Rates & Barrels - Rays, Astros Roll in Game 1 & NLDS Matchups Get Underway

Episode Date: October 8, 2021

Eno, Britt & DVR discuss the Rays' Game 1 win over the Red Sox, the continued October greatness of Randy Arozarena, Houston's cruise control series opener against the White Sox, and expectations for the NLDS matchups between the Braves-Brewers and Dodgers-Giants. Follow Eno on Twitter: @enosarris Follow Britt on Twitter: @Britt_Ghiroli Follow DVR on Twitter: @DerekVanRiper e-mail: [e-mail] Watch the show *Live* on weekdays at 11:30a ET/8:30a PT on YouTube and subscribe to the Rates & Barrels YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/RatesBarrels Subscribe to The Athletic at 50% off for the first year: theathletic.com/ratesandbarrels Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Raids and Barrels presented by Topps. Check out Topps Project 70 celebrating 70 years of Topps Baseball Cards. Derek the Riper, Bridge Rollie, Eno Saris, the King of Waffles here with you on this Friday morning. And it is one of the best baseball days of the year. We have four playoff games. It is increasingly clear to me that I do in fact live

in the best time zone in America to consume sporting events because I will have baseball pretty much from the time I'm done working on this show until the time I am ready to go to sleep today. And that is absolutely glorious. Britt, I'm sorry that you still live on the East Coast. You know, you should have told me years ago that this was the way to go. You guys are the worst. No hanging on until like

1.30 in the morning for an extra inning game. Never again. Those days are over. I am an old man. I was an old man. I was always kind of fighting it and falling asleep anyway. So this is absolutely perfect for me. Lots to get to, though. Let's start with the Astros and White Sox series. That game actually gets underway at 11 Pacific.

So we got to get moving here. But the thing that people were making a big deal about from game one of this series was Lance Lynn's fastball usage, and as Eno has told people on this show before, Lance Lynn has several fastballs. There's a four-seamer, there's a two-seamer,

there's a cutter. Those are three different pitches with three very clearly different movement profiles. He tried to pitch this way against the Astros earlier this season and got hit, and as Lance Brozdowski pointed pitch this way against the Astros earlier this season and got hit. And as Lance Brozdowski pointed out on Twitter, the Astros hit everything. It doesn't really matter what exactly your game plan is because they're going to generally figure it out. So I thought that was one of the storylines that came out of this game that was a little bit

overblown. They didn't lose this game because Lance Lynn threw too many fastballs. They lost this game because the Astros are just really damn good. Yeah. Well, I thought he got a long leash to them. They could have probably pulled and should have maybe pulled Lance Lynn a little earlier. He didn't look good from the jump. You're right.

The Astros are really good. What's interesting is after the game, obviously here live from the Houston press box today, after the game, Tony La Russa said that he felt like Lance Lynn didn't mix up his pitches enough, you know, and then Lynn kind of pushed back on that a little bit. He said he did mix up his pitches. He just didn't hit his spots.

And that was pretty evident. There wasn't a whole lot of hard contact early, but what the Astros do, and we've talked about it on this podcast a lot, is they're relentless. They can score in many different ways. And Lance McCullers Jr. was terrific. And I don't want that to get lost when we talk about how this game swung so much in Houston's favor. But Houston bunted. They got hits against the shift. They were able to be aggressive on the base paths. and they're really a complete offense. It doesn't, they don't need to hit home runs to win, even though they got a home run

as one of their six runs as well. They're just a really good team. So I agree with you, Derek. I don't think Lance Lynn was the only storyline, but I do think when you have a bullpen like the White Sox, I expected a little bit of a shorter leash in such a pivotal game one. Yeah. And like Tony La Russa was like the guy that started to push bullpen usage. It's kind of weird that he would be one to leave a starter in too long. But yeah, I think the Astros bats get as much credit as Lynn's pitching gets a demerit. I don't know. or as Lynn's pitching gets a demerit.

I don't know. Any case, I'm looking at a map of context neutral, you know, how well Houston does against every pitch type. And they are the second best team against the four-seam fastball. They're in the top third against the sinker. They are the first best team against the cutter. They are in the top five against the curveball. They're in the top five against the sinker. They are the first best team against the cutter. They are in the top five against the curveball. They're in the top five against the slider. They're in the top five against the

changeup. I mean, what was Lynn going to do? Throw his changeup? It's like, it's not a good pitch. You shouldn't throw it. One, two, three, four, five. Lynn was throwing all of his pitches at 33%.

You know, and I think he's right. I think he mixed it up. I think it's kind of a buzzsaw of a lineup, and it's just really tough all the way through. And, like, it's kind of diverse, too. You know, there are guys who go a little bit more towards patience, guys who go a little bit more towards patience, guys who go a little bit more towards contact. And then you have Jordan Alvarez who just, I think, my goodness.

I wish he was like a center fielder because then I would be like, he's the best player in baseball. Yeah, they missed him. They missed him last year a ton. Yeah, he is really impressive as a hitter. If you're ever around for a batting practice that Jordan Alvarez might take, go early and see it. Because it's one of those things where people stop moving and look.

And people from the opposing team will look. And I was hanging out with Grenke, and Jordan was up, and we stopped talking. And we were just watching him hit prodigious blasts after prodigious blasts. And it's such an easy, nice swing. And he makes contact and he's good patience. I mean, I'm in the tank for you on Oliver. It's the only thing that bothers me is the knees and the defensive value.

But in any case, McCullough is also the slider. I know people talk about it on the cast. It's not a secret. We've talked about it on this podcast before. But what's really cool is that the slider is a really big weapon against righties. And you could see somebody like Abreu actually does really well against curveballs. I was researching to see who on the team is good against curveballs. Abreu is really good against curveballs.

Abreu didn't see any curveballs. He saw fastballs and sliders from McCullers, and that slider just darts away from the right-handed hitter and is an excellent pitch that he just added this year. I just think so much about the Astros got wrapped up in the trash can scandal when a lot of us looked at this team and said, this is a great team that had this extra thing they were doing, and I don't want to make this about that, but they have so many things that they thrive at as an organization with player development and game planning.

It's a huge part of why they keep coming back, why this team has sustained this level. They've had losses. I know that was something Britt wrote about this morning for The Athletic. They're not going away anytime soon. And I think that's increasingly clear. You look at Kyle Tucker hit seventh yesterday. I mean, Kyle Tucker is a three hitter on most other teams. It speaks to the overall quality of the lineup

that they've put together. We should look ahead to game two. It's going to be Lucas Giolito against Frambois Valdez. Why could it be different today for the White Sox, Britt? Well, I think Giolito, listen, Lynn's been a fine pitcher for them, but he has struggled to get the Astros out, as you know and you both said. I think Giolito could be a little bit of a different story. And clearly McCullers is the Astros' ace.

I like Valdez. I still think Houston. I have a hard time arguing for the White Sox because I think Houston has a really good chance to go 2-0 here today because they didn't have to overextend their bullpen. They got so much depth from McCullers that they're really set up well. But this, to me, I looked at as more of a closer game. And I was talking to someone from Chicago yesterday, and they mentioned how if you kind of look at it from the White Sox perspective,

if they had won yesterday, it would have almost been a stolen win because it kind of seemed early on, like it kind of seemed going in like Houston was going to win this game. This to me seems like a game that Chicago could win, should win. But I still think that Houston with this offense in this ballpark, guys, the roof is closed. It's very loud in here. This is a city very used to playoff baseball,

and I think that really does factor in as well. Again, I have a really hard time arguing for Houston. I mean, for the White Sox, I think Houston's probably going to be up 2-0 and head to Chicago. You know, I think that in this game, we might see some of Astros' player development start to shine. When you talk about Fran Brevaldez, Luis Garcia, and Christian Javier, and Jose Urquidy, you're talking about four pitchers that they signed for collectively less than $100,000.

Some of them were old pitchers out of the Dominican Republic. Nobody scouts old pitchers in the Dominican Republic. You know, I think Luis Garcia signed a 21 and somebody called that ancient for somebody out of the DR. And a certain pitcher was telling me that he was a genius because he told his old teams that they should be looking at 21 year olds in the DR. Because when he was down there, he was really impressed with a few of them. But, you know, one thing that I think about this game that's a little bit different is I'm actually sort of intrigued to see what the Astros do against that weird-ass high changeup from Luis Gialito.

I'm just not sure that it's something. um i'm just not sure that it's something i know that the the giants and the rays have um and the giants the rays and the astros and the brewers have like advanced hitting uh techniques and and and machines and and things that they do to try and um you know uh mimic the today's starter but i just can't imagine a machine uh throwing a high straight change like giolito does like i just i feel like that's something that you don't see very often in the game and then i just don't think a machine can really i'd be really surprised a machine could give you a high high forcing high ride fastball and then a straight change off of that in the same way so um giolito in some ways has more weapons than Lynn,

or at least more different weapons there. You know, they, he stretches the, the velocity and the movement, you know, the curve ball and the change in the slider and the, and the forcing,

there's just, they're very much more different. Whereas Lynn is a guy who, you know, a little bit like this, a little bit like this, and a little bit like this, you know?

Um, so I think, uh, he'll be a tougher task for them. This would be a harder one for me to pick because Valdez is also a two-pitch pitcher. So what if the White Sox get through him faster? Because it's harder with fewer pitches to turn the lineup over a lot.

So what if Randall Valdez only goes four innings? Now you're talking about five innings of that Astros bullpen. And last night it was when they got to the bullpen uh that they started to as ryan says here they started to threaten a little bit uh presley is pretty good but i don't think he's you know he would be like the fourth or third best reliever at best on the white socksman struggles. Graveman struggles against lefties, right? Yeah. This is righty. They don't have any lefties in that bullpen.

He's a sinker guy, too. That makes sense. So that is the issue. We talked about it on this show, right? If they get to the bullpen more often than not, then the White Sox could make some noise. That seems to be what it's going to come down to. I'll jump on board real quick with a prediction.

I actually think the White Sox get this game because of Giolito's ability to attack hitters differently. It's going to be close, and everything at this point of the season is a coin flip, as we've said, time and time again. But let's move on. Yeah, I think I think the White Sox today on the betting picks.

I think they can pull it off and at least send it back to Chicago at 1-1, even though the Astros do look like the better of the two teams. I'm still excited about the series, even though Game 1 was a bit of a dud. Let's get to the Rays' Game 1 win over the Red Sox. It's October. I guess we should have expected Randy Rosarena to do something

amazing. So, Randy Rosarena, of course, if you are listening to this show, you probably saw him do it. Stole home in a playoff game and homered in a playoff game. First player in history ever to do that. He is putting himself among all-time greats for what he's done in the postseason now. In one game plus one postseason, it's truly amazing.

I thought this game was a little closer than the final score would lead you to believe, in part because the Red Sox made a lot of hard contact against Shane McClanahan, and they were not rewarded for it. Did you come away with that same sort of conclusion? I know you've liked McClanahan since day one, but it felt like this was a little more of a Ben-don't-break-five-scoreless innings than a dominant five-scoreless.

Yeah. They even said something on the podcast. On the podcast. We're all podcasting all the time. Yeah, right. Podcast on the brain. They even said something on the cast where they said, you know, he misses a little bit fewer bats than you might expect.

Kyle Schwarber hit the ball 114. Arroyo hit the ball 109. Kyle Schwarber at 107. Dahlbeck at 105. Yeah, they had a lot of plus 100 plus contact. Looks like something like 10 balls over 100 miles an hour. But then you start looking at what those things did. Single, line out, fly out, single, ground into double play, ground out, single. Like all those hits that were so hard and not a single extra base hit out of any of them for the Red Sox. So that is not something that necessarily is repeatable according to the numbers. You know, if you allow a lot of hard contact eventually you're going to give up extra base hits usually so maybe a little bit of luck for shane mcclanahan

but uh he also has a good legit three pitch mix yeah i'm really excited about mcclanahan for 2022 just from a fantasy perspective the way they've used him this year he's pitched five plus innings more than people realize i think the future is still really bright but i think things went a little better than they probably should have for the batted ball types 10 hard hit balls is a lot in five innings and also i'll push back a little bit on bryce's thing here i think that the that mclanahan's fastball looks elite and i think that the rays have pushed it about as good as it can be it has like 97 percent spin efficiency uh so it's he's getting about the most movement he can out of that pitch but the problem is it's not actually an elite pitch it's not actually it doesn't actually have elite ride so when he when he's at 96 97 spin efficiency it's a good pitch when he

starts to drop below that and he did that over the course of the season there were some dips in his spin efficiency that he's been sort of getting back together again late in the season um then he's so i would say it's it's a it looks great by velocity but it's not um it's not great like if you think about uh the way like a diego castillo uh uh fastball looks or like a walker bueller uh fastball looks and and shane mcclanahan's is kind of like stuck in that in between ground a little bit where he's got a little bit of tail a little bit of hop but he's it's not it's neither or you know it's kind of a little bit in between so um I could see McClanahan, if he lost like two or three miles an hour off the fastball,

maybe struggling a little bit more than we'd expect. That's pretty interesting. And so to me, I caught the second half of that game, but to me it seems like that series is similar to here in that the Red Sox maybe have the edge for game two. They got Chris sale. I get Shane Boz who's made what three big league starts,

which is so Tampa Bay. I love that. But like, I think it's all about sale. I think it's going to come out and shove. Yeah. Like this guy was in double a start the season and it's good. It's incredible.

It's going to be truly incredible because what's interesting is, you that's just tampa bay right they just promote guys and and these guys seem to do exceptional uh but to me if you're the red sox you you feel pretty good about sale hasn't pitched since a really abbreviated outing in washington dc the last game of the regular season um he didn't even go i think he got removed in the third inning if my memory serves but so he should be pretty fresh. And you have to feel pretty good about the Red Sox getting on a lot of runners. We talked about their lineup yesterday, how deep that lineup is, how dangerous that lineup is.

I think Boston has the edge going into game two. I'm on board with that. I mean, I think this Rays team, as we talked about yesterday, the key differences, Wander and Nelson Cruz, both made an impact right away. Wander looked ready for the big stage. I don't think anyone expected him to wilt under the bright lights in October based on what he did upon being called up this season. But it's nice to see the two guys that the Rays didn't have in this core a year ago already delivering for them in game one. I think, yes, Sale is going to be the story in this one.

If Sale pitches well and gets deep into this game, the Red Sox can take one and have things tied up as they go back to Boston. The thing that has surprised me with Chris Sale a little bit since he returned, though, he's only completed six innings once so far this season since returning on August 14th. That did happen on the road in Tampa Bay. We've seen a few big strikeout games, a few eights in the game log. That one game where he did go six,

only three Ks against this Rays offense. So I'm really curious to see how he fares overall. And I mentioned Britt. You had a great piece looking at the Astros up this morning. I'd also recommend Jason Starks, weird and wild, because with the Randy Rosarena steal of home, Jason did a really good deep dive with some great historical moments, including

Jackie Robinson stealing home. There's a Marquise Grissom steal of home that ended a game that I never even realized happened back in 97, so really cool stuff in there. It was surprising to me when I was researching a little bit last night

for the for the headlines that um it's happened 21 times in the postseason it seems so rare to me i guess baseball has been around so long there's so many postseason games that 21 times is still really rare but i i thought it'd be even rarer than that i think what must be happening is it's happening less but then remember manny margot tried it against Kershaw just last year in the World Series. I guess there was one in 2016. I just think it's,

other than the triple, it's one of the most fascinating, exciting plays. Everybody in the room was hopping around, yelping and yelling and having an opinion on that one. I mean, everyone looked up when that happened. And I just want to give a little bit of a shout-out to Randy Rosarino because maybe we saw some of the flaws in his game exposed this year.

Maybe over the course of the season, he's just had some more ups and downs. It's just a little bit of regression. But dude is a showman. It's just a little bit of regression. But dude is a showman. You know, like I think I know the numbers don't really say that there are that the clutch exists. We haven't really been able to prove that it exists. But when you watch somebody like Randy Ressorato, man, you're just like,

this guy was made for the moment. I mean, don't you think? He loves it. I think he loves the attention. He loves the bright lights. Like this is he, you know, this is what he, what he plays. Like, this is what he plays for. He's he's.

It seems like he raises his game to another level. Yeah. I think clutch exists. I don't think everything can be quantified by numbers. I, I don't, as you guys know, that's why I'm on this show to disagree and push back. I think clutch certainly exists. I think this game is so mental and there's no way to quantify that, right? There's no way to quantify how mentally tough a guy is, how, you know, a guy can dial in or shrink under the bright lights.

I think that's a very real thing. And clearly, Randy Orozarena brings out the cowboy boots and he's eating popcorn in the dugout. And like he is just loving every single second of this. Whereas some guys just freeze. So, yeah, I think Clutch is real. I do. I think I think one of the hardest things from a statistical standpoint is just that the the sample size is not great for anybody. You know, a lot of people get to the postseason and you know like barry

bonds people said oh he's terrible in the postseason and he like he had a decent sample and if you actually looked at it it was like like 100 at bats or something you know what i mean and then he went ham on the braves uh in one postseason he went ham on that 2002 postseason and largely put that narrative to bed that he wasn't clutch. And if you knew Barry Bonds, there was nothing about his personality to suggest he wasn't clutch.

You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, I have a lot, I don't know. I have a lot of other thoughts about the playoffs, how players have talked about the playoffs being different in that regard, but we got to get to the other previews. You mean different from the past?

No, just the sample size. Different from the regular season. Yeah, but we've got to get to the other previews. Different from the past? No, just the sample size. Different from the regular season. Yeah, but we can get into that in another show. I want to make sure we get to the Brewers. Yeah, there are four games. Right, yeah, the Brewers-Braves. That's the 4 o'clock game. Well, 4 o'clock, I guess, where I am.

Really a lunch game for the two of you. We got Charlie Morton on the mound for Atlanta. We've talked a lot about Milwaukee's rotation. Derek, where do you... I know who you want to win, but where do you see this game one going? I think the Brewers do have a slight edge in pitching. Charlie Morton is

a little underrated as a guy that has put it all together late in his career. He's had a lot of postseason success. Slight edge. Come on. You can't overcorrect for your fandom and be like, yeah, Burns is just a little bit better. Come on. Burns is like a top five pitcher in the game right now. Burns might be the best pitcher in the game right now.

Burns might be the new Jacob deGrom. I'm saying Charlie Morton might be like a top 15 starting pitcher that gets treated like a top 30 starting pitcher. The gap is reasonable. I think the other part of this that I am concerned about as a fan of the Brewers, but just even from an objective perspective, Atlanta could have six bats in the starting lineup with a barrel

rate of 10% or better. We talked about the Brewers' offense. They have issues. Christian Yelich got a nice hype video out on Twitter this morning. Go watch that if you want to get jacked for your morning push-ups. But I think the Brewers' offense is still scary to me because it means they do have to win games 3-2, 4-3. Those types of teams are very stressful

because all it takes is one bad bounce. And one bad bounce is the last thing i remember about the 2019 post season in dc so i'm just a little bit uh a little bit wrecked i think from that and last year the series against the dodgers brewers weren't at full strength for that so i think expectations were low but i'm really worried about the brewers offense specifically yellich not being yellich and how much that really waters them down. I think that makes them vulnerable to a matchup against a guy like Morton.

Yep. I completely agree with everything you said. I think when you look at the postseason, all you need is one well-placed hit in a pitching duel to change things. The Braves' lineup is they hit a lot of home runs. They've got a lot of power. They've got a lot of guys that play every day.

And they seem to have kind of formed even a more cohesive group after Acuna went down. Like that's kind of what happens a lot of times. These teams that are able to play and absorb the loss of these kind of players, it kind of, and I saw it in Baltimore and I've seen it around, you know, other teams that I've been around, they lose this top player and the rest of them are like, we got to step up. We've got to do something here.

And that's what's happened. I mean, they had three 30 home run guys. Dansby Swanson has had a ridiculous year. I don't think people know how good he is on both sides of the ball. And he had 27 home runs, just a terrific fielder as well. I think the Braves can kind of keep coming at you. And I do worry if Christian Yelich steps back up, I think we're talking about a totally different series.

But if he doesn't, if he becomes kind of what the Leonardo did for the Cardinals in that he really just doesn't add anything at all, then I think that the Braves could steal this series, I do. One thing that I just want to point out is you've got to make contact to take advantage of all those barrel rates. And Atlanta, with this crew, because, you know, I've been using some September splits because, you know, a lot of these teams change personnel in September. And so, you know, for the fact that the Braves really remade their team. The one thing is a lot of the guys that they got to replace Acuna struck out more

than Acuna. DuPaul, Soler, those guys strike out more. So Atlanta in September had the fourth worst strikeout rate in baseball behind Miami, Baltimore, and the Cubs. So they aren't in great company when it comes to making contact, and they're up against the Brewers, so I think

there'll be a ton of strikeouts today. But yeah, if they do connect solidly and do make the most of that and have a homer or two, that'll change things. One thing I wanted to ask you real quick before we, I guess we have to move on. Are we done for you? Is DVR, what do you think of this defense? Because the Asimov average says the Brewers defense is 23rd.

I don't want to split it into just September. I don't even know if i can uh because defensive numbers you don't want to split like that but they did change personnel in september do they get better defensively is adame's better than what was going on before were people hurt that made it worse i mean i know garcia is looks like he should be a good defender but he is absolutely not a good defender. I don't know. How do you think? What's the eye test on Urias, Adamas, and the other situations? Kane has got to be falling off a little bit. He's older.

They're fine up the middle. Colton Wong is fantastic at second. Adamas, when he's out there, is very good at short. I think Urias had to play a lot of short because Adamas was banged up in September, and Arias has had issues throwing the ball pretty much all season.

But up the middle, and Narvaez has been improved too, when you factor in where they're at at catcher, the two middle infield spots, and center field when Kane is out there, even if you want to take a little bit off of what Kane was a couple years ago, he's still an above-average defender.

You've got JBJ as a late-inning guy that's come out in games that he doesn't hit right now, hasn't hit at all, but they defensively are good where they need to be good, so I would say they're still an above-average defensive team, even though outs above average did not like them. Yeah, I mean, Kane was missing a lot, you know,

and if Urias is playing short when Adama should be, that's going to factor in, that's going to make everything look worse. So I could see that the shape of their season might have affected that number and that maybe they're, I would say, at least average at full strength. So maybe that number undervalues them. All right. So Britt's nervous about the Brewers like I am,

but I'm taking the Brewers to win this game. I think the Brewers win the series in four. I think Atlanta's going to get one, but the Brewers are going am, but I'm taking the Brewers to win this game. I think the Brewers win the series in four. I think Atlanta's going to get one, but the Brewers are going to end it in four. Do you guys agree with that overall assessment of the series? I'm going to say Atlanta in five is my prediction. Eno?

I like four. I think they might be down 2-0 when they get to Freddy Peralta. I don't even... Is Freddy Peralta for sure going to start game three, you think? You know, make a prediction. You can't – here comes the waffle. No, I picked the Brewers in game one. And I'm – you know, I could speak as glowingly of Brandon Woodruff as I do of Jordan Alvarez. So I don't think I'm going to be picking against Brandon Woodruff in game two.

So I guess I'm picking the Braves to be down to nothing. So Brewers in four for you? Yeah. All right. So we're on the same page. Peralta's a little bit more hittable just because also he can't go that long. And then, you know, if he's only going to go, you know, three or four against the Braves,

then you're going to see some other relievers that I'm not sure are going to be great. That's going to be the question. Or Eric Lauer. What do the Brewers get from some of their other relievers? Lauer's been really good overall this year. Hauser's been good this year, too. So they've got a couple guys that can chew up innings if Peralta or anybody goes a bit short before they turn it over to some of these short relievers.

Yeah, if I have any waffle, it's going to be towards a sweep. It's so funny. We ask for predictions, and I'm like, okay, here's my prediction. Derek's like, here. And you're like, well, this, maybe that. I don't know about this. No, all right, all right. You already gave yours.

Screw it. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on.

We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on.

We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on.

We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on.

We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on.

We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on.

We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on. give me the broom. It's going to be a sweep. See, just needs to be pushed. One more to get to. Let's go to the Dodgers Giants. We are failing as TV people for sure because we'd be over. Our show would be ending. They'd be playing the music and I'd be frantically holding up a sign saying Dodgers before. Make your pick. Yeah, exactly. That's why I said to Eno, make your pick.

There's a lot going on in this series. I didn't really notice this until I clicked on the Savant StatCast game preview for this, but check this out if you're watching on YouTube. This is the look at all the exit velocity and hard hit percentage and all the X stats

and strikeout and walk rate and sprint speed. Dodgers on the left, Giants on the right, and there's so much more red ink, red being good in this case, on the Dodgers side. These don't look like two evenly matched teams, but I think they are. And I'm wondering if I'm just trying to talk myself into some things that I

want to be true just to not let the Dodgers just roll through this series. Throw it up again real quick. I want to point something out. Evan Longoria and Darren Ruff at the top there would be red. But they don't qualify. They don't qualify. Good point. But, I mean, that doesn't change your point.

There's a lot more red on the left. And then Brandon Belt is in red and won't be in the series. I mean, I don't think – if you go position by position, you take Dodgers everywhere. Sir, are you predicting the Dodgers? Or are you going to do a 10-minute spiel that we don't know who you're predicting? I pick the Dodgers in game one. All right, that's quick and easy.

All right. Who are you going for for the series? Do it. Do it. Let it fly. Come on Look at it You want to call a Dodgers sweep

Don't you I bold predicted the Giants Oh no He's on both sides So you get the Dodgers in one Wow I'm so So it's going to go Dodgers

Giants Giants Dodgers Giants Is that your pattern I think Gossman Can win his game I don't think Gossman can win his game. I don't think Webb's going to win his game.

Yeah, okay. Dodgers in five. Dodgers in five. All right, so you're officially on both sides. Bold predictions are bold. They're bold. They're not bold if you pick both teams. That's a bold prediction. That's a bold prediction.

It's a bold prediction. Okay, well, somebody pointed out Bueller's last game, not good. Bueller also looked human in September. So I think Giants couldn't win this game against Bueller tonight. They got Webb versus Bueller. I think it might come down to the bullpens. Are you waffling now? What's your pick?

I'm not waffling. I'm going up. You did this to me. I'm going Giants and five. I have no history of waffling. I'm not a – What are you picking tonight? Giants five.

I want to pick the Giants to win because I think Walker Buehler can get hit, and I think he will get hit. So there you go. I think he will get hit. There you go. We learned earlier this week that Walker Bueller opens twist-offs with his teeth because he chooses to. According to his Twitter account, it's fun and it makes me feel cool. If you think it's weird because you want to use a bottle opener, then you haven't drank enough beers in your life.

Son, I've drank enough beers in my life. I'm not opening beer bottles with my teeth. Period. I've also broken enough teeth in my life that anything to do with teeth makes my teeth curl if that makes sense. If you think teeth are fungible, I can't support you. I can't get behind you as an adult.

They're very expensive. In fact, teeth just sent 20 NBA players to jail if you've been following that story. So teeth are very, very expensive, and I'm not going to break any teeth just for a beer. No, that's just not going to happen. I think he can afford it, though. I think Walker Bueller can afford it. That's true.

Yeah, I mean, that's how you want to spend your millions is getting your teeth fixed because you didn't want to buy a bottle opener and you thought it looked cool. I guess you can do that good point here uh i'd rather bueller break it to you you know what maybe bueller's playing some 3d chess over here and uh and i'm just not seeing it but i look here here's what i think is going to happen in game one i do think bueller goes six i think he gives about two runs. Just a good Buehler start, but I think Webb holds his own here. I think the Giants, they have a better bullpen than people give them credit for. If Webb runs into

some trouble, they're going to get Webb out of the game after four whenever they need to get him out of this game. I actually trust the Giants to win game one. I think the Dodgers win the series. I think it goes five, but I think the Giants actually get the opener tonight. Well, I'll be excited to watch. I think the Dodgers win the series. I think it goes five, but I think the Giants actually get the opener tonight. Well, I'll be excited

to watch. Logan Webb and the sinker, I just feel like lefty Dodgers are going to eat that up. I know he's a good pitcher, but he's also had some ups and downs. I just have a little bit more faith in

Buehueller than Webb. And I think that they're very evenly matched. That's why I waffled. I think this is the two best teams in the game. And it'll be really, I think that it'll also be really interesting to watch this Giants bullpen that is not built the way other bullpens are built and comes at you with not that much below other than Bill Ball.

are built and comes at you with not that much below as in Bill Ball. I wonder if the Giants are going to be able to prepare for Rogers or if they've seen, you know, that's another thing about this. These two teams have seen each other a ton. There is no secret. You know, the only, Deval is probably the only pitcher on their team that they haven't seen a ton this year. He's like the only secret.

Huh? That's a great comment by Trevor. Yeah. And it doesn't look that great when you look at every single piece, but they do a lot with putting the pieces together, for sure. Yeah. I'm excited for this series. I think it's going to be a good

one. Again, I'm kind of a Logan Webb supporter. Not a fanboy. I'm a supporter. I believe in Logan Webb. You're not going to come up with some fancy like, Webb's... I don't even...

You can't even come up with a Webb's weeple. I already tried, so I walked away. But I think the Giants' bullpen is going to be a key in Game 1. If Webb runs into trouble, I think they can work out of some jams and win a close one at Oracle Park. No Max Muncy too is also a problem, I think, for the Dodgers against right-handed

starters in particular. I think also losing Kershaw, people think that Kershaw was terrible in the postseason, but I think losing Kershaw is meaningful. Absurd. Absolutely absurd. That's where the Kershaw postseason narratives are just ridiculous. But we need to go. Before we go, I should let you know,

we are here every weekday on YouTube, 1130 a.m. Eastern, 830 a.m. Pacific. Give us a follow on Twitter. Eno is at Eno Saris. Britt is at Britt underscore Droli. I am at Derek Van Ryper. And if you are watching us on YouTube, be sure to barrel up on that like button.

Enjoy the games this weekend. Rates and Barrels returns on Monday. Thanks for listening.