Dodgers Territory - Dodgers Awaiting World Series Opponent, Rest vs Rust; Stephen Nelson Joins!

Episode Date: October 20, 2025

Alanna Rizzo and Clint Pasillas welcome Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Stephen Nelson to discuss the MLB postseason so far, Shohei Ohtani's legendary NLCS performance, and Stephen's thoughts on "rest versus rust" as we wait to see who the Dodgers face in the World Series.Which team is the better matchup for LA? The Seattle Mariners or the Toronto Blue Jays?Alanna and Clint also discuss postseason standouts for the Dodgers, including Tommy Edman, Will Smith, and Kiké Hernandez.Plus, why the Dodgers "ruining baseball" is absolutely not the organization's fault.Dodgers Territory Presented by FOX One: Start your 7-day free trial today at FOXone.comDownload the DraftKings Pick6 app now and use code FOUL – play just $5, get $50 in Pick6 bonus picks.Download Cash App Today: capl.onelink.me/vFut/hap8idx8 #CashAppPod. Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App’s bank partner(s). Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC. See terms and conditions at cash.app/legal/us/en-us/card-agreement. Direct deposit and promotions provided by Cash App, a Block, Inc. brand. Visit cash.app/legal/podcast for full disclosures.Check out DT merch at dodgersterritoryshop.com!Support Guidry's Guardian at guidrysguardian.orgFind Clint on YouTube at youtube.com/@alldodgers!Subscribe to Dodgers Territory on YouTube!Rate and review our podcast on Apple and Spotify!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Daniel Alarcon, and this is my friend, is much more famous than I am. I wouldn't go that far, but I'm John Green, co-host at the podcast The Away End, with my old friend Daniel. On our podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup.

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That's why we make it a point to play your favorite country-Bone. Making your workday go a little faster by hanging out with me on the job, or dealing with that Gene Snyder traffic on the ride home with Corey Calhoun, you can count on us for the best country music in Kentucky. In Louisville, you can catch us on the radio dial at 97-5, and anywhere on the IHeart Radio app. I think everything that happened in the regular season, it was agonizing at times,

it was frustrating at times for fans, and I think the Dodgers are being rewarded for their discipline in that regard now, the biggest time of the year. Dodgers territory presented by Fox 1, man, we are psyched that you are here. I'm bummed that the Dodgers aren't playing tonight, but I am not bummed that the Dodgers swept the Milwaukee Brewers and are heading back to the World Series.

I'm Alana Rizzo. That is Clint Paseas. We are so psyched that you guys are with us. We're looking forward to welcoming Stephen Nelson here momentarily. But before we do that, Clint, don't forget to like, subscribe, rate us five stars. And by the way, you can support the show and style, guys. The Dodgers Territory Shop has been open for quite some time. You can scan that QR code right there or you can just go on the Google machine,

Dodgers Territory Shop.com. Clint, lots to talk about. Let's get into the big ticket. Let's do it. all right nine and one so far this post season i'd say the dodgers can't lose but they did lose one game but i tell you what they've looked really good this team is playing well they're playing together and they're doing it at all the right time yeah uh it's been a fun post season to watch uh not a whole lot of stress i mean stress still could be ahead for us a world series don't know who we're going to

be playing just yet but um seeing the way this organization kind of took it to the brew crew, the team that had the most wins in baseball this year, the team that went six and oh against the Dodgers this during the regular season, I feel pretty confident that the Dodgers can continue striding and playing a very good brand of baseball. What are you feeling right now and the kind of calm before the calm before the storm? My thing is, and I said this the other day, a couple of different times in a couple of different areas, the regular season record doesn't mean squat, Clint Paceas. The reason I, the reason I say that as some people were a little nervous, as I guess that they should be, if you're looking based on the numbers only, the Dodgers did not play well against the Milwaukee Brewers over the course of the regular season. In fact, they were undefeated, those brewers were against the Dodgers, 6 and O, but we didn't have our entire compliment, our entire starting rotation. Guys were hurt, guys were on the IL. Some guys weren't super productive at that time. But now when it matters, remember guys, the Dodgers are built for October. They're not built for random series in March or June.

or July or even August. They're built for October. So that was the Dodgers then. This is the Dodgers now. And I feel so confident in saying that there's no way in the world in my estimation that the Dodgers don't repeat, regardless of whether it is the Toronto Blue Jays, whether it is the Seattle Mariners. No disrespect to those clubs. We'll ask Stephen Nelson coming up, you know, who he thinks the Dodgers are better served against. We'll talk to him about that.

But let's talk about some of the standouts so far, Clint. let's start with the NLCS MVP, Shohei Otani. What a guy here. That's a pretty good week he had in that one game there. Of course, you were away, so we got to celebrate the Shohei Otani game, as we're calling it. First player to hit a lead off homer in a game. First, sorry, first pitcher to hit a lead off homer in MLB history, multi-homer game by a pitcher. Three homers, 10 strikeouts, hit the crap out of the ball, very hard hits with 116 mile an hour,

plus on the fastball. Just, well, as Stephen Nelson said, it's stuff of legend what you saw out of Shohei Otani. That's one guy. Obviously, Shohei Otani, we know, is somebody who could put a team on his back, which he did, part of that NB3. But one of the things I really like,

if we're talking about standout so far, this postseason, and in that series, kind of keep the line moving sort of dudes. Tommy Edmund, Will Smith, Kike Hernandez, having themselves very nice post-eastern. post seasons with Will Smith you see there I kind of cherry picked throwing up just the NLCS stats but if you look at those stats breaking 400 with an 871 OPS is very very good Tommy Edmund 286 over the postseason but more importantly 333 with an 860 OPS and five of those six RBI

since I called him out a couple weeks ago or a week ago saying hey you know what I would love to see Tommy Edmund really really get going so thank you for listening to the show Tommy Edmund. And then back to that graphic there, Kike Hernandez. I'm calling him the facilitator this postseason alarm. He's three runs, four rounds batted in, getting the walks. He's getting his hits. He's getting big doubles that are helping this ball club out as well. And another cool thing with Kike Hernandez, your friend, not my friend. I like it, but we're not friends. He's set to pass another Dodger legend, Justin Turner, on the all-time games played list in Dodgers franchise history, which is absurd.

Thoughts on Kiki. It's absurd, and it's a beautiful thing. I mean, I think I've seen the, we all have witnessed the transformation that is Kike Hernandez. And apart from Chase Utley, Kiki has said publicly that J.T. is probably the second most influential teammate and friend and mentor and leader and Guider, Geyer of all of the teammates that he's ever had. I mean, Chase Utley obviously has a massive influence on Kike. changed his diet, changed his style, changed a lot of things about the way that Kiki went about his business.

But JT has always been a player coach. I would not be surprised one Iota if Justin Turner ended up, you know, if he's going to retire or whatever ends up in the Dodgers system in some capacity coaching and then eventually managing. And to see Kiki get that emotional when he was asked about this, you know, and the fact of being able to tie Justin Turner for most postseason games played, he could surpass him in terms of most. postseason games played. And Kike went from a guy that obviously is a heck of a personality, right? He's a big personality, banana suit guy. But Andrew Friedman at the beginning of the season, Clint told you and I on an exclusive interview that we had with him that he has become such an unbelievable leader. And Andrew would not have thought at the time that Kike was going to go from being that banana suit guy in the plane dancing with JT and Jock Peterson to a guy that was

such an unbelievable influence and such an unbelievable leader. And again, we talk about it at nauseam, what Kikei Hernandez does in the postseason. He just takes it to another level, his game, his attitude, all of the things. But Kike has meant a tremendous amount to this club over the course of the time that he's been. And I can't even think about Kike in any other uniform, Houston Astros, you know, whatever. I always think of Kike as a Dodger. And I really, he was one of the people I said, we absolutely have to bring back, right? The Hernandez brothers when we were coming into the season. Kike means a lot to this club, and he means a lot to what's going on in October.

Make no mistake about it. He's a huge reason the daughters are in the position that they're in again. You know, we've talked a lot about the whole idea of flipping a switch. Kike is flipping a switch incarnate right there. The calendar gets late into the season. You get into the September. I mean, this was a dude. When we spoke to Kike, I think shortly after he re-signate.

mind late this, you know, before the spring training, he had mentioned into last year, you know, he wasn't 100% certain he was going to be around. The numbers were bad. They were kind of worse this year. You know, there wasn't the glasses savior for him this time around. But at this point, the Dodgers understand the formula. Just wait. Get to October.

Kike will figure it out. October will work its magic and become Kiktober for us. you know shout out shout out to Michael Conforto for essentially being the placeholder for Kiki Hernandez and finally getting his eventually getting his starting spot

in the lineup. It's going to be left field. It's going to be left field moving forward. And the next time you see him out there, he will be tying the great Justin Turner on that all-time games played list. It is pretty cool. Now, the team doesn't run and live and die through Kiki Hernandez, but my guy, the facilitator, making a difference for this ball club. I think they die by by without having him.

I don't think the Dodgers are where they're at without. I mean, is he, is he the end all be? I'll know. But if he's not in that lineup, the Dodgers aren't where they are. I mean, Kike,

and I've said this before a thousand times, Kike could go over the regular season and I could not care less. But I want him on my postseason roster. No one's thinking from Florida for any of these NS. Thank you. Yeah. You know, I just, Kike is a difference maker. He is exactly what this team needs.

in October. And again, there are some guys that just get kind of a little bit bored in the regular season. Kike, sometimes Teo, sometimes Nick Castellanos with the Philadelphia Phillies, who's probably not a Philly next year. But there are guys, it's tough to turn it on. There are very few Freddie Freeman's like, you know, take your lunch pill to the park every single day, head down, don't say anything, do, do, do, do, do type of guys, you know. But it takes all kinds and Kike's is super special. Stephen Nelson is going to join us momentarily. Clint, before we do that, let's give a shout out to our friends over at Draft Kings. Football is back, and so is your shot at big wins with Draft Kings pick six, the official

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It's always a pleasure to have our friend, Stephen Nelson, on the program. Aloha, Mr. Nelson. You, of course, can see him on Sports and LA. You can, of course, hear him on AM 570 calling the games with our friend Rick Monday and Dwayne McDonald, tremendous radio engineer. Stephen, good to be with you. What is your takeaway so far, sir, from this Dodgers postseason thus far? Tommy Edmund got snubbed for NLCS MVP.

I don't know how you could have given it to this Otani guy does one good game and everybody loses their money. No. If I were to answer that sincerely, you know, you have to start with the starting pitching. I think everything that happened in the regular season, it was agonizing at times, especially for those guys who weren't able to pitch for most of the regular season. It was frustrating at times for fans to feel like, ah, why are they not? kind of taking the reins off of Shohay and letting him go. We're in a dog fight for the division. Like, let him go.

And I think the Dodgers are being rewarded for their discipline in that regard now, the biggest time of the year, to get the performances that they got in that series in succession. Of course, it's not what the White Sox did in 2005, four straight complete games to close out that ALCS is getting the Angels. But for for Snell, Yama, Glass now and then Otani to kind of just pass the torch to one another and all handle business in their respective fashions in their own ways. I think that they have to take the kick for what's stood out so far in this postseason. Yeah, that's funny.

I wanted to bring up the starting rotation in its own way. The real secret weapon for the Dodgers 6th October is the worst kept secret in baseball. 10 starts, 1-4-ERA, 64-and-a-third innings pitched for that unit there. One complete game. Nellie, we hear the Dodgers are running. Should have been two. I think Doc would tell you it should have been two. Yeah, I mean.

We'll give him a bit of a pass. Give him a pass. He's pretty good at his job as well. But yeah, I mean, the Dodgers are ruining baseball. If this is ruining baseball, I love it. I very much enjoy it. Seeing guys go out there and it's old school baseball. Throw a bunch of, you know, high-paid elite.

talent on the bump and it just makes your job that much easier. More thoughts about how good this rotation has been. Yeah, you know, you brought up the the ruining baseball thing and I personally love what Doc said on the stage. Just sort of kind of, you know, pulling out the narrative that's in the room with this team throughout the year. And what you have seen before that and since then And it's just really a lot of projection. It's just a lot of misdirected emotions. You know, people don't know how to properly process the business of sport, the business of baseball. And I go back to what Bryce Harper said, like only losers complain about what the Dodgers are doing.

And then Harp's teammate, J.T. Rio Muto, even doubled down on it. They are what Major League Baseball should be. The Dodgers and the Phillies with the Middletons. that's exactly how a major league team should operate. And people can make fun of the Mets and they're collapsed out of the postseason this year. But the way Steve Cohen has run things since he's taken over, that's how it should be done. And there's that graphic that everybody can see out there. It's like the amount of profit that is at least the information that's publicly made available,

profit for each franchise, and then the amount of said profit that is redistributed into the team, into the organization, into acquiring. talent in a player development into, you know, diet, anything that is going to elevate your on-field product, the best teams, the best organizations do that. And instead of getting mad at the dinners, why don't you look at the bottom of that graphic? I think that's kind of, that would be my simple instruction. Anybody who, again, is struggling with their emotions. It's really just because they're frustrated because they, their favorite team or their favorite organization, whatever sport, they're not doing that.

So I think that's how I would like to address that question. I'm going to be honest with you. Forgot the second half of your question. I'll ask you this question. Talk about those Phillies, Stephen, because you mentioned Bryce Harper, you mentioned Kyle Schwabba. You mentioned the way that the Middleton's run their franchise. Now, was that the biggest test in your estimation for the Dodgers this postseason? To me, that felt I realized you can't have two NL teams in the World Series people.

But to me, that felt more like a World Series matchup than whomever the Dodgers are going to face. Yeah, Alana, you're spot on. I totally agree with you. And this isn't even like a hindsight thought. And this discussion is being had with respect to the Brewers. The Milwaukee Brewers had a magical year. Most wins in Major League Baseball. And they earned it.

Like it wasn't just like some fluke. Going back to late May from that point 40, May 18th on, best offense in baseball, best pitching staff in baseball, not a fluke. They just went ice cold at the wrong time. But going into the division series, we were in Philadelphia, it was, everyone was looking around. It's like, this is kind of like

2024 against San Diego, where it feels like this series is going to determine the World Series, at least the National League pennant. I think you felt confident whoever was going to win, the Dodgers or the Phil's, was going to have a really good shot to get by whoever came out of the other side of the bracket. whether it was the Cubs or the Brewers and ultimately was the Brewers.

So it definitely had 2024 vibes in that way as we were watching those games. It was definitely a lot closer than that 3-1 series. You know, I think that much is evident. It's not a hot take. And the only shame of that matchup is that it wasn't a best of seven because those were the two heavyweights in the National League in the postseason still. So the fact that the Dodgers were able to overcome that, they're not going to see left-handed pitching like that the rest of the way.

You know, Milwaukee included in that. That was perspective, you know, going through the D.S. You're not going to face a Sanchez, Lozardo, and Sforis in succession again. That's not going to happen. So hopefully there's an exhale from number 17 in that regard. He's not going to see that sort of an exodus from the left side. But, yeah, now that they kind of climb that mountain, And it doesn't mean they're going to win it all.

It doesn't guarantee anything. But I think it certainly adds to the confidence that group already has in the clubhouse. Yeah. And a couple of good options, obviously, for the Dodgers to be facing starting on Friday, Seattle Mariners. Toronto Blue Jays both have their strengths, both have their weaknesses. Have you guys had that talk already? Who would you rather? No, we're going to put it on you.

Oh, you put on me. Thanks. We can have a dialogue. All of us will have a talk already. dialogue right here. I mean, personally, I like the team staying on the West Coast. I think it's a little bit better. They're the home field advantage if they're playing the Mariners. There's that strength there, but they also got very good starting pitching. Blue Jays got a ton of slug. Maybe don't have the starting pitching. Again, I lean Mariners. I don't know which way

Alana leans. Nellie, where do you lean? It's, yeah, honestly, you could spin it any which way you want. I, if I'm the Dodgers, whatever team gives me home field advantage, that would be Seattle. That's how I would split that hair because I really do think that you could say, would you rather face George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo, 80%, well, probably, that's maybe a little too much, 70% Brian Wu. And then Bryce Miller, who's kind of gotten things rolling back to the way he looked a year ago. Like that, those are, those are some dudes right there. And on the other side for Toronto, it's Kevin Gosman and a nasty rookie name, you savage.

And that's it because, you know, and with respect to trade, because you know, like what his prospect profile is, and he's a first round pick. And trade's like he's handled the big stage up to this point, but he's got six starts under his belt, right? Like, so to me that kind of matters. Burrios isn't healthy. Bassett isn't healthy. Scherzer just had a really good one the other day relative to this year, but he's not the old mad Max. The Dodgers swept Seattle. They took two out of three from Toronto, should have swept Toronto in the regular season. Ultimately, all that to say, one team has Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

And the other team does. And facing Vladimir Guerrero Jr. without home field advantage. So those are the two kickers for me. Again, you could spin it either way you want. And I would agree with you. Sure, that makes sense. I would like the Dodgers have home field advantage, and I would prefer to not face Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Stephen Nelson, I don't see a world in which the Dodgers do not repeat as World Series champions. Regardless if they play the Mariners and no disrespect to either club, I just think the Dodgers are better. I think their starting staff is better. I think their lineup is better. Their bullpen gives me pause, but so far that hasn't been a major need because the starters have been tremendous. What a homer.

The Dodgers win the World Series if and the Dodgers lose the World Series if. Please complete those sentences. Oh, I'm awful at that game. I really am. The Dodgers win the World Series if, again, rocket science, the starters can do 85% of what we saw on the LCS. Because I mean, to ask them to repeat that. They can do it. They can do it.

But to ask them to repeat that is maybe a little aggressive and greedy. Because I just think, you know, this time of year, you could have a red hot lineup and a talented lineup as we saw in the last two series, especially in the LCS, but even the division series, because they're more star power for the Phillies. The pitching will beat hitting this time of year. So I really, it's on the horses. You know, the Dodgers have rode them this far and they want to ride them to the finish line. So that's how they win the World Series.

They lose the World Series if, like it would be easy say, if that doesn't happen, I'll try and give you something else. Here's the thing. Like, they have only lost one game this postseason. They are, you know, four wins away from a World Series. And, I mean, outside, like, the first two games of the Wild Card and maybe like one and a half games to start the division series, the offense has just been sort of, Okay. It's been okay. So, you know, would you would like to see more of that? I think Dave Roberts asked about that before I forget which game.

He's like, you know, execution with runners in scoring position and, you know, moving guys over and doing those things like that. And he's, Doc agrees. Like, we got to be better. So, you know, if the offense, I think, because again, you cannot just bet on the rotation doing that. again. If, you know, they don't get some more help from the offense, then maybe, maybe that prevents it from going back to back. Again, I'm terrible at that game. I own that. I own that. You know, one thing that will help the Dodgers offense be better is not facing, you know, Christopher Sanchez or Jesus Luzardo or, I mean, hell, Jacob Zerowski.

Right, right. And you look at. You know, Seattle, no lefty starters. And the Dodgers just, you know, they just saw, you know, their left-handers the last weekend of the regular season. And I get that those games didn't matter for either club, but they got a peek at all of them, right? And including old friend Caleb Ferguson. And then for the Blue Jays, it's Eric Lauer, veteran lefty. The Dodgers have seen a ton.

Brendan Little and then Mason Flew Hardy. I might be forgetting one. Justin Brule, another friend of the old, you know, another old friend. So again, all those guys, major league pitchers, they're talented guys. Gabe Spire, the Mariners, I think is comfortably the best one of all of them. But he's only one guy. So in a seven-game series, you're going to get a few peaks at him. Yeah, I just, there's no, there's none of those guys that you compared to on these two teams.

So, you know, doesn't guarantee anything, but it should make you feel better. It should make you feel better about the World Series going into it. The rest versus rust, like, I'm like already preemptively exhausted with that discussion because it's going to be everywhere all day for the next five days until we actually see a game. And especially if they lose game one, they're going to be like, oh, the layoff was too much. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Been there done that, though. They did that last year. they've figured it out. They have figured out the rest part of it. There is no rust. These boys are hanging out, having a good time getting ready to play whoever, either to fly out to Toronto or stay home and welcome the Mariners. Stephen, we've got to get you to talk about Roki Sasaki, or Sasaki, if I say that, if I messed that one up for us. Yeah, you mentioned the Dodgers win if the starting rotation does its thing, but somebody who is very much snuck up on the

baseball world here is the new reinvigorated Roki and his one one three ERA five games finish. The dude has been elite and it feels like a lot of the league doesn't really know what the hell to do with this guy. What's your kind of vantage point of the honest true not so secret weapon now in Roki? Right. Yeah, I saw, I saw Willie Benson's interview on foul territory yesterday. It was a couple days ago. And he was like, yeah, I'd only seen him on video and never faced him.

And, you know, my God, something like that, you know. And yeah, it's a huge, huge shout out to Turoki Sasaki for, again, just kind of ascending from the ashes out of this year. You know, this was going to be a lost rookie season. And everyone was going to spin it as, all right, like, took his lumps year one. That was his welcome to the big leagues, just got punched in the mouth. And, you know, just kind of had to figure everything out, be humbled, yad-a-di-di-a. and everyone was just, like, I think, resigned to that fact.

So for him to be in this spot now closing postseason games after what we saw at the start of the year, it's truly incredible and it's a huge testament to his work ethic, the Dodgers staff in Glendale, you know, Rob Hill on down, the whole pitching development side, everybody in OKC, and of course Mark, Mark, our Conner, Guinness, and the athletic, Training staff with the Dodgers just to kind of rebuild him, you know, mentally and emotional more than anything physically. Obviously, the downtime's going to help him heal up, but just to get his mechanics back. And then now to talk more baseball as opposed to like the emotions, you know, well, we saw him

Milwaukee. Game one, that was the first time where it was like, okay, the game is sped up on him, right? And the moment is kind of getting to him here. And when the game speeds up on you, the mechanics can fall out of whack. You could be thrown against air in Glendale, Arizona, and you could be synced up and dotting 101 all you want. That's not the NLCS and on the road and a time run at the plate. Like you can simulate that.

And so for him to kind of endure that, Blake trying to pick him up and then bounce back, like another huge feather in his cap, notch, and his belt in this new role. So, yeah, it has totally changed the game for the Dodgers, Dave Roberts, and his trust tree in that bullpen. And really the rest of the staff moving forward, I think, you know, having Roki pitch how he's pitching to have Vescia and Anthony Bonda has really come on strong. Now the starters, they don't have that in the back of the mind. I was like, I might have to go like eight shuddy for us to have a chance today. you know like i think that's that's another part of it that i you know tend to think about too

is just how one guy's success or a couple guys success can help alleviate mental pressure on on other guys so i think that's massive and then you know we have i know we've kind of buried the lead here bring them up but but oh time to have that game in game four that should be a massive exhale for him because throughout this postseason guys you were watching the ab They were not Shohei Otani ABs. He was trying to make up for the two for 22, two for 23, two for 24, two for 25 kept creep it up and up and up. And he was trying to hit seven run homers every time at the plate.

And so now it's like, okay, I did that to help us clinch a pennant. Now we go. Yeah. So that's the hope. What was it like for you, Stephen, calling that game? I'm watching you and you're more of the entertainment than the damn game is when you're calling it in the booth with Rick Monday and you're so animated. And first of all, it's the game of legend, right?

I mean, that game was unbelievable. The stuff of legend from Shohei Otani on the mound as well as in the box. But what is it like for you as a broadcaster, especially on the radio when you're really trying to paint a picture and describe what's going on to do your job, but also to be as excited as you are as a fan when you're witnessing this this unbelievable game unfold yeah so it's it has become my my favorite part of those videos is just the juxtaposition of my my insanity and then that's Rick I mean me and Mo it's yin and yang right because Mo has seen and done everything that there is to see and do in the game of baseball there is

nothing that has that man flustered. For me, it does not take much. He's just getting the sponsorship cards. Daniels Jewelers. Yeah, Dwayne, Daniels Jewelers. Like, that's, like, I could see that out on my peripheral. So if I'm, like, you know, trying to, if I'm struggling to read the ball flight, but I see Mo twisting his torso and getting an oblique workout in, then I know it's probably going.

But it's become, like, you know, it's still fans who, who don't. They're not used to seeing Moe during a game. They're like, oh, my gosh, does Rick Monday even care? Gosh, does Mo actually hate your guts? Gosh, does anything get Mo excited? Like, if people, it's like the game has become secondary to just watching Mo's reactions. So I've really enjoyed that. As for that game specifically, Alana, I think you saw it with each home run, like us losing our collective minds.

We were so dumbstruck as that evening was playing out. Like, striking out three in the top of the first, lead off home run, like, that's an all-time game right there. You know what I mean? Like, he could have not struck out another batter. He could have not hit another home run. And we still would have been talking about that for forever. To then go kind of six-plus shuddy, just two hits, you know, three walks. He had a lot of full counts that elevated the pitch cow, but he still punched out 10.

And then they hit three mammoth home runs, not wall scrapers, right? Three quarters away up the right field pavilion next to the bullpen. That's a shot. Hit it over the roof, which we couldn't quite see from our vantage point in the moment. Like that's my, I really did not like my call on the second one. It was an extraordinary home run. And I felt like my call was kind of ordinary. But that's just, you know, you guys know me.

I'm like, I hate myself. And then the, it's true. I'm just being on it. And then the third home run, like McGill, 99 inside corner were, you know, inner third wasn't like perfectly off the inside corner where the Phillies were just pounding him in during the division series for him to go left center with like, I mean, and that was more of a bullet, like those were, none of those were cheapies. So, you know, you put all that combined to win a.

You know, I think it was, I want to get it right. I think it was Chelsea James who tweeted, the greatest player to ever play the game, just played the greatest game that's ever been played. Something like that. I hope it was, I hope, I guess paraphrasing at the end of the day, but that was spot on. The only person who can top that unless another. Yeah, and thus another alien comes along in 100 years is him. So, yeah, I, we literally, after that third home run, Mo and I didn't say anything for like 45 seconds.

And it was partly because, you know, I'm a big advocate letting the moment breathe, but mostly because we just had nothing to say. We, you know, we had nothing. And it's our job to have words. We had zero. I really love Mo with that. He's, you're there just like, please help me out. And he gave you nothing. Absolutely nothing.

That's a pro right there. Letting you just rot. Yeah. And again, and he said, I've never seen, I've never seen anything like that. And again, all the people that have been in his orbit throughout his life in baseball, for Mo to say that, like, you know, that just kind of seals the deal for me. Yeah. Show Heo Tony is a, he's a video game character.

That's it. He is. Yeah. Yeah. If you turn all the difficulty off. Yeah. You know what I mean? You're playing against my two-year-old.

Yeah, yeah. Stephen, we can't wait to hear some unbelievable calls coming up. Let's do four more, my friend. We appreciate you taking the time. Hope Corey and the boys are doing well. Enjoy this run. Go get another ring. I hope so.

I'm just, again, I'm just a fly on the wall for this ride. And, yeah, four more. That's all I keep saying. Four more. former. I'm with you. And we'll talk to you guys again soon. All right. Stephen Nelson. You can hear it. Of course, hear him on AM 570. You can see him on Sportsnet, LA. We always appreciate all that he does, his energy, his call, his enthusiasm, everything. All right. We're going to be right back after a word from our friends at Felt

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He is so sweet, so mild-mannered, and still honestly has a lot of love to give. give and a lot of life left to live. He's in great health. We think he's 12. We're not exactly sure, but he has a clean bill of health and he needs a forever home. If anybody is interested in adopting Henry, please reach out to me on my social or giddreysgarden.org. And if you can't adopt Henry, you can certainly donate. One dollar helps with our mission. We certainly want to thank Fox One for their partnership of being with us here on Dodgers territory. All right, Clint Liz, if we talk about what's coming up on all Dodgers with Clint Paseas. What do you have?

What are you talking about? Well, I'm assuming somebody is going to win the American League pennant tonight. So we will be talking about whichever team the Dodgers are set to face on Friday in the World Series. Are the Dodgers and Shohei Otani getting on a plane to Toronto or are they staying home? Finally, is Shohay Otani finally getting on a plane to Toronto? Dun, dun, done, done. Although, didn't he, did we play Toronto? He went.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that doesn't help the beat here. Yeah, right, right, right. But yeah, we will be live tonight sometime after that game is over, probably 8.30-ish L.A. time. So do check it out. I have a button for that. There it is. Check it out.

All Dodgers with Clint Passeus and Jeff Snyder. The boys should all be there, including my friend Kevin Skinner, producer Kevin, as we call him. Riz, before we left, I want to continue on a little bit more with the whole idea of Dodgers are ruining baseball and all of this money BS. There's a couple of graphics, one of which Nelly had brought up there. This one has gone around a whole bunch. And I mean, it's going to be small for people on this phone. This is a great, a great depiction of why people should not be mad at the Dodgers. Be mad at the other frigging teams that don't spend any money on payroll and revenue.

Look at what the Miami Marlins, they're not. not surprisingly guys 30th on the list they spend 27% of their revenue on players ridiculous okay that's all you need to know the Dodgers are at 73% so essentially what the and again i'm i'm no wizard in terms of accounting but i can tell you that when you spend the majority of your income and your revenue stream back into your players and back into the product that is going out on the field that tends to yield itself a professional team that actually wins and an ownership group that actually wins or cares about winning. And if you're Los Angeles Lakers fan, which I know many Dodgers fans are, you should be super duper psyched that Mark Walter and Guggenheim just bought the Lakers.

Okay, because it's going to be exactly the way that what they're doing with the Los Angeles Dodgers. So yes, you know, I understand big market teams have some benefits. But every, I don't know how many, I'm going to put it on my tombstone. I don't know how many times I have to tell people that all 30 owners have the ability to spend money. It's the owners that choose to spend it that should be applauded and not crucified. And I loved, I'll finish with this. I loved what Dave Roberts, what he had to say. Let's ruin baseball a little bit more, you know, paraphrasing, four more wins.

Let's really ruin baseball by getting four more win. Hell yeah, let's go. You know, you mentioned the other teams, the other organizations that have the potential to spend. You know, it's not the Dodgers' fault that the Boston Red Sox did not want to pay Mooky Betts a fair living wage for his talents. Yeah, it's a lot of money. To us, it's not a fair living wage. To him, it's a fair living wage. So he falls to their laps.

This is from the guy who chipped in for you, you know, Spot Started, Blake Harris. He had tweeted this over the weekend. Any team could have signed Blake Snow, over this offseason. Freddie Freeman, maybe not so much any team, but, you know, trading for Tommy Edmund, nobody really wanted to Oscar Hernandez, picking up Max Muncie quite literally off the scrap heap. Don't be upset at the Dodgers that your team and your ownership sucks. Be upset at your ownership. It's just that simple. The Dodgers are out here trying to win baseball. We saw in 22, 21, 22, 23, various reasons for.

this team struggles. Paramount right at the top was starting pitching and and you know Mark Walter said go fix that and that's where you get Yamamoto at the time you signed show Hey Watani who was just going to hit by the way he's arguably the most talented arm in that starting rotation and then you mix in Blake Snell in the off season to go along with the guys that you have developed Blake Snell has been every bit of that Snell Zilla that that we hope that he got I mean my God has been, and I know we lost him for a long period of time, but the Dodgers had enough to be able to maintain until they got to this point. But he is, he has been such a joy to watch. The last thing I'll say, last thing I'll say is the frustration of the headlines that are

already coming out. Like minutes after the brewers are eliminated, they're talking about, oh, they're going to look to trade Freddie Peralta so they don't have to pay him $8 million. Immediately. Terrick's like they're not even, they're not even on the plane. They're not even on the plane yet. And they're already talking it. Well, Paul Skeens. Skeens and Scoobel and. Skins needs to escape. That's a different story.

Well, no, throw that, throw that graphic back up there about the revenue because somebody was talking about in our chat. Like, look at Pittsburgh, you guys. Look at Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, in terms of revenue, $326 million in 2012. You look at their payroll and tax is $112 million. They spent 34 and a half percent on putting it back into players.

You think if I'm Paul Skeesey. I have both feet out the door. Like you can't, you're not going to win there. And those types of guys, the Tarek scoble, and Detroit's better than Pittsburgh, but like the Paul Schoen's of the world, they want to win. People that are that good are not, in my opinion,

are not that good, are not content to settle on a team and just make a boatload of money, in my opinion. But the final thing, the final thing, the final thing I'll add on this. Throw that graphic back up again. Looking at, you know, the Dodgers revenue, $752 million last year. Good products get you money.

You invest in the team. People show up. They spend money at your ballpark. They want to watch your baseball team. They want to buy your jerseys. Yeah, Otani helps a lot with that as well. But if you invest in the organization, you will reap the rewards and be able to invest even more like the Los Angeles Dodgers do.

Yeah. No, you're absolutely right. I mean, think about it. There's certain things in the world that you don't skimp on. toilet paper, bacon. There's certain things that you have to like get. The generic version is not going to work, right? The generic version, coffee.

People are very boozy when it comes to coffee. You know, but anyway, the point is the Dodgers do it the right way. They spend a lot of money. They make a lot of money, but they spend a lot of money too. And they treat their employees incredibly well. I was there for seven years. It was phenomenal. They treat you really, really, really well.

So anyway, that being said, everybody, check out Clint. tonight on all Dodgers with Clint Paseas. A big shout out to our friends at Fox One for sponsoring us. Thank you to Stephen Nelson for being here today. Do not forget. We appreciate all the help we can get, guys. When you sponsor our show, you sponsor our clothes. It makes a difference for Clint and I. It makes a difference for the entire show. It makes a difference for Fowel Territory as a platform. So Dodgers Territory Shop.com or scan that QR code. Clint and I will be back on Thursday at our regular time as we discuss who the Dodgers will. will play in the World Series.

And, of course, we will be on post game for every Dodgers game throughout the World Series as well. So thanks guys for being here. We appreciate it. Clint, have a good day. Happy belated. I know you're 40 now. You're old. We'll see you guys on Thursday. Go Dodgers.

I'm Daniel Alarcon. And this is my friend. This is much more famous than I am. I wouldn't go that far. But I'm John Green. Co-host of the podcast The Away End with my old friend Daniel on our podcast, the away end. We'll share with you the magic of international football. all leading up to the 2026 World Cup.

Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to the away end with Daniel Al-Rocon and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.