The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Favorites - MLB Opening Day with Sean Zerillo

Episode Date: March 25, 2025

The real Opening Day for Major League Baseball is this Thursday, an annual Rite of Spring for fans and sports gamblers alike. Joining his Action Network colleagues Chad Millman and Simon Hunter is baseball betting expert Sean Zerillo, fresh off his panel at the prestigious MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference earlier this month. Together they discuss betting on MLB this season, the dreadfulness of the Chicago White Sox, how to embrace rule changes from a betting perspective, and so much more.  For those looking to join our FREE podcast live event in beautiful Chicago this Saturday for the Elite 8, don't forget to RSVP now by clicking here. #Volume #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey guys, it's us The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast?

Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen.

We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless. And at the French Open, only the toughest survive.

I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs' tennis podcast for no-nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define Roland Garris. She's an outsider to win the French name. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface.

Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis Podcast on the IHeart Radio. your app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to.

Listen and learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome to the favorites, the podcast presented by Bet365. We are part of the Volume Podcast Network. I am Chad Milman of the Action Network live from my Tommy John Home Studio. I'm joined as always by my co-host, my companion, my compadre, my BFF, professional better. Simon Hunter. Hello, Simon. Hello, Chad. But do we have four days until we're in Chicago having drinks, brother? I can't wait. Can't freaking wait. It's a great town. My favorite town. I'm going to see a lot of friends when we're there. It's going to be great to get people

together for anyone listening to the show who doesn't know what I'm talking about. I will give you the heads up in a moment because right now, while folks are talking a lot about merch, and the Sweet 16 starting this Thursday, a very chalky Sweet 16. This Thursday is also an annual right of spring baseball's opening day, 14 games, 10 uninterrupted hours of Major League Baseball, a seven months of America's pastime. Let sports fans and sports gamblers know spring is truly here. Simon, way back in the day, like when we were just starting to do this show together, our producer, Matt Mitchell, used to do one of my favorite things in the history of Action Network content. He used to do a video, no joke, I think, every single day from any place he could find in Milwaukee to talk about what he was going to bet on a day baseball game that day.

It was the most funny, passionate, exciting video that Matt Mitchell could possibly put together. It was when he was learning how to do video. He was trying to figure out how to make himself so valuable to the Action Network team. Matt, do you remember those? I sure do. Sean Zerlo had to provide the picks because no one wants my pick. So I'd get a pick from Sean on every weekday, day game. So if there's a day with a weekday, day game, I would get on my roof.

or go to the lake or get on a boat or do something and give out that back. It was great. It was great. And I'm glad you mentioned Sean's a little. Matt, I want you to start doing those videos every day for the next seven months. I think it'd be really fun because you don't have much else going on. It's not like football season's not happening. So you don't really have anything else happening.

You know who's going to be busy for the next seven months? Our guest. Action Network Oji. He is the engine behind our baseball picks and projections. co-host of the wonderful payoff pitch podcast, a co-panelist with me at the recent MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in early March. Hello, it's Sean Zerillo.

What's that, brother? How are you guys doing? I wish opening day was on Wednesday. I wish baseball had some foresight to actually put opening day on a day where there's not some Sweet 16 games going on. God forbid. they gave themselves an advantage

and just took advantage of day games during the summer instead of stacking all the games at night or did anything to separate themselves and give some attention to itself as a sport. So unfortunately, I know you said 10 hours of commercial free baseball chat, I'll be flipping back and forth to the Sweet 16 games.

So it won't be commercial free for me or uninterrupted baseball for me. If I'm going to be paying attention to college basketball, I'm sure the average fan, the average sports fan certainly will be too. Zorillo, like I said, He joined me at Sloan this year. And for those who don't know, and I can't imagine anyone who listens to the show,

doesn't know what Sloan is. But it's basically this incredible, I think Bill Simmons called it, Nerda Palooza years ago, was this conference that's been going on for, I don't know, 15, 16 years at this point, maybe longer, almost 20 years, that happens at Sloan, the business school at MIT, that started there, and is now, you know, at a convention. Center in Boston, two days of panels with star-studded speakers, all about sports media, sports team, sports management, how to win at betting, how to win a TV. It's got an incredible,

incredible slate of content. And I was hosting a panel this year about how to adjust your model specifically betting when everything is going wrong in real time. And it was really based on why the fuck are all these favorites winning in the NFL and how do people manage that over the course of a season when your model needs to change and you're not used to changing your model on a dime. So I asked the real to join the panel. And the other panelists were Nate Silver, bestselling author, known creator of 538, can be antagonistic on Twitter at times. and Jeff Ma, who is famously known as one of the guys who was the blackjack card counters in the book of Bringing Down the House. He went to MIT, brilliant guy, long time better.

I've known him for a long time. And so these guys are super smart, very well versed in being on a panel. And this was Rillo's first time on a panel. The dude fucking crushed it. Like going back and forth, challenging Jeff, challenging Nate, raising good points that both of them had to acknowledge and then follow up on. He was so good. He also had my favorite anecdote of the entire panel. And it speaks to how inside he is on baseball and why everybody should listen to him. Simon, I know you love when Zerillo comes on because I know

you love Betton baseball futures. Sean, do you remember the specific anecdote? You mentioned in the panel that stopped me in my tracks that I had no idea you were going to say that I had to have have you follow up on. Yeah, I assume it's the Guardian's shipping container issue from last year. I had several people come up to me after the panel talking about how interesting that was. They hadn't heard of it. Baseball betters, you know, who paid attention entire last season, had no idea this happened. So the Guardians last year made an aesthetic change, the concourse in right field. They removed a bunch of shipping containers, which I believe were serving as concession stands. I'm not really sure. They wanted to open up a concourse. And they removed all these shipping

containers, which opened up a tunnel, basically a wind tunnel out to right field. Now, they've made some changes behind home plate this year. We'll see if it ends up sticking. I think they removed some sweets behind home plates. We'll see if the park stays the same. But essentially, in mid-May, Jose Ramirez hit a fly ball to right field that left the park at 92.9 miles an hour, MLB classifies a hard hit ball starting at 95 miles an hour. And it's not like this was the softest hit home run this year or last year.

it's not like it was the softest hit home run of Ramirez's career, but it was his softest hit home run in about three years. And considering the state of the baseballs last year and the reduced flight of those relative to 2019 and the wind, the weather for that day, that ball should not have gone out of the park unless something had changed in that park. And looking at the park factors for last year in Cleveland,

comparing it to prior years now that we have more sufficient data, that's a park that used to play about 7% below the major league average in terms of left-handed power. Last year, it was one of the best parks in baseball for left-handed power. It played about 16% above the major league average. So it's very obvious in hindsight that there was a wind tunnel effect out to right field in Cleveland last year. Over his cash hit a 60% clip through August. And then I think the market caught on to it a little bit because they went one in 12 in September.

So just worth noting that that happened, worth acknowledging it. When we have outlier data points or outlier results, it's worth investing. as to whether something changed, either a rule change or a park dimension change or something in the park changed or the ball changed that could cause this effect. I have some thoughts on the NCAA tournament and the under is hitting at a ridiculous rate. Using the new basketball, it's not something I expected to see in a different sport. But baseball, they seem to change the ball every year and it's something we have to pay very close attention to.

This was a bit of a unique circumstance. Simon, isn't that crazy? It is, but it's very baseball. Like it's just this is like the random thing that happens with this sport that there is no you can do whatever you want with your stadium You can design it any way you want you can make the field designed any way you want and teams They'll just do that stuff and guys like Sean were smart enough. They'll take advantage where the common fan will just be like oh look at that They made a hole in left field or right field you know like they don't want to think much of it. It's like no you can profit off of that move and Yeah, that's that's really interesting though the fact that you know they can do that stuff and there is there is there is a

There is no repercussion, right? They can just do that, and it's their stadium, right? So that's interesting. In football, I know it's a big deal if you want to change the stadium and move things around just because teams think it's an advantage or a disadvantage, especially when it comes to kicking. So definitely really interesting. I didn't even know that about the Guardians.

I'm not too keen in on what's going on in Cleveland. So that's crazy that actually happened. Yeah, the Orioles last year moved their left field wall back in an effort to decrease or I should say they moved it in in an effort to they moved it in two years ago. They moved it back last year to try to decrease on runs because it was too many two years ago. Now they found a midpoint this year. But this is a team with a lot of young right-handed hitters.

And it's like, oh, like you guys are clearly trying to game the system for the roster build that you currently have. There's nothing against it. They could keep doing it every year if they want to. But at some point, Major League Baseball may have to step in and be like, you guys can't keep touching it every single year. So just very interesting, like you said, Simon, there's no rule against making these changes. So if teams want to change their park every year based upon their roster construction,

they technically can do so. That's why we got Zerliloh on the show. We got more of that. If you are listening to this in Illinois, big news, as a reminder, the favorites podcast is presented by Bet365 and is now live in my native state of Illinois, baby new Bet365 customers, including those in Illinois. Get $150 in bonus bets when you bet $5. Sign up using promo code favorites, deposit $10, place a bet for $5 to get $150 in bonus bets.

Those bonus bets can be used on spreads, totals, player, props, futures, and more. Whatever the moment, it's never ordinary at bet 365, especially in Illinois. You must be 21 or older and present in Arizona, Colorado. Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Louisiana, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, or 18 and older in Kentucky. Gambling problem, call 1,800 gambler or 1,800 bets off in Iowa. Terms, conditions, restrictions apply. As Simon mentioned, we are headed to Chicago.

This is the last week to RSVP for our free favorites live show event in Chicago. This will be for the Elite 8 March Madness Games. Saturday, March 29th, Joe's on weed in beautiful Chicago, Illinois. Free event, free drinks, free live show with Stucky, the guys from three-man weave, me and Simon. Will Duke be playing? Will it be Arkansas? R-SvP now to reserve your spot by following the link in the episode's description or just Google Favorites Podcast Event Chicago? And the website will pop right up. Okay. Sean, one of my other things that I love about the Sloan Conference is that it is a subculture of people who are so geeked out and

focused on a singular topic, passion levels the playing field. Like, it's insane to me. At one point, Simon, we were at a cocktail party that is the Thursday night before the conference begins for speakers. And I saw Sean there and I was talking to a buddy of mine who is wildly successful, like venture capital billionaire successful. And I introduce Sean to the guy and they start talking. And within two minutes, I don't even think Sean knows who this guy is, knows nothing about his background.

They are in a very intense conversation about the dollar value of war assigned to players. That should be assigned to players. And how people like Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, who just signed a $765 million dollar contract and Aaron Judge, they actually might be underpaid. Zorillo, explain what you mean there. Yeah, so baseball players in the market, the free agent market, obviously salaries are suppressed when guys are coming up their first six years. They have to go through arbitration, et cetera.

Final three years of arbitration, they're making about 60 to 80% of what they would make on the open market. So once guys hit the open market, teams are usually. willing to pay them $8 to $10 million for win for win above replacement. Now, Aaron Judge was worth last year, if you're assuming $8 million, about $90 million in terms of on-field value. Forget the marketing, you know, all the endorsements, the ticket sales that your team can bring in as a result of that player, just his on-field value was $90 million.

He makes $40 million in salary. So Aaron Judge could theoretically not play at all this season. and still be worth what they paid him last year and this year just based upon his production last year. Shohei Otani is deferring 68 of his $70 million salary annually. Now, the daughters will have to foot that bill at some point. So it's not like you could say they're gaining a huge advantage on his annual salary, but Otani was worth about the same as judge last year, about $90 million.

So who's the most valuable player in baseball relative to what they actually make on the field? Gunner Henderson and L.A. Deer Cruz are both still in their pre-arbitration years. They were both worth about 50 to 60 million in terms of on-field value last year, making the Major League minimum of $783,000. So these guys were worth about 75 times what they're actually being paid on the field. Now, Otani, you can factor in again the ticket sales, the inroads to Japan for all future stars, right? What other Japanese star isn't going to want to come and follow in Otani, Switzerland? steps. Roke Sasaki was considering going to the Padres. He idolizes you Darvish. He still ended up

going to the Dodgers. So the appell Otani has, you know, the endorsements, the marketing in Japan, all the jersey sales, all that. Like, you don't factor that into the equation. But if you're just talking about Arnfield value, you know, this isn't football, right? You don't need a cheap quarterback in order to be able to build your roster. You have unlimited funds, essentially, if you're willing to pay into a luxury tax. But for a team like the Reds, more of a mid-market team who can't forward to go into that luxury tax threshold, having a guy like L.A.O. Cruz, who's making $783,000 and providing $50 million in on-field value, that's the kind of player you need when you're a team like the Reds in order to be able to make a run and make the playoffs.

And I think the Reds are a team who could surprise this year. So having an MVP-type candidate, making minimum money essentially, you know, in any sport that's going to be valuable. In baseball, I actually think it's less valuable than other sports because you can just spend unlimited money, but still worth considering. Gunner and Elliott are the two guys who are near the top of the league still making the minimum. Usually those teams already sign those guys. Like that's the gunner. Gunner is usually like most smart teams try to pay him before the big contract.

So it's interesting that they let it run down on the wire here. But, you know, me and chat talking nods about how last year I didn't put enough emphasis into the new kickoff rules and the changes that the NFL happened. What are the biggest challenges for you heading to this major league season? with capping baseball because it is different, right, coming to this season. There are things that are going to be different. So I would love to hear what your perspective had into the season. Two parks in particular, the A's and the Rays are going to be playing in minor league parks.

The Rays are playing in the Yankees minor league park in Tampa Bay. It's the same dimensions in the Yankee Stadium, which people normally assume is a hitter's park. Yankee Stadium is not a hitter's park. Yankee Stadium is a pitcher's park with a very short right field. So because the outfield is a little bit smaller, you're actually able to rob more base hits. there's fewer singles from center field than right field. And when those home runs get hit,

there's fewer guys on base. But if you're putting these games in Tampa, now you're increasing all the run scoring because you have warmer weather in Tampa, especially April, May, etc., September when it would start cooling down a little bit. And you're going to have different wind patterns as well. Yagie Stadium doesn't really have dramatic wind blowing out to right field necessarily.

So the wind and the weather going to be completely different in Tampa because it's normally played in a dome. the raise typically, Tropa County Field, played about 10% below the major league average. Yankee Stadium is about 3% below the major league average.

But if you figure another 5% for win and weather, now you're talking about going from a park that was a clear pitchers park to maybe a slightly hitter-leaning park. So not just betting, right, but fantasy, DFS,

all of these purposes, the raise will probably score more runs and other pitchers will probably give up more runs this season. And then the other is the athletics who are now playing in Sacramento as compared to Oakland, way different weather in Sacramento compared to Oakland, but also the A's Park, the Coliseum is one of the best pitchers parks in baseball too,

not only because of the weather being a little bit cooler at night, giant dimensions, but also the foul territory in that park is enormous. The amount of pop-ups you could generate in that park that lead to free outs that lead to quicker plate appearances compared to minor league park with almost no foul territory is just going to increase the balls in play, going to increase the wrong, run scoring, what have you. Brett Rooker is a guy who I think is actually a potential viable major league home run leader candidate this season. He has 28 homers at home, 41 on the road the past two seasons. So if you're giving him an entire season of upgraded offensive park at home and then

factoring those road games too, I think he's a guy who probably easily surpasses 40 home runs this season when he's been sitting in the mid 30s the past couple years. So in general, I think Rays and A's overs, maybe early, could be undervalued. We'll see how quickly the market accounts for that. I think at most you'll get two or three weeks out of it if they don't adjust right away. In general, those teams scoring more runs and allowing more runs this season for fantasy purposes as well. I think you can upgrade the run scoring for both those teams. Everyone make a note, Brett Rooker, Oakland A's.

What is he going off at to lead the league? league in home runs because I don't want to miss that very tangible betting advice. He's about 30 to 1. I took 80 to 1 earlier in the off season. He's really come down. I've been talking about the park factor thing a bunch. I think other people have caught on to the fact, too, that projections, baseball projections are usually going to take a weighted three-year average of production.

They're going to take like 60% of the previous year, you know, 30% of two years ago and 10% of three years ago. but if you're weighting an average of a guy who is now competing in a completely different park in a completely different offensive environment, the weighted average may be missing some of the upgrades that are built into that. So I think in terms of like his home run over prop, et cetera, there's probably value on Rooker across the board and on a lot of A's players this season. But yeah, 30 to 1 or better on Rooker to lead the league in home runs, I think it's definitely

worth a poke. When you're looking at those park metrics, how are, you deciding where to even start. You just mentioned everything from Fowt's territory to weather patterns, to warmer weather, to wind, to the how that stadium of the exact same dimensions plays in New York and what that does to decreasing offense. It's a lot of time. It's a lot to unpack. The data points are infinite. How are you deciding what's going to matter? I'm not doing all the work on my own, right? It's something that I'm analyzing to figure out why these parks may play differently one another, but we do have park factor adjustments

based on these samples of games played in the minor leagues. And the way those are calculated, it takes the average production of guys when they play in their park and then calculates the average production of those teams when they travel to away parks. And it's trying to figure out what percentage increase or decrease they have

in various areas. to both fields, right, to right field or to left field to right-handed hitters, left-handed hitters, in terms of improving or decreasing the chance for singles, doubles, triples, homers. And from there, also strikeouts and walks. Different batter's eyes in different stadiums can increase strikeouts or increase walks, depending on how easy it is to see the ball. Seattle, very well known for this, hitters really struggle to see the ball in Seattle. And as a result, their pitchers perform better and hitters generally perform worse.

Willie Adams in Tampa Bay. He struggled to see, he had an eyesight issue, he struggled to see the ball with the white roof in Tampa Bay. He went to Milwaukee and broke out as a hitter. So there's a lot of little nuance things with guys, Home versus Road, but even the batter's eye is something people don't really think of from one park to the next.

It's actually just easier to see the baseball coming out of the pitcher's hand. But it's not work that I have to do manually. We have park factors over multiple years. Generally, three years is enough to have a sufficient sample. so we'll use rolling three-year samples. But you can basically just take the differential between how teams perform at home, how they perform on the road,

how teams coming in there, perform in their home park, and then perform coming in. And we know roughly compared to league average how to adjust things up or down. We talked about the Tokyo Dome a bunch last week, you know, on the payoff pitch podcast, in terms of the games being played there,

we have Japanese averages for that park. And we know, based upon the dimensions, that that park should increase home runs. We clearly see that increase in the park factors because the outfield walls there from right field to center field, it's more of a straight line. Most majorly parks are going to be a little bit more rounded. The Tokyo Dome is a little bit more diagonal to center field. So those power rallies are a little bit shorter. And sure enough, in the data, you see an increase in home run factor, but a decrease for both singles and doubles because outfielders are able to get to more

of those balls because the power rallies are not as deep. So you want to see the numbers and the data, but then you want to actually look at the park and make sure it checks out intuitively with the data you actually have. When the Jays, for example, played in a A ballpark in Dunedine a couple years ago, we didn't have a sufficient sample

going into that season. And that park ended up playing like a severe offensive park once you put major league hitters in it. You'd have to remember that too and that's something to factor in as well. These are minor league hitters with minor league power

and minor league pitch velocities playing in this park. Once you, you got pitchers throwing a little bit harder, once you have hitters swinging the bat a little bit harder, the balls are in general are going to fly a little bit further. So you do have to upgrade the offensive environment slightly based upon the major league velocities, but in general, we do know how the parks in those leagues play relative to one another. All right. A lot of rule changes every year in baseball. Maybe next year, the automated ball straight next year. They're always fucking with

something. Yep. Right. New ball, everything. Or the rules. Pitch clock, clock. year. Everything. So the pitch clock, which I thought was great. And there's always going to be unintended consequences. And this is what I found

most interesting about last year with the pitch clock. There's less time to reload for pitchers and hitters, right? So as MLB changed the baseball in 2019, we set a record for home runs. MLB said,

this is too many home runs. Let's introduce humidors. Let's change the baseball. That became like a two or three year process. They introduced new baseballs several times. I'm constantly monitoring the drag co-o

efficient data on baseball savon. That said, we've had proof based upon baseballs that they've caught in the stands and people have sliced open that they've used different batches of baseballs simultaneously. You may have had a batter come to the plate and within the same plate appearance get fed different batches of baseballs that some may fly 10 feet further than the other. So it's almost impossible to account for everything. That said, we do our best with the information we have available. And something I noticed last year is you always have to pay attention to unintended consequences of rule changes. For example, with the pitch clock, I think batters and pitchers did not have as much time to reload and get back to their maximum swing velocity or pitch

velocity between pitches. So even though last year, the baseball stayed exactly the same based on the data that we have, and that means the homerun a fly ball rate should have remained steady, it actually decreased. Why? Well, it's probable. that when you have pitchers who are throwing 97% of their maximum velocity or hitters who are swinging 95% of their maximum swing velocity because they don't have 40 seconds to reload between pitches, they only have 30 seconds. You're just going to see a slight reduction in how hard those balls could be hit.

Typically a batted ball is about 80% pitcher, 20% hitter. So if you're just taking a little bit off of both, you know, the ball is going to fly five feet less, 10 feet less, and you're going to end up with a few more fly balls. instead of homers, but then you also have the two-year data sample where they got rid of the shift. And as a result, you're going to have batterers trying to hit the ball and play more, right? Not trying to put the ball out as much necessarily. Maybe the construct of these rosters, the type of players that comes into the league may change a little bit.

You're going to get guys who are a little bit more contact-oriented who can handle that. So I think, you know, regardless of the rule changes, regardless of the impact you think it might have, there's always going to be downstream effects. as a result that you can't account for. And those are the things that you can actually try to mine from the data. And that's going to be where your edge is. Because people always, you know, by the time people are talking about an edge that they see in the market, the Guardians thing, for example, last year, that means it's likely already

factored into it. If you want to mine data points yourself, be very quiet about it and, you know, act upon those edges as long as you can. But usually, as I said, you're never going to get more than two or three weeks out of that edge. I mean, what an insane time, though, as a baseball fan. Like, I know you just casually mention it, but the fact that we're in a sport that from stadium to stadium, the balls are different and there's different things inside these said balls, any other sport, I feel like people would be taken to the streets. But baseball, lucky for them, it's the most relaxed, laid back fans.

I mean, just outside of Philly, of course. But like, seriously, though, like, I can't get over how casual you just said that where it's like, that's insane. That is insane to think they're messing with the balls that way because I knew. that was true and I've heard the rumors about it but that's like last year I remember what you're talking about people are cutting the balls open everyone was like what the fuck is going on here so that's crazy that's where we're at with baseball like I I hate it but the same time I love it because it's the most bizarre sport like as someone that tries to explain the sport to people that come over from England I'm like it's like cricket but it's not it's it's such

an American sport and it's so bizarre in so many ways but let's let's get back to this season who What team do you think has improved the most since last season ahead into this year? Are there any teams that really jump out, do you? Other than the Mets. I wins above replacement. It's the Mets in terms of all the additions. I knew you were going to go to the Mets, Sean. I knew you're going to go to the Mets.

Well, but it's not a team I actually have bets on this season. And by all projections right now, the under is the play on the Mets. I think the market is clearly factoring in them making additions throughout the season. This is the best farm system they've had in the while. There's multiple guys, Dill and C's Lewis Robert, who are good fits for them, who they may go out and acquire. So I think the market is expecting the Mets to make additional moves. By my, you know, this is nothing to do with me, by independent like Wins above replacement

projections, they have improved the most. The teams that I like the most compared to market coming into the year are Texas, Atlanta, Arizona, and probably Cincinnati. Arizona seems to be a pretty sharp play amongst people who I trust in the betting space. people at a high level. And I view them as a very safe playoff team. The problem is they have almost no path to winning division. There's about a 16-win gap between them and the daughters across every projection system

and even accounting for like the widest level of standard deviation. There's almost no path. Mookie Betts continues to weigh 150 pounds, you know, and that remains a concern for the daughters. Certainly livens it up a little bit for Arizona. But I think Arizona is very live. I mean, they're basically top five in. lineup. They finished first and run and scored last year. They have the fifth or six best

rotation. Their top five bullpen, they might be the best base running team in baseball. And they're probably a top five defensive team too. So they don't do anything wrong. Solvement in the World Series two years ago. The team they were with who beat them, the Texas Rangers had a down year last year. Arizona also didn't make the playoffs. Texas completely retooled their bullpen. They have seven new relievers in their bullpen. They have two high-end pitching prospects who they drafted in the first this is also the healthiest Jacob de Grom has been in years. You know, Jacob de Grom has the widest range of outcomes of many player of baseball this year. If you could tell me the final season stat line for one player this year in advance,

I'd want it to be Jacob de Gras. Because I think you could do a lot with that information in terms of Benning Sy Young or strikeout leader or just knowing how good the Rangers are going to be during the regular season. But Texas across the board, I think is the best team in the AL West. I think they're the second best team in the American League. I like them to get a buy. I like Texas to potentially win the American League. And I think those two teams, as I said,

who made the World Series two years ago together, who kind of surprised Texas and Arizona down years last year. I like both a lot coming into this year. And then Atlanta, you know, Atlanta won 89 games last year without Acuna or Strider for most of the season. They lost Max Fried. They have pitchers who I'm a little bit more confident in replacing lost innings than I think the market is.

But across the board, the public projection market views Atlanta as a value but the lowest projection on them has them at like plus 104 to win the division. The average projections have them about 60% and minus 150. And you could still get plus money. I think plus 130. I took plus 170 earlier than the off season. So Atlanta should bounce back this year if Strider and Akuna come back healthy. And I think that's the biggest world series threat aside from the Dodgers.

Simon, the best part about baseball is it offers so many ways to participate. Some people play baseball. They wind up to deliver a pitch. They squat deeply to catch a low fastball. They slide head first into home. Others are watching baseball. They adjust themselves on a bleacher. They swivel on a bar stool or like our producer Matt Mitchell.

They're furiously pedaling an exercise bike as they sweat an ill-advised first inning bet, regardless of how you participate, whether you're winding up or squatting or sliding or swiveling, you can only perform at your best when you're comfortable. And nobody keeps you comfortable from the dugout to the warning track

like our beloved sponsor Tommy John. Go from spring training to the dog days of summer with seventh inning stretchable comfort by visiting Tommyjohn.com and hit a walkoff home run of value for high performance casual essentials. because with a special sale for our listeners,

legging out life's doubles in resplendent, breathable luxury just got even easier, Simon, why will you be wearing more Tommy John in 2025? Because comfort is king. Right now you can shop TommyJon.com slash favorites and get 25% off your first order. Save 25% at Tommyjohn.com slash favorites. That's Tommyjohn.com.

favorites, Matt Mitchell, opening up the pun playbook for today's Tommy John ad read. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas?

guys. I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. We were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas.

And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering. that guys listen to hey jonas on the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcast just listen we don't care where you hear it another podcast from some s nl late night comedy guy not quite unhumor me with robert smigle and friends me and hilarious guests from bob odenkirk to david letterman help make you funnier this week my guest s n l's mikey day and head writer streeter sidel help an acapella band with their between songs banter where does your group perform we do some retirement homes.

Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs. And on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Jen Chinchin win.

I mean, she went down to three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lernerabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give

you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Sean, before Thursday arrives, you've mentioned some of your favorite futures bets. give us your absolute favorites you've made so far. Corby and Carroll runs later. It's my favorite player prop to lead the Major League and runs.

I made this about 9 to 1 in terms of projecting it out, modeled these, you know, ran it through 10,000 Sims. He wins this about 10 to 11% of the time. He was awful at the start of the year last year. I think he came into the season banged up. He still finished fifth in baseball with 120 run, run scored. He led the league in the second half. And what he started doing in the second half was pulling fly balls in the air.

It's the best way to get to your power in baseball. You can find the stat on baseball spot now, pull error percentage. It's a great stat to look at to find guys who are increasing their power, raising that percentage throughout the season. It's very evident Carol was trying to get to more pulled fly balls later in the year. And because he's so fast, he gets the second or third automatically on those pulled fly balls to right field. So Carol walks a ton, not a guy you want to bet for hits later, but he should be on second base basically every time he gets on base because he steals it

or because he hits a double down the line. Love him to lead the league and runs this year. Bet it at 20 to 1, I take that at 10 to 1 or better. Jacob de Grom, I mentioned the A.L. Sayung also lead the league and strikeouts at 40 to 1. I just think that's a fun long shot prop considering his upside. When you're betting bets like this, you're assuming everybody is going to get hurt, right? I'm factoring in an injury percentage to every single player. Even the safest guys are still going to get hurt 20% of it.

of the time. Even if you assume to Grom gets hurt 70% of the time, he's still a decent bet at Ford to one to lead the league in strikeouts. I think the Jays are a value team. The ALE East, you know, I'm kind of down on the Yankees this year. Yankees to miss the playoffs in general, the under now that Garrett Coles hurt, there's really not a lot of depth on the Yankees. I think there's a real chance that you get like a goofy group of three teams from the ALEs to make the playoffs, like the Red Sox, the Orioles, and then one of the Razor Jays. There's a lot of value projected value on the Jays right now in the betting market. I would bet their win total over 79 and a half, 78 and a half.

But if you want to bet longer shot props on them, Vlad to win AO MVP at 15 to 1 to be the hits leader at around the same price, RBI leader at 30 to 1. Their divisional odds are about 12 to 1, 11 to 1. I think if they're going to get there, Vlad is probably going to need to cash some of those props or get very close to it. So I'd rather take the better numbers. Very similar betting approach,

the Cincinnati Reds, who I mentioned before, they're about five to one to win the division. Terry Francona in a lot of markets is a better number to win an L manager of the year. I just think a lot of these bets are sort of correlated, highly correlated to one another, where if the Reds, they may not even need to win the division, they may just get in with the wild card

and Frank Cona wins manager of the year. So there might be some ways to bet these teams that you can find player markets or awards markets that are almost the right. correctly correlated to those outcomes happening that you can bet better numbers on. Just want to talk about three more player props before we get out of here. Logan Gilbert A.L. Sayung, he was the second half strikeout minus walk leader.

His velocity increased last year. He changed his pitch mix. Love Gilbert this year. Chris Sanchez, NL. Syong at 50 to 1. It seems like a long shot, considering he's probably the second or third best pitcher on his team behind Zach Wheeler. This is a guy, though. His velocity is up three miles an hour in spring training. Again, you know, you could project all this stuff out. right, take averages, et cetera, you have to keep a close eye on improvements guys they're making mechanically or in terms of velocity or pitch mixes in spring training. That's where you're going to find the real value in these bets is combining the math with

the scouting. I try to blend it as much as I can. A rookie year, Jacob Wilson of the A's. I talked about them being in a big offensive park this year. This guy could hit 300. He blew through the minors. I think he only played 70 games in the minor leagues. he hit over 400 in the miners last year, came up to the Biggs.

Second game tore his hamstring or strained his hamstring and was basically out for the season. So this is a guy who was hitting like 430 in AA and AAA and AAA. It looked like he was going to be a rookie of year candidate last year. Hamstring set him back. I think he's primed to go for 2025 in a part that I think is going to really score a lot of runs. So yeah, those are some of my favorite player props. As I said, the Yankees to miss the Phillies under.

And then the best bet on the board is the Guardians to miss the playoffs. I'm the highest in the market on the Guardians. I'm at minus 240 on them to miss. I'm at 29% for them to make it. Everybody else is at 25% or below. So just mathematically, the Guardians is a massive edge. That's like a 15% edge at minus 140

compared to an average projection of minus 275, minus 375 if you throw a mine away. Yeah, that's definitely worth betting into. I added it back to the Action Network app for a third time today. It's the third time I bet it this offseason. And it's still a substantial edge. I bet it at minus 120, minus 110, and now minus 140. So if you're going to place one bet, Guardians to miss the playoffs, I think is a huge edge.

Let's get to it, Sean. Everyone knows I'm Northeast biased, NL East, the best division in baseball. The storylines are crazy. Like, as a Phillies fan, I think as a fan base, we're sick of underachieving and not getting the World Series. And I think ownership is kind of the same view. They've spent the money. We got the players.

the excuses are getting a little wearing thin. We're old now. Like most our guys are above 30, which in baseball, you don't want to be at. I mean, the Mets, obviously,

you know, they've spent the money. The ownership has come in. They've spent the money. They built an incredible team. Obviously, they went to a World Series. They're a great team.

Now, like you said, Atlanta, they might be the best team in the division, and there were horrible injury luck. Like, their injury luck, I don't know what their ownership, whoever did something over there has done something wrong in their past.

But they have the most insane injury like I've ever seen for a baseball team. Like literally their best players would have season-ending injuries, like brutal, brutal losses. And from your perspective, what are you seeing in this division, specifically that everyone's just talking about, Dan, at least so much. Is it just me being Northeast bias, or is this really a really top-heavy division right now?

I believe by odds, they have three to top five World Series favorites, the Braves, the bets, and the Phillies are all in the top five for World Series odds. So I think that's justified in terms of talking about these three teams. The Phillies won it last year. I think most people projected them in his third best or second best going into last year. I have them third best going into this year. I'm in 85 wins on the Phillies. I think they're on the downslope of this, you know, competitive window.

Harper, Turner, Schwabre, Castellanos, Rio Muto, Willard, Nola. They're going to turn 33 on average this year, on average. So you have a year maybe two left at best of championship window. So I think Sanchez, like I said, is emerging, you know, gives them another guy, but there's really not many spots that this team can improve. There's not many areas where they can go out and trade for somebody to improve it. Like the rotation is already on the DL. Yeah, Suarez on the DL. They have Andrew Painter, who's one of the top pitching prospects in baseball.

So, you know, that can like supplement that loss. But the bullpen is probably only going to get worse relative to last year. They have one of the best bullpens of baseball last year, too. Bowpens are one of the least sticky things year to year. you know, bullpen variance, your bullpen doesn't throw that many innings.

So bullpens fluctuate greatly from one year to the next. That's, you know, another reason why the Guardians. I think I'm down on them this year. The Brewers,

why I'm down on this year. Those are two teams I bet last year based upon bullpen quality. I think both are likely to take a step back this season. I kind of view the Phillies in the same way. The Phillies are one of the best

win total underbats on the board, in my opinion. Nobody has them higher than 90 wins. I have them at 84.7, the lowest out there aside for me is at 86. But again, 86 to 90, the average is about 87. You can bet an under 91.5. I think that's fine or just bet the Braves to win the division.

And as I said, the Mets are also a little bit overvalued right now, but they are likely to add pieces than almost anybody else in season this year. So, yeah, it's Braves Mets Phillies. Right now I'd probably put it Braves-Filly's Mets, but I'm forecasting additions for the Mets at some point. I love. Yeah. Sorry, Simon.

Did you have a follow up there? No, no, far away. I love listening to Simon talk about the Phillies because you're such a dead-eyed pro to me. And even though I know you have such a deep abiding passion for the Eagles, and it doesn't come out during the season because you're so professional about the numbers you make, the bets you make, the conversations we have. that it's not the same as when you're talking about the Phillies. I might want to do a hockey podcast only to talk about the Flyers and here you go full Flyer fanatic. Like, because that would be pure joy because I can see it.

I know you're wearing your Phillies jersey today. I've been to Phillies games with you before. I feel like you've gone to the, didn't you go to a Phillies World Series game when they were in it? Yeah, brother. I was at the Phillies no hitter against that's right yes that's right most painful memory as a philly's fan of my life and so like hearing you like ask questions as a fan and not a better is actually just pure joy because i'm with sean though i'm fired up where it's like it's a really small

window that they they've done themselves into here like we basically burn the boats like it's this is it all of our guys are super old in baseball sean even talked about it's the most random thing ever a guy can be perfect than the miners come up. He runs too hard because he's too excited in his second game in the league. There's a hamstring. Like it's so fickle in this sport. So yeah, to me, obviously, Sean can probably see it. I'm scared of the Mets.

I'm scared of Atlanta. Like, as a Phillies fan, they're younger and on paper. They're kind of better. A lot of the nerds I know are kind of preaching with Sean's preaching here. It's like, no, these are undervalued teams. The Mets are, of course, can be overvalued just because of the market they're in. But Atlanta, they're the perfect sleeper team to what Sean's talking about. When the division, make a run to the World Series.

And I hate it. I hate Atlanta Brave. So it's painful to hear. But it's like everything he says just feels like the truth. Coming into last year, Atlanta and the daughters were both projected across the market for about 100 wins. They were like neck and neck with each other. There were some projection systems that thought Braves were a better team going into last year than the daughters. Now, all of their offensive players were coming off of careers.

last year they all had, you know, struggling seasons or got injured or down seasons, right? So if they find somewhere in the middle of those two years were career years versus everything went wrong, they still won 89 games in a year went everything wrong. I mean, the floor for this team is extremely high. The floor for the Phillies is pretty high too. You know, there's projections out there that say the Phillies are a good bet to miss the playoffs. It's not something I'm betting. Just because the floor for this team is so high, the rotation is so deep, you know,

even if these offensive players, the call. Klein. Like, this team still wins 85 games pretty comfortably. I just don't know if they have the ceiling to win 95 again, if the Braves are going to be healthy and if the Mets are going to be better. I need the Phillies to be great for TikTok because they're my favorite TikTok is Phillies fans in the playoffs reacting to game winning hits by Bryce Harper. It's just my, and Nick Castiano's.

Like, those are my favorite TikToks ever. I want to make extra money daily from your sports betting. Simon knows I'm always trying to find ways to take sports betting to the next level. That's why I'm excited to tell you about Edge Boost, the financial platform that pays you cash back to wager. Edge Boost is an online bank account that pays you for every deposit with the Edge Boost. Visa debit card you receive up to half a percent cash back on all your sportsbook, daily fantasy site, and casino transactions.

That's free money back in your pocket for doing what you're already doing. It's a no-brainer. Plus, your Edge Boost debit card starts with a $250,000 daily limit and will never be declined for gambling activity. They've got built-in tools to help you stay responsible and there are absolutely no hidden fees or minimum required balances. So stop leaving money on the table. Visit Edgeboost.combet to sign up. If you use promo code favorites and deposit $25, you'll receive a $25 deposit match plus tier two status for faster bank deposits and more cash back. That's edgeboost.

Dot bet promo code favorites. Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast?

Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it.

Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas,

and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends.

Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman, Help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the René. A Stub's Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jenschen, I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me.

And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface, because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source. the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions,

the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered.

Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. All right, Sean, before we get out of here, we talked about Beth 365.

It just went live in Illinois. I'm not going to ask you about the Cubs. I'm going to ask you about what was a Chernobyl of a season for the Chicago White Sox. I would go home, like, visit family during the summer and my dad still subscribes to the paper version of the Chicago Sun-Times. And when I was there in the summer, they were in the midst of the most epic, historic, record-breaking losing streak. And for like three days, I was reading it every morning just for the pure comedy and, like, dark comedy of all of it. Explain how historically inept the White Sox were last year, how rare that was, and could they be this bad this season? Yeah, I believe they, did they finish with the worst or the second worst winning percentage of all time?

I can't recall if they ended up breaking the record or not. But coming into the year, they were projected by basically every system to win like 60 games. They underachieved by 20 plus wins. Now, the Giants, you remember a couple years ago, ended up winning the NL West. They won like 100 plus games in that season. They beat the Dodgers.

They overachieved compared to public projections by about the same number of wins, by about 20, 24 wins. So the White Sox, underachieved last season by about as much as the Giants overachieved two years ago when they won the NL West, that's just like an interesting parallel to think about, about how far above or below expectations you have to play. Because I said with the daughters and debacks this year, it's about a 15-1 gap on average between those two teams.

That's like roughly what the Giants had to overcome two years ago, maybe even a little bit more than that. These are 1% outcomes in terms of these things actually happening, maybe even less than 1%. you know, the Giants were a 99th percentile outcome. The White Sox were a one percentile outcome last year. Now, everybody sees them winning at like at least 55 games this year, 60 games this year. I think I have them in around 55 to 57 wins. A 13 win, 15 win improvement would feel like a fucking miracle with that team.

Like, Colin Wichurch, our resident Chicago White Sox fan used to be on payoff pitch, podcast with me, our former MLB editor, he thinks this team is worse than the team they had. coming into last year. I believe that they've had six pitchers, get Tommy John surgery this month? Six. That's a lot. Sean Burke,

who's starting for them on opening day, I think is a rookie of the year candidate. He looks really solid. They traded Garrett Crochet, though, to the Red Sox. For Kyle Teal and other prospects, Crochet was like most of their, yeah,

who's by far their best player last year. Luis Robert didn't play a lot of time. They may trade Luis Robert this year. So by the end of the year, this team probably is worse than the team that they had last year. It's just a question of like these young pitchers that they have coming up, these young position players they have coming up,

what they actually produce. Because last year, there was no guys on the team, basically, who are going to be part of their next competitive team. This year, they're starting to move in younger guys who they plan to actually be part of their future. So for these younger guys actually give them contributions at the MLB level, it's a bit more difficult to project because we haven't seen them and they're coming up for the minors.

But by all accounts, they're expected to be as, good of a team as they were last year on paper, I just have no interest in betting they're over. But, you know, compared to the public average projection out there, there's like a nine-win value on they're over. I think they're at 53.5 and the average public projection is at like 62 and a half?

No, thank you. I'm not interested. And if you want to lay like minus 10,000, the White Sox to miss the playoffs, I actually think there's a slight edge on that this year. But you won't find me laying that money for seven months. Right before we came on the air, we were talking about how we're going to Chicago for our Bet365 event.

And Simon was saying how he had looked for tickets for Cubs games and there weren't any because they're not home this weekend. But then he was looking at White Sox and immediately Matt Mitchell and I were like, no, you're not spending a second of your time in Chicago in March going to a White Sox game. I'm glad we dissuaded him of that notion. As a reminder, the Favorites podcast is presented by Bet365 and is now live in my native state of Illinois. New Bet365 customers, including those in Illinois, get $150 on bonus bets when you bet $5. Sign up using promo code favorites.

Deposit $10, place a bet for $5 to get $150 in bonus bets. Those bonus bets can be used on spreads, totals, player, props, futures, and more. Whatever the moment, it's never ordinary, a bet 365, especially in Illinois, must be 21 or older and present in Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Louisiana, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, or 18 and older in Kentucky. Gambling problem, call 1,800 gambler or 1,800 bets off in Iowa terms. Conditioned restrictions apply. I want to thank Sean Zerillo for his amazing, in-depth, excellent, thoughtful, analytical baseball.

Analysis, Simon and I will return with our next episode of the first. favorites on the Action Network YouTube page Thursday, 11 a.m. Eastern talking about the Sweet 16 with Stucky preview of what we'll be doing in Chicago at Joe's on weed, RSVP'd, RSVP, link in the episode description. Downloads from Spotify, Apple Pods, wherever you get your pods, rate review, subscribe, leave us five stars, say whatever you want. Feedback is a gift. Until next time, love you. Action Network reminds you. Please gamble responsibly. If you or someone you, You care about has a gambling problem. Help is available 24-7 at 1-800 gambler.

Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast?

Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app.

Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Rob. Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless. And at the French Open, only the toughest survive. I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast for no nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define Roland Garris.

She's an outsider to win the French win. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I, and I, actually can win on any surface. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games.

This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen to learn the hard way on the IHard radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.