Thanks for downloading the 409th episode of The Ivy Envy Podcast. This is most likely the earliest recording in the history of our podcast. Nothing gets going in the morning like a series sweep at the hands of the Cardinals, right?

Well, this series was definitely frustrating. Whenever anything has looked bad for the Cubs this season, we’ve found the silver lining and we do that on this episode. However, it’s worth mentioning that the Cardinals are a good baseball team and they’re probably not going to go away without putting up a fight.

We also look at the roster moves the Cubs have made this week. Fowler and Richard went to the DL, Adam Warren was sent to AAA to stretch out to start some games and the Cubs brought up some bullpen relief (Edwards Jr., Concepcion, and Patton).

We discuss these players and then Andy shares a Rube story with us.

Thanks for downloading the 408^th episode of The Ivy Envy Podcast. On this episode, we talk about the Cubs/Pirates series. We recorded this episode during the final game of the series. The Cubs ended up winning the game and sweeping the series.

The Cubs front office gave us another cookie this week with the promotion of Willson Contreras. We talk about Contreras, his minor league career to this point, and how Contreras fits into this team from this point forward.

Kurt shares a Jon Lester scary stat and we read a few internet muscle flexes.

Thanks for downloading the 407^th episode of The Ivy Envy Podcast, we spend discuss the Cubs’ series loss to the Nationals in Washington. While a series loss can be discouraging, we share why the loss doesn’t concern us and could actually help the team in the post-season.

We also look at Addison Russell’s sophomore season. While his overall (offensive and defensive) numbers have dropped a bit, there are some explanations and some are rather curious.

We read a few listener comments, one of which gets us back on the topic of the Cubs radio broadcast.

Thanks for downloading the 406th episode of The Ivy Envy Podcast. We start this episode off by looking at the 2016 MLB draft and the Cubs strategy with the draft. We talk about trade rumors that have surfaced and share some advice on considering the credibility of reports.

The Cubs made one trade this week by bringing back Chris Coghlan. We briefly talk about this move. The Cubs beat the Braves 2 games to 1 this weekend and we talk about a couple of topics from the series.

We answer some listener questions and talk about the incredible defense the Cubs have played in 2016…outside of today’s game. Kurt has a scary stat and we have a few internet muscle flexes.

The biggest news in Cubs-land this week is the promotion of prospect, Albert Almora. On this episode of The Ivy Envy Podcast, we talk about Almora’s impact on the team and the Soler injury that led to his promotion. We also talk about reasonable expectations for Almora and why some Cubs fans have unrealistic expectations on different prospects.

We briefly talk about the Cubs series win over the Phillies, mainly focusing on pitching.

We have several listener questions to answer, from the serious to the silly. Corey shares some scary stats and throws in a rare mid-week internet muscle flex.

For information on John Baker Day, go to http://ivyenvy.com/johnbaker. This will be a great event and you will have the opportunity to take home this artwork, which will be signed by all five 2015 Cubs rookies.

Thanks for downloading the 404^th episode of The Ivy Envy Podcast. On this episode, we go back and draw a line at the Cardinals series almost two weeks ago and look at these last two weeks of Cubs baseball. The team had a bit of a rough stretch (slightly under .500 for a week or 10 days), and they have gone 10-3 since that point.

We also discuss the middle and back end of this rotation, focusing on Lackey, Hammel and Hendricks. With all 5 of the Cubs starters sporting ERAs under 3.00, these are the guys that stand out the most because you wouldn’t expect the back end of a rotation to be so dominant.

We cover lots of topics on the episode, including a scary stat of the week and a couple of internet muscle flexes.

For information on John Baker Day, go to http://ivynevy.com/johnbaker
For information on the Ivy Envy Weekend at the Lake, go to http://ivyenvy.com/lake

Welcome to the 403^rd episode of the Ivy Envy Podcast. On this episode, we look back on how the Cubs performed (as a team and individuals) in the month of May. While it seemed like the team was spinning it’s wheels at times, they ended the season 18-10.

We get a little more specific and talk about the Cubs sweep over the Phillies over the weekend and the first few games of the series against the Dodgers at Wrigley. The first two games of the Dodgers series provided us with an incredibly good and an incredibly bad performance by the Cubs bullpen. We look into that a bit.

Kurt provides us with a Jake Arrieta scary stat, Andy shares a Rube Waddell story, and we read a few internet muscle flexes.

For information on the annual Ivy Envy Weekend at the Lake, go to http://ivyenvy.com/lake.
For information on John Baker Day, go to http://ivyenvy.com/johnbaker

On this, the 402^nd of the Ivy Envy Podcast, we talk about the Cubs’ series win over the Cardinals in St. Louis. It was a weird series, considering the Cubs lost in walk-off fashion on Monday and then won a wacky and nail-biting game on Wednesday.

In the episode, Corey talks about how the Cubs have been impressive, even while playing under .500 baseball over the last few series. He also defends Jorge Soler again after some social media discussions. Andy talks about pitching, both the good and the bad Cubs pitching in the series with the Cardinals.

Kurt previews the Cubs upcoming series with the Phillies and Andy tells a couple of Rube Waddell stories.

Welcome to the 401^st episode of The Ivy Envy Podcast. We start this episode off by talking about whether or not Cubs fans should be concerned about the Cubs recent habit of losing games and series.

We dive into the Giants series like Jason Heyward dives into a wall, making an incredible (and incredibly scary) catch. We talk about Heyward’s injury and the relief that all Cubs fans felt when the Cubs announced he would only be out 3-5 days.

In discussing the series, we also talk about Lester, Soler, Baez, and others. Andy previews the Cardinals series. Kurt has a scary stat of the week and read some internet muscle flexes.

Thanks for downloading the 400^th episode of The Ivy Envy Podcast.

On this episode, we start things off by reminiscing a little about the first 399 episodes of the podcast. We spend a little time on the series with the Brewers that we just wanted to be over with. Kurt previews the upcoming series with the Giants. We answer some listener questions…deciding who is the best pinch hitter in Cubs history. We finish off the episode with a Rube Waddell story.