Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - USA Advances To WBC Finals!

Episode Date: March 16, 2026

Go to http://shadyrays.com  and use code TALKIN40 for 40% off 2+ pairs of polarized sunglasses. Save on essentials. Save the everyday with Amazon. URL: https://www.amazon.com Use our code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKIN2026. Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount Book your next trip at https://www.bestwestern.com La Playa Awaits at ​​https://www.coronausa.com/es/pages/buy-online?utm_source=Jomboy&utm_medium=Online-Video&utm_keyword=3P-MULT&utm_campaign=FY27_CX_1565115802_NAT_D_4600287528_BC_BAU_EQU_NA&modelId=080660956152     Coach Trev and Talkin’ Jake discuss being at the WBC Semi-finals between what how USA beat the Dominican Republic, what to expect from Italy-Venezuela and more!   0:00 Intro 5:40 Umpires missing pitches 8:00 Crowd 10:10 Skenes vs Severino 34:00 Julio Rodriguez HR robbery of Judge 58:40 Perdomo strike looking 59:00 ABS System in WBC 1:01:30 Did it live up to the hype? 1:09:30 Venezuela vs Italy Preview 1:18:45 Who are you rooting for and who wins?   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to talking baseball. We are live in the 305. Myself, Trevor Plouf, we just saw the best game of baseball ever played, and we might see two more. Let's talk ball. Tyler Rogers. Sick of birds. Okay.

Nice swing. Big year inbound. Hello and welcome to talking baseball. Like I said, we are live. Myself, Trev, it's F or F mode. We can make content. all episode. Seven in the a.m.

We just got woke up by an actual rooster. Bob Seraco produced, and Dahl had the sheet ready because he's different like that. And we went to U.S. versus Dominican Republic, the game of all games, Coach Trev. It's kind of what it was built up to be, and I think it ended up being that. I mean, I thought there was going to be more run scored in that game, but obviously the the tension was there, the star power was there. Everything, I mean, it kind of lived up to the billing for being honest. Yeah, the star talent on the field combined with effort, it felt a little different.

It had All-Star game talent with the competitiveness that you can't package into an All-Star game along with, I mean, the pride of countries. Like, that's the whole difference. That's the, you know, I think Jimmy posted the, the Al Michaels' interesting. row to the 1980 miracle on ice and he basically says like it doesn't matter if you know hockey doesn't matter if you know anything if you know us versus the USSR buckle up and that the stadium had some of that energy going out i guess less ussr who's ussss i think we were we oh it's we now i guess i'm part of the u s let's uh i don't know we there's so many parts to dissect we're going to talk about this game, talk about the vibes, talk some WBC, and then we're going to tee up a little

Italy, Venezuela, as one of them will be going to the championship game against the U.S. It's all brought to you by our friends at Seat Geek. There's a lot of people in the building last night. Biggest game in Lone Depot Park history? I don't know. We'd have to double check that. I think so. But I think a lot of people there with Seat Geek.

MLB season is almost here. Me and Trev had a little panic about that last night. World Cup this summer, though. So we'll be covering that soup to nuts, as the talking baseball people know. Seekek, 70,000 listed events. It's the number one rated ticketing app. One through 10 on the scale, 10 is good. One is Jake.

Green means good, red means bad. You now know how to use the app. Code Talk in 2026. That's the final thing. If you want to save 10% off your next set of tickets, use Code Talk in 2026, whether you've had the app or not. Download it. Talk in 2026. Save 10% off seat geek. I guess Coach Trev, is there anything else we need to tee up before we get into the game? I'm going to throw like a philosophical question at you. That's not the right way.

Let's go. That's not what I'm doing right now. That's what we need to be doing. I'll call it champagne problems. Okay. Obviously we were in the building. Part of me wishes I could have seen the game on TV too. Yeah. Like I want to rewatch it and get kind of the view, you know, get some of the commentary. I'm curious to see how that went for people. It was just an interesting vantage point that we had. And I get that a lot. Like when you go, like, I went to a lot of football games this year.

I always ended up kind of like rewatching so I could just see what the broadcast was doing. I don't know. When you rewatch, you watch the All-22 tape. Of course. Yeah. Just get to stive right deep into it. No, but I'm seriously. I don't know.

There is something about that. And people are probably telling me to shut up right now. No, man. I think we already had some replies and stuff that the broadcast, A, I had buddies texting about it because this was cool for baseball. I think some people got sucked into the Academy Awards. Michael B. Jordan, sinners. That doesn't happen. I watched that movie waiting for that scene.

It's not like that. No, it's not like that. Right? It's more of a drool than a spit. Yes. spoiler if you haven't seen it yet no so we were in the stadium we were a lot of people's broadcast because we had a side tv that showed where the pitches were so we could at least and by the way where the pitches were is going to be a chunk of this conversation that I did like our little system we just

kept if a pitch was in or out of the zone we were either going thumbs up or we were showing how far out of the zone it was and I'll tell you what that last pitch The last pitch, we had the hands up because it was out of the zone. But we'll get there because we got a lot of pitches to get through that. And yeah, I just know, A, I think our guy Smoltsy was on the call, and I think that's a whirlwind experience for fans that we've talked about because he has moments of like amazing. And I think there's, I guess when I'm looking at a broadcast,

it's like, can someone else do that? And like some of the stuff Smoltz does, like it's very much. impressive how intense and focused and accurately is. And then there's other moments where you're like, okay, John, come on. The other thing, they were missing pitches, which it's just every sport is doing this now because they're trying to get as many ads in as possible and like, okay, have the mirror facing at myself as we yelled at our sales team last night because there's a couple in this one. There's a couple in this episode, people.

But no, like the judge strikeout on 3-2 they miss. So, again, I don't want to attack the Fox broadcast necessarily, but I know, I know. You're going a different way than I was going with this. Okay. I just, I, there is something, it's a different viewing experience when you're at a game and then watching it on TV. And there are some elements that I like much better watching it on TV. And then obviously, we get the atmosphere.

We get like, the crowd and everything that goes along with that. So I'm just saying, like, I think I'm going to rewatch that game. Okay. I'm open to that. It's easier to ingest and then. digest. I don't know. While you're watching on TV.

Like I'm going through the game in my head right now. There's so much going on in the stadium. I seriously, like my heart was beating really fast a lot of time during the game. I actually like it was so tense. Yeah. And so like I'm trying to relive the game in my head right now. And again, I think I would have a better, an easier time doing if I was watching on TV, but we're ready to do rock and roll.

Yeah, I think the only thing I'd like to say is, you know, obviously the environment and atmosphere of this game is a big conversation. We got there, we got there, what, four hours before the game, three hours before the game. A, the weather, weather kind of blue. Yeah. We almost got struck by lightning. One of the loudest thunder cracks I've ever heard was while we were waiting in line to get in. people everyone did the like generic bend over and throw your arms up a little bit except our social

guy Kyle who thought they were testing fireworks outside the stadium didn't flinch didn't flinch he's just like oh is that a new home run thing we're like no dude that's thunder because there was lightning there was a massive flash it was insane that was pretty incredible um that i think a i would have liked well you could say this for any day if it was a good weather day i think i think outside the stadium and inside the stadium before the game is a little nuttier. And I will say, I think, I think things were a little tense because this was a big game. It was tense. That things weren't as like loose in the concourse.

And that's not, you know, one team in this tournament in this game has been critiqued for not being super loose. That I think both sides, and I'm not saying like the DR was tight. But this was definitely like, with all of the talk of the Dominican Republican and like the best lineup ever, is the best team ever assembled, which the U.S. coming into the tournament was the same conversation. They just hadn't played as well. I don't know. I guess I had a little frustration about that because I, you know, during the season when we talk about teams like that, it's like, oh, okay, well, you know, player X, Y, Z either developed or didn't develop or blah, blah, blah. Like, all these guys on the field are who they are, especially in this moment.

And we're going to talk about young guys a lot because they had the biggest impact on this game. that I don't know. I guess that's my final before the game thoughts. I do want to shout out the Dominican fans. I was dressed in a Pete Kromstrung, USA, Jersey. We talked about it being tense. Every single Dominican person or fan

that we interacted with, they were awesome. Yeah. Like there was no like ill will, like a lot of like good luck. I kept saying, swear they, swear to the people were like, I don't know. Yeah. I think that means good luck. I'm pretty sure I nailed that, but they were great. And you don't get that a lot.

You know, two rival fan bases, I guess we'll call them that. Yeah. In this tournament, at least rival fan bases, you don't usually get that, man. A lot of times I've been, like, I went to, when I went to Detroit for a football playoff game, I was literally getting pushed walking through, like. Oh, yeah. So it was a completely different experience where, like, these fans were embracing high five. It was just like, hey, we're here for baseball, man.

It's awesome. So that's shout out to the DR for that. All right. Let's dive in because, okay, and let's start with the starting pitching, because that's kind of what we always say. And this was the, you know, I think people, again, like upset was getting thrown out before this game. Vegas had the USA as the favorite in this game, and I think it was because of the pitching matchup. Skeens versus Severino that, man, Paul Skeens, who has an argument for the most talented pitcher to basically be on a mound with his combination of his combination. Yeah, Jake, you tell the people.

I was going to say skill and accuracy. It's fucking nothing. He's Paul Skeens. And then Savvy, which I did hear a little chatter after the game, and I want to try to remember that later. But, you know, Louis Severino, who if you saw the rise of him, like, young, fun ace of the Yankees,

things fell apart a little bit, injury, age. And then we saw him come back. He had some crazy road home splits last year. But I guess if you're thinking Game of the Central, century. Severino isn't necessarily the guy you'd think of on the mound, but what Severino can tap into is, A, he actually has some pretty good experience as a relief pitcher when he's had to tap into that. And he wasn't going to be long for this game that was like, okay, Sevi's going to empty the tank, and he sure did. Fast as he's thrown in six years.

Dude, if you just took the names off the jerseys and you had no idea who these pitchers were, you would say that Severino and Paul Skeens were neck and neck for it as far as talent. Severino came out firing absolute bullets. And, you know, he had that like wipeout slider to go along with the fastball. Everything was, it looked crisp. Like you said, he was just kind of like going for it. Yeah. He was letting it out, emptying the chamber, if you will.

And Skeens, you know, obviously we knew we were going to get with him. I feel like he's made for moments like this. He ended up throwing a really good game. a couple mistakes the one to junior caminera still like again i want to like watch that again live just watch the abat but when they were showing the replay of that pitch it was like a a slider that got away from him a little bit up and away and cameronara was able to put it in the seats and i you know i think they both did their job sevi and skeins did their job and i think that was my main point that i wanted to bring up when i came down here was like sevi matched skeins

not only like in the lines I think he ends up going three something giving up the homer to gunner was his only blemish and skiing goes forward something gives up the homer to Caminero but he matched him

skill-wise last night if you're talking about just like what his pitches were doing and the sharpness and the effectiveness I mean he was filthy yeah and I mean there's you know kind of like kind of that future baseball we talk about where he you know, he was pumping 99.

He had a little cut. He had a little sink. He was banging that slider. Like, Sevi was pitching fun. It was cool to see. And I hope, you know, athletics fans, I hope that brings more excitement. That's what we were saying. We're like, are the A's watching this being like, where's that guy?

Yeah, no joke. His fastball velocity was his fastest since 2018, which just a reminder, because I think we're all, it feels like one of those Instagrams you see where it's like, did you know 2006 is 20 years ago. 2018, that's how, eight years? Nailed it.

You nailed that one. Is that right? Yeah. That's eight years ago? That's nuts, bro. So yeah, something to look forward to for our athletics fans.

Was that like, yeah, I mean, he was pitching in the playoffs for you guys in 2017 against the twins. Crazy, man. God, that's a long time ago. Crazy, man.

And I need to start changing my math because people ask, people ask, they're like, how long have you guys been doing this now? I mean, Tuck and Yank started 2017. So that's nine years? Time to give it up. Geez, I'm washed. I'm washed.

Okay. And yes, when you look at the final line, Sevi 3.1, no walks, which like, you know, sometimes you think about if you're surviving this USA lineup, like, no, he came out them six strikeouts. Yeah, I think about some of the swings these U.S. hitters were taken against him. that'll tell you how nasty a guy is and how you're seeing a guy is just the quality of swings people were getting off them. They weren't good. And then Skeen's final line ends up being 4.1, 6 hits, zero walks, only two strikeouts facing this DR lineup. That the first moment of the game, like we talked

about the tension, you know, Sevee looks amazing in the first inning, although, you know, Judge gets the hit, Harper, there's a little bit of action, he gets through there. Skeens, comes out, you know, look at one, two, three in the first, and then he comes out for the second, and it's Guerrero, strikes out Machado. And literally, I'll call ourselves out, it was one of those things with Skeens''s pitch count that we start looking around and we're like,

well, shoot, like Skeens. He's through five batters. He's thrown like 15 pitches as we're talking about, you know, I think the USA dream going into this game is you got Skeens for Blank, Mason Miller, and the less you can use in the middle, the better. No offense to the middle, who by the way, was awesome.

Junior Caminero, who has been one of the stars of this tournament, 22 years old, 45 homers last year in a minor league ballpark, seeing the energy he's been playing with, two strikes, gets it top, high, up in a way, slider, cutter skeinser yeah like a little sweeper but he gets his arms extended gets the barrel on it leaves the park and

yeah I mean the energy the energy in the stadium felt I don't know tough to match in any sport yeah I keep saying it was an interesting pitch because I know it was a breaking ball that was up but it was also like up in a way so typically I mean on a pitch like that you might

maybe you hit it up the middle, maybe you drive it to right center, but to get your arms extended like he did and be able to pull the ball from our angle didn't seem like much of a hooking motion whatsoever. And he just, I don't know what that was off the bat, but it was a lot. He's a strong dude, man. That was a very, very impressive swing.

And at that point, I was like, we're kind of in trouble. Well, yeah, and that was the, I guess that Skeens to Miller thing we talked about before. It was how many pitches the Skeens have? And there was, the USA fear is like, okay, this Dominican lineup where you're looking at who's coming up the next inning. And you're like, oh, my God. Like, Pardomo hitting ninth was the second best shortstop in baseball. He had like a seven-war season last year. But, yeah, there's, if you really want to do a sick exercise with your baseball buddies,

play a game of, like, who the worst players on the field are, and you start doing the bottom three, and, like, Hall of Famers are in there. So I'll let you guys do that at home, because I ain't naming names like that. Come on. Next inning, USA gets a little action on the basis. Sevy grinds. Well, the first inning, don't do that. First handhold, if you're on the YouTube.

First inning. The first inning, we get up there, Bobby Witt strikes out. Harper strikes out. Aaron Judge gets down 02 or at least with two strikes. Yeah. And this place was ready to explode. Yeah. And Judge gets to single.

I think that was a big moment in the game. Oh, I like that. In the top of the first because it just kind of calmed, I think, the USA's nerves. And you saw if, and I saw this, even though I was in the. stands, Judge going to his teammates after getting the hit. I don't know if that's a play on like, hey, guys, this is what we do.

We're cool, calm, and collected. Or if he's like, hey, take a deep breath, we got this. That's kind of become his signature one. Although, if you're only a WBC fan, you're watching Judge a moat like a kid who just got MLB the show, which I've been loving. You can hear it in my voice. There's a little bit of my Yankee fan that it's like,

hey, like when we do a talking Yanks episode and Judge shows a little bit of emotion, it's a 10 minute segment because normally he's so 162 games, don't get too high, don't get too low, which again, I very much appreciate that mentality. But it's been awesome. I mean, a little finger

gun comes out in this one, but yeah, the stay calm that's kind of been his... That's what he does. And, you know, that's kind of a sick signature move. Like, hey, the big bears got you. We're going to be good. Let's do our thing. a massive part of this game is the fact

that people are saying that U.S. has no juice essentially. You got no juice U.S. And I think they bought into that. Like, I guess we don't have any juice. Yeah. That's who we are. We're the boring U.S. team. And you know what? Sometimes you've got to use weird stuff for

quote-unquote bulletin board material. And things will bring a team together. And it could be random things like this, like being called out on the internet for not playing with enough passion. and they're probably just in there. They're like, guys, let's just continue to be who we are. We're like, we are one of the best teams ever assembled.

Like, let's just go out there and play our game, and they did that. So I think the next big moment, I shouldn't, Sevi gets on second and third, strikes out judge, strikes out Schwerver, which, again, where that got the crowd and what that had Sevy doing on the mound, that was definitely a head tilt moment because you're like, damn, if Sevy's going to be like this, if the crowd's going to be like, if they don't fear Judge, like that's kind of what we're saying.

Yeah, it was an open base and we thought maybe they're going to pitch around Judge. And, you know, I think he just decided I'm going to get as nasty as possible on them. And that last pitch was a 3-2 breaker. And it was a strike in the zone for a swing and miss. And I feel like if you go back, Judge doesn't do that a lot. The arm action for Sevi was incredible. Dude, some of his sweeper-sider cutter things were just nasty. It was late.

It was aggressive, sharp turn. But again, I know we're busting balls a little bit, but whether it's for the athletics or maybe a trade deadline, like Sevi has that in the chamber. So I hope we get to see that this year. The big play, maybe the biggest play of the game, is brought to you by our friends at Amazon, powered by Amazon, ready to save the day when life throws you a curve ball.

Let's talk about a game-saving moment from USA's victory over the DR. Aaron Judge El Capitan tells him to keep calm and also shows him what he does, man, and this is where we get loud as Yankee fans, because it's not just the home runs. It's not that he won the batting title last year, although all that stuff is good. The big man can run a little bit, but he showed off the cannon. His hardest throw in three years. he throws out Fernando Tatees Jr. in the third inning. Tatis tries to go first to third on him.

I mean, one of the freaks of the game, one of the best base runners in the game, one of the fastest dudes in the game. Judge on the money to third base, hits him with a little finger gun, hello. Ends the inning where Skeens was laboring a little bit, and Juan Soto was about to come up with two runners on in the inning. it felt like the bad man was about to come up. DR had all the momentum and then it felt like it was gone. That's what you dream about as an outfielder is a guy trying to take a base right in front of you, ball like kind of easy hop, hit with some pace

so you can come through the right way. And I don't know what Tatis was thinking there because there really is no, I mean, that's one of the, Base running 101 rules don't make the third out at third base. There's really no advantage to getting there. You could have had first and second, like you said, with Soto up. Right. More high stress pitches for skeins.

I think that all matters a ton right there. And he just, I guess you could say he was trying to make a play. I think it was just a mistake on his part because, I mean, Aaron Judge came up and there. There wasn't even a one hop. The thing was on the line all the way there. And he was just absolutely hosed, man. Yes, it's part, again, of the beauty of judge that with his frame, 6-7, first time doing it without the hands, like listed 282, it looks so easy from him at times that you just forget that it's a mammoth man.

And like that, you know, throwing, he threw that in the low, low to mid-90s, was a 94. that's crazy. I realize it's not, you know, when we do the best outfield of throws of the year, you get a couple guys that crow hop into one and, you know, it's 104. But Aaron Hicks, shout out. But, you know, you can normally tell. And, like, that's one of the weird things with Judge. He's so big that, like, it looks like a normal throw, but that's not a normal throw.

That's not a normal guy. Yeah. Not a normal guy. That was right after he struck out. Yeah? With second and third and one out. So to be able to come back also the next inning and have an impact play is, it goes to his character in this right here.

It's, you know, we got it. I'm going to be myself. Keep calm and carry on. Thanks to our partners at Amazon, shop Amazon, save on the essentials and save the every day. I also got something you'll like, Treff. This is a little. What happened to our lights? Our lights gave out.

Miami's been fighting us. Miami's been fighting us. We love it here. Thanks for having us, 305. You and Yonder Alonzo pre-game. Oh, my gosh. You told me to bring a lot of golf balls tomorrow. What is that supposed to mean, Yonder?

Yonder, my game's dialed. It's not dialed. I will, Treve, I think you'll like this. Okay, I can't wait. So with Tatees getting thrown out, because we're sitting here saying, like, can't do that. Soto's coming up and, you know, judges arm in right field. You got a rally going.

I think one of the, so the first meme from this tournament for the USA, at least, was Paul Skeen's looking at Bobby Witt. who, by the way, Bobby Witt doing it again. Yeah, he's great. That I think one of the cool parts of this tournament, and it has to do with the talent on the field and the competitiveness, Paul Skeens with that Bobby Witt play, he's literally never in his life had a shortstop that could do that play.

Bobby Witt is the best shortstop in the world right now. Okay. That Paul Skeen's smile is like, I don't, I've never. seen that behind me. Tatez and who he is on the baseball field, him going first to third on a single with two outs, I think probably throughout his entire life, Tatez basically gets to third. That, I don't know, I think it's just one of the special things with where this tournament is at that, and we'll get to the Julio play in a second. Like, guys don't make these plays, but there's a

Dude at literally every position. Yes. I mean, it was stars out of the vent. I still, I think that was a big part of the game, too. I don't know. Did Tatees have a hit last night? I don't have the box score in front of me. I don't think he did.

And I think keeping him at bay at the top of the lineup was huge for the U.S. Because he can do that on the base pass, and he is looking to cause chaos. And they were able to kind of subdue him, if you will. So he had one hit. Oh, it was the chopper to Gunner that he beat up. Oh, yeah, okay. Yes.

Yeah. Which, okay, so that segues. DR's got momentum going. Soto's about to come out with two on. Skeens, like second time seeing skeins that for these DR guys, there's really not anyone in the world if they don't get three looks at them. They're not going to give you an abat. In the fourth inning, so you get three clean from SEVI,

which the U.S. is, when U.S. fans were talking before the game, you're kind of doing a, we were saying, we were debating if you had to get Sevy in the first or second inning and that might be. We have to score off Sevy and then he comes out firing. He looked like one of the best pitchers in all of baseball last night. So he comes out for the fourth inning

and you've got left, right, left with Gunner, and then who broke up him in Roman Anthony? Will Smith, I think. Will Smith, who was an interesting start. in this game. I don't know. We talked about a little bit with some of our pregame social videos. Anything we need to say about Will Smith and Gunner?

He's a stud. Gunner's been hot in this tournament. Will Smith is a stud, but Paul, or, excuse me, Cal Raleigh had great numbers against Sev. It could have been, and maybe I'm off on this, but I feel like there's a lot of, like, we're giving you the day, no matter what in this tournament. I don't know if that was it. Cal's been struggling in this tournament, but again, I think he was nine for 26.

seven against Sevy, so he's had at bats, has seen him a lot. You get the lefty righty stuff, but I've never doubted Martin DeRosa. I keep saying that, so that's my guy. Yeah. He made some, I mean, look, Mark DeRose is putting himself back in position, dude. Hey, the gunner move ends up working out because he hits the homer to get the zero off

the board, clip Sevy, and I guess that's where we're kind of laughing because it's like, whoa, no Bregman, no Cal Raleigh. Like, you know, go look at Gunner's last couple years against Breggman. That can work. That's so true. Go look at Will Smith's baseball card next to Raleigh. Like, I know what last year was, but it's like, that's why I guess you and I were like, yeah, okay.

Yeah, I mean, these guys are studs and maybe Mark Doros is back down because you kind of just go like this. There's my lineup. No, I don't mean that at all. I don't mean that. He's back. So in that inning, we're wondering, like, okay, like, if you told DR fans and the DR team before the game, you get three clean from Sevi, I think they would sign that piece of paper. He comes out for the fourth. Gunner clips him.

And, hey, A, there's an exhale from the U.S. crowd. Like, okay, tie game. There's a little bit of, you know. Bobby, show me that Homer. You can get it. Gregory Soto's warming up in the bullpen that you're debating that. Sadly, for DR fans,

I think there's no argument as we're getting the gunner, Homer, going. Because Soto gets clipped as well. Roman Anthony gets him left on left, that everything you just said about how good Sevi was, the applause Sevi got coming off The mound was an appreciation by both sides for how good he looked. And yeah, like if Soto came out and looked nasty, I think we're doing a lot more.

Should Soto have just started that inning? But the fact that Roman Anthony gets him too and how good Seve he looked, I don't think it's controversial. No, I mean, at that point, after Roman Anthony, by the way, you met his parents. I did. Love that for you. I did. Hi, I'm Jake from John Boy Media. All right, little fella.

How did that interaction go down? went up and said hi. So no, it's really funny. So you were getting your tacos, which we can talk about if you want. I know that was a little bit of a situation for you. I ordered Carni Asada tacos and it came out. It looked like chicken. I said, I think I got the wrong tacos.

She said, no, that's Carni Asada. I said, all right. I didn't want to argue because I was just starving. So I'll eat chicken tacos. Your public figure, too. You know, can't. And then I bit into it. I'm like, maybe that is steak.

So I think I got pork. I looked at that and I thought it was chicken and then you ate it and you're like, I don't think that was chicken. But you didn't know what it was. It was like a pork shop. Pork makes sense. Yeah. Pork makes sense.

All right. Anyways. So another funny plot twist of this. Rob Chiraco, super producer, we just kind of like miced ourselves up because we didn't really know what we were going to run into. So Trebs eating tacos. It's kind of a, not a break, but we're just in the hallways. and I hear out of my right ear, I hear some guy go like, yeah, we're here to watch our son play.

And I was like, okay, this is a big game. This is a big game. There's not a lot of like, not a lot of people saying like that phrase even. I turn and it's two people in Red Sox, Roman Anthony Jersey. So I was, I had a lean. And then I, you know, he's got some jersey connections and stuff. So I was just like, I'm going to go for it. So I was just like, and I was like, oh, you're Roman Anthony's parents?

And they were like, yeah. And I was like, oh, I'm Jake with John Boy Media. Like, nice to meet you guys. So because we were miced up, we were like in Rob's ear throughout. Like Rob was living like a different simulation. And Rob was just like, I just whipped the camera around because I heard you doing your nerdy introduction to Roman Anthony's parents. So it was high and tight.

I didn't do anything after that because they're here to watch their son play in the biggest game ever. to say, hey, cool little fellow. Let me get out of here. Yeah, I think I dropped some corny Jake line, like, I wish he was in a different uniform all the time or something like that. It was something like that. Yeah, I don't know.

It wasn't great. They're like, what are you talking about? I don't like your son. Those words were not said. Yeah, I think there was a uniform thing. But, yeah, blue, zoot it. Yeah, he zued it. It was the big game and I zoot it.

I will say parents, anytime you just say, hey, like, we love your son. He's a stud. Parents are like, thank you. That's great. That's always the weak spot. That's, um, I would give that out as a life advice. It's Wednesday.

So life advice episode. Um, if you meet, if, if you see someone you want to walk up to, whether they're like famous or whatever it is, if there's, uh, something, met Barry Larkin at winter meetings. And I was like, oh, dude, is your son Shane still getting buckets? And he was all excited. Yeah. Yeah, you know, he's playing in Europe.

He's looking. They like, that's, if you see Chris Rose. If you bring up, I mean, he'll just start crying on the spot. Josh or Brady. Yeah. Tears. Agreed. Even Dan Rourke.

Where are we at in this game? Roman Anthony hits the Homer. 2-1 USA, off Soto. So the two young bucks who have been, they're going to be on Team USA for the foreseeable future. Gunner, Roman Anthony, and Camerro should get lumped into this as like, yo. Yes. All 24 and under? I think Gunner's the old man at 24 in that crew.

Yeah. That's crazy. And you said it, Treve, it was just kind of, it wasn't a throwaway comment for you before the game, but you kind of just turned to me and you're like, these guys are so young. Like in the baseball lexicon, the last WBC in 2023, how many of these guys did, like, didn't, I don't want to say didn't exist yet because that gets a little heavy, but like Roman Anthony Gunner didn't like exist yet. Junior Camerro didn't exist yet in the baseball lexicon that it's just a, it's a reminder how quick

quick the game turns. And I don't know. I could give you the speech about like, how good's the young talent in this game? But I think you can kind of do that at any time because you just make the young talent better. Julio gets hit by a pitch. A little scary because we're wondering where that gets them.

That was a tough one, man. That was back, right forearm or wrist area. And I thought he didn't come out of the game. Does not come out of the game. And puts up probably a top, moment in this game, the following inning, which is crazy, dude. Yeah, and it's just

that Adam Jones home run robbery has been remembered pretty well, USA versus DR 2017. He was in the stadium, right? I don't think you, I didn't see him. Didn't see Adam Jones? No. Okay. Maybe he wasn't. That that

Julio won, if you're someone in the web of baseball, Aaron Judge comes up, looks like he connects looks like he connects. Yeah, dude. You certainly thought he connected. Let me tell you why I reacted that way.

What was the other rob? There was another home run rob during the tournament this tournament. Who was it? Because Adam Jones was like tipping the cap, like great catch. Who the heck was it? Okay. This is a fun game. Yeah.

Who had the other home run robbery? Oh. Okay. Now I'm blanking. But I think you had it. Yeah, you had it. was in the game earlier in the tourney. Absolutely.

People are yelling at us right now. How do you forget this? I'm just thinking about Denzel Clark right now. Let me give you my why I reacted that way. Okay. When Judge got up right there, I brought, oh, I said. Trace Thompson. Oh, Trace Thompson, yes.

Okay, okay. That was a nice catch right there. Great catch. Shout out Trace Thompson. Sure. I called Rob over, and I said, Rob, get over here right now. because it was the beginning of the inning, top of the inning, and I wanted to get a home run call in.

And if you put a home run call in after the first pitch of an bat, it doesn't count. It doesn't count. You know too much information. So I said, I want to get this home run call in. I think the camera started rolling right as the pitch came in. It was 1-0. I'm like, all right, right here he's about to hit a homer.

Sit back down in my seat. That pitch comes. Again, we're like in the stadium. things are angles interesting all i see is judge connect i want to center and it looked like it was going to go i thought i swear i was like that's that's up the batter's eye see you later and so i'm just like gloating i told you i told you it's going to hit a home right there too yeah and then all of a sudden i was waiting so my back was to the stadium to the field and i didn't hear I didn't hear like the explosion like you do during a home run,

the crowd celebrating. And then I look at you and you're like, he got it. He got it. So like that's why I reacted the way I did. I mean, that was Julio. Not a boy. So it goes back to, again, the talent involved.

He just got nailed on the wrist. We thought he was coming up the game and he does that. 10 minutes later. Aaron Judge, who's making his argument for whoever he is in the Pantheon and baseball, J. Rod, with building off of the last season, we're going to start having some conversations about that young fellow if he keeps putting up these seven war seasons. Because again, he's also really young, hot. That, yeah, it was, that was a crazy moment, and I loved what you said about the crowd,

and I didn't know where I was going to be able to give this part of it. But one of the most interesting parts of this game was we were debating the split of fans and we leaned I'm landing on 70 30 70% DR fans because loud. I think it was I think it was more evenly split as far as people everyone wearing red, white and blue. So it's tough to tell. Yeah, but like as far as cheering was going. That's what I'm saying. Some people were arguing that it was 80% of. DR fans, which definitely wasn't, but like the noise levels felt like that sometimes.

It was one of the most interesting sporting events I've been to because within that play, normally if that happens and the USA was the home team, there's like a shock and a gasp that comes over the crowd. In a way, there was cheering on every play. Yeah. Like if you, on that play, the U.S. fans start cheering because they just saw Captain America, Aaron Judge hit a homer. And at the end of the play, where there normally would be shock or guffaw,

instead the DR got crazy loud, that it was just a weird reaction because normally you don't see that. You don't get two sides of the crowd that present in a baseball game, which I thought that was kind of wild. It was interesting. We kept talking about the U.S. fans trying to match the energy of the DR fans. It just was never going to have been. There was like, I want to say four or five times where,

We tried. We didn't try. U.S. fans tried to start a U.S.A. It was bad. It's three letters. USA. USA.

Yeah. We couldn't figure it out. It was crazy. So we'd have one section of the stadium going, U.S.A. And then the other section is going, USA, USA, USA. So two completely different rhythm patterns, which, you know, it's, about right from the U.S. You know, one of my favorite, my new favorite phrases is, God forbid, a white boy show a little

motion, because that's just kind of been my whole upbringing. The USA chance set us back a decade. It was tough for us. U.S.A. USA! It was like, I don't know. It was rough. It was, it was bad sex.

It was bad sex. For all the young guys, go with the easier. Go with the flow. Go with the flow. U.S. USA. Anyways, it was rough. It was embarrassing.

You started apologizing to the crowd behind us. All the DR fans are like, they're drumming in unison. There's 50,000 of them like perfectly in rhythm. That was rough. And we can't even do a three-letter chance. We got to be better. We got to be better. I think it's time we get to the next real moment of the game.

And it's time for the best Western traveler checking, and brought to you by Best Western, where we highlight an on-the-moove player that made it. I was going to say made it move. They don't want that. Tyler Rogers enters the game for Paul Skeens and does more than what you could ask for. Gets Juan Soto to hit into an inning-ending double play. So, A, we don't know where Skeens' pitch or limit is. We've heard 70.

He can throw up to 95 this round. of the tournament. We had heard 75 going into it. 71 pitches. He gets pulled out for Juan Soto. In comes Tyler Rogers, who couldn't be more different than every pitcher on the planet. That's the point, though. This is where I've landed with this, because in the moment, you're just thinking, because you're looking at all the people coming in for the DR and their bullpen. They're just throwing a million miles an hour. And we got that in our pen, too. and I think that was my thought process was like oh my gosh

this doesn't seem right because I've always been taught and I think that statistics will show that if you have a guy coming from like a submarine sidearm angle which is like he's also different in that regard he's so much lower than everybody else

the opposite side will see that very very well like give me a lefty sidearm guy as a right-handed hitter I'm going to see that And so when Soto's up, I was like, I don't know if this is a good matchup. But when you think about it, you get skeins in there blowing, you know, 98, 99, 100. And now you bring in this from down here. Yeah. It works.

And Rogers is basically split-proof. They're the same. He's the same platoon guy. Lefties right. I think that is why DeRosa went there. Like the first reliever shouldn't be someone that throws. similar to skeins as far as like, I'm going to blow you away with a nasty slider. Let's just completely mess with dudes and bring in Tyler Rogers from down here.

And it worked. Well, and the other thing here that's, again, the beauty of baseball. And you and I were joking before recording about doing like a fake like America's. And this is, you're talking about America's baby. Tyler Rogers, he throws underhand. He'll just get the job done. Don't actually care about that. What I do care about is when Tyler Rogers pitches, if you measure everything except VLO and arm angle, you would see one of the best relievers in baseball.

He had a 198 ERA last year in 81 appearances. Yo! Yeah, he comes out of the bullpen. How many homers did Tyler Rogers give up last year? He also had a 69%. Wow, ground ball rate, when Rogers was behind in the count. So, okay, nice little stat there, Daltino. Yeah, I just, I think A, he throws gross stuff.

I think B, you never see it. I think C, there's, I talked about this with Kenley Jansen throwing almost the same pitch 82% of the time or whatever it is, that sometimes hitters will expand in stuff, because if you see that cutter, you're like, okay, I got one, I see it. but where it ends up is a place you shouldn't be going. Tyler Rogers, there's pressure on you because you know he's going to be around the zone. You know it's a hitable speed, but you're just, you're almost a little more gun-shy

because you think you're going to pull on the wrong pitch. And then you do pull on the wrong pitch. That double play with Juan Soto and talking about Fernando getting thrown out a couple innings earlier, this also could have been a moment where if Fernando turns on 83, Like, I don't know, we're probably, Mark DeRosa's getting killed again, and the DR's the better team. Soto turns on 83.

Yes, 83 miles per hour. I said that a little flippantly, but I don't know. Like, the other way to look at this is one of the best relievers in the game came in and did his job. Like, that's it. Yeah, I think it was an incredible move by DeRosa.

He gave it four homers last year in 81 appearances. That's why you bring someone like that in the game. Again, the, you know, the difference, in eye level where the pitches coming from is big, but to me in the moment, I wasn't sure of the move, but as I've thought about it more, I think it was perfect. I mean, it was. It was in that moment. I mean, a double play ball.

Double play ball is crazy. Thank you to Best Western. Life's a trip. Make the most of it with our friends at Best Western. So this brings us to, and I guess from the U.S. side, we talk about. talked about this a little bit. The middle innings. How are we getting to, how are we getting to Mason Miller?

Rogers, two pitches, two outs. Hey now. Griffin Jacks, your guy. Yes. Air Force Academy. One, two, three. One, two, three, seven pitches. Bing, bang, bong.

Bednar comes out. And this is probably, this is probably the next moment. I also should give some of the DR after Soto. Mejia, clean sheet, Brazo Bonn was... Ew, God. Famos. He was unhittable, and he knew it, which I liked. When he walked off the mound, it looked like it was 13 inches.

Took a little bit... It might be. Took a little bit to walk off the mound. He was enjoying the moment, and he should because he looked filthy. Abner, you're... I mean, God. They have some studs in that bullpen. This is where the DR has to be.

their final brazo ban uribe sir anthony and doval went hitless the final 4.1 because those guys can do that on the u.s. side like we're saying i guess the game picks back up with bednar who you said before he came in you were like a little worried about this i feel like whenever i see bednar pitch there's a little bit of traffic there's a little bit of traffic going on it's a la kenley jansen like talk to dodgers fans about watching Kenley Jansen and the kind of the trouble he gets in but gets out of it. That's what I've seen from Bednar. You had a different take because you watched him all year last year. Well, he was just so, and this is where baseballs can be a sick sport.

Bednar was so important to salvaging the Yankees, getting the Yankees back on track last year. Like some of, if you go back and look at his pitch log, he came over and the Yankees had him doing like two innings. They had him doing like 40 plus pitches, like just to survive the. summer dog day games where their season needed to get back on track that yeah bednar has a little bit of an invincibility cloak for me harry potter um but he comes into this and now we got two hits we got action out there and you're kind of wondering because i don't know i everything that's been out there about the d r in this team and you know with mason miller on the back end and i know he gives

up runs, but he also doesn't. Austin Wells with the double. Paredoma with the single, so 8, 9. That's also, forgive me for not knowing who the backup catcher is of the DR. That's fine. But. Augustine.

Augustine Ramirez? Yeah. Okay. You know how I feel about Augustine Ramirez in the defense. I know he's been working hard. I don't think he's going to be a catcher for a long, but maybe he wants to be. I don't know.

There's got to be a world where you're thinking we might need to pinch run here for Austin Wells. Oh, okay. Yeah, man. It's a double. There's a single by Pardomo and they have to hold them. Yeah. They hold them.

I know you have Tateis and Catel Marte and Juan Soto coming up. But at the same time, it's a one-run game. Yeah. And you'd like to score on a base hit when you have a runner on second base. Yeah, I will say it was line drivey and like Wells froze on the play, which I don't, I didn't think was bad base running. it'd be interesting though like if you have a speedster out there that's just playing you're sending him yeah yeah dude i get i get it like you're gonna say well there was tautit's coming up

yeah you want to be right you want to be first and third there at that point it was only one out so you're you're just you're saying toddie go take care of the game yeah yeah and hey after bednar gives up back-to-back hits to the last two hitters in the d r lineup to get Tatis up. He strikes Tatis out on four pitches. And then he strikes out Cotel Marte on five pitches. And yeah, man, Bednar is a... It's a fun pitch mix. You know, the fastball's around 97.

He's got a split change thing that's 90, 92. Why can't people just say it's a splitter? I'm okay with it. Like, you know, Yon Duran has the splinker. Right. It's like a splitter or sinker. I don't know, man. Can we just call it one thing?

I'm with you. That's my John Smoltz. Maybe we'll go, maybe we'll our guy, Pitch Ninja at the game, maybe we'll have him be the change we want to see in the pitching world because it's a lot.

I think pitch, I love Pitching Ninja. I think they like the difference. I think they like. We're just going to start naming it. You're right. I was trying to go. Shout out pitching. He's great.

Good guy. Nice guy. Good guy. He didn't say hi to me either. He said hi to you and not to me. Well, you were talking, you were trying to get, if I can say what you were doing. You were flirting with Team USA. You were courting for

yourself and others. You were talking about the future of Team USA. I'll throw it out there. Okay. Here we go. There's this thing called the Commissioner's Ambassador Program. Oh, I wasn't talking about this. You weren't? Well, here it is. Yeah. It's C. Trev wants in so bad. It's Adam Jones. It's Jeremy Guthrie. Jed Lowry. These are my people. Yeah. It's Delen Batoncest. It's Dexter Fowler. So now you're out. I'm not out because me and Delano are freaking tight. Yeah. I need to be in the crew, guys.

I don't know what I got to do. Like, I am cool, too. We'll pledge. We'll pledge. I'm cool, too. I will serve as Trevor's pledge. I have a little bit of influence in the game right now. Don't you want it?

PCA. Sorry, sorry everyone had to hear that. That was brutal on my part, but I'm just, I have to. That's how, I mean, that's how bad I want it. You want to know what's even, I think the other, you were kind of, you were, talking to that, like, a guy high up on Team USA for a little bit. That's when I was talking to

Pitchinette. Paul Seiler. Paul Seiler. Ray Darwin. Yeah. These are my guys. I'm getting Teddy. Okay. I didn't know if you want to say it anywhere. Like, yeah. Yes. Anyways, because we'll have a lot of time to talk about Teddy. Two-time alumni of USA. You are a two-time USA alum. Some stories came out yesterday. That Bednar gets out of that. God, you watch. Trevor, shut up. Garrett Whitlock, who's kind of been overlooked because of Mason Miller, although if you watch some of his pitches, he probably shouldn't be. He strikes out Soto on three, and this is where we start getting, what was that face?

He was so disgusting. Yeah. I even said to you, do we just leave Whitlock in? You did say that. I mean, there was, he just mowed through his part of the order. Yeah. But, of course you don't. Of course you bring in Mason Miller.

You don't. And, um, okay, so we're starting to sneak up on, I guess let's, let's save the strike zone for after the game, because the rest of the game, Doval comes in. Um, again, looks like the version of Camilo Duval that when it's right, I don't know. You know. That's your guy. He was my guy before he joined the Yankees. And it, his, the only way I know how to describe it, it looks like his arm has an extra limb when he throws.

Like I like Uribe is kind of in his world And by the way Uribe is the guy he's been with At the back of the bullpen But I just don't get how you hit it He strikes out Will Smith He strikes out your guy Buck Daddy After being down 2 O in the count

Tough call on Buck Daddy For being honest It went to 22 when it should have been 3-1 It's a different at bat So then Mason Miller comes in The Badman Junior Camerero Who's currently the only

Offence for the DR strikes him out on four pitches. Julio walks on five pitches. So this is where... And dude, this is where... Three one slider on Julio. Nice take. Well, just, I mean, I think that's a respect thing.

And like, hey, like, you just saw the 3-0 heater come. Yeah. Are you going to throw another one to me? And usually Mason Miller's down for that. But in that moment goes there. And he didn't have his best slider control. And this is where the beauty of baseball fully kicked in. And if you're someone tuning into this, I mean, you already know and thank you guys and subscribe and share and all that good stuff.

But now all the conversations of baseball begin. It's like, should Julio steal? They pinch hit O'Neill Cruz for Austin Wells. First pitch goes off of Will Smith's hand. Julio gets second. Now, I'm an agent of chaos, and I think base running needs to be turned up a little bit. And especially when you have momentum like that, I was like, Julio should steal. third. I know that's high risk, high reward. You already got one out, but it's Mason Miller on the

mound. And the third baseman Gunner was playing far off third base that I just think in those moments with a Julio running, who could steal a bag off of anyone, Mason Miller, whose priority is still at home plate, and then Will Smith to Gunner Henderson, who's playing off the line, you need a perfect play to get that out. And hey, maybe they get it and I'm like, what are you doing, DR, although it'd still be the tying run at the plate. But I don't know. I thought in that moment, consider being more aggressive. O'Neill Cruz puts up a good at bat.

Five pitches, grounds out up the middle. Not an easy play. No, I mean, for Bobby, he was positioned perfectly, like almost right behind the base right there. To go back to your Julio stealing, you brought it up. I was watching. I mean, I don't hate it, you know, if you want to be aggressive. I think, you know, with a lefty up, clear lane to throw.

the first pitch he could have gotten because Miller was, he kind of just gave him the come set, look, and go. After that, I think somebody was like, hey, like, don't do that. Mix those looks up. Don't do that. Because then he had a hold. Then he was, you know, makes him looks up, all that.

So first pitch, yes. After that, he did a good job. But, yeah, I mean, that was, I mean, dude, great play by Bobby. Now you have two outs with a runner on third base. So, yeah, the slider's like, is that in play? because there was kind of, Will Smith was having, I mean, if you watched him try to catch Mason Miller,

it's not an easy thing, obviously. And he was kind of, he was battling it back there. Yeah, he tough, tough ass for Will Smith. And Mason Miller didn't have his best slider. Like some of Mason Miller's best outings, he just, he spams that slider because you're geared up for 101, 104, excuse me. And then the Paredomo at bat, which,

one-two count 2-2 3-2 foul ball foul ball on heaters and then the eighth pitch of the at-bat

is the slider appears to be a little low he gets his ticket punched on it USA wins 2 to 1 like I talked about we had that monitor with us that we were doing some kind of jokes with the crowd when there was a close pitch

because the crowd was also looking at the TV that we had people like turning their heads to us every pitch, so we're like, all right, we might as well lean into it. Took away from the moment a little bit. I don't know if people like that or not, but I'm just being honest. And it obviously becomes a major talking point of a this hump throughout the game a little bit. And just ABS looming that this was going to be part of the conversation after this tournament anyways. Yes.

I mean, look, nobody wants the game to end on what we'll call a bad call. Yeah. Nobody wants that. In fact, I was like, man, how cool that would have been, Mason Miller versus Tatis, just for the matchup, but also teammates. Like, there's so much,

there's so many layers to that matchup. I will say this. You don't know, like, the K zone, we always talk about that. Like, the K zone on the broadcast isn't the ABS system. Yeah. It's not.

So, like, who knows? People are saying, we need the ABS. You don't know if that was a striker or a ball, because it did. it was coming down. It could have clipped the front of the strike zone, and you would have been like,

all right, whatever. Like the fact that we're showing it and it looks so far, I mean, that also doesn't matter. That's not ABS. Rob's showing us the game... Right. Whatever that.

MLB. Gamecast or whatever. So, like, I know if you're rooting for the DR, you see that pitch, you're pissed. But, like, you just can't... It's just is what it is right now. All throughout the game, there were calls like that and I know it sucks to end the game on a call like that.

I just don't think we should make that entire game about one call. Yeah. And I feel like that's what people are doing right now. A little bit and they're pointing to the soda one as well because it's a very similar pitch. But you know, like there were other pitches missed throughout this game. I think Buxton at bat there was there was a tough one. But yeah. And it's again, this was now that the ABS technology is out of the bag.

And we were debating this after, like, why don't they have it? And in my head, like, someone mentioned, like, oh, I don't know, a lot of these players don't use the rules. And I was like, I don't know. If you teach players rules, you figure it out pretty quick. I thought the stadiums didn't have it in the earlier rounds. Like, does the Puerto Rico stadium? Does the Tokyo don't?

I don't know. You could have equipped the stadiums for it. But I think the biggest thing is, like, the measuring of everybody. Because you have to get, like, it has to be, like, at the same time, a day, all these different things. Like, that's, I think the biggest issue here is they just, they said they weren't going to have it, and that's kind of it. Like, if they wanted to have it, they would have had to do a lot of things,

and could they have done it? Maybe. I guarantee it'll be a next WBC. Hey, and who knows? Like, what if the DR had used up their two earlier in the game, and now the conversation's even worse? You get more in the ninth, though. Yeah.

You get another one back in the night. So, look, I hate. that we have to talk about it like this because it was a great game played by two great teams that the score was two to one. Yeah. I wish we got the Tatis about it. I really do. I mean, as a baseball fan, that's the second time I've done that.

I just told you I hate people that say, so and so. I don't think you need to go to war on that phrase, though. Oh, I do. I think sometimes it's just a nice piece of information. Not everyone's an expert. Correct. but I think it I think I use it the opposite way

like I think I use it when I I might be showing bias like if I'm like as a Yankee fan blah blah blah blah point out of the face I hate this bird bird's not making it through the episode check out the YouTube

um okay um I'm trying to think of like final thoughts on the game like did it live up to the hype um you know what's funny I think we would have to ask people who watched on TV. We're in the stadium. There's some electric moments.

There was also, I think you and I wanted some more pregame hype, but I think with the weather, and like we said, with that anxious vibe a little bit, it wasn't as crazy before the game. We were walking around the stadium with Coach Ballgame with a drum behind us, which was so obnoxious. The only American with a drum at the game, Coach Ballgame. Not Coach Ballgame was it obnoxious. It's not what I'm saying. It was like us walking with a drum behind us and like a couple cameras. It looked like a lot.

It looked like a lot. And then we met Katie Wu out in center. Katie Wu. Shout out. And also, one other shout out, we're standing there at our spot. Yeah.

And a bunch of young U.S. fans behind us and we're kind of celebrating with them. Like do a double take. I'm like, Jake, I think that's quitting young behind us. Yeah. And we kind of like,

we're in the game. We're trying to like, you know, do content and all this stuff. And I was like, of course that is. I'm like, Quinn. And he's like, yeah, what's up? First round draft pick of the twins. I believe it's nephew of Delman Young,

like one of my oldest baseball friends. That was so cool, man. He'll probably be playing for Team USA. Right? Like if you just do the math we did three years ago, he's got a chance. I mean, that's the ballgame. I guess we'll do some final thoughts,

and then we got to tee up Italy, Venezuela, and what that potentially means for the final game. USA is going to the finals. After all of that. Yeah. After not knowing the rules, after one of our biggest episodes ever. They knew the rules.

They knew the rules. Andy Petit Mound Visit to Mason Miller. Put that in my veins. I also got a feeling about the coaching staff there. There's some Matt Holliday was just right next to me. Is he bigger than you? Yes. Yes, but not like so much.

He's much bigger than me. He's, he's, no one you hear about like country strong and scouting. Just like everything is filled out. He's also a good looking guy. Good looking guy. Gosh, dang. Good, good jawline. Team USA baseball.

He's cranked out a couple. We saw, like, we got into the building and immediately, like, we just missed Mark DeRosa. We're going this way. Yeah. He came out like a size. door and you're like hey that's mark drosso i turned around i don't know i think that i can't imagine he's seen anything that we've put out like he's he is in in it right now right sometimes i get a little scared of that because i'm like you know we criticized i think rightfully so some of the

decisions it's like and then i have like this like cap people are i hate this like this brotherhood of baseball yes all we're supposed to everyone's back but that's that's also not true like Drosa knows that better than anybody. He's on the OPE network. He'll call somebody out for not doing what they're supposed to do. That would have been an interesting interaction. He probably wouldn't have stopped at all because he's got the biggest game with his fucking life, Trevor. You're not that important.

I don't know if he's interviewed about it yet. I would love to know what he did that whole day that they were waiting for the Italian baseball game. Was he out of sight out of mind? Did he get lost in the sauce? I don't know. Maybe we'll be able to ask him. That whole game was brought to you by our friend at Shady Ray's friend. I'll say there's friends.

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this was like the big one this was the one coming into the tournament a little bit you know Japan is out Venezuela has a great team that USADR I think everyone wanted on the radar you wanted kind of skeins for it I think both sides a little bit I don't know I guess what are the final final takeaways my last two baseball games I've seen live a major league talent

was the 17 inning world series game five yeah and then the Dominican versus the US I'm a little spoiled yeah which game was better like those are two like classic classic

freaking games man I mean the Dodgers were those the last two games you've been to? They have to be. Yes. The 18th inning Dodger game, 18 inning Dodger game. Oh, yeah, it was 18. Okay. How many plays and moments there were in that game. I mean, the funny thing is, and I guess this is attending games via sports. That just sounded horrible. What was that? Attending games via sports? Just say attending games. That Dodger game crowd was so wild because it was so late on a Sunday night, the groans after innings were ending

was bizarre. I'd never seen that at a sporting event. And again, that's not shots fired in anyone. There was a lot of like business people that were there with Major League. We met Major League Baseball's like grass people that they were like, yeah, this should be a good night. And then, you know, by inning 14, I think they were like, I thought I'd be home in bed. Because you couldn't leave. Couldn't leave. Yeah. That this game, what I thought, made it different was the amount of cheering. That, again, normally it's like hardline drive to the center field or caught and the crowd goes quiet.

Instead, the other crowd, whatever result happened, the crowd was kind of pleased. So that was part of me like that. I think some other notes, USA goes to the WBC final, third consecutive time. How about that? The DR, WBC record 15 homers after Caminero's homer. The USA Bullpen, like we talked about, you know, skeins and he's got to set the tone. 4.2-2-hit zero-earned run from the bullpen. Okay.

Let's see. 25 players who were ranked on ESPN's top 100, 56 All-Star Games, 9 gold gloves. You know, you can start cooking the books a little bit. You felt that you were watching some of the greatest talent ever assembled. You felt that. And yeah, man, just the level of care. And, hey, there was a couple Orioles fans. I forget if it was talking baseball or Wake and Jake.

You know, I talked about, like, Gunner Henderson being on my all, like, Southern dude team, like, Gunner Henderson, like, I'm good at baseball. I was like, you know, I haven't seen a ton of emotion out of Gunner. Orioles fans clap back. And they're like, Gunner shows it. And he did this tournament, and that was sick. And he deserves more love. because as I talk about Bobby Witt Jr.

Kind of getting cock blocked by Otani and Judge because of who he is in baseball, Gunner kind of gets cock blocked by Bobby. Like the fact he's fighting for playing time is kind of insane. That'll be interesting to see. Yeah, I mean, we're going to see who, does Bregman play second base for Terang?

I thought Terrain looks great. He looks great out there. He had the kind of the transfer thing going on, but he also made another great play to his left. I think Breggie's on the bench. Well, and maybe the matchup is going to matter. And let's tee it up a little bit. Venezuela versus Italy will be in the building tonight.

The undefeated Italians take on Venezuela, who was the D.R.'s first kind of challenge of the tournament. Remember how crazy that game got late, by the way? That was a swing away from being a different result. And when you look at Venezuela's lineup up and down, The pure talent, I mean, Cherio's been batting ninth for them, which blows my mind. They've got MLB dudes at every position, all-star level. The Italians, they've got MLB guys at pretty much every position.

Some of them, it'll be interesting to see their next steps. Like, what do you do with Dominic Canzon, Caglione? Like, I don't know what we'll be saying about them the next few years. But they've been one of the teams of the tournament. They roughed up Seth Lugo and Puerto Rico early to win that game. game. Venezuela took down Japan. Some interesting quotes after the game. What were they? Ronald Cune was a little... Oh, yeah. Yeah, I did see that. That I don't know. Again, that's normally not our sweet spot because I'll leave that one a

I don't think he meant any malice, but you could spin it a little malicey in 2026. we'll let you guys. You guys already know how you feel about that, so I don't care. Italy, the only undefeated team, Venezuela, 5 and 0 all time against Italy in the World Baseball Classic. And Vinnie Pasquintino with an accidental little...

He left a little meat on the bone there. That's Bulletin Board material, basically saying Japan was going to advance and they were going to meet them in the semis when... It was a little Mark DeRosa-E. He's got some... teammates on Venezuela. He's been like, you know, it's Big Sally.

It's Michael Garcia. I texted our little Italian group chat after that. So does anyone know the damn rules in this tournament? He liked that one. Yeah. Vinny P replies to us. Not super excited. Just kind of keep these guys off my back.

And Trev, this got a giggle out of us, and I hope it gets a giggle out of some of the talking baseball diehards. Michael Lorenzen, getting the pill for Team USA, obviously MLB caliber, All-Star game. I think he's got one in there. Against talking baseball legend, Cater Montero. Cater Montero. Look, I saw Cater pitch, I was calling a Twins' Tigers game.

And, you know, saw like the numbers that he had, and he kind of, like, you know, looked good against the twins. But I just like the pitch mix and his ability to kind of, if he can locate his pitches, like he's a pretty good pitcher. It's kind of like, I guess, everybody in the big leagues, you have this stuff. Can you locate? But he's got good, like, start it out of the zone, make it a strike, start it in the zone, make it a ball type stuff.

And that, to me, it makes it tough as a hitter. As a hitter, that's really tough. Yes, there you go. There you go. He's been good this tournament. Three innings pitch, three hits, no runs. Yeah, and Lorenzen's. last outing against the USA. 4.2, Shep Peace.

Just shut them out. Yeah, it'll be interesting. I think we might see a little more bullpening in this game, which I guess if I'm saying that, I think that gets a little scarier for Italy, although they've got a lot of lefties, so I think they're going to try to piecemeal this game together the best they can. And if you don't know that Venezuela lineup, Acuna Jr., Michael Garcia, Arise, Suarez, Zeke Tovar, Glaber, Willier-Abreu, Big Sally Prer. Perez and Jackson Chariot. And they have the Contreras brothers on the team, right? Yes.

So this lineup could shake up. They didn't play in the semifinal game at all. Yeah. I think they can play the matchup a little bit and do some other late game action there. For Italy last game, Antonacci, Sagesi, Marcy, Pasquintino, Canzon, Caglione, Andrew Fisher turning heads. Obviously a brewer turned out. Yeah, hot.

Darazio, Dante Nori, who had that big first game. And yet, both of those teams have a couple lineup moves they can do. Those were both last games lineups. Yeah, I guess he could start going into corny stuff. Who gets that early lead? Like, you know, kind of our playoff mode. It's if can Italy keep up the offense they've had? They've been scoring.

They've been the best offense in the tournament so far. You know, is Vinnie P. going to turn it up? They have to, in my opinion, get out to an early lead. Because Venezuela is going to score some runs. I think their chance is going to be early in the game. And then I think Lorenzen has to duplicate what he did against the U.S. Like, I don't think it can be a bullpen game for Italy. I think Lorenzen has to give them at least four innings.

Yeah, and I think that's the other Italy pitching-wise is going to be walking a pretty tight rope. It can work. Like, absolutely. But, I mean, we almost saw it run out against Puerto Rico. Like, everyone thought that game was over. And then there they are in the ninth inning. And it's eight to six with runners on the basis that they are running a tight rope with their pitching.

You can obviously make it work. You know, there's going to be those big moments where, you know, that Juan Soto at bat last night, a double play or double down the line changes the outcome of the game. that you hope we get that tonight. I guess both sides brought, with the way Italy's, like, their offense has been second to the DR, which for the past week the conversation has been,

is this the best lineup ever assembled. The lineup keeping up with them is Italy, who beat the USA. I know. I know we made our jokes about, you know, they were dragging a little bit, coach's words. I'm trying to decide what the better matchup is,

I guess ratings, and also just like storyline. I think the U.S. versus Venezuela is like a classic matchup, like a ton of like really like talented big leers. It'll rival what we just saw last night as far as like star power. And for our political fans, hot in the streets. Also there is that aspect to it. But then the other side is if Italy wins this game,

they'll be undefeated. They'll have a chance to run the table and be. and beat the U.S. twice. Right. And this is by all, like, you know, again, I hate saying this, but it's true, this is like the JV team.

Like these are all. They were passed over. American-born players who play in majorly baseball, very good players, who weren't good enough to be on Team USA. There's not one guy on Italy that was like, no, I'd rather play on Italy. Like, that's just the facts, dude.

Yeah. That's the facts. So, like, you have this immense, what I call the breadstick on the shoulder. But that's true. It's like you, they want to win so bad. Part of me, like, both matchups will be incredible for their own reasons. I don't know which one I want more. Maybe it's prediction time.

It will be in the building tonight. And again, it'll tee up the final. It's brought to you by Corona. Man, there's a couple coronas in the stands last night. The sunset on the horizon. an island. Ooh. Are we going to an island tomorrow?

I think so technically, right? Yes. Or how about a day at the ballpark? Opening day is here, people. La Playa awaits for the real baseball fans, because that's where it is. When we're watching on opening day, make sure you guys come join us.

Go grab a couple coronas and the Corona pregame show. All right, this is off script. John Boy has been in the lap. Oh, you don't know about this. I don't know anything you're about to say. I mean, I don't know if Corona wants this. Corona was like, hey, would you guys do like a pregame show?

And we were like, yeah, absolutely. And I was like, you know, me in sports, I've been like, yeah, the amount of pregame shows I've watched my life. You've never said no in your life. Yeah, that's another problem we're working on. It's called being a people pleaser people use it tastefully. John has gone, he's tried to put together the best pregame show ever. So that'll be John Boy Media Live stream, March 26.

before the big MLB opening day. Wow, PCA mentioned in the read. What's he going to do on opening day? Look at that. Okay. Jazz? We're going to be making our predictions, and I predict there should be some coronas.

Baseball is back, people. March 26th, we'll see at the Corona pregame show. Corona, this is our playa. Who you got tonight, Coach Trev? Who are you rooting for and who wins? How about that? Oh, gosh. well you're doing Italy tonight

I'm Italian you're Italian I found out that I'm Scottish yeah we're we don't know what to do with that yeah yeah so that's my whole life has been a lie yeah I think I'll go Venezuela I think they're gonna win yeah and I guess I'll root for that I'll just I want to root for a good game as cliche is that sounds that's like what I do now I don't really root for a team except for the twins

and so I just want a good game I think Venezuela ends up taking it, and we're going to see another star power game in the final. Yeah, I mean, there's definitely just a moment where Italy can be looking around like this is, that lineup's overwhelming. Like Jackson Chariot could have a three-for-four night, and he's currently bringing up the rear for this team.

A Contreras brother, if they came out as Italian tonight, they could be hitting third for team Italy. Talent-wise, but I think that's been fueling this. Italian team. Like the baseball gods, dude. Right. They got DeRosa. Right.

Vinny P's slip up, man. Yeah, I know. There's just something about that. I know. A rise has been so good throughout WBC play. Michael Garcia. That, yeah, I'll be ruined for the Italians. And I don't know.

If they can keep the juice going. If they can keep the juice going. Because we don't, I guess we're interested to see what's the Venezuela crowd going to be like tonight? It's going to be, I've heard, it's going to be more robust than the Dominican crowd was last night. And you know, what are the Italians going to have? Is that breadstick going to be on the shoulder? Are the vibes loose?

Is there cappuccino early? They're going to need to be having especial shots early to have a chance in this game. That's my prediction. Yeah. Lorenzen. He can do it. He just did against Team USA. He just did it.

And he's got to be feeling pretty damn good for being the Michael Lorenzen. Cater Montec, you could get to cater? I don't know. How about this? I hope we get a shootout. Let's get the 8 to 7 game. Like we got the 2 to 1 game and that was fun. And did Trevor Plouf utter the words last night?

Maybe good pitching does be good hitting. I heard that. I was all my cliche bag last night. Trevor Plufe mixtape was on. We are not recording after tonight's game. We will be recording live after the championship game. So whoever shows up against Team USA will be very interesting. I think, again, the Italian storyline of being undefeated and almost ruining this USA trip and then saving their butts.

There's an ultra universe where the U.S. isn't even involved in any of this. Coach. If the Italian baseball team goes undefeated, takes down Team USA twice, saving their life to chop them down again, I don't know. I don't know. Italy's got some work to do before that. Venezuela, I mean, similar team to the DR. And that was kind of like the afterthought of the tournament?

It's the U.S., the DR and Venezuela. are all teams full of just big leaguers. Yeah. Japan. Japan as well. Yeah, but Japan has like five or six, especially, I guess now you got Okamoto and you got Murakami. But like, so those guys haven't even played in the big leagues yet. These three teams are just stars studied,

all stars, gold gloves, big leaguers. You get like one pitcher that you're like, oh, okay. But yes. Yes, these are the three teams like going in. Obviously, you always count in Japan in that, but these are the teams with like the credentials, if you will. Yeah.

Thank you guys. Dalton put together an incredible sheet. Bobby Seraco producing On the Road. Coach Treff. Think, thank you. Just to us. All the, I mean, we woke up

to a lot of Cox today. They were, they were screaming. So were the birds outside. Thank you, everyone. Subscribe, championship game we will be live watch out you guys are the best are you are you roman anthony's parents nice to meet you