Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Cal Raleigh Making The Case For AL MVP

Episode Date: June 23, 2025

Go to http://shadyrays.com and use code TALKIN for 35% off polarized sunglasses.Use code TALKIN2025 for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALK.... Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discountBook your next trip at https://www.bestwestern.comDownload the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use promo code JMBASEBALLCorona brings all baseball fans together to enjoy the moment. Be sure to get yours at https://OrderCorona.comStart your free online visit today at https://Hims.com/talkin for your personalized ED treatment options. Coach Trev and Talkin’ Jake react to Cal Raleigh’s huge weekend and if he has a shot at stealing Aaron Judge’s MVP away, The Phillies jumping the Mets within the NL East, Rafael Devers weekend vs his old team and more! 0:00 Intro3:00 AL Burn7:30 AL Standings12:00 Judge or Raleigh for MVP?18:50 Brewers / Twins22:45 Tigers / Rays27:00 Astros / Angels30:17 NL Burn34:25 NL Standings36:15 Mets / Phillies36:40 Castellanos/Thomson stuff40:50 Red Sox / Giants43:15 Big Papi / Rafael Devers54:20 Cubs-Cardinals upcoming series57:50 Standout Performances1:05:13 En Fuego1:09:42 Batters who are struggling1:14:00 Awards Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. Hockey's done. Basketball's done. Baseball is hot in the street. Who's the AL MVP? We got so much ball to yuck. Let's do it. Corksmith.

Ian Hap. Not a homer. Ball was flying out of Wrigley. Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. It's a big ep. I feel it. It's June 23rd. Trev, I think you're out on the West Coast.

I'm Jake Starr. I'm in New York City. The streets are grimy today. It is hot. It is muggy. It is baseball season. If you hear it in my throat a little bit, hello,

big fanatics fest this weekend. A couple good stories from there. Trev, how are you doing? You're in Seattle now. I'm not going to let you know where I'm at. Okay. Let's just play that game.

Carmen San Diego. I'm doing great. It's also very hot and humid where I'm at. but I'm enjoying it, man. I'm in Minnesota, Jake. Okay. My bad. Yeah, that's ridiculous.

I am going to see the Mariners today as they come into town for a four-game set. Oh. And so, yeah, me and Big Dump are going to get real, real friendly today. Twins are on a little bit of a heater. Yeah, they're correct. We're going to check in on them. We're going to check in on a lot around the league. Treve, we missed Friday.

So you and me, I think we're feeling itchy. It feels like we're going to. Like we miss the Dodgers, Padres fighting every day. But we're going to dig in because this was a juicy, a juicy weekend. And I will give, I'll give a quick fanatic shout to everyone that came up and said hi and all that stuff. You guys are obviously the best. Just a cool John Boy media moment was hanging out backstage. Bryce Young, QB1 for the Carolina Panthers.

I was debating if I should go say hi to him. But I was just going to be like, what are you going to do, Jake? like, oh, nice, nice football, man. Yeah, he looked. You think he wants that? No, he doesn't need that. So he walks past, he kind of does a double take, gives it a second, comes up, and he's like, hey man, just, you know, don't want to interrupt, but just big fan of what you guys do and blah, blah, blah, things you miss. He went down like the Johnboy media depth charts. He's like, yeah, I'm not the biggest baseball guy, but found you guys like three years ago and love you.

And I was like, damn, Bryce Young. So he's in the clurb. I told them we're still a Matthew Stafford pot. But no, and that's more so just a thank you to everyone off the rip because Fanatics was pretty cool. They treated us like we were actual famous people, which makes me and Jimmy very uncomfortable. But we had a big weekend, putting all of that in our rear view.

Shout out Bryce Young, but it's time of yuckball. Yuck some ball, Jay. Let's go. And because it's Monday, Trem. We start in the American League with maybe the hottest team in the American League. Your Tampa Bay Rays. The offense is clicking and it did the first two games. They put up 14 in 8.

Quick math, 22 runs in the first two games. Junior Cominero is racking up the home run totals. Yandi Diaz with a two homer game of the dish. The Tigers, they end up salvaging the set behind Riley Green, Wensile Perez. you might hear some more Riley Green coming up in a little pit. The Houston Astros, they took two out of three from the Dodgers,

and that's obvious. Show me your Pee-Pee, Pena Paredes. They get it done in that opening game. Ryan Gusto, I just like his name. They win a couple two-one-run games to win the series against the Angels. Yankees, are they out of their June swoon? It didn't look like it Friday night

as they blow the game late, but they come back a one hitter to win 9-0 in game 2, and then Jazz Chisholm, big 3-0, 2-run scoring double to help the Yankees take the set against the Oreos. Guardians take 2 out of 3 from the A's, and that's obvious. Jeffrey Springs and Kurtz comma Nick get it done in the first game. But then it's all Cleveland the rest of the way, Luis Ortiz, with a 10-strikeout start, and Slade Soconi with seven innings pitch,

zero earn runs to get it done for the guard dogs. Blue Jays, White Sox, did you watch? I watched a little bit. White Sox took two out of three. How about those White Sox? I feel like we're seeing a little more of that, not a lot more of that. Who needs love? Andrew Benintendi, sure.

Miguel Vargas, Adrian Houser, Senor Puk. Could he be on your team come the deadline? Brios was good in there only win. The Seattle Mariners and the Chicago Cubs. Holy smokes was the ball flying out of Wrigley this weekend in Cal Raleigh. It's time to have a conversation and we are going to. Home runs, he's in the 30s. It's June.

We're not at the halfway point. He is doing historic stuff. Ian Hap is doing Ian Hap things. His numbers are the same numbers he has his whole career. Steady Eddie. The ball was flying out of Wrigley. And the final series in the American League, It's your best Western road warriors, the Milwaukee Brewers, sweep the Minnesota twins.

It's his mound. He's Jacob Mizorowski. He shoves in game one. Kintana wins in game two. And then the Brewers, the twins fought late in that final game. A couple buck stops, but the Brewers get it done. They win their fourth straight games, seven and two in their last nine games. And they used the same nine starters in all three games.

I like that. a lot. That's your Best Western Road Warriors. Life's a trip. Make the most of it at bestwester com. I need some standings. Pop, I just missed you talking ball. I got to be on these with you. I got the standings. Yes, I do. Is that you want more? I want some more. You want some more. Okay, I got you. We'll start out east with your Yankees. They still have a two and a half game lead over the race, even though the race has been playing some of the best ball in all of baseball. Yankees, and 32. Tampa Bay Ray's 43 and 35. I'm going to

cough right now. Okay. I needed to. Well done. Toronto Blue Jay is not too far back either. Four games back. They're 41 and 36. The Red Sox 40 and 39, one game over 500. And the Baltimore Orioles 33 and 44. Then we'll go to the Central Jay. The Tigers have just a commanding lead. An eight and a half game lead

over the Guardians. They're 49 and 30, despite losing the series to Tampa. Guardians 39 and 37, two games over 500. The Royals 38 and 40, my twins 37 and 40, and the White Sox, 25 and 53. And then out west, Jake, this is just happening faster and faster and faster. Five game lead for the Houston Astros, 45 and 33 for them. The Mariners, two games over 500, 39 and 37. The Texas Rangers, 38 and 40.

The Angels, 37 and 40. And the athletics, 32 and 48. in the wild card. This is where things are going to get crazy. I mean, an 84 win team is going to be the last wild card team in the American League. Tampa Bay Rays are

at the top, along with the Blue Jays. they have the top two spots in the wild card. The Guardians and the Mariners tied for that last spot. And then Jake, there is one, two, three, four, five teams all within two and a half games of that last spot, including the Twins and the Angels at 37

and 40. Sox half game back, Royals, Rangers, two games back. And then I mentioned the A's and the twins. So that one's going to come down to it. And some team that isn't that great is going to make the playoffs in the American League. And we saw how that went in 2023 with the Diamondbacks. Those are the standings in the American League. Thank you, Coach Trev.

Yeah, it's, uh, the Yale's going to be a beautiful disaster. Some 84 win team is going to run the playoffs. And then you could be, if it's the Texas Rangers, like here's de Grom. if it's the Red Sox, here's that whole offense, the Royals, Mariners, Guardians, it's going to be a bloodbets. What's that? Do you say twins? Yeah, we talked about them. They got the Road Warrior segment.

Burrish. You wanted to start there? Not really, but. But I do not a lot of things about this series. None of them are about the twins. No, let's bottle it up. I'm sorry. I guess it's about the Brewers then, I'd assume, or is it about the broadcast booth?

I said, yeah, it's about the Brewers, not the Twins. I actually, we want to start with a topic, Treve. We said when there's, when there are topics, we want to bring it to the people while covering ball. And there's a reason I move the Mariners Cubs series up to the American League. Because what Cal Rale does deserves to be talked of, the rip. Cal Raleigh, it is MLB leading 31st home run, is on pace for six. 66. My God, he passed Mickey Mantle, Jose Ramirez, and Lance Berkman for most home runs by a switch hitter before the All-Star break. He joined Ken Griffey Jr. as the only Mariners player to hit 30 before the All-Star break.

By the way, the All-Star breaks in what? Four weeks? So all of these are before that. There's now a conversation in the American League that Aaron Judge was supposedly, you know, best right-handed hitter ever. he was going to walk away with the MVP. I think if you go to draft kings and look at the odds, they're still a little silly. They're a little less silly because what Cal Raleigh doing, especially from the catcher position, Trev, is unbelievable. Can we get, Robo, can you go get those drafting odds?

I'm very curious as to what those are. And yeah, I mean, look, there's nobody like Cal Raleigh in the show right now, talking about a guy who loves to catch, is behind the plate a ton and doing the things that he's doing offensively. you know, I hate bringing this up, but can he withstand that? Like catching every day and going out there and hitting because that's been the toughest thing. You know, you talk to catchers.

It's just wear and tear on your body in the squatting position, taking foul tips, having to block balls, having to worry about the pitching staff, all these things that get added on to his plate that most other positions just don't, like, do not have. Like, yeah, you got to go play defense, but it's just a completely different physical game for a catcher. So far, I mean, he's a big body dude, has not affected him whatsoever. I think that's probably the most impressive thing about this. Look, yes, the offensive numbers by themselves are great. One dotting it, all those run runs you talk about. But the real magic here is he's doing this as a catcher.

And I guess that's the fun baseball bar combo with your buddies is, again, like war, Aaron Judge still has him. A lot of, you know, batting average judge is hitting 367 right now. Judge minus 2,000 on draft kings. Bobo just put it up with Cal Raleigh at plus 550. I think this just opens up a beautiful baseball conversation of, okay, let's say both guys keep this pace up. And Cal Raleigh hits 60 homers.

And Judge hits 55, but he clears him in batting average on base. He has a better offensive statistical season all around. Like where does that boundary land between doing it as a catcher and doing it as a right fielder? This goes into the ageal debate of value and what you mean to your team, but both these guys are the centerpiece of their offense.

So I don't think that really comes into play here. The Yankees without judge are, I mean, they're not in first place. The Mariners without Cal Raleigh are probably 10 games under 500. So I think that's also a wash in this. If the numbers keep up the way they are right here, Judge is still ahead in the majority of categories.

So I think you would continue to look at Judge as the leader. That's why the numbers are what they are at the Draft King's Sportsbook, mine in 2000. I mean, a 468 on base percentage is absolutely crazy. And then, you know, you talk about the batting average, all of that. He's winning in the numbers, I think, that most people look at. The home runs, great. The judge does that as well.

He's not going to be too far behind Cal Raleigh. So that's the only thing you could really think of. Yeah, if Cal goes and hits 60 as a catcher, it's pretty nuts. But again, Judge is going to be right behind him. So I still think Cal has a long way to go to jump Aaron Judge as far as MVP. Yeah. And I don't know if this surprises people or doesn't surprise people. But for me, I would take war off the page for these two.

Just because what you said about catcher, like I don't know if we're valuing that properly. Like I know for the Yankees, it's a big deal when they're like, hey, judge is going to DH. We're going to get him off his feet today. What's Cal doing? Like, just go get beat up. Here's a Logan Gilbert ball in the dirt.

Block it with your shoulder. I would throw the war. out at the end of the year. Even if you throw the war out, though, I mean, you're still looking at these numbers right now and judges. Right. I mean, the OPS is almost still

not 200 points higher, but like a... 150. 150, which that's... That is significant. 1.042 for him, Judge, 1195. If you had to cast a vote today, at season ended, would you go judge or Cal Raleigh?

I'm going judge still, but I mean, it's not a knock on Cal and obviously it's been very, very impressive. I just think, I mean, the start that judge has gotten off to is also unprecedented. So I think they're both doing great things. Judge just, the numbers are overwhelming, man. They really, really are. Yeah, and I think you're right. I think if you had to cast a ballot as of today, it's judge. Almost though with the catcher theory of these guys.

both just doubled the rest of the way. And this might sound dumb. I think I would lean Cal Rally, but he's also on base for 66 home or so. Through a full season, you're going to say, okay, if he continues this as a catcher, that's going to impress you. I think so. I'm with you, man. I truly do understand and take into consideration what that position does to your body. I mean, you just talk to anybody that's played that position. You understand what they go through. again, they're not just having to go to the hitters meetings. They got to go run the pitchers meeting as well and call pitches and make sure that 13 dudes are happy. You know, like, they're almost like a, yeah, they're another coach as well. Maybe I'm changing my mind. I don't

know, man. Okay. I still think, Judge, with what he's done to start the year, has my vote, but I guess that's why we're talking about it, Jake. It's pretty good. I bet you, in the comment section there's going to be some very fueled and heated debate about this because I mean if someone was like yeah let's give it to Cal I wouldn't bat an eye necessarily but I also say it's probably unfair to judge yeah I mean it's almost judge judge fatigue ish oh nice trev yeah yeah yeah I mean it's it's crazy judge is looking to become the third player to ever record multiple 60 homer seasons it's sosa and mcguire and you know we know what those guys are connected to um only four players have ever recorded 50 plus homers and 3.50 batting averages.

The Babe, Hack Wilson, Jimmy Fox, and Mickey Mantle. And meanwhile, the Cal Raleigh thing, the catcher, it just can't be overlooked. There's only, with his 30th homer, he joins Mike Piazza, Johnny Bench, and Roy Campanella, as the only catchers in MLB history with three or more 30 homer season. Cal Raleigh is peaking. it's it's also June and he just joined that club that guys don't do this i guess maybe that's

that's my final statement for both of it guys don't do this for either of them and that's what makes it special so they have been a little bit more cautious with cal i'm looking right now at the appearances 58 games at catcher 17 at dh the last two years 23 and 24 he had 15 games at dh 19 games at DH in those respective years. So they are trying to get him off his feet a little bit more. And maybe that's what's helped. But still, he's catching a majority of the baseball games. He's still going through all the things I'm talking about.

It's very, very impressive. But whatever they're doing, and again, Dan Wilson, former catcher, he understands more than anybody. Whatever they're doing, continue this pace is the right recipe right here. Yeah. And I mean, they can't, you know, day game after a night. game. The Mariners can't afford to just sit Cal Raleigh, and I don't think

he wants to sit. So, yeah, you're not going to find a lot of guys that can use that D.I. D.H. Spot better around baseball right now. And man, he had a weekend in Wrigley. Everyone kind of had a weekend in Wrigley. The ball. Ooh, I got something here. What do you got?

The riggedle ball was going. If you got something, you want me to ask Cal, like if you're a Mariners fan, you got a brain question. I'm going to be around him. I'm going to ask him. I'll go, I'll go, uh, go check him out. He'll probably look at me and say, do you 24 homers is your high? What a loser. I did that through May.

He probably will think that. Hey, this is, you probably shouldn't bring this up to Cal Raleigh? Nine stolen bases, more than Judge. What's that about? Oh. Holy smokes. Big dumper. All right.

I like that. That was ball talk. That's what we do here. A little bit of ball talk right there. I love Judge. How about that, Yankees fans? You always say, I hate on Judge. I voted for Judge.

Trev, I'll let you, why don't you get your Brewer's Twins thoughts in now? You need to hear it. I need to hear it. We gloss over the Brewers a lot, and we speak in generalities about them because they're true. But seeing it firsthand,

this is, they came and crushed the twins. The twins are, there's some injuries there, the depth in the roster is not great. That's just the brunt of it. But the Brewers came in and put an absolute clinic. The scores are misleading of how they played ball. Like they scored all those runs in the first two games without hitting a home run, dude.

Without hitting a homer, they took more extra bases. They ran the bases better than any team I've ever seen in my life. That's not exaggerating. I've seen a lot of teams run the bases. This example through this series was the best. They, every single extra base they could take, they took. Everybody was looking to steal bases. I'm talking, they're up five runs and,

Yelly is on second base and Wilson and Cher is on first base. They're looking to double steel. They are going. It is, it is, we talk about like pedal to the metal type teams. Like, this is what the Brewers were, specifically this weekend. And it's what they're built to do. It's how they're supposed to play the game. That's why Pat Murphy was getting.

so mad early on in the season and benching Sal Freelick and having team closed door meetings because this is a team he knows that they have to play like this and they did then it was honestly it was crazy it was about as perfect

a series as they could play their 7, 8, 9 hitters went off but to me it was the base running they made the twins look horrible. The twins base running comparatively is brutal compared to the brewers. Brutal compared to the brewers.

So, yeah, I mean, that's basically the gist of it. And then, yes, Jacob Mizorowski is unbelievable. He is, I don't want to say this yet. Okay. Give me a couple more starts, and there's a very prominent pitcher that pitches in the NL Central that wears black and gold.

That I'm, there's not too much of a difference between those two guys. Like he's, I, there's something very, very special about this young man right here. Yeah. Miserowski's four-seem fastball is averaging 99.6, touched 102.

If you like the freaks, God, his throwing motion looks pretty natural too. He looks great, and the knock on him is, can he locate? And he was spot on all freaking game, dude. The only reason he gave up a walk and Walner pumped him is because the half inning before he was sitting on the bench for 20 minutes

as the Brewers were just doing whatever they wanted offensively. They, uh, 6, 7, the change-ups sitting at 93. Uh, so yeah, if you're, if you're someone that watches baseball for the freaks, or maybe that's why you watch me and Trev. Um, Mizorowski's there. And yeah, man, it's just, it's so Brewers. And I know that sounds like a cop out, but we've got, you know, Cherio, uh, international signing. We've got Isaac Collins rule five draft from the Rockies.

Like, what? Kintana, any team could have had him. Any team could have had them. So they just, it's on every front. And yeah, it seems like our coaches, when he was just being a dick early on in the season and treating them like a college team, it's kind of paying off.

The brewers are in it, and they're in it in the central, Trev. Like, they're three and a half back. Like the cubs need to, the cubsies need to be careful. Okay. Hey man. I think if there's one other AL team that really needs a lot of love that we've kind of, I don't want to say we've been missing because we don't miss. Come on.

But the Tampa Bay raised, Treve. I was shocked because I shouldn't say shocked. But just since May 20th, the Tampa Bay raise offense, first in runs, first and on base percentage. Second in homers behind the Mets. Let's go Mets. Kamenaro, the breakout has happened. And like the rest of

the team, the breakout has happened, that the Tampa Rays have arguably been the best team in baseball for a month. Yeah, I mean, luckily that for the Tigers, they salvaged that last game. But you're right, it's the offense has absolutely come to life with them. You mentioned Camerero.

Going into Sunday's game, he was hitting three, 314, 385, 695 over his last 27 games. Like he's absolutely caught fire. Yanni Dia is going into the last game. He had a 12-game hit streak where he's hitting 471. Brandon Lau had a 10-game history going to the last game. He was hitting 400 during it.

I mean, they are just going. A couple wins for them early on the series. They just scored early and kept the lead, and that's a big recipe for them. We know they have the pitching to get it done as well. So right now they're just, they're doing it. on both levels. And I, this is a team that I circled. I said this team could win the AL East.

They are definitely in contention for that. Everything is kind of gelled and come together from them. They can play some defense, that they can throw the ball. And right now the offense is almost unstoppable. The only thing they, I mean, they started to win at their field. They were bad early on in the year,

got better as the year has gone on, but they're only playing three more games. now, Jake, at home before the All-Star break. It's that whole thing where they're going to start playing the games on the road a lot. Another just sneaky part of it, Trev. They've only had six starting pitchers this season. Yeah, we've talked about that. They've been completely healthy.

It was a spot start by Joe Boyle. They've been completely healthy, which there's times when, especially the race and they're pitching, you sometimes look at the IL and you're like, oh, shoot. And they're supposed to get McClanahan back. And by the way, we talk about smart organizations. when he talk about the brewers and the raise kind of used to lead this conversation.

Like Ryan Pepio, who they got for Tyler Glassnow has been arguably their best starting. He's got big old feet. What size shoe do you wear, Pepio? Like, should that be our TNT, TBS, like Charles Barkley? What size shoes you got? Pepio. Let's see them feet.

They're big. Let's see them hooves. And he's tall, too. you know, like Spencer Strider's got big old skis, but I don't know how tall he is. Pepio's like 6.5. Yeah, listed sex. Hello. Listed sex three.

Okay, 6.3. Oops. Ryan Pepio. Hey, shout out to. How tall is Kelsey Plum? Shout out to LSU, go tigers. Do you want to tell your story now? I hung out with, I met Bryce Young this weekend.

Would you say you met Kelsey Plum? No, we didn't need it all, but we walked. passed each other twice at our hotel. And I was like, that's Pelcy Plum. I know who that is. She's 5'8. I thought she was tall. Right.

WMBA, you're thinking. She's just a hard nose, you know. She's a dog. She's a dog. We just cover everything here. Yeah. We're completely different. Treve, I'll be honest.

Rest of the AL is a little choppy. I do, in Houston and L. Houston takes two out of three from Litt, the Angels. It's a little chippy there, Netto and Brown. That was fun. Fun series, chippy, and I debated giving him an award, and I'm not. We got a double duby day, Mauricio Dubon, two homers in that final game. And, dude, he is just, every team should have a Mauricio Dubon.

But not every team has a Maricio Dubon, because there's not a lot of them, man. I think he's played seven positions this year. He hits at a league average. And it's just such a nice thing for a team to have when if someone goes down or someone needs a rest, they use to say, oh, well, put that dude there and he's going to be fine.

The managers love guys like this. Twins have one in Willie Castro who can move all over the place and just allows so much roster flexibility. And then when you do have games like this and you're able to produce offensively, it's just such a bonus for your team. Yeah, he's awesome. We shadowed them out not too long ago because he's a new dad.

and so he's getting emotional and post-game interviews and stuff. We love that. It's just going to happen, okay? But yeah, he's awesome, man. And the Astros, again, they've been playing great ball, you know, taking a commanding lead in that division.

But hey, the Angels, like I mentioned, what, are they a half game out or two games out of the wild card? If you're going to be someone that's hype about the twins, the Rangers, the Royals, the Angels are a half game back of the Rangers and Royals. They're 37, 40. So maybe don't get excited, but also. But they're getting, they have pieces there.

Kukuchi with a great start this series. Soriano's been awesome. We know about their young core. They're fiery. I mean, Joe Adele is like still hitting really well. Dude, Joe Adele's like happened. Like people are. Yeah.

So it's, there's a lot to be excited about there. Christian Walker's starting to go a little bit for the Astros too. So if you're on that side of the fence, I think, I think the Astros feel really good about where they're at. And that's probably stating the obvious here. Joe Adele, man. Baseball is such a weird sport. He got called up in 2020,

played 38 games, and he was this super prospect. He's just kind of been grinding for six years. And it feels like the light bulb has gone on, which good for him and good for Halo fans. Hey, Angels could have won this series. I mean, a wild pitch scores the run in the 10th inning.

It was just a, I think it was a ball that slipped out of his hand, just behind the back of the Astros hitter. But, you know, if they take two out of three, I think we're talking about the angels in a completely different light. It's funny how series do that to us. What else does stuff to you? Let's keep...

Let's go to the National League, and it's brought to you by our friends at Shady Ray's. Summer's here, people. You need a pair of sunglasses. Maybe get a handful of them, because Shady Rays has everything you're looking for and more. Shady Ray's has been a huge part of our company for a while now. They're a massive part of our warehouse games.

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In the National League, the Philadelphia Phillies. Take two out of three from the New York Mets. The Mets at one point, I think lost seven games in a row. They break it up in that second game. as everyone started homering, including two from Juan Soto. Otherwise, it was all Phillies. And some fun ones in this series, including Castellanos, with a couple big games and some funny moments.

Also, the benching heard around the world. Rob Thompson, we'll talk about it. Hey, speaking of big series, the Boston Red Sox faced Rafael Devers and the San Francisco Giants. We haven't even talked about this yet. I'm getting H, Trev. The Giants. After dropping the first game in the Red Sox,

Don Rafael, I'm talking about him later. The Giants come back and they take the final two games. A big Rafi Devers Homer in that second game. And then a costly error by the Red Sox. What's with the Red Sox defense? Crazy as the Giants rack them up late. The Cincinnati Reds faced the St. Louis Cardinals. And the Cardinals take two out of three.

They took the first two games. A lot of heart, a lot of midwerell. West Hart in this series. Aronado fist pumping. Jordan Walker hustling around the bases. I love it. Andre Palante, all-time name. Cincinnati

takes the final game. And Matt McLean back on. He's been balling out lately. Cardinals take two out of three. The Padres, they won two out of three from the Kansas City Royals after losing that first game, India and Michael Garcia with big games in that infield. So did Bobby

Whit. Nice day for the infield. Padres bounce back. Dylan Cs with a nice start. Fernando! Big three-run Homer. And then Jose Iglesias, contact play. Walk off. Padres win. Randy Vasquez. Wow.

How do you like that? Dodgers take two out of three from the Nationals. They outlast McKenzie Gore in that first game. The Dodgers offense. The knob is starting to come on a little bit, and Max Muncie showed it with two homers and seven RBI in that final game. I know it's been on, but it's coming on even more. And Shohei Otani, first strikeout as a Dodger.

Yay! Sorry, Luis Garcia Jr. Sorry, Nats fans. Oh, go look at James Wood's stats if you're a baseball person. My goodness. Diamondbacks take two out of three from the Rockies, so that's almost, I don't want to say disappointing. But a little bit.

Just a little bit. Eugenio Suario. Jesus Christ. Four for six, two homers. What a sick puppy. Get him. on the yanks. What? Catelle Marte. Four hits in that second game. But here's Mickey Moniac and Braxton Fulford in the final game. Didn't have him in my book. Just going to be honest. Rocky salvage it.

Marlins take two out of three from the Braves. Braves. What is we doing, baby? And they just couldn't outlast Otto Lopez and Xavier Edwards and Janssen junk. These fish can fight. I don't know, Braves. Ronald Acuna might hear some. something about him later. And the Texas Rangers and the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Rangers take two out of three. They take the first two games behind DeGrom, behind Kumar Rocker, Adolice Garcia. Hey, Spencer Horowitz with a big game in the final one.

Tommy Fam, Brian Reynolds, they all had three hits. Good for the Pirates. That is what happened in the National League. Oh, boy, Pop, I got standings. I know you need to put your hands out again. I like that. You like when I'm a little Popper boy? Jimmy likes that too.

You guys are a weird fetish. Oh my goodness, these standings. We're going to start out east with the Philadelphia Phillies after taking two or three from the Mets have a one game lead in the division. 47 and 31 for them, 46 and 32 for those Mets. And the Braves just playing better ball as of late, but theories in Miami, they're 35 and 41.

They're 11 games back there. seven games back in the wild card. 35 and 41 for them. The Nationals, 32 and 46 and the fish, 31 and 45. In the Central, this leads us shrinking a little bit as well. 46 and 31 for the Cubs. There are three and a half games up on the Brewers, who just swept the twins, as we mentioned.

43 and 35 for them, 42 and 36 for the St. Louis Cardinals. A lot of Midwest, what did you say? I said heart. Did I say something else? You gave me... No, you said, heart. 42 and 36 for them.

The Reds, two games over 500, 40 and 38, and the Pittsburgh Pirates, 31 and 48. Then out west, the Dodgers, a three and a half game lead on the Giants, 48 and 31 for the Dodgers, 44 and 34 for the Giants. Padres, 42 and 35. They're five games back. And then the Diamondbacks, 39 and 38, so one game over 500, the Rockies, 18, and 60. in the wild card, Jacob.

We have the Mets, the Giants, and the Brewers in the Wildcars. So three different divisions there. The Padre is a half game out. The Cardinals, one game out. And then the Reds and the Dimebacks, three and three and a half games out respectively.

And as I mentioned, the Braves. People want to keep giving them chances. I'm going to talk about somebody later, but there's still seven games back in the Wild Cardinals. And those are the standings in the National League. Thank you, Trevor. Well done.

And let's do some Mets Phillies. I know you're jazzed up about this one because it had a little bit of everything. I mean, the Mets breaking their losing streak, but kind of not out of their losing ways. They go nuts in that second game. Rob Thompson and Cassiano's. We had a benching going on earlier this week. So where do you want to go with it? It wasn't a great series, if we're being honest.

I mean, a couple, I mean, lopsided game and some fun things happened. If you want to go into the Topper Castiano stuff, I guess we can. He had some interesting, you know, look, if you don't know, he got removed for a defensive replacement, didn't like it, said something, I believe in the dugout to Topper or maybe somebody else, whatever. He said something that made Topper mad. We don't know what it was, but mad enough that he sat him, ended his streak of game, started. I mean, there had to be something of measure, right?

Like you had to be pretty... Rob Thompson's a veteran manager. Castiano's obviously a veteran player. You don't just bench him because he says, even if he said earmuffs, fuck this. Like, you don't bench him for something like that. You, it's there's, he said something else. I mean, do you think maybe it's like umpire rules whenever you make it personal? Like maybe he gave him like an FU because that that might do it. Even if he said, even if he said earmuffs again, like, fuck, right? Rob, what are we doing here? Like, I still don't think that's benching material.

Yeah, I don't think so either, which means a team. He said some, right? He said some. But then, you know, Cassios comes back. The next game makes a decent catch at the wall. I think he maybe made it look a little better than it. Maybe it was. He also had a, he was going balls out.

He understands defense hasn't been great. So there was, I believe this was on. no this was Saturday I was watching the game before Trump broke through and messed the whole thing up for us but during that game there was a ball down the right field line

and Cassie Young's booked it bro, he booked it, goes into a slide ball in the glove and then it shoots out and you could just tell the frustration was there because he wants to make these plays and it was just so close from there but that's the whole situation they're fine now they've talked about it

afterwards. It didn't, again, didn't go to detail of what was said, but the relationship is fine. The Phillies and Treve, we talked about a little bit beforehand. You and me, it's funny when we don't have the Monday or Friday episode, it feels like we, for how deep we are in it, it feels like we miss ball. I feel like we were just talking about the Phillies and how they were slumping. And I think they were like two and ten. I just saw the numbers. They were two and ten in a stretch before they've now gone and they're 9 and 2. So a little bit of summer baseball and enjoying the ride. And beating the teams they need to be is a big series against them in the Mets.

Obviously they took over the division lead with the series win. Yeah, I mean, they're getting it going. I think both these teams are right where they need to be. I was trying to think, like, is there something going on with the Mets? I know they haven't played great baseball as of late. but if you watch this series, I mean, they're fine.

I guess the one big news out of New York is that Francisco Alvarez gets sent down. And that was, I think a lot of people, I don't know if they saw it coming, but he has been struggling. Even, you know,

the one game I did get to catch was that Saturday game. And watching him behind the plate, it was too much going on. And I know, like the defense has, hasn't been great this year. He's still throwing,

people out, but the defense has been kind of a little wonky as far as like framing and, and blocks. He's just all over the place back there. I kind of just wanted to settle down and give a target. That was my perspective, at least. Then the offense really hasn't been there either. So they're going to have a little breather down there in AAA. I'd assume this is like a two week. Hey, let's go get right. Let's work on some things. And he'll be back. Yeah, get your bearings a little bit for the guy, you know, 25 homers as a 21-year-old. and then, yeah, it's been a little clunky. So that's a storyline to watch for the Mets.

And they're trying to shake their losing ways a little bit. Seven in a row, they lose this series. Let's see how they bounce back from it. Trev, Red Sox Giants, man. I mean, this is... Baseball doesn't always have this because to have a superstar traded, a star endeavors.

Don't need to get into the semantics with people right now. Go up against his former team. And then you got him and Chapman at the end of the game and they give the dueling head knot at the same time. Doesn't get much better than that. Giants bounce back the rest of the weekend. They take two. And hey, man, that final game, Trevor, this is going to excite you

because I love the dueling headnots. That's so perfect. Do that again. Do that again. That's so perfect. That's such. Love that. I mean, this is a duel.

this is this is instead of 1800 shooting people with guns this is what we do now gosh that's so cool perfect um dude the Red Sox defense I'm not doing a ball know or stuff on you

did you see what they essentially lost the final game on it's a line drive to second base the Romney Gonzalez yeah yeah I saw it just goes through his glove and like we're losing games like that that can't happen yeah I don't know if like there was a weird was it a sun ball? I don't know if it was high enough to be a sun ball.

It was bright out there. I don't know, but yeah, you got to make the catch, man. I'm trying to maybe stick up for my guy there. But they, you know, defense has not been the, well, I mean, they got some guys that can go get the ball, but the infield defense has not been great for the Red Sox this year. I think that's an understatement. Tough one.

I mean, look, it's going to happen throughout the year. It looks bad. And this is a huge series. I mean, for Devers, in that Saturday game, had the big knock to put them ahead. ahead early. He ends up scoring a big run in that Sunday game. He gets

the victory, hits a homer, gets the series win. He's going to start playing first base. It's all coming up Devers as of right now. Great backside homer off his guy Beio. I think for him, he's probably a little nervous to see how this game was going to, this series was going to go. But San Francisco's been great.

Giving him standing ovations almost every single time he comes up to the plate, it's been pretty awesome. Looks good in the Giants uni. I was wondering, you know, you never really know, especially with, you know, as Big Poppy called him out of shape. So I think that's like, we haven't really talked about this. Let's get juicy.

Let's get the baseball gossip going. Well, you know, Poppy's been like showing text messages and he's been, you know, very much taking the Red Sox side on this one. Yeah, calling him out of shape in Springtran. And I want to be like, Poppy. Poppy, you can say a lot. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, does that matter?

This is baseball. Like, if you're a big boy and you hit, you hit. Endeavors, guess what he can do? You can hit. It's weird. He's flipped. I don't love that aspect of it for Poppy. I understand who is allegiances, who writes his checks.

You really need that check, Poppy. But to flip like that is interesting to me. I'm not a big fan and maybe there's some stuff underneath the servers that we don't know maybe Devers and him has really never had the relationship that he thought Right So that's it's

I don't think it's a great look for Ortiz It's like as much I get this right now Like as I'm I travel with the team Like I want to be like One of the guys I'm not one of the fucking guys dude I'm just not I'm media and you know

I still am get, I have a great relationship with all the players. I go, I talk when they need me, they come to me. Like, they use me as a resource when they need it. But at the end of the day, you're not in the game anymore. These guys are in it. You're not. So you have to kind of back off.

Just by two cents. Yeah, and if you're the Red Sox, it's not a loss weekend. Brian Bayo is for straight quality start. You guys have needed more pitching. Wheelier is back. So yeah, you would have liked to win the series. you would have like to catch that Romy ball. But hey, Trev, maybe there's something the Giants,

15 and 2 in home day games. So maybe there is a little voodoo going on there. They win a lot of one-run games. They have 19 one-run victories. It's four more than any other team. This is a fun one. I have this stat up right here. How about this?

It's a roller coaster of a season for the Giants. Okay. The first 38 games, 24 and 14. That's really good. next 23 games 9 and 14 next seven games 7 and 0 last nine games three and six it's just been but the offense you know broke out a little bit in this series adamas had a nice home or two elliott's been kind of going the entire year they're they are a scary team buster posey seems like he's on a fucking mission to go out and win the division and go far in the playoffs he's he's had that taste three times.

That's all he knows, coach. That's all he knows. Expect them to be huge, huge players at the deadline. Yeah. Yeah, I just, I just clicked on Devers baseball reference and the MLB trade rumors popped up. Giants and Yankees keeping a close eye on IKF. Okay.

Been there. Yankees want him back? We need a third baseman. He just ran him out of town. He's a, if I'm ICF, I go like this. No, no. He's a fine third baseman. Well, and actually...

You guys made him, like, very upset. That's not nice because he's a nice guy. Off the record, there's some Yankee fans that wouldn't mind seeing him at shortstop these days. Anyways, go check out talking Yanks for your Yankees updates. Trev, I guess, I mean, do we hit the show hey button quick? Like, he's pitching. Are you seeing anything?

He does one inning again, so, you know, this kind... I mean, it's just awesome. It's awesome to remind baseball fans why he's so special going out there. And the stuff is elite on the mound. You mentioned his K. We gave snaps for that. But he also had a great game offensively. It's like it's just like we can't just don't have judge or Otani fatigue, guys.

Just really enjoy what we're seeing. I think that is my message. Almost every time we talk about Otani now, it's just he's so good. But like a lot of things in life. And I've actually had this thought a ton late. nothing impresses anybody anymore. It's so hard to impress people these days because on your phone you see everything.

Like nothing's impressive. Dude, like, I feel like now, there are times where like I get this on social media too. I was a big leader, nine seasons, right? That's a pretty cool accomplishment when I really sit back and think about it. But people think I'm, oh, you're, you suck. there's a bit. What do you know about baseball? Right. Like, I'm not impressive to anybody because I'm not the best there ever was.

Right. Like, you have, it has, it's so hard to impress people now that I think they're getting lumped into that as well. Like, nobody cares. You could do the coolest thing in the world, but oh, I saw that on the internet already. Right. Doesn't matter. Uh, so let's just like try not to lump those two guys into what we're seeing in society. Wow. Not getting heavy. Do you know what I'm talking about though you never have those thoughts i do all the time i mean i i love those thoughts and those conversations that's why i'm impressed by you treff um because how how many guys can play ball and yuck ball like you i think you're one of one that is true i can yuck ball with the best of them

um saw dexter fowler at fanatics fest nice guy we had a nice chat i think dex and i are gonna about to be real close oh well he's friends with devonte adams okay he's really good buddies I'm assuming our football season paths are going to cross a lot. I think we're too slutty. Speaking of, I actually do have something I have to put on the people. I got a DM from Jimmy Hergit, Rocky's reliever. And he said, we've had a couple DMs. He's a golf guy.

He swung by the office. He said, we need to spread the word about making Hunter Goodman an All-Star. He's leading like all catchers and offensive numbers. So now I'm paying it forward trying to use our platform. Let's give Hunter Goodman some love. And Trev, if you want to have one more deep society talk, did you see Ryan Day in Colorado? My guy Spilly put it together, yeah.

We're losing our minds, dude. Yeah, I don't know what that was about. Have all the Ryan's meet up at the ballpark? Like, I don't know. I don't want to hate on it, but also what are we doing? it. I don't even know. I was going to say like, what if something crazy happened? The Ryan's all got together short-circuited and just started going nuts. I mean, that's kind of what happened. Like, Treve, you want to know, if you want to get dark for a second,

I'm picturing the Rocky's owner being like, okay, guys, instead of putting a good product on the field to get people in the stands, let's get creative. Oh, how about we start a Ryan day? Oh, it wasn't him, but. Ryan McMahon I don't know any Ryan's that I don't like So I think Ryan can be like one of those names You're like all right Yeah, Ryan's are cool

I think my favorite part about it is They had a firm no Brian's rule So that's good Spilly is a funny guy I do want to get into Reds Cardinals A little bit because I think the Cardinals Deserve a lot of love They're still here

the Reds have done some stuff. They're both still here. Excuse me. They're both still here. Like they are a part of this season. Yeah. And we keep referencing what we thought about this season for the Cardinals, like where they were going to land and how they were going to perform. And what kind of roster they had set up.

And it seems like everybody wants to stay there. Nobody wants to go. The guys that have no trade clauses are saying we don't want to be traded and they're playing that way as well. second game, Aeronado. You mentioned the big, you know, the Midwest, what'd you call? Heart. There's a lot of heart on the field. It's the homer to tie it.

Your guy, Pozo? Yeah. With a nice little helicopter hack right there. And then, yeah, you mentioned Walker kind of like lumbering around the bases. That was like if you hit a walk-off single and I had the score. Hmm. Like he was, it was pretty slow with there. He's a big boy.

He's long. He's long. Him and Pozo bringing different things to the table. This was awesome. We were showing it for our podcast selling. He was showing Aeronado's Homer. He hit it. He knew it. It was great. The intensity that he plays with is almost unmatched. This is kind of his M.O. If this video keeps rolling to him coming around home play, like, I don't know, man.

I, like there's something to baseball about keeping the same energy every day. And, well, I mean, look at that, man. He's fired up, bro. Let's go. It's a baseball town that's Nolan Aranato. he's basically done almost everything you can do in this sport and here he is in a June game just as hype as you can be I love it I love he's a freaking leader dude it's awesome to see that um so the Cardinals been playing great baseball they're right there uh I saw I think we've been shouting our guys out at foul territory for a while now uh they had more allie marmal on asking him about like how does it feel to be the most hated manager he didn't really

have a great answer for it. I don't think he was too stoked, you know. He's like, well, ask my players and then get back to him. I'm like, that's okay. I understand that. Guys like playing for you, that's all that matters. Um, on the red side of this. Oh. Some good performances there. We got to get Andrew Abbott to the All-Star game. His overall numbers are insane. I'm good with that. And I, you know what? I love me a lefty, a crafty lefty. Yeah. It's a dying breed, but also it's never going to die. Yes. You know what I mean. Life finds a way.

Yeah. Like if you're a lefty that can change speeds and throw strikes, you're going to be an effective pitcher in the big leagues and there's just nothing that anybody can do about it. As much as we want to have every single guy, you know, snorting pre-workout and throwing as hard as they can, they're still going to be the crafty lefty that gets the job done just the same. And guess what? Probably won't have to have TJ every three years.

Like I love this brand of baseball. On the year, Jake, 13 starts. a sub one whip. 0.956, a 179 ERA. So you old dorks that still like ERA, I'm one of them, he's just, he's absolutely dealing.

Dealing. Jose Cantana and Milwaukee has a 2,980RA this year. I saw that too, yeah. You can get guys out a lot of different ways. And yeah, I'll be interested. Man, oh man, uh, Cubs Cardinals. Talk about Midwest Heart.

a four-game set, too. They have not played yet this year, Jake. Four-gamer that NL Central could look a lot different in a couple days. I guess in either direction. I don't want to knock the Cubs down because they have been great this whole year. But, dude, if the Brewers, Cardinals and potentially Reds get brought in the mix, a division that we kind of chalked up as go-cubs go and we'll see the rest of you later could be a very different tone throughout the summer.

Thank you. Let's, uh, what do you got? I was there anything else who want to hit. Padres take two or three. Nanda with the big home run. I think that, um, well, the game, was it the, who, when did Jack Caglione rob Jack Samarro? Was that game one? I think that was game two in my head.

We're looking, we're looking, we're looking. Let's see, Caglione. It was game three. It was yesterday. Oh, okay, okay. That was awesome. Yeah, nice catch from the big boy, getting adapted to his new position. Oh, yes, okay.

Now, I got my games mixed up there. Okay. Even the play to end game three, you know, Iglesias, I think he drove in all three runs here, fielders choice to end the game. Bobby, if we can pick up that, arise scores. Bobby Witt was so close to making one of like the most incredible plays you're ever going to see at short stuff. Do we have that play up? Yeah.

You can. I'd love to see. ball infield in, ranging to his left, kind of catches the hop here and just doesn't a crazy jump spin throw. And I think if the throw was online, they might get a rise, but he pulls it just a little bit because he's 360ing in the air.

It's, it's, the fact he's got an attempt at it is insane. I love a rise celebrating. A rise, like, I'm so fast. Yeah, dude, you were amazing. Yeah, hey, good for the fathers. Royals, again, it's been a tough, tough little bit.

Padres were in a rough stretch there. Hopefully this can bring them out of it. Salvy pissed on a ball, which I like seeing that. And then, yeah, I mean, the only other thing I really had from this series is the name John Rave cracks me up. I was going to say there's parts of Denver that I'm known as John Rave. But that was a different... We don't need to go there, Pop.

It was a different life ago. Shut up Randy Vasquez. Fourth of July, I'm thinking. about letting it eat a little bit. I haven't done a show in a while. We'll see. We'll see. There's so much.

And we're going to talk about a chunk of it coming up in the rest of the show. Let's move on to standout performances. It's time for standout performances. Standout performances. Stand out performances. This guy stood out for Trev. Say what? Standout performances is brought to you by.

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which are not approved by or verified for safety and effectiveness by the FDA. Prescription require an online consultation with a healthcare provider who will determine if appropriate restrictions apply. See website for details and important safety information. Subscription required. Prices vary based on product and subscription plan. Trev, who stood out for you, Big Dog? I am going with an AL central rival of mine,

and I'm going Riley Green, not the country's single. Jake who you fell in love with I've heard living in a one horse town no Riley Green the baseball player goes three for three with two homers four runs driven in it was in an

L to the raise but I got to thinking like what I know Riley Green's having a good season just how good is it I went to his stat page and Jake hitting right in the middle of that Tiger's order third, fourth, depending on the day

who's pitching against him. The guy is hitting 291. He's got 17 homers already and 59 runs driven in. 59. 875 OPS. He's entering elite status. 144 OPS plus dude.

We're talking like, okay, career numbers for him, like standard career numbers. I have to get him up again. Sorry, I just lost him. You're good. I mentioned 59 runs driven in. His season high in the career is 74.

That was last year when he was an all-star. 24 homer, 74 runs driven in. That's career highs for him. He's got 17 and 59 already this season. He's turned into 24 years old still. I feel like he's been around the block. 24 years old, right in the middle of that fucking lineup, dude. Tigers look great.

And I just like, I love his swing. wing. It's just a straight up. Jason Benetti has like, he's one of the best, has great calls on him, just calls it like the tiger uppercut. And it's exactly what it is. I mean, it's like, who was, uh, I think he was guile and street fighter.

If you got him down, he would like get on the ground and then do this uppercut punch. I think he was guile. Shout out America. He was like the soldier. Same, same. Same. Same zies, you know. Riley green and guile. That's what everyone was thinking. I don't know. I'm glad you said it.

Yeah, I told you, and this is just dumb Jake Brain stuff, but we've hit the point of the season where the guys who are balling out have like nice year-long season stats. Like James Wood has 21 homers and 57 RBI. And like, if we went into next year's PPPs and we're like, oh, yeah, you know, that's a pretty solid year from James Wood. And it's like, oh, shoot, it's June. June 23rd, yeah.

Good for Riley Green. Nice catch over the sidewall in Tampa. Decent catch. I don't know. He oversawed it just a little. He oversolved it just a little bit. It's a nice catch. He's a nice catch.

He's up on the pageantry, okay? I just gave him a big compliment. Just relax. Trev, I'll be honest with the people, because that's all I got. If I don't have that, I've got nothing. I wanted to give my word to Clark Schmidt, who basically went seven innings no hit against the Orioles.

And then, you know, I'm calling myself out, because some people are, oh, you talk about, to Yankees. Don't do that here. Go do that at talking Yanks. Clark Schmidt, a stat popped up on my page that of AL pitchers over the last two years with 150 innings pitched. ERA, which we still like is our old heads. Number one, Terrick Scoobel. Yep, that checks out. Number two, Clark Schmidt.

Clark Schmidt, sneaky been dealing the past two years helped stabilize the Yankees rotation. They've needed it. without him. I don't know where they'd be. He's starting to find extra, he's finding lengthen games. That was one of the Knoxon Clark. There was a lot of 5.1s, 5.2s in there. Seven innings. He's had a couple of those recently.

That's been huge. So if I'm going to talk Yankees, I need to balance it out. And today I'll balance it with the rivalry. Because part of my theme, the rest of the episode, is going to be defense. Sadan Rafael, is probably how a lot of you people know them. You know, highlight plays, just an electric ball player. Like, if we came out with Coach Ballgame's annual electric ball player list,

I think Raphael would be on it. My guy's been hitting. He's not my guy. I'll take that back. Sidon, Raphael has been hitting. Over his last 71 at bats, 338, 373 with a 592 slash going on. And with the way he plays defense, when I saw these stats, Trev, I was like, okay, I mean, he has to be a guy who's racking up some war, right?

2.6B war. Like, that's on pace for a five-war season, which is an elite, high-level baseball player. And he's hitting right now, he's at a 99 OPS plus. If he stays there, he's a five-war player. If he starts hitting at like a 110, a 115, you're looking at a six, like, seven-war potential guy, which that's... That's rare air. That home we're just showing right now

was an absolute missile to center field in San Francisco. I mean, that's kind of like what I'm talking about people not being impressed with anything anymore. Oh, five war season. Do you have any idea how hard it is to have a five war season?

Oh my gosh. Go look at how many five war seasons there are a year. If I had to guess and Robbie, I need you to get on this dog. This is awesome. I want to get in on this one. How many five? Let's just go B-Wor.

I'm getting in on this one. Five B-Wore seasons. How many? I'm going to guess right now. And there's 30 teams in baseball. Facts. I'm going to guess 22 people in all of the game had a five-war season. And I feel like I'm overshooting it a little bit.

Wow. Okay. According to perplexity, in the 2024 MLB season, there were 21 players who posted a B-War of 5.0 or higher. It's not that impressive, bro. And Trevett, so I'm, I went to F-Wor just because I know how to search fan graphs

a little quicker to find that. Last year in F-war, there was 18 hitters who were 5-war or higher. So, like, that's less than one per team. Quick math. Good math right there. So, yeah, if the Raphael of breakout is happening, because, man, and he's, like you said,

dude, Centerfield in San Francisco, he's got speed, he's got juice, he plays defense, he's an electrician on the field. So there's a lot of good options for standout, a little rivalry from myself. I think the other guys I want to talk about, I think we're going to see him on Enfuego. Dirt Nasty's on Fuego.

That means I'm on fire, babies, like Waco. Corona's Enfuego on Monday. I think in Minnesota it's legal, but they don't have dispensaries yet. There's a weird, something going on here. I don't know what it is. I don't partake. We're going to talk about some guys that I'm excited to talk about.

Donovan Solano, Donnie Barrels being one of them. Nine for 14 in the series, a double two homers, three consecutive three hit games. He had a career high, five runs driven in on Sunday. Eugenio Suarez joins the 300 homer club. Are you shitting me? Yeah. three homers in the series.

He became the third Venezuelan born player to reach 300 homers. That is rare air, bro. There's been some Venezuelan ballers in this league. What's in his basement? Miguel Cabrera, 511 homers in Andres Alarago. The Big Gats.

399. Oh, that stinks. 399. How many, I want to know how many games he had after his 399. Trev, now you're being part of the problem with society. No, I don't think it stinks like it's not getting. mean like dude you i want to know how many games he had left with 399 because you know he was trying

to get to 400 and dros galarine i'm looking into it um and swore has not only entered the 300 home run club jigged 67 runs driven down the season that leads major league baseball uh yellie my good buddy who actually showed me up for dinner i had a dinner playing with him in rees hoskins oh we're like let's go at the dinner and i got you guys let's go uh they called me up after the game Hey man like it was like 95 Heat index was like a hundred I'm super tired man I'm sorry Like we got called a rain check

Come see us tomorrow in the clubhouse It was fine Yeah It hurt a little bit Is it for being honest Eight for 14 for Yelly I mean he just absolutely torched us A 10 runs driven in

He had eight in one game Without a homer he was close though A couple doubles One was just off the wall First player in majorly baseball history though Jake to have eight homer or eight runs driven in and no runs scored though that's actually a crazy stat for the week byron bucks and i'm glad we're getting to mention him here because he's just been an absolute menace a nine for 23 six homers jake and of course because it's the twins right now

six homers how many runs driven in jake 69 six oh six that's stuff i'm clicking around andres galaraga stuff so i'm not i'm not with you right now um He had his fourth leadoff homer this season on Sunday. It's his 13th leadoff homer of his career. He passed Dan Gladden for fifth in franchise history in that regard. He's been going off playing crazy defense. He deserves to be in Atlanta. Our guy Mickey Moniac went 8 for 23 with four homers during the week.

His 821 slugging percentage leads all of baseball. That's since May 25th. Go Mickey. Yeah, got a boy. Bob Bichette, having a really good year. Don't know if you've seen his numbers, Jake. 11 for 27. That's a 407 average during the.

week three homers for him. Alec Berluson, 10 for 26. He also had three homers during the week. Nick Kurtz, it's happening. Eight for 27. Four of those were for home runs. He had his fifth homer in six games on Friday. He became the first ace hitter with five homers,

five homers in six games since Chris Davis with a K in August, 2018. If he gets going, that A's offense has a potential to be very, very special. And some pitchers who shoved, love doing this. mentioned Payante. Andre Pionte, Palante, six innings pitch,

no earned runs. He's got a 193 in his last seven starts and 17 appearances against Cincinnati. Jeffrey Springs of the A's through a career high, seven and a third innings pitched with only one earned run.

Luis Ortiz for Cleveland. He tied his career high. He had 10 Ks and six innings pitch, landed Rup of the San Francisco Giants. He's gone six plus shuddy, In four of his last seven starts, this one was six innings pitch, no earned runs for him. Slade Chaconi, Cleveland starting pitcher, seven innings pitch, zero earned runs.

His seven shutout innings pitch was just the second time. A Cleveland starter has done so this season. The last time was Tanner Bybee on May 22nd. Jake, that's who shoved. That's the people who are in Fuego. Tell us who are some of the guys who are on the struggle bus. Let's pick these guys up. Trev

Fantastic job, by the way. First guy, a guy that I have no doubt will be off this list but it just shows how baseball goes sometimes. Jesus was a carpenter. Carrie. Two for his last 33. That's 061. And really struggling with runners in scoring position this year.

The lowest batting average in OPS with at least 120 total plate appearance. So that's a, it's not what you want and it's not what you expect out of, you know, one of the game's best hitters when he's right. Matt Shaw for the Cubby's, hard hit rate of 8% on inside pitches. That's lowest in MLB this year. Okay. Let's work on that. I'm not saying you got to tweak the stance, but I'm interested, Matt Shaw.

Denzel Clark. A little more of a tease. You're going to see some of him in a little bit. The bat, the glove is working overtime. The stick is not. Five for 35. Only one multi-hit game in June. Jung-Hoo-Lee.

Okay, five for 43. Struggling with pitches in the zone. Same. Muki bets. My God. Eight for 49. Hitting 121 against starting pitchers the past two weeks.

Bad formula. Hey, I'll tell you what. Pretty good week to be on batters who are struggling. Like, I'll get lumped in with Mookie, Carrie Carpenter, J.HL. And those guys are going to come off that list. So I'm not worried about it at all.

The IL. So we're going to bring it down one last time before we really pick it up at the end. I'm hype. And I just got some Andres Gala Raga info that might blow people's minds. Place on the IL. Ivan Herrera for St. Louis, a left hamstring. Interesting. Wide timetable.

That's tough for this series, too. Yeah. big time table because you don't really know with the hamstring. Could be two weeks. Could be like a month and a half. So that's definitely something to watch in Cardinal land. Jorge Soler, a little solar power. Low back acting up for Georgie.

Jake, how's your burger for Texas? Left oblique. Send the DM, Trev. Got it. Send the DM. Adley Rushman, I believe this is his first IL stint. He's got the oblique too. So you got a...

Get active. I'm going to have a seminar about obliques. Get act. Chris Sale, fractured ribcage. Uh-oh. I mean, Braves. He did it on a defensive play. It was that dive?

It was, Jesus, man. I mean, he doesn't have a lot of cage. No, there's not a lot of cushion there. No, a lot of cage for those ribs. Hunter Dobbins will never be a Yankee, right elbow strain. Three to four weeks, maybe the minimum. We'll see. Ryan Yarbrough, for my yanks.

Right oblique, Traff. So, yeah, you got to tighten it up with the fellas. I'll be like a Zoom webinar, okay? How about that? A weekly oblique Zoom webinar. Hey, returning from the aisle. Wielierre Abrae, who shouted him out. Sam Long, money long in that Royals bullpen.

Nathan Lucas for your Jays. It's a fun one. Luke Riley for Seattle. Luke Weaver for our Yankees. Jackson Merrill. Baseball's better when Jackson Merrill's in it and Brian doing some hoeing in the bullpen That's who's back

Can we start off everyone's week? Shout out to Kelsey Wingard And those LSU Tigers again for getting it done And shout out to the Draft King Sportsbook Because people, it's baseball season The other stuff's done So get in on the action with draft kings It's heating up on and off the field

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Void in Ontario. New customers only. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. Four additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.com slash audio. Treb, before I kick to you, for all of our baseball, losers, and I say that in an endearing because I am one. Go check out Andres Gala Raga's baseball reference. A, you know I love a guy that plays forever. And you were asking, when did Andre Scalaraga get his last homer? Andrezcalaraga played seven games in 2004 as a 43-year-old.

From 1985? From 85 to 04. Wait, hold on. That's three different decades ago. Three, yeah, those are different. You're playing against, like, I mean, it's one of my favorite games is to play who you played against. Like, this is, this is crazy. I mean, this is like Mickey Cabs and Mickey Mantle.

That's not right. A, bold on the page, batting title, it's led the league in hits, doubles, homers, RBI, gold gloves, ton of MVP votes. And then Trev, I started digging a little more because I was like, wait, why do you only play seven games? because he hit in those seven games in 2004. Dude was fighting cancer. Got chemo treatments.

Came up for a September call-up. People aren't impressed by shit anymore. Be impressed by the fucking Big Cat, Andre Scala Raga. Holy's, I texted Jolly. I said, do a video on this MF her. My God. So if that doesn't get you hyped up for awards,

I don't know what will. Shout out. 85 to 2000. Jake, I was born in 86. I graduated high school in 2004. My entire life through high school, he's been in the big leagues and beyond. Yes.

Yes. Holy crap, man. I'm glad we got into that. I love it. I do have an award if you want to hear it. I need it. And yes, we're Tolkien baseballing up. Oh, oh.

This award is called Dark, have been my dreams of late. and it's a reference to King Theodan in the two towers. He's under control of Saruman, not himself, worm tongue is there, whispering thoughts into his head, dark, gross thoughts, not letting him be the king he needs to be for the people of Rohan. But then comes Gandalf and Gimli and Aragorn and Legerless,

and they come to save him. Gandalf, the gray is not there. It's Gandalf, the war. white. And he gets Saramont out of King Theodin's body. And it's actually one of my favorite scenes in any of the trilogy. And some of the best CGI you're going to see because these movies were put out around the time Andres Galaraga was done playing baseball in like 2004. And it still plays big time if you see it.

He goes from this ghostly looking figure to strong King Theodon that we're used to seeing. and one of the top lines in the entire series of books is from Gandalf to Theodon, he says, your fingers would remember their old strength better if they grasped your sword. And hands him his sword, he takes it. And he's like, oh,

yeah, I'm King Theodon. Love that. So it's a big thing. I think I've given this award out before, but it just, it lends itself to so many different situations. If you haven't seen a two-tower, just go watch it.

It's incredible. I am giving this award to Ronald Acuna Jr. Dark have been his dreams of late. Coming back, dealing with multiple injuries throughout his career. He didn't make his debut this year until exactly a month ago. May 23rd of 2025, he comes in. Jake, his overall. Overall numbers are astounding.

He's hitting 396. This is 96 at bats now. 396. His on base percentage is 504. His slugging percentage is 698. He's almost 4-5-7ing it for the 1.2 OPS plus 231. And now Jimmy has that stat that he likes to do. How many games did you do nothing?

Okay. Hitless games over this span, four hitless games, Jake, over that span of a month, okay? Only once did you have a hitless game where he also did not have a walk. We're talking about this guy has been everything that you could want and coming back from another injury doing it like this, it has to feel like Dark had been my dreams of late.

As soon as he gets his bat back into his hand, he realizes the player who he is and has just been absolutely going off it hasn't coincided with a ton of Braves victories unfortunately uh but it has not been a Ronald the Cooney Jr. problem whatsoever he's been crushing it they're 11 and 16 since he's been back even though he's putting up those kinds of numbers so shout out Ronald the Coonio Jr you're doing your part big guy that's um I think Again, an absolute treat for some people, and I think very daunting for other people, but I'm glad how you did it. Quick, 21 walks, 25 strike counts.

Okay. We like that. Yeah. We love that. Yeah, Ronnie's been bawling. I don't, the Braves, man, I don't, I don't know, Trekk. Now, Chris Sale out. It's, like, I kind of tastefully called them dead, and people, people didn't love that.

Yeah, I don't, right now I'm still in my, I'm kind of. coming out of my Andres Gala Raga wormhole, because one of the games I love to play is, like, in your early years, who did you play with or against? And then in your late years to, like, connect 50 years of baseball. In his first year, he played against Mike Schmidt,

Vida Blue. Oh, gosh. And in his last year, he was teammates with Krod, John Lackey, like Jared Weaver. Laddie. No, Weaver was a draft pick.

So, yeah, that's, it doesn't, it really doesn't. make sense in my head. Anyways, Trev, I feel like this might be an annual award. This might be a monthly award. I'm giving out the we want the D award. Sure. You know what the kid would say to that? Pause. Pause. I'm not a kid. I'm a grown man. Oh, wait, bet. Trev, I've told the people here, I'd, you know, go through,

check out the MLB app, go watch the 10-minute recaps. Like, if you want to really get lost in baseball, it's a good way to see what's really happening around the league. And, you know, a sack fly in the box score can look a lot of different ways on a baseball field. So I'm going around, I'm watching and catching up on the games. And Trev, there was so many defensive just misses.

You mentioned Bobby Witt, which is on the high end. Like, that would have been a play of all plays. We talked about Adelaise Garcia. He had a ball that went off his glove that would have been the third out of the inning in one of the Pirates games. Gunner Henderson had a relay throw and that would have got Paul Goldschmidt at home

if it was just up the line. I mentioned the Jordan Walker play. Like that throw was just off the line. And it's, Trev, it's a little frustrating, man, because it's this whole concept of We're prioritizing the bat. Defense is what it is. And like, there was a lot of baseball games

that could have been decided this week and weekend in this whole season. If the defense was just turned up a notch and I really don't think when we do this conversation, it's old man yelling at cloud. Maybe it is. Maybe that's just where we're at. But we always look at the brewers, the guardians,

the teams that win without guys, and we're like, how do they do it? It's defense. Like defense matters And there was a couple plays That mattered First one I mentioned Jackson Meryl is back

And Padre fans You're not happy We didn't talk about your series that much That's how it goes sometimes Jackson Meryl back for the Padres Obviously a difference maker In a lot of ways In that final game

Top 9 Freddy Fermin hits a two out double Into the gap Jackson Meryl catches it on one hop He doesn't let it to get to the wall. Turns fire. Relay throw home, which that deserves credit as well.

They get the runner at home plate to keep it a two-two game, Drew Waters. A beautiful, just cut off, turn in the gap. Waters takes one hezy step that that might have cost him. This might have won the Padres the game. Like if that runs scores, if that throw is on the first base line, which a lot of other throws were this weekend, then it's royals have the lead going into the ninth. things get a little tighter, you might lose a series, you might lose a game.

Defense matters. And that's why there's one other cat I just got to talk about Trev. Because I, as you know, I think, I do my annual golf trip every year with my group of OKC buddies. And everyone laughs because they're like, Jake, why do you have a group of Oklahoma City buddies? It's just I was the 12th in their fantasy football league. And like I worked with a guy and now they're kind of my crew. We do an annual fantasy football draft trip every year. It's one of my favorite weekends.

They're on cloud nine. The Oklahoma City Thunder won the NBA title. And like, it just ties in, they never thought they'd see their city have a sports team or have a title for years, that they're very proud and very happy, and it's the beauty of sports. The beauty of sports, and with baseball,

I say this so much. Center field is my one-one. Like, I love third base in the hot corner and a great play at third base. That gets me going more than shortstop, more than first, more than a catcher throwing a guy. I love third, I love center. Center to me, there's nothing better.

And what Denzel Clark is doing, yes, he's had the Superman robberies. This catch in left center field that a lot of center fielder's don't even think about catching that as a possible play. Like you just start running to the wall. and I'm crunching the numbers on it. And Trev, you've gotten to watch a lot of Buck Daddy. And Buckston at his peak,

like he could go toe to toe with anyone. Denzo Clark, he's got a unique body. He's a tall guy. You don't see a lot of talls end up in center field. Listed 6-4-220. That's like a power-wide receiver. That's like a dude. And the way he is going and getting it,

I haven't seen a lot of guys look like that. And yeah, he's had a couple really cool robberies this year. Something about that ball in left center did something for me. He's racked up 0.5 war this year while having a 468 OPS. My dude's not hitting.

And maybe that comes, maybe it doesn't. But the way he is getting balls in the outfield, it's my favorite thing to watch in this sport. And if you're someone at home that likes watching this sport too and you like that, you got to see this guy. And I've got another Jakey weird sports theory. He's Canadian.

Cousins of Bowen Josh Naylor, which I didn't have that coming into today. This is a little bit of a joke-ish theory that when you grow up in a place where the sport is played differently, sometimes you play the sport differently. And something about the way he goes and gets ball in center field, it's just not the same. And I think there's a little Canadian twist in there. I think there's a Canadian twist to Denzo Clark's center field. It's a developing theory. I know it's a little insane.

I got to know more about the Canadians then because this guy's incredible. I don't think we like. I don't have Canadians as like these high flying athletes. Well, this dude is. I know he is. This dude is. Shut up Cal State Northridge. Yeah.

Yeah. That's where he went to school. I don't know, man. That ball in left center, a lot of guys don't. They pick it up at the wall. I was an honorary C-Sons. fraternity bro. Not in a fraternity.

My friend was the president. I spent a lot of time there. That's sick. Go Toros. I'm a big Clark guy. Yeah, 10. He has his outs above average. 10 already.

It's the best in baseball. He's got sprint speed for such a big guy in the 96 percentile. So he's got the length, the athleticism, and the speed to get it done. Yeah. He's must watch. I mean, he's as Tori, hunter as they come. And if you know, you know, that's about as big of a compliment as you can get in center

field. The Bucks in comparison is fine. Buck is, if you get compared to Byron Buxton, guess what? Right. It's a really, really good thing because he can go get it too. But yeah, he's been awesome. I did not. I knew that he was struggling offensively, but he's struggling offensively.

He's struggling. He's struggling offensively. We might have little buntz, a couple of those guys. I mean, the good news is, in theory, it should only be. up from here. But man, I don't know. Tori and Buck both listed 6-2. Like, this guy's listed 6-4.

That's a little, that's a couple extra, each stride, each reach. I don't know, man. Everyone's been impressed by those over-the-wall catches and they should be. That ball in left center, I think if you've played the game, that's not a catchable ball. That's a double.

It's a double. So, I don't know. Start hitting a little bit. Benzel, just a little bit. Trev, juicy, big cat, ALMVP, baseball's hot in the streets. We are going to be back with the midweek. Not sure, maybe some power and trades.

Oh, family feud. Ho! Jack sucks. So? Yeah, Zos coming on. So if you want to go fill out our survey, Yeah. It's up right now.

Go fill out the dang survey, people. Also, Andres Gala Raga, he sat at $3.99 for just one game. He hit his final home run October 1st. I want to see his last few of bats. Was he just coming out of his shoes?