Could the Cubs and White Sox miss the playoffs? (Hour 3)

0:00BASE BALL Bruce Levine It's great to talk some baseball. Score baseball insider covering the Cubs and White Sox for more than 30 years. That's a really good question, bro. You win, Bruce. You win. Inside the clubhouse co-host alongside our own David Haw. Inside the clubhouse Saturday mornings 9-11, award winning show. Not yet, but you know, close. Bruce Levine. That's the first hard question. With Hawn Peyton on 104-3, the score. Good. Good Wednesday morning. Welcome to Hawn Peyton Chicago Sports Radio 104-3, the score. Broadcasting live for the Hyundai score studios. Hello to our Chicago Sports Network. Audience, cymbal casting till 9 o'clock. And it's time now to go to the plumber's 9-11 hotline. Plumbing emergency call 1-8-33, plumb 9-11, local 130 plumber's. Get the job done right the first time. Bruce Levine is our baseball insider here at the score. He joins us now.

1:00Good morning, Bruce. How are you? Good morning, guys. Can the plumber's emergency guys help you with the Cubs bullpen at all? Well, who can get the Milwaukee fastest? The plumber's are you because you need to provide some levity. Craig Conzo could use a laugh. Wasn't doing much laughing last night, Bruce. That one left a mark. Nothing is funny when your bullpen is not getting the job done. And the Cubs bullpen, no matter who it is right now, other than Aaron Savali is not getting the job done. It's hard to watch. I know a lot of people are repointing the finger. You know, I counsel at the front office. They didn't do enough. Look, Zuffer Jan was a dynamite ploser and back end pitcher for the angels. They made the move to get him. He hasn't been close to who he was before. I mean, he's just, you know, a guy that had 33% strikeout rate is now in the low 20s.

2:01And it's just not getting it done. They're lack the power arm at the end of the game that you need for swing and miss. Anybody will tell you that right now. If you get to the end of the game and you get big hitters like Milwaukee had last night, you've got to be able to strike people out. And the Cubs, they do not have that right now. Bruce, you mentioned the name Aaron Savali. He was excellent last night. But do you believe he could be a guy that this team can lean on the rest of the way? Well, he's been a bridge guy mostly, Jared. And bridge guy usually means mop up time one way or the other. He comes in late in the game when you're when you're leading and your starting pitcher goes out or you're you're trailing by two or three runs and you're hoping to get back into a game after four or five minutes and he comes in and throws two or three. He's been terrific. I mean, you know, here's the guy that used to be a high quality starter in the major leagues

3:06with the guardians back in the day. And he's been bouncing around the last few years. He was with the White Sacks last year. He was with the Cubs last year. He's back with the Cubs this year after Stin elsewhere. You know, again, the term outgitters right now, Craig House, so doesn't have any people are writing stories and talking about Shelby Miller. God hasn't pitched in over a year. Who's at AAA? We having a Tommy John surgeries, getting people out when you start looking at desperate moves. I'm not saying Miller at his best isn't really good. He always has been. But when you start looking beyond reality of what's going to help you right now, it's a troubling thought. And certainly the Cubs are in that mold right now. It's not beyond reality. This is the reality you're facing. These are desperate times. Bruce, Jacob Webb made history for futility essentially. For giving up two out-home runs.

4:09He's the first guy to do that since they started keeping track of saves. So I get it. I know what you're saying. But Shelby Miller. Don't keep track anymore, David. What? Don't keep track of those anymore. Shelby Miller. Justin Steele, Edward Cabrera. All three of those guys may be in play before the end of the season. It's September 9th. The Cubs are, you know, they have some days off. But they're not so worried. I don't forget about the Brewers. They need to position themselves to maybe stay to get the first playoff spot in the wildcard spot. And then to have a bullpen that you can maybe trust in these high-level situations in that series. So if those guys can help, you have to mention those as possibilities. So then, in their last 20 games, they were 8 and 12. And in the 10 of those games they lost, they had a lead. Okay.

5:09Those are the numbers that they really heard. The idea is they can't hold on to leads. And they've had some outstanding starting pitching. Even Peterson's born a third yesterday, or four and two thirds, whatever it was. Four thirds, yes. Was good enough. Okay. Because Thornton came on and got out of that inning. He's like the week before where Peterson was in the exact same mode, the exact same inning. And Craig Council couldn't get him through the fifth. And that game blew up. So I don't know if you look at, you can't look at Council because he's got the guys who he's got on that roster. If a whoreer and Hawkins decide to bring up some of the guys from the minor leagues and they decide to put them in there and hope, be on hope that they can help, you know, I'm all for it. I don't, I don't think you want to continue to repeat failure. But at this point of the year, there's very little that you can do other than switch some guys around.

6:14You want to put Savali like Jared said in a higher leverage situation. Not a strikeout pitcher. You want to bring him in the eighth or ninth inning. Save him for that. You can do that. But honestly, the Cubs don't look anything like the team that were, you know, three weeks ago in. And we've seen it all year. Let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a question. Let me follow that up because I don't, I understand what you're saying about Council. I don't know. This does sound like nitpicking, but after last night, everything's fair game. We kind of give him a pass the way he handles the fifth inning. I believe like he goes to the mound. It's like the fifth inning is a magical inning. I have kidded the his managerial manual would be called the 15th out because he always takes starters out after four and two thirds. Last night, it was after four and a third. There was a walk. There was a single 83 pitches for David Peterson. Was the bullpen really the way to go in that situation, Bruce? Do you think that sometimes this bullpen problem is exacerbated by going to the pen a little too early?

7:19It's who it's who's coming up and it's and it's what they see as far as his velocity and location. Like I said, the week before David, he left them in in the fifth inning and he got torched. Okay. They lost the game right then and there's so is he is he reacting to the past? Is he dealing with the present of what he's going to try to do to get out of those jams? I think you know, Rick Council is not standing baseball man, but he's human. You know, there's human responses to teams losing, right? He doesn't feel good about his bullpen right now, but he's a positive thinker. He doesn't think if I bring this guy in, he's going to give up more runs. You can't think that way in baseball. You have to think, hey, we've had this guy in this position before he's done okay. I mean, right right now, you know, you have to think about going back to Daniel Polencia,

8:22waiting again, whether he's been successful or not. He does have a power arm. He can't strike people out. You need swing and miss in the late innings. I mean Bruce, last night we heard it from Jacob Webb just about how he's frustrated with his not just last night, but also other outing. His last two previous outings before that. I mean, how do you have confidence in a guy like that? And I should say how does Craig Council have keep confidence in a guy like that when the issues and the numbers show you something different? Well, you know, he went almost two months jared without giving up a run, right? He was one of the best relievers not just for the Cubs, but in the game, you know, going over a stretch of 24 innings over almost seven weeks and not giving up a run. So, you know, he goes from that to what he is right now. And now he's coming back from an injured arm. We got nailed on the arm a week ago and he's been pitching with a swollen arm. He's not used that excuse.

9:23The Cubs are not using that excuse, but nonetheless, it's not getting done. So I think we can talk about it over and over again. And we are because it seems to be happening every single night. Unfortunately, right now, there's a new there's a new division. Okay. The Cubs are no longer in the central division of the National League. For the next two and a half weeks, they're not there anymore. What their division is Philadelphia, San Diego, and Arizona. Though that's the division the Cubs are in. They have to win that division now. Okay. They're half a game, which really doesn't mean anything. It's the lost column right now. That's what they have to accomplish. Try to win their new division, the wild card division, and be on top there to have those three home games. That's the new goal. That's a great way to look at it, Bruce. And meanwhile, the socks have their own issues because they have a two game lead in the AL Central.

10:25And they're still looking at the wild card spot themselves because don't look now, but the blue jays are lurking and the Rangers not far behind. They have to pay attention to all those comers. And now it gets even tougher because the ace of the staff did not look like himself last night. Sean Burke, inning in a third, eight hits, seven earned runs, two walks, frustration everywhere. And he showed it post game when you were there, Bruce. Let's listen to Sean Burke after the socks loss on Tuesday night. Sean was mostly location tonight. Yeah. I just missed the spot stitches. What do you test that to have it lead to not being able to locate your pitches? I don't really know. I was just going to ask for you. I think just get behind some guys. And even when I was ahead of guys, just not looking good pitches within the zone. Because there are different sets of frustration for them. Like your last start, you took a big step forward and then coming out and getting out your best up tonight. Yeah, I mean, I think more just with the position of where our teams are.

11:28And we're coming out of stretch more than like myself feeling like I built off anything. I think just kind of thrown away again like that today down the stretches frustrating. Bruce, he's very accommodating typically. He sounded frustrated as he should be. What did you take away from the Sean Burke outing last night? Well, myself and other people continue to ask him the same question. And he would, he continued to get more frustrated. It went on for another 45 seconds or so. And again, a very great guy stands there like a pro after his worst outing maybe of his career. And took the same questions over and over again. I don't know. I mean, he seemed really lost after this. He came back before. He had a better outing last time out. It's a problem for the White Sox. That's why I was on the midday show with Layla and Mark yesterday. And I'd mentioned that Jim Bowden of the MLB network had had said on his Sunday show that he doesn't think the White Sox are going to make the playoffs at all.

12:36Not as the winner of the central now as the wild card. He looked at the Cleveland team. He looked at the schedule and the three games. The White Sox played there next week. And that type of thing, frustrates Chicago fans to hear. But the reality of who's going to get all the outs right now. It's very difficult to see without Burke pitching like he did for most of the year. It's frustrating to look at the Sox rotation and go, how are they going to pull the magic out tonight? Will the wizard be there with the wand at the end getting those outs? That was Friday, Bruce. That was Magic Wand night Friday. I don't know where they're going to find the magic now. Well, Bruce, go ahead. You finish. Go finish. I'm just saying, look, the season goes all the way to the end of the year. And what you're watching right now is,

13:38the games that are mostly below 500 that the White Sox is going to play the rest of the year here. So for Cleveland, they don't know they're supposed to lose, right? It's preordained here that the White Sox have a softer schedule. They're going to, if they win, just half of their games, they should be OK. It still looks like that. But, you know, with two games ahead of Cleveland, three in the lost column, you know, with 16 or 17 left, does it look quite like it did over the weekend? Well, David always tells me, Bruce, not to kick a guy while he's down, but it's hard every single night when you're watching the White Sox and not look at Mooney and try to figure out when he's going to bust out of this slump and striking out four times last night. Listen, it's becoming a problem in that middle of the order. And it's just hard to watch because you, at some point, you're hoping that he breaks out of this.

14:39There's a tendency in baseball, Jared. And I'm glad you brought that up. It's a really good question. There's a tendency in baseball and counsel and, and I'll both do it, that if a guy is slumping, you'll leave him in the spot. He's in no matter what. And we've seen it with the Cubs, we've seen it with the White Sox, you know, a guy that is slumping, stay in the two spots, stay in the five spots. They don't move them around. Whether it's perceived punishment, if they move them down in the order or not, or somebody else is hotter and you move them up, that's a conventional way to go about it. But you don't see it right now. Mooney shouldn't be batting second at this point, right? It should be down in the order and someone with a hotter bat should be up there, you know, batting second right now. He is, I talked to an executive during batting practice. And I said, look, it's only a couple rounds of batting practice.

15:40But he's hitting pop-ups here. He's not hitting the ball hard. Do you think that the injury that he had to his hamstring back, you know, three months ago, is still impacting his lower half and part of his swing. The executive said, you know, we don't know. He did agree, said, look, he does look lost right now. But this is a professional player, whether he's a rookie, and major league baseball or not, which he is. He's a seasoned player that's played seven games, seven years in professional baseball. So trying to work his way out of it, it's frustrated to watch right now. It's even frustrating, even more so for him. Bruce, we got a minute left, but I got to ask you about this. The socks are struggling for starting pitching consistency. Drew Thorpe has pitched nine times in the minors on his injury rehab. And last night, he pitched five scoreless innings, struck out four, walked one, one hit, 68 pitches, 42 strikes for the Charlotte Knights.

16:44Is his next start in a socks uniform? It could be, I mean, they're looking for guys to get out, right? And, you know, if I tell you he can throw four innings and give up one run, does that sound good enough to you right now? Yes. I know. That's where we're at in baseball right now. Give me the four best innings you got. Keep us in the game. Our bullpen, which is one of the best bullpen in baseball, the white socks for sure, will get the rest on. And let's move on from there. But nobody said, guys, no one said it's going to be easy for either team. The delightful thing is that with a couple of weeks left in the season, both teams are looking like playoff teams. And we haven't been able to say that very often in the last 120 years. Thank you, Mr. Sunshine. We'll talk to you tomorrow. See you, Bruce. All right, guys. Have a great day. Bruce Levine, our scores baseball insider telling us that we're going to have to keep smiling.

17:44Always puts a smile on my face. This morning is not the morning that I think that you feel good about that statement. You feel a little bit shaky about it. Or maybe you don't. Socks fans, what do you think? You saw Sean Burke. You still believe in Sean Burke? Would you want Drew Thorpe up here? How about David Sandlin? 312-644-6767. And did you hear Will Venable? How satisfied he sounded before last night's game. This was before Sean Burke's outing. We'll hear that next on the Hall of Payton Chicago Sports Radio 1043-TheScore. Hall and Payton in the mornings on 1043-TheScore. It has been special. And we have our on the finish line here. And we understand we have a long way to go. But just to look back, I think it is OK to say this has been a pretty special summer. And you just think about really from the beginning and this team coming together and playing with the energy that they played with. The fans showing up, bringing energy. And that energy is just kind of growing throughout the summer.

18:44And all the special things that have happened here in front of big crowds. It has been really cool. I think it's one of the most memorable seasons that I've had in my career. And for good reason, it's a bunch of special guys doing special things. The fans have been special. It's been amazing. Welcome back to Sean Payton Chicago Sports Radio 1043-TheScore. That was White Sucks Manager, Will Venable. Sounding relaxed, pretty content. He was talking to Chuck Garfine, the White Sucks, talk podcast. Chuck has a very good rapport with everybody in that clubhouse. And it shows in conversations like that one. And I wonder if that contributed to the whole level of satisfaction that you heard in Will Venable's voice. Because I think you could look at it two ways, Jared. And I'm curious what socks fans might think. 3126446767. On one hand, you're nodding your head in agreement because the White Sucks have been the best story major league baseball in terms of rags to riches, worse to first.

19:44All those things that have made this such an enjoyable summer on the south side. You know, I go to the rate all the time for home games. We do the CHSN shows there before games. And it's just an atmosphere full of, there's a lot more smiles this year. A lot of people are excited. So you understand that. And then there's another part of it is like, that's a great point. Well, I love you. You're a bright guy. You push all the right buttons to see. You're probably going to be the manager of the year. You got 18 games left. Yes. And you got a two game lead that feels very perilous right now. And you've got two teams nipping at the heels with the Rangers. You've got, you can't discount anybody in this race in the blue jays. And you don't want anybody to exhale and relax just yet. So there's a balancing act. And I wonder what socks fans feel and how confident they are in this team being able to show the resolve and resilience that they have all season long.

20:48Because Jared, their schedule is now they're playing the Pirates for two more. Yeah. Cardinals Cleveland, which is the key series. And then Tigers, Royals and Rockies to wound up wind up the season. Just don't fall off it. Don't fall off a cliff. That's where the conversation that he had with Chuck, I think when you're sitting down with that in the report that they have, you feel comfortable. So you're going to, you're going to give off all the feels about just everything that's that was going on probably this season. My thing is is before last night's game, reading this question on the text chain between all of us, I was like, yeah, you know what? Go ahead. It's special. Enjoy it. Enjoy it. Basket it. But then after last night, the game, I was like, I was like, yeah, let's just, let's slow this thing down. My feeling is, is have that feeling if you're well venable. That is your right. It has been a special year with not a lot of expectations coming into the season.

21:48You talked about from rags to riches. It has been phenomenal. The only thing is is that over the next two weeks, you've got to be able to produce. You've got to be able to stay as of right now. I said, what is special is the journey. The journey of getting to this point and where you're at is the journey. But winning the division, that is, that's proof that you should belong here. Well, because pro sports are still about the destination, not just the journey. Yeah, it's not. College sports, high school sports, youth sports, that's all about the journey. Yeah. This is the destination matters in professional sports because it is what it is. And I go back to what we're talking about with Dustin and Craig Council earlier in the program. And the way that Craig Council pacing and running his fingers through his luscious hair, and showing signs of anxiety that may have an effect on his team. I don't want to put words in your mouth, Dustin, but that's one of the concerns that you have. You see a manager or a coach that involved in that way.

22:52So I think likewise, I don't want to dismiss that possibility. The will-ventable is the coolest customer in the clubhouse. This has been a special year, guys. Stay positive. Stay up, beat. This is what he's projecting to make everybody else around and feel like, hey, you know what? I can see you, Cleveland. Oh, I know what September is all about. I feel pretty good because this has been a special summer. We are about that. That's, we produce this. This is who we are. So I'll get, yeah, I feel good. I feel great. And you should too. Chase my draw. You should too, Sean Burke. He's setting an example with the way that he handled that question. Or just the way he feels about everything. The white socks have been the white socks all season long. This team that we've been seeing, this is who they've been. And I think that's the way that will-ventable has been managing this ball club. I'm like, oh, the way that he's handled it with these guys. And even through the ups and downs throughout the season, that is his style.

23:53And I think I'm not going to knock him for his style to be like, hey, you're right. We're here. Being yourself. I can't do it. This is what got his team here. But now you have to finish. Seven, seven, three, Texas, Jared, as a socks fan, I am in full on Doomer mode with this team. One reason I was reluctant for months to embrace the hype around them is I've watched enough seasons where the white socks do well, March to August, only to lay in Aegon September. Three, one, nine, the socks are a couple years away. They have a loaded farm system and some great prospects. We'll come up the next few years. Six, three, oh, white socks are playing with house money. If they give up the lead and lose a playoff spot, the good vibes from the season will be diminished. I think it's something that Bill Don. I believe so if this is the floor, like right now, this is the floor of where coming into the season, this was not in my bingo card at all for the South South. But admit it, you got to feel a little greedy. Yeah, you should want to hear a sock, if you're a socks fan, you should.

24:55You won October. Yeah, you do not want this thing to end. Yes, it would hurt, but I still think that it's building to something even bigger. Three, one, two, six, forty, four, sixty, seven, sixty, seven. Let's start the socks conversation with John and Ottawa. John, welcome to Hawn Payton. Hi, Dave. What's your comment on Jim Bowen saying that the white socks won't make it to the playoffs at all? Do you think that's accurate? I think Jim Bowen's an opinionated guy with the respect for his experience. And he's in opinion, it's like a lot of us who do this for a living. He has his reasons for looking at the socks and seeing some weaknesses. I understand why you would doubt a manager who has never been here before in this penit race. And a bunch of players who haven't been through this before. So I don't look at that and say, oh my gosh, that's out of town stupid. I think that's comes from the vantage point of an former executive who values experience. And the way he uses experience in penit races that the white socks frankly do not have.

25:59Yeah, but I'm not going to knock the white socks for how they got to this point. I always said that if some of the Texas is talking about playing with house money. Yes, that is right. But also they don't know any better. And I've been saying that all season long. So I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt that they're going to close this thing off on the strong. I just feel like there have been so many times this season where we have gone into stretches. And I go back to like early June after May with season started pretty well. And then you're like, well, you know, wait till they play these guys. Then they did. And it's okay. Then there was your life. Well, wait till they get through this stretch. And then they did. And it was okay. So I understand skeptics like Jim Bowden. And I don't think that I have as much confidence in the socks going in with momentum or doing damage in October as maybe a dead two weeks ago. But I think that they have earned the benefit of the doubt to make you think that they can overcome some of these obstacles.

27:01A lot of things have to happen though, Jared. You have to get better pitching. Yes. You got to get moonay back getting hot. He needs to just just get out of this slump. The strikeouts are just killing you. But this team they are who we thought they were, David. And that is who they are. Who they are. Okay. How they got the team. I'll play off team. I'll play off team. Mike is in Northbrook. Mike. Welcome to Han Payton. Mike is jamming out on hold. All right. Mike. Sorry to catch you off guard there, Mike. The socks are who they thought we were. Well, I think they have exceeded expectations. I think they have raised the standard. You're still in first place. You just have to take care of business. And most of the time come up next few weeks. You got to take care of business away from the rate. Can you do that? The thing about the white socks that is very intriguing is that the starting pitching has been disappointing of late.

28:05Last night was the latest example. Luis Castillo. He's been a very good player. He's been a very good player. Last night was the latest example. Luis Castillo. Disappointments. It's a deadline. Davis Martin goes tonight. Maybe he can duplicate his last effort five and two thirds. Scores very solid in his return. But Eric Fettie and Anthony Kay. Those are guys that are spot starters. Bulk relievers. But the socks, if they can just get to the point where they rely on their bullpen, they're going to be in great shape. Yes. Because this is a bullpen that is well equipped for these high leverage situations. And I think Brasibon might be coming back and I know he's not been what you thought he would be. But Grant Taylor and Hagen Smith and Hudson, these guys have exceeded what you thought they would be. Sean Newcomb has been worth his weight in gold. So you get to the bullpen but getting there has been the problem lately.

29:09And it's going to take a full team effort to do that. The offense has got to find ways to spark it up because that's the way we know this team can mash. They can hit. So if you start finding a way to get some good starting pitching, your bullpen holds you up and your offense starts to click, then anything's possible. It says here's a text from 815 or 630. The fact that these players don't have pen and experience may be a plus because they don't know what they don't know. Yes. Back to the phone lines. Jeff is listening on the Odyssey app. Jeff, welcome to Hawn Payton. Hey, good morning guys. First and foremost, as being a Western Michigan grad, I got to say that the Packers and the Big Ten replay officials suck. Now I have stuff for both teams. For the White Sox, what we're really looking at David and Jared is we have guys that are starting pitchers that really aren't aces. And any staff, they're more four or five pitchers in the rotation.

30:11And they've never gone as far as they're going. So that's what concerns me. So yes, I want to see Sandlin up and yes, I'll see four pop because I want to see some fresh arms up there. And for the other side of town, you guys inspired me when I listened to the problems you were having with the bullpen. And I wrote a little bit before it. Here it goes. Here's a little song I wrote. The Cogs Pope and can't stay up. Lord, be worried. They're crappy. Can't get an out. Can't hold a lead. Another blown save has dust in peed. Don't worry. They're crappy. First does single. Then the double. When Craig grubs his head, you know there's trouble. Be worried. They're crappy. You guys have a great weekend. So there's. Thanks Jeff. Thanks Jeff. Jeff did it again. What just happened there? He was serenading me.

31:11I went to a whole other place. What just happened? Well, Jeff is a guy that also regular listener, frequent caller. He wrote a birthday song for me, I believe. And so it was very, it was tailored. Jeff comes up with his songs. He's a lyricist. That's good. Yeah, he's definitely. I was hoping that Brandon screened that call, man, just to make sure. I know where we was going with that. That was Dustin over there. He knew it. Do you know that was coming Dustin? I didn't see Dustin in it. Oh, yeah. That's I knew that was coming. Good warning, please. Scared me. That's no fun. I know. Okay. That's fine. I've been doing this for a hot minute. Jeff can be trusted. Seven, seven, nine. Noah Schultz is down in Charlotte with a point eight, nine whip and two point two, five ERA might want to bring him up. I think if you look at Noah Schultz, Drew Thorpe and David Sandlin, if they can help, why not?

32:11What do you guys laugh at? What's Brandon laughing at? Brandon, what's so funny, man? Jeff gets you all cracking up. Jeff is a very Jeff has a unique way about him. And so I think, yeah, we have heard, heard from him many times before and I'm sure we'll hear from him many times again. We also have heard from many times before Chris Chelios. Chelry. Chelry joins us next on on page, Chicago Sports Radio 104 3 the score. Our crappy team, why should we care? Chris Chelios up the boards to Chelios with room. He shoots a score. That MGM ambassador, make it legendary. Nice play by Chris Chelios. Hockey Hall of Famer. Chris Chelios is not human and convinced of it. Not only will he go on the Hall of Fam, I think he should go on this Smithsonian. Black Hawks legend. Chelios will end defense but he'll also head off into the Hawks. Chelios move again.

33:12Chelios. Who won? Chris Chelios has won it for Chicago. Three times Stanley Cup champion. What a competitor Chris Chelios has been over the years and he's been a winner of every place he's ever been. Chris Chelios with Haim Peyton on 104 3 the score. Welcome back. It's Haim Peyton, Chicago Sports Radio 104 3 the score. Time now to go to our plumbers 911 hotline. Plumbing emergency call 1-833, plum 9-1-1, local 130 plumbers. Get the job done right the first time and joining us now. Bet MGM Ambassador Chris Chelios, Bet MGM make it legendary gambling problem called 1-800-Gamber. Good morning Chris. How are you? Good. Love that Pearl Jam intro. Nice. Just for you. Yes. Thank you. Waking you up this morning. I Chris, so we made our season predictions a little bit earlier in the show. How good do you think the Bears will be this year in terms of record? What do you think happens in the season opener Sunday at Carolina?

34:15Well, after last year your expectations are pretty high. Winning those close games right at the end. Really great year exciting. Took a step forward for sure. I guess the big question is the defense. Everybody keeps trying to count them out but they had a pretty good year last year. But I'm going with Bears. You know that I'll never bet against them. And Williams hopefully takes that next step. I love the coach playing it simple in that the whole three tight end. I've been whining about throwing them all the commit. Well now you've got two more targets. Make it easier on Caleb. Just seems like that tight ends usually a bigger than who's covering them. And they find a way to get open and they always seem to make the big plays in all these big games. So hopefully, you know, that seems to be the case this year. And they at least their offense hopefully explodes and continues to improve. Kelly, last time we talked to you, we were having a conversation about the young stars and the advice you would give them here in the city with Caleb Williams and PCA.

35:18But since that last time we talked, you know, you had Caleb and all the young guys pulling up to watch PCA at Riggly. How cool is that? And also, did you ever do anything like that pull up on somebody else and go to another game with some of the young stars when you were here? Yeah, I mean, we were close with the bulls obviously. And then that run MJ and that group of guys didn't in the 90s. So we hung around a lot. You know, with the white socks, the cubs now that my age, obviously that's not going to happen. But it's cool to, you know, socialize with those guys. Especially when things are going well, we got two baseball teams look like they're playoff found and all the excitement for the Bears, Black Hawk. You know, this is a year hopefully they become a playoff contender. And you know, as you mentioned, a lot of possible candidates to be MVP's. And it's, you know, Pete Crow has been great to watch, you know, watching him mature. Con of a dart is going to be the same.

36:18Caleb, that remains to be seen, you know, this year's a lot of pressure on him. But yeah, we're lucky we have those marquee players and hopefully lead us to that promise land that we can win championships and Stanley Cubs and enjoy it. So Chris, we know you root for both sides of town, cubs and white socks. And but maybe identify with the south side a little bit more. What was your reaction when you saw the renderings? If you saw them of the potential white socks ballpark in the south loop called the rail yards downtown off by Canal Street. Well, I love the fact that I could pull my boat right up to it. That's going to be great. How's that for selfish reason? It's great. No, but watching them, I go up and down the river, we go down to Chinatown, pass by it, you know, two, three days a week. And it's a, for me, I love the location. I don't have a problem with rate field. I really don't. The area I'd like to see it become more of an entertainment district like a lot of these cities are doing.

37:18It's almost like, you know, building Las Vegas and picking spots and then building around it and making it a fun place to go earlier. And that's not the case over by by rate field. You know, there's not much to go on. But regularly, you know, it's second to none when it comes to entertainment around the fields and what the rickets have done. But yeah, it remains to be seen. I can never pronounce they've just in the new part of the white style ispia. I saw him the other day. He's had a lot of games with his kids. It looks like he's got big ideas and that's, that's going to be interesting to see if they could pull it off. It doesn't look like there's a whole lot of room, but you know, on the river. I'd much rather see him utilize that space, you know, by old McCormick there, whether it's going to be the bears or the white socks. It's such a beautiful lakefront and it seems like they got plenty of property to pull something out there. Shelley, it's almost time to do that. Hockey man, how excited are you about that? And with another year of growth for this black Hawks team, what are your actual kind of standards for this group and expectations before Bidard gets back on the ice?

38:22Yeah, well, since Bidard's been there two years ago, they've taken steps in the right direction. Their points have increased with coach Blaschill. Again, I feel like they have to get off the good start. Get some confidence if they're going to try and, you know, get into playoffs. I was there yesterday at the rank. It's great to see Caner back in the black Hawking uniform. That's going to be exciting. They've added some toughness. They got some young kids, some size. I think that's what they've lacked. A little bit too much. This one thing is never a good thing. So it's going to be interesting. You know, again, they got the gold tender and night. I think they got the right guy there and that's a great start. So like I said, I really think a quick starter, a good start is going to be so important to these guys. And then when Bidard does get back, it looks like he's going to be back sooner than later. He's been skating. No sense rushing him, obviously. It's going to be a long year. So hopefully when he gets healthy, we're going to see some amazing hockey with, you know, Caner, Bidard, the front L. So yeah, I'm looking forward to it and see if someone one of these big these step up.

39:24Byeram is going to be the key. You know, it's a good power play guy. That was a great acquisition too. Great stuff, Charlie. We appreciate your time and enjoy the weekend. All right guys, you too. Take care. Chris Chalios, but MGM ambassador joining us here, giving us his predictions and also just recollections of when he used to run around with the Bulls. Can we, can we get an invite on the boat? I mean, that's the one thing I took away from talking to Charlie. He can just pull up his boat anyway. I'm thinking remote, right? Like a live, alive, walk and paint and show someone's in the boat. All right. I think we can do that. Dustin, anybody can send it on to you. But I don't think that he wants to get up at 5.30 in the morning. Can we be honest there? I don't think that Charlie wants to. We can get someone to charter the boat for it. I'm guessing that boat's got a bedroom on it. He can stay asleep. Wake up whenever he wants to. Is he captain the boat as well or somebody captain the boat for? These are questions for next week. Yeah. We'll try to do that. But when we come back, we're going to switch the bears.

40:24And we're going to talk to Stacey Dales right here. Keep it locked at 1-0-4-3 in the score. This is Hawn Payton. We'll be back with Stacey Dales.