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Cubs Pod Game 14

April 12, 2026·27 min·2 clips

The Cubs are under .500 again, and host Michael Cotton worries this bad stretch could cost them a playoff spot.

The ads arrive first. Once the recap starts, the host is already working through the choices that came back to bite the Cubs. The lefty struck out the lefty. Fine, that does not exactly prove the point, and the host admits it before dragging the whole thing back into the mess. Then the seventh gets weird. Amaya walks, Conforto singles, a wild pitch moves both runners, and Swanson's groundout brings Amaya home. One run is there. Nico grounds out, Gregory Soto comes in, and Craig pulls Bush because the lefty-lefty matchup has apparently taken over the sport. The host cannot get past it. Bush has been struggling, sure, but swapping out a very good defensive first baseman for Carson Kelly still feels like creating a new problem on purpose. Kelly fouls out anyway. That's the joke, and not a very funny one: Bush could have done that without the Cubs moving pieces around at first base. Jacob Webb gets through his inning. Amaya throws out a pinch runner at second, Henry Davis strikes out, and the door cracks open again. Against Isaac Matson, the Cubs get a Bregman single and later a PCA single, but Hap, Saya, and Amaya cannot cash it in. Two more runners left there. The score stays 3-2, and the host keeps circling the same sore spot: decisions that looked clever until they produced nothing. The final stretch turns to Tyone, with Reynolds, Ozuna, and the rest of Pittsburgh's numbers laid out more like a plea than a preview. Just avoid the sweep. That is where the bar has fallen. The Cubs are two games under .500, stuck in last place, and the host can barely talk himself into hope before asking for one win.

As heard by us

A Cubs loss recapped with anger, detail, and a fan in the room edge.

Michael Cotton turns a frustrating Cubs loss into a tight, inning by inning grievance, and it works because it stays grounded in the game. Amaya's spark, the bullpen moves, and the stranded runners all get enough room to land, so the anger feels earned instead of inflated.

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Why you'd press play

You want a Cubs loss unpacked inning by inning, with the frustration still hot.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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