Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 206 | Reacting to the New Playoff Schedule!

Episode Date: September 16, 2020

MLB released the new playoff format and Jomboy, Jake, & Trevor Plouffe give their initial reactions to how much it changes the game (21:40). MLB also made the bubbles official and they will try to get some fans in there! (10:30) Dave Roberts also had a dumb quote trying to defend Clayton Kershaw after Trent Grisham's home run on Monday night. The guys also try to pin down which teams are best suited for the first round (32:50) with about two weeks left in the season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to talking baseball. It's the tidbits episode and we got playoff schedules and playoff starters to discuss. Let's do it. What's going on everybody? Welcome to talking baseball. Thank you very much for joining us today. My name is Jimmy. I got Trevor here.

We got Jake with the gold chain BBD behind the dish. Jake and BBD are in the Roosevelt Studios. RSVLTS. I am home sick. Trev is in California wearing a yellow beanie, wearing Apple AirPods. My screen just gave us all a nice red tint. Very interesting. How are you guys doing?

Welcome to the show. Trev, how you doing, big guy? I'm feeling great. I've been in a good mood despite the dire circumstances we're facing in California right now. It is smoky as hell out still. I've been cooped up inside, but you know what you guys? got to do when times get tough what's that i don't know you get can you tell me i don't know i've just been pushing through it somebody got a recipe for when the going gets tough to tough get drinking that's a

brett easton ellis quote i'm trying to limit you know like it's hard not to have like a glass of wine every single day i don't know if you guys feel that way but i'm trying to i'm trying to cut it back maybe like every other day or something like that do you think that never mind we got to that topic Jake, how are you? I'm good. I'm good. On Trevor's drinking topic, something I'm nervous but excited for is that like a good beer shop is supposed to be opening up right under me.

Like, nice, I don't want to say rare beers because what the hell is that? So I'm worried that that's going to become a part of my life. Where are you at? Are you one a nighter? Are you? So I'm not a big drinker anymore. I mean, I still, when I turn up, I have trouble, you know, stopping before I hit the 10 on the knob. But I do like having a couple IPAs getting a good buzz, but on my frame, that doesn't age too well.

That normally, that turns me into more Pablo Sandoval than Eloy Jimenez, like I look like today. New brave, Pablo Sandoval. Yeah. And that's what we're deep diving on today. impact on the 2020 Braves. Can you fucking imagine? I've been sick and out of it. Why did the Braves sign Pablo Sandoval?

Fucking got me, bro. The only thing I got is that their bench is surprisingly shallow. Like, I looked at their bench the other day. It was Tyler Flowers, Etchevaria, and Enciarte, which, hey, they're solid, but that's it. I don't know. It's also just a minor league deal, so, like, kind of end up. such thing as a bad minor league deal. Wow, don't tell that to ploof.

I would never take it for the team. Someone wrote me, let me just get this off my chest, and then we can start this. Someone wrote, tweeted to me, like, something about like, if you saw the 2011 Twins roster, it'd shock you to find out that the only people that are still playing baseball are Drew B, Tara, like Liam Hendrix, somebody else.

And then they were talking about me, and they're saying, you know, like I'm, I should still be playing because I'm only 34. Dude, it's fucking old in baseball. And I could still go play, but like I didn't want to play and be a bench player. I hated it. I fucking hated it.

So let me live my life, person who called me out on the internet. Treve. I made choices. Sorry. Treve. Trevor. Your number one draft pick.

You went, second deck Yankee Stadium yeah fucking professional baseball player why you can let anyone tell you

should have played longer that guy probably didn't play past middle school if I'm just saying I just answer this question I'm gonna gas up a little Trev

I always welcome gasoline my tank is never but Trev low key doesn't like getting gassed he thinks we're over gassing him when we gas I think you mock me a little bit

because I know who I was is a player. I understand it all. But if you want to fill it up, fill it up. I got to change my headphones because my AirPods are going to fucking die. People that aren't athletes are dumb.

Oh, speaking. No, it just cracks me up when people are like, you know, the shut up and dribble people. It's like, what do you do? Why, how are you an expert on this? And know what, Trevor, Trevor said it great. Like, I mean, you know, Trevor, the window we've got into it, you live pretty nice life, Trevor. You got a nice pool.

You got a couple kids, beautiful wife. You're lizard catching sun. You're the number one gopher killer in all of hidden hills. That's a fact. You can't stop killing gophers. Like I do think people underappreciate, like, and Trev, you've been pointing this out recently, like, how much does Pobb? Sanneval have in the bank account because it's a big number, right?

Yeah, I mean, I don't... Some people love the game, too. Some people love, love the game. Like, the fact that he's going to the Braves minor league site with the potential to play some postseason baseball, that's low-key cool. Like, you know, make all your fat jokes and everything, but the fact that Pablo Sandival

with over a hundred mil in the bank is still willing to do that? Like, that's pretty cool for Pablo. It's really cool for Pablo. And I can't, I can't fucking believe. Who's probably good? Who's his agent?

I don't know. Yeah, kudos to him. Looks like he's with the SPS sports group. Previously, he was with Beverly Hills Sports Council. But there were just different levels. Heels guy. Yeah. There's different levels of love for the game.

Like some people like you can't take the jersey. Look at fucking Brandon Phillips, bro. Hey, do we have pictures of Pablo Sandoval on top of a horse? because I'd love to see those. You can ask that horse. Can ask around. Don't be mean. Trevor.

And of all. My God. It's okay to fat shame men. You can't fat shame women. Everybody knows that. Do you want to hear my take on that real quick? No. No.

You're a little weary of that one. It's a great take. I'll do it quick. I'll do it quick. I think the chat's going to love the chat. You're going to freaking love. I'm looking at the chat right now. Women?

You can't, obviously it's not okay to fat shame anybody. I don't, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, I think that you should be whoever you are. Okay, try to be healthy. I think that's perfect. Go to Target. Or not, cringing? Go to Target. Okay, yeah. look at all of the models and target you look around they've done a great job of integrating all shapes and sizes colors of women like you're going to see the spectrum and i love that because i really believe people need to see that it's okay to be themselves okay but look at the male models they are all ripped jacked classically handsome there's no love for the big dudes what's up with that. Why hasn't it crossed

over into the mailside? Do you know that this company is a front or just a gateway into mine and Jake's true company, which is going to be called short, portly, and unkempt. It's a clothing line

for our elk. Jeremy Olson agrees with me. Thank you, Jeremy. Just like everything you would need. Like you get, there's sweatpants, they're shorts. I do believe the dad pod was like a. There's two brands of polos. Not a Target, bro.

Target, you got to be jacked and, like, looking good, chiseled jawline. I'm like, hey, let's get some dudes in there with a little bit of belly. You want to talk about, like, serving your audience. Guess what? Like, Americans aren't exactly the fittest, you know, group of people. Don't lump me in with them. That's my rant. I'm done.

Let's talk about baseball. Serious question, and then we'll do it. If I got maybe a little more turtleneck on this and a smaller chain, do you think it's a play? Hey, what? In what way? For me to wear out to a dinner? No.

Okay. All right, back to the baseball. Okay. I don't know if we are going back to the baseball or like, okay, go to the baseball. We'll start with the baseball. A lot of people in the chat agree with me. I just want to say that. Yeah.

I agree with you. We need fat dude models, but I also don't agree with you. Everyone should aspire to be healthy and in shape. It's a great take. Okay, great. All right. Huge. Covered both sides there.

Congrats to Pablo. Opposite of Congrats to the Braves. I think you got duped by his agent. Good job by the agent. Congrats to him. All right. We want to talk about some big topics and they just released the schedule on us.

So we're going to kind of cover the postseason starters, the one-twos for each team, maybe the threes. And we're going to talk about the schedule reaction to the schedule dropping a little bit. Those are the main topics. Before we get into those,

producer bug bug we did have some little things on the list can you drop one of those our way manfred wants fans in the stands for the c s and world series in the bubbles which are also official now the bubbles are official and yeah okay trev what's your reaction it's like we saw the the chiefs they had 15k or whatever it was um i i'm fine with this i think that you know there is a way to get a small percentage of fans in the audience. It does nothing for me. I think you're only serving that whoever gets to go. Because I don't think it's going to change the atmosphere for the people who view at home.

Like in the office the other day, we had on a Cubs Dodgers, NL. What was that, Jake? NLCS. Yeah. 2016, I believe. Hendrix. Hendricks and all versus Kershaw and the atmosphere. Jake and I were watching it like, oh my God, like I can't believe I've become used to what we're watching right now.

And I am. I'm fine with it and I think it's quality product. But when you compare it to that, like a foul ball, a hard foul ball that was easily foul off the bat. The stadium went nuts just for hard contact in the second inning of a, of a, of, the game and it was like, oh, you can't recreate that. So I guess my thought is shrug, they can do this safely enough if they want. They're not going to get close to the players to mess with the players bubble. You know, you just maybe block off the first couple rows and the surrounding dugout area.

I would hope they're smart enough to do that because you are bubbling the players, keep the fans a little bit away. I told Jake, they have to stay with the sound noise, the crowd noise. the crowd noise. Because if you just now like, oh, we'll get rid of that, we'll rely on this 1,500 people

or whatever it is, 1,500 people to be our atmosphere. You can't do that. It'll be terrible. So that's all my thoughts on it. Sorry for hogging the time. Trev, what do you got?

I think it should happen. The stadiums are big enough to do that. But good luck in Los Angeles. I mean, I'm living here. And we are essentially, still like a lockdown. Like there's very few businesses run inside right now. The schools are all closed.

Our mayor is not wanting to open things up. And also our governor. So I just think without getting too political about it, I don't know if it's going to happen, dude. Like unless something changes within the next, you know, a couple weeks. Like playoffs are right around the corner, dude. We're three weeks away from being in the LDS. For that to change, It's going to be a tough sell to the powers that be in California, in my opinion. Texas, dude, do whatever you want, Texas. You know that's going to happen. But I would love to see it.

I think that even if it's not really going to affect the game and how, you know, the sound and the feeling of at least like give some people that experience, man. Like that's what it's about. Like somebody should be there to experience these games, not just on TV. So whatever you can do safely, let them do it, man. I think that's awesome. Treve, you, I mean, you got the California, Texas part of it, right? And that's, I want to be shocked if that's why Texas got the World Series,

because I think they will be able to sell some seats there with the new stadium and all that. But, yeah, this got a pretty negative reaction last night, A, because Rob Manfred said it, so that's going to be everyone's initial reaction. And then it's the idea that people were like, wait, fans in the bubble, the whole idea of the bubble is to keep people out. And it's like, well, there's a way to do it. You know, the fans aren't going to interact with the players. They would come into the stadium and then, you know, watch the game and leave.

And players go back to whatever their bubble environment is. So I think people got lost in that a little bit. And yeah, I wonder, you know, the league is driven by money, if we're being honest. So, I mean, I wonder what those tickets end up looking like, how many people they can get in the house. I think Kansas City in Jacksonville for football this weekend had fans in the stands. I think it was like 15,000 each, something like that. Those are much bigger stadiums too. Those are much bigger stadiums.

So we'll see what it looks like. I think I'm with Jimmy on the crowd noise. And I do, I think the bigger thing that is kind of the worry is that, you know, I've been jokingly trying to watch some playoff hockey. this year. And I'm not a hockey guy, but when I try to watch it, you know, it's playoff hockey. And it's like, oh my God, this is nuts. You got a home power play. The building feels on fire. You don't even have to know hockey and you watch that. And you're like, yes. Jimmy mentions that baseball game we watched the other day. You know, if a ball thrown to a hitter, the first pitch is a ball and you're the

home team, the crowd erupts like you got a base hit. Like, it's just a different environment. So I think the bigger concern is like that environment just can't be there this year and does that affect things? I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. It's going to be weird. Who we talked to Gritchick, right?

Yeah. He told us that, you know, no matter how banged up you are. Right. You walk on to the postseason field and you hear the crowd, all injuries are healed and you get totally taken into the,

you know, a new element. in a new zone. Maybe that doesn't happen. I think it's been well it's been well documented that I never played in a playoff game. So I can't. I'm only speaking from talking to others, but I got to

imagine, yes, the crowd plays a big part in that but even knowing that this is the playoffs, I think guys are still going to get that adrenaline knowing that every freaking pitch matters. But the home field advantage thing, like we talked about how the Yankees have just been

the twins' dad. I think a lot of that has to do with Yankee Stadium being intimidating to some people. Clearly wasn't intimidating to me, but to some people it would be. And that's going to be a thing of the past in these playoffs. So I think it's going to be interesting to see how that all plays into it. Because, you know, like you guys said, these aren't going to be necessarily like a team's fans. It's going to just be like random people in California and Texas. Definitely interesting.

Definitely. All right. BPD, what's the next quick topic? Schedule? Did you want to talk about the Seattle stuff? Seattle, they made them play through crazy.

Go look at the images. They probably shouldn't have played it play through that. It's worth looking up the images. That's the update there. They made them play through the fires in Seattle. And if you haven't seen highlights or images from it, go look at it.

And you had 22-year-old Lazardo say, I'm healthy 22 year old and I couldn't breathe. So I laugh because it's ridiculous that a 22 year it has to say that. So just I guess that was more be aware that this happened and it's nuts. Dave Roberts defending Kershaw because Trent Grisham kind of pimped a home runoff him. He says, I don't mind that people pimped home runs. You just can't do it off someone like Kershaw.

You have to respect him. Meanwhile, they have Max Muncie who did it to Bumgarder, who's, if you're talking about pitchers who need respect, which is very hypocritical. I think it's very embarrassing. I think like Clayton probably goes to Dave Roberts and be like, stop, dad, you're embarrassing. Don't kiss me goodbye anymore, dad. I'm 15. I know you love me, but you're just too much sometimes.

Drop me off down the street. Don't fucking pull up to the school. You know, Dodgers don't need to give the Padres any bulletin board material. I thought it was just a bad look all around. when I saw it, I was like, dang, what did Trent Grissom do? To elicit that kind of reaction from the Dodgers of all teams, the Dodgers are very loud. They do a lot of silly shit on the field.

You know, so I was like, okay, maybe he, I don't know what he did. Then I looked at it. He didn't do anything. He leaned back, tossed his bat, looked in his own dugout. That was it. Anyone that wants to go look up the clip, go look it up. It's very, very minimal for that sort of reaction. And I agree with Jim.

I think it was just a bad look and something like, got to wake up today and he's got to see the reaction and be like, oh, damn, that's, maybe I was a little harsh on that. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I don't think Roberts is going to backpedal because when this happened with the original Grand Slam fiasco, we were like, hey, Tingler's got a backpedal, Woodward, you just look like an idiot.

I think Roberts thinks like, I'm defending my guy. That's what a manager does. and I don't know I mean Dave Roberts and it's hard for me to picture Dave Roberts

getting fully loved in in L.A. I mean, it just feels like it's going to turn into how did Dave Roberts not win with that team but that's another thing. And I don't know, man, like we just need to

like this is the battle of you know, arguably the two best teams in baseball right now, fighting for a division. and like, Trev, you're talking about you wanted to check it out to see how quote-unquote bad it was. Like, even if Trent popped it and then he looked at Kirshan game like a hell yeah, who cares? Like, we're supposed to be heading that way. Like baseball would be more cool if you got to knock off a pitcher and you said, hell yeah.

Because guess what? Then you're going to have to stand in against Kirshan. He's probably going to drop three disgusting curves on you. So, I don't know. I mean, it's just not, yesterday was not a good look for the Dodgers as they, they blew the game, and then their body language changed,

and the Padres are just, I mean, story of baseball. It is funny to think about, like, how this is handled in other sports, okay? We all see clips in basketball. You dunk on someone, you put your nuts on their forehead, you come down, you look at them,

you know, things get crazy. Go watch some of the highlights in the 80s and 90s. If you watch the last dance, like some of those things, it's a competition and guys get pissed. Football the same way. You pop someone, you get up and you do this, do that. Then it's like, okay, yeah, next play. I'm going to get you.

Baseball's not that way. And I don't, I'm, I guess I'll be a little hypocritical here. I don't believe baseball should be that way as that much. Like, I don't think you should hit a home run off Kershaw, then look at them and taunt them. Like, I just don't think it's too many fucking games, man. I just don't target at Kershaw. Exactly.

If you were doing it, what he did was not targeted that Kershaw whatsoever. Yeah. So celebrate, man. Here's the main topic. It's kind of, schedule kind of changed it because we're getting some wrinkles here that really changed the way the postseason is. Yeah.

So we have the schedule. The first series, all the wild card series, which are all three games, will be consecutive. One, two, three, one, two, three, We know off day in that. We kind of knew that.

But I don't know. This just broke too. Prior to noon on September 20th. Now, the regular season ends the 24th, correct? And the playoffs start the 20. I think it ends the 27th. Regular season ends the 27th. Postseason starts the 29th.

So this is crazy to me. They're making teams submit. I guess it's because of quarantine situation. that they have to do it this early. On noon of the 20th, so nine days before the postseason starts, MLB teams have to submit their postseason personnel. 40 players, which is 28 active and 12 taxi squad. And the taxi squad, you can include injured, paternity, bereavement, or suspended list.

But I guess that's because of quarantine. But that's pretty early. Usually you get like up until the day before. to make your postseason crew. And I think this is your postseason crew throughout. So, you know, injuries happen in the postseason a lot. So you're going to have to choose those 12 guys somewhat carefully. You know, a lot of people have the taxi squad already.

But that's interesting. It makes sense because of quarantine, but I saw the 20th. And I was like, that's early. The biggest change is a conversation Jake and I had in the office a while ago. now it came to fruition is that there are no off days in the ALCS, NLCS. Do the DS have off days as well? I don't think so, right? No.

So you have off days in the World Series, but there are no off days in the division series and the championship series, which is a game changer because that means you need a fourth starter. Now, did teams know this? because if teams were not aware that this was the situation, I got to think the trade deadline would be handled different and Lance Lynn would be somewhere. Maybe they didn't know,

but, you know, do the Yankees have a good one, two, three? Maybe. Do they have a good one, two, three, four for ALCS pitching? Kid on the half train, baby. Yeah, I know, but a lot of teams are in this boat as well. the White Box. Now they're going to have to use a fourth pitcher. That's a huge, huge change to the way the ALCS.

There's always a travel day. So, you know, you can go through the ALCS with three pitchers. One, two, travel day, three, four, five, travel day, six, seven. And you have one guy start game one, start game four and seven. Is that how it usually works? We've seen that a lot, a lot, a lot. Yankees won the World Series of 2009 with only three starting pitchers. So that's a huge change

I wonder if they knew beforehand If not, that's kind of bullshit The trade, it's very interesting The trade deadline piece is really good Jim Because I think you're absolutely right Because dude think about how many episodes this year Have the three of us ended up laughing Because you know, at teams call in complaining about their fifth starter

And it's like, yeah, guess what? Guess what, guys? And yeah, it just changes the whole composition I'm shocked they did this because I thought the whole thing was they wanted to line up the playoffs the same way. Apparently, you know, they couldn't get any sponsors if you remember that. That's a good flashback. But no, it's nuts because think about bullpins. Like, guys don't get used.

There's not a lot of everyday Eddie Gordados anymore. I mean, our team's going to be pushing guys for four straight days out of the bullpen. We know just from following the yanks, they rarely. the rarest of rarer push a guy three straight days. So now the whole dynamic has changed, and I personally don't like it. I think you're going to start making things important that normally aren't all like, man, a blowout win

where you don't have to use your good pitchers. Or, you know, what if it is that third day using your good bullpen guys and you end up blowing it? And then you're sitting there the next day and you don't have guys to use it with everything. Isn't this whole year supposed to be? about player safety. I don't know, man.

I don't like this. Are you think that this might lead to teams punting a game if they're down five and they'd rather save their best? Like, you know, it depends on the situation. Obviously, say you win the first game, right? Or say you're up 2.0. In the CS, you're up 2.0. You punt game 3 and try to win, try to steal a win with your bad bullpen pitchers

because you want to give all your good arms. The Yankees would definitely do that and it would suck. Is that what this is going to lead to? If a team is up 2-0 and then the third game, they would rather give their relievers a day of rest to win two more. You know, your odds, the statistics probably say you're better to give them a day of rest and try to steal a win with your lesser bullpen. Is going seven days in a row?

You cannot use your good relievers every day. It's interesting. They're going to have to figure out, figure that out. Because, I mean, if you talk about a team that has four, starters, you're probably, like four good starters, you're probably talking about three teams. I mean, you're talking about the Indians, the Dodgers, maybe that's it. Padres, Padres can do it. Yeah, Padres got it now. I think one way to combat it and maybe we'll, I'll have to ask around, because this is, I think this is kind of some news and maybe teams didn't know, I will ask, but

maybe you do piggyback type of stuff. So you're going 40 pitches, 40 pitches, and that way you can bring guys back, you know, again. I mean, I don't know how you do that. Like, besides relying on a crappy four-starter, you know, like, I don't know how you set yourself up for that. Or geez, what about the, or geez, what about the Jack Flaherty start last year

where they went up 10-0 in the first? Oh, he's out. He's out, then. Right? Absolutely. And Snit said there was never, or not, I want to call him Dwight from the office because what's his name?

Schmidt? Schmidt, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, you're talking to. Oh, their manager. Yeah. He said he never wavered. He was going to keep him in the game. So I don't know, man.

I mean, what about catchers? You know, catchers don't normally play seven straight days. I know that's digging a little deeper in the. this, but yeah. Like, how long does it go? Sorry, Jake. But because they, they knew to do it in the World Series. Right. You know what I mean?

So, like, why wouldn't they just do it in the seven game? C.S. Why, why? It's one extra day. I mean, is there going to be another quarantine period or something? I don't know. Like, are we losing quarantine days or something to make sure everybody's clean? I don't know. Very interesting.

Very, that's a huge caveat And something that's going to be a huge factor In this weird-ass season, it's getting weirder It's just so funny before this, we were coming up with teams top two pitchers, sometimes three. And now, I mean, if you get past that first three games set, Holy smokes You play 16 days in a row. I mean, there's no off day between series.

Uh-huh. Because they're all there. No way. Yeah, I'm looking at it right now. So you're really hoping as a team. You're like, there's an off day between because they have to get to the bubble. Get to the bubble, yeah.

But so if you go DS to CS to 5 and to 7, you're playing 12 straight. And then do they have a travel day before the World Series? because that's there must be yeah yeah yeah before not a travel date well yes

the world series starts on the 20th and the CSs will end on the 18th if they go 5 usually as a team you're like I don't you're hoping yeah

you want to sweep but like if you sweep and then have three days off and the other team's going like that's like kind of to disadvantage for you but now I feel like that's an advantage

if you can get the series done before the other team can get the series done and arrest some people Yeah, I mean, it'd be from October 5th, if you go 5th, you go 5th, 6, 7, 8, 9th. If you're the A.L. Oliver in the chat says the schedule I'm looking at has off days between the wild card, the DS, and the World Series. So the AL actually would get an off day.

Okay, so there is one off day. Staggered, off day. Still, I mean, what, 12 out of 13 days instead of still crazy. It's nuts, man. And again, as we're processing this live, something that me and Jim think is a big factor. Treve, you're in on it too, but we were just talking about it today. But it is that starting pitcher you normally kick to the bullpen. You know, that can change a team.

Look what Patrick Corbyn did last year for the Nationals. I mean, he still got some starts in. But, man, like, you know, when we talked about the Cleveland Indians, we were saying how, you know, does Tristan McKenzie kick to the pin? He still might because they have a lot of starting pitchers. Savali, your guy, Plutco. Oh, I can't mention Plutco. People get mad when you mention Plutco.

People get mad when you mention Plutco. Do you think Cleveland's like, damn, we probably shouldn't have traded fucking one of the best pitchers in the game because we couldn't use it. Yeah, that's a great. That's the other side of the Lansland. Like, what the fuck. Oh, my God. Wow.

Wow. Wow. That's love. Anyways, should we get into our topic? And if you're a team that traded away, someone like Robbie Ray got traded for peanuts, he had an okay start with the Jays. Like his value could have been a little more. I don't know. A lot of factors.

What factors? Yeah, let's go into and we're going to go into teams one and twos and we'll preface this as we always do with. We're searching to learn more about your team because some of these teams in the pregame show we were trying to figure out who's going to be the one, two, and three. And some of it is hard. So if you're a fan, let us know because you know more than us as always. But we just wanted to do, you know, we'll get as we get closer and maybe the matchups get more cemented, we will do more info on this. But we just wanted to do a kind of a quick dive into teams we know. are going to be in the playoffs,

who their starters are going to be. Jake, do you want to start us off? How do you want to go about this? Yeah, should we do this AL-N-L style? Maybe we'll start with the NL because we're so much AL bias on this pot. Let's do the National League.

We'll start in the East Coast because I'm not giving trip to the West Coast. The teams that are in it, the Braves are going to make the playoffs. And again, this is one of those I mean, we're starting off with kind of a wild one because Max Fried was in the running for the Cy Young, looked incredible. He got hurt.

He is looking to come back. So we'll assume now that he'll be good because we also love Max Fried. So you got a pretty good one there. You know you got a guy who's going to tango. After that, we've got Cole Hamels making his first start back this week. We'll see what he looks like. Although, hey, if he looks good, I mean, that's a grizzled vet who's done it a lot. And then I think it's Ian Anderson, the rookie who's been shoving. But if you're the Braves,

I think this is their biggest question mark right now. I just look, I mean, look, we have a team that expects themselves to be in the ALCS and now they need four. Like you can't run freed out there, games won, four, and seven. That's been, that's been a strategy forever when you get to the playoffs. I mean, you got your three horses and you run. Even the national. last year would have had a tough time with the guys that they have. Man. But I love

CS aside. This opening round is the most intriguing thing to me just because of it's a three game set and if you have two horses, go and shove, you can move on with little offense,

with little depth. And that's kind of why it's so interesting to me because teams that aren't that good can really they could knock a contender out just like that three and two days gone because you got two guys that are on their game

that's kind of why we started to think about this and I don't know if the Braves there if I'm looking at that division and you go you got Freed Hamels Anderson I might pick the Barlins over the well the Braves pitching right now is

freed with a question mark in parentheses after his name and then legit two question marks. And I think, you know, we wanted to keep this the three games set. And, you know, I like to suck up to the Braves fans when I can. But how can you, after hearing what you just heard about the schedule, think the Braves are going to have a legitimate shot come October? I don't know. Let's move on to the Marlins.

Sorry, Braves. Thanks for tuning in. We got to be kind of quick here. Yeah. Everyone else, we got, you know, 16 teams to do. Everyone, you know, Braves fans let us know. but Norm's in the chat kind of more worried than us. It's like we don't have any start. Marlins,

Marlon's got to be a little excited. Sorry, Trev. I mean, Sixto Sanchez is becoming a breakout star in baseball. You got him, Alcantara and Pablo Lopez. You've got three right now. I don't know if you're the Marlin. Marlin stock is going up right now.

It is. They got the pitching. If we're specifically going to keep it to the opening rounds, I mean, they got a, and they got three guys, but you could narrow that down to a one, two punch that can compete with anybody. They're one too much is pretty good.

The only thing you have to worry about there is, you know, postseason jitters, but maybe the bubble and all that. I was going to take care of a lot of that, I think. The post season is a different animal. Like, it truly is. Like Jake said,

without fans and similar, but, you know, ball one means a fucking lot in postseason baseball. You are, edge of your seat. So, you know, you do have 6-0, who's a rookie, Pablo's not a rookie. All right, Marlins,

Phillies, I think we just do quick and I mean, their whole formula was we've got two studs in a lineup. I mean, again, for a three-game set, they're still scary. Yeah, absolutely. Aaron Nolan and Wheeler have been two of the better

pitchers in the league this year. I mean, and not just this year, obviously. They have a pedigree as well. So, Wheeler comes back, hopefully his fucking nail is okay. But if you have those two guys at full strength, I mean, I don't know if there's another, I mean, those two guys are, you know, maybe

top five that I would pick as far as shutting you down. So this is, it's all going to be interesting. I think we're probably going to say the same thing for almost every single team. Two starters is not that hard to have. Yeah, but it's very interesting that we all like

the Phillies and the Marlins better than the Braves, and the Braves are the first place. Let's do this. Let's say, we just did the NLEs, the teams that are actually going to make the postseason. Who's the best one-two punch in that group? Phillies.

Phillies. You got experience and results on your side. I mean, the part that's blowing me away, and again, we were looking for a segment, and we kind of put this together, is like, none of these teams are a threat anymore. To make a deep postseason run, probably not.

Like, I think 20 minutes ago, I could have got excited about the Braves or the Phillies, and now, I'm sorry. Does this become, like, I mean, we're kind of getting off topic here, but does this become, like, a four-team race? Like, actually, it has a legitimate chance? I don't know. I mean, if you want to play like,

I can go like butthead Jimmy mode and be like, um, the Blue Jays are out. Yeah. I don't think the Yankees can do this. I don't think the Braves can do this. I don't think the Phillies can do this.

I don't think Oakland can. Like, who do you got? You got like the white socks, the twins. I don't think the twins can do that. Padres, Dodgers are set up better than anybody. And yeah, and they got to play each other. And maybe the Indians, just because the starting pitching up,

we obviously don't love their lineup. Yeah, but they do. They can still get you four. They have four, like, good starters. Yeah. Like, they have four good starters. A couple of great starters. I've been sick and grumpy.

So, like, and I said everyone sucks earlier today on a different show of ours. Some of those teams can probably spin to it. But it's a different animal, man, because a lot of time, you can't even bullpen day in the C. because that ruins you for the whole damn series. You need every game you need length. It's a whole different thing.

You know who's got a pretty good shot? Who's that? You'll maybe fucking say it. Don't say it. Cincinnati Reds. I mean, with that information that you just gave out about the no-off days and having to run the guys out, I mean, they have some of the best starting pitching depth.

If Sunny Gray is back, they have some of the best starting pitching depth. in baseball. And that, I mean, it's a premium now. It's always been you need to have starting pitching up in the playoffs, but now it's like you have to have it. I mean, and that's, A,

they got to get in, and then they'd have to win against either the Dodgers or the Padres, who are the clear kind of one and two right now. But then again, like, if they end up getting matched up with the Braves who have to go, freed Hamels Anderson,

And then I don't even think they, do they have a fourth starting pitcher? I mean, this whole playoffs is now pretty bizarre. I think at spin zone, there will be some, some random heroes that would never happen. Yeah. Jordan Montgomery, Jay Hap, step up, baby. It's like a tournament. It's like a Koshian Japanese tournament. It's survival of the fittest and not survival of the best.

Twins, twins can do it. The Maeda, Berrios, and then the Paneda Hill thing, and Dobnack. They got some guys. I think they, I think they have bumped up because of this. Yeah, their depth, because that's been the complaint about the twins for the years, is that they don't necessarily have that lights out one. But, hey, I kind of like their starting five as a group of five guys, and that might be important now.

If the Padres didn't go out and get Clevenger, they're not even they're one of the teams were like oh like great job during the regular season but the postseason now means nothing because you don't have the depth but now that they have Clevenger I mean they're one of the teams that I mean yeah a lineup like bang too though

like the White Sox like if they can knock a pitcher out right you can kill a bullpen like it's almost wow a bullpen killing team is better than you know the Royals in 2015 who are going to win by one run every year game. I don't know. It's kind of cool. I mean, we're all trying to wrap our heads around it. I'm sure we're throwing out a bunch of takes that are wrong or going to be end up wrong.

But it's, I think the point is it's a different animal that we're heading into. And it's kind of interesting. Did we lose the format here a little bit? Do we want to go go back to what end up? A little bit. I don't know if we need to. I mean, yeah, we started jumping around a little bit. I mean, Cubs, you know, they were kind of going to lean heavy on Darvish and Hendricks. They can't be too excited about that. I mean, you know, a lot of people are familiar with Alec Mills now, but coming into the no-hitter, I mean, I think the Cubs were trying to kick

him to the pen. A lot of people are mad at my Reds take in the chat. And rightfully so. Sure. Reds last six of nine are versus the white socks and the twins. Tough to sneak into the best. I agree. But if they did. To win when you have a 50% save percentage.

If they... Think about how bad that is. That's really bad. When they have a lead going into the last innings, they blow it half the time. Flip that coin, baby. Vodka soda. I just think the point there is that if they were to advance,

a three-game series, we agree pretty much anything can happen. Like, I think you'd much rather draw a team like the Braves or the Cubs than Sincy right now if they were to pull off a miraculous run just from the updated information. I like the TKO lineups are fun, man. What? Just the knockout lineups. Like, hey, don't hold back with that 9-1 lead.

Get ugly with it. Make them use pitches. We did World Series predictions. I've taken the race. I haven't wavered on that. I think both you guys took the Yankees. Fine. Where are you at now with that?

Like, where are you at? after all this information, all that stuff, like is it just the Dodgers kind of? Maybe the Padres. Like we're, pick one right now and like, what are you leaning? I think the AL is,

I got to wrap my head around this more. Because I can talk myself into my Yankees pretty easily, even though if anyone wants to come at me and say they're not set up for this, I think I agree with them more right now. Like we, the Yankees now have to put a lot of faith into Hap and Monty.

And Davey. What about some of the young guys? Like, I almost think this pushes Davy out because happened Monty ain't going to go to the bullpen. Clark Schmidt is done. Are we done with Clark Schmidt? What's up with that? Who knows? I think that I, well, this might change things.

Yeah. People are upset when we do this. We could do a segment on the Yankees. Yeah, it's like our biggest downvote complaint is that we do. Sorry. You should talk about the Reds in a ton too. The evil empire. Did we go through the NL?

Who'd we miss in the NL? I mean, the Cardinals, it's Flaherty, Wayno, Kim's been really good for them. That organization just generally pitches, so cards could find a way. I don't know. If you're a Cardinals fan going into a normal series, you're normally saying like,

hey, let's run Flaherty out there as much as we can. And I don't think you're doing that. Dodgers is Kershaw Bueller May your rise in Gonsolin a legit five-man rotation all above-average starters they are set up for anything fuck any scenario

that you could think of the Dodgers are set up for it and if they don't win man dude the Cardinals are set up good they got four starters yeah I like the Cardinals too they can pitch

and with Kim being as good as he's been. Yeah. They got Flaherty, Wayno, and Hudson's been good. Yeah. I like Hudson a lot too.

I mean, it's so funny because we went into this show and we were prepping for it before they dropped all these new changes. And one of my questions was, I want to know which team has the best four or five that are going to go to the bullpen

and solidify it. But now that's like not the plan. Usually that's the plan. It's not the plan anymore. I mean, gun, gun to my head today, it's full-blown. Padres. Like I've kind of been

Dodgers all year. They're dominant. Sure, the Padres are fun. We'll see who else fights. They can hang and they got that. Give me Clevenger, Paddock, Lomet, Davies with with their lineup.

I mean, they can wear you out all day. Yeah. To think, I said they're just going to finish one game or 500. People were laughing at me. It's a good bet. It's a good bet. I think I won that bet.

I think they have to finish over 500, don't they? Yeah, I think you're good. I think you're good, man. 32 and 17, you did it. I did it. Bang. I said they had to win 32 games, right? Cash that ticket.

Or 31 games, yeah. Free money. Michael, I don't know if you get Muscox hit over 255, that'd be nice. Yeah, yeah. All right, AL time. AL, we did the Yanks. Sorry, everybody. We did the Indians.

The Blue Jays are so dead. Like, sorry, I know we have some nice Blue Jail listeners, but you guys were struggling in a three game set. Yeah. The Rays, we probably need to give them more love. If there's anything... Blue Jays fans, who... Who's the two-three?

I mean, I'm guessing it's Walker Ray. Does Pearson hurt? He's heard and they were... They were planning on bullpenning him. He's going to be involved. They were planning on bullpenning him. They get to the CS. Do you have to use four starters in the DS now?

You do, right? Yes. So who's your fourth starter in the DS if you don't sweep? Blue Jays fans. Shoemaker, if he comes back, someone said in the chat. I mean, you look to have Ryu, Taiwan, Ray, and Pearson. You could do that. Yeah, Ray's been awful this year, besides his best start.

Ray's best start is five innings pitched. So, I mean, he's a warm body, though. But that's four innings of bullpen. Like, that's not going to cut. it. You can't use four innings of bullpen every night if they're close games. Someone smarter than me is going to come up with this, but I do think my bull, my piggybacking

idea might work. Well, I think for the Yankees, you may be better off trying to start Hap game three and Monty game four and have Davy as the bulk guy relief. Ready to go. I will say this. They will

ride. If your ace goes out there in a shevin, keep going. buddy. Like, you're not going to get home. Yeah. Stealing out this postseason. I mean, that's just bizarre. I don't think I've ever seen that. I guess some of the old starting pitchers used to do that, but. Which team is going to hurt? Which team is going to hurt someone? Who do we have out there that's a free agent that the team doesn't care about their arms and they're just going to be like, oh, man. Go out and die for us. Who's getting the Evaldi award this year?

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Hey, the Avaldi Award worked. The Red Sox felt so bad, but they signed him for four more years. Hübner in the chat says that Verlander, if Verlander's healthy, the Astros went to. I mean, the Astros look pretty brutal for this, too. I mean, you got Granky, Framber, and then who's the three? Lance. That's a good three.

Arquitie's working his way back. Their bullpen is all young guys. I haven't checked lately how their bullpen's been doing. They were okay. Remember after Reddick's wife came at them, they were actually doing pretty well. So Quentin in the chat still has Verlander being in the postseason. Didn't he?

I doubt. I am far too cynical to believe that that's going to happen, but I haven't been following along. I thought he opted out of the season. Not true. Not true. He just got hurt. I think the raise are up, man,

because I think every team is going to have to dig into their arms. Verlander's throwing against Sunday. He's going to come back as a starter, not a reliever. So, yeah, I mean, he's, that fucking makes a difference right there. Yeah. That would change their outlook. Everyone who pitches for the raise is good. Maybe I sound like a scorned Yankees fan, but that's what they do, and that could help him at this point.

And Trev, the other thing that they do do do, they do do well? Do you mentioned it before. It's platoon stuff. So, I mean, they could work. bullpins with the three out rule we've seen them you can almost trap a team you can trap a guy coming out of a bullpen

with their platoon guys I like the raise a lot more the AL Central I have no idea I just have no clue it's definitely changed everything I'm looking here at Verlander through 55 or 60 pitches during a bullpen session on Saturday so I mean that's

that's definitely something to monitor my goodness can you imagine if the Astros got hot I just wouldn't I just would never bet on it as nothing to do with the Astros I'm doing the same thing I agree with that there like I would just never bet on that being on him being able to get healthy and then now be a horse

Astros Reds World Series is that like the worst we could ever think about go Reds baby oh my God I don't know The team that we really Are yet to mention Yankees option Anduhar

Optioned Anuhar called up Stanton What'd you guys say Andhauer was safe We thought so They optioned Mike Ford and Andhuehar So One sec Some Yankees cuts

The Athletics We were talking before How we don't know Who their ones and twos are which again in the three-game set is scary. I don't know. I kind of like Oakland A's just playing Oakland A's baseball for five days or seven days straight,

but this whole C... We just hit a level of bizarre with this season that I just never thought would be a thing. It's going to feel like a high school tournament. It's weird. Yeah. What time are we up, B.B.D., do we need to wrap this up? 54.

Could start wrapping. Oh, wow. The A's got Mike Minor at the deadline. Like, that could become an important move for them now. Soved yesterday. Did we have an ad for this, BPD? We'll do it on voicemails. Okay. Tune in.

We were supposed to just preview the three-game series. We're shook. It's getting into a reaction pod. Whatever, we were looking for a main topic, and MLB gave it to us by releasing this right before we went live. That's why we were the best baseball podcast. So Oakland, what do we think? Because we were a little bit like they're not that scary.

Chapman's out. They've only played two games against teams above 500. I never can tell with the A's. I don't, when I'm looking at them, I don't really believe in them. But I also said that about the White Sox and the Indians. So I'm an idiot. Hey, no, A's fans. This is one we really need help.

It's like, how much do you believe in Mania and fires? because they haven't been amazing, but are they going to be two, three, is Bassett the one? Is Montes in there? Like, the three of us were trying to do in the beginning, and we had no idea, like, how they're going to organize that. So let us know, please.

I'll say this. In the past 30 minutes or whenever this happened, I like the A's more. Yeah. So I don't really know what that means, but I do. I mean I've never been I don't know

Are we a media Whatever we are Okay I've never been a media guy Talking about baseball Through the entire season I feel like this year It's so fucking interesting

Is it always this interesting Or is this just like Yeah I know There's so many caveats This is a different kind of interesting But you can always find storylines This has been better

Because it's all so compact It's just crazy. Like these playoffs, the regular season sucks. I'm sorry. We've done our best to make it look great. I think this regular season has sucked. Well, yeah, there's been nothing. Everyone sucks, Trev.

I've been telling you that. I hate this regular season, but this postseason is about to be freaking late. They got you. They got you. If they want to do this postseason again. No, no, no, no, no. I don't love this post season.

I'm saying just for this year. Like this structure of the postseason can... It's going to be wild. They're going to hear us being excited about it and want it again. And then shorten the regular season to 100 games if you're going to want this many teams to be in the postseason again. We need 154 game season. We need to get rid of the one game playoff. We can make it a three game playoff.

Do not. Do not. You need to reward the division winner. first more. Yeah, don't do 18th. If you're the raise and you get, you know, best overall, and then you have to go play, you know, they're not rewarded enough if it's 154 game season. And this season, it's 60, so it's a little funky. If it's 154 and there's balanced schedules, you need to reward the top team more than what's happening this year, in my opinion. Yeah, I mean, I go back and forth on the whole wild card thing because as a fan, I love the one game thing,

as a player and like just thinking like realistically about it it's stupid um so i would enjoy a three game set between the wild card teams if they kept it to five per league again like they typically do uh but then if you think about that that would really fuck a team up for like the division round if you go out there and do three games throw your three best starters and all of a sudden you're starting four and five or whatever uh in the division round but anyways i'm excited for the postseason I hope everyone is locked in because it's going to get, it's going to be amazing, dude. I can't wait.

Yeah. It's set up for, I'm going to need a lot of coffee. But all right. I think that's all. Appreciate you guys. Thank you very much. Good app.

Go tell all your friends. Wow, good up today. Whoa. They reacted. Yeah, man. You did it. Did it.