Mully & Haugh react to Cubs being eliminated by Brewers in NLDS

Mully & Haugh react to Cubs being eliminated by Brewers in NLDS

Dodgers at the Brewers tonight 7:08. Blake Snell will throw for the Dodgers. The Brewers, we don’t know who will pitch, but I don’t think anyone’s going to be watching that over the Cubs over the Bears game. The Bears play uh at Washington in Monday Night Football. And I think we had a discussion last week about how you would handle it if it were the Cubs at LA. But I think the fact that LA’s at the Brewers pretty much answers that everybody in town will be watching the Bears. Good morning, Mully. Yeah, on this Monday to Moot Point because the Cubs did not hold up their end of the bargain. That was supposed to be the big dilemma in Chicago tonight. Which game to watch? Which was more significant. The Cubs fall short. You heard the sadness. I think it’s interesting that Craig Council used the word sad. You don’t hear a lot of coaches or managers say that, but it was honest and it felt like there was a sadness after that loss. The end of a really fun run, two weeks of bonus baseball back in the playoffs. It was in my mind a successful season that ended in disappointment and we’ll talk about what happened and why some of the decisions, but Saturday night was a downer. No question about it. Well, they, you know, very hard to win games when you don’t score runs. And they managed to get a run and uh they didn’t get it in the first inning, they got it in the second inning, but they got an early run. Six base runners. Six base runners, one home run. And when Seuzuki hit that, you thought, “Wow, here we go again. It’s going to be the solo homer barrage.” And it was for the Brewers. It was. Yeah. They they kind of won the way the Cubs win, right, with the solo homers. They got three of them. If there was a team that was going to hit three home runs, you’d have guessed it was the Cubs, but not in this one. And the Brewers end up uh winning that game and uh celebrating and popping champagne and getting ready for the NLCS tonight. Their relief core was outstanding. They rose to the occasion in that ballpark, which sounded pretty uh full of Brewers fans to me. I know there was a smattering of Cub fans, but you definitely felt like whatever Pat Murphy said to challenge his crowd or home fans to come out and support the Brewers the way the Wrigley faithful supported the Cubs, it worked and they pushed the right buttons. J Mowski was outstanding. He gave up the home run, but he settled down and he was a differencemaker. Yeah, he was great. And then Chad Patrick and two young pitchers. Two young pitchers are going to be here a while. They trusted two young pitchers. What’s that like? Confidence in confidence in in the fact that they were going to manage that anxiety. And I think to that point, Patrick maybe did a better job of it than uh Ms. Rosski. I I will be paying attention to the NLCS because the Brewers are intriguing and after they beat the Cubs. You’ll be watching the Bears tonight. Well, yeah. I mean, duty calls and I think it’s obviously uh a Monday Night Football game, but there there’s interest and intrigue in the NLCS because I wonder how long that bullpen can they can they ride that bullpen all the way to the World Series because this is the first series I think in in playoff history where the starters no starter went more than four innings and it’s a battle of bullpens. And as we look forward to next year, you wonder how that mandate, how that reality will shape the Cubs off season. How do you replace or how do you tweak a bullpen that this year was has sort of that special ingredient a lot of veterans who were remade in their careers recast? How do you handle them in terms of next year? That’s the thing. How do you I mean, are there any of those bullpen pieces that you would say you have to bring back? Well, with young pitchers, you can project like Chad Patrick and Msowski and some of their others. You think, well, this is the path they’re going to go on. We know what we got. I don’t know that you could count on if you’re the Cubs looking at Kitridge, Pomerance, Theoar, and think you’re going to get the same kind of performances over the course of a season. And Brad Keller is another one. Rogers, Dustin’s guy. Yeah. F those are five veterans right there who came to the Cubs. They put all of their information into the computer. They spat out what they spat out and it worked, but it would work for a season. I don’t know how sustainable it is. It’s true. I So, you go out and you load up your bullpen with power arms. Is that the mandate? Is that the priority? I’m not sure. I think you have an offensive You have offensive issues you have to address, but you do face Yeah, I think you’re not getting on base. Well, and you too much swing and miss and too many key guys didn’t come through at key times. You got a big name that you’re probably not going to pay the big money to. So, we’ll figure all that out. Kyle Tucker, what do you do with him? Um, very interesting. Yeah, I think I think it was I mean Kyle Tucker is is a guy who we talked about all season long and as you know, everybody Great first half, great first half. great. I mean, the first month of the season, as you know, Texans were reminding uh reminding us already that I’ve said that he was the best Cub since Sanberg and he was off to that kind of start. He was one of those guys that you it was easy to get carried away with and then he got hurt. And then a top 10 player in Major League Baseball, wasn’t even close. Was it even close to that? And now I I don’t think it’s a hard decision. Yeah. I don’t I I mean, I don’t think they want to pay him. And and I think that’s part of the problem, too. But I have to say this, he’s never said anything that makes you think that he wants to be paid here. He doesn’t sound like a guy that has any interest in returning. Kyle, did do you enjoy Chicago? Kyle, do you like the city? Yeah. Kyle, open your arms up and put a big brace around Chicago. Man, these guys do well. It’s always It was always those guys and it seemed like it was always the team and it was always them. Yeah. Not us. Oh, I never got that feeling with him that he was the use of pronouns was very interesting and and the I don’t even want to call it reticence. It’s just maybe who he is and how his personality is. Yeah. I don’t think he ever seemed really excited to be here. Is that is that overstating it the day after they lost or is that more accurate? I mean, you know, the the sad reality is the only takeaway from the way that they lost, which was the failure to hit uh the failure to move guys, the absolute disaster of leaving runners on base and in scoring position throughout the playoffs, frankly. But I think that reality you couldn’t help but wonder like you know what did they do with that Bellinger money? You know they could have used Bellinger frankly. Well Bellinger had a better year than Kyle Tucker because he stayed healthier. Had a great year and that look just saying I think two things are true. What if they had gotten Breman? How would that have worked out? You couldn’t help but wonder about that kind of stuff. Yeah. I mean that’s fair again. If they had that money and they were going to spend it, why didn’t they spend it on some hitting? You know, you couldn’t help but have a lot of things go through your head because they ran out of bats. Frankly, it’s all fair game when you when you have six base runners in in this elimination game, win or take all and your bats stayed home. I think that two of them by walk wasn’t very wasn’t very impressive. Yeah. So, that’s fair. Uh the trade for you know, you gave up three assets for Kyle Tucker. I felt like still it was a worthwhile risk. reward wasn’t what you wanted it to be. They got five extra home games. They got, you know, whatever investment they made in the roster and it was a lot of money, but it paid off. Well, it paid off. That’s what I mean. Winning a playoff series is not insignificant. And so when you look at what that meant to the big picture, five home games, not insignificant. Yeah, that’s true. And that that helps the bottom line. It also helps morale. And I think you you look like a playoff team and you have stamped yourself a playoff team with Craig Council. Now you’ve got to take that next step. The Cubs should be playing next year into the NLCS. There’s no reason to think that they shouldn’t be. You get your two best pitchers healthy. Now you’ve got to, as we talked, reimagine and re reset your bullpen because that’s how you win in in October. We’re going to see tonight the beginning of a series in LA in Milwaukee against LA. Yep. Two teams pretty much driven by their bullpen. The Dodgers are have their their unbelievable offense. But did you watch the NLCS last night? The AL ALCS last part of it. Yeah. I just That was great to see a team that went 15 innings to get through wind up winning a game in Toronto. I love that. They they’re just on fumes. They were on fumes and it didn’t matter. and Cal Raleigh homers in that game and the Mariners guy made good Dan Wilson. That’s going to be a fun story. I I think we should try to contact him and get him on his hometown. That would be great. We’ve had him on Inside the Clubhouse. Bruce has a contact. We should talk to him at 7:25 cuz he’s a really he’s an accommodating kind of guy. I would hope that would be something he could do. He’s a local hero, man. He wasn’t he in the Little League World Series? They were in the Little League World Series. He ended up winning a state title as a junior catcher and they lost the state title game his senior year when he was pretty much he I mean he was throughout his career in high school a catcher slash pitcher. He would come in he would you know take off the tools of ignorance and then be the closer of that team or he would start a game and then have his catching gear. He was an extraordinary high school player. Pretty nice guy, too. Kind of guy you always knew would be successful. Yeah, that’s interesting. I believe he drove the team bus among everything else. He did. He literally did everything in high school. I’ve never seen a player that good. And the Mariners are a fun story because of Cal Raleigh, because of they’ve never been to the World Series and because of all those things. And they invested and they got Naylor and he ended up with a huge play for them to get through. They’re very representative of what you alluded to. Teams that went for it at the deadline. You know, they go out and they get Suarez, they get Naylor, they already had Raleigh, they’ve got tremendous pitching, and they’ve got a manager that they feel is a differencemaker, and I do think that it does matter. Yes, managers do make differences in the postseason, and he’s one of them. So, I was cheering for the for the Tigers in that series. No idea why. you just kind of take a team and then I’m sitting there watching that game. I’m just like, “Okay, I’ll I’ll watch till the end of it.” And they’re like, “It just didn’t end.” And I’m desperate to go to bed and I’m watching this and watching it and I I mean I’m like I’m losing sleep. I got to go to bed. I nearly fell asleep on the couch. 50 innings. They’re showing him and I’m like, “What am I doing? I’m I’m with Seattle the whole way. I What am I thinking?” I mean, you you I remember when we talked about him before when they played the Cubs during the year, wasn’t it? Yes. Yes. And you were talking about Dan Wilson and what he meant to this area and everything and it’s those are fond memories and and he’s left his mark. I I think that also they’re an easy team to root for. I find him he’s an old man and I covered him in high school. No, I started working in high schools when I was 18. I was I was working at the Sun Times while I was in college. Nonetheless, he’s younger than me. I know I know it doesn’t affect our here. It wasn’t a team that we’re following, but Friday night as we were all waiting for the Cubs on Saturday. That game lasted 4 hours and 58 minutes. What a game, man. Epic game. 15 innings. Great baseball game. Great like postseason baseball, you know? It was real. Made you, if you didn’t love baseball, you had no business watching that game. If you love baseball, oh god, yeah, it was great. And then you’re happy for No, Manfred, man. Okay. So that you got to actually earn a a run. Love that. Bruce loved that because he hates the Manfred, man. He hates the gimmicky stuff and the changes in the postseason. But I I thought it was tremendous theater. I didn’t stay up. I fell asleep watching it. Oh, it’s impossible not to. Yeah. Dan Wilson, I think he was a goalie in hockey, right? Wasn’t that the story? He was a super athlete. We now have a new team, Bington High School, to follow. That’s right. Forget you, Murf. We got a new team to root for. Go Mariners. I I kind of I kind of am, you know, I would love to see Pat Murphy and Dan Wilson in the worst. That would be great. That would be Milwaukee Seattle as Dustin has bitter beer face. I think Milwaukee Seattle now. How would you not? I mean, seriously, you look at the Dodgers and the evil empire and throwing money at everybody. Don’t let them buy another championship. How do you cheer for them over the Brewers? They can take that L flag. All right. They’re they’re they’re so consumed with Craig Council and the Cubs that they have to celebrate with an L flag. I do think that was classless, dude. Dude, that was a dude. We’ve been down this road before. Dude, that was classless. You do a website. You do a podcast called Fly the W. Thank you. Okay. So if you’re going to fly the W at them, aren’t they entitled to fly an L with you? You know that’s wrong. Fly the W against any not just against the Brewers. They There is no You know that’s wrong. There’s no need to get buttth hurt over that. Yeah. No, I I totally I I totally understand that it that was classless. You were the Milwaukee Brewers and you won a big series. That should be enough. You don’t need to be that guy. That was I don’t think anyone thought it through. Somebody threw a flag out there. They probably didn’t think They clearly didn’t think it through. It leaves a mark though. Photos are indelible. But get over it. I mean, seriously, you you know, they beat you fair and square. So, you can’t see and you can be happy for them and you can accept that. You don’t need the the L. And like Murf is like best friends with the Cubs manager. He’s the guy saying that he wants people to cheer him now. Boom. You know, come on. You just got to He probably had no idea it was there. I imagine he would not condone it. I would hope that he wouldn’t, but it there’s no way to explain it away. It was a terrible look for the Brewers. Yeah. I I mean, like I said, you want to be a you want to be a a good loser or a bad loser. You got to be kidding me. If if a flying of the L is what sent you over the top, it’s a it’s bad enough to send someone over the top, man. I Dude, it’s bad. It’s It’s terrible. Look for is our you dude. It is not a good look to win that way. You won. Go to the NLCS. Don’t Don’t try to rub it in with your rival. It’s a bad look. Thank God. You You don’t think they were mistreated when they were here in Chicago and they hurt everybody? Come on. I mean, really. Gosh. It’s just part of their celebration. I wouldn’t get too worked up about They posed with it on the field, you know, in a team picture. You know how you keep that from happening? Win. There you go. I get it. There you go. Maybe get a hit when you got two men on base. Maybe don’t have two of your better players strike out and the guy hit a foul ball in between just to remind you if you had no question the Cubs could have controlled it better. Gosh, could just please. It was just crazy to to take that and that’s your takeaway from the series. Not to take away from the series. It’s not to take away. The takeaway from the series was what we talked about what’s wrong with the baseball team big picture organizationally, all the things that are true and we’ll continue to talk about with Bruce and Kum and everybody else this off season. That’s what we need to get. And as a detail, that was a bad look for Milwaukee. Yeah, you you just it might be a bad look, but you can’t help but sound like less than an adult. Oh, come on. You win our our producer. That’s not true. That’s not fair or true. It is totally true. That’s bad sportsmanship on your part. Bad sportsmanship to be upset by their bad sportsmanship. That’s fine. If you think that, that’s good. Exactly. We need to pick a lane. I’m fine with that. I’m happy to be called not an adult as well this morning. Yeah. You Yeah. You want to go juvenile on me? That’s fine. No, he the guy the guy wants to cry. You could cry. I’m with him. Cry. Cry. I’m not We’re not crying. It’s describing what happened and having an opinion. That’s a That’s a story line. It’s a story line and it’s it’s having an opinion on the way that people handle winning. Beat him in their place and he wouldn’t have this. I’m much more concerned about them with their L flag than that Dan Wilson was a great goalie in high school. He was a great goalie in high school, though. Yeah. Whipped-doo. He was He was great at everything he did. He was a natural just a a square jawed, you know, great high school athlete. Fantastic. And he wound up being a a great catcher in Seattle and he took over that team as a manager. I mean, it’s just a great story. Some of some of us like our hometown, let’s put it that way. Wow. There’s nothing Stop jumping to conclusions, man. No, I’m being honest. I’m talking to Mr. Elmer. I know, but that’s that’s not it’s not necessary. Dan Wilson might be Wrigley Field. Yeah. I This is a good story. There are ways to handle winning. There are classy classy ways that you can move on and be happy with what you accomplished. That wasn’t one of them. Yeah. It just wasn’t there. You know, it’s it’s like saying last night when you saw the Lions take a swing at the Chiefs that that’s good toughness. No, that’s a that’s not a way to lose. Brian Branch, I think what went wrong is they did not hit. And what went wrong is they didn’t get a lot of action on the bases. And what went wrong is when they did get some actions on the bases, when they had first and second with no outs, they failed to advance either runner and uh that was fairly embittering to see. I I think that, you know, their best players weren’t able to hit in the playoffs and I think that’s kind of the story of what went arry for them. And um as far as uh Craig Council is concerned, I mean, if you want to second guessess the guy, I I just think it’s like maybe one of the worst moments was it’s just impossible um for cold players to come in and pitch. You got to have a little bit of experience with that sort of thing. So, you don’t go to a guy all year long and then you realize um you know, we really can’t be trying Matt Shaw in this spot. So, uh, Moises Belisteros, you go, you you go get a hit. You get up there and get a hit. And, you know, and he couldn’t do it. And I just think that, you know, that was kind of the worst moment. And I don’t even know if it’s Craig’s fault. I thought the pitching decisions were fine. Didn’t have a big problem with uh with any of the pitching decisions. You know, a lot of what went arry for them was that they had guys that were arrested like Sarroa Savale Show Imanaga and they couldn’t trust them. They weren’t in the circle of trust. So, they couldn’t go to some of the people that you might have opted to start in that last game. And I I think that he opted to go with guys that he trusted more as pitchers. And um unfortunately they just got beaten by three different solo home runs. All of which happened with two outs. And when your team can’t get a clutch hit in a game in a series for the most part, it is really difficult to win. So, I I don’t blame the manager for that happening. And I think that there are there there’s plenty of second-guing about people hanging on to prospects as opposed to trying to upgrade their team. And and again, I I don’t even go that uh far uh off on that. But uh they spent a lot of money and uh what are you going to do? It’s uh they they came up short and I don’t think it had to do with uh Craig Council’s mistakes. Cubs were awful with the runners in scoring position uh stat that just plagued them all playoff series long. All basically since the All-Star game, that has been a stat that has not been um on their side. You know, second guessing, no. I mean, I guess the only thing looking back if you you went to Colin Ray second in a do or die game on the road in Milwaukee and why couldn’t you have gone to him in game number one and then had Boyd game number two and then have showed at game number you know I if you’re I mean it’s just I know that’s way in the rearview mirror. All of this now is in the rearview mirror, but from it just I think it stood out that he believed in Colin Ray enough to go to him in a crucial point, be the the next guy after after trailing now one to nothing. He was your guy. You let him out there for 2.2 innings. Yet he wasn’t good enough to be trusted to start game number one. But trusted then I don’t know what changed between game one and game five that now all of a sudden now Colin Ray’s in in a ability probably. I I agree with you though because if there’s anything about second-guessing the series, you would look at still games one and two were not decisions that I really understood. I felt like Matthew Boyd coming back too fast, you paid for it. Going to show it, you paid for it. You saw what they thought of Shota. Unfortunately, based on how they used him or did not use him Saturday night, Colin Ray was the best choice all along for game one and was the right guy to go to in game five. I also think that Drew Pomearance was outstanding in the postseason. So, I didn’t I thought that was going to be a really smart decision. We talked on inside the clubhouse how it was going to be either uh Pomerance was among the options. Ray was the other option. Pomearance came into the game. There were only two other relief pitchers or two other pitchers who had done what he had done in the postseason with five straight appearances with at least one inning pitch and zero base runners to start the postseason. And then he gave up the homer. And so that was credit to William Contras. The Brewers came through in the clutch and the Cubs have to go home examining everything about their bullpen. But overall, Craig Councel, you can second guess a manager on a regular basis cuz that’s what we do and it’s fun part of baseball. I still believe that he’s a big reason why you were where you were and why you won 92 games and why they beat the Padres’s in the first wild card series. Craig Council had a good year. He there were times where he could have been better. That goes for everyone in that clubhouse. But it wasn’t I didn’t get the feeling. You came away from them losing game five in the decisive game of that series like boy if he would have done this they would have won. Didn’t get that feeling. You can’t have that feeling when you only have really one inning where you threatened. It’s a hard question to answer. Mel, here we go. We’ll try to answer it. After a 92 win regular season, a victory in the NL wildard round, how would you describe this Cub season in terms of success or progress? How do you think they’re evaluating that question internally in terms of what is missing on the north side? Well, I think the Cubs came as close to reaching their potential as we had talked about in spring training, 92 victories. We came into the season and the challenge was and it came from Craig Council, give me a 90- win team and they won 92. Now, there will be things along the way that are worth talking about, wondering about, and we’ll never know the answers to. Why didn’t you go out and get a pitcher at the deadline? Somebody like Sandy Alcantra, would that have made a difference? Maybe. Although their starting pitching was excellent down the stretch. Would another power arm have made a difference? You could have used him definitely. But Andrew Kitridge was Mr. Utility Man down the stretch. Could you have used Bregman instead of Shaw at third base? Yeah. What’ you do with the Bellinger money? I don’t know. Tucker was good early, then he fa faded when he got hurt. All these kinds of things are over the course of 162 games. You’re going to second guess and wonder. But if I I know this, if I’m running the Cubs, if I’m Jed Hoyer, I feel very good about the direction of my organization. I feel like I am a couple moves away and I have that within my power if I’m Jed Hoyer to make those moves to make this team a legitimate World Series contender on opening day 2026. They do have two pitchers coming back. They can’t help what happened to them this season, but you can go out and you can get a starting pitcher. You can buy some bats and you can make it a creative deal. They are close and it’s incumbent upon Jed Hoyer and that front office and Tom Rickettts to make make them closer but you don’t feel you don’t feel like this was dissatisfying. You can be disappointed but I do think this was successful. They probably reached their ceiling all things considered. I think the 90 win goal and then reaching that goal is pretty good. It’s just they started so well and and you go back to that um Saturday night baseball game big time was on Fox Red Sox were in town. This was after the All-Star break and they’re 20 games over 500. And at that point, what do you guys think? It was it 5 1/2 6 and 1/2 game lead over the Brewers at that point and then it just went down south. you know, they were living and dying with with the home run. You know, listen, Kyle Tucker, for as much criticism as he’s gotten and and and richly deserved in my opinion, he was the catalyst of that offense, stretching it out in the first half of the season and really helping, I believe, Suzuki and PCA getting off to the hot start that they did. So, um they do they will get these pitchers back. um they will either resign Kyle Tucker or have to get somebody to replace him in the in the DH role. I mean, if you’re Sey Suzuki probably is showing that he should be the right fielder and not the DH because his split show that he’s better in that role, but we got a lot of time to decide all that. I I think you have to say it was a success. They reached their ceiling. They didn’t have Justin Steel. They didn’t have Kate Horton down the stretch. Um and Kyle Tucker disappeared. was on the back of a milk carton. Yeah. You know, um I think they had a really good season. I think that the trade for Tucker worked certainly in the first half of the season and then unfortunately he got hurt whether it was with the the bone in his hand. uh then the calf injury, whatever way you want to view it, his numbers by the end of the year, it didn’t really pay off for what he had done earlier in the year. And uh and you’re absolutely right, it it felt like the beginning of the season was, you know, you had two outfield um allstars and him and PCA. And I don’t think either would make the all-star team if you voted for it right now. it just second half of the season both guys struggled mightily and uh and Seiya did okay even in the playoffs but he went through a slump as well and I think that what happened was the offense that was so good and was carrying the team so far just did not sustain over the course of the season but you know 92 wins in the regular season it’s kind of what they wanted I I would say they’d be happy with that. And to play um a a uh a number of playoff games, to play eight playoff games, to get five playoff games at home, probably made this season a real success in terms of the investment they put into the team. They um they did very well for themselves. And um as far as uh as evaluating these questions internally, I think you got to look at, you know, I think by the end of the year, believe it or not, Kyle Tucker wound up with uh I think he he may have had a decent batting average, 266, but he wound up with 22 home runs and an 841 OPS. and I he’s a significantly better player, but just to put those numbers in perspective, Coulson Montgomery, who only batted 239, wound up with 21 home runs and an 840 OPS. So, the difference between 21 and 22 home runs is crazily similar, as is 841 to 840 in OPS. I mean, that’s just ridiculous. You would never have thought that that could be possible. Um and and you know, Montgomery didn’t play very long in the season, but then again, you could argue that that uh top shelf um Kyle Tucker didn’t last very long either. It it just didn’t happen. And I think that hurt them immensely. And you know, you look at all the numbers and all the rest of it, they’ve got some older players that aren’t getting the job done, weren’t getting the job done this year. And I think that, you know, the very fast fact that um that Owen Casey never really got an opportunity in a season where Hap was so was struggling so regularly, especially toward the end of the year. It just makes you wonder about, you know, what was the value of hanging on to all these prospects if if you didn’t get anything out of them or you didn’t use them in the same way that that you might have. So, you know, it it’s just something they’re going to have to consider and go over and wonder about in their off season and try to project how they’re going to solve some of the problems they had in their lineup. I love that question. All right, Bruce. We’ll talk to Bruce at 7:25. Was Kyle Tucker’s strikeout in the sixth inning with men on first and second and no outs the key moment in the game. was somehow working a threeon-one count to swinging strike out a perfect microcosm of his season with Suzuki following with a long fly out half ending the threat by taking a called third strike a microcosm of missed opportunities. Did Tucker sound like a guy after the game planning to return? Take a listen to these postgame ending comments. Is it your wish uh if it can happen that he’ll return here and maybe stay in Chicago a long time? Um, yeah. I mean, we’ll see what happens. Um, you know, don’t know what the future’s going to hold, but, you know, if not, it’s, you know, honor playing with all these guys and, you know, wish everyone the best of luck whether it’s, you know, playing next year or not, um, for them. And, you know, it’s a really fun group to be a part of. Thoughts on that sixth run, that sixth inning and Kyle Tucker’s postame? You know, the sixth inning was a disaster. when when Tucker came up, you thought this was going to be it. This was going to be, you know, you get a hit there, changes the whole inning. I tell you what, if you if you’re able to get the ball down, if you’re able to advance the runners, you know, if if Suzuki’s fly out would have scored a man from third if you had a man on third, and unfortunately, you didn’t. So, that was a that was a crucial at bat. And that was a failure on his part. And Suzuki did have a long fly out for a second. You thought maybe he got his second home run of the evening, but that wasn’t meant to be. And then Happer taking that called third strike was just painful to watch because that was their that was really their last opportunity. And and I think that the reality is the Cubs over the course of the playoffs, over the course of their uh of their performance in that series against Milwaukee, they went 4 for 27, which is a 148 average with runners in scoring position in the NLDS. They abandoned 34 guys. They struck out 46 times while walking 18 times. It was bad, man. It was just an offensive failure in that series. There was no way around it. Good numbers, Molly. I mean th that just, you know, it’s amazing with those numbers. They even got to a fifth game, right? If if you look at it that way. I mean, just the fact that they were able to get there uh based on that that kind of thing. I mean, that was the only threat of the game was was that six inning, but you really felt like, wow, I I thought Tucker was going to walk, honestly. It got to 3-1, right? And then he fouled he fouled one off and then and then he swung at he swung at ball four. I mean he he just he swung and to your point you know had he at least put the ball out into the outfield you probably get Suzuki to third you know you get Suzuki up next and Suzuki maybe you know gets him within one the old should have would have could have right no but Kyle Tucker never sounded like a guy maybe one out of every 10 times you heard from him after the game. I did see him smile a few times, but very few. And I never really saw him smile postgame or pregame. He He doesn’t He’s not a guy who wants to talk. He’s not a guy that wants to be the face of a franchise. Um I I I would be I would be blown away. I would be shocked if he wanted to come back and shocked if they wanted him to come back. I think you started to see real signs of that division, if you want to call it that, or when he left the team to go down and train with his personal team in Tampa. I think you got a sense of well, there’s there’s something about the relationship that wasn’t didn’t seem right from the outside. That may be an an assumption and it may be not based on anything except for optics, but they were bad optics. And so you wondered then and there has been nothing along the way that would make you say, well, he loves Wrigley Field. He loves Chicago. He loves being a Cub. And I think that when you look at what the price would be, unless it comes down dramatically, you probably aren’t even at the table and you probably don’t want to be. Now, are there mechanisms in place where you make a qualifying offer so you’re protected and there’s a draft compensation? There are the details and the devil will be in the details. But overall big picture I think that we have seen the last of Kyle Tucker and I’m not sure how much he’ll be missed depending on how aggressive you are in replacing him. That’s not disrespectful to what he contributed because first two months we were comparing him to Cub great because that was the kind of start he was off to. It boded well for the future and then he got hurt and it’s impossible to know and it always will be what his broken h thumb he had a broken he had a broken bone in his hand. Yep. You can’t swing a bat that way and look like an all-star outfielder or look like one of the best players in baseball. I think he was he’s a consmate professional. He never let it show that he may not have been as happy here as he was in Houston, but it never seemed that way. So, I think the Cubs go into free agency. They’ve got money to spend. Cody Bellinger is available. Alex Bregman is available. There’ll be other bats who are available, but if they’re going to go north of $200 million for a free agent named Kyle, I hope that it’s Schwarber and not Tucker.

Mike Mulligan and David Haugh reacted to the Cubs being eliminated from the playoffs with a 3-1 loss to the Brewers in Game 5 of the National League Division Series.

#chicagocubs #cubs #mlb #mlbpostseason #mlbplayoffs #brewers #milwaukeebrewers #baseball

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