Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Teams Continue Hot Streak Out of All-Star Break!

Episode Date: July 20, 2026

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Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. We are back. The All-Star break is over. A couple hot teams in the ALE East. They're not my Yanks. There's so much ball. The Brewers are brewing. They murdered my fish.

Ryan Jeffers is back. Simeon Woods Richardson. Trey Turner. Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Presented by Fanatics Markets, where fans trade on sports. Fanatics Markets available now on the app stores. I'm Jake Storelli. That is Trevor Plouf.

Rob Chiracco is producing. Don't feel he's got a sheet here. He ain't here. He was leading the Diamondbacks to their best ever comeback in franchise history. Of course. Of course. Rabbit's foot up his bum. Trev, how are you?

Are you recovered? I saw some good stuff on the gram, coach. You know, the All-Star, it was an All-Star week for us. We were there Saturday through Wednesday. I end up going to Lake Arrowhead with my beautiful family, which is in California. We had just great the four of us family time. I guess the five of us because we're going to do as well.

Yeah. So yeah, it was a nice little recharge. Dalton Feeley, snakes. Yeah. A lot more about them this episode. Ketel Marte, like, well, kind of what is you doing, baby? And also seven run comeback, that's the most ever. That does not seem right for the snakes.

Oh, interesting. Because it is like when Hittin's happening in that ballpark, it feels like a lot can happen. Seven runs is a lot. But we see them play crazy games all the time. I think their bullpen is usually part of the reason for those crazy games. And yeah, you're going to want to see where they are in the standings because the NL, the NL wild card is looking like it's going to be,

a thing. I may have cursed the Marlins. That's an L6 for them. Meanwhile, Trev, there's a team in the Commonwealth. Thirteen straight. That doesn't just happen.

That doesn't just happen. The socks are back. The birds are back in the east. We have some ball to talk as we lead. Are we two weeks from the deadline? Yeah. I think it's on a one day. today, coach.

Yeah. It's July 20th, so that's good. Let's talk some ball. And it starts with a mopping in Boston. The Boston Red Sox kid. Four games, four wins, against the first place Tampa Bay raised the AL. Is it getting better?

Is it getting morbid? Boston does not care because Jake Bennett shoves because that's all he knows how to do. Sunny Gray has been like the third best ERA in baseball since April 14th or something sure Wheel Year of Brayu

back to back multi-homer games Will Sown we're bunting Trev The vibes are electric It's a W-13 for the Boston Red Sox kid And they are fully back The New York Yankees They hosted the Dodgers.

They lost the first game. Tough. Tough. Could have went either way. Garrett stays in. I don't know. Dodgers double-header day on Sunday. They roll them in the first game.

But the Yankees survived a bullpen game in the last one to get through Yoshinobu Yamanoido. Complete game. Can I get that right? White Sox. They kind of continue. and they're in an even more interesting position in this American League after they win two games against the Toronto Blue Jays. Only game the Jays won.

Bieber and Davis Martin, a one-nothing affair. It's White Sox outside of that. They put up 12 in that first game. All the young socks were involved. And then they shut them down in that last one. Sean Burke was fantastic. White Sox lead the Centro. Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cleveland Guard Dogs.

Pirates win two seven to one bread games as they get special pitching performances from Jared Jones and Paul Skeens. How do you like that? The game in the middle, Cleveland, Travis Bazzana from Down Under, out of the park, walk off home run. Pittsburgh wins a series, some cool stuff there. The Seattle Mariners win a series. After dropping the first game at home, Landon Roup and Bryce Eldridge with silly, Power. Mariner's the rest of the way. Big three-run Homer by Young. They win that in extras, and then they take the final game. New Reilly with the pinch hit. Go ahead, home run to help get that

done. San Diego, Fernando. They dropped the first game in 10 to Kansas City. How about Carter Jensen? You're going to hear about him this episode. A couple nice swings. Lane Thomas, the outfield version. of Trevor Plouf, two-run Homer. Same with Salvador Perez in that second game to win the set. Padres decide, you know what? Let's put up 19 of them. They do that in the final game as they salvage. The Motor City Kitties continue to win series.

They win the first two against the Angels. They would have liked to get all three, but Ryan Jake Storelli Johnson on the bump was enough for the halos in that final game. Scobel was looking like Scobel again, Seven shutpiece and torque goes ding-dong twice for tigers. How you lead. Big game, big moment.

Finally, your best Western Road Warriors. It's time for Best Western Road Warriors. It's the Baltimore Birds. The Orioles go into Houston. They sweep at a big Taylor Ward swing. He doesn't want to be traded. He likes it. He likes it.

Big home run in that first game to get it done. We're going to extras in the second one. Tyler O'Neill, my king, on defense, on offense. Got him at home. Big Sam with the big tag. And then Young Brandon Young in that final game. Don't look now. The Baltimore Orioles with the W-7 as they handle their business down in H-Town.

Life's a trip. Make the most of it at Best Western. That's what happened in the American League. I don't like what he called me Elaine Thomas. or Lane Thomas me. But then, you know, if you'd go to his baseball reference page, it's freaking pretty good. Both match lefties.

Damn it. I don't know. In my head, I'm like, was such a better player. God. I guess I just wasn't. It's not. It's a Monday. I got the stand.

Yeah. You want them? Need them. It's important. It's very important. There was a bunch of interleague games, though. There was. man, I don't know.

I got the standings in the A.O. Okay, you're going to want to hear them. We'll start out east. Those Tampa Bay Rays, yes, they get swept or mopped, I guess, if you will. But they still lead the division by a game and a half, 56 and 42 for them. The Yanks, 55 and 44, Boston. On the heater, I can't wait to talk to you about them. There are two games over 550 and 48.

Baltimore surging a little bit, 49 and 51 for them, 46, and 53 for the Toronto Blue Jays. In the Central, the White Sox still leading it. 52 and 46. One game back of them is the Cleveland Guard Dogs. 52 and 48 for them. My twins got to 500.

And then lost the last two games of the series, 49 and 51. Tigers 46 and 53 and the card, or excuse me, the Royals, 40 and 60. Out West is still a mess. 50 and 49 for Texas. A half game,

lead over the 50 and 50 Seattle Mariners. I love to see that. I don't know why. The Astros, four games back, 47 and 54, the A's 42 and 57, and then the Angels 39 and 61 in the wildcard Jake. Your New York Yankees would have the first shot. The Cleveland Guard Dogs will be two and the Boston Red Sox. sole possession of the third wild card spot Texas leading in the west so it'll be Seattle one game back of Boston

Minnesota two games back Baltimore two games back and those are your standings in the American League Trevor fantastic job even getting distracted by who you thought you were as a player and maybe you were and war isn't everything man this episode is sponsored by

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Click the link in the description. Download the app, automatically have it uploaded to your account so you can use it later. Thank you, C-Kkeek. Good standings. Let's talk Boston Red Sox. Let's talk some AL East. I think that's where the most eyes are on in the sport right now. And it starts with the Boston Red Sox, who, I mean,

Talk about a Boston Red Sox season, man. And we talked about this team and you feel things in May that feel like you've already watched a season of baseball. And then you get to July 20th and you reel off 13 in a row. I give a lot of speeches about, especially in this year's AL, like, can you put together an 8 and 2 in 10 games? That can get you into the right spot. No, it gets you into the right spot. 13 of them, coach. The boys are absolutely bopping, whether it's wheelie or.

Aaron Wilson. We got some small ball that we might talk about later. And like any win streak, you need a certain amount of starting pitching that Patrick Sandoval, I think he ended up stopping a streak of just dominant Red Sox starting pitching performance. He had a nice Instagram story where he was like, oh, when you still do the group project and get the A on the test. Because right now they're just getting A's on every test coach. And the Red Sox, they're here. It's interesting because, you know, 18 of 20 is what it is. They lose to Colorado, June 24th. The world's falling apart.

Everyone can't believe what's happening. Even myself, you know, I had high expectations for this Red Sox team coming into the year. And then they just kind of get off to a brutal start. The pitching was there, but the offense wasn't. And now if you look at their record, a couple of games over 500 in the wildcard spot, That's like, that's kind of where you expected this team to be. I think maybe even a little bit higher, honestly, going into the year. Like I said, I had high expectations, but it's, the cream rises to the top over 162.

I truly do believe that. And like, yeah, you're going to go through some things early on in the season, you know, and you don't really want to have to run a 13 or an 18 of a 20, whatever it is to kind of get back there. But that's, I think that's, this is showing like why 160. is so important. And why when we're talking about ball in May and even early June, and it's like, all right, there's just so much baseball left. Because not only are the Red Sox team that can do this,

but we're seeing the Orioles kind of go. You know, there's a bunch of teams that can get back in it, especially in this AL. So it's been a lot of fun to watch them play. Sunny Gray is a freaking stud. And we talked about it all, you know, at the beginning of the year. they did such a good job in the offseason, the guys that they brought in,

they made some really heady trades, they made some great pickups, and I think they're starting to see kind of all that come together now. William Bray, obviously has been a stud. The changes he's made against lefties this year have really come to fruition,

but it's impressive, but I think it's more, my kind of take on it is this is like who I expected them to be. Yeah. Everyone kind of like, their off season a little bit. You're like, Ranger Suarez at the buzzer, which, you know, I know he had a groin injury

and he's coming back soon. But yeah, you're sitting there 29 and 43. I mean, a lot of people are digging their grave. Cora's gone. Yeah, almost a month later, 50 and 48. And I believe it's this wind streak, I got got by a Bill Simmons tweet a little bit. It basically lines up perfectly with the Jalen Brown trade in Boston. So maybe if you just believe in sports karma, the Celtics gave all theirs away

and the Red Sox took it. I don't know what you do, Coach, because right now, I mean, again, they're in the playoffs. It's not like watch out. Playoffs are today, and I think they'd be playing the Texas Rangers, and I think they'd be favored. Yeah, no, I mean, again, like they have all the recipe to get into the postseason and do damage there too. It just wasn't happening for them.

And now those cryptic Cora tweets don't look so cool anymore, do they? I don't, I mean, I don't know if they ever really looked cool, but, you know, I don't, I don't know. I don't know how much that decision plays into this at all, how much Tracy deserves. Or if it's just kind of the lineup scoring more runs. Isn't that what they need,

they need to do and they've been doing? definitely helps. I mentioned that Red Sox starter stat. Sub 2 ERA over the first 11 games of the win streak. So again, that very much helps. And then, yeah, man, Willie or Brayu. I mean, you talk not a bat flip, a bat slam. I think we're calling that, which him and him and Wilson are really taking a lead on. I mean, back-to-back multi-homer game, that's a really good recipe to win. that that'll do it

and the rays are kind of trending the wrong direction which has made this whole American League East which seemed seemed like the rays and the Yanks were just going to be a tier above almost by default and now you're looking at the socks and you're like

they're in range yeah I mean their pitching has been there pretty much all year long yes so you know that that hasn't come as a shock how good sunny gray has been, I think, I don't know if anybody really saw that coming, you know, he's a good pitcher.

12 and 1, 9th straight quality start, 10 and 0 with a 194 since coming off the IL on May 6th. That helps. Yeah, man. Knowing you're getting that. Chapman in the back of the pen, closing things

down helps. Like they, again, I really, when they were going through all the troubles, it was just like, this doesn't, this doesn't feel right. Like, yeah, Roman Anthony is gone, but like there's there is more in this lineup and and it wasn't showing up whatsoever early on but now here we go and i i honestly think as much as shit as you want to give like a wilson contraris he's kind of kept the edge with boston the entire year even when they were losing like the edge

was still there and it wasn't like all right guys like we're gonna pack it up and just kind of give up on the season like i think he deserves some credit for for keeping that kind of mentality Love them or hate them, I think it's true. Yeah, and I hate four-game sweeps against the Yankees and the race, the two teams that were ahead of them, and made a 15-and-a-half game lead on June 24th, and now a six-game lead in the ALE East that the raise are there, and hey, if you're looking for raise stats, guess what?

In a four-game sweep, they're going to look bad. In that final game, 0-4-15 with runners-in-scoring position, yep. Yandi Diaz, one for 16 in the series. He's Jonathan Miranda won for 12. Yeah. So again, that's credit to Boston. That's, you know, baseball and the raise. You're going to have this sometimes.

And yeah, I would just say, you know, I'd have to go get my own receipts, whether it's talking yanks or whether it's here. You know, right basically at the start of this hot stretch, the Red Sox were playing the Yankees four games. Boston season close to the bottom, close to DED dead. you got life in this game you got life and the Red Sox now

no one called for 13 in a row because you can't do that in this sport but we thought they were better than this and now they believe man and that's kind of all you need yeah so they beat the Yankees they lost a series to the Nationals and then they've reeled off 13 in a row

so crazy crazy the American Leagueies which I guess let's I've always Craig Breggs You know, we've always been a Craig Breslo guy. Hey, man. We talked about it on the trade draft a little bit.

I feel like I've seen the light. Don't be surprised if these socks do something. I was joking about that. I mean, hey, he's not. He's not. Craig Breslo thinks he's about to show the world something. And in this American League, you can because the white socks are sneaking up on best record in the AL now from the public.

punchy white socks to whatever they are now. Let's chew off some more ALEs. We did an hour 43 after the Yankees Dodgers game last night. So if you really want some of my deep cut thoughts, they're more than out there. I guess, Trev, what do you see or what do you want to hear? Oh, I'm very curious your take on this. A couple games could have gone either way.

Dodgers, you know, you get Yamamotoed in game two there. I guess, yeah, on Sunday. game too. I feel like all in all you lose the series but you're like, okay, we kind of went toe to toe with the big guys without Aaron Judge. Is that a feeling you can have? I didn't like some of the things like this Ben Rice,

Trent Grisham. Looked like Trent was pretty happy to be at third base there with one out and they ended up sending him. I know we talk a lot about the Pahez-Tamuki Relay, but also like maybe talk about the base running a little bit here. Not, great, bad angle, bad, bad, you know, bad turn at third. So I'll preface this with, you go through every series, every week, and you can look at one or two plays in a game that changed the game.

Base is loaded at bad, a boof ball in the outfield, one bad pit, like, whatever it is. And you can do that with the last game, you can do that with the first game. Dude, game two was sneaky three, one into the eighth. Yamamoto's just shoving and the Yankees have a shell of their lineup because of doubleheader day and injuries, which are not making that as an excuse. I'm just saying, you know, two-run game in baseball, a hit by pitch, and a swing, and it's a tie game. Yank's offense doesn't really have that right now,

although Max Schumann fighting for his life. I'll do that play really quick for you because I do, you know, I have my moments of baseball that you actually are like, oh, that's why I talk to this little shit every week. So, A, it's a two, it's a two-one game because Garrett Cole stays in the game, goes out to the mound, gives him the pump up. I'm going to get the crowd into this. And he was Garrett Cole and he looked good. You can go either way on that one. The Yanks have

had three good guys in their bullpen all year. You're rested coming out of the All-Star break. Cole hadn't looked like Cole up into that point. If you want to do the Cole Hedrick decision, you can flip-flop on that all day. And if Cole gives up a homer, you're mad about it. If Hedrick gives up a homer, you're mad about it. I personally wanted to go to the pen because those three guys have been electric and Cole had been waiting for a great outing, whatever, whatever. Hedrick gets rocked. It looks dumb either way. You can second guess that one.

The relay throw, in question. Ben Rice hits a double off the wall. Trent Grisham does not get a good jump. Trent Grisham has been dealing with leg injuries. They had guys potentially able to pinch run, but the Yankees are kind of weird about that. They almost don't want to insult Trent, even though he's clearly playing banged up.

He doesn't get a great read on it. And then you're dealing with Andy Pahez, and this is some Dodgers-Yankees BS here. And when I say BS, mostly that's Yankees BS and the Dodgers being great. Andy Paa has as the most outfield assists. Okay. Mookie Betz is one of the best athletes to ever play this game.

Okay. Trent Grisham, I think, of 145 base runners is 141st on taking the extra base. Okay. So when you put everything in the recipe, it ain't a great recipe, Pop. That, yeah, each part of the play has a, it's a very nice Dodgers play.

It's nothing taken away. Like, strong throw by Pahez, although he misses the first cutoff, and that's actually why they send Trent because they see the throw sailing high. It's an amazing play by Muki. And you just, it's one of those where sadly you can question every little bit of it. Even not sending, if, like, you do all that math where Pahas has a strong arm, Mookie's incredible Trent's not running great. You've got Goldie coming up versus a lefty, who he's one of the best versus lefty guys.

Belly's on deck. after him, like they intentionally walk Goldie and Belly's always been very good lefty on lefty, although both those players have been dealing with stuff. Yeah, man, it's a weird. The Yanks got dominated in a way they're a play and a half away from taking two out of three and like, okay, we're surviving without judge. I know you're going to get going on that one a little bit. It hits a lot of notes for me, man.

It's a lot of notes there. Center field defense. I will say, you know, Aaron Boone leaving Garrett Cole in there I think if it's anybody else he pulls him and I you know if you're looking at splits

Muncie this year has better numbers off lefties which is awesome for him 885 OPS compared to 847 OPS against Ritey so kind of pick your poison there I don't I don't mind them sticking with Cole you hung a slider dude yeah and hey there is Max Monty by the way fucking snaps

on the performance dude like I love the bat drop. Stare there. Like he's, if anyone's earned everything in their baseball career, it is Max Muncie. Bro, watch. I mean. Watch the plays he made at third base in this series. And dude, Yankees were batting Max Schumann fifth in game one.

Max Muncie hit eighth for the Dodgers in game two. Okay. Like, we're, we're fighting different fights right now. Dodgers looks good. He's sneaky making the dough, too. I never really looked it up. He's been accumulating just because he's been amazing.

Next year, next year the Dodgers have him at $7 million. Okay. And then there's a team option for 10 after that. What the heck? Pay and Kyle Tucker 80 next year.

I guess something to watch, something that could affect part of this season because you already know Yamamoto's great. Roki with some extra rest. Roki was throwing the ball insane. 100 miles per hour, 21 times in this start. He'd only done that 12 times all season. So that's one of those, you know, what do you do?

Paul Goldschmidt, have fun up there, pal. We're going long on this because we love the coast. show hey out indefinitely if you didn't hear the news not pitching they expect him back this year pitching wise yeah they expect him to pitch again this year but no timetable right now left knee issue bothers him while he's pitching they need his bat and he's been able to continue to hit so they're going to do that i'm curious like when he comes back what it looks like if it's going to be i'm assuming it's going to be as a starter because that gives him a chance to have his routine.

It will be a starter. I just don't know if it's going to be the length. Like what the length is going to look like. Is it going to be a piggyback situation every time show he goes out there? Because he ain't going on rehab games to stretch out. There might be some live BPs and some up downs.

But even that to me, it's like, when do you do that? Like you got to get ready for a game to hit. You can't exactly be out there four hours, five hours before first pitch and up down. five times, right? You can't do that. Yeah, he throws a little bit after game one, which people were surprised about

because he followed the ball off of his knee. And it's July, and they're the Dodgers, man. They have the best record in baseball that they... But when do you stretch him out? When he can pitch. And if it starts at one inning, it starts at one inning. Like, these are Dodger problems. I don't want to poo-poo it because when he does pitch,

you know, he pops up as the best ERA since 2020. But, like, getting Shohei Otani one inning when he's ready to pitch, we can do that. Start a game, yeah, like, fire it up, Eric Lauer. We're going to need you for five after, and he'll be great. Little Dodgers problems there. Let's finish off some of the ALE East here, and it's not really a Blue Jays conversation. It's a White Sox conversation. They show why they're special in game one.

Because, like, let me read you the names of guys that drove and runs. It's Teal, Kyle Teal, of course. The Montgomery's, Braden and Colson, Sam Antanachi, Chase Midroth, your guy, and Tristan Peters, the All-Star. I mean, those are all guys underage 27 that were legit prospects, who, when they start rolling, it's 11. to four. It's a 12-4 final in this game, but it's 5-0 at one point. It's that relentless offense that then, I guess, if you zoom out further, when Sean Burke gives you 6.2 shuddy,

he's a big boy. Like, it's where they click, and it's where they've been a problem in the American League now ever since, like, the first two weeks of the season. Yeah, when they have the contributions up and down the lineup, which they can, we've talked about their long lineup. I think they're second in the AL and runs scored. They can be a problem because I've said it all along. I actually like their starting pitching a lot more than other people do. I think they can kind of, I think they can go on runs as a staff. I know you're talking game two a little bit later,

so I'll leave that one out of there. You know, of all the guys, you know, we talk about the length of the lineup. We talk about Murakami a lot. I do think Colson Montgomery kind of gets lost in the conversation. We mention him from time to time. But this is a big shortstop who hits absolute tanks. It's like a problem in the middle of the lineup, game-changing type power. We have the stat right here.

Since July 22nd last year where he hit his first homer, he's hit 45 homer since that date. That's third in all of baseball behind Kyle Schwerber and Jr. Camernero. This is a guy playing shortstop, man. man. Yeah. It's the real deal. And the white socks are, they're just a fun team. Like, if I'm, if I had to choose one team to watch the rest of the season, it might be the freaking white socks. They have a good time. You know, they're not like a juggernaut per se. So like, they, they are going to have to fight for games. But like the aura that they present to me, that's a young kid's word I just use right there. It, it resonates. So I'm, I'm all in on the

White Sox. I do think they are going to win the AL Central. And, yeah, a nice little series win for them against the Blue Jays. Five and one since Murakami's returned, as we're talking power is power. And in those games, they've outscored their opponents, 39 to 7. So when they get rolling, they roll hard. Blue Jays win that middle game behind Bieber and Vladdy, which, again, good starting pitching and your star stepping up. Yeah, some of the Toronto quotes from some of the beat reporters are like,

if Okamoto didn't exist, the Blue Jays would already be. selling a couple some big games coming up for them if they don't want to be on that the chopping block have some more Blue Jays coming up 29th and runs scored in baseball

remember how much we talked about wait who's there hitting coach well hey so I interviewed hold on hold on I I interviewed Popkins he's behind the turtle during batting practice and I say pop come on man come talk to me and so like my whole thing was hey you're a stud hitting coach

and then I was going to do the whole like coaching tree from the twins and I asked him about it and he was like he knows they're not having a good year and like I'm just like hey man like you're a great hitting coach like what you did to the Blue Jays like last year and he was just like yeah we got to get better

like it turned into like not what I wanted to turn into well Trev there's a couple things here we're not reporters and we're social media sensations your blockbuster video. I mean, that's taken down the internet. I don't know if you saw my short guy video, but it's maybe like the most viral thing I've ever posted. Oh, when he stands in the tippy

toes? Yeah. My friend Robbie, you know Robbie. He sent it to me. Yeah. And he goes, that's me. Yeah. Everyone has their short kings. We're just trying to balance out the picture, no offense to anyone. That's going viral, huh? That's going viral, huh? The boy. Yeah. You know, we're social media guys. Um, whatever, millions of views. Who cares? Who cares? I'm going to jump on you just because I said it's AL East that we're missing one team. It's the Baltimore Orioles. I do have more coming on them. This is a – they're winning seven in a row.

If the Red Sox don't exist, we might be leading off the show with them and said they got our best Western Road Warriors. So what do you want, Baltimore? And, man, I mentioned every game, not every game, but a lot of games in every series you point to one or two moments. I mean, hey, Taylor Ward, uh, flips the script on him. Down 2-1, 2-run Homer,

get the win. Cam Sanders closed it out. He's already been sent down by the team after he just got picked up. Like Tyler O'Neill, that playing extra innings, like these are games that, one, that throw sales on Tyler O'Neill, we're not talking win streak.

We could, the Astros could have won the series. We've been saying that about a lot of Astro series, and now they're getting to a scary spot in the standings. But the Baltimore, birds have entered the conversation. Two games back in the wild card. Game two here, which is the

extra inning game. It's interesting watching Kitchridge in there. Right before this, they end up pitching to Yordon and then they bring in the five men infield and Altuve's up and you're like, dude, the guy's the wizard with the bat. He's going to figure it out. Ends up putting the fly ball out there. But as you see with the video there, Tyler

O'Neill kind of comes in, makes a strong throw. I like the throws up the line for some reason. Up the line is just easier to tag. That's the new thing. That's, I mean, even for base stealers. Like, you throw to just, like, their back leg now because it's faster. I know.

It doesn't seem like it would be faster, but it is. And there's this, like, less maneuvering because they're trying to get to the plate, so they're not all squirmy and slimy there. I had something else. Oh, yeah. And then after that, in the 11th, it's O'Neill who buses out of the box. And I don't really know, like Altubei didn't really make a great charge. on that ball, but he ends up beating it out and they scores Gunner Henderson.

Here it is. I mean, you kind of expect it to go through that ball, young man. Yeah. He set the feed up for the throw, but that's not Altuve like right there. Well, I think, you know, again, where some of the defensive metrics, remember they tried to make him a left fielder for a little bit? And he was shifted very far over. Like, I think even if he goes full tilt, I don't know if he makes that.

I think he makes the play. I know like some of the range and stuff with Altuvae, and I guess this does kind of come in, fall into that category. He's got to go a long way here. But like this is more fundamental than range affected to me. Like you go through that ball. There's no setting your feet ever. Like I tell, I mean, this is stuff I tell my kids, 10, 10 you kids. Like you see that chop. You're going and you're not stopping. So that was interesting to me. But yeah, I mean, look, the Orioles. they're in an interesting spot. A lot of A.L teams are going to have to decide

what season we're having. And you know what? I really hope. I hope the Orioles keep everybody. I don't want teams to sell. If you're in the race, go. Well, that's the thing. I mean, the good news is they've got time to force the front office's hand. And that's in a way that's what you want.

I think they wish they weren't in that position. By the way, if you're looking for a flip game or you got the second screen going, Boston, Red Sox, Baltimore, Orioles. One streak will end. Yeah, there's some good series coming up. But let's, real quick, Peter Lambert. Peter Lambert.

Snaps. Having a nice year. So you get traded. Houston. Careful now. Careful now. What voice was that? It was an ALEist episode.

So as we get through the rest of this American League, Pirates, famous AL team, they win two out of three dominant pitching from Jones and Skeens. I'll just read this one off. Jones became the third Pirates pitcher since 1957 to retire 30 straight. So again, that's where that Pirates Fear Factor can kick in. And now Skeens, who everyone, you know, there's a couple charts online, worried about the Velo and the performance.

he's now back to kind of looking like Paul Skeens with seven strong innings, eight strikeouts, one run. And who the F, Esmerlin Valdez? The wizard! That guy's a problem. He hit a two-run homer, makes him the fourth player ever with 12 homers, 31 runs driven in in his first career, 31 games. Is that fourth player ever through 31 games?

That a boy. seven-game hit streak with an extra base hit and an RBI is the longest by a pirate since Willie Starchel. Oh. So you're getting mentioned with guys like that. It's a good day for you. Oh, that's a bomb too. Good for you. Love the pirates. Love what they're doing. They just kind of have to continue to go.

Skeen's looking like this. Jared Jones looking like this. Yeah, man. Is obviously huge for them. They need to figure out the bullpen and they need to figure that out quickly. Shout out Travis Bazzana. Love that for them. Or for him.

I always think about Bazaana. I played with a lot of Australians. It's insane that he was the one-one pick. Now, I know he went to school in the States. You could talk about people drafted after him, but Bazauna is going to be a very good player and is a very good player already. All-Star first year.

It's still shocking to me that we have a one-one, Australian. It really is. You know, they say it's the beautiful game now that soccer's over. See you next World Cup. Mariners get a nice series win again, as you point to things that games that could have been one way or the other. Giants dominate that first one, that second game, Big old. Julio.

Colio's back. Cole Young clips Logan Webb after being shut down. Flips this entire series and it turns out being very giant. and what their season has been. In Seattle, as we're talking about teams, you know, we're like, oh, look at Boston, dude. Boston looks great. If Seattle has that eight and two or win ten in a row, we're going to be talking about them that way.

It's just it feels like a matter of time until it's a matter of time. You like that? Shit. It feels like a matter of time. What? Yeah. I didn't really catch that one.

Yeah. Oh, yeah, Julio back from the Concussion I. Caps that day off, walk off sack fly. You got to love that. Colt Emerson with a nice play there on a rise chart. But that actually ended up striking a rise out twice in game three. That's his career high. Can you imagine if your career high in strikeouts in the game was two?

No. I got four for sure. Yeah. I got four for sure. Don't make Rob dig for that. We don't want that. Mariners 8 and 2 in the last 10 at home. So they're on a little shriek of their own.

There you go. Oh, yeah. Dude, and I say something nice about the Giants. Price Eldridge's power is, he's silly. I mean, it's kind of, you're supposed to be when you're 6-7-2-70 or whatever he's listed at, but boy, does that ball jump when he goes. Colt Emerson with a game-saving defensive play. Yeah, you need all of it, man.

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Samuel Adams, the Boston Beer Company, Boston, Massachusetts, Samuel Adams.com, savor the flavor responsibly. wrapping up the AL Royal's Padres is kind of a mess and I don't know or want to do anything with those teams I know you've got more coming on that and then Tigers Halos I know Tigers there's bigger conversations there

and how you Lee saving the game with two outs to go that flips that whole series I don't have too much on either Game one of Padres Royals was kind of awesome because the Royals who are kind of dead in the water right now and end up coming back

in the tent there. Carter Jensen, three hit night ends up walking off a little single little bleeder through the left side there. San Diego thinks they have the game Ty France doing his thing. I like comeback wins, dude. And then the Royals take that second

game, freaking Sal Perez Homer number 315 in his career. Sal Perez. a catcher. 315 homers. And then, yeah, the Padres erupted, obviously, in that last game. 19 runs.

Love that. Six homers for them. Gee. Any Tigers halos? We don't need Tigers halos. Oh, it's that time of the year. Shout out scoops. Join the party, Detroit.

And they kind of have been. So credit to them. Okay, hold on. You got Troy Mountain great. And then who came in after Troy Mountain? Cater Montero. That's where I try to, you know. Okay.

You teed me up for them. I'm putting the ball by the rim. You got to throw it down, Poppa. And you know what? I know it's the Angels, but Scoobo really looked fantastic. Like he was just mowing people down. Yes.

He's got his kind of signature walk, which we talked about a little bit at All-Star Week. And look at us. Both wearing our All-Star hats. Yeah. Just laser beams past people, then pulls the string on some change-ups. I don't know, man.

That left leg sometimes coming through, sometimes not. I'm hoping we still get at least a September push, and we get to see Scoot was pitching some really, really fun games. I need that. Like, I want to see him pitch in big-time meaningful games. Man, they got to really keep going. They have the same record as the Blue Jays.

Talked about them like they're dead. Obviously, tigers are playing better. And as run differentials go in the American League, they stand in a great spot. that I wonder what their front office sees. I wonder, is it delusion in the room? Is it, we've got this? Like, what is the feeling?

And again, they've got, you got a couple games to figure it out. You can take the decision out of their hands. Story to watch. Let's do some NL. And of course, the Milwaukee Brewers and the Miami Marlins play. Push come to shove, and they got shoved, pop. The brewers end up. Sweeping the series the Garrett Mitchell game.

What a performance on defense and on offense gives them the walkoff in that first game. The Brewers erase a three-run lead in that second game, and they end up kind of rolling them, although you know the fish and Griffin Conine were fighting late. And then the William Contreras, three-run, home-run walk-off in the ninth. Again, games could have gone a different direction, but games seem to go Milwaukee's direction as they get the sweep against the fish. The Arizona Diamondbacks, they drop the first game to the Cardinals.

It's a one-run lost. Tori Lavello, a battle of my managers. Tori Lavello tells the boys he don't like what he's seeing, but he likes what he sees the next two days. The snakes get it done, including their biggest comeback in franchise history on that final game. Dalton knows because he was there. The Mets take two out of three from the Phillies. Christian Scott, how do you like that?

Nice outing. Supposedly not available for trade. Well, I guess we'll see. The Phillies win that second game. Lazzardo shoves. Trey Turner and Schwerber show up. But then the Mets himself, Nolan McLean, six-up piece as the Mets win the series to get it done.

The Atlanta Braves take two out of three from the Texas Rangers. And that's obvious a little bit. Tell you what, good series to get some seats at the chop house. A lot of balls ended up in there. Not in that first game if you're a Rangers fan because Chris Sale dominated. Shocker. Rangers win that middle game. Little McKenzie Gord.

All-Star Jacob Lats. Put some respect on his name. Evan Carter with the two-run Homer, but the Braves get it done. Drake Baldwin. How's five-for-five from your catcher? That'll play. Take five hits in a week from my catchers. Cubs take two out of three from the Minnesota Twins.

Treb's going to tell you all about it. Ryan Jeffers, big three-run Homer and the nightmare, Bailey over. But then it's Nico Horner. Cubs could use a big second half from that guy. And then a dominant final game, they put up a 10 spot to take the series against the Twinkies. The Nats take two out of three from the A's, and that's obvious. How about 23 runs in the first game? Big Andres Chaparro, won't it?

I choose not to fight him. Big boy. J.T. again has been fantastic as the A's win a route in that second game, but the Nats get the deciding game because they had Foster Griffin on the mound, and that boy is a problem. Final series, the Reds in the Rocks. Did you watch? I know a lot of people watch Hunter Goodman hit three homers on that final game in that series.

So did, hey, Tyler Stevenson on the other side. Two Homer Night. I don't know, Pop. These teams aren't doing much for me. Spencer Steer, where will you be playing come August 3rd? I don't know. That's what happened in the National League. You guys want Ryan Jeffers?

You want him? Yeah. Yeah. Not for sale. Hey, a lot of catchers. Tom Polad, not for sale. Apparently, Shea Lang-Leers is on the block because he's not getting an extension. I don't know.

There could be some catchers moved. Pay up. I got the standings, Paul. We just talked about the National League. I'm going to start out west. Let's just go up or down to up for me. 63 and 37 for the Dodgers. 11 and a half game lead over the Arizona dimebacks were 51 and 48.

Padres one game under 5 at 49 and 50. Giants 42 and 57 and the Rockies, 40 and 61. In the Central, only a half game behind the Dodgers for the. the best record in baseball are the Milwaukee motherfucking brewers. Golly. 62 and 37 for them. A six game lead over the Cubs,

56 and 43. The Cardinals, you and Ali Marmal, just two birds of a feather. 51 and 47 for them. The Pirates four games over, 52 and 48, and the Reds kind of free falling now,

45 and 53 for them. And then out east, Atlanta, three game lead over the fills, 57 and 41 for them, 55 and 45 for the Phil's Marlins still there, 52 and 48. And then the National is a clean 50 and 50 in the Mets, 42 and 58 in the wild card. It would be the Chicago Cubs with the one seed, the Philadelphia Phillies with the two seed, and then a three game tie between the Cardinals, the Milwaukee, the Miami Marlins and the Pittsburgh Pirates, Arizona, a half game back. Washington, two games back, and the Padres, two and a half

games back. Those are the standings in the National League. Those Milwaukee Marlins, that's where they were, coach. It was, it was. A little Freudian, and we both, and, you know, we peel back the curtain for the people. I think both of us instinctually wanted to give Garrett Mitchell our standout performance, but then we're like, this is kind of the series in the NL, and we got to talk about him. What he's done on the season, what he did in game one and game two, is a part of the reason Milwaukee feels a little different this year. And Trev, I don't know how it matters. We'll see what happens on the stretch. I think Milwaukee wants that best record. I think they want the one seed.

And they might just get it because as we're talking about the Dodgers and they're going to have pitchers rehabbing and maybe show hay on the fly, the brosges want to win every damn game. and they kind of do, pal. They had the one seat last year, right? Yeah. Maybe they don't want the one seat. Oh, yeah. No, they're playing great.

Garrett Mitchell, obviously, game one, you know, I think the first one was in the right center field gap in the ninth. He kind of like goes up and gets it. Another running catch in the 10th, which I believe is in the left center field gap. So kind of showing range both ways. We're going to show them right here. This is the one in the ninth.

Yeah, just ranging over the head kind of almost, overruns it, but gets to it. He's been fantastic all year. We're showing some defensive highlights, but, you know, overall on the year, I don't have, let me get the updated numbers. I have a, on my sheet. I have a, I have a, on my sheet after game one, but you're updated numbers for him. 366, 461 for the 827 OPS from your center fielder, a 126 OPS plus.

A lot of people would love to see that. You're talking about catchers. A center field that can hit is also a, uh, a cheat color. if you can go get it like he did. So Gary Mitchell, Mitchell, huge series, and it's just kind of,

it's what the Brewers do, man. I mean, win a sneaky game in 10 in game one, kind of get the bats go out in game two. They get the job done. And then William Contreras. Yeah, man.

Green three walks it off. I mean, they are, they're just such a well-rounded team. And, you know, they're going to sweep teams. And sorry,

Marlins. kind of ran into a buzzsaw. It's what they are, dude. Look at that freaking hangar right there. He ain't missing that. You know, there's two strikes. As Pete Fairbanks going to roll the two ball there and Miami salvages the set?

No, get it out of the stands. The good people in Milwaukee are going to have a Sunday. William lets the bullpen, lets the crowd know what happened. They're so impressive, man. They're so impressive. On the other side, Yuri Perez has fully like happened. His last seven starts, a 11-4 ERA.

And yeah, I love these fish. I love the way they play. I love that they're relentless. Again, two of these games could have easily flipped, but it was the Brewer's weekend. It's the Brewers decade. Just needed in October. Yeah, they do need that.

Yeah, Yuri Perez, great, even Sandy, 15th quality start that leads all of baseball. It ties them with who for the franchise record and quality starts. Tricky Ricky. Josh Beckett. Ricky in Alaska. I drove through Rialto on my way to Lake Arrowhead, and I think that's where Ricky resides right now.

So shout out 909ers. Got the number? Send the text. With Ricky? Hey, sorry, your record's about to go? Maybe. I love, yeah, I will. I'm going to send a text.

He'd like that. I will not say that. I'll say, hey, man, thinking about it. about you. I drove to Rialto. Just be like, oh, my God, Yuri tied. I think the way you say that is Sandy tied your record. Yeah. You know what he likes to do, Ricky Nalasco?

This is a deep cut. Have a good time. What did you say? Have a good time? Yeah, he does. Yeah. He does, like, dune buggy, like, racing. Oh, really?

tricked out cars. They go on, like, the sand, and they do all those things. I mean, this won't shock anybody, really, but that doesn't do much for me. I don't, I kind of don't get it. I think it's like a little like camping mixed with like fast cars. Interesting. Yeah, I'm old for two. Okay.

Those are two weak spots. And if you're a baseball sicko, just a reminder, Eschuary Ruiz, who almost has the game winning homer for Miami in that first game, Bobby Gasser came to Milwaukee and the Josh Hader trade. Ruiz was in the three teamer that brought William Contreras. to Milwaukee. So I don't know if you ever dream about being the next Peter Bendix like I do. Hey, Marlins, shrug and make it go away.

Six straight losses. Shout out Joey Ortiz. Mention him. I'll shout out Joe Ortiz. Viva Mexico. I mean, I guess this is second on the sheet because of Dahl. And because of the National League wild card race, because these two teams, Trev, not only are they in the hunt,

they're part of the hunt. take two or three from my Cardinals. And, dude, talk about the battle of my managers. Tori Lavello calling the guys out after the game. One game in after the break, saying that's not how the Diamondbacks play baseball. They come back, they win game two, and then they have their biggest comeback in franchise history in game three.

He's, he is the best. He really is a manager. He's like what an 80s manager used to be. Yes, but he's still like, young enough and cool enough for he's... I see what you're saying. He gets with the boys.

He has everyone's back. They love playing for him. JJ Weatherholt, freaking massive Homer in game one. Arizona went 0 for 9 with runners and scoring position that game and they made some errors

and stuff. So that's what Toro L. is referencing. Do we have the Ketal Marte no challenge? Yeah, that's an interesting one. That to me hurts, and it's almost like no matter of what you challenge there. Right. You have, I think they had both challenges at the time.

Not that it matters they have two or one. Like if it's a pitch that you don't. It's going to end the game. It's going to end the game, so it might as well challenge. Yeah. And he would have walked. That was weird. Weird for me.

That was weird. If I'm a manager, I'm pretty upset about that. If I'm a, if I'm a teammate, I'm like, what are you doing? that's an automatic challenge every single time and I guess we're going through this first year of the ABS that we're going to figure it all out but that to me like going forward and you already see it throughout baseball

it's like it's an automatic challenge does it take some of the fun out of the end of the game sure but like doesn't matter like you have to challenge that but yeah you're right look wipe away game one get yelled up by the manager a little bit and you come back and have you know um You have a Brandon fought. Nice start there, game two.

And then you have the biggest comeback in franchise history down seven nothing, score eight unanswered. And you take the damn thing. So it is. It's kind of like that's snakes ball. Perdomo inside the park home run. That's how you're going to get your seven. And hey, they're kind of doing this.

I don't want to say without Corbyn Carroll, but he hyper extends his right elbow. And his numbers going back about four. four weeks now, hitting 1.30, like, not doing much. So whether that's health or whether it's a funk or whatever it is, if they can figure that out, like, the snakes haven't been front of mind. It'll be interesting to see how the next couple weeks treat them.

And how does that front office view their team? I have no clue. I have no clue. I mean, Max Kepler's arrived. The German. Your guy, 10 years of circus time. What? I think he hit a 10 years of service time over...

I love Max Kepler. I don't condone what he did. Yeah. But I still... I got love for my guy. Maybe he didn't. Maybe I dreamt that. The rest of the National League,

I don't want to say it's expected. Well, let's do the one that's not expected. The Mets take two out of three from the Phillies. Okay. Christian Scott looks great. 5.2 shut piece. So does Nolan McLean. The two teams, they get dominant, almost six-inning starts.

They win that game, win those games with enough offense to go. Alvarez has a two-homer game. Talk about cheat codes. I guess what else did you see, Coach? Yeah, I mean, the two games they win, they get good starting pitching. And one guy kind of steps up. Alvarez, you mentioned Homer twice. And then game three, Lindor, he hits a two-run Homer.

He's got three runs driven in. Um, but was Shet with a really good bat there, uh, in the first 11 pitch two out walk, uh, and kind of sets that whole thing up. And yeah, I mean, I don't, I don't know what you do if you're the Mets. I think it's kind of already decided unless you go on some sort of Boston Red Sox magical run here, which I don't know if they got that in them. Um, one thing to look out for, this is a stat on our sheet. Uh, the Phillies.

first of all that smoke man you guys got some of that uh it was bad friday Thursday and Friday it was pretty gnarly and then and then it started to clear up but yeah it was it was weird it was weird yeah for podcast listeners are watching the you know first game here uh watching francisco alvarez homer a few times and it's just so smoky it's the only way to describe it yeah and that's something that we out in california we scared it's also gnarly bro because you're just you don't know what's mental and what's not, that you don't know like you're seeing the smoke that you're thinking about your breathing more.

So then is it actually affecting your breathing or you just focused on your breathing? It's a little bit of a mental dance. I think it affects your breathing. 100%. Yeah. So what I was referencing, the Phillies, the number five starter, Jake.

Yes. Five and 20 with a 733 ERA when Sanchez, Wheeler, Lazzardo, or Nola does not start. They're 50 and 25 when those guys do start. So that's something that we've got to look for. We've got to look like to the future. What are they going to do with the deadline? They got to remedy that.

They will bring a starting pitcher, and it's just of what ilk. And, yeah, Mets, I don't know, Trout. You look at the standings and I like to daydream. They're second worst record in the National League. It's them and the Rocky. So they'd have to get... 10 games back of a wild card spot.

16 games back of a division. You'd have to get some sort of... The Red Sox were the same thing. I know, but we're running out of time. 18 out of 20. Let's go, Mets. Can I scare you? The Mets are about to play the Brewers. So I don't think we need to put that hat on.

Braves Rangers, I mentioned some chop house action. My God. It felt like catching up on these games. It felt like every other ball was. heading into the chop house. Braves win the set. Drake Baldwin, I remember when he was coming back from injury and he was, he was in a funk, like definitely seeing that five-for-five on the page.

Also, Austin Riley, two homers. He's kind of been Atlanta's number one, like, how do we get here? Like Austin Riley's playing every day, why did the stats look like this? That if he changes and has a big old second half, the Braves who obviously, were incredible, really limped into the All-Star break. A nice start to the second half. Chris Sale, obviously a huge part of it. Seven shuddy, no walks.

He gets 2,700 strikeouts. That's just a lot of strikeouts. 206 ERA, third lowest in baseball, 172 over his last 15. He's 37 years old, Jake. 37, he looks great. And he's, doesn't he, like, really like you? I still don't know what to do with it, man. I can, I remember turning my head, and I literally see, like, the condor arm coming in.

And I was like, for a second, I, it's like, am I, I say something bad about Chris Sale? Am I going down? He's in. I don't know if he caught in a good ward episode, because we used to, Chris Sale was definitely on our list of, like, every year you and I both gave him not only lifetime achievement awards, but also, like, oh, he's still. Gross. He's still gross. I mean, if we bring up the season stats for Chris Sale right now,

who's in his, he's got 15 years of service time. Yeah, Trev, it's 18 starts. It's a 206 ERA. 206. Silly. He looks great, by the way. Looks great. Looks great. Red Sox for Von Grissom.

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Restrictions, important safety information. Sildeneville is a generic version of Viagra. Viagra is a registered trademark of Vietris, Specialty LLC. Hymns is not affiliated with or endorsed by Vietris. What do you have on Twins Cubs? Nice start for the twins. You get Ryan Jeffers, Homer, three-run Homer, Bailey Obert. He's actually looked a lot better as of late.

That's a really good sign for the twins. He has seven strikeouts there. Luke Keishaw, some nice catches. They win the first game. Yeah, great catch by Luke Keishel. Athlete. And then they just played sloppy baseball. Sloppy base running, sloppy defense.

They give up 10 runs in that third game. Zebby kind of, you know, eight earn runs and three innings. He just couldn't put anybody away. I mean, that's kind of when he's able to get ahead and put guys away, he's good, when he's not. He's not. So go-cubs go? Cough Cubs go. I thought it was pretty cool.

They had some stuff going on. And they had... 2016 reunion. 2016. So all the guys were there. Anthony Rizzles out on the freaking bleachers. he catches a Michael Bush home run but he grabs it and he's in the stands with his baby.

Rizzo's everywhere, bro. He's everywhere. And I, you know, I don't want to bring this up, but like... Sounds like you do, pal. Okay. No, I'm not going to say it. I love Rizzo.

So this isn't really about him. But you just said Rizzo's everywhere. Everywhere. Tom Brady. We got to chill out. Yeah. You're not wrong. We've done this before.

And Fanatics Fest weekend is insane. Was there for a day. It's wild what they've turned that thing into. Yeah. And Brady eats it up, bro. Like it's one of those things that it's like, you know, there's a lot of famous people that kind of, even like Bieber, Justin.

Yeah. I don't know. Like Justin Bieber very much likes his privacy, although he's kind of been back in the mix a lot more lately. Like, dude, Tom lives for it, dude. I just don't really understand it. I think if you're about it, you're about it, man. You're already, like, super relevant.

Travis and Taylor got married at MSG in front of a thousand people. Some of them they don't know. Oh, do you think he's competing with Travis Kelsey for, like, most relevant football player right now? Well, the other thing. Like this is like the slaps or the Undertaker thing. So that's, I choose not to comment on that because WWE type world is just a whole another place and like so many people love it.

Our guy, Cole Tucker, who's like our closest thing to a mutual religion, like, lives for WW. Joe's McFly, who's my other religion. Like, they just love it in the drama of that, though? I think they do, because I think they just think it's part of the show. And I, you know, cat throws two guys through a table

the next night at WW. And it's just like, all right. No, I respect wrestling. I used to watch Thursday night Smackdown. Shout out Trish Stratis. Yeah, I bet. Nico Horner, let's go. Four hits in the second game.

four RBI's in the third game. Remember when he got that, what was it, six for 141? And he hasn't been that guy this year. And how is he not a top 100 player and all that before the season? It was an interesting moment for me being like, you know, Dansby got a lot of the ire for a little bit because he was deep on the interstate having a bad time. This streaky Cubs team, Nico Horner was kind of their staple,

their stable staple, if you will. and he hasn't been that, that would be a big second half change. They've got a couple. I mean, Matthew Boyd coming in. He's won four straight starts. Shoda Imanaga just doesn't throw his four-seamer anymore, and he's been really good.

A two-three-one, two-three-one over his last seven. I mean, they desperately needed both of those guys. So, you know, they're stepping up. But, you know, they are a streaky team. But again, like I mentioned with the Red Sox, I do think at the end of the season, we're going to be talking about the Cubs because I do think they put together one of the better rosters in baseball.

So they will be there. How they get there, you know, it differs, but they've chosen the streaky route. But it wouldn't surprise me if they were a more consistent ball club here towards the second half of the season. I flip-flop. I was talking myself into like, I want to be surprised if they have another 10-game winner this season because, again, you can still look at the lineup and, hey man could they spend some

2016 team magic on it Rizzo's in the stand Rossi's everywhere Lester's a content guy now I don't know what's going on with all these Everyone's a content guy did I start this I think you started it I think that's what everyone wants to hear People see me like this idiot can be

Wait wait what How do you pull that one? He's strikingly handsome but Treve I think the last team that deserves some love because Reds rocks I'm sorry, like shout out to all the guys that hit a bunch of homers and stuff, but those teams have kind of been irrelevant. The Nats just deserve more love.

They put up one of the more crooked numbers you see this year. They are in that NL wildcard mix. They get J.T. Kinned, which a lot of teams are these days. Otherwise, it's Natitude, baby. Natitude, weird, weird games. I got more nationals coming up here in the next segment. So, um... Let's do it.

Then let's do some states. standout performances. It's time for stand out for stand out performances. Stand out performances. This guy stood out for Treff. Sorry, what? Treff.

It's not easy going to Sacramento on pitching, dude. It just isn't. Especially after you see the team put up a freaking 15 spot the night before. But if you're Foster or Griffin, you digi guys. That means don't give a fuck people. Seven innings pitched.

He did give up eight hits, but only one earned run. He only walked one. I love it. He only struck out two people. No need. No need. Foster Griffin has been awesome this year overall on the year. He's already started 20 games, Jake.

11 and 2 with a 268. Where would the nationals be without freaking Foster Griffin? They got him on a one year deal. Five and a half a million dollars. right now. What the heck are they going to do with this guy? I think you just sign them right now. Give him some change. Give him some coin, Nats. You need it. There's some good stats on him. Foster Griffin, a straight start allowing one earned run or fewer. He matches Pedro Martinez for the longest streak in Expos or Nationals franchise history.

If you're not about Foster Griffin yet, be about Foster Griffin. because it's fun. It's old school. It's pitching people. And you know, I love those types of guys. Yeah, that's going to be a very interesting inflection. For the Nats season, the trade deadline is going to be a very interesting point. I rarely say sometimes Stan Pat, but maybe just stand Pat. And, like, you don't want to kill the vibes, but you don't want to sacrifice anything. And then Jolly, you know, I don't like to say this.

Jolly had a really interesting point that he was like a lot of guys that come over from the other leagues. Like once they have that kind of second and third time through the leagues, like now that we've seen you again. I don't know. Foster Griffin's an eight straight starts, only one run. I just said that, yeah. 20 starts already on the year. Phillies would love that as their fifth starter.

Oh, stop. Cubs would love that. Red Sox don't need another amazing lefty. Not salty. I'm not salty. National sign this guy. He'd sign for, like, what's the word I'm looking for? Less than slot value, less than value.

Nice. He would sign right now. Nice. He would sign right now if you put money in front of him after his travels to Japan and back, I promise you he would sign. Did I just say take advantage of a guy? I think I did. Yeah.

But also, it's not taking advantage if you're giving him millions of dollars. Right, right. Like he still gets to make a decision if he wants to sign. that contract or not. Yeah. Okay. Great. Great. I mentioned this is early on. Maybe some people remember. Maybe they don't.

I'm giving my standout performance to Shane Bieber, the only game that the Toronto Blue Jays won against the White Sox was game to a 1-0-0-0-0-0-0 with Davis Martin. How do you like that? Bieber hasn't been great this year. Really, the ERA was high coming into this game. It's easily his best start of the year. Six innings, three hits. Two walks, six strikeout, zero earn runs.

Man, we've been on a journey with Shane Bieber from, wait, he got traded from Cleveland while he was hurt to he's pitching. He got two starts in the ALCS for Toronto. He had two appearances in the World Series for Toronto. And then it was like, dude, is Shane Bieber about to get this big old contract? And we went through that whole thing. Turned out he was hurt. Who knows, like, when exactly that happened.

But he wanted to come back to Toronto. He's back after a slow, what I consider a slow start for him. I mean, his ERA was 7-6-4 coming into yesterday's game. Six inning of these shoves. Okay. We got a couple weeks to figure it out. or if we don't, Phillies, Cubs.

Every team looking for pitchers. Shane Bieber's on that one year. Pitching the postseason last year. I mean, look at that dude's resume. It's something that hasn't been out there a lot. Could be out there quick. Could be out there quick. Will you stop giving away starting pitchers to the Phillies?

I don't even really think they need that. They need a fifth starter. Yeah. Yeah. Shout out Shane Bieber, winning on and off the field, if you know what I mean. Oh. We love some Bebs. Might have to check. It's a big Bieber weekend. You see Justin, I mean, second time bringing up Justin Bieber throwing to our guys. I was to say, bat boys baseball had a weekend. They had a weekend, bro. They were, they were, I mean, love those guys.

We, I'll be honest, because we know these got a great attitude. We love those guys, always a great attitude. You and I kind of laugh. We see, you know, some, younger version of you and I in them. We had a giggle because they were set up at the MLB area, and they were just catching, like, all day. And I was like, oh, my God, like, MLB reached out to them. And it's like, you boys want to catch for four days straight. My little guy's knees, I would be on a bucket real quick.

And they met all, like, the most famous people in the world. Wembe, Bieber, like, speed, your guy speed. I tell my kids, you know, when I went to Fanatics Fest, we were around I show speed, so I always tell my kids that we met them. And speaking of my kids. Oh, wow. Timing is everything in life.

Oh, is that a fisherman, a fisher lady? She's got a softball camp today. Let's go, Ila. Okay. We need you. Bye. Go. Bye, Ila.

Girl just loves camps. Camps are great. Soccer. You get some room. Tennis camp. Now softball. Good volleyball camp. Trev could have been so...

I mentioned Andres Chapparo. Willier-A-R-Breyu in multiple games. Spencer, Sear. Colt Keith had four hits. Say Billy Cook's name. Billy Cook. Like me some Billy Cook. Lindor has your three-for-three.

Always Trevor Rogers. Let's see who ended up on in Fuego. Dirt Nasty's on Fuego. That means I'm on fire, baby, like Waco. Mm. Mm. Let's start out with our guy.

Your, you wish he was your catcher. I think everyone might wish this guy was your catcher. Drake Baldwin of the Atlanta Braves goes 10 for 14 in a series. Three homers, eight runs driven in. He became the first Bravest catcher on Sunday with five hits since Johnny Estrada. on May 15th, 2004. Rings a bell for you? I love me some Johnny Estrada.

I knew it would. Good fantasy player. Oh, go ahead, what? Good fantasy baseball player back in those days. You were playing fantasy ball in 2004? Yeah, coach. Yeah. It's all we had.

It was like the coolest website you could get to on the school internet. May 15th, 2004, I was senior in high school. finishing up, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Will you Bray you, five for 14, but four of those were Homer, six runs driven in for the series for him. Austin Riley, you mentioned getting hot, getting going, okay, need that.

Six for 12, three homers, five runs driven in. Fernando Tate's Jr. Six for 12, two homers, six runs driven in. He homered and consecutive games for the first time since homering in three straight in September of 2025. You mentioned Nico Horner, 8 for 13, a triple five runs driven in in this series. So this is since July 1st. This is the list you want to be on.

And he has been a fixture. Smerlin Valdez, 17 for 57. That's a 300 average rounded up, 298. Three doubles, three triples, six homers, 20 RBI. I already went over this stat. Fourth, I'll say it again for the people who missed it. fourth player in Major League Baseball history with 12-plus homers or

30, 12-plus homers or runs driven in their first 31 career games. Reese Hoskins, Aristides Aquino, and Will Smith. So all recently, what's up with that? 17, 18, 19, and 19. Is that a real stat? It feels like a real stat, right?

Okay. I mentioned all these stats already with Valdez. We'll move on from that. How about another Australian on the show? Washington's Curtis Mead. Sounds like an early settler name, but no. He was in Australia. I don't know. Was Australia a thing at that time?

No, no way. Oh, when's Australia? Yeah, check, give me some early 1700s Australia vibes. Anyways, Curtis went 19 for 46, five doubles, a triple and three homers, nine runs driven in. His 1.2 OPS is second in Major League Baseball among qualified batterers in July only behind his teammate James Wood with the 1.3. Stephen Kwan, guard dogs need it.

17 for 39, two doubles, two homers, four runs driven in. He leads all of Majority Baseball with the 436 average in July. He entered the month batting 212. He's back up to 240 after this hot start to July. Ellie de la Cruz, 19 for 57, a double, two triples, three. homers five runs driven in 10 runs scored four stolen bases for the 994 OPS that is who is in Fuego Jake well done um yeah I just ended up on the history of Australia wiki um yeah looks like the Brits get there well discovered by I just lost isn't uh William Jansoon okay in 6

1606, the first Euro landing in Australia. And then, yeah, it looks like the 1600s are a bunch of different people just trying to get there. James Cook, I've heard of that name before. Travel to Tahiti. He's running back for the Bills, right? Yes, really good in space. Really good satellite player. They become Australia January 1st, 1901.

Wow. Yeah. Did it? Oh, God. I don't want to get him to the history of that's a reach out to Peter I'll like that okay okay good stuff I guess back to baseball good to see Stephen Kwan back huh yeah they need a big time okay Ellie de la Cruz let's do some batters who are struggling hey man you've been struggling lately it's

it's time to pick it off the goal is to get these guys off yeah the struggle bus back to Fuego since July 1st carry Carp 3 for 34. Tigers could really use him. Tay Oscar in a 4-4-43. A couple nice plays in left field. Nathan Church, a 5 for 50. That's 100. That an average. Young Cam Smith, man. I could see him being your next coaching job because it's there. It's there. But a 6 for 46 ain't going to get it done.

Lordeus Guerrillo is in a 5 for 37, placed on the IL after Friday's. This feels like a Dalton job. Mookie Betts. Six for 43. Interesting. Felt like he was getting going. Now he's not. Brandon Marsh, in an 8 for 51.

First time his batting average dropped a little 300 in a long time. And then Tyler Freeman, go rocks, go. He's in a 7 for 40. I'm sorry, guys. Let's get you off that list. Let's not put you on this list. And I'll tell you what. We've actually got a balance of guys going to,

going on the IL and guys coming off the IL. Blaze Alexander, who'd been really solid for Baltimore. Fracturing his left hand, that's usually over a month. That could be tough. Brad Keller, torn UCL. That's a big, that's a tough break for that Philly bullpen. Look for them to get involved in there come the deadline. Tommy Troy, three to six weeks, sprain A.C. joint.

Bryce Matthews for Houston. Jojo Romero appendicitis. Yikes. Sal Freelick, right shoulder strain, waiting to see how bad they just called up Lara, Lake Perkins is floating around. Mention Lordus Guriel, write a doctor, three to eight weeks, that's a big gap. And then Stephen Kolek for Kansas City, right flexor, hate that. Let's pick it up.

Coming off the I-L, Marcus Simeon is back. Freddie Furmeen. Dane Myers, watch out for Dan Myers. Daniel Susack, K-Way-Way-J-Way-J-E. Tang, Jacob Junus, Julio, Rodriguez. Tell me Yuki Sagano, could he be traded? And Randy Vasquez back for San Diego, Fernando. Let's start off everyone's week, finally.

Awards are brought to you by Seek. Talking 2026, 10% off. Coach Trev, what do you got? Two things. Shout out Kals and Casey, my favorite Instagram fam. And then also, maybe Andrew Freibon needs to say that Mookie Betts isn't elite anymore. Oh.

It's kind of worked for Bryce. Out of the Dombrough book, huh? Yeah, he's kind of worked for Bryce a little bit. Bryce Harper, by the way. Yeah. We haven't really gave our all-star game stuff at all. Love him. I'm just a big Bryce fan.

We interviewed him on the red carpet. He goes, yeah, I had a suit, didn't fit, so I just got this out of my closet. And he looked great. I don't know. Perks of being at home for the all-star game, you know what I'm saying? A lot of stuff. Paul Skeen's threw a fake punch at me.

I'm not people who are talking about that. Nobody even. Should I sue for emotional distress? Maybe. Yeah. I didn't know what that thing was real or not. Let's start the awards. This is a shameless plug, dude. Because we're at the All-Star game and festivities,

we didn't have a show on Friday. Rob Seraco put together just this incredible montage of my favorite thing in sports. and we saw it around this weekend. We're talking about buns. I don't just talk about it, people. I lived that life. This is a really great video for me

because I was able to send it to a little group chat. It's me, Mustakis, Klauson, and staff. Oh, wow. And I said, look at me just, bullying Mustokk. A couple Moose tacos. Yeah, and he sent back a picture of him and Jimmy Closson holding the World Series trophy that he won.

So he got me in that one. It's no big deal. But around the league, we've been talking about it. You know, bunts have been back. The Boston Red Sox 13 in a row. They had two base hit bunts. Not basic bunts, RBI bunts. Back to back.

See the first one here. Check out this second one where it lands, people. I always say, not in this situation. If you're bunting for a base hit, it's perfect or foul. That's the way you should approach it. If you see me do it, that's what I do. Check out this next one from the, the sacks. If we can get to it.

A little lefty pushing down the third baseline. On the line. We had a bunch of bunts throughout the weekend. Jake McCarthy with a good one for the Rockies. Somebody else had one. I told you to get the video of it too. Who was it? Tough.

I remember. Oh, Jeremiah Jackson. Jeremy Jackson for the Orioles. So the team's getting the job them. I don't know if I'm going to put the Rockies in that category. But Jake McCarthy started a nice little rally. He comes around the bases. with this too, Jeremiah Jackson doing it.

I just think it's a freaking great play people and really all this award about was plugging that video because it was a fantastic job and I want people to know I'm not like A-Rod or I just want people to bunt and I'd never bunted in my career. I actually bunted

goes back to my high school days my affinity with bunting went back all the way to when I was a child with a flip book of Brett Boone or not, excuse me Brett Butler bunting you know what a flip book is you flip it and it's like an action

do you know what that is? Yeah. And it had Brett Butler's like going through a routine. I was really a little kid. I bunted from when I was a small kid all the way through high school. I mean, Ollie Linton would bun back to back all the time. And now you're seeing it in the big leagues right here. So go check the video out. It's on our talking baseball YouTube channel. And then

just start tagging players who you want to bun. That's my advice to everyone. Hey, will you just put down a bunt for Coach Trev? Do that, make the world happy. Make it a better place. That's the shameless plug award. A couple beauties in there. Zach Britton thrown bowling balls up there.

Put that one in your pocket right there. It does. Actually, he didn't want it. And Dino. Oh, man. Yeah, I was surprised to see that one pop up. You do get another Orioles one, and it is Machado at third.

He can't handle it. No, I watched the vid this morning. going to debate watching it every morning, putting pressure on the defense. Some big spots here, Coach Trev. Justin Masterson, I want no part of you. Yeah. He doesn't want any part of your bun. This is the thing, though.

It's like, you know, bunting takes on such this negative connotation, but man, like, if you have my number, like, I'm just going to try to bun on you. Because not only do I have a chance to get a hit if the third basin's back, but I think it changes the way that you approach me and the way you see me in the box.

If I'm a guy that you know you're just going to strike out with all the confidence in the world. But now if you're like, oh shit, like this guy's bunted on me. I might have to get off the mound here. We see when guys try to get off the mound. They get mad. Just saying people, like, try it out.

Tie game in the seventh. Do you want a base runner? Sorry. Great video by Bobby Sarachi, Bobby Golfs. Rob Seraco, government name. Good award. Treff. We love. Make the action happen. That's it.

I'm going to go with the Let Me See Your Sack Award. Trev, a lot of Reds. Let's hacky that sack. Oh, Chris Rose. Trade episode. Trade episode, Chris Rose was absolute cinema. The commentary was amazing. I re-listened. I normally don't relisten to a lot of our stuff. Chris Rose was so on when I had to. so obnoxious. It was amazing. It was an all-time performance from the World Cup stuff. A couple of his just like little quips to get to get by. It was amazing. This isn't about him because I don't want to see his sack. Old. A lot of Red Sox talk. Rightfully so. You win 13.

We will talk about your team a lot. I promise you that. Normally you win seven and we're going to talk about your team a lot. And Trev, a couple things here with the Baltimore birds. You and I were very impressed by Adley Rushman at All-Star Weekend. Just absolute stud. The personality is amazing. I felt like he, you know, maybe got a little bit of that baseball humble pie and he's a mix of a cool dude with these birds trying to get back into it.

They've been getting some pitching performances, which that's kind of been the Baltimore thing for a little bit. Trev, how about a guy in your locker room gets paid? Kyle, being Braddish, gets the five-year extension. Okay, that's got to be a good feeling in the locker room. One of your buddies has 90 mil coming his way. That's got to be nice. Hey, Brad, why don't you take us out to dinner, pal?

That's got to be a pretty good feeling. And then, Trev, on World Cup final day, nonetheless, the first batter of the game as the Baltimore Orioles go to sweep the Houston Astros. It's Jose Al Tuve. By the way, young Brandon Young, not an amazing pitch. I've seen Al Tuvee put this pitch in places baseballs don't come back from. Brandon Young, with the kick to himself, I mean, I don't know if I've seen that. You see the kick in a deflection to one of the infielders a lot.

Sometimes you just see the ball end up in spots. He gives it just a little heel flip. It hops right up to him, throws Altuve out at first. First batter of the game. So not only could you do a little soccer world cup, which there was a lot of tweets and insipose about that, because there should be. They talked to Craig Albernaz after the game,

and what does it remind Craig of? Looks like a little hacky sack move. We've been the number one baseball hacky sack podcast from the start. It's literally sweeping society again. And you're the only person I know that carries a hacky sack with you from 2019 through 26. And now it's all in. So I've seen a lot of the pitchers that have been hacky sacking before games.

We saw you doing it. It might have been part of what led these Baltimore Orioles to win seven in a row. And now they're back in the mix. He looked like he's been doing that his entire life right there. Looked easy. You know, when you go see like Cirque Day Saleh, these people just like practice what they do. Hours upon hours upon hours upon hours.

So then it looks like just like no big deal. That's what it looked like right there. And yes, here's me hacking it up with the boys, the bullpen. They didn't know I had it like that, Jake, but I quickly showed them. Go-Os-Go, go, man. 10 and 3 in July. We've talked about the streak a little bit.

The starters have kind of been the reason they've done that during the seven-game streak, two-four ERA by the starters. And they're not like during this series, you know, they win the series. They sweep the series. Peter Lonzo, Gunner Henderson, one for 22. Yeah. So they're getting the job done other ways. Adley is in a two for 15 during the streak.

So it's like they're not, I think there's room to grow, I guess, is what I'm trying to say. If they can continue to get this pitching, get some of these guys, you know, their meat of the order going. I mean, maybe I would love for the birds to shock everyone, man, and keep going. I truly would. I think that, you know, they had that one year and then we've kind of forgotten about them or they've forgotten how to win, essentially. But maybe I do just want it for Adley because he was so cool during the break.

Maybe that's what it is. He was cool. Yeah, they've got some lefty, righty, platoon plays they can do. You mentioned, you know, Jeremiah Jackson in your bunt sequence. Interesting, said it. Three game are up in Boston. Whoever walks out of there with the series win is going to be walking very tall amongst the American League. And the other one is going to have their momentum chopped down. And then like, hey, as I look at Baltimore's schedule and I want to get in, like I like these birds, they've let me down a little bit the past couple years. Then it's

Atlanta. Then it's at Detroit. They're like, in this final. grind season. Like, you're going to get calls on Taylor Ward. You're going to get calls on guys. And are they going to take the decision out of their front office's hand? I'll be interested to see. Adley left with some wrist stuff. The Sio has to leave the game early. They bring up another catcher. Sorry, Cam Sanders. Make your debut, do your job. They're trying to guard against that. I saw that there's a CBA kind of piece about shuttling relievers up and down. That's what happened with you, Cam.

Sorry. CBA. Not ready. I'm not ready for that either, dude. I'm not ready. Man, that Baltimore's got some injuries. It's going to be interesting to see. W-7.

Facing the socks tonight. Kind of must watch. Tully versus Boz? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Meat loves meat. That's what we do on this show. It's good to be back.

Tell you that much. Two weeks to the trade deadline. Midweek episode. We'll see you Friday. It's baseball. World Cup's done. Done. Egypt got robbed. They did.

Jake sucks. Look, if you're bunting, you want the ball to feel like it's going down your barrel. That's how I'm going to get it to hook down that and stay on the line. I don't want it to go up my barrel because that's going towards the pitcher. I want the ball to feel like it's going down my barrel off the ball. that. That's going down the third baseline. Perfect or foul, people? Perfect. Hey, a little internal promo for us. Myself and Joe's McFly, we actually were with Jazz Chisholm at Fanatics Fest.

We talked with him for a little bit. The full episode is up on Talking Yanks, live from Fanatics Fest. Go check it out.