PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Are the Arizona Diamondbacks getting the national respect they deserve?

Episode Date: October 11, 2023

Do the Arizona Diamondbacks have your attention yet? We are still riding high after the D-backs win in Game 2 of the NLDS over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Derek is joined by Patrick Lyons from DNVR Rockies and Jordan Shusterman from Cespedes Family BBQ on Twitter and the Baseball Bar-B-Cast on Sirius XM to discuss the national attention the D-backs are receiving, Corbin Carroll’s postseason play, and people wanting to change the playoff structure due to the whooping the Snakes are putting on the Blue Crew.An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to D-backs Takeovers, Knockout Nights & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/phnx-56002330273 Join Team PHNX for the Out of the Darkness Community Walk: https://supporting.afsp.org/team/32459WIN MONEY THROUGH SPLASH SPORTS: https://www.splashsports.com/phnx Go to https://saturdayneon.com and use code PHNX for 10% off your order today. Free shipping for orders over $200!Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.Pins & Aces: Check out https://pinsandaces.com and use code PHNX to receive 15% off your first order and get free shipping.Circle K: Text PHNX to 31310 to join the Circle K SMS subscriber club and get BOGO 32 oz Polar Pops! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!OGeez!: Score 25% off a bag of your favorite OGeez! Fruits of Creams. Go to https://theflowershopusa.com, add a bag of OGeez! to your cart, enter promo code “PHNX” and pickup at a local The Flower Shop dispensary.Four Peaks: Follow them on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome in to another edition of the PHNX DVACs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia. Of course, I am your mayor of the postseason. And I'm joined by two amazing guests. I don't have Jesse. I no longer have Sean. So I had to fill the void with some of the best baseball guys that I could find. Of course, Patrick Lyons from DNVR.

Thank you so much for joining me. I know we're not going to talk about the Rockies too much. So I promise I'll relieve you of that pain here. I do it like, you know, five days a week as it is. So, no, let's talk about the good vibes in the NOS. Absolutely. It's the Yoffs. And, of course, also joining us very excited from Sespas Family Barbecutes, one and only,

Jordan, thank you, buddy, for being here with the Fire Hat today. Oh, thank you. I mean, I'm here to talk about the Rockies. I don't know why you would invite me to talk about the Divax, the most exciting team in the Yofs. Wow, I'm glad that the Yoss is a term work. Right. We're really amplifying. This is one that I feel like Jake and I have thrown around at times without much momentum.

And now we'll have to bring it back. I love it. No, we are all about the yoffs here for sure. It is official. But again, man, thank you so much. Of course, you guys got the baseball barbecue cast on Sirius XM. And I know you guys talk a lot about baseball nationally. Of course, we're always kind of, I guess, curious about the perspective nationally of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

But what are your thoughts on this team, I guess, coming into the playoffs? and now with the run that they've been on. Yeah, I feel somewhat vindicated because I, and maybe people who have listened to the show, you know, for the last, you know, all season can tell me I'm crazy. But I feel like I've been pretty consistent in believing that the debacks were at the top of the NL wildcard melee. Even when they weren't always in that five spot, I felt pretty confident that they were the best team of that, you know, Miami and Chicago and Cincinnati and San Francisco. Like I felt really good about Arizona. So in that sense, I feel vindicated and I was excited to watch them in the postseason. But to see what we've seen so far, obviously, you know,

4 and 0 is a different kind of story. So now it's kind of elevated to the point where I'm like, oh, oh, damn, you know, did I underestimate this team as much as I was optimistic about them, you know, coming into it. Yeah, we feel like we've even underestimated this team at times, obviously, just because we were trying to be realistic. We were trying not to let our excitement get in the way. But yeah, it does feel definitely like the, you know, obviously this was unexpected. We knew that this team was capable of going on some runs at times. But I know you've seen a lot of this team. And, you know, of course, it kind of is one of those things where it's like you don't really know at times which version is going to show up.

I mean, they've they've been consistent at times. And then there's also been a lot of, you know, just kind of especially with the offense where they kind of come up missing. This offensive output so far in the playoffs has been. been shocking to me to say the least. And it's against the Dodgers. I think that's probably the biggest thing that gives it a little bit of extra oomph. Like not to take anything away from the Texas Rangers and what they've been doing so far for the Orioles.

But you go, the Orioles are inexperienced. So, you know, that it's going to happen. There's going to be that hiccup. But for the Diamondbacks to be doing it against the Dodgers, Jordan, I imagine that's probably what takes that up a little bit of a notch. It's who it's against rather than just on its own. Yeah, I think it's a little bit of that. And I think the other thing about it, the debacks fit into an interesting part of the extremely stupid discourse we've been subject to with regards to the off days and all that stuff with the ones seen all that thing.

But the reason why I mentioned that is the debacks looked like garbage for the last week. Like, you guys know that. Like they were, you know, to be fair, they were facing a Houston team who clearly knows what they're doing and knows how to show up when they need to. So it's not like a. But still, right? when you think about the momentum of coming into the postseason, that is the last thing that it felt like Arizona did. Now, once we get past that and we see the way that they've played and, you know, comparing them to the other undefeated team in Texas, I agree with that. I think that Texas has been so impressive in a lot of respects, and they've benefited from some total, you know, pooping their pants, performances from both Tampa Bay and Baltimore.

At the same time, you could say that the Dodgers have kind of done that in the same way in Milwaukee in some senses with the way some of those close games went. I've tweeted this a couple of times, talked about it on our podcast, what's so impressive and so fun to watch about the debacks so far as just how many different players in just four games have contributed. That is what is so awesome about this team. And ensure Texas has had certainly on offense, a lot of different contributions, some bullpen arms step up. But the group effort of this team on both sides of the ball has just been so impressive and so fun because it's allowed so many different players to kind of get the spotlight and allow the national. media, the national audience to be like, wait a minute. Who's this guy? Oh, wait a minute. Who's Gabriel Marino? Wait a minute. Like, whoa, Lord of Ariel Jr.'s on his team now. Oh,

here's this Kevin Ginkle given us, you know, two innings. Like that's been, I think, the most fun part about watching the debacks so far. And I think for us, that's been not only fun because we know these guys and it's great for them to get that attention, but I think it's also the reason why we've known this team has had success all season long. Obviously, Corbyn Carroll has been doing his thing and he's the name that a lot of people have become familiar with. But it does feel at times like this team gets contributions from different parts all the time. And like it's because of that, you're not going to see some of these guys have incredible numbers that jump off the page of you.

But what you never know is when Christian Walker is going to have a four for five night with two home runs. And it feels like that could be at any time. And it also feels like right now during the playoffs, it really is a different guy every night kind of kind of doing the thing for this team. Yeah. And the other thing I would say is like I think about a guy like, Alex Thomas, who I think, you know, in the grand scheme of things, I think there's reasons to be somewhat disappointed with the production that he's kind of delivered overall considering his prospect type. But to even have one moment on offense, that Homer in Milwaukee, like, that is such a big deal.

And like that, because at this point, we don't care what your OPS Plus was, right? It's can you do something for me right now? And basically every single player on this Debex roster has already done something in these four games. and that's just so cool. Not to mention the fact that you do have those stars that have clearly shown up in the form of Gallin and Corby and Carroll. The 14 pitch home run in particular is one of those moments that you go, okay, that's for the highlight reel when you're getting into the World Series

and getting the veteran clutchiness of Evan Longoria in game one, getting that start when he was only in the lineup, I think, two of the final 12 games of the season. And you go, all right, everyone's kind of doing it. You're not relying on one singular player. And that's that's kind of the recipe it feels like for a team that goes on a deep run in the postseason. Oh, 100%. I mean, Alex Thomas, right? So he has a homer against the daughters too.

I mean, how many homers did he have in the last? I don't know, a month or plus? Not very many. And he has two in back in postseason games. Yeah, like that's the thing. And clearly there's a reason he's still in there. He's a marvelous defender in center field. I understand that there's still value that he can give you.

And I'm not trying to bury him as far as a hitter. at the major league level moving forward. But it honestly, in some ways, it kind of reminds me of like the Trent Grisham moment we had with the pod days in the postseason not that long ago, right? Like same kind of thing. We're very talented. And Grisham had showed more, I would say, at times,

offensively during the regular season as a big league hitter. But, you know, you're pulling up the Alex Thomas stats and you're just like, really, this guy's beating us. But you don't have time to even analyze or speculate on that. It doesn't matter. Like those two home runs, he could go 0 for 30 for the rest of the playoffs. that's such a big part of getting you to this point. And when you're having those money, it's just so, so, so cool.

And I think it also speaks to kind of the confidence that these guys are playing with, even guys who are so young and don't really know any better. I think that's something that is one of the best things this time of year is, you know, you see the teams that the inexperience can be a blessing and occur sometimes. And I think that that's been, we've seen that on display on both sides so far in this postseason. Alex is, or Alec is such a good defender that at times we absolutely say, like, we're willing to for go, you know, his 04 nights and things like that because he makes it look so effortless in center field, especially at Chase Field that has the weird porch and just all the different

kind of dimensions that are unique to Chase Field. But the thing about Alec Thomas was we just wanted to see him be more patient because we felt like in a lot of those bat at bats, that's what was lacking. I mean, obviously there was times where, you know, there's a lot of mechanical things, how open his swing is. There's a lot that, you know, could be critiqued at times. But it really felt like the lack of patience. And then it's wild that here we are talking now about him having a franchise record

as far as the most pitches taken in and that bat that resulted in a home run. And it was this huge moment in the playoffs. Oh, and I'm just doing some little game log stuff back here. Two homers in his final 52 games of the regular season. Oh, my God. With the 580 OPS. And then it's like, guess who doesn't remember any of that? every single person watching this, right?

It's like, who cares? This is Mickey Mantle. Like, what difference does it make? Like, it's, that is the beautiful thing about this time of the season. Now, of course, as the games get more important and as the stakes rise and they still have to be like the Dodgers could easily win three. Like, it's there a long way to go here. Right.

And as you advance in the postseason, you become, you know, more hypercritical of every player. Now it's like, oh, Thomas goes over four three strikeouts. You're like, oh, what happened? It's like, okay. Like, you can't, you can't have it all. we can't get too agree here, but it's just, it's so cool. It's so cool. And you have to, and that's why clearly you guys have been doing this as you should. Like, you've got to just embrace and love every

second of the positive experience in October because when you're on the other side of it, it is a miserable. It is miserable. It has been, it is a stressful. It is agony. You see what Baltimore just experienced after going years and years without a home playoff game. And then you watch your team, you know, losing those two ways. It's tough, right? And hopefully the Arizona home crowd now is going to, get to have some positive experience over these next few days. But you just never know, man. You just got to have to enjoy every game as it goes. And that's what it feels like.

I mean, we've talked about at times when this team did have a big high pressure situation. They didn't really rise to the occasion. I mean, they've had some good series. They played some good games. But there were times where even though it's the regular season, it did feel like a crucial, you know, game here and there. And like you said, even there down the stretch, there's Diamondbacks fans that had said they didn't deserve to be in the playoffs simply because they didn't win a single game in that

final series to like secure their own way and they had to wait for you know other teams to lose in order for them to secure that spot but i mean again like you said literally none of that matters because now here they are in the playoffs doing this thing uh the playoffs are usually all about some guy that hit 187 you know getting the the big home run to win the game or whatever and at times the diamondbacks are just kind of built of a bunch of those guys i'm not to say that they're poor performers, but it really does feel like these are guys that kind of have stepped up all season long and done it at their, at times on their own. But like you said, the numbers don't come off the page offensively when you look at someone like Alec Thomas.

You don't look at some of these seasons, some of these guys have had. I don't even feel like Gabrielle Moreno's stats for this season really tell the story of how good that guy was in August and September. So he's another guy that, you know, of course, the way he performed is much different. We know Ryan Thompson was a huge, huge part of this team down the stretch. And obviously had a huge role in last night's win. But Ryan Thompson, another guy. Just because of a few bad outings with Tampa Bay, his ERA looks awful. And he's definitely not that guy, but he definitely hasn't been that guy for this team.

So it's just been a lot of fun to watch. I know, though, that Corby and Carol is the big topic. And I just want to give your thoughts on, you know, not only the season he had, but I mean, we're talking about a guy here now that has been on base 12 times in his first four postseason. season games. We couldn't have asked for any more out of his rookie campaign. So what was what was kind of your feelings on on everything he's done for this team and how he's emerged so quickly as kind of a superstar? Yeah. I mean, the Carroll thing, I kind of want to take it back farther, you know, a few seasons. And I would say, first of all, you know, I've written on Carroll this

year at Fox Sports, Jake, Jake Mince, who I, of course, make all the obsessives barbecue content with. He's wrote a fantastic feature around the All-Star game about Corbyn Carroll's high school career, which I encourage everyone to go check out. But the reason why I want to go farther back is it's just a great case of how quickly this guy made an impression once they drafted him. And how quickly, and this is, I love the draft and I follow it very closely and I'm constantly trying to learn more. And following these high school players and how they come up, it's just, it's amazing to me. Great example of a guy who is soon as he was picked within months. He goes to end trucks and Everyone's like, oh my God, we all screwed up.

Like this kid is amazing. And that's even in the minors, you know, he has this injury and he misses all this time in 2020, whatever. And he still manages to make such a strong impression. So to watch him do it on an everyday basis this season. And then now in the playoffs, too, the confidence with which he plays with is just incredible. And just the skill set from a guy who is just not very big. being around Corby and Girl personally, you guys have known this too. It is insane the degree to which he is able to produce power specifically.

It's freaky. There's very few other hitters like that in the league that I can think of. And just so impressive. And on top of the fact that, you know, with the new rules and the way that he can impact the game on the basis, is just so much fun. He's the perfect player for, you know, this era of baseball. And it's, he came along at the right time. And, you know, we have a ton of rookies in this post.

season that have been amazing and he's just been he's been the one honestly as weird as it says he probably is the one with the most mainstream attention compared to some of the guys i would even say in texas compared to even royce lewis like people know corbacarroll is now but there's not enough that we could possibly talk about how awesome he is it really seems like as he goes the diamondbacks go we've seen it all throughout this postseason we start during the regular season you know and right before the all-star game when jacked his shoulder up just a little bit he sort of went into a little bit of a slump, so did the entire Diamondbacks team. I think it's one of the reasons why he'll probably get some MVP consideration, you know, somewhere in the top 10. I'm kind of curious from your take on

this, Jordan. So I'm a nationally rookie of the year award voter. My vote's already in. Do you think Corbyn Carroll will be a unanimous selection as the National League Rookie of the Year award winner? It's funny. You ask, I too. I'm a National League rookie of the year voter. So my vote is also in. If Jesse was here, I would be the only one without a vote. So let me ask you, would you have asked me that question about the unanimous? Well, honestly, I feel like it's pretty likely. I don't know if that's a hot take. I don't know.

I know we're supposed to wait and not comment too directly when we are voters. But I mean, I think people have expected it. Let me tell you. This was a tough. I can't speak too much on it. It was hard. But I am looking forward to discussing it once we get there. in November.

But yeah, I mean, it's a historic rookie season. Like he's, he has been beyond sensational. And it's cool, too, because it is, it takes a lot to kind of go wire to wire, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Like this is, and by the way, same thing in the Yale, probably with Gunner Henderson. Right. Like, we came into the year, like, Henderson and Carol, like, these are the guys.

And then, you know, Henderson, it was a little bit of a slower start for him. But here they are. It's like, yeah, there's pretty much exactly what we could have hoped for, which is, which is just amazing and this is just like a broader theme that as I've you know gotten to cover baseball on a regular basis over the last however many years like the degree to which young players can just come in and succeed is is stunning and we should not take it for granted it's not normal it's not supposed to be this easy and some guys just make it look that way and we're very lucky and that's why I think the sports in a very healthy place yeah carrow would be the first rookie of the year

award winner in dime of x history yeah and not only that but like he said I think we've had all sort all season long we've kind of felt that same way like we've we've we've almost crowned him, you know, out of the gate. We were, you know, jokingly, we're like he's going to be the rookie of the year. We're putting our money on it, all of that. And then our producer, Damon, kind of kept track of all of the challengers that would step up. There would be the James Outmans.

There would be the L.E. Dela Cruz's. And like you said, it really was about the fact that he did it all season long. These guys all had great seasons. And at times, they went on incredible stretches. But they would also disappear like every rookie does at times. And Corbyn was that exception where, yeah, I mean, he went through a slump. Every baseball player goes through a slump. But Corbyn just, he always found ways to be productive.

And I mean, outside of every time there was an injury scare and we thought our season was over because we lose Corby and Carroll, it's done for us. It felt like he just was always there producing and just always doing a great job. I mean, like I said, even when he wasn't having a great night at the plate, he would find a way to get on and manufacture runs and create that chaos that we talk about on the basement. Yeah, I remember I wrote. So every week at Fox this season, this season, every Thursday. I did just kind of like a what we learned piece looking at one thing from every division. And I remember in early September, I was like, man, I feel like Corby and Carroll hasn't really done much. And I kind of dug into it. And really, it was just like he hadn't hit any home runs.

Like he was still doing everything that was Corby and Carroll. But for whatever reason, he went through like a month where the power was just, it was just down. The numbers were still pretty good. And it was just a great reminder of like, oh, he's still getting on base. He's still stealing a ton of bags. And then by the end of September, it was like, oh, here he's back. And now he's flogging. again and now he gets to 25-50 and all these crazy numbers. So he's just, he's sensational. And by the way, like, that's why you commit to the extension to him with after having played however many games, you know, like that's, that's a big part of it too, which is, which is awesome. And I think he deserved that. And I think that it's really cool to see him just be that that franchise piece. But I would also say, too,

like, I think that this offense, you know, in some ways, yes, a lot of people are still getting used to it. But, like, I think, especially to say, like, there is some star power here, even if it's not in the national. Like, aren't they so good fam is so Walker's awesome? Like, Guriel's just had this awesome season. To me, it's the pitchers. The Saul Franks, right? And the mantiplies and the ginkles and the Thompson's. Like, that's the one, starting with game one against Milwaukee.

And what I'm most curious about moving forward is how far can that group go? Because we all know about Gowan. I think Melo Kelly's starting to get your respect. How far can that group? really push this team. Now, if you're scoring to the way that they are, it doesn't matter as much. You can say the same thing about Texas, right? But that's what I'm most curious and excited about to see how far they can kind of push it.

The narrative this year and the narrative almost in franchise history has always been the Diamondbacks have never had a reliable bullpen. And to be honest, this bullpen that we're seeing now through trades, through acquisitions, picking up Ryan Thompson, calling up Andrew Saul-Frank, getting Paul Seawall through that trade with Seattle. this bullpen is not the same bullpen that it was early in the year. And it did take a little time for the pieces to come together. It took a little while for Tori Lovolo to really figure out who he could rely on. Kevin Ginkle is one of the only guys that's been there all season long and has been performing at that level and has been a guy that Tori has known he can count on.

But it's not to say they don't have other good arms. It's just consistency and reliability. They just couldn't have asked for more out of a guy like Ryan Thompson or Andrew Saul-Frank. I know he struggled a bit last night, but still he's just been very good for this team. And it's it's just been so fun to watch so much so that it feels like the Diamondbacks broke the playoffs. Because like you said earlier, there is this national story now, if you will, or just discussion happening about the playoff structure and should it be changed and should it be this and should it be that. I mean, it was something that we talked about that the Diamondbacks needed to take advantage of because baseball is a game where you can't just take a week off and then pick back. back up and be as good as you were.

You just can't. You're like the human eye literally needs time to adjust to a 95 mile per hour ball coming at you without flinching again and things like that, right? Like I mean, there's just so many little things, but like it's the reason why coming back from an injury or a guy coming up to the major league level or anything. It takes time. It takes a while. Like fans get frustrated and impatient fast.

Oh, this isn't happening fast enough or whatever, right? But it's part of baseball. So it was something I knew the Diamondbacks, if they could kind of stay hot, you know, if they could just at least stay in the baseball mode versus those one seats like the Braves and the Dodgers having that time off, that it would be an advantage. But it's like now people are just figuring that out that taking time off from baseball isn't the best thing, especially when you may have clinched your division like a month before the end of the season. Yeah. I mean, I think there are a lot of things that are kind of true at the same time here, right? Like I totally agree with you.

Like I am receptive to the idea that the layoff is too long and that it could maybe be contributed. to some of these things. But I mean, it's not like we don't have, first of all, we're dealing with a tiny sample of stuff. Sure. Second of all, we have, we just saw the Astros deal with this and it was fine. They kicked everyone's ass and might do it again. Yeah.

We're still dealing with that. And then the other part of it's like, okay, okay, so you really, like, first of all, where is, where does Milwaukee and Tampa Bay follow this conversation? You think they wouldn't rather be still hanging out and having a chance to at least even come back down from 2O a week into the post season instead of being upset immediately? And as we just said, it's like, okay, is the debacks getting to play again after they looked like crap immediately? Like, was that an advantage? Same thing with Texas.

You know, they got to bounce back even though they got embarrassed in Game 162. There's so many layers to it. And the more you talk about it and the more you go, it makes you realize, hey, guess what? None of this is ever going to be perfectly fair. The buy is still a buy. You still have to win two fewer games. Like, no manager is going to be like, yeah, I'd actually rather have to win two more games and have to travel. All these things.

No, like, they're not going to say that. Is it a perfect system? Is it the layoff maybe too long? Yeah, possibly. But I can't get too worked up over how perfectly fair the format is. No matter how you do it. It's just there's going to be some version of it. And it's like, again, Brace fans are complaining about it until the seventh inning last night.

And then they're like, oh, just kidding. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. I'm sorry. We cannot have this so many different ways. Like, we're here to be entertained. And some teams are going to benefit more than others.

and the teams that know how to do it. Like, I'm not surprised that Houston knows how to deal with layoffs. Like, they, last year, like, they barely, they've had so many off days in recent postseason. So, yeah, of course, they know how to deal with it more, right? So credit to them. And if we think, if we think about it. Okay, go ahead.

Oh, no, I was just going to say, like, if you just, like, reverse engineer, like, how did we even get to this place? There is a point in which if you're just the fourth best team in the game, if you're a wildcard, you just get to go right in, and you're hot. All right, well, and that's have a wild card game. So now, you know, you blow hopefully your ace, right? And now it makes a little bit more fair.

And the whole point of the wildcard series now is, all right, now you blow your at least top two pitchers. And now it really gives an advantage to those higher-seeded teams. And, again, small sample size, it just hasn't really worked out that way so far. Yeah. Yeah, and I'm receptive, like, believe it or not, like, John Smoltz had a decent idea. You know the night saying that it started on Friday, right?

I'm open that. I know the travel is complicated for a lot of these situations, but it would make it more feel like the regular season for the team that's waiting and also maybe put the team coming out of the wild card at more of a disadvantage. But again, too, it's like, listen, if you're so good, like, if you're the Braves and you're the historic offense, you shouldn't be getting shut out of home under any circumstance. So I agree that like it's not that it's not,

I hear, it's not that I don't believe that the layoff isn't impacting them. I just don't care. That's not a reason to change the format. Like that cannot possibly be a reason to change the format when none of this has ever been fair. And there's been all kinds of dumb stuff that's happened all the time. And when you get to this point, anything can happen because the debacks are pretty good. And you're not just rolling in there with, it's not any team rolling in there. Like, they're pretty good.

So honestly, I think it's fine. We take exception to it because we feel like if you guys had problems with this playoff structure, why didn't you bring this up before the Diamondbacks were up to O on the Dodgers, right? Like all of a sudden, that's an issue. But also one thing that I don't think of people take into account when it comes to this series enough is that the Diamondbacks are not a team that were actually built very well for the regular season, not the way that they were, right? Because they had these rookies that were in their starting rotation and they had to figure out at times how to have a five-man starting rotation. They went to bullpen games at one point. They've done a lot of things to just try to get to the playoffs, to get through the 162 game season.

But now that we're here, you're going to get a goddamn dose of Merrill Kelly and Zach Gallen almost all the time. And you're going to like it and you're going to have to figure out how to deal with it. And the bullpen has been good enough that they don't have to completely rely on those guys to get them through seven innings or eight innings in order for the team to have success. So like last night, I know there was a lot of question about turning it over to Zach Gallen earlier than a lot of people would have wanted to. But the bullpen honestly has been a strength. And I think Tori is is trying to do everything he can to both save his starters and and not let some of these games kind of go off the rails like we saw during the regular season when Zach Gallen would pitch a gem. And all of a sudden at the very end gives up four runs and you're just like, why did he leave him in there so long? Like it's it's all sorts of questions.

But I mean, really with the playoff thing and the structure, like I was saying, we kind of take exception to it. Because again, we're we were told we were going to get swept. We were told the Dodgers were going to absolutely walk over the Diamondbacks with the rest they had and everything. And instead we're seeing the Diamondbacks absolutely putting up, you know, everything you could ask for out of this team against their division rival. And it really feels like, you know, it's people aren't taking enough of consideration. And like the Dodgers, you know, pitchers they've lost, the changes that they made, the fact that the Dodgers are relying on so many rookies and their starting rotation. and everything that they have going on. Like this series, even though it's the Dodgers supposedly way up here

and the lowly debacks facing them, these two teams, as far as talent is concerned, are much closer than I think people are giving them credit for. Yeah, I mean, I went on our podcast like a total dummy and was like, hey, for once people are sleeping on the Dodgers. Like, that's never happened. Like, I really did feel like people were like, yeah, they can't do it. And I was like, great, I'll pick the Dodgers there.

If you get to tell me the Dodgers can be underdogs. I'll pick them because I was so impressed with what they were able to accomplish with all those circumstances even in the regular season. That didn't guarantee clearly anything for the postseason. And it wasn't anything about even the lowly debacks. It was just like I was so impressed with this version of the Dodgers finding us a way to still win 100 games. Oh, they have Mike's secret stuff. They have some sort of secret formula to make Lance Lynn into suddenly a Cy Young contender once he joined the team. We joke that that was going to happen.

And then that exact thing happened. the Dodgers just seem to be such a well-run organization that when players go to that organization, they thrive. It's what it used to be like with the Yankees. Yeah. And that's true for the Dodgers. Yeah, no. And so I respected that a lot, not knowing or having any expectations that they could still get it.

And I think Lance Flynn is just as likely to go out there and get blasted in the first inning as he is to throw seven scoreless tomorrow. So that's going to be quite the coin flip from your perspective. but and I'm not surprised that they rolled with him there. But yeah, and so that's kind of where I went with it. And it wasn't, but I said, man, coming out of that Milwaukee series, like I was just like, man, like it worked out. Like the pitching did line up. And that's to just go back to the start on Friday idea, right?

You start on Friday. Now you really are putting the debacks more of a disadvantage. Do I think that that is necessary? I don't know. I don't really care that much. But like that would be a way to do it because now you're compressing it even more for a team that's more shallow. But to your point, yeah.

Like these are these were regular season problems. At the same time, the Dodgers had a lot of those same problems too, and they still managed to win 100 games, right? They were fine in ways when they were losing starters left and right. So that's the difference. But once you get to this point, it's a five-game series, clearly anything is possible. And that's why it's far from over here.

But it's true. Once you shrink a series and you really do have gallon in those spots, you got to feel pretty good. You do. You do. And especially considering that this playoff started with Brandon fought on the mound. who will be on the mound for them tomorrow night. Things didn't look great, you know,

and again, not knowing how things would line up, not knowing that they would be able to get through that Milwaukee series in two and be able to save Merrill Kelly to start in game one of this series with the Dodgers. Things looked, things did not look great, but it ended up working out for this team really well. I just,

I don't know, this whole discussion about like needing to put more obstacles in front of the lower seat teams. That even seems ridiculous to me because, again, And, you know, like, I get it. And you're right. But it's still a matter of, like, most sports, the one seed plays the final seed, right? Then basketball, hockey, the one seed plays the eighth seed. There's not even really a buy for them.

Those teams just play. And, like, you know, again, it's, if you start doing that, then it doesn't really justify you having 162 games season any longer. So I do feel like you need to give the teams with the best record something in order to make this very lengthy season worthwhile. But at the same time, I think the fact that you're literally making teams. play, you know, an extra series before they take on those one seeds. It's absolutely should be enough.

And I really feel like this is just because the Diamondbacks are breaking everyone's brains with the fact that they should be winning these. Which is great. Isn't, I know people get so worked up with, oh, well, what's, what is the commissioner want to see or what's going to get the best rating? It's like, okay, I mean, I understand that there are neutral fans that are more like that, and you want to have bigger name teams to draw in more casual fans. Like, I get that.

I want the game to grow. I care about that. But also, for me, like, as someone who will dork out about Andrew Saul Frank and is, like, still convinced that Luis Frios is going to be awesome. Like, I was watching him with the Hillsborough Hops. I was watching it with the Hillsborough hops. It's like, oh, my gosh, who's this guy? Like, this guy's incredible.

105 miles per hour. What is this? I watched Louis Friot, whatever he came in this season, I was like, come on, Louie, come on. Like, make me feel like not a total idiot. The point is, that preface is to say, I'm loving this. I'm loving this, D-Vexam. This is fun.

Also, like, Aaron upsets the whole point of sports. Like, I don't understand why we're trying to push all of the best teams to the championship. Like, why do we care about March Madness? Why do we care about any tournament where there's any amount of lack of predictability? I do think the important part to you're saying is we do want to incentivize division winners. Yes. Like, that is important for the functionality and competitive balance of the sport. we don't want teams like my favorite teams general manager just said for some reason you know shooting for

54% winning percentage right yeah you want to aspire for division titles you want to aspire for those greater things obviously right i do think that skipping around is that is an incentive i have not see i would have to see so many more years of data of one sees losing and putting and getting two hits in their first game for me to actually believe this is a real thing so again it's imperfect but like i again we're just making stuff up because we're bored on off days. Like that's kind of how it's worth. Yeah, exactly. If we don't have four playoff games every day.

Yes. People are going to longer. Exactly. Exactly. Hey, man, Jordan, we appreciate you so much for coming by, man. We thank you. And we'll definitely have you back on to talk more if this Diamondbacks team can continue on this role and continue making noise.

Absolutely. Yes. And if you want, check out our pod baseball barbecast. We're basically going to be going nearly every day for the the rest of October. So definitely check that out. I will be given the stakes plenty of love, especially if they close this thing out tomorrow. There we go. I appreciate it, man. We'll make sure to follow him on Twitter. Obviously, their account is at Cespitus BBQ. You got Jordan. It's, Jay, is it, underscore Schusterman? And then another underscore?

Jay underscore Schusterman underscore. There's just like so many Jay Schusterman's out there that I'm have to. There's like a million Derek Montillas. I get it. Hey, man, we appreciate it. Thanks for shopping by. Thanks, Jordan. Thank you, guys. This was fun. Hey, and, you know, I love that. That hat was fire, too, by the way.

Yes. I mean, I was an honor of you. I packed one. And I was like, ah, you know, we can't have two Colorado baseball teams. I get it. On the set at the same time. So I'll stick with this one. I appreciate you being humble about that.

But we could have some more D-BACs playoff season shirts on this set, by the way. Make sure to get your official PHNX D-NX, D-Backs playoff season shirts at the PHN Locker.com. We have a wonderful variety of shirts over there that you can grab, including our brand new wagon shirt because this team is a goddamn wagon. So get on that. Of course, we thank you guys for being here in the PHNX Sports YouTube channel. Make sure to subscribe to the channel if you haven't done so already. Sign up for notifications.

That way you don't miss what any of our wonderful shows go live. And leave us a little thumbs up. It's our add-a-boy. We always appreciate you guys smashing that like. Where's Gabby? Let's get Gabby in here to smash that like button. I don't know if he's still around. And the more shirt you guys buy, the more new teas will come up.

Like I was thinking Jordan said, I love this. So it's like, okay, Arizona Diamondbacks, I love this. Yeah. How about a, how about a we're fucking dangerous shirt? Yeah, I mean, if you guys, okay, so this is your mission chat. If we get enough wagon shirts sold, we could potentially find ourselves in a spot where we can get a, we're fucking dangerous shirt made as well. So it's on you guys. It's on you guys.

Yep. And it's already started, but we'll go ahead do this in the chat. What are the Arizona Diamondbacks? Drop, drop what the Arizona Diamondbacks are in the chat. We always love to do that. Fill in the blank. The Arizona Diamondbacks are a blank. And then the music plays.

All right. But in the meantime, I'll let you know. Grab yourself some Four Peaks beer. Of course, it's the official craft beer of the Arizona Diamondbacks. And it is perfect at all tailgates and has been for over 25 years. Make sure to check out their pumpkin porter, which is delicious. And it is only around for a short amount of time. It's the fall season.

It's pumpkin season. So get your pumpkin porter. It's back on the shelves and draft lines throughout the valley. So don't miss out on that. of course we celebrate victories around here with the Joybus Wow Week, but you can celebrate with whatever wonderful Fort Peaks beer. My mouth is literally watering right now. I know.

I know. You're hearing you talk about that. Yeah. It's, it's hard not to have one. I, when I don't have one here on set with me, people start asking if I'm okay, if everything's all right. You guys, they know a couple beers? Yeah.

No, I don't. No, I think, no, no, Damon, see, you're bad influence. He has a look. No, we, no, we have work to do. He wants one and he thinks if we get them. I see your game. It's a good move. It's a good move.

If you get, because if he gets one for himself, he's just a selfish rat bastard and he knows it. But if he gets one for us, now he's kind-hearted. He's the people's producer again. It's called the Four Peaks shimmy. Yeah.

You offer it to your friends because you want one. Don't. The four peaks show. Yeah, don't forget that. I just love myself an ice cold golden log. Yeah, no, I know.

The official beer of baseball. Oh, yeah. It's the official beer of baseball. We've determined we can call it that because baseball is not like there, no one owns the baseball. Lowercase B baseball. Yeah,

lowercase Bollet. And there might be like three. Reels. It doesn't matter. It's fine. It's fine. The official beer of baseball. That's right. So you can visit 4Peaks.com slash locator to find all your favorite brewery tours and events. Steinhholding, Oktoberfest and haunted brewery tours over at 8th Street pub. That's cool. Yeah, I've been telling the people the beer, the ghosts make the beer at 4 peaks. And I'm not sure if that's legal. I'm not sure about like ghost labor laws or whatever they have going on. What is the minimum wage for a ghoul? I mean, what do ghouls get paid these days? Room and board Room and board You get to stay here Without me calling Peter Vinkman on you That's true

That feels like you're being Good to the ghost You know They should unionize Oh god damn it This is labor is gonna be difficult Are you saying like yeah Ghost labor is like an internship

Like look we'll give you a place to stay And you could walk around in the middle of the night With your chains on As long as you're brewing during the day Yeah exactly Four peaks We'll pay you We'll pay you an experience is what we'll pay you in right

Yeah so Yeah Check out Fort Peaks Brew at Fort Peaks Pub. Don't tell them I told you about the ghosts because I'm sure they won't like that. But keep up with the latest Arizona's hometown brewery at Fort Peaks Brew and Fort Peaks Poo. Must be 21 or older to drink Four Peaks and please drink responsibly. Right now, Jesse Jr. is not on set, but you just can't see him. You saw him there a little while ago.

He disappeared. But we have all of our wonderful little Foco bobbleheads down here on our set. And of course, Foco is the one place where you can buy all of your favorite decorations that are going to make all of your friends jealous. they're going to see your bobbleheads and they're going to be like, wait, where'd you get that one? Where did you get Cattell rocking a snake? I missed that giveaway day and you're like it wasn't a giveaway day, son. This one is one of 63 and I got it at Foco.com.

Yeah, they run out. They do. They have a certain number. And I mean, that's honestly, though, doesn't that make it better knowing that your little piece of artwork is one of a limited amount of that's out there? They even like handwrite the number on there. So you just, you know, a real person actually did that. It's officially official. So Foco again, lead manufacturer of sports and entertainment merchandise with the product line that of course includes all this wonderful stuff.

Apparel, collectibles, novelty items, all that stuff. So of course, make sure to check them out. Foco always has our back for Arizona sports. Even when those other manufacturers don't. You know what I'm talking about. You know when you go to those websites and they have the Dodgers and the Yankees and the this and the that and the Cardinals and that's it. And you're like eight teams? You chose eight teams and somehow the tigers made it in there?

What the fuck? All right. So, yeah, make sure to understand that phoco.com always has your back for Arizona sports. Get the best year around by visiting pho.com and using our code of pHNX for all non-presale items. Use the promo code pHNX. You'll get 10% off. So make sure to do that today. Do you know they have overalls too?

Yeah, I saw the PHL-Wive guys got overalls. And I saw that they were also stuffing beers. I think they fit 13 beers into those overalls. That's a lot. Yeah. And then Jamie Moyer went out and threw out the first pitch in the Phillies game, wear the exact same pair of overalls. That's electric. That's electric.

It's cool. Well, they had their hands full with the Atlanta Braves up there in Philadelphia. And we have an updated playoff bracket here to kind of discuss what's been going on here in the playoffs. Again, twins and Houston Astros and the Phillies and A's, those are the series right now that making a series out of it. The Rangers could close out the Baltimore Orioles and the Diamondbacks could close out the Dodgers. This is unexpected. This is unexpected, especially the Baltimore Orioles. I mean, we knew that that Texas Rangers team was dangerous.

We absolutely knew they were. But, I mean, you couldn't help but think the Baltimore Orioles, especially with a little bit of rest, you know, really could have, you know, done some big things in that series. I think they get Felix Batista back. So I think that they're fairly. I know you had Tommy John surgery. Oh, he did have Tommy Johnson.

Yeah. Oh, okay. I know that there was like some discussion. They were just hoping to have him not have Tommy John. Yeah. But the thing that I find interesting with, like, Texas and Arizona, I like data to back up my points and my thought process, if you will. But it's funny because Jordan kind of mentioned something about March Madness. It's sort of like the Diamond Max and the Rangers both lost and got their teeth kicked in at the right time.

Like there are always those teams. They go to their conference tournament and they're expected to win and they get that like big loss out of the way earlier. Or maybe even right before the tournament. And like that was a loss of like, hey, we're not going to go undefeated. We're not going to run the table. We're not going to have an undefeated year. We lost at the right time to go, yeah, we don't like how that feels. We've learned a lot from that.

And then you get hot. And then you go on a run. Rangers kind of suffered that a little bit and not being able to win the West in the American League when they had the shot. Same thing with the Diamondbacks and kind of snuck in. And you go, ah, these two teams, they're kind of the worst of the bunch in their different ways. And yet they kind of learn from that right away. And they're the two hottest teams in the postseason right now.

I think the thing about the Diamondback season is it's literally been ups and downs, right? You know, like they had such a hot early start. They went through a historic collapse, a historic collapse. Like we're not just talking about like, oh, hey, they went through a bad time. We literally call it the dark times on this show. Because like the teams that you could compare it to were teams from the 1800s, right? Like it wasn't even, it didn't even make sense that the Diamondbacks had gone from being so many games up, like 15 games above 500 to two games below so quickly.

It was, it was terrible, right? Hadn't done it since the bridegrooms. Yeah, exactly. Or the Pittsfield falafels. Yeah, right. And so like, you know, of course, there's a lot that they've gone through and they know, I think they do know how fast things can turn. I think they know, do know how bad things could be. And you're absolutely right.

right before they got into the playoffs, they did not look very good and they weren't able to capture just one crucial victory in order to get in. It might have even helped overall because we had an overall discussion about who would you rather play?

Would you rather come in as the final seat and play the Milwaukee Brewers? Or would you rather get that second wild card spot and have to play the Philadelphia Phillies? I at times looked at what the brewer's starting rotation was doing and I was like, I don't want any of that. I don't want any part of that. The Diamondbacks offense is struggling enough right now

that I can only imagine going up against arguably the best three-man starting rotation in baseball and having to deal with that. What ends up happening? One injury to one of those three guys turns this into a completely what felt like this kind of advantage to nearly, you know, to nearly even, right? You know, because now both teams have their studs on the mound for two games. Both teams have one kind of guy that it's questionable about how they're going to perform in the playoffs and it definitely felt like a much more even matchup now watching the phillies go off watching that atmosphere in philadelphia i don't know i wouldn't have wanted any part of that so like yeah i mean there is something to be said about the fact that the diamondbacks ended up in that third spot in the

marlins for a series we played you know three four months ago somehow they get the advantage you know i know it didn't end up tied but it was tied you know after that final game and the diamondbacks couldn't do anything in the final game of the season to overcome the Marlins win or lose. So it made sense for them to kind of phone it in and just stay in that third spot. It just now looks like the right call, right? You know, now not having to deal with those Phillies until they potentially have to go through, you know, a series with the Braves or dealing with the Braves after they deal with that that buzzsaw of a team in Philadelphia.

Like it feels like this, you know, now could turn the Diamondbacks way, you know. sometimes in the playoffs it's about things just lining up you know not every playoff team that makes it to a championship goes through the most difficult set of opponents sometimes it's just a matter of how how things worked out for them and the road was easier for them than others but regardless they made it to you know to that end point you can only play the teams that are in front of you of course and and you know again it probably helps the diamondbacks were able to see the dodgers like i'll just never forget you know and i hear this from from a lot of players and i talk with them like you'd rather face a guy that you've got bad numbers against, but you've had just a little bit of success. Like, I got a 150 batting average. In fact, I think it was DJ Lemayhew in 2018 when he was hurt when they were going into game 163 against the Dodgers for the NOS. And he said, you know, I'd rather face Clayton Kershaw than a guy I've never faced before

because I can envision that success that I've had. And if you actually go back and look at the numbers that the Diamondbacks hitters had against Clayton Kershaw going into game one, a lot of them had some success. Tommy Fam had virtually no success. He was the only one. but there was like five or six guys that had, you know, 250 batting average or higher that's like, well, that's enough to feel really good and feel comfortable in the box.

And you saw those guys go out there and be successful because they had that little bit of familiarity with that. And so, you know, I think that them being bad for a while, they had nothing to lose. It's like they already had the worst possible outcome, and yet they were still able to make the postseason. And they were able, again, they get that out of their system because Baltimore didn't get that out of their system at all.

They kept grinding the hallway out of the best record in the American League. And so they kept doing it. And, you know, did they know what it's like to fail, really? Yeah. The collapse could have happened later and could have been more detrimental to their season. They could not, they maybe aren't even here at this point. Maybe they don't even make the playoffs, right? So it's like they did.

They had a collapse. If you could have an epic, you know, franchise collapse, they had it at the right time where they were able to still rebound from that and get back to a place of being, you know, of feeling confident, you know, that that has to really screw with your mentality when you lose that many games in a row, when you have that much, that much, you know, that many failures in that short of a time frame. That's a true Cinderella. Like Ernesto points out, 83 win Cardinals in 2006 and they beat the Tigers. Yeah.

Yeah, that's exactly. If you're just in the postseason, that's it. It's a brand new season. And if you got, you know, some horses that you can ride, you know, I saw. sort of thing and I was texting Jesse this and he didn't get back. He didn't say he'd like this concept, but let me see if you like it. Merrill Kelly and Zach Allen are really just a poor man's Randy Johnson, Kurt Schilling right now. No, don't.

It's still early. Don't even. Don't do that? I don't do that. I will fucking use through a brick wall right now. Do you like that? I will make another door over here. We're fucking dangerous.

That too. Man. You're right. No, but it is. Because it, you know, who's dangerous than a poor man? I was very familiar with that. Kurt Schilling. When you.

That guy's dangerous. When you think about that World Series, the Diamondbacks pulled out all the stops and they realized that the only two guys that were going to get them through that World Series were those two guys. I could see the Diamondbacks even pulling this in like the World Series where in the middle of a game, they need to go to Zach Gallen out of the bullpen or something just because I think they would throw it all out there. I also think these two guys had the mentality that they want to do this, right? Like they want to be here. They want this spot. And they don't give a damn about pitch counts or any of that stuff anymore. It's really just a matter of like Merrill Kelly being on the mound and getting pulled from a game where he literally just wanted to get out of that one inning.

And his reaction was such, it was, it was just so joyful to watch. It was this combination of Tori, get the fuck out of here. I can't believe with this lead that you're going to go pull this from me right now. But then it was also like it was funny because he had basically, you know, like he knew he'd exercised all of this. those demons against the team that he had never beaten before. And you just wanted to like beam on the mound. And then you also have that next level of

how unprofessional would it be for me in a playoff game right now to just be cheesing out here when he comes to pull me. So I got to hide my little smile and I got to, you know, chomping on that top lip was so good. Sucking on his bottle of I got to do it. Look, I'll do you one better with the poor man's

Kurt Schilling and Randy Johnson with Merrill and Zach Allen. How about this to make you feel really good? about potentially going to the World Series. That bullpen, stepping up big, fought, maybe he doesn't have it, maybe you just got to go to the bullpen early. Yeah.

And they win, game three. They win Wednesday night because the bullpen shoves and gives them six, six plus innings pitch and you go, that was it. That was the answer that you needed. This bullpen is legit. You got the two horses. You got all the pieces that you need to win.

If that's how it goes down in game three, and we'll preview that tomorrow, that's got to make you feel real good. Even if it is Atlanta, even if it is Philadelphia, because that arguably could be, you know, more difficult matchup than this.

I don't think anyone necessarily thought that going into the series, but nevertheless, you go, man, Atlanta or Philly, they're going to be hot coming off of that series. But if you got Kelly,

you got Gallen, you got those horses, and you got a bullpen that has proven itself in that game three, again, I think that's a recipe for maybe punching a trip to the World Series.

He's still got to win in seven. in the NLCS, but man, that's got to make you feel good. Let's take a look at the probabilities for this series because it also could show obviously how things are going to line up going forward if the Diamondbacks are able to clinch in the game in Game 3. You don't hate Brandon Fott's chances in this game going up against Lance Lynn. We know Lance Lynn had that success with the Dodgers when he first joined the club, but he came back down to Earth.

He very much became the picture he was with the White Sox. and I feel like at this point, the Diamondbacks have the advantage here as far as the bullpen, their bullpen, not putting in nearly as much work as the Dodgers bullpen has had to put in in the first two games of the series. I know they had the layoff. I know they were well rested, all of that. But I don't know. It's kind of like me right now. I am going on such little sleep that going back to sleep for 45 minutes this morning felt like the absolute world.

So I feel like the Diamondbacks here have been run so ragged that like, having these days off here and there they're they're well right they're fun yeah give me a get me a a sub from jersey mics i'll be good i'm ready to go back out there but the thing i love about this is even if they aren't they aren't able to clinch after this this is who we have going forward we have waiting to win one game merrill kelly and zach gallon in consecutive starts after brandon so should they not be able to close the deal tomorrow night? You couldn't ask for it to line up any better as far as feeling, you know,

at least fairly confident that the Diamondbacks are going to take care of business here against the Dodgers and move on to the National League Championship series. Yeah, you just got to win one of the next three, which sounds super easy. Sounds like, oh, all right, so you won't... Except when it's against the Houston Astros at the end of the season, right? I accept that. It's like, oh, yeah, but, you know, once you get to game five, it's just a crap shoot, that's 50-50.

So you're losing the series going forward. Sure, Dodgers take two, dive Vax win game five. You still only one out of three, but you win the series. You want them to just do it at home. Like that's the other piece too. That is a big part of it. Maybe we'll talk about that more tomorrow. We'll see what the prices are.

I think it's just under 200 bucks to get in, just under 200 bucks. Just to get in the building for sold out. I mean, shoot, Tommy Pham's nephew can't even get a ticket for prime out of a lot. That is correct. That is correct. And you know what we're going to do is we're going to just make him an intern or something. We'll figure out a way to get Tommy Fams' nephew in there. Well, I mean, we need correspondence and stuff. Jesse can't be the only guy roaming the ballpark.

So we'll figure something out. But if you do want to go to that game, a great place to get your tickets is at game time. Go to game time.com. Of course, you know, you never know what's going to be available the day of. You never know what's available on there right now. Game time is the last the place for last minute ticket deals. So if you forgot that this game was taking place and you want to try to get tickets now, it's the fastest growing ticketing app in the country. for a reason. Not only is it aesthetically pleasing to the eye to the touch. It is a very good app for finding cheap tickets and getting yourself where you want to go.

Not only just to sporting events, shows, concerts, everything else. So make sure you're checking out game time, snag the tickets without the stress with game time. Download their app, create an account and use code PHNX to get $20 off your first purchase. Terms to apply. Again, create an account and redeemed code PHNX for $20 off your first order. Download game time today. last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed. Also, big thank you to all of our diehards for being diehards.

If you haven't gotten yourself the wagon shirt yet, you probably should own that immediately. If you are a diehard, you get 20% off all purchases at the PHNX Locker.com. If you're not a diehard, grab that membership over at go phnx.com. You will get a free shirt of your choice. Get the wagon shirt. There you go. We get more of these wagon shirts. We'll get that fucking dangerous shirt up there.

We'll get all sorts of shirts. But we do have wonderful shirts, including it's always sunny and the Valley and so much more. So make sure to check out the pH NX Locker.com. You'll get 20% off all future purchases. You get access to our members-only Discord Lounge. So much more, including discounts with our partners. See, that's my favorite part is the Discord Lounge part is amazing.

We have a great one for the Rockies that just started up organically. But the D-BACs one is on fire. It's like family. It feels like family. It's everything that you're seeing in the YouTube chat right now. It's like that, but it's like all day long. But it's all day long all the time. It's all the sports too.

And there's some. It's a great spot to like meet some new friends and stuff too. It's the Discord part is probably my favorite. I will say at times I have a friend chat and it is my, it's the only other place I can go to that makes me feel like the love that our Discord chat goes. Because again, one of my friends is always awake. It could be 1 o'clock in the morning. It could be any time.

And I know someone's awake. Same thing with the Discord chat. So make sure to hop in there, get your diehard membership today. Also a great way to celebrate victories and to get over losses with our friends at O.E. If you are stuck on what kind of gummies to get, OGs took the guesswork out of it. Not only do they have all sorts of a variety of doses and strains to choose from, but they also have their mixed bags right now, which, of course, contains their fruits and their creams. Creams have blackberries and cream, orange cream, scull, peaches and cream, so much more.

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And please enjoy responsibly. Got to support them because they support us. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. They support me being a much calmer person than I normally would be. But I will say this. Playoffs are fun. Postseason is fun.

But you know who's getting overshadowed right now? are guys over at the Arizona Fall League. Right? Oh, man. We love the Fall League. We love the Fall League. But it's hard to pay attention to what's going on in the Arizona Fall League with the Diamondbacks doing all of this crazy stuff. We've talked about this.

And you might get down with this. I know how much you love baseball. Arizona really is baseball Nirvana. It is the one place where you can just literally get baseball of different levels, of different skill levels, different professional levels. And you can get it almost all year long. It feels like baseball never goes away here between spring training, fall league, regular season. But, yeah, no, I mean, absolutely Arizona Fall League is is a bit overshadowed right now with everything fun the Diamondbacks are doing. But it's still an absolute blast to go out and attend.

And it's really cool to see the future of all of these organizations all playing on these teams. It's the first time in six years that when you say, you know, baseball in Arizona in October, you don't think the Arizona fall league. Yeah, right. No, no, no, Diamondbacks. No, we're talking about playoff baseball. Oh, yeah, Salt River Fields, the Diamondbacks prospects. No, just the Arizona Diamondbacks are playing. Yeah, Arizona Fall League, it's the, it's the opposite of spring training.

It's like when I landed in the temperature, like, something about the temperature and it was in the air of like, oh, this feels like spring training. And it is like a type of spring training. It's spring ending in a roundabout way for these prospects for some of them just need to get a couple A.Bs. It's there, it's the finishing schools with the Arizona Fall League is. And, you know, they've got a cool package with. I think it's been like 100 bucks forever where. Nope, you can just go to every single game for 100 bucks. Go down.

There's not a ton of people there. You know, you can get a ton of autographs if you wanted. It's a great thing. It's a great thing. It used to be. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because spring training is so much fun now and it is such an attraction that people come out for it. It's highly monetized too.

It's highly monetized. Arizona fall, like, super cheap. Yeah. Have fun. Well, and I mean, you know, like, there's also a different, I'm just, I feel like I'm insulting everybody with everything I'm going to say here. But, like, you know, like, you go to a spring training game and there's a lot of people that don't even give a shit about the game, right?

They're not even paying attention to the game. They're just there for vibes. They're there because it's that time of the year where you can finally be outside again and join the weather, you know, and all that kind of stuff. Right. But Fall League is, it reminds me of what spring training used to be because it's just on such a smaller scale. You have such close access to all of the players. You have the ability to go there and meet these guys, get autographs, get pictures with them. It's the diehards that are there.

And it is. It really is. It's the people that just know so much about baseball. Like I think I know a lot there and I will be sitting there listening to two people in the row, behind me have conversations about what some guy did in it in perfect game or what some kid did in high school and i'm like jesus the level of the level of knowledge of these baseball fans that attend a game like this is just amazing to me you know and even if you're not sitting behind home plate there's a good chance that that person that's talking about that prospect probably a scout

exactly right and you're like wow this is really cool and they're just going to talk to you there they're you know they're not worried about you tweeting something out because they're not necessarily Are you going to tell you what team they're from? No, yeah. Or who they are exactly. It's fun conversation. And you just get real good information because these are the guys that you're going to start to see next year and the year after that.

And, you know, the Diamondbacks have, you know, a couple good players there. They're not top 100 prospect guys, but they, you know, there's not a ton of top 100 prospects that are on this Diamondbacks team. Yes, we know Corbyn Carroll is one of them. Alec Thomas has been in the past. But even still, there's guys that are going to contribute. Andrew Salfranc wasn't a name that anyone's like, oh, my gosh, you got to see this guy. He's top 100.

Relievers don't make the top 100 list. I would love to say. I would love to be like, hey, we were geniuses. We were talking about Saul Frank a long time ago. There were a couple of guys in the past that we've talked about consistently. And then they came up. They made their debut. I think Dr. Jameson was one of them.

We talked about Ryan Nelson a bit. But no, no. I will profess that Andrew Saul Frank was absolutely never on our radar. And that's what makes what he's doing right now to major league level so impressive. Right. So you do get the chance at the fall league to go there and see these guys and be like, hey remember when we saw Blake Walsden pitching in the Fall League or you know like right now Ivan Melendez the Hispanic Titanic right now is on the Fall League not doing great not doing

great but it's a small sample size he is slashing 22391 278 with a 669 OPS but again the other thing about Arizona Fall League is a lot of times these guys aren't out there trying to specifically have success as much as they're trying to to kind of work on stuff they're trying to be coached and they're trying to show that they can accept coaching and you know that's such a big part of baseball is the ability to you know obviously take coaching and implement it and work it into you know your your routine or your mechanics or whatever they're having you change or or whatever they're having you do yeah that that's another way that it's like spring training where these guys are working with a new different set of coaches or there's something specific they're working on and yeah for

diamondbacks fans if you can't get a ticket to you know game three or even if you still want to inject more baseball into your system. Like go out to the Rafters game. I think they're home all through this week up until Friday at Salt River Fields. And you can see the top two home run hitters, you know, in your farm system. Yeah. Like between Melendez and A.J. Vukovic who at 24 this year in the minor. So like those are two really good guys right there.

And a couple of their pitchers are doing really well relievers. But even still, again, you can say you saw these guys before they contribute to with this young Diamondbacks team, what could be somewhat else. of a dynasty. Maybe dynasty could be too strong aboard. Their window of contention. Yeah. Because they've got one right now.

And these guys that are playing right now for the rafters, they are going to contribute to that in one way or another, whether it's on the field or as a trade chip for the diamondbacks to get their next, Gabriel Moreno or a veteran outfielder type, like a Lord of Scriel Jr. Well, with Mike Hay isn't sticking around, it feels very much like, it feels very comforting, you know, knowing he's been extended, knowing that he's going to continue to be able to work on this game plan that's led this team to this success right now.

And he's going to continue to work on that. This team isn't a team that's going to ever, I think they're never going to be able to get that big name free agent that's going to completely change things for them. The way that they've built this, the things they've done, especially post-trade deadline and post-trade deadline with the acquisition of certain guys that are kind of like under the radar guys that have really helped this team come around and be consistently good. That's the moves that they need to make. Blake Walson, by the way, also in the Arizona Fall League.

He has not given up a run in three innings pitch. He has a 1.67 whip. So he's been doing well. But a guy that's absolutely been tearing the cover off the ball, Colorado Rockies prospect. Is it Sterling Thompson? He's the man. He's Sterling. My goodness.

Man has a 524 average right now with a 630 on base percentage and 810 slugging. It's 21 at bat, so you don't want to get too crazy. But when you're putting up a 1.440 OPS, you're pretty happy to see Like that's what you want to see your prospect doing in the fall league. Like that's where you're like, let's go. Rockies are real happy about that, you know, partially because he was a supplemental pick that they ended up getting for Trevor Story, signing with Boston. Right?

He's to give him the qualifying office. So they're like, hey, we still got something for Trevor Story. Yeah, for sure. Thompson. For sure. Is that pick SEC guy out of the University of Florida drafted last year in 2022? And he's a player that if he continues to play as strongly as he is right now, you know, long way to go until he's MVP like Noel Maranato was in the 2012.

Arizona Fall League season. But he's a player that could very easily force the Rockies hands and say, you know what? We do need some pitching, so we have to trade from our depth, similar to how the Diamondbacks had four outfielders. So they trade Dalton Bar Show to get something, an old school baseball trade, a challenge trade, if you will. And so, you know, do the Rockies end up having to go out

and say, Brendan Rogers, available in a trade? Ryan McMahon, available in a trade. All of that happens if Sterling Thompson continues to play he has during the Arizona Fall League. There you go. And again, you can see him in so many more. I think it was Elizabeth said she forgot all about it. That's what we're here to remind you.

That's a good reason to forget the Arizona Falling. This is a great reason. It really is. Josh Hunt says he's showing up to Fall League and a polo with a clipboard and a stopwatch so you can get true like royalty. I have a funny story about that. That's the move. I saw like some content creator do this like as a joke where he was recording and

he had like a lav mic on. And like he was like fake like you know like scouting kids. But is that like a little league game. Yes. And my. Yes. My former JV coach was the guy who was arguing with him who walked up to him. And he didn't know the guy's like nephew.

Yeah. My coach's nephew. Yeah. But he was telling my like coach like, no, he just doesn't. You're your kid just doesn't happen. Yeah.

Yes. And my my former coach who I love was a great guy. It was freaking out getting so mad at him. And they had a on video. It's insane. That's. I have seen that. That is, that's funny. Yeah, you get away with that to Arizona Fall League.

Look, if you act like you, you know, you know what you're doing, if you have that swag and that confidence, could open a couple doors, who knows? I mean, I'm a mayor because of that exact reason. That's how I became a mayor? People keep asking like, how did you become mayor of these things? There wasn't a mayor. And I just appointed myself. Derr just acts like he's supposed to be in all these situations and everyone's like,

yeah, he kind of is. Yeah, right. I mean, mayor of postseason. I just declared that. And I mean, no one says told me otherwise. Josh also said fall league takeover when to do that for the fall stars game maybe a little home run derby action for the fall league that was fun we did it last year so I have to run it back again this year so make sure we will get that going on but of

course we thank you guys so much for joining us thank this guy for being here because of course you know Sean Sean abandons me but I you know I have pinch I pinch hitters too I'm not the like the dombacks aren't the only ones with a deep bench I also have a very deep bench but of course we appreciate you being here man Of course. Make sure to check out while you're here, Olegal Pete's. It's our go-to spot. It's our go-to spot in Denver, too.

Is it your go-to spot? We've got one right down the street. That's right. Strongest, are there margaritas the strongest in Colorado, just like they are here? They're great. Got to know, love one, that's your calling card. Do you, how hard do you guys go in the reverse nachos? The reverse nachos.

Okay. Explain? Reverse nachos. It's basically all of the toppings, but you get it in a bowl, chips on the side. It's like a mega dip. Reverse nachos, folks. Why is everybody so much better at this than I am? Sean always had the absolute clutch order.

Now you're telling me about reverse nachos. This is the way to live your life. This is incredible. But yeah, make sure to check out reverse nachos at Illegal Pets, which I'm going to do next time I'm there. They also have all sorts of wonderful food, including bowls, tacos, burritos, custom cocktails, beers,

and don't miss out on the pipe in a hot case. So I'm sure that's a big part of the reverse nachos as well. But check out illegal pizza at your go-to spot. for all your sporting events this fall. Stop by for happy hour, 3 p.m. 8 p.m. every day at all 12 locations. Illegal Pete's the go-to spot for burritos, buddies, and beer for 28 years. And of course, yes, we want to make sure that you guys are all, have your homes decorated well, have your spaces basically in an area where you want to be there all the time.

And a good way to do that is with a wonderful neon sign from our friends at Saturday Neon. It's a company started by two friends and former college roommates that make officially licensed, collegiate LED neon signs. From Colorado. That's right. From Colorado. That's right. And of course, Colorado, a lot of fun things happening with Colorado collegiate sports right now.

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They're beautiful. They glow differently. They definitely glow differently. And they're made with high quality material. and they're also backed by two-year warranty. So I know a lot of people, especially online these days, are hesitant to buy something that might break the minute that you get it. So don't worry about that with Saturday Neon.

You can go to Saturday Nean.com and use code P.HNX for 10% off your order. They will give you free shipping for all orders over $200. Well, we have to go over to Chase Field because today is a workout day. Have to. Have to. Have to. Go talk to Corby and Carol. Go see what's going on with this Diamondbacks team. And of course, we will be back here tomorrow with our pregame show prior to game three of the NLDS. And then we'll be back 10 minutes afterwards with our postgame show.

I'm going to see how much I can get this guy to stick around with me. I know he's here to do work. But I'm just going to convince him not to do that because come join me on the show. But of course, we thank you. You can follow Patrick at Patrick D. Lyons on Twitter. Patrick D. Lyons. Not to confuse with the B or the C Lions, of course. I am at K-Ur-K-Ban with a K.

Of course, Damon is the people's producer. He's the maniac beyond the Mac. You can get him at Damon dog. It's D-A-W-G. We are Damon's dogs. We'll induct him into Damon's dogs. What we do, rough, rough? He gets it.

He doesn't already. I'm an arf guy. Yeah, you're an arf guy. That's fine. That's fine. I like that. We dig it. We respect it.

I like that. Everybody's got to have their own. All dogs have their own bark. Yeah, all dogs are different. All dogs are different. Yeah, that's right. But of course. But there's only one way to say ski-e.

That's right. That's right. See, Patrick. Patrick is going to be a fine. He's going to be a fine replacement for Sean. I'm not letting him go back to Colorado. But we appreciate you guys for checking out the show. Of course, all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Our Twitter account for our shows at PHNX underscore D-Backs. Of course, you know, we'd like to get into hijinks over there. So make sure to join us over there as well. We appreciate your guys time so much. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you watch it with your friends.