Locked On Cubs - Daily Podcast On The Chicago Cubs

Evan Altman of Cubs Insider joined me on this podcast to chat about the last two games for the Cubs -- one excellent win, and one somewhat frustrating loss against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cubs broke out the bats against Pittsburgh on Wednesday night, beating the Pirates 13-5. Javier Baez had his second consecutive two-homer game. Evan and I kicked things off in a negative way, chatting about things we haven't liked from the first 11 games. And is Tyler Chatwood the second coming of Jason Marquis?

But this wouldn't be Locked On Cubs without a positive spin! In the second segment, Evan and I discussed the things that we have liked so far in the first 11 games of the year. Willson Contreras, Ben Zobrist, and Kris Bryant all make a cameo in our discussion. After we wrapped that up, I did a brief rundown of the action in the NL Central. As always, be sure to follow us on Twitter @LockedOnCubs and email any questions or comments to [email protected].

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Unfortunately, the Cubs and Pirates were snowed out on Monday. That kept the fans from getting to Wrigley Field for the official home opener, pushing that to Tuesday afternoon at 1:20 pm CST. In the meantime, I grabbed some questions from the listeners in an attempt to entertain you -- and really, myself too.

First, I chatted a bit about Ian Happ and how much time he may have left in the leadoff spot. Next, I moved on to discuss Willson Contreras' Venezuelan League incident, the status of the Cubs' rotation depth at the moment, and whether or not peanut butter on a burger is acceptable. And at the very end, I announced the winner of our very first giveaway! Be sure to follow us on Twitter @LockedOnCubs and email any questions or comments to [email protected].

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Apologies for the late start today, a nasty cold got in my way on Monday. Even still, I forged ahead to bring you episode 47. I started out by recapping the action of the weekend, in which the Cubs finished off taking 3 out of 4 from the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. But the situational hitting so far this season? It has been less than good. I took a deeper dive into some of the early numbers.

I finished out the podcast by briefly recapping the rest of the action around the NL Central, including an incident with Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo and every Cubs fan's favorite catcher, Yadier Molina. Was the umpire correct in leaving Molina in the game? I make the case that he was. Be sure to follow us on Twitter @LockedOnCubs and email us any questions or comments to [email protected].

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After a few days out in Las Vegas, I returned for Friday's episode of Locked On Cubs -- and just in time to recap the Cubs' first victory since the previous Saturday. In fact, the Cubs didn't score a single run while I was in Vegas. At any rate, they beat the Milwaukee Brewers 8-0 behind Jon Lester on Thursday.

In the second segment, I went over a handful of positives and just a few questions the Cubs have remaining after their first few games. Is Brandon Morrow really the right choice for closer? And is Ian Happ in a slump, or is it something worse than that?

Finally, episode 46 closes out with a brief look around the NL Central. Thanks for listening, and be sure to subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes if you can! You can follow the podcast on Twitter @LockedOnCubs, and you can follow me @RyanQDavis. Email any questions or comments to [email protected]. 

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Welcome to Locked on Cubs, the daily podcast covering the Chicago Cubs as part of the Locked on Podcast Network. 

With regular host Ryan Davis out, Sean Sears takes over as the Cubs are coming off a rain out and day off. 

Sean opens the show discussing the offense, which has struggled early this season. Are the mounting strikeouts really a concern? Sean digs into the numbers to find out how concerned Cubs fans should be.

Segment 2 discusses the bullpen, specifically Brandon Morrow. With a series against the Milwaukee Brewers coming up, we should get a look at the new closer in his new role. Morrow doesn't have closing experience; will he be able to handle that pressure situation? Overall, it's a bullpen that looks good on paper, but will it live up to that this season? We'll need to see some high-leverage situations to fully determine that, which we could see against the Brewers. 

The episode ends with a look at the NL Central and how each team stacks up a week into the season. 

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Welcome to Locked on Cubs, the daily podcast covering the Chicago Cubs as part of the Locked on Podcast Network. 

With Ryan Davis out this week, Brendan Miller of Cubs Insider fills in to discuss the latest happenings with the Cubs. 

The episode begins with an evaluation of the Cubs starting rotation through the first round of the season. Brenden discusses his big takeaways with newcomers Yu Darvish and Tyler Chatwood, as well as Jose Quintana, Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks.

What about the lineup? Much has been made about the strikeouts early in the year, but we discuss why that stat is a little blown out of proportion. But the lead-off spot and Jason Heyward's spot are worth a discussion, especially when it involves Ben Zobrist's playing time. 

Addison Russell is coming off a down-year, but is the start of his season a sign of things to come? How has Kyle Schwaber's transformation looked so far? How will Ian Happ progress?

Take a listen to the latest Locked on Cubs and get a reminder of how special this team can be. 

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Welcome to Locked on Cubs, your daily podcast covering the Chicago Cubs as part of the Locked on Podcast Network. 

With regular host Ryan Davis out this week, Matt LaCasse fills in to host Locked on Cubs. He reminds Cubs fans to take a deep breath. The beginning of the season hasn't been great with three losses to the Miami Marlins and Cincinnati Reds, but there's a lot of time left and plenty of talent around Chicago that we don't have to cancel the season just yet. 

Also, we take a brief look at the upcoming series against the Milwaukee Brewers. 

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Welcome to Locked on Cubs, your daily podcast covering the Chicago Cubs. 

With regular host Ryan Davis out this week, Sean Sears of FanSided is here to guest host and bring you into a new week, which is just what the Cubs need after their disappointing series in Miami. 

The episode opens by discussing exactly what happened against those Marlins, as the Cubs split the series 2-2. Unfortunately for Chicago, the starting pitching didn't perform as expected, extra innings tapped the bullpen and the offense struggled to find ways to score when the ball wasn't going over the wall. 

It wasn't all bad. Sean talks about the positives he's taking away from the series, as well as the negatives (hint: please be better, Yu Darvish and Jose Quintana). 

The show concludes with Sean taking a look ahead at the brief stint against the Cincinnati Reds. With the Cubs struggling to open the season, a two-game series against the Reds might be just what the doctor ordered to get the North Siders back on track. 

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The Cubs came away with an Opening Day victory, beating the Miami Marlins 8-4. But that's just one small piece of the puzzle! There are plenty of things to talk about from game No. 1 of 162, and after I briefly recapped the Cubs' victory and looked at the rest of the NL Central I welcomed Michael Cerami of Bleacher Nation to talk with me about those things.

You may have noticed that Michael gained some exposure on Thursday for tweeting that he would jump into the freezing cold lake if Ian Happ led off with a home run. I got his point of view on how that all went down, and then we took a deep dive into the bullpen's excellent day, Kyle Schwarber's shaky defense, and things to get excited about with Jason Heyward. Please be sure to follow the podcast on Twitter @LockedOnCubs and email us any questions or comments to [email protected].

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It's finally here! The Cubs play the Miami Marlins at 11:40am CST on Thursday, opening up what is sure to be an exciting 2018 season. In my first segment, I looked at the lineup for Opening Day and briefly previewed the rest of the series by looking at the starting pitchers the Marlins will send to the mound.

In my second and third segments, I looked at a few questions from the listeners. The first regards my feelings on Tyler Chatwood, and the second is about Jason Heyward's playing time. Thanks so much for the questions, it really helped on the last two podcasts as we got closer to the season starting. Please continue to send questions my way throughout the year! Follow us on Twitter @LockedOnCubs and be sure to send those emails to [email protected].

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