Dodgers Territory - Spiraling Dodgers Lose Hold On Playoff Bye, Are We Worried?

Episode Date: August 6, 2026

Alanna Rizzo, Katie Woo, and Clint Pasillas share their thought on the spiraling Los Angeles Dodgers in the midst of a 6 game losing streak that has seen the club lose its grip on a first round postseason bye. Is there reason to panic or is this just part of a 162 game season? (15:04) Who are the biggest threats to the Dodgers right now in their pursuit of a threepeat? The hosts discuss. (28:31) Plus, can PCA overtake Shohei Ohtani in the NL MVP race? Use our code for 10% off your next order of MLB tickets on SeatGeek*: seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TERRITORY10 Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount See how K12 Powered Schools can help unlock your child’s full potential.  Enroll online today at K12.com/foul Subscribe on YouTube!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.

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And the stories everyone's talking about across women's sports. Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to everyone watches women's sports. On the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcast. or wherever you get your podcast. But am I going to stay here and say, great week of Dodger baseball?

Also, no, I think the off day today, you guys, well needed for everybody, especially that team. Welcome to this Thursday episode, a brand new live episode of Dodgers Territory. The three stooges are back. I am Alana Rizzo. That is Katie Wu. That is Clint Fasias.

We are happy that you guys are here. Join us in the comments. We want to know how you feel. We got a lot to talk about. Sound off. Yeah, sound off. Everybody. Let's get to the big ticket.

Lots to talk about. Katie Wu, will the Los Angeles Dodgers, the back-to-back World Series champions, ever win another game? Well, I mean, like judging by the fact that we all, without even communicating, showed up wearing black to, I guess, the death of the Dodgers on this show,

maybe not. I mean, this was like an unspoken wardrobe choice. It's Navy. It's Navy. It's close enough. I'm not quitting. I'm not quitting. It's Navy.

But you're right. What the hell? The funeral is here. Yeah. Dress for it. It wasn't a great week of Dodger baseball, I think, especially when you're looking at how they stacked up against what looked like two for sure playoff teams, especially the Cubs after the deadline that they had. You want to see a little bit more against the Red Sox. I think they've won 25 of their last 28.

Alana, you would know more. Please correct me if I'm wrong. And then the Cubs rejuvenated by Jed Hoyer's moves at the deadline. They get up their starting pitching. and the Dodgers with their big addition didn't really come out so hot at Wrigley Field. Am I concerned about this right now? No, we'll get into this later.

We can all expand on it. But am I going to stay here and say, great week of Dodger baseball? Also, no, I think there's some rival concerns about the state of the offense overall. The bullpen, especially from the right side, not looking too hot. The off day today, you guys,

well needed for everybody, especially that team. My main takeaway is that the last week, especially at Wrigley Field, they look pretty fatigued. That's the thing, I was just going to ask you, Clint, and we can talk to Katie about it too. She's the one that tweeted it on X. Is this team tired?

Is this team fatigued? What are you noticing? Yeah. It seems to happen about this time every year where, you know, we've talked about it a few different times over the last month or two. It's a team that is tired. It's a team that plays a lot of baseball late into each year. They start baseball early because they're going to Japan.

They're going to Korea. They're going to playing. in the WBC. I know Katie, you had replied to someone on the Twitter machine about the fact that they are tired. I mean, if the broadcasters, the reporters are tired on these trips, they're not the ones going out there and playing baseball. It was a pretty gnarly trip for them, even coming out of the All-Star break. It's been a grind.

That said, we understand they get paid, paid a lot of money to play baseball and do this game. they're still humans too but yeah this has to be an absolute battle this is part of the grind of 162 games every once in a while you're going to see the best team in baseball the team that pays all that money for all those stars

lose six in a row lose eight of their last 10 be 16 or the 13 and 16 since July 1st you saw some signs of life late last night and I agree with Katie this day off could not come at a better time going into Arizona you have some luck there

You have some good history there. It's about time to put up a dub in Arizona with Roki on the bump on Friday. And they will do that, and that Steam still has an eight-game lead in the standings. It is okay. I understand we all want them to go 162 and O. But the thing is, what an issue is right now, if it is an issue, but something to talk about for certain is a first round by, Katie Wu, is suddenly in jeopardy. Ken Rosenthal talked about this today on Fair Territory with Ken. and Rosenthal, their half game behind the Braves now for that second seat. And remember,

a lot of folks don't remember that the Dodgers didn't have a first round by last year either, right? Remember, they had to beat the Cincinnati Reds in that first wildcard round, and they ended up winning the World Series. But do you think about that? Are they thinking about that? What's your take on it? 100% they're thinking about it. They're maybe not thinking about it on August 6th, with still seven-ish weeks to play in the regular season. But the Dodgers internally have said, you know, yeah, we don't really care that much about the regular season win record as long as we get the first round by. And we've talked about it on this show. They're not going out there for the to go out and win, you know, 100 plus games.

That's not a goal of theirs. A goal of theirs, the only goal in the next two months is to win enough games to lock down the first round by because of what we just talked about. We'll go back to the travel thing. Coming out of the All-Star break, four cities in 10 days, they forfeit that off day to go to the White House. They come back. They have six games against two good American League teams. Chicago and you saw how that went. Not great. This team also, not the youngest roster we've ever seen, there are some older guys who have accomplished a lot in their career, but still, when you look

at recovery in your 30s, trust me, it's a lot harder than in your 20s. Oh, save it. Save it. It's true. But from a baseball standpoint, the reason why the first round by is so imperative is because these guys need to rest. They're showing fatigue right now, which is understandable. And I'm not going to make excuses for this team. And neither will they. Every baseball team has a growing part of their schedule. The travel is part of it. But you can question if their recovery is where they need it to be, especially because when you look at how the roster is currently constructed,

it's very bright-headed heavy. There are not a lot of ways for Dave Roberts to work in rest for his regulars because he doesn't really have any platoon advantages. So we can't really get guys off or get guys' days off throughout the course of the regular season. We're going past that because it really isn't a bench bat, right? there's no platoon that they can use. Now, that's why they want the first round by so badly. These guys would do anything to just kind of skip the wild card round.

You were able to set up your pitching much better going into the DS, all the strategy things. But from a rest and workload standpoint, you're seeing how this team looks right now. Fatigue is a real thing to worry about going down the stretch. I thought you were going to team me. You said you were going to team me on that way. I said that is not. That is not true, Clint. if you look at our Slack channel

Oh, you know what? Hey, hey, hey, hey, I'm putting my hand up. I'm putting my hand up. I'm putting my hand up. I'm taking accountability. I fucked up. I fucked up. I need a day off too.

Don't throw the old lady under the bus. It's your problem. I tried so hard to keep that on track. I'm not taking it. And I'm innocent in this one. That is on YouTube. And it was a true argument. I'm taking a compelling argument too.

Yeah, it was great. Listen, if anybody, you can go, check LinkedIn see if there's any job openings with the Dodgers to get them off or whatever it is. But yeah, what are we talking about? Yeah, the first round by, listen, right? There's so much baseball. We'll get back on track here. Hopefully you guys enjoy it. If you're enjoying any of this BS, hit that like button or subscribe to the channel. It's an off day and you know what? You need a little levity. We do. This team needs a little levity. They need a little bit of joy. That was probably not a very happy flight back from Chicago there. But yeah, first round by. We've seen this team

over the last handful of seasons go all which ways, whether you have a first round by, whether you're playing in the wild card. You've seen the last two years going both ways with it. They know how to win. They know how to get through that. I'm not worried about any of these wild card teams and the Dodgers getting through it. Been there, done that. Yes, would you like to have those five days off? Do they know now how to handle those five days off in between the regular season and the start of the division series. Yes, they've kind of figured that out. Still, there's so much time for them to get things sorted out. Right now, they are on this skid while the Braves, who didn't really do shit at the trade deadline,

or add on like a heater. I think they've rattled off seven wins in a row themselves. So it's just that perfect storm of a 162 game baseball season where you're going to have this and we're going to have the, the, um, just, you know, one ship lowers in the wave and the other one raises and all that, and things are going to balance out with the Dodgers end up on top.

That said, people are still panicking. Alana, is it time to throw up any sort of panic? And I think you are the right person to throw this to because I already know what you're going to say. It's going to be great. It's going to be great. It's going to be great.

You guys, they had a stretch last year where they went 10 and 14 in July, including a seven game losing streak. And everyone expects the Dodgers. to never lose a game, correct? And that's okay. I'd rather they have this little bit of a slump here in the early part of August, last part of July, early part of August. They opened September with the five-game skid. This game, this happens over 162 games. And Katie, of course, is doing all of the diligent work, being in the clubhouse, being at all of the games. And she talked to Freddie Freeman about

this. So Katie, what did Freddie say to you when you talk to him about this six-game losing street because fans obviously think the sky is falling. It's just a little bit of a blip. I mean, can you, can you blame the fans for thinking this because they have, they're just not accustomed to losing. So every team goes through losing skids. The Los Angeles Dodgers are not immune to this. We've talked about how the travel might be playing a little bit apart into it and just the overall fatigue. But Freddie said all the right things. You know, he said, I'll expand on that. You're not going to get an excuse from any of us. We expect to win every time we come to the yard. We're a great baseball team. We just haven't played well the last week. And that's it. They

played well the last week. They're going to be fine, assuming that everyone stays healthy, you have Blaisnell coming back next week, Tyler Glassnow looked really good in his short rehab stint, Edwin Diaz, a little rusty. But for me, it's all about just making sure they're rested and the workload is consistent leading into October. I'm not sitting here thinking, oh my goodness, the Los Angeles Dodgers are going to miss the playoffs. I'm looking and saying, oh, my goodness, Los Angeles Dodgers are our baseball team. They're going to go through Skids right now. And he went on, Freddie said this, and I thought this was a good point. I'll find the direct quote. We've lost

what, three or four in a row a couple times already this year? We win four in a row. No one else is talking about the sixth in a row we just lost, so it's on us. We just got to play better on Friday. That's it. They just have to play better baseball. They certainly have the roster capability to do so. Rest up, it's like 400 degrees in Arizona anyway.

So don't go outside, stay in. They're sitting at a nice little hotel. Get your rest, room service, get back to the yard, Arizona playing some really good ball as well. And let's not forget, they did sweep them right before the All-Star break at Dodger Stadium. Looking for some revenge there probably. Again, I'm not worried. It has not been good baseball.

We've seen a little bit of exposure with the lack of offensive production. These are all things to monitor going down the stretch. I know he had a four-hit game yesterday. You need better offense from Muky Betts. You need better production from Teasca Hernandez. You need better production from Kyle Tucker. Just the same things we've been saying all season long. Showy Otani, at least, started to look good.

Max Muncie clutch Homer. I know they weren't able to complete the comeback. But I liked the five-run eighth inning yesterday at Wrigley Field. that showed a little fight. I expect the Dodgers to look like a much different baseball team than they have the last week starting Friday. Yeah, offense leaving something to be desired. Maddie Man in the chat is saying it's not the pitching, it's the offense.

And I would argue a little bit with the pitching. The bullpen has been really bad. They had, I think, leads in five of the last like seven games or however it goes. They've had leads in a lot of these games that uncharacteristically they have lost. That is just not what the Dodgers did. Actually, in all six games, I was listening. It was. to the game on the radio on AM 570.

Shout out, Tim Neversett, Rick Monday, Dave Vasay, Dwayne McDonald. I was listening to the game. And Tim Nevers had mentioned that in the first five games of the six game losing straight, the Dodgers had the lead in every single game and ended up losing that game. And then Shohay Otani gets a lead-off or it gets a home run in the, yeah, lead-up home run in the final game of the series with the Cubs. And then PCA does the same thing to tie it and the Dodgers end up losing. So technically, you could say all six games, all six games, the Dodgers had the lead.

up going 0 for 6, which is not, not, that's not, that's not, that's not, it's not going to be great. That's not going to be. You know what the thing I'm, I'm saddest about, most embarrassed about is we're looking bad in front of Terekk guys. Like, scoble's going to think this is a bad team. Stop. Oh, my gosh.

So embarrassing. Oh, stop. He's so happy to be here right now. Give me a break. He's so happy. He's a very happy. He pitched well enough to win. It's not on him.

No, no, absolutely not. They were crazy play with that little ball going 500 feet off home play. It was not a Baltimore shop. That was a main shop. That thing just kept on flying there. I'm looking at the map from like, you know. Anyways, the point is Dodgers are going to be better. We are going to talk about the Dodgers competition in all of baseball,

not just the National League coming up in just a second, but first we got to talk about seat geek because at some point in time, much like Katie Wu, the Dodgers will return home. They'll be in their own beds. They'll be able to go out and party all night long. She's home. That's what I said. I said much like you.

You are home right now. I know what I'm setting up here. It's big brain stuff. All right. Let me get off on this. Oh. Sorry, seed geek. Listen, Dodgers are returning home next week.

You got Max Muncie World Series Homer Bobblehead Night. I think it's Salvadorian Heritage Night as well. Hello Kitty Night, which is always absolute anarchy at the ballpark. It's anarchy. They love it. You know that Hello Kitty's not a cat? That's for another show. But anyway, keep going.

That's for no shows. That's it. That's the one time we ever need. Once a year, Alano can bring that up. But big series coming up later on next week that we will talk about next week for sure. The Brewers come to town for four. Clayton Kershaw Bobblehead as well. That's on August 14th, which we will get into a little bit more during last Licks because we are doing an auction.

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I haven't done a mountain visit for like three or four shows, something like that. We understand the Dodgers are in an interesting position right now. Fans aren't used to this, and we're looking up at other teams. We've been beat pretty bad, swept back-to-back series now. The Cubs looking good. The Red Sox looking really good.

We know the Brewers are good. The Braves suddenly good. Who are the teams? Which of all of baseball, all 29 other clubs, who are the current biggest threats to the Dodgers in our opinions? Katie, why don't you tee us up here or lead us off on who you think the biggest threats are for the Dodgers in their pursuit of a three-peat? Yeah, I'll do a brief synops on Milwaukee.

Fantastic at winning in the regular season. Just very, very good at excelling and putting together a winning roster given their small market payroll. I have yet to see them win significantly in the postseason. So with all due respect to what Milwaukee is doing, my biggest threats that I'm looking at in the National League, it's actually just one. It's the Chicago Cubs. And maybe that's a little bit of recency bias because I just saw them play the last three games. but I just love what they did at the trade deadline. They needed pitching help.

And so they went out there and they got Clay Holmes, which I thought was a great pickup. Kevin Gossman's probably my favorite of that, you know, Braxton Garrett. And then every trade deadline from like each league, there's a reliever that we've never heard of that's all of a sudden nasty and becomes a huge target. That's Ryan Zephijon from the previously the Angels.

So getting those four guys has completely fortified what was their most inconsistent part of their game. When you look at who they were missing, you know, Justin Steele, whereas on the aisle might be coming back, though. Then you have like, you still look at who's left in that rotation. I'm a big Shoda, girl. We know this, especially when he looks like how he did yesterday.

This Cubs rotation can pitch. And they have the star power of Dodgers fan favorite Pete Crow Armstrong, making these games toward the MVP in the National League. Say a Suzuki can slug. You just go kind of around Michael Bush. Dodger fans quite familiar with him. This is a lineup and a roster and a pitching staff that is built for October. and Wrigley Field is a great place to play.

If you're the home team in the postseason, it can be a very intimidating environment if you're a visiting team. So that's other than the Red Sox, who we don't have to worry about that for one series, even if they make it that far. I think that in the National League, I'm watching the Cubs. They're not going to go ahead.

I don't think they're going to unseat the Brewers atop the NL Central. That'd be pretty hard to do. But they are a very good team that I think, other than the Dodgers, had the best deadline, whatever day was, August 3rd. Okay, so I, Katie just mentioned the Red Sox and I know we don't have to worry about them until we face them, if we face them in the World Series. Again, I live in Massachusetts and I cover them from time to time as a freelancer. I tell you what, they are on some kind of heater. But this is the thing that is so difficult with the Red Sox is, how do you make this sustainable, right? I mean, they are what, 28 and three in the last, you know, whatever, 31 games or whatever it is, they are on some kind of tear. They had an unbelievable momentum shift of positivity going, into the All-Star break. And then you're like, okay, what are they going to do coming out of the all-star break? Well, they continue to win. I mean, and not only are they winning, but they're

beating teams that are well above 500 or division leaders, right? Obviously, they swept the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are about to sweep. They could do it today. They're going to sweep the White Sox. They swept the raise. They, you know, they're winning against teams that have a winning record and are at the top of their own respective division. So everything is clicking right now for the Red Sox. This was a team that was for the majority of the season before the All-Star break had a below 500 record. We thought that they were going to be sellers. All of a sudden, they go on a tear, they sweep the Yankees. They take two or three from the Washington Nationals.

Then they become buyers. They get Eric Miller, who's a huge lefty coming out of the bullpen that they needed to compliment a Roldus Chapman, who's obviously also a lefty, but he's their closer. Marcel O'Mire goes to San Francisco. riddins that was never going to work in Boston. Obviously they get Adley Ruchman, who is on the I.O, but they think he can certainly pay dividends and, you know, towards the end of the regular season into the postseason. They are a very scary team right now because they don't know what they don't know. And this is a young team. They don't have a ton of postseason experience. It's an interim manager in Chad Tracy, but he has managed most of these guys in AAA and they are scary.

Season ends today. You don't want to play the Red Sox. But what is it going to look like in October? Because I don't think this is sustainable. This is the year for anybody in the American League guys because the American League is so weak. If there is a team right now in the AL, I don't want to play. It's Boston. But what is it going to be like in two months?

I'm not certain. Yeah, they might have just gotten hot at the right time or at the wrong time, really. It turns out, though, maybe Craig Breslow is right. Maybe Alex Cora. that coaching staff was the problem. It's not that. I don't know. I don't know if that. I don't know if that was the deal, but like whatever they're on right now, bottle it up because it's been insane. My thoughts on, you know, the biggest threats right now, at least right now, every team feels like a biggest threat to the Dodgers. You know, your uncle's softball team, the beer league softball team that has, you know,

two championships in the last five seasons, which five seasons happened in one year. They are a threat to the Dodgers. But I'm going to shout out the Braves, because, That is a team I shat on in the offseason when all the prognosticators were saying the Atlanta Braves, they're going to be a good team. Just give them time. And then they open the season, middling as we pop up their stats and their offense here and all that kind of stuff. I mean, probably better than middling. They were a solid team.

They had a bit of the middle part of the spring into summer where they were playing down, not playing all that great. But once again, they find a way to be. at the top of the NL East. They're ahead of the Phillies who, Philly's always a team that brings some fear, strikes some fear into Dodgers fan. Even though we know they're going to find a way to beat themselves.

So they're not as much of a worry. But we, it feels like, you know, baseball has been sort of longing for this, this final, you know, repeat matchup between the Dodgers and the Braves. If that ends up happening in the NLCS finally, you know, figure out tipping the scales in the Dodgers favor because Dodgers beat them in 2020, you know, coming back down 3-1 and then, of course, Dodgers fall apart up to, including Justin Turner's hamstring, just falling off in 2021.

Max Scherzer being like, I don't want to pitch, all of that kind of crap. Things are lining up that way. Brewers are going to brewer, but watch out apparently for them Atlanta Braves. Yeah, I mean, I never count out Alex Anthopoulos. I don't count out Walt Weiss. I didn't count out Brian Snicker when he was there. Shit, I didn't even count out, you know, anybody, anyone that's been the manager of all the way back to Bobby Cox.

I've never counted anybody out there. So the Braves are dangerous. They always have been in Alex Anthopoulos tends to perennially figure things out at the trade deadline. We'll see where they go. The Phillies, Katie, I would like to know your opinion on that. This is a team I've always been a little bit weary of because they just seem to have it on all sides. I mean, obviously Christopher Sanchez is the headliner of their starting rotation.

14 wins already. He went on an unbelievable scoreless streak. Did not get to the Bulldog streak, but an unbelievable scoreless streak. And this is a very solid team. They obviously added Louisa Rice. They added some other pieces. Bryce Harper is now back in the outfield. And so they had to completely shift their infield dynamic.

How much do they concern you, if at all? Yeah, that was weird to me. I love the pickup of a rice. He was having a heck of a season in San Francisco, and he's going to go out and provide a jolt to that lineup, but it was a little jarring to see Bryce Harper back in right fields as like I was like, what year are we in? But if it works for them, sure, why not?

The Phillies, as we know when you get to the postseason, especially those shorter series in the beginning, it's just all about what your rotation looks like. And they got a pretty crazy combo right now of Wheeler, Sanchez, and Lazzardo. And that's a threesome that you don't really want to see, even for as good as the Dodger rotation is, any lineup. They don't want to see that. So the Phillies are dangerous simply because they can pitch.

They also have the slug. They have Schwerber. They have Harper, obviously. They play some competitive ball, but I can't help but feeling less than, very underwhelmed, watching the fundamentals of their play in that series. It's part coming out of the All-Star break.

And we saw it. The Dodgers are such a good team. I know we're a little upset with them right now. They are such a good team, capitalizing on mistakes that teams make, Because physical mistakes happen in the game. That's just baseball. Even the Dodgers, this happens.

But they rarely, rarely make mental mistakes, like on the base pass, throwing to the wrong base, missing your cut, all of those things that we've seen teams like the Phillies do, the Yankees do, that just not very fundamentally sound. So you can go out and have really great pitching. But the second that you make a single mistake, the Dodgers are going to capitalize on it, and they know that. They are so dangerous. The way, I know it was a couple weeks ago,

but the way that Max Muncie and Tommy Edmund, Muky Betts, responded, to that base running blunder that ended the game in in Philadelphia was, like, yeah, we're going to do that, we're good at this. And it was just kind of knowing it. And then I say in a cocky way out of respect, they just are so good at finding those mistakes and capitalizing on them and making sure the other team suffers. You see, whether it was the Yankees in the World Series of 24 or the Blue Jays last year or the Phillies and last year's DS, that the Phillies can pitch gives them a notch in the positives column for me. But I think the fundamentals, no matter who you, especially with guys kind of all over that, outfield and infield defensively now, that brings some questions into me. I still think it's the Cubs, but at the end of the day, the Dodgers are still the front runners. I'm not worried about the

six-game skid. They're going to be just fine comes September, but it is fun to kind of play around and see what teams look better after the deadline. For me, it's still the Cubs. Yeah, the Dodgers always find a way to take advantage or capitalize when the other team makes like their own offensive mistakes. Now, when they're walking a bunch of dudes, they don't necessarily know how to always capitalize on that kind of stuff. Hence, the lack of scoring of late. But yeah, things are going to get better. We'll worry about all those teams in a couple of months for now. We got a little bit more DT coming up before we throw to another break. I want to tell you, going to remind you guys actually, sign up for our YouTube members.

We put our heads together and we have a happy hour date on the calendar. We're looking at Monday, August 31st, probably a 4 p.m. Pacific Time happy hour. And to be a part of that, you have to be a YouTube member here. 399 a month. Gets you things, gets you bad. all that kind of stuff. It gets you things. It gets you access or a discount in the store and all that kind of stuff. And more importantly, it lets you hang out with us as we drink during the afternoon or Alana's evening and make asses out of ourselves more than we have so far today. I mean, the show hasn't done it already. So there's that. There's that. And here's this from our friends at Fowl. For parents looking for a new path to help your child succeed this year, there's still time to enroll in K-12.

powered online schools. K-12 powered schools offer tuition-free, accredited online public education for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Toddfather, take it away. If you're a busy family, K-12 is where it's at. I've had a couple of my children who've been homeschooled. K-12 has every opportunity to make your child better and smarter as they move forward in their academic career. K-12's dedicated teachers are trained in virtual instruction and they provide real-time support, all in an online setting that works for your family at home or anywhere that there's internet. If you're on the go, it could be for you. It's not too late to enroll this fall.

See how K-12 powered schools can help your child thrive this year and beyond. Enroll online today at k-12.com slash foul. That's the letter K, the number 12.com slash ful-k-12. Dot com slash foul. K-12 serving three million students and counting. Eating well shouldn't be complicated, but somehow it turns into recipes prep, cleanup, and half your Sunday gone. Factor solves all that.

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and use code Power. That's 11 free meals and free shipping, but only with the code power at factormeals. Factor, Canada's number one ready-to-eat meal delivery service. All right, guys, I want to let you know that we have a live auction going to on right now. The first place, Milwaukee Brewers are heading to the first place, Los Angeles Dodgers, Friday, August 14th, the first game of a three-game set. We have an auction with four field-level tickets and free parking, courtesy of Anita Olson, massive Dodger fan and massive supporter of Gidre's Guardian Foundation. You can go to 32 auctions.com slash brewers, because that's who

the Dodgers are hosting. You can create a free account and bid right now. The bidding is at 350, which is 8750 a ticket, which is nothing for field level tickets and free parking. Every single cent goes to dogs in need for Guidry's Guardian. So again, go to 32 auctions.com slash brewers and the bidding ends tomorrow. So get your bids in today. Appreciate you guys letting me talk about that. Baseball thoughts for the road. National League MVP, we always assume Katie Wu that it's going to be

Shohei Otani just because he is the best in the the game, but Pete Crow Armstrong, PCA of the Chicago Cubs, making a statement for that award, what say you? That was fun yesterday, kind of watching them go toe to toe with both with two Homer games, even the first inning. Show Hay is like, I'll head a lead off Homer and PCA is like, I'll do that too. And he was talking to Dino, was talking to some Cubs media who relayed me the story and was like, you know, Dino was giving him a playfully hard time about taking a day off from center field

and DHE and even though PCA is out there in centerfield, almost. almost every day. And PCA with the same wit came back and said, okay, yeah, Otani took seven pitches to Homer, but I took one. And that kind of stuff is probably a less fun because of how the Dodgers has been playing this last week if you're a Dodgers fan. But this is a race that's going to be really exciting to watch over the final two months of the season because it's Otani's award to lose every year. And I will say, if he was pitching again, this is much less of a race to me. And there are some questions as if he'll come and go back. If I'll return to the mound, I know the Dodgers have said that they believe he will.

Otani has said that he believes he will. Can we believe the Dodgers when it comes with injuries? I don't know. But if Otani cannot pitch again in the regular season, his value becomes so, so focused, obviously, on what he can do at the plate, whereas PCA is playing an elite defensive position in center field and putting up crazy offensive numbers. He's swiping a lot of bases.

Otani, of course, has pretty much been neutralized as a base dealer, both to keep him healthy when he was doing two-way duties. And now with that left knee soreness, there's no way he should be stealing bases. So for me, this is a question of if Otani can work his way back up to returning in September. It's still not a set date from when he's going to start playing catch again. We just talked to him yesterday. He said he's still working on it. Doesn't want to rush it. I get it. I completely understand. But come September, if this is a race where it's PCA versus hitter only show Hey Otani, it's going to be really tight. It already is. And I think this is

something that both managers have talked to. Dave Roberts has said I haven't really been paying attention to the race, but I have been paying attention to PCA, having a tremendous season. And for me, I voted for the MVP once now in my career. I'm paying attention to what players do on postseason teams because it's the most valuable player, in my opinion, and the most valuable players play for teams that are going to go out and compete for the World Series. That also applies to the Cubs. Obviously, the applies to the Dodgers every year.

But for PCA and Otani, this is just fun to watch because he's been the unanimous league MVP the last three years. So why not spice it up a little bit? And let's just see where it goes. Yeah, it's good for baseball. Definitely show hay fatigue is going to play a big factor in it on top of the numbers not being just insane. They're really, really, really good. They are MVP numbers when you add in the fact that he is, what is it,

eight and two on the mound and all that kind of stuff, ERA under two. But PCA is having a good year. He has a lot of, I guess, headlines, some good, some bad on his side. And again, it's going to come down to media. Just being tired of Shohei Otani or more so wanting something different. Grass is green around the other side. I mean, if there's a year that PCA could do it, it's now because Shohei is not pitching. So if there's a chance to knock off the king, this probably is the year.

Unless, to Katie's point, he starts pitching soon and does it for the remainder of the regular season. I mean, as it stands, both teams are in the postseason, so we'll see how it goes. All right. A couple quick things. Oh, sorry. With the offense. when show A1 and 24 without pitching, he had ungodly offensive numbers. Those have taken an expected dip given his two-way duties in the first half.

That's crazy. He has like a 930 plus OPS and he has 26 homers and these are all numbers that we should be excited about. But because it's O'Tonnie, we can point out that those are less than halfway to his league or hit to his season totals in 24 and 25. So it's not like, and again, understandably so, the offense is the superhuman numbers that we saw the last two seasons. I like this. I think it'll be a fun race and it'll ultimately come down to if Otani comes back

and pitches this year. What have you done for us lately, Otani? Fingers crossed. Listen, even if he doesn't win it, all as I care about is winning a World Series. Like I said, we've got a couple more things real quick to get out. Before we do get out of here, so got some super chats. Nancy Brown, our friend, chiming in, five bucks in the super chat saying this is the annual late summer losing streak, that it is also $2 from Nancy.

ask it is Hessan Kim in Witness Protection Program? No, he's been bad. He's been really really bad at AAA. He's hitting like under a buck 80 right now. Like he almost weighs more than his batting average of late. So it's tough. It's tough. For all the people

who thought Hessan Kim was going to be like Hessung him, might not be a thing. It just might not be a thing. And everybody's going to be like, oh, this guy's an asshole is a piece of shit. He's a racist. No, look at the fucking numbers. He's not good. And he's doing this at AAA. And the notorious hitters league. I digress. Speaking of digressing, Richie Flores, speaking also of Katie's skin,

Richie Flores. Sorry, I'm sorry. It's a little bit of how the DT is made. But 499 from our friend Richie Flores. There's actually been very good at not being a creep. He says, we think Will Smith will be healthy and hitting over 300 in September is a true reality, sincerely, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. And then he's talking about my other show where voicemails have been sent out to die. We might get them back at some point. Maybe the Saturday reaching. And finally, Pauley in the chat, Latino slant, five bucks.

Want to know our top Dodgers concern from each of you for the last two months. What do you got? Catching. Catching. Dalton rushing on the I.L. For God knows how long, Will Smith, when are you coming back? No disrespect to Hunter Feduccia and Ben Roart. But catching.

That's my biggest concern with this team right now. Catching in the post season, not catching the rest of the way, but what is our catching tandem? Are we, we're probably not catching. We're not probably, holy moly, we're probably not carrying three catchers in the post season. So what does our catching tandem look like come October? That's my biggest concern. Katie, what is yours? I'm going to refer it off that a lot of them.

That's my same concern too. We talk to Dave Roberts about what to expect. And it's just for Ben Wartman and Hunter Podusha catch the ball game plan. keep your pitchers on track. They're going to hit ninth every day. Any offensive production, Dave Roberts said, is a bonus. That's not really what you want. Overall offensive production of the team,

but it's a situation that they're in. This was kind of for once for the Dodgers, a scramble mode to get two of the catchers back. We don't know what it's going to look like. He has been on the field, taking, participating in baseball activities. As Fabby and our Daya noted, we have not been able to really interact with him,

but he was able to turn his neck and decline a media request in our direction. So the next one can be in the show, Will Smith. And, you know, I do think that this is going to be a big concern until we have little clarity about Will Smith. But Dodger needed him back. Dodger did him back for October. And to Richie's point, to Richie's point, they need him back at least midway through September so we can get acclimated to playing MLB ball again. Yeah.

I adore you with the level that I can't even describe. of the adoration. He also wrote that. He put that in pretty much that was hilarious. Shout out Bob. My thing, my thing is bullpen.

I need to see it get back on track. They had an ERA or over five for like the last month. They've been ass. Get it figured out. They've been terrible. And they've been terrible in July and Edwin hasn't been what we've needed yet.

But again, you never know what the heck you're going to get when guys come off the aisle. Hey, as we sign off, early happy birthday to Alana. We won't be live on Saturday. But Alana will be live and drunk in her house.

I don't know. You better be. I'm going to a, I'm going to an, like a, a blue hair special because I'm old A.F. I'm going to a 515 dinner in Boston. Yeah. You're not. You're not helping. Are you going to pregame the dinner?

We need, we need a video of a shot of you pregame me the dinner for our group chat. Please, thank you. Sure. I can do that. I can do that. I will pregame. It'll just be early. I'll be in bed before the first pitch is even thrown.

But it's fine. Don't worry about me. If you guys, if you guys want to give a donate or sorry, if you guys want to give her a birthday, go give a donation over at gidreysguardian.org. That's the best way to say happy birthday to Alana, like I'm going to do. Anyways, all right, we'll see you on Monday. Okay, bye. Hey, Portlandia fans. Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. The dream of the 90s is alive in podcast form. We're launching Podlandia, A.O. rewatch, our brand new podcast where we revisit every episode of Portlandia together, breaking down sketches, going deep on our iconic characters,

and pulling back the curtain on how it all got made. And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life. Guest stars, collaborators and friends, including director Jonathan Chryssel, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more. Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song.

Well, I thought you were all going to write a song. I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia. A.O. Rewatch on the IHeartRadio Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist. Ari Cham. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl, Sam J.

And we're the host of Everyone Watches Women's Sports, a new podcast from Together in I Heart Women's Sports. We're breaking down the biggest headlines. Naomi Osaka, showing out. Shout out to you, Naomi. The viral moments. I've been obsessed with Kashan Rock's boxing journey. She looks good. Her combos are swift.

And the stories everyone's talking about across women's sports. Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to everyone watches women's sports on the IHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, this is Hayes, Dabbinport. and Sean Clements. We host the podcast, Hollywood Handbook.

Every episode we're trying to help our guests improve their careers by mainly focusing on how they can help us improve our careers. The show's famously super accessible so you can easily jump into any of our 650 episodes and understand what's going on. We recommend some of our recent episodes with Ben Stiller, Danny McBride, Riz Ahmed, and Mary Steenberg. Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.