Pete Crow-Armstrong’s BIG Night For Team USA Has Cubs Fans FIRED UP! | CHGO Cubs Podcast

Hey, Chicago. What do you say? It's the CHGO Cubs podcast. It is Wednesday, the 11th. That means we are

15 days away from the Cubs. Season opener at Rigglyfield. Luke, stuck my rejoic,

Rostopolis and Justin Roman with you. And Sarah running the ones and twos. Go Cubs.

There it is. 15 days until opening day. Yeah, a little extra. You wouldn't, you wouldn't know

by looking outside and it's snowing here in Chicago, but opening day is coming up pretty soon.

What a kick in the crotch. It's come back from Arizona where it was too hot at times and now

and it was 70 on Monday in Chicago. So we feel good about that and then snow today. Hale,

tornado, snow, yeah, the poor people in Kankakee. Yeah, good grief. All right, we're going to start

right off the top with our taking the tent because team USA is in trouble. Four seasons.

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special offers and money saving coupons that's four seasons, heating cooling.com. So taking the

tent on Mark DeRosa's comment, I think a little bit it's been made too much about this. Now,

Mark DeRosa said on one of the MLB network shows before team USA's game about it earlier in the day,

he said, well, since we've already punched our ticket to the next round, we still want to win.

And he also talked about a lot of the guys were dragging, dragging because they'd party too much

after beating Mexico and they were up all night and they were in the hotel and yada yada yada.

And then after the game, after they had lost, he said, no, he misspoke, completely misread the

calculations, but they knew before the game, all the different calculations were going into it.

And then Jesse Rogers, I heard him on the radio saying that he believed that too that they

didn't know before the game, but they clearly didn't know in the morning. Is D-Rone trouble?

Yeah, I mean, listen, this is your guys, your friends, so I don't expect you to be, you know,

I don't know that he's my friend, but I liked him as a player and he was good in the clubhouse.

So I will say, and I also like DeRosa as a player who's part of that, you know, that O-18 that we're

going to talk about later. I do believe that he didn't understand that yesterday was a must win.

I don't think he even the lineup wasn't the, the everything about what he said,

some of the personnel choices showed me that he thought they were going on to next round. No matter

what, not playing. Yeah, I mean, so, you know, and then, oh, man, I mean, I saw a couple of

funny tweets. I need travel baseball dad knew what was going on, but Mark DeRosa didn't,

because yes, it's not your typical baseball, but it's kind of baseball, travel baseball rules

where you're looking at who runs scored, you know, all these everything. So I believe he did

not know. I don't know when he figured it out. Was it in game? Was it before the game? I don't

know, but I don't think, I don't think he knew and that is a big black, no, here, what can happen

right now is that Italy can win and all goes away. But I'll say what? If USA gets eliminated,

that's a big black eye on Mark DeRosa, I think. Quote unquote dream team. Yeah, it's eliminated,

which Joey didn't like now. He did it. I will say this. Our knowledge of it can be less

than the managers knowledge of it. I had no idea that was the rule either, because I don't

have a kid playing Italy. Right. That said, again, he needs to know this. Yes. But it is a stupid rule.

Like, why wouldn't the rule just be, okay, you're three in one, you're three in one, but you

beat Mexico, you're in. Why wouldn't that be the rule? Why wouldn't that be the first cut for

who moves on? You guys play each other, you have the same record, who won that game? That's a

different discussion you can have with the people that created the tournament. But as the manager

of team USA in the tournament, you shouldn't know the rules and you should be very clear on what it

takes to move on. And I just don't believe Mark DeRosa knew that. Hello, I'm Mark DeRosa's PR manager

here. Look, okay. Does Mark DeRosa just like wake up out of like a coffin of a silo and then

no one talks to him? He has other coaches on the coaching staff. Where's the other people?

Where's his assistant? I get it. Like the buck stops with the manager, but hey,

Mark DeRosa is not a professional manager. And I loved him as a player. He's just a fantastic

MLB analyst. And now he's managing team USA. It is a mistake. And frankly, it's not good. And

they can't walk it off because he talked about it previously. Yeah. So, but I understand that,

like you're telling me that this dream team lineup also didn't realize, hey, hey coach,

here's the math. Here's the whatever. Are we thinking about this? How are we attacking this? You

don't think they have conversations about this? So frankly, it was something that was completely

messed. I understand that people out there being like, well, he put out the B team of the bad lineup.

All right. Well, Paul Goldschmidt's a pretty good player. Okay. Having Gunner Henderson play

third base is not a, it's not a bad thing. All right. Ernie Clement's not a bad player. We'll

Smith had a couple hits last night. So I get that the result now makes it easy to poke at Mark DeRosa

and the decisions that he made. But again, and also I'm just this WBC thing. Like I'm enjoying it.

It's fun. It's, it's great fodder. It's good sports conversation. But there's a thing called

the Chicago Cubs that care about a little bit more. So I'm just not like, I see people just

absolutely like losing their minds about Mark DeRosa today. And I just, I can't, I can't gin

up that kind of anger. I just don't have it for it. Well, because, because team USA has a

legitimate shot of getting bounced today. Good. Then I get my cup flares back.

Pops his hamstring running hard for a double because I get it. You can get hurt at any time.

But you can't tell me that this get that this WBC has a hundred percent because they want it

as they should. And good for them for doing it. But I'm sorry. When Kyle Teal pops his hamstring

running on first base, if USA gets bounced today, I don't mean to be a contrarian about this.

I'm cool, man. I've seen what I wanted to see. Peacock Armstrong was awesome last night.

Send him home. Put him back in the blue and red. And let's get ready for Mark's 26. Like I'm sorry.

By the way, isn't PCA the backup center field or so? In this case, the guy, you know, he

delivered big for you with two home runs in that game. Put the A line up out there.

It's a real so with four runs, five RBI. My favorite part is two walks. Yeah, absolutely. Two walks

at the World Baseball Conference. I also did put the corner what beat him out there. PCA is playing

because of that. So we're a genius move. Rosa had PCA playing. And man, did he look good. He's

singlehandedly brought Team USA back to life. And they had another home. I mean, if listen,

you wish Team USA would have won yesterday, but at the very least like PCA, I think announced

on an international stage that he is a superstar. And he's, I'm so excited for the season with him.

And not with to to that at the very least, right? Like again, I will admit that the WBC has

ratcheted up the competition for some of these guys with the 15%. And yeah, there's a lot of

eyeballs on these games, which is great for baseball from my selfish perspective, though. Yeah, like

two weeks ago, we're playing tape of PCA saying, yeah, the moment got to me a little bit in October

versus the Brewers. Yeah. And now PCA hit two bombs last night in a game when they really needed it,

right? He's singlehandedly brought them back into the game. And then that solo bomb, solo bomb,

at least I got them into a shouting distance of having an interesting ninth inning. So PCA stepping

up in the moment of something that is exhibition. I think you can take something away from that

a little bit him doubling in the ulcer game last year. I wanted to take a little something away

from that him not delivering in October. I just want, I hopefully this is beginning to dispel that

notion that when the moment shows up again, guess who's going to be ready? Yeah.

Pro Armstrong. And that's what I'm taking away from last night. Hi, everybody in the live YouTube

chat. Chris from Northern Ireland is saying, hey, great spring training stories. Sounded

awesome. Hope to be there at the Friday, Friday, one 20 club. Rigly sometime this year looking

forward to it. Maybe April 10th. Yeah. Um, you know, maybe to Rosa's bigger mistake is that

he should have told school bowl were saving you for either Mexico or Italy. Yeah.

Well, we're not wasting you against Great Britain. But then again, I thought there was much as

as much chance of Italy beating them as I did Great Britain beating them. So well, that's the thing

we had Ryan Severenia yesterday as our guest. And we all were like, we couldn't even some of the

players on Italy, we didn't even know, you know, I'm saying, I mean, Mexico was going to be the

catcher, right? Mexico. I will say I thought was a very formidable opponent that they're a good

team. I really looked at Italy. I was like, Oh, but we should just be a cakewalk. I mean, so

to Marthorosa's cried it a little bit. I kind of felt the same way that being said, I'm not the

manager. You shouldn't know the rules. No matter how, you know, somebody said a demolition

worm says the to be fair, the rules of advancing are kind of wacky. You're right. But you should know

the rules. Like take that up with the WBC for the night next time. But these are the rules. The

managers should know what the rules are. And I don't think he did. But going back to PC really fast,

not only did he set up to the moment, I think he provided the best visuals of the night from,

you know, Sarah has the thumbnail on our on our YouTube, which is PCA in his glory, right? A lot

of a Twitter, you know, the slow motion and the best for PCA is like a visual. He's visual

baseball perfection. You know, he gives you those shots, gives you those videos, gives you that

energy. And man am I glad he's our center fielder. He's always done it on the Cubs. But I want to

ask him, when did you start turning when you're rounding the bases to the outfield and pointing

everybody? Yeah. Like everybody else just runs straight ahead, shoulders ahead. PCA turns his whole

body as if to say, look at me. He does. He does. It's like a showman going around the stage.

Did he start that? Was it the money thing he did? Remember when the extension rumors came out

there? And he hit a bomb. And he was rounding the bases. I could have sworn he did like a money

sign thing. I just feel like he's always done it. I could be wrong with the Cubs at least. But

you know, it's clearly carried over to the WBC. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's just a couple moments

last night that unfortunately don't go into the ledger for the Cubs this year. But again,

we've been talking about this all winter. And like when it's absolutely freezing outside and

getting excited, it isn't. There's a part of it that yeah, like we're Cubs fans and you've

been covering this long time. So you're just you're passionate and you see player, you're like,

oh, what if this player could be like this? Yeah. Right. And everyone goes, oh, well,

PCA second half, PCA second half, there's a, I'm telling you, and this is not going to sound

sports intelligent. There's something about this kid, man. Yeah. It just, there just is. And I

can't wait for it to play out over the course of the summer. We all know that the tangibles of

the talent with the speed and now he's got the power. But we just did that. We did that great hit

where we got a chance to hang out with Brendan Miller in Arizona. Just talking about the evolution

of his swing. Yeah. And where it's at? Just watching it last night. Like everyone, everyone on my

text thought is man, look at that swing. Like that's that front side is so soft. And then he's just,

he's targeting the right pitches right now. He's in a really good place. He stepped up to the moment

frankly, on a very big stage. And he's playing for something right now. It's he's getting ready

for the regular season. It's just really cool. It's really cool to see. And yeah, unfortunately,

Michael Lorenzen, we know him very well since in Adi writes, he's he's he's he's you know what I mean,

he's bewildered the Cubs a couple of times before and they were able to get a couple boards,

a couple runs on the board. Thanks to some white socks, young players and Italy took care of

business. I mean, you can't give up eight though, right? I mean, I really can't. You can't

give away. Guys, I'm glad we don't have him. I'll take Kate Horton every day. And he got

Rochester. I mean, I read a Brad Keller. I mean, I can't throw a second base anymore. Like he

used the Cubs and then forgets out of play baseball. So I'm not not our problem like Joey said

earlier, but that was that that was a pivotal moment as well. But here's my hot seat, my prediction

guys. Italy will either win and or Mexico will score five room. So like the I believe team USA will

advance, but it's a real so better hope that they do because otherwise, he's going to be a scapegoat

for a long time. By the way, Braggman, we were talking about him getting replaced the third. He is

one for seven to three runs. He has five walks in the world baseball class. Now, remember how many

times last year we thought, wow, walks are a key part of this Cubs offense. They get guys on

base. They move around. That's one extra way that you don't have to put three hits together

is to get the free pass. First of all, and then maybe steal a base. Braggman with five walks,

PCA with two. So seven between the two Cubs so far in the world baseball classic. That's a good

sign. I got one more thing to say about this world baseball classic. And it's starting to concern

me a little bit. What is it? I'll tell you about it after the break. But first, we have to take a break

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Heatingcooling.com and again, take a look outside. It is snowing. We still got a few more weeks left,

and next week you can tune up your AC back on the CHCO Cubs podcast talking about

what team USA needs to do. How Mark Dorosa sort of screwed up. PCA almost saves them. Again,

it is either Italy needs to beat Mexico or Mexico can win and they have to score five or more

runs. So to break it down, ultimately, Italy has to score like four runs because they could win

four and nothing fine. But for Mexico, we have to get five. If you just break it down, Italy's got

to score four runs. And none of this matters. No, it's that Mexico needs to score five or more

to knock out Italy. But my point is if that Italy is four runs. It's a different way of saying,

yeah, yeah, yeah. You should call Mark Dorosa. You would, you would know.

If Mexico wins and they score five runs. Yes.

Team USA knocks out Italy. Now, that's also crazy because they beat Team USA. But again,

the rules are silly travel baseball rules, man. So what is starting to concern me?

Yes. That Italy and Mexico are behind the scenes right now going. Hey, you know what it'd be great

for the world baseball classic. Let's get those smug American dream teamers off the stage. And how

about you just let us win tonight or how about if we get that fourth run, we give the old here comes

the main ball. Right. You would hope you're saying like, I could see a scenario where the two

teams would be like, listen, if we're going to win this somehow and have this miracle story,

the best thing for us is to get Team USA out of this tournament. Yeah. Now, would you say that

is right or against sportsmanship? Against sportsmanship. I mean, I don't think you're going to get

everybody on both teams to agree to do that. I think that I hear what you're saying. I just

think there's a lot of pride at stake. You know, guys want to do well. Guys want to show out. I just

to get everybody on both teams to agree to that. That would be a stretch. And I do think it'd be

bad sportsmanship. You always got to play to win. I'm against tank tanking and all those kind of

things too. So I don't think that's I hear what you're saying. I don't think it's a concern.

That's exactly what I was thinking to like, there's two things can be true. I can accept that strategy

to win. I can applaud that and I can respect it from a fans perspective. Yeah, tanking,

load management, playing for a tie and soccer. You know, I mean, playing the motion offense and

the keep away. You know, just, you know, whatever it is running the football or, you know,

whatever version of that is aesthetically, it gets away from the spirit of whatever sport is,

which is you want to compete as hard as you can for victory on both sides at all times. But

I, you know, at the same time, out of the other side of my mouth, I can respect strategy. Listen,

the strategy is to win the tournament. Yep. And if you want to win the tournament, I don't know if

it's actually against sportsmanship to be like, hey, you know what? We've decided to put some

subs in today. Joe Pesci, Danny Boniducci, and Danny DeVito and Chevronio will be over at first

to comment the Falcos playing short. It's funny. Last night, my wife, she, because my wife was

watching, she was like, oh, Italy's playing USA. My wife is Italian. So I was like, oh,

Guy Fieri's now, batting at first base. Flavor town. It's a bellow Rosolini.

I mean, I don't know. So I don't know if it's bad sportsmanship or not. But I do think it is

possible. I also think it's possible that Italy was so happy last night that they may have

gone out and had more than just a spaghetti dinner last night. They might have gone out and had

a couple of those table wines. Well, I'm not to put shit around the club house and been like,

oh, born journal, welcome to the olive garden. They might have taken it down, you know.

The olive garden. I still, I still think, listen, I mean, yeah, I just, I don't, you have to get

everybody to buy into that. That's, that's who full rosters of like throwing the game and or,

I just, I don't see. They're so hung over that they, we don't have to get them to buy

into anything. Mexico is just like, we can play these guys. They can't even stand up.

Right, right. Half of them are puking in the dugout. But Mexico can win. They just have a score of

five runs. And I feel like this, this tournament hasn't been really a pitcher's duel. I think

that there's a lot of offense in this tournament. So I mean, I don't care if Mexico wins, they score

five or more runs. Go ahead. But, um, I, yeah, I just think somehow some way team USA moves on

and Derosa lives to fight another day. If USA goes home, that's cool. I'm totally bad. I don't

really bad with it. And like, I, you know, the funny part about it too is, uh, you know, Japan's

on the other side, right? And they look just as formidable as ever, just as much as they did.

And they're defending, they're defending WBC champs, right? I mean, so there, there's that going

for it. Do you want to see team USA in Japan? Like for me, that's the, I want to see. I, I, I do,

I do, but like, I, I, I, I don't know, the part about me that's really funny is that I'm watching

these games and I am going like, wow, they're really letting schemes throw 60 pitches here. And

wow, you know what I mean? And I understand scubals having this fun little dance over here.

And I'm sure you guys probably hit it on yesterday. I'm like, man, I really hate to go, but I,

I gotta go. I don't know if I buy any of that. Oh, the time. Oh, God, I'd love to stay at this party.

But, um, God, it's getting so late. Like, you know what I mean? Like, so like when I left the hotel

lobby bar the other day, oh my, guys, I might be back. I gotta call the wife and then I might be

back. I'm still not over it. And it turns out, no, my agent said, I can't be back biggest Irish

goodbye ever. Uh, uh, uh, well, we'll see tonight's a big night. Anyways, uh, so away from

the World Baseball Classic, we had another outing involving the Cubs. And of course, that was the

Cactus League game. Kate Horton struggled. He did. Now, after I said, I think Matthew Boyd should

be the opening day starter. He got sort of lit up at the World Baseball Classic. And I texted

you. I was like, oh, yeah, boy, it's not your starter. It's going to be. So then Kate Horton

goes out and he gets lit up. And I said, Horton is not your starter, but Justin.

Today, when press on the radio, Jesse Rogers said he thinks it will be Kate Horton.

Because he doesn't know if how the workload and things will work with the work with the

World Baseball Classic, when it could end, and it might be tricky to make Boyd that guy and back

time it from there, a little bit trickier. We'll see. Yeah. We'll see. I think those are the two

options. Yeah. I don't think showed us an option. And I don't think Tyrone is the other guy either.

So it's between Boyd and I don't think there's no way it's going to be weird. If Team USA gets

balanced today, now you got a lot of time plenty of time enough for Boyd. So a lot could hit a lot

rides on tonight's game. But I would love it to be Kate Horton. I know he got rocked yesterday

spring training. I don't care. Maybe he's working on something. We seen him pitch at a very high

level in actual games that matter. I'm sold on Kade. But I ballooned. You got me thinking about

the veteran presence and there is kind of a passing of the guard. So I do understand Matthew

Boyd being the choice. But I would pick Kate Horton for sure. When it comes to Kate Horton,

I mean, when we played the exercise of producer prepare, right? We think we all say with Kate Horton,

just prepare. Yeah. Right. So I frankly, I'm taking yesterday's start with a grain of salt. And

I would I would implore a cup of fans to think about it also like this a little bit of every time a

player specifically a pitcher, when a pitcher performs poorly in spring training, there are two

sides of the coin to this. The first one is this guy stinks or this guy just went through an

important lesson that isn't happening right now in the regular season, right? Like, and I'm not

saying he's going to iron out the kinks and everything's going to be fine. But for a player that

gets knocked around for three home runs in a start, something that you don't expect to see from

Kate Horton to give up six runs in a start, something you don't expect to see from Kate Horton.

I just think a little humble pie every once in a while to sort of recalibrate, get back in the lab.

And maybe he is working on stuff. Maybe he's just trying to work on forcing. I don't need him

snapping off 55 sliders in the game. So I think sometimes for cups fans, like again, bad performance can

sometimes worry you. But also these lessons right now in spring training can be invaluable to get

you ready for the season. You can have success all the time. A little adversity. There's nothing wrong

with that. Okay. So showed us had some bad outings in the cactus league. Tione had a bad one in the

cactus league. A good WBC start. Kate had a bad one in the cactus league. Boyd had a bad one

at the WBC. Cabrera is a good. Cabrera is the one that hasn't. I just don't think it means a whole

lot. Now the only thing that scares me when I see a guy give up six runs is making sure that he

goes out there for the next start. Right. You know, because then you start to worry anytime I see a

guy get blown up. Was it because he wasn't feeling right or was he just working on a certain pitch and

they knew it was coming at this point and whatever. With a Velo all that. Yeah, I mean, well, you know,

I don't look at that. You know, unless it's 105. I don't know. Thank you for a good point here. I

haven't fact checked this. But does 2016 spring training. The Cubs were 11 and 19. Is that a

song that could you guys? I have no idea. Meeting like spring training is a matter of those.

Those of us. Cubs team maybe in our lifetime and like they're spring training. You know,

guys are working on different things and whatever. So yeah, spring training is more like for us

fans. We yeah, you want to see dubs. But like ultimately, these guys are working on certain things

with different pitches, different swings, different situations. So just don't read too much into it.

Yeah. Becky, thank you for bringing that stat to the attention because I think it means

you mean a lot of things, right? Like one, like it's a good recalibrator for Cubs fans that want to

freak out over spring training because we do it every single year. And Becky, like if you thought

about that over the top of your head, you're one of my favorite sickos. If you didn't had to look

it up, it's okay because no one remembers what happens in spring training. No one remembers because

it never ends up on the back of the baseball card. So this is all a process. I know we're getting a

little antsy. We're getting a little itchy. I know I am. I want these games to start already.

We're getting really close. Everyone's in fine tune mode. You know, of course, I'd love to see

Kate Horton bounce back with a good spring starter, whatever. But even if he doesn't, I still think

it's okay. There's a long, it's a long road to go to get to where everyone needs to be from a

specific player perspective. You know, Larry and Gary, I think the 85 bears were a win list in the

preseason. Oh, is that a fact, Barry? I think that's true. Gary and Barry and Larry actually,

they're two tree games. I think they were, I think they were a win list. The 84 calls were actually

really bad. It's been training as well. I don't know. I don't think you were, but they are bad. He

wasn't either flus like undefeated in the preseason. Yeah, it's all like guys. I was the fastest

kid in kindergarten. But by the time I got to second rate, I was the slowest. So what's the,

you know, that really matters. I'm not worried about Kate Horton because of one outing.

No, same. Especially because he said so much success at the majorly level when it counted.

But that being said, I kind of play both sides because I'm really excited about dance

be spots and looking good. I'm really excited about match. I'm looking good. I'm really

excited about the guys that are like ballin, right? So I like to play both sides of it. But that

being said, none of it matters as of March 26. We all started zero and show me what you got.

And I'm kind of a spring training masochist. I don't mind if a pitcher gets his head kicked

in a little bit and spring training just as a reminder that you got to be on this stuff.

Like you can't just go out there and think that your stuff is always going to play like it's a

continuous process, especially for Kate Horton, who we think and want to take the next step.

Yeah, a little humble pie every once in a while. It won't hurt you. It'll taste bad going down,

but you know, we'll be okay. So real quick before we go to break, which one do you believe more

to what you were saying, Justin? Do you believe it's true that the pitchers are getting their heads

kicked in occasionally and that our rotation maybe isn't as great as we think it is? Or do you

believe that Dan's B has turned it all around? And this is going to be his best offensive season

that we talked about yesterday. That's such a hard question because I truly believe both things.

I mean, I feel like we have a great rotation. I really, really do. And I do think Dan's B

swans is going to have his best year as a cup this year. So if you're asking me to pick, I mean,

I would say I'm still more confident in our rotation. Even though I really do think both

things are going to be good this year for us. But if I had to pick a B rotation,

so this is a confidence meter. Am I more confident in the rotation or Dan's B? Like,

which one do you believe more? Do you believe that the home runs, the starters are giving up

is something we're going to see this season? That one. Or do you believe that Dan's B's

offense is going to be off the chart? I thought you guys had a really, I caught some of the

show yesterday. I thought you guys had a really great conversation about Dan's B. And you were

also referencing to as well the ascension that he kind of was on offensively as a player in Atlanta,

heading into his time as a cup. And he had a good season. And I thought that second year as a

cup, he just frankly wasn't very good. Last year, I thought he was fine and spurts. But obviously,

the OBP is going down a little bit. And then he talked a lot this off season, trying to get back

to and tweak and trying to get back to some things that I think he maybe had been missing in his

offensive game. So I love that Dan's who was hitting four or whatever right now. If you remember

that first year with the Cubs, he hit four or whatever after 10 games, who's like four or 50.

We are like, oh, it smokes. What a deal. That is Dan's B swans and though Dan's B swans and

can get white hot. And he can get blue cold. You know what I mean? And that's a little bit of his

game. But per your guys conversation yesterday, I am hopeful that some of the balancing some of

the middle, some of the in between. I hopefully we see a little bit more this year. But yeah,

our rotation is going to give up some bombs. And I don't think that's something to be too concerned

about. Godfather wants us to read a shirt. We stinks areas. Speaking of we stinks and the man

who once said it coming up next on the CHGO Cubs podcast, we are comparing Big Z's 2008 Chicago

Cubs to your current Chicago Cubs in a game of verses. It's next after a quick time out.

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it's the game. You'll love it. You'll love it. All right, here we go. So it's our first game of

the verses. No, it's just with the Z like the rap battles you're talking about. No, it's also not

like the old NBC spin off channel versus the king with hockey, which was a spin off of the outdoor

channel or whatever it was. And it's also not the pro jam album, which was a great album. Yeah,

good album. Yeah, that was different. Don't don't don't, dude. We're going to get sued.

That was 10 sounded just like I know. I know. It's a problem. That's why I sing like Creed.

They don't want me to do it either because you're singing the album 10 versus was the second

album. Yeah, correct. Good one. All right, versus. So we're taking the 2008 Chicago Cubs who won

97 games and then got swept by the Dodgers and three straight in the post. By cheating many

Ramirez, by the way, he was cheating. There should be an aspect of that. Now I will tell you,

so I was doing that was the last full year where I did almost all of the Cubs pre-imposed.

Cap wasn't doing it yet. I sat there with Pleasak for all of that 2007, 2008, those two seasons.

Oh, seven, they were pretty good. No, we're good. But 2008, Pleasak and I both, we kept saying

this is it. Yeah, it's finally going to happen. But we believe in science. It's going to happen.

They're going to win the World Series. They're the best team in baseball. Yeah. And then

Kirk Plunk. And I can't tell you how many after each game, it was just total shock. Yeah, total

shock. So here we go. All right. Let's start with the managers. Lou Penella against Craig Council.

That's a great one to start off with. But per our conversation before, it was last week,

are we going off of like career resume? Right. Are we going off of like the 2008 version of

Lou and the 2026 version of Craig? Different questions. Well, yeah. Now I guess is Craig managing in 2008

or is Lou managing in 2026? We don't want to see Lou managing in 2026. But the game was

different in 2008. Yeah. So Lou for his team or Craig for this team, you're the owner of your

Tom Ricketts. Okay. And you can open up a door and 2008 Lou Penella can walk in and you can

sign them right now to be the manager of your team. Okay. Or 2026. Okay. Craig Council comes in.

Who are you signing? I go with 2026, Craig Council. Because I thought 2008 version of Lou

Penella, though I loved them. I don't think that was his prime managerial. It's not what he was

winning the World Series with the Reds. So I do think we are in Craig Council's prime right now.

I know he's not one of the postseason. That's going to change this year. But I saw that if that

is presented in front of me, I'm taking Craig Council in his prime for this 2026 Cubs team versus

the 08 version of Lupineau. Barb great comment. Lou was old and drunk. They hired him to get angry

and kick the dirt. Well, he did. I don't know about the drinking thing. He was an older guy.

He was did get angry and he did kick the dirt. He did like he did like a margarita. Look

for the sake of the argument. I want you to break another tie because I will go sweet Lou. This

is really close. And I think you're making a good point about in terms of if you're hiring a team

right now, Craig Council is on top of the analytics. He loves the base running. He's got the bullpen

thing down. He's got the defense down. But sweet Lou's a baseball man. All right, I'll settle this.

Yeah, do it. And look, look, what kind of baseball does Craig play? What kind of, no, I'm

sure what kind of baseball does he play? I want a world series with the reds. What kind of

baseball does Craig play? And, and, and, and, and, look, I want 97 games. Okay. I want 97 games.

I have to take Lou Penella. He's one of the most fun people I have ever covered. It's great

impression by the way though. Great impression. Spring training once. This might have been actually

2008. Lou showed up about an hour and a half late to when he normally would meet the media before

the players would go out do their work and then get ready for the afternoon game. We would always,

it'd be like eight o'clock in the morning. Lou shows up and we're waiting all morning. I don't

remember it was 1030 or what it was, but we were out there a long time. He shows up in his hair.

He takes his head off and you're like, he has not showered, you know, and he comes in. He's like,

sorry, sorry, guys. We went to that place. I don't know what Bart was. He's like, they had,

uh, they had a killer prickly pair of margarita. It really, really was a killer margarita.

I'm like, oh, he was out there doing it. And I know he, like, given, like, Lou,

because he had a lot of the extra soup. But man, the second that he came in,

what a turnaround. Yeah. I mean, like, everything that you're like, wow, sweet Lou Penella

and, you know, the big red machine and all this stuff, the Yankees, everything. Can he be the one

to turn it around? I mean, this was a guy that also won 120 games with the Seattle Mariners.

Yeah. Yeah. The guy, but that's he didn't have a guy series. That's crazy. It's very true.

There's one more than Craig council. But just the formula, like, whatever it is, maybe we can't

put our figure on it. But the dude came in and he was a winner. Yes. Winner. And I said,

well, he had a good team too. You're, you're impression of him makes me realize how painful

some of those press conferences were because the stuttering that he would do was like, I want to hit

him on the back of like today. Yeah. Everything was look, look. But he never, he didn't shy away from

answers. He always answered anybody's question, even though he could be a little surly sometimes.

And I believe the way it worked. I think caps the one that said something about, should you be a

little more fiery? You know, they thought you'd be fire needle. Look, what do you want me to be a

dragon? You want to breathe firing? He goes into that whole thing. And then the next game, he picked

up third base and he chucked it in the outfield and got ejected. So for Jeremy's comment, I think

we all would agree. We'd rather have dinner with Lou. Yeah. There's no question. If we're

comparing personalities, I think Craig is a very dry, almost boring type of personality. We're

Lu Panella as a character. Yes. I'm just saying we caught Lou on the end of his managerial career.

I felt like and I do feel like right now is Craig council's prime. So if I'm starting a team,

and I'm signing someone right now, I want this version of Craig council. He was in this way,

he was like Harry. He would forget the player's names occasionally, which he kind of was awesome,

but for a manager, you can't do that. No. All right. So let's go to catcher.

All right. Giovanni Soto against Carson Kelly and or Miguel Amino games begin. I, you know,

look, Giovanni Soto, frankly, was Ricky the year? I mean, he might be the best. Is he the best

Soto? Offensive Soto. Yeah. Is he the best offensive catcher? Did he have the best offensive

catching season of my lifetime outside of Rick Wilkins? The answer might be, yes. I mean,

Wilson Contreras had some good years too as well. But man, he was, he was great ball player that

year. OPS over 800 here. All star top 13 MVP voting top almost rookie of the year. I mean,

that year, that guy was hitting frozen ropes everywhere. The only way I could switch it,

plays devil's advocate would be to look at like B war. Carson Kelly had a 3.6 B war last year.

Giovanni Soto, the year was a 3.3 B war. Wow. 23 home runs, though, for Soto, 151 hits,

a 285 batting average and a 119 OPS plus. It's Soto. He was a beast. It was Soto. Yeah.

Now we go to first base. And here's a pretty good competition. Derrick Lee against Michael Bush.

I mean, listen, I have a, I have a brick. I have a brick. I really feel this is Justin

Roman, number one comes fan and the numbers on it say 23 17 21 25 because I love Derrick Lee.

Derrick Lee was a beast. Derrick Lee arguably had one of the best offensive seasons ever. I mean,

and then I know he got hurt and the wrist and the power went away and everything. But like,

Derrick, I love Michael Bush. I think he's got a bright future ahead of him, but I'm going with

Deely. I'm in agreement with you. I think I have to go. And maybe, so this is the funny one,

right? And this is, and this is a fun exercise because there's a lot of head and heart going on.

Yeah. A little bit here. And the idea too is just to also say like that team was really,

really good. Didn't win the World Series. And is this Cubs team? How do they kind of stack up

in the head and heart conversation and then stouts of our minds? I love Michael Bush and man,

of all the guys and we're going to be doing segments on here. I think I have a lot of stock in

Michael Bush this year. But I think Derrick Lee gets the edge. I think it's 202008 Cubs. I think

if you look at Bush last year and the home runs and all that stuff, there is a way that you could

say Michael Bush. But I think when you talk about all around player leader and a guy who faced both

righties and lefties wasn't put in just the best was a great first baseman was the guy that stood

up to Zambrano in the dugout. It's Derrick Lee. Like 20 home runs compared to but like I understand

there's a way you could say it. But if right now you're going to tell me Michael Bush has a Derrick Lee

career. Why be thrilled? I'd be thrilled. So for me so far, I've gone three for three with 2008.

I've gone Panela. I've gone Soto. I've gone D Lee. Now second base is interesting too.

Mark Derosa or Nico Horner in B war alone. I'll give you this one stat.

Nico it's not close. Nico six point two B war last year. Derosa one point eight B war

in 2008. Yeah, I mean for me, it's Nico Horner all day every day. I think Nico Horner is the

perfect ball player offensively defensively. I think that he's your glue. I go Nico Horner.

Man D Rose was really great that year. What is it? He drove in what 87 runs? Am I seeing that right?

Derosa drove in 87 runs and hit 21 home runs at second base. Now the home the power is not

questionable. Yeah. And clearly marked Derosa. And here's the tough part too is OPS to excuse me

not his on base percentage is 376. Yeah. That's that's impressive. I am I will say though,

I'm putting one on the board for the 2026 Cubs. I'm with you Justin. I'm going with Nico Horner

for the base running, the defense and not only the season that he had last year, but I'm just

intangibly thinking of the season that he's about to have this year. I got my first one on the

board for the 2026 Cubs giving Nico Horner over. I think it's about fit too, right? Like

Nico's home runs are never going to get to 21. We've sat there and talked about it like what if

you replaced him with shots second soon and he hits 20 home runs and what does that production

mean? But Nico doesn't necessarily have to hit the home runs for him to be a great fit for this

Cubs team, which recognizes the 6.2 B war. Now Derosa was still a 1.8, but the 117 OPS plus

and Derosa was a big and D-Ro didn't just play second. No, he was like your everywhere. He was

sort of what Matt Shaw might be this year, right? Like, that one's hard because I love Derosa's

part. There's no question Nico is a better defensive player. So full package though, I would

say that's why I'm saying Nico because defense counts, defense matters. I want to say wash,

but I'll go Nico because the defense is so superior to Mark Derosa's. Mark Derosa's one of my

favorite second baseman because he's other than Rhino. Corey's point two, Nico Horner would never

screw up the runs. I knew that was coming. He's a better manager for sure. Nico's a better manager

for sure. Both great sound bites, but I don't know if you get a better one than Mark Derosa. Nico

is good. All right, let's go to shortstop. Dan's be against Ryan Terrio. Another tough one,

man, because Ryan Terrio hits 307 with the 387 on base percentage. But one home run. Yeah,

one home run. It's like two stolen bases. It is the opposite. Yeah, but I go to Dan's

responsible. I mean, I think Dan's B is a go gloves shortstop. I mean, 24 home runs and we're

kind of bummed about it last year. Like, I mean, we think he's going to have an even better year

this year, offensively a better player when it comes to like slug and when it comes to like

power and defensively, I think he's better. So I go to Dan's B. Yeah, and this is again,

this 2018 had eight all stars on it. That year alone, right? So when you're talking about the

deep, talented nature of the 2026 Cubs, matching these guys up, pound for pound. And here's my,

here's my tiebreaker for me. I'm also going Dan's B sponsor because of solely what

Dan's B sponsor did against the Padres and the playoffs. What he did defensively and granted,

he got a couple hits too as well. And I love the riot up at the top of the lineup. Really great

lead off hitter. I do the definitely was a spark plug jumpstarted that lineup, but

I'm going Dan's B sponsor. So I'm keeping Dan's B and Nico is my up the middle double play combo

is now three to two, in my opinion, 2008 still ahead. Dan's B is the first one that I know for

sure. I'm taking on the 2026 Cubs. That said, if you told me a future Cubs shortstop gave you 178 hits,

a 307 batting average, 387 on base percentage on, you know, and a 2.3 B war. I'm not,

I'm not totally against that one home run, but the one home runs different. And so it's like,

I'm going to go with Dan. In this case, I'm taking Dan's B's part. I gave the, I gave second base.

And now I'm going to take Dan's B at short. I agree. Now third base.

Oh man. This is tough. This one's the worst.

Aramus Ramirez against Alex Bregman. It's also hard.

It's also hard because we have a history with Aramus Ramirez where Bregman is, we don't,

he's new, right? So we don't have like the head versus heart. You know, Aramus was about as clutch

as they come. I mean, I remember bottom of the night, multiple times every week, game winning

home runs, game tying home runs. Aramus was a clutch, clutch, clutch player, loved him at third base.

You know, I don't have that connection to Alex Bregman yet because he just got here. But

that's, I actually want to go last on this one. That's a tough one for me.

I'll go first. It's Aramus Ramirez. It's Aramus for me. He was a header. Yeah. Now he might not

have been as good at third base as Bregman. But I know one thing he could hit. He could hit.

And he might not have been like the perfect leader in the club, right? He might not have been that.

But 27 home runs, 111 RBI, 127 OPS. If you get that out of Bregman this year,

we'll look out. We're winning a lot of games. Yeah. Look, 320 batting average almost every

year, 30 to 35 home runs, 100 RBI. I mean, the dude was a mercenary like the one skill that he had

putting back to ball. He was, he was incredible at it. So Aramus, I got the Aramus.

And so I'll play doubles advocate. I mean, I think I'll pick Aramus as well. But like,

so Luke, to your point, Bregman is a leader. Aramus wasn't. Bregman is a better defensive third

baseman than Aramus was. And Bregman is a good offensive player. Again, I think it's more of like,

I don't have like the visual history with him because we haven't even seen play as a club yet.

That's right. That's the key. That's the key, right? So, um, but I think Corey, uh,

Corey Seacross is a very good comment here. KB was the best third baseman since Aramus. And

Bregman is the best third baseman since KB. I agree with you. That's a very good comment. Well,

we hope so at least. Knock I would. We certainly hope so. All right. Let's go left field.

Soriano against Ian Hap. This is a tricky one. It's trickier than you think. Way trickier. Yeah.

Way trickier. I'm going to be real with you. I'm taking Ian Hap. You're taking

hair. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because here's the deal. Here's the deal.

Alfonso Soriano to me was if you had a ticket to the Alfonso Soriano show during that

eight day stretch when he would hit nine home runs in eight days. It was the coolest week of your

life. What are we doing tonight? Alfonso Soriano is in the lab. I mean, he was almost

appointment viewing the same way a pitcher would be on the mound when he was white hot.

Outside of that though, he left a lot to be desired. And frankly, he got better at throwing

the ball in the outfield. He was not a good outfielder. He had lower leg issues to skip.

For us, it don't know. Soriano, he would do this like stupid hop thing when he would catch the ball

in the outfield. And it was asked about it. He said, well, he was kind of a boring.

Outfield was kind of boring. And that made him more interesting for him. Yeah.

And then he was like, drop it. It was like, stop with the hop. What are we doing here? But yeah,

that he also did the John Cena when he crossed home. Stop the hop. You can't see me. Do you

remember him spitting just tons of sunflower seeds like mid swing? I mean, he had a he was all

flash, not a ton of substance. I'm going with substance on this one to make it for the 2018

now is four. My opinion three is now the twenty twenty sixteen. I'm going with Ian hat.

Luke, how about you? No, I'm sorry. Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm 29 home runs.

75 RBI. He's still bad at 280. Okay. And 19 stolen bases. You forget that I could run. And

this was after he had ripped the quad right off the bone. He was a 40 40 guy back before.

I mean, yeah. And if you see him now, yeah. The guy looks like the incredible Hulk now.

Listen, Soriano was a superstar player. A major injury changed his career. But I think even

at that point was he as consistent. He went through the slumps just like Ian hat. But when

Soriano was hot, it wasn't an Ian hat. It was watch out. Yes. It was like watching Sammy

social all over. It was. I'm with you. It's it's Soriano. I go, I go finds you as well. I go

Soriano as well. I think that he was a game changer, a two superstar. And you're right. When he

was hot, I mean, it was he was like, he was batting against a beach ball because he would go on

these streaks. Yeah. I do go Soriano. I mean, I know, you know, defensively Ian hat was way

better. You know, Jeremy's in anyone can play left field guys. Maybe, but you know, Ian

happens. He's very good. He's a very good left fielder. He turned himself into a gold glove

with three years in a row. But I still say Soriano and actually barb as a great point.

Soriano would be a dh today. And after the injury, yeah, after the injury, but he started as a

second basement. You did. I got I got a dh one for you down the line and just a second here,

but yeah. All right. All right. Now let's go to so we're we're a little split on that.

I go to one now. Here's one clearly for me. 2026. Jim Edmonds, old Jim Edmonds against

Pete Kerr Armstrong. It's a sea. That's that's not even close unless you have something in here.

No, I mean, Edmonds had a great career. And I guess PCA hasn't proven that. But if you're

telling me right now, would I take old Jim Edmonds for a season or would I take young Pete Kerr Armstrong,

who just hit two home runs last night in the World Baseball Classic is PCA because the the

ceiling is so much higher at that point Edmonds was playing no offense, but he would play in so he

could go back. He knew he could make those plays. But I feel like sometimes he almost played in more

so that he could go back and make a diving catch. Yeah, just quick shout out to Jim Edmonds when the

wind was blowing out, nothing was better. He was really good at just getting the ball in the air.

Great. But is he a better fielder than PCA? No, no, no. Edmonds was a great outfield.

I don't think Edmonds was an elite elite center fielder, but I think this is an easy one PCA.

I'm currently four for four, four to four. Yeah, PCA. Oh, you're really. I'm tired. All day,

every day. Are you including the manager in this town? Yeah, yeah. Okay, so and look,

well, the way you were describing Edmonds at PCA is kind of my argument for the manager. It was

kind of like Louponella wasn't prime Louponella, where right now it is prime Craig Council and PCA

prime. And look, I won 97 games. Yeah. How many games is council one, huh? Well, 93 last year.

I mean, you want me to win 100. We're getting there. We're getting there. Okay, anyways.

Coast K Fuka Domey against Ceya Suzuki. Oh, easy. So this is the, this is for me, this is my easy

fourth win for the 2026 Cubs. Yeah. Um, I just don't think it's comparable. It's not comparable.

And even if you want to compare their Cubs careers, it's not going to be comparable. No, yeah.

We had high hopes, although Coast K was an all star. We had high hopes for Coast K Fuka Domey.

I still think one of the best jerseys ever bought my life. That was a really cool jersey,

because his last name is, uh, Lane's little plan words there. But also, I think a,

Coast K Fuka Domey provided me and my father with one of the greatest moments ever at Wrigley Field.

I was in. Yeah. Same year there too. Yeah.

You're there too. And I mean, the bottom of the nine, you're down by three.

I was a dark horse. Coast K Fuka Domey coming up and he hits a bomb. And I mean,

you're just thinking this guy is going to be a full generation player for us.

You know, each year with power. Yes, each year with power. Exactly. But, uh, yeah, I agree.

Say I said, Zuki hands down, uh, wins this one. And I still think we have not seen the best

to say I yet. I'm expecting big things out of him this year. So I had two that I think are

interesting. So in this world, there is no D H in 2008. So maybe this changes the construction

of the lineup for the Cubs in 2008. But at D H, I had Moises by Astero's first Mike Fontino.

And then for the bench guy, I had Matt Shaw versus Reed Johnson. Oh, man, I love Reed Johnson

in the field. So honestly, it's that make PCA look silly. Sometimes like, yeah, he made some of

the best catches I've ever seen. And I'll just, I'll just say this for the Moises by Astero's part.

Mike Fontino had nine home runs, 40 RBI's, but hit three oh five at the plate.

I know we haven't gotten a strong sample size from Moises by Astero's, but Mo baller versus

Mike Fontino and Matt Shaw versus Reed Johnson. Honestly, I loved Reed Johnson. I think I'm

taking Reed Johnson for right now. Yeah, I think Reed Johnson, but Fontino, the weight, some brownies,

the pound is like, yeah, that's funny. That was funny. But honestly, if Mike Fontino, if Moises by

Astero's hits 300, you know, how excited we're going to be for that? Yeah, I mean, guys, I actually,

I go the other way. I'm both those guys. I think that, I think I go Mo baller and I go

Matt Shaw. I think that Reed Johnson was a great defensive replacement. I think 300. Yeah, but he

wasn't, I mean, I just, but he wasn't the guy that I think that Matt Shaw is going to be.

And I don't think that, again, I would take a Mo baller and Matt Shaw over Fontino and Reed Johnson.

That's my opinion. The other one that I had was, now let's just go to the rotation. Just really

quick. We can do it. Yeah, we run out of time. So we're a little lightning round. The two guys,

the two, the two imports, Rich Harden versus Edward Cabrero. Oh, I'm hoping Edward Cabrero.

I'm hoping I'm taking Edward Cabrero to as well. Because Rich Harden, remember, he couldn't even

really get out of the fourth or fifth inning. He had a really good ERA and great stuff. We couldn't

really get out of it. What about a boy against Lily? It's Lily. That one's crazy. I'm going Lily.

Yeah. Teddy baseball for sure. Forty-six curve. Yeah. Tyrone versus Jason Markey.

Yeah. So I had Markey versus Markey versus Shoda. Or yeah. Or like, okay, I still take Markey.

Yeah. I'm still taking Markey. Dempster versus, I had Dempster versus Tyrone. Okay. Dempster.

Demp. Big Z versus Kate Horton. Big Z for now. For now. Today it's, it's big Z. Closer.

Carrie Wood versus Daniel Polencia. Give me Carrie Wood. He also had Marmel, though.

No, and then set up man, Phil Maytown versus Carlos Marmel. Marmel's easy. What about Bobby

Howrie and Jeff Samarja in that bullpen? The other one I had was Swingman, Colin Rae versus Sean

Marshall. That's a good one. It's Sean Marshall. Sean Marshall was a more accomplished guy.

Yeah. But he was, God, he of all the, you know, the sickos remember Sean Marshall. How many times

he bailed the Cubs out with like five innings, one run, just kind of out of nowhere. They asked so much

of him all the time. But, you know, so much was given, so little was given back. I don't know.

Like, it's hard. It's really hard. It's tough, man. To put these guys up against, I mean,

it really is a tough conversation to have. I'll tell you what guys, I think that I'll be the

oddball here. I think Kate Horton is going to be more dominant at the big Z.

Well, it's all said, no, I would say Kate Horton. I mean, I hope I hope he is. But I'm saying like,

it was in this comparison, you both said Dixie, I'm actually going to hit it. He'll hit her

year. Um, I was there. He was good that year. I don't remember the years. I was seven or

oh, eight probably, right? Yeah. 14 and six records, 3.91 ERA. It's not like his greatest year.

I thought, I think the, uh, I thought that was oh nine was the, because he had a really

great year after that. I think the no hitter was the year after that. I could be wrong.

But yeah, like when you start to look at it, because this is part of it, that team won 97 games.

And when you go position by position with all of these guys, these are some really tough choices,

which also lends me to believe that this cup seem can be really, really good this year.

I don't think they're all going to hit 300 like this lineup, because time's a change a little

bit. The three true outcomes are more and more prevalent in the game than ever. But when you go

up and down, you're like, you're like, man, that team was pretty stacked. The 2026 Cubs,

they're pretty good too. And they got close. They do stuff different. They do stuff differently,

right? They do. I would take the 2008 Cubs based on how many games they want to they win 97. Great.

One comparison we're forgetting. Chef Somarja, Ben Brown. He's going to be a starter. Is he going to

be a great starter? All right. I'll say one thing. Here's my hot take on this whole conversation.

The 2026 Cubs get further, much further than the 2008 Cubs. That sure hope so.

We'll only take one more season win. Yeah, I love where I don't know if they'll win more regular

season games, but I would like to see them win. They're going to they're going to go further than

the OA Cubs. I guarantee you. Like we're your heads at. Yep. That's our first game of versus.

All right. Cory and Brendan with Cubs related for you tomorrow night. Brendan will probably talk

about how great we all looked in Arizona. Yeah, he was impressed. And then we'll be back on Monday

with your CHCO Cubs podcast at two o'clock. Until then, thanks for watching. Good luck to team USA.

And fly the dummies. Stay positive all your life. Happy 311 day.