Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Braves Usurp the Mets | 548

Episode Date: October 3, 2022

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Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball Braves Metz. Oh my, my. Seattle's going dancing. The playoffs are almost here, people. Let's get it. Players own. Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball, myself, Trevor Plouffe, BBD, on the ones and twos. A massive episode, a series that we've been waiting for all year took place. in the ATL, my goodness. A couple teams punched their postseason tickets out West. And speaking of tickets, whether you were in the ATL,

whether you were in San Diego, whether you were in Seattle, hopefully you punch your tickets with Seat Geek. They are the best. Use code talking. You get $20 off tickets at Seat Geek. Download the app. It's so easy to use.

It's Jakeproof. That's what we say. here at John Boy Media. Green means go. Yellow. Red. Okay. Think about it.

Seat gig there, the geeks of seats. And teams are punching tickets. Go get your tickets there. Code talking. $20 off your first seat geek order. Trevor Plouf. It was a big weekend for baseball. And it's only Big Boy weekends the rest of the way as we are the final.

The final series of baseball. It's weird because we've been looking forward to this Mets Brave series for so long. Then when it finally gets here and it's everything that you could hope for on one side and everything that you're scared of on the other side, like kind of just it lived up to the hype. And I was sad because you wake up and it's over. But then I realized, pro, the playoffs are here. Yes.

And we're seeing. I'm going to talk about like this a little bit later. but we're seeing like the tears of joy. We're seeing people going nuts in the stadium. The emotion is here and there's just nothing better to me than seeing that and feeling that. And I have a little bit of a take I'll get into about why I'm going to be seeing it better than most people come to playoffs. But I'm excited to talk about it. We're going to probably have some more people clinch tonight.

night. So a little bit more champagne celebration. The boys are in Miami. Look out. Jake, you went to a golf course that was called swingers. What happened? Yeah. I don't know. Modern, modern wearing pearls. Good looking guy in the city. It was a good time. It's a good time. I think New York City people, I think they're starting to pop up across the country. It was a whole big deal, man. It was the bars like going. Like it was crank mode like early in the morning. Like it's 21 plus. I didn't put that together.

But like the bar was like with your round, you get two drink tickets. So I was like espresso martini and a little mini golf. Like Poppy was pumping. I think I need to try that. People have been drinking espresso martinis around you. You never. Oh, that's kind of not your bag. I'm not a liquor guy.

Right. Barely nowhere. Okay. We'll get you one. I mean, you go up. You know, I like to go up. That sounds weird to me, though, because you usually go the other way. Uh.

Is this like the classy person's Red Bull Vodka? Yes. I used to mess with that. Yes, it's the adult Red Bull Vodka. Disgusting. Yeah. I haven't done one either. You should do that when you're in New York later this month.

Taser. Yeah, we have so much stuff. Obviously, a massive episode. Met's Braves. Brew crew, what is you doing? Some Padres, Phillies. A little check in on the AAL. It feels like all the big news came in from the NL.

Some teams will not be talked about. And yeah, we're going to have our midweek episode. And then I think we're going to leak it on Thursday, like a full playoff preview. So you'll be able to enjoy that Thursday and Friday. Before there are games, Friday night. It's Monday. You're going to watch Monday night football.

It's going to be Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. And then there's going to be play. off baseball on your television, and if you have no idea, every day there's a playoff game, we go live the next day and we recap it. So it's going to be, we are in the end game people, and so excited to go through another one and see who and how. I mean, you already saw some heartbreak for Mets fans. I know Jerry and Jolly were in here recording Shay Station.

A little peel back the onion. I don't know if Jerry Blevins wants me sharing this. uh, Jerry was planning and hoping to go home because he does SNY met stuff. And now he's staying in the city. And he has like kids in a family and stuff. So,

uh, the Mets losing was tough for him. Uh, but hey, maybe, maybe the Mets are going to fool us all in a little bit, Trev. I think it could be a good thing for them.

We'll talk about it. Okay. Well, let's do it. I mean, let's get into, let's get into, Let's get into some of the games in series. Big boy leadoff?

Deep breath, ready to go, baby. Hit the music. For Dozier. My people, we are going to start out in Atlanta. Spencer Strider was right this whole time. The Braves sweep the Mets. 5-2-4-2 to show good fortitude, and then 5-3-3. to get the tiebreaker, to get two games ahead, to put their magic number to one. Are you kidding me?

As exciting as regular season baseball can get. I mean, these were great games. There was long balls. Danesby Swanson, Matt Olson, show up, show out, baby, they did it. Horses going on the mound. It was everything that you could hope for if you're a Braves fan. And it was everything, like I said, to be scared about. if you're a Mets fan. It happened, people. You know what?

Sometimes you need to get punched in the mouth, Jake. It could be a good thing for you. We'll talk about that series, but holy hell, brave sweep the Mets. Speaking of sweets, we almost had when the Phillies took care of business against the Nationals. They went into Washington. They took three out of four, including a range, short game in the last one. Five-one Phillies. The National beat them bad at the second game, 13 to 4, then the Phillies bats responded

8 to 2 to show good 8 to 2 then 8 to 1 in 6 innings Philly takes care of business They were struggling, but they do it And guess what? That coupled with the Marlins at the Brewers Brewers, what is you doing? Baby, marlins take 3 of 4, 4 2 marlins

The Brewers actually beat Sandby because Corbin matched up against them in game 2. They won that one, 1-0. Then it was 4-3, 4-3 in extras in the last one, and the Marlins are just killing the Brewers' playoff chances. Their number to go home is down to one. They didn't show up. Devin Williams cost some stuff up.

The offense wasn't there. Miggy Rojas doing Migi Rojas things, and it's looking bleak. And we got the Phillies saying, Go fish, go fish, go fish. They take three or four from the Brewers, my goodness. Pirates at Cardinals. Cardinals are taking two or three.

They play three more in Pittsburgh. What's that all about? Moving on, Rockies at Dodgers. Dodgers are taking two or three. They play three more in LA. What's that all about? Feedback to Giants. Giants take two or three long ago.

We'll talk more about that. Daddy hacks because you're a daddy. Reds at Cubs. Cubs sweep three games. They're going to play three more in Cincinnati. What's that about? And that, my people, is what happened in the National League. They go along.

More than perfect. What's that about? Trev. What is that about? What are we playing these series like that for? The National League, there is only so much left to decide. Like you mentioned, the Dodgers have been the one. They will stay the one.

They are at 110 wins. They have scored more than 333 runs than their opponents. this year. The dominant force is the one seat in the National League. And remember that when we start talking playoff bracket in a minute. The Dodgers have ensured that they will be at the dance, baby. They have clinched a wild card spot. Which wild card spot is still slightly up in the air,

but the Dodgers will be there. Giants fighting for 500 snakes are the best team in baseball. Cardinals, they clinched. The Milwaukee Brewers. are 84 and 75, the only team not eliminated, a magic number of one from the Philadelphia Phillies. As they take care of their business, while Milwaukee did not, the Mets and the Braves, Braves with a two-game lead and the tiebreaker. They would have to get swept by the Marlins, and the Mets would have to sweep the Nats,

which just doesn't seem possible right now after Atlanta went to work on the Metropolitan. it's the series of the weekend. It's the series of the year so far. The Mets versus the Braves in Atlanta. I will full kick to you. Where do you start? I think these games lived up to the hype, I think, is where you start.

I mean, I know we didn't get some of the pitching lines you, I guess, would expect. But that's because we had some awesome performances on the offensive side of the ball. You know, we got Danzby doing his thing, each of the games he homers in. Matt Olson homers in each of the games. He's been struggling leading up into the series.

So he kind of just picked it up. That's something that the Braves understand how to do and all their players understand how to do. But from the get-go, man, the place was jumping in Atlanta. Again, we're going to talk about a little bit more of that later. But this is a team that went out, called their shot, and hit it.

On all facets, Kelly Jansen, Jake, had three saves. Do you remember what we were talking about? People were ready to throw him out. And we said, chill out. The guy can be streaky. He can get it done. And he did.

The whole thing, like I said, it just couldn't have went any better for the Braves. There's nothing they could have done better than what they did in this series. It's incredible, dude. Coming into this series, Austin Riley had been in a little bit of a September funk. Matt Olson had been in a little bit of a September funk.

Dansby Swanson had been in a little December funk. Those three guys, especially Dansby. He clips each starting pitcher, which, A, sure's are into Grom. I mean, how many times have we mentioned their names together this year because of how dynamic they are? And then he gets Basset. I know the Mets took the lead in that final game. The Mets technically had a lead in all of these games.

Um, some of them not big and not for long been there. But, man, I just don't know. And it felt like something that we, we try to talk about, Trev. And it's tough because it's obviously a balance. Uh, because you need the high end talent. You need the Acuna Swanson, Harris, Riley, Olson. You need the Nimmo Alonzo Lindor, Jeff McNeil to, to get into the conversation of being a good team. Something that stood out to me this series was depth in the lineup and in the

bullpen, the Braves bullpen, the dudes, not the guys that were coming out of there, the dudes, Kenley, Rysel, McHugh, Minter, these guys are battle tested. They've done it all. And I mean, that's the thing in Trev, you have said it the most, so I'll give you credit. Ken Lee is one of my favorite pitchers to watch because it just doesn't seem right. It looks like, it looks like an NFL left tackle who's like pitching. He's just this big body dude. His arms and legs are everywhere. The timing seems like a disaster. And he throws these gross cutters. And when it looks like that, seven pitches, the Mets top of the lineup, bottom, top nine in Atlanta to save the their season and he goes seven pitches, you're out of here?

I mean, the depth and the comparison to that, and not that the Mets bullpen is to blame, but, you know, they were tapping into some guys, McGill, Joe Ellie, actually looked really good, Drew Smith. I think the Braves bullpen stood out to me, and, you know, there was some big at bats where Alvarez is pinch hitting. Mark Vientos is pitch hitting, and don't get me wrong. I realize they're kids, and we talked about this a lot on Friday, but those guys coming up in those spots is really tough,

and you're more so hoping for something lucky than having the advantageous matchup. 100%. You know, and we talked about this with these young guys. I understand that, you know, the Mets wanted to, you know, have a right-handed bat, and so they went out and gotten darn rough and just didn't work out. But if you are going to have these guys in these situations in this type of the season, like I would just brought them up like a week ago

or two weeks ago. If you thought this was going to be a scenario at the end of the season, like you can figure some stuff out. I understand it's not how it used to be with the 40 man. You can't just bring everybody up. But like you can make room.

If you think this is going to be a possibility for you, I would have just gotten a little bit of dirt on their spikes, bro. Throwing them out there in that atmosphere. Are you kidding me? Yeah. You're talking Kenley too, the way he looked. With him, it's all about how he locates. It's just, it's basically feel for,

him. If he has the feel for his pitch and he can add and subtract and locate it, he's dominant. When he loses that feel and is not locating and, you know, maybe it's not as crisp, he can get hit. But I bank on him, you know, the way he looked, like he's got that feel down right now. And if you talk about this series on the Mets side, I know it's disappointing. It's about as disappointing as it gets because you want to buy. you want to be playing the division role you don't want to have to go and do this wildcard series but again

like this is a team and I got in trouble for this earlier today because someone's like you call the Mets gritty the whole year and you talk about the Braves in a different line and say yeah I think it's I always said it's an unconventional term for the Mets because they have a big payroll and the richest owner in fucking sports but like the way they've answered like

some hardships during the year to me felt gritty and there are some guys in the team who played Gritty Jeff McNeil what's up bro you get punched in the mouth so what like you're still a fucking really good baseball team and you know what you had your guys going and they got beat that ain't going to happen all the time so you're going to have to play a couple extra games awesome

if I'm a Mets fan I'm still very very much excited about the future of this season for the Mets like you're not out of anything like in fact you can still win the division it can happen the Marlins are playing bang up baseball right now now. But I, you know, Braes are going to want to party in Miami, so they're going to go all out tonight. Think about that, bro. You sweep the Mets and then you get a chance to go clinch in Miami. And then you get an extra week to party basically or recover from that hangover because you

don't have to play the wild card. What a fucking series, though. And it does deserve to be said because, and the importance of this last game, and that's where Mets fans were so down on themselves. And it's a little bit being a Mets fan. Like I, you know, I jokingly and somewhat genuinely say the phrase as Metsy as a Getsy, because sometimes they find themselves in situations that if you had to answer a multiple choice test on a quiz and you laid out the situation, which team said a rat and a raccoon were fighting in their clubhouse walkway, you know? I think a lot of baseball fans would have bubbled in the Mets. The Braves are a really good team. Like, The shame is not getting caught by the Braves.

It's how it happened. And on the last weekend in Atlanta, which that was something I was trying to walk through my mind. And you can't do it because it would change the whole season. But if this series was in city, do I think it would have gone down like this? I don't think so. I think like you mentioned and you're going to mention later,

you know, the fans and the intensity and the crowd that all factors in and the Braves just having that big brotherness that the Braves have run this division, man. Atlanta has won this division the last, if they win it this year, they'll have won it the last five years. And we've done this before, but, you know, they also won it from 95 to 05, 11 straight years. Like, depending the scope, you view the Braves organization through, they're one of the best organizations in sports. And Trev, I told you this. I forget which episode it was. I think we were checking in on bets.

Like, I placed a Christmas Day bet on the Braves to win it all this year. And I don't know what was going through my head. I think it was lockout times. I was probably a little hungover. And I was probably like just looking at this Braves young core. Because think about how quick that conversation changed. It went from Mets and Buck, which you can still love. It definitely hurts.

It definitely hurts. hurts. But these Braves who have locked up basically 10 guys on their team, the 10 guys you know on their team are locked up for the next eight years or whatever, it could be something special for them in Atlanta. It's already formed, bro. It's a very nice fucking form they have going on there. And, you know, one of the guys was talking to me about, he's like, well, the payroll disparity, you know, blah, blah, blah. Well, it's like Atlanta has just done a good job locking up their players. They're underpaying Ronald the Cooney Jr. There's a lot of things they've done well to put him in that

position, dude. A couple other things from this series. And it's being brought up in the chat, but I was going to bring it up anyway. Number one, great play by Austin Riley when he let the ball go by him. I kind of explained it on baseball today, but he knows, it's his home field, dude. He knows how that ball rolls. And there's a million other things you have to think of, you know, how hard it's hit, you know, the spin off of the bat, you know, what pitch was thrown for the, you know, before he got hit, because that is going to determine a lot of the

spin. And a lot of things he had to weigh on that play. He made the right decision. It was close, but, I mean, it was definitely a great decision by him. I think a lot of people are, like, excited about it. And I told Chris Rose that you play so much and you've seen so many ground balls and so many slow rollers, that's what separates, you know, that's what makes you a professional. It's like the amount of times you've done something and he's seen that play a million times so great decision uh second thing i want to say fucking jesse chavez bro he's back like he's just like comes in in like a big series and just kind of throws 91 92 by people and he just got a little bit of funk i faced him i don't know what it is i love jesse i mean i was i've known jesse since 2007 and he's still doing it he's

like a like a mercenary or something he wasn't even in the in the org until when like last month or something he was traded for Rysel he was in that trade and then he went there and then came back oh my god it's it's the funniest thing I love it

very what very angels very angels um yeah I mean and a couple I Trev we keep saying a couple of things but I mean this is the main topic of the episode and I don't think we have to be shy

about dwelling more on it. I think it's what people want to talk about. Um, Smoltz calls the Saturday night game, him drooling over Jesse Chavez while also like putting down other pitchers. I mean, it just, it hits a chord with me that like

nobody else can touch. Well, why does nobody, nobody wants anyone to throw hard. They act like throwing hard is cheating. And it's like when you see Jesse Chavez come in throw nine and you want to, there is a pitcher. And it's like, what? Give me, give me Jesse Chavez cutting the ball

and locating over any of these hard throwers. No, man. Jesse's cool. I love him. But don't, why do you always have to go there, Smoltz? You know on the, like, you go on baseball reference page and there's, like,

the numbers that they've worn? Sure. Those shows, like usually, yeah, like two or three. Right. Jesse Chavez has 13. Yeah. he's been around 15 years in the show

and you know what okay exactly for some reason I saw him in a Cubs uniform this year and I was like that's interesting but he has been in Atlanta the whole time then he went to the Cubs

somehow was that early on I think he started the year there and they flipped nuke them there and like a May trade they're just like yes we're gonna send you

all these places but you're gonna be back when it matters big dog with your big old pants and your skinny legs so love that big big Dylan lee getting some some big outs for them uh and this is before we even mentioned freed right and morton who all did their job uh enough so to get it to the bullpen and yeah i mean just these back breaking hits and rallies that uh were too much for the Mets and and i think you did say it and maybe this sways us back to the Mets a little bit and a little bit of what do you do and what

happened in the series. You know, I mentioned top nine season on the line. Because if the Mets had won the Sunday game with Bassett, there's no slouch against Charlie Morton, you know, the Mets would still have the tiebreaker and we'd be talking about them, you know, with the key. Like they can make their own path. Nimmo comes in against Kenley, third day a row seeing them. And a guy, so I'm actually not bringing this to the Mets.

so we got to talk some more Braves. Nemo hits a dart right at shortstop, 105 off the bat. It takes a disgusting hop. And Dan's Bay, who, if this was a playoff series, might be your MVP, he sticks with it and makes a great play. He made great plays all series.

He homered off all three of the Mets big three. I mean, shish. He's answering a lot of questions, man. and there's no doubt about it. And it's almost like, you know, he gets challenged by media or whoever, fans. And he scoffs at it. He's like, you guys remember that?

I was the number one overall pick, right? You guys remember that? Like, I'm really good. Like, I think sometimes we get caught up with guys like Danesby who, like, you know, there were a couple seasons where, you know, we were like, yeah, is he going to, what kind of player is he going to turn into? But rarely do you have guys that are just, good

like go look at people's you know pages man like everyone has down years and like every time that happens oh he's done he's on the decline it's like no there's some dogs out there they're going to work and figure things out and they're going to be in the league

for 10 or 15 years like Chavez because they're able to make adjustments and they're able to you know see how people are are approaching them, whether it's, you know, when they're hitting or how their defensive alignment is, all these little things you can change. And Dansby, you know, I know he's going to be

a free agent and that plays a big part of it too, but he is a guy that knows how to make adjustments and stick around. Like you figure things out. The guy guys, figure it out. And that's what separates them. And that's why, you know, it's incredible to see these long careers like a poo hole. you know, it's how many times has that guy had to make an adjustment? A lot. And sometimes you can be so fucking stubborn about it and you don't want to do it,

but you know you have to. And Dansby is, he's answered every question. And he's going to get paid. I hope he stays with a braids. I don't know what they're going to do. I don't know. It's going to be one of the bigger storylines this off season.

I mean, he, you know, especially after this series and however he finishes up, I thought an interesting somewhat comparison for Dansby because you look at his career numbers and they're not flashy. Career OPS Plus is a 95, but a lot of those come from young seasons. You know, if you go in the more recent years, he's been an above average hitter, what he does at shortstop. And, you know, I was getting into some of the analytics, like his throwing speed. Like for the shortstop, he's on the lower end. He's kind of close to where Trevor's story was.

So I was like, huh, I wonder, our team's going to view Dansby and free agency and be like, oh, I wonder if this is a second baseman or he's got to slide over? Not that dude I saw. I asked Moylan. He's like, no, man, this dude is special. I couldn't believe the clip of you and Moyland on talking base,

or on baseball today, where you asked Peter, World Series on the line, what Braves hitter do you want at the plate? And Ronald, one of the most talented players in baseball. Date my daughter, Matt Olson, one of the hottest players in baseball. He jumped a young thick Austin Riley easily with the best offensive stats. Michael Harris, too, breakout player. He said Dansby, and he was confident about it, and then he goes on to do this this weekend. Yeah, Peter sent me a pointed textmasters last night, basically patting himself on the back about that.

Yeah, I mean, he's hard to quantify. I know there's, like, clutch stats and all that crap, but there's, I don't mean to call it crap, I'm sorry. I'm going to mad at me for saying that. But there are guys that like the moment, man. That's the bottom line. And he's one of them. And he's going to be great to watch.

And I just had this thought. What if Trey Turner goes to Atlanta and Dansby goes to the Dodgers? Sure. They're swappers. I know a lot of Mets fans were hoping that that Dansby ends up somewhere

outside of the NL East. Matt Olson breaks out this series. He goes nuts. Austin Riley is Austin Riley. Anything else, Braves, before we kind of turn the camera lens to the Mets a little more? I think that we talked a lot.

Oh, they won their 100th game on the sweep. I think that's just like a cherry on top. Again, this is a dream scenario if you're a Braves fan. Can I ask you about the flight home for the Mets. What's that about? Like, does, do you think, if you had to guess, I realize I don't want you to overextend yourself

because you're still connected to a lot of guys, but like is there, do you think a Max Scherzer gets up and says something? Do you think it's just silent and soaking it, or what? I think someone says something. I think once they head into the locker room, after the defeat last night. I think you're in a hurry to get out of there. It's a getaway day.

But I think someone either on the plane or on the bus, maybe it happened on the bus. There was something being said about who gives a shit. Not the best case for us. We understand that, but all of our good baseball is still ahead of us. And all that means is we have to win two more games in the postseason. They're not even technically eliminated

from the division yet. So maybe they didn't even have that far of a talk, but someone said it's gonna be okay. We're the Mets. Look at the guys around you. We can do everything

that we need to do in this game. We've been doing it all year long. Don't let one series disappoint you. Someone said something like that. Yeah. And they half meant it. Yeah, you just- Everyone's like, dude,

I'm trying to zone out and you want to think about fucking baseball. Like, what? Yeah, you'd assume Scherzher Buck had to, you know, I feel like Buck definitely had a good baseball quip or baseballism, and then Scherzer probably drove at home. What do you do if you're the Mets?

I mean, it looks very apparent that you're going to have a home wildcard series probably against the Padres, potentially the Phillies. It's not where you want to be, but like you said, I mean, hey, you know, you're going to have three games. You have to win a best game. best of three at home against a lesser team than you just played with, you know, some of the best starting pitchers in the world. You didn't really get to deploy D as this series because you weren't in a position for it.

Yeah, right at the end. Right at the end there, four pitches. He heard his walk-up song. I was trying to explain to the people I was watching the game with, like, actually, this, he uses this as his walkouts. And I'm like, oh, everyone's like, shut. No, people are like, please, we're watching the Broncos lose. I mean, Escobar put together some at bats at the end.

McNeil was the baddest man on the field for the Mets. My goodness, try pitching to that guy come October. If he finds himself in enough of the right scenarios, the Mets are going to be just fine. I don't know. It just felt like the Braves were a little deeper, and I don't think that's, that'll change. Yeah, but it's a baseball series.

And if they swept the Braves, like would you have been that shocked? I don't know. No. I think, I think this team is that good where that could happen. And you know, there's a nice tweet here in our notes that Mark Feinzan put out

because everyone was talking about 10 and a half game lead going into June, now look where we're at. He points it out that, They didn't cough the division out. This isn't a Padres, you know, losing everything in September. This is just the Braves went snatched it. Since June 1st, they went 63 and 44 the Mets did.

That's a 95 win pace. That's really good. You did what you're supposed to do. Up 10 and a half games and you still play that ball you expect to win the division. The problem is the Braves went 76 and 32, which is 114 win pace. So they took it. you tip your cap, bro, and you understand, I know it's hard as a Mets fan.

It's hard to do this right now, because you've got some recency bias, and you're still, it hurts, baby, I get it. But understand that there are times you've got to tip your cap, and it's better that it fucking happened in the regular season. Right.

The postseason is here now, and you turn your attention towards that. I guess what's getting me a little jazzed up about my Christmas best, is a lot of the things we're saying right now, we were saying about the things about the Braves last year. Like, you know, the second half last year, they really turned it on.

Like, we, I don't want to say we slept on it, but I think their offense, the second half of the year, was the number one offense in baseball. You know, a lot of these guys are familiar faces with a mix of not. Like Ronnie Ocuna was out. Matt Olson wasn't a part of that last year.

Riesel and Kenley in the Bulls. bullpen. That was their weakness going into the last year's playoffs. It ended up being a strength as that bullpen, the night shift, developed. These Braves are scary. I think not to give too much away. I think if I had to pick today, I think I'd pick them coming out of the National League.

Yeah. I think we have a good chance for a massive Dodgers Braves series. I'm looking at the bracket right now, dude. I would eliminate like maybe two of the 12 teams. I'm not going to say who because people are fucking mad at me. I think there's a lot of teams that can win the World Series, dude. There's some really good baseball teams, and obviously it should be the way.

It's the playoffs. People, we need good teams in here. But, you know, you can say the Braves are the favor, but who? It doesn't matter, bro. all of the National League teams you can make a fairly compelling playoff argument for their team

can you make the Phillies argument though it's a little harder but you can I mean do they have the top end starting pitching do they have dudes in the lineup like absolutely so the National League is stacked I forget when I first stumbled into that

but I mean you don't think the American League is I think the American League is good. I think Houston is a wagon. You know, if you're looking for comparing the best team in the division to best teams, I think this year's Houston team goes toe to toe. Let's see where the hell my Yankees are at in a week and a half. Because we've got a whole alt-site forming where Matt Carpenter and Wandi Paralta are going to be

getting ready for the postseason so we won't see them before they're on the DS roster, supposedly. So let's see where the Yanks are at. Toronto obviously has a way. Seattle and Toronto, I think, are similar. If that ends up being the series, which it is right now, it's going to be awesome. Cleveland, I mean, they've got some sauce. I just don't know how much sauce they got. Tampa, I don't know. And Tampa already hates me. Isn't that like your scariest opponent if you're Tampa? like a Cleveland team that kind of like you're you're

you're kind of built to go after these ALE East teams like big bopping teams you can get some swings and misses there you pray on that but this Cleveland team is like not that at all they don't swing a miss

and they're gonna play defense they're gonna run and like a lot of your front office came from their front office and and cash came from under Tito and like there's a lot of similarities between these two teams it almost is like

fuck like strength on strength. It feels like this Cleveland team can out Tampa, Tampa. But that's almost any time you say that, we end up a week later being like, Ray's got them. Fairbanks was gross. Ray's Raid.

Yeah. All right. DSA on 800 feet. These biceps are huge. Trev, let's do. We got to move on. Let's keep it in the National League. And I think we'll probably combine

them and it's Philly's Brewers. It was the the race, the other race, right? Like we've been looking for, in this new wild card format, you know, in a normal year, I think there's one more division that should be tighter.

Maybe it should have been these brewers. Maybe it should have been a lot of other teams, but it wasn't that the NL Wildcard was the only other thing that was really up for grabs. Brewers faced the Marlins at home for four, a Marlins team with nothing to play left. The Phillies went to the nationals, a nationals team without really anything to play with.

Phillies won three out of four. Brewers lost three out of four, including kind of a crusher, 12-inning final game that, I don't think your pre-season predictions look in that good, Trev. No, it's out. I mean, there's a one game magic number for Philly to get the Brewers out of here. A heartbreaking series for the Brew crew. They just could not get the big hit.

They couldn't get a rally going. I mean, and when they did, the Marlins answered, and it, they got beat too with their best bullet. I mean, Devin Williams got hit. He gave up some runs, dude. And, like, it seemed like they had a pretty good approach against the changeup. I mean, I know he throws it all the time and maybe he left some up. He threw some really good ones too.

They just had good at bats. And like I said, man, I'm, it felt like, this series felt like I felt like the entire year. I'm just waiting on someone to get big hits. And I know there's been some guys. I know Rowdy's done it and Adomas has done it.

But like, you're just constantly waiting for that offense to come. And it happens every once in a while, but not enough. it bit them this series. I mean, how many runs they score? Not a lot. I mean, the one game they won was...

They scored... They scored nine runs in four games. The one game they won one was one-nothing, Burns Alcantara. That, yeah, it's... It does feel like the lineup, which is kind of weird, because, I mean, runs-wise, OPS-wise, homers-wise, this was a top-10 offense. batting average, which, you know, we know where that's at in baseball,

but it still matters. 22nd. Yeah, it, how about this? It felt like a piece away in one direction. Like, you know, I mentioned it last. Oh, don't talk about the fucking bullpen, dude. Because you're going to get me mad that, you know, the hater deal looked good for a little bit because he was blowing up in San Diego.

Go look what you did in September. And that's what I'm saying. Get up two runs. In like 11 outings or something. Like either Hater, that impact bullpen piece, or, you know, we talked about the law firm, or we hadn't talked about the law firm a lot. Like, did, you know, was there something missing there?

Or was it another bat in the lineup that, again, stats on the paper, it doesn't necessarily look that way. But I think the feel of it, There's, we used to say this all the time, okay? Like, I don't want to offend anybody in the Brewers lineup. I, there's some really awesome guys there. And Adomis and Telez are the guys I go to all the time because I feel like they were kind of the guys stepping up a lot.

Big years. But they're, where were those guys rank on the Braves? Right. As far as people you'd be scared of. Eighth, ninth, down the line, maybe? Middle, middle of the pack. Sixth? it's that's the problem

they mean they don't really have any elite offensive threat on that team they got a bunch of guys they can kind of do it like go look at the OPS plus for them they're all right around 100 110 which is great no Aaron Judge there you know there's no Yordon Alvarez which you know those guys are great but like there's no

Matt Olson there's no you know like it's yeah I think that's kind of like the way I see this team is they were a big bat away and maybe two or three big bats away. And if you put, then you then you add those pieces and then you're like, oh shit, this is a team that can go do different things. But it just felt. And tell me if I'm wrong, Brewers fans, but it felt like they were offensively light the entire year. And it was like you're holding your breath a lot. It's really interesting.

Brewer's fans sound off in the comments. Because you're right. On paper, you see all these OPS pluses 100 to 115, and you're like, okay, guys are contributing, but, you know, who's the alpha, who's the guy every time through the lineup, you go, oh shit. You know, who's Austin Riley and what his numbers have been? Who's goldschmidt? Who's, who is that one guy? The only guy with an OPS in the eights is Hunter Renfro, which, you know, I like Hunter Renfro, but even, on Boston last year when they were doing good things.

I think he was the sixth, fifth, fifth most feared guy in their lineup. So, yeah, a little bit of a fear factor kind of missing from the Brewers. And yeah, it feels like that house, the house of cards. The Brewers had an uphill fight and they were staying at home and they had the Marlins. It fell apart. And we talked about it last episode, but that first game, Avasail Garcia, former Brewer with the Grand Slam, Peralta in the eighth inning, that looked like the nail in the coffin.

It was, yeah, I don't know. Curious time for him to be coming out of the bullpen for the first time all year. I have a sell, good swing. It was just a gut punch, man, a horrible series. As good as the Atlanta series was for the Braves, this was as bad as you can get for Brewers fans. Just absolutely heartbreaking. They're done.

Well, on the other side of it, they weren't fully done, you know, because the Phillies, they were facing the nationals and they won that first night. They lost the second night. They got blown out by the Nats, and they had been playing a bad brand of baseball. The Phillies had been losing a lot. They get a big start from trade acquisition, Noah Cinderguard, and then they win a shortened by rain game, 8-1, another blowout. and have all but, if you're not a magic number person,

if the Phillies win one more game, or if the Brewers lose one more game, the Phillies are in, I can say fairly confidently that they will be in. And good on them, man. I mean, we get Schwabo puts together a couple big games, including his 44th Homer of the year. Would he be the most feared guy on the Brewers?

Would Bryce Harper be the most feared guy on the brewers? Would J.T. Realmudo be the most feared guy on the brewers? Is that a new thing we're going to do? Are you a barometer? Yeah, I don't know. I don't like that because we love the brewer. So maybe we'll just leave it in this episode. Reese Hoskins.

Anyways, the Phillies, they got to a nervous point. They let the brewers back into the discussion, but then they do enough and they have some fun. they're rooting for the fish J.T. Real Mudo, picture with the fish. Your Phillies, Treff. Nobody cares what happened before this series.

It doesn't matter, stumbling into it. You took care of business when it mattered. I mean, I'm assuming the magic number is going to help them. We're kind of like saying what's going to happen even though it's not official yet. That's with the Braves, Mets thing, and this too. But I'm assuming they're going to go ahead.

They're going to punch their. ticket and you're going to be happy. And then I don't know, man. I'm happy for them. They're going to get into the postseason. It's great. I like a lot of the guys on the team. I don't, I'm finding it hard to believe in them long-term postseason this year. And I don't know if I'm alone there.

I don't know if I'm just, I don't know. Are you, you said that you can envision a world where the, Phillies go into the playoffs and make some noise. We know about the started pitching they have. We know about the offensive they have. But are you that confident? A, first of all, I forgot that they got to see McCullors, Furlander, and Valdez. Yeah, they're going, yeah, they're playing Houston that's lined up their pitching.

So we could be talking, we could be talking, I think Thursday playoff preview, and there could be disaster. I don't think so. Nola today, get it done, man. No, I disagree slightly because of the dude factor, and it's the whole reason the Phillies have appeal. It's Schwerber, it's Hoskins, it's Harper, it's Real Mudo. Boeum's not there yet, but he had a better season than Castellanos,

who, you know, name-wise we consider a dude. and then, you know, Nola, Wheeler, Suarez, Gibby Cinderguard. Hey, let me talk about Gibby real quick

because I know he had a really bad start gave a bunch of runs, but he should have been out of the inning. There was like a line drive to bone, a little bit of top spin on it. It wasn't hit that hard. He just whiffed at it, bro. And they ended up giving it a hit.

They scored three runs on that. It was two outs. Like, that's a tough one. Right. You hate, I do it too much, and I realize they're the outlier, so I shouldn't. But 2019 Nationals, if Nola and Zach Wheeler can shove, and then you're either getting an effort from Cinderguard or Suarez or Gibson,

and the bullpen figures it out. I know we're starting to do a lot of ifs and what's and all that, but that's playoff baseball, right? Like, if the Phillies can field their positions, which, you know, hasn't always been the case. I think this team could be scary. And right now, they would be lined up with the Cardinals. You're telling me the Phillies can't beat the Cardinals and a three-gamer? They can.

For them to get through the wild card round, the Braves, and then either the Dodgers or the Mets, I would say no. They got to hit homers, bro. like if you're the Phillies you got to have your guys get hot and you got to have your homers and you got to have the three run Jimmy Jack. Swarber's got to stay hot.

We got to get the ball out of the yard. That is their key to success. I think they're going to pitch enough. Starters are going to do enough. For them, it's they got to go outslug people. That was their plan all year. I mean, pitching's good,

is okay. But like their game plan is to go beat you with their best. and they got to go do that. And, you know, does that happen when you're facing the best pitchers in all the baseball? And it's all paired down in October, sometimes. And it's the offense. It's going to take a lot, like you're saying, like, a lot of things have the lineup for them.

Because they don't have, like, we talk about other teams. It's like, well, if this, if these three guys don't go off, you know, yours four, five, six, seven in this lineup. I don't think necessarily the Phillies have. that link. Their lineup, I like, I use fan graphs, roster resource, and I reference it a lot. If you're a baseball fan,

check it out. You get a lot of information on there, whether schedule to prospects, to standings, to line-up to anything. It's a really good resource, roster resource. The Phillies lineup has one of the best balances I've seen from batting average to on-base

to runs, to homers, to stolen bases. They can kind of hit you in every aspect that, yeah, if they, um, if they can have that starter kick back to the bullpen, whether it is Ranger or whether Noah could do something cool. Yeah, yeah, they can be a scary team. That's a sports town that with the Mariners losing their playoff drought, the Phillies are now the longest in baseball,

that they can, again, with one game, put that all away. Gotta think they're gonna, gotta think they're gonna. I think it just ties in again that I think the Phillies can be comparable to the Blue Jays and the Mariners. And we're talking about the Phillies being the last team invited to the dance, where in the AL we're talking about the Blue Jays and the Mariners being like that scary weapon team. So I think that would be my depth comparison. Okay.

All right. I'm with you. I'm rooting for them. They're going to be a fun watch, man. Because if they do get hot I mean, they have scary bats. We're just talking about Milwaukee. They don't really have scary bats.

They don't have that in spades, man. It's their identity, essentially. Trev, what else do we need to knock off? I mean, the Cardinals Pirates series doesn't matter, but we get cool stuff with Yadi, Pujos, and Waino coming off the field and celebration. We had them get taken out of the game. getting the ovation.

I mentioned earlier today on baseball today that St. Louis is like the model franchise for like cheering for people. Hey, you guys know how to do it. And we'll talk a little bit more about that later. But yeah, setting up, Flaherty got a good start in.

It's going to be interesting to see, you know, where they go. That's a note we have here. Like, who's going to be game one? Could it be Flaherty? I think he's lined up. But are they going to do that? It's, we'll have to see.

I think that's a big thing. though, getting him back looking as good as he's looked. Some swing and miss stuff there. Is that his best outing since he's been back? I think so. Michaelis has put together a really nice year. Wayno is Wayno, but he hasn't been so hot of late. Interesting.

Halsley and Gallegos on the back end. I didn't know the Pooleu also was so close to Babe Ruth on the RBI list, but it makes a lot of sense. You hit that many homers. You're going to have some runs driven in. 701, 702, and he's one backup of Babe Ruth for RBI? I hate how devalued the RBI has become. I realize you need...

You're part of the reason. I realize you need to be put in a position to get it, but... Tying Bay Ruth. Are he tied Bay Ruth? Yeah. Babe Ruth. That guy. It's amazing.

These counting stats always amaze me. You know that. I do know that. I play for so damn long. But I love it. But man, I love that. I said this before on the show. I love that Pooos is not just going to be there as like a living statue.

You know, he's contributing and he's going to be a part of the postseason run. Love that. Would he be the dude on the brewers? You can't do that anymore. Can't do that. Can't do that. Dodgers are handling the Rockies. I might go see a game there at the end of the season.

There's three more. I might go to night. Who know? It's a I went to a Yankees game The Yankees had clinched And I went to Judge Friday You know Friday night

Everyone was there was to see Judge Try to break the record And not for the game Super interesting vibe Because it was packed house Which normally around Yankees Stadium That means it's just electric It's intense

Like the crowd you could feel it It wasn't It was spring training vibes But with a packed house It was funky interesting when judge comes up I'm sure that

buzz goes buzz goes uh Gonslin returns tonight so that'll be interesting to see what he looks like what his pitch count is going to be

but the Dodgers are just in playoff prep mode go check out Justin Turner on the Chris Rose rotation he's got a funny story about that chippendales

dress up they did with Cody Bellinger and as Chris Rose said it will not help dispel the rumors that Cody is always high. And good. Last two things, I'm going to hit him quick, Jake. Debex at Giants.

Don't really have to go into that. Evan Longoria, we'll talk about you in a little bit, Big Daddy, and Reds at Cubs, Cubs sweep. Sure. I don't really know what to talk about for those games. Sure. Playoff baseball is here. Let's crank out this AILIL quick.

Let's go. Give me some beats, bebes. In the American League, we'll start out in Houston. The Astros take two out of three from the Ray's couple playoff teams in recent year. Rays, they clinched their playoff spot officially winning on that first night. Before the Astros take the next two. How about Javier versus McClanahan? There's a little pitching for you.

I don't know. These teams after that first one, already decided. Jeremy Pena, circle him. Big game, the last game. He's going to be in a lot of big spots this postseason. He's the new guy to this Astros squad. Nothing matters.

Mariners take two out of three from the race. Let me see that big dumper. Cal Rally into the Seattle night to send the Mariners to their first playoff birth in 21 years. It doesn't get better. better. Logan Gilbert, how's your eight innings, one-earned run to lead up to that? That kid deserves some love. And just what a moment, all time in Seattle.

The streak is over. Scott Service wants everyone to go party and have a good time. Happy for the Mariners. Castillo goes and drops it on him the next day. But then our guy, Cap. James Caprillion, how are you? Six shutout. A's four homers, all from rookies.

Yep. Blue J. sweep the Red Sox. He he. J's, they clinch, they got to party. Red Sox been dead dead for a little while. Manoa and Stripling, six shutout apiece. Well, Taya Oscar, he starts to go. He is a, would he be the scariest guy in the Brewers lineup? Guardians hosted the Royals. They've, guardians have taken two out of three and they're about to play three more. It's one of those. Guardian so far has taken bread games around Boobidge in the middle. Drew Waiters is playing Royals.

How about that? Former Brave Super Prospect. They punted on him because they've got Michael Harris too. Why not? Will Brennan, first career home run. Happy for you, kid. He's been hitting a lot. Guardians getting ready for their postseason run.

Bieber, five innings, one earned run. Orioles, they take two out of three from my Yankees. dropped it on him in that second game. Everyone was there looking for history, and they didn't get it. Judgey stays at 61, that's fine. Still a really good year. I think he'd be the most feared guy in the Brewers.

Hey, Baltimore Orioles, 82 wins. Unreal, man. Good for the kids. Gunner Henderson's sexing it up on the field. Twins Tigers, ah, no. Wood's Richardson has the most letters on the back of his jersey. 15 happy for him. Joe Ryan's six shut piece and hot.

Angel sweep the Rangers. I don't know, man. I don't know. That doesn't do much for me at this point. Padres played the White Sox in Interleague Play. White Sox take the bookend games of this series. Padres, they clinched a wild card spot during. it. Clevenger, six innings, one earn. I wonder what role he's going to find himself.

Also, the Crohn's Zone. Jake Croninworth with the big two-run Homer, Snell and Lynn dueling it out on that last day. Are you kidding me? I'm in on that. But that's about all I'm on. The stories were in the National League. That's what happened in the AL and the IL. Lost both of you for a second there. Got nervous. wrapping up in the American League. Houston, 104 wins, 55 losses there, year one. The Yankees are your two seed, 97 and 61 as they tune up for the postseason. Cleveland, 90 and 69.

Nice, they have the Central wrapped up. And the wild card is currently Toronto, Seattle, and Tampa. It's looking like it's going to be Cleveland, Tampa, and it's going to be Toronto, Seattle. and everyone else has been eliminated. So the AL is wrapped up with the final series to go, and that's okay. Trev, I think the thing that needs to be talked about in the American League, and honestly, maybe it's the only thing as the other teens are tuning up. The Seattle Mariners, they clinch it.

Just as an electric of a night of baseball, you'll see that crowd. the call, the celebration, tears in the crowd, love in the crowd. Seattle is going. Seattle's going to the postseason for the first time in 21 years. I'm so happy for them. I really am. I know people are like,

they think I hate the Mariners because I pronounce them dead. But I was so disappointed in them at that point in the season. We wanted them to be good It just wasn't happening And then they did it man There's nothing else you could say about the managers They said they went and just did it They answered everything

They tested the lows, man And you When you find yourself in that situation You can go one or two ways Like either you get comfortable with the lows Or you say I never want to be here again And you start to stack wins like they did And for Cal Raleigh to do it

the way he's done it all year. But it's, it's a scenario. I said this earlier on baseball day. It's like what you do in the backyard every time you're up to bat. Two outs, full count, bottom of the ninth. You can send your team to the fucking playoffs with one swing in the bat and you do it.

Yeah. And it was a bomb. It was awesome, dude. And like they, what's funny is like, we're talking about like Philly's, they have to win one game. And we're banking more maybe on the brewers of losing the game. But the Mariners,

you just knew they were going to win to get in. They weren't going to back in. Like, they were going to do it. That's just how it felt. I even texted J.P. Crawford. I said, I can't wait to watch you guys celebrate. It was like you knew it was going to happen. They were going to do it with a win.

Didn't know you're going to do it with a walkoff. but it's exactly how it needed to be done. The place was rocking. The guys were pumped up. I loved the home run trot. I'd love to get his, like, sit him down today, old big dumper and say relive that moment because he was floating, bro.

Like, one of the cooler things we're going to see all year, playoffs included, like that home run right there with that call, which was incredible. And that place jumped in the way it was. I mean, that's like, it's 20 years of frustration being let out in a fucking single swing of the bat, bro. It's really, really cool. That was, I can't wait to see more of that. I need to feel that energy, bro.

We're getting it now. It is time. You feel, I mean, you felt it the most in New York and Atlanta, obviously, but it was playoff baseball. You know, a walk. A walk is a rally. A mistake is a problem. And yeah, but for Seattle, I mean, that crowd, such a good sports town. To get this.

And I hope they can, well, no, because then that would mean I think they're going to beat the Blue Jays, and I don't want Blue Jays fans to be mad. But if they can get a home playoff game, you know, that would be a sight to see. that would be an absolute sight to see. And by the way, talk about playoff formulas. Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo, Robbie Ray, Seawald, Munoz, Diego Castilla. Let's get Julio back. I think he's going to be activated today.

So let's make sure he looks good. I mean, Blue Jays Mariners, which I think it's all but wrapped up, that is going to be must watch baseball. A lot of young talent, a lot of guys new to the postseason. I think that is going to be some roller coaster games. This will be big if a true. Someone in the chat said, Jake is my mommy. Okay.

Okay, we're hitting that part of the show, huh? Hey, listen, I think the AL scenario has worked out magically. It makes sense. We already talked about Cleveland and Tampa. I think the Mariners and the Jays makes it a ton of sense too. I think this is the way it should have been. So this is going to be magical, man.

It's going to happen in Toronto. So, you know, it's funny because Mariners fans get to the postseason, you might not even get to see a game. That's kind of messed. I kind of had that realization live, and I was like, oh, shoot. That's kind of messed up. Hopefully it doesn't come to that.

I mean, I don't know. It is funny, though, right? Because I think the Mariners and Blue Jays, I think raw talent-wise, and Guardians fans don't take this the wrong way. Raw talent-wise, most people view the Blue Jays and the Mariners as more talented than the Guardians and the Rays.

But the way they play baseball and the way their organizations are set up and how they've performed, the Guardians and Rays seem like same, same matching up. And the Gi's and the Jays and, in Seattle seemed similar. I mean, very different, but talented young teams on the cusp

who, you know, with a good postseason run, we're going to be talking about these teams hanging, hanging in the round, around in the American League for a while. Luis Castillo. Hot. Robbie Ray, we're thinking, that's what the MLB.com says for game two. And then depending on what happens, you're going to get Logan Gilbert or Kirby.

It's pretty good lining it up like that. It's not bad. Not bad. Blue Jays, they've got it too. Hey, can you do an impression of Scott Service saying, let's party? I wish you didn't put me on the spot like that. It's hard. You know what?

I should have told you pre-show because you can do this. He's a guy who's hard to match his sexuality without being prepped for it. You need a hat. You need a, like a lid. Probably a little pocket of chaw in there. And then you just need to crack your voice because you're so fucking excited. Let's party. No.

Happy. Happy for them. Trev, honestly, I don't have too much more, man. The AL was, all the stories were from the National League. Everything's been sorted out. Judge didn't homer. Don't apologize. bro. We're in playoff mode.

Okay. Okay. I do want to last thing, and then we'll get to, you know, pointing out the dudes. San Diego, they clinch. They played the white socks, mid-sox, excuse me. And I don't know. This is a team that I really like. You talk about matchups. I do think they match up decently with the Mets. I think it it's high-end starting pitching and a couple bats at the top of their lineup. Happy for San Diego. I mean, we entered a dangerous time with them, man.

Tatis gets suspended and they start slipping and, you know, one team is going to miss the wild card. They made a ton of moves at the deadline. So the fact they are in the playoffs, and don't be offended by this, Brewers, but it's good for baseball that San Diego, a team that's gone out, gotten all of these guys,

whether Freight before the season, before this season, during this season, that they're making the playoffs is a good thing. I 100% agree. And I think this could be the dark horse of the playoffs. If you look around their team, you've got a bunch of guys at the top of your rotation. They can put out a gem.

And you've got a lot of them. I mean, you're starting pitchers. Depth is not their problem. They have that. And like I said, like some of the guys, like have no-hit stuff. Like at any given moment, the bats are, that's the question. They don't slug. They don't hit homers. Outside of Mani Machado, it hasn't really worked there. So they got to get hot. And they can get hot. Juan Soto, you got to be Juan Soto, bro. Josh Bell, you got to be Josh Bell. He's been really bad since he came over.

and Drury like find some of that magic I mean they have to find the offense because everything else they have like they're going to be okay in every other aspect if they can hit and find some offense and have those guys go and Machado stills Machado they're a dark horse man

I uh I'm in the weeds bro just like I know I've liked the roster from the start of the year but from the start of the year I thought they'd have Tatis now they have Soto the fact that them or the Mets will be eliminated early is pretty nuts because there's a lot of talent on the field and going west to east in city it's going to be a tough ask

it's going to be a tough ask and either way the Dodgers are waiting for you yeah you know what I think the Padres are well equipped to go handle an atmosphere like the Mets. I just think there's something about having the guys that are like the leaders in that clubhouse

don't care and like like Machado's not going to be phased by going and playing is it city field still it is right? These places change all the time it's not Miller Park

it's American Family Values insurance or whatever they have the leadership to go in and do it like you Darvish ain't scared Joe Musker of ain't scared Mike Clevenger's in a different simulation entirely. Blake's Snell don't care.

Soto? Yes. These guys, they have what it takes to go in there and do it. They might not have like, I guess on paper, I'm saying like mentally to go in there and take care of business. I don't think this is going to be some team that's like a deer caught in the headlights. I think they're going to be ready to play. And in baseball, man, anything could happen.

I realize it's dumb to say this. you know, a little over an hour in. Friday, Saturday, Sunday. The teams that are going to have their seasons on the line, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The Guardians who have been one of the best stories in baseball this year. The race, who are perennial playoff powers. You know, I know they're the race, but Toronto and Seattle,

one of those young cores that think the future is now, is going to be chopped down. In the National League, in the National League, St. Louis, Albert, Yadi, Waino, Legends of the game, guys that are getting statues are getting ovations coming off the field.

Their careers are on the line. Yeah. In a three-game set. San Diego, everything has been built up for this season. They're on the line. The New York Mets, Steve Cohen, Scherzer, DeGrom,

and the Philadelphia Phillies, who I know we haven't talked about a lot because of their wins loss, but how much have they invested into that team? I mean, everything. And half of those teams I just mentioned, Sunday, done. Could be Saturday night, done. Could be late Saturday night.

And I know. That's a playoffs, baby. I'm seriously getting so excited for it. Like, we worked it again, man. A full season, we did it. Now it's time to reap the rewards of that. The rewards of a full season, like we have in baseball are the playoffs and how good they are.

We know, you know, baseball fans understand, we probably have the best playoffs in all of sports. Ooh. So fun. I wouldn't trade them for anything. Well, I was going to say a lot of these teams were built on trades, BPD. And trade coffee. I've told you guys, you know about them.

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That's a lot of cups of Joe, people. So that's drinktrade.com slash baseball, $30 off your first order and free shipping. Thank you. trade Trevor Flouf You want to give your standout performance

Standout performance Of course I do Because you know Who it's going Oh First of all shout out My friend Elton Elton John

Big Braves fan So he was You know having fun You gave him a shout I just saw that In our social media page You need to meet him My friend

I feel like me and him are on the same wavelength You would love him Short king too Yeah, thick king too My standout performance Stando performance Goes to my idol

Essentially I think he is my baseball idol And also my life idol Evan Longoria Two for four Two homers Five RBI With all of his family In attendance

He's at the point in his career We're like You know kids are in school Got older kids They're not always gonna see dad play. I think they're mostly in Arizona. So they're in attendance. Daddy goes off. And he had some quotes after the game saying like, it's great having family because they don't care how you perform. And when you get back from the field, like that's your solace. That's how you get away from the game.

He's like, but when they see it happen, it's very exciting for them and it makes me excited. So it's just a cool dad moment. Everyone knows how much I love Longo. And if you don't love Longo, like start to love Longo because I've told this to many young baseball players in the game right now that's that's who you're shooting to be, that guy. Like the way he's done it, the right way,

working hard, still plays good defense, like has always worked on that, clutch hitter. Just talk about doing it the right way, Longo. Love you. My guy. To your guy guy.

Fighting the good fight with the general. Giants, interesting offseason coming over there. They supposedly have the money. They're supposedly in on the big fella. Interested to see how they try to retool that team. Trev, I'm going another direction. I'm going with some power. A guy whose power season is getting overlooked because of Aaron Judge,

because I think this guy is going to be your number two in home runs this year. Kyle Schwarber, he hit 43 and 44 in that game against the nationals, which, again, an important game to win. Otherwise, we'd still be talking a little more Brewers and Phillies, especially three games in Houston. Sheesh. Schwabow. The numbers are kind of funny, and I picture Kyle Schwaber, and I picture Kyle Schwerber,

as more of a good all-around hitter than a power hitter. He is a power hitter, obviously. But his numbers this year are the modern-day hitter. He's 217, 3-20, and 815 OPS with 44 homers and leading the league in strikeouts, which tells me, I mean, he's trying to hit ding-dongs. And that's fine. That's kind of modern baseball, right? I'll be interested to see when the shift is gone, what that looks like.

Last year he had 266, 374. So, you know, he still has that in him. This year just turned into the power stroke and 44 home runs, his National League leading. And, yeah, I expect him to be... Talk about a guy that doesn't care about the moment too much. I mean, this guy's already done it. He's got 35 postseason games with a 255 batting average,

359 on base and an 878 OPS. If the Phillies do make some noise, I think Schwerber and Harper are going to be the names you're hearing. A lot of. And he helps them win a big game for them down the stretch. I don't like that. I told you it. They need to hit homers,

and obviously he's the guy that's done it most, him and Harper, get hot, Bash Brothers and Philly. Swarber doesn't really have hair to like do that. Does he have a goatee right now? I think he's got the facial hair going. All right. I like him a lot, man.

Big old bowling ball that just hits bombs. He's also got that. 2016 cubbies. I wasn't a league at that point. Yeah, sure were. Leagin it up. Let me, speak of a leagueing of that, let me talk some boys up.

Okay. Let's do it. Slump watch. Treb, before we dive into these slump watchers, I did want to give a couple shoutouts. Shea Landjoliers, the kid Oakland got in the Olson trade, two homer game. Teosker Hernandez is a couple huge games for Toronto.

He could be a huge playoff piece. But we got to talk about guys that you need to get hype. Wait, you have a question. One more. One more. I don't think we said this. Congratulations to Sandy. Yeah. He's done for the year.

He's not paid. pitching anymore and what a fucking year you had dude i saw someone put this on a tweet that said he's like old school mentality with new school stuff i like that i like that like that like he goes deep in the game see pitches those 115 pitches but he's has the 100 mile an hour fastball the 90 mile an hour slider 93 mile an hour like he's a new age pitcher that acts like an old school pitcher love it congratulations on your sigh young which is going to happen And by the way, I know this is lame follow-up, but thank God he didn't get hurt. You could say that for any player.

But pushing the in it the innings like he did this year and going for complete games, if his season had ended with an injury, everyone would have said, well, pitchers can't be doing that. That's how you get hurt. No, I think these guys are decent. As long as we keep track of them, I don't know if anyone can be Sandy. Not everyone can be, but we can have guys throwing a couple more. innings.

Trev, let's get some guys right before the postseason. How about you boy? Eh, Eugenio, Suarez. Eugenio, you know what time it is. I'm happy that you took that little time off to give me my prop bet. Thank you very much on that. But you are at 799 OPS. You're a career 800 guy.

You better get over 800. You got a couple games, get a couple knocks. and do the thing because guess what? You want to see that eight at the end of the season when you're going into the postseason doing your damn thing. And I do believe, you Henneo, that you were going to have some big home runs

in this series in Toronto. Go do it, Big Daddy. And they usually are big boy homers. How about your guy? Eddie Rosario. What do you, Primo, let's go. Yeah. That's all that to say to him.

Slat me on the chest a few times, let's go. Cat Scratch Eddie. You think he cares about the regular season? No. Literally, probably not at all. I saw him make a catch in the outfield. He was easy, like, fly ball to him. But, like, he just, it looked like he wasn't even looking at the ball.

I love that shit, dude. Him and Marcelo Zuna barely got mentioned during the Braves recap. and that's currently the, like, the bottom part of their lineup, if they want it. Where would they rank on the proof? It's an interesting question, isn't it? Gavin Lux, Trev, one for 12 for my king. Just be you, bro.

You're on a team that's won 110 games. It hasn't happened since whenever the hell that was, like 1906 or something like that, okay? You don't have to be the superstar. You just go be yourself. Let the superstars do the, superstar things, you're going to become a superstar by not

trying to be a superstar. Go be Gavin Lux. God, that's good. Yeah. Treve, I'm super interested to see this one because this is Gavin Lux, but kind of with turboboosters. Michael Harris, one for

12 in a big series. Money, Mike, I want you to understand this. You had the series. It was a big one. And it went every way that you'd want it to go except that you didn't perform. So take that and understand you can affect the games in different ways, not just your offense.

If you're struggling a little bit offensively, continue to run the bases, continue to play a bang up center field. I know you will. You're going to have awesome series offensively. This wasn't one of them, but your team still got the victory. Let me tell you this right now, Money, Mike.

Be careful in Miami, bro. You guys are going to be popping bottles. Where do you go out there? Is it lives? Is that still a thing? I don't know. I think so. Have fun, man.

And like seriously, cherish this moment, bro. Rookie, doing what you did. And now you get to pop bottles in Miami after clinching the NL East. Times are good. Money, Mike. I want you to remember that.

It was beautiful. And lastly, one of your favorites, Kyle Tucker. I know you've never. told a lie, Kyle, and I won't lie to you right now. Who cares? You're an absolute stud. You're getting set up for the postseason. I don't even need to talk to you, bro. This guy is one of the more professional hitters you're ever going to meet. Stay the course, big guy. That was a beautiful slump watch. Excited to watch some Kyle Tucker this postseason. He's fun.

Abe Lincoln, motherfucker. Trev, this is the fun part. baby like wake oh tell me about who's getting hot who's getting oscar hernandez eight for 13 three homers two doubles matt olson already dated your daughter and dumped her five for nine it's fucked up three homers five rbi he hits a homer in every single game dan's base swanson never even looked at your daughter four for eleven three homers again a homer in each game with four ribby's shale angriars you just talked about this guy. Only three hits out of 10, but they were all homers. You made him count Albert Pooleholz. Four for seven with the two homers, a double six ribbies. Get it going, big dog. Elvis Andrews is backed up the talk. He was talking shit. White Sox didn't do it, but he has. Five for 11, two homers,

a double three RBI. Kyle Schwarber, six for 15, two homers, a triple five RBI. And Eric Haas, four for eight, two homers, three RBI's. And last but not least, definitely not in my book, but I got to check him out. Drew Waters. Waiters. Four for 11, two Homer, a double, and four RBI. He, uh, yeah, former Braves prospect that they were like, oh, well, we can move you to Kansas City because we were just loaded. How about Albert?

Just finishing with a bang. What a freak show year from him. Uh, Matt Austin. Automatically like Drew Waters. She's from Woodstock, Georgia. That doesn't make any sense. I think it's waiters. I think you.

hit the A hard. I know it doesn't look like it. It does not say that on his basal reference page, but waiters, he's 6-2-185. You know he's got a good body. I'm in. Trev, let's finish up with our awards, best friend of the week. And it's all brought to you by the Draft Kings sports book, draft Kings. I was mentioning this the other day.

Saw a little money end up in my bank account on Draft Kings. And I was like, what's that about? Pirates under win total, Cardinals to make the playoffs and win the division, Yankees over their win total. And that's right. Place those bets back in March, got money in October at the Draft King Sportsbook.

And maybe you're a football person too, the NFL games. They're the official sports betting partner of the NFL. And you could bet $5 on any NFL team and get $200 in free bets if they do. Single game parlays are so. super easy to do and kick in a couple bets to get a little more keesh. Download the Drafking Sportsbook gap now and use promo code John Boy to get $200 in free bets

if your team wins when you place a $5 bet on any football game. That's code Johnboy, only a draft king sports book and official sports betting partner of the NFL. Minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply. See show notes for details. Trev, you've been the lead-off guy all night. Power. Good eye. Danesby Swanson, best friend of the week.

4-4-11, 3 homers, 4 RBI's a walk and made cool defensive plays in big spots. Sure did. Seems a little odd turn there, but okay. Speaking of Danesby, he would look at your daughter. Thank you. And then turn away and never look at her again, and she'd just be in love within the rest of her life.

That's what happens with Dansby, dude. It's ridiculous. Don't talk about her. Now he's going to be so rich. Sometimes things aren't fair, are they? Oh, when he gets paid, yeah. Damn. All right.

You think he's going to turn into like Rick Vaughn, you know, when he gets paid, he turns into like suit guy with a slick back hair. Do you think Dan's going to keep that Southern boy charm, or he's going straight up like New York, like fashion guy? I think he'll try to mix in the fashion, but I think he's going to stay mostly Southern. Chipper Jones-esque. They never let go of that.

You can. the south, they always got that in their pocket. I'll go down the sticks and hunt you some dinner, honey. Like, they always keep that. Like, when they get drunk, the draw comes out. It's a thing. Got too much bam in me. All right.

Yeah. My award. Did we play Kelsey? I should go see her tonight. She's here. Go see her. It's a long drive, man. All right.

This is going to sound cheesy. But it really got me this weekend, as I was watching these big series and people clinies. I called upon baseball, the writers, the players, the media, and the fans. I called upon us all collectively and said, this is our time to shine. I know football is back. Basketball is right around the corner. Are the Lakers going to be good?

Probably not. Whatever. But it's our time. October's here. And boy, oh boy, did the fans show up this weekend. Some of these atmospheres. were incredible. Atlanta was rocking.

Doing the damn thing. Seattle was rocking, doing the damn thing. It was incredible to see. And it got me so fired up that like I just, I just had to mention it. When San Diego, when they were playing that game,

and, you know, somebody got the alert that the, I guess was the Brewers that lost, So that's how they clinched, right? I believe so. You start to hear that little rumble of the crowd. And then you start to hear it a little bit more.

And then a little bit more. And then before you know it, everyone's celebrating right in the middle of the game because they clinched. And it was just cool to see these moments, man, they mean nothing. Like I think back to 2020 and how shitty that was. But nobody in the stance. That was, I hope to God, that we never have to do that again. Because it means so much more. It's so much more compelling just as a viewer.

when the crowds are into it, when it's when there's atmosphere like that. It's palpable, man. It translates. It goes through the screen. Like, I was getting chills, man. And again, I was the dork trying to explain to people why these games meant so much

and why people were going so crazy. But it hit me. And I'm at that point now where it's like, I need that. I can't watch any other baseball. I can't watch bullshit regular season baseball anymore. me the series and the atmosphere. I need it. And I guess I just want to say thank you and congratulations to these fans that made such a special weekend of baseball, man. And it's, your job ain't done yet. Postseason's here. Let's show up. Let's show out people. I'm excited. So I guess my awards called

fans are nice and I like that. Beautiful. Beautiful all around. Yeah. No, it's It's just a different atmosphere, man, and we're going to see it. I mean, not these next couple days. The Cal Raleigh thing? Friday night. I mean, the Cal Raleigh thing that can't be replicated. That's going to be one of those games that, you know,

there's 120,000 people saying that they were at that game, even though they weren't. I saw a quote that you gave. I don't know why I was reading an article. You get some obscure. You always do obscure interview stuff. It's good for your brand. I say no to everything.

And you were talking, I just lost my train of thought. Sure. Oh, you call baseball the best reality TV there is. Or sports. Sports. Sports. And it's so true, man.

Like, I don't know. I could go on and on about this, but I was really getting, like, in my feelings watching some of these games. I mean, it's just so easy to do, whether it is a regular season game up until this point or, you know, I mean, playoffs. My God. Everything I just went through, all those teams I mentioned, that half of them will be eliminated by Sunday. Think about the storylines that's tied to them, whether it's, you know, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Like trying to start, like what can be a very special legacy in this game, or Julio Rodriguez, or, you know, whoever it is. I mean, what if Manny Machado puts the Padres on his back? Like, how much more do we need to talk about that, dude? And at the same time, those guys and everyone else. Or we'll be on the mics Monday morning, like, yeah, this Padres team didn't have it. Just talking out of our butts some more. Great award, Trevor. Remember when Daniel Camerana hit a grand slam off Max Scherzer?

Put that in a reality TV show. You can't. You can't. That's nuts. When did that happen? That had to be last year. It was his last year. Okay, yeah.

It had to be last year. Who knows at this point? I'm giving out the Apollo 13 award. I'll be high and tight with this because this dude has been high and tight for the last two years. Is that the good mission or the bad mission? Yes. We're going to find out, I hope.

Nestor Cortez, Jr., his last start for the Yankees, 7.1 lights out, double-digit strikeouts. He finishes the year 158.1 innings, a 244 ERA. He has been the Yankees' best starting pitcher this year. That is next to Garrett Cole. That is next to Luis Severino. That is next to whoever you want it to be. Nester Cortez Jr. The 36th round pick,

the guy that was DFAed by Baltimore and Seattle and the Yankees, is now back with the Yankees. In the last two years, he has been one of the best starting pitchers throughout baseball. I hope a lot of you saw him during the All-Star game. Dude makes baseball fun. He is silly out there.

He did another one of his crazy leg kicks just to mess around. He's more than that, though. He's been really good. and he's only allowed 108 hits in 158 innings. I think we talked about it on talking Yanks a little bit last night. I think this Yankees rotation is the best rotation the Yanks have had heading into the postseason in recent years.

You know, I didn't go back to the old teams or 09 or anything like that. But Nestor would be the biggest part of that. It's Cole trying to be, you know, Garrett Cole. but who Nestor Cortez has been this year, you know, if Houston has a problem in the American League, I think it has to come from my Yankees, and I think it would have to be Nestor Cortez having a special postseason.

And I do think he can, although those boys in Houston are disgusting. So that's the Apollo 13 Award. It took me a while to get that one. Me too. You got me, though. I always get you there. Yeah, Nestor, I mean, I said this

last episode or something. He's answered all the questions that we had. Can you do it for a prolonged period of time? Yes. Yes, you can. Sub one whip across 28 starts. 28 starts? Yeah.

And healthy too. It's awesome, man. And look, you can make me get all emotion about baseball. This is another reason why baseball is awesome, dude. Like, everybody type. Every shape, size, anything you need, you can be a stud at baseball. You really can't if you're good enough. There's nothing that like baseball doesn't like weed anybody out.

Anybody can play the game of baseball at the major league level if you have some things. But it's not like you can't be born out of baseball. How about that? You can be born out of the NBA and the NFL, I think. But not baseball. that makes sense. I think you're right. I think there's a pretty good argument for that.

Yeah, and man, my guy Nestor might be lining himself up for a payday at some point. And by the way, check out the baseball savant. Like, the things that are low are fastball, V-low, and extension. Everything else. He's not as short as you think. I just looked. I thought he was going to be a short king. 5-11?

I'm going to... I might give him a 5-10, maybe 5-9 and a half. But yeah, I mean, 5-9. know, 220. I don't know. That doesn't play in the NBA. Believe you and me. If you're that small, you got to have freaking springs in your shoes, bro. Yeah. Shout out. Nate Robinson. Mm. He got punched in the face. Bebs, you mentioned Dan's me, best friend of the week and probably biggest weekend of anyone. Yeah, good time for it. That's pretty good. It's made himself some money, I think. I think so too. I think the elevator.

is broken for the year. I think we might get one more stimulator maybe to end our playoff predictions coming up. Anything else? I think that's it. Stock market going.

Off today. Let's keep that going too, people. All right. Thank you. The dollar strong. Everyone. We will see you in the midweek and then

I think it's going to be a playoff preview up. Logan Gilber had a great start and J.P. Crawford and Adam Fisher. Shout out. Jake sucks. Everything in Seattle. Next to all-star game. Seattle. Hot. See you there. Can you imagine partying in Miami tonight? Trying to.

Should we just go? Love you guys. Hey, smash the like button.