00:00In 162 games you play, you have an unbelievable year like Pete Crow Armstrong, and the only
00:07thing people are going to talk about is the fact that he went 0-7, struck out four times,
00:12had an error, and did nothing but scream and yell about the umps in a two-game sweep by
00:17the Padres in the postseason.
00:19He's not the first guy to have a great regular season and disappear in the postseason, but
00:28ultimately, I guess, what have you done for me lately, if fair or not, that's kind of
00:33what the M.O. is going to be here, no?
00:36Yeah, I mean, I understand.
00:37I just don't think he's the reason why they lost it.
00:40Like, they just had no pitching, and he was one of nine guys in the lineup.
00:43I think, you know, you look back in history, and Barry Bonds was in that category.
00:49At one point, Clayton Kershaw was in that category.
00:51I think he far eclipsed that and ended up being great in the postseason.
00:56People forget how good he was toward the end of his run in the postseason.
00:58He was really good.
01:01You mentioned A-Rod during one of our breaks.
01:03A-Rod was another one.
01:04Aaron Judge is currently one that's going now.
01:06Aaron Judge really hasn't had a lot of success in the postseason.
01:09I think it's fair, Joe, in a year or two to start asking those questions.
01:14I think it's fair.
01:15I think he's just young at this point.
01:17I'm not going that far down there.
01:19The numbers speak for themselves.
01:20He didn't get a hit, and he didn't play well, but he was still the best player in the regular
01:26season.
01:26I think if the Cubs consistently make the postseason and consistently lose, and he consistently does nothing, yes, that's fine.
01:33This is two years in a row.
01:34If we're still having this conversation after next year or two, yes, I think we could start asking that question.
01:40But I think when you look at Pete Corr Armstrong, in the last calendar year, he became a superstar.
01:46It's not like he's been a superstar for a long time, so I just don't think you put him in
01:50the same category as Bonds, who had played for 17 years, or Kershaw, who had played for seven years.
01:56Those guys all had a lot of experience getting to the postseason and then not doing anything there for a
02:02period of time.
02:03So, mulliganed or giving him another chance, I will do that with Pete Corr Armstrong.
02:09I'm willing to say I'll chalk it up and talk to me again next year.
02:14And if it's the same result, yes, it's fair to say at that point, three straight years of not doing
02:19anything in the postseason has got to be better.
02:23How much of a factor do you think Bregman being hit in the face with a ball before the playoffs
02:30started?
02:30Probably.
02:31He was, right?
02:32I mean, that's a guy that usually has always been, you can count on him in the postseason, right?
02:37He's always a guy that shows up.
02:39But, yeah, that was just an unfortunate turn of events there in a situation where we didn't even know if
02:46we were going to see him in the postseason.
02:49And he was red hot down the stretch for them.
02:51So, just unfortunate.
02:53Yeah, just the whole thing was unfortunate.
02:55I think the common denominator with the Cubs, as opposed to some of these other teams in the postseason, is
03:02that you're involved in a game, early in a game that's potentially close, and the games are almost getting away
03:09from you right away.
03:10And you're down, which, whereas the Yankees and Red Sox, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, one, nothing, two, nothing, two, one,
03:16nothing, no score.
03:17You know, all these games, you know, Braves and Philly, 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, like, you're immediately down
03:233-4-0 in these games.
03:26Like, what do you expect at that point?
03:27Oh, they expect you to come back.
03:28It is not that easy.
03:29And so, therefore, they didn't have a stopper.
03:33They didn't have a pitcher to go six innings and give up one run.
03:38And then maybe things are different, and maybe you manage different when you're down one, as opposed to being down
03:43three in the fifth or sixth inning.
03:45And immediately, like, again, Matthew Boyd has pitched a long time in the big leagues, and there's no disrespect intended.
03:51But, I mean, come on, like, if that's the guy that you have going in game one, you've got to
03:57expect there's a chance that Tatis and Machado are going to homer to begin the game, and then you're dead,
04:02like, right there.
04:03That's what postseason baseball is.
04:05If you're down 2-0 or 3-0 early, there's not, I mean, there's not a great chance you're going
04:10to be able to come back.
04:12Philadelphia, to their credit, came back, tied it, and then won that game in extra innings.
04:17But that's the exception.
04:18It's not the norm.
04:19The norm is, if you go up, the bullpen starts unloaded.
04:23You start bringing in all these aces and all these bullpen arms like San Diego has, and you're going to
04:27lose.
04:29So the Cubs have to just get an ace, Joe, next year.
04:33It's that simple.
04:33They can have a bunch of Gossmans and Imanagas and Boyds.
04:37That's cool.
04:38But they've got to go out and get themselves, and I don't know how they do it because there's not
04:41a lot of free agents.
04:42It would have to be a trade.
04:43But, like, Nick Martinez is not necessarily going to be the answer there.
04:46They have to go out and try and find maybe a team that is playing for the future and not
04:54current, and go get themselves someone.
04:57A front rotation guy.
04:58Christopher Sanchez, front rotation guy.
05:00I know he had a bad year.
05:02Paul Skeens, front rotation guy.
05:03Somebody like that.
