Dodgers Territory - Dodgers Embarrass Padres, Huge Injury Updates, Muncy Appreciation

Episode Date: July 6, 2026

Alanna Rizzo, Katie Woo, and Clint Pasillas dive into the series the was for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres. What went right and what went wrong for LA, and what was most embarrassing for the reeling Pads. (8:19) Filed under the bigger than baseball storylines from the game, catcher Eliezer Alfonzo Jr. made his major league debut on Sunday, just hours after learning of the devastating loss of his sister and stepmother in the recent disaster in Venezuela. Katie takes us through his emotional debut and heartwarming moment shared by fans at Dodger Stadium. (15:25) In DT Headlines, the Dodgers welcome Evan Phillips back from the IL today. What move will the team make to get him back on the 40 man roster and onto the active roster? The hosts discuss. Plus, Blake Snell and Edwin Diaz are getting closer to returning from injury. And the Dodgers are sending 5 players to the All-Star game in Philly. We shine a spotlight on Max Muncy's return to the Midsummer Classic. (32:38) Finally, we look ahead to three with the Rockies. 🌶️ See how K12 Powered Schools can help unlock your child’s full potential. Enroll online today at K12.com/foul Subscribe to the podcast!https://www.youtube.com/@DodgersTerritory  Follow our social media channels for more content!https://x.com/LADTerritory https://www.instagram.com/ladterritory/ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61578546105253  Check out DT merch at https://dodgersterritoryshop.com Support Guidry's Guardian at https://guidrysguardian.org Find Clint on YouTube at https://youtube.com/@alldodgers Follow Katie's work at The Athletic https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/author/katie-woo/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I love this dude with a deep passion because of how much he loves the Dodgers, how much he loves playing baseball, how much work he puts in each year to getting better. Welcome to a brand new edition of Dodgers Territory. I'm Alana Rizzo. That is Katie Wu and Clint Paseas. We are psyched that you guys are here. Thanks for being here, everybody. Subscribe to us on YouTube wherever you get your podcast, Apple, Spotify.

You get the picture. Lots to get to a series to recap, a series to preview. Let's get to the big ticket. I just would like to put out there that the great. girls are better than the boy because Katie and I said that we were going to take three of four. And he said that we were only going to win two out of the four. Katie and I were correct. Clint was not. But that's okay because the Dodgers won three or four games and that's all we care about. Katie, you were there. What did you like? What did you not like? Well, as much as I want to

take credit for our incredible skills of always being right, Alana, I will say that Clint was very close to being right if it wasn't for two insane comebacks Thursday and Friday to be down six zero in the season or the series opener we'll get to the roki susaki stuff and then go back and score what was almost 12 unanswered runs that was a big one I felt like that was really uh deflating for the Padres and then the taska Hernandez return the grand slam that I felt like everyone knew it was coming great call by Joe Davis by the way that to me felt like the dagger so Clint you were almost right but you know you just can't beat us just like the Padres can barely beat the Dodgers.

Yeah, more to be said about the Padres for sure, and you see it on the bottom there, the reeling Padres. They needed that win yesterday. I don't know how much it really helps them with their season. I do think at one point I had said three or four before I took a step back. Either way, I will happily have egg on my face with this series, a lot of good stuff. The Teo was the biggest one. That Friday game was a lot of fun there.

Obviously, battling back the way. they did on Thursday. You're down early with Roki Sasaki on the bump, down what, down six over the first like three innings. You're feeling, oh, God, here we go. It's one of those games in this season series between these teams where the Padres usually win that first game. The fact, they're able to battle back with a vengeance,

put 12 runs on the board. That was a lot of fun. But the Dodgers had zero business winning that Friday game. Teo, Teo with the, I mean, didn't do much in the series, but he did something when it mattered. And that grand slam, if we're going to talk about the Padres for a second, that has got to be just the biggest, like, devastating blow. I think I put embarrassing in the title of this episode. It's an embarrassing situation for the Padres where they're at, considering what a month prior, they had a half game lead or whatever it was in the NLS to now be coming out of the series 14 games down.

Alana, that's embarrassing. That's tough. It is embarrassing. And, you know, we had hoped that we would win the division. I didn't think that we thought we were going to have a 14-game lead on July 6th, if that is still where we stand, correct? We were 14 games yesterday going into the series. The Dodgers, you know, they had won 10 in their last 12th before coming into the game.

I mean, you want the adversity during the season, so you're prepared. But we've talked about this before. We talked about it on our Monday show. That as long as they're playing good baseball at the right time, and obviously as long as everybody's healthy, it just matters that they win the division. That's the first box that they want to check, and they're going to do that.

I mean, guys, they're sending, what, six players to the All-Star game? You know, Shohei Otani, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncie, Andy Pahez and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. You are correct. Math is hard. So five guys, but they're the best team in baseball by a lot. And I'm not talking about just the National League, guys. I'm talking about all of baseball.

They lead the majors in batting average. OPS runs per game. Their third and home runs in all of. of baseball. And you think about it a little bit, guys. It's remarkable what they've been able to do. And they haven't even had their full rotation the entire season. They haven't had Blake Snell. Kitty is going to give us an update on him. They haven't had Tyler Glass now for the majority of the season, really. Edwin Diaz, he's starting to make some progress, but he's not been with them the last couple of months. Yet they still rank fourth in Major League Baseball and ERA. Someone's about

to ring my doorbell, I think. Sorry about that. Otani firmly in the Sai Young conversation at 8 and 2 with a 179 ERA, four and two thirds innings shy of qualifying for that Sai Young. We were worried about the innings. So is he going to have enough? Maybe. Yamamoto, nine and five with a 249 ERA and the surprise of the staff, Justin Reblisky, friend of the show who should be an all-star.

Maybe he gets there. We don't know. The manager of the National League could do something about it. He leads a team with a 10-and-2 record Rebleski does. So I tell you what, only the Astros have blown fewer saves than the Dodgers this season. And I'm impressed with what they've been able to do without having arguably two of their best arms in the rotation and the best closer, one of the best closers in baseball in their moment. Yeah, you mentioned there, the Edwin Diaz factor. Tanner Scott, again, I think we're not giving it enough. Everybody's not giving enough love to Tanner Scott, what he's been able to do filling in without Edwin Diaz here, picking up a lot of savings.

for this team. But yeah, you're getting Edwin Diaz back maybe in a couple of weeks. You mentioned we're going to talk about that. You're getting Evan Phillips back today. We'll talk about that a little bit later. This is a very good baseball team, and they are going to just keep getting better. One of the narratives, and Katie, I am interested in your opinion of the Padres. We'll get to that in a second. But one of the narratives, of course, Kyle Hurt, not a great game for him yesterday. It has been a rougher go of things for Kyle Hurt, and I am the leader in the clubhouse when it comes to the Kyle Hurt, you know, marching and chowder society. I do wonder if it's time for maybe a little bit of a AAA mental reset because they're, he's been giving up just a lot of base runners. Just about, it feels like every inning he's coming in.

He's walking or giving up the hit to the lead off batter. Hasn't been a smooth going for him. It looks like he's really trying to hone it in. Um, Katie, what's, what's your kind of thought with where the team is at with Kyle hurt and, you know, maybe getting ahead of ourselves a little bit here. Could he be somebody that potentially is, uh, the odd man out in the Evan Phillips return? Hmm. Um, no.

And unsurprisingly, I am not concerned about Kyle Hurt. I think that is the beauty, if you will, of the Dodgers roster, especially with Phillips coming back. You can tweak bullpen roles at any time. And we've seen guys step up like Tanner Scott. Uh, we've, we've, We've seen guys maybe to have a little bit of regression like Kyle Hurt right now. But the Dodgers have a such a big lead in the division and B, so many options in their

bullpen that I think you can make the argument that maybe you take Kyle Hurt out of more, you know, higher leverage. I know yesterday didn't exactly scream the highest leverage, but it was still important to hold that score, which he did not do. But I don't think this is a AAA situation. I think this is just renegotiate the role a little bit, restructure the bullpen. Again, Phillips coming back should be today. We should have that announcement shortly, actually.

then maybe move Kyle Hurd back down to the leverage spots that he was at the beginning of the season, just so he can find his feel again. Baseball is all about a game of adjustments. So we talk a lot about pitchers adjusting to hitters. Well, hitters are going to adjust to the pitchers too. And it seems like they've caught up a little bit to what Kyle Hurts doing. I don't think that necessarily means a demotion. I just think it's time to maybe put him a little bit back in the trust tree,

have him work some things out at the Major League level and rely on the veterans that are coming back over the next few weeks to have him regain his confidence. I'd be very surprised at the Dodgers ship him out. Katie Wu is the voice of reason on Dodgers territory that we love that she is here in her third season, making people back away from the ledge a little bit more. One thing I want to talk about in all seriousness is the job in the situation that Alfonso, Eliezer Alfonso Jr. had to deal with over the course of a weekend. What an emotional rollercoaster you guys. For those that don't know, and I'm sure you guys listening and watching Doe because you're big Dodgers fans, a devastating debut, Major League Baseball debut for him and his family. He hails from the country of Venezuela. Obviously, you guys know that Venezuela had two massive earthquakes.

And unfortunately, his sister and his stepmother were two of the people that have perished in this earthquake. And he had to take that aside for a moment and make his major league debut. What should have been an unbelievable moment for he and his family, something obviously he's wanted his entire life. I'm sure he had a very heavy heart and a very heavy mind. And Katie, of course, was there. So my heart breaks for him. And my thoughts and prayers, obviously, are with him and his family and obviously the entire country of Venezuela.

But you were there. And he didn't have to speak to the media, Katie. And he did. And I would like your perspective about this. No, he absolutely did not. And we saw the reports coming in that morning of yesterday's game. And, you know, we're still trying to verify our own and trying to make sure that this is a 100% thing that it unfortunately has.

happened and you saw the reception from Dodger fans before his first did that. And to have the stadium kind of recognize the tragedy that happened and offer support, I mean, this is supposed to be one of the best days of his life. And unfortunately, it becomes one of the most tragic for his entire family. And he's still elected to play Sunday, get behind the plate, make his major league debut in honor of his stepmom, Patricia, and his sister, Eliana. And it was such a delicate situation post game. And I really want to commend him for being at his locker and speaking because you're totally right, Alana.

He doesn't owe anyone, especially us, any kind of conversation or explanation. He could have absolutely said, no, thank you. And I think it would have been very much understood. But he stood there and answered questions and spoke about an unspeakable tragedy. So I think all around, he spoke to the obation that he received from Dodger fans. And I think that really meant a lot to him because it just recognized, again, the profound tragedy that him and his family were going through. This is someone that there's a lot of connection with the Alfonza family. McGee Rope knows his father back in Venezuela.

Dave Roberts actually played with his father, two seasons on the Giants. So to see the Dodgers Clubhouse come out and kind of band together and support him, Dodger fans doing the same thing. And then, of course, speaking and giving, you know, his personal feelings about, again, one of the most unimaginable tragedies. It was a very sad day, but I do hope the Alfonso family can take a little bit of solace in knowing that a dream, a lifelong dream was achieved yesterday, and I think we'll continue to be rooting for this guy. Yeah, obviously so much can be said about this.

Your heart goes out to everybody, every family that has been affected by this devastation in Venezuela. If you are going to find the positive in something, it is Dodgers fans in this situation, You know, media, other fan bases like to give Dodger fans a lot of crap. Oh, they show up late. They leave early. They show up to the game just to take their selfies and whatnot. But that stadium gave the kid a standing ovation.

They are in tune with what's going on with this team day in, day out. You get people obviously hanging out with us here a few times a week, trying to get their Dodger fix, trying to be in the know with as much stuff as we can share along the way with them. but this is a fan base that understands a moment, understands a situation, and Alfonso had said it was emotional when he heard his name announced that first at bat to feel the support from the fans.

It's something he's going to keep in his heart with him for the rest of his life. To bring just some smidge of joy on what's got to be the most devastating day in your life to learn what you had feared. you know, was a reality. You've got to commend the Dodgers and the fan base for helping just bring a little bit of joy in what should have been the best day of your life.

You're making your Major League debut, you know. But yeah, shout out Dodgers fans. Shout out Alfonso. Hopefully, you know, you start to heal moving forward. And while Andy Paez is not dealing with the exact same type of situation, guys, obviously with the devastation of Venezuela, he has yet to be able to reach his family, as far as I know, to this point, and maybe that's changed. But to my knowledge, Andy Paixz has not been able to reach his parents to let them know

that he was selected to his first all-star game. Obviously, Andy Paez is from Cuba and the communication and, you know, infrastructure and all of the things very different in Cuba than it is in the United States of America. My mom came from Cuba. They immigrated here in 1965 for a reason. to get out of there. And it's a tough go there. But Andy Pah has had such a tremendous year.

In fact, an all-star type of season. So congratulations to him as well. And hopefully he will be able to reach his family to give them the good news. So it's a heavy thing here. But this is another reminder, guys. And we say this all of the time, right? That these guys are people before they are players. And, you know, they have a lot of stuff going on too.

You know, they're not just robots out there, just taking the ball every fifth day or getting in the lineup every day or whatever it is. So anyway, we're thinking about you, Eliezer, Alfonso, and your family. And obviously, you're thinking about the country of Venezuela as well. All right, guys, much more to come on Dodgers territory here on this Thursday afternoon. But first a word from our friends at Fowell. Hey, for the families out there, looking for a different path to help your child succeed at home. looking to K-12 powered schools. Todd, father, you've done the homeschooling thing in the past.

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Available on IHeard Radio. Hey, it's our catch-all segment. where we have a lot of Dodgers things to catch up on. My favorite one of the day as we get back into some positive, some joy, some, I guess good things for the Dodgers family as a whole. You get E-Filly back. Evan Phillips returns today. Katie, what can you tell us more about the return of Evan?

High leverage honeybund. Yeah. There he is. Oh, okay. Is that what we're calling him? You guys got to keep me up to date on this. Okay, perfect. And then we came up with the high leverage honey bun.

leverage honey bun. We don't even need to worry about Kyle Hurd because he'll just bumping down in leverage. Here comes Evan Phillips. Everything is good. We never worry about anything in Dodger land. But yeah, he should return today off the 60 day IL along the way to return for Evan Phillips.

It'll be nice to have some more veteran presence and a bullpen that in my opinion has been the most surprising in a good way of the first half for these Los Angeles Dodgers. A 40-man decision will need to be made. So we're looking at two kind of separate roster moves today. I'm not quite sure who is going to take or who Evan's spot is going to take. That's interesting. It makes sense, but you know what I mean? I will say Paul Jervais through two innings yesterday.

So if you're going on speculation and usage, that seems to be the most likely route. But we'll see, again, it will require a 40-man move to activate Evan Phillips. That should officially be today. I know there was some thought of it maybe being yesterday. But welcome back, Evan Phillips. Welcome back to the Dodgers bullpen that has been an anchor for this club. things are trending in the right direction. We have a lot more Dodgers coming back post All-Star break.

So get ready to hear our favorite saying, it's just like making a trade many times throughout the month of July. That's what they do. You know, no other team gets to add these guys, Will Smith, Edwin Diaz, Blake Snell, a couple of names that's mentioned there. Edwin Diaz, big one yesterday, throws a baseball to hitters, including Kike Hernandez, another guy. This team's going to be getting back on the active roster at some point.

What can you tell us about Edwin Diaz? is and, you know, his timeline of return, which I'm sure the Dodgers are happy, he put one out there publicly. Yes, love that. I love when players do that. A very newsy Sunday morning slash afternoon, a little insane for a day after a holiday. I had to lock in real quick when I got to work yesterday. See, Edwin Diaz facing life headers for the first time since April.

He faced Alex Freeland twice, Kike Hernandez once. So that was super notable, both for Edwin Diaz and Kike Hernandez, taking. taking swings. He wants to go on a rehab assignment. We talked to him yesterday right after you threw a hitters and he was like, yeah, I'm ready to go, just waiting on the Dodgers to tell me when we can do that. So looking at sometime post-all-star break, I know we've had different stints and different lengths for multiple rehab assignments for relievers. With Edwin Diaz, it's key to remember the Dodgers only need him for one inning, the ninth inning. So we're not really looking at a lot of bulk, you know, with Evan Phillips, for example. It was can he

do up and down? Can he do back to backs? Can he get hot? in a moment's notice. Can he plan out and be a normal reliever? Edwin D.S. doesn't have to check all those boxes. The Dodgers just need him to, A, stay healthy, obviously, and B, execute. They need him for one inning top. So this could be, depending on how he recovers, a shorter rehab assignment once he begins.

My speculation of this timeline is that we see him back right around the trade deadline, which, to the Dodgers credit, is actually exactly, you know, when they rough estimated when we could see him back. So everyone gets one right, you know, the Dodgers' full. Tub to not always put their injuries. So we'll be nice to see Edwin D is back. And again, no need to trade for a closer when you're getting one back. You know, one more thing.

Actually, one more thing, my bad on that. One more thing off of that. He also addressed something we haven't talked about a whole bunch because MLB hasn't talked about, Dodger haven't talked about it, but the whole cockfighting thing. It seems like nothing, he hasn't really spoken to, I don't know nobody from baseball has spoken to him about it much. He said something that's legal in his country, or at least it's not illegal.

You know, the morality of it is an entirely different story. But can you tell us about him kind of addressing that situation? Is this for me? Yeah, you were there. Okay. Yeah, I was just making sure. My bet. Yeah, I think, like, for everyone, I think he said all he could, you know, if it was going to be an investigation,

Major League Baseball would have done it by now. And again, as an animal enthusiast like Alana, you can absolutely debate the morality of it, but it's a different culture over there and who might just speak on someone's culture that I'm simply not a part of. So I can understand the investigation and wanting to know if there was going to be any sort of consequence. It does not sound like it. We have not heard of an MLB investigation. It's been several months now.

So I think this is mostly put to bed at this point. Yeah. So from the back end of the bullpen to the front end of the rotation, Blake Snell is finally facing hitters, as we know, or throwing baseball. That's a good thing. Getting closer to facing hitters is what I meant to say. Heading out on a rehab, I feel like he's been gone for. seven months. But it is good to see him on a mound. Of course, the training staff is looking

Mark Pryor. You can see him there looking at Blake Snell as well. Still has the positive attitude. Still seems to be like a fun guy. You see him messing around with Kirsten Watson in the dugout when she's trying to do her interviews and stuff. And he's back there dancing, kind of taken over Kike's role with me when I was there. It's good to see him, though. How close is he really? realistically is this a post all-star break type of thing and how far out yeah it's a great question obviously great to see blake snow not just throwing the throwing off a mound he'll need to face live hitters and then we're going to go back to the longer kind of rehab stint because he's a starting pitcher daughters want to build him out we went through this the last time around may when he was coming

back so usually the progression is three innings then you go right around four to five depending on how you recover from your first start and then when you get to right around the five innings 70 pitchmark. That's kind of when teams can make the decision on if it's time to activate or not. With Blake Snell, you don't really need him to go eight, right? You need him to do five or six quality innings, take it over to the bullpen that, again, will be replenished with Evan Phillips and Edwin Diaz. So my rough estimate, it all kind of depends on when he bases live hitters and starts that rehab assignment.

It's July 6th today. So I still don't think we have an exact timeline for Blake Snell, but the closer is to throwing off the mound. the closer is to facing live hitters, and then once you do that, you're pretty much set for a rehab assignment. But he does have to build up, obviously, get that arm back to where it was. That takes some time for starters, certainly much longer than relievers. Another guy, a little bit further behind, probably a lot of it further behind Blake's now. But we have seen he has emerged from his cocoon, Tyler Glasnell, throwing a baseball at Dodger Stadium. We saw a video of that, I think, what, Thursday or Friday he was throwing.

I don't know if he got any action in over the weekend. but it doesn't need to be a whole lot here because there's not a whole lot to say about Glass Now, but where are we at in that progression now? I saw him throw with my own eyes. It happened. He's been doing that throughout the week throughout the last series against San Diego. So certainly working back, and this again is going to play into. We've talked about this before.

It's Snell and Glass Now's health and where they stand leading up to the August 3rd trade deadline will dictate to some extent what the Dodgers do at this deadline. And Andrew Friedman has said before, he'll probably say it again. They don't want to be very active this deadline. They really want to focus on if they could at a perfect world being sellers, which is kind of weird because they are the best team in baseball. The best team in baseball doesn't really sell. But this is the Los Angeles Dodgers we're talking about, so the rules don't apply.

If there is a setback with Snell or Glassnell, the Dodgers might rethink their stance on their current rotation. But with those two plus Otani, plus Yamamoto, you have Robleski, adjusts for Robo, get them in the All-Star game. maybe coming in as like your emergency starter. If you need one, then you have a bullpen that starts with Edwin Diaz, Roki Sasaki, Emmett Sheehan, you're feeling pretty good about the pitching. So the best thing the Dodgers can do right now is wait and see for Tyler Glass. Now, luckily for them, they have this crazy lead in the NL West.

They have the best record in baseball. They can afford to do this at the moment. We'll see how things look closer to August. We are a week away, ladies and gentlemen, from the home run derby for the mid-summer class. of course taking place in Philadelphia, Philly, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Citizens Bank Park. We are going, Katie and I will be there. Fowell Territory is going to be there as well, so we're going to be getting all the content for you guys.

But I'm excited to be there just because there's so many All-Stars that are going to be there representing the Dodgers. Obviously, Shoah, I mean, you might as well just write that in every year, right? Freddie Freeman, veteran player Max Muncie. We'll talk more about Max and how cool this is. Andy Pies to me is so neat. I mean, and not just because he's a Dodger, but because Dodgers fans showed out, and hopefully other fans in the league, too, you know, that watch and are paying attention to what he's been able to do.

I mean, this is a guy that I, yes, me, wanted to send to the moon last year. And now the man is an all-star and so deservingly. So, I mean, and one of the top vote getters, and I thought that was really cool. People are paying attention to what Andy Paez is doing. So I'm excited for that. And, of course, Yoshinovu Yamamoto as well. So it's great. But let's talk a little bit more about Max Muncie, guys,

because we were talking about this on our production meeting. This is a young man, not so young anymore, but younger than us. Well, not Katie, but whatever. That didn't even have a job about, you know, 10 years ago or whatever. He was with the Oakland athletics, and they were Oakland at the time. They defayed him. He was kind of just sitting on his couch, didn't have a job. And, you know, he was kind of a reclamation project when the Dodgers got him.

And he is arguably one of the. most impactful Dodgers we've certainly had in the last 10 years in terms of what he is meant to this team. Maybe he doesn't have the bigger name, but certainly has had some of the biggest impact. And Katie, you can talk about that more about what his fellow All-Star, Freddie Freeman, said about him. Yeah, I was talking to a majority of veterans in the Dodgers Clubhouse about what Max Muncie means, because I think you're right, Alana. I think in the national scope, he's kind of underrated, which sounds crazy to say knowing what we know what we know about how much he means to the Dodgers franchise. But I think in the overall picture when you have a roster that's as stars set it as Los Angeles,

Max Muncie and his accomplishments get kind of buried. And I can understand that as an outsider, but inside the clubhouse, make no mistake, there is so much value and love and appreciation for Max Muncie. Friday Freeman said essentially what you just said about, you know, I think he gets kind of lost in the shuffle, but make no mistake inside this clubhouse. He is absolutely a pillar. He's the longest tenure Dodger. He has consistently taken less money to stay a Dodger.

He wants to be in Los Angeles. A really good story by Fabian Ardia and the Athletic about all the changes he's made since 2020 with mental health or mental skills coach Brent Walker. This is a guy who is so committed to being the best possible Dodger and is going to be in the Dodgers Hall of Fame one day and is absolutely deserving of being the starting third basement for the National League. His three children, I think his oldest is going to be able to remember this. This is something that he talked to me about on how much this meant to him, getting his family out there.

So Dodgers fans, Dodger Nation knows how pivotal and important Max Muncie is. Now is a chance for the rest of the baseball world to see it as well. It's not just always the Otani Yamamoto, Friday Freeman Mookie Betts show, though it feels that way. Max Muncie absolutely right up there in terms of the most important Dodgers in the last decade. And the thing is we're talking about Max and it's not just, oh, Max is getting in there because like it's this last season or something like that. obviously he still has more years of baseball left in him. But he is arguably the best third baseman in the National League this year. I mean, only behind Junior Caminero for all third baseman, all told.

It's why I'm making him today's Fandual Daily Dinger pick, by the way, just how good Max has been for this team this year. I've got to look over here, put some things on the board here and whatnot. But I love this dude. I love this dude with a deep passion because of how much he loves the Dodgers, how much he loves playing baseball, how much work he puts in each year to getting better. Last time he was an All-Star, 2021, had a great year. He was setting up to be, you know, the first basement for this team,

for the foreseeable future, that final game, his elbow gets destroyed, gets run into by J. Jason probably a little more inside the line where he should be trying to, you know, reach base in the final game, a meaningless game, I believe, at that point, for the Milwaukee Brewers. Muncie battles back, has a couple, you know, a really tough start to his 2022, trying to figure out if he could ever get back. Also at that time, the Dodgers go out there and they ink Freddie Freeman.

He gets displaced from first base, moves over to third base, doesn't want to play third base, doesn't like third base, becomes one of the better defending third baseman in baseball as well. Whatever this team has needed out of Max Muncie over the last eight, nine, nine, coming up on 10 years, he has done. And he's also rewarded them for his, for their belief in him by, you know, consistently signing for well under what he would be valued in free agency

because he wants to be here. He wants to be a part of something special, of a three-peat, of, you know, coming off back-to-back, all that kind of stuff. It's just, it's so cool. He's getting super close to being the all-time L.A. Home Run leader as well. Yeah, he's not going to pass.

Duke Snyder on the all-time franchise list because 400 dingers is a long way away. But what this dude has meant to this organization and how much work he puts in to getting better every single day, every single year, and being a leader in that clubhouse, daily dinger all day. Just not even daily, weekly dinger, all the things. Love you, Max. You do. That was quite the flowers for Maxwell once. I love it. He is a dude.

But by the way, guys, we appreciate Fanduel for being a partner here on Dodgers territory. Head over to fenduel.com slash podcast to get started. That is fenduel.com slash podcast to opt in for daily dingers. Max, it's a lot of them. And make your free pick on who's hitting a homer play ball and swing for the fences on Fandwell and official partner of Major League Baseball. No purchase necessary. Opt-in is required.

Bonuses are issued as non-witrable profit boost. tokens, restrictions apply, including any token expiration, and Max, Max Muncie, wager amount, see terms at sportsbook.fandul.com, gambling problem, call, or text, 1-800 gambler. All right, so we appreciate you, Max. Well done. Home run derby for Max? I don't know. We haven't seen anybody participating yet, have we? I think there's like one dude. No, just junior.

Yeah. Yeah. That's the, you should know. I do. I mean, with the biceps issue, for Otani that, you know, as much as I love, as for the fans would love to see that, that's a bad idea. That's a bad play.

Maybe Jordan Walker. Jordan Walker. Shout out Cardinals. That'd be fun. Yeah, I haven't, I haven't seen any official announcement yet. And I know they have obviously a monetary incentive and they're, you know, changing the rules a little bit. But it'll be fun to watch looking forward to get into Philly and, and checking all that out. The Harbor really needs to be in there.

It's got to do it. It's in Philly. It's got to be Bryce Harper. Chorber should do it. I mean, Schorber should do it. I mean, obviously his hometown team there. All right, guys. Let's take a look at the Puppers.

Listen. And you're there. For heart-wrenching knockouts. The world's biggest stage. And breathtaking triumph. In 2026, FIFA World Cup. The knockout stage. Every match, every moment.

Listen on TSN radio. Join the globe. On the road to the July 19th final. 2026 FIFA World Cup. Stream it all live on TSN Radio. Available on IHeart Radio. We introduced you to Scotty last Monday. We're still doing it because this little sweet boy, he's three years old, needs a family.

He's looking for his forever home. He's being fostered right now in Huntington Beach, California. But unfortunately, his fosters are a little bit on the older side, and he's a lot of dog for them. And we're looking for an active family, somebody that could give him long walks or high. hikes or, you know, just give him some, you know, a little bit of play and fetch and get that puppy energy out. He's only three. He's healthy, happy, good with other dogs. So if you're interested in learning more about Scotty, please reach out to me at giddreysgarden.org or just hit me up on social and I can give you more info. Scotty looks like a good boy. He is a good boy.

Yeah. They're all good boys. By the way, I'm looking over here at yesterday, of course, Shohay Otani's birthday, 32. Happy birthday, Shohei. But, of course, you know, the picture used is him and Decoy. And, you know, Decoy was just another first pitch. Yes, he does. That was the most, as you would expect, the most organized, well-executed first pitch ever in the history of first pitches because he's well-trained. And Shohei has done a nice job with that pepper.

All right. So looking ahead, guys, Rockies for three. not the most exciting team in the world coming into town. But you know what might be an important opportunity, Katie, and I'm interested in your opinion, maybe the most important game is the Roki Sasaki game because he just hasn't looked right. Yeah, last start of the first half of the season

before the All-Star break. And a lot of eyes will be on Roki Sasaki because there has been some regression, a lot of aggression lately. And we hit a stride. Me and the president of the Roki Truthers Club, but things have gotten back to reality. Unfortunately, we talk about this.

It's all about adjusting, and I think Roki still has plenty of adjusting to do to major league hitters. There's got to be just better overall execution. And I think this is part of the growing pains that we sign up for with a young pitcher with so much talent and such a high pedigree, learning to do this at the major league level. Now, has it been good? No, it has not.

Are the Dodgers in a position now where they can kind of weather this storm again? because of their lead in the division, absolutely. They still need Roki to take each of his starts because the six-man rotation is important. Long-time listeners of the show know my feel here. I'm not going to redo it again. But it's super important for the Dodgers to have that six-man rotation. It's important for Roki to figure this out this season while the Dodgers have such a comfy lead in the NL West. They also don't really have anyone blowing the door down in AAA right now with River Ryan's latest stepbacks.

So there's always pressure to perform in the big leagues. But when you take everything else aside, there's not a lot of pressure from exterior factors right now on Roki. They have the division lead. There's nobody clamoring for a call up. This is the perfect time to start figuring things out, end the first half on a high note and go into the second half, figure out a way to pitch. They don't need him in the postseason to be a starter. They need him to be an effective, confident reliever, but they need him as a starter long term. So take the next two months to get there, take some steps forward.

It's all about the execution with the fastball, using the pitchment. I said a little bit more getting on the same terms with Dalton rushing, who I think has done a good job with Rokey, all things considered. And just be better. Because you know what? Shout out to the Dodger security guards that let the media in before the games. They have been letting me hear it about Rokey. So I need this.

I need this so I can fight back. Fans of the show. Yeah, listen. I've talked about this before. We were talking about this a little bit in the production meeting. I need to see something out of Roki. And, you know, I need to see no hitter out of Roke. for me to have any sort of belief.

I'm serious. I'm serious. Listen, I feel like I was lying to everybody, lying to myself a whole bunch when we were talking about, oh, man, yes, he was taking strides forward. But still, there was something that went bad every single game. It was, oh, he only gave up a three-run inning. You know, oh, man, that's so much better or whatever. Yeah, he's not doing getting pulled in the first inning like he wasn't spring training.

But at this point, yes, the Dodgers have a massive lead. Yes, you could let this kind of run. ride out. He's not going to be starting a postseason game for the Dodgers if the postseason started tomorrow. But this is sink or swim time where we learn whether or not this guy can be a major league starter or he's going to be in the bullpen because right now that bullpen is looking like a really sexy option when bro has an ERA hanging around five and that's supposed to make us feel a little bit. No, I don't know. It's a good start against the Rockies. It's a good way to kind of trend in the right direction, but

watching. This guy, that's important to people. Just so I can tell me she's wrong for being still being on the Rokey. I actually don't know what that sentence means. Yeah. Sorry. Sometimes. Sometimes it be like that. A little love

in the chat, by the way. Yeah. Yeah. Before we say goodbye, I wanted to get to the super chat. It's actually kind of a funny comment too. So this is Skier loves baseball, $0.99 super chat. We appreciate that very much. But they also had a funny comment down here. See if I could find it. I apologize.

Okay, thank you so much. Bobby Miller, question mark, Kasparius, Gavin Stone, still alive, kidnapped, sent to Mars at the pool in Scottsdale. Has anybody heard where these people are? Scottsdale, Arizona, as of June 1st, so a month ago, saw them there. That's not it.

Yeah. So there you have it. Breathing. Stone, I believe, was abducted by aliens for sure. Bobby Miller, he was showing video of him throwing. We haven't seen anything else. Casparius as well. That would be another nice one to have back just an option for this team. But as of now, check your milk cartons. They might be on the missing list.

No doubt. All right, guys, Clint and I are back together on Wednesday evening for Dodgers postgame. Katie, of course, will be in the Roki start. In the clubhouse. Doing all the real work. Doing all the real work. And then the three of us are back together on Thursday. So have a great week, everybody. is today Monday? We'll be back together Wednesday and Thursday. All right.

So have a good week, everybody. Don't forget to like and subscribe. We appreciate it very much, trying to get our way to 20,000 subs. And don't forget to go to Dodgers Territoryshop.com as well. And support the show. We see you Wednesday night. See you later, guys.

Bye.