Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Wild Walk-off Weekend Showing Which Teams Are Real!

Episode Date: June 1, 2026

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Sign up and get 10% off at https://betterhelp.com/TALKINBASEBALL Whether you’re just wanting to test an idea out, or you’re getting serious about launching your own brand, it’s never been easier to get started on https://shopify.com/talkin Start your free online visit today at https://Hims.com/talkin for your personalized ED treatment options. Book your next trip at https://www.bestwestern.com https://fanaticsmarkets.onelink.me/3MFw?af_xp=email&pid=jomboy&af_dp=fanmarkets%3A%2F%2Fhomepage&af_channel=partnerships&af_click_lookback=7d   Coach Trev and Talkin’ Jake recap the HOT walk-off weekend including the White Sox and Tigers surging in opposite directions, the Dodgers fending off the Philles, Rivalry between Cubs and Cardinals and more!   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. It's June, people. Does the American League finally have another good team? And the NL Central. Trev's back home. Let's talk ball for once. Pope Leo, where are you? Jose Contreras. Hello and welcome to talking baseball, presented by Fanatics Markets, where fans trade on sports. Fanatics Market's available now in the app stores. I'm Jake Storelli. That is Trevor Plouf. Rob Chiracco producing,

Dalton Feeley putting a sheet together. Sorry, this whole damn thing with my buddy John boy. And now look at us, Pope Leo, tuning in, listening to his white socks. How are you, Trev? I'm doing great. Pope Leo, listening to the pot. Him and I both White Sox fans after I watched them play.

I'm doing great, man. So good to be back from the road. Like, I love being able to broadcast and being around the guys and really seeing the games up close and personal. But my goodness, it takes a toll, man. I need to see my family. 10 days on the roads a lot.

Yeah. And also, I mean, you're talking about something else, but how that Pittsburgh twin series went down. Oh, tough one. Yeah, we'll get into it. You know what? I hope not. I think it'll be more pirates talk.

It's pirate talk, yeah. Yarr. What else? you got Big Daddy. You're back home. It's a bird is a mascot. I ask that. It's a parrot. Right. Pirates have parrots. You should just be a pirate. Yeah, that's fair.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What else is going on? I don't know. Nothing, man. Parrots a little more friendly. I'm up to 40. It's my birthday month. So if you want to wait on birthday, go ahead. I'm excited. Middle, middle. We'll get there. As a lot of teams are getting there, there will be some month stuff. I did a lot of my numbers because it is June 1st as we do this. And it's funny to look back at some things.

Like, you know, the New York Mets had a winning month. If you wanted to do a funny business tweet, the Mets have technically had two winning months. Because March, I think they went three and two, or two and one or something like that. And then, yeah, man, I, dude, I don't know what we're going to do. I was talking to our friend Peter Moyland over the weekend because I was watching some Braves baseball because they got into the Reds bullpen

and, oh, my God. And we were just talking some AL-N-L, and we were talking different theories. He's like, is the AL-week because the N-L teams are kind of playing like traditional N-L ball to a degree, like just better at getting runners over and stuff like that? I was like, it's a theory. I'm going to keep my eye open for it. I think the bigger thing is that the tigers and royals are ass hats. I pardon my French, but it's disgusting what they've done the past month.

I mean, you're just, you're taking me off. I'm sorry. The beat or the road here. We're on the beaten path, if you will. I mean, when the game tries to bring back small ball with some rule changes, you should probably get with it and play some small ball people. We've been saying that. The good teams can do that.

Let's talk some baseball. It's Monday. So we'll do some American League. And we'll start out out west with your AL West Division leaders, the Seattle Mariners who sweep Dalton's D-backs. Two of those games took extra

innings to get it done, and the Mariners got it done both time. Randy walks him off in that first one. Well, Treves, J.P. Crawford. It's always been a J.P. Crawford show, but it's his first time hitting two home runs in a game. Brian, woo-woo. Back just throwing that sinker because nobody hits that.

And did you know Julio had a big boy month and that's a big reason the Seattle Mariners are back. The Miller Castillo piggyback is working out. Times are good, not so much for Dalton's debacks. Speaking of sweeps, the Chicago White Sox, man, talk about a torture chamber. They put the Tigers through it. They sweep all three games, including Miguel Vargas's walkoff in that first game. Edgar Carrow, where's he in your top 30 MLB catchers?

And then that 1-0 lead was never going to hold in the last one. Tristan Peters sticks it out, puts it through. What are we talking about? White Sox sweep, boy, are they fun. The Texas Rangers, could they join the party of this season? They gave themselves a chance with a sweep over the Kansas City Royals. What was really good, their starting pitching not giving up runs. It's why they can be so tantalizing, Gore, Rocker, and Lighter.

Gertr done, 18 innings pitch, zero earn runs, a little Zeke Duran with the stick, a little jock. Josh Young, batting title? We'll talk about it. The Milwaukee Brewers take two out of three from the Astros, and unfortunately, that's kind of obvious. They do need extra innings in that first game. Ah, Trev, come on now. Christian Walker, having a very nice bounce band. season as they knock around the sprope goat in game two.

But unfortunately, no one is knocking it around against Jacob Misarowski. Seven shut, finishes May with a 023 ERA as they win the series and shut out Houston. This series was for the birds, the Blue Jays and the Orioles. And man, if you like some chaos, this series had it. I mean, A, from fans throwing stuff on the field, which will talk to. about that a little bit. But those middle two games, the Orioles are up five-nothing in the Blue Jays, come back in the final couple innings to win six to five in dramatic fashion. But then game three, the Baltimore birds are down and they come back in dramatic fashion with a crazy ninth inning.

I think the win percentage was below 1%. They end up splitting a four-game set. Kyle being Bradish in that final game. The Red Sox take two out of three from the guard dogs, okay? Does it matter? Probably not. Guardians win that first game. Connor Wong thought he hit his first homer in two years, gets rolled back top of the wall.

Sharon Durant, after having a horrid April, has a very nice May for the Boston Red Sox, including a lead-off homer in that last game to help them win the series over Cleveland. The Tampa Bay Rays take two out of three from the Halos, and that's a little bit obvious. They win the bread games, you know, despite Vaughn Grissom's best powers. Yandi Diaz, yeah.

Is he the most underrated player in the game? Is it his teammate Jonathan Oranda, who continues to rake up there in RBIs, up there in batting average, up there in everything offensively? Wade Meckler Grand Slam? Absolutely. This series went viral for Jose series, robbing a homer and saving the buffet spread right behind it. So that's where we're at.

And the final American League series, my Yanks, they went out to beautiful Sacramento, a beer on the berm. And a historic inning, 13 runs in one inning, was crazy to watch in that final game as the Yankees end up taking the set. Carlos Rodan, a nice bounce back start. Yanks take two out of three. That's what happened in the beautiful American League. The Paul Canerco of recaps.

Thank you. You know I love Paul Canerco. Here's your 30 homers and 100 RBI. What else do you want? What was this total 439? Career homer. I think you're around it. Yeah, I nailed it.

Exactly. I got the standings pop. You want him? We looked at his baseball reference right before recording. Yeah. $129 million in career earning for a polyp. Paul, he's enjoying retirement. He's probably fishing and hunting.

You invest that money properly. And that turns into what? You're doing all right. Paul's okay. Let me do the standings here, Jacob. I'm going to start out West because we are going to talk about the Mariners. Two games over 500, they are who we thought they were, right? I think so.

I think we're getting to that spot. There are some interesting convos to be had. 31 and 29 for them, two and a half game lead over. the athletics who are 28 and 31 Texas same record 28 and 31 then Houston who you little shot across the bow there they've been playing better as of late 27 and 34 yes they need to there's some work to be done and then the angels 23 and 37

in the central my division Cleveland still leaves that division 34 and 27 only one game above Pope Leo Chicago White Sox 32 and 27 for them I got plenty of takes for there. Gosh, I like that team. Minnesota 27 and 33, Kansas City, 22 and 37, and Detroit, 22 and 38. What did you call them ass hats? Yeah, I don't know what that was. I wish I could take that back, but I won't.

I think you just did. In the east, Tampa Bay. They got buffets right behind that small little left field wall. The shortest, I think left. field home run you can hit is technically there. Hot take, mostly hate buffets. 36 and 20 for them.

The Yankees, one and a half game is back. 36 and 23. Toronto, 29 and 31. Drake's got number one albums, though, so that's good. Baltimore, 28 and 32, and Boston, bringing up the rear in that division, 25 and 33.

Trevor, well done. If the playoffs started today, the last American League playoff team would be. Oh, I like this. The Toronto Blue Jays. Toronto Blue Jays at 29 and 31. So again, it's not the most impressive American League up until this point. But my goodness, man, if you're an Orioles fan,

you're still a big part of this season. Blue Jays fans, it felt like things have gone wrong for them, and they are still very much in the mix. those Texas Rangers that are always tantalizing. A lot of hope in the AL still. A lot of hope. Yeah, for being so dire, there is still hope, which I love. That sounds like a good story that I'd like to read and watch on screen.

Oh, okay. You know what I... So I have a very bad habit of when I'm on... I should have said this last week. When I'm on airplanes, I will watch a person's TV that is in my sight line. Oh, gosh, bro. Horrible. Horrible habit.

it. And I'll watch the whole thing. And doesn't the person look at you like stop? No. I'm talking the row in front of me. Like if there's a gap. That's that's criminal behavior. I watched Wuthering Heights on my flight back from California on the TV in front of me. A couple scenes in that, Trev, that I don't know.

I don't know if you know what goes on in that movie, but whoa. I have no idea what movie that is. That, um, Jacob Allorty, Margo Robbie, that got, uh, I know who they are.

Yeah. Um, we'll go back to baseball before bringing it back to Pope Leo in a little bit. Can I, uh, one, one last airplane thing before we get into the baseball. I actually have a video of it.

I was so impressed. So you're creeping out watching, uh, the people in front of you. A little, it's a little creepy. It's a little. Um,

I was sitting and there was a couple. kitty corner for me. So one row in front to the left and they had executed perfectly the dual screen watch. Nice. It was flawless. Scenes were matching up perfectly.

And I was like, do you know what, you guys? They even paused it to get to use the restroom. Like, you guys are like, whoa. I don't know they practiced a lot or something, but they were great. Because the more you press those buttons, the more you get out of sync, good for them. Yeah.

Because when the screens are off, that's just, it's brutal. It was perfect. Good for them. Today's episode is sponsored by Hymns. If something's been off in the bedroom, you're not the only one. ED is more common than most guys think, and the difference now is that getting treatment is easier than ever. Hymns connects you with licensed health care providers online,

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Prescription required. See website for details and poor and safety information. Sildeneville is a generic version of Viagra. Viagra is a registered trademark of Vietris Specialty LLC, a Vietris Company. Hems Inc. is not affiliated and endorsed by Vietris Specialty LLC. Speaking of perfect, for the last six nights of Seattle Mariner Baseball, they have been perfect. They sweep the Arizona Diamondbacks. And yeah, this series has me not in a blender completely because Seattle, Homer's 10 times in this series, where Arizona homered one time, which if I'm a Diamondbacks fan, I'm also sitting there like,

damn, how did we, we took two of these games to extra innings, like these could have pivoted a little either. easier. The Seattle Mariners, who coming into the season felt like the AOS favorites, who even as they got off to a clunky start, it was like it's still there and it's going to happen. It feels like it's full-blown happening. It feels like this is going to continue because it's the formula that makes them so tantalizing. The starting pitching is pretty amazing, including a bonus guy as Luis Castillo comes out of the bullpen in this final game. And Julio, man, puts up a monster month. Yeah, this is a fun one. The piggyback thing is still so interesting to me. I pose the question, why not just go to a six-man rotation? But I guess they don't want to do that. They want to keep guys on their regular rest, whatever it is.

In that first game, now, there's Luis Castillo. Hot. The first game, look, the dimebacks been playing good ball as well as of late. Yes. This kind of ran into a buzz saw here. First game in that top of the ninth, they do load the bases. the young guys who have been responsible for a lot of the good baseball

in Walsh, Schmidt, Fernandez, and Troy, you know, they just don't come through in a big spot. And that does kind of sum up the game for them. They do tie the game. And then if you can show Randy and Rosarena's walkoff hit where that pitch was, this is like Vlad Guerrero senior type stuff. That thing was in the left hand and batters box. And he goes and somehow drives it in the gap. And that's like not even a flare. Like he drives it in the gap. very impressive by him right there. But Mariners are clicking right now, man. They are.

And again, all this without Cal Raleigh. So you count that offense back when he comes and he's healthy again. But yes, it is. It's the same kind of formula that we've come to know and love from the Mariners. Great starting pitching, a bullpen that can get it done. And then we have the offense who's kind of clicking. You mentioned Julio's May has been great. Cole Young, a nice play at second base.

I told Robbie to have it ready for me. Do you got it? guy with a double play kind of volleyball, bobble, I'll call it. Tip drill. Tip drill. A couple trivia questions while Rob gets that up. Who leads to Seattle Mariners and home runs?

Ooh. Luke Rayley. Luke Rayley with 13 of them is one ahead of Julio. And who leads to Seattle Mariners in Bewar? Who? I don't know. They got Dalt Puzzled. thinking about it.

Brian Wu? Randy Roserana. I know I know you'd focus on that at bet, but Randy's got 290, 3.73 with 15 swipes. Like, you know, I know we have this weird version of Randy Roseraine in our head because a Cuban ball player was considered the best ball player to ever play for a little bit because he just came up in the postseason and was special. And then, dude, they traded for him and not to be, not to send any shrapnel at the raise right now, but Brody Hopkins and Aidan Smith for Randy a Roserana

and a few years of Randy a Roserana that like that was a really nice snack for them a couple years ago that I don't know, it just felt like a normal deadline move and hey, maybe those prospects, Brody Hopkins looks like he's in AAA. Not sure what's going on with Aidan Smith, but what a great grab for Seattle. The race have, we have that thought in our head, like don't trade with the raise.

it hasn't been that way as of wait. Correct. Here's your Cole Young play. Who's second on the team in B-Wore? That guy. 22-year-old second baseman Cole Young with a two already. It's not bad. His offense took a little bit of a hit.

Well, yeah, everything you said, like let's get Donovan back. Let's get Cal Raleigh back. If we need to sort anything else out with the pitching. Col Emerson, Cole Hemerson playing really well, who's, again, the young youth movement of infielders that we talked about earlier this season,

he gets called up a little later, but he should be mentioned with those guys. He's as big, if not bigger, a prospect than a few of them. What a quote here by Brian Wu, who dominated against the dimebacks, who came into the game, hitting an MLB Best 288 against fastballs. Well, he threw 59 of 188,

56 pitches, fastballs, go seven scoreless, 9Ks, only two hits. He goes, honestly, I had no idea to hit fastball as well. All right. Some guys, Jake, stick to their strengths, don't care about your weakness. I guess Brian Wu is one of those guys. It's a really fun, because there's the sports convo where you just started it of like, there's guys that are like, this is what I do. So I'm going to do it and you adjust.

There's also pitcher, I mean, it became the famous Taj V. Bradley quote of like Josh Bradley said he never looked at a scouting report until he got to Minnesota. And then there's also sometimes baseball player funny business that we've, there's been a couple baseball players that have like come to the office and Jimmy's hit him with like, did you know this stat? Did you know this stat? And they're like, oh no, I haven't heard of that. And then like the camera turns off and they're like, yeah, I do. I know that stat. I'm just kind of playing a game. So I don't know. I don't know if that's Brian Wu funny business or, or he just has one of the best sinkers in the game. So he's gone throw that no matter what happens. I think that's what it is. I think

that's what that is. And he does seem like Brian Wu likes Brian Wu in a good way. Whoa. In a good way. You need to have that. Yeah. He should. He should love Brian Wu. I mean, you post those stupid basketball videos. I mean, what are you talking about? I'm a bucket. You are. You are. I actually am impressed every time you post, I'm a really, I'm a matchup nightmare because where my body it's the other person's body is kind of shocking. Anyways, D-backs will let you go for now

because you're right, they were playing a good brand of baseball still in the NL playoffs if they started tomorrow. Absolutely, yeah. We'll circle back because Trev, I want to talk about, and I don't know if they're your team, I don't know if they're my team, they're definitely the Pope's team. these Chicago White Sox are as delightful as baseball gets right now.

The stadium is electric. These young guys just rooting for each other. And it's just the purest form. And it's something you can't quantify. I think later on this episode you're talking about guys that come up through the minor leagues together and stuff like that. Like these White Sox guys, when you have a bunch of young guys fighting for playing time and stuff like that, it could be one of two directions. Why is that guy playing over me or I should be out there?

Dude, it feels like there's none of that. They're playing winning baseball. They're rooting for each other. I sent you guys a clip from their like White Sox gala the other night. And they're just ripping on Sam Antonacci's fashion. And it's just, it's beautiful. It's what baseball should be. And they've got the sauce right now after sweeping the tigers.

So is it over? Oh, man. I'll tell you what the sauce is because they ain't secret. It's pitching. Like this team has found their starting pitchers. And I got to be honest with you, I didn't really have them in that category. Then I got to see him play. And, you know, look, Davis Martin, great, right?

He's been great all year this year, made some adjustments, love that. Anthony Kay, a guy who started off the year really poorly all of a sudden moves. He does the Kyle Harrison, moves to the first base rubber or first base side of the rubber. All of a sudden, he's dominant in May. And you know what? I believe in it because he's, got the command to pitch how he wants to pitch, which essentially is get right handers to chase off the plate inside with a slider.

A tremendous job in this series as well, but I'm telling you, it's this guy Sandlin, David Sandlin, who's going to be the difference maker with this team. Again, I think they're going to have to go and find some back into the bullpen help. They have some guys there that are getting the job done. But I think to take that next leap, that's what I would do if I would. this team but the offense kind of has has their players the infield is set they're kind of running out that that group and then yeah they're platooning those outfield guys and i think that's kind of what you're saying is those guys are kind of starting depending on the pitching matchup and then

late in games they're coming in and out and yes they found a recipe there there's there's a nice bottom half of that order that can move guys over i mean if it's first and third they are bunting If it's first and second, they're bunting. They are going to run. Like this team, I always say, like, you have to have different ways on offense to win games. They obviously have the home run power of Murakami, Kosa Montgomery, Miguel Vargas. I know I know Murakami's out now, but he'll be okay. But that bottom half, they also can get the job done.

They put pressure on the defenses. And they are a complete team. I said it last week with Chris Rose. I think they're going to win the ALE Central. So I've been on the train now. I saw them play and they were very impressive and not just because of what they did to my twins. Just in general, like the starters to me, I'm like, this is legit. They are arguably top 10 rotation, 11th and ERA, 10th and whip.

They're not allowing a lot of hits, not allowing a lot of home runs. That's a formula. They're also seventh and run scored. Six in OPS. You mentioned Murakami gets hurt, which four to six weeks hamstring. So let's see what that feels like. You were stealing bags. Why stop stealing bags?

Yeah, hustling down to first. I love it. It'll be interesting to see how they feel that because obviously he's been such a massive presence. But again, they've got a little lefty, righty, platoon action lineup that they can deploy on you, that we've seen teams with this kind of energy that can work for you. And yeah, whether it's our guy, Nishita, getting the bunt down, whether it's, you know, we don't mention middle relievers a lot. Grant Taylor comes in and helps save a game for.

them that yeah man they there's something going on on the south side i think they're 16 and three in their last 19 home games and you can feel the energy in the crowd and whatever if you believe in energy which i think you should the tigers have the exact opposite of it because it's one of the worst months we've seen any team put together is a six and 22 may and this is this isn't just a team this is a team that was supposed to be one of the favorites and the American League and Treb. I think I'm done. Oh. I think they're you're declaring dead. I think it's over. I think it's over. Riley Green has had such a nice start to the season. McGonagall has a three to be war as a 21 year old. I think if you told Tigers fans that before

the season, hey, this guy's going to be a stunt like a real deal ball player. And Riley Green is going to continue to be who he is. I think like, all right, here we go. Um, pitching hasn't worked out, except for my guy Cater, who I've been on. It's had a pretty nice start to the year. But yeah, I don't know if I'm ready to declare him dead just because of how weak the AL is, but they obviously are on the struggle bus. Yeah, and maybe there's a scuba boost at some point. But right now, if you're looking for baseball content, it's where are they going to trade

scoble? Because the Detroit Tigers have the worst record in the American League. 22 and 38, Trev. they've blown a major league high 12 leads in the sixth inning or later and they also finished May scoring 81 runs with a 597 OPS. Ow! Did your twins ever do a 22 and 38? I don't know.

I mean, over a span maybe. I guess to start a season, I was... I feel like probably, yeah, dude. Worst record in the A.L. I don't know. It's getting dark where, again, the White Sox, even like Ben and Tendee scoring on that bun with some aggressive base running. It's the vibes are good.

Anthony Kay, great May. Speaking of bad vibes again, we could start to be a little tighter. Even though, you know, I try to highlight my Texas Rangers where I can. The Royals, sadly, have been a lot of copy and paste to the Detroit Tigers this year, which we expected on the top part of the AL Central, but it's been the bottom part of the AL Central. And yeah, it's just, it's where I almost want to kick off because, yes, McKenzie Gore shuts them down. Kumar Rocker, who we don't even mention when we talk about the Rangers, studs in the rotation, really.

And then lighter with another one, 18-inning shutpiece. Again, how much of that is this Royals offense, which has been atrocious, struggling on the road. And in general, as we have it listed on our sheet. that yeah my biggest takeaway Josh Young leading the American League and batting average didn't have that in my bag

coming into the episode and Zeke Duran becoming a contributing I mean such a special player when he's playing like this on offense because he can play so many positions he has speed that he's been tremendous this year

he has an OPS in the 8s or is that 796 something like that so getting there I like that that for them. Yeah, McKenzie Gore doing really well over his last four starts, a 169. You got to love that. You mentioned the starting pitching, getting it done. And the offense has come

and kind of been, I guess, better overall and longer, more guys contributing to the offense, which is what you need. I wanted to give a shout to another guy, because I'm kind of doing this today. Peyton Gray, 30-old rookie, first MLB win. You know, the Rangers put up a three-run ninth, that was the first time getting a run, went at 30. So I love that. We do love that. I guess any Kansas City thoughts before anything, anything?

Crazy, man. Crazy. I kind of got roped in. I got roped into both centrals before the season. I feel really good about one of them. I feel really bad about the other. Jeff Passon roped you in on the Royals, just like Jolly wrote me in on the Mets.

Oh. I like us pointing the finger. Nice. Good for us. Not us. This episode is sponsored by Shopify. As our slash line catalog has grown, we have so many items, and it's kept expanding with our license MLB gear. Shopify's tools have kept pace.

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today. So free trial at Shopify.com slash talking. Shopify.com slash talking. Trev, you mentioned you had some halt when the Houston Astros got brought up, and I said the Brewers should beat them two out of three. And you're right. The Astros tone has changed a little bit or enough in this American League. For me, it was more so, okay, if you're facing the Brewers on a rubber match day and Mizorowski's on the mound, I can't help you because I think he gave up his first extra base hit. I think it was to our guy, Issoc Paredes, and over a month, something like that, since April 19th.

April 19th. It's June 1st. Yeah, he's been absolutely phenomenal. But yeah, the Ashtals have been playing better. The starting pitching has actually gave him a chance. You know what? We know what the offense can do. Cam Smith has really sparked that as of late 2. And Christian Walker, how many homers does he have? He's got like 16 or 17 already on the year?

You can't do that. Don't do that. I didn't do that. 16. So look, if my two quality starts back to back, again, I think he has the stuff. It's more about, I don't know, just like maybe he needs to read the scouting reports. Again, the command has to be better. If he can come up, Lambert's been good for them. We're getting Hunter Brown back soon.

Like if the starting rotation can kind of solidify itself, we know what this offense can do. Like, I'm not, I'm not ready to write the Astros off yet. Okay. And look, I mean, it took the Brewers in extra innings in a couple of nice base ring plays by Yelich to win that first game. We could be talking about an Astros team that takes a series against the Brewers, and I think the tone would be a little bit different. The Brewers just a good baseball team. Yes, and Mizorowski.

And Mizorowski is, that's another great take of mine. Okay. I had last year. I said, we're going to be mentioning Jacob Mizorowski in the same breath as Paul Skeens. And then he had like a bad end of the year. Yeah. And it looked really bad. But like, you can't deny the stuff.

and he's in the Brewer's organization. Yeah, that's the biggest. I think that's when you compare Brewer's teams year over year. You know, it's like, oh, Freddie Peralta was considered a one. Like Brandon Woodruff had his moments where he was considered one. They've never had like the Cy Young type guy. Oh, I mean, Corbyn Burns when he did win the Cy Young. When he did win it.

I guess that would be a good counter to that. I don't know. Mizorowski just feels completely different right now. Abner Uribe. Got the save. Got the save. Jake Bowers, some snaps for him, man.

He just slaps it around the ballpark. My had a really good reaction. Bowers pokes one to left field in the Crawford boxes, and it's just like, wait, that's, what are we doing here? wrapping up in the American League. Four games split between the Blue Jays and the Orioles. I guess part of what has me still excited about the American League,

if you're someone that still judges the A.L. And the NL. Like it's 1997. Blue Jays, Orioles, Astros. I think one of them is going to have like a summer. I don't really know who it is. The Orioles have had some offensive things trend up, along with their pitching,

that have them positioned well. it's the same conversation about the injuries, the Astros, it was the pitching. These teams both displayed why they can be exciting and frustrating, especially in the middle two games, man. Blue Jay's down five-nothing, giving up a bunch of taters, and they come back to win that game, six, five. And then, Dahl had the percentages on the sheet here. And that third game, which I know some, how are we getting these percentages? But Bessio strikes out. It's a 0.7% chance of winning that game down five to one. hit by pitch, triple,

Holiday, Kouser, Ward, Henderson, Rushman, Alonzo, which gives you flashbacks because you hear all those names and you're like, yeah, those guys, those guys can put a rally together

that I don't know. One of these teams is going to have a summer. Don't make me pick which one. 11 times, Orioles walk 11 times in that game three. That's going to help you too. Yeah, but the offense has been coming around for them. Coulin Couser's been so good,

so clutch for them as of late. and then Pete Alonzo 0 for 8 with the base is loaded coming into that at bat there in game 3 and it actually grounded into a double play earlier in the game and then instead comes through so that was good for them I agree I like that we're getting these teams kind of back in the mix

there's only a matter of time you mean you're not going to I think the talent level specifically on the Blue Jays I think is too much to be struggling Jeff Hoffman there's probably going a conversation about him and kind of how he's going to be used going forward you're welcome for Louis Varland. My goodness.

Yeah, I'm glad. I'm glad. You know, we go through the comments and with where the internet's at some days, you have to take a lot of them with a grain of salt. But someone was like, Louis Varland barely mentioned. You're right. Louis Varland deserves to be mentioned. One of the best relievers in the AL. Where'd they get him? Yeah, we got Kenji Ross. He's on the I.I. I do like him. He looks just like, he's Cuban, by the way. So obviously, I love that. Just stop. Just stop right now. I'll stop.

Adley, having a nice year. Peters turned it around since his slow start. San Bessio, who gets banged up in this series, but it feels like it's starting to happen for him. Jackson Holiday back. I don't know. The ALE East is going to start playing each other. Like, I think the Blue Jays, or excuse me,

the Orioles have the Red Sox and then the Blue Jays again. Yankees are starting to mix it up. So I'm interested to see how the ALEs starts to sort out. a little bit. Speaking of, the Red Sox, they win a nice series over the Guardians. Can we, will the tenor of their season be able to change it all? I have no idea why Brian Bayo

is pitching first innings anymore. I thought we got past that, but they take down Chris Rose's guards, which we, of series you anticipate going into the weekend, we would not have had that one. I still want to buy stock in the Red Sox.

I feel like they haven't been a fully healthy team all year long. They've been playing like the losses as of late have just been like so sloppy that I feel like they could probably play better defense. I do think the bottom of their lineup needs to to be better. Like that's the one thing and they were in the series. Caleb Durbin going a little bit.

So that helps. If you don't have four automatic outs to the bottom of your lineup, that's going to help you win ball games. And they didn't have that, um, the series. And then, you know, Jaron Duran going off. Like there's there's a lot of talent on this team still. They've just played so poorly. Like the fundamentals of baseball,

they just haven't been, uh, doing well. And I hope that turns around for them. You know, there's, it's an interesting vibe though. Like I don't,

I don't, I don't. There is a difference between Alex Cora's Red Sox and, um, why I blank on his name right now? Uh, the, the GM or Chad Tracy?

Chad Tracy. Okay. There is a little different vibe there. if we're being honest, Wilson Contreras is trying to bring that vibe all by himself, by the way. He just is a mess. Great ball player. I hope they get back in the mix.

I mean, they've dug themselves quite a hole. But again, I think there's better baseball ahead for the Red Sox. I don't know if you saw this, but there's talks that Craig Breslow might need a translator to talk to the team and the rest of the org better. Yeah.

I didn't see that. What? Craig Breslo's English speaker. Yeah, they're just saying with where his reputations got and his communication style that he might need more buffer between him and the rest of the org. Oh, golly, I mean, don't love that.

Hey, this pitching staff can be freaking legit, dude. It's where it's frustrating, man, dude. I watch Tolly, and I'm like, put that guy on any team through any era, and I'd love to watch it. finally early put together a couple. The bullpen's grading out well. It's why before the season they were one of the favorites that, yeah. Garrow Crochet is like not even there yet, people.

Like he's going to come back into this rotation and Sunny Gray's pitch so well. Like you're going to have some absolute earmuffs. One, two, three, fucking dogs on the mound. Let it that out. That's why I still have my stock. But again, I mean, what's their record right now there? I just read it 25 and 33. It's rough, but it's not like...

That's pretty rough, but... Fracier things have happened. The AL in 2026, everyone's in, baby. Participation trophies. Like I said, the AL East is about to start slapping it around. Red Sox. Baltimore, Yankees, Tampa. Like, let's go.

If you want to go, go. Angels... Quick, quick, quick. Angels raise. I have some raise later. They win two out of three. Again, not surprised. and my Yankees, they kind of do the same.

They, one pitching decision, Boone keeps Ryan Weathers in at 100 plus pitches. He gives up a home and a Kurtz. That kind of ends the second game. Otherwise, the Yankees' offense showed why they can be impressive. But yeah, these two series, a little icky. Here's my take on, like, a big 13-run inning. Boring.

I agree until it got historic. So, like, when it was at 8- When it was at seven runs to 10 runs, it was like, oh, my God, like, this is, like, let's get out of here. When it started, I think 13 runs is the, it's like the second most runs the Yankees have ever scored in an inning. And I was like, Jesus, that's like the number one team was from 1920 or something that you're like, okay. Like, this doesn't, I, I've watched a lot of Yankees baseball in my life. I've never seen them score that many runs in an inning.

Yankees are very scary. Offensively, what their pitching staff already looks like and what it can look like as soon as Max Freed gets back. I had something else to say. Oh, yeah, Jacob Lopez. Love you? I think we got to move you to the first base side of the rubber. All the way over. That's what we're doing nowadays. Add that to our team's binder. Yeah. I like that. Oswald Paraza. Read Detmers. Okay, Ray's, I'm going to get you on the way out. Let's do some. NLCS preview could be every year when it's the Phillies and the Dodgers. And we got some playoffish baseball. Wheeler Robleski, Robleski with a no-hitter into the top of the six. Schwabes breaks that up. But the Dodgers hit four solo dongs. Enough fortitude to win fortitude. Edmundo Sosa, late-night Sosa helps flip the script for the Phillies as

they take the middle game, but then the Dodgers, oh, young Andrew Painter, he did his work against the guys you kind of thought, but then Ryan Ward, Freeland, clip him up, that it turns into a route as the Dodgers win the series and take that final game, 9-1 final. Cardinals Cubs getting hot in the Midwest, and these two teams very near each other in the standings. And again, ships kind of passing in the night. The Cardinals keep their winning ways going. They win the rubber match. Five to one final. A liberatory!

Hands it off to Hunter Dobbins. PCA and the crowd getting into it. He's towing the line, but you can tow the line when you get four hits and just an insane game-ending catch. But Cardinals win the set.

The Padres and the Nationals, I told people this was going to be electric. And it kind of was because The Nationals had a lead early. San Diego takes it back and their bullpen shuts it down in that first one. But in the second one, the Nats start running away with it. That offense is just relentless and it remained relentless as they win the series against the Padres. James Wood, that man does not stop and neither does the Nationals offense as they win the set.

The Jolly Rogers raised the cone. they've got a lot of stuff going on in Pittsburgh. And you can when you sweep Trev's twins. Dramatic fashion, Brian Reynolds with the walkoff in that first game. A 10 to 9 back and forth a fair. Are your vocal cords okay from this one, Treb? A 10-9 final, and then Pirates roll them in the last one. They get the sweep.

Speaking of sweeps, the New York Mets. Did you know they had a nice month of May as they sweep the fifth. with arms formerly the fish with arms including an impressive fashion on that final game. Soto with the Grand Salami. The Mets. Okay. And then the San Francisco Giants and the Rockies, not going to talk a lot about it, this one. Rockies take two out of three.

A dramatic comeback in that first game. Zeke Tovar, Hunter Goodman, that Josh Donaldson looking M-Fer. Rockies win game two. The Giants, 19 runs in the final game. Okay. And then our final set in the National League, it's your Best Western Road Warriors brought to you by Best Western. The Atlanta Braves, head to beautiful Cincinnati. God, Ronald O'Cunia did. Homered in his third straight game, make it four in the final. But that was the only game they didn't win.

Lidolo and J.J. Bladay, who had a very impressive month of May, and that kind of rhymes. But this is about the Braves, who they won the first game, destroying that Reds bullpen. Jorge Mateo, Michael Harris, and Brady Singer, rough go, rough month for him. Hasn't been rough for the Atlanta Braves. Your first team to 40 wins. And an amazing road record. That makes them your best Western Road Warriors. Life's a trip.

Make the most of it with Best Western. That's what happened in the NL. Oh, man, a Wilson Ramos, Cleveland Guardian siding on my baseball reference page. What? The Bull. I didn't play for the Guardians? What the heck was that?

It's a beast, man. 20-21. Thick. Yeah, he was scary. All time. I'm actually kind of scared of Wilson Ramos. Okay. I have the standing spot.

We'll start out east, those Braves, a clean, beautiful number 40 and 20. one T for them and I know you're going to talk a little bit more about Acuna but watch the F out. The Nats! We knew it. We knew they were going to be fun to watch. We didn't know they were going to be this fun to watch. Take 31 and 29 for them. They're a half game over the Phillies who are 30 and 29 over 500 for the Phil's.

Yikes. The Mets 26 and 33 and the Marlins 26 and 44 in the central, the premier division, all teams. over 500. The Brewers, 35 and 21. Four and a half games back are the Cardinals. Second place in that division, 31 and 26. The Cubs, a half game behind them, 32 and 28. Pirates, same exact record after sweeping my twins. And then the Cincinnati Reds, 30 and 28.

Then out west, yes, it's the Dodgers, 38 and 21 for them. The Padres, five and a half back at 32 and 26. I got to fix Tatis's swing. I got to. Okay. I did it with Gary Sanchez. I'll do it with you, Tatis. 31 and 27 for the snakes,

and then the two teams going at it. We're probably not going to get into a ton today because, my, oh my. The Giants, 23 and 36, and the Rockies, 22 and 38. Those are your standings in the National League. Golly. And, yeah, not to bring this back to that Mariners' D-BACs.

There was a couple comments that they were like, the D-Backs might have just got fat and happy off the rocks and the Giants. And yeah, let's see the rest of the way. Yeah, you play the teams you play. As, by the way, the Milwaukee Brewers, about to play the Giants and the Rockies. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Let's see where they are in that NL Central in a week or so.

Trev, let's start off with the big boys. The Phillies and the Dodgers laid it out a little bit on the way through a dramatic comeback by the Phillies in game two. Otherwise, we're probably talking about a Dodgers. And yeah, again, I'm in a weird spot with the Phillies because there's a weird sense of like they did it. Like they're one of the first teams that felt out, that rejoined the party. But when you look at the standings,

those nationals are still ahead of them. They still have a lot of work to do. They run into the Dodgers, which if Robleski is going to give you six no hit innings, that's going to be a tough game to win. I'll tell you that much. Yeah, I mean, that was a story of this series. Rebleski doing his thing and then Yamamoto 10Ks through five and a third in the last game. And the Dodgers, you know, they have their ways of scoring runs.

And the first game, all four solo shot. That's all they needed. They can do that with the best. And what are they in homers over on the year? Can we look that up? Can somebody get on that? What's the question? Dodgers and home runs?

Yeah. Where do they rank? They are third. Third. Okay. It seems like that's like how they score a majority. First and average. First and on base.

First in OPS. Third and runs. in home runs. Not bad. The White Sox, I had a note, they scored almost 50% of the runs via the home run. Okay. Interesting stat there. And yeah, look, good for the fills. That Amuno Sosa Homer, he pimped that one on the go-ahead.

Teddy was in the ballpark for that. Yeah, we can show the Chris Rose Teddy photo. That's fine. Teddy goes to the game, wants to meet some famous people. Ends up meeting the most famous person there. iconic in his own way. Well, not really meat, but seeing it again. Yeah, that's good.

I'm glad Chris Rose took the time. He's like, dad, this old guy wanted to say hi to me. Do you know him? Like, barely. Not just kidding, I love you, Chris. We love Chris. At Muno Sosa, though, he really, he pimped that Homer. Yeah.

Kind of barely snuck out of there. But it did get out. And then the other note here for the Phillies, before we talk a little bit more about the Dodgers is Orion Kirkring gets the win. in his first game bat at the Dodder Stadium, the House of Hors, if you will, for him. And that, to me, means a lot.

That's good shit right there. We like that. I guess other filling notes, as I looked at stats from the month, Brandon Marsh had a tremendous May in 323 on the year, hit better than that in May. Inya, Dodgers, like you said, Yamamoto, everyone's kind of getting mad

because I've had two NLSI young rants now between here and Wake and Jake. And Yamamoto doesn't really get a shout-out, and it's because he's incredible. But one of those guys is going to put up a completely freak show season, whether it's strikeouts or at a crazy low ERA number, that, yes, I mean, Yamamoto, consistency-wise, is just amazing at what he does. But I think this year's N.L. Syung, he's going to get overshadowed. And I don't think he cares because he's already a legend in L.A. and Japan.

so he'll be okay. Yeah, Philly's offense has been down bad. Four runs or less than 11 straight games. I didn't realize that it is on the sheet. That's not how you win baseball games right there. Yeah, again, the Dodgers, you guys are who you are. We went through the hitting stats, which are some of the best. Guess what?

A lot of the pitching stats are, and their bullpen man is grading out well this year. Dodgers have won 14 out of 17. So we're here, people. That the Phillies for me are the conversation of like, hey, they were 18 and 10 in the month of May. That's the second best record in the NL. That's fantastic. They're also 8 and 17 against teams currently occupying playoff spots.

So we still have to find out who Philly really is going to be this year. Yeah, that record, I mean, you got to pray for that record, 18 and 10. Some of the stats on their offense as a whole, heading into June 29th and batting average, Lassen on Bath and 20, obviously that means they're. 28th and OPS. I think you could look at that one of two ways. Like our offense stinks or I think most Phillies fans probably see it that way.

I think if you zoom out a little bit, you can say we expect a little bit more and that should be a good thing for the Phillies. I guess, I think. Yeah, that's the great. That's the great. They really struggle versus lefties. They're looking for a righty bat. But I'm sorry, the White So, Randall Gritchick.

So back off. Do you see the pants Randall Gritchick is wearing? He's doing the baseball shorts thing. Yeah, he's doing the shorts. And a big time, Paul Karnerko, goatee. The goatee. I mean, you know,

we have our baseball fascination with just name dropping and different. Gritchick, goatee, and the shorts. I'm into it. I think it's a, you're going to see that one pop up in a video in four years and be like, well, Randall, those are shorts.

I mean, that's, I, yeah, wow. It does, it feels like a Paul Canerco homage goatee. You're right. Yeah, but get rid of the, the Paul Canerica would never wear shorts. Never, never has. Oh my, is that even, is that a goate or just like a chin strap? Yeah, the beard's trying to fight its way back in there, Edwin N. Connoisseon style.

He's raking, though. Yeah, if you're a lefty, that's a person you do not want to see at the dish. Let's head back over to our central, Trev, which again, if you like races this year, how tight the Brewer's second bunch, which maybe they bury them with the Giants and the Rockies coming up. But the Cubbies who have come back to the pack and these Cardinals who, they refuse to go away. And it's, I mentioned some of those beautiful baseball notes, whether it's young players, whether it's guys being studs. Nelson Velasquez getting his first look at MLB action in a couple years,

and he goes big fly to start the game, that's a pretty cool feeling. The Cubs continue to struggle, and they are not out of the woods yet. And these Cardinals continue to just, they play their brand of baseball, and it's working, and we get worried about the pitching here and there,

but it's been enough to get them to this point in the season and have a winning record. You know who took over this first game? Who's that? A Thomas Sajee. A Thomas Sajin. I mean, he was playing banger third base, making a bunch of great plays. It's the Homer, him and Yvonne Herrera, who like, I love the batting stance, obviously.

And that was, you know, it's big for them. Again, I think you're right. Like the Cardinals are not, they don't have anything that kind of like jumps out of the page. Jordan Walker, I guess, does. Jordan Walker jumps out. In what he's doing. But other than that, it feels like we're just kind of getting, it's, it's, it's, It's like 2025 second half Blue Jays a little bit where we're just seeing somebody step up for them.

And it's different guys kind of every single night. And you're getting that. They do feel like similar to the Chicago White Sox, they feel like they're like a unit playing together. And it is like they're having a great time. You look at the ballpark and the atmosphere there, which is turned into, I guess, turned back into one of the premier places to play because it kind of got they kind of got away a little bit as the cardinals had been struggling but the atmosphere there is great they're feeding off of it again like it's like next man up mentality type stuff and um they've just been a a really really fun watch and if it wasn't for

ben brown doing his dang thing and pca kind of stepping up we know we could be we could be talking about a you know a cardinal sweeping the cubs and right now they have identical records right did i read that Oh, let's double check. They don't think so. They're a half game above. Yeah. 31 and 26, 32 and 28. It's the Pirates in the Cubs have identical records.

But yeah, I mean, I don't think this can be seen any more as like a fun start for the Cardinals. Okay. Okay. I see what you're saying. Yeah. No, it feels like they have a sense of identity. Could it run out for any team? You know, when the Cubs got off to their amazing start,

I didn't think they were going to have the May they did. So baseball can come for everyone. But no, I understand what you're saying. And yeah, man, that ballpark environment, there's something special about that, a little more than tarps off, but just the place that way is rocking. And, you know, I know as listeners to this show,

know we're very close to the PCA situation, we'll call it, because he's just a great dude. I know he's been getting a lot of cliques. lips out there that haven't been felt like highlights. I loved what happened in game two. The crowd's chanting at him overrated. Good. Like talk your shit or your division rivals, your historic rivals.

Absolutely. Well, what PCA can do is have a four-hit day. And Trev, what I love, and I think it's baseball has a good mix of like David versus Goliath moments when it's, okay, here's this guy out of the bullpen who throws 102 and here's your backup catcher. and every now and then that backup catcher's going to win. And a lot of times they'll lose. Trev, the final play of game two,

Palencia's on the bump, all-story L.E. Team Palencia, who also happens to throw 102. Jordan Walker's at the dish, 6'5-250 freak show breakout player. He hits a ball in the gap that I couldn't believe that PCA catches this ball. The more I watch it,

the more it doesn't feel like if it happened in a video game, you'd be like, fuck, this game's dumb. Like, why do I even play this? And that's, it's what makes him so tantalizing. It was the start of PCA was like, this defense is different level,

different level. Yeah, I mean, he is like one of if not the premier defenders in the game. And I don't really love catch probability. Like, that's not like, I think it's like completely work. and doesn't mean anything, but it's also fun to see a 15% catch probability.

But again, I'm not a big fan of that. He, yeah, he goes and gets it. That's why, that's why, like, I want him. I don't even know what I'm trying to say right now. Perfect. Yeah, great for a talk show. I think he, like, he wants people to be talking about him, but I want him to just not like,

that. Oh, okay. I see what you're saying. Next level that he hasn't unlocked yet. Kind of like what we saw early on in his career. He comes up and just bangs early on. It was just him playing ball, Jake. And then I think you get a little notoriety.

You're going to get hate because you're a cub. You're going into St. Louis. And I think a lot of these NL Central, there's good rivalries there. I think I'm fishing here for something. But I just, I want him to just, it's so fun just to see him play ball. he's so good. You love that moment, people calling him overrated

and him hitting the ball into the stands. By the way, the kid that threw the ball back. That's a tough look. Tough look. I got that up. Oh, God. But I want PCA. I feel like PCA is a guy that should be like universally loved

and he just hasn't, that hasn't been his path. I think that's my point. Yeah, I mean, it's, um, yeah, yeah, that's on first. Oh, my goodness. That was on accident.

That was not on purpose, by that. That's just a bad throw. Cubby's pretty stoked to see the month of May go, where at one point I think they lost 14 out of 16. Just so crazy. Let's see what June has to offer them. Go, go Cardinals. Tarp's off.

Are we scared with Shoda? Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that because I often gloat on Shoda because I'm like, oh, the cup, why did this guy's just as good as it gets? He does have a homer ball problem And that That caught up with him this month I'm not done with show to by any means I guess it's where

Showed on the wrong day of Wrigley That that's got to be a bad feeling For everyone involved The Cubs had a horrific month And one of the worst stretches Any team will have this season They lost 12 or 14 I believe Is the streak they're on right now?

Let me see I was just there because they've won three out of three out of their last five. But it's horrific. It's horrific. And I didn't think it was ever going to get that bad for them. But that's baseball suzine. Padre's Natstrev, I'd advertise it before the weekend saying this should be electric baseball. And it was we did get Fernando's first homer.

You are going to fix him. So that's exciting for him. And I like the way you phrased it earlier was he's not. looking athletic, which that was a lot of people's complaint with Cody Bellinger for a couple years there when Cody, Cody Bellinger kind of had that bored batting stance. And I think it was Jerry Harrison went on a rant that was like, dude, you're being athlete, bro. Um, that maybe you can coach Fernando. Well, I do want to get into the nationals, but we'll start here. I think that when you watch Fernando and you've seen like his iteration of swings and loads that he's had,

I mean, that's hilarious right there. Everyone's so stoked. for him to finally hit his homer and I can't believe it took this long. I mean, almost two, I mean, it was too fulsed months. It's just like the load to me. It seems like he's trying to be like really close to the ground with that foot, which he's done before. But it's like the cadence of that load. It's like really choppy and doesn't feel like smooth or like again, I think athletic is a great word for it. Where we've seen him before. I mean, everything's flowing and looks, looks fluid. And he is that type of athlete. he needs to let his inner athlete out at the plate a little bit.

And I don't know if there's something holding him back. Like maybe there's some, his body doesn't feel right or whatever it is. But I mean, that's, I feel like to get the best version of Nando, it's, it's, let's get more athletic in the box. I think a lot of Padres fans have noted that and will agree with me. As you alluded to, Trev, the story should be the nationals who are ahead of the Phillies. in the standing. I mentioned, like, the chaos, they put up a six-run, seventh inning in game two to blow that open. And they haven't lost a series since May 10th. Their last three series wins have been over Atlanta, Cleveland, and San Diego. Like, it's not, you know, they're not

playing AAA teams. Kiber Ruiz has thrown guys out. I thought his career as a catcher might be done coming into this year. And James Wood, leading NL. outfielders and home runs. It's a really fun program in D.C. right now. Yeah, they're getting contributions up and down the lineup. My guy Curtis Mead, and he's got a claim for the best Australian in the big leagues,

right? There's a lot of Australians in the big leagues right now. A lot of Aussies. Yeah. There was a pitcher for the pirates who was from Australia. We got Bazaana. We got Curtis Mead. Who else is? I think there's another one I'm missing right now. But go Australia. Again, yeah, contributions up and down the lineup.

Garcia's been really good for them. I asked Bobbo to get me this. Nassim Nunez double play, which was sick during this series. Ranges to his right with, I believe it was with zero outs. I don't know what Luriano was doing here on this. He was on second base, Nunez ranges to his right, ends up tagging him out before throwing to first. Like this is, that is, that's awesome baseball right there.

Like that's legit stuff. Like that's like one of my favorite plays I've seen all year long right there. To have like the wherewithal to get a tag before the throw is. And he's like, where does he end up? He ends up shallow shortstop right there. I don't know. I love it. I'm stoked on the Nats.

This is what we've been hoping for for them. And I think everyone's a little like hesitant like, hey, is this going to keep up? But we're, I think we're just seeing again like teams who and I hate throwing this term out there because we always get made fun of for saying it. And it is a little talk. show talking head thing. I feel like they found an identity and they're buying into it. And they want to play for their manager.

And it's like, okay, this is good. And that does mean something. Yes, I think there's, I mean, the offense is just crazy. And it starts with Wood and Abrams that we highlight them a lot. After you start wandering out of there, I think, if I'm comparing them to the Cardinals that we just did this, I'm looking at some of the ancillary Cardinals. pieces of like, oh, that's, yeah. That, I know, or I think I know what that is,

or I think there's a little more in there. Like some of these national pieces, you still look around and you're like, I don't know what the rest of their 2026 season is going to offer us, but I just know on the whole, their offense has been relentless. They're still first and runs scored, man. Yeah. Well, look, you mentioned Cabo Ruiz, like throwing guys out. He's also got an 812 OPS as a catcher.

You know, I always call that a cheat code. Okay, Nassim Nunez not getting the job done. really offensively at all. It's been very bad. But 22 swipes. So when he gets on, he's getting over. He's electric. He's electric.

We need to get him on base a little more. And hey, Miami, who kind of had a tough month, Arizona, and then a West Coast trip, Arizona, San Francisco. Let's see how long the Nats can be a part of it. Zach Lattel's pitched a lot better as of me. That helps out a ton. Had his best, like, swing and miss game of the year. This show is sponsored by

Better help. A 162 game season is a long haul. Some stretches feel electric. Some feel like grinding. And that gap between surviving a season and actually enjoying it is real. It doesn't just apply to baseball. Summer's a lot. The plans can add up quickly.

A lot of people get to September without realizing really how they got there. Therapy can help you figure out what you need. Set better boundaries and build a version of summer that actually feels good. Better help matches you with a licensed therapist online and you can switch anytime if it's not the right fit. You don't have to say yes to everything this summer. Find support in therapy. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com slash talking baseball. That's better help. HELP.com slash talking baseball. Trev, tell us about the Twins and Pirates. What did you see? Because I, I tuned in for a little list to listen to you, my guy, and just see what was going on. Well, shout out. Greg

Caserta came on. It was my play-by-play guy. He does N-LB big inning. So, that was a change. If you're listening to this series, that was different than Corey Provost. I mean, a couple of close games, the twins did a good job coming back in that second game.

Brian Reynolds, kind of a stud. And like, I feel like he got a bad rap for a while around the league. He was like, what did he want? Like,

he wanted an extension before something, right? Like, oh, years ago. Yes, he talked about holding out. Yeah.

because he wanted the pirates to extend him and then we did the beef between him and long go i know and then someone's like of course he hits the walk off home or right in front of travel i wasn't calling that game that was an apple tv game it was funny i was in my hotel room and i'm watching the game on my my laptop and all of a sudden it's it's the twins are still waiting this game at time five to four and uh all of a sudden i hear massive fireworks and the hotel's like right across the street from the ballpark i'm like oh shit next and then my feed catches up next pitch Brian Reynolds just turns on Taylor Rogers my takeaway pirates have like legit pitching I think that's like not a question

Jared Jones comes back gets touched up a little bit but the stuff looks good Brandon Ashcroft excuse me is absolutely filthy and looks like a I use this term like as an endearing way in an endearing way he looks like a motherfucker on the mound. Oh, okay. Yeah. Wow. Like I would, I would, I would, I would not like to face him. And then, yeah, like the offense, like, they lose Griffin, but a Hearn comes back. It's a home run right away. Like, there's, there's definitely a recipe there for the pirates. Like, they're, they're a fun team. I have, if I had the choose between them and the white socks, yeah, two teams I just saw kind of like similar situations, I think I'm taking the pirates. I think they're like, you're like, you're like,

they're sneaky. I mean, they're right behind each other. I think that pirates are sneaky like fifth in run scored, maybe even fourth in run scored so far this year. And with this series, they might even have jumped up a little bit. Like the offense is getting it done. Like the names aren't great there,

but they're finding ways to do it. And the pitching is just out of this world. Some of the guys they have in the bullpen are just filthy too. Pirates offense, which we haven't been locked on, third and on base, fifth in OPS, fifth and run scored. Spencer is doing it, dude. Yeah, he gets his first home run. Jake Mangum gets his first home run.

Spencer Horwitz had an amazing month of May, and his baseball card kind of makes you do a head tilt because you're like, wait, he follows Jake on Instagram. Yeah, I think pirates talent-wise, I would lean them over the White Sox, but it goes back, like, opportunity of this season. The White Sox, if they play like this, they're going to walk into the postseason where...

the pirates in this division, like they, at Houston, at Atlanta, and then the Dodgers, I don't know what that's going to look like for them. And you mentioned Connor Griffin going on the IL. No, they are good. I was skeptical. Connor Griffin changed my tone a little bit, but they have enough going on outside of that that losing Connor Griffin, I'm not scared about it. They're a good baseball team.

On our sheet, we have Braxton Ashcroft for one of the most underrated pitchers in 2026. He should not be. This guy's, he's a menace. and everybody throws 100 miles an hour for the pirates. Every freaking one of them. Yeah, that helps. Mason Montgomery out of the bullpen lefty throwing a hundred miles an hour. It's like, okay, that's gross.

Spencer Horwitz, eighth best OPS in MLB in May, 966. No joke. I like Nick Gonzalez too. Okay. Marlins Mets, Trev, you have some Mets stuff coming up. Met sweep. I've mentioned a few times now. They had a nice, a nice May. What can it be the rest of the way? The Marlins did not have a nice May. I guess any thoughts you need to let out here before you will discuss them in a little bit. Yeah, we'll discuss game two more later. M.J. Melinda's

part of that walk off Friday for them. Love that. That's always a fun thing. And then, yeah, I mean, are they back? They've been winning baseball. ball games. They get this sweep here against the Marlins team. They're not a pushover team, so you have to like that. AJ Ewing and Carson Benj. they call each other psychopass.

I'm like, yeah, you guys are. It's just crazy how hard they go into the wall or running around the field. It's incredible. It's really fun to watch. I think that embodies kind of a little bit of what we're seeing with the Mets and the resurgent energy in that team because it was basically non-existent early on in the year. And yes,

since they brought these guys up, these young guys, they've been playing a lot, I feel like that's changed to tune a little bit. Obviously, some of the pitching has been good, as well,

and Juan Soto continues to just be a freaking... Joey Vado says Juan Soto is one of the top three left-handed hitters ever. He's doing a show of Brian Kenney, which is fun to watch because he's very insightful about hitting.

When you start to look at things, he might not be wrong. Yeah, I don't know if I need to stamp that. I think people will just take Votto's vote, but Soto's unreal. He, if you look at his career stats, he traditionally gets better as the season goes, so that's something to watch. And Mets are about to start. They kick off June where things are feeling a little different. West Coast trip, Seattle and San Diego. If they can get through there and keep the vibes going, tough start to June. Let's see where it lands. And Marlins,

kind of a brutal month. We need more offense out of the Mets. Let's go, guys. I agree. I agree with me. Rocky's Giants, I'm sorry. We're hitting that part of the year. Braves, I have one guy I'm going to highlight a lot coming out of this

that I don't know. I'm trying to think story. Blake done some good defense for the Red. Snap for them. Singer having a rough month. Ellie Dela Cruz with a hamstring. Let's see what that is. Otherwise, this is, yeah, the Braves heading the direction they've been in,

and the Reds tread in water hard, trying to not let, trying to not let too much water on the boat, as they said. You talked about that bullpen and kind of the letdown there, but I think this is, I don't want to say good team, bad teams, because I don't really feel that way. This is just a better team coming in and taking a series from the Reds. The Braves are playing absolutely crazy baseball right now. the bullpen for them really good in that first game.

Yaz has been great at times for them. We know what Michael Harris. Deuce has been doing and now getting Ronald Lucuna back to kind of where he's at and not step on your toes. That's obviously a very welcome sign for the Braves. Let's do some standout performances. It's time for standout performances. Stand out performances.

Stand out performances. Stand out performance. This guy stood out for Trev. Say what? Trev, I'm going to cut you off at the past, brother. Joe, Warb Dog. Because we were just talking about it. You put it out there.

Ronald Ocunia Jr. Talking baseball fans, no, especially in the off season when things start to get kooky, and we've been talking about fake scenarios for months, and we start dreaming on the season. I caught one day, I want to say it was December. I caught myself on Ronald Kuni Jr.'s baseball page, and I was like,

what do we have here? You mentioned Soto and, you know, Joey Votto's talking about him, which apparently you take his vote over mine. But like Ronald Cunia Jr., it's... I was shocked when I saw his career on base percentage because normally electric guys like him, that can be the one area they're lacking in. Ronald Cunia Jr. got off to a slow-ish start to this season.

I would say the pop wasn't there, and then he goes on the IL. Well, he's come back. And, I mean, he's now homered in four straight games, five homers in four games, with two in that middle Cincinnati game, where he also had two stolen bases that I believe two homers, two steals put him in a club with Shohei, Eric Davis, and was it bonds? Let's see. Show hey, Chipper Jones. Get out of here, Chipper.

Either way, what Ronald's doing, they haven't had that. They haven't had that. He was literally out of the lineup with injury, and when he was playing, he wasn't at full tilt. That if he starts, I was going to say if he starts going. He's going. He's going, and he's just a bad man, and I think we've wondered if, you know,

his level of health between his kind of unique baseball injuries, Well, he's got 12 stolen bases on the year. The home run swing is here. And, yeah, again, 380 on base, and that was with him having a slow start to the season. The Braves hadn't had this, and they've been the best team in baseball. When he's on the field, he's one of my favorite players to watch.

And Rob, I'll tie this full circle to something I brought up. Because during this offseason, I started daydreaming of a thick old Ronald Ocunia, June. when the stolen bases aren't here anymore. Trev, I saw a video on the Yankees broadcast this week. It was David Cohn giving up a home run. The first career home run, too, Jason Giambi. And this might shock you.

Because not only is the hair flowing from young Giambi, but he's like a tall, slender boy. and again, it was more so, I was, look at that, that's Jason Giambi. First homer off David Cohn wearing the 11 Blue Jays jersey. But again, very different player than Ronald Cunia Jr. I was just daydreaming of thick old Ronald Cunia Jr.,

where he's going to be getting on base at a 4-11 clip. I'm so excited for him to join this season because he's amazing. You're saying Ronald Cooney Jr. is going to turn into Yanni D.S. I had, again, the offseason gets long. I think there's some Manny Ramirez comps for Ronald Cunia Jr. Okay. Which again, there was a little while when he was playing that people argued he was the best right-handed hitter ever.

I'm very excited to see the next part of Ronald's journey. We just did the best left-handed swings. If you haven't seen that, go check out Talking Baseball YouTube, where we kind of decide without knowing the player. Some of them we did know because we're ball-knowers. If we did that with right handers, I think Manny Ramirez would be maybe the winner. Maybe we'll find out one of these days.

We go Cabrera too. Oh! All right, get a nice stand out there, Ronald Cunia. Thank you. Snaps for you, dog. I am going to go with a couple mariners. Here's the thing, dude. Preseason bracket, they're kind of a crapshoot.

We all know, but you want to feel like you know, ball. I had the mariners losing to the Phillies in the World Series, starting out the year, coach. Yikes. Now, not looking so cool. Yeah, you're alive. I'm alive now. The Mariners are going to be in the playoffs. They're going to win the A.L. West. The Phillies, on the other hand, like, we've got to see. I think they're going to need to make some adjustments.

I still believe in them. Are they going to get to the World Series? I don't know. But J.P. Crawford, on that Friday, you mentioned two homers for him. First time he's done that in his career. And he was leaning back on these balls. That gallon kind of was serving him up to him. The first one was just center cut. boom and then the second one was pitched down in the way he still kind of was able to scoop it and lean back on it I want to double deuce here because I also puts huli Rodriguez who also in that game went three five with a homer the mariners are surging the offense is a big part of why Julio in May 274 309 so on base not great but he did slug

590 for the 899 that's basically what's the mariners offense has been doing it Homer's dog. Between JP, between Julio, between Luke Raleigh. Like, they've been doing that. And again, all, and Randy, obviously, all without the 60 Homer guy, Cal. Yeah. So I am, I'm looking, I'm looking for the Mariners to continue to go like this. The pitching's going to be there. They have too much pitching. So much there's, you know, did you know, I think I saw this and tell me if I'm right. In that latest piggyback with Castillo and Bryce Miller, they both are 71 pitches. Yeah, five innings each. Love that for balance.

Balance. That was the Avengers thing, not six, seven. Great stuff. Happy for your guy, J.P. Crawford, Lehigh, Valley Iron Pig with you. Yeah, yeah. Try tip. It's going to be a try tip challenge between me, J.P, and Dallas Braden one day. Okay.

If I could be one of the testers. I'm going to win. I'd be open to that. That's what I'm known for. You know how to grease the wheels. The Ronald CUNY Jr. stat I slaughtered before. Ronald Cunia Jr., one of four players since 1898. Excuse me.

To record five homers in four-plus stolen bases in a four-game span. Ronald Cunia Jr., Shohei Otani, Eric Davis, and Willie Mace. Oh, okay. So that's not a... That's a nice crew. Eric. Do you know what the pirates are called the pirates?

I do not, Trevor. They were originally called the Alleghenies because there's the Allegheny River there. And then they quote, like quotes, like stole a player from the athletics. And the athletics ownership, just sign the guy.

They called that act piratical. Oh. And they became the pirates the year after. I saw an Instapost today that was about like the, the, how would you say? The most valued missing treasure currently. Oh, yeah. Like in the world. And there's a few cool ones.

Yeah. I mean, there's a couple they think, you know, they're around the location. They don't have it yet. But one of they had like mini blurbs on each one. And one of them was like, yeah, this guy was supposed to transport it. And he decided to be a pirate. And then he hit it. and nobody can find it.

I asked the question on the broadcast. How do you just become a pirate? Like, when do you make the decision? You know what? I'm going to be a pirate. Today's the day. I'm done with all of this. I'm living that pirate lifestyle.

On the thought of that as well, has anyone put together underwater drones to survey the bottom of the ocean? And can we do that? We can't because we don't have the skill or the financials for that. But someone has to. Right.

In John Boy Media, we do everything here. We do everything, cricket. If we did underwater drones as part of our business, Skyrocket, IPO, we're going off. I'll tell you what, some of the college softball action last night was electric. I think I'm going to be AUSL in it this year. So yeah, I mean, maybe we start there and then we get to underwater. College baseball, is that in a bad spot?

Everyone's getting ejected because they can't control their emotions. This sometimes makes people sad. Kind of out on college baseball. Kind of in on college softball. Oh, I think that's a very popular take. Yes, yes. No one else is a very popular take in Fuego. Dirt Nasty's on Fuego.

That means I'm on fire, baby, like Waco. College softball players are meaner than anybody I've ever met in my life. They're intense. Yeah. They're intense. Sheesh. I mean, they let me have it. Okay.

Let's start out for this series. Jung Hu Lee. Our guy, 11 for 15. It's not bad. Two runs driven in. First career five hit game for him. Your guy, Signor Ben Rice,

a roast. I love going on the road and eating the Dominican food they have in the club outs every day. Gosh, I need more of that. Seven for 13 for him, three doubles, a triple, and a homer. Seven runs driven in. How about another giant? Cors effect.

Bryce Eldridge, six for 11, four doubles and two homers. Yandi Diaz just mentioned him, man. Four for 13, but Jake, three of those hits were home runs. He hit lead off homers in both Friday and Saturday's game versus the Angels because of course he did. He had two walks because that's what he does too.

Jake McCarthy of a lot of people from the series that we didn't talk about. That's good. That's kind of good. Five for 12, double homer five runs driven for the week. How about Tyler Soderstrom? Nine for

18, three doubles, two homers. He has 22 extra base hits out of his 37 total hits against right handers this season. That's the second best in the AL. So if you're a right-hander, you're going to give an extra base hit up to Tyler Sotom. Your guy, the thickest neck we've ever seen. Josh Young, 10 for 24, two doubles, two homers.

He's batting 316, leading the AL. The last player to finish the year when the batting title is? Michael Young. Josh Hamilton, 2010. Victor Mesa Jr. We thought, I'm not going to give it away. Go watch the video on the left-handed swings.

Jeremy Pena, big time spark plug for that Houston offense. Nine for 25, three homers, five runs driven in. Spencer Horowitz, I saw it firsthand, people. 10 for 27, a double, two homers. He finished May hitting 326 with a 966 OPS and my favorite set of all time had more walks than strikeouts. 14 to 9. Okay, Spencer Horowitz.

And that is Susan Fue. go. Soderstrom's such a baseball player. Like this was the sport. 6-2-200. He's getting to hit left. He's not, yeah, Trevor raises his hand. I'm 6'1 in like a little bit. Yeah, where are you, where are you at right now? 190? I came back from the road trip, 199. Whoa. I eat a lot when I'm on the road because I'm like busy all the time. I'm working my ass off and then some freaking kid has go embarrass me on social media. I'm just trying to be a nice guy. That was so funny, bro.

You killed the comment. You crushed the comment. Like, you lost the war, but you killed the comment because it was elder abuse. I didn't know he was filming me at all. I had no idea. And you know, the next couple days

he tried to like get on, he tried to like talk to me again. No. Not again, brother. You show up the pink guy like that. So good. And an amazing infuego. Trevor, which now the show becomes less amazing.

Batters who are struggling. Hey, man, you've been struggling lately. It's time to pick it off. And this list just proves that the game comes for everyone, because Bryce to rank with an 0 for 19. God, he's been so amazing this year, and the Brewers keep winning. So how about that?

Austin Martin, Trev, go talk to your guy. He's kind of our guy. A 1 for 22. Hates leading off. 275 OPS when leading off an inning. That's the lowest in baseball. Likes to see a couple. Miguel Anduhar, roll those R's.

He's in a 2 for 20. Bad challenge the other night. Kyle Tucker, bonus piece for the Dodgers. He's in a 3 for 20. Swinging at every first pitch, the second highest in baseball. For the two weeks, Matt McLean. Say it ain't so hitting.

088 with two outs this season. That's the worst in MLB. Nolan Gorman. Three for 33 for him. Connor Norby says I see that. I'll give you a three for 32. And Shea, Bangaliers. Six for 46. That's a 130.

Two of those six were home runs. But from the pace he was on, a very different tenor. So hopefully we'll be seeing those guys on Enfuego next episode. and I pray, I pray, I pray, Drake, that we don't see them on the IL. Because the list, oh my God, there's too many guys. There's too many. Don't just let out a big, yeah. I might have to do some highlights because I'm sorry, Andrew Nardi, three months.

And that's impactful. Murakami, we talked about, four to six weeks with the right hammy. Connor Griffin, hopeful for a minimum stint with a right forearm. The Nightmare Bailey Ober, no. Lee Severino leaves after the first inning with right shoulder, waiting for more information on that. Harrison Bader, planter fasciitis, Yuri Perez, eight weeks, strain in his inner thigh.

That's an odd one. Casey Mize, of course. If you're a Detroit Tigers pitcher this year, you've been on this list. Tyler Maley, three to four weeks? Malley. Damn it. Graham Ashcraft. There's a whole another list of guys here. I just don't think I can do it. Kimbril, Jansen, Junk.

The injury bug is here. Luckily, if you go on the IL, you can come off the IL. And Bo Brisky for Detroit. Can he be the spark? Junkhu Lee, come off the IL and start doing that. Knock yourself out. You mentioned Jared Jones. I'll mention Logan Webb.

for San Francisco. Ben Williamson for Tampa Bay. Who do we got? Carrie Carpenter for Detroit. That would help. You mentioned O'Hern, Matt Strom, Kansas City, he'll take whatever help they can get. Jack Dreyer for the Dodgers.

Let's start everyone's week the right way. Awards. With the awards that are brought to you by Seat Geek Awards. Talking 2026, 10% off your next set of tickets at Seat Geek. Trev, where are you going? I'm going to go with the minor league. Rose Award. And, you know, I think, like, the minor leagues used to get discussed, like, so much more as, like, this mythical place.

Like, you know, there wasn't a lot of, like, light shown on it for good reason, because it was a disaster. The minor leagues used to be just an absolute shit show, scary. Nobody was developing. It was, like, survival of the fittest. It's changed a lot now. We're getting a ton of development. like the facilities have been upgraded a crazy amount. Like it's flooded with coaches who are just like fresh out the college ranks,

reading their iPads, doing all these things, development focus, which I'm not saying is a bad thing. It's just has changed. When I was coming to the minor leagues, it was a lot of baseball lifers were coaches. Because you don't make a lot of money or you didn't make a lot of money as a

minor league coach. I'm not sure how it is now. So things have changed. But I'll tell you what you do. You learn a lot of things. You learn a lot about yourself in the minor leagues. perseverance you go through some some tough times with some of your buddies your teammates that you come up with through the minor leagues end up being some of your best friends that's definitely the situation

with me i mean if i was a name like my best friends in baseball most of them like aren't even guys i played in the big leagues with although i have a few of those but it's like you know hobby sanchise it's a big hobby you know hobby sanchez uh pitching coach leiliana braves j p martinez these are guys that I never played in the big leagues with, but like were my initial roommates. Anthony Swartz, like I did play in the big leagues with, but like we were like minor league dogs before. Glenn Perkins and I were just reminiscing about like kind of coming up together, spending AAA nights, midnight barbies together.

Like it really is where you kind of develop these friendships. So we had a situation here with our guy, Christian Scott, getting his first. win. Now, he came up in 2024, was 0 and 3 in that situation, ends up getting hurt, misses all of 2025. He has 15 total starts. I'm reading the article right now, 1,250 pitches he's thrown between 2024 and 2026. That's actually like not that much. You really break it down because it is 15 starts. Had Tommy John ends up finally getting his first career win against the Marlins. and he was masterful. Lefties were a problem with him in 2024.

He's kind of figured that out. Six of his eight strikeouts in this game were against lefties. So you've got to love that. But the reason I bring this up and I thought it was really cool was his catcher, who he came up in the minor leagues with hits his first career home run on the same exact day. So you get your first win and then you get this guy's first home run. run in a victory. Mets kind of, no, I'm not going to say

surging, but getting a little bit better here. And they both talked about it after the game. And he has a smile on his face when he was, this is Scott talking. The smile on his face as he was running around the bases and the dugout was awesome. But getting that shower but getting that shower together was nice as well.

I'll have peanut butter my hair for a couple weeks now. So they both go in the shower. You get sprayed with all the different types of stuff. You know, they make you, it's a hazing-ish. stuff that goes on fun celebration but these guys coming up together and like they have

he's caught sangers caught Scott in the minor leagues before you know they've you know just done a lot of things when you come up with somebody it just means more and I thought it was cool they both had these milestones on the first day so I'm given the minor league bros award

to our guys there in Flushings so it's a beautiful part of the game and it's a you know I think everyone has can relate to that in some way or another, whether that is, you know, for me, it's honestly, my first job was a management training program where we all made the exact same salary. So when we saw those other 15 guys, like, there's nothing to be proud about. Like, we, I know what you make, you know what I make.

Like, we are eerily the same at this point of life. You know, for baseball in the minor leagues, it's, you know, I know some different signing bonuses and things like that. but, you know, in the back of your head, there's a little, there's a little, am I going to make it? Are you going to make it? And even if we do make it, are we going to, are we slap dick in it? Are we three-time all? Like, what's it going to be that, yeah, those are whoever you have in your life that you have those memories with?

It's, you know, you're just on the same level. You're on the same wavelength that none of the other stuff matters that I have to imagine in those show clubhouses. There's a little bit more of a pecking order. Well, I think that's why some of these, you know, the young teams, the guys that come up together, that's like you'll see like this quote unquote, like fight from these teams. If you come up playing together, it just, it is a little bit different. So like a lot of the pirates have come up playing together, a lot of the white socks have come up playing together. You have those shared struggles in the minor leagues or just those times.

And again, it's gotten so much better. I can't even explain. We should do an episode one day where I just tell you minor league stories because it's, you wouldn't believe it. You wouldn't fucking believe it. I'd like to. I got this much better than my Olympics. Yeah, again, this could absolutely mean nothing because it could have been a throwaway line,

but I've referenced it a few times that I watched. There was a great, like, Braves documentary. They are on MLB Network sometimes. And I think Glaven Maddox and Smalls, they talk about when they were in the minors, like they were looking around and they're like, we're good. Like, we should, like, when we get to the majors,

we should be good. And I'm sure a lot of young, young high T. athletes are saying that, but especially when you see it start to come to fruition, which we're seeing with the white socks right now. Like you're like, we're going to have the keys one day. And I think we're going to be good. And they're feeling that. Two things quick.

I feel like the minor leagues now, these guys are like, they're starting to like flex. Like when I was playing, there was absolutely none of that because what were you going to flex, bro, that you're in high A? Right. Your double ear flap helmet, your uniform fits like shit. Like you can't flex. that's in it's i oh man i'm gonna i'm gonna i can't remember this guy's name right now

play with him on the race fast dude um joey gath and excuse me joey gathright no uh gosh i can look it up i want to go back anyways he'd come up from the minor leagues and his hair would just be a mess and i'm like dude you need to get lined up let's get you diced up and then he'd come back and he'd have his show haircut like that's what you look like there we go man uh so that's fun stuff malick matic it malick smith huh malick smith nailed it i like malics we need you get we got to get lined up big dog um and then i saw a video of great maddox pitching in pot tuckett as like whatever like a 19 year old i wouldn't have seen it i wouldn't have seen it he was moving the ball around like

crazy. I'm sure his numbers were incredible, but different type of pitcher. Amazing, amazing career. All-time competitor. And by the way, he, like in his peak, you know, we have old Maddox in our head thrown 88. Like he got into the mid-90, like he, he threw a little bit. Yeah, yeah. Okay, little Greg Maddox talk. Trevor, I was going to say this earlier. Colson Montgomery, dude, silly power in the bat. I almost wanted to throw a Jim Thome out there. And I know that's... Different. It's very different, obviously.

But Colson Montgomery hits just sky high home runs. You're like, what? Those... Murakami and Jim Tomey, I think have more in common as a player than... It's not my award. My award, I'm half audiblying to something... Now a dated reference that maybe we get boomered. But I'm going to go Spider-Man meme.

Because, A, that... you know, kind of swept the nation for a little bit, not as popular as it used to be by any means, because I was going to go on, you know, a semi-annual underrated player rant, and I had a whole speech lined up for Jonathan Aranda, because if you go through the month of May, which we just finished,

Jonathan Aranda had the second best OPS by 0.001 to Kurtz comma Nick. So we talk a lot of Nick Kurtz, and we talk about how he's one of the best young first baseman and future of the league, blah, blah, blah, Jonathan Aranda arguably had the second best month. Batting average, which we've talked about how that's trending back, which should have never really trended out.

Jonathan Aranda, 374 batting average in the month of May. Second best was Luis Arazi at 340. So, like, he put some separation between him and the crew. He had the best on-base percentage. He's one of the best all-around hitters in the game, and I was going to give a speech about how, you know, every year we do who's most underrated. And for me, I think Jonathan Miranda might have an actual argument to be the most underrated because he's one of the best hitters in this game.

And Trev, about every stat I was digging up. One of his teammates was right next to him. And it's Yandi Diaz. And we've done this speech with him before. That when you do that speech for a guy too many times, it almost makes them illegal because that means you're talking about them. but Yandi Diaz is an absolute freak show. And if you're wondering why these rays have an amazing record,

it's those two. By the way, Yandi's hitting 310. Aranda's hitting 290. They're both getting on base at a 390 plus clip. Righty, lefty, middle of the lineup. Both combine their OPSs and you're sitting at 9 flat. In all of this is while ignoring Junior Caminero, who is supposed to be the cornerstone future piece of the franchise,

And he is, and by the way, all of his stats in the same ballpark. I didn't know Junior was hitting 278, 377 on base. That, like, it's this three-headed monster that we have talked about with the raise. I wanted to highlight Jonathan Aranda, because I think as his stock was about to take off last year, he had that injury that kind of took him and the raise out of their season. What him and Yandi are doing in a time when batting average is out, like Josh Young is currently leading the lead. A.L. in batting average with a, what was it, 313? 316 batting. Like, we're in a different era of batting average.

And these two, you know, kind of on the corner slugger type guys, first base, D.H. Third, if you bring in Caminero, it's the not-so-secret part of their recipe. I just, and not to raise them, because, hey, we got some fans at the trop there, baby. the trope is back. Different markets, I think we'd be talking about them a lot more. Free agent Yandi, DS. Hello. I was looking at the trade.

This is an incredible trade. December 13, 2018. Where were you? Three team trade. Indians send Cole Sulzer. Sure. Solcer. Yeah.

He's still pitching. To the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays sent cash to the Mariners. The Rays sent cash to the Mariners. Ray's sent Jake Bowers to the Cleveland Indians. The Mariners sent Carlos Santana and cash to the Cleveland Indians. The Cleveland Indians sent Edward Encarnacion and the competitive balance picked to the mariners. Wow.

A lot of people, a lot of names. Is that one, two, three, four, five major league players, six? That's kind of crazy. Yeah, that worked out for kind of everybody right there, except for the Indians. Who's that 2019? What did he do for the Indians that season? I don't know. But good job.

I like that award. Highlighting two guys, we probably don't talk about enough and the race. You probably don't get enough coverage for what they're doing. We talk a lot about the speed on that team and how they're different. But yeah, okay, you're anchored by Aranda, Yandi, and Cameronero in that lineup. that's like a real legitimate threat. That's like as far as three hitters go, I think, yeah, that goes with anyone in the league. Who do they have coming up?

They have. Future twin Yandi Diaz, yep. You've got a big free agent plan for the twins, and I don't know, I don't know. Hap, Yandi. Well, Hap's probably not going to work the more than I think about it because we have like a lot of outfielders on the way. What to trade them? That's right thing. Trade, trade.

Use code talking 2026. It's Seat Geek, 10% off your next set of tickets. Go see, go see the raise. Go see your team. Go on a road trip. Summer's here, people. And so are we. We will be back Wednesday.

It's an all-JM. Maybe tweak the format. I don't know. Get some ballots in early. We'll see. Jake sucks. Joe's given the chain to C.J. Abrams. I think I mentioned that, but I don't know about that chain.

Crazy. Like, who decided that's the chain? Do you think he went in and probably threw that away? It didn't feel like the chain. We didn't need that. It felt like the... A pin. A pin is fine.

It felt like the first iteration of the chain. And I... Jim came up with one. It broke, too.