A perfect Cubs week doesn’t exist, but this one comes close to capturing the whole experience: a monster win, a brutal loss, a Cardinals series that swings your mood every inning, and just enough momentum to make you believe again. We’re back on the Monday Morning Cubs Show after a July 4th break and a real-life disaster at home, then we get right into what actually matters for the second half: how good can this team be when the best version of its core shows up at the same time?

Dansby Swanson is the heartbeat of the conversation. We break down the hottest two-week run you’ll see from any hitter, and the stat that makes it even stranger: eight home runs and 26 RBI over 51 plate appearances with zero walks. That turns into a deeper Cubs hitting discussion about approach, timing, and how pitchers were stealing easy early-count strikes against him earlier in the season. We also talk John Mallee, what “it clicked” can really mean for a veteran, and why Swanson’s high-end outcomes change the ceiling for the entire lineup.

Then we zoom out to the standings, the All-Star break, and the trade deadline. We make the case for Pete Crow-Armstrong as the lone Cubs All-Star, why we love that he’s skipping the Home Run Derby, and what “Wild Card team” actually means when your starting pitching is hanging on. Finally, we wrestle with the big one: would you trade Matt Shaw to land an ace like Tarik Skubal if the goal is October baseball, not just chasing the Brewers? If you’re riding with the Cubs right now, subscribe, share the show with a fellow fan, and leave us a review so we can keep building this Monday routine together.

Thanks for tuning in! 

- Carl & Mahoney