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Chapter 1: What are the highlights of the Cubs' recent four-game sweep of the Reds?
This is Rahimi Harris and Grody on a Friday. On 104.3 The Score, Mark Grody is in today, and you're already in Friday mode. I am, and I'm already being challenged. Now, this is twice this week. When I worked earlier this week with Russell Dorsey filling in for Spiegel and Holmes, we had texture saying, Grody, don't be such a... bleep. Just make the prediction. Go ahead. Say it.
The Cubs are going to win the division. I'm not doing it. I'm just saying I've got people, I've got a lot of pressure on me right now. You don't actually. You didn't even have to bring it up at all. You're bringing it up because it's in your brain and you can't. No, because of texters. There's a texter. You're the worst liar ever. That said, go ahead and make the prediction.
And I said, I text back to the person. I said, don't tempt me. I don't want to hurt Cubs Nation yet.
so we also got a text 615 with grody rolling as he's wanted to do this is going to be a great show for everyone who's not leila and then i was like why i love grody and then i thought about it for a half a second and i replied going i mean i maybe we may be an hour late to our breaks but shruggy it's that kind of day friday friday and you know what the cubs stayed hot they stayed sexy and they know it
super that may have been the sexiest win as sexy as the dramatics were i'll tell you what never goes out of style a seven run fourth inning lmfao they kind of went out of style that's true you know what that was a happier time i went to the lmfao and kesha concert back when we had hope as a nation and glitter it was fun kesha it's not fun anymore
On my list for one of the great... I think we did that on one of our topics. Great pump-up songs, great workout songs. We did indeed. And Sexy and I Know It by LMFAO. Some of the greatest philosophers of our time who also brought us the hit Party Rock is in the House Tonight. Oh, yes. Sing it. I just did. Every day I'm shuffling. If only. If only every day I were shuffling.
But the Cubs were to victory tonight. Make a 15 straight at Wrigley. They won 8-3 over the Reds. And we had some fun with this with our listeners on social media. We had some fun with it among ourselves as a show. How are they going to walk it off today? And then they're like, well, Layla, we're not. We're going to score seven runs in the fourth inning. Showed you. Happy day.
Happy, hey, you can't spell happy without Ian Happ, who scored a big run yesterday. Part of that seven-run fourth inning, one of the most interesting runs that scored was when the Reds looked like they had a double play. Third base is loaded. Grounder, third base, I guess that would be Key Brian Hayes, steps on third. Fires the ball home to the catcher, Tyler Stevenson, who touched the base.
Double play, right? No, you've got to tag the guy in that scenario.
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Chapter 2: How did the Cubs manage a seven-run fourth inning against the Reds?
It's 3-0 at that point. It could have been two outs and no runs scoring. Instead, the floodgates opened after that. So thanks to the Reds playing some stupid baseball to compliment the Cubs' excellent baseball. The Reds were not sexy. They were not. They might have known it. Isn't that nice, though?
Not just winning all these games for the Cubs, but you're also stomping on one of your division rivals. They've lost seven in a row now, have the Reds.
The division rival that entered the month in first place.
And had a sparkling road record. Wasn't it 10-3 or something wild? Yes. So, number one, I think that you talk it through and you realize that even though the Reds may be on their heels a bit, The NL Central is still, the entire division, I'm going to say it, is a wagon. It is. Cubs are 26-12. You can't argue with them. They're definitely a wagon. St. Louis Cardinals are 22-15. Pirates 21-17.
Milwaukee Brewers at 19-16. And then the Reds at 20-18. Everybody still remains over .500. The American League is wheels off. But when it comes to the National League and what the Cubs are doing, that's why this is so fun. And I heard the morning show talk about it. We have talked about it, Mark, the comparisons that get drawn to 2016. I wasn't there as a team.
You can't argue with the numbers in the start. It was 36 games that Marquee pointed out that that was their second best 36-game start. 2016, they were a bulldozer. But... The difference is 2016 had the healthy pitchers this week. A great pitching staff. As good as the defense is on this Cubs team, even better defense on that team. And we talked about it yesterday.
The run differential was ridiculous for the 2016 Cubs. But I also want to talk about this with you. The Cubs have, for now, several years, going back to 2021, I want to say, talked about this concept of building a spine on the defense, right? Catcher goes back to when they signed Tucker Barnhart. I saw what the thought process was there, former Red.
You know, the gold glovers, then you've got fielding pitchers, then you've got the shortstop in Dansby Swanson, second base in Nico Horner, and then... who they wanted in center field, even aside from Pete Crow Armstrong. So Cody Bellinger, for example, you know, they wanted this. They wanted this very solid defense up the middle. And we knew then, oh, you were going to win two to one ballgames.
But what I didn't factor in as much, especially in this modern day of baseball, where it's mostly about swing and miss. was how much the defense, if pitchers are hitting their spots, simply hitting their spots, and that's easier said than done, was how much that defense was going to help these pitchers look good.
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Chapter 3: What mistakes did the Reds make during the series that impacted the game?
Dylan Cease comes to mind for me immediately because that's what he does. And Hadevi says he did walk a few guys in spring and his walk rate is up, but it's still crazy low. And so think about how that has, that has worked in his favor. And this stat from Saharov stood out to me too. He's tops in chase rate, Imanaga at 37%. Guys think that they can swing at his stuff.
That's a jump of more than eight percentage points from last season. The splitter in particular gets chased 46.8% of the time. That's more than a 13 point jump from last year. Just outstanding thought process and execution. It's a testament to coaching and a testament to Shota for accepting it. Because he knew he had to.
Another thing you didn't mention right there is the obsession during spring training, at least the one that we could all glob onto and look at and say, velocity. And he got the velocity up. I haven't really been watching his miles per hour on his pitches much because it's been going so well. Right. But he did get that up a little bit during spring training. He worked on his windup a little bit.
I think he mentioned that yesterday as well. And all of a sudden, Shota Imanaga has a .228 ERA overall. And at Wrigley Field, a .174. Earned on average 10... another 10 strikeouts. He did a walkthrough yesterday and has been doing what a lot of these Cubs pitchers have been doing lately, and that is giving Craig Council extra pitches.
He got up to almost 100 pitches in his performance yesterday with the six innings to go along with that. But we've been seeing that with these pitchers. For instance, Colin Ray, way back in the Wednesday game, he
he gave 83 years i mean it does feel like the like four game series are always a journey every single one of them aren't they the rarity of act four game journeys if your team is bad you're thrilled because there's a good chance you're taking at least one in the series that's a great point and then and then for this to happen the four game sweep at home of a really good team you're just like what what a month this has been a victory oh it's only been four games i don't care i mean it's it
I'm so glad you brought that up. We're not even celebrating that fact as much. It's really hard to sweep four-game series. Insanely hard. It's really difficult, and it seems like whenever it occurs, I automatically, all of a sudden, I'm thinking about, wasn't the 2015 San Francisco series one of the turning points for the Cubs that year? I think that was a four-game sweep.
This is bad, Layla, that I remember this, but I remember vividly In 1984, the Cubs sweeping the Mets in a four-game series, which was like a quintessential series for the Cubs that year. But four-game series means something. But Colin Ray gave the Cubs 98 pitches in his performance. Way back in the Tuesday game. That was one of the Bush game-winning hit games. He threw 100 pitches.
Hey, remember that time the Cubs beat the Reds earlier in the week slash month slash year? It really does feel like a long time ago. It's been a wonderful journey. It's been an odyssey through this four-game series for the Cubs, and may it continue in Texas tonight at 7.05 right here on The Score. That's right. Yeah, you can hear that game right here on the score, which is fantastic.
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Chapter 4: What comparisons are being drawn between the Cubs' current season and the 2016 season?
I believe. Oh, did we?
Yeah.
Thank you for jogging my memory.
You ain't my B. Okay.
Oh, yeah, that's right. Poor David Hall. Okay, Grody. He had reached his limit on grody silliness at that moment. Well, I have not. And I prepared for the four and a half hour odyssey that will be today's show. And not A-U-D-A-C-Y, but O-D-D-S-S-E-Y. Will I predict the Cubs to run away with the division by the end of the show? I guess you'll have to tune in. Stop it. You keep talking about it.
It's a threat. It's like you have this box that you're not supposed to open, and it says don't open, and Mark just keeps looking at it. It's like, don't do it. Don't. Don't. Don't do it. Do I do it, texters? Don't do it. Do I do it, Twitch mob? Do I do it? What do I do? I'm so confused. Are you just defeating yourself?
Is this some sort of self-feeding beast where you're doing this to sabotage yourself? No, I want to redeem myself is what I want to do after last year. Well, you've got to wait. You're doing this earlier when the entire division is above 500. Okay. Taking deep breaths. Calm me down.
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Chapter 5: How does the Cubs' defense contribute to their recent success?
What if we distract you with something else? Buterbach, hose me down, buddy. Get that hose. We attach the hose out here in the hallway. What did I tell you? We've got a sprinkler system in here. Give me the fire hose. I got you, man.
Thank you.
I want to get it all hooked up here. What I am going to do is adjust the temperature in this here studio. Are you cool or hot? Because those morning hosts bring it in like a meat locker.
oh you're cool right now i feel but you're in the cold section of the studio right now i'm always cold in here would you like my score fleece no i've got my i've got a hoodie on here okay and then i've got like yeah somebody texted us they were like why are you guys dressed like it's below you know zero in january and i'm like because our studio is yo it's not like it's like 80 outside or anything like that either it's like 50 right yeah i don't understand the climate indoors anymore ever
Yeah, it is a rough climate in here. It's something that we have to deal with. Cubs will play indoors because at Texas, Globe Life is indoors. Oh, good. Although, I forget if they have the retractable roof or not. The rule in Texas with retractable roofs is 85, you close it. Anything over 85. Okay. I haven't looked at the forecast for Kumar Rocker and Ben Brown.
Kamar Rocker is a – I heard the morning show talking about this. That was a tale. You know, he's somebody who had a path to the big leagues that was – had some injuries. You know, he was a big-time prospect. Yeah. Was initially drafted. Is he John of the Rockers' son, John Rocker? Remember John – No, he's not. He's not. John Rocker was kind of a tool. John is also a former Ranger. I know.
That's why I put it together. But he's not. They're not related. Okay. No. Usually they are in baseball. Yeah, that's true. I think we'll get into a lot of this with Mark's good buddy, Brett Boone. That'll be at one o'clock. In the meantime, I think we need to hear from Craig Council, not just about yesterday, Mark, but also his effect on this team.
Dare I say, are we finally getting the full Craig Council effect? That is Mark Grody. I'm Layla Rahimi. You are listening to us on this Friday as we broadcast live from the Scores Hyundai Studios, brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers. When we have breaking news on the score, it's sponsored by IDOT. Speeding in a work zone is a no-win. Mind the signs. Avoid the fines.
Our producers are Ray Diaz, Tyler Biederbaugh, and Tyler Ferengel is helping us out today. He's on the ones and twos working on the Bears comments for you. We will have them. And then also you can join us on Twitch and on YouTube. The Score Chicago is our address there. Connor O'Donnell, Jacob Stutz, and Max Curtis, our video team, along with Cody Westerlin.
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