Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - GREAT First Weekend of Baseball In The Books!

Episode Date: March 30, 2026

https://fanaticsmarkets.com/?af_xp=email&pid=jomboy&af_channel=partnerships&af_click_lookback=7d Start your free online visit today at https://Hims.com/talkin for your personalized ED treatment options Go to http://shadyrays.com  and use code TALKIN40 for 40% off 2+ pairs of polarized sunglasses. Pre-Order Now: ​​https://mlbthe.show/jomboy And use code “JOMBOY” to unlock a pack for use in Diamond Dynasty. Book your next trip at https://www.bestwestern.com Use our code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKIN2026. Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount   Coach Trev and Talkin’ Jake break down EVERY series from Opening Weekend including, the ABS System, Tony Vitello’s interesting first week, Kevin McGonigle surging onto the scene, the Dodgers sweep and more!   0:00 Intro 1:30 Tony Vitello 2:30 ABS System 8:30 AL BURN 13:32 AL STANDINGS 14:30 A’s Vs Blue Jays 17:35 Twins vs Orioles 20:50 Angels vs Astros 24:26 Guardians vs Mariners 29:00 Rays vs Cardinals 31:45 White Sox vs Brewers 36:20 Red Sox vs Reds 44:00 NL Burn 49:00 NL Standings 51:30 Yankees vs Giants 57:55 Pirates vs Mets 1:02:10 Tigers vs Padres 1:06:30 Phillies vs Rangers 1:09:00 DBacks vs Dodgers 1:12:39 Rockies vs Marlins 1:15:50 Royals vs Braves 1:19:33 Nationals vs Cubs 1:21:00 Standout Performances 1:26:28 En Fuego 1:31:00 Injured List 1:32:15 Awards   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to Talkin Baseball. We are so back. Opening weekend. So many young guys are studs. ABS. There's so much ball. Buckle up. Let's talk ball.

I can't believe it. I mean, who do I even... Jose Soriano. Cool. You're a Brayu. Gone. It's always been him. Oh.

Hello and welcome to Talk in Baseball presented by Fanatics, Markets. where fans trade on sports, Fanatics markets available now on the app stores. I am Jake Storelli. That is Trevor Plouffe. We are back. Dalton's got a sheet ready.

Rob Chiracco's producing his butt off. There was so much baseball. We're a little scared of what this episode can turn into because how do you not talk ABS? How do we not talk the big topics while also trying to give all of your team some love? So if we cut you a little short at some point, we're sorry, but God, we're jazzy and Yukon go Huskies.

Trev, watch out, bro. Watch out. How are you? With a capital H right now. Capital H. I see it in you. I watch the end of the Yukon game. I don't watch basketball, dude.

And this is called talking baseball, but I'm happy for you because I know you had a great day yesterday. I'm excited about all the ball. I agree. Like, we got to lead with Tony Vitello and like, it's kind of a weirdo. I think we just got to settle in for that. people. I think we just got to settle in for what Vitello brings to the table. I've been trying to, I actively called Kyle Gibson and said, talk me off a ledge here,

man, talk me off the ledge. And he convinced me to give him two weeks. Once two weeks is up, I'm going to say what I want to say. And maybe they just ran in. There's some strange things happening out there in San Francisco. Maybe they just ran into an unstoppable force this year with the New York Yankees. Yeah, Vitello, I don't know what to do with it yet. I have some, some weird thoughts on it. It's crazy that we're talking about it right now. I don't think we should be. And yeah, I think, you know, we love different people in sports. They kind of brought him in because

he was different. They like want him to ruffle feathers. So, hey, like a lot of things in sports, if you win, it seems brilliant. And if you lose, it seems stupid. So with that, unplanned, we have so, should we talk a little ABS right now? Like, that's the other big topic. I know it's going to be touched upon in some of these games. I guess, yeah, what was your initial reaction just seeing it around the league this weekend? Young guys, old guys, ABS. That's like kind of the theme of the weekend, right? Like we had like a bunch of young studs come up.

I'm going to talk about the choppedunks. And then, yeah, ABS was interesting because we knew the ins and outs, you know, of the rules. And I think the things we were trying to figure out was who's going to challenge. when teams are going to use them, which I think we're still figuring out. Teams are trying to save them for high leverage pitches, which I don't know if that's the right way to do it. I think it's more like count-oriented. You know, if you get into a 1-0 count and it can change to 2-0 to 1-1 or 2-1 to 2-2 or 3-1,

I think that's when you should challenge it. But the fascinating thing is, number one, it's working and people like it. Like in Cincinnati, you know, seeing Gino and C.B. Buckner go, what, five for five they went against him? Crazy. Six. Six for six. Oh, my gosh. Like, eventually these guys are all going to get fresh. And I think we did see that a little bit with the, do you allow guys to challenge or not? Did you tap your helmet fast enough? That to me, I think, is going to be something that we have to watch out for as the season goes on. Like, yeah, all of a sudden, these umpires are so frustrated with the calls getting overturned. Eventually, dude, that should be like, no, dude, you didn't get it in in time?

Because that kind of defeats the whole purpose of it. There was one or two of those around the league where guys had a moment of hesitation, and it's within the current rules that doesn't allow it. But it's so funny, there's a few guys that they're natural every pitch they take. They kind of bring their hands up. That I know big judgy. Like, he does that sometimes. And there was a borderline pitch that people were wondering if he was going to challenge

and he puts his hand on his head, but he didn't tap it. So you're just like, you're going to. going through some NFL catch stuff with maybe some of your buddies you can ask them about. But like it's kind of crazy. It's when does the motion stop or what is continuous? That yes, there's going to be some drama there. Yeah. Like if I'm like, if I take a good pitch and I'm down in the bat and like I don't know, maybe you don't hear what the empire says. Maybe the crowd is loud. Like do I have to every pitch look back at what the call is? I think there's a lot of that that's going to happen.

I think it is I think it's good. I think my overall feeling is it's good, but it still needs to be ironed out a little bit, man. You know, like... Yeah, I mean, I think the funny part is we're getting the call right and everyone kind of agrees on that. So it's... Even if it just nicks the zone,

everyone right now is comfortable being like, okay, well, these are the rules and we're getting a call right. It is going to be... There's going to be a development. I think guys are going to start using them more. just because if it's called wrong, use it. I think we saw too many guys not call it. And I think that's going to be interesting for fans because you're like,

you're seeing it on TV, you see the box. And you're like, you got to challenge that. Come on, man. But it's not that easy when you're up there. And yeah, it's kind of, it's, it's in a fun spot. It's in a fun spot. It's going to be interesting to see how it goes. And there's other people.

I mean, dude, you would, I don't know if you've talked to Jimmy about it, but John is like, he's like, if we're just doing this, let's do every pitch. He's like, like the way his brain works, he's like, if we have this and we all agree, then why isn't this just the rolling strike zone? And I don't have a great argument against it. It's going to happen. And anybody that watches this, let's say you're not like a baseball sicko and you're just like a casual person. And you're watching this.

You're like, what? Like, why are there umpires behind the plate still? Right. And like, again, I think you and I are on the same page. Like, I like umpires. at the same time, there is no logical argument to keep them behind the plate. There just isn't.

Like maybe the game speed, because the challenges still take up some time. So, like, it has to be like instantaneous. And is it available now, like that quickly? Because setting up the challenge

and having it go on the board and stuff, it takes time. That'll elongate the games. If they can do it as quick as that, then, I mean, we're going to see it, coach.

It's happening. Like, we're just, this is, this, in a couple years, this is going to be the funny in-between period. It's like, remember, they were still, but we had it, but. Even, I mean, you can still have the home plate um, because they still have to make calls at the plate and stuff. So I don't, I don't know. Even if, I mean, eventually I just don't, we have so much technology that in cameras everywhere, you probably won't need it. Oh, boy.

And that scares me because I do like umpires. And I don't know what the game would feel like with just, It is what it is, and you're seeing the call on the Jumbo Tron. I don't know, man. The future's coming, but what about the robots, Rob? Tell the people. Tell the people. You can't defeat the robots.

I think we can. Well, actually, you and I, we've already allied up with the robots. We're good. You befriend the robots. We're in with the bots. You should see the way I talk to my AI engine. You treat your AI engine a lot better than you treat me. and I don't know what to do with that.

I think we got to talk ball. We already are talking ball. Let's dive into some of the series. If you're new here, Monday, Fridays, we try to chop up the ale and the NL. Some series get left behind. We're going to try to do our best. It's opening weekend,

and there's a lot of good action. I don't know if we're just biased, but the boys are hot, coach. Boys are hot. This is the best sheet I've ever had. Dalton cooking. Not a chop dunk. I got all new phrases, dude.

Oh, that's sick, bro. Yeah, I'm so sick right now. All right. It's Monday. Let's do some American League. And how could we not start out with the series of the season? The Minnesota Twins headed to Baltimore. Crazy this is the first series.

Baltimore takes two out of three, a pitcher's duel. Trevor Rogers and Joe Ryan, your fingerprints are everywhere. The Orioles get the 2-1 win despite Buck Daddy's best ever, Unk, question mark. And then the Orioles, they take the final one. They win the bread games. Haven't said that in a while. Pete Alonzo gets his first RBI. Tyler O'Neill turns on one.

Tosh Bradley looked really good. A lot of strikeouts. Baltimore takes two. The Halos and the Astros split. Four with the Halos winning the first two games with some pitching dominance. Jose Soriano Cacucci pulled them to two runs in the first two games, and then it's the exact opposite. The Astros average 10 per the next two.

Yordon Alvarez, the only home run for the Houston Astros. Well, the Halos hit nine of them. How do you like that? Zach Netto looked good. Astros kept answering in that final game. Brian King with the final out yelling on the mountain. We love that. A lot of yelling this weekend.

Arr! The guard dogs! We ignored them too much until we couldn't because Chase to Lodder doing historic stuff, four homers in three games. Him and Trevor's story. Not a bad list. Kyle Lewis, kind of a crazy one. They go back and forth in this series.

It ends with Emerson. Hancock shutting them out in that final game. Mariners win 8-0 in that. But the guard dogs were impressive, that extra innings win. For DeLotter homers, the only home runs for the guards. Well, Brendan Donovan, can we extend him now? Like, he looks perfect in Seattle. The Blue Jays, you're defending AL champs,

gave the A's the Bidness a couple walk-offs to start the year, and then how about a leadoff? Homer in the third game by George Springer. Andre's Jimenez in the clutch, I don't know. Cheat code. Gossman and Dylan Sees with a new little changeeroo. A lot of punchies in the Great North. Again, A's had a chance in those first two.

But the Blue Jays sweep defending their American League title. Ray's Cardinals was chaos. I watched too much of this series. Yandi Diaz, your league leader, and hits. The Cardinals brought the big back. to the stadium. Five homers throughout the series. Jordan Walker's, I really liked.

Got his arms extended, gone. The pitchers weren't striking anybody out. JJ Weatherholt get used to his name. He's a stud. This was beautiful chaos. This was a great opening weekend series. Brutal August series. Sorry, fans.

White Sox get swept by the Brewers. And that's obvious, Trev. Because the Brewers did Brewer Ball. Runners in scoring position. Yes, there was runners on the bases. It felt like every inning. 29 runs scored, including an amazing comeback. Christian Yellich.

First pinch hit Homer. Kind of pimped it. Kind of pimped it. Especially for Yelly. Murakami's a stud, so we're all idiots again. Three homers, three games. White Sox, kind of fun. And our final AL series, the Reds in the Red Sox.

That's obvious. The Red Sox, Garet Crochet, shuts him out in the first game. The Reds rally in extras in that second game. And then how do you like your young studs? Connolly Early versus Red Lauder. 3-2 on Venezuelan National Heritage Night, which every night is now? Because Willier-Abreu-Homers for the Sox. And Eugenio hits the three-run tanker for the Reds.

And Trev, I cannot wait for the Sox. standings because that's what happened in the American League. It's a pleasure to have you back, Pop. You're so bad. You know what? Now that I found out that I'm Scottish, I don't want you doing that accent anymore, okay? Oh. Or keep doing it because it's pretty good. Kind of early and red louder.

The first week. I mean, I need them. This is important. Oh my gosh. Dinarz span on the front page of baseball reference. Shout out. This is actually a good one today. I know a lot of people.

I'll start in the east. Yes. Your Yanks. Tied at the top of the division. 3 and 0 for them and the Blue Jays. The Orioles 2 and 1. Boston and Tampa both sit in 1 and 2 after series. Defeats in the Central.

I mean, this is just what it's going to be like the entire year. Tigers on top 2 and 1. Cleveland 2 and 2 until their late season surge where they probably take the division. Kansas City 1 and 2 along with the twins and then the White Sox 0.3. That's about right. Out west, Texas Rangers, two and one.

Then the Angels, the Astros, and the Mariners, all two and two in the athletics. Oh, and three, the bullpen. We know it's just not going to be good this year, Bob. And those are the standings in the American League. Thank you, Treff. Amazing stuff. Amazing stuff. Perfect game so far.

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Try for yourself, the shades rated five stars by over 300,000 people. You know what? We talked about going down the list. I think one series can be talked about high and tight and should probably be mentioned first. I think it's the Toronto Blue Jays. I'm sorry for you, Trev, because I said I wasn't going to do this. But the Blue Jays are the defending AAL champs. They were so close to winning the World Series.

They come out, Gossman does Gossman things. Cease looks like he has a new party trick and has a person ever been more comfortable being a Toronto Blue Jay than whatever Dylan Sees looks like right now? They get the sweep and they look fantastic. Okamoto looks good. Like, they checked every box. It's the usual suspects and also some new guys.

I mean, yeah, they have what they did this off season. we were all happy that that they kind of wanted to take the next step and then for them to come and perform like Okamoto and Cease in the first series I mean as a Blue Jays fan you gotta be stoked because last year yeah he's a two-pitched guy and this year now he's showcasing like

four or five pitches now like just like that like what's going on? Rob can you get a zoom in on his face? I think there was one right at the start of the video I mean look at this looks like an iconic 80s play that we would joke about in the office every day. This is insane.

If you saw that guy in the street, would you know he's got $200 million in his bank account? I think I would, but otherwise, no. No. That's crazy that he's just doing that. While throwing absolute filth, man, and I feel like he's been looking for the pitch that goes the other way to be a little bit more of a lefty neutralizer.

And, you know, Toronto signed him quick. And then we almost were like, Hey, is that like an old contract, the way this offseason was going with the bigger money less years. With his arm, his reliability, if they, Toronto's pitching lab was like, hey, we got something for you? I mean, he looked amazing. Yeah, you can throw this. He's throwing the sinker a little bit more. I mean, again, this is one game.

We saw a little bit of it in spring training. But yeah, if you have, I mean, this is what you want. That's what you want. Oh. Yeah, that's it. and he's doing it. And strikeouts galore, him and Gospin, looked incredible. And then you have, like I said, the usual specs,

Andres Semenis coming up with a big hit. Ernie Clement coming up with a big hit. Like, this is what the Blue Jays do, man. Treve, it couldn't have been a better series for them to start out the year. Jimenez and Ernie, saving games, winning games. And then the new, your guy, Sanchez, he homers, Okamoto homers. Like, yeah, man.

They, it was every box. I still think we need to see what the A's are, although Shailang-Alears, like if you're, I don't know, he's, he's climbing up the top catcher in the game leaderboard. Yeah, I mean, he's a stud. He's the only reason they were kind of in these games, to be honest with you. And then we mentioned, like, the A's pitching is going to be a problem, specifically the bullpen. And we saw that during the series.

Alessandro. Alejandro Kirk, game saving. Homer. Yep, every box checked. Trev, I'll give it to you for about a minute and a half about what happened with the Twins and Orioles because I watched, but I didn't watch. It's kind of more

the same for the time if we're being honest. You know, the runners and scoring position was not a strong point for them last year. It wasn't really a strong point for them in this series. They do take the middle game there. Royce Lewis gets pinch hit for opening

day. I call that out. X and then he's got a couple homers next couple days let the guy let the guy hit pinch hitting is so out dude I'm so out on pinch hitting I know we're gonna talk about Christian Yelich and what he did but here's my quick take on it there's no pinch hitters anymore dude there just isn't because we don't have the National League like there used to be guys whose job was to pinch it that is unless you are just a complete platoon guy and you're Rob Reff Snyder and there's a lefty coming in I understand that but like bringing in someone that has a off day cold off the bench for like a marginal platoon split.

I'm out on it, dude. Give me the other guy who's had three of bats already. Give me that guy because no one is built to pinch hit anymore. I mean, there's maybe 10 guys in the big leagues. I beg, yeah, get that guy up there. Like even your stars, they don't know how to do it, dude. So I'm out on pinch hitting. That's my rant.

So I think we're opposites on this. I think I'm in on pinch hitting. I think with the trajectory machines that these teams have, like it's a lot easier to tell Yelly, hey, you're going to have an off day. But if there's a big spot, we would pinch hit you against these three relievers. So why don't you...

I mean, that's only at home you can do that. If that's what you're talking about, you don't have those on the road. Okay. I don't know, man. I'm completely out. I'm completely out on it. I mean, go look at what pinch hitters hit every year.

I know. It's terrible. I'm... Yeah, Stanton had horrible career numbers, and last year it, like, worked for him, and then seeing Yellies had bad numbers and he hits a home, so I don't know. All of it's small sample sizes. It's a very hard test. I understand your side of it.

I think the situation plays out that it's either a platoon guy or like a stud on the bench, because you're right. We don't have a lot of Matt Stairs anymore coming in for their one at bat of the game. Go Orioles go. Tyler O'Neill, Big Homer, did not homer on opening day, that broke a streak of five years in a row, I believe? Six. Crazy. Crazy.

Pete Alonzo, kind of a little cheapy, but he gets the RBIs in that game three. I don't know, man. Twins have some interesting pieces, but I think the Orioles are the better team in this series and they get the job done. And how about a little Shane Baas extender? Yeah.

Right in the middle of it. Pretty funny in his interview. He's like, yeah, I don't, you know, if you're an Orioles, fan. You probably don't know me that well yet, but I'm excited. I'm like, yeah. I'm going to be here.

I'm pitching. I think I'm pitching tomorrow. Yeah, good. Orioles, a big first month would go a long way for the Baltimore Orioles that had the opposite last season. And hey, I'm happy for your guy Royce. Halo's Astros, split four. Angels come out and they look, you know, they're the first two and a half games.

It's like, all right, these halos are ready to play this year. We get excited about the offense every year. How much are they going to pitch? They pitched a lot early. They didn't pitch a lot late. Houston ends up splitting the series with them. After starting off, I think they were one for 14 with runners in scoring position. The first two games, they go 12 for 35, and maybe that's your difference.

Yeah, I mean, like the Angels came out, bang, and they had the lead in both the last two games as well. But I mentioned it ended coughing it up. I'm going to talk a little bit more about this later in the show. I think this stinks for the angels or the twins, I guess, either way. I think they're very similar where like there are some fun players in this lineup for the angel. We could see, we can see this offense go. So, Lear, does he just love hitting against the Astros?

He hits some absolute missiles in this. Shout out of our guy, Nate Lowe. There are fun players in this. this lineup, I just think that the bullpen's going to be a problem. Probably the starting pitching is going to be a problem for these angels. They're going to have to score. We saw this, we saw them do it offensively in this series. But again, it's just hard to keep it up for four straight games.

That was opening day. We did our live stream. Thanks for everyone who tuned in. And it was funny, we have a cricket creator, Adam Bannon, who's, you know, credit to him. He stayed the whole day. he's learning what's going on. When Jorge O'Lear walked up to the plate,

he's like, that's their best player, right? It's just so funny. If you hadn't seen baseball and you see what Jorge O'Lear's energy is, and then, yeah, at that ballpark, I mean, it feels like Little League, like with his power. When he hit the Homer in the World Series for the Braves, Was that there and the roof was open? I don't know if the roof was open.

I remember it going on to the street. So I think he had over the train tracks onto the street. I mean, that ball, if you told me that was the hardest hit ball ever, I wouldn't doubt it. In that moment, it was just so amazing. Look at Rob, ready to go. Oh, my God. I mean, it looks like that's gone. Yeah.

Yeah, it's out. It's gone. out of the stadium. That was crazy. I was interested to see Tetsuia. We talked about him all offseason. Not a great outing for him. Two and two-thirds,

struggle with some command. He's got to get back on track. Not a great start for him. Yeah. Yeah. Let's obviously something we're going to track with his contract. Camp Smith with a couple nice defensive plays

as we see what's going on with Houston's outfield. I feel like every year we're wondering how it's going to break. out there. Hey, HALOs, I think it's head held a little high. Like they, Michael Trout joined the party. I think people hear some more about that later. Like they, it was a, it was a quality brand of baseball. They split. Yeah, you got Trout homering twice, Sean Owell twice, Netto twice. And then we're talking a lot about the Angels and hear the ass shows. They split the series. They're like, hey, what about us? Yeah. What about us? Came back and hit a little bit.

Sure did. Trev, maybe the most fun series from the weekend. Chris Rose's Cleveland Guardians versus Seattle Mariners. I mean, the perfect nightcap on opening day when it's like, oh, you know, I've watched a lot of baseball today. How much am I going to get sucked into this game? DeLotter, Homer's on his first career regular season at bat, because of course the Guardians called him up for the postseason last year, which always fair to do to your top prospect. Welcome. him. And then he goes throughout the whole series that he's got a funky swing to him.

I want to hear you talk about his swing a little bit. Oh, Senor Smoke, Andres Munoz. How about a little opposite way Tater? Like, I don't know. If this guy's something, and it makes everyone be like, okay, we overlooked the Guardians again, we screwed up. But I guess in the four games, they end up splitting. So I don't know, I start rambling. I got excited. Chris Rose has said this guy has to be the second best. player on their team for them to really go. And it sure looks like, at least offensively, that's what we're going to see.

I mean, the guy, you talk about the swing and, you know, some people call it ugly. I just think it's a baseball swing. Like, the guy's doing what gives him success. Like, there's, I can't, I was trying to, like, label him and compare him to somebody. And, like, Freddie Freeman comes to mind just like the way that he puts the barrel to the ball. Like, I don't love Freddie Freeman swing either. Like, looking at aesthetically, like, I'm not super into it. but it gets the job done.

And it's just short to the ball. There's really no other way to put it than that. With plate coverage, though, I mean, the pitchy hit off, Munoz was a ball up in a way, and he's able to not only get the barrel to it, but with power, like in Seattle going off. So that was nice. But again, I think both these teams were like, okay,

like that was a hell of a first series. This felt like a playoff matchup. This felt like a three-game set. This could be the ALCS, like, no doubt. Seven-game set. Seven-game set? I think I got the Mariners going in that, but who knows? Who knows?

Five-game set, Guardians have a little bit better of a chance in that. Yeah, I mean, Lauder was nasty. Rokio, like, of course he hits a two-run double, like just an absolute stud. I think game two for Seattle, I mean, that's about, that's the kind of game that you want to have. You got George Kirby dealing Cole Young, who, like, they love. they're thinking a lot about this year and he's got to be a problem for them he hits the big three run homer there

so kind of an easier victory then you have you know the fight back Julio in that game three getting the game tying hit that was awesome to see places going absolutely nuts but then our guy Chase comes up and does that to put him ahead in extras man so just a really back and forth

fun series to watch again I would I would love it this was a playoff matchup yeah it's kind of fun surprise me it's kind of of funny if you told Mariners and Guardians fans, if you're like, hey, Guardians fans, DeLotter, four home runs, three games, everyone would be like, hell yeah. If you told Mariners fans, Donovan, Canzon are going to homer twice. Rayleigh's going to get three of them. You'd be like, really looks great. Hey, if our team's doing that, we're going to be in a pretty good place.

Two fun teams, three fun games, one blowout at the end. And Mariners fans, there's going to be a little Emerson Hancockley. Oh. Yeah. Luke Rayleigh swing. Go get him, big boy. New Grayley, dude. He's a beast.

There's playing time available. Yeah. In right field. Like, they're trying to figure out what's going on. Luke Rayley's like, can I have it? I'll do it. Canzone running hot off of Team Italy.

Here's some Luke Rayleigh. Welcome to opening weekend. Does he have a little choppy swing? That one just sneaks out. No, I like it. Donovan. I'd, yeah, Rob, I know I'd put you on the spot. If you just have an image of him, I mean, he looks,

he looks like he's out of Seattle folklore. We said that as soon as we saw him in Springfield. He looks great. It's almost like him and Dylan Seas have evolved. I know you're not the biggest Pokemon guy. It feels like they've like, we turned, we turned to them, and now Dylan Sees is Toronto, full Toronto hipster. It's crazy.

Is that a thing? And Brandon Donovan looks like he chops trees in the morning. And he grabs his coffee and they hands to the ballpark. I mean, come on. That's exactly what you want. Those Seattle Sunday unies are really nice. Yeah. Okay, that's baseball.

Raising the Cardinals, Coach, I'll let you cook a little bit. I was a little rude on the way through. I feel like I watched too much of this series. These games just felt chaotic. Looking at the pitching numbers through the weekends, it was funny to see these two were at the bottom and they weren't striking everyone out. And hey, maybe that's,

maybe that's compliment to these teams' approaches. Maybe it's not. Weatherholt feels like put him in the conversation with McGonigal and when if Connor Griffin gets the call this year. For young infielders. I had some people, I commented that on Instagram, and they were like, oh, not mentioned DeLauder, huh? I was like, I'm talking about shortstop middle infielders,

I guess for McGonigal, we'll see, and Weatherholt. they yeah whatever you saw from this series to coach trev besides yandi dyes just hitting two teams who like we're unsure of what's going to happen for them during the season i think people have their takes

especially with the cardinals but you couldn't open the season up any better i mean game one ray's having a seven one lead and you coming back and taking that game um the grievy coming out for you uh six no hit innings uh you kind of blow that lead, but come back to win it because you're freaking standout rookie. It's a walkoff two-run single.

Those two games you have to be very excited about and can kind of dream upon that. And yeah, I mentioned it's just there was a ton of offense in this series. Yeah. Between the three games, Tampa with 41 total hits and the Cardinals with 31. Actually, Tampa Bay ends up outscoring them 23 to 22. But the Cardinals, because of that walkoff and the comeback in game one, get the series. Fun, we'll see. We're tracking these teams. Yeah, that's like I need to get a vibe.

I don't have the vibe of either of them. It's a very fair way to put it, Trev. Like, you know, are we in May being like, wow, Weatherhole and Herrera are studs? Are we talking about how Yandi Diaz and Jonathan Aranda are one of the best, you know, sneaky, righty, lefty punches? You don't have Kim and Naira out there yet, and they're already putting up a ton of runs. I'm interested in that. How about Nathan Church's opening day? Three hits, a little home run robbery.

All right, fella. There's playing time in St. Louis. There is. They're looking. Time in St. Louis. It was a fun flip channel. It always, honestly, every time I flipped to that game, it felt too chaotic for me. I was like, I got a, I'm looking for like a come down game.

Look at that. Is that Ryan Vallade? Getting robbed by church. Tough. Look at the emotion. Yeah. Tell him. Trev, this one.

are brewers faithful? Unfortunately, I think it's high and tight. Oh, no, that last game's awesome. The brewers come out, and they give the White Sox the business. I mean, 14 runs on opening day, a dominant 6 to 1 victory where they get out ahead early. And then they go down in that final game, and they just, brewers chip away tough at bat after tough at bat, keep the rally going until they give it to Yelly for the pinch hit.

and my God, if you like a bat drop and a yell for your pimped home runs, I mean, yelly. We don't see that side of him a lot. Is he feeling the juice early on? I don't know. Brewers, I mean, they checked every box this weekend. They did. I mean, Mizorowski gives it the homer to my draw to start the season

and then just absolutely locks it in. He strikes at 11 and 5, 20 strikeouts in that first. in that first game. And you know, it's the white sucks. I don't care, man. Yeah. 20 strikeouts is 20 strikeouts. And then yes, I mean, I just talked about pinch hitting and how I don't like it.

And here we go. You're showing Yelich over and over in my face and a pinch hit. Oh, what? Is this one of your, was it a three run? Was it a three run homer? Is this one of your favorite guys in the league hitting a pinch hit three run homer and letting it eat? He might be the exception. The brewers are the exception here.

Like, they have to do certain things. And Pat Murphy, you think you think Pat Murphy's just going to say, hey, you got a day off kid? No, he's ready no matter what. The yellow thing is funny to me because he's not like a pimp homer guy. Right. But he's also such a badass that like you almost want him to have the emotion, but I don't know if he knows how to do it, but he did it. I don't know. It was it was interesting right there. It's like he hit it and he's like, oh yeah, I got to pimp this. That's like how I see it. Like he remembers to pimp it. I think. I think, I think, whew, so.

Like the most down-to-earth superstar in the history of the game. I think he, I don't want to say shock because he's not shocked by anything he's at, but he just, he crushes that baseball. Yeah. Like, I think at a certain point, if you do anything that well, like, I don't know, if it's me thrown out a piece of paper from across the room, I'm going to let out a little something. Like, okay, bad comparison. Brandon Lockridge.

You didn't even mention Murakami. Are you doing that later? I don't think we are. I think it's Murakami homers in the first three games. You know, first one was in garbage time. The other two aren't, who cares? Because the questions were if this guy's going to hit it all. And I don't know.

I saw him get a 93-mile-per-hour cutter. He looks great. He made a couple nice plays at first base. And yeah, man, it's opening weekend. We probably should have said this three times by now. Like, we're reacting to stuff. And it's so funny what opening weekend does because for some of these guys that had a good weekend

in your head, they're just good. And then we check at the stats six weeks in. It's like, oh, they've been brutal. I don't, what Morikami stats were in that league tells me he was going to be good over here. I don't know what level of good, probably not Homer every game level. level of good. But I don't, he drew some walks to Coach Trent. Like, I think he's a good ball player.

Against the team that can throw the ball. Yes. You know what I mean? They, like this is a better pitching teams in the league. Got pretty nasty on all of his teammates. Like, yeah. Um, you try not to overreact. It, it's going to be very interesting. Remember, he signed that two year contract. If he's just a dude, he's going to hit free agency again. And my God. Um, looking up, uh, I don't have it in front of me. I'm getting it up here now. I want to know the amount of strikeouts because that was the thing, right?

Right. Swing and miss. Right. Four walks, four strikeouts. Seems like a good ratio to me. That could work. We can work with that. And three homers.

Let's see. Leading the American League and slugging N OPS to get the season started. Why not? It's opening weekend. It's three games. Love that. But it happened, Trev.

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connection is required great great great available now PlayStation 5 Xbox series s and x and nintendo switch rated e for everyone the final al series even though this is it's so fun there's so many interleague series which i kind of like that they just get them out of the way like opening weekend it means a little more we're just going to get rid of umpires leagues divisions yeah players eventually. When do we get expansion week this year? Because NBA's doing it right now. It's coming.

When do we get expansion week? Reds in the Red Sox. That's funny in itself. Two fun teams. Two of the more fun teams in the league. I'll say that. A lot of talent all over the field and everyone wondering how it's going to come together for both teams.

Reds with the extra inning in game two. And then, like I mentioned, Venezuela night like it is, And by the way, after the WBC, a lot of Venezuela on my Instagram feed. Got to work on that. I mean, I'm like tagged in one clip and it's just all Venezuelan fans still celebrating their victory on my Instagram. They're like, they're giving, I don't know if you've been translating the comments on that post, but they're like, look at these nice baseball gringoes appreciating Venezuela. Thanks, guys. Some of them are a little worse than that.

Some of them are a little worse. I won't deny that. Trevor's story pimping a ball I know you like that this is a fun one man and go Reds go I'm sneaky rooting for the Reds to have just a really good season this year

I want they're just a fun ball club and I want them to be successful Garrett Crochet stud in the first game and the Reds just kind of did it man you got our guy Sal Stewart who we talk about he has to be a focal point of this offense obviously Gino who are watching right now as well Sal Stewart the Homer you're going to walk up by Dane Myers

you got to look that and then like I mentioned Gino in that last game there three run Homer that's what you're paying him to do yeah and you're able to hold that lead right there couldn't have been a better series for the for the Reds to start the year off right like that's dream scenario like yeah look you know crochet is going to be a tough one for us we understand that we end up getting shut out, not great. Then to answer back with two victories like that, you got to love it, man.

Yeah, I think, you know, the announcer call for Gino was pretty funny because they're like, you know, he's left a small army on base so far this series, but he comes through with one swing that wins them that game. That's what he does. It's just funny. He was trying to hit a home run. He hit a home run. It won them that game.

It didn't work a couple times previous because it's one of the hardest things to do in sports. Yeah, I think if you're a Reds fan, you're hype that Sal Stewart gets out to his start. I think he might be in Fuego coming up. And yeah, you're winning a series. Like, you just got to keep doing that. Keep your head above water. Be in the mix. Because if for a couple of these teams, and it was fun, dude, going through the American League,

and it's like, wait, there's 10 teams that think they're making the postseason this year. That means there's four teams that are going to be pretty broke. and disappointed. You do the same thing in the National League with the Reds who kind of backed into the playoffs last year, but they have so much young talent on their field. And if Sal Stewart can be

a guy for them, if Gino is in the middle of that lineup, like they need offense ironically. A couple more shoutouts in that series. Andrew Abbott's like, what about me? I also have a great start. That wasn't my fault. And then this was the ABS series. Even in that game one, Roman Anthony wins one. Turns a out into a walk.

They get a little rally going there. I was going to shot somebody else out. I forgot. Oh, my guy, Williur-Berayu. I gave a shout at the beginning of the episode. Dude, he looks. He looks so locked in, dude. And I know we do the stats with him every year

where it's like, wait, he did what last year? Seeing him with Venezuela and seeing him start off the year now. It's kind of, yeah. And the other star of this series was unfortunately C.B. Buckner that I don't know if you want to talk about. that. I was going to ask, like over under 0.5 CD Buckner retiring this year. A friend of mine who makes popular videos online genuinely thinks CB is going to like tap out. I feel the same way, dude. You can't, I mean. It's embarrassing. You can't have, you said six.

I thought it was five. Six overturned calls behind the plate. Yeah, man. It's tough. And it's the other part that like I'd, I don't know. I guess it breaks down to who you are as a person, and I don't know how C.B. Buckner's going to mentally react to that. If he's just happy the game's getting called right, or if he thinks he's getting shown up because the fans were getting pretty loud. Mm-hmm. They were rooting against C.B. Buckner.

And, yeah, it just goes back to the core of this argument that we're asking them to do a really hard thing, like 0.3 inches off the plate. And I guess that's where I get a little mad. that there's some fans like C.B. Buckner, bro. Yeah, there's a couple bad misses, but point three, none of us can see that. I mean, I also go the other way and just forget about C.B. It's how impressive it is, like knowing the strike zone. Like, guys that know the strike zone, there's a reason that they hit.

Their eyes are probably a little bit better than everybody else's. Debt perception probably a little bit better than everybody else's. But being able to command this. strike zone and know it is such an integral part of being able to be a good hitter man and it's just when you see these pitches you're like you just know you just know well and it's i i guess the interesting part for me has been catchers getting strike three instead of um you know another ball or a walk like we saw a lot of walk strikeout scenarios that it's like wow we're getting that call right that's pretty cool because that changes that changes games the roman anthony one they got two insurance run

on the board because of that. It's really good. Yeah, and there was, you know, we're not at the series yet, but Sal Perez, he takes three low pitches and gets those called for strikes. And then there was a talk online about,

well, he actually got knocked for his framing metrics. Right. On those pitches. Because those should have been called a strike if he framed them correctly, but they were called to strike because he challenged correctly.

We got to figure that. Is framing? Is the framing metric the dumbest stat in baseball? Because how, how, like, you have to talk about pitching staff and like, okay, a guy's throwing 102, going to be a little bit harder to frame than the guy throwing 92, you know, that spots up all the time. Like those things matter a ton. And like the umpire, what he calls matters a ton in that, if I'm not mistaken.

I mean, there's going to be some crazy stats in articles by midseason by the end of the year that if you have a catcher that is really good at framing and really good at the ABS system, you're saving yourself so many outs and innings. Is there going to be like a 15 war catcher this year? Yes, I think there's Alejandro Kirk. I found him. F-war. Pierce Johnson's name makes me laugh every time.

So many jokes on that. Dane Myers. Let's go to the National League. Dane Myers, a little walkoff. How are you? How are you? Let's do some National League done. And what would National League baseball be without the New York Yankees who opened up the season against the San Francisco Giants? The pitching was incredible. Max Fried, just your best starting pitcher, ERA-wise, from 2020, if you like that. Cam Schlittler looks like he's from another planet.

They get one off Will Warren in the last game, but that's it. Judgy hits two ding-dongs. Stanton, six hits in this series look tremendous. The Yankees dominate. Let's go Yanks. Giants, other topics. The New York Mets and the Pittsburgh Pirates played a couple fun ones. 11 to 7 on opening day.

Skeens doesn't make it out of the first inning. Mets put up 11. Fastball Fred got hit a little bit. but not enough. Not enough? What the hell is that? Sorry, Mets fans. But I'm not, because you win game two

in an ugly extra innings affair. What was going on in extras was crazy. It looks like the Mets were going to win it. A couple nice plays. Young Hunter Barko getting thrown in the mix. The Pirates, they come back. They win that final game. How does your young pitching?

Maclean versus Muginski? I'm working on that one. Dalton gave me a thumbs up. He's got stuff. Whatever. my Polish brother and has going on in that last name, he's got some good stuff on the mountain. Brandon, wow, three homers in the series. He hits Dingers.

O'Neill Cruz. We'll talk about that. The Tigers, Trev, you labeled it. They kind of had a, just a nice opening weekend. You go to San Diego, Scoobel and your new party trick. Framber, they do their thing as they win. Your new, I mean, Kevin McGonigal looks like baseball heaven. Four hits in that opening game wasn't crazy.

Padres come back. Randy Vasquez and the boy shut them out to salvage the set. The Texas Rangers and the Phillies, these are two fun teams, huh? The Rangers end up taking two out of three after losing the first game of Aldi versus Christopher Sanchez. I mean, the coach Trev Bowl, basically. That's the game the Phillies won. The Rangers win game two after almost blowing. it. Jake, how's your burger?

Luckily, the boys pick him up and McKenzie Goren Lissardo in that final game. What? That's for a game three. You love that. Rangers get it done. Your guy, Kutch, is all over this series. Nimmo with a leadoff, Pierce Johnson.

Diamondbacks. Oh, no. The Dodgers, the defending National League champs, they looked like the Dodgers. And Will Smith Bobblehead Day hitting the home run? I mean, what are you supposed to do? Some things are bigger than baseball. The Dodgers, it felt like the snakes going as long as they could, trying to hold off the

big bad wolf, and they ended up not being able to do it. Dodgers, Pahez, Smith with two, Betz Homer, Freeland, and that's obvious. Dodgers roll, the gold looked great. Speaking of looking great, the Miami Marlin. There's conversations going on in Miami right now of Marlins fans going, I know it's the Rockies, but. Marlins, get the sweep. Three one-run games, but a little fight including, Owen Casey, the Maple Masher.

I think I heard that one on the broadcast. Oh, don't you know? Marlins, get the sweep over the rocks. How's your Liam Hicks? How's your Otto Lopez? T.J. Rumfield's turning heads and, Colorado. Rockies, I don't know. The Royals and the Braves. Another kind of fun one. Braves take two out of three. They take the first two games. Seth Lugo and Carter Jensen. How's how you

turning on a ball, kiddo. Braves win those first two six oh six to two. Dominic Smith with just an awesome, awesome walkoff, some heartstring stuff there. Talk about that later. Ozzie Albies and his fish. I landed up on his Instagram again this weekend. Braves take two out of three. And your final one, the best Western Road Warriors. It's your Washington Nationals.

Folks, they head up to Wrigley Field, where they had that wiggly feel. They blow them out on opening day, 10 to 4. Cade Cavalli. Oh, how do you like that? And how do you like the Nats offense? Cape Bear Ruiz, sealing the final.

game with a home run fighting off a two Breggie bomb day. Ian Hap pissed on a baseball that didn't get out and then later in the series, it looks like he flicks one that does get off baseball and Wrigley Field. How about your nationals taking two out of three from the Cubbies? Life's a trip. Make the most of it with Best Western. Coach, I'm going to need some standings. I'm not. I know you're not. I'm not ready. I'm not ready. I got so much stuff I wanted to say. already. I'll give you the standings first, then I'll get into it. We're going to start out on the East Coast, because that's where I am right now. Miami in the NAL East, 3 in O after the sweep of my rocks.

They're mine now. I like all the players in the team. Atlanta, 2 and 1, the Mets 2 and 1, the Nationals 2 and 1. And then, of course, the Phillies are in the bottom of the division at 1 and 2. And the central Milwaukee sweeps 3 and 0, 2 in 1 for Cincinnati and St. Louis. and then the Cubs and the Pirates 1 and 2 out west about right Dodgers 3 and 0 Padres 1 and 2

and everybody else the snakes the rocks the giants 0 and 3 those are the standings in the National League Thank you Trev as you were prepared for that what you want to talk about you had a lot on your mind before the standard number one you mentioned Ozzy's fish

yes shout out my mom and my sister their dog passed away. Oliver. God damn it. So it was a tough one for them. And me, I wasn't really close with the dog. Didn't see it too often, but it's obviously very sad.

If you're a lost a pet, you understand. They went to get a fish just so my mom could have a pet in the meantime, you know, just to feel good about it. I love that. And I say, you know what you need to do, Mom? You need to go search Ozzy Albi's fish page.

Because she likes fish. You used to have a fish tank, and she's all over it and loves it. So shout to Ozzy for bringing my mom a little bit of joy. Thank you, Ozzy Albies. Did you think that wasn't to go that way? I did not. I did not. I just wanted the standings.

And that seemed like a big ask or a bigger ask than it should have been. How can I? And I didn't say it there. Jilly Weber. Just six for six. A couple homers. Welcome back to the show. Lake Buterra versus Tony Vitella, who you're taking.

I know who I am. I mean, Viterra's got the lead right now easily. Dail and Lyle. Trev, let's do some Yankees Giants. Dominance? What do you want to talk about? Yeah, it can be high and tight. We recorded our first ever Sunday morning talking Yanks

because the Yanks started on Wednesday, wrapped up the series on Saturday. So that was a little odd. The pitching was amazing and the offense was enough the final two games. That's kind of it. One run. Yeah. One run by the San Francisco Giants.

Which how about this? Say something nice about Tony Vitello. One, having to answer questions after game two of the season about like your fit. That's a little ridiculous. Like we all know baseball enough that like Cam Schlittler was borderline unhittable. That's not a Tony Vitello problem. But all you say is it's game two guys. guys. Right. That part is true. He's going. Okay. We're doing the Tony Vitello thing.

You want that? Number one, Ken Rosenthal being in his face being like, how the jump from college to the majorities. What do we, what kind of questions are these? Crazy. That's not for the game. Crazy. Can't stand that. Oh, third, third Jimmy shout out because he had a really good joke. He was like, if Vitello was a funny guy, he would have said, you know what? The bats sound different, Ken. That would have been. really good joke. There's a like he also doesn't have to answer that but Ken like let's talk about like the game. Like it's about the players. So like that is that's the thing to me is he just he's going to in depth with his answers like stop doing that like because you're digging yourself a whole like I want to be all over this guy. I told you before the show. I called Kyle Gibson. I said give you talked me off a ledge right now because I'm listening to these post game press conferences. He's saying that his his pump up speech before the season was too much and got the voice too fired up. They're tryhards right now. Stop. You're just

saying too much, dude. It's the first series you got swept that doesn't look good, but stop. You're digging yourself a whole here with what you're saying. And like, I know we want managers to be out there and to give, we want more from everybody now. That's all we want. Everyone needs to give us everything at every given moment. You don't need to do that, man. Like you are the And he even, I think he even said that in one of his things. It's a little bit more of like being a manager than a coach. Yes. Yeah, man.

That was, there's two things that scare me. That quote, he was like, you know, I love coach and there's so many people you got to manage that I'm learning that. And it's like, that's yellow flag. And then he looks too much like Robbie Ray. Like it's kind of shocking. It's kind of shocking. that I don't know, man. I guess here's my question.

First Chris Rose question of the year. Scale of 1 to 10, 10 being like panic. This isn't a fit. We tried it. It's wrong. College and the pros are different areas. 10 being the worst case scenario. What's your Tony V scale?

Seven. I think I'm there too. Like it doesn't seem... It's of no. It's of no. Because this is not... Look, if you give this guy a young... upstart team that like needs that yes it's different i agree hundred this is a veteran laden team

who is does not want to listen to you whatsoever like that what like what we're trying too hard what what does that even mean the manager saying that about you after game two and i mean what are okay trev this is a weird one has has a manager ever coached you i don't I know that's a weird one. No. And I'm fine with that, dude. Like, I understand. Like, I get that.

Wanting to be involved. I mean, we're given flowers to, to Blake Butera because he won his series. And he's throwing BP and he's out there, like, taking ground balls and stuff. Like, I don't mind managers getting involved. In fact, like, sometimes that's fun. Like, guy coming, doing some dirty work with you. But at the end of the day, like, you're the head of the shit. man like we need your attitude

presented to the world and you need to give that to us like be the guy in charge don't be buddy don't be a buddy nobody wants a buddy I don't think Vitello's trying to be buddy I think he is like I think he's I don't know man

he says something like hey I can't talk down to these guys because they're the same age as me like also just some weird quotes also just not true isn't he like he's 40 something he's like 45 48 Is he? Nobody on the team's that age. Looks good for his age.

47. He looks amazing. Oh, he's 47? He's kind of a smoke. He's kind of like... Well, yeah, he's one of those guys until he opens his mouth. That's a girl who'll say. Oh, Trevor! Oh, my God!

Okay, tell socials to not clip that. The quotes have been bad. I am holding all. Kyle Gibson says, I love the guy. Two weeks. He said he's my favorite coach I've ever had. Okay. He said that.

I mean, dude, it was impressive seeing, like, you know, Scherzer vouches for this. Like, a lot of dudes who are dudes vouched for this guy. How about this? This is the best way to put a ball on it. I hope we're talking about a very different thing in three months. And, like, we love him. He's good for the game. Like, there is a path for that.

And it's three games. And Cam Schlittler... Cam Schlittler, Trev, you like pitching? Cam Schlittler picked up Corbin-Bern's cutter this. offseason. Have fun. The Yankees... Oh, this looks like a new pitch. The Yankees looked incredible.

Judge is washed accusations coming after game one. Crazy. And then he goes off and does Aaron Judge things the next two games. I mean, they, I mean, the Yankees, they look really good. I'll give them that for sure. Pitching, hitting, everything. I'm sorry, we had to talk about Tony Vitella for so long.

It's okay. It's an interesting topic. Sorry, Giants fans. And we won't your hitting's going to get going, I believe. I believe. Pirates in the Mets. New York, New York, baby. I ended up watching a ton of this series. I was just, I had a productive Saturday,

and I was on the couch for 4 p.m. So I was like, all right, I'll fire me up. The opening day game is crazy. It feels so long ago now because it was the first game, too. So it just feels, I mean, they knock skeins out in the first, or O'Neill, Cruz. my guy. Tough start for them.

That's tough. A little bit of a redemption. He starts the final relay throw that throws out Lindor at the plate, and it's like, okay, you still have that arm, and I loved his effort on that play. You go, I don't know. Well, I mean, one thing we really want to see,

we're watching the Soto ball in the gap right here. Tough send. There's nobody out at this point. So you could have been first and third, or maybe even second and third, right? I'd have to double check the outs. I don't think there was any outs. No outs, yeah, second and third.

Tough send right there, if we're being honest, man. You have the middle of lineup coming up. I know you want to be aggressive and it took a couple good throws to get Lindor, but also, like, early in the year, you want to put Lindor in that situation where, like, he's going to have to, like, I don't know.

I see what you're saying. It's going to be a close play at the plate. Like, those are probably the most, like, dangerous play that we have in. baseball as far as like injuries like catcher can't block the plate but kind of can hey man it was it was a good relay throw um i think it was that oh cruz to triolo like those are i don't know from what o'neill cruise showed earlier in the series i i don't necessarily hate the i'm down for the i'm down for the aggressiveness but at the same time it's like when do when should you be

aggressive it's not that's not the situation for it it's fair um I guess what else did you say? I mean, I feel like... Lou Bob, dude. Lou Bob's walk off. Pichette got some booze. Talk some Lubbob. Can we call him Lou Bob?

No, he doesn't like it, but it's fun, too. It's a fun thing to say. Luis Robert coming in, and we wondered, we wondered, like, change of scenery, what's going on. For him to have that big moment early on in the season, I think that just, that'll spark something in you, man. He takes that ball down in a way and kind of just barrels. he's so damn strong.

That'll spark something in you, man. Like that is, that's got to feel so good to be part of, he's feeling finally like, hey, there's something that I'm playing for here, for the team instead of individual. And that could change everything for a guy, man, as far as just motivation,

work, you know, one series in. I want to see it obviously more throughout the year. But if, I mean, that's the right foot to get off on. I love Boba Chet's quotes. That's how you handle New York media right there.

Boom. They said, were you surprised about the booze? I was actually shocked that took that long. And like, yeah, man. Yep. Yep. Yes, that's all you got to say.

Like give the fans their credit. Hey, yeah, booed. I got to be better. Boom. That's it. Move on. Is the third base experiment with him is going to be interesting. He was getting tested and passing and failing.

and some of his at bats were better than the stat line said. The way the Mets were fouling off pitches, and that's what they want their lineup to be longer and grindier, and they got the results of that, especially in the first game and winning that second game too. Yeah. Shout out B. Lau and O'Hern. You know, you bring in those are the guys you bring in to help the offense.

They hit homers, B'Low, three of them in the series. So, you know, it's a Pirates fan. You're like, okay, you got that last one. salvage the series a little bit. I mean, it's, I don't know. I want, I want, I want this to work. And I guess you could say, hey, if Skeens is who he usually is, and I know, O'Neill Cruz field some balls.

We're talking about a completely different series. Maybe we get that series victory. But it's not, I think it's nice to see some of the offensive additions coming through the first series, at least. Tigers Padres in San Diego. Tigers take the first two. I, I mean, I laid it up. on the way through. I mean, we were all blown away by McGonagall on opening day because you hear

about a guy, you see him a little bit, and then to jump onto the stage like that. Scoobel, I mean, just, it feels like he's still in that flow state. And Framber and the Tigers journey, was a small glove? Does he still have the small glove? Or is he just big? I think it's still, if I had to guess the size of Framber's glove, I would say it's 11 and a half. which is a small glove. It's a small glove. That's a second baseman's glove. Maybe he wants to play second.

Get that ball out of it. I know this is as good as it can happen for the Tigers. I mean, you mentioned it. Scoobo and Framber come out doing their thing. Their young stud. I feel like we always, I mean, at least I do. I question the Tigers offense. I do.

Yeah. Like I don't think they have some juggernaut offense. I think there's guys that have stepped up. throughout the year. Like, you can talk about Riley Green. You can talk about, you know, Glaber and, and Torkelson.

Dingler had a nice series where he could be in the catcher, like if he has some growth where he could be on the catcher pantheon. Sure. If you can put someone in the middle of your line of like a Kevin McGonigal, like this guy just looks,

I mean, he's just hitterish. And like I was talking to someone about his swing. Like, that's not like a swing coach swing. That's like he's just a hitter, dude. He's just a header The toe tap He's down

He's grinding in these abats The abati ad against Peralta The 10 pitch of bat Where he finally hits the single Lefty Lefty Like he is in Like the nose is there It is buried

In the strike zone I love it man Like that is a ball player right there It's so true And I mean maybe this sounds dumb But like he's He's not trying to hit a homer He's just trying to hit that ball

hard. And he did it. He did it a ton. I don't know. I really hope. I hope he's not part of our we check in in May and we're like, oh, remember that opening day. It's been a different story.

It probably could be because it happens to every young player. The big Amish got called up and was brutal for like three weeks and then he was the best hitter in the league. So I'm very interested to see his path. But you're right. I guess the theme of this episode should be like checking boxes that, The Giants didn't check any boxes, sadly. I think for winning two out of three,

the Tigers kind of checked every box. They did. Then, you know, the Padres in the last game, I mean, two hits between Vasquez, Kyle Hart and Mason Miller. So I think if you're a Padres fan, like, all right, like, Framber and Scoob was tough.

We salvage the series. Let's move on. It was a nice moat Jackson Merrill, robbing McGonagall. Yeah, it could have been a bigger series for that guy. Crazy. And hey, we've got a new Mason Miller closer entrance. You in?

Corn. Obviously you're in. In. Obviously. There's some things about corn that I don't like, but there's also some bangers. Like, they can bring you back a little bit. I, um, this is a dangerous question over an hour in, but what don't you like about corn? There's some songs that you probably don't want to listen to.

Like, I can't believe the stuff that when I was a kid I was listening to. Yeah. There's some stuff they did with. Limp Biscuit that's like really weird. Okay. But still like like push that aside. There's some bangers by corn.

Okay. I just, I need to do final stand on a video is like kind of like peak adolescence for me. Yeah, I mean, freak on a leash. That was,

you know, that's not normally my lane. We shouldn't be listening to that at 10 years old. That's you and Bobby Sarachi. That's not my normal lane. My name was Limp Biscuit for a little bit. Let's, anything else, Randy Vasquez, good for you, dude. Sinkers up, good for him.

Sorry, Padres. Let's go to Philly in Texas, Texas Forever, my friend. Mentioned, you know, kind of an all-world pitching matchup in that first game. Schwerber goes yard. Justin Crawford, Carl Crawford's son with the two-hit day. Duran comes in for the close. And then we have a similar situation in game two. McCutcheon's fingerprints are all over this.

I know you want to talk about it. Berger, as I mentioned, he almost kind of blew the game. That's got to be a horrific feeling. Texas gets enough offense. That was their whole thing last year. Not enough. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Cutch was a big part of it.

We're going to get to him later in the show. The Jake Berger, you know, he was hitting, but also letting in some runs as well. Tough pop up. Tough, you know, it's tough. I don't know what he was doing. I didn't really get it. Was it windy or was it sunny? I think it was windy.

Because he zoed this one. He wasn't even close. It's a tough fall. Like he went in. It must have been wind because he went into the base and then basically to the cut of the grass. He's a major leaguer. It's wind.

I don't know. You got to know the ball's coming back towards the foul line. And then, you know what? Great on the Phillies to capitalize on. Yeah. Like that's what you have to do. do. So you get that and you get, you know, Marsh coming through right here. But the Rangers, because of my guy catch, end up getting that game anyway. Hey, and by the way, Jake Berger,

you know why he's out there, Trev? Six for 13. I know. I said that. He drove some in and he lets them in. That's kind of the game. Ain't that baseball. Nimmo with a nice opening series, new face, new place. And yeah, Corey Seeger. Just a very casual Corey Seeger series. Do we have Bryce Harper's beginning line? I don't have it up in front of me. Ooh.

Bryce Harper's opening weekend. Or not elite. One for 11. Yeah, one for 11. Not elite. Five Ks, three walks. Good, good. Oh, that was spring training, sorry.

That'll be three strikeouts, two walks. Yeah. One RBI. Yeah, not the opening weekend he wanted. I'm going to be on watch for that. I like that. That can be a new, a little running thing in the episode. Bryce Harper Elite Watch.

Alec Bohm, good for you. Who else mean to shout out in this series? McKenzie Gore, decent start there. Lazzardo gets taxed a little bit, the McCutche and Homer. I guess that's good. Zeke Duran. How are you? Dodgers, D-backs, Trev.

Again, checking boxes. This is one of the series where one team checked every box and the other team did not. Will Smith. Opening night. Gold jersey. Two little daughters throw out first pitch for you.

Bobblehead night and you hit the freaking Jimmy Jack. I mean, he's the guy. He's the guy. He's the guy. He's not the guy. The Homer in the World Series, game seven. He's the guy. Will Smith having a fantastic simulation,

but getting overshadowed by three guys having freak show simulations. Oh, man, I mean, that was a go-ahead Homer. I know that the end score doesn't look like that meant anything, but like at the time, they were down two to one. I think the score makes that seem like that Homer mattered. It's a big homer. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, even opening day with Gallen out there,

he was looking really sharp early, but you're just, you're just waiting for it to happen, man. It was kind of a tough watch. Perdomo and Marte Homer, a little up the middle. How are you? I was looking at the wrong score. I am sorry.

That was the game three score. For some reason, I had the 8 and 2 in front of me. Yeah. Yeah, because he also homered opening day. And the D-Backs, DeBacks led all three games, but it never really felt like it. That's Dodgers ball.

They feel a little bit inevitable. Yeah. Kyle Tucker. He's a Dodger now. That's some ribbies. Another nice simulation. Oh, the Pardomo, Corey Blazer moment was pretty nice to kick off this series. I feel so long ago.

But he made the call against Pardomo in the World Baseball Classic. And Rodo Pardomo probably makes the all just being a good dude team, if baseball put one together and he hugs them before it real nice. Love that. I also have this take. What do you have gotten the challenge in? Because if you remember that game, the Dominican versus the U.S. ball down, he actually starts walking back towards a dugout just a little bit.

And then he gets upset about the call. But I think that was, I think that's him removing his, like I'd have to watch Pardomo's walks. But I'm assuming that turn to the bench was like, I'm about to get rid of mine. Okay, maybe. Shin pad type deal. And then, yeah.

Oh, no. What an edit that is. Same pitch. Funny games sometimes. Sorry, D-Ebacks. Go Dodgers go, repeat. Emmett Sheehan, some scary Velo stuff. We'll see if there's an update on that.

And, yeah, Frederick Freeman. He'll be there when you need them. That's a good note, Trev. that, yeah, if we just saw Freddie, if Freddie Freeman was a prospect who just got called up, we'd be like, I don't know. But then you just see the Hall of Fame career and you're like, that works.

Yes, it does work. Everyone needs a little different thing. When he's hit 300 at every stop, he's ever played in his life. He's not bad. Today's episode is sponsored by Hymns. If something's been off in the bedroom, you're not the only one out there. ED is more common than most guys think,

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Studs. I thought you were Rockies guy. I thought you just took it. No, I just like some of the guys. They're taking Jordan back in Rumfield. I mean, those guys take daddy hacks. Hunter Goodman, my guy, Daddy hacks. Like, that's what I care about. Javier Sanoa gets involved.

He had another Venezuelan. He was like the lead cheerleader, pinch runner for that Venezuela team. And then, yeah, a nice comeback win by Miami in game two. I hate to do this. It is who are the rocks. But Owen Casey with a chance, a chance to be a guy in the middle of that lineup. absolutely first of all in the unies in the throwback unies too doing that that's just i told you this was a very aesthetically pleasing series i kind of like brings me back to my childhood like for

for a while like teal and purple were like mainstay colors in our society there's a lot of teal and purple now we're kind of getting it back people got scared yeah yeah i'm in what what was the trade again this was a oh and casey edward cabrera Edward Cabrere, right? There's some, yeah, there's some other guys involved, but Casey's, Casey was the guy, and there's some, like, you know, it's always great, dude. He looks great. We saw him with Team Canada, too.

He's got a, he's got an energy, he's got a certain ballplayer energy, not McGonagall's ball player energy, but just like, look at this MF for energy. That, I don't know, it's opening weekend, a social Kyle, who watches some of the most baseball. He's, he texted me last night. he said the Marlins traded for a superstar in Casey. Let's check in on that later. Yeah, I mean, just big time hits in the first series. I mean, you got Liam Hick shout out.

He gets the two on Homer to tie things up in game two. Then Casey has the hit in the bottom of the eighth. So they come back. And then my guy, Jordan Beck, three run double, puts them up. But, you know, in case, like, I'll just walk it off with the Homer. Like, that's he's the swing. plays. The swing really, really plays. And that's what they said from

like the get-goes. Like this, the swing is going to play and it does, man. It does. Otto Lopez and Xavier Edwards up the middle getting it done. And two starting pitchers go seven innings. Three and O for the first time since

2009. A little bit of hype in my end. Not a bad team. Not a good team last year. Not a bad team last year. Hot start. A lot of young talent, two starting pitchers who are absolute freak shows and Sandy and Yuri both go seven. I don't know.

There's a recipe. There's a recipe. Baseball's so hot in Miami right now? WBC straight to a sweep. Hot in Miami. And you have the Venezuelan guy. Like, people showing up to see Sonoa. Why not?

Why not? Play it up. Play the Venezuela card as much as you can. Okay, that's my advice to the Miami-Mai. Marlins. Yeah. Yeah, they had no problem packing the house. Huh? Crazy. Royals Braves, maybe our last series, although I can talk about Joey Weamer some more on the way out.

Braves take the first two games. Dominant pitching. Royal Salvage. You talked about Big Sally a little bit with the challenges and he turns on a ball. Drake Baldwin, a couple home runs. who talking catcher pantheon a lot this episode. Who is that guy? Braves get a nice series and went out of the gate.

Two good teams. Yeah, I mean, what a pitching matchup to start. Cole Reagan's Chris Sale. Reagan's on a great start. Chris Sale just absolutely does his thing. And then Ronaldo Lopez. The exaggeration of the Braves not having pitching because everyone got hurt a little bit exaggerated.

That makes sense. Because they came out and doing it. especially those two guys right there. Dom Smith, I think you're going to get into that. Yeah. Later. Pretty cool. I mean, get some tissues ready for that.

But yeah, I mean, Braves. I hope, Jake, because I think after last year and what we've seen from them in the off season, some of the injuries, it's like almost like we've already, at least for me, I've already put them in this category of like, man, is it going to happen again? Like, cool, like Acuna is going off and they still have some guys, but like it just feels like they started off on that same, the same trajectory. I hope it's not, man.

We saw Acuna makes some plays. You see the Austin Riley play at their base, the dive? They had, there was a lot of Braves defense. Game one had a lot of highlights, plays, Eli White,

Austin Riley. Yeah. Yeah, so like, I hope we're talking about a Braves team's like, hey, you know what? Great, dealing with injuries,

did that last year, not going to let it be the story of our season this year. That would be awesome to see him. Chris Hale's freaking filthy, dude. Look at that play. Look at that thick. I was watching.

Hears out a little more for Austin Riley. I like that. I was watching quick pitch. Shout out Abby LaBar, our friend. And they put a Superman cape on him. Obviously. During that highlight, obviously. And it was like, that one actually is warranted because he was, he was extended.

Full extension. Oh, you'd normally call out a Superman. Yeah, because a lot of. saying it's not full extension. Gotcha. Yeah. It's hard to get full extension on dive. Like I had trouble doing that. Like full extension is like you're putting your body out there.

Like there's no like you're not holding back at all. That was one of them. Love that. Sal definitely deserves some credit getting those three low strikes. We talked about that, how the framing metrics are going to have to adjust to these strikes being called. And some people will say, well, yeah, that proves the framing metrics right. That he didn't get that call.

And it should have been. It's like, okay, I guess. I don't, he got the call right. Yeah. I don't know. I can't leave you with that one. Royal Sal was the last game. Shout out Carter Jensen.

He's going to have to be a big part of that offense. He had a couple RBIs. Bobby Witt. Vinny P. also. A couple there. But nice series for the Braves, man. You're a Royals fan. And then I think we have to talk about Estevez.

I was just going to go. Yeah. That's, I mean, down four miles per hour. Like, that's not, that's not opening day and it's cold. Like, he hadn't had it in sports. and the manager's quote to just be like, yeah, we're hoping it comes back. Okay. I mean, if I'm a Royals fan, I'm like, how long are we hoping for?

So that's big what to watch for. And yeah, that's none of Dom Smith's business. Trev, Nationals Cubbies. I know I did it as the best Western thing. So just a ton of Nationals offense in those final two games. Cubs blew them out in the middle game. What do you got? was going to give

Joy Weimer my standout player, standup performance but because they're the best Western Road Warriors, I thought we'd talk about him here. I mean, two games doing his thing. I also just wanted to hear you say his name.

Yeah, Jelly Weber. Love that for us. Brady House, who we talked about coming through in this series as well. Shout out Blake Peterre for getting the first manager win

and for a series win. That's kind of just feel feel really, really nice there, man. I mean, look, first year is the year. Do I expect a lot out of the nationals? No. But they take care of the Cubs. That's no small feet, dude, on the road.

A lot of young players. You hope it can be a fun national season. And, hey, that's how they opened up. And there's a lot of new faces that, who knows? Nassim Nunez. I see it. I see you picking it. Okay.

Pretty nasty. Okay. Yeah, pretty nasty right there. I can work with that. I can work with that. Kate Horton, there's your Win Cubs fans. He looked like Kate Horton. Trev, let's get into second half of the show.

I don't know if it's going to be half today, but it's time for standout performances. It's time for standout performances. Stand out performances. Stand out performances. This guy stood out for Treve. Trev? I am going with, it's an old episode for me.

It is this guy's birthday today. Wow. 37th birthday. This is his, what year? 16th year in the show. Not my friend. I wish he was my friend. I don't think he likes me.

I like that. He likes me at all. One time kicked me out of a limousine. How about that? Like that. My guy, Chris Sale. on the dot for his career a 3.0 ERA he's about to start his or about to have his 400th game he's sitting at 394 so in six starts he'll be there on his way to Cooperstown just a vintage

performance and it's funny because you know Eric Hosmer was on the call for the royal so I was I was tuned in wanted to see how he did and shout out Hans he's really taking the media world by storm doing M-LB network doing this. A lot of people say follow my foot my path. Nobody said that. Nobody said that? Nobody's saying that. I'm a trailblazer in this industry. You're a trailblazer. People say that.

Okay. Anyways, he was talking about Chris Sale. I mean, obviously he's faced him a ton. It is just such a different at bat. We say it all the time here. That angle, man. Just the ability for him to manipulate his pitches. His slider turns into.

to three different pitches alone because of the depth and the velo that he can change on it. But again, you know, the end line ended up being six innings pitch, no runs, only three hits. He c'd six people. He's just, he's that guy, man. And we talk about a lot of old pitchers in this game. But there's no signs of slowing down whatsoever with Chris Sale. Happy birthday, big guy. Happy birthday to Chris Sale.

I'm glad. Maybe you guys can mend that sense. Maybe you guys are cool now. I don't know. Jake. Yeah. 2024, 238. 2025, a 258.

His best, his career best stats are with Atlanta. And we thought, we thought Chris Sale was like done. Like Boston was, it felt like they were dumping him. And he's been the best he's been. Good episode for the old. I'm going with the young. Shout out Seattle. Shout out.

Emerson Hancock. And Trev, if you go to the baseball savant, you won't be blown away. There's a lot of blue. There's actually very little red on the page at all, which is tricky because he went six innings, zero hits, zero earn runs. There was one walk in nine strikeouts. If you're on the YouTube, this is why he's hard to hit. He throws from shortstop.

There's a lot of different angles on it. His sweeper slider doesn't, like, process in my brain. It looks like it goes up and then down from his arm angle, that it, it looks like he's playing wiffle ball. Do that one again, Rob. He's coming from the side there.

And it looks like the ball freezes in midair. My guy, Daniel Schneider, struggled with that one. That he's been the guy waiting for his turn in the Mariners' rotation. I'll be interested to see. It's not enough funk that I'm like, oh, maybe this guy will be purely unhittable, but he was for a night, literally.

And he's got his opportunity to now. So let's see where we're at with Emerson Hancock later this year, but as good of a debut as you can have. You've always been an Emerson Hancock guy. And whenever you mention him, like in our comment section, people would be like, why is Jake like Emerson Hancock so much? He's like our seventh starter. Like, who is this guy?

He's not even this. he's not even that. I tend to agree with you like the stuff is nasty. I know there's pitching depth in Seattle, but hey, bro, like, you're going to carve yourself out some time if you continue to pitch like that. And that slider does seem like,

it's like the seams finally catch the air. Yes. And then just rips down. And there's a few guys. I always say AJ Burnett was maybe the nastiest slider I've ever seen in my life. Josh Beckett, same thing with his curveball, where it just floats.

And then just catches, goes, yes. it's interesting right there. But I've seen that pitch before, and it makes you want to get out of the box. I think his sinker got rocked last year, so he went to the foreseamer because that's what pitchers can do now.

So, hey, I mean, maybe it was first start and the scouting report didn't have that. Or, I don't know. I think the guy, I think he has another gear in him, and it's just a matter of opportunity in Seattle, and maybe he'll be kicked out of the rotation. and maybe he'll just be nasty wherever he is. That's sweeper.

Four Seamers 93 and a half, sweeper 77. That's just a different. That's just different. Okay. Good analysis, Jake. Trev, it's time probably the best segment the show has because it's just you. It's time for Enfuego.

Dirt Nasty's on Fuego. That means I'm on fire, baby. like Waco This one's going to be a quick one Because we don't have the two weeks We don't, but I think Dahl put more guys So we could highlight them over the weekend We're going to go with our guy

Who I said, very important to Cincinnati's chances Sal Stewart 7 for 10 In the series, he added three walks 10 times reaching base in his first three games You gotta like that. You mentioned Shea Bengaliers Out there, six for 12, three homers, six runs driven in,

trying to salvage whatever they were doing out there with the A's didn't happen for them. B. Lau, got to be a focal point in that offense, and he was. Five for 12, a double three homers, drives in four. Leads the National League in homers right now. Love that for him. Willier-A-U, stand up if you had, Willier-A-Rabreou being a stud this entire time.

Standing, if you can't see that. Six for 13, two doubles, two homers, four runs driven in. Chase DeLauder. my goodness the youngs are fun the youngs are fun and why is it all lefties it's a lefty world right now six for seventeen four jimmy jacks for dilater remember this is his actual debut this is when the numbers are actually going to be on the back of his baseball card because he debuted in the playoffs people so dumb then he missed the ball right away do you remember that it's tough a tough ask

it's a tough task a third player since at least 19 100 to hit three homers in his first two career regular season games. Joining Trevor Story and Joe Cunningham. Love that for us. Jake Berger, six for 13, two homers, four runs driven in. Brendan Donovan, you look like you're from Seattle. You're playing good ball. Six for 14, a double.

Two homers, four runs driven in. Yandi Diaz. You're right about the raise and kind of that offense. If it starts to click, I'm in. Yondi Diaz, nine for 16, two. doubles, five runs driven in. He recorded this eighth game with at least four hits for the race that's tied with franchise icon statue guy Evan Longoria for the third most in team history. And then last but not least, our guy, Munitaka Murakami, three for nine. Three hits,

all of them, homers. And that's who's in fuego, Jake. A fantastic infuego. Yandi Diaz just, you know, kind of that same intimidate. If you'd never watch a game, you'd be like, oh, my, who is that? And it's just so funny, he's kind of, he's a singles, eight singles, one double. Like, Yandy just slaps it around the yard. There was a game, I mean, I forgot to mention this on the way through. Was it, was it Carson Williams, who came and scored from first on a ball in the gap? I believe so.

If I'm thinking of the same play, he was flying. I was like, what just happened right there. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about, baby. Another one for the Youngs. Yeah, I'll be interested to, you know, top 100 prospect guy. He won three for 12? I was looking at his stats and in his minor league stats.

It's going to be interesting to see. He didn't have a ton of not a lot of contact. A lot of strikeout. Yeah, a lot of strikeout. At the minor league level, which that's just, it's a hard jump. But let's see. We love the race. Brandon Lau.

South Stewart. Why not? Trev, a majestic infuego. And even better news for the people. no batters who are struggling this episode because it's the first weekend. Come on. Aaron Judge, he struggled for his game.

Yeah, two homers. There's a couple people that should not be covering baseball that are covering baseball. Oh, you're hot today. You're hot today. In the first three minutes, you said Tony Vitello is weird. I think a lot of people will agree with me. It's kind of the current consensus, yeah.

Like, I'm not like, okay, I'm giving him a, I'm giving him a, a chance. We're giving him a chance. And I do want to say, if you're new to the show, if you're old to the show, like I said at the top, we want to give every series as much love as we could for opening weekend. Because it's opening weekend.

I don't know where my Marlins are going to land this year, but you did sweep them. Yeah, as this season goes, the first half of the show will get tighter and the second half of the show will get broader. How about that? That's a nice way to put it. Okay.

The IL. Okay, just continuing. I forgot about the worst part of the show. It's our opening day. Me telling everyone who's slumping and who's hurt. Jackson, you got to say his name, Trev. Truurio. He goes on the aisle right before opening day, left hand fracture.

Crazy. He was just playing. Mickey Moniac, are these all your guys? right index finger sprain, hopefully a minimum stint. Carlos Vargas with a right lat in that Mariners bullpen. Christopher Morel missing out on the Miami party. Love Chris Marell.

If I could get some Christopher Marel going again, out four to six weeks. Obliq Trev, send the DM. Send the DM. And then Andrew Vaughn, Hammate, man. The year of the hamate, out six weeks or so.

So the Brewers will finish it out and win every game and it won't be a problem. And then Andrew Vaughn will go nuts and we'll see him on Fuego. That's who we've got for now. Which means... It's not a bad IEL. It's not a bad IEL. It's not a bad IEL. It's not too much.

Trev, we now get to start everyone's week the best way possible. Awards. It's time for awards brought to you by Seekek and Kelsey Winger, the best in the biz. Shout out, Kelsey. Always. Just rock and roll. She's a social media darling now doing her like come with me to a game. Love that.

Keep that up. Kels. Let's go. I am giving. I've learned a few new phrases. Oh. Yes, I'm almost 40 years old. I probably shouldn't say either of these.

But one is just so hilarious. I'll start with that one. You know, I think our generation, my generation is down still for like a diet Coke from here. Like, you know, every once in a while, like a diet Coke to me with like either like spicy, like, Thai food or like good street tacos like give me a diet coke with that and like that is elite combination you think you think a generation's missing that I'll say they're calling them fridge sigs which to me is spot on okay like I want a diet coke like I feel like my grandparents wanted the cigarette like sometimes I need one all right times I need one so the

The term fridgeig is in now for me. Because I think it perfectly encapsulates what a Diet Coke is. You just need one sometimes. Fridge take. The other one that I've learned, Joe's, I think, taught me this one. Choppedunk. Choppedunk means you're just old and like you're kind of like people are done with you. Okay.

So we had a few ballplayers, Jake, that I think a lot of people are like, you're a chopped dunk, which is very disrespectful to these two in particular. Because one is a first ballot Hall of Famer and the other one you can talk about Hall of Fame stuff with. That's Andrew McCutcheon and Mike Trout. Mike Trout, massive opening day. He's playing center field again.

He wanted to play center field. Gets the swing. Homers, I love the reaction that our live stream had with this. Mike Trout is engaging with our social media team about that. Like Swilly is on Cloud 9. Got to love that.

Fifth career opening day home run. That's his own franchise record. His quotes about this series. He's six for 13, two homers. He has a stolen base. He said, I felt like myself again out there. Just being in center and stealing bags. It was a fun win. It's huge. They got a great team over there. It was a complete win for us. Talk about opening dead. All right. They end up splitting the series. I saw this happen. I talked about this with Chris Rose. I saw this happen with Byron Buxton where that twins were telling him to just be so cautious with himself out there. Don't. Don't run.

Play defense and watch yourself. Don't, you know, don't be aggressive out there. There's something that happens in your body where it's like, well, if I'm constantly pumping the brakes, when I try to hit the accelerator, it's not going to be there. We got to let Mike Trout play. Got to let him be himself because the twins did that last year at Bucks and then some of the best we've seen him look. Let Mike Trout do his thing. Let him steal bags. Let him play center field.

I think we're going to get more of the vintage trout if we'd do that this season. So we saw that. The other guy, Andrew McCutcheon, pirates kind of like unceremoniously, just like let him go. Came back, you know, could have ended the career there. Like, I think it would have a nice addition to that team as well. And they kept saying, oh, we don't have room for him. We need to move on, do all these things. Oh, really?

Look what he did here. Four for nine. Two doubles. Big Homer. He's telling Philly fans, sorry, guys. This is me against Yohan Duran. Hitting the single here. Like, this guy can still do it, man.

like chopped unk they are not shout out the olds i texted kutch i said i don't think there's somebody in the biggest i'm rooting harder for this year because that's the truth man i just i hate when we write guys off so quickly especially when we've seen them do so much on a baseball field i get it man the youngs are fun it's the shiny new toy i understand that but let's give some fucking respect to these olds right here and and jim mccutcheon and mike chuck because they still got some ball left in them When I saw McCutcheon turn on Duran's fastball, I instantly went to go text you.

You had already texted about it. I said I got cuts for my award. I know we talk about it, and it's a big, it's a hitter phrase of like, you know, I don't care how hard they throw it. If it's straight enough, we'll hit it. And like, that's true to a degree. Like, I don't know, man,

some of the numbers as you start going 95 to 98, to 101. I don't know if that fully tracks. Seeing Cutch, all right, Duran, you're going to throw your heater and I'm still going to get through on it. That did something for me. And it was just the end of the offseason like, okay, Cutch is going to Texas. Hey, man, the problem in Texas has been the offense, which I don't know if Cutch is the cure. I know he can still get on base and maybe do some stuff for his lefties and who knows what you need from them.

I know the other problem there was their locker room. Like some of the stuff that's leaked out or hasn't leaked out was weird. And I just, Cutch is one of the most beloved guys in the league. I mean, you just, you texted him saying, you're the guy I'm rooting the hardest for,

which I'm trying to process how he's receiving that text. Is he just like, thanks? Yeah, basically. Because I'm old, thank you. Like,

I don't know. It's an interesting. He gave me the praying hands. Yes. Nice. And it said, man, I really appreciate it.

Love that. Don't text me ever again. But, you know, during the season, if you could just not... No, dude, we go back so far. I know you do. I know you do. That, I don't know. I just, I am always reading for him.

And how could you not? So I think so is almost any. I don't know a Cutch hater. No. Out there. Yeah, let's see what that means for him, for the Texas Rangers. It was cool seeing that. And you know I'm begging for the Mike Trout.

one big Mike Trout year to do it again because the other, this is a little sicko, Jake, it's getting late stuff. What if podcast, YouTube, and all that stuff existed or was more prevalent like 10 years earlier? During his run? And you and I did eight years of talking baseball and we were highlighting Mike Trout every episode.

Like I think. I mean, he's in the show, Hey, Aaron Judge's category of that where we're like, oh my God, he's just so good. like I just, it would have been a little stickier instead of someone like me being like, all I know is he likes the weather.

But yeah, he's mixing it up on social media a little bit. Playing center feel, let's go. Chop dunks, no more. I believe he had like as fast as sprint speed in a couple years. Like, let's go. Feeling good. I'm going on the other end, other end of the spectrum a little bit.

Referenced it a few times. I'll give out the Take a chance on me Award Dom Smith hits a walk-off Grand Slam for the Atlanta Braves And yeah, like you said,

there's a very emotional side to it Two weeks ago lost his mother to cancer sucks It's brutal It's brutal And so let's zoom out even more Dom Smith is fighting for a spot on the Braves Like he doesn't know if he's going to make the team

He had a nice little run for the Giants last year, but if you're looking at the Braves roster, he wasn't looking at the starting lineup. And then to have Dom Smith on your bench, it's one of those versatile but not super versatile. Just turned 30. Like a lot of the stats on Dom Smith's page don't jump out for a guy that was, you know, if you remember,

he was a top 100 prospect, had some really good run for the Mets. And then kind of when he got his first full opportunities, He basically got two full seasons and it didn't click. There's some injuries in there. And Trevis, you know better than I think the average Joe. Like, that might be your shot. Like, for Dom Smith, he's been fighting for playing time since then,

like looking for chances to get at bat. He goes to Brave Spring Training, not knowing if he's making the team. He left. He's like, my mom's sick. I'm going to leave spring training and, you know, be with you. my mother. Okay. So like, what's that mean? Are you on the team? Are you off the team? He said the Braves organization, an organization we've talked about a lot and used to be considered the class of the league. And now we've made our jokes about the Braves Foundation and stuff

like that. But again, we're not so far from the Braves being spoken about almost Dodger-esque. He said the organization was awesome. And they told him like, hey, we're going to take care of you, do what you got to do. Jerks and ProFar gets popped for state. steroids. All of the sudden, another spot on the lineup has opened up. And Dom Smith finds himself getting DH at bats, and he finds himself hitting a walkoff grand slam. He's getting emotional, talking about thinking of his mom while doing it. And I mean, split contract earlier. And Trev, the other thing, you're talking about chop dunks, it's a tough sport. And we've seen sometimes it takes a little bit for the light bulb to go off. I don't know.

if we're talking about Dom Smith having a light bulb going off. I know last year against Ritees for the Giants, he was 296, 343, a 779 OPS. We can work with that. And I know he's getting an opportunity with Atlanta, and he's had a couple good at batts so far. And who knows how long he's going to get run for. But what if at 30 years old he had one tweak in his swing that made Dom Smith a little bit better, a guy that has a career 721 OPS. So it's not like this guy has been chopped unk.

Like this guy has been a contributing hitter that what if things trend up or what if he has a couple hot months? What does that do for him? What does that do for Atlanta? The Braves needed this. How can you not feel good for Dom Smith? You know, from three weeks ago

making a decision to leave camp and spend time with his mom and not know if he's losing his opportunity to play pro baseball to where he was at the end of Saturday night. It's what you want from sports as a guy that was yelling at some Duke's fans' face last night. No, it's a beautiful thing. So, yeah, obviously sending our best wishes to him and his family. He said he felt his mom in the stadium, which is a real thing. That kind of gives me chills, man, just to think about it because you're right.

I mean, the roller coaster of emotions that that guy has been on. over the last month or so is crazy. I hope he does find himself with a bunch of bats for Atlanta this year. He's had some chances, no doubt about it, but you're right, if you get put in the right situation, right at bats, let's say that he does end up becoming a guy who, you know, gets more at bats against Rides, which is basically what he has during his career,

but he finds a power stroke, which guys do at times. There is still plenty of opportunity left for him in baseball, and I hope he freaking takes it and seizes it and has a great year. Because you're right. Atlanta, a team that were kind of like not sure how it's going to play out. If he comes up and can be a contributor in that outfield, and that changes a lot of things. There's a baseball's fun when you get opportunity.

I know we joked about Joey Weamer a lot. Like what if his past couple years felt like that this weekend must have been pretty awesome. Mickey Moneck. My God. Mugioniac. I mean, we see it every year. Trent Grisham last year. Went from bench defensive replacement to one of the best center field seasons you're going to see.

That makes the sport very fun. Use code talk in 2026 for 10% off your next set of tickets at Seat Geek. Coach Treff, you raised your head. I just have one. What is you doing, baby? It's a small one. All right. Reese Hoskins.

What is you doing, baby? The tag up. The tag up. I had the, Dalton looked into it. It was supposedly a miscommunication. I guess he was just listening to the third base. The coach said go? I don't know if it was a no go situation.

I don't think we got clarity on that. But they admitted it was a miscommunication. And yeah, that's, it's not Reeser's game. It's not his game. And like, I can just, I know he's running there, be like, what's happening? He runs so far in the line trying to have the ball hit him. Yeah. Yeah, they said it was a miscommunication.

Tough spot. That right there, that still frame when he's on the plate like this. Yeah. I think I'm out. But I'm still touching the plate. I don't know. My God. Everyone who's listening, thank you guys so much.

We love baseball. We love sports. I've been Yukon peacocking so hard. Midweek with Chris Rose. Talking baseball today. Jake sucks. And then a Friday recap, we're back, Tress. We're back.

We're so back. I love it. I'm going to go on the beach now. I have to, like, play kickball and wiffleball with all these kids. Dice them up. Yeah. Let them learn. Then they cry.

Okay, give them one. We're back, Poppy. Subscribe, I don't know. Share.