Menu
Sign In Search Podcasts Libraries Charts People & Topics Add Podcast API Blog Pricing
Podcast Image

Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show

Cubs are now riding a 7-game losing streak at home

03 Jun 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What led to the Cubs' 7-game losing streak at home?

0.031 - 24.098 Marshall Harris

That poor dancer from the office. But was she correct? I feel like she's correct. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score. We will get some answers. Mayor Brandon Johnson joining us in studio today at 1230. And in the meantime, there's a lot of baseball to discuss. There's actual real football on the field to discuss. Mark Grody has a Bears hit with us at 125 from Hollis Hall.

0

24.078 - 32.915 Marshall Harris

And then, you know, there's the ongoing discussion about the stadium. I do want to bring back him and Mayer's comments that he had to the morning show. So we will do that at 1125.

0

33.896 - 43.234 Leila Rahimi

So that's the agenda, kids. I just want us to have a good day today. Both teams played hard. Listen, how about both teams get a win?

0

43.366 - 45.995 Marshall Harris

That would be great. Both the White Sox and the Cubs.

0

46.135 - 55.907 Leila Rahimi

They call it a June swoon for a reason. And I feel like I'm getting sucked into one. A June swoon. The Sox are trying to avoid a sweep. The Cubs come out and just...

56.073 - 76.498 Marshall Harris

As I have to confess, that would require me covering good teams on a consistent basis. And the teams I covered haven't been good enough for a June swoon. I was the secondary reporter for Cubs in 2016. I was not the primary. I was the baseball host. I was not primarily at the ballpark. So there's that. Also, the Cubs didn't really do that that year.

77.9 - 83.447 Leila Rahimi

I feel like we're going to be okay. Me and you. Everybody else, I don't know.

83.748 - 86.673 Marshall Harris

I can't really give confidence in my own life either.

87.314 - 90.2 Leila Rahimi

I have more confidence in you. Don't worry. We got this.

Chapter 2: How did the Cubs perform against the Athletics?

315.007 - 324.267 Marshall Harris

The ball game is over. One run gets you a tie. Two, well, two runs get you a tie. But at that point, you didn't have enough to bring anybody across.

0

324.467 - 340.089 Leila Rahimi

It was a little bit symmetric because if you go back to the top of the first inning, what happened in the top of the first? First two guys get on. Right. And then the bottom of the ninth. First two guys get on. Now, in the first, it's not like they were out here driving in runs, like truly driving in.

0

340.429 - 360.535 Leila Rahimi

But you did have Alex Bregman in that at least make contact so that he can pay off a Nico Horner single, a stolen base, and then a Pete Armstrong single. And here's the thing. If you've got runners on second and third with nobody out, you have to get a run home. They did it by way of an out, a ground out from Alex Bregman. But with runners on first and second,

0

360.515 - 377.772 Leila Rahimi

You're thinking, this guy's got an 11-game hit streak. Bregman's going to get the job done. And even if he doesn't, you've got two more opportunities with 3-4-5. A good team finds a way to score one run. If not both the runs and win the game, just one run to keep the game going.

0

377.792 - 401.001 Marshall Harris

Well, and this is sad, and I have to bring it up yet again, because the book is out, Marshall, on the Cubs when it comes to how to pitch to them. Go back to the article that is now six days old for Mike Petriello. And how the numbers from breaking balls went up and up. And in May, they had 37% that they saw. As of the 28th, that number went up even more over the days that led to the 31st.

401.622 - 417.304 Marshall Harris

And once again, if you throw these hitters a breaking ball, it seems like you will be able to profit because they're not... They're not seeing them in a way that lets them be able to turn on them. At this point, I do question hitting coach and hitting approach because this is systematic.

417.324 - 425.293 Marshall Harris

Listen to Ron Coomer talk about the ninth inning and Alex Bregman and what he was spaced with, with two on, and he's the number three hitter.

425.953 - 430.038 Unknown

I would guess in this at-bat, Bregman is sitting on breaking ball.

Chapter 3: What were the highlights of Jamison Tyone's performance?

430.278 - 449.741 Unknown

And if he gets one that starts out at his front hip, he could send one to the bleachers and send everybody home happy. Here's the pitch. Bregman will take a strike. There's a bender that just didn't nip the inside corner. That's the one we were talking about that starts out at your front hip and breaks over the corner inside.

0

451.666 - 454.933 Leila Rahimi

The disappointment in my career's voice on the back end of that.

0

455.217 - 470.036 Marshall Harris

Just watch it go. Watch it go past you. Tell me what the hitting coach approach is when you guys know you're seeing this many breaking balls, when the league knows you're seeing this many breaking balls, and they're able to just scoot them on by with no issue.

0

470.396 - 480.649 Leila Rahimi

Is it a matter of not being able to adjust to the league-wide adjustment to your attacking fastballs in the way they did early in the season when the offense from one to nine was just getting the job done?

0

481.35 - 495.882 Marshall Harris

Well, that's it. In April, they had more fastballs. And that's what you want to see. But then you've got a lot of batters who have tendencies, whether it's inside the at-bat. You know, we've talked about, say, a Suzuki needing to be more aggressive on the first pitch.

496.423 - 518.228 Marshall Harris

But when you're able to see an entire lineup this way and be able to pitch to them, and the information is so out there that Gage Jump looks like an all-star in his second start ever. That's an issue. And I know he was a highly touted prospect. But you know what? David Sandlin was a highly touted prospect and he struggled in his second start. Different situation.

518.829 - 523.581 Marshall Harris

But the point is that shouldn't guarantee that kind of result. Not against the Cubs at home.

524.118 - 532.872 Leila Rahimi

No, the Cubs are supposed to be better. I think with the way that they've been playing of late, they're kind of just staying afloat, right? They had a losing month in the month of May.

532.912 - 548.057 Leila Rahimi

You hoped that June would be different, and it might be different, but it was just a very flat way to come out in that first game of a homestand where we've seen them win, what, 15 games in a row at home at one point already early in the season?

Chapter 4: Why is the Cubs' offensive identity in question?

764.678 - 770.565 Leila Rahimi

That's the problem. You can't strike out with the runners in short position. Do something to bring a runner that's on third base with less than two out home.

0

770.786 - 789.328 Marshall Harris

And then when the Cubs did get runners on base, which was few and far between, we were talking about this a couple weeks ago, Marshall, or maybe it was last week. I was reminded of Craig Council yelling at the players in spring training for bad base running. And we see the Cubs trying to manufacture some offense with –

0

789.308 - 808.161 Marshall Harris

When Kevin Alcantara grounded into the force out, you move over, you know, Ian Happ gets hit by a pitch, but you got the Michael Bush single after that. So you've got some action on the base pass. And then unfortunately, Happ is trying to score when you see what happens next. Kevin Alcantara gets caught stealing because he doesn't run enough between...

0

808.141 - 830.257 Marshall Harris

First and second base, he's running back to first, and he doesn't buy enough time there to be able to get Ian Happ to cross home plate in time. Alcantara gets tagged out first. Ian Happ doesn't score. And I hate to say that these are the type of things where you're going, oh, that could have won the ballgame. But at least at that point, it could have tied it. And then maybe things go differently.

0

830.797 - 833.001 Marshall Harris

But if this is what we're grasping at,

833.504 - 847.725 Leila Rahimi

Yeah, that's part of the problem, right, is you're putting so much pressure on these little individual, and I won't say little, but just very much flash points in the game, which that's something you do in a playoff game against a really good opponent. But this is not that.

848.085 - 862.887 Leila Rahimi

It shouldn't be that if you're the Cubs and you've gone out and spent the money that you spent and your goal is to win the division, not just somehow eke your way into the playoffs. Right now, they feel like a team trying to eke their way into the playoffs as opposed to a team trying to challenge for a division title.

862.867 - 879.677 Leila Rahimi

the mental picture of eking in june and the finish line and you just the distance is so far if kevin alcantara had done what he did yesterday and i was at the ballpark i literally would have been screaming at the top of my lungs pickle because when you're in a pickle you got to make the pickle last

881.26 - 890.07 Marshall Harris

And this is days after the anniversary of the Javi Baez base running play that was famous against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Chapter 5: What issues are affecting the Cubs' performance with runners in scoring position?

954.111 - 973.755 Marshall Harris

I don't think it will solve anything, but still. They don't really do that. You know, the Cubs don't really do that. And hitting coaches know their fate as a hitting coach. You know, they understand the nature of the job. But something's got to be done about this looking at breaking balls just pass you by like a beautiful summer day in Chicago.

0

973.735 - 978.284 Leila Rahimi

It was a beautiful summer night. That's the shame of it all. It was a beautiful night.

0

979.285 - 989.044 Marshall Harris

Yeah, it is. And, you know, I'm not making anybody Uber pool back to Chicago from Cincinnati yet, but I'm looking at you with a raised eyebrow.

0

989.705 - 991.148 Leila Rahimi

Man, that's a tough.

0

991.388 - 992.51 Marshall Harris

The rock people's eyebrow.

992.591 - 995.997 Leila Rahimi

He's the best. I was thinking about the Uber back from San Francisco or Colorado.

996.854 - 1002.04 Marshall Harris

6-3-0 says maybe a hot take. If the Cubs are under .500 over these next 15 games, they're missing the playoffs.

1002.06 - 1004.042 Leila Rahimi

That's not a hot take. Look around the division.

1004.062 - 1022.844 Marshall Harris

6-3-0, were you in our pre-show meeting? Because Marshall was pretty much talking about that earlier. Let's get into some of the bigger picture. We want to hear from Jameson Tyone. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score. You can call us and text us at 312-644-6767. We'll talk White Sox in this hour as well. Our producers are Grant Leder, Tyler Biederbaugh.

Comments

There are no comments yet.

Please log in to write the first comment.