Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Is There A New Favorite Team in MLB?

Episode Date: May 2, 2025

Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use promo code JMBASEBALLBook your next trip at https://www.bestwestern.comCorona. La Playa Awaits. Be sure to get yours athttps://OrderCorona.com.Use code TALKIN2025 for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKIN2025. Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discountCoach Trev and Talkin’ Jake break down the latest series throughout MLB including, if the Reds are a true contender, the Padres being the scariest team in baseball, can Aaron Judge hit at a .400 average throughout the season and more!0:00 Intro3:00 NL Burn5:00 NL Standings7:20 Diamondbacks vs Mets13:00 Cardinals vs Reds18:13 Cubs vs Pirates19:18 Nationals vs Phillies22:00 Giants vs Padres26:33 AL Burn30:00 AL Standings34:00 Royals vs Rays37:25 Twins vs Guardians39:45 Jose Ramirez is insane 250/25041:25 Tigers vs Astros46:40 A’s vs Rangers49:00 Yankees vs Orioles & Red Sox vs Blue Jays53:46 Standout performances1:02:00 En Fuego1:10:20 Batters who are struggling1:12:10 Injured list updates1:13:55 Returning from IL1:14:25 Awards  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. We've got some historic player performances, some new powers in the American League. Let's hear it, Coach Treve. Let's talk ball. Noah Cameron. I'm striking out. Yeah.

New fresh blood. Hello. And welcome to Talking Baseball, presenting you by Seeky Code Talk in 2025. Jake Storelli in New York City. Trevor Pluth in L.A., let them know. Rob Serocco's here. Baseball season, it's gonna be my.

We're here, coach. We did it. We're more than, nobody wants that. Nobody wants that. Mem is out. Nobody wants that. I do, JT's really been working on his image since the situation last year.

See him all over socials. Anyways, Trev, we got some teams killing it. How about the Royals? The American League, there's going to be some Mariners, Tigers, we're going to get to all of it. We're going to talk about your team. You know them better than us.

Maybe not better than Trevor Ploof, though, former Major League third baseman. I don't know how to follow that. Okay, I'm ready to yuck some ball. A lot of good things have happened. Yeah, shout out the Royals. Like, kind of like sneaky under the radar street going on up there. And yes, no more it's going to be may think.

I'm actually, JT is kind of on my shit list. I did not get invited back to the golf tournament in Vegas. Oh, my gosh. God, that's where I just saw that on the gram. Yeah. You didn't get the... Well, technically I wasn't invited last year either. I just went with staff, but...

Ah, I got you. I got you. Yeah. I was hoping my performance there was like, you know, garner an invite this year. It didn't. Well, that's funny. You know, people are going to poke some holes at this one.

I follow Michelle Wee on Instagram. Great. She's awesome. Same exact birthday as me. October 11th, 89. Know who else has that I found out? Tomoyuki Sugano. Same exact age as me.

Same life. I feel like he's older than me and he's not. That's tough for me. Yeah, that's tough. You're in that window. I'll be in soon. We're going to talk less LPGA. Well, that's coming up later in the show.

We're going to get through the games that were this week. Some players, more than a month in, you know, I always chop it up in a weird way. We're more, one sixth. of the season is done? Do you think of it that way? Pretty crazy. Right? Right?

So, like, if your team was awful, say the twins, that's going to be tough to get yourself out of that. Congrats to bucks and a hundred steals. But it is Friday. Let's do some National League baseball. And why don't we stay in the big city? And I'm sorry to my Mets fans. Well, yeah, you got the best record in baseball

and Soto hit two ding-dongs yesterday. But they lose a series after. coming in, winning that first game, they end up losing the next two. Debecks come from behind fashion in game two late, and then they hold off on the Soto game in game three. Zach Gallant, hear more about him in a little bit. The Cubbies take two out of three from the Pirates, and you're like, okay, hey, the Pirates won that second game, and it's Skeen's Day.

Three homers in one inning against Paul Skinnes? Not going to see that a lot. That's baseball, isn't it, Susan? Cubs, continue to roll. Phillies, they take two out of three from the Nationals. This first game, back and forth, the Phillies bullpen blows it. They come back and win it late. Schwabor, Real Mudo, and Kepler, oh my, in game two.

Good Lord, Radlord and the boys, salvage it. Phillies, take two out of three. Padres, they take two games from the Giants. Sorry about it. Logan Webb versus full pension Pivs sign me up. Padres take both at home. Zander Bogartz, how's your first homer of the year? Good for you, kid.

Giants, first scuffle of the year. Braves take two out of three from the Rockies. They can't get the sweep. Sale gave him a great start. But Chase Dollander in the Rockies bullpen out, do it. There was a lot of Austin Riley in this series. Braves continued to get back to their winning ways and a team. that is kind of always winning.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, they sweep the Marlins. Yeah, I don't know what you want to hear. Taye Oscar is driving in everyone. Shohei gets his dad home run. And Max Muncie, speaking of first homers, he gets on the board. Dodgers take all three. That's what happened in the National League. A quick one, and I want to remind you, Jake,

that I'm the standings guy, so don't talk about the Mets having the best record in baseball because they don't. That's a spoiler. teaser the second best record in baseball belongs to the Mets we'll start out east 21 and 11 for the metropolitan's where three and a half games above the Philadelphia Phillies 17 and 14 for them atlanta two games under 500 14 and 16 the gnats 14 and 18 in miami 12 and 18 in the central j craig councils chicago cubs have a two game lead over the reds they're 19

and 13 and 13. The Reds 17 and 15. Let's go Reds on Gavin Lux. Milwaukee sits right at 516 and 16. Pat Murphy is authoritative to say the least. We'll talk about that. The Cardinals 14 and 18 and the Pittsburgh Pirates 12 and 20. The team with the best record in baseball. The Los Angeles Dodgers at 21 and 10. One and a half games above the pod racer sitting at 19 and 11. The Giants 19 and 13 after getting swept by the pods and the two games set. And you'll Your snake's 17 and 14 while the Rockies. Oh my goodness. They are 6 and 25.

They just beat Chris Sale though. Yeah. That's for them. Those are the standings in the National League, Jake. Thank you, Trev. Sorry, Matt. Sorry, Dodgers. I guess I was thinking best run differential.

Rockies two-game win streak. Watch out. That whole National League was brought to you by our friends at the Draft King Sports Book. Make sure you guys head on over to Draft Kings. the baseball marathon is underway, and at Draft Kings, you can get involved on all of it. New customers who bet $5 will get $200 in bonus bets when you use code jam baseball. So every game, you got same game parlay's odds boost, homa, home a bet.

Download the Draft Kings Sportsbook app now. New customers use code jam baseball. Bet just $5 on any wager and get $200 in bonus bets instantly. That's code JAM baseball only at Draft King Sportsbook. The Crown is yours. yours. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler. In New York, call 8778-8-8-Hope-N-Y or text Hope-N-Y 4667-369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-7-8-7-7 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly. On behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas, 21 and over, agent eligibility varies by jurisdiction.

Void in Ontario. New customers only. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.com. I've been on a little bit of a heater. Bet a couple pitches. Did well on the Knicks game last night. Anyways, Coach Trev, let's start off with the D-Backs and the Mets. The Mets, who had the best record in baseball. Excuse me.

Sorry for two D-backs. Nice wins to finish the series. A lot of Geraldo Pardomo. That contract is already looking incredible. He's added a little A-swing to his. his reputation, which ended up being impactful in that second game. D-backs had sneakily been scuffling a little bit. I think they had one win in six games there.

They end up turning it around, winning this series. They've struggled at City Field. And their bullpen had been hurting them a lot, and I think that's something you want to mention that they helped save them in the series. Yeah, I mean, it's a great series for Arizona. You know, obviously, yes, Justin Martinez with some arm, shoulder fatigue goes on the IL. They push AJ

Puck to the 60 day IL. So those are the coming into the season. They're two top bullpen arms now on the shelf. Some Mets city field stats. They lost back-to-back games there for the first time since July of 2024. They hadn't lost a series at home since August 13th through the 15th.

So Mets have been playing really good at home. So really nice series for Arizona. And, you know, They needed these guys to step up, you know, with the injuries to Justin Martinez. Game two, he comes in there. Just has an awful, awful outing, gives up a homer, walks two guys, and then has to be pulled from the game. We don't know what's going on with the shoulder. Something's happened there.

It's just not good. But Ryan Thompson comes in and absolutely gets the job done. He actually hits Pete to load the bases. But then he gets, he strikes out Vientos, he gets Winker to ground out. That gets it to four to three runners on second and third. Francisco Alvarez comes up after he intentionally walks McNeil to load the bases, and he gets the groundouts, a 5-3 groundout to end the game. So Ryan Thompson comes in, does the job in place of a Justin Martinez,

and then Ginks has a really nice outing in game three as well. So, you know, the Diamondbacks, they find ways to win games. The back end in the bullpen gets hurt, but guys step up and, you know, end up taking two or three from really, obviously, a Mets team. that's been playing really, really well. It's a big, I think it's a big series for the dimebacks. Yeah, this almost feels like an inverted D-back series. There's been all these series that it looked like they were going to win,

that their bullpen or, you know, the other team deserves credit at a certain point. And their bullpen kind of saves us here, that we could have been talking about a Metsweep. Shelby Miller getting saves in the year of Bradlord. They survived the Soto to Homer Day. They get their first Corbyn-Bor-Bern. wins win, that gallon shoves. But, yeah, I think the snakes needed that because they're somehow a fourth place team.

I know we're not really doing that yet. But you kind of, I think we're going to have to in that National League West that, I don't know, you just don't want that funk. There's a feeling. And I guess if your team is struggling to hit right now, Texas Rangers, we'll talk about you in a little bit. in baseball, there's just like a looming cloud sometimes. If you're struggling to get series wins and it feels like it's always happening the same way,

I think the debacks getting this one over a really good team in a place they've struggled historically. Some of the, like 8 and 23 at City Field, crazy. So I think this was huge for them. And I think Mets fans, I think they're excited to see Soto hit kind of his signature left center field home run

twice in one game. And I don't think this should, affect how they feel about this team at all. Yeah, Shelby Miller for the Diamondbacks. He actually signed a minor league deal. Made the team out of spring training. He's been pitching great out of the bullpen for them. So shout out to Miller.

And then Sotomay, he had some quotes about like not feeling pressure at all in New York. And, you know, I tend to agree. It's early on in the season that he had the second best record in baseball. Look, he had a 770 OPS in April. Like the guy is going to have his numbers end up in the 900s. That's what's going to happen with Juan Soto. There is no pressure on him, especially because the guys around him are performing so well.

The only pressure that Juan Soto is going to feel is if he hits, has a 770 OPS the entire season and the Mets missed the playoffs. I don't think that's going to happen. You know, one of those could, or the Mets could miss the playoffs, which would be crazy, but I don't think Wonson doesn't have a 770 OPS this year. And I am pretty certain after the way. they played in April that they're going to have a good chance to make the playouts. So this is, the Mets are all right.

Soto's worst month is traditionally April. And I think, I think getting those two homers to start May, you might look at Juan Soto's month this year. And one dot, I would bet is inbound. Driving the rest of the National League, a lot of players that I feel like deserve some love. I didn't know what my guy Jose Trevino was doing. for the Cincinnati Reds.

He's knocking around the ballpark. It's tough for me. Four game series split between the Cardinals and the Reds. It is interesting seeing the Cardinals record and their one game off from the Diamondback. Some other teams that have been doing really well this season. And it feels like we haven't had the Cardinals lumped up in that. Yeah, they end up splitting this series

a nice ninth inning by St. Louis to secure the game and win. In the second one, Mason win two homer game. What notes do you have? I think you're talking about the Reds being close to the Diamondbacks, not the Cardinals. Yeah. No, I mean, look, nice all-round game from the Reds in Game 1, like Nick Martinez had a great start. Trevino, that was a good series for Trevino. He had a nice defensive play on a bun for Mason win in game one, also Homer there.

The Reds overall have been playing better defense than last year. I believe they're 12th in defensive run save right now. Even though Ellie's had seven airs, he leads the big leagues. that's going to happen with him, but he's going to make spectacular plays as well. So I don't know, I guess you kind of live with that. For me, I'd rather just have more consistency, but the Reds overall have been playing better.

And then the Cardinals, they scored late to put the game away in game two, three homers in the ninth, and they scored early to put it away in game three, that double header. They took both of those. It was nine to nothing in the third there. And then for game four, I mean, the Red's bullpen had,

has been really, really good for them. So splitting the series, bookend games. Reds are one of those teams, man. They have some guys going on. Nuelvei Marte looks like the real deal. Gavin Lux has been playing well. We know they have the starting pitching to get it done.

Now the bullpen's kind of catching on as well. And if they are a team that's going to be in it and fighting for the NL Central, I'll tell you what, I'll be stoked. Like, we've been wanting this to happen. They look pretty good right now, Jay. If you look at their team stats, I mean, the offense has been top 10, top five, fifth and run scored.

I know that's a little old school. Their starting rotation has been great. Eighth in ERA, they've got like a big three there. What Emilio Pagan has done on the back end there, a contract that looked kind of E? Yeah, if the Reds, unfortunately the Reds after last season, they broke me a little bit. They're going to have to earn it a little more. Again, the Brewer since the opening weekend have been a pretty damn good team. The Cubs have looked fantastic.

I think what's going to be interesting, Tray, is we haven't even, in this packed NL, we haven't even fathomed if a team like the Reds get involved. And like, what if they have a massive month? And now we've got to knock a, you know, potentially another team out of the NL. I don't know. Like if the Reds can live up to this billing, because they're showing it in every facet of the game, the National League just hit another level of brutal

that we didn't even think about. I was talking to see Rosie about it. What do you think the last NL playoff team, the record would be? Like, how many wins do you think it's going to take? Like, it's got to be like in the 90s, right? There's going to be no 80 win teams making the playoffs in the NL.

I would say 90s your safe bet, which is crazy. Like this whole expanded wild card, we're like, oh, are we going to be letting 83 win teams and, well, American League, we're going to have to have some conversations. But the National League is kind of, National League's kind of the dream right now. Yeah. Or the nightmare, depending on what team you root for.

Yeah. And hey, Cardinals fans, as you're hearing this and the record starts getting a little not pleasant, that was supposed to be the plan this year. And I don't, again, there's some talented guys on that team that the right trade in a soft trade market, you can make something out of this year. I know that you might not want to hear that yet, but I think it's the truth of it. Shout out Lars Neupar, right? Like if that guy keeps playing like this to the trade deadline,

Brendan Donovan, like these are guys that have been rumored in trades for years and now their value is actually peaking at a trade deadline that has felt empty in past years. Like, this could end up working out well. Why don't I feel like Lars Neupar has much more time than he does? It's weird, right? I know he's got like years left. But, yeah, it's because they had... This is his first year of arbitration this year.

Yes. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. Okay. Well, I don't know. Yeah, I mean, yeah, you can trade him and he's going to... He'll demand a pretty penny if he continues like this and he's cost controlled. Okay.

Or keep him and be good. How about that? Not this year. We'll have time to talk about that. Because I think the Cubs are really good. They win another series. Yeah, prime time. Yeah, prime time.

Hey, man. Look what's going. Well, Boston actually. Anyways. Cubs take two out of three from the Pirates. Unfortunately, dude, I got sad again when you said the Pirates actual record. Because 12 and 20, what? The Cubs continue to rake.

I think you're talking about Say-A-Later. They get three off skeins. I don't have too much in the series. Obviously, we had the scary moment with the fan who fell out of the stands and we're waiting for updates on that. I don't have too much else on this series. Sure. Cubs are, no, Cubs are really good. Yeah.

the three homers off skeins he just was kind of middle it was interesting though because say uh who i'll talk about later took a three oh splitter out and i don't know what skeins was kind of thinking there maybe he thought hey he's gonna jump my fastball so i'm gonna throw this splitter and say i was like i've seen those a lot by the way back in the day and uh raked it i don't know cubs are good pirates not so good cubs finished april with a franchise record six players hitting five or more home runs. Good. Good. Go Cubs go. Get in the Skennis. Phillies take two out of three from the Nationals. I mentioned that scary first game. I got involved in it. I saw Jolly being like the Phillies bullpen is hitting levels of

very scary. They end up coming back and winning that game in the bottom of the inning. They mash their way in the second game. And yet, this was the one I screwed the pooch before. excuse me. 17 and 14 Phillies going back to the Reds who are 17 and 15. We've been like, yeah, Phillies have kept the course. They look really good. It's interesting seeing where the Cubs are

in comparison to that. But what did you see here? Philly's has some question marks, man. They do need to figure out that bullpen. It's been tough. You know, Alvarado's pitched well. Strom has pitched well for the most part. But, you know, pretty much everybody else has struggled.

And, you know, yeah, they were lucky to get that first game or else they're looking at a series loss here. They're also, I think, going to start doing some platooning stuff in the outfield. Weston Wilson, Max Kepler, Brandon Marsh, and Rojas.

They're going to try to figure some stuff out there to get some better offensive platoon splits. Phillies, to me, feel, and this was a comparison that Buster Olney actually made, and I referenced this with Chris the other day.

He's like, this is a Dave Dombrowski team, and it sure looks like a Dave Dombrowski team. Kind of like an older slugging team doesn't play defense particularly well. The bullpen's kind of been blown up. You remember the Tigers from back in the day when they had Scherzer and Annabelle Sanchez and Justin Verlander and Miggy and Victor Martinez, like they had everything except the

bullpen and the defense. And that's kind of what the Phillies look like right now. So they need to figure that out quickly because we're talking about a 90 win team might not make the playoffs this year. And we always talk about the Phillies cake walking through the season. Hey, we'll just get ready for the post season. You can't do that this year in the National League. So you better go get the bullpen figured out sooner than later.

You can't wait around. And yeah, something they went through last year that they're going to be doing again. It looks like Ranger Suarez is expected to pitch Sunday, which means Taiwan Walker would be the odd man out. He's been great. He gives a really good start. He has a really athletic play to start the game. You're, what do you?

Try tip guys? Is that what you guys like to grill? He grills, but it's me and J.P. Crawford and Dallas Bradenor try to have guys. I make the best one. There's like, no doubt my mind. But Taiwan's just more of like a traditional rib-eye guy. Be an athlete, big fella. He is an athlete.

Love those jerseys. Literally an athlete. A pitcher getting some dirt on them. More of that. Padres take two from the Giants, two of the best teams in baseball up into this point. Padres snap a four-game losing streak coming in, so they just kind of had their skis.

The Giants, I know this game in theory hasn't happened yet in our world. They just lost last night to the Rockies to make it a three-game loser for them. Bogarts gets his first home run in the year. We just passed the kind of getting weird area for that. Louisa Rize and Jason Hayward come back. Maybe that's more important here.

And the Padres, the first time they've won consecutive games in over two weeks. So it's funny that their record has still looked so incredible. the baseball funk always finds you and it looks like they're frowning their way out of it they're firing their way they're such a fun team to watch and to be able to get to Logan Webb early like they did and they can kind of like continue the scoring

um for now Tati's junior looks like a freaking animal out there dude he's so he's so good I think the Padres to me are probably minus the Dodgers I don't know I think the Padres are like the scariest team in the National League I do like the Dodgers just seem

like yeah they're inevitable they're going to get healthy they're going to do all these things and and they haven't even played good baseball you ask a dodger fan have the dodgers played good baseball they'll say no right they still have the best record in baseball but the podres to me in a three game five game set seven game set whatever they have to play uh they're scary man like they can kind of just do it all in that bullpen the way they can be deployed is awesome so they can shorten games they have the superstars they have the speed they've been doing and this without Jackson Merrill too. Like, it's, um,

they're just such a fun team to watch, dude. Uh, both Padres and Dodgers both have big, uh, three series road trips coming. Dodgers have Atlanta, Miami, and Arizona, uh, all on the road, uh, while the Padres have Pittsburgh, the Yanks in Colorado. So a little easier for the fathers.

But yeah, getting a rise back is obviously huge. And, um, hopefully that Hayward platoon can work. out for them. I think it's the bullpen is the secret, Trev. It's, it's just, they have a formula again that if they can get a lead, I mean, their bullpen has a bullpen. If you're one of those teams out there that's still struggling to figure out your, your eight, ninth inning, uh, they've got like, yeah, I mean, they went, they went Suarez, Adam Estrada,

Morahone, back-to-back nights, hold, hold, hold, safe. That's it. That's pretty nice to have. And that's before you get to Orlando. Anything on your Dodgers? I bet the show Hey, Homer, and I was happy about it. That's where I'm at. I was there in attendance to see the show Hey, Homer. First pitch, so that one cashed really easily for you.

Yeah, pretty cool, right? Yeah, no, the Dodgers are so good. I don't know, man. Dealing with so many injuries, obviously they know they kind of had that planned in their offseason moves. They have a ton of pitching death. It's obviously getting tested right now. You know, shout out for the,

shout out Marlins for trying to make it happen, game one. Really? Dryer comes, not Dreyer, who is it? Who came up? Or is it Dryer? I think it was, right? Dreyer comes up, pinch hit, gets them back in the game. Then, you know, I don't know.

The Dodgers are so good. Tommy Edmund comes in and does a thing. And then they run away with the games. The next two, like they have that potential offensive. I mean, they scored how many runs in this series? They scored 34 runs in three games. Yeah. They can just bury you offensively.

We got Kike pitching in a batting helmet. I mean, they're just... I left before that happened. Marlins brought in a position player, and I said, I'm out, I'm beating the traffic. We left. Then Kiki came in and did his thing. Is it good for baseball?

I don't think so, but hey, man, that's me. Maybe what is of note for baseball fans. Tony Gonsolin, how's your catered? back on the bump. And he got a ton of wifts his most since 2022. What's that? I said Dreyer.

It was Dane Myers. I'm sorry. Oh, no. Yeah. That's just, Jack Dreyer is a pitcher for the Dodgers. Oh,

that's who I thought you're talking. Okay. No, Damears. Pinchit Grand Slam. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

Go Marlins go. What a squad. Um, why don't we do some American League baseball? Let's do it. I don't know. I think Dalton did this for you. We'll start with the twins and guardians,

and these twins have figured out. Eddie Julianne, a lead off home run. Four straight wins. The twins are back. They lose the next three. Guardians go and get them. Jose Ramirez, I mentioned some history, the first ever third baseman with 250 homers and 250 steel.

Just insane. Second switch hitter, Beltran. We'll talk about him a little bit. Hey, my Texas Rangers, I said maybe the bats will come alive. Last week in Sacto, no. Maybe this week we held a meeting and we scored 15. Problem is, the other three games, we didn't score more than one run. The A's!

Take three out of four, Jeffrey Springs with his first good start of the year. God, Jake Burger sent down. Jacob Wilson and Anduhar are hitting? Watch out for the A's and Trevor Ploof standings coming up after this. Kansas City Royals. They sweep the Tampa Bay Rays. Two kind of similar teams here, but it feels almost like a bad matchup for the raise

because I think the Royals are a little better at their pitching, their defense, and their star player, Bobby Witt. We're going to talk more about them in a second. Tigers and the Houston Astros teed up. The Hinch Bowl! Astros take the first. First two, Jack Flaherty's lost three in a row. Christian Walker was a problem in this series, and they're about to sweep.

But unfortunately, Javi Baez is back. Brand slam, center fielder hobby buyers, robbing home runs? Insane what's happening with that gentleman. Houston wins another series. They're playing pretty good ball. The Orioles, boy, did they need a series win, and they got it. Against the New York Yankees. They win the bread games, two one-run games.

Two one-run games. Right now the Yankees have a Will Warren and Carlos Carrasco problem a little bit, trying to get through their rotation. A little dust up in the last game, Kestin Kerstadt, yes. Go check out the breakdown. It's a really good one. And good for the Orioles.

Second series win on the year. The Red Sox, it feels like they're rolling, crochet. They put up a 10 spot in that first game, three-game winner. They're about to make it four. Blue Jays late, Santon Dare. Boy, did he need a big home run. And then they do it again the next day. They get a couple on the Red Sox bullpen to win the games and win the series.

Toronto leaves Boston fans feeling the ick. Mariners, they win two against the Angels. It's a two-game set. But they keep hitting, man, Jorge Polanco. You're all J.M.D.H. Insanity, what he is doing. And then they come back. They put up some crooked numbers behind.

Cal, Julio, and JP in that second one. And the Brewers, they take two to three from the White Sox, with a chance to sweep on that final day. Unfortunately, they got the business from Sean Verk, Luis Robert 4 RBI game, great catch at the wall. Again, Milwaukee won the first two games. Freddie P. Isaac Collins hitting two hole for them and hitting homers.

Sure, kid, why not? Jake Bowers with a big hit off lefties. I just need to get to the standings. That's what happened in the American. Bob, I got the standings for you. I'm going to start out east with your Yanks. Yes, they're in first place at 18 and 13. Two games above the Boston Red Sox were one game over 500 at 17 and 16.

Toronto kind of creeping up. Okay. 15 and 16 for them. Three games back of the Yanks. Tampa Bay, 14 and 17. Baltimore, 12 and 18. In the Central, the Tigers, man. Third best record in baseball?

20 and 12. for them. One and a half games over the Cleveland Guardians who just find ways to win freaking baseball games. They're 18 and 13, Kansas City Royal 17 and 15. My twins, 13 and 19. Things were looking good until they weren't.

Chicago White Sox 8 and 23. Out West, my Mariners. You know I'm a Seattle guy. I'm a Pike Place market guy. Beautiful flowers. Everyone thinks of the fish, but the flowers are really, really nice. 18 and 12 for the There's two games above the Houston Astros who are sitting at 16 to 14.

The A's 17 and 15. Okay. Rangers 16 and 16 and the Angels are 12 and 18 after their fast start. Those are the standings in the American League. Treve, the Central's got a little, a bit of juice to it. And I actually, I'm going to start off with a team who's got a little bit of juice. And they are this week's best Western Road Warriors. Life's a trip, make the most of it at Best Western.

It's the Kansas City Royals. What if I told you the Royals have won nine out of their last 10? They swept the Tampa Bay raised. The rotation is leading the MLB in innings pitch, third in ERA, and Bobby Witt, Jr. 22-game hit streak, tied with Brian McCray in 91. God, I liked watching him play. Sixth longest hit streak in Royals history,

31 games by Whitmerfield's the record. These Royals are back in this season. And hey, you can get back into it with Best Western. Go on the road and see these guys play. Life's a trip, so why not make the most of it? Best Western, we've had an awesome year with them. We did our Chicago event. Jolly is doing a lot of fun stuff with them.

We got Ice Boys. Stay tuned. Best Western is going to be with us all year, and they can be with you to whatever summer. trip you got coming up, whatever baseball plans you got coming up, go check out Best Western, whatever the road or life has to offer you. There's probably a Best Western around you because I think there's 4,000 of them. Real number.

That wasn't just Jake Matt. Life's a trip. Make the most of it at Best Western.com. Trev, have the Royals changed your mind about anything, or is it just kind of like, well, we did expect this version of them. It's just clicking now. well i mean you kind of hit there with the pitching the starting pitching three runs are fewer in 26 of 32 games i mean that's the kind of ball they're going to have to play the offense

isn't always going to pick them up and it really hasn't this year bobby whit obviously doing his thing but other than that there hasn't been too much offensive output there so the pitching staff i guess look you could look at 2024 and i kind of did it was that a fluke and i guess it isn't Oh, like, that's an incredible stat right there. 26 of the 32 games you've played, your starters have allowed three runs or fewer. That means you're in every game, or you should be in every game.

And then, you know, this series in particular, the race were one for 18 with runners in scoring position. So I guess you could look at that either way. Rays didn't hit or the Royals pitched good. I think both are correct. Yeah. Great analysis. No, the raise, that's kind of what I was trying to allude to.

I think the rays are banking on good pitching and then one or two offensive performances. I think the Royals are doing the same with slightly better pitching, and they have Bobby Wood Jr. And Vinnie P. our guy gets one in this series. I was just, I know we daydream this before. Hey, Lars Neupar, do you even have to move? I mean, Kansas City Royal? I don't know. I don't know.

Just something that popped into my head. It feels like they've been looking for some outfield solutions for a while. As of now, nine out of ten is one of the better streaks we've seen to start this season. Michael Lorenzen just feels like he has an all-star first half every year or so. Well, you raised your hand. He's so jacked, by the way. I love that. Okay, let's talk, Bobby, what?

22 games. Oh, what does it get to? You want to dance, huh? What does it get to, Jake? What? Merrifield has 31. The record's the world record. Let's get there.

Like, I see no reason why not. I think so too, right? Dude, he's, I, this is so dumb and you and I like making fun of ourselves sometimes, but I'd literally had a moment on the train this morning. I was like, dude, Bobby Witt. Dude, he's getting, he's kind of getting ruined by Judge right now. I'll just be honest. Because, dude, you're going on baseball today, and is he the best right-handed hitter ever?

Let's say Judge doesn't exist right now. I think we're opening with a lot more Bobby Witt. I think, like, what this guy is doing, dude, the play he made. in the hole in this series is filth. Like, you don't, short stops aren't normally that big and that fast. Like, we get obsessed with Ellie's tools. This guy basically has all of the same ones. And he's done it.

He's had a nine war year and he's going to do it again. I think you're right. I think you're right about Judge being alive. I mean, we haven't even talked about the month of that guy's had. It's insane. The past calendar year, those numbers that people are talking about are insane what he's doing.

So yeah, I mean, look, as good as Bobby Whit has been, he hasn't been as good as Aaron Judge. So yeah, I guess that makes sense. But,

no, he's so much fun to watch. And I do think he, it's only right that he has the club record for hitching, right? Like, they just make sense.

Bobby Whit Jr. should have it because he can beat you in so many of ways. He can pump you for a homer. He can lay, and leg out on an infield single. He has a lot more opportunities to get those hits. And here's the player talking about.

That's Caballero running. That's Caballero running. And it's not one of those short, I know sometimes there's, you know, you've taught us, Trev, that, you know,

use the bounce throw, you have it. He ain't, you don't need it. Yeah, he had to get up and throw out there. I think that's the most impressive thing about that play is getting up and getting your feet set

and be able to fire a strike over there, which he did. And yeah, he does that. He can go to his backhand side with the best of them. And that's to a shortstop, those plays are the toughest. Obviously, the longest throw. You know, I always say the toughest ground ball is the backhand you have to come in on. They're kind of like in cahoots with a third base spin.

That's a hard throw to get your footing. But Bobby Witt has, he's got all the tricks, man. All the tools in the bag. Get up. Let's get some sticks, Casey. Get some sticks. Let's see. We'll keep it central because that's what America wants to talk about.

And Trev, your twins, it felt like maybe the light bulb was coming on and we've won a couple games, a blowout win, and then they get guard dog the rest of the way. They, I tried to sum this up best with Chris Rose, because obviously we talked about this together. You know, his guards, he's always so negative about them because he's a Cleveland sports fan. That's what he tells me.

He's like, he's just callous. Everything's going to go wrong. I said, dude, the guardians are the opposite of that. They always find ways to win baseball games. And the twins don't. They find ways to lose baseball games over the last year. That's what they've done. That's the difference between these two teams right now.

I believe it's 12 straight one-run losses to the Cleveland Guardians. Every loss that they've had over the last whatever it is, two years, has been a one-run loss. And that's just because Cleveland, that's what they do. They're not going to outslug you really. Every once in a while, Vermears will have a crazy game. But typically, like, the bullpen keeps them in games. They're starting pitching will do enough to keep them in games.

And then they're just so used to playing in those games that they know how to win. And other teams don't. Like, the twins don't know how to win those games right now. The Guardians do. I mean, that's the difference in these two teams. Like, talent-wise, I still think the twins are better. But just, I don't know if it's an organizational thing or just, the fact that they played in a lot of these close games

where you feel comfortable with it. Like the Guardians find ways to win those games, and that's why they consistently put up 88 to 92 wins. Like, that's just what they do. I know you kind of hate this because they're your first employer, but, you know, if the Yankees

are facing the twins in a playoff series, Yankee fans walk a little taller and talk that shit because they've dominated the twins. The Guardians that's saggy referencing 12 consecutive one-run games at Progressive Field. So that's something. and the jimmies and the Joes have changed a little bit, but that keeps happening that, yeah, if you're the other,

if you're Cleveland, you're playing pretty free and easy. And maybe the other difference is literally Jose Ramirez, who 250 homers, 250 stolen bases, first Cleveland player to do that, the only active big leaguer to do that, is just constant, constant. no he's it's you know we talk about how good he is and for a third baseman i believe he's the first primary third baseman to do that so you know play third base you kind of have to be a bigger guy

you know it's you're supposed to hit for power it's the hot corn you have to have a good arm like he is he plays it in such a different way and those stolen bases he's not like the fastest guy he's just like a good base runner too even the way he runs i think is hilarious but like he just knows when to steal how he's just how to steal how he's just like he's not like the how to steal, gets good jumps. At third base, it gets good reeds off the ball. Doesn't have the strongest arm, but he's got a strong enough arm. Doesn't the best range, the positions himself and anticipates well.

He's, he's like legit, a ball player, which I love. Yeah. Like he's right there, that's essentially a pitch out, but get a great jump, good lead. He just, he's a ball player, man. He's like an old school, like exactly what you want. I want nine of those guys, obviously, but he's surpassed that. that. He's, yeah, we were debating.

Me and Trevor laughing because we're talking about who should we do for standout and stuff like that. We're like, man, if we do Jose Ramirez, it's just the same conversation. Like, yeah, he's really, really good at baseball. Which again, maybe that's not the analysis. I think some people come here for him. Maybe it is. Twins. Yikes.

Let's see what changes with them. Royce Lewis is coming back in the homestand. Let's go. That's huge. But I'd say maybe the bigger problem is like, okay, the guardians look like the guardian. The Royals recently have looked like a good version of the Royals. Either way, 17 and 15. And meanwhile, that's all behind the Detroit Tigers, who you're my standings guy,

but best record in the AL, they do have a setback in this series as Houston. Been playing a better brand of baseball. Jeremy Pena moves up the lineup to the leadoff spot. they move Altuvae down the two hole because he said he didn't like leading off coming in from left field so I don't it's easy to crack a smile about that but also there's something to it. Two minutes people. Two minutes from the third out of the inning. He has to run those little legs. It's a lot of steps. Come back to the Doug. I got to put the gloves on. Got to put the arm guard on. You know, I get it. I get it. And Pena's done a good job getting on base a little better this

year so they can put him in the lead off spot. I like it for Jose. Hey, guys, I'm tired. It's a long run. I've never done this before. I think that's like, that's fine. It is,

I laughed when I first read it. I did the, I did the flash the eyelids meme, whatever that is. And then I was like, well, you know what? It's good to be a Hall of Fame or sometimes. Because imagine, imagine being, imagine being a kid who just got called up and being like,

hey, Skip, I can't. A little tired here. I don't think, I can't do the whole lead-off thing. You might have to slide me down. Imagine if somebody on the Brewers did that to Pat Murphy. Oh, God. Not right now. Not right now.

You'd be on the bus. I guess anything more on the aster. Again, Tigers have been great. We've talked about how good they're pitching is. We gave Javi some love. I guess the story more so here is Houston who won the series and feels like they've been winning a lot of series recently. Yeah, I mean, the first game,

they scored eight unanswered runs. They were down three nothing and then, you know, just took the lead there. Game two, they scored three runs in the sixth, three runs in the seventh, all with two outs to take the lead. So, you know, those are two really nice kind of, I guess, come from behind victories. You know, look, the Houston Nationashos are still like, there's still that guy, Pop. Christian Walker has been really good as of late. I think that's the biggest thing. If he is who he has been for them offensively, like they're going to be right there.

And they had, you know, you get a chance to sweep going into game three, feeling good. But then, Javi Bias. Havi Bias. Who's been a huge reason why Detroit is doing what they're doing. I mean, the guy, I mean, I know this doesn't exist, hit a Homer last night in Anaheim and also robbed the Homer in Anaheim last night. So he's like, I think you have to, I was talking to somebody about Hobby Bias and I'm like, you know, he kind of like hit rock bottom last year. you know like he's as rock bottom as you can get with that kind of money but like you're not playing well you get you know moved off your position essentially uh and you know you have more years there like

sometimes you just got to figure things out and you know going and playing center field maybe that's like a new challenge for him so it's like he's feeling i guess yeah feeling challenged and maybe that brought something out in him and obviously the play of the rest of his teammates he wants to be a part of this winning culture that they've done. And my gosh, what a huge boost that is. If you get a guy like Hobby, he doesn't have to do what he did in April. I mean,

he doesn't have to be that guy. He just has to give you quality of bats again. That's like a very low bar for him. But he looks like old school Hobby Baez right now at the plate. Like he's not flailing at all these pitches. He's taking better at bats. This swing looks more aggressive. Like there was times last year where Hobby Baez,

who takes some of the biggest hacks in the game, looked like passive with it, and he doesn't look that way anymore. So good for him, man. Sometimes we, before the season, we do the team profile and projections, and it's a daunting test. So much stuff can happen in a baseball season.

Your tigers who have been amazing, their top three position players in war, that would be Zach McKinstree, Javi Baez and Spencer Torkelson. Don't look like, I did the award on them last year. I know. Or last episode, excuse me, like, you could not project what's happened in Detroit offensively.

So all these pundits, which I'm going to get into later, by the way. It was obvious the tigers were going to run away this. Like, really? Right. Like, were they going to like, do you know what they did last year? They were crap until August. And then they just won every single game because they decided the pitch

have their bullpen chaos. And I don't know, man. I had the Tigers outside of the playoffs this year and it's making me look like an idiot. So maybe that's why I'm mad right now. Maybe you are. A team that you and I were already starting to walk tall about, the Texas Rangers,

because they were winning games. And again, the records, the records fine. But they're actually fourth in the world. West right now, 500, and they have such a bad case of the not hits. And I do want to give credit to the athletics who jumped them in the standing, 17 and 15 out of them. But it feels like, I don't know, they feel like a baseball team. They could get contributions from one night from their hitting, one night from

their pitching, whatever it is. Texas Rangers do not have, I mentioned the gray cloud of baseball before. Right now they're hitting has a gray cloud that Bochi's talking about. They had a team meeting. Like, it's getting crazy. Yeah, this is a huge scene. serious for Oakland, you know, and in talking about Cotsay, we're talking about the guardians in one-run games and

that level of comfortability that you get when you play in them. Cotsay's quote, there's a lot of confidence in that room right now. They're recognizing how to win these games, talking about one-run games. That's the maturity. That's the growth we've been waiting for and looking for. This team, yeah, like they're getting like a taste for blood. Taste for dub and they're young. And they expect to win. Like, that's how the A's play right now.

They expect to win. it's it's awesome and they got three great pitching outings by searris springs and severino in this obviously the one blow-up game that they give 15 runs um and they've gone five and two against the rangers in the last 10 days man so that's uh that's one way to kind of like assert some dominance uh in that division over a division rival uh for the rangers yeah the hitting has been brutal a two for 22 with runners in scoring position in those three losses jake The A's, man, I don't... Hang around.

Nope, not a lot of favorites in the American League right now. Hang around, and you're right. The 5 and 2 against Texas, they look over there. Corey Seeger's got a real big contract. Simeon's got a real big contract. DeGrant, real big contract. Like, hey, who cares? Roll the ball out there.

We can dance with anyone. My God. Jacob Wilson continues Elba with the Grand Slam. to kind of finish off that third game. A's are going to be part of this season, more than I thought. I got that one, right? I said they're going to be part of the wild card race come the trade deadline.

There's still a lot of ball to be played, but right now you're looking good. Trev, I think kind of quick hitters to finish this. The Orioles needed a series win against the Yankees, and they get it. Sorry to our guy, Gibby came back at the wrong moment. And then the Red Sox, too. They are a team looking for momentum and identity,

and it looked like it was happening. They end up losing a series to the Blue Jays who were starting to get desperate themselves. I'll go Orioles here. Yeah, the one game to lose, obviously, Givie comes back and just gets slacked. He'll be better. That's like, you know, that's not what he's going to be all year.

He hasn't had, you know, much of a ramp up to start the year. In the game three, I thought this was a big win for the Orioles. There was a great play by Loriano and Grisham in the top of the seventh. It was one out with a runner on first, makes a diving catch in the left center field gap.

Aaron Judge ends up hitting the RBI single, but that could have, they limited damage. Like catch limited the damage. Yankees could have ended up winning that game. If he doesn't make that catch, then it's another series loss. And you're like, okay,

these Orioles are, tough but to get a series win against the Yankees. They hadn't scored five runs in the game since April 19th before that game. There were three and seven in those games. So is this like a Mariners situation? Like just score some, score runs and you're going to win. It's kind of like the recipe in baseball.

But yeah, I'm happy that the Orioles got that. I want them to be good. I want them to be in the race. Right now, like clearly they haven't been playing their best baseball. But hey, maybe this series gets them going. Yeah. And Sagano ends up putting up together a,

a nice month and they just need they need more pitching but they need series wins and Bautista holding on to 2-1 run games like that's got to feel good for them yeah no he looked great oh man right

he's uh the Velo's down a little bit struck out struck out was a judge in belly in game one and they were talking about he's 6 8 250 judges 6 7 280 whatever the heck they are that's some big boys right there

that's a moment like, hey, flashback. Like, bring some baseball players from 1960 and show them that. And I think they're just like, brains explode. Like, that's... Bring it back to the 1930s and show them that. Like, I've never seen this. Babe Ruth, better than Judge?

Who wins in that fight? Fautistaverse Judgey. I'd lean, Judge, just because the legs are so thick. Yeah, I'm trying to... I'm a little bit better athlete, but I don't, I don't know, man. Yeah, I mean, but he's, he's a mountain of a man, like the size of his back. I do, I would love to see Judge stand on a mound and see what that looks like, because I think we all might just be like, oh, God.

Yeah. Even the big boy pitchers aren't just built like that. Man, it, Batista's close, though. Batista's close, though. I do want to give some love to the J's. First game, Red Sox just feast and it crochet pitches great. so you know they get that win but the jays man uh they come back in game two they're down six nothing in the bottom of the six uh santan dare with a huge homer to tie the game hanging two oh

change up uh and then in extras hoffman strands the manfred runner which is huge for them then kirk alexander kirk does his thing uh in the bottom half there and in game three gladie obviously with the huge swing uh three run homer uh slayton justin for the red sex had been has been really good. He's had two really bad outings so the numbers don't look good. But other than that, he's been awesome. I thought maybe you think about walking Vladdy in that situation. You're going to bring up Santander there

with the bases loaded, but I think maybe you do that and try to elicit a double play like Santander can do that. Interesting. They end up pitching to him. He hits the homer here, and that's a freaking absolute missile. So kind of an interesting series from

the Red Sox. Abreu had a bad route on the Bichet ball before that. If he catches that, it's a different thing. I think they do end up walking Vladdy. But shout to the Jays for getting the job done, man. Yeah, you know, follow a lot of Red Sox people online, and they're very in between with this team right now. They want to see the next step, and they don't know what it is.

And yeah, I wonder, can Toronto get some juice again? Because Vladdy didn't have the hottest starts. Santander had a horrible start. Well, they weren't hitting any homers. Right? Some of their non-homer stats are. are brutal. All right.

God, that was a lot of baseball people. We appreciate you. And let's talk about some of the dudes in standout performances. This guy stood out. Where are you going, Trout? I am going with my guy, Saya Suzuki, of the Chicago Cubs. I watched a post-game interview of his. first of all he had a couple of really nice games Tuesday and Thursday

three for four with a double a triple and a homer on Tuesday and then he goes two for four two homers on Thursday so he's been raking and in his post game interview he was talking about coming over to the states and just and I've heard this from other guys two that have come over from Asia and specifically bionho park when he came over from Korea he said everybody has power here like even a small guy and so Suzuki was like, I've come over, I've been around all these guys with power. I wanted to do my part. He's a career 481 slug guy.

He's basically put up like identical numbers, his first three years in the big leagues, like his slash line, especially the last two years, 2003 and 2024 have been eerily similar. I don't know if you've seen that. 842 OPS in 23, 848 and 2024. This year, Jake, it's 990. and it's because the slug. He's slugging 625 this year,

nine homers on the year. That's almost half of what he usually puts up. He's got a 20 homer year, a 21 homer year. So he's getting a little bit more aggressive with the hacks, possibly had a nicer offseason working on some leg stuff. He's kind of always looked like that though, so I don't know if that's it. I think he's just being more aggressive in hitters' counts,

trying to drive the ball. And it hasn't affected anything. Like the batting average is higher, the on base percentages stay the same, the slug has just gone way up. So shout out Suzuki and that whole entire Cubs offense, man. They've been great. Right. There's got to be a ripple effect there between Tucker, PCA.

I think the other thing for SEA for me is that like, remember there's been a couple times that the Cubs have been searching a little bit, and it's like, oh, they actually bench SEA for a little bit. It felt like last year he finally had that full-blown, Like, no, guys. Like, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm going to be in this lineup every day. Pencil me in for next year. And it looks like that's paying dividends this year.

And, yeah, I mean, when you take out his rookie year, 2022, you're a 27-year-old, first year in the big leagues, welcome to Chicago. Like, I don't know. I feel like that it's not, not the easiest transition in life. for the past three years now, if you count the 28 games from this season, a 138 OPS plus, like that is, we're talking elite, 285, 362, a 498 slug. So that rookie year where you're figuring out a lot of life and baseball, if you take that out, yeah, and I'm, I wonder where it lands this year.

Because even if it lands at what the past two years have been, that's an amazing baseball player. Right now it feels like there's more. And I don't know if that's more comfortability or just the team as a whole is better. But he looks amazing. I'm looking at the RBI leaderboard. He's fourth in baseball now with 28 runs driven it.

It is a hilarious leaderboard. People who you would not even think would be up there. I'm going to give you, guess who's third? It's a Tiyosker and Judge are tied for first with 32. Who's third, do you think? God, there is a wild card guy. You know a guy. You know this guy, but like it's hilarious that he's doing it.

It's not Tommy Edmund, is it? It's a Wilmer Flores. Right. Wilmer. He's got 29, okay? Kyle Tucker tied with Suzuki. Pete Alonzo tied with Suzuki. You can see those guys doing it.

Spencer Torkelson tied for seventh with 26. Geraldo Perdomo has 25, Jorge Polanco has 25, and Nate Lowe. It is, like, going into the season, this is just a bunch of guys who are having either a bounceback year or a career year. I'm all about it. I love it. Nate Lowe. No, who could use Nate Lowe? The Texas Rangers. Anyways.

The Kansas City Royals. Not really. They got Vinnie and Salvi. What are in the outfield? Figure it. it out, pal. Jeez. Figure it out.

Okay. That's a great standout, Trev. A lot of Cubby's love. I'm going back to where we started this episode. I'm going to Zach Gallen, who threw six innings pitch, two hit ball, one earn run, 8Ks against the New York Mets. These diamondbacks have been hunting for just a little bit more pitching. And Zach Gallen's one of the guys you look at.

It's ERA after this start is a 493. That's not where he is, no matter what's happening. The strikeouts are there, 38.1 innings, 43 strikeouts. Just something funky with Zach's season so far. That beautiful New York City air, which I know when you come out, Trev, you feel it. You know. I'm vibrant when I come out there.

Sometimes a drink, sometimes something else in the air. Against my Yankees on April 2nd, 6.2, 13 punchy, zero earn, runs against the New York Mets, six innings pitch, one earn run, eight strikeouts. Easily his two best starts of the year. And with the Diamondbacks, the whole discussion, a huge series win for them against the Mets, if they can get the starting rotation wagon going, Corbyn Burns with his first win as a snake, that gallon with his best start in over a month.

Like they got to start getting the pass the torch that, you know, Brandon fought kind of the only one fully pulling his weight in the rotation. If they can start passing the baton in the rotation, we're going to look up at some point and see Diamondbacks W7. Unfortunately, at Philly and then they host the Mets and the Dodgers. So they might just have to keep the skis up for a little bit because that is brutal. But Tal Marte is coming back.

What does the skis up mean? What does that mean? You just don't want to get your skis stuck in the water or the powder because then you're going down. Yeah. I skied powder for the first time on accident. I just went down a wrong trail. I had to go through the trees.

That was crazy. Zach Gallen, three quality starts out of seven, but the other ones have been pretty bad. I was looking like, did he have a blowup start? You know, and that's why his numbers aren't looking so great. No, he's just kind of been really, really inconsistent, man. There was a stretch there, you know, against Baltimore, against the Cubs, then against Atlanta wasn't too good.

The Cubs have really got him this year, which is interesting. Yeah, I think he'll figure it out because that's just the kind of guy he is. And maybe we'll look back at this April and say, man, like, if he didn't have this April, what could the numbers have looked like? Because they do need that. That's been their Achilles Hill so far this year. Yes. And I think, you know, anytime you get off, you know, that start being in May, you're like,

okay, I had a, I had a bleh, April. I'm about to have a crazy May. There's going to be some more, more talks about that coming up. Treve, as always, there's a bunch of dudes who bawled out. Andy Paez, Josh Smith, Mason, Wynn. Let's see if any of these guys end up on Enfuego. Where's dirt nasty? What's going on?

This one's sponsored by Corona. My Corona in Fuego, we're going to start out with our guy Riley Green of the Detroit Tigers. Man, he's such a fun player to watch. Seven for 12, two homers, three runs driven in. He had his fourth career multi-homer game, the first since 2024. In September, Danesby Swanson is a stud, six for 11, two homers, two runs driven in. Sayez Suzuki, who we just talked about.

He went five for 12 in the series with three homers. Absolute stud. The legs are looking good. Luis Robert La Pantara, not only did he have a good series offensively going five for 12 with five runs driven in. He robbed, I believe it was Reese Hoskins of a grand slam. They could have got the Brewers on their way to a sweep. If he looks good.

and ends up getting traded. Like, when he's good, he's so good. I don't know how else to say it. Like, he could help a team. He's been pretty dang inconsistent, but a nice series for Luis Robert there. For the week, we talked about Hobby Baez, what he's done.

He went eight for 20 with two homers, eight runs driven in. He ended April, almost hitting 300 at 296. Just looks different. Shout out Hobby Baez. Ty France, our guy, in Minnesota.

He's been a bright spot. 12 for 28. four doubles a homer six runs driven in for the week. Raphael Devers, okay, nine for 25, three homers, three doubles. Aaron Judge, he shouldn't even be on this list. He needs his own list. The things that that guy has been doing, it's been nuts. 11 for 23, three homer, six runs driven in.

Here's his April, Jake, 427, 10 homers for a 1.2. Last year at this point, Jake. Remember, he struggled in April last year. He didn't not win a pedal in April last year. He was hitting 197 with six homers and a 754 OPS. Oh, yeah, he ended up winning the MVP. And oh, my gosh, the rest of the season that year was crazy. I can't, I can't wait to see what the numbers end up this year for Aaron Judge.

I really can't. How about a pitcher? I don't really like to do this, but Graham Ashcraft, what's up, dog? Three games, five innings pitched, 8Ks, 2 walks, no runs for a 0.4 whip. He has a 0.57 ERA, 17Ks over 15 and 2,3. this season. Shout out Graham Ashcraft and a big reason of why the Reds are over 500. We'll go some more pitchers. We talked about Sugano, what he did against the Yanks, five innings pitch, eight K's. One walk has not been a strikeout guy, but he was against the Yankees.

So the Yankees stink. Bailey Ober, seven and two thirds innings pitch. One earned run. Again, he's been great. He just had one bad start to start his year where he had the flu. and he still pitched and got absolutely hammered. The same thing happened last year, but he is a quality start king. My guy, Bailey Ober. Noah Cameron, speaking to the Royals,

took a no-hit bid into the bottom of the seventh in his majorly baseball debut. I don't know if he watched, I can't pitch it all or saw the highlights. It's nasty. Yeah. I like the curveball. Like the curveball.

Blake Snell-esque. Well, easy, but I like the curveball. Some nice defensive. You like a curveball. You like Blake's? Some nice defensive plays behind him as well. I like the curveball. Okay, you like the curfball.

Okay, easy on the Blake Snell two-time Sy Young winner comparison. Sean Burke, you mentioned him against those burers. He goes six innings pitched 5Ks, no earned runs. Jeffrey Spring, six innings pitch, two hits, one walk, no earned runs. Entering to start, he had allowed 14 first inning runs over his previous six starts before Thursday. That's a lot. But he hammered it down, hankered down. against the Rangers and did a great job for them,

and they got the series win. Jake, now it's your turn. Yeah, I want to give some of those guys more flowers. Graham Ashcraft, leaving the rotation, heading to the bullpen, throwing cutter slider right now, and it looks good, man. And hey, go ball out down there,

and if that third pitch ever comes, maybe you come back to the rotation. Like I hope in a couple years we're looking more those like Seth Lugo examples and things of that nature. But hey, if you can go dominate in the bullpen, why not, pal? And yeah, the judge stuff, man. 10-400, Trev. Like, when does Judge 400 talk start?

Like, when would you actually, does he have to get through May and be high 390s, 400? When were we talking about it with Louisa Rice? It's a good question. I feel like that was like in June he was still hitting 400. 400 watch If I Google that Let's see what comes up Yeah June

Yeah June Okay I mean it's not gonna happen I love him Like 400 is just insane I'm curious Yeah I don't know

Just like Where can he go Like what's What's like the top of level Like he has Three war through April Prev The gods

And odds and everything would say you're right, just don't bet against this guy. He's gotten better. Sneakly, he's gotten better every year. I know the stats don't exactly say that, but we're deep in Yankees world that it's, there was a while.

And like, dude, Smolte used to kill him on the broadcast. The slider away really gets this guy. And it's like, yeah, and every other hitter that's ever played baseball, Smoltsy, thanks. but Judge actually made a conscientious effort that he's like, this pitch will not beat me.

Then there was one year that, I think it was all splitters and change-ups, was like his weakness. So he came back the next year and got rid of it. Trev, last year, just a slow start out of the gate that he had, I think he had a rib thing coming out of spring, that it, and I don't know, it's baseball that stuff does happen. Trev, if you gave him this April in last year's stats,

you're looking at literally unrealistic number. And his numbers for a lot of guys are unrealistic. Well, you can do that, right? You can take the last 365 for him. Yeah. And it's just, it's crazy. Yes. He clearly made a conscious effort to become a better contact hitter.

And he's hitting 427 right now. So is he going to hit 400? I think if I had to bet money on it right now, it's obviously no, right? But I don't know, dude. There's not a way to beat this guy. And he hits it so hard. Nice.

That felt good to get off my chest a little bit. Feel good. I might go grab a... I'm not like, dude, I'm just saying 400 seems so unapproachable to me. I mean, I guess, yeah, if there is one guy that can do it, it's one of the best hitters to ever play the game. I guess that makes sense. Something there, right.

Logical. I might watch him tonight. I might grab a Corona. I might grab six. And want to know what I love the most about baseball. It's kicking back. Put the day behind you. And maybe snag yourself a Corona.

From the first day of the season, I remember like it was yesterday. We were streaming the games. We had a blast. To the All-Star break. I think we're going to be having some fun with Corona all the way to the last game. games. Corona will be with us throughout, whether you're in the cheap seats on your own private

island or you're where Trev sits. Grab a Corona, the official servesa of Major League Baseball. Grab a lime. Really treat yourself? And enjoy America's favorite pastime with Mexico's favorite pastime. Present time. Excuse me. Get yours. Order Corona.com. 21 plus. Enjoy responsibly. Corona extra beer imported by Crown import, Chicago, Illinois. Um, okay. Okay. Again, this sneaks up on me every time as we, I will now do the batters who are struggling. And again, this is, this is in hopes to get them off of the struggle bus. And it starts with Taylor Ward in L.A. A three for 39, that's an 077, struggling with the breaking pitch.

So now that he knows that, now that that's out in the ether, it's done. It's done. What should you? You should just keep those hands back? Keep your hands back and, you know, I don't know. Take? I don't know. I don't have the answers, Treve.

I got to be honest with you. Nolan Gorman, one of the St. Louis player-generated players for a little bit. Five for 35, 14 strikeouts in his last 41 played appearances. That's the second highest in the National League. Rokio, Rokio. Ryan Rokio, 4 for 28. Slugging, 080.80. That's slugging 087 against lefties this year.

Worried about that. Xavier Edwards slapping it around or not so much. A 9 for 53. 9 for 53. Yo, that's a 393 OPS. The hard hit rate in non-2 strike counts is the lowest in the National League. That's bad. J.J. Bladay.

Struggling against Ritey's this year. What's that about? He was really good for them last year. 149 against right-handed pitching that's tied for the lowest in the AL. So now that it's been recognized, guys, just go and address it, and we'll never see you on this list again. So that's what's going on with the batters who are struggling. Guys, it might have it a little worse.

The IL. Our guy Glass now, man. Some right shoulder inflammation. It feels way too often with this guy. Routing for Tyler is always. always. Gary Sanchez goes on the aisle with some right wrist inflammation. Jordan Westberg, a hammy. Dylan Moore, no. My guy Dylan Moore, right hip inflammation. We hate that. Paul Seawald, right shoulder, probably going to miss a month or so in that Cleveland bullpen.

Chamber Candelario, expected to be a month, if not more. Luke Riley, right oblique. Trev, reach out. Anytime a guy's got an oblique, I need you to reach out to them. Tyler Fitzgerald for the Giants. Rib three weeks. Higgie for the Texas Rangers. Intercostal. You talked about Justin Martinez. Mike Trout!

Bone bruise in the left knee. Hate that. Should be a quick trip. Knock on some wood. And right before the show started, Jazz Chisholm for the Yankees. He will be going on the IL. He's got a rib thing that they called something else. God, what were they calling that?

I got to look that up quick. Jazz chisholm, rib. Know how every year we get a new pitch. Oh, they called it a flank. Oh, he flanked his rib? No. Instead of saying he's calling his rib or oblique a flank. Okay.

So, yeah. Flank means the side, right? Yes, he's got a flank injury. Okay. We're not fully sure what that means, but he goes on the IL. This is where things start to build. Returning from the IL, we told you Luis Arise is back for San Diego. Kevin Ginkle, big time for Arizona.

Don't Varsho. Might hear even more about that. Lucas Gialito for the Boston Red Sox. Hey, big guy. Bobby Sorakco's friend, Trev's friend, very tall. Mention Gonson's back, and you know I love. love some Chase Midroth, but getting on base for those white thoughts. Can we start everyone's weekend?

Brought to you by Trevor Ploof and the Warehouse Games. Go check them out. Yeah, go check those out. Playoffs are here. Teams are having fun. Some of them are. I'm going to go with the You Know Nothing John Snow Award. Right.

If you watch Game of Thrones at all, you understand that John Snow is kind of an idiot. likeable handsome hell of a swordsman but also like makes bad decisions throughout the entire series like this isn't just a one-off i mean you could name several i'll give you know the battle of the bastards one of the best episodes of television ever like hey obviously ramsie's trying to bait you like why would you run to the middle of the battlefield like rickin can just like do zigzags and not get hit i don't know man you don't have to go get them like that was very stupid of you uh we we maybe you know how ended up working out but go watch if you haven't john snow has is just consistently making bad decisions over uh this week i saw a lot of people

online and even some people on the television mm who know nothing and i'm talking about this dalton varshot if you haven't seen it Bobby's pulling it up right now. Check it out. Check it out. Again, coming off the IL, first series, falls, play that again. He's going back. Remind you, he plays in a dome.

It's difficult to see the ball in the dome, goes back, kind of trips over his own feet on the warning track, back hands with the side glance, catches that ball. Some people were calling the catch of the century. I also think those people know nothing. I don't know about that. But the people were saying this is not a good catch because he tripped himself.

What are you talking about? This is exactly what athletes do. To be able to recover from something like that is one of the most athletic things you're going to see on a baseball field. And this is Dalton Varsho. By the way, we love this guy. He can play catcher, but also can be one of the best defensive outfielders in the game. Go check out his stats. He does have a gold glove.

to me, when you have, when you're able to control your body like that and then still have the hand eye to track that ball into your glove, I mean, feeling a ground ball to your backhand side is difficult. Tracking a ball that goes 395 feet and, you know, has an apex of 120 in the air and being able to fall down and then find it again and then backhand it, that's a tremendous. catch people and I don't want to hear anybody else say anything different. Look at that. How can you look at that and say, oh, that's not a good catch? He fell. What? I don't know, man.

I just, I saw that. It got me all riled up and I wanted to give my guy Dalton Varsho some flowers because great series offensively, great series defensively. Maybe that's what the Blue JZ did. It was just a little bit of Dalton Varsho back in the outfit. A couple big swings in this series too. Yeah.

I love the catch. I'd obviously he trips and falls But that happens in sports Like that's We're wearing spikes We're wearing spikes And not so much Jakey But Varsho's wearing spikes

And that's I'd I've never seen anything like them There is another instance of this Where like people like oh my gosh That wasn't very athletic It was Ben Revere Trying to leg out a triple And he ends up

I think he used to have these So oh my God He would wear these Mizuno spikes But I think we're like two big for him because you know when you have shoes that are too big and you have to tighten the laces really tight so the laces end up being crazy like huge floppy bunny ear laces benrere used to do that and i'm like ben just get some shoes that fit dude but he was so fast there was one game who's leg and out triple i think he tripped over his laces or something here

bobby's got it watch our athletic this is it looks silly but watch this oh yes i remember that yes oh that's he fell how was that athletic do you see how he what happened after he fell. Bobby, wait to be Johnny on the spot with that video clip right there. Wow. Ben Revere. Do you remember that, right? Yes. Ben Revere was one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet and just a hilarious skill set, dude.

But this is too good right here. Round and second. Oh, my laces got me. Gets got and just keeps going, man. Yeah, I think a lot of people there would end up like crawling a little bit and stumbling. He looked at him. That looked amazing. He didn't get the love he deserved.

I love me some Ben Revere. I'm glad you love yourself some Ben Revere. Why not? Why not? Fantastic award, Trev. I'm going to go with the fashionably late award. You know, something you know a lot about, Coach Treve. You never want to be the first at the party, right?

I mean, fashionably late, if you do it right, it's kind of the sweet spot, right? Like things are escalating if you're fashionably late. That means you're looking pretty good, feeling pretty good. For baseball, I wouldn't say it works like that. And I think for me, there was two home runs that jumped off the page this week. My guy, Max Muncie, oh, 1.0 Max Muncie. Dodgers Max Muncie.

He's been in it. You mentioned how the Dodgers feel like they haven't played great. baseball or clicked all around or whether it's the bottom half of the lineup, some weird defensive stuff at times, injuries. Max Muncie left the month without a homer. And that's a bad feeling. That's just a bad feeling. You're Max Muncie.

The guy is sneaking up on 200 home runs. OPS, the last two seasons, is highly above 800. You've talked about it, Trev. Looking at the scoreboard and seeing the numbers is something. something that front offices and analytics, they can't quantify because they can't quantify it. He gets his first home run, and it actually technically was in April, so he ends with one home run. Another guy who's had a sneaky, amazing career that's, I don't want to say become an afterthought, but he's got to earn it a little bit.

Zander Bogart's on those San Diego Padres. his Homer streak had hit one of those scary levels where you're starting to count games and it becomes more daunting than it is. He gets one on the 29th of April, his first home run of the season. And yeah, I think whether it's tied to Zach Gallen, who got my standout,

a month of baseball can be tough the first month of the season. Who knows if there's injuries or just bad breaks or whatever it is? Getting a zero off the scoreboard, always helps. You know, Muncie, we've seen him get hot, let's see if his hot street comes. Bogarts, it's not a bad first month, really besides that zero in the Homercom.

He's getting on base at a 331 clip. I think he still expects more of himself. I think San Diego fans still expect more of himself. This guy with 40 career war, by the way. And Bogart's is 32. So, like, you know, we're talking about Javi Baez's, resurgence. Like, for any of these guys, it could be one swing thing.

It could be, it could be nothing. Like baseball can just start happening their way again. Maybe it's confidence. So for everyone who's a little fashionably late at the party, you know, let's come party. Come join us. Let's do it. No, I mean, look, to be what these teams want to be,

Padres and Dodgers, both those guys have to perform. And we talk about the Dodgers have one of the best rosters ever assembled. That includes Max Muncie hitting down in the seven hole, like hitting the way he's supposed to hit. He did have a rough April. And look, it is, it's, it can, doesn't have to be a homer that gets you going.

It can be anything. You know, you might sting a ball to the second baseman, line out and feel something and say, okay, I got it now. But there is a saying in baseball, which I do feel like holds true. Homer's coming bunches. Mm.

So if I was a betting man, I might sprinkle a little bit on those two guys over the next week or so to get it going. I bet the odds will be there. And, yeah, sometimes you just need to remember how it feels, Jake. I know that you know that. Sometimes you forget how it feels. You just remind yourself every once in a while. I'd love for those guys to get it going.

That'd be great. It's, you know, baseball, we try not to be reactionary, but also our guy, Joe's McFly calls them 162 one-game seasons that, When that month starts happening, you start looking at who's hot in the minor leagues or you start, you know, we had some trade options this episode. I think we put Newt Barr and Nate Nathaniel Lowe on two new teams. All of that could change overnight. If your guy had a rough month, maybe the great one's coming. That's the beauty of baseball.

All right, everyone. Enjoy your weekend. Watch some baseball. I think it's going to be rainy in the Northeast. It might be a great weekend to watch some baseball. baseball. Watch a little Kentucky Derby and then head back over to baseball. Oh yeah. I forgot the derby's going. Okay. Shout out Jason Worth. Shout out Jason Worth. I just watched the clip. I forget who posted it. I should give them credit,

but Jason Worth was talking about his viral like Men's League home run he hit that looked like he's literally into the light. It's a pretty good story. That was a pretty good. He, that was awesome. I think they started chirping him and then he, Big League