Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Cubs break out of offensive slump to avoid getting swept by Pirates
13 Apr 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What were the Cubs' struggles before their comeback against the Pirates?
this is rahimi harrison grody on 104.3 the score we are back from vegas and with you on this monday thank you for joining us and i think we have to begin where we ended kind of like the hangover but in reverse except maybe i was a little hungover when i embarked on my flight yesterday
Oh, you stayed out later than me on Saturday, right?
Evergreen. I stayed out later than you.
Well, everybody stays out later than me, to be fair.
You don't even need the words in Vegas. You don't even need Saturday. That's just how it goes. We had a great time. We had a lot of fun. Went to see Mantis. Grody got to see the Mantis. Like I said, Ray nearly got captured by a woman with a feather boa and not much else on.
That happened.
We saved Ray. It was like a lifetime movie. But in the meantime, we were all trying to figure out how to consume the Cubs game on the score, of course, and pregame on a Sunday game when you're trying to salvage this series against the Pirates when you lost the first two games.
The discussion surrounding Michael Bush, because as we know, the Cubs team wasn't hitting, but it was in the ways that we saw them not hit successfully. Runners in scoring position numbers for the entire city. Both the White Sox and the Cubs were atrocious over the weekend. And that's just another indication.
You talked about it a lot, Marshall, in the two days that we had on air, Friday and Saturday. And it was proving us correct in that heartbreaker of a game in extras on Saturday afternoon. So as I'm leaving Vegas, absorbing... The atmosphere and a woman who is listening to a woman in a bathroom having a much worse morning than I could ever have. There's a lot of coughing, violent coughing.
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Chapter 2: How did Michael Bush's performance impact the Cubs' offensive strategy?
Yesterday was the 12th, by the way. April 1st was the last time that Michael Bush had gotten a base hit. It was a two-hit day.
This is not an April Fool's.
And it was not April Fool's. But I understand everything Craig Council was saying there because... You could say what you want about how he's quote-unquote looked at the plate, everything else. But at the end of the day, when you go hitless for 30 straight at-bats, sometimes you just need a blow. And I love the foreshadowing there before the game. You'll probably see him later in the game.
Right. And he had a plan. And that's hard to go from everyday hitting to then trying to see if you mix it up with having him as a pinch hitter. Now, Michael Bush is no stranger to not being an everyday player this time last year. We were talking about how he was being platooned. Even as the cleanup hitter, he was being platooned.
But then I thought that we had moved past it based on his playoffs. That was enough for me to say, this guy needs to be in your everyday lineup. But when you're over 30, something had to change. And unfortunately... It wasn't quite as much as he goes, they go, the Cubs. But it was an indication of how this team offensively has struggled. So he ends up coming in in a pinch hit situation.
Matt Shaw was at first base. And Bush comes through. singles in the bottom of the eighth inning. And also thanks to an error, you know, put, put your opposing team in a position to not succeed. And that brings around say a Suzuki and it helps the Cubs get to that bottom of the ninth to walk it off and at least get one game. from this series with the Pirates.
It's not two out of three, but their job on that day is to try to win that one. And at least that's what happened.
And not just one game to stop the sweep, which would have been the first sweep at the hands of the Pirates since 2019 and the first sweep at Wrigley since 2017 for the Buccos. But understand this. First place team against the first place Pirates. Even after you beat them, they are in first place.
You're in first place. In the words of 2 Chainz, the philosopher of our time.
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Chapter 3: What caused the Cubs' offensive slump in recent games?
Is their offense fourth in the majors? No, it is not. And the team's 8.7 percent barrel rate per stack cast was tied for the seventh highest in baseball. Well, we know that they weren't the seventh best offense. So we understand you may be making a contact, but you're hitting them where they are instead of hitting them where they ain't.
Craig Council in that conversation did not did not use that as an excuse. I'm not saying Bastion did. He's just doing his job providing good stats for us. But a lot of times we say that. We're like, oh, they're hitting the ball well. This is a hard hit ball rate. He's like, no, he's out for 30. We're going to mix it up. And then he helped him be one of the heroes.
No, for sure you look at what Michael Bush was able to do. And let me tell you something. Craig Council sounds a little bit, not tired, but certainly grindy. He sounds grindy at a time where you'd hope you're settling into your offense and you're getting, you know, say a Suzuki bag. Don't forget about that this weekend.
You're hoping now that you've got your pieces in your lineup, you're going to put some stuff together. And immediately now the lineup gets shaken up. I don't expect to see Michael Bush play today. You know why? Because Christopher Sanchez is on the freaking mound for the Phillies today. I don't know if you heard, he's left-handed and throws nasty stuff.
Well, and you know who else needs to do better against lefties? The team. So this isn't just a Michael Bush issue.
Sounds like a 2025 callback to the first half of last season to me.
Well, and when you say Craig Council sounds grindy, that's the kind of discussion you typically hear in like an August. Right. You know, like dog days of summer. And that's not where this is. The adage that 574 brings up on our text line at 312-644-6767 is the truth. You cannot win the division in April. You just don't want to lose it.
And you and I have seen a lot of teams lose a division in April. But they're not doing that right now. The other part of this is, do you feel any better knowing that the Nationals weren't just a bugaboo to the Cubs? Did you see them sweep the Brewers? The Nationals swept the Brewers.
So one of the things that I love about this baseball season already is we're two weeks in and we've seen a little bit of a sample size now where we can say, hey, this is about what, you know, because some people will tell you, oh, it's not the NFL. You can't be looking at every game like it's life or death.
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