Fantasy Baseball Today - Raleigh vs. Judge for MVP & Strong Finishes Affecting 2026 Value! (9/25 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 25, 2025

Cal Raleigh vs. Aaron Judge for AL MVP has been insane (2:55)! ... Tanner Bibee is finishing strong (10:37). ... Could Taj Bradley be a sleeper next season (16:18)? ... What's the latest playoff picture (19:32)? ... News (20:58): Kyle Tucker could return this weekend. ... The Dog of the Week goes to Jonah Tong (29:30). ... It was bombs away for the Phillies and Mariners (36:52). ... How much will these strong finishes affect 2026 value (43:38)? ... Can these names be sleepers next season (57:34)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (1:00:00). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow FBT on TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CBSScottWhite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Roto_Frank⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. What's up and welcome into fantasy baseball today on Thursday, September 25th. I am Frank Stample, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers today on the show.

Will any of these players be sleepers in 2026? The ALMVP race is on fire. We have an updated postseason playoff picture and much more. But let's kick things off with the players of the night. Yeah! All right, Scott. You are up. I'm going to talk about Cal Raleigh.

I was preparing for this podcast going through all the different box scores. Cal Raleigh. There's a later game, West Coast game, later. It's still going on, in fact, as I started this process. I saw what Aaron Judge did here on Wednesday, two home runs bringing him up to 51. And I was prepared to come on and say, okay, with the huge September Aaron judges had,

he's batting like 360 for the month. With the huge September Aaron judges had, I think he's pretty much locked up the AL MVP race, not saying it's going to be unanimous or anything, but Judge appears to have locked it up. And then I got to those late games. They finished, saw what Cal Raleigh did, two home runs himself to bring him to the big 60,

60 home runs for Cal Raleigh. Most ever by switch header, by far the most ever by a catcher, one of just how many players have gotten to 60? I think it's seven. Is it that many? I'm surprised at that. I was looking at it earlier.

Bonds McGuire, Stosa, Judge, Maris. Maris and Ruth. Ruth, yeah. Okay, seven, you're right. But not many. I mean, look, there have been like 23,000 players in baseball history. So that's pretty good. And the fact it's a catcher, the position that has natural limits to the totals the player can reach.

You know, we've talked often about how. You know, how can we rank Cal Raleigh for next year coming off this historic season that just by the nature being historic season, you know he's not going to repeat? He could lose 25% of this year's home runs and tie for the third most ever by a catcher next year. So that goes to show you just how unprecedented this production is for this position. And, you know, getting back to the MVP point. I'm not going to say Cal Raleigh has it locked up. Because by the way, if we're being honest about value, by the way we measure value today, judge has been more valuable.

But I know the way MVP writers work, there's going to be a certain amount of judge fatigue. There's going to be the historic nature of the season. A lot of times when it's close, they want to give that extra distinction to the historic season with an MVP award. They did it the year Miguel Cabrera got a triple crown. They voted for him over Mike Trout. They did judge over Otani a few years ago when judge got to 62 home runs. Though I think maybe just judge. I think judge just deserved that one.

Yeah. Yeah. So it may end up going to Raleigh. And I'd be okay with that. I'm not saying it's a problem. If I had a vote, I'd vote for Judge. But, you know, Raleigh has kept this going to the point. of reaching 60 home runs now as a catcher and that's just unbelievable it it is the various

metrics are trying to accomplish I think different things right like baseball reference does not account for a lot of catcher defense that is why it's like a two win difference on baseball reference on fan graphs it's like point three or point four at this point and I might have done this rant last week, but putting the decimal place on war was a mistake because it implies a level of certainty that just doesn't exist. These are still all estimates. And 0.3.4.5 war is basically a tie. Like you can, you can assume the guy with the higher total is better, but you shouldn't be certain of it. There's no wrong answer. It is there's just, and they are both making it so that there is clearly no wrong answer. If you think Aaron Judge is the MVP, I might agree. If you think

Cowrallies the MVP, I might agree. If I voted, I have no idea. Flip a coin. There are four, there are four games left. And that might decide it. Like, it really might just be, Cow rally hits two more home runs and Aaron Jones goes hitless to the next four games. Cow Rally is the MVP. I really, like, it is that close. It is incredible to watch both of these guys performing the way they are and the only wrong answer is that there's a wrong answer. You know what I guess like,

you know, I don't know, Max Fried would be a wrong answer. You know what I wonder is on the same night that Judge hit two home runs and Cal Raleigh hit two home runs. Kyle Schwabur also hit two home runs. Yeah. Which brings him to 56.

What if Schwerber gets to 60? Would that somehow detract from Cal Raleigh's MVP candidacy probably not but like it'd be wild it is weird that Babe Ruth was the only person that did it

then Roger Maris was the only person that did it and then nobody did it for 40 years and then a bunch of guys took a bunch of steroids and did it and then nobody did it again for 20 years and now it happened twice in three years that's weird or four years and here's something I haven't seen. Maybe you guys have seen it.

Remember the big deal made in 2022 about judge setting the American League record for home runs in a season with 62? A thing we all cared about. We all care about the American League of run record. It is Chris's favorite record ever. I found that infuriating because the only reason they were talking about it

and they just didn't want to say it is it was the record for home runs for a person without steroid ties and they were disguising it as A.S. record. Kyle Schwerber, what is the NL record for a for single season home runs for a player without steroid ties? Because I think it's Hack Wilson with like 56 or something or 57. I think that's actually the number. How many did John Carlos Stan got 59? I think it's yeah I think it's Stan is the true home run king. I think we can I have I have not seen any mentions of

Schwerber approaching this record. And I find that, I find that interesting. He may not get there, but he's at 56. Let's, it's because Aaron Judge is on the Yankees. Like, that's the answer. All right. All right. We can stop it there. Aaron Judge, they were like cutting into college football games in 2022 to show Aaron Judge at Bats. We're not doing that for Cow Rally. Maybe they will. If he gets to 61 tomorrow. Yeah. And maybe they will. You don't know. know that. Updated fan graphs war by the way is Aaron Judge is 9.6 and Cal Raleigh 9.1.

So, negligible, but obviously both amazing. Like, the next closest person is Bobby Wood Jr. at 7.7. So, yes, both very, very deserving. But also, I would not want to have a vote for ALA. How about Bobby Witt's bad luck?

Like, he is like legitimately playing at a Hall of Fame level the last two seasons and he's not going to get a single MVP vote. He's gonna have like what 17 wins of over the last two seasons and not get a single MVP vote. That's insane That is pretty crazy stuff. All right, let's go over to Chris your player of the night What did I sorry? What did I say? Tanner Bybee

Tanner Bybee yes who has I mean frankly I don't know about you guys. I had pretty much given up on Tanner Bybee months ago and and that felt okay. And then over the last four starts to close out his season, he has only given up, what, five runs, I think, total, four runs over the last five starts, including a 10 strikeout start and eight strikeout start, only five today.

But I don't know, I just don't know what to make of this. Part of it is he has clearly been searching for, and answer all season long. Like he opened the season up and he just wasn't getting the strikeouts we're used to. He started throwing that sinker a lot more. He introduced like, I want to say he started throwing a cutter

more as well and just nothing was working. And then the last four starts. The change up has been excellent. The cutter has been really good. Well, I don't really know what to go with it. I think I might have an answer for you. So I don't know

what you're saying the last four starts. I know in the last three for Tanner Bybee, he's been throwing his cutter multiple miles per hour harder. It was up in this start. Where did he go? I may note see. 2.2 miles per hour. 2.2 miles per hour. Okay, he's up 2.2 miles per hour.

And in those three starts with the harder cutter, Tanner Bybee has a 0.8.8.71. We have 9.9K per 9. It's pretty good. So, like, it's made a difference. it's the sort of adjustment that over a sample of three starts might work, but maybe once you start getting into 10, 12 starts, hitters catch up to it. And we're not going to,

we're going to run out of calendar before that happens. Who was Brian Beow, I think, had a stretch where he started throwing a cutter a lot more and got a bunch of strikeouts for a couple starts and that kind of faded. Yeah. There was another guy like that, too. I know Beio, was he getting more strike? I know he got better and he actually was better for a long time. But, but I, you know, obviously he's not missing bats.

He didn't end up missing bats the way Bybee has recently. And that's always been arguably his best swing and miss pitch. So I'm of two minds with this on Bybee. One, I don't want to make too much of it. Two, it's happened so late and over such a small number of starts that I think hardly anybody's going to notice it. They're just going to look at his ERA next year. It's going to be 428 or whatever.

And they're going to be like, yeah, I have no interest in Bibi. So this kind of gives me, like this makes a sleeper case for Bibi next year, presuming he's going late enough. And I presume he will going late enough that you could call him a sleeper. This would be the case for it. It's not an open and shut case, but no sleeper ever is. I think now there's that little bit of hope that Bivey's figured something out with this adjustment and it always seemed like given how deep as arsenal is how good his pedigree is there was some adjustment he could make maybe this is it i do a segment for later on will the strong

finishes change how you feel for next season and tanner bobby was part of it so i think it has to just because i think you go from at least for me not at all interested to yeah i can see it i have done probably a top 50-ish at starting pitcher that's going to be out next week along with all the rest of the positions. And one, I'm surprised at how many pretty good pitchers are like not in the top 40 and maybe won't be in the top 50. Like, yeah, I don't, I don't think I have room for Chris Boobich in my top 48. I don't know if I have room for Michael King or Bubba Chandler or McKenzie Gore, some really

talented pitchers. So one, the pitching position, starting pitcher is in better shape than I expected it to be when I started this process. And two, like, I think I'm going to be able to sneak Tanner Bybee in the top 60, but

I don't think it's going to be any higher than that even. But that still might be higher than his ADP. Yeah. I mean, look, he was drafted this year as like a top 30, top 35 starting pitcher. So I think people will perhaps lean on his track record and say, you know, we could see him bouncing back.

He, you know, pitches for a good organization and things and he finished strong. So I could see it being a little bit higher than that, but it's right now it's just a guess. So we have well all off season. I mean, some random names. Hurston Waldrop or I'm not saying who you like more. I'm saying who do you think will go higher next year. Hurston Waldrop or Tanner Bybee. That's close.

That's a good question. I think it's Waldrop. Sunny Gray or Tanner Bybee? Man, they're going to finish pretty strong here. They're going to finish with identical ERAs. Yeah. I would guess Gray? I think Sunny Gray.

I think Bybee over Waldrop too, but I'd... Sandy Alcantra or Tanner Bybee. Oh, Sandy. I'll take Sandy. Yeah. He's going to have a much higher ERA, but the success happened. The turnaround happened much longer, so I don't think that's going to sneak up on people. And his upside is higher.

we've seen it before. So yeah. I think Sandy's going to be a top 40 pitcher for me. Well, good questions there. Another question. Will Tage Bradley be a sleeper next season? He finishes here with a great outing at the Rangers, albeit a skeleton Rangers lineup that's out there right now.

But six innings of one run ball with nine strikeouts, 11 whiffs on 90 pitches here. He threw more curve balls in this one. And it has been his best pitch this season. It was great in this spot. It had six whiffs, a 67. percent whiff rate, a 53% CSW. This was by far his best start with the twins yet.

You know, we'll see what they do with him in the off season, whether or not they change up his pitch mix, or he comes into spring training with more, less velocity, whatever it might be. But it seems like perhaps Tosh Bradley will be part of the Twins Pitching Lab this off season and see what they come up with. Can you see Tosh Bradley being a, I would think, a very late round sleeper,

perhaps deep league sleeper for next season? Yeah, I could see that He's had a few good starts with the twins This was the best one But there was that one against the I think it was the angels Where he had a ton of whiffs Like a lot of pitchers have against the angels But still

You see flashes of upside from Tazge Bradley still And the fact he's with a different organization Different pitching lab That he could go through And then you also see it's a 650 ERA since he got to the twins. Well, that's why he's a sleeper.

Like, you don't want to invest too much hope in him. You're taking a shot on upside late and probably a deeper league, like Frank said. I think he probably should be drafted, just probably in the reserve rounds. All right, updated playoff picture. What is happening?

The Guardians beat the Tigers again behind Tanner Bybee's great start. They now have a one game. lead over the Tigers in the AL Central. Reminder, the Tigers had like a 15 game lead back in July, a 12 game lead in August. And here we are on September 25th. They are now a game behind the Guardians. The Yankees won, the Blue Jays lost. They are now tied for first in the ALE East, kind of, because the Blue Jays have the tiebreaker. So if the Yankees want to win the division, they will have to finish a full game ahead of the Blue Jays. The Mariners won and the Astros lost. That means the Mariners clinched. the AL West. The Astros are now on the outside looking in. They are one game behind the Tigers for the final wildcard spot. And on the other side, the National League wildcard, all three of the Mets, Reds, and D-BACs lost here. So the Mets still claim a slight one-game lead over both of those teams. So, man, is crazy time. Nobody wants to make the playoffs.

We have four days left and still lots to figure out before the end of the season. Big thanks to those watching live, make sure to hit the like button, subscribe on YouTube, or stay subscribed for the off season for, you know, we'll be talking rankings and recapping stuff, award show after the season ends. We'll do all that. So make sure to stick with us. Let's take a break and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Let's run through the news and notes. Craig Counsel said that Kyle Tucker is trending toward returning to the lineup this weekend against the Cardinals. He's been dealing with that nagging left calf strain. Yorda on Out. Alvarez has yet to resume baseball activities as he deals with that left ankle sprain and we're just running at a time.

The Astros are running out of time to even make the playoffs. So whether or not we see him, I don't think so. As of right now with Yordon Alvarez. Josh Hader has yet to resume throwing as he works through that shoulder strain. Jeremy Pena has missed three straight with a sore left oblique. Wyatt Langford was placed in the IL with a left oblique strain ending his season. He finishes with a 241 batting average, 22 homers. 22 steals across 134 games. Chris and I spoke about Wyatt Langford yesterday. Scott, you weren't here.

You didn't have a chance to opine. We kind of came to the conclusion that he has to go later than he did this year. How much later? I'm not entirely sure. But it still feels like he has that upside. If he can put everything together where he can go 30, 30. I still think it's in there for while Langford. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's, look, he's only 23. So I don't really want to put any limits on his upside now. But I feel like the batted ball profile he's demonstrated to this point doesn't give me a lot of hope for batting average. So it puts them outside the top 20, I think, for outfield next year.

I haven't gotten to outfield yet. I have a very painstaking ranking process that takes weeks. Basically, I do a deep dive on every single player before I rank them. So it's slow going. And I'm probably a week or two away from getting to outfield and speaking on it more authoritatively. But I imagine just looking at where my rest of season rankings left off, I had Langford 26th there. And you've got to figure some of the injured players are going to come back in, maybe move ahead of him. Which isn't to say some of the players I rank ahead of him.

Like I'm seeing I have Jaron Duran ahead of him, would I rather have Duran or Langford? you know, knee-jerk reaction, I'm thinking Langford. But, you know, there are a lot, particularly compared to the last two or three years when we went into drafts thinking outfield's pretty weak. It doesn't feel that way anymore. So you don't need to extend yourself for upside, I think, the way you might have been inclined to the past couple years. Samuel Bessio left early after getting hit by a pitch on his. his right hand. X-rays came back negative. O'Neill Cruz was removed from Wednesday's game with

left ankle discomfort. Kate Horton will undergo an MRI on his back after leaving Tuesday start early. Ramon Luriano was diagnosed with a fractured finger and will be out past the NL Wildcard series. Robbie Ray did not start as scheduled on Wednesday and is unlikely to pitch again this season. The Giants have officially been eliminated and he's already up to 182 and a third innings here. So that is pretty much ending Robbie Ray season at this point. Really strong first half, faltered in the second half. He'll be an interesting one to rank for next season as well. I'm doing this like toughest players to rank series the last couple of weeks.

And I'm working on starting pitcher. And I did a really good job of limiting myself to like five names at every position, including outfield, which that was hard. A pitcher, I've got like nine already. And that's without Robbie Ray. That's without Tanner Bybee. that's without Jesus Lazzardo, that's without McKenzie. Like, there are just, and that's the very nature of the position. That's the, like, going position by position in baseball, you get the starting pitcher,

and you're like, oh, this is half the players. Yeah, this is four positions. Yeah. Yeah. So, all right. Moving on here, Anthony Santander finally made his return to the Blue Jays lineup. He hit fifth and as the team's D.H. I saw he had a batted ball at 108, might.

miles per hour, so I think that's a pretty good sign there for Santander. The Cubs reinstated Daniel Palencia from the IL. He worked the sixth inning with a five-run lead here on Wednesday. It feels like maybe they'll use him in some lower leverage before they kind of work him into the back end of the bullpen once again. Luke Keishel was diagnosed with a sprain left thumb and will be out for the rest of the season. Yusay Kikuchi was removed from Wednesday's start due to a left forearm cramp. He did pitch pretty well before leaving against the Royals five innings, one hit, one run, six strikeouts to one walk here, has allowed two run runs or fewer in three straight starts. But it just feels like Kukuchi is such a frustrating pitcher, and he's just so far gone from the player we saw with the Astros ending last season.

So it's forget like year to year, month to month, like start to start. It feels like he's a different pitcher. In this start, his slider and curveball, which got most of his whiffs, the two of them together, there were multiple miles per hour slower and had seven additional inches of vertical drop, which is an insane increase, seven inches. I mean, three inches is a lot. And it's seven. But like, it's just, you know, a random start in September.

He pulls this out. And it's like, do you make anything of it in isolation? No, I think you just look at your long numbers, and it was pretty big disappointment, especially coming off that second half he had with the Astros. That is somebody who I'm not going to be tempted to rank and tie inside my top 60 or probably 75 next year. I don't think it'll be close, yeah.

Yeah, again, that was YSai Kikuchi. We were just talking about. Jonathan Ironda could be activated from the aisle as soon as Thursday. He's been out since late July with a fractured left wrist. Roki Sasaki was officially activated with Kirby Yates placed in the IL with a hamstring injury. And Sasaki pitched in the seventh inning of this game. He looked amazing, probably the best that I've seen in the major so far. He threw a perfect inning with two strikeouts.

His fastball velocity was up over three miles per hour. He averaged 99.2 on that fastball. The splitter was up 2.4 miles per hour, and he was devastating. I don't, I'm not going to put a cap, a ceiling. on what he can be, but as a reliever in the postseason, man, Roki Sasaki might be awesome. Yeah, this is what we saw in his final AAA appearance as well. The velocity was way up in that one.

That was what convinced them to bring him back. Maybe they figured something out. You know, this was always the hope. And maybe, you know, he'll be able to pitch like this in the postseason and we can have some discussions about him again as a much cheaper sleeper for 2025, 2026. I will say it's,

that last appearance of AAA was also just an inning. He threw a total of eight pitches. It's not at all uncommon when a starter goes to short relief

to see him gain a few miles per hour on his fastball. And that doesn't mean Sasaki can't be a 98 mile per hour guy's a starter because he was a couple years ago in Japan.

But it, all I'm saying is just because he's done it in a couple of relief appearance, even if he sustains it in relief throughout the playoffs, it doesn't mean like we can just count on him reaching those velocities as a starter next year. Zach Gelloff underwent successful surgery on his left shoulder on Wednesday. David Fry will be sidelined six to eight weeks after sustaining multiple fractures in his face following that scary hit by pitch on Tuesday night. I mean, look, obviously it could have been worse.

It's obviously still a really, really bad injury, and he's got a long road ahead here. But, you know, just nice to get, I guess, an update here on David Fry. Charlie Morton is expected to pitch and relief at some point with the Braves this week. He also announced that he plans to retire after this season and a pretty good career here for Charlie Morton, who completely reinvented himself with the Astros and then had some very, very strong seasons after that. So a nice career for Charlie Morton. With that, Chris, I'll throw it over to you for the Dog of the Week. week and the dog of the week this week.

Jonah Tong, who struggled yet again, gave up five earned runs over two innings against the Cubs, only one strikeout, two walks. He just hasn't looked good at the major league level, which is disappointing because he was the best pitcher in the minors this season. I think he still leads all minor leaguers in strikeouts. He had a, what was a sub two ERA? He was just absurdly dominant, but it just has not been there. basically at any point at the major league level.

I think he had one decent start, but it's been a big disappointment for baseball America's minor league pitcher of the year. I still in the long run have a lot of confidence, or at least a lot of hope for Jonah Tong. I think he's talented, but clearly it's not there yet. I don't know that I have that same confidence. It's, and I don't blame you for having it. I mean, like, a player who dominated in the minors and plays tie in all the prospect rankings,

which by that point, Tong did, like, you don't want to read into a small sample. It's, you might just be better off ignoring it entirely. But the thing that really raises alarm for me is that his fastball, which was so dominant in the minor, It was pretty much the pitch that made him because it had this uncharacteristic shape for something from such a high-arm slot and it was just really difficult for hitters to square up and it hasn't been, I think there's been one start

where it missed a decent number of bats. It's not fooling major league hitters at all and I'm not sure if that's not a wipeout pitch for Tong, I'm not sure there's enough else there for him. It's so early in his career, he could figure this all out. Like maybe he's just not locating it properly. I don't know. I'm not a pitching coach.

But I think, you know, compare Tong to like Bubba Chandler or... Yeah, you take Bubba Chandler ahead of him next year. Yeah, I mean, even if we're penciling Tong into the rotation next year, like, it's the most I could invest in him is a late round pitch. in a standard size league. It's not, sort of like I was saying for Taj Bradley, I take Tong over Bradley, don't get me wrong,

but it would be the same kind of pick where it's just like, I have nothing to lose. Let me just throw a late pick here at upside and hope it goes right. I do think it's mostly a command thing. You look at like the pitch chart today, it's a lot right in the middle with the four seamer.

There's some in the upper third of the zone, but even then he only had two fastballs above the strike zone and if you're going to get whiffs i'm not saying you have to throw everything letter high but that's that's a big place to get whiffs you're looking for out of the zone whiffs and he hasn't been able to get that and then you also look at the change up and if you look at the overall heat maps for both um on baseball savant they have like you know it's red where it shows up the most the change up and fastball both the most often they show up is right in the dead center of the zone. And that's just, it's really hard to succeed even at the major league or even with good stuff

at the major league level if you're not commanding well. And I think it's mostly a command issue. Now, look, he's got a weird delivery and maybe command's just always going to be an issue for him. And it, you know, maybe he's just a quad A guy. Maybe it was just minor leaguers can't do it, but major leaguers can. And, you know, maybe it's, they've got these like crazy bad. cages now where the they like superimpose a video of the pitcher and they get the spin and arm angle right and like hitters can actually like see but have you guys seen these are crazy no is that

the traject machine yeah where like they move they can move it based on the pitcher's arm angle they can superimpose a video of them and like actually get it's not perfect obviously but they can get what the pitchers look like and it might be just be like the i don't know Tacoma rainiers can't afford one of those, but the Seattle Mariners can, right? Like, it might just be as simple as, you know, minor leaguers just were completely taken by surprise by this guy and major leaguers aren't. That could be, that's a reasonable hypothesis. I'll still bet on the minor league track record, assuming it costs very little, which I, you know, like we're talking outside the top 200. But if it's, if that's all it costs, yeah, I'll take that flyer on Jonah Tong.

I'm not sure looking ahead to next year. He's a top five pitcher from this year's rookie class. Right. Well, I thought you were going to say from the Mets. There are no guarantees to them in the Mets rotation to begin next year. Especially if they make some moves this offseason as the Mets are wont to do. I also just want to remind people that he's 22 years old and as dominant as he was in the minors. He only made two starts at AAA.

So honestly, the thing that I take away most from this is he's not ready. I think he's kind of been rushed. And that's just because all the other Mets pitchers were bad. So they kind of did this out of necessity. I think there's actually a reasonable chance that Jonathan starts next season in AAA. He needs more development. But I still think there's a lot of talent here. And we're probably talking about him as a top flight waiver ad at some point next season.

All right, let's take our final break. When we return, it was bombs away for the Phillies and Mariners. They hit a bunch of home runs in those games. We'll talk about that right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Bombs away for the Phillies. They won 11 to 1 in this game on the back of, wait for it, eight home runs in that one.

Kyle Schwerber, two more Schwabombs. He is up to 56, as we mentioned earlier. Also, 132 RBI this season. Very interested to see, A, what kind of contract he gets, and B, where he lands this off-season. I think that'll be a pretty big talking point there with Kyle Schwarz. Not that it really matters for his power. I'm just interested to see who gives him the contract.

I mean, it's got to be six years, 150, at least. He's already like 32 or 33. Yeah, he's going to be 33 before opening day, but... I don't think he's going to... I could see him getting five years with maybe a higher A.V, but... Yeah, maybe he'll be wrong. I have him as a first rounder in points leagues next year. Second in Roto, but first in points.

And that's... As a U-S.-S going to be D-H-only. Yeah. beginning the year. Yeah, so he'll be 33 on opening day next year. Yeah, I mean, maybe if a team really wants him and they want to stretch that money out, they could go to six years. But I'm thinking more like, I think five years, at least 150, right?

First one. One, that is one thing to keep in mind with these contracts is it seems like a lot of these really big deals are always a year longer than they should be. Like, what was freed's seven years? You just look at it and it's like, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, That's a six-year contract, and they just want the AAB to be a little lower. And the Yankees are famous for, they did that with LaMahue, too. So it was eight years for Freed, by the way.

Okay, yeah. So it was a seven-year contract. That eighth year is just a tax dodge. Yeah, I mean, he's not going to be this good again. This is a career year, but he's going to have 45 homers probably. That's what he had done, I think, each of the previous two seasons, right? Yeah. It's going to be real interesting.

It's really the run-in RBI production. that which might be affected by where he goes but I imagine it's going to be a contender he goes to and bat high in the lineup get on base a ton he's not nearly that batting average liability used to be he's proven that two or three years in a row he's got yeah three years in a row two over two 40 two years in a row in 23 it was 197 okay yeah but even that I mean you look back to that year he split between the the nationals and the Red Sox I mean the outlier were the years where he struggled to hit 200, not the years where he threatened to hit 250. Yeah, I mean, his counting stats are as just set it and forget it as you can get. He's been 100 plus runs four years in a row, over 100 RBI, three years in a row. The year before that, it was 94.

So just one of the safest bets for playing time and run production for Kyle Schwerver as well. Edmundo Sosa had a game for the ages, the game of his life. and here we are talking about it like 30 minutes in, but it just doesn't really matter, I guess, too much this late in the season. Three for five with a triple dong, three homers, five RBI in this game. Trey Turner should be back over the weekend.

He's, you know, a serviceable, util option on their bench, but it doesn't really mean much for next season either. Alec Bohm went two for four with his 11th homer. Five games since returning. He is raking. 11 hits, two home runs, six RBI during that time.

Bryson Stott, hit his 13th home run since the start of August. He's actually been great. 308 batting average, six homers, seven steals, and OPS over 900. And Otto Kemp, one for three with his eighth homer, last 13 games for him. 277, four homers, 11 RBI, one steal,

an OPS around 900. And depending on the Kyle Schwerber landing spot, and do they keep Alec Bohm? I think Otto Kemp is the name to pay attention to as a potential deep sleeper for next season. I agree. Yeah, I could get on board with that. All right.

Anything else on Stott, Bome, Sosa? I mean, I'll just reiterate, since it was such a big game, three home runs, nothing to see here with Sosa. I don't think any of the home runs were hit over 101. Two of the three

wouldn't have even been a home run in two-thirds of the ballparks. So it's not like, it's not like, whoa, there's this latent potential that we saw on display here. If only Sosa got to, an opportunity. He's not going to get the opportunity anyway, but even if he did, I don't think

it would be much to write home about. And it was bombs away for the Mariners as well. We already mentioned Cal Raleigh hit two more home runs in this one, up to 60 on the season. They had five home runs as a team. Julio Rodriguez hit his 32nd. And if you remember, he hit a home run in each game going into the All-Star break. And it was basically that three-game stretch that kicked all this off. So last 65 games for J. Rod, he's hitting 305 with 21 homers, 13 steals, and a 950 Ops. He's been amazing. A. E. E. E. Henni Oswarez hit his 48th homer. He has three home runs in his last seven games. And Jorge Polanco is finishing strong with a big September, 333, three homers, 13 RBI, a 994 OPS. I think he's kind of worked his way back until middle infield,

corner infield conversation for next season. Anything else to add on Polanco, Suarez, J. Rod? I'm pretty sure Polanco will just be second base for next year. Okay. So not the corner infield conversation. But yeah, he'll be top. I haven't gotten to second base yet, but I feel confident saying top 15. Chris?

Going into next year. Second base rankings? Yeah, I need to move him up. I have him 18th. But to be fair, I'm mostly paying a time. attention to the top 12 right now. Yeah, he should be at least top 15. I hope he ends up somewhere where he is.

Loved and appreciated. Well, yes. And that might be Seattle, but I hope he's a DH somewhere next year. I think that would be for the best for him and for everyone. Actually, it looks like he's played a lot of DH this season. He's only played 35 games at second and five at third. So that would mean that he's just played a bunch of games at age. And a lot of those were probably pretty early, I would guess.

Yeah. So we'll see. He is, yeah, it looks like he is a free. It says there's a player option for 26, but I guess is he'll opt out. And at 32 years old, maybe try and get, you know, his last multi-year contract there with. Only an $8 million option. So he's going to opt out. All right.

Yeah, that's what I thought, yeah. Will the strong finishes change how you feel in 2026? We spoke about Tanner Bybee earlier. What about Luis Castillo, who was incredible against the Rockies? In Seattle, probably the best matchup you can have, but he took advantage. Seven and a third innings, one hit, one run, 10 strikeouts to zero walks. The 10 strikeouts, his most in a start since July 19th of 2023. So it's been a very long time there for Luis Castillo.

He's turned in four straight quality starts, and during that span, it's three earned runs over 25 and a third innings. What do you guys think? Will this strong finish change how you feel about Luis Castillo? You know the goose meme where it's like the goose is chasing someone and they're like, what did you?

You know that? You know what I mean? I'm explaining this really well. Yeah. The goose is saying, what happened to five start to go? Because Luis Castillo looked completely cooked five starts ago. He had one of the worst months of his life

in August gave up 18 runs in 24 and a third innings. His first start in September was five earned runs in four innings. I remember writing, I think we're done here. I think this is, this is, he's been faking it for most of the season, and it's caught up to him, and well, now he just put together his best month of the season, I guess. So I don't think this should change how you feel about Luis Castillo. He is a 32-year-old.

I think he'll be. 33 next season that's usually how that works um goes one number up he had a he's going to finish with what a 350 something era 354 xER a is closer to four it's the highest it's ever been or at least highest since 2018 strikeout rate lowest it's ever been um he's lost that outlier fastball he hasn't found a way to generate consistent whiffs without the outlier fastball i still think there's a pretty good chance louis castillo's not on the mariners next season and i I don't think that's a guarantee, but I think there's a decent chance. Like they trade him?

Yeah, I don't think there should be. I think he'll be drafted. I think you should approach. I think Castillo, you should approach kind of like your approach to Jose Brrios this year. Sure. As kind of, you know, you know the ERA is going to be in the high threes. You know, the whip's going to be probably just a little shy of 1.2 in a good scenario. Maybe better as a points league play just as an innings eater type?

Yeah, just kind of a boring inningsyzer type. And look, it could go like the bottom could fall out. It kind of happened to Jose Barrios this year. But as deepest starting pitcher is, these kinds of pitchers populate every fantasy rotation. And I think that's where Castillo is, and I think it's fine. Incidentally, this big start he had against the Rockies might be the reason I win the podcast for the People League. between this Castillo start and Gavin Williams' 12 strikeout start yesterday. I got a commanding lead here in the final week, so we'll see.

Hoping for three, hoping to win three of five, three in the last five years in the Four of the People League. And didn't you used to hate that league? I used to joke that Heath made the, because Heath said it up, Heathcoming set it up years ago with these really unconventional rules. and I used to joke that he set it up just to troll me. The whole league, all the rules were just a big troll on me. That doesn't sound like Heath, though. Oh, yeah, I used to call him Master Troll too, because he loved to troll. Presumably still does.

I don't know. I don't interact with them much these days. Love Heath, but, you know, we just, our jobs don't intersect much anymore. And yeah, I used to struggle with it, but I, you know, I think I've gotten a handle on the Four of the People League. So what that tells me is if you win again, it's time to change the rules again. So that, you know, we could just kind of end this winning streak for Scott. What about Jackson Merrill, who is finishing strong as well? Hit his 16th home run.

Last 16 games, 318 batting average, seven homers. OPS over 1100. Looks like he's changed the approach too. It's a lot more fly balls hitting the ball extremely hard. Maybe he's just finally healthy. I don't know. You guys mentioned, well, Scott mentioned two names earlier. Jaron Duran, Waya Lankford.

Do you think Jackson Merrill will be drafted ahead of those guys? They kind of... Way ahead. Really? They feel kind of all similar to me. I don't know. Wait, wait.

Ask the question again? Do you think Jackson Meryl will be drafted ahead of Jaron and Wyatt Langford next season? And Christy said way ahead? I think so, yeah. Huh. I think they're all kind of similar. I would have thought he'd be drafted behind both.

Interesting. just because he's less of a steals threat by a lot I mean I think he's fast enough to steal bases but he hasn't shown that inclination and he hit the worst of the three this past year so he did hit well has OPS is why Langford has a lower OPS than 774 right they're probably similar I would imagine

yeah I the thing you have to keep in mind with Merrill he only played 112 games Langford 775 on the nose. Okay. But he only played 112 games, so that's obviously keeping the counting stats low. And the other thing you have to keep in mind

with regards to that is he missed time with a concussion. And I think he only missed a week. But he was having exactly the season we hoped he would before the concussion, if I'm remembering correctly. And then that was really when things took a dive. It was like mid-June. June. He had an 823 OPS. He was hitting 304. And after that is when things really took a dive. So I think that is a perfectly reasonable explanation. He is still the youngest of this group. He's 22. He's still had the best season of them at 2024. I think his 2024 was better than Jaron Duran's. No, Duran's was better. Duran's was better. I believe so. Okay. Either way, there's like a six-year age difference between those two guys. So I'll still take jack.

Jackson Merrill. Maybe I'm off on that one, but I still think Jackson Merrill should be drafted as a top 15 outfielder next season. That feels aggressive. I'm not saying he can't do it. I just don't know that there's going to be enough enthusiasm for him. You might not have to. What's a deep position. Yeah, you might not have to do it to get him in that top 15 or even the top 25. But I, you know, I did the top 25 easily. Yeah. Regarding the steals, by the way, he went from 16 last year to just won this year. He also went on the eye. twice this season once with a hamstring and once with an ankle sprain. So perhaps... There's a bone bruise too, right? Yeah. Oh, yeah, it was actually a bone bruise in his ankle. So one ankle injury, one hamstring injury. So I think perhaps that could have played into Jackson Merrill running less this season. Francisco Alvarez, one for two with a walk in his 11th home run.

Updated numbers since returning from the minors, 38 games, 286 batting average, eight homers, 21 runs, 21 RBI, a 968 OPS. Chris, I asked you this. I have, asked you about Alvarez history, so Scott, I'll get your thoughts here. Is this strong finish change your mind at all about how you feel about Francisco Alvarez? Sure. I have more hope for him. It's you're always, I feel like his whole career and he's, he's only going to be 24 next year, so he's still very young, but he's been around for a few years now, and you always have to kind of dig for the optimism with Francisco Alvarez. And, you know, he's had two big eye stints this year, so it's kind of the same thing.

I am done ranking catchers. I have him 15th. Exactly same spot. In Rodo, which doesn't sound very impressive, but 14th is Kyle Teal.

16th is J.T. Real Muto. So that's partly just the state of catcher right now. You don't have to gamble on Alvarez's upside, except in two catcher leagues. But I He's hit the ball as hard as basically any catcher this year.

I think Cal Raleigh's the one exception. I think. Maybe Bill Rice is up there too. This is one that I've seen very little discussion of. And I wonder if it's going to go under the radar in a way that like drops him to 18th at catcher. And if that's the case, I'll be all over Francisco Lendor or Francisco Alvarez.

So to drop him to 18th, he'd have to go behind, at least in my rankings. Real Muto, I mentioned, Austin Wells, and Dylan Dinkler. Where do you have Alhandro Kirk? You have him had a 19. Okay. Kirk is 19. Kirk is 14 and had to head points.

19 in Roto. Yeah, if Alhander Kirk could score runs at all, he'd be pretty good. Did you guys see the Blue Jays game ended today with Alejandro Kirk getting thrown out at first base on a line drive that he hit to right field? Oh, man. So it was a single and it was just the guy unloaded a cat into. first in the game and it wasn't like it wasn't close like he was out by a lot he is a second percentile sprint speed so that all that wasn't a close game yeah

you know josh nailer addison barger was on second base he was like you got to be kidding me man he was so upset what's interesting about catcher since we're in this conversation and i it probably sounds really deep based on me saying alphra's 15th rium muto 16 and on on Here's a list of players who won't be eligible at catcher to begin next year, who I couldn't rank at the position. Avon Herrera, Carter Jensen, Moises by Asteroz. All of them could very early on enter the catcher pool and make it that much deeper. Wilson Contreras also losing catcher eligibility, but obviously he's not going to get back.

Yeah. Last name here is Matt Shaw, who went three for four with a sock into shoe, his 13th home run, his 17th steel. He hasn't exactly been hitting well in September, but the second half overall has been pretty good. 267, 11 homers, six steals, 8.59 OPS for Matt Shaw. I can't see drafting him as my starting third baseman next year.

I don't know if you guys feel differently. He feels like more of a corner infielder, Matt Shaw next season. He's not far in the rankings, but I would certainly prefer to have a better third baseman than Matt Shaw's starting. But as a middle infielder, as a corner infielder, with the all-around skill set and projecting a little bit of growth, I think he's reasonably interesting. I will say, I'm getting a little Scott Kingery vibes here.

I think he's already been better than Kingery. Well, maybe Kingery had one good season. I think Kingery did have one, like, decent season, but it might have been deeper. No, his second season was 19 homers, 15 Steve. It is so unimpressive, the data set for Matt Shaw in a way that's reminiscent of Kingery. I mean, the main reason I'm holding out hope for him, because it's like, yeah, okay, he's a, I think I'm 16th at third base for next year, which sounds, okay, that's borderline. It's mostly because third base is so bad. Yeah.

Like, I've been really disappointed in Matt Shaw this year. The main reason I hold out hope isn't really anything he's done. but just the fact he was a first round pick just a couple years ago. So even coming into the draft, he was highly regarded. And he was one of these players who stormed through the minors in like less than a year and got to the majors very quickly. So maybe he's just, he just got, the Cubs just got out of over their skis with him,

promoting him this quickly and, you know, understandably based on the way he performed. But he's not, he hasn't grown into being a major league caliber player. yet and that's that's the hope i have for shaw which uh is kind of not it's not as concrete as i think most people would look for you said you have him 16th yes i think that's right i might go 18th i think you have vintos ahead of him i have vintos one spot behind shawl and a big reason for that is the brett betty factor sure um what about ass and barger i have barger one spot i have

Marger one spot ahead of Shaw. I do too. Arger Shaw Vientas. I will see, yeah. I have Jordan Lawler right behind him, and obviously Shaw has done more than Jordan Lawler, because he has done something at the Major League level. Yeah. I might rather just...

I have Luller a few spots behind. I might rather just roll the dice on Loller. I don't know if that's done or not. In a shallow league, yes. But I try not to rank for the shallowest context, because although... 12 team leagues are mainly what I have in mind, which I want to consider shallow anyway. I'd consider that middling, middle of the road, depth-wise.

But obviously, I only have one set of rankings league size-wise, and so they kind of have to be all things to all leagues. Yeah. With Matt Shaw, I do think there's a chance he could run more next season as well. He's 89th percentile sprint speed, and the Cubs are third as a team in stolen bases this season. So it seems like he at least has the speed and the tools. to run more next season side?

I think it could happen with Matt Shaw. Can you see any of these players being sleepers in 2026? They all had good to great starts across the board. Shane Baz, Stephen Kolek, Ryan Nelson. Although Nelson maybe should be even higher than this, but I feel like there just won't be a lot of fanfare for him. Luis Severino, Bryce Elder. So again, five names. Elder, Severino, Ryan Nelson,

Stephen Kolek, Shane Boz. Do you see any of those being? sleeper types for next season. The only one who I think might be good is Nelson. And we have a lot of history for him now that suggests he's good, as confounding as it may be. Nine strikeouts against the Dodgers, the latest example. And what was his fastball usage in this one? 66%.

It was over 60. It was 55 last time and he struck out only one. So that's what happens when you go less than 60 on the fastball, Ryan Nelson. Keep it over 60. Good things will happen. I do just want to give Shane Baas a little bit of a shout-out. I know the overall numbers are very bad. 487 ERA and a 133 whip.

He threw four no-hit innings in this game. I think you'll see some of this too. If you're still playing for a championship or you're competing for first in a Roto League, some pitchers, young pitchers, will be kind of limited their last start of the season. So keep that in mind. But if the Rays are indeed playing in Tropicana Field again next season,

which it sounds like they will, I almost want to just blindly give a boost to all the raised pitchers. So I could see that perhaps helping Shane Boss next year. And that's, I didn't hear you mention Shane Boss. So I do still have hope for Boz. I said just a minute ago that Nelson was the only one I have hope for. I have hope for Boss.

I think, I think he's shown even post-Tommy John enough hints of his potential. And, you know, I've, I've, we see it. over and over again. A pitcher tweaks a pitch or adds a pitch and suddenly he's transformed. And I think that could happen for Boz. I don't know exactly what it is. That's really not my job to figure out.

But I think there is enough potential there that if he's dominating next spring and it's like, hey, look at this great new pitch he learned wherever, it wouldn't surprise me if Boss was suddenly a hot ticket again. All right, let's wrap up with some leftovers here. We had ourselves

a good old-fashioned pitcher's duel out in Cincinnati. Paul Skeens up against Hunter Green, skein's six shutout innings with seven strikeouts, 18 whiffs on 85 pitches. He ends his season with a 197 ERA. That is the lowest ERA with at least 180 innings pitched since DeGrom posted a 170 back in 2018. And of course the Pirates blew his win.

His season ends with a 10-10 record, despite a sub two ERA, which is just hilarious. And Hunter Green on the other side, six innings, two runs, seven strikeouts, had 15 whiffs on 96 pitches, has a quality start in four of his last five, and his last two starts have been especially good. Anything to add on Hunter Green or Paul Skeen's? I'm really struggling with Hunter Green.

In my very first run-through, I had him 10th. That sounds right. It also sounds really dumb. He's been on the aisle six times in four major league seasons. He's been a professional for nine seasons. He has thrown more than 133 innings one time. He has maxed out at 150.1, I believe. He didn't get to 100 this season, if I'm remembering correctly.

But I think if you told me everybody was going to throw the same number of innings next season, he'd be the SP4. Yeah. I mean, that is kind of just the state of pitching in 2025, where, you know, getting to 150 is pretty good. Sure, but we have so many obvious risk factors with Hunter Green, though. And nobody else in this group has maxed out at 150. Well, where do you have Jacob de Grom? Because I feel like the risk is...

11. Yeah. I think Hunter Green's a better pitcher, right? They should probably be around each other. Well, and I would say the risk factor, I mean, if anything, DeGrom has the added risk factor of being 37 or whatever it is. He's got a brand new UCL, though. And he's got a 23-year-old's UCL. I don't know who it was, but it's also.

Doesn't it come from his own thigh? I don't know. I have no idea. It's also a huge. There are multiple ways they can do it. A huge jump in innings, right? Like how do we factor that in for DeGrom? He threw, you know, 10 innings last year, and now he's all the way up to like 170-something.

So I'm coming more and more around to the Nick Pollack way of thinking with workload expectations to just he goes all the way to say don't completely ignore them. Just assess pitchers on ability and you can't predict the innings so don't even try. I don't go that far. But in terms of what I care about when assessing pitchers, that ranks pretty low for me. I just want them to be, I just want to trust that they're going to be awesome when they are on the map. And look, Garrett Crochet before this season, I mean, I guess he got to 130 or 140 innings last year, but it was, you know, 90 real innings and then a bunch of fake innings. Like, he had never been a full-time starter for more than three months in a row, and he's going to end up, I think he's one of two pitchers above 200 innings. Correct.

Him and Logan Webb. Yep. So it's not as easy. It's not, it's not true to say we can't predict innings. We're not nearly as good as we like to think we are collectively, the royal week. Obviously, I am. But, yeah.

You know, he pitched here on Wednesday, so I feel like it's appropriate to bring this up. Hunter Brown is actually the one that concerns me more than Hunter Green. because, okay, he wasn't good here at the athletics on Wednesday, four and runs in five innings. But that he's, he's had a great second half overall in that, even with this start, 243 ERA for Hunter Brown in the second half. And so there's been no reason to talk about any concerns I might have for him. I was kind of waiting for a start like this

because he just wasn't looking nearly as dominant to me in the second half and to, you know, put some numbers on that. than a strikeout per inning in the second half for Hunter Brown, 62% strike rate, 10% swinging strike rate. Like, if I don't know ERA and you're just reciting those numbers to me, like that doesn't sound like a very good pitcher. And yet I'm sure we're going to rank Hunter Brown like an ace. I think I'll have him behind Hunter Green.

I think I'll have him toward the bottom of the aices. Because I'm just not totally sold on him being a, a true ace. Not that he's not good, just I'm not sure he deserves to rank quite that high. The one thing I would say is this is now two years in a row of Hunter Brown being really, really good at limiting quality of contact. Yeah.

It was a 334 expected Wobon contact in 2024, 358. This season, league averages 369. I would say multiple seasons in a row of being better than average at that is probably a sign that there's some skill there. Yeah, no, there is. like I said, like he's good. I'm just saying, I don't trust that as much.

Sure. No, I think that's, but, but, well, but it's also 25% strikeout rate last year, and that was with the really poor start, 29% this year. He's my SP8 right now.

So he is ahead of Hunter Green. But we've said it a lot. I think SP4 through probably 12, 15 maybe is a jumble. You could go in all kinds of different directions there. Other stud pitchers being studs here on Wednesday, Garrett Crochet was awesome again at the Blue Jays eight shutout innings with six

strikeouts. He leads MLB with 205 in the third innings, but I think Logan Webb is going to make another start this weekend, so probably going to surpass Garrett Crochet. Max Fried, another great start against the, the White Sox, seven innings one run, seven strikeouts. He leads all of baseball with 19 wins. Blake Snell, strong start at the debacks, six innings, one run with five strikeouts.

Last three starts, he has allowed exactly one run over 19 innings with 28 strikeouts. And Jacob de Grom puts the finishing touches on a great bounce back season. Five innings, one run, eight strikeouts here, had 16 whiffs on 74 pitches. and finishes with a 297 ERA 0.92 whip was kind of struggling before this one. He had a 474 ERA in his previous nine starts. You know, perhaps that was just tiring out, the workload catching up to him type thing.

But anything else to add on DeGrom, Snell, Freed, and Crochet? Is Freed going to be third in A.L. Sayon voting behind scuba and crochet? Him or Hunter Brown? Yeah, I think it's between those two. Brown's down to a 230 ERA, so. I think Brown probably gets the edge.

But Freed's had a remarkable season, and it's worth keeping in mind that the Yankees lost Garrett Cole right before opening day. They had already signed Max Fried, obviously, but he goes out, gives them this season with a career high innings. Just a tremendous performance by Max Feed. Really, really impressive stuff.

Blake Snell is at the top of the list of pitchers that I have no idea what to do with for 2026. I will say I'm much more likely to draft him this season because I'm going to guess just to guess that we're not going to draft Blake Snell as a top 10 SP like we did last year. He's kind of pitched like it though since coming back. That's the thing he almost always does

but he's only thrown 130 innings twice in 10 major league seasons now and this will be, is he going to hit 60? He is, he just got over 60. Just got to 60. So where are you slotting him since you kind of have your... Your rankings are more light. The rankings you're putting out are kind of more top of mind. First draft.

Yeah. Okay. That's very much a first draft. Okay. 21, but I... 21. Okay. I just kind of put him Otani and Glass now right in a row. As they're awesome.

I have no idea what kind of workload to expect from them, but they're going to be awesome when they're on the mound. Yeah. I might be a little higher on Snell than that, but it's... the way you've talked about snow made me wonder if you were going to have them like in your top 30 even but yeah yeah i mean he's awesome yeah you just got to know going in yeah that you're probably not going to get 150 innings from him that's happened twice in 10 years again um it is funny it's two seasons of 180 innings nothing above 130 uh and the two seasons he got to 180 he's won the sayo yeah so I have no idea what to do with Blake Snow.

A couple of hitting leftovers here. James Wood is waking up a bit. Two for four with a double dong here, has three home runs over his last two games, multiple hits in each of those. Brandon Lau hit his 31st homer. He has three home runs in his past six games. Tyler Stevenson hit a clutch home run in the ninth inning of that one.

Four for five with his 13th homer. Shea Langelliers had a huge game, four for four with his 31st home run. And Scotty, it's time to pay him. Yeah. Taylor Ward hit his 36th home run. So honestly, what are you thinking here, Frank? Cookie Crisp, a little honeynut O's, honeynut Cheerios, oops, all berries, seasonal, maybe, count Chocula. Peter Pan, there's no Peter Pan.

Yeah, those are all great options. Peanut Butter, Captain Crunch. All great options. Oh, Reese's puffs. You know what's really good too, Oreo O's? They're just so good, man. Something about the Oreos with the milk? You never had those.

I remember the Cinebon cereal. What is that? I do not remember the Cineabon cereal. I never had it. Good. I mean, you can't go wrong with Cine. I'm basically down to eating three cereals. I don't eat cereal for breakfast anymore.

It's dessert. Yeah. So I'm basically down to just eating cinnamon toast crunch, Cocoa Krispies, and frosted miniweets, believe it or not. It's been a big frosted meat. Cocoa Krispies are so good. They are. They are.

And what's weird is like as I get older, those Cocoa Krispies was, you know, when I was a kid, well, you did all a variety of cereals every morning, Cocoa Krispies was one my dad would buy for himself and hide away in the pantry and pull it out and snack on it at night. And I always thought it was like, what's the big deal? Cocoa Krispies. As I get older, I'm finding that all those like childhood foods that my dad liked as an adult are the same ones I am choosing to like an adult and it's very strange. Yeah.

It's a very strange tendency that is totally not conscious. It's just me noticing, oh, this is something my dad would do too. Weird. I haven't decided yet. I don't know. I might make a Twitter poll and I got to come up with my four best options that I could possibly think of, but. Go for something rare.

Go for something that they don't always make. You know. Maybe it's important. It's like artisanal seasonal series. Something seasonal, right? Like, yeah, some kind of rare count chocular or something like that. We'll see what we got. I did want to mention Jesus Lazzardo as well, who was filthy against the Marlins.

Seven innings, one unearned run with 10 strikeouts here. Has gone seven plus innings in three straight. Chris, we were talking beforehand. He's going to finish with the fifth best FIP among qualified starting pitchers this season. And probably top 10 in XERA, too. Oof. I'm certainly not going to rank Jesus Lazzardo that high. But he, I believe, is a top 30 pitcher for me.

Yeah, I had him at 30, and that might be too low. I feel like he should be top 24. I also feel about Lazzardo the same way you feel about Peralta and Dylan Cease is buy when the cost is down, sell when the cost is high. I don't think the cost is going to get that high this year. But I think the one time that we had to pay up for Lazzardo where he was, I don't know, but top 20-ish starting pitcher, he failed miserably. He was a complete disaster.

Where do you have Lazardo slotted initially? He's 30th. Yeah, it feels like it should be higher. Okay. I feel like he should be right around. He should be around Glass Now and Snow. And you know, you remove those two starts. Oh, no, no.

No, I did the math, actually. If you remove the two starts where he was tipping his pitch, he gave up 20 earned runs in five and two-thirds innings, I think. It's a 303. I think I am not going to be the only one citing that stat this offseason. All right. Call to the bullpen for the nationals, Jose Ferrer. Got the ninth inning with a two-run lead.

He gave up a run on two hits, but picked up his 10th save. For the Brewers, Abner Arebe got the ninth with a two-run lead. He struck out two for his sixth save. For the pirates, Dennis Santana got the ninth with a one-run lead. He allowed a game-time homer to Tyler Stevenson, but the pirates would still wind up winning that game in extra innings. For the Rangers, Phil Maeton got the... Nope, Phil Maiton got the ninth.

It was Sean Armstrong pitched the eighth inning of that one. Phil Maenton got the ninth, and he picked up his fifth save. For the Angels, Kenley Jansen picked up his 28th save. And for the Giants, Ryan Walker was unavailable. So Tristan Beck got the ninth and picked up his second save of the season. To stream or not to stream on Thursday, we have Braxton Ashcraft in... What is likely a short start at the Reds. Tyler Malley against the Twins.

J.T. Ginn against the Astros. Jansen Junk at the Phillies. Walker Bueller against the Marlins. Parker Messick against the Tigers. Messick's the only one I like. Michael Lorenzen at the Angels. Michael Lorenzen could have a good start. He's on like a decent run here.

But his last start was good. I don't want to trust it. Or maybe two starts to go. Parker Messick is the only one I would say I like. If you need a second one, I'm willing to lend my voice to Tyler Malley against the twins. Yeah, I said the same thing yesterday, so I think he's fine.

And then on Friday, there are so many TBDs around baseball right now because we just don't know what managers want to do. It's the final series of the season, so things could still change. But the names that I do have are not great. Miles and Michaelis at the Cubs, Cade Cavali against the White Sox, Slate Cicconi against the Rangers, Brandon Sprout at the Marlins, Joey Wentz against the Pirates. Actually, not terrible.

I don't mind Sprote. I think Sprote and Cavali are okay. Yeah, I think Cavali's okay. It's okay. Cicconi's been pitching well. He gets that Skeleton Rangers lineup. It could be all right. They're both dangerous.

Sprote and Cavali. Like if you're worried about WIP, don't start. But if you need that volume, they're okay. We're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a 5-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again tomorrow.

Bye-bye. Paramount Podcasts.