Rates & Barrels - Red Sox Eliminate Rays | Dodgers, Brewers & White Sox Face Elimination

Episode Date: October 12, 2021

Eno, Britt and DVR discuss the Red Sox's series clinching-win over the Rays, what's next for Tampa Bay, and three teams -- the Dodgers, Brewers and White Sox -- all trying to avoid elimination in Game 4 matchups Tuesday.  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 Rates and Barrels, presented by Topps. Check out Topps Project 70, celebrating 70 years of Topps baseball cards. It is Tuesday, October 12th. We have three more playoff games on the slate today. We have an eliminated Tampa Bay Rays team to discuss. The Red Sox closing out that series three games to one on Monday night, part of a fantastic day of baseball. Yeah, we were robbed of the four-game day that we wanted, but the three games we had, I think, delivered. They didn't all make me happy, but they delivered to the baseball-loving fan,

is what I will say. Hey, how did our picks do? I think we all called the Sox, didn't we? Yes. I think we were all in agreement on a lot of picks yesterday, except for the Brewers. Yeah. I said we were all in agreement on a lot of picks yesterday, except for the Brewers. Yeah. And then I said Brewers would win.

Yep. Same. Got that one wrong. Yep. So Britt definitely has the upper hand in terms of picks on this show. It's been made very clear recently. The touch. Yeah.

That's like when your friend who knows nothing about sports is winning fantasy football right like playoffs are just it's not knowledge it's just like straight guess i didn't say it uh it's kind of how you guys are like all right really nice of you to no it's not like that i mean i know i think the giants to win the series, and they're one win away now. But did I just do that to be the opposite of you guys? I don't know. Don't turn this into some kind of head game situation. Mental warfare. We don't need that.

Because then I'm going to start thinking about trying to be different, and then I'll pick a team I don't even like to win games, but then I might be right, and then I'll be totally in my head. I'm pressured into calling a Brewer's sweep, because you're calling me the king of waffles oh yeah i'm keeping that up i mean you have control over that situation so you can change it if you want to but that's right let's start with that red sox raise game i mean this had some surprises in it eduardo rodriguez i did say it kind of in passing i thought there was at least a chance he could pitch deep into the game because he was so quick to get removed from game one. So I think in a weird way, that decision in game one maybe saved the Red Sox because he

actually showed up and pitched very well in game four. But it wasn't just that. I thought the most surprising thing of all, we knew the Rays pitching was on fumes. We talked about it yesterday. I think we sat here for a minute and said, how exactly are they going to get 27 outs today after the extra innings game and given the current state of their pitching staff? Of all the things that I thought they wouldn't do,

I didn't think they'd bring Shane McClanahan into the game early. I thought if they had a spot where they're up maybe two or something late in the game, seventh inning sometime around then, and they did two or three innings to close it out maybe then mcclanahan would enter and you try to just end the series in four if the rays had played it out that way they decided to use them early and unfortunately for the rays and for kevin cash that decision backfired in a pretty big way

yeah um to me we kind of called this right like there's a lesson here and it's that your your bullpen can't be your only pitchers you can't just be a team of bullpen arms and they ran out of starters they didn't really have starters to begin with and i think this game kind of magnified that issue now we can argue about if they had only lost in nine innings two nights ago would it have mattered when when McClanahan had been better? You know, like we can go into like certain things, I guess. But to me, the issue was that the Rays ran out of pitchers and the Red Sox didn't. They had Pavetta.

They had Eduardo Rodriguez, who kind of like the unsung hero, kind of like lost in the shuffle a little bit because he didn't make it out of the the second inning the first time around and then was able to go five or into the six and they really probably figured hey this guy's probably gonna go two or three max i mean alex cora said they hope to get him 15 outs uh so i think when you look at the red sox they're not a team that we sit here and say oh over their rotation right they're not the brewers they're, they're not a team that we sit here and say, ooh, over their rotation, right? They're not the Brewers. They're not some of these other clubs. But they were able to outlast because they had more rotation-type pitchers than Tampa Bay did. And to me, it's just that simple.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, one thing is, like, you re-racked another game game with eduardo rodriguez starting against the same lineup uh same team and instead of going one and two-thirds and being hit out of the game he he went five so some of this is just it's kind of randomness right um and then the other thing that i i have to say about that is that i'm not sure i i'm to look through the game logs a little bit. But my memory of the series, I'm not sure when they should have left a guy in longer. You know what I mean? Was there a tactical decision made with the pitching staff?

Or they should have let... I guess. But McHugh was not really that stretched out either. I'm just saying, you're saying they didn't have enough rotation type arms. And I agree that they kind of ran out of pitching, but what, what I think back, I'm like,

well, I would have taken drew Rasmussen out after three, if I was them because he he'd given up three and he wasn't striking guys out. And that seemed about as good as he would do. You know what I mean? I wouldn't have left Louis Patino in longer or brought him in earlier. I don't know. I just don't know where they should have left a guy in longer.

Now, I think maybe the real question that you're talking about is that most of their guys are stretched out to about 80 pitches. They kind of have 80 pitch guys. So even if they had left them in longer, they couldn't have gotten more than 80 pitches. They seemed to sort of stretch guys to 80, whereas other teams stretch guys to 100 and 120. Yes. But I don't know how that mattered in the series because there wasn't a moment where I was like,

man, they took this guy out then? No, there wasn't a single moment where I was like, wow, they took him out way too early, right? No, I think it's right. But pitching management management the only decision from the series that really comes to mind is a not sure i would have done that was the use of mcclanahan yesterday that was pretty much it and again what else were they supposed to do josh fleming you'd throw josh fleming for i was gonna be there's gonna be rasmussen on less

rest yeah yeah or fleming yeah we talked about this though this is a personnel issue you're Rasmussen on less rest. Yeah. Yeah. Or Fleming. Yeah. We talked about this, though. This is a personnel issue. You're right. It's not like a, oh, Kevin Cash should have done this and not that. This was not having Charlie Morton, not having Tyler Glass now, not having Blake Snell,

not having a chance to have a starter pitch in six or seven innings. That's what this was. And then you play a 13 inning game. And I do think if they had lost in nine, this maybe is a different game last night, but they were the way they're set up. They rely on their bullpen so much. They're not built to withstand these extra inning games.

And then they don't have a starter on the bound the next day. Who's going to eat up innings to help the bullpen. Right? So this was almost like the worst case scenario for them. So much of this seems like it's Tyler Glass now though. Tyler Glass now is the thing that you just didn't see coming. I think maybe that's what made me surprised

and something that Max Bay is putting into the stream. The Rays could have used Rich Hill. I was surprised when they traded Rich Hill to the Mets because Rich Hill seemed like he fit that bridge, that veteran that you could just throw out there and get five innings kind of whenever you needed it. That was the thing that surprised me at the time they made the trade.

And I think even just having him, how much more do you trust Rich Hill than Josh Fleming in a spot like the one you were in last night when you had to use McClanahan? I wonder if they panicked when they saw his RPM tank after July 1st. He ended up being a very decent pitcher for the Mets, and he would have had that middle relief type length where he could have gone three or four for them

and been really clutch for them in this series. I think that one's good. I also think what Carter Rogers here is saying is true. It's not that Baz and Rasmussen couldn't have gone 80. They were starters. They were their starter types. The problem was they just didn't go 80.

They didn't go as far as they could. But I would have taken both those guys out when they were taken out because they just, they weren't being, they weren't as effective. Right. If even one of those guys pitch deeper into their start yesterday's

strategy, yesterday's available pitchers plays out quite a bit differently. So that's definitely a good point to bring up. Interesting here too. Erod said he had no command in game one. This is from Steve Jezuel in the live stream. Must have been totally different last night. I mean, yeah, he was hitting his spots.

Erod piling up Ks early when that's happening. That's good Erod. That's the Erod that you want to go get in free agency. He'll be available this winter, by the way. And not sure he's actually staying in Boston. Might be a good second-tier starting pitcher for someone to go out there and get. I think it's a little bit of a comment on command versus stuff i think if you go out there and you have you have good stuff and your command is in and out then at least you can rely on stuff you know in a game and and gut it out i think of like max serza right i don't think he had great

command in that in that first start against the Giants. What was the one where you got taken out? Yeah, the wild card game. I don't think he had great command in that game, but he has good stuff. So he kind of got through five innings and it was one run. It was like a good start. He was much better last night. But I think command comes and goes.

And Erod is like mostly command. So when he doesn't have command that's when he has the blow-ups and is out in two innings but when he does have command it's kind of fun to watch in in fact watching him last uh last yesterday last night i i thought of like i think command is actually sometimes better to watch than stuff like good command. The, the pitcher breezes along,

like hits their spots. It keeps it moving. Like the game goes quicker and like, it doesn't seem as like brute force-ish. And this guy is just trying to throw 99 every time. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know.

I kind of think a command artist is maybe a little bit more fun to watch than someone who has much more stuff than command. Go ahead, Britt. Yeah, exactly. I mean, you like it selfishly because the game moves faster. And listen, I do too. Like, give me Mark Burley all day. Like, that guy grabs the ball, throws it again.

Like, don't blink. Don't get up and get a drink. Meanwhile, I got up and get a drink meanwhile i got up and got a snack and missed i think two pitches i was gone for like 10 minutes you know that's just the game now so i don't know if i'd agree with that i think there has to be a little bit of a mix certainly i think command guys last longer in the league versus the pure stuff guys um because they know how to pit you know the old know how to pitch ad you know, the old know-how-to-pitch adage. I do think we're talking about the Rays losing,

but this is not the Boston team I saw the last week of the season. Like, they've played so much better, I don't want to say above their skis, because we saw this early on in the regular season, and Derek kind of thought they were going to be much better than I did, certainly. I can't remember where Eno was on this Red Sox line, but probably both sides. Yeah, probably. To me, this Red Sox lineup is just if they get the pitching, which they got this series, their lineups never been a question. They're a deep lineup.

That's hard to navigate because there's not a whole lot of like dead spots. And they're really good with two strikes. So they're, they're a little similar to Houston in that they really work opposing pitchers. And I wonder if it becomes, if Astros win today and it becomes a Houston-Boston ALCS, I think we're in for like a lot of fun. I think the Red Sox, like usually it's easy to hate them, but they're like a borderline likable team to me. I was thinking that watching them race down in the laundry cart in the dugout. They're

kind of a likable team because they weren't supposed to be good. They've got some young guys mixed in with some random veterans that we all kind of thought, oh, this is an in-between year. It's like a gap year for Boston. These guys guys are getting it done. And I kind of find myself not hating them as much as I normally hate a Red Sox team in the playoffs. So I ask you to this, like, is this Red Sox team kind of likable? So relative to other Red Sox teams, not relative to the general population or just other baseball teams. Yes, we grade on a curve. I think Kike is a fun character. He's got a lot of energy, makes funny faces,

is very expressive, and is hot as **** right now. Hot as... on fire. Good choice. Better choice there. Let's bleep that one out in the cut. No, but I think Xander Bogarts is an amazing player. Better choice there. Let's bleep that one out in the cut. No, but I think Xander Bogarts is an amazing player. He's kind of cool, calm, and collected. And Devers is a fun player to watch. So, yeah, they're expressive with each other,

but they're not necessarily, other than Kike, they're not as necessarily expressive out on the field. So I don't know. You can read that either way. Sometimes people will get, you know, get really annoyed with the expression

or just like, oh, those guys celebrate every little thing or whatever. I think it's a fun team. I think they're really good. One thing that surprised me was when I looked,

that they were kind of, I thought their offense would have done really well. You know, I thought they would have had one of the top three offenses. They're more like a top five, top six offense in the league this year. Right now they feel like a, like the best offense in the postseason. I mean, toe to toe with Houston, that's kind of a coin flip on that side. I would say pitching, geez, I'm thinking about a possible matchup there. I think I like Houston's staff a little more, but that gap is pretty narrow. Part of that's the current situation with Chris Sale.

He has not been pre-injury Chris Sale since coming back, for the most part. And, of course, a lot of recency bias with what we saw from him in Game 2 make me feel even worse about Chris Sale right now. But, yeah, that does feel like the ALCS matchup that we're likely to get with the Astros up to one on the White Sox. And not much has changed with that postponed game except for the starter for Houston. Lance McCullers gets to go in place of Jose Urquidy. White Sox are going to stick with Carlos Rodon in this one.

So I'm just kind of curious. That just moves the needle further towards the Astros. How much more do you like Houston right now? A lot more. Are you guys surprised? I saw that on Reddit twice yesterday on Twitter.

Why would you stick with him? What were their other options? Throw Lance Lynn out there again? On three days rest? Lynn's on the same amount of rest as McCullers. Looking at how he has matched up with the Astros both in game one and earlier this season, I'm not sure that's the matchup you want either.

I still think we're looking at Rodon over under about nine and a half outs and probably some kind of Ronaldo Lopez plus relievers plan to get through it because I'd be stunned. And maybe the spot will be right where it makes sense to use Lin. If you're protecting a three or four

run lead, let's say you get to McCullers, you open up an early lead, Rodon gets you through the first three innings, do you want to go to Lin and have Lynn try to push four or five innings and get you all the way to the late relievers? And then you can use your entire bullpen or whatever mix of other starters. Yeah, Giolito and your full bullpen in game five. Like that gives you some options too.

The quick turnaround makes it a little tougher because you don't have that day of rest built in. You get the day of rest early. But I think Houston definitely has more of an upper hand with McCullers and Urquidy. Everybody would agree to that. But I just wonder, what can the White Sox do differently against McCullers with their approach to change their fortunes this time around against them? That's a good question. their fortunes this time around against them?

That's a good question. Something I think they're not that well suited to, which is be very disciplined and not swing so much. Because McCullers' one weakness is not the best command. Yeah, walks. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's fair. But it's just not the best team for that. So I wonder if you could do something like stick Andrew Vaughn in,

even though Andrew Vaughn is much better against lefties, but just stick him in just to get a walk or two. I don't know. I mean, to me, the best thing they can do is get to that bullpen. He can't go deep into the game like he did in one. Because to me, their bullpen. He can't go deep into the game like he did in one. To me, their bullpen, Astros, is still kind of being not that great. They've certainly gotten hit. They haven't

been dominant. If you can force them to use Graveman in the fifth, sixth inning, you have a chance of winning that game. I don't know how you get there. That's why I think the walks matter. You grind McCullers. He's going to be a little bit tired. That's the only thing the walks matter. You grind McCullers. He's going to be a little bit tired. Yeah, that's the only thing I can think of is sort of grind him.

Would you follow McCullers with Urquidy, though, since he was originally going to start this game? If McCullers struggles and only goes three or four, does Urquidy pick it up from there and bridge the gap? I think both teams are going to manage this like an elimination game. Yeah. Because you mentioned it, Derek, with no off day tomorrow. Do you really want to win this game?

Because you're on a real bad spot tomorrow. Tomorrow would be the most bizarre coin flip, right? Tired pitching staff. Not really ideal. You'd have to go to Houston, both teams. I think both of these teams are going to manage this like their season is on the line even though it's only on the line for the white socks yeah and that's the one thing that why the criticism of the rays doesn't land as

much for me is that i think the thing that the rays did i think everyone's doing it now the the thing that the rays did which is you know managed like every game is your last game and get the get the next out that's how people do the playoffs now right so like we were just talking Lynn is Lynn is on board because there is no tomorrow so you know you're gonna if you have to use Lynn you're gonna use Lynn you know and like what we saw in the Rays game yesterday they used everybody they had they didn't see there was nobody saved I guess Drew Rasmussen was saved for the next day. That was it. So, yeah, I think generally anybody on the staff is available at all times in the playoffs now.

That's what we've learned recently. So I think, yeah, we could see anybody in that game. And I think we might actually see O'Keefe. Because I think McCullers will be tired. So I don't think McCullers, I think they might run him out for four. And who's going to get you three to get to the back end of the bullpen? It's Urquidy or Javier. Or both.

I think the bigger question I have for playoff pitching plans, if you're going to manage this way, if most teams are going to lean on a smaller number of pitchers once they get to the postseason, should you go through a walkthrough or two at some point during the season to answer some of the questions that you run into? Should you test it out prior to the postseason and make sure you like what happens in various scenarios? Just designate a series. It's like, we're going to do this like a playoff series.

Everybody on deck. Yeah, you probably have some stretch of the schedule where you get that monday thursday off day thing where you could actually plan for this like it just seems weird to run your team to manage pitchers a certain way for 162 games to get to the postseason and have a totally different script and i think the way you build the team obviously you have to get through the 162 to even make October baseball happen. But I'm just sitting there thinking about this yesterday. I'm like, are teams as prepared for handling the pitching staffs the way they do in the postseason as they could be or should be? No, I don't think you don't prepare for it. You can't simulate October baseball with a

series in May. You just can't yeah they won't even they won't even have the adrenaline that you kind of need it's yeah it's not close right yeah and guys are throwing right now tired exhausted on it's pure adrenaline right now when you got to october so again you can't simulate that the packed crowds the way that everything's on the line like no guys know once they get to October, there are no more roles. Like, that's been a thing for the last. That's not a new thing. That's been a thing, right, for a while.

So, like, what the Nationals did in 19. We'll think of how the Nationals won. How the Red Sox even won. When the Red Sox won, they used the Evaldi, you know, in relief. Back in 2008, Tampa Bay put David Price in the bullpen. This is, like, not a new, like like thing to do crazy stuff or to find weight, best arms to get the outs. I do think it's a little more magnified in the short series.

We're not going to see managers of the seven game series, manage game, a game three, like it's winner go home. Right. We are going to see that in potential elimination games. I kind of think it's coming from the seven game series too. Like I agree with you that it's not new, but I think think it's coming shorter series too like i i agree with you that

it's not new but i think that then it's the norm now it wasn't always the norm it's not the norm it's i i would be shocked though if you do that in the game three you can't crush your team and go all in on the game three when you could potentially play seven maybe if you're down two oh if team's down two oh but like these one one tie you're not gonna see that next round well you see you see some teams um kind of like kind of throw a game away like to win one right they'll they'll they'll be like well we'll just like i remember the dodgers there was like in one series there was like should we use urias or when when when are we gonna you do the bullpen day because they were gonna do a bullpen day in a seven-game series. There was one day that was going to be a bullpen day.

Last year? Last year? Was it last year or was it the year before? I mean, the Dodgers have been in the postseason every year. It's like, I don't know which one it was. But they had to decide when the bullpen day was, and they went for it in one game in a way, like bringing in a starter or something in a way that was like,

tomorrow's a bullpen day now. like bringing in a starter or something in a way that was like tomorrow's a bullpen day now. So I do think that they, they kind of still kind of go for it in seven game series. But I agree also that they have to think about, you know, tomorrow more. Well, I think again,

and this isn't me saying I don't like the strategy. It's more wondering, like, is there anything else you can do to prepare yourself for how unusual this is? And I think one of the reasons I started to think about it was because of what happened in the Braves-Brewers game. There was a crossroads decision that Craig Council had to make. It wasn't an easy choice. Runners on second and third won out.

Freddy Peralta had pitched really well. It was the fifth inning. He went to his bench. He went to Dan Volgebach. Volgebach hit a ground ball. Run didn't score. Brewers didn't get any runs. They had to go to theach. Volgebach hit a ground ball. Run didn't score. Brewers didn't get any runs. They had to go to the pen.

And they had to go to the pen quickly. And they went to Adrian Hauser. Adrian Hauser's a starter. Adrian Hauser a lot less effective than he might have been if he'd been up and ready to go. No. But I think

that there's something there that you could practice, which is maybe down the stretch, a throw date for a starter. You make them pretend like they're coming into the game. Could work. And so you're like, you know, for your throw day today, instead of throwing in the bullpen leisurely,

like you normally do at your own pace or whatever, you hang out in the bullpen today, and we're just going to randomly call you one inning, and you have to get hot. And that'll be your throw day for the day. We're not going to put you in the game, but you just have to get hot. There might be some pitchers out there that haven't gotten hot really quickly.

I think, no. I see someone's making fun of me for the no eye roll. Again, you could do, you could practice this all you want. It's not the same. It's just not the same. When you're covering these teams, when you're around these teams, the feel in October is totally different. So I have no problem in council making that move.

You need to hit there. You need offense. They could have and maybe should have anticipated once a guy gets on, you have him start to get up. I wasn't a huge fan of the rush job in terms of getting that starter ready. I think if you brought a starter in in the middle of an inning with runners on, now we're talking about fish out of water. But he started the inning.

It was a clean inning. I mean, maybe he wasn't warmed up enough. That would factor in. But, again, I don't think this is something you practice in June. I think this is a situation that comes up and you're a starter. You know you're going to be called on. And you're used to start the inning. It's not that different.

The only issue to me was the timing of it. Maybe they should have said to him, hey, we got somebody on, you're getting up. Yeah. We get someone on, you're getting up. That's it. Maybe you should start throwing in the fourth because if we get somebody on anywhere in the third or fourth,

just start lightly throwing, just start getting ready. You know, yeah, get that call in early. Yeah. Maybe he's not getting ready. You know, yeah, get that call in early. Yeah. Because he's getting about the six. Maybe he's not getting in. Right. Exactly. You'd rather have him ready and not used than the reverse,

which is potentially what we saw yesterday. So, but again, I don't think you practice. I don't, I just don't think you can practice that. I think if you could, it's like managers always talk about the ninth inning, right? And how different the ninth inning is. And I remember Buck Schallalter used to say, like, I wish you could bottle up the ninth inning right and how different the ninth inning is and i remember uh buck shall alter used to say like i wish you could bottle up that ninth inning emotion and give it to a guy in the sixth inning or the seventh inning it's just not the same it's the same thing to me when it comes to these like really important october games you just cannot simulate that at

all as much as you would want to so. I think we can focus a lot on those crucial moments, but it's still the Brewers' offense, man. I mean, they've got to score some runs. It's the 95 Braves' offense. Well, it's going to be a sweat. Now, today is going to be interesting because

Atlanta's throwing Charlie Morton on short rest. It's going to be Eric Lauer going for the Brewers. And Charlie Morton has only gone on short rest. It's going to be Eric Lauer going for the Brewers. And Charlie Morton has only gone on short rest like twice in his career, I think. Yeah. Is this the right call? I mean, obviously, we'll know in a few hours if it was a good idea or not. But is this what you would do looking at the state of Atlanta's pitching staff? You can go first on this one, you know.

With Wasker, you know, I think yes. Because you throw Morton, you see what you got.ery Noah, I think yes, because you throw Morton, you see what you got. If you get three innings, then you throw Waskery for two or whatever. I think it makes sense. Charlie Morton on short rest is probably still better than Waskery Noah. Britt? Yeah, I agree with you.

Derek, did you feel like, I don't know, maybe this is like a consolation prize, but I know Yellich had a hit yesterday it seemed like there was some really hard contact the Braves defense made some really nice plays did you feel like maybe the Brewers offense is coming a lot is getting better I'm not want to say coming alive because like that's too strong but they did have some really good at bats and they had some really good contact I mean there were five drives four of the five best exit losses in the game were Brewers But they did have some really good at-bats, and they had some really good contact. I mean, there was some hard line drives. Four of the five best exit losses in the game were Brewers. Yeah.

So I know they lost that game. But to me, if Morton is just a tick down on the short rest, I could see the Brewers stealing this one. Because I think the offense, as frustrating as it's been to watch, you watch that game, and I rewatched it this morning, just kind of like the condensed version. And when you watch it condensed like that, you're like, God, the Brewers had a lot of hard-hit balls.

So I don't know if that makes you feel better at all. And those four hard-hit balls turned into, it was the Yelly double play. There was a line out at some point. Yeah. Yeah, the liner where he jumped. Swanson made a bunch of real i think very underrated yes um i don't know if that makes you feel better about them like evening this series derrick but i felt like watching that game i know the fifth inning

not scoring is like the game but i also felt like they had some good at bats that's not really a consolation i know well yeah no i mean i think well well struck balls generally do make you feel a little better about a struggling team they're not up there flailing helplessly and failing to make any sort of hard contact but i actually am concerned about eric lauer in this case you know i think the brewers can get a couple of runs but can eric lauer do enough to keep Atlanta's offense quiet? That, to me, is the bigger concern on the Brewers' side. Is this pitching path going to work in this game?

Going to the B-side of your staff, initially at least, is that going to work with your season on the line? Who do they bring in when they pull him out if it's not going well? Well, a couple thoughts. I didn't throw my thoughts on Morton. I would actually throw Enoa as the starter and use Morton to finish if it's through four, through five, and you have a lead. Because I'd rather have Morton on full rest in game five. I think Enoa is good enough where you can at least let him go through the lineup once, maybe get him through twice, and then finish it off with Morton.

That's how I would be thinking about it if I were in their shoes rather than use Morton and then piggyback Enoa off of him. For the Brewers, behind Lauer, since Hauser went yesterday, we're not going to see him. I think it's probably going to be some Ashby in there.

Maybe you get Woodruff on his throw day for an inning. That's a possibility. That's a good point. That's from Steve Jizzul, but that totally makes sense that Woodruff could at least be available for one if you need him to get there. I think it's going to be a little bit of

a patchwork, messy situation behind Lauer if Lauer has any trouble early. I think Ashby might to be a little bit of a patchwork messy situation behind Lauer. If Lauer has any trouble early, but I think Ashby, it might end up being kind of important today. Yeah. Maybe your boy Hunter Strickland. Never. Oh God.

I, they, they know, they know he's not good. Like they, they know they don't want him to pitch. They lost. I'm going to go take Hazel for a walk and listen on the radio because I'm too angry.

But all right, does this one go five? I love that. I love listening on the radio. You want to know why? Because you're getting the home announcer still. Or at least I am on my MLB app. Is that everybody? And Bob Uecker is pretty funny, actually.

Yeah, Uecker's awesome. Yeah. and Bob Uker's pretty funny actually yeah Uker's awesome yeah we've been actually listening to him with the TV on but it's annoying because they're not synced up oh come on that's fixable

but is this series going five we're going back to Milwaukee I hope so I want a five I'm in that position that I found my like six year old in where he's lying about something and we're all mad at him and he's just going to keep lying. Just dig himself deeper of a hole. So, yeah, brewers are going to win.

All right. All right. Well, we're all in the brewers. So, get those tickets in quickly on Atlanta to close it out today, because that's probably the more likely outcome. If we're all in agreement on an outcome, let's go to the giants Dodger series. I said yesterday, I couldn't really imagine a script in which the giants would win.

Then you imagine it. Max Scherzer matchup. And then it happened. And Alex would pitch really well. Tyler Rogers got in, pitched well. Camilo Deval on the biggest of stages with a six-out save.

I had put this on the rundown for yesterday. We didn't even talk about it. Duval, just based on how they used him earlier in the series, very clearly in Gabe Kapler's circle of trust. Now everybody is fully aware and on board with that. And there was one pretty amazing thing

about this game at the end, of course, because of the windy conditions at Dodger Stadium. I think Gavin Lux actually homered off of Camilo Duval and the wind just made it a long out. I'm pretty sure that's what actually happened in terms of batted ball type and pitch location. Stat cast numbers back that up. I think it had an XBA of like 890. But the Gavin Lux gameing home run didn't happen

and here we are with the Giants having a chance to finish this series in four, which, wow. I got a DM from Max Bay, who's on here. Shout out, Max Bay. Saying that the 890 XBA does not account for

temperature, wind, or spray spray angle so it doesn't um so you know if that was like down the line that you know or or center center uh that matters a lot so all of those three of those things worked against lux it was was cold. The wind was blowing in and he hit it to the deepest part of the park. There's some great comments. Somebody else asked if the Yankees Cleveland was the bug game. Is this the wind game?

I think you guys, I don't know if you guys had this thought too. Is this on a level of midges? I don't know. Longo's hom home still went out. It still was. Which must have been just hammered, by the way, if that got out. That's true. You kind of knew the wind was going to be a factor in this game from the jump.

Max Scherzer fell on his first pitch. You could kind of give you an idea of what was going... You're like, oh, okay, this wind is going to play a role here. Right? You heard everyone talking about it. You just kind of knew it was going to come down to some kind of wind factor. You could see it. I'm getting into this that it's almost on the midges level because you could see their pants, right?

You could see their pants like, you know, in the wind. We're up here in Northern California and our umbrellas fell over and like, you know, it was a really windy day in California. So I'm getting around on this midges, the wind game. It was strange. My deck chairs moved and I haven't felt wind here in the couple months that I've been in this area. So things were definitely strange on the West Coast yesterday.

Yeah. But I saw some comments earlier saying that Scherzer had a bad game. No, I think that was a little bit tongue-in-cheek. Someone's right. He got blown off the mount. That's what I mean. That first pitch. You saw him make some adjustments because he's great. You saw

him struggle early on in the first inning, fighting some things, figuring out how to pitch with the wind. I'm sure it happened on both sides. But honestly, if you're the Giants, if you're a Giants fan, what you take out of that game is that Longoria maybe could be

getting hot because he had two hits in his previous 40 at-bats. So if Longoria can heat up here a little bit, and he's been pretty abysmal, as I said, I don't know. I'm the only one on this panel who thought the giants might win i still think the giants might win he's the eight hitter when he's in so it's pretty amazing if he's gonna be good uh you know and there's an argument a

numbers argument for that possibly in the case because he was hurt and so this is like now right around two to three weeks after being hurt which is what hitters say is how long it takes to get their timing back so he could just be like sort of getting back on begging his legs back under him after he was out for a really long time with a hamstring i think or an oblique yeah remember was it nine or ten remember that one postseason him and bj upton went absolutely nuts i think it was I think it was 10. Might've been 10. It was not, I was in Tampa Bay in 08 and in nine.

I don't think they were good. Might've been 10. Someone in the chat can correct me, but he's had some really good postseasons in the past. And I just think if you look at this team and we talked about how they kind of can be susceptible to left-handed starters, how Longoria hasn't been very good. Well, if he's going to put together some at-bats, and also

similar to the Braves, the Giants made some really good defensive plays, too. There's good defensive plays on both sides. That Crawford jump, whoo! Yeah, that was incredible. He's 34 years old. Yeah, there were some really, really good plays, and I think in the postseason, more than anything,

and this is why I think the White Sox are kind of done for many reasons, but like if you can steal those outs, it's such a momentum change, right? If you can make these plays that just completely kill the other team's momentum, like great, where are we going to hit it now? Because they keep catching the ball everywhere. I think defense in these games is even more important. It's even more magnified when you're looking for anything to shut up the home crowd

or to get some momentum on your side. these defensive plays do it they really do yeah that's that's the good that's what bad defense and good like bad defense like creates a rally you know lengthens the rally for sure and good defense you saw scherzer was so pissed at the dugout i love i love watching him man he's I was trying to explain. My family's like, I was like, this guy's crazy. And they're like, what? He's really intense. Just look at him. They're like, you mean his eyes? I don't know.

I'm like, no, just look at him. Even when he's lighting up a pitch and he's just like, he's just talking and spitting. He's terrifying. He's terrifying. He's terrifying. He's terrifying.

Try interviewing him post-game after he doesn't have a good start. I mean, he is terrifying. I can't imagine that would be a comfortable place to be. But it was jarring seeing him on a commercial, which was really cool because he was calm. Yeah, right. He didn't have his usual intensity. I wish he had brought that intensity. I wish they would have got him to do the shoot for the commercial after

a game and just had him juiced up. That would have been amazing. We need Mad Max. We do. Trevor pointing out, if you're judging the wind by the blowing of the pants, good thing Walker Buehler wasn't pitching. I thought about that too. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought about that. Actually, we wouldn't know judging the wind by the blowing of the pants, good thing Walker Bueller wasn't pitching that. Actually, I thought about that too. So I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought about that.

Like actually we wouldn't, we wouldn't know what the wind was doing because Walker Bueller is not, not wasting fabric. Neither the time nor the place. Is that what he said? When someone asked him about that? I love it. And then he walked off the podium.

Why are your pants so tight? in uh in baltimore one year ty wickington yelled that screamed at jake arietta as he has taken too long between pitches throw the ball tight pants it's like one of my favorite like favorite little in-game comments there was some game within the game there was some college football game where where a coach got kicked out of the game. The head coach got kicked out of the game because he threw his, what's it, your note, like your notepad or whatever. Your play chart. Yeah, but it's on something harder. What's the hardest thing it's on?

Clipboard. Yeah, clipboard. He threw his clipboard at a fan in the stands because the fan in the stands said, you're worrying too much about how tight your pants are and not how to call this game. I mean, you can't get rattled that easily. If you're coaching and you hear that and that gets you to react, you've lost your focus. A question here from Connor.

Speaking of Bueller, should he go tonight? Dodgers still, I think, are a TBD, at least at last glance, as of just after noon here from Connor. Speaking of Bueller, should he go tonight? Dodgers still, I think, are a TBD, at least at last glance, as of just after noon here on Tuesday. Anthony Duscafani lined up for the Giants. What do the Dodgers do here, facing elimination with their pitching? What makes the most sense?

Yeah. I don't know. Yeah, I think you throw Bueller. Yeah, I think you throw Bueller. You do? You got to get to game five. And then who do you go to like you only go for him for a couple like once through the order twice through the order as far as he can go

as far as he can go uh because he's not going to go in game five get creative you could get creative i guess right because like urias wouldn't it be his throw day yeah so could you get an inning or two out of him so who starts game five then who am I thinking of Scherzer well you'd have an off day but no it's not going to be Scherzer because it'll be Thursday who was the game two starter

maybe two who was the game two who was the two starter you wouldn't want to throw Urias then you'd be holding Urias but you want to throw Urias then. You'd be holding Urias. You couldn't throw him for an inning? But you want to hold him for game five? No, Urias would start game five.

You don't use Urias today. He pitches game five. That is the absolute clear plan. So I think you'd push Buehler on short rest, go as far as you possibly can, and then bullpen, a bullpen as much as you have to, to try and get the win. That's the way it works.

I don't know. The Red Sox used their game five start, their Pavetta or game four start or whatever it was. I guess it depends. They need to win today's game and then worry about five, right? It's nice you want to hold a guy back. It's everyone.

See everyone but Scherzer. But Scherzer and Urias may be in the right circumstances But you really want to have Urias ready to go for 5 Because if you're throwing everybody at the problem Today having Urias Limit the number of Tired players

Yeah because then all of a sudden it would be a bullpen game for you in 5 then Yeah but if you get to 5 You can probably go a couple innings of Scherzer Because it would be his throw day You can get real creative I don't of Scherzer because it would be his throw day. You can get real creative. I don't know. Scherzer on his throw day. He's going at least three on his throw day. No, he totally

is. That's what I mean. I watched this guy in February throw 50, 60 pitch bullpens. Everyone else is doing a light touch and feel because it's the first bullpen of spring training. This guy's yelling names out like Acuna and counts and grunting. Wait, what?

He's crazy. He's a crazy guy. So he's mentally picturing the players he's going to face during the season on his side sessions and just like, wow. Haven't you also seen him before the games? He'll stay on the mound without a ball and do this thing where he and like do this thing where he's like pretending he's got a ball. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. He visualizes it. He wears full uniforms too. It could be a hundred degrees in the middle of DC summer and he's full, full, full uniform for his bullpen. So he's a different breed. So yeah,

I think you use everybody but Scherzer today. And then I, as you guys said, like Scherzer today. Then, as you guys said, Scherzer would probably go. He'd pitch until his arm fell off if it meant that they could advance. Before we go, we need predictions. Do the Giants close out the Dodgers tonight, or are we going to get game five

in this series? We're getting a five. Give the people what they want. We're getting a five. I think it's definitely going five. Eno? Why did I pick in the betting picks? I picked the Giants.

I guess you're stuck on the Giants. That's the pick. You only get one. I thought it would be. I'm just explaining. I'm explaining my betting pick because I think it'll go five. I thought it would be. They made me put that in before the game yesterday. Oh, that's early.

So I thought the Dodgers might win last night because I had, you know, I thought the Dodgers were going to win last night, and I thought the Dodgers would then throw a bullpen game today in order to have everyone ready for game five. So I'm explaining that. Now that they lost last night, I think they win tonight. All right. El Capitano, 2109.

Does Scherzer also yell at names of all-time greats? That'd be pretty wild. Kelly Clarkson! Oh, yeah, like that. That's just weird. Last comment from the stream, Jason. My brain says five, but I haven't been right about the Giants all year.

Yeah, every time I thought it was going to unravel on them or that things were finally going to turn back into a pumpkin, they haven't. Last night did not seem like a game the Giants were going to win. No, no, it didn't. I mean, I'm sure mathematically it was probably 35% or something going in based on money line. It just didn't seem like it was going to happen, and it did.

Now, they've got the Dodgers on the brink, and I'm excited to watch this. If you could come back, if you could have told us yesterday that Scherzer was going to pitch seven with one earned run, you'd be like, yeah, Dodgers won. Well, before we go, just a quick reminder,

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