Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - The Mets are a Juggernaut | 528

Episode Date: August 15, 2022

Get 25% OFF @trueclassic with promo code 'BASEBALL' at https://trueclassictees.com/BASEBALL #trueclassicpod Go to http://getroman.com/talkin TODAY. If approved, you’ll get fifteen dollars off your first order of Roman T-support. Timestamps: 0:00 Fernando Tatis Jr.'s PED Suspension 15:50 NL Recap 21:00 NL Standings 22:10 Mets are a Juggernaut 29:00 Chris Woodward Fired by the Rangers 32:05 Braves Sweep Marlins 38:00 Brewers-Cardinals 42:45 Jake's NL Power Rankings 49:20 AL Recap 54:30 AL Standings 56:00 Astros: Michael Brantley and Lance McCullers Jr. 59:20 White Sox 1:04:30 Orioles-Rays 1:10:30 Yankees-Red Sox 1:16:20 Guardians-Blue Jays 1:22:40 Twins-Angels 1:26:10 Rangers-Mariners 1:29:35 Dodgers Beat Royals 1:35:15 Albert Pujols 1:40:50 Max Muncy 1:43:40 Slump Watch & En Fuego 1:45:55 Rodolfo Castro's Phone Fell Out 1:49:15 Grind Your D*ck Off Award: Wynton Bernard & Joey Meneses 1:52:20 Trojan Horse Meets Comics Award: Manny Machado Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. We had some good NL East action. The machine, Alberg, puts a stamp on one. So much good baseball. It's players only, people. It's players only. Hello and welcome back to Talking Baseball. Coming off a hot Friday.

I was out. A little bachelor party in the hills. Had a good time. It comes out after you. you lads record Fernando Tates Jr. PED suspension. What is you doing, baby? But the boys hop back on the mic. They

covered that for you because it's just different. It's Jeff's different. And one of those guys who is built entirely differently. Trevor Plouffe getting nasty from Calabassey. How you doing Big Dog? You know, I'm one of the only guys that can transition from front office only to play. layers only. I am Diffy. And yes, I'm still mad at fucking Fernando Tate's Jr. From making me record an episode on a Friday night, I got shit to do. You know how like

kind of popular around here. Yeah. People pull me all different places. I, you know, I have my time of work and Fernando's bringing me back. Although in saying that, boy, did I love doing that episode. Imprompt to like raw thoughts on an ep, that's what the people pay for, man. I thought Jimmy and I hopping on there, I thought we did a good job. Because that was an hour after the news broke, dude. That was straight up, seriously, that was like raw thoughts. And I had more time to process it and we've had more stuff come out about it. But yeah, man, we missed you on the app because I think you would have crushed it too.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it. I know you did a little bit on Wake and Jake this morning, but I haven't been able to catch that yet. just one of the many things that happened this weekend. It's a big weekend for baseball. Yeah, I was happy for you, boys, a little jealous. I mean, I was a little under the influence, but I sent like, hey, I'll hop on if you need it, and then the next text was, we already recorded.

And I was like, you know, that's probably for the best. I was enjoying some nice libations and other natural stuff from the mountains. But, yeah, man, Trev, kind of like you just depicted, and I liked hearing you say it too, kind of the live processing because, you know, a lot of baseball this weekend, a lot of everything. And then the reason we like hopping in front of the mics

when something hot like that happens, and that's why I wanted you boys to roll, it's just different. You just can't replicate that moment and everything that you're feeling wrong. I mean, now, you know, we've got quotes coming out from teammates in the front office that aren't, you know, not, we got our guys back.

Like they are of a very different note. They feel spurned by Nando. So, yeah, when I was going through it on Waken Jake this morning, I was uncovering some layers that I hadn't fully thought out, but also talked myself through. And man, that's, I mean, end of the day, I think it's bad for baseball. Like, you know, that episode got a ton of views. And, you know, it's the old, you know, it was PR, bad PR.

And we did that for the lockout. And then it was kind of like, well, I think that actually kind of was good PR because we missed a week, but everyone was talking about a lot of baseball. So in that sense, it worked. When we're talking about a generational all-time talent and a team that just traded for another generational all-time talent, it's just stinks, man. It's not what we should be talking about. We should be talking about how scary the Padres are and as they start to build a legacy down there.

And now it's just like, you. Well, I think we will end up talking about that Because I think this team still is really good And like many of the players said When they had to answer questions on behalf of Fernando Another thing, Fernando, thanks for that They said he hasn't been here all year Yeah

So we're in the position, we're in without him And yeah, guess what? We got Juan Soto Josh Bell and Josh Hader And Brandon Drury Like Blake Snow said We got everyone Yeah So that's kind of the vibe they took

And I think it's good Let's just I want to get your thoughts A little bit more on this and then we'll get into the baseball When I When James and I talked I said you know I wasn't sure I was going to play out But I said I do know one thing for sure

Is like he's moving down the pecking order Of people who can say shit in that clubhouse Because in each clubhouse There's a handful of guys that can stand in front of the room It can say shit and people listen That's not every guy can do that and really command the room like you have to earn that

you have to play for some time you got to put some dirt on your spikes you got to be good you got to be respected more so than anything he doesn't have that ability anymore the only thing he can do with that room is apologize

and then after that he got to earn that back dude because you heard the guys talking about him Clevenger had you know he was basically we've been disappointed twice by this guy Yeah. So that's heavy.

It's tough. That's heavy, man. Disappointment. That's, you know, that's everyone's, you talk about your parents and you're, you know, the old phrase I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed. Like that's, you know, that's the phrase that everyone like doesn't want to hear. And yeah, I mean, to go from riding bikes or ATVs or whatever to get hurt that way.

And then to follow that up with a PED suspension. Yeah, man, I'm truly interested. to see what it does to the Padres. Like, you're right. It could, they could Snell and galvanize and be like, all right, hey, this is twice that we've been out on our journey expecting for the reinforcement to come, and it's not coming. That's screw it.

Like, we still have, you guys know early on this year, I love that rotation. Snell is starting to go again. Darvish is nasty. Musgrove is nasty. And they revamped that whole lineup, including one of the best young, players to hit in this game ever, that it just sucks because the other part of the storyline was supposed to be Tatis coming back. Like Tatis and Soto joining forces?

Literally like East Coast, left coast, righty, lefty, like young swag in such different ways. And now it's not. Now it's like if the Padres go out and do something this year, it's in spite of Fernando Tatis Jr., which is just like, that's not the Padres tongue. slam Diego? Like, no. Where did you hear about it?

How did you get the news? Was it John texting you? I think, yeah, either in our group chat or just getting notification via Twitter just like anyone else. I was in the car and I was like, holy shit. And then my kids are there

and tell you, what happened? I'm like, oh, I'll talk about it later, man. I'm like, stop you in your tracks type of moment, which is, you know, there's, I'm not saying we get PED, pops all the time but you know if they do come you're just like ah that's what an idiot but then this is a different type of notification because we're we're seeing this guy rehab and we're saying here he comes and the fact that he was rehabbing knowing that this was most likely going to come

out like just a weird when you think back on it just a weird time man and that's uh hey you know I normally like to land on an optimistic note. And like you said, like, all right, Nando, you kind of screwed the pooch, man. So what's next? And that's his call. You know, he's still a kid. I hope in six years we look back and he's balled out and he's, you know, threw an MVP on the mantle and, you know, maybe a World Series ring or something like that.

And he can do an interview six years from now, be 29 years old. and be like, yeah, I was pretty young and dumb. But, you know, that's life a little bit. So I'm going to root for a comeback story to get back to the top of the mountain, but he is going to have to earn, you know, going from the swaggy, $300 plus million dollar guy, MLB, the show, to now you're right. Like, he's got to earn some, earn some skin with his teammates. the difference is with something like this is i'm not sure you can ever really people don't ever

really forgive this type of situation like the motorcycle thing yes chalk it up to being dumb young and dumb you can relate to that jake the p ed thing is different man yeah it's true this follows you and in San Diego they might forgive him that his teammates have no freaking choice like you're in it and like you just got to have the guys back even sometimes if you don't want to but around baseball in other cities it's he's gonna hear it man and I in a lot of people talk to me about oh what's your relationship with brawn because you know I was kind of thrashing and Fernando and they, what's what, you know, what about your boy, Bronny? And I'm, I said it.

It took us a while to repair our relationship. And he still got it. To the day he retired on the road, man. Yeah. To the day he retired on the road. He was dealing with people just coming at him with that. And you know what? Rightfully so.

So that's something that Tatis you have to deal with, man, for the rest of his career. Yeah. Yeah. And that's where, you know, we talk about being young and dumb. You can, if you can. fully swallow that at some point. And I think that's where Joe's McFly, our dude, you know, a proud, proud Dominican daddy, you know, Tatis, he's from the same hometown and stuff.

And, like, he's just like, people are bummed and he didn't have to do this. And now, you know, this guy was supposed to get the keys to baseball pretty much. Like, I always compared him to Griffey. And now, yeah, there's a gray cloud hanging over him that you hope. you hope he can at some point kind of swallow that lump in his throat. Don't be proud about it. You screwed up. Go be better.

Go take every piss test from here on out and come back the right way and be the ball player you can be. Because, yeah, I mean, how far have we come from, you know, 2021 home run leader Fernando Tatis, 130 games. He still led the league in homers, 22 years old. Like, it's, there's going to be a day. He comes back to the field in 2023, and we're like,

damn, we haven't seen this kid in a year and a half? Like, I don't know. I hope when we're doing talking baseball in, you know, 20, 20, 28, we can laugh at this, Trev. I ain't laughing at shit. I know you aren't. I know you aren't. Hey, let me ask you this.

Okay. I should know this. I should know this. But like, where can this guy play baseball? Oh, so we talked about that a little bit with Joe's. So another thing that's just a dumb bummer is that we're pretty sure he can't play in the world baseball classic. Ineligible for that. Is he?

Did they say that? I read a couple articles when Joe's mentioned it said it in passing, it wasn't the point of articles. I think the point was it's an MLB sanctioned event. So if he's ineligible, he's ineligible. Is he going to play winter ball? He probably can. I mean, you know, Canoe showed up there and was playing. So, yeah, I mean, I think he's going to get rep somewhere.

And then spring training, I don't know. I don't know. Let's move on. I'm sick of you. You know what? Tatea never thought I'd say this. I'm sick of you, bro. Yeah, how about that?

How quick that media? How quick the media will change on you. Hey, let's talk some of the games. And, hey, we got that out of our system because there's some good stuff out there. I mean, don't get me started on Albert Pruvles today. Vintage. Oh, God. Like your shirt.

Yeah, the shirt's been through a lot. I thought you were a soccer, soccer kit guy. I call it football, but whatever. Okay. Well, Trev, the other thing you call me is a true classic. And the other funny thing about that is true classic. New sponsor people. True classic.

They are now with us. And some of these lines in their read look like they're tailored for me because their clothes may actually be tailored for me. You know, a lot of men's t-shirts, Trev. And again, I don't even know if I can talk to you right now. They're designed for the skinny models with six-packs. That's not my game. That's not my game.

A lot of bulk. It's not your game. It's a lot of bulk. A lot of chest. shoulders and that's where it feels that's where it squeezes tight that's where i wear this soccer kit and you're like oh i like that but it gets a little snug in my midsection you know i mentioned long weekend a couple beers i think there was pizza at one point that with true classic they get a little looser in that area to accent your strengths

and isn't that kind of what life's about you know if you're if you're a good defensive third basement, we're going to put you there, not buying the dish. And that's what True Classic is doing with their clothes. They've got all the way up to Triple XL on all their staple colors. Let's stop the beerbelly shaming with the other clothes. This is some good Dadbod stuff. And you can upgrade your wardrobe with True Classic, 25% off at TrueClassic. At Trueclic.com, a code baseball.

Free shipping included on purchases over $100, 100% risk-free guarantee with a 30-day return policy. Stay classy with True Classic. Your dad bod will thank you. Yeah, they sent you some, Trev. They haven't sent me some yet, but I'm, I think I'm their exact target demo, so I'm going to be getting involved in that soon. I see their ads on TikTok, Instagram. A lot of guys that look just like me.

They, yeah, I tried it on. I've worn it a few different times. It's really meant for guys that are built like Chris Rose, maybe yourself a little bit. When I put it on, my biceps were bulging, bro. I look like I might as well be an Instagram model. Kind of are. To some degree, I think maybe you could say.

Kind of are. Hey, let's rip some National League because, man, Trev. The East, the East did their thing and Albert. Let's do it. Let's do it. Are you leading off? I'm leading off, kid. I'm getting it.

Don't be afraid to ambush my first pitch. Don't be scared. In the National League, let's start out with a couple teams fighting for the division. We're starting in the mid-West, the NL Central, the Brewers and the Cardinals. They teed off for three games. and that's important because they'd only played four game sets and they were splitting and they split the first two games. Brewers take game two and extras.

So that deciding day, I'm no machine. I just Albert. A two home run day for Albert Pooho's. Are you kidding me? Dylan Carlson had the big go-ahead Homer in the eighth. Albert is pimping home runs. good vibes in St. Louis.

By the way, Jordan Montgomery had a good start. He's been a nice little ad from formerly My Yanks. Wayno goes nine innings, and that's obvious. Some fun baseball in St. Louis, and they take the advantage in the season series and win the series two games to three. The Atlanta Brave sweep four against the fish, and man, it's where this franchise is currently different.

They swept the four-game set without throwing free, without throwing Morton, without throwing Wright, without throwing Strider. And they sweep all four. Your guy, Odo. Got it in the first game. Mueller, who's been solid for them. He has a nice start. Bryce Elder, Ion Anderson. They keep calling kids up and they keep performing Trev.

Grisham? Are you kidding me? Hot. Hot. Watching his Homer on the iPad afterwards. really unbelievable that Braves' depth as they take all four from the fish. The New York Metropolitan's are the team that the Braves are chasing, and they only gained a little bit of ground because the Mets took two out of three from the Phillies.

Phillies have been trying to sneak up, and they win the first game in Extra Suarez versus Scherzer. That's like the old Johnboy Bowl, followed up by DeGrom. Nola, a one-nothing game. I mean, boogity, boogety, boogety. Mets take the final one. Bassett shuts them out while the Mets chip away on offense. That team is so fun to watch.

Alonzo hustling. Lindor breaks the Mets shortstop record for RBI in a season. It's August 15th. I love it. Mets, they take two out of three. Those Padres, we just talked about. a lot. They were playing the Nationals, and they take two games out of three. Tatis was the story of the weekend. Again, teammates not necessarily having his back, and maybe they shouldn't. But the Padres,

they get a couple wins. The bread games, game one, and the final game, Snell, Trev's IG, Snell starting to go a little bit. Six shuddy. The Giants sweep. Does it matter? I don't know. They sweep the pirates, they get back to 500, you know Gabe Kapler's got the high tea going, and you know my guy, the new specialty Tyros was up with the walkoff Homer? I don't know about all that, but hey, Giants, keep sweeping series, and we'll find a way to talk about you a little more. Cubs and Reds, they played tree, Cubs took two out of three. They played the Field of Dreams game, so that was fun.

We all had a good time with that, busted out some of the old. old timers. Ian Hap is miced up. Absolute stud. Cubs win two out of the three games. And your final series. Feels like these teams play every week. Jake's rocks first Jake's D-Backs.

It just feels like they play a lot. D-backs take two out of three because they're built entirely different. They take the final two games. Good clip of Winton Bernard getting the called up. Sends Attela Davies. Zach Gallin with seven. shuddy, Alec Thomas with a leaping catch by the wall to end the game.

That was actually pretty cool. And then Christian Skywalker, have a year kid. D-backs take two out of three. And that's what happened in the national league. You are an absolute animal. How about that timing, Jake? Yeah. It's just a little different.

He's heard that before. You've heard that before. How are you so quick? Trev in the National League, the Mets have a five and a half game on Atlanta, who's on a six-game winner, the Braves. They are five and a half back. The Phillies are 11 and a half back of the Mets

after their two-game loser. Fish, dead, Nats, super dead. The Cardinals now have a game and a half lead on Milwaukee in the Central. and then out west you didn't even hear about these guys yet the Dodgers are 79 and 34 the Padres are 16 games back of them the Giants are at 500 and they in the wild card race you know there's I've been I've been drawn this parallel San Francisco and Boston are the only kind of tweener teams right now if they're going to be a part of this season we'll get to Boston later and maybe San Fran.

But right now the wild card would be Atlanta, San Diego, and the Phillies with Milwaukee on the outside looking in, Trevor. What got you the most jazzed up there? What do you need to talk about? I love the Braves, but I want to talk about how seven and three in the last 10, Braves and Phillies, pretty good. Let's make up some games on the Mets.

No, the Mets are 8 and 2 in the last 10, 22 and 8 in their last 30. This team is, did we talk about them enough in the juggernaut fashion? I think we have a little bit, but most of the time where it's like Dodgers, Astros, we gave the Yankees that

that title for a while, which was silly, and I told you guys dark days were coming. Sure did. The Mets are a juggernaut. They're a fucking juggernaut, man. Trev, they, we had kind of,

of a governor on talking about the Mets because DeGrom hadn't come back and so it was like let's wait till that bad man is back and then it's also the Mets who have a little bit of a history and the Braves were in hunt mode and think about the nice stuff we're about to say about the Braves in a little bit the Mets are a juggernaut man they are a powerhouse they are part of this season I know the Yankees are going through an August swoon and they should get out of it like Yankee fans aren't going too nuts. Well, some aren't. They aren't.

Yeah, okay, I take that back. But, you know, if you had to pick one of the New York teams right now, I mean, one has Scherzer and DeGrom, and the vibes have been kind of the same all year, where, again, and I don't want to turn this into a Yankees thing, but I think the Yankees are 23 and 27 in their last 50 games. It ain't good. So, yeah, I mean, the mess.

That's deserve as much love as you can possibly get. Their deadline guys are contributing. Buck has been as solid as they come. And now in any given series, you have Scherzer and DeGrom going. Never mind Bassett, who's also awesome, but just, unfortunately not in those guys' world. Because nobody's really in those guys' world. That's the problem.

Nobody is. And, you know, DeGrom hasn't even really been fully unleashed yet, if you will. I mean, this one, he goes sick, shuddy, with 10Ks. Like eventually there's going to be a time where I don't know when it's going to be. I guess more towards the end of September where Buck just kind of lets this guy do his thing.

And that's scary. It's scary for whoever he's pitching against because there are some guys that are like stoppers that are aces. Like I don't know if there's a word that is above that. But that's Jacob de Gromman. Oh yeah, you got two of them on this team. And the rotation and like the rotation is very much

solid behind them, but we speak of Scherzer and de Grom because, well, go look at their body of work. I talked with Chris Rosie this morning about Tatis and how, like, we kind of, for a lot of the young guys, we will place them among the greats if they get up to a nice start of their career. But these are the guys that we should be talking about more. The veterans that have been doing it for as long as these guys have. And I know DeGrom has had some injuries, you know, I get that. but when he's on the field,

the track record is there that he is on another world. And right now, he looks better than ever. He really does. It's fucking crazy. I mean, Jerry Blevins, who's, Jerry Blevins isn't a tweet for clicks kind of guy. But he,

he was fairly adamant that he's like, Jacob de Grom is the best player in baseball. Like, what he can do compared to his contemporaries at the position is heads and shoulders above everyone else. I kind of got lost the other day. I forget if it was waking Jake or not, but, you know,

if health isn't a thing and you needed one starting pitcher to pitch for your life in their prime, like Jacob de Grasn might be the guy. Like, it's a weird conversation. Pedro Martinez is there.

Pedro's pretty good. Pedro's pretty good. 99 Pedro. like that's up there, but the fact that Jacob de Grom, and I know it's been a quick rise and then there's injuries recently, but how good he truly is. You're right, Trev. We had blinders on for a while to not fully put the chips in for this Mets team,

and it's all there. It's all there. And, you know, on the other side of this series, if you're the Phillies, you honestly kind of have to feel decent about what happened. I mean, you went up against the guys, okay? And you win the first one in extras, okay? Like Suarez matches Scherzer. You get that one in extras.

And the next game, Nola matches DeGrom. And it's a Pete Alonzo. It was like the first inning base hit, right? Yes. RBA single in the first. So you lose that one, one nothing. Diaz comes out and slams the fucking door. We haven't even talked about him yet.

You know, having an elite closer at the top of this game is going to obviously benefit the meds greatly. But then, yeah, you know, Bastard up against Wheeler. Wheeler has one, a shoddy start that's like an anomaly for him. You know he's going to be better than that. So, like, this is what we've been talking about with the Phillies. Like, you've gotten guys that can match up with pretty much anyone. You just did it.

I know you lost two out of three, but you just matched up, you know, pitch for pitch with these guys, with the exception of Wheeler. You know, like, that's why playoff baseball is amazing. because we might see this again. And it could go the same way and, you know, a dink hit there, you know, an air here, and everything changes. So if you're on Philly,

I don't feel too bad about this series. Yeah, I mean, you say a dink hit, which, you know, that can happen in any baseball game or Bryce Harper, like to run home run. And Schwerber. That can happen. So, yeah, I mean, Schwab. So you're right.

If you're the Phillies, this... It shouldn't hurt you. I mean, you know, it obviously doesn't feel great. I didn't realize how good Sir Anthony Dominguez had been for them recently. Like, they have options out of the bullpen. They have those high-end starting pitchers. The NL playoffs is going to be an absolute bloodbath. Yeah.

Are we hitting the passing button or not? Passing. For what? Hit the passing button. Passing. Chris Woodward of my Texas. Rangers. Yeah.

Fired. Can you believe it? Why? What's the point? What are they doing now? I mean, Chris Woodward, I don't know.

I don't know. I think I was surprised. I think I was surprised he was still there to start the season. I know that's not the nicest thing I've ever said, but, um, yeah,

I don't know. I got to read more into, this but like yeah that's just why i guess why now is my thing they're 51 and 63 they just signed half a billion dollars with the contracts in the offseason who are they going to bring in to do this and what's the difference maker like i guess that's where you know maybe we'll get woodward on uh for the next episode but for me it's this wasn't supposed to be the year for texas so if you you know that kind of going into a season, does that mean he was a sitting duck anyways?

Probably. As they try to line up their next five years of this team, it seems like they already had the realization that Woodward wasn't going to be their guy unless he pulled some magic this year. So I don't know how you label that. Do you label that a tough draw? Do you label it something else?

Oh, my God. Are we bringing Ron Washington back? I hope he says, no, I'm good. No, thanks. This happens to these managers that get put in these situations. It wouldn't surprise me if David Ross in a couple of years, either just hangs them up or they go a different route with him. Like when you're in these rebuilds, it's fucking tough.

What are you supposed to do? What are you supposed to do? I know Chris Woodard has had his moments there. You know, everyone remembers the Tatis situation. There's been some things, but like it's tough to manage a team that fucking loses all the time, dude. The only one that's changing the narrative right now, which I'm actually really excited about, is Brandon Hyde.

Yeah. He went through shit. Yeah. And now they're winning, and now it's like, oh, this is our guy? Yeah, I mean, I guess that's the other side that, you know, Brandon Hyde is going to get probably AIL manager the year. He's getting a ton of credit that if Chris Woodward had found a way to do that with the Texas Rangers, we would be giving him that same love.

So Chris Woodward out as Texas Rangers head coach. Trevor. I remember playing against him in low. Are you throwing your hat in the ring for the Rangers No, no, I'm too busy, bro. Okay, too busy. All right, let's get back to the National League. Sorry, the passing button had to get hit for that one.

Managers are getting canned left and right, but Tony LaRusa, no sir, no re, baby. Well, that's the other. That was the other, Chris Woodward was part of those, the young manager revolution of getting hired, and then Texas realized, oh, we need an old guy. We need a buck. We need a dusty.

So Ron, Garden Hire, coming back out? I think Iran will be hired as the next Texas coach, Garden Hire or Washington. Okay. Let's, I guess let's tie off the east a little bit, just because the Braves do sweep the Marlins in four games without using arguably four of their top starting pitchers, where if you're doing the math on that at home, that might throw you off.

But they called up Ion Anderson for a 27th man, so he gets one of the starts. Bryce Elder, just another kid, they call up. Does he go seven innings, 10Ks? Yeah. So, yeah, man, I don't know. Odo and Mueller in the starts before that, the Marlin season has ended.

And yeah, for the Braves, this is just highlighting how good their depth truly is with now Grissom coming up too. I don't know, man. Yeah, he was her top prospect. Elder was the number three prospect. You already have Michael Harris up. Like this is,

we give the Braves credit on being a great organization. We know that they've developed players. They have homegrown guys. But this is the model for sustainability for like years to come. This is how you become like the Astros. This is how you become like the Dodgers. Like the Braves had that in the, what was of the 90s when they just won the division for a zillion years in a

I'm not saying they're going to win the division every year because there's some damn good teams in this division right now but they are set up for success for years and years and years because they're able to bring up guys like a grissom like a Harris like fucking elder I didn't know they had a guy that could do that

Strider Yeah like the list goes on and on for them you know they I don't know if they're going to catch the Mets I don't know they six and a half, five and a half back right now. I don't know if they can do that. But this is a team not to be fucked with.

They are five and a half back at the Mets, which, you know, it's one of those mid-August things and these teams are about to play. So there could be a very different tone on the Friday episode. I think there will be a very different tone on the Friday episode. A little teaser for what's coming up there. Do you think Michael Harris is like, he's already won the National League Rookie of the year?

Um, who else has given him a run? I'm going to look up the odds here. The guys, you look up the odds, okay? Because I'm going to tell you his stat line right now. He's hitting 293. He's got 12 homers, 13 stolen bases. Okay, this is 246 A-Bs. You can extrapolate that to where he would be easily a 2020 guy,

possibly a 33 guy. I think that might be in his future. 2-9 more, 129 OPS plus. Trev, there's one other guy. And you just said his name, Spencer Shrider. Yes. Right now the two Vegas, like, flip a coin are Strider and Harris. Strider's been really good, too.

Yeah. Yep. That's pretty crazy, huh? More importantly, for Michael Harris, he's sneaking up on the all-JM team. We'll see if he can track down Nimmo. That's true. He was so close. And by the way, we've got another one of those going on in the AL.

Adley Rushman is sneaking up. No, on Julio? on the cat well no not in the a l rookie of the year in the a all jm team sorry and by the end of the year both of them should have enough games for us to do the conversation luio's still minus 600 so um i think he's doing all right um let's see i man i think i don't know if there's really anything else you you want to touch on on that series i think the walk away is just how how deep that organization is and what differentiates them from just, you know all their big names, probably. I mean, Acuna, Riley, date my daughter, Matt Olson, Dansby.

But, I mean, they have second and third layers to this team. Like, I can't remember the last time I've said Marcelo Zuna's name. He's still on the Braves. Eddie Rosario got, like, new eyeballs. He's been figuring it out. Like, William Contreras was casually, starting NL All-Star this year. So the layers in depth to this organization is what, you know,

we'll see what other, by the time October gets here, what other injuries kick in and everything like that, that if they have them, they can plug them in probably better than any other team in baseball. Someone's saying that Mike Soroka's rehab starting right now? I always get nervous about that because I feel like whenever we've talked about that, It hasn't gone well.

It goes the other way. Yeah, I know. I'm just, I want to see him pitch. I don't even care if he pitches poorly. I just want to see him in the show, man. Mike Soroka set for rehab start Tuesday in Rome. Don't think that's Trev's Italy. I think that's Georgia.

But yeah, dude, I mean, how many teams, if they were missing Mike Soroka for two years would be like, well, we've been missing our guy, and the Braves didn't care. They won a World Series. They've got, he's an option. shouldn't for them. Like, they don't care if he comes back, really.

I mean, they do, but spiritually. Trev, let's go over to probably the, kind of the most impactful series of the weekend. Brewer's Cardinals, the NL Central, has been a little sloggy for a little bit, some uninspiring baseball from three of the teams in the division. The Brewers went into a funk, the Cardinals, were they going to get Soto?

They didn't. But they had a couple arms, including Jordan Montgomery, who has a really nice start in this series. And the vibes have kind of been good there because also the Brewers traded away Josh Hater,

one of the most respected bullpen guys in the game. Either way, these teams have been so evenly matched all year. It was like Jimmy's favorite fun fact that they kept playing four game sets and they kept tying. And so what do they do? do. They split the first two games and they come out for Sunday. And man, in baseball, we try to not harp on one game too too much because they can turn like that. But Michael is going

out for eight innings. And then Big Albert being the guy to do it, man. I mean, that's just special. And that's, I know we were so worn out when Milwaukee traded away hater because we love the Brewers and he's part of the reason that made that team a difference maker. It's a huge win for the Cardinals to take advantage on the series on the year, to win the series this weekend, and just all the good energy that comes with that. Yes, they are, this was the matchup that I really liked this weekend. First game, interesting.

You get Monty going. Goldie has the two run home in the first. Aronado has a solar home run. It was a second game that burns. Wayno game that I was really interested in. Then both guys went toe for toe. Burns gives sevenings pitched, one and run.

And then Wayno goes nine. And the only mistake he really gives up is the Homer to Urius. And then he's facing McCutcheon. I think this wasn't the ninth. I was watching the game. And they're saying McCutcheon has more hits against him than anybody in his career.

And I think that Wayno is surrendered to another player too. It's McCutcheon. Sure. And the dude is just spinning that fucking. curveball left there. I think he did like five in a row. Like I don't I love Wainwright dude. Like I just I like watching him and and Yadi work. And then Renfro kind of spoiled it because he hit the triple to right center in the 10th. But just really, really good baseball played throughout.

Yeah. And like you're talking about pooholes. Like talk about an impact game. two homers and these were not like old man Albert homers it looked like your shirt vintage Albert dude he hit the shit out of one ball off the fries in Big MacLand and then the second one off Rogers some guy

in baseball today called in and said it was the farthest ball he's hit all season artist ball farthest ball he's hit all season um I don't expect Albert to be like a hero in any of this but possibly You see what he's doing against lefties? I mean, that's the thing.

He has a role that, like, you know, it's not we're just sticking Albert there and hoping for magic. The guy has mastered lefties for the past, like, four years now. He's one dotting against lefties on the year. 351-386, 1.049 against left-handed pitching this year. Yeah, man, like that's whoever, you know, if the Cardinals, they make the playoffs, and if they do, who they match up with,

that's something you have to think about. Like, the Cardinals have a player on their team that hits lefties at an MVP level. And that's not being, like, facetious, if I'm using that right. Albert has three of them in his basement, by the way. That, you know, I copied Albert Swing growing up. I can't love that man anymore.

To see him, to see him being successful in that role is awesome. Yes. I think coming over to St. Louis, you know, gave him a little spark there. I don't think there's any doubt about that. Feels comfortable. They're in winning ball games.

He's playing meaningful games. He's what now? How many homers do you have now? I think he's got 10. Yeah, but in his career. Oh, 689. 689. He's got seven to catch A-Rod.

You know, Chris Rose and I were talking. Is he going to come back next year? Try to get the. 700, even though he's having his farewell tour a little bit here. If I get a vote, he comes back next year. Because if you can still do this against lefties, and the family's okay with you playing a little bit? Like, let's go mall some lefties, dude.

Give me your National League hierarchy right now. Dodgers number one. I know it's Dodgers number one. Mets probably number two, right? Give me your three, four. So here's what else. say that I think also needs to be a little bit of an asterisk.

Okay. Like, let's see where the Dodgers are truly come October. Because, dude, if you're giving me healthy, Scherzer and de Grom, I'm not betting against the Mets. Even against the Dodgers? Even against the Dodgers, dude.

Like, with the energy they have going this year, Edwin Diaz in the back, I like the top of their lineup. And with Buck, like the new hungry team on the block. You can make a case for it, but it's not a very good case. It's going to get thrown out.

Dodgers are the Dodgers, numerous of them, bro. Thank you for seeing my case, Judge. After Dodgers Mets, I think they are in a tier by themselves. In light of recent news and with their pedigree, I would go Braves over Padres. Okay. And I have, currently, I have both of those teams over whoever comes out of the central, because it's just not in the same.

inspiring. I would do Cardinals over the Brewers because the Cardinals, at least they have magic. They have Wayno, Yaddy, Albert, and if one of their kids takes the jump along with Aeronado and Goldschmidt come October, yeah, they have a formula there. I think Stauders-Mets, no doubt, and then I do think it is the Braves. But after that, I think it might be the Cardinals. They're just too complete for me. Philly lacks in some different areas, okay? Like the Cardinals don't.

Are they close? Sure, but I think I would go Dodgers, Mets, Braves, Cardinals, Padres, Phillies. And the brew crew, my brew crew. I don't know where to slot them because I still really do like them. I still think they can match up with pretty much anybody. I actually might even put them above the Phillies. But there are some teams starting to kind of rise to the top right now. man.

The Phillies are tough. I think the Cardinals are one of them. I really do. I think that they are going to be an absolute menace come October. And you know what? We're at that final point of the season where I always talk about like,

you know, the Braves kicked it in gear last year. We're kind of at like the final week of that. Like, if you're going to go, you have to go now. And one of the things, I don't know the last time we mentioned it, but it was a big part of last season, the Cardinals kicked it.

late last year. Remember that? They went full tilt to the finish line. Huge September, right? Yeah, massive. And I think it leaked into August as well that one of these teams, and I don't know if it's a Cardinals thing. Like, I don't know if there's any correlation between that. They ended up firing their manager.

They went 22 and 7 last September. That's not bad. That one of those teams, one of those teams is going to go off for the next month and a half. And dude, from the From the Phillies, Braves, Brewers, Cardinals, Padres, there's six teams there.

One of them come October is going to be like scary. Yes. Yeah, or two. Or two. The NL's a little, I think their depth is more impressive than the AL this year. I don't know if that's a conversation or not.

I have to look into it. Now you're making me look into things. I'm getting some. at my door. Okay. So speak to the people. Okay. Trev's getting summoned at his door.

I will tie off the National League. Padres fans. Unfortunately, we talked about you a little bit. You took two out of three from the Nats. You actually might hear a little Natt stuff later. They got some young guys contributing. I mean, Soto returns to Washington. That's kind of funny.

Yeah. Like, that happened pretty quick. Sometimes that doesn't happen. Sometimes it happens really serious. Yeah. This is kind of a tweener. Snell dropped it in the final game. I think that's important.

I think he had a big second half last year. Hopefully he can have a big second half this year. He's got the playoff resume to do what should be important for them. Nelson Cruz gets his 2000 hit. That almost makes me sad because like that should get more love. Giant Sweat. My guy Tyro walked it off the last game. That was awesome.

I love him. He's such a fun young guy. Logan Webb, eight shut. They get back to 500. Can they make it matter at something? Reds and Cubs field of dreams, like I mentioned in the burn. DeBacks, Rockies play every weekend. Any final notes on the NL, Trev?

No, we talked with the audience on Friday about, you know, some of these teams are kind of, some of these series are going to get a little bit less love than the others because we're at the point now where playoffs are approaching and we've got to spend some more time on these different teams. Logan, we have a nice webb gem. Diving into first base. Okay.

I'm not sure the Giants, you know, are you going to be there? Six games back for a wild card spot. Can they make it happen? They kept ProDawn. I want the Giants or Red Sox to get hot. I will openly admit that. I just need one more splash of chaos. And I think one of those teams can do it.

We went into schedule watching. on baseball today. Going back to the Cardinals, you know they end the regular season with six games against the pirates. Okay. Six games?

Yes. That's hilarious, dude. I think it's one, then an off day, and then five in a row. I don't understand how that happened. Now, before that, I think they played the Dodgers,

they played the Padres, and I think they played the Brewers. So the tough slate before. and then straight up six against the pirates. Lockout funny business. Yeah, they must have tacked on their final series. There was a start in the year with the pirates. That's an incredible thing that may matter to this baseball season.

Treve, you want to take us to the American League? Am I ready for it? I think your heart is. Let me get my timer up. I'm not as good as you. I need to have time. I think you got it. I believe.

Mark. Get set. Go. My people, the American League, my league. We're going to start in Houston, where the Astros return the favor, and they sweep those pesky A. 758063 Astros.

They take all three of them. Hey, Kyle Tucker, Abe Lincoln, you're really good at baseball. Astros, you're really good at baseball. And, oh, yeah. You got L.M.J. back. Is that how you say? Is that the initials? Lance McCullough Jr. returns, my people, and he's throwing that freaking slider all the dang time. Even though a little thick, comes back, and those six shuddy, 5Ks, and everything is right in Houston. They are rolling.

Bregman had a big series, back-to-back games with a two-run homer in the first inning. Astros are absolutely redidding. They sweep the A's and threes. Another sweep happened. In Chicago, tigers came into town to play the White Sox and the White Sox. Did they have the moment I've been calling for? Johnny Quedo says there's no fire. And then they come out with some fire and they sweep the Tigers.

It goes two nothing, six, four, five, three. Copac does his damn thing. G, Alito struggles early and settles down. And then Lance Lynn goes in the last game. White Sox, we need you to get going. half back at the guardians. Kopeck had to come out with a no hitter because they're watching his innings because they want him there in September and October.

Guys, do your damn thing. Also, Jimenez, Eloy, catch that ball. The Riley Green hit a ball out there that should have been caught. Ended being a basis clearing double. G. Leo wasn't happy. I wasn't happy. But they don't play defense there. Anyways, they sweep against the tigers.

No white socks go. Moving on. This one was a feisty one down in Tampa. The Orioles go in to Tampa Bay and they lose two out of three. Rays take two out of three. The first one goes to the Orioles 10-3. They're feeling great. Taryn Barbara, my guy.

Eight two rays in the next one, four one raise because they are just built different. The plan of hand goes six innings and two runs. I have to give up nine runs over his last two starts. He says teams are not letting me get to two strikes. They are attacking him early. It looks like that is a plan that he's going to have to figure out. And then, oh yeah, Rasmussen. We never know who the starters are down in Tampa.

Well, we know who he is. He almost goes perfect. Gets broken up by my guy. Mateo. More about him later. Takes the perfect game into the ninth. Rays win this series. Two of three.

Randy of Rosaranya, by the way, looking like the best ever again. Moving on into Boston. Fenway, Pa. Yankees go win. They lose two of three. The Red Sox, baby. Take the series.

Three, two. It goes extras in game. one, three two, the second one. Yankees get that one for the Red Sox. Blanked them, winning three to nothing. It was Eovaldi versus Hermon in game one. Whitlock threw a shutout ninth and 10th in the win. J.D. Martinez says it's a joke talking about how good Whitlock is. Second game was the kinder-fellepha game, baby Homer. And then he does the bunt. You know I love bunts to get everyone fired up. But then the Red Sox won game three. They take two of three. Yankees kind of reeling. Talk about that a little bit more. Guardians went into Toronto in a series that I

love. 8-0 Guardians in game one behind a nice start by Quantrell and a bad start by Burrios. The Blue Jays found a way to win game two, two to one. Guardian said, we'll take this series. They went 7-2 with a start by Beaver. He gave up one in the first, but then retired, eight in a row. He went seven innings pitch with two earned runs. Goston, not a great start. Four in two-thirds, five earned runs. We'll get into this one in a bit. Guardians take two of three. Mariners at Rangers. Rangers take two or three. They fire their manager, as we heard this morning.

It was six, two mariners, and then seven, four, and five, three Rangers. Kirby goes five and two thirds, two run runs in the first one. Dane Dunning, four and a third, three runs. What arm does he throw, a jig? Yes. You don't know. Gilbert goes six innings pitched three runs in the third game. The Rangers take two out of three.

I'm running out of time. Twins at Angels. Angels take two or three. They probably should have not have done that. It was a bad play by my guy, Nick Gordon, in that second game. Four-o Twins, Fire Three Angels and 11 with the walk-off. Four, two, angels in game three. And my friends, that is what happened in the American League.

Specialty, well done. Your updated standings in the American League. The Houston Astros. are dominating the West. They're up 13 games on Seattle. They're the only ones even in the rearview mirror at this point. The Cleveland Guardians and the American League Central have a two-and-a-half game lead on both the twins and the white socks.

How about that? And then in the Beast of the East, the New York Yankees, 72 and 43, while losing, They're two and eight in their last 10. They've been bad in their last 50. The Toronto Blue Jays, currently a game up on Tampa. And Baltimore is a game in a halfback of the race while Boston is two games under 500.

So Nick Gordon, love him. What's, man, snap dragons back? What do you got, Trev? You know, I'm a Crompod guy. So let's go A's Astros. I mean, we don't have to spend a lot of time on this one. They sweep. They look good.

Bregman gets going. There was some good baseball played here. A lot of outfield assists in this one. But I think the main news that everyone wants to hear about is Lance of Colors Jr. How do they look? You know, is he going to be that guy? And the answer is, yes, he is that guy. And now the Astros just have way too many starting pitching options.

He probably slots in it. What do you think? three in a playoff rotation. Rurlander, Framber, McCullers. They have three other guys that are very good starting pitchers that they'll have to figure out what they're going to do with them. But the Astros, like, essentially keep getting better. You know, Michael Brantley ends up, you know,

having to miss the rest of the season. I think that is a big blow for them because he is such a good hitter and such a tough out that I think it makes everybody around him better. because it puts that much more stress on the pitcher. But if we're going news for news, you know, the Lance McCuller's news, I think outshines that a little bit. At least it helps, it helps to burn a little bit.

I think that's an interesting conversation. I think it depends what Lance McCullors Jr. is back. If he looks like the guy that should be the number two or three starter, then probably. You know, and they also have options with him because he has that wipeout breaking ball. that if this version of Lance McCullors ends up kicking to the pen for them,

I mean, you just added a stunt. No. No, I'm not saying it ends up there, but they have so many pitching options at this point. Like, they're going to figure it out. I guess the other thing that has this tone in my voice, I think Michael Brantley is so crazy important to what they do. Just the consistency.

The way you talk about him, Trev, the way any baseball player talks about him. And the first thing they normally say is just he never has a bad swing, which baseball players that blows their mind. He's one of the best bat-to-ball guys in baseball. And I feel like he is just, he is such a calming presence when you have a guy like that that you know is going to be there, that, you know, big hitters go in slumps in the playoffs. I've seen Altova going a playoff slump.

I've seen Bregman going to playoff slump. Michael Brantley is always Michael Brantley. So I'm not saying it's a red flag or this Houston season, oh boy. Like, no, I mean, McCuller's for Brantley, that's, you know, that's almost a similar ad subtraction in very different ways. I do want to see what it looks like when it comes to the Astros lineup because Michael Brantley in the middle, giving you a tough at bat. I mean that

that was a lock for the last four years so I do want to see how that affects them Go Astros go I ain't nothing stopping these guys True like you have to go beat the Astros Like they are not going to beat themselves Do you know what I mean?

Yes Like they're not a team that's just going to give away games Like you have to go do something special To beat this team Do you know what series Houston has coming up this week I haven't looked. They have four games with your Chicago White Sox.

Oh, that is aesthetically pleasing. Yeah. I mean, two teams that are dog-ish. And now, like I said, the White Sox had their moment. Let's move on to that series. We all know Quido coming out and saying there's no fire. And then G. Alito saying, ain't no fire. And then Andrew Vaughn saying, yeah, sometimes there's not any fire around here.

And then Tony LaRusa fucking totally oblivious goes, what's you talking about? What? Motherfucker, they just told you what they were talking about. To me, that was so telling that a bunch of dudes in his clubhouse were like, they're in a fire here. And he's like, what does that mean? And I understand some of his point, hey, let's do this behind closed doors. But at the same time, I've been saying they need a moment. moment, bro.

Yeah. Like, him saying it to the media, which I also believe kind of like, I said this somewhere, I don't know, I talk about baseball. Talk a lot. People have got to be sick of me, man. Can't. That's not possible. Yeah.

Actually, it is. Some people are. It doesn't matter. Listen, I think it might have got lost in translation a little bit. Because there was like the little throwaway sentence that said, if there is any, talking about fire here. Sometimes the interpreters, you know, I don't think they always go. verbatim word for word, but that little sentence there, if there is any fire, that's what

started this whole thing. The questions start coming in. And then, yeah, if you're the White Sox, you have to look in the mirror. It's pretty obvious that there's not fire every day from that team. You might get in spurts, but most of the time, it ain't looking like it. So now you have to have this conversation, and Tony LaRosa sure as hell had to address his team, at least I'd hope so. And then boom, you come off And look, I know it's the Tigers They're not having a great year this year But you sweep who you need to sweep my people

Copac doing his damn thing And oh yeah, Andrew Vaughn, a great series, go look at his numbers right now. Got a lot of your baseball cards, kid. I like the way you're doing things right now. You know I'm an Andrew Vaughn guy. Did one of our early midweeks,

him and Gavin Lux. I was like, this could be your guys this year. he's going the white socks kind of as mentioned they've obviously been the mid socks all year you know it hurts me to say that talk about a big week they have the Houston Astros for four and Trev the pitching matchups would put some lead in your pencil erkeedy versus quato verlander versus Seas framber versus Copac Garcia versus Gialito I mean we are going to find out and I you know Tigers White Sox, like you said, it's a series they should win. It's never easy to sweep.

They do sweep. It's not even pretty. They had a drop ball by Clemens out there that helped them win the final game. Whatever. You swept. Take your victories. You've been hunting for them all year. Now you've got four against Houston.

The number one dog in the AL still. And then the guy that just took your division, the Guardians, circle this. I know I've been saying it too much. Jimmy's actually blown away by my White Sox support. Like he's given me a couple private moments where he's like, you don't actually believe in the White Sox, right? I'm like, no.

I know. I know. Because the talent is there. The way they have fought this year, the fact that we're in mid-August and their whole team is saying they don't have fire, I mean, that sums it up. This has got to be the go week. And if it's not, then I will fully bail.

And I will give the guardians what they've deserved up until this point. But I think the White Sox have a chance, because they still have that high-end talent. They sweep the tigers, good. I told you, like, Jimenez had this ball. You know, I'm partial to Gialito. So Riley Green hits this ball basis loaded. It should have been like a sack fly.

It went to the wall. I get it. But all of a sudden, like, it might have been the worst route I've ever seen to a fly ball. Yeah. And like, they need to clean that up a little bit here. And then the Vaughn thing, yeah, just you ran out a ball to,

like a double play ball, and Clemens did drop it, but Vaughn didn't know that. He thought he was out. Right. Ends up, you know, kind of like throwing his helmet a little bit, but they scored the go ahead run on that.

So you always got to run the ball out hard people. And that's what, guess what? People on the White Sox were told to not run the ball out hard. Yes And this one There was talk about hard base running And they swept A Brayu tags up

From first on a fly ball to center field Then scores on a single Like It wins ball games people Who would have thought Hard 90 A part of the game Hard 90

I don't know What else This is That's it for this series Yeah I think You know No shout out Daniel Norris He got to start back with the Tigers, back where he began.

That's pretty cool. I like that guy a lot. Full circle, big prospect. Are we heading over to the east? Yeah, yes. Okay. Crompod, Tampa Bay hosting the Orioles, you know, two teams fighting it out for wild card.

You know, the Orioles win game one. They actually had, they took possession of the third wildcard spot after the first game. They just basically clobbered the race. who hit the there was one ball who hit the uh i think it was rutchman he hit a ball a homer hit off the catwalk and like a rosarina just like caught it and i was like what's going on right now and then i realized oh yeah there's a fucking metal in the ceiling here uh but yeah they went off and did it first game and then the rays kind of answered the bell there a little bit

uh nice strong start by mcclanahan then obviously rasmussen did his thing and Couple of things I wanted to note in here. A rosarine, it looks really good. He hit a ball and I think it was the third game. Yeah, the three-run homer he hit in the third game. Crushed it, looked in the dugout. It reminded me who Randy is. Right.

And you call him the best ever. We had D.L. Hall make his debut. Not a great debut, but then after the game, their GM said, you know, he might be back in a relief capacity. Okay. come down the stretch. That's interesting. And then the other thing I wanted to make note of this series is my guy, Mateo,

and a five-fit game in game one. And Coach Ball game gave Manny Margo his ooze and Oz guy. Mateo is kind of my ooze and Oz guy. Like he made some nice plays out in the field. He's got the speed. Like, he just kind of like, if he's right and he's playing the game and things are going well for him, he's very special to watch.

It's dynamic. It's where speed and baseball, we hope it comes more and more back as they start banning the shift and things like that. 27 stolen bases this year, August 15th. I know the stolen base has, you know, gone by the wayside a little bit. I feel like it's coming back.

That's electric, man. Like, he's got a good chance to finish as like a 15-homer 35 steel guy at the shortstop position, which, you know, Some of the other numbers, not as pretty, but you're right. He's electric. There was a little dust up.

I think there was a little misunderstanding. Fairbanks is pitching. Somebody called Time very late and was granted time by the Empire. And then Fairbanks ends up striking him out. And I think he was talking to the umpire saying like, that's too late. You know that's too late. And then it was kind of like, you know, the umpire and the hitter are in the same vicinity. so then it looks like he's talking to him.

Little dust up. I don't think we need to go too much into it. Although, like, look, any little scrum like that just kind of adds to the drama. And I'm going to go to their, I should have done this, but the schedule, let's see if they play each other again. I'm sure they do.

Rezo's schedule watch, baby. Wander Franco nearing a rehab assignment. I'd love that. Yeah. And while you're looking at that, I mean, Rasmussen, is he, are we talking about him later? I didn't give them anything. I don't think so.

And sorry, that's how the cookie crumbles sometimes, but almost was the headline of the episode. I mean, talk about efficient. And who broke it up? Jorge Mateo. I don't think they play again, man. I'm looking at the schedule right now. Okay. All right.

According to baseball reference, they do not play again. So they were letting out their end of year frustrations. And they went 10 and 9. against each other with the 10 going to the raise. 82 runs scored for the raise, 74 runs scored against a very tightly contested series, season series.

The Orioles are tough, man. They're tough out. Like I told you guys, I think last week, I think we're going to look at the rays in a few weeks with different eyes. I think they're going to have some bodies back and feel a little differently. You're right, Randy.

It's so funny because he was so good in the postseason that, like, he, he has a buy with me. Like, he, because I, I'd take that guy. Like, I, yeah. You just take that guy. Like, if you tell me it's an October postseason game and I've got Randy, like, I, I believe in it. So that guy's got an incredible amount of leash only because he's the best ever.

Yeah, but he's also been going. Like, he had a really good July, and he's having an incredible August. Like, you know, his numbers are pretty, industry right now. 757 OPS, you know, he's got 15 homers, 60 RBIs. Like, they're decent numbers. He's better than that. And I think we might see that come the end of the year.

And then at the end of the season, we're looking at a slash line. And I'd be like, oh, okay, there's Randy. And then, like you said, put the motherfucker in the playoffs. Yeah. It's a 120 OPS plus for Randy, 15 homers, 21 stolen bases. Bold on his baseball reference page, caught stealings, the past. two years. Leaving the league.

Be the kid, Randy. The Rays are not happy with that. You know, like, they love their numbers there. Like, actually, Randy, if you're not successful, 87% of the time, you shouldn't be going. Yeah. I think that's the number of two. It's like something weird like that.

I would love when they tell Randy that. And he just goes, like, and his cowboy boots on, like, what? No, I'm going to steal when I want. Thank you. Oh, do you remember when I stumbled and fell and still scored? I'll do it whatever I want. Anyways, moving on.

Yankees at Red Sox. Red Sox take two or three. Are they still alive, Jake? One, two, three. Kind of. Oh, you can't say that. Three, two, Red Sox in 10. Whitlock shuts him down in the ninth and tenth inning.

And then there's the fam walkoff single. I want to ask you about that. I don't know if you watched the games. I did. I know you were on the Bachelor Party. Okay. So Go start on second

Ground out He goes to third Next guy tries The suicide Not suicide Like safety squeeze I guess if you will It was actually a great

Bunt And like Arroyo should have scored Because it was like High in the air And like just a Tough play for anybody But then he gets on

And you have fam up there With one out Donaldson was Even with the base there I don't like the positioning Because a Royale is not a burner. And what you're telling yourself there is hard hit ball at me, I turn two.

Anything else, you obviously have to cut down the run. So yeah. I would have liked him, I would have liked him to start maybe like two steps behind the bag. Like more, more so in double play territory than he was even with the base. The ball gets by him. I didn't like that. Reese McGuire had the, the Bunt single before that. Man, for me, I guess if you don't score in the top of a 10th inning,

I'm expecting you to lose because there's a runner on second and you can make two outs and win the game. And that's not exactly what happened, but the Yankees are in such a funk right now. And let's be honest, Friday night, I was getting a little funky. Although the boys watch the game. I think everyone was, you know, good mix of Boston and New York guys. It was actually the perfect kind of facilitator for us to continue our night.

Yeah, man, I don't know. You know, I'm looking at Lou Trevino come out in the 10th, the new Yankee. We don't really know much about him yet. He seems like a nice cat. He's got some fun stuff. But he's coming into Fenway Park with a runner on second. No outs that if that guy scores the game is over. And the way the Yankees are playing right now,

that already turned into a loss in my head. So, yeah, I see what you're saying about the positioning. I think there's a discussion there, but also. You've always hit hard, but I, like, I've seen Donald's to make those plays. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I don't know.

It's not in a position to be successful. Any of it. Any of it. And then. Yankees, uh, let me talk. It's not talking of the Yankees. People don't like because you go off to it on a tangent,

and they start calling talking baseball, talking yanks. I'll go over one more thing from this series, then we can move on. Kind of Folefa has the day in game two, hits his first Yankees Homer to tie the game, right? Yep, two-run Homer. Yes, he tied it in the fifth, and then he had to go-ahead, Bunt in the ninth,

which you just know, I love. Yeah. Big proponent of the Bunt. You got to have the tool in the bag, and look, it can win you again. So shout out to ICF, who I'm going to mention it on here. I don't know if I'm supposed to. What are we doing people sending stupid shit to his dad online?

That is, we do not condone any behavior like that whatsoever. You're allowed to be critical of people's play. But don't send stupid shit, you know, death threats, anything. Like, there should be nothing like that directed towards a player, a player's family, or in general. So if you fucking did that, stop. And we got associated with all of this crap.

And that is not who we are. If anything, I want this to be a place where players feel comfortable coming on. And 99.9, 100% of the time, players do feel comfortable. But we got lumped into this. And I don't think really fairly

we got lumped into it. People. It's okay to criticize, but fucking be a human being. No more of that shit. Yeah. No more of that shit. It's ridiculous. It's disgusting, dude.

I had to say it. I had to say it. No, it's fine. I mean, we said it the other night. You know, it was some kid being dumb trying to be funny and they just have no idea how off they were. So yeah, it's, uh, don't, don't send threats to anyone's family. that's a good rule to live by. And hey, good for the kid, man.

He had a monster night at Fenway. He won the Yankees their only game this series. Otherwise, they just got straight dominated. And IKF is a fucking phenomenal person. Yeah. Top-tier teammate person. Top tier. So if I'm going to, look, if you're going to listen to this show and listen to me,

I'm going to tell you some things from time to time that you just have to fucking do, okay? Stop it with dumb shit like that. We can't have that. Them's the rules. Okay. What else you got, Poppy? Guardians of Blue Jays, big series here.

Guardians just keep a hold on the AL Central. They went two out of three, Quantrell. This is another rotation that we've got to start talking about. Yes, do I need to shut up about that? Trev, can I ask you a question? Okay. where are you at with the guardians? I'm respecting them.

Okay. You know how I judge my teams. Yeah. Most of the time it's on the strength of your starting pitching. They've come into their own. That's kind of the guardians have been known for that back when they used to be the Indians too. Like the starters, they had good starters, okay? And your roster has to begin with that for me to even take you seriously, bro.

There ain't no teams with bad starters that I take seriously. It's just the truth. You have to have starting pitching. They've been going. Their young guys are just energized, man. Like, they don't, what the fuck are dog days to these dudes? Yeah. They don't care.

They're ready to go and they're having success. I mean, you could talk about a bunch of different guys on their team. I mean, Kwan is like the best defensive left fielder in all the baseball right now. You don't think that helps? Like, this is a team that can run the bases. They can play a little bit of defense. They can pitch. They get timely hitting.

It looks different, but it first. freaking feels like good baseball to me. And I would say, is this sustainable? But like when you have the starting pitching, it is sustainable. And you have a back end of the bullpen like they have. Love them or hate him. Karen Shaq's been great this year.

Claice is a fucking alien. How are you going to hit him? Like thinking about him closing out playoff games gets me a little excited. Yeah. So I am, it's, the central is,

100% up for grabs still. 100% up for grabs still. I mean, twins and White Sox I think are both two and a half games out. But the Guardians have kept them at bay this long and they've had a great start and then kind of a lull and like they're, like, they've kind of withstood the test of time

throughout this season. Right. If the Guardians were going to flake out on us, it feels like it would have already happened. But no, I mean, Calquantral gives him a good outing. Shane Bieber is putting together a nice season. Tristan McKenzie, Ro? Our guy sticks.

Look at his baseball reference page. Our guy sticks, man. So, yes, they have the pitching. I've complained about the hitting. They've had some hitting. They have young guys performing, and on different days, you get a different performance. I'm at Rosario, and obviously Jose Ramirez,

like one of the, one of baseball stars, just plopped in the middle of that lineup that yeah man i i have no idea how it sorts out between twins guards and white socks um but yeah i mean at least the guardians are fun and it's young and it's you know i kind of like you said like i'm in a way i'm kind of rooting for them like there are a bunch of young guys going through it like playing balls to the walls and kind of doing doing their own thing that yeah i'm I think this team could have been supported a little differently by the front office. At the same time, it gave a lot of young dudes opportunities to shine, and I hope they shine.

Toronto still got a lead on the first wild card. They're up a game in that regard. Chappie had a big homer here. Hey, remember when I told you that I talked to him about his defense, and all he could say was, I know I'm better than this. I am a guy. Go look at the last 30. Yes.

Yeah. Having a nice year now. Yes. Having a nice year. That's awesome. Yeah, I love that that happened. I love that he was just like sick of it, knowing he's better,

and then he's turning around like that. I thought this was kind of an interesting note. Max put it in our sheet here. Talking about the WBC, there's a couple Canadians on the Guardians, Quantrill and Naylor, who doesn't look like a typical Canadian. because, well, you know, I was just to say he's, like, really feisty,

but, like, Canadians can be really feisty now that I think about it. But they're talking about the WBC, and, you know, hopefully they get to play for Canada, and they're talking about, hey, we can also recruit Vladdy, who was born in Montreal. Right. That would be great. It's not going to happen, but that would be really fun. Yeah, I mean.

Look at Guardians, man. Do the two things thing. Isn't that, is Stroman doing that? Oh, yeah, he's pitching for Puerto Rico. Used to pitch for U.S. He claims to both. Blue Jays, I feel like I need to hear more from you soon. And I don't know what that means.

I don't know if it's them getting hot or whatever, but it feels like Blue Jays fever has been gone. Like the Blue Jays should be one of, like, America's teams. When we talked about the Padres being sexy, like Slam Diego, Tate, Soto, Mucato, these guys are awesome to watch. Seattle, like the Mariners, when they were rocking last year. I mean, Toronto should be like a lot of young people's favorite teams,

and I feel outside of Blue Jays fans, I don't hear a lot of that. Is that rude? I don't know. Okay. There's just some really good teams in the AL, too, that we're always talking about. I think if you're a Blue Jail, you're fine. Like, you want to make the playoffs. I mean, how far back are they in the,

they're 10 games back? So you know you're shooting for the wild card. That's just the bottom line. You know there's going to be a three-game set. I think you're confident in a three-game set, especially if you're hosting it. That crowd is going to be freaking awesome, dude. The Blue Jays are just right where they need to be.

I don't worry about the Blue Jays one bit. In fact, they're very much like a dark horse team that they can turn it on at any second. Who's going to have that month and a half fin, Rios, let's go, man. Let's go. Eat it. You got any Mariners, Rangers, twins, halos notes.

I watched a lot of the Twins Halos, and that was a tough one. Good job. Game one, Molly does his thing. And then game two, they're sitting there ready to win that game. And Nick Gordon kind of lays out for a ball that he probably should just try to keep in front of him. And then they end up winning, I think he was Taylor Ward had to walk off. Homer and then Twins are

I'm going there on Friday bro I'm gonna go see the boys to speak in Seems like they're playing with some low T It could be playing with a little bit of low T I don't know man I know they can Bang the ball a little bit But

Sometimes when you look at the bottom half of their lineup I'm like I don't know about this guys And they need bucks and plane every day and that's just not happening right now. Starting pitching isn't where it needs to be. It's, we're going to have to get on some type of role if they even want to be in contention

come September. Like I don't want, I don't want this to happen, but there's a world where I can see the twins kind of like taking a pretty big step back here. And then we're talking about the guardians and the white sobs.

I hope that doesn't happen. It's a slippery time for them. It's a slippery time for them. And yeah, Trev, I didn't tell you this. I did. reposted on Insta, but loved you getting the interview mid-game. Oh. That was awesome, man.

Me and Audra, we talked a little bit. That was fun, man. I was at the Dodger game. I had a great time. You know, shout out of my guys, Dustin and Mike there for being nice to me and hooking me up. I love the twins, man. I want them to go. I just, I got to be impartial here and talk about what I'm seeing.

And, you know, they got some guys on offense. I think, you know, the top five, six guys pretty good. Get down to the bottom half. You know, we got to figure some things out. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you, uh...

Yeah, I know BVD mentioned maybe they're playing with low T. And if they are, you got to go to Roman and get their T support. I mean, that's... I think you can figure that out. If you're low T, you need Mo T. That's a little Yogi Berra coming at you.

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why would you not look into it and pursue it? So go to get roman.com slash talking. Treve, you have a question? We are not skipping the Mariners Rangers game. I'm just not doing it. I'm just not doing it. Give me it, baby. A couple notes from it.

Mariners win the first game, six to two. It was the first time they had Julio, Thai France, and Mitch Hanigur, in a lineup in nearly four months altogether. Service gets his 500 win that first game. And Julio, my guy, had to go ahead two run single in the fourth

in his return from the IL. So talk about that. The Rangers do end up taking the next two games before they fired their manager this morning. And then in game three, there was a walk of Corey Seeger and you got Adelis Garcia up there. He has to go ahead RBI single in the seventh. There were some pigeons on the field in game two.

Some stuff went down. Mariners still in a really good spot here. Go Mariners go. I love the Mariners. I currently have them as the third best team in the American League. Oh. I think their pitching's very real. Now you got me looking at the American League.

I think their lineup has enough of different dudes who can click on any day. Like you just said. Is the American League mid as Mid gets? When you put those teams down on paper, you're like, okay, the National League, depth-wise, is a lot stronger at the top. Houston, yes. That's it for me.

I'm like, oh, I know there's some good teams. I get it. There's some good ball clubs in the American League. Don't twist my words around. Don't clip me out, people. But you're right. Put them down on paper. Go ahead.

I mean, if you were to name your top five teams, teams in baseball. Right. I think you only include one American League team. The Yankees have a pretty good argument to be there still. No, they don't. They just... No, they don't.

No, they don't. How could you put them in the top five in baseball right now when you just said in the last 50 games they've been under 500? Because they haven't been fully engaged. They rest... They can work their way back up. But we're talking ads of right now. They ain't in top five.

Right. But if you're telling me a playoff... series started tomorrow, I could be like, okay, like, I'm still going to believe in, did the Yankees get to activate Stanton when he didn't want to go on the IL, but they still sent him there? Like, you know. Please, for goodness sake, put the, yes, I hope so. Like, they've done that now.

I'm sick. I don't like the narrative of it's August. We're not trying. I don't like the narrative. Neither do we. That's the nightmare part of it, bro. Like, Severino was so mad. they put him on the 60 day

that he didn't look at the calendar when they gave him his rehab. Like they're playing for something bigger, which sucks, and I don't believe it works in sports. So yes, I'm not saying you're wrong in that way, but I'd like to think if the Yankees went A-Squod tomorrow, it would be different. But you're also right.

I don't want to use it as an excuse. It's just it's what they're doing and it sucks. A.L. is so mad. Mid-fest. Middle. That's what that means. Treve, there was only one other series that didn't get touched on yet. Your Dodgers and Royals was the only intergame series.

Don't even read the recap. Don't even. I mean. No. Dodgers took two out of three. Gonsolin, starting to get hit a little bit. But Dodgers, they were also on a 12-game win streak before they lost the last game of the series. Brady Singer has turned the corner.

He's nasty. And yeah, the Dodgers, dude, we do a whole episode and we talk about how good these teams are, and I give a little Metsch spiel how, oh, it sure's her de Grom, sure's or de Grom. I mean, the Dodgers are 79 and 34. With no slowing down in sight, bro. It's just clockwork over there, man.

Dave Robert says it's nine guys taking professional at bats, guys that can run counts and use the whole field. They have different clubs in their bag. Did he steal that from me? Uh-oh. That's what I say. That's what you say. And when you can do that with a talent, it's really tough to navigate.

And then here's Will Smith. Guys are continuing to work in the cage, get their swings right, and we're sticking to our approaches at the plate. We're being really stubborn and wearing guys out and then jumping on them. If you're a fan of a baseball team. That's my quote. Waring out guys and jumping on them? That's your favorite pastime.

That is what you want to hear out of your guy. We're continuing to work. We're grinding it out because we know when we wear them out, we just pouts. And that is exactly, exactly the type of baseball I saw when I was there against the twins. It was like the twins were just a couple pitches away. If they just made these pitches like they could stay in the games and then they just didn't. The Dodgers just grind out of bats. And then like when they were pitching and playing defense, like they just, they struck guys out when they needed to.

like it's we can only say it so many time but I really feel like they're in a league of their own however you stop using my terminology Dave Dave and Will Smith back off my shit they are 36 and 17 against teams over 500 their Pythag their expected win loss

is actually higher 81 and 32 because their run differential is plus 247 They're dominant. They're dominant. And someone I was doing my Jakey late night, anyone got any questions or want to chat because I was on the way home from the office.

Yanks just lost. And they were like any surreal moments just in like what we've done recently. And no, it's the one that popped to my head when we were just at Dodgers camp and we were just yucking with Muncie, Turner, Pollock. Mookie came over and said what up. And it was just like, I shouldn't be here.

Trey rolled over. I should not be here. I love Trey Turner. Nice build. I do have to correct one thing you said in passing, Jake. The note we have about Gonsil, and you mentioned getting hit around. His last three starts of July were ugly,

turned it all the way back on in August, one run in his last 12 innings. Oh, excuse me. Yeah, went six and a third before he was giving up his first tier. I was going to say, I saw the Instagram post where he added another W, so. Yeah, you had an ERA, and the high six is his final three starts of July,

five shut, and then six point a. to one earned in August so far. 14 and 1, Tony Gonsolin. Okay, hold on one second. Hold on a second. I'm doing a little bit of math here. Yes. Perfect.

This is where this is where this show usually thrives. Against Atlanta. I just told you how great the Dodgers team is. Yeah. This Dodgers team is. So I wanted to try to balance that with a little something. Okay. against the NL East

are the Dodgers mid oh boy four and two against Atlanta okay that's nice great two and two against the Mets mid three and four against the Phillies so now that's one game over 500 and then three and three against the nationals

and they have not played Miami yet so one game over 500 against the NL East what's the takeaway if I told you that now. Now, what does that make you feel like? Who gives a shit? Just slightly. I think it is a better division on the whole. Like, you know, that 3 and 3 versus the Nats

does nothing for me. Like, that's... One in five against the pirates, just saying. I mean, that's... But against the Reds, they're 7 and O, and against the Cubs, they're 7 and O. So the NL Central, we're not talking about, but the NL East, one game when we're 500,

they haven't faced the Marlins yet. there's something to that, right? There's something. There's something. I mean, it's, I think for a lot of those series, because it's baseball and smaller sample sizes, like, you don't, you just don't know what part of the season you ran into. Who are they resting against the nationals?

Who was hurt? And, you know, those games just don't mean as much to them. Like, if that Nat series came right before three games against the Padres, you just treat it differently. So, but, yeah, I think the NLEs, is stronger than the NLS, right? Yes, and we just talked about the American League. The odds are 15 and a 5 in interleague play.

It's pretty good. Pretty good. Pretty good. All right, Trev. I think we keep it shuffling to the standout performance part of the show. A standout performance. This was a brutal one, man. I'm looking at the names on this list.

A bunch of guys we've already talked about. Yeah. I mean, my God, Drew Rasmussen missed. And because, partially because it's our show. Jacob de Grom, Copac,

not getting my standout performance. Because I'm going back to someone we talked about, Treff, because you know who I am. I'm giving it to Albert Poolehost. We talked about... Oh, yes. We talked about some of it already.

Hold on, stop. Yeah. You said you modeled your swing after Albert. see a little bit of that swing right now? I mean, it was just the back elbow was high. We were bouncing just slightly, just to compose ourselves. Keep the leg spread. And then there was a little toe tap, a show toe tap.

And then just power. And then you're just through the zone. And I would roll over every ball. Yet I kept doing it because Albert did it, and he was the best hitter I've ever seen. There's another funny thing. going on with the kids right now because Albert doesn't rack up war anymore because he's not necessarily strong defensively and you know he's still struggling versus the Ritees.

With his big day, his war went back up to a hundred on the nose. So Albert is wrestling a couple different battles here. Whether it's 689 home runs. Trev, how hard is it to hit 689 major league home runs? Um, that is averaging 68.9 home runs per year for 10 years in a row. Yeah. So, um, Aaron Judge is like on paced at 65 and everyone wants to, you know, crown him the best player of all time. Right.

That's how I like to put the numbers into perspective. There are, uh, according to baseball reference, there are 21 players all time that have accrued 100 war. And, you know, not to be shots fired. Some of these guys go back in time that I don't know if either of us have the full Eddie Collins scouting report. Okay. Boy, was he good at what he did. But, you know, the guys from even a more recent generation, you know, it's like A-Rod's on there and he's got a whole other thing going on.

Ricky Henderson, I mean, kind of underrated all time, but that's Ricky. And then it's like bonds. So, I mean, think about, you know, everything we talked about with Tatis and, you know, I don't think there should be any association there, but there's an association that Albert Poulos is the best hitter from the past blank amount of years, or the best clean hitter in the past, like, seven. years. So just appreciate it.

I know some of you kids are probably looking at an old 42-year-old Albert Pooleholz. Like, I don't know, man. That guy that I've seen videos of him struggling to run the bases. Dude, what that dude is doing at the plate against lefties, A, that kind of makes me laugh that he's, he really struggles to hit right-handed pitching, but he can still hit lefties as good as anyone in baseball. That cracks me up.

that, hey, enjoy whatever last little bits of it there are. And the fact that some of the last little bits are him in St. Louis in a playoff race against the Brewers, pimping his second homer of the day, that's why he got my standout. Okay, I have two things to say about this. Number one, people in chat. Well, he didn't do it over 10 years. I know that it was a math exercise.

Do you want to go over 20 years? So that's averaging 34 a year for 20 straight years, people. Yeah. It's not a math show. Unreal. Never been a math show. Just think about the numbers. And number two, question.

And you have to answer it really quickly. 100-yard dash, you were Albert Poo-Hulls. In my heart of hearts, I believe I have, Albert. 90 feet. Myself. So you think you're quicker. You're like what Gimley says, very dangerous over short distance. Yes.

But Albert would outrun you at the 100 yard. Oh, I still, I think I have Albert. The longer the race gets, the worse for me. Okay. Like, I think Big Al just strides it out, and I start fading. I don't know. Have you seen him run, Jake? Yeah.

It used to mess me up. I would, um, I would get ground balls. I mean, he's playing for the Angels. He'd hit a chopper to me at third base. And, uh, I look up and he'd be like 10 feet out of the box. I was like, oh my God, I have so much time. It almost messed with me too much.

He's so slow. I think I got you, bro, being serious. Thank you. All right. My standout performance is going to go to my guy, Max Muncie. He goes four for five, the home run, the double, four RBIs. And the reason I'm giving him to this, there's a lot of guys that are deserving, but I saw something while I was at the games.

I tweeted it out. He's starting to do the little stepback thing, a la Chris Taylor, Aaronado, I think also does it. And, you know, people didn't really understand what was going on. And the reason he's doing that is he just wants to feel that load back up into his hip.

Keeps you a little more grounded, keeps you a little more centered. And for people that don't know, their hitting coach, Rob Van Skoyick, considered one of the best in the game for a long time, even before he was involved in any sort of organization. I went to him for a year in the off season, and I learned a ton of hitting from this guy

and a bunch of drills and a bunch of things that are kind of out there. But one thing he's really, really, really good at is just giving guys a plan, like giving you direction to where you need to go. That's the definition of giving directions, I believe. So Monsi listens to him, when he starts doing it, right?

Last 28 days, 917 OPS, last 14 days, a 1.4, last 7 days a 1.6. The Dodgers are going to get better because Max Muncie has regained his stroke. Yeah. And that's a scary thing. But the main reason I gave it to him was just because he's willing to make an adjustment during the middle of the year. Only a 703 OPS so far this year, but I'll put. put it, I'll put money, I'll put money on it that he's at over 775.

Ooh. Okay. Over 775 by season's end. He's found something. He's feeling it again. And boy, oh boy, that regression works both ways, doesn't it? He's about to get his numbers back. Shout out Max Monthie.

Shout out Ben Skoyick. That was a real number. I was excited you went there. I was wondering if you were going to land at like a 740, 750. Yeah. He's starting to go. And, yeah, just another Dodgers player who, you know, the past four years, he's arguably been a top three first baseman in the world.

They signed the other guy that's probably ahead of him and Freddie Freeman. Yeah, don't be shocked if Muncie goes and he becomes the 890 OPS player. He's been the past four seasons. And, yeah, just another piece on the Dodgers. Ho-hum. Different team. Trev, we have slump watching in Fuego. We've kind of turned them into speed rounds.

And, you know, we've just turned them into reminders that these guys are there and go root for them. Either way, if you're hot, you're hot. If you're not, you're not. Slump watch. Josh Bell, I don't like that. Yeah. 0 for 13. New surroundings.

He was back in Washington. He's feeling the emotions, you know? So. Tatee snooze. he's going to have to turn it out a little bit. He'll go. He'll go. Christian Yellich.

I hate this slump watch. O for 12? Glaber? It's not going to get better. J.T. Realmudo. We were so excited. He started to go. And then you close with Kepler, Trev's guy?

This is disgusting. You've got emotions. Gross. I'm deleting that whole section. He's still so good looking. I saw him in person. I was like, gosh, you haven't changed a bit. I think you got better looking.

Yeah. That's tough for him. Well. Dirt nasty's on Fuego. That means I'm on fire, baby. Like Waco. Treb, I have good news for you. There's a lot of guys you like on this list who are hot.

A.J. Pollock, five for 11. Two homers. A couple bangers. I saw him. He hit the crap out of him, too. Is that? Could he be the turn for the White Sox? Michael Harris-Duce.

We've talked about him a little. bit. He's going nuts. Matt Olson, date my daughter. Alex Bregman, four for ten with two homers. I think he just had a kid too. Might have missaw his Insta story, but Trev, that'll change you, man. Yeah, it hits the homers to left field. He also had a double to right center. When you start to see stuff like that, my people, you understand the guy is seeing the ball well. Randy, Rosarena, the best ever. I'm deleting a guy because I think

I'm going to give him my award. Rodolfo Castro has his phone fly out and by the way six for 13 saw the head shake there Trev and then the pest of all pest Taylor Walls has himself a nice series four for eight Homer couple doubles

and some walks you you want to talk about Rodolfo's phone flying out or I feel like I genuinely believe him that he just had it in his pocket the whole time on accident like pregame yeah sometimes you go stretch in the weight room and you got your shit

but you have your phone because you're listening to music and maybe on the way back to the locker room he just slipped it in his pocket and forgot about it i can see how that could happen you got some other stuff in your pockets it's obviously like one of if not the worst looks you could have as a young guy like your fucking phone like we already have this stigma of oh young people on their phone too much and then also your majorly baseball player and your phone slips out of your pocket. That was a... But he handled it the right way.

Dude, it was a comedic, like, slip out of the back pocket. Then it was like... It looked like something out of a cartoon. And the umpire is trying to hold in his laughter. And he's like, hey, bro, your... Your phone is on the floor. I think you drop this, kiddo.

Honestly, the only thing he could have done any better, I think he handled it again. I think he should have taken a selfie. Like, when else are you going to get a chance to do that? third base. He should just snap to run real quick. Just real quick. He would have been hated.

The umpire. You're already in trouble. You know, like, people sometimes, like, we're already in trouble. So fuck it, might as well keep going. Like, when you get married, there's times like that where it's like, well, I'm already, I'm already out late. I told my wife I was going to just have a few pops to the boys. But shoot, I'm already in trouble.

Might as well just stay out, right? Might as well dig my. I never do that. No. I've done that. He took a freaking selfie. We'd be talking about him. If he took a selfie, we would be talking about him in awards instead of Enfuego.

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8778-8-Hope-N-Y or text-Hope-N-Y. One per new customer, minimum $5 deposit and wager, $200 issued as $8.25 free bets. That's college football. Wow. Woo! I did not think we were coming up on that. What are the divisions in college football anymore?

There's just one. No clue. It's so weird, dude. Things have changed rapidly in the college football landscape. It's nuts, man. Cash rules everything around me. You want to do your award, Trev? You want me to go?

Yeah, this one, earmuffs for some people. I'm going to give the Grind Your Dick Off award. And it's going to two guys. We had the emotional phone call that Winton Bernard gave. to his mother. He gets called up by the Rockies after like 10 years in the minor leagues, a couple years in the independent ball, lots of different winter ball stops,

finally gets the call, gets a knock, it has to have a review, but he's got a knock in the show. No one can ever take that from him. And it was just a really emotional, cool clip because we had the FaceTime with Mom and she was happy.

And I said it today on baseball today. It's like when you get the call up, you immediately don't think about anything except like wanting to share the news with the people who helped you get there. Like you don't even think about baseball. It's like, oh my God, I got a call so and so. Like they'll be so happy, so proud. Like you just want to share the moment with them because it does take a lot of people, a lot of sacrifice for guys to get to the big leagues, especially playing 10 years in the minor leagues. So he's won. Joy Meneses, my former AAA teammate,

grinds in the minor leagues, goes over to Japan, then comes back and he gets the call. And he's actually been doing it, man. Let me see what his numbers are right now. He's been hitting. BAT in 400. 400 batting average, 447 OBP.

When I played with Joey, he was just a real professional type hitter, took very, very good at bats, and he would get on absolute tears. is in AAA, I understand that, but the international league's not a hitter's league. And I believe that he went. He was close to like MVP

of that league. Did he win MVP? Anyways. Gotta be rooting for guys like this. It's, it I tell people all the time, like there are a lot of, there's a lot of instances where guys

grind it out in the minor leagues and then like don't make it and they're like, they leave the game with nothing. And those are very sad stories. But then you also have this, where you have two guys that just kept at it, kept that it, kept that it. And now they get a chance.

And it's special to see, man. So keep grinding out there, guys. I mean, these are two examples of what happens if you do. Grind your dick off. That's what we say. High school dance all over again. Oh, no. Love that.

Five homers for Joey, by the way. Love one. dudes get the call and then it pays off. It's incredible. It's incredible to work that hard at something your entire life. That's special. That's special. Great award, Trev. I think I'm going to do the, I'm going to go with the Trojan Horse Meets Comics Award. Say it again. the Trojan Horse Meets Comics Award. Okay. So this is weird.

We've talked about the Padre stuff. The Tatis news obviously kind of broke... Baseball fans' hearts a little bit. It broke Padres' fans' hearts. It's real weird. And talk about an emotional roller coaster for the past couple weeks. The Padres get Juan Soto. They get the dude.

They did it. Tatea's going to come back. They got Josh Hader. They made a bunch of other trades. After the deadline, they lost a couple games. And it was like, okay, well, that's whatever, I guess. Now Tatease is out. And I guess the guy who's been a Padre,

who is a Hall of Famer, who is now an old veteran, while also not being that old, Mani Machado Mani Machado was basically supposed to be the robin to Tate's Batman. Like Tatez came on the scene

and it was like, okay, so that's the guy and this is the guy you're rolling with. And it's Mani Machado who, Trev, 49.9 career war. Basically 50 career war. He turned 30 in July. The guy has an 895 OPS. He almost has a five-war season going.

They still got Juan Soto. They still got Drury. They still got Josh Bell and Hater. Mani Machado has been leading this team. And there, you know, some young Mani Machado on Baltimore, especially when he was crazy young. Think about all the stuff we're talking about Tatis now. Like he threw the bat.

He had a couple other, you know, spikes up moments, things like that. Because guess what? Mani Machado was young. Mani Machado is now 30. This is kind of his Padres team. Like Soto's a bad guy, but he's new to the club. Mani had some quotes about, you know, we were hoping to get him back and be in the spark,

but we've been at it all year. Mani Machado lead this team, man, and be the Batman that this team kind of needs. And I think he can, because he's a special guy. He is a special, special ball player that with some of the young stuff and then going to San Diego initially felt a little weird or a little different.

We normally picture star players going to star cities. And man, who knows? Maybe Mani Machado can be that full-blown big brother that Tatis will need eventually to kind of get through this. I don't know. Tatis is going to have to earn back some respect. But I'm circling Mani Machado the rest of the way.

in the 2019 season when they lost, or no, when was it? When they lost Tatez, his numbers dropped dramatically. Was it that 19th season? That he can't do that now. They have Soto. They have a really strong team that I hope by the end of this season, we're talking about how Manny Machado was out there every day, helped lead this team, and he was the guy.

He was the Batman, the rest of the. way for the Padres. So he was the Trojan horse Batman, where people thought he was Robin. He was already in town. He gets in. He is the Batman. That's where my brain went. Traff's thinking. I'm sitting with it. I like the Machado talk. I do like that I think we're going to get away from some of the stuff early on because he has played for so long. He has matured. And I think that's something that we need to be able to do as baseball fans is understand that when sometimes they are watching these dudes they are young and stupid and so are you when you were 20 years old yeah i did some dumb stuff uh it just so happens that these guys are playing major league baseball

and they're in a line line so uh machado will be a hall of famer he does everything exceptionally well on the baseball field except run like he's just and do you think you could beat him in a no race no no so nobody because if you can't beat out with pool holes i think he's like i can beat pool holes i think you misheard me i would just pool sprinting you want to hear it i would dust albert pool holes i thought you said the longer you went the more his strides with impact i'm talking like a two mile run like i think albert's got me there i haven't been training shit manny's got seven stolen bases this year he picks his spots manny's nasty i can't i can never pull a baseball savant right now what's his sprint

what's his sprint what's his percentage sprint speed what do you think manny yeah i want to see mannys i want to say it's 10 it's the 10 percentile right i think he's higher than that dude he could still move a little bit 28 28 oh okay yeah long strides got a lot of boldness baseball reference page i like manny man he's um I taught to a lot of baseball players still, as you know, and he's one of the more respected guys. And that's changed. It's changed because he's just been doing it and matured.

Yeah. He's an all-time ball player. All-time ball player. Maybe he can have a couple moments this October. BVD, I think there's a best friend of the week. I think we already mentioned him. You would dust Albert. I would dust Albert.

Jake would dust Albert. And their best friend of the week, we talked about him a little bit, AJ Pollock, five for 11, two homers, two doubles, three ribbies, two rocks. He took an Andrew Chafin inside heater and just turned on that mofo.

I dust that goatee right off Albert's face. You know what, AJ Pollock, I'm sick of you. Breaking my bones. Shots fired at the end of the episode to AJ Pollock and Albert Poole's. That's how you know it was a good one. I think it might be past elevator talk season. We hit a lot of the teams today.

Everyone tweeted Trevor Plouf saying, we want to hear you play the guitar. Dix-hook-hs-hs-h-s-h. See you guys Wednesday, mid-weeker. Did we crush this episode or did we crush this episode?