Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Most Surprising Teams Midway Through The Season!

Episode Date: June 27, 2025

Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use promo code JMBASEBALLUse code TALKIN2025 for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKIN2025. Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discountCorona. La Playa Awaits. Be sure to get yours athttps://OrderCorona.comGet the edge on your shave with Harry’s. Use our exclusive link, https://harrys.com/TALKIN, for an $8 Trial Set and free gift!Book your next trip at https://www.bestwestern.comWe are officially halfway through the season! Coach Trev and Talkin’ Jake discuss who has surprised them the most, the Astros starting to dominate, if the Braves are dead and more!0:00 Intro3:30 NL Burn9:00 NL Standings11:22 NL Central & Cubs vs Cardinals19:00 Braves / Mets26:00 Pirates / Brewers26:30 Yankees / Reds29:15 Jacob Misirowski31:25 AL Burn35:55 AL Standings38:10 Mariners / Twins41:35 Rangers / Orioles42:30 Red Sox / Angels44:40 Red Sox since Devers Trade50:00 Phillies / Astros54:10 A’s / Tigers57:00 Standout Performances1:07:35 En Fuego1:12:30 Batters who are struggling1:16:30 Injured List update1:18:50 Awards  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's the halfway point of the baseball season. We've got some new teams. We got some old teams. Treves' road-dogging it in a special place. Let's talk ball. Simeon Woods Richardson. Augustine Ramirez. 440.

Yeah. 440. Hello and welcome to Talkin. Baseball presented to you by Seeky. Co. Talkin' 2025. I'm Trev's coworker. Jake, you might have heard about on the broadcast. That is Trevor Plouf.

Bobby is here. Molly is here. Pop Molly, I'm sweating. Let's talk some ball, Trev. Because it's the halfway point. We do this whole thing. We get lost in TPPs before the season, and we're like, how long is spring training?

And then we get excited about a team three weeks in, and we're like, oh, they're buns. It is such a long season. Trev, we're at the halfway point. this is where I start paying attention to baseball more so I you know like we look there's storylines in the first half there's all those things what team is you know what guy looks good early on all that great but we're 81 games into the season I think this is this is when you start to pay attention to what moves are being made who's healthy you know Charlie morton all

a sudden is a trade candidate again this is when it gets fun Jake and this is where I feel like teams start to separate themselves as well. And by the way, I was just looking at her outfits. I look like the sick lake bro. Yeah. I'm about to go like wake surfing or something. Yeah. Never done that in my life, but it sure look like it. I bet you'll be great at it, Treve. I bet you'll be fine at wake surfing. I probably won't do it. Um, not going to happen today. You look like your mom has dressed you your entire life and you just kept that going. You got the polo on. Yeah. nepotism at its finest. You stop that.

I'm a lot of things. I'm no nepo baby. Well, now I am that. Well, formerly baby James will be my boss. Is that nepotism? How does that work? We still have plans to fire you, yes. Yeah, that's good.

And I'm glad the, I'm glad that the listeners of this show know that this is the time of the year you start paying more attention to baseball. That's good. You know what I mean. Stop. I don't know if they do after my family feud performance.

So thank you for everyone that checked that out And then ripped a couple tough internet days for me For getting Mike Trout And then, dude, we did a Cubs Cardinals short That it just ended up being clickbait I got Bob, I got roasted. Ian Hap texted me And he's like, what was it?

I didn't see it. It was these Cubs and Cardinals legends At each position and you just had to pick one, you can only pick one. So whoever didn't get picked, Ozzie Smith or Ernie Banks Yeah, I'll go fuck myself And that's what happened

So now I'm hated in the Midwest I've been hated on the East Coast Obviously Ernie Banks by the way Maybe go west young man That's what I said And then you pick Sammy over Stan Musial And oh boy I saw what Sammy did for a couple years

Nobody cares They care about what happened this weekend And Trev I think it starts because it's Friday, we start in your National League. And it was kind of a split week. The Atlanta Braves went to face the New York Mets and the Braves the first two games. The Spencer Schwellenbach, a Spencer Shider,

and the Braves were 5 and 0 on the year against the New York Mets. So there's a lot of baseball to be played, right? Not for the rest of the week. And the Mets bounce. back. They'd been doing a lot of different versions of losing. Juan Soto's two homer day helps. And Trev, Ronnie Maricio, this cat might be in the mix a lot. Although Mark Vientos is coming back, good problems for the Mets and Pete Alonzo, who continues to kill it, they end up splitting four. That's what happens, beautiful Flushings queens. The Cubs and the Cardinals is the rest of the NL Central

coming. The Cardinals, they win the first two games. A liberatory. And the bats are going. Nolan Gorman, Alec Burleson, making plays in the field too. But the Cubbies bounce back and they shut them out. We, you know, sometimes we get caught up in that Cubs lineup. 8-0, 3-0, and Shoda's back. Cubs and Cardinals split four. The New York Yankees went to play the Cincinnati Reds, And everyone's sleeper team, everyone's dark horse. The Cincinnati Reds take two out of three. After winning the first game, Ellie De La Cruz put on a goddamn show. Yanks blew it late or the Reds came back in Hello, Chase Burns.

Welcome to the show. Punching tickets. But Max Fried the Stopper showed up in that final game. And Trent Grisham and Jason Dominguez have four hits apiece. Sometimes the Yankees box score throws me off. Rets take two out of three. Brewers take two out of three from the Pirates. And that's obvious, except the Pirates took game one.

The Brewers rolled them in game two. Joey Ortiz two homer game. There you are, friend. And then it's Skeens versus Mizorowski. The future is now. But Mizorowski keeps his scoreless streak going. Skeens gives up four Brewers end up taking the size.

set. Padres face the nationals. They take two out of three. Little bit good team, bad team. Check out where the nationals are in your NLE standings coming up from Trevor Plouffe. Padres, they take the final two games. Martine Maldonado contributed also got thrown at at home by a mile. Full pension PIV, All-Star? Seven innings shutout. Ten K's Luisarize with a three-hit day as the Padres take the set with a 1-0 win on that final game. And the Dodgers, they sweep the Rockies. You know my guy Justin Robleski is all I talk about these days. Show Hey Homer, Max Muncie Homer, and another six RBI day for him.

Yamamoto slinging curveballs for five shutout. And there's Clayton Kirshaw with a good start. Oh, yeah, another show, hey, Homer. Go check out where the Dodgers are in Trevor Plu. and your best Western road warriors, the Marlins. Head into the Yee area and sweep. The San Francisco Giants, four straight overall wins, six on the road for the fish with arms,

and we've got a couple sticks, Treb. Augustine Ramirez and Kyle Stowers both hit homers 440 plus. Yo, that doesn't happen in Oracle a lot. And Otto Lopez, former San Francisco giant people forget. And Connor Norby, thank you, Orioles. All of those guys had big weekends. The Marlins, out of the cellar in the NLEs, and they are your Best Western Road Warriors.

Make sure you guys go check out Best Western. and go check out the standings from Trevor Plouffe. Just a great job, Jacob. Just a great job. Phenomenalph. Mommy loves you. Let's start out in the NL East, Jacob, where the New York Mets are back on top.

48 and 34 for them. They're a half game above the Philadelphia Phillies who are 47 and 34 after getting swept. Spoiler alert by the Astros. the Braves 37 and 43 Marlins 34 and 45 and the Nats 33 and 48 I feel like we talk about the Nats all the time

because a couple of players there but sheesh yeah looking to getting those threes for the winning percentage my goodness in the central the Cubs with a three game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers 48 and 33 for them 45 and 36 for my Brewers the Cardinals 44 and 38 that was a great

series. I can't wait to get into that. Their four and a half games back of the Cubs. The Reds 42 and 39 after taking the series from the Yankees and the Pirates, 32 and 50 out west, tied for the best record in all of baseball. The Dodgers are 51 and 31. 6 games

above the Padres now, who are 44 and 36. Giants right behind them, 44 and 37. Diamondbacks. Still winning, despite some big injuries. 41 and 39, and the Rockies, 18 and 63. Jake, now we move to the wild card in the National League. The Phillies, a two and a half game lead.

They have the top spot in the wild card. The Brewers, the second spot, and the Padres hanging on by a thread. They have a half game lead over the Giants. One game back is the Cardinals, the Reds, two and a half games back. And then the Dimebecks three, Braves, still not there. There's seven games back of a playoff spot. And those are the standings in the National League. Fantastic.

Dodgers fans, here's what I'll say. You know, there was a couple early on in this season or even a month ago, a few weeks ago, the NL West kind of got tight for a little bit there and it's, oh, you guys, oh, you keep saying how good the Dodgers are and the power rankings and all that stuff. This is why they're the best record in the National League, eat light work against the rocks, which everyone do,

but also like there's Clayton Kershaw with a good outing. There's Max Muncie has kicked into gear that he has a six RBI game every week. And that's before you get to. Everyone do. That's before you get to a lot of guys. Treve, you mentioned and I think the conversation, because the best series in the National League, I think Braves Mets, I think Cubs St. Louis,

or Cubs St. Louis, that's a weird way to phrase that. You know, they end up being four-game splits, which, again, in a way, you shouldn't get lost in that because what does that mean? But in a way, I think right now the central in the National League is the conversation where, like I said, the Dodgers have established themselves. I think it's a five-and-a-half game lead now.

Mets and Phillies, that thing feels like it's going to run out to the final weeks of the seasons. I think we've done some schedule watch there. The NL Central has become a little more up in the air. And if we had recorded this two games ago after the Cardinals had won the first two, and I think it was a one-game lead in the Central or maybe one-and-a-half, depending where the brew crew were, what would we have been talking about the Cubs get some very impressive pitching

the final two days to bring some normality back to what the Central has been? That's not the right phrase. No. But, dude, everyone's hot on these reds. The Cardinals won't die. And the Brewers have been one of the best teams in baseball. Couple really big games by the Cubbies to shut the door, literally. I think we're looking.

If we're going to talk about the NL Central as a whole, we're looking at some of the best pitching in all of baseball. And obviously some of the best young pitching in all baseball. We'll get to the Pirates Brewer series where we saw Mizorowski go up against skeins. I mean, that guy is. We don't need to get it. into that yet but look out i think if we go cubs st louis here i mean st louis is there's so much fun to watch like they are really playing with um i don't even know some gusto is that a word yeah big time

uh in in the first game four different guys have a two run homer like that is just an awesome way to start a series against your division rival okay and then you have the mason win game in game two hits the two run home or early on the two run double for the go ahead then he takes home on the PCA play I'm sure Bobby's got that ready to go that was an awesome play an unusual mistake for PCA to make and this is what we're looking at he goes back and this game almost this ball almost gets out PCA fields in just he just forgets the outs that's people will say it's unacceptable and it is true and PCA will say the same thing. It happens to a lot of people. I've done it, hand up, done it before. People don't want to hear this, Trev. I think it's a little summer heat. I think we've

seen a little bit more of this that like a couple months into the season, things are getting hot. I think your brain drifts a little more. Dominguez did that on the base pass. We've seen it, there's been a few more of these recently. Possibly, but yeah, I mean, that's, it's fine. There's really no excuse for it, but it happens. I think that's the biggest thing. You know, We talked about this a little bit on baseball today The difference between like a lack of hustle Lack of effort in that That's just a

A mental air But I think it highlights like what Mason win has been doing And what can be in this game I don't think he gets like mentioned a ton With the best young short stops in the game And maybe we need to change that But the Cardinals are just really really Surprising a lot of people this year

And it seems like a cohesive well the team really likes playing together, which I think is really important. In that game, too, Helsey got into trouble there, got the second and third with two outs in the ninth. Finally gets a ground out, and that's like the Nolan Aronado barehand

to end the game play on the chopper. It was awesome, dude. The first two games of the series, yeah, if you're the Cardinals, you're at home, you're winning games. Like, it is awesome. And then, yes, you get Matthew Boyd, who has 11.

quality starts now for the Cubs. Big, you know, that's awesome for them to find someone like that that can do it. Then you get Shoda back from injury. He goes five Shuddy. And it's the first time the Cardinals have been shut out and back to that games all year. And it's first time since like

2022, I believe. So, I don't know, I think you pat both teams on the back here and say, good job. We'll see you later in the season. Card's great first two games. Cubs, great, second two games. Shoda coming back, giving five shutout and only one hit. Him starting the game and Danny Palencia ending the game,

kind of two guys on the All-Storelli team. That does a ton for me. And yeah, man, the Cubs, I guess maybe it's a me thing, but, you know, they've put together pitching the past couple years. And yeah, at the end of the game, hey, let's both clear out. and get a little hot. Wilson Contreras didn't love love some of Palencia's pitching to him and then struck a he apologized after the game. He's like, that's my bad, I was just hot.

That's the summer heat, baby. But man, to two games that, okay, what if the Cubs slipped up? We would be talking about the first place Cardinals today and instead, no runts. So that's a credit to that pitching. Matthew Boyd, who I'm a little skeptical of just because I have an image of Matthew Boyd in my head and not a lot of guys start peaking at 34. I guess that's what I was hoping for, but it didn't happen. Matthew Boyd's 16 starts a 265 this year, Trev.

So that's a credit to the Cubs front office that I've been tough on times. It's a credit to the Cubs pitching that sometimes we look at the names and we're not blown away. like they've been one of the first sandy teams that we've talked about this whole season they pitch and i know you want to add to that but the other thing that needs to get mentioned in hap is yeah all in out bro i'm done with names and pitching if i don't know your name i think you're a great pitcher i'm done like that like that mean nothing to me on the pitching side like that it's the truth yeah these guys are just like back there in the lab like uh and all of a sudden they just come out of no or five new pitches like you can't you can't it doesn't matter if you're a name uh as a pitcher anymore matthew boyd's

thrown a ghost fork now in a slumrio so we had this uh yesterday we had a big rain delay uh for the twins so i'm down there i bring teddy my family's in town i bring him down to the cage and throw them there's two cages uh in the twins club out so i'm thrown to them in one the other one's got all the pitchers, the relievers are in there. And they're using the trajectory system, which is like, shows the video of the guy throwing. You can, you know, mock his pitches, whatever. So they're all in there, like, facing themselves or, like, teammates and stuff, just like standing in. And you should have seen, I mean, these guys are such dorks.

It's unbelievable. Our guy, Cole Sands, comes out, he goes, I'm just going to throw a slider every single pitch from now on. Like, they don't realize how nasty they are. And this is my favorite part. I said this on the broadcast yesterday. They're like, Christian Vasquez is some kind of strong. Like this bat is so heavy.

How does he use this bat? It's incredible. And little do they know, it's just a training bat. It's a massive heavy training bat. They don't have any of these guys. They're not ballplayers. They're not. They play a different sport.

They do. They play a different sport. It's a laugh I always have at the start of football. season that during football games, like what an offensive lineman does and a wide receiver is so different. And they play football. Sometimes a receiver throws a chip in there every once in a while. Yeah.

Sometimes a pitcher fields a ball. That's what happened out there. Excited to see what continues to go on in the central. Treve, I think the other thing, I mentioned Braves' Mets. I was tuning into a little bit of this series because it just piqued my interest. Like these Braves who are on their final, like go time of the season, if they want to do this dance, like we talk about it.

And then we did this with the Brewers a little bit who weren't as bit in the hole, but they finally got hot. And now the Brewers are a part of the season. They're in the wild card and they're chasing the Cubs in the Central. The Braves, if it's got to happen, it's got to happen really soon. And okay, you're undefeated against the Mets. You've got some nice things happening.

Big games for the Mets to come back and shut the door. And hey, look where Soto's numbers are now at. That the Braves needed these and they didn't get them at the end. I mean, the Braves Mets series is very similar to the Cubs Cardinal series. I mean, yeah. Again, I'm going to tell you never talk about Spencer Swellenbach in a nerdy voice ever again. The guy's absolutely filthy. I love watching him pitch. So he deals that first game. Paul Blackburn, I believe that's two L's for him against the Braves in like six days or something like that. But Schwelley does this thing. Cool to see Montas back out there as the Mets, you know, obviously with the Griffin Canning news. They need to continue. to have starters, you know, in or healthy for them. Achilles for him. That's like my nightmare, by the way.

I didn't see how he did it. Was it like on a pitch? We don't want. We don't watch Achilles. I don't want to know. I don't want to know. Striders looking really good for them. In that second game,

Braves basically just took advantage of Brazzabon, walks three guys, they end up putting five runs in the sixth. They end up winning that game because of that. But yeah, you're feeling good. You have all this momentum in the world. And then all of a sudden,

And, yeah, Mets come back. Soto's on fire. And you lose the last two games. And I think they're at a point now, Jake, where I don't know, man, you're seven games back of a wild card spot. And we just keep thinking the Braves are going to make their way back. But it's just so much, there's so many teams to jump. There's so many games to make up.

It just doesn't seem like it can happen. And you never want to like, we don't like to bury teams here. but I don't know what they do. I mean, Michael Harris is the second. You've seen his OPS Plus? I believe it's in the 50s. Yeah. Like there's a couple really big voids in that lineup.

You know, they started off so slowly. You have the, why am I forgetting his name right now? Who got popped? What are you talking about? Who got popped for the brids? Jerks and ProFar gets popped for the Braves. Things just started off.

They just have not gotten, I mean, they're like trying to, they're running on a treadmill right now. No. Just in place, dude. It ain't going to happen for the Braves this year. I don't want to call them dead, but Jake. Like, are they dead? Something has to change. And Trev, I'm interested to see because we did this with Seattle a couple years ago

that before the All-Star game in Seattle, we're like, what's the tone and tenor going to be when we go out there? The Mariners got just hot enough before the All-Star game, that the vibes were decent out there. Super interested to see in Atlanta. It's been a couple years since that ring, and this was supposed to be a go year. And yeah, man, I mean, Michael Hare, the 53 weighted runs created plus. Ozzie Albee's a 76.

Like, you know, Jimmy's in the Joe's, and a couple of these guys aren't living up to their baseball card. That, yeah, the Braves are out until they're back in, and there's so many good teams in the National League that, hey, man, my Reds, who I love, liked and I pushed away from and now America's putting their chips back into the Reds. Like the amount of teams, if you want to like the Atlanta Braves, here's the teams you need to not like the rest of the way. The Diamondbacks, the Reds, the Cardinals, the Giants, and then either the Padres, the Brewers, or insert the Cubs or insert it.

Like we did before the season. When you say it like that, I'm like, okay, my back on the Braves? I don't know, man. Like I respect all those other teams, but full strength, full strength, the Chris Sale stuff sucks. Like, they, that is, that might have been the nail in the coffin for them.

When we look back at this 2025 season, if we have Chris Sale, Spencer Swellenbeck, and Spencer Strider, all together at the same time, like, dealing, like, that's how you run off winning streaks. That's how you make up those games. But, God. Dang it. Why'd you have to try so hard, man?

That's the problem sometimes. Son of a gun. You can talk about Ronnie Maricio. I'll talk about Juan Soto. I think this stat is amazing. 27 career multi-homer games. He breaks the tie with Jimmy Fox, Hall of Famer, for most multi-homer games by a player 26 or younger.

I mean, he is back doing his thing. The slash line in June is nuts. So 1.238, 10 homers. June. His numbers, like on-paced numbers are, I mean, he's, he's inevitable. I mean, this is exactly what New York understood, knew what they were going to get. Took a little bit of time for him to get going, which is very understandable. You just signed the, the biggest contract in sports history? Pretty sure. Oh. Oh. I think it is. I think if you bring in soccer BS.

Most, no, most guaranteed. Okay. most guaranteed money in sports history and you're in New York and you leave the Yankees go to the Mets, there's probably a little bit of like nerves or uneasiness that comes along with that. He's finally settling in and looks awesome.

Yeah, I mean, half, I think he's on pace for like 35 homers. He's on pace for about seven war. So, Soto ended up being fine. I'm shocked. And those numbers are only going to go up. And, like, that's... Juan Soto's age 26.

That prospect you called up the other day, who's 25, and you got some hope for? This guy's a year later. He put together a three-war season. It's going to be great. I think he could be our third baseball. Sick of prospects. Sick of prospects. Sick of pitchers' names.

Let's get hot. Hey, Trev, let's chip away. we can do a little double here because Brer's took down the Pirates two out of three, which that's not shocking. And again, I've got some Mizorowski coming later. Also, the Reds take two out of three from the Yankees, which, you know, I'm always hesitant to get excited about my Reds, but they're 42 and 39. That's respectable.

But I guess I'm calling myself out on the same thing I did with the Braves, that the Cardinals and the Brewers, and then if the Reds were to really get going, I still don't know what it means in the National League this year, but they just called up Chase Burns, and that rotation is a sneaky, you talk about wind streaks and getting hot. Like, I see why people are excited about the Reds.

I've been excited about the Reds. It's been that way forever. I know. They add more guys. I mean, you're talking about a Reds rotation that you can really, really dream upon. And again, this goes back to my NL Central take about pitching. I mean, Andrew Abbott lefty pitcher slinging it out there.

Great year this year. Then you have the guys that can really strike dudes out and have proven themselves at the big level in Hunter Green and Nicodola. Then you got Red Louder, who is going to be somebody. Chase Burns surely looks like he's legit as well. You put those five guys in a rotation. Plus you have Brady Singer. They have depth there as well.

This is something to get very, very excited. I mean, you tell me, like, what did you think about Chase Burns going up there and striking out the first five guys he faced? Like, he was nasty. Yeah, pretty easy cheese. You know, we're hitting a Hyundai. We've got the... And you know what's funny is he... All that emotion we saw at Wake Forest crazy going.

Like, he was pretty cool, calm and collected here. Trev, it's the thing that some people don't understand our disconnect. And I, again, it's a little more off-brand for me, I guess. guess, but the college baseball, like, we're freaking out. We're MF and everyone and like big strikeout. The whole team's out of the dugout. Like kind of like a rap battle scene. I don't know what that's all about. And yeah, it's honestly like bullying. I would, like obviously you're so much better than this guy you're facing. Like clearly it's that'd be like I don't even know what to how to. There are times an amateur ball where you just know you're so much better than the other person.

feels like bullying. I don't know, man. I always tell people that. Just wait until this guy gets in the pro ball. He'll chill out a little bit. Chase Burns did. Maybe he establishes himself and brings that back. The other guy, I guess we'll segue into that,

Jacob Mizorowski, he's bullying people in the big leagues, and he's talking shit all over the place. You saw like that MLB light bulb kicking over his head that he was doing the pitcher, like walking confidently. From the get-go, though, he's doing that. And I don't know where he went to school. Wouldn't you, Trev? If you had 102 in the chamber and you could throw whatever you want and it doesn't really matter?

I mean, I probably would. I can't imagine if you were a dominant pitcher. You'd be a nightmare. No, you know what? I would be like the opposite. I'd be so calm. Like, it'd be like the same. I'd be so calm.

and just like not pay attention. You would be really calm and then someone would hit you the wrong way and then you would. I'd probably hit so many batters on purpose. I don't think you'd be well like to. Just a loser. I don't like to imagine myself as a pitcher. That's my nightmare.

I don't like to imagine you. I do like two-way, Trev, but that's off the field. Anything else in the National League you need to check off? Again, there's a second half of the show with a lot of electric information. shout out the Dodgers for giving Max Muncie glasses. I don't know. Yeah.

That's changed their season. Again, I want to give them the love on the top because they swept the Rockies. Let's do some American League, and it's brought to you by Harry's. We love Harry's. And it's the secret part about Harry's is that you use it to get rid of your Harry's.

In pro sports, even a little edge can be the winning advantage in shaving the sharpest edge is what you need, and that's what Harry's has. And how about the five-blade razor? That's right. Brooks Robinson, five-blade razor, weighted handle, foaming shave gel, and a travel cover.

Wow. Just eight bucks, people. That's what we're talking. Eight bucks, fellas, if you're shaving, why don't you give Harry a try? Harries.com slash talking. Amazing razor. personal care.

Take care of yourself, people. It's normally 10. Right now it's 8. Head on over to harries.com and you even get a free gift. Harries.com slash talking. That's our exclusive link. Harries.com slash talking. $8 trial set and a free gift.

I got in my travel bag right now. Oh! Joe Mower's Lakehouse? Put the kids to bed? In the American League, the series that everyone's talking about. It's the Twins. It's the Mariners. Some people are calling it the mid-summer classic.

Mariners take the first two games. I prepped that one. I'll be honest. Mariners take the first two games. Brian, woo-woo. Six innings, two earn runs. Get him to the All-Star game. And this is when Cal Raleigh is still homering every game.

Pooh-poo's all over the field. but the twins bounce back. Joe Ryan, how's your sixth? Shut, peace. And then Cody Clemens, couple nice swings and plays this series coach, Trev. And then the boys get it done on the final day. After that rain delay, like you talked about, Trev, under the stadium, getting working with his side.

It doesn't get better than that. Let's go, Teddy. He's my lottery ticket now, too. They split for the raise. Trev, we got to talk some rays. because I think you were right. The Rays sweep the Kansas City Royals, which we got to talk about them too.

But this raised pitching man, Taj Bradley 6.2 shut, Rasmussen 5 shut, Baws, eight-shot piece. Royals only get one run in the series. My goodness. And the Rays have some sticks too. Oh boy.

It's happening in Tampa. The Astros, like you mentioned, they sweep the Phillies in Trev. had to be a tough watch for Phillies fans because everything I just mentioned roll it back. The Phillies only scored one run. I guess is it even more tantalizing if

the Astros never scored more than two? Golly. Colton Gordon, Gordon, man, where did this cat come from? Another five shot from him and Hunter Brown and Framber Bowl seven shut peas. Holy smokes. Astros get the

sweep. Speaking of sweeps Swilly's The HALOs sweep the Boston Red Sox. Oh my God. Boston comes out. Here's three in the first inning. The Halo's put up five. Walker Bueller.

Do not check out that stat line. Christian Moore, the top prospect, basically wins them a game on his own. Two homers, including a walk-off. And then you say Kikuchi. One of the better signings this offseason? The Halos. Hello, 500.

Tigers take two out of three from the A's, and that's obvious. The only one they didn't get Jacob Lopez seven shut. He's got some fun facts on this season. Otherwise, it's Tigers baseball. Riley Green, four hits. Zach McKinstree with a three-hit day. Dietrich ends his back. One of the longest gaps between starts we've seen.

We love that. We love grinders on this program. Tigers take two out of three. Blue Jays take two out of three from the. guards, is this good team, bad team? Max Scherzer comes back, gets spoiled late as Jose Ramirez gets the walk off. But Kevin Gossman, eight shutout, George Springer with a big one in that first game. Blue Jays take the series.

Diamondbacks, take two out of three from the White Sox. So again, it's that D-backs trying to get the full momentum and it never seems to happen. Erod gives them a good start. Ketel Marte with a big game. Unfortunately, he was the star of this series for really dumb reasons. We hate you, White Sox fan, banned from stadiums from life. But the White Sox bounced back literally in the series. And to Ketel, classy stuff from that org that doesn't normally get recognized that way.

The final series in the AL, the Rangers, take two out of three from the Orioles. Hey, Orioles won a game where they got a good start. Trevor Rogers. Oh, eight innings, shut out. but it was Rangers the rest of the way because the Rangers' offense scored and Jacob de Grom's change-up was just full bugs bunny mode. Rangers take this series. That's what happened in the American League.

What, Jacob, I got the standings for you, Pap. What happened on Jacob de Grom's no-hitter? We'll get into that. The Yankees out east, a half-game lead. over the Tampa Bay Reyes. Yankees 46 and 34. Tampa 46 and 35. Toronto, still doing their thing.

There are three games back in the division, 43 and 37. The Red Sox, my oh my, we might have to bury them today as well. They're 40 and 42, seven games back. It ain't looking good there. They're on an L5. The Orioles, 34 and 46, 12 games back in the Central. The Tigers, 51 and 31, tied for the Dodgers for the best record in baseball. They're nine and a half up on the guardians who are one game over 500, 40 and 39.

The rest of the central looks like buns. 39 and 42 for my twins. 38 and 43 for the Royals and 26 and 55 for the White Sox. Then out west, this one is hilarious. 48 and 33 for the Astros. They're about to hit that 600 winning percentage. There's six and a half games up on the Seattle Mariners. Who I think of like, I don't know, man.

They've been playing pretty good ball. for the Mariners. 41 and 39 for them though as well. 40 and 40 for the Angels right at 500. Ghost will they go? 40 and 41 for the Rangers, 33 and 50 for the athletics. In the

wild card, Jake, out there in the AL. The first two spots are occupied by the AL East. The Tampa Bay raise 46 and 35. There's four and a half games up. The Mariners have the last spot there at 41 and 39. So only two.

games over 500 for them. They're a half game up on the Guardians. And the Angels are a game out of the playoffs at 500. My twins. Three games under, only two and a half games back. We're going to see an 83 win team get into the dance.

And the last time we saw that, what happened? They made it to the World Series. I don't know what's going to happen. Those are the standings in the American League. Thank you, Trev. Yeah, the ALE's got a lot of mid to it. It's going to be funny to see how the trade deadline sorts out. It's going to be funny. Who gets hot? Do you know that right now the American League is beating the National League and Interleague play?

Yeah, hell yeah. What the heck? And we're going to win the All-Star game, too. Go twins. Trev, I'm going to let you talk about it because I'm going to have nothing to add the midsummer classic. What did your eyes, eyes see with Minnesota and Seattle? Nothing. No, it's the truth, man.

I know. I guess let's see if I can give some flowers out here Cal is still doing his thing he looks great obviously I mean people are trying to absolutely blow him up inside that's where you have to go with him

so every time he comes up the plate from now on I want you to notice where the catcher sets up it's like behind him it's insane so he's gonna have to deal with that a little bit trying not to go after that pitch and continue to take your walks that's what he's gonna have to do they're just trying to go off the plate

in so he's gonna have to deal with that but he looks great um what else that i see here that was interesting what nothing who's honestly honestly nothing who's the twins player that was nicest to teddy that's kind of what i care about they're all they're all great to him nobody stands out nobody's a step above we had um i had walner royce lewis and buxton send a video message to my youth team wow which propelled them to a three and day to win a tournament. Look at that. Look at that.

Yeah. Me and I think the people sadly care a little more about that. Four game split. Hey, I'll say this. Say something nice about the Mariners, something I've been working on. If the AL, so the way we just, the AL playoffs are wide open. If the AL playoffs closed where they are today with the wild card being the raise, the Js, and the Mariners.

That's probably my favorite playoff formula I've seen in the American League. So that's a little shots fired at the Central. And it's discrediting who I think the Rangers or Red Sox can be. But like if this was the AL, I'd be like, all right. Like let's go. Let's see what the Mariners look like in the dance. And they have the ability to beat any team. Yes.

Like they have a great back end of the bullpen. their starters obviously can compete with anybody. It is just a lack of offense. I mean, we talk about it all the time. Like, if you pitch around Cal, like, he's going to get his. That's fine. But the only real threats, I mean, Julio is, I feel like Julio and Randy can carry a team game by game

and maybe week by week. But once you get out of those three hitters, I mean, Dominic Canzon's had a nice year, but they just don't have a lot of thump anywhere. They don't really do anything particularly well on offense besides having a catcher that's going to break all sorts of records. I mean, that's their guy. And again, like, if they, you get into a real series against them where like it's win or go home, like you're not letting Cal Raleigh beat you. You're just not. So it's going to be up to Randy. It's going to be up to

Julio to do things. And I don't know, man. It just, they're lacking firepower, which is, you know, we've said that how many times on this show. Yeah. for years, for years, the duration of the show. Treve, I guess I want to, you know, as we're getting deeper in the episode, I want to combine, I guess I want to stay out west a little bit. Because Texas Rangers Baltimore, I have some Rangers thoughts later, and I guess their speech isn't that different from Seattle. Like, hey, we can pitch, but can you hit?

And the two games they hit in Baltimore, they won. for me, I think the biggest snaps that we have danced around the Los Angeles Angels at the halfway point of the season are 500. They sweep the Red Sox. This is kind of the season we hoped for from the Halos last year when it was like, hey, Ron Washington's here. They have some young talent. They have a ton of first round picks like on the field,

which matters. It's a different level of talent, a lot of the, the time. I also think it lets the fan base buy in too. Hey, these are our guys. Like I love homegrown talent. So if you're putting that out on the field, I think fans like they engage with that more

means more to them when you're these are our guys. Christian Moore is the star of game two. Literally both home runs come from him including the walkoff. And then yeah, it was my note on the way through with the Burns before I let you go.

But, dude, Kukuchi, man, 279 ERA and 17 starts. He was the guy that, like, when the HALO signed him and got it done early, everyone was like, ooh. Like, if he re-signed with Houston, we're going to be like, watch out for Kukuchi, bro. Instead, he signs with the halos, and it's like, all right, where are they going to trade him in a year and a half? He's been fantastic.

The halos are alive come the midway point. Yeah, they are, man. I love this note because we talked about this with the rays and how they've only used six starting pitchers all through the year. The angels have only used five. They've been the epitome of health in the starting rotation. Yeah, Soriano's been nasty. Anderson's had his streaks where he's been great and Kakucci's been an absolute stud. So, yeah, I mean, again, names on a paper, you're like, oh, okay, we'll see how this rotation.

It doesn't matter anymore, dude. Like, get that out of your head. If you're a person that's like, you know, let me see this roster before season does not matter. It's who has been in the lab getting new pitches. That's all that matters now in the game of baseball. But I'm very excited for this Angels team.

Having a bunch of contributors in that lineup, Joe Adele seems to be like a real thing. Like June has been awesome for him. Travis Darnow showing up. And I think we have to send some prayers to Ron Washington. I believe he's dealing with some health stuff. He's not coaching right now, right? I think you're right.

Yeah, I think he took a leave of absence. So, yeah, that's tough. Yeah. It's tough. And then on the other flip side of this, the Red Sox, like, some of the numbers, Jake, post-devers offensively, do we have them? I thought we did.

Oh, yeah. They're on there. And Travis, you know, if you can't find the exact numbers, a lot of them are just worst. Do you want to, let's put it out to the audience. In nine games after the Devers trade, Boston has scored 3.1 runs per game. The slash line is unbelievable, Jake.

188 batting average, 250 on base percentage, and a 320 slug. They struck out almost 30% of the time. Like, that is unbelievable. I mean, this is my preseason World Series team. They have too much talent. What are they going to do with all the talent? And this is where we're at? This is where we're at in the season.

It's incredible. The downfall is incredible. The next steps are going to be cinematic, because they either save this, and it's back to Cora's a good manager again, and these young guys are studs, or they're fourth in the AL, AL East. They're two games back for Wild Cards.

Right, that's what I'm. I'm saying. Like, if they get in the dance and, okay, here's crochet and Bayo and whoever else they can find, like they, they can still change his story. But, dude, their lineup, how about I'll, I've been looking for the comparison. Them trading Devers should feel like when the Cespitus trade happened and the lineup went to shit, because he was the focal point of the offense. And I know that that can't be measured.

We only measure the stats that we think we can measure. Dude, right now I know they're missing Bregman, and again, that should be a massive piece for them. Their lineup is listed as Duran, who hasn't been the same player last year. Narvaez, the rookie catcher, who was setting the world on fire, but he's coming back down earth. Roman Anthony, top prospect, but a prospect. Abraham Toro, like a vagabond, wheel year. We love him, no comment. Trevor Story, looking to find it again.

Marcelo Meyer, prospect, hot. Sedan Rafaela, prospect, kind of hot. David Hamilton, like, that lineup, there's nothing that I can even, on a given day, be like, they're going to give me good at bats. I mean, this is what happens when you put all your eggs in prospect baskets, right? Like, I just, you want established big leaguers. Because it's hard. And you traded away the established big leaguer that you paid.

$300 million to be in the middle of your line of, oh, well, this regime didn't do it. Well, okay, you had them. You had them there. And you got your GM, your GM got into, he got his feelings hurt. He got his feelings hurt. He got his feelings hurt. He traded him because of that. Like, I don't know how else you look at this situation. Like, I get it. Like, Devers, he didn't have great quotes and maybe didn't act perfectly in that situation where he'd want to. He'd want to. He'd want to. He'd want to. He'd, on him to just, oh, do anything for the team, Skip. And I think I said that too. So he's not fully, you know, absolved of any wrongdoing. But you're the running this organization, Craig Breslo.

And you, you set them back, bro. And if you look, there's been all these memes about, and shout out angels. I'm sorry we're talking about the Red Sox so much. You guys are playing great. There's all, you know, you look at who they got for Chris Sale, for Mookie Betts. and Raphael Devers, and you'll laugh.

It is, it's insane. Yeah. Bad. Yeah. It's maybe the worst trading that's ever happened in the sport of Major League Baseball. Like those three guys. Those three guys. And you have nothing to show for it.

They've got an L5 in their street column. So they've got that to show for it. I mean, must watch. Get your popcorn ready. They play Toronto this weekend. And this is the six. part, Trev. They take care of business this weekend and in the AL, they'll be fine.

So that's, they are also, I'm sorry, I keep going because I've seen all this on the social media. They're like, man, the Red Sox are a good starting pitcher and a short stop away. And it's like they showed Chris Sale and Mookie. I would love to see your social media. What a treat.

It's pretty good. What's your weird stuff? Like mine, I've mentioned this before. Because I click them every time. I'm like, my Instagram Explorer page. I think that's like a fascinating thing to look. Mine's all like kettlebell workouts and food. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's starting to get a little WMBA as I've been clicking on like Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham stuff. Right. And because I talked about Kelsey Plum probably, my phone's listening. Right. It's mainly kettlebell workouts.

It's you laugh. Mine, I, mine is still horribly ironic. Like these super mega yachts. They just, they pop up and I'm just like, dad is sick. That's like, a mansion on the water. And I just... Bad for the environment, Jake. I can't get away from them. Trev, I think the last team that I really want to give their flowers to, your Houston Astros, because we've been pounding the table.

It's been, oh, yo, wow, they're in first place. Now it's like, wait, they've got a big division lead. And now they just swept the Phillies and their pitch, like, Hater hasn't blown a safe. Their rotation is great. gross. And we keep coming back to the lineup hasn't gone yet, which maybe one day it does.

Maybe it doesn't because they're still in first place without it. Colton Gordon. Hey, we got another one. Funky lefty that's just going to dominate in the big leagues. Yeah, I don't know. This is a great series for them. Obviously the Phillies end up scoring one run. They were shut out for 25

straight innings, I believe it was. And Ranger does his thing. It's Framber. I mean, that's like talking baseball, legendary status, game right there. Framber versus Ranger. It's not Yordawn

that hits the homer off Ranger in game one. It's Cooper Hummel. It's Cooper Hummel. Who just goes back door on a three-two slider. Okay. Like that's Houston ball right there. You mentioned Hader. Their bullpen's been sick.

We haven't had a Yordaun siding yet necessarily. And it's just, yeah, I mean, they, we thought, last year I think we kept using the word inevitable for them. This year we didn't have that feeling. That was stupid of us because here they are with a six game lead. And again, like they're going to be in the dance and they're going to be an absolute force

because they have a formula for winning games. It's what they've been able to do and the sustained success that they've been able to have, you can't write it off. If you're a fan of baseball, you might hate the Astros. And that goes back to something that none of these guys had anything to do with. with.

So I don't know what you want to say. I love watching the Astros play baseball. It's been great. Couple numbers that jump off the page for me. Astros 30 and 13 at home this season, best in the AAL. There's been a couple of the past couple years. They haven't been great at home,

which has just felt odd. MLB best record in June, 17 and 6. That's good. MLB best record in one run game, 17 and 7, which we talk about a lot, year in, year out. It's tough to dictate that. or predict it.

But I think once you're in a season, it's part of your team's identity, and it usually ties into bullpen and clutch hitting and the stuff that year in, year out is tough to predict. But I think within a season, that matters, and they're here. And I got, before we get some final thoughts from you, Trev, Rob, I've got an unfair one because I was shocked when I saw it,

Trev, and you mentioned guys who are legends on this show. if you could get an image of Christopher Sanchez on the mound in Houston because he looked like the tallest MFer I've ever seen pitch. Trev, it is, I don't know if it's the way he wears his pants or I don't know if it's because he's, you know, slightly slender.

He's a slender man. That's a great nickname for him. And I think it's because he stands kind of sideways on the mound naturally that he just looks like this, he looks seven feet tall. And I was shocked when I was, when I was watching the highlights from his game,

which again was against Hunter Brown. Like the pitching in this series was incredible. It was incredible, yeah. Wheeler, Hunter Brown, Colton Gordon. I love it. Treve, you got anything else in the AL before we go second half of it? Shout out George Springer, a huge grand slam. Jays take two or three from the Cardinals.

It's not easy to go into Cleveland. and win like that. Here's, there he is. What is that? He's got long legs. He's got long legs. That's why. It's long legs in the sideways sands that just make it,

it almost looks like you'd walk in on someone playing a video game where they created a player and you're like, that's ridiculous. That doesn't make sense. I don't know if I want to shout out of the tigers. Look, I know it's the A's. They take two or three, but I don't know, man.

They just been. So, you know, early on the season, we're talking about Torkelson. He was carrying the torch there and, you know, obviously Hobby Baez and a couple of other guys. But Torkelson has really had a tough month. In June, Hobby Baez has had his best month in June. Graber Torr was really steady. Riley Green's been absolutely going off. Like they are now establishing themselves as like they're always kind of steady. Like somebody is going to pick it up when somebody goes down. Like Dylan Dingler, big homer in this game or in in this series like they they're um obviously very impressive but

I think we're waiting for I mean some people are waiting for some of these guys who are having these career offensive years or a huge resurgent year you're expecting them okay second half maybe you'll come back down to earth and maybe they will um but this tiger's team has found a way to really kind of just when someone goes down the other person goes up it's been super awesome to see. And even the game they lose. You know, Flaherty is at the massive homer to Kurtz, but he settles down and has a nice outing.

Jacob Lopez, I know you've mentioned him in passing. I saw him. I mentioned him right away when I saw him pitch. He's just got a little bit of funk to him. So watch out for Jacob Lopez on the A's, but really it's more of a shout-out just to the consistency of the Tigers, man.

They have just been consistently a great baseball team all year long. And obviously they're going to win the ALE Central, and It's going to be by double digits and all these things. But I thought that was the most impressive. That's what I'm starting to realize with this team is somebody is going to lead this offense. And we talk about that all the time and how you have to have guys step up at certain times during the season. Like they've just been able to do that.

It's next man up mentality. It's been really awesome. 51 and 31 tied with the Dodgers for the best record. You're right. The kitties are the best team in the American League. and it's not arguable right now. Houston getting very close. Houston getting very close.

I'm putting their two games back of them right now. That's crazy. Let's go to the second half of the show, which starts off with standout. Performance. It's time for standout. Stand out performances. Stand out performances.

This guy stood out for Trev. What? Standout performances are brought to us by the Draft King Sportsbook. It's baseball season, folks. There's no hoops to bet on. Hockey's out. It's baseball. It's summer.

It's the way it's supposed to be. And there's no better time to jump into the action with our partners at the Draft King Sportsbook. Right now, plain and simple. New customers, bet five, you get $150 in bonus beds. Insulate. That's it. End of transaction.

Download the Draft King Sportsbook app. Now new customers use our promo code J.M. Baseball. Bet just $5 on any wager and get $150 in bonus bets instantly. It's promo code JM Baseball only at the Draft King Sportsbook. Gambling Problem, call 1-800 Gambler. In New York, call 8778-Hop-N-Y or text Hope & Y 467369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-777-7 or visit ccpg.org.

Please play responsibly. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resorting Kansas, 21 and over, agent eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Voiden, Ontario. New customers only. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. Four additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.co slash audio. Trev? Who you got? We did not really get into Miami going in and sweeping the giants, which is kind of a big deal. And every once in a while, the Marlins will just... throw out some really good baseball and

going a little bit of a winning streak. Overall they haven't played great this season but snaps for them and snaps for my guy Augustine Ramirez. He went on Thursday. Went three for five with a double a homer and three runs driven in. I have a suggestion for the Marlins with this guy. Get him out.

Get him from behind the plate. That's done. It's not good. It's like not good. Get the first basement Mitt? Leave him at D.H. He's been D.Hing quite a bit, but they're still putting him behind. It's about a 50-50 split, D-Hed and catcher. Let's not have him do that anymore.

Let's like have this guy be your hitter because I'm looking right now at his splits. And we know what the catching position can do to your legs and just overall offensive performance. It's been talked about for 100 years in the big leagues. So when he is a catcher, slash line 235, 286, 418 for a 7.04 o'pe. OPS. When is D.H. 258, 302, 508, 811 OPS. I just think we don't need him back there focusing

on the pitching staff or blocking balls or taking foul tips, all those things. He's not, it's not like he's some special catcher. In fact, from the first time I saw him catch, I think I told you I said, they got to get this guy out. It's laxadaisical. It's just not good. And I think, I believe he already has negative seven outs above average from the catching position. That's like in 25 games, Jake. That's, it's over. Like the catching experiment is over. Having B or D.H, maybe put him in first base wherever you want.

Just have this guy hit. Because I think if you did that, we're looking at a guy that could probably be in the mid-eighths for his OPS. And that, that's a middle of the order bat. So let's do that. So shout out Augustine. You're a hitter, bro. Like, it's okay. Put that mitt, put it on the mantle, like behind.

Like, I'll put one on the mantle behind me. Just leave it there. Let it collect dust, bro. Be a hitter. You're so Breslo. That's so. That's Craig Breslo. He gave Devers a single speech.

That's the anti- Craig Bresla. I'm like, hey, bro, don't worry about any other position. Just be a hitter. But wherever you want to play, just not catcher, like, just hit. Yeah, that's what I would. Making someone a DH that early makes me a little sad in my soul. Why do people care about putting you a DH? Who gives a shit?

What do you mean? Why is it different than any other position? Why is it an old guy position? It makes no sense. What if Augustine could go over and play first base? Sure, let him try. Yeah. He hasn't done it.

He hasn't done it once. Right. And I don't need to do it midseason. And that's a little different. Oh, my gosh. Are we really going to have Roman Anthony as a DH? Who cares, bro? He's a hitter.

Because it's so hard to hit that if when you have your bad cycles or your slumps, if you could still play first base or third base, like it's just, it's a benefit to the team. It's a benefit to the program. That makes no sense. The only people that should be saying, like, no to a young guy, deaging is the young guy because, you know, he basically would say, well, this made up stat called,

war is going to dock me and I'm going to make less money in arbitration. If you're a team, who cares? Right. There's the made-up stat called war that has some... You don't have a good answer for this, okay? Just for... Does defense matter? I'll tell you it does in a second. If you're a good defender and you put... And if this guy's a good defender and you put him at DH, then yes, it's going to affect the team. If you're not, if you're just a, even if you're an average defender. Right. But that's the thing. What does it matter?

When the Marlins call up the next Augustine Ramirez, and he can play first base, they can put up Augustine number two and have him DH. Like, you're just, you're giving yourself more options. You lost me there. I don't know, man. You're out. And this is why you're out, Trev,

because Taylor Walls caught your ball. If I'm going to be this defense guy, if I'm taking my stance that we need to change the game and we got to get better, then I need to start, hey, You know, Catele Marte had a big game. James Wood, Jason Dominguez. A lot of guys did.

Taylor Walls, the Tampa Bay Rays, are a half game back in the ALE East. When you're listening to this, maybe they're in first place, the Tampa Bay Rays. And they've got a couple guys on offense clicking. Their whole pitching, it's more Rays-esque than we've talked about. The rotation is pretty damn good. The bullpen is pretty damn good.

Taylor Walls had a game-ending double play yesterday to keep it a shutout. Mike Kell Garcia is at the plate who's having a big breakout year. The Royals searching for life. Pete Fairbanks, who hasn't been as locked down as some other closers around baseball. Vinnie's on. India's on. If that ball goes by the shortstop, which it would for a lot of short stops, If that ball goes off the glove of the shortstop,

we now have the tying run to the plate. And what would we be saying if they came up and they tied the game up and the Royal salvaged the set? And man, they needed that. And the rays can't get it done. Instead, it's the rays sweep. The rays shut their ass out. And that made-up stat you talked about war,

which I'm now walking over myself a little bit because I think defensive war needs to be looked at. third on the Tampa Bay Raes in war this year is Taylor Walls who has a 69 OPS plus, a 594 OPS. But he plays a special shortstop, a special shortstop.

And I think that matters. I think that matters. When you can do it at that high of a level and he does, and that's a part of the reason that the raise have been one of the best teams in baseball for the last month. month and a half. Of course it matters. And the reason he's able to be out there and have that

OPS Plus is because the rest of the team is absolutely raking. I mean, in June, they've been by far the best offense. They lead in WRC Plus. They lead in run scored. They can do it. That's why you allow yourself to have a shortstop like that if the rest of the guys can hit around them. So yeah, he's been, he's been excellent. The race have just been fire on all cylinders, especially in this calendar month, man, where they've just kind of taken the ALE East by storm and or sit a half game back now.

Like they are, they're such a fun team to watch, man. I think we have to know we've done it before on the show. Like they're about to be on the road for the better half of two months. So we'll see how that goes for them. They've really figured out how to win in their home ballpark over the last month, but they're just, yeah, they're a fun team to watch, man. Taylor Walls is definitely a part of that.

I might need someone to check my math, but I believe the Tampa Bay raise since May 19th, they were 21 and 26. I believe doing math, which isn't my strength. I think they're 25 and

nine. Yeah, they're doing it. 25 and 9. I mean, that's And Trev, I liked what you said there, and it's something that our front office, when you, me, Cole Tucker, get our mitts on a team, we let Eno and Foolish do some nerd stuff on the side. Jimmy's our advanced, scary scout.

He just looks at kids in the minor leagues, and he says that doesn't work, and they're just, they start a different career. Like building a team that worked together, used to matter and it's like hey taylor walls shortstop's a really special position that we need and you play it at a special level you go do that common arrow hit the homer brandon low hit the home run like you know what we're going to do up the middle we're going to have two cuban brothers playing shortstop and second base they've been doing it their entire life together and we're

going to put them in the big league and say just work guys they kind of they fight each other but then they also fight other guys on the team as a duo. Yeah. They're so good. That's my dream. That sets the tone. So that was some advanced scouting there. That's who stood out to us.

There's a lot of pitchers. There's always a lot of pitchers. I'm hoping we're going to see a lot of them on Enfuego. Do it, Masties on Fuego. That means I'm on fire, baby, like Waco. Brought to you by Corona, the official Cervesa, of talking baseball. Trev, run me through it.

We're going to start out in Sincere with our guy, Ellie Dela Cruz, who is not an NL finalist for shortstop all-star voting, but maybe should be. Go 7 for 13, a triple a homer, three runs driven in. Since May 24th, his 722 slug is second in the majors only behind Cal Raleigh, who's doing historic thing.

So check him out. Nick Gonzalez, who we like, second base, for the pirate six for 13 two doubles a homer and five runs driven in he recorded his first career hit or first career five hit game excuse me uh on monday speaking a second basement in the n o central miko horner barely nowhere seven for 14 a homer two runs driven in stolen base uh he hits his first homer the season he was one of two qualified batters to not have a homer in twenty twenty five and he finally got it on Tuesday. So snaps for you, bro.

That was sick. Who's the other one? Xavier Edward, isn't it? Belize. Laptic? Yeah. I think it is him. Michael Conforto, the Dodgers extra outfielder.

Four for nine, a double, two homers, four runs driven in out there in Colorado. Lane Thomas mentioned him. It's a big three-run homer in the series. He had two of them, though. Four for 11 in the series, four runs driven in. For the week, Jake, Yandi Diaz. Well, we're going to trade Yonni. No, you're not.

You're going to be in the playoffs. maybe win the world series. 11 for 24, two doubles, two homers, two RBI. That's not a huge week, if we're being honest. Don't love them on the sheet. Yeah, you're out. Get them off in Fuego.

It's not that good. Yonbi? Yeah, I love them, but that's not a great. 11 for 24? We take that. It was soft. You did have three walks, 1.3 OPS. Okay, Juan Soto for the week.

Eight for 22, five homers. That gets Yan in Fuego. Eight runs driven in. We talked about him passing Jimmy Fox for most multi-homer games before he turning 27 years old. He also joined Daryl Strawberry as the only met to produce at least 10 homers and 20 walks in a calendar month. That's awesome. Max Muncie, that glass is wearing MF or four-eyed freak they're calling him out there for the good reason. Six for 16, three homers.

How many runs driven in Jake, 13 player? It's good. In June, Muncie's the only player in baseball to about 320, have five homers and have 20. runs driven in. Kyle Tucker, 10 for 28, a double three homers and six runs driven in that series out there. Or for the week. For the pitchers

who shove, this is what we're going to get to all those pitchers, okay, Jake. Erod, out there in Arizona, goes six innings pitch, zero earned runs. He's got 10Ks for the first time in 23, Diamondback starts. He threw five shutout innings pitch. His six shutout innings tonight

where his longest shutout outings since September of 2023. Trevor Rogers, A couple of Baltimore starting to get it going a little bit. A little bit too late for asking me. Shepard Rogers goes eight innings pitch, no earned runs. He has four Ks in that game. He became the first Orioles pitcher to throw eight innings shutout, eight shutout innings pitched since Kyle Braddish in 2020.

Tos Bradley talked about the Tampa Bay starting rotation. He goes six and two-thirds innings pitch, no earned runs, only one walk. He had a perfect game into the sixth inning. He had made three consecutive starts of four innings or fewer entering the day. So a nice bounce back start for him. And then Clayton Kershaw. He's won four straight start for the first time since April 2020.

And this started to go six innings pitch. One earned run five Ks for the Dodgers. That's who's in Fuego. Those are the pitchers who shove. Now, Jake, bring us back down to earth a little bit for the guys who are struggling. I will, but first time I might just grab a corona. because it's, like I mentioned, it's baseball season. That means it's corona season.

Go to the park. Go to any park. Baseball park. Nature park. Bring a corona with you because it just, no one's brought a corona with them and they're like, that was a bad time. 100%.

Chop up the lime. Bring a little blade with you and a lime. That'll turn some heads at the park. Go ahead. Turn the cheap seats into your own private island With some ice cold coronas The official Cervesa of Major League Baseball So do it

Do it beat the heat with a corona Crack one open, squeeze in a lime Enjoy America's favorite pastime With Mexico's favorite present time Get yours Order Corona.com 21 plus Enjoy responsibly Corona Extra Beer imported by Crown Imports

Chicago, Illinois. We got an interesting mix this week, Trev, because I've got a couple defensive guys that, well, I need them to be better than this. You mentioned Michael Harris Deuce's season stats before, and that's just not who that guy should be, but even in the last two weeks, five for 46, that's a 109 batting average,

has 22 strikeouts, lasting three pitches. That's crazy. Good morning, good afternoon, good night. That's hard to do, coach. That's hard to do. 22? Tide for the most in MLB.

We might need to find out who else is tied with. Andres Jimenez, another, we're talking platinum type stuff. Four for 40, slugging just 160 on pitches in the strike zone. the past two weeks. That's lowest in the AL. Andre Feminace can play on our fictional team. Oh, yeah. I mean, if he's got a sibling, we don't know about.

Let's throw him out there and we'll figure it out. He made a nasty play up the middle in that series. He dances while he plays defense. I don't understand it. Someone asked me on the broadcast, I think Corey asked me, who's the best, like, middle infield duo, like defensively, the guys that work together. It's very hard to answer that question

because second base has become another one of those positions where like how many actual starting second basemen are there that aren't just kind of moving around. I think the answer is Danesby and Nico. Yeah, I think that's where it starts. But it's also, it's a really interesting. Patel and Perdomo is a good one. Yeah, it's an interesting exercise.

Dansby and Horner, and okay, we talk about analytics and what matters and what doesn't, two of the weaker arms in the middle infield, but they play a good defense, which is just a sign of like some stuff matters, some doesn't. Me and I mentioned I saw your boy

Cole Tucker, our guy Cole Tucker and we started sometimes we end up in the deep end we started talking about if MLB players defensive highlights were only fans memberships who we would sign up for and I had Denzel Clark and Andres Jimenez.

He said Alejandro Kirk which, you know, Cole Cole like some different ish, you know? I'm a more vintage guy. I want Ben Revere. Oh, a little throwback. Anyways, O'Neill Cruz,

five for 47 the last two weeks, 103 strikeouts and 312 plate appearances. That attitude. And not the demeanor you'd like to see. He's waiting to be traded to the Dodgers. Sorry, Pirates fans. And an 0 for 15 in his last at-bats with runners on base. That's no-bueno.

Jaron Duran, maybe missing a friend behind him. Hit list in 17 at-bats against lefties the last two weeks, six for 43 overall. And here's the good news for all these guys. Freddie. Freddie is on the list. Seven for 46. O for 38 with two strikes the last two weeks.

one of the best two-strike hitters. One of the best hitters to ever play this game. Just goes to show, Trev. It comes for everyone. Depending how you want to phrase that. Three-pitched strikeouts. So Michael Harris, the second, is first with 22. With 22 as well, Christian Yelich.

Whoa! Interesting. Right behind them at 21 is Jaron Duran and Gabriel Arias, and then Sadane Rafael has 20. I'm assuming all of those guys are not good fastball hitters. That's what I'm assuming. Interesting. We'll dig more into that.

Maybe hit up your boy Yelly. What's going on there? He's raking. Yeah, I know. So he doesn't, maybe he's just guessing wrong sometimes, but he's guessing right a lot. More bad news, the IL. And I think the biggest name on this list,

Corbyn Carroll, fractured wrist, which that's a bad one in baseball. They're hoping the beginning of the second half, but that could also be a very hopeful timeline. Let's see what that does to the snakes who have been kind of on life alert the whole season. Ryan Burger for your Padres' right form contusion. They're hoping that he can be back for the start of the second half.

Everyone's favorite Conner Joe Handfoot mouth disease Careful con Yeah Jordan Walker We were complimenting his hustle around the base Appendicitis What is going on

What? It's summertime, bro It's the summertime Everyone's dirty and sweaty A couple carols on here Maverick Hanley got ran into by jazz He's on the Concussion IL Kbert Ruiz, with a head contusion, not the concussion IL,

hit in the head in the dugout. The summer heat does something to people. So, hey, let's get all those guys healthy the best way we can. The good news is returning from the aisle. How about Taylor Tremel, friend of the program? Houston, yeah, they need more help. And then we got some arms for hire in the bullpen, Porter Hodge for the Cubbies,

and Luis Garcia for the Dodgers. The starters. Frankie Montas, you shouted him out. Shoda shouted him out. There's some exciting things in Toronto, including Max Scherzer, back on the bump for them. I think Toronto's going to be a lot of fun the rest of the way.

That's who's back on the aisle. Can we start everyone's weekend? I have to give a eulogy for my award. You were a part of baseball for a very, very long time. You helped out with defense. You were an important play to stop scoring. Now, in a time where baseball has tried to get the run game back into the game, you're gone forever. Do you know what?

we're putting to sleep I'm super interested to find out I still don't have it you tease this before the episode at first I guess the hit and run and now if you're going defense I don't the fake to third throw to first but you don't care about pitchers I don't know that's illegal it can't do that anymore

I'm not guessing the pitch out okay in an era where it's become harder and harder to stop the stolen base. We have the three disengagement rule. We have the pitch clocks. I was watching the brewers just run all over the twins. It wasn't even fair.

I was starting to think about, okay, like look, now we have this part of the game. How do we stop this? Now, I came up with a few different things. You still have to pick off. You don't necessarily want to do it twice because, you watch the game. As soon as pitchers pick off twice in that bat, the hitters are,

the runners are getting massive leads. So don't do that. Do not pick off twice. You have to get on the mound really, really early with the clock so you can actually have a hold. And that's something I saw a few pitchers do. When you, let's just say you pick off twice

and then you're like slow to get on the mound and all of a sudden that pitch clock is running down, like the runner can basically just run. Right. Like you're not going to hold. You're not going to pick off. All these things happen. So like I started to think pitchers need to get back on the rubber as quick as possible

so they can hold. Mix up looks, all these different things. But I was like, why don't we, why don't we pick off twice and then throw a pitch out? Like we know where they're going to go. Like, let's just tempt them and go.

and go. Like, let's do this. It's a catch and a throw. It's the big leagues. You can do that. Catchers are, I mean,

the twins in particular, they've had these guys, like Vasquez is throwing runners out still, doing all he's like, the pop times are there. Like, give the guy a pitch out, a good pitch to throw. He's going to throw guys out.

So I started to think about them. I'm like, when the fuck was the last time I saw a pitch out? Can you remember the last time you saw a pitch out? I'll, I'll see him here or there, but I, they're very rare because

you can't even I looked up like can you look up pitchouts you can't look them up so like I don't have definitive proof that pitchouts are actually dead I might be burying them alive right now I'm not really sure but you tell me in the comments the last time you saw a pitch out and tell me why it's not a good idea to pick off twice or if you end up picking off twice and you're ahead in the count

why not give up a strike these guys are going dude You can see that. And the analytical guys, we do what to give up a strike. Yeah, sure. But sometimes you need to make a freaking play to stop the run game. Like,

I think it's advantageous to keep someone off second base. How about that? Because these guys are now taught slide steps are out. I'm about to bury the slide step. Yeah. That's team to team.

Like the twins don't slide step. They're like taught not to slide step. Go strike the guy out. It's like, okay, not everyone's a strikeout pitcher. You're a thought about, that dude you're like not that good you're not that good of a pitcher so like maybe

you should slide step to keep someone on first base but I asked Rocco Baldelli and like our pregame scrum all the media's in us at Rocco like is the pitch of dead and he's like I'm not going to call anything dead but without you know declaring it like yeah it's pretty much out of the game and it blew my mind dude like I get it and maybe I'm old man here

but like I still think there are times where a pitchout can be advantageous to you, the same way a bunt can be advantageous to you. And I feel like we just have to remember that still the game of baseball. It's played on the field. It ain't played on your spreadsheet, dude. And that made me sound like an old

head for sure. Yes. But it is the truth. I think I'm so far ahead of all these analytical dudes. I'm like lapping them. I'm so far ahead. Like the pitchout is going to come back in the fashion in a couple of years and you're going to

be like, okay, on June 27, 2025, that dude said it should come back. It's dead right now. I want to resurrect it. I don't know, man. To me, that was just crazy to think about something that has been so prominent in baseball, in years past, it's just completely gone in a time where stolen bases are so up. If stolen bases were down, I get it. Hey, we don't need to pitch out. We need to waste a strike. But stolen bases are as frequent as they've ever been in the game. We're actively trying to get more stolen bases in the game from the commissioner's office and we we throw away a tool they could maybe stop them how crazy is that so that's where i'm at remember where i was when i said last year if you don't bunt i think you're stupid more more teams the good teams are bunting this year

because they understood what i said mark my word the pitch out's going to come back it's dead right now but it's going to come back trev this is where you're absolutely a delicious human. Because sometimes we go so deep into baseball that I think the twins and a lot of teams logic there is you don't want to just waste a ball or throw a ball or change the at bat. Hey, guess what? You might throw a ball anyway.

Right. You don't just throw strikes. And then even within that, you mentioned the slide step, which, you know, teams are so focused on the execution of that one pitch that they're like, well, if you're adding the slide step, then you're taking away from. the purpose of throwing the best pitch. How about learn to throw the slide step? I don't know.

Which is just different ways of showing of how far we get away from big picture logic. Because Trev, that's where you ended up completely winning me over at the end is there's more stolen bases in baseball. What are ways that we can deter our opponents from stealing bases? The slide step.

Pitch outs, throwing over. Where I initially jumped, and this is where you and I become a begrusome-to-sum here, is when teams do use their two throwovers, they're not throwing over again. And you're seeing guys get this massive lead. And why? Because pitchers slash teams are too proud to give up the essential balk. The, oh, we throw over a third time.

They got us. Here's your free base. But they're essentially still doing that. If a guy gets a massive lead, it's a free base. I've said the same thing. Yes. Why not pick over that third time?

So in my head, I just jump to the postseason where we always see something unique or something pulled out. If you're a guy with a good pickup move, why not throw over twice in their scouting report well, they never throw over a third time. I'm going to get the bigger lead. Why not go for it?

So that's where I initially started. Who's the one team that's going to do it in the playoffs? Astros. Or? not the Yankees. Okay. They're going to do it, and then all of a sudden

other teams are going to do it too. So that was funny because Trev, my bait and switch was throw over twice. Oops, you got us. We're not going to throw over again. Do it. Execute the play. You went another step.

You said throw over twice. Oh, shoot. We're not going to get them. Pitch out. Which is the same thing. It's trying to prevent or cut down runner. And you know what the analytics guys? Now we are old. Okay. See, that was too aggressive. That was too aggressive. I caught myself. What the analytics guys would love is if we could get that

runner out on the basis. And their numbers, that's really good. Everyone would like that. So if we can get that guy out, everyone would really like that. So I loved where I just want to throw my pitch with the most conviction and the most velo. I like the athletic article in two years. It's like, the pitch out is back. Because, yeah, that one giving them a ball. Because we saw the raise, Bunt was second and third with Danny Jansen,

a one out. And they get a run. Like this, it's still baseball people. Yeah. We, Jimmy is on a mission. The Yankees are the best home extra innings team since they've changed the rules

and the worst road extra innings team because they're- Oh yeah, I've seen him talk about that before. Their analytics team says, you know, when you're the road team, you need to try to score multiple runs. And they're like, hey, you know what? Maybe we're not measuring.

If you're the road team and you score that one run, the pressure that puts on the home team. And the other thing that Jimmy found that's now his like magnum opus, is that if you score that one run and you haven't used your closer yet, you can now use your closer to win the game with elite.

Some rooted stuff there. But Trev, thank you. I'm so ready. Who are those guys that bought the soccer team? Let's just do that. We need to find an independent league team. Buy an independently team

and just completely change the way they run it. You want to find a Wrexham and we get a new baseball team? I don't know. Who's the Wrexom of the Major League Base Bar now? The Rockies. I mean, we always say it's the Rockies. I mean, one day we're going to run the Rockies.

Yeah, Rockies are Diamondbacks. Those are my two retirement towns. Yeah, oh, no, I've got a whole, I've got a vision. What job do you want on the team? Do you want to be like a special advisor slash hitting assistant coach? Because I know you don't want a road dog at the whole time. Yeah, because I don't want to be there for 162. Right.

No change. You're out on that. I want to be the manager when I want to be the manager. Yeah. Like if it's a cool city, I'll just come in and be the manager. Like the guys show up from a bad road trip and you're waiting for him. Oh, fuck. Exactly. Okay.

That's perfect. That's perfect. I can talk to the fellas. Trev, my award is going to be the Just Jake Award. My name is Jake for some of the people listening to this show. And it's Just Jake. I am not a Jacob, which is, you know, kind of a big, you know, people still call me Jacob. I accept it.

I have no qualmsily. You call me Jacob sometimes. I don't mind it at all. It's not my name. I don't really care. But in a way, it's the reverse of if you're a Jacob getting called Jake, like I'm there getting abbreviated. I'm getting like non-abreviated in a way. I don't know.

Chew on that, people. Jake's not a great name. I'm just going to be honest. One of the jokes I used to make a lot was that Jake's a dog's name. A lot of people know a dog named Jake That's a pretty sick dog A lot of people know Jake

That's a human that's not the sickest human We had a big night On the 25th, which was Wednesday, Jacob de Grom Which I debated about talking about this episode Because Trev, he went no-no for a little bit He was perfect game, no-no, gives up the one-hit seven innings, zero runs.

And his year stats are amazing. Dude, Jacob deGrom is back. Like, if the Rangers had 50 wins, we would be talking about Jacob DeGrom a lot more and said we just talk about their hitting, not working. His change-up, bro, I know we talk about this with different guys. I think he could throw that every pitch and be amazing.

And be amazing. It's 92 and it moves all over the place. DeGrom is here this season. We talked about Jacob Mizorowski, Top prospect for the brute crew Throwing 1002 Little de Gromish Similar windups

The only team that was able to push across a run against them It was your Minnesota twins, Trev The Moose Otherwise he's been shut piece There's another guy And you shouted him out And I had to get in the way of you talking about him Jacob Lopez

For the Athletics He has been one of the best pitch in baseball this month. 38 strikeouts in June that's tied for fifth most, and he's made one less start than all of the guys ahead of him. He was seven innings, zero earned runs on Wednesday night's game. And as we talk about the A's, and they were a part of this season, they're not. They've played horrible baseball.

They're out. They're still hitting a lot. Jacob Wilson, like we talked about, still hitting a ton. Like we saw the parts of the A's lineup that made sense They need pitching That's going to be their next evolution When we talk about them Jacob Lopez might be the guy for them

As he's put up a massive month this month And hey, it's for Jacobs But I'm going to just Jacob for a little bit Welcome to the squad That it was a big Wednesday night For all the Jake Jacobs I love each one of these guys individually. They all do different things.

I kind of want to just touch on them real quick. Jacob Lopez, shout out from Granada Hills, the same city that has produced Ryan Braun, John Elway, and my beautiful Egyptian goddess. So go Jacob Lopez, go. Yeah, he's got some really good cutter, fills up the strike zone, a little bit of funk. Mix his speeds up like a fun like he's a pitcher a good lefty pitcher we need more of those back in the game gosh I'm so old school now

Degram was awesome Bobbo real quick we're gonna go long I don't care I'm at a lake house I should be on the boat right now I don't care I love talking ball Yeah sorry bring up de graham when he finally gave up a hit Oh got that up I want to just mention a few things real quick hold off until I finish the other two guys and then we'll get back to that Jacob Mizorowski, I said on this show or baseball today, I forget what it was. I think we're going to be talking about him in the same vein as Paul Skeens. Like that's how good this guy is. And, you know, the knock on him was, can he locate? Can he throw enough strikes?

He can. He's been doing it. The only runs he's given up was against Matt Walner, a two-run homer on a slider. I believe it was a slider. It was an off-speed pitch. But it was because he sat down for like 20, five minutes when my twins were just giving up taters every pitch. Like he was in the dugout for too long.

Pat Murphy, we actually said on the broadcast, Pat Murphy should not bring him back out. Like let him have his scoreless inning street continue. That's the only blemish on his record. And who's the other Jacob? Oh, Jacob Wilson. Stud. You got to love watching that guy play. It's great.

Do you have the video yet? Originally wasn't even a part of this exercise, but I just stumbled into Jacob Wilson. Yeah. And you look great. like you're you look very fit um if you show the hit here what is josh smith doing he runs straight to the bag it's a it's a it's a it's a no hitter marcus simeon gives the um gotcha you're courtesy dive but we need the hit bobby i got you i didn't know what you wanted either um well a couple things i need here's the hit watch this hit cows smith goes straight back to the

bag like what are we doing there oh he's not a first baseman he's a util guy Look at DeGrom just smiling Like pause it, pause it I don't know man Like yeah DeGrom's on his way over to first base You don't have to worry about getting to first base Look where this ball goes

Like you're telling me You can't make an effort on that If he had his best step the other way I don't know It's tough That's one of the hardest things at first base To know how far you need to go And when you need to go back to the base

But dude Dude I think it's the only thing I'm going to fade the fade on you, and I'm going to go to, you know, finally getting to managers an hour and a half in. I'm saying Bochie and DeGrom are glad the no-hitter-perfect games out. We don't have to push his pitch limit. DeGrom's like, get me, I'm good.

I know what I can do. And you mentioned Mizorowski's scoreless streak. I think Pat Murphy would literally fight me if I said this to his face. I think Pat Murphy's like a little happy he lost the scoreless. streak. Like, you know what, Mizorowski? You're just a guy. I don't care you throw 102. I don't care that you're built like a freak. Everyone gets hit in this

game. Go out and get better. When I went into the manager scrum with him and just asking him about like base running and stuff, you could tell like he remembered who I was, but like not really. And he could tell he was thinking like, I've seen this guy

before somewhere. And he was like looking intently at me. I'm like, okay. I didn't like say, What's up, man? I remember me in Milwaukee when we were playing Blitzball on your field? You were making fun of Rowdy. Did we go out in Tempe one night?

What? How do I know you, fella? He, talk about a guy that commands a room. Those beat riders are terrified. Terrified. They should be. They should be. I just said I'm scared to talk to his face.

Brewers, 45 and 36. All right. people. We got to get Trev out on the boat. We have to have you start your weekend. Halfway point of the season. We'll be back Monday. Some good series this weekend. We love you. Jake's up. Every pitcher throw a cutter. Yeah. They basically do. The sinker's back in fashion now. Yeah. Well, that's because one goes this way. One goes that way.

Crazy. Let's try to keep runners from stealing second base. Our analytics team is going to hate us.