Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Massive Comebacks Lead to Chaos Throughout MLB!

Episode Date: April 17, 2026

https://fanaticsmarkets.onelink.me/3MFw?af_xp=email&pid=jomboy&af_dp=fanmarkets%3A%2F%2Fhomepage&af_channel=partnerships&af_click_lookback=7d Visit http://sofi.com/Jomboy to start your crypto journey. Go to http://shadyrays.com  and use code TALKIN50 for 50% off 2+ pairs of polarized sunglasses. Save on essentials. Save the everyday with Amazon. URL: https://www.amazon.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   Talkin’ Jake is joined by Jolly Olive to talk about all the chaos that happened around baseball this week including, the Mets horrendous losing streak, the Padres continuing to walk it off, the Twins putting up big numbers vs Crochet and more!   0:00 Intro 2:30 NL Burn 7:30 NL Standings 8:35 Mets / Dodgers 15:55 Blue Jays / Brewers 18:20 Cubs / Phillies 22:40 Giants / Reds 27:30 Marlins / Braves 31:00 Rockies / Astros 32:00 AL Burn 37:30 Mariners / Padres 45:44 Royals / Tigers 52:30 Diamondbacks / Orioles 56:50 Twins / Red SOx 59:10 Rays / White Sox 1:03:40 Yankees / Angels 1:04:00 Rangers / A’s 1:07:15 Standout Performances 1:13:20 En Fuego 1:16:00 Batters who are struggling 1:18:00 Injured List Update 1:20:15 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 Talking Baseball. We have three teams on a heater. Three W-6s, one team with an L-8. We'll find out who those teams are, and we'll talk about your team, too. Let's talk about. Landon Root. You're on our Outerles.

It's over. Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball, presented by Fanatics Markets. We're fans trade on sports. Fanatics markets available now on the App Store. I am Jake Storelli. That is... Jack Oliver, aka operates online with the moniker Jolly Olive.

Rob is here. Dahl and Trev missing, if you see them, return to sender. Trev actually had a pretty cool opportunity. I'll decide if he gets to decide that on Monday. For now, we're yucking ball today with, I think, what people are calling the ball-nower crew at John Boy Media. Jolly Olive, how are you? I'm good.

There's a lot of good baseball going around, some not so good baseball going around. It's been a while since I've done one of these recap eps with you. It's nice doing it with you, Jake. There's no pressure, you know, with like the whole burning everything. I carry a lot. I have the standings pulled up already. It's good.

In case you were wondering if I had that going, I do. You're already a step ahead of he who shall not be named. And you know what? I like doing the show because it's a nice refresher for me for anything that I might miss. Because, you know, there's 30 baseball teams and they all play like every. day. I'm excited. There's a lot. And Jess, if you're new to the show, hey, what's up? Subscribe. Yeah, for these recap episodes, especially as we get deeper into the season, to talk about

every team, quick math, if we talked about every team for two minutes, I guess that would be an hour. That feels pretty attainable. Really good math by you. But some topics we want to talk about for like five minutes because they're good topics. So your team might not get the full cheese this episode, especially four games splits. My Yankees hand up. Snap snaps to the halos. They mash. I've been watching them like every night.

That's weird. They're always doing something entertaining. It's true. Every game. Ever since the fight, it's been, the angels have been electricians. Jolly, the good news for you is. There's none. It's Friday.

Oh. Which means we start out with your National League. Great. Great. Let's just rip off the bandit. In the National League. Look at it. Your New York Mets. Oh, nice. They ran into the wrong team at the wrong time.

Slash, this is the wrong team for everyone. The Los Angeles Dodgers sweep the New York Mets. It started off with Justin Robleski. Eight innings, zero earned runs, two strikeouts. We'll let Jolly talk about that. McLean versus Yamamoto is fun. Really good. until the end of the game for Mets fans.

Kyle Tucker, he's on their team now. And then they get the sweep done on Otani Day. Hison Kim, shout out Trev. And Dalton Rushing, the backup catcher, who's maybe your NL starter at catcher right now. We will talk about that series. Another series we'll yuck a little bit about because this was last year's two most fun teams,

IMO, linked up Milwaukee. hosted the Toronto Blue Jays, and game one lived up to the billing. Extra innings, both teams closers blowing the game. We got small ball, we got big ball. The Blue Jays end up winning in 10 innings. Miles Straw. How do you like that? The final two games of the series, the crew wins 2 to 1,

and that's obvious. They end a six-game losing streak in that middle game. And yeah, we've got Buntz. We've got Joey Ortiz with the sackbunt to win. This series had a little bit of everything that those two teams bring to the table. Toronto, slow start. Phillies hosted the Cubbies, and they rolled them in the first game, 13 to 7. Chris Sanchez, six strong innings, and Kyle Schwerber, two home runs.

Pretty good formula. But the Cubbies come back, and they put up double digits in the next two days. days. Carson Kelly with the big three-run Homer as part of a 10-run surge. Nico Horner is all over the series and so is Shoda Imanaga. Remember? I do.

Cubbies. They get a nice series win. Your NL. Central leading Cincinnati Reds took two out of three. And if you're looking for another team that brings the drama every game, the San Francisco Giants find a way. They win the final game of the series because they shut

them out. Landon Rup, as mentioned. along with some Maddie Chapman. But before that, it was all Reds. And Sal Stewart, man, talk about being the truth. Two homers in that second game. Ellie and Gino both do the same thing. Reds are getting some pitching outputs. They're looking strong to start the season.

Nationals and Pirates split two. Every other game. Pirates, Nats, Pirates, Nats, including a dramatic final game where you had some ugly Pittsburgh defensive highlight. which was me and Jolly's concern with the team. What we should have been less concerned about, Brandon Lau is going nuts.

Marcel O'Zuna gets his first homer. Clear the deck, raise the cone. Paul Skeens, historically good, but they end up splitting four with the Nationals. Braves take two out of three from the Marlins. Marlins won the first game to end a three-game losing streak. They put up 16 hits and 10 runs. But the Braves, there's a little bit of the sauce back in.

the recipe. Dom Smith is a part of that, and so has been Bryce Elder. His ERA starts with a zero this year. Albies, Riley, and Olson, that's who the Braves need to be good. And they did in that final game. The guard

dogs, nobody does that for it. Doesn't exist. Cardinals, take me to church. Nathan shows up a lot in the box score for these guys, especially in the final two games, that they win. including that middle game and extras.

JJ Weatherhole, multi-homer game. How do you like that? They take two out of three from the Guardians. And your final nationally game, Houston gets back to some winning ways. They survived that first game. Outside of Hunter Goodman's two homers, got scary late.

But Danielle DeLo Santos is back. You know that if you listen to the last IEL. They win that middle game a little ergeti for you. But the rocks take the final game the series. Chase Dallender, get familiar. That is what happened in the National League. It just never gets old. It just never gets old. Like T-shirt. Jolly, do you have the Sannings? You know, believe it or not, I do. Nice.

Hey, what were you, National League, right? That's what you're reading? Yeah, right. Okay. In your NL East, the Braves, inevitable. They took one year off. They generated a Mike Piazza and now they're back. They're 12 and 7. Everyone else in the NL East below 500, a couple nine and tens from your marlins and nationals. The Philly's sneaky eight and ten, but that's covered up by my met, stinking it up at seven and twelve. In the central,

the central is the beast division. We always knew it. 11 and 8 tied atop your Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates. Cincinnati Reds, negative 13 run differential, 11 and 8. Terry Francona,

Cardinals are 10 and 8, Brewers are 10 and 8, and the Cubs last place at 9.9. That is tough. Out west, the two best teams in ball. The Dodgers are 14. and four. I don't know why I'm surprised, but I am,

because that's just so many wins in your first 18 games. Padres, 13 and 6, trailing only just a game and a half behind. Dimeback's sneaky 11 and 8, nice road trip for them, and then the Giants and Rockies, bringing up the rear at 7 and 12, and those are NL standings. Incredible. Makes me look less of Trevor, how great you did that.

Come on. Don't say that. Not behind his back. Jolly, let's rip the Band-Aid. Oh. The New York. York Mets. Great, great time for you to join the program. I disagree. It is an L8. The offense has been anemic. Good word. Thank you. Low iron levels. Yeah. So, Jolly, what's going on, Poppo?

Yeah, man. It's not good. Spoiler alert. I'll start with this. I think the biggest theme with these Mets and the thing that I was afraid of the most of what could go wrong with this new team and this new roster is whether or not they could flush what happened last year. And early on, it does not appear that they have flushed September of last year. They have two separate seven game losing streaks in their last two months of play, including September of last year. Even with this entirely new roster, you know, half of the 26 men are guys that weren't here last year practically. The stink is, still kind of there. And you can blame the manager, Carlos Mendoza, who's, I think, already on an early hot seat. You can blame the face of the team, Francisco Lendor, who always has the slow

start offensively, but now we're seeing uncharacteristic mental errors. What's that about, Charlie? That is, that's worrisome. It's not good. And it doesn't help when the other star of the team Juan Soto isn't there to help take some of that attention away. I mean, there are, believe it or not, some positive things to draw from this team. Like you said, said, Noel McLean, looks unbelievable. The second coming of Jacob de Grom, no run support, but dealing every time. Clay Holmes has looked really nice. The pitching's there on the starting side.

The offense really is not. And it is the lack of discipline that I think is pretty scary because for this offense to be the offense they can be, it's making pitchers work. It's making pitchers earn every out. It's passing the baton. It's chipping away. It's what we saw in the very first inning of their season. against Paul Skeens. They did it in that very first inning. They showed what the offense

looks like when they're at their best. In L.A., they showed exactly why the offense is not working right now, especially with the ninth inning I want to say in game two. Vescia comes in for the save, not Edwin Diaz. The Mets draw seven whiffs in one inning. He strikes out the side. I think he only threw two pitches in the zone because they were just flailing with their backs against the wall. It was very symbolic of what this season has been like so far. for the Mets. Well, one, nice Rob.

One half serious silly thing, you were up against it with Vesia, who he had his whole, that cut scene that we just did on YouTube. It's the whole hospital department that was supporting him and his wife. I mean, it's awesome. I just came in my favorite team's expense. It's an incredible moment.

It's a really cool thing. That was the half serious thing. The thing that I really wish there's a better way to quantify, and you can quantify anything. Teams over the course of 162 play good baseball and bad baseball. Little science from Uncle Jake right there. Science and math on the show. When I saw the Mets are in the bad place.

There's a stat on this page. Mets that have longest ofer streaks this season. Benj, Vento, Simeon, Beatty, all 17 plus. Great. Not what you want. No, I just, yeah, I agree. Every baseball team will play bad at some point this year. that part of my analytical formula would be

when, who are you playing and when? Because my God, just asked the Houston Astros, it was a really good time for them to see the Colorado Rockies pop up on the calendar. I don't know what it means the rest of the way. For the Metropolitan's to see the Dodgers pop up on the calendar, nightmare. Yeah. Nightmare. That I wish there was a better way to quantify almost like strength of schedule

when your team is strong? Yeah, like... That won't work, but this was horrible timing. Yes, I mean, I'm not excusing their play because their play has been terrible, but them going on another West Coast trip two weeks into the season is kind of tough, especially with no off day after the homestand.

The homestand where they lost two series to the athletics and debacks teams, they should be beating if they wanted win the division this year. So it's not an excuse, but like it hasn't been a very forgiving schedule travel-wise. They come home later on. They get the buzz sawed twins, the upstart rocks,

and the offensive powerhouse nationals, which when you look at the beginning of the season, you say, ooh, I like that. Now it's like, I don't know, momentum's a real thing. These teams are playing good ball. But I think the Mets just need to go out there and prove it.

They need to start hitting. They need to find an offensive identity because they just haven't done that yet at all. That's like, save the season. Stretch. A little bit. And they can. You're playing these teams at the wrong time.

They can. On the other side, Shohei Otani's scoreless streak ends at 32.2 innings. He also hits. Nice. A little reminder for the people. That's pretty impressive. Since the earn run became an official stat.

You know, those Dalton stats, I just like, 1913. Otani and Babe Ruth, the only major leaguers, with a 30 game plus on base streak and a 30 inning plus. streak without allowing an earn run. So they've been compared. Dahl and rushing, I know I already mentioned it. The backup catcher with five home runs.

Backup catcher, top 100 prospect is just mawling baseballs and supposedly has leaned into becoming the backup catcher. And he's just like, yeah, no, this is great. It seems like a sweet gig. It seems when you do it that way, sure does. Andy Pahas continues to be one of the best players. in baseball this season. Andy Pahas was very good last year, too, and I feel like we all forgot that.

Because we saw the postseason, which is just very unfair. No, the line I said, Jolly, is that when we talk about the Dodgers, you don't even, if Andy Pahas was on a lot of other teams, we'd be like, hey, what if he takes the leap this year? With the Dodgers, you're like, well, Andy Pius. Like, if Andy Pazas is a red, he's like a top three most important player on the team. Go easy on the NL Central leading Cincinnati Reds. Sal Stewart. Eli.

I like South Stewart. Todd Frazier, Sean Casey. That dude BP Red Machine Drew Stubbs Joe Morgan Let's just keep going Let's just do this for an hour

Um Dodgers Yeah All the numbers are good 9 and 0 against the NL this year That's impressive Hey last Mets Statt

No thanks Since June 13th last year The Mets are 45 and 67 I feel like you didn't need to include that I think I did We're here to inform people people. Yeah, dude, I don't know.

It's got to change quickly. There is, there's something going on in that clubhouse still. And I, yes. It's hard to quantify, like you said. There's two guys that has been clearly noted. Don't know what you're talking. As there's something going on. Check out Shea Station.

Thanks. With Jerry Blevins and Jolly Allo for more Mets. Free ad. We'll be talking about it because we have no choice. Dodgers' best record in baseball. Good team. Still going. Follow Katie Wu.

More updates. Six-man rotation inbound. Sure. Great. Do whatever you want. Today's episode is sponsored by Shady Ray. Shady rays are built for real sports fans. No more squinting through the sun to track a fly ball

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Talking 50, Shadyrays.com. Blue Jays Brewers. As I told you that the first game of this series was electric. I flipped it on, and I was very delighted I did with some late-night baseball. Toronto, erasing a four-to-two deficit, scoring seven runs throughout the final part of the game. The Brewers come back. I see Jake Bowers and Gary Sanchez over it. Psychedelic flashback.

And then these final two games is, I guess, a little more what you'd expect. some high-end pitching from CIS. Abner Uribe coming in and getting a save because McGill has been kind of in the bad place lately. And yeah, man, we've got blown leads. We've got there's buntz. We've got weather and what's supposed to be a dome stadium. I saw Brewers fans really displeased with that.

What do you have jolly bags? Big series went for the Brewers after losing Yelich, after the really nice start that he got off to. I thought it was interesting. Trevor McGill kind of firing himself. up drawing at Laddie a little bit. That was an interesting clip. Tough start for him.

But Brewers, they kind of take a page. I have the Nats book a little bit using that bunt ball to get a little bit of a win there at the end. I feel for McGill, I still think he's incredibly talented. I mean, the brewers have so many options back there. And yeah,

this is the clip that it's like, oh, okay. It's always something when they're walking away and drawing a little bit of like, all right. But still, I think anything to get him right, the brewers definitely need. And,

you know, don't they just win two very brusy games? Like that's, we're talking about offensive identity. Two wins in the series that reek of their offensive identity. And when we talk about their identity, Chad Patrick, 6.2, one-earned run. Brandon Sprote, 6.2, one-earned run. It's a Mets show.

I won't add any commentary to that. Happy for Brandon Sprote, good player. Bryce to rank 16 game on base streak. Aaron Ashby with five wins. on the young season. What do you want me to do with that? What do you want me to do with that? Cy Young.

Patrick Corbyn twirling it for Toronto. Just a reminder, their pitching staff has kind of been through hell. We'll do some team stuff throughout if there's anyone you're actually worried about.

But maybe we'll save Toronto for the American. Maybe. Maybe. Cubs, Phillies, two of the favorites in the National League this year, not named the Dodgers. Will you.

Philly's a job. You mentioned this before the show. They're getting covered up by the Metropolitan's a little bit because they haven't gone out of the gate too hot. And this series encompasses that a little bit. The Cubbies roll on. They're starting to rack up some series wins. I have some Nico Horner stuff later

because if you're not talking about them, you're missing the story. It's true. I mean, with the fills, the points of concern are, they're not doing the things that are sort of like fixed expectations, with them, which are win games at home and pitch. Right now, their pitching has really been struggling.

They allowed 28 runs in the series against the Cubs, which like the Cubs are a good lineup, but like when Jesus Lazzardo gets tagged again, start to get a little bit worried. They've lost three home series already, which feels very uncharacteristic for what the bank is at this point. The offense, they're a hot and cold offense. They kind of have been for a while,

but when they get hot, they're like the best offense in baseball. the constants are Chorber's always going to be hitting home runs and they got to just kind of wait out this Bryce slump Boom got benched in this series for Emmanuel Sosa which feels like a thing that's been happening for a long time like they just go back and forth with those two

it's a weird start for the Phil's but honestly like I think that them being 8 and 10 at this point they've played some good teams already that I think they'll be able to weather this storm finds just they got to find ways to win at home and get better pitching performances out of their rotation they're really really

benefiting from a nice start from Andrew Painter, which was a question mark going into the year, because some of the guys that they rely on, like Lazzardo, just haven't really been there so far. Man, tough week for them coming up, Atlanta, and then at the same Chicago Cubby. So we'll see what that feels like. And yeah, right now, nothing their team is doing is good. Analytics. Bad formula. The offense is bottom 10.

The starting pitching is bottom 5. The bullpen is bottom 10. the defense is bottom 10. Yeah, they are. Trey Turner starting to leave the yard a couple times. Harper's eating up a little bit too. Something there. And yeah, Cubby's Shoda.

Shoda. It's an amazing start. Shoda. It reminds me how kind of weird his contract stuff was, and I hated that. Again, the whole thing for me was, if you're willing to bring back Shota for this year, you essentially should be able to want to bring him back for next year because if he pitches anything decent this year, it would be worth it.

That's none of my business. I mean, Cubs fans should be very happy because they lost Kate Horton. Shoda went from like the odd man out in last year's playoffs to he's like the ace of this team now. And they're going to need him. Like Shoda and April is always kind of been really good. Dude, he's such a dog. I get so frustrated. I believe he heard his hamstring last year and then he didn't pitch as well.

And sometimes we're like, I don't know. Did the league figure him out? I don't think anyone's figured this dude out. It's just fun to watch, like a good finesse picture. It feels like a good hang. Yeah. Oh, okay. And that should matter.

Is he all story alley for you, or? There's a chance. I don't know if he matches. Palencia and Biasteros. I don't know if you know this one. Biasteros listed 5-8. Yeah. He is fun.

He looks. He's about to go off, too. I think he's going to have a really good year. That's huge news, Cubs fans. Again, I have a little more cubbies coming later. As we chew through this, Giants Reds, I've said a little bit of my piece. The Reds winning baseball. You mentioned the negative run differential, so it hasn't necessarily been...

Francona ball, baby. A domination, except when it is Sal Stewart. South Stewart's leading in a lot of important offensive categories. We got a nice Brady Singer bounce back outing. And then, yeah, on that final day, you talk about pitchers getting a little hot. Landon Rupin's Spencer Steer. Spencer Steer has a big game earlier in the series.

He gets plunked. And then Eric Miller comes in for the save, the hefty lefty. And he barks itself. So the giants bringing a form of entertainment to the table. Again, it hasn't been winning baseball. No, it's just been like an angry year for them. Like going back to the Chapman stuff and now this. I don't know.

The energy is very confusing. But winning fixes everything. So hopefully they can get off the Schneide and kind of keep that energy up. And that'll translate to them being really fun to watch. Red's just kind of winning series one after the other and like playing good ball. Like the hit it, like I'm going up and down this lineup. I'm looking at it right now. They have five players in their starting nine worth negative war.

And they're 11 and 8. Like Key Brian Hayes is three for 47 this year. Yeah. Red's ball, baby. They just keep finding ways to win. It's cool. Yeah, I mean, I think they needed, well, what South Stewart's doing. That'll help any time.

That changes things. And even, even Gino, man, I know he's got three homers. I know the stats aren't super flashy, but like, that's what he's the threat to do in that lineup. Yeah, they also, I think four and O and one run games, I think there's some like six and O and two run, something like that. So that's changing the calculus a little bit. but sometimes you do get that over a season. And, you know, the Reds, how this franchise has turned into one of the most talented young pitching crops is kind of crazy.

And hey, Spencer Steer, go nuts king and start some fights. Let's get riled up. Dahl had a crazy Sal Stewart's stat that I got to read. Do it. Since debuting on September 1st last year, 12 home runs and 36 games. It ranks second in Reds history trailing only our end. Stitties Aquino. Do you remember that?

Sure do. That was nuts. Wild. That was nuts. Go South Stewart. Reds 8 in O in games decided by two runs or fewer. And Jolly, I just, you know, you and I have a nerdy baseball side. I reference out of the park baseball.

Seeing Rhett louder and Chase Burns and back-to-back starts also dominate. Yeah. They also got like Chase Petty waiting in the wings. Like, they got depth. Mm. Go Reds. Nats and Pirates split four, like I said, coming into the episode. If your team splits four, you're not going to get a ton of love for me.

Paul Skeins constantly deserves love. I think he's the fastest pitcher to strike out 400 batters. So that's just another one. 400 batters. I don't know. That's a little not round. Hey, where we were wrong about the pirates, their offense has been very impressive.

and Marcel the bear might have just shook it off as he hits his first home run. Brandon Lau has been one of the best players in baseball along with O'Neill Cruz. So we didn't have that. Again, with a little more defense, we're probably talking about the pirates dominating this series and being in solo first. They were not. And I need to probably give their bullpen a little more credit from where I was to start the year. They've been a very strong unit, especially kind of the main guys at the end.

Carmen. Majinsky. Very good. I found it, Pirates fans. I'm sorry. It's a hard name. I'm sorry. O'Neill Cruz, after that kind of nightmare first series of the year at City Field, has been great.

Crazy. 12-game hitting streak, ranks top 10 and M-L-B for hits, home runs, RBI's batting average. That's what they need. And stolen bases. Yeah, like. First. He's kind of doing everything and like playing MVP baseball, which is something to keep an eye on. And like, listen, man, if you're going to do the 2020-Filly's formula of fuck defense, let's mash, they're doing it.

They're mashing. Like Brandon Lough, 174 O'PS plus. O'Neill Cruz, 165, O'Hern 165. Brian Reynolds, 138. Like, that's all you need, man. Just rake, get your platoon splits going, and they can pitch their butts off too. It's been fun to watch.

When it comes to the Nationals, what can you tell me about Orlando Rbalto? Did you make that up or no? Did not. He's in the back of that bullpen. I'm not familiar with his game. And I want to be. He got the save on Thursday.

I think you made it up. That's crazy. Hey, you mentioned mash Mash potatoes. Your Nationals First and runs scored in this baseball season. 29th in starting pitching ERA,

30th and bullpen ERA. So we see what we need to address. James Wood has been crushing it. CJ Abrams. Still here, people, and 25 years old. The CJ Abrams story, remember when it hit a scary part for a little bit? I was like, wait, what is going on with C.J. Abrams and the Nationals?

I'm glad we're kind of past that. He's balling out. Nats play a fun brand of baseball. Your beat Bebus and Nassim Nunez. Where were you? Where were you? I was here. Marlins, Bravo.

Bravo's take two out of three. Jolly, I think you're talking a little more Braves later on. I would like to note, again, what Bryce Elder is doing. Dominant this Braves team that they could be. be playing the injury card pretty significantly if they wanted to. Sneakily getting off to a very nice start in the NL East while those other big boys are struggling, Joliver. They're taking advantage of a couple other teams slow starts, and you're exactly right.

They could be playing that injury play card, and instead, they're just pitching their butts off with their B rotation. Like, they have a whole A rotation on the IL, and they're still pitching. Like, they got 14 innings of quality outings with Martin Perez, who's now, not even on the team anymore. What's that? It's just crazy. It's just crazy.

And I do want to shout out, Reisel Iglesias, who is 7 and 2 3rds innings, no walks, 10 strikeouts on the year. He is the closer of the team. I thought Robert Swars would be, but Iglesias has been the guy there for a while.

He has 100 saves since joining the Braves at the 2022 trade deadline. It's him. It's Kimbril, Smoltz, and Mark Wollers as the only Abilana Braves to reach that mark in franchise history.

And Jake, Do you remember who he was traded for? Mark Wollers? No, I don't. Reithel to the Braves. Solair? Jesse Chavez. Because it's always Jesse Chavez.

Always and forever. Just crazy. Good for them. When Reisel's right, still one of my favorite pitch mixes. I can't guess along with him at all. Braves, looks like no off days coming up. Phillies, Nats, Phillies. So let's see if it continues.

As you mentioned. And Knowha mentioned the Phillies are doing nothing good. The Braves doing everything. Right. Top three offense. Top one rotation. Top five bullpen. Top five defense.

Seems like a good formula. And yeah, man, it's a... The guys you know on that team plus Drake Baldwin, who we got familiar with last year, Olson Riley, Albiz, Akunia starting to go. And Dom Smith could be more on him, because it's just a Dom Smith program. Cardinals. guards, two of the least sexy teams coming into the season. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. Oh, blow. Where for out thy Rokio. Cardinals, hey, Cardinals in what felt like a brash decision, but I trusted my gut. They're over of 69 and a half coming into the season. I locked in. They're going to shadow it. And this is kind of why, because they tapped on Weatherhole, and he has a multi-homer game

after not homering since opening day. Dustin May nice outing. I don't know. Again, I don't know what it means for the Cardinals. We know that the Guardians are just going to stay in the mix this season. They played a game last night that hasn't happened yet. But if you want to look at Guardian surviving baseball, that's exactly what it was last night.

That I'm kind of clear here. I'm pretty clear too. Shout out Riley O'Brien and Jojo Romero at the Cardinals' back end. 20 and two-thirds innings nowhere in runs. that'll help you win. And pitching is kind of the question for them and also Jordan Walker. Yeah, probably at this point.

Whoa. Maybe. If the season ended today, him or C.J. Abrams. Cardinals are playing defense. Everything else not fantastic. Guards, I don't know, we'll see you in the ALCS. Rockies, Houston. Two of the worst teams in baseball this year.

Did you know? Go easy. On my rocks. Houston wins the first two games. They get a pitching performance, which that matters, and there may be more on that later. Yordon still playing out of his dome. Christian Walker?

Yeah. That would be something significant this season. I'm kind of... I'm good. You're good on that? Yeah, a good series went for the Astros. Hopefully they can keep right in the ship. Got a little bit more on an Astro later, so I'll save that.

And, yeah, I think I'm good as well. Hunter Goodman, top blank. in this league? Six. And when do you get to Edgar Carrow? 26. Maybe. Maybe.

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They split four with the Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim, California. Or would they have been swept if Jordan Romano was not in this series? Yanks rally late against Jordan and Ron. One of the most fun games of the season. Trout two homers, Judge two homers, Trent Grisham, two homers off the bench. A crazy one in the boogie down Bronx. Halos had three homers in their first four batters in game two.

That dictated that one. Yanks come back against Caballero. Or excuse me, Caballero hits the game-winning Tour and double off of Romano. Names that ended in O. How do you like that? Angels blow it open in that final game. Oswald Parraza, everywhere you go. Trout was insane this series.

They split four. San Diego, Merrill Madness. So it's just going to be every time. Padres, get the sweep. They have an argument for being the hottest team in baseball. Sweeping the Eddie Vedder Cup, dominant through it. You got late dramatics. You've got Walker Bueller with five scoreless innings.

My God, you don't see that a lot. Merrill with the walkoff in game two. Just everything's clicking for them. Padres, second best record in baseball. Get ready for the standings. The Detroit Tigers, the Motor City Kitty sweep the Kansas City Royals. The Tigers, about a week ago, team and fans weren't very happy. They're feeling better now because they are on a win streak.

And the Royals, man, if you're looking for a team that's got a little bit of a, I don't want to say curse, but God, it feels like things are going unlucky as they lose three one-run games. First two were two to one. Last one was 10 to 9. They got a ball off the bag. They got the lead. It was a big rally. I was about to text Vinnie P.

And then I saw what happened. The Tigers came back in that one to Riley Green and McGonagall. The professor, people are calling him. Diamondbacks. How about an East Coast trip for the snakes? They win the rubber match in all three East Coast Series for a little six and three. Hey, how are you? This one against the Baltimore Birds.

The Orioles rallied back in that first game. Snakes flashbacks, down 7-1. Jeremiah Jackson, he is everywhere. Peter Alonzo. Armor bad. Huh? But Arizona wins the next two games. Ildamaro Vargas, of course.

Of course. Why wouldn't he? Along Adrian Del Castillo. The snakes, man. Getting it done on a nice East Coast trip. How could we not talk about the Minnesota Twins? Well, Trev isn't here. But they take two out of three from the Red Sox,

including knocking Garrett Roche, like the chocolate. Clean it up, man. Crochet, like the knitting. They knock him around. What's that, 10 earned? my God, and then Mick is able to get it done in that second game with a little Buck Daddy, honk the horn, two homers, Trevor Story and the boys rally behind Connolly Early in that final one

as the Red Sox salvaged this set. Rangers, A's, four games, split. So you get some highlights, Jake, how's your burger? Jeffrey Springs, Brandon Nimmo, Jolly. Stop? Stop. Stop. Denzel Clark makes robbing home runs look easy, which makes him one of my favorite players in baseball. Kurtz, comma, Nick, in that final game,

but it's not enough as the Rangers win to split four. And the other team, on a heater, in first, is your Tampa Bay race. If you like bunts, this team is bunting so much. And if you like power, Junior Commonero, in that final game. You want to see a hitter get his hands inside a baseball. He rocks it. Midnight Johnny DeLuca's pumping balls.

Everson Pereira. Excuse me? Baking powder. McClanahan back. Five innings tour and runs. Matt's former. It's a Mets show. That was a stretch.

White Sox get swept. Them and the Rockies turning back into the best medicine again. This is what happened in the American League. Former Mets and former Yankees everywhere. A lot of that. What's that about it? Our fingerprints are everywhere. Your standings in the American League.

I'll still give them to you, even though I'm a little mad at you. Out east, the Tampa Bay Rays number one. Jake had a feeling in the preseason. I was a little bit more bearish, and here they are 11 and 7. Yankees 10 and 9. Lucky to squeak out a series split there. Everyone else under 500. Orioles 9 and 10.

They've been battling some weird games. Blue Jays and Red Sox, 7 and 11. No slurpy. In the Central, twins, 11 and 8 still on top, but here come your guard dogs. Parker Messick didn't happen last night. Didn't exist yet. 11 and 9 in second place. Tigers, nice little heater for them at 10 and 9, and then the bad place downstairs.

7 and 12, the Kansas City Royals. And the White Sox, 6 and 13, some things stay the same. Out West, a lot of competition out west, not from the teams you might expect. the Rangers and athletics tied at top 10 and 9 they just split a series the angels 10 and 10 the most electric team in baseball I maintain that and the Mariners and astros hanging out in the basement 8 and 12 we'll see how long that lasts I expect that to flip around a little bit and those are your standings in the American League thank you jack Oliver can you stop doxing me right now okay I cannot thank you let's do Padres because it wouldn't be an American League without them

They are winners of eight straight. They had an undefeated homestand. These are all words that everyone listening wishes they can say about their favorite team. And not a lot of teams have been able to say that so far. Although they're not making any ground on the Dodgers, which is just ridiculous. But everything is happening for them. Jackson Merrill is back. He was not as impactful via injury.

performance as they expected last year. Remember all the Freddie Freeman but a center fielder stuff they were doing? Ramon Laureano, who I was banging the table at the trade deadline that a team would be happy. He couldn't name a team that he would fit better on than San Diego and that is coming to fruition. And we've got walkoffs and we've got the most dominant relief pitcher of all time that it's really all come together for the Padres. They are, they're fun again. Yeah, they're such a chaotic roster right now. I mean, we just sewed the Luis Camposano single right there. That was an unexpected performance for them so far this year because Freddie Furmeen hasn't been great.

Campesano stepped up. I think in his post-game quote, he said, I'm just not giving an F anymore. I already used my 1F words. I can't use it. It's PG-13 show, guys. Come on. He's been great for them. They've overcome a kind of a slow star from Tatis.

Everyone else in the lineup is really contributing. Sneaky Zander Bogart's like really nice start to the year. They need that. Oh. They need him to kind of perform to that contract. The pitching is obviously going to be a question. They just lost Nick Povetta. They don't really know for how long.

It didn't look good and feel it was down to, I think, 92 before he got pulled. King Vasquez, even Bueller giving them some nice starts, can they find things beyond that? But honestly, if they have this rally gene in them where they're doing all these come from behind wins and stringing together rallies like this, they have a nice cohesive lineup where they're getting contributions from everybody. and that they're just having fun again, man. I think I was talking with Ryan about it yesterday, and they won 90 games last year, and they were a good team last year,

but they weren't getting these memorable wins from their offense. They were pitching really well, but they weren't getting these super come-from-behind rallies, and he said something akin to, I already have like four best games of the year where last year I didn't really have any, and that's, I think, why this team feels more like the 2024 team, less so than the 2025.

two. That matters. Again, how do you fully measure it? I don't know, but it does. And everyone's kind of contributing. I mean, of their starters, for me, not hitting so far. Croninworth also not hitting so far. After that, it's Tatis,

who, you know, water usually finds its level. Pretty much everyone else contributing, including Tai France, Camposano, Andouhar, Castiano, A couple hard hit balls this series. He's got two home runs robbed so far. So, I mean, that changes your whole first couple weeks.

I think I'll turn around. And on the other side, Jollybags, and I guess I'll open this up a little more. The Mariners, one of the favorites in the American League this year, one of the favorites in baseball. They're on the opposite side of this sweep. They haven't been able to really get going yet. Cal, his stats are no-bueno. I guess, do you have any mariners?

worry, and maybe let's take this as our time, that if there was a big team not named the Mets, you were worried about who would it be? Oh, I don't think it's the Mariners, but I like that prompt. The weird thing for them is like, it's the inverse of what we heard a couple years ago, like they can't hit at home,

or they can only hit on the road. Well, now it's the opposite. 531 OPS on the road, 748 at home. They've lost eight straight road games, so no place like home for Seattle. But to answer your question, a good team that is struggling

that we are worried, about. Is that correct? Yeah. I think my pick is still the Red Sox. It was kind of from the outset. I think them getting off to a hot star versus cold start determines a lot of things. I'm worried about how young that locker room is and they haven't really had a, you know, terribly hard schedule so far. They've just been losing to teams that we think they should probably be beating. They haven't really played anyone in their division that much yet. I'm pretty worried about that locker room, the crochet stuff. I don't know if it was tipping or if there's something going on there, but that's worrisome as well. They're only getting wins when they

pitch, and they just haven't been pitching that well so far. So I'm a little worried about our 7 and 11 Red Sox. Might be wrong in the long run, but that would be my pick. Yeah, I mean, I think at this point, I think the, yeah, Mariners, I mean, this is where baseball, so they got off to a slow start last year. They're two and a half games back in the division. Like, in a week, we could be like, well, Mariners, no worries here. I guess for me, the Giants feel like an illegal spot right now. I wanted to buy in just because I wanted the Vitello stuff to be fun, and we're not there yet.

Yeah, I guess my eyes jump to. It's Houston, who obviously has been pitching so poorly that you could, if you wanted to spin zone that into like, hey, get any pitching and we might be okay. I don't think I can do that. yet. And then in the ALEs, I go Toronto over Boston. Okay.

The run differential is pretty ugly. And again, this isn't, this isn't a measurement, but it is a measurement. Toronto had a little bit of magic last year. And I don't, that's not me knocking the Blue Jays. It's just, it is what it is. Look at the, I know I reference it, but 2023 with the Rangers and the snakes, both those teams had a little bit of, a little bit of mad. You just talked about it with the Padres.

Yeah. It's winning enough games and then just getting hot at the right time. And, like, it's hard to get back to where they were. And, like, I think that pressure is definitely there. Dahl included a quote from Keegan Matheson that said, I think it's been almost every game this year with a new lineup when talking about the Blue Jays losing Boba Shett and how that kind of has sent their offense into a little bit of tailspin.

They've been getting under performances from other guys as well. I think of the teams to pick, I think we kind of nailed the two of, like, Those two teams are 7 and 11. They haven't played terribly hard competition. They're not doing the things that we thought they'd be doing. And time can run out quickly in a tough division like that. Like, if you take out the Blue Jays opening weekend where they had back-to-back walk-offs to start the season,

which a walk-off can be really cool. It can also be a sign that you're really close to losing that game. They swept the A's, which we still don't know exactly what to do with the A's. They swept the Mets, good team. Okay. I mean, since then, if you take those wins off the board, you're 4 and 11? Yeah. So, and they have the injury bug too.

So, again, I'm not, Toronto doesn't like when, I'm wearing a Yankees hat right now. So don't get me wrong. I get it. But, yeah, I think they have some concern and there's injuries and last year had a little magic that let's, let's see what that turns into. Two and seven versus the Rockies, White Sox, and Twins. Might look back on that at season's end and wonder. Every game matters. Bogie, 200th career home run.

Nice. Nice. That's good. Brian Wu and pickoff plays across this great game. Be careful. You have to throw to first. Right down. Yeah.

Check it out. Jombino. A fan base that's probably glad we didn't mention them in that last segment, the Kansas City Royals, who, again, it just, everything feels a step away. They lose game one with a wild pitch and some. hustle from the Motor City Kitty's.

That final game, they get the comeback. The ball hits the bag and Vinnie P goes yard and Salvi... Okay, so I'm watching... Okay. I watch the 15-minute recaps every morning that MLB provides on their app. When Salvy homered, I fist pumped.

Which is weird. I mean, it just rooting for olds, rooting for studs a little bit. And then the highlight kept going, and I was like, oh, no, no, stop the highlight. Stop the highlight. It doesn't stop. Detroit has won six in a row, and the Royals, there's some good numbers, but the number, the number that Mattis doesn't keep showing up, John. Yeah, I mean, the rotation's been

awesome, but basically everything else has been lackluster. I mean, I think the bullpen stuff really started with Carlos Estabez coming out and not being the same guy. That is like the head of the snake getting cut off, and they've been kind of scrambling. ever since back there. And a lot of what we said in the preseason was like, this team goes as far as Bobby Wood Jr. takes them. And he hasn't gotten off to like a bad start. Just he's held to a different standard.

So if he doesn't go to that level, it holds the team back a little bit. I'm always a little hard on the Royals, like whenever I come on the show, just because the one year they made it was the year that the White Sox lost 120 games. And we had three teams from the AL Central. So like I wanted to see them succeed when it felt like

you couldn't just like stat pat against the White So, sucks if that makes sense. And we saw that with the Guardians and Tigers last year, who both made it to the playoffs and both had nice years, while the Royals kind of took that step back. I still really believe in this pitching staff is specifically the rotation, but, you know, they need better performances out of Vinnie P and Sal. And, I mean, India has not really been the same ever since he got there. I am really excited for Jack Agleone, though. He's at a nice start to the year after what was, you know, a really tough, you know, a couple months that he had last year where it looked like he got called up too soon.

It's nice to see him succeed after the team Italy stuff. But this is a backbreaking series to lose these three games the way they did where they led in all three of them. They had a chance to sweep a division rival on their turf. And instead at 180s into the worst possible outcome. And you hope that it just doesn't spiral beyond this. They're heading to the Bronx, which I didn't put together. Maybe I do send them any P texts.

He doesn't want to see me. He would like from a distance. He likes you. Likes me. We're coming up on our anniversary of meeting. It was the NFL draft the year before he got called up. I was inebriated. I didn't know who Vinny P was.

Wow. You know a lot of baseball players. I'm pretty shocked with that. He was up, though, right? It's my big, the guy who's probably the best social media content player we have. To ever exist, probably. I met him before he got called up, and you've seen me in a lot of environments. I normally overextend myself.

We were at our third bar, and I was just like, oh, like, nice to meet you, dude, blah, blah, blah. But it's like, I'm, you know, kind of hanging out with my crew right now. I didn't actually big time, but I didn't. I didn't give him the normal Jake response. And now it's fucking Vinnie Pasquantino. Sometimes it'd be like that, you know? Ain't that life. He brought us Chipotle the first time I met him.

Really nice guy. Good guy. Good for the house. Tigers. Yeah, I was debating giving out some standout and rewards to them. I just, it's a similar speech. Riley Green, I think, is just one of the best players in this league. I think if he played at a better baseball stadium, we would be just more impressed by him and how good he is at his age.

That me and Trevor had a little brother's bicker about him. And then McGonigal, I'm all in. Part of me, jokingly, my Harry Potter side wants to nickname him the professor and pivot that off of the professor, the streetball player. They've both been going, I looked at it. I was like, Tiger Stats last week, right? Who's bawling out? Riley Green, McGonagall.

Dylan Dingler. Doesn't get mentioned enough. Dylan Dingler, dude. Dylan Dingler is a top blank catcher? I think he's an A.L. All-Star this year. Is that even a hot take? I don't think it is. Did you guys talk McGonagall extension?

I don't know. Dude, okay, I'll give you something, and this is for Rob and Dalt too. Whenever these guys get extended, and we're like, let's talk about it. I don't know what to say. It's always a good deal. Good. It's always a good deal. Why not?

I think the Cooper Pratt one pushes it a little bit, a little bit. I think we, come on. But with McGonogall, he just comes up and he instantly looks like a dude. Yeah, why would you not give him that much money? You know he's going to be good. It's been funny online to see some of the conjecture. Is that the right word? Yeah. Discourse.

Yeah. Sure. That I've seen a lot of people being like, hey, if teams keep doing this, that means it's more beneficial for the team than the player. And it's like, kind of, we're playing a game here that these guys are securing silly money. Yeah. That, yes, if the team does this right for about three years, they should get much better value. The only thing that kind of stinks about it is that, like,

there are some weaker free agent classes coming up because of it, which, like, you know, good for the guys getting their bag. I think, like, there's a gunner free agent class in, like, a couple years. But after, it's kind of, there's nothing really around that. But still, McGonagall, 1.3 war in 19 games. Eight war pace. Every part of it. It's awesome.

Yeah. It's what they needed to. I think he's all Storelli. I've not. Do you think he accepts? Yes, dude. Me and McGahn... We're grindy, dude.

I like that... I'd like to see it. His batting stance isn't pretty, and I like that. No, I love that. He's like, nose in there. That's a hitter. You put him in the 1980s, and you be like, that works. What are we even talking about?

Nothing at all. Havi Baez scored on Rogers' third inning sack fly. Positive OPS Plus. We're so fucking back. Hobby Baez, former... New York. I hate you. People forget.

I have a hobby of his jersey. People don't know about that. There you go. We play for rings in the desert. The Arizona Diamondbacks, if they played in another division, would we be talking about them a lot more? What a road trip.

Sadly, their third in the sandings, an amazing road trip. Talk about having the energy of a team that's never out of it. Jose Fernandez feels like he's a video game character that just has like a game-tying bonus star attached to him at all time. Like, oh, Jose Fernandez is up,

so maybe we can win the game right now. Man, a lot of fun young players all over this field that, yeah, I don't, people are shocked. I don't have a ton of analysis, but just like, is what's Jeremiah Jackson's year going to look like? Is he going to be a dude? Because he's playing out of his dome. We have a little ABS drama going on in this one.

It was a weird one. Adrian Del Castillo's two-run triple. Jal? Corbyn Carroll's amazing. Oh. I love watching him play. I know he's not like the star of this series, but I just,

I love watching that guy play. I think he's so good. He, like, defies logic for me of how strong he is and how talented he is. Beyond that, really good road trip for the dying backs. This was the kind of nine-game stretch that can really, like, you know,

mess up your season for a little bit. Like three series on the roads against three, supposedly, good teams, and they won all three of them. Have you, looked at Il-Domaro Vargas's baseball Savon? You know I have. It's insane. You know I have. What is that? That makes no... Rob, see if you can pull that up. I know that's a weird request. I set the

Diamondbacks record for the longest season opening hit streak with 11 games, a very underrated storyline in them being good. It's true. I know. He's from the Nationals offensive tree, dude. Okay, best offense and ball. El-Domargo-Marro Vargas, former... No, he's not a bit. Diamondback. Three times. I mean, we'll look at that page. That's messy. That's a rough guess.

When did he get called up? That's a rough guess 500. 2017. It's 25. It's been around, dude. It's been a while. It's been around. Since I could hold my head up high.

It's ill tomorrow. That's the Benetian. They're going to be feeling ill tomorrow. Thank you. Yeah. Hey, I'm interested to see where it lands for Ill tomorrow Vargas this season. I'm glad the snakes have some good juice because they were in a funky place, huh? Like, we're signing guys, we're good.

Kattel Marte's a bad guy all of a sudden and we need to trade him. Now we can't. That was some weird stuff, huh? Can't now? Can't now? He's here. Can I vent for a second? Yeah, dude.

All right. It's been a theme of this ep, you know, where this guy used to play for the months. The Orioles roster is kind of pissing me off. Tell him, walk us through it. Chris Bassett. Where did he? Anthony Nunez. Wow.

Ryan Helsley. Rico Garcia. Pete Alonzo. All former Mets. Oh, Jeremiah Jackson. Former Mets. All former Mets, all doing great. Orioles.

Just because you wear orange, doesn't mean you should just be taking all of our players and making them better. It makes me upset. I do like, it's a funny thing that probably you guys know about your. team is that the way teams scout or their analytics department are set up, there's teams that overlap that the Yankees and Padres for years, just like scrap heap. I think the Yankees and the

Texas Rangers as well. It was just like, uh, picking shoes. Yes, like when that, when that reliever gets DFA'd, they go to that team. Um, yeah, it seems like maybe the Orioles have a little, little bit of that right now. We deiffayed Rico Garcia and he has a nine hitless innings to start the year. How do you like that? I don't at all. I'm happy for Rico. It seems like a good guy.

I think I'm in on my Orioles. I think Basayo's going to start going. I think Pete's going to get going. I'm not selling any Orioles stock. No, it's too early. They've had a weird year so far. Kyle Braddish hitting his highest V-Los? Oh!

Remember John Means? What do you means? We do have to talk a little twins, even though Trevor's not here. I disagree. Okay. Done. No, man, the offensive stuff, it can't be ignored. I've said it before.

I think it's just a lot easier in today's baseball to find pitching over hitting. And they have been banging the ball around the yard. They are third in home runs this year. I'll talk a little buck daddy in a minute. But, I mean, I guess the game that needs to be highlighted is Crochet. This was nuts. Crochet's worst outing of his career? Yeah.

Yes. First time he's ever allowed more than seven. earn runs 1.2, 9 hits, 10 earn, 3 walk, 0Ks. Yeah, dude. Woof. I mean, zero Ks makes me think he might have been tipping. I know his Vila was down a little bit, but like, so I tuned in when it was 4-0, and I just started watching.

Watching this unfold live was insane, because I've just never seen Crochet look as human as he did in this outing. And this, I mean, it's recency bias for sure. This was part of the reason why I picked the Red Sox for our pre-examination. question of like, oh, if this doesn't even go right for them as well? Like, there's huge concerns. But Josh Bell, really good player, my pick for the next Carlos Santana. Oh, okay.

He just keeps riding it out and contributing. Gets on a team, hits 20 home runs, gets another one-year contract. Yeah, I remember the nationals who should have sold every piece they possibly could last year, they were like, Josh Bell can't go. We need him. What is he doing in the clubhouse every day? Respect him. Although, just a reminder for talking baseball people,

my Ontario and Uncle Rick, who live outside of Bradenton, Sarasota, and my Uncle Rick, who's a big Pirates fan, goes to all the spring training games, said that Josh Bell and his family are very nice people. That is awesome. So, that's really good. And Josh Bell, also very nice to Chris Rose.

This is how we measure things. That makes one of us. Wow. The Chris Rose Jollybees continues. It's my dad. Twins at 1.18 out of nine. They're involved sucks. Wait, we got to hang on before you go on.

The twins have beaten Terek Scoobel, Framber Valdez, and Garrick Crochet in the last week. Weren't good against lefties last year. What the hell? This sport sometimes. That's insane. Jacko. Is your first name Jack? I know I've done this before.

Yeah. That's jack. That's crazy. That's not great. It's not crazy. Most Jacks are Johns. John's. Right.

I'm a Jack. My dad is a John who goes by Jack. Did you want that? This episode is sponsored by Seekek. The MLB season is here and rolling and not to mention NBA, NHL, and even the World Cup coming up this summer, which is why we want to give some love to our sponsor of today's video. Seat Geek, 35 million downloads.

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I want to talk about the Tampa Bay Rays because if I was a raised fan, I would say, hey, you've talked about the fathers. You've talked about the Dodgers. We're on a six-game win streak. Yanks and White Sox. I don't know what to do with that completely yet. I do think the White Sox are going to be a version of the White Sox this year.

I think we're building towards something. This, we're still putting up a base layer here. Chase my draft, good player. The raise on offense are a lot of fun. They've got a couple dudes that can hit the crap out of the ball. Everyone else kind of has that Guardian's energy of like, I shouldn't hit right now, but if I do, I might break open the game. And they are bunting at like a historic rate right now that I'll say this.

Okay. When we did the team profile and projections You were on it When I looked at the full roster I was kind of like Hey, this is In the scope of baseball When the top 22 teams each year

I think the Blue Jays last year I think they were our 22nd rank team Or something like that When I looked at the Ray's roster And it's like hey wait Camerro hit 45 of them last year Aranda missed some time And he

Yandi does it every year and you go through the pitching staff and you're like, wait, these guys in a given season can give you something. I still don't know what it means for the full year. Chandler Simpson, I like him a lot. I find it, how do you get caught stealing twice?

He's so fast. How'd that happen? It's too fast for baseball. That's crazy. Yeah, that second half of the lineup should horrify you. Fraley Mullins, Pulasio Fortez, Wals, or if you want some Midnight Johnny or Ryan Vallade. Nope.

that yeah um i don't know the next steps but their starting pitching has been great and their offense has been yeah i mean they have they have really good role players like the roster i think is not sexy but it's well built like they have a good middle infield duo with defense and taylor ralds and ben williamson obviously you have the offense with caminero and yanni dyes was 26 hits in 18 games like and if they can keep their pitching healthy which like mcclain Lanahan getting his first win is huge for them, I think. Like, can you start to get him a little bit deeper into games and feel comfortable doing that? You have Stephen Matt's former Mets legend with a nice four start to his season three and O on the year.

If you like wins and losses. I don't know. There is a formula here. I think kind of like last year with the ALE East, if you beat the teams in your division, that's what's going to be determined how you get ahead or not. Because I just think it's going to be close all year that like the razor off to a nice start. obviously like it's not the undefeated April we saw in I think it's 2024 or something like that but definitely a nice step forward from last year and I

just think the trop having people in it and looking the way it's looked so far I know they were on the road for the series but like them being at home and them having fans there I think adds another level to this team and hey I know nothing about nothing subscribe um raised top three prospects all in triple A right now So let's see That's something. Will that add something to them over the course of the season? Will it not?

I don't know. The Rays were the first team that turned my head during Team Profile and Projections that I, they're one of the teams I'm keeping my eye on for personal reason with the Yanks because if they're involved in the ALEs this year, Jesus. What's that, Joe? One of those prospects, Jacob Milton,

Brennan Loutrade. So you might see him soon. Look at that. White Sox Oh I don't I don't Okay

Jahl the final two And again as we chew through these I'm kind of good on Yankees halos again I'd rather just give the halo some snap Trout was amazing If you want to go listen to talking yanks And hear us be kind of frustrated While not being fully frustrated

Yanks are three and seven in their last 10 It's been a pretty bad brand Of baseball It's that Yankee worrisome brand. Halos have, you know, their question marks that you'd expect, but they can mash the ball and have fun. And then I guess if we just want to AEL West this exercise, Rangers and A's split four.

And again, there's some fun highlights. There's some fun players, but I don't know where to take it. Yeah, Rangers A's, I don't have too much on. Like you said, some fun highlights there, but I don't have too much on that series. Kind of same with Yankees Angels. Like, I think the Yanks are honestly kind of happy. They can come away with the split there

because it got scary in both of those wins. Let Ben Rice play every day. Okay. That's all I got on that. And Mike Trout makes me, I think makes all baseball fans really happy. Like there's not a lot of things that can unify every baseball fan. One of those things is we all want to see Mike Trout play and do well. And that's what happened in this four-game series, which is really, really cool.

Also, Wayne Rundazzo really good on the mic for the Eagles. He sure did. Trout was unbelievable this series. him and Judge, Dalton noted it, get ready for Enfuego with Jolly Olive coming out, that Trout and Judge were so good that Dalton didn't put them on Enfuego. Because it's kind of just implied. We talked about them in the midweek,

and it was just so impactful for both those guys. Did you see the mechanical thing that Trout's doing with his foot? He's stepping back. He's rocking. It's very interesting. It's one of those things that you watch it the first time, and you're kind of like, wait, does that? make complete in total sense.

Yeah, but like not everyone can do it because you just need amazing balance. Instead of being a hitter and like getting tight and nervous, you just kind of rock into it. I mean, you're going to hate this. But when we do warehouse cricket, that's Jimmy's like number one advice. Like just always be moving. I'm glad you brought it up because it was the first thing James mentioned today. Is it really? Yes.

Yeah, Trout, we've got on the YouTube right now. It's a little thing. Yeah, it's bizarre. It's a little, I think he said he got it from Nolan Aeronado, who, when you see that, you're kind of like, yeah, Aronado had a little bit of happy feet going on there. Yeah. My two final notes. Yeah. Outside of Oswald Paraza being the best to ever do it.

Shay Langalears on Wake and Jake, I did, I went through a hot take article and critiqued them. the hottest take I liked Langalear's 50 homer season Again, hot, hot, hot take Currently one dotting, six homers on the year I think he got on base five times in the last game Dude's out of his dome Yeah, we did remember when we did like the pickup player

That you think is gonna take a leap forward preseason He felt like a cheap pick for Maine But this is the leap Everything tells you it's leaping It's crazy He's someone to watch and thick-neck Josh Young. Yeah, nice series for him.

A ball player, just looks like the part of a ball player, hasn't had the good baseball feelings in a long time. Putting together a couple series. Hitting the ball around. That would change the Rangers outlook. Beating the 2023 allegations. Let's move on. Two, standout performances.

It's time for standout. Standout performances. Standout performances. This guy stood out for Trev. Say what? You didn't sub in Jolly for Trev? It's like you don't even care. He cares.

He cares. These are standout performances. Shout out to Rob. Bobby Golf. He cares too much. Standout performances. Jolly, you, I'll kick off to you. I saved him for this moment.

I love Dom Smith. I never stopped loving Dom Smith. And, you know, as a Mets fan, I'll be candid. I'll be honest. I prefer him doing this for literally any other team. Literally any other team. He's doing it for the Braves, but you know what, man, I think I'm okay with that deep down

because Tom Smith is a great human being. And at 31 years old, 10 years into his big league career, he's playing some of the best baseball of his career. And he had an iconic game on Tuesday where he near single-handedly won the Braves game there offensively. Three for four with a double and the big hit against Pete Fairbanks in the eighth inning. A basis-clearing double for a four-R-BI night. He's having a really nice year, man.

Three homers, 15 RBIs, and an OPS over 1,000 and 15 games. I hope he keeps it up, and I hope he just keeps it quiet when the Mets play. That's all. I want it both ways. Dom Smith is my standout performer. Jolly peeling back the curtain for the people. you were like, hey, I want to give Dom Smith my award. I said, hey, I did that first episode of the year.

So thanks a lot. I had it. And then you were like, you're like, oh, who can I do is my standout? Maybe I'll do Dom Smith. I was like, all right, Jolly. Why don't you get your Dom Smith fixing? Yeah. It was a massive hit in this.

Opposite field. Inside out swing, clear the bases, literally flips the game. We are looking, okay, this is Trev's new thing. I was spinning the other night. You know, a walkoff, pretty self-explanatory. Trev's looking for a term for when the home team Oh, then they pitch right after? Takes the lead in the eighth.

So what was I doing? Like a score flip or something? I was trying to think of like, get the spread ready or something. I don't know. It's got to be one word because I was trying to just think of... Yeah, what's a good, like... It goes from losing the game to getting your closer up.

So it's like, I don't know. Bullpen call. Like a turnover is a football We'll find something We'll find it I don't know Comment down below Let's put it on everyone's brain

That's like that We can take a baseball term here Um Yeah Big Dom Smith When you look It's just a very funny You look at his career page

And you're like Okay That's A contributing MLB player That it's just funny Along the path of baseball Where you hoped a guy Was gonna be

To where he goes to To then Sneaky 16 good games with the Giants last year. You're like, what the hell was that? Former 11th overall pick, Tom Smith. 30 years old. Yeah.

Didn't run with the Atlanta Braes. Pliny in the tank, IMO. Jolly, I'm still debating if I should last second, audible. Well, while you debate that, I looked up synonyms for flip, and one of them is Turn Turtle. I just thought you didn't enjoy that. Turn the Turtle?

Turn the Turtle. Doesn't not work. I'm interested. I'm interested. Um, okay. I'll stick with my guy. This is a little bit. Shout out. Miss you, love you, Trev. It's going to Byron Buxton. He has a two homer night on Tuesday. He only has three on the Cisson. Um, but that's okay because when you're talking the realm of the Minnesota twins,

I told you they got off to this start and Buck Daddy hasn't really been going yet. Um, and the other thing here is like, we have. for Buckston to play a version of a full season? He did that last year. He was 126 games. 35 homers. Yeah. 35 homers.

So again, slow start. It's still, the OPS Plus has leaked above hashtag 100 emoji. And he's playing center field, and he's playing a high level of center field still. That, yeah, Trev gave a whole speech about, you know, him and Trout, these old dogs. just don't tell them their old dogs. Like let them just play the game they're all time at. And yeah, I know we, hell, it could be a Jolly Olive video one day. If Byron Buxton played 130 games a season, what does his career numbers look like?

The averages are crazy. It's a little silly that he's so fun. But yeah, let's keep him on the field. Let's keep him mashing. And, hey, again, that weird strength of schedule slash when your team is good fake Jake stat I'm trying to put together. You know, what if they get their Buxton two weeks where he's one of the best players in baseball and they keep winning games and now you're looking at the twins.

Twins alive? We didn't know we'd be saying a lot of this year. So more so a shout out to giving the twins love while Trev isn't here. I always knew you were sim for Trev. Oh, yeah. Big time. 162 game average for Byron Buxton, five or 30 homers. Not bad.

Doesn't suck. It's a very good ball player. Brooks Lee contributing. Jollybags, we, Jeremy Jackson, Jake Burger, Brandon Lau, J.J. Weatherholt's two homer game. A ton of pitchers.

Connolly, early, Landon Rup, Jeffrey Springs? They didn't get mentioned here, but maybe they will get mentioned on Enfuego. Dirt Nasty's on Fuego. That means I'm on fire. baby like wakeo a name i'm so happy to read first it's time for enfuego powered by amazon just like how

amazon is there to save the day when you're in a pinch we're talking about the guys who have been doing everything they can to save their teams this past week thanks for picking me up there story ellie jake burger armolized onions cheddar that's how i like my texas burger five for 14 three homers 9 RBI is in the series for Jake Berger against the athletics. Keeping it good man. Hunter Goodman, your guy. Top what catcher in baseball? You threw out six.

I'll pretend that's right. Three solo homers in the series, trying to do it himself for Colorado, a 1.5 OPS, his six career multi-homber game. That seems like a lot for just those two years. Joe Adele is inevitable. He'll be on here every week because all he does is mash. Six for 17, two homers, six RBIs.

five runs scored in the series against the Yanks. Danesby Swanson, heeding up a little bit for the Cubs. We like that. Four for 11 with a couple bombs there. And then Shea Bengaleers. A L MVP watch. My pick to click in March. Six for 13, a double homer.

And four runs scored. Five walks. Sneaky five walks. Because he does that too. He does everything. For the week, though, it's the sixth time mentioning this guy in this episode, Jeremiah Jackson.

Yeah. Just like, Just a ball player, dude. 12 for 28 this week for your Orioles. Four home runs and 10 RBIs. You know what team could use that? Not going to mention it. C.J. Abrams on my fantasy team and doing work.

11 for 20 this week. Two homers. Three doubles. Three walks, four hit by pitches. Stop hitting him. Just let him swing. Geez. A 1.6 OPS, that seems good.

He's driven in 15 runs with two outs this year. Most an MOB. That also seems good. Jackson Merrill. 10 for 20. 24, four doubles a home or six RBI. It's the most mature 22-year-old I've ever talked to in my life,

captain of that team, basically. Brandon Lau, also doing it for your pirates. He never stopped doing it, really. Eight for 24, four home runs. 12 RBIs on the week, including five in one game, four walks to go with that into 1.2 OPS. That is who is in Flago.

CJ Abrams, leading on-base percentage, OPS, which is connected. Nice. Yeah, he is playing ball right now. Thanks to our partners at Amazon. Shop, Amazon, save on essentials, and save the everyday. Great and Fuego. Thanks, man.

Brandon, wow. We now bring down the program for the next little bit, because it's time for batters who are struggling. Amen. And this is why we do it. Try to get them back on the right track. Starts off in Milwaukee. Get your resume ready, Sal Freelick,

because that's what your manager willingly likes to yell at you. Sal Freelix in a 1 for 19, struggling with the heater, second lowest batting average in baseball on fastballs this year. So let's turn up the machine, let's track it, and we'll be good. The Minnesota Moose, Matt Walner, who tortures everyone on this program.

He's in a 1 for 16 right now. Owen Casey. One for 17. It's okay. It's baseball. It's tough. Alec Bomer. One for 19 started off slow last year, and then he figured it out the rest of the season, so maybe that's just a little signature.

Miguel Vargas, one for 20. In the last two weeks, Lisa N. Halakuna, former... Texas Ranger. Former Met. In a 6 for 38, OPS of 277 went ahead in the campaign. That's not what you want.

T.J. Friedel. No. Good batting stance. Love some T.J. Friedel. He's in an 8 for 43. He'll be off this. Nolan, Sean Well, he'll be out of here, too. Seven for 45. Hitting 128 against starting pitchers. That's second lowest in the A.L. And yes, Mikey Stremski, the only guy kind of not at the party for Atlanta right now. He's in a six for 38. So, hey, we tell a lot of outfielders on here.

Yeah, interesting. We tell you who's struggling because we want to get them out of here so they can start succeeding for your favorite team. The only thing that's worse than batters who are struggling, it is the IL, and my goodness, the placed on the IL ratio to the returning from the aisle ratio has not balanced out this season. Let's see, a couple bullpen guys bowling for Philadelphia

and Ben Casperius for the Dodgers. with some injuries. Tatsuya and my, that's turning into an interesting situation. Listed his right arm fatigue, supposedly on his third interpreter, and he said he's not adjusting to the American lifestyle well. Let's see what that means for a Houston Astros team that could really use a Tatsuya am I,

or what we think he could be. Interesting. They could also use Jeremy Pena in Houston, two to three weeks with a right hammy. Joey Gerber for your Mets, I didn't know. Yeah. Well, right blister. That's a nice two innings.

Okay. Same with Jonathan Cannon, right hip. Gabby Moreno, four to six weeks for Arizona. Let's see what that is, although Adrian Del Castillo, getting game winning hits, maybe problems solved. She's probably happy to stay healthy. When I say I need you, you say, Pivotta. Right flexor strain, weeks and maybe months, said Craig Stammon. Aminous.

That's a bad sign. Christian Yelly left a ductor. That's a groin, apparently. Four to six weeks. Harrison Bader left Hammy. He was getting off to a slow start, maybe a little reset. It'd be good for him. Kyle Freeland with some left shoulder stuff.

They're saying they're hoping it's a minor issue. Cody Bolton for Houston with some back, okay? And Chris Martin, right shoulder and pungent four weeks. Okay. That's grindy. Coming off the aisle. Hunter Gaddis. Get some beef in that Cleveland pen.

Sure. And George Valera. Insert Cleveland player generation. Generator Georgie V. Merrill Kelly is back twirling it for the snakes. And Jose Quintana for the Colorado Rockies. And just a reminder. Jose Cantana former met.

And proud of it. Awesome. Great met. Let's start off everyone. weekend. Awards. Kels is the best. Miss her.

She made the photo dump. Did you? I think I did. I think you did. I think it's a live stream lounge. Jolly, do you have an award for the people? I do. I apologize to Kelsk because it does come at the expense of her rocks.

I'm giving out the Stop the Bleeding Award. Okay. We've been talking a lot about the Houston Astros and not a lot of it has been good. I'm looking at their page right now. I see a whole rotation on the IL, much like our Atlanta Braves. Hunter Brown, scary. Christian Javier, scary.

Tatsia, my, worrisome. Cody Bolton, as you just mentioned. They need pitching. They haven't gotten a lot of it. In fact, they had gone 14 straight games without a quality start since March 31st, last done by Hunter Brown. It's not going to be an option for them anymore. Up from the minor leagues off his own aisle stint,

one of the most fun names to say in baseball, Spencer Arroghetti came up six innings one run run two hits four walks ten punchies against the upstart Colorado Rockies the Astros badly needed an outing like that they badly needed a series win for Aregetti it's been a weird kind of calendar year for him last year was supposed to be his sophomore season a step forward he broke his thumb while playing catch and it basically derailed his entire 2025 season and also might have contributed to the Astros missing the playoffs by one game because they were down a pitcher for the entire year.

I think he's going to be a difference maker for this team. He's getting ample opportunity to be in the rotation. He had just two quality starts last year, already won this year. Hopefully he can continue to build on that. It's one of only nine games by a pitcher this year of at least six innings, one earn, run or less, two hits are less, and ten strikeouts are more. So a really impressive outing. They had a thin lead in this game that he protected.

So Spencer Arrogati, he's going to get my award to the stop. the bleeding award, and hopefully Houston can get some more quality starts and some more wins along the way. Yeah, man, they, again, it depends if you want to be glass half full or glass half empty right now. I was doing a joking exercise. The AL had no separation after two weeks that it was, the joke I was making is that the season hasn't started for any of these teams. Like if you win six games or you lose six games, then your season's going to begin. The Season kind of started for Houston because it was the pitching was so bad and they were losing a lot of games. But the offense, it's kind of like, hey, dude, El Tuve's got some juice.

Yordon is back. The offense is there. That they need any form of pitching and it gets a little, you know, Burroughs, Gordon, Aragetti, Weiss, McCullors, Jr. Someone's got to step up. If you went around the league and then, dude, if you go in the bullpen, the Bryans, Abraeuan King, Enel de los Santos Kaiway Tang Oker Roa Blue Ball

Yeah We're piecemeal in it Yeah We're peace mealing it Um They yeah I'm very interested to see the next steps We're with Houston

Because you're right Then you could start playing a game of Okay maybe a Mike comes back And he He goes on a little something Maybe you get a good Hunter Brown update at some point That if we can Josh Hater

I think is supposed to be mid end of May Like survive till them If we can change some of the bodies If you can't though Because some of the Some of the pitching was rough Yeah Let's see what goes on in Houston

I Am going to give out The best I was going to say the best Tover do it award I'll give out the goat Award Whoa

Yeah Who's this guy on though? The goat Jolly, I turned on a baseball game the other night, and I saw Shohei Otani. And he looked incredible. It was against your Mets. His pitch sequence, Rob Friedman,

a.k.a. The pitch ninja posted a video of him striking out Francisco Lindor, 10 pitch at bat. Really good at bat. And Shohei mixes up his timing, which, again, there's a lot of. of pitchers that can't do that and this guy that his other hobby happens to be pitching. The fact he can mix that in with 100 miles per hour and every 32.2 inning scoreless. It's just, it's complete freak show stuff from the guy who went 50-50.

And again, I don't want us to ever underappreciate show. And I think we do a good job of it. Yeah, I think so. This doesn't go to him. Oh. The award does not go to him. It goes to a guy that got talked about so much this. off season.

Um, because he's not a, is he on the top 100 list? No, I don't see him. How good is this guy? Nico Horner got the bag. Six for 141,

which I think a lot of people initially, and this is part of the Nico Horner situation, we're kind of like, that could be interesting. I went the other one. I think he's underpaid. All right. All right.

All right. You got your one. You got your one. It took a while to get there. It was only a matter of time. I mean, depending which game you want to go to, Nico Horner 3 for 5 with a Homer and 5 RBI. He's just been doing everything this year.

And I think there used to be the old school mentality of athletes getting a contract and like, oh, I would you, watch it, might put on a couple LBs, like just dumb stuff. Although some guys definitely got that contract and then their career changed a little bit. Horner is like the last guy they had to lock up as a part of this team. They do it and he's gone out.

He's been one of the best players this year. One and a half war through 18 games. That's better than Shohei Otani. Hits RBI, stolen bases, 324, 410. The slugging OPS are still up there for now. It's a little early in the season and that's not necessarily his game. But his game is playing baseball. And if you are a war person, two of his last three seasons were five and a half plus.

It's pretty good. Like, he's one of the guys that war does feel like it's a good stat because he does so much on a baseball field, whether it's averaging close to 35 stolen bases the last three years, whether it's the two gold gloves, whether it's batting average, becoming in vogue again. And like it's just a simple conversation of sometimes getting away from the binders and saying, hey, in this situation in the game, who do I want at the plate? Tell you what, a lot of them, Nico Horner's the answer. Or, hey, where would you like the ball hit right now?

Nico Horner, also the answer. So circling back on the Cubbies who are starting to get back to, they win a nice series. They're trying to get over that 500 humps, the tough NL Central. though, could be a grindy year. But Nico Horner, speaking of grindy, a couple multi-hit games, and he's just, he's a ball player's ball player

that should be highlighted more and sometimes gets overshadowed. And you kind of understand why, but then again, sometimes if you get to basics, do you want them in a position? It's kind of always yes with him. So Nico Horner, more flowers. Really good,

choice. Right. I'm having a really nice start to the year. I just think he would be everyone's favorite player if he was on their team because he never strikes out. He plays great defense. He hits the ball everywhere. Like his spray charts awesome every year.

And this year, he's even getting better. His walk rate is up to 10%, which is the highest of his career. Last year, it was 6%. Still not striking out. Still stealing bases. And I kind of like the thing you said about the contract of like, you want an extension to fire a guy up and start. playing better. That's exactly what he's doing. He's like, I think it's cool that all the Cubs

teammates love them. And when the top 100 stuff happened, they were all like, they're idiots. Like, how could you not put Nico on there? Even though there were like six Cubs on there. Right. So I think he's like the kind of behind the curtain leader of the team. That's really cool. Of a team of baseball rats, he has an argument for the number one baseball rat, although Bregman's probably number one like in all of baseball. That's the Red Sox. It's a good fit. A little shrapnel. Yeah, a little bit. Just a little shrapnel there.

Hey, man. Well, stray. Least favorite quotes from the offseason was the Red Sox front office being like, we're devastated. We didn't sign him, even though we didn't meet his one request, and we didn't offer him the most money. Oh, for two, guys. Nico Horner Award.

Nico Horner Award. Let's get some pitching healthy with the Cubbies. They are facing the New York Mets. That's how you do it, people. That's full circle. No, it's good. Everyone, tweet at Jolly Olive, comment on his Instagram, tell him how much you loved him on today's episode. Wish Trev some good luck.

Yeah. He's doing something fun. Shout out to Dahl, Rob Chiracco. Enjoy the weekend, every other. I hope your favorite team wins. Me too. I hope my favorite team wins. The Royals.

Thanks, everyone. Nice that you said it, though. You're an Astros pitcher.