PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Greinke to Victory?

Episode Date: October 20, 2021

On this episode, Jesse and Derek are talking Dodgers pivotal win in game 3 of the NLCS, spying on Zack Greinke starting in game 4 of the ALCS, and all the joys of Arizona Fall League. 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 to the PHNX DBEX podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, known around these parts as the mayor of PHNX, just like I'm getting rid of the occasionally part. Thank you guys so much for joining us. Of course, this show is brought to you by the Draft King Sportsbook app. Go download the Draft King Sportsbook app now. Use our code of PHNX and simply for betting $5 on any NFL team. You will get $200 in free bets as long as that team wins. And let me tell you,

I talked about this on the audio podcast yesterday, but the Cardinals, I think, are favored by 17 points. So if you're looking for a surefire win, I don't know of a bigger spread than that this weekend. So go bet your $5 on our Arizona Cardinals. Let's go all AZ. Joining me, of course, is my friend, my co-host. He is the vice mayor of PHNX. It's Jesse Friedman. Derek, I'm kind of jealous of your iPhone today. That's really all I can think about right now. Hey, you want to know something? Let me tell you.

I had some nice videos going out there at the Arizona Fall League. And they were enjoying our presence out there. It was great to be out there and get just baseball just right directly into my veins, Jesse, fresh from the source. And, you know, it was, I don't know, it kind of, to me, feels like a minor league all-star game a bit. what I mean. Like, yes, they're, they're prospects, but a lot of these guys I've heard a lot about over the last few years. So it was great to see them, uh, you know, up front and, you know, right in front of my face. It was, it was awesome. Great, great time today. And yes, some great

videos. You guys all bullied me into getting an iPhone. And so there, there, that's what you get. You're not, I don't think you regret it right now, Derek. I think you're pretty pretty dang happy with that decision right now. No, actually my battery has lasted all day. It's still at 46%. So just that alone makes I feel very confident about my decision. But I will tell you who's not very confident right now, Jesse, and that's the Houston Astros in their series against the Boston Red Sox. They were blown out 12 to 3. Boston takes the two to one lead.

They're playing tonight. And the Astros have turned to former friend, ex-Arizona Diamondback, Zach Granky on the mound. And of course, we can't talk about one of our exes without doing a little bit of spying on our exes. So we're spied on our exes, even in the playoffs. And in this case, it's Zach Granky's first start at this point. How's he doing, Jesse? Not so well in the first inning from my understanding. Yeah, well, about that, Derek. We already talked just before, just before hopping on, we talked about how he gave up a two-run homer. The Houston Astros yankton. Zach Rankie is no longer in the game as we

speak right now. That was a short. That was a short hook. Brooks Rayleigh, it looks like. Yeah, yeah. He got one out in the second inning. And he walked three batters all together in an inning and a third just didn't really have good stuff today. And yeah, not a great day for former Diamond Backsack Rankie. Well, let's take a look at what he's done in the postseason entering

today. He only pitched one inning against the Chicago White Sox in relief. He gave up two hits and one strikeout, but no runs. Obviously not terrible, but that's just literally one inning. But let's take a look at his regular season numbers as well this season with with the Astros.

11 and 6. Not great numbers as far as his ERA is concerned, and his strikeouts per 9 were his lowest since his rookie season in 2004 when he was, I think, had 6.4 strikeouts per 9. So it feels, Jesse, just like at this point, not discrediting Zach Granke because I think he did an excellent job of just adapting, you know, his skill set to, you know, still be effective at an older age.

but it kind of feels like at this point the Diamondbacks are coming out a bit on top as far as that trade is concerned and what they received in return for him. I know a lot of those guys haven't played at a major league level yet, but what do you feel about that trade now? Granky is starting to show his age,

which for a while, I don't know about you, Derek, but I was like, maybe this guy, like maybe this guy's going to pitch until he's 45. You know, 88 and somehow he's still effective. his velocity actually dipped lower than ever last season. It's ticked up a little bit this year. Last season, he was throwing 8788 on his, for his average four-seeing basketball.

And he was better last year than he was than he's been this year. I mean, he was a totally serviceable major league starter for the Astros last year, and really a pretty darn good one overall. But at some point, I mean, this was sort of inevitable, right? I mean, Zach Rankie is 37 years old now. I mean, 37 years old. To be doing to be doing. what he is doing even at this age. Sorry, I'm not, I mean, I know. I'm not trying to have it on the

man-staped ad later. That's fine. You get all your age jokes in now, youngster. Go ahead. 37-year-old. He's an ancient 37-year-old. And, uh, you can finish up. He's an ancient 37-year-old. And unlike you, Derek, he's starting to show it when he's on. Hey, I like that. You brought it back. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, no. but you're right about that. And I think that again, it's still, it's still to be seen based on what, you know, the debacks got in return. But it seems like now they got, they got a lot in return for a guy that might not have had a lot left in his career. So I mean, they, they might end up coming out on top, as far as that trade is concerned. I really like Josh Rojas a lot. His story, his connection to the

valley. I think at times are somewhat worth it alone, you know, and, and the, of, the, of the, younger guys that we haven't seen yet, their return could just be enough to put it over the top as far as I'm concerned. But I know, Josh Rojas knows that Granky. So I'm not even going to kind of go there. But what do you think, though, now considering what moves the Astros are having to make, are you seeing this series as being done already with the offensive output that Boston's been able to have at the plate? I don't know if I would say done. But I think it is, I mean, honestly, it's crazy, Derek. Just a few days ago, we were looking at the Braves Dodgers series and this series between Boston and Houston. And it almost seemed like a foregone conclusion that we were going to be

looking at another Astros Dodgers World Series. And, you know, we basically said that's what we were expecting. And we also said it with the caveat that, you know, baseball is weird and things happen. And sure enough, Derek, baseball is weird and things happen. And the Dodgers have used eight pitchers in this game today that for a while looked like they might not win. Now I know Cody Bellinger just hit a three run home run in this game. The Dodgers have now taken the lead. The Dodgers are now ahead, six to five here. Wow.

That's a double. So, I mean, I guess Dave Roberts is really, I mean, he's really gone for it, man. I mean, when it comes to using his bullpen and throwing out every arm he possibly could into this series, and it looks like it actually might pay off in what has been a wild game three. of the NLCS. The Dodgers are like Halloween starring, you know, with Michael Myers. And I don't mean they're like Michael Myers. I mean, they're like the movies.

They're going to keep coming no matter what. They're going to keep coming out and they're going to keep coming after you. And I felt like even if the Dodgers went down 3-0 in this series, that of all teams that had a chance to come back, it would be the Dodgers, right? Just give them a chance to kind of reshuffle the deck, get their starting rotation back, correct, you know, back right after what they had to do in that giant series and, you know, kind of come at the Braves with, you know, their, their lineup corrected overall. This game did not seem like anything was going in the Dodgers direction, even though it started

off in the first, first inning with the two run home runoff, Charlie Morton. Yeah, Charlie Morton was a met. I mean, he walked three or four in the first inning, I think. It was his first, it has thrown, he's thrown four. 400 curveballs, 400 curveballs in the postseason without one, without one being hit for a home run until today. That's nuts. Yeah. He has a good one.

I mean, Charlie Morton's curveball. I mean, there's a reason this guy has logged as many postseason innings as he has. He is, he is something else. But here we go again, Derek. I mean,

Cody Bellinger, this kid is not, I mean, he had a horrible regular season. And when I say horrible, like, that is not an understatement. I mean, there's a lot of teams that might have even started,

uh, started benching Cody Bellinger even more so than the Dodgers did. I think they kind of stuck with him a little bit more than, than some teams would have in a postseason chase. And they stuck with him and in the playoffs, my gosh, it has paid dividends for the Dodgers. Huge three run home run in this game. And now the Dodgers have the lead. So Cody Bellinger, I mean, keeping us, you know, keeping us guessing he's, uh, another local, another local guy, Chandler high school.

So yeah, there you go. That's a managerial move too, right? A managerial move is, you know, again, something that we've seen Tori Lovolo do, giving guys opportunities even when they were hitting below 200, just trying to allow them to get back right and get to that point where they can be productive again. Just hit out of the slump. Lovolo having his experience as a player, you know, you have that thing about him when he, you know, when he knows how to kind of let a player do.

what they do because they, you know, not give up on them, right? And Charlie Morton is absolutely like a weird fine wine. I don't understand how he's, how he did this. He aged like that in this game, right? It looked for a minute like he wasn't going to be as effective as he ended up being. It didn't look like he was going to last nearly as long. I think he was, he was over 50 pitches, I think midway through the third inning. So it just, it didn't look like his day was going to go the way it went. and it didn't look like things were going to turn the Dodgers direction like they have, as you have now told me. And I'm sitting here mentally dealing with as I was watching a 5-2 game when I left my house.

So I can only imagine how Braves fans feel right now. But again, I wonder if there was any prop bets on Draft King Sportsbook in regards to Charlie Morton throwing a curveball for a home run. But you can find out all sorts of fun prop bets on the Draft King Sportsbook app. Use our code of PHNX. And again, for betting $5 on any NFL game, you will get $200 in free bets as long as that team wins. Go Cardinals. Also, you can, you know, jump in on the same game parleyes.

I know I've adopted the official mayor of Phoenix, but I'm also, you know, Mr. Parlay. And I've been doing nothing but parley's lately. Same game parlayes on drafting sports book have been an absolute blast. I really enjoyed missing my last one and then going on the bets pot. yesterday and just trying to do my best not to scream at the entire New York Giants team for going for a completely unnecessary two-point conversion at the end of the game to push my parlay for me winning $200 to losing the money I invested for the over going from 48 to 49, which I took the under.

Thank you very much to the New York Giants. I hate you all and I don't understand why that was necessary. You were getting blown out. You were getting blown out. Explain yourself. Who had money on the game? I'm just, I'm sorry. But anyway, you can go get your same game parlay.

Hopefully you don't get your heartbroken like I did. I was told to go with the over all the time. I was wrong about the under. So you can do whatever you want with your bet. Remember, Draft Kings is safe, secure, and reliable. Best of all, you can deposit and withdraw your cash whenever you want. I did it like 15 times on Sunday. But go download the Draft King Sportsbook app now and use our promo code of PHNX.

And you will get that $200 in free bets, as long as the team that you bet $5 or more. wins their game. 21 and over only, Arizona only, gambling problem. Dial 1,800 next step. New customers only, eligibility restrictions apply. See draft kings.com slash sportsbook for details. And also see go PHNX.com for more details as far as checking out the work that we have coming up. I have a piece coming to the website on our friend Alec Thomas from up in Reno, kind of analyzing whether or not he's the real deal. And, you know, again, I talked about the piece from Sunday,

but I really enjoyed the NLDS and what it took out of the Dodgers. I was hoping to see that continue and see them go down three nothing. But it appears that it's not going to happen. It'll be interesting to see if this particular game turns the tide in the series. Coming back from a deficit like this that late, it can really change its momentum. And again, I know Mike Farron doesn't believe in momentum, but I believe in momentum,

them, especially in a playoff series. So we'll see what happens. But go become a member over at go phnx.com. You can become an annual member and you will get one of our absolutely lovely t-shirts for free from the PHNX Locker over at phnx locker. Or choose a month-to-month membership and you will get your first month an appetizer for 50 cents. And then after that, like I was told, it's two tall caramel macchiados and not just one,

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It's ever-changing. We have a new one coming out tomorrow. So keep your eyes peeled, especially if you are already a member. And if you're not, join tonight and get on the new deal tomorrow. become part of the family. Jesse, let's talk a little bit more, though, about this ALCS and NLCS. It seems like, again, the Boston series is really going in the Red Sox favor. But do you think at this point the Dodgers, the Dodgers have anything to worry about?

I mean, especially if they win this game, do you see them being actually in a position to be the favorites come out of the series, even though they'll be down two to one? Yeah, I think so. It really pains me to say, Derek, but. It's true, though, right? It's crazy that a team that's down in a playoff series, especially statistically that usually the team that's down two to one, you know, it doesn't come out to win it. It just, if there's a team that's going to do it, it's this team.

Yeah. And I mean, I don't think it's even, at least from my perspective, it's not even as much momentum as it is the Dodgers are just the better team. And if the Dodgers were going to lose today, if they, I mean, I guess it's still possible. If they were to lose here in the ninth inning, as Kenley Jansen is on the mound right now against Austin Riley, it is, it is possible that they could come back from a three zero deficit. Not very, not very likely, right? But in a two one deficit, with them down two games to one, I mean, the chance, that means the Dodgers need to win two games, right? They only need to win two games in order.

or sorry, they need to win three games. I can count. I promise, Derek. I was, I was ready. Sure. Sure, Jesse. They would need to win three games, right? And they could even allow the Braves to take a game along the way.

And I mean, the Dodgers winning three out of four games against the Atlanta Braves is not necessarily the most unlikely thing. I mean, if you play four games between the Dodgers and the Braves, the Dodgers taking three out of four is almost, almost maybe what you'd expect even. I mean, they're clearly the better. team of the two. So I don't want to discredit what the Braves have done. This is, in my mind, this is not a story of the Dodgers are just so banged up from the giant series, and we shouldn't give the Braves any credit for anything. But, I mean, this really would put the Dodgers in, in my mind, a pretty good position to come away with this series. I think the most impressive thing, if they do come away with the wind today,

is how they utilize their bullpen and how their bullpen did step up. I mean, they really did, with Walker Bueller being a normally reliable pitcher during the regular season, they had to go to their bullpen early. And their use of so many arms really ended up paying off in the end and just shows how deep they are as a team. It'll be interesting to see what it's like for them in game four, because they're starting Julio Urius, who will be on the mound for the third time in six days. I mean, that's a lot that they're asking of Julio Urius.

So once again, right, as the saying goes, as Mike Ferrin said the other day, your momentum is only as good as your next day's starting pitcher. And Julio Urias is a bit of a wild card. Right. Because they've asked a lot of him, just like they've asked a lot of Max Scherzer. And Max Scherzer wasn't totally right the other day.

So we'll see. This is by no means a guarantee for the Dodgers, but I mean, this game would be huge for them. The Dodgers, I think they haven't looked themselves all postseason so far. And I agree with that based on the fact that they have not, they had to do everything that they could to win that series against the Giants, even during some of those other games, right? So it's like they managed the team a certain way during the regular season.

And, you know, even in that game against the Cardinals didn't really have to do as much as they did against the Giants. And I think it's, you know, it's very common with baseball when, you know, you utilize guys during the regular season. Obviously, they still need their rest and everything. This is different. This is the postseason. and they're just not at the finish line yet, right? So it's like this, this utilization of the bullpen, this maneuvering guys around and having them pitch on two or three days rest

instead of any kind of normal rest. It works at times, right? But it just feels like it's going to catch up with them. And that's what it felt like so far in the series up to this point when obviously they were able to kind of pull themselves up and come back tonight. Dave Roberts is, I mean, he's kind of playing with fire a little bit the way that he's managing his pitching staff.

And I mean, it's hard to blame him because, I mean, it looks like it might pay off today. I mean, he's used a whole lot of pitchers in this game. But if the Dodgers win, that's, I mean, that's huge for them. And this is the time of the year where, you know, pitching schedules don't hold the same kind of weight as they used to. You know, guys are being asked to throw or guys are being asked to pitch out of the bullpen on their normal throwing day, right? Like things you wouldn't ever expect of guys during the, regular season. This is the time where, you know, to pull those things out. And Dave Roberts has a lot of weapons in that bullpen. I'm disgusted, Derek, with how many weapons Dave Roberts has in that bullpen.

That it's like, it's like, it's like, I don't understand how all of these other major league teams just like let these guys go by. I mean, Blake Trinen and Joe Kelly and guys that are like predictably good relievers. The Dodgers just seem to snag so many guys that other teams, obviously they're, you know, they're paying for it, but the Dodgers aren't paying a lot of these guys that much money. I just, it disgusts me, Derek. It disgusts me. Here's the thing. I wonder at time, you know, like I think baseball players, in my opinion, kind of have a path at times.

And if they can get on a championship team, that that raises their value tremendously, right? Especially in this game. It's kind of dumb how that happens. It's the reason why teams like the Marlins and Tampa blow up their teams after appearing in, in a World Series, even if like the race didn't even win it, but they just kind of move on from these guys that now have kind of that notoriety to get a big contract somewhere else. Or they, you know, they performed on a big stage and now more teams are interested in them. I feel like the other thing about the Dodgers is no matter where you look at the, in the

postseason, it's former Dodgers doing things, even against them as members of the Braves, because it's Jocktober. Don't forget that it's Jocktober. And we have Jock Peterson still tormenting his former team, you know, as a member of the Braves. So when you look around baseball, it's like there's, there's members of the front office that are products of the Dodgers system. The Dodgers have just been so successful that even, you know, just players that are on their team are now coming back to to haunt them because of how they can't retain everybody. That's that's so good. It's a beautiful thing to watch, Derek. It really is. It really brings us a lot of satisfaction. And I mean, let's face it, as Diamondbacks fans, I mean, we're seeing a whole lot of our former players, you know, contribute not, not of course, against the Diamondbacks directly right now. But, I mean, Stephen Sousa Jr. is like getting, like, consistent playing time somehow for the Dodgers in the playoffs. I was surprised they even put him on the roster in the first place. But he's been out there, obviously, AJ Pollock. We left him off of our Dback playoff team.

He could have easily filled that outfield position we were missing. I think we have a full-mind-man roster now. There you go. Yeah. I mean, I think I was honestly a little confused that the Dodgers picked up Stephen Susan in the first place.

He always had, you know, a ceiling that he never quite reached in Arizona. He kind of tapped into it in Tampa before that. I knew there was some ceiling there. But they've really given him like quite a chance. like they're continuing to go back to him, even though he hasn't really proven a whole lot this year. So Stephen Sousa is sort of a sort of an odd case. And the other, the other fun thing that's happened this postseason there is that A.J. Pollack has a hilariously negative reputation among Dodgers fans. Like they just absolutely hate his guts.

They think that AJ Pollock, they think he swings and misses it sliders. Like someone tweeted the other day, death taxes and AJ Pollock swinging and missing in every slider he sees in the postseason. And that is how the Diamond Vax for out. fielder is really viewed right now in L.A. God bless. God bless Dodgers fans for not not not missing anything when it comes to their players. And you know what? You shouldn't miss anything when it comes to your grooming habits. Make sure you go over to manscape.com and you won't miss a thing if you get their performance package 4.0, a perfect package for your package. Of course, Jesse, that includes the lawnmower 4.0,

which I've been telling you all about. I want you to get the lawnmower 4.0. 4.0 trimmer, the weed whacker thing. You were calling, you know, you were bagging on 37-year-old pitchers. I guarantee that Granky needs the weed whacker for his ear and nose hair. It's, hey, it gets the best of us, even major league starters or openers now. What is he? He's an opener now? Well, my, how the mighty have fallen.

But don't, don't let your mighty fall without being properly groomed. Go over to Manscaped and use our code of PHNX and you will get 20% off plus free shipping on your order. And again, there is the performance package 4.0. It includes all of this amazing stuff, including Manscapes. A couple of free gifts in there for the performance package 4.0. Some Manscape boxers and a shed travel bag. I talked about taking it everywhere. You know, got to stay groomed and looking trimmed.

And you can do that with the Manscaped package. Again, use our code of PHNX over there, and you will get 20% off in free shipping. Also use our code over at Draft King Sportsbook of PHNX, and you will get $200 in free bets for betting $5 on any NFL team, as long as that team wins that game. And again, go Cardinals. And I'll tell you, another team that I want to say go about, Jesse, is go Salt River Rafters.

I got out the Arizona Fall League today, and I got to watch a little baseball. I was out Peoria Sports Complex. Beautiful day. A bunch of happy people out, happy to be in October weather like this. Mostly, I could tell, it was mostly people from back east because they were making a lot of cracks

about the October weather. And meanwhile, me being a kid from the valley is like, what? It's always like this. And they're like, yeah, we know. That's why we're saying it. But anyway, it was an absolutely beautiful day for baseball. You know, it's, again, it's great to see Torkelson from the tigers and just a bunch of guys out there.

But mostly, you know, some young Arizona Diamondbacks, you know, prospects. And I even got to talk to William Boar, who is responsible for ranking the prospects and putting out the actual D-BACs top 30 prospect list. It was very interesting to talk to him about that process because, you know, there is a lot that goes into that. It really is. It's like the impossible task. Like there's no way to do that.

Yeah. Well, and I mean, he was, he definitely told me that there were a lot of layers and it did, I guess it didn't surprise me, but it also surprised me. You know, like that that scouts and organizations and there's a lot of, there's a lot of hands that that are in that cookie pot as far as cookie jar, excuse me, for, for getting the top prospects list out. It just fluctuates, you know, and it's one of those things that it's, you know, I don't know, sometimes guys that are low on that. list you don't think much of, but they end up surpassing higher prospects. And you really don't know with that list where guys are going to end up sometimes. Everyone's really taking a shot in the dark when it comes to prospects. I mean, at the end of the day, none of us really know much of anything. Even, even scouts, I think, but admit that in many ways, they don't really know much of anything, right? I mean, this is the world of, this is just the world of player development in a game that has, you know, five levels of the minor leagues going at all times, you know, during the season.

I mean, there's, there's just a lot, there are a lot of guys in every organization. And you need all of them because frankly, you know that not everyone in that group is going to make it. But I saw some of your incredible iPhone 13 videos today, Derek. Yes. You got some good dominant Canzone footage, which is on the sea. Yeah. Canzone just, I mean, honestly, man, he looks like a major leaguer, to be honest.

like seeing them up close and everything, it really looked like somebody who, you know, again, a lot of these guys were very young. Like, it was kind of a lot. People were having a good laugh at like when these guys would,

like, argue with the umpire about the strike zone because it was just kind of like, come on, man, really, you know, in an Arizona fall league game, none of this really matters.

And, you know, again, you're, you're more here to learn. It's a learning experience more than anything. Some of the guys, though,

again, me being 40 years, old look like absolute babies jesse so it was kind of hard for me to take some of them seriously because some of them absolutely look like high school kids you know that was uh something that was that was pretty pretty amazing to me i really like kegan curtis uh he's somebody that is ranked in the top 30 for the diamondbacks he's a pitcher uh just had a nice outing in his one you know one inning of relief but mostly the thing i liked was that he uh he came out and he pitched uh got behind, you know, three balls and really just turned it on and pitch really well to,

you know, battle back and, you know, get, get out of the inning with a one, two, three inning. William Bore pointed out to me that he was, he thought it was interesting. Cooper Hummel came into the game after he exited and they didn't get a chance to work together. It's, it's just funny because I was, you know, I questioned whether or not managers on an Arizona Fall League team even care about that sort of thing, getting guys who, are playing for the same organization on the field at the same time. And essentially it came down to, you know, really, there's a number of, you know, there's, there's, there's guys need to get out there.

They need to take so many at bats and pretty much stick to that. Outside of that, they don't really care about, you know, guys on the same team getting reps together or much. But it just seems like something that you would want to do considering that, I don't know, you just took out a pitcher and put in a catcher from the same system. I don't know. seems crazy. That is a little strange.

That is a little strange. One thing I will say on the note of like arguing balls and strikes, I think a lot of, a lot of players really view the Arizona Fall League in a pretty high regard. Because, you know, it's a small sample. I mean, this league only lasts for about a month. And if you go out and you hit 400, you know, I mean, you're going to,

you're going to really improve your chances of, you know, getting invited to camp the next year, to Major League camp and, you know, maybe even breaking out of spring with a, spot on the opening day roster. So I think a lot of guys take this seriously and maybe even a little too seriously. I've heard from a lot of people that they feel like in the Arizona fall league players try to do a little bit too much.

And they wind up maybe with worse results than they would have if they were just kind of playing within themselves a little bit more. So, you know, I think it's probably fun that there's some intensity out there. Like they care about the outcomes of these games, even though like you said, they mean nothing. But, you know, I mean, there is, there is a fall stars game, you know, like halfway, a little more than halfway through the season. And there is a championship game. Like, they're out there playing for something. It's a real season.

It's a real season. It's a real season. And baseball players are going to be competitive no matter where they are. And I'm sure you're seeing that out there. One of the interesting things that came up today while I was there. And now don't get me wrong. I could probably count. And it wouldn't take me very long how many people were present at this game.

Right. How many do you think it would be? How many do you think we're there? Honestly, I'd probably say I'd put the over under at 150. I mean, I was able to walk down and sit in the front row behind home plate without even an usher as much as asking me for my credential or a ticket, right? It's one of the things we take for granted in the valley, 100%. It's so good.

And again, everybody's just kind of nobody cares. It's not like there's a big affiliation. I think people's family members and girlfriends and such are out there. I don't really think anybody cares about the outcome of the game. So everybody's just kind of in a good mood, happy to be out, getting some sun and not be locked up indoors, right? It was interesting, though, because, you know, they talk, we spoke about, you know, why not have this streaming? You know, why not make this available? I know I know that they tend to think that people aren't interested based on, you know, that the amount of people that

show up to the games, right? But still, just like spring training games, people oddly enough are interested in this and they can't make it out. So it seems like you're dropping the ball to not at least have it available somewhere. I understand that it's going to cost money to have a production team and out, you know, but we talked about like having interns from ASU come out and do the camera work and such, be a great opportunity for kids from Kronkite to get the experience, like actually producing a real game without it being a game that matters too much. And, you know, honestly, it's it's just one of those things that if there is if there is even the slightest interest in doing it you know i especially considering it's doesn't travel it's just here in arizona so many people

around the nation would like to see how their young players are doing in this fall league it seems like a definite missed opportunity for for mlb uh for my understanding from speaking again to some of the guys in the press box it sounds like that is actually something that's in discussion about possibly making the Fall League available, you know, either streaming or somewhere, MLB, you know, network or something like that. Yeah, they, they do. There's definitely an audience. And I mean, I would be among them, you know, being up in Washington. I mean, I'm dying to see what you're seeing down there right now. Oh, so good. It was so good, yeah. I just wanted you to be so jealous. I got a nice tan today. I am so jealous, yeah. I will not be getting any tan. It is supposed to be

rainy every single day for the next six months as far as I'm getting here. It might be a while before I get a tan again. Although I don't really tan anyway, Derek. I pretty much just burn. So for me, it doesn't really matter very much. But yeah, no,

I mean, the fall league has really a big following around baseball. I think people are starting to pick up on it. The problem is that a lot of these games are in the afternoon. And it's hard for people to get out there, you know, during work if you're local. and it's also only like a month long.

So, you know, guys, people wanting to travel to Phoenix in order to make it out to games, there's not that big of a window in order to do that. Well, you also have playoff games happening in the middle of the day to day for some reason. Good Lord. That one took me by surprise. I don't know why. I just assumed it wasn't going to be at that time of the day. I didn't think any of these games at this point we're going to be that early in the day.

I can only imagine, I can only imagine being a Dodgers fan. trying to get to that game today. What a nightmare that must have been in traffic. You probably had to leave it like 6 o'clock in the morning. Shout out to all of you. It was not a sellout. I don't know if you saw that, but the Dodgers' baseball was not a sellout, which is so hard to get into a lot of people. It's so hard to get into that stadium. I'm not surprised. It's not a sellout. I think the thing is, though, is going back to the NFL, one thing I thought is times they are changing, Jesse. And people, you know, don't need to go home and watch games on their TV anymore. I think that's the big thing.

With streaming services, people, even though AFL games do happen during the middle of the day, people would be interested in watching them because they can stream them on their phone while they're sitting around the office or whatever, right? These are the way things work in the modern era and that accessibility, you know,

could drive the interest. You know, those two things could go hand in hand. I just think, again, Major League baseball sometimes really needs to have some more creative ways to build their fan base because it feels like it's dwindling especially here you know we talk about this place being a baseball nirvana but at times it doesn't feel like it's necessarily as appreciated as it should be you

know so with that being said though it's easy for me to say that because i got to sit out with my feet stretched out on the little you know wall right behind home plate today and watch baseball you know and do it for a living so i'll just i needed to brag about something one more time before I wrapped up. Make sure you follow me on Twitter so you can tell me what a jerk I am. I am at Cap underscore Caveman with a K. Jesse is at Jesse and Friedman.

But of course, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Please go over, if you're watching us right now on the YouTube, go over and download or tell me what app you're listening to

podcast on and subscribe to us there, drop us a review. If If you're listening to us on one of those audio podcasts, go over to YouTube, subscribe to our channel, and sign up for any kind of notifications that you can. I appreciate you guys so much for checking us out. Jesse, I'm going to go to some more baseball games and make you jealous. I hope you appreciate the weather in the northwest,

northwest up there. Hey, man, it's full on hoodie season out here. We're allowed to wear the ones. You guys can't wear hoodies right now. Yeah, no, look at this. I'm wearing my Rick and Morty special today. Shout out to Jacob for appreciating it earlier in the chat. But again, thank you guys so much for watching the show.

And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you bet on it.