Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - These Teams Are The Scariest In Baseball

Episode Date: May 16, 2025

Book your next trip at https://www.bestwestern.comCorona. La Playa Awaits. Be sure to get yours athttps://OrderCorona.comDownload the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use promo code JMBASEBALLUse code TALKIN2025 for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALK.... Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discountCoach Trev is joined by the one and only Jolly Olive! They recap the red hot Tigers, if the Diamondbacks pitching is sustainable, the young Dodgers stepping up and more!0:00 Intro2:20 AL Burn8:25 AL Standings12:00 Red Sox / Tigers16:00 Royals / Astros19:25 Yankees / Mariners23:36 Brewers / Guardians26:00 Twins / Orioles29:00 Rays / Blue Jays31:15 Rockies / Rangers32:45 NL BURN37:09 NL Standings39:00 Nationals / Braves41:50 Diamondbacks / Giants46:40 Cardinals / Phillies50:28 Pirates / Mets51:06 Marlins / Cubs52:38 Angels / Padres54:00 A’s / Dodgers55:35 White Sox / Reds56:30 Standout Performances58:30:00 En Fuego1:01:00 Pitchers who shoved1:042:22 Batters who are struggling1:03:44 IL Update1:06:50 Awards 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 Talk in Baseball. Jake is gone. We got my guy Jolly in the booth. A couple of gunslingers for you on this Friday. Let's start the weekend and talk some ball. I'm pitching. Oh, this is whatever. We're switching roles today, Trev.

Come on now. Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. Like I said, Jake, we wish you the best. But when you're not on the show and we bring Jolly in, I love it. My dirty martini, my dirty little secrets. We had some really fun chats prior to this show. Jolly, how you feeling right now, big guy?

I'm good, man. You know, that's 5-6 shadow. It's a tough one to fill. Jake does a great job in the show, but we're going to pick up the weight today. I think I heard rumors that Trev is doing the burns. I don't know if that's true or not, but we'll just have to wait and see,

but I'm excited. Everyone turns the show off right now, like Treve doing the burns. Jolly, we had a lot of good, baseball. Walk off Tuesday they're calling it. My twins are the best team in the league right now. So things are going well except

Ryan Buxston and Carlos Carrick colliding. That was tough for me to watch. People just turn up the show there. There you go. That's it. Twins sweep 11 in a row. We're done. No. We're going to talk a lot of ball. We're going to start with the AL today. Before we get into that, we're going to remind you the show is brought

to you by drafting sportsbook. Baseball's a marathon, not a sprint. So don't miss a second of the action with our partner at Draft King's Sportsbook right now. All new customers who bet $5 will get $200 in bonus bets instantly when you use code J.M baseball. From every game day until the champagne pops, ooh, and the trophy is lifted.

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Four additional terms and responsible gaming resources. says, see dkng.com.co slash audio. Bob will hit the music. And like your sister's Lisa Frank Binder, this one was all kitties. The Tigers, sweep the Red Sox. There was a blowout in game one. There was a walk-off in game two.

Shout-out, Hobby, Byas, and another walk-off for my guy, Malloy, two-out, pinch-it single, in game three. Red Sox, you were 22 and 23. you're way better than this. I'm kind of going to give you a, what is you doing, baby?

Look, I know the tigers are good, but my goodness, you guys got to step it up. The tigers are hot. We'll get into them more. I got another one for you here, Jolly. Like, Calisi and the unsullied Houston takes care of the Royals.

I know that one. I know that one. That's good. Okay, Trap. Astros take two or three. In game one, the Royals get ahead early, and they hold off the Astros to win seven to five.

Game two and three. Another early, for KC, but Pena. Jeremy Pena is going off this season, Jolly. And how about Paredes? We knew the Crawford boxes were going to be friendly to him. Walk off solo shot for him. A go-ahead single in the 8th for Pena in game three.

Houston kind of rolling right now? They're lurking. They're lurking. Because Kansas City was playing good ball coming into this series. Houston takes two or three. We'll move out to Seattle. The Yanks went across the country and won a series. They won two out of three. battle of two first place teams Jolly.

How about that? The Yanks pull away in game one. Scary scene at the end as Waldo Cabrera hurts the ankle sliding into home. Game two, Yankees tie it up on an air by Dylan Moore in the ninth. Gotta make that play tough throw, but like not really that tough a throw. J.P. Crawford then puts one down the left field line to walk off Tim Hill in the 11th. And the Yankees win that rubber match. Judge gets a 1-1 hanging slider in the 8th to put the Yanks up by one.

Yanks win the series. Seattle playing good ball. Don't be so hard on yourself right now. How about the Guardians? They just do what the Guardians do. Milwaukee comes into town. They take two out of three. The Guardians started this series off Jolly with 19 shutout innings

against the Brew Crew. Trurio with a tough play in center on a, Gabriel Arias fly ball clears the bases in game one. The usual suspects in game two get the job done with Ramirez and Manzardo. And then Reese says, you know what? I'm sick of the shit. Let me put the team on my back. Has a great game to salvage the series for Milwaukee.

But again, Guardians just getting a job done constantly. They went two out of three. My twins, they sweep the Orioles. That's 11 in a row for this team. They're pitching out of their minds. Chris Paddock. Twins for clicks. Twins for clicks.

What is going on? Twins, twins, twins, Twins. Show Hey, show, hey, show, hey. That's the algorithm for us. It's not all good news. We do see Correa and Buxton collide in that last game. I think they're going to be okay.

They went into concussion protocol. We'll see how that goes. Twins switch up the rotation. Lots of things. We'll get into that. We're going to spend so much time on them. Let's move on to Toronto. Where the race took two out of three

from the Blue Jays. runs galore in game one. Varsho thinks he's going to be the hero. He has a three-run shot to put the Jays up seven to six. That's the second of the game. But a backup hanging two-two slider. Junior Caminero puts it in the seats for a grand slam. Varsho has a chance at the end of the game,

but Mesa Montgomery gets him in that game one. Jays take game two on the Alejandro Kirk, aka Jake Stori Ali, a home run. Nice bullpen game for them. Three and a third innings pitch. No run, no runners except for a Simpson air. and then Ray's attack, Gospin for three homers in game three to take the series.

Texas sweeps Colorado, and that is what happened in the American League. Jolly. Do you have the standings? I first have a round of applause for Trevor Ploof. I mean, that, it's like you do it every day. How was the timing on that? I thought it was good.

For someone who's in Cali, can't quite hear the music not good. I thought that was great, Treve. I forgot to turn my timer on. I also forgot to do. our best Western Road Warriors segment. So let me get that in right there. That is the twins as they go in and sweep in Baltimore.

Like I said, 11 game winning streak is the longest in the major leagues this season. They were 4 and 14 on the road, jolly. So not Road Warriors. They won their past five road games during this winning streak. So they're now 9 and 14 marching their way up. Very good at home, obviously. They swept the season series, Charlie.

Six and O against the Orioles this year. That would have been more impressive, like maybe in years past, this year we kind of know the Orioles are at Rock Bottom. And the bullpen, they were the real warriors here, Charlie, 11 and a third innings pitched. Only eight hits. They have 13Ks and no earned runs. How about it?

Let me tell you something about Best Western before you get into the standings, Charlie. Today's episode is brought to you by Best Western Hotel and Resorts. Life's a trip, so why not make the most of it? With over 4,000 hotels worldwide, Best Westerners there for every detour, destination, an unexpected turn along the way. Whether you're hitting the road, traveling for work, or chasing the next big game, there's a room waiting for you. But a great stay isn't just about rest.

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So whether you're traveling solo, with your friends or with the entire roster, Best Western has you covered, pack your bag, cue up the playlist, hit the road. Life's a trip, make the most of it at bestwester.com. Jahl, you got those standings? I sure do, Trev. Shout out Best Western. We love them.

First place in your American League East, heading into the Subway Series, the Yankees 25 and 18. your Boston Red Sox and every other team in the American League East under 500, 22 and 23. I think they're better than that. The Blue Jays 21 and 22 in third place. The Tampa Bay race climbing those standings.

They've been playing well on the road, 20 and 23 on the year so far, and then your Orioles. Birdland is burning down. 15 and 27, a deep last place. Nine and a half games back. Everyone's talking about the AL Central. It's the best division in ball. First place Detroit Tigers.

29 and 15, 14 games over. Up next, the Cleveland Guardians, 25 and 18. They're not going away. That's going to be an interesting race to watch. They're three and a half games back. The Kansas City Royals also playing great ball, 25 and 24 and a half games back. And then the Minnesota Twins who have been hotter than hot.

They've been scalding. 11 wins in a row. They're up to 24 and 20 on the year. Fourth place, five games back. The White Sox, 14 and 30. They're also there. Seattle, Maryland. Still in first place after that series lost 23 and 19,

just a half game back are those Texas Rangers that we've all been very hard on. And they're 24 and 21, right behind them. The Houston Astros, 22 and 21. The A's playing 500 ball at 22 and 22 in your Los Angeles Angels, 17 and 25. Only six games back. Don't give up hope, folks. That's your American League standings.

Phenomenal, Jolly. I do think the AL is the meteor side here, some of the better series. So we'll kind of get in a little bit more. here. I guess we'll start in Detroit. Did you like my Lisa Frank binder reference? And do you understand what that is? I had to look it up. I'm a man of honesty. I'd looked it up and now I understand it. And I thought it was great. A crazy way to start the burn. I'll say that. Trapper keeper. Yeah. I mean, but people don't know. Well, here's a thing is like the kids who are listening

now. They all have laptops. Sure. There's no such thing as a binder anymore. We got a couple people in the office that use like a handwritten notebook, which I really like. I think that's like a nice touch, but the binders are out. Yeah, well, that's obvious. Come on. I'm unk status. There is just the Lisa Frank. I like the reference, as you can tell.

Let's get into the series. I don't know what there is to say about Detroit. I got it wrong, Jolly. You know, and I say that almost every single episode is I feel I want to be apologetic to Tigers fans. I asked where the offense is going to come from. And look, I don't know. I know McKinstree slowed down a little bit, but he had a great

start to the year. Torkelson going off, Hobby bias. These guys hadn't done anything in their big league careers, and here they are doing it. I love the hobby bias resurgence. And then obviously we knew the pitching was going to be good. I think the starting pitching has been a little better than I expected.

And then the bullpen's done the job. But these tigers here, man, I think the Red Sox are a good team. I know they've been struggling. They've had bullpen issues of their own. I think they have more blown saves than saves, which is That's not a way to live, Jolly. You can't live that way.

But the Tigers, they show a lot in this series, a blowout in game one where they tear apart Tanner Halk and he's had a rough go this season. But then to have these two walk-off victories in a row, I think that shows me more about this team than anything else.

And yeah, Hobby bias, second home over the night on that walk-off Tuesday. He looks like he's having fun. I'm curious what they're going to do. do with him once a veerling comes back where parker meadows comes back if he's going to move to short or third um but they're they're just playing really good ball man and again i apologize for getting it wrong i guess you know you're not going to get everything right and i mean it's hard to predict that the tigers were going to have their best start to a season since o six like that's

just that's a difficult thing to do i didn't have that in my book either i had them being competitive but not quite the runaway favorites in the a l central i just feel like these teams are reverse images of each other right now. Like the Tigers are getting standout performances from guys that I don't think you would clock them getting. And there are core guys who weren't performing last year are now doing so. Spencer Torkelson this deep into his season,

we're seven, eight weeks into the year. He's got a 145 OPS plus. Javier Baez has been on everyone's mind because he's getting clutch hits. He's playing great center field defense. And then you mentioned that rotation. It's full, man. They got five guys that can give you a quality start day in and day out.

Jackson Job is someone I love. to watch pitch. He's so young, but his stuff is absolutely lethal. He's got to, you know, find the zone a little bit better, but I think that'll come with more reps. And then the Red Sox on the other hand of things, their guys have just not been going. Trevor Story's been healthy, but he hasn't been hitting very well. Jaron Duran,

we haven't spoken much about him at all this year, and he's kind of been a non-factor for them. And there are guys that were pumping up, you know, early in the season, Christian Campbell. He was in a deep slump that he recently broke out of. It's just these teams are, I think they met, at least for the Red Sox, they met at the wrong time. And the Red Sox, he's

see it in their record in one run games because that really determines whether or not you're going to be a factor deep into a season. If you can win those close games that winning teams usually win, Red Sox are four and 12 in one run games. It's the second worst mark in baseball this year, only behind the Chicago White Sox. It's going to be tough for them to even make the playoffs if that trend continues. Yeah, the one run games will, it's not even just the record that hurts, but the eagle gets hurt in those games. You're so close. You need to win them. They don't do it. And they had a chance here. This is why I love this series for the Tigers.

I mean, Scoobel gets hit around. Tyler Holton gives up the runs, you know, towards the end of the game. So that you're getting to the best pitcher in the American League, and you're getting to one of the best bullpins in the American League, but the Tigers still find a way to win. A couple of cool plays we want to highlight in this series. Rob, if you got the, you know, we're talking crap about the Red Sox. This is a fun play.

William Brayuzeau to Riley Green Ground Ball early on the series. Then he comes back in him and, oh, here's the Zoo Ball. Shades of Trent Grisham on the Blue Crew. Yeah. Luckily the camera cut away. Bradley Green's like, oh my God, I got to go.

He's not really a burner, which is crazy. It surprises me. I just always think of this one. And they come back later in the series and him and Sadon, Raphael, who's a great center fielder.

They end up tag teaming, robbing a home run here, if you got that video. It's pretty cool right here. A little tip drill. I've seen this play in my brain like so many times and I've never seen like it actually happened before.

It's like a glitched in my brain. I was like, oh, wow, it's actually possible. Yeah, it's pretty good right there. Here's what I'll say about that last game. And this is, you know, kind of telling about the Red Sox and what's going on there. Andy Abanias gets on first base. Rallis Chapman pitching.

Rolls Chapman doesn't care about holding runners on. So Abanias steals second base, throwing air gets the third base, and the Tigers, I mean, Chapman gets the next two guys out, but then my guy Malloy gets the 2-0 heater and wins the game for them. Sweeps the series right there.

But like, again, I know you got the two guys out after, but you got to hold the runners on a little bit better than that. Like, I know you're a Roller to Chapman. You've having a pretty damn good year, but. Dude, that's like a veteran closer thing, Charlie. That's a veteran closer thing, though. I mean, I'm a Mets fan. I don't think he's ever been good at that.

No, yeah, and he's lefty, too, which is weird. But, you know, that's... How old is he? 36 is my good. All right, well, go Tigers go. All right, geez. Ale Central's hot. Speaking of the ALE Central.

Houston Nationals take two or three from the Royals. The Royals win that first game. Ryan Gusto not having a nice time. Last two starts been getting hit around a little bit there. Royals win. They're up seven and nothing, I believe, in that game. Astros end up coming back, which looks like, you know,

foreshadowing for. the rest of the series as they win the next two two one and then four to three and again i i royals playing really really good baseball coming into this astros just seem to be lurking and kind of setting themselves up i would say for a late season you know takeover of the a l-o-west is that what you're feeling i mean isn't it year in and you're out that the astros it seems like that kind of feels that way um hey you said you're wrong about the tigers i'll say oh I was wrong about the Royals. I know that this series didn't go according to plan for them.

But at the same time, I really thought that the Royals were going to fall off this year because of that lineup. And that lineup has been doing enough to get by. I mean, it's obviously still the Bobby Witt show. But earlier in the season, it was truly just Bobby Witt and eight other guys. Now I think they've been hitting a little bit better as of late. And you know that pitching is always going to be there. I really don't know what to think of the Astros yet. I like all the names on paper.

You mentioned Jeremy Pena's have it a really nice year, his best year so far. they're getting quality performances at a Framber Valdez after his slow start. I'm just, I'm kind of high on every other ALS team, and I don't really know why. And I feel like this might be the year that the Astros maybe don't stick the landing quite as well.

I thought last year was going to be the case, too, but they take this series, they kind of needed this series, and I don't know. I just feel like the bottom might fall out. Yeah, for the Royals, I mean, they're, you know, after game one,

or coming into game one, excuse me. Royal starting pitching ERA was 297 second of Major League Baseball. The relief pitching ERA 302, 5th in Major League Baseball. That's how they've been winning, obviously. But yeah, for the Astros,

Christian Walker had a really slow start. He's getting it going again. He talks about Pena. Paredes is doing just fine. He hits the walk off there into the Crawford Boxes, which was just obvious. That was going to happen. Framber, still Framber. Hunter Brown threw last night against Jacob de Grom.

I know that doesn't exist. I wasn't sure if I was allowed to bring that up. I watched that. Yeah, you can. It doesn't exist in this show. But my gosh, what he's done. So they have the makings.

Hater's been great. Like, they have the makings of that, like lurking Houston Astros team. They're scary, man. They really, really are. I mean,

we need El Tuvae and Yiner Diaz to kind of go. Like, it's been, you know, we're deep into the season now. We've been singing the praises of guys like Torkelson. and Baez at the same time. I think you can start to be hard on Jose Altuva,

who's got a 6.55 Ops on the year. He's not been that guy for them. I'm shocked that Yiner's fallen off as much as he did. He was a feared, feared hitter, one of the best hitting catchers in the league for the past two years. He's kind of been a non-factor for them. And, you know, Houston kind of has injury issues year-in and year out with some of their guys.

It hasn't really happened for them yet, but they're going to need their core guys to get going on offense. I agreed. We'll go out to Seattle, Yankees. keys take two out of three. You mentioned in game one they kind of ran away with it there. 11 to 5 the final. We have the Oswaldo Cabrera

ankle injury. That one really sucked. Mariner's win game two on the walkoff by J.P. Crawford. That was kind of a wild thing. That was in the 11th. They had a chance obviously when team doesn't score. You bump the guy over

that did that. Routi Tiles doesn't come through so it opens it up for the 11th. and J.P. Crawford just sneaks one down the left field line for that win. And then the Yankees got a great start by Will Warren. Here's the JP walkoff. I like it. My tri-tip, brother. I made some great tri-tip the other day, man.

I really have mastered it. I tell people that all the time. Will Warren goes five innings pitch. She's got nine Ks in those five innings. As the Yankees went three to two. You know, I think the Yankees, are almost like the Tigers to me. Let me tell you something. I had the

Yankees, the Tigers, and the Mets not making the playoffs in my preseason. That's crazy. They all had issues, bro. Where was the Yankees' offense going to come from? They've shut me up with that as they've had these young guys continue to do well with Rice and obviously judges

having a Babe Ruth-esque season. So they've stopped me there. And the pitching I think has been a little bit better than I thought it was going to be as well. But yeah, the Yankees take two or three from a good Seattle Mariners team. Yeah, I mean, this series, the Yankees kind of always played good ball in Seattle, I feel like.

I mean, the season series going back to 22, I think, is in their favor. I want to shout out Paul Goldschman. That's a signing that I kind of raised an eyebrow out a little bit. I wasn't sure how much he had left in the tank after a pretty, you know, up and down 2024 season. Not only has Paul been great, he's been great on the road for them. He's been kind of their road warrior. Shout out Best Western.

And over 400 in away games and an OPS over 1,000. for him. And I feel like, you know, the thing we always get on, you know, Yankees fans for is they're just going to sign guys that'll do well with the porch. But that hasn't been the case for him. He's been the guy that's producing on the road. And you mentioned that the Yankees have kind of surprised you a little bit. You know, you didn't have them making the playoffs. I mean, if I told you at the outset of the season, hey, Jazz Chishol's going to play six weeks, he's going to hit under 200 and he's going to get hurt for two months. Austin Wells, he's going to be kind of ride in the middle for a little bit. I think I would sell a little bit on them too, because the guys

that they've been getting performances out of, Ben Rice has been raking. Trent Grisham has basically replaced Juan Soto in their lineup. Trent Grisham has been sensational. And then, of course, Judge is the kind of thing you can expect. I'm still worried about that rotation. They got a nice Will Warren start, but it really is two guys at the top and then three question marks for them. And it's tough to win series, you know, series in and series out when you have so many

question marks in your rotation. You know what the Yankees are going to bring in their bullpen. Devin Williams has been pitching better as of late. He had a nice outing in the Seattle series as well. It's crazy to think that the Yankees won the series when they lost the Max Fried Stark because that has not been the formula for them. He's been great throughout this entire run. So, yeah, the Yankees are figuring out ways to get by.

And they got a big series coming up this weekend. Yeah, Luis Heel on his way back, though. So I think if you really look at the rotation, I understand, like, they need Garrett Cole. That's tough for them. Yeah. But if you're going to go, you're going to set up Max Fried, who has been better, I think better than anyone could have imagined. For sure.

Rodon and Luis Heel. And then, you know, Will Warren shows. flashes. If he can, you know, locate the ball, you know, he's got swing and miss stuff. You know, I think, I think they can get done. A lot of people think, you know, five men, not every team has five pitchers, man. It's just, just doesn't really happen. You got the back end is kind of where you make your money. Yankees game to an 0 for 14 with runners in scoring position. So to come back the next night, Goldschman hits the homer, judge, what was that pitch?

I have it written down right here. One, one hanging slider. he puts the Yankees up one to win that game. Just a nice overall series for the Yankees as it is tough to travel to the West Coast. These next ones, we'll go a little bit quicker through here. Guardians take two or three from the Brewers, as I mentioned. It was just all guards pitching the first two games

before Reese Hoskin says enough of this and kind of puts the team on his back. Brewers, I don't know what to make of them. I do know what to make of the Guardians. They win baseball games. They have the clutch hitting gene. They have the pitching. I mean, in game one, who was it?

Ben lively ends up getting hurt in that game. But it's Ben lively, Jacob Junis, Kobe Allard, Smith and Gaddis combined for a seven hit shutter. I mean, that's guard ball if you freaking, that's insane. They're out-brewers and the Brewers. And you got to see it. I don't know what the deal with the Brewers is, man. They don't, they don't look scary to me right now.

They don't have that identity that we always say they have. It's not. Well, let me ask. do this. Well, first of all, shout out Jose Cantana, who's been awesome for them. And he's signed like two days before opening day. Do you give them the same benefit of the doubt that in your mind you're given the Astros? Because the Brewers, I mean, they haven't had the World Series wins that much postseason success, but they've been there every year, pretty much the same length of time. I feel like in my brain, I'm giving them some leeway of like they'll bounce back. They'll find the rhythm just because they do it every year. I do. I do because of like what they're built on, which is like defense and putting pressure offensive. on the other defense, their defense has not been great this year. Really? You talk about that Jackson Trio route on the Gabriel-A-Reas fly ball. If you got that up, if you can get that up.

I mean, it's a basis-loaded fly ball, essentially. I mean, hits it decent, but Trio just kind of like zoos it. Yeah. It's right, Adam, which, you know, you will say those are the toughest balls, but that's a guy that needs to make that play. That's a guy that usually makes that play, too, I feel like in my mind. And I don't know, yeah, I mean, when you're playing in a series like this where it's such light offense on both sides.

Those plays stand up massively. I just feel like, you know, we mentioned before the Red Sox caught the Tigers at a terrible time. I feel like the Brewers caught the Guardians at a terrible time too because they play the same brand of baseball, but the Guardians are just playing it so much better right now. I think I read the number.

The Guardians have six shutouts, and this was, or no, that was from last year, but this is their third shutout in five games. That's insane. They're rolling. That's crazy. And if Gavin Williams could ever lock it in,

they're going to be scary. The guy has nasty stuff. Wild. We kind of went over Twin Sweep in Baltimore. They're playing really good ball. They're actually kind of playing guard ball.

How about that? Didn't have that in my book. Unlikely heroes. We got, you know, Cody Clemens and Deshawn Kersey hitting home runs. Christian Vasquez hitting home runs in this series.

The pitching's been phenomenal. Chris Paddock has been really good. His first, take away his first start. I think he's got like a two nine on the year. Bailey O' were the same thing. Like they have right now, they sent down Simeon Woods,

Richardson to bring up David Festa. I believe that's going to be the move. And, I mean, they have like, if Paddock is that, they have like legit five number two starters on their team,

which is like really good. And they have the best closer in baseball at the back end too. Bullpen's been phenomenal. So like they're riding that train. So if they get some hits, some clutch hits, they're going to win baseball games.

That's what. been happening. We do have to see what is going to happen with Correa and Bucson. I think they're going to be okay. A little bit of collision. Correa looks like he took the worst of it. He kind of like did a little whiplash there. But Buckson stayed in the game for an inning before coming out.

I think they're going to be okay. I got to watch out for Bader too because he's been good for them. But I think right now here's the play. Yeah, his head went back. Damn. I was watching this live and it was like, come on. guys. You can't please click be okay get up and they stayed down for a while. I just yeah I mean that's tough I know that's like a tough in between her.

I feel like that's the center fielder's ball but like if courage just moves to the left instead of the right he dodged he kind of did he braced himself for contact like pretty early and I don't I don't think buck really saw him I think he was looking up at the ball this one that has a little bit of shades of good team beats bad team right now that's I mean well I was going to ask you did the twins you know keep this hot tree going are they playing great ball or did they get their medicine because right now the Orioles have kind of been the American League medicine. I love your twins. I do.

I need to see them beat other teams in the AL Central, which hasn't really happened yet. I don't think they have a win in a series against the Royals, the Tigers, or Cleveland yet. So we'll see when their next test comes and that's going to be next week when they play Cleveland at home and Royals at home. I feel they haven't had a lot of games against the A.L. They've had one series against each of them. They've lost each one. But they are riding a 12 game heater right now, but six.

of those wins come against Baltimore. I mean, I watched the last two games of this series in full because they were on in the office. The Orioles are a brutal watch, man. They're not good at anything. They're not a lot of life there. We've been getting on there pitching a lot for the home run ball

and all that, but I mean, even their offense is just not doing what their offense has done the past three years. They're not passing the baton. They're not hitting for power. Are you officially calling them dead at 15 and 27? I don't know. I mean, the ALEs is not going to get any easy. people. You're doubting. You're out. You're not a hitman anymore. You're retired. There's going to be some more murder talk later in the episodes. We are going long. I'm looking at

the time right now. Rays take two out of three from Toronto. There was some actually some really nice baseball being played in this series. First game just back and forth runs galore is what I said in the rundown there in the burn. Excuse me. Junior Caminero, man. It's an absolute missile for a grand slam. A little shaky there for the raise of the end, but they get it done. Varsha, like I said, has a chance to win it after a couple doubles by Bichette and Guerrero in the ninth there, but he ends up flying out.

That was game one. Jay's take, they took game two and kind of like a nice pitching performance by Bassett there. Bullpen gets the job done, like I said. Kirk does, hits the homer, and then the raise kind of just run away with game three at three homers off of Kevin Gossman to take the series. I expect, I expect a lot more out of the raise this year. They've been middling, I guess, is the best word I can say for them. But a nice series win. Yeah, they're giving me a little royals right now. I like that rotation a lot. You know what the race can do in their bullpen, but it has been the Jonathan around the show on offense and no one else. So a guy like Junior Kamenaro coming up with that big hit, there was a lofty expectation for him this season. year. If he can start to go, I feel like their outlook changes a lot. And this was a big series win for them. They've been playing a really good ball on the road. They're eight and one, their last nine road games. It's kind of weird their home situation right now. So honestly, I don't find that that much surprising. But yeah, beating these division rivals, especially one that

I kind of feel is on even keel with them at this point in the season, it's a big step forward to the race. And if they can keep getting good pitching performances out of their starting rotation, they've been getting really surprised bullpen performances too. I still, I still like their chances in the American League because right now the ALE East is open. I mean, you got four teams under 500. We know the A.L. Central has been great, but there's a lot of spots up for grabs in my mind. There's a lot of teams I'm not fully sold on. And I just, I like the makeup of this race team.

I know they're young. I know that their defense has not been fantastic. But I just feel like, you know, six weeks into the season, seven weeks, whatever it is, they can start to get better offensive performances out of some of their guys. Texas sweeps Colorado. Sunrises. I will say this. Three quality starts from Texas.

Ranger starting pitchers. Malley goes six and a third one and run. Lighter goes six innings pitch one and run. Patrick Corbin. Sneaky having like a decent year for them. Sixthes pitch three earned runs. That is a quality start. They changed it. It used to be six innings with two or more. I think three is now in it. I think that's

been that way. It's always been that way. Yeah, it's always been six innings three. There's something they'd change. Don't, don't, don't come at me like this. We're trying to get through this. Go, Ray. Valde. Say Young, baby. Who knows? Who's that? Nadi Evaldi?

Say Young. Oh my gosh. Nasty. Didn't pitch in a series, Shally. It's okay, though. Oh, Rockies, my gosh. Hey, Kyle Farmer hit a home run, though.

Nice. Love that. That's it for the American League. I think I'm ready to just to go on this National League, if you guys are. Stay hot, man. And we will start off in Atlanta. Hey, we'll be there for the All-Star game this year. The Bravesake 3 of 4 from Division rival,

Washington Nationals? I don't know if that's true. Maybe one day. They win games one, two and four. Game one, Verdugo walks it off in the ninth after. The Nats scored two to tie on a Nick Allen air. That's his first of the season. He's been playing pretty good shortstop for them.

Smith-Shawber is nasty again. All the starters put up quality starts for them. Is this a law firm? Holmes, Swellenbach, Elder Smith-Shavar? I'm not really sure. A mouthful. That's a big mouthful. Close games, but I think the ballroom.

better team wins the series. Like I said, like I said, three out of four for them. Braves now back at 500 after this series. We'll go to, we are going to go to San Francisco, where the Diamondbacks went into town and took two out of three. Merrill Kelly out duels JV in game one. He goes seven innings pitch one and run JV. Go 16th in pitch two earned runs.

Was that the game? No, game two. is where Jung-Hul-Lee says, enough of this, you're going to walk Elliot Ramos in front of me on Korean Heritage Night? Just Tori Lavello not understand how the way sports work?

You can't do that. He hits the Homer. Giants take game two. And then the snakes take game three. Shaky bullpen again for the snakes, but they hold on to win it. They almost had a Bermuda triangle ball there at the end. They win the bread games,

win the series. is this a sign of things to come? Are they going to jump San Francisco? I don't know. That bullpen seems kind of crazy. Cardinals take two out of three from the Phillies. We had to rain out on Tuesday, so they played a double header that they split on Wednesday. Cards win the game one three to two.

Phillies win game two, two to one. And then the Cardinals unload 14 to seven. I think the Phillies have an Aranola problem. And I love Aaronnola, but things have not been going. way Cardinals have been playing good ball. The bullpen's been nasty. The starters have been nasty. Sunday grade does get hit it around.

A couple old heads getting knocked around that last game, but the Cardinals do take two out of three. I'm going to let you take this one right here. The Mets take two or three from the pirates. What's going on in Pittsburgh? There's Jeff Passon saying they're going to trade Paul Skeens. What the freak is going on? We'll get into this one a bunch.

I can't wait to hear your takes on it. Mets won the first two games, four, three, two, one, before getting shot. Shutout in game one. Shout out Bailey Fulter. Let's go, baby. 4-0 Pirates as they salvage a win in the last one to avoid the sweep. Cubs take two out of three for the Marlins.

Kind of obvious. Maybe not as obvious as Yeah, it's obvious. Yeah. They win the first two games. Five to four before the Marlins win the last game. Three, two, one. We'll get into more of that. Again, this one's going to be tight for us, guys. Padres take two out of three from the Angels.

Probably should have swept it. Taylor Ward with a huge Homer in game one. for the Angels there in the 9th. And then Fernandez-Tatis Jr. says, I can do that. I can hit a home run late in the game. Walk off two-run home or there before they roll game three.

Podgers win 6-4 and 5-1 in games 2 and 3 respectively. We expect them to win the series against the Angels right now, the bullpen for them. Oh, my goodness. The Dodgers, after getting beat down in game 1 by the A's. I was at this series, Jolly. Boots on the ground. They get beat 11 to 1 and then come back and say,

No, no, no, no. We are the daddies. 9 to 3 and 19 to 2. Show Hey is just, it's incredible what they're doing. We get an award from the Dodgers and it's not going to show hey. And how about this? The White Sox, take two out of three from the Cincinnati Reds. They went 5 to 1 in 10 endings in game 1, 4 to 2 in game 2. And the Reds end up blowing them out in game 3, 7 to 1.

And that jolly is what happened in the next. National League. You got the standing spot. I do. I just got to mention this really quick. White Sox are four and two since the Pope got chosen. I don't know. Something's happened for a reason.

Are the Cubs reeling? Because I thought that might be a turning point from them. They're too good to real. They're too good to reel. In your National League, I'll start in the West. How about that? Because we ended in the West on the last one. The Dodgers take two out of three from the A's and improved to 29 and 15.

But right on their tail, 27 and 17. 15, your San Diego Padres, just a game back. You'd bounce back by them after that bullpen and pollution. Your giants after their series lost to the dime back, still a couple of games above them in the standings, 25 and 19. Dimebacks hover and above 500 at 23 and 21 in fourth place. And your Colorado Rockies,

I can't believe I'm saying these numbers in this order. 7 and 36, deep last place. It would be shocking, even more shocking you said it in the other order. I think so. Really quick, how many games back do you think they are at first place? right now. Throw out a guess. 20.

21 and a half. May's not over yet. Absolutely insane. Someone stepping. I love you, bro. Come just come hang out of there, man, escape. Chicago Cubs,

they lead the NL Central. Central. Still 25 and 19. Right on their tail. A lot of close divisions in baseball right now. That's fun. 24 and 20s. Your St. Louis Cardinals, they're on a heater.

Milwaukee Brewers. We're just talking about them. They're scuffling a little bit. 21 and 23. Only four games back, though. They just need one good week in the right back. it. Same thing for the Cincinnati Reds.

21 and 24 and then your pirates. What is he doing, baby? 10 games back. 15 and 29. They are very thankful that the Rockies exist. Leading the National League East, your New York Mets 28 and 16, two and a half games ahead of the Philadelphia. Phillies coming off a series lost. They're

25 and 18. The Braves back at 500. 22 and 22. Who starts 0 and 7 and then gets back to 500 in May? That's absolutely insane. The nationals, 18 and 27, they've fallen off a little bit. just a half game ahead of those pesky Miami Marlins who are 16 and 26 and those are your standings in the National League. Excellent. Jolly. Like I mentioned, we're going to kind of zoom through this and get to the second half of the show.

Braves take three out of four. Their offense really hasn't showed up. They haven't scored more than five runs in the game since April 28th. It's hard to believe. That's pretty crazy. They played a bunch of walk-up games. It's actually been really good in walk-up games. They've had three walk-offs over the last 10 games, I believe it is. is Verdugo gets it in game one. You know, Rousel, Rousel-Glacius, blown save,

but team picks him up. You got to like that for them. Other than that, it's starting pitching for the Braves, I think, is the story of the series. And again, like, you know,

names that you know, but, you know, I think you think of, a lot of other guys before you start thinking of these pitchers on the Mets, Grand Home, Schwellenbach,

Elder, and Smith-Shavre, like I said, just really, doing the thing for the Braves as like you mentioned to get back to 500 and they we talk about other teams lurking Braves steady lurking on the

NLEs they're pretty far back I heard the standings but I didn't really hear the standings how far back are they from the Mets right now they're six games back so okay so that's a substantial feels far to you does not feel far to me I never sold my Brave stock because I just have a belief that things will always round

out for this roster I didn't think it would go this way though I will say that I think, you know, them getting quality performances out of Bryce Elder, who I think was kind of pushed aside at the beginning of the year. Grant Holmes is a career reliever who's been good for them out of the rotation. Smith Schaver looks like he's going to be special. That was their top prospect entering last year. They've been getting great starting pitching performances when the offense has not really gone.

I still can't believe that five run stat. That's what we know the Braves for. They bang the ball around. That's how they win games. But they've been winning games by Hurlin the Pill. They're 16 and 8 since April 18th. The only other team that matches that record in baseball is the Mets, the team that they're trying to chase down. So we'll see these teams have not played yet.

I'm looking forward to that first series of the year. They're the fifth team ever to reach 500 after starting his season, O and 7. And it's May 16th. It did not take them long at all, man. It's crazy. Very quick. You know, Iglesias in the back end. He gets his seventh save in the last game.

He's got three blown saves already on the year. nationals are kind of reeling. They lost eight or the last nine games, have not been hitting with runners and scoring positions. CJ Abrams has been really good for them. So like shout out CJ Abrams. Obviously, James Wood has had a great start to the year as well. But I think this is a little bit of big brother,

little brother right now in the National League East, even though the Braves haven't been playing their best ball offensively. So look for that to turn around. Snakes go and take two out of three. This is definitely a fun series here. the first game, we get a little bit of Corbyn Carroll doing it for the Arizona Diamondbacks and go and look at his stats and what he's doing. His contract looks like an absolute bargain right now for the snakes.

He has a solo homer and then another solo homer to put up to nothing, and that's all that they needed in game one. Like I mentioned, you know what I forgot though? The Michael Harris catch in that last series, I forgot to mention that. That was... It's sensational. And every time MH2 makes a catch, he does like a great Selly after a two,

he's... I wish he didn't play for my rival because I think he's fucking cool. Sorry, I was just like reading these stats. I'm like, God, I forgot about the Michael Harris catch.

The Jung-Hulie homerun on Korean heritage here's the catch. Oh my God. Boy, Robbie. And look, just instant sally. Watch. Nope,

no way. Like, that's so cool, man. God, why you got to play for the braids? Is he saying, no way? Or is he saying,

out of my head hurts. No, I think he's saying no way. That's not getting by me. Okay, that's cooler. I think he's saying, oh, my head hurts, I just ran into the freaking wall.

I say, nah, that's a sally. That's a sally. Come on, man. Maybe I'm too old. Second game, or excuse me,

moving on to the Dimebecks series. Jong-Hou Li, Eli Aramis gets walked in front of him. Man supply goes after him on Korean Heritage Night, which is just a no-no. You know that's going to happen. Come on. Can't step it up.

Three run Homer. Put some up 10 to 4 in that game. And then there are some weird stuff going on in game 3 here. Here's the Homer. Beautiful swing. That's a good pitch, man. That's not a bad pitch. He's so fun to watch, dude.

Just sneaks it over there right into the top in the stands over that wall before McCovey Cove. Snake's bullpen shaky. Again, there's some weird base running stuff. I believe it was Ramos that ran. into Loller there at the end. It might not have been Ramos. Anyways, they hold on.

They've been a problem, Charlie, that hasn't really been addressed yet. They're still trying to go, like, in-house there. Ryan Nelson and Shelby Miller get hit around a little bit in that game. But they need to find someone. I mean, it's been kind of Miller. Ginkles, you know, had his issues as well. I don't know what they're going to do at the back end of the bullpen

but you can't have that it's not sustainable especially in that National League West as you're looking up at these top three teams I know they just won the series against the Giants but my goodness it's like

you can't you can't keep doing that yeah I don't know if it's going to win series I don't know if head researcher Daln Field is going to make it through this year because it just feels like every night these guys are playing a barn burner one run game that goes to the very last out

you're getting on their bullpen a little bit I'm going to get a little bit on the rotation I mean I know that they've been solid, especially, you know, Corbyn's has been great for them and he's been worth the money so far. But there's a lot of money invested in that rotation to be great. And they've been kind of just middle of the pack so far. The Erod contract's been brutal for them. And he, you know, every outing kind of feels the same for him. He'll get through two, three innings clean and then it'll kind of just blow up for him. And, you know, they're not getting a ton of length out of

their guys either. It's stretching out the bullpen and straining them thin. And I do think they're going to be one of the teams that is going to punch it. it for an early trade because you can't you can't go on like this the dimebacks cannot be relying on their offense to put up eight runs a game it's not sustainable uh granted the offense has been fantastic for them perdomo continues to hit swars continues to be great for them um but you can't live like this man if there is one team they can do the dime back's offense is sneaky i don't think people give them as much credit as other teams but go check out the stats people even from last year carried on over to this year uh here's a fun stat uh the backs have the only tandem and

baseball players with 13 or more homers this season. It's Corbyn Carroll with 14 and A. Eugenio with 13 and also this is a nice note for the Diamondbacks fans I believe they just finished a stretch of 16 games in 16 days against teams that if the season ended

the day will be in the postseason. They went 8 and 8 but 500 against those teams 16 in a row I think I think you take that. I think you take it but you just feel like this team's capable of better like I had this They are easily shoot into the playoffs, taking the step this year.

And so far they've been good, not great. And I just feel like they have the talent on this roster to be great. They've had a tough schedule so far for sure. And maybe they'll rip off one of these sick runs in June and July. But right now, I'm very concerned about that pitching staff. And I have a hard time seeing it get better unless they make an early move. Moving on, I don't do this one quick. Cardinals kind of deserve a lot of love.

They had the winning streak of their own before getting snapped in that, Game two on Wednesday. Phillies win two to one. Three two, game one. Mason win with the big Homer there. Phillies win game two, one. Then as I mentioned, a couple old heads getting knocked around in game three.

Cards ended up win that one, 14 to 7. Just unleashed the offense late in the game there. Again, another Mason win Homer in game three. Alec Berluson had a two-run single. And then it was just kind of the floodgates opened up. And Mason went another single there in the next. to make it 14 to 7. Cardinals playing really good ball.

I think they've surprised a ton of people, including me. I reached out to Katie. I said, what the hell is going on out there in St. Louis? She said it's been the bullpen. Yep. Bullpen's been really, really good for them. They've gotten timely hitting, so that's kind of gone a little bit under the radar. But this is a team that,

the way they're doing it kind of looks sustainable in a year where they weren't really supposed to be doing what they're doing. I mean, the NL Central is kind of wide open for them. Yeah, I mean, I would not deem the Cubs the runaway favorites. I mean, the Cubs had a great start last year and then fell off in early June. So there's an entire possibility that this division can go. One game back right now.

I know. And like the Cardinals have ripped off this crazy heater. And also a big reason for that, they've played three double headers since April 30th. And they're five and one in those games. And that swings a lot of like how we perceive them at this point in the season. I do think that the offense will even out a little bit. They've been putting up crazy numbers in games, but I'm starting to buy a little stock in this pitching staff.

I know he didn't pitch in the series, but Liberator has been great for them. It looks like at age 25, he's found his kind of like zone, his pitch arsenal because he had a ton of pitches last year. He's, you know, lessened that this year. Eric Feddy's been devouring innings for them. And that's kind of, that's how I view them in the Diamondback kind of differently.

I know we were just talking about them. They're getting length. They're getting a ton of length out of their starters. All these guys are either vets or, or their young breakout guys that have been pitching deep into games. And, you know, I watched the Mets double header against them. They have Michael McGreevy waiting in the wings who is extremely talented. Like, that's another thing.

That differs them from the dimebacks. They have internal talent that I think is ready to go. I think the Cardinals are going to surprise a lot of people. We'll see if they can keep it up. But right now they're playing a really good brand of baseball that I agree is somewhat sustainable. Mason went with a good series. Alec Berluson's really turned on as of late. In April, didn't do much.

No homers only four runs driven in, but in 11 games in May. He's got three homers and nine runs driven in. Wilson Contreras has been really good for them. For the Phillies, like I mentioned, they kind of have an Aaron Nola problem. I'm curious what they do because Andrew Painter looks like he's ready to go sitting in AAA. And you can't banish Nola to the bullpen. I don't know what you do. Is it a Phantom I-L situation?

I'm not really sure what you do, but Phillies, I think they have time to figure it out. The National League is a beast, but the Phillies. team also, I think, understands kind of they're going to be there at the end of the year, so we need to get it right and figure some things out. Bryce Harper cuts his hair. Interesting. Buzzes it because there's a slump.

You have to love that as a Mets fan. I don't know. A little panic haircut. I've done that before. Yeah? Oh my gosh. It's basically saved my career. I cut my long hair off and I went off on a run here.

But Bryce doing it's a little different, I would say. We'll need the tell-all one day. I will say this. The Jesus-Lazardo trade continues to be the best move of the offseason. He's been so good for them. It's all Major League pitchers in war. Really good. Give me your Mets.

Take two out of three from the Pirates talk. Real quick. Yeah. Super weird series. Rainy. The Mets honestly didn't play great ball, but they won a pair of one-run games. That's been the bane of their existence lately.

They've been losing all their one-run games. And we've been talking a lot about how important that is for being a winning team in Major League Baseball in 2025, especially with all the good teams in the league right now. Yeah, not too much to say here. They got a couple good starting pitching performances. Clay Holmes got hit around in that last game. Just kind of running the mill and, you know,

they take a series against the team they should have beat. That's pretty much all I got. Love that. Go Mets. Go, I'm a big fan. I'm a big fan of the Mets. Had them out of the playoffs as well. I guess I'm preseason.

You weren't a big fan. Come on. Cubs take 2 out 3 for the Marlins. Almost snaps here. Shout out Danesby Swanson, who's been crushing it over, you know, the last two weeks. He needed to get it going and he has. Kind of good team, bad team, I would say.

Shout to Justin Turner, walk off knock. Yeah, he needed that bad. Yeah, him, Pete Cromchong and his son on the field after the game, all redheads getting together. It was awesome. I love that for them. The Angels lose to the Padres. Again, again, this is a good team, bad team right now.

The Angels bullpins reeling. Ben Joyce now out for the season. and he wasn't really having a good one anyway but their bullpen's been really tough for them and shout out for the Padres they took care of business. Fernando Tautis, there was a lot of talk about his leg lift and what he's doing with his

front foot and then the walkoff Homer he did both of them. He did a big leg kick and a toe tap all in one. He's just, he has elite hand-eye people. It doesn't matter what he does with his front foot. And his timing was off on it too. Yeah, it was off. It doesn't matter because he has an elite hand eye.

He's a freak dude. I swear Jolly If he didn't get suspended I'm talking about this guy's my favorite player In all of baseball I don't know that I've ever seen this before Like he plants like a full second early And then still just beautiful

He's going back and forth of that I don't know it's interesting You know for a while I don't want to get into this too much It was get your front foot down Was like old school baseball And then it was like Joey Batista And Justin Turner like fuck that dude

Like just swing as hard as you can and then it's like okay that works for you guys it's really hard to see the ball these pictures of the big is pretty good so I'm gonna get my foot down you go back and forth depending on who you are Padres take care of business Dodgers crush the A's

you know the A's are a fun team to watch they have some really fun young players I went and saw these games talk to Jacob Wilson and his dad Jack and just said I'm so envious of your relationship can't wait to like if Teddy is like even in just a good high school player I'll be so stoked it's got to be so fun for Jack Wilson

to see his son do it. He had two homers in his first game in L.A. So how about that? But then the Dodgers unleashed. It was a Show-Hays show. Two homers on the Bobblehead night. I've been to four Dodgers games, I believe, this year. And two of them, Shohay's homered on his first

at bat. It was nuts. I was there with Lucas O'Brien. That was a trip. And then the White Sox take two out of three for the Reds. No offense to you guys. We're running late. Don't really want to go too much into this series. which brings us jolly

to the second half of our show and it's time for standout for stand out performances this guy stood out for Trev say what yeah okay I just imagine Rob just

smoking a huge joint doing that late night one night his little studio. Jolly, who you got? I mean, this was the easiest pick. I was glad to see that you didn't have him highlighted on your sheet.

I'm going with Javier Baez on Tuesday against the Red Sox. A pair of three-run homers. His story, I think, is just one of the best of this entire year. In that game, he goes two for five, three-run scored,

two homers, six RBI. It's up to an 842 OPS on the year. Just the tigers have been great as a whole, but I think everyone is really happy to see Javier Baez playing good ball again. Yeah, he's, it's, it is weird because I feel like people were so down on him because it looked like he was just kind of mailing it in for the Tigers or the last couple years and people like, I mean, there was a couple pitches last year that he swung at that people were like, what is, what is he doing? Is he want to like just get out on purpose?

And then this year, and I did say this was C. Rosie. It feels like because he saw them play well last year and was not a part of it, he's like, wow, like that sucks. as soon as he got hurt too. Like, what's that? Like right after he got hurt, that's when they began to run. Yeah.

And you know what? Like, who knows what would have happened? He sees that. He gets that itch again. I want to be part of this team. Who knows what happens? If Meadows and Beerling start the year healthy,

like his bias, what's his role on this team? The world works in mysterious ways, Jolly. Also, I don't know if you saw. I am going. Oh, yeah,

go on. With my friend. Not really my friend. I don't know him. I want to be friends. I like the young hot guys. Drake Baldwin. Catcher for the Atlanta Braves.

They have the best hitting tandem of catchers in all of baseball. Second best in their division, maybe. I'm thinking what about also the Cubs? Isn't Carson Kelly going off as well? Okay, anyways, Drake Baldwin, he goes three for four with a double Homer, two runs driven in. That was on Tuesday, but his overall line this year, my goodness. 360, 407, 573 for the 981 OPS.

from your catcher. I love it. You know where he was born? I'm against Georgia. My favorite freaking city in the world, Madison, Wisconsin. Today I'll tell you the story of why it's my favorite city off camera, jolly. You know, the Braves, as we've mentioned, I'm playing really good ball as of late to have this guy,

your catcher. Essentially, you're kind of your backup catcher, but not really your backup catcher go off like this. It's a cheat code. So shout out Drake Baldwin for starting the year off the way you have. My gosh. And now let's get into everyone's favorite part of the show. We're talking in Fuego.

This one's brought to you by Corona. You want to know what I love most about baseball jolly? What's that? Kick him back. Ordering some coronas and enjoying the ride together. From the moment we all bail on work to enjoy opening day to the last play of the World Series. Baseball is the one sport where any.

anything can happen. Any team can catch fire going to run and take their fans to the promised land. Let's go, Minnesota. For us baseball guys, there's nothing quite like sharing a corona relaxing and enjoying every unpredictable moment with friends. So go ahead. Turn the cheap seats into your own private island with some ice cold coronas. Gosh, that sounds good right now.

The official Cervasa of Major League Baseball. Crack open a corona, squeeze and a lime and enjoy America's favorite pastime with Mexico's favorite present time. Get yours at order corona.com. must be 21 or older. Enjoy responsibly. Corona extra beer imported from Crown Imports, Chicago, Illinois. Jolly.

Jolly. That means I'm on fire, baby. Like Waco. We got... I'm dishing the rock to you. We got so many good performances, Trevor. We'll start with Brandon. We just mentioned someone help out Jonathan Arenda.

He did this series. Seven for 13 against the Blue Jays. two bombs in one game. His first multi-homer game since May of 2022. You want to mention ALE's teams in the mud. Talk about the Baltimore Orioles. They traded away. Kyle Stowers last year.

He went five for 11. Three solo shots. He's been cooking for the Miami Marlins. What's Trevor Rogers up? Do I haven't seen him? Mason, when I have seen, he came back and the Cardinals started to go. He goes six for 11 with two homers and a 1.7 op. against the Philadelphia affiliates.

And then shout up Brett Boone for fixing. Josh Young on the Texas Rangers, six for 10 in the series against Colorado. He got his medicine with a pair of homers. On the week, though, it's all about J-Ram baby. Jose Ramirez 9 for 23 homers, a double, seven and unscored. And of course, four stolen bases because he does that too.

Three stolen bases in one game for just the third time in his career. He's got over 250 in his career now. He's like that. You know who else is? Jeremy Pena. You love Jeremy Pena. 14 for 30 this past week. Two doubles, a Homer, 7 RBIs.

In 16 games since they moved him to the leadoff spot, you know I love a lineup shakeup. He's hitting 406, 5 doubles, 3 homers. He's starting to go. The Astros will need him to go. You know who else needs someone to go? The Rockies, because they're 7 and 36. Hunter Goodman, he's been pretty good for them, man.

11 for 26, a 423 average this past week. 4 doubles, a triple in a homer. I like a catcher hitting a triple. That gets me going a little bit. But you know what else gets me going? pitchers who shove Merrill Kelly. The Diamondbacks needed a good pitching performance. They got one

in game one against the Giants. Seven innings. One earned run. Eight strikeouts. They needed that against the division rival. Jack Leiter provided a quality start for the Texas Rangers against those rocky. Six innings, just two hits allowed, and one earned run. He's been punching out the world, and so has A.J. Smith

Shaver. The Braves are inevitable people, especially when he goes. Six innings, no earn runs. Six strikeouts to two walks. He's allowed one earned run. and 19 and two-thirds over his last three starts. That is who has been in fuego, brought to you by Corona. I do need to talk about Jack Lider because I was talking in my power rankings about him and Kumar

and their fastball's getting hit. Turns out Jack Lider's fastball's not getting hit. It's just whenever I watch, and then I had it in my mind from last year. Okay. It's fastball been phenomenal this year, so I do apologize to Rangers fans. It was a problem for him, though, in the minor leagues.

It was a problem, and it seems like every time I watch him, his fastball is getting hit. So, like, you know, I haven't watched every single pitch of Jack Ladders. I know he's been obviously great this year. But just want to issue a little clear it up. Sometimes you got to be your own lawyer. I get it. It's fine, guys.

And now this sucks. Being Jake sucks. Batters who are struggling, Brian Reynolds for Pittsburgh, 4 for 49. He's batting just 114 on low pitches this season. Second lowest in Major League Baseball. He's slugging zero on low breaking pitches this season. That's obviously lowest in all of baseball. There's just a lot of bad stats.

He's got a ground ball rate of 82%. I saw this first hand. This was tough. Don't swing at the low one. This was tough, man. He's been a tough watch. Don't swing at the low pitches. I know it's hard, but let's get the ball up a little.

That's kind of like hitting 101. Get the ball up. See, it highlighted a fly, baby. How about Minnie Caleb Durbin? For the Milwaukee Brewers. Four for 34 right now. He's got a hard. hit rate of just 14% on inside

pitches this season. Got to step that up. Say it Suzuki, who was looking really good. Six for his last 51. He's got an on-base percentage of just 135 over the last two weeks. That's the lowest in the National League. Adley Rushman, we got to figure some stuff out there, man. I don't know what's going

on in Baltimore, but you can't have Adley Rushman going six for 41. It's a 146 average. He's hitting just 120 when leading off an inning this season. He's got a swing rate of just 32% in non-two. strike counts this season. He's got to swing the bat more. Is he not seeing the ball? Orioles fans, let me know. Sound off in the comments. My guy, Sal Perez, 8.4. 8 for 45.

It's a 178 average. He's got a ground ball batting average of this 073. Of course, ground balls are outs in the big leagues people. They can be productive outs, but they're outs. And then that moves us on to the worst part of the show, Jolly. The I.L. The guys are placed on the I. Miami out for the Dane Myers. Right oblique strain, six weeks plus. That's a tough one. I was Waldo Cabrera. He's out for 2025.

He had surge run out. That one was really tough to watch. Shout out to our guys, Waldo. Really loves him. Ian Hap left oblique strain. That's tough for my guy, the ultimate professional. Ben Lively had some right forearm, like, flexured tendon strain. Hopefully he's, I don't. That doesn't sound good.

Gary. Do they have an update on that? Is he I'm just sending good vibes. T.J. McFarland, Rokey Sasaki for the Dodgers goes on the aisle. Now they have Blake Snow, Glassnell, and Tim on the IL, Clayton Kirsch ought to save the day. Corey Seeger goes on the IL. He's got a right hammy strain. That's tough for Texas as they're looking to continue to go a little bit with that offense. Tanner Hauk goes on the IL. He kind of had a feeling that was coming, right, elbow strain, part injury healing, part mechanical and mental healing is what they're saying.

That makes a lot of sense. Bryce Miller on the IL for the Seattle Mariners. And this is a little bit better. Let's get the weekend started with guys returning from the IL. Kendall Graven comes back. So there's a relief pitcher for the Arizona Dyingbacks. Derek Hill comes back for Miami. IKF came back off of the IL for the Pirate.

Higashioca comes back for Texas. DJ LaMayhew. Back on the field for the Yankees. He's wearing long pants this year. Yeah, it's weird. Didn't like it. Let DJ wear whatever the freak he wants. Would you rather him in Carlos Santana shorts?

Always. Always. Maybe we should do that. Ramon Urias comes back. Ryan Weathers for Miami and then Josh Lowe for Tampa comes back as well. We love seeing all those guys come back. But you know what I love more than anything.

Anything here in Kelsey's voice. Let's start everyone's weekend. Do you want to lead it off or do you want me to lead it off? I can lead it off if you need. You can't leave it off. I'll drive you in, Pop. What do you got? I'm giving out the Big Smooth Award this week.

That's because it's one of my favorite nicknames in baseball, Trev. It was for one of the guys that I really like to watch pitch in the 2010s. Oh. His name is Drew Pomerant. Yeah. Very quietly, he's put together a nice little run for our Chicago Cubs. We talk a lot about the Cups. We talk about Kyle Tucker.

We talk about Danes v. Swanson in May. PCA has been going off. James and Tyones are on the pill. You don't really hear a lot about their bullpen. And when you do, you probably think of guys like Porter Hodge and Ryan Presley, although he's been struggling. But one guy who has up to eight and two-thirds innings this year, no-earned runs and just four base runners allowed is Drew Pomerance.

Now, it's been an incredibly small sample, but I wanted to highlight him because I've been trying to find a way to talk about him. It's very, very rare that you see a guy pitch at age 32 and then go away for three full years and not have it be the end of his career. But Drew Pomerantz at age 36 has turned back the clock and he's pitching well for the Chicago Cubs. My biggest question for this Cubs team was, how are you going to get out in the seventh, eighth, and ninth inning? And so far, they've been able to do that. And a big reason why is this guy's presence.

Since 2020, a little butter knife for you. 53 innings of 1.36 ERA. A whip under one has been Drew Pomerantz at age 31, 32, and now 36. I really like this quote from him. He said this NLB.com when he made his debut against the Phillies this year, after he struck out Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwerber, by the way. I was thinking I was done playing baseball last summer. I had a good spring training and I pitched pretty well.

It's good enough for me to get here. Again, I'm just happy to be here. it feels like the first time all over again. And I thought that was really sweet because some guys just aren't ready to let go with the game. Drew Pomerant's wasn't. I feel it felt like the game was pushing him away, whether it was injuries or getting cut from rosters because he was quote unquote too old.

Well, the Cubs gave him a chance. He's proving them right and he gets the big smooth award from me. I like that. I've been in the league since 2011. He's got over 11 years of service time. So congrats on that. 2018 World Series for Pomeran's a one-time All-Star I'm going to go off script here

I think he married like his wife that comes from like a really wealthy family not that he necessarily needs that but like snap for you as well that's just a little inside baseball knowledge for you no I've always been a fan of his and he is big smooth 65-246 listed yeah okay all right I like that

great award Jolly thanks man you know what? This is when we get like a pinch runner for you. You get the base knock. We pinch run for you. Take the cleats off. You know,

put your turfs on, get a handful of gummy bears and just watch the rest of the freaking show. Because I am giving out the Hail Bop Comets award. And for people my age, I remember this. Okay, this was a comet that was in the sky. Jolly,

imagine this. You're looking up with the night sky. I'm driving home from the valley to cast a, a 50 minute drive. I'm like, why do we live out here, Dad? Can we live closer to everything we do? This is ridiculous. I'm looking up with the sky.

It's the hail bob comet. 18 months this thing was in the sky. A comet, dude, with a comet trail. And it was just like, what the fuck is going on, dude? It was crazy. Can you imagine that? Was this before technology it was rude? Kind of.

This was like 97, I believe it was. No one was on their phones. Everyone was just living in the moment standing at the comment. There it is. There it is. Can you imagine that just being in the sky? It was crazy, dude. People would freak out nowadays. With technology and social media, people would freak out. And people did freak out. Heaven's gate happened, which was like a mass suicide. Where they all had like five bucks in your pocket? Yes. You missed out on this because you were too young. Were you even alive? I wasn't alive. I'm 99. Oh my God. The world was a different time back there. Okay?

I'm serious. This is a serious thing. I can't wait to see you connect this back to baseball. Drink, you know, drank some apples sauce with some poison in it. Had five bucks in their pockets. They all were wearing Nike shoes,

dressed in all black. It was a weird thing. They did it like two by two. So it wasn't like just like all at once. And they were like, okay, just go look that up. you want. It's very disturbing, actually. I won't. I promise. But I remember this comment. It had a huge impact on me as a kid because I was like, what the, what the hell's going on right now?

There's another comet that's having a huge impact on my life in a more positive way, I believe. And that is my guy, Haysan Kim, whose nickname is the comet. Now he was just brought up by the Dodgers. And when he signed, everyone's like, what the freak is going on here? Who is this guy. He's a speedster. Like, what are the Dodgers going to do with this guy? This guy is freaking awesome to watch Playboy. If you haven't seen him, you know, you're going to hear about Muki and Freddie and

Shohey and Will Smith and all these other guys on the Dodgers. But He'song Kim might be the funnest guy to watch on that team. I was at the game on Tuesday. He has an infield hit. Hits his first home run as well. Shohei did the same thing, by the way, infield hit Homer in the same

game. Watching those two, because Heissons 5-10, not sure if that's even true and show hey do it together it was kind of like big bro little bro right there uh but this guy's 28 at bats 12 hits he's already scored nine runs he plays electric defense i saw him make a uh a diving stop up the middle the dodgers and i think needed something like this a guy like this kind of near the bottom of their order because they have a lot of like vets that like drive the ball out of the ballpark but in the day and age or we're seeing guys you know just cause havoc on the base pass

and play good defense. Those guys are getting more and more valuable. This is the Dodgers version of that. He's going to set up and play second base. Here's the play right here. Makes that look so easy. Beautiful. On the dot, too. That's nice throw.

On a dot, he looks great. I think he's going to end up being one of the un-sung heroes of the Dodgers in this campaign of theirs. I wanted to see what he had. He's just 26 years old. I wanted to see what he had. In seeing him up close and personal,

it was very, very impressive. And I think if you haven't noticed, like you haven't seen this guy, he's got three stolen bases already, by the way. How many games, five games, I believe, played? I think so. 12 games played, excuse me. Three stolen bases.

Not a lot of, not all those are starts, I don't think. Just watch out for this guy. Because the comet is a perfect word for him. He's going to make you stop and stare and wonder, what the hell is going on out there? That's pretty cool. So shout of my guy. Hey, Song Kim.

Shout of the Dodgers to just continue to find ways to win, even though they have so many injuries. I was going to say, they're missing a ton of guys right now. They lost Edmund. And that is my Hail Bob Comet Award. Jolly. Read a book one time, bro.

Dawn rushing just called up to. Youth Movement in the L.A. Yeah, yeah. Austin Barnes gets DFA, which is kind of crazy. He's been there for quite some time. 10 years. And I think that's our show, Jolly.

I really appreciate you coming in and filling in for Jake. You're always the best. This company owes you a great deal. I will say that right now. We wouldn't be the same company without our dirty martini. You heard it here from me. Thanks, Treff. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for listening. Hit the like and subscribe. Tell me I look like an idiot in my tie-dye shirt. I don't, but you can say it if you want. It's a good hot. Leave it in the comments down below. I liked when you said that. That made me laugh.

Me and Lawrence Butler are like best friends. Same here.