00:00The Cubs slide is very interesting to me.
00:02The Chicago Cubs, as it stands right now,
00:04are seven and a half back of the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central.
00:08They've dropped their last two.
00:09They've lost six of ten.
00:11They've actually lost six of the last nine.
00:12And we're starting to see the frustration really eke out here with Chicago.
00:17Cubs are 67-51.
00:19Milwaukee is 75-44.
00:21What we saw from Chicago was Kyle Tucker slamming a helmet in the dugout
00:25and PCA slamming a bat after he struck out looking.
00:29Craig Council, I mean, night after night in his postgame manager availability,
00:35it just seems like he's running short on answers
00:39and doesn't have a good idea of, you know, how to quell the Cubs' media base.
00:45It's just kind of bizarre what's going on in Cubbyland here,
00:49and it really feels like it started at the trade deadline.
00:51And we talked about the Cubs being one of, if not the most disappointing deadline
00:56among buyers in Major League Baseball.
00:58It almost feels like that clubhouse is aware that they should have done a heck
01:02of a better job buying at the trade deadline.
01:05Yeah, and I think there's just natural struggles that come.
01:10We were talking about a PCA possible regression just based on all the underlying data, right?
01:14Like Kyle Tucker has a lot of pressure on him to help push this team into the playoffs,
01:19and also it's a contract year for a deal that people are expecting to start with a four
01:25and potentially push to 450.
01:28So there's a lot going into that.
01:30But at the same time, I do think that this team had to be a little bit disappointed
01:36to not see, you know, just more added,
01:39especially when you're seeing the Padres do what they're doing.
01:42Not everybody needs to be that, that insane.
01:44But when you're seeing some other teams across the league, you know,
01:47add a little bit more aggressively and you don't really do anything.
01:51And the one position player addition that you make is at a position where it's probably
01:56been your best player over the last few weeks.
01:58And Matt Shaw was in a thousand OPS over his last 10 games.
02:02And it's been great since pretty much the all-star break.
02:04And now I know Castro can play every position, but right now that seems to be the obvious
02:09spot to fit him in.
02:11There's definitely a tangible heaviness and disappointment when your team also that has
02:18been out there and kind of floated all these different ideas, didn't ever talk down the ideas
02:23of being aggressive at the deadline, decided not to do anything.
02:26I got to imagine that they feel that throughout that clubhouse.
02:31And I mean, when you look at the struggles, it's just kind of bleeding through to all of
02:36their core guys.
02:37It's, it's pretty crazy to see.
02:39It's been nice to see Swanson pick it up.
02:42And, you know, Justin Turner has been great in the very few spots that they've given him
02:46as the walk-off.
02:47I mean, that was absolutely huge for them, but it has been wild to see this offense slow
02:52down because you knew PCA would come down to earth a little bit, but did you think Michael
02:55Bush would hit 158 over his last 30 days?
02:58No, everyone's complaining about Ian Hap.
03:01He's not the problem.
03:02He's been fine.
03:03Say a Suzuki 587 OPS over his last 30 days.
03:07I mean, up until these last couple of weeks, Nancy Swanson was in that same conversation
03:11as well.
03:12It's been really, really rough to watch.
03:14And then Kyle Tucker, it's a 669 over his last 30 days.
03:18Those guys aren't mashing.
03:20This is a team that we knew was going to have to mash and they didn't add much to the rotation
03:25or the bullpen.
03:27So when they're not mashing, it's really hard to win these games.
03:31As we sit here and talk on Wednesday, August 13th, their August OPS as a team is 624.
03:37That's 29th in Major League Baseball.
03:39The only team that's been worse in the month of August, 533 is the Baltimore Orioles.
03:44We were just talking about Ryan O'Hearn, Ramon Laureano going over to San Diego.
03:48It seems like they took all the might away from Baltimore.
03:50533 team OPS for Baltimore in their first 10 games in the month of August.
03:56But Chicago hitting 223 as a team.
04:00And oh, by the way, I mean, the pitching has been okay, not stellar.
04:03The Cubs right now, I mean, it's a 3-1 over their last 10 games.
04:08But it just seems like they're lacking the second in the whole it takes two to tango deal right
04:14now.
04:14And a segmented baseball team going into August is just a little scary.
04:19You got to wait until September.
04:22And the Cubs are, they can moonwalk their way into a wildcard spot.
04:26But I really thought that we were going to see a heavyweight bout in the NL Central.
04:31I thought we were looking at the AL West, the NL West, the NL East, and the NL Central as
04:36the four divisions that were really up for grabs up top.
04:39Credit to Milwaukee for doing what they needed to do.
04:42But Chicago, all of a sudden, like, what are their odds that they that they hang out and
04:47they, you know, come back in the NL Central and give 10 for a division title?
04:50Like 5%, 10%?
04:52If that, yeah, I mean, it feels it feels almost impossible.
04:56Well, maybe they're going to jump in.
04:58There are people waiting sod to be able.
04:59If that didn't happen, they're going to be able to cross.
05:00Because basically, without me, people have no idea.
05:01Likeätze, they have gotten close.
05:03Okay.
05:04We put the�ipt convict trips to wherever they have to capture an opportunity.
05:06I mean, I feel like I'm just going to ask people coming through the slick pumpkin title.
05:08But why do we select thegartford thisOoh' name is we know how they have to move happily?
05:12And that's my Zukunft.
05:13But that's the same position.
05:14I mean, I feel like I'm going to go occasionally.
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