Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - The ALDS and NLDS Get Off to HOT Starts | 554

Episode Date: October 12, 2022

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Hello and welcome to talking baseball. The divisional series are underway, and we had some big, one big comeback, one almost big comeback. We got a lot to talk about. Let's do it. Big dumper. Jordan took a dump. Hello and welcome to talking baseball.

It's brought to you by Seat Geek. We got four games to review today. My name's Jimmy. Sit next to me is Jake. Trevor, coming from California, where it is 7.14 in the morning, and you were up till, like midnight last night

talking ball, Trev, just a pro of all pros, BBD in the corner. I am returned. I wanted to be here for the Wild Card series, but at a wedding. And I appreciate you guys allowing me to take a little break and try to get my life in order

and all that. So I appreciate that. Thanks, guys. You had a first round by. Everyone knows that. You were like the Yankees. You and Peter and Mookie Betts were all enjoying your time during the wild card session. Me and Jake had to scrape by.

I think I was a little more, it was a little more on the I. Is how I happen in my head. Ooh, it was a, it was a bullpen IL. You got rested up before the playoffs. Nothing was about this altitude. Yeah, the altitudes. Yeah, the altitudes. Anyway, four games yesterday.

I was in the office. We were on the live stream with Rosie. And we got some doozies. Got some doozies. And I think the game one kind of set the tone for game two. So should we just punch it, Jake? We've got Jake's Burns coming back. Punch it.

Oh. We do Seatkeek, Johnboy playoffs? John Boy playoffs, every stream, every episode we're doing. Seatkeek is all in with us. And they're giving you guys 10% off tickets to any game that you don't have to be a first-time user. If you've already used the code Johnboy, you can use code John Boy playoffs. You can use it once, twice, however many games you want to go to. So, John Boy playoffs, 10% off at Seatkekeek.

Jake, let's burn. game one. Opening day for New York Ranger Suarez, Igor, Igor, go check out Banwagon Blue Shirts. First, the defending champ Atlanta Braves as Max tries to not get freed by the Phillies.

In the first, a little Philly special. Big Dick Nick with the RBI single and then we're having a moment. It is two nothing Phillies, but you darn know the Brieie. Braves aren't going down easy with Travis's solo shot. It's two to one. But then the Phillies rack it up.

They score the next five. Boom. Mean Jean Seguera. Castellanos again. He's getting it going. And then Edmundo Sosa, it is seven to one Phillies. Eh? But the Braves darn no again with the two RBI double.

It's seven to three. But that's not going to be enough because we're going to Led Zefflin in the pen. Date my daughter, Matt Olson, hold on to your butts. It's 7-6 after his three-run Homer, but that would be it. The Phillies survive. Game one in Atlanta after taking the big lead, 7 to 6 final. Good job, Jake. Good ones.

Burn, Jakey burn. It's also back. This was a fun game because kind of the, Well, five days rest is a lot of rest for the division leaders. Are they going to have a little rust? Is the team that got to play in the wild card and get hot, going to have an advantage? And I do think there was a lot of that to this game.

And if it goes 10 innings, do the Phillies hang on? But they put up enough early to withstand a little Braves magic once they got hot. Trev, what you got on this one to start? I think we have to talk about Max and his. start. I don't know if the layoff if it hurts pitchers as much as it does hitters, but he seemed a little rusty here. His Velo

was not up. He was averaging 92.7 down from 94 on the year. Putting some balls over the plate. And kudos to the Phillies. It seems like they had a plan. They were going to the opposite field the right handers were. Trying to

show bunt all sorts of stuff. Harper had one. Then Schwerber showed one, and they were cheering for that. this is an offense that we know if they can get clicking can be very dangerous and I think we saw that early on in this game. We have a stat here. There was a bunch, eight of the 17 balls putting the play against Freed, had an exit Velo above 95 miles an hour.

So they were hitting the ball hard, man. And Max's line does not look very good at the end of the day. Three in a third innings pitch, eight hits, four earned runs. So, I mean, they came out hot and I do think there is something two playing in the wild card series, you know, getting that momentum as opposed to the Braves trying to simulate some sort of game speed, which you just can't do.

And we saw it not only in this game, but a couple of the other games too. Yeah, that team with the buy seems a little sluggish offensively to start. So they got it going at the end there. But we, I think we got a series here. Playoff games, a playoff game. The defending champs getting a, a 1 p.m. game on a Tuesday.

You know, you can't excuse it. And, you know, the crowd was going. Atlanta was there. But like you're saying, with the Phillies, haven't played the wild card. And they kind of got the momentum going and getting a couple wins under your belt going into the playoffs. You know, when you go into that wild card series,

you think, you know, you know in the back of your head, it could be over in two ball games. Instead, the Phillies are like, we're rolling, baby. And Nick Castellanos, a guy who is a dude, dude, And that's where these Phillies on the dude meter, which we always bust out this time of season, they go with anyone.

And Casillas hasn't been on that meter all year, but he comes out with three hits. And how about the catch at the end of the game? He might have been the most surprised as anyone in the stadium that he got that bad boy, but he did. And that's why it's the playoffs. And how funny is it that now three Phillies games and Phillies defense has been impactful, like in a good way?

Castiano seems like a perfect playoff player. It almost reminds me of Rendon, but not in such a standoffish way. But just that monk-like ability, like life moves slow for Nick Castiano's, it seems like. Like the ability to slow things down, not get overwhelmed. He just kind of is constantly in a state of chill, it seems like. That catch is really nice. I don't think that was a... I have a different take on the catch.

I don't like it at all because what are you doing? I know you caught it, so we have to give you praise, but man, if that ball goes by you, it could have been a tie game. I mean, at least you're getting a runner on third base or in scoring position. And man, when I saw him lay down, like slide or whatever that was, I was like, this is not good, this is not good, this is not good.

Then he caught it, man. Went all out. It was incredible. We love a good genuine celebration and him kind of turtle shelling on his back. What do you think the other players were, like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. I mean, same thing. You know what?

Five game playoff set, you're going for a win there. And now we're talking about the Phillies being in this series and potentially being the fun wildcard team that happens in every sport every year. And it's, you know, the other thing that I'm loving, you know, you know that in a playoff series of Schwabor, Hoskins, Real Mudo, Harper, Castiano's. A couple guys are going to go. Couple guys aren't. And we'll see what continues.

Schwarbo hasn't been necessarily going. so far this playoffs. Harper and Castellanos are. The other thing that deserves some loves, the guys who didn't make the dude chart, I mean, and a guy that maybe he should, Gene Segura, another two-hit day. And you talk about a guy that might be built for the playoffs, maybe an Eddie Rosario comp, like a guy who you know is going to give you a show at bat and not going to be overmatched at any point. And when you need a ball in play, he could be your guy. And it's kind of interesting because Led Zefflin almost gives it up in a big way at the end, and we'd be saying a lot of different stuff, especially if Nick Castellanos doesn't make that catch.

The rest of the Phillies bullpen does a job, enough of a job. But Eflin has to be scary at the end. And like you were saying, Jim, with the wildcard teams getting going, I think the Braves, you know, they come back and there's some excitement there and their bullpen does a good job by the end of it. But, like, I think they're, they're feeling decent outside of Wheeler and Nolus and waiting for him.

But I think the Braves feel okay about this. Yeah, I think it's going to be a series. I don't think they're shocked. But if you're the Phillies, you needed to do this to win a five-game set, I think you needed to kind of punch right away and take advantage of the rust or whatever it was,

if it was the flu that kind of had Max a little down. He says it wasn't. He was very accountable. But, I mean, I know two bullpen guys gave up runs for the Phillies Jake, but the rest, I mean, Sir Anthony, some big outs there. And if the Braves told you they were going to have Max Fried on the bump and you were going to get 3.1 innings of Ranger Suarez, who was like, bend that break, Braves would be like, we're winning that game. And they didn't.

So I think, if I'm a Braves run, I'm not worried at all. I'd still like their chances of winning this series. But it just can be in 50-50 to me where I was leaning maybe like more 80-20 Braves before. Or 70-30. Does anything can happen in a short series? But it leveled out. It's a big win for the fills. And to hang on at the end.

Because we saw another team coming up, not hang on. And how damaging that is to the psyche of gut punch. I think Topper is going to have to figure out his order of the bullpen or hierarchy of the bullpen because I love Led Zefflin. I don't think he's going to be the ninth guy anymore. he's gotten the job done but kind of in a way that you don't want back there so Sir Anthony might be there

hand might be there I'm not really sure what they're going to do David Robertson I didn't know he's off the roster because he suffered a calf strain those big old calves went tight on them celebrating yeah that sucks yeah it does suck but I think they have some guys that can get the job done the more exposure that bullpen gets though the scarier it is for the Phillies so

they need Wheeler and they need Nola to go deep because if you can pair it down to a couple guys who are hot, then we're like, okay, we can do this. But if you're going to have to cover four innings a game with your bullpen, it ain't going to work out in their favor. And especially you don't want to show so much of your hand game one. Like the Braves got a good look at six relievers. Yes, one, two, three, four, five, six relievers. So we've seen that.

You get more familiar with the guy. You game plan against him. You know, he's the left. They're going to bring in for me or he's the guy that you can kind of like set that mark. And the Braves got a lot. Not to say on the other side with Freed only going 3.1, but Philly's also got to see a lot of the Braves relievers. So a lot of bunting.

Alvarado and Sir Anthony Dominguez, those are the guys that Philly has circled that. If we're going to do this, they've got the stuff to do it. They had great years. And they've been going kind of recently. So, Trev, do you like the bunting? Phillies had

six sacrifice buntz in the regular season. They have four already in two and a half playoff games. There's a couple scenarios I like it in. I don't like Harper doing it.

I think who had one before the Sosa at bat? I have to look at that. Yearling? Yeah, I mean, it's a double to a bunt to a sack fly.

I mean, John Smoltz was like living his best life and Jesse Chavez was on the mound and you got some, get him on, get him over, get him in type stuff.

So there are a certain, situations I like it. Can you say that again? That's such a good baseball phrase. Get them on, get them over, get them in. Yes. Yeah. I like that. I like that. You know, because you're adding a run. I know there's still some statistics around bunting, whatever, whatever, but you're making defenses make plays. And I think what I really like is Schwabo showing bunt against the shift, like all these little things. Like, they add up. They might not get the job done, but you're showing it. So now, a third base spin if you're shifted over like you kind of got it like respected a little more so now like you're affecting the way the other team is going to play they and you know what the braids might

say go ahead like go be on first base but it's you want to tell yourself that but as a baseball player you're like damn i don't want to just give that up i know he's looking to do it so i like it man i've always said that like you can toy with different teams by showing bunt and then going against the shift I mean, there are definitely times for it. I don't like sackbunt's just a sackbunt, but I think there are instances where it makes sense. John Smoltz is just watching that inning over and over again. And then putting on Jesse Chavez highlights on it.

I'm not 100%. I'm pretty, you know, there's the right time in place for a sackbunt where it definitely makes sense. I think the playoffs have a lot more of those windows than the regular season. So it's cool that they aren't just out on it because they didn't do it and they had sluggers and boppers. Shout out to Travis. are now speaking of boppers. He's now on a cool list of catchers who have hit home runs in the playoffs.

And again, there's a lot of qualifiers there, home run as a catcher in postseason history. But the names that are surrounding him are pretty cool. Yogi Berra. Johnny Bench, Veritech, Pasada, Lopez. Now darnow. Eight home runs as a catcher in postseason history. Got Travis. Good job, Travis.

Yeah. Shadow Chase. What else from this game? nothing the Braves get the bats going I mean I think Acuna had three hits I think the top of the order all really went besides young thick Austin Riley and Michael Harris went over for his first playoff

so whatever I think it's important that the Phillies won this game you know with the way the pitching ended up going for them you know they get this game that's a steal like no offense or no way around it I don't know what I'm trying to say. No way around.

It's a steal. Well. Because you do have your guys going the next two games. And now all of a sudden, if you win one of those games, they've already flipped the home field advantage there. So you get one of these next two games, and you are sitting pretty. Look out for Bryce Harper. He's got a 500 batting averages postseason with a 583 on base, even with the bunts.

So he's feeling good. Treve, I've been telling you, and Jim, I'll tell you. Been excited to get. the bump-abah of this postseason. And with them taking game one with Ranger Suarez, you now have Nola and Wheeler waiting for them. Like, the Phillies can really turn the screws on. I know we, I love this Braves team.

A lot of people remember I did my Christmas Day bet that the Braves will win. That's just kind of random, probably a little high, emotional. The Phillies, now, I mean, Zach Wheeler can go tomorrow and put zeros on the board for seven to eight innings. Like, let's see. And you said Harper's hot. Like, they've got a lot of stuff going on.

Kyle Wright, your 1998-Sye Young winner this year. Let's see him in a big playoff moment with kind of more stakes on his shoulders coming up. And a couple fun things going on here. Like the Phillies have been matched up good with these braids for the last couple years now. Good stat. 35 and 35 in their last 70 games against these two teams

going back a couple years. So, you know, we talk about Mariners Houston and some of the other series with some big brother factors. Phillies don't have that at all. Like, there is none of that going on. And, man, how about Rob Thompson? I mean, the vibes are electric in Philly. Topper gets a little contract. You go from interim to the full-time manager.

The Phillies, they feel like they're playing house money in here on fire. A lot of people talking about that Yankees coaching tree. Nevin gets the gig. Topper gets the gig. you want to be in the dugout, relay some orders. Rev? Yankees are prime. You learn under Aaron Boone, who you guys always consider such a great match for your team.

I know that. Elite. Did you hear this Alvarado stuff? He said that the Braves dugout was chirping. It was Guillermo Heredia. And he just thinks like he deserves more respect from that. Like kind of, hey, dude, he said he's going to talk to him. Don't chirp me, dog.

It kind of affects my performance. Maybe they know each other, bro. I don't have any problem with that. Like, you, he said, you better have a reason to chirp. If you're just going to chirp to chirp, I like it.

He said he needs to respect the game more. He deserves respect with how he's pitched in the last few months. And I don't understand where Haredia gets off, not being in tune with Alvarado's game log. Yeah. And the respect he deserves. I don't know what was said, but there are certain things you just don't say.

Like there, there's a way to cheer for your team or maybe the game. or maybe to get on the other team. And then there's a way not to do it. And maybe they cross that line, dude. I mean, there's plenty of times where I was like, what are you saying? Shut up, dude.

That's her ready's, like, actual job at this point for the Braves is to talk smack and do the sword fighting stuff. Like, that's... Maybe that's what you were trying to say. That's his gig. Just sit down and eat some seeds or something. Like, he might be the Braves player of the game if he's, if Alvarado's already talking about him.

Who was the baby shark dude with the glasses for the nationals? Hara. Yeah. Well, yeah. That was his job. That's Oscar. He's actually a very good player for the Guardians and he's supposed to come to task.

But having SpongeBob Squarepants as your walk-up song did scare me a little bit. Because that's a thing. Like the whole stadium can get into it like Baby Shark. That's an energy boosting thing. People come dressed up. Yeah. The guy's name is Dylan, I think. I don't respect you.

How do you say that in Spanish? Ooh. Because I think that should be his next chirp. Don't know respect. No, tango. No. Tango. No respect, though.

That seems it would cut real deep, really deep. All right, well, as Jake, you've mentioned, we have Wheeler versus right. The right wheel. Yeah. You can use on your burn. I already kind of got my thoughts out there. The right wheel was wrong.

Unless it's right. This is another game where the... Braves even this up? we've seen it a lot, man. Who's going to score first? Who's going to come out and punch first? And if this Phillies top five, top six gets hot and they kind of all start stringing hits together

like they have been, it can be scary for the Braves, man. I know they have the offense to match it, and if we're seeing bullpen exposure for the Phillies, then they're going to score some runs. I mean, the way the Phillies are going to win this series, they're going to have to score. I know they have some aces there.

They can shut teams down. But you're going to have to score, I mean, at minimum, I think, five runs a game to get a victory. I don't think, I don't see it going any less than that. The Braves offense is very potent. And yeah, maybe we get a lockdown start from Wheeler or Nola, but I just see the Braves too consistent, the lineup too long. So for me, it's, for me, it's all about the bats.

I know we're talking about their pitching. If the bats can get going and continue to stay hot, string some stuff to get. and then get those those big homers it could be uh this could be a philly series both starters got to go as far as they can you don't want to do that on the bullpen back-to-back nights the postseason is a it's a long journey so i you're going to need one of these pitchers to eat up six seven innings braves arguably didn't even use their three best bullpen guys and they're more desperate their hands on desk all hands on deck i'm gonna ask all hands on desk

currently for me. I think they're going to be okay. I think this is going to be great game. I hope it comes down to, how about a good Ken Lee versus like Bryce Harper and the meat of that Philly's lineup? And, you know, sometimes we get scary Kenley, sometimes we get unhittable Kenley.

I think that's what happens. Okay. Cool. Let's move it on to game two of the day. Another doozy, another real good one. The day games came to play. Jake, this Cronpod burn is brought to you by. You want to slide it over so you don't get out of breath before you burn?

Treves Rapsoto. Trevor, yeah. We're getting you in the lab, bro. Rapsoto reached out to us that said, we want to get involved. We said, absolutely we want to find out what we're throwing up there. Rapsoto is trusted and used by all 30 MLB teams, over 350 MLB players used by over 1,200 colleges. It's a data-driven sports technology and analysis that helps athletes. and baseball players reach their full potential showcasing player development through data-driven analytics.

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Back in my day, you were your own Rapsoto. I sucked at being a rap so, though. Yeah, I was bad at it. This helps the pitcher so much. Go buy one if you're a pitcher. Jesus. What's eating Logan Gilbert grape as the Seattle Mariners take on their division foes?

The Houston Astros as Justin Verlander tries to stay off his knees and not blow game one. Top one. This is a dumper. Cal Rally with the RBS. single. And then Julio makes Houston his schoolyard. It is 3-0 after his 2-R-B-I double. Thai France? Ha-ha-ha. Four-nothing, France. Four-nothing, Seattle. But Yorda-Lvarez shows the fortitude to make it fortitude after his 2 RBI double. It is a J.P. Crawford podcast as he goes up top.

Ty France again. Old boy Seattle. Yuli, you lie. Oh no, watches Homer go on. Six to three, but Trev's guy. Hey, Eugenio, he goes up top. It's seven, three. Seattle's going to steal one in. Reggie Smalls with the two-run Homer. Sure, he's our friend. We love him. Seven, five. Bottom nine, here comes Robbie Ray, and he comes out. to Cisco. Let me see your dong. And Alvarez takes him up top for the walk-up. The hardest ball ever hit.

Check on that rap, Soto. I didn't, but it felt like it. Houston walks it off eight, seven game one final. Job well done, Jake. Job well done, Jake. This is a dumper. Well, E40.

A 40, turf talk. I got a, I can do Cal Raleigh. Jake from the yay. I mean, that's a deep cut. You know that because I say that a lot. I don't think that was a bus. This is a dumper. It's a dumper.

This is what the Phillies were able to not have happen. The same thing. Rust. The Astros didn't play for five days. The Mariners got their bats hot against the Jays. They come out swinging against Verlander, who they got to in the regular season.

Once, I think he got to them twice, but you get to a guy once, it's a little less scary. They hit the ball hard and play. Burlander has a bad line, but Yurdan is a big path dude. And you can't let him get up. Huge credit. I know Yerdan gets all the love and he deserves it to the rookies in front of him. Getting on base to pass that baton. Because if you are the Astros,

your late and close strategy is just get Jordan up. There's a two rookies. Pena who looked bad this game beforehand, who's swinging at everything, and then they pinch hit. Blankin. Hensley. Hensley. Hensley.

There's a lot of names like that. Got called up in September. He gets the pinch hit. He works the walk. Seawald was a little wild. It's more on Seawald there. but Pena's at bat was really good. And then, I mean, the big talking point is bringing in Robbie Ray.

We could do the whole recap just on this decision because it's one of the biggest ones. Oh, Jake. Trev, you go. We watch this together. I'm going to give the Mariners a little credit here because I know we're going to talk about how they blew it and your don this and you're done that.

He's hammering throws to home plate to throw up my guy, Thai France. Give your little French thing you do, Jake. Ha, ha, ha. There you go. Thank you very much. Look, they came out hot.

And I think you have to, if you're a Mariners fan, you have to look at the first part of the game and be happy with what you were doing. Now, yes, did it go arrive for you at the end? Sure, but you kind of put yourself in a weird situation. I don't love the Robbie Ray move. The more and more I think about it. But, you know, J.P. Crawford hitting a home run. Like, you got. to the Astro's best pitcher.

And now, whether that's a product of a layoff for them. But Verlander had been excellent, excellent on like extended rest. And this wasn't one of those cases. I thought they played pretty well. Just I've said it, and we've all said it. The Astros lineup is relentless. And given the opportunity, they'll continue to score. They'll continue to score.

So you have to do your best to put up a number. Seven is usually a pretty good number to win a baseball game. but I guess the Astros are just a little diffy but again if you're a Mariners fan I think you can say yeah wow that really sucked because we had that game and if we win that one we're looking real good but you can take away some

you know you can be proud of how you play the first five innings is that a take I don't know that's how I was feeling about it no I mean I want the Mariners to win the series I want them to feel good Jake's talked about it. Little brother, just a bugaboo.

Their record in Houston is awful. And if they take game one, I'm here saying like, hey, that's huge. Because I think winning this game in Houston, so huge. Like my, like, and they were a strike away from doing it. And the difference that makes. And now Houston has to come back to tie the series, which I still think would be likely. I don't know.

there's a lot of moving parts here Mariners 7 and 31 in Houston since 2019 you don't think some of those guys feel that you know we're going to get into the next match of Luis Castillo and Framber and yeah I mean just think about how those storylines can develop like do you think Houston can't win a game at home with Framber Valdez against who is Seattle's scariest starting pitcher so now that series went from like one oh we stole one on the road we have the home field advantage now

we beat Verlander to like, you know, they could be very well staring down the barrel of down O2, you know, just hoping to save your season. A couple things. Like Jimmy mentioned those at bats by the kids to get on base, you know, Hensley, the, you know, full count fouls off a couple pitches. Sewell loses them, hits them with the pitch. And then Pena, yeah, I mean, that would have been a good opportunity.

Jake was getting his Skip Bayliske-up take. ready because who would that have been in past years? That would have been Correa. So now we see Pena, the rookie in the big moment. Does Houston feel losing Carlos Correa? Nah. O2, kid ends up slapping one up the middle. And then Jordan Alvarez, I know we say it all the time.

He is the best young hitter in baseball. You know, Julio all around, he plays defense in what he does. Tatis when he's right, you know, Soto, blah, blah, blah. Yordon, go look at the. the OPS, go look at what he does. We just get lost because this Houston kind of, you know, dynasty or timeline started without him that we don't think of him that way, but he is.

And Robbie Ray coming in, you're right. For me, it felt like trying to light a spark on Robbie Ray. Robbie Ray's been struggling. You know, you bring him into a situation where there's two outs. I mean, you could accidentally throw the wrong pitch, but if Yordon lines it to tie France at first base, it's an out and you say, hey, Robbie Ray kind of did his job. Instead, he goes, fastball down the dick, fastball down the dick, and you're on, I mean,

you know, I was worried about someone in the second deck being hurt by the baseball. So for him to be in that spot and do it, and yeah, I think, you know, like we talked about with the Braves, you know, that early game and getting back into it while you're facing wildcard teams that have been already in the action and felt it and you saw them get off to good starts. Now Houston survives that punch. I mean, those guys you don't think they're feeling confident over there? Like my goodness.

I mean, they got to, they got to the two best relievers in Seattle's bullpen, which I think is a big thing for them. Bregman taking Munoz up top and then C-Wallbound. He was throwing some very hithful pitches to Hensley. Hensley was taking some hacks. I know he ends

up walking. He actually got hit by a pitch. Did they count that as a hit by a pitch? Okay, they did. It was at first. I just said, you walk but he was taking some hacks and you know i think i said you got to be happy with how the first five six innings went if you're a mariner's fan you're very concerned about how the last innings went obvious um the ray decision was interesting to me i i had him caught up on you know the probabilities i guess i know ray was set up to throw game three but i don't think they ever had that in mind after kind of what he's been doing he's had some poor starts against houston

uh service said that like you know they knew this lane could present itself and that they were very comfortable going to Ray against Yordaun. Now, it's a little interesting to me because they don't have a ton of history against each other and Yordaun is almost equally as good against left-handers as he is against right-handers. For me, it was the pitch selection. Like you said, Jake, we go to fastballs there. I had the exact same feeling. There's a cool video of Yordawn's dad talking about how after that first pitch he knew Yordaum was locked in. I felt the same. way. He gets a fastball that he missed. And I was like, dude, you missed it. I don't think you're

going to get another one of those. Well, he did, and he ain't going to miss it again. You know, I said on the, I was live for that, I said, if you throw 94 miles in that, you're throwing fastballs to Yordon Alvarez and you throw it over the plate, you missed your spot, it's going to get hit hard. Now, it might not be 5,000 feet for a homer like it was last night, but it's going to get hit hard because that's what he does is barrel the ball up. Go look at his base. Paul savant page. That was the location. It was the pitch call.

It was everything that I just did not like at all. And I'm sure, I don't know if Robbie Ray sees the mound again this series. Is that a take? We'd have to go, we'd have to go to the distance and have some slop. Or not slop, but I have to go to distance at times.

If he does, I don't know what length or something. Great class in case of emergency. Here's Robbie Ray. You know, and this is a Robbie Ray that had to, completely changed his pitch mix this season. In Houston, remember I detailed it earlier in the year.

He switched to a two-seem fastball sinker because he felt like they had his pitches. He was tipping just a two. And in Houston, Uridon now Hammer's an absolute two-seamer, sinker. And he's giving up a lot of hits on that now. And it's a pitch he started throwing this year. Man, the other thing, it's kind of been my whisper every time we talk about Seattle. kind of the final thing I say about Seattle every time we talk about them. That bullpen is so good.

There's a lot of dudes that have been monster seasons out there to kind of ignore a couple of those guys to try to get the Robbie Ray Lane. It's almost putting what made your team successful this year and almost like not believing it, not believing in your formula. You know, these games get knifed up so easily. We're talking about the Matt Olson blooper that Nick Castellanos sketches, not known for his defense, and it feels genius. Robbie Ray, you know, if he had maybe thrown a good slider or if you're Don,

that first one he fouls out, if that's a foul pop out, you know, we're saying great call, but it's these playoffs and now they just took your, they took one of your best punches. And, you know, does Yoran Alvarez walkoff? Like, 91% win probability added is the highest in any play in MLB. Do you hear the stat that it's the first walkoff home run? postseason history by team trailing by multiple runs. So every other walk-off run has been a tie game homer or down by one and you hit a three-run shot or two-run shot.

That's incredible that it's never happened before. It is incredible. Let's not forget, if Yordaun doesn't throw tie France out, that's only a game tying homer. So I know they were trying to be aggressive on the base pass there because it was two outs. But, I mean, that ball, Yordaun had that ball in his mitt before France, like, even touched third pace. So that was a questionable send there. I guess you're just trying to be aggressive.

Also the second walk off Homer in postseason history by a team down to its final out. That's also incredible shocking. Kurt Gibson the only other one. Playoffs, maybe. I mean, you know, I have a question. Used to be the last series. What do you got, Tram?

If you're in the bullpen, you're talking about these guys who have been electric. And you've been one of those guys. Are you a little bit pissed that they went with Robbie Ray? Like, is Eric Swanson, he of a 517 OPS Havard against left-handed batters. Is he a little pissed? Piss might be the wrong word.

I mean, he's got to have respect who Robbie Ray is. I mean, Robbie Ray won a Cy Young. Last year. It was a good starter for them for most this season. And it's, you know, one of the most feared lefties in the league. So you get some of the thought process. But you want the ball. I mean, you had a great season and you're a competitor.

I think if it's last year's Robbie Ray, you totally understand it, but this year's Robbie Ray, go. Why am I here? We're all fighting for the Iron Throne. Only one person can sit on it. And if I'm Swanson, I'm going back to my generals and saying,

hey, man, we might have to have a coup here. I don't know. Why am I here? And I think the other thing, we mentioned it in Atlanta, Philly, how, you know, their bullpins both eventually got hit, but for the Phillies, it was two guys.

It was Brogden early and it was Eflin late. for the Mariners to go to Munoz, Seawald, and then Ray, you know, kind of the desperation move at the end, and all three of those get hit consecutively. Like the Phillies holding Atlanta in those middle innings, you know, like that solo homer by Yulea guerriel, I know that was off Gilbert earlier in the game, but to keep chipping away, like, I don't know. And the fact they got Munoz and Seawald who are supposed to be their two toughest guys, I've always loved Diego Castillo.

He has a clean inning, but I don't know. It's all this, you know, a lot of Mariners doom and gloom, you know, 99% of the time in baseball history. That's what I'm saying, bro. 99% of the time in baseball history, they've won this game. They did not. And you have Luis Castile on the bump tomorrow. So, I don't know, wipe it off, man, and take back home field advantage. See us rise.

Castillo being on the mound is huge. See us rise. He's a guy that can just erase all of this quickly with one dominant start. Baseball. I'd still be sitting there like, damn, really be nice if we had two, though. But win today. Win today.

Is it, is it, tomorrow? Is my take correct that you got to be looking and be like, hey, we almost had that one? Or is it like, well, you have to look at the positive.

If you're the players. Holy shit, we should have wanted to. The fans will probably be thinking, holy shit. The players have to look at the positive. Like, hey, we got the Burlander.

We got blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, all that stuff. What was that? Seattle. Seattle. Now you got Framber's tiny glove going up against Luis Castillo and his beautiful hair.

That mound might melt with the two of them. China looks like a Valerian, if you will. You got to get that one? Larian Steel. Yeah. Yeah. Dragons. See that dragon at the Yankee game?

I thought it looked fake. It was a dragon. That one didn't look the same as the one in the show. That was a... That was a dollar general dragon. It's a low-depth dragon. Why do they just, maybe it's, I don't know, whatever. All right, let's go.

Moving on to the next series. Purple Lamborghini is a burn. And then we'll say, it's brought the burn was brought to you by. All right. Game one, Yankees, Guardians. Oh, what? Next up, Jake. Let's talk about it.

Burn it. Burn the game. Tell people what happened. Does it get any better than playoff baseball in the Bronx as we kick off the ALDS between Trebs Cleveland Guardians and our New York Yankees? Cal Ripkin-Quantrol would hope to be an Iron Man for the guards while Garrett J. Cole would try to work out the first of hopefully 11 playoff wins. Top three, Rich Homie Kwan had the Yankees feeling some type of way.

Solo Homer for the leadoff hitter. Nothing, Believelin. Garrett would get out of a bases loaded mess. Speaking of a loaded mess, Master Bader, the hometown kid finds the seats to tie it up at once. Jose, Jose, Jose. He gets it done with the sack fly. It's underrated.

Two to one yanks. The momentum is flowing. And, oh, Rizzo orders the double decker. The two-run shot into the second deck. at the stadium and the Yankees Penn would hold from there Cole, Johnny, Wondy, and Clay. Yankees take game one

four to one final. Bam bam, bam. We were in the stream lounge with Chris Rose. Roman. Who is Roman ready all the time. But he doesn't need T support. Or maybe he does. I don't know. We'll ask him. Testosterone is important, Jake. You have a lot

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Roman tea support is a proprietary supplement formulated by Romans in-house doctors. You can't find this blend anywhere else. So go to get Roman.com slash talking today and you get $15 off of your first order of Roman tea support. Trev Jake and I have talked about this game. We talked about it live while we watched it. We did a recap on talking yanks.

So I'm going to let you, you know, dictate the direction here, what you saw, what you want to talk about, your thoughts. My thoughts are that the guardians have to find some offense somewhere. And we're not just talking about this series. It goes back to last series, four runs and 33 innings in the postseason. It was a solo homer by Oscar Gonzalez. It was a two-run homer by a J-Ram and a solo homer by Kwan. And that is it.

You're not going to get very far in the playoffs if that is what's going on. You don't have. it's just you can't win like that. Obviously, people you have to score runs. Very difficult to do against Garrett Cole, who looked good, had a really good outing. I know Dan Rourke was just singing his praises and couldn't stop. So if they can't, if they're just going to be like this offensively,

if they can't get guys on in front of J-Ram and Oscar Gonzalez doesn't have a big series, I mean, they have to find a spark plug somewhere to get the offense going. this is going to be over in three games. I mean, it does not look great. They were 0 for eight with runners in scoring position. It's just, that's the story, dude. Like, if you can't score runs, you're not going to win any games.

It's pretty simple. Yeah. Garrett gets a lot of credit. You know, 6.1, one earn run. That's a playoff. Big Boy start. It doesn't matter who you're pitching against. He got himself into trouble in the third bases,

loaded. You know, that looked like the Guardian's real time to strike. And when they did not after that, a cold pitch is way out of it, which credit to him, sometimes he gets himself into those situations. And he starts to make compound errors almost. You see him thinking about it on the mound. Garrett gets through that. And then the Yankees took the momentum.

And they tie it up, Bader. Welcome to the Bronx, kid. He ties it up kind of. Great swing, too. Shot for shot. with Kwan there. Your defensive studs that, you know, Juan's a better hitter, but you don't think of him as a power guy.

And then Trevi with the sack flag gets the job done. You know, we were wondering Matt Carpenter is lurking. Was it too early to pinch hit for him? He gets the job done, and then Rizzo. A guy of the Yankees lineup of people that were coming into this series, Rizzo had actually been one of the colder bats. A lot of the guys had gotten it going. Rizzo chilled out.

He hits the postseason home run. You know who that dude is. It kind of doesn't matter what he's doing coming into it. And Yankees bullpen, which is scary and not a strength lately, they do enough to hold. The bases loaded at bat was the game for the Guardians. I don't think that this team is made up to get multiple of those chances against postseason pitching,

and they had to take advantage of that. Cole, to his credit, gets out of it on a first pitch, ground out to the kid, Oscar, with the base is loaded, which was nice. I believe he went cut it or slider or something off speed to get that ground out in the big moment there. For the Yankees, though, Trev, I know what you're saying that the Guardians can't win if this is their hitting and it's going to be an easy out. And I agree, obviously, they need to hit.

The Yankees didn't play a clean game, which is scary for me because the Guardians are such a non-threat offensively that you can get away in this game by the Yankees. They had some defensive mistakes. They cost Cole about 15 to 20 more pitches. They hit into double plays themselves. They had some like four one, two, three innings. I don't think the Yankees played a great game. I think they did enough to beat the Guardians.

But if they want to move on and play Seattle or Houston, two teams I think are a pretty big jump up from the Guardians, They need to start playing a lot tidier. And it's good the bullpen before the Yankees got some use. Clay Holmes still scares me. Yeah, I think you could chalk the Yankees' offensive struggles up to the layoff. I mean, we'll give them one day to get the bats going. I mean, yeah, four runs, five hits.

They actually got out hit by the Guardians. But, you know, you have the Homer by Rizzo. And, you know, there was just more pressure. And now the Guardians did hit into some tough double plays. you know, the wise guy gets Rosario there, I think in the seventh inning to hit into a double play. So you're squandering rallies there. But yeah, that's just it for me.

Like outside of Jose Ramirez, who are you really scared of right now in that lineup? And it's not many people. It's not. And you saw them. Yeah. You saw them walk. You saw them pitch completely around Jose Ramirez

when there was two outs to bring up Nailer who looked really bad. He, they need to change the lineup tomorrow. next game and they cannot have nailer behind J-Ram. I'm interested to see who they do put behind him, but the Yankees straight up walked him with two outs, and they will continue to do that if there's not a threat behind him. So, well, I think the Yankees run back the same lineup.

I'm expecting the Guardians to change something and try to find Ramirez a little more protection. Yeah, on the Guardian side, you can be happy with how your bullpen performed as well. My boy Trev came in, then De LaSanto and Karen Shaq, they all were clean. you just you got to score that's it dude that is that is the bottom line here I'm a little nervous to see how this Yankees offense comes out the next game for you guys is it going to be a banger then I'm scared for Cleveland if they come out and are same type of thing that's like you're saying James it doesn't really lend themselves well to going deep into the postseason but like I think this was a little bit of that layoff a little bit

of rust if you will The Yankees can get to Bieber. Pitchers that pitch like Bieber, the stuff he has and where he likes to locate it does not, the Yankees like that. Lower velocity. He pitches on the outside of the plate a lot. And they got to him really bad earlier in the season.

And they got to him in the postseason two years ago. So I'm interested to see. I have a question for you guys. Who can step up for the Guardian? Jimmy, I know it's something you're fond of, but it's maybe why teams like being a little more flexible. Jose Ramirez is at third all year. The guys in their lineup who, you know,

I worry about are Kwan, who's been their lead-off guy all year. You know, Rosario had a good season. Last night, Osir Gonzalez, Nailer, Jimenez gets a hit, but I don't know. And, you know, you see the Yankees batting Judge leadoff now. Ramirez needs to be in more of a threat position. And maybe it's a,

Maybe it's the guys getting on in front of them. So maybe it is Kwan and Rosario having big nights to make them pitch to Ryan. And while Judge didn't homer yesterday or get any hits, I don't think. Bader gets a cookie of a fastball 3-2 because you don't want to walk Bader in front of Judge. And he hits a homer. And then they pitch around Judge later in the game. He's on first base. And then they have to pitch to Rizzo.

And Rizzo does his job in backing up Judge and Homer. So it's kind of a Homer sandwich around Judge, which is kind of still his presence being felt in the way you get through that lineup. Here's my question to you guys. How do you feel about the Josh Johnson thing? I hate it, and I want him to start running. I mean, just because Tref, he did it four times

in the regular season, it became a meme. Like I have those tweets like Josh Donaldson, Pimp, single, again. Josh Donaldson Pimp single, again. Isn't this one a little tough, though? Because it really did look like it, you know, ricocheted off the top of the wall, back off a fan, back into the stands. It's a wall scraper of all wall scrapers in the field. You know, that's not a home run anywhere.

So how are you not busting it? I do think the first base, okay, but the fact that he got thrown out. Yeah, you have to do one or the other. You have to be busted the second or stay on first and make sure. But they're saying the stadium played the siren and the lights. So that's why he thought it was a home run. After the game, yeah. And his first base coach, high-fived him.

So I too put some blame on Tracy Chabman's his name. Like, come on, man. What? Travis Chabman, like, you gotta be watching. You gotta be yelling run. Go, go, go, go, go. It's tough when you've done that. When you've done that in the radio,

yeah, exactly. And that's, you know, I guess if this is a ball player checkmark list, which you know, that's how all the ballplayers talk, because I'm one. Like, you know, if you're going to do that and you're going to hit a ball there that's looking questionable in top of the wall. Like you said, pick one or the other. If you jog

because you think you hit a homer and, you know, they're playing lights and it's booming, you know, why don't, why don't we play it safe and stay at first? Because it's a playoff game that matters and you don't want to go down in Lores, the worst thing that happened. Luckily, Cleveland, they punted away instantly. ICF slashes ball down the line

and Oscar Gonzalez whiffs on it, so Yankees get third base there. We'll say Donaldson hitting two balls hard, and one of them was high, V-Lo and they put up the middle. I'm more excited about that than upset about his lack of... Nice play at third.

He's been doing that all year, Treve? It sucks that it's clouding the positive. I gave him the, like, he's the wild card in this series. Someone asked me, like, who has to do something in this series besides a judge? And I said, I would love to see Josh Donaldson do something in this series. He's had good post seasons, although they've been kind of way back when now or in 2022. His last really good postseason was 2016.

But like he does seem like a guy who wants to be up in a big situation. That's half the freaking battle, dude. Like he wants to be up there. He gets a little bit of this right now. I know like base running was just not happening yesterday. The other one with Ramirez dropping the ball. That's not his fault. Like there's nothing he can do there.

Oh, no. That was just accidentally an awesome play by J-Ram. He didn't even try to do that either I know. We thought he did for a second, but now he didn't. But dude, if Donaldson, like,

finds a stroke during the playoffs, then that, then this Yankees lineup is kind of, it's different to me. Because, like, at times I still think it's a little top heavy. But if he started to have JD down at the bottom doing what he's doing,

dang man. Yeah, that was Jake's point on our pregame show. Was that if JD or our series preview, is that if JD turns into a guy, it just lengthens the lineup so much, so much. Can feel like a. six-man lineup instead of a four-man lineup, which in the playoffs is massive.

Yes. As if Clay Holmes comes in, gets a couple outs. He's a wild card in Yankee land right now, so dominant in the first half of the year. At the second half of the year, two Phantom IELs, the Yankees kind of force him in the game, and it playing the result, which we've done for the other two games, so let's do it here. Feels a little better. He threw a couple good sinkers, and he gets the final two outs in a game. I think the Yankees realized if they want to do something this postseason,

they need another impact arm in the bullpen, and he's your most hopeful bet. So, hey, he gets some action and he gets a result. Easily could have been scarier because as Jimmy and myself, I was on the team, I gave a vote as well. Watch Clay Holmes come in. Let's see how wild he is. First pitch hits the batter.

Okay, and we're back. But he did settle in after that, so we'll give him some credit. Yep. Nestor on the mound for game two against Beber. Should be a good matchup. Nestor making his postseason debut. Interested to see he doesn't seem like a guy who's going to be nervous at all. But you don't know that environment until you're in it. So I'm excited to see Nestor on the bump tomorrow. Will Nick Swisher be dancing on the field again?

That is the question that I want to know. That's the goal. Yeah. Cleveland. Bieber, Beber. Beber Nestor? Beber Nestor. All right.

Final game of day one of the divisional series. Dodgers Padres. Same part of the country, Jake. A regional, a divisional matchup. The Seid. Dodgers had the Giants in the DS last year. They got the Padres in the DS this year. He did series all the time.

Let's see the brats. Let's hear it. We are headed out west as we are taking the five and hopping on the 405. Daddy, Trevor's, Padres versus Trevor Ploofs, Dodgers, Clevenger, Ureas, and bottom one. Trey turns on one. Turner with the solo home run. And then Max Muncie, Little Fat, RBI, single, two nothing, make it three. Will Smith gets chiggy on one.

Gavin Fucks. I didn't write that down for that made me laugh. Four nothing. Five. Muncie scores again. Woo-whoop. Five. Oh, Dodgers.

They're dead. This isn't a rivalry. Oh, Will Myers solo dong. Trent Grisham RBI. His name is NOLA NOLA. NOLA. Nola. It's five to three.

Okay. We got some runners on the bases, but the Padres, they ordered the flathead and they got the Phillips. Phillips big double play ball to get out of the inning. Dodgers bullpen holds on five to three final. They take game one in L.A. Bowser. Chris Martin gets his first ever postseason saved.

They played cold play after his first out. He smiled on the mound about it. Do you get it? Trev, Battle of Southern Kansas. California. And again, we talked about the Dodgers and what they can do. They didn't care about. No, rust.

They never got wet. So you can't get rust without getting wet. I think that's right. Don't quote me on that, people. They came out swinging hot. I liked that San Diego made of the game there. Will Myers after a defensive miscue comes and makes up for it.

I like that storyline there. But in the end, the Dodgers is too much. I think if you look at the game, I mean, Dave Roberts saw a win here and just went out and tried to get it as best he could. He ends up throwing. I think these are going to be the guys that he goes to after the start. We're talking Phillips,

who did get that beautiful double play. Beautiful. Right there by Lux and Turner. Then you go to Vesia. He goes an inning in two-thirds, to Graterall, to Martin. And these are his guys. Okay. There's other guys out there, too, but I think this is going to be his path,

his pitching path to victory, if you will. Shout out you guys. So, yeah, I mean, this is a Dodgers team. They're just really good at baseball. They can get you defensively. They can come sting you. And I think scoring first is so important in these games. We've talked about it.

And Chris Martin kind of settling into that role seems right. I don't know if that's going to be all the time in the ninth, but it's kind of set up that way. You have Gradrol to come in and kind of like put out any fires because he has that type of stuff. Phillips is kind of the same way, but earlier in the game's high leverage. And Vesia looked great against lefties and righties.

He threw a nasty slider to Kim to strike him out. There was just a buzz saw, dude. That thing had hair on it. It was Haman going in there. Kind of a complete win. I was happy that the Cronoworth, I think, got the knock there at the end. So the Padres had a chance. It made for a nice little ending to the game.

But Martin ends up getting Kim to pop out. I think first pitch. Just missed it there. Strong game, but if you're the Padres, you kind of have to be looking at this being like, man, like, I said it before. If you lose game one, it's just more of the same. The Dodgers have just owned the Padres this year. And now I think we're getting Kirshah.

there were some Tyler Anderson stuff going on with like the podium post-game presser. But if you're looking at Kershaw going game two, I mean, kind of good luck. He's been, he's been nasty. He has been nasty. And the pitching for the Dodgers in general, very nasty. You know who likes nasty pitching? Eno Saris, our good friend. And our other friends at Full Tilt Brewery, Trev.

Did you get some? They sent us a bunch of this. beer stuff plus you don't like you know saris's nasty pitching stat i introduced you guys to you know and now you stole him from me yeah yeah well i'm cracking mine there's no yankee game today i get to relax and they sent us a bunch so shout out to full tilt brewery they're located in baltimore they make a bunch of fun drinks like that an exclusive john boy one at some point i'm not sure but eno has his own beer he likes pitching they sent us beer for the postseason they'll get Your self sums.

Urias getting pulled. 70-something pitches. Now, you might be right, Trave. You just going for the jugular. I know the Dodgers operate this way, even with their best pitchers. We saw them pull. Who was it a couple years ago?

Older pitcher, veteran guy, had like a perfect game going through six in the postseason they pulled him. Shit. Chris Young? Was it young? I'm totally blanking. I am too.

Let's do that out there. All right. Well, you ever pitch for the Dodgers? I'm interested. Jake and I were recording talking next. We went back out. Did he get in trouble? Did he start looking bad and they pulled him?

Do the Dodgers know that the postseason is an absolute grind? And you're going to, they don't burn pitchers out because they burned Scher out by last year. Is that weary? Are they? Honestly, I'm asking because I know they do this a lot. But he was cruising, got one blip in the fifth. It's at 70-something pitches. That's the thing.

And they were talking about in the broadcast, you know, Dave Roberts just does not like to see his starters go the third time through the order in the postseason. So basically, I think that was it. And look, you're rested. You want to get these guys in the game to shake any rest off if there is. It was Rich Hill. It was Rich Hill.

That's the same guy. Rich Hill, Chris Young, same person, different arms. Making up top. Again, I think it was that. You don't want to see your starter go the third time through the order. That's his and the front office is monstores. and then you have this rested bullpen who you can rely on in any situation. And he said it.

He said, I saw a lane. And that was it, man. They did go for the juggler and it worked out. Phillips has been so, so good this year. I know we've mentioned him a few times and he comes into the playoff action, gets the big double play. Vesia just kept getting out so they let him roll. Bruce Starr, how's your day at the office?

One pitch to Manny, one pop out. All right, thank you. Weird pop out. Oh. It was a wild pop-up. It looked like it was going to be foul ball, and then it was like 20 feet in play. Mixed between foul ball, home run, and pop-out.

It works for now. Padres, what you're grabbing out. I mean, Dodgers, you held serve at home. You know, you gave them the big punch, and then you held on. Padres, hey, you fought back a little bit against the Dodgers. You made them tighten up.

You made them use their good bullpen. What would we've been saying if this game stayed 5-0? And maybe they didn't have to use some of these guys. They had to use their good bullpen. They see them. Hopefully, though, if that matters later on in the series. And Clevenger gets hit and it stinks. And, hey, it didn't get talked about on the internet.

I did see one tweet and I wish I could credit them. But Clevenger was technically the only fourth starter going today or yesterday. You know, the other wild card games, they won in two. You know, Cleve is there for. And he's not the Mike Clevenger that you think of in the Guardian Days dominating. Like, he's still coming back and making his way back. He gets hit. he gets rocked 2.2, four earned runs, five runs total.

And San Diego's secondary bullpen, Wilson, Pierce Johnson, Tim Chill, pitching from down under, and Nick Martinez, you know, they put out an effort. Will that matter? I don't know, but the Padres saved their good bullpen. And, you know, your secondary guys, if you need to tap into them later in the series, potentially,

you know, maybe they've got the good juice flowing. So, well, I, think the Dodgers have so many good players. If you are not, if you're like most, you know, casual, casual fans, you follow the postseason and the big names of baseball. Freddie Freeman and Mukie Betts went 0 for 7. The heroes of this game were Trey Turner, who is a big name, and you do know him from postseason, and he's a friend of John Mo Media, and I like him.

No else? Gavin Lox. He comes up with a big double, two-strike double, works back to even count. And then Will Smith. a name that will never be associated with himself comes to ask slapsed oncey too i mean it's just we talked about the jake was a little running to burn about my man long the dodgers are long i mean they are long slams if you know what i'm talking about they just

if if bets and freeman go over it doesn't matter to them because they have other guys that are going to step up and tomorrow or today bets and freeman are going to do it and it's just it's it's it's relentless you have to score you have to continue to score against them because it's very hard to to shut this Dodgers offense down and then you got to go up against the pitching staff and it's that's why they're so good it's why they want 111 games um i think again like i said scoring first is so important in these games because it allows you then to kind of carve out the way your pitching is going to go and it just sets everything up you know if you're playing from behind on the Dodgers, good luck.

Like you need to get out to a lead. You need to try to score first against them. It's just difficult to do that. I think Padre is similar to the Dodgers. They can use that same spin zone. Their top four in their lineup, go one for 15. And, you know, Machado and Soto had a couple of bats. I know pro far lined out.

So hopefully that changes for them. The bottom of their lineup, I mean, Croninworth, Kim, Gresham, they've been having playoffs. so man, we, hopefully we have a classic teed up for today when this comes out. Kershaw and Darvish. I will say this.

And I didn't, I wasn't on the episodes in the Wild Card series, but I kind of shared this opinion around. I'm not sold on it yet. I want to see a couple more years of it. I don't think, I think the game three, having to throw your four or whatever that happened and that is what it was supposed to be.

That's a big advantage. for the Dodgers. I don't think the other teams really got that big of an advantage, Houston over Seattle, Braves over Phillies or Yankees over Guardians. And just in general, the concept of it, it hasn't been an instant win for me. We only had one game three, electric atmosphere. So many of the games were day games over the weekend. So that wild card one game set where it's two night games and it's a national game

and everyone's watching, there's only one that felt like that for me. It was the game three. Met's Padres, and it was the only game that day. So it just didn't have that zest that usually we kicked off. For me, I want to see it a couple more years.

We got some kind of, a lot of, but when games go three, that's when the, it's really felt that winning the division was much better. And then we only had that in one situation. Yeah, I think that's,

the advantage that we, all thought was going to happen from not being in the wildcar round is only going to show up if the wildcar round goes through you're totally right you have your four starter going game one and all of that i think that's probably the way nalb wanted it to happen they wanted it to be a massive disadvantage because if you have the buy typically you're a big market team most likely or like the chances are so they want those big market teams going deeper into the playoffs i'm kind of happy that teams have found a work around that it's not such a massive uh dissonationation to be in the wildcard.

Go, you know, win the first two games, or you can do what we talked about, you know, throw your one and then don't throw your two, game two, and try to work around that way. Because if you were just at a massive disadvantage going to the series, I just don't think that feels right in playoff baseball. I want best versus best, and I think for the most part,

we're going to get that during these series. I think the Yankees, they got a little bit of a leg up, seeing Cal Quantrell instead of a Tristan McKenzie if it's a one-game playoff. I think that's a... I think that's just the Guardians three isn't great. Right. But that's the whole point. If it was a one-game playoff, you'd have Tristan McKenzie

pitching the first game of the series, which that's... And Calquantra pitched well, so no knock on him. I thought he was very impressive. He gave a really good effort, but, you know, Tris McKenzie, the year he has and who he is for the Guardians. I think you feel that, but yeah, you'd like to see, too. And Treve, you talk about Wild Card Advantage or not feeling hurt by it. I mean, tell that to the Cardinals, tell it to the Mets.

Like, you know, we had some teams who, real hopes this year got chopped down. Chop down. And the chop. Chris Rose. Oh, yeah. And now here we are. We got Darvish going up against what we believe is Kershaw. And now the only reason I'm saying we believe is Kershaw is because there was some post-game press conference

or like there was some setup for today's press conference saying that Tyler Anderson is in the game two start. typical slot. We're thinking he's just announcing that he's going to be the game three starter. He's not going to announce it, but they're going to say he's the game three starter. And it should be Kirshaw Darvish. Darvish has had, I think,

three really good starts against the Dodgers this year, one kind of a blow-up start where you get up five earned runs. And Kirshah has been really good as of late. This has the potential to be a very, very close game going into the end. And then now are we saying, okay, we just saw your best

relievers for the Padres. And now we had another night of seeing him. Could that be an advantage? Maybe. Could be. I think it's going to be a pitcher's duel. I think I'm excited for that matchup. That's the 8 o'clock game tonight?

Yes. Yeah, West Coast. 837. Garv is just fun to watch pitch. So is Kershaw. Fully rested bullpen. Padres. Awesome.

Cool. Well, if you're watching this, before 4.30, East Coast time. Make sure you head over to the live stream. Jake, Joe's, and Chris Rose. I'll be floating around as I work on some other stuff. Billy's Braves. Mad dog.

Go Braves. I want to tie the series. I want them to go five. Whenever game. I want everything. What if we get a road, road, road, road. For game five. All the road teams are.

At least four. I don't want sweeps. besides the Yankees. Oops. That would ease my mind. I have no rudy interest. I think the Dodgers and Astros, after one game, the Dodgers and Astros kind of still remain the scariest,

most complete teams in the postseason. Yes. Awesome. Thank you guys for tuning in. Appreciate you. Be back tomorrow. Recapping the two NLDS games that happened today. Wouldn't hate it, Louise Castillo died of his dreads, blonde.

You would. You would. Thank you.