Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Alex Bregman calls for adjustments as Cubs' losing streak grows to 10 games

Episode Date: May 27, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote listened and reacted to Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman's recent comments amid the club's 10-game losing streak.

Rahimi Harris and Grody. I'm not a fan of any team. I'm just a fan of being right. Middays 10 to 2 on 104 3, the score. And the 1-1. Driven towards center playable. Garcia's going to make the catch. And the Pirates make it two in a row,

and the Cubs have lost 10 consecutive games. The final tonight, Pirates 12, Cubs won. On the Northwestern Medicine Cubs. Radio Network. It's not the same. I'm sorry. It's not the same when they've lost 10. I know.

It hurts. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043, the score. And you know what that song is called that Tyler Beterbaugh brought us back with? Mark. Everybody mad. Everybody man. It's true. The problem is OT Genesis was getting too much money.

And that is not the case here. I feel like people are losing money by the day. We're keeping track. We're taking receipts on who the Cubs. have angered, otherwise mild-mannered humans like Ron Coomer and Brett Boone texting me. We got the national folks converging on Chicago trying to get answers from us. So we're keeping a list here. This is upsetting families all over

Chicago land. Yeah, it's one thing if I get mad, like that's going to happen. But it's another Wednesday it's Craig counsel getting ejected and then Ron Coomber gets in the mix. Now, Kevin Alcantra got an at bat in the game. And I would also like to see a bore of that out of Kevin Alcantra, and I get it, they ease guys in. They ease them in, ease them in.

Yeah. I don't know that that's the, nothing is the best practice anymore is how I feel about it. So Alcantra gets in, and I see why he wanted to get his money's worth, so to speak, or at least get what he felt like was an honest A-B. But listen to what happened during the game when the Cubs were down 12 to 1, and this occurs.

Santana ready and the 3-2 on the way. strike three called and now the batter al-contra wants that pitch to be looked at again and al-contra now wait a minute frank I'm gonna say he didn't challenge in time I think counts is not gonna accept this no that's not no he he did it right away that's just that's not acceptable yeah I'm gonna throw out of the game Frank's gonna go out and get his money's worth I don't blame him this is this is this just bad. They just didn't like the young kid challenging to call in a blowout game. That's all it is.

And that's just wrong. Yeah, you've got to still play the game. Just what we were talking about, and now we've got the umpires not doing that. That's just not good. The pitch is in for a strike. He goes right away, taps his home. He's not even, he didn't even make the call yet for strike three. And then they did not give him a chance. That's just that's terrible umpiring. And you know,

there should be a penalty for the umpires when they do stuff like that because that's just them being upset that a young kid challenged it. And that's just, that's just, that's just bad. And, you know, and they should have, they should have some issue with that. The league should because that's just terrible baseball by the umpire,

Dan Marzell. Nico Horn of the batter, one away first and second, 12 to 1 Pirates lead here in the ninth inning. That's embarrassing. Wow. I mean, you don't hear Ron Coomer call out umpires by name like that very often. And let me just set this up a little bit because I heard it both ways.

I heard that walking home last night. I was listening to them and I'm trying to catch up on what's going on. I get home. I put the game on my DVR. I'll go right to that first. I want to see what exactly happened. It should be pointed out that it was a three-two count. Alconra gets called out, but Alconra sort of emphatically, that should be pointed out,

because apparently got under the umpire's skin, sort of emphatically goes to the helmet. Like, pats it like three times, like, you've got to challenge that. The first base umpire, who is, as Coom said, Dan Merzel, also emphatically, when the ruling came and we all saw it, it was a strike, there was no doubt about it, emphatically then calls him out, like gets the fist up. He's like staring him in the eyes. So that needs to be pointed out just the visual of everything that was going on. And I guess that's what happened.

Because I still don't know exactly. I think Ron Coomer is right that the umpires were butt hurt over that, that they were mad that a rookie was challenging on three two. They mocked his, I feel like it was a mock of his movement to challenge. Because he hit his head like three times. And then Dansby, Dansby looks at him because Danzby's at first base and he's got his hands up.

Like, what was that? Yeah. Yeah. Like, you see him turn toward him and ask, like, what happened here? Yeah, relax, man. What's up with that? So that, yeah, counsel had to get ejected, had to come out and fight that. And word for word, Ron Kumer was spot on.

Screw the umps in that case. And you see Kevin Alcounter yell clutching his bat. Oh, my God. Yes. That was pretty obvious. He's like, what the heck happened here? Yes. And, you know, the famous phrase, oh, do they have a dinner reservation?

do the umpires have a dinner reservation. But I'm sorry, this is not an unwritten rule that he crossed. He's a guy trying to get his big league at bat and he's trying to do what he can. And at times where you and I may have been like, oh, we're down 12 to 1, he has the right to do that in that moment.

And get on Craig Counsel for defending him too, because as a rookie, I think that that's a pretty good sign of backup. Big time. And when Dan Sby Swanson, gestures to the first base umpire, whose name I shouldn't have to know, Dan Roselle. We see, hello, Marzell.

Yeah. Well, and the only other, on television, they were, the conclusion they came to on television, they were surmising that the first base ump was saying that Alcantra had swung because it was like a check swing on three two. And clearly he hadn't, but that, but you, you have to appeal. The umpire, the first base ump can't, I don't think he could just call a guy out without an appeal. Right.

That never changed. You know, that never changed. First base hump is definitely still the one who also looks at the check swing. Yeah, but I don't think. think it can a first this is a question i don't know the answer to can the first base ump impose his will on a check swing or does he have to be appealed to before he makes that call yeah that's that's a detailed question yeah i think i think it has to be an appeal there's a conference of some sort right the the point down to the umpire i don't think he can act alone i don't think but i'm not sure i don't know

maybe we could look that up well vagueness is is how they operate at times and it just was unnecessary Like that in that moment was unnecessary. The guy's trying to do what he can. How many times have we criticized people for not fighting until the very end? And he's doing that and in those moments. It's just not necessary. No, you're right. That's a good way to put it.

This isn't personal, Dan. Dan. He's just trying to get his at bat, which he's fought hard to get that opportunity. Dan made the list. This isn't about you, Dan. Yeah, write that name down. We'll keep in a list of angry people throughout the process and people who have been angered. Dan Marzell just made a list.

Like, heaven forbid, you do your job, Dan. Dan. Here's what Craig Counsel had to say. It feels like kind of left saying the same stuff after the last few games just with how the offense is just. Yeah, look, someone's just got to step up and get hits in those spots. I mean, I don't, there's, there's not much more to say than that. You know, you got to conduct a big league at bat. it's the at-bats you want.

Those are the at-bats you want to have during the course of a game. And you've got to deliver. That's the name of the game. We're kind of having the same inning over and over again. And it's about delivering in those situations. And until we do, we're going to be talking about the same thing. Do you feel like guys are pressing offensive? It doesn't matter what they're doing.

Your job is to deliver, you know, you don't deliver every time, but we got to have some level of production. Pressing, I don't know. Like, I don't know. I'm not sure what the answer is to that. I think the answer is it's a big league at bat with men on base. It's the bat you want in the game. It's the bat you can make a difference for your team.

It's the bat you can flip the score of a game, flip the course of a game. and, you know, it's time for us to deliver. I love that. Now, that is a step up in Craig Counsel. I wasn't hearing it yesterday. I know in the meeting it felt like people were trying to talk us into. Oh, listen to Craig. Now, that's a little different tone.

That is, I will go with that same inning over and over again. And then he's like, it cuts off the reporter. It doesn't matter about that. I think that was Megan Montemarrow. Good question and a great answer, quite frankly. And direct. Yes. Direct out of Craig Counsel.

Yeah. Now, that's a different sound. Direct with you needed to hear it. Well, he wasn't the only one. Let's add Alex Bregman to everybody mad. You look in the mirror and change something. Doing the same thing over and over again. And expecting a different result is definition of insanity.

So if you keep getting beat the same way, without changing anything, it's on you. So you got to fix. We got to fix where the holes are in our game. And we all need to look in the mirror and figure that out. When you say fix it and what does that entail, what does that look like? It looks like getting the job done. And yeah, that's simple.

Get it done. It doesn't matter how. Just get the job done. What do you think of into as far as preventing that? You've got a lot of good ballplayers in this room? Yeah. I don't know. We've got to make adjustments.

Can't keep trying the same things because they're not working. So try something else. Yeah. Yeah. The communication between you guys, because we always see you guys working with talking, helping each other, you know, what that looks like right now. That's the message.

change something. Somebody to do it. These are way better answers than we've been getting, quite frankly. It's better than the with all due respect to Carson Kelly. That's better than the, we have 110 games left because there is

a problem on this team right now. And if it doesn't get better, they're going to lose everything. And I get what Carson Kelly was trying to say. It's a game of chance. And maybe he thought he was sticking up for teammates there because he got two hits yesterday. You know, Carson Kelly. Mr. Big Schmachat,

with the two hits. I mean, but he, yeah, we, we got to take them where we can get him at this point. I'll look at you, fancy two for four. But Jed Hoyer had comments that we're going to get into with Russ Dorsey on our one o'clock hour, which I think very much speak to this being a top down thing. Like it starts, you know, fish rots from the head for a lack of a better term and it just goes from there. But the same meeting, the same lineup, the same production. no matter how you switch the parts.

And in reality, as I've said before, the same hitter. You know, Mark, there was a time where I heard Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer, and Jed say it too, that they wanted to diversify the lineup. They didn't want the same type of hitter. They wanted to contact. Not just contact. What kind of hitter? Hitters for a slug.

Hitter is where you know. Say, for example, you have a clear-cut answer as to who your cleanup batter is, who your 3-4 is. We don't have that. Not right now. You did have that. You don't have that right now. But even then, I don't know that it was as clear cut as it was last year when, yes, there were frustrating behaviors,

especially in the second half of the season out of Kyle Tucker. But you know that Sayas Suzuki was his best self when he was next to him and then Tucker would at least come in and get the job done. Tucker was a superstar. He was a superstar and played like a superstar until the injuries. Kyle Tucker. That's what makes a lot of this frustrating when you put it all together. in this way is I get it. We're all seeing the same things,

but it's just a matter of how it's being put all together. Yeah. Yeah, there is, it's really, I was talking about this last night too. It's like there is no, there's nothing redeeming happening right now. I guess the Ben Brown has like been a nice story throughout the struggle, but there's very little redeeming things that have come out of any of these games at any of these times where you're like, okay, well, at least we have that. Ben Brown, yes, but that's it. Well, there's also the concept of overperforming and underperforming expectations, and that is something

that the Cubs have discussed. And right now you're seeing a bunch of people underperform. Yeah, and hey, you know, we joke about my prediction last year. The Cubs are going to win the division and never look back. Most people pick the Cubs to win this division this year. I would say 95% of those who are credible and who we ask these questions too because we value their opinions picked the Cubs to win the division this year. Pocoda had them as a 90 plus win team. Yeah. And they might still win the division, but it's really hard to see out of this right now.

If I told you that the Brewers got rid of Freddie Peralta. Well, it didn't work with any of their other starting pitchers throughout the years that they got rid of. And stars and Willie Domases and all. all those guys. You just cut an arm off a starfish and it grows right back. Ooh, starfish. Yeah. Yep.

Worms. I'm trying to think of other animals that you can cut. That regenerate? Don't worms regenerate? Yeah, I think so. Yes. Are worms meat, by the way? Is that meat?

Like, if a bird eats a worm, is that, is that, I know it's protein, but is that, is that meat? Is that meat? Is that meat? Somebody asked me that the other day. Not to me. Who asked you this? Um, it would, it might have been, might have been one of my, uh, I don't remember exactly who I could look back in my text messages.

This feels like a possible niece question. Maybe. For some reason, we were having a conversation about worms and I, yeah, I referred to it as meat and they challenged me on that. There said, worms aren't. Huh, maybe they aren't. You know what they are? The Milwaukee Brewer's arms.

Sorry to bring the show to a halt. Put that, I'm sorry, that should be in half time. I'm sorry. Nah, this is a more productive conversation. 312, 644. Our worms meet. Are they meat? I guarantee you somebody probably knows.

Probably. I'm sure somebody on the 312, 644. There's also that whole internet concept. Yeah. Maybe they know the internets. There's no way to know. Their new segment, worms are meat. Our worms meet.

All of this, you could argue, is more productive than having watched the 12 to one ball game last night. In the meantime, the socks were productive. They just didn't get the win. But it truly was competitive. I think we are seeing some emergence out of, I think, some key players. So let's examine and discuss next.