Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Red-hot Cubs keep rolling with a 4-game sweep of Reds (Hour 1)
08 May 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What was the impact of the Cubs' four-game sweep of the Reds?
The views and opinions of Layla Rahimi, Marshall Harris, and Mark Grody should not be taken too seriously. Especially when they give advice. Do not take Marshall's analogies literally. Especially when it comes to Russell Dorsey. The sports thoughts of Rahimi, Harris, and Grody may change at any time. It's just sports. Okay, thanks, bye.
Rahimi, Harris, and Grody. 10 to 2 on 104.3 The Score.
Since April 21st, 15-game stretch, PCA is batting .375. His chase rate, as we know, is something he will have to manage. Last year, his chase rate was 41% on strikes outside of the zone. This year, that's up to 43%.
So that's improvement.
PCA talked a lot to Pat McAfee about how he manages that aggression in the plate discipline.
You know, I think the play discipline was actually a little bit better, like I would say a little over a week ago and before that. But, you know, when I start feeling sexier and I do start putting more balls in play, more balls in the air to the pull side, like I do end up swinging more. So I'm inevitably going to chase more.
And that's just, I think that just, that's something I got to accept about myself. Vibes.
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Chapter 2: How is Cubs manager Craig Counsell influencing the team's performance?
Yeah, man. When I start feeling sexier.
That is a thing. You will have batters feel sexy at the plate. Frank Thomas always talked about that on White Sox pre- and post-game.
I believe that used to come up with Joe Maddon and the 2016 Cubs and Javier Baez and whatnot. Yeah, you got to feel good. You got to feel sexy.
When Joe got here, that's one of the first things he said. You know, if you feel sexy where? Hey, Case, you know what's so sexy about you? I was like, what? I'm too sexy.
Everybody stops.
I'm sexy and I know it. Is it too sexy?
It's too something.
Layla Rahimi. Marshall Harris. Mark Grody.
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of Ben Brown starting in place of Matthew Boyd?
Middays 10 a.m. to 2 on Chicago Sports Radio. 104.3 The Score.
Unbelievable, Tyler Butera. Unbelievable open. 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.
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Chapter 4: What statistics highlight PCA's recent performance?
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 on they stayed sexy and they know it
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.
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Chapter 5: How are the Cubs' current standings affecting fan expectations?
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. 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.
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Chapter 6: What does the Cubs' winning streak mean for their playoff chances?
It was 36 games that Marky 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 Crowe-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 ball games.
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.
No doubt, and don't think that doesn't give a pitcher confidence the second that they walk out there. And it's not just up the middle. Gold Glover and Ian Happ in left field, obviously PCA, Seiya Suzuki has his problems at times in right field, but he's just fine. So having that defense, and hopefully that won't go away, that that will be persistent throughout this season.
Well, and it's also something that they had to adjust as we saw and they continue to do so. But having that in mind, I think still leads to better outcomes from whoever is on the mound and in that position. And I feel like we're seeing some of the effects of that during this street where they've now won 15 in a row at Wrigley. I hope that was the happiest flight ever.
Oh, my God.
After the ball game yesterday.
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Chapter 7: How are injuries impacting the Cubs' pitching rotation?
I thought he was done. I thought he was cooked based on what I saw last year. That's right. I said it. I didn't think he was going to be good. I didn't even want him in this rotation.
To be fair, did he think he was good?
There's nobody out there. Even the people who cover the team every day, they weren't making proclamations because that's not what they're paid to do. But everybody looked at the Shota Imanaga thing coming into the season side-eyed. And if you didn't, if you really thought that Shota Imanaga was going to look like the 2024 Shota Imanaga, congratulations. That's really insightful.
But 95% of the people did not see this coming.
You know what's interesting, too, is that Shota Imanaga, I think this was brought up yesterday in the postgame, actually, was this was something he set out to do by skipping the World Baseball Classic, by staying in spring training, and then how he was going to be able to use that to his advantage. And that was talked about postgame yesterday. And there's a story today that is on The Athletic.
It is written by our friend Sahadev Sharma talking about this very thing, just what he was trying to do. And Hadevi said in spring training, I told him I want him to try to walk some people at times because that was such a goal of his to not do when he was in Japan. How many times have we ever heard that, try to nibble? It's the exact opposite.
You're usually frustrated as hell with any pitcher who nibbles. 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 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 8 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.
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Chapter 8: What can we expect from Ben Brown in his upcoming start?
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 victories 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.
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