The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Postgame Show: The Pitch Clock (feat. Jason Benetti)

Episode Date: September 4, 2025

Friend of the show and play-by-play voice of the Gritty Detroit Tigers, Jason Benetti, stops by as this week's 2025 MLB expert to talk Tigs, the AL teams with the best shot at a World Series appearance, his whirlwind golf cart experience, and to share his Golden Era Star of the Week. And then there's the game: 501 Trivia is back as Taylor tests Chris and Jeremy's knowledge on games played for individual franchises. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I've been really liking the cold open thing. I don't have a burp. So we don't really have one then? He did it. He just did it. 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. The pitch clock is back, and it's, September. Guys, that means like next month there's playoff baseball. How exciting is that. Chris Cody is here. You said September. I said September's here. I just think of football. Yeah. I don't care about baseball. The playoffs are next month. You don't care. Taylor's here too. We'll actually have Jason Benetti with us, which is pretty exciting. He'll be our 2025 MLB expert. Speaking of football, Taylor, so sorry about your tar heels. Hey, but what do you have for a trivia game for us today? So we're going

back to the 501 darts where you're trying to get as close to zero as possible. A few amendments to the last time we played it, it's going to be best of three still, but each round you'll get five guesses and you can't go past zero. So if you do, you'll just stay at the number. So if you were at 120 and it was 121, your guess, you're still at 120. Okay. And then whoever's at the lowest two zero after the five guesses is the winner. Awesome. All right. So let's get started then.

The first game is going to be games played as a marlin. Oh, boy. Okay. Hmm. I kind of want to go pitchers here. You see what I'm doing there? Because I feel like it's harder to figure out like any good Marlins have played like more than 500 games themselves with a Marlins. That's what makes it complicated. All right. I'm going to go with Sandy Alcantra. I'm thinking he's got to be... So Sandy is... 20 starts a season.

Second in innings pitched, I think, now. But I'm just going by games, right? It's just games. Yeah, since 20... Well, it's a good start. 20 starts the season? Yeah, he came up in 2017 for a couple of cup of coffee. Obviously, had the shortened 2020 season,

and then missed a year with the Tommy John surgery. So Sandy Alcantara has played in 165 games for the marlin so chris you're down at 336 after your first guest jeremy your first guess okay so this is this is where strategy comes into play because i kind of want to sit around the same spot as chris and so i'm going to take the guy who's made the i think the most starts or at least has the most innings pitched ricky nalasco oh wow so rickie nalasco has pitched in two hundred and 13 games for the Marlins. Jeremy bringing you down to 288.

Okay. Okay. Josh Beckett. Chris, Josh Beckett, pitched in 106 games for the Marlins, bringing you down to 230. All right. I'm going to make a get. It's possible this player went over, but I'm thinking it's got to be close. Paul LaDucah.

So Jeremy, you're at 288. Paul LaDucah played in 200. in five games as a Marlin, bringing you down to 83. All right, I like, I have a, I like my strategy. I'm complimenting myself here before I even go. Mike Piazza. Mike Piazza is going to get Chris five games knocked off that total and bring him down to 225.

Okay. I'm confused. And it is my pleasure to welcome on this man who is a staple of the Dan Levitart show coming on and doing impressions, but we're actually going to pick his mind for a little bit of baseball knowledge here. Jason Benetti, the voice of the Detroit Tigers, is with me now here on the pitch clock. Jason, first and foremost, thank you so much for taking time out of your insane schedule to join us here.

No, Jeremy, glad to do it, really happy to be here, and let's have a good time. Yeah, let's do it. So anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely fell in love with your Tigers at the end of last season. I was watching every single game down the stretch of that team. was basically the most reminiscent playoff chase that I had experienced since the O3 Marlins of just a team doing everything fun. But now they are presently, at the time of this recording, the best team in the American

League in terms of their record. They're the first American League team to 80 wins. So Jason, this season, as they've carried that momentum, what would you say are maybe the three keys that have made the Tigers the best team in the AL thus far? And how will that maybe change their postseason fate from last year? What one, I would say, is the lockstep of the front office and the manager in how to use the roster. You go trade for Kyle Finnegan, A.J. Hinge gets ahead of it and talks to Will Vest and Finnegan about who's doing what and how it might shape shift over the course of time. Raphael Montero shows up. He had walked a bunch of guys before he got here. He's doing that much less.

So I think the combination of those prongs working together, but then specifically, number two, and I'd never put him number two for anything, is Terrick Scoobel. Of course. It's just like, I'm not going to lose unless somebody really knocks me over with abundant force type of guy. And I think that does permeate the clubhouse. And then I would say the third thing is just pressure. Pressure on the base paths, pressure on batters from Scoobel, like pressure with a pretty

deep lineup when they're healthy. And I think the tigers sometimes can make people interesting. perspective on the mount like they make you think about what's happening to you in the moment and I think that is a sneaky really good trait if you're you're sitting there from a tiger's perspective as you know they march toward the postseason who would be the American league team that you look at and you go man that that might be the team that that scares Detroit the most there's nobody that like you're like oh let's line up to play this team I think the American League, like every American

League team has a reason that you could say, oh, I don't know, man. Like, I don't know. I think the one thing that you want is to not be in the wild card round. Yes. I think the American League is deep enough that being the two seed should really matter for the Tigers. That's just my personal

opinion. To me, though, I think there is great value in missing the first round and getting to the division series by being a top two seat. That's what I would say is your best bet in the American League. We're just a couple of weeks away from that chase really coming into form. And you're right. That American League wild card picture basically changes every day. And which of those teams seems the scariest to face

is alternating, I mean, basically by the series. So I can't wait for this final playoff chase. It's going to be so much fun. I want to have my last number be like 160. And then I just got to find that one guy that like played a season for the Marlins as a start. just one season. I almost now, because of that strategy, want to just go over knowing that I'm going to take that only guy he's going to think of from him. As if there's one guy that's played for the Marlins and for one season.

Yvonne Rodriguez. Yep, Jeremy's playing defense here. Pudge Rodriguez played in 144 games. So Jeremy, after the third round, you're still at 83. All right, give me Brad Penny. Brad Penny pitched in 139 games as a Marlin, bringing Chris down to 86. I'm going to go with Braxton Garrett. Braxton Garrett has pitched for the Marlins in 65 games, bringing Jeremy down to 18.

Carl Pavano. That's a good one. Carl Pavano in his three-year career with the Marlins. Oh, no. Eighty-six. No! What? Oh, my God, dude.

So the only way that I can potentially, potentially do this is if I find someone who played 18 games with the Barlins. I am just Mike Piazza. Oh, my, I'm a genius. All right. Jeremy, your best. Case scenario is a push. Yeah, hold on. How do I do this?

How do I always deliver like this? Troy Johnston. At the time of this recording, Jeremy, you're at 18. Troy Johnson has played in 26 games, Jeremy, you're going to stay at 18. Chris Cody wins with zero. Wow. That's fucking crazy. My favorite videos that I saw the entire last month across sports.

And that was a video of you that we're going to play right now. where you were taking a golf cart between calling a lion's game and then calling a tiger's game later on. I believe it was a 1 p.m. and a 6 p.m. So as we're watching this video, like, how does it feel to have fans basically show you how beloved you are in this city and this way? And did you ever imagine that you would be in this particular spot as a broadcaster to get to kind of do everything? So, first of all, it was the world's shortest golf cart ride. I appreciate you saying that. I think Tiger fans and just Detroit fans in general are exceptionally smart.

I think they've been trained and they've been brought up with great announcers. Like, you just have to be really good at the job to fit in in Detroit because, literally everybody is. It's important to me to be in a place where people care about what I've dedicated my life to, and I think that's just a human instinct. I'm going to take a page out of your book on Twitter real quick, and we're going to do first name you think of. So if you guys don't follow Jason on Twitter, he basically ends up posting from all the different places that he ends up being all the time to call all these different games. He'll post a stadium pick, and then first name you think of, dot, dot, dot. So I'm just going to name some teams. And we're going to go,

first name you think of we're going to go rapid fire so let's start tigers uh Miguel Cabrera Yankees Mickey Mantle Arizona Cardinals uh David Boston who I like that St. Louis Cardinals Ozzie Smith Kansas City Royals George Brett Kansas City Chiefs uh Travis Kelsey Miami Dolphins Dan Marino Miami Marlins uh Jack McKean Oh, I like that. I like the Jack McKeehan answer. That's the guy who's the face, and he was recently inducted into the first inaugural Marlins Hall of Fame, along with Jeff Kony, Jim Leland, and of course, Luis Castillo. That was a blast for us this year here in Miami. But before we wrap up, Jason, the way we do this is I've been saying all year long, this is a golden era of baseball right now. I genuinely believe it, particularly for the stars in baseball. There's so much excellence. Let's go ahead and do this. I want to give the NL a little bit of shine since we've been sticking with the AL. We talked a little AL last week as well with Mike Scher.

So there are two guys in the National League who had really ridiculous months on two different sides of the ball. Gavin Sheets was the National League leader in OPS amongst guys who played 15 games. And then there's Hurston Waldrop who's come up for the Braves and been absolutely dominant thus far. We're going to go either Wal-Drip or Sheets, if you'd like to focus on one of them. Yeah, so you had me at Cheats. He had a great start to the year. I was thrilled for him. That power plays.

That power is legit when you put him in good situations. And I, like, there are really good people that I left with the White Sox that I really did appreciate. But I also think it's fair to say that putting him in the outfield was not great. And it affected his hitting, I would say. Gavin leaves the White Sox, ends up being a free agent signing late for San Diego. And like, that dude always knew he had power. So I'm thrilled for him. I'm excited for him.

And I'm glad he's gotten a chance to do what he's done. It's really remarkable. He's had a really awesome season. And we appreciate the insight as someone who got to cover him and get to know him a little bit. If you guys enjoyed what you just heard from Jason, particularly if you're down here in South Florida, Jason's going to be calling some of the games between the Marlins and the Tigers, which will be my last season on the Marlins broadcast. So just find a way to, like, flip back and forth between the two. That'll be a lot of fun. Jason, thank you so much for taking some time to join us here on the pitch clock, and we're going to send things back over to this game between Chris Cody and myself.

Let's do round two now. I'm very upset, and I cannot believe that that's how things started. What's this one, Taylor? I can't, I'm like, that is dude, truly and utterly outside of when you correctly guess what was it, like the OPS of somebody to a not, oh, it's the war. I think this one, this one is

way crazier. This is insane. All right, whatever. Tell us what the game is. I can't. I'm on a high. I'm shook. It's tough to follow that one, but this one's going to be games played as a Yankee. Oh, of course. Jesus. I don't know. There's so many guys that have immediately come to mind, but I have no idea how long they were Yankees. You know what I'm going to do? Andy Pettit.

So, Jeremy, to start, you were going Andy Pettit. Andy Pettit was on the mound in 447 games for the Yankees, bringing you down to 54 after. He's made this game so hard on yourself. No! No! C.C. Sabathia. C.C. Sabathia pitched in 307 games for the Yankees bringing Chris Cody to 194.

Ooh. Cam Schittler. Schlittler, but I'll accept it. Schlittler. Cam Schlittler has pitched in nine games. Perfect. So Jeremy, you are at 45 after the second round. That's what I'll take that.

I'm trying to find. Give me Nestor Cortez. So Chris, Nestor Cortez has pitched for the Yankees 126 times in his career. So you are down to. 68. You know what? I'm just going to

I'm just going to go over. I'm just going to say John Carlo Stanton. John Carlo has played in 718 games as Yankee. Yeah, so, all right. I'm going to stay at 45. You're still at 45.

I went a cup of coffee with the Yankees. I think I've got one in that more pocket. Randy Johnson. I'm going to be really mad. So if I get 68, I win. I swear to God, if this is 68, if this is 68. It's not 68. It's 67, Chris Cohn.

How do I do this? He's down to one. All right, Devin Williams, let's just go. No, I don't want to, I don't want to revel in this. Devin Williams, tell me how many games Devin Williams is pitched in. Jeremy, you're down at 45. Devin Williams has pitched in 57 games at the time of this reporting. So you're still at 45 after the third round.

This is. Chris Cody, if you have anybody with one for the next two. And this fourth guess, I'll guess Chris Cody. Chris Cody did not play for the Yankees, so you're going to still be at one after the fourth guest. Who pitched for the Yankees for two years? Oh, man, Randy Johnson. Oh, wow.

Garrett Cole. Way off. Way more than that, right? This would have been his fifth season with the Yankees. It's been that long, huh? Yeah, but his first season was the 2020. season. Derek Cole has pitched for the Yankees 125 times. Not even close.

Chris Cody, the brooms are out. It's a 2-0 sweep. This is truly an utterly... Feels good. For you to end up at zero and one is absolutely bonkers. Perfect game. Taylor, we're never playing this game again. I don't know how many times I have to tell you. Every week. There's the burble.