Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast - Effectively Wild Episode 2392: The Eyes of the World (Series) Are Upon You

Episode Date: October 25, 2025

Ben and Meg banter about Ben’s trip to a World Series-obsessed city, whether Game 1 of a best-of-seven series can be “must-win,” the Jays-as-underdogs narrative, the global audience for the matchup, and a few factors they’re following throughout the series, before reacting to two California clubs’ managerial hirings: the Angels’ choice of Kurt Suzuki and […]

Effectively Wild Hello and welcome to episode 2392 of Effectively Wild, a Fangraphs baseball podcast brought to you by our Patreon supporters. I'm Meg Rowley of Fangraphs, and I am joined as always by Ben Lindberg of the ringer. Well, not as always, but again today. Is this 2392? It is 2392. And you are Ben Lindberg of the ringer and you are back to being Prime Ben.

You have regained your Prime Ben status. Other Ben, other Ben, other Ben again. Good to be back as Prime Ben and not Ben Beta, Beta Ben. Some might say I'm Beta Ben all the time. Who knows? So loaded. You know, there's a lot to that term right now. So that's why I say other Ben's more neutral.

Bizarro Ben, I don't know, but I'm back. And yes, we are not always podcasting together. In fact, we didn't last time, but we are this time. I have returned from my trip, which was to Los Angeles, just for the ringer's annual in-person meetings. Sometimes we like to see each other's faces, not on a screen. And it was actually energizing to be in one of the World Series cities because you could kind of sense it.

If I had not known that there was a World Series taking place this one. week and that it involved a Los Angeles team, I think I would have quickly become aware of that because there was just sort of World Series excitement everywhere. And in the lobby of my hotel, there was a life-size show hay on the wall, like not the actual show hey, but kind of like a fathead, a cutout sort of, which seemed to be about the size of the actual show hey. I don't think that's because they knew I was coming and they put it up just for me. I'm sure it was there.

And in fact, a hotel close to my hotel has a whole mural, the whole just, just like, ground to ceiling sort of mural of Shohay. And that's not new for the World Series. There's just sort of generally some amount of Shohay mania in L.A., which I'm sure is a fraction of how often you see Shohay if you're in Japan, for instance. Oh, yeah. It's just anundation, it's saturation with Shohay. But it is nice to see that in an American city in 2025 that much baseball. And I just kind of kept overhearing conversations about the World Series organically. Obviously, some were taking place at the ringer offices, which is not super surprising, perhaps, to say, sports and culture company.

But people talking about baseball who would not normally be talking about baseball or just overhearing, you know, coming across people just in the street, talking about the series. I'm sure it's much the same in Toronto, if not even more pronounced, but to get that kind of excitement and enthusiasm, and that's in a place where there's a lot of other things going on. Many forms of entertainment. NBA season just started a couple teams at L.A. this year, one of those teams in the news for all sorts of non, well, directly basketball-related reasons, Luca, LeBron, plenty of excitement for all of that, too. but it feels like a baseball city right now, and that's fun. Yeah, so committed a baseball say they had their staff meetings during the world. Well, that's not ideal. I mean, we're very heavy on basketball, and it's not the greatest time to have basketball people meeting either. It was the same last year, in fact.

I remember. Yeah, and I guess I missed an episode then too, probably, but I remember just writing World Series preview stuff while. trying to juggle those meetings, which was not ideal. But yeah, so it's time. We are recording on Friday. I took either Red Eye or early morning flights, so I'm all sort of screwed up, although I just generally am all the time, day-night cycle-wise. So I got home super early on Friday.

I slept a lot during the day, and now we are podcasting in the hours before game one and before our game one live stream. So I enjoyed your World Series preview with other Ben. Yeah. I felt like that prepped me for everything. And I guess just a few other things I'll add to that. First of all, we have yet another instance of must-win creep. And this might be granted when Max Scherzer said every postseason game is a must-win.

I guess there's nowhere really to go from that. But the Globe and Mail, which is essentially, Canada's paper of record declared game one of the World Series a must win for the Blue Jays. Game one, must win. Yeah, the headline Game one of the World Series is a must

win for the Blue Jays and it's not even a case of a headline distorting a story because that is what the story said too. Wow. Yeah, against this Dodgers team, there is no distinction between may win and must win games. You don't get a running start. There are already

a few steps ahead of you. If they hope to compete. Game one is an absolute must win for the Toronto Blue Jays. Should they lose, they'll start thinking. And once that happens, they're cooked. So I guess by the time this podcast is posted, people will know the outcome of the World Series. Or, well, I guess it's possible that the Blue Jays could win game one and still lose. It doesn't say that if they win game one, they will win the series. But we will know whether Toronto has effectively been eliminated. Because if they lose to Blake Snell and the Dodgers, then evidently it's over. So I don't agree with that assessment, but I will say this. I actually,

I think this is different. I think this is a little different than the creep that we've been seeing because an actual argument is being made here, right? A position is being put forth to justify what it sounds like the author knows is otherwise a very silly thing to say because it's the first game of a seven game series, right? And so I'm going to, I'm going to allow it. I'm going to allow it just this once because I think that there's there's been thought put into an argument even though as I've noted I don't necessarily agree with that argument so I think it's okay Ben I think it's actually okay yeah I don't I think it's uh because the whole point seems to be that if the Blue Jays like look down they'll realize that they're going to collapse or

something or, you know, if they awake to the stakes of this moment, they will be unmanned and the Dodgers have been here before and these Blue Jays haven't really been here. And so they're like, you know, it's the whole underdog David versus Goliath thing. But nothing about how the Blue Jays have played this postseason suggests to me that they're like not ready to rise to the moment. They've been, they've been great. They've played the Yankees. Like, they beat the Mariners in seven games. I mean, they mentally, psychologically, certainly seem as prepared as one could be. Granted, the Dodgers have been here before and have been here a bunch of times. And so, yeah, maybe they're a bit better acclimated to that than the Blue Jays. But I don't really get the

sense that, like, if they lose game one, they're suddenly going to be like, oh, oh, what are we even doing here? We're just pretenders. How dare we? Yeah. And they'll just completely fall apart. The point of these Dodgers are very good, and they're favored to win the series, and you sure don't want to lose game one. It's bad to lose any game. But, you know, you lose game one. I guess the winner of World Series game one has won 76 of 120 series, which is 63%. And it's been higher than that in the wild card era. I don't know whether that means anything, but 24 of 30 in the wildcard era. But that's, That also doesn't really suggest any kind of momentum effect because, as people pointed out, Tom Tango noted on Blue Sky that just luck, just a series of coin flips, would suggest that you would go on to win 66% of the time. And so, you know, if you figure, well, game one winner is probably better, the better team, all else being equal. And so you might expect it to be even higher than the randomness alone would suggest or the probabilities. And in fact, it's lower than that, or at least over the whole span of the World Series. So I don't know.

It's true that I guess the Dodgers, as the story notes, have not lost a game one in their run this year or in last year, too. And so, you know, maybe you could say, like, give them something to think about here. They haven't had to question themselves because they've gotten off to a lead every time. And obviously, they have not been stopped yet. in 2024 or 2025. So absolutely agreed. It would be good to win game one. But absolute must win.

I'm not going to go there. I think everything that you're saying is sound. And again, I will note that I am not saying that they must win, that they are doomed to a World Series loss if they don't. I will say, and we talked about this on our last live stream, I will admit that I'm relieved to not be. doing an entire game that involves the Mariners for another live stream. And you know what? I don't know if anyone would come away liking me better for it. You know, I think this is, I'm not saying it's for the best.

I'm still quite sad about the whole thing. We don't have to linger on it. Ben and, other Ben and I processed this loss. We don't have to. My condolences, which I expressed to you off here. Yeah, you did. You did. But I think the odds of people coming away thinking like, that Meg, she's well-adjusted,

much higher now. One thing we noted on our last live stream is that there is something about, like, you know, the first time that the Phillies made it back, it made a deep postseason run with this group, they had the air of like a beautiful hymbo, you know. They, they, I don't even think they were outmatched, really, in any of their rounds, but they just had this air of like, we're just a bunch of guys being dudes, bros being gentlemen. And they had a hymbo-esque air about them. And I think that there is a little something.

There is a little something. I don't think it's a lot of something. But I do think there is a little something to the, like, you know, it's better when Wiley Coyote doesn't look down. And I agree with you that, like, this team, lest we forget, they lost their first two games in the ALCS. They lost them at home. They lost them at home to the Mariners.

a Mariners team that was thrown exhausted guys and they didn't blink you know and they didn't they didn't back down and they took that series to seven and they won and here they are and so I think that they have they've peered into the void

before and managed to not be consumed by it but I do think that sometimes if you're able to like just be guys being dudes and dudes being bros that you have a lightness to you you know you play loose as they as they say

And there's a little something to that. Is it a decisive something? No, I don't believe so at all. But there's a little something. There's a little something. And you might know that like if Trey is Savage comes out and is able to game one starter, Trey is Savage. What a year. What a year for the young man.

I know. My goodness. But if he comes out and dominates the Dodgers lineup or even just gives them good length, you know, and keeps it close so that they can minimize the bullpen's exposure to that lineup, you might come away feeling more confident about the direction of the series, which again doesn't doom them to failure later or guarantee success. But I do think you would feel like, oh, well, this this rook was able to hold them in check. Well, we might have something here. And to be clear, I think they already feel that way. This is a very confident

seeming Blue Jay's team. They do not strike me as cowering. You know, they are not afraid. But sometimes it's good to be a hymble, you know. It's good to be a whole team of tense. The Phillies haven't really ceased to be hymboes, to be clear. I don't think. It's subsequent

to that first run. They got a infusion of revitalization, a refreshing of hymboism when they traded for Bader. You know, Brian Bader in. It's like the hymbov vibes are back. That guy has immaculate vibes. He really does. It's really great. Yeah. No, I love the Savage story. It's so much fun for him to make his professional debut and to pitch at as many

levels as he did this year as we have discussed going from A ball to high A to double A to triple A to the majors in a single season and then pitch in the ALDS and the ALCS and the World Series. He's basically done it all. I guess they skipped the wild card round so he couldn't check that box off. But basically he has pitched every stop that you could in a single season. And he absolutely deserves to get a start in this World Series or two. He's absolutely proved that he's one of the best pitchers on that team. There's no one other than Gossman. I'd rather see pitching for the Blue Jays right now. And, you know, he's been up and down. Like he had a great start. Again, the Yankees and then against the Mariners.

I mean, even when he had success against them, it was them kind of running into outs and making mistakes as much as it was anything. Like, they had decent production against him. They just didn't really convert that into runs, which is pretty important. But he does not seem at all not ready to rise to the moment. Like, he said, I mean, when he first came up, And, you know, you're in the thick of a race for the A.L. East and they bring him up during that stretch run. And he said, there are five-year-olds who play this game. I think that me at 22 years old, I can do it just fine, which if you can have an attitude like that, I mean, yeah, there are five-year-olds who play the game. They don't play it well. And they don't play it with any real pressure or, you know, spotlight or attendance the way that a major league starter does. But if you can think of it, that way if you could get in that headspace where, hey, I'm just playing with house money. A five-year-old

could do this. What's no sweat? Then that's great, I think, if you can somehow maintain that. And another quote I saw from him, which I thought was relatable, he said, I try to treat pressure as if it's not as high pressure as it is mentally, which maybe sounds simplistic. But that's sort of how I try to do it. I have not made a world series start, to be clear, but we all have our personal world series start, I guess, whatever the high pressure moment in our lives is. And it might feel almost as high pressure to you as something like that does to him, because, you know, you kind of adapt to your circumstances and your experience. So whatever things have scared me in the past, that is kind of how I put that anxiety aside, just like compartmentalize it a little.

little bit just like yeah it exists like it's it's scary like there's a part of me that is nervous but i will just kind of act as if i'm not i'll just sort of pretend and i'll hopefully fool everyone and i'll fool myself and that's kind of how it works for me to do things without being super nervous or at least outwardly super nervous because i think most people they're not just completely impervious to pressure or anxiety i'm sure some people are and it it varies and you know you talk about like the pitchers with the slow heartbeats, that kind of thing, which like sounds like it could be dangerous, but they need it in terms of, you know, you're just not showing your fear so much. But I think a lot of people do feel it. They're just able to bury it a little bit

or put it aside or just accept it, embrace it, perform despite feeling that thing. You know, it's like people who talk about heroism or, you know, you're in combat or whatever, it's not like you're not terrified. It's just that you manage to function. You somehow just be of two minds, basically, where you're just not completely undone by that fear that you're feeling. But it's not as if you're feeling no fear. Yeah, I feel ill-equipped to offer other people advice

on how best to navigate anxiety without it being debilitating. Although, you know, I say that, but it's not like I don't get stuff done. I just feel pressed upon like the whole time I'm doing it. It doesn't matter. I think that it's a just tremendously valuable perspective for a pro athlete to have because you're right. Like everybody has their pressures. Everybody faces, you know, personal tragedy or even just inconvenience. Everybody has work stuff that goes sideways on them. You know, we all have our stuff. But as we've said many times on the podcast, like, when I have a goof at work, nobody knows that.

I mean, like, the people I work with do. But, like, you know, a random person in Toronto isn't aware of that fact, you know? And my mom's not sitting there watching me make the mistake, you know? She's, so it's just, it's a tremendously strange profession, and it's a really, I would imagine, awkward thing to navigate. And to be able to have sort of a, look, this is hard. And I, it's not that it, you can't say it doesn't matter, right? Like, sometimes athletes will take that approach. Like, they're a little too cavalier and it's like, well, I don't believe you, you know,

because no one could engage with this set of circumstances and really be as immune to the concept of pressure as you are. But I think that you're just trying to, you know, not have it overwhelm the moment. And that's easier said than done for some guys. if he's able to like really have that perspective and live in it as like a 22 year old my god you know but like that's almost as impressive as the splitter you know yeah it's it's hard to beat the dodgers but it's harder if you're beating yourself so if you can yeah somehow yeah well if you could somehow lay that anxiety aside so that you are at least giving your peak performance, and that may or may not

be good enough. It might not be enough, but. Yeah, but at least you will know that you have put yourself in the best position to succeed. And yeah, he's just an incredible story, and there's been a lot said about the Dodgers versus splitters, and it's the postseason of splitters, and you've got Gosman Splitter, and you've got your Savage's Splitter, and the Dodgers have done perfectly fine against splitters this season, but they haven't faced them so much in the postseason so there's a lot of talk about that there's a lot of talk about the small ball this postseason all the intentional walks and the bunting and the not running

though you sort of have to exclude stealing bases from the small ball because that's just not happening not that these two teams are particularly adept or equipped for that anyway but you know i really like a lot of angles of this, many of which you and other Ben discussed last time. But it stands out to me that there is kind of this underdog narrative surrounding the Blue Jays, which makes sense, but probably wouldn't make sense against any other team. It's like the Dodgers turn any opponent into an underdog because of their stretch of sustained success and because of the payroll and everything else and because of the star power, no one else can compare with that wattage.

But the Blue Jays are kind of an unlikely underdog. Like I know that they haven't been back in the World Series since 1993, and there is that factor. But really, like, this is a top five payroll team that had a better record than the dash. Like, it's odd that you come into a series where the underdog has home field advantage. Right. It's just like it doesn't seem like it should quite compute. And I agree that it does. I'm not arguing that the Blue Jays are not underdogs or that the Dodgers are not favored in this series.

I tend to think that because it's baseball, it's probably closer to 60, 40 or something than, you know, the typical people treating it. It's over, it's automatic that the Dodgers will just steamroll right through them here. But, yeah, absolutely the Dodgers are the better team or should be faithful. favored to win the series. But the bootjays, they have star power. You know, they can't quite compete with the Dodgers in that category who can. But they have Flattie who they signed to a half a billion dollar contract, right? Like their top five payroll, big media markets, huge TV ratings because one out of every six Canadians is watching their ALCS games, right? Like, it's just, you know, given that and their success and they won the ALE East this year, they've had the best record in the league.

Like, it's just a weird dynamic there where we talked about the Brewers underdog and kind of pumping that up and describing themselves as underdogs, which was also weird in a way because they had the best record in baseball this year. But, you know, you get it from a market size and payroll perspective, much more than it applies to Toronto. yeah i think that um to say that there isn't a gap would be disingenuous but to to make them out as like you know a david to the dodgers goliath is overstating the case too like i think our zips game by game mods have it as like a 6040 split and that seems about right like from a true talent perspective that seems about right i think that you're you're right to note that like the blue jays are a top five payroll there is a meaningful gap between the dodgers and the next team down, but, like, it's not like they're not the brewers. People are

talking about them like they're the brewers and they're not the brewers. Does that mean that they're going to steamroll Los Angeles? I mean, no, but I think that this series is going to be a competitive one. And I think the other thing about it, and I'm going to say this and you're going to go, well, that's a pretty big, that's a pretty big advantage to have concentrated Mike. And I'm going to, yeah, buddy, I hear you. A lot of the advantage for Los Angeles is heavily concentrated in their rotation advantage. It is a meaningful advantage, right? Like to be able to roll out this version of Snell and Yamamoto and Glassnow and Otani versus like you have two good starters in Toronto and then like, you know, Scherzer and Bieber and you just don't know what you're going to get out of those guys, right? Like they could give you surprising length. We saw that version of Bieber in the postseason and then we saw the wobblier version, right? Is Scherzer going to be able?

We saw this, the two versions of Scherzer in his start, in his same start. Like that, so, you know, they are not equipped to go long in the same way. And you end up having sort of a multiplicative effect in terms of advantage because not only can the Dodgers give you length, they can give you length in the face of having to rely on the weakest part of their roster, which is that bullpen, which unfortunately has had some turnover because Vessie is not available for this series. probably Kasparius didn't make the postseason roster. Whatever is going on with Alex Vescia, I just wish the best for you and your family, buddy. But, you know, like they are able to paper over some of their deficiencies by not having to hand the ball to the bullpen, potentially until they're handing it to Roki, whereas the Blue Jays, I can easily imagine Gousman and Yusevich going deep into that game. I also can imagine, like, Trey Yosevic walking a bunch of guys and getting into trouble. And even if those two guys go deep, you don't know that you're going to be able to do that with, you know, Scher and Bieber.

And if Gousman and Yusavich can't go deep, well, then the bullpen is really exposed, you know, because it's just not a super strong group. You know, it's like Jeff Hoffman and his kids' names. How's that not been a – it was Jeff Hoffman, right? And wasn't it Jeff Hoffman that had, um, creative spellings? Creative spellings. Yes, yes. Creative. We're not issuing a judgment.

We're not saying anything one way or the other. We're not making fun of children. Yep. Or their name. Non-standard. Yes. Non-standard. I like creative.

Innovative. I like creative. Innovative sounds more judgmental than creative to me. Yeah, it's true. You can stick with creative. Creative. You know, it's like creative spellings. But so again, like,

to say that there is a gap between these two clubs yeah for sure to say that it's like going to be a cakewalk seems too dramatic to me and that is the way that it's being talked about

you know particularly since like George Springer seems fine now like if they had the version of George Springer that was playing in game six of the ALCS I mean you're in really big trouble and they have this wild card which is Bo Bichette

they're like really just like hey Bo you go get it man he's playing second base and I I think bad and cleanup, like, okay, we're going to see what we got with both. I know. That is, that is, again, confidence. That is some confidence. I was like, you don't want to just, like, give him a D.H. day, good.

I know. I mean, I guess you're going to sit barger against Snell anyway. Or, IKF. You're going to, you're going to sit IKF against Snell, but like. Yeah, this is the thing that you and Ben did not know because it had not been announced yet when you recorded. I mean, you presumed that Bichette would be on the roster, but weren't sure exactly where he would fit in. And we're recording now after the game one lineup was announced. And I'm just grappling with it in its entirety.

Oh, boy. So you have straw in there to play right. Okay. Yes. Okay. So we could get the Miles Straw versus Roki Sasaki showdown that everyone's waiting for the guy that which is acquired in an effort to acquire Sasaki and ended up being more valuable than he was by a lot during the regular season. season, at least though Roki is certainly proving his value now. But yeah, for-

Yeah, I guess you would say barger against. Yeah. I always want to say barger, but then I want to throw an extra syllable in there. Why do I want to do that? I don't know. Barger. It's Barger. It's not Barger.

It's not, it's barger. Just barger, yeah. And he also bats lefty, so. To have Bichette come back, which on paper, of course, you want Bo Bauduchette. Why would you not want Bo Bauduchet? I mean, it's weird. You don't have I guess. KF in there because he bats righty.

What is happening to my brain, Ben? It's been a long postseason, but for Pichette to come back and to be in the starting lineup as a second baseman where, yeah, in theory, he should be equipped to play second base. He's not a great shortstop, and so maybe that's a better place for him, who knows, but to do it on the fly like this, that is. He's never played second base in the majors. No, he hasn't played it since in the minor. in 2019 for a game or so.

So, you know, he was taking some grounders the other day, and that was, oh, maybe that's just, you know, for flexibility, versatility? No, like, he, this was his idea. He suggested that this would be a way to get him into the lineup. And if he can do it well, well, then you get to keep Jimenez at short, which helps your defense, obviously. And you get to keep Clement in there at third, who's. been, you know, I guess maybe flat aside your best bat probably in this postseason.

And then you do get to D.H. Springer, which I don't know how advantageous that is. I don't know how his knee is doing and how mobile he is. So I guess if you can, I think we maybe have learned a little something about it by virtue of them deciding to D.H. him, right? Yeah. If he were 100%, no restrictions whatsoever, then maybe you wouldn't need to do So maybe that does tell us something. And so maybe that's your best defensive alignment if Bobichette feels comfortable there at second base. It's so fascinating because here's, I feel like I must explain the way that my brain misfired because it is instructive to like how I view this team and how the Blue Jays view this team. So Toronto loves good defense.

They have built their roster around the concept of it. they really like to be able to put their best defensive alignment on the field. I agree with them that Miles Straw is a better defender than Addison. Barger, whose name I've never struggled to say, and I never want to insert an extra syllable. It's because we were talking about Jeff Hoffman and his creatively spelled children's names. Where would the extra syllable go? I don't know. I want to make him like Barger, Burger. I don't know. I don't know, Ben. I don't know. People occasionally call me Lindenberg, and it's like, where did you get that extra syllable in there?

It's like they're making your name Lindberg and Hindenberg at the same time. That's like a really honestly terrifying combination of things. Yeah. No, but so clearly they think, and I agree with them, that Miles Straw is a better peer defender than Addison Barger. But Addison Barger is a better hitter than Miles Straw. and so I'm just a little surprised but also barger bats left and you can't put iKF out there you don't want that so if you're locked in the reason that my brain kind of went on a little spinning thing is because i was like oh well they'll play against snow surely they'll play iKF who bats righty

and i've never gotten that wrong either but i didn't remember that they're deaching springer so here's what they're telling us. They're telling us that Springer's knee isn't 100% but also that they just start really like prising

the defense but then they're starting bow at second so I think that Springer's knee has to be a little goofy still because I think that

ideally wouldn't you just rather wouldn't you just rather DH Bo first game back? Yeah you'd think just to yeah not throw him

right into the deep end but then you have to put Springer in the outfield if you do that because it's not you're not gonna not play him you're not going to not play him Ben you know

right barger bet left in case anyone is confused. Right. No, Burger Batts left. Throws left. Yeah. Right. And his name is Barger. Barger. So you would sit, you would normally sit Burger against Snell anyway. Yeah. Fine. But

I didn't, Ben, Ben, I didn't make, well, you were even talking about Bo Bouchet playing second, but then I didn't, my brain didn't go to the, well, that means that George Springer's deaching. So you need an outfielder, so you can't play, you're not going to play ICAF out there. That would, that would be, that would be bananas. So you're going to play. So it's interesting, well, but he is a better defender than Schneider. Anyway, this is Meg trying

to remember stuff after she's been on the phone for like six hours today. Yeah, yeah. So it's a lot of talking and some are still ahead of us. Barger, barger. So easy. It's just an easy name to say barger, barger. Say it all the time. IKF, even, ICF has played some outfield. He could do it. He could play almost anything, but no, but why would you? I don't think he's very good out there. Yeah, so. I've got in trouble for talking about ICS defense in the past. Yeah, not his outfield positional player ranking, but other positions that he has played.

Anyway, all of that to say, it's creative, much like the names, the spellings of Jeff Hoffman's kids. Well, it's just, again, it's just maybe telling us something interesting about the state of of George Springer, you know? Mostly, it's maybe just telling us something interesting there. And especially relative to Bo, you know? Yeah, and there is some precedent for people making their debut at a position in the postseason. It's happened a few times. It happened last year with John Birdie, who played first base for the Yankees.

So this will be the fourth time that someone has made their first career start at a fielding position, not counting pitcher or D.H. in the postseason, and, you know, this is, I guess, minimum 300 career regular season games because, of course, there are some players who have made their major league debuts in the post season. But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about playing a different position than the one you normally play in the majors. So it was John Birdie last year. Carlos Santana, who played left field for Cleveland for the first time in the majors back in 2016. I think he had played left. field a little bit, but he hadn't started there. And then Jake Flowers back in 1931 World Series, as we all recall, made his debut at the Hot Corner for the Cardinals. It's a nice name. Yeah, big boishet. So we'll see how he does.

And it's also interesting, like, on the eve of free agency to switch positions like that. Like, I wonder if he's thinking of it as this could only help me because I'm showing my versatility and my flexibility and my willingness to play other places. It's kind of like when Alex Bregman was a free agent, he's like, you know, I'll play second, I'll play whatever. But then again, if you're a shortstop, many players are pretty precious about that. Then they want to keep playing shortstop because you'd think your value would be higher there. I could sign my big long-term deal. Like, I don't want people to think of me as a second baseman when I'm about to hit the free agent market, even if maybe they already do because of how you play shortstop and

how long you'll be able to, but that's interesting. I don't know whether he's even weighing that, because right now his focus is probably on winning the World Series and then winning free agency. I suspect that his primary, to the extent that he's thought about it, the thing that he might

really be prioritizing is just demonstrating that he's healthy, but if I were Beau, I would, I don't know, I don't know if I'd rather play a shaky second base but show that I'm healthy enough to play in the field. And like, I don't think anyone's worried that his injury issue is long-term, but I do think that people have long-term

concern about Boe playing shortstop, which they should. And he will be buoyed somewhat by the fact that, you know, he had a good year at the plate after not. And the shortstop market is just so shallow. It's like, not very many guys at all. Especially if people are like, yeah, Alex Breggman, you are a third baseman, not a shortstop. Sometimes he was like, maybe I'm a shortstop. And they're like, no, I don't think so. somewhat surprised by that but that will be something to watch in this game which is over by the time you're hearing this or throughout the series perhaps yeah everybody think okay here your two reactions oh my god i can't believe the amazing play that bow made and then here's the other one oh my god

what terrible error that was a bad idea yeah what will they do but they'll get six more theoretically yes and we'll see whether the old axiom about the ball will find you we'll see whether whether that happens, right, whether, like, the first batted ball is to bow or some crucial batted ball is hit to bow in some high leverage situation, whether that old saying is proven out or not. And I am curious to see something that will have already happened, which is, does Blake Snell continue this very recent run of efficiency and going deep into games? We are watching a Blake Snell game for the live stream. I can't believe that.

Yeah, but it's not the old Blake Snell. Well, that's what you think. We'll see if he devolves back into the old Blake's now. But if we end up with a four-hour game, I'm going to be furious. Well, the pitch clock does put some limits on Blake Snell. He tests them by just throwing more pitches historically because you can't stop that. You can put a limit on how long he can take between pitches, but you can't force him not to throw many pitches. But he has changed that himself.

And I don't want to overstate it. Of course, like, you know, this season, he was still stable Blake Snell a lot of the time. And in previous seasons, he'd actually gone deeper into games on average in previous seasons. And it's just, you know, it depends. Like if he's hurt or at less than 100% capacity or if he's at his best when he is basically the best. And just this postseason run where he's gone six, seven, eight and is throwing more pitches in the strike zone. You know, he's not like the ultimate strike zone pounder, but relative to his past performance, he is showing a greater willingness to be more efficient and, you know, get some kind of contact. And as I always say, like pitching to contact is not necessarily the same as being efficient because it's good to get strikeouts.

Because when people put the ball in play, sometimes those balls in play become hits and then you have to face someone else. You didn't get it out at all. but yeah he's he's been nibbling a little less lately and we'll see if that continues and we'll see if the blue jays help him out because as ben noted last time they've been very aggressive they were fourth in pitches per play appearance in the regular season among all lineups this year and they've been first by a lot in this postseason so that does matter with the dodgers bullpen being just like an almost entirely theoretical weakness so far like it's a real weakness And yet it has not been exposed at all. Yes. And I wrote about this and, you know, I've been harping on just how much starting pitcher in relief action we've gotten this postseason. And I ran the numbers on that. And thus far, it would be unprecedented in the wildcard era, the percentage of relief innings this postseason pitched by guys who were primarily starting pitchers in the regular season.

And it's the Dodgers and the Brewers did that most of all and the Cubs to some extent. And it's, you know, partly like bulk guys and that kind of thing and extra inning games and emergency starter action. But it's not just that. And for the Dodgers, it's the plan. And they've been able to pursue and execute that plan perfectly because they've had 70% of their innings thrown by their starting pitchers, which is their strength. And then most of their relief innings also thrown by starting pitchers, primarily Roki Sasaki. And then it's like the remaining out of 14% or 16% percent. percent or something. It's a very small number of their innings have actually been thrown by

real relievers. And if they can continue to make that the case, then that would bode very well for them in the series. And if the Blue Jays bats help them out by making quick outs, obviously if they're aggressive and they aggressively get hits and runs, that's perfectly fine. But if, as was the case in a couple of the games in previous series, they make quicks. outs, then that's not going to be good for that. I mean, that's obviously not good. That's like self-evidently not good, but it's particularly not good against the Dodgers because that will play right into their hands. Yes, it makes one of your primary strengths into a weakness if what it means is extending how many times you're seeing snow, how many times you're seeing Yamaboto, et cetera,

you know, especially if you're Addison Barger, who bats lefty, unlike Isaiah Kinafalfa, who bites right? Sometimes you just have to like get ahead. of people being like, hey, you dummy, you know, just to, like, satisfy them and just say, like, no, it's just like a little misfire in my brain because, of course, Springer's D-Hing if Bo Bichette is playing second base. You can't have two D-Hs and he's not going to. So anyway, I just, sometimes I feel self-conscious. Anyway, it's okay. Just put it out of your mind, like, Trey Savage. Right, I was going to say, I need to, I need to be like Trey. I need to be like, I wouldn't be 22 again, though. I wouldn't be 22 again for anything in the whole wide world, you know? Yeah.

The thing they tell you, the thing they don't tell you about your 30s that I just wish I could impress upon people in their 20s is that, like, they are generally really great, except for the fact that you have to worry about back pain, maybe. Yeah. But you're settled. You're settled in yourself. It's really nice. Yeah. I feel like I've been the same person forever. I don't know.

Yeah, but you're less anxious than I am. So, like, that makes sense. As someone who like professionally covers baseball and video games and Star Wars and stuff, to some extent, I feel like I never quite grew up or I grew up when I was a kid or something, old soul. I don't know. I was always into older stuff. And I look back and I rarely think like I was so young. How could I have thought that? How could I have acted that way? I just, I feel like been sort of the same. I know a lot of people feel younger than they are. Like there's been a lot written about that like you feel like your your mental age is some degree younger than your physical age but I just I feel kind of like I would get along with my younger selves if I was hanging out with kid Ben or adolescent Ben or young adult Ben we'd basically be on the same page because I've been sort of I don't know maybe I'm deceiving myself and that's not actually the case and I would find my younger selves to be intolerable or cringy or something.

I'm sure that's true to some extent, but yeah, I don't know. I don't lament my misspent youth anymore than I lament my adulthood, I guess. So maybe they could both be misspent, but probably in the same sort of way. That's the spirit. Yeah. So I do think that the, as I was saying, the underdog narrative, It is sort of silly, but it's also sensible because it's just that the Dodgers,

anyone is an underdog compared to the Dodgers. The Blue Jays, I think, a lot less than most opponents would be, but there is still some element of truth to it. And there's been a lot said about how the Blue Jays made a run at Shohei and at Sasaki, and now the Dodgers got them, and now they're going to face the Blue Jays, and absolutely everyone made the joke about Shohei Otani being on a plane to Toronto.

et cetera. But the fact that the Bujais were finalists for those guys or really made aggressive runs at them. That's sort of what I'm saying because like most teams weren't really ever in the running for those guys. Like they weren't going to pony up the money for Otani or they just did not make as compelling a pitch as they evidently did to Sassaki. And so yes, there is a meaningful difference because the Dodgers actually landed those guys and the Blue Jays didn't. And the Dodgers have the number one payroll with a bullet, and the Blue Jays are top five,

but there's a big difference between number five and number one. There's a big difference between signing Roki Sasaki and Shohe Otani and coming close-ish to signing them, as Blue Jays fans discovered. But there's a pretty short list of teams that were ever really in the running for those guys, made a really aggressive effort or had the financial resources to make a play. And the Blue Jays are in that group. That's all I'm saying, you know. So it's not really a haves and have-nots kind of differential.

It's have most versus have a lot. So it's a meaningful distinction, certainly. But it could be much bigger if it were virtually any other team except, I don't know, the Yankees or someone. I mean, there's like a definite gap. But you're right. Like they're in a conversation that a lot of other teams aren't in from like a competing for free agent's perspective. And I know that they had a lot of disappointment sort of hyper-concentrated in a way that made

it feel like there was something, like, wrong with the franchise or what have you. And, you know, maybe there is, you know, maybe they need to work on their pitch a little bit. But I also just think that the particular alchemy of the Dodgers plus, like, high-profile, either international free agents immediately coming over from Japan or guys like Otani on their second stop. Like there is something about that combination that is so specific to the Dodgers and that isn't to say that like every Japanese player who comes over is going to sign with L.A. I mean, if nothing else like they, again, they do have roster constraints just like everybody else, right? They can only have 26 guys up there. but I do think that it is useful to keep in mind that like they they really do seem to do well in that market and it's a combination of like the existing concentration of players from Japan on their roster the way that some of those guys grew up Dodger fans and then like you do kind of get like a snowballing effect where it's like okay we are able to offer something from a you know endorsement perspective what have you that seems pretty

not unique but special and well positioned there. So I don't know. It's not that it doesn't mean anything. It's just that it maybe doesn't mean quite the things that people want it to or think it does. I don't know. And gosh, like some of it too is just like there's just some bad reporting that happened there, you know, unfortunately. And so how close was it really? I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. That's a valid question too. Yeah. And the Dodgers can only roster 26 players on their active roster. They can afford to have basically like half a team of highly paid players on the IL. Oh, yeah.

They don't have more IL spots than anyone else. It's just that they tend to have higher salaries on the IL for a lot of the season than most teams do. And yeah, that's true that perhaps being a finalist for those guys, there was some question about, like, is that a distinction without a difference to be a finalist? versus not a finalist. How close was it actually, really? Are you diluting yourself or is it some kind of confusing or inaccurate reporting about how close it actually was? But yeah, and really there's a difference because there's been a lot of conversation about does the Dodgers location, not just their geographic location, but also that, does that give them a leg up, especially when it came to the Japanese players who would have a shorter travel time, but also just the big market.

and the endorsement deals and all of that, not that Toronto is not also a big market. But with the Blue Jays, there's been the conversation about, does this hurt them? Is this an extra hurdle their location? Because they have had a hard time persuading some of the top free agents to sign just because it's a different country

and it's a different currency and whatever else, right? And so at times it seems as if they have a harder recruiting pitch and the Dodgers have an easier recruiting pitch, But the Bouges, to their credit, they still just do keep going out there. And if they miss out on their top target or their number two target or their number three target, as the case may be, then they will sign someone. They'll go get someone. And granted, it's not as if they're here really because when they failed to sign some of those top targets, they then pivoted to backup plans. They signed Anthony Santander or Max Scher or whoever it is.

And Jeff Hoffman. Hoffman's obviously played an important role in the postseason after a kind of iffy regular season. Some of those other guys they signed didn't do that much to contribute to them getting here. They weren't really core contributors. But they did show a willingness to say, well, we missed out on this guy. We'll at least not just put that money in the bank and gain interest. We'll actually go spend it on some guys. And I guess that's not always super advisable if you miss out on the elite target, is it best to then say, well, we'll settle for the consolation, we'll go get Anthony Santander, which hasn't worked out super well for them thus far. But, you know, like, is it good to still splash around in that pool of the lower tier of free agents who maybe aren't giving you that same kind of elite value for the elite dollars that the top tier guys command? But I do appreciate and respect. that when they miss out on someone like that, they're not just like, oh, well, I guess we're not going to go get anyone.

Yeah, right. Because, like, you've signaled that you have the money to spend. Everyone knows that now. And so you do have to spend some. And maybe some you spend on flat and you keep him. So that's pretty important too. Yeah, I think that there are a lot of ways to do it. And I do think it's always useful for teams to be engaged in some amount of self-reflection

about like how they you know how do they approach those conversations with free agents how do they position themselves relative to other teams what kind of case are they able to make about their player development but i also i do think that sometimes we overreact to individual free agent classes you know some of it is just like there are so many things that go into that decision for the player and a lot of it's going to come down to money but it's not all going to be that like Yeah, maybe maybe some years, the fact that it's another country and another currency is a disadvantage. Maybe there are going to be years here where not being here is good from her rooting perspective, right? Like, you know, these things aren't, they're, they are often changing at all at the same time.

And so I do think that you want to be self-reflective and you want to put a good pitch together. you know, how you fit all the pieces of your organization together, the reputation you have in other parts of the club, they are going to matter to guys. But I think that it seems obvious that the Blue Jays are willing to satisfy the money piece of it, which is still going to be the biggest piece for a lot of guys. And so I don't think that it's, you know, necessarily just positive on their success for them to, like, lose out on individual cases. You know what I'm trying to say? Yeah.

And I do enjoy that this feels like such a global world series in terms of the interest, just to a greater extent, because, of course, you have two countries directly involved here. But it feels like you have three because the Japanese audience is just, it's so huge as long as these Dodgers are involved and as long as Shohei and Yamamoto. or starting games and Sasaki, in theory, is closing them. The ratings there have been huge. The ratings in Canada per capita have been huge. And then you have your usual U.S. audience.

So it does feel like just more people, more countries all over the world are just really plugged into this series. And that's nice, you know. It's not like it's going to affect whether we watch or not. We'll be watching regardless. but it is nice to feel like more people are in on it. It's a communal experience. So I'm excited about that. And obviously, MLB is too,

because we've been receiving press releases about how great the ratings have been. Okay. Can we talk about one thing, though? This is so unimportant, but you are much more tapped in to music than I am. I like music. This is an anti-music take.

But, like, I would say that you listen very broadly, even though you have tended to start to act toward things that you're familiar with because you're in your 30s. And I don't want to be disrespectful because it could be that, you know, I know he's also a producer, you know, it's not just him as a musical artist. What is the league's understanding of like where Farrell sits in the musical landscape at this juncture? Because I feel like this is confusing. He is on their official commercials, he's performing before game one of the World Series. What's up with that, Ben? Because it feels like a recession indicator to me. And like the ads, the ads where he's like directing the choir and they sing

beautifully, beautifully. And you got the whole orchestra, but it just feels very, like, it feels very 2008 coded to me in a way that makes me nervous about like the housing market. So what's going on? What's going on. Yeah, it's what's happening. I guess his star power is probably past its zenith, I suppose we could say. And it's not that it's non-existent. No. It's not that it's non-existent. It's also just like

He's very well known, such a, you know, and a very important, like his career is storied, but like isn't he mostly just like on the voice now? Well, a lot of people watch that. So. I don't understand that shit either. Sorry, for a swear. I understand it more than whatever.

What's the masked singer? I don't care for that. The ads for that. I haven't for a long time. It just feels like, what are we doing? This is like Hunger Game. I just, you know, I'm just like, anyway, I don't understand. We got a whole press release about it when they were like,

here's the sneak peek at Frell's new commercial. And then they, and now I'm feeling nervous that I'm saying Ferell wrong. Like I was trying to say Addison Barger's name weird. It's Ferrell, right? It was Farrell all along. Yeah, no, it's not that. It's Ferrell. Okay.

Oh, thank God. And so I'm just, I'm just like, I'm a little, I'm a little perplexed. Because, like, I think that, you know, some of his, and again, he has produced more recently, I think. Mm-hmm. But it's like, wasn't his most recent, like, very famous song, that fucking happy song? From And that was everywhere And to some extent still is

But that was Twelve years ago Wait And then it's like Yeah I mean I guess it's like Yep It made me happy

But sure The first time you heard it Well yes He is a 52 year old man It's true I mean it's I mean it's baseball He does

So maybe it's You want someone Baseball audience has heard of I don't know But And he's not wearing the hats Anymore We got a press release

About the Jonas Brothers performing as well. So, look, I mean, I don't know. I'm about to feel really bad about how old La Jonas Brothers are. Hold on. Hold on. Let's have this primal scream. They've been with us as a society for quite some time.

They're younger than me? Oh, no. No, Ben. They're all younger than me. Oh, no. Oh, no. Yeah. Look.

I thought they were going to be old. that was going to feel bad, but no, then being younger feels worse. For else, look, he's an A-lister, I think, you know. Is he an A-plus lister, perhaps not? And is he at his peak, perhaps not? But I don't think it's a bad get. I get what you're saying about the cultural relevance. But then I suppose you could say the same about Major League Baseball.

So I don't know. Maybe we're past the point where MLB is getting bad bunny in the all-star celebrity softball game. Like, he's leveled up. He's the halftime show. former. So maybe now MLB is going to get Pharrell, but look, I'm not unhappy about it. I don't think, I just, it just feels like, again, it feels recession code. And some of it is like the, like the, you know, bringing in the like the big orchestral number with the gospel choir. Gospel Choirs are amazing. But you know what I'm saying? There's like a particular musical

aesthetic that it feels like it's emulating. And it is not one that is like super. of the moment like i guess baseball is in a recession in a sense over a long enough time frame i think in recent years it's uh business is booming things are are picking up the youngest jonas brother is like 33 ben no yeah no there's a super young wait isn't there like a super young nick jonas is only 33 i don't care for that shit at all i don't care for that at all well i'm sorry that you had to be Because there's Frankie. Frankie's in his 20s. Who is Frankie?

What did Frankie ever do? It's the other, the other, not one of the originals, but the next. But he is related to them? Yes, he is a Jonas brother, but just was not one of the Jonas brothers. Yes. Oh, it's not generous for them to have pictures of him as a little kid on his Wikipedia. That feels mean. Well, now you know about Frankie Jonas.

At least we didn't get a MLB press release. about Frankie Jonas performing at the National Anthem. That might have been a step down. Okay. So we will reconvene to talk about the first two or three games of the series sometime early next week. I am very much looking forward to it. One thing that you and Ben touched on, you know, the Google AI adds the baseball team ads. Are the plate taps?

Is that real? Is my question? Ben, what a good question. Questions. It's like, is this a good stat to highlight, which is primarily what you and Ben talked about, just like how frivolous it is. And like, this is not actual actionable information. This is not really saber metrics. You know, you have this fancy technology and you're using it on something so seemingly insignificant. But the first time I saw that and the next 10 times, I wasn't totally sure if this was like a joke. Was this like satire? Or was. Was this just kind of like a fake, like a hypothetical illustration of what you could do with AI from Google Cloud or whatever? Are you asking if they really track bat taps with stackass? Yes, that's what I'm asking. It's not something you can look up on baseball savant, but I assume that that's real.

Like when they say that 125 hitters tapped home plate in last year's postseason and they compare the hard hit rates of the tappers versus the non-tappers. I assume that they are actually investigating that, right? Like that they actually tracked the bat taps. This is not just, we could look this up or imagine if we could, this is the kind of thing that you can do. Because like, we can't look that up, but I assume that that is accessible to them, which actually sort of impresses me in a way because it's not as if the bat tracking tech was designed to track whether you tap the bat. It's more about the swing and the trajectory of the swing. And so it actually, it sort of surprises and impresses me that they could capture bat taps. I guess it makes sense.

But that's probably like a bespoke query. Like that's probably not something that's in the database. And they had to do some special analysis, which is probably why it's restricted to last postseason, I guess. Maybe they had to do it or maybe they even kind of fudged it and did it in a more manual way to make it seem like this is more advanced than it is. Because I think that that is actually kind of a cool stat. Like, as you were saying, it could be cool. If that's your number one illustration of the power of this thing, then maybe it's misapplied. Yeah, then it's kind of dopey.

Yeah, if you're trying to tell people that this is meaningful in some sense, if you're implying that you have a higher hard hit rate if you tap your bat beforehand, then that's misleading. but I do think that it's cool in a fun toy way. And so if they leaned into that, if they were just like, look, we can track, because you were kind of questioning whether it's real, like with the players hopping over the foul line. Right. I don't. I just don't.

Yeah. And so that's what I want to know. Like, is this actual data? Like, is this made up? Is this imaginary? Like, imagine if we could do this or this is the kind of thing we could do, but we didn't actually do it? Or is it real?

because if it is real, then that is something that would have blown my mind at one point. If you had told me we could actually track the tapping of home plate or the leaping over the foul line, that would be really cool. That's not like great analysis, really, but it is sort of eye-opening, like I might not know how often hitters tap the bat. That's kind of a quirky, fun thing to know. And also just a cool demonstration of the potential of the technology, because if you can track the bat taps, then you can track a lot of other things like the swings that are maybe more meaningful. But it's a cool flex. It's not even a weird flex.

It's a fun flex, I think, to say we could track this because everything is trackable. That's something that would have impressed me in sort of a sci-fi way and maybe also kind of a dystopian big brother way, but more in the fun sci-fi way. So that's what I'm wondering about. Like, is this sincere, is this genuine and legitimate data? Because if it is, then I think that's kind of fun, even if it's not meaningful. I think it's fun, even if it's not meaningful. I do agree. I do agree with that.

Yeah. And I have a text out to ask the question about, I've been told that if the question were answered truthfully, that the person I asked would end up at a black site somewhere. And so we'll just never know. We'll just never know. See, that's the question that linger is in my mind when I see those ads. And that's part of what frustrates me about them is that I can't tell if this is completely on the level or not. But if it were, I'd allow it, and I would welcome it even.

But I can't tell if they're being truthful. Serious? Yeah. Yeah. So. I don't know the answer to that. Okay. I mean, I, look, I have long been an advocate for the notion that if we could query more things, it would be great.

delightful fun, you know, I back in the day had a whole series at BP about like the things that I wish we could query. But I don't know. It's just a mystery. Yep. Okay. So we will see if the Blue Jays win there must win. Like you can't have a headline in the most circulated paper in a country that's just like Game 1 of the World Series is pretty important for the Blue Jays. Like that probably wouldn't work as a headline so I do think that there's just some yeah have a more original or insightful angle I don't know that it being a must win is more insightful but it is bolder and it is more attention getting and that's one of the purposes of a headline and we'll see how bobbuchette's Mickey Stanley acts goes I don't know whether this is actually more or less

impressive than Mickey Stanley famously 1968 World Series he's a center fielder and he plays shortstop in that series, and that sounds on the surface harder than what Bichette is doing here because it's shortstop, and he hadn't really played it before. And that was like, so they wanted to get like Al Kline in the outfield. I guess that would be the comp here. And so he played shortstop, but he did have a little bit of a run up to that. He had a trial period. I think he played like nine games at shortstop at the end of the regular season. And that was 68. That was the last year before there was such a thing as a pre-world series playoff round. So you just jumped right into the World Series. But he did demo that in the regular season beforehand. So it was a

late season transition, but it was not actually happening in the World Series, which makes it a little less impressive to me, but more impressive because shortstop. Anyway, we'll talk about all of that. Before we close, just wanted to ask your opinion about a couple of managerial moves. We had a couple of hirings by California teams while I was in California. No connection there. The angels who just

seemed to have angelsed up this managerial hiring process in a number of ways because it was widely reported that Albert Pooholz was the favorite for that job, that he was the top choice. And of course, played for the angels, had that personal

services contract with them, perhaps still does. And so they interview him, and then they end up hiring Kurt Suzuki. And Kurt Suzuki, in addition to his backup catching career, probably the indelible image is him being hugged, just wants to make the angel straight again. That's all he wants to do. Yes. Yes, warmly embraced by President Trump in his first term when the nationals visited after winning that World Series. But he doesn't have a whole lot of highlights as a coach or manager because he's never been one. So maybe that's why that image has circulated so much. I mean, it would have anyway. But we haven't really seen Suzuki around. I mean,

he's been around, but he hasn't coached. He hasn't managed. And I don't know that he was widely discussed as a top managerial prospect, even though he was a catcher. So they sign him. And I guess it happens often that there is reported to be a first choice. And the eventual choice is not the first choice, and so you know that, and maybe it's kind of awkward. The other thing, though, is that reportedly, at least, the reason the angels moved on from Pujols or he moved on from them was money, that that was sort of the sticking point, money and or years, and then they signed Suzuki to a one-year deal, which is unusual, I guess, back to our conversation is creative. It's non-standard. I'm a little less complimentary about it in this

case. Because when you're a deal, when you hire a manager, it's like usually you don't hire a manager who is instantly a lame duck. That's just a nod. So angels. Yeah, it is so angels. It really is. And there is the whole, so you say Kikuchi came out with a recent interview talking to Japanese reporters. And he said that the Angels air conditioner was broken in the weight room. And so he was constantly like drenched in sweat and like cramping and it affected his pitching and he asked them to fix it and they didn't fix it. That's what he said. And then Sam Blum was talking to Perry Menazian Angels GM who denied it and just said, yeah, everything is fine, you know, nothing to see here basically like everything's okay. The air

conditioner is perfectly fine. And then later that day, the angels put a job listing up for an HVAC technician, which is just like, maybe that was completely unconnected, but the timing of it was just unbelievable. So that on top of this hiring seemingly being dictated, at least in large part, by not wanting to commit to a manager for more than a year. Like, I don't know what Albert Pujols' request was, and maybe we'll find out because he's still interviewing for other games here. It's odd, because on the one hand, Pujols made $350 million.

as a player, not counting endorsement deals, not counting personal services, contracts, etc. So in theory, he shouldn't really need to make that much money as a manager, but also I assume there's sort of a level of respect that he wants and believes he commands and one way respect can be expressed is through money. Sure.

And maybe this is just Artie cheaping out the way that Artie Moreno tends to do where historically he has signed players to big contracts, including Aberpuhls, but then he skimps on everything that could make that organization better or more desirable, whether it was minor league conditions and nutrition in the past to possibly this air conditioner to just technology and developmental architecture and infrastructure, and now maybe sort of cheaping out on a manager too and just playing such an active role and meddling constantly. It just seems rudderless. And obviously there's a ton of negative

publicity surrounding the Angels right now with the Skag's case that is working its way through the court and Mike Trout testifying and other officials from the team testifying in the Tyler Skagg's case and just having that all be aired now does not reflect well on really anyone or anything in that situation. The whole thing is sad. But usually you hire a manager and you want that to be a big moment. It's like, okay, new direction, fresh voice. So we're all on the same page. This is what we're doing, turning over a new leaf. And instead, it just feels like they somehow backed into this in the most angels way imaginable. One of my main takeaways from all of this was that, like, Pujol's managerial ambitions were maybe more serious than I was giving them credit

for, right? Because, you know, you could imagine it being like a soft landing as your first, as your first gig. Now, I want to, I want to distinguish Albert Poole holes from Suzuki in this way, which is like, pools went and managed in Winterboro. Like, pools went and did work to try to like get experience in that role

in a way that I think outstrips, outstripes out, why can't I speak today? I mean, in my defense, I've already talked a lot today. Yes. And you might think to yourself, don't you talk a lot every day, Mike? And you're so full of funny jokes, aren't you?

Yeah. Outstriped? Strips. Strips. Outstrips. Yeah. That's the word. This is a Reddit never said it sort of a situation. Outstriped should be applied to Blake Snell's fashion line.

Did you see Blake Snell's, he is, I guess, a fashion designer. Have you heard him rapping? No, I did not. I must have missed that, but I did catch his pants. He has a line of pants? He does. He has a line of pants. Like for himself? For anyone. I think anyone can be wearing Blake Snell if they would like to. But it's like, I would say that his pants have outstriped themselves because I'll send you a link.

Please do. I do. I need to see these pants. Yeah, I will link to this on the show page. So there's a top. I guess there's the shirt. It's like a, yeah, it's a partnership. What the hell are these pants? I know. What are these pants, Ben? What are those? Yeah, it looks like...

What's happening here? It looks like he walked into wet paint. It does look like he walked into wet paint. There are essentially... The white pants. Yeah, you took white pants and just, like, had a paint brush with blue paint just swiped down each leg, essentially. That's what it looks like to be here. I do appreciate that he...

Well, he is a Northwest boy. I'm like, of course this is exclusive to Nordstrom, because that's our, that's our luxury department store. That's a, that's the Northwest brand. What is happening in these pants? I don't know. I mean, look, I got to say, I got to say some stuff because I, I'm often critical of Blake's now because I, until very recently, have super not enjoyed watching him. His teammates seem to love him. Like, he seems to just, like, really get along with everybody in the dugout.

and that's great but I what are these pants and also like okay so these pants these pants I'm I'm like short-circuiting

about these pants these seem to have launched in October is that correct these are like I think so yeah okay so also and look I don't need to be a stickler

I'm not such a fancy girl you're wearing white pants after laborer you're launching your white pant collection after like what are these what's happening I do not understand. I don't know. I know nothing about fashion.

I'm not qualified to really evaluate. The top's bad, too. Blake Snell's paint design the way that I am, his pitching. But I will say that... It looks... You know how... You know how sometimes... Okay, so in the first slide of this Instagram,

a little post, you see the collared shirt, right? We have the collared shirt. And on the collared shirt, like in the middle of his tummy, there appears to be a section where there's like white also on it you know there's like the white stripe but then there's like the you see how there's like the white it looks like he's wearing a lanyard well no no but also so so you see the god i have to like send you a screenshot of the particular part i'm talking about do you ever like you're do you ever have the experience you're you're wearing like a dark colored shirt and you go to brush your teeth and then you you oh goof oh no i got some toothpaste on my my shirt and then you try to wipe it off and then it leaves like toothpaste remnant like you see the part i'm talking about here i just sent it to you in our in our g chat i what is happening what yes what's that what's that what they're sort of a splotch there's like a splash or like like someone spilled milk and like didn't dab it out like or got yogurt on their shirt this looks

like a dairy or toothpaste related what is happening also i'm sorry i i don't want to be ungenerous to Blake's even though I've said that he's like the worst person to watch pitch ever I just want to understand when did why is Blake Snow like a fashion guy now

like what's happening what's going to like I'm just saying like if you look I guess it's an interest of his and I'm fine with him pursuing his interest he has a certain level of celebrity and accomplishment

and people want you to be the face of something and do they want that face to be the face I just like he's just a very normal he's a very He's a very normal looking guy. This profile of guy is all over shoreline, which is where he's from, which is why it's...

Yeah, he is modeling these duds as well. He's modeling. We will share it for everyone to see. I forget how this even came up, but... No, I mean, MLB players, athletes in general, maybe their fashion sense does not always match mine, maybe. I mean, mine is wearing sweatpants all day, so I don't have a fashion sense. but if I were to wear some, well, yes, it's true, but I'm not wearing, like, boutique. Oh, their wedding photos is so nice.

But there's a lot of Ed Hardy is what I'm saying, or whatever the moderate equivalent of that is. Anyway, you were saying something about Albert Poole, was it that outstricted? And then we should be done so that we can both go on vocal rest before we live stream. But I have to say, so, like, Pools went and managed, and he did a great job, and, like, he gained all this experience. and I am often fascinated to watch guys as they are in the first couple of years right after their Bigley career has ended because not all of them bounce back to the game,

but a lot of them do. And I always am curious, like how much of it is money, how much of it is wanting the routine, how much of it is like needing to fill all this time that you, you know, and I know that Pujolz is like a very dedicated father, but I think he and his wife got divorced not long after he stopped playing.

So it's just like, you know, like you look for a lot of routine in the game and you find it and like you love baseball. You know, he was a great player. But also just it's so, it's so interesting to me when these guys like ricochet back. But pool holes like put work in. And I wonder if he went into those meetings with Ardian was like,

no, I'm trying to like be serious, you know? Like, I've, I've expended effort to gain expertise and experience doing this. And, like, I think I have something to contribute to a club. And you're fundamentally unsurious. And I'm putting, I'm putting hypothetical words in Pujolz's mouth. I'm sure he didn't say any of those things. But I wonder if he got into that meeting. I was like, oh, like, I'm really trying to be about it.

And you want to hear Kurt Suzuki, I guess. So, I don't know. of that organization long enough that you'd think, you know, the more that comes out about the angels, it just makes you question, why was and is Mike Trout so loyal to the angels? I know that they drafted him. He's always been there, but it's not like a first-class organization seemingly in any respect, really. So what is it that inspires such specific loyalty? Anyway, did just in closing, because I was kind of pairing the two California managerial moves, The Suzuki one is probably the less interesting one.

I mean, it's, you know, everyone joked about it because it's Lowell Angels and their whole process just seems to be borked as usual. But the Giants made the maybe more atypical and out-of-the-box managerial higher with Tony Vitello. And even though I am, as some people may be aware, not a huge college baseball guy, I do find this pretty fascinating. This was another case where there was a repute. favorite who did not end up being the choice because Nick Hundley was said to be the front runner and he and Posey go way back and obviously he was a player and he also did not have coaching or managing experience but was at least like doing front office stuff worked for the league was like around MLB and MLB teams and obviously Tony Vitello has not been and so this is an

unprecedented hiring for a college head coach to immediately make the leap to managing an MLB team. And that just hasn't happened before. Everyone knows, yeah, Pat Murphy was a Division I head coach, but he was a MLB coach for years and a bench coach before he became a manager. And people have mentioned Dick Houser who went from Florida State to the Yankees in 1980. But that was not the same. He was moonlighting as a college coach. Before that, he had been a big league player. He had been a Yankees coach for 10 years. years. So the college coaching was what was the exception to the rule for him, not the other way around. And same when the Angels hired Bobby Winkles from Arizona State. This was 1973, but he had spent

a season on their coaching staff with the Angels, that is. So for someone who has just no MLB experience at any level in any capacity as a player, as a coach, to go straight to the majors, that just hasn't happened. And it's exciting. There's a higher risk of a flame out, I suppose, given all the uncertainties of that transition, which is not unusual in other sports, obviously. There's plenty of precedent for that happening in other sports where there's, you know, a higher profile to the college game than there is in baseball. And even though I don't follow college sports closely college baseball, I've written a fair amount about college coaching and player development and how we've seen an influx of coaches from the college ranks to MLB. That's been

pretty common in recent years just because college has been really a hotbed of player development and advanced player development for years now. So it makes sense that this would happen, I guess, at this stage and not at an earlier stage. But it is still, still, it's a bold strategy. Cotton, like, this is really interesting. And he got a big contract for a rookie manager. He didn't just get one year. He got three years with an option for a fourth at three and a half million per. Well, yeah, he's not going to go for less money than he was getting at Tennessee. Exactly. Right. And that, yeah, he was making three million annually there with a three million dollar buyout. And that's the other thing is that college coaches make bank.

They make big money. Yeah, compared to, you. think MLB, that's got to be bigger money. No, not necessarily. Nothing compared to boosters, my friends. That's nothing compared to boosters. Exactly. So that's one thing that has prevented this from happening before that is that it's a pretty cushy and well-compensated job. So it's not necessarily a promotion. It sounds like, oh, you're going from amateur ball to the highest level of pro ball. Yeah. But in terms of salary and benefits and profile and all the rest of it, there are a lot of advantages to being a college coach. So Fitello is 47 and like he's a, he's a personality, right?

And you probably know this better than I do. And Bauman has written at length about him, of course. But he, I don't know if he seeks the spotlight. He certainly doesn't avoid the spotlight. And he's, you know, like pretty, pretty flashy, pretty attention getting, good looking guy, you know, quotable, fiery, gets. run from a lot of games, you know, we could have a new Aaron Boone on our hands here potentially and has a track record of inspiring players and also of success. We should note that's, you know,

in the college game, however transferable that is, we will see, but he's been doing this for a long time. Like he was an assistant coach at a few different schools and then he's been at Tennessee for eight seasons. They've been to the college world series, three out of the past five and one last year. So, you know, they're getting an elite talent in college baseball coaching here, although I guess sometimes a pretty polarizing one just because of how high profile a figure he is and how he kind of embraces that. So what do you make of the move?

I have no idea if this is going to work. I thought Bowman did a really great job writing about this for us, and we should probably have a bond at some point to talk about it. but the things that have made him super successful at the college level, some of them, I think, are transferable, like being able to command a room. He's going to be great in front of the media. I think that he does inspire players. Great, transferable.

Whether they will translate in the way that he does it, I think, remains to be seen, but those are transferable skills. Some of the things that he does, we don't know, right? Like, college head coaches are as much like GMs as they are, like, managers and some of the some of those pieces i think might blend well with posey but some of them are going to be like irrelevant to vital just because like you're not trying to you know navigate the transfer portal you're not trying to you know dole out nil money sure maybe there's some parallels to free agency there but it is a fundamentally different project you're recruiting you know very

young players relative to what he's going to encounter when he gets to the majors some of the like grind it out stuff isn't going to play over 162 game season. As Baumann noted, it'll be really interesting to see sort of how he calibrates some of the stuff that I think made him really effective at Tennessee, you know, the ability to assemble a staff that could increase VLO, all of their strength and conditioning gains. Like guys do get stronger when they go there. Some of that stuff is great. Some of that stuff doesn't necessarily matter in the same way for guys who are already pros and have already been in like a pro-strength and conditioning program. You can't just throw velocity at everything

Like you do have to develop other stuff So some of that's going to be interesting to see I find the vibe of that team That Tennessee team to suck out loud I appreciate why people like it And I do think that like he does a good job Of letting his guys be themselves It's just so happens that some of the personalities

He's assembled are ones that I find Abvasive and Terrible So you know your mileage might vary there, but he's also not dealing with as young a player pool, and so he's going to have to, you know, I think he'll do a good job of being respectful of pro players, but like some of the like rah-rah that he does a good job of at Tennessee is like, you know, if you're Logan Webb or Willie Adomis, are you going to be like, what are you doing, man? That's the thing.

Yeah, that's what fascinates me. And of course, Drew Gilbert is a former player for him and many former players of his. have gone on to be good in the majors and speak highly of him. Sure. But yes, there have been some spectacular flameouts before from highly touted college coaches and other sports who went on to pro ball and just it didn't translate. And maybe it didn't translate tactically or strategically. But also, yeah, in terms of how you relate to the players, he clearly has the capacity

to inspire players and get them to play hard for him and like him and everything. But it is different. You're talking about teenagers or early 20-somethings versus real grownups, you know, and some guys who aren't even that much younger than he is. And so it's like, yeah, does that rub you the wrong way if you're doing that like, yeah, super raw, rah, as you said and, you know, go get him in that whole mentality over a very long season with guys who've also like been in the game more than you have in the pro game, that is. And so who are you to come in and tell us, right? There's always kind of that, like, is there a lack of credibility if you haven't been a big leaguer in any capacity before? And then, yeah, you're used to, like, pumping up kids, basically versus adults. Sometimes it's like it feels, I don't know, infantilizing or so almost.

It's like, okay, this works in college, but not here. So that will be quite fascinating. Yeah, or at least, you know, very young men. And they're young men in a pro-dogout too. Yeah. You know, I think that part of why, if I can maybe put a little more substantive heft behind the part of his whole style that I find grading, I do think that, like, he does a good job of inspiring his guys. And I think his affection for them is very genuine. Like, he was, you know, he was there the night that, you know, speaking of the angels,

he was there the night that Christian Moore got drafted and he was at the desk and like the look on on Tony's face when Christian Moore got drafted was like so genuine and so full of like tender feeling for this guy and so I don't want to say that like it's all pretend or that there isn't anything positive to it but there have been times where my read of his coaching style at Tennessee was like Yeah, let kids be themselves, let young men be themselves, but guide young men. You know, sometimes young men need to be told to knock it off because they're being fucking obnoxious, you know? And they have gone over the line of being confident and celebratory and themselves

to be in dicks, you know? And part of your responsibility when you are a coach or an educator of people that age is to help them learn where those lines are. And I think it's particularly important. I'm not saying Christian Moore was one of the guys. But, like, you know, there's an edge to, there has been an edge to that Tennessee team at times. And I do think that you have a responsibility to help them navigate that line in a way that's going to be productive, particularly if they're going to end up being pros with a bunch of money. You know, you just have to help them figure that stuff out.

That's part of your responsibility as a coach. And there have been times where I've, I've been like, you could be a little less loose, Tony. now those considerations exist in the pro game they're less pronounced because everybody's older everybody has different responsibilities but it's not like teams don't have plenty of young guys who need guidance right and they have a bunch of money too so because like players of tennessee get paid like i don't mean that in a nefarious way i just mean that they have like a good they handle nil well and they those guys get money so so there's that piece of it and i'll be curious to see how he navigates and that but also like my sensibilities and the sensibilities of a pro locker room are probably different so it might play fine and the one thing I'll the final thing I'll say is that you know Posey was viewed as this like and I don't think that it was an incorrect assessment this kind of like old school hire there was a concern that he was just going to run it back some of the guys he brought in it was like these are players whose names he knows and so I do think it's a really

departure in the early part of his tenure for him to make a super unconventional hire and one that is challenging establishment norms. Is it going to work? I don't know. Is it going to be good for the giants? I have no idea. And I think anyone who's like, oh yeah, this is definitely good or definitely bad is selling you something because there are so many different ways this could go. It's a super high variance higher. And sometimes that is great. And sometimes that is a catastrophe. and we just don't know yet, but like, it is, it is a really interesting move for Posey to be making given sort of our understanding of him as a GM at this stage. So, like, I am fascinated. Also, I said this on Blue Sky and people need to reckon with it. The number of horny texts that I got

about this man when he was on draft broadcast from people who, you know, no Major League Baseball, but are only engaging with the college game via the draft and thus only really seeing the coaching, you know, Tony via the draft. Listen, friends, you need to prepare yourselves. People are going to be really freaking weird about this guy. They're going to be horny on Maine in a way that makes you uncomfortable. So just like, strap in because I couldn't believe, I could not believe some of the texts that I got.

I could, you know, people are, people have thoughts about, on I'm not sharing any thoughts myself. I'm saying I got multiple texts from different people being like, who's that? And I'm like, you need to relax. So just get ready. There was a Gabe Kapler contingency of that kind as well. But perhaps it's a different appeal. It's going to be similar, but it's going to be a little different.

It's a little, it's a related but importantly different aesthetic than Gabe. Yeah. But you're right. That Posey, he's going. out on a limb a little bit here because if this does backfire, then that sort of sticks to him. And it is admirable in a way that he's not saying, yeah, I'm just going to go get Boch. Like we're bringing Boch back, but I'm doing something no one has done. I guess it can be new and also slightly old school at the same time because I think one thing

that they've both talked about, Posey and Vitello is just like fundamentals and development. And we've talked about that larger meta-conversation about the sport and fundamental and whether players know what they're doing, even if they are more talented than ever. And Vitello, he was in San Francisco for a series, I think, or forget whether it was at Cores or in San Francisco, but he was visiting. I think they were in Colorado.

Yeah, that might have been in September. Yeah, I think if I remember that report, right. Yeah. Because he had a bunch of former players there. And so he went and they talked, he and Posey talked. Then Posey went to, and Vitello talked to afterward and said, I think everyone is suffering the consequences all the way up to the big leagues where guys are super skilled,

but there's less development, less coaching, less accountability, and therefore less understanding of how to actually play the game to win. And it starts all the way trickle-down effect. He set that on a podcast subsequently. Yeah.

So you could see this as the antidote to that. Okay, we'll go get a college coach when you're actually still teaching players the fundamentals and we'll remind these major leaguers of those things that they've forgotten or never learned. That could also backfire or rub. the wrong way because it's like who are you you know like you're coming not even from the bush leagues you're from amateur ball here and you're telling me how to play the game the right way

how are you qualified to talk so it depends on the message and the messenger and it'll depend in part on who he brings in right how much of that staff is turning over we don't know if you know the answer to that and also just like is the team good will the team win you know because that'll affects how the clubhouse is also. But yeah, it feels like a low floor, but high ceiling move, I suppose. And, you know, you take away the recruiting advantage, mostly, I guess. Not that a manager plays no rule in, say, making a place a more attractive destination for free agents. But it's not the same, obviously.

And, you know, crafting the roster, it's not the same. And he's not known as, like, a super stathead. Not that he's like anti-numbers or anything, but I don't know that he has that reputation as like being at the forefront of that. And if his coaches are responsible for some of the player development acumen, then does that transfer with him or not? And the other thing is that like in the big leagues these days, player development is ongoing. It's not the way that it used to be where guys were viewed as finished products and you developed in the minors and then you got to the big leagues and then the coaches were just the managers drinking buddies. There is supposed to be active development and players improving going on, and I think that's part of the desire to have this kind of coach come in. So if he is personally responsible for players having improved under him as opposed to just putting the right coaches in place, which, you know, that will still be, to some extent, his purview now.

So he could he could bring back some of his coaches or he could make some adept hires there to help him, and maybe there could still be development that goes on. And the Giants have experimented with that, and they've had, in recent years, pre-Posey as POBO, but they had their expanded coaching staff with, you know, assistant this and assistant that and assistant to the assistant, and that seemed to pay dividends at least for a little while. And they've had some maybe analytical edges with swing paths and stuff where they were able to kind of optimize their player usage and pitch hitting and everything. and I don't know if those advantages have persisted, but they've been known for kind of being forward thinking when it comes to coaching or development at the big league level. So maybe this is a continuation of that. Anyway, fundamentally, I'm into it just because it's interesting to talk about

more so than it is with most managerial hirings where it's just some retread or some predictable person. This is not predictable, and this is unconventional. And that means that there's more to discuss, which is good for us, people who discuss baseball professionally. I don't have a personal stake in whether the Giants do well or not, though it would be nice, you know, like if this hit and they were great, or if they just completely flamed out and crashed and burned, at least they wouldn't be just persistently 500 every year on the dot.

So that would be a nice change. I agree. All right, returning for my outro recording post-game and post-stream to report that the Dodgers have been Blue Jaysed. Blake Snell was not at his best, and then the much-maligned Dodgers bullpen showed why it has been much maligned in a nine-run inning in which the Blue Jays

exceeded the sum total of offense that the Brewers produced in their whole NLCS. It was single after single after hit by pitch after walk, and then there were a couple big bombs in there, too. Capped off by a barger bomb, 11 to 4 win for Toronto. The Blue Jays executed the plan to perfection that the Dodgers' previous opponents

were not able to reliably get the starter out, stick it to the bullpen. I still say it wasn't a must win, but they did indeed win. Dodgers got a couple of their low leverage arms in there, some guys who hadn't even been on rosters in previous rounds, Justin Rebleski, Will Klein. I think those guys are actually pretty good and could potentially play an important role with Alex Vescia out, but by the time they got into this game, it was well out of hand. Late Homer by Shohei, but this time he didn't hit three or pitch, so it was not enough. Roberts must be saving Kershaw for the home crowd.

Since I was talking about this being a series for a global audience, though, we did get a question from listener, Patreon supporter Jeff, who asked, Is this the most world series? Thinking about how important Otani and Yamamoto are to the Dodgers and Vlad to the Blue Jays, is this the world series with the most war from foreign-born players, if not, which is, did Soto on the Yankees top it last year without us noticing? I put this question to Patreon supporter and listener Michael Mountain, who stat blasted it for us and wrote this summary for me of his findings.

I excluded all players born in the United States, including U.S. territories. This mostly means no Puerto Rican players, but there were also three players with World Series experience who were born in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Miedre Cummings, Joe Christopher, Elrod Hendricks. The 2025 games haven't happened yet, so we can't compare war among players who appeared in a World Series game. Perhaps we could look at that later. And finding active roster data for past years is difficult. I ended up looking at war for all players who appeared in at least one regular season game for the eventual league champions and dropping any players with negative war, since those would likely not be World Series participants or certainly not major contributors.

Then again, I guess Roki Sasaki had negative fan graphs war, and he's a pretty important contributor. The single-season baseball reference war total for all non-US-born players on the 2025 Dodgers and Blue Jays' combined is 32.1, 22.6 from the Dodgers, 9.5 from the Blue Jays. That's the fifth highest total for any World Series matchup, and all the ones ahead of it are in the period, 2019 to 2024. Makes sense. Game has gotten more international. Jeff is correct that last year's World Series set the record without us noticing. Maybe someone noticed.

Led by Shohei and Soto, the 2024 Dodgers and Yankees got 39.7 baseball reference war from 22 different foreign-born players in the regular season. Other significant contributors that year with more than one baseball reference war were to Oscar Hernandez, Miguel Rojas, Luis Heel, Nestorquez, Gle, Nestor-Cortez, Gle, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jazz Chisholm, Andy Pajas, and Oswaldo Cabrera. The record for most foreign-born war on a single World Series participant team is the 2022 Houston Astros, with 31.3. They had 12 players accumulate positive B-war in the regular season, led by Jordan Alvarez, Jose Altuve, Jeremy Peña, Christian Javier, and Framber Valdez. If you want to count world influence as the number of foreign-born players who appeared in the series, there were 18 foreign-born players in the 2022 World Series. The record for most number of birth countries represented in a World Series is nine, set in 2018. Players in that series were born in the U.S., Aruba, Cuba,

sound like I'm singing Kokomo here. Corosal, the Dominican Republic, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, and Venezuela. Finally, shout out to Jose Urania, who, as far as I can tell, is the first foreign-born player in MLB history to accumulate positive baseball reference war for both World Series participants in the current season. Negative 0.1 each for Toronto and Los Angeles. Obviously, other players have appeared for both World Series teams, but I don't think anyone else has been above point one war for both. Buddy Kennedy is the other guy who played for both of this year's World Series teams. But he's from Millville, New Jersey.

Of course, the most famous player from Millville, New Jersey, Buddy Kennedy. We just got a Patreon message as I'm recording this from listener Jacob, who says, in the postgame show, Derek Jeter just called Game 2 a must win for the Dodgers, game 2. So we've gone from Game 1 being a must win for the Jays to Game 2. being a must win for the Dodgers. It's really something. Bobichette looked fine in second base, by the way, he made a nice play behind the bag.

Technically, it was on the shortstop side of second base, so it was actually not far from where he typically plays, though he was going in a different direction. Ultimately, they pinch ran for him. And Trey is Savage, while not lights out, and not as splitterific as usual, was good enough, more than good enough for a guy who has blown by his previous single season innings high,

and who was the second youngest starter of a World Series opener behind Ralph Branca, and who now has more career postseason starts than regular season starts. That's a stat that tickles me. And you can tickle me too in a platonic, non-physical way. We don't have a Patreon tier for that, but you can support EffectivelyWild on Patreon by going to patreon.com slash Effectively Wild, as have the following five listeners who have already signed up and pledge them monthly or yearly amount to help keep the podcast going, help us stay ad-free,

and get themselves access to some perks, Dave, Vincent Beltron, Omar Perez, Jake Andrews, and David Gordon. to all of you. Patreon perks include access to the Effectively Wild Discord group for patrons only, monthly bonus episodes, the playoff live streams, which are concluded now for this year, but you can still access the recordings of them

if you care to. Personalized messages, potential podcast appearances, discounts on merch and ad-free fancrafts memberships and so much more. Check out all the offerings at patreon.com slash Effectively Wild. If you are a Patreon supporter, you can message us through the Patreon site.

If not, you can contact us via email, send your questions, comments, intro and outro themes to podcast at Fangraphs.com. You can rate, review, and subscribe to EffectivelyWild on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, music, and other podcast platforms. You can join our Facebook group at facebook.com

slash group such effectively wild. You can find the Effectively Wild subreddit at our slash Effectively Wild. And you can check the show notes at Fangraphs or the episode description in your podcast app for links to the stories and stats we cited today. Thanks to Shane McKean for his editing and production assistance.

We hope you have a wonderful weekend and we will be back to talk to you next week. Have a catch-in-based. slog with me in a virtual rise from small sample size these fun facts must lie it's effectively wild a strange but could hang effectively wild Thank you.