September 4, 2024 • 34 mins
In this episode of Dingers, we break down the Cubs' heartbreaking 5-3 loss to the Pirates after leading 3-0 into the 8th inning, only to see Jorge Lopez give up 4 runs. With the Cubs now 3.5 games back in the Wild Card race, we dive into the harsh realities and potential paths that could lead to October baseball. Is it still a dream, or can the Cubs make it a reality? We recap Tuesday nights game vs the Pirates as the Cubs face Skenes for the 4th time. Tune in as we analyze the road ahead and what it will take for the Cubs to keep their playoff hopes alive. Subscribe: / @dingersachicagocubsfanpodc824 Talk #Cubs baseball on our facebook group: / 188995809182063 @dingercubs is presented by OnTapSportsNet.com, your go-to source for Cubs news, analysis, and updates. Follow us on social media: @Diingercubs | @OnTapSportsNet Panelists: @dingercubs | @baseball_buj | @wycoffjd23 | Follow us on Twitter: @dingercubs Follow us on Instagram: @dingercubs TikTok: @dingercubs Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/dingercubs
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
If you're listening to the Dingers Podcast presented to you
by Test Sports Network with your host Mitch, Jake, Jeff
and Kevis, you're ready to talk to the Cubs need.
The Dingers Podcast is on the air.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I'm your host, Mitch.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
I'm here with Kevin and Jeff. The Cubs have been
eight and two in their last ten, have been hot,
back to three games now three and a half games
back after last night's game. But is it crazy that
we can talk playoffs again? Like? Are are we dreaming?
Or is playoff picture reality? That's guy what we're gonna
(00:42):
be talking tonight. The Cubs offense have been hot, been
kind of the what's caused this hot stretch is a
balanced lineup and been fun to watch. So they must
have been using the B four bat app. So if
you haven't heard of the before bat app, let me
explain a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
It's Mitch from the Dinger's Podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Today. I want to talk to you about something that's
truly transformed the way that I, as a coach work
with young players and especially my own kids. I'm talking
about the B four bat app. For those who haven't
heard of a B four bat app, it is an
incredible tool that lets you track your exit velocity, launch
angil in more, all from your iPhone. No fancy bat
(01:23):
sensor or expensive equipment needed, Just your iPhone, a tripod
and you're good to go. I use the B four
bat app daily with my son and daughter and the
results have been phenomenal. It provides valuable data and video
feedback that helps fine tune their swing. My son absolutely
loves it. He gets a kick out of watching his
(01:44):
videos of his swing and especially enjoys tracking his exit velocity.
It's like a game for I'm trying to find that
perfect launch angle to maximize his exit velocity. For me,
it's been amazing to see how much this app has
really helped improve their swings. In that immediate feedback and
data that they get are a game changer. So if
(02:04):
you're looking to get that valuable data and insight for
your own slugger and for them to hit maybe some
more dingers this season, I highly recommend checking out before
batting app. You can go to bfore dot app dot
com or search before batting in the app sort. Trust me,
you and your kids will love it. Now let's get
(02:26):
back to hitting some more dingers. Yeah, so make sure
you're checking out the before bad app. It's a great app.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Helpful with all yours.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Young players could be helping the Cubs be able to
hit schemes tonight because it's been rough going. Cubs had
the bases loaded in the first and in the scent
in came away with nothing. That was after last night's
crushing defeat.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
So let's let's start there.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Let's talk about last night a little bit. Cubs are
up three nothing heading into the A. Lopez comes into
the game, gives up a little blooper single, gives up
another little single that radis no matter. No third basement
would have made that play, and then a home run
(03:16):
and then two betters to tie it up. Then two
bats later another home run to put the Pirates up,
and then they add on in the eighth or in
the ninth and comes loose five to three.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I know for me that was that was crushing.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Going into the eighth, I'm thinking, Okay, we're gonna be
back and a half, two and a half games back
with what twenty five twenty six games left?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Yeah, getting close like.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
This, this is doable, This is doable. Again, like all
like they like they keep doing this they keep like
reeling you back in and then it just like last
night reminded me so much of like the Guardian Series
that the Cubs had, And if you don't remember that
Game one, they were a head going into the eighth
(04:05):
inning of that game and blew the lead and then
they ended up getting swept and it kind of put
them back six games really really quick. And here they
are now three and a half games back. You're facing schemes.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
What inning is that?
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Where are we in? Now?
Speaker 1 (04:19):
We're recording live on Monday sixth inning and you're down
to nothing and the Mets are up and the Braves are.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Up right now? Oh, the stars are not aligning right
now for us, Matge.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Well, it's just it's it's been kind of how the
season has has gone.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Yeah, it has.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
I mean, it's totally doable for the Cups to make
the playoffs, but everything just has to fall in the place.
The Cups need to keep winning series, and we need
the Braves and the Mets to keep losing series.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
But they're both winning tonight and we're losing tonight.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
Which if you would have told me that after five
innings we'd only be down two to nothing to a
game that started, and we started Jason Hendricks or Kyle
Hendricks and then we put Drew Smiley out there.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
You're like, if you're like, how is a guy who
dub does a Cubs podcast get names wrong? You haven't
been listening to all of our episodes because Jeffrey is
just not really good with names of players. For a
whole called Eric Dale, he did like Kyle Hendricks, but
(05:32):
now since he's played bad this season.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
I actually went to school with the Jason Hendricks.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Okay, that's probably.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Why came out of my subconscious.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
What what killed me last night and I tweeted this
out is you're up three to nothing, you take the
lead in the seventh inning, you get a lead off
double with Horner, and there was a ball I can't
remember who was up.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
To bat, it would have been who would have been
after Horner.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I think Swanson was up and there was kind of
a wild pitch. The ball got away significantly from the
catcher enough for Horner to make Horner to make it
to third, and that was with zero outs. Horner should
have been on third, He should have been getting a
good secondary and picking that ball up in the dirt
(06:26):
and getting over there with the ball getting that far,
you're one Horner's fast enough you could just steal the
base straight up. I know you don't want to make it,
make that out at third base, but like you've got
to start playing aggressive baseball and like that that that
was the difference right there, that you'd have been up
for nothing going into the eighth or then three things.
I mean, even if Lopez gives up that three year on.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
Home run, you're still up by a run.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Yeah, that it just it that one really got me.
Speaker 5 (06:58):
Yeah, it's it's missed opportunities last night, especially after since
Jameson pitched a gym, you know, seven scoreless.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
I don't know how we blow that game.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
And then like a game like tonight when we have
our two not great pitchers pitch in the game and
only down by two runs and we still have an
opportunity to win with three more innings after this one
to play.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
You gotta go to seize the day.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Cuties and the Pirates bullpen has not been very strong,
So like it makes you like it's one of those
where like because of the month of Man tune that
we had in us playing so poorly, that taste of
that is still in my mouth of like, yeah, we're
not gonna come back. But out of the last ten games,
(07:52):
almost all of those games that in that hot stretch
that we've had, all of them have been comeback wins,
all of them.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
Uh, did you hear Like the Pirates month of August?
They were eight and eighteen and on their three bus
convoy going from Chicago to Milwaukee, one of the bus
drivers got pulled over for an OWI did you hear that?
What Jim dis Chase was talking about it like during
an inning And I'm like, and they had a police
(08:21):
escort too.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Guy figured he just had to fall the lights.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
How do you how do you get chanked when you're
a motor coach driver for a professional baseball team with
the police escort?
Speaker 3 (08:38):
My lord, oh boy, oh boy, old boy. Yeah, I
don't know you're talking about? You know this is this
a fantasy or is this real? And they pull me
just in enough to be like, oh, I can see it.
They're going to keep this hot stretch going. They're going
to hit the playoffs with a at a sprint and
(08:58):
keep going. But then, just like you said, Mitch, they
lose that game last night and now I'm going, what
what's good? They could get swept, like, and if they
get swept, that just feels like you know, May and June,
and then they're like they've got to be out of it.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
I never, I, as much as I'm a baseball fan
of never truly understood the whole magic number system and
how that works. And I was like, I wonder, what.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Right? You can't figure it out? Right?
Speaker 3 (09:23):
So I'm like, Okay, I know we're in the hunt
for the wild card and there's a lot of games left,
but like, we've also got to be in this. If
we lose too many games, we've got to be out.
Like we're on that like riding that line. But I
don't know. I don't know, doesn't make any sense to me, unfortunately,
like our hot picture, Like I just saw Pete Crow
(09:44):
just got out like he had been so hot and
he's struggling right now.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yeah. A couple like a month ago, I think it
was Ian and I had a podcast just Ian Man
and I and we talked about how what the Cubs
were missing was that there are a bunch of clisters.
We need to find a listers for this team to
(10:10):
be successful. So I'll post that same thing. Do we
really need a star.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
For this team to be playoff worthy or.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Pushed for a World Series ring? Because what I've seen
the last month is really three things changed in this lineup,
and that was PCA figured things out. Amaya and Bethport
(10:47):
were serviceable behind the dish and at the plate, and
Danceby Swanson started hitting the ball. Like those three things changed,
and then our lineup became really deep and really successful
because we had we played small ball, we had power
(11:07):
when we needed it, and paradists started figuring out like
it got really deep, and then we just started playing
really good baseball because our pitching was great, Our bullpen
has been looking rock solid, and we're a totally different
baseball club. So do we need that star or do
you need to Like not saying that we have to
(11:27):
like mimic other teams, because I think that's been used
almost too much, like, oh, the clubs are a big
market team and they're trying to play like that. It's
like no, It's like, there are many ways to win
win baseball games and be successful as a team, and
you've seen you've seen the Potteries do it for whole
bunch of years where they went out and bought a
whole bunch of guys and they still had three or
(11:48):
four spots that were weak and they didn't make the playoffs,
and so it's like, right now.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
What are you guys thoughts.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
I kind of look at it like how the Yankees
buy all the time.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
I mean, just they spend the exorbitant amounts of money
on contracts for guys and they don't win a World
Series every year. They sometimes don't make the playoffs, but
they don't go very deep. I think a lot of
it is a team playing as a team and coming
together and everybody kind of playing their role and doing
(12:20):
their part. Like when Dangley wasn't hitting and PSA was
struggling at the play and Amaya was terrible at the plate,
shaky behind the plate, it's just made winning harder.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
But when they started to play better, winning became easier.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah, I mean, just like.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Pca be some numbers in his last thirty games, seventeen RBIs,
He's batted three to twenty a, nine to twenty six ops,
eight stolen bases, four home runs. Like the dude has
(13:04):
been one of the probably one of the best hitters
in the last month, last thirty two games. I think
he has the best hitter in the National League.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
I believe I saw that a tear on the internet
the other day.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
You put that together with with Dancy Swanson, who we
expected this to be him, Like it's kind of been
a flip flop for Dansby. Like last season he started
off really really hot and then trailed off. This season
he started off really really cold, and now he's gotten
hot towards the end. It's like, next year, are we
just gonna get like a consistent Dansby, Like that's what
(13:39):
we need, And like I don't know, Like Bethancourt seems
to be able to hit Skiings and Skins ain't leaving
the NL central for a while. I think we should
just keep a Skeens killer in our lineup for the
next couple of years, just to have that guy that
every time Skans pitches. We have Bethencourt in lineup right right.
And he's been really he's been.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
He's been good by in the plate.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Like he threw out he picked off a guy Tony
at first in a MIAs, changing his batting, batting up
like a little bit of his light kick, Like he's
been rock solid like he's figuring out so like it
makes the front office have some questions. Are you going
to try to fill that spot with somebody in the
off season or are you going to just ride out
(14:22):
of Maya next year because he's made the improvements, he's
done what you've asked, like he's You've asked him to
make adjustments and he did and he got better. Or
are they gonna pull a David ross In like, uh,
you did, you did some adjustments but still weren't good enough.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
You're gone. We're getting somebody else.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Yeah, And I wonder I would it would not surprise
me if they don't go get a star catcher, because
they also have bias steros at at Iowa, and I
think they want to give him enough time down there
to see in the catching catch up to the bat.
And at the same time, how much production do you
(15:01):
usually get from a catching from the catching position, is
you know, another thing to consider. I don't know. It's
just has seemed like the whole team is playing really good,
complimentary baseball. Somebody's getting on base, the next person's moving
them over. They're getting there. They're going a lot of
first to thirds on on singles, they're getting a guy
(15:23):
all the way to third base and then we're just
it seems nobody's pushing. I was just noticing the other
day we haven't had very many dingers on our Dinger picks.
Why but we're still putting up fourteen runs and nine
runs a game like these giant like football score games
and it's not based on the singer. Yeah. And I
(15:45):
think Bethencourt had a seven RBI game like last week
at one point.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
I mean, i I big comeback against the Pirates. I
watched that game, dear in my professional development. It was great.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
I'm with you, Mitch. I'm wondering where where would you
put a star in this lineup? Like, like what hole
would they fill in?
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I mean in in a big cloud. And a big
cloud is hanging over this team and it's his name
is Cody Bellinger because he hasn't opt in and if
he opts in one, that doesn't free up money for
us to spend, and that takes a spot that you
can't like. It's like, okay, are you gonna have sayah
(16:29):
B the DH next year and then Bellinger be the
right fielder because PCA is basically taking up center, So
really you have no spot besides if you're going to
trade Horner and fill in at second, but you have
Shaw waiting in the wings, so like now you owe
spots really for another guy besides catcher, and there aren't
(16:50):
many star catchers out there available, So you're basically like, Okay,
we're we're gonna do it again. We're just gonna run
this team back out there and if things get any
better the third time around.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
That's basically what we worked ourselves into.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
So I know there's a lot of people like, yeah, whatever,
great this season, but I'm really looking for twenty looking
forward to twenty twenty five. Whatever happens this season, I
don't think they're gonna make the playoffs. I'm looking at
twenty twenty five. Well, it's like we're still gonna back ourselves.
We could back ourselves in a corner and really run
the same team out. The only way we could we
could improve is go out and get another solid starting pitching,
(17:24):
which maybe Corban Burns or whoever else.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
But that's the only way we could.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
Really get better improve because there's.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
No other spots where we we can.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
No and if if Bellinger option, what's that dude, to
like somebody like Mike Talkman.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Well he hasn't played much.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
I would say, right now, Mike Talkman, I don't even
know why Patrick Wisdom is still on a team. Like
Patrick Wisdom should not be getting at bats. That's where
I would rather have an own Casey or Bonasterios or
like taking those at bats because like.
Speaker 5 (17:57):
Well, now it's five to nothing, so this game may
I've just gotten out of hand.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Ah, yeah, that's I wonder too, Like will Horner be
traded this offseason to make room for Show because I
think he's going to Shaw. Seems to me next season
he's going to be banging on the door and saying, hey,
I'm ready to come up. But at the same time,
we have I don't know, it feels like we have
three or four outfielders at Triple A ready to make
a step up too, potentially, I don't know. It seems crowded,
(18:29):
but it's also not crowded with like not all those
positions are all our genuine star caliber, Like they're not
Paul Skane's ready to come up and fill a starting
pitching role. They're like, hey, let's go see. Shaw is
going to be the second basement of the future. Let's
go ahead and get him in the lineup. You know,
Owen Casey's been knocking on the door. I feel bad
(18:51):
for I saw what was the game the other day?
The Cubs were up huge, and I saw Luis Vasquez
came in. I'm like, how long has he been with
the big club? You know, like he's been.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
He's five days and he hasn't played at all. Right,
I think that's why they want to own Casey right now,
is because they don't want to call him up and
then not play. But if they're out of it, then
it doesn't matter. Right now, They're like they've been in
it enough that it's they're not going to call him
up and sit in when they when they want to
(19:22):
win games. But it's like, because now if you lose
this game, now you're down four and a half games.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
Yeah, like that, how many times is your TV going
to be played that last home?
Speaker 1 (19:36):
I know it's like four time, rubbing it in, just
rubbing it in, And like I don't want to say that,
Like it's just like the playing with a sense of
urgency like this club, like they did there for a while,
but even last night, when when you really need it,
(19:58):
that urgency of like Horner needed to be on third
base in that situation. The other day, there was a
game that.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
Like they're kind of resting on their laurels. Well it was.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
What game was it? It was a close game.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
We lost the game, and here, uh, what's Boog is
talking in the ninth inning about pick a ball or
some dumb thing, and it's like read the room, buddy, Like, sorry,
we're in a playoff race. How about you lock in
and talk about what's going on instead of some pick
a ball tournament that's going on in Australia. Like there's
(20:42):
times when like I get really sick of listening to Boog,
Like I for the most part like him as an announcer,
but I want more of a Homer and more urgency
from our our announcing crew, some urgency in our managing,
some urgency in our players to like no one to
turn it on and get locked in to try to
(21:03):
win a game, like because we need to. Like we're
four and a half probably after this tonight, like it's
time to go. If there's any time to go, it's now,
like it should have been a month ago.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Yeah, I totally agree, Like I think I want to
say that was the Toronto game we lost one to
zero something like that, maybe now Toronto, but yeah, it would.
There have been some weird segments they've pulled up and
they're like chatting through an inning and they're not even
like talking about the game at all and nothing even
related to the game. And it's like you do realize
(21:39):
you're in like a playoff push, right, Like like I'm
kind of confused on what's going on here. I mean,
it's not Bob Barker out there, you know, talking about
another pitch that's way outside the zone or whatever, Like
what's going on.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
About having cat Spade neutered.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
We did see the return of Jordan Wicks and pitched
a great game on his birthday. With Wicks coming back,
Ben Brown probably won't make a comeback this year. We
look at the rotation, you're gonna have steel Hopefully he
doesn't have to have surgery in the offseas. Like that
kind of scared me last night after hearing that. It's
(22:29):
like elbow that's never good. Is this gonna be Tommy John?
Is he gonna be missed next year? Reports are out
that the news is fairly good and so it doesn't
look like it's Tommy John but still concerning. But you
have him, you have Ty One, you have the NAGA,
if you have Wis, there's one more spot that you
(22:51):
could possibly go out and get a dude to fill that.
What I would love to see this offseason if Cody
Bellinger ops in is that you go get a solid
starting pitcher, top tier starting pitcher, and you go get
yourself a closer, an elite closer. Make a trade with
(23:14):
the wealth that you have in your minor league system,
go get Class A, and I don't care who you
have to give up.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
He's the best.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Closer in baseball like that, Like thinking about all that
talks last off season about us getting Class A, like
and then he leads the league this year and he
just is absolutely shoving every single time. He shoved it
down our throats three straight games and.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
It was after he had played in two games the
series before. Like yeah, just every night out there.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Like that, Like get I know, sometimes bullpen bullpen guys
are finicky, but that's like the mid tier guys, like
the top tier guys are usually like they might falter
one out of like twenty games, but they're gonna be
rock solid for the majority of those games, like, yeah,
(24:08):
we need to go get a guy like that dude
in in the pen to finish out games. But I
will say that our bullpen has been rock solid, and.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
We left eight men on base in the first three innings.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
I just saw that pop up, Holy smokes, and skin
still pitched five innings like I thought.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
He was gonna be. I threw almost one hundred pitches.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
I'm kind of surprised they're letting him pitch that much.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
But you can't see what it's a reflection of, like.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Kind of how the season's gone. Yeah, da tonight, oh
for three to three ks. Last time he faced Skiens,
he was four for four on that game. Tonight he
struggled Skins made the adjustment on PCA and and got
him three straight times. But we need PCA for us
(25:06):
to go.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Like he's he's.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Kind of like the last month, he's been our best player,
hands down our best player and kind of and he
does so many things like last night, not getting the
force out like his speed caused them to when the
try and turn a double play, not get that force
out second because he beat the throw and then he
ends up scoring on happs hit down the line like
(25:32):
it's those little things that PCA does Like he's doing
those things, he's not. When he strikes out three times,
he's not doesn't get an opportunity to get on the
base pass and do what he does, like it only
hurts our team. You have Horner again zero for three.
Like the first thing I think I tweeted out, I
(25:53):
would kill right now to have the twenty twenty three
Horner up to bat right now, Like I would have
killed have that guy. But it isn't the Horner. It's
I'm gonna hit the ball on the ground to the
second basement. He's like the second coming of Jason Hayward.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Yeah, yeah, and he you know, at the beginning of
the season, Horner seemed to be hitting for power, like
trying trying to drive the ball out of the field,
which is not his game, especially effect. Yeah, it's just
kind of one of those I don't He's not looked
himself almost the entire season.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
I will say.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
What's sad is that Michael Bush's batting average is down
to two forty nine, which is lower than Nico Horner's.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
He had been so hot for Like.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
The ops is a lot better.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
It's seventy six for Bush in six seventy six for Horner.
So ops, what they're actually producing? I mean on baseball
slug like Bush has been more productive, but dance May
Swanson's batting average a month ago was.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
One A and nine. Now it's up to thirty seven.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
It was what it was under two hundred a month ago,
and I'm like, cripe.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
So he's made adjustments. Tonight he got a base hit.
I mean it seemed like there was a stretch where
he was getting hits everything. Like last night he had
a home run, Like he's kind of figuring out. We
just needed Like it's the any thing, it's consistency. Good
teams win because they're consistent. Well, what was it I
(27:44):
was listening to I've been like on this, Michael Jerk.
We my kids and I were watching The Last Dance
because I want them to like see what hard work
and like what determination like. So we started watching watching Yeah,
just like what like putting in hard work and wanting
to have that like killer mentality of like, no, I'm
gonna do whatever it takes to win and I'm gonna
(28:06):
work my butt off on improving and getting better. So
like we're doing that and so but we were looking
up like stats in there was like a two or
three year run that the Bulls did not lose more
than two games in a row for like three straight years.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Hmm.
Speaker 4 (28:28):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
Yeah, they play a ton of games too, like the.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Eighty two games. But because Michael, they would never like
whatever would happen, they would correct it. Then they wouldn't
go on stretches.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
They were just consistent.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Yep, and so like it's it's that, it's the the Cubs.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Need to learn some consistency.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
I mean, let's say the Cubs come back and when
the game the last time skiins pitch, they made a
huge comeback and came back and won, and they held
the three and a half games back.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Mm, the Cubs would.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Have to go on like another how many games do
they have left in the season.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
I think it's twenty two, not counting tonight, twenty two,
twenty one, it's not including tonight.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
There's a double header on the thirteenth. Oh wait wait
wait sorry sorry, sorry, sorry, wrong date.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Twenty two.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
So let's say they go Let's say they go sixteen.
They win sixteen games, so that's what six losses sixteen
(30:04):
more wins would put them out How many win total
for this year.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
They are currently at seventy one, so eighty seven.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Eighty seven, like which we kind of said eighty six
eighty seven would get them in the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (30:21):
I said it was going to take eighty eight.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
So sixteen wins. And let's say the Braves and the Mats,
which the Mats have a pretty tough schedule going forward,
the Braves have a kind.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Of easier schedule.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
But let's say they go twelve, they win twolve games.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Yeah, Braves would be at eighty six. Both those would
be at eighty six.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
That would be the one game that you would need
because right now the tiebreaker, they both have the tiebreaker
of the Cubs, so they need to be one up
on them. So the Cubs need to win sixteen, and
if the Braves and Mets both win twelve in the
next month, the Cubs make the playoffs. But that's almost
(31:16):
having to repeat the month that they just had when
they were eighteen and what was it eighteen and eight?
This last month, it's almost like repeating that and staying
this hot. So could they be the worst team in
baseball for two months and be the best team in
baseball for two months.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
As possible.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
Yeah, this game is wacky, man. Yeah, they do have
to get off to schneef.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
And the amount of that this season has been a
repeat of last season has been pretty frustrating. Yes, like
last season we had two months where we were the worst.
It was just separated by a month, but we still
had a stretch of two months where we were bad,
bad baseball. This one we like, we decided a month
of May and June we'd be the worst team in baseball,
(32:10):
never scored any runs, be boring, and then put together
pretty good baseball and then put together one really good.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Month, right.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
Man.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
And that's I'm just looking ahead of our schedule. We've
got the Yankees, the Dodgers, and the Phillies all in
there and.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
Play the Phillies.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
The Phillies at that point.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
It should be resting. People should be resting.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
But that happened last year when we played the Braves,
and we all know how that turned out.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Yeah, Jeffrey, Yes, how long has Ethan Roberts been on
the team?
Speaker 2 (32:48):
A while?
Speaker 1 (32:50):
A lot?
Speaker 4 (32:53):
Did we trade them away a couple of seasons ago?
Speaker 1 (32:55):
No, we got hurt, he got hurt, You got hurt?
Speaker 4 (32:58):
Okay, yep, all.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Right, I'd forgotten about the glasses thing, that the glasses
that he wears.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
But I don't think he had that tattoo sleeve.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
I don't think he did either.
Speaker 4 (33:11):
I think he did.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
I think I remember having tattoos. Anyway, We're thirty three minutes.
I don't want to go too much longer. Sixteen wins.
Get that in your head. Sixteen wins in Braves and
the Mets can only win twelve and we're in the playoffs.
Speaker 5 (33:36):
So remember, Cubs fans, when you go to bed at night,
you pray for sixteen Cubs wins, and you pray.
Speaker 4 (33:43):
For the Mets and the Braves to lose.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
All right, Well, thanks for listening. To make sure that
you're checking out the on Tap Sports Network YouTube channel.
That's where we're on every Monday Tuesday night, depending on
what's going on with our lives. And check out out
the Cubs on Tap podcast as well, because they're covering
their Cubs. They're awesome, we're friends with them. They're part
of the on Tap Sports Network crew as well, and
(34:09):
go check them out on Twitter. That's where we're interacting
with most of our fans, and go check them out
there as well. Thanks for listening, and go Cubs.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Make this dream of reality. Cubs, let's play.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Some ball sixteen sixteen, All right, thanks for listening.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
Go Cubs, Go, Cubs Go,
If you're listening to the Dingers Podcast presented to you
by Test Sports Network with your host Mitch, Jake, Jeff
and Kevis, you're ready to talk to the Cubs need.
The Dingers Podcast is on the air.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I'm your host, Mitch.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
I'm here with Kevin and Jeff. The Cubs have been
eight and two in their last ten, have been hot,
back to three games now three and a half games
back after last night's game. But is it crazy that
we can talk playoffs again? Like? Are are we dreaming?
Or is playoff picture reality? That's guy what we're gonna
(00:42):
be talking tonight. The Cubs offense have been hot, been
kind of the what's caused this hot stretch is a
balanced lineup and been fun to watch. So they must
have been using the B four bat app. So if
you haven't heard of the before bat app, let me
explain a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
It's Mitch from the Dinger's Podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Today. I want to talk to you about something that's
truly transformed the way that I, as a coach work
with young players and especially my own kids. I'm talking
about the B four bat app. For those who haven't
heard of a B four bat app, it is an
incredible tool that lets you track your exit velocity, launch
angil in more, all from your iPhone. No fancy bat
(01:23):
sensor or expensive equipment needed, Just your iPhone, a tripod
and you're good to go. I use the B four
bat app daily with my son and daughter and the
results have been phenomenal. It provides valuable data and video
feedback that helps fine tune their swing. My son absolutely
loves it. He gets a kick out of watching his
(01:44):
videos of his swing and especially enjoys tracking his exit velocity.
It's like a game for I'm trying to find that
perfect launch angle to maximize his exit velocity. For me,
it's been amazing to see how much this app has
really helped improve their swings. In that immediate feedback and
data that they get are a game changer. So if
(02:04):
you're looking to get that valuable data and insight for
your own slugger and for them to hit maybe some
more dingers this season, I highly recommend checking out before
batting app. You can go to bfore dot app dot
com or search before batting in the app sort. Trust me,
you and your kids will love it. Now let's get
(02:26):
back to hitting some more dingers. Yeah, so make sure
you're checking out the before bad app. It's a great app.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Helpful with all yours.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Young players could be helping the Cubs be able to
hit schemes tonight because it's been rough going. Cubs had
the bases loaded in the first and in the scent
in came away with nothing. That was after last night's
crushing defeat.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
So let's let's start there.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Let's talk about last night a little bit. Cubs are
up three nothing heading into the A. Lopez comes into
the game, gives up a little blooper single, gives up
another little single that radis no matter. No third basement
would have made that play, and then a home run
(03:16):
and then two betters to tie it up. Then two
bats later another home run to put the Pirates up,
and then they add on in the eighth or in
the ninth and comes loose five to three.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
I know for me that was that was crushing.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Going into the eighth, I'm thinking, Okay, we're gonna be
back and a half, two and a half games back
with what twenty five twenty six games left?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Yeah, getting close like.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
This, this is doable, This is doable. Again, like all
like they like they keep doing this they keep like
reeling you back in and then it just like last
night reminded me so much of like the Guardian Series
that the Cubs had, And if you don't remember that
Game one, they were a head going into the eighth
(04:05):
inning of that game and blew the lead and then
they ended up getting swept and it kind of put
them back six games really really quick. And here they
are now three and a half games back. You're facing schemes.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
What inning is that?
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Where are we in? Now?
Speaker 1 (04:19):
We're recording live on Monday sixth inning and you're down
to nothing and the Mets are up and the Braves are.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Up right now? Oh, the stars are not aligning right
now for us, Matge.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Well, it's just it's it's been kind of how the
season has has gone.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Yeah, it has.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
I mean, it's totally doable for the Cups to make
the playoffs, but everything just has to fall in the place.
The Cups need to keep winning series, and we need
the Braves and the Mets to keep losing series.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
But they're both winning tonight and we're losing tonight.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
Which if you would have told me that after five
innings we'd only be down two to nothing to a
game that started, and we started Jason Hendricks or Kyle
Hendricks and then we put Drew Smiley out there.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
You're like, if you're like, how is a guy who
dub does a Cubs podcast get names wrong? You haven't
been listening to all of our episodes because Jeffrey is
just not really good with names of players. For a
whole called Eric Dale, he did like Kyle Hendricks, but
(05:32):
now since he's played bad this season.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
I actually went to school with the Jason Hendricks.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Okay, that's probably.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Why came out of my subconscious.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
What what killed me last night and I tweeted this
out is you're up three to nothing, you take the
lead in the seventh inning, you get a lead off
double with Horner, and there was a ball I can't
remember who was up.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
To bat, it would have been who would have been
after Horner.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I think Swanson was up and there was kind of
a wild pitch. The ball got away significantly from the
catcher enough for Horner to make Horner to make it
to third, and that was with zero outs. Horner should
have been on third, He should have been getting a
good secondary and picking that ball up in the dirt
(06:26):
and getting over there with the ball getting that far,
you're one Horner's fast enough you could just steal the
base straight up. I know you don't want to make it,
make that out at third base, but like you've got
to start playing aggressive baseball and like that that that
was the difference right there, that you'd have been up
for nothing going into the eighth or then three things.
I mean, even if Lopez gives up that three year on.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
Home run, you're still up by a run.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Yeah, that it just it that one really got me.
Speaker 5 (06:58):
Yeah, it's it's missed opportunities last night, especially after since
Jameson pitched a gym, you know, seven scoreless.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
I don't know how we blow that game.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
And then like a game like tonight when we have
our two not great pitchers pitch in the game and
only down by two runs and we still have an
opportunity to win with three more innings after this one
to play.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
You gotta go to seize the day.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Cuties and the Pirates bullpen has not been very strong,
So like it makes you like it's one of those
where like because of the month of Man tune that
we had in us playing so poorly, that taste of
that is still in my mouth of like, yeah, we're
not gonna come back. But out of the last ten games,
(07:52):
almost all of those games that in that hot stretch
that we've had, all of them have been comeback wins,
all of them.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
Uh, did you hear Like the Pirates month of August?
They were eight and eighteen and on their three bus
convoy going from Chicago to Milwaukee, one of the bus
drivers got pulled over for an OWI did you hear that?
What Jim dis Chase was talking about it like during
an inning And I'm like, and they had a police
(08:21):
escort too.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Guy figured he just had to fall the lights.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
How do you how do you get chanked when you're
a motor coach driver for a professional baseball team with
the police escort?
Speaker 3 (08:38):
My lord, oh boy, oh boy, old boy. Yeah, I
don't know you're talking about? You know this is this
a fantasy or is this real? And they pull me
just in enough to be like, oh, I can see it.
They're going to keep this hot stretch going. They're going
to hit the playoffs with a at a sprint and
(08:58):
keep going. But then, just like you said, Mitch, they
lose that game last night and now I'm going, what
what's good? They could get swept, like, and if they
get swept, that just feels like you know, May and June,
and then they're like they've got to be out of it.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
I never, I, as much as I'm a baseball fan
of never truly understood the whole magic number system and
how that works. And I was like, I wonder, what.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Right? You can't figure it out? Right?
Speaker 3 (09:23):
So I'm like, Okay, I know we're in the hunt
for the wild card and there's a lot of games left,
but like, we've also got to be in this. If
we lose too many games, we've got to be out.
Like we're on that like riding that line. But I
don't know. I don't know, doesn't make any sense to me, unfortunately,
like our hot picture, Like I just saw Pete Crow
(09:44):
just got out like he had been so hot and
he's struggling right now.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yeah. A couple like a month ago, I think it
was Ian and I had a podcast just Ian Man
and I and we talked about how what the Cubs
were missing was that there are a bunch of clisters.
We need to find a listers for this team to
(10:10):
be successful. So I'll post that same thing. Do we
really need a star.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
For this team to be playoff worthy or.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Pushed for a World Series ring? Because what I've seen
the last month is really three things changed in this lineup,
and that was PCA figured things out. Amaya and Bethport
(10:47):
were serviceable behind the dish and at the plate, and
Danceby Swanson started hitting the ball. Like those three things changed,
and then our lineup became really deep and really successful
because we had we played small ball, we had power
(11:07):
when we needed it, and paradists started figuring out like
it got really deep, and then we just started playing
really good baseball because our pitching was great, Our bullpen
has been looking rock solid, and we're a totally different
baseball club. So do we need that star or do
you need to Like not saying that we have to
(11:27):
like mimic other teams, because I think that's been used
almost too much, like, oh, the clubs are a big
market team and they're trying to play like that. It's
like no, It's like, there are many ways to win
win baseball games and be successful as a team, and
you've seen you've seen the Potteries do it for whole
bunch of years where they went out and bought a
whole bunch of guys and they still had three or
(11:48):
four spots that were weak and they didn't make the playoffs,
and so it's like, right now.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
What are you guys thoughts.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
I kind of look at it like how the Yankees
buy all the time.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
I mean, just they spend the exorbitant amounts of money
on contracts for guys and they don't win a World
Series every year. They sometimes don't make the playoffs, but
they don't go very deep. I think a lot of
it is a team playing as a team and coming
together and everybody kind of playing their role and doing
(12:20):
their part. Like when Dangley wasn't hitting and PSA was
struggling at the play and Amaya was terrible at the plate,
shaky behind the plate, it's just made winning harder.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
But when they started to play better, winning became easier.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah, I mean, just like.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Pca be some numbers in his last thirty games, seventeen RBIs,
He's batted three to twenty a, nine to twenty six ops,
eight stolen bases, four home runs. Like the dude has
(13:04):
been one of the probably one of the best hitters
in the last month, last thirty two games. I think
he has the best hitter in the National League.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
I believe I saw that a tear on the internet
the other day.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
You put that together with with Dancy Swanson, who we
expected this to be him, Like it's kind of been
a flip flop for Dansby. Like last season he started
off really really hot and then trailed off. This season
he started off really really cold, and now he's gotten
hot towards the end. It's like, next year, are we
just gonna get like a consistent Dansby, Like that's what
(13:39):
we need, And like I don't know, Like Bethancourt seems
to be able to hit Skiings and Skins ain't leaving
the NL central for a while. I think we should
just keep a Skeens killer in our lineup for the
next couple of years, just to have that guy that
every time Skans pitches. We have Bethencourt in lineup right right.
And he's been really he's been.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
He's been good by in the plate.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Like he threw out he picked off a guy Tony
at first in a MIAs, changing his batting, batting up
like a little bit of his light kick, Like he's
been rock solid like he's figuring out so like it
makes the front office have some questions. Are you going
to try to fill that spot with somebody in the
off season or are you going to just ride out
(14:22):
of Maya next year because he's made the improvements, he's
done what you've asked, like he's You've asked him to
make adjustments and he did and he got better. Or
are they gonna pull a David ross In like, uh,
you did, you did some adjustments but still weren't good enough.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
You're gone. We're getting somebody else.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Yeah, And I wonder I would it would not surprise
me if they don't go get a star catcher, because
they also have bias steros at at Iowa, and I
think they want to give him enough time down there
to see in the catching catch up to the bat.
And at the same time, how much production do you
(15:01):
usually get from a catching from the catching position, is
you know, another thing to consider. I don't know. It's
just has seemed like the whole team is playing really good,
complimentary baseball. Somebody's getting on base, the next person's moving
them over. They're getting there. They're going a lot of
first to thirds on on singles, they're getting a guy
(15:23):
all the way to third base and then we're just
it seems nobody's pushing. I was just noticing the other
day we haven't had very many dingers on our Dinger picks.
Why but we're still putting up fourteen runs and nine
runs a game like these giant like football score games
and it's not based on the singer. Yeah. And I
(15:45):
think Bethencourt had a seven RBI game like last week
at one point.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
I mean, i I big comeback against the Pirates. I
watched that game, dear in my professional development. It was great.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
I'm with you, Mitch. I'm wondering where where would you
put a star in this lineup? Like, like what hole
would they fill in?
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I mean in in a big cloud. And a big
cloud is hanging over this team and it's his name
is Cody Bellinger because he hasn't opt in and if
he opts in one, that doesn't free up money for
us to spend, and that takes a spot that you
can't like. It's like, okay, are you gonna have sayah
(16:29):
B the DH next year and then Bellinger be the
right fielder because PCA is basically taking up center, So
really you have no spot besides if you're going to
trade Horner and fill in at second, but you have
Shaw waiting in the wings, so like now you owe
spots really for another guy besides catcher, and there aren't
(16:50):
many star catchers out there available, So you're basically like, Okay,
we're we're gonna do it again. We're just gonna run
this team back out there and if things get any
better the third time around.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
That's basically what we worked ourselves into.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
So I know there's a lot of people like, yeah, whatever,
great this season, but I'm really looking for twenty looking
forward to twenty twenty five. Whatever happens this season, I
don't think they're gonna make the playoffs. I'm looking at
twenty twenty five. Well, it's like we're still gonna back ourselves.
We could back ourselves in a corner and really run
the same team out. The only way we could we
could improve is go out and get another solid starting pitching,
(17:24):
which maybe Corban Burns or whoever else.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
But that's the only way we could.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
Really get better improve because there's.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
No other spots where we we can.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
No and if if Bellinger option, what's that dude, to
like somebody like Mike Talkman.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Well he hasn't played much.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
I would say, right now, Mike Talkman, I don't even
know why Patrick Wisdom is still on a team. Like
Patrick Wisdom should not be getting at bats. That's where
I would rather have an own Casey or Bonasterios or
like taking those at bats because like.
Speaker 5 (17:57):
Well, now it's five to nothing, so this game may
I've just gotten out of hand.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Ah, yeah, that's I wonder too, Like will Horner be
traded this offseason to make room for Show because I
think he's going to Shaw. Seems to me next season
he's going to be banging on the door and saying, hey,
I'm ready to come up. But at the same time,
we have I don't know, it feels like we have
three or four outfielders at Triple A ready to make
a step up too, potentially, I don't know. It seems crowded,
(18:29):
but it's also not crowded with like not all those
positions are all our genuine star caliber, Like they're not
Paul Skane's ready to come up and fill a starting
pitching role. They're like, hey, let's go see. Shaw is
going to be the second basement of the future. Let's
go ahead and get him in the lineup. You know,
Owen Casey's been knocking on the door. I feel bad
(18:51):
for I saw what was the game the other day?
The Cubs were up huge, and I saw Luis Vasquez
came in. I'm like, how long has he been with
the big club? You know, like he's been.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
He's five days and he hasn't played at all. Right,
I think that's why they want to own Casey right now,
is because they don't want to call him up and
then not play. But if they're out of it, then
it doesn't matter. Right now, They're like they've been in
it enough that it's they're not going to call him
up and sit in when they when they want to
(19:22):
win games. But it's like, because now if you lose
this game, now you're down four and a half games.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
Yeah, like that, how many times is your TV going
to be played that last home?
Speaker 1 (19:36):
I know it's like four time, rubbing it in, just
rubbing it in, And like I don't want to say that,
Like it's just like the playing with a sense of
urgency like this club, like they did there for a while,
but even last night, when when you really need it,
(19:58):
that urgency of like Horner needed to be on third
base in that situation. The other day, there was a
game that.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
Like they're kind of resting on their laurels. Well it was.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
What game was it? It was a close game.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
We lost the game, and here, uh, what's Boog is
talking in the ninth inning about pick a ball or
some dumb thing, and it's like read the room, buddy, Like, sorry,
we're in a playoff race. How about you lock in
and talk about what's going on instead of some pick
a ball tournament that's going on in Australia. Like there's
(20:42):
times when like I get really sick of listening to Boog,
Like I for the most part like him as an announcer,
but I want more of a Homer and more urgency
from our our announcing crew, some urgency in our managing,
some urgency in our players to like no one to
turn it on and get locked in to try to
(21:03):
win a game, like because we need to. Like we're
four and a half probably after this tonight, like it's
time to go. If there's any time to go, it's now,
like it should have been a month ago.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Yeah, I totally agree, Like I think I want to
say that was the Toronto game we lost one to
zero something like that, maybe now Toronto, but yeah, it would.
There have been some weird segments they've pulled up and
they're like chatting through an inning and they're not even
like talking about the game at all and nothing even
related to the game. And it's like you do realize
(21:39):
you're in like a playoff push, right, Like like I'm
kind of confused on what's going on here. I mean,
it's not Bob Barker out there, you know, talking about
another pitch that's way outside the zone or whatever, Like
what's going on.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
About having cat Spade neutered.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
We did see the return of Jordan Wicks and pitched
a great game on his birthday. With Wicks coming back,
Ben Brown probably won't make a comeback this year. We
look at the rotation, you're gonna have steel Hopefully he
doesn't have to have surgery in the offseas. Like that
kind of scared me last night after hearing that. It's
(22:29):
like elbow that's never good. Is this gonna be Tommy John?
Is he gonna be missed next year? Reports are out
that the news is fairly good and so it doesn't
look like it's Tommy John but still concerning. But you
have him, you have Ty One, you have the NAGA,
if you have Wis, there's one more spot that you
(22:51):
could possibly go out and get a dude to fill that.
What I would love to see this offseason if Cody
Bellinger ops in is that you go get a solid
starting pitcher, top tier starting pitcher, and you go get
yourself a closer, an elite closer. Make a trade with
(23:14):
the wealth that you have in your minor league system,
go get Class A, and I don't care who you
have to give up.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
He's the best.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Closer in baseball like that, Like thinking about all that
talks last off season about us getting Class A, like
and then he leads the league this year and he
just is absolutely shoving every single time. He shoved it
down our throats three straight games and.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
It was after he had played in two games the
series before. Like yeah, just every night out there.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Like that, Like get I know, sometimes bullpen bullpen guys
are finicky, but that's like the mid tier guys, like
the top tier guys are usually like they might falter
one out of like twenty games, but they're gonna be
rock solid for the majority of those games, like, yeah,
(24:08):
we need to go get a guy like that dude
in in the pen to finish out games. But I
will say that our bullpen has been rock solid, and.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
We left eight men on base in the first three innings.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
I just saw that pop up, Holy smokes, and skin
still pitched five innings like I thought.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
He was gonna be. I threw almost one hundred pitches.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
I'm kind of surprised they're letting him pitch that much.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
But you can't see what it's a reflection of, like.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Kind of how the season's gone. Yeah, da tonight, oh
for three to three ks. Last time he faced Skiens,
he was four for four on that game. Tonight he
struggled Skins made the adjustment on PCA and and got
him three straight times. But we need PCA for us
(25:06):
to go.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Like he's he's.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Kind of like the last month, he's been our best player,
hands down our best player and kind of and he
does so many things like last night, not getting the
force out like his speed caused them to when the
try and turn a double play, not get that force
out second because he beat the throw and then he
ends up scoring on happs hit down the line like
(25:32):
it's those little things that PCA does Like he's doing
those things, he's not. When he strikes out three times,
he's not doesn't get an opportunity to get on the
base pass and do what he does, like it only
hurts our team. You have Horner again zero for three.
Like the first thing I think I tweeted out, I
(25:53):
would kill right now to have the twenty twenty three
Horner up to bat right now, Like I would have
killed have that guy. But it isn't the Horner. It's
I'm gonna hit the ball on the ground to the
second basement. He's like the second coming of Jason Hayward.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Yeah, yeah, and he you know, at the beginning of
the season, Horner seemed to be hitting for power, like
trying trying to drive the ball out of the field,
which is not his game, especially effect. Yeah, it's just
kind of one of those I don't He's not looked
himself almost the entire season.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
I will say.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
What's sad is that Michael Bush's batting average is down
to two forty nine, which is lower than Nico Horner's.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
He had been so hot for Like.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
The ops is a lot better.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
It's seventy six for Bush in six seventy six for Horner.
So ops, what they're actually producing? I mean on baseball
slug like Bush has been more productive, but dance May
Swanson's batting average a month ago was.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
One A and nine. Now it's up to thirty seven.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
It was what it was under two hundred a month ago,
and I'm like, cripe.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
So he's made adjustments. Tonight he got a base hit.
I mean it seemed like there was a stretch where
he was getting hits everything. Like last night he had
a home run, Like he's kind of figuring out. We
just needed Like it's the any thing, it's consistency. Good
teams win because they're consistent. Well, what was it I
(27:44):
was listening to I've been like on this, Michael Jerk.
We my kids and I were watching The Last Dance
because I want them to like see what hard work
and like what determination like. So we started watching watching Yeah,
just like what like putting in hard work and wanting
to have that like killer mentality of like, no, I'm
gonna do whatever it takes to win and I'm gonna
(28:06):
work my butt off on improving and getting better. So
like we're doing that and so but we were looking
up like stats in there was like a two or
three year run that the Bulls did not lose more
than two games in a row for like three straight years.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Hmm.
Speaker 4 (28:28):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
Yeah, they play a ton of games too, like the.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Eighty two games. But because Michael, they would never like
whatever would happen, they would correct it. Then they wouldn't
go on stretches.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
They were just consistent.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Yep, and so like it's it's that, it's the the Cubs.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Need to learn some consistency.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
I mean, let's say the Cubs come back and when
the game the last time skiins pitch, they made a
huge comeback and came back and won, and they held
the three and a half games back.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Mm, the Cubs would.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Have to go on like another how many games do
they have left in the season.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
I think it's twenty two, not counting tonight, twenty two,
twenty one, it's not including tonight.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
There's a double header on the thirteenth. Oh wait wait
wait sorry sorry, sorry, sorry, wrong date.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Twenty two.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
So let's say they go Let's say they go sixteen.
They win sixteen games, so that's what six losses sixteen
(30:04):
more wins would put them out How many win total
for this year.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
They are currently at seventy one, so eighty seven.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Eighty seven, like which we kind of said eighty six
eighty seven would get them in the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (30:21):
I said it was going to take eighty eight.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
So sixteen wins. And let's say the Braves and the Mats,
which the Mats have a pretty tough schedule going forward,
the Braves have a kind.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Of easier schedule.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
But let's say they go twelve, they win twolve games.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Yeah, Braves would be at eighty six. Both those would
be at eighty six.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
That would be the one game that you would need
because right now the tiebreaker, they both have the tiebreaker
of the Cubs, so they need to be one up
on them. So the Cubs need to win sixteen, and
if the Braves and Mets both win twelve in the
next month, the Cubs make the playoffs. But that's almost
(31:16):
having to repeat the month that they just had when
they were eighteen and what was it eighteen and eight?
This last month, it's almost like repeating that and staying
this hot. So could they be the worst team in
baseball for two months and be the best team in
baseball for two months.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
As possible.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
Yeah, this game is wacky, man. Yeah, they do have
to get off to schneef.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
And the amount of that this season has been a
repeat of last season has been pretty frustrating. Yes, like
last season we had two months where we were the worst.
It was just separated by a month, but we still
had a stretch of two months where we were bad,
bad baseball. This one we like, we decided a month
of May and June we'd be the worst team in baseball,
(32:10):
never scored any runs, be boring, and then put together
pretty good baseball and then put together one really good.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Month, right.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
Man.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
And that's I'm just looking ahead of our schedule. We've
got the Yankees, the Dodgers, and the Phillies all in
there and.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
Play the Phillies.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
The Phillies at that point.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
It should be resting. People should be resting.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
But that happened last year when we played the Braves,
and we all know how that turned out.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Yeah, Jeffrey, Yes, how long has Ethan Roberts been on
the team?
Speaker 2 (32:48):
A while?
Speaker 1 (32:50):
A lot?
Speaker 4 (32:53):
Did we trade them away a couple of seasons ago?
Speaker 1 (32:55):
No, we got hurt, he got hurt, You got hurt?
Speaker 4 (32:58):
Okay, yep, all.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Right, I'd forgotten about the glasses thing, that the glasses
that he wears.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
But I don't think he had that tattoo sleeve.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
I don't think he did either.
Speaker 4 (33:11):
I think he did.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
I think I remember having tattoos. Anyway, We're thirty three minutes.
I don't want to go too much longer. Sixteen wins.
Get that in your head. Sixteen wins in Braves and
the Mets can only win twelve and we're in the playoffs.
Speaker 5 (33:36):
So remember, Cubs fans, when you go to bed at night,
you pray for sixteen Cubs wins, and you pray.
Speaker 4 (33:43):
For the Mets and the Braves to lose.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
All right, Well, thanks for listening. To make sure that
you're checking out the on Tap Sports Network YouTube channel.
That's where we're on every Monday Tuesday night, depending on
what's going on with our lives. And check out out
the Cubs on Tap podcast as well, because they're covering
their Cubs. They're awesome, we're friends with them. They're part
of the on Tap Sports Network crew as well, and
(34:09):
go check them out on Twitter. That's where we're interacting
with most of our fans, and go check them out
there as well. Thanks for listening, and go Cubs.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Make this dream of reality. Cubs, let's play.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Some ball sixteen sixteen, All right, thanks for listening.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
Go Cubs, Go, Cubs Go,
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