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Chapter 1: What roller coaster analogy do the hosts use for the Cubs' season?
You know what we do on Rahimi Harris and Grody and welcome in on 104.3 The Score along with Marshall Harris. I am Mark Grody. We, for better or for worse. Ride the roller coaster of 162 baseball games in a Cubs season. Some of us, me, Ray, we like to sit in the front car. And we want all the loops and the corkscrews. Put your hands up. Put your hands up, y'all.
Oh, and Tyler admits to riding the roller coaster and the roller coaster of consternation and elation. Wow, that sounded neat coming out of my mouth. I don't know about you, Marshall. I feel like you do to a certain point, but you're a little more reserved. You'll wait in the full line.
Well, we got the fast pass to the roller coaster of 162 games because sometimes I do hear it's early coming out of your mouth.
Well, sometimes it's actually just early. How about that, Grody? And I'll say this. I like to be in the middle of the pack and I don't raise up my hands because what happens is when you raise your hands up, sometimes...
Cubs fans get a little delusional and they think that they're getting excited by raising their hands on the way down when really they're just being stuck up and everything's being robbed from them. All the joy and the entitlement they feel like they have to the playoffs. I think that's what Gabe Ramirez was talking about is Cubs fans are so entitled to a base level of success. Hello.
Yo, I have been saying this for a while, probably since the 2016 season in the midst of it. I think entitlement is an okay feeling for Cubs fans to have because guess what? It took a long time to get to the point where Cubs fans feel a greed for winning, an entitlement for winning, because previous to the 2016 season, it was the losers' lament.
And look at how cute our organization is because we haven't won a World Series.
cubbies that in 1984 we celebrated it was 39 years since the cubs won a damn division and wow this is the greatest thing we're losers and then they win the world series after all of that time and now you're right that it's in the dna and i like it and maybe it goes a little too far but greed is good as we learned from wall street years ago
Yes, if you want to follow that specific example, greed, it is good. But rather than being good or bad, greed, just understand this. Greed is expected. Because what do we always talk about, Mark? It's never going to be enough. It's never going to be enough.
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Chapter 2: How do Cubs fans feel about their team's entitlement to success?
It's a great book as well. I love what you just said, specifically because guess what? I was explaining this to Gabe Ramirez that because of back-to-back-to-back, 100 lost seasons for his baseball club, that's why he looks at the Cubs the way that he does. And you have to understand ā Don't be mad at the Cubs for having a higher standard than you have for your own baseball team.
Just raise your floor of what your expectations are and what you demand from your ownership and your front office and your team and its players.
Yeah, you should. If you're a White Sox fan, you should feel that same sense of greed and entitlement. What I feel from White Sox fans right now is after the last rebuild failed and there was so much from White Sox fans invested in that. Like, Sox fans were huge. here for every little bit of Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert and Johan Moncada and Lucas Giolito and all of those Sox.
What I've noticed from Sox fans, including you, and I am not going after Sox fans, is I don't have the stomach for it, right? I was talking to Tannehill yesterday, and I was asking him about the White Sox game from yesterday, which was a something. And I was like, did you see what happened with the reverse call? And then the back-to-back bases, loaded walks. Tandy's just like, man, I just can't.
I'm just not into it right now. Unstomachable. Because it's like you fully invested into the previous rebuild. Now Lawrence is the same way. Step back. Show me. Show me is where White Sox fans are.
And I think you're kind of there, too. I'm definitely there because I'm looking at it not from an apathetic standpoint, which, by the way, I believe a lot of White Sox fans are just completely apathetic at this point because they can't, as you say, digest the daily just... of the team, whether you want to say it's just bad fortune or whatever. It's just bad.
I can stomach it because I've seen bad before. I know what bad looks like, and I know things will ultimately get better. It may take longer than I want, but that's kind of where I am on that.
Yeah, good stuff. The Cubs play the Mets today at 1245 is the pregame right here on 104.3 The Score.
Yeah.
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Chapter 3: What recent performance improvements have the Cubs shown?
And so... It seems like there is a path, and that path is broader than earlier paths. It's the difference between going down a gravel road versus a road that's just dirt because so many feet have been on it and the grass is gone, and then going down a paved road.
I think this road is nicely, freshly paved based on the offense that the Cubs have displayed, based on the fact that there will be no Juan Soto in the lineup for this series. That's a big one for me. And just based on the fact that you've got to kick people while they're down.
But maybe the biggest and most important element of this, I don't know if you heard, it's a day game today at Wrigley Field. I've been hearing. And the high today is 81 degrees. You know what kind of conditions those usually are? Drinking. Drinking and hitting. Those are the two things you can do at this time of the day. In theory.
That is the truth. There's no doubt about it. I will, though... Let's see, where did I write this down? Oh, right here. I will, though... You got bad news. We are... I kind of do. Oh, here we go. Just because I want to be careful about how... Because I feel the same way. You got a real chance here to take two out of three or to sweep. And guess what? The schedule...
Pretty tough coming up after that. You then have those fills back in town for four games, and then you go to the Dodgers and Padres, two teams which have both gotten off to excellent starts. I don't think I need to sell the Dodgers to anybody, but guess what? When we were in Las Vegas and we were chilling in a cabana at Stadium Swim and having a blast...
You, me, and Layla were talking about something similar because guess who was coming to town? It was the Pittsburgh Pirates. And we're talking about this series where the Cubs have a chance because Paul Skeens isn't playing in the Tampa Bay series like in the Philadelphia series. The Tampa Bay series was the one before Pittsburgh. The Cubs won the last two games of that series, 9-2 and 6-2.
And then what happened when Pittsburgh came to town? A 2-0 loss, a 4-3 loss, and then they finally salvaged one maximum effort to get the win in the final game of the series. So you do have to take into account what does happen. Happened a lot in Major League Baseball. Coming off a high, especially on a road trip like that, when you come home, a lot of times it can be a dud in that first game.
So you've got to be careful of that factor today, even in the 80-degree weather and the heat and the beer and everything that goes with Wrigley Field.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are in first place. The Pittsburgh Pirates have the fourth highest run differential in all of baseball. The Pittsburgh Pirates have shown themselves to be a quality baseball team. The NL Central, for a second straight year, has shown itself to be a quality division. The Mets are not in the same category as the Pittsburgh Pirates. I want to be very clear.
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Chapter 4: Are the Cubs ready to take off in the NL Central standings?
It's 10-17. It's 10-17. WBBM Newstime 1017. Traffic and weather together at one minute, ladies and gentlemen. Who do you think will eventually, I mean, it's Nico Horner right now, distinguish himself as the Cubs' best offensive player on this team?
It's Nico Horner, and then number two is Nico Horner, and number three is Nico Horner. Wow. Nico Horner is the best hitter in baseball since the start of last season with runners in scoring position. Nico Horner wasn't always in a position to drive in runners because of where he was in the lineup on any given day.
But now that he's no longer a platoon leadoff guy, he is just the straight-up leadoff guy. And now that Matt Shaw's got experience under his belt, Dansby Swanson's doing what he needs to do. Pete Carl Armstrong's more than likely going to be in the bottom third of the order until he gets his act together and starts showing power. He's going to have more opportunities to drive in runs.
He doesn't need to hit home runs to make an impact. I think he's well on his way to leading this team in war for a second straight season. And until Moises Ballesteros gets that Michael Bush trust... No, no, hear me out here. The Michael Bush trust of playing against lefties, and we saw how long that took Michael Bush to get it last year for correct counsel.
He's going to be the most consistent hitter in the Cubs lineup because he's going to be in the Cubs lineup every day.
Yeah, man, and if he adds that slug, if he keeps that going, then that's going to open eyes to, you know, if he keeps it up, like that sort of... The MVP, we might start to talk about that. We're way too early, though. Oh, now you're saying we're way too early. Well, yeah, I guess I did just say that.
With Nico Horner, just to be clear, I don't need him to hit more than 10 to 15 home runs, period. Just hit the 40 doubles and steal bases when you get on base to make it seem like you're hitting doubles.
Guess what? I think PCA is going to get scalding hot because I think we know. Well, I don't think we know about PCA, but what I think I know is that it's going to come in bunches for Pete Crow Armstrong. So I think he is due to just go crazy at some point in time very soon. Can't wait for Michael Bush.
uh to get his act in gear um that might take a little longer who and i might have cursed him because oh that was your guy i did say at the beginning of the season the guy that i am least concerned about going into this season is michael bush i don't think i was the only one because as as craig council even said on spiegel and holmes the other day he he had quietly he said i think he put it as paraphrasing craig council quietly he had an outstanding season last year
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Chapter 5: What are the expectations for Nico Horner's performance this season?
We will get her insights next on Rahimi Harrison-Grody right here on 104.3 The Score.