Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Bruce Levine reacts to Cubs placing Seiya Suzuki on injured list (Hour 4)

Episode Date: March 23, 2026

In the final hour, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote discussed Bears quarterback Caleb Williams’ standing among his counterparts in the NFL. After that, Score baseball insider Bruce Levine joined the show to discuss the Cubs’ decision to place slugger Seiya Suzuki on the 10-day injured list to start the season due to his knee ailment.

We're both really excited about it. We're going to be so much further ahead from our communication standpoint than what we were a year ago. Having gone through it, there is no learning quite like doing it. I can show him as much tape as I possibly can, and yet he's got to go through it and make some mistakes to truly learn from it. And so I think we're going to be so much further ahead just from a passing game standpoint. I'm really encouraged by it. I was really impressed by how much better he.

He got over the course of the season. I look forward to being able to capitalize on that coming back and continue to forge ahead. Bears head coach Ben Johnson with Fox 32's Cassie Carlson at the recent NFL Combine in Indianapolis, as we welcome you back to Rahimi Harris and Grody. If you may recall, if you were listening on Friday to Rahimi Harris and Grody, we had Mike Sando on from the Athletic, one of our great football writers. And he does a, he has a tradition. every single year where he puts together the quarterback tiers.

There are five different tiers, one through five, as you could say, like one being the best, five being the least desirable quarterbacks. And that has inspired us here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie to take a look, Marshall, at what was last year relative to what we think this year. And I want to make sure people understand the amount of work that goes into Mike Sando doing this, because here's directly from his article for The Athletic. The quarterback tiers, when they were in for 2025, they had 50 NFL coaches and executives coronating a couple of first-time Tier 1 QBs.

There's five tiers. The panel combined to confer 46 top-tier votes to Lamar Jackson, which was twice his total from 2024, that told people that the two-time MVP had proven his ability as a passer, including the playoffs, although not as much as you know his playoff history. But just understanding how much Jackson jumped from 2024 to 2025 to become a tier one quarterback, and so there's five tiers. And here's what they say about tier number one. A tier one quarterback can carry his team each week.

The team wins because of him. He expertly handles pure passing situations. He has no real holes in his game. That's what Tier 1 is. So an understanding, I'm so glad that you gave the qualifications for this list, it's not power rankings. This is not Mike Sandoz's random list. No.

This is an educated guess on the best quarterbacks in the league. So here we're, this is 2025. This is what it was. These are the Tier 1 quarterbacks, as Marshall Harris just described. Number one was Patrick Mahomes. Tied for Tier 1 was Joe Burrow. Number three on that list. Josh Allen.

Number four, as you mentioned, Lamar Jackson, and the last elite tier one quarterback on the list was Matthew Stafford. Good old Matt Stafford. Matt's and you can't argue with a single one of them. I wouldn't even take any of them off of the list at this point. We move to Tier 2. What are the qualifications for Tier 2, dear Mr. Harris? So a Tier 2 quarterback can carry his team sometimes,

but not as consistently as those Tier 1 guys, you just mentioned, Mark. He can handle pure passing situations in doses and or possesses other dimensions that are special enough to elevate him above Tier 3. He has a whole or two in his game. Here are the Tier 2 quarterbacks from 2025. Jaden Daniel 6, Justin Herbert, 7, Jared Goff, 8, tied for 9th, C.J. Stroud and Jalen Hertz. 11th, Baker Mayfield, 12th, Dak Prescott, 13, Jordan Love.

14th, Brock Purdy. So it's interesting understanding going from 2024 to 2025, you notice who's at the top of that tier and looking to press into tier one. Jared, Jaden Daniels. What a difference of your makes. Well, and we're to talk about him right now. I give him a pass for last year. He was injured. He played in six, seven games at the most last year.

Just looking at my sheet here. I had it. Oh, here it is. Seven games last year. But in 2024, 3,568 yards. We know how good he was. So I think it's still possible that he could get into that. But I would keep Jaden Daniels in tier.

two for now. Tier three. What is tier three? So here's where it gets, I mean, there's five tiers. This is tier three. You can do some averaging out and understand what this is going to look like. A tier three quarterback is a legitimate starter, but needs a heavier running game and or defensive component to win.

A lower volume dropback passing offense suits him best. Got that? They are, yes. They are at number four. 15. Kailer Murray, 16, your guy. Aaron Rogers. Oh, wow. 17.

Two, a tug of below. Veloa. Trevor Lawrence at 18 in tier three. Gino Smith, 19. Tide for 20, Bo Nix and Sam Darnold. It will be rising. You ready for this? At number 22.

Here we go, ladies and gentlemen. Number 22 in tier three, Drake May and Caleb Williams. Bryce Young, right on their Heels at number 24 and number 25, Kirk Cousins appropriately placed in that tier three. And we'll get to, we'll get to Caleb, we'll get to it. The final two tiers, tier four, what do they say about tier four? A tier four quarterback could be an unproven player, as in not enough information for voters

to classify, because remember, these are real life NFL coaches and executives who made the determination here, or a veteran who ideally would not start all-sacized. 17 games. And this is where it gets kind of, well, you know. Ugly. And Will, these first three names. Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, Michael Pennix Jr., J.J. McCarthy. Oops.

Daniel Jones at number 30. Joe Flacco, 31. Anthony Richardson, where are you now? Anthony Richardson, number 32. Spencer Rattler at number 33. And then there is one quarterback in the five tier. What do they even say for the fifth? It's a very simple definition here, Mark.

Bad. A tier five quarterback. is best suited as a backup. That's very nicely put. Kenny Pickett, the lone quarterback in that category. All right. Yes. The answer is yes.

Of course. Caleb Williams should probably, yes, he should move up from 23 to something. Now, the question is, is Caleb Williams at the top half of the third tier? or does he, because of what he did last year, is he a tier two quarterback this year? Or if you're really bullish, you think he is in the elite category. I don't think he is in the, I'm with you, Marshall. I see the look.

He is not in the elite category. But could he be Baker Mayfield, Jalen Hertz, C.J. Stroud, Dak Prescott. The answer is yes. He is definitely, by these definitions, a tier two quarterbacker. quarterback, and I expect him to be voted as such when the new rankings come out this offseason, because, again, a tier two quarterback can carry his team sometimes, but not as consistently. He can handle peer passing situations in doses and or possesses other dimensions.

How about ducking out of sacks that are special enough to elevate him above Tier 3? He has a hole or two in his game. The hole would be the simple place, the pedestrian passing place. That is the hole in his game. 17 games, man, the durability is real for Caleb. Two straight years of 17 games last year, 3,942 yards, 27 touchdowns to seven interceptions. And yes, the 58.1 completion percentage for which there are reasons. And we could all look into that and delve into because of the risk taking that has gone on with Caleb Williams, which we ultimately like.

I guess the question is, is, like, did he? Did he leapfrog Jaden Daniels? Do you think that he is now ahead of somebody like, man, I'm tempted to put him in, like, just behind Jaden Daniels still. And I know it was a rough year last year because of injuries, and when he played, he wasn't great. Like, just in that Justin Herbert territory, Justin Herbert was seven last year.

And this could all change. And the new list, the 2026 list will come out after the draft for Mike Sanders. from whom we'll hear in a second as well. I'm also tempted to, like, has Jared Goff earned a spot in the top tier of quarterbacks? You want to take him from tier two to tier one. I say he stays in tier two, mainly because he doesn't have the actual... The word I'm looking for here is... The penash that the win because of?

No, no, no, it's more about the elusivity. It's all timing base, and if he has to scramble, it's over for Jared. golf. He has no mobility in the pocket. Yeah. 17 games last year for golf, 4,564 yards, 34 touchdowns, eight interceptions. I feel like he's very easy to overlook because

of all the talent on Detroit. I'm not overlooking him. I'm just saying he's at the top of T-2. But I mean as a potentially elite quarterback. Like, he's not as good as Matthew Stafford. He's not as good as Josh Allen. Not as good. Like, not in

that same class. That's why he's at the top of tier two. He's just right there. Just hovering right around it. But I would put him above Justin Herbert. And some of these other guys have fallen off, whether it's C.J. Stroud or, I mean, CJ Stroud might be a tier three quarterback straight up next year, right? Like the next time they do this, I think Dag Prescott is at the top of tier two as well.

Better question for you, is Caleb Williams above or below Jordan Love the next time tiers are revealed. Jordan Love is 13. He's smack in the middle of Tier 2. Or at the bottom of Tier 2. Here's Jordan Love, like his numbers last year. 15 games, 3,381 yards. And I'm just simplifying this, 23 touchdowns to six

interceptions. Again, Caleb Williams, 17 games, 3,942 yards, 27 TDs to seven picks. Now, I don't know. That's a better year, I think. I think he had, well, He won the playoff game against Green Bay. It's a better year for Caleb, but does having one better year than Jordan Love, considering the resume of Jordan Love, which hurts to say, is pretty good, pretty good, not great.

Yeah, I would put Caleb over, like, if it's year to year, yeah, yeah, yeah, I put Caleb over Jordan Love. Oh, I might have them in that tied category. Okay. Hey, the ties are all over the place. And so understanding how it works with the voting, Mark, those executives, they put a number next to, they say you are a tier one quarterback or not. And then they average all that out.

So the lower the number, the better, right? And so you look at the top of this thing with tier one. Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow, every single executive and coach that they polled had them as tier one quarterback because their average vote is just one, straight up. Yeah. No point behind it.

Whereas Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson are each one point, 1.1. So they had, you know, 1.1, which means some people put them as a tier 2 quarterback. And if you look at Caleb Williams and really Drake, Sam Darnold, they're all there together. Like, Darnold's a straight up three. That means he averaged out. Everyone could have possibly just said you're a tier 3 quarterback and that's why he's a 3. Or some would have had him 2, some would have had him 4, and it averaged out to a perfect 3. Drake May and Caleb Williams right next to each other. Drake May 3.1, Caleb Williams 3.2. And Bryce Young right behind them at 3.4.

So it'll be interesting to see how many people lift Caleb Williams up to 2. And I expect him to have like a 2.1 score where somebody might think he's still a tier 3 quarterback. But the majority of people, based on the definitions, as they are presented to the pollsters, it's going to be a 2 or a 2.1. Yeah. How can it not be? And again, yes, to be very clear, we are going off of the 2025 list of quarterback tiers. Mike Sandoz, 2026 will come out after the draft. That said, on Friday, Sando was on when Lela and I were here on the score. And I did ask him if Caleb Williams will, if he thinks, in his opinion, will Caleb Williams indeed move up his quarterback tears? He's definitely going up. I think Caleb Williams was, people were excited about him coming out, you know, some reservations. And then the first year was kind of disappointing. And we saw the, you know, I mean, there was basically, he got savage in that story that came out before the season.

Yeah. And it was just kind of like, you know. But I think he played pretty well this last year. I think he showed a lot. I think he looked like he was more of a team guy than, you know, than was. criticized or advertised. So he was, I think he was in tier three, which is, you know, solid starter, but you probably need a lot around him to really win. I think he's going to go high into tier three with with some tier two, two, three lines. We've kind of seen in recent years, like Brock Purdy

sort of moved from the three to the two, a little different because he was such a late pick that people were late to want to push him up. I think Caleb, that people know the talent. And so does he make a bigger jump as a result of that? If you're in the middle of Tier 2, you're kind of a top, on the fringes of the top 10. And I haven't started quarterback tiers. We do it after the draft. So I don't really know what people are, you know, I'll pull them as we get closer and see the quarterback situations take shape around the league. But I've got to think he's got to move not into the top 10, but don't you think he's going to move into the top halfish?

Because he's certainly going to go past the Twas and those guys, Kyler Murray's. those guys are going to come down. I think he's going to go up. Mike Sando of the Athletic, who, as he said, he's being conservative and he doesn't know yet, so he's guessing because I asked him the question. But he started with at least moving up to, or like he figured tier three, I guess that's the question. Is Caleb Williams a top 10 quarterback? Is he as good as Jared Gough? Is he as good as Justin Herbert? Is he as good as Baker Mayfield? Dak Prescott, Jalen Hertz, guys like that, has he, with one really, really good year, has Caleb Williams become a top 10 quarterback?

If he's not top 10, he's right outside of that window. Here's why he won't be a top 10 quarterback when the tiers come out. Because of the guys you just mentioned, he's not going to jump any of them. He's also not jumping the guy directly ahead of him who might be a tier one quarterback when this thing comes out because of how it's done. And that's Drake May. Yeah, he might make it. He was the runner up to MVP. He led the league in countless categories.

And did it legitimately. You know what I mean? Like it was, it looked real. From the same draft class. Until the Super Bowl. Wow. They've been addressing those problems. Yeah, finally made a couple of nice passes towards the end of that.

But this is, uh, this is certainly to be continued. I can't wait until Mike Sando comes out with the quarterback tiers to see where everything lands. Obviously, we're going to see some guys falling off of this list. some guys that will make the jump in the list like Sam Darnold, as you just said, Drake May as well, Caleb, Trevor Lawrence, does he, at number 18 overall, does he pop to at least tier two, or does he get to that tier three area after one really good year under their new head coach? See him as the bottom of tier two. The biggest fall, I think, is going to be C.J. Stroud and the biggest jump, I think, is going to be Drake May.

So something to pay attention to, again, he doesn't. do it until after the draft. So we got some time, but always good fodder. We have some more fodder coming up. It's always a pleasure to have Bruce Levine on, our baseball insider, who was already on once today. So I feel like we are honored and privileged to have Bruce Levine joining us next to talk about the breaking news that say a Suzuki officially placed on the injured list. We'll talk all things, Cubs, coming up next with Bruce Levine on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104.3, the score. Laila Rahimi, Marshall Harris, Mark Grody, Rahimi Harrison Grody on 1043, the score.

St. Freckman swings. It's a high-fly ball, deep left-center field. Racing back, brown at the wall, it's gone. Alex Bregman with his second home run of the spring. And the Cubs now up four to nothing over the Brewers here in the third. It's a nice day for the Cubs as they wallop the Milwaukee Brewers, 12 to nothing. thing. Kate Horton also six strong innings.

And yeah, Bruce, I know, I know. The Brewers didn't have any of their regulars. Lots of stuff going on with the Cubs about which we will discuss with our baseball insider Bruce Levine in just a second. Just to let everybody know what's going on. Sayas Suzuki will open the season on the injured list. The Cubs manager, Craig Counsel, did confirm that

today. The club also informed pitcher Ben Brown that he will make the opening day roster. Javier Assad will be optioned to AAA and start the season in the Iowa rotation. You know Bruce Levine. He is on X.

At MLB, Bruce Levine, he covers the Cubs and the White Sox for 104-3, the score. Hello, Bruce. How are you? Hi, guys. You gave all the information. So back to you. Well, let's start with SEA. I guess, Bruce, that is, it's not good that he's going on the injured list,

but I guess best case scenario in terms of how little he will miss of the season to begin. Council has alluded to the fact that it would be a short period of time, maybe a week or 10 days. He has to go on the 10-day aisle. I think it can be backtracked here. So, you know, he might miss a week if the knee comes around. He hasn't really done the full running part yet, started to hit in the cage and do some other drills. But when he gets into the full sprinting mode and, you know, recovers the next day, okay, that's when things will be okay. and he'll come off the IL.

In the meantime, Michael Conforto has made the team, the veteran who failed so miserably last year after having such a great career in New York and trying to make it back, had a relatively good spring. If you go by spring training statistics, you know, hit the ball pretty hard and came into camp in good shape.

So from that perspective, he's going to make the team. The one area that we don't know about, which is intriguing is, The waiver wire, everybody is releasing people over the next two days before the season starts. And with the fact that these rosters will have people that are leaving, the Cubs are looking for a backup infielder. They have Shaw who's going to back up third and second and play some right field. So they're comfortable with that, but they really don't have outside Nico Horner a backup shortstop. They don't like taking a gold glove second baseman, moving

to short if Swanson has any issues health-wise. So even at AAA, they don't really have a shortstop of the quality they'll need to call up if somebody gets hurt. So, Bruce, I'm curious because you talked about Michael Comforto. We know that it's going to be Kate Cavali, a right-hander on opening day. Is this a situation where you think Matt Shaw is just going to be out there in right-field, regardless of right-y-lefty? or does Michael Conforto have a say in this from Craig Counsel's purview?

Yeah, I mean, I don't think they would just grab Conforto and have them sit on the bench all year. So that's probably a game time situation that he'll have to make that lineup out. And, you know, again, we know that Shaw is a number one pick, a guy that is moving positions that will play all different positions. honestly, I hope it's Matt Shaw, nothing against Conforto, but if you're going to play at Wrigley Field and you're going to be able to accomplish playing that position, which is probably and arguably the toughest position in all of baseball because of the wall, the wind, the sun, the elements, I'd like to seem out there as much as possible, and that includes opening day.

But that's me. That's certainly not counsel saying that. Comforto is a left-handed bat that they'll like in the lineup. We know Byesteros is going to be the DH against almost all, if not all of the right-handed pitchers that they face. So that's a situation that will be addressed probably, we probably won't know until Wednesday or Thursday. Bruce, I love listening to you and David Haw on Saturday

in a special two-hour edition of Inside the Clubhouse. And one of the things that piqued my interest was the fact that you said one of the most underreported parts of spring training was the offense, the at-bats for Matt Shaw. What did you mean by that? Well, Matt Shaw, you know, and I heard you guys talking about it earlier in your show, you know, playing the Ron Coomer piece from our show on Saturday, that, you know, he changed his batting style. And he got rid of the leg kick that was so extreme.

And as Coom explained, keeping his head up rather than moving. moving forward when he's swinging, was all a part of that funky swing that had him all over the place most of the season last year, even though he was an 800 OPS guy the second time he came back, there were still elements that were missing. So they reworked the swing, and he was hitting the ball hard all spring long. Again, you don't put a lot of credence into the spring training numbers, but you do look at how players are reacting to instruction,

and it looked like he found a comfort zone and looked extraordinarily comfortable and well when he was out there on the field. I'm really curious, Bruce, about Ben Brown making this team and Javier Sae being sent down. I understand it. I'm just curious as to the role that Ben Brown is actually going to have once the season starts. Is he going to be a multiple innings use guy? How do you see his role with this bullpen? Well, Marshall, it's a good.

great question because I think the beginning of the year is different than any other time in the season. So, you know, guys are coming out of spring training. They're used to throwing four innings. They've only worked their way up to 70 to 80 pitches. If something happens early in the first few games, even the first week or 10 days, you're going to need long men. And, you know, right now they have Colin Ray, who's their number one long guy and was the savior to the staff last year when Steele went down with an injury. He made 28 really good starts for the Cubs last year. So you have the one guy. But early in the year, I think the thinking is that you're going to need more than one long guy

because of whether it's a – let's say you have early season rain, two innings into the game. It's an hour and a half delay. You're not coming back with your starting pitcher. So I think having more than one long man with Ray and then Brown being available, I think it is something of value that they look at. You know, the hard part was figuring out whether Brown should be going to AAA along with Assad, working every five days and being ready to come up and be a starter if one of your starters goes down. But Assad is going to be that guy for now.

And Brown will be part of the bullpen. And I think he can pitch in any part of the bullpen, really. I mean, you have that 97-mile-an-hour fastball and that knuckle curve coming out of the bullpen late as well. So he's accomplished an awful lot this year mentally. He's really grown into the position of not second-guessing himself, not over-analyzing situations, just going out there and pitching, came into camp extraordinarily strong, built himself up in the upper body and in the preseason during the winter.

So I think he's ready to go. And he's, when right, you know, we've seen it. I mean, we've seen him dominate lineups, just the inconsistency, which has kept him back. A few more minutes with our very own Bruce Levine, who covers the Cubs and White Sox, right here on 104-3, the score. Also, the co-host of Inside the Clubhouse alongside our very own David Haw, Saturday mornings 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Another one of the guests that you guys had on was Michael Bush.

Loved hearing what Bush had to say, and it looks like they're going to trust him against lefties this year. What could that mean for Michael Bush this season? It can mean 150 games and maybe the 34 home runs is right where it was last year. I don't know if anybody would complain about 34 home runs again from Michael Bush or with those extra additive bats against the lefties will be a number that goes higher. I think that everybody would be happy with 35 homers and 90 to 100 RBIs just like he had last year. we always look at players good years especially younger players and i think michael is 27 or 28 now and we say well he did it last year so he should be getting better that was a pretty damn good year right so

i think i think they'll take that again no i think you're right bruce and i i'm so curious because we saw the plan that he was on as far as more of a platoon guy last year is that straight up what it's going to be for Moises by asteris? Because I would love to see him in the lineup against some lefties along the way to see if he can do it. Well, he might be, Marshall, he might be, like you say, he might be the exception to the rule. I know you are a huge proponent of his and so am I. And anybody that watches them, I'm talking about scouts from other teams and front

office people that I talk to, none of them have anything but desire to get them Bioseros in their organization. They just think he's, you know, he just turned 22. So they think the sky is the limit for him as far as just being a doubles machine, a guy that's eventually going to hit home runs. And a guy that, you know, never looks off balance in his swing. I think, you know, Ron Kumer talked about this on Saturday as well, the fact that whether he swings and misses or not, he always looks like.

like he's on a pitch. He never looks awkward. So there's a natural swing there that's really fun to watch. And it's a swing that it hits into each gap, left field, right field. So eventually they feel he's going to hit against both. And we'll see if a council has that as part of his plan going into the season. Bruce, pardon me if I'd missed it. But do we know the order of the rotation after Matthew Boyd?

Yeah, so we do. So after Matthew Boyd, it's Cade Horton, who pitched six innings against a no-name lineup yesterday. Kept texting me that. You're right, Bruce. Tell him Bruce. You're right. You're right.

You're always right. Well, in this case, I'm only right because the Milwaukee team had already flown back to Milwaukee. So those were all extra guys, most of them not making the team. They had a couple of their pitchers that are going to be. on the 13 rotation. But that was, but don't take anything away from a Horton. He's going to be outstanding. And then,

and then it's, after that, it's, you're going to be looking at Imanaga, Cabrera, and then Tyone. That's your top five. I'm not going to go lefty, right, he left. Like, just to mix it up. That's, yeah, Marshall, that's how it looks. So, and again, when you look at the rotation, you know, there's, if you could project good health for that rotation.

And each in every one of those guys, I believe, each and every one of them last year was hurt at one time or another. And a couple for significant periods of time, like Tyone and Imanaga, were out for extensive periods of time, five, six weeks. So with that in mind, they have good health, and then they have fortification of Brown, and they have Assad, who I feel, is really the guy that's really getting ripped off. He was a tremendously important pitcher for them in 2024, kind of doing the swing man stuff and doing it well. Last year he was hurt for a long period of time with an oblique and came back and, you know, pitched a little bit toward the end of the year.

But he's kind of the forgotten guy right now. He's out of the mix, and he'll be pitching every five days at AAA. All right. Well, we're excited about that. One thing before we let you go, Bruce. Earlier we were talking about the lineup yesterday, maybe looking like what an opening day lineup could be or a regular lineup.

I thought Nico Horner was a little far down. Don't you want to see him bat higher than fifth in the lineup? Yeah, I do, but I don't want to see it. I heard your lineup and you had them well, why not let them bat fourth? And there's, you know, it's not a wrong

idea on your part, I don't think. It's just that I don't think counsel would consider betting Nico Horner fourth. So with that in mind, I go with what, you know, what the manager and how his thoughts go. Horner is, and you guys mentioned this as well, he'll bet first. He'll lead off against left-handers at times. With Bush in the lineup all the time now, it might change that equation, but I don't think so.

But, you know, I'm in agreement with you, and that is, Nico Horner was the best player on the Cubs last year. And they had a lot of good players, a lot of great years. But consistency-wise, all the way around offensively, defensively, on the basis, leadership. That was my guy. So anywhere you want to put him in the lineup, I think he's going to do a good job. I just don't think counsel will put him forth. You're the best, Bruce. Thanks for coming on.

You've had a busy day, and I know you'll be tracking the preseason game that's happening with the Cubs and Yankees coming up on the score in a little bit. Thanks, Brewster. Guys, next time let's talk a little bit about the White Sox, too. Yes, we could do that. We could definitely do that. Yes. We shall. I'm writing it down.

It's a promise. Talk socks with Bruce. Yeah. Yes. See you guys. Bye, Bruce. That is Bruce Levine right there. In a second, we're going to give you the Cubs lineup today against the New York Yanke.

He's a game that is coming up right here on the score, 155, getting on here a little bit early today. But first, I have free stuff for you. As a matter of fact, I don't know if you know this, Marshall, but I do host a podcast. You have a podcast? I do. It's called Take a podcast. The North where Dan Weider and I talk about the Chicago Bears and we are doing a live show second annual. So callers 6 and 7 to the score contest line 312 540-0670 will win a pair of tickets to this special edition of Take the North Live.

With Dan Weider and me Mark Grody. It is on Thursday, April 16th from 6 to 8 p.m. It is in our sick Blue Cross Blue Shield Performance Studio where many of famous acts have come through. Again, 6 to 8 on April 16th be the 6th and 7th callers at 312 540-0670. Good luck to you and hopefully you will win tickets to see us, the Take the North podcast right here in our six studios at the score. Do you have a lineup for us, Marshall? Oh, I have a lineup.

Oh, oh, you don't look happy about that lineup. No, no, no, no. I'm fine with it. It's just I think this is a great thing that's happening today to set us up because we were talking about spring training numbers. They really count when you want them to count. They count. When they favor your opinion or what your beliefs are, that's when spring training counts.

We could twist spring training any way we like. I don't think you're going to be able to be as malleable with today because it's the Cubs and the Yankees. And I see a lot of regular names in this lineup, Grotie. What I mean by that is Paul Goldsmith's leading off for the Yankees and Aaron Judge is batting second and Stanton's in their batting claim. Cody Bellinger's batting third. You know why that's important that Jazz Chisholm is batting sixth or, excuse me, fifth in the lineup for the Yankees? It's because of who's on the mound for the Cubs in their final spring training start. And that would be show to him and I go.

Oh. So I need to see can he, you know, keep the ball in the yard against the Yankees. That's a great call by you. Yes, yes. This is a great test. This is a great test. It's a great close to Cactus League baseball for Shoda Imanaga. Meanwhile, for the Cubs.

Yes. Let's go through their lineup. We talked about Nico Horner possibly leading off in some of these games. Well, Michael Bush is in the lineup, but he's batting second behind Nico Horner. As Nico Horner will lead off and play second base. Alex Bregman batting third. and playing third base. Ian Hap, the switch hitting left fielder, is batting cleanup.

Carson Kelly behind him a catcher. Michael Comforto will bat sixth and D.H. Dansby Swanson, in there as the shortstop. Matt Shaw, right field batting eighth, and Dylan Carlson, not Pete Carromstrong, but Dylan Carlson playing center field, he'll bat ninth. So I like what this lineup looks like, and obviously if PCA was in there, would be a lot different, but I'm very comfortable with the lineup that Craig Counsel's thrown out there, and they're going up against Carlos Legrange. So he's been very good. Is he lefty? I know. He's a right-handed

pitcher. Oh, okay. So Horner getting the lead-off spot against the righty in this case, pre-season game and all. I thought Bruce put it well when he said Nico Horner, their best player last year, mainly because in a year of ups and downs, he was simply their most consistent player. He really was. While playing a very high-level second base. And sometimes it's hard to identify a guy like that in this world of slug in which we live, and I know that's been quelled a little bit, the slugness of Major League Baseball. But yeah, once you really look and we do have the advantage of watching that man play every day, he is a baseball player.

The one thing I'm loving is more Matt Shaw in right field. And Bruce, right on board with us. Matt Shaw, right field, opening day, just go. I don't care if there's a left ear writing on the mound. Let that man play right field, get used to right field, take his lumps, and hopefully the Cubs can score enough runs to hit their way out of any miscues from Matt Shaw on right field. Yeah, and Dylan Carlson, for people who don't know, as you said, playing center field today is a switch hitter, so there is that versatility. It'll be interesting to see what happens when Sayas Suzuki comes back,

who takes the hit there. Were you a little surprised, even though it's the lefty-righty-lefty thing that Shoda gets the third spot in the rotation? I guess if I'm going to say I believe more in what PCA did in the first half of the season last year. I guess the same could be said for Shoda unless he's washed up and his arm really did go to rags at the end. I don't think he's washed up. I just think he's got some adjustments to make.

And he's made adjustments, but can he stick to it through the regular season? It's a long regular season. I'm good with that idea of a six-man rotation depending on what happens when Justin Steele comes back A or what the Cubs decide to do with the trade deadline, ultimately. And we know if you're banking on the Cubs doing big things

at the trade deadline, the answer has not been good in recent years. We haven't done our picks yet, but I believe, I know David Haw picked the Cubs on their inside the clubhouse extravagance on Saturday to go to the World Series. I think, shame on me, I should have asked Bruce, I think he picked the Cubs to go to the World Series as well.

Are they expecting the Cubs to beat the Dodgers or someone else to knock off the Dodgers? That's my only question. It's a good question. I don't know. Ray, you were here yesterday or the other day. Yeah, I guess they're drinking the Cubby Kool-Lade. Hawth text me and said, he's like, are we crazy? I'm like, no, man,

I'm the guy who insisted that the Cubs were going to win the division in May. So don't talk to me. I will never call somebody crazy for their Cubs predictions. That is for sure. Marshall, this has been a blast. Good to see you again, man. It's been a while.

Now you're not going to see me tomorrow. No. So Lela will be back tomorrow. Layla and I will be doing the show tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 2. Thank you to everybody who participated in the program today including Bruce Levine, who was just on with us. Richard Deich was absolutely excellent.

Jeremy Werner talking the Alina. Ray Diaz, Tyler Buterbaugh, Connor O'Donnell, Jacob Stutz, Max Curtis, and we certainly appreciate every single person who listened, text, participated in the program. We will be back tomorrow with more. Rahimi Harris and Grody. Cubs baseball is next on 104-3, the score.