Monday Morning Cubs Show

A thrilling baseball year ends, and we’re fired up about where Chicago goes next. We kick things off by saluting three Cubs Gold Gloves—Pete Crow-Armstrong, Nico Horner, and Ian Happ—and why these awards actually matter for roster building, contract value, and a defense-first identity that plays in October. From there, we relive a chaotic, edge-of-the-seat World Series and tackle the hottest take...

A World Series split is the perfect mirror for what the Cubs need next: a rotation that hunts outs, not headlines, and a front office brave enough to buy flexibility instead of false certainty. We dig into the big call around Shota Imanaga’s contract—three years at $57M with a no-trade if exercised versus a leaner path that prefers a $15M pivot year—then lay out how that decision ripples through t...

Welcome back to the MMCS and thank you for tuning in.  Rival banter won’t move a single runner. We start by calling out the L flag noise and center the only thing that matters: building a tougher Cubs team with a durable identity. From there, we dig into Jed Hoyer’s steady hand—why a quiet presser, a restrained deadline, and a long view on development are features, not bugs, of a front office that...

The season ended on three runs we should’ve survived—and one we couldn’t score. We walk through the Game 5 knife’s edge: the Brewers’ gutsy plan to start with velocity, the Cubs’ sixth-inning chance that died on a 3–1 heater, and why three allowed on the road should have been enough. It hurts, but the bigger headline isn’t heartbreak—it’s pride. This team brought back belief with elite infield def...

One game can bend a season, and tonight’s Game 5 in Milwaukee carries exactly that weight. We break down why the Cubs own the opening edge, starting with Drew Pomeranz as an opener against a right-left Brewers lineup that doesn’t love to be shuffled. Pomeranz has lived on the black all series, stealing timing and limiting hard contact, which forces Milwaukee to either re-sequence around Christian...

A 7–0 statement at Wrigley flipped the narrative and put this series back on a knife’s edge. We unpack how the Cubs pushed from survival to control—Happ’s thunder off Peralta, the sequence of deep drives that stressed Milwaukee’s plan, and the way elite defense from Dansby Swanson turned would-be rallies into quiet outs. It wasn’t just the big swing; it was a dozen little decisions that formed a b...

The city is pacing, the coffee’s gone cold, and every breath feels like a countdown. We’re staring down Game 4 at Wrigley, and the path forward is oddly clear: turn gratitude into urgency, and urgency into a plan that squeezes Milwaukee’s choices. We dig into why the Brewers’ handling of Freddie Peralta—95 pitches in Game 1, an opener in Game 2, and a short leash yesterday—has created a bind that...

Heart rates spiked, voices cracked, and a season kept breathing. We’re fresh off a 4–3 survival win over Milwaukee—one of those playoff nights where every pitch feels like a verdict—and we’re breaking down what actually swung it: a first-inning rulebook mess, a statement swing from Michael Bush into a stiff wind, and a two-out line drive from Pete Crow-Armstrong that flipped Quinn Priester’s scrip...

The room feels different when your season hangs on the next pitch. We pull the lens tight on Cubs–Brewers Game Three and explain why Jamison Taillon’s changeup isn’t just a weapon—it’s the exact lever that disrupts Milwaukee’s patient, east–west offense. If the Brewers won’t chase high, we show how Taillon can build the game south first, then reclaim the edges with cutters and four-seamers. It’s n...

A 3-0 lead disappears, tempers flare, and the Brewers look two steps ahead. We don’t sugarcoat it. We name the mistakes, explain why Milwaukee’s opener gambit and bullpen sequencing worked, and why our rotation choices left the lineup stranded. Then we do the real work: drawing a clean, actionable map to flip the series at Wrigley. We break down how Jamison Taillon’s cutter, curve, and arm-side tw...

One announcement turned a routine preview into a chess match: Milwaukee’s going with a lefty opener, Aaron Ashby, and that single move forces us to redraw the Cubs’ lineup from pitch one. We walk through the real implications of a lefty first inning in October—why Michael Busch can’t gift a guaranteed plate appearance to a tough southpaw, how two righties in the first three hitters can tilt early...

A 9–3 gut punch can turn a fanbase into a furnace. We felt it too. Instead of yelling into the wind, we unpack what actually went wrong, why one rotation decision stole the Cubs’ margin for error against a relentlessly patient Brewers lineup, and how we turn that frustration into a smarter Game 2. No scapegoats, no mythology—just cause, effect, and the best path forward. We start where the night b...

A five-game series doesn’t always reward the most dominant team—it rewards the team with the clearest plan. We walk into Cubs–Brewers with one: use the schedule to weaponize our bullpen, keep Game 1 on a short leash, and make Milwaukee live in the dead zone between contact and damage. It starts with Freddie Peralta, because of course it does. We break down his true patterns—east-west to righties,...

The city exhaled and then roared. We break down how the Cubs took a tense three-game set from San Diego by leaning into the stuff that never blinks in October: elite defense up the middle, relentless bottom-of-the-order pressure, and Craig Counsell pushing buttons one inning earlier than anyone expected. If you felt the game tighten and then tilt our way, you weren’t imagining it—those little marg...

One bad night doesn’t decide a series, and this conversation is the reset Chicago needs. We pull apart a 3–0 loss without flinching—Cease’s power, San Diego’s parade of 98+, and where the bats came up short—and then shift into a tight, practical plan for an elimination game at Wrigley. The path is clear: hunt early damage on Yu Darvish, lean into Jamison Taillon’s day-game split and recent form, a...

Two swings changed everything. Wrigley went from tight to electric when Seiya Suzuki tied it and Carson Kelly followed with another blast, and that jolt carried into a bullpen masterpiece—14 straight outs that turned a knife-edge game into a conviction win. We walk through what truly decided Game One: clean middle defense from Dansby and Nico, smarter sequencing that put mistake hunters in the rig...

Ten minutes into this playoff preview, the mood is set: grateful to be here, and just dangerous enough to make it count. We walk through the NL landscape with clear eyes, then zero in on San Diego—their one true ace in Nick Pivetta, their star power in Machado and Tatis Jr., and the late-inning sledgehammer of Mason Miller and a locked-in closer. From there, it’s all matchups: how our elite defens...

The Monday Morning Cub Show welcomes its first-ever guest, Joey Mulinaro, as the hosts discuss the Cubs' playoff positioning following their loss to the Mets and preparation for the final regular season series against the Cardinals. • Debate over the ideal playoff starting rotation with consensus that Cade Horton should start Game 1 despite recent back issues • Analysis of the Cubs' pote...

Welcome back to the MMCS and please enjoy the following description presented by a Free AI production trial. This episode is presented by THIRSTY VAQUERO: A Mexican-style soda with a signature spicy finish you can find on AMAZON.   The playoff-bound Cubs just experienced their first four-game losing streak of the season, getting swept by the red-hot Cincinnati Reds. But fear not, Chicago faithful...

Welcome back to the Monday Morning Cubs Show and it's literally our most loaded one yet and presented by Thirsty Vaquero. Over 2+ hours of pure joy and bliss after clinching the playoffs today and rightfully so. We talk all about the history and significance of making the playoffs along with a whole bunch of other major topics: Cade Horton ROY, Pirates recap, Ballesteros future, playoff rotat...

Welcome back to the Monday Morning Cubs Show and we have a doozy for you guys introducing our FIRST EVER OFFICIAL BEVERAGE SPONSOR = THIRSTY VAQUERO. Thank you to Thirsty Vaquero for giving us the chance to explain why we're so optimistic going into the playoff stretch and the silver linings with a touch of grey. Today includes a tribute to Rizzo, a look at Ballesteros, a playoff scenario Car...

Welcome back to the Monday Morning Cubs Show for a quick Friday episode going into the Rays series. It's a light episode with great vibes going into day baseball all weekend against the Rays. We briefly recap the Braves series, get into a little ball or strike and then get into what Anthony Rizzo meant to the Cubs and why he was so good and special to his era. Meanwhile we're not sure th...

Welcome back to the MMCS and it's a loaded show after our worst series loss of the year which puts us squarely in the Wild Card picture. Carl is coming to terms with the sadness while Mahoney gears up the positivity into Bears Week 1 against the Vikings tonight. We have a loaded roster of pitch clock, ball or strike, weekly awards and a new segment called Carl's Corner where he vents him...

Welcome back to the MMCS for our 2nd episode of the week and a tight turn around with just one Braves game between episodes. Even so we're loaded with Ball/Strike and ready to talk about the NL Central pursuit. As we say off the top, this is the last weekend for us to kick it into gear. We need to sweep the Nationals and get some luck from the Pirates to narrow the gap. We're not crazy f...

Welcome back to the MMCS and thanks for tuning in to a loaded show with the Cubs winning 4 of 5 and just 5 games back of Milwaukee with 23 games to go. Improbable odds but Carl & Mahoney think they still have a chance and we're happy to explain exactly why. In and around, we have pitch clock and ball or strike, some sabermetrics for maniacs and a brief mailbag in a very positive show foll...