Here are the KEYS to the Chicago Cubs turnaround

Here are the KEYS to the Chicago Cubs turnaround

How can the Chicago Cubs turn this season around? They need to channel their inner Muhammad Ali. We talk about what that means next Cubs. 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. gear team every day alongside Sam Olber. I’m Matt Cozy. Sam and I are lifelong fans taking our passion into a discussion with you on all things Cubs. Today’s episode is presented by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on MLB at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. It’s going to be an open line Friday on the show, our last episode of the week. the next episode. Please send a video of yourself 2 minutes or less to this email locail.com. I would love to play your submission on the show. Uh the Cubs turnaround may have arrived on Wednesday night. We’re going to get into that later. And we lead off with the Cubs defeating the Blue Jays 4 to one on Wednesday. Before we do, we want to note and lead with Miguel Amaya’s injury. He’s taken away by a cart. It was really, really difficult to watch. He slammed his left ankle down on first base, tumbled over, hit his head, and his right ankle hit the ground hard. Uh pointing a lot of good thoughts towards Miguela. uh his this was his first game since May 24th. Uh Sam, your reaction when you saw that before we even get into the baseball part of it? Yeah, I it was it was one of the harder injuries I I could remember watching. I I I don’t know if it’s because we cover the team now or whatever, but like seeing him there, you just felt it. You felt it. It’s like JD JD described it really well. It was just like you you wanted to cry for him. I mean, it was horrible. You know, this isn’t just a it’s not just a Yeah. And then he ended up crying. Yeah. It It’s not just a 60-day IIL first game back injury. This is somebody that battles battled so many injuries in the minor leagues in route to getting here. He was having a really good season. um the even the play got hurt on. He put in tremendous effort uh to beat it out to help the team and it was it was really really hard to watch and you know we don’t have an update on it yet but you know we we hope some sort of good news could come out of it. I I don’t it it obviously did not look good. Uh but that was rough. That was rough for him and and you know just wish him the best. Yeah really it really was and uh hope hope to see him again soon. Uh Cubs are now 68 and 51. They are in the top spot in the wild card. Uh even though they’re 11 and 12 since the break, their percentage points ahead of the Padres’s, four games ahead of the Mets, five and a half ahead of the Reds, who uh are seeing maybe an uptick once again. Uh Michael Bush and Matt Shaw hit solo home runs. The offense added two in the eighth to pull away. Kade Horton tonight allowed one hit in five and two thirds. He did allow a run. Uh that Well, he didn’t allow it. He didn’t allow it. Yeah, that was literally allowed by Kitridge, but it was to uh Horton’s line. Horton walked two, struck out eight eras down in the very low threes. Kitridge who did come back out for the seventh. Uh Theelbar, Keller, and Palencia close this one out. And we we focused more on Kade Horton last week as well, Sam. But I think you have to lead off with it again here. And then I am excited to talk about the offense and even uh this sounds kind of pathetic to say, even some of the outs the Cubs made. Uh, but what a joy to watch this kid pitch. They didn’t replace Justin Steel via transaction, but they sure replaced him internally. You know, if you combine Horton and Ray, uh, who were not expected to start this much, and the rookie has really stepped up. This this was the test tonight. you know, he he had some really good performances at home. Win by his side. This is again on the road against one of the toughest offenses to face in baseball. They don’t ever strike out ever. They they hit the They hit a bunch of home runs. They are a really difficult lineup to navigate around and he dominated them. He outside of one um Guerrero fly out to the track where he lost his command for a tad. I mean, I tweeted it out. his stuff today. The the the the electricity of it. It had a little Aretta prime arietta feel to it. The the ball is cutting. He Dang, man. 97 98. Those pitches are moving for sure with cut. Um eight strikeouts in five and two/3 of work against a team like I said that doesn’t strike out a lot. Um it was a really really special performance from him and and in a year that that that was filled with bright spots that that’s you know dimmed here a little bit. he is soaring his way up uh the storyline off of a season last year in the minor leagues not complete with injuries um that was really tough and um it’s fun to watch and and and he’s at the point now where his next start which will be against um I believe Milwaukee I would assume um he it’s going to be mustwatch television to watch him pitch against those guys. This is it’s fun stuff and uh good be Horton and The Miz. That’d be fun. Wow. be be pure theater offensively. Uh it was better, right? It was better. It was better. Yeah, it was clearly better though. Yeah, clearly better. Um you know, Danby some rocket outs like you said. The Tucker one was weird because it it felt like he hit it out and it just every ball that he hits it’s it’s like four or five less mile miles an hour than it looks on TV. Like his first swing felt like he hit it about 100. He hit it at 95. Second swing felt like he hit it 96. He hit it 91. Whatever it is, then that one it felt like a no doubter and it felt like a no doubter to him and it it died out at the track, but at least there was something there. U Bush home run. And then of course Matty Shaw, the How about the young guys Cade and Matt Shaw saying, “Hey, hop on my back, fellas. If you got to wait to get your to get your game going, we’re going to carry as as much as we can.” Yeah. I mean, at least for a period of time. Sure. Yeah. And I I think in in the games that they have won, you can point to those two guys 100%. And it’s fun to to think about the possibility of of that continuing amongst guys returning to to form or at least to somewhat of form. I really wanted that homer for Tucker. Uh I don’t want to be I don’t want his helmet slam Tuesday night to be the story of his year. That shouldn’t be the image of his year. it is the last month or so, but but for for him to to turn it around just as the team, you are eventually going to need those results. And so I hope hope he puts one over the wall uh against uh uh the veteran Max Scherzer. Is he a future Hall of Famer? Future Hall of Famer. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh hey, before we uh actually let’s let’s do this. Um Shaw stole a base today, too. Yeah. What What would you like to do first? Would you like news on Jameson Tyion or preview Thursday’s rubber game? Uh the latter. Matthew Boyd against Max Scherer. Matthew Boyd has been aside from a starter two just outstanding. Uh for the everydayers who stick around with us, I have a great stat to speak to this possible turnaround when it comes to Boyd Horton and Imanaga starting and the Cubs just scoring a little bit which is why they could beat anybody truly. Uh despite this lull, this is a huge game. You win that game tomorrow, you go into pit uh into Wrigley against Pittsburgh with some momentum. Maybe you could get a sweep. All of a sudden, things feel a little bit better. Really important game tomorrow. Surprised the Cubs are slight underdogs in it. I I guess not. Toronto’s really good. Yeah. Um but um it’s it’s basically a coin flip game in in Vegas and and um hopefully Matthew Boyd and company can get it going. Man, would it be a fun day to see right now with Pete and Tucker, man, it just they’re swinging at the right pitches. Just hit one hard. Yeah, Michael Bush took a 3-1 pitch out Wednesday. Those guys need to too. Yeah. Well, Hap went over four or three Ks. Well, he’s been an EP. So, Jameson Tyion uh following a rehab start at TripleA Iowa, he told Tommy Burge, the De Mo register, quote, “I’m healthy and I’m ready to rock.” He allowed no runs on two hits in five and a third innings on Wednesday. Uh Craig Councel said before Cubs Blue Jays uh Wednesday that Tyode will pitch in the fivegame series against the Brewers next week. Uh I will uh throw up a roster graphic uh later in the show to try to figure out how to get him on the team and maybe Casey or Bisteros as well. According to council, Matt, I mean it’s obviously early. I would assume they have to do some stuff, but according to to council, it’s just a a left ankle sprain for Amaya and he’ll go on the IIL. So, I don’t know. You know, it looked far more serious than that, but if initially that would be awesome if that was all it is. Yeah, we will wait and see. Uh something we don’t want to wait and see for anymore, the Cubs turnaround. Could that have started on Wednesday? Stay tuned. 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 of. 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 lockdown MMLB at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That’s monarchmoney.com code locked on MLB for half off your first year. Shout out to the everydayers and you can become a locked on Cubs Everydayer by joining us every episode throughout the week. Well, what steps can the Cubs take as they approach this thing day by day? What baby steps even? We’re going to get into that this segment. positives we can identify game by game that contribute to this possible turnaround. And ideally, Sam, they they would stack some some wins. But I think with the help of of even a boxing analogy, it’s it’s time to lay out the path for them to put it together once and for all. So last night, I I didn’t love my show. Um at least the portion of it where I was talking about, well, what can you do right now? All you could do is hope. That was kind of meant to be like a dual meaning because hey, that’s what the organization’s doing. You know, you know, you know what I mean? Like, hey, that all they’re going to do is hope that these guys change. That’s all we could do. But I didn’t I didn’t love the delivery of it by yours truly. So, I was I was up and I was thinking to myself, all right, is you you know how much I love the history of sports and I try and relate everything together. And I thought about this. Yeah. I was pleased to get a voice message from you on my first day back at work. Go ahead. I I I thought about this as a case uh for our listeners and fans to just go, “All right, well, you know, things work out in weird ways in sports.” So, I’m going to ask you a question here. Um, you’re not a big boxing guy, and you’re going to know the answer to this question because that’s going to prove the point. I’m going to name you three names. I want you to tell me who you believe historically is viewed as the best fighter of the three. Okay. Uh, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frasier, and George Foreman. Who would you take out of those three? Yeah. Right. and and that’s probably the right answer. No disrespect to the other two great legends, but in March of 1971, okay, Ali off of three years off of boxing, uh, uh, comes back, has a couple return fights, and fights the current champion, Joe Frasier, but Ali never lost the belt, right? And so it was two undefeated fighters, the fight of the century. It was Madison Square Garden. I watched it actually a couple months ago. probably the most anticipated sporting event of all time going into it. Just these two guys at the moment. And and do you know who won that fight? Uh wasn’t Ali. Yeah, it was Joe Frasier. And he won it quite convincingly, too, if you watch the last few rounds. And everybody goes, “Well, yeah, well, Ali got him back and whatever.” Yeah, but guess what? Ali had to suffer for a really long time. It wasn’t until 1974, almost three years later, that he got another chance at Frasier. And when he got that other chance at Frraasier, Frasier wasn’t that guy anymore. The the late great Howard Coell. Down goes Frasier. Down. Right. That’s George Foreman versus Joe Frasier. It wasn’t until three and a half years later while he got a shot at George Foreman. The rest is history. One of the great knockouts of all time. What’s my point? My point is this. From 1971 to 1974, Ali had to grind. He wasn’t the top the top guy anymore. He had to fight guys like Jerry Corey, Floyd Patterson. He had to he had to start from scratch, rebuild his resume, and prove to everybody else and prove to the fans that he was a top contender again. That’s where the Cubs are right now. Um, right now the Brewers are are Joe Frasier. Maybe the Padres’s turn into George for whatever it is. Three years in boxing terms is like six, eight weeks in baseball terms. The Cubs have to forget about the outside noise. Forget about the Brewers right now. That’s not that’s not in your sights. You don’t have a chance right now to win the division. But what you could do, take baby steps like we’re going to talk about. Get back to the basics. Prove to everybody, prove to yourself, prove to the fans that you’re worthy of of of making a wild card, getting an opportunity, and then maybe, just maybe, you get the right opportunity, you see them in the playoffs, and you could take care of business. Because at the end of the day, Matt, nobody remembers those 1972, 1973, even Ali when he lost to Ken Norton. They just remember that he came back. He took two out of three from Frasier and he found a way to beat Foreman. Nobody’s going to remember this Brewers team if they don’t get the job done. Nobody will. They’re only going to remember the champion. So that’s the case. Get back to basics. Start grinding baby steps. Find a way. Win a decision. Build your resume. And maybe that started maybe that started uh Wednesday night uh in Canada. Fantastic stuff right there. Right there from the the best on the Cubs, Sam Olber. And Sam, baby steps to me are hitting the ball hard. Yep. Making a good throw, burying a curveball. 02. Uh uh making a nice play defensively, stealing stealing a a bag when we don’t going the opposite way with runners in scoring position for a base hit. Of course. of Oh, her did that today. He hit the ball hard catch. Yeah, another hard out. The Bears have offensive line trouble. What improvement, development really to me, this me signs of growth, good signs, good baseball that this club could take and and turn into wins. Yep. They have been an average team for two months. They’ve been below average basically since the 4th of July 100%. What’s going to happen now for them to get it back on the track? Because from the division lead to now checking the wildcard standings every day is not a good thing. Nope. There is no no other way to put it but because we are checking the scores of the Padres’s, the Mets, and now the Reds. That is in the midst of something that would be very abysmal. Yeah, that can’t happen. If that happens, that means disaster struck and this season was was a disaster and a failure. uh failure. Number one, he didn’t win the division. Okay, even though the Brewers might win a 100 games, but two, now besides the team that’s going to win a 100 games, you slid back. They might have 100 wins by Labor Day and back and back. Now, that’s not happened. I’m exaggerating. They’re probably one or two notches into my my uh progression there. But take Wednesday’s win, make sure that doesn’t happen. And yes, a lot of this is ultimately on the players. I do remember the overunder win total on March 18th. Want to know what it was? 86 and a half. Okay. Yeah. But then they got off to a great start. Not like they were 10 and five. It was 60 games. They were 57 and 39 at the break. It was way more. Yeah. So, what can this club do? And we’re we’re gonna start tracking this every day. Yeah. I mean, you said it. Look, April and May, they looked like a World Series contender. June was supposed to be Oh, well, month, you know, it it was but it it was more the same in July, maybe a tad bit better. August has been an unmitigated disaster. So, what what you could do is is is you got to figure out what team you are. the the logical thing to do is say they’re not the team that they were in April and May, but they’re not this bad either, right? But yeah, at the end of the day, at the end of the day, they’re gonna they’re going to warm up again at some point. It’s just the law of averages. Thank goodness it’s mid August and not midepptember, so they have time and and you just have to look for signs. Okay. And that’s because they have a good roster. Tucker. Tucker, it starts with him. It starts with him. at him and Pete because Pete Pete had a an outstanding July. He’s just fallen off. I mean, at an insane level here in August and and it’s similar to Tucker. He never gets a hit. It’s similar to Tucker. He’s sw he’s swinging a lot, but he’s swinging at pitches right down the middle. He’s just not hitting him already. Had one well hit one early in the game today. Um, those guys got to get going again because we do have the proof that if they if they can get hot at the right time like they did in April and May, they can stack wins against really good teams. But it’s got to be when you’re facing the pitchers that they’re going to be hoping to face if they make the playoffs. You you got to have Tucker going. They’ve got to get that going first, then then Pete, then Seiya, and then everybody else is is up and down. I think you’re getting enough out of Nico. I think you’re getting enough out of Danby. I think you’re getting more than enough out of Matt Shaw right now. Um, it’s got to be those guys first. And and you know, I I I think they’re doing whatever they can to get going. It’s not like they don’t care. It’s not like they’re not trying. They just have to. Maybe maybe this weekend it be a warm weekend in Chicago. Maybe it’s a get right series with the wind blowing out. They just need some confidence. 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[Music] That’s the number fiveenery.com for full rules and entry. No purchase necessary. 5our energergy.com. All right, we’re back here on Locked on Cubs outlining the possible turnaround for the Chicago National League Ball Club. And this weekend looks like a getright series to me. I hope so. Uh I have one, two, three, four, five series that are easier than most and I’d like to give those to you. No. Uh, folks, these series, you know, can the Cubs go 12 and three? Let me Can I guess them? Can they go 11 and four, please? It’s not guessing them. I know them, but I just want to see if I remember them. Uh, Pittsburgh. Uh, Colorado’s in there. Uh, uh, Washington’s in there. Yep. You got the first three. Do you have the Angel series in there? No, I don’t. You don’t? Okay. Oh, there’s another Pittsburgh, isn’t there? There is. Okay, that’s for There’s one more that I debated, but I did write it down. It’s because it’s at Wrigley in September. Okay, it’s at Wrigley. It’s It’s at Wrigley in September. You debated it. I Oh, Atlanta. No. Oh, okay. I don’t know. Tampa. Oh, that’s fair. Tampa. And all the ones that Tampa, Anaheim, and um and uh Atlanta are all very winnable series. They are. No, they are. But but these series you could maybe get a broom out. Oh, we haven’t. I can’t I don’t think the Cubs have ever swept a chorus in my life. I know, but they need to stack wins these 15. I agree. They’re not sequential order, but they need to do it 100%. And I think I think for me, Matt, when you when you zoom out, right, and you know, you try it’s really hard to get past the Tucker stuff, right? That that that’s all that it once that starts happening. Um I it’s going to be it’s going to be a big relief um you know, for for everybody that’s that’s watching and waiting for this offense to turn around. And I do think it’s going to happen. I I don’t think he’s going to just quietly go into the night unless there’s something that we know um that that’s going on uh or that we don’t know that’s going on. I I I I wish I had more confidence in like a h hot spell. It just feels like even when he is hitting well, it just doesn’t pop off like it used to um with him pop off the screen. But you know, Shoda, Boyd, Horton, now you got Tyion and Assad in the mix along with Ray. Hopefully you’ll have Srooka back in September. Hopefully that’s enough to get you the finish line. And at the end of the day, Matt, baby steps right now. Just focus on getting in. Well, let’s take Absolutely. Let’s take a look at and and if you want to get a little greedy in the midst of that, baby steps to get the first spot in the Wild. Yeah, it’s going to be really ton honest with you. You might be chasing the Dodgers, not San Diego. That’s what I think of this Padres’s team. Yeah. Um, well, let’s go over this roster right here. Okay. Uh, they kept three catchers, which turns out now it’s two, you know. Yeah. And for Amaya, um, please don’t mess around with this. Please bring up Casey or Bisteros. Stop. Don’t. Please do not bring up Nikki Lopez. I just don’t understand why they can’t bring up why can’t they bring up Bay Steros and have a rotation verse righties with the way Hap and Suzuki are hitting and just play by Asteros a couple times a week verse righties why why can’t they do that they need to pursue that what Ian Hap what’s Ian what what’s Hap slugging it’s got to be in the like 380 well here’s Hap slash line 227 324 386. I mean, wow, you’re almost exact. Give somebody else a chance. I guess Brown will go down when Tyion’s up. You know, they’re going to have a 27th man Monday. I’m saying excluding that. Yeah. Um I I think Brown gets innings in De Moine unless you know Jed is How many players has Jed Hoyer designated for assignment? Is Ryan Braier next? Maybe. Yeah, you’ve been hinting at that one for a while. We’ll see. We’ll see. And uh it’s really just Tyion coming back and then the roster move Wednesday. Uh which better not be Nikki Lopez. But shout out to Neapville Central, I guess. Scratching scratching my foot while the roster thing was up. Folks, Matthew Boyd, Kate Horton, and Shot Managa are really good pitchers. They’re all having really good years and the Cubs win a lot when they pitch. When the Cubs score just a little bit sound like council, they win a lot. A lot. When the Cubs score just three runs and starts by Boyd, Horton, and Imanaga, the Cubs are 28 and eight. Wow. With those guys on the mound and a little bit of offense, they could beat anyone, especially at Wrigley Field where those guys when the team scores three plus are 15 and two. Wow. So, just a cold spell for the Brew Crew. Just I’m just kidding, folks. If you c if you’re not gonna if you’re not going to cry, let’s laugh together. But that’s a reason to be optimistic. That’s real reasons. Well, that means th those are going to be the three guys that start a playoff series. So, if you could score three runs, you like your chances in uh Shiovas Ravine. Absolutely. Wow. I love doing Now, that would be a big story. I love doing this show with you. The Dodgers not winning the division would be massive. Well, I’m just saying, man, this this Padre team, uh, I mean, Tatis, Machado, Merrill, we don’t need to get the whole roster. I mean, the their bullpen, they went for it. This is a good baseball team, San Diego. Actually, the Brewers better watch out. The Fathers. All right, we’ll be back after Thursday’s uh Oh, if they win this series, if they win this series, would it not inject some life into in into this group of fans that we have? I mean, absolutely. I mean, I might I might have to go to a game with you this weekend if they win tomorrow. 207 central time. Um, a really big game. What if Tucker hits a grand slam? Oh, that’d be fabulous. Go Cubs. That could change that could just change everything. It would be like that that eighth round of Ali Foreman. That would be one of the best moments of your 2025 year of my 31y year life. This is comes for a long time. Oh man, you’re redundant. Oh man, I am I need to get some sleep. Hold on. Let’s watch second. Listen, check out the allne locked on MLB game night. It that is a great show. It’s I watch it every night. every game, every night. It’s It’s like the Baseball Tonight. It’s Baseball Tonight and they have great hosts. Everyone that does it, they’re all excellent at it. You can find it on the Locked On MLB channel on YouTube or wherever you listen to this podcast. He’s Sam Olber. I’m Matt Cozy. This locked on Cubs. Shout out to Matt Cozy and Sam Olber, host of my favorite podcast, Locked on Cubs.

We explain why the Cubs are still capable of a turnaround this season. Plus: Cubs/Blue Jays recap.

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