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Gene Watson predicts World Series Winner · The Craig Way Show

0:00
Speaker 1: Gene Watson from the Chicago White Sox front office, our
0:03
Speaker 1: MLB insider, would not lie to us. He might be
0:05
Speaker 1: incorrect occasionally, like when he had the Potters and Guardians
0:09
Speaker 1: in the World Series, but I allowed him waffle room
0:13
Speaker 1: after the Division Series to RECONNOI her to get himself
0:17
Speaker 1: backing it, and he nailed it when he said the
0:19
Speaker 1: Dodgers and Yankees would advance to the World Series.
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Speaker 2: How you doing, Geno? What's going on, Craig, how are you?
0:25
Speaker 2: I'm good?
0:26
Speaker 1: And I know you've got organizational meetings in Chicago and
0:29
Speaker 1: things like that. But I also know that you watched
0:31
Speaker 1: every game you know, pretty closely this the and you
0:35
Speaker 1: probably weren't shocks, and she picked the Yankees and Dodgers
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Speaker 1: ultimately to advancement. Think about this, You know the Dodgers
0:41
Speaker 1: and Yankees played. I think they said I think we
0:46
Speaker 1: said it. They played ten times between nineteen nineteen forty
0:53
Speaker 1: one and nineteen eighty one. That's a lot, and from
0:58
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one now they have not played.
1:01
Speaker 2: In forty three years.
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Speaker 1: It seems kind of weird thinking about because those are
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Speaker 1: two of the hallmark franchises in baseball history.
1:09
Speaker 3: It's crazy and you know what, I think this is
1:11
Speaker 3: the best possible outcome for the game of baseball.
1:15
Speaker 2: And I know it's easy to say, well, it's the.
1:18
Speaker 3: Two of the highest to of the top five payrolls
1:20
Speaker 3: in baseball. It's the two largest markets, their rosters had the.
1:25
Speaker 2: Two highest valuations.
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Speaker 3: They've got six of the fourteen players with three hundred
1:29
Speaker 3: million dollar contracts. But just for the game, just as
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Speaker 3: a almost like a checkpoint for the game of baseball
1:36
Speaker 3: as an industry within our society, I don't think you
1:39
Speaker 3: could ask for a better time for this because the
1:43
Speaker 3: stars on each team, just the star power that comes
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Speaker 3: with each team, and it's going to be great for
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Speaker 3: the game of baseball. And I'm super excited, cannot wait
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Speaker 3: to watch this series.
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Speaker 1: I had our resident boss man here, our program director,
1:57
Speaker 1: Trady Fox, and I were talking about earlier. He said,
1:59
Speaker 1: this is Celtics Lakers, I said, or maybe back in
2:02
Speaker 1: the day Cowboys, Steelers, Right, I mean, it's it's two.
2:05
Speaker 1: It's it's two Whollmark franchises in a given sports league
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Speaker 1: meeting for a championship. So those kind of comparisons could
2:15
Speaker 1: be made that it'd be like what at least back
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Speaker 1: in the day Montreal and Detroit or something in the NHL.
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Speaker 2: No question, And and what what what makes it so unique?
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Speaker 3: Is like you've got two global superstars and Otani and
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Speaker 3: Yamamoto on the Dodgers. You've got two of the most
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Speaker 3: valuable player you know, two fifty plus home run guys
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Speaker 3: and Otani and Judge. You've got great starting pitching, You've
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Speaker 3: got you know, star power at the top of the order.
2:45
Speaker 3: And then you've got you know, hidden gyms like Tommy
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Speaker 3: Edmund and Glabora Torres who just have been huge for
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Speaker 3: their their their teams and being in a complimentary way.
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Speaker 3: But but it's just it's going to bring so much theater.
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Speaker 3: I just I don't I just can't wait to see
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Speaker 3: how all shapes out. And the tickets. I think the
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Speaker 3: cheapest ticket right now is one thousand dollars up per
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Speaker 3: ticket per game, and I don't think that's going to
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Speaker 3: go down before Friday.
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Speaker 1: I think you're right about that. Visitying with Geen Watson
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Speaker 1: here to talk Major League Baseball. Okay, let me get
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Speaker 1: your review first of all of the two series, because
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Speaker 1: they were markedly different. Really, the National League Championship Series
3:24
Speaker 1: was basically the Dodgers and Mets just beating the hell
3:28
Speaker 1: out of one another. It was just it was just
3:30
Speaker 1: Haymaker's thrown, whereas the Yankees and Guardians was a lot
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Speaker 1: more airtight. That was that was It took late and
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Speaker 1: sometimes extra inding heroics like it was the other night
3:41
Speaker 1: to wrap it up for New York. How about your
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Speaker 1: thoughts on the two series. Let's start with the Alcs.
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Speaker 3: Well, it's such a thin line between winning and losing,
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Speaker 3: and especially in October, and you know, I just think
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Speaker 3: that that Cleveland did such a tremendous job with the
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Speaker 3: roster that they had, you know, one hundred and forty
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Speaker 3: million dollars pay roll a first year manager. It just
4:02
Speaker 3: proves that their processes and the way they do things
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Speaker 3: are are certainly perfect. They just they ran out of gas,
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Speaker 3: and the in and Jose Ramirez, you know, not performing
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Speaker 3: was a really really big blow to that lineup, and
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Speaker 3: I think they just ran into a more motivated team.
4:17
Speaker 3: I think they ran into a team that the expectation
4:20
Speaker 3: has been so high all year long that they were
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Speaker 3: going to be tough to beat, and there and their
4:25
Speaker 3: star players, you know, came up big when they had
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Speaker 3: it to.
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Speaker 2: And that was the difference in the series.
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Speaker 1: You know, there was so much said coming out of
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Speaker 1: the Division Series into the LCS that Aaron Judge had
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Speaker 1: not gotten going, had not really launched. And they said
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Speaker 1: the same thing too in the National League about Otani
4:42
Speaker 1: and we'll get to the National League in a moment.
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Speaker 1: But Judge got going. But when he got going, Sogo
4:49
Speaker 1: got going, and vice versa. And you mentioned Labor Torrez
4:51
Speaker 1: and the impact he had on the series. And then
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Speaker 1: the other thing, which is look to have the Yankees
4:57
Speaker 1: with the bullpen that supposedly was kind of shape, things
5:00
Speaker 1: like that, they they buy and large kind of held
5:04
Speaker 1: their water in this thing. Well, Luke Weaver has been
5:08
Speaker 1: absolutely unbelievable. I mean, this guy was traded from Arizona
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Speaker 1: to Kansas City, placed on waivers, went over, the Yankees
5:14
Speaker 1: came up with a change up and and and you know,
5:17
Speaker 1: I mean truthfully, like in the evaluation of Luke Weaver,
5:20
Speaker 1: it was always a questionable, you know, about how how
5:23
Speaker 1: tough he was. And now he's closing out games in October,
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Speaker 1: which is just an incredibly difficult thing to do, and
5:30
Speaker 1: so that was big for them. I don't know where
5:32
Speaker 1: they would be without Gene Carlos Stanton.
5:33
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, for a guy that's played forty
5:36
Speaker 3: percent of their games in the last four years, for
5:39
Speaker 3: him to come up and come up big for them
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Speaker 3: was huge, and they just they just found a way.
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Speaker 3: But I think that you know, oftentimes, and this is
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Speaker 3: what it's kind of made the Yankees and the Yankees over
5:48
Speaker 3: the course of their history, is that the expectations drive
5:51
Speaker 3: the results, and they knew that this was a year
5:54
Speaker 3: they had to get the job done, and they found
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Speaker 3: a way to get it done.
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Speaker 1: Interesting you bring that up after the concert that Lynn
6:00
Speaker 1: and I were at at the Hollywood Bowl Lesson, We're
6:02
Speaker 1: driving back to the open We're listening to the Dodgers
6:04
Speaker 1: postgame show, and one of the things that came up
6:07
Speaker 1: was about these two managers, you know, being Aaron Boone
6:13
Speaker 1: and obviously Dave Roberts, being kind of quote unquote under
6:18
Speaker 1: the gun and the pressure on them to do that
6:21
Speaker 1: did is that what you'd kind of heard behind the scenes,
6:24
Speaker 1: that the organizations might lose patience with either or both
6:28
Speaker 1: of those guys had they not reached this level.
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Speaker 3: I don't think anybody will ever know that those are
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Speaker 3: conversations that take place.
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Speaker 2: Between ownership and the general managers.
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Speaker 3: I think that everybody just knew coming in that with
6:41
Speaker 3: the way the rosters were set up, the amount of
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Speaker 3: dollars that were spent on these rosters, and just and
6:46
Speaker 3: I always connect one October to the other, you know,
6:49
Speaker 3: when it comes to these playoff teams with high expectations,
6:52
Speaker 3: you know, really they almost wished the season away from
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Speaker 3: April October and the expectation was so high for these
6:59
Speaker 3: two organizations, is that it was just it was a
7:03
Speaker 3: do or die situation because you just don't know, you
7:06
Speaker 3: know what now the teams that aren't in the World
7:09
Speaker 3: Series right now, the moves they're going to make to
7:11
Speaker 3: continue to build for twenty twenty five, and a lot
7:14
Speaker 3: of that can be extreme. And next thing you look
7:16
Speaker 3: up and three or four rosters have a better team
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Speaker 3: than you. And so I just think that coming into
7:21
Speaker 3: the season, I don't know that they knew.
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Speaker 2: They were under the gun.
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Speaker 3: I just know that both organizations had extremely high expectations
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Speaker 3: to be where they are.
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Speaker 1: To take you, yeah, no question about that.
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Speaker 2: All right.
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Speaker 1: So let me shift you to the National League and
7:35
Speaker 1: get your thoughts on the National League Championship Series, because
7:40
Speaker 1: the Mats and Dodgers had had. Like I said, they
7:44
Speaker 1: can just kind of took turns beaten up on one another.
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Speaker 1: The margins of victory in these games were to ended
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Speaker 1: up being wipeouts. What happens in a situation like that,
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Speaker 1: You know, we're out of six games, every one of
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Speaker 1: them winds up being lopsided that they the closest margin
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Speaker 1: is five runs in any of those games.
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Speaker 3: Well, this is gonna sound weird when I say this,
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Speaker 3: but you had one team that was truly playing with
8:10
Speaker 3: house money in the New York Mets, and you had
8:13
Speaker 3: one team that was kind of managing for the long play,
8:17
Speaker 3: and not to say that they weren't trying to win,
8:19
Speaker 3: but with the number of injuries that they had, with
8:22
Speaker 3: the way that Dave Roberts had to really maneuver the
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Speaker 3: bullpen in the bullpen games, and I've never seen anything
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Speaker 3: like the comfort that they have with these bullpen games.
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Speaker 3: And that goes back to you got a bullpen game
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Speaker 3: against Dylan Cees, whether it was the big move for
8:38
Speaker 3: the Padres, and they don't even vibrate.
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Speaker 2: They step up and they win the game big, and
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Speaker 2: they win the series.
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Speaker 3: And so while the Mets did such a great job
8:45
Speaker 3: and Carlos Mendoza did an incredible job this season and
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Speaker 3: what that team was able to do from where they
8:51
Speaker 3: were in May and to have the season they had.
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Speaker 3: I think in this series, and I said it last week,
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Speaker 3: I think the Dodgers kind of knew what the being
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Speaker 3: out and getting past the Padres, that they could manage
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Speaker 3: this series a little bit different and still get the
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Speaker 3: outcome they wanted it.
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Speaker 2: I think that's what they got.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, That's where I was going next to how weird
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Speaker 1: this was? Can you ever remember, because I know I can't,
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Speaker 1: and I'm I'm a big baseball fan, but you're an
9:16
Speaker 1: organizational man, can you ever remember a team by design,
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Speaker 1: not by necessity, but by design in a six game
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Speaker 1: series throwing three bullpen games.
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Speaker 3: I know it's unbelievable and it is completely reshaping the
9:33
Speaker 3: way teams view starting pitching and from an industry standpoint,
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Speaker 3: and you know, if you've got, you know, fifteen guys
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Speaker 3: in your organization that are zero to three guys that
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Speaker 3: you think are capable of coming up and being a
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Speaker 3: part of a thirteen man pitching staff, how you manage
9:50
Speaker 3: that versus going out and spending fifty plus million dollars
9:54
Speaker 3: on a pitcher. Now that strategy is in play and
9:57
Speaker 3: it's completely reshaped the way we have you starting pitching.
10:00
Speaker 3: I don't particularly care for it. I've always been one
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Speaker 3: that you get the most talented arm on the mound,
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Speaker 3: you teach them to use their stuff and sequence and
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Speaker 3: get through an order three times, and you've got a
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Speaker 3: better chance of winning the game.
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Speaker 2: That's been my history in this game.
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Speaker 3: But they have certainly done what they had to do
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Speaker 3: with all of the injuries they've had, all the starting
10:20
Speaker 3: pitchers on the sixty menter roster.
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Speaker 2: They didn't make excuses.
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Speaker 3: They created a plan and they executed the plan perfectly,
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Speaker 3: and that's what's gotten them to the World.
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Speaker 2: Series, all right.
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Speaker 1: So let's kind of match these up a little bit now, Gino,
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Speaker 1: and talk about it. The strengths when we have those
10:37
Speaker 1: deals like we used to see in the newspapers back
10:39
Speaker 1: when you and I used to read newspapers, right and
10:41
Speaker 1: they would put the checkbox there and the advantage to
10:43
Speaker 1: one side in football offense or defense or special teams
10:47
Speaker 1: or intangibles or coaching, and blah blah blah. Let's start
10:51
Speaker 1: starting pitching. I think I know where you're going to go.
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Speaker 2: With that.
10:55
Speaker 3: Well, I mean Craig really it's I mean Jack Flariry
10:59
Speaker 3: has had an incredib second half and where would they
11:02
Speaker 3: be without Jack Clarity and Tommy Edmund right now, two
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Speaker 3: of the biggest acquisitions they could have.
11:06
Speaker 2: Had the trade deadline in White.
11:08
Speaker 3: While you know Garrett Cole and you know rode On
11:12
Speaker 3: and Louis Gill are certainly great starting pitchers, Clarity, Yamamode
11:17
Speaker 3: and Bureau are great as well. And I just think
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Speaker 3: that whoever can get the linked out of their starting pitching,
11:22
Speaker 3: because this is going to be a fifteen round heavyweight match,
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Speaker 3: and I think when you get into game six's Game six,
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Speaker 3: in game seven, you can throw everything out the window
11:32
Speaker 3: from a usage standpoint, So being able to which is
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Speaker 3: big about the break in the game Game one, not
11:38
Speaker 3: being till Friday is everybody's gonna come and rested.
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Speaker 2: But once you get to the usage part of your bullpen.
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Speaker 3: I think that's really what's going to be the difference
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Speaker 3: in this In this series, I think it's going to
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Speaker 3: be seven games.
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Speaker 2: I think it's going to be an absolute.
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Speaker 3: Heavyweight bout, back and forth, dramatic wins, But in the end,
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Speaker 3: I think it's going to be the bullpens that separate
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Speaker 3: the word from the loser and who can manage it
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Speaker 3: early uh and have guys available later where you start
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Speaker 3: to get creative in those early leverage moments of Game six,
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Speaker 3: in Game seven when the series is online.
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Speaker 1: Would it be safe to say, you tell me if
12:12
Speaker 1: I'm off base on this that as closures go, the
12:18
Speaker 1: Yankees may have the edge there with Weaver, even though
12:20
Speaker 1: Trying has looked really good. When when when he closes,
12:23
Speaker 1: because we don't know, we don't know. It depends on
12:25
Speaker 1: how the bullpen game is gonna fall. Because Copak speaking
12:28
Speaker 1: of great trades, Kopak has also been a guy that
12:31
Speaker 1: has closed for the Dodgers, but the strength and depth
12:34
Speaker 1: of the bullpen, the advantage will go to La there.
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Speaker 2: I do I do believe that.
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Speaker 3: I just think that you know Luke Weaver for what
12:44
Speaker 3: he's done, uh, and you know you got Clay Holmes,
12:47
Speaker 3: who's done who's done it for the job, who's going
12:49
Speaker 3: to lost that role? Those are your leverage guys. I
12:52
Speaker 3: really think that Copack and Trying and that they just
12:55
Speaker 3: they just there's just a little more there. When Kopek
12:59
Speaker 3: uses his slider early in the count, he's a different guy.
13:02
Speaker 3: When he tries to throw us fastball by guys, he
13:05
Speaker 3: can get hurt. But but you know, when you lose,
13:08
Speaker 3: use those guys in leverage, which is going to be
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Speaker 3: a big deal. Who can get out to a three
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Speaker 3: to four run lead in the sixth seventh inning and
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Speaker 3: take that pressure off your leverage relievers over seven games?
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Speaker 3: I think that's going to be a big key. But
13:20
Speaker 3: I mean this is an absolute we could go. We
13:23
Speaker 3: could go back and forth. And I know you're being
13:24
Speaker 3: modest because you want the Dodgers to win, But I
13:27
Speaker 3: think that that this is an absolute toss up when
13:30
Speaker 3: you break it down, because you can you can go,
13:33
Speaker 3: you know, tick per tack on every area of the
13:35
Speaker 3: teams and the talent and the roster and the star
13:38
Speaker 3: power and the depth.
13:39
Speaker 2: It's it's going to be.
13:41
Speaker 3: It's this two evening team evenly match teams as I've
13:44
Speaker 3: seen in a long time in a World series.
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Speaker 1: Plus you got Superstar against Superstar, Aaron Judge against Shoe Ayotti,
13:50
Speaker 1: and then you've got then you've got Stanton against Mookie Betts.
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Speaker 1: It just kind of goes on and on and on.
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Speaker 1: And that's kind of the chips that you're talking about
13:57
Speaker 1: stacking on each side of.
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Speaker 3: This, and I think it's going to be interesting to see,
14:02
Speaker 3: especially early in the series, to see how teams try.
14:06
Speaker 3: There's no way you can completely maneuver around the heart
14:09
Speaker 3: of the order either order. The Yankees are incredible about
14:13
Speaker 3: getting on base. They just get on base better than
14:16
Speaker 3: anybody in baseball. Can they get the big hit? And
14:19
Speaker 3: can you maneuver around the middle of that order to
14:22
Speaker 3: get to the bottom of the order and maybe work
14:25
Speaker 3: through some traffic and get out of, you know, situations
14:28
Speaker 3: where they're second, third, and two outs. That's going to
14:30
Speaker 3: be a big key is who who they try to
14:32
Speaker 3: attack straight up and who they try to work around.
14:36
Speaker 3: And it's gonna be, uh, it's going to be a
14:38
Speaker 3: chess match. And you got two great managers. I mean,
14:41
Speaker 3: it's just going to be. It's it's the largest payrolls,
14:44
Speaker 3: it's it's the most analytics, it's the most scouting.
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Speaker 2: It's everything you could ever want in a World Series matchup.
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Speaker 1: Okay, final analysis. Here you go, Gino, if you're picking one,
14:57
Speaker 1: come on, you've done it all the way through. You've
14:59
Speaker 1: been you've been a good you've been a good soldier.
15:02
Speaker 2: And three chances.
15:03
Speaker 3: Yeah right, I am gonna You may not like this,
15:07
Speaker 3: but I'm gonna go the Dodgers in seven games.
15:10
Speaker 1: I don't like it because because you've misfired all the
15:13
Speaker 1: gay Hey, you picked them to win the National League,
15:15
Speaker 1: so you did okay there, So yeah.
15:18
Speaker 3: Well, I just I just think that that that that bullpen,
15:23
Speaker 3: you know, it's just it's it's it's just tougher. It's
15:26
Speaker 3: it's going to be the four games in La are big.
15:29
Speaker 3: I just think that. I do think it goes seven games.
15:32
Speaker 3: I think it's you know, the twenty sixteen World Series
15:35
Speaker 3: threw forty million people. I think this has a chance
15:38
Speaker 3: to surpass that in viewership and it's going to be
15:42
Speaker 3: some kind of world series to watch.
15:44
Speaker 1: I agree with you. There he's Gene Watson from the
15:46
Speaker 1: Chicago White Sox. There are MLB insider listen. We'll we'll
15:49
Speaker 1: check back in after the series gets a couple of
15:52
Speaker 1: games under foot and get more impressions.
15:54
Speaker 2: I appreciate you taking the time today, Geno.
15:56
Speaker 1: All right, thanks, gregt appreciate you. All Right, that's Gene Watson.
15:59
Speaker 1: We'll have more coming up. Hear more from coach sark
16:01
Speaker 1: here on Sports Radio Am thirteen under the zone