THE CHICAGO CUBS WIN 9 STRAIGHT!!!!

Nine wins in a row will make you believe, but the real story is how the Chicago Cubs are doing it. I’m sick, I’m dragging, and I still can’t stop talking about this team because the baseball is that good right now: balanced offense, real lineup depth, and a vibe that feels like more than a random April heater.

We start with the Phillies sweep and the moment the season flips from “uh oh” to “watch out.” Then I dig into the two biggest lineup swing factors, Michael Busch and Pete Crow-Armstrong. If Busch starts handling left-handed pitching, the entire batting order gets longer and tougher. And when PCA sits, it raises a real question about roles, rest, and how much elite center-field defense should stay on the field. Along the way, I break down what OPS+ and wRC+ actually mean in plain terms so the stats match what your eyes are seeing.

The Dodgers are next, and I’m not here for the endless whining about payroll. Los Angeles is the standard because they’re smart, prepared, and ruthless about building winners. That’s exactly the kind of opponent a contender should want. I also hit rotation confidence levels with Shota Imanaga, Matt Boyd, and Eddie Cabrera, plus the ongoing trust debate around Ben Brown and why a great changeup can be the ultimate equalizer.

If you’re enjoying the run, make it official: subscribe, share the show with a Cubs fan, and leave a five-star review on Spotify or Apple. What’s your ideal Cubs batting order heading into LA?

Thanks for tuning in! 

- Carl & Mahoney

Transcript

Welcome And Nine Straight

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, Chicago Cubs fans, and welcome back to the Monday Morning Cubs Show. Today is Thursday, April 23rd for the Friday edition of the bi-weekly Monday morning Cubs show of New Venture in 2026. It's your host, Carl. Cubs have won nine in a row at the time of recording this. And if you follow me on social media, you'll know I just have to say it up front. Like, I'm dying. Not really. But I I'm I'm as sick as I've ever been. Someone said, When's the last time you were this sick? I said never. All right. Someone once asked me, they go, Have you ever had COVID? I said, I currently have the Fauci variant coursing through my veins. Um, I'm not peeing blood, I'm not gonna get graphic or anything like that. But like I'm hanging on by a fucking thread. First F-word of the show, and nine in a row is gonna get you through it, to be quite honest with you. I mean, we are playing some phenomenal baseball, so we just have to start there. This is a solo show. I owe you guys an interview. I'm gonna get one going. Don't worry about it. I have an interview lined up, we have interviews, but right now I think it's important. We stay focused, we stay locked in, rally the maniacs, kind of keep people on the straight and narrow of what's important through this Cub season. Uh is we look sensational, right? This is some of the most fun I've had watching Chicago baseball ever in my life. And part of that has to do with just how balanced his team is. I think there's a lot of really likable, lovable players. We'll talk about, you know, what makes his team special and unique so far at 16 and 9, you know, tied for first place with the Cincinnati Reds. We can get into that. Some really unique stuff with the players that I think allows for personal connections. People we've really likable players. Uh so I want to talk a little bit about that in this episode. Also, obviously, we have the Dodgers coming up. Um, you know, and that's important for a number of reasons that I would also like to talk about. And then finally, um, you know, do I have a mailbag? Maybe. Do I have voicemails? No. Will we will we answer some some questions? Maybe. Yes. Pitch and catch. Pitch clock. Baller strike. Baller strike. This is a solo show. Baller strike, I had some day quill earlier today. So some things come out of my mouth. You know, I'm not necessarily liable for them. You know, it is what it is. I want to welcome everybody back to the show. I want to thank people for subscribing to the community, being a maniac. Uh, you know, Mahoney and I have really enjoyed putting the show together. I think our last episode with Jake is my favorite to date, all time. Number 100. So this makes it 101. The next batch of 100 will be crisp, clean. I'll have takes ready to go. Now I shouldn't say start off the top here. I take this stuff seriously. And when I say this stuff, I'm talking about this process, and I don't want to be like a guide necessarily. I like the term Sherpa, an interpreter, so to say, as the season goes on, as things progress. I like giving insights into what's going on in the game of baseball. I have a profound respect for the history and tradition of the game, uh, which I think is, you know, well backed up in my understanding and my history of the Chicago Cubs. And my heart is very much in this team, has been for a very long time. It's my favorite sport. It's something that's been a huge piece and part of my life for all of my life. And so when we do these podcasts, we sit down and talk about the Monday morning cub show. We sit down, we talk about the Chicago Cubs. They're 16 and 9. They're rolling, right? That's why we have Limp Biscuit at the start of this episode. We're rolling. That's because, quite honestly, guys, I take this seriously that I want people to have a better experience around the Cubs because I know how much it matters to them. And there's a version of me out there years ago, a young man in his 20s, you know, hitting what's F5? Is that refresh it? F5 would refresh the web landing page, you know, and you'd be sitting there waiting for Paul Sullivan to drop the freshest news. And I'll never forget the Soriano news breaking. You know, I'll never forget them putting that team together with Ted Lilly. I'll never forget those days and how much that mattered to me. Um, and I really looked at people who had good information and good insight about it, and I was just addicted to getting more information about it. So I kind of tap into that mindset when I like to talk about the Cubs. That I know that there's a part of me that exists in history in the universe uh that's like thirsty for more information and spirited for debate and wants to know more. You know, so I'm gonna do the best that I can with the information I have in front of me. Uh, most importantly, though, obviously, welcome back to the show. We all know who the title sponsor is. I'm gonna tell you about it anyways. What's that? A Mexican style soda with the signature spicy finish that's all bite, no rattle, less than 90 calories per serving, 16 ounce canned, three bold flavors. I mean, I talk about it all the time, but some of us are big screw-ups. I talked about this in a lineup preview today. Some of us have made big mistakes in our life. And if you're trying to write or wrong, there ain't nothing that's gonna help you out more than a fucking ice cold mangoer tape. I'll guarantee that. You want to break some bread with someone? You know, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe it's time that you, you know, show up to Mother's Day with your hair combed and your shirt tucked in, in a cooler in your left hand and a bouquet of flowers in your right. What's in that left-handed cooler? You know what I'm talking about. A bold Mexican style soda that is all bite, no rattle, with a signature spicy fucking finish, my friends. Be a huge crowd pleaser at brunch. You think your mom loves you now? Wait till she has a little Lamon Ladrone with some of Dr. Sweet Little vodka on top of that. Are you kidding me? Forget the scrambled eggs, my friends. Now, this is a brunch people are gonna remember, or you're gonna forget. That's up to you. It's a non-alcoholic. How much you mix, completely up to you. I'm just gonna say, from my own personal experience, as I'm sitting here on my deathbed, mind you, and I'm not gonna Jordan flu game this. I fucking hate that saying. I've got to tell the sidebar. This is sidebar to sidebar to a sidebar here. I hate when people say Jordan flu game. Do you know what Michael Jordan did in his flu game? Are you out of your fucking mind? Like, are we being dead serious here? When people talk, Michael Jordan had 38 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three steals, a block in 44 minutes. One of the greatest playoff performances of all time. People just throw that out there. That's my Jordan flu game. Is it, buddy? Did you win the finals? Are you winning the fucking 97 finals against the Utah Jazz? Are you almost going for 40 on Carl Malone? Or am I just limping through a Cubs podcast right now? Calling this a Jordan Flu game. So that's just a general thing that pisses me off. You know, people love saying that. Went to work today, my Jordan Flu game. You do data entry in Excel for a real estate company that wouldn't even send a bouquet of flowers to your wake if you got tragically hit by the 154 bus, you know, walking out of the fucking brown line station. Be honest with yourself, buddy. You're a data entry guy. Ain't no Jordan Flu game. But I am sick. I should say that. I am sick. And a thirsty vacaro hits the fucking spot. So you want to go to Amazon, you want to throw a couple bold flavors in the cart, reward yourself, treat yourself, treat yourself to a round of sausage, treat yourself to a thirsty vaquero. Now do people know that reference when I say treat yourself to a round of sausage? That's a guy from Wheel of Fortune. If you don't know that, look that up. That's the number one clip on the internet. If you know that, then you know what I'm talking about. And I will impose a time limit here. It's 5 50 p.m. when I'm recording. Uh I catch Wheel of Fortune every day at 6 30. So we're gonna get through this episode here, friends. We are. We're winners in nine in a row. And I gotta say, in the history of me podcast, I don't know if we've had a bit this big a win streak with me hitting a mic. We might have had bigger win streaks over the last 11 years, I suppose. But within context of me hitting the mic on a walk-off from Dan's B. Swanson, taking four from the Phillies is no joke either. You know, and I I think we just start there. Taking four, that's a solid team. Trey Turner, very good shortstop. Uh Kyle Schwarber, obviously, is a prolific hitter. Uh Bryce Harper's a good player. There's tons of Brandon Marshall had a great series, I thought. You know, Bryson Stotts underperforming Alec Bones underperforming JT Rule Mutos out injury-wise, but we still went through some great pitching. We saw Christopher Sanchez game four hit his ass all over the field. That could be one of his worst starts of the year. You know, when we went out, we did that with a completely balanced lineup. We're gonna talk about in a second. But I want to stay on the Phillies for a second. You know, Jesus Lazaro beat him again, and this is something we got nervous about. If if you recall, we're gonna go back just in time for a little bit. I'll make it easy to remember. We were excited, maybe like was it two weeks ago? Two weeks ago, the pirates were coming to town. Do I have my dates wrong? When was it? April 10th, the pirates came to town on a Friday. That's two weeks ago, pal. Pat yourself on the back. That goes for everybody. And by the way, make sure you throw a thirsty for Carol on the cart. I can't say that enough. But two weeks ago we played the Pirates at home. We were excited. And and I did identify them as a younger team. What I should have identified them more as an inexperienced team or a team of second chances, is how I look at the pirates. Guys that are inexperienced or getting a second chance, like Brandon Lau from the Pirate, uh, from the race is a good example. Ryan O'Hearn is a good example. Nick Gonzalez is a good example. You know, that then Brian Reynolds is sticking around with that team. We were excited to get them for 120s, is basically what I'm saying. And they and they kind of gave it to us a little bit. 2-0, 4-3, and then we won the you know, third game 7-6 with a little bit of magic. And that that kind of gets us going a little bit. So we felt something, right? You felt something. And we had that at we won the last two in Tampa. You know, we uh an anemic offense in Cleveland, win the last two in Tampa. Okay, maybe we have some momentum. And we dropped two and three against the against the Pittsburgh Pirates. So obviously we can just identify that six and eight, like, ooh, low point of season. Ooh, low point. How low? How low? Fucking low. That's what I'm saying. Like, that's real bad. Six and eight, you know, look like shit at home, three straight 120s, bounce out of it. And I mean, like, this is what how much I don't want to sit here and suck a ton of dick. And I gotta watch my language. But we're putting up 10 runs, 11 runs, 12 runs, 5 runs, 7 runs, 7 runs, 8 runs. I mean, we're putting up runs, nine in a row, against, you know, whether whether they end up being good this year or not, both owners. You know, between Steve Cohen on one end and what's the other guy? John, what who's the what's his name? Who's the guy who fucked his family out of all the money? The the guy who owns the backwoods, owner of the Phillies. It's John Who? John Middleton? He's a knight. I mean, whatever. He John Middleton's John Middleton's John Middleton spends a fuck ton money on his baseball team. I'll tell you that. Not afraid of a big contract. So, you know, those are guys that spend a lot of change on their baseball teams, and they lost nine in a row to the Chicago Cubs. So, kind of what goes into that mix there, first off, for us, it's obviously the offense. We got to start there. I mean, we're banging out 10-15 hits a night, we're putting 20 runners on base, it's a problem, and we're really identifying two huge pieces where the lineup could get way better. Now I'll let you think of who those two pieces are. But they both hit left-handed. And if these two guys really get going to where we saw them last year, it's obviously Pete Crow Armstrong and Michael Bush, who who hit eighth and sixth today, respectively. And Michael Bush was sensational. And that's really, I can't make it enough of a big deal to you guys as Michael Bush hits against left-handed pitching. And how much do we shake the lineup up? Obviously, say Suzuki's gonna hit towards the top, Bregman towards the top, Nico towards the top. Like we all know that. There's some other lingering questions. Where do we put Biasteros, who I think very highly of, but just really hone in on Michael Bush for a second, understand the impact that makes if he's gonna be 30 to 35% better than Major League Average or Major League Average. So, like last year he was like 145, meaning 45% above average, 150, 50% above average. I'll slow down for a second. We're talking about OPS Plus, we're talking about weighted runs created plus, and I'm kind of blending the two in my head. Now, weighted run created plus has a little bit more respect from baseball insiders. That's a fact. Uh that's because it's from fangrafts, and fangrafts is a little bit nerdier and more data driven, where baseball reference is a little bit more user-friendly. The easiest comparison I would make is that uh fangraphs is kind of like the PC, and baseball reference is more like MacBook. Where, like, I guess if you're a hardcore coder and stuff, you're gonna go to you're gonna go to fangrafts more. I kind of like it a little bit. It's easier for me to remember and navigate. So I like to fuck around on baseball reference more. I think it's just easier to find player history and stuff. Now, the reason I'm bringing both of these up, you know, like why does this even matter in the first place? Why am I talking about this? Is because they both have their own independent metric in which they measure how good a player is compared to the average player in Major League Baseball offensively. OPS Plus is your on-base plus slugging adjusted, and that's baseball reference. Um fangrafts is weighted runs created plus, which is basically an idea of how many runs you create. Weighted runs created anytime you see a plus sign means it's adjusted. Now, how much do people really care about this? You know, I don't know. I feel like it's necessary if I'm just gonna rattle off like 140, 150. So, for example, last year Michael Bush had a 148 OPS plus. The 48 means he was 48% better than your average player. Last year he had a 140 fan graph weighted run created plus. So that's why I'm ballparking it and saying around 45% better than major league average. Now I say that because at the time of recording, he's around 60 right now on baseball reference. Um, and obviously it's uh it's much it's much worse on fangrafts, it's about 55. So when we talk about Michael Bush being average, he's against righties and lefties right now. He's about 50% worse than an average MLB player. Now it's early. I I know that as much as anybody listening to this. I'm not gonna sidestep any of the shit I want to say by just saying, well, it's early, so who gives a fuck? I care. I just sat through this whole I sat through this whole series. I've been watching every pitch, every game. I'm sitting here talking alone into the microphone by myself. Of course I care about this. But I do caveat this by saying, of course it's early, there's time for him to turn it around, and there's a huge flash today with the opposite field three-run homer against Christopher Sanchez, who's one of the best left-handed pitchers in baseball. Now, at the very least, if there's no mechanical or tactical or technical aspects of the swing that are there that allow him to do it, at the very least, the mental side of it of waking up in the morning and knowing you can handle it against Christopher Sanchez. Now, as I say all of this, I'd like to just boldly apologize in the event that he hit it off somebody other than Sanchez. I'll pull up the box score and confirm it. But I I'm my point is this Michael Bush going deep off lefty to the opposite field speaks so much. It's everything you want to see. It's just perfect. It means the foot's down, the timing is there, you're not pulling your weight off towards the first base dugout, you're not trying to be overly aggressive because you've been old for your last whatever. And I know he's been better recently, but that's you see these signs of pressing. And the best analogy I can make to football would be like a quarterback forcing throws, and you know it when you see it. You're like, what are you doing? You know, and it's it's easy to sit back and say, take what they give you. Um, you know, because obviously out in the moment, the competitive pressures or whatever probably completely changes the perspective. But really think about it for a second. Like, you know, Michael Bush going the other way, uh, that's just quite literally what it means to say, like, take what's they're giving you. And so to stay on the pitch head down, you know, that gets me all jacked up. Now, PCA flip-flop into him. You're starting to get a little now. This is this is suspicious. Now, obviously, everybody gets a day off, no doubt about it. But Matt Shaw started in center field today, and if you're PCA, that has to bother you. If you're PCA and you sign the big extension, like you gotta be mad at some point that they're gonna put now. I like my love Matt Shaw actually, but we're just talking about PCA for right now. Does he have a chip on his shoulder or does he need to be rested? Hey, we play a lot of games in a row. Obviously, the guy fucking flies out there in center field, reckless abandoned, diving, all that shit. Like he's a very aggressive player. Is this a day off? Because we're traveling, we're gonna go into a big stretch, he's gonna be back home. There's a lot of motion. I don't want to read too much into it, but it's just obvious, like, you know, that's not a great matchup between him and Christopher Sanchez. But to just sit him today, let Matt Shaw play center field. Um, you know, if you're PCA, you hope there's enough chip on your shoulder to say um they're not gonna sit me again like that, unless it's a force time. So here I am just playing ping pong with myself. I'm like, where do we stand on the PCA? But the the fact of the matter is that Pete is so good defensively. We I don't like I don't like the idea of giving him time off that much. Like this was a tight game, it was an extra innings, it could have come down to one play in center field, etc. It didn't, but it could have, you know, and I think Pete gets paid a lot of money, you know. I don't I don't I don't I I I don't know how I feel about just completely, you know. I don't know how I how I feel completely about sit and beat against Christopher Sanchez today, so that match I could play so again. Maybe I'm making too much out of nothing. It's early in the season, and so those were the two lefties I want to talk about just because I really think for purposes like it's been great. We're very we're this the offense is solid. Bregman's been out base 28 times in his last 14 games. Nico Horner's an MVP candidate. Ian Hap is clearly on his way to have more than five B-war, you know, like say Suzuki's red hot since he got back. There's so many reasons to be happy. We have two awesome right-handed hitting catchers. There's just so many things to be positive about. But like, excuse me for being selfish and just honing it on PCA and Bush right away. And just saying these are two guys we can absolutely just get after it and really take us to the next level. So that's the first big thing about the club's lineup. Second thing, I cannot tell you how good it is to see uh Nico Horner and Bregman back to back. I think if we can just settle into them with one, two, the only other alternative I have to this is if we want to go by a steros as a two-hitter against right-handed pitching. Because I think like without any reservation, I think he's their best hitter against right-handed pitching. I think Moise's biasteros is just like out of his fucking mind good. And I think he's just settling into how good he is. If you saw his opposite field double late, you see him pull a double down the right field line. He uses the entire field is in play for this guy. He does not care at all. He's such a naturally God-gifted, um, talented hitter. It is like it's one of the beautiful things in this sport that some guys are just born with it. You know, a lot of the pitchers in the big leagues are born with God-given talent. That's why you see so much weakness and so many head cases. And don't worry, I will talk about Ben Brown in the show. But for purposes of a hitter, there's something about just seeing such a beautiful, naturally god-gifted, talented hitter. And biasteros is that now. Can I think of other naturally god gifted talented hitters in the Cubs organization and history? Yes. And people who know me know it takes a lot for me to admit this. Starlin Castro. Where it's like it didn't matter, he he could heal. He'll figure out a way to barrel. Now, Starling Castro has some of the worst habits of all time, one of the most lackadaisical fucking out to lunch players you've ever seen in your life. And should I have ever been responsible in that dugout as a manager or bench coach, there's a good chance I would have assaulted him at some point within the first 30 games of a fucking season. Because that guy drives me absolutely up the wall. I mean, Starlin Castro is. But as far as being a natural hitter, you know, like you could say Rizzo worked for it, buddy. You know, Rizzo worked for it. Change the swing. Rizzo is a much different style hitter. Uh Chris Bryant, just a drilled mechanical hitter. You know, drilled. Robotic almost. I'm just trying to think of like it's so easy and natural for Biasteros. Like he can coach himself, I would imagine. Or he probably has like an old somebody back in Venezuela. You know, some guy who like sells tires for like his main income, but like in the same time has like a fucking tea setup in the backyard. Like some just like crazy off-the-wall shit you wouldn't even imagine existed unless you lived in Venezuela. I would imagine like that guy could be his hitting coach. But I don't, I think he's just so natural and he's so god given. Oh, we are so blessed we get to see him every day. So maybe it against right-handed pitching. This is just the other thing. I was just thinking about our first three hitters. You know, so like we see Sanchez today, game four against the Phillies. Not really, you know, is that that's kind of a weird matchup for Biasteros and he's rolling a little bit. So like maybe he hits that breather day off. I mean, we have a lot of depth and flexibility too. You know, Amaya's fucking solid. Carson Kelly's been solid. It's not like we're like sit sitting in because he's not good enough. But against our right-handed pitcher, you know, as we come into this Los Angeles series coming up. So we got it, we got a couple, we got a 9-10 on Friday, a 6.15 on Saturday, a 3-10 Sunday. So we got some later games. But we're gonna see Emmett Sheehan. We're gonna see Roki Sasaki, and then we're gonna see some guys named Robleski. I can't I can't pronounce that name, so don't even don't even ask me to. But Emmett Sheehan's a big 6'5, 220 righty, you know, power shit, like fastball slider gonna strike you out. Roki Sasaki, um, undersized Japanese guy who's gonna pitch game two, throws a fucking shit out of the ball. Um, and then obviously Justin Robleski, who's an undersized left-handed pitcher from Hoffman Estates. So maybe I should know more about that guy. Robleski. Hoffman, there's a good Polish population off 94 up there. So shout out to those guys. Um, but just as far as like lineup concern, the first two days, I would expect Biasteros to hit second. I would hope to see Biasteros hit second. I think it looks amazing. I think it'd be awesome to go Nico, Biasteros, Bregman within your first one, two, three. And then it's just like, how much do we love the power changes from Hap? And are you guys picking up on the fact that Ian Hap has made, you know, like he's made changes to this to sh, he's like totally locked in on drive of the ball out of the ballpark. Because I kind of like say in a five spot. So now if we go hap four, say a five, or you guys, if you guys really want to twist my arm about this because you don't like Ian Hap, which I I again I've made this argument, I think it's silly, then just flip-flop him and say, But regardless, that one through five is solid. But what's even better is the six through nine. Matt Shaw looks awesome. Ansby Swanson's been just fucking solid. I mean, like, I know swing and miss, I know he's not as good as you'd like him to be, but he's just solid. Whoever's catching, solid, right? And then, like, this is where we talk about, and this is why I started all this with Bush and PCA. Those are like I said Bush all-star at the start of the season. I said he'd lead the team in runs, I said he'd lead the team in home runs. You know, PCA is like one of the most talented players on the planet. I just went through our one through five and I kind of tricked you guys where I was I was naming names and I didn't even come close to saying PCA or Bush, and no one gave a fuck. Because Nico Horner and Bias Daros and Bragman and Suzuki and Hap have all been so sensational at the start of the season that so what if I said hit Michael Bush six? So what if I said hit PCA nine and fill in Swanson and Sean between those two or Carson Kelly and whatever, you know, and the depth that we're allowing a guy like Craig Counsel, who has been described as nothing short of the most prepared manager in baseball, the smartest, most thought-out motherfucker available, yada yada yada. You know, excuse my language. But I when you think about it like that, like we have so much depth, and we we were giving Craig so many opportunities. The one thing I'm nervous about, just a little overmanaging. You know, Craig can overmanage sometimes. He can get too cute. You know, we're in the ninth into the game, and JD says today he's like, Well, the only position player we haven't used yet is Michael Confordo. How the fuck are we in that situation on a getaway day? Like, why are we subbing in and out so many? Just a getaway day. Let the kids play. Just let the fucking kids play. You know, what's wrong with giving four fucking guys a day off going into a travel day into Los Angeles and a playing a 9-10, you know, and having to see Emmett Sheehan while the sun's setting in your eyes? Like, like, would you would it would it would it kill you to give guys some extra rest? I suppose. You know, or am I just bitching just a bitch? You know, a lot of people would say the latter. A lot of people would say I'm just bitching just a bitch. Um, we got to talk starting pitching, Shodi Imanaga, but just love seeing him pitch to contact after getting so much swing and miss, kind of throwing the league off there. I thought he was outstanding in our 7-4 win game two against the Philadelphia Phillies. I thought Colin Ray on Monday was awesome. We talked a lot about that with my buddy Jake, which by the way, great full circle moment, episode 100 to do it with Jake and do it with uh do it with Mahoney. Because the three of us have just been like we we all come from different groups of friends, you know, how we know each other is through uh Illinois baseball, obviously, and just being close friends and shit, being, you know, just being good dude, just being good good buddies for a long time. But just sitting out and chopping it up after that Colin Rays, we call him an aircraft carrier game on Friday, or I mean on Monday. Sorry guys, I'm hanging on by a thread. But that 5-1 game, Colin Rage, he just doesn't give a shit. And the decisive 5-1 in a 7-4 and a 7-2 into a thrilling, you know, game. So it's just a great clean four-game sweep. Now we'll just look ahead quickly here. Like I said, I'm hanging on by a thread, and Mrs. Carl should be home any minute. I believe she brought I don't do that much soup, but I think she didn't get me a large serving of Azju from Portillos, which I'll sip on slowly. I'll save her each and I will save her each and every sip of that au jus. And I'll pair it with a Thirsty of Curl, which you can get three bold flavors, all bite no rattle Mexican-style soda with the signature spicy finish on Amazon. Just throw it the fucking cart. You know, I'll be a spicy watermelon. But Friday, okay, so Friday night 9-10, Emmett Chian. Like, I I I would say between Jameson Tan and Emmett Chian, like slight advantage, obviously, towards the Dodgers are right. That's just a home game with Emmett Chian, but like I love our chances. I think Colin Ravers, Roki Sasaki. I think that's a national broadcast game on Fox, which is which is pretty cool. Like, what we should get the I mean, even though Joe Davis calls Dodgers home games, but we'll get the Verducci cut-ins and the dugout, you know, fuck Ken Rosen with all that piece of shit. But you know, we'll get the Verducci's, you know, we'll get the in studio analysis from Alex Rodriguez. You'll know one thing I really like about this that's a bad Alex Rodriguez. I should I shouldn't do my Alex Rodriguez while I'm sick. But then we'll come back, we'll have the Monday morning cub show out before we do the San Diego Padres series. Before we do the San Diego Padres series, we'll have a Monday morning cub show out. So if there's just something to lock in on the Los Angeles Dodgers, like obviously they're very good, they're leading baseball. You know, like do I want to do a full soliloquy on the Dodgers? I think it's good that we have a team that we aspire to beat. I think it's important to have a team out there that is managed well, that invests well. The guys who own the Dodgers are smart, rich fucking people. So is it their fault that they're smart and rich? So are we gonna penalize them for being smart and rich? We're gonna put a cap on the league where smart and rich. I mean, you whiny socialist pussies, and I'm not trying to get too like political or anything, but like, can we just let a team be good because they're good? Like they're good. You know why Shohei O'Tani wants to play there? Because it's in Los Angeles and they're awesome. They're gonna offer them 70 million dollars so they can pay him that much money because they figured that out. Like, I'm not trying to make this some political rant here, but like they drafted and developed and kept Clayton Kershaw for 20 seasons, you know? Like, they're so good at drafting and developing their superstars. Like, they're just incredible at doing it. Like, and at the same time, then they pull off the Mookie Pets trade. Now, were the Red Sox? Are they complete morons for trading Mookie Pets? Yeah, they're morons for trading Mookie Pets. The Dodgers are smart enough to go get them. You know, point your finger at Will Smith. I don't want to do this. How do I go down all this shit? But like they drafted Corey Seeger. They out negotiated the Braves for Freddie Freeman. Think Freddie Freeman wants to live in California? I can keep going down the list of why I think it's complete bullshit that I have to listen to a bunch of pussies complain about how the Dodgers are ruining baseball. I think they've outsmarted everyone. They do have some inside information from some Cubs executives that told me long ago on a trip to Las Vegas, we were in randomly in Las Vegas, but I was sitting at the bar with Scott Harris, who's now the president of the Detroit Tigers, and I was asking him, are we really like are we are we so far ahead of like everybody? Are we just gonna fucking dominate forever now? We just won the World Series. And he was like, I would be stunned um if we could keep pace with the Dodgers. And he's like, I'm not shitting on our guys, we're awesome, but like we're neck and neck with them right now. But the stuff that they have coming and the guys that they have coming and the amount of money that they have coming into their organization, it is gonna be so hard for us to keep pace with the Dodgers. And I couldn't believe it. I'm like in an argument with him at this. He's like, I don't want to argue about this stuff. I'm like, there's no way. No, we're fighting about this in like 2016, January of 2017. And I'm and not arguing, but I'm like, how? You know, like we don't even have a spot for Javi. You know, we got Benzovers. He's like, I know I understand this, but like the Dodgers would have Jobby playing center field. Like, we don't. We don't have a center fielder right now. The Dodgers would have figured out a way to make and what I'm trying to do is just give you some personal context for over the last decade of watching the Dodgers become as good as they've become, people within the industry aren't pointing their fingers at the Dodgers and saying, They're scumbags, they're cheaters, they're the evil empire. If anything, it's good in professional sports to have an organization that's run as well as they are so that they can be toppled, so that you can aspire to be great at something. What makes us get up and be great is the fact that we have to be good enough to go out and beat those people. That's what gets the best out of you. That's what's gonna get this Cubs team to rally. And I'm not saying now it's gonna show up this weekend, we're gonna go out there and kick their ass, but like what's gonna what's what's gonna what is it gonna take for us to win a World Series with this club? Probably beating the Dodgers at some point in the playoffs at Wrigley Field. Am I scared of the of the Dodgers? Fuck them. Shoy Otani's a great player. We can beat him, you know how how how how close how close I'm taking this so serious. Oh god. The stuff I choose to just get so passionate about, but we can beat these guys, right? That's the mentality I have, and I certainly don't like this idea of sitting around and complaining being a huge pussy because oh well, you know, the Dodgers have unlimited money. Well, then you go out and sign a fucking TV deal for$300 million a year. You know, Mark Walter, the guy who did that deal with who they sign it with, TWG. However, they put that thing together. I mean, that guy should go in the businessman Hall of Fame. That guy's up there with like fucking Steve Jobs. The guy's up there with, well, I mean, Bill Gates is a fraud, but he's up there. Like he's what he's one of the all-time like businessmen were born in the 60s, learned his shit in London, went to the London School of Economics, stayed in London to be a trader because that was the epicenter of finance. It's like, I'm not going back to New York, take all my boys, invented a way to like secure debt leveraging or something, so that by 2002 he was the head of the fucking trading firm he worked at or something, then moved back, then bought the Lakers or so. I mean, look this guy up, and you want to point your finger at this guy and go, you're cheating. He's outsmarting is what he's doing. So when we complain about the Dodgers, and this is where I have to draw a line and say, You can't, you're too smart, you're too good at this, your players are too good, you're a pussy. Go play a different sport. I hate that that has infiltrated baseball. Could you imagine 1927? Well, it's unfair you're hitting Derrigan Ruth back to back. I mean, blow me, pal. Blow me. You know, the Red Sox had to sell Ruth. The owner didn't have any money. He was opening up a Broadway play. So he had to sell Bape Ruth because he was a bitch. You want to point a finger, point a finger at the guy that sold Bape Ruth. You want to point a finger, point a finger at the fucking circumstances that allowed Mark Walter to cut the greatest TV deal in the history of broadcasting live sports television. All right, that's the problem with the Dodgers. You know, you want to point a finger, point a finger at Major League Baseball and say, Rob Manfred, you son of a bitch for letting them the first$60,$80 to$70 million annual salary they pay Showheadani. Otherwise, keep your trap shut. Show some respect to the fact they're good, and show some respect and credence to the fact that we got to play our absolute best to go out and beat them. Isn't that what being the best is about? Isn't it the whole point of holding a fucking trophy? You know, I gotta watch my F words. But if we're gonna cheer for this team, we're gonna sit around and pat ourselves on the back for win the nine in a row. Are we then gonna be the same team that goes into Los Angeles and is like, they can't believe we the Dodgers are so good? Fuck the Dodgers. You know, look at our look at our double play combination. So let's take some questions. Baller strike, is Matt Shaw a better third Matt Shaw's a better third baseman than Alex Bregman. That's a strike. That's a strike, and that was a concern when we gave Alex Bregman$175 million for five years after Matt Shaw had just finished third and the second or third in gold glove voting at third base in a season where he got sent down to triple A? How many times have I made that point? Excuse me while I enjoy a little bit more thirsty of a carol here. Hold on here, guys.

SPEAKER_00 37:11

It's so good. Oh god, it's so good.

Ball Or Strike Mailbag Takes

Rotation Trust And The Changeup

Wrap Up And Listener Requests

SPEAKER_01 37:16

Wait, these are these are the questions that I ponder. Is Matt Shaw getting the sh get in the shaft, having a play center field while Alex Bregman is, you know, and Bregman's got good hands. He's just an older guy. It's just that's it. It's just he's older. Like Matt Shaw's a better third baseman because he's younger. So we don't need to turn this into an ageism thing, but are we better off like it should Matt Shaw play third and then Alex Bregman? Uh I don't know if third base is the position you can just say, uh, you know, go play right field, go play center field, go play right field, sit a couple games, go play third. Third's really hard. Third's so fucking hard. Go play third base, yeek. That's tough. Did I just say yikes and yeesh at the same time? Did I just invent that one? Yeeks. That's tough. So I don't even know if there's a situation. Now we can't sit obviously. You know, hey, we'll sit Bragman or let him DH, which is what Craig's been doing, have him DH and then have you know Shaw play third. What I'm saying is you're obviously you're not getting the best of Matt Shaw. So what I would say comparatively would be you know 150 games a shaw at third versus 150 games of Bregman at third base. It's not even close give me 150 games a shot. However, you know, there ain't no shot in hell. Alex Bragman's putting out an outfield to go off and jogging out the right field. And what I had said earlier about Matt Shaw during today's game, I just love the fact that he's like, you know, I'll play right field, I'll play first base within the same week. Now they're gonna start me in center field. He's starting for Pete Carl. Pete Carl Armstrong just sent a hundred and fifteen million dollar contract. Hey, we're gonna sit Pete for a day. Can you go play center? Yeah, when's the last time you played center? Never. It's like me talking about this illness I have. When's how when's the last time you were this sick? Never, never, I've never encountered this before. Mad Shaw's out there making running catches today. He's never had to do that before. He's like, I don't give a fuck. And I cannot emphasize to you guys he's doing this at the big league level. I mean, there are guys who have spent their entire lives playing one single position, learning this game, who never get a chance. Chris Davis went to the University of Illinois, Canadian, a catcher, spent his spent 15 years in AAA. Who is he with? The Padres, the Tigers, somebody, third rounder, Big Ten player of the year in 2005, I think he was. Or was that Davidson? I'm sorry if I got that wrong. But holy Toledo. I mean, you spent he spent fit like fake, he is a real life Crash Davis. This guy is like 3,700 career AAA fucking plate appearances. You get all the way up there, and you're like, I think he got I think he played one game. I think he had one at bat, and I believe he did Homer. I think it was an amazing moment. This I got to talk to one of my Padres buddies about this. It was an amazing moment. He retired right after the game. He's like, I'm done. I'll never play this game again. It'll never get better than that. I have to get dying out of here. Do you know how many minor league innings that guy had to catch? Strap the gear on. You know, it's 105 in Northern California. Put the fucking gear on, Chris. Go out there and catch him up. I mean, this that's a brutal situation. What I'm trying to do is say this. You know, they just told Matt Shaw, they're like, hey, why don't you go play center? Do you know how good you have to be at baseball? Just say, yeah, coach, I'd be more than happy to go over and play center. You know, don't have to ask me twice. Uh, what else we got in the mailbag? Okay, let's see here. Baller strike. The compound podcast has to reformat the production they do on Marquee because it's just three giant faces in my face after every single time I watch a Cubs game. That's a strike. And I like Ian Hap. But if if you stick around, you watch enough Marquee Network, can they throw they throw an episode of the compound on? We don't have to drag this one out. You know, and like I don't even put stuff on video, but like I don't make 20 million dollars a year. You know, I don't have the marquee network distributing this. I mean, can we figure out a graphic package here that doesn't make these guys look like complete fucking mutants? You know, again, I gotta watch the F-word. Or do I it's just like this isn't a family-friendly show to begin with. I'm trying to hit the diehards. This is more dugout talk, you know. But I sh I should. I think I hit 89 F-words in our last Monday, but that's just being comfortable, you know. They gotta clean that up. That's just brut, that's just a brutal image. Like, I'll call you an app by great swing from the right side this year, buddy. Um, but if you're gonna put your podcast on Marquee Network like that, you're gonna, you know, and you're gonna make me drink your coffee, which is good coffee. It's great coffee. Um, you know, like can we just figure something out here? Like, can we do a little can can like can we just do like a better visual? You know, and if we can't, then like what are we doing? So, you know, ball or strike. Eddie Cabrera is our bona fide number one. We talked about this on the Monday show. It's like, is it Matt Boyd? Matt Boyd looks so good in his return start, you know, and Eddie Cabrera didn't get any help defensively today in right field from Save Suzuki or third base from Alex Brugman. You know, so like those are two the the Matt Boyd, the Shoda, the Eddie Cabrera, that that three-headed kind of how doesn't that work? I would put it one Boyd, two Cabrera, three Shoda. And I kind of this depended on how Matt Boyd looked. And I know he didn't he only pitch like four to third or something. He just looks so crisp. He looks so clean, he looks like like he's in so much control. He looks like he really has such a good feel for how much horizontal break he wants to mix in. And I just love the idea of him having like that tight cutter he can throw in on a lefty. He has more of the sweeping action he can throw to extend the zone against a lefty. He can elevate his forcing fastball. He really controls so many different parts if you break the strike zone into like a nine boxes, right? Like three, three, three, if we go like a three by three, etc. He really controls, we'll say the middle in, middle up, up over the middle, up and away, away, middle, down and away. You know, isn't that hard to follow? Should I but should I do this visually? He really has such great command and control over those spots, and he can pick and choose when he goes into these spots. And it's um it's something that then conversely, I want to mix this next mailbag, which is ball or strike. Do we tr we trust Ben Brown? And that's a ball. Like I don't really care yet. If I I don't really care to trust Ben Brown, and there's a very specific reason why. And that specific reason is it does me absolutely Absolutely zero good to expect that what we see now is any different than what we've seen before. Now that's unfair. And I do need to take a step back and say, at no point has he warranted anything other than my absolute respect for what he's done this season, right? Like he's stepped up, he's been a glue guy. We've lost Phil Maton, we've lost Daniel Palencia, we've lost Hunter Harvey, we lose Caleb Thielbar today. I mean, those are our four top guys in the bullpen. And Ben Brown's out here with the smirk on his face and he's pitching his ass off. And like we I should give him respect. But here's what's holding me back, and and it's it's a combination of like a bit, but it is kind of serious. And I think if you've played baseball and if you've been in a dugout and you kind of have this relationship with the game, then you'll understand where I'm coming from. But like, I'll believe it when I see it. I'll believe when I see it. And now you're sitting here and you're seeing it time and again, and it's still, I'll believe it when I see it. And there's just some guys that have that with them that just have that attached to them, and I'm gonna have it with Ben Brown for a very long time. I'll believe it when I see it, even though he's doing it, even though you can sit here and go, aren't you seeing it right now? He's got a 1.75 ERA. He's carrying our team in significant innings right now. We're gonna have to rely on him significantly. Don't you see it now, Carl? Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it. And he can go out and he can do it the next time, and people can applaud him and you can say, Ben Brown has finally arrived. It's finally the season, we're finally gonna get what we want from Ben Brown, and I'm gonna be the guy sitting here going, I'll believe it when I see it. And what I mean by that is at the end of the year, we can sit down and we can talk about how good Ben Brown has been. At the end of the year, he's the type of player you can talk about at the end of the year, how good has he been. I don't want to applaud him too much, I don't want to pat him on the ass. Because here's the problem with some guys, and I went through this personally as a player. You have a little success and then you start to think you're fucking good. And the second you start to think you're good at this game, and this is a weird, delicate thing you have to walk, the second you start to think you're good or you've got this thing figured out is when you start to lose respect for what has to go into being successful, whether it's the preparation or your mental attitude pitch to pitch or how dialed you uh dialed in you are game to game, you know, and what you're doing to get your arm as fresh as it possibly can be, which is a thousand different things, you know. But Ben Brown's a guy who just kind of surprises me a little bit to where I have to say, you know what, fuck him. I need to see it for a season. And then when this season's over, I need to see it for another season. And when that season's over, I'm gonna need to see it for another season. And it could be years from now where this guy could come into a game and I could say, I really trust that he's gonna execute pitch to pitch. Because when I talked about Matt Boyd on this show, I said, here's nine quad or here's nine, you know, quadrant not quadrant, moron, but here's nine parts of the strike zone, and here are the ones he commands extremely well. And I think of the nine we picked out six, where it's like the these are spots Matt Boyd can just go to. Boom, boom. He can just live there, and he can live there with multiple pitches. You know, Ben Brown's lucky to throw a fucking strike, and again, I gotta watch my length. He's just lucky at times. But what we saw the other night was a great changeup. And I think this is a good spot to end as we're getting into Wheel of Fortune, as Mrs. Carl's pulling up with some portillos, as I'm about to sit down and crush a saju. You know, I think this is a I think this is a per I think this is a perfect, I think this is a perfect landing point. And that, my friends, is a changeup. The changeup is the ultimate equalizer. You can take the world's worst pitcher and give him the world's greatest changeup, and he will be the world's greatest pitcher. It's the most effective pitch in baseball. It's the single most effective tactic in all of sports. It's the West Coast offense on steroids. Alright, it's the triangle offense mixed with the West Coast offense, mixed with the Chipman Chase or whatever they do in hockey. I don't watch that. You know? Having the changeup is the ultimate F you in sports. It's a reason Kyle Hendricks made$75 million in his career. Have you seen Kyle Hendricks in person? Telling me that guy's a professional athlete, throw two different plus change ups, my friend, and you can be too. Ben Brown was throwing a changeup, just had me feeling things. So where we zone in on this is throw that change up for contact, my friend. It does not have to be a swing and miss pitch. Fastball swing and miss, curveball swing and miss. If we can get him to take an attitude with that change where it's like, buddy, just feast on this thing. It's over the heart of the plate. You know, then I think we're in a good situation with Ben Brown, where maybe two years from now I'll feel comfortable if I'm on the mound. Now, that doesn't mean you shouldn't have to. Go right ahead, you guys. Everybody can. Feel good about Ben Brown. Everybody, you can, everybody else can. And I will be the guy sitting here saying I'll believe it when I see it. Um, there were a couple other things I was hoping to get into today, but I feel like we can save it for Monday when I get Mahoney back. We do have three games against the Los Angeles Dodgers. At the time recording this, the boys are already on a private jet. Um, you know, or is it chartered? Is it private and chartered? I don't know, but they're staying at the four seasons, living like kings. Um, and hopefully that's reflected in the baseball that's played tomorrow night at 9.10 p.m. on a Friday. So I'll just tell you what I'm gonna do. I'll probably be asleep in the third inning. You know why? Nightquell. Because I've just been dragging my ass up and down these fucking stairs. I don't feel good. But this nine-game winning streak is carrying me through it. God bless you guys. Thanks for listening. If you appreciate the show, I wouldn't mind a five-star review on Spotify or Apple. We're growing it slowly, step by step, day by day. And next time you hear from me, we're gonna have Mahoney. Maybe we'll have a special guest. If you guys have some ball or strike, don't be bashful. You know where to find me. Send those in. Until next time, God bless and go cubs.