The guys gather to discuss an interesting but maddening series in San Diego, the Cubs' uneven but enjoyable early season returns, and then a reeling array of tangential topics, including Ippei Mizuhara's defrauding of Shohei Ohtani; the injury epidemic among MLB pitchers; Stephen Strasburg's retirement; and OJ Simpson.

This is the Big One. The gang gives a long list of predictions, including how many games the Cubs will win, who will lead the way in various categories, and who will win the 2024 World Series. It's going to be a fun season, so jump aboard.

The gang has survived yet another existential threat to the podcast (i.e., sustained technical issues), and the Chicago Cubs talk rolls on. This return episode includes discussion of:

-The David Bote predicament

-What the Cubs' catching situation looks like

-Injury updates on Ian Happ and Jameson Taillon

-A LOT of Christopher Morel at third base debate

-Love for newcomers Michael Busch and Shota Imanaga

and much more. Jump on board!

The gang talks about Bobby Witt's extension and Corbin Burnes being traded to the Orioles, and about how none of that is directly about the Cubs but we wish something that is directly about the Cubs would happen already. This is a fun one, thanks absolutely not at all to the Cubs.

The gang discusses the stubborn refusal of the inevitable to actually happen. Cody Bellinger hasn't signed yet--with the Cubs, or anywhere else. So, they proceed with a discussion of the Héctor Neris signing and the team's increasingly satisfactory bullpen mix; the deep but less satisfying starting rotation; whether the front office envisions adding one more bat, or two; and then, at long last, Mount Brushmore is revealed.

The gang discusses the ongoing freeze and slog of the hot stove season, and the Cubs' not-quite-perplexing inactivity. They talk about third base, first base, a random Cub or two, and the Crazy Horse to an as-yet unreleased Mt. Brushmore.

The gang gets together to conduct the very serious business of analyzing the Cubs' first two substantial moves of the winter, and they undertake that duty with all the solemnity it demands. Imanaga banter. Busch badinage. More!

On the eve of the Cubs Convention, the gang gets together to wonder just how ugly things will get if the weekend comes before a big Cubs move. This one starts loopy and ends loopy, but have no fear: halfway through, DJ calls it wildly depressing.

The gang bemoans the Cubs' refusal to release DJ from his glass case of emotion, banter about the potential value of Patrick Wisdom, wonder what it would look like for the team to end up with a satisfactory offseason at this point, and then absolutely ACE a Random Cub of the Week. 2024 is off to a roaring start.

Shorthanded, denied big news, and with the Dodgers' acquisition of Yoshinobu Yamamoto hanging over them like a dark cloud, the gang stays chatty for the final 2023 episode of TINAR. It's about new Cubs coaches. It's about the future. It's about a labored Aaron Sorkin analogy. What's not to love? Happy holidays, everyone.