Are the Chicago Cubs one of the best teams in baseball?

Are the Chicago Cubs one of the best teams in baseball?

Are the Cubs one of the best teams in baseball? Find out next. You are Locked On Cubs, your daily Chicago Cubs podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. You are Locked On Cubs, part of the Locked On Network. Your team every day. Alongside Sam, I’m Matt Cozy. Sam and I are lifelong fans taking our passion to discussion with you on all things Cubs. For 108 days, the Cubs were in first place in the NL Central. They were consistent. They were efficient. They not only survived but thrived despite major injuries in the starting rotation. Early on, this was mostly due to a prolific offense. Later they turned into an elite defense as well. Solid base running team, resurgent bullpen, and at least for a couple of days now, the Cubs have been in second place in the NL Central. The twist here is that the Cubs are in second place in the NL Central with the second best record in baseball at 60 and 41. The Brewers are 61 and 41 thanks to a 22-6 run since June 19th and 36 and 13 since May 25th. Sam, I really believe entering this weekend series with the White Socks prior to the big showdown next week. Right now, it’s clear to me uh even despite what the Tigers are doing in the American League, the Astros, the Blue Jays, I really believe the Cubs and Brewers are the two best teams in baseball right now. So, folks, you know, we don’t really talk about this before the show. Sometimes he just he’ll he’ll he’ll lay this on me because he wants my raw reaction. And so, that’s what I’m going to give him. Um Go Cubs. You know, I if I’m being honest with you, right, I’m a little bit tired of the best team in baseball stuff because every team’s separated by what, a game or two? Yeah. A couple games because the uh Cubs, Dodgers, Mets, uh Tigers, Astros, Astros, Blue Jays have the same record as the Cubs. Yeah. And and the Cubs have not been able to separate themselves from those clubs here for a while. and they’ve they’ve basically played, you know, slightly above 500 baseball for for a month and a half now. Um, so I do I think I right now I think the the best team in baseball are the Brewers for sure. I I I do I do think that as of right now and and I don’t think you can People might might say, “Well, that’s that’s crazy.” Well, when you rattle off when you rattle off 36 of 49, that’s that’s something to be there. But I think if the playoffs started, you know, in a couple of weeks, I I still think the Dodgers are ahead of the Cubs, uh, when they get their guys healthy. Um, if if that happens, key for them. Yeah. Health and and, you know, Mookie Betts, you know, playing like like like the type of player that he is or at least 70 75% of that. Um, so I would say those would be the two. And then I agree. I think the Cubs are in that next tier of take your pick. you know, I’m not a subscriber daily to, you know, Blue Jays and Tigers baseball games, so I can’t tell you exactly what’s going on with them. I know the Tigers have been struggling for quite a quite a bit here. Um, but I I think the Cubs are in that I I I I think they’re in that tier, but I still think with what the Brewers have done lately, you know, they’re they’re up up a notch. I just think the Dodgers with their pedigree and who’s going to come back with them because the Dodgers have looked bad for a while, but you just don’t you feel like they’re going to be there at the end. I I like to believe that, especially with the the the the power they have behind the names on paper hits a homer every night. Yeah. And and so they have they have one of the best players we’ve ever seen. Mhm. They have, if healthy, one of the best rotations probably of all time. But are those people going to be healthy, right? And they they really struggle to field. They are not good defensively this year. Uh are is Betts going to be healthy? Is Freeman going to be healthy? You know, going back all the way to Tokyo in mid-March when these guys were absent, what is going to happen down the stretch? What is their lineup going to look like on October 1st, right? Uh, all all good questions to ask. The Mets I’ve cooled off on. Me, too. You know, throughout the summer. Me, too. Have you too? Yeah. I I never was a huge fan of their like I I knew they were a good team, I never thought they were as good as they were playing. Even though, you know, their first three, four hitters, it rivals the Dodgers, it rivals the Cubs. Sure. I think. Y um but their starting rotation is kind is a little bit loose for me, of course. Um, you know, the Philly, the Mets have overtaken the Phillies in that division in the East. Yeah. Because of the Phillies, uh, eb and flow here since before the All-Star break. Uh, you know, having one of the best pitchers of of our time and Zack Wheeler is nice, but yeah, but beyond that and and and Schwarber Harper, which I’ve always respected and really enjoyed them, I I’m not as scared of them. Uh, I I have the Padres’s on the periphery of all this, but I guess I find myself after such a long run of the Cubs in first place, I am starting to evaluate the whole landscape more and really trying to convince myself of, hey, yeah, you know what? They have the second best record in baseball, but if they overtake the Brewers, they may very well have the top seed in the National League. For sure. For sure. And how far would that go in terms of when you enter the postseason? It it’s big because you play less games and it’s just it’s all up in the air right now. Like and that’s kind of what I was saying before the second half. I just I want to see them rattle off eight out of 10. I want to see them rattle off 14 15 out of 20 because then that would solve everything. They they just haven’t you know now they were eight and four heading into the break and and that was a heck of a win. Um, and then they went 10 and then they took two of three from Boston. So they they rattled off a 10 out of 15 and their only series loss was that that blip in in Minnesota. But I I just want to see like another step, you know, and that’s why the Kansas City series was so frustrating because if you go four and two and then you go sweep the Socks, that’s a seven out of nine right there. You know, they just haven’t gotten to that next step where it’s like, you know, when’s the last time we said, “Hey, man, the Cubbies are are redot here.” And if they if they get there, they would probably be the best team in baseball for a bit record-wise. And and then I think that would give everybody else or at least speaking for myself um more confidence. I just haven’t seen a lot where it’s like, all right, they are those teams. I I’ll say Philly. I look at Philly a lot like the Dodgers. You know, they’re I just feel like they’re going to be there. you know, the year Schwarber’s having, I mean, this is an offseason conversation, but you know, he’s going to hit 50 homers or or or whereabouts, maybe. Yeah, definitely. His OPS is in the mid 900s. And, you know, we have a guy on our team who’s not having that type of year offensively, who’s going to request, you know, 450, 460, 470. I know Schwarber’s a DH. I know he’s a little bit older, but you know what a year he’s having. And it seems quiet. an interesting timing with him being freed to wherever he wants to go this winter. It is. It is. He wants to potentially reunite on the north side. Uh Kyle Tucker is is scuffling. We’re going to get you those stats along with his teammates and preview Cubs White Socks right after this. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Day Hugh. And so is this hat I’m wearing for sports fans like me. This one hits the mark. Game Day Hue makes clean no logo gear with team inspired colors for every pro and college fan base. It’s all about letting your colors speak for you. No giant logos, just smart, versatile styles that work on game day on the course or anywhere in between. This marooned hat I got sent to me by Game Day Hugh is actually the colors of the school I teach at. Excited to rock it this fall on football Friday nights in the booth there as I do PA announcing at my school. Excited about that. and Game Day Hugh sent me a golf glove in Cubs colors. This is their split shade glove made for the golf course or the perfect gift for the fan who has everything golf related. Right now you can get 15% off with code MLB15 at gamedayhw.com. That’s gamedayhwe.com. Let your colors talk because colors speak louder than words. gamedayhw.com code MLB15. Kyle Tucker is four for his last 26. He does have seven walks, five strikeouts, two for 14 since the All-Star break. Uh Sam, I guess I’ll start there before I list off all the other guys. Concern level with Kyle Tucker. Um I don’t think it’s concern level more so than just frustration. uh you know you know in the month of July he’s 11 for 58. Uh he’s sitting 190 in the month of July. Uh he has an ops of 583. And when you look back to the 8,612 shows we did about Tucker when they got him. You know the main thing I talked about is you’re not going to have those type of months. his his his bad months are going to be 720, maybe 683, whatever it is, and he’s still got time to rectify that, but but he has not been good this month, and he wasn’t really good heading into the All-Star break. And it’s just it’s the the eye is still there. The the He’s not swinging at bad pitches. It’s the roll over ground balls to the right side, popups to the left side, and just not a ton of authoritative pop type swings. I mean, when’s the last time I know he hit a homer against Boston uh Saturday, but like when’s the last time he had an absolute no doubter, like a 430 foot shot? I mean, it’s it’s been a very long time. And you know, Ty put it perfectly on our crossover yesterday. I think it was on the setup man feed like this is why you give up Cam Smith. This is why you go get a guy like that for this stretch these moments and and so far he’s struggled and we talked about it a little bit on the show before the break and it’s just it’s just compounded and then plus he’s banged up. Yeah, I hope he’s not dealing with anything too serious. Uh, but the way you outline his month of July, realizing there’s just six games left in the month, right? I really think this weekend he’s got to break out 100%. And he’s got to lead the team to at least two victories, hopefully three, because the offense really needs that rally around effect in my view. Yep. Shaw’s nine for 19 since the break. Great. Best hitter. Best hitter since the break. How funny is that? Yeah, it’s great. and he’s made multiple adjustments just in the last uh only six games. It’s only been six games, but uh PCA seven for 20, her eight for 24, Swanson 6 for 21, but I think it’s actually been a little better than that. Agree. Uh even though he’s he just so many strikeouts, nine of them. Uh Kelly five of 18 and then it really snowballs. Sei’s been had a had a rough six games. Seiya three for 22, Bush 317, Hap four of 22, Bruhan 0 for two. So, uh, you know, they’re they’re really scuffling right now. And and those few guys and and five pitchers, eight pitchers haven’t allowed a run this first week since the break. But the five who have, Ray, Presley, Brown, Flexon, and Pomeran, have done really poorly. Pomearance in particular has basically lost all the break on his pitches uh namely his fast ball which has also lost VO not a great combination and uh he’s playing himself right now out of high leverage roles. Uh it’s it’s sem semiscary him in in high leverage right now with the stuff that he just doesn’t have. uh 10 batters he’s faced this week, three hits, two homers, and uh and a one walk, one hit by pitch as well. So, I know he has a a strong presence that council’s on record, you know, him and Presley. Great. Two of the relievers that are scuffling. Um, but man, you you just you wonder as as they really approach the deadline next week, what what bullpen reinforcements they could get, right? But but what else are you looking for this weekend before we we get the matchups? Well, well, Levine just tweeted out about an hour ago, uh, Cubs working hard on acquiring bullpen pitchers, Sir Anthony Dominguez, Sir Anthony Dominguez and Pete Fairbanks have been discussed. Um, you know, uh, so I think that tells you everything you need to know because we talked about it, right? You were getting you’re getting performances and you still gotten some the Kellers, the palencias, the feelbars, but then, you know, you add in the Pomerances. It’s like it feels great, but it also doesn’t feel like it’s sustainable, you know, and I’m I’m so tired of that word, but it it never felt sustainable throughout the whole year. I mean I mean Flexon and Pomerance went like a month and a half without allowing a run. I mean that’s just you know these guys aren’t you know Mariana Rivera here. So uh makes sense. I mean looking looking ahead as we get ready to preview the weekend. I mean I I it’s Tucker for me. I I need to see good like a three four hit game or a two homer game. like I need to we need to get him back not just of being good but we need a little stretch of like late March Kyle Tucker that was the best stretch of his season where was when we the finished up in Arizona those last two and then the consecutive games in in Sacramento you know yeah it was a beatdown we need something like that from him yeah I I I could see that as well um would also like to see you know against house three righties I’d like to see app tear tear the cover off the baseball. Yeah. Well, you know, I I I’m really doing my best with Ian. I mean, talk about getting creative at the deadline. Are they walking down the hall to ask him about his noc. Yeah. And he’s probably gonna say, you know, you could just turn right back around, you know, right? Make a U-turn. But but yeah, it’s it just it just feels like with Ian the lefty swing, Matt, it just feels so slow. It’s just absolutely it just he’s not driving the baseball and when he does it’s not going anywhere. So, u I’d love to see a big a big weekend out of Ian Hap. I I would love it. I I I’ve been waiting for it. I still feel like it’s coming, but you know, it’d be nice. Rhys Maguire is likely auditioning for his next team these next two weeks with Miguela now playing rehab games down at Sloan Park and AZ uh as well. I wonder if he could provide some pop in his last couple of weeks here. Don’t think they would keep three catchers down the stretch. No, but he’s done a nice job. Cubs White Socks this weekend. 640, 610, and 110. Immanaga and Hower, Horton and Savale, TBD and Burke. Really excited to see Immanaga against this young White Sox offense that’s five- one since the break. They lead baseball on runs scored. Hopefully, he could keep it going. And Kate Horton was outstanding in his last start. Uh really excited about that game as well. I’m not excited about the Sunday one. And is Ben Brown really gonna get that start? Because if he does, it’s an abomination to me as a fan. Um, they need to start strategizing this dude as a three out guy down the stretch. I think he could really have value in that in that spot if he practices it first in De Moines, right? Um, but why he’s still on this roster after what happened earlier this week uh is confusing. I’d like to see Flexon face his former team. See what happens. And uh got to win two out of three. Yeah, you got to you got to win two out of three if you want to be taken seriously as division contenders and beyond. I don’t care how well the Socks are playing, you got to find a way to win that series. Um, you know, you you look at their lineup, you know, Vargas, uh, Teal, he he’s, you know, he’s one of their young young guys. Montgomery is doing some things. I mean, it’s exciting. I think this will, you know, this is probably this is probably it for the Socks season, you know what I mean? In terms of like the last real series their fans will get up for, if if that’s if they even do that, you know? Hey, can you imagine Cubs are Cubs are limping in a little bit? You know, they’re limping in a little bit and then you have all these young these young players for the Socks have great series. You take a series against the Cubs, you know, that that would make them feel good. Um Adrien Howser, Matt, um do you know how many home runs he’s given up this season in 62 innings of work? Well, is this I’m guessing this might be a trick question. Although he gave up 10 hits his last start. I’m gonna go I’m going to lowball it. Two on the dot. Wow. Two homers. Yeah, he’s had a good year. 1.89 RA. Yeah, I think the Cubs are going to hit a homer off of him. He got hit around last week, though. Yeah, I think I think I think that number is going up. That seems a little bit almost not possible. Uh Sam, the Cubs have three with the White Socks here. Then I I’m circling later in the year. Three Rockies, three Nationals, three Orioles, six Pirates. Great. Yeah. 369 12 as I do math on the year. You know that 18 games needs to be similar to the 21. Is that 18 total games? 18 total, but they’re spread out. Yeah. You said three Rockies, three White Socks is six, three Orioles is nine, six Pirates is 15, and Nationals. Yes. Yeah, you’re right. You have to. That’s 18 easy games. Got to be 13. Especially because uh besides the White Sock series, it’s all after they likely get hit by trades. Yeah. No, it’s got to be 13 plus minimum. Minimum. So, all right. Uh we have news and notes from this week including uh Chris Jacobs with an amazing seventh inning stretch shout out to the show uh earlier this week. We’re going to play that audio, go over uh a couple other notes as well right after this. This episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. You ever wish managing your money felt easier? With Monarch Money, it can. Whether you’re growing your savings or planning a big purchase, Monarch puts you in the driver’s seat. It’s like having your own personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money is more than a budgeting app. It’s a complete financial command center. You can track all your accounts, investments, and spending in one place. So, in addition to managing your money, you’re also building wealth, guys. You know, for me, it’s about cooking or lack thereof. Uh I use way too many delivery food services. I I I order out too much. It wasn’t until I started using Monarch how much I was spending and how much I could be saving. So take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on MLB at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That’s monarchmoney.com code lockdown for half off your first year. I can’t keep up with all the rumors right now, Sam. It has a very Decemberish vibe to me when I would go to the the track indoor track down the street from my house and I would I would do all these laps. I would check in, you know, every few laps on the Twitter and and uh you know, maybe shoot a couple texts to you. Yeah. And it just feel like things were heating up and then next week was the winter meetings and the Kyle Tucker stuff really accelerated quickly. It was very well reported. Yep. and they made that deal by by the Friday of that week. Um, I really hope that this feeling right now with the Cubs connected to so many names does result in a big splash. Where are you at with that in terms of just the overall feel? Yeah, I’m I’m I’m where you’re at. I think just a lot of rumors. I’m I’m ready to roll it, but it does feel tuckery to me. It does feel like Well, and that for me, Sam, is is Cabrera and I think they’re gonna get him. Yeah, I think I think I think Cabrera or Bubich, one of those two. Okay. And yeah, it feels like it just it’s so interesting where the Cubs are at because every move you feel like you look ahead, well, oh, they they just paid paid, you know, 150 cents on the dollar for Cabrera. That means for sure Tucker’s not coming back. and oh, you know, you do this. It’s just everything is so uh dep dependent on each other. And I think, you know, they’re just going to go for it. Not if you could win a World Series or at least make the final four. And that’s what I talked about on my my solo for uh I don’t even know what day it is, a couple days ago. And uh I just said, “Hey, like what’s a successful season?” You know, what what final four? Yeah. And I think final four is is probably where you could say, “Hey, we were eight wins away from a world championship.” And we went for it and and yeah, we’ll we’ll see what happens. But what’s what’s so interesting about the deadline, too, is not just what it means for the Cubs and Kyle Tucker, we’ll probably mention this here in a bit with the All-Star game is is what’s looming in 2027. You know, are are executives saying, is Jed saying, “Hey, you know what? I don’t even know what’s happening in baseball in in two years. So, let’s go. You know what I mean? You know, le let’s roll this out and we’ll we’ll we’ll figure out the rest later. You know, that that feels, you know, I don’t think baseball’s going to become extinct or something crazy like that. But I do I I would be surprised at this point if it was 162 game season in 2027. I would be surprised if there weren’t some sort of changes um you know with the CBA or or owners or whatever. So you know a a lot of that feels relevant now too if that makes sense. It absolutely does. And that’s why I’m not as concerned with cost. And for a for a non-renal, for someone that would be around like an Edward Cabrera, which would be through 2028, that’s going to be a high cost, just like a star player entering his walk year, even though he only has one year left, was a high cost in December. And uh I’m I’m prepared for the Cubs to do that. Um, and I I really hope they get it done and and I I don’t expect them to make a high volume of moves, but if they bring in, let’s say, three players, I think that’s it’s going to be three really impactful guys. Yep. And uh and maybe they do more than that, but but but we’ll see. Uh one week from today, as we’re recording, the trade deadline would have just come and gone. Wow. We’re going to be all on top of that, you know, moving forward. And that’s amid Cubs Brewers. Um, just a giant series. You know, hey, if something breaks, you know, we’ll do like a react like pro most likely a reaction show for a bit and then cover it like we’ve done in the past. Yeah. Do a shorty during the day and uh, you know, cover it in full that evening. So, Sure. Okay. Uh, also this week, multiple reports have indicated the Cubs are going to get the All-Star game in 2027. Uh, and so, uh, which is really means they’re going to have the All-Star game in 2028 because they should still have everyone will probably get bumped a year if there is problems in the 27 campaign. So, don’t get too down about it. I did that, too. I did some digging and uh they should then host it in in 28 especially given the investment they’re making around the ballpark. Oh boy. With with safety measures and it’s costly though. It’s costly to do that. Do you want to go to the game? I think we should go to the All-Star game. Yeah. Yeah. 20 in three years. See you there. One of the two. Yeah. Okay. You know, right. I think we should go. Sure. Uh man, what a uh what a experience to hear this on on Tuesday night. Guest conductor for Take Me Out to the Ball game, television host, Chicago native and lifelong comes fam, Chris Jacobs. What’s up, Wrigley Field? It’s great to be back here at the Friendly Confines. Shout out to Matt Cozy and Sam Olber, host of my favorite podcast, Locked on Cubs. So Sam, you were out on Tuesday night when some guy in the background was going, “Yeah, when you when you first heard about this, what was your reaction?” Because this was just incredible. Like So I I think I could go behind the scenes with this for a bit. Yeah, please. Yeah. So I about the third a week ago today, Thursday. Yeah. Yeah, I was actually at our friend Nick’s baseball game that he was coaching and I got a DM from Chris that just basically said, “Hey, I’m I’m a fan of your guys’ show and and I’m doing the stretch.” And um I’d like to shout you guys out or something like that. And I just, you know, immediately looked at his Instagram and you know, saw they had quite a few more followers than I uh and uh I was like, “Whoa, okay. I mean, this sounds amazing. Like, this is so cool, whatever.” And you know, and then I it’s not that I forgot about it, but but I, you know, I wasn’t like, you know, sitting there waiting with baited breath, you know, I was out I was out with family that night. I missed that game and and I kind of just zoned out and all of a sudden, you know, I knew the Cubs had a healthy lead, so I was comfortably, you know, enjoying a piece of fish. And I uh I I I looked out on my phone and I had like, you know, 25 messages, right? And usually that means Cubs trade or Cubs injury, one of those two. And so I’m like, “Oh, no.” Or a big loss perhaps. And then I You were the first person I saw and I’m like, “Oh, he did it. He did it.” And u you know, I I don’t know. I don’t know how much more we could we could thank Chris. I think we’re going to have him on the show. Um we should post post deadline. I think that’s going to happen. And good. Um yeah, it was got to be got to be up there for us in terms of coolest coolest moments. Shout out to Matt Cozy and Samber. host of my favorite podcast, Locked on Cubs. It’s incredible what he did. I can’t get over it. I’m on cloud9 all week. And it’s was such a clean shout out like it wasn’t the audio is crystal clear. Yeah. It wasn’t kind of like a hey yo lock.coms good podcast. Check it out. Oh, it was I mean shout out to Matt Cozy and Samber even annunciated the L in my name. So, oh man, what a cool thing in spite of the Cubs dropping that series to Kansas City. Uh, and uh, a great stretch by him and and he he also got in uh, you know, this one’s for Azie. He gave a shout out to Azie Osborne who who died earlier this week. Yep. And because we were all caught up in you know our shout out admittedly I don’t know if people realized that um you know Azie was was a part of that that seventh inning stretch and so I’m going to play the full thing for you after the propers here. Uh Sam it’s been a solid week. I’m I’m looking forward to being back after Cubs White Sox Sunday night. Uh big week next week. Cubs Brewers trade deadline. Hope you stay with us all summer long, all season long. This is Lockdown Cubs, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. For your second listen, check out the allnew and great Lock on MLB game night show. Every game, every night, all season long. Get local analysis on a national scale. And Sam, I believe that runs on weekends as well. Yep. MLB Game Night on the Locked on MLB channel on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcast. All right. Should we stay on screen for this or what should we do? You could tell me. All right. He’s Sam Olber. I’m Matt Cozy. This is Locked On Cubs. Take a listen. Guest conductor for Take Me Out to the Ball Game. Television host, Chicago native and lifelong Cubs fan, Chris Jacobs. What’s up, Wrigley Field? It’s great to be back here at the Friendly Confines. Shout out to Matt Cozy and Sam Ober, host of my favorite podcast, Locked on Cubs. All right, Cubs fans, let’s sing this one for Azie. Oh, one two on three. Let’s go out to the water. Let’s go out to the river. Take me in. I don’t care if I ever get back for it. Roof root for gun two out of the game. Let’s get some runs.

Find out why there are multiple reasons why the Cubs could be one of the best teams in baseball this year. Plus: Kyle Tucker needs a bounceback series, Cubs/White Sox preview, and Matt and Sam reflect on their 7th-inning stretch shoutout.

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