Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Full Show — August 18, 2026

Episode Date: August 18, 2026

Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote discussed the Cubs' thrilling 7-5 comeback win over the White Sox on Monday at Wrigley Field. They also welcomed on Audacy NFL insider Brian Baldinger to discuss the Bears' outlook ahead of the 2026 season.

This hour is brought to you by Cars for Kids. The views and opinions of Lela 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 Harrison Grody may change at any time. It's just sports.

Okay, thanks. Bye. Rahimi Harrison Grody. 10 to 2 on 104 3, The Score. All right, who wants to go first with who you got? I'll go first. I'm not scared. Okay. Despite the odds.

being against them, the White Sox are going to win this series. They're going to take two out of three against the Cubs. And the only reason they're not going to sweep the Cubs is because they are going to have some pitching issues. They're going to run out of gas in one of these games. I think the Cubs take two out of three at home. Okay. I think it's as simple as you're at home. I think we get a closer version to what we saw Kevin Gossman do against the Royals. The X Factor for me is will show to Imanaga keep the ball in the yard enough? And I don't know that that answer. is yes against the Sox team that we know can hit. Things feel weird for the Cubs right now.

Things feel a little bit wonky. I think the Sox win this series, two out of three. The Sox, on the other hand, they are playing freely and loosely. I am leaning Cubs take two out of three in this one. I think they lose tonight. I just have not been confident of Shoday and Managa, but my X Factor for this series, I think it's going to be Pete Crow Armstrong. I think it's going to be two out of three for the Cubs.

I think tonight will be the unfortunate night. lose. X-Factor, I think, Pedro Ramirez. Let's see. Can you steady the ship now that we have some instability in the infield? First pitch, hit high in the air, deep right. This may go. Go off for Pete Crow Armstrong, and the Cubs strike first. Suzuki in the air, left center field. Back to back. Cubs lead in two to nothing. One ball, two strikes. Britching. Deep in the center. field after one swing of the bat and Gritchick gives the light socks to lead. The 1-1 tapper up the third base line bare-handed by Fargus for the first gets past Murakami Cups tie up the game one runners in around third racing home is half he scores wild throw

to the air back he got kicks deals line drive out into the center in a base hand Charging is Peters. It's Bobble Taylor in, and we're tied up. You've got to see a few pitches first. Pro-Worke. It's a high fly ball deep right. Going back Montgomery, he looks up. Cubs walk it off.

The way he started it with a home run to right. What's up, everybody? Marshall Harris. Mark Grody. Midday's 10 a.m. to 2. On Chicago Sports Radio, 104 3, the score. Are you not entertained? Cross Town was tremendous theater yet again.

And we kept typing it up, but we kept talking about how this is the latest in the season since 2008 that both teams have been in a playoff race at the same time in Chicago and Cross Town. Absolutely yet again delivered. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104. The score, somebody had to lose. It was the socks of final intent 7 to 5 and P. Kroar Armstrong, let off the game telling you who he was and then he wrapped it up doing the same thing. Point of order before we get to the details on this one, Mark Grotie, Marshall Harris,

is Sarah Lang's, the great Sarah Langs, has informed us that Pekker Armstrong is actually only the sixth player with a lead-off and a walk-off home run in the same game because Perlaya Sports on May 17th of 1893, Billy Hamilton's Phillies actually batted in the top of the ending as the home team. So it doesn't technically count under that circumstance. So your individuals are as follows. In 1957, it was Vic Power. In 2000, it was Darren Erstad.

He of Angels fame. Reed Johnson in 2003, Ian Kinsler in 2009, and Chris Young in 2010, and then PCA. Lead it off, shut it down. Everybody goes home. And we got two more of these before it's all said and done. Here's what blows me away about Pete Carlinstrand. I had not realized that that was his first walk-off home run of his career.

Of all the amazing... In the career? Yeah. Of all the amazing, dramatic things that PCA has done going back to last year and then even more this year, he had never... I had to like, really? I had to look that up. And shout out to Tyler Buterbaugh, who just nailed it. Going with the X Factor as PCA.

It's like, we all want to be hipster and. go alternative on who the guy will be. He was like, I'm not going to order the chicken or the fish. I'm going to get the steak. I'm going to have PCA be the guy that I make the X factor. So great open. Yeah, exactly. There's no screw around.

Meat and potatoes. Just go with PCA and you nailed it. The fact that PCA said, let me go ahead and get this 30-30 thing going with the last swing. First swing of the game by the Cubs, PCA homerun. Last swing of the game. by the Cubs PCA home run

you want to talk about bookings you want to talk about hey I remember the last time I saw the White Sox and their fans and there were a lot

of White Sox fans in the building last night at Wrigley and he gave them something to really talk about it's like when I was a kid right and me or my siblings

start complaining and start crying about something my dad was like I'll give you something to cry about PCA gave White Sox fans something to cry about

I just, I question Will Vennible's decision to allow PCA to even be in that spot with first base open in the bottom of the 10th. And I know you're picking between him and Sayez Suzuki, but let me give you just this one stat to chew on as you think about what Will Vennible did and said, I guess he would do again. I don't know if he would do it again. But Sayas Suzuki, since the All-Star break, he is OPSing 1.10-0 against Lentable. left-handed pitching. Pete Coe Armstrong, OPSing 1.165 with a weighted runs created plus of 212 compared to Sayat Suzuki against left-handed pitching. Wow.

That's more than fine. That is an unfavorable scouting report for the other team. So that's it. It really did. We'll get into all of the details as to how we got here throughout our show. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotia on 1043, the score. We'll take your calls if you want to react. to cross town with us.

312, 644, 67. 67 is our number. You can call and text us. But let's start with simply that. The question becomes similar to, I don't know, every time I see Sal Perez face the White Sox. Not good. Why are you pitching to this guy?

Will Venable did talk after the game. Did you consider walking PCA in the 10th? No, no. That's not an option there with Seo behind him. you know, that puts us in a tough spot. Not a thought, I mean, think about all the options, but that's not one we're going to make them. Can you explain a bit more about the mechanics of walking PCA and why that would be, you know, adverse for you guys? Well, with SEA out there, you know, we want to be able to try and get the matchup there that we prefer with PCA.

And then, you know, we'll probably walk SEA out behind them if we're able to get them out. And obviously that didn't happen. Okay. And that's, I understand why he says. said what he said, Will Venable. But I don't know how you don't look at that after sleeping on it, maybe, and say the wrong decision was made. At some point, you have to say, all right, I'm going to let Sayah beat me instead of Peacroar Armstrong,

who at that point had already let you know to start the game what was going to happen in a big moment. Not just start the game, but he was three for four with a home run, a double, a stolen base, his fingerprints were already over the game, and then you let him slap that, you know what, out of Hagen Smith. By the way, rookie comes into the game. Hadn't given up a hit in 20 at-bats in the major leagues. Had not given up a single hit.

Now, he had some control issues, so he's walked a few batters, but hadn't given up a hit. You want to talk about a welcome to the major leagues moment. Hello. Yeah. Yeah, that's it for PCA. And again, I told you the stats versus left-handed pitching. Understand this. Here's my counter to what Will Vindel.

is talking about. Walk PCA, maybe you get it, I don't know, GIDP. You set yourself up for at least a ground into double play situation. And then, of course, you have Michael Bush, who Hagen Smith, again, lefty on lefty. I don't love it. What pitch did they think he was going to throw that was going to get him out there? That's the question. Did you, I mean, he doesn't bite on the slider like he did last season. We've talked all about that. That's partially why he's up to 30-30 now. And so you know the chase rate isn't the same. What pitch did they possibly think they were going to get for him to hit his spots to where A, your defense was going to hold because it didn't exactly do that previously in the game?

And then B, like, you were going to get him out. This is logical maybe coming into the game just because PCA had been in a little bit of a slump. He's been a little bit out of whack lately. But having hit the home run, having had another hits before that, you've got to rethink it's I think the logic, you ready for this, almost worked, almost worked for Will Vennibal in a traditional sense. Lefty on Lefty, and let's face it, Sayu Suzuki would have been very dangerous in that spot as well. I will say this, because Will Vennible is justifiably easy pickings today, easy pickings for everybody because of that decision. He did make a couple of decisions that I liked in this game as well.

specifically the Cubs ninth inning. It's 5-5. Venable decides to walk Pedro Ramirez to load the bases with wild Jordan Hicks on the mile. I don't know if you guys know this about Jordan Hicks. He walks a lot of guys. And he had already walked two in that inning. It was a sweaty situation for them. Amaya comes up and I'm thinking, oh man, you just loaded the bases.

Jordan Hicks made Amaya look bad. It was a bad-at-bat for Amaya. The other one was too. and I know maybe this was a simple decision, but his decision to bat Benetendi against Zephijan, he gets the home run after Gritchick had hit the three-run Homer early, so you might think keep Gritchick in the game, but he didn't. So while I agree with you guys, it's a bad decision,

I didn't want to let this segment get away without saying, Will Venable did make some good decisions in the game. You're right about Benny. You're right. That was his 13th home run of the season, and I did not. that was a smart decision at the time. And then there were other things that, you know,

we'll get into this in the next segment. But I'm just glad I'm not sitting here talking about how Alex Bregman getting double off to the inning at third base. You can't first out at first out cannot be at third base. And the last out cannot be a third base of an inning. And that was horrible. Credit to Jake Rogers for the deke on the delayed steel. Because he understood exactly what the situation was.

A, there's two outs. They're trying to get this run home by. any means necessary. So for him to kind of double pump fake to second, and he sees out of the corner of his eye, okay, I got him off far enough and whip around with a perfect throw. And he didn't necessarily need a perfect throw, by the way, because Bregman was cooked. Yes. And again, you're standing there having a chat with Quentin Berry. People's backs are to home plate. Yeah, and it was interesting. And it was pointed out. I think I was watching. I was going back and forth between the broadcast all night. I was on the White Sox broadcast at the time. Steve Steefe's

zone pointed out something really smart. There was one smart thing that Bregman attempted to do getting back to the base. He tried to go in the line of where the ball was thrown so he could potentially be hit in the back because he knew he had screwed up and it was desperation time, but that didn't work. But yeah, that was, we would be leaning heavily into that moment if it wasn't for the Cubs coming back to win the game. The game had to stop somewhere eventually. The back and forthness of it all. Eventually the wheel was going to stop and the Cubs, that last wraps. Well, and again, you know, the funny part is, is both SEA and PCA had previously homered in the game, but maybe because of the strikeout that SEA had in the eighth inning,

you're thinking to yourself, that's the more likely, you know, but then no, because he wanted to walk SEA. But I think part of the reason this sticks with me a little bit more is because Jacob Webb, after once again just really showing you what he's made of this season, talks to Marquis. So after a very high stress outing, Jacob Webb then goes and talks to the Marquis Post game show and says what the mindset was for him on the mound. We saw you out there, two punchouts, two free passes. You really had that A game going. What was going through your mind when you're out just trying to attack the zone. I mean, get these guys out. I wasn't trying to let Maricama beat us. You know, I was trying to, you know, stay away from him a little bit. But yeah, just attack these guys,

really. So then, you know, he knows Moonay walked in his last two at bats of the game. He knew what the deal was. Just don't throw that kind of strikes to make him beat you. How about the mind bleep though for Jacob Webb in that inning where he's got two on, strikes out two guys, then Braden Montgomery comes up, strikes him out, big huge fist pump crowds going crazy, he's heading towards the dugout, but then

Braden Montgomery had put his hand on his helmet. The banner is challenging the call, and it turned out to be a ball. He eventually walks. Lucky for the Cubs and Jacob Webb, he was able to get Tristan Peters to ground out. But like I thought, uh-oh, because it was such an adrenalineizing moment, but to Webb's credit, he was able to eventually get out of the inning. The best thing about the Jacob Webb thing was this man just said, I'm going to throw you changeups until you can't take it anymore. He threw seven straight change-ups, including three straight to Andrew intended to get him swinging and missing on all three. And you mentioned the challenge call.

It was a changeup that was just below the zone. That's why he thought he was good. The White Sox had no counter to the change up. I know. But again, just another really nice, I think, Paige and Brendan Montgomery's lore to be able in that moment to know to challenge when you had seen it, trust your eye. I mean, keep in mind, this guy's a rookie. And you're in that moment. And I thought the same thing I thought it was over. He, the web thought it was over. and then that was a smart challenge. But you're living on the edge when you decide you're walking Mune anyway. We know what the odds are when you lead off walk a batter and the 10th inning of all things?

You know, here you are. So then you've got that. Then it's the strikeout. But that's also just such a good use of reliever who knows that his stuff and one particular pitch is going to work for him that day. That is incredibly good scouting. That's incredibly smart trusting of your stuff. and then knowing what their hitter tendencies are. And frankly, I think being at that part in the lineup, too,

when you had already withstood Vargas, you already withstood Mune, Braden walks, and then that brings up Tristan Peters. You're exposing the other team there. You can make the argument that this specific game and this outcome had a lot to do with what happened in the previous series for both teams. Cubs have all their guys available because they got the absolute crap kicked out of them on Sunday. Meanwhile, the White Sox had to win three tightly contested games against the Tigers and just did not have the arms to say,

hey, we're going to go to extra innings, especially when our starter Luis Castillo can't make it out of the fifth. A lot of that has to do with the fact that their defense, not nearly as good as the Cubs, can't be having multiple errors in a game and expect to win a game at Wrigley. Just an incredible crosstown game. I am so happy we have two more of these, and we will keep talking about last night's absolutely drama-filled game

right here at 104-3, the score. In fact, we'll hear from Ozzy Geyan because he had some fun things to say about PCA next. We'll get into a lot of those other moments. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotty. On 1043, The Score, we broadcast live from the Scores Hyundai Studios, brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers. Breaking News on the score is brought to you by IDOT. At some point in the day, everyone is a pedestrian. Slow down and give them space. Share the road. It's not a game. Our producers are Ray Diaz and Tyler Bueberbaugh. We had Grant Leader helping us out yesterday.

Anybody else helping us out for the Bears stuff today, guys? Is it just us? We're doing yesterday's credits? Yeah, why not? Great job, Grant. It might be Grant again. Grant got in on the team bet, so he's a part of it now. Okay, fair enough. Fair enough.

Great got in on who you got yesterday, so he's a part of this. It's Grant Leader, not Grant Taylor. He is available at all times. Oh, man. Oh, man. Okay, let's get into that too. But also, before we let you go for our first break of the show here, Cody Westerland, Connor O'Donnell, Jacob Stutz, and Max Curtis are our video producers.

You can join the Twitch chat, Twitch. Twitch.TV slash the score Chicago. The mob is up and chatting. They do it on YouTube as well. The score Chicago. So we'll listen to Ozzie. We'll get into some of the other finer points of this game and how this thing was won and lost. Look at us. So lucky to have an

exciting Cross Town series yet again on 104 3, the score. Rahimi Harrison Grody. I don't want to break time. I want to yell a Marshall. Can we handle more Anthony Heron? Midday's 10 to 2. On 1043, the score.

He was pro Armstrong in the air to right field. Vats out of the cross town at Wrigley goes to the Cubs. A walk off two-one-home-one by Pete Crow Armstrong. He's asking a whole lot of a guy to come into a ball game in a situation he's never faced in his career. And Armstrong with four hits, two home runs, two runs scored and two driven in. a big night for him. I have to hear that song again. Yeah, that's what happens when you win at Wrigley,

especially when you walk it off, which the Cubs have been doing all season. That is courtesy of CHSN. That is John Shrepin and Steve Stone on the call. The Cubs are now up to 38 comeback wins. That is the most in Major League Baseball this season, and they done did it again last night in Crosstown to the tune of a 7 to 5.

win. That courtesy of CHSN, this is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043, the score. And in the meantime, with that home run, Pekro Armstrong, now has back-to-back 30-30 seasons. Yeah, and, you know, that question that we asked at the beginning of the show, I just want make sure people understand. It's a recurring question because you could very well find yourself in a similar spot over the next two days if you're will of venable. So I'm curious to see if he sleeps on it and check.

changes his mind on that. Meanwhile, can we just acknowledge that Pete Crowe-Armstrong is doing everything in his power to make this push for MVP? The man, according to Megamato Mural, added 0.5F war in one game. He's now at 7.7 on the season in F-war. He's on his way to 10 if it keeps this up. And the fact that Shohei Otani also had four hits last night, also had two home runs in a game last night.

I think this is one of those subplots. It's not going to go away, and it's going to make the stretch run even more interesting. But also, the White Sox have some problems, Grotie, because they got to figure out what to do about PCA and the Cubs' offense over the next two days,

and TBD has turned into, you know, a reliever in Brian Hudson. Yeah, Hudson's going to start tonight, obviously a bullpen game. I will say this. Maybe this will make you feel better about all that. all that. The last time the White Sox did a bullpen game was the Friday game against Detroit. They

beat Detroit 9 to 5. They started with Sean Newcomb. They had Jose Eirkeety, who we may see, who wasn't particularly good in that game. Three and two thirds allowed three runs. They had Brazabon. They had Grant Taylor, who will be, I presumably will be available tonight, unlike last night and Hudson. And they did just fine. Now, they did have to score nine runs. to win the game. But for whatever it's worth, they have been successful on bullpen days

against quality teams if you think Detroit is a quality team. Just fine. Are we picking it up from yesterday? Just fine. Just fine. Just fine is worse than fine, right? It is actually.

Yeah, the qualifier. But that's where they are in this pitching situation. And I want to read some of the texts that we've gotten to 312, 644, 64, 67, 67 is our number. Because we have had some real reactions here. I think I saw one of the socks fans say that they thought that that was the game.

That should have been your real chance to win because, number one, a starting pitcher was listed in Luis Castillo. And then number two, you are in a position now that reflects where you're at in the season, which is against one of your biggest rivals. You know, you were having to play piecemeal with this pitching staff in a way that, yes, brought up Hagan Smith in a situation that was really difficult to watch. It does bring us up asking the question, why did you pitch to Pekar, Armstrong. And then now you're putting guys in situations like Hudson where I'm used to seeing him in a seventh, eighth situation. Now he's having to start because you can't figure out how you can

best use your team again. It echoes even to the beginning of the season, not as dire, not as unstable, but you're still in a pitching conundrum that unfortunately you've been put in because one of your guys get injured and you're waiting for the other ones, but these are still crucial games for you. Also, Jordan Hicks throwing 30 pitches. I doubt he'd be available tonight. So that's another one of your back of the bullpen arms that you won't have, in addition to Hudson, at, you know, the back of the bullpen. Well, and that's what's frustrating about Luis Castillo's outing is you saw the look on his face.

He didn't want to come out of that game. And he was already up to, as we pointed out, 99 pitches. He hit his spot, you know, before he got pulled after four and two-thirds innings. In that fifth inning, he was hitting his spot. It's just when the defense can't help you behind him. You know, that's what happened. I know we'll probably talk to Ian Hap about that in particular and in the outfield shenanigans of the fans at 1125.

But that's just one of those examples yet again where you're coming away saying, well, if the defense had played better, how different would that game, that particular game last night had been for the Sox? Yeah, texts are flowing in, Mark. And we want to invite people to call also. We'll take your calls through one to two.

We see you guys lining up already. 64-4-6-7-67 and this is a good point. 224 Texan, Cubs fan here. Don't the Sox fans realize how bad we are? L-O-L-L-E-C. I disagree though. No, no, that's how good you are because let me give you two stats. Real quick stats.

The Cubs, they had 14 hits. The White Sox, they had five hits. The Cubs, they were four for 16 with runners in scoring position. Nico Horner with three of those hits, by the way, on the way to a four-hit day. Tying hit. too was pretty sick. The White Sox were one for four with runners in scoring position in this game. You see the difference there?

Four for 16, one for four. And the Cubs should have won this game. These are they left men on base every single inning. But the White Sox, that just shows you what kind of a scrappy team they are. Yeah, but yeah. And Layla brought it up to the defense. This is like every White Sox fan nightmare because they've seen too much of bad defense in the past. Like that's always been part.

Like when the White Sox are not good, they don't. just they're juggling the ball. They're thrown around bad fundamentals. They airmilled it several times in that to chase Cassie. They chased Luis Castillo out of the game last night. Well, Luis Castillo did not help himself on one

particular play early in the game where he, and this was something he got away with it, his last performance against Cincinnati, the old just do the scoop, the smother with the glove and try to scoop it and flip it the first or maybe smother it and try to tag the base runner out.

And he didn't get away with it. The runner gets on. It's very costly. And I happened to be watching the White Sox broadcast at that moment. And we got a classic, a classic Steve Stone-ism out of that. Another full count here, delivered by Castillo. And he gets the weak contact. He will field?

Oh, no. Excuse me. He does not. Well, he was thinking about should I catch it and tag him or catch it and throw it. He decided to do neither, and he winds up a board. This is E1. A casual play that in this game, you can't afford anything casual. It was a strange way to approach it.

Somehow he tried to smother it from the top. They will teach you how to do that nowhere. Just the dagger. From Stody at the end. I'll teach you how to do that. So you're saying that's not how the fundamentals usually work, is what you're saying. They will teach you how to do that nowhere. Oh, Carson Kelly must be coming up to the play.

That song playing, man, in the background. I just know the White Sox too many times this season. They've gotten away with a lot, have taken the fun out of fundamentals. And the other play that sticks out is the Miguel Vargas in which the Cubs retook retook after giving up the three-round Homer to Randall Gritchick. He throws two men on. two out to first base on a play. He had no business trying to make on Nico Horner.

Sometimes you just have to eat it. And because he makes the throw over Moone's head, two runs come into score. And look, it's not like he didn't see Nico flash down the line previous because he had an exact same play in which he tried to make a play at first. It was nowhere near close to getting Nico earlier.

So she should have learned from that previous abat. So you're talking about the fourth inning when Comforter reached. Marshall's talking about the same episode I was in the bottom of the fifth inning where even Ian Hap gets on base because of a failed double play. So the bad defense, and I don't, based on how the ball fell, you knew they weren't going to be able to turn it. But once again, fielding miscues led you to that point.

So Hap reaches base, and then he's able to score on that play because he had snuck around. He ends up at third. And then, you know, Say, Suzuki, the Bregman single. And then that's what brought Saye at a second. So Hapa happens up scoring on that play because of what happened. just because the bad the bad throws and how much time it took for everybody to try to get the ball back. Just absolutely frustrating if you're watching the game and that's what ended up chasing Castillo. I also want to get to this since we're here and it's fun, just fun socks, broadcast calls.

Ozzie Yehan, when he chooses to like a cub, there's always got to be a very compelling reason. I will never forget sitting at one of the crosstown games with Ozzy and it was on the south side. and Kyle Hendricks was set to take the mound. And Ozzy yells at him, you're my favorite pitcher, don't mess it up. And Hendricks had a good laugh. Well, here's what he had to say about PCA. By the way, there's a two-home run. These kids.

These kids. What are you saying? The white kids. The white. White socks. No, the city filter for the Cups. Oh, PCA. PCA.

Yeah. What a little player is. Yeah. He's probably the MVP. He'd probably get my vote for MVP. By the way, it's just because if you have a South fan, you had to hate this kid. Or you are other team fan.

You can be a fan of Cardinals. You will hate him. They knew you'll imagine it. Hold on you want to share what you said to PCA on the south side when we were there? We saw PCA when the Cubs came to... You tell them. All right.

So we see Pete Crowe Armstrong warming up before the game. In the cage. In the cage. And you said something like, I can't stand you. No, no, no, I say, I like you so much. It's a play, I hate you. Yeah, that's what it was. I like you so much.

I hate you. I like you so much. I hate you. And he said, that's what I want to hear. That's what I want to hear. But it's just like, you know, it's a fan of baseball. Unfortunately, I don't play for the White Sox, but it's a fan of baseball. That kid, I will pay a ticket to watch that kid play.

They're white kids. I love it. I like that there's got to be all these little qualifiers. What a good little player. The word hate has to be injected in order for him to admit that he likes the player. That's perfect. I like you so much. I hate you.

Yeah, it's perfect. It's perfect. I love is not hate. It's perfect. The opposite of love is indifference. All I want is the people who are White Sox fans to stop pretending like PCA is not good at baseball. I'm so sick of this. as a white So many people are like, oh, he's not that good.

Bro, it's right there. It's right there in front of you. Hey, the last time, maybe this is like, we could apply this to White Sox fans and Will Venable. Maybe they were all thinking about the PCA when last the Cubs and White Sox play, PCA was batting eighth in the lineup. Crazy.

And things were going haywire. He was missing balls in center field. 688 OPS the last time they played. Yes, so maybe they didn't get the advanced scouting report. Here's what he's done since the middle of May. But the thing is, they've heard about it and they've seen it and they were thinking, and they were thinking, oh, he's just

on a little streak. He's not that good. Denial. I think last night was it an absolute statement game for Pete Corruption. Did you see where that bat landed, that he flipped at the end? He even talked about how good his bat flip. He held onto it real long. He held on to that bat for a minute after he hit that home run. I prefer his bat drops, though.

Still the one in St. Louis is the best thing that I've seen out of him. In the loss? where he just like drops that it was a loss it was he didn't get the last word I forgave the Cubs for that loss

yes you did I thought he was going to take out a player in the dugout with that bat flip dangerous my favorite is still Jose Batista circa 2015

well that's just crazy that's the one that's the template that's the template everything is based off of Batista's that's our bar and that everything else

is just degrees of Batista I didn't mean to interrupt your thought we're the bat landed what you said. Yeah, what I'm just saying like first of all, Batista, Olympic World Record style bat toss. But PCA, he knew how much this game, this series means, maybe not to the Cubs, as opposed to them playing the Cardinals or division opponent, but to the city of Chicago. He talked about it after the game. He talked about it before the

game. These players all understand how much this series means just to the fans, even if it doesn't have the overall meaning as a division game would like much rather sweep the tigers and sweep the Cubs if you're a White Sox fan. This game has met more than it has in years. That's the thing. 16 years. Maybe ever if you really want to. The meaning of this game is old enough to drive. So when you consider that part of it that is absolutely crucial for both teams in their playoff hunts and where they want to be in the seating to have this series and Rickley being the multiplier that it is, you can't ask for anything.

better than what we saw last night. Tomorrow, join the score and yiggling at the cubby bear in Wrigleyville. Our show will be there. Yeah, that's right us. Rahimi Harris and Grody. Live from the cubby bear from 10 to 1245, getting you set for the Crosstown series finale. Ron Coomber, Coomdog, or as Grody called him... The dog.

He's scheduled to join the show outside at 11. Please don't call him The Dog. I can't wait to discuss this with him. If you're going to the game, come by and hang out. It is all brought to you by Yangling Flux. The next generation of light beer perfect on a nice little summer day for some day baseball. Coming up next, we still want to get your reaction if you can. I know y'all got to work.

312, 64, 64, 67, and oh, by the way, Adam Schaefter, you're out for two. Kyle Menungi discussion next. Rahimi Harrison Grody. That sounds so crazy. 1 over 4.3 to the score. Wow. I like that. Midday's 10 to 2.

1043, the score. Where is your story? Oh, the layers. Tyler Bueberball, the layers. Yeah, Sean's also had some reporting that seems to have been refuted yesterday. That's another story. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043, The Score. And I think before we get into the, uh, oops, Adam Schaefter did it again, portion of the program,

should we all read our favorite text from our text line today? I haven't seen it I'll go to 574 here My diehard Cubs fan Mom just texted me Cubs fan And my Sox fan dad That she is listening

And she is more convinced That y'all are pro white socks Ha ha ha Look I'm pro good baseball And last night We had a great baseball game It's up there

Early nominee Or I guess late nominee For game of the year Correct Can agree on that? Yeah In all baseball You maybe you're talking about like Cubs and Sox

Oh yeah sure Yeah yeah yeah This one or the Edgar Carrow walkoff game. Yeah. You're just talking about Cubs Sox games. Yes. Cubs Coss games.

Sorry it took me so long to figure that out. It's fine. It's fine. And another person, 217, wants to remind us, because I remember this one very vividly. Check out PCA's bat flip after getting thrown at in AAA. You remember that? Oh, yeah. Yeah.

That was a great bat flip. No, I feel like we've gotten a lot of a lot of lamentation on the text line. Like 414 says it wasn't that hard to see what the outcome was going. going to be when Hagen Smith was rolled out there with four total innings pitched in his career. LOL, not to mention versus PCA, terrible move by the Sox manager. We talked about some of the good decisions that were made, and I think those deserve credit as well. Shouldn't that be advantage pitcher, though? Isn't it usually advantage pitcher?

Typically, it is advantage pitcher. In a spot like that, have never seen the pitcher. That's usually what it is. And then the next time they adjust and then it's bombs away. So usually it's advantage pitcher. Except it's PCA. And he's already got three hits and a one. And he crushes lefties.

Yeah. Crushes Lefties. My goodness. 847 says socks were out. Played last night. If they won last night, it would have been a stolen game. But they had a chance. That's fair.

That's valid. 217. I'm upset about the choice to pitch to PCA because I told my girlfriend there was zero chance they pitched to him. And now I look like I don't know ball. That might be my favorite text of all of them. No, seriously, though. You lost points.

Think about if you think you know what's going on. And then, oh, wait, they decided to pitch to that guy. But I think you do know, Ball, sir. I just think Will Vinnable got a little too, he got a little too platoon happy. Because look, on offense, the platoon thing's been working for a while because Gritchick's been dealing against left-handers. And Andrew Ben-intin's been doing the job against righties. Well, Gritchick, yeah, and true to form hit a home run in the game. You know, that's the other part of it.

He hit that three-run Jack, so that up the ante. Something we did not mention in the first two seconds. I want to make sure he gets his due. Show to him and Naga did the doggone thing last night because. that man gave up the three-round homer, but that was it, 10 strikeouts to tie a career high. The split finger was absolutely splitting. He had eight of those 10 strikeouts by way of the splitter. He had 15 swings and misses just on the splitter along.

Oh, and before it doesn't get mentioned, there he was again. I continue to worry about Sam Antonacci. Leaning into getting hit by the hip. Right on the elbow. What are you doing, Antonacci? Well, he's fallen behind. He's only second now in the majors and hit by the top. I know. I could believe that. He's like, I got to make it for lost time. Yeah. I guess so.

That, yes. And I'm still laughing at Ryan McGuffey yesterday saying he was going to get absolutely worked by the outfield bleachers. Before we, this is important. We wanted to note it. We will Bob and Weave with the Bears News today coming from Hallis Hall. We will bring it to you as we get it. And then we've got Brian Baldinger coming up at the top of the hour. But once again, just conflicting reports on a bear's injury status and bears injuries in general. So first it was Kobe Bryant. Adam Schaefter said he was going to miss eight to ten weeks. He's out four to six months.

Those are different. Then we hear that Kyle Menunga is going to be just fine after suffering a knee injury and practice on Sunday. But ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. So also with the ESPN says that he's expected to be missed weeks. It's an MRI revealed that he hyper-extended his right knee. That forced him to leave practice. He also had a soft tissue injury at the beginning of training camp.

That's sidelined him for a few days. But yet again, we're trying to figure out, number one, what injury news to believe? And then number two, is it Roshan Johnson or Salvin Ahmed then who may fill in the gap there? I think that's the last question is something we're going to learn in the days to come. But I will say this from here on out, I don't trust nothing these insiders are saying about Ben Johnson's team that Ben Johnson himself or one of the people from his staff have not told us publicly. Let's not leave out Britain Brown either. Britt and Brown did get in last year when they were hurting at running back and had a 22-yard touchdown run against Cincinnati.

But yeah, the Ahmed looked really good. That's the good news is like while you, Manungai is your backup running back to Dandre Swift, you do have some decent options in his place until he comes back. Yeah, and that's a good thing, right? It's a good thing that we're asking if you'd rather see one or the other. Yeah, that is a good thing. I feel like Ahmed has the hot hand a bit. I know that Roshan had more carries,

but I feel like Ahmed made some explosive stuff happen when he had the ball in his hands. And he's been looking like he has shined. Like this was not like a one-off thing. I know a lot of people are seeing it for the first time. But in training camp, Savon Ahmed has looked very good and probably has looked the best of the bunch of running backs that are actually able to play during most of the training camps. I worry about Kaamanungai because he was so crucial.

It's just kind of a change of pace, and you know he leans four when he hits the whole. 176-yard game against Cincinnati. He had the 130-yard game famously against Philadelphia, where both Swift and Menangai did the Walter Payton Matsui thing for the first time since the 80s. So, yeah, he's an ascending player, so you hate to see it. But I think the Bears will be okay, even if he is to miss a game or two into the regular season. Yeah, and I think even the preseason game itself was a good indication. they don't, they want the run game to be a threat,

but they can go without it and just work off of copious amounts of play action if they need to. Well, and look, Ben Johnson, like, and Ben, we trust and all that. Remember last year at the mini buy, when, or I guess it was the actual buy, when we were probably on this show asking, do the bears need to bring in a running back from the outside? I know that that was talked about. And Ben Johnson was like, nah, don't worry about it.

And then all of a sudden it's lights camera action. He gets swift and bonang guy going. the rest is history. So in other words, I think Ben Johnson would be capable of getting Savon Akmet or Britton Brown up to date on what it is they do in the running game and have them thrive as well. Dodger Boy chiming in 708. ESPN needs to stop getting their medical updates from Dr. Roma Dunzee. Hey, this wasn't Rome's fault. I feel like Rome was a... Anytime you ask a player how another player is, they're going to say they're good because that's the job. You protect your teammates. So I'll say that. Coming up next year,

Rahimi Harrison Grotty on 1043, The Score. We will talk NFL, Bears, and more with our Odyssey NFL insider Brian Baldinger. He's making his way around training camps across the league. So we'll check in with Baldi. Next. This hour is brought to you by Vesectomy Clinics of Chicago.

Williams slings and Williams made Sean Trapper. You know that touchdown. That is courtesy of CBS. This is Rahimi Harris and Grotie. And we are connecting with Brian Baldinger. He is the Odyssey NFL insider. He is the host of the best football show with Brian

Baldinger. You can find it on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Baldi's joining us on the hotline and on Twitch. Twitch.tv.tv. slash the score Chicago. How are you, Brian? Good morning, gang. I'm good. I'm good to be with you. Thank you. We're happy to have you. I know you're making your annual tour around all of the NFL training camps and you got to stop at the Bears. Our Mark Rodee saw you over at Bears training camp. Yeah, it was good to see you, Baldy. And I guess you and I had a quick conversation walking out of the parking lot. I believe that you were getting in your car to head to Green Bay,

but we'll talk about the Packers another time, maybe even within this segment. But tell the people what you saw out of Caleb Williams in that very big practice that the Bears held on that day about a week and a half ago. Well, that was that, you know, their inter-square scrimmage really to get game ready for that pre-season game, you know, against the Browns this weekend. And so everything from how you take the field, how they stretch, how they warm up, it was really, you know, just a preparation for game day. But it was very impressive.

It was so crisp. Plays get in, you know, Ben Johnson, he's either real or he's AI. I'm not sure. But it's just a machine just calling plays, getting the play in, substitutions in, very crisp. very organized, very, very sharp practice. And then, so that was just impressive just to watch, honestly. And just the way that Ben conducts himself, he knows everybody's name in the press conference,

calls him by his first name. You know what I mean? He's just organized, prepared, and then it shows up on the field. That was a hot, hot day. If you remember, there was tornado warnings that morning in Chicago. And, you know, it cleared up after the rain. it was very human, very hot.

I just thought it was very impressive to watch that practice. And then just watching Caleb interact on the sideline with everybody. I mean, offensive linemen, Khalif Raymond, Kaleef Raymond, snoo to the wide receiver room, talking to him about certain routes. Like, he's just so engaged at everything throughout practice. It was good to watch. Brian, I'm so curious because obviously you've followed Caleb Williams for so long now to see what step he's going to take.

this season. We're all trying to kind of figure out what the realistic potential is of how good, how much of another step he can take in year three. What are your observations just seeing him at training camp and understanding what he's coming off of when you look at his fantastic

playoff run? Well, I was at a high school, he was in Gonzaga High School in Washington, and I was at a big quarterback camp before his senior year of high school. And, you know, it was, New Smyro was there, and Jane Daniels and Drake May.

I mean, he was all the big guns. And I remember sitting in the film room with Caleb when he was 17. And he knew exactly how to attack cover three. He knew disguised. I mean, he was so advanced. And then to watch him throw the ball at that camp. Like, you knew he was going to be special. Now, as far as the jump, I just think the big thing I remember talked to before the Hall of Fame game,

his first game against the Detroit Lions' his rookie year. And he was just telling me, honestly, like getting to understand the run game was new to him. I mean, Lincoln Riley called all the plays when he was at Oklahoma and USC. And, you know, he didn't have to take the run game and check to this run, this against this look. And like, just understanding the quarterback job at the line of scrimmage in this business is it's a lot. And I just think getting under center, taking charge, getting the check to the check to the check, getting to the right play, getting out of a bad.

play. I think all that stuff that we might not see in the stats is a good step for him and a step that is important if you want to become an elite player in his business, which he's on the cusp of. And so I think stuff at the line of scrimmage, getting in and out of good plays, out of bad plays, any good plays. Like I think that's a good step for him. And then just hitting some of the layups that he probably missed last year after he alluded to rush or got out of the pocket or showed his athletic ability, just to be able to set his feet and make the right throw and not miss some of those throws that we saw him miss a couple of times last year. I think those are logical steps for him this year. We're talking to Brian Baldinger. He's the Odyssey NFL insider,

hosted the best football show with Brian Baldinger, find it on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Baldi, we talked a lot about just the Bears running game. We know Kyle Munnugai now has a reported hyper-extended knee. That's going to have him miss a few weeks, or we think weeks. That was the timeline that was used. So I know that the Bears' brain game doesn't have to be perfect. DeAndre Swift is having a great camp. But how much do you understand in the Ben Johnson offense and how much can you tell us about how play action can be such a threat,

even if they don't want to run the ball as much as, say, originally planned? Well, you know, Rishon Johnson is there and he's been there, you know, coming out of Texas, him and Bejohn coming out together. He's capable. I mean, another guy was awesome last year. contact balance, short yardage. I mean, I don't know if anybody ran the ball on third downs more than the Bears last year. And it wasn't third and ones.

They ran the ball in third and three, third and four. They kept you guessing. Ben's just near genius at being able to just really, you know, what they did to Philadelphia on Black Friday last year, nobody did to the Eagles. Nobody's ever, I don't think everybody's ever done that to Vic Fangio's defense before. It's a big part of what they do. they're not going to shy away from it. They'll get Rashan up.

They'll get somebody else up until my own guy is ready. But Campbell's going to be on the center. There's going to be a strong play action pass. They're going to feature the run. They've got horses up front that can move the line of scrimmage. They've got to get the left tackle position figured out. But regardless, they had to do the same thing last year.

They're going to be a run first team. That's not going to change. Baldi, I know that you had a chance to watch the Bears preseason win over the weekend against Cleveland and kind of break down some of the film. And around here, as you well know, there's a left tackle competition going on. And the two participants in the game on Saturday were Jedrick Wills and Karan Amagaji. What did you see out of both of those guys? Well, Jedrick Wills has played a lot of football in this league.

Now, he's had a lot of injuries, but he came out of a drive. raft class that was loaded with tackles. Tristan Worst and, you know, Andrew Thomas, I mean, Mackay Beckton. I mean, he came in with that class and went to Cleveland and started right away and had some good games. Like, I would think that he's, now, Amagasyan is an athletic kid that went to Yale, we know.

He's in his third year. Like, they're going to play their best player, but I would expect Wills if he's healthy and close to 100%. to win that job and to start until, you know, the guys get healthy right now. And we'll see, you know, we'll see what Theo looks like. He's been playing right tackle and swinging. We'll see. And he started games last year for him.

You don't see a lot of guys at the University of British Columbia, you know, going to the National Football League and play. But, you know, he was a guy that caught up with his eye a year ago. I wouldn't rule him out. But I would say Jedrick has got a chance to win that job right now. just because of his pedigree, where he played in college, what he's done in this league. You know, the injuries are the injuries.

And they can accumulate and they can, you know, take you backwards a little bit. But I'd say he's the frontrunner right now. Brian Baldinger, the Odyssey NFL Insider. And the host of the Best Football Show with Brian Baldinger, joining us here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie. I'm curious, Brian, as we see things unfold, the injuries mount up for not just the Bears,

but other teams as well. How are you forecasting the NFC, and it playing out, considering how good all of the teams were last year, no one had a losing record. Yeah. Look, Green Bay was running away with the division before Micah got hurt. There was no other Micah Parsons in his league. Nobody can fulfill his role, and they collapsed without him. I talked to him last Monday, and he told me his target date is week six against the Cowboys on Sunday night in Green Bay.

That's the target. Now, anything could happen. It could be a moving target. but he makes everybody in that whole organization better. I expect Kyle Murray to be very good with Kevin O'Connell. He's never played on a team or in an organization as good as the Vikings. They won 14 games with Sam two years ago. Their offense line is very good.

The players around Kyle are very good. They'll cater the offense into his skill set. I mean, it's wide open. It's wide open. You know, Chicago obviously has got to replace a lot of guys in a second. They led the league in takeaways. They let the league in interceptions. It's hard to duplicate that with a lot of new guys.

Although Beanie Bishop, you know, if you throw it to him, he's going to catch it. He proved that against Cleveland. You know, maybe he has a role. They've got a lot of key guys to replace back there. So, but I think it's a wide open division. I mean, Detroit's offense, they lost their center for a while. Cade Mays that they were counting on. But that offense is capable of scoffice.

scoring 30 against anybody. They're very, very good. Defensively, they got a lot of holes, but every team's got holes right now. So I think it's a wide open division. Because Chicago won it last year, it doesn't mean they're going to win it this year. Ben can talk about setting a record for scoring points, and that's great. And I like that. But it's, you've got to go out and do it. And the divisions, it's going to be a very good division, especially when you get to November or December, we'll see who's healthy. But, you know, that's when the division's going to decided, you know, after Thanksgiving. And so we'll see who's healthy and who's playing great football then.

Yeah, Baldi, what did you think of Ben's comments? You know, he was quoted in the Dan Pompeii article in The Athletic last week, saying he wanted to have that as the goal, the league's best offense. You know, he achieved that at least for the year a couple times in Detroit. That's for sure. They were the league's best offense when he was the O.C. But ever is a tall bar. What do you think of just him saying that and how he was setting that goal for himself?

I love it. I love it. I mean, he's sending a message to the whole team. Like, what we're, capable of doing is much greater than maybe what's in your mind. You know, maybe, you know, scoring 37 and a half points a game should be the goal. They almost did it the other night. But regardless, like, I just think those are things. He sends messages to his team. He allowed his wide receiver coach to call plays in the second half of the game. He's coaching the coaches. like he's changing the mentality of Hall's Hall and how you think about what they can do. And I think that's a good thing. You don't hear that from very many coaches.

Coaches are afraid to say those kind of things. Ben isn't. And maybe that's one of the reasons why he's already distinguished himself as a head coach and a play caller. So I applaud him for saying those kind of things because the last thing you want to do to any team is put limits on what your team is capable of doing. Most people probably know that Brian Baldinger played offensive line when he was a player back in the day. So I ask you this question from that perspective, Baldi. Ozzie Tripillo, the Bears' second round pick from last year, who started six games at left tackle last year. Eventually, in the playoff game against Green Bay, suffered a ruptured Pateller tendon.

We were told that he probably wouldn't be back until late in the season, if at all. All of a sudden, Baldi, he is back practicing, and it's not implausible that he could play and contribute to the Bears and maybe be their left tackle. How incredible is that? And how is that even possible? You know, I don't know how it's possible. My brother tore his patello tendon.

Like he came back and played from it. But I've seen Patch Mahomes doesn't look like he had a knee operation. They're watching him play. Daniel Jones is coming back from an Achilles injury, and it doesn't look like he had an Achilles injury. Some of these surgeries now and some of the advanced techniques must be different than when I played. And the time frame has changed.

Everybody's different. You never want to put a player out there on the field before he's ready or before that tending gets a chance to fully heal. It's encouraging that he's back and practicing. I don't think he should be rushed just because he's practicing. They need him to be, but at the same time, you've got to mentally put that injury out of your brain and you've got to move on from it. And you need, you know, to be full contact and to be hit and to change direction to all the things necessary. But it's encouraging, I'll say that.

But I'm going around the league and I've watched guys come back from injuries that nobody should, nobody should look like Mahomes or Daniel Jones right now, the way they look in practice and are going to start week one. Nobody should look like that right now. And so things have changed. Maybe Mike gets out there before week six. He'd look good just moving around the other day when I saw him. We don't want to see that because week five is against the fair. So nobody around here is rooting for that type of expedited return for him.

Brian Baldinger, the Odyssey NFL insider, joining us here on. Rahimi Harrison Grotie and Brian, I'm curious because you followed the game for so long as a player and then an analyst. what, if any, trends are you noticing that might surprise people this year in terms of just the way football is being played? We know the last two teams to win the Super Bowl. They were just so good up front defensively pressuring the quarterback. But I'm just curious if you see any glimpse of something that might catch the layman off guard watching the game. No, you're just going to see more teams run the ball more than they throw it. Okay.

You're going to see more teams in 12 and 13 personnel that, you know, the bears might, they might have four, tight ends active on game day. The Rams have four tight ends some days active on game day. Seattle played three. I mean, everybody's playing 12 and 13 personnel, like the one back three tight ends. The days of just spreading you out the way Buffalo at one point did with four wide receivers or 11 personnel with one back, one tight end, those games are fading. People are realizing that these quarterbacks are not, they're not Superman.

They can't do it just by throwing it. You need a strong run game. You need a strong play action game. Everybody is under center. Watching Josh Allen play the other day. Watching Joe Burrow play the other day. They're under center. They're not in shotgun.

That is here to stay. And it's growing. Philadelphia's changing their offense to cater to it. Washington fired a very good coordinator in Cliff Kingsbury, you know, to change up and get underneath the center. You're going to see quarterbacks under center. You're going to see running backs eight yards deep. You're going to see heavy play action.

pass, I mean, that offensively is here to stay. And it is a league-wide trend. And you're seeing going around the training camps right now, you can just chart the number of quarterbacks that are under center versus the days when they were never under center. And quarterbacks like Caleb, who was never under center, you know, as a college quarterback or Kyle or Murray, you know, when he was playing. Like, these guys are under center right now and learning the footwork it takes to be good at that. Brian Baldinger always informative. Thanks for giving us some hot gossip from other training camps too. We appreciate it.

Yeah, my pleasure, game. Thanks, Brian. Thank you. Thanks, Baldy. That is the Odyssey NFL insider, Brian Baldinger, host of the best football show with Brian Baldinger. Find it on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast. Check this out. Football fans join Dan Weederer and me for a special Take the North Live.

This Monday, August 24th, that's the next Monday in life, folks. It'll be from 6 to 8 p.m. at Gurney Hyundai, featuring appearances from players and a complete breakdown of the biggest training camp storylines ahead of the season. It's all sponsored by the Rorman Automotive Group. Get the full synthetic oil change for only $50. I did it. Visit roorman.com.

There it is. And guess who's up next on Rahimi Harrison Grotie? Ian Hap, do you think that he saw some things at Crossdown last night? There's some things to see. out there in the bleachers, man. Or maybe the White Sox defense helping him out in the fifth inning. Let's do all of that next. It's just a machine just calling plays.

The talent that's here and the talent that is continuing to develop here. You obviously have some mainstay guys like Ian Hap. Ian Hap. Cubs All-Star Outfielder. And I've seen a lot of guys play the outfielder, but he's, I think he's the best left fielder that we've ever seen in a Cub uniform. And I've been here 31 years. When all is said and done, he's going to be one of those guys that Cub fans are going to look back and say, man, he was a really good player.

Longest 10-year Chicago athlete, you know, so there's a lot of respect to that guy. Gold Glove Award winner. He'll 1. Tapper up the third base line, bare-handed by Fargus, throw the first, gets past Murakami. Cups tie up the game, one runner's in. Around third, racing home is half. He scores wild throw. Host of the compound podcast. See a little clip with me finishing with two hands, maybe hit. hitting a home or 500 feet. I want to freak you out,

but I've been doing it a little bit in practice. Connect Roasters, coffee enthusiast. Here's a man that probably has five fresh pots a day. On 104-3, the score. We toast you, Ian Hap. We do toast Ian Hap. We are waiting for Ian. Oh, he is connected now.

Okay. Ian is joining us on our hotline. We are happy to talk to Ian Hap every week. He is the Cubs Gold Glove Outfielder co-hosting the compound podcast, which is now a new part of. Odyssey Sports. Fresh episodes drop every Wednesday with the latest discussion on the Cubs and baseball, download and listen on the Odyssey app, or wherever you get your podcasts, fresh off of what looked like an entertaining night to be in the outfield at Wrigley. Ian, how are you doing?

Good. How are you guys? We're good, but we're not the ones who observed the A, drama on the field with an incredible crosstown game, and then B, did you know what was happening in the stands? There were some fights in the right field bleachers. I know you man, left, but still. Yeah, you couldn't miss that one. Yeah, we're looking at other angles of the film right now. What were you guys

observing? I mean, yeah, the crowd saw the crowd got loud. It was, it was a bad one. It was tough. Tough scene out there. And, you know, I know that that happens. I know that, I know

that the games get a little bit intense, especially when it's back and forth like that but man it's it's a really great thing for the city when both teams are good it's an electric atmosphere it's a lot of fun um and hate to see that happen during the game because man that was that was a great one yeah it kind of sounds like you hated what you saw it i got to be honest man watching the video makes i was just watching it it makes me want to puke so i mean you you've been in the city longer than anybody that was on that field yes sounds like you kind of hated seeing

that. I didn't love it. Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, we have a lot of mutual respect for each other across the field. Yeah. A ton. Like, that's a really good team. They got a bunch of really good players. You know, Will Venable obviously was on our coaching staff and did a lot for me in my career. I love Will. I think he's fantastic. And, you know, there's just a bunch of mutual respect on the field. So I hope that that's shared amongst the 40,000 people that would be there tonight, because is, man, it's great for, like I said, it's great for the city when both teams are good. And, you know, I'm, I wish those guys nothing but the best, besides the six games that we play. So, you know, I, like I said, mutual respect is, there's a lot of that going around on the field.

You talk about crosstown atmospheric. To me, Ian, it really did feel like we picked up where we left off when Edgar Carroll hit the walkoff in the third game of this series. and the way that PCA and Say it'd jump out and the way this game just went back and forth and another extra inning affair, did it feel maybe a little different than a regular game just because of the way the fan bases get into this thing?

Yeah, I mean, it's always an electric atmosphere. And to be honest, it doesn't really matter where the teams are in the standings. It's always electric. You know, whether it was, you know, in 22 and 23, when we were 21 and 22 when we were struggling a bit or when they've struggled, like it's always an electric atmosphere at those games, which is so much fun and it makes a lot of fun.

I think that one yesterday, just the back and forth nature of it, obviously, you know, those guys hit the two homers early and we get out to a lead, and then they have Christian gets the three-run homer, then we get two back, and then they hit the Benetendit, does the pinch hit first pitch homer, so it was super, back and forth and then for Pete to end it the way he did was was really really cool. Yeah, I mean, that was, we've talked about this. Pete had two very different cross-town series, you know, and even the last two games,

the one that was yesterday, the one prior to that, you know, he got into it with the fan. We talked about it with you. We've seen what he's done since at the plate and on the field and making his case for MVP in the National League. How do you describe just what that moment must have meant to him, too? I know he talked in the post game, but still seeing that for him. after his last time against the socks. Yeah, I didn't really think about it like that.

But the, I think just for him, you know, it was a really complete game, not only the homer to start it and the homer to end it, but some of the swings he had in the middle there, like the opposite field double in the, I don't even know what ending that was. That was an unbelievable swing

like two strike change up off the plate away opposite field double it was just it was a super complete game from him um and i think that you know when he starts to get his footing after we're all going to go through tough stretches and like i know he didn't love the way his last week was um and so for him to come out yesterday and and have those unbelievable at bats like just just a really think that gets him back in a place where he likes to be and it was it was really impressive. But how about the bullpen? Webby coming in

and doing what he did. He's been fantastic, man. Okay, I'm glad you brought up, the web, because the moment where he thought he was out of the inning, thought he had the strikeout of Braden Montgomery,

the big fist pump. He's looking at the dugout. You guys are going crazy. And then Montgomery had all along touched the top of his helmet. Turns out that it was a ball. Eventually he walks, but then he's able to get Tristan Peters out.

Did you talk to him about that and what a mind bleep that must have been in the moment? I did not talk to him about it, but it's something that is definitely, Webby's been around a long time and in a ton of big games and back in situations. And that's a new experience. I think when you're, when you've been doing, playing the game for as long as he has in a certain way, to have to continue having new experiences in your career is is a weird or crazy thing and so for him that's probably the first time that's happened to him in that kind of spot where you you have this emotional dump and then you have to refocus I think um Tommy Ottaby did a great job of coming

out um and having to visit and giving him a second to kind of reset there uh and he's such a professional and I think the the thing that we've all gotten to see from him is just a guy that is willing to pitch in any situation, obviously he wasn't the closer to start the year, and has come into that role. And the ability to command four pitches to understand what he's trying to do to hitters, you know,

the Morikami walk, like a veteran pitcher that is able to say, I'm going to throw Morikami a bunch of pitches that aren't in the strike zone and see if he chases, and then I'll get the next guys. like that and he knows his pockets of what guys he matches up well against. And just to watch a veteran pitcher navigate that is really a lot of fun. Ian Hap, joining us.

He is the left field of the Chicago Cubs multi-time gold glove winning. Alford he joins us each and every week at this time on Rahimi Harris and Grotie. You brought up the pitching around Mune. I thought that's interesting because it seemed like that was pivotal for both teams. They had a chance to avoid the other team's most dangerous hitter. PCA does not get put on first base. Will Vennelble, as you mentioned, you guys have a relationship, obviously,

being formerly of the Cubs staff. Were you surprised at all that he opted to pitch to PCA in the bottom of the 10th with first base open, and would you be shocked if he didn't learn from that lesson? I was a little bit surprised, yeah. You never know exactly what their matchup cards like or what they must have liked the lefty-lefty there and felt like they had a good matchup.

You know, you're running the risk of if you put him on, that now you got no outs and you're thrown to SEA with a lefty, which is probably not the ideal situation. So, yeah, they must have liked the matchup. And, you know, those are things, those were really tough calls for managers. And obviously they're judged on them. But that is, you know, that's a tough.

position to be in on exactly how you want that inning to play out. You were also in a really interesting position in the fifth inning where you took advantage of just the every little bit concept. You know, there was a possible double play. It ends up being a fielder's choice. You're safe. You then come around to score on some really bad defensive miscues by the socks. Take us through that sequence and what your mindset was and what you guys saw unfold there to score some runs. Yeah, not my best of bet there. Chaste a little bit on Castillo, you know, was able to get down the line and it's a, it's an old Joe Madden, a hard 90, and, and then Nico obviously puts the ball in play and we get an opportunity.

And I think in those situations, you just, you're kind of anticipating, you know, I knew Nico was going to beat that one out, but you don't want to get yourself caught in a position where you're with two outs where you're just in no man's lane, rounding second base. so kind of anticipating that he's going to be safe, but figuring out where that throw goes and just really trusted Quentin on the send and was flying around there to score, which was a big moment in the game for us. Ian, I got to go back to the Cardinals series and maybe Cubs fans are going to hate that. I'm going to ask this question, but I'm going to do it.

What was, because I thought it was amazing what Joshua Baez, the rookie for the Cardinals did that day you happened to have caught the line drive on the fourth at bat or his attempt at his fourth home run in that game what did you think about what bias did that day at rigley despite it being a loss for you guys i mean yeah that's the best debut in major league history right it probably will be for a long time so um those things are cool to witness i think stinks when you're on the wrong side of them um but you you have an appreciation for the moment and how impressive it was. I think we talked about it on the podcast a little bit this week,

but he hits the first homer on a first pitch fastball. And it's kind of like, all right, first pitch he's seeing the big leagues, he's on time for it. Yeah, it's a good swing. That's a cool moment. Awesome. And then Boyd throws him, you know, Boyd has a really good change up.

He's still one of the best changes in baseball. It's like 78 miles an hour. It's way off his fast. basketball velocity and he throws my first pitch change up the next at bat he fouls it straight back like pretty good swing and I was like oh okay uh that was a good swing has ends up having a really good at bat there all off street pitches from boyd ends up hit in the home run the changeup full count too wasn't it yeah yeah it was a four count three two three change up ends up hit in a home around that pitch Ian happened oh sorry go ahead Ian sorry I'm gonna get through the I'm gonna get through all

three home yeah let's go I love it I love it go so he hits the change up homer and it's like all right yeah that was a really good bat like good swing then the third one's a backdoor slider he goes opo and it was like whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa this kid's making this game look too easy but it's the big leagues it's really hard the next day he goes over five with three strikeouts and that's that's the big leagues it's really tough but it was an amazing debut it was uh it was obviously being on the wrong side of it not the best but that's history and those are cool to witness i'm just curious see in before we let you go. 36 games remaining, your four

to half games out, is now when you start scoreboard peaking, standings checking in? I mean, how would you describe, you know, being within four and a half games of the Brewers right now? Yeah, I think, you know, the goal is to win the division, right? The goal is to put up the best record

you possibly can't win the division. When you're in this position, I think we are in a good position. We have a nice, healthy wildcard lead we're in a good position you you can you can only chase down another team so much and you know we're going to need them to falter a little bit we control our own destiny a little bit because we do have seven games with them left um so you know all we can do and this is so cliche

all we can do is play our best baseball and like if we start you know when we get close and oh we got to win these games we got that's not our team that's not our mo like what we are really really that as a team and as a group is just playing our consistent brand of baseball and like stacking up winning series over and over again. And so that has to be our focus. And the only thing that we can control is, hey, let's just keep taking care of our business and keep winning series and see how it shakes out. And then, Ian, how was the event, the second annual high spirits with HAP? And what's going on with Connect? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, the event was incredible. It was an unbelievable will turn out. And so thank you so much for people who bought tickets and supported and our sponsors.

And Arla did an amazing job. It was really wonderful. A ton of teammates showed up and we really felt the support. So it was incredible. We're actually going to have a group out for the game today and BP and talk to a youth group today, which would be great. But yeah, it was super special. So thank you for everybody. And we really appreciate it. That's awesome. Ian, thank you so much as always. And good luck in the outfield. Two more of these amazing games to go. Thanks, guys.

Thanks, Ian. That is Ian Hap. We are always happy to have him on this afternoon. Join the score and I died at Gallagher Way outside of Wrigley Field from 2 to 6. Oh yeah, they didn't just stop by the Cubby Bear. They're doing things today. They're on tour, man. They're at your house.

Mark Grody. How do you feel about that? You and Gabe have to share your house of Spiegel and Holmes. Oh, man. I hope they like what we did for the place. We purchase an extra seat together. I love that. Some new interior decorating one night.

Yeah, you know Gabe and I. Spiegel and Holmes will be live from Gallagher Way ahead of the second game of the Crosstown series right here on the north side. Nico Horner, it will be on site. He will join them in person to 2.30 for his weekly visit. It is all brought to you by IDOT. They will have educational activities and prizes on site. Visit it's not a game, Illinois.com for more info. Coming up next, it's halftime.

we got to talk about what everybody else is talking about. That fight in stands last night got pretty ugly. And Pete Crowe Armstrong even noticed it too. You heard he in half. We'll get the latest from Pete as well next. What time is halftime? It is halftime here on Rahimi Harris and Grotie. If you didn't like Game 1 of Cross Town,

not the result necessarily, but just the theater, the drama. I don't know what to tell you. Like, I don't know. Do you need to skydive in order to get your kicks? because I don't, that was an incredible game to me. I'm sorry. I'm not sorry, actually. It was so good that I just got one of my random text messages from Booner.

Really? Yeah, every once in a while, Brett Boone will text me. He loves to text you. He was asking me about the Ozzy ceremony because he just had Ozzy on his pot, apparently. Ozzy Gehan. So maybe check that out, the Brett Boone podcast. He wasn't trying to get me to say all that. But he was asking about, he is.

He was asking me about the vibe here with Cubs and Sox. And I said, yeah, man, it's real. We're talking a lot of baseball here. See, I love that. I love all of that. He too. Yeah, just boony appreciation, really. Yeah.

He does look like baseball player from Central casting to me. He really does. That's fair. So we also talked about Kyle the Nungai's availability or lack thereof. Brian Baldinger talked to us about just his observations from Bears camp and watching the Bears. That was at 11. And then Ian App just talked to us a moment to go. His laptop.

I think, as Ian put it so well, the fight in the bleachers in Wrigley and Wrightfield was incredibly hard to miss. Shout out to Crawley. Crawley was the one who posted the first video that went viral. And then other people started to follow up with their angles of the fight. And we were trying to figure out what ended up resulting in a guy putting his hands up and getting wailed on by people. And the only thing I can think is my first question is, question. I don't know what happened out there was did something get said in order to

elicit that reaction from fans. Marshall, you took a couple looks at it. Mark, I know you didn't like watching it. Made me want to puke my guts out. Okay, that's one way to describe the situation. I mean, there's puking, and then there's puking your guts out. And I feel like those are two different things. They are.

One may be projectile. And I watched it. You're right. Like, I'm sick for having watched it. Wait, wait, wait. Why are you sick for having what? You're just trying to inform yourself what happened. Okay, fair enough.

I think it's fair that if people are out here doing what they're doing, it should be documented. And you know what? They should also be punished accordingly because there were definitely people trying to start stuff in the bleachers. And I just wonder because I had several people tell me, oh, this wouldn't happen at Wrigley if it wasn't for White Sox fans because fights never. I've seen fights break out in the bleachers at Wrigley when the White Sox were not involved. Yeah, you can fight about things that are not sports. That's true. Like you haven't been to a bar and seen people fight at a bar.

Right, and the guy that was getting whaled on, there was punches thrown at the guy, at the apparent Cubs fan by another Cubs fan. Saw that. Yeah. So it makes you think this was about a group of people and another group of people having a disagreement of sorts. And I wonder, here's what I wonder, how early for game one of Crosstown at Wrigley do you think these people got started in their pregame activities? The problem with the night games. Yeah, I mean, that's $1.20 every day. Didn't they try to limit night games for Cub Sox because of that reason for a while?

I think at least on weekends. Yeah. But maybe you're right, Layla. Maybe as a whole they try to try their best and they are at the behest of the schedule makers. Hey, just a request every year. Let's keep these to the daytime. Let's try to keep them off weekends too. Listen, by the time 7-10 rolls around, that means you could have gotten off work at a normal time,

normal job, pre-gamed happy hour style and then go on to the game. Fully croisand. Yes. Yes, Ray. But doesn't, the time of day doesn't matter. Because if you're going to go in the day, you're going to take the day off and you're going to start drinking. In fact, we have a time of day for you. Ray, what are you and I planning on doing tomorrow, 120?

So we're having the show at the Covey Bear tomorrow and then we're planning on hanging out afterwards. We're going to watch us a game. That's right. We're going to enjoy some day baseball in the summer is what we're going to do. Oh, you're going to the game? Sounds like a little sunshine. We're going to hang out. Wrigley watching.

Okay, I've got a couple of, uh, I've got a couple of, uh, I've, got a couple procedural questions here regarding the fight. And I can't speak to what caused it and I can't speak to why there seemed to be visually a slow reaction from security. But what I want to know is to the guy just wailing at the end in the gray undershirt that resembles something we don't say anymore, a tank top, if you will, and mesh shorts. Is that an acceptable outfit to wear to a game? And I know it's the summer. I don't wear mesh shorts. I don't wear mesh shorts. I wear Nike jogging shorts when I work out. Yongeing. Mess shorts are a discussion point. So, like, is it acceptable to wear mesh shorts and a tank top under shirt to a game or just like out to a non like super casual event? Or is it a super casual event?

And I'm making too much of it. I feel like because the game is outside and it's summertime that the shorts are fine. Like I understand you're saying nicer shorts is what you'd like to see them in. Non-athletic shorts. Where does the mesh shorts? short like dress code get enforced. Where can you go with that on as opposed to? Mess shorts are a lifestyle for some people.

That's fair. I know I might be insulting some, but I'm just asking the question. I guess I was okay with it. I feel like people should be comfortable at ball games, especially when you're sitting in the bleachers, which just is a big party and a fighting around apparently now. Because you never know when you might have to activate. I mean, seriously.

And I'm with you like, yeah, for the videos we saw, this guy's wailing on him. There's people standing around and it took a citizen to eventually pull the guy away. That made me sick, too. That he got that many punches off on the guy that were just sitting there. But, like, where was security? And then the police eventually came. We started with this altercation.

This is why I'm glad I got the second video with the up close in the bleachers view. There was an usher who was trying to keep things that bad before it started. But he was an older gentleman, not being agist or anything. It just, he had no shot of stopping whatever was going out. thing. They go through training too and there's probably a procedure. Like, kind of like if you see somebody shoplifting at certain stores, they don't try to go after the shoplift. That's a good point. Isn't there a number you're supposed to text? Like if you see something at a sporting event and then... No, that's it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, ever flus. If you see something, say something. It's, that's the security measure.

Right? Yeah. Right. You see a guy punching on a guy, right? You stop it, right? Oh, man. So he had no chance. And the, the, the, the slow rollout of the response from other ushers slash security slash actual police officers, I was disturbed by it. It was so slow. Yeah, that was the part I didn't quite understand because then he walked to the other side of the man, and then there were other people there too, and it's like,

at one point are you restrained, but maybe Usher's job is not to restrain. They have to wait for security. I know we got a break, but I think we should hear from Pekar Armstrong on this. Rivalry or not, I don't think any of us really focus on that going in to any of these games, but

But again, like noting that, and I said this earlier this year too, like noting that this is just really good for the city when you got a second place team in us, but a first place team in them. And it's the first time they've been really competitive in a while. And it's really freaking cool that we get to put that product out in the field together and go compete because, I mean, you were there, you felt it. Like, you know, the, the, the,

fights in the stands are unfortunate and somewhat nauseating, but, I mean, that's, you got people in the stands competing, too. I just think, aside from that, like, all jokes aside, too, it's really good for the city having both of us playing the kind of baseball we are and putting games out there like we did tonight. You got fans in the stands competing, too. You got people in the stands competing too. Yeah, I think what happens is everybody goes through certain training

and maybe they can't restrain somebody. But that just felt like it went on for too long. It did. Real quick, Bears news. Braxton Jones is back in full effect playing left tackle for the Bears today with Theo Benedet expected to be the backup left tackle today. We've seen enough of Karan Amagaji. And I guess, Jensrikels, like, that's a big move.

Wait, so Braxton Jones is expected to be the backup? Here you go. Repeat that one more time. Here it is. The tweet from this one happens to be from Kevin Fishbane. Braxton Jones will be back as the starting left tackle today at Bears practice. And Theo Benedet will take the backup reps at left tackle. Benedet has been on the right side throughout camp. So interesting all around because I've been confused with Benedet throughout camp.

I have more Bears news. Yes. This from Brad Biggs. Bears coach Ben Johnson says Kyle Menungai will be week to week with his right knee injury. Okay. All right. So Jeremy Fowler had weeks. Adam Shepter had just fine.

and now we have week to week. Aren't we all? Five on it is next. It's time for five on it. Rahini Harrison Rooney. Bring you five topics on their minds today. On 104-3, the score. I got five on it.

Number one. Five on it is brought you by almost free teeth.com. Save on dental implants today. Here's question number one. Do you see the Cubs 75 win over the White Sox is more of a great Cubs win or a bad socks loss? Yes. Oh, both?

Yeah, I think it actually can't be both when you consider Cubs battle back, Pekroar Armstrong's bat mattered, say Suzuki's bat mattered, Ian Hap, for example, taking advantage of defensive miscues. So there were multiple ways that the White Sox, that the Cubs were able to win the ball game,

and then ultimately also, Cubs, I think White Sox have some reasons for remorse, you know, the defensive miscues, as we've mentioned, the decision as to whether or not to walk Peacroar Armstrong, Say is Suzuki also having a home run in the game? So there's strategy involved. There was a fact that Luis Castillo got chased after only four and two thirds after those defensive issues.

So there were many things here that led to, unfortunately, the socks loss and many good things that led to the Cubs win. Let's go back to the third inning, top of the third to be more specific. See? Sam Anzanochi didn't have anybody on base. He was just leading off an inning. Saw a 1-0 pitch that gets called a strike. He could have just gone on with a bat one in one, even if you believe the pitch was a ball.

But no, he challenged. And the White Sox have to stop wasting challenges early in the game on bats that are inconsequential. If there's people on base, if there's runners in scoring position, okay, if there's two strikes, okay. But you can't be out here wasting valuable challenges. You only get two wrongs through nine innings. And I think that's just as big a problem as why the White Sox lost this game as any other. You got to know that your pitchers on a night like tonight coming off that three-game sweep of Detroit. They need the challenges more than you do, especially in that situation.

This was definitely more of a bad White Sox loss than a good White Sox or, excuse me, good Cubs win. Because the White Sox have a horrible strategy when it comes to ABS. If the Sox had had that challenge in the ninth, Jordan Hicks could have struck out either. Ian Hap or Alex Bregman, but they didn't have those challenges available to them. And they made Jake Rogers gun shy to call a challenge because it only had one left. That's all. I'm going to say it was a great Cubs win instead of a bad White Sox loss. The White Sox only had four hits on the night, which I guess in itself is kind of bad.

But they were so efficient with their four runs that they had a chance to steal this game. And if the White Sox had won, I think it kind of would have felt like that. and there was a time where I thought the White Sox somehow, some way, despite everything, we're going to win the game. I also can't, I feel like there's some downgrading of the credit to PCA with the idea that the White Sox had such a bad game. A game in which the biggest star on the field begins the game with a home run and ends the game with a home run, I would say is a great win for the team that won last night.

That just happened to be the Cubs. it was a bad decision by Will Venable. Even Ian Hap was surprised that they pitched to PCA. But I would argue that he made just as many good decisions or more good decisions than that one bad one, as I highlighted earlier, in the ninth inning, when Will Vendable decided to load the bases, put Pedro Ramirez on to get to Miguel Amaya.

You got Hicks on the mound who throws a lot of walks, could have easily been a basis load of walk, but he made quick work of Amaya, and then the decision to put Benintendi into the game who hit the home run. thought that was a good decision. So I'm saying it was a better Cubs win than a bad White Sox loss. Number two.

Question number two is a big one. Will Pete Crowe Armstrong have the Cubs first 40-40 season? I am of the belief that that's where we're headed because if you just take what he's done in the second half of the season, he can even take his foot off the gas a little bit. I think he gets there. This man has been absolutely phenomenal in the second half. half of the season. He's got nine home runs since the All-Star break in 30 games. Only two players, William Brau, White Sox fans know him well, and Matt Olson of the Braves have more with 11 apiece.

Pete Kromstrung is simply on a tear. And as long as he continues to not even be on a tear, but just to produce at a much better rate than what we saw in the first half of the season, I think he's got a great shot to get to 40-40, namely because you can't pitch around PCA. Say of Suzuki is making sure that you have to pitch to him because if you put him on base, he's stealing a bag and he's going, the 40 stolen bases I think we can all agree, that's a given. It's just a matter of can he hit 10 more home runs? I think he might get four or five more home runs

in the month of August at the rate he's going. Yeah, I think he gets to 40-40. There's too much time left in the regular season for him not to. And there's too many games of consequence. I think at least if nothing else, The 40 stolen basis mark seems reasonable. 31 steals already. I feel a little dangerous saying it,

but I feel like that seems reasonable for him. The stakes get higher and then the stolen bases get more stressful. And then the next thing you know you're in October and it's playoff time. So that's how I feel. But I think there's too much time. Like on the calendar, there are too many games left for him to be able to do it. Does the mat with work there proportionally speaking 31 stolen bases? it took him 126 games to get to that stolen base mark.

So I'm a little more skeptical. What's going through my head right now is whether or not PCA stays hot. Was this the beginning of another heater for PCA? Is he about to go off? Is he about to go crazy again after having a relative slump really coming into the series? That's what it comes down to for me. So I'm struggling with this one, to be honest. I think the biggest thing is understanding that he,

leads off for the Cubs. They have the type of offense where people just get on base. So he's going to get so many plate appearances. He's going to get extra chances that you're probably 90-day. Like, how many times did he get to the plate last night? He was four for five. Oh, yeah, with a walk. He got six plate appearances, and he's getting five minimum pretty much every single game.

I'm going to say he falls just short. Okay. Yeah. On both or just the... Yeah, well, wow. Yeah, I'm going to say he falls just short on both. He's like a 37. Yeah, like I could see that, man.

And like, it might get in his head a little bit too, you know what I mean? Like to get to that. And I wouldn't blame him for a lot. And sometimes when you're thinking about that stuff, you press, you know, the anxiety goes up a little bit. I guarantee you against TBD and those old guys in this series. He's going to have at least one more home run in the next two days alone. Okay. Okay.

I think it's Hudson. Maybe. Yeah, yeah, no, it's Hudson, but then the other, the bulk guys and then TBD on Wednesday. I say her key, I say it gets it off of her key. Jose or Keedy. Yeah. We interview Arcady later and he's like, yeah, Mark Grody said that PCA was going to get a home run off. Yeah, he's there for the home run hitting.

Not a big velocity guy. Five on it. Number three. This is five on it at 104 through the score with Layla Rahimi, Marshall Harris, and Mark Grody. Here's question number three. Should the White Sox have pitched to PCA with first base open in the 10th inning? Do you think Will Venable, White Sox manager, will do the same thing if the situation comes up again? No, I don't think he will do the same thing.

again. I mean, like, it's, it feels like it's 98 against one right now when it comes to it. You know what clinched for me, honestly, was Ian Hap saying that he was surprised. Ian Hap said, first of all, I said he great guy, him. What a great guy, Will Vennible is, loves Will Vennable played, you know, some of the same time that Will Vennable played. And then later on said, yeah, we were a little surprised that he went with that. I thought, like, Will Vennel handled the press conference very well because he was very confident. And as I said earlier, it was almost the right strategy.

In traditional ways, lefty on lefty, the very dangerous say of Suzuki coming up next. I get it. I get where he was coming from. But no, I don't think he would make the same mistake twice. Yeah, that slider was middle, middle. And that was the problem, right? It was not the idea of the pitch itself. It was the fact that the pitch was placed in a certain place.

And middle, middle, well, doesn't take an expert to know a lot of hitters, like it there. So he turned on it and that was the hard part. The other thing too is, yeah, it's handedness versus the hot hand. And you know how I feel? I sometimes have very anti-handedness. Like I think we'll say Suzuki's at bats prior to that, you know, he started the game hot but wasn't as hot for the rest of the game. So should that have dictated whether or not you let Peacro Armstrong beat you? And on this one, I think, yeah, I'd say is not the hitter that I'm taking more seriously out of the two, they're both good, but it's definitely Pete Crowe Armstrong, given the base.

Live to see another day. Okay, so here's the interesting thing about PCA. He strikes out in 28% of his at-bats against lefties. He strikes out 26% of his bats against righties. Not a big differential there. I mean, it's a big strikeout number, but yes, it's not a big difference. No, he strikes out against everybody, is what I'm saying. And, like, it's not that much more favorable.

for one or the other. Looking at the other way, though, if you take the fact that there's only been 25 strikeouts and 126 played appearances for Sayas Suzuki, that means he only strikes out 20% of the time, that's a little bit less. And so I understand Will Venables' reasoning from a mathematics standpoint,

but sometimes you've just got to feel the moment and understand what PCA's done in each of his abats leading up to that. Sayas Suzuki, yeah, he homered earlier in the game. But PCA had the home. or the double and the single earlier in the game. I think he probably will wake up this morning, regretting doing it, understanding also where he is.

Maybe on the south side you could do it. Not at Wrigley. That's the lesson learned here is like that crowd, that energy, PCA, that opponent. I wouldn't do it. I don't expect him to do it. I think he learns his lesson from this. But I understand this too, guys.

When you talk about PCA and going up lefty, lefty, lefty, it's real simple PCA while he has slightly better power numbers against Ritees 563 Slug against Ritey's compared to 523 Slug which is not something to be ashamed of

the man is hitting 272 against Ritey's this season 301 against lefties did you hear me he hits 29 points better against lefties this season get Will Vennable a copy of that immediately I'm going to try to

on base percentage over 400 against lefties as well Five on it Number four Question number four is the Odyssey That has been the Kyle Monongai knee injury Let's go back to Sunday We'll work backwards Not the Odyssey

The Odyssey Have we seen it? Everybody's seen? I know not yet That's a long movie You have okay I had to watch the baseball game last night That was an Odyssey

Yeah that wasn't Odyssey AUDD Let's start with Sunday When Adam Schaefter took to X To report that Kyle Muno Monongai suffered a knee injury but is believed to be, quote, fine. Just fine.

Just fine. And then yesterday ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported that Monongai is expected to miss multiple weeks due to a hyper-extended knee. And then reported that, quote, per the MRI, the outcome is considered to be positive after recent practice injury. All right. So now today, just about 30 minutes ago at Hallis Hall, Bears coach Ben Johnson told reporters that running back, how Manungai will be week to week with his right knee injury. So we must ask on a scale of 1 to 10 on the Worry Meter, trademark, where is your level of concern about the Bears running game following this news

that's been all over the place on Manungi? It's out of five. And maybe I'm too calm about this, but I think it's because, number one, I've heard great things about DeAndre Swift's camp. And then number two, I know that the Bears don't have to run the ball to fake like they're running the ball. number three, I'm in the Selvaid Ahmed camp. Give me Selvon Ahmed. I know the Rochon Johnson theoretically is probably the third running back,

but I like to mix it up. And I feel like this would be an appropriate mixing of it up. So that's the, I feel like he had a good game against the Browns. I'm pretty sure we're going to see him again on Saturday. So that's my vote. It's an interesting question just because you're trying to sort through what all this means, right?

Like on a daily basis. Just, here's how I'm looking at it right now. My level of concern is an eight. Well, here's the thing, because we don't have a real timetable. Week to week can mean so many things, and we've seen so many things reported. I don't know that I have as much faith in running backs three and four as you guys do. Well, I guess three, four, and five. We want to include Britt and Brown at this juncture.

So I'm with my worry skill on eight. I like what he brings to the table specifically, the tough type of runner that he is. I don't know that anybody else on the team can do what he does specifically. So I put it in eight. Three. Honestly, hearing Ben Johnson say week to week was music to my ears relative to everything else.

That tells me, like, I'm feeling pretty optimistic that he'll be good to go for the Carolina game. So, and I'm also, like Layla, I'm pretty, I like the group of backups that they have.

have, whether it's Savon Ahmed, whether it's Britain Brown. I even thought Rocheon Johnson looked pretty good for whatever that's worth running on Saturday. And then the Ben Johnson factor overrides all. You're probably right. I'm pretty confident that he can make anybody, even for a short while, look pretty good in his concept. Make a tight end to running back. Get weird. Oh, yeah. He might do something like that.

You've got all these tight ends. Sam Rosh, man. I don't know. He looked pretty good blocking out there, BTW. Yeah. That's the way I talk. Five on it Number five

What is the most interesting icebreaker Someone used on you to try to spark a conversation? I don't know, Tyler. What was the most interesting icebreaker Somebody used on you to start this conversation? So on my walk here from work, I get off at the Washington stop on the blue line And some random gentleman just kind of came up to me like,

Hey, how's it going, man? I'm like, good, how's it going for you? He's like, oh, you know, I got this $7,000 dental bill that I have to take care of. I'm like, oh, okay. I'm like, yeah, that stinks. He's like, what about you? I'm like, well, I don't have any teeth to worry about right now.

He's like, no, no, no, what are you for work? I'm like, oh, okay. I don't know how this portrayed it here about teeth. But, yeah, no, I mean, work at the score. And he's like, oh, okay, nice. Well, have a good day, man. So that's why I posed this question as to the most interesting ice breakers that someone has brought up to you for a conversation.

Sounds like he needs to call almost freeteeth.com. Because, hello, the name is almost freeteeth.com. But that's just me. I'd go to Healthy Smiles. Yeah, exactly. Okay, Marshall, your face is in, your face got me. I'm just waiting to hear what you got to say. Oh, yeah, because everybody thinks that I'm going to have some whiz-bang answer.

But the sad part is I just forget them all. Do you know what I do instead? Worry about my counter. So people will often ask me what I do for a living and what I worked for any one of the three Comcast Sportsnet Reginals. Do you know what I would say? Comcast. They're like, oh, what do you do for a living?

I work at Comcast. Oh, yeah, what do you do? I work in billing because nobody is. ever continues the conversation after that. So you lie? Yeah. I tell people I'm a writer. It's not there. They don't deserve to know what I do for a living. And if I don't want to talk, if you don't want to talk to somebody, tell them you work in billing for the cable company. Works every time. This is like a different version of I have a boyfriend, even when you don't have a boyfriend, right? It's even worse because you're telling people you work in billing for the cable

company. Hmm. If you said that to me, I was like, oh, yo, can I get your number so I can, if I have problems, I can figure it out with you. Yes, it's zero when you dial the Comcast phone number. Man, tough crowd. Tough crowd. All right. For me, had a young lady tell me this is years ago. She was like, you know, you look like Wayne Brady.

And I said, do I? Ray does not agree. What? And I was like, I mean, some people think I'm funny, but I don't know that I'm that funny. You're entertaining. I am entertaining. Okay, that's fair.

He's an entertainer. I think I hit her with... You are entertaining. You're engaging. I was like, well, I'm not Wayne Brady, but I often think, does Wayne Brady have to choke up? Yeah. Come on, Marshall. Get at home, baby.

Chappelle's show. But yeah, that's my... There's icebreakers every day if you walk down State Street towards our little neck of the woods because you get the people out there doing good work who are... The icebreakers are always, hey, I love your shoes. That's a pretty cool hat. Where'd you get that backpack? Now, when did you get in?

Can we talk about the environment now? And can I get some of your money? I get a lot of that. And I have, like, I give, I have engaged and I am on, and luckily, I guess luckily, I am on the hook with a couple of those. So now when I walk by, I get to genuinely say, I'm already on the hook. You already got me. You already, you somehow, some way we talked that I believed in what you were saying.

but I still get a lot of hey nice shoes hey great shirt and so yeah I guess that's my icebreaker and sometimes like I look bad on purpose in the city because I don't care and I don't like being a target they'll be like hey nice shirt I'm like no it's not and I just keep walking oh Layla

no no I don't fall for the bananas and the tailpipes I guess I do I work at Comcast in billing works every time man every time nobody likes a cable company. And I get to talk to my friends after that. That's great. I think we should unpack some of this bear stuff, but I know we're still waiting to kind of download some audio here.

Guys, what do we think? Yes, bears? Yes, bears. Oh, we have it. We've got the audio. We've got that audio next. Rahimi Harrison Grody. I'm not a fan of any team. I'm just a fan of being right. Midday's 10 to 2 on 1043, the score. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043 to score. Before we get into the Bears conversation, we got a text on the text line from an 815 number. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to share my problems with you about my dental bill. I don't know if they're being funny or if it's actually the person and the person is funny, but thank you for providing us with the jumping off point for some content and five on it.

Now, Ben Johnson has spoken at Hallis Hall. We are collecting his comments, his audio. and just updates. Really, I feel like there were a lot of personnel updates. So let's begin with the one on Kyle Menungai. What's the timetables for Monongai? He'll be week to week. Aren't we all, Ben?

I liked hearing that week to weeks feels pretty good to me. That's not four to six months. It's not eight to ten weeks. It's not the weeks. It's week to week. Well, four to six months would be month to month. No, I know. But I'm just saying, like we've heard some devastating time

tables and Kobe Bryant to get a just a plain old week to week. And I know that could extend. It is. So I feel pretty good that he's going to be back for the Carolina game. Calling it right here. He called his shot. Yep. You heard me.

Carolina's going to win the NL Central. You guys hear that? What? Are they going to be under 500 again? The NFC South, man? No, no, I said the NL Central because your last prediction that gathered a lot of attention was about who was winning. the Enel Center.

That was a long time ago. People don't even remember that. People don't remember it. Every time we talk about it, some brewer gets their wings. Wow. I don't know what that means exactly. Daddy?

A cheese curd gets awarded to somebody in Milwaukee. They do have really good cheese curds in American Family Field. I hate to be the bearer of bad news. Well, of course. Wisconsin does cheese well. We can admit that.

Yeah, listen, I'm all for it except Green Bay sucks. But everything else I'm good with. I also really want to go up to Doroth County because there's some pie place that Luke Stuckmire always talks about that sounds sublime. Chris Emma has a place there. Wisconsin does cheese well. Chicago greets cheese well. How about that? Well, yeah, we have the cheese grater from Rinales here in our studio. Sure do. Yeah.

Okay, so there are also updates. It's just personnel updates with Ben Johnson from Hallis Hall this morning. He had an update on our guy, Ozzie Tripillo. And we saw Ozzie back on the field on Sunday. What's your understanding of kind of the timetable that he's under to get ready for full speed, full contact, full competition. Yeah, he's another one. We've talked a lot about just having a plan in place and the best thing for him, ramping him up. And, you know, obviously physically, we feel really good about where he's at or else we wouldn't have brought him off PUP. Now it's a race to see how quickly we can rebuild the confidence. And so it's going to look different for him than it is anybody else just in terms of how we continue to integrate him into drills, team drills, things like. that, but we felt like this is a good opportunity over the next course of training camp with the padded practices that we're going to have that gives him a chance to start building that confidence back up again.

What do we think, guys? The word that he used that intrigued me was race, because that makes it sound like we are in full force trying to figure out the quickest way to get this man ready to play tackle football in the National Football League. It also says to me that he's pretty healthy and that they just like the confidence part, that's like the doctors say you can play. Now, do you feel good out there considering you had a pretty traumatic injury? You know, like do you feel good?

Do you trust your knee? Do you trust your knee? Can you go full force? Are you going to be favoring it in any way, shape, or form? Are you going to be afraid to do things the way you used to do things because of this traumatic injury? So, yeah, it sounds pretty optimistic to me. Sounds more mental than anything else.

Can I sidebar question? A question to you, too, because I've been thinking about it in my free time. time. Sadbar. Salad bars also. Yeah, I love a salad bar. Okay, so Press Taylor said again, in his availability on Sunday, he said, once again, if Rome hadn't told us that about his foot, we wouldn't have known.

And while I think he was talking about from an observation standpoint, they wouldn't have known because they didn't see any sort of a limitation perhaps in his game. What concerns me is, like when we're talking about Trappello, for example, Kyler Gordon is another person we'll hear about today. Menangai. shouldn't you guys know though? Like shouldn't the Bears coaching staff know that his foot is different and it's not just something he says to the media?

Like when we're trying to figure out injury timelines and how last year there was a lot of injury timelines that were concerning, right? Like the guys thought they were ready. They weren't. We've talked about it. Isn't that something that should be fully communicated to begin with or is that, am I making too much of this? I think here's here's how I see it.

because everything's fluid and you don't know exactly how different players are going to respond with recoveries and rehabs from different injuries. And as you know, Layla, the last thing we want to see, the last thing the bears want to see, and the last thing the player wants to see is a setback. So you kind of have to figure it out as you go. You can have like an overall plan, but you could say like in two weeks we're going to be doing this, but no, no, no. Let's see how you feel from what you did yesterday is usually the prevailing driver in most of these

rehab and recover situations. Yeah, I think the new normal was just like so many NFL players. It's something he's always going to have to watch. It's always something that he's going to have to maintain. And maybe it's something that he's going to have to, you know, just watch over. So I kind of get where Press Taylor is coming from. And as Layla said correctly, he has now said it twice when asked about Romadoon's right. And I feel like he's talking about it from a, this is us watching him standpoint.

But then I'm also like, well, wait, should this have been commuting? is just part of the process here when it comes to injuries just so you guys are aware. And not us first necessarily. So I don't know. I just wanted to think that out loud. And I don't know that there's a right or wrong answer. It just I'm an over communicator rather than an under. Oh, wow.

You've been listening to our boss. That's Mitch Rosen's favorite, favorite phrase. Over communicate and under communicate. I mean, isn't that why we were here for four and a half hours? I guess so. Isn't that excessive? volume under control. I mean, isn't there a chance for everything to be excessive?

Can you communicate too much? Absolutely. Yeah. So over- communicating is a problem. I overeat often, as you guys know. No portion of control. You're over-gilt is what it is.

You over-gilt. But you work out, so it's okay. You can sit here and eat all your little snacks and then you go work out and you look great. Do you know what? I used to do a show. I used to do updates for a show with Michael Dell and Mark Cuban's trainer. His name is George Dejan.

looked like Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. And do you know what he once said to me? Layla, the objective is to lose weight, not your mind. That's a great, I love that because there's been so many times in my life when losing weight, I lost my mind. Yeah. So I always try to keep that in mind. It was very good advice at a younger age.

Good stuff. What else you got? Ben Johnson talked about Kyler Gordon. Ben, can you provide any more update on Kyler Gordon? We've pretty much gotten a non-up. Yeah, there's nothing to add right now. Have any interaction with you or see? I see him in building.

You feel like he is progressing. Yeah, there's a plan and he's working towards that plan. What does he do right now? He's rehabbing. So it's official. Jason Leisure with the Zinger. I have had more interaction with Kyler Gordon than Ben Johnson, it sounds like. Bro, that sounded tense.

Obviously, we'll want to hear that again, Tyler. So when the hamster can get back on the wheel for us to hear it again. That's insane. When you provide any more update on Kyler Gordon, we've pretty much gotten a non-upject. Yeah, there's not. nothing to add right now. Have any interaction with him or see? Yeah, I see him in the building.

I feel like he is progressing. Yeah, there's a plan and he's working towards that plan. What does he do right now? He's rehabbing. We need to isolate the Jason leisure. What does he do right now? Because I feel like that's just going to come in handy in life. And for people who miss it, I did talk to Kyler Gordon.

And I'm not kidding. I may have had more interaction with Kyler Gordon. I had exchanged pleasantries with him in the locker room. And I brought up the stuff that's being said around him. And he said, no comment. and he said eventually he would have something to say. I'm not trying to make Ben Johnson sound any kind of way. Back to you.

How can you not listen to that and think this man is disgusted at the fact that he can see Kyle Gordon in the building, but he can't see him on the field? Well, right. I mean, every single time he has spoken about, he has not changed his tone. Short. Kurt is the word. Kurt is dead. Well, and it's that quick yes that makes me super nervous.

Do you know what it reminds me of? Anytime you would ask Ben Johnson about the Lions game last year, He was mad about that for weeks. Probably still pissed about that. Yeah, why don't you just... Bers Media Corps. Why don't you just ask Ben Johnson a bunch of triggering questions one day?

Kyler Gordon, the lion's laws. What else can we come up with? That would bother him. I love that idea of that list. Does that bother Ben Johnson? Red line the caffeine. Matt LaFleur.

Matt LaFleur. That's on the list. Oh, let's go with Mount Rushmore. Top four things. Matt LaFleur. That father of Ben Johnson is. The floor is number one. Leflore, oh, you think he's number.

Oh, absolutely. No, no, it's the lion's losses. I think he's... Oh, I'd put Kyler before the Lions' losses. I would put Kyler before... Honestly, I would put the Kyler Gordon situation above Matt LaFleur. What's another one? We need one more, right?

So we got Matt LaFleurorkeye, the Lions losses. And, oh, maybe the 33-year-old guard is the only one in the picture. That was so good. So that one play. Poor Joe Tooney is somehow getting... He ends up getting... shade by association for being the protector of the year and doing the right thing. Yeah, he's going to be like, what the hell is that, man?

There's something else I feel like I'm missing. Yeah, there probably is something that we're missing here that gets under the skin. I feel like we're in a talk show. It gets under the skin. I got one. I got one. Go. Pre-snap penalties.

I think every coach gets pissed off about those. You think it's at a different level? Oh, oh, Adam Schaefter injury timelines. Oh, that's pretty good. Yesy. We have our list. There it is. I think we're suffering from recency bias here, but I'm okay with it.

And interruptions during press conferences. Oh, yeah. Cell phones on. Cell phones ringing during press conferences. That's it. I'm going to crack the egg. But it's got to be a repeating theme, though. We can't just say things that have one-off.

Do you know what I'm saying? But I like what we've done in real time here. Something he gets so mad at, it's only going to be a one-off because if it happens again, you're scared of what might happen. Well, apparently with that caffeine intake, we're living on the edge with this conversation. But I don't know. not the one who injured my calf and then re-injured my calf. What does he have to say about the starting left tackle competition? We're going to make a couple changes there. You'll see it today.

Braxton will be back. He'll take the reps with the ones. We're going to move Theo over to the left side, get him some reps with the two's there. So as far as I'm concerned, the competition remains wide open, and we'll continue to play that one out. He's got his own timeline right now. He's got his own timeline right now. Oh, oh, also, yes. That was Ozzy who was talking about, right? Yeah, this is a pillow. This is important, too.

7.73. How about asking, how about a reporter asking coach about a scheme like a D.D. Kina Bwala did? That's Patrick from Gage Park. Yes, yes, good call. We'll come up with the all-annoying press conference for Ben Johnson. I love it. Shout out to Tyler, Beaterbaud, Ray Diaz, for turning that tape around so fast.

Nice job. I saw you, I was in the studio. You guys were intense over there putting that stuff together. Nice job. Really nice job. Okay, so we get to choose our own adventure in our next segment. Should we marinate on some of what we just heard from Ben Johnson? I think so.

Also, there's more news from Brad Biggs who apparently says that Tyson-Bajun has not been spotted at the start of practice. I don't know how much that concerns you. Okay. Miller Moss becomes the third-string quarterback, ladies and gentlemen. No, Case Keatom people. Case Keatom doesn't exist anymore? Well, no, well, he would be the second-string quarterback. I said third-strain quarterback.

Okay, so we'll sort this out. Sorry, I did it in a weird order. No, you know what? More bears next. Bears. Bears. Rahimi Harrison Grody. We are the best show in this town to have the coach and or quarterback sit right here.

Because we're here for a good time. We are here for a good time. We're fun. We're funny. We're serious sometimes. Sometimes we cry. Sometimes we laugh. Like, this is perfect.

If you wanted a high chance of a drink spilled all over the studio, we are definitely repeated. Middays 10 to 2. Maybe we're the show for you. On 104 3, the score. What does he do right now? He's rehabbing. That was peak Jason leisure, like just the peppered rate at which those questions were asked about Kyler Gordon. Okay, we've gotten some other good suggestions on our text line for the all-annoying Ben Johnson press conference.

I'm pretty sure if we put this all together, he quit doing media availabilities. 847, unsolicited media moments. 779, trading Tyson Baygent. No. 847, things Ben Johnson hates, halftime interviews going to or from the locker room. Fair. Valid.

Valid. 760 says, Ask about Caleb being on Madden. Your reward for being great is that we now know what bothers you. I like this idea. Now that I think about it, Marshall, you probably are right about the pre-snap stuff because it was the original monster in training camp.

last year with the pre-snap stuff not going well and him coming out and us watching on the sidelines him yelling at everybody kicking an entire unit off the field kicking an entire unit off the field it was quite a sight out there on the north shore but let's be honest guys running backs not blocking yeah oh yeah no running backs and no receivers not blocking yep if we're being honest with ourselves we love it we love all the things that ben johnson hates because it makes him more of a football psycho in our minds. And we love a football psycho when it comes to who do you want leading your team, a guy who's very, um, uh, uh, uh, or a football psycho.

The contrast never dies between Ben Johnson and the last guy we saw be the head coach of the Chicago Bears. Let me ask you this. Let me ask you this. Both of you guys, because I ask Gabe Ramirez this question. And I want to see how you guys answer this question. You love Gabe. I love Gabe. We all love Gabe.

Actually, we all do. Come on. That's why we always like working with him. Gabe from the block, man. He's just, he's the goods. I don't know that he's Gabe from the block. No, he's not. That didn't work. That didn't hit. I'm sorry. Glamorous and humble at the same time. I call him Gabe from the burbs because he lives in the burps. Yeah, he sold out. Yeah. He would sell out. He just, he has a family. I did it for a year. That man has a family. I came running back to the city after my one year in Oprah.

Yeah, when you moved to the suburbs, when you moved to the suburbs, I was like, oh, okay. And then in the back of my head, I was like, this is a choice. It wasn't me. You knew I was doing. You see, that's why I like you, Lail. You knew I was doing the wrong thing, but you're like, I got to let him make mistakes for himself. I thought you were going to become a... Well, sometimes I just think I'm also wrong. I'm like, well, maybe I'm wrong on this.

No, you were not. You were not wrong. But the question I asked Gabe was, does Ben Johnson have a 100% approval rating in this city? If it's not close to 100, I've never seen that before. I think he has as close to a 100% approval rating as you can have. There will always be a naysayer.

That's the answer that Gabe gave. He's like, Grotie. No, he's like, it's probably like 95% because there's always going to be, no matter what the issue is. The world hunger could be solved and there would be detractors. There would be people pushing back. Although I think it's higher than 95%. I think it's probably more like 98 to 99. Okay. I have a question. Layla, let's go ahead. Between Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams, who is more the face of the bears right now. Man, I still think it's Ben Johnson. I think it was Ben Johnson until the playoffs happened.

I think it's Caleb Williams now. But it could be either one. I'm thinking I'm the best coach in America. It's a great question, and I think it's still been by an eyelash because most people would maybe give Ben a responsibility for get. Because when Shane Waldron and Matt Eberflusa here, did anybody think that Caleb was going to get to where we all thought he could go? No, I always thought that the Bears categorically have failed their quarterbacks,

actually. All of that. What's your answer? Well, I think you wanted the hall for Justin Field. I never said that, but I do think that the Bears, were on a really long path that was very proven that they failed their quarterbacks. My answer is very simple. Yes, I always believe that Ben Johnson was going to be the one to turn kid.

As soon as he was hired. Before that, I was like, the Bears may fumble this. And I do mean because it was the number one overall pick. And to me, the guy with the highest ceiling of anyone in that draft class. But now, as soon as, actually, as soon as they hire Ben Johnson, before he ever stepped to the podium and said his stuff that he said, I was like, oh, Ben Johnson's got this. look at the track record, he's good to go. But you even, but you on the show, I remember you talked about how he wasn't proven as a head coach yet.

You talked about that. Yes. I said the offense is going to be fine. I almost kind of still fill that same way because the defense to me isn't any better. Like they're going to have to win games 35 to 33. Yeah. What's your answer, Layla? Do you dare answer your own question or was that just for the class?

No, I think there are times where I feel like it is Ben Johnson and then after the Madden cover, maybe it shifts back to Caleb. You know, give Caleb a couple more games where he gets to do his thing. It's going to be Caleb. It's going to be. But I think here it's still Ben Johnson. Ray was going to say something, Ray. Oh, yeah. I was just going to say that this is going to be a very interesting year to observe head coach Ben Johnson

because he has declared that he's going to spend more time with the defense. I'm going to be very interested to see how that all plays out. Like when we get midway through the season, hey, Ben, how is it divvying up the time and being less with the, you know, spending less time with the, you know, spending less time with the offense. Spend more time with the defense. That's a fun thing to say. He told Harp Howard.

He would. Oh, I know. And you know what? Maddie Kroofu said he was going to spend more time with the offense. He's not right about that. He of a 95% plus rating, a liar? This gets asked to every single coach in the NFL, whether your offense emphasis or defensive emphasis, you get asked that question.

Ben Johnson is here to run the offense. You know what popped up in my mind when you said that, Gertie, the HBO. Hard knocks. Hard knocks. He's sitting there with Caleb. Oh, Kennedy. He's really shaped his man's mind.

I don't think so. I will say to his credit when he did go over actual tactician like. Tactician. No, but seriously, when he goes over the film, you see why he got promoted. Who?

Matt Iber Fluse. Like, he was really good about going over film, like in the moments that we saw in Hard Knox. Oh, well, we heard from, I didn't understand the film that he was studying.

I was going to say Caleb told us differently. No, no, and I feel like Caleb told the truth. truth. But I think both things can be true. Like, you can have a coach who, when he goes over the film, he's good, but also not be a good head coach. Like, those things can be true. I saw Carl Williams the other day outside the locker room.

How's Carl? Carl looked like, I didn't say hi to Carl, but he was smiling. I saw Caleb come out and embrace Carl. I saw Montez sweat somehow got tangled up with the media horde as we wait to get into the locker room. So it's you guys and Montez. And the security is tight, like, and good. Like, it's the, what do you call it? You have to get the, you get the video, the eye security.

What's it called? Yeah, they have that now. They have that? They have that. What? To get every time you walk in and out of the press box when you go into the locker room and Montes Sweat is standing there with us, like in the horde. And he's laughing and having a good time.

It was so nice to see Montez enjoying himself. And he had to do the thing. And we all had to. And he's like, oh, I thought I was the only one who had to do this security measure. Like, no, no, Montez. Wait, wait. that for media members too? Yeah.

Oh yeah. Yeah, there's a name for it. And obviously my brain did not allow me. No, I mean, it's smart because now you don't, you keep the rip. Nobody that's not supposed to get in there is going to get in there. When did they scan your retina? They started doing it last year. Yeah, I'm saying, when did they do the original retina scan to take your retina scan?

I guess it was like two years ago. Okay. Something like that. I guess it has been two years since I've been to a game. So you're picturing the lineup, your picture. As the media. I'm supposed to go to games this year. So I'm wondering for the one-off.

so how do they do that? Oh, 708 has a good suggestion, the Hallmark movie. Yeah, that's good. Okay, so to summarize, we've got phone ringing and press conference, halftime interview, halftime interview specifically about scheme, the last loss to the Lions, Kyler Gordon, and Hallmark movie? Is that our list? My wife, Jessica and I will definitely be tuning in for this one. Oh, sure. My name is state your name. I can't wait to get Ben Johnson's feedback when asked by the media what his wife thought about his performance in the Hallmark movie. I think we just have to ask for Jessica Johnson is really what has to happen. Okay.

Oh, you know what, guys. We might just have to ask for her availability. I'm sorry to, like, interrupt you guys. No, that's all this is. Yeah, facial recognition is what it's called. So I don't know if it's the retinal. Oh, okay. No, that's facial recognition.

That's less. So you look in the picture, you're, it's like your, it's like, it's like your, TSA, like the touchless. You do like, but you have to, you have to stare at the camera and then wait for it to prove your name pops up and then you enter into wherever you're trying to get. There's a part of me that's always like, because I've been on, I still think I'm on the global selected list, but I'm off of the American selected list. And I know this for reasons that I can't discuss because I, you know, but it's like, guys,

the jig is up. Like, you know where I am for six hours a day at least. You know where I am for the other days or hours of the day watching the games to prepare for the six hours of the day where you know I'm at. Public service announcement before you. I'm a broadcaster. You know where I am. How you doing, everybody?

I'm a broadcaster. Here's the PSA. If you have TSA precheck already, please take the five minutes and put yourself on the touchless because that's a different world. Oh, yeah? You already have the pre-check. It's already pre-loaded. Get in there.

I'm not going to tell other people what to do, but with TSA and security specifically throughout the world. Guys, you probably know where I am. That's all. There's a better chance than not that you know where I am. That's the end. At least for me. Take me off these silly lists.

I'm not doing anything except complaining about the bears. Russ Dorsey's next. 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.

Hekow Armstrong is the hottest player in baseball and has been for the better part of a month and a half. Like since May, he has been a man on a mission. Insider and analysts 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 going to be looking at each other. They're like, oh, one run, five, six hits, yeah. Russell Dorsey. On 1043, the score.

The score. Yeah, what's up, Russ? The Major League Baseball Insider for Yahoo Sports, MLB Network Friday Night Baseball and Apple TV. hosted the Relay with Russ Dorsey podcast available on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast. He is at Russ underscore Dorsey One on X and he's here. Hi Russ. Hi, guys. It's been a long time since all four of us were in the same space.

It's nice to see you gross. Yeah, good to see you too, Russ. I think when was the last time? It was, was it a performance studio day? Yes, yes, it was. Was it that long ago? It was only two weeks ago, guys. Let's not get too good way.

But before that. We feel the distance, Russ. and I. We do. But we weren't in here, though. It's different performance studio versus here. It is. This is like a more intimate setting. That was like spacious. Right. Ian Hap was just in there. It's like you're on a remote. People didn't even girls didn't care about me. It's like the essence of Ian Hap was still in the room. And it was like, oh, Russ is here. We had 14 water bottles. It was like salmon floating around. Yeah. Yeah. Salmon was good. But now we're all together.

for everybody. Last night's game. I came away from it thinking, where is a better place to be in the baseball world right now than Chicago last night? That was absolutely a great game to watch. Somebody had to lose. Somebody had to win. But just some tremendous, I think, theater drama.

Closest thing I'm going to see to the playoffs before the playoffs. What were your takeaways from just the continuation of crosstown? Yeah, you want playoff baseball in August. You got it last night. Back and forth, both teams coming up with big hits after big hit after big hit, you know, the Benintin Homer, the Randall Gritchik Homer earlier in the game, Cubs coming back and say, yeah, we got some too. And then Pete Crowe Armstrong, lead off Homer, capping it off with a walkoff for 30-30.

Like, that's real baseball theater. And I think for two teams that have playoff expectations, you want to play like games like that. Like I even think for the Chicago White Sox, and I'm working on a story about, it right now. When you are a team where they are and you're like learning how to win on the fly and now your season has gone to, okay, we're the target now and people are trying to come after us in this next final six weeks of the season, you're going to have to go through some games like this where, hey, we have to play other teams that have the same expectations that we do. And yeah, you're going to have some of those. But I also think, you know, they had a big series

in Detroit over the weekend where Detroit's hot, they're playing at home, and if the socks get swept in that series, they're the second place team in the AL Central. And they went up there and played great baseball, swept the Tigers, and are in a good spot right now. But I think

this is great for the city. It's so exciting to watch a game like that, where I think both fan bases is like, yeah, man, like this city in October, both teams in town. And the Bears? Bears. Yeah.

Yeah. I can't handle it. I can't handle it thinking about it. We can't, I ask the question, can this city handle a White Sox Cubs World Series? We can't even handle what's going on right now. No, I think we're handling it very well. I do want to ask you about a particular moment in that game last night.

Bottom 10, PCA leading off. Do you agree with Will Vennibles decision? No. Okay, we're aligned. No. Usually we're not aligned this quickly into a segment. You're like, what are we doing? I think that's a bad baseball decision personally.

I can understand the concept of left-on-left. In general, PCA's OPS this year against left-handed pitching is over 900. The left-on-left argument, it's dead. It's dead. Right? And even if it's just like, all right, then I would have a left-hander to face Sayas Suzuki. I would rather Hagen Smith's face Sayas-Zouki than PCA. Sorry.

Because it's like you can't let the Cubs best beat you in that situation. It was also, and pitch selection made sense, but that's a really big ask of a guy to nail that slider in that moment against that hitter at their park. And then it was just, it was too high. It didn't slide enough. Game on the line with a guy who's going to be a top two finisher and MVP voting at the plate. No, not.

you. Not you. If Say it beat you, say it beat you, but I'm not letting an MVP candidate beat me in that situation. I think what, for me, what cemented it is the fact that PCA was three for four with a walk in that game with a home run on the first pitch and you already knew

what his emotions were like because of what happened the last time he faced the White Sox and all he had to hear about it. And a dude like that is living for that moment. Right? You can't say that for everybody. But PCA is like, please, are you going to, are you going to pitch to me?

And now pitch, and look, look, go, go, I'm up to O and then you throw a strike. And now it's like, you really think you're back into sit bad, huh? You were never back in this and bad, you were never back in this. Yeah, like, no, I don't, I don't like that at all. But I think a learning experience, because if you want to be a team that goes to the postseason, you're going to have moments like that where, you know, whether you're, if you're playing, you know the Boston Red Sox, you're playing the Yankees, you're playing whoever. The race.

Yeah, this is like, are you going to pitch the junior Camerro with the game on the line? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Let me pick up on that theme because you brought it up a couple times now, that the socks are in it for real, and now teams are going to be coming at them. This is big boy baseball time. And yet, here we are. The White Sox are in this predicament where we know who the starting pitcher is today,

but before that it was to be determined for the next couple of games. It's going to be a bullpen game today with Brian Hudson. Who knows what happens in the final game of the series. That doesn't seem ideal for a team that is trying to play big boy baseball and have teams coming at them right now. I fully agree. And it's why when Marshall texted me after the trade deadline and asked me if I thought the White Sox did enough, I said no.

Because the thing that they needed the most at the deadline was starting pitching. They got one. they really needed to. They didn't get to. And now you're relying on the guys who were already in your rotation to be able to find it over the last six weeks of the season. Davis Martin. You got a lot of young guys on this staff. Right.

And now it's just like, hey, it's on you guys. Like if you're going to be the team that you're trying to be, if you're going to win this division, you need those young guys to like find it from somewhere. You need a Davis Martin to be like, hey, buddy, I know it's not going well right now, but we need you to find it. You need your stopper to step up. Yeah. If nothing else, the most basic question, you've got to have a stopper. You know what I mean?

Because it's like, Sean Burke, fantastic. Been great. Great story. Luis Castillo, bad first start, great second start, right? Third start and mixed back. He was fine yesterday. Yeah, fine. Yeah.

Yeah. Just fine. He failed them too, including himself. Yeah. So I think you're going to have. have to have guys step up over the last six weeks of this season. But to your original question, Groves, it's like it is going to be a challenge. Other teams who are in the mix in the American League, whether, take Detroit because

they're the team behind the White Sox that I think is going to be their biggest competition over the next six weeks. They have starting pitching. It's their strength right now is their starting pitching. So it's going to be a grand. for the White Sox to get to the end of this season, but I don't think that means it's, ah, well, it's over. I still think, hey, they have a good opportunity in front of them.

So not Cleveland. Is that because of what you've seen in the previous series? No, I think it's because I believe in Detroit starting pitching. Even now? Yeah. Because even without school, they were really good until they played the White Sox. Yeah, yeah, they beat some of their better pitchers. That was their worst series they had played in like a month when they played the White Sox.

over the weekend. I think the thing with Cleveland to think about, though, they have the easiest strength of schedule over the last six weeks of the season. And they close. Right. So I believe, if I'm not mistaken, they play the White Sox one more time and the Red Sox, but then they play the worst teams in baseball. They get the Angels, they play the Rockies, they play the A's, they play the Royals.

Giants. Just based off of strength of schedule, that's a team, yes, you will still have to watch. if they play the way they're supposed to play against those teams. So it's Giants, Rockies, Angels, Royals to end the month. And to be fair, they have the easiest strength of schedule remaining opponents with a 453 winning percentage. The White Sox do have the 27th easiest remaining schedule with a 481 opposing winning percentage.

And they've got the one game with Atlanta, obviously the two remaining with the Cubs, three against the Cardinals, four with the Astros. But outside of that, it's easy. pickings for them, three with the Mets, three with the Royals, three with the Rockies, three with the Pirates. That Mets series is in football, we would call it the trap game. They're playing much better in the second half of the season. Much better.

So, like, that's one you can't just take your foot off the gas because the Mets are coming to town. I love where we are with both of these teams. I do want to say this. I firmly believe the Cubs can catch the Brewers because, yes, they only have 36 games left, but 20% of their games, seven of them, are again. against the Brewers, and I think the offense is playing its best baseball of the season. You can look at the last few games, even in the series against the Cardinals, with what

Nico Horner has done since the All-Star break, batting 370, with what Alex Breggman is doing, his OPS now up to 750 or so. And then obviously, PCA is PCA. And as long as he has that Sayas Suzuki protection as he does, you got to pitch to him. I like that switch that Craig made after the All-Star Break. It's worked really well for them. Yeah, and both of those guys are swinging right now, and that only helps, you know,

Bregman and Nico and, you know, Pedro Ramirez down the bottom of the line. I'm like all those guys benefit from that setup right now. We're talking to Russ Jorsi, the host of the Relay with Russ Dorsey podcast. He's with Apple TV and MLB Network and Yahoo Sports on Rahimi Harrison Grady. What do you think about the Edward Cabrera sitch?

Because it's rough, man. Yeah. I will say this. When the Cubs acquired Edward Cabrera from the Marlins, it was not that he didn't have stuff, but the biggest question on Edward Cabrera throughout his career has been, can he stay healthy over the course of 162? And coming into the season, the answer had been no. And then this season, first season in Chicago, the answer has still been no. and now you get yourself at a point where they had a decision to make,

who do you take out of the rotation? At the time, they said, all right, it's David Peterson. He's coming out. And I didn't know, I didn't necessarily love that. Hated it. I didn't love that at the time. But I'm like, all right, that's what they feel is the best situation for them. And now you have Edward Cabrera with this blister issue.

Yeah, I think it's one of those things where you make a decision because you, had conviction in it, and it's just like, that's not going to work. So they're going to have to pivot here and come up with a new plan. When he comes back, it doesn't sound like he's going to go back into the rotation.

He shouldn't? No, no, I think it's short relief. I'm on him like I am Noah Schultz for the White Sacks. Like, no, you're trying to win here. Yeah. And you don't know. I think Jed confirmed that yesterday

on the afternoon show. I think you did. We want to go over some of what Jed said on the afternoon show with you, Russ. We also have some breaking news from your friend, Mark Carmen, Mark Rudy. What's Carmen got for us?

What's got a little something? You're listening live to an impersonation of Mark Carmen on the score. It's got to be Bejant. Breaking News on the score is brought to you by IDOT. Indeed. At some point in the day, everyone is a pedestrian. Slow down and give them space. Share the road.

It's not a game. So Brad Biggs had posted Tyson Bejant was not spotted at the start of practice. And then Mark Carmen says Tyson Baygent suffered a hamstring injury in the game against the Browns. He's not practicing today and his status where Saturday's game is in doubt. Case kingdom time. Let's go. Miller Moss, third string. All right. I want to see the NCAA passing yards leaders still slinging around. He got 151 yards in a quarter after all. Is Ben Johnson going to be okay? I mean, did Ben Johnson do the Hawk Harrelson and rush right to wherever he is? Sorry, guys, I got to go check on Tyson Bayesian. That does suck. I hope he's okay.

It's not great. What? Does it? Does it what? Does it suck? Oh, yeah. Bates your primary. Are you a backup quarterback?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no. No. No. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. Stop, because that brings out a community that I don't want to smoke with. The pure bloodline guy is going to text in. Oh.

Now, y'all did it. Y'all the one that did it. So tell us your stance on Tyson, Bejit. I, when I heard breaking news, I'm thinking, oh, man, what happened to Caleb? Oh, what happened to Caleb? Oh, what happened. Oh, what happened. happened to whoever.

You should have known Mark Carmen breaking news was going to be Tyson Bayesian. Shout out to Carm. I saw him a couple weeks ago. Yeah, he's the kids. That's not as important to me as Kyler Gordon or. Who? Who? Exactly.

Kyle Minangai or something like that. Like, I'm thinking it's going to be. Caramonan guy. Why are you going to go like that? It's the most. quarterback in the league? What gets a loss because Tyson-Bajatian is hurt?

You don't have access to one of the 32 best quarterbacks in the NFL according to Ben Johnson. You know why I don't care about that? Because the guy who's a top 10 quarterback in the NFL is healthy. Oh, you got me top 10, okay, got you. Top 10, 12? Yeah. I had to get on the line. I had to pick up the

phone about Bayesian. He's the real deal. This is coming from a pure bloodline. I think you're going to get a stud in this kid, and I think he's the real deal. Like, are you talking about him? Like, he's a race horse? So, otherwise. That is, and I've heard a lot of things,

I've heard a lot of things on this station before. That is a top five crazy things said on the score. It never gets old. It's not Tyson Bayesian's fault, though. No, he's just become, he's become a symbol. He has. I was too busy grinding my absolute face off. He's trying to do burpees.

That's all he's trying to do. Maybe some mountain climbers. Is this analogy off? or are you willing to accept it? For a certain population, he is their Caitlin Clark. Oh, heavy. I don't think it's that heavy. I don't know, gross.

I don't know. Really? Yeah. I think, well, okay, we were talking about approval rating earlier. I think Caleb Williams has near 100% approval rating in this town. Now, if you go back a year ago. There was a time. Even midway through the season last year.

Do I remember the last year before we break, the last year of Justin in the city? Yeah. I was worried about kale for a while, but it wasn't because I thought Tyson Bajent needed to take over the starting. Okay, so here's my problem with the 1 of 32 is Malik Willis. You know what I mean? Like that, that throws it all off for me. I'm like, because I'd rather have Malik Willis. Malik Willis became one of those guys. Like he hurt the bears. He followed the arc precisely. He followed the arc that that I think Ben Johnson was describing with Bejant. And now he's Jeff Halfley's guy, the former Packers defensive coordinator in Miami. And I'm like, Ah, he was one of the 32. I'm curious to see if Tyson Bayesian's arm

will ever be strong enough, but we don't have to worry about that right now because his leg's not strong enough to be on the practice. That is rollout King Tyson Bagant to you. With all due respect to you, Leila, you definitely would way more prefer to see Tyson Bejian coming into a game

if Caleb goes down than Case Keenum. That's just truth. I'm not going to... I understand, Leila, I do. I cannot have the air raid offense offended like this. I know. I said it. You don't have to respond, but there it is. Yeah, I also.

think there's a reason Tyson Beijan is the second string quarterback and not the third. Yes. But, you know, that's just me being college me. We all have our guys. I respect that. Yeah, I just, I really did love his career in college. I thought was the coolest. He didn't he had some great moments, obviously.

It was a very revolutionary office at the time. And it taught me a lot about life and the friends I made along the way. This afternoon, joined the score in I'd out of Gallagher Way outside of Wrigley Field from 2 to 6 p.m. Spiegel and Holes will be live from Gallagher Way ahead of the second game of Crosstown right here on the north side. Nico Horner will be on site at 2.30. He's going to be there for his weekly visit. It is all brought to you by IDOT. They'll have educational activities and prizes on site. Visit it's not a game, Illinois.com for more info. I had a feeling that Jed Hoyer was going to get verbose with Ryan McGuffie and Matt Spiegel because Jedd will do that from time to time.

And he did. So I want to go over some of what we heard from Jed Hoyer yesterday with Russ next. He's the real deal. This is coming from a pure bloodline. You're listening to Rahimi Harrison Grody on Sports Radio 1043, the score. The 2-1. That's to right. That walks it off in the 10th.

And the Cubs knock out the socks in 10. It began with the Homer. ended it with a homer. John Shambi, Jim DeShay's on the call courtesy of Marquis Sports Network. We are joined by Apple TV Insider, MLB Network, Yahoo Sports, Russ Dorsey, the Relay with Russ Dorsey podcast in studio.

New episode, out today? Out today. And you can see his videos on TikTok, on Instagram. Also, there's been a lot of discussion about Edward Cabrera. We talked about it a little bit in our previous segment. I want to go back to what Jed Hoyer had to say to our after noon show. It was Ryan McGuffey and Matt Spiegel yesterday at the Covey Bear talking about what he had seen out of his starting pitcher. No question. And I think there was a moment we talked about

with the trades where it's like, okay, like if everyone's healthy, we're kind of oversubscribed. And it was like, yeah, but that never happens. And so you don't have to worry about those things. And it has been a frustrating season for him. You know, the blisters have kind of come up a bunch of times, even times where he didn't go on the IAL for it. It was something we were dealing with. I think long term is something we have to figure out. He's a really good pitcher. He's had really good seasons. We've got to figure out how to keep his hands right. I think that you saw yesterday in the fourth inning, he has lost command and you can see him picking out his finger and we have to avoid that. It's happened a number of times this year and that's something we have

to figure out over the winter. How can we possibly, you know, strengthen the skin? How can we make sure he doesn't have these issues, you know, every third start. Once you hear somebody talking about the plan over the winter to figure things out, I'm not saying he's null and void the rest of this season, but it sounds like he's going to be at the back of the line, if you will, because they now have starting depth. They didn't have, and even bullpen help that they anticipate getting between now and the postseason. Over-subscribed.

I love that. Yeah. I think I don't want to look too deep into it, but. I think there is an acknowledgement there that this, because it's happened so much, it's going to be difficult to find a resolution in like two days. Well, there was a follow-up, too. So he was asked about his role being shorter than potentially. Yeah, I think that's very likely that we do.

And I think as the season gets shorter, we start putting guys in different roles like that. So I think it makes sense. It's not something he's done, right? Do you worry about the routine, the mindset of being able to? to do it? Absolutely. I don't think you don't just spring it on them. I think it's something you have to work through. But I do think we have a number of guys working back from injuries

that could end up, you know, pitching in some different roles. And that's just the nature of the end of the season. You know, that's what happens. And hopefully some of those guys can, you know, kind of create, have out-getters, as Craig would say. You know, might not be conventional starting pitchers, but they can get a lot of

important outs. So I feel like when we hear that, he understands that Cabrera is probably not part of their post-September plan. It doesn't sound like. It's hard to see how he would fit into a postseason roster when you look at all the other pictures they do have and the guys they're waiting to come back, whether it's Daniel Polencia, potentially Shelby Miller. There's other guys that can do the stuff that he's talking about Edward Cabrera

possibly doing for the first time ever. Here's the thing with that. And the Yankees kind of have this issue as well. I think good health is a bad strategy. Right. When you're just wishing for good health to potentially have guys back is a bad strategy, you can't live like that. You have to plan for the roster that you have. And yeah, there are some guys that could come back.

There are guys that you're optimistic they will come back, but you don't know what level they're returning at. For the Yankees, for example. Aaron Judge hasn't played since Memorial Day. And they have been very high on this, hey, we're going to get Aaron Judge back at some point this season. It's like, you might one get Aaron Judge back. And if he does return, you're expecting to have the 60 home run version of Aaron Judge, who hasn't played in over three months. I think that's – I don't think that's a realistic play. So here for the Cubs, I will say the one thing about what Jed said.

The Outgetters model is one that's really successful, not just for the Cubs, but for other teams, especially when we get into the postseason. And so for Edward Cabrera, yeah, they might get some guys back that fit into roles easier than he does, but the stuff is going to play. Like, he has stuff. And in a shorter stint, a shorter sample, maybe you don't have the blister issues if it's just like, hey, go get six out. Yeah, that's a great point. One other name I wanted to bring up to you as far as the coming back guys, the guys that are coming back is Ben Brown.

I don't know, like, he's got some rehab to do still. But what do you think about the possibilities when he returns? Just bullpen, just high leverage bullpen? Or do you start him because he was very successful doing both? The one thing about, especially a guy who was on a starter's schedule, is we're at a point in the year. And Jed kind of alluded to it. Like, you're running out of runway. Yeah.

Because now we only have six weeks left in the season. at, you know, we don't know when a Ben Brown would return, and it's hard to kind of build up when you always hear, you know, maybe you're talking about, hey, we've got to build him up, he has to ramp up. You don't have the time to ramp a guy up. And so that's another. Feels like bullpen. Yeah.

And maybe it's a two-inning stretch, maybe three-inning stretch. I was about to ask, wouldn't, this is how I envision. Tell me if you're in the same neighborhood, I could see him coming back and having the role that Jacob Mizorowski had last year on the Brewers. Yeah. He's pitching somewhere between two to three innings, getting between... One time through. Yeah, one time through the order, basically.

I think that's fair, and these are things that you're thinking about if you're the Cubs. It's just getting him healthy enough to do that. You want to make sure he is fully healthy to say, okay, over the next month, if you're talking about October, we need to have him at full health. Especially if this is a recurring problem based on something physiological. Like, that's what makes this concerning. So Jed Hoyer also talked about, and we played the audio, we talked about it with you Russ, with Ian Hap, the gushing over Kevin Gossman.

Well, there was a, yes, which Jed used again yesterday. He loves him. It was funny, actually. We screwed that up so badly. So I was joking with Kevin when I saw him, I guess his wife said to him like, oh, finally the Cubs traded for you. Like it was inevitable.

And we tried to trade for him so. many times when he was with Baltimore. He was like our white whale, like clearly under, like undervalued talent, you know, what they weren't getting the most out of them. We went after him over and over and over. And then he kind of bounced around a little bit, you know, Cincinnati, Atlanta. And when he was a free agent, I think it was before 2020, he signed with the Giants. We didn't sign him in part because he struggled a little bit and we're like,

okay, maybe the, maybe we weren't right after all. Then he goes to the Giants. Figures it out. And figures out. We're like, oh, my God, we were right all along. And we just weren't stubborn enough to it. But yeah, we tried to trade for him so many times. I need somebody.

Get you somebody who loves you the way Jed and Theo love Kevin Gossman. Theo and I are obsessed with him. Even his wife. His wife is like, oh, you guys finally got together. That's great. I wish I loved anything as much as he loves Kevin Goss. You better pitch well tonight.

He was like the white whale for a wind blowing out. I feel like tonight. I don't know what the over. Tyler will let us know what the overunder is for tonight's game. But Crudy missed out an opportunity. I told him the over under was eight. I was like, go ahead and bang, smash that over on eight runs last night. I don't know what it is tonight.

Can you be in love with somebody to a fault? No. Oh, Tyler, you have the over under? It's over and under at nine. Oh, they're raising the stakes. It was eight yesterday. Yeah. Man, I guess you're going to 11.

Bullpen day for the wind blowing out. Gossman coming off a bad performance against Washington. It was a weird performance, actually, because he was no hitting him until one out in the fourth inning. And then it was the wheels fell off. The nationals fell off. They do that to people. Yeah, they're really good offense. Anybody else in baseball.

Are they a team to watch, by the way, next year, Washington? Yes. Yeah, aren't they? Yeah. Yeah, they have dudes in that lineup. They ain't got no bullpen, though. James. That's why we're talking about the office.

James Wood. a stud CJ Abrams is a great Abrams like 30 homers Yeah and maybe

CJ Abrams isn't on the Nets next year Yeah he wants to play shortstop right and they're like No they're moving on

the second base They have Seaver King one of their top prospects shortstop at AAA Eli Willits who was the

number one overall pick a couple years ago actually last year and he's tan it up at high A so yeah it's

one of those things where you look at the situation for a guy with two years of club control and say, okay, is this where they decide to move him? Speaking of just league wide, my goodness, the American League wildcard race, the Seattle

Mariners are seven games under 500 and are two games out. And then there's a laundry list of teams above them that are below 500 and could make the playoffs. I talked about it on the podcast this week. So if you include, as of yesterday, the team that held the third wildcard spot was the Baltimore Orioles. And then it was the Guardians, the Tigers, the Mariners, the Toronto Blue Jays, after all, they've been through, are one of those teams, the Minnesota Twins.

Seven teams are vying for that last AL Wildcarts spot. And as of today, there was like a four-way tie? Yeah, there's currently a three-way tie between the Orioles, Rangers, and Tigers for the last wildcard spot. Only a half game back are the Twins and Blue Jays, and then the Guardians one game back, the Mariners, two games back. This is, number one, Texas Rangers come to town next week to play your Chicago White Sox. Number two, this might be a season where we have a good old fashioned two, three-way tie on that last. Get a game.

We got to go to the tiebreakers and then maybe a game 163. It's, that's crazy with six weeks left three-way tie. That would be wild and yet expected. And somehow, I think that the team who would win that game and just sneaks into the playoffs would probably win their first series because life. Yeah. Without Adley Rutchman in the playoffs, it's crazy. I want to make sure I do justice to the texter here because he's very respectful in his text. Mr. Dorsey.

Hello, sir. Since you work for Apple TV, I do. Are you privy to how season four of Ted Lassau will end, or are they keeping that under wraps? That's hilarious. I'm not. I appreciate that you think I have that type of intel. You're an insider, man. Come on.

Not for that. They keep that under wraps. No, I'm sorry. sorry, text her. I do not know how Ted Lassel ends. I apologize. I'll check though. That is A-OK. We know we got to get you to the ballpark, right? You got places to be? I mean, I got time. Oh, stick around for us. Y'all. What are we doing? I forgot. Storytime with Steve Stone. Oh, yes. Yeah, so Steve Stone gives us some commentary in a way that only Stoney can. It's very John Candy, Aragnophobia. Next.

Rahimi Harrison Grody. We are family here. Our family. Middays 10 to 2 on 1043, The Score. They will teach you how to do that nowhere. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie with Russ Dorsey in studio on 1043 The Score. And you know you're always going to get some commentary from the broadcast crews about having to go cross town for crosstown. So, none other than the stylings of Steve Stone, who talked to Mullian Hall this morning. about his experience in the Cubs visitors' booth in last night's game. For a fan, it is a great ballpark.

It's a terrific place to watch a game from a creature comfort standpoint. Maybe not so much. I mean, our booth is so small, we have hunchback mice. So last night, there was a gigantic spider in the booth. John looked at it and started to back away. I said, you know, I'm a veteran of this. I can handle that. So I went and I tried to do.

escort our friend out of the booth before stomping on him. But we've had situations that Wrigley Field. We had two, three hundred spiders hatch at the same time in our booth at one point when I was working there. We had an infestation of wasps. That was terrific. Occasionally, we see a lot of creatures up there. But, you know, look, an older ballpark, you get used to that. So I had no problem escorting that spider from this realm. And I will be there to protect John the rest of the way. John does not come off looking great in this explanation of what's going on here. I will say that. But I do like how he said, escorting the arachnid from this realm to the next.

By the way, I said arachnophobia. I meant John Goodman, not John Candy. I apologize. Been a minute. That helps, right? That does help, actually. It's my fault. It's my fault.

I never watched arachnophobia. I didn't say it wasn't your fault. It's kind of a scary movie. I like spiders. They eat stuff. I like what they do. I don't necessarily like spiders. No, I like it.

I'm big on. letting the food chain take care of itself at times. Like if the spiders are like, oh, I'll eat that mosquito for you and I'm like, thanks, spider. I like spider man. Just don't bite me. Spiders are our friends unless they bite us. They're not. Yeah. You're not trying to hear that. They normally just keep

to themselves. They don't want us either. You hate mouse and Morales? Just say that. No. I just, I don't, I was, I'm surprised by all the love for spiders. It's just me. I like, I like food chain stuff. Yeah, they're necessary. I like

Varmint control being self-contained. Varmint. I love that you use that word. I love that word. Well, that's what they are. You varmint! Snakesy rats. Did you guys hear John Rooney Cardinals broadcaster, former White Sox play-by-play man, going off on Wrigley Field,

referring to the ivy on the walls as the weeds on the walls and saying it's the worst baseball park in the league to broadcast out of? And it does have its limitations from a broadcast standpoint. The booths are not the greatest in the world. I've never liked the weeds on the wall or the little bears on the uniform. I don't care for that place at all.

It's great for the fans. The fans love it with the history and the feeling they get, but the working conditions are the worst in baseball. And the people are very nice there. They have treated us great over the years. I enjoy seeing Pat and Ron and seeing, you know, Zach and all the guys next to store and sarang, their engineer. They're wonderful people, and that

makes it tolerable to go there, but to work there. Once again, get started, the competition eats up. Then I get into it. Oh, KMOX, KMA. I mean, to Chris Rangie, no less. With that with Ranges? The little bears on the other than, you know, because they're cubs. They're cubs.

I'm so sorry, we don't have birds on bats. I love Cardinals, though. I hate to say it. Can I tell you guys one of the wildest stats in baseball this year? Yes. It's not my show. We got your basketball. I was just listening in excitement.

Yes, for us. Aaron Judge has 53 hits on the season. Hasn't played since Memorial Day. Cal Raleigh for the season has 52. Oh, he's up to 52. I remember when he's 51. Boy, what a precipitous fall that is. He's going to have less hits this season.

and then he had home runs last season at this rate. Does Vladimir Guerrero have a home run yet this year? No, he still does not. He's not a full calendar year. It's a whole calendar year. Holy. Holy. But Russ,

forget about that for a second. What's up with Kyle Tucker? Oh, yeah, it's not good. Kyle Tucker, speaking of Wild stats, he's had an interesting first year out in L.A. And by interesting, I mean, not great. He has the lowest home OPS.

As of yesterday, he was tied. For the lowest home. OPS in baseball 558 he can't hit at Dodger Stadium this year he had an 840 OPS on the road this year but now you know Dave Roberts has been giving him days off at home because he didn't like the body language before the game the body language when you try to catch that ball last night but that's back-to-back games dropping fly balls like it's not going well he needs a break break he need he may need to go to the IL to get yeah yeah right you know he doesn't like to do that give him a blister we're in Chutinoblock territory

Oh. Yeah, with the throw. No, we are. But think about what he's doing, or better yet, what he's not doing. Here's my favorite stat from Mega Montemarro. Last night, 0.5 F. War gained by PCA in one game. That's higher than Kyle Tucker's F war for the season at 0.4. Do we start to feel bad for Kyle Tucker?

I've already felt bad for Kyle Tucker. Something's wrong, man. Something seems like wrong, wrong. Yeah, you don't like seeing anybody not be their best version of themselves, except when they played the team you like. but this is, yeah, you're right. It's gotten to concerning territory. It has.

I will say for the Dodgers, too, it's not just a Kyle Tucker. Like, their offense, I know they did well last night. They haven't been really set in the world on fire. Like, the only guy in that lineup with the OPS above 800 in the last month is Shoah. And so Mookie Betts hasn't looked like himself this year. Obviously, Kyle Tucker struggles. They don't have Will Smith in that lineup. Like it's not just some guarantee that they're just going to be able to flip this switch that everybody thinks they're going to flip.

I also think that there's a point to be made about how I think we've reached a point in baseball where age has really come into play. In a way that we hadn't seen before in previous decades going back 100 years in baseball, where your age now is really starting to hurt you, whether you're a starting pitcher, whether you're a hitter. it seems like the older you're getting, the quicker the cliff is now for some of these guys. Yeah, it's what makes guys who are able to play into their mid-30s and perform so well such an outlier because we've now seen, you know, 15, 20 years ago, guys were playing the 38, pre-max effort, 39, 40.

Yeah. And it's like, oh, okay, you come to expect that. Now it's, if a guy's 35 and playing well, you're like, oh, man, look at him. Beating five a time. And it's the max effort. as a hitter versus the max effort as a pitcher, that is leveling that playing field to where I feel like the successful players now are early,

early, and you're trying to get that next contract, and then it's all bets are off after that. I think a guy like Jose Abraeu, like how fast it happened to go from his last year here to that first year in Houston where the Astros said, yeah, we're going to cut our losses right now. Russ Jersey, thank you so much for coming in.

Thanks for us. Thanks, guys. Appreciate you, I can't wait to go to a baseball game with you. Maybe. Russ has to work, Marshall. That's the other thing. I'm sorry.

Leave him alone. I'm sorry. I work too, but I would make time for Russ. Sad face. Well. Okay. If you want to hang out with us tomorrow while we're working, you can join the score in yiggling at the Cubby Bear in Wrigleyville.

Our show will be live from the Cubby Bear from 10 to 1245, getting you set for the Cross Town series finale. Ron Coomer is scheduled to join the show on site at 11. Maybe Mark can tell him about his new nickname. If you're going to the game, come by and hang out. It is all brought to you by Yingling Flight, the next generation of light beer. We go live to Gallagher Way with Spiegel and Holmes next.