PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Torey Lovullo Cleans House

Episode Date: October 8, 2021

On this episode, Derek and Jesse discuss some breaking news as the D-backs announce which coaches they are keeping and which ones are moving on to different positions within the organization. They also chat about the possibility of an expanded MLB playoff bracket and what that would have looked like this postseason. 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 D-BACs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as the mayor of PHNX. And of course, we are brought to you by the Draft King Sportsbook app. Draft King Sportsbook app is the number one rated sportsbook app in America. And you can go use our code of PHNX right now to get yourself $100 in free bets for betting $1 on any NFL game, as long as they score at least one point in that game. And I think that's a pretty safe bet. So go get your free money and enjoy making some bets on the Draft King's Sportsbook app.

Hey guys, of course, I am joined, as always, by my friend, my co-host. It's Thunderstick, Jesse, Friedman. Derek, it's good to be with you. How you doing, my friend? I don't know. Am I still a part of the staff is my first question? Is there anything that I need to be worried about concerning my job, Jesse? You're great, Derek. You're doing great.

All right, thanks. I appreciate it. But the same can't be said for the Arizona Diamondbacks coaching staff. Information came out today in regards to some changes that have been made. The debacks announced they are retaining first base coach Dave McKay, third base coach Tony Perich Chica, and bullpen coach Mike Feders. Outside of that, Matt Herges, it has been announced, will not be the pitching coach any longer for the Arizona Diamondbacks, which is big news, something that, not that we're ever rooting for the downfall of a human being or their employment, but something that we thought

needed to be changed with this team. So Matt Hurges out as pitching coached has been offered another position in the organization. Also out catching coach Robbie Hammock, who's been with the organization as a quality control and catching coach since 2016, bench coach, Luis Youroretta assigned to an MLB staff position. Hitting coaches Rick Short and Drew Headman, both who took over midseason when they let go of Darnell Coles, will not return as hitting coaches. But again, they've been offered potentially other positions with the organization. And Chris Crone has been offered a spot back in player development.

He stepped up temporarily. So it sounds like the Diamondbacks aren't necessarily letting people go as much as they're moving people around within the organization. But it does sound like there is going to be some major pitching positions available for this team, including the pitching coach and the bench coach, as well as the hitting coach or hitting coaches if they decide to go with two again.

It's a lot of moves. I mean, there's a lot going on here, like you said. And I think what immediately sticks out to me is that the diamondbacks are not necessarily going the most conventional route with all of this, right? I mean, some of these moves that we're talking about here, I mean, they had two guys serving as sort of the combined interim hitting coach for a time there. Once Darnell Coles was let go, they had two guys in that role, which is interesting, right, rather than just having the one.

And then, like you mentioned, also Matt Hurges, a guy that we've talked about on the show. We still don't expect to see Matt Hurgis back as the pitching coach. And yet the Diamondbacks, while they did do what we expected and they're not moving forward with coaching coach, they're also giving him opportunity potentially somewhere else in the organization, which is not something you often see, at least in my experience, normally, you know, if you're going to let a guy go, you just let them than looking for another job from them or for them. So I think you're seeing the way the Diamondbacks are approached. And obviously, you only have a, you know, a small part of this right now. Obviously, the Diamondbacks have probably a number of interviews left to conduct in order to figure out who, which guys are going to roles. But for now, Derek, it's just interesting to me, the route that this team is not necessarily sort of inventional way that you expect teams to go up. Yeah.

And I think the other thing about it is we don't know if, like, it seems like they've discussed who. is going to be moving on from their position, right? But we still don't know. One of the names I brought up somebody who I was interested in possibly getting an opportunity as pitching coach was Mike Fedders. And, you know, we discussed this, but apparently Matt Hurges was a bullpen coach like Mike Fedders is now prior to getting this job with the Diamondback. So maybe Fedders might end up being the right guy for the job.

We'll see if that's a possibility. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of meetings and discussions. held. And I really think that, at least from my personal experience, I've seen Fedders interact with the players on this team and especially the pitchers in a different manner. However, with that being said, he's still the bullpen coach. And the bullpen has not been very good for this team. So it's not like he was in charge of a shining part of the team that stood out in comparison and everything else. As a matter of fact, at times the bullpen has been the worst part of this team. So I don't know if necessarily he's the right man for the job. It's just, you know, you know me. I get stuck on the fact that Dalton Varsho bunted on the shift one time

and it was the greatest play I ever saw in my life. And I get stuck on Mike Federer literally being in Tyler Gilbert's ear, the entire night that he threw a no-hitter and somehow managing to coach that young man through that that entire situation to that very, very legendary first outing that he had. Mike Feders is just very likable, right? Like I think that's the way that we feel this way about him is just that like, I mean, just, you know, being around the dugout yesterday, you see Mike Feders walk by and everyone is waving to Mike Feders.

I mean, he's the type of guy who is fun. He obviously has a longstanding history with the franchise and he was, you know, a guy that a lot of people enjoyed watching play back in the day. And, uh, and yeah, he's just, he's just fun. Uh, and, and there's a reason he's still here. Right. Yeah. He's just fun. I mean, there's a reason that he's still here, right? I mean, the diamond backs are only keeping three coaches, um, as, as, as, at least in their current roles from what we've been told. Like you mentioned, it's possible. Maybe they are intending to interview Mike Fedders, uh, for a pitching coach role. But as of, as of right now, I mean, it looks like he's probably going to be the bullpen coach again. Dave McKay is going to be your first base coach.

And then you can lock that in. Tony Parris-Chic is probably going to be your third base coach again. But yeah, I mean, Mike Fedders is just likable enough that we have to at least sort of wonder if he might be a candidate to move into that pitching coach role. We'll see what direction the team decides to go with that. You're such a wholesome young boy. I love you so much, Jesse, because you hit the nail on the head. When I look at the coaches left on this staff right now, they're all very likable. And that's a trait that they share with Tori LeVolo. And I don't know what you call that besides like likability.

You know, I think that they have, they're all players coaches, right? They're all the kind of guys that are going to put players first because they were players. They understand the mindset of players. And they're just different. They're wired differently. I think they all very much have similar traits to Tori LaBolo, though. And that could be a big reason why they're still around. I just know that changes needed to be made, and I'm glad to see these changes made.

I don't feel like this is one of those situations where these are the fall guys. I felt that a little bit more about D.C. I thought D.C. midseason being fired. That was a fall guy situation for how bad the team was at the time, and they couldn't do it to Tori, so they needed to do something that still didn't even really make sense because at the time they were middle of the pack, 14th, 15th in run production. It doesn't make sense for you to blame it. It really was very random.

Right. On your hitting coach, when your bullpen and your starting rotation are both ranked dead last in MLB at the time for ERA. Yeah. It just, it didn't seem like, it seemed like you were firing this coach to fix this other thing. That was really the problem. Really, at the end of the day, somebody had to go. And that's what it came down to. I think this is moving on from things that might not have worked.

You know, I don't know if necessarily it's, you know, Robbie Hammack's fault with the catcher situation or anything like that. I don't know where Hammock would come into this. But again, he's been with the organization since 2014 with the minor league system and a coach with the deback since 2016. So it might just been a case of, hey, we need to try something different. I think it's important to note that, you know,

when the Diamondbacks organization is doing these kinds of evaluations, the raw results of whatever aspect of the team each coach controlled is really just one piece of puzzle right so so darnel coals yes he was dismissed you know when the diamond backs were sort of middle of the road offensively probably because there was something that darnel coals was not doing that the team didn't like and in forward so i think it a lot more to do with the absurd and everyday basis of, you know, what kinds of things are these coaches doing. It's not just a matter of, you know, looking at the rankings

and or you're starting pitch. Yeah. So. We're losing you just a little bit. More nuance than we're really. Sorry, man. Sorry, man. We're losing you just a little bit.

I have a beautiful visual of your. Me frozen. Hear me now, Derek. Yeah, now I can. Now I can. I might have to have you jump out of the room really fast and just come back in just to see if you might be able to do that. But yeah, man, I mean, I don't really know at this point what the impact these guys and the changes are going to actually have on the team at the end of the day. I just, I really think it needed to come down to something changing, you know.

All right. Jesse's frozen. Jesse's gone. I'm sorry, Jesse. We'll get you back in here soon. But I just want to remind you guys that obviously Draft King's Sportsbook is our betting partner, and it's the official betting partner of the NFL.

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Jesse's back, though, now. And Jesse and I have some great content coming to the website, by the way. We, Jesse's being the positive version of this podcast. as he's always been. I, of course, am the naysayer, the negative side of it. Let me look at black shirt, white shirt, look at it. We look like two devils on your shoulders right now.

So go read our stuff on go-PhNX.com. I can't thank you guys enough for supporting and doing that. You can become a member one of two ways, either with an annual membership that'll get you a free t-shirt from phtnx locker.com. And, I mean, I'm just going to warn you now, that coyote shirt I've been talking about, it's probably sold out in your size.

I've been telling you guys for like 21 days now. Nobody listens to me. But here we go, PHNX Locker.com. You sign up for an annual membership. You'll pick the PHNX DBAX shirt because I know that's what Jesse wants you to pick. And you'll get your free shirt. Also, members get all sorts of great deals and such. Jesse right now, I think is it 20% off of T-shirts for members?

Yeah, 20% off the PHNX brand, I think, is what we got going this week. Absolutely. That's awesome. So take advantage of that. Again, if you're not an annual member, not getting your free t-shirt. You can choose the month-to-month option and you can get your first month for 50 cents. It's a think of it as a as a little taste of what what's to come. But again, I think we're worth the price of one tall, tall, tall, not venty, tall caramel macchiato a month.

That's, that's what I think. I like the content on this website. So I'm paying my one tall caramel macchiato. Speaking of tall caramel macchiato, Jesse, you look great. I'm glad you're not frozen anymore. You big tall drink of water. It was great. see you in person and have you tower over me, much like the Dodgers towered over the Cardinals last night in their one game wild card playoff. It was an exciting game, came down to a walkoff home run by Chris Taylor in the ninth. Dodgers beat the Cardinals by a score three to one and move on. Now we can actually start the MLB playoffs, Jesse, with the Dodgers being the official wildcard team of the NL and the Red Sox being the official AL wildcard team. What?

your thoughts on this whole silly wild card one game playoff i know you were in favor of the chaos theory of the american league having four teams at all tied for the same spot i think i just love uh chaos and baseball i i just think that really no really no other sport derrick is i don't know like i obviously doing what i do here at ph and x i love baseball all the time right dog days of summer 4,000 people 162 games we'll take 200 over here please yeah yeah we're over here like depressed that the season is over even with you know the worst team in the national league in front of us but but yeah I I just feel that there is nothing like must win baseball right like it is just such a exciting spectacle yeah and I think it's one of the best in sports and

even I have a lot of friends who are not big baseball fans. And yet when there is a must win do or die baseball game, they think it's pretty fun. Yeah, like they think it's pretty cool. So is that what they were trying to create with this? Do you think they think they were trying to create that one game playoff atmosphere that people love when it comes down to game seven or game five of any

playoff series kind of deal? Absolutely. I mean, that's exactly why they did this. And I think some people don't like it. And I understand why. because if you play 162 freaking games over six months and then the fate of your season rests on one game all of a sudden, it seems a little bit unfair in some ways.

And I understand the concerns with that. But it's a lot of fun to watch, Derek. It's a whole lot of fun to watch. I loved it, especially last night's game, right? There was something about the Red Sox Yankees game that was a little bit more of a definitive win. But last night felt like it could go anyway at any point. You had Max Scherzerer getting pulled, didn't want to be. pool, didn't want to give the ball up to Dave Roberts after he left.

And speaking of Dave Roberts, I think he would agree with you on what you said about the 162 game season coming down to one game. Yeah. Because this is what Dave Roberts said after the game. After they won, he said, I just love the way coming into this game, knowing we had a built-in excuse as far as a one-game playoff elimination game. We were prepared to win a ball game. This is a very curious quote to me.

So weird. It's so, it's so, there's so much excuse already built into that despite the fact that they won. And it feels like he's trying to say in a way that they, they would have had a good excuse if they didn't win that game. Or like maybe, maybe a case to complain about this system if they didn't win that game. And I don't think he's wrong. I mean, I think 162 game season coming down to one game. seems a bit preposterous in in today's you know baseball i just think it's really weird that a major league baseball head coach even used the word excuse yeah right i mean when he won they won

the game why are you yeah about that like even if you felt like saying that only if you lost i don't feel like it was necessary to bring up uh and like he's complimenting his team for being ready but also at the same time kind of saying that they had an excuse should they lose. Yeah, it's really weird. It was like a baked in excuse ready, like just ready to go just in case, you know, anything went wrong. So I don't know. There's definitely a case to be made for a real expanded playoff, like what they had in 2020.

But Jesse, I would love it around here. That's for sure. We would love it, especially in the National League West. But the most important thing, Jesse, you know what it is. it's not if they expand the playoffs and it's not which teams are involved. Jesse, it's if they keep their outfield grass trim. I had a feeling that was.

You knew where this was going, right? Do you want to make, if you want to make the playoffs with your significant other, you need to make sure that that strike zone's all squared up, pal, you know, balls and strikes and outfield grass, all these innuendos that I need to say, but you know where I'm getting at. I'm getting at the manscaped ad read.

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Do it do it for the playoffs. Do it for not striking out with your significant other. And also go to draftkings.com. You can go get the draft king's sports book app on any app service and download it. Sign up. Use our code again, just like over. at Manscape, use our code of PHMX, and you'll get yourself for $1 in any NFL, betting on any NFL game, you'll get $100 in free bets if one of those teams in that game scores one point.

And remember, the last zero-zero tie in the NFL, 1943, those days are over. So, yeah, again, get your $100 in free bets and have yourself a good time. But Jesse, let's talk expanded playoffs, right? we have not only the expanded playoffs for our friends that use Manscape, but we could have expanded playoffs for all of baseball. And a big exciting part about that is what it could look like, right? Like right now we do have those two wild card positions, and they do get in by playing one single playoff game.

But just like the Marvel What If series, I propose to you this, Jesse. What if the postseason currently had expanded playoffs? Let's take a look at what that would look like. The debacks are in here somewhere, right, Derek? No, they absolutely are not, Jesse, and you know it. How much more do we have to expand the playoffs before they get in? According to my calculations, all 32 teams, right? All 32 teams would need to make the playoffs in order for the debacks to be in this year.

But there's some exciting things here. If you take a look, you got the Phillies making it. You have the Blue Jays making it and playing an amazing series that I would love to see in the first round with the, you know, ALDS where it's the Rays versus the Blue Jays, right? Red Sox Mariners. Give me the Red Sox Mariners, man. God. Give me the Mariners in that series.

Even over here, you know, the Dodgers and the Cardinals still end up matching up. If the playoffs ended the way they did, they'd still end up matching up against each other. And I would love after the way that that one game went to see this as a series and not just a one game playoff. Plus, you got this Giants and Padres series up here. Padres making the playoffs in this scenario. also, like I said, the Phillies, Reds, Indians, Indians, I think, who finished under 500, I believe, with an 80, I think they won 80 games, would make the playoffs in this scenario.

The way that it was structured last season, or for the 2020 expanded playoffs, was the two top teams in each division go, plus the two remaining teams with the best record in each league. And that makes up the eight team field. So it just, it really, it turns it into something we're more familiar with in other sports, you know, where it has the, you know, the seating and everybody plays. There's no first round buys. There's none of that. It's pretty much just, you know, it's seeding. It's playing, you know, the eighth seed to play in the first seed.

I just like the way this is because this feels, especially in baseball, like anything can happen. I know they do these series so that the. best team wins. I know that they do these series so that they don't just have a fluke like the one game, you know, wild card playoff, right? Right. But with baseball, you could be good for four months and then not be very good anymore. And you could also, on the flip side, have had a really slow start, but do like what the Cardinals did and just really catch fire in the last month of the season. And two teams with very opposite records matching up at the right time could formulate some very interesting matchups.

I don't like it, Derek. I'm going to be honest. I'm just going to out there. I hate it. I don't like it. Burn it with fire. I like it in some ways, but 16 teams is just too many.

I mean, 16 teams is more than half of the league. We already see this in the NBA, and I think it's monumentally stupid, especially for the NBA, because, I mean, like,

like, when is the eight seed in the NBA ever going to beat the one seed, right? Like, it's purely, Denver Nuggets beat the Seattle Supersonics that one time when I was a kid. Sure. Yeah. And I guess, I mean, I guess this year it was interesting, right?

Because the Lakers were the seven seed. So I mean, obviously that added a whole lot of intrigue. But I mean, in the NBA, the NBA is a very different sport, right? Because the teams that are at the top of the standings went about 80% of their games. If you put the best team in the NBA against the worst team in the NBA, the best team is almost invariably going to win every single time. whereas in baseball, things are a little different, right? Like we were, we've been playing close attention to the Baltimore Orioles lately. And we know that they just beat the Boston Red Sox in two out of three games, even though the Red Sox were sort of fighting for their lives, right?

Yeah. And the Orioles are the worst team in baseball essentially. Yeah, yeah. The Orioles were, of course, right there with our Diamondbacks. And so these are things that happen in baseball that really don't happen as much in other sports. And so I think there's a bit of. a danger in letting a lot of teams in because those teams at the top, I mean, they're going to win most of the time. But you might wind up with a fluky year where, I mean, in this, you know,

in this season, I mean, I look at some of those National League teams that were in there. I don't want to see the Cincinnati Reds, you know, take down one of the powerhouses just because they happen to kind of get lucky in two games, you know? I hate everything you're saying so much and I couldn't disagree more. Okay. All right. All right. Well, okay. Like, I get it because that's the same thought process and why everybody wants every game and every playoff to be now like a seven game series because they feel like no matter what seven games of any sport between two teams really allows the better team to prove that they're the I don't want seven we don't need seven that's not no no I know I know what you're saying I'm just using that as an example right and the reason why is because everybody's still at the end of the day wants it to be a thorough decisive victory about who was better and not a fluke like what you're talking about, where some team can lose a starting pitcher due to injury, and now all of a sudden they lose to the eighth seed just because of that.

But that's sport. It's like this season with the Phoenix Suns, when people wanted to discredit their run to the finals because other teams had injuries and things happen to them. Shit happens, man. Sorry to take that position, but I am an Arizona sports fan. I have seen this happen to our teams entirely too much. many times. So I am not in a position any longer to care one bit about what other teams,

what happens to other teams when it comes to the playoffs and such. I was talking today on the Hat Club's Insta live show, the recap about how much I hate the San Antonio Spurs. And the reason why is because I felt like for a very small window, my Phoenix Suns had an opportunity to win a championship. And the Spurs used underhanded tactics to hurt our star player and get two of our better players, one of our best players, banned from the final playoff game simply because they walked out too far, too far on the basketball court. I don't give a shit when people want to complain about the variables and how they impacted other teams because it's happened to my teams way too many times in my life. I think it's fun. I think if you're not a fan of the Dodgers,

typically you want to see the Dodgers lose. So if you give me as many opportunities to possibly see the Dodgers lose, then I am going to be in it more. I'm going to be more invested in the playoffs. And I'm probably just going to root for whatever team, if I'm a Dodgers hater, that they're playing. Right. But then, honestly, if the Dodgers make it through all of that

and they get to the World Series and they win it, you can't help but tip your cap to a team that went through a lot to get there and win a championship, right? if you talk about, you know, a team that just kind of steamrolls their way through two series and then gets to the world series, I don't know if that's a decisive winner either. It's weird because I'll tell you, the playoffs for baseball back in the old days used to be the regular season in a way, right? That's why there was no interleague play and that's why the majority of the times all you played were the teams in your own league so that you decided based on the 50 times you played your division rival, who the better team was, not needing to go prove it in the playoffs again, right? So I think baseball with its 162 game season was initially geared to weeding out the lesser teams

and making the superior teams stand out. Now you have the Players Association and Max Scher talking about competitive balance and how much they hate that, how much they hate that the cream rises to the top so quickly. and by May you have a majority of teams that are out of it by May you know like not you're you're talking about half I don't know about May Derek that's even I'm just saying there are like there are some races and there are some things that stay and again the May thing that's that's that's that's diamondbacks related that's that's me being petty but um you know it's it's still more exciting for more teams to be in it and it's more exciting to have different variables I think

you are a person that strongly believes that the best team needs to win, right? No, no. Well, I don't think that. I don't give a shit about that. Like, I don't care if the best team wins. I think it's hilarious if something happens to them and I don't like that team and I didn't want them to, you know, proceed. But at the same time, too, there's teams that I've hated because of how good they were, right?

Like the Dodgers. The Dodgers, I just don't even understand how they continue to be good for 10 years straight. No baseball team is as good as the Dodgers have been. The Dodgers honestly should have like three World Series or four World Series, it feels like, with how good they've been over the last, you know, 10 years. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, variables come into play like Kurshaw's inability to be dominant in the playoffs and other things that happen to them when they reach that level, right? You can't, you know, just because he's one of the best pitchers in baseball all season long means nothing when you get to the playoffs if you can't be, be a clear.

clutch performer. I don't know. All I know is that baseball at times seems very boring and also very much seems like we need to do everything we can to generate more interest in the game. I think expanding the playoffs is a very smart move. And I know you like expanding the playoffs too. So you just don't like the 16 game. You had like kind of another idea that that has been brought up lately. I think it even more likely than the 16 team thing happening is a 14 team arrangement. which I mean, I'm sure we'll do another show at some point, just sort of delving into all of these things and what could go down. Obviously, we have a new CBA agreement coming around,

coming around the corner. And I mean, a lot of things in this game that we love are about to change. But I think, yeah, the real reason that I'm not on board with 16 is I just think it's a little bit too many. I just think that, I mean, if you're taking more than half of teams in, I think you you sort of lose the value of 162 games. I mean, we have these guys play 162 games. If you're going to have them play that long of a season.

And yet once those 162 games are over, more than half of teams are still left, that just seems like a little bit too far. But I'm absolutely on board with expanding the playoffs, at least on some level. And you said that the 14 game system would be the three division winners, and then basically the teams in the NL and AL that had the best records outside of the division. So we could essentially see, just potentially, hypothetically,

we could see all five teams from a division like the NL West make it in the playoffs under that system. Yeah, we could. We could. And it would be hilarious. And also like, wouldn't really surprise me because the Central and the NL East have not really pulled their weight in the league for quite some time now. So who knows? And I believe under this system that all,

almost everybody but the Orioles from the AL East would make it under this. I mean, everybody from the AL East is making it in the 16 game system, except for the Orioles as it stands, the other poor season graphic that we pulled up. So it's really interesting. But I just, again, I think if more people's teams are in the playoffs and more are in the hunt to make the playoffs, more teams will try for it, you know, especially when you're talking about playing each other in your division so much

and possibly making up the games to take another team's playoff spot. there's just a lot of potential for it to make baseball as a whole more exciting. I also think you could knock 42 games off the season and nobody would even blink an eye. They would probably still complain about how long the baseball season is with 42 less games. That's crazy. 120 games season to a lot of people would probably still raise the question, do we really need to play this many games, right? Yeah.

I think some more off days for these guys would be great. I mean, I don't know sometimes if even there's a lot of money being generated on a night where the ballpark is as empty as Chase Field is some nights. You know, I mean, I know the season tickets for those games are sold. I know other tickets are sold. People might not be there. But, I mean, I could swear to God on some nights, I could count all the people that are present on my fingers and toes, right?

So, like, I just don't know if having, you know, merchandise shops and concession stands and all those people that need to be at the stadium getting paid to work for a game is worth financially the keeping the stadium open for some of these teams like the Diamondbacks and the Marlins. Not talking about all the teams. Like we said, it's still an anomaly to me that people in Colorado are so mad that fans are coming out to the stadium simply because they want to send a message to ownership. But I get it.

I just, I honestly, at the end of the day, would rather my fans were showing up and fellow fans were showing up rather than not. I guess that's how I see it. I think it's, I'm glad that you brought up the financial side of things because as we think about expanding the playoffs, I mean, we should be honest with ourselves and say, that's the reason this is happening. I mean, that's the reason these conversations are happening. The reason that playoff expansion is going to be a very big topic of discussion.

And the reason that it happened last year is because teams needed money. And it is frankly financially beneficial for, for a lot of teams. and especially a team like the Diamondbacks. I mean, I think one thing we can certainly both agree on, Derek, is that the Diamondbacks benefit a lot from playoff expansion. Yes, because they play in an impossibly good division that is going to be good for a very long time. And if you suddenly, you know, create a route for them into the playoffs where they can get second place or where they can be, you know, one of the top four teams in the National League after the three division leaders,

that gives them so much more opportunity to get in. And that would be a money driver for them, right? They're a more interesting team. They're a more marketable product as long as they're still in the postseason race. And 14 teams, 16 teams, whatever it is, that definitely does it for the Diamondbacks. Yeah. And our viewer here, B, Joel says, get rid of 20, 40 games, man, the 60 games season didn't feel that bad. And he is not wrong.

He is not wrong. All right. 60's a little short. If I only had 60 games of baseball in my year, I could go by so fast. I couldn't go by in a flash. There's no way. I need more baseball than that. I will say this, though.

I think that it's weird that you say, like, it helps financially. Fans would like it. It would change the competitive balance problem that MLB has, and it would make the sport more marketable and more interesting. There doesn't seem to really be a downside to it other than pissing off baseball purists. It's like robo ump. Eric, it's like robo umps. Even the umps are in favor of robo umps. They're so tired of being questioned.

Like, there's still going to be a home play umpire, right? You're not taking anybody's jobs. You're just taking away a duty from that man that doesn't want to do it anymore anyway. He is so tired of being criticized for that strike zone, just like you are tired of being criticized for your strike zone. So go with Manscape.com. Use our code of PHNX, get 20% off and free shipping.

That's how you do an ad read. Now, I will say that, uh, There is so much to talk about. And we do have the new collective bargaining agreement that's going to happen. The labor deal is going to end on December 1st. Do you think we're going to see a lockout? I mean, I know it's not something to freak out about, but do you think that we'll see a lockout while they work on a new deal? I don't know, man.

What are we going to talk about on the pH and X, D-Backs podcast? I sure hope not. I have plenty to talk about. I have beers to discuss. I'll talk about these hats. I was on Hat Club today talking about how much money I've spent historically. with their website. So we'll have plenty to talk about,

but God forbid baseball stopped. I mean, we're already plugging along during the off season. And here we are like three days in. We already got breaking news about new coaches and stuff. So the Diamondbacks keep it interesting for us. Plus, Arizona Fall League is right around the corner.

I need to get some coffee or something because I am already worn down. I was looking forward to this off season. But baseball never stops in baseball Nirvana. And that is where you live if you live in Arizona. Love it year round. We got great weather. And we got great weather.

So I thank you guys for so much for joining us. Of course, we ask you, we beg you, we plead with you. If you don't already subscribe to us, please do so. Drop us a five-star review. Go over to YouTube, subscribe there, click the little bell. They'll tell you when we have new shows. You don't have to watch all of them, but you can watch the 20 a week that I'm apparently on. Trust me, I'm even getting sick of myself.

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and my friend Jesse Friedman at Jesse N. Friedman. But again, we thank you guys so much for checking out the show, for being a part of it, and mostly for loving Arizona Diamond to baseball. If you do, God bless you. God bless you. We thank you guys again for watching. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you bet on it.