Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - These Teams are Fighting for Their Lives! | Weekly Recap

Episode Date: September 27, 2024

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Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. It is the penultimate episode of the regular season. Mets Braves Fiasco. The Tigers are here. The Twins are dead. We're going down under. Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. Present you by Seeky.

Go Talking 10. My name is Jake Story Ellie. BPD is producing. And we are joined by Peter Moylan. Uh, Twins farmhand. Uh, Kansas. Atlanta Braves, Kansas City Royals. I think I picked with the twins.

John Boy Media, Moonball Media, Ballies Sports South. Did I say that right? Melbourne Aces. Melbourne Aces, a lover of life, a lover of all things. Peter Moylan, how are you? Jake. I battled a tornado last night and I won,

so I'm feeling pretty good. A lot of rain around Atlanta, a lot of chaos around this baseball team. Cannot be more happy to see your face, I've got to promise you. Yeah, it was a, you know, it was a big jolly week. The Mets are hot. He filled in for Trev on Wednesday. And then it was like, well, hold on now. Yeah.

He fell in for me, excuse me. Yeah. And there's another side to this. So I'm excited to talk some Braves with you. It was funny. Peter yesterday was like, I'm in. It's just, I might lose power.

And I was like, okay, yeah, that's right where the storm is. So if that happens, you're a maybe. But it looks like you're okay. I'm good. We're good. We made it through, like I said. But it's when I said that, I was only half joking. But usually around this time, whether the weather's fine or not,

my internet likes to kick me off. So just be prepared that if I freeze up, I will be back. Okay. Yeah. If I freeze up, I might just bail on it. I don't know. Fair enough. You know, it's a long regular season, dude.

Yeah. We're at the end, though. We are at the end, and it's going to be a unique episode. I think some people already know what they're up for. Most people have already turned off. But also, yes. They saw me, they said fuck this. Thank you for unsubscribing.

We're going to cover the board per usual. There might be some state of baseball. there might be some Moscow mules, there might be some ownership, there might be some, God, put a winning product on the field, because what's happening in Detroit right now is really cool. And what's happening in Minnesota is not. Sorry, Trev.

Maybe that's why he's out today, yeah. Jump ship. Might be applying for the managerial position. I don't want to do that to Rocco. Rocco's been nice to us. Should we? He hasn't played. He has.

hasn't played an inning of this. There's a lot of managers jobs that are going to be up this off season. While we're talking managers real quick, I don't think Trevor's applying for that job. No. But there's going to be a lot of jobs that are going to need to be applied for in those roles, as far as I think, and as far as I see, you can't keep the status quo going with a lot of teams right now. Hey, not to get like half real on the start, but that's what people are going to get this episode.

I don't want to throw your hat in for any managerial rings, but I remember, I see you shaking your head, no. But one time we did talk about this and you said, you had like your Aussie pride kick in, because obviously you would be the first Australian manager if you decided to go that route and someone employed you as a manager. I think that's the problem. When you really like dive into what may stop that from happening,

I think my, I'm ready, but the willingness of other participants may not be there. Well, Pete, I'll tell you what, we've joked recently. You know, there's probably some billionaire's kid that tunes into this show. And if you win them over today, I want, yeah, I want, I think, you're on the list. Treve is the hitting, well, I'd rather have a hitter. Trevor wants to be quality control. Yes. Swag.

He wants to measure the swag. wag and he wants to add to it is what I saw. That could be good too. That could help out some of the young guys that come up and you're looking at the uniform or the hair and you're like, hey, this isn't, that could be good. Yeah. That could benefit some guys.

We'll talk baseball. It's like I said, it's going to be a little bit of a unique episode. Well, I'll chew through some of the games and we'll talk about what's important. And we'll still do some standouts and awards and everything like that. and whatever else we stumble into. And it's brought to you by Indeed. We're driven by the search for better. Yep.

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compared to other job sites. And our listeners get $75-sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at Indeed.com slash talking. Just go to Indeed.com slash talking right now. Support our show. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire, you need indeed. Click the link in the description. Let's, uh, I'll give the people a quick NL recap.

Love that. Let's head out to beautiful Los Angeles. The Dodgers hosted the Padres for three. And the Padres were coming. They won game one. If they swept this series, they controlled their own destiny. Michael King gets it done. Zander Bogart's with a couple.

People forget he's even there. He got paid. He's in the middle of that lineup. But the Dodgers came back, and it was a lot of the Shohei Otani show. And in the last game to decide the series, a tough catcher's interference from our guy Higgy to bring up Shohei again. again, and the bad man got it done. Ten for 11 in his last 11 at bats with runners in scoring position.

That boy ain't right. I know the Dodgers are missing starters, but that bullpen, Peter, I don't know if enough people are talking about it. They get it done. Phillies, they take two out of three from the Cubbies, and it is what it is at this point. The Phillies are waltzing into the playoffs at this point. I think they locked in a buy in the playoffs.

Castellanos with some hits. Great. Great, Cubs are out. It's that time of year, people. That's done. I'm sorry. This mattered a little bit. The Giants took two out of three from the Diamondbacks. We'll get to those N.O. Wild Card standings. Giants take the first two games, and the second one got ugly. Logan Webb, six-inning, shutpiece. The Giants put up an 11 spot on Brandon Fott and the boys. The Milkman, calm things down. Zach Gallen brought it home, six innings, one-run run. Paving Smith.

God, he's been huge for them down the stretch. Debex, right the ship, hopefully for them. Speaking of Right the Ship, L7 for the Kansas City Royals, are they going to figure it out? They do. They get a 1-0-0-0-in in 10 innings. Cole Ruggins shuts them down. They push one across in the Bobby Wood Jr., RBI single, and the 10th.

Then all the pressure was off, Pete. 3-0-0 in game 2. Michael Lorenzen has to leave with injury. We don't like that. And then Royals win 7-4 on that final day to get a W-3 back in the column, and it looks like they're going dancing. Brewers take two out of three from the pirates, and that's obvious.

Brew crew are locked up. Pirates are done. Justice for Rowdy-Tiles cut right before he hit his at-bat incentive. We don't like that, and we like Rowdy, so that is what it is. Mets and Braves, we're going to talk a lot about this. Unfortunately, there's only one game to talk about. Braves win 5 to 1, Spencer Schwellenbach, a Peter Moyland favorite. He balls out, and so does Money Mike Harris.

My God. Literally dropping it on him. Home run, three hits, and a beautiful diving catch. And then the Cardinals and Rockies played three games. games. DM Kelsey Wingered about it. That's what happened in the national. It's that time of year. You are so good at that. You are so good at that. You know, I didn't even, not a lot of frills this time of year, Pete. That's not what it's about. Yeah. In the National League, you know the Dodgers have now clinched the West. They technically

did that last night. The Phillies have the East and the Brewers have the Central. So it's only wild card the rest of the way. The Padres are the 10. top wild card team. There are three games up on the Mets and the Diamondbacks. Technically, the Mets are ahead by percentage points right now with the Atlanta Braves one game back. So, Pete, let's, I mean, let's do some Braves Mets because it's been the, it has been the conversation.

A lot of people running hot on it. How are there not more contingency plans? As someone that doesn't have a ton of contingency plans, I'm kind of like, I get it a little bit. Like, you know, we plan a regular season and then we go into the playoffs. A lot of people saying, you know, why not jump to another stadium or something? I think it's a little easier said than done, but. It's way easier said than done.

What, I guess, where are you at with the whole situation and where are you at with the Braves? I actually think this helps the Mets, if anything, because after that first game, there was clearly some momentum. on the Brave side, and there's a history between these two teams of the Mets not being able to finish the job. So it gives them a little breather now. They get to go face the Brewers, which is no obviously easy task. But then if you need it, now a lot can happen between now and if the Braves somehow run into a hot KC and they can't get it done this weekend, then we've not even talking about a Monday. It's all, it all needs to point to these games

mattering, obviously. But if it does come down to that, and we're talking about a one game lead from a certain team, be it Mets or Braves and having to play both games on, I mean, come on, man, it doesn't get any better than that. The 163 games were some of the cooler games in the play-in to the wildcard rounds. So I think it just adds to what can be a really mental four days. Yeah, I guess from a fan perspective, and I guess that's where I was kind of laughing at the internet a little bit. I fully agree with you on the Mets, man.

The momentum was clearly leaving. Chris Sale was on the bump the next day, like, and there is a history of a little bit of Big Brother, Little Brother there. I guess from a fan perspective, it lines up to be wild. You know, for those that don't know, I assume everyone tuning into talking baseball does, but they're lined up for a double header on Monday. Yeah.

That, again, both these teams would have to, well, I guess Atlanta's still in Atlanta, right? So they're- Yes, yes. They don't have to go anywhere. We play the Kansas City in Atlanta this weekend, and then if Monday matters, they'll stay here. But if you're the Mets,

you're going from Atlanta to Milwaukee, back to Atlanta on Monday or Sunday night you'll arrive and then you've got a 1230 warm up for a 1 p.m. start on Monday morning. And if the second game's needed, then they start the second one. And if that happens to go your way, now you're traveling on a flight to either Milwaukee or San Diego. Yeah. So that's where I guess that gets Harry for both teams.

How much of a nightmare is that truly from a player's side? Like, it's honestly, you just, you just shut everything else off and just you just rely on the information. You can't, there's nothing you can do to try to plan it. You've just got to react and be ready to go. That's as simple as it gets. You don't have any other choice. It's going to be, it's going to be nightmare travel, but you're so used to that already as a baseball player. Like most of the time, by this time of year, you're waking up.

You don't know what city you're in. And you just know you're going to the ballpark at a certain time because your alarm's gone off. So this is what it's all about, honestly. Yeah, man. And that's, I guess, because, yeah, that's, I mean, the athlete kicks in. And it's like, we're playing ball. Let's, let's roll it out there. I guess the only one and we make a lot of caveats for starting pitchers.

But that second, that second starting pitcher. Yeah. That's a tight spot. Well, and you also put yourself, because you have to go, from potentially having your two best starters available go in those two games. If you do make it past, then you're going to go third starter for the wildcard round. And it's right.

You're really behind the eight ball going to that wildcard game. Yeah, that's true. Playing a double dip. Wow. Elimination double dip. Because if they don't matter, you're not playing. So you have to throw everything at those two games and then see what you have left for the, for the wild card rounds.

Jesus. Okay. So I didn't get there. That's insane. Yeah. That's crazy. And if you're the Mets, you don't have, I mean, I feel better as a Braves fan knowing that you have a Spencer Schrelandbach or a Charlie Morton or a Max Fried,

whoever it happens to be on that back end, as opposed to what the Mets may potentially be left with if they have to fight it out on Monday. And now this is a slightly obnoxious question. I love it. Yeah. Perfect. Teat it up. We're coming off a year where the Texas Rangers

kind of backed into the playoffs They had a horrific week, horrific bullpen Going into the final month The Diamondbacks come from under 500 And come out of the wild card So we everyone has that fresh on the mind Do the Braves have a little bit of like Hey if you guys let us in the dance this year

Like we're gonna we're gonna fuck you up Because you still look They have the guy they have four guys in the rotation They have guys in the back of the bulls They still have a meat of the lineup, even though they're missing pieces from each of those. Like, is that the vibe you're getting? I mean, obviously, right? Like, that's how every team thinks.

I don't think that there was even that kind of vibe until a couple of weeks ago, until the offense really started to swing the bat more consistently. You got Michael Harris and Matt Olson swing at the same time, which carries a lineup. The starting pitching's been incredible all year long. The bullpen's held together. They've been one of the best in baseball with names that you haven't probably heard of. Rysel at the back end, ridiculous. So yeah, if they do get in and two guys get hot at the same time in that lineup,

anything can happen with this team. And after what happened last year, after being what they were and having it end that way, then they've got no other reason than to go into this thing and just say, fuck it. Why not? Right? Like, it's, I guess I was trying to do the Braves fan perspective of it because either way, they're going to look back in a couple years and be like, wait, bottom of the lineup was

Gio or Shello Whit Merrifield? Like, what was going on with this Braves team? And that either goes one of two ways. That either ends up in two years, you're yucking at the bar over some Moscow mules and you're like, that team never had it. I mean, go look at this. Or it's a heartstring team. It's like, oh, I mean, dude, remember that Gio play, like Whitmerfield,

slapping around the field. So I guess is that, you know, we're going to do. some state of baseball, America's and Australia's voice of baseball. Like, we don't have to do the whole wild card.

Like, is there, I guess this could be mean, is there any team that, like, can't make a postseason run? Like, is it as simple as two and a half guys go nuts and you get some pitching and you win a seat? Like, look, here's the thing. If there's a massive betting scandal

this year and the White Sox make the playoffs, I don't think they're going to go on a run. That's true. But short of losing 120 fucking games, you just want to have a little bit of momentum. I think that's what is going to crush Atlanta and not been out to finish the series out against the Mets is that I really do feel like that first game

had a similar feeling to game one when they chased them down two years ago when you just felt like the Mets were kind of doing this and the Braves were just charging at them. And I don't know if that's going to kill it, but I know it's going to stop whatever had going for sure. God, that's one of the more wild things to watch this weekend, how how the Braves and Royals series goes down because I mean, the Royals still, they're playing for some seating.

But look, they lost 106 games last year and they didn't do a lot this offseason and look at what they've done and look at how they turn it around. State of baseball, spend money. Yeah, I mean, that's, you're, your Royals, I didn't realize it was the Moyland Bowl to wrap it. up. Yeah, the Moylan. I think they're getting a cup and everything. It's actually a bronze Moscow mule cup, but we're giving it away to somebody.

It's a cup of sorts. Yeah, man, I, uh, the Royals did work this off season. We were just, everyone was ho-hum because it was like, okay, Royals, like maybe knock yourself out with Seth Lugo starring, like Michael Waka, like, you know, it's kind of, people were tough on the Cardinals for bringing in some older statesman starters. And for the Royals, it ended up being beautiful because it paired with Cole Reagan's and Brady Singer

and they happen to have an MVP guy. God, we'll get you talking about Bobby Witt in a little bit. Little rhyme, little rhyme at the end there. Let's see, what else matters in the National League? I guess the one series that really mattered was Dodgers Padres. I guess I was a little surprised, and I think I must have blacked out a Diamondback series where they faded because, my God, like they could get the Braves and Mets both in the dance,

which now that's going to be a wild little Monday two-step. That's not even something I'm thinking about it. And that's, and that honestly is a really big possibility based on what the dime-backs are doing. It's very much in play, but at the same time, and I guess the National League, I want to give my compliments to the chef. I think the National League this year is a beautiful example of what this wild card is supposed to be.

Like, if the Diamondbacks come out and sweep the Padres this weekend because they host them, I believe they would then have the tiebreaker and jump them. We already did Mets Braves example, and then when you tie those together, there's going to be one quality team out of the dance.

Yeah. Whether that's the upstart Mets that have been fantastic to watch this, Met Season. The Braves, who are the Juggernaut Braves, but they're missing just a casual MVP winner, the Cy Young favorite,

a couple other bodies. And then the Diamondbacks, the defending NL champion Diamondbacks, who have the number one offense in baseball. Like, this is a good example of what the Wild Card is supposed to be, and I think we can save some AL thoughts to then. But, dude, when I looked at the standings this morning, I was like, right now 88 wins has the Diamondbacks as the last team in?

good. Like, that's a quality baseball team. Yeah. It is. And just to touch on the Mets, too, they were getting Lindor back the night that they canceled two, two games in a row. So that's going to be a massive, a massive boost for them, especially this weekend. If he can play all three games and play out the rest of the season, get some at bats. Like, and I, look, I hadn't even thought about both Mets Bray's making and how that could really flip the playoffs. And I mean, Holy shit, man. And then I, you know, I don't want to, like, if however this scenario plays out in the second game, if the Braves win, both teams get in, I know we don't do handshake deals, but I don't know, right?

I don't know. I would be tempted to have a conversation with someone. God, that's going to be crazy. in San Diego in L.A. this weekend. Freddie Freeman injury. Did you see that? What did he do? What happened? He rolled his ankle late yesterday, was removed,

was already announced that he won't play this weekend, but they're not worried about it. Dude, I flipped off the game right before that at bat because they had just opened it up in that last game. I mentioned the Higgishioca catcher interference, and sorry, Higgy, I love you, but it brought up the bad man, and that opened up the game.

Yeah, I guess series-wise, the San Diego team is everyone's kind of sexy World Series pick just because they check every box. They have star power, long lineup, top of the rotation, back end of the bullpen. And disappointment of the last few years. Don't forget about how big a factor that is.

That's true. That's true. And, you know, they had Fernando Tatis Jr. on Digging Deep. So is there, is there an effect there? I did, I did just see the 3-0 home run clip come across my timeline yesterday. That, that got me good. That was, that was a good one. Seeing, seeing ProFar pull up the sleeve. Oh, no. Oh, no, Fernando. No. Look at the way that they've, they've, like, Profire has had an all-world season. Nobody could have ever have seen that. Taddy's back. He's starting to swing the batting. Machado, underrated superstar has been, he's out in the West Coast and hidden from everyone, but he's had a decent year again. I mean, Jackson, Merrill in Centerfield, they do have everything. Their bullpens kind of gross. Very gross. Very gross. Very gross. they they have been through disappointment and nonsense and they they are they are a team that

frightens me if i'm if i'm anyone else in the playoffs yeah um in game one there's the triple play to end it by manny which if you haven't seen that that is um that's whatever phrase the kids use god tier third base or i don't listen to that infield he's in he fields it goes backwards and what's the transfer what's the transfer from the glove to the hand and how quick it is it's just he's such an impressive defender and he does it night after night and the turn at second base too was so impressive Trevor would have been oh very excited about how quickly that was in and out of the uh the second base area yeah and you meant manny manny ends up having a solid manny Machado year, which to start this season, he was playing DH because his elbow was banged up

that for his numbers to land here and the fact that they now have Manny Machado playing third base again. And at the same time, it snaps for the Dodgers because you've got the Padres coming downhill. Dylan Sees and Joe Musgrove coming at you. The next two nights after losing on a triple play to the team that hates you. The team. that they eye you every year because you guys run the division and what do they do, they get it done because they have Shohei Otani.

They have Will Smith with a big Homer who he had some funky parts of his season that I don't know, man, every time I watch a highlight this time of year, I'm starting to get the postseason buggy going of like Will Smith could win a

DS or a CS MVP. Almost everyone on both of these lineups can and that's what makes them just unbelievable. You know what I've just had to cross my mind? I think that those two teams, especially when it becomes, if it ends up being a West Coast, East Coast travel series, they are so used to that bullshit nonsense

of having to go cross country that I think that is such a big benefit for the West Coast teams. Okay, I'm interested in that. Where are you at with the, just this current format because your guy, my guy, Jamalama Ding Dong, he's fading it pretty hard

from the early results of you know, wild card teams have made a lot of runs. Yeah. And for our New York Yankees, who won the American League East last night, they're not going to play a baseball game from Sunday until Saturday. That's six days without baseball.

That's too long. It is too long. But I don't know. I watched that happen to the Bravo's, obviously. Hottest team in the world takes five days off and just almost like a false start into the playoffs. That's the biggest risk that the Yankees or any team with that kind of break face. But short of having AAA guys come up and just throw live BPs every single day or play sim games, I don't know how else you get around this when you want to expand the playoffs.

like we have. Yeah. It's, I don't know. I end up spinning because I, the one game wild card used to be a great watch, but it, it hurt my baseball soul to, to see a team season come down to one. It's just, it's just ain't right. Yeah. But at the same time, if you maybe gave me a seven game DS, because then I think, then I think you're giving less excuses. I was shocked Trevor was highly against the seven game DS, which, Why is that? I don't know. I think just years of being pretty and not thinking. I don't know.

Probably the fact that it's an extra 21 games that potentially at the end of the season, yeah, look, I get that. But it's also a truer test. Right. It makes the regular season matter, which that's the goal. But we don't play seven-game series throughout the regular season one time. Yeah, it's true. Do you bring every series back to a three-game series

and have it be like, you're never having to see all five of the guys' rotation in a regular season series? You just get what you get. Man, there's so many ways to do it. Isn't that nuts? Like, did the MLB guys get in an office, like once a year and do like,

hey, full brainstorm. We could do it's all five game series. No bad ideas. I hope that that's not happening because I would like some consistency year to year. But yeah, I think we just try to find the best way. And right now I'm with you, man, six days off before you start. It's just, we hear about guys having three days off from a sore back and not getting the at bats, consistent at bats, and that affecting their timing. So what's

a week of practice going to do in the lead up to the playoffs? It's, this year is going to be a big test, man. I mean, there is some other examples. Like I think Houston, they had, the time off and they came back and won it. But they're also like a dynasty of sorts. I don't know. My only Dodger notes, obviously they're looking for

starting pitching, which is pretty wild. But Walker Bueller has another solid game. He's got two of those in his last three and you just never know at the postseason. Like the postseason lights might kick in and Walker Bueller might be Walker Bueller again.

I also, I just don't think enough people are talking about the Dodgers bullpen, because right now they can go Kopeck, Trinen, Phillips, Hudson, Vescia, Joe Kelly, if you want to throw in Banda, who was great for them earlier this year, and then like Ryan Brazier, a guy who's closed MLB games before, a lot of people are worried about that Dodgers starting rotation,

but with how deep their bullpen is, I think the Dodgers are going to be fine. Yeah, when you read it off those names, It's a lot of real names. Yeah. Has Copac given up a hit yet? Or has he just come over from the White Sox and just been absolutely elite. I think it's just perfect. I think he's racing.

The Royals were able to get five out of their starters and be able to piece it together with six closers back in the day, day. I hate that saying, but I just dropped it. But I don't think bullpening is as sexy as it was a couple of years ago. But if you can bullpen your way, here's the other thing. Once you get into the later rounds, right? obviously you've got you can just fight your way through a couple of games and win it through to the the five game series you've then got to you've then got to figure out a way that if you get behind in a game so i'm thinking more for teams that aren't completely loaded they've got probably enough to win

four games but you've got to recognize the games that you're not going to be able to win and just pull the shoot on those ones that's it's almost like a chess game where you you're down three nothing in the fourth, do you bring in your ground ball guy to try and get yourself out of this one? Or do you just say, let's just try again tomorrow and save the A squad? That's what bullpenning leads you to. Well, that's, I'm excited to see because I do think baseball, even over the past three years or so, has gotten better about like kind of letting the starting pitcher ride. Like I think we hit a point a couple years ago where it's like, well, if a starter's having a bad day we're going to pull them and then all those teams all those teams got to the end of the regular

season and their bullpen was gassed that now it's flipped a little bit that starters have had the chance to go a little longer that i'm another reason i'm excited for postseason baseball i mean that's it's decision time it's manager time i we were talking about hinge a little bit before this and what's going on in detroit and like it is real manager decision time because are you gonna, do you leave that guy in with two outs and the bat and the boogie man's coming out? Or do you already start the bullpen brigade? Because you can lose a game. Yeah. You have to be on. And we've seen it almost play out this week too where you, you may have a guy get up in the fourth or fifth inning just to play cats just in case. Right. Because it can happen so quick, man. You've seen

it where a guy's cruising and then he's three pitches into the fifth inning and he's given up two runs because he's given up two solo shots and all of a sudden confidence he's gone slider's not biting like it was and you're five hitters in and you've down four nothing. So this is where as a manager, it's the balance of not blowing you guys out

and dry humping them out of the season. I know that's one of your favorite words. Or do you let you start or write it out? When you're in a position where you're not playing for anything right now, you can set yourself up. You don't have to go for it, but there's a couple of teams that are deskted. and you see it.

Well, and it's, it's just so funny. It's almost like Blackjack where there's like, they have that, they have the book of like, okay, but it's almost that gray area. Like, do you hit on 16 where I,

I forget what it was in the Yankees game last night, but it was like, ooh, like Zach Eflin's pitching great. He's at 92 pitches. The bullpens up. And it's like, sometimes you hit and you get,

you get the four. and let's go. Sometimes you hit the wrong card. This is where managers matter, though. This is where a lot of the times you, like the story is, oh, you know, the lineup comes from the front office and the managers that sits on his hands the whole game. Well, it's tough to sit on your hands when you're in a one run game in the seventh

and there's a decision that needs to be made. Like there's a reason why there's five coaches on the bench, but it all comes down to the manager. He's the guy sitting in front of the camera saying, this is the reason why I made that decision. And a lot of the times most guys are just justifying that conversation rather than going with their heart or their gut and saying, no, no, no, I think this is the right decision. They want to be able to sit there and go, well, like you said, it says it right here. That's what I was supposed to do.

Yeah. Had some balls. Come on. Clip that. I guess final things of no. I mean, Diamondbacks, your fate is going to get decided. weekend and it's going to be interesting. Pitching on fumes. They are pitch. And it's, it's bizarre because they have options. Like I, I realize your options

need to be pitching well, but Zach Allen, Merrill Kelly, E. Rod, and Fought. Like, I don't know. Those are guys that we could be talking. Jordan Montgomery. Like, he was, he was a star last postseason. And right now he's, he's almost in the dog house. that I don't know. If the snakes make the dance, they're going to be a team looking for the one good break and then being like, hey, we're back. This is our season.

This is what we do now. Where I think a lot of you want to go. I think a lot of other teams are kind of waiting for the bad moment and when's that ball going to hit the line that, I don't know, they're going to decide their fate this weekend with San Diego. Merrill Kelly versus U. Darvish, E.Rod. Martin Perez. Oh, how's your, how's your lefty? How's your lefty paint in the corners there? That's Cambio, Poppy. And then Fah and Michael King. Oh, that's some, that's some right-handed

testosterone to finish it up. Tune in. You say, Poppy, one more time. Gambio, Poppy. It sounds too white when I say it. Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, I know. Yeah, but you're fine. People, sometimes my summer tan kicks in, and then Everyone remembers I'm an Italian boy from Connecticut. Yeah, I've seen it. Love you, Mom. Sure have.

Royal, you know what? We'll circle up on some Royals in the American League. That makes sense, doesn't it? I mean, it's my wheelhouse, I would say. It sure is. So is booking.com. Talking baseball is brought to you by booking.com. Booking.

Yeah. Whether, maybe you're going to beautiful Atlanta for a playoff game, and you want to stay at a nice hotel, bed and breakfast, vacation rental. Maybe you're going to Kansas City. You want some barbecue. That town is going to be rocking. Oh, give me some Royals home games. Bobby Witt, bases loaded.

I don't know. I do know with booking.com you can find the right place for you, whether it's family-friendly or the places BBD stays at. Book at booking.com. Any U.S. baseball city can be a good time with booking. or the booking.com app. Download it today. Click the link in the description.

God, there's some American League fun. Let's, oh, look at this. We'll start with the New York Yankees, who they won last night. That's all that matters, right? They win the ALEs. It was fun. Garrett Cole had a big boy A's performance. That was fun.

6.2, 2 hits, zero earn runs. John Carlos Stanton. People forget. Home run, clears the bases on a double later. Oh, yeah, Judge hit 58. Orioles fans, I'm sorry, because you guys do deserve more love because you punished us the first two games. Anthony Sontan there, he's about to get paid this offseason.

I think the Blue Jays. And the rest of the Orioles, they brought the noise in the first two games as they were hunting down the Yankees. Yankees just need to win one the rest of the way to clinchings. the East, and they did. The Mariners, they take two out of three from the Houston Astros. Hey, oh, as they get eliminated from the postseason. Sorry, Seattle.

It happened again. They gave themselves just enough rope. Oh, boy. Houston, they're going to be there. We'll talk about that. This is what I want to talk about. The Detroit Tigers, they sweep the Tampa Bay Rays, and there's just magic in the air.

There's a bunch of young men filled with testosterone, playing fun baseball, getting clutch hits, and hugging each other. Cole Keith in that last game. Look at Carrie Carpenter's jawline. And Riley Green, when you're making your list of best players in baseball next year, Riley Green better be around it. He is putting up a massive season. Torkelson's back.

The boys are bopping. we have vids coming later. Jason Foley in that bullpen, Pete. Have you seen his look right? It's going to be a lot of Tigers content, the rest of this episode. It's not going to be a ton of twins' content. They lose two out of three to the Miami Marlins,

and it finishes up in 13 innings. Derek Hill is catching balls over his head. The twins are getting doubled up on buntz and late inning games a tough scene to watch and God bad energy energy is real

and the boys are not bopping with Rocco right now Guardians take two games from the Reds they've already locked up what they're going to lock up the White Sox sweep the angels why not boy hey Andrew Ben and Tendi walk off Zach DeLoch two for three

Not as familiar as I'd like to be. Chris flexing with a nice start. The White Sox are trying to avoid that 121st loss. The A's take two out of three from the Rangers. Unfortunately, the highlight here is the end of the Coliseum. Barry Zito singing the national anthem. The grounds crew handing out dirt. We'll talk about that a little bit,

although you've already heard most of it. Red Sox and Blue Jays played three. I didn't really know. I didn't really know. Jonathan Class A had a nice game. Sure. Von Grissom. Wow.

He's back. Yeah, it doesn't matter, unfortunately. Sorry, guys. That's what happened in the American. Just got to be real, man. It's true. It's absolutely true. I didn't, not many people are going to flick through the games of the day

and click on Red Sox Blue Jays at the phone. And why, yeah, why, why, Are they not talking about them? It's, uh, God, interesting, interesting conversations in both of those territories, but unfortunately, we're going to have time to talk about it in the off season. In the American League, the Yankees have clinched the east, the guard dogs have clinched the central and the Astros have clinched the West. In the wild card, Baltimore is in.

They pop bottles on Monday night, good times, Jackson holidays, 14 years old, baby bird juice, Pete will talk about that. The Tigers and the Kansas City Royals are tied at 85 and 74. Tigers with a W-5 in the column. They are the hottest team in baseball. And percentage-wise, and we've always been numbers, guys, the Tigers have a 99.2% chance of making the postseason. Pretty good.

The Royals have a 97.5% chance of making the postseason. The Minnesota twins have a 3.3% chance of making the postseason. They would have to win out. The other lads would have to lose out. The magic number is one. Insane what has happened in this AL Central. And it has been so fun to watch it go and watch the twins do what they seemingly do every single year,

which is just frustrating as, as a system and as a fan base. And I think you saw that frustration last night. You mentioned it with the difference in vibes, I guess you'd say, in both stadiums. Detroit was absolutely rocking. And it looked like Minnesota decided it's football season. That's exactly. Hey, Vikings look good.

Sam Darnold. We're happy for them. Yeah. Oh, my strength. If you got some of the clips there, it was. So this is the Royals. Watch, okay. A, just, when you casually see the stands here,

and by the way, this is a Jose Siri, hoes home, Matt Veerling comes up like he just pillaged the bike. They were down three nothing in the sixth, and it looked like nothing was going to happen. And then all of a sudden out of nowhere, they've just found a way to come back. And look, Tampa's been out of it for a while. Look at it.

Seams, go back to that shot. How long has it been since you've seen crowds like that? in Detroit. I can't remember. I can't remember that. And there's been a lot of talk about MLB ownership, especially with what's been going down in Oakland. In Beavs, I don't know if you have the Twins clip ready,

but if you want to bring that up. The stand in Minnesota look a little different. This is the eighth inning. Brooks Lee tying it for the two. twins. Was there rain delays or anything last night? Was there, I mean, he's fired up. Yeah, the kid.

That's lower, good job by the crew there showing. Tight shots only. Yeah. Yeah, some of the extra innings, I mean, yeah, there's your freeze frame. Look at, look at that between the Tigers outfield. Look at that.

What are we doing? Um, that, yeah, I, again, I, I have not owned a team, so I haven't gotten into the financials. I do like to think whatever the Tigers books looked like after yesterday's games was better than what the twins' books looked like after yesterday's games. And dude, it was just a reminder, like, it is where Yankee fans are spoiled. We, we missed the playoffs last year. We finished, what was the game over 500 and it was a disaster season. It was the worst year in 30 years. Detroit's a great sports town, man.

It's Detroit. It's America, Pete. I know you know. Yeah. And they like baseball there. And their baseball team has not been it for a little while now. And they're going dancing. They are what makes, look at that.

They are what, like, you said it before. They're just a bunch of, I went and looked at the lineup. I didn't recognize a lot of names, obviously. But their lineup is a bunch of dudes that are just having a ton of fun. And I don't think enough credit has been given to AJ Hinch because the circumstances that led to him leaving Houston were what they are. But he picked himself up and he picked up a team that was going nowhere. And he's turned it around in a quick time with a bunch of guys that we've not heard of. So where does the credit go?

Does it go to the front office for putting together the kids or does it come to the manager? for being able to get these kids to perform as good as they ever have in their life. The Tigers who technically sold at the deadline, Jack Flaherty to the Dodgers, Marcana. I mean, in that trade, and we've talked about it, I mean, they're now starting shortstop, Trace Sweeney came over. So again, and where does the credit go? Front office manager, that's the debate that baseball still doesn't have figured out.

I think we're coming back towards managers just a little bit. But you have to. God, man. It was so cool seeing those crowd reactions and it was so cool. You don't get player reactions like that a lot because it's all part of the equation. It's a bunch of young, dumb kids having fun, which is beautiful and dangerous. And it's the emotion of Detroit was dead. They were playing in front of some empty crowds at different points this year.

And now they're playing in front of a packed. hacked house and they're winning. They're the best team in baseball for a month and a half or whatever it is. That emotion, that doesn't come normally. The Yankees don't get that because they have Soto and Judge and they expect to win.

We're the Yankees. That emotion is special, man. But how much cooler is it seeing the real authentic, emotional response as opposed to some choreograph dance every time you hit a double? The best.

Right. Like, I mean, we get it. You've hit a double and you're shaking your wang. Right. Here's the thing. When you slide in to the go-ahead run with a left hand and you're Matt Verling and you've played with the Tigers for five years, you're the only guy that's been there through the whole thing. It's going to be emotional.

You're going to jump up. You're going to be fired up to see your teammates. That's what playing this game from the earliest time we've started playing it. This is what has been the greatest moments, is that. that doesn't matter what level you're playing at, when this shit happens, it's fun, and you get to react in a fun way. That's, it's, it's so, it's so cool to watch a generation of baseball kids who are being called emotionless because all they care about is the iPads.

Showing some emotion. It's fucking cool. Yeah, and I do want to, well, I took some subtle jabs on my Yankees there, who unintentional, whatever. Dude, Shohay Otani and those Dodgers, they have fun playing ball. Shohay's been letting out a couple

whooos lately, which, just a reminder, he's the man. Wouldn't you? Yeah, man, if I was... It's probably perfect pitch, too. You could probably release it into an album

and sell a number one single. 53 homers, 56 on bases for that guy. Let's... Let's do, okay, let's do the Royals quick. They won three and God, the emotions in that first game. Zero, zero into the tenth. You've lost seven straight games.

You don't want to be where the twins are right now. You don't want to be whoever. You don't want this season that has been so cool in Kansas City. Like one of the biggest flips baseball's ever seen. They were horrendous last year. and they had such a fun summer that it looked like it was slipping away and Pasquintino got hurt and to win that game, kind of get that first monkey off the back,

and then they sweep the series, and now they are 99% into the postseason. And you're a Kansas City guy, Pete? What's the word down there? Look, they are a team, like I said, spent the off-season and I've turned it around. But this is just also, if they hadn't have won game one,

you never know what was going to happen game two and three. And that's just how different, just one swing of the bat or one little turn in confidence or one little game that flips on its ass, you're down three and all of a sudden you win four, three. Like that's the kind of game that can turn around the mojo, the feeling, the chemistry, the, whatever you want to call it, and have you go on a run. And I think that's what Kansas City has done most of the year. They've get on these runs where they're unbeatable and they're.

exciting and if they can do that and time it up right, they could be a problem. Did you, you're an honest guy. I like that about you. Give it to me. When you were, because I was going to talk about momentum, blah, blah, blah. For you coming out of the bullpen, I assume if you're on a four-game scoreless streak and you've been mowing guys down and you come in for that fifth game, you're feeling pretty tasty.

If you're coming in for your fourth game and you've given up. runs in the last three games. Do you feel that or is it part of the job to not feel that? No, you feel every, so you tell everyone that you don't feel it. Short memories, nah, no, no, forgotten already. Bullshit. There is nothing more, especially in a situation where you're coming in and it's not a clean inning or you're having to be on from the get-go and you know you haven't been.

Those first couple of pitches determine the whole outing for me. And it's much as you want to say, you can quickly make adjustments mid-game, mid-at-bat, whatever it is. If those adjustments aren't working, what are you supposed to do? There's no where you can go. So yeah, it's, there's no better feeling. In fact, the best feeling is when the phone rings in the bullpen and you know it's a situation that you're usually going in, and you've gone three or four days in a row and they're probably not going to go to you and you get pissed off that it's not you in that game, even though that's the best feeling in the world. And I've only had that feeling probably two or three times in 13 year career where I wanted

the ball every single day in every situation. Yeah, I mean, I guess I wanted you to quantify it because it means a little less coming for me. But anyone that's played sports, you know that feeling, whether it's... Look at tennis. Look at tennis. You can be down four games to nothing in the first set and 40 love down against your serve, somehow win that game.

ever seen momentum flip as much as it does in tennis, but I've seen it this year in baseball. Guys just were emotional beings, Jake. Right. You play? Are you a tennis guy? I'd like to watch it. Okay.

Because, I mean, with your lateral movement in that arm, wingspan, I'd like to think you could be a solid tennis guy. I was a right-handed Doren Ivan Izovich. What about left-handed? He was left-handed himself. Okay. Look him up. was an unbelievable powerhouse. I know the name. There you go. Goran Isavisovich.

Even Izzyvich. One more time. Even Izzyvich. Even. Oh, there he is. Oh, wow. Monster. Handsome. Yeah. Yeah. He's got a little, a little solemn pep. We're off track. Let's round off. Let's round off the Central with the Minnesota Twins, who, We're talking about as we're all right, so we've got the feelings here. The Detroit Tigers who couldn't be stopped by anyone right now. If they had a series coming up against the 29 yanks, they'd say, hey, let's roll it out there and let's see what happens. Like, let's take them down.

The Royals who would say, ooh, all right, let's find out. The losing streak's over, let's play our game and go. the Minnesota twins feel like if they came to the warehouse and they had one ball bounce the wrong way right now it's tough man and I obviously Trev's our guy we bust balls and all that but man what does he say what does he say about it just so I know what's his because he knows the team better than anybody he's being in the

organization longer than most of us what does he say about why it hasn't happened. So there's a White Sox effect over this whole thing of that whatever two AL Central teams get in, all three of those AL Central teams were really good against the Chicago White Sox who are going down as the worst baseball team of all time. So if you take that out, and again, it's a little unfair because everyone gets to play the worst team in their division. But if you take those games out, each of these teams is under 500.

So to a degree, these teams aren't traditional powerhouses. When I complimented the NL wild card and how this is a model year, the A.L. Wildcard this year, I wouldn't necessarily say is a model year. That Trev, I'm not going to give him Nostradamus title, but he, something's been off. And a little bit of it, dude, name the, okay, a little unfair. But the Twins three best players, in my opinion, are Correa, Buxton, and Royce Lewis.

Those guys have combined to play, I think at one point it was like 11 games. They were in the same lineup together. So you have the ups and flows of the season, and Carlos Santana's given them an amazing age 38 season, and they've had different guys pop off. But I think each part of the team at different points can get thin. I think their bullpen can get thin quick.

I think their lineup can get thin quick. quick, and I think the starting pitching can get thin quick, and I think they felt that coming down the stretch instead of, like, dude, the Orioles looked like a different team this week. The Orioles, they had been scuffling, losing record since the All-Star break. Rushman's having a bad time. They got a couple bodies back, Westberg, Ureas, someone else, I'm blank, and Kirstad. Like, and they felt different.

They felt like they got new energy. They got new bodies in their lineup. The twins, I feel like they were looking for those bodies. And like Correa came back. I know he homered, but I think it was a feeling of it's slipping away. And how do we stop it? And at a certain point, it didn't stop. Yeah.

I just, but that's everyone's, that's, I hate to keep harping back on this. But this is why I think Detroit, even though they've won and been in the division that they've been in, And I feel the same way about Cleveland. Like that team is, I feel built for playoffs. Those two teams can just grind out shitty playoff style games, one-nothing, two, one, three-two. They're not going to beat your nine-nothing, but they're going to be able.

They're used to playing one-run games. They've got Class A. They've got big bullpen arms. I think I just really do think this playoff series is going to be one. of the most entertaining that we've seen in a long, long time. I'm excited. I'm excited to see those guard dogs because, God, that bullpen has a, that has a real chance.

That has a real chance to, we talked about playing with pressure and all that. If the guardians get a lead on you, if J-RAM throws one in the gap in the first, okay, so now we have four innings. Playoff-wise, you might have two innings. Yeah. To get something across and that's,

he can go 40-40 again. by the way. I know people in baseball obviously know Jose Ramirez. So if you say Jose Ramirez is underrated, in baseball, we've been saying that for five years, so you can't say it. Outside of baseball,

if we did, if there was a Sporkel name MLB players, I just think the hit rate that Jose Ramirez would come back at would be criminal. He wouldn't beat anyone's top five who doesn't watch the guardians. 40, p? Like, that's... Every year.

Like, he's in the top five of the MVP, almost every year, it feels like. And he's not in anybody's top five baseball players across America. He's, uh, took, took like a hometown discount because he kind of likes Cleveland. Who doesn't? What?

Beautiful. I only go there with booking.com. Um, let's see. Red, no. And do you want to say anything? about the Oakland athletics, you and you and I were kind of laughing beforehand because it's all out there at this point.

I think everybody that's ever put on a uniform and ever been to Oakland has had an opinion on the Oakland Athletics this week. So I don't feel like I'm in a position to comment. I think it sucks. We all know why it sucks, but I also think the Coliseum fucking sucks. And that's not the big league.

So unfortunately, there had to be a change because I pitched there five years ago and I can't imagine it got better. I doubt that. We haven't heard a lot about the upgrades. Man, it was just a... Emotional. Yeah, man.

We talk about baseball so much that it's like, okay, well, Shoah's still another base. Jose Ramirez is incredible. Oakland, there's probably going to move. Man, this is loser stuff. But Barry Zito saying the National Anthem, that got me a little bit, man. Like, how many kids my age in the Bay area

saw that curveball growing up and are like, I like baseball. That's the whole point, man. That's the whole point. God, that's tough. And just the clips coming out of that place when it was an absolute madhouse during the wild car game.

Grant Ball for your guy coming out. I was just going to say when there was a, I don't know if it was a tweet or what it was, but there was a social media post going around a couple of years ago when all this was starting to come out. And it was just, I want to remember Oakland like this.

And it was Balfour, warming up. The whole crowd going absolutely bananas, him coming in, fucking screaming at everyone. Doesn't grounds crew getting screamed out. If you were in his way, he was going to scream at you and he was going to get you out. And that Oakland time was, we had three Aussies on the Oakland team at one point. Rich Thompson, Luke Hughes, Grant Balfour, all on the same team. Three, come on. Green and gold like Australia.

there's a lot of Aussies come through Oakland. So there's a lot of Australians that are angry at the moment as well. God, that's brutal. And like we kind of don't even fully know the next steps. Like Vegas hasn't signed on the dotted line, but all the... Sacramento for the next three years, you've got to be feeling pretty good about that.

See you on that Sacramento turf. God, that's, it's bad. Any Yankee questions? I mean, me, John and Bebs, we, you know, we did a full talk in Yanks last night. So if you have anything that you're interested in, I can help out. I watched them last night. Okay. I saw Garrett Cole go to Garrett Cole mode a little bit.

He found something last night. Stanton. Yeah. Little close stance bullet to the right center gap. Judge with a miss hit Homer? How is your confidence level moving into the playoffs now that you've secured your spot? Feel good about everything but Houston, you know? Like I, Yankees in a five-game set, whether it's Royals, Tigers,

like, they're still the Yan. They have Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, dude. Numbers are ridiculous. If they get anything from this grouping of good players, Glaber, Wells, Chisholm, Stanton, Rizzo. Like, if they get anything, okay, say two of those five go, and you have Judge and Soto who almost can't give you a bad series, I know they can.

But like, there's still a presence and they're going to get walked, worst case. Like, they have more starting pitching than they've had going in. to post seasons of recent, that Yankees are feeling okay. There's fear of the wild card layoff. And there's a fear of Houston. And like, I don't know. I don't know if there's Yankee fans scared to say that.

Yeah, I mean, I think Clay has been knocked down enough in the bullpen that in theory, that shouldn't be a worry. But tune into the live streams if he does come in in the sixth inning runners on second and third. I saw him, he came in a face of lefty last night. I don't know who it was, but the first pitch sinker, it was a holiday. First pitch sinker middle was the pitch that holiday missed. Then I think he went four seam up and a, like if he can just,

and I know I feel like this is every Yankee fan in the history of the world, but minus the pressure of having to close out games, I think you're going to see him bridge a lot of gaps for you guys this postseason. There is a chance, right? It's the beauty of baseball. and he, God, his sinker when it's right is one of the best pitches in baseball. Yeah, it's been an interesting debate, and I don't know the answers, because it seemed like he started throwing the slider more

because it had more swing and miss to it, but I think it also had more not good pitch to it, that I think that was getting him in trouble, but we'll see. Luke Weaver has been an incredible revel. and he he wants it. Everything I said about those Detroit Tigers being cool and screaming and what you want, Luke Weaver's that, which again, Yankee fans almost get too much professional baseball, like handshake at first base and this is what we're supposed to do.

Luke Weaver has been an assassin, and it's fun to watch. He has been around for what, eight years now? Something like that. I mean, number one pick, like bounced around the league. started with the yes Cardinals he made his debut in 16 so

it's crazy crazy and guy guy that basically said what have I got to lose at this point well I think a little bit for him he's an interesting personality as are all you bullpen cats

and yeah I've I've said this on talking yanks I'd love to get the real. Like, was he fully like, you know, I've got a five ERA in the Biggs and fuck it? Like, I'm just going to let it eat back there. Look, I'll tell you one story, Jack.

Okay, please. I'll tell you one story. 2016 with the Royals. I'd worked my way all the way back through AAA, had a decent year in AAA, and there just was a point where it just wasn't going the way I wanted it to. My numbers were decent, but the ball wasn't coming out right. And I think a lot of it had to do with what I was doing with my pre-routine.

I'd lost a little bit of the fire out of the bullpen to the mound. So I said, I'm just going to change the pace that I run to the mound with. Pick it up just a little bit to get the adrenaline going. Change my whole career. It's honestly simple little things like that, call it sugar pills, call it whatever you want. It's a coach saying, hey, man, try this with your front side or maybe try this at release or maybe hold your hips back. whatever it is. If that clicks for you, that can turn around your whole season and career.

Yeah. No, I think it's hopefully what's coming back in coaching where we've tried to do this analytics and kind of blanket stuff. Exit Velo, throw harder, throw this one with more spin. Every single one is different because it's for a hitter, how does your brain click with that? And the pitching stuff, I think if anyone says they fully know, I think they're lying because Paul Seawald's 92, 91 mile per hour fastball upstairs. Shouldn't compute. But it computes. And there's probably some pitching nerds tweaking out

because they're like, well, Paul Seawald's rise and that pitch shouldn't be hit. But like every pitcher needs to figure that out because it's also the confidence you throw it with. And I don't need to tell you. I had an appearance the other day. And the crew was from a company that does predictive AI. I know right up my wheelhouse.

Yeah. So it was interesting diving into those discussions. and talking about probabilities and how it's just so tough for AI even to come up with a sense of patterns and because it's baseball. And you can have all the patterns in the past that have happened. But the game changes like that. We now, nobody threw a sinker or a slider five years ago. Now it's the two best pitches in baseball. And no one could hit them for a while.

And now we're seeing guys taking better swings off. So it's just the game will change. And you can try and predict what's coming, but you'll never get it right. Dude, the sinker thing, I think everyone listening to this kind of knows. If you don't, sinkers were out. Out. Sinkers were death to pitchers. Everyone throw a foreseamer.

Be Garrett Cole and Justin Verlander. Not everyone turned out to be Garrett Cole and Justin Verlander. It turned out. Shockingly. So insane, dude. That's, if you're, okay, if you're one of the kids that runs high on X, Twitter, whatever, and you think you know something.

Just know that three years ago, sinkers were dead and everyone threw forcing fastballs. And now the smartest teams are throwing tons of sinkers. Yeah. And it changes like that. Like that. Spencer Schwellenbach. God.

I just heard that in this are just random names. No, that's all right. Baseball used to laugh at Little League, because the best hitter used to lead off. And now they were like, oh, wait, they get more at bats. Maybe we should do that. I have some other good examples of those that I'll remember in a little bit. But let's get on with the show, Peter.

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Click the link in the description. Peter, right now we do standout performances. Uh-oh. And it's just a little moment for us to highlight one guy, you know, this is a big program. We covered a lot. Tigers are fun. Okay, I guess I'll, everyone's having fun.

I guess if there was one person who I said, Pete, I want to hear you yuck their yumb for a little bit. Do you have someone that stands out? I do, and it's not going to be someone that you sent me on a list either. Can I go rogue here, big fella? Always. I just mentioned his name before. Spencer Schwellenbach came up to,

to this Braves team as option 11 in the fifth starters role. The kid was in A ball, Rome, to start this year. And he's come up and been one of the most dominant pitches, especially the last 10 to 12 starts. He started in a run as a rookie. He was in A ball this year. That's where, but he's just somehow figured out a way to get through the system. Pitching and obviously athletic ability helps.

But the turnaround and the ability for him to grab hold of that fifth, started spot has been the big reason why this Braves team has been able to at least make a run at playoffs and I want to give him a little bit of his flowers. You were, so we just, we had one of our warehouse events. Is that last weekend? Jesus. I can't remember. My God. Blitzball Battle 5, it's going to be electric, comes out, I think right after the postseason. You were telling people about Schwellenbach and you were talking in the highest regards,

as like a young pitcher, but like of any pitcher. We had our biggest game of the year versus the Mets, and he started the game. He, he went seven innings. He was in complete control, gave up a backside Homer in the seventh inning, but was as good as he's been all year in our biggest game. And it was like nothing shook him, nothing phased him. There wasn't like an elevation in adrenaline where his stuff went somewhere for an inning or two. He is just so poised and so controlled.

And the stuff and the athleticism cannot be overstated. It's a good one, P. I'm excited to see. And he's part of that Braves. Dude, if they get in and you start doing, who's pitching your playoff innings? Well, I'm not sure if you heard that, I mean, right now, you're lining up with sale. Yeah. Fried Schwellenbach, Morton. Yeah.

Morton, Charlie Morton. Well, would anyone in the playoffs have a, would anyone in the playoffs have a better rotation? Maybe Philadelphia? Willanola. Maybe San Diego. Maybe San Diego. maybe San Diego. But I guess that's the point.

We get enamored with starting pitching and the rotation that if Atlanta gets in, they'd have an argument for the best rotation in the playoffs. Especially one, two, three. You're going to have the Cy Young Award winner. Right. And a rookie who's been dominant and Max Fried, who has been really good last three starts and had, he's almost up to 180 innings and it felt like he's missed 10 starts.

So, and the, overall numbers when you break them down after the way the way this season started he went a third of an inning twice i think jake to start the year right right so if you yeah um and the other thing max freed has big balls just a lot of money about to come his way uh yeah i shouldn't and weren't you were you the special advisor that told the braves trade for sale extend them because he'll probably just win the Cy Young this year. Yeah, look, that was, I think I lost that email, but there is some, there's a paper trail somewhere.

No, no one saw that coming. What the hell, man. But there was something different about him the minute he got to the brakes. They extended him when he got there. They must have saw something in him in the offseason or whatever it was and realized that this is a different sale. But for him to be able to maintain that, now throughout the evening. They've done a really good job at giving him an extra day when he needs

it and getting him maybe a couple days when he needs it. So it hasn't been every five days from the start of the season. But the body of work that you got from him this year, no one saw that. Nuts. That's a good one, Pete. That's a good one. I'm excited to see Shwellie. I'm excited to see all the Braves action in these next couple days. My goodness. Um, Peter, I think I'm going to go with a thrower too. And I think where I'm going to go, we talked about the Guardians briefly today. And, you know, it's the bullpen.

It's the bullpen. It's the bullpen. It's the bullpen. It's J. Ram, Naylor, Lane Thomas, a couple other guys contributing for them. And we get enamored with starting pitcher. And it's like, well, guards got no starting pitchers, dude. Tanner Bybee is a really good starting pitcher.

He just had his start over this week was lost a number. Seven innings pitch, one earn run, 7Ks, sure. Yeoman's work. He, over his career the past two seasons, he has an ERA of 325, and that's over 56 starts. So basically two seasons, Tanner Bybee has a 325 ERA,

In the second half this year, he now has a three-flat ERA. I think he's the guard dog's number one starting pitcher. And, okay, if you're comparing it to sail or a wheeler or something like that, sure, it's a slightly different ilk. But he's going to have his chances postseason. And someone like that, let's say Tanner Bybee, a really good young starting pitcher, has a good postseason. God, what that means for Cleveland,

that changes their whole formula. Travis Bazaana coming up next year, too? Ozzie? So I'm not sure how much Bazaan is going to impact this current run, except Vibes, which that's what this show runs on. But I think, you know, there's a big Cleveland Guardians don't have any starting pitching. Tanner Bibi has an argument.

He's had a really solid season in his soft. sophomore year, 25 years old, good Twitter handle, Issa Bib. So he runs on vibes too. Yeah, I know, I won you over with that one. I'm going to follow him right now. Just because of that. I think he's working on his content game. We'll get there.

But, yeah, shout out. Guards almost didn't get a ton of love this year because they've been, they ran away with the Central. They are I don't think we've talked enough Also about another manager role I mean Come on

Yeah Stephen Vote goes in there And just maintains a level of excellence With the guardians That first year managers Shouldn't usually have Picked it up even a little bit Not obviously not shots fired at Tito

But they've had an incredible season They can still get the one seed in the AL, although Yankees win last night was big for them. Yeah, him and our guy, Pat Murphy in Milwaukee. Yeah. Generational managers gone. How about that? Who's going to be the biggest?

I don't know. I think managers are going to be hot this offseason. Yeah. I guess I think Rossi gets a job. I think Skip Shoemaker gets a big job. I think there's a couple of people right now that we may not see on the hot seat that end up on the hot seat after the postseason run.

I think there's going to be some changes. Yeah, I haven't done full hot seat yet. But okay. I don't want to say I get jazzy for that, but it's always interesting. Because it matters. Thank you. The manager matters.

No one else. Matters, Pete? Tell me. Being hot. Dark nasty's on foiego. That means I'm on fire, baby. Like wake on. Let me tell you about the Corona Extra

Enfuego. Mm. Players of the series of the week and of the two weeks. Of the week. Oh, look at this. Of the series. Aaron Judge.

Four for nine. 144 RBI this year, Pete. Is that good? Yes. Bobby, I don't matter. Nico Horner, sure. Round off the season, kid, six for 13, couple doubles, couple homers.

First career multi-homer game. We like that. That's nice going into the off-season. Lucas Erseg, Pete, in that Royals bullpen. Speaking of sinker, three saves, how zero hits, zero walks. Usually gets it done.

Effective. Yeah. Effective. First Royals reliever to record a save in three straight days since Peter Moyland, Calvin Herrera. Excuse me. Close. Yours curve to the left, his curve to the right. One week.

Nick Castellanos. Okay. You want to see him in a postseason at bat? Not really. Twelve for his last 22. That's a 546 batting average. One dot fiving. How about going?

out with a bang. Charlie Blackman. Three homers this week. 1.482. Second most games, hits, doubles, runs, and stolen bases in Rocky's history. A beautiful man. Ivan Herrera. Why not, kid? Six for 13,

two homers. Two weeks. This is the list you want to be on, some might say. Julio Rodriguez. God, I'm Mariners fans wish it was three weeks. 24 for 58, six homers. Four, 18 RBI, 11 runs, a 1.2 goes 20-20 again. Again, J. Ram has entered the chat.

It's no time to be rude. Joins Bobbywood Jr. is the only player in MLB to start their career with three straight 2020 season. Joe Musgrove. In San Diego, you mentioned him, Pete. His last three games, 18.1 innings pitch, two earn runs. That's a 0-980 R.A. 23 strikeouts.

In the NL since he's returned, second best walk per nine, the third most innings pitch, the third lowest whip, fourth highest war, fifth best ERA, he's been nails. And the Corona Extra Enfuego, player of, the week. Make sure you guys go grab a Corona. Watch baseball. I had a couple Corona extras yesterday at the talking Giants tailgate.

Corona extra. It's put you up to that. Sounded like you had a couple. Pops a little punch. Just a little extra, I suppose they would say. Your Corona extra player is Blake Trinon of your Los Angeles Dodgers.

Seven games, seven innings. Okay. Zero hits. That's again a effective. Zero earn runs, one walk, so we've got room to improve, eight strikeouts. That's a zero ERA and a zero.14 whip. That's a guy that you're going to see in some big postseason innings for the Dodgers this year. And in a league of freak shows, he has an argument for best stuff in the game. I do not know where that ball is going. X-axis galore. So make sure you guys go check out Blake Tron and get yourself a Corona Extra.

Get yours. Order Corona.com. 21 plus, relax, responsibly Corona extra beer imported by Crown Imports. And if you can't find Corona around here, just DMBD. He'll point you in the right direction. Lots of DMs getting fired around. Yeah, it's a... Just one little thing I need to point out. Please.

Yesterday we heard from Reynaldo Lopez as a potential return to the bullpen for the Los Bravos moving forward. Why not? Why not? Why not? What's he out with? Shoulder inflammation. Okay. But spoke to the media yesterday and said,

feels great, willing to contribute whether it's starting or go to the bullpen. Like that attitude. I love it. Again. Get us in. Get us to the dance, Jackie, boy. You start talking. I might even give myself a tattoo. if they get there just people where would you go at this point i got nowhere to go

it's places i can't see and at that point who's it really isn't that the name of your autobiography got nowhere to go uh just again quick i know there's been a lot of braves this episode but guys who would throw postings and innings for them sale freed morton schwellenbach rysel glacial joe Jimenez. Pierce Johnson, bummer, Dylan Lee, Reinaldo Lopez, that's Jesse Chavez, obviously, just. You know, obviously. He'll come in and throw a four shuddy and a blowout. 8 to 1, just finish out the game clean. 11 pitches.

I'm going to do this quick because it's the worst segment of the show. The I.L. Nestor Cortez, that was tough, elbow stuff. He says he's going to fight to come back this post-season. It doesn't sound great if we're being honest. Bruce Starr Gratterol, always electric in the postseason. He's got a tough year. It's not looking good.

Brent Honeywell, who's thrown a lot of innings for them, too. Returning from the aisle, this is what we like. Come round out the year. Ryan Mountcastle was another Baltimore boy. He can hit. That's impactful in the middle of that lineup. Stephen Kwan for Cleveland. Okay.

Let's see what version of them they're going to get back. Michael Lorenza for Kansas City, probably doing some swing man stuff, been there. And Anthony Banda, not the name that jumps to the forefront of the Dodgers pen, but he's had a really nice year. Ryan Nelson for my snakes. Peter, let's start everyone's weekend the right way. Awards.

Your old friend, Kelsey Winger. It's a staple. People like it. In a warts, we again, we usually highlight one person or maybe something that stood out. I'll, if you need a second to brood, I can let you brood. I do. I'm going to brood. I am going to give out the, because I have this prepared too. You know that. What do I want to talk about?

You know what? Do you want me to go? Yeah. I would like to give everything that I can. Okay. To the Oakland Athletic Ground Crew guy who was shoveling up dirt and handling it into bottles for those fans that wanted a piece of history of the Oakland Coliseum. There was more emotion coming from the grounds crew guys, from the staff of that place, from, it was just really, really painful to watch. And to see those fans, being able to take a little piece home, it was nice. That was nice.

And you know what? Per usual, I'm going to piggyback off you a little bit. BPD puts it on the screen there. If you haven't seen, literally just... If that's not baseball, I don't know what is. We're just pouring dirt into water bottles. I did that at Yankee Steady and full disclosure. I like that.

Old Yankee. In that room? No, it's actually in Australia. That one's in Australia. Wow. Nice. I like that. Yeah.

You know what? I'm going to give out the ownership award, piggybacking off that. Because we've talked a lot about kind of the bad, or you've seen a lot of clips about the bad. And it, man, what happened in Oakland sucks, and there's just no, there's nothing. As a sports loser, all sports, it's just brutal. Oakland doesn't have a sports team right now.

I do think there's going to be a day when baseball returns to Oakland. I just don't know if that's 10, 20, 3rd. Like, you just don't know. You just don't know. But, God, that's a rabid sports populated area. Anyways. I want to highlight some of the good. Because it's a team.

I have some ties to the snakes. We have some ties across this league, Peter. Dude, there's a team we didn't talk about this episode that won their division that has been easy to skip this year because it's just been a lot of two out of three and the rest of the division flunked the dunk. And I've given the Cubs their crap, the Cardinals get their crap on the internet,

the pirates have just entered the area of being able to get crap again. The Milwaukee Brewers, dude, Craig Counsel. All right. Out. What are we going to do? Trading Corpurn burns, that hurts. And there's part of me that doesn't love that, right? But they're operating within their financial world,

and they turned it into a starting third baseman who went nuts this year. D.L. Hall, who was supposed to be win from that trade, he missed some time, but he's been back. They've cruised to win the Central. And they just put a good product on the field every year. How many straight years now? The Milwaukee Brewers. Willie Adama's going bananas.

And hey, here's Jackson Chariot. We'll just pass the torch to him. The Brewers, they haven't had an under 500 season since 2016. There's been a lot of playoffs. There hasn't been a ton of playoff success, which people have been tough about. But, man, they went out this deadline,

and they made their moves, dude. They brought in Savali and Montas. There's two rotation arms. They have their formula. They're going to play defense. They need a little bit of offense. They've had a lot of bit of offenses here. I guess I've been in my showers,

which you know I do a lot of my best thinking. I've been talking myself into the brew crew because I like offense. They're sixth in runs this year. The Milwaukee Brewers. And they're going to pitch. And Pete, maybe around in this whole. thing off because there's been a lot of Braves talk.

They're hosting the Mets for three. They could help the snakes. They could help the Braves. I don't know if they will, but, God, that is a team that I think has gone underappreciated all year. And they've got a formula. They do. Do they have enough, if that formula works, do you think they have enough to make an impact

in the playoffs this year, or do you think it's going to be the same story? Do you think the Central is just going to... I think they need one thing to go right. Like, they need in that, if they're going to be in the wild card, they just need a ball in the gap that falls or that ball down the line is in. And they need to feel it because I do, man. Chereo, what he's done this second half, he's been a stud,

William Contreras all year, Willie Adomis all year. That it'd be kind of, I was doing that Yankee math before, that I believe in William Contreras. Like he's going to be there. So now we need him and Willie Adomas. So now I need two other guys to have a series. And I think they have the bodies to do that.

And they always pitch. And they've got the bad man at the end. That like, yes, as much as any other team, maybe not any other. But they have a formula that for a month of baseball, they can be the best team. Pat Murphy. And they have Milwaukee's top 25 handsomest man. Pat Murphy running that team.

I want to see that list, by the way. I can send you a list. And that list will be brought to you by the Draft King Sportsbook. Right now, everyone, get in on the action, bet $5 and you get $200 in bonus bets instantly using Code Talking, whether it's the postseason baseball action or maybe some Sunday touchdowns. Do it at the Draft King Sportsbook. Download the app today, code talking $5,

and you get $200 in bonus bets only. at the Draft King Sportsbook. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler. In New York, call 8778-8-Hope-N-Y or text Hope-N-Y 4667-369. In Connecticut, help is available for Problem Gambling. Call 888-789-777- or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas,

21 and over, age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.com slash FT ball. Peter Moylan. You're the best, man. Usually my reed. You know that.

You're the best, man. I know. I could hear it in the warehouse on the mound with the ball shaking in my hand. Yeah, just keep chattering up there. Chris Rose talking shit. What else should the people know, Peter? I've got nothing.

I survived a hurricane. That's all you need to know. We've got a big weekend, an extra long weekend. Yeah. of season saving baseball for a couple of teams. I don't know who it is, but it's going to save this season. Yeah, I guess not to be rude to the players, but I'm a little excited for Monday.

So it'll be interesting to see how we get there. Sam, you know, Sam runs the ship around here. We were just talking about playoff live streams, and we were like, well, Monday might be a playoff live stream. So it's exciting for that. Thank you for hopping in, Peter. I know you're doing this between all the different shit you just do in a day-to-day that each one after the other is just like, what?

What are you doing? It's something different. But you like that. And the people like you. So thank you, Peter Moyland. Enjoy your weekend. The next time people here talking baseball, I was going to say they'll know the postseason, but they might not.

It might be a weird. Might be a weird Monday. I might be in New York. Let me know about that.