Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - The Top Young Pitcher In Baseball Is On The Mound Tonight

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Cardinals and Pirates see each other for the first time this season. And the phenom Paul Skeens is set to take the bump in game one. We'll talk about him. Plus, why the Cardinals have failed to live up to expectations yet again. This is a special Locked on Cardinals, Locked on Pirates crossover. You are Locked on Cardinals. Your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:32 Hey there, Cardinals fans. I'm Jaddy Haffron and I'm a national radio. sports anchor born and raised in the Lou and a Lifetime Cardinals. And I'm your host for Locked on Cardinals. Part of the Locked on podcast network covering your team every day. You can follow me on Twitter X at JD Sports Radio. You can follow the podcast at L.O. underscore Cardinals. Representing the Jolly Roger is Locked on Pirates host, Ethan Smith,

Starting point is 00:00:53 who you can find him on Twitter X at MVP underscore Ethan. We want to thank those of you who make Locked on Cardinals and Locked on Pirates, your first listen every day. We're free and available wherever you get your podcast. and you can also find us on YouTube. Make sure you like, subscribe, and comment so you can interact with us and hit that notification button so you know when new episodes are posted. This episode being brought to you by prize picks, the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Got a prizedpix.com slash locked on MLB.

Starting point is 00:01:21 Use the code all lowercase, locked on MLB for a first deposit match up to $100. All right, Ethan, great to see you as always, buddy. How is life in the world where you get to watch Paul Skeens pitch? every fifth day. Is it as good as it looks, man? Because it looks like it's a lot of fun. It is. And it's very interesting to have people approach me at Pirates Games, approach me in comments sections and say, I watched the 1979 World Series team. I watch this team in the 90s and I've never seen somebody like Paul Skeens. So me, obviously, I've never seen anybody like Paul Skeen's pitch on this team. You've had the Garrett Coles. You've had the Talions.

Starting point is 00:02:01 You've had the Musgroves. Never really had. had somebody like this. So it is a pretty good time. And as my listeners always love to tell me, I have somewhat of a skein stash going right now and have had it for a while since he debuted. It was a rule that I made with myself, guys. I'd said that when he came up, I would keep it. And here we are. Now, knowing you for a couple of years now, you've had facial hair and mustaches before, well before the world even really knew about Paul Skeen. So I would just like to point that out. Ethan had it first before Paul. So Paul's actually kind of copying off of Ethan.

Starting point is 00:02:37 Yeah, well, kind of copy it off of Pittsburgh legend Neil Walker, too, if you go back to some of those old Cardinals Pirates games in 2013 when Neil Walker, who was sporting the stash. And he's kind of trying to grow it back in the booth lately too, JD. It's getting really interesting. I saw you put Paul SkeensMedia on the side. I almost like to joke and call it Mustache Mania with some of the games that I've been to for Paul Skeens pitching so far.

Starting point is 00:02:59 Now that I know we want to get into some of the baseball stuff, but there are some solid mustaches over on the Cardinals side too. It has certainly made a comeback guys like Ryan Fernandez. Miles Michaelis has had a great stash since he's been a Cardinal. So nothing new as far as the mustache mania for either one of our teams. But tell me more about the impact that Paul Skeens is having on this team because it's not like the Pirates are playing bad baseball when they brought Skeins up almost a month ago to the day, right, that Paul Skeens became a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Starting point is 00:03:34 We knew it was inevitable that he was going to make it because he was dominating in AAA. And since that time, how has the Pirates demeanor as a team changed when you have somebody as impactful as a Paul Skeens joining your roster? Well, when you look at a guy like Paul Skeens, I've even said this on my show plenty of times, JD, that he's the kind of guy that kind of strikes urgency. into a team. And I'm not talking about just a team like Pittsburgh or just a team like, you know, the Royals, with Bobby Witt or anything like that. If Paul Skeen's was on any MLB roster right now, he would likely be in that rotation. That's how good he is. That's how much aura is around him. That's how well regarded he's been since he was drafted a year ago out of LSU. And Michael McHenry,

Starting point is 00:04:25 who I have a pleasure of working alongside with Johnstown Millrats here in Johnstown, says it all the time on the broadcast. This kid was pitching college baseball a year ago. He was in the college world series a year ago, and now he comes up, and I mean, he's just been great. And you look at what the pirates have done, especially recently. They've won two series in a row now against two very good teams in the LA Dodgers and the Minnesota Twins. They play the Toronto Blue Jays pretty well,

Starting point is 00:04:53 even though they lost two out of three there. They split with Detroit. They beat the Atlanta Braves in a series. They manage a pretty decent series against San Francisco. They defeat the Cubs at Wrigley. They lose two or three to Milwaukee and they lose two or three to Chicago. That's what's happened since he's been here. But now you're starting to see a lot more of the seeds come along with what Paul Skeins is.

Starting point is 00:05:16 And I think it's so funny, too, because when Paul Skeins came up, he kind of stole all the spotlight from everybody. But Jared Jones has been no slouch either. He's been arguably a rookie of the year candidate. He slowed down a little bit as of late, but that's okay. It's a rookie thing. You're going to have those ups and downs.

Starting point is 00:05:34 Meanwhile, Mitch Keller had a sub two ERA in the month of May and might be an All-Star again this year. So you're kind of planning the seeds of having a rotation that if it can find a way to just sneak into one of those wild card series, somehow, which we'll get to this, I'm sure, later in the NL Central Wildcard race thing. That's a rotation that I don't think anybody wants to face in that top three with Jones, Skeens, and Keller. And it also offers a question in that scenario, who do you go into one with? I mean, it's kind of hard to say you don't go into it with Paul Skeens, but he's done phenomenal.

Starting point is 00:06:15 He's had his ups and downs. His last start was okay for Paul Skeen, standards. I was going to say, wait, but for him, sure. But for his standards of what we've seen so far. So interesting to see what he does to the month day today against the St. Louis Cardinals. He debuted on May 11th against Chicago. I was there. And watching a guy like that pitch, JD, is nuts.

Starting point is 00:06:41 I mean, he's 6'6, 220, 230 pounds. He warms up throwing a football about a good 30, 40 yards to where people are saying, maybe he's the future quarterback of the Pittsburgh's Dior's. It's a good thing for this team because the pirates aren't going to spend money to go get a guy like this in free agency. And they're not going to go trade all of their assets for a guy like this in free agency. So last year, what everybody was saying, go take Dylan Cruz or Wyatt Lankford,

Starting point is 00:07:12 I said you take the generational pitcher and you run with it. And right now you have a pretty lethal tree. with Skeens, Jones, and Keller. And that could put them in a pretty good spot come August or September. Yeah. And when it comes to the draft, you know, usually the Cardinals are at the back end normally. They'll be up near the front this year, which is kind of exciting as a Cardinals fan because they'll have a chance to finally pick one of the top echelon prospects,

Starting point is 00:07:41 not that they haven't done bad. And they have done bad in the recent drafts or anything. You know, Jordan Walker was a late pick. And he seems like he should be good one day. But yeah, I agree with you. Like, why wouldn't you take the generational talent pitcher and, you know, you can find hitters. That seems to be an easy thing to do. Go look at what people are paying for pitchers off the market these days for the possibility that they might be a number one for a few years to come.

Starting point is 00:08:07 Like, it's pretty bonkers. So I agree completely with the way that the Pittsburgh Pirates went about things and took schemes. And you're seeing the fruits of that right now because the world is. was infatuated with them, the major league baseball world, I should say, infatuated with what's going on with Paul Skeens. And everything we've heard about him too, not only is he an amazing ball player, but an incredible guy off the field as well,

Starting point is 00:08:32 which makes it even that better a pick overall as well. So looking forward to seeing him tonight. I hate that he's throwing against the Cardinals. And it could get ugly. It could get ugly because the Cardinals like to swing and miss a lot. So that's something we'll have to talk about a little bit later. But up next, I want to get. your perspective on the Cardinals because every day I'm on here talking about what I think's wrong

Starting point is 00:08:56 with the team, what I think is good about the team, because it's not all negative. It's not like they're bottom of the league anymore, but they're not living up to expectations for Cardinal fans. And I want to get your perspective and your thoughts on why you think this team isn't where some people thought they'd be. We're going to do that next on this Locked on Cardinals and Locked on Pirates crossover. Spring is sprung and that means spring cleaning, whether that means stocking up on cleaning supplies or swapping out your winter clothes for new spring clothes. Make sure you're using IBOTA and get real cash back with every purchase.

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Starting point is 00:12:05 Use the code locked on MLB for a first deposit match up to $100. Pick more, pick less. It's that easy with prize picks. Are you watching Fox Sports or ESPN on your TV? day have to turn down the volume with all the shouting going on on the TV. Well, then make the switch to locked on sports. Four-Sports streaming channel program for you every day to bring you. The biggest stories without all the screaming. Locked-on sports today brings you can't-miss analysis. You get opinions. You get news. And it's streaming 24-7. So whatever your schedule is, you can catch it on YouTube or

Starting point is 00:12:37 the free Amazon fire TV channels app. Part of the Locktown Podcast Network, your team every day. Now, the game is at Bush Stadium. And remember, you can catch you every pitch of the Cardinals' hometown broadcast with Sirius XM. Just download the SXM app and search the word Cardinals. J.D.D. Hafer from Locked on Cardinals here. Ethan Smith from Locked on Pirates. Day in and day out, Ethan, the everydayers know what I've seen as flaws and positives for this Cardinals team, but rarely do the other hosts ever get a chance to, like, tear into the Cardinals? With you being a division rival and somebody that I know and trust follows every single team in this league, I want you to give your thoughts on why.

Starting point is 00:13:17 You think the Cardinals had a 91 loss season last year and why they continue to hover around the 500 mark and just below it, usually this season. From your perspective, what's going on with the Cardinals from your area? Well, from last year, we kind of all know what the issue was. It was the starting pitching. I mean, the Cardinals starting pitching last year was abysmal. Nobody in St. Louis will try to disagree with that whatsoever. And I remember even last year I was talking around the middle part of the season and you were telling me the offense was there. The pitching was just letting them down day in and day out.

Starting point is 00:13:56 And it wasn't just starting pitching either. It was the bullpen. It was just everything was going wrong. They go out and fix it this year, quote unquote, getting a lot of different guys to go fill in some spots in there. As I mentioned to you before we started, you guys have a lot of young guys that are almost there just not ready yet. And you have Lance Lynn, you have Michaelis, you have Gibson, you have Sunny Gray. And you look at that and you say it's not horrible, right? But it's also not like elite.

Starting point is 00:14:26 You're not getting the elite pitching that you would usually get from the likes of Adam Wayne Wright and a lot of those guys of Cardinals passed. Where I found an issue, like, and I was looking at all this yesterday and I have it up just so I don't get anything wrong, is last year the offense was great. for this team. It was a very lethal offense. It was an offense that you did not want to face as an opposing starter until like later in a year when they noticed they were out of it and things started to change. But on your top two guys in Paul Goldsmith and Nolan Aronado, the guys that you would expect to be leading the charge for this team, have a 656 OPS for Goldie and a 680 OPS for Aronado. You start to get a little worried because you know the age is becoming a factor.

Starting point is 00:15:12 You know, this is kind of where your window is if you're a Cardinals fan or Cardinals management. When you have those guys here, that's kind of your window. That's the window that you have. That's the window they created when they fleece the Colorado Rockies to get Nolan Aronado in one of the worst trades in MLB history for the Colorado Rockies. And you would think that's just doomsday for the Cardinals. But then you look at the likes of Brendan Donovan. Not playing terrible.

Starting point is 00:15:40 241 average, 683 OPS. That's a little bit more respectful for a guy like Brendan Donovan because you kind of expect that from him. You don't want Aeronado having similar stats to a guy like Brendan Donovan on this team. That's no offense to Donovan at all. You just don't want Aeronado to have that. It's the truth. Yeah. And then you look at some of these guys that you're expecting to be in St. Louis for what I would expect quite a while.

Starting point is 00:16:08 And that's why I say it's not Doomsday because you look at Nolan Gorman, 779 OPS that plays everywhere. Alec Burleson, 754 OPS 1.1.1 war. Mason Wynn, who I actually am quite a fan of, quite honestly, has the best war on the team as far as position players are concerned, a 2.2. He has a 306 average with a 790 OPS. He's looked very good.

Starting point is 00:16:34 Really what I think right now is hurting St. Louis, and yes, I know you guys have played a lot better as of late, was the loss of Wilson Contreras. Wilson Contreras was a guy offensively that was tearing it up for this team in the early part of the year, has been on the injured list due to that elbow injury that looked like it really hurt. I mean, it really did.

Starting point is 00:16:57 And outside of that, I mean, yeah, you have Lars Neutbar who's producing a little bit, 742 OPS. He's done some good things. But I mean, really outside of that, you're not getting anything. So I think if Goldsmith and Aronado can elevate their play just a little bit, and that pitching staff can just be, I mean, for you probably average, I think would be fine enough. And Sunny Gray could just be sunny gray and stay healthy. Then I think the Cardinals will be fine.

Starting point is 00:17:27 I think that's okay to say. But really, I think it's make or break on those two guys at the top in Goldie and Aronado. And now I'll flip the switch a little bit. I always talk about the pirates all the time, and people hear me talk about positivity with this team. From the outside view of the pirates, what are the feelings right now on why we're in the spot we're in and can't seem to finish a sweep to save our lives? Well, I mean, obviously one thing that always hurts Pittsburgh is payroll. You know, they'll never, I shouldn't say never, because anything could happen at some point in the future.

Starting point is 00:18:03 but they've never been a team that will go out there and pay the extra bucks it takes to make an impact in free agency trade deadline i i don't think you guys are scared to make moves if it if it's something that'll push you over the end it's like wow this is an opportunity right here but at the same time seeing where the cardinals are with a lot of veteran guys that are starting to trail off in production i i'm more jealous of what the the pirates have going you know you've still got some vets like Brian Reynolds. You've got Andrew McCutcheon who's still there. But when you look at guys like an O'Neill Cruz and you've got Key Brian Hayes,

Starting point is 00:18:42 what he's healthy, you know, I like seeing the youth come up, your pitching staff, you've got like you mentioned earlier with Mitch Keller and with Skeens and with Jones. Like those three pitchers right there, I think outside of Sunny Gray would be the best pitchers on the Cardinals pitching staff. And they just don't have that. The Cardinals don't. And it's something that I'm jealous.

Starting point is 00:19:03 of when it comes to what the pirates are building. And it's always been that same old thing where they get it to the situation where the pirates are ready to compete and then somebody who's a big piece of the puzzle becomes a free agent. They can't keep them and they got to ship them away. And then it all starts all over again. It doesn't appear that you're in that situation right now because a lot of these guys you have under control for the next few years. And right now, you're not one of those bottom tier teams.

Starting point is 00:19:30 You know, you're actually right there in the wild card that, third wild card spots, really helping teams like the pirates and the Cardinals and the Cubs and the Reds is helping all of us out right now, having that available. So it gives the pirates a little more hope. And like you said, the way you guys have been playing since Skeens has come up. It's rejuvenated a team, has pushed them to another level, probably, with the energy and the attention that's going on with them. And, you know, sky's kind of the limit for you guys. You just need to stay the course, I think. And if you can make it. make a small move at the deadline that brings in a veteran bat, somebody that's not going to

Starting point is 00:20:09 cost you any of your top prospects, but somebody that can be the middle of the order guy, I think you guys have a great chance at becoming somebody that can make an impact when we get down to the end of August and into September. So I see good things for the pirates. And I like what you guys are building there so far. And it doesn't hurt that some of these top picks. I mean, you haven't even had Henry Davis make an impact yet. That's somebody. that they're still waiting on to see what he's going to be at some point, another former number one overall pick. So we'll see how that goes and it's going to fall off.

Starting point is 00:20:42 Or does he think that the Cardinals are going to be somebody that soars? We're going to get into more of that and what we think is going to happen with this division and with the Wildcarts spot. We'll get more into that with Ethan Smith from Locked on Pirates next. On this Locked on Cardinals, Locked on Pirates crossover. Summertime means baseball, the NBA finals and more. you can bet it all on Fandall. Right now, new customers get $200 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet.

Starting point is 00:21:13 That's $200. You can use to bet everything from the finals MVP to who's going to hit one out of the park. Again, we keep coming back to it, Ethan, but Paul Skeen's on the bump tonight. And you can bet on a ton of stuff just about him at Fandall. They've got actually a Paul Skeen's pitching special category for this game. You can bet on the velocity of his first. pitch. What does he usually start off with? Ethan? Is he usually come heat? Yeah, it's usually fastball. All right. So you can bet whether it's going to be between 99 and 100, 101 or over. Like,

Starting point is 00:21:49 that's a bet that you can make on Fandall right now. They've got categories where like, is he going to have a no hitter through five innings? Will he go three up, three down in the first, six up, six down and so forth? Who's hitting a home runoff Miles Michaelis tonight because it's probably going to happen? He likes to give him up. Is it going to be? O'Neill Cruz. Who's it going to be? That's who I bet on. I bet on him. He hits bombs. So Cardinal's side of things, total run scored, who's going to get their first hit? There's something for everybody when it comes to Fandall. So visit fandle.com slash locked on and add a big win to your summer bucket list. Fandle, America's number one sports book. Lockdown has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube.

Starting point is 00:22:36 but now it's also available on Amazon Fire TV and the Free Fire TV channels app. Locked on Sports Today is here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local experts of Locked-on, plus our national shows covering every league. You could find Locked-on Sports Today, now available on the Free Fire TV channels app.

Starting point is 00:22:53 Ethan Smith from Locked-on Pirates, J.D. Hafer here from Lockedon Cardinals. So the Inno Central, very, very tight, Ethan, behind the Milwaukee Brewers, who got off to this great start and continue to play some pretty good baseball, despite losing those big names, trading away Corbyn Burns, losing Brandon Woodruff. They haven't had Devin Williams, you know, Yelich has hurt all the time.

Starting point is 00:23:13 And they just keep going. No big deal. The Brewers keep powering through. The four teams below them, Cubs, Reds, Cardinals, pirates, we're all either six or seven games back right now. We're all clumped together just under 500. And we're all right there for the NL wild card spot too. So what do you make of these teams so far this season in our division? Like we've talked about the Cardinals and the pirates.

Starting point is 00:23:40 What do you make of the Cubs and the Reds? And do you see a certain team in this division out of those four pulling away and joining the Brewers who are likely to make the playoffs? Or who is the other one that you think will probably fall off and you just don't you're not seeing enough out of them to trust them. So it's interesting because my answer a week and a half ago would have been Cincinnati. Now Cincinnati is 8 and 2 in their last 10 games. You look at Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Chicago over their last 10. Pittsburgh, 6 and 4, Chicago and St. Louis, 4 and 6. All these teams, it's interesting that you ask this because I have been wanting to say this.

Starting point is 00:24:18 I don't really see a team out of these four really falling off or really raising up too high. Now, I could see a team like Chicago take off a little bit. They were up there with Milwaukee for a while, have not had a great string of things lately, but they do have talent on that roster that can come back. I also just don't know if Milwaukee is going to continue to play this good throughout the entire year. I mean, they have been a revelation, really, for the NL Central because you trade Corbyn Burns, you lose the best manager in the division in Craig Council to a division rival in the Chicago Cubs. And I remember on the NL Central Series preview show that we did,

Starting point is 00:25:01 I don't think anybody really picked the Brewers to do much of anything. And now here they are. It helps that William Contreras, another Contreras mentioned on this show, is hitting the cover off the ball right now. But if I had to pick one team that would fall off of that group of four, it would probably have to be Cincinnati just because the injury bug has absolutely, killed them. Their starting pitching has been pretty solid for the most part, but their offense worries me. And I would even say the pirates. I mean, if the offense slides back into that

Starting point is 00:25:38 funk that we were in in late April, early May and can't come back out of it again, pitching's only going to get you so far. I mean, it's great to have it, trust me, but it's only going to get you so far. And you also have to be worried about an injury between one of those three because if Keller, Skeens or Jones knock on wood, get injured at any point, this starting rotation goes from a massive strength to a massive weakness in the snap of a finger. So not to talk my own team down, but I mean, I would say it's either one of those bottom three right now.

Starting point is 00:26:12 Cincinnati, St. Louis, or Pittsburgh could easily fall out of it. But what the way the wild card looks? I mean, JD, the Mets, the Mets who are a complete dumpster fire right now, are 28 and 36 and they're three and a half games out of the final wild card. Yeah. It's going to be something for a while. I mean, Colorado at 20 games under 500 is nine and a half out. It could take a week where they win every game that week and they're five games out.

Starting point is 00:26:41 I mean, that's just the state of it right now. It's very early. A lot of these teams are in it. It's going to make the trade deadline really interesting because there's going to be teams that say, well, we're only three and a half out. We can make one move and change all this. this. And even in the American League, it's the same way. I mean, Houston at seven games under 500 is is only five games out of the wild card right now. So it's going to be pretty hard to fall completely

Starting point is 00:27:05 out of it if you're one of these NL Central teams. And remember everybody saying this was supposed to be the worst division in the National League. And right now, every year it feels that way, don't they? And then you'll see three teams from the Central inside. And even the AL Central right now has been a very strong division. And this is a division that, yeah, only the brewers are above 500. A lot of that's going to start to change when these teams start playing each other, because I don't think a lot of people realize pirates haven't played Cincinnati yet either. This is the first time we're seeing St. Louis. So you're starting to see a lot of these first time matchups in the NL Central come up. It's going to shake some things around a little bit

Starting point is 00:27:43 in this series, especially will be one that shakes things around no matter what, because somebody has to win it because it's a three-game series. Now, with the pirates, like, say, you guys continue to float around where we are right now and you're you're right there in the hunt. Who do you think the pirates will be willing to deal away to bring in that impact bad? I was talking about earlier. Is there somebody you think they might be willing to part with in their system of prospects that you're like, I hate to lose him, but at the same time, you got to go for it at some point. I mean, you have all these starters that you keep talking about like Salomeadow, Thomas Harrington,

Starting point is 00:28:21 and Zander Muth. Like a lot of these guys that we still lot over that we can see as part of this rotation that's already really good. And you've floated around a little bit about the Luis Robert thing. He's a affordable contract. He's a guy the pirates could potentially trade for. At that point, you're talking about Termar Johnson and Solomedao as a starting point. I do think their price is going to come down.

Starting point is 00:28:46 It really just depends on the caliber of player you're getting. like if you're getting Luis Robert Jr., you're going to have to get some things up. You're just going to have to. But if you're talking more of like that, like you mentioned earlier, like that mid-level bat that could help in the middle of the lineup, probably give it away like some mid-level prospects, but this is a very good farm system. So sometimes those mid-level prospects in our farm system

Starting point is 00:29:11 could be a top five prospect in another team system. So it's very interesting. They have the horses to make moves like that. It's just all about what to the, they feel like they need and where can they find it? I think that's going to be the second part being the more important part is where can they find it this year with all these teams and contention. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:29:31 And that's a thing too. It's like a lot of teams are going to be like, well, we're giving up because that's going to upset your fan base when you're only two or three games out. But sometimes you just got to realize what you are and whether or not this is, it's worth sticking around in it, which is something that the Cardinals may be at a point this year where if they're still where they are, I mean, is adding another pitch or another bat really going to make that much of a difference for the Cardinals where that's going to push them into World Series contention? Because if it's not, then you might want to think about unloading some people.

Starting point is 00:30:04 I mean, there's been plenty of talk over the end of last year and this year. And they've got no trade clauses, but whether or not they should move on from Goldian Aronado and just start thinking about the future because the last year and a half has not been what they wanted. And if you're not going to win with them, why not move on from it? And it's tough to make those decisions because you like these guys. And you think, you know, Paul Goldschmidt's been with the team quite a long time now. And you're at the end of his contract. And it's like the sentimental side that gets to us in St. Louis where no, he's our guy.

Starting point is 00:30:37 We're not giving him up. But sometimes you got to make business moves. Well, and I think it's interesting too because you know how a lot of teams try to replicate the Tampa Bay Ray's model of running their team. and it hardly ever works for anybody. I think it's interesting that you brought up that a team being two and a half, three games out giving up. It's hard for them to say that when a team like Arizona last year and Philly,

Starting point is 00:31:02 the year before, pretty much snuck into the playoffs at the end of it, and ended up playing for the World Series. It's hard for a team, even like the Pirates right now, to say, yeah, we're a game out of the wild card. But if we get there, I think that's what all these teams are going to start saying. And especially for a team like the Pirates, as I mentioned earlier with that rotation, it's not a one-game format anymore. We can't get screwed by that garbage again.

Starting point is 00:31:31 We can't get screwed by playing Areietta and Bumgarner or two of the best postseason runs we ever saw. We get three games. And you're telling me that Keller Jones and schemes in three games, you can put that up against anybody. And it's going to be good. And he could say that about a lot of these teams. And I think that's how a lot of these teams are going to operate and how they're going to think about how it's going.

Starting point is 00:31:54 That's why I said, I don't think I really see any of these NL Central teams falling out of it completely. I can see steps back and steps forward. But I still think that all five of these teams will be fully involved when things come around in September, which if we would have told you that before the year started, probably would have been a little weird. You probably would have got a pretty weird look.

Starting point is 00:32:16 at somebody if you would have said that. No, yeah, absolutely. All right, man. Well, excited to see Skeens tonight and to see how these two teams go up against each other. First time we get a chance to watch them do battle on the field and looking forward to it over the next three days. So once again, make sure you guys are giving Ethan a follow on his Twitter X page. You've got at MVP underscore Ethan Smith. And you do a little something funky with the Ethan part.

Starting point is 00:32:45 like does it have to be typed in lowercase uppercase stuff like that the user the username was taken already so yes it had to be like that all right well give him uh give him a follow uh of course go to uh locked on pirates as well if you're if you're not following in there it's always nice to uh for my cardels fans to keep an eye on everybody else in your division so thank you guys for making locked on cardels and locked on pirates your first listen every day you can follow me on twitter accident l underscore cardels at a jd sports radio like and subscribe to both the of our pages on YouTube and help our channels grow. Enjoy the series, everyone. And thanks for being part of this locked on podcast network crossover, your team every day.

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