Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 379 | Who Has the Easiest Remaining Schedule?

Episode Date: August 18, 2021

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Hello and welcome to talking baseball. We are a schedule pod, and Jeff Passon decided that he was a schedule pod himself. So let's talk some schedule. Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Brought to you by Draft Kings. My name is Jimmy. His name is Jake Trevor coming to you from California and BBD behind the dish producing his butt away. It's the midweek episode of the show.

It's not live. It's our pre-recorded. One person on the YouTube chat every time we'll say, you guys don't ever go live anymore. We've been doing the same schedule for months. Anyway, we're a schedule pod. We've been talking about schedules forever. I am a schedule guy.

Jake had a great term. He said, we're not schedule shaming. We're schedule appreciating. So that's what we're going to do today. but first I got to ask Jake, how are you doing? James, Trevor, B, B, BD, I'm doing well, everyone listening live now, everyone listening ever, and your whole family, your entire family, and everyone you've ever met. Thank you for listening to talking baseball today.

Yeah, schedule appreciation, because we don't want to schedule shame. If you beat the Orioles, they were on your schedule and you beat them. Good job. But you don't get the same credit if you beat White Sox, you still. Dodgers, Padres, whoever it is. So we've been a big schedule pod. One of our fans, Jeff Passon put out an article talking about schedule stuff pretty conveniently around us being a scheduled pod.

I was laughing beforehand. Jeff is a friend. And if we gave him probably 30 minutes heads up, he'd be willing to hop on. Maybe we'll prank call him at the end. Probably not because we just have this so dialed right now, Trev, that I don't don't even think we need it. And Trev, you know we're an honest pod too. Yanks Red Sox is about to start two over here while we're recording. So me and Jimmy might have a little crooked necks at points in this episode, Trev. All right. That's good. You know, you guys can

watch your Yanks play. Thank you, Trevor. Super fan Jeff Passon. He'll be tuning into this. Hopefully he'll enjoy what we have to say about his article. You know, I like Jeff. I like when he writes stuff. That's my favorite Jeff. So it's going to be fun to go over this. I've read the article. Have you guys read the article? So multiple times.

Cliff notes version or did you go in depth? I scrolled it for, I'd say, 35 to 40 seconds. That's all you need. I saw some team names. I saw some good. I saw some bad. While you guys are watching the Yanks, I will say that I'm going to be partaking in the show,

but I'll also be grinding out some of these knots I have here. I'm back on a wellness kick, intermittent fasting. I got this. I've been rolling out stretching a lot lately. This thing's kind of like a little thing I got. You use that as a backscratcher as well? I don't know if you scratch. It's more like getting in there.

It's got nubbies on it. Let me see that. Let me see that. Sam. What's that called, Chuck? We need a backnobie. How do I find it on Amazon? I'm getting Sam to get one.

I'm not really sure. a Nick Ponto thing. He always used to have this. Yeah. There's a lot of things you can do with it. Yeah. Big Dick Nick. Yeah. What else can you do with that? So yeah, I'll be doing this. Don't worry about it. Keep your children in line. Number one baseball show of all time. Yes. Okay. I'm so excited about that. And I hope that you're messing it to Sam. Because I need all the massage and make my neck not hurt things. Great for your neck. Yeah, need it. I texted Sam, we need a back massager cane thing. So we'll probably have a couple here by-A-plus texter. Thank you. All right.

So Pass and wrote an article, which contenders have the toughest path to the playoffs? And I like the crux of his article and what he did a lot. He says, you know, there's a lot of teams that are trying, even though they're not like great. Cardinals are a great example. Like, they're winning right now. You don't look at them and say, that's a tough. tough matchup, but you don't look at them and say it's a walkover as well. There are seven teams where you're just like, these guys are dead.

It's the Diamondbacks, the Orioles, the Cubs, the Royals, the Pirates, the Rangers, and the nationals. If you play them, if you are trying to win a postseason birth or secure a postseason birth and you play one of those seven teams, you have to win the series. You have to win the series. It's not sweep. Like we're getting, yeah,

we say most of the year, like you can't really ask for a sweep in baseball, tough sport. It's about that time. If you want a playoff spot and you got my snakes, yeah,

got to go. So I don't know where we exactly want to start because he's got a lot of bullet points, but we can make our own because I want to do some bigger research into it as well and see who can perform the best with their remaining schedule. And Trev,

if you're worried about your performance and you want to get it checked out, and you are a little worried, no matter the schedule. You can go to get roman.com slash, well, this says yanks, but I'm guessing it's Johnboy. It's Johnboy, get roman.com slash johnboy.

You know, they will, Trev, they will have a free online evaluation you can have for ongoing care for ED, all from the comfort and privacy of your home, a U.S. licensed healthcare professional or work with you to find the best treatment, plant of medication is appropriate. Getting started is simple.

to get roman.com slash johnboy complete an online visit take care of your ed without leaving home go to get roman dot com slash john boy now to get 15% off your first month and make sure that you perform the best you can get your winner bigger is what i tell people i don't know if uh it helps with growth it sure does oh you mean in momentary a thousand percent it helps with gross and you can use it to contact a doctor and they can see what they recommend yeah see if they've got something for have my recommendations, but you should talk to the Roman people too. They're good people. Is Trev frozen or just stuck on a look of disappointment? Looks frozen. Wow, I really thought he was just giving us a very inquisitive, like, shut the

fuck up, guys. I do think we saw it freeze because it just went a second too long. They were like, wow, that was a power look. It's a good freeze frame, and here's where I'll cut. All right, let's get to talking about this. Let's start off in the NL West because that division has three teams that are really good, only two teams that are not doing so well. And of the three teams, Jake, and Trev, the Dodgers, the Giants, and the Padres, Padres have the toughest. They only play those seven teams three times. The Giants play six, so two series,

and the Dodgers have 12 games against these, for lack of a better term, we're calling them like walkover teams. Dead teams. Yeah. So according to Passon's articles, the Padres, who are now, as we talk,

only a game and a half up on the Reds in the Wildcard, have a tough set. And, I mean, a little sneak into the Central, the Reds have a really easy set. Wow. What do you got?

Trevor. I mean, you summed it up from Jeffrey P's article the best about the Padres. What was the words you used? What did I say? I think you said the Padres are fucked. Oh, I don't think I said that. Okay.

I might have said that. But that was between friends. The Padres have a tough go right now. Tough, dude. No, they're lucky they got Tatis back. He's going to continue to be the MVP, which helps them, obviously. But yeah, when you're going against, you know, the upper echelons of their division, which they play the Giants, they play the Dodgers a ton.

I know, I think they've handled the Dodgers pretty well. though this year. Am I right on that? Seven and three. Seven and three against the Dodgers. So look, I mean, I know we're going to go through this and there is a lot of credence to the schedule and, you know, playing some of these teams and then, you know, having in the Padres instance, not playing these teams. But Jim, you referenced it before the show started. Sometimes teams just have the other team's number. The Padres have the Dodgers number. I don't know. But so far the record would indicate it seven and three. So maybe they're looking forward to these games. I don't know how you match up well against the Dodgers That doesn't make any sense in any world Except baseball because baseball is crazy The bad news is

So the Padres have one series left Who's it against? Who's the... They have one snake series And that's the only Three game in Arizona And they have two two gamers with the Angels Those are the only remaining

Well, they have a St. Louis and in Atlanta, but I mean, those teams are now in the mix. So, yeah, like, there's... Jeff Passon used words. I'm a pictures guy. We all know that. When you look at the schedule, it's kind of... Brutal.

Yeah, it doesn't look good. It doesn't look good at all. Holy crap. I do love what you said about the Dodgers series, because that's a big part of it, because we see the Big Bad Wolf, and you should. A lot of teams should.

They haven't this year. And they're going to host them at home. at home. If they can win that Dodgers series, I think morale stays up because you're like, well, we've gotten these guys all year. Like, let's just, you know, keep winning enough games to keep the Reds,

maybe St. Louis, off our ass. Man, if the Dodgers come into their place and show that they're the new Dodgers, we got Scher, we got Trey Turner now, I mean, that's going to be red flag time in San Diego. Yeah. If you're looking at a, chunk that's probably going to decide their season.

It's not going to happen in those last six games because they do play the Dodgers and the Giants last six games. The chunk that's going to decide their season is September 10th through the 19th where they go Dodgers for three, Giants for four, and then the St. Louis for three. If they can get through that relatively unscathed and can, you know, still have some sort of a lead in the wild card, then, you know, those six games. will be important. If they just get trounced, like we're seeing the Mets get trounced on their tough portion, then those six games at the end probably won't even matter.

Yeah. But I think we're going to have to circle that little, you know, nine days right there, the 10th through the 19th for the Padres. If you're a Padres fan, buckle up. Buckle up. Yeah, that's tough. And then what about it? What about Dodgers and Giants? Should the Giants, for the umpteenth time, we're going to have the conversation, are the Giants going to lose their lead to the Dodgers. The Dodgers, according to this article, which I agree with. So I don't know why I'm phrasing like that. But, you know, the Dodgers have 12 games. I'm guessing that's three series against these teams. The Giants only have six. The problem is the

Giants just beat who's ever on their schedule. The Giants are 33 and 24 against teams over 500 and 44 and 18 against teams under. So, I'm not worried about, I mean, that looks good for the Dodgers, and I know we all believe in the Dodgers, but I'm coming to the point where I'm like, whatever, Giants just win. Yeah, like we should, when we talk about the big bad Dodgers, in theory, we should talk about the Giants that way.

They've been better than them all year. We just don't look at them in the same light. For me, man, it's, you know, they're playing the Mets right now. They're going to get the Mets again, Oakland, Atlanta, all good teams, but, like, again, you should believe in the Giants. Their stretch, four versus Milwaukee, three versus L.A. It's at home, so you got that. But, I mean, for me, that's going to be the ultimate test because those are,

those are probably what, the two on paper National League favorites right now, Brewers and the Dodgers? Brewers, Giants. Right. But like Trev, if I said seven game series tomorrow, Brewers or Giants, who are you taking? I mean, look, I know what you're saying. The Brewers have the three horsemen. Like, I get that, but.

So the Giants. Yeah. Exactly. The Giants. I think those teams are pretty even. Okay. Yeah. 100%.

I wouldn't put, I wouldn't say that there's a team that is going to kill the Giants in any series. They just win. They win. They like induce mistakes. Which at some point you got to, I'm talking to myself here. somewhat. I just got to give them credit for that. They just induce mistakes out of their opponents and they stay close and they win losses

and win-wins. We talk about all the time. The Giants have that thing where they are not putting anybody under replacement level out on the field. That's just not what they do. So, you know, they were a team obviously poses a superstar and Crawford's had a superstar year and Longo or whatever.

But, you know, when you add a Chris Bryant to that mix as well and the way he's performed for them, they match up with anybody. And the other thing for the Giants, how much pride are my Rocks going to have? Because they've been awesome at home this year. Awesome at home. Two series in cores. Can they fend off that monster?

Will the Rockies, who's playing for them? But there's six games right there for you. Yeah. What's cool about this division? I just want to say this real quick. is that they're going to have to fight the entire way. The Dodgers and Giants, they're not going to have a layup at the end of the year

where they can take the last series off because that division is going to be in the balance. And Dodgers, I'm looking at their last six games, all at home, Padres for three, Milwaukee for three. Milwaukee is going to have things wrapped up already. So it's going to be interesting to see if we're going to get the A squad for Milwaukee or if they're going to already be planning for their postseason run,

which I believe they will be. So even if they do get matched up with Peralta, Woodruff, or Burns, you might see four innings out of those guys. They're not going to ride them out there that long. They're not going to risk that. So the Dodgers might have an advantage those last three games if it comes down to it, which it probably will. Love that.

Let's go on to the West, the A.O. West. This is the most eye-opening thing for me because Jeff points out that the Houston Astros have 17 games left. against these walkover teams. The Astros have 44 games left. So 17 of them are against these teams that should be easy wins. So I was like, all right, well, who else do the Astros play in their other 27 series and games? And guys, there's not a single threat out of the other teams. You have, the Royals are one of them.

Then you have Seattle. They've beaten Seattle all season. Then you have Texas. they've been in Texas all season. Then you have the Padres. Okay, so that's a team that's in wildcard contention. That's three. Then they have the Angels.

They're going to beat the Angels. Then they have Texas. Then they have Arizona, walkover. Then they have the Angels again. Then they have three against Oakland, three against Tampa. So you got three against San Diego, and then you got Tampa, who's probably going to have the division locked up or maybe, you know, have a playoff spot locked up. Houston's path, the rest of the way, is so.

easy. They don't have, they have six hard games. They have three hard games, six potential hard games out of their next 44. I'd be, if I was an Oakland fan, I'd be looking at this and saying like, oh man, because the Oakland, they only have six games against the walkover teams, and they have six or seven against Houston. So that division, we just got excited about how, Oh, actually, Oakland's pretty close to Houston. If you're schedule watching, it's a cakewalk for the Astros. Yeah, if you're Oakland, what you're telling yourself is stay alive for those final two out of three series, whatever that means.

Is that four games? Is that five games back? Because, yeah, man, I was kind of on this when we were doing schedule pod the other day. Oakland schedule's tough. And we believed in Houston. and it's like they they build up for the playoffs like bregman hasn't been around they know what they've been aiming for all year if you're Oakland you're just saying survive and believe in those last two out of three series because you know baseball anything can happen but like you're saying Houston has

had their number too yeah i agree i mean they Oakland has an incredibly tough schedule coming up they have white socks giants mariners who you know they still they can match it up pitching wise with a lot of teams, especially some of those young starters. New York, and then Detroit who's in playing our right. I mean, they have a gauntlet of a schedule coming up. So you're right, Jake. They have to try to somehow stay close and then say and rally around like, we can take whatever it is, five or six, you know, from Houston

and close any gap we need to. So their schedule that we're circling is probably the next two weeks. how are they going to fare in the next two weeks? And look, dude, Oakland wouldn't put it past them. They'd go on a run and just surprise everybody because that's kind of what they do. Yeah, that was the Astros was eye-opening. They got the most easy games

and then they got the least tough games. Astros looking, sitting pretty. Seattle be a thorn, baby. Make it brutal for both those teams. Dude, I can't believe the Astros were like minus 105 to make the playoffs. Easy money. What was going on there?

Come on now. To the central, we go. Brought to you by Magic Spoon, our favorite cereal here at Talking Baseball. At John Boy Media, I'd need to get more. I said it on a show recently that I'm out. I ate all of mine. The maple waffles is so good. I crushed a whole box in a sitting.

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and use the code baseball to save $5 off. Thank you, Magic Spoon. Nice hat, Jake. Trevor, this is a Magic Spoon hat. This is Trevor Plouf stuff. I'll bring it with me to Milwaukee. Milwaukee. I think it's announced by now as the people listen to this.

We're doing a little roadie. Milwaukee. Pittsburgh, no, Milwaukee, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philly. Trevor will be in Milwaukee Sunday, the 22nd. We're going to be having a lot of fun there, and then he's got to go back, so we'll be at the other games. BBD sign whatever you want. We're going to have a lot of fun, so if you're in those cities, come through.

Yeah, and a lot of those cities are in the central. So let's go to the NL Central and take a look. The Reds, there will game and a half out as we talk from the Wild Card. With the Padres, they have a tough schedule. The Reds have 19 games left against these easy teams, man. 19. I like that for them a lot. The Brewers only have six.

I'm not worried about that because the brewers are good. I don't think that matters. I don't think the Reds are chasing the Brewers. But that is a big difference in these kind of easy wins. the problem is like the brewers are so much better than probably everyone on their schedule where the Reds aren't better than everyone they could be playing. So what do you guys got on this? And then NL Central.

Yeah, their schedule looks nice and fluffy going down to the wire. Baseball reference right now has them at a 46% chance to make the postseason, and has the San Diego Padres, 44% chance. So they're banking on the Reds team to surpass. And if you're looking at the schedules, we just went over the Padres and how daunting it can be. And now here we go. A lot of Miami and Pitt left on the schedule for the Reds.

So I wanted to look at how they have fared against those teams. I don't even think they've played Miami yet. They have not. Yeah, if you've got two series left, that's... And then the Reds against Pittsburgh this year, they are nine and one. So they've already handled business against Pittsburgh. It's not like Pittsburgh has their number. So I don't know.

I said it last show. Jonathan India, Winker, Barnhart, all John Boy Media guys. They wear our hat. They like us. They're friendly. I am a Reds fan. Go Reds go.

I'm a Reds fan as well. Winker and now with the intercostal thing. Hopefully that doesn't hinder what he's been doing. Votto's got to keep going. Yeah. A lot of things. Their bullpen's not very good. So, you know, they have an easy schedule,

but I don't think I'm putting the Reds like I think you just mentioned that Jim. They're not like hands above all of these teams. No, they're not. But the thing is about the Reds and like the opposite end of Passant's article they want to look is, well, how many games against playoff teams do you have? And the Reds only have six remaining against playoff teams, three against the Dodgers and three against the Cardinals. So, I mean, they got 40 to 45 games left.

19 of them are against walkovers. Only six are against, you know, playoff teams. So they got a lot like that, because you have the Cardinals in there. You have the, there's another team. Is it just Cardinals? Is it just Detroit? Detroit's winning games. You have Cardinals, six against the Cardinals, three against Detroit.

Those are toss-ups. If not, Reds are better. So I like the Reds chances. Go Reds go. Cardinals feel like the pivot team for me. I told you guys the other day I'm drinking a little Cardinal Kool-Aid. Our guy Jack Flaherty's back. Nolan's starting to get hot, hot, hot. That team has been feeling like it's wanted to go all year.

They were the favorites. And now they've got a little good juju. Now schedule-wise, they have their time now to make it a conversation, and they run into the thick of it. Yeah, I'm excited to see what we're saying about the Reds basically, you know, five days from now. Two more against Chicago as they're on their death march. And then four at home versus Miami, which one of those is Alcantara, which I love him. And now I've confused myself.

Is it Alcantra or Alcantara? You said it's Alcantra. Alcantra. That's right. I've now confused myself. You know, we could be saying that the Reds are, you know, they're playing three. at Milwaukee, and that's kind of their final chance to to chase Milwaukee if they wanted to.

But yeah, I want to drink as much Cardinals' Kool-Aid as I can, and I think there is a little bias there, and that's fine, great baseball town. No bias for me. I only like that because they like us. Yeah, the Johnboy media Reds. It's real, and like the analytics, as Trevor reference, are behind it. The numbers.

Vegas is behind it. I just, man, that bullpen, I don't know. man. And then if you're, if you're Milwaukee, they have a series left against the Giants, four games, and three against the Dodgers at the very end, like all in October, the last three games against the Dodgers. So if I'm Milwaukee and I see that the Reds have an easy schedule, I'm not that worried, but if I'm the Padres, I'm worried.

I mean, there is a chance that the Reds could easily win like 10 of their last 12 games. So they're going to have hope the whole way. And I like hope. That's what I'm about. I like hope to. You want to go to the AL? The AL Central? Would you like to chat about the AL Central?

I think so. As we're doing this, the Cardinals are playing a Brew crew series with kind of their season on the line. And then they've got, what is it? It's seven against Pittsburgh in their next nine that leads to a SINC series. So I'm rooting for my cards to turn it on

for another week because that would be very fun. Okay. I mean, the White Sox are 11 up in the Central and that no one's chasing them. They don't have. Nobody. They have a tough schedule. They have a lot of influence over the Wild Card a little bit because they do have three more against Oakland coming up right now.

They have, you know, it's more gumption check for the White Sox. they've had a easy schedule. They're not great against good teams, and now they play a bunch of good teams in a row. So it's more like White Sox fans, you're going to win the division, but little gumption check here as you go Oakland for four. They already won the first one.

You go Tampa, you go Toronto, and then you're going to have Oakland, Boston again later on. But then you get a really easy last couple series. So Oakland, you don't got anything to worry about. I mean, that's the A. El Centret, then I wasn't even and nothing matters. You know, I was going to add

earlier that the twins might be a team that you can lump into the seven and a half teams the Passon was talking about, but a closer examination of their last games played, they've done it against some really good teams. Yeah, I don't, I don't think they're, like, late. Bucksden on the way back.

It's like three out of four from Houston, took two out of three from Chicago, and then two out of three from Tampa, and they've won the first game now against Cleveland. So I was ready to shame my Twinkies. Don't do it. But here I am applauding them because that's the kind of guy I am.

I got to give respect when respect is due. Twinkies. Watch out, Yanks. The twins are hot. Said that last step, almost got my wiener bitten off. If I'm the White Sox, I think you treat this next upcoming stretch full tilt.

You're like Tampa, Toronto, like Oakland. Let's let it rip. And then you're just in. Take walk. Rest the bullpen lineup. the rotation and roll it out. Yeah. Yeah.

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and as the AL Wildcard will most likely have a member of the AL East in it. So let's start with the AL, because I think the NL is the best conversation. That's how you keep them going. You put the bread and milk at the back of the grocery store. Let's start with the American League East. The Rays have the division lead right now, five and a half games. last I checked, and they only have seven games against these cakewalk teams. The only real problem is they're the best record in baseball or best record in the AL.

For a while, so like who else is on their schedule besides these teams? They have the White Sox series that we just talked about. So that's a team that's a playoff potential team. They have the Phillies, so that's five against playoff potentials. Then they have four against Boston, so now you're getting into the nine area. Then three more against Boston, that's 12, three against Toronto. That's 15. Three more against Toronto.

That's 18. And then six at the end against Houston and New York. So you're looking at 24 of their remaining games against teams that are playing for their season. So it's not only that they don't have a lot of easy teams. They only have six of those. They have 24 against good teams. Caviot here being they are the Tampa Bay Rays

who have just been finding ways to win. So I don't know, Jake. Does this do anything for you? Does anything matter for the race? Any of this? That's a heavy question because a lot of rules don't matter for the raise. for me it's going to be you can't let that last week matter if you're Tampa they've got Houston for three who should be clear of Oakland could probably be in

playoff you know reset mode and you might not get the full Houston Astros which that would be huge but let's say Oakland has them in reach and they've got those two series, like we talked about, if those games matter to Houston, you finish at Houston and then against the New York Yankees, who knows our Yankees have hit the on button and they're going. I can't promise you those final three games will matter. And Jimmy and I know, following the Yankees, they often prioritize rest over winning, even if they were in, you know, if they need to sweep and Tampa needs to. to lose two out of three, the Yanks would probably rather line up the rotation, which, you know,

that's another discussion for another day. If you're Tampa, you can't make the last week matter. Get fat where you can. Trevor? If you look at those teams that you were talking about that they're having to face, you know, Boston, New York, and Toronto, got a winning record against all of them. It's not like a crazy winning record, but against Boston, they're seven and five, against Toronto, they are 8 and 5, and against the Yankees, they're 9 and 7. So they just beat teams. And I think we've talked about kind of the way they approach the game. They weaken your team.

You could have your A team out there, but the way they're going to approach you is they're going to make you a B team because they're going to put their guys, you know, they're going to play the platoons, the matchup. So your A is now not going to be an A. It's going to be, you know, a B plus or, you know, a B. So that's the way they approach things. that's what i just don't think they're scared of anybody yeah that's a yeah i mean i feel like it's going to be september uh september 10th we're doing a recap episode and we're like you know

the rays of one like 12 of their last 12 of their last 18 or whatever and they're just cruising because that's just what they do every year yeah uh Boston has the most or Toronto and Boston both have 12 games against these easy teams. The Yankees have, which is four series, and the Yankees only have three series against these seven cakewalk teams. So, I mean, it's different, but it's not crazy different. It's not 17 and 3 or like we saw 19 and 3, like we saw other places, Padres and Sinci. These guys all play each other.

the biggest thing in the ALE East. It all comes down to head to head. If they're fighting for that wildcard spot, I mean, Yankees and Boston are playing right now. Toronto and Boston are playing a ton. Yankees and they're all playing each other. So those games matter. They already matter twice as much in the standings. They matter way more than anything this exercise is going to tell us. When did they win 10 games against the Yankees? They're 10 and 3 against the Yankees. Boston's own. When the hell did that? happened. A lot were early. They had a lot early. Okay. So it was early and they didn't play each other for it was a lot early than a big gap, right? Yeah. Yeah. They had a four game series at some point. Yeah. But yeah, I guess for me, you know. Well, actually it wasn't early. They didn't play each other until June. Remember that? It was like two months. We haven't even seen each other. Yeah. And then they lost. And then in June they lost, they went 0 and 6, the end. The Boston swept the Yankees twice. And then in July, Boston won two of three and then three of four.

That's crazy, man. Like you're saying, the head to head is going to dictate this. Also, you know, I see two fat streaks. I see Boston after this Yankee series, Texas, Minnesota, Cleveland. I think you can get fat there. And the Yankees, they've actually, I'm getting low-key excited. here, September 14th through the 22nd, Baltimore, at Baltimore, and then home versus Cleveland and Texas.

So, man, like, those are opportunities. If you're a good baseball team playing your best ball, those are eight and ones. If your survival mode, you're going five and four and keep it moving, and that could dictate things. Yeah, it's going to become a lot of the head-to-head games, for sure. All right. The NL East, man. This is crazy.

We've been saying forever, we've been letting you guys know that baseball reference has had the Phillies winning the NL East projected the entire time. And want to know why? This article lays it out. The Phillies have 24 remaining games against these cakewalk teams, the most out of any team in MLB. 24 games. Man, the Braves have 14. Like 14 was a good amount for some teams, but Phillies have 24. The Mets only have eight.

I will stop you there, Jim. Right now, baseball reference has the Braves. Oh, they do have the Braves now? Okay. They had the Phillies forever, I think, for this reason. They did. So I wanted to look at the Phillies games that aren't against. Same thing I did with the Astros.

They have 24 against Cakewalk teams, about like 40 left, I believe, or 45. 4 left, 162 minus 118. 44 games left for, where am I, for the Phillies. So the teams that aren't on the cakewalk, they have the Padres, three against the Padres in San Diego. So that's a playoff-bound potential team. Two against the race, that's a really good team. And three against Milwaukee.

That's at Milwaukee. That's tough. Was Colorado on the cakewalk team? They're the half. They're the half because it is home games for Philly. So Philly plays them at home. So that's not hard. Cubs.

And then Mets. So it's just the games that aren't there are division games, which count twice as much. So it's Mets, Braves, Miami. Or Mets and Braves. Then they have the Padres and Milwaukee. I see their schedule and I just think you can't, there's no reason to have a losing.

streak. Like even if you go two and three against San Diego and Tampa, that's enough because there's so much Arizona, Washington, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, like you just, you can't get swept by the Mets. You can't, you can't go one and four against San Diego and Tampa. You just, whatever it is, like even if you have to throw in the punt day to save your good bullpen for the next day, like, do it. You got to avoid the losing streak because the wins are there. The wins are there. are we just disregarding are the Mets gone well well here's the thing about the Mets trev everyone keeps saying and shout out Shea station

I listened on my way in jerry and Jolly doing a great job they the Mets they keep saying survive this road trip against the John yes big Tyler Wade base hit Trev T Wade let's go survive the road trips Floyd so slow oh my god how do they not score on that Jesus Christ

with two outs Yeah, J.D. Martinez in right field, that's pretty brutal. That's like a chopper. Anyways, anyways, talking baseball, Jim. Talking baseball. How do you not scoring that? Well, anyway, the Mets, they're cake. They have the Giants and the Dodgers and the Giants and everyone's trying to survive. Jake's been saying, go 500 because September's easy.

September's not easy for the Mets. They stink against Miami and Washington this year. Miami has beat them six times, and they've only beat Miami three times. Washington has beat them five. They've beat Washington six. Those aren't easy games. You have to treat Washington as a new team. Different.

You have to treat Washington as a new team. A little bit. It's not like it was Washington's been bad. Washington's been bad. Schwabot. Washington traded a lot. It's a new Washington team. They're completely new Washington team. Okay. Well, Miami beats them. Miami very much counts.

And then they also have in September, Boston, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Philly, Cardinals, Yankees. So where's the easy schedule? Just Washington? Washington. Maybe our new Mets spot isn't that good. Shea Station, what's up? Are you lying to us right now?

Jake's been saying it too. I think it's just easier than the West Coast trip, but it's still not an easy schedule for them. The West Coast trip is as bad as it gets. Washington has to be treated as a new Washington team. they are 1 in 11 since the deadline. So it's a new Washington team

and at one point they play them five straight. So that can be like a pivot point if you're around to pivot. And let's be honest, man. I mentioned either orange sign, orange light, red flag, whatever it is. I mean, that orange flag's turning red real quick. as we record their 500, they play tonight with Stroman,

who's kind of been their best pitcher remaining. Like, if they don't get this one, it's when does the losing streak stop? Yeah, this is, oh, I was just going to say, like, this is, tonight is a huge game. I know this will come out tomorrow, so you guys already know the results, but Stroman has to be the stopper.

That's what you pay pitchers for. If you're an ace, like that's your job. Go deep in games and stop losing streaks. Stroman has to go out and deal tonight. They have to win tonight because it will snowball. And then, you know, the rest of this schedule, I mean, they're going to have to go gangbusters against it. And I don't think they have the firepower to do that.

Their hope, and this is what I've been saying, Jim, after the West Coast trip, which we've talked about a ton, Washington, it's eight games against Washington, and it's three at home against Miami. I think at Miami has been more of the house. House of Horrors for the Mets. So that's what, 11 games. And the Washington Nationals, again,

one in 12 in their last 13 or whatever it is. So, like, that's your breath of fresh air to build up. Because you are right, that second half of September is not a cakewalk. You hope Milwaukee's resetting their rotation. But, yeah, you're hoping. They've only played Miami on the road, basically. They played two at home and eight or whatever. on the road.

So, yeah, it's what I've been saying about the Cardinals. The Mets have a stretch of schedule that's a give yourself a chance schedule. That's what the Cardinals are in right now. Get yourself back in the mix and then you're playing everyone that's good. Mets, they have that after the West Coast trip, but right now they're spiraling. Spiral ham. Look, I don't want to be that guy. I don't want to be that guy, okay?

But we've done it to other teams. First of all, Jimmy, you declared the Yankees dead a long time ago. I don't know if you remember that. No, I didn't. I said, well, because of it. Swat by the Tigers. Swat by the Tigers. Yeah.

I declared the twins dead a long time ago. They're still dead. Astros are still dead, too. Swap by Tigers. I'm very close to actually pronouncing the New York Mets dead on the season. And I don't think it's like hot takey or anything like that. There are 500. The stats say.

The way they've been playing lately and then the schedule upcoming. they're still on the brutal road trip and, you know, there is a little bit of a soft part in their schedule, but like they haven't shown dominance once this season. So what are we, why do we continuously talk about? I'm like they can go dominate a part of their schedule. It hasn't happened at all. Because the Phillies and Braves haven't either.

That's the only reason. That's why we're not talking about wild card Mets. Like it's the division and we've seen Philly. Philly hasn't made the playoffs in what? Decade? Something like that. The Braves are missing a whole team that would be winning the NL East if those guys were there. So that's that's it.

The Phillies have their people. They're healthy. Like the Mets weren't dominating when they were healthy. And now Lendor's gone. Baez isn't playing right now, is he? No, he's on the aisle. DeGrom, like, they're the only chance they have that address. What's the shot they give in Pulp Fiction?

The adrenaline shot. Yeah, forget. That's the Grom. Like, if they don't have the Grom, they're not coming back. And I don't, I mean, come on, you've even reading up on the stuff, it doesn't sound like he's going to be back.

Okay. Which sucks. I feel for Mets fans, like they put together a good team this year. And they got everyone's expectations so damn high and injuries, sub-par performance by some of the guys that are counting on,

and this is where we're at. Freaking 500, third place in Italy. So August 8th. So the Mets are out for you. Phillies have 24 against these cakewalk teams. Braves have 14. I already went over who else the Phillies play. It's three against Milwaukee and was L.A. in there or San Diego.

As for Atlanta, they have two against the Yankees, three against the Giants, three against the Dodgers, four against Rorkees, in Colorado, three against the Giants, three against the Padres. So they have a lot, not only do they have less cakewalk games than the Phillies, they have much more harder series than the Phillies. Because that's a lot that I just said. Padres playoff contenders, Giants playoff contenders at Colorado.

They're really one of the best teams at home. Dodgers in L.A., Giants, Yankees. So six series against teams that I think are better than them. So the Braves have a tougher road than the Phillies for sure. I think Passon summed it up as saying like if the Phillies don't win, that's bad judging by paper. So I still feel that I agree with Passing. I'm not rooting against the Braves,

but Phillies kind of have it laid out the best. Phillies, if they continue just playing regular baseball, you know, they don't have to get hot, they don't have to, and if they don't get cold, yeah, I think they're going to be there. The Braves on the other end have to get hot. Yanoa, I think, starts tonight, or he's back today. So we'll see how he does. That's, like, if he comes back into something, then they got a staff that can get through these series, man.

You got, you got Freed, you got Morton, who's pitching really well. Then you'll have Yanoa, and there's another guy pitching well for them, too. Who am I forgetting? Morton, Freed, You know, then it's young guys. I don't know, I'm not sure. Anyways, I think it's on the Braves to get hot, whereas the Phillies can just kind of play and just not lose everything completely.

Avoid a big injury, all that stuff. So in that sense, yeah, the Phillies, I believe, probably, even though the numbers don't support it right now in Vegas and on baseball reference, I think the Phillies are probably more of a shoe-in to win that division than the Braves. What the Braves have right now is they are hot. They're 11 and 2 in their last 13.

Two more against Miami and then three at Baltimore. So finish this strong. You know, go 4 in 1. If you can get 5, get fat. And then, like Jimmy, you said they've got that West Coast road trip at L.A. At Colorado, which has to be treated as a different team. but then they come back from that and it's home versus the Nats,

home versus Miami and home versus Colorado. So you have, you finish this hot stretch strong and then you've got one more fat and happy stretch and then it's just prove it time. Like if you're the Braves and you are a new, better team, you're going to have to beat some of the good ones along the way.

The guy I was talking about the Braves, Ion Anderson, who's on his rehab, he's pitching great on his rehab starts now he's going to do one more today in AAA then I think he's going to be back let's go so dude the Braves I mean they kind of like

found they got healthy in the pitching staff department you know some of the guys they brought over have been doing it and they have the the Braves infield BPD loves the Braves infield just going on so I'm rooting for the Braves but they got to get hot it's going to come down I guess they already are hot. They gotta stay hot, is what I meant to say. Come down

to Phillies infield versus the Braves infield, just like we knew it would all year. Maybe he shouldn't have missed that flight. Don't miss the flight. I like Therunfield, too. There's a better catcher. Travis Darneau or J.T. You don't even need to begin that conversation.

And they've had a lot of Kevin Smith. Stephen Vote, too. Stephen Vote. Good for the clubhouse. Clubhouse guy All right I mean I think that's it We did it all Darno's back

Wow Braves are a different team man You think so What you could Eddie Rosario You up there swinging that Yeah he's on the aisle now The Braves Hey

We'll see where they land And you know A couple bad weeks A couple bad series At this point They can't afford A mini shout out To Anthopolis

put a little charge into their season and who knows where it lands, but for a while the Braves had no juice, no Trevor Ploof juice. Let's end this by let's go into the standings. And let's each pick a team that's not in the playoffs right now that we believe will be in the playoffs

at the end of the season. New York Yankees. Yeah, I'll take them. New York Yankees. Who are they going to surpass? Boston or Oakland. Yep. They're going to host the wild card game.

Put in those teams in their rear view, Trev. Michigan's in the rear view now. No bias there. No bias at all. One of the... I'm going to say Philly. It's Philly. I think that's the Betten Man's money right now.

Yeah. Oh, the Reds. Well, you can't pick too, bro. I'll take the Reds. Go, Reds, go. Go, Reds, go. Jonathan India's so hot. John Boy Media Reds, baby.

All right. Thank you guys very much for tuning in. We appreciate you, as always. We'll be back on Friday to recap the series and the games that were played. And I'm excited to do so because I like baseball. Jake sucks.