It's opening day 2.0 and the Cubs still aren't playing when the sun's out. Oh well, everything can't be perfect. Let's take a look at some big keys to the season like Matt Shaw being good, Petecrow taking the next step and Michael Busch hopefully proving he's more than just a guy. Let's discuss what Jed said to our good friend Jon Greenberg about his future and Kyle Tucker's, what the Cubs had to do to make room for Tater and for Brad Keller's huge dome and how phantom injuries helped keep all t...
Mar 27, 2025•1 hr 1 min
Opening Day part deux is on the way and David Brown is on hand to discuss all of the important things you need to hear before the season restarts anew. Did the Cubs feel any shame losing two games in Tokyo to a third of the Dodgers' best players? Why did the Dodgers make Mookie Betts fly halfway around the world twice when things were spewing out of him at both ends? Did anybody have to try to use the airplane bathroom after him? Who is your fourth favorite Seattke Mariner of all-time? Andy walk...
Mar 26, 2025•1 hr 5 min
Worlds collide as both Pointless Exercise baseball podcasts join forces to preview the 2025 season. David Brown, Oleg, Praz and Andy sit around and yak about who's going to the playoffs, who's going to be MVP, Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and Manager of the Year. No tangent is too wild to stray off on and somehow amidst all the serious baseball talk they discuss choosing one award by firing the leading candidates out of a cannon, they wonder why all the good Japanese players have names that star...
Mar 18, 2025•2 hr 5 min
Sure, the Dodgers might have the best player of his generation and two other Japanese fireballers, but there's no dispute that the Cubs' Japanese players returning home to play in next week's games are more fun. Seiya's hitting baseballs with a samurai sword, Shōta's making fun of his manager's batting stance. That has to be worth something, right? Tom Loxas is on hand to discuss this, why the Cubs are bothering with Lance Lynn, PCA's emergence, what do the Cubs see in Brad Keller, and the futur...
Mar 14, 2025•1 hr 9 min
Baseball's hat designers learned the hard way that there are many, many words for breasts all over the world. David Brown is on hand to talk about that, about his upcoming train ride to spring training, the Cubs departure for Japan, dumb things said on sports radio, Mo Vaughn's interesting PED routine, where Yadi lives now, is Dave Roberts really a good manager, injured pitchers and much, much more.
Mar 12, 2025•59 min
The Remember This Crap tour around the diamond remembering the greatest (and other) Cubs players at each position has reached the hot corner. Andy and Huey are on hand to tell you more than you'd ever like to know about every regular third baseman (and some irregular ones) from the Hall of Famer who first played the position in 1876 all the way to the current day including a theory as to why Matt Shaw wears his number. The Cubs have had some legitimately great players including two World Series ...
Mar 07, 2025•2 hr 16 min
Oleg is back from a whirlwind trip to Cubs spring training, Innings Festival and his first look at Toilet Flapper Field and he has stories to tell. Praz tries to guess who Gary Clark Jr's favorite Cub is, and Andy is relieved that Petecrow's leg is in one piece and that Matt Shaw's batting stance seems to be in working order. They discuss Cole Wright's play by play efforts, a juicy rumor about Boog and Japan and celebrate the return of everybody's favorite Cubs legend, Yency Almonte. Plus, for s...
Mar 05, 2025•1 hr 38 min
Spring Training is in full swing and enough of it has passed that Sammy Sosa showed up, so Tom Loxas is here to talk about it. Sammy's there passing along his wisdom to the young players ("Don't take $80,000 to a hotel lobby in a towel") and a guy only slightly younger than him is taking grounders at third base. But Matt Shaw is nearing his return while Nico Hoerner has already been ruled out of the games in Japan. Marquee got some expected bad news from Comcast, and their right-wing broadcast p...
Feb 28, 2025•1 hr 17 min
Thankfully ABS stands for Automated Balls and Strikes and not what Andy thought it did. David Brown joins the podcast to talk about the early days of testing the system and if there's a chance it could come to a big league ballpark near you this year. They also discuss bearded Yankees, the passing of Andy's pretend grandfather, how Justin Ishbia bailing on the Twins to buy more Sox shares will impact the AL Central, but also how it might force the Cubs to actually spend real money. They also cha...
Feb 26, 2025•1 hr 21 min
The Cubs are banking on some marked improvements from some of their young players (and Michael Busch) but how realistic is that? Justin Turner's contract terms show the Cubs will spare no length to save a buck. A deep dive into the psychology that makes the Garbage Family That Owns The Cubs™ the way that they are--the kids at least. Is the local blog media finally catching on to the fact that the Cubs don't really know what they're doing? Should the Cubs trade for Vlad Guerrero Jr.? Of course, b...
Feb 21, 2025•1 hr 12 min
The Cubs have a new right handed hitter and the guys try to not confuse Justin Turner with NFL massage enthusiast Justin Tucker, and they remember the time Justin Turner tried to kill everybody during the Dodgers 2020 World Series celebration. Oleg, Praz and Andy discuss whether Jed was being passive aggressive in thanking Tom and the rest of The Garbage Family That Owns The Cubs™ for giving him almost enough money to sign Alex Bregman, the national media being tired of the Cubs being so cheap, ...
Feb 19, 2025•1 hr 26 min
The longest running half-assed historical podcast on the Cubs (probably) is back, and this time Andy and Huey are taking a look at the long, distinguished history of Cubs' right fielders. And we don't just mean Nate Schierholtz. Who were the best ever? Who were the worst? The Cubs have a storied history at the position dating back to a Hall of Famer who played in the '80s. The 1880s. Check it out.
Feb 16, 2025•2 hr 31 min
Alex Bregman took the higher offer and picked the Red Sox over the Cubs. Tom Loxas is on hand to discuss whether that's a blessing in disguise for the Cubs, and the guys try to figure out why Jed was thanking the Omaha Hillbillies for letting him make an offer but also seemingly decrying the fact he couldn't go even higher. They discuss if the Cubs have another move in them, especially for a pitcher. And then it's uniform talk! All that and more.
Feb 14, 2025•1 hr 9 min
Is Alex Bregman worth signing even in the short term? Would it even make sense if the Cubs signed him and traded Nico Hoerner to save a few bucks? Who was a bigger prick, Jim Edmonds, Curt Schilling or Troy Glaus? The answer of course is Trevor Bauer. Does Shohei count as a pitcher on the Dodgers' roster? Why would anybody trade for Nolan Arenado and not have him play third? Does Justin Turner have anything left...and we don't only mean hair. Does Jed really think he can't talk about free agents...
Feb 12, 2025•1 hr 25 min
When a 102-year-old matriarch of an NFL team dies you have to do an emergency podcast to help people through their shock. Or maybe you just do a regularly scheduled solo pod to talk about that, the Cubs still kind of pursuing Alex Bregman, their commitment to mediocre TV announcers, Super Bowl props, the Bulls staggering in place and more.
Feb 07, 2025•1 hr 12 min
There's plenty of Cubs intrigue to talk about with the team apparently involved in trade discussions with the Padres for a top of the rotation starter and/or a closer, so Praz and Oleg are on hand to discuss it all. But it's a podcast done with heavy hearts as the guys have to bid adieu to the great Nick Madrigal. How will they ever cope? They also discuss how much PECOTA likes the Cubs, and then take some odd detours. Check it out.
Feb 04, 2025•1 hr 22 min
The Cubs roster might smell like it's pretty well done (or it might smell like something you have to bag up at the dog park), but they are still being linked to a number of moves, including a trade for a former hot shot prospect of their own and a very old reliever that they had just a couple of years ago. Tom Loxas is on hand to discuss whether the Cubs are really serious about trading for Dylan Case (or his rotation mate Michael King), or signing David Robertson. Plus, the Alex Bregman thing s...
Jan 31, 2025•1 hr 8 min
Spring is just around the corner so it's time to bring in David Brown to talk about the Cubs and Alex Bregman, owners disingenuity about free agency, going to Japan, fun with the automated ball and strike appeal system, the evil Dodgers, Rob Manfred's reign after 10 years, the pitch clock, pitcher injuries and much, much more.
Jan 28, 2025•1 hr 4 min
In a wide-ranging discussion, Kelly Dwyer and I discuss an inexpensive way to get ice off your driveway, why the Bulls aren't bright enough to have a lottery pick next year, why Arturas doesn't like to fill out trade paperwork, if Lonzo Ball will get a cadaver surgery named after him, Barron Hilton, Randal Grichuk, who was going to play Diane on Cheers before Shelly Long, how Woody Harrelson is involved in the two most gruesome bowling injuries in movie/TV history, why Bon Jovi's drummer wore a ...
Jan 24, 2025•1 hr 36 min
The Cubs Convention came and went and Praz got to rub elbows with famous Cubs. The guys talk about the weekend, try to make sense of Tom Ricketts financial theories and tell you why you shouldn't be mad at the Dodgers, especially since the Cubs could do all of that if they actually wanted to. They discuss Matt Shaw's readiness at third, Nico's totally real injury and why it's a good thing baseball players wear hats. Then, they discuss the Bears' hiring of Ben Johnson and why comparing it to Matt...
Jan 22, 2025•1 hr 35 min
The Cubs Convention is looming, Kyle Tucker has a new (short) contract, and is Alex Bregman on the way? The Bears are talking in person to Mike "The Beav" McCarthy and is Tom Brady tampering with Ben Johnson? Bob Uecker's gone. And the Sun-Times has its list of the 20 best and five worst (only five?) sports media folks in Chicago. Tom Loxas joins Andy to discuss all of this and more.
Jan 17, 2025•1 hr 17 min
The Bears have whittled their list of coaching candidates down to a cool 15, and Tom Loxas drops by to give his thoughts on who they should hire. Mike Vrabel has already done his interview and Ben Johnson is up this weekend, what the hell are the other 13 guys there for? The guys look at some of the intriguing candidates farther down the list, and wonder why the hell some of the other guys are even on it. They do a proof of life check on Marv Levy, take a look back at the Lovie firing and what's...
Jan 09, 2025•1 hr 11 min
The Cubs are bringing Sammy Sosa back so it's time for the podcast to bring back it's favorite guest, Jon Greenberg to make fun of them for the tortured reunion, whether they have any intention of keeping Kyle Tucker and to get everybody's convention plans made. They also talk about how the Bears are actually worse without The Flus, and much more.
Dec 26, 2024•47 min
The Ricketts bullied Sammy Sosa into apologizing for something, though he wouldn't say what it was, and they're all proud of themselves for some reason. Tom Loxas is on hand to discuss it, talk about the trade/giveaway of Cody Bellinger to the Yankees, and what comes next. Andy has a better idea of how to fix third than he did on the last podcast and they head over to Obvious Shirts to shop for Sammy merch, including one of the most embarrassing items that place has ever sold. All that, and more...
Dec 20, 2024•1 hr 14 min
You have to give little Jed Hoyer credit, the Cubs needed a big trade and he actually pulled one off. Oleg and Praz are on hand to discuss the Kyle Tucker trade, make fun of a weird sound from the press conference, discuss the Cubs giving away Cody Bellinger, signing Carson Kelly and the end of the fabulous Matt Tice or These or wharever his name is, era. All that, and more.
Dec 18, 2024•1 hr 33 min
The Cubs are trying to trade for Astros star Kyle Tucker and Tom Loxas joins the podcast as the guys try to figure out why Seiya would need to be in that deal. And, if the Cubs aren't hell bent on keeping Tucker beyond 2025, does it even make the Cubs better if they trade Seiya to the Astros and Cody Bellinger to anywhere? They also discuss why this is exactly the kind of move the Cubs need to make, what prospects might be involved and how Houston has had the hots for Isaac Paredes for a while. ...
Dec 13, 2024•1 hr 16 min
The offseason is a good time to remember when the Cubs used to actually spend money on free agents...and to realize just how bad they've been at it. The Remember This Crap gang assembles to wax nostalgic on the worst free agent signings in team history. You'll be shocked to know that they sat out the first several years of free agency and then when they did finally deign to try it they were bad. The list includes guys who ended up in prison, guys who disgraced their family name, guys who seemed ...
Dec 12, 2024•1 hr 44 min
The Bears fired their overmatched head coach and are already thinking about which dud to hire next, while the Cubs are just hoping somebody will take Cody Bellinger's cash off their hands. Tom Loxas is here to discuss the coaching change, the candidates for the real job and whether Kevin Warren's involvement is good, bad or hilarious. We also preview the winter meetings, talk about the Cubs chances to get Garrett Crochet, and need reassurance that a Nico Hoerner trade won't result in Jed just br...
Dec 06, 2024•1 hr 8 min
T/he Bears finally mercy fired The Flus and Kevin Warren wants you all to know that Ryan Poles is totally going to make the decision on the new head coach (sure he is). But first we need to listen to the Jeff Joniak call of the final 38 seconds of Matt Eberflus' head coaching career (it's just as amazing as you'd expect). Then it's time to break down how the firing went down, how the press conference was handled and to meet the new guy, Thomas Brown, the first interim coach in Bears history. He'...
Dec 04, 2024•1 hr 12 min
The wait is over. Remember This Crap is back and it's a doozy. How about nearly three hours of the worst losses in (recent) Bears history? Relive all the moments you wanted to forget with Andy and Mike D., as Chester Marcol scampers wildly into the end zone, Jim Harbaugh audibles his way into disaster, Kevin Butler misses a field goal that Pat McAfee would pay a college kid $200K to make these days, Wanny draws up a game winning pass for a defensive tackle, Jeff George outduels Jim Miller, Mario...
Nov 21, 2024•2 hr 49 min
