Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 168 | We've Got Official Schedules

Episode Date: July 8, 2020

MLB has officially dropped its schedules for all 30 teams. Trevor Plouffe tells Jomboy and Jake what the players look for the most when the schedule is revealed. How will covid-positive players stay loose? How much craziness will the shortened season really provide? Most importantly, the fellas begin their quest to find the hottest dude in the show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 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.

Welcome back to talking baseball. We got schedules. We got inter-squad games. We got a season coming your way. We think. Let's talk about it as if it is. What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to talking baseball.

My name's Jimmy. I got Jake here. We got Trev coming to us from California. Producer BBD's in the room. And we have a bunch of schedules. We got some Intres Squad games out here in New York. Yankees were on TV. Things are happening. We're moving. The testing, maybe it's getting resolved. Who knows? Jake, how are you doing? I'm great, Jim. It's the best time of the year.

Deep diving into intra-squad games without outfielders and pitchers getting warm in the outfield during the games. We got a real treat. We got to see some live PFP, some pitchers fielding practice, which was a real treat. and then yeah man just just seeing guys get back into it around the league i think there was almost a full 360 i was pretty nervous about the testing stuff um and that was the headlines for a full day and then each team kind of played an intra squad game and now almost all those stories are gone so i'm doing well i've got a really odd posture right now but it's feeling good so i'm going to let it ride and uh I don't know.

Just kind of wish I was getting nasty in Calabassey with Trev right now. Is that what's happening over there, Trev? I don't know about getting nasty. But I will... We're all spelling it with an eye at the end, right? Oh, kind of like thick with two Cs. The eye when you hold it down on the iPhone and it gives you two dots on top of it. Yes.

Like Cam Newton's typing it. Yes. Or Clevenger, if we want to keep it baseball? Cleve. Come on. Baseball pod. I love Cam Newton. Got to say. I want to do shrooms with Cleve.

Put that on the record. Next. Gosh, I mean, I've had my experiences. I think I'm done with the mushrooms. But I appreciate you guys interrupting me telling our fans how I'm feeling today. Tell us. I woke up in a great mood. I'm feeling great.

I have a few questions for you guys about the Inter Squad games, about the schedules. I'm excited to talk about it. I'm excited to talk about testing, things I've heard from the guys. around the league. It's a good day. Did either of you watch the schedule show, the schedule announcement show? Oh, yes.

I don't get MLB Network at home. Presented by Camping World. Yeah, so I did not watch it. Can you tell me what it was like? So we guessed at it, and we were pretty close. I think the only thing we were off on was they did more, like, team-by-team individual reveals.

Like they did the full opening night slate And then there's like a following opening night Because they're not having everyone play on Thursday or the 23rd, whatever day that is So they kind of had both opening nights And then it was kind of funny because they went They tried to do a football schedule release And they talked about like big matchups

And you know, oh these this team returns here And it's like well Yeah I mean let's see what's going on in the season and then they showed what they were going to do for the Trevor Plouf Advanced Fielding Days. Like they're going to have a, they're going to hold a Jackie Robinson day. They're going to hold a couple holiday-type games where they'll change some jerseys and stuff. So, yeah, I mean, the show was pretty bad. I watched the first minute and then I took noodle outside to go poop,

and I was going to do a hilarious video where I was going to make fun of the Yankee. I was going to like, I was like, all right, I'm talking Jake here. This is the Yankees first half of the schedule. They're going to have to navigate it well. And here's Noodle the Doodle Dog with the second half of the Yankee's schedule. And it was just going to be him taking a shit.

But he didn't poop. So. Did you hate that? So then I did. You should have pooped and then had him squat over it. Yeah. And the comments would have been like, that's human shit. Yeah.

Jake, did you just shit and make it? dog squat over it? I normally would do that, but I was at Central Park and that'd be strike three. Okay. What is going on right now with you two? Presented by camping world. Treff. Treff.

In 162 games season, what was your relationship with the schedule announcement and the schedule? Did you look ahead past the month? Did you look past the week? did you just look for California road trips how did you it's 2016 I say the schedule has been released what are you doing when you first see it

I think the first thing that everybody does and you kind of know what division you're going to play interleague but you don't know where you're going to play these teams so everyone goes and says okay we're playing the NOS like are we going here where are we going and then after that you look at your off days and you say oh shoot I got a

I got a day game and then an off day and we're in New York. Like, what are we doing? Like stuff like that is kind of what you look to. And then you'll set your eyes towards end of the season where it's like, obviously I didn't have a lot of these experiences in my time with the twins, but you look like, hey, we're going to playoff race. What's the last two weeks look like? Because that's always fun to speculate and be like, okay, say we're,

two games up and now we've got to face these guys blah blah blah blah so the schedule release was always fun i don't think you need to have a show about it because you're not the nfl but um definitely something that each guy so i think it usually comes out when like December or january when does it come out typically i haven't i don't i don't even tell you i don't yeah that's the thing is it's not a big deal usually schedule release isn't i don't like this is 60 games so i looked at it It's a little more fun. But when it's 160 new games, do you know, BPD? Are you a schedule release guy?

The only hint I could give you is the, because the Yankee fans were so excited for Houston this year, so when did that happen? January? I want to say it's actually earlier than that. It might even be September, like end of the season. They already have next year's schedule lined up. I'm pretty sure that's...

I think they kind of like roll out a good amount of it pretty early like that now, but they, like, give you the official times and lots of. the times are different. For sure in January or something. They'll change a few games to Sunday night games and all that. Yeah. So, all right, that's cool. Good to know.

But I applaud MLB Network for doing the release show. I just think it's incredibly hard to structure that in a way to make it interesting. Like, I tried thinking about it for a while, and I couldn't figure out how you would present all of that information in an interesting way. Actually, that's kind of what we're doing right now. This is what this episode is. So we'll see how we do. I have a question for you guys that's been on my brain for a long time. Before I forget it.

Yeah. Everyone always talks about the NFL and they're so popular. Sunday is essentially the NFL's day. Like they own Sunday. Yep. And that's cool. They play 16 games. They're trying to get that 17th game in there, I believe.

But they play 16 games a year. So I understand why there's a fever for it on Sunday. Sundays. And then on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, you have MLB that plays 162 games, which most people will look at it. Like, my goodness. But if, let's just say, hypothetically, the MLB is like, you know what, let's go that route. Let's do the short and season thing. Let's do Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And that's it. Let's play 60 games or let's even go less than that. If MOU went down to 32 games, do you think

it would be as popular or even more popular as the NFL is on Sunday? Like, do you think there'd be more fanfare over those Saturday and Sunday games than there is the NFL on a Sunday? Maybe it becomes a day. It's really a completely different sport

and we're going to witness that and feel that out this summer. But, I mean, that's kind of like, I don't know. That's not how I intake baseball. Like you said, we're going to get that this year. To the best that we are ever probably going to actually get it. No, that's not what you're saying.

You're saying three days a week. We're getting seven days a week. You'd be ingesting baseball very differently. It would be, you know, people, you'd plan a weekend of Baltimore and stuff. It'd be like football games. Like when I lived in Denver, you could tell who the opposing team was on Thursday night because they packed the city. So that aspect would be pretty cool.

Like we would, you know, if the Yankees were playing Baltimore for a four-gamer on the weekend, like, hey, let's head down. Let's go catch a few games. So I think that's a cool aspect. And I guess series would matter more. I would, in that fake dream world, I would almost spread out the season a little more. So, yeah, if you're going to do those weekend sets, and then maybe each team gets a bye week.

and, you know, it's an interesting concept, I think. Could they get 100,000 people in a stadium? In a baseball stadium? If they did that. The stadium was just Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Probably not for the big series, but that's kind of it. Yeah, it just doesn't see. The thing is, this is exactly what I don't like about Manfred.

Don't make baseball football. I don't like football that much. I love baseball. I like being able to sit down. down at the dinner with my parents and my brothers and sisters and the game's on and you can pay attention to both while having a conversation. I like that after dinner, you go sit down and you watch the fourth through the ninth inning and you're kind of just chilling and relaxing and my mom can be reading a book and my dad can be doing this, but we're all watching the game together.

Like, I don't need a big gung ho. It's game day. It's just not baseball. That's not what baseball is. So like that's what Manfred's mindset seems to be trying to make it football. They're two completely completely different atmospheres. Instead of trying to buy off football's atmosphere, just embrace. You have a conversational sport. It's slow. You talk while it happens.

You enjoy things. You think and discuss the pitch sequence. It's not like a game day. Let's chuck some beers. Go to the parking lot. It's not what it is. You're getting me fired up right now. Yeah.

Can you say game day again? Game day. I've got a couple things that I need. How long are you going to be in that position? Dude, I'm so comfortable. For the people that don't know, Jake has. When you put the baseball bat behind your back, but in front of your arms, to get that. I've got my arms locked with the bat behind me.

The twisty stretch in. That's what he's doing. And it feels great. My posture's fantastic. A couple things. One, I caught you. I think you almost said, I think for your life, your whole speech has been watching the game with my family and my mom's doing something. I think your speech almost turned into watching the game with my family, which is a pretty nice step for you.

Got a fiancee and stuff, dog? Like, hmm. I don't know of Mac likes baseball yet. That's adult gym right there. I promise you Mac. Mac likes baseball. And, you know, harpooning into Jimmy's point, that's not a phrase, is like the baseball football comparison, instead of trying to get that $100,000 on a couple days,

let's lean in to the $20,000 every day that really inhale the sport. It's my podcast comparison. Like when people listen to Joe Rogan, they are lost in it for three hours. And that's baseball. And Joe Rogan just got the biggest deal ever. Like, let's lean into the people that are locked into baseball. And other people will come. That's why, like, you know, there's losers like us watching an Intra Squad game

where Phil Nevin's hitting PFP to guys. Like, let's lean into those folks. And then others will come who like the game. Stop trying to get casual fans and just allow the people that love your sport. Turn casuals into diehards. Don't just go scraping for casuals. That's what I've been saying. Football is great.

It's so many casual fans. It's so easy to be a football fans. One game. People barely watch it. They just go and drink and eat it. Yeah, the reason football, and I think this is like probably not talked about enough, but the real reason that football is so damn popular in the U.S. is because fantasy football.

If there was no fantasy football, football would not be the sport that it is. Obviously, it still would draw eyes and people love the game of football, but that has gotten the casual fan. I mean, we're talking about every demographic is playing fantasy football, and now you're knowing guys from all across the league

that you would never would have known. And they have that stranglehold on that kind of fantasy world. The baseball hasn't, they're trying to tap into, and people do play fantasy baseball, but not at the same rate that they do fantasy football. I think they've done such a good job leaning into that. And the players have bought into it too. I have the solution, if you guys want to hear it. Yes. It's an app because the whole thing nowadays, the great baseball argument is, you know, NBA, you see LeBron and he's got the ball in his hands every possession.

Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, Soto, Okunya, you know, you're going to see them take four at bats a game. Instead of blacking out the games and restricting people, why don't we have an app that every time Judge comes up, you get a notification. Every time Akunya comes up, you get a notification. And then you tie that to fantasy baseball, so people have their teams and they say, oh, shoot, Harper's up, let me go see it. Doesn't that exist? Not for baseball. It's like a red. You're talking about like a red zone for baseball.

Red Zone meets fantasy for baseball. Like if I have the ESPN app, it will alert me when my players are up in games. Right, but I'm saying you can actually watch them. Oh, so you're just combining MLB TV and Fantasy Baseball app. A little bit. Someone could make that app very easily. So easily. They'd have to stop lacking out the games, but people want to see stars, right?

Our guy Keith was on Twitter today, and he made a great point. MLB.com, offering $60 subscriptions for the 60 games. season. Yet, for 162 games, it was $120. So they're actually charging you more per game. Yeah. And they're still blacking things out. It's ridiculous. I don't think they're blacking things out. Oh, they stop that? I think they are. It makes zero sense for them to continue blackouts. I'd say my only final point on that, and we're a little off the tracks, which I like, because we're talking baseball. But, I mean, picture, you know, you're at a bar, you're hanging out with and, you know, his first two at-bats,

Freddie Freeman hit a home run. Like, for that third app at-bat, then you get, like, everyone who's on the app is like, Freddie Freeman's up trying to hit his third home run. People would click that. The casuals would click that because we love that shit. That's the whole McGuire-Sosa thing. So, all right, I'm coming down.

Yeah. MLTV, like, does sort of do that when you have it. Like, it'll be, like, a no-hitter, and then you click it in the game something. Yeah, right. So it's just tied to the fantasy. So the MOB TV put out a thing and says, it's the change,

what Keith is referencing, the change, we're excited to bring you every 2020 out of market, regular season game. So they didn't change it. I don't think they can just change that on a whim. They have to wait until the cable deals end and then change, unless they want to buy out.

The whole thing is supposed to be because of fans in the building. I don't know. I think they're tied to contracts that. They don't care about contracts. We've got contract lawyers. Yeah, we know that. They got contract lawyers. Oh, man.

Good. Well, all right. The schedule has come out, and according to an article on the athletic.com, written by Tim Britton. Job Tim. He concluded that the twins have the easiest schedule in the league. The Orioles have the hardest. The Reds benefited the most. The AL West is hurt the most, and the NL East is basically the same.

So those are some points. I mean, we can go into some team schedules and do it. There's not a whole lot there. Like, my early thing is the Yankees schedule looks super easy. I got cocky when I read it if the Blue Jays aren't a threat. The Blue Jays can be pesky. I'm not saying I think the Blue Jays can dominate the Yankees. The Yankees have a lot of talent.

But they can go like five and five, six and four. Like if the Blue Jays have the ability, if they're at all cylinders to do that, if the Blue Jays are down and out and they're not really playing for anything at the tail end of the season, Yankee's schedule at the end is super easy. I looked at the Astros. Kind of the same thing. They play this Texas Rangers six times at the end of the season and the Arizona Diamondbacks three. The Diamondbacks could be trying for the wild card or they could be terrible.

The Texas Rangers could be trying for a wild card like they have a competitive team or they could be completely out of it. So, like, it seems like all the schedules I look at, there's one team where it's like, that's a pushover or that's a pesky team. And that makes or breaks schedules. I have one other here. The Ray's schedule is very weird. They end the season with two interleague games, the Mets and the Phillies. The Ray's August is brutal. They go, Boston, Boston, Yankees, Yankees, Yankees, Yankees,

Boston, Boston, Boston, Blue Jays, Blue Jays, Blue Jays, Ys, Yankees, Yankees, Blue Jays, Blue Jays, Blue Jays. Like the Ray's August blows. So I know there's a lot of other teams. There's a lot of schedules. I don't really know where we're going with this. Do you have any initial takes, Jake? I'll kick it to Trevor first because I told you earlier,

the only thing that's going through my head right now, which I think is the fun of it for every fan base, but is the mental spin zone. It's, do you want to see that easy schedule late? Do you want to see the easy schedule early? Do you want to, I guess from a player's perspective, if you were in this 60-game sprint, would you want to see almost the best teams first

and get it out of the way? Because I think one of the schedules I saw highlighted was the Brewers, I think. And their first couple series, they had a couple of competitors, but then I think they had a nice stretch where it was like Royals, tigers. And it was like, okay, I kind of like that for the Reds, because everyone's going to be easing into this season, and then almost two weeks in there's going to be no excuses,

and that's when the Reds are going to be hitting the easy part of their schedule. So I like that spin zone, so I guess Trevor from the player aspect or whatever aspect you want. I can spin it any way you want. Initially, I was thinking to myself, you probably want your harder games first, because you have expanded rosters, you're able to exploit some platoon matchups.

and you might have your full team. You kind of never know what's going to happen towards the end of the year. But the flip side of that is you go out and you get hot and you win your first 15 of 20 games and you're kind of just sitting pretty after that. So I think all of it is a crapshoot because we've seen how many guys have been tested positive for COVID.

And, you know, the percentage is what the percentage is. But I'm just saying, like, we don't know where these teams are going to be at with their roster at any point during this season. So, yeah, the Yankees could have the easiest schedule towards the end, but if they lose like two of their starting pitchers to COVID, then we're like, oh, this is completely different. And it could happen to anybody. So we're going over the schedules,

and we're kind of assuming that it's just like full strength of your roster for everybody, but we know that's not going to be the case. So I'm very, it's, it's, we'll see what happens, man. Like, that's going to be the biggest storylines of the year. I mean, they're going to, it's, it's, what team keeps their players off of the COVID list, that team's probably going to do the best throughout the year. Yeah, I agree. It's also like if a team gets bad, you know, if the team starts off,

are they just, say the nationals get off to a horrible start again like they did last year, the Scherzer and Krugius opt out. out. You'd be like, this ain't worth the risk anymore. See ya. And then whoever plays the nationals at the end of the year, is that now literally a joke schedule? I think you could see that, dude.

Yeah. That's interesting. The Cubs have back-to-back off days. They're the only team that they're, like, you only get six off days, and the Cubs have two of them stacked. I wonder, Treb, as a player, does that good double rest day almost feel like, you know, a whole month off or are you like hey what the fuck why didn't you spread this out i don't think you like it i don't and i was i was looking to see if there was some kind of travel that they needed to do and it was

like a day game after a night game whatever um but there's not so that's interesting that they're doing it but because they're at home because they if you look at the schedule they're playing st louis on the 18th then two off days and they don't play again until the 21st at home so i don't know what's what that's about. If I was a co-splayer, I would not like that. It gets you out of rhythm. I'm sure what they're going to do is that second off day, they're probably going to have an optional practice,

which is like, you know, as a player, you're just like, I want that off day. Like spread them out and give me the off day. I don't need to come back for practice on one of my off days. Yeah, the other thing is, you know, they're opening up on the 23rd with the Yankees at the Nationals and the Giants at the Dodgers. That sucks for the teams that got paid for those games

because they have to get rid of one of their off days after one game. So you want to use your off days. You get six of them to rest and rejuvenate after a series, after six games, but because they're the opening, you know, that's opening day in case of a rainout.

They always give you an off day right after. So the Yankees have an off day and the nationals right after opening day, which does kind of suck for them. Yeah, why are they doing that? Because the other teams, the San Fran and the Dodgers don't have that. Because they're not inner league.

They're playing each other. They can play a four game set and keep it like that. So them getting Colver Scherzer for the marketable reason, which is good, good move market-wise. It does suck for Yankees and Nationals that they burn an off day early. They basically only have five off days during the 60 games because you burn one right away.

So that kind of sucks. So something on the Yankees and Nats, the MLB Network, the schedule release show brought to you by Camping World, they called it Soto versus Glaber, which I enjoyed that, two young stars. Everyone's talking about Culver Scherzer, but get the young guys out there. I'm okay with that. And I think, I don't know, the only thing, I think the Yankees were a storyline last night.

I know we try not to be Yankee-centric, but. You do? I've never brought it up. You always bring up Jeter and how good he is in different ways. But are they, the other. stat that came out last night was the Yankees' best 60-game stretch and their worst. The Yankees' worst 60-game stretch last year, they were 37 and 23. They're worst.

So, I mean, are we starting to get in Looney Tune area? Are you calling for that 50-Burger, Trev? Look, they're a good team. I don't know. I've said this before. They're one of the best teams in the league. I don't know what else you want me to say, except guess what?

That was last year. No one cares about last year. Doesn't matter? Do we, I kind of got lost in my thoughts, so I just saying Yankee stuff at you. Do we think we're going to get like a hyper lucky team this year? Yeah.

Because obviously it's 60 games schedule and all that. But, you know, when you look at the front half of teams rotations and the second half of teams rotations, you get very different teams. You know, if you're the team that,

plays the Cardinals three times and each time you get Jack Flaherty, that sucks. There's going to be a team that plays the Cardinals three times and doesn't get Jack Flaherty. Is there going to be some team that just they get the four and five man of every team and they end up looking pretty good? I had, I don't know what show it was on. I don't know where it was, Jake, but you and I were discussing schedules and what's going to be a good, what's going to be good and what's going to be bad. And it was way farther going.

I think I said some team's going to win 45. Like I said some team is going to go out of their mind and just crush it. And now that I'm thinking about like, if you're out, what's the point of playing? Studs are probably going to opt out because they can opt out with no repercussions, which leaves a lot of space for some teams to rack up wins. I think we might have some runaways, like runaways. and I don't think it's going to be a lucky team. Like, I do think the cream of the crop will still rise here.

I don't know, but I was looking at the Mariners. It's a good point. Mariners record last year. Well, how did they start out? 13 and 2, I think. Something silly. Something sustainable. Yeah.

9, 10, 11, 12. 13, and 2. So if we're saying 37 wins get you to the division, Does that even matter? Can you start out 13 and 2? So what did they do by game 60? I think they were like right around 500.

It's like the opposite. They were 25 and 35. So I'm kind of over the crapshoot aspect of this season. I do think the good teams will be good and the bad teams will be bad. Yeah, that's only assuming we have full rosters for everybody throughout the year. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, but it's hard to play the game if you can't.

Okay. So this was a point I wanted to bring up to you guys. The COVID injured list. What the fuck is it called? Yes. The CIO. It's called the Secret Association of Sickness. Joe West isn't going to be part of that.

Sass. No way. Joe West is not going to hurt Joe West. No, Joe West. All right, stop. We don't want to talk about Joe. Can't wait to have him on. We love umpires on this show.

Yeah. We love Dale Scott. We love Dale Scott. He needs to relax. So what I was thinking was you have to, you test positive. Let's just say, I always just say Garrett Cole because it makes you guys mad.

Just say Gary Cole test positive. Okay. And then he has to have two negative tests spaced out 24 hours or something like that. But typically, let's just say two weeks. Who is he playing catch with those two weeks? His wife. He's not hurt.

So he's going to give his wife COVID? He needs to be quarantined. So he can't even, technically, and maybe they have figured this out. I'm still trying to figure it out myself. Like, what's he going to do for those two weeks? He can't throw a ball to somebody. He can't work out. Yeah.

He's going to throw it against the wall? Just a barn. Okay. You know my childhood oddly well. Do you know what I'm talking about, though? So then it turns into if you take two weeks off and then now you have to kind of get your arm back in shape, we're not talking two weeks anymore. We're not talking two weeks.

He's back on the mound at two weeks. We're talking three weeks probably. It's half the season. You do a throw day, a simulated start at the seven-day point. A catcher can wear a protective, like, glove. Are they going to do that? That seems very irresponsible to me. Let me ask you the question.

If you were running the Yankees and the difference between having Garrett Cole in shape and not was paying some guy to be covered in PPE and catch the ball from him, would you do it? So, I mean, I'm just saying. I'm asking how they're going to do it. Cajman listens to podcast, Trev. Cashman listens to podcast. That's how he hires all his people. It's how he hired Cressy and Tanner Smith. He listens to talking yanks.

He's told us that. Cashman, if you're tuning into this, if you need to wrap myself in bubble wrap, and I catch Cole and toss the ball back to him with three gloves on my hand, I'll do it. It's a deal. I just don't think, I'm just, I'm curious. I think obviously there's got to be a way to work around it,

but in my head last time, I was like, whoa. And this was 10 p.m. Treve. You want to hear the sad truth, Trev? Yes. Guys are just going to not follow the rules. That's one way to put it, yeah. Seems like you'd get in trouble for that. I mean, I think if you just wear a glove.

Do you guys have an explanation? Uh-oh. Trevor Plufe has gone missing off the face of the universe. We hope he's okay. We're back? Yeah. Yeah, we're back. I have no idea we were where we were.

Anyone in the in the Patreon chat? Can you tell us? Oh, they said talking about Boone and testing every two days. Talking about testing every two days and stuff. COVID testing and closing camps. That's where they say we were. We were talking about Garrett Cole. What were they going to do?

Right. Dash would let you fucking dress up in bubble wrap. Yeah. No glove either. Just a guy standing there in bubble wrap. I'm genuinely asking what are they going to do for these guys? you know. Yeah, like I said, when I whispered it,

I do think they will just skirt the rules if they want to, if they're in contention, or they, or they, what's just shitty? And I know it's shitty. Or they will, you know, shut guys down. I don't know, man. They're going to find a way to let Garikull throw his bullets. And I think you know that.

So, like DJ LaMayhew's got it right now. I would doubt he's just sitting on a couch. Maybe it's as easy as you. You just like these guys come in at odd hours to the stadium and Garrett Colth throws a bullpen into the net. I mean, wasn't there. That's got to be what they're going to do. Wasn't there video yesterday of Suno taking soft toss and he has COVID?

And he was just doing it at his house. Yeah, it could be, like I said, something that eases up as buying him a net, giving him baseballs and say throw, throw son. Draw the square on the barn, man. Carrie Wood. Yeah, or go rookie of the year style. start throwing laundry detergent into the washing machine. Or that.

Or Little Giants. You take the TP and you throw it across the supermarket aisle into the cart. Little Giants is a great movie, Trev. Thank you for dropping that. I love Little Giants. But yeah, that's just funny to me to think. Like you go on this COVID list and you're not supposed to be around to anybody. But somebody got to get your work in.

You're going to get your work. They're going to figure it out. Six feet apart, P.P. Done. Bang. Dude, I'm... Say it, kids. Say it. You don't want me to say it.

You were so close to saying it. You don't want me to say it. Let's hear you say it. I'm rooting for some opt-outs in Toronto. Jeez. Now we're a Yankee Homer Pot. That's, come on. You want to play the best.

Come on. Like if reuse, like, screw this. I'm done after the first month. Yankee fan and me be like, okay, cool. I mean, I don't think like reuse a good pitcher, but the Yankees lineup has suited very well to go ahead and beat up on. I want it to be easy. Hey, do you think the Orioles are still going to hit the under?

Because I think the Orioles are going to get trounced. Oh, yeah. It was my lock of the year, bed of the day, and Paul Goldschmidt, two for the kids. God, I love that. You know, I told you guys, I went and got myself a book, and none of those prop bets are listed. So I got to figure something out here.

Jim, know what I'll get you running on, this will excite you, but I think I've stumbled into a segment. And we referenced the Mariners before because they had their hot start, but everyone knew they sucked. Like it was no secret. The 60 games, yes, the cream should rise the top, but there will also be that second tier of teams that we've been talking about, whether it's, you know, if you like the Phillies, if you think the D-backs are good, if you think, you know, kind of these second-tier teams, the Cincinnati Reds, it looks like they have two of their first three series against the tigers.

So, like, again, I think if you start spinning things, if the Reds can stay in it and get some wins with their arms, you know, I can spin that. And I think it's those second-tier teams. That's a lot of pressure on the Reds. Tigers are pressure-free. They don't care about anything. Sure.

If the Reds don't beat up the Tigers. And it could also fall off very quickly too. Like, see, that's a scarier situation for me. If the Yankees were to open up with seven games in the first 10 versus the Orioles, it'd be like, oh, shit. I hope we start hot because there is no excuse if we don't go six and one here. So if I'm a Reds fan, I'm happy, but I'm also kind of nervous. That's how my brain works.

I like that the Yankees start against the National League, where it's like, eh, you know, hopefully we go over 500. I'm not going to sweat it. There's still 30 men rosters. There's going to be some five and fly stuff. At least all the five and fly trip through the rotation isn't against the ALEs. I'm very happy about that. How much do you guys put in, like how much weight do you put on?

And I feel so back because I keep referencing this. I feel like it's going to come to fruition. But a guy like your starter. Say like you said, the Blue Jays, they lose Ryu, or the Yankees, they use Cole, or the Nats, they lose Shurs. What does that do to your team? Like, what does that do to your playoff odds? It's got to impact it tremendously. So the main concern for me, if I'm a GM or a manager, it's like my guys, my horses, you know, like I'm picking the raise to be World Series champ and you get Morton, Glass Now, and Snow.

I am taking those guys aside and saying, listen, don't do anything stupid. Like, do whatever you can to stay healthy because other guys are not going to be, other teams are not going to be doing that. Let's make sure we're the one team that has you guys for the whole season. Do you think that makes that big of a difference throughout the season if you just, if you lost your guy? Yeah, when we had Booney on a press conference, we asked him or someone else asked him about saving guys and being.

conservative. And he kind of flipped my whole brain on it. He was like, this season more than ever, you have to go slow at the beginning because an injury, if a pitcher has to miss two weeks, that's a huge chunk of the season. If they have to miss a month, that's half a year. So if anything, you have to make sure an injury doesn't happen at all more so than making sure you come out of the gates as hot and as fast as possible, which kind of is what you're saying, right, Jeff, Like you almost need to be a little more babyish in the first two weeks. Dude, I would be hiring personal assistance for these guys and just say, you guys are going to quarantine together.

And your job, sir, is to make sure this guy doesn't do anything stupid. You're going to make sure he has his mask at all times. You're going to make sure he's washing his hands a ton of time. Like, you need to have that assurance, especially when you're, you know, these, a lot of teams rely, are going to be relying on the tops of their rotation to bring him to the postseason. here. It's about, you know, limiting exposure, right? You know, you've got normal injury concerns, but you've also got a, you know, COVID could take you out for two weeks instantly. And what does that done due to your performance? What does that do to your rhythm, et cetera, et cetera? So Treve,

I think I found the angle for you. And you've been kind of dancing around this topic a little bit, but I think I've got it even better for you. You know what you need. You need young guys. Now we're talking my language. Got BPD good with that one. All right, so you need young guys who are single and they're responsible because that means they're not coming in contact with their family because if you have a family, those people are going in there, getting in contact with other people and that brings it up.

So, you know, I don't know enough about Jack Flaherty's dating life, but a guy like him, you know, he's going back to an apartment, in theory by himself in St. Louis, so he can go back, get the food delivered. We've had that talk. Yeah, exactly. So maybe that can be your angle, the young single guy, which we've heard how much you swooned for that. Maybe that's the angle to take this year.

Yeah, I mean, look, if you, obviously best case scenario is just by yourself. Like you said, like if you have family and they're going to the grocery store or whatever, like there are chances that they get infected, you're going to get infected. That's going to be, we said this probably like four or five times on this episode. that's the biggest, you know, pitfall for these teams is like if and when these guys get tested, like it's going to affect our team.

So we need to be as diligent as possible to make sure our horses are on the damn field. Because one COVID case at the wrong time, man, derails your season. Especially in the postseason, Mike, can you imagine, dude? Postseason teams are going to act differently. Can you imagine if it comes out, the Yankees have clinched, they go in, it's like two days before and somebody comes and it's like, dude, they're essentially done

judging glaver. Like crazy, man. I think we're going to see that. Unfortunately, you don't ever want to wish that upon teams, but the reality is we're going to have guys test positive and it's going to affect the season dramatically. I wouldn't be surprised for playoffs when playoffs get here if you see teams make their own stuff. like guys have to like stay in hotels or something like that because we're talking about we're talking about dudes being irresponsible when hey there's a giant luck factor to it too

but also i mean Trevor imagine if it was you who you're in the playoffs and you're getting told that you're now out like you would be devastated i assume um oh my gosh dude like not only, you know, it doesn't even need to be said, but for yourself, but letting down your 25 other teammates because you, you know, went to 7-Eleven to get a candy bar or whatever. Like, I just think that pressure is going to be so much on guys that around playoff time, dudes just won't. I have such the opposite opinion. Okay.

And it's just cynical. I think once playoffs comes and some guy says I have Corona, they're going to be like, no. you don't get on the mound. Ooh, I think it's going to be... But I mean, if we're being honest, which way do you think they're actually going to leave? Here's the deal, boys.

Have a good game out there. Just nobody get too close to judgey today, okay? You know what I'm saying? That is a lawsuit. You know, that is so bad. They can't do that. They literally cannot do that. They've been doing phantom I.L.

shit for... This is different, dude. Like, seriously, can you imagine? But, I mean, if you're in the post season, I love the... It can't be they're going to make everyone. It's wholesome. They're going to care about everyone's health as much as possible.

I don't buy it at all. I think they're going to be like, hey, judge, just don't fucking cough in Wrightfield. Loud enough for a fan to hear you. We lost that sample again. Yeah. It's fucking fourth of July. That's the thing is they can't play unless they show the positive or negative or the negative. Sure.

Yeah. They can't, you know, you know, there's fake dicks for piss tests. No. There's fake. There's fake dicks for piss tests. Trev. Well, you don't piss. Whizzinator.

I tell that to someone 40 years ago about, they'd probably be like, there's no way to skirt a piss test and then someone invented a fake dick. Oh, the old spit in my mouth so I can spit. We've seen these two sides, the PA, MLB, go at each other for no reason at all. Can you imagine if the MLBPA found out they were hiding a positive COVID test? Oh, the players are in on it. I don't have the players being like, you know, the players are in on it. I say no chance that happens.

It's not, it's way too risky for this. It would be very bad if you were to be saying what I was saying. Well, yeah, I mean, yeah, we can be cynical and say that, but I think in this instance, in most instances, I totally agree with you, Jam. Shady shit happens all the time. I just think there's too much liability here to be doing that. I mean, literally guys would, I mean, they'd have to, they'd have to fire the entire organization from top to bottom if that happened.

Every single... It would never come out. This is the way for the players and owners to finally come together. This will save us from the lockout. Alice Corr was one of World Series. He was riding high and then shit came out. Some idiot got on his computer and did a mock-up of what they were saying. It'll be like the David Wells' perfect game, the Doc Ellis LSD game, you know.

You know how it was high when I did that? I was like, oh, it would have to be a... A top to bottom organization, almost, you know, willing to break the limits as one. And I just don't think you'll ever see that in baseball. It's not something that happens in baseball. It'll come out, though. That's what we've seen time and time again, baby. Like I said, you got some guy named Jomboy making sure that you're never going to have a job in baseball again.

Are you the most famous Yankee fan? You and Jake, are you guys the non? No, Billy Crystal. Chris Rock. Adam Sandler. Juliani. I didn't know Adam Sandler was a Yankee fan, so there you go. Yeah, well, I listen to you guys on the podcast all the time.

You're a top of Minnesota. You're a top five Yankees. John Boy's big, dude. When you start going into, like, the picture of baseball, it's kind of spooky. Oh, and this is actually more fun, and it'll make you less not like about the... You're one of the actual most hated people in the city of Houston. That's kind of nuts. Yeah.

Yeah. Have you ever been to Houston? What? Have you ever been there? This is great. You never even stepped foot in there. I'd like to say I'll probably go to Houston, but I hope I don't. Just because it's too hot.

Can you imagine just regular season, like fans in the stands and someone's like, that's John boy. And then he whispered to his friend. Then all of a sudden the whole stadium knows you're there. It would be dangerous for you. That'd be cool to get booed on the Jumbotron. Like if I was in a sweet. You say that.

You've been booed before. It's not a good feeling. No, it's terrible. I was thinking about doing that for the office vlog, the behind the scenes. Like, if we just did a boo week on someone? Trevor, we, senior year of college, we lived in a house. It was like three different apartments, but it was one house. And all of our dudes were in it.

So it was basically 11 guys in one house. And so one week we started like booing one of our friends every time he came in a room. And so then we tried mixing it up on people. And it happened to me. But the first time you get booed, man, that's a bad feeling. It's like, well, I was walking to the living room and everyone would be watching, like, a game. And our buddy Taylor would come in. And as soon as he stepped from the room, like, 10 guys would be like, boo.

And they're like, we were joking. And then we, yeah. And then he was kind of sad. So we were like, let's try it out on each other. Yeah, we'll mix it up. And then when it came to us, we're like, fuck, that sucks. Yeah. What's the loudest you've ever been booed?

Do you know? I had a tough game at shortstop. And I don't remember the specifics of it, but I botched a ball with Joe Nathan trying to close a game out. We were already a really bad team. I got booed very loudly in Minnesota. I mean, a couple times that happened, but that one in particular was tough. I'm sorry, man. It's okay.

It doesn't feel good, though. Can we talk about the Rangers since we're talking about Texas? I got a lot of Rangers thoughts. Rangers thoughts. Lance Lynn. Lance Lynn just threw a bullpen. Our live simulation game. We got really mad.

He was facing Greg Bird. Then our dude, Hearn came in. So it was three guys on the Rangers that, you know, we've had personal conversations with. So I was in. Then the Rangers tweeted at me.

So I'm excited. I go to the Rangers' schedule. That finally lands me at the Rangers' schedule for the first time. I'm loving it. Oh. If they can get out to a hot start, their first 10 games against the Rockies, the Rockies, the Rockies, the Rockies, the Rockies, five games against the Rockies.

Five gamer versus the Rocks to start. Wow. In Texas? Yeah. The fucking, dude, the, the Rangers burn three of their six off days in July. How much does that suck? They burn, they go two games off day, three games off day, two games off day. The Rangers got to be like, what the hell?

Stay fresh. Wait, say that. They burn three off days? In July. Oh, man. They have two off days in August and one off day in September. So if they can do good against the Rockies. That sucks, man.

It's brutal. They could do good against the Rockies in Arizona. Then they go for three games against San Francisco. So you got five games against the Rockies, three against San Francisco. two against Arizona, off days galore so you can rest and relax and all that stuff. Then it gets real where they go Oakland, Angels, Seattle. They can get to a hot start.

They don't face Houston until the very end of September. So I'm hoping that when they get to Houston, those games count. I don't know what to think about the Rangers, to be honest with you. Right. There's a lot of teams that are tough reads this year. They're one of them. but that three off days in a span of a week, what is it, 10 days? Yeah, I was saying the Yankees are probably upset because they burn one after one game,

but they burn three in their first like six games. That's insane. That is insane. I'm officially rooting for the Rangers. Oh, the first tour exhibition. Okay, that makes more sense. That makes so much more sense. No, but no, but you're right, though.

No, you're right, so they still burn three. still burn three. Well, August 3rd, they have one. So, I mean, you're talking in a span of 10 days. Yeah, so they still burn 3 right away. So I had it wrong. They don't do Colorado five times. They do two exhibitioners of Colorado.

Everything I said still works, even though I had that wrong. They have two off days in August, but they still have three in their first. Eight games. Eight games. But eight games. They have three off days. That's stupid. That's dumb.

That sucks. And anyway. And then I was on the Rangers. Twitter account, I didn't know that Rough Ned O'Dore was bald. How about that? Did you? Yeah.

I'm talking about a tough-looking guy and then to have that under the hat. Say that to his face. No, punch me. Dare you. Sock me right in the face. Yeah, he's not going to win any beauty pageants. He's not going to make my list of hottest guys in the show. That's fair. I'll allow that.

People are excited about your list of hottest guys in the show. I've been asking people to help out because I know some guys, I don't know everybody though. Sure. I want to get different opinions. So I had the ladies down from

mansplain baseball elsewhere. Yeah. I think you're wearing a shirt. Are you not wearing a shirt? I think it's affiliated. Kind of. Yes and no.

Okay. Well, I asked them to help out and they sent me over a list and I thought it was pretty, pretty bad. Ooh. So now I'm thinking my definition of good looking is probably different than, you know, theirs or, and maybe that's a good thing. Wait, who did they send over?

I miss that. You? Do you want me to send over their list? Do you have it? To talk about this? Let's do a quick. Let's do a quick run through. We'll do yes or no.

Instant reaction. Scale of 1 to 10. Johann Camargo, which I didn't know, I don't know this guy, but he's a brave. Yeah, well, they're brave fans. They're going to love this segment. Pretty good looking guy. Did they do like all braves? Are we just starting with Johann Camargo?

They did all Brames. Because then I was going to say you got God. Camarro, oh, it's cute. Well, when you Google Johann Camargo images, Dansby Swanson comes up, which seems like a cheap guy. Yeah, I mean, 6'3. Dansby's the play in Atlanta. If not Colberson.

If each team gets one guy, Camargo's not cracking the roster for the Braves. They seem to have some affinity for this guy. He's cute. Number two, you guys will like, but I, this is really. agree with it. Tommy Canley. Oh, well, he's got a nice ass. Canley's got

great legs. Tommy tight pants. You would have liked to see BBD had a nice lean in the corner and was like, yeah, I get it. He wouldn't crack my legs. They're 0 for two with me. I get the angle. I get the angle. I'm not a fan of that. Because I also think there's different levels to like hot. So like job security, like contract situation, how good you are. a lot of different things. If your sister brings home Tommy Canley, you're not happy.

And the nicest way to Tommy. Well, he's just so loud. He probably chews with his mouth open and stuff like that. He's a friend of Marla. He's been on the pod. I mean, he'd be fine saying that. He would love that. I'm going to go through this a little quicker.

Chris Bryant, which I get. Since we're giving people their list, we'll give them a proper shout out. It's Marla, Emily, and Ashland. They have a podcast called bands playing baseball elsewhere. Very active on Twitter. Bryant's hot. It's 7-8. Who is this?

Chris Bryant. Chris Bryant. Oh, yeah. It's the eyes. It's got the eyes. He's got to get jaw-line. He's what Zach Ephron thinks he looks like. But Zach Ephron's 5-8.

Chris Bryant's, what, 6-3? Girls don't care about height. I would say Zach Efron's probably a better-looking guy, but yeah, the height thing. Girls don't care about height. No, not at all. No. Four, Fernando. He's Jr.

Not really on that one either. He's young. I can see. He's young. I like that about him, obviously. Yeah. This is the one that really got me. This is the one that really got me. I'm not into Tatis Jr.

I am. I'm not either. I am. He has the intangibles, but the actual looks, I'm not into it. I'm into it. Francisco Cervelli? Oh, yeah. Oh.

Get out of here with that one. That's the one that's the one that's the thing. Francisco Cervali is the guy. You're my. Mom brings home after her divorce. And you're like, no fucking way, mom. Yeah. No way.

I looked at him today and actually showed a picture of him to my wife, Olivia. And she kind of gave me one of these. Like, you know, like, it's not, he's not a classically handsome dude. Francisco Sorvelli should not be on the hot boys of Summerless. You guys are out of your mind. And then the rest of that kind of agree with it. I love Sorvelli. Yeah.

You ever seen him crab walk across his grass, Trev? I have. I have not. I don't think it changes my opinion. Yeah, show Olivia that video. All right. Then the rest I kind of agree with. I'll go quickly.

Aronado, Luis Robert, Jake Arieta, who I agree with. He's like the old eccentric like sugar daddy. That's what I would categorize him as. Rich dude, got a good bod. I see. Areeta's look. I get that. That's a different... It's a different taste, yes. Yeah, he's got like a Balzerian vibe.

What's that guy's name? A little bit. Yeah, but he's way cooler than him. So, points for that. Hosmer and then more round out their top ten. Hosmer, I mean, chicks love Hosmer. There's no doubt about it. He's tall. He's got a good smile, and he's like that energetic dude.

He just walks into a room. You're like, oh, there's Jared Hosmer. that. But then their honorable mention, so you mentioned Swansby and Charlie Culberson, and they refer to them as Swanberson. Yeah. They combine the two. They look so similar.

But any list that doesn't have Danny, Dansby Swanson, that's a tough one for me to say. Dansby Swanson in the top five is not a good list for me. So I'll be coming out with my list. I'm a sucker for Matt Olson, man. He's kind of got a little bit of a younger brawn look going on. I think you guys know who my number one is. I don't think there's any debating it. Really, if you just broke it down.

Like, the best-looking guy in the big leagues right now is Max Kepler. Yeah, you are big on that. It's not even really up for debate. So. Agree to disagree. Who's your number one? Jake likes Austin Hedges. Yeah, Hedges is really hot, but he's like on the fringe now.

Is that Cervelli? Yeah. Cerville. I mean, you look at that, he's not making your list. We got to have a talk. Dude, I mean, Servile is just the best, though. That's the main problem. It's just the best.

Can you give me your number one, Jake? I think you were going to. That's how you keep the people coming back, Trevor. We're going to save that for next time. I will say this is active players, too. Like, obviously, I know a lot of ladies are going to want to put me on their list. Right. not active anymore.

Well, and that's my thing. Like, Austin Hedges is a really good looking dude, but I don't even know where he's at with the Padres right now. And I loved what you said. Like, I think there's something to a level of hotness of, you know, having your position lockdown. What about Bryce? Like, Bryce can look pretty good sometimes.

It's a look. Oh, this has Cindergarde on there. He tweeted at me the other day, but I'm not there. Oh, dude, Longoria. Come on. Ooh. I like Longoria. Yeah.

He's another guy that kind of fits that Jake Gary Edomold Sugar Daddy. Like he's made the big bucks. He's got the stature, which a lot, you know, you want to break it down. That's kind of a big thing for, at least in my experience. What do you mean? This stupid website has Clayton Kershaw here. It's just not a thing.

Cole Hamill is that's who I was looking for. Oh, my God. This website also has Daniel Murphy and I'm off this website. Kershaw and Murphy, your hottest guys in baseball? That's why I wanted to make a definitive list. I know, Jake, you did that last year. I did last year. I think the article.

has been taking off the website, which makes sense. Yeah, we changed our website, so it all got lost. Well, if you want to participate with me, I will be doing my list soon. We, and I can't take full credit. I do have to give this to the crap, the chat, but Samuel Archela, the number one person that I think, you know, you could put him on your hot list. He's the number one person that I'd be fine with my sister bringing home for the holidays. It's Cole Tucker.

Oh, Cole. I haven't even thought about Cole Tucker. Yeah, I mean. Yeah. He's got, he's a full package. Yeah, everything. He needs a little bit more dough, a little bit more service time for me. It's coming.

You are a service time guy. You are a service time guy. Is Soto cute? Juan? No, he's not. No, he kind of looks 40. Yeah. I can kind of give my like top three or four if you want me to just do that.

Real cool. quick. It's going to be Max Kepler. Nobody else. Okay, Max Kepler. Nobody else. Max Kepler, you know. I actually think Tim Anderson's a good-looking dude. I think he needs to be included on there. The whole vibe is there for me. A little southern twang.

Danzby Swanson's going to be on there for sure. He's kind of got that whole thing going as well. And then I had, I think the last list I put out my Man Crush list had Longoria and Arieta on it as well. There is one huge miss thus far and I'm embarrassed. Yeah. Jack?

Is that Gollum? That's Birch Smith. Smeagel before he became Ghal. It's Birch Smith and he's my favorite player in V-OPS3. Oh, God. I can't do Birchness.

Yeah, I was going to say Birch Smith, Altova, Sandoval, all the, a lot of different angles. Bart. All right. Ooh. All right. Tyler Wade's pretty attractive to him. Tyler Wade.

Interesting. It's tough for me to include him because then, because you're adjacent to him. Right. Essentially it means you're on the list. I don't know what you think. You would. So. Okay.

We'll end the show there. Jake confidently saying, that Trev would bang them. Late nights in the RV. Late nights in the RV. It didn't happen. The music is playing.