Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Who is the 3rd-Best Team in Each League? | Weekly Recap | 852

Episode Date: June 21, 2024

Use code TALKIN10 for 10% off tickets on SeatGeek. https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/TALKIN10*Up to $25 offListen to Luke Combs’ new album Fathers & Sons here: https://LC.lnk.to/FathersandSonsPDSign up for your chance to win a trip to New York for a Yankees game and see Luke live here: https://lukecombs.com/mlbtmobileCheck out Momentous with the link https://tinyurl.com/2z9mhee5 and use code TALKIN for 20% off our favorite products.This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://betterhelp.com/TALKINBASEBALL and get on your way to being your best self.++++++Timestamps: 0:00 Intro1:50 Yankee Fans are Ridiculous5:10 National League Recap10:00 NL Standings13:30 Brewers are the Class of the NL14:35 NL Wildcard Changes Every Day18:05 Whoever Decides to Sell Will Have a Great Time24:00 Braves Sweep the Tigers24:45 Dodgers & Rockies Play a Dramatic Series??27:00 Cubs & Giants Play Heroball31:30 Cardinals Lose to Miami34:45 Is Plouffe the Best Athlete to Step Foot in the Warehouse?35:30 American League Recap40:20 AL Standings43:25 Red Sox ALIVE. Who is the No. 3 Team in the AL?49:50 Yankees in Their Bad Stretch, Orioles Might Be the Best56:55 Cleveland Shuts Down Seattle1:00:50 Is KC or Minnesota a Bigger Fall-Off Candidate?1:04:00 Tampa or Houston more likely to get back into it?1:05:50 Mets are ELECTRIC1:06:05 Brewers Beat Angels1:07:25 Tyler O'Neill's 2-HR Game1:10:35 Sean Murphy's 2-HR Game1:12:55 En Fuego1:18:45 Injury Updates1:21:00 Rickwood Game & Willie Mays1:26:45 This is the Year for the Central Divisions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. The boys are in person. The National League Wild Card 9 teams separated by two games. Me and Trevor Plouf separated by our fists. Big app. Big app. Summer's here. Just touch me.

A lot of roaming things in this room right now. Hello and welcome to Talking Baseball. Present to you by Sea Geek. I am Jake Story Ellie at Talking Jake. Follow. BPD is producing his buns off. coming live from our warehouse. Go check out our YouTube warehouse games if you haven't. That's a lot of people's guilty pleasure. And speaking of guilty pleasures, it's Trevor

Plouffe, feeling the energy of the big city. The chain's been popping. The hair looks good. I didn't mean to pop the chain. Oh, I don't know about all that. I don't know about all that. How are you doing, big guy? I'm happy to be here. Yeah. You know, we love live episodes. It's great to touch you. worried about my posture in this episode. Like, it's tough. I'm trying to go up, but I don't think I can. I think I'm going to slouch, but that's going to be okay. We're doing this before anybody shows up at the warehouse.

So it's nice. There's nobody here in about an hour and a half. It's going to be filled with just young, vibrant, like the whole world in front of them. World is my oyster kids. And then I come and shut those dreams down. Seems like you had an emotional night alone in the hotel room after seeing all the young kids. Yes. 38. I'm like, cheese, guys.

It's tough. A lot of the kids were jazzed up to go out last night. Yeah, we had a good time. I was P. being jealous. I'm not ready to talk about that yet. I am ready to talk about my Yankees because they had another tough series with the Orioles. I don't know how far we're going to go into the Yankees and stuff. But the Yankee fans are insane.

The emotional highs and lows I've already seen this season. And it's just like nothing else. Yeah, it's, you're not wrong. It's part of the beauty of it. It's part of the problem of it. Yeah. It's also the Yankees got off to a amazing start in 2022, if you remember, that they were compared to the 98 Yanks.

Is this the best team ever? Oh, my. That 2022 team fell apart. Yeah. Last year the Yankees missed the playoffs through New York Yankees. Yeah. So, yeah, they still have the best record, although the Orioles are a half game back. I'd rather talk about Stephen Kwan, if we're being honest.

Rich Homi Kwan, you might hear about him later in the episode as he's casually chasing 400. But the bigger thing, Trev, it's Friday in New Jersey. Oh, yeah. It's a big National League episode. Obviously, we start the National League. And, man, I'll tell our good listeners this. if you know which team is going to win that final NL wildcard spot, I want to shake your hand.

Because nobody knows. I want to believe in a team every week, and then I'm disappointed by them. I'm looking at you, Cardinals. They lost two and three to the Marlins, both on walkoffs. How devastated are you? Padres, I think they gained room in the standing, but we're going to save the standings for Trevor Plou,

Yes. Let's get through the National League, and it's brought to you by Luke Combs. Yeah. Obviously. I mean, mostly his new album, but I mean, essentially this is from Luke himself. Do we consider him a friend now?

Until I have a medella with him. Okay. Yeah. That's actually, I don't know if you want to talk about that later in the episode, but your other guy, there's some headlines yesterday on social media. Who? Luke Combs, fathers and sons, the new. album from Luke Combs. It's available now. A first of its kind album released, 12-track album, entirely

live. Do you know anything? Luke Combs live. I've been telling you him, Tracy Chapman, Fastcar, listen to that bi-weekly. Luke Combs also has teamed up with MLB and Team Mobile to give you a chance to win Ultimate Doubleheader VIP Weekend Getaway. That's right. I don't want to tell you guys about this, but the winners get to fly to New York City see the Yankees game on July 19th and then head over to MetLife. I might have to talk to our people on this and just see, you know.

We're like, yeah. I want to have that beer with Luke. I can head over to MetLife. There's a link in the description. Enter and win. Seems like a good thing to do. And go check out the new album, Fathers and Sons.

Baseball guy, Luke Combs. Yeah, big time. Let's do some National League, please. And we start out in beautiful Philadelphia as they take two out of three from those San Diego Padres. Christopher Sanchez, how tall? We're not sure. Six, nine, seven innings pitch, one earned. We'll call you however tall you want, big fella.

Aaron Nola follows it up with a quality start as well. How about Castellanos with the walkoff? Four for five. Potential standout. You'll have to see later in the first. program are Padres and Matt Waldron, not just a knuckle baller. He's a pitcher, man. He's having a great year. Higie, former Yankee Great, has kicked into gear, along with our guy Jackson, Maryland, that final game. Phillies take two out of three. I gave this one a little tease in the

intro. Cardinals dropped two out of three from Miami. They win the first game. It's a sunny Gray Day Mason win with the two-run Homer in extra innings in the 12th to get the win. But then the next two days, your walk-off hitters tread. Vidal Bruhan, your guy. Yeah. Former Ray. And yes, and then my guy, Otto Lopez with the walk-off in the ninth. Are the Marlins clicking at the right time?

We're going to dive into that. Tim Anderson with a big hit. Uh, Gibby scratched to some back tightness? I talked to them. I talked to them. Okay, we'll check in on that later. Speaking of how's your struggle bus, the Giants and the Cubs played three baseball games. And the Cubs won a series after dropping the first game.

They come back, they take down Logan Webb and the second. Justin Steele still waiting for his first win this year. But 6.2 to earn runs. And then Kyle Hendricks, back in the rotation, 5.2, 1 earn run, Dan's Bay. Our guy Ian Hap, fingerprints all over this series, playing a little hero ball, trying to play hero ball in that first game, but not enough.

Colton Brewer with a save for the Cubs. Okay, sure. NL Central, I don't know how much breath I'm going to waste on these cats this year, but the Pittsburgh Pirates take two out of three from my Cincinnati Maddie Reds. And we had five every starting pitcher. So six starting pitchers went six innings. Of those five, two earn runs or less. So hey, maybe guys were twirling the pill or maybe nobody's hitting. I guess leave your scouting report in the comments. But Skeen's Ladolo Falter Green and he's throwing a new pitch now, a little split change or

something like that. Mitch Keller with a great outing. Brian Reynolds is hot for the Pirates. Remember David Bedinar, Rowdy Telez getting in front of the mics? He's figured it out. That's kind of how baseball works. He's been clean for them for a little while. Pirates take two out of three. Check out where they are in the standings. And check out where the Arizona Diamondbacks are.

Because they take two out of three from the Nationals. I call this series the Dry Hump and 500 series. Both teams got within a game, but they couldn't get there. Maybe next series. Slade Soconi, huh? My guy, six shut. he's Ryan Nelson, seven innings, 70 pitches. What was going on?

Are people watching these games, or is it just the simulation? You know I'm watching my snakes. You know Treves watching his net. I and our guy Jesse Winkers been hot lately. And hey, go vote for Catelle Marte for the All-Star game. Do we care? Yeah, we do care. This is our lives, people.

And of course, we're doing the National League so the Detroit Tigers. They get swept by the Atlanta Braves, who, hey now, two one run, two one games. So, whoa. But then they blow him out on that final game. Austin Riley is starting to rake. Sean Murphy is starting to rake. And the Braves, they're starting to win some ball games.

And the most controversial series of the weekend. Dodgers Rockies. Dodgers take three out of four. Did they, though? The check swing hurt around the world. Ask Jake Cave. Jake Cave is mad. And I stand for Jake Cave.

Dodgers take three out of four. That is what happened in the beautiful National League. I mean, when we get together, the rhythm is there. Dry Humping, by the way, a little underrated. If I'm being honest. Okay. Okay. If I'm being honest.

If it stops there, not great. I do have the standing, Jake. And because it's a Friday in Jersey City, we start in the Central. Would you say, the center of the universe? Would you say I'm your backup quarterback? Oh my gosh.

What are the sandings? That's a little too low right now. Look, in the Central, this is a mess. It's a mess. It's a mess. Gosh. 44 and 31,

your Milwaukeeverse. Thank you for playing good baseball. Yeah. Thank you, Milwaukee. We like you. St. Louis. Hey, you're fine.

537 and 37. Six and a half games back. The Pirates, 36 and 38. The Cubs, 36 and 39. The Reds, 35 and 39. Now we knew this was going to be like a slog. Yeah. But not like this.

Not like this. This is like where Shrek lives. Wherever that is, a bog. Hey, donkey. Yeah. Then we'll go out west. Sure. Because it's Friday, New Jersey.

The Dodgers with the commanding nine game lead. They're 47 and 30. They're not even playing good baseball, I feel. They're okay. Yeah. doing okay. They're surviving injuries, whatever. No other team is 500 in that division.

San Diego Padres, you're 39 and 40. What? That's your team to talk about. You get frustrated them. I don't. I just enjoy them. 39 and 40, the Arizona Diamondbacks were 37 and 38. The San Francisco Giants should be a good team.

36 and 40. And your rocks, 26 and 49, 20 games out of first place in the NOS. And then we head to the NLEs, the Phillies. continuing to play. Good ball. 49 and 25. The Braves, you said, I mean, they've been winning all year, Pop.

They have been. They had a little funk there. They just haven't been like themselves yet. The offense coming. 41 and 31. There's seven games back. The Nats in third place in that division at 36 and 38. The Mets, 35 and 38.

And then the Marlins, my goodness. 25 and 49. So you're actually a half game back of the Rockies. In that wild card, like you mentioned, Jake, Cincinnati at 35 and 39 is one and a half games out of a wildcard spot. Then you have the Giants, the Mets, the Cubs, the Nationals, and the Pirates, all within striking distance. Arizona, San Diego, and St. Louis have all the wildcard spots as we speak today. In St. Louis's 500 and San Diego and Arizona are one game under 500. That is the state of National League baseball.

Incredible standings from New Jersey. What is going on this year? Seriously. There's four teams over 500. I think you're... It's a great point, Trev. The Phillies, the Dodgers, who almost... I say the phrase too big to fail a lot.

I think for those teams, like almost too big to fail. Of course, you're a 1% or why wouldn't you say that? It's disgusting. The Braves, who I did say like, oh, you know, the Braves. finally it's starting to go, 10 games about 500 on pace for a good year. Milwaukee just kind of laughs at their division. Like, genuinely. That's insane of what they're doing this.

Genuinely. I guess, like, is it insane when all the other teams are just not playing well, I guess? Like, we have some Brewer Connects. People remember when Jimmy lost his hamstring on the field. And we kind of laughed because the Brewers, the Brewers walk tall. the brewers believe in what they do and we kind of did a head tilt that we were like like what have you done brewers a little bit like no offense but a little offense like what are we but then when you look at it it's kind of like they've been running that division for like seven years now

and they're going to win the cent like no team is going to catch them i think what they've done and the guardians have done um trying to think there's a another team that is playing the Red Sox. Okay. They're all like taking advantage of the stolen base situation that we have going on. The disengagement rule. They're getting more athletic. They're going back to playing like fundamental baseball.

Who would have thought? And look what's happening. Red Sox defense might argue that a little bit. But they're doing everything else. They can play fine defense when they're all in the right spots. It was just because early on they were. playing all over the field. They're going to be okay.

Let's, how about National League wild card? Because it is the conversation of the National League right now that if you, you can win two games and be in the wild card and a chance to make the World Series, which the snakes did last year. Okay. Or if you lose two games, you could be the third worst team in the National League, Marlins, Rockies, and you. Right?

As of today, it's the Reds. As of two days ago, it was the Cub. of a tomorrow, it could be the Giants. Like, I don't, do you see anything right now? Because I think if we're being honest, because we're an on-pod. Yeah, we try to be. A lot of this is just going to get dictated by injuries

and who gets the juice? I think so. There's a lot of the teams are even, in my opinion, and obviously the standings reflect that as well. If I'm trying to pick, like, teams that I think have something over the other teams, I think you could point to like Pittsburgh and their pitching staff. Like everyone sleeps on really falter. But you got four,

four dudes, four dudes in that rotation plus if they go make a move offensively, because they're not good offensively. If they go make a move and bring a bad or two in, like their fortunes change wildly. Like that's a, that's a very, like, it can be a dominant rotation.

So I think they have a leg up. I think the Padres still have probably the best roster out of all those teams some young guys doing their thing I gotta imagine they're going to be in the wildcard hunt come September when some of these other teams have fallen back

like those are the two teams that I look at and I'm like okay I can for sure see them in the hunt and Pittsburgh is as a caveat but they have to go make some moves like they have something that stands out the rest of the teams kind of just all blend together. I even think the Giants kind of stand out for me a little bit. You like the Giants.

I do. And they just, similar to the Padres, man, like they just don't consistently win series. No, the L3 in their column right now. It's interesting, man. And it seems like there's nothing,

there's nothing blatantly wrong with the Giants, but you got to go out and win baseball games. Yeah, it's, we've talked some run differential on this show and it usually water finds its level with run differential. Right now the team that's been locked into the second wildcard spot, the Cardinals, they have the third worst run differential in the national league.

Meanwhile, the Cincinnati Reds of the wildcard teams, they have the best at plus 10. So again, not impressive, but yeah, I guess that's where the National League can salvage this. is if, but it's where I become nervous. Because if we're being honest, this slog is kind of tough. Like, I like it for each individual baseball community that Arizona, Pittsburgh, Washington, Chicago, New York, San Francisco,

that these teams are still engaged. A couple years ago, they would not be. Yes. Where, so I like that for baseball. I guess I hope the trade deadline brings juice, but I'm worried it's not because how many sellers are there? So where's the Jews going to come from? That's the interesting part of all of this is as we look at the standings and we're seeing them so close,

a lot of these teams are going to say, well, we want to add, but there's so many teams all bunched up. So if we all just kind of stand pat, we'll just see where the year ends up. The team that just pulls the trigger first, I think is going to have the biggest advantage. Because you have to decide right now. If you're talking, you know, you're one of these nine teams, whatever the heck it is. Right. You have to decide what kind of roster are we really?

The Nationals, like, they have to decide, like, are we really in it this year? Right. Are we really going to go try to make the playoffs this year? Or are we going to cash in on some of these one-year guys? Because it's going to be a seller's market with all of these teams in contention. So you have to decide that. And you don't have to decide it now. It's only June 24.

first. You got a full month to decide what you're going to do. So maybe it'll play itself out. But I do believe the team that strikes first, you know, get some victories because of it will be better for it. But I think it's a tough decision for a lot of these teams. And I do believe we are going to see a bunch of teams to say, well, we're not sellers. We're not buyers either. Let's just write it out. That's what I wouldn't love. But I do think most teams are going to do that. I'd honestly love to see, I guess the, okay, maybe this is the game we should play, is that the National League team, and expectations are what they are, like, just because we expected a team to do this in the offseason doesn't mean blank.

But like, okay, Arizona went to the World Series last year, and they did big things in free agency, bigger than we thought. Like, I don't think they're going to sell. They were also under 500 in August last year made the World Series, so don't see them selling. San Diego, their chips are on the table. St. Louis could sell... Did they even... Did they sell last year?

They had to, right? Like, sort of... They had a ton of things to sell. Yeah, no, they did really. Yeah, they had... Their rosters kind of set. They got their young guys that have control. They brought in the starting pitchers.

So I guess here's my thing. The Nationals, we kind of thought they'd be sellers coming in the season in the New York Mets. if those teams keep hanging around, which hello, the Grimettes, different, different whole franchise right now. Did you know who this guy was? Because I did it. Yeah, I knew Grimmis.

I mean, I didn't grow up with the guy, but I guess I did grow up with the guy. Did you? Kind of, yeah, he was a big deal with McDonald's for a while. Isn't it the 1970s dude? You weren't alive? He was in the mix. Like him that, okay, McDonald's characters. Ronald McDonald.

Hamburgler. Hamburgler. I think me and Grimmis are just always... Grimus was in the mix. I never saw Grimmis. So I had no idea what this was. Yeah. Until Chris Rose brought it to my attention.

And I'm not like an anti-McDolns guy. I am now, but like I grew up eating McDonald's. My grandparents would take me to McDonald's. You told your passionate McDonald's. No, it's... Treb, you told your story. You brought Teddy to his All-Star game. You picked up some McDee's kind of...

Sometimes you got to go in the more. Right. And you said that, you know, McDonald's, one of the perks for years was the price. Like you'd walk away. It was. You said it was, dude, I talked to someone later that weekend and they were like, bro, I went to McDak's the other day. He got 22 bucks. And I was like, damn. So I don't know. That's another thing. I don't get there. But yeah, I don't know. Like Cincinnati's interesting. The, the giants are interesting if they have to sell. I don't know. And I, one or two things are going to sort themselves out in the next month,

because that's what it is. It's the All-Star game. But what if it's not? What if it's just like this? Because it seems like it's been like this all year long. So why do we expect it to change the next four weeks? Like, is one of these teams is going to go on a run here? No, it's true.

And I did say the Giants don't have a glaring weakness, but their pitching hasn't been great. They've had injuries to the starting rotation. The bullpen hasn't been very good. It's each one of these teams. teams has like an issue do they address it do they not address it it's kind of like the you know should we do like a should we do like a daddy issues episode one day one of the midweeks every team's daddy issues it's good so i used to a little bit okay you smooth that over later in life

well my parents got divorced when i was in high school right that's tough so i was like kind of becoming a man. My parents got divorced. Sorry, BBD. What? His parents are happily together. Oh, well, I wish you the best. Yeah.

I became the man of the house. 14. I used to say I was the man of the house at like seven, and that was a lie. You were not. Still not. Still not. Still not. Trev, of these series.

Yes. I guess what do we think is of no? because the NL discussion, we just kind of did it, and we're going to be doing that for a few more weeks. And again, I hope we're wrong, man. Insert your team here. I've been tough on the Cubbies. I hope they flipped the script, and we're saying,

wow, they went 14 and 5, and they're firmly in the playoffs. But zero of these teams have provided any of belief. Hey, and we should probably get ahead of this. I think it might be part of your award, but the Rick Wood series is going on. It's technically a part of next week's game, so we'll be talking about it there too, and RIP Willie, but I don't know.

There's some more coming on that later. Okay. God, like everything's kind of me, in the National League to me, the Brave swept a Tigers team that I don't really know how to feel about. I think they have some good pieces there, but I don't think they're necessarily in contention this year at all.

I think they probably end up trading Jack Flaherty, who's having a nice start to the year. Good pieces, but I don't, you know, I think the Braves should take a series from them, you know, sweep it less than the last game seven. Nothing. The Dodgers series against Colorado, they had the one big comeback.

They had the Tia Oscar swing. If you didn't see that, top of the ninth, Taya Oscar has a check swing, clearly goes. They say he doesn't go. That's tough, man. He would have struck out.

Game over. Instead, he hits a three-run. and home run. Jake K. from right field starts going nuts as soon as the ball goes over his head. It was quite the scene. And the Dodgers end up taking three or four because of it. They have a little, they have some issues of their own with their pitching staff.

But again, I'm not worried about him. They still have enough depth. Clayton Kershaw is doing his rehab starts. He looks pretty good. Big fan of his beef. Yeah, we like that. And then, yeah, I mean, look,

snakes are doing their thing. I think I am, I got roasted a little bit by snakes fans because I said, I think they're going to be, they could be sellers this year because of the way the Corby and Carroll started

and, you know, where they're at. And then, you know, this is not true because of what's happening in the National League. If this is a regular year, I think they would consider it. But it's not a regular year. It's a bunch of teams right there. That's where, you know,

you guys know your team better than us. It's the, it's the glass half full, glass half empty. Like, Snakes fans were kind of in a tough place, just nothing was clicking, nothing's happening. You can also spin that, because we have, what, 90 more games left of this season, more or less, that, like,

Jordan Montgomery hadn't been great for them. He put together a couple. Corby and Carroll had been awful for them. He's starting to put it together. That will be huge, obviously. Geraldo Pardomo is back. So I guess that's kind of where I started. this conversation of just like, it feels like such a cop-out answer, but it feels like you hope

the deadline is a cool thing. You hope, you know, you and Jolly put on a show this midweek episode, I heard him throw the Luis Robert to the pirates. Like if that happens, I'm on the pirate train. Yes. Like, I want that to pay off. Yes. They've called up their top prospects. They made a big trade. I want to root for that. I guess the only concern. is like, how much are injuries going to truly dictate this? Because we're talking about the ads, but a lot of it's the subtraction, too. Stop talking about that.

I know. Negative Nancy. I know. Quickly, giants, Cubs, I believe it was the first game. We talked about Hap trying to play hero ball and then Tyro Strata. Hap hit a three-run homer to put the Cubs up and then Tyro Strader at. I believe hit a three-run homer to put the Giants up. So that was a beautiful night for them.

And then Kyle Hendricks, the nice start. Sure. You got removed from the rotation, started this game. Five and two-thirds inning's pitch, one earned run. I like to see that. I didn't know Justice Steel had not gotten a win yet. Yeah. Last three starts have been quality starts,

hasn't recorded a win through 10 starts this season. Danesby's been having a rough stretch. I mean, the Cubs in general have been having a rough stretch as he burps into the microphone. Their first three-game series wins since. Tell me. May 10th or 12th. I know they've been struggling big-time offensively to find their footing. It's late June.

Yeah. I've got to, you know what, Treff, when we're in the room together, you know, it gets high. It gets intense. Okay. I know I've said this before, but the MLB bullpen stuff has hit. Like, okay, shout out to Colton Brewer, who gets the save. In the last game, he returns from the IL earlier this week. So many of these veteran vagabond bullpen guys are getting thrown into, like, brutal situations.

Just because arms are arms at this point. That's literally how front offices look at them. that the Yankees called up Anthony Mizowitz, who's been a up and down guy. And here he is pitching in a one-run game. Base is loaded. Like, I don't know. Just, it doesn't feel right.

It almost feels like there's a lot of guys, I don't want to say who don't feel a part of the team, because that's rude. But they're treating these guys too much like vagabonds. Like just putting them anywhere? Like, in a lot of these games, Those last four guys in the bullpen that are getting used. Because if you use your good bullpen in one game,

you got to use these other guys. That I don't know. I guess it used to be part of your team's identity. And now it doesn't. Like it's almost like, oh, we're playing them now. Who do they got back there? Okay. I could see that.

I think a lot of times now the way the teams are approaching is lanes where, you know, you biomechanically, pitch-wise data, you match up against this guy's bat plane. I'm being serious. This is what they do. So you're going to face this lane of hitters. So whether that is, and there still are guys that in the back end of a bullpen

who are like high leverage no matter what. Like they don't have lanes. They just go in when they need to put the fire out. But what you're talking about is a bunch of guys, they just try to match. They try to match with whoever, what part of the lineup is coming up for the Cubs. I mean, that's been probably their biggest downfall this year

has been their bullpen. 24th in whip, 27th and walks per nine. You know, so along with like a mid-offense, I mean, that's how you're kind of end up where they're at. But yeah,

it's very interesting how they approach, not only back into the bullpen, but also, you know, pinch hitters late in games. Like who matches up with who? It's, it is.

It's gotten a little too far for me, but I'm not going to sit here and be the old man yelling at the clouds, even though I, it's me. I'm like getting to that point. I had something else to say. And then you just got to,

me off my I'm sorry man I'm sorry what do you think it was do you had to guess I don't know Braves won six out of seven yeah Austin Riley's hitting a lot that's good it's a little more on them coming up later oh Gibby he said he's okay he's okay thank you yeah he just said that it was weird like he just went to start stretching and and he just couldn't like move his hip or something I said I said you're getting old that's called old yeah that's that's Yeah, he had a case of the old. But then he said, you know, thank you for talking kindly about the Cardinals for once.

And I said, you're welcome. They've technically been in the playoff picture for like a week or two now, which not a lot of teams can say. I mean, kind of a wild series. I mean, Dylan Carlson, first game throws the tying run out in the 12th inning to kind of seal the game. And then the Marlins have two walkoffs. Like, if you're the Cardinals, he's at the series, you got to win.

I know. I guess that's what chaps my ass, Trej. Oh, yeah. If the Cardinals swept this, what would we be saying? They'd be like two and a half games in the playoffs, playing a decent brand of baseball. Now, we'd be saying they're the fifth best team. Now what are we going to look back?

We'd be saying they're the fifth best team in the NL, and they are, they are at 37 and 37. The Cardinals need their Marlins wins. That's what I'll say. Yeah, you're right. That's what I'll say. I think my guy, Jake Croninworth, walked it off last night, but we're not talking about that.

I know what you're talking about it. Because it didn't happen yet, although I am wearing his hat that, I don't want to say he bullied me into getting, but I bullied. I bullied myself into getting. You thought he was going to send you one, and instead he paid for it. I, you know, we're buddies, we're pals. Know what else? You heard about this momentous, Treve?

I take momentous. I know you do. Yeah. Man, I'm going off the script. Let's talk. You know, I have a lot of people comment on my body. Okay. More up than down lately.

Okay. But the down's still leaking. But momentous, creatine, omega-3, protein. That's kind of my sweet spot. Ensure that all of my bases are covered. These three supplements support nearly every aspect of my foundational health. from aiding cognitive function. Need a lot of help there.

Reducing inflammation and muscle joints. Gibby. That's, don't need that. That would mean. I thought you were going off script. I was off script and then I had to bring it back because I was going to end up, I was going to end up in a crazy spot.

Hey, they are with 28 of the 30 MLB teams. I did have people get mad at me last time because I said 30 out of 32. And people were like, Jakey. That expansion happened yet? The Nashville team, the London team? What? Momentus is dedicated to working only with the best.

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And there's a link in the description. In my prime. Right. Oh. In my prime. Beefcake. Was I considered one of the greatest athletes in the world? Technically, yes.

Yeah. Think about that for a sec. We got into a little Jake Trev spat yesterday about if you were the best athlete to ever be in the warehouse. I 100% in the greatest athletes ever step foot. warehouse. I mean, I think including you, Jeff Passing. Pavel has an argument.

No, he doesn't. Darren Sammy. No, he doesn't. He's got you beat in a couple. Yeah. I mean, you got to, maybe Darren Sammy. Maybe Darren Sammy. Aaron Jones, American icon.

Killing it in the cricket. Those cricket guys got some resumes. God, I mean, it's just a big sport. It's a big sport. All right. I play Team USA too, bro. Our guy Luke good counter. Good counter.

Ooh, Team USA, Trev. Okay. A couple times. Who did you say after that? Our guy, Luke, Goh Branson. No. Sorry, Luke.

Come on. I DM. Get into the American League quickly. Let's talk some American League baseball. It's Friday. And Trev, we're starting. The first one is ugly. We're starting with, hey, we're starting with our New York Yankees.

That's good. I think we're starting with the Baltimore Orioles. Yes. Times are hot. Nestor 6 Shutpiece And oh, who's coming back? Garrett Cole? The Yanks?

Oh, God. A fun comeback by the Yankees in game two, but it comes up short. They are rough in extra innings. And they're rough against the Orioles. Orioles are, what is it, five and two against the Yanks this year? They take the final game.

What's that score say? 17 to 5. We'll talk about that a little bit. Yankees fans in an interesting spot. Hey, here's two good teams all year. The Seattle Mariners and the Cleveland Guard Dogs played three. And you know Chris Rose's guardians. Was he partying last night?

A little bit. A little bit. Yeah, but then it got snake bit by the humidity. It was a rough night. The Guard. Mariners won that first game behind Bryce, Miller, the baby face killer. And you know J.P. Crawford was involved.

Also, there's a fun, Luke Rayleigh and his dad have both been kicked out of Cleveland Guardian games. That's a fun fact in here. The guard dogs win the next two games because it's a vibe. Tanner Bibi, six shut piece, 12Ks. What? Nailer, barely know her. Two home runs.

Stephen Kwan. Yes. MVP? Let's meme. Can we bring up the conversation about Stephen Kwan? MVP, I like that a lot. Will Brennan, which Cleveland Guardian Labrat are you? You hit two homers.

Happy for you. Trev, speaking of, an AL rivalry? The Twins and the Rays? Couple playoff matchups, right? Well, it was all about Rocco and Kevin Cash. Oh, it starts with the managers. It finishes with the raise and extra innings. If the Tampa Bay Rays are winning a ballgame, Jose Siri went nuts.

and go check out his throw to throw out your guy guy Royce Lewis at third base cuts off the right fielder A little bit, but if you make that play That's why you get to be a ball hog Rays take the final two and extras Pablo Lopez

Might have to talk about that He's been getting knocked around Correa is still hitting Does it mean anything for Tampa? Maybe Little bit of Ray stock, we'll see They take two out of three. The Boston Red Sox kid.

W5 in the win column. They sweep the Blue Jays. Yes. People are asking questions in Toronto. Nick Povetta, full pension. Seven innings. Brian Bayo, with his first good start in a while, you might hear about Tyler O'Neill this episode.

Haven't seen us in the same room. Seems like a momentous cat. Yeah. Rafael is put together a couple big games. Jaron, Bob, Bob, Duran. Red Sox get it done. Blue Jays. Oh, God.

Speaking of if it's a seller's market. The Texas Rangers, they lose two out of three to the New York Mets. Rangers, where are you at? And the grim, the Grim Mets. I don't even know anymore. A blowout in the first game, they put up a 14 burger. They come back in the second game. Is Mark Vientos?

The answer? Alvarez, Lindor with big games. Texas salvages it on the last day. The Hiendog has been twirling the pill really well. His last 10 starts. Go check out where the Texas Rangers are in the standings. They won the World Series last year. Brewers, they take two out of three from the Angels,

and that's obvious, even after dropping the first game. Here's Tobias Myers and Freddie Peralta. How's your zero run scored off both starting pitchers? That's a little bit of Brewers ball. And then, sure, give me some free licks, give me some yellich. They beat the Angels because that's what they're supposed to do. And then the Astros. They take two out of three from the White Sox after dropping the first game.

My God. Could have been a firework-filled episode. They bounce back. They take the next two. Hunter Brown is he figuring it out. And the A's take two out of three from the Royals. Royals a little bit on the struggle bus right now. three and seven in their last 10,

and that's what happened in the American League. Bob Boa Jr. came to save them that last game as well. I do have the standings. He didn't even ask me for him, but that's the kind of guy that I am, Jake, and it's Friday. So, of course, we start in the West. Seattle, the Mariners, our Mariners. They love us in Seattle.

44 and 33, quick math, 11 games over 500. Stanford. You would seem, it looks like 10, but you'd add that one, Jake, just so you know. Okay, I see. Oh, it's the second integer? Wow. Eight games behind them are the Houston Astros, 35 and 40. Your second place, Houston Astros.

Let's drive that home. The Texas Rangers. Hey, Wyatt Langford's been playing better lately. 8.01 OPS in June. 34 and 40. They're eight and a half games back. The Angels, 29 and 45. The Oakland A's, 28 and 49.

Moving on to the east, your Yanks still in first place, barely hanging on. They got like their fingertips, like, ugh, and then it's just they're going to fall. 51 and 20, oh, you hate the Yankees. 51 and 26. Baltimore, a half game back, 49 and 25. The Red Sox, I want to talk about them a little bit, 40 and 35. I mean, their 10 games back, but I believe one back of the wild card. Tampa Bay Race, 36 and 39, Toronto, 35 and 39.

And then we move to the Crem de la Crem, as I like to call it, the AL Central. The guard dogs, 46 and 26. Quick math, 20 games over 500. Just carry the two. The Royals. Good math jokes. You know, it gets me. 42 and 34.

There's six games back. As you mentioned, sliding a little bit. My twins, like, can't really be. Good teams. Are we calling Tampa a good team? I don't know. 41 and 34, six and a half game is back.

Then the Tigers, who just recently were 500. Just recently they were. 34 and 40. And then the White Sox, 20 and 56. If you look at the standings in the wild card, Kansas City and Minnesota have the first,

no, Baltimore has number one, then Kansas City, and then Minnesota. And then one game back of Minnesota for the third wild card is Boston. and then Tampa, Toronto, five, and five and a half games back, respectively. Incredible standings. Good math humor.

That's why people listen. I was actually okay in math, Jay. And then I hated it, but I was okay. Real math? Yeah. Probability, statistics. I got, I was AP calculus. Okay.

My senior year, I quit at the first day. Respect. Yeah. Because I'd already signed with USC. I said, what am I doing here? This is an insane math. This can only mess that up. Insane. Calculus is insane math. It doesn't make any sense.

Keep math out of baseball. Yeah. Keep paper out of baseball. Jimmy O'Brien. Jimmy and Fergie. Both Fergis. Yeah, I guess, hey, maybe this will become a regular thing or maybe a little bit of a Friday thing. But you mentioned the Bo Sox. They are firmly in the mix, which nobody really had been. I'm going to pose a question to you. Okay.

Okay. American League. Yeah. I think we know who the top two teams are. I do. I think it's the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles. I think you're right. Okay. Give me number three.

We did this on baseball today. Me and Rosie had different answers. And I'm going to tell you right now, I don't necessarily believe this yet. But I think that the Red Sox are in the conversation for it. Their season, by and large, statistically, is probably, well, I just said, I was going to say probably definitely definitely definitely definitely. Definitely.

That doesn't make any sense, though. I can't do both of those words back to back. Their statistics would say that they're the third best team in the Yale. Now they had a tough start where there were some injuries, but they're back. Right. Full roster. Young guys, athletic team.

We saw them steal nine bases on the Yankees. You consistently bash their defense. I think it's better than you're saying. They're getting output from Tyler O'Neill, Rob Reff Snyder. The young guys coming up and doing it. Their pitching staff has been great. The bullpen's been great.

It is kind of a complete team. They continue on the path of they're on. They're going to make the playoffs. They're a scary team. And that happened kind of like under the radar and quickly. I think, okay, let's do it. Karabas in my comments last night. Boston, we're back, baby.

Yeah. Yeah. Yankee stink, huh? You guys are the ones saying that. are. Like, my gosh. But look at this. Conor Wong. 850 OPS. Show me that one. Yeah. Show me the long. 850 OPS from your catcher. Okay. David Hamilton comes up, kind of like stabilizes a shortstop position. He's 26. 776 OPS. Raphael Devers doing his thing. Sure. 912 OPS. Okay. Jaron 813 OPS. Rafaela. The offense isn't really his forte, but he's playing

you said bad footwork in center field. I think he's playing a great center field. He's an athlete. Williur Abrae who is on the IL right now, 829 OPS out there in right field, Tyler O'Neill 896 OPS, Rob Restliner, 863 OPS. And these are all significant at bats.

These aren't 5, 10 at bats. These are, they are doing it, man. So I think the biggest thing I'd like to drive home for the Boston Red Sox. And this is going to lead to Cora at some point, because that's just a fun conversation.

Fifth and OPS. Fifth and OPS. Fourth in starters whip, sixth in relievers whip. Trev, the Red Sox have gotten hot. We agree on that. We can finally agree on something. Okay, yeah.

Who have they gotten hot against? I mean, they play the same teams everybody else plays, but it's not like they're in some different freaking league. You're going the wrong way. They're all the good teams? Oh, yeah, they've beaten good teams, yeah.

Yankees. And then they just swept them. the Blue Jays. And Cora kind of laid it out for them. And dude, he like, so we talk about what do managers actually mean? And we talk about, we talk about the advanced stuff of baseball.

You were talking about relievers and swing path and all that bullshit that we, like, half-believing, but we don't. Okay. We're also, you also have to play the game. Yes. Because guess what? If your sweeper plays perfectly for a guy's swing path,

but you hang it in the middle of the plate, someone's going to bang it. He called out Duran before the season. and he's like, Jaron Duran, you need to be a guy and play every game for this team. Guess what Jaron Duran's done? He's played every game for this team. He's a center fielder with crazy speed with an OPS in the eights. He sets the table.

Tyler O'Neill's been great. How long did we talk about every Cardinal needing a change of scenery? Let's keep him healthy and see what happens. The pitching? I don't know. Is Andrew Bailey pitching God? I think so. He's a new Matt Blake.

Oh, that's Matt hurt. Matt. I'm just saying. That shrunk my weiner. Although I will say this, Jake, because you're giving them credit for beating teams, you know, good teams. They're 13 and 23 against teams over 500.

Yeah, but it's what have you done for me lately? Lately they've won some series. The May was tough for them. Like the season's here. Yeah. You're talking a month till All-Star game, less. And then it's trade deadline season. And like you said,

there's going to be a couple of these teams. that come up against it. How easy could we have said, Red Sox just played the Phillies and the Yanks? Tough Strait. Two wins. That's all right. Figure it out.

No. They handled their business and they're David Hamilton giving big contributions. Emmanuel Valdez has been a lot better lately for them. So, yeah, it's too early to say third best team in the AL. I still think it's the guard. That's a little rude to what the Guardians have done this year. They've done it. And I've got some more guard dogs talk coming later.

Okay. And even the Mariners. Like, I don't know how we're measuring third best team, but, like, you know, who would you rather see in a playoff series? That Seattle rotation still is just like, and we're not even talking about, like, who do they kick to the bullpen? Did the Mariners kick Bryce Miller to the bullpen in a three-game set? So now I've got to deal with that, too.

Like, I'll say this. Boston versus Seattle in a playoff. match. Are you handicapping it 100, like Seattle, like that's your favorite? Are you sure? Do you know, you know, the Red Sox have great starting pitching as well. How about this? Three, three game series, I think draft king's odds, coin flip. Like whoever's home field probably gets the tilt and it would probably be the Mariners. If it's a seven game set, I think you'd have the Mariners just like, you know, minus

135, which, for those who aren't deep in the sports gambling world, that's, That's not crazy. Like, that's slight favorite. But there's still a lot of ball left to play. That's where, okay, let's pivot this to my Yankees. Yeah. And it's where I started the show before the Red Sox have played 75 games. You're my math guy.

How many games left for them? 75, carry the two. That's a lot, 87. 62, 87. Yeah, just do that right? Yeah. Yeah. 87 plus 75.

That was on camera, too. Yeah, you nailed that. He was an AP calculus first day of senior year. One day. I did it for one day. And I said, I can't do it. Hey, I'm leaving this class. Anyone want to fuck right now?

I went to an all guy school. Hey, I'm leaving this class. Anyone fuck right now? You have to say earmust before you say stuff like that. Happy pride to all our friends in the baseball community. The Yankees. Yeah. wins in the bank.

Great start. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it. I get it. We're being obnoxious Yankee fans a little bit. I talked about how we've been hurt in the past years. Whatever. Yankees also haven't been to a World Series since 2009.

The New York Yankees that. I know that. That you give me shit for every time we see each other. Yankees, Yankees. We haven't been dancing in a long time. It's like me in the warehouse. Attending the dance. We haven't, which is crazy.

So when you have the Red Sox run all over you, which up into that point, they haven't really been a stolen base team, the Orioles add a little bit of the same. The infield has some serious question marks right now that there's more than half the season remaining, that every year there's teams that have a good first half, a lesser second half.

There's teams that have a bad first half. They have a great second half. I'm not saying the Yankees, the wheels are going to fall off and they're going to miss the dance. They are the top two teams in the American League. I don't think you can argue that. Yes. Where are you going with this?

They're having some flaws exposed right now. Well, yes. And I guess, okay, tying this all together with the National League and maybe I'm aiming too big, but, like, Luis Heel has been an incredible breakout for the a Aeas. He was a Cy Young candidate. He has a Orioles get to him. And he hasn't been as sharp lately. So is that a kid off of double Tommy John?

Yeah, he's never thrown as many innings for the first time. Is it the league seeing him for the second time? Like those stories of this season haven't been told yet. Now, where things get very Yankees is Garrett Cole just came back. So, like, there's other parts of the story to be written. But I don't know, man. You rung my ears a couple episodes ago when you said, the Orioles like where they're at right now.

Yes. And they sure do, because they haven't lost a series in the AL East since. they set an MLB record. I think it's 22 series. Yes. I don't know where you're trying to go with this. Orioles very good team. And they continue to prove that in many different ways.

I have the OPS for runners and scoring position. They're actually seventh in that. Okay. With an 80s, no, that's batting average up, excuse me. With OPS,

they are sixth, with an 806 OPS. The usual suspects, the top teams or the ones that are in the playoff positions are ahead of them. Guardians 858, Yankees, 848, and then the Royals. Third in OPS, that's how they're surviving and still being in the race because you've got to score the runs, Jake. That's analytics that we do.

But the Orioles are probably, I would say, the scariest team in baseball because of, number one, the roster in the length of their lineup and their ability seemingly to find pitching, even though that's going to be their biggest issue going forward is they've dealt with a lot of starting pitching injuries. They're going to have to get rid of some of that Norfolk super team. Those tides? They're going to.

And people are like, well, that's how they got to where they're at, Jeff, is their prospects. It's like, okay, how many do you need? Right. The Cubs have nine top 100 prospects. Get rid of some of them. Yeah. And get your major league team better.

The Orioles are going to. to have to give away some of those guys, and you're going to have to make some tough decisions. Do you know the ceiling for Connor Norby? I don't care. Kate Povich looks like Max Fried. The ceiling for some of these guys is the player that you're going to trade for. That's proven it at the major league level. They're not all Fernando Tatis juniors, man.

So, like, they're going to have to do that. They're going to have to dress some stuff with their rotation. I think. I think. I mean, you never know. All of a sudden, Albert Swarrest shows up on your doorstep. So, um, I don't know where we're at, man.

The Orioles are a damn good team. And Gunner Henderson owns Yankee Stadium. A little bit. He's pretty good. He owns a lot of buildings. You're right. To be fair. You're right.

Yeah, the Yankees have a losing record in division. That's a little bit of a yellow flag right now. And they're in a grinder of a schedule where... So this is one of the Yankees' personal gripes is that they're still a little too business-like. Okay. Like we're playing a game. Yeah. You got to go out there, win, feel it.

Sure, there's going to be a couple days a year. The bullpen's fried. Like, it's a getaway day. I get it. It's a grind of a season. Game two, they did not play their best hand. They lose it in extra innings. They've basically already lost the season series to the Orioles.

Yeah, so if it comes down to it, it comes down to it. And I just, there's still some weird messaging that I think that sends through the season. And the Yankees, they just lost to the Red Sox. They just lost to the Orioles. They have the Braves coming up this weekend. Like, this was kind of supposed to be the Yankees test. They lost to the Dodgers. So, okay.

Again, like, it turns into a little of, what have you done lately, especially as we approach the trade deadline. Okay. Yankees have, Rizzo just got hurt and he was awful. DJ LaMayhew has just come back and he has not been good. Claibor Torres has been enigmatic his entire Yankee experience and now neither of our catchers can throw. So that's where...

That's your biggest. That's what needs to be addressed. If teams can just take all the extra bases against you, I mean, that's not a winning brand of baseball. That's actually insane what's been going on. And I feel for our guy Trevi, but they got to figure that out. And that's what Trevi's hit this year. He's got a platinum glove.

So it's, he does have a platinum gloves. I keep seeing that. I'm like, is that platinum? Is the gold reflecting weird? Plattie on the chest. And teams are just running wild. Let's go, let's get rid of the Yankees. Okay.

Mariners, Guardians, one thing that stood out to me, obviously, two good teams. We know about the pitching for the Mariners. That has been kind of, if there is an Achilles heel for the Guardians, is that starting pitching hasn't been very good. They've had some injuries. obviously, but the bullpen is by far the best in baseball. And in this series, in three games, they gave up one run. Tristan McKenzie gives up four in runs.

They lose that game. Well, excuse me, I just totally messed that up. In the first game, they gave up some runs. But yeah, they cover a bunch of innings. Two in a third inning pitch for Tristan McKenzie. After that, they don't give up an earned run. The next two games. They are, what Chris Rose will talk to me about the Guardians is

that their bullpen is being taxed. They've thrown way too many innings and he doesn't think they can hold it on. They need to go get some sort of starting pitcher. Will they do that? They're not a team that really goes out and makes those kinds of trades, but... Yes, Jake.

Is there... And everyone, please comment below. Are there fan bases that are saying their bullpen isn't getting overused? Probably the Mariners. Okay. I would guess. I'm interested to find out because like I'm the Mariners probably the pirates

man Holderman and Bednar yeah like they're the teams with the deep good starting pitching stamps I mean that's kind of the name of the game okay um so that's what they're gonna have to address Stephen Kwan continues to be a guy do you know what he's hitting on the year give me some numbers 396 shake he's got a 457 O bps 1.1 dotting and his OPS plus is 191 he's going off. And it's all sorts of stuff. I mean, he can drive the ball if he needs to. He can take the, he can take the, the shooter in the six hole.

What's the date today? It is June 21st. Since May 31st. So we'll call that 22 days or 21 days? How do you do that? 281. 22. Stephen Kwan has been hitting 500.

Yeah. That's like him and Carlos Corray are the best hitters. in the world right now. How about that? The centrals are back, baby. I'm telling you the AL Central, the Crem. DeCrem, everyone's talking about it. Go, guards. Take two or three from the Mariners. I mean, this is, that's a litmus test, a series.

That's what we're talking about. Hey, there's, there's a lot of ball. I think I've found a way that I, we can slightly cover everything. Twins, Twins, Royce Lewis is a god. Yeah, I'm all in on Royce. Okay, thank you. You've got me. And if you didn't see the Jose Siri throw, it's hilarious. He cuts in front of, I believe, Richie Pelosi, our friend.

Have you seen it? I have not. It's worth looking up. He literally says, like, get out of the way into right field, cuts him off and hammers a throw. And Royce Lewis isn't slow. No. And just hammers him.

It's, if someone did this in a softball league, you'd be like, hey, guy. Like, don't be an asshole. Yeah. He cuts off another major leaguer with his body momentum going the wrong way. throws a dart perfectly to get Royce Lewis. Worth looking up at home today. Here's where I want to go, Triv. The Red Sox have inserted themselves in the mix.

Five-game win streak, really good stretch. They're a game out of the wild card. Lorenzo de Mali's Red Sox are in the mix as he shows up to the warehouse. The kids are getting here. The kids are getting here. It's happening. I hate it. Of the.

of the other teams. Okay. So, A, one of, so it's two-part question. Hit me. Kansas City or Minnesota would have to fall off. So an unfair question to you a little bit. Okay. But of those two teams, who do you think has more fall-off potential?

Because Kansas City has kind of been great. They've been struggling a little bit. And I don't know, with their track record, I think it's easy to be like, well, it could go the other direction. The twins have the track record. They've just gotten Royce back and Cray has been killing it. But they still have some, like you said, they struggle with the good teams,

but that might be fine this year. They've very much struggled. I believe it's the Orioles, the Yankees, and the Guardians are 0.13 against. That's not great. Not great. I think they're pretty even as far as, like, can fall off. Right.

Right now, I guess it's a little unfair to do the question because Minnesota's offense has really come alive. Carlos Correa is going. Carlos Santana is going. Jose Miranda's going. Right now, I believe they're like sixth of the big leagues in OPS. So if we're talking like how things are right now, I think their lineup is can be a little longer,

but like also it's not like a great lineup. Royce Lewis is a game changer. I mean, you take him and Bobby Witt and they cancel each other out. And then you're talking about the rest of the lineup. Like I think I'll take the twins. but I don't think it's that far off. And starting pitching is kind of like the same thing to me. Like, Pablo Lopez has not looked great this year.

He hasn't been able to locate the way he wants to locate. Getting too much in the zone. He's, there are times where he's in the zone and the times where he's walking people. It's interesting. Joe Ryan's been really good, but I think these teams are pretty similar.

Yeah, I honestly can't lean. You know I want to lean twins here, but, Um, they both have their faults. They both have, like, their strengths. I guess. So the other part, I'd take Minnesota's bullpen. So I guess, like, I think I'll take Minnesota slightly because of the bullpen.

Hey, I'll, gun to my head. I think I just have to go recent history and I would end up with Minnesota. And I do believe in Correa's resurgence and, uh, Royce Lewis. Like, I think that changes the whole team. He's different. where Kansas City, maybe they've played a little over their skis. So, again, there's no right answer there. But I guess the question is, if those teams come back down to Earth a little bit,

Tampa, so everyone wants to kill Toronto, break it up, trade them. They're a half game better than Houston's been this year. Just a reminder for the people right now. The Detroit Tigers that we talked a lot about being in the mix, they're a half game back of Houston. So the ALs, I don't know if it's a connect. Nunn Drum, but these four teams have a month to get hot and get in the mix. I think everyone's out on Toronto right now, if we're being honest.

It's hard to be in on them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Detroit, kind of hard to be in on them. This feels like the same Detroit dance we've done for the past couple years. So the two teams... Houston Astros are 25 and 21 since the beginning of May. Houston's playing a better brand and the schedules. eased up for them a little bit.

Tampa has a lot of bodies back. Like, Lowe are back for them. Yandi and Randy got off to as bad starts as possible. So I guess if it's Tampa or Houston getting back in the mix. I'm only in Houston. Houston. Yeah,

I mean, Houston. I think that's the right answer. They've dealt with their injuries too, and they have some decisions to be made. But, I mean, yeah, they're kind of like just slowly creeping up. They've got a big series,

Houston, Baltimore. So they'd have to take... This is interesting. So they'd have to take out Minnesota or Kansas City. Oh, man. That's what I'm saying. Like, the AL, in theory, has been set, but baseball doesn't work like this. Like, I think in our heads, like this time last year, the Yankees were firmly in the playoffs.

Their season fell apart. That, yeah, one or two of these teams is going to come down to Earth. And, like, I don't know. It was the first time when I looked at those twins raise box scores, and I saw, saw what Siri did and I saw the guys who did it. It was my first head tilt in a little bit that I've been out on the raise this year. Like they just haven't passed the sniff test at all. It was the first time I was like,

we could look up in a month and see that the raise went 20 and 8. Well, you know it. They had to get better. Yes. They're going to have a spurt of baseball that was better. You know, they were winning series and some of the guys got hot, but it's too little too late. That's what we'll find out.

We have plenty of time, though. They're another team that the deadline, They're very willing to move bodies where other teams won't be. And then the Houston question that's just been looming over the season since mid-March, mid-April. Hey, shout out to the Mets seven games in a row. Seriously. I kind of got themselves back into it. Yes.

They lose the last game to Texas, but I got to give snaps to him a little bit right there. Yeah, because they were. The Mets have been electric, dude. But Jolly was on last episode, so I think we're, I think we're okay. Um, brewers do their thing out in Anaheim, Ryan Braun in the booth. Oh, did you see the sell free that catch? Um, robbery. Robbery.

Yes. Would have tied the game. Yes. Yeah. I did see that. Pretty awesome out there. That's just what the brewers do. I've got a little more brewers coming up.

Okay. Um, that I think we can. Did we touch? Did we touch enough? I think we touch enough. And I think we're going to touch more. Mm-hmm. Uh, can we get to standout performances?

What did you call them? Stand Out Performances. They are brought to you by BetterHelp, and this show is sponsored by BetterHelp. What's something that you need to get off your chest? We all carry around different stressors, big and small. You keep them bottled up. They will affect you negatively.

Therapy is a safe space to get things off your chest and to figure out how to work through whatever's weighing you down. And this is entirely online, people, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with your licensed therapist and switch therapists anytime no additional charge get it off your chest with better help visit betterhelp.com slash talking baseball name of the show get 10% off your first month that's better help help dot com slash talking baseball there's a link in the description trap i am going to go with my guy he went to garibaldi s s and maybe Maple Ridge, British Columbia, I think that's would be serious. So on brand.

Wow. For Canada to have maple. I guess that's the same thing. What's the name of the school? Garibaldi. Garibaldi secondary school, eh? Is that what it is? I think so.

I think so. I guess Maple Ridge is kind of like, you know, a thousand oaks. Oh. In California, there's a lot of oak trees in California. So I'm not going to clown on them because there's a lot of maple trees in Canada. This is why people come here. You can just like tap into a maple tree and get syrup.

Yeah, that's pretty sick. That's interesting to me. I don't believe that. That's a simulation. I'm not a snob. That's like a video game, right? I'm not a snob in anything in life. A little bit of a syrup snob.

Oh yeah, you have to get 100% maple. Growing up in the Northeast, bro, when you find out like that's all Vermont has, you're like, okay. Don't you think like that seems, that seems silly that you can just tap into a tree and like this sugary goodness comes out. That's ridiculous. It's insane. This is a simulation. And it's so much better than, if you have. haven't had like real syrup.

Go to Amazon and Google like real Vermont syrup. It's a different product. It's a little, it's a little expensive. It's all the expensive. It costs a little more than you'd like fancy syrup to cost. But you don't,

you don't want to put those. Anyways, Tyler O'Neill. Tyler O'Neill. Oh! Big boy. He's freaking roped up. Momentous to the max. My libido has been incredible

since I've been on Momentus. It never was really bad, but it's improved. He went two for four. Excuse me with two homers Two runs driven in Two runs scored so he had the twofer On Monday And he's been a big part of why the Red Sox

You know Hung on 500 ball club for most of the season Now doing their thing 353 OBP 543 slug for the 896 OPS In the year 146 OPS plus He already has 15 homers Jake

Only 26 runs driven in That caught my eye on it That's a lot of solo home And what else you doing, bro? One stolen base in the year, but Tyler O'Neill, I'm happy for him. Do you know who drafted him initially? Ooh, okay. Tyler O'Neill.

He's on the St. Louis Cardinals. Let's go Twins. Seattle Mariners in the third round. You sure could use a Tyler O'Neill. Could. Be a great fit on that team. Snaps for him. He looks great, man.

We're happy. Worst dresser in the league, I think. We established that. He was. I'd love an update. Yeah. Like, does anyone have any new Tyler O'Neill picks?

Send us some Tyler O'Neill outfit picks if you can. But he's my standout performance today. Traded four? Ooh. To the Cardinals? Gene Segura. Hold on. By the Mariners, to the Cardinals.

Kyle Gibson. No idea. Marco Gonzalez. Ah, okay. Snaping them. Okay. Trev, there are so many ways to go with this. Yes.

God, Nick Lodolo's on a win streak. Bibi is just punching tickets. That was a great start. He looked nasty for the Guardian. Freddie Fermin, two home runs. He's a ball player. They got a couple catchers in Casey. Freddie Fermin and Freddie Freeman.

Yeah, five walks for Freddie in one of those Coors games. I'm not going to them. I'm going to Sean Murphy. Sean Murphy put up a four-for-four with two homers. Pretty good day at the office. He got hit in his back arm. by a ball and what's the

there's a doctor term for like a big bruise like a hematoma yeah globe you just crushed it hematoma one of those two and he he just he's like I've had hematomas before

I'm okay and it's like okay Sean Murphy like that a lot for the Braves we've talked about they lost Ronald CUNY Jr Austin Riley and Matt Olson have been struggling

Sean Murphy was out for a while And we didn't talk about it too much because they do happen to have Travis Darnow, who played great. Sean Murphy nine dotted for a chunk of the season last year. Yes, he did. Like, he has an argument for best catcher in the game. Dude, we did a best catcher in the game talk recently, and I don't think we mentioned Sean Murphy. Like, didn't we do like a whole Adley, like, who's the best catcher in that, William Contreras? Sean Murphy.

Like, he has a hand on the throne. Yes. The Braves have been looking for some good sauce. They've got it going. Austin Riley's hitting. Sean Murphy is back. There's going to be a whole other Braves portion of this season that's coming. And I think Sean Murphy's going to be a chunk of that.

Okay. I like that. A lot of other people, like you mentioned, James Paxton with a good start. Frankie Lindor, Brandon Nimmo. Yeah, a lot of guys. Swarber in June is fucking... What's that about? It's this month. He just knows it.

He just knows it. No, well, it's Brian Reynolds. Big June guy. Okay. Sure. Never can get a read on Brian Reynolds. Like, what kind of guy are you? Nobody can.

I didn't see him out there. I called the games. Didn't really see him out there. It's a Vandy guy. So you know him? I think he just likes playing ball. Does he? Maybe he doesn't.

Trev, can we do the best segment of the show? Dirt Nasty's on Fuego. That means I'm on football. I'll be honest with the people. I took my first taste of the devil's lettuce last night. For a long time. It's been like two or three weeks. But Kay back.

Yeah. It's a problem. It was good. It was good. Just a little one. Just a tiny. I didn't even inhale. Didn't do it.

Okay. Show Hail Tani for the series. Eight for 18. That's a 444 average. That doesn't make any sense. But whatever. Three doubles, two homers, seven runs driven in. This was Otani's first four games

taking over as the Dodgers leadoff hitter. He has Mookie fractured his hand. You tow the mount. First guy you see. The greatest player that's ever lived. Okay, so there's a six, five Japanese kangaroo that pitches better than me. Yes.

Starting the game. And he doesn't have a leg lift, so his eyes are level the entire time and he's going to see everything I throw. Tyler O'Neill. Just mentioned you. should have looked at the sheet. Four for 12, double, three homers in that series.

Again, three runs driven. We got to figure that out. Stop. Boston, get on board. Get on base for your guy. Fucking Tyler O'Neill. How about Jesus Sanchez? Is Jesus.

Five for 13. Two doubles, two homers, five runs driven in for the one. Four in the series against St. Louis. They won two of three. Series win, yeah. For the week. Yeah. New York Mets outfield are branded Nimmo.

It seems like a good guy. Historically underrated. Seems like a nice guy. 12 for 25 in the week. Two doubles, two homers, eight runs driven and nine runs scored. He also got hit by a pitch for the 1.3. Alec Bohm has been good all season long.

13 for 26. Quick math, go. 4. 13 for 26. 500. Oh, I still haven't gotten to the numbers. I was looking up Brandon. He's got the 12s.

Three doubles. One homer. eight runs driven in though. He also stole a base for the 1.2. And then my guy, Yon Duran, mentioned Minnesota Twins' bullpen. He's been like up and down a lot. Like as far as like Rock was getting him hot

and then sitting him down and whatever. He doesn't care though. Okay. He says I'll pitch every freaking day. Four games. He went two and no. He had one save. Four and a third innings pitched.

No hits. No runs. One walk four Ks. After allowing three in runs to the Pirates on June Eight, the round is thrown, six, and third, hitless innings since. Doesn't strike out as many people as you think. Okay. Interesting.

It is interesting. It is very interesting. For the two weeks, people, is this a list you want to be on? Need it. It is. Need it. And we got some names here that aren't in my book. Freddie Freeman, know him.

Yes. Yes. 14 for 40. Charlie's dead. Yeah. 14 for 42. That's 33. That's light work for Freddie.

Three doubles, two homers, six. Runs driven in one. That's not a great two weeks for Freddie. He's had better. He's had better. I think we put him on because he reached base in all six plate appearances for the first time in his career. It's a good day.

He had five walks in a single. He had 11 walks over that time period as well. Five of them, again, being in one game. Here's the guys that aren't necessarily in my book, although I'm a little bit familiar with this guy because I watched some highlights of him. Chicago White Sox starting pitcher, Jonathan Cannon. Yeah.

Three games. He started two of them. Interesting. He has a save. He also has 18 and two-thirds innings pitched in those three games. 14 hits. Only one earned run, though, in 15Ks to two walks. These appearances are the first three appearances for Canon

since being recalled for the minors on June 7 before he last pitched in the majors on April 27. The white socks are... What's going on? When are they going to start trading these pieces off? That's what I want to know, because I want some of them. I don't know if you're going to trade in division.

but whatever. And then reliever, Zach Kelly for the Red Sox. Like they need any more help. Six games, 1-0-0-7 and two-thirds innings pitch, no hits, only one earned run.

Three walks, 11Ks for the 0.39 whip. Congratulations, Zach Kelly on your nomination two in Fuego. Red Sox creator reliever, Zach Kelly. Circling back on Nimmo, and that's why I didn't get that 500 batting average. Brandon Nimmo having You look at the stats and you're like

This is below Brandon Nimmo 240, 355 a 766 OPS He's a lifetime 822 OPS guy He's getting hot so those numbers are coming Okay He's a career 130 OPS plus Yeah 125 OPS plus this year

Offense has been down around It's down, it's down Oh God All over the place, it's down I feel like that hasn't been talked about a lot we've mentioned it a few times on the broadcast yeah okay we get a lot of uh i mean if i'll give it to you right now um so i got hold i got the split up here no split so dodgers lead all the baseball with a 781 OPS um and then it kind of just drops off after that

orio 768 yankee 765 and drops even more off there it's it's it's down a top 10 team has a 725 OPS right now. Yeah, and that was like league average. So, yeah, something to track as the season goes on. Another thing to track is the worst part of our show, the IL. A couple big names. I mentioned Rizzo. He's supposedly out for like eight weeks or so.

Let's see what happens there. Justin Verlander and Walker Bueller, the old bull and the young calf. They both go down, Mike Talkman, the Palatine Pounder. And the big one on here, Boba Chet, who I know we've been daydreaming some different... Is it cabs? Caves. Different spots for him.

He doesn't have big caps. Oh, boy. His word's not mine, man. Some relievers on there. Who's back? Noah's an interesting one. I want to see the reaction this gets from BBD. Brandon Drury back for the Los Angeles Angels.

Okay. First base, second base, third base. Former and maybe future Yankee? It's interesting. It's interesting. He had a big year last year. Thai France. Chris Martin, a little bit of a cold play for Boston.

Garrett Cole. Speaking of, how about this? We got the old bull and the young calf going to the aisle, Verlander and Bueller. Garrett Cole and Bobby Miller are back. Those two guys meet in an alley. What happens? I think it's like the stepbrothers, they start fighting, and then there's like a kiss,

like just a respect for each other. Bobby Miller's sneaky hot boy. I need to get my hot boy list back. We really do. I need to do it. People are talking. Maybe we'll do it here. And people are also talking about our Dan Patrick partnership.

John Boy Media and IHart podcast have teamed up two of your favorite John Boy Media shows that Wake and Jake, me and BBD, talking sports. Some Foolish Bailey hopping on there. Jolly, usually two Trev EPS a year. You never invite me. We got to do our, we got to do our catch up. And Jimmy's three things have joined IHeart podcast and Dan Patrick's show family. He could still find him where you've been finding them. But basically, friends are friends or friends.

So go check out Dan Patrick and everything they're doing over there. And thank you guys for supporting us because that helped create this partnership. And it's been very beneficial so far. So thank you, Dan, per usual. Can we start the weekend? Where is she at? Where is she at? I haven't seen her yet.

Otherwise, I'd make a scene, but. Kelsey 8, she ordered, okay, this is a little Kelsey story. Okay. I called her the Jersey Shore. Sure. We were in Jersey and there was like the water. Yeah. But I don't think it was.

I'll tell you who does not like that. Jersey Shore, people. Well, whatever. It was a Jersey Shore, not the Jersey Shore. She saw the lobster, market price, obviously. And she's like, I'm going to go big, I'm going to get the lobster. I took care of dinner, don't worry. But she goes, do you know how to like open a lobster up?

I said, I think they'll probably do it for you. Yeah, lobster roll. But the girl who was our waitress, second day on the job. Tough, tough gig for her. You had a big group. She was great. It looked like a whole lobster on the menu. And she said, yeah, that's how it comes.

So then Kelsey spent the next 15 minutes, not talking to anybody on her phone, looking up YouTube videos on how to crack a lobster. And she psyched herself out. like I can't do this. It's a bad order. It came out. The whole thing was like cracked open for her. And she crushed an entire lobster.

We love that for her. Yeah, happy. My award. Is your award again? No gimmicks with my award today. I think the show stealer, the show stopper award. You mentioned the game at Rickwood

last night between the Giants and the Cardinals. And the pageantry was amazing. You know, obviously honor. Willie Mays was cool and well deserved and there were so many guys that knew him well there. Barry Bonds, I thought was really good on like all the stuff that he was on. The boys were bopping. Like, I'm not saying he's better than Arod and the rest of the folks, but he's better than

Arod and the best of folks. Like he, or in the rest of the folks, he was, he was awesome. It was awesome listening to him talk. Okay. You get that out of the way. Before the game, you know, they invited, I believe there's like 140,000. still living players from the Negro leagues. They invited all of them, I think 60 or 70,

ended up coming to the game. So they were there. I thought that was really cool. And then they had a first pitch. And this one caught my eye a little bit. Bill Greason. Yeah. 99 years old walks out there.

This is a guy who served in World War II in the Battle of Iwo Jima. Go read about that battle. Not fun at all. Pitch in the Negro League's for the Birmingham Black Barons. won a game in the World Series, game three. Then he pitched for the Cardinals. He was teammates with Willie Mays on that Black Barron's team when Willie was a young guy, 17.

So he was kind of Willie's mentor, had some really kind words to talk about Willie about his determination and how he treated people. And that's kind of Willie's forte. You know the catch. Everybody knows the catch. You know the statistics, 150 career war. You know the homers, everything. but people always talk about how great of a person

William Mays was and that's that's what makes a lasting impact anyways Bill Greason talking about that he also pitched for the cardinals then after was a pastor for 50 years so this guy's like a stud and I know like we always talk about Ted Williams went and served and he came back and won the MVP like there are more stories of that and I think that's what's cool about us integrating the Negro League stats is we're getting more and more of these stories

we're implementing more and more into the history of Major League Baseball which I think is cool. So we're getting guys like Bill Greased out there. By the way, 99 years old, doesn't look it. No. Like, need your skincare routine. Yeah. Like, need that.

Because I'm 38 now. I'm starting to think about my mortality all the time. And it's getting to me a little bit. So Bill, like, shout out. You looked awesome. The first pitch, pretty good. Like, he doesn't have the zip on the fastball anymore. Same.

But the arm action was pretty good. Yeah. So I just thought that was really cool. I thought the whole game was awesome. But I wanted to highlight Bill Greasing because, I mean, it's a name. I didn't know. Right.

But we're getting more and more of these stories. We're finding more and more out. They're becoming more and more a part of Major League Baseball history. So I wanted to give him a shout out. So the showstopper, Bill Greason Award. Yeah, it was, I mean, seeing, I think we've been tough on, because I think it's Fox that they just roll out kind of the biggest names. Like it's Big Hurd.

Like when they do their playoffs, stuff, it's Big Hurd, Jets now. Yes. And we've been kind of tough because we're like, hey, give us a little more analysis. Like instead of, I don't know, they're trying to do the knockoff TNT thing. And sometimes it's not funny enough to do that. But dude, when they had the full desk and Bonds was, you know, what would you do to Satchel page? What do you say? Gone.

Yeah, he said. Deep gone. Gone. He was just like, yeah. I mean, what? And then he back. You think he's got something for me? And then he's like, oh, you have to be confident.

He kind of like backtrack. But he's like, no, I would, I would absolutely. Like, have you seen what? I did. Yeah, throw that 88 up here. No, Satchapage through a little harder than that. And then,

you know, A-Rod always gets a weird laugh out of me. Same question was posed to Griffey. What do you say? He would have bunted. Hashtag, bunt sometimes. Not a,

not middle-aged, Griffey. That's what he said. I'm not, who am I to tell King Griffey what he wouldn't have been. He said it. It was cool seeing Griffey.

It was cool seeing all those guys. Great job, Tref. Thanks. I'll be taking a slightly different angle. You're going to goof it up? Not fully, but it's a topic that's been discussed, but I want to go into it just a little more. I'm going for the Love Yourself or Sorry Award.

All right. You know, I'll let your imagination run for a little bit, but those are two songs by Justin Bieber. Okay. They were the one in two songs of 2016. He had both of them. Love yourself. Is it too late now to say sorry?

Oh, love that song. You can go and love yourself. Love that song. Top two songs of 2016. Yeah. Don't sing because we'll get in trouble. Yeah. Know what else happened in 2016?

Oh, man. I had a tough year. It was the last time. A central team has been to the World Series. Oh, these. And it was two central teams. It was the guard dogs and the cubbies. And before that, 14 and 15, they were also represented.

But 2016. It's 2024 now. Yeah. We've got a couple central teams that have been balling. Okay. Milwaukee. Yes. They've been killing it.

And the team that kind of sparked this conversation for me was Cleveland. Because even you brought it up. Like, they're getting no respect. All season. Chris Rose isn't giving them respect. No, he's worried about the pitching. He's worried about it. He's right.

23rd and whip. 25th and walks per 9. Josh Naylor could have got a standout performance. Two homers. He just did, yeah. Watch what he's doing this year. Dude, they've had guys between Will Brennan and Tyler Freeman.

They've been getting contributions. Yes. That this year is kind of the last straw, Trev. Okay. one of the central teams needs to go dancing like Jimmy's been tough on the central I've been tough on the central

it's kind of go time man tough on the central it's kind of go time I got to see something because also your twins and the Royals that wildcard conversation both teams against teams over 500 have been bunt

so what are you teams there's been a lot to talk about like realignment and adding more teams. So here's where I'm at. Okay. I'm in on the Central this year. One more year. You got me.

I'm in. If one of the wildcard teams figure it out, I'm in on the two division leaders, I'm in. I'm either going to love myself or I'm going to be sorry. But I need to see something from them this year, man. Otherwise, what are we doing? The payrolls aren't close.

And 14 against teams over 500. So what do you want me to say here? Because Cleveland, I just need it, bro. Cleveland is 17 and 9 against teams over 500. Just, I'm going to spend a lot of time this year talking about the NL Central. I like the Reds. I like the Pirates. Cubs trade some of those top prospects.

You're not going to talk about the NL Central. Dude, the NL Central is the whole NL Wild Card race. The Cardinals are in the dance right now. The whole NL is the NL Wild card race. The A.L. teams currently in the playoffs from the Yale Central. There's a lot of central talk this year. Okay.

So you want a Central team to win the World Series? I need a central team to go to the dance. Okay. Who do you want? It's been nine years. Yankees versus who. Who do you want? Brewers.

Brewers. You don't want that. No, I'd be fine with that. Okay. Look, I agree. I don't know where, I don't know, you know, great award. Thank you. There was a lot of artistry that went into that.

I like where you went with it. I agree that. you know, a lot of times, as of late, we've been talking about the Central Division as a weaker division. This is the year for me. Okay. They got to show me something. We're at like a crux in the road in Major League Baseball,

where I think we went so far down the analytical train, and homers are good. Slug is good. Still is. They're still good. Still is. But there's other ways to play ball. We're seeing some of these teams take advantage. You know it's always a zig and a.

Zag in Major League Baseball. It's just how it goes. I would love to see a team built a slug go up against a team that can run and play defense. I would love that. Philly's Diamondbacks. Yeah. Yes.

Saw a little bit. Yes. Let's see a little more. Trevor Plouffe, BBD. Thank you to everyone. Enjoy your weekend. Big weekend of ball. Always is. And it's like a baseball summer.

NBA's done Jigsucks NHL's still kind of gone Your Oilers are fighting I think tonight right Big game tonight Oh wow we got a lot of hockey people here Pavla told him about it

It feels like they'll be watching He said there's some girl that flashed her boobs And they're oh yeah We'll catch you up It's a whole deal You guys got to catch me up with it's a whole deal Shout out Edmonton The world is Edmonton

Thank you.