Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Offseason Report with Jomboy!

Episode Date: November 17, 2025

Use our code TALKIN10 for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKIN10 Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discountHead to https://www.factormeals.com/talkin50off to save 50% off your first box!Book your next trip at https://www.bestwestern.comWhether you’re just wanting to test an idea out, or you’re getting serious about launching your own brand, it’s never been easier to get started on https://shopify.com/talkin Coach Trev is joined by Jomboy as they weigh in on Judge & Ohtani winning back to back MVPs, Jomboy Media's deal with MLB so far, the Emmanuel Clase/Luis Ortiz gambling investigation and more! 0:00 Intro6:40 2025 NL and AL MVP13:30 Cal Raleigh vs Judge debate17:36 Jomboy Media deal with MLB so far28:55 That’s Cricket - Cricket & Baseball39:30 Clase/Ortiz Gambling investigation 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. Jake has gone gallivanting in Europe, but we got someone much better in his seat. It's John Boy. Hello, you got to pitch to me. Keep Brom Strong World Baseball class. Hello and welcome to talking baseball offseason edition, a super team edition.

I don't know what you want to call it, but we do have a special guest gracing us with his presence. all know and love him and miss him a ton that is jimmy o'brien aka john boy aka the boss man uh i appreciate you coming on today i know you're a little under the weather um but other than that how you feeling there yes my voice might sound different to many no voice uh i'm all right you know i wake up feeling like awful i got three kids and cold's going through we had a big warehouse shoot and then it it fades so like in like an hour or two i'm gonna feel great and then at night it's you know, classic sickness.

The warehouse gets everybody. It's just part of it. You got to suck it up and just get through it. Yeah. But yeah, if you're going into it with something like battling a cold and going to the warehouse, you know it's only going to get worse. I do want to give a shout out to our guy, Jake. I've been semi-texting him.

He's in Italy just kind of like doing his thing. He said he might never come back, but everyone always says that when they travel abroad. I was, yeah, I was texting him catching up. He did. seeing what cities he's going to. It doesn't matter where you go in Italy. That's my hottest take. Just go there and you're going to have a good time.

There's places in Italy that you go because you have to go. But if you were to do a second trip, and I'm talking about Venice. I mean, that's just like a town on garbage water. Like it's really, when you get there. Oh, so you're out on Venice. Yeah, dude. I never went to Venice.

The beautiful, like, movies and pictures, that's not Venice. It's just like smelly. They've cleaned it up a lot lately. But for like years, they would just throw their garbage in that water. It's like three feet deep. Think about a flood, right?

Your city floods and there's stuff just running in the water. That's not romantic. That's not cool. I think of water taxis and maybe a gondola here and there. Yeah, yeah. When I went,

what we thought and then we were like this is gross maybe we should start a travel show i would i'd be down for that but i wanted him to go to pompey pompey's crazy that's cool and florence is really nice you would love pompey the story of pompey is nuts i actually read it to my kids i had this like book like you know kind of like terribly summarizes it yeah they were scared of that for many many nights afterwards pompe's really cool um so you just had a baby congratulations you're doing your part to repopulate our society. Baby Frank joins Claire and James. You took a little bit of time off. And again, I think this is for people who are like tuning in, I think I'm just going to kind of like pseudo interview you today. Because I do think people really miss having you on the channel. So I want to

catch them up on what's going on with you. Again, you just welcome baby Frank. And how's that dynamic going between those three? That's good. Like, so I have a James just turned for Claire's two. and now we have a one month old. It's easier in a sense because I can't really help out with a newborn. So like Katie's been doing newborn at night and I got to get sleep because at 6 a.m. I got two toddlers running into my bedroom and I got to do like the morning.

So then I grab Frankie, give him a bottle, get him down, and then I'm doing the morning shift with the kids. Which is fun. San Francisco Giants. Every two years you win something big. Yes. Every time we have a kid, the Yankees early exit from the postseason.

it's bad news is it are we done uh yeah to ask no no I mean I want a big family I like when the kids

outnumbered the parents that's what I always said because I grew up with three and then four and we would like well fuck mom and dad yeah and like that bonded us you know and I feel like when there's two sometimes you just kind of like me and dad

and her and mom and you just kind of split up so I like I have a little gang it was three and then four Yeah, I was 10 when James was, when Luke, I call them, I can't stop calling them their same names. When my brother was born, I was 10 years old. So I wasn't like raised with kids. Yeah. And now he's just crushing in the floorball arena for you.

Yeah. Yeah. Was he the best athlete? Growing up? Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, because I was 10 years old, I never let him win. That's what you're supposed to do.

Yeah. for people who have kids. People like people used to get scared at how hard I would hit him ground balls when he was seven. I remember another coach being like, chill out. And I'm like, he's fielding them. Yeah. You chill out. I love it.

I had the same interaction with my brother. I never beat my brother until I did. Well, yeah. Most professional athletes are younger siblings. I've read a report on that at one point. Then most are younger siblings because they have to catch up. They have to catch up. I know.

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concerts and other events. Each ticket is rated on a scale of 1 to 10, so you know if we're getting a good deal. Just look for the green dots. Green means good, red means bad. So easy, even Jake can do it. I actually just got tickets on Seekek. I'm going up to Seattle for an NFL game. They're playing my favorite team, that L.A. team that's in December. So easy to get tickets. It was an awesome experience. And you know we had to come through for you guys, our listeners. You can use code Talkin'10. That's T-A-L-K-I-N-10 for 10% off your next set of tickets at Seek.

That's 10% off any tickets with promo code, Talkin'10. All right, let's get into a little bit of baseball talk. I have a set list of questions. We might meander off of it. Last night, we had the AL and the NL-M-V-P awards given. now the NLNBP was going to be Shohay. It's his fourth in a row. And then the ALMDP, which I think was the biggest discussion of any of the major awards,

really came down to the wire. Cal Raleigh versus Aaron Judge. I believe Aaron Judge ended up getting 17 first place votes to Cal's 13, and vice versa that for the second place vote. So it was a lot closer. I want to start with the NLNBP. I'm going to Chris Rose you a little bit. You know, it's been Shohay Otani, fourth award, only Barry

Bonds has more than him. Like, are you okay with just giving him the award year after year after year? And if so, what does it take for him to, like, not win the award? Well, one year he didn't win it in the AL when he did pitch and hit, but he was like, he was a very good hitter. Remember what year was that? He had like an 800 OPS, but his pitching wasn't amazing, or he didn't have enough innings.

I don't know what it was. So he won the award, 21. And then he got MVP 2 to judge in 2022. After that, he's won him every year. He pitched that year as well in 22, right? Like he did both. Because I was wondering, he, some people would think he's never going to, if he, as long as he does both, he's going to win it. But he has lost it while doing both.

He was because it was Aaron Judge here. Yes. That was the year Aaron Judge broke the, he hit 60, right? Yes. But, I mean, all of Judge's stats. Yes. I don't. We'll get to judge.

Yeah, yeah. He was not young for that year And MVP 2 in 2020 But he won it in 21, 23, 24, and now 25 And this year, I mean, he came back and pitched But he didn't like pitch the whole year It's just his offenses and It's incredible.

I think that's what he led the league in him What's that? I think that's what people don't realize about him It's well, 2024, he didn't pitch at all And he went 54-59 He and Judge were the two best hitters in baseball Over the last three years And like really there's nobody

even close to those two. Yeah, I was actually thinking about this today. This is a derailment, so maybe, but whatever. The NBA has had stars forever. LeBron has been doing it for 20 years. Steph Curry became a star. When those guys fade out, they don't have your aunt who is in a knitting club

and doesn't watch a single second sport but knows the name star. Baseball didn't have that in between Jeter and Otani. And now baseball has like two marquee players. Like if I ask my aunt Francis, where I always use name a baseball player. For years, she would have just said Jeter. And I'd be like, he's not playing anymore.

And she'd be like, I don't know. Trout never became what, Otonian judge have come. And the NBA, they're kind of losing. All their stars are more international players. I like, my aunt Francis doesn't know. Now, obviously if you're a sports fan, you know a lot of everybody players. Sports fans are always way too in the weeds.

Like someone told me like, you know, Paul Skeens is a huge name. I'm like, dude, not if you don't watch sports. If you watch sports, you know who he is. But I'm talking like Tiger Woods, Serena, Otani is on that level. Oh, 100% I agree. And I don't think judge is on that level. No, not Otani yet because, but I think he's kind of getting there. If he's in, if he was in the World Series again this year, I think he would have. You know, World Series makes the reach the World Series has. is more than double what the ALCS has. They need the market judge is like his size.

That's what I always say. Like he needs to be like marketed as a monster because that's what he is. You just see him on the field. He's so much bigger than everyone. I think that transcends. People love massive guys. So I think he needs to do that. But I do think it's great for baseball that they're in and people are going to hate that I say this.

I think it's great that they're in two of the biggest markets. I mean, that helps so much. And the Yankees drafted and developed judge. I'm going to throw this out at Chris Rose right after we do this interview. Do you know Judge's career minor league OPS? 900. It's 854. Yeah.

What happened? What happened to this guy, dude? I know he made some mechanical adjustments, but holy shit. He made a ton of mechanical adjustments. And he told the Yankees to fuck off. man, freaking victory lap right now. Yeah, he came up in 2016 and struggled and then realized I have to change if I want to stay here and told the Yankees, if there's a famous article in a quote where he told the Yankees around

the batting cage, like, this is what I'm doing. If you're not helping me get away. And he went to teacher man. But teacher man's methods really work if you have the power that he can generate. See, that's Caleb Durbin is a teacher man guy. There's a lot of guys that go. So I'm like, I'm not a huge. huge teacher man guy per se but the swing can work for people.

Durbin goes. It's wild. Yeah, Caleb Durbin does it. Um, so judge, I have no problem with him winning the MVP every single year because what he's doing offensively. I don't think people understand just how much better he has been, uh, than everybody else. Also career OPS and is a one dot, the only active player that has that. Uh, he's just, he's an absolute menace, man. I actually hate the fact that people keep talking about him, like, well, he hasn't won anything. But you don't say that about Ted Williams. You don't say that about Barry Bonds. You know, you don't say that about Ken Griffey Jr. Like these, it's not, it's such a sport that is not a one person sport. So I hope people get over that. I love that Judge and Otan,

you're doing this. And guess what? If you want to take these guys out, like, be better than them. But it's very difficult to be better than these two guys. it's it's uh i mean you got to win at some point and and uh last year having such a bad postseason like that hurts like that he would you know like vladdie didn't win but vladdie like showed up like crazy judge postseason numbers which i don't even think you should look at it this way but his overall postseason numbers now are good i mean he's got a 822 ops that's pretty good but and he did have good post seasons in 2018 2018 2019 it was just uh the uh the last couple were brutal.

So he helped that. He's so good. It's crazy how good he is. I mean, the dude hit 50 home runs and won the batting title. That is more impressive than anything. I'm glad he won. I had more skin in the game than I ever thought I would because while I appreciate what Cal Raleigh did is I don't, I think it was a manufactured debate in a way.

And I'm biased as shit, so I can't really control it. But like, no one is, like, I know the. catcher position is special, but like, no one's ever been like, oh, you hit 50, eat the most home runs, the second base never hit. That's, that's, that's the MVP's. Like, it's never been used before. I think, I think you hit it. It's the catcher position. And I, I believe in that. The catcher, catcher fatigue, second half legs, a mental, people were saying, like, switch hitting, like he's got the most. That doesn't matter at all. That means nothing, dude. Because judge hit, because other players hit lefty pitchers and righty pitchers better than him.

Like it just irrelevant. Yeah, I don't love the switch hitter like stuff. Like to me, number one, it should give you the platoon advantage. I know it's a little bit, you have to do a little bit more work. And people can get frustrated with that work. But you chose that, dude. Yeah. The catcher argument is the biggest one for me.

I even said during the year, and this was back in June or July, said if he had 60, I think you got to give it to it. him and then he hit 60 and then I kind of I kind of I still don't think I still think judge should have won it and again I'm a big proponent of catchers hitting and how crazy difficult that is and you know he handles and he's not just like a hitting catcher that's the other argument too he's like he's legitimately won a platinum glove at the position so it's he has the best case to overtake judge and he didn't get it done this year so that's on the honestly like if people are mad about that that's on the riders if the award was more like what it was when gibson won in 1980

whatever that was like that was the last time they awarded MVP to not the best uh statistical season but the guy who helped his team the most i don't know what that year is that gibson won it with the dodgers i think 88 88 like look go look at the if you pull up the on base reference they have like the stats like he didn't have the best season but they were like if he wasn't with this team they don't do what they do if that was the way it was then then I think Cal should

get it should be much closer and this is a big debate I had not a debate I had with Rose but an answer because you guys were debating judge or Jeter and I said well Jeter can win you games in many more ways than Judge can judge has four shots is four at bats his defense is good

but it's not otherworldly we're like Jeter was playing shortstop He could make some plays there. And Jeter was bunting the runners. He did what, like, the game called for way more. So I agree. Cal could help his team win day in, day out.

He affected many more parts of the game. But the award forever has been best statistical season. Judge had that. This video is brought to you by Shopify. Shopify is the best place to start and grow a business, which is why we partner with them here at Johnboy Media. John Boe Media has relaunched our merch store on Shopping. with our new slash line site.

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Shopify.com slash talking if you're ready to leave the amateurs and head over to the big leagues. Let's move on from this. I think we can just get in the weeds on those discussions, but I think we both agree that they got it right.

NL was a no-brainer. Otani's going to win it forever. Forrest inanimous. It's great anonymous. It's four times. The guy behind him, the guy that had the most juice to beat him was a DH. I mean, I love Kyle Schwer where he's an absolute stud. I won on my team.

But you can't compare a DH to a DH that had arguably similar or better statistics and also is a pitcher. Let's talk about our deal with Major League Baseball. I know you've touched about on it on some of your channels, but I think people here, you know, Jake and I talk about it, but we're dumb, like you're smarter than us. What do you think has been the biggest thing that's happened so far with our deal with Major League Baseball?

A lot of the benefits that we were like very excited for are back of house benefits, right? Like just introductions to other worlds or, you know, getting to put MLB marks on. our merchandise, which hasn't come to fruition yet because it's just a long process with so many moving parts. You know, selling like John Moy Media and Dodger shirts or John, like you have both logos available. That will happen over time. So, you know, just having a little more freedom and lack of worry to do what we're doing and make videos and access. But yeah, they welcome like all resources to us, which is huge. So, so. So,

Something I was hoping for, but it was kind of like a back end benefit that, you know, if they were like, no, we still would have done the deal because helping out the sales and the introductions and just like the partnerships was so huge was like full access to archival content. Like if you watch Jolly Olive's series, he gets to use all this archival footage now that just isn't available to the public. That's all. I've done breakdowns and I'm going to continue to do breakdowns in the offseason of like old footage. as well as we have footage that no one else has. So if you've seen the breakdowns I've been doing in the postseason and I was on paternity so I didn't get to a lot, I have more coming.

And usually I would flip the page and be like, done with baseball. Let's do off-season stuff because I just like moving forward always. But I have all these shots from the CS and the World Series that no one else has. Like footage, the broadcast shot, but no one else has. So I'm like, well, it's like kind of like we have to use this. That's so right up your alley. Yeah.

And I didn't know that I didn't know we were going to get like that, which is amazing. And I just feel like it's that's what we're supposed to be doing is letting the audience see the cool stuff that they don't always catch. And now we have even more like, see this shot, the broadcast never showed that shot of Robleski, uh, shit talking Jimenez all the way through. Like they cut back and forth. So the breakdown would have had segments. This shot was never seen of Bo's reaction to it. This is like the broadcast doesn't have time to show everything. And then like these shots of fans in full.

So that's been really cool. Like that's fun. I didn't think we were going to get much out of it that serves our audience directly. You know what I mean? Like besides just our ability to keep growing and go new places. But like this is awesome for the people that enjoy the breakdowns and footage. If I was, well, first of all, I mean, I mean, I never thought this was going to happen.

You know, early on in the days, at least when I got there, I believe I came on in 2019, I think it was. Yeah. We didn't battle with Major League Baseball, but we definitely weren't like welcomed in necessarily. I think that there are times where they kind of were like, all right, like let's let them do their things. There's also times that they didn't let us do our thing. They hindered a lot on the back end. They're prerogative. I guess.

They got a monopoly legally. Yeah, but it's a, it's a partnership that makes so much sense that I'm glad it finally got done. Yeah, yeah. They wanted it to happen. It was attempted to happen on what we considered non-starter terms for four years.

So every year, they would send people our way. And it was like, no, we're not going until we meet, this is who we talk to about it. And like this is the, the situation. And we have really big support on that side, on their side that, like, finally it went through. But yes, we said no for years.

And it limited a lot of stuff. We were supposed to have a show on ESPN during the home run derby. And it got taken away from us at the, because MOV was like, no. If I was to ask you what, like, your biggest, like, thought or, dream of this deal would be in the future. Like the biggest thing you could think of that could happen from this deal, what do you think of it is? Is it being like alternate broadcasts?

Is it being on a desk at the homerun derby? Is it more than that? Well, I know Jake has interest in doing the alt broadcasts and more like studio stuff. I personally have never. I think that's always been a bit of a bummer for Jake that I have no interest and he does. I just want to keep doing what I'm doing and have like the freedom to do it or see if this allows, you know, we've already had other leagues and other sports reach out and be like, hey, we'd love to do this. Like, we'll offer you rights and we're kind of just not really set up yet. But that's kind of cool.

Like it is groundbreaking partnership. It's no league has partnered with a media company in this way. It's like fan driven. like they don't own us at all. We got no money. They bought out other investors. I don't think people have realized that. No,

because you joke about it all the time because me and Jack, like, where's our money? Yeah, people are like, you got MLB money now or Moby owns you. It was like, well,

they have a minority stake in the company, but they bought out early investors who got a nice return because they invested on us when we were just two kids in the garage, basically. But yeah, there was no influx of cash.

I, gosh, I'm going to ask myself the same question. And I don't really have a good answer for it. But I truly believe that this should be a deal that sparks many more of these deals throughout all the four, or all major sports. I mean, content led media companies like have done so much for these sports. I think it's only right to, you know, kind of like, sink the two up. It's difficult to do, I guess, kind of what we've done and have a true community that we actually care about and actually built it and have true support there. So you can't just manufacture that for these leagues. So no, it's not scale.

You can do that. I think the two work perfectly together. So I hope I'm hoping it does that throughout different sports as well. Yeah. Golf has done it. Yeah, golf has done it really well. I mean, there's other companies. Obviously, Barstall led the way with this type of media company, and they're huge. They did it by burning bridges, and they grew upon the ashes of the bridges they burnt.

And that is, I'm not knocking it at all because it's been crazy successful for them. And now they have, like, barge their way into Fox and, like, establishment. But that, I knew that that's just not who Jake and I were. So we had written on the walls, like, don't burn a relationship until, don't burn a bridge is not built yet. Like, and that's the credit to why we were able to,

like partner in full because even though we had like disputes or gripes or like didn't like things and we're like budding heads we never publicly you know burnt any bridge and we try not to anywhere that's just knit that's just who we are so it's tough but also like a lot of people would say let's go get a show for every MLB team right away but that has been you know bars will tried that early on locked on it does it and a couple of their companies done that but we have such a real community and a tone that we like that once you do that it's impossible to make sure like if you listen i hate that i'm using their name but if you listen to some lockdown podcasts they're amazing if you listen to others you're like whoa this is way different

quality and tone than that one because they just have like you know they just pick up hosts but that's not what we want to do we don't want to just become a network of isolated shows that have no connection in tone, brand, quality, or, like, team. Like, I don't just want to show in Arizona covering the Diamondbacks, but we don't know those kids. They don't know us. We never really work together. Like, that's not what our vision is for what the company is.

Yeah, Jake never really yells at me. He yelled at me after I put out a tweet saying, I would love to have a Dodgers show. and he just was like you don't think we thought about that i'm like all right my bad i'm just putting it out there wanted to see who's out there okay but i i mean i agree with i mean would love to have a dodgers show too but they'd have to be people that are doing other stuff in our orbit not just an isolated show that we can't really interact with i got a lot of dms and suggestions and we got a lot all the time please stop doing that said okay that's my bad all right we got caught up

in the moment. I'm always trying to be honest. Like, dude, if you want to do it, I'm never going to hire you to start a show if that's the only thing you think you're going to do if you're not already doing it. Yes. Today's episode is sponsored by Best Western Hotel and Resorts. Life's the trip, so why not make the most of it?

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at bestwestern.com. Let's talk about another, I guess a pivot point, but not really a pivot point because you're so invested in it already before we even were doing content with it. And that is cricket. You're truly, truly inspired

by the game of cricket. And I think that's why what we're getting into is going to be successful because we as a company are, well, you definitely have a real interest in it. And you're really rubbing off on everybody else. And the more and more I've gotten to know the game, the more and more I've really enjoyed it. But we started the cricket channel. It's called It's Cricket. That's Cricket.

That's Cricket. I'm sorry. I had written down wrong. You had the merch on right now. Yes. I guess. So we have Why we're doing this and what it's about

So the show we have A Treve, his name's Liam Plunkett, Pudsey Handsome Northern Ireland World Cup winning bowler for England And a co-host Adam who's from Australia Superfan lives in There they are

And Adam looks like me Way more handsome than me this is bullshit Yeah he's a handsome guy And he's awesome and he's awesome And Adam Looks like me Has the energy of Jake It's like AI, me and Jake.

What the heck? Me and you, yeah. Because me and that look a lot of like. People have been joking about that a lot. But hey, hear me out if you're at home right now, especially if you're on the West Coast because the time zones help you out for this one. If you're, you know, not huge into football, into NBA,

if you just really like the pace of baseball, the batten ball and the storylines, if you enjoy watching golf or like the masters, like something that you can really dig into, that's four days, or, you know, a seven-game series, and you're like, I wish it was nine. I really like the storylines and the matchups because the version of cricket that's about to start,

it's called The Ashes. The Ashes is, it's like the Masters meets the Olympics between Australia and England. So basically, it's called The Ashes because they play for an earn. That's a trophy. Because you'll love this. The first time Australia went to England, way back in the day you would,

do a tour because you would take the boat, take months to get there, a month to get there. And then you would go across the country playing cricket matches so you would, you know, hit Northern England, you hit London, you'd hit, you know, all the big cities. So people could see the Australian team played the England team. So they call it a tour still. So Australia just fucking kicked England's ass. It's like 1880s or something. And the reporter said, our boys are coming back and they, not only did they kill the boys from

England, they're bringing them their ashes back on the boat. Like, that's how much they, they killed them, they burned them, and they're bringing their ashes back. So then two years later, England goes to Australia and the writer from England says, we're sending our boys to receive the ashes. And that was the headline. So that's why it's called the ashes, which is just awesome, like etymology or background story.

I love it. So it's every other year. It would be in England for their summer. and then in Australia. So it's in Australia for the summer this year. They play a test match, which is up to five days of cricket. And so if you really like chewing on storyline and sport,

Russell Crow was on Joe Rogan recently saying, like, once you watch a full test match and, like, are into it, you won't find sports like that anywhere else. And it's very true. Like I got into it last year where I started watching these. And you don't need, it's like the master. You don't watch every ball pitched or bold. You kind of have moments.

Like I tweeted out, how do I watch test cricket when I got into this? And they're like, the first hour, you got to pay attention because it's a fresh ball, so it's moving fast. And they're like, if you get, if the batters get out early, it's huge. But if they survive, you're like, oh, strap in.

And then you can kind of like have it on the radio while you do your yard work or just check in. And then you're like, we'll know when big moments are. But the amount of stress, storylines that come out of it like this batter versus this bowler oh here they come again like in its moments it's like oh well here's rory on uh you know am in corner now like let's this is the tough one that he's struggled like you have it's just like watching the masters i think we have moments like let's perk in like okay i don't need to watch him do you know whole 14 through 19

i think that's why a lot of people are hesitant because we've Americans yeah speak for us as a country have heard just how long these matches can be and you know i think the way you're explaining it makes it really appetizing to be like did these guys really hate each other because i that's what i enjoy is there a true like sick rivalry um i think they're friends because of international cricket but i there's no love lost like in the field i mean cricket's weird because the two batters are in the middle of a circle surrounded by the opponents just getting chirped and shit talk a whole time And they have no one else out there. So, like, if you're batting, you're surrounded.

You're in the middle. And, like, you know, gladiator style. So, you know, there was big controversy last year where last ashes that I did a video on where they, like, you know, kind of did a sneaky, like, almost a hidden ball trick-esque where they were like, that's against the, that's against the unwritten rules. They call it the spirit of the game. And then they didn't, like, they were, like, mad at each other in the lunchroom. How it breaks down is you go out, you play for two hours, and you break for an hour, you play for two hours, break for an hour, play for two hours.

And that's the structure. So it can be over in three days. It doesn't always go to five days. But we will be live streaming the first session of the first test. And I'm going to be joined those guys for it. And it's 9.30 p.m. Eastern time. So it would be 6.30 California time, which is better. because I'm not going to be able to watch the next two.

Australia Times Zone is tough. I think social media will help because, number one, I will say this. I think a lot of people, fans, sports fans in our country, I'm one of them. I like players, even when I was a little kid, this isn't just because I was a player. Like even when I was a little kid, I didn't really have teams. I like players. I like watching these guys who I like to watch. Some of these Cricket News, the guys that we've met, and I haven't even met,

some of like the big superstars. I guess I kind of have. They're badass. Like, they're awesome. So, like, if you get introduced to these guys and like their, you know, the way they play, their attitude, the bravado, I think you can get into it that way. Because that's, that kind of got me. You know, we are Americans, so we think we're better than everybody.

So I think, I think our sports are the best. You get around these dudes and, like, they're, they're just as cocky, just as fun, just as talented. And once you realize that, I think it helps you, like, kind of get into the game. Baseball, my number one sport, obviously. Like, it's, yeah, baseball is better for American audience because we rotate innings as often as we do. It feels fast. The main sport, T20, like, I do think that they, it's their fastest version of cricket, and it's the most popular in all the, um, South Asian countries, like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, love it.

But, uh, it is way slower than cricket. as a fan. We went to a game in Barbados and even I was like, you know, you bring people to a movie and they're like, dude, like, wait a man, they got to speed this up somehow. The slow version, test cricket that I'm talking about right now with the ashes is very slow.

But that is, I think, it's much more like baseball, even though it's drawn out. Because you can understand what's going on. Like some, you have to get the other team out 10 times. It's a two-winning game and you have to.

But the batter hits. until he's out. So he could just rack up. Ground rule double. Four is worth four. A home run is worth six. If they hit it on the ground, they can run the runs.

And he just goes until he's out. So you cannot win unless you get the other team out 20 times. Their whole 10-man batting lineup, you need to get all of them out. So when a team is down by a lot and there's no way they're going to score enough runs to win, they just try to drag it out. They're like, well, we're not going to let you win, though. So they just play defense and you would consider it bunting, but they're just blocking it.

But then all the defenders swarm them. So you just have to like bunt this ball, but you have the nine other players fucking in your face chirping you and you have to survive. So like that like the highlight alone gets posted and people are like, what is the bunting competition? And I get that. But the context of the game is like, holy smokes, this is heightened drama. All right, everyone go follow. That's Cricket. Check out all the social pages. You can tell, obviously, Jimmy's very passionate. And again, it is rubbing off on all of us. Guys, it's fall. And fall always feels like a reset between back to school, busier routines and shorter days. Finding the time to cook can be really, really tough. That's why I love Factor. Their chef prep, dietitian-approved meals, make it easy to stay on track and enjoy something comforting and delicious, no matter how hectic the season gets. More variety. More meals. Choose from a wider selection of weekly meal options, including premium seafood choices or savor global flavors with new Asian-inspired meals with bold flavors influenced by China, Thailand, and more. That sounds delicious. Asian food is by far my favorite. We have Factor here in the office and at my home. They are the best thing for those busy days when I don't have a lot of time. I'm doing a lot of shows all the time. I don't always have time to prep. But if you still want something to power you through the day, Factor is. what you need to reach for. Eat smart at factormeals.com slash talking 50 off and use code talking 50 off to get,

guess what, 50% off your first box plus a free breakfast for one year. That's code talking 50 off at factormeals.com for 50% off your first box plus free breakfast for one year. That's a ridiculous deal. So go run and do that and get delicious, ready to eat meals delivered with Factor. offers only valid for new factor customers with code and qualifying auto-renewing subscription purchase. You mentioned something that I think people are going to really find probably the most interesting thing we're going to talk about today. You mentioned baseball started out as a hooligan sport. Spitting. Still a thing. When we opened Target Field, we got a letter from this committee because part of it was publicly funded that they did not want us to spit. in the dugout because that's disrespectful to public funds.

I was like, all right, like, it's not going to happen. Spitting. And then you also mentioned gambling, which we, you know, this sport has a, I don't want to call it a storied history of gambling, but I think there is, you know, a big part of our history that is about that. And now it's come into light in 2025. We have Luis Ortiz, Emmanuel Claisse, facing 65 years in prison. They're banned from Major League Baseball.

because, and if you don't know the story, I'll give you the Cliff Notes version of it, in-game prop bets, you can bet on a lot of these gambling sites, strike or ball. And when a pitcher comes in for a fresh inning, you can, or really almost any pitch, I don't really do it, so I don't know exactly how, but you can bet, is this going to be a ball? Is this going to be a strike? And Emmanuel Class A and Luis Ortiz were gaming the system, throwing balls intentionally, because they have the ability to do that and winning, you know, somebody money,

which is obviously very illegal, obviously and honestly very easy to cross-reference the two with all the pitch tracking data. I've mentioned that before. It was a bad scheme, bad scheme from the get-go, illegal scheme from the get-go. I guess what's your take on it? And then I want to get into some more pertinent questions, I guess.

Um, it sucks. I think, I think, I think, I think it sucks. I think the reporting about it sucks. I think the, the public reaction, I think it's all misaligned. I think, I think no one's being honest about any of this in a way. Like, I've seen too much about it's $5,000. Okay, it's $5,000 and a threat to his livelihood or his family. his livelihood.

Like, he's not doing that for five grand. What happens is you get in with these people somehow, some way, and then they threaten you. Like, that's... Kase is not throwing an intentional ball because he gets to pocket $5,000. Like, they're positioning him as like an addict doing anything for anything. Like, no, this was from people that were threatening him. And I don't know that for sure.

But if you look at the history of this, like, that's kind of how it goes. they get their hooks in you and then they you're like a threatened so I'm not excusing their actions at all because but that's like the warnings is like don't do anything so like sometimes

this starts with spot fixing which is where you give them information that doesn't alter the outcome of the game at all it's just like telling them the lineup before it's public because your coach texted you beforehand or letting them know hey, they're not going to call this game for rain delay. We will be resuming.

And then they can do stuff before lines. They spot fixing. And a lot of stories about players in other sports around the world is they get in doing stuff like that because they're young, they're naive. They're like, well, I'm not altering the outcome of the game. Like, I never lose intentional. Like, that's different. But then when you do that, then they get in to you and now they have like they can ruin your life and reputation because, well, we'll. So that's, that's stories that.

have happened elsewhere, but I find it very hard to believe they were doing this because they were like, I need that $5,000. And I feel like it shouldn't be like positioned that way at all. So I tend to agree with you. And I mentioned this on baseball today where I don't know if they still do this. I'm not in the clubhouses during spring training. But Michael Francis is the guy that I referenced on baseball today, a former mafia dude. He would come in and talk to us about this exact situation that you're talking.

about like hey like somebody just gets their hooks in you maybe maybe you give them information like you said maybe they find something that you did that you don't want other people to find out about and you start getting into it and they're able to influence outcome we've seen it in all sports college basketball basketball I mean all sports have had this it's been going on for a long time so like you get warned of stuff like this and majorly baseball players do have references to call if something like this happens, like you should just call right away and do this. But if you're caught up in something, like you're saying possibly Class A, you know, it can be anything. It could be, and again, this is not, it's not talking specifically to this situation.

But here's some examples of what could happen. Your infidelity or you're anything, anything that is compromised or you don't want people to know about that these guys find out, they can just threaten you and say, do this. or else. Is that, that's what you're saying. The only, the only pushback I have on that in this particular case is that Claese, they said, brought Luis Ortiz into it. Well, because there's like finder fees and stuff. Yeah, that's, like, that's weird to me.

Yeah. That's, so there's a big case of this South African cricket, Anzi was his name. He was like as big as Nelson Mandela. He was a captain of South African cricket. They couldn't play international sports because of apartheid for a long time. And then they finally could. and he was like their hero. And he,

they got their hooks in him because he did like spot fixing. And then they would pay him to get someone else to spot fix as like, you know, a pyramid scheme in the way. And like it is, you're friends. But I'm not excusing players here at all. I'm trying to paint an actual like picture of how it happens because I've saw too many people

being like for $5,000. And I'm like, no. No, it's not like he did this on his own for $5,000. He's made bad decisions before to Emmanuel Claisse. He's been a steroid guy. He took the upfront money in one of those deals like that. So there is some weird stuff going on. I agree with you that there is most likely a much larger picture that isn't being shown.

But he's been, he's been questionable. this entire time. Yes, but that's not honest. Like it would be more money that they didn't account for or whatever. Okay, so how do we combat this? And I think we're going to get a lot of questions. We get this in the comments all the time. Hey, you guys promote gambling sites.

It's one of our lead advertisers. So how do you go about talking like about stuff like this and still promoting that? I want to get your take on that. And then I have some suggestions for gambling sites, and I'm curious, and I'll just throw those out there first before we get into your answer. I think we got up the age restriction. That's my thing.

It's 18 right now, and that is, it's too young. Isn't 18 or is a 21? Because either way, it's too young. Yeah, thanks for, I think Rob's checking out right now. Either way, I think we got to start moving things back to 26. that's like the commonly known your frontal cortex is fully developed at 26 and like you've gone through some things I really do think we should push a lot of things back to that age and people are going to hate that but that's pretty old I mean but but

but travel hold on the other I'm curious I'm curious we go on fixes do I think people are going to hate that I say this because because um and we can talk about our partnership with with in our relationship as a company with gambling, but from 2000 to 2018, there was a handful of like cases where people got in trouble. It's a little bit like now that we are able to DNA test, more murders are being caught. It doesn't mean there's more murders happening.

It is so much easier to catch people gambling now because they have all the systems. Like if you look at the EPI, Bay situation, that was hot tips to journalists. If you look at Pete Rose, that was tips getting tipped off. If you look at Steve Donahue, they were investigating the mob and found his name in a receipt. There was no way just to have an algorithm catch it. And there was, you know, according to the U.S. integrity guy, Matt Holt, CEO, he's like a hundred,

estimated $150 billion was being exchanged in gambling rings. You're talking like illegal bookies. Illegal bookies. This was happening. It's been happening like crazy. Just because we're catching them now doesn't mean it wasn't happening before. They're just using legal sites with actual tracking and authorities. So it's a paradox because on the public side of the world, that's a conversation you're having of like, how do we like mitigate the people that.

forming an addiction and are addicted, but on the professional side of sports, and you're saying it's all across sports, yeah, because it's probably been all across sports for years, and they had no way to track it. And now as legal gambling is making the illegal gambling ring smaller and harder to access,

like people are using this, and you can track it way more. Like, I was just reading all these articles on this, like, yeah, we estimate that this has been happening forever, especially like little ways like this. So that's the one thing on the professional athletes side. It's like, I don't think this is new. Like Trapido Mercado, the umpire.

Oh, man, I forgot. Who was it, Pat Hoberg? Yeah, Pat Hobert. And these guys, like, I don't, an Ipe, and David Fletcher was part of the Ipe illegal ring. People forget that. He introduced them. Like, this has been happening.

like crazy and going undetected. Because the only way it got to the public or to investigators was a hot tip. And it had to be like a huge case. Like Pete Rose or eBay. It's easier to prove that. Dottahue. Yeah, much easier to prove and find because all they do is

be like, holy shit, we just got a 30K bet on a first pitch of the inning. We've never gotten that much on a first pitch of an inning. Let's investigate. You know what I mean? Like it's much easier to prove. But on the public side, that's a different conversation. Yeah, my, my thoughts on it are the addictive nature of it. And it's, it's,

there's so many things out there that you can say are addictive that we just gloss over. Yeah, there's alcohol ads on buses. Yeah, it's, I know it's it's it's a slippery slope. And I hate using that term, but it truly, truly is. I, I'm just, I honestly, like, I think the driving at 16 is insane too like i am so out on that so maybe that's just my personal thought it's let's move all of these things yeah well all those laws were for like all those ages and it's just like true if you look at like societal studies uh we are becoming adults much later in life than when you had to go uh till till the field and take care of the family and 18 for driver's license i'm like i will vote for that today you got drive teddy a lot eventually

No one's going to be driving anyway. And I'm so happy about that, Jimmy. You have no idea. I see those robots delivering food. And I'm like, wow. What the fuck, dude. Those are interesting. I saw one in a snowstorm just being like, oh, no.

That's crazy to me. So I don't know. I don't know where we're getting into this. I know people want to always ask us about it. And I don't say, you know what? I asked you before. I had you, should we talk about this? And you were very open about it.

So it's kind of why we're here. The way that like industries work is there's a new something that's getting into all this investment money and they got to go spend on marketing plans. And that creates a bunch of new stuff. So like we don't exist if we don't partner with draft kings and they don't allow us to do what we're doing. That doesn't mean like there's been times where I'm like I don't want to do that style reed. I don't want to do that.

Like there's things that I don't love about it, but it's also like I can't, I'm not in charge of all of that. And in ways it's a partnership. And there have been like we've worked together very closely on things. There's ways that I would, I would want them to change the marketing. Just like, you know, you cigarettes, you couldn't. It changed the way you market them. I think that was Clinton, right? That was his administration because I remember in the mid-90s, they restrict or they raised prices and they restricted,

advertisement. Like, you know, Joe Camel, Joe Cool, whatever. I was going to say the Camel. I remember the Camel. Yeah, like a cigarette ads used to be everywhere and then they were only allowed. There's all these restrictions around it. I think there's probably something

that you need to look in there. Or like every three years, every couple years you should check in on the, hey, how is this being marketed? And there's certain ways that they market. Like, I don't think this is, I don't know if this gets me in trouble. I hope it doesn't. It's just my true opinion. I don't like, I don't think they should be able to promote specific bets, like parley's.

Like, like, this is the, like, if you make your own, that's fine. Or just like in, as they make it by like, being like, to me, bet responsibly and take the parlay of the day is they collide with each other. Agreed. I agree with that. And, you know, last thing before we, I think we move on and probably say our goodbyes here, a lot of guys are coming out now about, you know, threats that they receive online from these. That also has been happening for quite some time. I used to get letters.

I've gotten letters of like threats, just sent to the clubhouse. Yeah. It just was a lot, a lot. Again, I think it's easier to send, to get in touch. with an athlete now. I do think there needs to be something done to kind of stop that. And maybe it is getting rid of like in-game prop bets. You know,

I think that's what the NFL is trying to do. Major League Baseball said they wanted to limit the amount that you can do. There's something there. I think the biggest point and the best point you made there was we need to continue to check in on the industry. You know, like every year, hey, what's working, what's not working? what could we do better. It could be advertising.

It could be the types of bets. It could be the age. That's my thing. But as long as we're doing that, I think that's the necessary action that needs to be taking place right now is let's continue to look at this, not just every once in a while,

but like let's set a time and go over like industry standard type stuff. Yeah. I think we've taken enough of your time. Your voice does sound like it's getting better. So hopefully that'll continue throughout the day. I think Robinson, Kenneaux's in the office, too, just to let you know.

I mean... What do you know? Robbie Canoe. He is one of the smoothest baseball players of all time. It's true. Unbelievably smooth. Yeah, he's taking a lot of hits away from me. And that's a flex for me.

How about that right there? We should have found some videos of that. Well, I appreciate you coming on. Like I said, people miss you, man. And thanks for having me. And anytime you want to stop on by, you can. Jake, Jake. Like that.

Just sent Jake to the casino, and then you and me just do the show. Jake's going to come back wearing some tight-fitting clothes. All Italian now. Jake sucks. I don't know if Italian is due tight-fitting anymore. No? No. They're just fashion-forward, so whatever kind of...

I think they're all skinny and in shape, so they wear clothes that fit them. We're like... I think that, you know, the wide-leg pants are in. I'm going to Japan. I'm going to just wait till the style that I come back. I already picture it. It's going to be ridiculous. I'm almost 40. I can't be dressing this way anymore.