The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Dan Makes a Big Mistake | Hour 3 (feat. Adnan Virk)

Episode Date: April 30, 2026

"That's a shot cock violation." Zaslow debates whether to attend a Guns N' Roses concert tonight, Jeremy takes a shot while Chris pokes fun at the logo of his new Marlins TV show, and Tony relives the moment he saved Wayne Newton's life. Plus, Jeremy and Chris stick around for this week's episode of The Pitch Clock as Ethan puts them to the test in a new form of trivia involving the best HR hitters of this century. Adnan Virk is here to break down all things Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, and Munetaka Murakami. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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In communities across Canada, hourly Amazon employees can grow their skills and their paycheck by enrolling in free skills training programs for in-demand fields. Learn more at aboutamazon.ca. This is the Dan Levator show with the Stucats podcast. We've got baseball segregated again. Jeremy is just doing things with Adnan, Verk, and the other baseball boys, pitch clock. at the end of this hour where all your baseball needs will be met. We think that we didn't get a payoff from the pseudoscientists in big earwax, but I am told that Roy, from the defawing laughter I heard in the other studio,

that there was shame in Roy's ear. I don't know the extent of the shame. Roy, have you seen what it is that emerge from your ear with that fire vacuum? Yeah, yeah, that's some stuff, Dan. What is the color of that stuff? It is... It looks like it's brown? It's like a dark...

Yeah, it's like almost black. Oh! So wait a minute. That is a lot of stuff there. Most of that is actually candle wax, but like inside there, up there towards a top. Okay. I feel like that.

You see right there. Okay, I thought that was coming out of his ear. No, no. 98% of that is traditional candle wax. Roy, how do you feel about what was in your ear? Because it looks like you're holding a little throat in your mouth. It looks like you're disgusted by what was in your ear. I feel dirty, Dan.

Okay. So a major accomplishment here today. We made Roy feel dirty, and I think we can all say a magical success, everything that was the earwax and fire experience. Well, the best thing that happened in the earwax experience is Zaz falling. Yes. Well, let's play that sound and video again so people can see, again, this was earlier in the show. Zaslo said that it doesn't matter that he didn't play sports. he should be able to criticize all great athletes however he wants.

And here is Zaslo trying to sit in a chair. I mean, maybe. All right, everybody take it easy. Everybody calm down. Everybody, everybody calm down. No, no, you're used to sitting in chair. I don't know what was so funny about that. I didn't fall.

I sat down exactly where I intended to. Seemed like everything was okay to me. You stumbled. Stumbled into what I wanted to do. You talk about secondhand. embarrassment. I want you to watch in the background here as he stumbles around trying to, again, just sit in a chair where Jeremy hides his eyes from everything that's happening with his earphones. I mean, maybe. All right, everybody take it easy. Everybody calm down. Everybody,

calm down. You're used to sitting in chairs. Come on. You're done. I don't see what the big deal was. That floor was slippery. It's a rug. That was actually exactly what happened to Wayne Newton in Vegas. and Tony stopped the chair. That was the exact thing where Wayne Newton, old frail, Wayne Newton was trying to sit in his chair and it started to go back. And if it wasn't for Tony, stopping his chair, we would have gone viral for something horrible that day.

For killing, Wayne. I'm telling you, it would have happened. Would have blood on my hands in. Old people cannot be falling like that. Not 90-year-olds, not off a stage. Carrotop also almost fell backwards. That's right. We had odd chairs on that set.

They're high. They're high chairs. Tony saved the life of Wayne Newton. Zaslow just reminded me of the video from earlier in the week that we had of Jerry Jones, seeing former president Bill Clinton and just sort of staggering into the distance because that was not a moment of great grace from Zaslo there. You saw everything that happened there and you're just not disgraced in any way. No.

Number one, at a clean ear. That's a huge win. And number two, I meant to sit down in that seat and what was the end game? Sat down in the seat. Well, while speaking clearly and getting your points off without being ejected from the room by Mike who no longer let you speak. Like you say is that was some grand success. You were kicked out of the room. I didn't feel that I was being respected.

So I got up on my own will, my own power. And I left the room. Okay. All right. Well, I think, though, that here's where I wanted to lead us with all of this. this nonsense involving Zaz in the chair. I believe he's going to end up at a concert tonight where everyone sits down this way because it's going to be nothing but old people.

Now, something me and Valerie enjoyed doing. I don't know whether I told you guys this or not. We were like, I'm going to say, 80 minutes, 90 minutes early for something when we were heading a little bit up north. And we saw on a billboard that it just said playing tonight at Dana Highlight, quiet riot. Okay. like an 80s metal band and we're like, we gotta stop in just to see

what that crowd is like. Let's just go in there and see what it's like. We were going to do this the other day with foreigner at the Hard Rock just to see what old bands I don't like them. Old bands. We don't like them anymore? Sound like. I'm surprised foreigners welcome here. I just like the idea that you and Valerie go

to check out what the crowd looks like and someone turns out whoa, Dan Labitart is here. Right, right. But you were thinking about going to go to guns and roses today. I think I'm going to. Well, but the reason, so the last time I went to Seinfeld, I told you guys, I was walking over Cains and actual walkers because he's 70 years old.

And Guns and Roses for me, it is a landmark of oh, I'm not going to do this except to laugh anymore because I went to Guns and Roses seriously. I'm going to say 10 years ago opening up a new venue

and they had to wheel Axel Rose around then. Like he couldn't, he had an injury. Yeah, he had a broken leg. Right, but so, but it was ridiculous because They made it a throne, but he was singing from a wheelchair, and his voice is shot, and because it's hard to keep the voice singing like that for that many years. And so what I got was a full-on old geriatric experience from my rock band, and you are thinking about going to Guns and Roses tonight.

Yeah, so I love Guns and Roses. They're at the Hard Rock Live tonight. It's a great venue, small venue, but tickets are super expensive. Now, I've been monitoring the tickets. I don't know if you know, Dan, but some people call me the ticket ninja, okay? And the reason I'll go by that moniker sometimes is because, you know, you don't always want to let everybody know what your identity is because sometimes you need to protect your loved ones. But I always, you know, check the ticket prices and I see when the ticket prices go down.

And they're about half what they were, the prices. So now it's like, all right, if I'm pull the trigger, you know, we can do it? And I said to my wife last night, I was like, do you want to go to Guns and Roses tomorrow, which now is tonight? And she said, yeah, let's go. So I haven't bought the tickets yet, but I think I'm going to. They want to go see Guns N' Roses. I'm excited. I saw them recently at the very same venue.

I want to say like two years ago. It was rough. The last time I saw them was like 10 years ago. The rest of the band can still go. They're in reasonably good shape. And credit to them, even though I don't know if anyone's actually asking for them to do this. They play for like three and a half hours. I know.

I saw the set, Dan. They play like 30 songs. Which is insane. It's great. It's insane. because the thing that's wrong with their performance is Axel's voice is shot. It's totally shot and is certainly shot by the end of three hours. I'd rather him just kind of take it easy and give me 90 minutes of like the pure stuff.

Like just give me the hits. I think they go on out there, no opening act. And Mike's right. They play for like three hours. So I think you get your money's worth. I'm into it. I love Axel. I mean, he's not dancing around out there in his underwear anymore, Dan.

He is dancing around. Doing the moves, you know. But he still does the moves. Yeah, he still does the moves. boobs? I'm into it. So wait, are you alleging that Axel Rose now dances with the microphone the way he did in the heyday where it was swinging and swaying back and forth? Not the way that he did in the heyday. Not exactly. Yeah, but he's still attempting. So I like it. I told you guys, again, this is old music because I told you guys that it had to be 20 years ago that I thought rock and roll died in the lobby of a New York hotel when Axel Rose tried to fight Tommy Hilthiger and did not win. I thought that I thought that I was in New York when rock and roll died because of what I just described. You can't have the most famous of the frontman for Cool losing a fight in a hotel lobby to Tommy Hilfiger.

Slender man, no? Well, they're both. They're both very slender. I mean, I would describe Axel Rose as frail. as frail a frontman as you will ever find. Someone you don't want falling off a chair at this point in their life. Someone that would have difficulty sitting in a chair. Well, yeah, he's knocking on heaven's door at this point. Air ball.

He's a confident shooter though, man. He'd hit rim. Dionne Waiters. He's taking shot. We reset the shock. Wow, it's going to work. Hey, Roy, buddy. You know that energy shift when the game gets good,

and everybody, altogether, in unison, knows to stand up on their feet. Oh, absolutely, Mike. Yeah, you've been at many big-time sporting events. You know that moment quite well. That's what it's like when you take your first sip of Cuervo. Oh, delicious. It's the signal that says,

we're not checking the time anymore, pal. It's when small talk turns into stories. Quervo, man, it's at high-five, a random stranger effect. That's right. The game is popping. You're hugging people you never met before. That's the kind of energy that Quervo brings.

It's so smooth, so delicious. That's the Cuervo effect. Keep it, Quervo! The other night I was staying in. At least, that was a plan. Then the text from my buddy Eagle Eye comes in. Mike, we've got the games on. I say, yeah?

I grab a pack of Miller Light, and immediately my plan's gone. Now it's playoff basketball. Every possession feels huge. Baseball's on another screen, and I somehow care about that too. Everybody's got takes flying. Nobody's watching just one thing.

and we're all way more into it than we ever expected. It was one of those nights that you take a sip, you look around and you think, yeah. This was the right move. That's why I reached for Miller Light. It's clean, refreshing, easy to drink, root for taste with simple ingredients, just 96 calories and 3.2 carbs,

the original light beer since 1975, and it still hits different. Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Light. Great taste, 96 calories. Go to Miller Lite.com, slash Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller light pretty much anywhere. They sell beer. It's Miller time.

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see sportsbook.draftkings.com slash promos. Limited time offer. Don Lebertard. It sounds to me like everybody could use a hug because a hug is always the right size. Stugats. All I have put in my body today is three cups of coffee in an entire cup of honey.

Don't let him fool you. He said in the break that he's jittery. This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stugats. While we're celebrating, Jeremy, can we show his logo for his talking with Taoisei how terrible he was in? This is unfortunate. Is that Chris Whittingham's picture? That's Whitton. That's Mike Biamonte.

Who was that? That's supposed to be you? You approved that? They did you no favors. That did not hit the rim. Okay, that was a shot cock, a shot clock violation. No, that's next, that's next segment. What was unfortunate was he was about to say Shotcock.

He stopped, and then he said Shotcock again. That's what Jeremy looked like before he started eating the sad turkey sandwiches for lunch. Don't forget the salmon. Roy, that ear. Hey, man, don't deflect. Don't you dare to flex. Pitchcock. Shot, nope, let me correct myself.

Shot cock, I meant. The correction was on purpose. The first one was not on purpose. The first one was an honest mistake. You can watch Talking with Tashay on Marlins.com. They did make your face fatter, right? It's not just that it's a combination of Whittingham and Viamte. I think it's just a strong jawline.

No, it looks like you're bloated there. I think that's why they're making fun of talking with Tashay. Michael Biamonte. You know Liam Hicks has seven home runs and eight strikeouts? It's like impossible. He's only swung and missed at one pitch in the strike zone all season. Most RBI's by a catcher. It's amazing.

You look Guatemalan. Have they fixed the NBA draft lottery? Dan, uh, maybe? Maybe. Like, now everybody knows Adam Silver's on nothing. Now, I don't know if he gets credit for this proposal. maybe someone else came up with it, but this seems like a fix to me. Now, it's a little bit convoluted, Dan, so hang with me here.

You know, the draft lottery, it is currently 14 teams. They're going to expand it to 16. And the two extra teams they're adding are the eight seeds in the playoffs, which is interesting because if it was taking place this year, the Orlando Magic are a win away from advancing into the second round. They could also get the number one pick in the draft. So anyway, but what they have now is they have what's called a relegation zone. So if you are in the relegation zone, which is number one, number two,

number three, worst records in the league. Like this year's like Indiana, Brooklyn, Washington, you don't have the best odds. So instead of all those huge combinations of ping pong balls to give you the number one, two, and three picks, they now have what's called a three two, one system. Slots 4 through 10 have three ping pong balls. Slots 1 through 3 have 2. So you want to avoid being there, hence maybe you'll try hard late in the season to win games. And slots 11 through 14 have two balls, 15 and 16 have one ball. And they draw not just 1, 2, and 3 like they do now. They're going to draw every pick. And that part of the thing is also really interesting. So the idea is, yeah, if you're in one, two, and three, you're going to be playing hard late in

the season. I mean, heck, can you imagine for teams that aren't any good, like a late season matchup this year between like Washington and Utah, the fans might be pumped for that game, you know, because, hey, we want to get an extra lottery pick, an extra ball. So I think this might be a good idea. I think it's the best idea I've heard, and I think that fixes it. The Memphis, Utah game played earlier toward the end of the season was the most embarrassing game played in basketball this season up to and including what happened with the Wizards and Bam, correct? It was bad.

Yeah. Yeah. You had three triple doubles in that game. By the losers. Two teammates off the bench. I straight up didn't recognize most of the people that got playing time in that game. Well, there were three, there were not just three triple doubles. It's never happened before.

And I think Memphis just played five players all game, correct? Or six players. and it was as embarrassing a thing as has existed. And you guys are just saying for all that talk that we spent this season talking about the stupidity. It was half the season talking about the stupidity of 10 teams aren't trying. You guys are saying they fixed it by simply creating something that feels like a relegation, which is that you are shaming the bad teams for being bad instead of rewarding them. You're shaming the worst teams for being bad instead of rewarding.

Yeah. And I don't think we've just been talking about it. year. This has been something that's been taking most of the narrative surrounding this league for this century has surrounded teams that are not trying to win. Tinking has been an issue this century longer than it has been. I don't think it's prisoner of the moment, though, to say that this was the most sustained period of complaining about it as a media. As a media narrative. That's right. So I don't know if they, like, they get some credit for fixing it. We can also criticize like, where was this idea 10 years ago?

Right, that would be the critique of Adam Silver in this spot. Why didn't you have any kind of foresight that this could possibly happen? Why did you wait till we're at the absolute rock bottom scenario where you have 10 teams not trying? Oh, but necessity is the mother of invention. Like, it had become such a problem that it wasn't something he could go any longer without addressing because it was eating up the way that his sport is covered. Like he, of course, the reason that, yes, you're right. leadership requires vision but I would say that very often leadership is faulty because things

happen to you that you didn't have the vision on that's right and it collapsed on him in his lap but when you talk about some of the things we've been talking about when it comes to vision we are sitting here laughing about AI and I don't know if you guys are covering or reading what the ringer is doing they do some good work cover tech there, Bill Simmons, you know, Katie Baker, Brian Phillips. They've done some writing here and covering of things that can be difficult because it's the tech industry, which is taking over everything, including all of mankind soon if we're not careful. But I just want to give some credit here to Stugatz for being many years ahead of the ringer and everyone else when it

comes to Elon Musk. Here from the ringer, Musk is not, I'll put this as politely as I can, since I disagree with his stance that empathy is for the week, a finisher. From his proposed hyperloop concept to his plans for space exploration, to his promise to reinvent the American government, he consistently over promises and consistently under-delivers. His robotaxy service would, he said, have a million autonomous cabs on the road by 2020. As of 2025, there are fewer than 200.

He promised to sell millions of cyber trucks at a rate of $250,000 per year. As of this fall, he'd sold fewer than $70,000. His failed predictions about self-driving Teslas are so numerous that they have their own wiki page. How is Stugats more of a pioneer on AI and technology than the entirety of the world? A lot of good ideas. You got to finish those ideas to them be an idea guy, right? Do you know? Isn't it reported that if they hit all the incentives, he could get, he just got a trillion dollars in possible incentives?

No, yeah, that's a different story, though. That sucks. It's all who you know. He's an Altman guy. Can I tell you something? I don't know, maybe like a month ago. And I decided to watch Pitch Clock. And I told Jeremy,

Stugats. This is a good show you're doing. This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stugats. Chris, I think something that's awesome is that no matter how either of us does in trivia today, we can take solace in knowing we are not Alex Cora. Rob Salas. Ooh. Welcome to the pitch clock.

Here's the pitch. A two-part baseball segment. Combining a nostalgic baseball trivia game and an interview with an expert. This is the pitch clock. Different camera angle today. How about that? Look, we're on that camera. Hi, everybody?

I'm very excited because we have our monthly installment of the pitch clock with Adnan. He's going to be here to talk Boston Red Sox and everything else. Yeah, the old AV club. Should we start calling Adnan fans the AV club? We'll get to that later. I'll ask him later in our interview. But Ethan, what is our game for today? Jeremy, pick a number between 1 and 10.

Seven. Chris, leave the room. Was that right? Spot on, 7. My number is always 7. I don't know why. I got to start changing that up. Yeah, I got to start changing that up.

Wow, so we're doing a game where we leave the room. We're doing a game where we leave the room. All right, so we're going to play this game called StatPad. It's an online game. It's kind of like the Immaculate Grid. Great. You're going to pick five players. It's going to give you a category for each player.

You're trying to get the most home runs possible. Okay? So I'm going to give you, so like, for example, the first clue on this list is you need to give me a Seattle Mariner between 1980 and 2025 that played first base in that season. Okay. But you have to pick a specific season. Oh, God. So you're going to pick a season where you think they probably hit the most home runs and then you're going to give me a total. It'll add up.

and you'll give me a total at the end. And you're not going to give me the list of the players that are there. I just have to come up with a player that was there in the specific year. Mariners, 1980 to 2025 played first base. Okay. Okay. It's a fun one. This is tough already.

All right. Let's go with Richie Sexton 2005. Jeremy, a very nice guess. 39 home runs. That is the hundredth percent. Centile for Richie Sexton. Hell yeah. For the Mariners.

Your next category, 2015 to 2025, an NL West second basement. Whoa. Okay. And we're going for home runs. Home runs. Yes.

All of these are you're going for home runs. Astros, Mariners, Angels, Rays, and athletics. Ah, I keep saying, it's fine. I know what this is. I'm going to go,

now this is interesting because there's a guy that I'm thinking of in Seattle. Mm. But not where I would have gone. But I'm going Houston. I'm going 20, I guess I'll do it the year. I'll go 2017 Astros, Jose L2Vo. The World Series year for L2Vier.

I don't know if that's his best year home run-wise, but I'm going to take that one. Altuvia hit 24 home runs. That is the 92nd percentile. I need a New York met between 2000 and 2025 who played in the NLLUVIA. DS in the same season. So pick a Mets playoff team. It can be any position. Yeah, I'm going to go 2000, Mike Piazza.

98th percentile, 38 home runs. Very good stuff. You're up to 101. Okay. Two categories left. I need an NL Central outfielder between 2005 and 2020. Okay. 2005 and 2020 NL Central Outfielder.

Was he an outfielder at this time? Because this is the first name that comes to mind. 2016 Chris Bryant. It gives you 39 home runs. I mean... That's pretty good. You're at 140. Okay.

One player left. You need 2000 to 2025 a Miami Marlin who played in the NLDS in the same season. Whoa. You have three? Do you even have three seasons? I have, you have one season? I have, no, I have two seasons. I have, yes, because they played in the NLDS in the 2020 in the COVID year.

All right, I'm gonna go. God, who do I think of that group? All right, I'm going with Mike Loll. Mike Loll in 2003 was the 100th percentile. He hit 32 home runs. two home runs. Let's go! That means that he led the team. So your total, Jeremy, 172. I feel like it's going to be almost impossible for Chris to beat me. Nice job. All right, let's check out what Chris is doing. Let's go get Chris Code. And it's a crazy,

newsworthy week here on the pitch clock, a wild time to have not one but two different managers fired in Major League Baseball before we've reached the month of May. So of course, we needed our monthly check-in with Adnan Verk, who I believe at the beginning of the season told us the Phillies would make the playoffs. They are one of the worst teams in baseball. But we'll get to them in just a second because the Boston Red Sox had the most dramatic week of anybody. They fire Alex Cora, Jason Veritech, a part of that as well and all sorts of coaching. Everything is up in the air in Boston with Craig Breslo running that franchise. You got players who are out here sort of throwing shots at management for firing Cora.

It is a wild time in Boston. And we spoke with Mike Scher a couple of weeks ago about a team that was flailing to start. Never did I anticipate. Alex Cora would be gone by this point. Adnan, can you give us just sort of the overall bird's eye view on what's gone down in Boston? It was Cora along with other members of the staff,

the hitting coaches, bench coach, etc. And I think the frustration at least from those guys' perspective is that she aghast us, but you kept the pitching coach. Meantime, Andrew Billing, this pitching hasn't been particularly strong. As far as Cora himself, I call him the next day, and he's going to see him in a great place. You couldn't have seen this coming. This is shocking. He said, yeah, he said, listen, I've always had a great relationship with the guys up top.

Obviously, John Henry, FSG, as they call it, family sports group. But I think what happened was he was a disconnect with Craig Breslo. I think Bres thought this team was better. And Alex is like, listen, I think we're under manned here. And I remember telling Alex at the start of the season, you're at least a batch short. And now I think he's about four bats short. They have a complete absence of power, Jeremy, period. Wilson Contreras leaving the team in home runs with like four.

They don't have any pop, which is so shocking for a Boston Red Sox team. You think of David Ortiz. You think of Jim Rice. You think of all the power of those guys always have. For a Red Sox team, like Canaan home runs, like what? Don't you know what kind of park you're living in there with the green monster? So very odd. This is definitely blood on Craig Breslow's hands.

It was his decision, which how about Sam Kennedy? Normally you just say at least publicly, Jeremy, hey, collectively we felt it was best. He's like, nope, that was his call. Any questions? Go ahead. Craig Breszo's decision. I'm like, okay. So clearly, Brez thinks it's a better team than what's been performing. I would agree with that to an extent. And then they're underachieving. But if he thinks this is a 90-win team, I mean, I would be shocked by that. I thought Alex worked a miracle lecture with 89 wins, get him to the playoffs. He's a brilliant manager. There's no question about it. And again, I worked to them for five years at ESPN.

I'm not unbiased on this topic. I do think he's a great kind and consider him a friend. But anybody who gets him is going to have a winner. We mentioned the Phillies job, by the way. when Alex and I spoke to him, I said, you could have this Philly's job in two weeks, and he laughed, he goes, or maybe two days. So, I mean, everyone knows, especially the relationship he has with Dave Dombowski, that would make perfect sense.

But he intimidated to me, even in that phone conversation, that he's got twin seven-year-old boys, one's a big baseball guy, one's a big soccer guy, he's been on the road so much. This might be the time to enjoy the time of the family. And to be blunt,

he's getting paid $7 million this year and next year, and the Red So there's no rush to go back to the pressure cooker Philly. I think it would have been fun if he'd be taken the job, job. But now we're going to talk about the Madalese and how Kiro Kla's going to be. I mean, that's certainly an unusual situation. But tire fire in Boston, I think everybody is pro Kora. Love the fact Trevor's story came out. Prokora, pro the player. They did not ask them their decision making with regards to the manager. He is well liked in that room. And eventually

he's going to be managing somewhere else. So it's a mess right now in Boston, no doubt about it. Unfortunately, Craig Breslo's analysis of his roster is as as as your headphones right now, Bad man. Welcome to the hot seat. I was trying so hard to cheat. I know you were. Like, I was, like, putting my ears up against the doors and walls. Cheaters?

I ain't cheating. If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying. All right, Chris Cody. So we are playing this game. It's kind of like the Immaculate Grid. It's called StatPad. It's an online game. So I'm going to give you a category of player.

And you're trying to get the highest possible home run total based on the category of player. So, for example, the first category is Mariners between 1980 and 2025 who played first base. Okay. And you want to get the most home runs possible. Okay. I like this. I have one in my head that I'm thinking of.

John Olerud, not a home run hitter. I'm just going to go with the first home run hitter that popped into my head. that played for space during this window at some point. I feel like he's one of these names that I say a lot. It's a name. I know exactly where you're going. Richie Sexton. When I saw this board, I'm like, Chris is going to play Richie Sexton.

That's right where my head goes. All right. Talk to me. So you have to pick a specific season. Okay. That's where I'm going to go with O5. Because that's, I can remember him. I know he was an all-star.

I don't leave that year. I'm going to tell you right now that Jeremy also picked O-5 Rishi-Sexe. And he is the 100th percentile. He hit 39 home runs. So he is the number one total of Mariners first basement between 1980 and 2020. Jeremy shouldn't be not allowed to take Richie Sexton because I always say that is your guy. All right. So next up, the next category is an N.

Excuse me, an A.L. West second baseman between 2015 and 2025. Damn. If it was before 2015, I was about to Brett Boone the shit out of this. Okay, there's an obvious one here. I just have no clue. what year I want to go with. I'm definitely going to go Jose Al Tuve. Let's just pick a year.

25 and then there's this that we're good. The cheating scandal was around here. Let's go. 2019. 98th percentile here. Okay, let's go. Jose Al Tuvei, 31 home runs in 2019.

The Phillies, I mean, mind-blowingly, got off to a 9 and 19 start at the time of this recording. Literally the worst team in baseball as we have this conversation, tied with the Mets for the worst record. We did our crash out over there last week with Bobby Wagner. But the worst run differential in baseball, my guy, Jesus Lazzardo, has had a awful start to the season. The team can't hit the way that they're anticipating.

Everybody seems to look pretty old. And now Rob Thompson's gone, setting up what is the first ever nepot daddy situation with Don Madding. taking over as the manager of this ball club with Preston Mattingly being the general manager of the team. It's actually a pretty cool situation.

But I mean, my goodness, what's going on in Philly? I'm asking you what's going on in Boston? Now what's going on in Philly? Yeah, two major markets right now. First off, love Don Maddenley, shave those cybrons manually. Disappointing he's not in the Hall of Fame. It was obviously a tremendous player,

great Camille on the Simpsons. And of course, a great manager, a great bench coach with the Blue Jays last year. Regardless, Madly Smartly goes, well, I'm not going to be a manager in Toronto. I'd still like to manage somewhere else. I'll just be the bench coach in Philly.

And hey, my son's the general manager, Preston Maddenley. So you can already kind of feel aligned. I'm sure Rob Thompson was not sleeping well at night. Once you saw that decision, then the team started playing baseball. Rob definitely was having sleepless nights. I love Topper, fellow Canadian, inducting the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

I'm really happy for Rob. He's a great guy. But there's no denying something had to change. This team is a disaster right now. Boom and Schwarber hitting under 200. Lizardo is your boy. Aaron Nola's second consecutive, awful season. Andrew Painter, the one highly coveted prospect.

All those three guys, ERA's over five. Now, you try to bring in a little bit of youth. Justin Crawford's a minus four DRS. Been terrible defensively. You'd think he'd be like his dad, Carl Crawford, hit and field, not doing it. Painter again, like I said, was a former stud prospect. Terrible. Bryce Harper, pretty average so far.

So what can you do? Fire the manager. And you're bringing Don Manually. So fascinating what kind of conversation is going to be like. Father and son, I can't imagine. being the boss of my dad. It's crazy. In any sort of respect, it just feels really uncomfortable. I would never fire my dad. I don't think I would hire my dad because I'd have to fire him one day. I'm like, no, that just can't happen. Like, I'll fire myself or I'll fire my dad.

I will say as someone that spent some time around Don Mattingly, I think the one criticism that existed around the end of his tenure in Miami was that he wasn't a great manager for a young team at the time. In Philadelphia, you got a team full of vets. So all you need is that adult in the room, that calming presence. Don Mattingly actually feels like a pretty perfect fit to go, guys, there's 130 games left of this season. We've got plenty of time. Everybody will get back to their normal way of producing. And he gets to do so in managing one of his first series right here in Miami this weekend. It's a four game set starting on Friday against the Marlins. So that'll be really, really fun to have him back at the ballpark. I'm going to combine a couple of topics here

because we've gotten into some of the minutia and I want to get to our star of the week. Let's get to something positive, actually, that we could have here. So there's a debut. Travis, and I want to say it in the proper Aussie accent, Bezana. Nice, Travis, Bezana. He's the first ever first round pick out of Australia. The first ever first overall pick for a second baseman, I read, which is mind-blowing to me. In the history of baseball, Cleveland Guardians, he's making his debut this week.

Also in Cleveland, he got Parker Messick, who I just needed to make sure, got mentioned, on this show before we got out of April because he has been spectacular to watch. His almost no hitter that was cursed by Dan Lebitard sending me a text in the eighth inning and saying, oh my God, Messick. And then, of course, Munataka Morikami, who has come over and been maybe the best hitter in baseball, leading all of Major League Baseball with 12 homers for the Chicago White Sox. All three of these guys are interesting stories. Who would you like to focus on as our Golden Era Star of the week?

I'll go with Morikami. this guy's unbelievable. He is a guy who is known as the best slugger in Japan coming over. Sometimes that translates. Sometimes it doesn't. You know, Hideki Matsui was a guy. He had 30 home run potential. Someone says there's more like 25 home runs, 28290.

Wasn't sure what to expect the Murakami. Now, he'll strike out. There's no doubt about it, but he'll get you some Ruthian blasts. And as you said, in terms of OPS, he's top three right now in the American League. Like, that's awesome to see for a rookie campaign. Normally Japanese players have a little bit of acclamation process. Not for this guy. Murakami's so good.

And he's got a great person. personality right out of the gate. They're asking, what was it about the white sex that sold you? And he said, well, I insisted I had to get bidetis. And sometimes you're speaking of foreign language. You go, maybe there's a translation issue. I'm like, hey, you want to clean that up? You mean bidetis?

He's like, yeah, the translate. It's exactly what I mean? It's like, bedaise. You know, we clean yourself? I love it. Murakami, already a fan favorite. Adnan, thank you as always. Before we wrap up this and get back to our trivia game, I want to do two quick shouts.

One, Ryan Bass, my buddy over with the Ray's broadcast, making good in Cleveland. or there was a moment earlier in the week where there was a jerk fan that stole a home run ball from a little girl and Ryan Bass, the raise reporter in Cleveland found a way to get a baseball

to that little girl and it was a moment that kind of saved the day. I'll send you the videos separately at me. And then for myself, if you're a fan of the Marlins, if you're just a fan of good hitting, I have a sit down one-on-one with Liam Hicks for the start of a new series

talking with Tashé that we're debuting on Marlins. So make sure to subscribe to marlins. TV. Next interview will be with Marlins Charles Johnson. So from the present catcher to the greatest catcher in the history of the franchise, I'm very excited about this new series. The Maple Mashers. I love it. I can't see it. It's the best. I can't wait.

And we've got to get you into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame Madnan. Just for your work here on the pitch clock. Thank you for joining us again this month. All right. Next up is going to be a met between 2000 and 2025 who played in the NLDS in the same season. 25 years. All right, I'll go David Wright. Okay.

06. I don't know. I'm just pulling one out of my ass. That is actually a year that the Mets played in the NLDS. I was just looking at the Mets. I genuinely... Bro, what an obscure one of the throwing. That was crazy.

I was thinking I would have thought 08, like I would have guessed, but I was just looking up the years. David Wright in 06 hit 26. All right. So next category is the NL Central. From 05 to 2020, I need an outfew. I am going to go with Ryan Braun. Ooh. Ooh, okay.

See, this year thing is tough. I wish I knew when his steroid scandal was. Uh, just give me 08. I don't even know like the time line of his... You're gonna do good here, Cody. 37. That's in the 94th percentile. Alright, so this last one is fun. Okay.

And Jeremy, I'm gonna let you know got the 100th percentile on this last one. You're currently at 133. So can I even win? You need 39 home runs to beat Jeremy. Okay. You need a Marlin between 2000 and 2025 who played in the NLDS in the same season. Now I'm going to let you know that the Marlins have only, and I did this to Jeremy, so I'm

going to do this with you. The Marlins have only played in the NLDS twice since 2000. It was the year they won the World Series. and the COVID season when there were 60 games. So I would probably think about 2003 before I think about the COVID season. Nailed it.

Okay. I think I know it. Yeah? I mean, this is like his peak before he left us and became a stud. But he got really good after he left us. I know he had in the high 30 home run totals with the team next

that he played first base for. Okay. It's who I was thinking of. Derek Lee. Okay. You're going to go Derek Lee. Yeah. Hit 31 homers and the leader. Who was their leader?

Was Mike Lowell with 32. So I couldn't have won. So you couldn't have won. You come up at 164. Jeremy had 172. Where did he beat me? The Piazza one. Okay.

I feel like I did all right. That was a really good effort. That was a really, really tight game. But Jeremy, unfortunately, who has left the premises, is once again the winner. The other night, I was staying in. At least that was a plan. Then the text from my buddy Eagle Eye comes in. Mike, we've got the games on. I say, yeah, I grab a pack of Miller Light and immediately my plan's gone. Now it's playoff basketball. Every possession feels huge. Baseball's on another screen and I

somehow care about that too. Everybody's got takes flying. Nobody's watching just one thing. And we're all way more into it than we ever expected. It was one of those nights that you take a sip, You look around and you think, yeah. This was the right move. That's why I reach for Miller Light. It's clean, refreshing, easy to drink, root for taste with simple ingredients. Just 96 calories and 3.2 carbs. The original light beer since 1975, and it still hits different.

Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Light. Great taste, 96 calories. Go to Miller Lite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Light pretty much anywhere. They sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories, 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.