Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Declaring These Teams DEAD!

Episode Date: August 10, 2026

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Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Here we are a week after the trade deadline. I might have two dead teams and the NL playoff format. You're going to want to hear this one. We got a lot of ball. A lot of ball. You're talk about the Mariners being dead? Clayton Kershaw.

Fernando Viny. Ow. Oh. Could pick it, though. My goodness. Hello and welcome to talking baseball, presented by Fanatics Markets, where fans trade on sports fanatics markets available now on app stores. I'm Jake Storelli.

That is Trevor Pluth, Rob Chiracow Produce, and Dalton Feely getting the info ready for us. I'm excited to yuck ball. It felt like we went from Deadline. There was a jolly up. I'm sorry, I did that to you. Had my fantasy football draft weekend. It's the earliest one of the year. It shocks everyone, but it's the only weekend that those guys can do it.

feeling good. And Trev in the standings, you know, I don't want to get too ahead of things. I don't know if people know. You know what, I will get ahead of things. The Dodgers would be in a wild card as of today. Whoa.

Here's the thing, Jake. Yeah. That's, I mean, it's. Hi. Yes, they would. They were in one last year. Yeah. Well, the Reds didn't really participate in those games.

Oh, okay. You could say that out the NLCS as well. yeah look the standings are a mess yeah I mean the tigers trade of the way I mean after two best pitchers they're best pitcher and another good one

and they're thriving so I think throughout August which we're in the dog days now officially August and September it's we're going to talk about teams that okay this team's in the playoffs in a week they could be four games back it's just an absolute disaster it's been the hardest

year of standings of my life, Jake. Nice. I think I've got a dead AL and I think I've got a dead NL team. I think we're there. You're calling the Mariners dead. I know you are. I think they have hit the point where they want you to say it. You're kind of their sacrificial.

You're their sacrificial king up there. I'm mad at them. Good. Good. Tell you another thing that I think might bring some F or F energy out of it. Watch some Lord of the Rings return to the king yesterday. Really? Wow.

So good. Wow. When the elephants, when the elephants show up and they start messing up the battlefield. Oliphantz. Oli fonts. Timothy Ollifant. And then the ghost army man. I mean, just.

Shish. Where are you in House of Dragons? Because the season three finale was last night. I'm hearing mixed things from the fellas right now. I just, I just think in all, it's been my least favorite version of, um, and stuff. So, like, I honestly think a Night of the Seven Kingdoms is the best. Game of Thrones had some great seasons.

Poor ending. Night of the Seven Kingdoms was phenomenal throughout. Okay. Enough nerd shit. Let's talk about it. It's Monday. Let's go to the American League. And let's talk about the best team in the American League.

It's the Tampa Bay race. Because you know what they did? They sweat the Seattle Mariners. Because sneaky sigh, young candidate, Drew Rasmussen dragged it all over the mound as they won a two-one game. And then they did the same thing in a bullpen day, the Casey Lugamina redemption game, as they win another one-run battle. And then, I don't know, how about a couple four-hit days from Chandler Simpson and Yondi Diaz?

To get the sweep, Liam Hicks, their new catcher is involved in the mix. Uh-oh. Getting sleepless in Seattle, Coach Trev, you're not going to like where they are. in the standings. The battle of the AL Central and the Chicago White Sox, they take two out of three from the Cleveland Guard Dogs. There's another AL Central team you're going to want to hear about in the standings. The White Sox, after dropping the first game to Parker Messick,

and how about Anhele Martinez, 6 RBI Day, it's White Sox the rest of the way. We had a managerial goof in this series. Got to talk about that. can't happen. And then Colson Montgomery, Munataka Murakami is back and bopping for the White Sox, the first place White Sox. The New York Yankees took two out of three from the Braves. Almost swept the Braves, almost got swept by the Braves. The Yanks are playing a horrifying brand of winning baseball right now, but it's also delightful because we've got a new

party trick at Shortstop. George Lombard, can he pick it? Yes, he can't. That's been a lot of fun. Chris Sale is balking. Is he? We'll talk about that a little bit. That was some good ump game, if you're into that one. Yanks somehow take two out of three. The A's take two out of three from the Boston Red Sox. They win 13 to 1 in that first game.

Peyton Tolly, 14 ponches. And the Red Sox are on an undefeated streak for basically a month. And they drop the next two games to the athletics. It happens quick. Might as well jump. Jump. Gage jump. And then a late A's rally to take the set.

Jacob Wilson. Hands team. Amazing what he's doing in shorts. The Texas Rangers take two out of three from the Baltimore Orioles. Impressive pitching. A good Jacob de Grombe, bounce back start. And Jack Peterson, boy, in that leadoff spot, providing significant swings. from the Rangers.

Oh yeah, and Pete Alonzo had his first two Homer Day as an Oriole. Go check out his stats. That's what that guy does. Every year. I'm not mad about it. Oh, him and Louisa Rice. It turns out they can play.

Yeah. Yeah. Had it first. Cubs. Take two out of three from the Kansas City Royals. A little good team, bad team here, people. Cubbies win the bread games. A little Jack Caglione in the middle.

You might hear a lot about that coming up later. The Cubs finished. the series in the rubber match, 10 runs, 18 hits, there's Ian Hap, Pittsburgh's finest, coming out of a slum. Matthew Boyd, been on a heater. And our final American League series, of course, it's the Miami Marlins, who take two out of three from Swilly's Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, California. Mike Trout, how's the Homer on your birthday?

35 Trouty, uh-oh, been there, done that. It's not good. Sandy Alcantara with the dominant outing. Griffin Conine hit one about 500 feet. Didn't know he had that in his bag. The fish still fighting, baby. We'll get to that in the National League. That's what happened in the ALE.

I am tight. I am tight right there. Okay, coach. Have you seen this? My guy Matthew Stafford. I saw that. Yeah, nobody liked it because his second quarterback on the team and that's bad roster management, blah, blah, blah.

I'll make a trade this year. Tell your guy nine to stand. on the field and sling it. Trade your second round pick Josh Allen. Get him out of there. Maybe I'll do that. Maybe I don't need them. God, I really... Better ranch than him. I got the standings.

I really like a... Better golf swing. In the American League, Jake. We'll start out east. You're right. The Tampa Bay Mother fucking race. 71 and 46. Put some respect on Brian Baker's name. Your Yanks.

and a half games back 66 and 52 the Red Sox. Get stopped by the A's Jacob Wilson. What's up, dog? 64 and 53 for the Red Sox. 57 and 61 for the Baltimore Orioles and 56 and 63 for Toronto. I have some Dave Popkin stuff. Huge. I don't think you're going to like it.

In the Central, my division, the greatest division of all. Chicago White Sox have a three and a half game lead over. Who's in second place there? Tigers. Who's in second place? there again, Trev? Just say it louder. Say it louder for the people in the back. Jimmy Norbs Tigers.

61 and 56 for the Chicago White Sox. 58 and 60 gets you second place in this one. Tigers got it. Half game back of them are the Guardians and the Twins at 58 and 61. The Royals 49 and 70. Then out west, this is also

a mess. 60 and 59 for the Houston Astros. Their records all over the place as of late. A lot of streaks going on with them. 59 and 59 for the Rangers, 56 and 63 for the dead Seattle Mariners. I don't really mean that yet, but maybe I do. The A is 47 and 71 and the Angels 45 and 73.

Right now in the wild card, it would be the Boston, or excuse me, the Yankees with the first wild card spot, the Boston Red Sox with the second wild card spot. And Texas. She's from Texas. I know you love that song. 59 and 59 for them. They're holding a one game lead over the Tigers, one and a half games back for guards in my twins

and Baltimore, two games back. Those are the standings in the American League. Look at the mighty AL Central, the three spots outside the wild card, just waiting to pounce under 500, but waiting to pounce. Tigers, tigers are the first one out of the wild card. Insanity that the Texas Rangers are somehow in a wild card spot.

Someone figure it out. And I think the team we thought that was going to figure it out for a while, Trev. I'm almost done with. I think the fan base is almost done with. I think they want you to drive that stake in them. This episode is sponsored by Seekkeek. Covering baseball every day means it's go time. The playoffs are around the corner,

which means the NFL is almost here, which means the NBA is not too far behind. And if you want to actually be there, you need to be at Seat Geek. Seatkeek's the number one rated ticketing app, 35 million downloads, hello. So MLB, concerts, festivals, NFL, you name it, they have it. And their MLB's official ticket marketplace, every baseball ticket you buy is fully guaranteed and instantly fulfilled right in your account.

And of course, we've got a code for you. Code Talk in 2026, 10% off your next set of MLB tickets at SeatGeek, 10% off any MLB tickets with promo code talk in 2026. Click the link, download the app. have the code automatically added to your account. Thank you, Seek. The Seattle Mariners. I don't know if this is rock bottom,

but we're certainly getting close to it. The season was kind of dragging on for them. I do feel like early in May they got over 500. It was like, here they come. Because on paper, God, they are so talented. And, hey, we got an extra starting pitcher. Let's trade away Luis Castillo. Screw it.

We're going to get healthy. We added at the deadline. Trev, this is the lowest we've seen the Seattle Mariners since 2022. Middle of 2022, they were seven games below 500. That's where they are right now. 9 and 19 since July 7th. That's the second worst record in Major League Baseball.

When we kept saying, like, it's going to happen soon, right? Like, we're going to look up one day. And obviously, unfortunately, they're not dead because no team's dead. The Tigers have died three times this season. But, dude, this is bad, Treff. This is bad. It's, it's, yeah, I didn't read it. I didn't read it because I don't want to.

Three and a half games back of a wildcard spot. I'm pretty sure that's where there's a middle back in the kiss. Three and a half games out of, so yeah, like a hot week, a undefeated week, gets them right back in it. But we've been asking for that, Jake, and it just really hasn't come. And I don't know what there is to do. They fired their assistant hitting coach at one point. Hasn't helped four runs in this series.

I get it's the raise. This is what they do. They pitch even when their starter, you know, gets bang last minute and they have to go through a bullpen game. They got that in spade. So I understand this, you know, you get swept by the raise. Is it good? No, but I can understand.

It's just, it's happening too frequently with them where the offense is just going absolutely cold. So, yeah, I mean, I truly am not ready to announce them dead. because of the state of the wildcard. And we've been saying that now for the better part of two months. And it's continued to be that way where the records are all jumbled up there. Nobody wants to separate themselves. So I can't do it yet.

I mean, is this the team you said you were going to declare dead? I'll dead them. I was hoping you would. I can't. How can you? You have a reputation in Seattle. You help save their season with death. I have them winning the fucking world series, Jay.

And then, I don't know if you call them dead, and then I saw the whole ghost army thing, and then Aragorn releases them or whatever. I don't know. Don't you have that power? That's pretty fun. That's pretty fun. Nerdy and dirty. Yeah, Seattle, there's a lot of bad.

Dan Wilson ejected twice in his past four games. That's not normally his personality. And yeah, man, I see the lineup, and I see Cal Rally been seventh or eighth after the year. just had. It's insane what's going on there. I do think that maybe the rest of the way, the snap should go to the Tampa Reyes, who have been start to finish the best team in the American League so far this year. Drew Rasmussen, seven innings clean. He's like third or so and projected Cy Young like gambling numbers, which I don't know. They don't mess around with the money. And he's just been a dominant guy. Most starts since 2025 going five in zero earned runs.

is number one. Pretty crazy. He went through his injury history the other day, and it's like, my God, he's literally a little bit of a medical marvel. But he's been dominant. And Trev, you know, sometimes we don't give the bullpen guys enough love, which is messed up because the bullpen guys used to be your guys on the team, at least of the pitchers. And what Baker and Kelly are doing on their back end, that changes a whole team.

It's incredible. I mean, that's the recipe for their success is, you know, they have starting pitching, getting it done. You mentioned Jurassicson. He loves pitching in his home state of Washington, which is a lot of fun. One run over 21, two-thirds innings for him there. And maybe this is good pitcher, bad offense,

but he's doing it consistently across, you know, whenever he starts. And then, yeah, you mentioned Kelly and Baker. And there's other guys you have to include, but Kelly hasn't he hasn't allowed a run since July 7th. That's going to get it done. Baker 23 consecutive saves. So he's, it's the formula for success.

I mean, run prevention is the name of the game. They have guys that can take over offensively as well, you know, a nice mixture of, you know, good old fashioned slug and then the speed down at the bottom. So it's, they're very similar to the team that I just

called their games against the twins. They're very similar to the Brewers. I don't think we've really made that comparison or have we? I think we used to call the Brewers the National League raise. Yeah, I think the raise had the leader position of, like, best well-run franchise. I think the Brewers kind of took it. And now I think the raise are, razor toe to toe with them again.

You make a trade for a catcher, you know, Liam Hicks, two-run double in that last game. So it's going well for the raise, not going well. for the Seattle Mariners, man. By the way. They even brought Eichero and friends out to have a home run derby to try to get the crowd into it, which they are. Crowds are great. Can't blame the fans there.

But man, it's bad vibes. Rays have the athletics and then Baltimore and Toronto coming up. Seattle, things are only getting tougher coach. They're at the Yankees. They're at Houston at Milwaukee. So like, man, that at Houston series, again, my yanks are playing some of the weirdest ball. I've seen them do.

Hey, it's just, it's really good pitching with zero offense, but they're somehow winning. Yeah, a big old road trip coming up for Seattle. And then, you know, it might be, I don't know if they're in purgatory or I don't know. They're in, oh, what are those? They're in like a hospice. Like, if things go poorly the next week and a half.

No, hospice, the hospice is like you're absolutely, like, you're 100% dying, you don't come back for. from that. I don't think so. You don't think anyone's tapped out? They've been like, actually, I'm good. Get me out of this fucking hospice. I think people have done that, yeah.

Yeah, if they want to just end it. I don't know. Hey, you know what? I'm trying that out. I don't know. Chandler Simpson. Yeah. Since June 19, a 380 average.

I didn't know he was hitting 304 on the season. Yeah, only behind Yordon Alvarez in the American League, second in batting average. And yeah, I have some lineup construction stuff coming later. Because, yeah, Chandler Simpson batting third. Well, yeah, that's the new thing. Well, we've got some Schwarber and Peterson and Shohei leading off. Luis Arise is hitting cleanup.

I know. It's a brand new day, baby. That Ray's lineup versus Ritees is really funny. I mean, they can, their two Rydies are going to be Yondi and Cominero, and then they can lefty of the whole lineup. Like it's a version of raised ball that, again, it starts with just high-level pitching. And especially if you go Rasmussen and Kelly and Baker, those are the guys arguably doing it. Top three as starters, setup guys, and a closer this year.

Not to just pile on the Mariners, but Brett Boone had some interesting quotes talking about OPS. And if you go on the IL, your OPS stays the same. but if you want to drive in 100 runs, you got to be on the field. It's like, okay, I guess all that makes sense. I don't want to. But what? OPS isn't even a new stat, dude.

It's just adding two old stats. It's two stats combined. It's just adding two old stats that are always in the paper. On base percentage and slugging. Let's see. Nine and 19 since July 7 for the Mariners. Holy. Might be DED dead.

I'll give them the road trip. I'll give them the road trip, but that's it. That's it. Some guards White Sox, which was the battle atop the A.L. Central, but we did hear about where the Motor City kitties are currently. White Sox win two out of three. Trev, I think you've got a lot more coming on this later. What do you say for now? I'm not going to talk about the double-mount visit.

Okay. So later, I guess we can talk about that. That's just, it's, it's, from my. what I gather the second mound visit Will Venable thought the first one was more of a medical check-in and not counted as a mound visit

but there was no trainer to go out with the pitching coach Schultz was in trouble already anyway so maybe he was like okay thanks coach to give me out of this David Sandlin ends up having to come in and he was like a guy who I thought was going to be really great hasn't been that way

just you know he owned up to it the next day your guy Jake Croninworth swife brook fletcher asked him about it straight up on the field and he just or i think it was might have been later in the game and he just was yeah i messed that one up huh which is cool i like i like to see that he's a big reason of why they're at where they're at so yeah i got more coming on them but you know a nice series over you know your division rival who's trying to come and and take it from you i was hoping the guardians were going to beat the white socks and help my twins out a little bit but It's the White Sox, I'm taking the series.

Yeah, guard dogs are kind of in it. Seven and 15 since the All-Star break, two and six in August, if you bring it down. And, yeah, out of those top two in the standings. And yeah, man, the White Sox, there's just some fun stuff going on there, man, between debuts. Your guy, Hagen Smith. Hagen Smith, yeah, a lot of debuts.

You know, to be able to beat Gavin Williams, big five-run bottom of the six in that second game was huge. Murakami going off the pole. going pole dancing? You think Marikami likes that? Him and Vargas. A lot more White Sox coming. Not a lot more guard dogs coming.

Yanks and Braves, what do you need, coach? Give it to me. Put your respect on Malley's name for once. Tyler Malley. Okay, thank you. Rally, rally, the pitcher's name is Malley. That's how I'm going to remember. We like free bases.

We love free basses. bases. Go check out. AUSL, they've got their all-star series going. Okay. Dude, the Yankees can pitch. I mean, this is Max Fried, Garrett Cole, and Cam Schlittler. The Yankees can really pitch. The offense has been one of the worst in baseball since Judge has gone out. And recently, it's gotten worse. They've called up Lombard. He's been so fun to watch. The defense is just as smooth as smooth as it gets at shortstop, which has been delightful and the abats are controlled.

They need to start scoring runs, man. Because, dude, Boone who, you know, the managers, a lot of the manager's job, especially if you're the manager of the New York Yankees, is getting out in front of the media and protecting players, and that's what Boone does. And sometimes it drives people nuts. Last week, when we interviewed Boone, I just kind of threw a feeler one out there. I was like, Booney, does it feel weird right now? because the Yanks have some really good numbers there.

I want to say 13 and 7 in their last 20. They're winning baseball games, and they're playing good teams. Like, they're playing playoff teams recently. And Boone was like, yeah, it kind of feels like we're in a two for eight in our last 10, but they're not. Every offensive number has them bottom 10 or bottom five going back to since

judge has been out, but they're pitching the hell out of the ball. They've had some good efforts late. And they're, you know, this fun. final game goes to extras, we could have talked about them sweeping the Braves. And if this was talking Braves, we'd be saying, like, wow, I think we should have swept those guys. So you could call it playoff baseball, like runs are hard to come by.

There's a lot of high-level pitching. A lot of the Yankees' offensive numbers wouldn't tell you, wouldn't tell that story. Okay. Boom. Go check out Talking Yanks. Jimmy O'Brien, John Boy, on this week's episode. This episode is sponsored by Shopify. our merch store has grown a lot, whether that's the past three months, the past three years, or the past 10 years.

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start your free trial at Shopify. dot com slash talking. Let's talk some socks, kid. It's an ALE's world. Because every time I'm like, hey, these Yankees are winning, well, hey, the team on their ass, one of the best, literally, is it the best streak we've seen in talking baseball history? Like what the Red Sox stretch that they've been on, 27 and 3 in their last 30? Well, we had the undefeated April of the race. Of the raise. The Guardians had their strength. Tigers went on the pitching chaos run.

27 and 3 after they win game one of this series, but they do drop the final two games. They lose a series, and they lose it to the athletics. Red Sox had won their last nine series. The last series lost June 29th to July 1st against the Nationals. How do you like that? Another nine-game win streak. It's just coming in droves that I'm shocked to see them lose a series.

the first game Peyton totally there are times he is untouchable and this was one of them 14 Ks in six innings pitch is insane it truly is and I get that we're in a strikeout

era I guess but watching why are we showing the one that's tough that was tough timing here we go yeah he's just he's fastball heavy and I watched him throw against the twins I don't know maybe it was in June or something like that

it sounds different come out of his hand man the reaction time a lot of people compared it to like Prime CC you know big big body coming at you just throw an absolute cheese he's a ton of fun to watch and I think I even made fun of him for his offseason workouts when he was just yelling all over the place I was like this is insane yeah but now nothing but respect for the guy and what the Red Sox have been able to do. But this one is about the age. Gays jump comes in.

He strikes out 11 over 6. So he says, I see your 14. Can't match it, but I can do pretty well. And they were on a nine-game loser going into that second game. So it looked like, hey, the Red Sox might go ahead and start another one up. But they get the job done. Some weird stuff going on in the 6, a bunch of different pinch-hit chess match, if you will.

And I believe the second game was also when Jacob Wilson matched his 110th consecutive airless game in Shorts. So I broke it the next day, which is a lot of fun to talk about. I feel like we don't talk about Jacob Wilson maybe enough on this show. The whole athletics team, we got excited for this young core, and then they've kind of been irrelevant in part of this AL season, which if I told you, 500 gets you in the dance, Like the athletics could have been on that trajectory. They fire their GM.

He go and he locked up a lot of this young core that we talked a ton about Jacob Wilson last year and we haven't this year. And I did want to, well, one, just baseball sues. And the A's first series win after losing 12 straight series going up against the Boston Red Sox. Since June. The hottest stretch of baseball we have seen. And that's how this plays out. So that shows what this sport can bring.

And then I did want to ask you about Jacob Wilson because I know Swilly posted a video and, you know, going back to the early days of fighting about Derek Jeter's honor at shortstop and how we just measure out any position defensively. I guess what do you do with Jacob Wilson who I think OAA he grades out well, DRS he does not, but 111 consecutive games at shortstop without an error. That speaks loud to me. And Mike Port, God, Mike Port it. Could he pick it? Yes, he can. I think there's just, there's different types of short stops. And depending on what your team needs, you can have a rangey shortstop that, you know, makes the extreme play and will just dazzle you. And that's great.

But then, you know, you have, you've seen guys that can do that, but botch the routine play. A lot of people will talk about Ellie Day of the Cruz doing that. Or you have a guy that Jacob Wilson. maybe not the rangeiest guy there but when the ball's hit to him he makes the play it's like what do you want? I think I want both Bobwood Jr. But if I

had to pick one I think I'm taking the routine plays I watch Bryce terrain play second base and by the way the guy does not get enough respect we talk about him he's I think Jake he's my new favorite player in the big leagues

it's so fun to watch him play he has so much range out there. He also makes the routine play. But yeah, so, you know, a lot of people say, well, you know, guys who have range make more airs because they get to more balls and take more chance. Like, shut up. That's not what happens. Yeah. It's not what happens. Because if you range far and you boot a ball, it's on air.

Yeah. So, you know, again, there's just different ways to play the position. I would prefer a guy that just makes all the plays hit at him. And it's not like Jacob Wilson doesn't make great plays. We just saw one right there. That's not a routine play. No. So I think we do need to put more respect on this name. I do think defense metrics are flawed.

I do. So again, I just, I think my main point is there are different ways to play the position. And depending on what you like or what your team needs, look at these plays he's making. Yeah, I mean, that's where I come in. And I know the one that makes you laugh every time because I think there was a little bit, you went on a defensive war path to like try to figure this out. And I think the nerds told you you need three years of data to figure out if a guy Good defender.

Know what I need? About 10 games. Like, you can kind of tell, do they have hands? Do they have range? Can they turn a double play? Like, you can kind of tell if a guy can play defense or not. Like, I go back to old school scouting, but it's, there's very few guys that it feels like they're cheating the system.

Like, there's not a lot of guys that you're like, oh, you know, he grades out amazing, but I think he's ass defensively. Like, no one's, no one's being like, you know who's bad defensively? PCA. No, like, we just have a couple outliers every year that, guess what? I don't know. I think Jacob Wilson's a pretty good defensive shortstop

and I'm sorry to my DRS stands. On our team that we're running, we'll just, our defensive metric will be do you want the ball hit to him? And that's it. And it's either yes or no. We don't have numbers in ours. It's just yes or no.

If it's no, you better you better bang. Right? Hey man. I, uh, early when we were figuring all this out and Twitter used to not be a hellscape, I would go to war for Derek Jeter because he gets killed by defensive analytics from the past. But know who I wanted a ground ball hit to? Derek Jeter.

At the end, do I think he had some old German shepherd hips and some balls got past them? Yeah. But that's because nobody plays shortstop till they're 40 unless you're Jamie Carroll. that was twins and yanks people before we move on snaps because the a's did it in the last game in great fashion getting to garrett whitlock anerald de chab and my guy the other max munsy doubles on a heater so uh you know just a little bit of a's love hey and these these games these divisions these wild card matchups that are all going to come down to the wire and get close like let's see how it plays out for Boston,

who I'm thinking they're going to have to slow down from the 27 and 3 pace. We'll see. They would have to win 26 of their next 27 games to do that. They have a new opener to Brian Beio, which is kind of cool. Eric Miller to Brian Beow. See if that continues throughout the season.

Welcome to the team, Eric Miller. You're our starting pitcher, kind of. let's see what's next for both those teams. Wrapping up in the American League, Coach Shreve, the Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles, who are still factors in this postseason. The Texas Rangers are in it as of today. Baltimore is two games back of the wild card, sure.

Rangers with some very impressive... It's the tantalizing Rangers situation. Nate Dog of Aldi and Jacob de Grom. And I would guess my biggest takeaway, I'm talking some Jack Peterson and some Rangers coming up. it's Jacob de Grom needed a bounce back start he gets it in this one and yeah man like if the playoffs were today and it was October there'd be some team that would have to be like wait we got to get through a Valdian de Grom in a three game set it's not what you want I don't want to step on your toes what a swing Shane Boz was you know filthy but ends up you know not getting the victory in that first game as the Rangers went two to one second game some sloppy play by the Orioles.

Jacob de Grom, great. Strikes out nine over five. He had not been good over his last like four starts. I believe it was over a six ERA in those starts. Kind of a weird play that Gunner Henderson, there was a tip off the pitcher's mound, Braddish's mound, or his glove, excuse me, Gunner Henderson tries to field. A bare hand throws wide at home,

probably still had them. But they end up scoring there. Rangers win now in 5-1. Then it was the Polar Bear Pete show on the game three. But the Rangers, yeah, they're an interesting team. I like it. I like the Jake Edgar Graham said no to the trade to the Braves. And I hope that they continue to be in it because that's pretty cool.

And just, you know, me taking credit for nothing. Pete Alonzo has played every game. his career numbers are 253, 341, an 853 or a 134 OPS plus. This year, 252, 346, a 130 OPS plus. So there's a little bit of a slow start. His final game, he gets at two homers to avoid them getting swept. And hey, they still have an 8 and 2 would make the Orioles a wildcard team. So we got to keep talking about.

Jordan Montgomery first game since September of 2024. Love me Samanti. Dalton Feeley, Diamondbacks fan, had a different reaction. Yeah, for sure. It's true. It was true. Cubsies, I'm sorry. You guys are a good team, bad team. I guess people

just need to know as we start leaking towards the National League. Kevin Gossman debut looks good. And the Cubbies are sneaky on a heater now. I think it's a 12 and 5. Nice little coming out of the break. Matthew Boyd is back, like the Cubs are here.

Tread? Say, say is Suzuki's name, man. I feel like he gets lost in that offense. But he, he's been a stud for them. And he's also, I was thinking, you know, at the deadline, you know, who'd they bring in?

Who's the out for they brought in? Iron Taylor? Yes. I was okay, we'll slot him in defensively at the end of the game. Suzuki's been great out there. Yeah, he's having a big boy, his free agency. I know we haven't done a lot of daydreaming about that,

but you look at his offensive profile, and he's graded out well defensively. Yeah, Sayas, before that December 1st, some team might throw a lot of money at him to figure it out before the lockout because not the craziest free agent class, and that guy's a baller, man. Get Hot Ian Hap Challenge. And yeah, man.

He has got 20 on the season. You bang out 18 hits on a getaway day. That's fun. speaking of free agency and HAP. And also, this just matters for teams, and you guys know this with your teams. 17 games, 17-day stretch. Like, that's going to test your bullpen.

That's going to test you mentally. That's going to test you physically. 12 and 5 in that stretch. That's big-boy stuff from the Cubbies. Royals, bad. Triv has some royal stuff coming. Who's the team they lost a series two in that stretch? It was the Yankees.

It's of note. Marlins took two or three from the Angels, a little bit good team, bad team. Switch to those teal uniforms. Javier Sanoa hot. Great way to end the game for the Angels. We'll give them credit for the one game that they did win because that was pretty cool.

Sinoja hits one down the line. Jose Siri, relay throw, gets him. At home plate. I like outfield throws. You know that. I know. I love Jose Siri too. Sandy was great.

He passes my guy. Ricky in Alaska. He was actually really nasty. Seven scoreless struck out eight. And there's a throw right here. Jose Siri, always doing something fun on the field. Not always good, but fun.

Don't go. Don't go. You know, I don't mind the send. You know, it was, there was a little hesitation around third base, but two outs, kind of a ball like that actually is hard to pick up when it's not,

there's no pace on it, essentially. And then you got kind of, he's like running full speed at a ball with no pace. You've got to set your feet. I don't mind to send it all. Oh, this year. Just a nice ball play right there.

Rob, this is a late one at the buzzer, but if you can find Griffin-Konin's home run... I want to say it's listed 431 or something like that, but just as much as you can destroy. And he had two of them on Sunday, so that's where I told Rob... Oh. Oh, gosh.

Oh. Yeah, I mean, that's off the second deck in right center. I didn't know. You know, Griffin-Connor, a weird one for me because he wasn't like a top prospect and it's like, oh, the Marlins, they got Jeff Cohn, Mr. Marlins' son is on the team. This dude's appaller.

I don't mean to do this to you, but Corey Seeger also hit one that was an absolutely laser in that series. So go Corey Seeger, go Conine. Let's move on to the next. Let me, if Rob gets that Corey Seeger, Homer, because I like Corey Seeger and the Texas Rangers are a playoff team, let me read you Griffin Conine stats this year, Trout. Okay.

265, sure. 349 on base, yeah. 544 slug in that old on-base slugging number that we've decided to combine. 894 OPS from Griffin-Konine. So the second home run is a pitcher-player position player pitching, but he also just goes tank job on it. I'm not going to knock him for that. Oh.

Oh. That's just a rocket, bro. Corey Seeger, man. He's going to be... 24-degree launch angle on that point. Maybe it's even lower than that. Maybe give me to 20. Corey Seeger is going to be a wild trivia question in like 10 years.

Because it's just going to be like he's going to be on the leaderboard of every shortstop hitting list. Because he's amazing. I was going through some... I don't know how I got here, but I ended up on an old tweet from talking baseball. You, me and Jimmy. sitting around talking about the Yankees' free agency. And I said, you better start acting like the Yankees and either go get Carlos Correa or Corey Seeger.

And then you guys decided that you had your heir apparent. I don't know about all that. Yeah, it's there. Dig through a lot of tweets. We say a lot of stuff that. I'm not going to do that. Go George Lombard. Let's do National League.

And it starts off with the coldest team in the sport. The Los Angeles Dodgers, of course, coming out of the trade deadline. We've got Scoobel. So what do they do? They start losing. They lose another series. To Arizona, the Diamondbacks, D-Backs, D-backs. They walk it off in game one.

Ryan Waldschmidt, what do you know? Off of Edwin Diaz, no trumpets, please. Game two goes to extras. The Dodgers get the win to stop their seven-game losing streak. But then, Eduardo Rodriguez. Seven innings pitch. Tour and runs a hundred. 115 pitches. You know I like that, coach. Let them pitch. What do the numbers mean? Nothing.

Snakes playing for rings in the desert people. Dodgers cold. The Blue Jays take two out of three from the Phillies, which Zach Wheeler, that surprises him. Talking about the Blue Jays losing ways. Got a little hot in this series. Nathan Lucas, two out, two run Homer in the 11th, and how about a throw home the next game? Uh, but, The Phillies avoid the sweep as they win that one in 12. A couple extra inning jobbers. Schwabber two home or day, of course. Don't put it there, Beaver.

What are you doing? The Padres, San Diego. They take two out of three from Houston. Houston wins that first game. Treves Cam Smith with a two home or day to help get the win. Also, that Astros bullpen shoved. But then, my king, Mike King, drops it on him. Jackson Merrill, good to see, old friend.

He balls out and then San Diego gets this The series win in that final game Fernando Second deck deep off that Little brick house thing they got out there Maybe we get more of that going on Houston takes a set Brewers take two out of three from the tens

No no Twins win that first game Deegan out of a 4-0-0-hole Josh Bill Kaelin Culpepper put some respect on his name It's Brewers the rest of the way two, four, three wins, two one-run games. Andrew Vaughn, the go-ahead run in the eighth.

And then Jake Bowers, Jake Rakes. You'll hear more about that coming up. The Mets take two out of three from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Oh, no, Pittsburgh. It's starting to get late early for the Pirates. They had a same 17-game, 17-day stretch. Five and 12th, a little reverse cubbies. As the Mets, Sean Maniah.

11 ponches. Luis Robert goes big fly. Why not, Mets? Is it too late? Yes. Nationals. They sweep the Cincinnati Reds. Nats are still in it and they're still hitting.

Dalin Lyle. I saw announcer pronounce it Lillet. Can we check on that? Because it felt wrong, but maybe it's so right. Andres Chaparro. Thick! He drives in three and that's a real thing. Yes.

And then Washington gets the sweep outscoring 20 to 6 in the series. The new look, Nat's bullpen gets things done. Okay. The Colorado Rockies and the Cardinals play, did you know? St. Louis fans do, because they're still in it. They win the bread games. Ivan Herrera, Yvonne, excuse me, solo homer in that first one. And then J.J. Weatherholt and Herrera in that final game to take two out of three.

Jake McCarthy, you're going to hear more about. about that coming up. The final series in the American League, well it's actually the national wing. It's time. Road Warriors brought to you by Best Western and it's the Motor City Kitties. They take

two out of three from San Francisco. They lose that first game. Devers. J.T. Prubaker on the mound. Absolutely. But from there, Jackson Job with five scoreless innings. Okay. Max Clark

is driving in runs. And then the pitcher you need to know about. It's Troy Melton. Six innings. Zero earned runs. My goodness. And then Zach McKinsgo. You seen him do it on the bases.

Look at the arm from right field. We love an outfield assist. We love the tigers being back in the mix. We already talked about the AL standings. Let's get some NL. Life's a trip. Make the most of it with Best Western. McKinsgo.

Nice throw. Nice throw. Didn't know he had it like that. I don't like this Tigers team at all because they're scary. They're hot, Trev. They're hot. Jack Flaherty posting cryptic Instagram stories. You know that scares me.

Seven and two on a three city West Coast trip. Give me those NL standings, coach. Oh my gosh, I got them pop. We'll start out of the East. Second best record in the National League goes to the Atlantic. to Brave 71 and 47 there 8 and a half games above the Phillies who are 63 and 56. Marlins

hanging in there 1659 Washington hanging in there 59 and 61 the Mets not really hanging in there 52 and 67 for them the best record in baseball goes to of course we know it every single

freaking year what was there what was there what did the computers have him at oh 82 wins? Oh yeah, I got to check on that. My financial plan for the year has almost come through. It's coming, yeah, they're at 74 already.

74 and 44 for them, 5 and F games above the Cubs who are 69 and 50. Cardinals, Dead Even, 59 and 59. The pirates, as you mentioned, on a little bit of a cold streak, they've struggled to find their footing. 58 and 62 for them, 56 and 61, 4. the Cincinnati Reds. We had this NL Central Division as the best division in baseball early on the season. Not so much anymore.

The NL West, the Dodgers sitting at 70 and 48. They've been playing bad baseball still. One of the teams was 70 wins, seven and a half games above, Dalt Snakes, who are 63 and 56. You know, they just took the series from them. Padres playing a little better baseball, 62 and 57 for them. Fernando, I did like that, Homer. I liked that he held the bat in the air because that's fun. 49 and 69 for the San Francisco Giants.

Buster Posey, what is you doing, baby? I don't know what else there is to say. We took your bench coach. He's now with us. He's your best friend. 46 and 72 for the Rocks in the National League, a wild card. It would be the Chicago Cubs with the number one spot.

Then the Diamondbacks and the Phillies locked up for the second and third spot. San Diego Padres one game back. Miami Marlins, three games back, and the St. Louis Cardinals, three and a half games back. That's where I'm going to stop. And those are the standings in the National League. Well done.

The bird, 84 and a half was the number we had before the season from Millow. Okay. That's a little higher than I remembered, but still, too low. Just easy. Just easy. All right, we got a fun one for you guys. Be sure to check out our latest warehouse challenge. It's our guy Jimmy Norpe, Chose McFly, Jack Doyle, and Zoe.

from We Got Ice, they attempt to find the imposter of six players claiming to be pros. Really fun video. Make sure you guys go check it out on our Warehouse Games channel. This National League race, where the Brewers now have the best record by a solid little gap there, Atlanta jumps the Dodgers in this cold streak and eight and two by the Braves, a two and eight by the Dodgers, that it would be Dodgers. for three in L.A. I know we talked about, and again,

Cincinnati fans turn off your ears. It's been a long year. Cincinnati didn't show up to the party last year. They didn't show up this year. The Phillies versus the Dodgers for three games. Like what? Wheeler and Sanchez? That would be the Philly.

I think honestly that would be the Phillies dream matchup. If they could get that matchup, they don't want to face them in a five or a seven. In my humble opinion, I'm a Philly guy. You know that. Although my twins are about to face that the field of dreams. They would love. At least to know, they would have to know that, hey, we're going to face them in a three-game set

because then they can line the pitching out. That's all I'm trying to say. Everyone knows that. The record with those top three guys is really, really good. Probably not going to, the way things are going, doubt they're able to line up their pitching, though. So we'll see how that happens. but yes, that would be a fantastic set. What do you want to?

You want to start with the snakes? Let's do Snakes Dodgers as we're talking about it. Say his name, Ryan Waldschmidt. I've been saying it. Two-run walk-off Homer off Edwin Diaz, looking at some slider tape, getting ready for the bat, which that always makes me laugh a little bit

because it's also, I don't know, a lot of guys look at tape and then they don't hit the home run, so it's, I don't know. It's good. Definitely support it. has 11 ERA over 11 outings. So that's the three-year $69 million deal. And I don't know, man, I've said this before, and people might not fully appreciate it.

And by the way, the debacks are just like hot. I think it's 18 and 9. Going back, quick math, that would be 27 games. Nailed it. Dude, the debacks do just some stuff. Every team's bullpen is fired up, but the D-Backs bullpen, like watching balls come towards a corner and going nuts down there. I love that.

And how about Corbyn Carroll's girlfriend? A surprise Emma Broil singing the anthem before the game? Corbyn Carroll's from everything I know about him. I don't think he's a big surprise guy, but I don't know. He seemed to like it. He robbed a Homer in that game. Hopefully that sparks him with the bat. And that was the thing that Dalt was saying.

He's like, yeah, we're winning games, but, like, Corbin's not hot. Pardomo's not hot, which if we can... Marte well, hitting as a righty, he's hot. He's mashing the ball. I don't know. Like the snakes, it's one of those half glass empty,

half glass full that things could continue to get better for them as they've been involved in this, they've been involved in this season the whole way, just literally a snake in the grass. Okay. Yeah. Corby and Carrow winning on and off the field. Respectfully.

Respectfully, always. Respectfully. That's all we do here. Yeah. Edwin D, as everyone knows, after the Dodger signed a big-time reliever. It's the second year where they're good. Jack Tanner Scott's numbers on that.

That was a cool homer by Ryan Waldschmidt, talking about being on the slider and watching video. I got all that. That's fun. It's a fun quote from him. Tough for A-Wndi is back-to-back nights because you do get the Pardomo and Carol. Of course, how do you hit a triple down the left field line? There's only a few guys that can do that.

I've seen Byron Bucks and do it. We re-watched it. We were all jazzy in here this morning. I think it does a little backspin against the wall for a second, but it's also the fastest creature alive. Those corners where the bullpins are in that stadium are very strange, and they lend themselves well for Corby and Carroll, some of the alleys there as well.

But I don't know, man. There truly is, you know, maybe a handful of guys that would turn that into a triple. So pretty cool, especially after you get that walk-off Homer on night one, and then you're able to come tie it against Diaz again in game two. I mean, those are fun, fun victories, and it goes back to our saying that the Diamondbacks just don't play regular baseball games.

They're always exciting. Sometimes they're excitingly bad, but they haven't been that way lately. They've been getting the dubs and the Dodgers, yeah. It's a little scary for what they're doing now, a little sloppy, if you will. But you have to think it's just kind of a bump in the, the road for them.

Yeah. Yes. Yes. It comes for every team, man. And I think the Dodgers, it happened last August too. So, you know, maybe there's an August something in the water. But guess what? If there's an August something in the water, but back-to-back years in October, the good stuff

happened, then it is what it is. It's just how quickly does the ship right? And are they going to put themselves in a vulnerable position in this national league where, you know, heavy is the crown that if they find themselves in a three-game wild card. And even if it's if it's not the first. fillies, if it's the cubbies, if it's these snakes, we've seen it go down that, again, this team's built a little differently, like that Dodgers team that got knocked off with Lance Lynn throwing heaters up there. It's a little bit of a different energy, but it's a funny game

sometimes. The athletics beat the Red Sox. But yeah, it's when is the ship going to turn and how quickly can it happen? Because, yeah. If you're a snakes fan, you have to be kicking yourself about those back-to-back triples. You end up with a guy on third base, nobody out, and you can't get the run across. That's tough. Still fun for them. Walshman had a chance again to be the hero in the 10th

and I'm hitting to a double play. And how about, man, Merrill Kelly, 5.2, one earn run, only two hits. At Erod, seven innings, two earn runs. And Brandon, it's getting fought in here again. Since he's gotten called up, he's been great for them.

Yeah, he's looked fantastic. Sick. Erod, four starts versus the Dodgers this year. 24 innings pitched. Only 21 hits, five earned runs. That's a 1-8-8. You got to like that. They like that. Dodger fans do not. Speaking of those Phillies that they would play, again, it's anxious hours over there a little bit. As Wheeler, he actually has a tough day at the office wild. Five walks, you don't expect that from him. Josh Smith, new face, new place. Sneaky little deadline ad. Josh Smith with big Blue Jays energy, by the way.

Yeah, I like that a lot. Three for four in that game. And then, yeah, we get a couple, we get two extra inning games. The Blue Jays and Nathan Lucas take that first one. And then the Phillies end up salvaging the set. But, you know, the Phillies are still, they're treading water. It's a nice way to say it. They truly are.

First game, that was like the Wheeler, not on the rubber situation. He says he's been doing it all, his whole career. But then he also did say that the Major League Baseball kind of warned him earlier this season to get on the rubber. So that's interesting. I've seen different camera angles where it looks like he is three or four inches on the first base off the rubber on the first base side. Then there's some camera angles that look like he's on there. He's yelling F you to our guy, David Popkins and Miles Straw is getting into it as well. So there's that.

Popkins got ejected in that game. And then again, he was posting some like, and I think maybe his Instagram. Instagram is private. So maybe I shouldn't say. Oh, geez. He was posted some Instagram. Okay. Yeah, you're out. You're both out. They were, they were, he had a Taylor Swift song, but revenge. I don't know. What's stuff going on. Jose Soriano. I wanted to make this, I wanted to mention this. A lot of stuff. I think there's a story coming out today. I don't want to step on anybody's toes about a team trying to acquire Jose Soriano after the Js acquired him.

So going after him, he ends up throwing his knuckle curve more than he's ever thrown it before because it's just like his best pitch. And so the Blue Jigs would just throw that more. And people think that's like some groundbreaking. What's going on with the shoes here, Coach? Because those look like Halo shoes to me. He just got traded, dude. I know.

But sometimes they wear that red hat that I think those cleats would actually be fire with that. Yeah, don't love the match right there, but there probably is comfies. You got to get your comfies out. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Schwerber, who I'm going to mention him a little bit later, but my God, first player in the 144-year history of the Phillies

did 35 plus homers in five consecutive seasons, and it's August. People got really mad at Don Maddenley for not bringing in a lefty to face Andres Jimenez? and he gets a hit off Kirkring, and I was like, I was doing the game, so I didn't watch this game, but I went back and looked at that

because I was very curious. Okay, what did he do? There's a one-two pitch. He blooped it into center field. Like, you're really mad at that? They, yeah, I, it's Philly. He got, he got, it's August. I don't know, man.

I know. Yeah. What, he did his job. Blue Jays. I think later in the season, series, you got to knock off Jose Alvarado. So what do you tell them? The day before.

Blue Jays still think they're alive, seven and four in their last 11, and in a way they are, three and a half games out. Yeah, I smelt that with their deadline. Phillies, they still need to write the ship somehow. Let's see, who do they got coming up in Philadelphia? Phillies have at St. Louis and at the Minnesota twin. So be careful. Careful now.

Careful Phillies. Shout out to, well, Nola got to 2000 K's and then Scherzer sole possession of 10th all time in strikeouts. Walter Big Train Johnson. I made this comparison. I said, you know, the way we talked about Jacob Mizorowski, we talked about Max Scherzer that way. Yeah, it is interesting as Mizorowski passed 200 strikeouts on August 9th or whatever it was. Yeah, I was wondering, like, it's going to be where his final numbers land this season. Like, I haven't done my projections. Like, is Ms. going to strike out three bills? Because I've seen what? I've seen Scherzer, Cole, Verlander do that.

We're not there yet. I'll talk. I mean, unless you want to go straight to the Twins Brewer Series as a little transition. You give me the two-minute run down. The brewers are really good. Like, they, it was a close sear. and the twins had their chances. They were,

had a four, they were losing four nothing in the first game, then rallied back. Kaling Cole Pepper's up for the twins. That was a big development for us. It's a homer in his first career game. As I'm talking to Dean Kramer. That was fun.

We had a nice, I called him the most handsome guy in the team. So we're developing a nice bond. If anyone cared about that. Josh Bell has been great. So that first game, Twins win. Big win. Like, okay, one game behind 500.

and then, you know, the Brewers win the next two games. And it's like they just do everything right. They field the ball. They run the bases. They have guys that can run like the win. Brent Lockridge, David Hamilton, Bryce Turang, Luis Laura, all these guys. I mean, they make a difference on the base pass. They truly do.

And then, you know, you watch them play defense. The twins, to me, you know, the outfield defense is very shaky without buck. This series would have been, we would have swept the series of Buck was there. No doubt in my mind. Luis Laura in that last game, Mizorowski, who I'll talk about in a second, you know, he gets hit a few, pumped a few times by Clemens and my guy, Brooks Lee. But Laura, two game saving catches. I thought this one was gone.

So this one would have kept like a double in the part, maybe a triple, depending on how it hits off that wall. But later in the game in extra innings, that was the, that was the, That was the one. He's a, all story Ellie team ball player, man. Doesn't look like he's playing with any fear. He also,

earlier in the series, like, they're yelling on him because he's like running into people. He doesn't know what's going on out there. But he, I mean, he just plays like with reckless abandonment. And they,

both these were just so impressive right there. I mean, again, it's just the games were close, but you could tell who the better team was, man. The twins put up a great fight, but the bullpen of the brewers is just absolutely nasty. Ashby, Yerebe, Trevor McGill is disgusting.

But Jacob Mizorowski, to get back to my original point, he just feels like a different, nobody's doing what he's doing in the big leagues. Nobody is. Nobody's just taking the ball and throwing it by people. Yeah. Just doesn't even care. You know what's coming. Some of the swings he elicits, as far as getting to 300,

I don't know what they're going to do. They're trying to give them extra time between starts. They're trying to limit innings and all that good stuff. If I'm them, I am limiting innings because the way you can think about it, and I heard someone say this and I was, oh, that sounds good. It's like every inning you throw in the regular season is an inning you don't get in the postseason maybe. Oh.

So like they're going to, they're going to waltz into the postseason. It's not a big deal for them. So I would really be cautious with this guy. But he's the best pitcher on the planet right now. And I don't think it's close. Yeah. And there's just another comfort level. Like it opens up the game with 21 straight fastballs.

The slowest one is 100.6. And even I don't want, because I wanted to say this with Tolly before. Totally, we've gotten to a weird spot where it's like don't show emotion, don't have emotion because it's better to play that way. And I think for some guys, yes, like if you're, if you're a DJ LaMayhew type and you're just wired without that, then yeah, that's how you play. Mizorowski has entered. It looks like he's entered a new stage, and him and Tully both, that like, hey, bottle up that energy.

And when you need it, let it out a little bit and use it for good. You know, totally you see that. Like, he'll let out some big boy screams. I was Mizorowski watching him early on just like a little bored with his strikeouts. It was like, uh-oh. Like he's unlocking something else. He's a-Forrest Gump like. Do I have anything?

I got some Jake stuff coming up. Sorry about your twins, Coach. And yeah, I guess my other final note on this was, I mean, they get three runs off Ms., which is his season high. And then the guys that come out of the bullpen, just as nasty. Well, just as nasty is a little loose.

But Ashby, D.L. Hall, Uribe, and I think I'm missing one, but beasts. I had a great talk with Yeli and your guy, Jake Bowers, and I was asking about Bryce Terang. And again, I think he is my new favorite baseball player. He would go up the middle on balls. And you're not supposed to even get close to him, and he would. And then he always, if you watch Brewers games, check this out for me.

He ends up in left field all the time. A second base, and he's like running out there. He's ranging so far. He just keeps the momentum going. I'm like, where are you going? why are you in left field? But it just shows his range and like, you know, what he is. The plate is awesome.

I don't know, man. They're a fascinating team. I said they don't hit homers enough. They kind of hit homers. That's how they scored runs against us. And then use the legs every once in a while too. And they get the buns down. The twins can't get a bun town.

And they get the bunce down. It's done. Our guy Bay comes in. The Mets release him. He comes over the day after they release him. comes through the brewers and gets not only a sack bunt down, but a bunt for a base hit down as well. G. Juan Bay is back. This episode is brought to you by Fanatics Markets where fans trade on sports.

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I know. Brewer's Good, Twins Mediocre. Padres take two out of three from Houston. And a couple playoffish teams here. San Diego, hey, Dalton Varshot with the two-run Homer. It was Astro fans who like to see that. But they don't like seeing how the rest of the series goes. And as we've talked about with San Diego,

they need to see some power from Fernando. He provides that. They need to see more from Jackson Merrill, back-to-back games with a homer there. And his season's stat line was one of those like, oh, like as a baseball season goes on, you lose track of some guys, and sometimes they make you lose track of them.

Big home series win for San Diego to take two out of three from Houston. Needed it. Cam Smith, a couple of homers. in that first game to get game one. I don't know if you've seen Christian Walker's mustache look. It's a it's a it's a it's a stash that's for sure. Kind of caught me off guard there a little bit. Not a great debut for Robbie Ray.

I think him and Casey Mine's had tough debuts for the pods. But Michael King is a stud. He out duels Lambert, who's been really good for for Houston in that second game. Cost of the air by Jeremy Pena in the fourth. And then game three, two hits for the Houston Nationals. It's all they get. Padres go up.

They go deep four times. The Tatis Homer was awesome. You mentioned Merrill kind of getting going. Since the break, Tatis, 310, six homers, 19 runs driven in for the one daughter. Merrill 3.41, eight homers, 21 runs driven in for the one daughter. That is music to Padres' fans' ears. Right. Like Padres outlook changes if Tatea and Merrill are going to be one dot guys the rest of the way.

And Houston, they lost a back-to-back series now. But before that, they were on a run. I mean, they were, whatever they were, you know, 14 and 2 or something like that. They went off. So, you know, they're playing good ball. They're holding in there. By the way, the Houston Astros are in first place in the AL West, as mentioned. And Trev, they're a couple games away from having a.

buy in the American League playoffs because if nobody takes off in the Central or the West, one of those... Um, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I mean, you know, Christian Walker Fire Department. Like, yeah, I see what's going on there. I thought it might be a little kookier.

They went, excuse me, 10 and 1, Houston before they lost his series of Toronto and now the Padres. He does look like that. like a fireman. Yeah, I like it. Yeah. I don't dislike it. Um, I think I'm calling the Pirates Dead. Pirates fans have been mad at me all year. I didn't love their offseason. Um, I was surprised to see where their offensive numbers were. I liked the talent. Trev, they were a team that kind of couldn't afford another hiccup. Like, they were going to have to keep it going. And like it's five and 12 in their 17 game stretch. Um, the offense has,

slowed down a bit. The pitching is slowed down a bit that I mean in this National League where you got to start counting teams they have four teams ahead of them outside of the wild card. San Diego, Miami, St. Louis and the Nats all ahead of them. They're 58 and 62. Like I've been out and I think I'm out.

Are you in on the Mets? Winters of 5 of 6? Sure am not. Oh, okay. Shout out Zach Thornton 252 ERA through his seven career starts. And AJ Ewing, decent numbers on the year. If you want to talk about the Pirates, they have also, I feel like a pretty damn good roster, but yeah, it just hasn't worked out.

You mentioned the offense slowing down, and then Paul Skeen's Velo concerning to me, I would say, Pirates fans let me know what you think about that. Like when do you look under the hood and kind of see what's going on with him? Because that's your future for sure. And I would make sure that everything's okay with our guy, Paul. But yeah, it's both these teams. I don't even know.

I think they're both kind of out of it. Pittsburgh's still kind of hanging around. Robert Stock, how about that? Yeah, good for him. The Mets, yeah. Good for him. Agora guy. So, you know, that's your calabasas.

Sure. Pittsburgh at Miami, then Boston and Detroit. So that's my thing. I keep looking at their schedule and I'm like, they need a get hot stretch. And I think I like those other three teams more than them. So I'd love to be proven wrong, Pittsburgh, but it's starting to get late. Shamanai and I start.

Shamanai and I start. We can't talk Mets. I think the last team that deserves to, St. Louis takes care of the Rockies great. The Nationals sweep the Reds. The Reds are a team that are in sweep territory, but these goddamn nationals, man, they trade away Luis Garcia Jr.

Who looking at what he was doing against Ritey's was insane. And they're just, I don't know, let's, how's Abamelik Ortiz is driving guys in? There's Harry Ford getting a chance with the big team. Like, I don't know. Whoever they call up Rakes. Did we get the chance to say Dalen Lillet's name or what do we got there?

I thought it was Lyle. The broadcaster that I heard pronounce it definitely seemed like he was flying blind and just let a Lillet fly. I mean, in no way if you're flying blind, do you say Lillet? You think that would be the first thing we would know if that was how it was pronounced that I... Yeah.

That's Rake, dude. and they're alive. They do rake. Kay Kivali's been great for them. Six consecutive quality start in that game one. You got to love that. They hit a bunch of homers for them. And then they get to Chase Burns as well.

He had a 12-game winning streak, and it's his first loss since April 12. Five earned in five and a third. So you're getting to one of the best pitchers in the league right now. You got to love that. Chapparro, you're right, Gimley son of Gloin and him have never been in the same room. So there's that. Speaking of your Lord of the Rings Day.

And then the bullpen, who, you know, that's been the Nationals problem throughout the year, had a great day in game three, or for the series, excuse me, 13 innings pitch in the series, 11Ks, only three walks. That's a far cry from what we've seen from them early on the season. I don't think you tell Andreas Chaparro, he's a Gimley son of glowing guy. Why? I think he's bigger. I'm bigger than that

First of all, I have the utmost respect For Gimley Center. I know you do, but he's a short king All right, well, I'm going to look up Andres Chaparro and what his height is. And you know who always said Andres Jeparo would be a ball player? Kyle Macdonald,

aka KMack, who was minor league teammates with him. Wow. Yeah. He is six foot on the nose. So, okay. Maybe not Gim. And then I did.

Maybe more Boramier. Farm here. Cardinals keep winning challenge. It was the Rockies. Treb, I was wrong, and we're deep in this. In August, we've got to start cutting series. Sorry, people, but the Tigers. Yes.

The Tigers. It's two out of three from the Giants, and that is what it is, but what Troy Melton has been doing is on a special run. Jackson Job, back at the party. And these Tigers are one of the hottest teams in baseball. And now they're a game out of the wild card. They're three and a half from the AL Central that, man, if you want to see some good clickbait baseball conversations, if they keep doing this and they end up on top of the Central or in the dance,

and they could have had that other bad man with them, who knows? That's not how the world works. But Tigers fans just have to be happy they're seeing a form of good baseball. I think sometimes that sparks a team, man. I told you that. When that happened, I don't know. They knew they were getting Jackson Joe back, so they're like, okay, we're going to get rid of my. I think that was a foregone conclusion.

The scoble thing, I think they got, from what Scott Harris said, they got overwhelmed by a package, and they thought that that was going to be great for them. So, okay. And yeah, and they've been getting the job done. The offense has been great in the second game, six runs in the seventh inning. Our guy Eduardo Valencia, who I call Joy Manessus,

he's got two Rundle. Max Clark has been fantastic since he's been called up. Talk about a spark plug there. I wish my twins would call up our top outfield process. Walker Jenkins. I mean, Hobby Baez is back. So there's a lot to like about this team. He mentioned Troy Melton and what he's been able to do.

So, yeah, I mean, this like seems like if you're writing a baseball script in 2026, like the Tigers going on a run here at the end of the season, forcing their way into the playoffs after trading school and my, I mean, I feel like that makes sense. We've seen the Tigers, you know, go on on runs like this over the last couple of years. So it's, it pains me to say it. But yeah, I mean, we're looking at a team that could absolutely surpass the White Sox and win the Ale Central. That's not, that's not like far-fetched.

And no, it's crazy. Like if they keep getting seven consecutive road series wins, which that's tough to do in this sport, they've got Cleveland. They got Cleveland in the White Sox this week. So let's find out. I mean, they could be in first place by this time next week. They have the number one starting pitcher ERA. Yes, they do.

That's pretty nuts. That includes the guys they traded. And how about, right, but how about this, by the way? What if they stay hot? No one takes over the West. The Detroit Tigers, who traded away Scoobel, could have a buy going into the ALCS. Tigers versus Dodgers World Series, Scoobble gets raped. Oh.

They know his stuff. Max Clark up top. Okay, grindy, but that's what we do here. Let's start giving out some standout performances. It's time for standout performances. Stand out performances. Stand out performances. This guy stood out for Trev.

What? Hit me, coach. I'm going with Jack Kegleone. Four for four, two doubles, two homers, four runs driven in on Saturday. He's been an absolute animal over the last week, 11 for 23, seven runs driven in. He's got 20 homers on the year. And I like when big boys start like really tapping into the power that they have.

Because at first, dude, it's the big league that's tough. It's, you know, you get overwhelmed. So then you kind of go back to, well, I just got. like make contact here. I got to just kind of find a way to put the barrel in the ball. And then you get settled in and you're like, okay, now I'm back. He's been putting some big boy swings on these pitches. And the numbers on total this year are starting to look really, really nice.

I mentioned the 21 homers. On base percentage has to get up a little bit, but the slug is there. 317, 480 for the 797 OPS. Get into the H-Jack, 125 OPS plus. So, you know, Royal season hasn't gone the way that they planned it. But if you're talking about Bobby Witt and this guy kind of back to back, throwing some Vinny P. in there, there's little Michael Garcia resurgence. I'm talking 2027 here, people.

This is a team who I think if we can get a line now, I'm buying stock in the Royals, 27. Yeah, they might be the number one team just waiting for the calendar. to change, which is sad. And yeah, the savant's looking pretty. And again, some of these guys are just different humans. I think Caglione's one of them. He's 23 years old, dude.

6-4-250 and like where's all that very naturally? I think he likes me, so that's cool. I don't know. I don't know about that. But I'll let you believe it. Carter Jansen? Good pick. Good pick.

I'm, you know, Jack. I want to say something real quick. I forgot to mention this. I'm sorry. Career War 1-4? He's got a 2-7 this year. Yeah. You know, the defense was a problem.

He got thrown into right field having like never played there. Negative 1.3. That's the math, people. Last year. Defensive war. In 62 games. What the hell? Defensive wars.

Yeah, he also didn't hit last year. So I don't know. I don't know. great job and trev we we had kind of a heated brothers uh f-or-f debate before this episode um because i'm i'm doing so i won't say it's a cop out uh i think you and i we have our names i'll start there your name is trevor my name is jake i'm not a jacob um and the jakes and the jacobs and you know this is something i've lived and breathed there's more of a divide than you'd think I feel closer to Jacks than I do Jacobs.

I know. I'm just telling you what I feel. Okay? I'm going triple Jake. I'm getting jaked up because Jake Bowers, two for three, Homer, walk off RBI single against your twins. Most home runs for the best team in baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers, this year.

Jake McCarthy, how's your four for five with two homers, four runs scored. He's gone nuts this past week, a 14 for 27? Yo. Okay, you like this, Treff. Four hits, four runs, two homers, two steals, a lead-off homer. That's never been done in MLB history.

We like that. That makes Tim Kirkagin squeal. And then, qualified batters, over 300 batting average in an 850 OPS. It's Yordon Alvarez. It's Jake McCarthy. So some appreciation for him. And then I wanted to throw a sprinkle on there. I know Pirates fans want nothing for me.

I get it. Jake Mangum. A little 303 batting average on the season, a 747 OPS. He started slow. He is turned it up. He's a really fun at bat. Switch-hitting outfielder for Pittsburgh that I like Washington play because he's kind of a classic speedster in his soul.

That, yeah, I had three Jake's that had a chance to stand out that I added them. You asked me if I was going to throw Mizorowski in there. We don't Jacob in this house. This is just for the Jakes. I just don't understand how you're closer to Jax than Jacobs. But you do you, bro. You told me that's the same thing as Trevor and Travis.

I didn't say that. That was a bad argument. I admit that. I admit that. I just, yes, I think Jacks, there's a lot of Jacks that are short for Jonathan or something like. like that that I think in the Jake Jack realm where we're one letter away, Jake and Jacob, they're kind of, again, maybe it's hot take, maybe it's cold take.

That's what's in my heart. A lot of these guys could end up on Enfuego. A lot of pitchers shut, Peyton Tolley had 14 strikeouts. That's funny business. Lazzardo had 12. Mania had 11. Cam Smith had a two home or day. Josh Smith's on a two new team hitting a lot

I think we're going to see some of these guys on Enfuego Dirt Nasty's on Fuego That means I'm on fire baby Like Waco What do you got coach Fernando Yes Five for 13 in the series

Two homers four runs driven in He hit his hundred and sixty third career Homer that's tied for most Second most all time by a Padres player Machado leads the franchise player Machado leads the franchise with 217, which is kind of crazy to think about. Okay.

I didn't have that. Didn't have that. Ian Hap, our guy, he also goes five for 13 with two homers. He homered in consecutive games to end the series, became the 11th Cubs player in franchise history to record six plus seasons of 20 or more homers with the team. He's consistent. Consistently beautiful.

Love you, Ian Hap. Dailen Lillet. I got to call in Lillay now. I think that's fantastic. We'll check in on that because it's not. That could be a you thing. I don't know. Dailin Lyle goes five for 12, a double, five runs driven in.

He's from Louisville, Kentucky. And when he plays the Reds, if you don't know, it's right next to Kentucky. Oh. I don't know. The note on the sheet is something about the Reds brings out the best in him. What were you doing there? Love it for us, though. Okay.

Yvonne Herrera for the St. Louis Cardinals goes eight for 14. Two doubles a homer three runs driven in. Andres, Jimenez, four for 13. He had a homer, six runs driven in. We had two game tying hits in the eighth inning during the series. For the Phillies, we kind of talked about that. So you got to love that. I like clutch.

Doesn't exist. It doesn't exist. I saw Jimenez have some clutch hits in the postseason. Doesn't exist, Jake. Okay. So the computer say. For the week, how about Willier or Bray? I mean, give him for the decade.

He's a stud. seven for 16, three homers, nine runs driven in. Carson Ben is nine for 22, two homers, six runs driven in. Kyle Tucker is. Okay. Kyle Tucker is going to have a massive swing for the Dodgers in the postseason. Mark my words here. I said last year or a couple years ago of Christian Potcha didn't have a nice catch for. That was a good one. That was a little more powerful. I was going to say that again because that was strange. I had to eat my hat. That'd be bad.

I just believe that Kyle Tucker is going to have a massive swing for the Dodgers. A ho-hum year, and he's going to have some sort of moment in the postseason for the Dodgers. He's 8 for 22 on the week. Two homers three runs driven in against your snakes, dolls. Boba Shett! Okay, Boba Shett. 11 for 26, three doubles, a homer. Five of those hits came in one game.

That was on Sunday's first five-hit game since July 27 of 2025. he's the first Mets player to record five or more hits, three or more runs driven in, and score three or more runs in the game since Brandon Nimmo. Remember him? Yeah. That was in 2018. It's just the 10th time it's happened in Mets history,

and that's who's in Fuego, Jake. Nimmo had a big homer. Great in Fuego. You and Dahl. What a tag team there. Kyle Tucker looking around like, fellas. Can we? No.

No, he's like this. That's counting money. I don't know if I did that, right? Oh, I thought he was going through a no. notebook or something. Go-Bogo. All right. Fantastic InFuego.

Let's bring the show down for a little bit. This great game comes for everyone. We've got some young studs. We've got some really good ballplayers on here that we're hoping to get off batters who are struggling and onto Enfuego. Evan Carter and an 0 for 17. Wow, use those legs, Sailor. Batting 2-17 on pitches in the strike zone, second lowest in baseball.

That's not good. Jeremy Payne is in a 1-4-hate-that. Trevor Larnack. That post-dedline, I don't know. Maybe send a text, Trevor to Trevor. Max Muncie. Dodgers, Max Muncie, in a 1-14 right now. Nine strikeouts in those at bats.

Batting 165 with two outs. this season. That's the lowest in the NL. Okay. He's trying to get his pitcher back on the field. For the two weeks, All-Star Tristan Peters, who's hitting 115 since the All-Star break, a three for 31. Gunner Henderson, what

is up with Gunner Henderson? Five for 39, that's a 128. Tommy Edmund is in a six and 42 for those Dodgers. That hurts. And then Zach Netto, hey, now, eight for 51. 165 Ks this season.

that second most in baseball to Kyle Schwerber made a great play in the hole the other day. He'll turn it around, I believe. That's who's struggling right now. And there's only one worst list to be on. It's on the aisle. Luckily, it's not a chunky one. Joe Ryan strained left glute. Was that on the field, off the field?

What was that? Slate Soconi. Some right arm fatigue. Joey Bart, a fractured left pinky. Hate that for him on his new team, the white side. Cooper Pratt, a right hammy on the IL for the brew crew. Griffin Jack's right elbow, something to track with Tampa finishing out this season. Ben Williamson, a right hammy.

Luis Urias, four to eight weeks with a right quad. Coming back off the aisle, also slim, but man, pitchers, Jackson Job, Jordan Montgomery, and Clay Holmes for them, Chicago Cub Ease. that's who's off the aisle. Let's start everyone's week the right way. Awards. Kelsey Wingard's the best. It's sponsored by Seekek.

Go use code talking 2026, 10% off at Seek. Trev, what's your award? I'm going with the Turnaround Award here, and there's some fun turnarounds in sports history. We just had like the Indiana Hoosiers football team, really turned around under Kurt Signetti. Kind of a weird one, though, because he's, like, getting 25-year-old players

and college football needs to figure it out. I had that discussion on the bench the other day about college football. Nice. He used to love it. Now, I'm not too much. Maybe it's because USC stinks as of late. People forget all the Patriots

who were 5 and 11 before the 2001 series, and they went on a big run. A lot of big turnarounds in sports history. I think if you've ever, rooted for a team that stunk and you kept your faith and then they turned around. You know what it feels like. You know what it feels like. I'm sorry, twins that I never really did that for you. We kind of went the other way, but we had really good teams. And when I got there, we kind of went the other way. We had 96 wins in 2010, then really fell on our face. 2011, 2012. It's okay. Another big turnaround that I want to talk about is with the Chicago White Sox.

Now, we can talk about biggest turnarounds in MLB history. And we've had some of those recently, Jake. We'll go from 2011, Dalton Snakes. 65 wins in 2010, 94 in 2011. So plus 29. 2008, Rays, made it the World Series. Remember that. Lost to the Phillies.

66 wins in 2007. 97 in 2008, so plus 31. The Orioles did it. we were all on the baby birds 52 wins in 2021 83 wins in 2022 then plus some after that um

the Chicago White Sox have had an exceptional turnaround to their I guess outlook on the south side that's what I'm trying to say last year they finished strong

I don't think people really realize that because we kind of stopped paying attention to them they ended up 60 and 102. The year before that, Jake, do you remember how many games they won? In my head, it's like 44? It's 41. E!

41 games in 2024. Okay? 60 in 102 and 2025. So already a 19-game positive win total for 2025. Well, they won their 61st game on Sunday. So they're well on their way to another huge jump in the standings. I wish it was 41 to whatever they're going to win now because they'd have a chance to be one of the best teams ever to turn it around in Major League Baseball

and what a story that would be. But I still think surpassing your win total from last year on August 9th is something to applaud. And we've talked about the White Sox a ton. But if you haven't watched them yet, I think you just got to give them a chance. They have all their players going now. Murakami's back. We showed the Homer off the foul pole. You watch Chase Mike.

I mean, go up and down the lineup, Jake. It's one of the better lineups in baseball. The way they play the game defensively, offensively. Chase Middrax, awesome. We always mentioned Colson Montgomery, that middle infield duo. One of the more fun ones in all of baseball. ball. They've been getting some great pitching. Look at freaking my guy Colson go do it. The Miguel Vargas story is a great turnaround. Sad boy to happy boy. I used to say this.

And this is going to go a little broadcast moment here. Jason Benetti leaves the white socks and goes to the Tigers. And I said, wow, man. He got out just in time. Look at what the Tigers are doing. It's phenomenal timing by him. It's flip. Now White Sox back in front in the AL Central, Tigers, you know, clawing their way back. I think he's doing just fine. But if you haven't paid attention to this team, go ahead and do it. Again, 41 wins in 24, 60 wins last year. They've already won 61.

And they're just, they're a really, really fun watch. I know Will Vennel had a screw up over the weekend, but he's been really good for them as well. So I don't know. The turnaround award goes to the White Sox. I'm very curious to see if they can finish this strong. The starting pitching's been a little, the starting pitching's been a little iffy as of late. Sean Burke has turned into their best starter.

It's one of the guys I mentioned early on. Davis Martin, he hit the skids. He's hit the skids. He's got to turn it around for them. But a really, really fun team. Got aggressive with Murakami in the off season. It's paid off for them. I'm rooting for them.

If you like turnarounds, go watch the Chicago White Sox. It's fun It's fun And like Will Venable Who gets highlighted this weekend For the wrong reasons Because he has that kind of pitching Blunder fiasco

That just can't happen I could also be an AL manager of the year I mean We'll see how it sorts out with the rays And how far can Boston bring this thing But it's crazy No one had them You could have a lot of things before the season

I mean the whole AL East If you told me one of those teams was going to be really good this year before the year. I would have said, yeah. The AL Central, man, I like the Royals outlook. I like the Tigers outlook. Cleveland's always there. Like the White Sox in this year,

and it's been, I think after the first two weeks, they've just been a really good ball club. Yeah, I hope this story has a happy ending as we're talking about the Tigers getting momentum and your guy Benetti opening, they do. But yeah, it has been for a franchise, that has a sneaky, like, if you really zoom out, you're like, wait, this team's only had so many, like, good teams and what's our biggest free agent contract? And it's like, wait, the White Sox

should be kind of in a different lane. Maybe with this young core, they get back to that. They're sad, Miguel. I forgot to mention banana ball came to the target field. Three days in a row, they sold it out. Justin Moreno played an inning at first base. Trevor May pitched an inning. Brian Dozier took in a bat, struck out on a high fastball. Oh. Even after I worked with him in the cage at Joe Mowers place. Tristan Peters, if you don't know, was on the bananas in 2021 before getting drafted. So that's just another fun anecdote about this team.

Go watch them. They're awesome. I think we said 14 major league debuts. Hagen Smith makes his over the weekend. Top 50 pitching prospect for them. A little funk from that guy. And yeah, man, I maybe jealous isn't the right word. Maybe it is a little bit.

I'm a Yankees fan. We don't have a lot of guys just debut because they do a lot of veteran moves and free agency moves that I've seen Elmer Roder. I think I've seen four MLB debuts this year, five. And that's always a special moment, speaking of. To see someone make their Major League Baseball debut, you know, you get the standing ovation.

People are jazzy. that they've been doing a lot of that. Great award, Coach Trev. I'm going to go with the Down with the Thickness Award. I got myself excited the other day because Trev, sometimes I forget talking baseball, we've got our different seasons. Postseason comes, and I do my burns for the playoff games,

which the Talking Yanks faithful, they get that pretty much every episode, and that's how we get through the games, and I make a lot of jokes. I was really happy with one young thick Austin Riley, a talking baseball OG who's kind of been in it this season and the past couple seasons. Interesting.

He hit a homer against the Yankees, and I said the Yankees are disturbed as they go down with the thickness. You know, I was pretty proud of that. I was in my bag a little bit. It felt good. And there's some thickness going on around the league right now in the lead-off spot. Kyle Schwerber is back leading off for the Phillies. He has a two-homer day.

John Kruk had some good John Kruk-isms about that, you know, talking about you love to see a guy slapping it around in the lead-off spot and all that. A playoff team that, again, a lot of teams don't want to face have gone thick in the lead-off spot. Jock Peterson. Boink. Jock Peterson, he had a go-ah-ah-eat-and-game-winning two-run Homer in the sixth inning to help Texas win that game. They only had three hits that day.

Oh, my God. That was a bomb. When Jock gets it, Jock gets it. And I remember us laughing as Jock made the transition to, you know, young athletic outfielder to, I'll D.H.

Well, this is our, this is our like fan fiction all the time. Hey, think about so-and-so thick boy later years, D.H. hitting homers. This is what we're talking about. And it's, it's not easy.

It's just not. I mean, as father time catches up and being a DH is really hard. Jack Peterson, 57 games in the lead off spot this year, 280, 351, a 625 slug. That's a 976 OPS 13 home runs when leading off an inning. That's fourth best in baseball. And I'm taking a lap while also not taking a lap. When Jack Peterson signed with Texas, I gave a very passionate speech. I was like, you know, he's one of the, I think this is one of the safest free agent signings you could put together.

Like all Jack Peterson does every year is hit Ritey's. And again, he's kind of platoony. He is platoony, if I'm being honest. But he's got the right side of the platoon going. And him in the leadoff spot has been something that has kind of sparked this Texas Rangers offense. As they get Seeger, like they've been waiting to be completely healthy all year. I've loved how Texas has built this team. It's just always seemed off.

And Jack Peterson, who I felt was the safest signing, Glass Free Agency. Last year he had a 181 batting average, a 614 OPS, which from your DH, that's brutal. That's brutal. You can't overcome that. This year, he's bounced back, and he's kind of secured that lead-off spot,

and it's helped change a lot of stuff for Texas's whole team dynamic. You know how you stay in the league and continue to hit is you have a hard hit rate of 66% on 8%. elevated fastballs. Right? Because they're going hunting there. Give me a little jock versus Ms. I mean, nobody wants the miss,

but I'd watch it. I don't think he wants those elevated. He doesn't want those, no. The ones that got hit by my guys, Brooks Lee and Cody Clemens, were low. Okay. Got to get the ball down. Young Jock doing it again,

and we might see that, could see that in October again? Sure, Homer again. the side angle because it's so good. Trev wants to see one more because when Jock when Jock connects Chandler Simpson's hitting third Kyle Schwerber and Jock Peterson are leading

off. Also before we end the show, great award by the way because I do love me some thick boy and this is this was a freaking absolute tank was this a material change? Sixth inning material change. Tough to say. No, no it's not.

Forgotten Rotten's one of my teammates on Forgotten Ron's his birthday today. Marshall Plouffe. Wow. Speaking of power. Speaking of power in the leadoff spot. I thought you were going to be a Vinny Rotino shoutout because I know you just saw him. Yeah.

A couple times he was running around trying to get to Pat Murphy, but he stopped in the broadcast booth me and Vinny hung out, took a picture together. He looks great, by the way. What peptides are you on Vinny? Him and coach ball game are on. some future steroids. That was awards, I guess. Look at that.

It doesn't get any better. I mean, he's roped up. Roped up. Roped up. I mean, just two Central, just two Middle America studs. That is Middle America. Like, there's, right now we've got people from, you know, all over the world tuning into this show and they see that picture.

And they're like, oh, yeah, that's mid, middle America. We love the Great Lakes, those two right there. Awards were brought to you by Seatgeek. Make sure you use code Talk in 2026, 10% off your next set of tickets at Seat Geek. Grinders only. Dog Days. Thank you guys. Shout out, producer Rob Seraco, Dalton Feely on the sheet.

Trevor Plouffe. I guess a little me. We're in it. Dog Days. Dog days. Oh, gosh. First lefty? I said the guy threw a few cutters.

You were supposed to throw him just straight heaters. Oh, gosh. Worked on that. He's a lot of high heaters.