Monday Morning Cubs Show
A show every Monday morning about the Chicago Cubs from Carl and Mahoney.
Monday Morning Cubs Show
6-1 Since Trade Deadline + FEELING SPICY
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PRESENTED BY THIRSTY VAQUERO - Something changed after the trade deadline, and you can feel it right away: the Cubs rip off a 6-1 week, the vibes swing from survival to belief, and the roster suddenly looks like it’s built for meaningful October baseball. We’re not doing empty scoreboard hype either we talk through what actually drives a post-deadline surge, why the new arms matter, and how confidence spreads when the clubhouse sees real investment and real depth.
Then we get loud about Pete Crow Armstrong. We break down why PCA’s value is bigger than a hot streak: elite everyday defense, game-warping range, timely power, and the kind of presence that can keep the Cubs near the top of MLB runs scored even when other regulars aren’t posting monster OPS numbers. We also tackle the MVP debate head-on, including how voters think about Shohei Ohtani versus a true every-inning position player who impacts both sides of the game.
From there, we dig into Kevin Gausman as a potential Game 1 starter and why his aggression and tempo fit a defense-first team. We map the path to catching Milwaukee, debate Pedro Ramirez versus Ian Happ for playoff lineups, and talk bullpen roles with Palencia’s return looming. The back half hits home with a Father’s Day makeup game story that turns into a tribute, and a reminder that baseball is sometimes the healthiest distraction we’ve got. If you’re a Cubs fan who wants analysis with real emotion, hit play, then subscribe, share the show, and leave us a review.
Thanks for tuning in!
- Carl & Mahoney
Welcome Back And Sponsor Ritual
SPEAKER_00And we're clear. Good morning, good afternoon, and evening Chicago Cubs fans, and welcome back to the Monday morning Cub Show. Today is Monday, August 10th?
SPEAKER_01We're at August 10th, Carl. That's a fact, Jack.
SPEAKER_00I got Mahony with me. It's Carl. We're coming off the longest Monday morning Cub Show of all time. Out of a 6-1 since trade deadline week. Feeling, I'll say it once, I'll say it a million times, Mahoney. I feel sensational. How are you?
SPEAKER_01I'm feeling sensational. I'm feeling spicy, Carl. I'm feeling great on this Monday morning for you and for all the maniacs. Let's get it rolling.
SPEAKER_00Now, last episode, little bit off the rails. The big sentiment there is capturing the emotional stability I want for maniacs. We did that all Friday. Go check that out. But that's where where are we mentally? Because now on Monday, we're going to chop up what I think are some good segments. We had a very meaty week. There's plenty of stuff on the agenda. Um, I suppose we could just start here. I think we should just start here, Mahoney. Okay. The show is presented by Thirsty Vicero. And I asked guys last week if you fast forward through it, we're you're gonna we're gonna go on, we're gonna go on a losing streak. And I have the data, and many people did not fast forward. You get a six in one week. How does that sound?
SPEAKER_01Uh a six and one week, it sounds like a vigilante pack where I'm getting a taste of all the little bit different flavors. Six and one against the Dodgers coming going to Kansas City. Not an easy place to play, Carl. No, but you know what? You know what? I don't know where I took that from, but if there's a lot of barbecue, a lot of food. That's why it's not that easy. So hey, where we win a series of Kansas City, I'll take it, dude. Six, one week after the trade deadline, cook it.
SPEAKER_00Could you imagine sitting down for some Kansas City barbecue and you can pair it with a Thirsty Vicero? Could you imagine being smart enough to go to Amazon right now and loading up on a vigil antique pack knowing that you're gonna be hitting the smoker later this later this month? Bears football, college football, you're gonna have the cooler stock. People are gonna be socializing. Now's the time. Also, Thirsty Vicero has 12 ounces coming. Um I think I'm the only person who works with Thirsty Vicero that's allowed to talk about these because they haven't hit the market yet, Mahoney. But I want you to put yourself in this headspace, you reach into the cooler, you find a 12-ounce watermelon Sanja staring you in the face. Tell me that doesn't feel good.
SPEAKER_01It it feels good. I can actually feel the moisture coming off the can as it touches my skin. And then you just look at that beautiful artwork on the can and you know that your taste buds are already tickling.
SPEAKER_00Anyone who wants to put that much time into clean packaging is gonna put twice as much time in the bold flavors. Check them out in the meantime. Get them on Amazon. 12 ounces are coming. You know where to ship them. This is our transition segment every week on Mondays, guys. Mahoney, let's do our vigilante pack. There's three bold flavors to Thirsty Beat Carol. Who's our spicy watermelon of the week?
SPEAKER_01Sande Salvahe is our Pete Crow Armstrong, Carl. It's a PCA. He's a spicy watermelon. Do we need to say enough? MLB best 6.3, whatever the hell, war. He's leading shit all over the place, hitting dingers left and right. I think he leads the league at dingers. Uh Pete Crow Armstrong is our spicy watermelon of the week. Vigilante.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no doubt about it. I'm gonna take it one step further. I'm gonna go our mango muerte of the week is Kevin Gossman. Now, people love Kevin Gossman. They can't wait to see Kevin Gossman. My point is the more Kevin Gossman you see, the more you experience, the more you're gonna love him. And maybe up front, that question mark of what do you mean he's a two-pitch pitcher? What do you mean it's a spicy mango? I think I've seen a two-pitch pitcher before. I think I've seen a spicy mango before. How can traer, my friends? Not until you experience and you go, whoa. And I think a lot of people had that experience with Kevin Gossman's debate. They go, Whoa, I want some more of that. That's where I go with that. That's where I'm going with Kevin Gossman and the Mango Morte. I'm gonna tie this out. Our Lamon Ladron is Zavarashan. Why do you think that is?
SPEAKER_01I mean, the Ladron he just robs hitters of at bats. It's it's uh it's a vigilante. He's gonna be he's stealing your at bats, man. You're not gonna get them. Nate, if it's a harder name to spell and uh or to even get a hit off of.
SPEAKER_00So when you grab a Lamon Ladrone, you know what you're getting. You know, and you're gonna go, hey, this actually this actually kind of reminds me of, and I'm gonna say it, there's Hall of Fame beverages out there, guys. Seven up Sprite, those are Hall of Famers, those guys are first, but you like maybe Sprite, not maybe seven up. Yes, you guys want to take that however you want to do it. Obviously, Sierra M is a good thing. That's a debate.
SPEAKER_01That's a debate, right? That's a big it's called starry now.
SPEAKER_00They're they're out, they're getting out. Lamon Ladron in. But when you you know, I mean, anybody who's ever had a sprite, like it's never deviated, it's never not hit, it's right there in the right moment. And Zavera Sean's steps up, sweeper's nasty. Um it's great to have filth at the back, is what I would say too. It's great to have filth. That's where I'm at with Zavera Sean. We're gonna talk more about the bullpen later, but those are vigilantes of the week.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, Carl. And now moving on, the next segment.
Six And One After Deadline
SPEAKER_01Oldie but a goodie, I like to call it. I'm not just gonna pepper you with ball or strikes this episode. Now we will get to the ball or strikes. But for the second segment, we're gonna bring back just a little bit of a pitch clock recap, very quickly, kind of just talk about the week at hand. We'd already mentioned six and one since the deadline, sweeping the Dodgers, a makeup game against Toronto. But what was your take from you know being hot after the deadline? Do you feel that the the deadline added that juice?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think it did internally in the clubhouse for the the position players, where you can tell how much respect Kevin Gossman has in the league. Clay Holmes didn't look good in his first start. But I think when you see a bump out of a trade deadline, you can absolutely point to the clubhouse and say the guys got what they wanted because each guy does. Bregman wants somebody, Swanson, Horner. Am I wrong? No, I'm not wrong. These guys want improvements, and especially if you went through that adversity where the entire media was shitting on you, and then you turn around, you re-pick it up again, and you're rolling and you have this momentum, and you feel like those guys in that clubhouse felt like they are much better than they played for almost a 30-game stretch. So to recover that, to then put us in that conversation of we need to go get the ace at the trade deadline, and so then they go out, they bump up, they get Zavarishon's nasty, right? They had Clayholmes, who went healthy, is just downright elite, and then you get Kevin Gossman, who's a proven World Series contender. So, I mean, I think I think obviously internally they they just love it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and then they're watching Gossman get a 106 mile an hour comebacker off the ankle, tapes it up, and goes out and deals. This is the new guy that we just traded for. I mean, they know his reputation, they know who he is, but that's the type of leadership. Dude gets smoked and goes on, deals the rest of the game. Yeah, you got Clay Holmes coming in, get making his debut, strong start, just beautiful stuff, and I think it did add that juice to the squad as a whole. I know it did as a fan. That's a fact.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, he's he he's he's in command too, and you'll see guys swing and miss over the top of his splitter so much. And I was trying to explain it, I was trying to explain it to Mrs. Carl while we're at for the ballgame because I was saying he's he's the only two-pitch pitcher, he's literally the only starting pitcher in baseball who's pure two-pitch. And when you're hitting against Kevin Gossman, you're flipping a coin in your head because the pitches look so identical. So when you see guys swing and miss so bad, it's they're in the box going, I'm picking heads and he's throwing tails, and it's the exact same thing. So you you get some goofy looking stuff from Kevin Gossman. Love what I saw from him. Need more from Clay Holmes. What else we got, Mahoney?
SPEAKER_01Nothing. It was just nice to see PCA get a day off but gets to DH and just still has another, still a massive day. Save those legs, PCA. But Carl, no, that was the fastest week of Cubs baseball all year, and it felt good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the PCA stuff, he should be it's sensible now that we have Tyrone Taylor because he is actually a plus defender. Now, nobody's PCA, but that idea that we don't have anyone who could play center field without Pete, you know, it's like Matt Shaw when he's healthy. Come on, not gonna Tyrone Taylor is a bona fide major league outfielder defensively. He can play all four positions, he's not gonna wow you in right field with arm strength, but he's extremely fast, athletic, good reads. So then my point though is PCA is obviously we feel so good about him. I would just encourage Maniacs, he is a human being, he does need some time off. And and uh if Craig is willing to flex him into that DH role to get time off, you know. Now I want to tie it back to the Moises by Asteros conversation and my complaints about DH is hitting eighth and being rookies because ultimately it's it's more important to me that a guy like Pete isn't forced to run out in the center field day after day after day. And this past week, seven games in a row coming off the trade day deadline emotions. Maybe there's that hangover from the all-star break for a lot of guys getting together, and then we just don't have a day off. You just play like 50 fucking games in a row. So now the fact that today Monday's off, this is good stuff that Pete has had an opportunity to rest his legs. It's all good stuff, and it's it's honestly like people remember this about console when you're bitching about him because he's smart enough to proactively say, Hey, our superstar rest the legs.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. I do love it. He doesn't have robot legs, ladies and gentlemen. We got if you want to see more five-star catches late and deep into the season, let's keep those things fresh. Hey, I mean, yeah. I was just gonna say now enough. We we got through that quick, and
PCA’s Rest And DH Flexibility
SPEAKER_01and here we go. Carl, I got I'm gonna just ball ball or strike. Next segment is ball or strike, ladies and gentlemen.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was trying to be quick because you know I always forget we're doing pitch clock until I'm talking and I'm going, this is pitch clock. I had a couple violations, but Mahoney, you know, it's like I appreciate you for organizing the thoughts because without you, I'm without you, this is three hours long.
SPEAKER_01Well, fair enough, but here we are. So, ball or strike, while on the topic, PCA right now is the runaway 2026 NLM VP. You know, not as easy as it sounds.
SPEAKER_00Runaway is it's he should be the runaway, so I'm gonna say that's a ball. He should be the runaway. People really like Shohe Otani's value he adds as a pitcher. Um, Pete, you know, is an offensive player and a defensive player. This is where this is the dynamic you we have to play here. If Shohei Otani was a right fielder who moonlighted as a pitcher, we would never have this conversation.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00It would always be Shohei Otani. But if you're calling him a position player and then saying he's a DH, he's actually a pitcher who d's. He's a pitcher first who dh's. That's the way I see Shohei Otani because the position he plays is pitcher, he dh's in the lineup because he's such a good hitter. Now that is not the same as being as good as Pete has been defensively.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00Pete Pete every day is the best defender in the world. Shohe Otani, not every fifth day because he's banged up and they don't usually pitch him that, you know, like that. He's on an inning limit and a pitch limit, and he's very dominant sub two ERA when he does pitch. But every game, his bat is just in the order. So if we're gonna now do this thing where it's we got a guy whose bat and is in the order and he makes 13 starts on the mound, by all means, he's a much better pitcher than Pete Crow Armstrong. Right, he's Pete Pete Crow Armstrong is a much better defender than Shohei Otani as a pitcher. Yes, the comparison between Shohei Otani and who are the other good pitchers. There's a bunch of them, and there's like 20 of them that are like better than Shohei Otani because Shohei Otani doesn't pitch all the time, he's always fucking banged up, right? So now we're gonna say there's a comparison of people where there's like 20 other guys who pitch as well as Shohei. Okay, now Shohei hits almost as well as Pete Crow Armstrong. So we got a guy who's like, Yeah, you're top 25 at the position you actually play, and you're in the top three hitters and five hitters in Major League Baseball. Pete Crow Armstrong's a top five hitter of baseball and the number one defensive player in baseball. That's where I close the argument on it. Like I Shohei would have to hit 55 fucking home runs, he would have to do some astronomical historical gross total. I don't see it. I think what Pete's doing is and last thing, if you if you just go through ball or strike here, obviously it's a it should be a strike. Bregman, 740 OPS, you know, Danzby Swanson, 690 OPS, Nico Horner, 710 OPS, Michael Bush, 760 OPS. You start going down these nobody's OPS is over 800, nobody's OPS is over 780. The Cubs are still second in Major League Baseball and run scored. Can someone can someone pinpoint that one for me? His name's Pete Crow Armstrong.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think it's uh PCA.
SPEAKER_00Take him out of the lineup. We are marginally 500. So we can't have that conversation. He's blossomed into the greatest, the greatest player on the field. Do you do you do you think now? How about this? Let me let me sorry before I ask. I want your opinion on this. I I read I reached, I talked to I was talking to Big Cat the other day and said, I would, I would I would ask you of this, Dan. I need you to do me a favor. I'm calling in a favor. I go, I need I need you to raise awareness across the internet from now until the season's over. And I know you're already doing it, but every BBWAA writer, every single guy that votes for MVP is following you. In the chance you can influence even 20% of these people, you are moving the needle towards Pico Armstrong. I'm doing what I take. Like I hit the most influential guy I know that can get that can get these votes. I'm gonna ask Maniacs if you got to start writing to the local writers, write to the guy in St. Petersburg, send it up to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Make sure every local writer who has a vote in it knows just how much PCA means to you as a Cubs fan. I think that's how we push it over the level.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and if you're in the guild and you're listening right now, you just heard the argument why it should be run away. And point made. And really, like the Otani thing, it seems like there's almost so much voter confusion because of how it's just like almost a it's been a foregone conclusion that he's gonna be the MVP the past two years, but now enters a player of PCA's nature, and here we are. We're gonna see how it shakes out. Carl, I'm moving on to the next one ball or strike.
PCA MVP Case Against Ohtani
SPEAKER_01Gaussman's the Cubs game one starter if the playoffs begin tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00That's a strike. That's a strike unless Clay Holmes is red hot in September. Now, people who don't like, just go Google or type in Clay Holmes playoff start or something and watch how much the ball moves. Because it does have he went healthy and in synced and all that stuff. He's making his first start since May and gets roughed up by the Royals. That's gonna happen. That's absolutely gonna happen. It's probably gonna happen next couple starts. But him locked is kind of like Zavarishan with respect to holy shit, look at that pitch. Dance Gossman can't make it dance, but Gossman puts you on your heels. And if I'm starting a game one series, I want a guy that has the other team on their heels because Clay Holmes will pitch around the zone, all that stuff. Gossman has no walk, no walk. He just comes right at you, swing and miss. Now, the thing is Gossman's gonna give up two. He's gonna give up two and six or seven. But what got us to the playoffs, what's gonna get us to the playoffs in the first place is the lineup and the defense. So it's like, fine, give up two, give up two. If it I'm looking at a Gossman start and going, we get three runs, we have a good chance to win that game. We get four runs, we're probably gonna win a Gossman start in the playoffs. And that's why I want him going game one. Clay Holmes, I think again, we just go back to what we see from that. And then it's like, is it Clay Holmes or is it Matt Boyd? Matt Boyd's not a game one. Matt Boyd could be game two, but Gossman's game one.
SPEAKER_01Fair ball. Carl, I've been this has been a ball or strike almost every week, you know, for the past month and a half. But I'm gonna keep asking it. The Cubs are catching Milwaukee in the central ball or strike.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm gonna say strike, and here's why, guys. Here's why. Our next 18 games are against, you know, pick and choose how you want to describe them. The combined record of our next 18 games, which are against six teams playing three-game series, is 354 and 356. So just a tick below 500. Now, if we if you want to look specifically, we got the Nationals. We're in the Nationals, they're 59 and 61, they swing the shit out of the bat, they cannot pitch. Right? Then we're on the road against St. Louis, 59 and 59, completely lifeless. Chicago Cubs are gonna take over.
SPEAKER_01Right. Yes, hammer, hammer, dare the nail. Where they hammer, dare the nail.
SPEAKER_00All right. Then, like, am I wrong? Or when or do I have this correctly? Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 17th, 18th, 19th, Chicago White Sox are visiting Wrigley Field with a Monday, Tuesday night game. Now, the White Sox are good, and there is going to be some juice there. You know, they've overperformed. I think I think it's fair to call them good at 61 and 56 with what they have.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00So that'll be that'll be more competitive than the Nationals and the Cardinals. But this is about why I think the Cubs can catch the Brewers because you come out of that. I hate going on the road, but if we have to go on the road to Seattle, they're 56 and 63. And then from there we go right down to Arizona. Arizona's 56 and 61. Now, what's the point of me talking about these 18 games, Mahoney? Take a wild guess who we play four times at Wrigley Field following these 18 games.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna go take a wild stab of the dark that it's gonna be these Milwaukee Brewers that we're attempting to catch within the phrase of the ball or strike delivery.
SPEAKER_00Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday couldn't ask for a better time to play four games of Wrigley. Don't give me Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday against the Brewers when guys got opportunities to get dinner and do all that bullshit. Uncle Gary's a town. Give me the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday four-game series against the Brewers. And if you're gonna ask me if we're gonna catch them, those four games are gonna matter. And the 18 games going into those four are as advantageous this late in the season as we can get. We're playing a number of teams that sold that sold at the trade deadline will continue to get worse. But we're playing, I mean, cross town with the White Sox, they'll always play us harder than we'll play them, but we match up perfectly on paper with them, you know. And then just to catch, like the Diamondbacks, they're solid, they're chasing wildcard and all that stuff. But it's like if you're gonna sandwich Diamondbacks in between Mariners and Cincinnati Reds, buddy, we're rolling.
SPEAKER_01We're rolling. We're rolling, we're rolling. I should have said that off the top of this episode. We're one of the hotter teams in the league right now, and it doesn't seem like one of those like they're exploding and then it's gonna come back down to earth. It just this is our identity. This is who the team is, one through nine. I love it. And catching Milwaukee isn't necessarily winning the central. I think it's gonna be a very competitive race up until the end. But yeah, that's a strike for me. We're gonna catch Milwaukee Carl.
SPEAKER_00Then remember when I say sellers, when we go on the road here, we're on the road in Seattle, we're on the road in Arizona. It's it's important to remember Seattle would typically be an impossible ticket, not impossible, but a difficult ticket to come by. Uh, that's a Friday, Saturday, Sunday series. That's late August. That's August 21st, 2nd, and 3rd. This the Mariners are sellers. Those tickets on resale, stub Cubs fans should flood. That should be a home game for the Chicago Cubs in Seattle. And I'm sure there's a number of Cubs fans that are just Jonesing to go check out Safeco. And then when you file that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Mahoney, what's the where's the first place Chicago people move to when they say, I'm getting out of here, I'm getting warm weather? They go down to Arizona.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they're in Arizona, they're in Scottsdale. I mean, half of the seniors that live in this area are snowburning down in Arizona for three months out of the year.
SPEAKER_00So now I'm just gonna go ahead and take it one step further. Three games at home against St. Louis, home games. Three games at home against the Chicago White Sacks, home games. Three games on the road in Seattle. Technically not a home game, but should be all Cubs fans, like when we play the Rockies. Three games in Arizona, a road game, should be three home games into three home games against the Cincinnati Reds, 120-120 into a Sunday night baseball, which then takes us into the four games with the Brewers. This is a long-winded answer to a very short baller strike. We talk about catching the Brewers now. I understand we're always dog and pony and their fucking or bird dogging their schedule. Who'd the Brewers win tonight? The Brewers lose tonight. The guys carve out the next six series. And if I say in those 18 games, Cubs go with 13 and 5, 12 and 6, that's the pace they've been on over their last 20. Then we're absolutely three and a half, four, whatever it is with Milwaukee is they're coming to Wrigley for four. So boom, we're rolling.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I got all perfect world. That's a perfect world to catch those stinkers.
SPEAKER_00They are good though. They are good.
SPEAKER_01They're 30 games over, they're 30 games over 400, 500. One of the most consistent teams over the course of a few seasons
Gausman As Game One Starter
SPEAKER_01I've seen, regardless. Of its its makeup and roster, the organization as a whole. Good spot.
SPEAKER_00If they were in any other division, I would love them. If they were an American League team in the E I would love the Milwaukee Brewers, they're just everything like a true baseball, true baseball fan. Don't get I don't want to talk about numbers. I don't want to talk about collective bargaining and free. I just want to talk about the game. And if you're just talking about the game, what Pat Murphy put together on the field is special. Now, so is what we put on the field. That's why we're gonna catch those motherfuckers. Mahoney, you feel that?
SPEAKER_01I feel it. Fuck it. Ball or strike, Carl. A watermelon jalapeno soda has no business being this good.
SPEAKER_00I mean, that's a strike. Yeah, strike. It's a strike. I feel I know. I feel sometimes Mango Morte and I was hanging out with Ad Dean the other day, and he's one of the thirsty Victoria guys. He came back to drop off the stuff. And of course, Mrs. Carl, because she's hey, good to see you, all this stuff. Oh my god, the watermelon was such a big hit. And I'm thinking, don't tell them that. That's all these guys here is watermelon, watermelon. Like enough, they're gonna be watermelon only. I'm saying don't go. Be mango, be Lamon Ladron. But yeah, there's no business a watermelon should ever taste that good mahoney.
SPEAKER_01It's unbelievable. That's a strike absolutely piping hot right down the middle. All right. Baller strike, and then we'll move on. I got a couple more segments coming, cooking your way. But we got this team, it's more built for a deep October run than winning the division. Baller strike.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, strike now. Yeah. Strike now. Strike now.
SPEAKER_01Because in retrospect, writing that question was kind of me phrasing what I was thinking.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, if you had a if you said to Jed after the trade deadline, you know, and you talk to Craig or whatever, if you got the guys in the room and you said, what's the point? They're going deep playoff run. It'd be nice to catch the Brewers, too. Which is different than we have to catch the Brewers. So then we can make a deep playoff run. Those are two different things. Catching the Brew crew. Now we have enough to do it. David Peterson's enough to do it. Javier Arsad's enough to add the depth. We have we have plenty we have plenty of depth in front of us in order for us to accomplish the goal. Right? That's where that's where winning the division comes in, is having that depth every single day. Now, what makes you give it a deep playoff run is we have the best defense. Our lineup never quits, and then we have the pitching to give that lineup a chance over nine innings to break out. I think that's a great formula, provided Kevin Gossman is healthy, provided Matthew Boyd is healthy, and then now we get to now we get to play a little game here and say who who wants it to be really good out of Clay Holmes, who wants to be really good out of Ben Brown, who wants to be really good out of Zavarishan, and is Palency going to come back? Is Justin Seale get a taste of that bullpen in September? Because I'll take him in a heartbeat and a pinch.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, dude. When these guys are surrounded by others, uh just the makeup of the talent and just the depth of the experience. I don't know how to say this. Take your time when when a pitching room comes together and then new guys enter it that are dudes that look good in a baseball uniform, Clay Holmes looks great in pinstripes, by the way. And you're looking around, man, and then you're just gonna want to perform. We've talked about this in in different facets in the past, but the whole steel starping steel, and maybe Justin Steele will sharpen the bull, you know, sharpen the bullpen a little bit more just to give guys a little bit more, you know, juice and and a purpose for wanting to be the best and all that shit. So it really has me excited.
SPEAKER_00Um, so then a good way to think about that is take it a step further. Clay Holmes does look good in the uniform. Gossman does have the experience. He is a 36, 37-year-old vet. He's bounced around. He was a terrible Oriole. He had to go play with Cincinnati when he got signed by the Giants. They said he thought he was getting signed as a reliever. All his inbound contracts and free agency were for a reliever. The Giants go, we we actually want you to be our number one, kid. And a lot of people, a lot of guys in baseball, the players respect this dude so much because then when he goes as St. Fran, he says, I'm only gonna use these two pitches. And then what's he do? He strikes out 200 batters in 21, 22, 23. He's an all-star. Then he gets a fucking awesome deal from Toronto. Then he pitches them into a World Series, and now he's at this point in his career where like the trade value for Kevin Gossman is not the Tarek Scuble. He's a he's gonna win the Cyoung, he's gonna throw the eight innings, strike out 15. The
The Road To Catching Milwaukee
SPEAKER_00trade value for Kevin Gossman follows as such for this Cubs team and why it's so important. One, the ball is in play, the ball is in play because you have this elite defense, your starting pitcher, you want the ball in play, relatively speaking. You don't want to hit hard, but he puts the ball in play at least average contact rates, which is a huge step up from what he did with the Blue Jays with the defense behind him, I should say. Here's a second and the most important thing, Mahoney. Say concept in the dugout, and hitters will say this, defenders will say this, or I should just say position players. They want to be in the field for the least amount of time possible. If P. Crow Armstrong jogs out to center field, he wants to get the fuck off the field. The faster Danzby Swanson gets in the dugout, the better we are because now the bats are back in the lineup. Now we have momentum. Give the players a chance to get into a rhythm of the game. When I'm walking the leadoff hitter, then the next guy fouls off 10 pitches in a row, and then we boot a double play ball because we're fucking 19 pitches into the into the inning and we finally have a ball in play. All right. Well, we only get one out. Now the next guy hits a double. Now the right fielder's sitting there going, Jesus fucking Christ. And it starts to add itself up together. Now that's obviously not Kevin Gossman, but if you're a Cubs hand, you've sat and you've watched starting pitchers go out there and shit the bat, and it just creates a fucking merry-go-round. Kevin Gossman, this is the same. Get the bats back in the dugout. That's what a pitching coach in college would say to me all the time. As we're going out there to go, hey, Stir, get the bats back in here, get the bats back in here, and we'd be down by two. And the whole idea is you want the bats in the freaking dugout. Now, what does that mean? Kevin Gossman, first pitch strike. Kevin Gossman, second pitch strike, Kevin Gossman down 1-0, throwing you a strike. Kevin Gossman not afraid to pitch on the inside part of the plate because he has the talent to do it without hitting you and putting you on base. So you have this guy who's just going to be so utterly aggressive. And the impact isn't just in he only gave up three hits. The impact is now you're making the eight guys that play behind you run into the dugout with a little pepping mojo. And those are the little fractional things that you good luck finding them on a spreadsheet, pal.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Even to something as just turned a couple smooth double plays because it was like a hard hit, not that hard of a hit grounder to Dansby to turn it. Now they're feeling themselves. They're going back that you know we had just scored a couple runs the inning before. I think that makes so much sense, and that's so freaking awesome. And uh Gaussman, he talked exactly about what you had on the broadcast. He looked as cheesed as it comes when I got a glimpse of his eyes. So maybe he was having a couple of those gummy. Oh, are we talking about yeah, he's just he was in an interview and he was and then after he's talking to a player, I don't know which one, but they got you know, they cover the hands to be like so people can't see what they're saying. Yeah, you know, they put the hand over the mouth, and I'm just picturing he's like, Oh man, I can't believe I got through that thing. I was so big. Anyway, I love him. I love what he's brought to the team.
SPEAKER_00Well, then I would encourage, thank you for bringing that up. I would encourage because I had a moment watching his post-game interview. It wasn't necessarily about him being a stoner, but he is a stoner.
SPEAKER_01No, this was mid-game when he wasn't. Oh, perfect. I apologize. Let me set the table there.
SPEAKER_00I I'm not ruling out 10 to 15 milligrams of sativa before he takes the mound to Thomas Hart. I'm not. Like, I'm just not doing that with with a guy like Gossman. That's the level of free-flowing energy stoner he is. Now, one thing that's interesting though, Mahoney, I would I would implore Maniacs to uh you know go to the Google Time Machine and see if you can find a Kevin Gossman post-Oriel start in his rookie year where he's facing the media, and then watch the post-Royal start when he faces the media with the Cubs. Tell me those are those are those aren't even the two same. You're talking about a little mousy boy who can't make eye contact. Now we're looking at a Kevin Gossman, the long flowing hair, staring you in the eyes with a big smile on his face. And that's important because what I'm talking about is the evolution of the player. He walks into that clubhouse. Swanee knows who he is, Bregman knows who this guy is. Neek, they're it pumped. Did they get Gossman? They don't get the dominant asshole. And this is where I go back when guys say, Why didn't we get Trevor Brouwer? Sign Trevor, forget, pretend Trevor Bauer is great, pretend he was as good as Kevin Gossman, pretend he was a little bit better. Every single player would turn their back when the dude walks in the clubhouse and they'd go, Fuck this guy. I'm not playing. I don't want to play with this guy. I don't want to sit on the bus with this guy. I don't want to be in the dugout with this guy. I don't want this guy asking me what I had for breakfast. I don't want this guy inviting me to lunch. Fuck this guy. Kevin Gossman walks in the dugout. You go, Fuck yeah. Guys are trying to sit next to him. Guys want to ask him about the split. Guys want to be friends with. And he brings other guys together and he's soft and he's friendly and he's cool. And so, yeah, dude, like it, it, it's it's really a perfect addition to the roster.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's not a coworker you avoid at all costs.
SPEAKER_00He's a guy you're like, no shit.
SPEAKER_01Pray you don't see him at the elevator.
SPEAKER_00Compared to the guy you see in the elevator, and your face lights up because you're like, no shit, gosh, what's up, dude? And those guys exist at work too. They do, Mahoney.
SPEAKER_01A hundred percent. All right. You're my gosh. You're my gosh. When I see you, I feel great. Yeah, no, that's what you want to do. You want to walk in a room and you want people to smile and because of your presence. You do not want people to feel uneasy. That's always been a goal.
SPEAKER_00Now, say you get swapped out and somebody comes in and sits in the chair, and they're fucking whatever. Maybe they throw a little bit harder. Maybe they got maybe maybe it's Tyrick's. I don't want to talk to Terry's. I want to talk to Kevin Gossman. I want to talk to you.
SPEAKER_01So, next segment, it's going to be old school arguments here, Carl. And this
Gausman’s Edge And Clubhouse Fit
SPEAKER_01isn't we kind of hit on one of them, which was like, can we win the central? We do think we can. Relies based on you know our new rotation, PCA, momentum, all that. But one thing I do want to bring up, and I I wanted to have it somewhat of an open conversation, is um the everyday Pedro. Is Pedro or Mirez going to get a shot at being an everyday player, or do we maintain him as a super utility weapon? So it's an OPS has been off the chart since the all-star break. Uh a team's best. I know it's been a week, but I just can't see how you sit him. But then there's the aspect of we need that value of him being able to play all over the place as that, you know, the super utility, if you will. But I really I want to hear your thoughts on it because it it's not gonna go away, and this is gonna keep coming up over the next couple weeks if if he keeps it up.
SPEAKER_00Well, he's a 300 hitter, you know, like he's been a he's a two, he's 295, he's got a 787 OPS, he's got one of the highest OPS's on the team. Anybody with over 100 played appearances, all right? So start there that the success is translated in the big leagues and it's translated without regular playing time, which is you saw for Matt Shaw last year, when you get a taste, it's very difficult to do that. You see, when PCA came up and he had regular playing time, it's very difficult to do it. It just is. So he's done it without any regular playing time. He's 22 years old and he's filled in that super utility role. Braggman gets a day off, he can go play third. He's DH'd a number of times in the eight hole when we haven't needed it. You're when I would say it's atypical to a team over the luxury tax to have a DH who's a rookie 22-year-old hitting in the eight hole. But then that's when we went back and said, Well, Craig likes a DH flexibility because if you don't carry that big behemoth contract DH on your roster, now a guy like PCA gets a day off while still being in the lineup. Make sense?
SPEAKER_01It does make sense, man.
SPEAKER_00Um go ahead, Carl, continue on. What I wanted to do and suggest to you is can I give you both sides of the coin and then you pick it?
SPEAKER_01Yes, exactly. That was please. I want the four and against.
SPEAKER_00So the four Pedro Ramirez playing every day is that he is that it's not an everyday thing. So we can't do that. What we can say is four Pedro Ramirez in the lineup every time against a right-handed pitcher.
SPEAKER_01Fair ball.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so then he's got to go up against Conforta with that, which is a little bit harder. But then the other thing is like, how willing are people to say no to Ian Hap? And this is a crazy juncture because Ian Hap's been here nine, 10 years. Ian Hap's a guy who played with the guys who won the last World Series. He's the only connectivity we have to that era. Truly, no disrespect, Justin Steele is in the dugout with those guys in 21. But Ian Hap is the link to right. And Ian Hap does. I don't think that should matter. I don't know. I don't know if it matters to Craig Council when he fills out a lineup card. I know it doesn't matter to Craig Council now that we've traded for Tyrone Taylor, and Ian Hap sits against sits against lefties, as we've seen a couple times. So I'm split. My attitude is on in October on that game one, who's ever been the hottest over the last 10 games, that's where you have your question marks. And unfortunately for Ian Hap, he is now in the question mark conversation where obviously say isn't Bush, who we talked about all the time in the offseason, can he hit left-handed pitching? He's not in that equation at all. We don't need a ready. We we don't need a ready to play first. Bush is our first baseman, end of story ready, lefty sidearm, whatever. There's no question at second base, there's no question at shortstop, there's no question at third. You know, we're we'll we have a good catching platoon. There's no question. The question is who DH is and who plays left field. And Pedro Ramirez has forced that conversation, while conversely, Ian Hap has allowed it to take place. Pedro Amiers has forced and Ian Hap has let it happen. If Ian Hap did not let it happen, there's no there's then there is no conversation. Pedro Amirez has forced himself into a bench roll, but now he's forced himself into I can go do that. Now, can he play left field? He's done it once in a fucking blue moon, right? He's done it one, I think, once in a blowout game. So now you're going, would I trade arguably the greatest left fielder defensively of the last nine fucking seasons for a guy who hasn't played a lick of it because he's been hot the last 10 games, and we're gonna go play the most important games of the entire season, and you're gonna turn around and look at Alex Bregnell, Dansky Swanson, Nico Horner, Michael Bush, Sei Suzuki, PCA, and you're gonna go, hey, the guy who's been the leader since you showed up on the field, we're sitting and we're putting Pedro Ramirez in the lineup. And that's why I think it gets hard no matter what the numbers say.
SPEAKER_01That makes me feel a little more uneasy the way you put it like that. You know, I guess I like they would say on full house, I guess I never thought about it that way, you know, when you learn the lesson at the end. But um, yeah, and I had Pedro Ramirez throw him in left field. That's a bigger that's bigger than anybody during the trade market. I mean, this guy's and he's here, he's there. Just throw him out. That's what people think, though. And Ian Hap is still so good in left field, so good, and he and he's so good next to Pete Crow Armstrong.
SPEAKER_00And what I want you to think about is winning in the playoffs is one run, it's one run, it's sometimes two, it's very rarely four or five. And what's gonna happen? What that ball in the gap we need caught because Kevin Gossman throws a bunch of strikes. So now we have two players converging on that ball. Who do you want? Ian Hap and PCA or Pedro Ramirez and PCA converging. Ian Hap and PCA converging. And can you see a collision with Pedro Ramirez that then hurts PCA? Can you see something that just completely ruins our situation? Yes, yes, I do. And now bases clearing double, and now PCA is leaving on a fucking stretcher, all because people got mad at Ian Hap for striking out with the bases loaded on. August, you're torturing me.
SPEAKER_01Um yeah, no, that that's tough, dude. Uh yeah, it's a little bit a little more loaded, loaded uh argument there than I thought.
SPEAKER_00So then do you know if I pick if I come back and I pick and I say Ian Haps our left fielder for the rest of the season, whether you like it or not, just deal with it. And the idea that you can just boop throw somebody in there without taking on severe risk is a is a naughty concept.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I feel better just being like, hey, just stick with hap, and then no one's gonna be running into each other in in the outfield. I'd be like, okay.
SPEAKER_00Pinch it is a guarantee. Ramirez a bat, Ramirez's bat is could arguably be one of the most playoff most valuable playoff bench bats, and anybody going into the playoffs, if you're telling me we got a 22-year-old who don't give a fuck, don't strike out that much, can hit 290, can slug 440, and he'll do it rolling out of bed with very little prep. This guy just wants to play in the big leagues. You know, he's kind of delivering on the same scale and sense that we were wanted to see from Moises, if Moises was capable of playing the field.
SPEAKER_01Unbelievable. But I guess it's one of those good problems that we have, but could turn into an absolute disaster in the blink of an eye.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and that's again, just go back. The fear Ian Hap, like the left field stuff, hmm, playing left, now playing third and DH Bregman. If we get in that situation, now I'm like, okay, who is our DH going to the playoffs? Is it Confordo? Is it Pedro Ramirez? That that's kind of the I like the DH role for the 162. I hate what we've done with the DH for the playoffs. And now we're gonna mix and match DH with the playoffs. If Pedro Ramirez does have a place on the team in the playoffs, it's probably as a DH. Fair ball. Unless Shaw's back and he goes to right, and now we go down this whole thing. So September, we'll all
Pedro Ramirez Versus Ian Happ
SPEAKER_00figure it out that Mahoney.
SPEAKER_01Well, what's nice is Carl, there's gonna be plenty for us to talk about it, pal. And so let's just do a mound visit, slow it down a little bit, mound visit slash coach talk. Um, I want to just run through a little bit about the bullpen roles in October. We talked about Zephyr John. He's gonna be our high-leverage swing and miss. And one note on him, I'm glad he had he gave up a dinger in Wrigley, so he had to just feel it a little bit. He gave one up to Otani, battled through, finished strong. Thank you. Just to, I mean, if it's anybody, it's gonna be to Otani. But I wanted him to taste that a little bit to be like, oh shit, it's tough to pitch in this ballpark. But he knows now, so that's fair enough. We see him, we know that Holmes is gonna be in the mix, not in the bullpen, but with her in our rotation. Um, but really do we know anything about Palencia? Or is like we're gonna figure out what our bowl plan like strategy and who's who and what situation looks like before September?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I don't think we'll know before I think we'll know going into September. I think we're probably gonna see so Palencia's announced he's 15 injured list, whatever, right? Flex or strain. There's a little update before the Royals, so it gives us a little outlook. Do you think that outlook kind of maybe aligns to that brewer series we talked about that's half in 18 games?
SPEAKER_01It very much might, Carl. And also the way that why I can't put together a firm picture of what the bullpen looks like right now is the way that council's very much rationing guys, as he does, and as he should. So it's like I don't know what the makeup of our automatic game one, game two, what are who are we going to, right? So it is tough because of that picture, but the rationing guy's saving for maybe uh Milwaukee. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Maybe as you're kind of seeing, though, I think we're we're really at that point where we those those roles are certainly being more defined than they ever have in the season. So when Tilbar goes out there and shits his pants, doesn't necessarily mean Teal Bar's cooked, teal bar's wasted, teal bar's not gonna get any time. It just means that now Craig's going, where's Milner? You know, like I want to see Milner up against Tielbar. I want to see, I want to get that mix in. Like when you see a guy perform really badly, we're still not where it's like, hey, you're done, you're not gonna get a look out of the bullpen. Oh, the starting rotation, yes, that's why Jameson got TF8. But to bullpen, we still have time to play around. And so a name I'd come back to is Jacob Webb has been shut down awesome nails. And so this past offseason, when we went out, we signed Mayton, Hunter Harvey, and we signed Jacob Webb, where the three, you know, we signed Milner, those were the four additions, the three righties. And so we were like, if one of these guys steps up and is dominant, that's awesome. You know, we'd hope two of them, if all three Jed hits, but this is kind of the way you go through the bullpen the offseason is you pick your guys, you give them a little bit of money, and then you try and plug in along the way, and that's what we've done. So the fact that Webb has stepped up, and now Webb is counted on as a guy late, perfect, perfect. Before I even say anything about Zavarishan, before I even say anything about Palency or Ben Brown or Justin Steele, Webb solid in the clubhouse. Rollison as a lefty makes it easier for Tielbar to be bad, makes it easier for us to be more patient for Milner. There's a there's a couple. Where you can be patient about where the lefty roll is, and hopefully in the next 18 games, we have a good feel of where that lefty roll is. And hopefully in the next 18 games, we have a good feel about like, is the Zavirishan want to close? Does Palencia would Palencia be comfortable not being the closer? I don't think so. I think when Palencia has been rehabbing for the last couple months, I think when Palencia every day he's gotten up, he's thinking of Gasolina, he's thinking of the lights coming out at Wrigley, he's thinking about getting the last out of the game. So when he comes back, do you give that to him right away, or do you say Zaverishon's earned it? Now, this is the emotional side of shit, and I would trust Craig Council knows how to manage it. But I would go back to if we're going to have an observation argument about the bullpen. These next 18 games against teams that aggregate into below 500 is where you would hope the lineup in the pitching in the starting pitching does enough so that we can stabilize that bullpen. Can we win 11, 12 games without having to put the bullpen through a bunch of high leverage shit? Right, which is what I anticipate this next 18 game stretch to look like.
SPEAKER_01Right. We don't want to see red across that chart that's showing the you know pitch count on each arm that's available or not. So very interesting stuff. And I do want to thank you as well. While we're talking about Jacob Webb, I'm pretty sure I was calling him Logan Webb for like I don't know, yeah, the whole season. And you literally, literally never corrected me once. So uh, you know, I appreciate I appreciate that very much, Carl.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but like, do I hope people listening to this understanding?
SPEAKER_01I know I wasn't Logan Webb.
SPEAKER_00I know I've read I've we're such a community of losers and maniacs and people who like obviously know it's not Logan Webb, but then you say shit like that, then people are like, This Mahoney guy is crazy. Where I'm going, he literally has a first name block, like he knows who he's talking about.
SPEAKER_01For new listeners, I have to explain it every once in a while.
SPEAKER_00I know he's not, I know he's talking about Jacob Webb. It's the fact he's saying Logan, and when we record these things, it's audio only. The door of his it's just all kids are in here, we got nannies around, they're stuck.
SPEAKER_01I just put a watch on.
SPEAKER_00I just put a watch on my son and didn't miss a beat. We don't cut the show, folks. At all. We're one takes, and and just the fact you're raising a family and you got your company and you're doing stuff. We sit down. I know you know your shit, buddy. It's just when Logan comes out, you mean Jacob, it's fine. I just don't sometimes I get nervous because I I know the maniacs are sitting here going, Well, how the hell do you not know the difference?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so fair. I understand, but all right, so we're going. Jake Webb, Logan Webb. What do we got? So
Bullpen Roles And Palencia Timeline
SPEAKER_01now we're at Mon Visa Coach Talk. We're um, you know, while we got the ball out here, you had told a beautiful story on your your Twitter account that had you know gotten a lot of views, a lot of people relating to it, but we have to talk about that Father's Day makeup game on uh Thursday where the Tooys as a family got to go, and you know, Mr. Tui, our friend Jake, yeah. The program reoccurring guest, his father had passed away uh about a week ago, and um his family had gotten to together and you know to take a break before you know they had to do the wake and funeral and stuff to go pay tribute, and it was just an unbelievable story, Carl. Can you kind of just rehash some of the beats for for the maniacs?
SPEAKER_00Well, we'll go up 30,000 feet, just say if you did see the story on Twitter, it's easy for me to now talk about it with Mahoney. If you don't know what we're talking about, pause the show, go to my Twitter, it's a 15-minute video, but it's a story, it's a crazy story, and then in it I explain kind of have a little bit of an emotional side of me, people don't really ever get to see about why the game matters to me. And I'd say while I was telling the story, what I did not say in the story, because it was inappropriate for that story, is that I know Mahoney through Jake. And so that is the premise of my friendship with Tim. But I thought if I start talking about this during the story, now it's like, you know, the guy I do the Monday morning cub show with, it's like we're not here to talk about the Monday morning cub show, we're here to talk about Jake in baseball, and so just sharing that story, which what the crazy thing is again, so and maybe there are people listening that aren't gonna pause and go watch the story, so I'll just tell you there's a guy who taught me a ton of information about baseball, not the not the only person, but one of the most contributing people to me learning about the game, so much so that we do this show that I've spent 12 years working in this, that I've made plenty of money doing this that I should have would have never made without this friendship. And his dad's the Die Hard Cubs fan, and his dad passes away this past week, and it's just obviously completely tragic, right? Completely tragic. And it's the first time in my life as an adult male where one of my buddies' dads passes away, and it isn't oh my god, what happened? You know, it's not a car accident, it's not a brain tumor, it's not, it's not, it's not a heart attack at 53. It's it's Mr. Mr. Tuesday in his early to mid eighties and lived a full fucking life. And if I can get that much out of life, God bless like you though that's when you go. That's a good full life that does not take away from the tragedy at all. At all, in the least bit. It's a guy who should have been at that fucking game on Thursday with his family, with the boys, because it was the rain out game from Father's Day. They go to the father, they try to go to Father's Day, the kids, the boys, the grandpa, the grandkids rained out, can't go. He passes away. All the family comes to Chicago, dozens. This is a huge Irish Catholic family. Everybody's in Chicago. What are we gonna do Thursday? The services start Friday. We're gonna go to the Cubs game. The Cubs game is a rain out for Father's Day. Are you kidding me? Are you fucking kidding me? And they stay safe, yeah. Yeah, so I'm hanging out with Jake Friday. He tells me, he goes, We were walking in, they're handing out Happy Father's Day merch because it's from the inventory from the Father's Day shit. He's like, Are you fucking kidding me? You're giving me the Father's Day merch. And then the best part, obviously, is that Mr. Tweet spent the entire season just laying into Alex Bregman. I mean, you and I have screenshots, it's great. It's awesome.
SPEAKER_01He lay he would lay into anybody historically. They won the world series when Jake called his dad to share in the moment on FaceTime. The first thing he said something was like, What was Madden doing? Like they just won the World Series, so that was Mr. Tui in a nutshell, but them coming in, seeing getting the t-shirts and not realizing at first that it was the Father's Day makeup game and the Bregman aspect, magical.
SPEAKER_00Why would you why would you be in any headspace to be like, oh, it's the Bregman makeup game, or I mean it's the Father's Day makeup game. It they're probably just like you're just you're probably just reeling, right? You're probably just in it, and then somebody's like, Why do we go to the Cub? Let's see if we get everybody the Cubs game. Then you go online, you find out tickets are let's get all the tickets together. And so, you know, I got firsthand from Jake, firsthand from Kevin about it, the two boys, what it was like sitting there in the ninth inning, two strikes, two outs, runner on, you know, and Kevin looks up at the sail.
SPEAKER_01Baby, bro.
SPEAKER_00Can I get a little out? Hey, a little help here, dad. From Tommy.
SPEAKER_01Just the Tommy boy, man. Unbelievable.
SPEAKER_00And he in Kevin swears by it. He goes, as he's saying it, the wind shifts, starts blowing crosswind right to left. It had been blowing in all day. And then it just crosses out to left. Next pitch, Bregman pops it. Same thing. Saying it. It's just saying it. It's just saying it again. I can't, you know, I can't. There's two things I can't imagine. I can't imagine losing my father. Right? I mean, I can. I can. It fucking blows thinking about that. It's his health, and he gets older. And then I can't imagine the idea of rallying 40 fucking sturks for a White Sox Father's Day makeup game. You know, and who does he hate? Fucking Jerry Reinsdorf, it's the game win. Right. Yeah. Totally, dude.
SPEAKER_01Um. But yeah, no, I mean, rest in peace, Mr. Tooie. Beautiful family, a beautiful moment they got to share. And the celebration of his life this past weekend was also just top-notch, as you'd expect.
SPEAKER_00As you'd expect. As you'd expect. And one of the you know, small, small uh positives. You know, like small, like that does not compare, not even close to like lose every game for the rest of the season if Mr. Tui could watch him with Jay. Like 100%. No, 100%. Um, but in sharing that and then seeing other Cubs fans sh use the story as a basis to share their father-son thing. One guy told a home run story about his dad had terminal cancer, he was a new season ticket holder. The dad had like two weeks to live. They're out, they're pushing him on a wheelchair to Wrigley, and the guy fucking stands up out of the wheelchair, had smuggled two baseball gloves into Wrigley Field, didn't tell his son, handed him the baseball gloves, was like stood up from the wheelchair, was like, let's have one more catch. What do you say? And then pass and then passes, and then they have it, and then and then it's and then it's a couple weeks later, and you got to stand there and shake everybody's hand. And I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. And to have your head be able to go to that place where dad stands up for the wheelchair one last time. What do you say? One last catch, you know?
SPEAKER_01Unbelievable. And seeing really seeing the you know community and the people that have followed you forever talk and share those moments really uh painted the picture to me just how magical I say it again, and how important uh you know, things such as bonding over sports is and can be throughout your entire life with the people that you love and uh just seeing those shared thank you all to did who did. Um you know, dude a couple tears were shed throughout that thread, and uh that's all I really gotta say. It's just that that's what's the best thing about baseball.
SPEAKER_00And matters, you know, being a Cubs fan and all that.
A Father’s Day Game And Why Baseball Matters
SPEAKER_00I think it's and here's a here's a good point on the show. All right, so guys, go back. If you we I did a deep, long conversation with Brian Smith from Baseball America on Friday about the prospects we gave up and how what he interprets from Jed, and he's like the number one prospect guy. If you really want some good meat and potatoes about Jefferson Rojas, about Ayers, about Josiah Hartsorn, about how our farm system's shaping up, about what the future looks like. Like that shit's really important. And so I went to who I think is the number one guy for that conversation. We did about 25-30 minutes. That's last Friday. So if we're at that point in the show and you're going, I would I could use a little bit more baseball, I want to scratch my itch. That's Friday, that's the second half of the show or the last quarter of the show after I go on my World War II rants. Um, but but putting that aside and saying X's and O's aside, let me just come back to Mahoney and the emotional side of things because the baseball is gonna get pretty serious here the next couple weeks. You know, the games are gonna really start to matter. We're really that brewer series that's coming six series from now, like it may seem like it's far away, it's not. It's gonna get there and we're gonna give a shit. We're gonna have to face Mizowski, we're gonna have to see tough pitching, we're gonna have to play our best baseball so that we can then enjoy a conversation about uh can we win a division? Can we reclaim this? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's all wonderful. But Tim, what you're talking about here about like the bond and stuff, the reason these bonds exist or it matters to me, and this is my personal opinion, is that life is fucking hard, and it's very hard in particular for guys that are trying their best. And one day you're a dad, you're established, then you have kids and grandkids, and and I imagine there's some peace of mind that comes with that. That like the work is done, you can sit back and enjoy the family you've built. But there's a lot of young guys, and I would say for me, it really kicked in when my wife and I settled down. We're like, not serious. Now go build a career, now go build something for yourself, and then go have kids and get the house and build the family and start putting yourself out there. And then what comes with that is so much stress and so much pressure from several thousand angles of are we gonna be here on time? Did you do this? Do we got to go see the doctor? Did you hear about that? Are we did that we gotta do the shots? And then, you know, and then did your mom's sick and and and did and did your dad's in the hospital again, and now we gotta go and and then you just you're you're just pulled in, and we need help with this, we need help with that, and then the business isn't going well, and then the business is going well, and all this it's just up and fucking down, dude. And I know when I say this, like there's people listening to this that are going through it right now, up and down, you're here, they're there, and and then you finally get a weekend to do something for yourself. And someone says, Hey, on Thursday we're going to a baptism, and on Sunday we got to go to a family party, and they're both an hour fucking in the opposite directions of each other, and that's your fucking weekend. And on Monday, you got to get up and you got to do a great job and be the same fucking guy, so you can keep paying the bills and keep cutting the checks and keep fucking moving it forward. And at some point, I think everybody listening to this in his experiences just wants to sit down, pull their hair out, scream at the top of lungs, and say, I'm just one fucking person, I'm just one guy. And then, and then amidst all chaos, there are moments of distraction, moments where you and I sit down, we bullshit, we text each other. The most text I get, did you see this? Did you see that? Trade inbound, this and that. The greatest distractions I have in my life center themselves around baseball. And the fucking ways I'm able to step back and go, okay, I'll worry about that later. Cubs are on, Hughes is calling the game. Ron Coomer's about to do 15 minutes on why Michael Massey's a great baseball player. I mean, tune me the fuck out. I might as well be on a beach. I might as well be, you know, I might as well be just getting a deep tissue massage, having a fucking my tie in the best, in the best world ever. And then guess what? It's over and you're back to business. And the nice thing about baseball, it's there every fucking day. So I'm gonna go sit down in the garage with my dad this weekend. I'm bringing my card collection. He's taking his card collection. I've prepared a number. I can't wait to get his stories. I'm gonna go down this whole path. We talk about Jake, we talk about Mr. Tui, baseball, going to Father's Day, listening to the Cubs show, giving a fuck, getting ready for the playoffs. It's our escape. It's my escape. That's the end of my ramp. It's my fucking escape.
SPEAKER_01The Cubs have the Washington Nationals coming up next. And from there, um, you know, as Carl Dill earlier in there. No, Carl, preach on, brother. I couldn't have said that better myself, dude. That's that's them's the brakes, man. Life sucks. Let's take care of the national. Wait.
SPEAKER_00How many times have you and I mean been worked up, or alternatively, me more than you? Way me more than you.
SPEAKER_01I don't know. Last year, man, there was a lot of me.
SPEAKER_00It was tough. But we did the full show, dude. We did every Monday, and then we turned it on for the playoffs. And then this year we went to two shows a week. And and there have been plenty of times we've done this where, like, I fuck, dude, I don't know if I can. Oh my god. I don't know, dude. I I'm not in a mood to have a funny conversation. Or can we do it tomorrow morning? Can we do it? And it's just you and me figuring it out.
SPEAKER_01But it took me a while to figure that out.
SPEAKER_00Second we do it, the second this thing gets going, the second we get into ball or strike. I I gotta export nine hours worth of videos today. I have eight fucking podcasts to make with three multi-cams and some bad audio sources. It's gonna take me a while. I'm gonna have a fun time doing it. It's fine, it's fine. We did this. This, this, this, this gets out there. This then I get that put a smile on my face and go dig into some shit and fucking do the best I can. But you know, you and I have been through that personally, where it's fucking, I got something on my mind, boom, time to do the show.
SPEAKER_01100%, dude. There were so many I've said 100% about 15 times this episode. That said, so many times last year, I was like, there's no way I can actually like form a word or two. And you were like, dude, no, like we can. There's people out here that want to listen to this, and we show up now every Monday. It's the most cathartic experience to talk to you, to talk to the maniacs, to be together in this thing as that community. And it does, it gives you a real good reason. And folks, find find any reason. Baseball, anything. Talk to your dad if you're lucky to still have him around. There's so much more out there. Ride the wave. Life can suck, but at least we have each
Closing Thanks And Community Push
SPEAKER_01other.
SPEAKER_00That's Mahoney. This is Carl. This is the Monday Morning Cubs show. You guys get a chance, subscribe, leave a review, please. At least at the very much, just rate us, throw us five stars. And when you're thirsty, don't go to the fridge, go to Amazon. When you get there, type in Thirsty with Carroll, get a vigilante platter, get it shipped to your front door, be a super fan, be part of the community, and be a driving reason why the Chicago Cubs win the 2026 World Series. Until next time, we'll be back on Friday. Maybe it's gonna be a weird show, probably gonna go longer than I anticipate, but that's because it's the Monday morning cub show, and we love you guys. Until next time. I'm Mahoney. No, you're supposed to. We remember we practiced this. You're I was gonna say until next time, I point to you, and then you say go cubs. Go cubs.
SPEAKER_01I forgot. Go cubs. All right, we're working on it.
SPEAKER_00Until next time. Go cubs.