Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - The NL is Deeper Than the AL | 544

Episode Date: September 23, 2022

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Hello and welcome to a very special talking baseball. The Thunder Down Under episode, Storelli Moylan, BD. Let's talk some baseball today, baby. Week and a half to go? What? Hello and welcome back to talking baseball. It's that time of the year. The playoffs are sneaking up on us.

No, they're not. The White Sox have finally been buried after about five months of that and making us think that maybe they won't. They did good on the Guardians. We've got to give them a lot of love. Peter Moylan, you have a way with words. You have a way with that whole. mouth of yours.

I figured we'd get it started going early, man. We did get close. We did get close in Arizona. You are right? Yes. Yeah. How are you doing, man? And you're so right that right before this.

And I want to check with you earlier in the year, because, you know, we were talking about how deep into recap should we get and things like that. A lot of these series don't matter anymore. Right. Judge and Pooleholz are chasing history. The N. Wildcard is a lot of fun.

Your Braves and the Mets is electric. The White Sox getting the steak driven through their chest. Outside of that, we're getting ready for the playoffs. A lot of teams are getting ready for the playoffs. It's that time of year. It is. And there's only one team that's really kind of set themselves up wholly, and that's Los Angeles.

But I'm not sure. We still have a fight on our hands, which is really interesting, honestly, the fact that the Braves and Mets can't, win or lose on different days, which is typical for that time of year. But it's just they won't falter. They just, we have been playing great baseball. The Mets have been playing great baseball.

And it just sets up for what I think is going to be a really good run towards the end, especially if that last game, we got a series against them at home, three game series at home coming up, end of the year. If we're within a game and a half, two games, like that's, that's what you, regular season baseball should be about. You know what I'm saying? And that's where, albeit happy for the Dodgers to have a 7,000 game lead,

that it's kind of boring in the West, you know? Yeah, and it's, I feel like we're a race short this year. Like the NL East, like you're saying, it's going to be awesome. You know, Braves fans are in an interesting place right now because they're peacocking, and they should, because they won it all last year. They've run that division for the last,

I don't know if you want to chop it up to 25 years or so. You can say that. And the Mets who have, you know, been little-brothered a lot in their recent history, whether Yankees or Braves in division, man. I mean, with how good that team has been, you know, I know seeing a lot of comments that Braves fans are still walking tall. Like, hey, you know, we're with that three-game set in Atlanta to pull the rug out on the full Mets season in Buck and Scherzer,

I mean, that is demonic. I mean, that's the game plan, obviously. But when you put it that way, I kind of, I don't want to throw my hat in it. Yes, that's no, but it's, that's, that's it. And look, Spencer Strider, this week came in and, and was reporting a little bit of an issue with the side, how serious that is.

I don't know. Yeah. I'm not privy to that kind of information, even though people may think that I am. I don't know whether that was just a way to line up the starters you want to line up against the Mets. We'll see. But the other thing, we have to take care of business. We have to take care of business against the Phillies and the Nats this week before that even happens for it to become the series that we want it to. Yeah.

And the injury thing is so, so interesting, man. And I don't know. Maybe it's getting older. maybe it's being on the pulse of it more. I think baseball has also evolved that, you know, yet a lot of teams had their starting lineup, and if a guy was really hurt, he'd be out of the lineup, but if he was not, he'd still play.

80%. One of the things that I got more familiar with, and I don't think this is revealing too, too much, but there's a lot of players that if you go through their baseball reference, and they are normally a certain level of ball player and there's one year where they're not, usually it's injury related. And I think there's less of that

because now I think players understand it hurts their value and, you know, playing hurt isn't what it used to be. But there are so many around the league guys that... It drives Jimmy nuts when we do our Yankee stuff, but like, Zach Britton just rejoined the Yankees yesterday. He hasn't pitched all year. when he is at his best, he is one of the best relievers.

Like, go check out the seasons. That's, it's not even hyperbole. I've watched that sinker for years and years and years and years. It's the best, it was the best in the game for a multiple years in a row. There's a couple that rival it now. And we have no idea if he's going to be coming out

in eighth innings for the Yankees or if he's not going to be on the playoff roster. And I feel like each of these playoff teams have guys, like you just mentioned, Strider. Is it, are they doing a dance to line them up properly or is there something going on? And that very much would change the Braves outlook. Wow. But the fact that it's, yeah, you're right. Like, we have just had the discussion this week about how you line up the rotation with those four guys.

And I remember the conversation you had where you say, okay, Freed's number one. Then where do you go? do you go strider number two, Carl Wright number three, Charlie Morton, who, as you remember, has been one of the best pitches in playoff history.

I mean, it's, that would change everything. And it's one, the Aussie Albies thing, although it was expected that he was going to get some at bats and be ready for playoffs,

we didn't know what we lost at that point. He'd already missed 81 games. He was back for two. The devastation of that, punched us in the gut, obviously. but we were able to move on just like we did last year. And that's the biggest key is that the teams that can adapt the quickest

and find a replacement or just move on without the ones that are going to have success. Well, Peter, let's get it. I mean, we're already in it, but let's get further in. I know that's an issue you and I have had previously. And this episode of Talking Baseball is brought to you by Shady, Rays. Pete, I know you know. I mean, just having flashbacks to the All-Star game where Shady Ray's had us all pimped out.

I've got a couple of them here. I got my ball player shades just in case, you know. Never know when you're going to get that caught. Throw me out at shortstop. I will make the play. Shady Ray's, they are backed by their every pair lost and broken replacement guarantee. If you lose or break a pair,

even on day one, they will send you a brand new. pair. You're basically getting Shady Rays for Life Sonys. And with code talking, 50% off two plus pairs of premium polarized shades at Shadyrays.com. And this is the, I'd say this is the number one. Like, you know, friends and family in my life that, like, they obviously support what I'm doing and what I'm about. And, you know, don't, you know, if, I always used to laugh when we were just doing Yankee stuff, people would be like, oh, I'll have to check it out. And I'd be like, if you're not a Yanks fan, you're not, don't check out talking Yanks. You're not going to, now that we do baseball and silly stuff, there's, there's more stuff for

everyone. Shady Ray's is the number one thing that I'll see, I'll see a friend or a family member and they'll be like, hey, Jake, look at these. Got my shady raise. Because code talking 50% off two plus pairs of premium polarized shades. It may be the best offer at the company, Pete. it is i've taken full advantage of it i would have them down here but they're all in my car yeah you're are you a sunglasses every day kind of guy i had no idea so funny story i did the day game

on wednesday 1220 game i left my shades in the car and by the time i couldn't look at this the monitor in front of me because it was so bright our desk is white so the sun was Pouncing of that, it was a nightmare. D.Summer sunglasses every day ago. I've become it. The only thing I don't like, there's a lot of whispers around the office when I walk in with the sunnies. It's like, oh, Jake. Big one.

Jake had another night. Big one. Come on, guys. I've got a dog, fiance. I'm not that guy. I'm not that guy anymore. Unless there's a good night to be had. Peter, let's finish off the NL East a little bit,

and maybe that'll bring us to the wild card a little bit, because that is the most you consume. If people don't know, I mean, you know, Peter is a delicious man who understood the energy of John Boy Media, you know, pretty early on. I begged a year and a half ago, two years ago, something like that. and now you're calling games TV radio preimposed hello there's a lot going on I'm very recognizable my cue rating in Atlanta has gone up I'll be honest with you I don't know what that means but people say that the mix of like that the southern hospitality

of Atlanta and like the Aussie and like you I think last time we had you here you talked about connecting the Braves generations a little bit because you played with right connecting some Braves teams. The Braves and the Mets, I've been kind of on a new stance where I think if you throw the Dodgers, Braves, and Mets in a pot are the same division. In a regular season, maybe the Dodgers lineup plays every day more than those other teams. But playoff baseball is different and kind of like what you were alluding to.

I have a little bit iron sharpens iron. I don't know which team it is. If you told me I get the Braves and the Mets versus the field in the National League, I would take it. I think one of those teams is going to go this October. So I guess is there any recent developments? I know you mentioned the strider injury, but anything that's changed your overlying view of Mets and Braves going forward?

No, I think it's going to be a dog fight. I said this all the time. I underestimated the Mets and I underestimated Peter Lonso. I underestimated the Bucks Showalter effect. But I just think that what they've done all year, they've been up against it as well. Like, it's a different, it's a different squad than we've seen in the past. But the Dodgers, last year the Braves beating the Dodgers gave them the idea that it's possible. Before that it was like, that was the big thing that we had to punch through.

And they've done that now. So I think that's kind of opened everybody's eyes a little bit. They're starting pitching for me is still the only real question. but, you know, we'll see. It's playoffs, man. As you said. The Brave starters or the Mets starting pitching? I'm talking about the Dodgers starting pitching.

Oh, the Dodgers. Yeah, it's a mental hurdle, man. I feel rude when I talk about it. And it's, I also feel I'm not always this way, but it's being a sports fan, which I know you're a big sports fan in general, that things are never as black and white as we try to make them out to be,

that I'm now seeing the Dodgers like, well, you know, those starting pitching, it's tough to believe in those guys over DeGrom and Scherzer or, you know, the Braves crew that you just mentioned, who you could line up those guys for almost any four games and feel good about it. And yet, I think the Dodgers end up laughing when they hear that because I'm double-checking right now,

but I believe they have the number one starting ERA and Wills. this year. You know? I know. So it's funny that we harp on that as a weakness. And by the way, Clayton Kershaw is back.

Julio Ureus is that dude. Heen Dogg and Tyler Anderson have been very good with Dustin May back as well. So it's interesting because we do have that old playoff mentality. And it's been proven. It's bona fide that it,

your starters give you that special Verlander-esque effort. But at the same time, I mean, 2020 Dodgers, they bullpen some games essentially that, and even your braves, right? You can bullpen your way through games. Still, that's the thing. And that bullpen's real. And that's what, look, yes, ideally you want to have the three big guns to

throw out there, but teams have done it in the past where they don't have to do that. Yeah. So, and we've seen it too many times for me to just throw it out of that way, too. do you um for Atlanta do you feel there's a team that's a bad matchup I I I feel like that doesn't work as well in baseball because like you said I mean playoffs dog fight eventually you got to get your hits and you got to get outs it's not like a a football team where there's this team's got a really good passing attack and this team's got good pass rushers like it doesn't necessarily work like that no you're right I don't think there is I think it's I think it's whoever can get on a to run and not just during the playoffs. It starts now. Like it's the confidence that you build going into playoffs starts right now. Yeah. So you've got to get on it. And the Bravo's bats have gone a little quiet last few days. But when everybody questions what's going on, like everybody's kind of waited for that period to hit. And when it does, it's only a couple of days. And then they bounce back and they

win, they win 11 in a row. You know, it's just, that's what the team does. It's weird. It's, And it's a sixth sport. I mean, you know, our Yanks compare their lineup from two weeks ago. It's insane what that looked like and felt like. And even Cardinals, I didn't know how much Cardinals would be discussed this episode. And they deserve to. I mean, they ran away with the Central, which nobody fully expected. They expected either the brewers to have it or at least being a dog fight for most of the years.

They ran away with it. They just went through, I think, 47 innings with only one, I think it was one unearned run. Yeah, man, they just went. They were close to the Major League record, and then I think someone hit a solo shot to get them out of it. But when you hear that, A, what? Right.

Goldschmidt, Aeronado, all of their young dudes. But that's the sixth sport we play. And they gave you beta. Yeah. Yeah. and we that's a man what a great sport what a great sport and this is the whole point is that throw any of those teams not just nationally but you throw the

American league teams in there as well and it's it's it's going to be a really insane playoffs and then you throw in that there's no there's no off days for the first round like this sorry that the five straight thing's going to that's going to play into it you can't have the same bullpen guys going at every single day. They're not going to go five in a row. You've got to pick and choose your battles, man.

They, uh, another thing and I, you know, I don't want us to do a full hot buttony radio show, but I do think the NL is deeper than the AL. Um, the, because when you think about it, the White Sox, who we'll get to in a little bit, they were supposed to be one of the powers of the American League and

they're not even going to be at the dance. Um, and, and I guess, just the Blue Jays, people forget this was supposed to be their division yeah um and and they've been out of it all year so i and they they didn't make the dance last year so the blue jays i guess they can prove it this year and i can buy in because i i still love their talent right the rays are the raise they're going

to be the raise the guardians are so young and they're fun and i'm i'm loving the energy they bring but And I guess the Mariners, I have the same Blue Jays caveat. Like, I love Julio. I love their pitching staff. Their lineup is deep, too. Their bullpen is gross. Yeah. But they're a team that hasn't been to the playoffs in two decades.

Where the National League, we just did Mets Braves, the Dodgers are a factory. Even the Cardinals, like, if you told me, you know, seven-game series, Cardinals Jays, Cardinals, Rays, Cardinals, Guard. Cardinals Mariners, I might lean Cardinals and they are the clear four team, if not a Phillies discussion. I, I imagine if San Diego, right, can, Soto can, Soto hasn't even shown up in San Diego yet from what I understand. And I know I feel like for someone that was shoved Soto highlights every single night

in my face for the majority of his career in Washington, now I don't hear. thing about Juan Soto. It's amazing. And I went and checked out his numbers. And the nationals were just in. And at one point, he had the worst 18 game or 16 game stretch as far as on base plus slugging or whatever. It was just a horrible stretch for him, worst of his career.

And I just really hope that he's able to find it again. But imagine if they get hot. Yeah. And I, Soto, you're right. I think to start September, I mean, you can chop up his numbers. He was three for 37. Like, it's, and yeah, I can add in a couple games before that, too. He's had a couple good nights since.

Arizona and St. Louis, he's looked like Juan Soto, which, like, you're saying, then what do you do with that? Because the starting pitching that that team has been getting, Snell is out of his mind. Yeah. I've loved their starting pitching from the start of the year that, yeah. Has Hayter been better? Has Hayter been more hater-like?

Let me check that out. I should check that out. I'll check that out. The last I saw he was coming around. I don't know if that's hater-like or what that is. It could be 70% and it's still decent. It looks like his last five have been scoreless. Okay.

So, and he's gotten the save in four of those five games. one was a scoreless scoreless in the ninth. So yeah, man, they are, and you're right, man, there's a weird media thing, East West, everyone already kind of knows it. But I guess we, the vert, my comparison would be Machado. Machado was on the Orioles and we saw him a lot. And then he signed the big contract with the Padres. Just hit his 30th, by the way. And we gave him a little like, hey, see you when we see ya, which might be never, because it's San Diego not to be shot. fired, but not a team known for their winning baseball. And then he was back on the map.

And it was like, all right, let's see it. But that would be a great story arc that hasn't been really considered at all because, A, this team could be out of the playoffs with a bad series in Milwaukee gets hot. Right. But there could also be a hero arc here that is Machado and this pitching staff that was built for this year in Juan Soto. all the drama after the last year, and they were supposed to be the team to beat the Dodgers, and it all fell away.

This beloved team, Slam Diego and how fun it was, people partying in the streets. And that hasn't even been a thought in our head because they're the sixth team in the National League. The National League is stacked. It's stacked. But you've also got the Astros who are pretty decent at the moment,

and your Yanks have turned it around despite everybody who says the same. thing every year about the August Yankees it's just there's an electricity that's around that club at the moment that you've got to feel pretty good about how are you

well let me get this we'll talk some cuts real quick a friend of ours his name rhymes with icky ass he's a big cuts guy got beeps with that one

he also He also has a 5K going on this weekend. If any of you guys follow Nikki Cass, I think he could still donate and stuff. It's for charity. It's for his aunt. I believe it's a good cause. So go check that out.

He is a cuts guy along with, how about these guys, Bryce Harper? He'll be playing October baseball, we think. Walker Bueller, his team will be playing October baseball. And even that guy, Mariano Rivera, he's a cuts guy I mean he could he could come back at any point I'm sure he could get outs he would get out

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That's cutsclothing.com slash baseball. 15% off the only shirt worth wearing. Peter, I wanted to get that in because I was going to bring us to a slippery conversation that knowing you and me, we could end up talking for the next three weeks on it. Judge and Pujos, man. I know it's been talked about and it's going to be talked about a lot more, especially when that big fella hits his next couple and the other big fella in that

goddamn barrel chest he has, Albert Pujos. I guess let's do Judgey. I'd love to get your perspective on the whole thing. And just another thing that I didn't know if I was leaning into something too hard was that they're being compared. They're happening at the same time, right? Right. Which is greater?

Is that what they're? Yeah. I mean, I don't fully want to do that. I guess I saw everyone doing that the judge is greater. And I was like, well, I get it. Don't get me wrong. you see all those names and take out the steroid guys if you want to do that and where Judge's landing is as rare air as you get.

But I think the Pujos air is just as rare. So let's start with Judgey and just how you're appreciating and taking in the whole thing. Well, it's incredible. You know that I watch mainly nationally, but it's hard to ignore what's happening over there, especially because of the comparison with Shohei and Judge that's happening that's happened all year to this point. And I feel like he's just decided to say, well, let me just put a exclamation point on me being MVP.

The way that he's done it, he's 20 home runs above the next guy. Yeah. When was the last time that had even come close to having that kind of separation from the first and second guy? First of all, he plays defense like we saw last night. as good as anyone in right field, which people don't even talk about, I think that he's doing, and the way that the media has gone around it too, it's not just like John Heyman is writing something almost every day talking about how this is the greatest season he's ever seen,

and he's seen his fair share of season. So I have to just take what other people are saying about on a daily basis and look at it and know how much they've seen and realize that it's something really special. it's unreal and it's so unreal because you even i'll still get it sometimes man like when he comes to the plate and you know they show a player's stats on the year and i saw 60 pop up i was like geez that's i've never like seen that like since you know since since the steroid era uh which is obviously its own thing for another time but um it's unreal and he's going for the

Triple Crown, and he's playing defense in right field in a contract year, by the way, which he turned down mega, mega dollars at the start of. And he's probably going to get himself another buck 50 or so. And by the way, his wife came up to me and Joe's at the game yesterday and said, love what you guys do. So, I mean, if it doesn't get cooler than that, I don't know, she was awesome. Thank you, Sam. That you're right, that we're starting to get into those little details that you tell,

or not even little details, but the things that make it fun. Like breaking the home run record, incredible. But like you're saying, outdoing the pace by 20. It's not a year where home runs are getting hit. The thing that I think should be hammered home more, he's played center field for most of the season, which he hadn't really played before this year. And it's not the outfield.

When we do our all-JM teams, we specify that you need a center fielder, and he is 6-7-282 played a nice center field. And how often do we talk about guys playing, quote-unquote, out of position? And we're like, well, you know, they're hitting stats are a little down this year, but he's trying to play second base this year and he's been a third. You know, he's thinking about it in the field. Right. How about the opposite?

Two things, right? Where would the Yankees be right now without the year that Aaron judges had with everything else that's gone on? Second of all, about the defense thing, we brought Michael Harris up purely and simply to shore up the defense because we had Adam Duval, who was a gold glove left fielder playing center field and that wasn't doing it. So to imagine a right fielder who's just shifted over there, it's not easy. There's only a couple of people like Cody Bellinger does it with ease. He goes from first base to centerfield like it's nothing. But there's not a lot of people that can do that. He's, uh, it's awesome.

I couldn't be happier for the dude. I can't, I'm dreading and so excited for his free agency. I mean, you want to talk about, you know, my, my guy, John Boy, one of his favorite things about baseball is being in the stands and having the conversations of baseball, whether it's in that at bat and, oh, two, one, he just threw a slider, is he going back to the fastball? Or, I mean, you talk about eavesdropping on conversations, what the big fella is going to bring in this offseason,

whether it's Yankees, Mets, Giants, whoever your team is, that if they've got that bankroll, I'm so interested to see the process. And I'm normally not... What's that? There's two guys, Jacob de Grom, and Aaron Judge

that could both get record contracts for each of their positions. Yeah. As an average yearly, I'm thinking. Two New York free agents. That is going to be fun. We're not fully there yet. I'm excited to see Judge do this.

I was in the building last night. He gave us a... Scare. He gave us a scare, Pete. It was... The night before, that that... The Night of the Grand Slam? Yeah.

I mean, you're emotional. Yeah. Have you spoken about that on anything since? Uh, because... A little bit on talking Yanks, obviously. Right. But, no, I think it would be good to bring it here and say that when we first started talking Yanks and whenever we do a question episode, engagement, crowd building.

You know, one of the ones that would be a regular one is, like, like favorite Yankee game you went to growing up. And BPD's probably heard this answer now eight to ten times. That when we used to go, like I grew up in Connecticut, getting to the Bronx wasn't super easy, like a single mom that, you know, she'd bring me and my sister. We'd go to a Yankee Sunday day game, which during the Yankees dynasty, by the way,

that would be the rest day that they could earn. So like we'd go to these day games. Pasada would be at first. like Bernie or Jeter would be sitting or O'Neill, like one of the big guys would be getting their rest day because they, you know, they just had a five-in-one week and they're going to rest one of their veteran guys. So like, my memories weren't that great. They were great, but I didn't see a lot of the special games. Like I don't, I still haven't been to a Yankees postseason game.

I'm hoping to do that this year. That the best sporting event I ever went to, previous to last, or two nights ago now, was, I went to a Yukon. I'm a big Yukon men's basketball fan and women's, but elite eight game, Yukon, Michigan State. It was when Draymond was at Michigan. It was in Madison Square Garden. It was a great game, two great college basketball fan bases.

The place was nutty. And my Yukon Huskies ended up winning, which was another cool part of that. that I think two nights ago. So taking one step forward into baseball, we went to the COVID World Series. So that was a weird scene in general. Dodgers raised in Dallas at 20% capacity. So you got a lot of moving parts there.

But the Eroserrena game where he trips around third and he stumbles and he gets home, we were at that. And it was cool. But your heartstrings aren't as there. as judge hitting 60, which like you're saying, there's going to be other World Series highlights like the Eroserena highlight.

I don't know where we'll end up with 60 home runs with the way pitchers are throwing and everything else. That, yeah, man, to go from, you know, eighth inning, the Yanks get mowed down, one, two, three. They're down four runs to the pirates to seeing someone hit a 60th home run in a season. tying Babe Ruth and then Stanton

who by the way in recent history when you remove the steroid guys has 59 in the tank which is your leader in the clubhouse in the past like 40 years when you take out the steroid guys for him to be in one of the worst slumps

of his career and then hit the walkoff yeah man that's a special night someone else was controlling that it feels like it doesn't feel like it was it doesn't feel like that should have happened and just out of interest what percentage of the crowd left at the top of the ninth um 20 percent something like that that's not bad that's that's that's pretty standard actually what was what was the big judge

judge was leading off the ninth inning right so that's a pretty easy if judge had popped out I mean, I think you would have seen 80% of that remainder heading for the door. And there's no way you win it if the judge pops out. And by the way, I didn't even get romantic about that part yet. The relief pitcher, which you can speak about Peter, Will Crow, his one thing that he was trying not to do was to throw, to give up a home run. Anything besides a home run.

run was a win. A double was a win against Judge. I'm sorry. A walk would have been fine. No, it wouldn't have. You know it wouldn't have. He would have heard it just as worse. That's a fair counter. He would have heard a lot of things if he did walk, Judge. Correct. I think his dugout would have given him a lot of, that's okay. But yes, a lot of, a lot of ravenous fans in the Bronx would not have been okay with that. Look. And judge is only. goal in a four-run game, and he'll lie about it. But he was trying to hit a home run. And for that to happen is just unreal.

I'm just glad that he got a strike. I'm just glad that he got a pitch to hit. Honestly, I think that was the best part of it is the fact that, I mean, where's the pirate season going? Just, I mean, compete. Don't throw cookies up there, but don't just, like, I want everybody to throw to him right now, obviously. We all do.

And it's incredible. And like I said, with Albert, I was, I guess also being sucked into Yankee land. I was trying to be as romantic about Albert as I could be. He's got a couple lefties coming up. I think he's got Heaney and Kershaw, which if it's Kershaw, how cool would that be? But I just, anyone that'll listen to me, I try giving them the speech. that how cool it is that Albert's homered off more pitchers than anyone, that this pitching generation that we are now in,

where you mention your guy, Spencer Strider, breaking the record for most, you know, fastest to 200 strikeouts, that Albert is still doing it. There's, I could make, if I was a Jolly Olive or Foolish Baseball or one of those guys, I could put together a pretty damn good video saying Albert Poulos is the, like, the best hitter to play this game. And I can tell you, for me, coming up and joining the Atlanta Braves in 2006, he was

the machine for a reason. It was like he would get in there and wide stance crouched down and you're like, now the strike zone's this big. And if you put it there, he hit, I got him out a couple of times, but they were missiles. one of those ones that it almost felt like cartoonish if my shortstop caught it, I might have carried him to the home run fence. That's how hard it was hit.

Like, he just didn't miss. Yeah. And he's continued to, at the age that he is, put together unbelievable swings. And more power to him, because he was done. Yeah. When he left the angels, there was a lot of people, probably me included,

talking about how, ah, it's probably at the end of it. But look at what he's done and look at what he's continued to do. And he's not doing it where everybody's sitting there going, oh, just hang it up, man. Right. He's a competitive at bat.

He, it's, his stats this year are insane. I mean, a 141 OPS plus. Is that still the highest since he left the Angels? Yes. Unbelievable. So, yeah, I don't know what that tells you. But also, like, he didn't come out of the gates just not. knocking him dead this year.

At one point in June, in July, his batting average started with a one. So you're right, man, and it's where this sport is so, so damn beautiful that, like, anyone should have written him off for this year, 42 years old, hidden in the ones in July, and then he's gone full bore that it's looking like he's going to get seven bills and I'm I don't know I don't want it because people love taking stuff as hot takes I just

want people to know like wherever judge sets the bar this year there is a chance that that is the easier bar to reach going forward than Albert 700 and I just think I know people are appreciating it

but I just want to make sure because I love pools I copied his stance growing up Peter. That was my... We all did. We all copied his stance. It was the stance, the copy. It was incredible. It was kind of sneaky swag. It had a little bounce to it, but it wasn't over the top.

The bounce was just him showing how much back control he had. It was not like a cocky, like, it was just I can whip this thing like you've never seen. Just throw something close. That's what it felt like. Put it in the zone,

Moylan. I'll do the rest. Let me just. I'll generate the power, you 90 mile an hour throwing son of a biscuit. They're bringing this guy in? Right. That's what it felt like. Hey, let's do, because I know we want to do some, not off the map, but you've got some WBC stuff for us.

We still have really buried the White Sox if we want to do that. Don't need to. And that is brought to us by Mugsy. What do I like doing in my Mugsy's? Going to Yankees games, playing Blitzball, wore them last. night packed going to a wedding this weekend obviously packed two pairs of mugsies um i think i'm going to bust out i got the uh they're kind of a green denim i think that might be my rehearsal rehearsal dinner pants tonight we're in the cat skills so it's you know a little that's a place

you can break those out yeah i don't want to say laid back but you know you you want to be comfortable and stylish and i think that should be mugsies new those i play there promotional coat basically. They are the best, and you can get 10% off with code Johnboy. Your entire order at Mugsy.com with Code Johnboy. They are jeans, but they are stretched jeans. They are comfortable. If I'm going out to a dinner, I'm putting on my mugsy.

They're the official gene of Jamboy himself. They are all he wears. I'm wearing some mugsies right now. Eves is mugging it up right now. mugging. No, I don't think Mugsy wants that. But, uh, you can be mean in them if you want to. If you want, you could do whatever in your Mugsy's. That's on you. Mugsy isn't promising mean people, but do whatever you want in your Mugsy's code, John Boy, 10% off your entire order. Pete. Yeah. Why do we do a little WBC? I'd love to. Because I know how much it gets you jazzed up.

I wouldn't be here without the. WBC. It's as simple as that. Tell the story. Tell the story tight and then bring it into some of the new teams that are going to be in the dance here in a little bit. Real quick, I'll give you the quick version. 2006, I was a pharmaceutical rep pitching for a local baseball team in Melbourne, Australia. I was seen by the then Australian head coach throwing quite well. He invited me to come down and pitch and play first base for the Victorian team. I closed an inning. I hit 96 on the radar gun. I got invited to try out for the world baseball classic team, the inaugural one. I made the team pitched against Venezuela. Next day I get offered

a contract to come and pitch with the Braves. I do that. And now 16, 17, 18 years later, I'm still here talking about baseball. So without the WBC, I would not have got the exposure that I needed to be able to come back and pitch in the big leagues and meet every one of you guys. It's been wonderful. Now, that leads me to the two teams that have just qualified through the new European qualifications, Great Britain and the Czech Republic, two teams that have never made it to the actual World Baseball Classic before. So when you talk about a whole new level of, okay, the qualifiers are still the WBC, but you don't get the proper uniforms. You stay in a little bit lesser hotels. when you come to the proper WBC,

it's Major League Baseball sanctioned, and it's the big leagues. So what an amazing opportunity for two baseball nations that are coming up to get a chance to play against the best in the world. And I think it's just an expansion of this game

across the world is never a bad thing. And the more teams, the more exposure we can get. I was in the Czech Republic, as you guys are well aware, and I noticed that they were doing some really cool things over there. So this isn't a shock to me to see them there. It's awesome. It's incredible baseball in Europe.

You know, you know better than I do. And my friend, Jimmy. Because cricket, there's a lot of parallels. And it's a sport that's been there for a while. And like most things in life, I think they can live in unison together. And I think we're almost, call me dumb. A lot of people do, and that's fine. Like, it feels like if I had to project a sports story in the next 10 years,

like a cricketer that plays baseball. Like, I don't know if, because we've had some Formula One, like NASCAR crossover, I know that's not a direct comparison. We've seen rugby players give it a go in the NFL. We messed around with some cricket dudes playing Blitzball. And they had zero problems. If anything, they were more tuned in than baseball players because, well, Blitzball's bat to ball and that's kind of all they were about.

But if baseball starts going in Europe, like, we have almost the whole world. I know there's things popping up in Africa. Like, it can, I think soccer will always be the true global sport. For sure. Football or basketball has done a good job. Baseball can kind of get on their heels a little bit. Well, there's never going to be a lack of talent from any one of those countries. It's just where that talent, it's like in Australia.

Major League Baseball or Baseball in general probably doesn't get the best athlete pool to choose from because their athletes, the best athletes in Australia, go gravitate towards the popular sports, whether it be Australian rules football, cricket, rugby, basketball, soccer, We're probably down a little bit on the list. If we can raise the popularity in across the world and more kids in that talent pool want to start playing baseball instead of the other sports, then we look at that global game. That's the key. Yeah. That's a.

Congrats to the Czech Republic. Yeah. And Great Britain. Great Britain. Right? Yeah. How about that? The queen would have loved it.

I'm telling you. I know. Queen would have loved it. I know. Maybe they go on a run. Maybe. Get a queen patch on the jersey? Something like that.

Could you imagine? Just a crown? Just crown tattoos all up and down the shins of those players. How are the, any, any Aussie boys we should be looking out for? I don't want to put you too much on the spot because I know you could also name probably 30 guys. I know. I could definitely name 30 guys. And look, I'm waiting for the, this is not a call out, but I'm hoping that.

Liam Hendricks. Liam Hendricks soon. We saw Jazz Chisholm commit to the Great Britain team. So I want to see Liam commit to the Aussie team, but there's a couple of young guys

Robbie Glenn Denning, Aaron Whitefield. You know, there's a ton of guys that are coming through. Curtis Meade would have been on the team, I would assume, but I'd love to see

how his elbow's doing. He's with the rays and Raken. So look, there's a lot of guys, a lot of veteran guys that are probably going to come back and play too. So I just, if we can put a team together that, that we're always going to grind out games.

That's just what we do. We're going to pitch and we're going to grind out games. How's that, were you alluding to something else at the end? Is the shoulder feeling good? It feels great, but I've said this multiple times. My BP is locked in and I feel like it would be similar

if I jumped on to try and get competitive. Yeah. Not a lot of movement going on. Get in the plate. Finding the plate. No problem. Maybe too much. I could be the mop-up guy that comes in and covers some innings in the blowout game.

That's a battle. I got left in me. Oh, player coach. Are you kidding me? Jazz Chisholm. I don't know if you can bet on this at draft kings or wherever. That jazz Chisholm, Great Britain, Jersey, that might show up in the John Boy Media office.

That might show up at a lot of, that might show up on a lot of college campuses. That might show up at a lot of baseball stadiums. That is going to be legit. Yeah. And that queen crown we talked about. Right. Look, if it shows up,

we don't need royalties. Just take it as a gift. Just, you know, just put a link in the description to talking baseball in Mugsy and we'll be good. Peter, anything else that you need to get off your chest. I know we didn't talk too much AL.

I know you mentioned that the Yanks and the Stroes are looking good. And like you said, I mean, we're too, you and I are almost too upbeat to talk about where the White Sox season ended this year. Disappointing, obviously. Yeah, it's, yeah. I don't know what they're doing. I don't, I don't know if there's, I don't know the plan. I just don't, I feel like whatever they've tried hasn't quite worked to this point. So maybe it's time to look in other directions.

I don't know. I could be wrong. It's, you wonder what stories are going to come out at the end of the season. You wonder what changes are going to have to be made because still on paper, man, Cease Lynn Quato Gioledo in the bullpen, Hendrix, Graveman, Deekman, bummer. And then you go to the lineup and it's Moncada, Breu, Eloy, Andrew Vaughn, A.J. Pollock, Yus, Moni, I'm very interested to see what comes out after the season And yeah, you hear a lot of people thrown out

I don't want to say lame duck sports terms Because I think the reason they get thrown out Is because it's often a reason it doesn't work But I mean, a lot of people are saying It's never felt like a team It's felt like a lot of those guys I just mentioned But, you know, I think Ozzy Gien had a viral thing going around today, and, you know,

Ozzie Gion can get hot in front of a microphone with the best of them. But he said, you know, the Guardians came into town, and that is a team of young dudes who are looking to win a baseball game and, like, ruin your day. And the White Sox haven't felt like that all year. Well, Terry Francona has always been known as a player's manager. that's what he's been known to do. He's been known to rile up the players

and get them to do things that they don't even know themselves they can do, right? Get the most out of your player. Find what it is that makes them tick. That's what you're supposed to do as a manager. I don't know that Tony DeRosa has that in him. I'm sure he did, and he's a legendary manager, and this takes nothing away from what he's done in his career. I'm just not sure if he's at that point in his career now

to go into that room and command the respect that it deserves. That job deserves respect. Yeah, it's, I would love to find out. You know, it's, it feels, it's weird. I know Tony was an easy target for a while. And, you know, he has a Hall of Fame jacket. So you start spinning yourself in circles. But yeah, I mean, that becomes the thing that you kind of hone in on, right?

Like, you name all those players and, you know, not all of them had their biggest year. And then you start doing that conversation. And like if, you know, if those guys all had career years, would we be talking about Tony LaRuce at all? Or we'd be saying he did a pretty good job this year. Right, right. It's the manager's conundrum. But yeah, I mean, what a, they seem to have a clear path for the most wins in the AL.

And they won't even be at the dance. And the Orioles could finish with more wins than them. Unreal, but also the beauty of sports, right? That's the whole point. That's the whole point. Peter, I also, final thing, and I didn't prep you on this. Oh, good. I love this.

I know. That's where you're at your best, but I know you will have a well-put-together opinion on this. It's the only reason I put you on the spot. Here we go. The Kansas City Royals, where you still have a lot of juice. And one of the more respected guys around baseball when I've talked to people, Dayton Moore. 100% is out there.

So I just, I know you have some Royal Connects. I would just love to hear your thoughts on the, on the situation on the whole. Well, Dayton Moore in himself was the reason why I signed with Atlanta. He was the one that gave me the contract. He walked me around the complex. He also revived my second career in Kansas City, gave me an opportunity to prove myself again. And we have a wonderful relationship. And he's been great for that club.

But I also do think that maybe it was time for him to move on. He did an amazing job throughout the rebuilding with drafting and forming that World Series Championship team. He was the architect. There was some frustrations when he left Atlanta because everybody in Atlanta thought that he was going to just take John Sherholz's place and step in and he went to Kansas City. And he did what he did in Kansas City and it took longer for it to happen in Atlanta, but it

eventually happened. So there's that connection as well. but I just think that, you know, whether it's the philosophy that needs changing or whatever it is, something needs to change in the royal system for them to be as good as they should be again. I'm interested to see the next steps because I know, you know, especially before this season, you know, baseball is a sixth sport. Nobody had the Orioles winning this many games. The Royals seemingly had a path to something.

Bobby Witt, Jr., I know he's your guy. Obviously, Salvi's come back and looked like Salvi after being injured. It's pitching. All those young pitchers, Brady Singer, it looks like it clicked for about the second half of this year. So that's exciting. But at the same time, you know, a couple of guys I think they were hoping would take the leap didn't happen. And, yeah, I mean, great baseball town and all that. So very interested to see where they make their next moves.

Because it was fun, man. I mean, some of their outside of the box and one of a talking baseball cult's favorite episode. We had Jason Kendall on. Wow. Holy crap, dude. Yeah. He is one of the greatest human beings.

I've had the pleasure of being around. I think my face, the whole episode, was like, just stunned. Yeah. Like, my mouth was kind of open. Like, I think he had a dipper and a natty light, and I think it was like 9 a.m. And it was just like the whole time it felt like I was getting punched in the mouth with incredible baseball information. It's beautiful, isn't it?

What a legend. Well, Peter, best of luck to your Royals for the next few years. I know Royals fans are happy. I know I feel like Royals fans felt like they needed to be some sort of change. And the announcements were that they're moving, shifting more analytical, which, you know, it can be good, can be bad. We'll see how that turns out. But it depends on how much they dive in. But I think that the decision had to be made, and I think it's a good one.

And a lot of times in sports, there's good people that you need a change. You need a shake-up. And he feels like a guy that will be involved with another team fairly soon, no? Well, I don't want to put that out there. If he wants to. Or he may do something outside of baseball, too. He's very invested in the church. So it could be something outside that pulls him away.

gotcha from the game gotcha he's done he's there's not a lot that he has done or hasn't achieved to this point in his baseball career so maybe it could be uh something that fires him up again okay okay peter moylin uh jake story any any time i get to spend with you and our godson bd bd is a nice day um anything good this weekend i'm off so i'll let you know hopefully we can uh and take down the Phillies, and I'll be very happy. Send some picks. Thank you for coming out of the bullpen on short notice. Always ready to go.

Always. Yeah. Spikes on. And we, you know, for the talking baseball, faithful in people that love Peter Moyland, we'll, if the Braves have a tough going October, hopefully we'll get him up for some live streams and stuff. Otherwise, he's just, he's too damn important in the building. I missed out on a lot last year.

I missed that a lot, but I did get a World Series ring out of it, so it kind of made up for it. You did get a World Series ring. Peter, thank you. Everyone go follow Peter Moylan on everything. Maybe go check out. I know I've watched it a couple times now. Peter Moyland and Spencer Strider, just good content. Thank you.

The future of content. And Farm to Fame. And anywhere you see, the big smile, the big eyes and his love. teeth. The big team. Peter, thank you, BBD,

thank you. Travis Camping. John will be back. We just love you. Anytime, you know that. And if I don't read comments, so if you didn't like it,

I'm not going to hear about it. Even better. Two weeks till playoffs? Jake sucks.