As the Chicago Cubs vie for their first postseason appearance since 2020 sitting four games back from the Milwaukee Brewers for the National League Central division lead, every matchup down the stretch counts. The Cubs are playing meaningful September baseball and attracting large crowds at Wrigley Field on the north side of Chicago to watch all of the action. Cubs manager David Ross helped the team snap a 108-year championship drought when they won the World Series in 2016, defeating Cleveland in seven games, and is now working to help the club capture another chance to compete for the game’s ultimate glory.
Every Tuesday throughout the regular season, Ross has joined Dan Bernstein and Laurence Holmes on 670 The Score in Chicago to discuss the state of the team and provide his insight and expertise towards baseball manners. Additionally, Cubs infielder Nico Hoerner joins the afternoon program, Parkins & Spiegel, on the same day and gives compendious answers in an easygoing manner. Ross, however, can be a much more difficult interview, and it is something their colleagues from afar have observed in listening to the program.
“It’s fiery and he challenges Dan and Dan challenges him and Laurence and him have a great relationship,” co-host Danny Parkins said on Tuesday. “It’s a fun dynamic. Today as Ross is talking about all of the options in his bullpen, things got a little silent.”
Indeed, when Ross began noting various relief pitchers in the team’s bullpen, Bernstein decided to interject. After the manager said that Luke Little and Jose Cuas had proven to be effective options for the club, he continued to say that hard-throwing Daniel Palencia had also stood out in his appearances.
“Oh, that was rough, man,” Bernstein said. “Palencia was rough – I can’t live like that. I know he can throw 100 [mph], but I can’t.”
Several seconds of silence then occurred on the air, leaving listeners on the edge of their seats as to what would happen next. Once Bernstein realized that the Cubs manager was not responding, he continued his reasoning on why he does not feel Palenica is an effective option for the team.
“When you start seeing the wild pitches and all of that; is the trust still there?,” Bernstein followed up.
The silence then continued before Ross finally ended the protracted quietude by asking whether it was Bernstein or Holmes who had posed the question. Once Bernstein replied that it was him, Ross stated that the coaching staff has to trust everyone on the team to do their jobs.
“David Ross would have sat in that silence for the rest of the interview,” Parkins reacted. “Is there a question here? Did you forget who I am?”
Chris Tannehill, the senior audio producer at the station, contributed his opinion by saying that Ross did not particularly want to hear what Bernstein had to think. Parkins then proceeded to do an impression of the Cubs skipper, saying, “I need a new reliever from the reliever tree because of Bernsy!”
“Dan Bernstein has read every Bill James baseball abstract ever published,” added co-host Matt Spiegel. “He has thoughts!”
Even as they poked fun towards the conjecture, Parkins was glad to see Bernstein handle the situation in the way that he did. After all, the interviews with team personnel are meant to benefit the fans, and he felt that Ross was serving himself by discussing many of the relievers in the bullpen in response to a question.
“I love, ‘Hey, you are not just going to come on my show and list every reliever in your bullpen as an option for you,’” Parkins said of Bernstein. “‘I know that you’ve listed a guy that I don’t think you should trust; why do you trust him?’ I don’t even mind the interruption. Jump in; challenge him. He’s coming on a talk show; this is not a press conference. He’s coming to your territory, [and] there’s an agreement that’s [been] reached.”
