00:00But the Cubs were one of those teams I looked at, extremely talented,
00:03stumbled a little bit out of the gate, then got hot at the right time.
00:06It looks like they found their level here, 17-10 on the Major League Baseball season,
00:10as you saw yesterday, finally losing a game to the Dodgers, 12-4.
00:14Cubbies, hot at the plate, Craig, like what I see so far.
00:18Yeah, great start for them this year, Seiya Suzuki in particular,
00:22one of those names that I think, you know, building on what he did last year,
00:26continued to hit all this past week as well.
00:29And as you can see, not playing any slouches, although Philly's not having a great year,
00:33you would have thought that that would be an impressive series.
00:36They wiped them out.
00:37Dodgers playing them as well and doing a good job there.
00:40So look, we all had the Cubs projected to have a really good year.
00:43What we didn't know was that the Cubs would be in for a dogfight with the Reds,
00:48and I think maybe even the Brewers later on in the season.
00:50The Pirates are off to a good start too.
00:52Ironically, in the end of the season, that could be, maybe the West too,
00:55but the Central could be the division that produces all of these playoffs teams
00:59and not the East.
01:00At least that's what it looks like on paper thus far.
01:02Yeah, I get upset with sometimes I see.
01:04It's like, you know, my Philadelphia Phillies is like,
01:05oh yeah, Schwarber's under 200, and Harper's like the bright spot at 270,
01:08and maybe you take a look at a Brandon Marsh who's playing well.
01:11And no, like a lot of 150s in that lineup, which includes my guy Alec Boehm.
01:15Then you look at the lineup here for the Cubs.
01:17How do you like to set the table?
01:18I don't know.
01:18Nico Horner, no more for his glove.
01:20Hitting 309 at the leadoff spot with four home runs already.
01:23You go down that lineup, Ian Happ with seven home runs.
01:26Suzuki, as you talked about, 327 on the season.
01:28How about 365 at-bats, 397 for Baez-Darros there as well.
01:32This team is hitting at the right time right now.
01:34I want to see what they can do because in that ballpark,
01:36when the wind is blowing out in that division,
01:38they can put up some serious numbers.
01:40And again, they're not in first place because of how good the Reds have actually opened up,
01:43but I like the fact they turned that corner.
01:45We'll see about that game that they played today against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
01:48But my expectations from the beginning of the season
01:50still look pretty good with what the Cubs have been doing lately, Craig.
01:53Yeah, they're playing really well.
01:55As we talked about opening week, I think, I like the Reds a lot.
02:00I saw them play here in South Florida and thought,
02:02OK, now I've seen this for so long.
02:05I know what a good team looks like.
02:06I know the Reds are going to be good.
02:08That, to me, that team is going to be the team that's going to battle the Cubs, Donnie.
02:12And I do wonder if the Reds add a couple of pieces
02:16to get their lineup a little bit stronger.
02:17If they do that, their pitching is very formidable.
02:20And who knows if they get back Hunter Green.
02:22But then probably a Cubs fan would be yelling at me right now, Donnie, saying,
02:26well, what do you think?
02:26The Cubs are just going to sit back at the deadline, too?
02:28They're not.
02:29Look, the Cubs should put the foot on the pedal this year.
02:32They look like one of the best teams in the National League.
02:34No question.
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