PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Bad planning and rain delays bring the MLB Playoffs to a screeching halt

Episode Date: October 18, 2022

The rain in New York has really cooled off an exciting MLB Postseason as we wait to see who advances between the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Guardians, the latter of which has no business being as good as they are with the payroll they currently have.BUY D-BACKS TICKETS HERE: https://gametime.hnyj8s.net/c/3442941/1410622/10874 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports DraftKings: Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now (https://bit.ly/3Jl1dMX), use promo code PHNX and make your first deposit of FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in FREE BETS INSTANTLY! For every leg you add you can boost your winnings up to ONE HUNDRED percent!If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisiscounseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/MI/NJ/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/NH), 888-789-7777/visit http://ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-877-770-STOP (7867) (LA), 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), visitOPGR.org (OR), call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA).21+ (18+ WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/LA/MI/NJ/NY/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. Min. $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. See http://draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.OGeez!: Enter the “Flavoring Life” sweepstakes. One winner will receive 3 bags of OGeez, an OGeez! Hat, a PHNX shirt of your choice, and a PHNX annual membership. Sign up at gophnx.com or visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfIplqDYsxYeiotn5Zc6hRahaX0a5qG99eHVzkhOlGZDRdgUA/viewform. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.Four Peaks: Enter to win the “Toast of the Month” sweepstakes to win a $50 Four Peaks gift card, a PHNX shirt of your choice, and a PHNX annual membership. Go to goPHNX.Com or visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfOabxo8KQxOWwn9wTilMBuTMAJdrL0CaH9lzfuJqgKN9vfSg/viewform Must be 21 or older. Enjoy responsibly.  Bad Birdie: use code “PHNXSPORTS” to take 15% off your next Bad Birdie order! https://glnk.io/7qnq/phnx-sportsMor Furniture: Sit in the same seats we do! Check out https://morfurniture.comUnderdog Fantasy: Sign up for Underdog Fantasy today! Go to the link https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-phnx and use promo code “PHNX” to receive a deposit match up to $100Liquid Death: Get free shipping on all water and merch at https://LiquidDeath.com/PHNX FOCO: FOCO has you covered with the best Arizona Merchandise. Head on over to foco.com. For all non pre-sale items use the promo code “PHNX” for 10% offWhen you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. 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.

It's always sunny in Phoenix. Just saying, anyway, hello and welcome in to another edition of the PHNX Dabax podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia. Of course, I am a Randy Johnson fan, as you can see by my bird murderer shirt. This guy over here is Jesse Friedman, the one and only thunderstick and vice mayor of this very thing we call PHNX. This show is brought to you by the fine folks at the Draf King Sportsbook app, America's top-rated sportsbook app. How you doing? We are fans of Randy Johnson, but not of birds.

But not of birds. is basically what your shirt implies. We're a fan of geese. Don't forget that. We're big geese fans on this podcast. Big geese advocates. And we honestly both think that we should have just let the goose decide who won the ALDS in this point, right? And who advances.

We really had a rain delay yet again. I don't know why the weather on the East Coast can't get it shit together. But now here we are prolonging the inevitable of the guardians advancing to the next round. Wow. Is that what we're, we're a guardian's a hot take. That's a hot take. It's a hot take.

But what are your thoughts? Because I think we both kind of have some feelings about this scheduling and how it ended up playing out in the worst possible way for Major League Baseball. It's not great. Yeah, it's not great. Having to do this twice in one five game series is not a great outcome. So yeah, it's sort of a mess for Major League Baseball to have to do this. I know the Cleveland Guardians have been through.

a lot last night when they went back to their hotel said hotel was overbooked and so they like scattered throughout the city of New York City with you know different players winding up in different spots it was it was not a great outcome for them the other thing is this does give the Yankees sort of a competitive advantage in this series and that sure as opposed to um as opposed to the starting picture that the Yankees were going to have in the game yesterday whose name is currently alluding me for some reason. I'll think of it. Their new starting pitcher is Nestor Cortez, who is an upgrade.

Oh, it's James and Tyone. That's the name I was forgetting. So James and Tyone was going to start. But instead, they get their all-star Nestor Cortez starting this game. Whereas, yeah, whereas the Cleveland Guardians still have Aaron Savali. You could make a case that maybe they could have switched their starting pitcher as well to their game two starter, which was Shane Beaver. Of course, Shane Beaver is probably the best starter that the Cleveland Guardians have.

Not to be confused with Justin Bieber. Not to be confused with Justin Bieber, Bob Costas. But, yeah, it's a difficult situation with Shane Bieber where he's been through a lot from a health standpoint over the last couple of years. I think the Cleveland Guardians are being very cautious with him. And so they're not using Shane Bieber as a starter in this game. So the Yankees sort of get an upgrade in their starter, whereas the Cleveland Guardians do not. So not a great look for Major League Baseball. And at the end of the day, I think this does.

give the Yankees a bit of an advantage. I think the biggest thing here is it was seemingly avoidable. Had they just scheduled game two the next day after game one, like every other series pretty much is gone, right? I know that they do it for scheduling purposes, for TV purposes, for other things. But if you look at the way that this played out, had they just had game two,

the following game one on consecutive days, this mess wouldn't be happening right now. They would have avoided the weather and everything would have gone their way. It's like the baseball gods had to spite them for being greedy with the way that they scheduled the ALDS. But the other thing that we wanted to say, and I think Gabriel Ferreira brought it up in the comments,

is how this, I mean, just imagine having tickets to game two and game five for this series and having this go the way that it did. Not only do you plan it accordingly that you're going to be available for that game, right? But then there's also the idea that when they're rescheduling these games, they're rescheduling them to a completely different time. It's not even like they're scheduling them the next day at the same time. They're scheduling it for like a 1 p.m. start now.

So you have to, you know, take time off work. And as Gabriel said, they're not refunding the fans who can't make the game. So it just, it seems like a pretty terrible situation that is just being exasperated by bad decisions. Yeah, yeah, bad decision, exasperated. by bad decisions. Right. There you go. It just compounds on top of each other.

But it's one thing that we've talked about, the Guardians, of course, being a team that we are rooting for, a team that we have converted our account to being a Stan account for. But there's a good reason for that. When you look at the teams remaining in the playoffs, including the New York Yankees, there's quite the discrepancy between spending when you see the teams that are left and where they currently rank in Major League Baseball for 2020. You have the number three, four, and five team currently left. Yankees possibly facing elimination.

But right there, even there in the middle, the Astros kind of look reasonable at ninth that's spending under $200 million. But you have the Yankees and the Phillies both spending over $2.5 million, $100 million, excuse me, $200 million. And I think the Phillies often are left out of the conversation when we talk about teams spending a lot of money. Like that's kind of incredible to me that they are ranked fourth in all of baseball and spending. And they're a team that barely made it into the playoffs. And right now are kind of that, that, you know, underdog wild card that really shouldn't be based on their payroll. I don't want to say that the Phillies bought their way to the postseason, but they kind of bought their way to the postseason. It is.

But at the same time, I mean, you know, at least they fought their way in. And again, it's not about, I guess, the money that's being spent there as much as it's about, this format of the playoffs and the fact that they were able to get to this point after having the microphones are just falling Jacob after after having the season that they had and barely making it into the wild card but of course looking at that graphic again it really is about the guardians and the fact that they are in the position that they're in up against the Yankees and they are ranked 28th in all of baseball with when payroll right I mean it's yeah that's something that should be encouraging to

Arizona Diamondbacks fans that you can do it without spending the money that teams like the Dodgers and Padres are spending. It's not easy. It's obviously in this case looking at the other teams. It's the exception more than the rule, but it should give some hope that the way that the Diamondbacks are building their future roster and doing it on, you know, based on these young prospects that are coming up trying to turn them into the future superstars, they might be on a similar track as the Guardians. It's wild what the Guardians have done, honestly. Their roster is literally Jose Ramirez, who they signed to a big contract, which honestly

was still not anywhere near what he probably could have gotten on the open market. He really seems to enjoy playing in Cleveland and wanted to stay there. Seven years, 141 million. That's the deal for Jose Ramirez. Other than that, the Guardians are basically just a bunch of like pre-arb and arbitration guys. Right. Like it's all, there's so much homegrown.

talent in that organization. And yeah, it's almost impossible. As much as I want to say the Diamondback should do what the Guardians have done, it's almost impossible to do what the Guardians have done to like build a team that is that has this much talent where so much of it is just coming from within your organization or, you know, guys you've signed on the international market or whatnot. So maybe it's just, you know, Oscar Gonzalez and the SpongeBob thing is kind of making, making the train go in Cleveland.

But, yeah, it's incredible what. they've done. And the fact that they are hanging with a team like the New York Yankees that literally spends about three times, more than three times, I believe what they've spent this season is remarkable. Yep, absolutely. There's a request to give Fage an introduction. And I'm like, since when? What is that about? Like, when did we make this all about the producer? Jacob Franklin, everybody, he's here. I am. Glad to have you here, by the life. You're always I'm well. You're very much alive.

You're the lifeline of this whole studio. Let me tell you. One of these days, I'm going to make a scene where the whole screen starts shaking. There's thunder and lightning. And I'm just going to come on the mic and take over the show completely. As like, God or Faj. Yeah. Same kind of thing.

God, Faj. Yeah, right. Okay. That's terrifying. I don't look forward to that. But Jacob is here. of course, what are your thoughts on what the guardians are doing?

And like Jesse said, obviously the Diamondbacks can't have that. But what do you think? Maybe they could. Maybe they could. But what do you think about them kind of leaning in that direction at this point? First of all, why does Jesse always have to be a hater? That's a great point. The debacks can have

whatever the debacks want to have. Who are you to be the judge of what the debacks can or can't have? I'm not saying they can't. I'm just saying like it's very It sounded like a can't to me. I mean, I'm with them on this one. I'm a realist.

I feel like your negativity really weighs us all down. Jesse, it's the off season for the debacks. So why are we trying to be real here? It's the power of positivity. Are we trying to be real? It's power of positivity. The season just has too much realism in it already, but in the off season just has to be a pie in the sky,

sort of a deal. Let me tell you. A top five farm system in the major leagues would tell you that they can have whatever they want. Are they still a top five farm system? A Madison, bumgarner contract. would tell him they can't. Jesse? Point, counterpoint.

Is this a debate? Out of the studio. Oh, yeah, see, he doesn't. You can't, you can't cast him out. I need him here. Actually, you know what? You can fill in for, Jesse, you can't know. Oh, okay.

All right. But, you know, even if he's not here, you can still read just these wonderful writings on go phnx.com. So do that. Go over to go phtonx. He actually is motioning for me to leave a studio right now. And I'm not. I mean, it's wild.

He's getting someone to, they're just spewing false facts. I'm here for. They're spewing false facts. He is. He is. He's here. But he doesn't spew false facts in his writing.

His writing is the truth. And make sure to read that over at go phtnx.com. If you have an annual membership already, God bless you. If you don't grab one, you'll get yourself a free t-shirt over at the PHNX Locker.com. Did Jesse just call the DeBacks farm system mid? I think he did. I did not. And you guys are the ones who just made the claim that I use false facts, which in itself is a real, that's a heck of a phrase.

false facts. They're called lies in other circles, but whatever. If you're not interested in hearing his lies annually and just want to hear a month-to-month, get down on a month-to-boat subscription. You'll get your first month for just 50 cents. That way you can see if you could tell if he's lying or not, and then read his articles. Of course, you've got all the other wonderful lie. They're false facts on sons, coyotes, everyone else.

Get that over at go p.nx.com. Also, if you get yourself a membership, you'll get members-only access to our Discord, members-only access to certain events as well as member-only discounts over at the PHNX Locker.com. And a shout-out, by the way, to our friends at Underdog Fantasy, because they have been giving me an opportunity to get down on the fantasy play all season long. Of course, I've bragged about my $1,000 win. I also had a $300 win the other day, betting just $5, Jesse. That's all you got to do.

It's a higher or lower pickum. You throw down $5. You decide if you go higher or lower on certain things, especially here during the MLB postseason, pitch counts, scores, home runs, hits, all that kind of stuff over at Underdog Fantasy. More legs you add, the more money you have a chance to win. You can win a ridiculous amount of money over there. And here's the better part is if you sign up right now with promo code PHNX,

you can receive a deposit match up to $100. That's promo code PHS over at Underdog Fantasy. Get in on the action today. And again, yes, Jesse did call the farm system mid. People are still mad about the Dodgers losing. So now it's kind of crossed over. We've seen some hot takes. We've seen some freezing cold takes.

But it's brought up a topic we've discussed in the past about the length of the regular season. and I don't know, I guess like in this case, the importance of the regular season, right? But it's weird to me because this isn't something new, right? Like that's the wildest thing. It's just, it feels like just because a very popular team that has a lot of fans got bounced after having one of the best records in baseball, one of the best records in the national league. I mean, it's sort of new, right? I mean, it's not, though. Not that long ago, the San Diego Padres wouldn't have been a playoff.

team. Well, yeah. You're talking about them getting bounced by a wildcard team like that, right? It's what people wanted, right? It's people wanted expanded playoffs. People wanted more teams in the playoffs and the wildest, major league baseball wanted expanded play. I wanted expanded major league baseball wanted more money from expanded that's fine. Which does benefit the players and it does benefit all of us because there's more teams in the playoffs. No lies detected this. For teams like the Diamondbacks that is that is a good thing. It's a good thing right. And now obviously, like in going forward you know who knows if we're going to see this

maybe they make changes to the schedule to tighten things up whatever the case may be but what I will say is that this postseason has been fun and the reason why is because of the fact that anybody can win once we get into the postseason right that's never been anything new

it's just with the way baseball is laid out with how many teams there are with how many teams make the playoffs it does kind of make the playoffs or the regular season a little unimportant. As long as you get in, you have a chance, right? And there's not really that big of a benefit even to being a top seed. I just think that it's funny that this is becoming like a thing now where really ever since they got rid of like divisional play and started doing interleague play

and everybody playing each other more often, it really did drive down the importance of a regular season. The reason why 162 games mattered was because you played most of them against the other four teams in your division. that decided who would come out of the division, right? Yeah. But in looking at some of the hot takes, Jeremy Frank at MLB random stats tweeted out, the funny part about playoff baseball is that a team can be 22 games better than another over six months of baseball

and completely own them head to head, and it really doesn't matter. Yeah. It's true. Yeah. That's, it's like that in a lot of sports. I mean, to a degree, right?

I mean, I don't think that's, true because like take the NBA for instance we don't really see the elite teams lose that often right sure it does happen but it doesn't happen nearly as often as it does in major league baseball because in baseball is different right like the difference between the elite teams in baseball versus the not so elite teams in baseball is a lot smaller than in basketball right yeah so anybody truly can win any series of yeah like step curry is not going to get bounced by the pelicans or whatever right And just during the course of a season, how many times do we see a team that, quote, unquote, shouldn't win the series, win a series, right?

Right. The Pittsburgh Pirates go into New York and take two out of three from the Yankees and we're kind of like, oh, yeah, it happens, right? And Yankees fans think the sky is falling when it does probably. Right. No, without a doubt, right? But, I mean, doesn't that make it more exciting, though? I mean, the one of the reasons why March Madness is so exciting is because any team can win. Yes, as you whittle things down and you get down in the tournament to, like,

the Elite 8, the final four and things like that, you do try to see number one and number two seeds in there more often than like a 16 seed or whatever making it in. But the fact that they play one game and really any team can catch fire and do something big is what a tournament like that is all about. That's what makes it exciting. Right. In baseball, you do have to be careful though, right? Like if you were to let in, heck, let's use the diamondbacks as an example. If you were to let the 74 and 88 diamondbacks in the postseason, like they could win a series, right? It's not impossible they could win a series.

And completely disrupt the order of what happens. And so there's a reason why in baseball you need the playoffs to be a little bit more exclusive because those kinds of things could happen, right? Whereas like a subpar team in the NBA is not going to beat one of the top seats, right? You just know that there's no way that's possibly going to happen. This is what Keith Oberman had to say. He said, I like the fills way more than the Braves. I've come to dislike the Dodgers, and Bob Melvin is a friend of mine.

But if the NLCS is a third place team that ended 11 out versus a team that ended 22 out, either the playoffs are screwed up or the season is just there to empty your wallet. Right? I don't think, I don't think the empty your wallet comment is necessarily the case or the plan, but it might be where we're at now, right? And I say that because, again, the 162 game season was there for a reason. was there for a reason at one point. Now it's just there because that's how long it is,

because we're used to it, because that's what a baseball season is, right? It's 162 games. You're going to go on your rant about shortening. I'm not. I'm just saying, though, like, it's not even a matter. Guys, Derek thinks that people will like baseball more if they only play like 120 games.

Why? Let me ask you this. Why do most people lose interest during the course of a baseball season? Because of how long it is? Because of how many games played it is? Because of how long. individual games are. No, bullshit.

Because if you go watch a baseball game, you're going to be there for three hours and ten minutes and people don't like that. Not because of the number of games that they play. No, man. People went and watch Batman, the Batman. That was three hours long almost. That's fucking a baseball game right. Right, right.

But you're just making my point. I am not making my point. That is an individual, like Batman is more analogous to an individual baseball game that's too long. Not an entire season of baseball games, right? The problem isn't that we're playing too many of them. Gabriel, in the comment says the NBA is 82 games and everyone says the regular season doesn't matter

even with the with in an 82 game season right true here's the thing is that we've just again it's not that oh people are going to like it more or whatever I just think people would be more interested in it if it was shorter you know what I mean if it wasn't how short what what number what number do you have in your head you could shave off 42 fucking games Jesse and people wouldn't miss it they wouldn't blink an eye 120 I'm not I'm not saying it 160 game first half, 60 games. I'm not saying that I don't think 120 games is like a way worse product or anything. No.

I'm not, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that if you bring the season from 162 games down to 120, you're not going to suddenly like pick up all these millennials who didn't have interest in baseball. Suddenly they're going to be so captivated by it because there's only 120 of them instead of 162. Fucking that. And then the robot homes. So when I say robot arms, I've already told you the ones with the laser cannons on their shoulder, real robots, not a camera. I want a real robot arm.

If they had that, then people would have, yeah, all the millennials would walk to Major League Baseball. And then, like, if you argue with him, then he fights you? You don't want to fight a robot. Come on. Like, there's no person there to get injured except the player. And they're choosing that battle by arguing with the robot. We'll give him a weapon. It'll be fine.

He can keep the bat. He can keep the bat. But, yeah, no, I mean, part of this is funny for me is because I feel like people are just really mad about the potteries and the Phillies being in the position. they're in and that's crazy to me like that to me is not the problem with the postseason or the regular season that's the excitement and fun of a team catching fire as jesse said uh have the podres been a sleeping giant all year long i mean yes they finished 22 games out from the dodgers but the dodgers had an incredible season and they finished fucking 22 games in front of most teams in baseball i've just always felt that the podre's roster just had way more talent than what their record really showed

throughout the year. I agree. Especially once they required Juan Soto, right? Yeah, once they got Juan Soto, it was like, okay, I mean, what more, like, what other aspect of this team could possibly be improved. We knew they had great starting pitching. We knew that both. The starting pitching was never a question.

Then they traded for Josh Hader, which seemed like the only crazy. Like that, that seemed gluttonous. That seemed like unnecessarily selfish. It was like, okay, we get it, AJ Preller. Yeah, right. You want everything. Like, you want everything that is available on the market to be yours. But let me ask you.

this though. It like it moves like that end up putting the team where they're at because they solidified their bullpen in a way that here against the Dodgers, that exact man that they unnecessarily traded for came into the game against the heart of the order and fucking knocked it out and you know close the game and they won

right after coming back. I just I don't know who to cheer for here. I feel like I can't cheer for the Padres even though I kind of have been cheering for the Padres. I think a lot of Diamondbacks fans kind of been like vicariously living through Padres We had a tweet sent to us that said we could jump on the bandwagon.

I did not like that. I don't like being tweeted to told I could jump on the Padres bandwagon. Against the Dodgers, of course. Every guy in the Vax fan is going to support the Padres. Once we get to the next round. Yeah, things get a little difficult. Padres or Phillies is pretty tough. I did enjoy the cheese steaks in Philly, so I might have to pick up on that.

But here's the thing is Thundersticks hunch here is that very same want. Soto is going to have himself a big NLCS? I have a feeling that, and how do you know this, Derek? I've been talking to you. I keep notes. I know what you say. I keep all your text message. Derek just stares in my soul and can just tell that I think Juan Soto is going to have a

big NLCS. And he's absolutely right. I do think that Juan Soto is going to have a big NLCS. He wasn't that great in the Dodgers series, honestly. Trent Christian wasn't great. Jake Croninworth had some big hits. Mani Machado had some big hits. Juan Soto wasn't really the story.

in any of these games between the Dodgers and the Padres. He did have a big hit in game four that sealed the deal, a big RBI single. But yeah, we haven't seen Juan Soto fully breakout with the San Diego Padres, right? It's sort of been a storyline since that trade happened initially. Juan Soto with the Padres has been hitting around 240, you know, and he has a good on-base percentage.

He always does because he walks a ton. But some of the power numbers that we saw from him with the Nationals, just haven't been there since coming over to San Diego. I think he might be starting to get a little bit more comfortable. Now that he's realizing like, hey, I'm part of a baseball team that just beat the freaking Los Angeles Dodgers after they won 111 regular season games. Like, let's do this. You know, I think the fact that he didn't have to be the guy in that series, I think might instill a little bit more confidence. Just knowing that not everything rests on his shoulders, maybe there was a little bit of pressure when he first came

over to San Diego that, you know, I have to be the savior of this team. I have to do everything myself. There's a lot of pressure. His trade, that transaction was the biggest news in baseball, right? Yeah. And you're right. You come over and there's a there's a high expectation for you to perform. Not to mention the fact that you've already felt that pressure on your shoulders for like the last two years with the Washington Nationals. So it just comes down to now you being on a team where you aren't necessarily the guy. You are a top guy. You are one of the best players on the team. And but it doesn't rely on you. So that lack of pressure, that lack of, you know, overthinking things or maybe trying

too hard might lead to that success. He's just so good. I mean, Juan Soto is just so good. And you know the moment that he just kind of gets comfortable and maybe gets his confidence back a little bit. I think it's kind of been floundering for him over the last few months. He's going to be Juan Soto again. And that's terrible.

It's only a matter of time. And it is absolutely terrifying. It's terrifying to think of that team being a long-term team. with not only Juan Soto, you know, being, being his old self. But, you know, still just imagine being Fernando Tatis right now, right? Fernando Tatis Jr. gets to watch all of this from the sidelines, knowing that the reason why he's there is because of the dumbass mistakes he's made multiple times, not just one, multiple decisions, right?

I mean, it's kind of obviously the circumstances were different, but it reminds me of the Braves last year where they won the World Series without Ronald Acuna. It was supposed to be like, like, like, yeah, possibly the best player on their team. and he was just kind of sitting on the sidelines. It is terrifying, though, to think of how good the Padres would be. He's back? Oh, my gosh. He should be.

Apparently, he just had another surgery. He just had a wrist surgery that I don't think was originally part of the plan. But, yeah, apparently he's supposed to be ready for opening day of next year. A lineup with Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis, and Mani Machado is utterly horrifying. Is he allowed to play? on opening day? How many, how many days is he suspended for? Because that carries into next year as well.

That's absolutely a good point. Doesn't matter. He'll be back at some point. He'll be back at some point. He'll be back. All of his injuries killed. He'll find a way to not be back. Jacob says he'll find a way to not.

He'll find a way. He'll find a way. Let's hope. No, that's a great point. He won't, yeah. He won't be back for opening day. Thanks for reminding me of that. But he's going to be back eventually, theoretically,

because he's signed an absurdly long contract with the San Diego Padres. He's going to be a Padre again and show what he can do on the field again at some point. Gabriel Farrer gives us our only hope and he says at least the Padres are losing half their pitching staff next year. You know that they're just going to upgrade. That's all that's going to happen. They're just going to get better somehow. But of course, for Fernando Tatsis Jr., not only missing this amazing postseason run, but most of the season and definitely opening day next year, he gets our OG's performance to forget.

shout out to Fernando Tatis Jr. For getting our performance to forget without even playing in the playoffs, but I think he deserves it. And definitely, he would probably like to get down on some OGs so he too can forget what he has done and how this season has gone.

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variety of doses, strains, everything they have to offer over at OGsbrands.com and on Instagram at OG's brands must be 21 years or older to purchase. And speaking of being 21 years or older, make sure you get this time, you don't have a lot of time. It's spoopy season. We love spooey season. We love going out, getting down on the haunted houses. There's no better haunted house to do that at than one that you can drink a beer while walking through it. Get down to the A Street Pub for Peaks Brewery Company and check out their Honda Brewery tours. It made Saul run like a small child. You can do that too Monday through Wednesday, two tours per night. Must be 21 years or older to enjoy the beer, but not to go to the 8th Street pubs. Make sure to check out their website for more

information on that. And if you don't get a chance to go out there, grab their beers wherever you get your beers and enjoy responsibly. Jesse, there's Arizona Fall League. Okay, can we, I want to talk about the Arizona Fall League, but can I go on like a quick rant first about what we were talking about earlier. I absolutely not. I'm not to do that. No, we're out of time for that. Okay, well, I'm going to do it anyway.

Oh my God, he's hijacking the show. I'm absolutely hijacking the show. So I talked about earlier how like there's a reason the major league baseball needs to keep the playoffs fairly exclusive because we do see like if the debacks were in the playoffs, which I think we can all agree, they probably shouldn't be, right? If the debacks were in the, oh my gosh, here we go. If the Diamondbacks were in the postseason, they would have a shot to win a series against a very good team, right? So there's a reason that you have to go through the process of making the MLB postseason a little bit more exclusive, right?

You can't just let any team in there. Otherwise, you are going to have a 162 game season that means nothing. And I do think that there's some value in preserving the weight of what that season means. On the flip side, Derek, and this is a really good point that J.J. Cooper over at Baseball America, made with an article that he wrote yesterday, which I think is very, very important to factor into all of this. If you have a team like the Los Angeles Dodgers going into the playoffs after winning 111 games and you set up the playoffs so that they have an easy path to winning, right?

He's what a lot of people want. A lot of people are saying the Dodgers, right, the Mets, the Braves, these teams that want 100 or more games that got bounced in the playoffs, you know, because of a three game or a five game series, it seems like it's just so easy for these teams to get bounced. The flip side is that Major League Baseball has a big problem, right? Major League Baseball has some teams that spend three times as much on their rosters as other teams, right? And so the only way to bring everything into balance is in the playoffs to make it so that those teams that spent $300 million can get bounced in a three game series or a five game series or whatever it is, right? And there are still

systems in place, like the Dodgers got a first round by, right? It wasn't like they didn't have any advantages. It was a five-game series, not a three-game series that bounced the Dodgers. But you absolutely have to have this if you're Major League Baseball. You have to make it so that teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers can get bounced in the playoffs without anything super crazy happening, right? Jacob's just making the camera go closer and closer and closer. And I'm just going to keep saying that this is what Major League Baseball has always needed to happen. Right. Major League Baseball absolutely needs it to be the case that in the postseason, teams that spend absurdly on their rosters and win a hundred or more games year after year like the Los Angeles Dodgers do, you need to put those teams in a spot where they can lose it in a five game series, right? It's the only way to keep things interesting for other teams in the league. Did you agree with me that whole time? Was that what that whole thing was about? Yeah. See, I felt like, I felt like the way we had the initial conversation, I was just like disagreeing with everything you said.

But I really do agree with a lot of what you said. I just needed to temper it with the fact that you also need to make sure the playoffs are somewhat exclusive. No, and I get it. Because you can't have any team in there. I mean, you and I had the discussion about 12 teams or 14 teams before this season. And we felt like 14 was the point where you tip it. I think 14 is too much.

It's too many. Yeah, 14 is too much. And 12 is probably right there. Yeah, 12 is as high as I would go. I would keep it as it is. And I would be overjoyed as we are right now. And teams like the Phillies and teams like the San Diego Padres overcome the odds and beat teams that were ranked higher than them, right? Teams that I guess Phillies and the Padres, they both spent a lot.

So they're not the best examples of this. But what they are is a lower seat. They're a lower seat, right? The Brewers could have made it in over the Phillies. Hell, the giants, they spent a lot of money, but they're still not nearly as much money as the Phillies. There were several teams that were right there in the wildcard hunt up until the last two weeks of the season. that could have made it instead of the Phillies or even made it instead of the Padres, right? So that's what's beautiful is, yes, they didn't quite make it, but teams like the Diamondbacks,

teams like certain other teams, they feel like they're on the cusp of being able to do that. Should they be able to make that extra step and make it into the playoffs, then anything is possible. And like you said, this year, the way it was structured, I just don't, the only disadvantage was the one that we discussed, which is, is it actually an advantage to have a layoff versus playing baseball? Which is a very valid question. That's the only thing. Is it an actual advantage for the teams that are the top seed to have that three-day, four-day, five-day layoff while they're waiting for that wildcard round to finish up? Yes, to most people, yes.

After you play 162 games, having some rest and being able to reset your starting rotation should absolutely be an advantage. But this is fucking baseball. And baseball is so weird because of these kind of things. Like the idea of putting your mindset into that daily grind and going out there and not really having that day off can make you a better hitter, can make you a better pitcher, can make you a better defender because you're just kind of in that habitual mode where you are just doing the things. And I kind of brushed that off early. I remember you were making this case. And I was like, eh, I don't know if I really buy that teams, you know, teams that weren't playing for a few days or had a few days off were, you know, coming out flat because of it. But the results say maybe there really was something there.

And we've seen it in the past, not to this degree, but in cases where one team sweeps another team and the other, the team they're facing goes to seven games. And there might be a delay or there might be an extra, you know, however many days because of a travel and other things like that that cause us to get to this point where a team just has a long layoff unnecessarily. And you don't know how it impacts that team in baseball. Right. But with that being said, we aren't about Major League Baseball anymore, even though we talked

about it this whole episode. We're all about Arizona Fall League because it's always sunny in Phoenix and we are your fall guys. So of course, since we went out and visited our friends, the Salt River Rafters, they are four and one in their last five games after not winning a game all year long. You're welcome.

You're welcome, Jordan Lawler, who continues to have a monster fall league currently hitting 300 on base percentage of 488, slugging 600 with an OPS of 1.088. That's wild.

Two home runs, but he's doing it mostly with getting on base a lot. He's been on base a lot. As we talked about, we've seen him walk a lot. We've seen him get hit by pitches. He's just a guy that gets on base and tends to make things happen. But he's also come up very big for this team in critical situations. And it's just been fun. It's been fun to watch.

Again, there's still a lot. He's still a work in progress. You know, you're going to go out there and see probably some defensive mistakes or maybe even some, you know, some growing pains. But, yeah, we have seen that. That's what these reps are all about. And I think we've said that before. But it's a lot of fun. And they are playing tonight at 635 and we're going to be out there.

So if you guys want to head out to an Arizona party. Does that mean, you know, I'm kind of nervous. Like, does that mean that we're going to reverse like the good mojo? No. We empower them. It's like, uh, it's like earth's yellow sun to Superman, right? Like it makes them stronger. Like us being the closer we are to the rafters, the more powerful they are.

The closer they are to God. The closer they are to God. Yes, exactly. But of course, he's not the only prospect that's out there. There's a couple of other guys that have been having a pretty good for the Arizona Diamondbacks organization on the Salt River Raptors. Yeah. I mean, Jordan Lawler is definitely stuck out, I think, like, far above everyone else who's been out there,

which is sort of what we maybe expected. I mean, Jordan Lawler is an absolute stud. He's the number 13 ranked prospect in all of baseball for a reason by MLB Pipeline. But yeah, other guys have looked good. Kyle Backus. Kyle Backus, two points. 08 ERA, right? And I mean, it's only four in a third innings pitch, but he's come out strong.

And I think even when we've seen him getting a little bit of trouble, he's been strong about getting out of jam. So it's good to see a prospect of that. Statcast is convinced that his sinker is a changeup, which still irritates me. It's like if he throws it at like 91 miles an hour or harder, then it identifies it as a sinker. but if it's anything below 91, then Statcast says it's a change-up. So don't be fooled if you're using game day or whatever to track ball league games. Isn't that kind of how pitches actually are, though?

Like, sometimes pitches are depending on what they do. Like, yeah, you might want it to be a slider, but if it's not sliding, is it a slider? You know what I mean? Like, I don't know. That's fair. I guess it's the pitch grip, you know, but you're saying that like if I were to. They'd all be change-ups.

Yeah. They probably would all be change-ups. Yeah. That's just the way that works. And they wouldn't move at all. Maybe even Ephis pitches. I don't know. Yeah.

I mean, I don't know. I asked you the other day how hard you could throw and you didn't really have a good answer for me. I don't. I don't know. I'm still kind of curious how hard. I would guess 60 miles an hour. I would guess faster than that. I think you could throw.

I think most, most like adults in, in like decent shape can probably throw like 65. In decent shape. Yeah. You're in decent shape. I feel like I'm in above average shape. Am I not?

Okay, so by decent, by decent, I mean solid. By decent, I mean good. Do we kick him off now? Oh, my God. I mean, I'm fucking down now. I mean, shit. Speaking of Ephis pitches, by the way, Zach Granky was just a regular dad, by the way, during the postseason.

Came across this little gem of Zach Granky. This is from his wife, Emily, who said, first MLB game in the stands for this guy, had the best time taking the boys to Seattle to cheer our friends on for a long 18-innings game. They were there for that double header that wasn't really a double header. But it's this part that everybody's delighted about. Only Zach could fly under the radar with his fishing hat and Bass Pro sweatshirt all day. P.S. Our love for our best friends does not change the love we will always have for our Astros friends too.

Yes, Zach Grankey there in the big hat and the bath. Nobody's guessing that Zach Rankie. How do you not? No, no, no, no, no, no. How do you not recognize Zach Granke at baseball? If you're going to a playoff game, you at least like baseball somewhat, right? Like a lot of those, a lot of the people at playoff games, I feel like really like baseball. Okay.

Right? Yeah. Like a regular season game, you'll probably catch some people that are like, I'm just here for the drinks. But this is in Seattle where he's never played. Sure. Right. But it's astro. People might not recognize him as much in Seattle.

People would have recognized him in Houston. It was the astros. Yeah. People probably would have. I'm not saying that not. I'm just saying, oh, Zach Granke is an incredible human. The problem is, is that when you see someone that looks like a famous person, you think you're the crazy person. You're like.

Is that? No. There's no way Zach Granky would be sitting in what? Row 19 of section what? G? No way. This guy wouldn't be just here in a bass pro fishing. You overthink it.

You head ass it. That's the problem. You do that all the time. And then you have stuff like the L.A. Kings doing the comparison game that they did the other day where they're comparing people in the stadium to Dodgers players and then they compared Al-Tubei to a trash can. That really backfired on them, by the way. That's hilarious. Maybe you worry about the Padres first before you worry about the pastures.

You know how they do like celebrity shoutouts like on the big screen. Oh yeah. Yeah. Could you imagine how they just threw up there? How horrified Zach Rankie would be. What up, Zach Rankie? He shows up in his like little dad hat and everything. Oh, I hope they went to him next time.

That would be, that would be pretty mean. Keep an eye off with Zach Rankin at all times. You never know when he could be the guy sitting next to you on a bus. Of course, we thank our friends of the Draft King's Sportsbook app for making this show possible. And if you are a new customer to Draft King's Sportsbook app, download it now use our code of PHNX, bet $5 on any NFL team to

win their game, and should they win, you will get an additional $200 in free bets on top of your winnings. But if that's not enough, you can also do a stepped-up same-game parlay. The more legs you add, the more money you win, and on the stepped-up same-game parlay, you can boost your winnings up to 100%. No reason to go anywhere

else besides the Draft King's Sportsbook app. Same game parlays are available once per game day all season long, and it's this simple. Download the Draft King Sportsbook app. Use our promo code of PHNX and get yourself some free bets. Minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply.

See show notes for details. And I bet Zekranke bought his tickets on game time. Oh, I'm sure he does. He wasn't a Houston Astros game. I'm sure he doesn't have the flex to get tickets for free at every park, right? Especially when he goes up to the counter dress like that. They're not even going to believe that that's actually Zat Granky. If you've made as much money in your career,

career Zach Ranky does, you can't get free tickets. No, you can't. No, you don't. No, you know, you absolutely don't. So you buy your tickets on game time. You get 60% off. Do what Zach Rankie does. Do that.

Do what we do because it's the best way to buy tickets for procrastinating to events. Again, I tell you guys, I double triple booked myself. November 12th, I have to be a commissioner at a wrestling show and then also go see Elton John, right? That's a huge mistake that I made on my part. I have no choice but to do both of those things in one night. Had I known, Elton John has two nights. I could have gotten tickets for the other night. You wait till the last minute.

You can make these decisions. Save up to 60%. I'll see you guys at Chase Field, by the way, for Elton John. That was my way of saying that. But, of course, make sure if you go to that show, buy your tickets last minute. On GameTime, the best way to support us is by Bearing, buying your tickets through the link in the description below.

Bearing your tickets. Bearing your tickets. You guys, this is what happens when I drink coffee and not a beer. It's on my mind. I can't wait to get done with this show so I can go out my hop-not IPA. What did you have to say over there, Faj? It's sick flex, bro. Thanks.

Thanks. You pipe down over there, right? I've had enough out of you. Anyway, we thank you guys for being here, of course. I thank Fodge for everything he does for us, of course. And Jesse needs to get the hell out of here. But in the meantime, you can follow us on Twitter. I am at K-Back underscore K-Ban with a K.

You just want to do this tomorrow by yourself? Is that what you're saying? I mean, I can. I wouldn't be by myself because I have Fodge. She's always here. He's always watching over me. No, you're like dissing Fives now, too. We're just both going to leave you tomorrow.

That's a little different than telling you. you to get out. Should we let him end the show by himself, Jesse? Should I even fucking give you guys a shout out here at the end or what? No, should I not? I'm going. You better tell you better tell people how to follow me on Twitter. Fine.

I'm a cap underscore K. And me. He's a Jesse and Friedman. That guy's a Jacob underscore Franklin 4? Got it. Yeah. But all the roads lead to at PHNX underscore Dbacks and at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter Instagram and Facebook. I'm thrilled that I finally remembered its Twitter handle. Of course, we thank you

guys for joining us on behalf of Faj, Jesse and myself. We always appreciate your time. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's more fun when Zach Granky is hiding in the crowd like where's Waldo?