Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Cardinals Suddenly Looking GOOD | 664

Episode Date: May 19, 2023

Use code TALKIN for $20 off your first SeatGeek order. https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKINFind the game’s future stars at https://www.topps.comThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://betterhelp.com/talkinbaseball and get on your way to being your best self. Check Out the Eno Sarris article Trevor references: https://theathletic.com/4532034/2023/05/19/sarris-five-struggling-starters-futures/+++++Timestamps:0:00 Playing Hurt3:55 National League Recap9:05 Cardinals are Getting Right17:00 Will NL Central Winner Be Someone ELSE?23:30 Giants SWEEP Phillies27:00 Why is Sandy Alcantara Struggling?31:10 American League Recap35:50 Yankees & Jays DRAMA45:15 Angels & Orioles Split, Ohtani is Ridiculous48:40 Boston Beats Seattle52:30 White Sox-Guardians54:55 Interleague Recap59:15 Rich Hill-Miguel Cabrera1:02:05 Astros Sweep Cubs, Altuve Back Friday1:06:20 Braves-Rangers, Ronald Acuna Going NUTJOB1:12:55 Twins-Dodgers, Trevor's Broadcast Debut1:18:30 Mets Surprise the Rays1:22:25 Brenton Doyle1:25:30 Aaron Judge1:27:40 En Fuego1:31:45 Injury Updates1:33:30 300 Award: Freddie Freeman1:39:30 The Wringer Award: Zac Gallen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. Are the Cardinals back from being dead? Houston's back. Al Tuve's back. Trevor Plouf and I are both playing her. Let's talk baseball. Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball, presented to you by Seat Geek,

the Geeks of Seats with Code Talking. You'll get $20 off. Your first purchase at Seat Geek. They've got 70,000 events every single day at Seat Geek. Sports Concerts Festival. Go to something this weekend. Go to a game. Go check out your favorite team.

Are they sinking or swimming? Code talking, $20 off. Download the Seek app today. Number one rated ticketing app. That's good. Trevor, you're the number one rated Twins broadcaster in my book these past couple days,

and you're playing hurt, your eyes fighting back at you. How are you doing? I don't know if I need to do it. apologize for the way I look right now. People, it could be scary. This little eye over here, right here, got a little sty in it. So it wants to close. And I was going to wear my shades here. And maybe I will to start. I feel more confident now that I have these on because I just, I guess I'm a ball of stress these days. I've taken on maybe a little bit too much on my plate.

I'm having fun with it. But my body's like, hey, bro. Like, how about you get some sleep. Yeah. I'm excitedly back on this episode. Just notice we're on 664, which means Monday will be 665, and then Wednesday will be the devil's number. And I don't know if we just skip over that.

Like sometimes in the elevators, or like the apartment buildings, there's no 413, right? Yeah. So I think maybe we just do that. 13. Yeah, 13. Some hotels, skip it.

That always cracks me up when you, when you see it in your building and you start eyeballing it. and you're like, okay, so what's actually the 13th floor? Yeah. Is it 14 or, you know, some, like my, my apartment, it skips, like, the floor 2 and there's no floor 13. So you got to do a little mental math there.

Trev, I'm sorry about your eye. I still think you look beautiful. And, I mean, those dino glasses or whatever they are are talking baseball throwbacks, I think we should definitely plan like a demon, hellish-themed midweek episode. for 666.6. That's very much. That's very much our speed. To start, but then we end it in this beautiful light, maybe. We'll start with, like, ranking our 10 most evil players.

Oh, this is not evil. I was shown McCutcheonoff when you said evil players. I was going to say, I couldn't tell what shirt that is. That's Cutch, huh? Yeah, King Cutch, my guy. King Cutch. How'd you get so funky? Trev

We got some good stuff Some historic Corner infielder's Freddie Nolan Some teams Turning it around Some teams got some juice Mets get a couple big wins

Cards Boston's got pitching depth Now full pinch and pev Going to the pin I don't know if they got pitching depth Or if that's more of just like Struggle Boss thing Got guys.

Let's figure it out, Trev. And Friday means we start in the National League. And the National League is brought to you by Warehouse Games and Blitzball Battle. Guys, I guess it's somewhat on the record or off the record, but like it's killing it on our end. We've gotten 50K subscribers since the start of the tournament or something like that. 50K, I think, in the last week. Each video keeps becoming the biggest video. Our editors and production team does an incredible job on it.

Trev's in there. I'm in there. Big game this Sunday for me and Jimbo against Joe's and Pinstraves Strong. It's literally an all-timer. First elimination game of the tournament. So if you've been watching, you already know, and you're probably telling your friends. If you haven't, give it a checkout.

In the live chat is insane. 4.4,000. 4.4,000 people watching live. and it's gone up every up. We might get to 5K this Sunday at 6. So go check out the warehouse games as we go check out your National League. Trev, maybe the team of this episode,

the St. Louis Cardinals, they've been hot, they stay hot, they take two out of three from the brew crew and they open it up with 18 to 1. Jack Flaherty. You guys need to be tougher on Jack Flaredy. Flerty, I know he's your friend. Well, guess what? Jack went seven shutpiece and somehow Wilson Contreras caught him. Unreal. Big blowout win. Edmund, Gorman, Aeronado. Brewers get that second game and even after Wade Miley leaves early with injury, but they take the lead. Brian Anderson's solo homer in there, Devin Williams, his longest career saved to get it done. But guess what? Doesn't matter. Matthew Liberation.

Raider. He was the piece in that Randy Rosarana trade. That curveball is a pretty lefty curveball. And man, the Cardinals get it done and they get it done last night. But we're not talking about that series. People are talking. Talking about people. Rockies Reds, pump it into my veins. Rockies take two out of three. You might hear some Bretton Doyle now and later. He puts together a couple big games. Pro far. Getting on base for them. The game, Sincey wins that middle game, Williamson,

makes his debut for them. Nick Senzel with the big go-ahead Homer. Rockies, I feel like we talk about them winning series. In that NL. West, tough out there. Tough out there. Because the giant sweep,

Drev, your favorite coaching staff in baseball, they sweep the fight in Phillies. Hello. How are you? Conforto with the big day in the office. And you know if the Giants are winning. Tyro Estrada is evolved. I love the bullet. Taiwan Walker doesn't make it out of the first for the Phil's. Giants get themselves a nice little sweeperuny. So do the Marlins. I feel like those teams are in the same boat. We like them. We don't know what to do with them. We need them to win more. And they did this past week. They both sweep Marlins sweep the Nats, and you know they're going to have one-run wins, two of them. In those first two games, Jorge Soler with the walk-off two-run Homer in the first.

And man, these young, talented pitchers, Lazzardo Cabrera and Yuri Perez, man, it's why we get excited. Although Jazz Chisham does go to the IL, we don't like that. Fish get the sweep, and that's what happened in the National League. You're so good at this, bro. Good at this, little horny. In the National League, the Atlanta Braves are on top, 27 and 16. Over those second place, Marlins, 23 and 21, four and a half games back. The Mets are a game below 500.

You'll hear about them in the Interleague. Philly's got swept, 20 and 23. Nats, 18 and 26. Okay, Nats. The Milwaukee Brewers lead the Central Division, 24. and 19 with the Pittsburgh Pirates a game back. The Cubs and the Reds have identical numbers in the standings. 19 and 24.

And the Cardinals, a game back of them. After that horrific start, they're starting to make their way back. Dodgers are on top of the NL West, 28 and 17. D-backs, 25 and 19. Those two are really head and shoulders above everyone else. Giants jump to third at 20 and 23, a half game up on the Padres. Oh, and they're a game up on the rock pile. So Trevor in the National League, I kind of teed it up,

and I think it's the biggest topic of this episode, especially now knowing last night's result. Cardinals are starting to make everyone wonder. Did we try to bury them too early? Did we get too excited about a horrific April? the answer usually lies somewhere in the middle, but where are you at with them, Trev? I told everyone that you can't,

or you could have sprinkled a little bit on this team when everyone was pouring on them, when they decided that Wilson Contreras wasn't their catcher after a month of the season and a five-year contract to be their catcher, when they had all the clubhouse issues, there's just too much talent on this team. There really is, and there are some holes.

We talked about the depth in the starting, the starting rotation but that offense was going to go Aronado was not going to be a sub-700 OPS type of guy like that's just not who he is he's a Hall of Famer he's going to get it going

and once that happens they talk about it it's hitting's contagious man things start to happen guys can rally around some of the stuff that us media members start to say about them I guarantee in that club I was like guys

who cares what anyone's saying, you know what we can do, let's go do it. It took care of business against the brewers. It was good to see Wilson Contreras and Jack Flaherty that battery

because it never made sense that he wasn't catching. It just never made sense. And I think there was some talk about his preparation. He didn't prepare the way Yadi did or not enough or in the right way.

And then I believe they're like conflicting a port. Marmaw was like, yeah, he changed it up, and he's doing things differently. And I think Wilson was like, I'm just here to catch and I'm going to prepare the same way. Nevertheless, great start by Jack there to start that series off. And they end up taking two or three. Now, they still have a lot of upward climbing to do. There's still six games back.

What are they in the win loss, 19 and 26? So, yeah, the record. got a way back. The record still ain't pretty, but it is funny this time of year as, you know, we're sneaking up on June about 10 days out or so. I mean, I could have done the math so much better than that. But, you know, I just think it's funny. Like, I'm hot to trot on my Yankees, which another awful phrase. Can't believe I said that. But they're six and a half games back of the Tampa Bay race. The Blue Jays are six and a half games back of the Tampa Bay race. The Cardinals are six games back.

That's closer than the Padres. That's closer than the Giants. So, you know, when we start talking to long baseball season, yes, that record still stinks. And it should because that's how bad they started. But the fact they're starting to look like the Cardinals and knowing there's that much baseball left. And to be fair, Trev, because you were kind of, you know,

half-mentioned in the media and how, I guess, we're part of it and you get over-excited and you want to bury teams. Like, to be fair to the Cardinals, they also said they were the ones that told us Wilson Gattreras wasn't catching. So, you know, there is much to blame for this as anyone else. But I think it's the way they're doing it. Like the offense is full tilt. Their bullpen to me, I remember there was a couple times when their ship was sinking that I was looking, their bullpen was getting overused and there was a lot of blown saves by like different guys.

Like right now, what I love seeing is they had Palante, Palante, Gallegos, and Helsley, hold, hold safe. Like, that was a formula coming into the year. That if you can start tapping into that, you know, I love the roster resource hitting, starting pitching relief page. It's a good, like, snapshot of what you're doing. Right now their offense is now listed as a top five offense. Okay, we would have bought that going into the year. Right now they're relievers. Their ERA is down to.

a ninth. You know, I know reliever ERAs and everything, but that number's in a better spot than it was. And they're getting, they're getting starting pitching to come.

Jack Flaherty, he needed that in a big way. Otherwise, yeah, we would have had to be real tough on him. Liberator. I mean, he was the guy in the Randy trade that, you know, that trade has been hurting you spiritually,

Cardinals fans. If the 23-year-old with the pretty left-handed curve, ball becomes a fix in the rotation, that is impactful. So, you know, right now they're listed as a six-man rotation. So, you know, depth, how much do we talk about that? So, you know, if one of these guys, if Mats is struggling, you know, you figure that out, Michaelis, whoever it is, it feels different there.

And let's be honest, baseball is such a sick sport. Like, I was two days ago on Wake and Jake, I was like, I'm worried about the Mets. they just pulled out two great wins against Tampa and that whole energy feels like it changes like that. So that's where it's a ridiculous sport to talk about sometimes. There's just so many games during the season that you're going to have these spurts of feeling great. You're going to have these spurts of feeling like,

wow, we've never played baseball before. The thing about like bullpen stuff, when you start to look at these numbers, and we're guilty of this too. You know, you can look over broad numbers and, you know, bullpen ERA or bullpen whip. Like those could be skewed by one game. The more I've been like, I sit in the dugout on these broadcasts

and I just listened to these coaches. They were right in front of me in Dodger Stadium and just listened to them talk about it. And then, you know, you hear, you ask questions so you're prepared for these broadcasts. And, you know, like Emilio Pagan for the twins, like he has, he had a really bad ERA. But that was due to one game where he came in relief

and like kind of they just let him eat it essentially. I know he had a tough one against the Dodgers. We'll probably talk about that. But some of these stats, like the reliever position, is that even a thing? The reliever position? Yeah, I don't know. That was odd. Relievers are so volatile.

Like, you can have one of these guys just like go on a stretch where, you know, for seven, eight appearances, they don't even allow a base runner. And then they might have one game where, you know, they give up three or four hits and a homer. And it's just like, it's so volatile. You just have to have guys with stuff. Give me guys with stuff. Don't walk people.

That's who I want in my bullpen. And we'll figure out. We'll ride the hot hand. We'll figure things out. One thing, another thing I want to talk about with these Cardinals is having Wilson behind the plate, like solves a lot of problems, even though like it should have just always been there. Nolan Gorman. Yeah. You got to have this guy in the lineup.

And like, he's going to be your DH. but Wilson was going to be your D.H. Like, no, like, put him behind the plate because Wilson can be an offensive force and let Nolan Gorman do his dang thing. Spoiler alert, the first game with the Dodgers went really well for the Cardinals. I don't know if you know that.

So, like, I don't know, man. It's interesting to see. This is, it's been a saga with the Cardinals, but I hope that it's over and now it's like, let's just play ball with the guys we got and, like, the positions they're supposed to be playing. Makes sense to me. And yeah, Nolan Gorman, what he's doing right now, he's one dotting.

And it's... It's so crazy. Like, this guy was a top 50 prospect for, you know, three or four years. He comes up. He has a solid rookie seat. Like, he's got a positive OPS plus, but almost like that prospect shine had faded away a little bit. And people didn't know where he was going to slot in with the Cardinals. And guess what?

You have a one-dodder OPS. We'll find a spot for you, kid. That's the secret of baseball. For any of my little leaguers that are listening, and the coach tells you, you know, hey, make sure you're versatile and you can play every position. If you can hit, they'll find a spot for you. I promise.

I promise you. Yes. Okay, little Jake demons leaking out. Are you talking to, like, yourself? I don't, you know, I don't need to talk about it. Back to the future. And yet, I think the other funny thing is, because, you know, I placed a bet on the Cardinals when their number was plus 425 a couple weeks ago.

They kind of got going. Our social team has been happy to run with that because it causes some drama. I don't think the story has changed at all. Like, this division was supposed to be Cardinals and Brewers, and I think that's what it's building up for. Like, you know, I realize it was an awful start, and sometimes shit gets away from you. Look at, like, where the White Sox were and where they got to.

that that can be baseball. But also, I guess if you're a Cardinals fan, A, it was time to get going. And B, it's good to know that your team has this in you. Because guess what? You're going to lose a series coming up. That's how baseball works. But knowing that your team can do this is huge for fans and the team. Yes, 100%.

I mean, do you really think it's Brewers Cardinals in that division? We're not going to get anybody else a chance. I mean, I know the pirates have really come down to earth. The Cubs are kind of like just hovering there. Reds, do we give them a shot? It's interesting to me because I know we're still kind of looking at all these divisions with the prep we did preseason. I still feel like we're there.

Like we know what the rosters were coming in. We're giving them chances to like settle in. At least in my mind, I still am. It's still early enough. But when does it turn? to, hey, this is what's actually happening during this season. Do you know what I mean? Like, when do we say, look, look, the pirates are still in second place on June what?

Is it 15th? That's my birthday, by the way. Happy, happy early birthday. Thanks, bro. Middle, middle, middle. I struggle with that sometimes as we do this show. It's like we have our preconceived notions of what the season's going to look like because we do all the TPPs and we spend the off-season kind of prepping and we look at moves these teams.

made, like when do we say, wow, this is what's happening in the season. This is, the games are being played. They're not played on a piece of paper, right? Like, this is what's happening. Do you think you have a date for that? It's tough to say, because initially I jumped to like All-Star Break and like kind of trade deadlineish, which is crazy because it feels like so much baseball leading up to that point that if the Pirates stay a few games above 500 going into the All-Star Break, it feels

like that should be celebrated more, but also like I jump back to that the Cubs team that got torn down a couple years ago in that West Coast trip right before the All-Star game and that kind of sealed it and that decided their fate at the trade deadline. And it's what's tangible. I've said this for a couple episodes like, if you're the pirates, you should be yelling at us like, hey, Mitch Keller might be one of the top five pitchers in baseball right now. That's tangible. We didn't know that coming into the season. They've got some other starting pitchers. For the Cubs, it's a unique, I don't know. I guess you're telling, so you're telling me, TikTok video, what's that mean? The Reds, the Reds are punchier than I think

we thought they were going to be. They have some young talent. The Pirates seem to be punchier than we thought they were going to be. So if I'm the Cubs, the two teams that I'm supposed to be kind of head and shoulders clear from, it feels like I'm more in that pack than with the Cardinals and Brewers. And by the way, the Cardinals are still at the bottom of the standings. That's what I'm saying. I'm looking right now at these divisions. Atlanta, first place in the NLEs. Yep.

Thought about that. Brewers top of the Central Division. Sure. Makes sense. Dodgers first place in the West Division. Great. Free season. That all makes sense.

yeah, this seems right. Second place teams in these divisions, the Marlins, the pirates, the diamondbacks. Like, you got to play the games. That's why I love baseball. Dude, it's such a long season that eventually the cream does rise to the top. But who's to say, you know,

who the cream teams though? Okay. Yeah. You know what I'm trying to say. I do know what you're saying. And Trev, that's where we're open and honest about it. That, like, if you told me the Cubs were going to be 8th in OPS and 8th in starting pitching ERA, I would have told you, like, they were one of the upstart teams this year.

I would have told them they were Texas Rangers'esque. But currently they don't feel that way. Their bullpen numbers are shaky. Nico Horner is coming back soon. And, you know, they're headed. to Philly for three right now that it's like those teams are both thirsty for victory

so that it's where baseball's beautiful man that I guess it's where me and Trev don't want you to change the channel but a lot of this shit we don't know oh well of course of course nothing we're just hot

every team has their origin story dude like when does it start yeah and you're you're all Giants yeah I'm one What? You're always...

No, it wasn't you. I was saying from the fan perspective, you're always looking for that moment. Like the Mets were dreadful, dreadful, and then does a Pete Alonzo walk off Homer and a let's fucking go Mets? Like, does that change your season? It can. That's the sick part.

That's the sick part. I don't know. Ooh. History for... Giant sweep the Phillies. Yeah, man. These are your two teams in a way. Yeah, for sure.

They're both my two teams. Look, this was a great series for the Giants. I got a great stat here. Giants, how about an origin story? Giants bullpen, origin story. They entered Wednesday with a third worst ERA in the majors. This is why bullpen ERA kind of stinks. In this series, they allowed three runs in 15 and two-thirds innings pitch.

That's how you get it done. Like game one, you have a big, I think it was a six-run set. second inning. Starter gives you it and give you and then the bullpen comes in and does it. Like you, this is how you win baseball games. Like having your bullpen step up like that. This is how you get sweeps.

Like you hit enough. You give your starter gives you enough length. No one really had a great start here. Stripling had to come out because he was injured. Cobb goes three and a third, walks a bunch of people. Alex Wood goes four and two thirds. Bullpen comes in and steps up. The offense does just enough.

They won the last game. I think it was 11 singles. No extra base hits. And they win seven to four? That's crazy. My guy, my guy, Doval, three straight saves this week. I like that a lot. Giants, man.

Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what to do with them. Jock and Yaz are on the IL. Conforto has a big series. He's a guy that, you know, if his season went either way, we would have said, you know, yeah, that's baseball. So he has a big series, gets the OPS Plus over 100. Um, that's a guy I'm rooting for just because it felt like the baseball gods dealt him a,

dealt him a tough deck for a little bit. And yeah, I guess Phillies fans let us know because it, it feels like it's been a roller coaster. It feels like dig a hole. Get back to 500. Dig a hole. Get back to 500. Um, I don't know. Where are your guys emotions at? Is it enough to say like, I feel like what we always say about the Phillies is like, they don't care. This is the regular season. They'll find a way to sneak into the wild card and because that's what we saw happen last year is it necessarily going to go that way again no it's not necessarily going to go that way again do we think this is a team full of really good players that's going to turn it on yes that's what i believe uh but sitting right now what are they they're they're 20 and 23 20 and 23 seven games back of atlanta um i don't think

they're in a wild card spot right now, obviously. But I think the right thing to say is they'll be all right. You think? I mean, that's what we're going to find out, man. Good teams aren't making the dance this year. And I don't know who it is. And, you know, if other people like the Marlins continually keep trying to join the party, you know, jazz goes to the IL.

And for me, he's been, if the Marlins are going to be a part of this season, like I think jazz has to be on MVP vote list. Instead, they call up another freak show pitcher and maybe this is the year they just pitch enough to do it. I don't know, dude. Eno Seris has a great article that just dropped today on the athletic or on the athletic or on the athletic. That new Eno just dropped, bro?

The new Eno just dropped. Wake up, eh? I think it's on the athletic because it's not like a physical paper. It's on the athletic, yes. On the athletic, okay. And he talks about Sandy and like, you know, there's really no rhyme or reason for the reason that he's struggling. Like everything kind of looks the same. He's getting affected a little bit by the shift, like Babbs up on him primarily because of that. So you're, you got to expect there's going to be a little bit of regression in his numbers because of it. But I'm looking at their roster resource

page, the Marlins I'm talking about. And there are two games over 500, I believe. Second place in the NL East. They don't do anything particularly well overall. There's nothing there. We talked about this before. So it's just interesting to me. You think you go to these pages, hey, man, they're keeping pace.

I think they're a wildcard team right now, if I'm not mistaken. But nothing really jumps out to you except starting pitchers K's per nine. They're third in the league. So they strike people out, which is not. nice, but even though they do that, they're 20th overall in WIP. So people are on base. Yeah.

It's interesting. I haven't watched enough Marlins games to get the gist of it. I feel like I could nail it if I wanted to. They throw the shit out of the ball and they score just enough runs, so Lair's doing all right. Need more offense.

Trev, and they've got those one-run games, which, hey, does that carry throughout a whole season? Because then your team feels like, If the bottom falls off on that, you know, things change quick. They've got a big road trip. Schedule watch. West Coast trip for the fish, San Francisco, Colorado, the Angels. Let's see where they're at in 10 days.

If you can check that box, if you can put a six for four on your West Coast trip, that's big. And Trev, no, it's something I forgot, and I'm going to give us homework assignments. The fucking Marlins' coaching staff are our guys. Yeah. John Jay is your dude. Pipe is my guy. Like we got to get the inside what's going on. 14 and 1 in one run games.

That is why your two games over 500. I mean, that is crazy. Solve the puzzle. And know who just came back for them, Trev? J.T. Chagua. Oh, shah. Hey, who plays shorts that for them? No, I don't.

want to. I don't do it. Joey Wendell. Joy Wendell would beat your ass. I want a headlock. I want a headlock. Those callous hands all over. Trev, Rockies took 203 from the Reds. I think we're going to get to hear about. There's going to be some Rockies love later.

Shout out Brandon Williamson for Cincinnati. Had his MLB debut in a really nice start. Let's do some American League. baseball. Let's do it, Poppy. How's that sound? Yeah. Somebody want to do I want to bring it to us from someone? It's brought to you by Tops Bowman.

Of course it is. Number one in the card game goes back to 1948 people. World War 2. We're talking. Trev what card you got there? Oh, just a signed Evan Longoria Bowman Chrome

rookie card. Hi-T. And they've got high T-rated prospects, rookies, vets. They provide a fun and exciting product and hobby for everyone in the game. We talked about those Marlins. Jacob Berry, big prospect for them. Drew Jones and My Snakes, Justin Crawford, Spencer Jones, and more. Find the Games future stars in 2023, Bowman Baseball,

available at your local hobby shops, retailers, and tops.com. We got a link in the description. You guys know Tops by this point. Tops Bowman. Go get some cards. Get in the card game. Mmm. I'm ready.

Ho. O's, Stros, and Natty Bowes. The Orioles in the Halos. Teed it up for four. And we've got a split. And Angels went bread. Orioles went meat. How about it, kid?

Shohei Day on that first one. and yeah, you know, seven innings five earn. That's not great. But he comes up, what, a hit short of the cycle? Triple Homer 3 RBI. Renfro puts in his work. Those middle games, I see him Mountcastle. Kyle Braddish with a big start for the birds.

And then on that final day, shout, shout. You might as well shout with Trout and Otani. They both Homer. God, I know. The Orioles, 24 and 3 when they were leading games after seven innings. They lose this one, I know, because I was tracking it, because I had a bet on it. And God damn it, Trout, he gets it done. They split four.

How about it? Some good baseball. Yankees take two out of three from the Blue Jays. We're running hot over here, people. And there was drama in this series. You had the coaching staffs fighting. Judge gets accused of cheating. It turns out they were tipping pitches.

Domingo Hermann, cheating. He gets the boot. And it all comes down to a final game where Nestor Cortez has a big bounce back start. Him and Barrios kind of go toe for toe. And the Yankees open it up late. A lot of drama in this series. Chris Bassett won't give up runs, refuses to Tanny Jansen walk off in the game they win. Sox, kid.

They take two out of three from the Mariners. Treve, you know the Mariners won on George Kirby, Dave. It's hard to lose on George Kirby Day. But the Sox, they put up 9 and 12 in those final two games. They get a nice outing from Bayo. Rafael Devers, heard of him, Yoshida, Jared Duran. He kind of keeps going. Good for the Sox.

They win a nice series against Seattle. Seattle. Ale West, let's go. Thai France hitting streak, 14 games. Get ready for the late night horny pass and tweets. White Sox, take two. out of three from the Guardians. Guardians, wake up, finding Nemo gift. What are we doing? Good for you, White Sox. Lance Lynn drops it on the table, and so does Clef, more or less. Jake Berger,

Moncada, that Louis Robert. He said that's how it normally gets pronounced. I'm going back to it. Cleveland, they take the final game to salvage the set. Guard dogs, what are we doing, man? And that's what happened in Your American League. A lot of IL series. So we're getting ahead of that. Your American League standings, the race. 32 and 13, that's still a 7-11 winning percentage. My goodness.

Orioles are only three and a half games back, 28 and 16. Jays and Yankees are both six and a half games back. Jays have the percentage points on them in the Red Sox. How's your 24 and 20 for last place? My goodness. Twins, 24 and 20. First place in the Central. Trev.

Guardians are 20 and 23. Tigers, third place at 19 and 22. I can't believe how many losses the White Sox have, and the Royals are behind them. Rangers, 26 and 17. Houston Astros are two games back. You'll hear about them in a little bit. Halos are a game above 500.

Mariners are a game below 500. And the Oakland A's got their team. 10th win, a 222 winning percentage. Wait, hold on, hold on, hold on. Ew. They're what? They're 10 and 35, Treff. I don't like it.

I just, that's not okay. It's not okay. To be fair, they don't either. Except that. I had a joke ready to go, and then you just threw me off with that one. I didn't know it was 10. What was your fire joke, dude?

I was going to do Joey Wendell voice talking about, oh, the AL East is so hard. get over it guys if you're in the al east get over play better i don't know what to tell you relocate get out of here trev i while we're there in any other division we'd be in first place okay i'm not going to comment on that and i i won't talk that a good wandovoiced though it's pretty good it was not bad uh i won't talk too much uh yankees jays you can go listen to talking yanks if you want that and our commenters are split down the middle when we talk yankees so why didn't you talk about them it was a picker

series. These guys only talk about the Yankees. So Trev, I will let you say your piece about Yankees, Toronto. There is drama. Drama on every level. Okay. I mean, I don't know. I think we're going to talk about like the game within the game more than the actual games in this series. Look, Aaron Judge was looking at the first base coach to get what pitch was coming, essentially. I'm telling you people right now, it's not cheating. If your pitcher is showing the pitch to the first base coach, and the first base coach relays it to the hitter, that is called being good at your job.

Like that's what every team is aspiring to do. Trust me, your team, whoever you root for, is trying to do all of these things. Sometimes it works out like this. And sometimes it doesn't. For the most part, teams are up on it and they're making sure their pitches aren't doing anything. But every once in a while, a guy comes up and gets nervous

or falls into a routine. and wow, he was literally showing them what pitch he was doing with his hand. He came out and admitted it as much. So to me, this is like almost a non-story. It's like, okay, you let the best hitter in baseball know what pitch was coming, and he hit a fucking home run. Duh.

Like, yeah, that's going to happen. He hung a slider that he knew was coming. See you later. And it felt like the internet and everyone landed in a good place on that because the pitcher admitted he was tipping. Like everyone kind of acknowledged that situation, and that was good. But then Trev, A, the optics of Hermann getting tossed the next day are hilarious. Yes.

And he, you know, they're- Two completely unrelated situations, but yes. Right, but the optics are funny. I guess I do want to ask you, the coaches got really pissy at each other. We're talking about complaining about where they're standing in the third base area and Schneider called Yankees' assistant hitting coach Brad Wilkerson, Montreal Expos legend Brad Wilkerson, fat boy. And Schneider's not the skinniest fella.

Yeah, I was going to say, I don't know if he's all roped up. I mean, I like my Carlos Correa is. Honestly, I've, you know, I've kind of learned this. And I'll be honest, it's a little bit via Jimmy and some of my other friends that have beards. A lot of guys that have the beard, that's a protective layer for them. You know, that can cover up some things. Yeah, I mean, you and BBD, I guess, are facial hair guys.

I think Brad Wilkerson would traditionally have a beard, but because he's a Yankee, he's not allowed to. Oh, coaches, can't even have beards? No, dog, we're the Yankees, bro. You can't, like, work in tickets. Yeah. Like nobody. If people who, like, were interns for the Yankees and they weren't allowed to.

It rolls deep, man. It's kind of dark. That is the silliest, like, It's a cult. When you break it all down, it's the silliest thing in sports. A little bit. You telling grown men what they can do with their facial hair, but it's okay to grow a mustache?

Yeah. Mustache is fine. Let's just move on from that. But I feel like Yankee fans like love it. Like it's like a badge of probably like, yes, you are guys buy into something. I like that there's history behind it. I, when like the Luis Castillo stuff was happening and like, he would have had to lose his dreads.

I'm like, okay, that crosses a line because that's almost like racist. I don't know. The facial hair thing... Oh, what would happen? Right? Yeah. If Luis Castillo had to cut that pretty hair,

that would have been a sin for everyone. Luckily, they don't have Louise Castillo. So I guess I want to ask you, because, I mean, Hermann, sticky stuff, we saw this, and you heard some other bubbling about him because he almost got tossed by the same crew against the twins. And then I guess I just want to know, do you remember your coaching staff, like, hating other coaching staff?

Because there's, there's real vibes like that. Oh, yeah. Like, you know, the coaches, Domingo Hermann, like, just figure it out, bro. Like, use what's available to you and stop doing this. Like, it's not good for your team. You're down a player, right? You can't replace him on the roster. So, like, that hurts your team.

So, like, just whether he's actively trying to cheat or not, like, I don't know. I don't think he is. He just, like, doesn't know the line. with rosen and sweat and whatever it is, pine tar. Well, and Treves, figure it out, bro. Literally this same thing happened and this same umpire crew made him wash his hands

and come back out. So for him, he never got penalized for doing this. Trust me, I heard all about it in the twins dug out. It was a talking point for them. Figure that out, Domingo. Like, come on, it's silly. And as far as the coaching status, what you got to realize is these guys are

each other more than the players are around each other. We always talk about the brotherhood that happens because, you know, in the clubhouse, you're around your teammates more than you're around your family during the season. Right. More hours spent awake around each other. Coaching staff is the same way. So these dudes, it's like a little army, like a little, little, uh, platoon of dudes and like, they're very protective of the team and what's going on in the field. So yes, I've seen many times coaches chirping back and forth. It's a hard job. It's stressful.

And so sometimes situations like this occur and like, you know, they get in the box thing. I think that's hilarious. Yeah. I've told coaches all the time, get in the box. I wish there was a box that they had to stay in. I think there should be a box that they have to stay in. It's silly that they can just go way down the line with a guy in scoring position or way back in certain situations.

Like just there should be a box. And do we even need base coaches anymore? For real. Now we're talking. For real. Like, do you think the game will be better without base coaches? Let the players decide what to do? I know you can't look behind you where the ball is,

but maybe that's a skill that we would see some guys have and some guys not have. What do base coaches really do? It'd be interesting. I mean, that's some late night, Trev, thought. Sorry, I don't know how I got there. I wasn't even thinking. I just came to my mind.

It's interesting. It'd probably be slightly less of a product because you'd see a couple more base running errors. But I don't know. I mean, you're talking to the guy that last year, I theorized that maybe catchers shouldn't flash a sign for the pitches and the pitcher should just throw it and they'd be surprised and react to it.

That's not. That feels like a bad product in hindsight. Enough about this series. Good for the Yankees. Judge goes off. Danny Janssen. nice walkoff. Two walkoffs like in the last two series for him.

He owns the Yankees, man. He owns the Yankees. Manoa is on Enoa's article. I don't want to spoil the whole thing so go check it out. But there are some reasons that Eno thinks that he's been struggling this year. So that's not great for the Blue Jays, but also, hey, you can make some adjustments and get back to where you need to be with some of your stuff. Then you can kind of write the ship.

Chris Bassett with another great start for Toronto I think that's two back to back Three What do you got three? What do you got on Nestor? Also in the article So go check it out Nestor and Minow are probably the two

That should be lumped together there Bassett's numbers were all thrown off by a horrid first start He's awesome He's one of my favorite pitchers to watch pitch Nestor needed a big start And he had it There was some David Cohn was very much on that he might not have his legs under him

because he's had a couple hamstring injuries, and he's been running out of steam late in games. So it could have been that. Manoa, man, Blue Jays fans, let me know. Trev, his stuff just didn't look as sharp, and I guess the numbers back it up that I don't know if it's injury, I don't know if it's fatigue, or if it's just a bad stretch. But it felt weird because, man, he's such an alpha dog when he's right,

and he was, you know, he's nibbling and hoping you get yourself out, which just felt a lot different. Hey, been there. Check out my Blitzball performance this series. Just. Yeah, you know, what pitchers, it's so interesting because we talk about how they're able to make adjustments so quickly now. Sometimes it works for the better and guys figure things out and they, you know,

take a step forward. But I think there are times where maybe it works counterproductive. Right. Imagine being Manoa and knowing your sliders, not moving three inches, which I've been told as a lot. You're just trying to figure something out with it, yeah. Treve. Orioles halos.

A lot of talent on the field for this one. And hey, kind of sneaky big win by the halos at the end of this. You know, it'd feel a lot different if you were a game below 500 than a game above 500. And, man, I don't know, you get some show-hay show. I tweeted out something and people were mad that he gave up five runs and it's like, oh my God, I mean, he hit,

he had three RBI, so I guess net, net over those seven innings, two runs. He's a freak show. Dean Kramer deserves some love. He's won his last three starts and they've been against big boy teams. Braddish has looked really good for the Orioles. We talk about their need for starting pitching.

I still think that that's probably, you know, going to be huge for them at the trade deadline, but in the meantime you got these guys stepping up saying hey let's just do it internally here he looked really good Otony's been struggling pitching wise I think the last three starts have been pretty rough for him almost hits for the cycle on Monday I think he's a double shy of the cycle I believe he had the triple had the homer and then there was a big play in the last game yeah angels ended up winning six to five and Adam Frazier remember when he got traded yes that one time we'll talk about it eventually

but ball off the wall Hunter Renford guns him down at second that was not like an easy play whatsoever and he made it kind of look easy should have on second base I believe Cedric Mullins

hits a double next batterer or later in the inning and would have tied the game up but Hunter Renfro said nah uh-uh don't be doing that and that is something we've seen him do throughout his career man. I think he's, is he one of the more underrated ballplayers in the big leagues? Trev, it's the weirdest case of you know what you're going to get. And I think for some reason that's not sexy.

His career OPS, 790. You know what his OPS this season is? 790. On the nose. You know, he's got 10 homers in 43 games. Quick math. You know, he's on pace for another right around. 30 homer season.

And he's like an outfield assist king. So yeah, it's almost like we know what he is and all right. Your turn with Hunter Renfro batting fifth and sixth and being a solid ball player. I love it. I'll see the Angels up close and personal. I'm going to head

down there later today. I'll see Shoheyth throw on Sunday. I'll see my dog Patrick Sandoval go up against my twins. Joe Ryan starting for us tonight. Look at my eye, dude. It's a high T-C-Sade. Wake up, left eye. Jolly.

Shout out to Estevez out of the pen for the Angels. He's been really good. And Yenir Kanoe, I mean, just continues. And there's been a bunch of articles and saw a cool Twitter thread the other day about him and his story that he's really cool. I guess his sinker change-up are like the number one pitches that have ever, like, matched up together from one guy. that you literally can't nobody's hit the change up yeah there's been one hit on it all year or something like that uh let's see a show a mention first base now officially his most played position this year and that's funny i love geo okay i love mariner's red socks you're mariners trev what do you got

here george kirby george kirby george kirby six and two thirds one earn run um and then the the redsox get to Castillo early on the game we know they can bang and they did it to one of the best pitchers Povetta gets knocked around a little bit in that game too but not as well I guess the Boston bullpen holds and the

Red Sox continued to score in that game and then Brian Beow great start we've been waiting for that our good friend Jared Karabas that's how you say he put out a tweet talking about Paxton sale and Bayo since

April 20th, like they've pitched to a really good level. And I'm happy for the Red Sox in that regard. Like let's figure some of that starting pitching out to match your offense. The offense has been going. And like you said, four games over 500. Like this is a team that could turn it on. I expect them to be active at the trade deadline as well, trying to get back really in the mix. I know they're in the mix now, but like really in the mix.

Really, really good series for them. and the Mariners are still kind of just like floundering there like I'm not really figuring it out so I've been asked many times to pronounce them dead I'm just I'm just not gonna do it just not they had that last year I'm not gonna do it again yeah they uh

offense um you know that at one game they score 10 um the other games socks put up big numbers and they're offensive numbers on the year are kind of tough but you know Thai France is going. 28th in OPS, 20th in homers, they're not really stealing bag.

They are 15th in runs, so they're manufacturing it somehow, but it does not match up with their pitching staff. Both their starters and their bullpen have been pretty dang good. God, I wonder, no, Robbie Ray out from the year. I was wondering if they could get to a position where they had legitimate starting pitching

depth if they could like make a big boy upgrade trade somewhere because you know there's always thirst for starting pitching but i i don't i don't think they're in a spot to do that i think they like their young guys too and let it ride say thirst again thirst um red sox yeah i'm interested to see piv goes to the pen like a a lot of those guys that we questioned health right now sale um and he's kind of turned it around for them um paxton like it's been a long road for him. So let's, you know, depth. I talked about this a lot when the Cardinals got off to their bad start.

Depth when you're winning, we're awesome. We're nasty. Look how deep we are. Depth when you're losing. Why are we playing this guy? And this can't, you know, this guy can't be out there. Sox kid, keep winning series, your offensive matches. if those, you know, same formula we, same formula you would have dreamt for this team, right?

Yet enough pitching. They've currently got a top three offense. And man, they are missing guys. Like, I know every team kind is, but Trevor's story, Adam Duval, remember how good he was for them. Adelberto was like an off-season episode for us. He hasn't played. Wittlocks hurt. John Schreiber goes on the aisle this year.

So, you know, doing it with the injury bug. And, hey, how about this? Schedule watch Storelli. They're going on their West Coast trip. Padres, Angels, snakes. Let's see where the socks are at in 10 days. Those West Coast trips are brutal, man. Mariners, let's go.

Vamo. Quick recap, White Sox, Guardians. Go, White Sox, Go. Why not? We got some pitching from them. Lance Lynn does this thing. Sevennings pitched three runs, but only one of them earned. You mentioned Cleve.

Sixthony's pitch. and runs so two quality starts there. Dylan Sees is also in Eno's article. So go check that freaking thing out. We love Eno. It's on the athletic. Luis Robert is kind of going for them. Chris Rose asked me the question.

He said, you were willing to give the Cardinals the benefit of the doubt that they would turn things around. Do you still have that feeling for the white socks? And I don't. No. I don't. I don't get the same feeling from them. Cardinals won their division last year.

prove me wrong white sucks it's still they still look good on paper you know they do you can't deny that we just talked about early in the season early in episode like what does paper really mean i don't know sometimes when you got good players like they just are good players and things happen um guardians struggling to start the year uh offensively here's this stat with the catchers bro yeah that's pretty naughty even catchers oh for 44 with 26 k in May before they got a hit in the seventh inning. Holy schmikes, bro. Like, I know you're not supposed to have

an offensive catcher, and if you do, God bless you, you're the luckiest team. Shout out Baltimore and Philly and the Dodgers. I'm missing some, obviously. But that's an eye-opening stat. White Sox got the Royals and the guards coming up again. I don't know. they have so many losses in the loss column.

You know, games played. I don't know kind of what happened. They may have the most games played, but it's athletics, royals, and then the White Sox for third most losses in baseball. So that's what, you know. There's 16 and 29. Holy.

Yeah. Like I love Robert going. I love Jake Berger getting going. But, you know, they still have so much work to do before we can really talk about it. Um, Guardians, Chris Rose, figure it out. Uh, you want to do a little I-O? Yeah, Poppy.

Yeah, Poppy. I love you, Poppy. I love you, I love you, I love you, puppy. My Arizona Diamondbacks win a series scheduled tweet against the athletics. They get two out of three and the A's walk it off again. They've got a couple walk-offs recently. Go crazy, Oakland. Uh, Ryan Noda.

leg saw them in person. Otherwise we should be talking about my guy Pardomo. Lord is Gareel Homer in that first game. Cotel Marte, Ryan Nelson and Merrill Kelly with good starts. Hey, Oakland wins a game. Dom Fletcher, big throwout at home and he keeps breaking like rookie, rookie hit records for them. That gallon killed a bird. We'll talk about that later. Texas Rangers and the Atlanta Braves Here's two good teams Trev except to open a night The Braves just rolled on them

The Saltman Charlie Morton Offense puts up 12 starts against MLB debut for Corey Bradford Hey kid here's the Braves Knock yourself out Braves take that second game Donnings thrown with either arm And a nice start

Nathaniel Lowe Like him a lot Rangers win that game 7-4 and the Braves they take the final one although at a least two homer game out of him Braves win the series good bounce back for them Spencer strider eight strikeouts in 12 consecutive games Jesus of all these scoreless streaks out because it just had to at some point Trevor your Houston Astros sweep the Chicago Cubbies huh Alex Bregman you asked him to ring the bell He did it a couple times.

Game one, game two, or game three, excuse me. That out does a say a Suzuki effort in that final game, a two-home or day for him. Yordaun and Javier in the middle game, Houston. Oh boy, we said we knew it was coming. It might be coming. And Jose Altuvae joins with the boys tonight. Hello, Royals. Take two out of three from the Padres?

Padres win the first game behind a dominant Michael Waukes-star. One hit over seven innings. But Brady Singer, he gets the job done. And man, Bobby Witt Jr., M.J. Melendez, my guy, Pasquatch, I know he homered. Royals, their road wreckers kind of okay. And Padres, fellas, wake up. We're getting picked off first twice. Uh, Soto gets tagged out at home on a wild pitch by Chapman that bounced back.

I don't know, man. I don't know. Trevor Plouffe, you were there as the Dodgers took two out of three from your twins. Your first game ever goes 12 innings, a walk off walk. Hilarious. Twins win the second game. Bailey Ober drops it. Farmer Buxton.

Uh-huh. Uh, and then the Dodgers do their thing in that final game. Mookie bets. James Outman. They're having nice years as the Dodgers continue their winning ways. And the New York metropolitan's looking for rock bottom as they lose to the raise

in that first game. Verlander gets booed a couple times Paretas and Ramirez. But Pete Alonzo, the walk-off homer in the second game, Tyler McGill and Pete Alonzo homers again. He's got a little Homer streak going on. And the Mets have they changed? the whole tone of their series is they take two out of three from the Tampa Bay

Rays. Pirates and Tigers split a two gamer. Tough. Got to be honest with you. The highlight for me, Rich Hill and Miggy Cabs sprinting to first base. That was, uh, that was a, that was the highlight of the year, I think. That felt like warehouse energy. Just two, two dogs trying to figure it out on the fly. Reynolds, Rodolfo, some of the names having big games. Riley Green, I see you, kid. Uh, and I think, Trev, that's what happened in your interleague play. Let's just get that Pirates Tiger series out of the way in that matchup right there.

Rich Hill, Miguel Cabrera, they face each other for the first time. I believe it was on my birthday. June 15th, 2005. Five. What were you doing in 05, Bebes? That would have been very end of second grade for me. Oh, my gosh.

Gosh, I was in Beloit, Wisconsin being a horrible baseball player, hating my life. Breaking girls' hearts, if I remember correctly. Probably, yeah. Around that time, I broke some hearts, yeah. Yeah. 18 years later, those two guys going at it, and for that to happen, for the sprint to first base, and Rich Hill kind of getting it going. He's 43, Mickey Cabs is 40.

Yeah. Like, I feel good for my age. I'm 36. I feel great. I feel like I'm 26. You look great. Thank you. Watching these dudes do it, though,

and then afterwards, like, this is the little sly smiles they gave you. Yeah. Like, it's so cool. They're both like, dude, I can't believe we're still doing this. And both of them are probably like, can't wait to not be doing this.

Like a little bit. All the same time. But, you know, to hold on that long, it's so impressive. I think people do realize it, but when you really break it down, to be able to play in the league for, you know, 10 years is like,

it's crazy. Yeah. But then you're, every year after that, and you're talking 18 years, you're talking 20, like, it is a feat.

I don't know how many players have done it. In the history of baseball, I don't know how many players have played 18 years or above. It can't be that meant. I'd love to look that up, but these two guys doing it is, it was just awesome. I mean,

it's like an under the radar type situation, but when you really look at it, You just have to applaud these guys for, one, have the mental fortitude to stick around for that long, because it will beat you down, but also to keep your body in shape. And I know, you know, Maggie's declined in his statistics. And Rich Hill is like, whatever. Like, I'll just keep pitching. But it's crazy impressive to see that.

Trevor, the fun, I think, fun fact about that play that gets left out. The young man involved in that play, 37-year-old Carlos Santana, with the diving stop. So, like, that's just, that's 120 years of baseball on that play. That's, uh, I love that. Looking at their, uh, logs against each other. After that first at that in 05, they didn't face each other again until 2012. So seven-year gap between played appearances.

After that, they got each other every couple years. Baseball life. Uh, Trev, I think the biggest head to, for me in the IL was the Houston Astros sweep in the cubbies. You know, as we check the standings periodically, you know, this time of year you can see a lot of movement. You know, I kind of, I told the Astros a couple ofps ago, you know, don't be surprised if they just keep clipping one team a week. And now they've done that. They're in second place.

They're two games back of the Rangers. They get Jose Altovae back tonight. You know, I think if you were someone at home that was saying maybe, maybe this could be the year that, you know, one year, Houston will not make the playoffs. I don't think it's this year, especially expanded and with how many dudes they have on that team. Their next 10, they play Oakland six times. They will be in first place soon. They're going to get it going.

This is an impressive series for them because Framber doesn't have his best start. He only goes four innings pitch, four and runs. Guess what? The Cubs don't score anymore after that. So the bullpen comes in and does their job. Javier gives him a good start in game two, six innings pitch, one and run. And the same thing that happened in game one happened in game three, J.P. France, who's been pretty dang good for them.

Three and two-thirds, six earned runs. Guess what? Cubs don't score anymore after that. Bullpen holds. We come back. Kyle Tugger has the walk-off two-run single in that game. They just find ways to beat you. Their starters typically are great.

But if they don't give the team the length that they need or have a decent start or just a crummy start, the bullpen's there, and the offense can come. They're just a team that can do it multiple different ways, similar to how you get horizontal, if you will.

So they are going to be there. There is never any doubt in my mind or anybody's mind, really. I know Jose Obrayu has been kind of just bad for them. Do you think he's going to be bad all year? I don't. There are some numbers

that support his regression but this is a team that's going to be there in the end. They get El Tuve back, man. You know, are they good, Trev? Top five starting pitching and relief pitching ERA. So the offense has not really been there this year. I bet it comes a little bit more with Altuve. I would love to see where their offensive numbers land

after playing Oakland twice in a week and a half. So, yeah, they are, they are, fully back in the party. And if you're the Cubbies, man, I don't know. You can chalk up a sweep to Houston at any time. They're a good ball team. In Houston, too. In Houston.

But, yeah, I mean, Philly and Mets coming up. Like, I don't know. Those are two teams absolutely, all three of those teams are scrounging for wins because it's just not an easy year. But I don't know. There's some numbers you can like. There's some numbers you can not like. Horner coming back is big for them.

He was so good to start the season. But yeah. Gosh, that Houston offense is not gone at all. No. Look at the numbers now. I knew Breggman. Breggman started us, though. He's got it going a little bit now.

Still, I mean, a 720 OPS. He's right at 98 OPS plus. And, I mean, Tucker is not himself. Like, it's decent numbers. you're almost at the 800 OPS mark. Like he'll be fine. He'll get it going even more than that. And then Alvarez has continued to shine.

What a fucking hitter that guy is. Sayas Suzuki, homered in three straight at bats. Pretty cool. His numbers on the year now look pretty nice. And again, he's a... What's your guy, Morel? It's good, he's good. I love Morel.

Again, I don't watch every Cubs game, so I was reading through some Cubs stuff that I think he makes some kind of, gaffs sometimes that can rub you the wrong way. But, like, the fact he wasn't on this team to start the year blew my mind. But, again, I'm Cubby fans. You guys know your team better than me. Trev, probably the best baseball that got played in the IL was Braves Rangers.

Ronnie Acuna is going absolute nut job this year. I think he's on pace for 3060. They get a Morton outing here. you know, Eddie Rosario, who's become like a bonus piece for that team. He's doing it. And if you're, again, I don't want to put words in Texas Ranger fans' mouth, but Corey Seeger comes back in this series. And, you know, he's supposed to be a guy guy for them.

So if you had told him Corey Seeger was going to be out a chunk of time and you'd still be on top of that ALA.L. A.L. West, you know, I think Rangers fans would sign up for where they're at. And I don't know. I think if these two teams played 10 times right now, it would be pretty back and forth. Yeah, I mean, it was a huge win by the Braves game one. They had the offense and they had who pitching?

Saltman, Charlie Morton. No, I don't want you to just tell me. Ah, Saltman, Charlie Morton. Pick up on the cues. I know. I'm putting some pieces down. You pick them up, bro. Like, step it up.

Okay, this is Talk to Baseball, the number one show in the world. world. Unbelievable. Dane Dunning gets it done for the Rangers game too. Yovaldi Street comes to an end. I guess skip snaps for that, right? Yeah. 29 and two-thirds score this. That's incredible. Rangers get to Spencer Strider a little bit, but not enough. Braves get it six, five there. How'd they score those runs? Was it more Acuna? Ackonia? A little Eddie Rosario. Acuna does go deep and his fourth. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. There are a problem. man. The Braves are an absolute problem. Acuna,

see Rosie asked me, like, how many players in the big leagues are definitely better than Ronald Jr.? I came up before. Definitely better? Yeah. I'm not putting you on the spot here, but I think it's a fun question. I think it's Shoah.

For me, that's it. Aaron Judge? You know, no? I don't know if he's definitely better. Like, I think he's, He's played better. If you say he's better, I don't disagree. I think Ronnie could probably do more defensively. And, you know, Ronnie can also, he's leading the league in steals.

Like, you know, on a... Like Trout? Trout probably better. I think you could say he's going to give you a better effort. Milky bets? I mean, these are the things we have to think about with Ronald Cunia Jr. I know, you know, he's only 26 years old, too. He's first in hits, or excuse me, he's first and runs, second in hits,

second in stolen bases, second in batting average, and second in OPS and on base percentage. Like, he can't pitch, so I'm definitely going to put Shohei over him. But otherwise, I don't know. When he's right and mentally locked in, I don't. So just so you know, this is one of the funnier baseball savant pages you can go look at because everything is red. 99th percentile, 90 percentile.

His outs above average, defensive metric, first percentile, like one. So he does not rate well metrically. He gets really bad jumps on balls, but how much do you believe in defensive metrics? You talk to his manager, he says he's a gold glover.

And he's a great defender. And I think if you watch the games, you have that. perception like this guy for the most part like yeah you can see some routes that aren't great but this guy can play out there he's got i think he's got the hardest ball thrown in the outfield this year too so his arm strength is the hundred percentile like he can do it all it's a fun question you know anytime he put out rankings or something like that people are going to get mad but i'd be i'd be interested to see if people want to comment see you right here in this little box

if you're watching on youtube tell us how many players do you think are better than ronald lukunia junior right now. 25 years old. I thought he was 26. Okay. 25 years old. Ozzy Albies putting together a nice season for them. Rangers, hey, Seeger's back. Go back to winning games.

Trev, I've got some snake stuff for later, and they take two out of three from Oakland, which I don't, you know, again, the 10 and 35 Oakland A's. They get another walk-off win, which you've got to be happy for those guys that are out there, day in, day out doing it. Is this a Padres? What is you doing, baby?

Do it, please. Did the Dodgers break the Padres a little bit? Like you win the first game. You put up a crying Kershaw meme. Then you lose the next two games in that series. Hader gives up the homer to bets. Now they lose the series in San Diego. They come to L.A., they get swept.

Now we're losing two out of three to the Royals. No offense to Kansas City. Maybe a little bit of offense to Kansas City. Padres, what is you doing, baby? Like, we, we, everybody wants the Padres and the Mets to be good because their owners went out and did it. And the Rangers, too, for that matter. We want all those teams to be good

because they went out and spent money to improve their roster. But we need to get some results on the field for two or three of those teams. Treve, you think the Padres have a pretty decent lineup, right? You've talked about that top of the lineup a couple times. 30th and batting average, 20, second in OPS. It just hasn't been great.

27th in runs? And there's guys that you know that need to step it up, Mani Machado needs to step it up. Like there are, I mean, there's... Four of the top five in your lineup might be Hall of Famers.

And we're 27th in runs? Hitting is contagious and maybe they're just waiting for that magic moment, but my goodness. Someone sneezes some hitting around them because that shit ain't working right now. Sacrifice an animal.

Go some bunts down. I'm telling you people. I'm telling you. Just a few base hit buntz will get you going. What is you doing, baby? Bunts and blunts with Trevor Plouf. Go Royals. I love Blake Snell.

He put out a sick picture on his Instagram, though. Kobe. He is sick. Trev, you were sidelined for Twins and Dodgers. I'll let you say whatever you want. I was only watching to get your analysis before the games. Crazy first game. Lopez.

or the twins didn't really have his A-plus stuff. Cindergarde, you know, did all right for the Dodgers. A wild game, went 12. Trevor Larnock hits the Homer to tie you. Bucks hits a freaking bullet to tie it, back and forth game. And then at the end there, it was interesting because I was in that last inning, in the 12th inning, it was runners on first and second.

and Muncie was coming up I forget who was, I think maybe it was Chris Taylor was hitting or maybe it was Will Smith. I forget. Anyways, first and second and they were talking about in the dugout,

are we going to walk Muncie because Trace Thompson was coming up after him and Rocco was like, nope, I'm not walking the base is loaded, I'm not doing it. And then they ended up double stealing on a strikeouts. So now it became two outs

with the base open on first base. Trace Thompson up He hadn't had a hit Or he'd been like one for something Forever it was like a big streak there And then they decided to walk Muncie And I know it seems like the obvious play

But you know hindsight They end up walking the neck They ended up walking Trace Thompson And that was what Rocco was trying to avoid It just puts a lot of pressure When you have that open base And you try to pitch to Munchy Maybe you get them to chase a bad pitch

Maybe you get them to roll over on something You know, it's not guarantee. Yes, he hit a single there to beat you. The walk is not in play for a run there. Right. But they end of walking them, walk the next guy. Give us a... My first ever game.

Trev, how was it, dude? Like, what, give us, what was, what didn't you expect? What did you expect? What did you like? What did you hate? Give us, give us the real. I just love being in the dugout and seeing all the decisions being made. Like, you know, they do have a lot of things.

planned out, pitchers they want to go to, lanes they want to, you know, have these guys ready for. The three batter are minimum does still, Rocco said this after one of the games. He's like, you know, people thought that was going to take away strategy. He's like, it's kept it the same. Like, you still have to strategize when you're going to bring in your lefty. If there's a lane of lefties and like you understand they're going to pinch hit. So there's that games been shipped there. That kind of took over. It was cool. I love the vibe of the dugout. The twins, the twins have something special going on they haven't hit their stride offensively yet they've been really poor with like bases loaded and runners in scoring position lately and that was

these games in that in the first game they had bases loaded nobody out and didn't score any runs and ended up costing them uh but overall was a good series for them i thought you know they they had their chances i know some of the scores like the seven three score seems like they weren't in it but that was a grand slam by outman and like the seven yep and you know he had been like It's really struggling. He just jumped on a first pitch and hit it out. But it was fun. Bailey Oberg, this 6-9 dude, I gave him a nickname in the pregame show.

I said, he's the nightmare. And I told him after the game, I said, hey, bro, I gave you a nickname. He's like, what is it? I was like, the nightmare. And he's like, all right, I like it. So luckily he pitched well, because if I give him a nickname, the nightmare, and he doesn't pitch well, it's bad. But no, the Dodgers are relentless.

That's my takeaway from this. And I knew going into it they were, because we talk about them all the time. They're relentless. They never stop, dude. They never stop. You can't. It's like they just keep your head underwater, bro. They never let you up for air.

They don't. I, uh, yeah. And I think you might hear more about Frederick later. He does a little history. Trevor's happy for you. You know, Liv comes to the game. She says you're looking hot. I know what that does for you.

Yeah, it's big for me. Now I got this I thing. Kids are there. Any good player exchanges? Like Miggy Roe? Any of the twins guys? I didn't see a ton of the Dodgers, to be honest with you. I was really just kind of making sure I talked to the guys on our side to get some tidbits.

Kyle Farmer's kind of like my guy. He reminds me a lot of Brian Dozier. And he's had to step up at third base for them. They had Jose Miranda there. Right. It didn't work out early in the year. And Farmer, remember he got hit in the face by Lucas Gialito. he showed me the picture.

Holy. Like it was just a hole. Like teeth were gone, lip was gone, and he's back from a very scary situation. He's crushing the ball. I told him, that's so impressive, dude, to get back in the box like that.

Nick Gordon, that sucks. He fractured his leg. Yeah, him, him, and Joy Gallo, in the same inning, I believe, foul balls off the other. Maybe it wasn't a single inning. Gallo and Polanco.

All got every other inning in that game. Yeah, it was. tough and Gordon you know he fouls that off stays in for the abat takes another swing on it so nope and then Dustin may left that sucked because it was really fun watching him go up there and I guess I'd be remiss to mention I mean the booze for Carlos Correa oh my gosh relentless and loud and he had a really bad series offensively Joe Kelly Fight Club remember that Ray's Mets Mets take two out of three

The final two A little bit in dramatic fashion And boy did they need it Yeah the Ray's win with an opener Day one That's got to hurt your feelings If you're the Mets Especially when you have Verlander going up against him

He gets touched up a little bit there But then Senga has a good start McGill has a good start And I've mentioned this on baseball today It's like you look at that rotation Verlander sure or Senga. You're like,

okay, those guys, like, Sanghas look good so far. Verlander and Scherzer, like, let's,

let's be who you are. And then McGill, you know, we were talking just last year about how he's like, baby Jacob de Grom. Like, can he get it going?

Like, can we, can they be okay in their rotation? I think so. I think this Mets team is obviously still finding their stride.

They haven't played to what they can do. You ask me if the Cardinals can come back. I say, yes. You ask me if the White Sox can come back. I said no.

If you ask me if the Mets can come back and be a force, yes. I believe so. It's a great way to put it. And yeah, it's baseball is a sixth sport. The Mets win their first series since April 17th through 19th, so a month. And that was the Dodgers, by the way. So their last two series wins are the Dodgers and the Rays just a month apart. And the Rays, who had an undefeated April, they have a four and six road trip.

So like. but they lost five of those games by one run. By one run. But yeah, it just shows in baseball, like nothing safe. And even they got, you know, they get Pete Fairbanks back, their guy and my guy. And he just gets hit in his first game back. And Jason Adam, who's been so good for them,

he's been touched up, I think, three of his last date. So, yeah. Even hanging that little slide piece. Don't hang that. Don't hang the slide piece. For the Mets, you got your young guys, like all back to back to back to back. That's interesting.

Viantos, Beatty, and Alvarez. We saw the brewers get like a little spark from their young guys early on in the year. Vientos, I talked about this week with C. Rosie on that Homer. He goes one for four in his season debut.

He played last year a little bit. Got that long finish. That looks like Ryan Braun. Like, you know how Ryan's back just looks way too long for him? Same kind of finish. that's got to get the juices flowing a little bit if you're a Mets fan. Say what you want about Brony.

The guy's swing is pretty, and his production is pretty. Wouldn't mind that for all. Viantos. Change the tone of your season, Mets. And you can, and how about Gary Sanchez? I'll be rooting for him as a Yankee fan and a baseball fan. Rays, you're fine and you know it. Treb, I think that brings us to

Stand Out Performances. Stand our performances are brought to you. And this show is sponsored by Better Help. It's so easy to get caught up in what everyone else needs from you. You never take a moment and think about what you need from yourself. Sheesh. Felt that. Therapy can give you the tools to find more balance in your life

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Find more balance with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash talking baseball. Today, get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash talking baseball. You know there's a link in the description. Trev, who is your standout performer? So Rocky's fans, do you got something going on in center field there? Like, I like the way this guy plays ball, Brenton Doyle.

On Monday, he went three for four with a double, two homers, three ribbies, three runs. He had another good game in the series. Jake, how often do we talk about center field and like the void that it really is in the big leagues? People think the premier players play center field. They don't. They just don't. By the way, it's a big one out in Colorado. You've got to be able to go and get it.

Usually that's what's what center field has turned into. Put somebody out there that go get it. We'll worry about the offense later. Brenton Doyle, on the year, man. He's got his OPS up to 839. The on-base percentage has to come up. That's at 293. But four homers and 55 at bat, six stolen bases.

You got to like that. Playing some good defense out there. 25 years old. He's from Virginia, Warrington, which my dad's name is Warren so I saw that chuckled a little bit Trevor. Shepard University in West Virginia ever heard of it? No, I was just about

to say that. I know a lot of schools. Shepard University, that's a blind spot for me. He has like a Count Chocula name, Brenton Edward Doyle like he could have been a Count. Where are counts from? His Transylvania, right? England?

I don't know what I'm talking about. But look, sometimes we want to highlight players that will go unnoticed on other shows. I think this is a case here. He's a fourth rounder, so there's some pedigree there. Starting the year off like that, already accumulated 0.7 war in 55AB's. Look out. He is the fourth player to come from Shepard University. Lefty Willis, Cecil Perkins, and Frank Funk.

Yep. or the previous. Get me, A, get me a Frank Funk jersey. And B, I don't know, baseball reference, a little Jake Analytics. Looks like Ryan Reynolds' twin brother. Same facial hair. Playing center field, just not switch hitting. And he's been popular around this office, Trev.

Last name, Doyle, Jack Doyle, we got ice. So we're going to link that up at some point. Do you think he has ever watched The Hills Have Eyes? mad at it. Isn't that about people from like West Virginia and like the Appalachian Mountains? I don't, I haven't watched it in a while. I thought it was more desert. I thought it was more desert themed.

I think you might. Oh, I don't know. Maybe I played in the Appalachian League. Let me tell you something about the Appalachian League. Look out. They had a couple of reality shows about that stuff. Keep balling out, Brent and Doyle. Why not?

Why not? homer, six swipes like you're talking about. That's good for you, kid. Kelsey's Rocks. I am going to go elsewhere. I'm going to be high and tight and take the hate, because why not? And Trev, you listed him possibly as a second best player in baseball,

and he may be. I just think Ronnie has an argument. What Aaron Judge did, you could pick almost every night of this series for his standout performance. He hit two that first night. He hit six homers in six games, which again, I know that would be more Enfuego.

He passed Jorge Posada with the most home runs hit against the Toronto Blue Jays in franchise history. Seems like he's got some more games to add on to that. Yeah, and Pasada had like 70 more games on him. The guy's a freak show. He missed another homer, top of the wall. by inches. They literally hit that corner of the wall where it pops up.

The J's had nothing for him. He had a ton of walks, too. And Monday's game, if that's the one you want, two homers and three walks. So if you pitch to him, he hit a homer. If you didn't, he walked. I, man, he's, when he's locked in and there's nothing you can do, it's just multiplied by the sheer mass of a human he is.

It's fun to watch, man. And, yeah, Toronto, he tormented them. How'd you not pick any Cardinals in your standout performances? They did so good. Basically, the rest of the episode is Cardinals. Pretty much. Nice job Tommy Edmund, Nolan, Gorman, Cala Raleigh, Michael Walker, Flaherty, Isaac Paredes.

James Outman gets a standout performance because he hit a Grand Slam. They got struck out every other bad. Don't tell him I said that because he's massive. That's why he didn't get it. Linebacker. I know. He looks like one. I really enjoy watching him play, actually.

Okay. Same with Sears. Richel. Yeah. But Trev. Hit me with the Bebers. I need to know who's really. Dark nasty's on Fuego.

That means I'm on fire, baby. Like Waco. Speaking of white rappers, I've been watching the show, Dave. That's a pretty good show. You were watching it? BPDs it Dave got. I went one season one season two. I was a little disappointed by it,

and I haven't gotten into season three yet. I think I'm just waiting until it's all out and going to crush it. I don't know if I've seen all the seasons. I think I'm watching season three right now. It's pretty funny. Like it's a good, it's a well run. When Dave hits, he hits hard.

In the series, St. Louis shortstop, Tommy Edmund, eight for 12, a double homer, two ribbies for a one dot, six, six, seven, side note. was banged up in Thursday's games against LA and left due to lower abdominal soreness. So sent him some good vibes. How about this guy? Remember when this was a thing?

Orlando Arcia, the shortstop for the Braves, what do we do? What about Marquise? What's his name? Not Marquise. Von Grissom. What about him? Five for nine in the series,

two doubles, two homers, five RBIs. That's a two dot-one. Alex Bregman. We challenged him. come on get it going he was five for nine in the series with a double and two homers five ribbies two walks he also got hit by a pitch uh for the week of synco de mayo through five eighteen is that a week because that seems like it's more than a week darling might be two weeks i don't know what's going on here could be just a typo erin judge we mentioned him nine for 26 with six homers and twelve

rippies even a stolen base to boot nolan gorman goes 11 for 22 three doubles four homers 12 rbby Hey, he's your DH, St. Louis. Wilson Contreras is your catcher. Just, I want to remind you that. Sayas Suzuki, we love talking about this guy. He's been a good player in the big leagues. Eight for 21, two doubles, four homer, seven RBI. He becomes the first Japanese player to hit a homer in three straight plate appearances in the majors. That's a cool step. That's really cool. Like that a lot. For the two weeks, Nolan Aeronado has been going off. 17 for 52, that's 327. With a triple, seven homers and 20 RBI over that span for a 1-1-2-6 OPS. He's also stolen a base.

I got to see Nolan Aeronado steals some bases. I feel like it's not pretty. I don't know why. Aronado? Yeah. Oh, he don't run. You don't run. No, no.

He don't need to. Chris Bassett. Yeah. Three games started, 23 innings pitched. No runs. seven walks to 20Ks. Guess what? No runs means for your ERA.

It's a zero. Point seven whip over that. He hasn't allowed to run since April 30th. Whoops. How about Pittsburgh? Oh, talk about Pittsburgh more. We will.

What about Doey Moreta? Five games, six and two thirds. No hits, no runs. No walks. 11Ks. Jake, if you have no hits and no walks, what's your whip? I'd say zero.

You were too slow. right there. Second highest swinging strike percentage over the last two weeks with pitchers who have thrown at least five innings pitched. Pitched, five innings pitch. That's silly. He hasn't allowed to hit since April 30th either. What's up with April 30th? Well, that's it.

Trevor, I think you'll like this. I think I have this right. Correct us in the comments. I think that Aeronado Steel is while Kossis was miced up and right after he asked him for the jersey. Aronado runs. Oh, he's like, they're not paying attention. Yeah.

That's good. Yeah, I want to mention it with... I want to mention it with the Pirates before. You mentioned Moreda. Man, they've got some guys in the bullpen that, you know, Holderman, Bednar. I think Stevenson's given them a few good outings, too, that, you know, that's, again, that's...

No one had the pirates having a, you know, top six bullpenieri coming in the season. If you could keep that going, that matters. Trev, beautiful, Enfuego. There is a ton of injuries. I'll give you the bad, then the good. T.J. Friedel. I.L. All these guys went on the aisle.

Rendon, Cron, Rhymes, Peterson, Voight Boxburger, Jesus and Jazz from Miami. Hate that. Shriver, Wade, Miley, Dylan Carlson. Okay, Cardinals' depth. Nick Gordon, Ian Hamilton for the Yanks, Dustin May, Seth Lugo, he'd been really good, and Jose Trevino for the Yankees. We're waiting to hear on Belly, Machado, Nailer, Gallo, Polanco, Stripling, and Verdugo. They kind of all left with injury.

We'll see what happens. And then back from the aisle. Yeah, as I mentioned he was out. He's back. C. Dick, Adrian Martinez, Wallach, Joeelli, Pete Fairbanks, Gary Crochet, back for the White Sox. That's a name I haven't heard in a long time, Obi-Wan, Corey Seeger and J.T. Shaggs, sex crew, aka. Trev.

What? That brings us to, and guess what? Needed it. No, no real ad here. Buy a shirt or watch our shit. There's the ad. Trev, what's your award? Oh my gosh.

There is a movie. That's kind of a guilty pleasure of mine. I always tell people go watch The Warrior. It's an MMA flick with Tom Hardy. And there's another guy. It's a really good actor in it. I forget his name. The old guy, right?

Edgerton? Oh, Taryn Edgerton? I don't know. I could be completely up. Please go look that up. Anyways, I always tell people to watch that movie. But another, and I don't think that's a guilty pleasure movie. I think it's just a phenomenal flick.

A guilty pleasure movie of mine is, when I need to get a little riled up, and I'm feeling like a little low tea. I need some fighting. I need some yelling. I need some good cinematography. I need some wars. I need some battle strategy.

I need some death. Okay? Oh. The movie 300. Yeah. It's just a guy flick. I don't know. I don't know if girls like that movie.

I think some of them do. Do you like that movie, Jake? I like the movie 300. I mean, 2006, it was the perfect time, like, to be watching. It was. And there's some just iconic scenes. Me and my buddies to this day. It got texted me today.

We will fight in the shade when they start laughing at them sending bow and arrows. Like, there's some scenes in that movie that are awesome. It's a lot that movie. Yeah. So this is Sparta. I'm going to kick you into the pit. Yeah, that was a big opener. See you later.

Guilty pleasure movie. If you need a little pick-me-up, go watch it. You know who else likes three? 300. Freddie Freeman. He hits his 300th homer in grand fashion, if he will. It's a grand slam. It happened last night against the Cardinals.

He's the 144th player in history to hit three homers and have a thousand RBIs. He's only the seventh active player to do it. Some of the other names that are active that have done it. One is my best friend, Evan Longoria. But Miguel Cabrera and Nelson Cruz, Joe Evado, Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Aeronado, who just got to his 1,000th RBI as well. Freddie to me is a guy that, you know,

obviously I think about him with the Braves and what he's been able to do there. But when you go look at his numbers, like they're just, they're kind of eye-popping, dude. Like, you know he's a good hitter. But go check out just how good he is. A 386 career on-base percentage, he slugs too. When you've got a guy that can get on base

and Slug, you got gold. Almost 2,000 hits. He's accumulated 50.8 war. I got him in the Hall of Fame. Like now. I got him in the Hall of Fame now. And he's still got years left. He signed through 2027.

So he's going to add to these counting stats. He's like the consummate professional. Like he goes, he puts in his work. He doesn't strike out. He chokes up and battles with two strikes. Yet here he is with 300 homers. Like he's just a complete hitter. And my favorite thing about Freddie Freeman is he's from California. And I never associate him with Southern California. I never do. I always have him as a Georgia boy for some reason. I don't know.

But he's a California dude. He's won a gold glove, six-time all-stars. He's won an MVP. He won the World Series in 2021, three-time Silver Slugger. He's always worn number five, which I think is cool, and he's always worn his sleeves. That's something to do with his mom. He wears the sleeves no matter the temperature. I remember Freddie Freeman as like an 18-year-old in AAA. I was playing against this dude, and he had sleeves on, and I asked him about him, what he got a sleeves on right now, bro? Anyways, he's been a banger since then. At that age, I got to look up the stats. I think he was hitting like 340 or something in AAA at that age. And I was like, this guy is legit. People or talking about him then.

Fucking 15 years later, we're still talking about Freddie Freeman, and we will forever in baseball because I do believe he'll be enshrining the Hall of Fame. He's a stud. So happy 300, Freddie. Go watch the movie. Get fired up.

I don't know. Trev, I'm dissecting this more and more because I actually think when you sprinted out last episode, I talked Freddie because I think he's my best pure hitter in baseball. And that phrase means a lot of different things to different people, pure hitter. You could go pure contact. For me, Freddie checks every box. Contact, on base, power, like whatever you're looking for. And I think what it is, Trev, there was a little bit from 2010 to 2015, Freddie Freeman was really good. 285, 367, and 832 OPS that for six years,

we learned young Freddie Freeman and we're like, okay, and all his numbers are pretty consistent. since then, since 2016, he's a 309, 399, 940 OPS. Like, he's been, he took a jump now for coming up on eight years. That, yeah, there's a lot more bold in the past six seasons than there was in the previous eight. So it feels like he's still, like, going up. It feels like he's more comfortable, that veteran knowledge, and just his short, simple stroke,

that, yeah, man, he top 10 in the MVP voting the past five seasons. And I don't know if people think of him that way. One more, I forgot to mention this, one more note on Freddie Freeman before we get to your award. In the postseason, he's played an 11 series OPS 947 in 201 plate appearances. Whoops. He's about to rush. Beautiful family, too. I'll say that.

About to cross 2,000 hits soon, 300 homers. 72 swipes, don't care. Like him a lot. And by the way, it's where that Ronald O'Cunia question gets so tricky. Like, you know, pick between Freddie Freeman and Ronald O'Cunia. I don't know. I think Freddie Freeman could be called a better baseball player, but I could easily see Ronnie being called a better baseball player.

That's where... There's some good ball players out there. Speaking of, Trev, this is... award I may have given out on this show or, you know, talking yanks before. It's the ringer award. I didn't read a lot of books in school, so when I did, they kind of stand out. Especially this one, this was really a sick puppy. The ringer spelled with a W.

I don't even remember what the book was about, but it was this kid that was killing birds and ringing their necks. What the fuck? And really that gave me a lane to talk about Zach Gallen, who basically killed a bird. I know it was fluttering around after, but the Randy Johnson video that we never thought would be replicated. Zach Gallen did it again in his warmups. You see the ball come in, cracks the bird, ball goes flying, bird goes down. Zach Gallen has almost a disappointing start for him, 7.2, two-run runs. You know, the standard is the standard.

And, you know, that's right around his. standard, if we're being honest. But I wanted to segue that into, A, continuing to mention how good he is. And B, just give my snakes a little more love, man, because, again, the full storyline of, you know, even, you know, Jake's snakes, and it was silly and whatever. We were mostly doing social media. And then it was kind of like, okay, this team is young and fun. And then our fan vote comes in, and they're higher than, like, the socks and a couple

other popular teams. They're 25 and 19. they bang. They've got a top five offense from some metrics. They seem to just come at you with speed and young guys and energy that, yeah, man, like Merrill Kelly started to go for them. They're letting a lot of young players let it eat out there, which, you know, there's highs and lows of that.

Dom Fletcher has been incredible lately that, hey, man, you know, we spend a little bit on how the Padres are 20 and 24 and how some of these other teams are they going to get out of their hole? You know, we talk about the Giants and the Padres a lot. The snakes. 25 and 19, man. Two and a half back of the Dodgers. Like, they've set a tone,

and they've kind of been keeping pace that a lot of times their series can be kind of a Passover series. I love my snakes. Those snakes go. I love watching them play, too. It's electric. It's an electric brand of baseball. Yeah, yeah.

No, I think they have the right leadership there. I think it was really smart then to bring in Longoria. They're a fun brand of baseball, and it's like I sometimes feel like I'm waiting for the bubble to burst, but I don't think it's going to, dude. And it might be that way for quite some time. I think they're right on the threshold of like a really good run here in the National League. So much young talent, man.

And you mentioned Christian Walker. John Boy just put out one of those patented breakdowns. Good Christian Walker won one class. wrapping it up over there. So go check that out. And go check out a fantastic weekend of baseball and talking baseball. We'll be back Monday.

Again, go check out warehouse games Sunday night, 6 p.m. That'll be electric. Otherwise, enjoy your guys' weekend. What are you doing, Trev? I'll be watching some ball. Devil show on Wednesday. Uh-oh. Whoa.

Jake sucks. I get so many cat calls. Coach Treve! Coach Trev! I'm like, what's up, guys? Jake sucks. Oh, my. Jake sucks. I'm like, yeah!

He does suck. He's so fucking horrible. Leave your guys ideas for episode 666. We need to make that a fun one. I think so.