I Love Mondays-Ep56, May 18, 2026

The rivalry is real... Brewers vs Cubs renews tonight at Wrigley.  Talked with ESPN1000's David Kaplan about the rivalry that is flourishing with both the Brewers and Cubs... & the Packers vs Bears 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

I love Mondays with Mike Heller.

SPEAKER_03 0:11

Broadcasting line from an undisclosed bunker in the Badger State. This is I Love Mondays with Mike Heller. Powered by determination and a little bit of duct tape. Here's your host, Mike Heller.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Hey, this is what we all look forward to. I love Mondays. I look forward to this. The I Love Mondays portion of our Monday. But if you're if you are a sports fan in the state of Wisconsin, then you know that the Milwaukee-Chicago rivalry is real. And on a day like today and the next three days, it takes center stage. In the NFL season, it it takes the whole stage for a week at a time, but then it's three hours. Here it takes place over the next 72 hours, three days, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. And in that window uh of game time, it takes it takes center stage. This one is so good. This uh Brewers Cubs rivalry has gotten to be so good, and it's been there for a while. The Bears and Packers have rejoined the fray, and right now, these two rivalries, because it doesn't there's no there are very few rivalries in the NBA, and Bucks Bulls have been a rivalry, but it's it's not now. There's no divisional play. There is, but there isn't. So that part doesn't weigh into it nearly as much. That rivalry works, rivalry works when you're playing in the postseason. And the Bucs and Bulls have not been postseason combatants, right? So the Bucs rivalry when they've been there recently has been the Indiana Pacers. Uh it is not about Chicago, but certainly from a Packers-Bears standpoint and a Brewers Cubs standpoint, it can't get better, hasn't been better than it is right now. David Kaplan, ESPN 1000 Cap, is going to join us at about 1015. Very excited about that. Looking forward to that uh very much to have him on the show. Uh, let me go through our Monday, uh our daily ritual. Uh James says, Happy Monday, Mike. Thank you, James. And then a good morning from Mike and Merrill, a Tad Gloomy in the Northwoods. I'll give you something else. It's a Tad Gloomy in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. That's where I am. On my way out to Scottsdale, Arizona, Kari and I took off from Red and White, in fact. We left the wine bar at 10:45 Saturday night and drove the 16 hours to Glenwood Springs, Colorado. If you haven't been here, Western Colorado, about an hour and 15 west of Vale, right on I-70, on your way to Grand Junction and places further west. And we have kind of made it uh a tradition to stay here when we have uh gone out west, uh, because typically we've gone to the Phoenix uh area, Meryvale, for brewer spring training and stay out there about a month. And this is always on our drive out. There's an Iron Mountain Hot Springs that is five minutes, you could walk it from here. That's where we've gone. So we're staying at the Hotel Colorado, which is uh was made famous as being the Western White House when Teddy Roosevelt was in office. And this is the third time that we've stayed here. It's a beautiful, ornate old hotel, um haunted, although I didn't experience any of that last night. So we're we're so excited to be on our way. The rest of the shows this week will take place from Scottsdale. So, you know, podcasting is great because uh it's like uh a podcast in a suitcase. Uh, I've got gear that I packed up and brought with debuting this uh backdrop for the first time. Had a couple of those uh made up. So when we're on the road or doing something on location, uh we can identify. So appreciate that. Uh Yo Von, who is so Yo Von's a unique and interesting character. Let me see if I can keep this clean because yo, uh, I would call I I call Yo a friend, but man, he can be frustrating as hell. He is one of those weird composites. He is a Packers fan, hates the Bears. He is a Packers fan, but a through and through Cubs fan, right? So he splits his fandom uh, you know, which creates animosity with me when we talk about uh Brewer's Cubs because he doesn't he he don't want to hear it, and I don't tolerate his shit either. I don't want to hear his stuff, you know. So he's super interested that I'm gonna have Cap on because he's he's a big cap fan. Uh so yo yeah, hell of a rivalry week. And and the the matchups in this one are really impressive starting tonight. Weather shouldn't be an issue. It was kind of stormy during the day today in Chicago, but should clear off and be comfortable tonight and tomorrow night, and then kind of cold for Wednesday. And this also weird. Three night games in Chicago. That's a bit of a surprise. I thought I would have might have thought that the Wednesday game would be a day game, but it's not. Three night games Brandon Sprout versus Shoda Imanaga tonight. The the Brewers this this one is, I think, maybe the swing game, first game of the series being a swing game. Sprout really has good stuff. If he if he can be on it, and Imanaga is very good. Uh game two, the Miz and Ben Brown. Game three, Kyle Harrison and Edward Cabrera. Uh the Cubs have a lot of pitching issues, injuries. So do the Brewers. Maybe less heralded, but it's significant. You can you can simply make the argument that from a Brewer standpoint, Miz is your ace, but their number two and number three are not pitching. And that's in Woodruff and Priester. There's no way around it. When you were going to spring training, your number two and three starters would be Woody and Quinn Priester. And don't know uh about Priester at all. He had a bad rehab assignment the other day from a results standpoint. They're less worried about results, but anyway, so we'll we'll get into that. But I I just look at this series, and you know how much I I am inclined uh loving baseball and loving major league baseball at that level. That this is really good. They are three of 162. And when we check the standings on this Monday morning, the Cubs still lead the division. Brewers and Cubs tied with 18 losses, but the Cubs have played three more games. They're 29 and 18, the Brewers are 26 and 18, so a game and a half back. But if we were talking September baseball, we would say they're tied in the loss column. We're not in September, so just wanted to point it out. Brewers are plus 61 in run differential, the Cubs plus 42. The Cubs have lost six of eight. The Brewers have won eight of ten. Cubs lost two out of three over the weekend on the South Side in Chicago. The Brewers took two of three over the weekend in the Twin Cities. Uh, the White Sox, as Pat Murphy said after the opening series of the year, Pat Murphy said, the White Sox are a good team. You might not believe it right now, but trust me, they're going to be a good team and have something to say. The White Sox are a game out of first place. Now two games over 500, and they're a game out of first place behind the Guardians. Indiana L Central, it's the Cubs, a game and a half better than both the Brewers and the Cardinals. The Cardinals are 27 and 19. They're also game and a half back in the standings. And then Pittsburgh and Cincinnati both at 24 and 23. They're both five games back in the standings. St. Louis is the surprise team. But I think, you know, if I if if we'd have had this discussion and we did in March, I would have thought it would be Cubs Brewers. And you know that I have uh before the season began, I picked the Cubs to win the division. So um just because I think overall they have a better roster. So we'll we'll get into some of that discussion. Uh Yovan uh jumps back in and says the interviews with Cap should be awesome. I hope it is. I don't know that Cap and I have talked uh over the air before. So that'll be uh a fun conversation. Mike said with the playoff series last year in the fallout uh with um with flat with uh McGill, do you think there's extra pressure on Trevor to be successful? Yeah, I don't know. And I don't, he's not the closer, so I hope that you're pitching with leverage arms in the eighth and ninth innings, seventh, eighth, and ninth inning. Because if that's the case, uh advantage Brewers. If you're pitching leverage even or up a run seven, eight, nine, either side, advantage Milwaukee. And and I I think that's pretty simple. When you go Ashby, McGill, Yuribe, Advantage Milwaukee. So we'll see how that plays because I I I think that that is where that sits. Let me go back to the rivalry concept, and I'll visit with Cap on this. He he will join me in five minutes, and then I want to get to uh sponsor conversation. Uh the the rivalry when the Bears came from down 18 points at halftime in the wild card game in Chicago, it uh it uh accentuated what this rivalry between the state of Wisconsin and Chicago, uh specifically the north side, obviously, in baseball. But you know, those who have been around long enough remember how heated the rivalry was between the Brewers and the White Sox. There were fights. I mean, the the White Sox the White Sox and the Brewers, there was no love loss between those two. They the benches emptied consistently in that series. So it's when the Brewers switched to the National League is when the rivalry flipped. And obviously it became something of significance with the Cubs. Now, from a Packers-Bears, the rivalries existed forever in in NFL lore. But it was a one-sided rivalry for 30 years until Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams last year said we're we're gonna change the narrative, and they did twice. Both in the the regular season meeting late, in which they got the onside kick and converted that into two points to end up winning that game, and then in the playoff game down 21-3 at halftime and coming back to win. The icy cold handshake or lack thereof between Ben Johnson and Matt LaFleur, these are all good for the game. They're great for the game. That's how it works, and that's a good thing. I'm not explaining anything you don't know, but right now, this rivalry is fantastic. Layer into that the Craig Council left Milwaukee, left his hometown, left where he grew up, where he played, where he managed, where he was in the front office prior to managing, he left to go to the one team he couldn't go to. The one team he couldn't go to. So the rivalry is real and it goes the next three nights. And if you're a fan of the Brewers and of baseball, andor the Cubs and baseball, it just doesn't get a whole lot better than this. So let me jump in and give a thanks to our sponsors before I bring in uh Cap to uh to talk about this series. We are presented by One Community Bank. If you're thinking about buying that first home, join One Community Bank for their virtual first-time homebuyer seminar and gain insight into home buying process on Wednesday, this Wednesday, May 20th at 6 30. Their team of experts guides you through each step in the purchasing of a new home and will be available to answer any questions you have. Visit onecommunity.bank to learn more and to RSVP. We are also brought to you by M3. M3, your independent and privately held insurance broker and risk management firm. We leverage world-class resources and a specialized team to protect and grow your business. Visit now at m3ins.com. Also brought to you by the Neuroscience Group after a car accident, workplace injury, or sports concussion. Getting the right care matters. Our comprehensive concussion program brings together specialists focused on helping you get back to doing what you love. Neurosciencegroup.com. That's neurosciencegroup.com. Brought to you by Pottawatomi, roll out the wing this May at Pottawatomi Casino Hotel in Milwaukee with Tic Tac Home Run. Have a barrel of fun. And every Thursday, Pottawatomi will reward 40 winners. You can play the Potawatomi Rewards card from May 1st through the 28th. And also brought to you by Habish, Habish, and Rotier. We'll talk about injuries here in a moment with Brewers and Cubs. All injury updates presented by Habish, Habish, and Rotier, 13 locations to ensure you get a hometown attorney who understands your life and the impacts of your situation to get the result that you need. So we welcome you back in. And I bring in uh our friend David Kaplan. Cap comes on to the show. Cap, it is uh it is a pleasure to have you on. And I know you had to kind of rush a little bit to make this happen to get back to your home studio. So thanks for doing it. And uh, we're gonna have some fun over the next three days, aren't we?

SPEAKER_02 14:22

We are gonna have a great time. Yeah, I just left downtown Chicago. I host the morning show on ESPN Chicago, and then I have offices out in the suburbs where my staff and I run a YouTube channel. So I hightailed it here to talk Brewers Cubs with you. And uh coming off a two out of three loss to the White Sox, uh, this is a big series for the Cubs, a game and a half up on your Brewers.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

So when when we talk about the standings, the Cubs have been in control relatively early. They were seven and nine, and then they won 20 of 23, two 10-game winning streaks in the run. They won 15 straight at home. But fan bases in any market, and certainly in Chicago, they worry about things. So, what are they worried about right now? What bugs the fan base? What do you see that is of concern with Chicago, though the Cubs? Pitching.

SPEAKER_02 15:14

I mean, you look at what you thought was going to be your rotation probably by this point, maybe a week from now, Cade Horton, he's gone until probably 2028. Justin Steele, he had Tommy John a year ago and now had a setback, and they said minimum is after the all-star break. I don't think he's gonna be back until August if he doesn't have any more setbacks. So those two guys are gone. Your opening day starter, Matthew Boyd, tore the meniscus in his knee, had surgery 10 days ago. He's gone for another four to five weeks. So you're missing three of your top five. Ben Brown, who has thrown the heck out of the ball, has been your best high-leverage reliever. Yeah. They had to press him into the last two starts. He's given you four innings and four innings. And in those eight innings, he's given up one hit and no runs. So now they're trying to stretch him out. Um Colin Ray and Jamison Tyone, pretty mediocre.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

So when when Craig Counsel left Milwaukee, the only place from a Brewers fan standpoint that he couldn't go, because we thought he might go to the Mets or just sit it out. The only place he couldn't go was to the north side of Chicago. Hell, if he'd have gone to the White Sox, we wouldn't have cared one iota. Uh, did that I mean the rivalry was already there. I mean, Cubs Brewers had had their moments with council in the Brewers dugout. Is that the over-the-top moment? Is that what has made this even more combative, special? And in a baseball perspective, this is what you want. Is that what made it?

SPEAKER_02 16:57

Uh I think that probably was the cherry on top of the Sunday. First of all, look, we had the Cubs White Sox series, and in unison, 42,000 people are screaming Green Bay sucks. It's good to unite behind a common cause. It is. And I love that the Packers fans all come out, the Bears still suck. I love all of it. You know, just put it in my veins. It's tremendous. Craig coming here was a big thing. I remember sitting in this very seat in my office, and I'm looking at my phone, and we knew he was going to make a decision. And I said to my partner, I'm like, Ken Rosenthal just tweeted who makes decision, Cubs. I'm like, what? Yeah. And couldn't believe it and took great glee at the fact that he left our rival to come to us. And I think he's a really good manager. I do think he's a little bit overrated. I do. The Brewers have continued to win without him. I think he again is a good baseball man. Is he a $40 million baseball man? I don't know about all that.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

Has he been successful, Cap? From your perspective, has has the council move in Chicago been a successful move?

SPEAKER_02 18:17

Yeah, I mean, they did win a playoff series last year. They did win 92 games, but from the perspective of he's coming somewhere because he knows the resources the Cubs have. And the team in Milwaukee that spends 100, 110 million less keeps winning the division. So, no, it hasn't been successful. That may not be his fault, but this year, I think we have seven of our major league pitching staff on the injured list. Seven of them. And your number one prospect, he was supposed to throw live batting practice over the weekend. He had been shut down with an elbow issue. So yeah, it has not gone according to plan so far, even though they have the third most wins in baseball and they're in first place.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Cap, I think I've listened to you enough over the years to understand that when I ask you this question, you're going to actually say nice things, even though emotionally you don't want to. But the Brewers have been really well run. Um, you know, from counsel to Pat Murphy. It's been upstairs. David Stearns, before he leaves to go to New York, where he's just a blank show with the Mets, uh, they haven't done anything. Uh they've gotten worse. But from David Stearns to Matt Arnold, the Brewers consistently underspend the competition in the division St. Louis and Chicago, being chief among them, and yet win all the time. What is it about what they do that impresses you with the Brewers and the way they run their business?

SPEAKER_02 19:48

Uh, they don't react. They are proactive. You know what? We're not gonna sign Freddie Peralta to some insane seven years, $200 and whatever million dollar deal. We're gonna trade him now. My only problem with the Brewers, and I think they're an exceptionally well-run organization, they keep running young guys out. They're not afraid to play young guys. They have reclamation projects like Andrew Vaughn last year. My only problem with their ownership is whenever you get an opportunity, I never see them push their chips in and try and win it. Last year, you had the best team in baseball. And I never saw them at the end of July go, you know what? Screw it. Here's three prospects. I want that guy. And they just, for whatever reason, they're it seems like ownership, not Pat Murphy, not your GM, not the players. It seems as ownership's content. And I find that sad.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

Yeah. So and I'll do this uh for those who maybe didn't see it. So I'm I'm looking at your react yesterday after the Cubs lost in uh with the White Sox on the South side. And you talked about the a bigger picture uh in this season and what the Cubs are gonna have to do at the trade deadline, and they're gonna have to do some uncomfortable things in trading away future potential stars. One of the things that the Brewers don't do, to your point, you talk about the Cubs being in a win now mode. And one of the things that frustrates Brewer fans that you just pointed out is that this organization never seems to be in the win now mode. They're win over the next three to five year mode. How do you measure the two? How do they weigh against one another?

SPEAKER_02 21:35

So the way I look at it, when I'm the Brewers, it's not gonna always be that way. It isn't. But when you are the best record in baseball and you're one step from the World Series, yeah, I I don't understand how you don't make a move and say, guys, we're gonna give you the best possible chance to go beat the Los Angeles Dodgers. Whereas Spend a hundred million more.

SPEAKER_01 22:01

And last year that would have been going to get a Eugenio Suarez. Now, Suarez didn't do much uh down the stretch after he was acquired. In Seattle. Suarez would have been the move in Seattle. That would have been the move the Brewers fans wanted was to go get a power-hitting third baseman, which they still don't have. And they're going to ask for the same thing in Milwaukee again this July when we get near the trade deadline. If the Brew are playing like they are, their last cap in Major League Baseball in home runs. The Brewers are last. Their leading home run hitter has six. So people are going to say you got to go get somebody. They play a different style of baseball, which is kind of over the course of time not proven to win as consistently in October when you got to piece together a walk and three singles to score a run or two runs. The three-run homer kind of wins in October. And you were saying yesterday on your React that the Cubs are going to have to make that kind of a move at the trade deadline.

SPEAKER_02 22:57

Yeah, you're going to have to get uncomfortable. You have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, as Ben Johnson told the Bears when he took over a year ago. You're going to trade away a prospect and go, oh my God, that guy's killing it for the Mets or whoever it is, the Marlins, but you have got to look and go, all right, I need Freddie Peralta to Chicago or Sandy Alcantara or whoever that pitcher is that's going to be moved. This team's good enough because they will have some reinforcements coming back. They have got to go get a bullpen arm and a starter like right now. They have their top prospect is a kid named Pedro Ramirez. He's in triple A, he's a third baseman. Well, you just locked up Alex Bregman for five years. You got Dansby for three more. Nico just signed a six-year extension. Michael Bush, you control, and you're going to lock him up. Pete Crow Armstrong is got a six-year extension after this year. So you have got a lot of guys on your infield that are going nowhere or up the middle of your diamond. You could trade a prospect like that. And if he goes to the Hall of Fame, so be it. I need pitching and I need it now.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

Uh tell me about Pete Crow Armstrong. Is this year has been, I look at it from the outside in, uh, I think he's been disappointing this year offensively. He's ridiculous on defense. Uh is there he reminds me a little bit of Javi Baez in that there from an opposing standpoint, I don't like him, but I understand, I rec recognize the talent. What do you see in PCA? And can he, I don't know if this is the right way to phrase it, can he settle it down to be better consistently on offense, or is this who he is?

SPEAKER_02 24:48

No, I don't think this is who he is. He is the best defensive player in the sport, I believe. He's ridiculous. And he had a throw yesterday from pretty deep center field to gun down Andrew Benatendi, trying to go first to third. He had a bunch of outstanding plays over the weekend. He had a run-in with a lady who was at her engagement party and she was chirping at him after he missed the ball, crashed into the wall, and then he chirped profanely right back at her. I love it. That's what's great about sports rivalries. He's gotten better with pitch recognition and selection. Alex Bregman has taken him under his wing and they've worked on it, but he still has to be a whole lot better offensively. He's a great base runner, and he's an even better kid. I've gotten to know him. He's a great human.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Let's uh uh I want to flip to a little uh Packers, Bears, and then I'll come back to this to wrap. And I appreciate you spending time with us. Ben Johnson to me, the combination of Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams is the best thing that's happened to this rivalry since the Mike Ditka era of Packers and Bears. One year in, Ben Johnson was really he was really good. I didn't know because they don't always work. The great OC doesn't always become a great head coach. What impressed you in the way he went about his business in year one in that relationship? And how healthy in a uh combative way is this rivalry Packers Bears right now?

SPEAKER_02 26:16

The the rivalry is engaged. It is back. Uh, he took Caleb and the blank show that we were the last year of Iberflus, Caleb's rookie year, all that went out the window, and you saw Caleb Williams make plays where, oh my God, the Bears offense actually looks like it's one of the better offenses in the league. Uh Ben Johnson, I just had a Bears player in here, and he said, I've been in the league 15 years. He's the smartest coach I have ever been around. So to see the way the culture has changed, the accountability. Ben's not afraid to call people out. He's not afraid to be honest. And I love the fact that he said, I hate the Green Bay Packers. Yeah, I do not like them, but they also should feel the same about us. He is bought into the rivalry.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

And it does, it goes both ways. And it and it has for a long time. For well, it has now, but historically, it had been there, and then for 30 years it went away. You're right. With Didkin did. Right. It was perfect, and then it went away because, to be fair, the Bears made many, many wrong choices at both head coach and quarterback. They they repeated the same mistakes, they didn't get the right guy, and now they've got the right guy. And there's not going to be any stop and let's have a conversation between the two head coaches either before or after a game. And Cap, that makes this fantastic. Forrest Gregg and Mike Ditka did not like one another. That was good for the game, but the Bears were better. The the Packers couldn't compete. Right now, they're both at a pretty high level, and the coaches don't like one another. That's really good.

SPEAKER_02 28:02

Yeah, I absolutely love it. I own a home in Wisconsin, and I proudly wear all my Bears gear. And it's an oh gosh. And there's a bar there. It's one of the oldest in Wisconsin called Jerry's. And I will walk in there because I'm friends with the owner and have my bear stuff on, and there'll be these old timers and I'll go, oh, this is here again. And I'll wear my Cubs stuff. I love the rivalry. Like I was pissed off this morning on the radio about the Cubs and the White Sox. I don't cheer against the Sox, except when they play my team. And when we lose the way we lost yesterday, that's unacceptable to me. And the same thing goes for the Chicago Bears. To be lost in 30 years of insanity, and now the rivalry's engaged. Bears, Packers, Christmas Day, let's go.

SPEAKER_01 28:55

Yeah, it's really, it's really good. And I think I learned last year, and I, like I said a little bit earlier, I didn't know if Ben Johnson would make that transition because they don't all do it. He he was really good at it in year one. To me, the question I'll let you answer this in your view, does Caleb Williams have the drive to be really good 60 minutes for 17 games and not just great when all the chips are down? Because I there's nobody I would want with a game hanging in the balance more than him. However, I don't know if he's my first quarter quarterback uh you know in the upper echelon of the league. Does he have that part in him with Ben Johnson to be great for 60 minutes in a game?

SPEAKER_02 29:38

So I had Tyson Bajan here in my studio last week. He's our backup quarterback. And my partner and I are interviewing him. And my partner said, Tyson, what's the most impressive thing that you've had seen Caleb do over the last 12 months? I thought he was either going to say, Well, it's all those comebacks, the throw against the Rams. He said, the last 30 days.

unknown 30:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

What do you mean? He said, This dude's work ethic and commitment to excellence and leadership in the building is at an entirely different level. And he said, there is no ceiling on what this offense can be.

SPEAKER_01 30:17

Cap, who's uh let me take it back to Wrigley Field over the next three nights. Who's the better team? Who's got a better? I think this is sort of rhetorical, at least it would be in my category. Who has a better roster on the field right now? Brewers or Cubs?

SPEAKER_02 30:33

I think the Cubs do because you don't have Christian Yelich. How long is he out for?

SPEAKER_01 30:38

And he's back this weekend, so he did play Saturday, Sunday, so you he should be in a lineup over the weekend. We should see him tonight. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 30:45

Andrew Vaughn has been banged up throughout the early part of this year. You don't have Freddie Peralta in that rotation. Look, tomorrow night when Mizarowski pitches, yeah, Advantage Brewers. That guy's a beast, an absolute beast. Tonight when Shota pitches against Sproat, I think it's Advantage Cubs. So we'll see where this goes. But I do think that roster top to bottom is the Cubs have the better roster. They should win this series.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

Do Cubs fans hate the Brewers the way they should? I mean, I know you hate the Cardinals. That's historical. Have they learned to hate the Brewers at the same fever pitch?

SPEAKER_02 31:24

Yes. A thousand percent. A thousand percent. And when the Brewers, in my opinion, idiotically took the L flag and held it up after the series. If you wanted to commandeer and do something cute, you grab a W flag and you fly it. The L flag, you're holding up a lost flag. That's not even really a thing. Yeah. Cubs fans cannot stand the Brewers. You didn't like that, huh? No, I thought it was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen. I did. Hold up a W flag would have been cool. Cute. Huh. You guys got the W. You took our W flag. An L, a loss? Yeah, it was the dumbest thing I've seen in sports in a long time.

SPEAKER_01 32:10

Yeah, we'll we'll we'll agree to disagree on that, but I listen, dumb things like that, your perspective on it as a dumb thing, it it fuels. I mean, there's fuel to this. And I know Brewers fans hated for a very long time the Zambrano area, the Joe Joe Madden era, when Cubs fans would come up and own Miller Park. And it's not quite at the same level right now. The Brewers fans have done a better job, and the Brewers have maybe done a better job of limiting some of that. But, you know, this is as good as it gets. Next three nights in in Wrigley and all night games, a little surprising. Weather shouldn't be an issue, gonna be cold on Wednesday. Uh, but this is really good. It mimics what's going on with Packers and Bears right now. And I I think from a baseball perspective, it's got that juice to it.

SPEAKER_02 33:02

Oh, it absolutely has that juice, and I cannot wait for first pitch at 6 40 tonight. And let's play them out. Let's see. We'll start with tonight's game. Cap, let's go get it.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

Hey, I appreciate you doing this. Uh I know you had to kind of rush back to do it, so I appreciate it. And we'll look forward to the next time we our paths get to cross.

SPEAKER_02 33:20

Yeah, you got my number. Anytime you need me, I'm in.

SPEAKER_01 33:23

All right. Thanks, Cap. Uh really good stuff from Cap. And uh one one of my guys, yo, who I mentioned off the top, is a big, big Cap fan. And he had always said, You gotta get him on your shows. And listen, I I pay attention. I listen to the Chicago sports scene because I want their reaction after our teams meet. And on the baseball diamond, when it comes to Major League Baseball and this rivalry that is Brewers Cubs, that the nation doesn't really recognize, but we do. The Brewers have had the upper hand. They have the upper hand in game 163. They have had the upper hand in winning the division in four of the last five years. They had the upper hand in winning game five of the DS last year, three to one. And by the way, let me remind those who have forgotten that game is a 3-1 game to go on and advance to the NLCS. And all four runs scored by solo home runs. The Brewers are not that team right now, but they they got a home run from Contreras, Vaughn, and Tarang, all solo. And say a Suzuki hit a solo home run for the Cubs. That was it. There were four runs in the game. Brewers won three to one and advanced to the NLCS. We didn't know it that that would be their last win. And at the end of game one against the Dodgers, had Tarang worn that that pitch that came in on him. Maybe the series flips a little, but we we saw that when the best team is playing at their best, they're the best. It's kind of how it works. The Dodgers were the best team money could buy, and when they were at their best, nobody could play with them. I don't know if the Cubs would have. Certainly would have been different. But the Brewers didn't, and it leaves a little bit of a sore spot. So let me kind of run through a little bit of some of the elements of this rivalry. So the Brew were 13 and 13. And then since then they won 13 of their last 18. They're 13 and 5 in the last 18 games, and that puts them at 26 and 18. The Cubs were 7-9 and then won 20 of 23. That's what has put them in this position. The Brewers knew that they would have a very tough run on the schedule when they were going Yankees, Padres, Twins, Cubs, Dodgers, Cardinals. That is an 18-game run. The Brewers are halfway through it. They're seven and two. In that 18-game run, Yankees, Padres, Twins on the road, Cubs, Dodgers, Cardinals. They're halfway through, they're seven and two in the run. Really impressive. If I do a comparison between the Brewers and the Cubs, runs per game. Cubs 5.06. Brewers 4.98. Not that much different. Cubs do it in different ways. They hit far more home runs. The Brewers do it in different ways, maybe with stolen bases. Uh bunts, the Brewers are fourth in baseball in stolen bases of 46. Cubs have 31. OPS combined on base and power or slugging. Cubs are fourth in Major League Baseball. Brewers are 24th. 24th in Major League Baseball. Home runs, 55 for the Cubs. 28 for the Brewers. They're last in baseball. Literally, the Brewers hit one half the home runs that the Cubs hit. 55 to 28. The comparison on the pitching side in team ERA, the Cubs 3.9. That's 12th in all of baseball. The Brewers 3.26. That's third in all of baseball. Walks and hits per innings pitched, Cubs and Brewers, very similar. Fifth and sixth in the league, but in earn run average, Cubs are up. Pitching notes, Cade Horton. You know, we talk about injuries. Horton, Boyd Steele, the injuries for the Cubs from an injury standpoint, along with Jordan Wicks. From the Brewers, it's Woodruff, Priester, Koenig, and Zerpa. Those are the injuries that they have had. They've missed, obviously, Kristen Yellich a lot. He homered yesterday. They've got him back. I would think he's going to be close to a full-time DH, which means that you have to figure out how you're going to maneuver first base with Vaughn and Jake Powers. Bowers has been a godsend. He has been really good. And he's getting the he's getting the consistent at bats, and I think that's all part of it. So all of those elements are at play in this series going into the game tonight. My buddy Craig Rankin, who's also a Cubs fan, he said outstanding interview with Cap. I can't read the last part. Craig, nice try, though. I think, you know, that's kind of like Anchorman, where Craig just puts that up there. He puts it on the screen. I put it on the screen. He just thinks I'm going to read the whole thing, you know, just like the teleprompter. Come on now. Rankin. You know, better than that. They're having a part, they're having a party, by the way, at Red and White Wine Bar in Wanna Key tomorrow night in our absence. They're having a Brewers Cubs cookout party on the patio. There's gonna be, and and a bunch of those knuckleheads are gonna wear Cubs gear. Um we we won't be represented in person, but we'll be represented. Um, so that's how that works. Um Mark says, good morning, all. Uh what part of the Northwoods are you in? He's asking Mike and Merrill. I think if Mike is at home, uh Mark, he's in Merrill. So uh that's that's unless he's you know up at a place. So but that's where home is. I I I'm gonna go back to this and I I thought it was a pretty pretty good conversation, a good conversation with Cap. I don't think we got into it, but I don't think we need to. I would disagree with him on the the L. Everybody that that that is a Brewers fan, you know there are people with bottles of whiskey with the uh with the L on them. There are obviously the L flags. Milwaukee's gonna at American Family Field, somebody's gonna fly an L flag if you beat the Cubs. I I get I get rivalries and I understand, and I think there's great juice that Cubs fans and Cap and others um thought it was stupid and in poor taste. I don't think that that's the word. Somebody remind me of the word cap used because it was I don't think it was stupid. Dumbest thing? Is that what he is that what he said at the end? Dumbest thing he's seen? I don't think so. I think the Brewers flying a W, the Cubs would have said, hey, get your own thing. The Brewers having the fly the L flag after they beat the Cubs, A adds juice to the rival, and I don't think it's wrong. To me, it is what you would, it's it's what you would do. Like I don't have I don't have a problem with it. And I get it, Cubs fans don't like it, and you know, Cap made it pretty clear the Cubs don't like it. And certainly the Cubs fans, and I asked him the question about do you hate the Brewers as much as Bears fans hate the Packers and vice versa? And he said yes. And I and trust me, it goes both ways. I grew up as a Cubs fan, and I I can't convince some others of why it had to flip. But when the Brewers went to the National League, it had to flip. The team I was going to hate the most was going to be the Cubs. I grew up with the Cubs as being lovable losers. They've changed that. The Cubs are a good franchise. They're well managed, well run, they can win. They won a World Series with Joe Madden. They're playing really good baseball. I think they're the best team in the division. I thought that way when the season began. Now that doesn't mean that the Brew can't beat them. Doesn't mean that the Brewers can't win the division because they can. But I do love the juice. And that L provided juice. How much did I love the L? I love it as much as Bears fans love the flyby kind of bullshit handshake that they got from the Bears head coach against Matt LaFleur when Ben Johnson gives the kind of bullshit flyby. I had disdain for that as much as Cubs fans have disdain for Brewers flying the L after they beat him in game five of the NLDS. I think it's good juice. Bears or Cubs fans didn't like the L. Packers fans didn't like the arrogant flyby handshake. Didn't don't. So it works both ways. I find this. I wish I was there. I wish I was in Chicago. I wish I was at our party. Yo, I don't know what you're saying, not even close. They are the same damn thing. Ben Johnson's uh a really good coach. If he's my coach, I love him, but he's a jack. The Brewers flying the dub, the L at the end when they beat the Cubs. I think it's and I get it, Cubs fans are not gonna view it as funny. From a Brewers standpoint, you look at it and go, yeah, yeah. Yeah. No problem with it. I'm sure Bears fans have no problem with Ben Johnson doing the the Jack Wagon flyby. I I'm good. Listen, I'm good. This is what it's all about. These this is why I do what I do. I I love being able to do this. I love being able to talk about this. Here, I I gotta I got a deal for listen, Rankin, Yovan. Total history. Hits in the series. Rice to rang versus PCA. Yes? Total hits the next three games in the series. Uh asterisk must start all three games, just in case there was an injury or something. Tarang or PCA? I don't like PCA. I recognize talent, but I I and again, I'd like him if he was on my team, unless he was, you know, swinging the balls out of the zone all the time. Total hits in a series. I'll take Tarang over PCA. Pitching is going to be interesting mainly because of the way it stacks up in the set. It's Brandon Sproat who can be really good. He can be really good. There's going to be extra juice in this series. So sometimes you wonder how young guys handle juice. So he didn't handle it very well when the season opened. He's been much better of late, but there's going to be different juice at Wrigley tonight. So the the Cubs are pretty decent favorites in the opening game of this series. Miz and Ben Brown. Ben Brown, as Cap brought up, has been kind of pushed into starting duty because of injuries, and he's been really good, not lengthened out. He's gone four innings and really hadn't given up anything in his two starts, four innings each. Advantage Miz. So then Kyle Harrison and Edward Cabrera in the uh series finale Wednesday night, and Harrison has been great. But again, extra juice in this. I would think with the weather being as it is, it will be nice, I think, tonight and tomorrow night in Chicago, and then much colder on Wednesday. But with the weather being nice and extra juice in the series, Miz is gonna be amped tomorrow night. He's an adrenaline pitcher. So I love I love this series. I think it is what baseball brings to the plate. Uh it should be uh a fantastic series. And I do think I do think that in this setup that that the Brewers have a very good chance because they're playing pretty good baseball right now, and they're as healthy as they have been. I knocked on wood, healthy as they have been from a lineup standpoint. Even Joey Ortiz is hitting a little bit, right? Um Sal Freelick with the game hanging in the balance yesterday, and he had had a decent day. But Sal is still punching uphill, trying to barrel up baseballs, and he hasn't done it enough. Um the bottom third of the order, in other words, in Milwaukee has done better of late, but it's not been good. So we'll see how they manage over the next three nights. So let me fill you in on a little details. You can jump in on the YouTube uh chat line. Uh, Yovan has been a consistent deal. Don't you have a job today, dude? Uh Yovan says PCA is erratic. We're not doubting that. Uh, but you're okay. So I didn't see either you or uh Craig, my buddy Craig, take the uh or Killibrew, where are you at? I'll I'll make I'll I'll make a bet. I'll provide uh beer or bourbon at red and white and uh and a pizza on total hits in the series, PCA versus Bryce Terrain. And Killibrew, I'm just waiting for you to come back just on a regular thing on a wager on this series. Let me tell you a little bit about what's what's going on. So our daughter Ellen getting married on Sunday in uh Phoenix, Scottsdale. So we uh we had uh the vehicle uh pointed west when we closed up shop. By the way, I saw Joel Finkelman. Finkelman! I saw Finkelman on Saturday night. He came out with uh his crew, his wife, lovely wife, and another couple. They they came out and uh and stopped and visited with us um before we were leaving. He didn't know we were leaving, but before we left. Um uh Larry and Dixie stopped out and hung out with us. Craig and Diana were there. Uh uh another uh lovely young three folks that joined us late, sat on the patio in front of the fire and and had a I didn't have anything to drink because I was driving. Um the you know, we we drove nonstop from that night at 10 45. We left the bar when we closed up, locked up the doors, turned off the lights. We left and drove west. Uh, if you're familiar with Colorado at all, we drove um, you know, through Iowa, lovely. Uh lots of storms. We drove through some bad storms in Iowa and parts of Nebraska that did some damage, but you know, we were windy and rainy, but we didn't see there were some tornadoes, but we didn't get them. We drove from there all the way through and got here to here is Glenwood Springs, Colorado. We got here yesterday at 1.30, so 16-ish hour drive. Um I drove 11 carry uh out of the bullpen, drove five. We covered it. Uh, today, when this finishes, uh, we'll load up again and and go southwest uh to Scottsdale and get there sometime in the evening tonight. And then this show will originate from uh uh we're staying at a friend of our place in Scottsdale the next three nights. Um, and then so we're gonna do this. I'll do this show from there. Uh, but can't wait for uh our daughter Ellen's wedding. Uh four weeks from now. We have uh our daughter Elizabeth gets married, so we got a lot of stuff going on. So the podcast is great because it's uh portable. Take it on the road. I'm in the hotel room at um Hotel Colorado, which is uh or the Colorado Hotel. Which one is it? Hotel Colorado. We've stayed here. This is old, built in 1893-ish. Teddy Roosevelt had this as the Western White House when he would come out and hunt when he was serving um as president of the United States. This was the Western White House. It has also been a post-war hospital at times. It is an ornate old, beautiful, haunted hotel. I haven't experienced the haunt, but ask anybody that works here and they'll tell you, yes, it is. Uh if you've never been, here's a plug. I'm not getting paid for the plug. Here's a plug. A really cool uh place to go. And then Iron Mountain Hot Springs, which is about a five-minute uh drive from here, 15-minute walk. Fantastic. So uh we're having uh a great time, but we're gonna work uh throughout the week and and bring this show to you. Uh really fun to visit with Cap today uh from ESPN Chicago. Um he he's a good dude, and uh he gets it. Uh and I appreciate that he said yes to the mix here today. Let me tell you about our sponsors, One Community Bank. Now, they got a little something going on I wanted to tell you about, uh, and this is the the luxury of being able to do it this way. If you're thinking about buying your first home, then this Wednesday, May 20th, 6:30, first time homebuying seminar to gain insight into the home buying process. Their team of experts can guide you through the purchasing of a home, and they're available to answer questions you may have. Visit onecommunity.bank to learn more and to RSVP for that event coming up. We're also brought to you by M3 Insurance, your independent and privately held insurance broker and risk management firm. They leverage world-class resources and a specialized team to protect and grow your business. Visit M3INS.com. We're also presented by Neuroscience Group after a car accident, workplace injury, or sports concussion. Getting the right care matters. Their comprehensive concussion program brings together specialists focused on helping you heal and get back to doing what you love. Neuroscience Group, Wisconsin's leader in concussion care, neuroscience group.com. Brought to you by Pottawatomies Sportsbook and Casino. Have a barrel of fun with your share of 300 grand. Play with your Pottawatomy Rewards card May 1st through the 28th. 40 winners every Thursday night in Tic Tac Home Run. And also presented all of our injury updates are presented by Habish Habish and Rowteer. All injury updates there. 13 locations ensuring you get a hometown attorney who understands your needs, your life, and the impacts of your injury. Personally committed to your recovery, go to Habish, Habish, and Roweteer. So a big thank you to all of our sponsors. I Love Mondays and thank you for our continued growth here on I Love Mondays. Our YouTube subscription base continues to rise. Now, subscriptions, I always remind those. I said it to somebody yesterday. Subscriptions, uh, actually, I said to Finkelman Saturday night. Subscriptions are not paid. That's just you signing up so that you get this podcast downloaded onto your computer or your phone or laptop device as soon as it downloads. So we've got uh approaching 750 subscribers, and that number has grown rapidly over recent weeks. So I appreciate all of that. For those of you who watch on the downloads on uh traditional Spotify or listen on Spotify, Apple or Amazon, thank you for doing that. For those watching live on X, thank you for being part of that audience. And I also put it up on our I Love Mondays uh Facebook page. We also launched last week our landing page, our website that you can get all the information, find out how to be a sponsor, join us on our bourbon trip, all of those things. Go to i Lovemondayspodcast.com. I Lovemondayspodcast.com. So there we go. It is Brewers and Cubs, the first of three tonight. Brandon Sproat and Shota Imanaga at Wrigley Field. Weather should be okay, rainy and some storms during the day, but it should clear off for tonight. Three night games at Wrigley. Cannot wait. Should be a blast. All right, we're gonna load up. Uh we're loading up. I got the roadies coming in. Uh, we're gonna load it up and take this podcast down to uh Arizona for the next three days. So I appreciate you guys all being here for this. Um Tom says, I think uh the show will really grow once it's football season. No doubt. Uh no doubt. In in this genre, in this world of sports talk, uh I launched this podcast on March 2nd, and the the real ground game of a sports podcast here will begin in August and then September through January, it is full boat. And I can't wait for all of it. We'll we'll take the podcast on the road to Packers Training Camp. Uh we'll be at the certain home games, is the hope. Uh, when I'm on the road with Badger Football, we'll be able to do some special things, and I can't wait for all of it. Uh, one other note, this uh came, oh, I put that one up there already. Mike said so many things happened in a series like this weekend. We missed Byron Buxton. That helped this week, the Cubs and Dodgers, uh, with Cubs and Dodgers, who plays and who does not play. Yeah, it's about who you get when you get them. And the Brewers, I mean, this is a hell of a week with the Cubs and Dodgers. When you look at the standings in Major League Baseball, you don't have to look very far at the top of the standings to find that the Dodgers are 29 and 18 and that the Cubs are 29 and 18. Two of the best in in baseball, and the Brewers are in this run of games, in this 18-game run against teams like that. They're seven and two out of the gate. Let's see how uh they roll down this road. Thanks for jumping in here with us today. We'll talk to you again tomorrow from Scottsdale, Arizona. You know I love Mondays. Can't wait for Tuesday. We'll talk to you uh then. Thanks for being part of this. I love Mondays on the road talking Brewers and Cubs.

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