The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Hour 2: The Pathetic Cowards at USC (feat. Jessica Smetana and Adnan Virk)

Episode Date: May 22, 2025

Lee-man left at 6 a.m. in a kayak and hasn't come back, and Jessica is concerned. She also has one of her strongest takes in the show's history. Plus, Adnan Virk joins Jeremy, Chris, and Taylor on The Pitch Clock. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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To support sustainable food production, BHP is building one of the world's largest hot ash mines in Canada. Essential resources responsibly produced. It's happening now at BHP, a future resources company. This is the Don Leventor Show with the Stoogats Podcast. I wanted to talk to Jessica about Happy Nick's Things. The last time she was here, she was jubilant because all of New York had gone into rapture and thrown trash at Brian Windhorse.

But last night's epic collapse, I was asking here if Knicks fans slept last night. You guys felt how about how last night landed on you, Jess, and it's nice to see you again. It's nice to see you. Different reactions in this household. So I fell asleep on the couch watching the WNBA link swings game last night and woke up and saw that the Knicks brought by nine

I was like, oh great. That's exciting. But then they blew it and we slept in separate beds last night. So Oh my god I just didn't want to be near that, you know, I'm like just go watch your sad videos Watch the whatever press conferences. Look at your memes do it over there. I'm trying to get some sleep tonight. Stugats will not give us his pain. I can't imagine, I mean, half your house was broken last night, right? I mean, probably.

Lee got up at 6 a.m. and went kayaking, so I haven't seen him yet. Oh man. You say he got up at 6 a.m. He's working through it. I doubt he ever went to bed. Can we check on Lehman? There's no way he slept. There's no way he slept.

There's no way he slept. You gotta calm the mind, Danny. Kayaking, yes. This is what's to God's did. To calm his nerves before coming in here. Kayak down here. He did some kayaking. It took him less time than driving.

I got high. Certainly, Jessica, you felt New York's heartbreak. Is it palpably something that you feel in your bones outside of your building? No, but I mean, to be honest, I was rooting for the Knicks after the Halliburton shot for the sole reason that that picture behind you, Dan, would have been one of the great memes of all time

if the Pacers lost. It would have been so funny. And instead, it was a great moment for him and obviously great moment for the Pacers lost, it would have been so funny. And instead it was a great moment for him and obviously great moment for the Pacers. But no, I mean, I think I'm kind of with Stu Gatze. I'm not like a big Knicks fan, obviously. I just am rooting for them because I don't want my boyfriend to leave in a kayak

and never come back, but it is game one. It is game one. And I don't think it's like, I don't, you keep saying about like the fear at MSG last night. I don't think there was like fear. I think there's more so just like so much excitement that Knicks fans are like angry and they don't know what to do with themselves.

I don't, I wouldn't say it's just like fear that they're feeling. The thing about Stugatz though, is that his take is totally right. It is just one game. It doesn't carry over from game to game. They can win the next game by 20. But to see that kind of heartbreak and know that it rings eternal, like we are going to be talking

about that time, that play, whether the series- Forever. No matter how the series ends up, like that- Well, we still talk about Reggie's moment, his nine seconds, the Pacers lost that series. So you're right. Yes. You just don't get those kinds of things. How do you feel though, Jessica, about Halliburton as a villain? We don't get many of those. I don't really know.

Is he a villain? I think Amin said he was annoying, right? Like he's a, I don't know. I don't see him as like a villain. Like people see like Draymond Green as a villain, I guess. He's just sort of like someone that everyone's like yeah Yeah, whatever go away like you haven't won anything yet like he's that sort of it like more like a Trey young I guess an irritant more than a villain yes, but but yes, but who is what I don't understand

This is a personality type though. Give me all the people that you guys think of as just annoying Jeremy Tashay Hmm nailed it Wow she by the way, I like Jeremy's vest today. I do wanna say it is very cute, Jeremy. You're the only one. No, not Jeremy. I appreciate it. Congratulations. That was very nice. It's a better compliment than anyone else here.

I know, that's what style is. You look like a baritone in a late 90s boy band. Well, I did, in fact, make a song about this for you, so if we have that ready. Oh, gosh. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, song about this for you. So if we have that ready. Oh, God. Really? Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Curious.

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Jee, sas, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. You know what the Midwest is young and vestless. That was an overlap from someone out there. Yeah. Who just laughed in the other room? I know the voice.

Definitely Cynthia. It was Kirsten. Yeah, it was Kirsten. It was Kirsten. Really? Thanks, Kirsten. That was Kirsten laugh for sure. Wow.

Another vest joke cannot land in that room that way. It's a curious time to say that. She just got here, I think. That's why she didn't hear all the other great vest jokes. I'm allowed to sample it. Put her in the Palantir box. You're allowed to sample it. I can do Kanye.

He did tweet out this morning. He's done with anti-Semitism. Ye's done with anti-Semitism. Isn't that exciting? We apologize for the pain that he caused. Are we back? He's going to have a Hitler mustache by noon. I'm jubilant.

The Midwest is young and vestless. OK. Thank you. Whoever left. Minor penalty, two minutes. Pearson. Take them all with you. Not me, right?

You and them. And everybody else left. You and them. Take them all with you. Jess, I just want to point out, thank you for that compliment. Whoever left minor penalty two minutes here Yes, I just want to point out thank you for that compliment I know I'm Get out of here Jeremy stop Just stop kids just stop is that taupe I Is that Tope? I saw that USC Stugats is trying to end the Notre Dame football rivalry. These cowards. Look at, look at the look on Jessica's face. Look at her. Are they cowards or are they just like in the big 10 now and they realize shit. It's a lot of hard games. It's a different world.

They're cowards. Mike, look at their 2027 schedule and tell me as a USC fan, which games you would be excited to host from that schedule. First of all, no one told USC you have to leave for the Big Ten and blow up the Pac-12 and all of your West Coast rivalries. No one told them that is something that you must do. And this rivalry is something that it means so much to Notre Dame fans and USC fans. It would be devastating to see this leave college football. This is a game that's been played almost 100 times for a century

that was born out of the 1920s when Newt Rockne decided. First of all, Notre Dame couldn't schedule Big Ten games because the Big Ten was like, we don't want to play against you. You're a Catholic school and we don't respect you and we don't want you. So Notre Dame says, OK, well, how do we make money? Let's do a West Coast trip. Let's go to L.A. And they did. And it started this amazing rivalry and millions and millions of people watched their games.

And just because USC now has decided to blow up their identity as a Pac-12 team to join the Big Ten doesn't mean that they have to blow up one of the true great rivalries in the sport, just because they're afraid of playing another good team or a, like, this is, it's so frustrating to me, especially because there's a Notre Dame just to join the Big Ten then. Notre Dame has a football identity and obviously I'm saying this as a Notre Dame grad, I'm very biased but Notre Dame's football identity is we're an independent team,

we play USC and Navy every year and we have done this for a century and these are the things that are important to us. What is USC's identity if they do not have this rivalry? They've already lost all of their West Coast rival games. They don't play Stanford anymore. They don't play any of the teams that we enjoyed watching them play in the last decade and a half that became great rivalries. And what is their identity? What are they doing? What are they clinging onto right now?

It's just very pathetic to me that they would want to give this away for no reason. And especially with their claim is like, oh, you know, well, we want to see what the playoff format is like. Well, the current playoff format allows you to lose a couple games and you can still get in. So I really don't understand that justification. And also, oh, the travel is really far. No one told you, you had to schedule games with Rutgers every other year. And South Bend to LA is not that far. South Bend's in Indiana. It's not a East Coast trip. It's really not that long of a flight if you're chartering.

Damn. Atlantic cowards. That's all I have on that. No, Rutger, that was incredible. And I did take a look at that USC 2027 schedule and it's unrecognizable for what USC has historically done. There's a game against Washington in there, which is a conference game. Yeah, no, it's sad. It's a sad part of this conference expansion that teams are making this decision

because and also I do think that it's a hard game for them and they just realized last year how difficult this conference can be. Look, Mike, you're right. It is a hard game. Notre Dame's won 10 of the last 14 against USC. USC has not been as good as people thought they were going to continue to be after Pete Carroll left. Like this football team and this athletic department

has not performed well since that era where USC was kicking Notre Dame's ass every single year. And some iconic games between Notre Dame and USC were played in that time period, I should add. But Notre Dame could have ended this series when they did the ACC scheduling agreement a decade ago. And they didn't because this is something that's important to Notre Dame.

This is something that they would never give up. And that was coming off of the heels of Notre Dame being a joke of a college football program for 20 years. So I just find the excuse though, like, oh, this is a hard game for us. And we're gonna have maybe this ACC scheduling agreement. So now this is adding an 11th tough game for us. Like I, I really, like, I don't care because you guys did this to yourself. This was your choice to join the big 10 and you decided what was important to you. And Notre Dame wants to continue a long-term deal

and USC is like, well, maybe if we do it in the first week of the year, Notre Dame's already scheduled out over the next decade against Alabama and Texas and other good teams because they are aware. And don't forget, Jess, the ACC tie-in, they got kind of screwed over by this ACC rev share agreement that has them playing the cream of the crop in the ACC such that it is more regularly, and they still want to throw down with USC.

Yeah, it's something that I just don't see this happening if USC was the team that had won 10 of the last 14 games. I think USC is like, yeah, let's continue this rivalry forever. We are the top dogs in this rivalry. And so it just, Lincoln Riley's comments last year, I think really rubbed people the wrong way. And it was the first time that people realized like this rivalry is something that could go away. And then this week, Pat Forte wrote a story in Sports Illustrated that added more to that saying USC has basically offered a one-year extension because they want the last game to be in LA

And Notre Dame's like no we want to do a long-term extension This is something that we want to play forever the Notre Dame athletic director said as long as college football is being played We want to play USC and Notre Dame and USC could play Every year for the next 15 years and Notre Dame could lose every single game And I would still want this to be a rivalry that happens every single year and that's I think the biggest difference. I wanted to get to some f1 stuff with Jessica but also Stugatsi we kind of skipped past the IndyCar scandal that is just a total insanity where you have the the best team in the sport the the team that owns the sport is now cheating and people are being fired

and I don't even know what to compare it to. If this were happening in any of the other sports where you had this kind of power governance cheating, you'd have a scandal that would echo throughout sports media. It would be like if the Philadelphia Eagles, if the tush push was deemed to be cheating, an unfair advantage which people have their opinions on, and they decide, no, no, no, we're fine. We'll, we'll handle this internally. But also the Eagles own the NFL and the NFL is like backing them up. Uh, Joseph New Garden will power to hugely famous racers in Indy car, New Garden,

the reigning champion team, Penske legitimately runs this sport, not just from a competitive standpoint, but they own the entirety of the sport. They were caught in pre-qualifying with an unfair advantage. They were smoothing out their vehicles that gave them a significant speed advantage and they just decided, hey, we're going to send, initially the punishment was we're going to send those two big time drivers to the back of the pack. And all the other teams are like what the hell This this this is not a punitive enough of a measure if this was another team you throw the book at them

Who do we turn to we turn to Indycar you guys are Indycar? How is this allowed now? I will give credit to Roger Penske who got directly involved. He fired Everybody Austin Cintric's dad got fired. Like we had big time republi, presidents, team crew chiefs, everybody got fired. So they've actually responded to this in kind, but it's a massive scandal headed into the Indy 500, which is on Sunday, the biggest day in motorsports,

and it all kicks off in Monaco. Just historically not a great race, even though it's the glamour race of the circuit. Max Verstappen has turned his season around, looks thoroughly dominant. Usually if you qualify well, you win this race. Any reason to change those expectations? I mean, unless there's bad weather, that's usually the case,

but this is why you kind of pray for rain, but not enough rain to actually delay or cancel the race, which happened a couple of years ago. Like enough rain that it's like, ooh, this is interesting. Maybe there will be something kind of fun in this, but no, Mike, usually that's sort of the rule. And it doesn't mean that it's not, you know, pleasant to watch on Sunday morning,

but qualifying is a little bit better for this weekend on Saturday. Are you in at all? And what's going on after that? As they set the table for the biggest day of motorsports, the Indy 500 with over 300,000 people packing that Speedway with the Pacers doing this. I can't even imagine that party.

And then the nightcap with Larson going for the double. And also the Indiana Fever, although they lost against the Dream in what was a really bad end of game sequence two nights ago. Indiana feels like the epicenter of the sports world right now in a way that I'm uncomfortable with. Put it on the poll please at LeBotard Show. Is Indiana the center of the sports world right now

in a way you're uncomfortable with? Ursay would have loved this. Tony, I feel- Should be Chicago. Tony, I feel like we've lost you. Well, Dan, the thing is me and Stugat have been back channeling and I've been thinking about hoops and stuff and I remember a conversation

He was having the other day when Zazz was here talking about coaches when they used to be coaches and wear suits and do all That stuff and I had never really pictured any of the coaches that they were saying I just heard the names and I was like Jean shoe I don't know who the hell that is, but then I saw it and then I saw the vision then I understood the suit You know white hair I get it Okay, and I just wrote some names down of guys that I liked the way they look. Right. Okay. But who's the guy you're stuck on? Like who's the guy? Well, cotton fit Simmons for sure. I'm going to look and get a trading card of

cotton fit Simmons. It's only a dollar 99. I was talking to Jess here. I wasn't. I just, Dan, did you, did you see the look at Tony's back? I mean, yeah, Dick, those glasses, Dick, if it's a good list, I will allow it. If it's a good one, it's all right. Well, we got 45 seconds. All right, here we go. Number five, the czar, Mike Fratello. Oh, my God. What a look. Number four, Doug Moe. He's always upset. Number three, Gene Shoe. Classic number two, Gene Shue. That's right, Gene Shue, the legend.

Classic. Number two, Dick Mata. Yes. Number one, Chuck Daly. Oh, the best dress that Dapper Dan. He was. I feel like we need photos to go along with that list. Ah, he's your imagination.

On the fly. Yeah, that would be well planned. But nothing about what we do around here would suggest that anything we're doing is worth it. Time! We're on a very low budget of time, Danny. We're supposed to know what Dick Shoe looks like. Thank you, Jessica.

It's not a Dick Shoe. It's not Dick Shoe. It's not Dick Shoe. How dare you, Jessica? Dick Mata! Get out of here! I bet a lot of those guys wore vests. The NBA Finals are almost here and every second counts, but DraftKings Sportsbook, an official

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Stugats a lot of walks, but I'm on base When it comes to sex a a lot of foul tips. Other dudes, they can be Giambi. You know your role, you play well. I know my role. This is the Don LeBethard Show with the Stugats. 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. It's baseball time.

However, there he is, Jeremy Taché, Chris Cody, Taylor Vipolis with us. We'll get to our expertise on the 2025 Major League Baseball season very shortly, but it's time for trivia. Coming off of maybe the best trivia game We've played all season Taylor. What is our trivia game today? We're keeping it rolling with ball. No or trivia I thought it worked out great last week. We're running it back again We'll alternate questions if you miss the other person has a chance to steal

I high score after five rounds wins. Chris Cody goes first. A year after finishing in the top six for rookie of the year voting, this Cardinal led the MLB in hits in 2013. It's a little out of my era. 2013 is right about when I stopped paying attention to baseball. But Cardinal, all right, yeah, I don't feel good about this. I'm going to guess Matt Carpenter. Cardinal. All right, yeah, I don't feel good about this. I'm going to guess Matt Carpenter. I was like, wait, two.

That's right, it's Matt Carpenter. I'm so mad. As soon as you said it, I was like, yeah, that's who I was about to guess. I was like, wow. I was just trying to think of a good player they had in that era. And it was perfect, congratulations.

Honestly, I'm not even mad. That was impressive. Alright, what's my first question? A year after finishing in the top six for Rookie of the Year voting, this Yankee led the MLB in hits in 2002. I'm trying to go through... I just have a guess. So it's like there's Jorge Passada behind the plate, there's Jeter at short, there's Scott Brochus and Chuck Knoblack

and Paul O'Neill and Tino Martinez. You have Scott Brochus behind the 2000. And who are the outfielders? Alfonso Soriano. That's what I was gonna guess. It is Alfonso Soriano at the buzzer. Wow. Oh, man.

Awesome. I thought that was pretty obvious. Man, at first I thought about Robbie Cano. But I was like, that's way too late for that one. So all right. All right, good. We're both tied at one despite the fact that neither one of us thought we were going to get our answer right and the other person was ready to pounce.

In 2010, the NL MVP was this infielder from an NL Central team. Infielder, 2010. I have a guess in my mind. Brian Braun. Brian Braun is incorrect, Jeremy, chance to steal. Was Ryan Braun not an outfielder? I guess he was.

He played third base at one point. In college, he was an infielder. What I was, well, hold on. I'm gonna make that, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna make that my final answer. Is the answer Prince Fielder? The answer is not Prince Fielder. Cincinnati Reds, Joey Votto.

Oh, of course it was Joey Votto. In 2006, the NL MVP was this infielder from an NL East team. In 2006, there are so many potential options here. I feel like I'm, I'm going to guess David right. That's not right. I was thinking that too. That is not right. I knew it wasn't right. The Marlins have had an MVP? Yes. Oh knew it wasn't right. The Marlins had an MVP.

Yes. Oh, this is so dumb. Hanley Ramirez. No. It is not Hanley Ramirez. Was it Chipper Jones? Wasn't Chipper Jones. Ryan Howard from the Phillies.

Oh really? He did win the MVP. I almost went ugly. I thought of, I even thought about Jimmy Rollins. It's Adnan Virk as our 2025 MLB expert. You know, I'm obviously for all his work at MLB network and for being a monthly standing guest here on the pitch clock. So Adnan, welcome back. Very excited to have you. And I want to dive into something that happened this past weekend. It was MLB rivalry weekend and it was the first year where they did something

like this for the Marlins. It was the Citrus series. But for you paying attention with MLB Network, what was maybe your favorite moment of this weekend and how important is it that MLB continues to sort of promote rivalries like these? Well, I think it's vital because we can all joke and say, well, you know, how is that D-Backs-Rockies rivalry going? But generally, these rivalries are special. I'll give you a few. The Freeway Series, the Angels sweeping the Dodgers in the Freeway Series, first time since 2010, nobody saw that coming. Travis Darnow hits his first home run of the season. Kenley Jansen was able to lock it down, wasn't expecting that from the Angels. I thought the Ohio Cup was great. Terry Francona going back against his former team.

They were great. Ellie Dela Cruz in the Reds. Andrew Abbott being able to pick up the win there in the Ohio Cup. But of course it is the Subway Series. As you know, I reside in North Jersey. Everybody was talking about Mets and Yankees, and specifically Juan Soto, who to start the year, you know, he's in like two 60s, more like one so-so. And after this series, he's more like one no-show. He goes one for 10 in the series.

He did get a few walks, but he was not playing his best. And the Yankees, how about that offensive juggernaut Bellinger big grand slam as they take two out of three. And it was pretty crazy the way that the Yankee fans reacted to Soto as well. It was nuts. And again, like you mentioned, the angels sweeping the Dodgers is one of the funniest possible timeline outcomes with that first rivalry weekend, considering the Dodgers stole Ohtani.

So that's a fun little payback that doesn't really make up for losing the greatest baseball player of a generation. Okay, let's talk about the Philadelphia Phillies. This is interesting to me, Adnan, because they lose closer Jose Alvarado now for an 80 game suspension for performance enhancing drugs. This feels like a potentially big deal to me in the long run, Adnan,

because mind you, an 80 game suspension means you to me in the long run Adnan, because mind you, an 80 game suspension means you cannot pitch in the post season. So, big deal, not a big deal. Don't wanna play the game so simply, but is this a big deal for the Phillies? No, I'm with you on a scale of one to 10, I'll give it a four.

Like I think it matters, this guy was their closer is four and one, 2.70 ERA, 25 strike cuts, four walks and 20 innings pitch 99.6 mile per four seam fastball velocity is fifth among those who have thrown 250 or more pitches this guy throws absolute smoke their closing options now You got Jordan Romano or Ian Kirkland Romano course the former blue J But Alvarado, Debrowski said it's not somebody did knowingly I believe that the way he talked to me exogenous Testosterone 80 games most important like you, done for the postseason. It hurts

because he's your closer, but I think the fellows are still going to be a playoff team. It just kind of shows though once again that baseball's policy is working, Jeremy. Like you don't often hear about in the NBA or football, guys getting popped. So in baseball they go, ah, steroids again. They go, yeah, because we actually test our guys. Good in the league for getting it done and shame on Alvarado for getting caught. It's still tied at one and the first question goes to Chris Code. Matt Morris was the opening day starter from 2002 to 2004 for this MLB franchise. Poop stick. Poop stick. Just trying to see if it's a central or a west team by Taylor's face.

I'm just looking at Taylor's face. Central or west? Look at that grin. Look at the grin on Taylor's face. For those of you in the audio audience, that smirk will, you know. I'm gonna go with the St. Louis Cardinals. It is the St. Louis Cardinals.

He also played for the Giants, right? That's amazing. Those were my two teams. two teams either Cardinals or Giants. Congratulations. Yeah Taylor I've got an opportunity to tie here, but I'm not feeling good about it. What's the question? Gil mesh was the opening day starter from 2007 to 2009 for this MLB franchise. I've got two in my head, but I'm just gonna go with what I thought I've got two in my head, but I'm just gonna go with what I thought. Oh, shoot. There's a guy whose name just came to my mind. Think NL West.

No, don't do that. What is wrong with you? I'm going, I'm just gonna say, I'm just gonna go with the Kansas City Warriors. Damn it! It was Kansas City. Oh, thank God. All right. I got worried.

The thing that made me worried there for a second was when did Granky come up? That was my concern, was when did Granky come up? But thank goodness. All right, hey, look, we're tied at two. Wanna talk to you about another team, Adnan, because I don't think I've mentioned the name of this team even one time thus far on the pitch clock, and they deserve some love,

because there was a 13-game win streak for the Minnesota Twins that ended on Sunday. They've been playing great ball. How seriously should we be treating the Minnesota Twins that ended on Sunday, they've been playing great ball. How seriously should we be treating the Minnesota Twins as we move forward in this season? Well, it's interesting. A part of me says not as seriously as I'd like to only because they were not facing stiff competition. And so when you're taking care of wins against relative weaklings, you go, what does that mean? But the last thing

that a win streak of this type, they went 15 straight back in 91, the season ended with that World Series title, of course. So honestly, man, I root for Minnesota because they're a really fun bunch of players, but ultimately you say, all right, they took advantage of a weak schedule. Ultimately, does it get them out of what was a huge hole? Yes.

Are they the best team in the central? No, they'll still be fighting for a wild card, but kudos to them for a hell of a run. And I do love Rocco Baldelli, one of my favorite managers in the game. Huge fish fan, by the way. So it'll be interesting to see. And if I were a Twins fan,

I would just be holding onto the stat that you had, which is the last time they had a win streak this long, they won a World Series. Let's end it here. We've been going with a golden era star of the week is how we've been referring to it here on the pitch clock. But I got a couple of stars that I want you to pick from here, Adnan, that don't necessarily stand out

as those same names of Judge, of Otani, of Skeens. How about Javi Baez in the year he's having playing center field for the Detroit Tigers, seemingly rounding back into the form we saw him essentially in 2016, like way back in the day. And then there's Wilmer Flores, who seems to go through some of these stretches throughout his career for a guy who's had just like a,

a solid, pretty normal career, lengthy career. He goes through these stretches where he's one of the best hitters in the world. Right now he's doing stuff that hasn't been done for the Giants, it's Barry Bonds. So which one of these two hitters do you want to focus on here? Definitely Flores is a great starter.

I'm glad you mentioned it, because the Giants, I'm like, they had a little buzz back, but I'll go with Javi Baez. Three straight seasons, he had an OPS plus of 71. I mean, he was absolutely horrid. And you said this guy is playing poor all over the place. At one time, he was exceptional defensively and was an excellent hitter who could really slug the ball.

But he looked to be one of the worst contracts in all of baseball. And then lo and behold, this offseason, Adrian Hinch goes, I need you in the outfield. He goes, no problem. So far, he's fourth best among all outfielders in center field, plus forward and defensive run save. So not only can I play in a different position,

but I'm going to be elite. I'm going to be top five among 30 guys playing this position. OK, great. And he's back to mashing it again. 120 OPS plus right now. He's hitting for average over 300. He's hitting for power once again. He's an electrifying player. There's rarely fine players as charismatic or as flamboyant as him. Tim Curt used to tell me he's the best

tagger in the game. You know, when he was a shortstop ball came from the catcher, which the way he slapped that tag on, it was gorgeous to watch. And they're loving him right now in Detroit. And it's a really good story, Jeremy. I'm glad you mentioned it because I feel it was pretty much done. And they have three more years left of this contract to go this is a disaster and instead he has been performing adverbably still got two more years left after this the Tigers are not going anywhere you're de facto AL team and Baez is a big part of it. I love it and it is pretty crazy right they go on this run last year and it was in large part because Javi Baez wasn't in the lineup that they were finally getting his disaster of offensive approach out of their lineup and were able to piece things together. Now it's essentially like they added this free agent in Javi Baez and added him back to the team.

It's incredibly cool. And to see him playing center field is to me one of the coolest, like just pure baseball dork things that you could see a guy who was such a spectacular middle infielder proving his worth in the outfield. But Adnan, we're talking about runs, we're talking about getting back in games. There's a game being played on the other side of this transition sound you're about to hear. And it's between me and Chris and it's coming down to the wire. Taylor, you have a question for Chris.

We're moving out of his wheelhouse a little with this year, but the biggest free agent contract the Chicago Cubs have ever given out was to this player in 2016 on an eight year, one hundred and eighty four million dollar contract. I've got a name here that I think is the answer to try to steal. Which corner? I'm going to go Chris Bryant. Final answer. It is not Chris Bryant. No, that's the Colorado Rockies

paid him all that money. I think it's Jason Hayward. It is Jason Hayward. Yes! That's a 3-2 lead go- oh no not even going into the final round. I have an opportunity to take a two point lead here in round four, so it's 3-2 me. Taylor, feed me here man. Big chance for a swing here.

The biggest free agent contract the Seattle Mariners have ever given out was to this player in 2014 on a 10 year, $240 million contract. There's only one name that is coming to my mind and I. Feels a little late for him. Is it Kyle Seeger? Kyle Seeger? Incorrect. Chris Cody, chance to steal.

Felix Hernandez. No, way late. Felix Hernandez. It wasn't James Paxton either Because he ended up the Yankees Can a name mentioned earlier? No Robinson. No, no forgot about that Chris closing in 2000 this MLB team Previously played in the Kingdome. There's only like one team that I can think of that had a dome until 2010.

I'm gonna guess right now. And my guess is that I will say the words that I will speak when I guess right now is... The Phillies. I don't know. It is not the Phillies. I don't know. It is not the Phillies. The Phillies was famously veteran stadium. I'm pretty sure that we did that last week with an opportunity to steal. And I believe clinch the game when it walk it off. I got to go. The winner for the team.

It was the Seattle Mariners. It was the Seattle Mariners. And that's going to be the team. It was the Seattle Mariners. It was the Seattle Mariners and that's going to be the game. Champion! Pitch clock, back next week. Two time winner in a row, back to back. Let's do it again, 3P. Thank you Riley.