Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Our 2026 Predictions!

Episode Date: March 25, 2026

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Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. We're back. It's opening night. It's opening day. We're giving you everything. Predictions, the answers, the truth, Trevor Pluth. Max Fried. Austin Jackson.

Wow. Wow. Ground out. Ground out. I got a guy there. I got a guy there. Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball presented by Philips. Fanatics markets where fans trade on sports fanatics markets available now in the app stores.

I am Jake Storelli. That is Trevor Plouffe. We've made it. The long winter is over. Baseball is back. It starts tonight. We're live streaming. Yanks and Giants on talking yanks, me, John and Joe's.

Out West getting nasty and Calabassey. It's Trevor Plouf. How you doing, Big Dog? I have it as winter as here. not winter's come and gone oh yeah like this is this is the beginning of winter interesting the battles are starting it depends your perspective a little bit yeah okay at the wall they're very worried about what's happening right now they're seeing the white walkers it's happening okay i'm doing great jick i just sent a picture i went to dinner last night with some friends looks nice

thank you um and yeah man we we are here i i love doing this episode episode every year. And I didn't exactly know, you forget. You do so much during the season. You forget what we picked. We just looked at our predictions from last year. Little spoiler alert, not good. Not great. So we're going to try to do better this year. But yeah, this is going to be a fun one. And we get to talk PCA. Like, yeah, man. We both got slaughtered in the American League last year, which I remember all the hype last season. How crazy good is this NL? We actually did pretty good in the National League, the AL. Dale was Buns last year.

Man, we both had Texas Rangers stock. We both had some royal stock. Don't get me started on those Baltimore Orioles. I guess I just did. And we're going to get started on all of it. We're going to chop through the divisions, get some picks in. Our guy, PCA did sign. We'll touch on that at the end.

We're going to get AI's pick, and then we're going to get like the OG AI pick. MLB, the show, is going to run through it. but first you're going to get the real answers from us. We're just doing it, coach, league by league, division by division? I think we should go over like what we did last year first. You want to talk about your picks? I think we have to. We just kind of like said, hey, they're so bad.

I think people are on the edge of their seats. Who'd you pick last year? And I did. Yeah, I had royal stock. They burned me, Vinnie P. You're talking a lot of smack. But you burned me last year. Yeah.

I had the Red Sox winning the ALEs. They ended up third. They made the playoffs. So that's like half a point right there. Of course, I had the twins. I actually believe this one. I know.

We know you did. And that was a problem. I believe that one. Fire sale of the freaking century at the trade deadline, traded away the entire bullpen. They missed the playoffs fourth in the AL Central. I did have the Mariners winning the West. So that's the point for me.

And then my wild cards, none of them made it in the AL. I had Tampa Bay. I think brother Jeff put something out about the raise right before the season. And I just went to. Little deflect. Little deflect. No, it's just the truth.

Then I had the Royals and the Rangers. And so none of those teams made the playoffs. So in the AL, Jake, I had, I was two for six as far as like making the playoffs. Yeah, I mean, normally this would be a good spot to bury you. But I also went two for six, which is crazy. And maybe there's some new people tuning in. They're like, all right. So this isn't, this isn't where I should get my, this isn't where I should get my picks

for the year. I was on the Orioles train. I thought it was going to be the year it came together. Last place. Fifth. I also got hurt by the Royals, which I'm interested to see where you and I land because we kind of love what they put together,

but we kind of did last year. The Texas Rangers, they were probably the team that hurt me the most last year just because it felt like it could happen at any moment. If their offense just clicked in the middle of August, they could have been like AL favorites to come out. It just never happened. I had the Yankees and the Red Sox.

Know what you know, kid. And then the Houston Astros were my last team. They missed the playoffs by a game, two games. So, yeah, a tough American League, Coach Trev. And then in the National League, the senior circuit, The Braves were the other team that were just a devastator last year. Brave fans know that. Them and the Orioles were my two teams before the season I was really buying into.

Season from hell. Brewers went in the Central. Bang. Dodgers winning the West. Bang. I had the Phillies in the playoffs. They ended up winning the East. I had the Padres in the playoffs.

That's where they landed. I had the Diamondbacks. Again, with another bullpen. Maybe they could have gotten those 84 wins they needed last year. But somewhat happy with my National League showing. Yeah, you went four out of six. I believe I did as well. I had the Braves again in the NLEs.

We know what happened there. I had the Cubs winning the Central. They made the playoffs. So the Dodgers winning the West. They won the division. Then I did have the Phillies and the Brewers both in the playoffs. And I also picked the snakes because Dalton Feely influenced me. Between Dalton and brother Jeff.

Yeah. I just got to trust all numeral uno right here. New John Boy Media podcast, brother Jeff and doll. I actually have to talk to somebody about a new podcast. Okay. I'm not going to be in it, but okay. I'm excited. I'm sick of it.

I'm excited. We're just going to AI your whole voice at one point and then we're good. We're covered. Can you? We have enough data out there, right? Go watch every talk in baseball, have a robot talk for us. enough of that enough of that

let's do this year Popo we're here we're here and because it's Wednesday that means we start in the American League sure yeah yeah yeah

let's do the ALEs Trev I'll start with you man you know I'm flying close to the sun here we got I mean at least four teams that have very serious dreams for this year and a punchy raise team. Who's your AL East winner? This is brutal.

Yeah, this is one of the toughest division, so I'm glad we started here. Thanks for that. No warm up needed. I think you got to go between the Blue Jays and the Yankees here. Obviously, the Orioles are going to be in the mix. The Red Sox are going to be in the mix, and who the heck knows about Tampa Bay.

I do start to dream upon the Yankees' rotation once the season gets going here. here when Rodon comes back and Cole comes back and you're facing, I mean, that could be a legit, legit rotation by the end of the year. Plus, they had the best offense in baseball last year. They got a guy named Aaron Judge right in the middle of it. Some people say Ben Rice is the second coming. So I start to dream upon that. And then you have the Blue Jays and kind of the fundamentally sound baseball, the contact oriented, but you also got Vladdy right in the middle of the offense. The upgrade to the pitching staff. I kind of really like.

like their bullpen. So I'm like still deciding. But in my mind, the team that keeps coming to the forefront, you're going to love this. I think it's the Yankees. I think the Yankees end up taking the ALE East. I look. Great pick.

I know. Great pick. Are you going to pick the twins? No. No. Let's save that. Let's keep the people tuning in for that Ale Central talk. man, Yankees won with, or excuse me, Blue Jays and the Yankees had 94 wins last year in the regular season.

Blue Jays own them regular season and postseason. The Red Sox have bolstered their pitching staff, the loss of Bregman. The Orioles, again, it's just a weird mental gymnastics. Taylor Ward and Pete Alonzo and we're both in on Gunner? Like, I mean, everyone's in on Gunner. how empty their pitching was to start the year to where it is to start this season. I'll go Yankees. I'll go Yankees.

There's been a lot of run-it-back Yanks. I think it's where you started. Their pitching staff has a chance by the end of May to be something pretty special. And, you know, I hand up, I'll be one of the number one guys that'll get on the Yankees this year. But, like, judge is judge. that that man is enough for an offense. And then there's, there are so much, there is so much around it, excuse me, between jazz, Stanton, belly,

that, yeah, there's a lot of strikeout, and sometimes you run into the wrong guy on the wrong day, but you can say that for literally every team in baseball. I think so. I think Judge is going to feel a little more fueled after the Team USA stuff. Not that that's going to change his stat line, but I think the word around the clubhouse. He's got his big boardroom interview that comes out.

today? Him and Kevin Duran. Are you watching? Drops at one. I won't be watching. Okay. In the Central. No, that's fine. That's fine. I'll probably watch the clips. BBD will watch and I'll tell him what I need to know.

Or vice versa. In the Central, twins, twins, keep it moving or are you seeing another team you like? I did my first Twins podcast yesterday, so we got to go over everybody and what's happening. There's some fun players out there. Fun team. Good product. I don't think they're winning in the Central this year. Okay.

Okay. So people will be happy to hear that. I think this is a, I say this and then the Guardians exist. I think it's a two-team race. I think the Royals have a shot here. But it's hard to get over the Tigers. And they didn't even win the freaking division last year. but scoble framber and kind of what they've built there i think they're

i think they just have a more complete roster than the royals do and like i love the royal's offense has a shot here to be very very good with bobby and like i think a career year from viny although didn't viny go 30 and a hundred last year pretty good year or damn close yeah jack kegleone coming into his own that's going to be a freaking pitcher hitters park now all of a sudden but I think the tigers have a well-rounded roster I believe

in them also Jake another reason why I decided to go with the tigers I believe in them to go at the trade deadline and make some moves because understanding where they're at with scoble in that window it's they're all in this year I'm not saying Kansas cities I just don't

think they're willing they're going to be willing to do the things that the tigers are going to be willing to do at the trade deadline so I could see them being neck and neck and the Tigers making a big move and ended up winning the AAL Central. They've already showed the chips on the table between the Frammer move and Kevin McGonigal, the top prospect that's going to be on the team for opening day. If you are a Fangraph's projections person, he's projected to be their second best player on offense, behind Riley Green.

I don't know how that's going to play out, and I don't know what to believe in there. But, yeah, the pitching's real and where the rest of the division has gone, I want to believe in Kansas City, and we did this last year. And I think they can. Like Cole Reagan's getting hurt and going from him being year one to not having Cole Reagan's. That's significant. But also it feels like it's always the offense.

But they figured it out, like the infield. The infield's incredible. Isaac Collins is going to be big for them this year. They haven't had offensive production from their outfield. I'm not going to say since no, he was a minnow, because you already use that one. It's been a while. It's been a while.

I think Isaac Collins is a stud. So you look around their offense. It can vastly improve this year. Hey, I don't even, I don't need Isaac Collins to be a stud. I need him to be like league average. Like, that's what they've been looking for in their outfield. And if Caglione pops or Carter Jensen or one of those,

like it, you see their recipe. I just, I think Detroit's the pick. I think they're my favorite division pick in baseball. Ooh, interesting. I guess there's a team in the NL West that I, that's, we sometimes we just ignore them because it's, they're so damn good. I hope we're not just going to agree on everything.

Let's find out who you got in the West. This one's easy. We just proved we know a ball. This is the Mariners. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. Look, I think the Astros have a shot here to like kind of reestablish himself. in the American League missed the playoffs last year.

Am I correct about that? Houston, yeah. I think the tiebreaker. Wasn't it as a tiebreaker? They had 87. Yeah, 87 got the, that was the number. Yes, but I think they were, they were they dead going into the last day or did they lose it on the last day?

I'm blanking, but yeah. So I think we can see a resurgent Astros with Tatsuya, and Hunter Brown leading the rotation of full year of your don. Carlos Correa almost drowned in Lake Minnetonka last year, prayed to God and said he'll serve him if he gets saved. Guess what he was saved? I don't know what that means. But like if you have a near-death experience,

I think a lot of times it kind of slaps you. I don't know what that means for what we're doing here. What did you just tell us? Did you know that? No, this is the first I found out that Carlos Correa almost drowned in Lake Minnetonka. Yeah. So this just came out like, I don't know, a couple of weeks.

weeks ago swimming without a life vest with his son on his back son had a life fest on he started cramping up in his legs boat not not around man he had to like he like swam to this buoy in the water and like held on to it was still slipping down grabbing the chain on the bottom of the boo he had to yell for like his father-in-law father-in-law ends up coming over throwing a life vest to him and like he's like I barely made it out of Lake Minutes. Tonka. Wild stuff. I just wanted your fucking AOS pick, dude. That's... He became a big fisherman because he had a house on Lake Man, Tonka.

That's all he would talk about was fishing. I was like, I'm down with that, Carlos. Let's go. Anyways, the Mariners are just too good. And that's why the Mariners are in the West. And that's why. Corona, the wave, the sunset on the horizon, the island. Out in the middle sounds like a day at the beach for us. us a day at the ballpark. Opening day is here and La Playa awaits. Get ready for first pitch. Take the day off. Make opening day a vacation with Corona and the Corona pregame show right before the John Boy Media live stream on March 26.

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Who else can do it? I think if the Rangers find, magically fine offense, I think their pitching staff is going to be great. But again, I think just like the well-roundedness of the Mariners roster plus some of them they're battle tested now like they've they've had they've had a taste of like some postseason success and then and then some else and they're just they seem like the hungry dog the mariners should probably be the pick um i'm i'm ready to get hurt again and i just don't even know which team i want to get hurt by because i think one of the texas teams takes it

God, that Houston wrote... Give me the Rangers. I've liked the roster on paper going back to last year. The offense being what it was still just doesn't make sense when I look at the guys on that baseball team. Langford, Seeger, Jack Peterson and Evan Carter listed down in the lineup right now. And dude, what kind of pitch? Pitching effort, are they going to be able to put out every day with Avaldi de Grom,

Mackenzie Gore, Jack Leiter, Kumar Rocker breaks camp as the five? Hey, I don't know what it means, but their bullpen has found a way to pitch every year. They just, they need a mediocre offense. And this is a really good baseball team. That I'm in. I'll go Texas Rangers. I'll get hurt again. I'm glad you picked something different.

I mean, look, I'd be happy to see it. I like the rotation, like you said. But, I mean, are they willing to make the move at the deadline? Seems like they are. I think so, man. Seager gets great a lot of money. I thought you were going to pick the Astros. I thought so to the west, the west and the east.

And this is full disclosure. And for everyone that tunes into us, we, you know, we get, we have our information and our thoughts. And we have fun here. And we appreciate we get to have fun with all of y'all. Um, the east and the west this year, six different teams, I think can easily win each, each division. I think the Mariners are by far the best team in the A.L. West.

I don't think it's as close as you're making it. I confused Dalton there. I combined the divisions, the east and the west, that two of the six teams. It was weird Jake Math. Um, yeah, I mean, hey, we do this. The Braves were supposed to run away with the NOS last year. I don't like my Yankees pick.

So now are we doing, so now we'll do the AIL Wild Cards. You got your three wild cards lined up, Coach? I do. Okay. I think we should go quick through this because we kind of just talked about every team. I'll go Blue Jace. I will go Red Sox. And I will go Houston Astros.

Hmm. I'm starting to like your picks more than mine. Seattle's in. Like I still believe in Seattle. I think Texas can and we're shooting from the hip a little bit. So give me Seattle. I mean, I'd just be lying to the people after what I've said all offseason if I don't pick the Baltimore Orioles.

I love what they did. I love what they did. And there was a clear outlier bad start that just tanked their entire season. So now I got one more, Vinnie P's Royals, the Blue Jays running it back. I like the Blue Jays. The only thing I always... You have them out of the playoffs?

I have one more team to put in. Oh, I thought that was three, coach. No, no, no, no. Okay. Seattle, Baltimore, and give me another East team has to do it. Where were you about it? You just made a noise. Here's the thing.

I'm starting to rethink these three AL East team in the playoff situation because I think it's going to be a gauntlet. Could be bloody. It's like can a team, like you said, in the Central, just like win one more game because the schedule's a little lighter. Nobody's mentioned Cleveland. I know, dude. And they're going to be there.

Give me the Kansas City Royals. Screw it. I like it. I'm happy you chosen. I feel chalky in my picks. Should we trade our picks? No, I like my picks,

but sometimes I like to go out on a limb a little bit. Right. It's very safe. But what is that even? mean what's that even mean we don't know is that a justin beaver song what do you mean i'm i don't know him and haley seem to have a good thing going on oh olivia loves haley beaver really yeah okay she seems classy yeah it seems like for i mean all the circumstance they've run into in life they seem to be in an all right spot right yeah make sure you guys reach out

Tag them. Tag them in this episode. So give me your final playoff teams again? I went Yankees, Tigers, Mariners. And then my wild card, Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox, and Houston Astros. Okay. And I am Yankees, Tigers, Rangers, Mariners, Royals, Orioles.

I don't love my AL picks again. So how many teams... Okay. So how many teams are going to feel really hurt in the American League this year? So like out of my pick? Like out of no, no, no, not about us. I'm just saying with actual postseason hopes. Like, I guess for mine, like Houston thinks they're going to the postseason this year.

I currently. I don't think I mean, yeah, they do. Correct. You just told me how God saved him. That's probably my one like pick that's like not chalky is the Houston Astros in. because like beyond I mean, Ted Tatsuya is not a proven

guy. No, we're going to see what he can do. He looks really good. Yeah. Hunter Brown's a guy. Then after that, like the rotation's like,

okay, well, yeah. That's, you know, there's a, there's a, there's a,

a Cam Smith, like second year stud, you know, Pena is who he is. And it just, it just seems to me like, they still know how to win ball games. They were,

they were half a game from making the, playoffs last year and they didn't have your on. It felt like a bad year. Yeah. Yeah, that was in my head. I guess what I was trying to do. Baltimore playoff hopes.

Legit playoff hopes. Boston. Yep. Detroit, Houston, Kansas City, New York, Seattle, Texas. Yeah. Toronto. So that's nine teams. Cleveland's kind of crazy in this. I guess Cleveland, those are nine teams that have legit playoff expectations.

Only six teams are going to make the postseason. That didn't encounter Cleveland, who makes it every year. And then, you know, if the athletics are raised or one of those teams does have an upstart season, I don't know. I guess this is where I start to get jazzy because it's like, damn. Sometimes it feels like it's written down how this year is going to happen. We have no clue. Teams are going to get.

Teams are going to get hurt. Guardians in 2022. First and AL Central. 2023, not great. Third in the El Central. Missed playoffs. 24, first Nail Central, 25, first Nail Central. And we just can't do it.

I can't. And I, maybe this is my last hurrah. That if they win, if I get blinded by the Texas Rangers again and Cleveland makes the playoffs, I don't know, I just can't let that happen ever again. Only season Cleveland finished under 500 since 2023 was 2013. What? That sentence is out. It was adult in live stat.

It seemed nice. They win a lot. They win a lot. They din it in 2023 every other year they have since 2013. Great. Good picks. Cleveland at the buzzer? No, I'm sticking with mine.

Okay. Oh, a little wild card logo got stuck on my chest there. You are a wild car. I'm a little bit. Sometimes. Today's episode is sponsored by Best Western hotels and resorts. Life's a trip, people. Why not make the most of it?

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Life's a trip. Make the most of it at bestwester.com. Let's go to the National League, Coach Trev, and we'll remain in the east. another kind of brutal one. The Mets might have been the most talked about team this offseason. Who the Braves were, the Phillies and who they are as a franchise. Might not be a Marlins Nationals hype moment.

Although the Marlins probably deserve more love. Where do your eyes go? Another tough one for me. I have two teams in the playoffs from this division. only one can win the division though and I'm gonna go with the New York Mets I think it's the year that we see it pan out for them

like Jolly Olive at the end of the year celebrating an Annalise title I can just see it the hair flip all the things that he does I don't know I like what they did and I don't really really have a strong feeling here like it could be them or the Phillies but I want to

I want to put it out there that they're going to win because they went for it this off season. Complete roster overhaul. I really like all the moves. I can't wait to see Luis Robert out there in center field. I don't know. That's like one of the guys I'm looking forward to most this season. Just is

the change of scenery real for him? I think they have enough young pitching and pitching to get the job done. I like some of the guys there. Are they going to miss Pete and Edwin? Sure. But again, they just they brought in a lot of really, really good players and I think it's going to work out for them. So I'm going to

New York Mets. We've talked about them a lot. I see the path and I don't see the path. I will go. We'll see. More picks to come. I'm taking the Phillies in the NL East. I was buying some brave stock, the Strider thing, pretty brutal, along to go with a couple other, you know, a couple other Spencer Schwellenbach.

And like, the injury train still feels there. I still like the Braves, but I don't know. Not like I like the Phillies. That rotation, we're not, even not factoring in Wheeler, who has been a top five pitcher in baseball the past five years or however you want to go far back with Wheeler. Sanchez, Nola, Lazzardo, Walker Painter. Again, it's a little different, but Painter's a legit prospect.

And the news on Wheeler has been okay. that, yeah, they're still the Phillies. And between Turner and Schorber and Harper, you think one of those guys is going to have like a top five MVP season that I'm, Phillies feel like the safest bet. I'm staying there. Chris Sanchez, another extension, basically.

Yeah, I know. I like the pick. I do. He keeps growing and he keeps getting extensions. It's not a bad way to, I'm doing neither. Spoiler alert, I'm going to have them in the playoffs. Oh, little industry tease. Let's go to the NL Central, Coach.

We got a couple of our favorites here. I think you've convinced me of this one, because I obviously like the brewers and what they do, and we're not, they're like the guardians, but we give them more respect. Yes. And why is that? Because they've been a little better.

Have they? I think so, yeah I think that Guardians are one of the winningest teams since like 20, 2013, if you're going on dollars. You're trying to read. Yes.

See, like, that's what I'm saying. I think we respect the Brewers more and like they're like the same, they're like the Guardians. We just don't, why don't we respect the city of Cleveland? Is it Chris Rose? It's probably a Chris Rose factor. I think.

Shaker Heights, stand up. I think Cleveland was a threat. Like those J-Ram Linder like when Cleveland was happening, I think they lost. I don't know. It's felt different since then. Chase DeLodder, Kyle Manzardo, Gavin Williams. Trev, I mean, we'll.

Stephen Vow. It's a very good chance. It's October 1st and we're talking about the Cleveland Guardian still. So Guardians' third best win percentage behind the Yankees and the Dodgers since 2013. So we're fools. I'm taking the Milwaukee Brewers. You sold me on the pitching staff, man. The starting rotation being better than they've had in quite some time.

I'm a Jacob Mizorowski truther. I know last season, the second half, didn't go his way. He did have some shin stuff happening. You know, the command wasn't there. But pure stuff, he's one of the best in all of baseball. So I like a nice bounce back year for him. He started the All-Star game last year. after like three starts. Do you remember that?

I do. That was weird. That was weird. So yeah, I'm taking them, man. I like the offense as well. Chu Urio. Nice. I know you're going to go there too. Yeah, I mean, caught with my hand in the cookie jar a little bit. I love the cubbies. I keep talking myself into the everyday what those cubbies are going to be. You know, dark horses in that division.

The Reds, like you see a world where it can all come. come together, but we've said that for a few years. And Hunter Green getting hurt right before the season. That one felt tough. Yeah, I think this is the most talented Brewer's team, like potentially ever. I know we did this the other day, 2018. They went to game seven of the CS. Yelly won the MVP that year.

That team certainly has an argument. I think, Tru Rio, how do you do it? Can you do it? It's just true. Ooh, Rio. The way they were doing it at the Feniswale of baseball. Yeah, it was incredible. I couldn't tell if that guy was white or if he was Hispanic.

Oh, interesting. He had both voices just nailed. Oh. Then I would lean Hispanic and he was able. Bryce Harper. And I'd be like, okay, that's like. Was he kind of twisting the screw in Team USA's back a little bit? I don't know.

And here comes Bryce Harper for the American team. I like the purse. They've got a ton of lefties in their bullpen. They can mix and match pretty well down there. Who is it? Our two guys, Bobby Gasser and Logan Henderson, starting the year in AAA. Like, I think this team's depth,

I think this team's high-level talent, is very different than Milwaukee teams previously. And every player that touches the field can either catch the ball or pitch the ball really well. And then from there, you get some bonus points. If you can hit for power, you can run. Like, Bryce Terang was starting on that U.S. team. He's there.

He's Team USA with all those guys going back to U-18 or whatever. And for some reason, we don't respect him the same way. Contreras Venezuela. Just start naming everyone's country. I don't know, man. Like, I, if they've unlocked Andrew Vaughn, the Brewers might be, like, illegal. Yeah, the Vaughn thing's interesting.

to me. Like, I want to, I want to know. Or the white socks are illegal. Oh, yeah. If Vaughn and freaking Luis Robert go off this year, we have to, we have to investigate. And we did a little of that last year. Romy Gonzalez. Yeah. He's going nuts Tobias Harris the year before. Isn't there a Brad Keller discussion? Wasn't he there? Or he's with the, I know he was with the Royals, but I think he also made a stop with the White Sox. Am I wrong about that? Thumbs up from Dalton. I could give you a Tim Hill speech. Got DFAed by the White Sox and now he's been great with the Yanks.

Anyways, sorry White Sox fans. At least things are going good with Frank Thomas. That's so bad, dude. That's so bad. That's so bad. That can't be happening. Can't be happening the day before the season. Yeah, that's bad juju right.

Can't happen at all. Great statue. He's had a great statue. It's the big hurt. Yeah. That's pretty crazy. Nicknames used to be better. That just is what it is.

My friend Matthews doing a, like a symposium and like his right-hand man is diesel. Wow. How fun is that? The daddy. Yeah. Shack. Shack's awesome, dude. Yeah.

Talk about American. Here's the biggest MF for in the world. I don't know. Isn't he like the most dominant player of all time? Like I don't know. Like who the hell? Like he's like the biggest mismatch in NBA history. Yeah.

I'm, I'm pretty happy. My podcast listening is a lot of NBA, which is weird. Because it's probably my, of basketball, football, baseball. It's my third least watch sport.

But I really like what Rosillo does. I really like what Simmons does. And Simmons used to do like his all time team. He's so funny when he does that stuff. Like he has it all in the calculator. That Shaq, without having played in whatever it is, a decade or more, has been, like, climbing up his all-time list because he's just like, Shaq was so down.

And it's like, yes. Shaq was unstoppable. Yes. Okay. Little Shaq talk in the middle of the episode. Him and Matthew, huh? Is Matthew worried about, like, being next to him? I guess Matthew's surrounded by larger men a lot.

He's the NFL MVP. Yeah, that's true. What are we going to do, coach? MVP, bro. Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. You got to set up a dinner, him and more no.

And Shaq, if Shaq's around. I'm the most valuable podcaster. You are. You are. That's what I get to bring at the table. You're my guy. I feel like you and I have reconnected. Team USA is 16 under.

I feel like you and I have reconnected, Treve. It's special. It is special. Okay, we'll do a little more baseball, I guess, for the people. Besides that. The West. Why has Dalton already put our picks in there? What if I'd change from the Dodgers who are going to win 99 games this year and take the West?

They're too damn good. You see Shohei last night, four innings pitched 11Ks. What are we doing? He's illegal. It's incredible what they've. built there. Yes, I understand about the TV deal. Yes, I understand about the ownership group. Yes, I understand about deferred money. Don't care. Yeah. Watching them play baseball is going to be so fun this year. And you know what? Like, let them be the villain. Everyone can root against them. That's fine. They don't, they don't care. And we need teams like that. We need teams to root against. I think the Dodgers have become that. That's fine. But also, how can you root against Shohei Otani? He can't. this is the best roster in baseball. They should win the most games in baseball.

They should be the favorite to win the World Series. Back-to-back champs. They're winning the West. And hey, just covering our butts on why we don't, why we like Milwaukee better than Cleveland. Milwaukee was better than the Dodgers last year in the regular season. And then the postseason came. And my God, they got it.

The Dodgers were dragging things on the mount. The Dodgers, I don't even think played good baseball. No. And they won the World Series. Ew, that's the scary part. It's all scary. It's all scary. Yeah, I'm obviously taking them too.

That's not what we do here. Actually, these Padres, no, man, these Dodgers are, they're going for a three-peat. It's causing a rift in the sport. A little bit, yeah. Like, we're at that point. They arguably had the best off-season. They're going to be pretty damn good this year. Shoah is going to pitch.

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Who are your three wild cartoons? This is very difficult. I mean, two aren't. I'm going to go the Phillies. I'm going to go the Chicago Cubs. The third team is still kind of eluding me. Yeah, alluding, evading. I want to pick the Padres here.

But I'm racking my brain. Is there a team that I miss? Like, if Hunter Green was there, I think, I'm going to go Reds. but he's not. And I know they still have a lot of pitching depth there, but it definitely knocks them down a little bit. In the NAL-East, like the Braves, the injury bug has already hit them.

So I probably won't go there. And then you're stuck with the West. And I think the second best team in the West is going to be the Padres. You could talk about the Giants and maybe them having some kind of different year this year and a little bit of a run. So, like, they're in the mix. The pirates, you know, they're a dark horse team, but I'm going to go,

I'll go to San Diego Padres. I've always been a believer. I like the guys on the team. I know they're going to be searching for some starting pitching. But I just, I mean, they won 93, two games last year. 92 games. 91. 90.

90. 90. Still doesn't change my mind. I'm going Padres. It's a good pick. Another franchise there. Where are you going to go? Yeah. Well, the Cubs are the absolute layup.

Like, I almost thought about just for Schlitz and Giggles taking them to win the Central after all that. All my brewers love this offseason, but I like, after, I mean, I guess this would be my hot take. After the Dodgers, I think my next two teams in the NL are the Brewers and the Cubs. Like, I'm in. I love how both teams have laid out their rosters.

I love that the Cubs are doing Bregman. as they're missing, like, peace. And, God, those boys are just going to be baseball hardos. The PCA Cubs fan quote will get to in a little bit. Like, all about it. I've got the Cubbies. After that, I'm going to go Braves. I know the injury bug is already there.

I just, I can't believe that this team could have fallen off this quickly because I don't think they have. And, like, I think if Ronald gives 150 and Shohei, you know, the NL, we might be fighting for MVP 2 this year because Shohei's pitching and hitting again. But I think if Ronald plays 150, I think he's NL MVP 2 or 3. And, like, it's still there. Matt Olson, Austin Riley? Like, Drake Baldwin happened last year.

Like, I can't give up on that franchise yet. So give me the cubbies Give me the Braves I guess my NL might be Might be trash The social experiment works Give me the San Francisco Giants Tony Vitello

Was a hot topic this offseason He came in cold Did he warm up? I don't know I don't know Everyone Whenever we talk about Tony Vitella I get like three texts

Like he's a good guy You're gonna like him I'm like all right Hey, and if the Giants are 18 and 10, we're going to be like, hey, Vitello. No, we're not. No, we're not. I think we will. You're going to be like Matt Chapman, Willie Adomich, Logan Webb.

Well, I like all those guys a lot. And I like Louisa Rice. I can't believe a Rise is, you know, teams are fighting to not sign this guy. Devers, a full season of Devers. I still don't think he's had his best season. They brought him Bader as like, they have so many. I know. That's a good pick. Darn it.

They have so many veterans on this team with the college coach. I mean, it's either a straight up disaster or it's beautiful. I'll go for beautiful. They got a great clubhouse there. It's a fun club. It's a good, fun, tough clubhouse. Buster Posey. Yeah.

He could go to your MVP party. They're choking people. I mean, talk about having fun in the shower. That clubhouse has the most fun in the show. Oh. Guarante. I don't did Drew I told my trainer about that

I was like you know oh I don't know how it got brought up yeah we're talking about like gyms and stuff and uh so you know like one of the best things about sports is like the communal shower like just letting it all hang out there like there's nowhere to hide like you're just you're open

you're literally naked correct um and he was like what like he didn't get it at all I was it this off season we did the the naked shower episode deal where it's crazy that athletes are the only people to do that? There's not accounting firm. Being a baseball player strips you of your dignity. A little bit.

It beats you down. It hurts because it's a lot of failure and then you're just naked and it's like, you're just like, you got to figure it out. I'm playing so bad at the only sport I played my entire life. And there's a dude next to me with an absolute am piece. Oh, geez. You know, it's funny talking about all this. And the reason I brought up Austin Jackson's name at the beginning of the show, I saw a clip.

He was doing Kevin Pilar's. I think he's doing a podcast right now. I mean, he actually sounds really good. So shout out Kevin Pilar. Nice. But Austin Jackson was talking about like, he said, you know, I would show up to these showcases. And he goes, I would see guys. and they just were stronger than me, fast than me, threw the ball harder than me, hit the ball farther than me.

And he'd be like, I don't know what I'm doing here. He goes, and then the games would start. And he said, I'd see them get out and I'd see the way they reacted to it, slump shoulders, you know, like hanging their head. And he goes, that's where I'm going to, that's where I'm going to do it. He goes, I've been through failure. I know how to handle failure. And that's where I'm going to make my mark. And I just thought that was, I sent it immediately to my freaking.

youth team. I'm like, this is what it's about. I keep telling you guys. It's like how you handle failure is a huge part of success in sports, but really on the offensive side of baseball. You have to be able to like get punched and get back up. It's a twisted sport. And I, I go spinning on it when I think about guys getting to the high, you've been good your whole life and you get to major league baseball and now you're not and just what that can do for the psyche and how much of an opportunity are you truly going to get? Like, you know, the studs will get looked at for a while and

it often works out. Sometimes it doesn't. The other guys, you don't. Okay, this guy's out for three weeks. Here's your look, kid. And it's like, what? You know PCA how good he was than how bad he was? Yeah. It's a great example of what the They're saying, I saw someone also say sports are the only

like profession, like as you get better at your job, it gets harder. That makes sense? Sports are the only profession as you get better, it gets harder. I guess up until that last, I don't know, yeah, right? Weird. Maybe like military, like, if you're like, you know, on a seal team, like your missions are probably a little bit harder than like infantry or something

like that. I don't know. Interesting. We're going in a different direction right now. That's my fault. No, that's good. you're bring it back um yeah so i was just watching a Jose okay two Yankee drops was watching a jose caballero interview where he was like my what makes me a major major leager is my preparation

for everything and my baseball IQ because he's like i'm not bigger than everyone i'm not fat i'm not stronger than everyone he's like but i i can be more prepared and and it's like wow okay yeah um and then austin wells Team DR's catcher, Klo K. It's funny looking back at his season last year. If Austin Wells, if one more fly ball goes over that right field porch, he has like an elite catchers per month, per month. If that half inch on the bat, like Austin Wells has like a premier catcher season.

And then you take away that and it's just a sick sport, man. It really is. And so are the people that enjoy it. And that's why everyone's all jazzed up on social media today. Because we're back. We're big back. Barry Bonds is like he's going to be an analyst tonight. How about that?

The amount of names I've heard for this Netflix broadcast. Is it an 11-person booth? Like, what's going on? No, I think it's C.C. and Hunter Pence in the booth for color guys. Kind of love that. Okay. Yeah, Matt Veskirjan's play-by-play. The rest of them are like on a dead.

desk, I think. Like pre-imposed or between? Yeah, yeah, like pre-imposed. Pre-imposed. And Shahati, shout-out Lauren. She'll be sidelining it. Is Cici wearing a suit? I know you...

No way. This was a whole thing. When he was wrapping up with the Yankees, they were like, Cici, you know, if you want to be in the S booth, like, you're good. And he was like, I'm not wearing a suit. So that's that. So I'd assume no, but I'll be interested to see.

But also, like, Cici does everything now? Like he's got like he's one of those guys Like how do you have so much time on your hands He's golfs a lot Although I think he just banged up his foot But he's getting better Shout out to Amber, the realist And the whole Sabathias

And Hunter Pence came to the warehouse Yeah We had a nice day with Hunter Pence Nice guy Where are we going now with this at pop? I think we have to make more picks I think we're doing Or do we want to save that for A

Do we know who AI has? Are you running the AI sim? I just have the World Series prediction. I mean, I actually do have who they picked. Do you want me to read it out? Yeah, let's do it. Okay, let me get my thing out. Okay, so they picked the Blue Jays, the Tigers and the Mariners in the AL to win the divisions.

I didn't go wild card. I just went to win the divisions. Is that okay? Sure. They have the Mets, the Cubs, and the Dodgers to win the divisions in the NL. And then their World Series matchup is the Seattle Mariners and the Los Angeles Dodgers. It's a pretty good pick, AI. Do you want to know who wins?

I would love to know who wins. Seattle Mariners. Whoa. I'll tell you what. Seattle hasn't been to a World Series. so that'd be pretty cool to start. And if they beat the potential 3P Dodgers... Well, let's give our CS picks

because that's where we're supposed to go. Let's do it. And I want everyone to know... We'll get there. Okay. You ready? I'm ready. In the AL, my ALCS is the Mariners and the Yankees.

I like that. In the NL, my NLCS is the Phillies and the Dodgers. Pretty good picks. What say you? When are we watching Lord of the Rings? Dude, my feed, my Instagram feed is straight up. I have a linguist guy who's like, I can't get into this right. I know.

I can't believe you started with a linguist guy. Yeah. 25th year anniversary, Lord of the Rings. So watch out for some talking baseball bonus content. If you think my 40th birthday party is not going to involve some Lord of Ring stuff, you're insane. That made it move. My American League, I like Detroit. I like the Scoobel story.

I like Framber as a one-two punch. I'm in on the McGonigal kid. I'm in on the McGonical kid. Who the fuck am I? A couple curse words. I'm hot. It's open at night. Give me the Tigers.

Give me the Yankees in the ALCS. On the National League side, it obviously starts with the Dodgers and give me give me the Cubs give me the Cubs and the Dodgers Okay Usually I save my

World Series prediction for my famous tweet Right I'm gonna try to get it out At the same time this episode drops I talked about this matchup already As being very aesthetically pleasing I don't know if it was on this show or baseball today It's a throwback

matchup obviously, you know, one of these teams hasn't been there. I'm going Mariners and I'm going Phillies. I got the Phillies taking out the Dodgers and the NLCS. I got the Mariners kind of just riding this high. Randy and Cal hating each other all year long. But when there's friction, there's energy. Sure is.

That's physics, I think. I think. I'm not really sure. And then the winner of this year's baseball season. for the first time in history will be the Seattle Mariners. Congratulations, guys. If the Mariners win, I'm going to the parade. I mean, they will melt that city. I know you can say that with any team, right?

But like Seattle's First World Series, they lost the basketball team, although I think they're getting it back. They won, they just won the Super Bowl. Yeah. Yeah. It's their year. The Phillies end up being. this like tormented franchise.

Oh, golly, Treff. I hate to do it to Philly. I love him. Dalton is asking how many games that your World Series goes. I'll save that for my tweet. Relax. I got to leave some meat on the bone. If I dress up as Gimley for your birthday party.

I think I have you as Gimley. I can see that. I've trimmed down a little too much. I can beef up. I can beef up for the birthday. I like a Samwise Ganges for you. Big Samwise energy. You know, like Mary and Pippen are more,

they deserve more credit for what happened. I think you're absolutely right. Directing the ends to Eisengard is massive. And that's kind of the Hobbit thing. That's just how it goes. Yeah. If we shrunk Dalton down maybe, I will go

Dodgers because I think they're still those guys, pal and they will face off against the Detroit Tigers three Pete, Dodgers and six. I don't hate that. I mean, if you're really thinking about it, like you've got to give the Dodgers the edge

in any of this. The pitching staff alone, dude. now I'm mad I didn't pick the Dodgers but I want the Phillies that's going to be your World Series You set it in there Trev The Dodgers didn't have a good postseason last year They didn't have a good season at all They didn't do

I know They really didn't they did it for their roster last year They never went on like that like run No They were just kind of good Bullpen was bad The second half of the lineup wasn't very good They had a lot of injuries to their pitching.

Yeah, man. I wish it was a little more hot takey for the people, but that's what I see. And I do think we have one of my favorite things, Coach Trev, before this new level of AI, we had AI. It was called MLB the show. And they are going to run us through the 2026 season simulation. that, Rob, what do we have here?

Because I think not only do you have the final results, but you have a couple trades that have happened upcoming? Yes, we, so we ran a simulation on MLB the show. Shelfi was kind enough to do this for us. Wow. And so he was the Phillies in the season, of course, obviously. Obviously. But, yeah, there were some trades that happened along the way

that I might want you guys to see here. Okay. First trade. Pablo Lopez. What? Pablo Lopez to the Padres. He's hurt. You could trade a guy if they're, I mean, you got, you got Ethan Salas, the young catcher and Jagger Haynes.

All right, keep going. Next trade. Or all this Chapman, Garrett Whitlock, and Trevor Story are going to the Guardians. Okay. Okay. This AI is smoking a little funny stuff. This is. This is, again, this is Jakey AI.

Then the Cubs get Dennis Santana from the Pirates. Okay. By Astero's. I think pirates would do that trade yesterday. Now, and Cedric Mullins goes to the Guardians along with Griffin Jacks. The Guardians are all in? All in.

So it's the year the Guardians put all the chips on the tape. Okay. Okay. And here is the bracket and winners of this 2026 World Series. So MLB, the show, has Trev Seattle winning it. They beat Houston and the ALCS. Milwaukee beats Atlanta, only to lose to the Mariners. It's a Mariners year.

I didn't realize. That's on me. I don't like that I'm in lockstep with AI and MLB the show. basically just computers and me. What does that say about me? Yeah. That's some Neo stuff there. Who else do they got?

They got Detroit, Seattle, Houston, Texas, Kansas City, and the Yanks. Okay. The Mets, the Braves, and Philly. So they got three NL East, the Cubs, the Burrs, and only the Dodgers out of the NLS. Yeah. I don't hate that. I don't hate that.

Okay. So now you've had the humans. Cleveland went all in. Didn't you make the playoffs? Didn't even make the playoffs. Wow. Okay. Chris Rose devastated.

So those are our views. Those are AI views. Those are MLB the show's views. Make sure you go get MLB the show 26. Available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox series S&X, and Nintendo Switch rated E for everyone. All right, Coach Trev, before we send everyone off into the season, one of our favorite guys, one of our favorite players,

got the bag, and I think it's our final breakout forecast of the off season. Brought to you by Seat Geek, we're keeping tabs on players and expectations for this upcoming season. It's a guy that if you want to talk me into him for MVP 2 this season, you can do it. Three letters. PCA, he gets the extension. Six years, $115 million runs through 2032. buys out four arb years and two free agent years. No club options.

It's considered the largest pre-arb deal that's been done without club options attached to it. And most importantly, it's PCA's 24th birthday. Have a life, fella. Snaps to PCA. Snaps to the Cubbies, dude, who have a core that they were dreaming about ever since they lost their last core.

24 years old with 115 guaranteed. How does that feel? How's that feeling PCA? I can't relate. You can't relate. Yeah, no, I mean, good for him. Obviously, he came up and just lit the world on fire at the beginning of last season,

went through his own struggles. But I tell people this all the time. The guy's a dog. Like, he's, you're going to see him off the field. You're going to see him doing social media. You're going to see him in the limel which is also part of this deal. Like I think he can be the face of the Cubs.

I think he's going to be one of the faces of majorly baseball going forward. Like he just is that marketable. But the truth of it all is, is he's a grinder. Like this guy is a real deal baseball rat. He wants to be. He wants to be that. He knows the work is still in front of him. And so you should be happy.

If you're a Cubs fan, you're getting, you're getting someone that can do both. But I promise you he'll lean the grinder. of it. So I'm looking at the numbers right now. 10 a year in his Arbiers, right? Is that what it is? Or pre-R-B-R-B-R-G gets 10, then his last Arbier gets 20, and then the two free agent years, there's 30 apiece. Sheesh, man. And then he's able to hit a free agency again before his 31st birthday. Might be another one in store for you. Yeah. Around that time. Yeah. Only four players in MLB history have recorded.

30, 30, 30 in their age 23 or younger season. That's doubles homers and steals. It's A-Rod. It's Julio Rod. Don't call him that. Jose Konseco. Interesting stories there. And PCA.

And yeah, you know, I think this year is going to be a big test to see where the hitting lands. Like last year, his OPS landed at 768. It was a six-war season. he was above that for a while that had him on pace for like eight. And then, you know, people forget the year before he was up there as a 22-year-old, wasn't hitting a ton but still just playing great defense. And he racks up war that way because he's doing special stuff up there that are advanced stats.

Only your guy Byron Buxton supposedly outcovered him, I think, in 2017 or something like that. So, yeah, I mean, what he can do on the field in special. And to be honest, we are a little too close to the sun on this one. Like he's a Cali guy. He's a part of that crew. He gives us love. But a part of the reason we are close to it, like you guys should be rooting for PCA because he's about all of it.

He wants to grow the game. Like he's good in front of a camera. He's like it's everything that's good for the sport. His mom was in a fucking a baseball movie. Like, this is everything we want. Yeah, you mentioned just the floor alone to me is. why you are comfortable giving a guy like this an extension. I know like the overall hitting stats didn't end up in a great place last year.

We saw the potential there, but the fact that he can go out there, save you a ton of runs, run the bases. So he's contributing no matter what because, you know, speed doesn't slump. And he's going to throughout this contract, he's going to have the speed. He's going to have the defense playing a premium position at one of the harder fields to play defense at. So the floor is extremely high for this guy. And then if we cut down the strike up percentage, some of the swing rate, like, hey, just like, let's see some more pitches, walk a little bit more. If he ends up doing that, which I always say that, that comes with the territory, a little bit of dirt in your spikes, better swing decisions.

You know, he'll make some adjustments with his mechanics as well. But once that happens, that's when we see the PCA eight war season. Because he's going to, he's just going to, he's going to accumulate so much through his defense and his base running that when the offense clicks. I mean, he hit 30 last year, I know, but 287 on base percentage. Once that gets closer to 320, 330, which I think it can. Look out. Dansby, Horner, Hap, Bregman, PCA, Bush. Baseball rats. Yeah, it's a good group for him to be around too. I know we're just measuring everything in baseball these days, but the amount of rats in that

Cubs Clubhouse. Yum. And this one's just for me. Scott Kingery made the Cubbies. Did he really? Yeah. Yeah. Kinger is listed on the Cubby's bench. I believe it's official.

Conforto is on the team. Scott Kingery is traveling with the team and will likely get a spot as well, although they're monitoring external possibilities. So he's in the worst position for the next 24 hours or so possible. Hey man, I'm happy for him. Right? That would be if he ends up with all those baseballs. That's the last time he's in the big leagues.

That's a good question. Let's see. I'll look it up. Last year did he get, he got a little juice. Last year he got in 19 games with the halos after not playing since 22. Okay, so that was a little Scott Kingery. And that was a little breakout seek geek forecast. Make sure you guys use Code Talk in 2026, 10% off your 9% of your next.

set of tickets at Sea Geek. Go to a game because games are back. We're streaming tonight on our Talking Yanks channel because it's a Yankees game. And then all day, all day opening day. We've got a pregame show that Jimmy has absolutely cooked on. You're going to want to check that out. And then we're live for all the games. So we'll see you there tomorrow.

Love you. Jackson. We're back. We're back. We're back. Winter's here. Gotta get my... Gotta go shopping for your birthday party outfit.

Yeah, you do. Don't be getting that cheap stuff either. No, no, no. Movie grade in L.A. Yeah. Fuck. It's gonna set me back. I'm Aragorn.

Don't you dare. Sell my silver stock.