower end, but it still is like, dude, what are we doing? Like, we have the money. Like, you print money. I think there's I think they're scared of the lockout. I do think there's like a weird wor world where like the Jason Hayward contract probably fucked him up. A little bit, yeah. Where it's like, but but that's also that's part of the Theo experience. What does Theo do? He brings you a championship, but he also is going to have a couple swing and misses on the free agency. But that's like, if you want to compete, you got to take those shots. So I I am I am upset that we haven't taken more shots. And then the Kyle Tucker thing, like I was in on it because I thought the plan was to re-sign him. And not re-signing him, it's like, what are we doing? I don't I don't really understand that. Uh obviously he sucked at the end because he was hurt and he was playing through a lot of injuries. But where'd you land on Kyle Tucker?
SPEAKER_00Well, I don't like that they trashed him on the way out.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, if there were problems with him, they at least be more vocal than. But that's kind of the environment the Cubs have created where there aren't people in, and that's just maybe it's the same across all sports and different markets. But you know, Kyle Tucker obviously didn't win people over, although the thing is he's just so talented. Like he isn't Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, but he's in that category right underneath those guys where it's like 10 to 20 ball player. But the Dodgers paying him 60 million dollars is just like absolutely ridiculous.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it is. But I so Kyle Tucker, like to me, I do think that he played through more than we realize. I was at the game when he uh slid into second base and and I think broke his finger or whatever it was, and I was I remember being like, that's really bad. And you could tell he was playing through it and he didn't have the same pop. I just don't understand, and you maybe you can tell me this because you know baseball far better than I do. What is the downside of a guy like Kyle Tucker who had a bad second half? What do you end up getting from the Dodgers?
SPEAKER_00I thought it was four years 240 million.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so four years 240. We weren't gonna pay that. But like if I were Tom Ricketts and I had a team that I thought could truly contend, and I was like, Kyle Tucker just had a bad second half, his his value maybe went down a little bit. Why wouldn't you go to Kyle Tucker and be like, hey dude, we'll give you one year 80 million? Like you can reset your own market and like we'll pay that, and we now don't have to worry about the lockout, I don't have to worry about you like getting old on your contract.
SPEAKER_00Is that crazy? Yeah, that's just too much cash for Tom. I mean, like, Steve can do that because Steve has the cash, you know, like the hedge fund guy. Mark Walter with the Dodgers, they have the cash. Now he personally has the cash, but they also have it through the TV deal. Like the Ricketts aren't really that cash flush. Now, it's not necessarily the McCaskey situation where they don't have any money to values tied, but like Joe Ricketts sold TD Ameritrade, and it's Joe's money. Like Tom, he's a CEO of like in capital or so you know, some investment bank or something. And obviously, these guys have done well. I think Joe Ricketts has a significantly bigger influence. And the other thing, too, is I think generally it's misrepresented when we just talk about Tom because their brother Todd and Laura, the three of them make up the board.
SPEAKER_03Right.
Ricketts, Spending, And NL Central Math
SPEAKER_00And I understand that when they purchased the Cubs, that there was some infighting, and I've talked about this a little bit, not like too extensively. We don't have to dive down this now, but like they were mad. It was in emails where like Laura was bitching to the PR company, being like, Why is Tom becoming the face? Right. Like, why is the Chicago media latching out at Tom? Like, it's really the Ricketts family, it's really us doing this. And I don't know how much of it's true that like Tom lived, you know, in the apartment above sports corner in 1984, or was it like, hey, WGM went national in 78, they hired Harry Carey in 82, like attendance was 2.6 million in 84. Like they were the biggest sports story, and I don't know how much of it's just Tom riding that 84 wave, and just a long-winded answer of me saying I don't dislike Tom Ricketts, but I do I am left wanting more.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So, all right, so one last thing on Tom, and then I had another follow-up question. My fear with Tom Ricketts and the Rickets fail, I'll say the Ricketts family, is that there's a tendency in Chicago sports, if you look at it, that you we live on a lot of nostalgia, and it's like if you get one, you're good for a very long time. And 85 Bears are still talked about like that. You know what I mean? Like the Bulls haven't won jack shit in 25 years. Like the the White Sox won one 20 years ago, and like that's it, you know. So that always scares me. It's like, well, he came, he won his he won the one, and it was a big one, but like we all expected the Cubs to compete year in and year out. It hasn't happened. Have you looked at Mark Walter at all? Have you do you know anything about him?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he owns a ton of stuff, but he's he's like a legendary business guy.
SPEAKER_02He's a Cubs fan. He grew up a Cubs fan. He has a house in Lincoln Park.
SPEAKER_00That breaks me.
SPEAKER_02It kills me. He's he's he owns the Lakers now and the Dodgers. Like, dude, he lives on like Orchard or Bissell or something. Like he I don't know if he lives there year-round, but I know he's got a house there. It's like a fucking huge ass house. It's like, god damn it, dude. I'd encourage maniacs to just look this guy up. He's the owner of the and he does it right. He just he's like, hey, we're if we keep winning, we're gonna keep printing money and we'll defer all these contracts.
SPEAKER_00It's hard when people complain the Dodgers are ruining baseball. This guy's just played the game the right way. And he negotiated this TV deal. They make$300 million cash every year off this TV deal. Number two, I think, is the Yankees. It's like$100 million.
SPEAKER_02But it's also like, I don't buy the whole Dodgers are ruining baseball because I my my question to everyone who says that would be this if the Pirates or the Reds made the money the Dodgers made, would their owners spend that money back on the product? Probably not. Mark Walter is spending it back on the product. He's doing what an owner should do and that he's making money, but he's then putting it back in the team. A lot of these owners, they're just like, yeah, we just want to make money. It's like, fuck you guys. You're all your franchises are worth billions of dollars. If you don't want to put out a contender, sell your team. I came up with a rule that I think would fix a lot of this tanking the NBA, like what's going on with baseball. If you aren't above 500 for five consecutive years, it automatically triggers a sell of your team.
SPEAKER_00That's not a bad.
SPEAKER_02If five consecutive years, all you gotta do is be over 500. That's not that hard. I'm not even saying compete for a championship.
SPEAKER_00Majority or minority, sure. You have to sell everything. The whole thing. Yeah. You're gonna have to grandfather that one.
SPEAKER_02It would be fun too, a fun wrinkle where it's like every year we'd be like, all right, who's on the five-year clock? Like, oh shit, the Rockies are on the five-year clock. What are they gonna spend?
SPEAKER_00Relegation for ownership.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it just pisses me off because like these rich guys are just they buy the team and then they sit on their ass. So Tom Ricketts isn't as the extreme as some of these other guys, but yes, I would want more to answer in a very long way that discussion about the Rickets.
SPEAKER_00It's his leadership review. Take it for a test, like I said, take it for a test drive. Sometimes you go a little bit longer, you know. It is what it is.
SPEAKER_02It is what it is, it is what it is.
SPEAKER_00All right, quickly, Craig Counsel. Do you like him?
SPEAKER_02I do. Um I do. I feel like so, and you again, I I defer to you because you know you know baseball a lot better. I thought he did a phenomenal job with the pitching staff in uh the playoffs last year, given what was happening with whether it be Kate Horton getting hurt, Shoda's arm just being dead, Matthew Boyd going on fumes. The way he used that that bullpen was phenomenal. Like he got us a lot of those wins and like how he pulled the strings there. I wish he had a little bit more fire, which you just can't get out of a guy who doesn't have that. But yeah, overall I I think he's good. I I we're all it's always gonna be judged because of how we got him. But I think he's I have confidence in him. Do you?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think he's super prepared.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Did you not agree though? Like the playoffs, I thought, you know, whether it be like how we use Kittredge or you know, just just the whole bullpen and like being like, hey, we have at most right now two and a half starters, like at most, and finding a way to to get to game five against the Brewers was impressive to me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I think he's fearless with the way he uses his bullpen. He doesn't really care about anything anybody has to say, which is not the case for a lot of people in Major League Baseball. I do think he has a ton of conviction, and I do think the decisions that he makes come from intense preparation. So I really don't have too many bad things to say, other than just the meatball stuff of like, give me a sound bite, like right, get angry.
SPEAKER_02And there's a couple, there's a couple nitpicky things. Like I thought they did it, I thought they did Balesteros like an injustice last year, where you basically don't play him down the stretch, and then you're like, hey, can you pinch hit for us in the playoffs? It's like, come on, dude. What do you if you're gonna use this guy, let him let him play in September. So that kind of stuff. But yeah, I think it's you know the Kyle Tucker injury obviously threw a wrinkle and everything, and and uh he did, you know, we we there's guys, there's holes in the lineup that just were I mean, did Matt Shaw get a hit in the in the Brewer series? You know, I don't know. I just remember just being like, oh god, because I like I said, I we went up to Milwaukee for game five, and I just remember the feeling of just being like, this is just so so bad. And he maybe it was oh no, he did. Oh no, he had a big game. That's right. What who am I thinking of? Who didn't get a hit?
SPEAKER_00Kyle Tucker.
SPEAKER_02Kyle Tucker did not get a hit.
SPEAKER_00I mean, he was absolutely atrocious. Michael Bush was outstanding in the playoffs last year.
SPEAKER_02Who was it that just fell on their face? Why am I blanking? No, Nico was awesome. Nico was the MVP.
SPEAKER_00Nico's the most underrated player in Major League Baseball. He didn't even get invited to the World Baseball Classic. They didn't even ask him if he was interested.
SPEAKER_02All right, yeah. So Nico had 13 hits in October. Matt Shaw had two, so I was right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but you went to the game, he had two. Yeah, I did. All right, less than learning.
SPEAKER_02He had two. Yeah, but two for 17 from from a power position is not. That's Bregman now.
SPEAKER_00Ian Hap, three for 30. That one's tough.
SPEAKER_02He Ian Hap did have that huge hit though against was it was it in the Brewer series or was it against the Padres? He had that huge home run that opened everything up.
SPEAKER_00It was against somebody. Yeah. And it was a big moment.
SPEAKER_02It was a very big, and it was like, I think it was against the Brewers because I remember Eddie Eddie was just constantly being like, I'm not giving up on hap, and then he hit a home run.
SPEAKER_00He's like, told you. Consummate professional. Yeah. Now, let's just do just quickly predictions. I only just have one prediction for you.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00At the end of the year, like you want to hang your hat on a guy who's having a career year. Now, I'm not saying don't predict it. You have a magic wand. Yeah. And I'm saying personally, from that baseball fan side, not because wave the wand so that the Cubs have the best team or improves the Cubs' chances the most. Just who's the player you like the most going into this year? That you would just love to see have a career year because you like you like watching them play every day.
SPEAKER_02I don't know if this fills this. Um, because we do have some young guys that I'm excited about. I mean, Nico's the man. I think this is going to be Saya's best year. He's contract year. I really do think that he's he's a guy who can't handle being DH. I think he wants to play every day, as bad as it is at times, and you got to deal with it, but that's also why you got a gold glover and PCA. I think Saya is gonna have an awesome year.
SPEAKER_00Would love to see it. I think he's healthy. I think the WBC for him being around his teammates is perfect. The spring training, the monotony. Now, only issue I have with Say is the same thing I have with Amayan. Basically, anybody who's played for the Cubs over the last decade, we have an oblique issue. Yeah. Just the organization, top to bottom, oblique. A lot of obliques. And while I have your attention on this, we're talking about say his body, underrated quads. Yeah, he should have like a people should talk about him more as like a physical presence. He's built like a brick shit house.
SPEAKER_02He really is. So he's just like we got to deal with, you know, he's gonna he's gonna drop a fly ball. But if he can, if he can hit, you know, I don't know what what would be if he hit 40 home runs, I he probably can't hit 40 home runs, but maybe.
SPEAKER_00I'm going Danz B. Swatson.
SPEAKER_02Big year for him. He just had a kid, I think, too. See now that's huge.
SPEAKER_00Huge. Right? Yes. How did your career what what did you get better at? Just more for it.
SPEAKER_02Less time, like you just had to be more locked in on everything because you didn't have the free time to fuck around. I have a question about the 2026 Cubs, and I you might get to it, so I'm sorry if I'm cutting up. When is Justin Steele going to be okay to play?
SPEAKER_00I think when be okay, like late May, early June is when he should be on the mile. The issue is he had said on social that he's cleared, and people were like, they didn't know what that meant.
SPEAKER_02Okay. So I do think that that is going to be the difference between NLCS World Series and you know, a disappointing cub season is Justin Steele returning to Justin Steele. Because you look at the rotation, I don't know where you're at with Shoda. I'm kind of out on Shoda. And like, not out, like I'm rooting for the guy and I like the guy, and he seems like an awesome clubhouse guy. I just don't trust him at all.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, ball or strike, you're in on Shoda. Right.
SPEAKER_02Like unless the wind is blowing in, I don't want to see him on the mound.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but now like there's some stuff we'll see. He's in a contract, you're chip on his shoulder. They decline the option, and then he goes through the qualifying offer process. I don't know what it matters with the lockout, and I don't know what the cultural issue is if there's like pride at stake of like him wanting to wear the Cubs uniform and have success again. Although, if I had to pick a guy, I did say Dan's B. Swanson because I'm just like an ardent believer that he plays the game the right way, but like fucking, so does Alex Bregman, Nico Horner, like all these guys do. It's a real specific brand of baseball Juds put together. It would be really nice, it would be nice to see Justin Steele right when he comes back, just pick up where he left off. And I'll give a take for you because without fail, regardless of how good the Cubs are, it's gonna be late July. Cubs fans are gonna be bitching around the trade deadline. We need to go trade for McKenzie Gore, we need to go trade for Max Scherzer, whoever it is this year. And the take is he is the trade deadline guy. Because he's gonna be catching full steam, similar to how Kate Horton last year I said. Like there's nobody that we could have traded for that even came close to how good Kate Horton was.
SPEAKER_02Right. And I think that to finish the starting pitching stuff, like Shoda as a four or five, great. So I'm actually back in on Shoda. I just did it so quickly. I was out, and now I'm back in. My problem was when Shoda was our two, it was just a fucking disaster.
SPEAKER_00You don't want him pitching against a Freddie Peralta Romney. Come on.
SPEAKER_02So, but if Justin Steele's back, now you have hopefully Justin Steele or Kate Horton at the top of the rotation, you know, Cabrera from the Marlins, who if he can stay, if he can stay healthy, is your you know, three, Matthew Boyd, Tyone. There's some depth there if Justin Steele, and it it feels like if Justin Steele is back to Justin Steele, everything slots in perfectly.
SPEAKER_00You know, if we could just get what we want from Taeyan, there's so many of these guys, like, but they're all solid.
SPEAKER_02I like Tayan.
SPEAKER_00He's he is he's solid. Um, I do have a couple other things I want to run through. Obviously, thank you very much for filling in for Mahoney. Of course, it's fun. I understand PCA with the big article in Chicago magazine. And so we'll just do a quick segment here. This is baller strike. I make a statement ball, it's outside, strike, it's down the zone. Okay, so PCA knew this story would be as big as it was when he was doing the interview, ball or strike.
Counsel, Pitching Strategy, And Depth
SPEAKER_02Strike. I think he knows I think he's a savvy guy. I do. I think he's a savvy, savvy guy. I think he, you know, grew up in Hollywood, knows, knows what's at stake. I think he's like one of those guys that is built for the big moment, and he wants the big moment. You know what I mean? Watson. It's kind of it's it's very similar to Caleb Williams, where it's like you could talk about completion percentage and all this bullshit. You want him in the big moment. PCA, I think last year was, yeah, obviously there's some up and down, and he lost his way. You know, there was there was a moment in in down the stretch where it's just like every single at bat's gonna be a strikeout, and it's just like there's nothing you do about it. He's gonna throw his helmet, he's gonna be pissed. But I believe in him long term, and I think this is gonna be a big year for him.
SPEAKER_00You know, there's a young guy, Anthony Rizzo, who had a huge chip on his shoulder and played like a real son of a bitch. The difference is PCA is just obviously a little bit more publicly flamboyant. Correct. And in the same sense, Rizzo was on the complete other end of the spectrum at the children's hospital and just being this friendly, loving guy. But truth be told, on the field, they're both like true sons of bitches. And the reason I'm using Rizzo as a comparison is because there's really nobody else I can think of within that era. Most baseball players are not like that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So PCA passes this. I have a simple like fan test, sports watching test that everyone can take because I do think it's done me well. If opposing fans start clowning a guy, that means that they're worried about him. So you saw it last year where there was a lot of Cardinals fans and Brewers fans being like, oh, I thought this guy was like he'd make an error and they'd be like, oh, PCA with another web gem. And it's like you're not doing that because like you're not doing that to Ian Happ. You're not doing that to some of these other guys, similar to Caleb, where it's like Caleb gets all this attention. It's like because you're a little scared of of how good he could be.
SPEAKER_00Perfectly so.
SPEAKER_02That's what I think of PCA.
SPEAKER_00It's a perfect comparison. It gives us the next ball or strike, all right? It's a good thing that P it's a good thing that PCA and Caleb Williams have made so many notable public appearances together this winter. Strike big time. Love it, love it. You love it.
SPEAKER_02It gives so much like it's just juice. I don't know. It's just like it just pumps you up. You're just like, these guys are boys, you know. Hopefully they're the future and and throwing Bedard too. Um, bulls have no one. But the future of like what Chicago sports hopefully is, and I love that they're hanging out and they're friends, and they do have because like I I think those guys, like, if you ask them, if you give them a true serum, I think being the face of a franchise is probably pretty fucking lonely. Like at the end of the day, it's probably pretty damn lonely to have everyone in your life asking you for something, everyone being a yes man. Not saying that either of these guys have that, but like you know how it works. If you're the big dog, it's just gonna be different. So them finding each other, I think is cool because they probably can lean on each other in moments when there's no one else who's going through what they're going through.
SPEAKER_00You have swayed me. Yeah, you didn't like it? I had that like a ball, just like just outside. Like you could review it on ABS, doesn't matter. It's just gonna be just a little bit outside. But after review with you, um, I'm gonna call it a fucking strike. Sorry, my F-word lizard king. Thank you for tracking these. I'm gonna call that one a strike.
SPEAKER_02There was a stretch. I'll I'll admit there was a stretch where I was like, is is PCA training for the season? See, there's that's where I'm gonna be the biggest hard in the world.
SPEAKER_00It's like, dude, you're from California. Like, you don't need to be, but don't you want that? Where's he hanging out? Tau underground?
SPEAKER_02But don't you want? I actually think he was going to because one of our guys ran into him. I think it was just like a regular bar in like old town. You cannot be going to you can I like that he embraces like going to Bears games and like that's that's love, you know. Fucking Bregman got signed a week later. He's got his uh one-year-old at the Bears Rams game.
SPEAKER_00He's gonna go down as our greatest free agent signal.
SPEAKER_02I love Bregman, he's the absolute best.
SPEAKER_00And shout out to Ian Hap and Nico Horner and Jamison Taon for just flying under the radar, just buying a couple of whatever it was, roll 35, section 150.
SPEAKER_02I saw Hap there too.
SPEAKER_00Classy, they were sitting like a section over from us because it was the Cubs convention, so yeah, they don't have to be there, they get nothing from it. I like it. I yeah, they gotta spend the whole weekend telling people no, yes, I can sign your autograph. Guys stand in the elevator awkward. They didn't have to go, you know, be with Bears fans, they did because they're awesome. Um, baller strike, PCA was smart to call out Dodgers fans.
SPEAKER_02Strike. Okay, you don't like it?
SPEAKER_00He was smart. I didn't say baller strike, you like it. Okay. He was smart to do it. That might be ball. Smart, maybe not. I like it. I've never in my entire life imagined that a guy who plays for the Cubs, currently playing for the Cubs. Not talking about Ernie Banks one day sitting around getting in an argument, Ron Sano on WGN radio. I'm talking about a guy currently playing for the Cubs that would argue that Chicago Cubs fans pay the most attention is insane to me.
SPEAKER_02It is a little insane. Um we know listen, Wrigley is the is the best place on earth in the summer. Like I've I've I've said this many times. There if you if you could if I could pick one place to be at 120 on a Friday afternoon, it's stealing it's yeah, I I call it time traveling because you go to the you go to Wrigley, you get a little drunk, it's beautiful out, summertime, then you get out and you see people getting off the L from work, and you're like, I bet I started four hours ago I time traveled. You're just about to start your weekend. I've been doing it. Um, yeah, that was probably a little much. But I like listen, it's similar to the Ben Johnson with the Packers stuff. Sports are more fun when you talk shit. Like, yeah, he has to back it up. He will, he know. I, but that's the thing is I think PCA is the type of guy he knows. When he says something, he puts himself out there. He is vulnerable to get clowned if he has a bad performance. But it raises the stakes. And I think some guys are wired like that, where it's like, I gotta talk a little shit to raise the stakes to get like the juices flowing a little bit.
SPEAKER_00I think he does need to.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So I'm in for it. But yeah, you're right. The actual statement is maybe a little off in that we care the most out of anything.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. There's so many fan bases you could point your finger at. Like the Dodgers are just like the Brooklyn Dodgers, the famous Dodgers, the old Dodgers. All right.
SPEAKER_02I will I will say in PCA's defense on the Cubs fans thing, because like you know, what we're when we're talking about like a July Saturday game, yeah, it's gonna be a little bit of a party there, right? Like the everyone knows that. Those playoff crowds were the most locked in I've ever like seen.
SPEAKER_00Now that's where it's completely different.
PCA, Caleb, And Chicago Sports Juice
SPEAKER_02It was awesome. It was like the Freddie chance, I actually think really affected him. And everyone, and that was organic, and it just like kind of rolled out from like somewhere behind home plate, the 200 level, and it just like a wave over the whole stadium. And I know you know, people when I said this after the game, because we recorded PMT right after I came back from Wrigley, people like, dude, we fucking do that all the time in Philly, we do that all the time in New York. It's like, yeah, I get it, but that was like a great, great crowd. And I think was it Pat or was it Coomb Dog who said, like, this is the loudest I've ever heard Wrigley?
SPEAKER_00I think it would have been Pat.
SPEAKER_02I think it was Pat. Like he he said that, and it's like, I believe that it was a special, special uh the Padres series, the Brewers home games. So PCA might have been talking more about that than like us playing the Mariners when it's a hundred degrees on a Saturday afternoon.
SPEAKER_00See, but even then, this is where Wrigley shines. I'm gonna point, of course, I'll giggle or laugh about how dialed in Cubs fans are on a day-to-day basis. I think it's over 40% of people in attendance at Wrigley Field are there for the first time. So sure. Right. People use it as yeah, it's like it's when you come to Chicago in the summer, you go to Wrigley. But here's what we're really good at. There is no fan base in any sport that's better at standing on their feet early in the game. Like go bottom of the third inning, one-nothing game, 1996 against the Montreal Exposed. They're on their feet. It has absolute, doesn't matter if they're last place of the standings, like whoever's there, people love standing on their feet.
SPEAKER_02What's your what's your actual prediction for where this season's going? How many games won in because I we know playoffs are a crapshoot. So you could have a 100 wins and and losing the DS and be like, well, it's still was like, you know, it that's just what baseball is.
SPEAKER_00If they win 95 games, I would say like that's right on the money. If it's over that, but if they won 102 games, I wouldn't be surprised. I don't want to expect it because it's like a ridiculous thing to expect. The thing is that they are very they're gonna be very difficult to sweep, and they're gonna be very difficult to go on long losing runs because they don't strike out and they do have tremendous pitching depth. A lot of it is like personal bias. It's like these guys all fit my exact mold. It's like I couldn't pick these guys out of a lab better.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I think 95 feels like we we should this team should like it. Obviously, there's some question marks. It's like, can Saya stay healthy? Can Justin Steele come back? But that's every team going in except for the Dodgers, who just have so many fucking guys.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean they had 20, they had like half of their pitchers were on the aisle last year for more than like you know, four weeks or something like that. And they had like Tyler Glasnow coming out of the ball. Show him he wasn't even pitching. I like it. I like a bad guy in our sport, yeah. You know, whatever. We're gonna have to beat him.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. It's also not, I mean, the Blue Jays should have beat him.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like people forget that they were that close. Okay, so is it still a dynasty? Right. The Blue Jays should have beaten them. All right, so just let's just compare quickly. I'll just run through this. Yep. All right, and you be the decider. If I think you're way wrong, I'll tell you. Okay, I like this. All right, so just like we'll just go through position by position, 2016 versus 2026. Uh, starting pitching staff, which one would you rather have?
SPEAKER_02Uh I think 2016 is just a good thing. Yeah, no, it proves the by far the best of Major League Baseball. Yeah, yeah. I mean, just the like Arietta and Lester are just too and hopefully Justin Steele and Kate Horton become that. Like those, those are kind of comparable. You know what I mean? Like they could be those guys, but they could, yeah. It's just it's not even close.
SPEAKER_00Kyle Hendricks led Major League Baseball to 2.13, all right.
SPEAKER_02Kyle Hendricks might be one of my favorite. I mean, Kyle Hendricks, going back to our friend Dave, like I remember when Kyle Hendricks came up and we were joking, like, this fucking guy, you know, Dartmouth, like what is gonna he throws 88 at the top end, and and Dave was like, no, this guy's gonna be awesome. And we would just like have a running joke just every time he just pitched a great game.
SPEAKER_00It's like, yep, that's your guy. Awesome. I I can't think of another comparable on other sports of what it would be like because he is just utterly so limited. I guess maybe like a Wes Welker or something where it's like this guy, this guy, this guy, he's just the best. I agree. And they had they gave up 555 runs, which if the Cubs give up 660 or less, they make the playoffs, historically speaking, since 1945. That's like a big metric for him. And so, like this team, they gave up 555. It's by far the fewest runs that they've given up since the lot since they lowered the mound at 67. That team in 2016, that's like the thing people forget about. Yeah, is just how good, and they all made starts.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, John Lockey, like that. You know, John Lockey was old, but it's like, dude, he's a dog. He just was a dog.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Uh, one to two. So Miguel Montero and Will Spinters were Carson Kelly and Miguel and I gotta go, I gotta go Miguel Montero and yeah, Will. I mean, one of the and try and separate yourself from the moments. Yeah, because I was gonna say, like, I was in the bleachers. I should take the moment because it happened.
SPEAKER_02I was in the bleachers for the Grand Slam. Yeah. The like greatest moment, the beer everywhere. Just that was such an awesome moment. And remember, he was kind of like dogged towards the end there. And he, you know, he obviously was the we are good and everything. So yeah, I'll take those two guys.
SPEAKER_00He did get dogged. He can't control the running game. That's what happens. Yeah. All right, Anthony Rizzo or Michael Bush. Sorry, Mike.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I like Michael Bush a lot. He's he's Michael Bush is is a very important piece of this season because if he can, you know, keep going in the way he's going, he's awesome. But yeah, it's Rizzo.
SPEAKER_00Now, I think for purposes of second base, like we should we hobby's the second baseman, right? Yeah, and Zobrist is in left field, or do you want to do so?
SPEAKER_02Addison Russell at shortstop?
SPEAKER_00Okay, Addison or Dansby?
SPEAKER_02Uh Dansby.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Also, Dan's be a better guy. Dansby's so cool. I mean, obviously. Addison Russell thrust into the limelight.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Still don't really know what happened.
SPEAKER_00I don't. And I can't speculate and not really interested in what I can tell you this. If you're gonna get caught going out in Chicago when you probably shouldn't be out, but if you're just gonna be out like bottled blonde, come on.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I remember Addison Russell. I have a little piece like uh there's a piece of me that's like always was rooting for that guy because I was in what it must have been 2013. I was on a trip on vacation in San Francisco, and uh Jeff Samarja traded for Addison Russell, and I was at a party, and I literally had to be like, hold on a second, I have to write a blog. Like everyone's like, what the fuck are you doing, dude? It's 4th July. So I don't know if it was exactly I think it might have been 4th of July. I think it might have been I gotta look that up.
SPEAKER_00Blog in the shark trade. It was the 4th of July. I was in Duluth, Minnesota for a wedding.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, my memory still is there a little bit. So as in Russell, I always rooted for the guy, but not after everything.
SPEAKER_00But yes, Toolsy, talented, yeah. Like Sean Dunstan has a better reputation amongst Cubs fans than as in Russell, which is kind of tough, but like whatever. Sean, he's a good player. Uh okay, so then Nico Horner or Javi Baez. Right? Is it crazy to say Nico? I mean, Nico is like textbook perfect right now, and I think it's fair to like naturally assume he would regress from having like a six-win season last year. He was so good, but he has only gotten better, and he's put up seasons that uh, you know, in the aggregate are just like wildly good.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so I'm looking at it right now. Javi in in uh 2016 had a 2.7 war. War's not everything. Nico had a 6.2 last year.
SPEAKER_00Javi had the home run in the basket. I was gonna say that then we guys had separate the moment.
SPEAKER_02So here's here's the only defensive hobby. I would probably go Nico, but the defensive Javi would be I do think that Javi, what he added in terms of swag and just flair and kind of like a fuck you. Because like let's let's think about the 2016 team. Like Anthony Rizzo, great clubhouse reader, not leader, not exactly like the the like swaggiest guy on the field. Although he he actually he's a bad example because he had, you know, when he tried to attack the entire Reds.
2016 vs 2026: Position By Position
SPEAKER_00Uh that I think that was before Lester showed up, though, because Lester kind of sucked that out. Lester was like this presence of like uh and Arietta, yeah, both of them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but all right, so Chris Bryant, not a ton of personality. Ben Zobris, not a ton of personality. Addison Russell, kind of a you know, quiet guy. Javi was the guy, like he was the guy who kind of added that. You just need that in a baseball team. You need one of those guys. So I still would take Nico, but Javi, I think outside of the numbers, you can't minimize what he brought in terms of a swagger to the 2016 Cups.
SPEAKER_00100%. And like, you know, it's Javi. It's Javi. I fucking love Javi. But I'm I'm with you taking Nico.
SPEAKER_02We sold the Chicago Javi shirts when he uh I think he went 0 for 5 in Colorado for his debut.
SPEAKER_00Okay, this one, Bregman or Chris Bryant? Chris Bryan.
SPEAKER_02Chris Bryan 2016, as much as I love Bregman, but yeah.
SPEAKER_00Chris Bryan 2016. All right now, Ian Hap or Ben Zobrist? Oh, you gotta go Zobrist. I have to? I think you do.
SPEAKER_02I mean moment you have to.
SPEAKER_00I think you have to. You don't? I will. Um, yeah, I will. Ian Hap is so good in Lafield.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he is. He and he gets shit on a lot, and I think that it people are too hard on him just because I don't know, he's not, you know, he's not the perfect player. He's not gonna, he's gonna go through stretches that it looks god awful at the plate. But yeah, you're right. So maybe maybe it's no, it's it's I mean Zobrist also, like this is where it's hard because it's like he's you know, game seven.
SPEAKER_00Would you take Zobrist over Nico if I said Zobrist was a second baseman?
SPEAKER_02No, I'm so high on Nico. I fucking love Nico.
SPEAKER_00Okay. I love Nico. And Jorge Solar is just we're keeping him in the back.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I just no one has ever hit the ball harder. And the one thing with Jorge Soler is anytime it was under 50 degrees, the guy looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. I think he wore a scuba suit for like those early April games. Like he just did not look comfortable when it got cold.
SPEAKER_00No, and I do think he is our last big like Latin position player, I believe, that we would run out and call that least Wilson Contreras or the gear or something. I don't know. That's something to look into.
SPEAKER_02He just looked so miserable.
SPEAKER_00All right, this one's interesting. Dexter Fowler PCA. Right? That's tough. I Dax brought the clubhouse together. Dax Dex was the guy the most beloved person in that clubhouse. Nobody had a bad word to say about him.
SPEAKER_02I think I'm gonna go PCA just because of the upside. I love Dexter Fowler, but like you know, you know what you're getting from Dexter Fowler. You're gonna get like 15 home runs, you know. He's gonna play sound baseball. But you're right, like the club it was the 2016 season when we signed him like during spring training, right? When he showed up, yeah. And that was like you saw it. You saw how much he was loved by those guys. Now this one And also Dexter Fowler, like I know the game seven rain delay, and it's talked about how like Jason Hayward had the big speech. Sorry. Yeah, that that I that didn't happen. It was it was Dexter Fowler and Anthony Rizzo. Yeah, like we we needed a way to to to be like, hey, that that contract was worth it. He gave the speech.
SPEAKER_00I just think they felt bad.
SPEAKER_02Right. I'm not saying he didn't say something, he definitely probably said something during the rain delay. I just if I had to if we had to go back and be a fly on the wall, I'd say that the Rizzo and Fowler were probably the guys that pumped everyone off.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he probably said get in the weight room, Rizzo and Fowler got something to say to us. Yeah, right. Uh I think right field's pretty easy. Save verse Ayward. We did this.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Say uh Jason Ayward, the the I remember when he was going really bad for him, you saw the heat map of just like 300 red lines going to second base for all of his hits.
SPEAKER_00It's just like every time he got up. It was so bad. Uncomfortably bad. You could make the argument it's the worst free agent signing in Chicago history, just the amount of money that guy made to ground out. And and there's like no silver lining. Like his defense kind of fell off a cliff. Tom definitely we speculate, he has PTSD about that.
SPEAKER_02But it's crazy because you could you make the argument that if you if he's the worst signing in Chicago sports history, free agent signing, John Lester's the best.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, I'm not gonna argue with that.
SPEAKER_02It like so you had both, you had both ends of the spectrum.
SPEAKER_00Because John Lester really just does all that stuff you want.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00What if you're giving somebody all that money? He obviously showed up, he pitched well in the postseason.
SPEAKER_02There's a reason why they partied at Lester's house after big wins. Like that that's not coincidence. He was the guy. This has been good. I just have two more. Yeah, yeah. Okay, these are these having fun. It's fun to talk baseball. By the way, it's absolute bullshit that we have five games at Wrigley in March.
SPEAKER_00I don't understand it's insane why or what the thought process is if it's good for the Cubs because they know early they're gonna get people to show up. But yeah, I'd much rather see them play in warm weather.
SPEAKER_02Start in Arizona or something. What the fuck?
SPEAKER_00The only positive is that it's cold for both teams.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, true, but I just it's more like you only get, you know, 81 of these, and we just burn fan perspective season ticket holder perspective. Yeah, I'm like, fuck it. I also this might be a little biased because CBS spring break is that week, so I'm I'm not gonna be in town, so I'm gonna miss opening day. So the I I'm a little upset about that too.
SPEAKER_00All right. This is this is just the pitch clock. Like the purpose of these questions are to just be I say rapid fire, but okay. All right, what's an easier job? Third base umpire or first base coach? First base coach. That's the easiest job in sports, is it not? You do like your attention has to be there for the pickoff.
SPEAKER_02It has to be there for the pickoff. You also have to hold the shin guards and the in the in the gear. You gotta be cool. Yeah. Yeah, you gotta look cool. You gotta also not be like so fat that like uh uh like foul ball gives you like the spins and you fall backwards and shit. But I like if you told me like I daydream about, I'm sure you do the same thing, like daydream about being like a first base coach and like a uh a bench manager and just being like a dude who just hangs out and is like, yeah, good, good call.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, you know what, Craig? Yeah, let's go to let's take him out. The only problem is not you gotta wear the helmet because somebody in minor league baseball tragically passed away. It wasn't, you know, that's just a difficult situation. But you know, a lot of these baseball lifers are like furious. I gotta wear these helmets now. Safety, I think third base umpire are just a little bit safer because you're behind the action.
SPEAKER_02And actually, you know what? I'm gonna, I'm gonna I'm gonna go back on my take right away. There's too many replays, so you're good. Like if you fuck it up, you'll just fix it.
SPEAKER_00Check swing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Check swing, they never I they guess.
SPEAKER_00They guess. That's that is probably in a game where everything is so metrically decided. That is by far the most ambiguous.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Like, how many times is there a check swing where you're just like, I think I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Sure. That's why you gotta be razzing the ump. Does he owe you one?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You brought up bench coach, so just uh here's a here's one for you. What's a better job? Bench coach to a Hall of Fame manager or backup quarterback to a Hall of Fame quarterback. Oh like long time each.
SPEAKER_02I'm not talking about like, you know, I think bench coach, just because if you're a backup quarterback to a Hall of Fame quarterback, you have to be just so nervous all the time that they're gonna get hurt and everyone's gonna be like, fuck. Because you're like if you're Jim Sorgy backing up Peyton Manning all those years. Had to go Wisconsin guy. Yeah, that I had to, but like he's a he's a consummate, like I'm not talking about backup who plays, I'm talking about like a guy who just never played. But do you think that Jim Sorgi had a good Saturday night's sleep? No, yeah, like every time he's like, because it's also I had to pick a guy where it's like the the difference is so vast where if he gets in, you're like, oh no, we're so fucked. And everyone's like, This is this is brutal. Whereas bench coach, man, like that's it.
SPEAKER_00You said it earlier. I didn't you but that is the that's it's the best job. And first base is probably just a little bit more fun. You're probably a little bit closer with the players and stuff. The bench coach is like all you gotta do is talk to the manager, maybe shift the outfielders, you know, have seeds on you. But then when the manager does get tossed and then you get to manage the last couple innings, yeah, that's probably pretty fun.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and like also you get you get like I and this might be way off, uh, but in my mind, a bench coach is essentially like their job is to be like the the forgiving parent. The manager is not gonna go yell at the boys every time, but you're gonna go in, talk to them, get you know, get a little intel, talk to the guys, how the pulse of the clubhouse, so then you can go bring it to the manager.
SPEAKER_00You're the pulse guy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but like everyone likes you because it's like, hey, you're like if someone wants to bitch, they're not gonna bitch the manager, they're gonna bitch the bench coach, then you go take it to the manager, you let them know, hey, here's a problem we got, you're gonna have to figure this out. You don't have to solve any problems, you just have to listen to problems. It's a it's a great job. Like, because uh at Barcelona, I have to solve problems now and listen to problems.
SPEAKER_00I'd rather just listen to problems and not have to solve them. We didn't have a bench coach and they're called associate head coaches, and he would tell you that sounds like a head coach's problem. So you can go up to him and say, hey, I gotta talk to you, but he'd go, nah, it's a head coach's game. Exactly. That's great, that's a great place to be. Uh, do you keep score at games? No. Okay. That's not gonna change.
SPEAKER_02No. The only thing I do is if um we play the cup game, which I think I've played it with you before, where we'll do uh if I'm if I'm at a game, I've I I it's changed now because I take my kids to a bunch of the games, but it's a fun game to play. You play uh everyone gets cup, put five bucks in, and you hold the cup for the batter. If it's a strikeout, you owe two to it. If it's out, you owe one. If it's a single, you get one. If it's a home run, you get the whole cup, and then you restart again.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you got you have like tips and tricks.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Those are fun ways to play. I remember too, there was a game in like 2001, I want to say, where I was living in my place in Wrigleyville, went to the game with with some buddies. It was a cold, early game, early season game, and there were some girls sitting next to us, and like after like the third inning, they're like, Hey, can we play? And we're like, sure. Of course. One-nothing final, and one of the girls took all of our money because she was holding the cup for the home run. It was like three hits total.
SPEAKER_00That bitch. It was just so bad. And I don't mean it like that, I'm just saying like that's just an unfortunate situation. You know, because keeping score is like you know, like some people maybe they don't read, they get older, they start reading. The problem with keeping score, and I I started to the pitch clock ruined. It's impossible with the pitch clock. Yeah, too much action. Because before, you know, you could be in a ball game for four hours. Like, I know we're rolling, baby. Gotta be way more precise with using the bathroom, getting a cold one, et cetera. I caught my first foul ball this year. Now that was on the list. I was gonna say, you know, where are you with the foul ball situation? Now, obviously, give it away to a kid or not, keep it, et cetera. What I'm saying is like the the actual aspect of catching it, yeah, is I blew it elite.
SPEAKER_02You dropped and then picked up it went so my seats are not like foul ball territory, so it's like a very specific. I've actually never seen a foul ball in my seats, so it's a very specific, weird like angle that it has to go because we're pretty close to the net. And so I'm there with my wife and two of my kids. They get up to get an ice cream, the ball, and and also I'm there with my wife, two kids, uh, and then behind us is his friend, his friend's older brother, and their parents. So they get up to get an ice cream, the ball gets hit literally where my son's head would have been. I miss it, so it would have hit my son in the head. Catch it off the bounce. I'm like, fuck yes. They come back. I'm like, you won't believe it. I caught a foul ball. My son's friend, his the older brother, who's probably like nine, starts crying. I'm like, why is he crying? He's like, Well, he thought it was his foul ball, so I give it to him. So I didn't even give it to my own kids.
SPEAKER_00So your dot, your scoreboard shows that you need to get another foul ball. I need to get another foul ball. Yeah, that was just a beginner. And like, not to get caught up in nomenclature specific lingo, but like catching a foul ball on the bounce.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I it sucked. It was I had a play on it and I fucked it up. I don't know what happened. It just it's a good thing.
SPEAKER_00But that's I think the guys in the bleachers, not just at Cubs games, like anytime a guy snags a home run barehanded, is yeah, I'm like, that is just the all one of the all time like natural feats of strength. And I think men just black out. They go to a place where it's like, how else has anybody ever practiced catching, you know, 378 to left center, and you'll see a guy at like you know, citizens barehand. Ballpark, just reach out and catch it bare hand. Unbelievable.
SPEAKER_02Coolest thing a guy could ever do is catch a foul ball or home run ball in his beer cup, finish his beer.
SPEAKER_00Perfect.
SPEAKER_02That's like the most dude's rock moment you could possibly.
SPEAKER_00Tracking, tracking.
unknownYeah.
Wrigley Rituals, Foul Balls, Hot Dogs
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's the thing. It's hard to track. You know, again, the velocity, I don't think people understand it. These things are whizzing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, even the even the foul ball that I didn't catch, I caught off the bounce, it was looping, but it's still going fucking hot.
SPEAKER_00Heart rate pumping while that ball gets. Even if you get it on the bounce, you got to show it to the crowd too that you got it. You gotta turn all wave it.
SPEAKER_02I watched the uh broadcast and they there's just there's a shot of me holding it up like I had caught it.
SPEAKER_00I had stumbled, have to. Now you're not doing it on purpose. That's just the instinct of getting a foul ball at the game. You're in the crowd, you gotta show it to folks. Hey, this is a quick one. This could be a bad one, but like in the um, you know, in like I guess the ranking of guys that bring you food again, the vendor, like we're not talking hot dogs. There's a couple vendors, I always feel bad for these guys, but just Mary fuck kill, cotton candy, cracker jack, lemon chill. Always feel bad for these guys. I know bugging this stuff around$575 a pop, bottom of the food chain when it comes to vending at Wrigley Field. There's nothing you can do about being the cotton candy guy, but just like go through that summer being the cotton candy guy.
SPEAKER_02Uh, Mary Cotton Candy, because my kids will eat it. Probably fuck lemon chill, kill Cracker Jack. Yeah. I also do judge people who get hot dogs in the seats. Why? Because there's grilled so bad. There's grilled onions right, yeah. There's grilled onions right in the fucking tunnel.
SPEAKER_00What's it say about a guy who's willing to just reach right in the cooler, a couple mustard packets, doesn't need squished together?
SPEAKER_02Like, dude, get your hot dogs. Like, I I I always get my hot dog as I'm walking in. And I I'll get I'll eat my hot dog before the first pitch. And I'm like, I I know I'm gonna want a hot dog. I'm gonna get it. I don't want to wait in line. I don't want to miss some of the game.
SPEAKER_00Just get it right away. Do people rank condiments at Major League Baseball stations? Because Wrigley Field would have to be pretty high. They do have station set up to four Chicago dog toppings, full onion, dice, tomato, you name it, and it's like well organized and clean.
SPEAKER_02The problem is, and I don't know if hopefully someone from the Cubs is listening to this. Something happened at the end of the season last year that they got rid of the sport peppers, and I was so fucking mad. I just couldn't find them. They had the little jarnier pre-made cups. I want my sport peppers. I need my sport peppers. I like to load up like 10 sport peppers on my hot dog. There's probably a reason for that.
SPEAKER_00I don't know, but someone's got to figure it out because I need the sport peppers back. Do you have a best cubs weekend of the year opening day? I was gonna shot. I just wanted to, I guess. You know what? I'm sorry to do this to you. Because it's really just about the answer I have. This is a question I will I want to hear your answer. I don't I totally subconsciously. I have hit nine of the last Aaron Water shows at Wrigley Field. Not on purpose, not never on purpose every year. Now there's a year off, but like not planning it. Just there.
SPEAKER_02That's it though. I was there on Friday this year, Aaron Water show. It's the coolest thing. Like they I was there when they they did they buzzed like buzzed buzz in you in the bleachers. Too close.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, that would probably be it. But it's also just I think it's a random. Uh, the two, the two that I pick outside of opening day, it's like a random Saturday in the summer when it's like a perfect weather, and then I'll throw sneaky one in there, okay? Like pennant stretch, September like week night where it's like that crisp air is starting to roll in, and it's like this game's important. Those are you know, like uh a nice like 6 p.m. That one's up there.
SPEAKER_00They were on the road the last couple times, but I think if you can catch a derby Saturday, would be a sick one. Yeah, that would be good too. All right, do you start are do you have anticipation? Like, do you want to make any announcements about the 50-50? Are you gonna be playing it this year?
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna be playing it. I gotta win my next one. So here's where I'm at with the 50-50. I'll be fully honest with everyone. I think my pot was like a hundred and eight,$110,000. I got half of it, so I got like$50,000 somewhere in there. Um by the way, shout out. I I actually I gave it Lost Boys, incredible, incredible youth baseball program on the South Shore. So they were they were struggling. There was a Chicago Sun-Times article about them. They were struggling to like basically keep everyone employed, keep it going. Levante, he's the man. So I'm I mean, look, I got I'm very lucky to have uh money at this point in my life through through everything we've done at Barstool. So I gave the 50-50 Lost Boys if anyone can donate Lost Boys' awesome youth baseball program. Here's what I'll say though. So I won$58,000. I was I'm still down in my life playing 50-50. So that's where it's like I gotta get back to even. You gotta chase it. I might have to win two or three to get back to even because I'll be totally honest with you. This last like year and a half, I was spending a lot on 50-50 to the point where my wife was like, hey, what's going on here? Because I was thousand a game. Yeah, that's that's so here's what I'm gonna try to do. The 50-50, I'm gonna go back to the start and I'm gonna be like, hey, you know, 50 bucks a game, 100 bucks a game. Try to win it that way.
SPEAKER_00You're gonna be at a meeting, you're gonna be like, my name's Dan.
SPEAKER_02I got it got listen, I was so I was so laser focused on winning the 50-50. I was like, I just have to just keep fucking spraying it. I started doing the tricks where I'd buy, if you buy the 50-50 raffle before first pitch, you get double the entries. So I would get there, I'd buy, I'd walk in, I'm not joking, I'd walk in under the marquee, hit the first guy right there under the marquee, then I'd go right down the the first baseline, I'd hit my lady uh right by the the tunnel there on the first baseline, then I'd get to my seats and there would be another one I'd hit. So I'd have three buys before first pitch, usually 600 bucks in the already.
SPEAKER_00Now, people who don't know you may listen to this and be infected with the notion that you are fabricating any of this to make yourself unfortunately I'm not it is actually it's so unbelievably accurate and it's not just pathetic because I wouldn't say like it's not sad or anything, it's just so committed and psychotics.
SPEAKER_02Well, it's also like I I would say that uh I it not it used to not be all we've been to many Cubs games together. The 50-50, you know, 10 years ago, I'd buy 20$20 tickets and that was it for the whole game. Now obviously I have the money, and I was like, I have to win one. So I'm gonna go back to the hundred bucks, not go crazy and try to win it that way. Were you with me when when the guys won it next to us in the in the I was interested?
SPEAKER_00I was gonna ask you if there's like an association or if you guys get put on like a group chat or like how that like I still know anybody who's won it. I don't know any I always thought it was a like scam or a sham or it was a something. Like I never ever thought that anybody ever won 50-50.
SPEAKER_02I did too until 2014-15, I want to say. Bunch of stoolies sitting behind me at the bleachers, nice guys, bought the tickets right after me, won right in my face. Oh, and I was like, well, at least it can happen. That one hurt bad.
SPEAKER_00That's tough.
SPEAKER_02Also, sneaky subplot to all of this, again to bring him up, but our guy Miller, he has been with me to probably, I don't know, uh like 400 Cubs games. I don't even know what the number would be. It's been a lot of Cubs games. He's been buying 50-50 right next to me every single time. He's on the chase, he's on the chase. So it's like the guy behind the guy. Like, he has not, you know, like when he when I told him I won, he was happy, but he also was like, you motherfucker.
SPEAKER_00Sincerely happy. Yeah, I don't think so.
50-50 Raffle Win And Strategy
SPEAKER_02No, I think he was because I mean, think about it. We go to all these games together. He sits right next to me, he buys the tickets right after me. So yeah, I think there was a little part of it.
SPEAKER_00How much was it? Fit 50 50 grand. I went. Well, it's a long way these days. I know he's a working man. I mean, anybody could use it 50,000.
SPEAKER_02Seriously. Playoff game. Uh, but I also am hoping that we I tried to pitch the Cubs, and hopefully this happens because they wanted me to do a 50-50 day. I was like, let's do a 50-50 day, but let's make it 75-25. 75 to the person, 25 to charity. If you do that, I guarantee you you'll you'll sell more tickets.
SPEAKER_00You'll bring out all the best people.
SPEAKER_02Everyone will buy it.
SPEAKER_00Give anything you want to say to someone who's going to a Cubs game for the first time this year. You know, I I broke it down just kidding. Like post-game, I always said I like the live music scene on Wrigley, what they're doing. Pre-game, I try to hit the busy spots, you know, like bathroom attendant. You know, I try to get them early just because I feel uncomfortable, but like be prepared after Cubs game because there's always bathroom attendants. And then another spot I get caught up is just food.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. If you promise not to clip this and put it out on social just for the listeners, because I don't want this to blow up. But if you leave the game in the, let's say it's a we're killing someone, or maybe we're getting killed. Gun to their head. Leave the game in the eighth inning, go to and you can go up to the rooftop there. They open it up in the after the eighth inning. You go up to the rooftop, there's a personal bar up at the rooftop, and they limit capacity to everyone who has a chair. And if you get a spot up there, it is the greatest place in the world to be because you know that it's not going to be packed. You're going to have a bar right there. There's a bathroom right there. Everything is right there. It is my favorite place. You can just basically burn like three hours after, and it's the it's my favorite place in the world. In the absolute world. It's a good tip. Yeah, I mean that that would be my tip, but don't fucking if you clip this, I'll be so mad at you. I hate giving away tips. I will be so mad at you. If you if you clip this this piece, I will be so so mad at you.
SPEAKER_00It'll never happen. Giving away stuff in Wrigley is sacred. I'm not, of course, if this is a meaningful place to you, I'm not gonna publicize it. And I think it's up to the people on their own accord to figure out places they like.
SPEAKER_02The other thing, I mean, we we lost it, but Dark Horse was the best. Dark Horse was the absolute best. The back patio dark horse.
SPEAKER_00I think that's why I have an issue with the food, is because dark horse clothes. You know, if you wait long enough to go to demos, good luck. Obviously, this isn't sponsored by Shea Chick, but they make a fine burger, you know. Like Chick-fil-A does a great job. There's some lines there, the hooliganism and whatnot. You gotta be on the app. There's a canes, it's all great stuff. But I'm talking about, you know, and you said with dark horse hounds tooth clothes, they had a great kitchen. That was a great place underneath the tracks. I know people are partial to old curl. The one thing that you brought up, I just I have this buried on my notes when it comes to wrigglers, just be wary of post-game second floor situations. You can get up there and be up there for a while. Like once you get to the second floor, it's hard to get off the second floor. So if you're gonna go up a stair, a set of staircases, like enjoy yourself.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, no, I agree.
SPEAKER_00So there's, I mean, Sluggers is great. Oh my just the best.
SPEAKER_02Country club. Shout out to our guys at country club. I love going to country club. I do miss some of those bars on the uh east side of Clark that like but you know what?
SPEAKER_00We live through it. We're lucky we got to live through it. We're lucky we have the fond memories. Hey, this is the absolute last question. I was gonna do a segment on this. I thought this would be so lame. Memes is giggling at me. Can you? You're a Brent Midland guy. Yes. All right, is he the best keyboard player and piano player in dead, or just it's my what's your favorite era?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, my favorite error is uh it's late 80s with Brent because Jerry, if you don't know the dead, the Jerry went through uh some real bad health problems in the mid 80s. He's comatose, yeah, heroin addiction. And then he kind of like re-found himself. He actually got back with his like old girlfriend, uh starts you know, working out, scuba diving, all this stuff. And Brent, like the last I not that I don't sometimes throw on a show from like the 90s, but up until Brent's death, they had like a shit to him that was awesome. Um, it's that or probably late 70s. Um but yeah, it's I mean you you know it, you're a deadhead.
SPEAKER_00Like I yeah, I'm interested in just the specific era. So like you you I like Brent, you know, and I you there's obviously difference in the sound and stuff. You know, there isn't sense of like in the early 70s before they started doing hard drugs where there is still that element of rock and roll to them, I think, at like their peak. But like Bobby and Phil, like I say this, like I was on the fucking bus with these guys, but like they they had talked late, it's late in the 80s where the band really came together and found their sound together. Just that version of Jerry.
SPEAKER_02It's that, and then there's some there's when Keith before Keith had drug problems too, some you know, late 70s stuff, early, you know, that the that stuff is is great as well when they came back from hiatus. Um, but it's the best, it's my favorite band in the world because and you you know it. Like it's I always describe it like the ocean, like the ocean is vast and it's never ending. You could just go down into like the depths of the dead and find a version of a song that you're like, oh now this is my favorite song. You know, like you look you turn on a road jimmy and you're just like, oh shit, this is my favorite song now. And then the next month's like, oh no, no, this is like, oh, this show is my favorite show, and it just never ends.
SPEAKER_00It's impossible to get other people to give a shit about it, but like it's I don't care. It's totally up to, but I'm saying it's like that's the great part is it's totally like an individual. Like if it clicks and and you like it, then you if you get it, you know it's just a really powerful, it's a real powerful band. But like it's it's hard to get somebody to give a shit if they don't care. So it's just like, well, you know, you get it or you don't.
SPEAKER_02I think gatekeeping is the worst thing when it comes to bands, and so I always try to keep it on because I think about it like I had two cousins who got me to the dead when I was a kid. Like I one of them, I think the first concert ever went to was actually Phil Lesh and Friends at Alpine Valley in 2001 or something. So if they didn't get me into it, like I would never have you know what I mean. So when someone like Titus here, he recently got into dead probably like five years ago, and when I saw him like kind of get into it, I was like, I wasn't like, oh dude, you gotta like you gotta really know this or that. I just started sending them shows. I was like, this is my favorite show. Oh, this is my favorite show. Like, give it a listen. Like, people should be more welcoming when it comes to that stuff because it's a great band, and uh, it's daunting to get into because there's so much, but I love getting people on it, and you're a brent guy, yeah. I'm a brent guy. I am, I I am. I like I I always go uh Red, White, and Indigo is on Spotify, one of their shows in the late 80s Philadelphia, I want to say. Um awesome, blow away. Listen to that. Then you'll you'll become a brent guy if you listen to that song.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for coming on the Monday Morning Cub Show, dude.
SPEAKER_02I love I love this show. I'm happy you're doing well. Um, you know I've always been a fan of yours, always rooting for you. And uh I hope people listen to this guy because he's I mean, you're listening to it right now, but if you're a Cubs fan, Sirk is the best. Like he knows the game he so well and the way you break it down and you make it fun. So, and there's not a lot of that in baseball. It's a lot of nerds, and then it's a lot of you know meatballs. You find a perfect blend that I absolutely think is the best. So um, everyone, everyone listen to him because he's one of the smartest Cubs guys out there. Thank you very much. Yeah, absolutely.
Best Wrigley Days & Postgame Tips
SPEAKER_00Thank you for everything. Uh, we'll be back next Monday and some more announcements uh after the show, I suppose, with Mahoney. So, and that's Big Cat.
SPEAKER_01What an interview, Carl. I mean, what a great conversation, great for the maniacs. So I hope you guys all appreciated that as much as I did. And and quick question for you, Carl, did you go in there saying, hey, this is only gonna be 45 minutes? And then and then bam, two hours.
SPEAKER_00I had that sense while I'm doing it. You know, it's an old old trick here on the Monday morning cub show to say we're gonna do 40 minutes and then end up doing an hour and a half. Uh, yeah, that absolutely did happen in there. But I was checking myself a little bit. I think he crossed his legs maybe at like the 55-minute point where it's like, all right, he's definitely holding a piss. So I did feel bad a little bit. There's a little bit of that, I'm holding you hostage. Um but no, man, I mean, he's a pro. Once you get going, it's hard to put it down.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, I I could see that happening between you two. Very, very obviously well versed in you know, being behind the microphone, and just two very, very well-versed Cubs fans. And I'm this is gonna be great for the maniacs to hear, and I'm really excited that you all got to listen to that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, one big takeaway from the sit-down with Dan there would be uh he is a textbook Cubs fan. Like he knows, you know, the big storylines about the players. He's very well versed at Wrigley. He's a great, it's a great time to go to games with him because he has every little trick and tip, uh, you know, betting on games and stuff. And he's just really locked into the team. So I know, you know, like whatever you say whatever you want about how much of a Cubs fan is. I think he's a tremendous Cubs fan and a good person to have these types of conversations with because he has like the requisite attitude about being positive, understanding there is this heavy curse to the team, it is all about going to Wrigley Field, and at the end of the day, it's a positive experience being a Cubs fan.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it is, and that's like that's really what being a Cubs fan is all about. I know that basically it's just saying exactly what you said, but no, and that that's what it's all about. And he does, you know, have that aura about him when he's at the stadium and he knows.
SPEAKER_00And if anybody's mad at me for blurping out, like he did give out his favorite place to go after Cubs games and stuff. And in hindsight, we I was like, I don't want to give this away. So there is a moment in there where there's a bleep out. People are gonna say, wait, what is the bar? Where is he talking about? Uh, you guys are just gonna have to figure that out for yourselves. I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_01Fair enough. Me and you have some of those places too that we have never uttered on the Monday morning cub show and are probably gonna keep it that way for our own personal little escapes.
SPEAKER_00If you guys are just coming at the show for the first time, would appreciate subscribing. We're here uh every Monday morning around noon, I suppose. Uh we'll be back on Thursdays throughout the season with interviews, some stuff coming on YouTube, like I said. Uh and yeah, very much appreciate the support. More coming. Opening day, March 26th. We're getting there, baby. We're getting there. All right, we'll see you guys soon.