Cubs Season Comes to an End | Big Decisions Coming for 2026!

Cubs Season Comes to an End | Big Decisions Coming for 2026!

The stage was set. Champagne was on ice. Unfortunately, it comes to an end, as all good things do here in 2025. The Cubs season is officially over. They lose in game five to the Milwaukee Brewers. We’re going to talk about that more and what’s coming up next for this team in the offseason right now here on the Setup Man podcast. Welcome into the Setup Man podcast. You’re listening to myself, Kyle Stanley, and my co-host, Ty Leuen, who um Ty, if I wasn’t already four beers deep, I would be drinking with you, but I needed to keep a straight face for this. So, you enjoy that bourbon for the both of us, brother. Um, cheers to the Cubs. Cheers to their season. Cheers to all of you who are in this room right now. Please make sure if you are not already subscribed, if you’re not commenting, if you’re not liking, make sure you just go ahead and do that. Um, we are going to give it one last harrah here uh for the night and we’re going to talk about a lot of stuff from this game. We’re going to talk about a lot from what was an incredible season at the end of the day and we’re going to talk about what’s next for the Cubs. So, not only that, we are also going to take callers. We believe that this was a amazing season and we would like to just go ahead and get your thoughts. We would love to be able to celebrate that with you, the fans. Uh, but either way, Ty, um, bittersweet feelings from me. What about you? Yeah, it’s um for it to end like that. Um yeah, was was so disappointing. And my my thoughts were as we went into this game, if this were to happen, which meaning they would lose, I would feel as if I was proud of this team. I was proud of the way they came back. And ultimately what it turned into was is that both these teams are two completely different teams when it comes to uh in the playoffs at different ballparks. and I tweeted that out and just um yeah, I think everybody is probably thinking the exact same thing in the comments here and we’ll post them up here on the screen of course as we go across. But just just disappointed, just a little disappointed with the way that uh that game went. Final line 142 for the Cubs, Milwaukee 36 and 0. Um the thing that stood out to me, Ty, was the fact that there was two errors in this game. I can’t remember the last time the Cubs committed two errors in a game. Um, such a great defense, such a great solid team that caught the ball. And I got to tell you, it looked like the last guy I would expect to for the the moment to get to him was the first guy that the moment got to him. And luckily, it didn’t happen in any significant time of the game, but Danby Swanson looked like uh he was not ready for this game to start. Yeah, I texted you guys this. I said unpucker your you know what um for this game. I mean I could not believe just how tense they looked. Yeah. They looked so uncomfortable out there. I mean the just like I said this team just completely different from what they showed in those first two games. And and and I and I’ll say this too, if I listen to a lot of Milwaukee Brewers podcasts over the last couple of days, gauging where their thoughts were at, gauging at where, you know, they thought this series was going to go and they were flabbergasted with how their team played in the two games at Wrigley comparatively to games one and two uh at American Family, which I guess is the name of their field. I found that out uh here tonight. I will not refer to it as Wrigley North because uh you know they ended up winning this series. But yeah, it just Kyle from PCA’s throw to Dansby’s error, it just felt like this entire lineup couldn’t find an opportunity to just relax a little bit. The one guy who ultimately relaxed a little bit was Seiya. And I and I tweeted this, too. I said, “One big hit, we’re going to need two more.” Well, it ended up needing to be three. And it just felt like the entire team was like this was all like it just all the momentum and all of of all the pressure should be, you know, the momentum should be with Milwaukee and the pressure should be on the Cubs. No, that that should have never been the thoughts in their head. Yeah. Yeah. Um we’re going to go through a couple of the the main points of this game and reflect here in a second, but great point here from John. Cubs scored all their runs in Milwaukee off of home runs. Three solo home runs in game one, a three-run home run in game two, and then a solo home run in game five. Uh not going to win that way, even if they are big-time home runs like Seyas was in game two. Uh you have to score more runs against this very pesky offense. Um let’s go ahead and go over a few things. Yeah, great point by Steve here. I do want to get to a question that I have for you, Tai, about the home field advantage, but I I think for me right out of the gate from a personal standpoint, um I was nervous after that first inning because you could tell that that one, two, three that Miguel had against his former team and him coming off the mound and looking like Ms. cheering for no real good reason just showed you where this team was at. They needed a boost. the Milwaukey’s Brewers needed a boost and Trevor McIll gave him that. Um, and then you go and you see Drew Pomeran’s who hadn’t allowed a base runner. I literally had the tweet ready to send. I was going to say 18 up, 18 down and boom, William Contrarus. Side note, Drew Pomeran’s usually is a 3:1 ratio. Three fast balls to one knuckle curve. In that first inning, it was about five to one. It felt like a lot of fast balls. I looked it up. It was um I don’t like that. I don’t think that that was the right call. And I think when you look at the William Contrarus home run, it was one of six pitches and only one pitch was a knuckle curveball and William Contrus had the fast ball timed up. So down one- nothing at that point. How are you feeling, Ty? Yeah. Well, what was interesting too about that Pomeran’s at bat against Contrarus was the fast ball he missed up and in on two and one, right? We talk about it. There’s pitches that are ultimately what matter across the entire series. Him missing that pitch where if you notice Pomearance does acknowledge like, “Oh, I wish I got that one.” You could tell that that was a pitch that he needed. And when we thought about starting a lefty out of the gates, we talked about who you truly want to neutralize at this point. And it was Cheerio and Contrish. It wasn’t Bryce Tang and Christian Yelich. And ultimately that home run out of the gates gets the ballpark rocking. Y absolutely rocking and unfortunately just leads to uh that moment there and a couple more for the Brewers as well. Then in the top of the second, Jacob Miserowski who I had a theory I think you had the same theory that he was going to come out and he was going to look shaky and there he was in the very first at bat. Seasuki hits a home run ties the game up. my emotions completely flip at that point. And then right after that, you have Carson Kelly hit a rocket for a single and PCA. I thought it was gone off the bat. I really thought it was gone. I thought we were up 3-1. I thought this thing was going to look like it was cruising, but it’s caught at the the fence. And then Mizarowski, kudos to him. I mean, just finds it. Completely finds it. His final line here was four innings, three hits, one earned run on the the home run, and only three strikeouts. I thought the fact that he was throwing 99 to 101 was going to benefit us, but I think he was just pacing himself. I have it highlighted. I have it highlighted in in my notes, right? I have that that score line, right? because in game two we know that that really was the difference maker because early in the game that ultimately shut down the Cubs. Okay. And what you just said when you’re talking about ultimately coming back from that Seya bomb which I mean you talk about a moment that you go oh this this game is about to flip on its head and this is where chaos is about to ensue. And I I hate to say this, but he ultimately was the reason they won that game. Yeah, he really was. And I I I want to give credit to him. We give him a lot of We really do. But ultimately, he lowered his VO, which tells you that, hey, m whatever. If you want to say his arm was a little bit tired or, you know, he was trying to whatever, he pitched. He didn’t throw. He pitched today. And I tell you what, man, this kid is uh he is a impressive impressive arm. And I’m not excited to see him for years to come. And I wanted to say Chad Patrick was a difference in this game, but I felt like Miserowski was. Colin Ray did his job. I thought two and two/3s innings. Um the first inning, at least from the the gun on TBS, it said more 94 95, but when I look on Baseball Savon, his average fast ball was 95 and he topped out at 96.6, which is what we expected going two to three innings. Um and yeah, he gave up a solo home run to Ricky Vaughn, excuse me, Andrew Vaughn. Um but uh I mean up until he he was literally that that was in the fourth inning tie. He got Contrarus and Yelich on three pitches and I thought to myself, this is that easy inning. He’s going to come back in probably for the fifth as well. And then just goes into a deep count and Andrew freaking Vaughn. Um I swear to God the the the ch good for him that he turned the season around. I wish it would have been on the Blue Jays, not on the freaking Brewers. Um so you can’t blame Colin Ray. Um, but hey, good good job Daniel Palencia coming in in the fourth inning in that bases loaded situation. Game could have gotten out of hand. I thought that was a turning point that could have kept us in the game and if we looked back on it and had won that game, we would have looked back to the fourth inning and said, “Man, that was a determining moment uh getting out of that base load situation.” But of course, we know how it ended up. Um, sixth inning, this was the real heartbreaker. Michael Bush starts off with a base hit against Andy Ashby. Um Darren Darren Ashby, sorry. I was like as soon as I said that I was like that’s he doesn’t deserve he doesn’t deserve it but yeah actually kind of he does deserve it because he’s been outstanding this series. But go ahead. Y absolutely. Uh Nicoer then gets hit by a pitch. I loved that he kind of leaned into that one. That’s exactly what we needed right there. Um and then your bulk of the order Tucker K after being up 3-1 in the count. Seiya on a 2-1 fast ball at his freaking eyeballs. Swings through it. Ends up lining out to left field. Looked like off the bat he even had a chance. And then Hap does what he uh typically does. Either has a huge hit or watches strike three. And he watched strike three and there goes the rally. Um that felt like the dagger. I mean, you know, we were texting about it. Terra, we were talking about, oh, dagger. Terrain hits a home run. But I felt like not scoring in that situation. And that felt to me like this is going to be a hard game to win. That was it. That was the game. And you talk about in particular the 3-1 count. He gets a 99 mile per hour fast ball right down the middle. And we could all say it’s lefty on lefty. It’s Kyle Tucker. Kyle Tucker has had more than enough time from this injury to get his timing back. We saw that swing in game four that put the ball over the fence that everybody said that was possibly the most impressive swing of the season from him. And ultimately our uh the player that we traded for, the player that we were all hyped about, the player that was uh the most electric out of the gates uh to start the season and and and have a great first half. His second half was awful. And it just was this picture unfortunately perfect ending to what his season was, which was that he just never came through in the second half for us. Um, and and I feel for the guy. I I really do. I know that’s not necessarily anything he’s looking for. And if you think that’s the fact, uh, you have a sick mind and probably shouldn’t watch the probably shouldn’t watch sports. Um, but he’s just he he just did not come through in the second half and and I thought his plate discipline and everything was always there. But we traded Cam Smith uh Haydens with Wasneski uh and um I’m blanking on the on on Isoces. Is Pedes for him for that moment. Yeah, for that moment right there. We’re going to talk more about him in the back half of this. Um, I will say after he had shown bunt in game four, I think it was game four, and I saw that at one point before that at bat started, they panned out and you saw Durban playing basically at shortstop and I and I said to the room where my wife and of course toddler are listening because, you know, they have such a great opinion about about this game and I said, “This is when Kyle Tucker should bunt. This is when Kyle Tucker Shabbat off of a a tough lefty throwing 99 and you’ve got the third baseman playing back. Um it would have been crazy, I know, but at the same time say Suzuki hit a three-run homer off of Ashby in game two. So you’ve got you’ve got this guy on the ropes already. He’s rattled. I thought it was a great time to do it. Unfortunately, uh we know how that at bat ends. And then Terra hits the seventh inning home run to make it 3-1. And uh you know I kind I kind of hoped that Urebe not pitching for a while would have been shaky but as you can see he was dead on. Cubs lose it 3 to1 season ends. But I’m wearing my I’d rather be at Wrigley shirt because I really truly think that that was the determining factor for this entire series was home field advantage. I don’t think you can really look at anything else. Both teams when they were at home played phenomenal and both teams that were playing on the road did not play phenomenal. I think the crowds got to both of these teams during this series and so kudos to both the Cubs and the Brewers uh fans. What about you? What do you think? I was just about to say this season has been decided on the fact that the Brewers outperformed their projections and won 97 games when nobody had them I think most people had them going third. Uh after the the Cubs9 was the uh was the Pakakota. If I’m not mistaken, I think they had Cubs, Reds, Brewers, Cardinals, Pirates, and what an unbelievable turnaround that they had from losing uh Devin Williams and then um just the way that they just I mean, it really is I I give them a lot of credit. I I I went into this evening saying, you know what, if you’re gonna have one chance to beat them, it’s got to be now because they’re on the ropes. All the pressurees on them. They’re the best team in baseball. They have to figure out a way to win and move on to the NLCS to play LA. And you know what? You have to wear it. We have to wear it on this podcast. They beat us. Had we’re gonna go through um some some positives right now. Uh, but I also would like to take the advantage to invite everyone who wants to talk. We’re going to take maximum five callers here. Um, Ty, could you go ahead and throw the link into the comments? We would love if you joined us. We want to hear about your thoughts of this series, this season. Um, but I think the first thing I want to say is from a personal standpoint, um, two things. Number one is we love this team. This was a big game for both franchises. This is bragging rights that unfortunately we do not have. Um which is really disappointing. So next year, you got to win the division if you want bragging rights back. But I’m going to tell you right now to say that we could go into LA and win against the Dodgers who are the healthiest they’ve been all year who have Snell back, who have Glassnell back, who have Sasaki looking like the closer of looking like the last the the the Eric Gier of the Dodgers, right? Um I just don’t know how the Cubs win. And I’m going to tell you right now, there’s no way the Brewers win. There’s I’m I would I would put money on it. I’ll go ahead and get to Vegas right now and I will put money on the fact that the Brewers are not going to beat the Dodgers. It’s not gonna happen. What about you, Ty? I completely disagree with you. Really? Have you se Have you seen this Brewers team at home, dude? Oh, I’ve seen I’ve seen it games at home. I mean, this team is Have you Have you seen the Dodgers this place? I have. I have. I have. I have. But, dude, we remember 2016 like it’s like it’s it’s our our family’s names. It’s our family’s birthdays. Like there is something special about this Brewers group from the Bob Uker stuff to the wins that they’ve had this year, certain ones being down 8 to one coming all the way back uh to to to to the way that they play baseball. Like I get what the Dodgers have, but the Dodgers winning back-to- back World Series. I understand we’re not talking about them going to the World Series. you’re talking about or sorry, we’re talking about them going to the World Series, not winning at all. Yeah, I’m going to disagree with you, man. And I I I really believe this team will find a way to beat the Dodgers. I think that they’re going to put the Dodgers through hell. I’m serious. And if I’m wrong, I’ll own it. I’ll happily own it. But it’s hard right now for me to believe that this team can’t beat the Dodgers. I think the only thing the Brewers have better than the Dodgers right now is a very good bullpen and four games at home. Sure. I think that like I I I I just it’s just obvious with this team. I get it. The Dodgers I’m going to probably eat my words on this one. Yeah. It’s just hard for me to believe that this Brewers team with the way that their year is going that they’re going to find a way to lose against the Dodgers. I don’t know. The difference though, the difference to me is you had a Cubs team that outside of Ian Hap having a few games of experience, Kyle Tucker having a World Series ring, and who else? Dansby Swanson. Danby Swanson. Okay. But you have a team that is repeating, trying to repeat in the Dodgers that has pretty much their entire coreback. And uh yeah, I I think that goes a long way. I think that goes a further way than than the Brewers being at home. That’s my opinion. I I look, I respect everything you have to say. You know that. You know that through and through. There’s just an emotional side to it right now that feels even if I would record this tomorrow, Monday, or next week, it just this year feels very special for Milwaukee. And for them to completely delete any momentum the Cubs had there in game five, it it it’s it speaks a lot. So, we’ll see. I we’re not By the way, just want to be clear to our uh 71 people that are here. We’ve had nearly over a hundred here in the uh comments. Please like, comment, subscribe. It really does wonders for our show. We’ll talk about where our show’s going here in a little bit. Um we are rooting for neither team. We don’t want to see either team have success. We want to see them go seven games. We want to see toron, my personal opinion, I want to see Toronto go sweep the Mariners and then see the Milwaukee Brewers and Dodgers go seven games and use all their arms and then ultimately have to see them in in in seven games in Toronto uh or seven games with Toronto. But that’s just my opinion. Sorry, I I don’t mean to go on. I’m so pissed off, man. I see so many callers that are waiting to talk to us. I’m sorry, guys. We No, we’ve got we’ve got some callers. We’re going to go through one more thing here and then we’re going to bring in the callers. Um, listen, uh, at at the end of the day, this was an incredible season. Um, 92 wins. They probably in most other seasons would have won the division. Um, and you had a lot of standouts. And I I mean, it it took me a while to actually put this down, and I’m sure I missed some. You had exceeding expectations plus having breakout years. Carson Kelly, Cade Horton, PCA, Matthew Boyd, Nicoer, Michael Bush, Matt Shaw, especially on defense and especially in the second half. Daniel Palencia, Brad Keller, Caleb Thebar. I don’t know who I’m missing. Uh, I’m sure I’m missing someone. Does anyone come to mind for you, Ty? Tyler Zombro. Tyler Zombro. There you go. You talk about I mean, look at the effect that that guy had. And look at what this bull. Imagine if we didn’t have Zombomro and Tread Athletic, which is our new, you know, department for that the Cubs came into an agreement with in the off season to work with that created one of the best bullpens in baseball with practically DFA guys and non-roster invites. I mean, it’s uh it really was a Kyle, I’m excited to do our show here in a couple of weeks and talk about what this season was because I’m going to be really honest with you. I don’t know how in the hell they put together 92 wins. I it’s just it just blows my mind with what they did from the bullpen standpoint, but also to you mentioned it. Some of these guys took some major steps and just hopefully that momentum continues into next year. Steel being down all season, Shota being down for six weeks and when he returns not quite the same guy, Jameson Tyome being down for six plus weeks. The fact that they won 92 games, the fact that they won four games in the playoffs, right? I mean, if you five games or sorry, no, no, no, no, Kyle, you’re you are right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Kyle, you are right. It’s four. Shut up. You could have you could have told me don’t watch any of the playoff games. come here on October 11th and I’m going to tell you that the Cubs didn’t win a single game in the playoffs. And I would have been like, well, yeah, I mean, they didn’t have Kate Horton. Matthew Boyd wasn’t pitching well. Shod wasn’t pitching well. The offense wasn’t clicking. That makes sense, right? But they but they did the job better than we expected them to in in October. And here’s the key thing. Some notes on Craig Council. Seven and 12 in the playoffs coming into this this playoffs. had not won more than one game in the playoffs since 2018. This was a huge step for him, too. This was a huge step for him, his confidence, and especially doing winning two of those games against his former team. So, I don’t think that can be overlooked at all. And we mentioned in the last show that I would have been very extremely happy for for Craig Council if they ended up winning this series because you knew how much it meant to him. But also too, a lot of credit to Craig for what he did for PCA and what he did for Matt Shaw and what he did for Michael Bush. Yep. Those three cornerstones of this franchise moving forward, he gave them the opportunities that a lot of organizations these days, guys, to the 56 that are tuning in right now, 58, the number keeps jumping and bumping uh forward and back. People are probably grabbing beers from the fridge, coming back, accidentally losing their phones. Um, but what they did for what he, excuse me, what Craig did for those particular players and a guy like Kate Horton, that’s a guy we probably should have mentioned, NL Rookie of the Year possibly. He believed in these guys and he gave him the opportunities. And what’s interesting too is you look at the Brewers with Pat Murphy, right? He talked about in his postgame after game four and talked about how there was a lot of young guys that were having to play through games three and four at Wrigley and never experiencing anything like that, right? It was both sides, both managers believing in their young players and that’s why this rivalry will continue next year. I’m looking forward to it. But yes, Kyle, I agree, Craig. I’m I’m happy for him. He had an amazing year and I hope that this momentum again, like I said earlier, just continues into 2026. Cool. Two things left in this show. Number one, we’re going to get to callers right now. Let’s keep it concise. We’re going to do about a minute per caller, maximum five callers. By the way, uh we’ve got two slots open as we see three people back here. So, Ty, if you don’t mind dropping that one more time in the comments and then after callers, we will talk about uh for about 5 minutes what’s next for the Cubs, what’s next for this network as well. Uh but let’s go ahead and get to it. As you can see, we are down one setup man, one bullpen man, because this man unfortunately is at a wedding. At a wedding. What are we doing? What’s good, Jent? Let me just tell you, this was the strangest baseball experience of my lifetime. I did not see a single pitch of the game and the family of my girlfriends that I just met, I was rooting against all night. So, really putting me on my back foot right away. Uh, but no, just very quickly, I know you guys got other calls to get to just to eulogize this season. I know we’re going to do it later, too, but crazy season. April, May were absolutely insane. June was pretty good, too. Then July, August, September. So, oh my god, how are they even going to do this? And then to win a playoff series, come back 20 off the mat against a really, really good Brewers team. I haven’t been able to listen to everything you guys said, but Ty, I know you said that they got the magic dust. It really feels like if they don’t win it this year, they’re never winning it. So, look, I know I’m in the woods doing Iawaska with Aaron Rogers right now, but I’ll let you guys get to your next caller. Uh, I am so proud of the team for I’m drinking wine. Yeah, some some people wave to the people. Some people are drinking. I’ve drank too much. Uh, I’ll get off the airwaves now. But, uh, no, I’m really proud of this team for getting up off the mat and doing what they did to even give themselves a shot. And I mean, when you score one run, you’re not going to win many ball games. So, with that said, I’m going I think Queen’s Fat Bottom Girls is playing. I’m going to go for Bills. Oh, Dancing Queen. Now it’s Dancing Queen. We love you, brother. Thank you, Alex. Oh my god. Love you guys. We’ll say I miss you so much, buddy. See you. Oh, we’ll see you. Girls, we got a lot of laughs going on. Speaking of you make the rock and roll go round, Matthew has the way. Let’s go, Matthew. Oh my god, you guys. Hey. Hey. Wow. I mean, let’s be honest. You guys touched upon it, but like to go through as much as we have had to endure between the injuries, between just getting through July and August as as atrocious as it was. I mean to be in the position that we are playing in a winner take all situation against unfortunately the worst competitors on the planet. No, they we we have to give it up. Uh the Brewers did an amazing job. Um I I honestly gained so much respect for that organization, particularly for Pat. the way I watched like every interview throughout this and the way that he addressed um the press and and spoke with such eloquence about the game, respect to the Cubs, respect to his team. I mean, you can’t ask for a more perfect uh experience when it comes to playoff baseball. And um it’s sad. Uh it’s disappointing. Um, but as you guys touched upon, we have so much to be happy about. We have so much to be proud about and to to grow from and to look for next season and and continue to to just thrive in a way that um I’ll be honest, a way that this city needs to come together. Um, especially right now. Um, I’m disappointed that we’ve lost, but I’m more disappointed because we’re out and because we don’t have that to kind of like rest our laurels on right now, especially when we see what’s going on in Chicago. And um I’ll just say one more thing and I’m going to go cuz I know there’s a lot of other folks on here, but like at the end of the day, this north side uh north side southside thing that a lot of us have grown up with, it it’s got to stop. At the end of the day, it’s still Chicago. And we need to celebrate each other. We need to really own these moments together as fans, as a city that that loves sports because there isn’t a better city than Chicago when it comes to sports and and loving its teams and respecting the game. Um, and I’ll leave us on that note, but I’m so excited about next year. And oh, oh, oh, no. I can’t leave you without saying this, dude. Are you kidding me? The Dodgers have literally the strongest rotation in baseball right now and the most depth of any team. That’s what I’m saying. Any team any team in MLB. They are so deep and and I will say Pat Murphy respects the game, but the Brewers do not have three starting pitchers to rest on. And the Miz, as much as we want to think that he is the second coming of God somehow, which he throws like sometimes, let’s be honest, he is not going to be able to sustain that against the lineup that the Dodgers put out. End of story. No, they are done in the next round. I am all Dodgers fans right now. And uh anyway, um no, it’s it’s going to be a great great next series and two. Sorry you guys didn’t even get to comment back to me, but thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. and keep doing what you’re doing, guys. You’re good. Thank you for the love and for always watching. We appreciate it. God bless you, brother. God bless you. All right, we got two more, Danny and then Jacob, and then we’re going to get to what’s next for this Cubs team. What’s up, Danny? Hi, guys. How are you doing? Um, 20 in the UK. Absolutely heartbroken. But I do want to add to what Matthew just said. That’s the reason I’m a Cubs fan. You know, I’m a fat lad from Manchester, but this team gives us hope even when it seems borderline ridiculous and inexplicable. I think when you were naming the standout players just then, Kyle, it would have been easier to say who wasn’t a standout because I can look top to bottom, you know, Willie Castro had moments, Kit Rich had moments, Sro and it’s hard for me to be overly analytical right now cuz I’m so heartbroken, but this was such a fun series and such a great season. And um yeah, just thank you for, you know, letting me be a part of it. It’s a great community. And I was actually planning on flying into Chicago, not to even get World Series tickets, just to be in the city and just to have that experience and have the vibe because Wrigley was just electric for those two games. I think if game five wasn’t Wrigley, we would have won. I think Kyle Tuker, you know, whipping out on that 3-2 count change the game. Um Seya going for that high heat and striking out change the game. That’s baseball. It’s, you know, the little things, you know, would have, could have, should have. It’s been a great season and we should be proud. I think that’s said very, very well. There’s a lot that we could be critical of right now, but right now is a time that after they came back from down 20 to to force a game five, that’s something special. So, Danny, well said, man. Appreciate you. Thank you. Cheers, guys. Take care. Thank you, Danny. Cheers. All right. And what felt like the way we started our callers this year is the way that we are ending it. Mr. Jacob, what’s up, man? How we doing? I’m going to keep this short cuz I just got off a like a 4hour school bus ride back from stupid Bloomington Normal all the way up here in Northern Illinois. My ass hurts and I’m I don’t want I’m done with today. Um, but first things it was a great season. It really was. I mean, obviously it’s really disappointing. We didn’t really do as much as we thought, but again, as you guys kind of mentioned earlier, we had so many guys, you know, break out. We had Carson Kelly just randomly like, “Okay, we’ll hit 17 home runs this year. Screw it.” Like, you know, it the team felt different. It was by the end of it was a bunch of bunch of injuries and the brewers deciding to be on crack cocaine during most of the year. Um the last thing is I just want to say because you guys mentioned this, I did not expect that. Just want to say thank you to really the community you guys have built up here. It’s really really great. Uh look forward to honestly the offseason and getting back on the train next year. So, thank you again, fellas. It’s been a great time. Jacob, Jacob, before you hang up, my friend, before you hang up, we are very proud and very humble, like very humble to hear you say that just because we understand at the end of the day as Cub fans, we all just want to talk to people that understand the game, understand what’s going on, and just want to talk about a team that we truly truly love. you know, from the age of two to the age of 29 to the age of 65 to the day you die. Like this team is everything we talk about. So, brother, we appreciate you and thank you for all your support. And next year should hopefully be something truly special. So, hats off to you, my friend. All right. And get uh you know, rest up easy tonight, my friend. That 4-hour bus trip doesn’t do uh doesn’t do wonders, especially after a night like this. So, no. Now, now I just want to leave the damn school right now. I’m really tired. Uh, can’t deal with this no more. Okay. Sorry for the swearing. My bad. No, don’t apologize. Don’t apologize. I’ve had to apologize to my mom a few times, too. So, all right, Ty. Um, here here’s how I would love to end this, and I didn’t prepare you for this, but um I would love to hear from you, and I would also love to hear from the chat. We have less than 10 minutes left. um top questions going into this off season. Not I don’t want to get into like answering the questions right now. I want to hear from you. I want to hear from our audience. I want to know what are the biggest questions that we have about this team this off season because that’s the kind of content that I want to make for our audience. They deserve it. They’ve been listening all year long and I want to reward you guys with that. So, um, you know, I still want to do some interviews and stuff during this off seasonason like we did last year because that was a lot of fun, but I really just want to focus on what does this team look like moving forward? My number one question, I think it’s everyone’s number one question. Will Kyle Tucker be resigned? Again, I don’t want to get too much into it, but I would be absolutely fine at this point if Kyle Tucker walked because I just don’t think that he’s in a good headsp space with this team. he might have liked the guys, but um I think I think that’s a tough situation to come back to with Wrigley kind of reacting the way that they did for much of the season. So, I think that’s my number one question. Would would that be your number one question or do you have a different one? just just it sort of it sort of relays that topic of Kyle Tucker but just what the organization views Moises by Esteros and Owen Casey as along with say a Suzuki because that is where we start to see where this trend moves forward right because right now you have Moises Bisteros as a practically a a third catcher behind Miguel Mia and Carson Kelly who are going to be back next year you have Owen Casey who can likely you know playright feel but again hasn’t had that exposure to the big leagues as much as we’d like to and does the organization trust seas Suzuki to be able to play right field on a consistent basis I think that all sort of entails that question there my other question is is that what does the organization view show right because he has a very interesting contract situation for those that don’t know we’ll talk about it here in a few weeks in more detail but really uh it’s a conditional club option and does this team view him as somebody that they want to see for multiple years? Like we said, we’ll talk about those details uh right as the season ends here after after game seven or the last pitch of the World Series. I think those are my two big questions at this point. I think we can also talk about the bullpen as well. What does that look like moving forward with some of these names that were not roster invites? Do they extend these guys? Do they bring them back? Uh there are definitely more questions than that. Yeah. But I’m glad that we don’t have a question going on at every single position. I think that’s where my head’s at. Um, I’m seeing already a lot of great questions in the comments. I want to end with that. Um, beautiful. To build off of what you just said, I want to know where where do you improve this starting rotation outside of reactivating Justin Steel? Um, if Justin Steel is healthy, who knows? Maybe he’s back by April. Maybe it’s May, maybe it’s June. You have Kate Horton, you have Justin Steel, Jameson Tyion, Sha Managa, and who am I missing? Uh, Matthew Boyd. Of course, Matthew Boyd. Solid. It’s solid, but it’s the same issue we’ve had year in and year out. There’s no obvious like, hey, this guy is going to be contending for a Sai Young award. Now, outside of Justin Steel, who we have said that for, I don’t expect after an injury year for him to come back and be a horse and go 200 innings. I’m not going to be unrealistic like that. There’s got to be someone that they go and get this off season. Appreciate what Matthew Boy did this this year, but he wasn’t the acquisition that we needed. So to me, it’s not only does show come back, which I think the answer to that is probably yes, just cuz it’s going to be cheap, but the second thing is how do they go and improve the starting rotation externally as well? Um, anything to build off on that or do you have another question that you want to throw in there? No, that’s that’s pretty much it. That’s that’s a I mean, you talk about that like I just said, I just to make my point, you don’t have question marks at every single position, which is really nice. I think a lot of people would look at Ian Hap and want to know what he’s going to do. I’m sorry, Cub fans. We’re going to see him in left field next year. It’s It’s pretty much a done deal. Uh unless something ridiculous happens this off season where Jed pulls an AJ Prowler and decides to go a different direction, but realistically, we’re probably going to see that happen. So, I think it’s just that I’m thrilled that we don’t have a lot of question marks at every single position. I think we’ll have some uh big steps taken forward next year with a couple different players, but I think we covered everything there. Yeah. Uh, Rojo Q, great point. Uh, yes, we do have Ray. I was just trying to limit it to five pitchers. And if you’re going to do five, I don’t think Ray is in the top five. Um, my last question, Ty, is what do they do with the prospects? And what I mean by that is the Owen Casey’s, the Kevin Alcantara, the um, Moises Bisteroses of the world. This is the season where you have these guys are knocking at the door and they’re ready. Last year we said they’re pretty much ready. This year they’re they’re ready. This organization I think would be doing those three guys a disservice. Maybe maybe two of the three a disservice. You could argue that one of those outfielders could come on and be an up and down guy for next year. But I think at least two of the three guys doing them a disservice by keeping them in the organization and treating them the same way they did this year as they do next year of just uh putting major league bats down in the minors for most of the season. So, that’s going to be a big question for me is do you make room for them or do you uh do you use them as trade bait finally to get that starter, to get that reliever, to get that guy that is missing in the roster? That’s that’s going to be a big one for me. Any other questions you have, Ty, before I throw some of these comments up and then we call it a night? Let’s Let’s get to the comments. Call it a night. Cool. Rogue Cube, starting pitching and a closer. I like El Dragon, but we need a lock down closer. Yeah, for sure. I I think that was a missing piece. Uh Ann, what’s up Ann? Uh my question is what left-handed bat rightfielder because I don’t want Tucker back. Just going to say it again. I keep saying it. There’s a certain guy out there named Mr. Kyle Schwarber who’s going to be out there and based on the way that he ended his uh season with the Phillies, I don’t think he thinks he’s going back to Philly. So, I would love a reunion there. Um let’s see who else. Uh, just another comment here. Mark says, “PCA needs to become more disciplined at the plate. What do coaches at the major league level level really do?” So, that’s that’s a question that we could answer. I’m going to try to get Dustin Kelly on here this off seasonason. How about that? Um, let’s see. William says, “With the front office, put all the chips in for next year given the trade deadline angst this year.” Yeah, let’s see if they can do it. Um, let’s see who else. When and how much? Oh, yeah. Great question here from Matthew. Uh, number one question, when and how much do we offer PCA for the extension? I think he earned it this year. I do. Um, and let’s see. I think uh resign Carrie Wood. That’s a great place to end it. How about that? All right. So, what’s up next for the Set Man Network? Well, we are going to let the playoffs be the playoffs. If any big Cubs news comes about, we will definitely be jumping in. But I’ll tell you what, between Alex, myself, Ty, and Brian, uh we need a little little mind break, little little brain break here um from what was a really fun but really uh tenuous season. And so, um I want to just go and enjoy the playoffs. if some big news comes in, we’re going to do some some shows. But you can expect, you can absolutely expect, and I truly believe this when I say this, we are one of the best when it comes to the offseason coverage, the offseason trade, signings, um, speculation, interviews, all of that. And we want to deliver that to you guys after the World Series is done. So, any big news before then, we’ll come on here. But if you don’t see us for a bit, that’s why. And, uh, we hope that you’ll still be here in spirit as we will be. Ty, anything else you want to say before the end of the show? No, just another sincere thank you to everyone that tuned in tonight, that’s tuned in the last uh, you know, since the beginning that Kyle started this network. Um, you know, he graciously brought in myself, Alex, and Brian and wanted to build this network. Uh, so a thank you to you, brother, for just an incredible opportunity, an incredible season. uh and how fortunate we were to have uh this ball club be where they were here tonight. So, a thank you to you, my friend. Uh but a sincere thank you to everyone that tuned in every single time we put out those episodes and and and sent us messages and commented on our tweets or liked our tweets and all this different stuff. Like, it’s just it’s hard to say it in words right now what that means to Kyle, myself, and the rest of our squad. um because it is something that we truly enjoy doing and we do it uh totally just out of the mindset of that we just love this team and we want to talk about this team. So a sincere thank you to everyone uh that spent the time this year whether you listened to this last episode or have listened every single night. We sincerely thank you for all the time and effort that you put in to uh give us a shot. So thank you. 92 wins in the regular season, four in the postseason. That combines for 96. And that’s exactly why I need to go put my arm on ice. It was a long one. Guys, thanks so much. We will see you again very soon here on the Setup Man Network. We’re going to go ice up.

The Cubs season came to a disappointing end in game 5 of the NLDS in Milwaukee. We reflect on the game, the season, and what decisions are looming for the 2026 team.

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