Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Potential Perfection RUINED Because of Analytics

Episode Date: July 6, 2026

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Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. A week left of games till the All-Star break. Almost a perfect game. The Twins roll in the Talking Baseball Bowl. Let's talk ball. Let's talk ball. Joe Ryan Experience. Alexei Cascia.

Joe Ryan makes the play, does something weird on the mound after. Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball, presented by Fanatics Markets, Markets, where fans trade on sports, fanatics markets available now on the app stores. I'm Jake Storia. That is Trevor Ploof. Happy 6th of July. Hope everyone had a fun patriotic weekend, however you celebrated it. Rob Shrocko producing, Dalton Feely, assembling the sheet and info for us.

Trev, it's kind of been a minute. I'm excited to see you, big guy. It's always a big weekend for you and I. I got to swing the sticks this weekend a little bit. How you doing? How to go? Would you go low? Hit him straight?

What you do? I was striping it, dude. No. Yeah. 87 with 5-3-putts. So that, brutal. The short game was so bad that it was comical. Five-three-puts is, that's not acceptable.

It's atrocious. Not on this show. It's atrocious. It's atrocious. But I haven't been playing. So it was good to be hitting the ball that well. Had some par saves that would have made the lads proud in here. Okay.

What are you been up to? How are you? I'm doing great. I had a great weekend, man. Got to spend a lot of time with the fan hung around. the neighborhood, a little barbecue on 4th of July. Played some football. We got a big pickle game with the kids, which is fun.

Nice. They love that. Really old school Americana stuff right there, pickle. Yeah. I even think I had a hot dog. Yeah? Yeah. Wow.

No bun, obviously. Smart. So you just went, you just went glizzy down the throat, huh? Gleazy dog. I cut it up and dipped it in some ketchup and mustard. You can went a little kid, mode. A hot dog for yourself.

Nice. That's really nice. And yeah, man, you know, we're sports people. It's a sports company. Team USA plays tonight. Shout out to the World Cup. It's been amazing. It's hard to replicate the energy from countries at Mexico, England game last night.

And pretty cool USA plays tonight to go to the Elite 8, which soccer doesn't call it that. You played for Team USA? I did. U-20, U-18? You 16 you 16 you And then also pro

Like the 2009 There's a bunch of minor league guys Right All right And I played for Team USA In the Barbados Cricket Beach Blast

Last year So Evokes a lot of A lot of pride from both of us So go USA tonight Balagan He's back baby He's back

How about sports Huh It finds a way And golly, if we don't get to follow one of the most... Oh, look at that stud. Look at that guy. What would you tell him, Treff? Good job.

That was a homer against a walkoff homer against Australia right there. Oops. Sorry kangaroos. I hit the absolute earmouth shit out of the ball. Golly. Yeah. Woo! We got a week till All-Star.

We're going to be F-R-Fing in like, what, five? days. I already talked to Ollie. Me and Ollie never, one of my best friends I've had for over 20 years. We never see each other in California. We only see each other on the road during the baseball season. It's funny. Yeah, All-Star weekend, Philly this year. We're all jazzed up. It's the closest one for the company. Everything's been far west or south. So we're jazzed up for that. And I know, again, this final stretch. We got a couple zombie AL teams

fighting to stay relevant heading into the deadline. There was some drama last night with the Marlins who conversation about them should just be how damn good they've been. And yeah, as we leak into the All-Star game and the deadline, you know we're going to have

the Chris Roach's trade episode coming up, which always, that's always a hungover dramatic episode somehow. Feelings get hurt. Can't wait. Can't wait. Let's talk some ball. And of course it starts out in American League on Monday after July 4th weekend.

And it starts out in the beautiful American League Central where the top two don't. The white socks and the guards teed it up. And how are your walk-offs in the first two games? Rokio, Rokio, wear for out thy Rokio with the two-run homer off Grant Taylor. gang in that first game. They do it again. It's obviously Kalia Watson because it's always been Khalil Watson. But then the White Sox salvaged the set. They split for Sean Burke with an amazing outing. And God damn it, respect Colson Montgomery. How good that guy is. One of the best power hitters in baseball. Pound for pound? We don't really use that in this sport. Kyle Teal is back

and Miguel Vargas is good. They split four. The Seattle Mariners making a push towards the All-Star Break. They get shut out in that first game by Dylan Cease. My goodness, he has been a great signing for them so far. And guess what? If your team got shut out in this series, you lost. And in the final two games, it was Toronto.

Getting shut out. The Mariners, Logan Gilbert was nasty. Emerson Hancock, I bet. with a little bit of offense from Randy a Rosarena, Grand Salami. Mitch Garver, there you are. There you are, pal. Seattle wins us at.

Cal Raleigh is back and doing some things to baseballs. Seattle, getting hot at the right time? Maybe. Speaking of getting hot at the right time. The Minnesota Twins take two out of three from the New York Yankees. It's in dominant fashion on that rubber match. Joe Ryan, seven innings of shutting. out ball. Royce Lua. Royce Lua. Who's that? Royce Lewis. Brooks Lee, Austin is the future now in

Minnesota. The offense is kind of real. When they get pitching, they win, and they've been winning a lot. Twins get it done in the boogie down. The Houston Astros, let me see your dog. Rays win the first game to make it nine straight for Tampa, but they end up losing the second. in the final two because Yordaun Alvarez, two home runs, including the comeback homer. Fourth of July, there's certain games you remember during a season. That's one of them. And then Christian Walker and Esauk Perretti's.

Get it done. Is Houston back? We'll see where they are in the standings. The Detroit Tigers take two out of three after splitting the first two games. Jack Flaherty has been dealing. Riley Green Show. this series defensively, offensively with a couple big swings. The Tigers, are they back in the mix after winning the final two games of this series to get

the set? We will see. The Miami Marlins, the hottest team in baseball, they sweep the athletics and they do it in very dramatic fashion in that final game. We're going to talk about this one. Yuri Perez was perfect through seven, gets pulled, and then it gets ugly. How does this game finish 9 to 8? Scary, but it does.

We're going to talk about all that. The Marlins are so good. Sandy was brilliant. Otto Lopez is an all-star. Owen Casey's hitting ding-dongs. Herberto? Sure. And your final American League series,

The Boston Red Sox Kid. Are they the zombie socks? They sweep the angels. Jake Bennett continues to shove. Romy, my homie. he's back for them and I feel like we're going to hear about Sunny Gray later I think so

the Red Sox get it done Where are they in the standings? We're about to find out With Trevor Plouf That's what happened in the American League Boston right now Only four games back Okay Boston

Okay okay I do have the standings pop and you just read off the AL So I'm going to start out east where your yanks have been kind of going through it a little bit. We'll talk about that. Why would you say that? Extensively when we get into the recaps here. Tampa Bay, though, look out.

I know they lost this series to Houston, but 52 and 35 for them. They got a four-game lead over your yanks, 49 and 40 for them. And that's it, as far as the over 500 club in the East, because Toronto, 42 and 48, Baltimore, 42 and 49, in Boston, 40 and 48. And then in the Central, those white socks, 47 and 42, a one game lead over the guard dogs who are 47 and 44.

My twins creeping up in the division now. Okay, they got a set with Cleveland coming up. I'll be on the call this week, people. They're 44 and 47. The Tigers, a nice even 40 and 50 through 90 games. And then Kansas City 36 and 54. Vinnie P. We love you, we love you, dog.

I love you. We love you. I'm sending love. In the West, this one, like, how many teams have led the West this year? I think the A's were in the lead in the West at one point. Yeah. I'm not sure if Houston was. I know Texas has been. Seattle is now 47 and 44 for Seattle, a straight up 45 and 45 for Texas.

That's about right for them. And then Houston, two games under 45 and 47. The A's, they were doing it for a while. Not anymore. 41 and 49 for them. And then the Angels, really De Portis doesn't care. She's a Norway fan, you know, people. 36 and 55 for the halos.

In the wild card, right now your Yanks would have the number one spot, followed by the Guardians. And Texas has a one game lead for that third and final spot over Houston. One and a half back is Minnesota, Toronto, three, Baltimore, three and a half. And then the athletics and the Red Sox, both four games out. I guess I'll mention the Tigers at five. Those are your standings. the American League.

Nobody better. This episode is sponsored by Seat Geek. Covering baseball every day means July is nonstop. I mean, MLB, the World Cup, it's full tilt, All-Star is about to happen. NFL schedule? Oh, boy, if you want to be there for any of it, it's Seat Geek, people. The number one rated ticketing app, 35-milly downloads. That's pretty good.

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10% off your next set of MLB tickets at C Geek. Talking 2026. Talking 2026. Talking 2026. 10% off any MLB tickets only at Ckeek. Man, Trev, I'm juiced up. Man, we have a yucked ball in a little bit. We had our Wednesday up was pre-recorded with Brother Jeff.

Thank you, you know, everyone tuning in on that one. The comment section also incredible because I was, you know, peak Andre Miller just distributing the ball that a lot of the comments, Jake just here to read the ads. Jake doing his best AJ Hawk impression. I mean, if you, I felt like I got no words in. You really must have felt he got no words. Hey, man, Jeff Cooks.

Jeff Cooks, and he knows his shit. And it was, it was cool seeing you guys, you guys going back and forth on that one. And then Friday we had our all-J-M, which we had Judge Jimbo on. So let's talk some actual ball brother nature. And I guess where I want to go, it's the two teams fighting for the AL Central right now.

And it's quick... Oh, three teams. Excuse me. You know what? Fuck it. Let's rip the band-aids. Sorry for not warning people I was about to swear. Twins Yankees.

The talking baseball bowl. What do you want? What do you want? Look, I actually think you could say this about both teams, but specifically your Yankees. I feel like you guys are not. You're a shell of what your roster should be. I understand that. The offense is there where, you know, both teams didn't have like their full arsenal starters as well.

Like, I love Mike Paredes. And he's actually done a really good job in the role that he's been given. But that's a tough task going into New York. Like I knew game one was going to be tough. And it was. but then after that I think you mentioned it we have some offense on the twins

I love my guy Cody Clemens I almost gave my award today he's been really really good slugging has been clutch hitting he's got a nice swing he's played literally everywhere for the twins this year and you know what he's like a damn good defender

everywhere you don't really think about him that way at all but like put him at first base he was going crazy at first base he played second base center field all the, you know, he's just, he's been a real bright spot for the twins. And as you mentioned, when we get some pitching, we win games. Zebby Matthews, who looked really good early on in the game, had to leave the game, was like, got a cut on his foot or something.

He can be good. And then you got the Joe Ryan experience. And when he's on, it's a lot of fun. So it's basically it, man. Yankees have lost nine out of ten. It's, they're sprinting the wrong direction. No judge, obviously. That makes the Yankees a different team.

Ben Rice has slowed down significantly. Like he was hanging out with Yordon and, you know, some of the elites, and now he's not in that. Belly, who's an all-star, he's going through a funk. Volpe's back. Yeah, the Yinks. Yanks are in it. They've got some injuries, but, I mean, hey, every team gets injuries, man.

And they're about to play four at Tampa, which Yankee fans, right? Tampa may... having an argument for the hottest team in baseball, the hottest team in the AL, and just the brand of baseball they're playing, while the Yankees are back, the unearned runs, most unererned runs since May 20th. You can't, if judge is going to be out, if Stanton's going to be out, you need to play a better brand of baseball. You need to play guardball. Like, if you're going to win these games, you need to pitch and field it to have a chance, and they're not doing that. Um, so yeah, last night's Talking Yanks was a popular one with, uh, the angry Talking Yanks uncles, if you want to

check that out. And the Twinkies, Trev, I'm obviously, I try to balance out the ship sometimes. They're playing well. And I, uh, I respect an offensive team. And they're tough. A lot of tough outs in that lineup. Yeah, they've been doing a good job working at Batch. Joe Ryan, I mean, in Yankee Stadium, did it make a move for your little pop? Yeah. Yeah, you know that. He doesn't take much. It doesn't take much. He's a weirdo, huh? Oh, my God. What's that about? He knows it. it the Joe Ryan experience like he knows it but it you know it's funny is like you some guys you know when they become self-aware it gets like cringy I think um I think he is self-ware I think he understands like uh okay like I know who I am but like

at the same time it's very uniquely him and when you're good you're good pop you can kind of do do whatever you want yeah that's we'll see him in Philadelphia how about that's what are the secrets. Byron Buckson came out of the game. Caught stealing for the first time since 2024, 37 straight, non-caught stealing. I guess 37 straight stolen bases is probably a better way to say that way. I would say that way, yeah.

Yeah. Hopefully he's okay. You've got a hip thing going on, man. We need them. Yeah, we'll see the update on that. Wouldn't surprise if they held him out until the break. Twins won a series of Yankee Stadium for the first time since 2014. Who was on that team?

I was saying three hole Can you go around the horn quick? Do you got that? Uh-oh. 2014? 2014, the last time the twins won a series at Yankees City. Do you have like a lineup up?

We know it. We have. Oh, really? Yes. Dozier. Daddy Dojard's second leading off. Second, leading off. Second base. Oh, man.

I probably couldn't, dude. Was Pedro Florem on the shortstop? Oh, easy with that. That's a Pokemon. No, no Floremont. Who was playing shortstop? Danny Santana? Eddie Escobar.

Five tool, five tool light, Eddie. Don't put me in spot. I'm sorry. I know we were going to make a social video out of this, but you're weird with social media. I don't. Aaron Hicks and center? No, I don't think it's Hicks.

Is he gone already? Hicks is in center. Wow. Yes. Hicks and center. Okay. Yeah. Oh, man.

Keep going around the horn, I guess. Is Chris Parmally in the line? lineup. No Parmally. Okay, we got a current manager at Catcher. For Suzuki, Catching. For Suzuki. A couple of your power hitting DH, one of

your guys. Kenneth Vargas at DH? No. No? Ryan Domit? No. Who was it? Josh Swillingham. Oh, really? He had traded that year. Yeah. It was

early in the season. June 6th. first. Joe Maurer at first. Joe Maurercian right. Oh. Kubel and left. Coobes was still there in 14? Phil Hughes on the bump. Oh, that was your problem. Phil Hughes doesn't give any runs that year. Can't. Can't. No reason to.

He walked like five batters that entire year. It's insane. Best burrito I've ever had in my life was given to me by Phil Hughes in a sprinter van. 2021. What a world. That's a lot of twins, Yanks, talk. You know, we don't get to keep it moving. I know. It's a talking baseball bowl. We both have heartstrings there. Congrats to your twins.

The two teams ahead of the twins in that central. And again, a four-game split is tough on this program. So I want to highlight the Rokios, the Antonachis, Burke, Colson Montgomery. I guess what did you see in this series? Because we end up splitting four. I really truly feel like if we got this as a playoffs, I'd be stoked.

I don't know what the ratings would be, but these two teams are, they're fun to watch, man. And when they play, largely it's been decided by one run, which is awesome. They played seven times, right,

this year, six of them decided by one run. Yeah. That's insane. That's crazy. That's crazy. No, it's great.

And it's, you have the guys coming up, like Montgomery, lefty, lefty, Homer. You get the Brian Rochio, playoff Rochio,

obviously going on, off the foul pole. just an absolute stud. Cleo Watson has been good for the Guardians. I feel like they just keep calling these people up. Like, who's this guy now? Chris? What do you got here? Oh, he's just I don't know, Treve, he's not, I'm like,

okay, like he's going to be a ball player. I know that. I know that. And then, so yeah, guards walk off the first two games, which is awesome. You know, we've got some weather going on during this series. And then the White Sox, I'm saying this all year long, like, they don't

give. ear mouse oh fuck oh they don't like they are like i don't know what it is but they have some of the like the best um what's the word i'm looking for like like drop it on the table energy in the big they truly do it's a bunch of young guys a ton of rookies going off for them or at least contributing i don't know if going off is the right word but at least contributing um and you know you got some absolute studs in the lineup too so you're it's such a long difficult lineup to navigate. And then like the guys on the hill for them can be very, very good. They could go, they can run a playoff series with that rotation and like say it just kind of clicks for them.

Like they have the arms to get it done as well. So I am I'm all in like Sean Burke like when he's on can be filthy, which he was, 11 strikeouts, zero walks in game three. And then I don't know, man. Just the way these two teams play it, it, it's good baseball. It's good baseball. It's good Guys are flying around the bases. You know, it's just, to me, it feels like, I think that's the right term for it, like, just good baseball. Yes, Brian Rokio quote, so you know I'm in. We fight until the last out.

That's our identity. Like, that's what we got. Again, we might not have a, we might not be leading off the lineup with three Hall of Famers, especially with Jose Ramirez out, that they're surviving. Before they lose those final two games, I think it's 8 and 11 now with Jose Ramirez out. So still grinding, but you got to grind.

Like, again, I just, the New York Yankees, one in their last 10, that they have their team identity. It's, it's guard ball. The White Sox, like you mentioned, Trev, there's just something to be in young and dumb that you just, you can't. It is what it is. It's a brilliant thing. And like, dude, no what stories my yanks don't get a lot of?

Hey, Colson Montgomery and Sean Burke, the amazing power. hitting shortstop, the dude on the bump struck out 11 guys. They live together in the off season. Like, that's young guy stuff. That's, you know, Stanton and Cole aren't doing that. So it's pretty cool that they just, their whole team has that energy. I, Bob, if you got this Sam Antonacci go ahead ground out. If you can pull that up. It's an interesting decision for Manzardo there. I think you, I think you throw home. Yeah. I think you throw home because you're, You're giving up to run anyway. It's it late.

Yeah. We're getting it up. That was a weird one. Chase DeLotterback for Cleveland. That could matter. First Homer. First career homer off a lefty. First homer since May 17th.

Yeah, you got to throw that ball. I don't know if he didn't have a grip on it or what. But you're coming in understanding, like, I'm going to get this out. It's a force play which helps a ton. Oh, shit. Yeah. I think you're probably right. There's a little bit of chaos involved.

Like this is a 6-6-6 game. You got, what, three and a half innings left? I think I agree with you because it's like, hey, what are we doing here? Being a force-out, you probably just got to let that eat. That's what I'm saying, Pop. I think you play aggressively there. Colson Montgomery, since he got called up, which were coming on about a year, I think we just crossed a year,

155 games. He has 44 homers in those 155 games. The only two guys ahead of him, Junior Caminero, who Jr. basically just passed him because he's been playing out of his mind. By the way, a guy that, you know, is he a third baseman? Whatever. He can hit the ball.

And Kyle Schorber, two humans who are out there to hit home runs. Colson Montgomery's playing shortstop. Like, who this guy is in this league. I know we've been trying to bang the table on it, but like we got to do more because that's a special player. That doesn't exist. We like forgot. I don't think anyone even noticed when he got called up last year because by that time,

it was on 4th of July, by the way, he made his debut. The White Sox were out of it. Nobody was paying attention to them whatsoever. It was a historically bad season. And so he had a great finish. And actually the White Sox kind of finished well last year. But nobody paid attention to it. And so now you look back, you're right, a calendar year later.

Like, okay, like, this guy's, like, been doing it since he's been called up. He's a stud. Love him. Yeah, he's going to be a lot of fun. Like, to watch him grow is going to be, it's going to be fun. It's going to be, it's going to be. It's going to be, he's in the yoke of Bobby Witt and Gunner. Like, when they came up, how good those guys were as a young shortstop.

And we started to follow them. And, okay, like, and they become, I mean, Bobby Witt. My God, I think he might be a little bit different, but they become two of the biggest, you know, stars in the game. I think Coles Montgomery's on that level. Yeah, it's just, he almost, this, nobody's going to like this. I don't even like it before I said it. It's almost like if he was a first baseman, he might be getting more attention for the power numbers.

I know, I know that comes off weird, but, dude, it's short stops don't do this. Short stops do not do this. I still see some tome. I don't know. Okay. People forget he came up as a third baseman. Let's hop up. Let's hop up.

It's Toronto and Seattle. Seattle, a lot of eyes on Seattle tonight. Go USA, Balagan. Today's episode is sponsored by Shopify as our merch store has continued to grown. I mean, we got thousands of, every team, tons of players. Shopify's tools have kept pace with us as we've grown. Their sidekick, Shopify's AI co-founder, handles the stuff that would otherwise slow us down. I can't analyze sales trends.

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The Toronto Blue Jays, they've been scuffling kind of all year, kind of the same level of scuffle all year, of not being able to get going between injuries. Hasn't been Dylan Cease's fault. One of the contracts we saw this offseason that were like, wait, is this an old school baseball contract? He's looked tremendous, and he shuts them down in that front. game without Julio as he goes on the seven-day IL.

After that, Mariners pitching shuts them out throughout, and they get more than enough offensively that Seattle, now their record that 47 and 44, like as we're eyeing teams going towards the All-Star break, this Seattle team that was supposed to be a power of the AL, they put together a nice series. Randy, he's having a great season.

Great year, he's All-Star. A great season, All-Star, and like, he's some some randy contract conversations could get really really interesting is he's a free agent um what did you see out there treff uh i mean yeah you mentioned some of the offense randy i this the rock paper scissors thing at first base i the whole thing's a lot he's a w wwee character he's got it at third base he's got it with the cop in the dugout it's it's insane i yeah he's i mean you hit a grand slam you're an all-star do what you want randy Who am I to tell you what to do?

Cal hit a homer off the facing of the second deck. Like, you know, they got obviously some big offense, especially in game too. But really, I think the story is the pitching of this series in general. We mentioned Dylan Sees, seven shuddy, nine punchies. He's got 137 strikeouts on the air, which leads the AL. He's performing up to that massive contract. And he likes all my Instagram photos. Really?

Yeah, we're in there together. Yeah. Okay. Then we just can't figure out the pitching situation in Seattle, or I guess we can, like it's working, but they're trying to mess it up. Then they don't mess it up. No piggyback for Gilbert and Hancock,

because instead they're just going to let them pitch separate games and they're both going to dominate. And they could just use a six-man rotation. I don't know, man. I never really know what's going on up there other than Logan Gilbert is a stud. 7 and 3rd, retired 19. of his first 20 batters in that game.

And Seattle, the Blue Jays offensively, between Emerson and Gilbert, they didn't score a run in the last 24 innings of the series. I mean, that's kind of the story, right? Yeah, Mariners pitching. Six Mariners starting pitchers post-equality starts in each of their last outings. They're supposed to be, Jake.

I know. You're supposed to be. I know. You do this. You hit a little bit. You're in the playoffs. You're doing it. I'm just, you know, I'm thinking about the teams this year

that have been struggling to put together pitching that are hearing something like that. Wait, six different guys just went out and gave a quality start like that. That's insane. And that's where, let's see, who do they finish with? Where are you going, coach? For all the talk about piggybacking,

if memory serves me, correct. They've only done it with Miller and Castile. Nobody else has had to piggyback, even though everyone was on board with it. I just, I think Dan Wilson has interesting quotes. Like, we're, I mean, I don't have it in front of me. I read it earlier today. It was something like, we're just figuring it out, like day by day.

It's like, yeah, no shit. We know. Right in front of everybody. It's funny. Mariners, okay. So the Mariners sit there at 46 and 44, 47. Fangraphs, update, dog. They have at Miami.

at Tampa as their final six games into the All-Star break. So two of the hottest teams, West Coast team going east, like as far as they'll go, that's going to be very interesting. Can they stay hot? Can they stay above 500? That's a tough little roadie right now. And yet, Toronto, you know, Vladdy turns down the All-Star invite after winning the vote, which I don't know.

Some people think that's a noble thing because he hasn't been great. He just, the people of Toronto support their king. So that's interesting. And then, yeah, you get some Schneider quotes. You get some Ernie Clement quotes. You get Atreya Savage saying the start time was off, which it was and is that funny business?

I don't know. The Toronto funk's starting to get a little funky. Does he still get the all-star recognition, Vladdy? I believe so. That's great. Right? Go take those days off. Right?

Yeah, maybe go in the cage a little bit. Go to the beach. Have a couple. Oh, yeah. Have a couple snacks. I don't know. Presidents. The Dan Wilson quote wasn't even close to what I said.

Perfect. Let me read the actual quote. It's of the same ilk, I guess. We're sort of reslotting the rotation a little bit to make sure everyone's fully arrested, going into, and coming out of the brick. That's the approach right now. I mean, basically, you're saying, I don't, we don't know what's going on. It's great.

Let's see. They're going six-man into the All-Star break. So six games left, everyone gets a start. That'll be funny. No, it's nice every year on the Sunday and Saturday before the All-Star break. The teams that are desperate for pitching have their starter, like, throw on their throw day. And it's like, oh, we snuck two more innings. Sick, dude. That's awesome. The rest of the A-L trip. I got one more juicy series, I think. I think Tampa and Houston. Worth the squeeze down in Minute Made. Hello. Hasn't been called that in a while.

Rays, win the first game. It's nine in a row. Junior Caminero cannot stop homering. It's disgusting. Second most in the AL after the first game. And then, Houston. That game, too, might be game of the year. We're going to watch the Yordaun Homer because it's just so disgusting.

It's a great call, as we've been asking fans to submit their favorite calls of the season. that home run call. And dude, there's something dumb about this beautiful sport, but this Houston team that's been battling back, that's been playing some of the best baseball around the league, to get that Fourth of July, the stands are going crazy, a comeback win. There's some special about that.

Junior Camerreira and Yaron Alvarez is the match that you want to see right now. And first two games, homers, love it all. There is something uniquely American about that. There's a Ronald Reagan quote. I'm just going to quote it. Here we go. fire it up basically talking you can

move to France but you'll never become a Frenchman you can go you know whatever it is but you anyone that moves to America can become American and we see a lot of the guys who end up coming over from the Dominican or Venezuela I know a ton of guys who have gotten citizenship into the states now and they love America and they're just something uniquely American about our national pastime and a dude from Cuba hitting

freaking absolute tanks walking it off starting the fireworks show I don't know man it's so cool and yeah it's it's Jordan is bring the home wrap you can't throw 93 down the middle to your Don I don't know

I know you're slinging it down here like Amina but it's that pitches Rob give me more volume never missed I need more volume on the call it would do it from the top I mean this is straight away He doesn't

does it every single time. And Yordaun, we absolutely trust. The MVP chance started tonight for the first time. And Yordauntan delivered a six RBI to home run night. Crazy. Astros have won six of their last seven series, 25 and 16 in their past 41. Yordaun, like you heard on the call,

has some MVP considerations that are going to go down in the Yale this year. Chris Rose is a thousand going to add percent as Trev if it's Yordon or Bobby Witt right now. I'll let you guys deal with that on baseball today. Rays have been hot. I think you shrug this off as like, I don't know, if Yordon doesn't get a 93 down the dick, maybe we win another series and we're still insane, and they still are insane. I don't know. I just, of note, I know we've talked about Christian Walker a lot.

Seeing him have 20 homers on the year was like, whoa. Richard Walker's. Really, really, really good. year. And the Ray is the first series lost since the middle of June. They're doing great, almost like my twins a little bit there. Oh. Hot. Yeah, but Junior Cameronero,

11 homers and 11 games. It was. That's real deal stuff right there. He's got to be in the homerun derby. He announced that. He did. He did? I think so. I haven't been keeping tabs on my homerun derby. I know. I feel like it should be bigger news.

I just get sprinkled in. Like, yeah, this guy said, Yeah, yes, he is in. They kind of leak it out. And it's like maybe we should just do one big announcement. A selection, yeah, a selection show will be awesome. Bryce Harper is doing it, but he can't find a pitcher, apparently. What's sad about it? That's sad for your coaches.

Reach out, reach out to your boy. You've been coaching him up. You got, I don't got, no, I don't got BP like that. Former teammate? No, it's hard. BP is a lot tougher than you think. Yeah, I've never. I hate to put down my short arms on this, but I think it's not a perfect BP pitch.

Like there's something natural to having like the full pitcher. Ooh, I'd rather have short than long arm. Oh, yes, absolutely. You have that guy come out. They got that extra extension and you're like, what are we doing here? Okay. Kevin Cash, quote, he's just a complete hitter. There's no one way to get him out.

Hey, and he really is. I say this every time I bring up Camerro stats because you're like, okay, 26 home runs. He hit 45 last. Last year, it's crazy power. He's in 288, dude. That's one of the best contact hitters in baseball. I had a, speaking of Phil Hughes, big Phil Hughes episode. We were opening some cards.

And I got this really nice Yordon Alvarez rookie card. And so I'm sitting there and I'm looking at it. I like Yordaun a lot. But I end up trading. I said, hey, I'll give you this card, you give me. He had a bunch of these like Mike Trout. They were, I think it's called like Project 2020. these cool, like, art cards of Mike Trout.

I really wanted one of those. So I traded him that. At the time, I was like, all right, I'm getting the better end of this deal. I'm not so sure now. I don't know. Like, Mike Trout's cards are great, but Yorda and Alvarez, I think that card's gone up in value. Just a reminder, Yordon Alvarez, who was 29 homers this year, 4.1 war, 1.065 OPS. It's a career 974 OPS.

It's just a shocking number. You don't see guys doing that. And I mentioned Caminero is an all-around hitter. Yordaun's hitting 320. 3.20. He's got some triple crown potential. He's going to be in the mix for all of it. Who's leading the A?

Oh, is it Yondi? In batting average, I believe it is Yondi. Oh, by one point. So where... And where are those guys from again? I'm blanking on it. You know I love my Cubans. Should we get into cigars? Are you a cigar guy?

Doesn't do much for me. I feel awful the next day if I have a cigar. I like a lot of things Cuban. Cuban coffee. Okay, yep. I love a Cuban sandwich. Is that uniquely Cuban or is that like a Miami? It's a great question. Have we Americanized the Cuban sandwich?

Like, is what, pickles and ham? Like, that's our starting point. Pork. Pork, excuse me. I mean, same animal. Yeah. I would go to Cuba. I think I'd be like

They'd welcome me with open arms The amount of great publicity I've given Cuba on this show I'd like to think you and I would be treated properly in Cuba I would take me and Tony Oliva would just go back Ambassadors of the game If I have Tonyo Liva's blessing What are they gonna do?

I think you're blessed I think that's it Okay nobody cares A couple series with big notes here, Trevin. I guess the NL is a little lighter. The Motor City Kitties win a series against the Texas Rangers. Both of them have been playing better ball of late as they're trying to either stay alive in this season

or get more involved in this season. Rangers injury bug is insane. Seeger and Langford are on the aisle again. But of all these starting to punch more and more tickets, your guy Peyton Gray gets involved in that first game. The rest of the way, Riley Green, man. Tigers are 18 and 12 since June 1st. That's the best record in the AL over that time.

A 5-1 road trip. The Tigers basically hit that last part of the season where they've had to go, and they've gone. And when you're winning games like that, you get it from all aspects. It's Jack Flaherty. It's Casey Mize. Riley Green, though, every now and then, there's something weird about it.

The way he runs is weird. the swing feels massive, even though it works and he gets better every year. Like, he's still one of the best one young players in this game, but he kind of doesn't get talked about that way. I don't know. What do you mean he runs weird? Runs weird. He runs.

He's slow. I always have him, like, as like, a really fast runner. I don't think he is. Rob, bring up his diving catch. Because, again, I don't think we picture Riley Green in this way. He made a banger of a catch yesterday, full extension, full tilt. Yeah, he runs like he's on ice a little bit. And he's worried about his lower back.

But he's, dude, he's. He might be worried about his lower back the way he swings the bat. Yeah. I mean, it's steep, just absolutely, like, violent swing of this. Dude, 292, 380 and 854 OPS this year after hitting 36 homers last year. He's 25 years old. Like, I don't, we need to treat Riley Green better. You need to, like, double check this stat.

Where do they have it go? Oh, yeah. Detroit has been doing it. Their pitching has been great. 35 game streaks of starters allowing four runs or fewer. That's a real snap. Framber broke it? Real snap. Holy shimikes. Jack, you mentioned. How about my game too? Riley green, great. You hit your homer in the first inning. And then it's Flaherty. He goes, I think Holton gets him out of that sixth inning. It's a lefty out. And then my guy, Cater Montaro comes in for three innings. Hey, I'll pitch whenever you need me to pitch. coach, that's my guy cater right there.

Really is. Let's see this catch. Okay. That's a nice grounder to end the game. Congrats to the Tigers on winning that game. Rangers fall back to 500. They haven't lost back-to-back games in two or so

weeks or so. I did see Jack Flaherty put out an Instagram post. He was at the freaking World Cup with his new girl. They're engaged. Yeah. So not in New York. I guess. I texted.

I said, you guys are hot. Yeah. Jack's arm looked really good in the pick. He said almost as hot as you and Olivia. Wow. I said, yeah, there's levels to this, Jack.

A little taste sesh. Here you go. I don't think you think, you don't think of Riley Green doing that. You know what I'm saying? The lefty, that's a tough catch. That's a tough play.

That's full extension, full tilt. That's Riley Green. We're playing, look at this. We're playing for keeps in Detroit right now, and they're doing enough to stay alive, Trev. Let's go Jimmy Norp. Let's go Jimmy Norp. You know what?

We might as well save the Marlins sock to kick off the NL because there's a really fun conversation there. I guess Red Sox, Red Sox, 8 and 2 in their last 10. It's not a conversation that far off from Detroit. Like, they hit that point of their season. They have to do more. They're rallying around Wilson Contreras. I know you got some Sunny Gray coming up, so what else for now?

Yeah, I mean, that's basically what we got going on here. Sonny's been excellent. Can't wait to talk about him a little bit. But Wilson Contreras, three-run bomb in game two kind of sets the tone, I guess you could say. Another three-run homer in game three. I mean, it's the Angels, but they have been playing a lot better ball. We're talking about four games out for them. They have the team to do.

I've been saying this the entire fucking year. Sorry. the bottom part of their lineup not so great but they have the pitching and they have the top of the lineup to get it done if they got healthy with their lineup too it could be look out dude we said Brezzo's not trading these guys

he can't he cannot do it or else it's it's gone or all this Chapman I do not think is going to get traded and like he's going to be one he should be one of the biggest trade trips trade chips around but they're going to find themselves in the middle

of this AO Wildcard and I think I think by the end of the season we're going to see them like really, really in it, dude. That's exciting for me. I like that. Well, that's where, that's where, again, this week of game, like, things start to matter. Like, we do this every year, but when we get up to the actual trade deadline,

it's almost game by game for some of these wildcard teams. And the Red Sox still control their own destiny, which there was a while it didn't feel that way. But again, eight and two in their last 10, they've got a fun week at White Sox at Mets. So how can they bring it to the All-Star break? And this is some really dumb Jake stuff, but I think numbers matter. The Red Sox winning that last game, 40 and 48 compared to 39 and 49. That's one game, but that feels different.

Who else had that? Detroit, 40 and 50 winning their last game. It's really dumb stuff. And it might not matter because if those teams limp at all, it's over. Then Chapman is traded. And then Scobel's proud. And those teams have shown they'll limp that it's going to be a fine. line these next few weeks.

Is this going to be the most boring trade deadline of all time because everyone's in it? There's a chance. Sometimes that creates more funk. Dude, you never know it's sports. I'll be honest with the people. This trade deadline could suck. Like, we're hosting the best baseball show in the world. That, you know, we should, I should be slamming the table.

Why would you even question that? Yeah. I'd be like, I should be slamming the table and telling people like, this deadline, you guys need to tune in. we're going to be live on August 2nd. I don't know. It could stink. It could be horrible. Like there's a chance for that.

Dude, there's a chance it's nuts. Like, I don't know. For all the good teams are out there. Yeah, man. There's some names I don't want to throw out into trade talks. But like, what if Cincinnati panics? Could Hunter Green? Would you guys be willing to trade Ben Rice to the twins, maybe?

We buy him low. Cody Clements. What a world that would be if the Yankees traded away a good player to the twins. Oh. What are you even saying? I don't know. I'm just thinking like that's... Talk about fan fiction.

Cody Clemens is going to look great in Houston Astros where his daddy played. Don't say that about Cody. Let's talk some National League baseball. And it starts out a rivalry, a rivalry that's lost a little bit of zip because the Dodgers are disgusting as they take three out of four from the San Diego Padres. Man, Teosker gets grouchy on them. Dalton rushing and Kyle Tucker go eight for eight in the first game. That'll do.

That'll do it. Padres salvaged the set by winning that last game, but my God, things are getting dark in San Diego as they had an eight-game losing streak. Yoshinobu Yamamoto. I'm going to tease you people. You're going to hear more about him coming up. Oh, Shohay's on that team. The Cardinals took two out of three from the Cubbies.

It was ugly. That first game, 17 to 1. And then the other game, or excuse me, the next game, the Cardinals shut him down. Kyle Lee. Do we talk about him enough? Maybe. J.J. Weatherholt, you know he was involved.

Cubbies salvage the same. set in that final game. Six-four comeback win to do it. Hey, Pedro Ramirez, how about that? The Brewers take two out of three from the dimebacks, and that's obvious. The Brewers, they win that first game and extras. They make it ugly. Ryan Thompson, a little display of pitchers being pitchers. D-backs, they win that second game. Brandon Woodruff leaves with injuries. We hate that a lot. And then it looks like the snakes are going to get it. The All-Star E-Rod, going into the seventh, left on left, but Jake, Rake Bowers, Clipsum, Brewers win the series. Those Pittsburgh Pirates in the Nationals, these are two fun teams.

Nats win the first game working 9 to 5, 5 home runs from the Nationals offense. Insane. But the rest of the way, how about the kind of Griffin show? Kid can play. Kid can play. Ashcraft, fourth consecutive winning start, he can play. And then the Pirates end up rolling them, even though the Nassau. Matt scrapped in that one fun game, Brandon Lout, with the three-run Homer to break it open.

The Orioles took two out of three from the Reds. Ah, okay. Orioles, they win the first two games of the series. Big Sam Bessio is happening, so is Peter Alonzo. A lot of meat in that lineup. Mm-hmm. Game three, Spencer Steer and the Boys, and All-Star Sal Stewart helped the Reds salvage the set. Where is their season going?

I don't know. Two of the worst teams in baseball, the San Francisco Giants and the Colorado Rockies played three, and the Rockies took two out of three. They win the bread games. Logan Webb gets knocked around for it. Shout out Zeke Tovar. Cole Carrick is knocking the pill around. Caros is showing up in box scores.

Jordan Romano got the save for the Rockies. Did you know? T.J. Rumfield, back-to-back rookie of the month. I don't know. Devers hit about a thousand feet of home. homers in one game. Who cares? Speaking of, Braves and the Mets are playing a wrap-round series. The Braves took two out of three in a scary last game that they were blowing them out, and they almost blew it late.

Braves, you know the cast of characters, and Eli White. He homers off Sean Mania. I guess you need to know that. And another wraparound, the Phillies and the Royals, they've split two so far. Lizardo was dominant. A big sow hooking it down the line. Don't bring it there. I can't really talk about those because nothing's really happening. And that's what happened in the National League.

How about the Cubs roller coaster a week? They went Wednesday, 23 to 3. They won the game. Day off. Hey, that's fun. Let's let that marinate for a little bit. How we feel the next game? Losing 17 to 1.

That's kind of crazy. Their whole season is crazy. Up and down. I don't know if it ends up in disaster. Glory. Abreggy just got his 10 years in the show. which we know is a big thing. And I think during the speech,

I think Horner gave the speech and he said, we have five guys hitting 10 years in the show this year that, like, that's insane. That's insane. I just need to a couple more, coach. I know. It might happen.

Yeah. You know, you can get service time as a coach. Yanks could use righty, Phillies could use some righty power. You know, like lefty, career against lefties, I was a guy. I could have been Rob Reff Snyder in a different life. I got the standings, though, Pop, let's go.

I think Rob Reff Snyder wants to be Euler. I think so, too. Okay. Nice. I got a good life. I'll start out at East. The Braves sluggish, sluggish, but a little pick-me-up here. 52 and 36 for them.

Look out. Look out. Because the Philadelphia Phillies, my Philadelphia Phillies, three games back at 50 and 40. Not only are the Phillies approaching. but the gosh dang marlins the fish with arms four and a half games back 49 and 42 for them can't wait to pick your brain about that one the national is also over 500 46 and 45 and then the Mets disgusting 37 and 53 there's some steve cohen quotes out there right now about like not sure how 2027 is going to go that's crazy uh Milwaukee 55 and 33 the second best record in baseball. And if you ever watch our show,

TPP's about Milwaukee, that's when you earn your money for the season. We just tell you, bet the over on the win total. They're on pace to win 100 games for the first time in their franchise is history. Because, of course, they are. The Cubs, nice ground number for them, 50 and 46 games back.

The Cardinals, 47 and 40. The Pirates, one game over 5, 46 and 45, and then the Cincinnati Reds, 41 and 48. The Dodgers, best record in baseball, 59 and 32. They've slept walk, man. Their team isn't even healthy yet. And they're just doing it.

14 games up in that division. The only team above 500 because the snakes and the Padres both 44 and 45. The Giants, 37 and 52 and the Rockies, 37 and 54. Now, in the wild card, Jake, the Cubs and the Phillies both have the first two spots. And then there's a tie. there's a tie for the third. St. Louis and the Marlins are tied for the third wild card spot. Behind them, Pittsburgh three games back.

Behind them, or tied with them, the Washington Nationals, snakes, Padres four games back. So not as much of a cluster as the AL, but still a lot of team is right in there. Those are the standings in the National League. Would that be a Cubby's Phil's wild card match? My God, those teams. No, it wouldn't be a Cubby's Phil's.

I think it would be right now. I think so, yeah. Yeah, I guess it would be Atlanta. No. Yeah, Atlanta would be playing either the Cardinals or Marlins and Cubsville. Yeah, you're right. I mean, those two teams in a three-game set for your season. Let's do that for the American League.

It would be Yankees going up against the Rangers, and then it would be. No. No, Yankees guards. And it would be, as of today, Rangers Mariners. So it's the worst record of the division winners versus the worst wild championship. Oh, that's right. The Yankees are not, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Seattle would be playing the Rangers and Yankees' guards.

Would that scare you? No, Yankees have kind of an amazing playoff history against the Guardians. Well, they had an amazing regular season record against the twins, and look what happened. There we go. Great standings. Trev, let's start with some drama for your mama. Shout out to all the moms. Yeah.

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Like the Marlins are playing such good baseball. They're seven games over 500. Like you said, they're in a tie for the playoffs right now. It's just been incredible. It's not the story, Trev. A lot of baseball fans might have got that notification. Even if you're World Cup in it, it was kind of between. games yesterday. Perfect game alert. It's been a while. It's been a minute.

Yuri Perez, the Uber talented prospect that was supposed to be part of the fish with arms and now they're the fish with sticks. Oh, fish sticks. That's fun. Okay. Am I a genius? My fucking genius. Rob, talk to the shirts, people. Oh, fish sticks. Um, seven innings perfect, coach. They pull him. 92 pitch. This is his third start back. He is built up to 86 last start. This guy has a big time future that we do have to think about other things. But I don't know, man.

It's so gross. It feels so wrong. All right. So, yeah, look, 92 pitches. It was coming off a lower half injury. So it was not like an arm injury. Still just looking real nice out there. Again, I don't understand why we go.

Like, they've never locked down, like, what a pitch. count or when we get to certain pitches, this is when we get injured more. It's more about like dropping velocity. There's some biomechanical stuff that they point to more. But we had this 100 pitch pitch count in our minds now. And even the most analytically driven teams still don't really know. I mean, it's a mystery. How far to push guys. So having said that 92 pitches, I think maybe you give them the eighths. Don't play this yet, Bob. Don't play this yet. Don't play this yet. No. Lake Bockers on the screen.

I like that. Don't put them on there. We're not there yet in this saga. 92 pitches through seven. I think you, I think you can give him the eighth. What if he has a six pitch eighth inning? I agree.

I just feel like you got to do it. And so, yeah, we're all watching the game. And Dallas, there was the, what did they call it? Like the Sunday Bananza or something like that. Star Spangled Sunday.

And so Peacock had, all the games. I like the way they do it because it's like one announcer from one side, the other announcer from the other side, the analyst and then the play-o-play guy. But he, Dallas Braden's in the booth, obviously famously through a no hit on Mother's Day. And I was texting and I said, you're doing a great job holding your vomit in right now. Nice. He wants them to go. He's an old school pitcher. He's done this on the mound. Um, but yeah, I, you know, I see, I see it from Clayton's, McCullough's eyes because even if he does get through the eighth,

he's probably going to be right around 100 pitches at like the least, right? Right, best case. And then how far do you let him run? If you have a tar, this is my thing, you can have a target amount of pitches in your head. I think his was probably 100. He's like, I'm just going to get him out of the game now. 120? Oh, see.

Do we let pitchers go to 120? I just think it's an arbitrary number we just made up in our head because it's a nice round one. I guess that's... Nice round number, that's it. There should be a couple things in play here. This is an 8-0 game. Yes.

That it should hit a point where it's like, there should be an unspoken thing of, hey, Yuri's going to take the bump. He's going to throw it at you. A's and you better swing. And like if you get one... Yeah, dude. Like, what are we doing?

Like, you're... Because a team doesn't want to get perfect game again. that's why. End of the day, sports are entertainment, and we've just moved too far away from the needle here. Uri Perez needs to stay in that game, and I don't care if it's fastballs down the dick. And, like, okay, what if it is five pitches?

What if it is six? And that's actually what they're more scared of, Trev. They don't want Uri to go out there and have a 10-pitch inning because that means they need to throw them again, which... Exactly, exactly. I don't know. There's just something wrong with it, and at the same time, here we are complaining about pitcher injuries,

So I don't really know what to do Because that's what they're trying to look out for But we don't have a perfect science on it That I don't know man Dude what if you're not How can we not know? Because every human is different It's literally different creatures

Honestly it's probably like if guys wore like Like wearables and like you could like track things Internally what if probably something there but I don't know man What if Yuri Perez throws a perfect game and it changes the rest of his life. I don't know. Andres, Gala Raga. There's a name that...

He got a Corvette, though, didn't he? Like the next day? It's a name that baseball fans know for kind of the wrong, right reasons, but yeah. Let's get to the real story here. Lake Bacher is, you know, wedding his pants going into that game.

Are you kidding me? Correct. They almost lose the game. Imagine if they lost? He walks the first guy, and it's not even close. Eight-nothing perfect game? He threw a two-one-se. slider they got to count to 3-1 i was like oh there's no doubt in my mind the ball

felt like it was a ping pong ball in his hand i'm sure like he had no feel for that baseball and you saw i mean yeah they end up you know almost losing the game you know a's come all the way back um guy making a season debut makes the last out of the game for them thank goodness uh but i don't know story of this is the marlins are playing great right got sandy and they got urey and then they got a bunch of homers, a six-run first in game one, they end up sweeping their, they're here. Marlins are here. Fish sticks, love it.

Fish sticks? That's brilliant. Thanks, Jake. Man, that stadium, Trev, I think I'm with you. I think it's the most ridiculous. Cores, you still, you got to punch the ball. And, you know, again, it makes the pitchers worse. And, like, again, Devers hit 1,000 foot of home runs on two swings.

I think it was Stowers. who has, what, three home runs in this series? One of his home runs, I thought, was a foulout to third. And it left the building. And I was like, what are we doing? I don't know. I'm mad for your. It's hot up there, man.

Like, watching BP is something. I called some games there. It's a different ballpark. You're right. Trev, the, let's see. That stowers. I think he hits one. opposite field that I was just shocked from.

A lot of options to choose from for Kyle Stowers, who again, him and Casey haven't been driving forces behind this offense, and now they're starting to get involved like this. This team is very real, very real. Trev, the rest of the NL, I'll be honest with you. Some exciting stuff. I don't know how juicy it is. whether it's the Dodgers

dominating the Padres which the Padres are had in the wrong direction in a big... They lost eight straight, man. They dropped under 500. The Padres are in the bad, bad place. I'm highlighting a Dodger player coming up. I already mentioned who that is.

So I guess what do you want from your... Who is it so I don't say anything about him? Yoshinovo Yamamoto. I mean, look, Padres down bad. They had it. I mean, they could have... their season around in the first two games.

I mean, you need six nothing after two innings in the first game. You got Sasaki, who just hasn't been good for the Dodgers at all as of late. Put them in the bullpen, guys. What are we doing? And then they come back to win that game. That's tough. Twelve unanswered after being up six to nothing. That hurts.

The next night, our guy. Our guy, Jake. Boots the ball. Lakebacker. No, yeah, I also like him, too. He boots this ball. Yeah. Double play ball to set up bases loaded.

And then what happens? Your guy, Teo, puts him up. I mean, that's an electric, electric moment at Dodger Stadium. Padres in town.

Look at that, dude. People talk all the shit, talk all the shit you want about Los Angeles. Go to a freaking Dodger game. Yeah. Go to a, freaking Dodger game. It's badass, dude. Especially on a weekend series, especially when the

Padres are in town. It's so fun, man. It's loud. It's loud. They're passionate. They're going for a three-peat. Dalton Rushing and Kyle Tucker both with four-for-fours. Like, that's, that doesn't just happen. Worried about the Padres, man. And in a stacked NL? Like have they been impressive at all since April when they were winning, but we're like, not sure how they're winning. They get a lead in the bullpen's good. That's been gone for a while. No, no.

Ew. Manny Machado, nice swing. Cardinals Cubbies, again, this should mostly be snaps for the Cardinals. The Cubby's trying to get out of the bad place. still, I think. The Cardinals, they were starting to trend the wrong way. So this was kind of a sneaky big series for them to keep the ship above water. I mean, yeah, we've mentioned the Cubs roller coaster of a season.

Very streaky, very, very, very streaky. 17 to 1 in the first game, 17 hits. 13 of the runs they scored or two outs. That's a backbreaker right there. and then game two JJ Weatherholt who I think is one of the biggest all-star snubs

and maybe he ends up making the team because that always happens like a influx of guys make the team he's just been so good first pitch to the game Homer opposite field there's like weird fog going on at the end of the game

very interesting that is weird I thought I thought when I first like watched some of the highlights that it was like fireworks smoke or something yeah same

but it was it yeah you mentioned Leahy Cubs left 20 runners on base in that foggy game, game two. And then they salvage the last one. But yeah, I mean, they're separated by half a game. Two of these teams playing against each other. Like, this is a fun series.

I love this. Yeah. Jordan Walker, 20 homers, as we're hitting this point of the season, that it's like, wow, you're racking up a full year. And do the Cardinal sweep, if they turn that double play instead of throwing it away in that final game, probably?

Yeah, that was a tough one. Then Dancy makes it awesome catch to end the game as well. He's been a guy. He's been a guy. Brewer, snakes, a little bit good team, bad team. We're getting to that point of the season. Oh, sorry, Dalt. Dalt really wants us to play the Ryan Thompson error,

which is just a pitcher's fielding montage. That's a big factor in them losing that first game. Very Snake series. This is kind of a very snakes, very Brewer series. Ryan Thompson making... Oh, God. At least he tried. He tried.

He was being athletic. That's a big boy. A lot of the pitchers are. Do that again. I want to watch that again. That was good. I like... It's a great effort.

It's a great effort. For podcast, people only, he goes to the third baseline, bare hands it, all in one motion, tries to do a diving. throwing throw and just chokes it off. Like he has no seams. It's all palm. Oh, that giggle. That's all. That's so good. That's all adult wanted.

Oh, man. And then, hey, as it is all-star season, Kulvitt, Erod making his first All-Star team, it's also, you know, if you're someone that's, that's into that kind of stuff, because every team kind of posted their videos announcing the All-Star. Tori Lavello, taking the honor, obviously. And Erod, again, his first ever all-star game, a guy that's been in this league for a long time.

That was actually a pretty cool moment before what happens in the final game. A couple other notes. Veebacks win that second game, 4 to 3. Del Castillo, first inning Homer was awesome. And then Brandon Woodruff ends up coming out of the game, probably going on the IL, very sad for Brewers. Very sad for Brandon Woodruff, who is obviously dealt with a ton of injuries.

as of late. We got to show the Sal Freelik. Sal Freelick catch 10 in the game? From game three, got to show it. That guy, yeah, well, Bobbo's getting there. The quotes are interesting from our skipper, Pat Murphy on the Brandon Woodruff stuff. Look at Sal Freelick covering a country mile,

throwing his hip into the wall. That's game. That's game. That's a one-run game. Look at McGill. Thank God I don't have to field it, says the pitcher. McGill would, I think he might be my one of one pick to win like a battle royale in the big leagues. Interesting.

Just psycho. That sounds like some offseason lockout content to me. Yeah, Pat Murphy's comments about Woodruff were interesting where he's just like a little bit like this is what we've seen and what are we going to do, to a job? I don't know. Interesting and sad because every time we talk Woodruff, we talk about how good he is. And yeah, that was a tough moment, tough moment to watch as he has to get pulled from the game again. Treve, I think the final two NL series I want to touch on because Giants Rocks, you've earned all of it. Mets, Braves, Phillies, Royals, you guys got a wraparound series that I don't know where the final result is going to land. Pirates Nats, which I have an award conversation coming from that series,

as those two fun teams teed off. And then Orioles Reds where I'll be honest, I don't have a lot to add because those teams hurt me. With the Nationals, I think you've got to look at where Luis Garcia Jr. Stats are on the year because every once in a while, I take a look at his page. I'm like, oh, okay, you're truly doing it this year. And they won the first game of that series,

five homers for them. uh, Luis Garcia Jr. Two of the five homers. And Foster Griffin, our guy, uh, really nice start.

A five and O in his last nine starts with the 287. And it was really, really hot. And we saw some pictures leave. Cade Cavali after his whole thing, ends up leaving with some heat exhaustion. Uh,

and then the rest of the time, uh, for the pirates. They win the last two. It's Connor Griffin, man. But what he's, he's doing what everyone thought he would be doing.

Uh, the steel of home is, is getting way too. overplayed for me. Oh, okay. Like, he was going back to the base and then I'm just going. He's fast, which is great. But, like, wasn't some, like, great read by him.

No, it's kind of sloppy gnats. It was a sloppy gnats. And then who was running? Was it Reynolds was running, I believe? Like, almost like a delayed type steal. He, like, pulls up, gets in C-trai. A little body check, yeah. Weird play.

Everyone was like, Connor Griffin's Steel. So I'm like, did he? He's kind of, like, went. bad, like you said, bad play by the Nationals. Yes, I agree. I have some more Pirate stuff coming up, and I can't believe I'm referencing another Instagram

All-Star video. The Nationals won pretty wild, because C.J. Abrams are like, you know, second All-Star game, Young, starting shortstop, I believe. And CJ Abrams gives a very, like, high and tight, like, not going to say too much. Appreciate you guys, blah, blah, blah. Then they announced James Wood as a reserve, and everyone gives James Wood to, like, speech, speech.

Like, you, very funny. I think you get an insight to his personality. I think he is a quiet guy. Let's just listen to do it. This is ridiculous. Abrams is, like, high and tight. James Wood basically copies him because he doesn't know what to say. Seems like he's a guy that doesn't talk.

I appreciate everybody in here. I look forward to coming to the field every day. I'll make it fun. It's not easy to do what we do, and we're doing it. So let's keep rocking. All right, we also have a reserve for us in the outfield. Mr. James Woodie leads Major League Baseball and extra base hits and runs scored. It leads the National League in walks,

leads the National League outfielders and homers, and his top three in pretty much every offensive category. He's one of two players in Major League Baseball with 20 homers and 10 stolen bases. second career also our appearance. This is amazing. I appreciate you guys. Y'all make it a blast coming here every day. So keep doing another hat.

Nailed it. What else do you want, Jay? He copies Abrams with the make it fun every day. Like, that's all he's got. And then he's clearly a guy that, he's just not a talking guy. I think it's just funny. We talk about personality. dynamics and different clubhouses and you talk about leadership and how different guys operate.

It was just funny to see James Wood apparently not a talker and that's okay. I have more of a qualm with Blake Buterra like just AI generating a speech. Oh, wow. He went to the pregame notes what they gave and just read off there. How about something from the heart? I agree with you. And that's why that's why we like Tori Lavello. Samuel Bessayo, great series against the Reds.

When you catch Trevor Rogers, you got a 2-5 ERA. So Orioles, maybe do that more often. Basayo, big three-run, a bomb against Hunter Green who made his debut. Hunter Green got touched up. You know, you kind of expect that first start back. Orioles, all right, keep going. Adley Rush and All-Star team, snaps. Snaps, Adley back involved Sal Stewart, rookie All-Star.

61 runs driven in for Sal Stewart. Yeah, Reds in there's six-game home losing streak. Like all the numbers are really bad out of Cincinnati that I think they could be a very interesting trade deadline team. In Baltimore, they're going to be in that coin flip trade line season. Treadline. People forget and hate that. Let's move on.

Let's start doing the second half of the show. It's time for stand out performances. Stand out performances. Stand out performances. This guy stood out. for Trev. Say what? Couple pitchers.

What's wrong with us, Trev? Yeah, I ended up going with my guy, Sunny Gray, out there in Anaheim, celebrating the fourth out there, the way you should, Sonny. Six things pitched, four hits, only one earned run. It was a homer.

Seven strikeouts. He has now gone, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven straight quality starts. He had one against my, My twins that got away. It was a bad rainy day. You can go back even further. He's a quality start machine.

He's been great for the Red Sox all year long. And I do think he's a reason that they are now back in it. Like he's just, he's a great, great clubhouse guy. We don't use the word bulldog enough anymore. Oh. Sunny Gray. Funny guy, but also very bulldogish. has respect of a lot of people in the game.

And yeah, again, I just, I want the Red Sox to be in it. I truly do. I think the roster is so much better than it's played. They've looked horrible at times this season. Sonny has not. Sunny's been the man. 10 and 1 with a 261 ERA. All-Star snub.

All-star snub. Maybe that changes like you mentioned. And, you know, talking baseball throwback, Asa Jason. Sonny Gray. That's kind of what he brings to the table. 2000 innings pitched in this game. How about this?

Here's some round numbers. You're not really round numbers. 2007 and two-thirds innings pitched. 2007 strikeouts. Look at that. About a strikeout per inning. If he strikes out his next batter, it'll be 2008 innings pitched and 2008 strikeouts.

That's great stuff. I think we would have got there. I'm going to up the ante a little bit. How about our short king pitcher's segment? Because I'm going with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who dropped it on the Padres. Tied his career high in strikeouts for the second time this season. Seven innings pitched ten strikeouts. After the first inning, no Padre advanced past first base.

That's a tough feeling. an offense that there's just no hope. And Yamamoto is just so consistently good at such a steady level. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 30 starts last year, 173 innings. He had a 249 ERA. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and his 16th starts this year, has a 249ERA. If you take out Yoshinobu's first start of his career, that was overseas, he would have had a 253 ERA on the season, his first year.

He's just a steady 2-5 ERA pitcher, which those don't exist. The guy's going to finish Syung 3 every season of his career. By the way, I just went through his postseason stats again. Just a reminder, as long as he's been in Major League Baseball, his team's never lost a postseason series. And a part of that is because he is 7-1 with a 2-2. 2-5 ERA in the postseason.

So the only place where he gets a tick better is in the postseason where, again, people forget what he did in that game seven. Nobody forgets, Jake. The guys just nails. I know Dodger fans kind of got mad because I was talking about the NL. Si Young race this year, and, again, he's, Mizorowski's doing freak show stuff and Sanchez and go watch all JM for more of that debate.

Yamamoto's just so good and steady, in a way he does get overlooked. because we'll be talking about him a ton come October again. He's a freak, dude. I'm looking at stats right now. Just a little bit better in pretty much every single category. Strikeouts are down a little bit, but that's okay because the walk rate is down.

Last year, it's 3.1 per 9, this year, 1.8. You know I like that, Jake. Don't walk guys, man. Dude's a freak show. In 24 career world series innings, he's got a 1-13 array. And 13.1 NLCS endings, he's got a 203 ERA. And they gave him $325 million without seeing him throw a single pitch in Major League Baseball. Yeah.

And now you look at that and you're like, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Good contract so far. Good contract so far. And he's the guy. He's the World Series MVP, Jake. He's been the guy doing it for the Dodgers. Like every year we look at that rotation.

right now Eric Lauer's in there. We're talking about moving Roki out. Robleski, nice. What's in Yamamoto's basement? Okay. I think he drinks. I feel like he doesn't. I think he likes a night out, but he's not like a drinker.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gosh. Just like cool shit. Just like a historic rock. Like really good Japanese. denim. I bet he's got some great denim. Absolutely has some fits. Oh, you know

what he has? He's got a showcase for all his bags. Bag guy? Yeah, he's a, I'll call it a purse. It's a purse. Know what he's got in his basement? A nice yoga studio. And we're like, oh, how does this guy do? He's the only player in the league that stretches.

We're so dumb. They're so dumb. Yamamoto's a stud. A lot A lot of pitchers were fighting for the throne. Lizardo, with nine strikeouts. Dylan Sees has been amazing. Every Marlins player could have been on this. Herberto, Otto Lopez, the All-Star.

Go check out where Pete Alonzo's stats are. The same place they are every year. Sorry. Matt Olson's amazing. I'm hoping we see some of these guys on En Fuego. Dirt Nasty's on Fuego. that means I'm on fire, baby, like Waco. I really would have loved to partake in some of that.

I didn't, though, this weekend. I couldn't find any, I guess. That's which is crazy. You mentioned Auerberto Hernandez, and all the Marlins could have been on standout. How about him on Enfuego? For the series, five for 10, three homers, five runs driven in. Raphael Devers, I mean, okay, we get it.

Five for 14, three homers. he has 18 homers. Casey Smith has 17 homers with the first pair of Giants, teammates have 17 or more before the team's 90th game since, I mean, two of the alt-timers.

Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent. Jeff Kent, what are you doing right now, man? Michael Harris-Duce, England's favorite baseball player. Seven for 14, two-homer seven runs driven in. Jake McCarthy, Stud. Six for 13, triple two-homer, six runs driven in.

on friday jake jake became the first rockies play to record a lead off homer grand slam and stolen base in the same game that's a crazy stat who even how do you even find out stuff like that rightly green though for the week eight for 20 a double a triple but we've got him on this list for jimmy jacks 10 runs driven in and you mentioned the the fish sticks kiles stowers 11 for 26 two doubles a triple three homers seven runs driven in on friday his first to Homer J had a launch angle of 45 degrees. That's the highest launch angle on and over the fence, Homer, by a Marlin since Jazz Chisholm did it on April 12, 2020.

Garrett Mitchell, one of your favorite players of the Milwaukee Brewers, 10 for 23, a triple two homers, five runs driven. He's batting five, 12, and hitters counts this season. That's the best in the National League. Mickey Moniac, is he an All-Star? I don't think he made it. No. Hunter Goodman did.

Nine for 27, two doubles, three homers, seven runs driven in. Freddie Freeman, base knock off of Mason Miller, because he doesn't care how hard you throw the ball. Go it harder, dude. Yeah. Oh, it's in the zone. I'm hitting it. Barrel.

Nine for 26, two homers, four runs driven in, four walks to go along with that. He's a stud. Jake, that's who's in Fuego. I want you to bring the show down a little bit. I'm not ready to yet. I want to, adult just found that Kyle Stowers, Homer, that I need you to react to it because it almost looks like a foul ball. It's a pitch down the middle, but it looks like he misses it.

And it goes as an opposite field home run somehow. And then I feel bad because I'm really going to bury Robert. Casey Schmidt made a play at third that might be. Oh, yeah. That was like a mania chado play. That might be, hey, Matt Chapman, go find. And if there's a trade out there, Giants looking to get off some salary

and how funny would that be from Matt Chapman screaming at Casey Schmidt to watch this, Trev? Oh, yeah, that's insane. I mean, the outfielder's watching it. Like, what? Is this? That's insane. I don't know if that should be all. Looks like he misses it.

He misses it. That's wild. I mean, it's okay. So we're talking 45 in the air. It probably came off the bat. at like 103 maybe. That's wild. Nuts. And then, yeah, again,

we're just grinding right now. But Casey Schmidt, I don't know, baseball, I love a good storyline. The Giants trying to get off some salary. Matt Chapman of the salary guys probably has the most value. It would be a very interesting, Casey Schmidt, I'm the captain now. I kind of take back my third base job.

Yeah, I think Matt Chapman's doing fine. Oh. Look at the footwork there. Danny Machado-esque right there. Little twinkle toes. Bryce Eldridge can't run. All right. Put you.

Put Rob to work. Put you to work. Great stuff. Amazing stuff. Michael Harris, the England legend. What is life? What is life?

I'll tell you what. It's tough for these guys right now. Hey, man. It's time to pick it off. Oh, for the week. Guys who are struggling. We try to get them to not struggle. And a lot of these guys show up on both lists.

Paul Goldschmidt's in an 0-4-22. Hall of Famer. Pretty tough. Pretty tough for Paul. Tristan Gray, for your Minnesota Twins, he's in an 0-14. Don't like that. Cooper Engel, of course, he plays for Cleveland.

He's in a 1-4-14. And Yandi Diaz, your AL-batting title leader right now is in a 2-4-20. For the two weeks. So Austin Wells, three for 29. His 483 OPS is the worst in the MLB this season. Okay. Logan O Hoppe, struggling.

Four for 29. That's a 130. Do you think the MLB? You can't do that. J.J. Bladay. The J.J. Bladay is in a 6 for 42. His OPS is sneaking down. It's at 811.

That's his lowest of the season. Okay, good for J.J. Bladay. And then, Trev, I don't know if you're going to send the text. I don't know if you need to. Christian Yellich. Five for 39. I mean, it doesn't have to be about baseball. Maybe just text a guy.

How's your love life? Good guy. Hey, hey, Yelly. Just checking in. That list is bad, but a lot of those guys end up on Enfuego. This is the list you really don't want to be on. It's the IL. And it starts off in San Diego.

We got a couple pitchers. Jason Adam, one of the more lockdown relievers in this league, right shoulder. Estimated a month. Let's see. Freddie Fermin with a head contusion. Don't like that. And also Randy Vasquez, two to four weeks with an ankle for San Diego. So that's a lot.

Ryan Hellsley, right elbow discomfort. Yikes. Yikes. Carlos Rodon, left elbow inflammation. Yikes. Belio Rodriguez, cussion, as we say. Hassan Kim. He's just had an injury slew that's been killing him.

Jacob Junis, who's been really good for Texas. We mentioned Woody. We're waiting to finally update for that for Milwaukee. Sagano, Evan Sisk for Pittsburgh in that bullpen. Returning from the aisle. Let's pick it up. Luis Camposado for San Diego. So look at that.

Trent Grisham is back for those New York Yankees. Hermann Marquez for San Diego, Ryan McMahon, for the Yankees. Look at this. Christian Javier for Houston. Kyle Farmer for Atlanta, Trev. Your guy. My guy. What a all-time manager one day.

You guys got tight. Zach Giloff is back for the athletics. We mentioned Hunter Green for Cincinnati. Chris Martin, cold play for that Texas bullpen. And late night, Lamont for Houston. Let's start everyone's week the right way. Oh, what? So get better than social media sensation, Kelsey Winger.

It doesn't. I don't think it does. Maybe only at Seatgeek, because awards are brought to you by Seek. Talking 2026, 10% off. Where are you going, coach? old is Chris Martin. Is he like 55? Might start with a four. Chris Martin's been at it for a little while.

And a great baseball story. Yeah, like late bloom or I don't know. 40 years of age. At one point, I believe, and I don't think this is a joke, he was literally like stocking shelves and specifically the high shelves because he's six foot eight. I think that's real. I love that. Crazy. I'm going to give the Independence Day a war.

Sure. Slash Unsung Hero Award. So I had my nephew over for the week. We're watching him and he's 12 years old. My son is 10. My daughter's eight. I said, you know what, guys,

we're going to sit down. This is on Friday night. I said, we're all going to sit down as a family. I got all these big chairs out. I set it up nice in front of my TV movie night, dude, blankets, snacks. Hell yeah.

And I said, we're going to watch Independence Day. I haven't watched it in a long time. time. They're like, what's that, dad? I said, oh, it's a movie about aliens. Is it scary? I'm like, a little bit. A little bit, a little bit. Watch the whole movie.

In fact, we did not watch the whole movie because I forgot, it's a little long. Watched half of it Friday night, the other half Saturday morning on actual Independence Day. I forgot like so many iconic scenes. I mean, we need a president like that. That guy badass, dude. like great speech gets in the freaking jet. He's like, I'm a pilot. I'm a fighter pilot.

Hell yeah, you are, bro. Hell yeah, you are. I got fired up during the movie, dude. Like, Will Smith, it's hilarious. Yeah. Punches the alien. Yeah, it's so good. Like, if you haven't watched that movie,

like, go watch it. It's just a, it's a fun one, man. I feel like movies used to be fun like that. Like, there's some dumb parts, but it's all fun. Anyways. If I asked you, like, you know, who the heroes were in that movie, I think you'd say, well, Will Smith. Jeff Goldblum, who creates the virus and they both go up into space and they shoot the nuclear weapon off and they survive. One of the most badass scenes in all of movie history is Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith walking back after they crash land back on Earth and their girls are running after them and they're smoking their cigars.

And they, you know, like, they're, you just save the planet. as manly as it gets. Tell you who's had a lot of good nights, Jeff Goldblum. He has. What's in his basement? Cheesh. Also, I think is it President Whitmore? Is that the name?

I don't know that guy's name off the top of my head as far as the actor goes. Bill Pullman. Excuse me? Bill Pullman. Bill Pullman, yeah. I've been in a lot of movies. He could be a hero of that movie, obviously. But the real hero, the unsung hero.

Yeah. is crop duster, Russell. Yeah. Now, town drunk, sure. Abducted by aliens, telling people all about it,

everyone laughs at him. He goes deep into it, you know, like has a little bit of a tragic story at the beginning of the movie. But by the end of it, he's courageous. He makes his family proud.

He's the one, I don't want to spoil it, but like, he takes the ship down. Yeah. If you haven't seen it, Yeah, that's on, that's on you. That is on you.

The Statue of Limitations on spoiling here. It's 20 plus years old, 30 years old. That's crazy, by the way. Russell is the unsung hero. He steps up when no one thought he was going to step up. I have an unsung hero from a team that's really surprised this year. It's from the Cardinals. And if I was to say, hey, who were the heroes of the Cardinals season?

You'd probably say, well, Jordan Walker. Sure. You probably say, oh, JJ Weatherhole. Yep. I don't know. Mason wins pretty good, Treff. And what I'd say to you is, how about Alec Berluson? Alec Burley Burleson. On the year, Jake, 63 runs driven in.

He's fifth in all of baseball. Okay, runners in scoring position, 343, 393, 495 for the 888 OPS. Love that, man. Obviously, if you're driving in a bunch of runs, you're going to come through with runners in scoring position. How about, though, two outs runners in the scoring position? Because that, it to me, is the backbreaker. That wins you a ton of games.

If you're driving and runs with two outs, you're going to win a lot of games because of that. 342, 432, 526 for the 958 OPS for our guy, Alec Berdelson, in those back-breaking situations. Okay, how about against relievers? Sure. 886 OPS against the guys throwing absolute chet out of the bullpen. Guys that are supposed to get him out in these situations. A lot of heroes of the Cardinal season, but I don't think we talk about Alec Berlinson and nothing

what he's been able to do steadily getting better, age 27 season. I'm a big fan of his. I just like when he's up. I think he puts together really, really good at bats, and I don't think he gets enough credit. So Alec Berlson gets my unsung hero slash independence day. It was.

Hello, boys. Yeah. So good. So good. Well done, Trev. I mean, tied it to July 4th weekend. Yeah. And these Cardinals are good.

These Cardinals are good. They've been the same level of good all year. And I'm kind of keeping things NL Centrale. Because the Reds may have completely broken me. I just may be out on it. Like, it was nice. We got pitching now. Tito's there. It just hasn't clicked.

I love Sal Stewart. Oh, yeah, throw it there, Ms. See what happens, dude. I think I'm in on the whole AL Central, or NL Central, excuse me. And there's one team I've kind of been out on. And it's, I'm giving out the, it's okay to lose a bet award. I, you know, sports gambling is still a hot topic with some people. They've allowed us to do a ton as a company.

employ people and do all this fun stuff that hopefully you guys enjoy. That, you know, the whole thing is to do it responsibly within your means. Just because my buddies in the group chat did it last night, threw a couple bucks on Mexico last night. Didn't go our way, but it was okay because the game was awesome. I enjoy watching the sport. I don't need that to watch the sport. We do our over-underbets to start the year.

And, you know, it's kind of fun. It's preseason. It's exciting. and we're getting jazzed up about different things. And, you know, you end up, if we're contradictory on something, we end up, I don't know, that for some reason we're now anchored into a team or a take, even if we don't really want to be.

I've talked about it a lot. The Pittsburgh Pirates, I just wasn't in on it. I wanted them to do more. I thought they should have done a little bit more. And a lot of their moves have been fantastic. Lowe, Lowe, O'Hern, Marcel, which I liked a lot. he kind of hasn't been there.

But the pitching, it was obviously there. And some of the young guys I wasn't sure about. I mean, Ashcraft, what he's turned into is awesome, and we've talked about him. Trev, there was one part of the equation that I just did not have, and again, maybe it's a hand-up. Connor Griffin. As Bobby Witt set some records this week,

I think he's one of four players in MLB history to have 30 stolen bases in his first four. seasons. Connor Griffin got his 20th stolen base. Hey, got called up late, and he got hurt. So I think this guy's running. Trev, he had an amazing day at the office. It's two for four, two RBIs, a run, a walk, stolen base, sure. This isn't the steel home game. That happened earlier in the series. We already talked about that. He made a couple plays on the field that if we could get those up Bob O'Peda because, one, he admits later that he's like, it looks a little more dramatic than it was. I got caught up in the sun. I didn't have my sunglasses down because I was sweating

so much that I couldn't see. Still a great play. Still a great play. Then he makes an amazing play. That's basses yugged. And by the way, James Wood, who I love showing off, somehow tags up on that because people forget he's one of the fastest players in baseball. Dude, Connor Griffin is amazing. Only three players in the modern era have had at least one steal in four straight games before turning 21. That's Gene Stevens, Ty Cobb, and Sherry McGee. So when we say modern era, we kept Ty Cobb and Sherry McGee in there from 05 and 07, that's 1905 and 1907. Dude, this guy came up and he struggled.

He felt it. as a 19-year-old, he had his birthday and turned 20, and everything started going kind of the other way for him. 276 batting average on the year now, 332 on base. He plays amazing defense. He's providing offense. And, man, he's just special. Like some guys just are.

I know you've talked about Mississippi ball players, and that's another part of your scouting. This guy is different, and he wasn't part of my equation. and I found myself some nights rooting against the Pittsburgh Pirates just because I wanted them to do more of this offseason. Maybe I didn't love what their owner has stood for as we approach CBAs and how they've managed that team. But as a fan of sport, I don't care.

I don't care. They're fun. And Connor Griffin is awesome. And watching the show he put on the other day, running the bases, hitting the ball, playing defense. It's a certain level of special ball player. that you don't see all the time.

That I'm throwing that out. I'll get the bet wrong. If the over-under, I don't care. I don't care. Connor Griffin's electric. The pirates have a chance to be electric. When I look at those NL wild card standings, even how good the fish have been recently.

St. Louis and what they've done throughout the season. The Nats, the Padres, the dimebacks. As a baseball team, the team I think is the best, is the Pittsburgh Pirates. So I know they've been doing that 500-line dance all year. I'm just done sitting at home being like, oh, maybe Pittsburgh's going to lose. And I don't care.

I don't care. I'm ruining pirates. I'm rooting the whole NL Central because I like all those teams outside of Cincinnati. You've hurt me too much. Go Pirates, go. Raise the Jolly Roger. Since May 1st, 33 games for Connor Griffin, 306, 361, 448 for the 808 OPS.

It's 20 years old. You can't forget about that. Like, what the hell are you doing at 20 years old? You might be 20 listening to this right now, and you're probably not in the big leagues in the middle of her freaking lineup. It just doesn't happen very often. I do like the way he plays. I like the way he wears the uniform a lot.

Nice. Jake. But yeah, he's a stud. And you know what, dude? Pirates love him. Bullpen's got to be fixed. Got to figure that out in some way in fashion. And then we got to step up that deep.

defense just a little bit. If you're going to root for him, you got to root for that too. And by the way, Bobby Wood Jr. played 150 games his rookie year, 254, 2904, a 722 OPS, 20 homers, 30 steals. And that was at age 22. Connor says, wait until Connor starts feeling real comfortable and starts swinging it for like power because he will. Yeah. He's a, that boy.

He different. He's different. Shout out Connor Griffin. Shout out the Pirates. Shout out Seat Geek. Make sure you use code talking 2026, 10% off your next set of tickets at Seat Geek. Oh, boy. Last week of games.

Treb, I mean, we got a Wednesday up and then I'm going to, it's going to be full contact. Yeah. Philly? You're returned to Philly? Have you been back? No. No. I went to a playoff game, football game.

That's right, your friend Matthew. Okay, yeah, I did. They were good. All right, he was driving down the field. Anyways, that's what happened. There was a lot of ball to yuck. Leave a comment. What did you like?

What did you dislike? What do you want more of? All-Star break? How? Jake sucks. Four draft, pretty good. Pretty good draft. A lot of Griffin's draft.

You know, White Sox, Hagen Smith. Imagine Colson, Montgomery and Connor Griffin on the same team. They took him fifth overall. Connor went ninth. Angels had the pick right before. Then they went with Christian Moore. Good ball player. Probably not Connor.

Hagen Smith, no pressure. We need you, pal. He's punching tickets.