Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - The Phillies are Collapsing | 547

Episode Date: September 30, 2022

Get 15% off your first order by going to https://cutsclothing.com/baseball Head to https://winreality.com/talkin to sign up today! Post your job for free at https://linkedin.com/talkin Zack Greinke Article: https://theathletic.com/3619646/2022/09/26/zack-greinke-royals-stories-2022/ Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 6:20 NL Recap 10:55 NL Standings 12:30 Mets and Braves are Meeting Up 18:10 Mets Calling Up Francisco Alvarez 28:30 Philly is Collapsing 34:50 Cardinals Clinch the NL Central 37:45 Padres 39:50 AL Recap 44:15 AL Standings 46:00 Yankees-Blue Jays (Judge Hits 61) 56:15 Rays-Guardians 1:00:45 Mariners are About to Clinch 1:06:00 Shohei Ohtani Almost Throws a No-Hitter 1:16:40 Zack Greinke 1:20:00 Anthony Santander & Marcus Semien 1:22:15 Slump Watch 1:25:25 En Fuego 1:29:00 Matt Wallner & Carlos Correa 1:33:40 Eduardo Escobar 1:39:00 BBD Simulator Stimulator 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. Is it the last recap Friday? Phillies, what is you doing? The whole NLEC is up for grabs. More show, hey. Let's get it. Players own. Hello and welcome back to Talking Baseball myself.

Trevor Plouf, VBD on the Ons and 2. Friday, September 30th. The last day of September. Which to baseball, That only means one thing. Well, October's here. I guess that means the same to the rest of society. But playoffs.

Trev, I'm juiced up. You saw I came in hot today outfit-wise. I've got my Oswaldo Cabrera necklace. I had the hater blockers on. I'll be in the ballpark. Hoping to see Aaron Judge's 62 home run tonight. As we finish off these playoff races, which have been a little,

come see, come saw. BPD bleep that out. But with the Brewers making something out of it, or the Phillies making something out of it in the NL Wild Card, and the whole NL East, basically being up for grabs this weekend in Atlanta, who luckily, and if we have people listening

who are affected by it, the hurricane, I mean, there's a real one. There's a real one and that gets scary And it was looking like it was going to hit Atlanta It's not going to go there anymore So we'll get that but Trev Getting nasty in Calabassey

How are you my good man? I'm doing well You did come in hot You had the shades on I came in I'm looking good But I had like a soy protein protein Shake not you know

It's like look how little it looks at my hand I didn't look great So I asked you, do I need to change? Yeah. And then you've toned it down for the episode. So I appreciate that. But in all seriousness, I do want to send our well wishes out to the Gulf side of Florida. I spent many, many a days out there along Fort Myers Beach, Athelani Kai, along the pier there,

and all that stuff is devastated and gone. So, you know, I don't know. We'll look for some donation links. We'll put them in the description down here. our best wishes out there. Hopefully everyone's staying as safe as possible. That's a big deal, man. Yeah, it's crazy.

Mike Trout tweeting about it because he loves the weather. And he said that in his tweet. So, yeah, we've got that craziness going on. All our Florida people and everyone else, I think South Carolina is next. Wishing you the best. And hopefully maybe you can be distracted by some early playoff baseball. and there's a lot of big topics this episode.

Red Sox fans, I'd love to talk to you about Tristan Casas, maybe this offseason, and maybe an infuego. And a couple other of your favorite teams might not get the big shout this episode, but people, less than a week left. We're doing this, and there are some big topics. We got a crunch. And Trev mentioned looking good.

You know what else can make you look good. How about some cuts? fellas There's no one I know Who has more style Than professional athletes Your thought on that statement Trev

I can go both ways I've seen some pretty Bad style of professional athletes And it's players only on here Who Michael Cadier comes to mind Yeah kid cutty wasn't known for his swag Tyler O'Neill though

and what a lot of these pro ball players are wearing now is cuts i've read you the list i'll do it again because these are real ones bryce harper walker beuler mariano rivera goat goat emojis in the chat cuts they've got their long sleeve henley short sleeve crunac find the shirt you like cuts has it they're engineered to last and won't fall apart after a few weeks washes join the hundreds of thousands of men who have already made the simple decision to elevate their wardrobe with cuts and you will get 15% off your first order at cutsclothing.com slash baseball. That's cuts cutsclusing.com slash baseball for 15% off the only shirt worth wearing. I see you guys wearing these all the time. You know what? Every time they have it on,

I'm like, dude, he looked jacked, and I know you're not jacked. So there's something going on there as well. I guess cuts have a nice cut to them, if you will. Pun intended. Felt like a pun intended. Yes. Hey, let me say something before we start. This right here, I'm in uniform.

I'm in uniform. You look so good and you're promoting the company, yeah. Stop talking. Let me finish. It's playoff time. I'm in playoff mode. This is it. Playoff Lenny.

Playoff Trev. Here we go. You know I never got to do it as a player, so you know on this side of the things, I'm ready to go. Playoffs is all I care about. From here on out, people. I'm sorry.

It's that time of year. That's what, you know, my whole entrance. Baseball. Playoff atmosphere, too. I'm in for that. October. Rocktober in Denver. BPD, let's do the National League.

I will bat lead off powerful Aaron Judge leading off. People are saying short king coming to the big leagues. My people, we are starting out in Flushings, Queens, where the Mets played a two gamer with the Marlins. They lose the first one, six for that NLEs lead. happening some heroics in the second game every day. Five tool light. Eddie Escobar, how's your five RBIs,

putting the team on your back, Greg Jennings? They split two. Also the highlight from this series, if you didn't see Dick Fliar called for three bucks, well, that's baseball. Go check that out. Teaser, there might be a breakdown coming soon. In the National League East, the Atlanta Braves took two out of three from the Nats.

Treville tell you, respect your elders, and Bryce dropped it. Power sinkers. Power sinkers. It's here. It's off the table. Pitch Ninja. We'll talk about that a little bit. But the Nats, how important will this be in the coming weeks?

They scrapped together a C.J. Abrams walk off. in the final game. Georgia native, excited to do it against the Atlanta. Bravo's. Hey, Phillies, what did we say? Don't slip up. The one thing you can't do is slip up. They've gone and they've slipped up.

They got swept by the Cubs. I texted Ian Hap. I said, nice catch, because he had a nice catch the other day. Cubs, 21, 4, 2,0, 2.0. Where's your offense? Philly. Oh, no, the Cubs sweep the season series, 60? Rob Thompson, Topper says we got to keep same approach every day.

I don't know, we're running out of days. Might have to mix some up, Topper. Cubs sweep in Wrigley. Wow, Philly's Reddit is talking about their favorite Phillies collapses. Scary stuff in Philadelphia. The Padres and the Dodgers, the Dodgers. Dodgers, wuga, wuga, wuga, they are the boogeyman for the Padres. We told the Padres to get one, and they did.

That first game, Jorge Alfaro. I wanted to finish the game. It's not a secret. I don't walk that much, and he walks it off. How about that? Four three Padres, and then Ureus coming for that Cy Young, he drops it all over the Padres. Dodgers, they are looking to figure out.

their playoff format. Some interesting lineup stuff with them in their outfield. We'll see how much Dodger chatter we get today. Brewers Cardinals. Cardinals clinch the first game. They're popping bottles of the ice, getting slizzered. Good times. We love a celebration. Lars Newt Bar living his best life on Miles Michaelis Day. And the Brewers come back. Woodruff. He, Brandon Woodruff comes alive this time of year. man he drops one brewers Craig timber has kind of happened they are in the mix people

Giants they swept the Rockies might not mean nudge to you they're back up to 500 I could see the Giants doing some sort of like oh we haven't had a losing record in five years don't really care Rodon shoves go get paid my man got Trev with that and your favorite series of the week Jack Swinsky, Miguel Anduhar, roll your ars when you Anduhar, and Kevin Newman with the walk-off signal.

Pirates, sweep the Reds, what action it was will dive heavy into them. And that's what happened in the National League. I'll snap for myself. You're on fire, bro. I almost wish you had the shades on to block the haters out, because you know what? they're always coming for you. That's what happens when you're on the top, Jake. I'll taste other dudes.

I think the haters come out big if I throw on those shades. The standings. My boy Jake. And what's important in this National League race, the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves are separated by one game. The Mets, 98 and 58. Man, if they win one in Atlanta, that would give them the tiebreaker.

We're going to talk about all of that. Atlanta's a game back. Philly, 14 and a half back in the division. They're chasing other things. The Cardinals clinch, 90 win season, 90 and 66 as we stand here today. Milwaukee will get to you in the wild card. Dodgers 108 in the bag, okay?

Franchise record. That's insane. Padres, 86 and 70, and like I got Trev with, the San Francisco Giants are at 78. and 78, not technically eliminated as we sit here today. Keep fighting the fight, Gabe Kapler and the boys. Now Longoria is going to be all over our Instagram. The Wild Card and what you need to know.

The Atlanta Braves are locked and dialed in that spot unless they catch the Mets. The San Diego Padres are two and a half up on the Phillies, and the Phillies are a half game up on the Milwaukee Brewers. Philly's are 83 and 72 on a five-game losing streak. Come on, Phillies. While the brew crew, they actually lost last night after splitting with the Cardinals. So, my boy, Trev. We'll go, Kron, and we'll go even east to west, I think.

Let's talk some Mets because they... Eddie Escobar and his performance, you may hear later in the show. show what could be a massive season saving win. I mean, we won't get fully dramatic, but incredible. The Balk series, I'll piggyback it. The Braves took down the gnats like we talked about Elder with a great performance. You know, some of the usual characters, Ronnie Acuna hitting casual bombs. This Braves Met series, I think we circled it at the start of the year.

I think we circled it at the middle of the year and we're circling it now we're teeing off for three in Atlanta I'm mad that we're not allowed to talk about Eddie Escobar right now you got him for later in the show I understand that but a day after you lose to the Marlins Cookie Carrasco has a tough start the umpires try to give you the game by calling

three box on Blyer free run you lose that game and see Rose and I did a segment on this, is this next game like a must win? And we said, it kind of is. And Eddie Escobar did it. I'll let you have that. Boy, do I want to talk about him. This series is great. Braves had a chance to sweep the gnats. That would have been something, you know, in the 10th ending there of that last game. They send up the top of their lineup with the runner on second base and they get nothing. And CJ Abrams, walk off knock. I mean,

think about just how big that is man you have your guys up you come up empty-handed you lose the game you're one game back but the wild car i mean excuse me not the wild card the tiebreaker is there for the met's taken and i'm just going to say this right now it's essentially a two game lead right it's these two teams are so evenly matched this series coming up is going to be so awesome but the season series already has been so evenly matched between these two teams i don't see anybody sweeping anything. I just don't see that happening. Braves could win two out of three. Mets could win two out of three. I don't know. I don't see anybody sweeping. And if that happens, Mets have the tiebreaker and it becomes a much more insurmountable lead if they have that extra game.

There's six games left, people. And this is, I mean, this is everything you asked for. Everything is lined up. The horses are there. The pitching matchups. Do you say the pitching matchups yet? Because I will. I have not. I would love to. to hear you tell me the pitching matchups. Max Fried, one of the hottest guys in all of baseball. Sneaky hot. One of the best pitchers in all baseball, going up against probably the best pitcher in baseball,

Jacob de Groh. The best. You guys like that? I love it. Fire me up. Kyle Wright. Unsung hero of the Braves. Nobody talks about Kyle Wright.

Really, nobody talks about Max Fried either. Not against Scherzer. 1999, Sy Young winner, Kyle Wright. if you look at the stats. 20 wins. Oh, I was like, what? Yeah. And then you have Bassett versus Morton.

And I like this. Talk about guys that you could just stick in the 1930s. And they're like, yeah, that works. Does that make any sense to you? Bassett and Morton are both like the guy who dates your ex after you and you pretend not to be pissy about it, but you're like, damn. I don't know

kind of tall like kind of nasty like um no they're great but I mean you've seen Bassett like kind of throw the ball he's got a little funk

it looks like you can pitch in the 50s or the fucking 40s I don't know man and you know Charlie Morton has has pitched in the 30s and 40s

he's been around for that long Charlie Martin um yeah it's lined up like a playoff series um you listed the names

I know I even I talked over Scher who's the most the highest decorated pitcher of that crew and, you know, has an argument to be an all-time, like, starting five pitcher. And I think the one thing I want to harp on before we really get into it, the Nats win in extra innings and that final game.

The Metropolitan's win in extra innings in that final game. That's like a two-game swap. if the Braves won and the Mets lost, we are approaching this weekend so differently. The Mets basically have to win one game because they do have the tiebreaker. If they win one, they need to win one this weekend to have the tiebreaker.

And then even if the Braves take the next two, they'd be tied. But the Mets, you know, they'd be in the driver's seat. They control their own destiny. Obviously Mets fans are looking, for more than that. But you talk about how much changed in those extra inning games

against the Marlins and the Nats. If you're a Braves fan, I'd be circling that as like we, I hope we don't regret that one. I hope we don't regret that one. The storylines are there. This series is going to be nuts. One of the bigger storylines to come out of this

is the promotion of Francisco Alvarez by the New York Mets. He's their top prospect. He is a short king, people. He's listed at 510, which means he's 5'8. Yes. Okay? And he's built like Jake, like a box. He's got pop like Jake.

He hits bombs. Okay? From all accounts, and I got to talk with a Mets fan this morning, he's going to come up in D.H. Against lefties. He rakes lefties. Well, who's pitching tonight? Max Fried. Where are you going to be?

Atlanta. What's going on? Oh, just a postseason-like series for the division. Welcome to the show, kid. I talked with Peter about this. He thinks it's awesome and it's different nowadays with rookies coming up. It's like, hey, you're part of this. Come do your thing.

Whereas when we came up, it was like, don't fuck it up type mentality. This is my question I asked Peter. I'm asking you this ending. Wouldn't you like rather have just called this guy up like last week? To, you know, get his feet wet a little bit before you stick him in the lion's den with Max Fried who's stunningly good looking on the mound? Right. It's really tricky.

So A, I want to see how they deploy him, like you said. If it's truly he is their lefty platoon D.H. Because I think Darren Ruff has struggled for them and that's who he was supposed to be when he came over. then I don't have as much of a qualm with it because it's, I call this the story Ellie callup because it's the weird mix between desperate and cool. If this kid comes up and he's nails and he plays great, like, wow, what a boost and what a cool thing you've done.

If he does come up and he has a bad couple baseball games, which any player can do, Prime Barry Bonds had a couple bad days. Never mind any rookie, even though it's a top 10 prospect, if you don't know, Francisco Alvarez, top 10 prospect in baseball, like Trev said, listed 510, 233, so we're probably talking 5-8-and-a-half, 255. I'm a Storelli meter.

Some of the clips are badass. He is 20 years old. He cannot legally drink. Get ready for that if he ends up on the Mets' playoff roster. And Trev, I thought what was interesting, he's mauled lefties. He's one dotted versus lefties this year in the minor. So, okay, I can be talked into that. The other thing that I thought was really important,

and I've baseball reference, for those of you who are baseball nuts like us, and you all are, you listen to this. Baseball reference, when you go on the minor league players pages, they now have splits that you could check out their game logs. You could check out their last month. You could check out their last seven days. And I think it's really important because Francisco Alvarez's stats in AAA this year won't blow you away.

And I was a little worried at first. But his, because again, that desperate, is it a desperate move by the Mets? His last 28 days, this kid, 362, 483, a 1.079. So, I think he struggled a little bit early in AAA. I think the light bulb started to go off. And hey, if you've got the button to press, why not press the button? I'm excited, but whoa, Nelly,

you want to talk about some... Is it unfair to put the kid in that spot? Max Freed? Like, think about everything you just said, Treff. I don't know. It's wild. You know, so his manager there, I think it's Syracuse,

is a former manager of mine, Kevin Bowles. Kevin for a couple different years in the minor leagues. And some of his quotes about him were like, he knows how good he is. But it's the rare combination of I'm this good with the work ethic. He said that is kind of what has separated Francisco in his mind and will give him the ability to come up here and have this success. And why they're not scared to do this is because the guy is like, he has that confidence that you need. But he also pairs it, the work ethic. You know I hate

the false bravado. You know, when teams try to have a moniker at the beginning of the season, I always tell people, hey, man, it's hard to have that thing all year long. Certain guys like Francisco are built to have that confidence

and to come up in these situations. This is what Kevin Bowles is saying about this guy. We'll see if it actually comes true, but it sounds like to me he's like an impact bat. You know, they brought in rough to be their guy against lefties. He's struggled.

That's the bottom line. So they're looking to get some, you know, some offense there from that DH position. And it'd be awesome to see him go off in these couple days and earn a postseason spot. I don't know if this is an audition. If he's just going to be on the roster, like that's kind of weird to have such a small sample size dictate if you make the freaking playout roster or not. But it kind of seems like that's the way it is, right? Yeah, and I guess I'm glad you had that tidbit about him being the first left-de-D-H, because, you know, James McCann, they brought in.

He hasn't hit much in his time with the New York Mets. And you hope the kid makes us have fun conversations, right? Like if he comes up and he is special, which he's supposed to be, if we could start having some Mets playoff conversations, do you put the kid behind the dish? Do they put him behind the dish late in the game? I mean, that gets crazy. I'd almost rather tell him,

hey, you're starting, kid, and then go to McCann late. I hope he opens up those conversations because that would be incredible. I don't think he catches. I don't think he catches. From everything that I read, like I said,

I talked to some Mets fans, you know, we got some Mets fans in the chat. Let me know if I'm wrong here, but I think he's primarily coming up, not primarily, like strictly coming up to be a bat against lefties. And if he earns extra bats, maybe we have him as a permanent DH,

but I don't think he gets behind the plate. You can't, you can't learn the pitchers, man. That's too, too much too late for this guy. Buck Showalter, I doubt he would do that. So I don't know. It's a fun wrinkle. And, Treve, I think you were looking for an answer.

I unfortunately think it's a play the result, and which is so unfair to this kid. I mean, if he gets a hit against Max Freed, that's unreal, you know? Is that all he has to do? Just like get one knock and you're golden? And then what? Peter and I talked about it this morning,

we're like, okay, what does he got to do to earn that next start? And we're like, go pump off a freed. I mean, that's basically what you have to do. Or hey, kid, here's A.J. Mentor and Tyler Matzick, who just, you know, basically locked up. up a World Series for the Braves? Why don't you pinch hit against them?

It seems like that would be like the, what they're probably going to do. We'll start tonight. He might get pinch hit for later by Vogelbach. If there's, you know, harsh right, right, I don't know. That's a possibility. He probably doesn't start tomorrow because Kyle Wright.

And then maybe, yeah, you do save him to come off the bench against those guys late in the game. I mean, that seems like the most likely scenario. I don't know if Buck just wants to throw him in there and say, hey, get a bunch of a bats right now. We'll see. It's as a storyline fan. I love it.

Yes. I just... Short King fan. I don't fully know what I mean. Seems like he's got that story. Helly swag to him. I think I might have seen a cat scratch on the eyebrows. And yeah, you know, it's easy when you only see the highlights,

but the highlights of him catching big boy homers are big boy homers. So hopefully it's the cherry on the top for the Mets season. and on Monday we're talking about them and how strong their year was, or, you know, we could be sitting here on Monday saying it's a-oh season. So should be fantastic baseball. I think if your team is out of it, I might enthused you to go click over. I'm probably going to be clicking over, if I'm going to be honest with you. And again, Eddie Escobar talk coming.

And Ronnie Acuna, did you see the homers, Trev? just so violent. His year overall numbers aren't there. They're so... They all reset, bro, in the playoffs. That's the beauty of it, man. Exactly. There's something about when he doesn't, man.

It's just like, Mike. He hurts baseballs. He's got a beautiful swing. It's a combination of, like, elegance with brutality. Like, it's so smooth. And, you know, when he wants... watch a Tiger Woods golf swing, you're like, oh shit. Like that's what a golf swing is supposed to look like.

I feel like you get that with Ronnie Acuna. When he's on, you get that. Like, oh, that's what a proper baseball swing looks like. Mike Trout has that too. His is like, it's so efficient. But sometimes I don't think it's as pretty as some other ones. Do you know what I mean with that? Yes.

Like Mike Trout is just like the most efficient swing in baseball. Like he generates the most power. It's the best bat path. It's so direct. But there's something about you know, the way guys finish with the one hand and everything that I think adds a little bit of beauty to the swing. May not be the best for your swing.

But I think there's a little bit of difference. Maybe people get that. Trout does not have the prettiest of swings, which is funny because of how good he is. But it works. Sure as heck works. That's your Braves Nats. I think the Philadelphia Phillies, Trevor.

We should keep it out east. What's up? Give it to him. What is you doing, baby? Philly. Five else in a row. Sweep by the Cubs throughout the season in a time where you needed

just to win a few games here. And I can give another, What is you doing, baby, to the Brewers. You're like, yeah, they've closed the gap, but they could have pounced. They could have been up two or three games by now, but the way Philly has been playing in September. And they just have not done it.

It's actually made it. I said today earlier, I said, I think I'm rooting for the Phillies to get into the playoffs over the Brewers because they've tried harder, I think. They've went out and signed guys. They've made deadline moves, whatever it may be. And for some reason, I just really want to see Bryce Harper do his thing in the postseason. But neither of these teams has inspired me right now to be like, hey, let's go get it. Like, they're just not, it's an uninspiring brand of ball.

And we can't, I mean, we're not going into this too much. But last night, what a heartbreak for the for the, for the, for the. Brewers. Yeah. I mean, up to nothing, you bring Peralta in. First time ever

not starting a game this year. You know, he's not stretched out. So they put him in a high leverage situation, gets in this in trouble, one two heater.

And mini-miggy, Abasail, man. Fucking pumps him. Four-two. And I watched the last, the last inning, and I could just, I think one walk

and nothing else after that, man. Former team. For Abysale. It's, yeah, man. It's, we are at the point of the season where those losses hurt two, three times as much. Because you're in the playoff race and they can, at the end of the day, one of these teams is going to be now devastated.

We didn't know the Brewers after the All-Star break started limping and it was kind of, oh boy. How much are they going to limp? When is it going to stop? Because it's baseball. The tide always turns. but how and when. They kind of changed the tide,

and they started going. The Phillies, we applauded them because they kept their head above water without Bryce. And then you kind of heard it in my voice when I saw they were finishing on this road trip, who it should not have been daunting, Cubs Nets, and you got four against the Nets, you can still, you can make all of this go away.

but then they finish with the Houston Astros who are lining up Erkiddy, McCullors, and Verlander. I don't know. I don't know. The Phillies have the second longest playoff drought in baseball, I believe, to the Mariners. So when the Mariners clinch tonight or tomorrow, I think in theory they'll have the longest.

One of these teams is going to be heartbroken. Milwaukee has had recent success, and now that they're reeled in, they are at home versus Miami in Arizona. I almost have nothing, Trev. Like, one of these teams is going to show us in the next couple days. And one of them's not. Like, that's what analysis can you really give?

There's not, and this is what I've said. I think the Phillies have a doubleheader today. And are they playing already? And it started? They have a, yes, they're double header today. I'm not sure. And I think Hoskins's homered. Up 1-0.

Let's go, Reeser. I said that you can bank on a split today. It's just very hard to sweep a double header. If you bank on a split today, that means these teams will be, are basically even going into today, I guess you could say. And then the thing about it is, I believe Philly has the tiebreaker.

Philly does. We do have the tiebreaker. What are I talking about? It's just, it's going to come down to it. Like, either one of these teams is going to be backing into the playoffs. They're not going to be rushing into the playoffs unless something crazy happens

and they go on a little run here, which Milwaukee basically has to do. Like at this point now, they have to play perfect baseball. I think they can afford maybe one more loss in these six games. If you are the Philadelphia Phillies, here's the one thing I ask of you.

Do not put your season on the line on the last day of the season versus Justin Verlander. That is the one thing I beg of you, Phillies, because I know how that story ends. And I don't think you want to know how that story ends. And Dusty has come out and said he'll manage the game the right way.

He'll play his guys because it means something in the race. That means something. you know, if you're Milwaukee, you're like, thank you, Dusty for that. But I don't know how much, he's not going to manage it like a playoff game. You get Justin Verlander for five innings, flip it to the bullpen. They're not going to be making crazy moves, stuff like that. I mean, I don't know, man. I don't, I don't like the fucking no game 163 thing.

I think, I think we're going to see this thing tied in the tiebreaker come in. That's just like the gut feeling that I have. And it's just going to, it's going to be heartbreaking, like you said. Philly's and Brewers. Someone went us over. There's a lot of chatter in our chat right now about the Giants can still do it because they do have the tiebreaker over both teams. I don't know, man.

Go Giants, go. Go, Gabe Kapler. Go, Giants, go. Let's shock the world. You and the Orioles are the only two non-eliminated teams that we're not really going to deep dive on today. but happy for Gabe Kapler's merry bunch. Yeah, I mean, the Cardinals clinch, good for them.

They deserve handshakes and high fives. We kind of game out before, but again, how the actual day they pop bottles and celebrate is as fun of a day as you get as a fan. I mean, some of the pictures and images, I know Newt Bar was going nuts. I know, you know, Yankee fans, Nestor was having beer poured down his pants, all the good stuff. I just, if you got a minute to give some love to the Cardinals on their season, I think they deserve it. Well, I mean, essentially, they became the bullies of that division when we didn't think that was really like kind of the dynamic there. We thought they were kind of neck and neck with the Brewers. I think for the most part, everyone thought the Brewers were going to be the better team this year.

And it just, they had some guys there in St. Louis absolutely step up and just, I mean, what Goldian era, Renato have done. The young guys coming up. There's so many people you could mention because it really has been a team effort. You love some Tommy Edmund. We know that, Jake. And like I said, they just eventually became the bullies in that division. What's their lead right now?

They're up seven games on Milwaukee, dude. They pulled away with it. And it's exciting to see because I think that there isn't a super clear-cut favorite in these playoffs. I told Peter this morning, I think the Astros had the best chance because I think they have the best chance to get to the World Series in my mind. But the Cardinals are well equipped to go win a World Series. And I think that's a really cool feeling to have as a fan base. If you're in St. Louis, like, you're stoked, man. You're stoked on the acquisitions you made during the year.

You're stoked that Jack Flaherty has come back and he's look pretty damn good. They are poised. They have the storyline, too. Jake's story alley loves the storyline. they got the old guys, the swan song. It's all lining up, man. So like I said, if you're a Cardinals fan, it's amazing right now for you.

You can just make it make sense, right? Wayno's Wayno. I mean, Halsley, at the end of that bullpen, Gallegos has gotten it back on track. And then, yeah, all the guys you know, Goldschmidt-Arenado, you know, I think Albert's not going to have a moment this postseason. I wouldn't bet against it.

Lars New Park. All those lefties with the Dodgers. They, uh, congrats to the Cardinals. They ran away with a division that we didn't think would be a runaway. Um, and they get to pop bottles and have a good time. A friend of the pod, Katie Wu, with some great coverage of that. Hey, the Padres haven't clinched, have they? They have not technically clinched.

They are two and a half up on the Phillies. so they're three games up. We talked about a little bit they had to survive this Dodgers series. And they won one game, they won the first game. They finish off at home against the White Sox and the Giants. So I don't know. It felt a lot more daunting at the start of the year, finishing with the White Sox and the Giants.

Padres, please don't join the Phillies and have the conversation we just had. I said they had to win one of these games against the Dodgers. They're going to be in the playoffs. I stand by that. I mean, they're up three games with six to play. This is, they're going to be in the playoffs. God, I hope I just didn't give them the kiss of death right there. The White Sox are still limping real quick, Trev.

The White Sox are still limping pretty hard. And I think when they play the Giants, their season may be, maybe done. So we'll see. I think our bigger Padres check-in will probably be on Monday, Zep. And for the Dodgers, some interesting things going on. Gonsolin expected to return Monday. Kid Vargas playing good in the outfield. Their outfields are really interesting conversation

between Taylor and Gallo and Belly and Thompson. But these are all side questions to a record-breaking season for them. So good for you, Dodgers, again, yet again. The Dodgers is like when you're... Okay. Coach tells you to run, but he doesn't tell you how long you're going to run for. And it seems like you've been running for a long time. And then he finally says, okay, this is what you're doing.

And it's like way longer. That's what the lineup feels like. You think you're going to get through it. You get through five or six people. I'm like, nope, it keeps going and going and people beat you day in and day out. Different people in that lineup, different people in that bullpen. It's a never-ending. cycle of good players, well above average players.

They're stacked. Trev, you want to bring us through your American League? My people, we are going to start out in one of my favorite cities. Toronto, the Yankees go in and they take two of three. Lou Jays win the first game, three, two on the Vladdy Walkoff. This is my house, and that's true it is. is where you play your home games at. Gladdy, I love it. It's awesome. It's setting out to be a big series. And then the Yankees take over. Five, two, eight, three. They end up taking two of three.

They end up clinching there. They end up hanging out in Vladdy's house, celebrating, drinking champagne. And oh yeah, by the way, Judge, it's number 61 in game three. 117 miles off the bat. Are you kidding me? Yankees are stacked. They're 17 and 17. in September. My goodness, after going 10 and 18 in August. Way to go, Yangs. Snaps for you. Toronto also is in the playoffs. They clinched a playoffs spot. Seating up for grabs. Speaking of seating, moving on, raise at Guardians. This one's actually as the playoffs stand right now, this would be the matchup. It would be in Cleveland. And Cleveland just showed they can do it. They win two out of three, six five raise and extras in the first game before the Guardians won the next one.

2 to 1 showing good tutelage winning in 10 while winning the next game 2 to 1. I just made that up on the spot. How about it? I watched some of these games bro. Wow! It was Guardians Baseball. They kept beating plays out to first base. Miles

Straw, you are so fast. Stephen Kwan, you are so fast. They run the bases. Everything that people say about them and how pesky their offense is is damn true. They take 2 or 3 from the raise in what could be a playoff matchup. Speaking to playoffs, the Mariners hosted the Rangers. They took two or three. Their magic number is one. They can clinch tonight. We had a JP Crawford walk off single. It went 5-0 Rangers before the Mariners did the damn thing, 3-1, and then 10 to 9. That last game was the JP Crawford walk-off. Everyone is saying they've been visualizing what it's like to clinch, and they're going to end up doing it in their

real world, which is also a simulation. So that's kind of like an inception point right there. Moving on, White Sox at the Twins. Twins playing some good ball. They're ready for, no, they're ready for the offseason. They take two or three. We are going to mention a guy on the twins later in the show. White Sox, you dead to me. I wore a freaking paper bag over my head with your jersey on it yesterday because that's how you're making me feel. 4-0-Twins, 8-4 twins before the White Sox won the last Gialito start, four to three. In other news around the AL, the Orioles went into Boston and Red Sox took three of four. Don't really care about this one. Red Sox do it. Orioles, it kind of hurts here right there a little bit. Fourteen to eight. They won the first one before

the Red Sox went 13-9-3-1-5-3. I believe we got one more, two more series that don't matter. A's at Angels, the Angels sweep bout time. 4-3 Angels, 4-1 Angels, 4-2 Angels, the show good fortitude. Show-hay, almost those a no-hitter. He's the best player in all the baseball, but somehow he's not going to win. MVP, we'll talk about that a little bit. In the last series, Royals at Tigers, Tigers sweep a little bit, too little, too late. 4-3 Tigers, an extra Harold Castro with the walk-off.

Then I went 2-1 Tigers, 10-3 Tigers, and I'm Diffy, so I will do the intro league recap. D-backs at Astros. Jake Snakes versus My Astros. They split 10-2 Astros in game one, 5-2 D-backs and extra innings. They went 10 there. Zach Gallon, another great start. Burlander matched them to your boy,

Bar Show. Go ahead, R.B. And that's what happened in the rest of the league. Powerful stuff as always. Trevor, in the American League, the wild card is a situation, but the East is won by my Yanks there, 96 and 59. Really strong year for them.

I know we had a scary month and a half. Outside of that, I mean, the Yankees had been really, really good this year. They clinch the East. Toronto has clinched a playoff spot. 87 wins. Tampa, 85 and 71, Baltimore. Let's circle up on them in the wild card. The Central is finished.

The Cleveland Guardians have clinched. Everyone else will not be invited to the party. And that's your AL-Mid. And the Houston Astros, like Trevor mentioned, 102 in the bank. They're lining up for the playoffs. The Seattle Mariners, I believe their magic number is one. And like I told you,

if you enjoy a good pop and bottles celebration, Seattle. I bet they might have a bang up one tonight. The wild card is where the AL has its most exciting drama. The Blue Jays are in, 87 and 69. All right. Seattle Mariners, 85 and 70. The raise, 85 and 71.

Baltimore, the only other team alive, and they are five back. Doesn't look good for the birds. Gonna be honest. But the seeding is what becomes the story. as Mariners and Rays have tiebreakers over the Blue Jays. The holes thing will and can get shuffled over the next few days. So Trevor, in the AL, where do you want to bring us? We'll start with the Yanks, clinching the division.

After a horrible August, you guys kept saying, well, we're not really trying. We're going to try again in September. And I guess, was that the plan? It worked or something? Some guys came back from injuries, and we were playing for October and August. In September, we were playing for September a little bit.

I thought it was a great series there. Again, you know, lad with the walk-off and then the Yankees clinching. I mean, it's kind of what you want to do. If you're not going to clinch at home, you want to go clinch, you know, up in one of your rivals places right in their face. I mean, I think that might even be better, to be honest with you. It's nice to clinch. with your fans at home, but to do it and silence a crowd and then have the guys in the dugout

watching you because they want that feeling so they never feel it again, which is weird. Why do you want to watch other people celebrate? Whatever. I guess, I mean, we got to talk about the Homer. Yeah. I have some questions for you on the judge, Homer. You've probably covered it so much with talking Yanks. First, congrats to him. 61 is a magical number. Maris family was there in attendance. Like I said, it was 117 miles off the freaking bat. He's just been incredible this year. He is going to win the MVP. I'm convinced of it, even though I think Shoah has a very good, you know, should have a good chance at it. He won't. Do you, how do you feel about like the Maris Jr's quotes there about 61 being the legitimate number?

Where do you land on that? Man, I don't disagree. I guess that's the easiest answer I can give. The best way I phrase it, and I compare it to a very big moment in John Boy Media history, The Athletic writes the article about the Astros that they're cheating, they're using a trash can, and you're like, wow, okay, the Astros,

damn, okay, wow. my good friend the Jombino, who will be with us throughout the playoffs on talking baseball, he made a video and posted it on the internet. And when you heard and saw the bang graphic pop up and you heard it with your ears, you said, holy crap, these dudes know what pitch is coming. When you look at the home run record, most home runs in a season, and the only guys above Roger Maris are McGuire Sosa and Bonds. Three guys not allowed into the Hall of Fame because of what they were doing.

It changed how I felt. Like I know steroids, you don't, eating one steroid and hitting one home run doesn't have a direct correlation. Bond Sosa and McGuire are badass ball players and they should be in the hall. but man, when you see that list and those three are the only guys above them, it's kind of like, damn. Like the home run record is arguably the most prestigious record in sports. And how crazy it would be if Bonds, McGuire, and Sosa's numbers weren't in that little book, the pandemonium that would have been going on the past month would have been so much crazier.

and you put that in a win and a loss column because the stress almost killed Maris and stuff like that. But I do like that they just keep saying that he's tied for the AL record and you keep it moving because either way it's amazing. It sounds,

everyone plays both sides when they get asked that question. I feel like the media is playing both sides because they do, like we are propping this thing up like it is the home run record. Okay, like, Did we ever talk about the National League record being broken when McGuire was and so-so were doing it? No, we're talking about 61.

Yeah. But now we're, we're focusing on, hyper-focusing on Judge at 61 because it's an AL record. And a caller on baseball today made this point to me and actually struck me pretty hard. Because I'm on the fence, too. I'm like, I agree. Like, those numbers there are steroid-driven. but if you start taking those away you can start talking about amphetamines

and pretty much every other guy that's ever played the game of baseball before 2008, 9, wherever the hell, when we started not giving people Adderall and you were testing for amphetamines, all that shit. Like those numbers are in question.

And what he said was, if we say now that 61 is a legitimate record and the judge breaks it and he's hit 62, what happens if he hits 74 next year? Are we going to talk about how he broke bond's record? or is, do you know what I mean? Yeah, it's, and that's the problem because it exists, bro.

73 exists, it happened. How good Barry, Mark, and Sammy were is awesome and shouldn't be forgotten, but it needs an asterisk. It just does. And you know what? I think if the commissioner, whoever went up to Barry, Sammy, and Mark and said, hey, you know, we're making it. official, you guys are in the hall.

We're putting asteris on your stuff. And that is what it is. I think they shake that hand. Maybe not Barry. Barry's an interesting guy. I don't think Barry would. And again, dude, I mean, I don't want to go into this because this is not the show for it.

But amphetamines and anabolic steroids have different effects on your body. But I would say that they correlate similarly. Like, amphetamines making sure you're ready every single day, hyped up, ready to go over a long season.

Like, that is how you stack numbers. Yeah. So, like, and that was absolutely prevalent in all the clubhouses from, for 60 years, bro. So you start talking about putting an asterisk next to Bonds and McGuire and taking these records away. Well, dude, we got to fuck it. I know.

I know. Everybody. There's no easy answer. Let's get away from that. Yeah. And I just always end up saying, put Griffey and Bond stat side by side, look at up to age 30, and then look at it after age 30 for both of them, and paints a really interesting story. Anyways, amazing for Judge.

Yeah, snaps for Judge. They get it the day after they clinched, and there was some debate if they were going to play them because it'd been seven or eight games without a homer. He DHSs, he gets it out of the way. Because, man, oh man, if he didn't, the last 48 hours, would have been, is he feeling the pressure? Is he going to do it? So I'm so happy for him and for us that it's out of the way.

And hopefully he sets it tonight where I'll be in the building. Bar trivia. Yes. Who is the manager for Judge's 60 first home run? You could say Anthony Rizzo and you wouldn't be wrong. The Don Antonio Rizzo. Blue Jays. Hey, go on.

Stay strong. They are one up in the loss column. And, man, you're talking about a massive potential swing. Because if they hold on, they get home field in Toronto. Vlad's house, as he told you. But if one of those two teams catches you, they have the tiebreaker and think about it. We want to stay in Toronto and have our raucous home crowd and we get last licks. Or fly to Seattle?

Or fly to Tampa? Toronto this week is going to be a big test for you. I know the baby rays can be, or the baby Jays can be a little brash and good. They're young. They're talented. Eat it up, baby. But make sure you finish this last week strong.

Because, man, packing those bags for a flight to Seattle would not be a good time. No. And we've been calling for them to go have a banger month, dude. Like you've kind of been hitting all single year, like just slightly above 500, slightly above 500. Let's get hot roll into playoffs. I mean, they're 17 and 10 in September. If they do finish strong, they can have a 700 winning percentage rolling into the playoffs. I think that's kind of like what you hope for. You host that three games, go into the playoffs hot. Peter Moreland says he thinks the teams that have the buy have a disadvantage.

And I've been saying the exact opposite for a long time. But there is an interesting argument to make about, you know, being in the shit and just kind of like not taking your eyes off at 9. on our fastball for three days and expecting to come back and do it. So it's on the pitching side, I think it's 100% an advantage for the team that has the buy. But Peter swayed me a little bit

on the offensive side. I understand like the timing aspect of it. So they can be in a really good position. If they host and they're hot, right? Like they're one of the teams that you're like, oh, shit, they got hot at the right time. If you host, actually no, I'll take it back

because if you go on the road and you do it too, I think if you win the first two games and that's it. That's all. I think that's a best case scenario. You save a little extra bullpen in another arm, and, like, you're dialed up for the next series. I've said it with Mets and Braves.

Whoever ends up in the wild card, I kind of love that for them because their big dudes are going to be lined up for games 2, 3, 4. Like, you're still okay, if not better than okay. So we will see. Enough Yankees talk.

Let's talk briefly about the Guardians' Rays series. As of right now, that would be a playoff series. It would be the exact same series, and the Guardians do take two or three. And this is after they've clinched. They've clinched the third seed. They've clinched the division. So, like, they don't have to be going and playing the way they're playing.

And Frank Kona add a quote on that. He said, I expected that. I think they like to play baseball. We wanted the work where if we did hit it, we didn't have to put, wait, that's a whole different thing. I like that quote though when they say, and he says,

I think they like to play baseball. Because when you do watch them, that is the idea that you get from the guardians. Like in this series, it was a bunch of hustle plays that won them the game. Like beating out infield singles, putting pressure on the defense,

you know, avoiding hitting into double plays, like running hard and beating out that, that second throw. I mean, it was straight up, what everyone talks about with Cleveland. Like, bat's a ball, tough outs.

And I think we're going to find that that type of baseball can play really well in the postseason, especially I feel like in a longer game set, it plays more. And I'm not sure if that's accurate or not. In my mind, like, in a three game set, a couple three-run homers can win the whole thing from you. but in a longer set when you're chopping and fouling pitches off and you're extending pitch counts for the bullpen and the starting pitchers. And I think it takes its toll more and more as a series goes on.

So I think if they can get past this three-game series, I think they're in a good spot. Constant pressure. And if there's more opportunities to apply that pressure, I think you're right. On the raised side of it, Tyler Glassnow. with three innings pitch in a start this series. Holy smokes.

How much will he be a part of their October? I have no idea. Pete Fairbanks in the back of that pen has been gross lately. So I've asked you this before, Traven, you kind of poo-poot it, and I'll do it one more time quick. Bieber pitches in this game, six innings pitch, four and run. Does he, knowing he could be on the mound against this team in a week in a game that really matters?

Is he, I don't know, is he changing his pitch mix at all? Or is he focused on different things than he normally would be if it was need to get every out? He could be. He could be holding back in certain situations. if they saw something they can exploit with a hitter, they might have kept off of it. I don't think he was really, you know,

I watched some of his start. It didn't look like he was holding much back. He was just pitching. But maybe they have found something in the numbers and something in the data that they want to exploit and they'd stop there. But it seemed to me like it was a regular start. And some guys just have to do that.

Right. They just have to go out and pitch. And certain pitchers pitch to their strength. others pitched to a hitter's weakness. It looked like to me he was just doing his thing. Tristan McKenzie, our guy, six innings one earned, his ERA on the year, 299. We love that.

Hey, baby, him and Bieber. And yeah, the Guardians, I watched some of this game on MLB Network last night. The Guardians are fun, man, and they are pesky, and they believe, and they're dug out. is kind of rowdy because they're young guys that want to like feast on you. And Jose Ramirez and Oscar Gonzalez, they were like acting as the hitting coaches, yelling at their dudes.

It's really good vibes over there. And yeah, I know ALMid, I haven't given you a ton of respect this year. The Guardians are fun and where their product has landed is cool. And I'm very interested to see them host three games against one of these teams, which all add their different elements. What else do we need, Trev? Just a little Mariners? Little Mariners talk here.

They win two out of three. They get the magic number down to one. It was an awesome victory last night with the J.P. Crawford walkoff. We have a stat. It was a tweet. And I'm sure Mariners fans are probably sick of this. They probably heard it a lot.

But for the rest of us, just let us have some fun with it. The last time the Mariners made the playoffs, there were 5,273 blockbuster video locations in operation in the United States. I think there's one now, right? It's like some weird place in Oregon because Oregon does weird stuff. Yeah. This is a long time coming.

Like you said, this celebration might be one for the ages. Who was it that said, I want my guys to go out there and just go nuts. They're young. I don't care what time they come on. I think it was Tito. like they've earned it, like go crazy. I feel like the same thing with the Mariners, who last year fell short.

And then we questioned them at the beginning of this year. Is this for real? I declared them dead. Yeah. And they answer the bell. And they're going to end the postseason drought in Seattle. And they're going to hand it off to the Phillies. Yeah.

But that party's going to be awesome, man. They're already dancing on the field. Can you imagine what they're going to be doing in the clubhouse? last night after the walk-off, there was all of them in, like, essentially a dance circle. Yeah. They're having fun, man. And, like, it's so cool to see the joy. And those, I mentioned, like, a lot of guys saying, like, they've had visions of this, okay?

Like, J.P. Crawford, I've been waiting for four years for this. I can't wait. Mitch Hanninger. I think we're all excited. We need to home. We need to get home and try to get a good night's sleep because it's probably going to be tough to fall asleep tonight. because they're just thinking about it. Marco Gonzalez, I've been thinking about this moment.

We're on the cuss. The job's not finished. When these guys finally get to finish the job. Get him a Roman swipe. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. That Seattle team.

Our guy, big dumper. That rotation, Gilbert Castillo Ray in a three-game set. Good luck. Seawald Munoz, Swanson Castillo. at the back end. They are really good. They need a couple guys to get healthy. They'd love a good update from Julio.

Your boy, Eohenio, just came back. Yeah. So let's see what they look like come that wild card series because a couple important bodies there. And I'll send this message out there. And I think there's some irony to it because I'm going to say, don't be that guy. Again, I opened up the show wearing a candy necklace.

and ball player shades. That's rave Jake's necklace right there. I know that. Don't be the person that says like, oh, Mariners, they clinch a wild card spot and they're partying like this. If you think you're even close to becoming that person, the New York Yankees,

who are one of the stiffest franchises in sport, when they clinch the division, they let it rip. And guys that normally do, don't give answers in press conferences and they do the talk and we're the Yankees, blah, blah, blah, they let it eat because baseball is a grind and you need to. Whether it's Francona or Boone, whoever it is, anyone in the spectrum of baseball, if you're going to the dance, celebrate it because you just don't know how many dances you have left.

So I hope the Mariners go nuts. I hope they clinch tonight and on Saturday, everyone's wearing sunglasses in the dugout. Like, rip it up. People in the chat telling me they do the circle after the games. I know that, but they don't do it with 25 people out there. I haven't seen that. Usually it's reserved for three or four.

But go off, young kings. They have fun. You deserve this, man. They have fun. They have a lot of good young guys. Mitch Hanager has been going for them. Circle that. Kellnick had two homers.

How about the kid? Kelnick. That's a revenge series. Chat, answer this question. I think I know the answers. Kelnick on the postseason roster at all. What do you think it is? If Julio's back, no.

He's coming back, right? It's a good question. I don't know. I don't know. Playoff roster. White Sox twins. We're actually going to. talk about a couple twins later on the show.

That's all they get. I do not want to talk about the White Sox. They're officially eliminated. Has that happened in between our last shows? I think it has. They're eliminated. Bye-bye. Oh.

Trev, I think the only topic, topic left is your boy, Show Hey, showtime. Man, oh, man. Don't get me started on this, Jake. I got ammo, bro. I have ammo right now. So, like, you just.

Talk about Sho Hey, I don't know. Here's what I'll tell you. I love storylines. The people know this. When I saw through six innings, Trevor, I was going to bed last night. And I was spending time with my sweet Jessica. And we haven't been spending a lot of time together. What was that?

She's beautiful. She is beautiful. Made love. We had been She started a new job The judge home run race has been going on We're getting ready for playoffs We've been busy, busy busy

I was like you know what? Weddings. We're planning a wedding I threw on Guardians' rays for a little bit And even then I was like You know what? Let's not We watched a little bit of a Bill Burr

Stand up live at Red Rocks You know very Bill Burr entertaining Called my dad It was his birthday. Anyways, finished scrubs. We had to the bedroom. I don't want to go into detail there.

It's time to go to bed. And I'm laying in bed, I was like, I'll do one last check of the phone. And I see that Shohei is no hit through six. And I say, son of a bitch. Because if in the middle of this whole thing, judge in the home run race Shohei doing something that's never been done

if he got to swang that big thing out there and say, oops, no hitter, that changes things. I almost put a $5 bet on Shohei to win the MVP, live. You're not allowed to say that. I was waiting for you to say that. You're not allowed to say that.

If you think judge the MVP, you can't tell me that I don't know his name. Do we have it here? Shohei Otani? No, I don't know. The guy for the A's, I don't even know who he is, okay? Great job last night. Hits the ball off the end of the batjake.

Yeah. And it finds a hole. If you're telling me that swing changes the MVP race, I hate you. I hate you. Yeah. I'm sorry, bro. That doesn't make any sense.

This guy has, done everything that you could do. Right. He's not going to win the MVP. I've already convinced myself for that. I think he should. Not taking anything away from Judge. But don't sit here and tell me that if he had a no hitter under his belt, that he should be the MVP. Don't tell me that. I won't. But it would have been fun to talk about, right? No, man, it's, some things aren't life aren't fair. I understand what MVP is supposed to stand for. This country loves a winner. He's not on a winner. I know you feel that shouldn't affect MVP because it isn't an individual award.

But Trev, you know how Vegas works and you know where the judge odds are at, so you know what's going to happen. If the Angels were a wildcard team, don't you think those Vegas odds would be significantly different? Excuse me, I'm going back. Kellanick. is going to be, Kellnick is going to be on the roster. Start, what do you say again right there? If the Angels were a playoff team, do you not think the Vegas odds for Otani? Vegas doesn't mess.

I'm asking you a question. I'm not, I know your stance on it. I'm asking you a question. If the Angels were a playoff team, do you not think Otani's MVP odds would be significantly different? I do. And that's a problem.

them. I realize it's it's not our fight and I, whenever you say it, I don't have a counter to it. If you switch Judge and Otani, the Yankees are still good and the angel still stink. But I think that pompum circumstance, is that the right word? Of Otani being on a loser and judge being on a winner is what changes it. Okay. And I know, I know it's not a great answer. Let's move on. But it's America's answer. I've talked too much about it.

Because I come off, like, sounding like I don't like judge, which is horrible. Right. You know, we got some Yahoo's in the chat here saying, oh, you played for the twins. No wonder you don't like the Yankees. He said, bro, I massacre the Yankees. Okay, let me tell you that right now. Second deck. Yankee Stadium.

Not many people been up there. Your boy, been up there. I love the Yankees. When the Yankees do well, we do well, okay? It's just that I think what Shoeh is doing is incredible. That's it, man. I don't want to talk about it anymore. You're not wrong.

Houston lines everything up. Christian Walker, 36 homers this year. Yup. Dalton Varsho 27 ding-dongs. We play for Rings in the Desert next year. While Houston is an absolute wagon. And they do have the easiest path to the playoffs currently. The NL's a bloodbath.

We'll see what the Yankees look like in a couple days. we got a couple old men trying to go on broken bodies DJ LaMayhew, Matt Carpenter, who knows what the Yankees are going to look like in a couple weeks. Anything else? Playoff roster season is my favorite season too. I'm so glad Jimmy compared it to this when he tweeted out the other day. I'm not the biggest playoff roster guy. I'm very much like, hey, let's wrap the party up and then we'll figure it out.

Like, you know, three of these relievers could stink and be hurt in a week. Like, but he compared it to one of my favorite things in the world. Mock drafts. I could do and watch mock drafts of any sport, any day, all day. And that's where Jimmy has with the Yankees' playoff roster. So it's a fun topic around here. I'm going to ask you a question. Yes.

I want you to answer it truthfully. You're on a playoff team. You're like, you know, 26th, 25th dude, you know, kind of at the end of the roster. Right. They tell you you're not going to be on the team for this round, but you're going to be with the team in case somebody gets hurt. There's a chance you play in the next round because your skill set matches up better there. Is there a part of you that's kind of like stoked on that,

that like the pressure's gone from that series? or are you like so mad because you want to feel that? I would be frustrated that I'm not having the opportunity to help my team. But then if that all played out, if the DS happened and my team advanced and everything was honest, like I was really good against lefties, that team didn't have any lefties so they didn't use me. But then I come on the CS roster,

I would walk in like the biggest peacock in the world. Like, oh, now you need me. Let's go. Let's do it. Let's go to the World Series. Yeah. I love it. I feel like every player talks about how tough it is to not be playing in those games.

Like that's when you get nervous. Like when you play, you get to affect it and be part of it. Like C.C. especially, he always says that. Right. The games he didn't pitch were when he was very nervous. nervous. But if you just know for sure you're not going to be involved, because I guess if you're just always staying ready,

you have the chance to affect this later. So I don't know. I don't know where I'd land. Well, BPD, where you're going to land is our standout performances. Standout performances are brought to you by draft Kings. I was wondering, I had a couple losing bets. I went for the Jamar Chase team. last night.

Didn't happen. He didn't get used a lot, and that's fine. But I had more money in my Draft King's account, and I was like, what's going on? All my preseason baseball bets had cashed. All of them. That says LinkedIn on it.

Luckily, this isn't a Draft King's ad. It's for LinkedIn. LinkedIn. I just want to get that off my chest. You just want to let us know that you did good. This can't happen. LinkedIn. I told you guys, and I just got a DM this morning.

Someone asked me on LinkedIn if I was going to be at the Yankees game tonight. I didn't respond because I'm busy. I'm recording. But LinkedIn is the number one place that you can check out jobs. And list your own jobs. We found a lot of people in our office. We're up to, we got a lot of employees here. I think 63 we did a head count the other day.

That's crazy. And a chunk of them came from LinkedIn. LinkedIn jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash talking. That's LinkedIn.com slash talking to post your job for free. Guys, you know LinkedIn. You're on LinkedIn. I told you, befriend me.

I will accept your request about every two and a half weeks. I accept every LinkedIn request. and it's the number one job site in the world. So if you're hunting or looking, go check out LinkedIn.com slash talking and post your job for free. Standout performances. Stand out.

Trev, I was the lead-off hitter today. I'll go if you want me to go. I'm fucking red. I want you to go because I've got a little mashed potatoes for the people. Bebs, I sent you a little article that pertains to this particular standout performance. I'm giving it to Zach Grinky. Is he on a team that's not playing for anything? Of course. He's back with the Royals. He goes seven innings pitched. Zero earned runs. Two K's, four hits, one walk. Ho-hum, Zach Grinky does it again. The reason I'm giving him

this standout is because one, he got his ERA down into the threes. And he's just, that's the kind a pitcher he is. He has his ERA in the threes. Three is a significant number for Zet Grinky. He's made $330 million in his career. But the article I'm referencing, it's an athletic article, BPD will link it in the description. It's like a collection of like stories from his teammates. And they've done this like multiple times throughout his career. They'll just go start talking to people about Zach Grinky. And there's like just hilarious little antidotes that all of his teammates now, front office people, they all weigh in.

It's such a fun read. It's so funny. And if you don't know, Zach Grinky, like, this will give you an idea of what kind of like person he is. He's kind of introverted, like very introverted. But at the same time, like people say he's one of the funnier guys you're ever going to be around. There's a story about.

him like walking by a bunch of guys in the hotel lobby in Dallas. I guess there's a golf simulator and a bunch of them were playing. And he had like all his family. They had just gotten into town. And so he's like, I'm going to go walk my family up. And then they said he came back like five minutes later barefoot and just started playing golf with them. And he said,

I'd just rather be playing golf with you guys right now. Like it's just weird, funny stuff like that. Go check it out. I don't know if that's the best example I could. given, but I thought that was pretty funny. So congrats, Zach. If you want to dig into the Zach Grinky corners of the internet, you'll find a lot of good stuff.

You know, some just over-the-top, silly stuff, some kind of socially awkward, some introverted, and wherever it does end, it does end with an incredible baseball career. And I mean, how Zach Grinky, end of September. still twirling it for a casual seven-inning shut piece. Good for him, and I wonder what's next for him, you know? You never know. He'll do whatever he wants, dude. He could be on the Astros next year.

He's a scratch golfer. He says in the article, a bunch of the guys say, he'll ask you, like, what's your handicap? And if you give him a number that's too high, he goes, we'll never play together. Direct. He would just smoke you in golf, too, and that would hurt me. Couple LinkedIn requests coming in right now. It's a great standout.

Trev, I'm doing a little mashed potato combo. I'm going to throw my guy Anthony Santander out there from the Orioles. He's put up a full-blown big boy season, 33 ding-dongs. He had a couple two Homer games this week, and he's been a big part of the Orioles breakout, so I want to show him some love. And then there was another guy I wanted to give love to who has just been out of his dome for a while now.

And it's Marcus Simeon. There's a lot of different ways you can chop it up. He had a two-homer game against Seattle the other day. He has been going nuts for the second half of the season. And remember how atrocious his start was? I mean, he had a, through May 26th, his OPS was in the fours. Since then, he's been Marcus Simeon, and he is rolling 26 homers on the year, 99 runs, 24 swipes.

We mentioned it briefly, and it wasn't going to be a big Texas Ranger's show, although our guy young, right? Josh, he did some good. stuff. A couple homers, big neck. Seeger, that neck. Like Texas has something brewing and hopefully it matters more next year. But I want to give those boys some love. Josh Young, a two homer day. Heck yeah, bro. Heck yeah. Rangers all the way. You know I always say that big fan of that organization. Bryce Wilson, the Bryce's, Bryce Wilson and Bryce Elder. Altuve had a two homer day. Some good options. I was almost going to do a Tolkien baseball with Elder.

because obviously that's a delish name. And we could have went a lot of different ways there. I love the way that sinker. What do you say? It falls off the table, baby. It's there and it's gone, you know? Can't wait until we go backwards. And we have a bunch of guys still in 88-mile-hour sinkers in this game

because everyone's geared up for 105. That's going to be so sick. Is there everybody's change-ups, right? Trev, let's hype up some people to finish the year. strong. Slump watch. Trev. There's a couple guys on this list.

A couple guys we're going to be talking about a lot to wrap up the year. Randy a Rosarena 0 for 13. Randy. No one cares about the regular season. The best to ever do it. You stumbled in to a game winning run. I believe you're about to go on a run with no stumbles, if you know what I mean.

Randy, just stay the course, get the boots ready, get them shined up, play it because the bright lights are turning off. Your guy, Cody Bellinger, O for 10. Cody, I said this to another 4-WR MVP just yesterday. You're one of the best players in the best league in the world. Remember to always have that confidence. Everybody's numbers start back as zero in the postseason. Nobody gives a shit about the regular season.

when you go win an MVP of a series award, which I believe Cody Bellinger might just do. I hope you're saying the same thing to my guy, Giancarlo Stanton 0 for 9? Giancarlo, I'm going to say this to you straight up because you're from the 818 and you can take you. Notre Dame High Stand Up, Cresby High Alumni right here. You got to step it up.

We've got to have you providing protection. We've seen you do it in the postseason. We've seen you take the postseason. season over with your swings. I believe you have that in you. You know you have it in you. It's almost like rinse and repeat. Lights come on.

John Carlo shows up. That's what you do, big guy. Unless you're in the club when you want the lights down. I know John Carlo likes the club a lot. If you win the World Series also, John Carle, if you have something back here in LA, let me know. Josh Naylor, O'Ferade and Dansby Swanson, one for 15. Nailer. keep the intensity always.

It doesn't matter if you're 0 for 8 or 8 for 8. The intensity is what makes you you. I need you to continue to do it. Okay, you clinched, you got a pad on the butt, let's go, job's not done. I think you know that. Being from Canada helps Josh Naylor out a lot. Just like being from the South, I think helps Dansby out.

Let me tell you something, Dansby. You are going into the offseason and you're going to be a free agent. Okay, let's all remember Carlos Beltran and what he did to himself in that postseason, what, 2004, 2005? I think you've had an excellent year. You've already set yourself up for a great contract. But go off and be a king in this postseason, win another ring, and I promise you that's worth like what? 30, 40 million probably? There's some motivation for you, player.

Extra year on that contract would be a real treat Give me some hair flips Treve, that brings us to Dirt Nasty's on Fuego That means I'm on fire baby Like Waco Run it Trev Anthony Santanderer you stud

Five for 19 with four Jimmy Jacks Taylor Ward are we back in April 7 for 11 Two homers J.D. Martinez doing his thing 7 for 17 two homers. Matt Olson, date Jake's daughter. It's time for the playoffs. Four for nine with two homers. Mitch Hanager, same thing. You can date Jake's daughter. Both you may be at the same time. Four for ten. Two homers. Four for ten. Two homers. One huge. Big neck. Brian Dela Cruz, five for eight, a homer. Three six RBI. And it says on here, one huge neck. Brian Dela Cruz, five for eight a homer. three doubles, three RBI, and Chuck Peterson. Can you come to the Braves at this point of the season? You can't?

No. Five for 10 of Homer, two triples and four RBI. Tristan Kossis on the next sheet. My bad. Ooh, good, nice little week here. Seven for 13 a Homer, double three RBIs, and five walks. I know that the good people in the Commonwealth are hoping this recent heater from big Tristan Kossis is something they can take.

into next year. A lot of power, country strong. Big boy. I need Taylor Walls right now. Who? Yeah, me too. Chiropractor. I've been doing a lot of that too.

Well, Trev, we are finishing it up. Awards a stimulator, I think a second to last stimulator. We will see. And speaking of stimulator, how about simulating with win reality? you've probably seen Win Reality the VR baseball training application only available on the meta

Quest 2 that gives players access to unlimited game speed and reps no matter where they are. Trev, you've been looking for the way to counter what the pitchers are doing and win reality might be the one. Their pitcher library consists of 600

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Paul Goldschmidt. You know what he might get very soon? The NLMVP. Batters love it. Coaches rave about it. It's a revolutionary tool. It is not a game. It allows you to train wherever you are.

Head to winreality.com. Spelled how you think. Winreality.com slash talking and sign up today. Players who train with Winreality report 43% more confidence at the dish. I like that. Go check them out. Winreality.com slash talking. If you're getting serious about your ballplay or know a ball player,

this is the future in the future. is now. I need that. You do. I hinted at a big tournament coming up. I didn't say anything about it, but there's a big tournament coming up. Got that. Trevor, you have the honor. All right.

So I know my twins were a disappointment this year. And all my twins fans are kind of like, is the baseball season over with? I guess Kurt Cousin is going to be the MVP? Pete is Dalvin Cook's shoulder are going to fall off. We're just wondering all these things. But the twins have given us a few things to pay attention to.

And I kind of like these things. You guys know about one, but I'm going to go with another one also. We're going to start off with a happy one. Matt Walner, Minnesota boy. I think he went to Mississippi State. That's an interesting combination right there. He hit a ball, Jake.

A hundred and 13 miles an hour at a 45 degree launch angle. It went for a homer and had a hang time of almost seven seconds. Here it is. BPD is showing it right now. Whack. He doesn't even know where this ball is and people, by the time this ball lands,

Byron Buxton would have been on second base. It's just one of these homers that you got to watch and watch again because you're like, what happened? It looked like he popped it up. But the guy is strong. He's a big old donkey. I hate calling people that, but that's a good word to describe them.

it was it just hung in the air for so long i love homers like that so i wanted to give a shout out to little matt warner watched again real quick right here a little joey gal that of him right three is i giving you guys flashbacks five six seven yeah so i loved it i wanted to shout that out and then another thing that i kind of loved it's actually just really funny the carlos Korea quote. Okay, we all know the situation with Carlos. He has the opt-out. He's vocally said he likes being in Minnesota. He'd like to be

there. And now I lot, where did I lose my thing here? Going shopping at Dior, Big Daddy? He says, when I go, I want to get the real quote, okay? We might have to edit this, maybe not. I had it up and then I clicked off of it. We're live.

Oh, we're live right now. Got it. Ready? Ready. He had this to say about his upcoming contract situation. I go to the mall and I go to the Dior store and I want something. I get it. I ask how much it costs and I buy it. So if you really want something, you just go get it.

I'm the product here and if they want my product, they just have to come get it. You don't hear people being so forthright too often in Major League Baseball. It happens sometimes in the other sports. We have holdouts. We have people forcing trades in the NBA, stuff like that. But at baseball, it just really never works that way. But with these opt-outs and the way he's performed later in the season, he's realizing he's got some leverage.

And like, is it kind of, is it like a little cringe? Yeah, it is a little cringe. That's fine to say that. But he's right. It can be cringe and it can be right, people. If they want him in Minnesota, they know what it's going to take. He says, come ask me, I'll tell you. and if you want it, you can get it,

because that's what he does at the store, the Dior store. I thought it was just kind of a quote I had to talk about. It was, it's been funny because Karea has, Karea has played the game all year and he's had the good quotes,

and he also kind of was banged up and off to a slow start. Like you said, you and the good people in Minnesota, like, yeah, you know, he likes, likes it here. The Dior quote makes me think he might test free agency.

Well, we have a Dior store. We probably don't, actually. And the Mall of America, there's got to be a Dior store. Chad, help us out. I don't think there is. So maybe he's already hinted he's gone. Dior store, Minneapolis, Mall of America. Bang.

Makes sense. It's funny. That's Carlos Correa. He embraces the heel role. We all know that. It's like he wants to be loved, but he also enjoys playing the heel. It's an interesting dynamic with Carlos. He is him in a way.

Treve, a fantastic standout. Trev, I'm going to bring back the old tale, literally, of the tortoise and the hair. We have complimented the Mets and Uncle Stevie on their offseason numerous times. Markana has been a stud for them. A lot of big moments. Max Scherzer, obviously. He's Max Scherzer. Chris Bassett.

Don't sleep on him in the 1930s. The other guy who I love, one of my favorite players in baseball, Eddie Escobar, one of your guys. He shared the clubhouse with him. You've been on the flights with him, and he's, you know, high energy, good guy, versatile. Didn't he end up on the Brewers last year? you're playing some first base?

What was going on there? He's on the Mets. He got off to a solid start. Good first month. But then, 82 games from May 5th to September 1st. That's a lot of the baseball season. Eddie Escobar was 205, 234, a 607 OPS.

It just wasn't it. He was the transaction that Mets fans didn't really want to talk about. I don't want to say it became a punching bag, but when you see that much of that brand of baseball, it's tough to get excited for a guy. And then here he is, September 2nd to September 28th. The final legs of this season, the Braves breathing down the neck of the New York Mets,

And what's Eddie bust out for these 24 games? 341 batting average, a 390 on base, a 1.049 OPS. An MVP, four weeks from Eddie Escobar, including being highlighted at the end by a 5 RBI day, all five RBIs in a game one by one run in extras over the Miami Marlins that could have been a Taylor Walls, a backbreaker, chiropractor night. Five to a light, Eddie Escobar, his season stats now feel like Eddie Escobar, or close to. And man, you want to make fans in New York or wherever you play.

put a stretch like this together when your team needs it because they're 14 and 10 in that stretch Trev and if he doesn't play like this I don't know what we're talking about this weekend I think we might be talking about the Mets chasing the Braves

going into this series It's incredible if you want to get to know Eddie at all Just go watch his post game press conference After that walk off He's just good vibes man we've been saying it all along he's kind of exactly what that clubhouse needed because i know this even when he was struggling in those months he were talking about he was still edie eskabar showing up with a smile on his face getting his work in and that's the kind of person when you have an example

like that man uh it really helps out everybody else in the clubhouse over that long season uh it is awesome to see it too because he hits the homer and then he hits you know two shift beaters essentially one from either side of the plate, dude, just kind of grinder-ish at bats. And he can do that, man. He can grind out of bats for you. He can hit for power. Post-season hero, Eddie Escobar,

I'm here for. I'm here for it. In that stretch, he has five, two-hit games. He has three, three-hit games, and one four-hit game. Eddie, coming through, in a big September for the Mets, and I know he's your guy.

BPD, give us a best friend, and let's hit a second to last stimulator? I think so if we do one right before. I think we can. But our best friend is Jameson-Tayone. Gets, what, like his fifth, sixth crack at the Blue Jays this year, gets into the eighth inning, 7.1, 2 earn 6Ks.

They clinched the 8th. A.L. East in that game, his fifth best friend of the week award. Hey, why did, why did Tyone, like, get past the mic during, like, the, after Boone talked before they pop the champagne, what was that about? They give out a belt every win. So he was the belt that game.

He won the belt that day. So it wasn't, wasn't like a season thing. It was just a, they're winning. Do you remember interviewing Jameson, in the back of some warehouse in Bradenton, and he was on the Pirates? Like four blocks from Pirates place. Sure do.

Let me tell you how excited I am for this stimulation. I brought out my Mr. Sketch scented marker, and I'm about to sniff it right now. BVD, hit the music as we send you. You got me going. Into it with the simulation. Let's do the American League,

where the Guardians and Rays, who just played, would be lined up for three in Cleveland. It's Cleveland. Wow. Good for Cleveland. Buster only just tweeted about how good they've been. Good for them.

The Blue Jays and the Mariners in the Great North of Toronto. Seattle. Oh, boy. If that happens, Blue Jays Nation. The Yankees, the two versus the three, the Yankees host the Guardians best of five. The Yankees. The Yankees.

Nine and one in their last 10, I believe. Good for them. Good time to get hot. Astros, Mariners, a little AL West. Astros. Yeah. Collision course all year. That will leave the Astros and the Yankees for the CS.

Holy smokes. Let's go to the National League in the wild card. The Cardinals currently would host the Phillies. The Cardinals. Seems about right Right now unfortunately Feels a little too easy Feels about right right about now

Waiting to play the Dodgers Is the winner of the Braves Hosting the Padres The Braves Braves advance Mets Cardinals We've heard this one a couple times Hmm

I'm seeing the Cardinals Stimulation Pops up and BPDC's the Cardinals, Mets, heartbreak as the Dodgers play the Atlanta Braves. Braves? No. Braves do it again. They take down the big, bad Dodgers, and in the National League, Braves first Cardinals to go to the World Series. It's Jay Flares cards.

Huge Cardinals episode, I think. They went. Last stimulation. Cardinals fever is sweeping the stimulator. And Yankees Astros, best of seven. Oh, Houston. Back to back weeks, the stimulator has the Houston Astros and the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.

Your winner is... The Cardinals. St. Louis, Jack Flaherty. I mean, are we going down for the Paris? Are we going up for the parade? We're in the clubhouse. We're in the clubhouse. Godi, pool hosts.

Everyone, have a great weekend. Figure it out. It's the weekend.