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Chapter 1: What insights does Russ Dorsey share about the Cubs' recent struggles?
Russell Dorsey, National MLB Insider for Yahoo Sports. Oh, he's fine. He doesn't need the attention. Russell will be fine. You're probably right.
We're going to have a conversation about some mediums when he gets in here. I tell you that.
Host of the Relay with Russ Dorsey podcast. I've had this feeling for a while while watching Shohei pitch better than we've ever seen him pitch before. And he's started to now swing the bat like we know he can. I've always had this feeling that Shohei's bat is significantly more important
than what shohei does on the mound insider and analyst for mlb network and friday night baseball on apple tv they have guys in that lineup that they expected way more out of not a little bit like a lot more and so until those guys start swinging the bat we're just gonna be looking at each other like uh one run five six hits yeah russell dorsey on 104.3 the score the score
We talk to Russell Dorsey every week on Rahimi Harrison Brody. And now is the time. The Major League Baseball Insider for Yahoo Sports, Major League Baseball Network, and Friday Night Baseball on Apple TV.
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Chapter 2: How has Shohei Ohtani's performance influenced baseball analysis?
He is the host of the Relay with Russ Dorsey podcast, available on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. Russ, how are you?
What's up, guys? How we doing?
Good. I do want to start with asking you the same question that we asked in our first segment.
Okay.
Cubs score nine runs. Great. You salvage a win out of the Rockies. You hit the ball well in that win. What's next? Try to make it two out of three against the Giants? Can we even go that far right now?
So when I talked to you guys two weeks ago, because we didn't get to talk last week, I said that they had a month that they should be looking forward to when you talk about some of the worst teams in baseball coming up. Had the Giants, the Rockies, Giants again, Rockies again. And they've lost two of those first series against the Giants and the Rockies. So as I sit here and look at it,
Sure, yeah, you feel good that you were able to finally get some offense, but I think the other side of that coin is you've now dropped back-to-back series against two of the worst teams in baseball.
Yeah, when you say it like that, it hits a little harder. Remember, 22 straight games to start the month of June against sub-500 records, and yet they have not won a series in 10 series. Russell, are the Cubs good enough to make the playoffs?
Oh, that's a great question, Marshall Harris. Let me ask you this question back. Go ahead. What version of the Cubs is good enough?
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Chapter 3: What are the Cubs' chances of making the playoffs this season?
It's fantastic, sad, and brilliant at the same time.
That has to permanently go into my opening now. Oh, yeah.
You'll hear it. It's so true. How many times do we ask in any sport, what's it going to take to get so-and-so going? And you've been asking about so-and-so for the last several years every other week.
Yeah, I think when I think back about those old Cubs teams at the end, it was always, hey, they're going to be fine. They're going to be fine. They're going to be fine. And then they weren't fine. It was like, ah. And I remember specifically an end of the season postmortem with David Ross, where he's like, yeah, man, we were just hoping we could flip the switch.
And, you know, we're never really able to flip the switch.
And you just took me back to 2023.
Wow.
uh in the name russ of getting the cubs closer to fine indigo girls anyone we were talking about a thank you we were talking about it's a great song we were talking about a ken rosenthal report i don't have really reports a great way to put it you saw it obviously a theory of bringing up the idea of the possibility of maybe you trade say a suzuki off the roster what did you think when you saw that and it's ironic we're talking about this the day after the man hit a grand slam
A lot of caveats in there. Yes, yes, yes. Let me think about this. Is this current version of Seiya? Because when Ken was talking about that, That's pre-Seiya Grand Slam. Seiya has not been swinging the bat well. So this would be a team saying, okay, we're going to take a gamble on two and a half, two months of Seiya Suzuki to look like the normal version of Seiya that they've seen.
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Chapter 4: What factors are contributing to the White Sox's success in the AL Central?
But I do think it's important to note, a lot of people are still talking about the Cubs as buyers. There is a world where they're not. And in that world, I can see a situation if Seah gets hot over the last three, four weeks before the deadline, if you start to entertain those conversations.
Well, and Russ, it's funny because this was the conversation of, do you trade Sam because your pitching situation is so dire? So in theory, you'd still be a buyer, but you have to give up one of your most valuable pieces to do so. I know he's a rental and he has a no trade clause, but at the same time, Rosenthal brought up like maybe because he's in the last year that he might be open to it.
It just, I think it says more about the Cubs problems right now than it does possible solutions.
Like,
Can we be really honest right now, guys? Do the Cubs look like a buyer? No, absolutely not. Exactly. So if they don't look like a buyer right now, and they've now dropped back-to-back series against two of the worst teams in baseball, then you have two more series against those same teams. Yes, you're hoping for better results, but at some point, we need to be honest about who they are.
It's the contracts for me as we talk with Russell Dorsey, the MLB insider for Yahoo Sports, MLB Network, and Friday Night Baseball on Apple TV. Also, check out the Relay with Russell Dorsey podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Russell, with the way these contracts look and understanding that they just signed some people long-term, how do they fix this?
This is going to be an unsatisfying answer, but hitting? They have guys in that lineup that they pay to hit the ball that are not hitting the ball. And so there's no prospect that you're going to bring up that's going to be the spark. You don't... You can't go out on June 12th and trade for somebody that's going to be a sparking lineup.
The spark has to be from the nine guys that you're penciling into that lineup on a daily basis. And if not, they are not going to be the team that we expected them to be. That's the reality of it.
If it goes bad and let's just say the Cubs do decide to sell or just do nothing because they're not competitive, I want to know what the consequences of that. I want to know the pressure on Craig Council. Craig Council's in the third year of a five-year, $40 million contract. If this is not working, are there consequences? Big consequences.
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Chapter 5: How do recent player performances impact team strategies?
Do I think...
Like, make a change. Is this somebody's head roll?
Is the seat hot?
I want to know if the seat hot is in the top.
How hot is it?
I would imagine you turn the burner up a little bit. But do I think somebody is no longer the manager of the Chicago Cubs? I don't think that's going to be the case. I'd be really surprised if that happened. But what I can say is, usually when you have a team that goes this long without... Hitting, that's usually when you get your hitting coach fired. I'm not saying that they're going to do it.
I'm not saying that they're talking about it. But historically, we have a team of guys that usually hit that then don't hit. You start looking around, and when you're talking about things that have to happen, that's when teams start to make changes to coaching staffs and things like that. Like, look at the New York Mets. They didn't fire Carlos Mendoza, but they fired his entire staff.
If that doesn't turn up the burner on you, I don't know what does. So, yeah, I think there are things that if this goes bad, they'll have to look at. And that could be one of the things they look at.
Well, and I think after losing 21 out of 28 games prior to yesterday, Russ, and having been relatively no change, and when you bring up your young prospects, you don't even give them that much playing time or that many bats, respectively. You're essentially saying you're going to stick with this. There's been no change on the staff side.
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Chapter 6: What are the implications of potential trades for the Cubs?
It's going to take the guys that they pay a lot of money to and have given these long term extensions to to be the difference in this lineup. Right. You can't have seven of nine guys in your lineup with a sub 700 OPS over the last month and think you're going to be a team that gets the postseason or contends in the National League. That's just not going to happen.
Their pitching is going to have to be better over the next month if they expect to be a team that contends in the National League. So I don't think they're okay with what's been going on. But I do think the reality is for them to turn things around, the guys currently on the 26-man roster have to be the ones to turn things around.
Otherwise, we're talking about a Cubs team that's going to be a seller here in six weeks.
My guy, Russell Dorsey on us. He's got information here on Rahimi Harrison. Grody joins us each and every week. And Russ, you know what I am okay with? I bet you can guess. I bet you can guess. White Sox Marshall. I bet you can guess. Top 10 offense in baseball. Look, Russ, simple question here. What is the White Sox ceiling?
A AL Central Division champion. I think that's what they've been able to show us here in the first half. And? And what? That was my answer.
What about the playoffs? That means they're in the playoffs. That means they're in the playoffs. What could they do in the playoffs? Get to the playoffs.
Okay.
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Chapter 7: How is Craig Council's management being evaluated amidst the Cubs' struggles?
I'm trying to stretch it here. I'm really happy that White Sox fans are happy with what's been going on. They are an amazing story. However, we got to keep things... Look, they're one of the best teams in the AL right now. They've shown they're one of the best teams, if not the best team, in the AL Central. But there are tiers to this thing.
And when you're talking about what they can do in the playoffs, that means a couple of things happen. That means that they were able to get through the rest of the season with their current pitching situation, which I think they're going to have to address at the deadline if they're still in the same position at the deadline.
Also, that means that they did not have any significant injuries to their roster. And that's something that's very hard to do in Major League Baseball, as we've seen. They're going through one right now. And that also means that you haven't had any regression. If that happens, you've had a fantastic second half of the season. But, you know, the Yankees are still in the American League.
The Tampa Bay Rays are, to me, the most underrated team in baseball this year. They've been one of the best teams in the American League this season. And you never know what happens in the AL West if Seattle takes hold of that thing, if Toronto turns out to be better than they've played in the first half. But I think...
What Sox fans should do is continue to enjoy the way this team is playing because they are the best story in baseball so far in 2026. I've had people reach out to me from different organizations, players on different teams that talk about the Chicago White Sox and have really enjoyed the way that they're playing, the way that they've done things. And that's significant.
Like when people start to talk about you in that light, not in Chicago, that means they're doing something right.
What do you think the odds are, Russ, that we see Hagan Smith? Because Will Venable mentioned him as one of the possibilities for Saturday.
Yeah, I mean, if they come out publicly and say it, that means that they're having real discussions about it. It's just with the weather situation that we've seen in the city over the last week or so, and we are supposed to get some rain over the weekend as well, that's something that you've got to factor in. Do you want them to face the Dodgers in this first start in the big leagues?
That's something that you factor in. But yeah, I think it's a possibility, and if it is, It's another exciting debut, and it seems like the White Sox have won every other day right now.
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Chapter 8: What are the expectations for the White Sox as they approach the playoffs?
Yeah, I mean, that's just it, man. These guys that are coming up for the White Sox, Braden Montgomery, we haven't even talked about him. All these guys, who knows what they're going to end up being, but they have contributed. Even David Sandler, who's had a couple of rough starts, got sent back down, but his first start was very good. So you're getting contributions while developing these guys.
100%. And I think Groza was really important. I'm going to continue to say it until I'm blue in the face because the thing is starting to happen where Sox fans are getting really excited because they see a team at the top of the division. They're seeing a team that's very competitive. It's like, oh, let's make a move at the deadline. It's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's chill.
Yes, there are some things that you can do, ancillary moves to augment your roster, but you shouldn't be wheeling and dealing prospect capital. Like you're not at that point yet. And you have to continue to build this thing to ensure that you're a sustainable winner.
But yes, if the Sox are in a position in six weeks where they're right where they are right now, near the top of the AL Central, they're holding on to a wild card spot. I wouldn't doubt that they try to augment the roster for sure.
Russ Dorsey, a pleasure catching up. What's on your agenda for Apple TV tonight?
Yeah, we got a double dip tonight. Only one pregame show, Braves, who were just in Chicago, against the New York Mets on Apple TV tonight. Also, the newest episode of The Relay with Russ Dorsey went out on Tuesday, had a great episode with our good friend Katie Wu. That one is on YouTube and all digital streaming platforms.
Your first guest, right?
first guess yes we we've been trying to build the brand uh and now it's like all right we can we can invite some guests on and talk about some different things going on in the game oh and the merch is dropping next week that's also what i wanted to say oh yeah you've you've worn it on our show russ dorsey thanks so much for coming on have fun tonight i want a free hoodie i want a free hoodie that's all free if we're supporting our friends marshall we pay
Okay, I want a discounted hoodie. That's fine.
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