Latest / Foul Territory / Reacting to WS predictions + Sam Blum on the Rays winning formula

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Reacting to WS predictions + Sam Blum on the Rays winning formula · Foul Territory

0:03
Speaker 1: Hey, Sam Blum is here from The Athletic covering all
0:06
Speaker 1: kinds of baseball topics for The Athletic. And he did
0:09
Speaker 1: spend a little bit of time with the Rays. Sam,
0:11
Speaker 1: how you doing? And what have you learned from the
0:13
Speaker 1: Rays spending time with them? I know your job now
0:16
Speaker 1: covers everything, but you did cover the Angels for a
0:18
Speaker 1: long period of time. I think you covered the Rays
0:20
Speaker 1: back in the day, too. But these are two very
0:22
Speaker 1: different organizations.
0:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're... Probably somewhat incomparable. You know, and the Rays,
0:30
Speaker 2: you know, being around them, they're interesting. It's not a, like,
0:34
Speaker 2: you kind of look at their roster and you could see, like,
0:37
Speaker 2: I don't, you know, I don't understand how they win
0:39
Speaker 2: this many games to some extent. But it just works
0:43
Speaker 2: all 26 players together. I mean, I think that that
0:45
Speaker 2: sounds a little cliche, but when you're kind of watching
0:47
Speaker 2: it day after day, it lines up for you. Like,
0:51
Speaker 2: they're just kind of good enough in every area. to
0:53
Speaker 2: win close games, you know, to win the types of
0:57
Speaker 2: games that you need to in the playoffs. And it
0:59
Speaker 2: makes sense. I mean, they also have some superstars. We
1:01
Speaker 2: just saw a picture of Junior Cameron Arrow, right? Like,
1:03
Speaker 2: that's a legit superstar, probably, you know, a future MVP.
1:07
Speaker 2: Maybe not this year, but I certainly see, I believe,
1:11
Speaker 2: given how he's improved his defense over the course of
1:13
Speaker 2: the season, that that's possible. So, yeah, it's a good team.
1:16
Speaker 2: It's a fun team. And, you know, there's a lot
1:17
Speaker 2: of consistency there. I mean, Kevin Cash is the longest-tenured
1:20
Speaker 2: manager in baseball. Um, you know, their front office, uh,
1:23
Speaker 2: Neander has been there since their first world series. So
1:25
Speaker 2: there's a, there's a lot of, you know, people come
1:28
Speaker 2: in and out, uh, it looks different every year, but
1:30
Speaker 2: in some ways it's just always the same thing. And,
1:32
Speaker 2: and there's consistency and, and I think you see success
1:34
Speaker 2: off that.
1:36
Speaker 3: Yeah.
1:36
Speaker 4: That was going to be my question with, uh, Eric
1:38
Speaker 4: Neander and Kevin Cash. Do you think stability is part
1:41
Speaker 4: of their secret sauce?
1:43
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I think, and it's interesting because they've
1:45
Speaker 2: obviously changed ownership and, but not a lot, you know,
1:48
Speaker 2: in terms of the people and the personnel, um, you know,
1:51
Speaker 2: one of the coaching staff, uh, Kyle Snyder, I think
1:53
Speaker 2: probably belongs in that question as well. He's been there
1:56
Speaker 2: almost a decade. Um, and, and just kind of as
1:58
Speaker 2: the genius behind so many of these, these pictures that
2:01
Speaker 2: you've never heard of coming out of nowhere to be
2:03
Speaker 2: really good, uh, for Freddie Peralta, uh, Brian Baker, probably
2:06
Speaker 2: the two best examples of that this year. Um, Cam
2:10
Speaker 2: Boozer too. I mean, it's, it's, yeah, it's just like,
2:12
Speaker 2: I think when you have consistent approaches and you have
2:14
Speaker 2: people that are in their same positions and they work
2:16
Speaker 2: together well, um, There's a lot of people that are
2:19
Speaker 2: kind of off the Rays branch in baseball right now,
2:22
Speaker 2: and there's a reason for that. But you have people
2:26
Speaker 2: that have stuck around as long as Neander has, and
2:29
Speaker 2: Kevin Cash has. Obviously, that is going to play a
2:31
Speaker 2: massive role in just having a good culture. And that's
2:36
Speaker 2: what permeates, I think, when you're around the Rays, even
2:38
Speaker 2: first a little bit. It is a good culture, and
2:41
Speaker 2: they don't need all the resources. I mean, you guys
2:43
Speaker 2: are just talking about fans, right? There's... It doesn't look
2:47
Speaker 2: like the same product as every other major league team.
2:50
Speaker 2: In some ways, maybe that's by design.
2:52
Speaker 3: 2016, you were an intern with the Rays, correct?
2:57
Speaker 2: Yes, MLB.com covered the Rays. They were terrible. They were
3:01
Speaker 2: in last place. It looked a little different, yeah.
3:04
Speaker 3: How much different? And did you ever think it would
3:06
Speaker 3: ever change in the sense of, That was actually a
3:10
Speaker 3: full stadium. Not getting into how well they don't sell tickets, blah, blah, blah.
3:14
Speaker 3: But from 16 till now, you tweeted it here, my
3:17
Speaker 3: first ball writing job was in 16, covering the Rays
3:21
Speaker 3: as an intern. They were last. Terrible. Tonight was cool
3:24
Speaker 3: to see. How cool was it? And you think that
3:29
Speaker 3: can be replicated during the regular season in the St. Pete, Tampa,
3:34
Speaker 3: greater area.
3:36
Speaker 2: Maybe in the Tampa area, I don't think it will
3:38
Speaker 2: replicate in the regular season. I mean, you know, that
3:41
Speaker 2: year they were really bad, but I don't know how
3:42
Speaker 2: much different it really is in the regular season this year.
3:45
Speaker 2: I didn't go in the regular season this year and
3:47
Speaker 2: they're a first place team. And, you know, did I
3:49
Speaker 2: think it would change? Yes, because the Rays at that
3:51
Speaker 2: point had been good in years past. You know, I
3:53
Speaker 2: think sometimes, you know, the way they do it, right,
3:56
Speaker 2: like it won't always work. Like you're not always going
3:58
Speaker 2: to put together a collection of like guys that are
4:01
Speaker 2: unheralded and it always kind of, pans out. So they're
4:04
Speaker 2: going to have years like they had in 2016, and
4:06
Speaker 2: they probably will again. You know, people forget, I mean,
4:09
Speaker 2: they didn't make the playoffs the last two years, but
4:12
Speaker 2: it is a system and a process that I think
4:14
Speaker 2: at some point will, you know, even if you're not
4:16
Speaker 2: winning every year, you will, you know, you're never going
4:18
Speaker 2: to be like the, you mentioned the Angels, you're never
4:21
Speaker 2: going to go like 11 or 12 years without winning games.
4:23
Speaker 2: But in terms of getting fans in the ballpark, I
4:25
Speaker 2: think that, you know, there are reasons why it doesn't happen.
4:28
Speaker 2: And it's not because they don't have good fans. When
4:30
Speaker 2: you talk to the fans, and I did plenty this week,
4:33
Speaker 2: these are good baseball fans. It's just a logistical nightmare
4:36
Speaker 2: in a lot of ways. And I think a lot
4:38
Speaker 2: of the reasons why they had issues with bringing fans
4:40
Speaker 2: in the ballpark earlier in the series had to do
4:42
Speaker 2: with like just ticket prices kind of being in different,
4:46
Speaker 2: people not really understanding the value of the tickets they
4:48
Speaker 2: were purchasing and they were, the Rays were like cutting
4:51
Speaker 2: and raising based on like dynamic pricing and it was
4:54
Speaker 2: upsetting some fans. And, you know, I talked to Patrick Zalewski,
4:57
Speaker 2: the owner, after they clinched and he actually said that
4:59
Speaker 2: some of these tickets belonged to the, they were sold
5:01
Speaker 2: to the Cleveland Guardians. They didn't use them and then
5:03
Speaker 2: the Guardians didn't give them back to the Rays. That's
5:08
Speaker 2: not something I talked with the Guardians about, but it
5:10
Speaker 2: was an interesting comment from the Rays owner. So there's
5:14
Speaker 2: probably a lot of reasons why there were some empty
5:15
Speaker 2: seats last week. I imagine that when they play their
5:19
Speaker 2: next year and the year after, we'll see what happens
5:22
Speaker 2: in 2029, I imagine there'll be plenty of empty seats,
5:24
Speaker 2: even if they win the World Series. There's always a
5:26
Speaker 2: boost on that, but I just don't think that that
5:30
Speaker 2: ballpark is... is going to bring in tons of fans.
5:33
Speaker 2: And it's more a matter of circumstance than I think
5:36
Speaker 2: it is a reflection of the quality of baseball fan
5:39
Speaker 2: in South Florida or in the Tampa area. All right.
5:42
Speaker 4: We know Milwaukee is going to have the advantage in
5:45
Speaker 4: terms of how many people are in the seats, but
5:47
Speaker 4: what advantages do you think Tampa has.
5:49
Speaker 3: Over Milwaukee in this series?
5:50
Speaker 2: That's a good question. I mean, maybe You want to
5:54
Speaker 2: say like starting pitching, I mean, I mean, I, Freddie Peralta,
5:57
Speaker 2: Drew Rasmussen, Nick Martinez, those are three really good. I mean,
6:00
Speaker 2: I think that was a significant advantage, particularly in the ALCS.
6:04
Speaker 2: That's a good question though. I mean, I look at
6:06
Speaker 2: the Brewers roster and I, I mean, I think that
6:08
Speaker 2: the Brewers kind of have the pretty significant upper hand
6:11
Speaker 2: just in terms of like being well rested and being
6:13
Speaker 2: maybe the better overall team, particularly in the bullpen. I, I,
6:19
Speaker 2: You know, I don't know. I'll be curious to see
6:20
Speaker 2: how the Rays kind of line up there because it's
6:22
Speaker 2: felt like just watching these games the last few, you know,
6:25
Speaker 2: the last few days that that, you know, even though
6:27
Speaker 2: they obviously Brian Baker, he can't really go more than
6:30
Speaker 2: one inning. At least they weren't really willing to use
6:32
Speaker 2: him in that role. And then they seemed a little
6:34
Speaker 2: hesitant to go to other relievers. You know, Cam Boozer
6:38
Speaker 2: was really good. Ian Seymour wasn't as good. And so
6:41
Speaker 2: it just it felt like they were trying to get
6:42
Speaker 2: as much as they could out of their starters and
6:45
Speaker 2: limit the amount of innings that that bullpen needed to go. Um,
6:49
Speaker 2: but yeah, I mean, maybe, I don't know, like it's,
6:51
Speaker 2: it's tough. I mean, maybe you have the best player
6:53
Speaker 2: on the field in junior Cameron arrow, but I don't
6:55
Speaker 2: look at the rays and say, this is one area
6:58
Speaker 2: where they're really better than the brewers. I think that
7:00
Speaker 2: they just have a really solid overall team that can
7:04
Speaker 2: win games that you don't expect them to. And maybe
7:06
Speaker 2: that's how it's done, right? Like this is, this is
7:09
Speaker 2: a team that doesn't make sense maybe as a world
7:12
Speaker 2: series team, but when they put it all together, it does.
7:14
Speaker 2: And we watched that for, The whole regular season, all
7:18
Speaker 2: these playoffs, they've been pretty dominant. That wouldn't shock me
7:22
Speaker 2: one bit if they were to win the World Series.
7:24
Speaker 2: I'm just not sure that there is a section of
7:26
Speaker 2: the team that is significantly better than what Milwaukee will
7:29
Speaker 2: give you.
7:31
Speaker 3: Was this a good series? I enjoyed watching it. But
7:36
Speaker 3: was it the quality of baseball that you saw on
7:40
Speaker 3: TV that on the NL side because it felt like, yes,
7:44
Speaker 3: they were playing hard against each other and yes, they
7:46
Speaker 3: were close, but it felt like the National League games,
7:50
Speaker 3: it's just, it seems like this year it's a better,
7:53
Speaker 3: just a better overall group.
7:55
Speaker 2: But that was the whole season, right? You know, it's
7:58
Speaker 2: one of the things that the balance schedule has given
7:59
Speaker 2: us is like a sense of which league is better, right?
8:02
Speaker 2: And I think that, you know, the Astros don't get
8:04
Speaker 2: into the playoffs with 81 wins if the American League
8:08
Speaker 2: is any good. And it just was weird weird because
8:11
Speaker 2: like they're raised really the only team that likes just
8:14
Speaker 2: kind of like stood out in the American league. Uh,
8:17
Speaker 2: everybody else, maybe the Yankees to some extent.
8:19
Speaker 3: All right.
8:20
Speaker 2: Like, but if it was, it was just kind of
8:21
Speaker 2: like everybody could beat everybody. It didn't, didn't really make
8:25
Speaker 2: a ton of sense. And so, yes, I agree with you.
8:26
Speaker 2: The NL was a better product this year. It probably
8:29
Speaker 2: was in the championship series as well. Uh, it's hard
8:32
Speaker 2: to measure like how good teams are, I think in
8:34
Speaker 2: a short six, seven game span, but, uh, Yeah, there's
8:40
Speaker 2: no doubt in my mind that the National League put
8:42
Speaker 2: together a better product. Does that mean they're going to
8:44
Speaker 2: go and win the World Series? Does that mean the
8:45
Speaker 2: Brewers are going to go and win the World Series?
8:46
Speaker 3: It doesn't.
8:48
Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure the American League won the All-Star Game.
8:53
Speaker 2: Those things are a little bit fluky sometimes. The American
8:57
Speaker 2: League was as bad as it could possibly be this year.
9:02
Speaker 2: It just didn't make a ton of sense. Was it
9:05
Speaker 2: a good series?
9:06
Speaker 3: Sure.
9:07
Speaker 2: I would say it was it was good baseball. I
9:09
Speaker 2: felt like I like watching these low scoring, well-pitched games.
9:11
Speaker 2: There wasn't, there weren't like a ton of like lead changes.
9:13
Speaker 2: There weren't, uh, you know, late comebacks, but it was,
9:17
Speaker 2: I think good quality baseball and, and the rays in
9:19
Speaker 2: particular played, uh, played their brand. I think to the,
9:22
Speaker 2: to the, to the level that they needed to, to
9:24
Speaker 2: get to, uh, the world series.
9:26
Speaker 4: Hey, outside Tampa's top three, Aranda, Yandy, and Caminero. Is
9:31
Speaker 4: there someone that, you know, the baseball world should be
9:33
Speaker 4: paying attention to someone that kind of stood out and
9:36
Speaker 4: covering the series?
9:37
Speaker 2: Yeah.
9:38
Speaker 3: I love watching.
9:39
Speaker 2: I mean, Chandler Simpson plays just such an anomalous version
9:43
Speaker 2: of baseball, and I appreciate that he has completely embraced it.
9:47
Speaker 2: I think that everyone talks about how the Rays bunt
9:49
Speaker 2: a lot, and it's because of it's I don't know
9:50
Speaker 2: if it's necessarily their style as much as it is
9:54
Speaker 2: their personnel. Chandler Simpson, I think, is obviously who embodies that.
10:00
Speaker 2: Batting him third in the order was maybe reflective of
10:03
Speaker 2: the lefty-righty matchups to some extent, but I think it
10:06
Speaker 2: also balances their lineup in a way that puts them
10:09
Speaker 2: speed at the top. He's got the ability to move
10:12
Speaker 2: runners over. He's got the ability to get on bases.
10:16
Speaker 2: you know, without necessarily needing to hit the ball hard.
10:18
Speaker 2: I think he's just a player that if the Rays
10:20
Speaker 2: were to go ahead and win the World Series, like,
10:23
Speaker 2: you know, people know him. I think, you know, he's
10:25
Speaker 2: kind of been viral in certain capacities over the course
10:27
Speaker 2: of his big league career and even before that. But,
10:30
Speaker 2: you know, when people will watch him on this stage,
10:32
Speaker 2: I imagine that he will, you know, he'll make a
10:36
Speaker 2: lot of fans over the next week if he does
10:38
Speaker 2: what he does. And, you know, there's no reason to
10:40
Speaker 2: think he won't.
10:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, because you want to keep paying attention to his
10:43
Speaker 3: at-bat because you know something is going to happen. It's
10:45
Speaker 3: going to be a dribbled ball up the middle. He's
10:47
Speaker 3: going to beat out all that stuff. MVP talk for
10:50
Speaker 3: the ALCS. Did you believe they got the MVP correct?
10:57
Speaker 3: Should it have been Yandy Diaz?
11:00
Speaker 2: That's a good question. I mean, I would have picked
11:01
Speaker 2: one of the two starting pitchers, him or Rasmussen. Sorry,
11:04
Speaker 2: when I say him, I mean Freddie Peralta or Rasmussen. Um, it's,
11:08
Speaker 2: I felt like starting pitching was the backbone of them
11:10
Speaker 2: winning it. Uh, I love watching Yandy Diaz play baseball.
11:14
Speaker 2: I mean, he's, he, when he guarantees the win for
11:16
Speaker 2: game six and then comes through, uh, one, the team wins,
11:19
Speaker 2: but two, he plays a serious role in that. I mean,
11:22
Speaker 2: that's just a mic draw moment, right? Like that's, that's
11:24
Speaker 2: what you asked for. And, you know, everyone talked about
11:26
Speaker 2: how the ALCS kind of had no juice and maybe
11:28
Speaker 2: that there's some truth to that, but Yandy Diaz kind of,
11:31
Speaker 2: and these players like Junior Caminero, if he played on
11:33
Speaker 2: a different team, I mean, everybody, I mean, this guy
11:35
Speaker 2: would be, you know, selling jerseys all across the country.
11:38
Speaker 2: So he's, he's, these are just some really fun players
11:41
Speaker 2: to watch. And Yandy, I'll be curious to see if
11:44
Speaker 2: he challenges once in the world series. It's kind of
11:46
Speaker 2: been like, he's not challenged one time the whole season,
11:48
Speaker 2: which is fascinating. And there was a moment in the
11:50
Speaker 2: ALCS where he absolutely should have, and just still didn't.
11:53
Speaker 2: It was like, they were up by one in the
11:54
Speaker 2: seventh inning and runners at first and second, nobody out.
11:56
Speaker 2: And he just struck out instead of deciding to challenge
11:59
Speaker 2: a ball that was out a way off the plate.
12:01
Speaker 2: But I'll be curious to see. I mean, you get
12:03
Speaker 2: to this point, I know the raise of their position
12:05
Speaker 2: has been, we trust Yandy. He's got a good eye.
12:08
Speaker 2: He's a veteran. If it was somebody else, maybe that
12:11
Speaker 2: wouldn't be the position we'll take. But, you know, you're
12:13
Speaker 2: in the World Series. If you have a moment you
12:15
Speaker 2: need to challenge, I think you have to. And I'll
12:17
Speaker 2: be curious to see if that's what happens here, because
12:20
Speaker 2: it's just a weird, interesting storyline to me. But should
12:23
Speaker 2: it have been Yandy?
12:24
Speaker 3: He could have won it.
12:25
Speaker 2: He absolutely could have. I mean, he had a monster series,
12:28
Speaker 2: especially in the leadoff role, you know, setting the table
12:31
Speaker 2: numerous times. Uh, but I liked Freddie Peralta winning it.
12:34
Speaker 2: I mean, what a story that is coming from the
12:36
Speaker 2: Mets where he was, you know, arguably the worst starting
12:38
Speaker 2: pitcher at that point, like in mid August to going
12:42
Speaker 2: and becoming like, you know, the hero that the team needed, uh,
12:45
Speaker 2: they needed starting pitching and they got it, especially from
12:48
Speaker 2: Rasmussen and from Peralta.
12:51
Speaker 4: On that note, have you gotten the sense being, um,
12:54
Speaker 4: you know, in the stadium, have you seen the challenges
12:57
Speaker 4: change at all in terms of strategy in the postseason
13:00
Speaker 4: versus the regular season?
13:02
Speaker 2: That's a good question.
13:03
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah.
13:04
Speaker 2: I mean, sometimes there have been a couple of challenges
13:06
Speaker 2: that I've seen where I'm just like, that was terrible.
13:09
Speaker 2: You just like, that's a regular season challenge. You know,
13:12
Speaker 2: and I think sometimes like you got to be careful
13:15
Speaker 2: in those moments of like, it's more, you're mad at
13:17
Speaker 2: yourself and you're mad at the call. You know, I
13:20
Speaker 2: remember like the first game in the playoffs with Andy Pahez, right?
13:23
Speaker 2: Like he just had an awful challenge and it was,
13:25
Speaker 2: that was exactly what it looked like. He was mad
13:27
Speaker 2: at himself for striking out challenged. And then they, I
13:30
Speaker 2: remember there being some reporting that he was, told that
13:32
Speaker 2: he can't challenge again the rest of the playoffs. And so, like, yeah,
13:36
Speaker 2: you know, I think generally you're seeing it more from
13:38
Speaker 2: the catchers. There was very few challenges overall in the ALCS.
13:43
Speaker 2: And you just got to be really, really careful. I mean,
13:45
Speaker 2: because those are the moments you could really, really impact
13:48
Speaker 2: your team. And, you know, you don't want to be
13:51
Speaker 2: the guy that had a bad challenge and then, you know,
13:53
Speaker 2: that ends up being what could be the difference between
13:55
Speaker 2: a win and a loss because that is ultimately what,
13:58
Speaker 2: you know, what can happen in these, you know, by...
14:01
Speaker 2: by making a bad decision in those moments. So, uh, yeah, uh,
14:04
Speaker 2: it's interesting. I sometimes think that challenges can be selfish,
14:07
Speaker 2: but I also think not challenging can also be selfish.
14:09
Speaker 2: And that'll, you know, I'm not saying that that's the
14:11
Speaker 2: way Yandy's played or that's how it's played out, but, uh,
14:14
Speaker 2: you know, you know, not challenging in that moment in
14:16
Speaker 2: the seventh inning a couple of days ago was a
14:18
Speaker 2: mistake in my opinion. And, you know, if that presents
14:20
Speaker 2: itself again, uh, you know, you want to be able
14:22
Speaker 2: to pull the trigger. And so it's, it's a very
14:24
Speaker 2: interesting balance, but I think players have certainly been more
14:26
Speaker 2: conservative in the postseason, making sure that they're available to
14:29
Speaker 2: them in those late innings.
14:32
Speaker 1: Take away his dumbbells and steak. If you miss a
14:35
Speaker 1: pitch and you don't challenge it, or if the ump
14:38
Speaker 1: misses a pitch and you don't challenge it, dumbbells are
14:40
Speaker 1: going to be gone from the weight room. He'll challenge
14:43
Speaker 1: a pitch the next day. Might be the only way
14:46
Speaker 1: to do it.
14:47
Speaker 3: Yep.
14:48
Speaker 1: Sam, appreciate the time, dude. Thanks for joining us. Hope
14:50
Speaker 1: you enjoy. Are you covering the whole way through here
14:54
Speaker 1: or you're back?
14:54
Speaker 2: I am. I, as far as I'm aware, that is
14:57
Speaker 2: not the plan. We've got some other stuff after the
14:59
Speaker 2: world series to go do. So it'll, Hopefully be a
15:02
Speaker 2: little time off, but I'll be watching.
15:04
Speaker 4: Okay, cool.
15:05
Speaker 1: Well, we'll look for the next article. There'll be something
15:07
Speaker 1: Sam's covering, I'm sure, with some juice. So appreciate the.
15:10
Speaker 3: Time, dude. Thanks, guys. Have a good one. Thank you.
15:14
Speaker 3: You too.
15:20
Speaker 1: Hot Corner presented by Liz. They're helping us out with
15:24
Speaker 1: predictions and evaluating other people's predictions. This is a fun segment.
15:28
Speaker 1: We'll do our predictions in a different segment later this week.
15:31
Speaker 1: But let's pick at and dissect what other people think.
15:35
Speaker 1: And this comes from the athletic. So it includes some
15:39
Speaker 1: of the heavy hitters like Jason Stark, Ken Rosenthal, Katie Wu, etc.
15:44
Speaker 1: Keith Law, experts picking winner, MVP, key players. So let's
15:48
Speaker 1: just run through it, Clint. You just throw up that
15:52
Speaker 1: poll and then we will react to it. Let's start
15:55
Speaker 1: with the big one. World Series winners. 85% of the
16:02
Speaker 1: athletic staff picked the Brewers to win the World Series.
16:07
Speaker 3: I'll start with KP.
16:08
Speaker 1: Do you think that's a good number, KP? Are you
16:11
Speaker 1: surprised at all that 85% went that direction?
16:13
Speaker 3: I think it's a little high.
16:14
Speaker 4: I think it's a little high, but I think you
16:17
Speaker 4: ask anyone in baseball, I think everyone felt like the
16:20
Speaker 4: National League was a better division this year, more competitive teams.
16:25
Speaker 4: considering the route that Milwaukee went through to get to
16:28
Speaker 4: the world series, you could understand why people like them.
16:31
Speaker 4: But once again, if, if the race, if the same
16:34
Speaker 4: team wasn't the Tampa Bay race, because I think the
16:37
Speaker 4: race kind of get put into this category of, you know,
16:41
Speaker 4: no one ever believes in them there. You can't understand
16:44
Speaker 4: they're there, but they were the best team in the
16:45
Speaker 4: American league this year. So I do think they deserve
16:47
Speaker 4: a little bit more credit.
16:51
Speaker 2: Yeah.
16:52
Speaker 3: I think 85 is high. I think 85 is high.
16:55
Speaker 3: I think that's a– but it's a credit to athletic writers.
17:00
Speaker 3: If you read all their comments, you'll see them. They're like,
17:03
Speaker 3: I got a better chance of winning a coin flip
17:05
Speaker 3: than guessing this right. They don't say, oh, this is
17:10
Speaker 3: what's going to happen, but they've watched a lot of
17:13
Speaker 3: freaking baseball all year, and I think that's what's driving
17:15
Speaker 3: this 85%. Yeah.
17:19
Speaker 1: We'll go over some individuals too. So first off, Keyes.
17:23
Speaker 1: They have keys, which to me are more X factory.
17:26
Speaker 1: And then they have MVPs. So we'll start with key
17:29
Speaker 1: player for the Brewers. Jackson Churio received eight votes. There
17:35
Speaker 1: were some four voters. Ashby, Terang, Miz, Wilson Contreras picked
17:40
Speaker 1: up three votes. Logan Henderson got a vote. Then there's
17:44
Speaker 1: a bunch of ones, you know, one votes like Henderson.
17:48
Speaker 1: So the one thing I struggle with too, right at
17:50
Speaker 1: the top here, Kratz, is I'll give this part away.
17:53
Speaker 1: World Series MVP, also the majority, or the highest number,
17:58
Speaker 1: went to Jackson Churio. So I'm like, these questions feel
18:03
Speaker 1: a little bit similar.
18:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, but what did we talk about earlier? How you
18:09
Speaker 3: attack hitters. I can't choose Jackson Churio as the guy
18:12
Speaker 3: who's going to... If I'm taking my odds, I'm taking
18:16
Speaker 3: an Aaron Ashby. I'm taking a... Drew Rasmussen. I'm taking
18:22
Speaker 3: guys that have a chance to do things that no
18:25
Speaker 3: matter what, they're in control of it. Because let's say
18:29
Speaker 3: Jackson Churio gets hot early. Guess who's not going to
18:32
Speaker 3: hurt him? They're not going to let Jackson Churio hurt him.
18:35
Speaker 3: They're not going to let Bryce Terang hurt him. Whoever
18:38
Speaker 3: they choose in that lineup, to me, it's going to
18:40
Speaker 3: be the guy. So who it changes, I forget what you...
18:46
Speaker 3: The word you use there, it says keys, but you
18:49
Speaker 3: say X factor. We always have this discussion every year.
18:52
Speaker 3: What does X factor actually mean? Who's going to make
18:54
Speaker 3: the biggest impact on this series? To me, for the Brewers,
19:01
Speaker 3: it's Aaron Ashby and his usage out of the pen
19:04
Speaker 3: because it's not just one inning and he's going to
19:06
Speaker 3: throw multiple games. And it's Drew Rasmussen because he has
19:11
Speaker 3: the best chance to go one, go five, and then
19:14
Speaker 3: probably impact seven if this team makes it that far. Yeah.
19:21
Speaker 4: I mean, I find it interesting too, because I'm a
19:24
Speaker 4: big believer. You need your best players to be your
19:26
Speaker 4: best players, but those also can't be your key players
19:29
Speaker 4: because you already know what you're going to get out
19:31
Speaker 4: of your best players. Like I'm not taking my key players,
19:34
Speaker 4: not the Miz. It's not Jackson chairs. To me, the
19:36
Speaker 4: key player in with Milwaukee is, is Henderson. He's the
19:41
Speaker 4: guy that you know what you're going to get out
19:43
Speaker 4: of the minutes, but what are you going to get
19:44
Speaker 4: in game two? What are you going to get out
19:47
Speaker 4: of him? Obviously, Ashley's proven what he's been able to
19:50
Speaker 4: do in the postseason. All these other guys have proven
19:53
Speaker 4: who they are. They're not in this position without those guys.
19:56
Speaker 4: For me, it's a weird question to pair the key
20:00
Speaker 4: with the MVP. Granted, if I was voting on the MVP,
20:03
Speaker 4: I would probably go towards one of those guys that
20:05
Speaker 4: I already know what you're going to expect from, but
20:08
Speaker 4: I like Kratz's point, too. It's a lot easier to
20:11
Speaker 4: bet on a guy who holds the ball in his
20:14
Speaker 4: hand to win the MVP because he has the ball
20:17
Speaker 4: in his hand. If a guy gets hot offensively, you
20:19
Speaker 4: could pitch around him. Neither of these teams' lineups are
20:23
Speaker 4: so deep that you can't afford to pitch around one
20:25
Speaker 4: guy in the lineup.
20:27
Speaker 3: And Jake Bowers is lower down on that list. What
20:31
Speaker 3: can you do? I mean, if you're pitching around Jake Bowers,
20:34
Speaker 3: Jake Bowers is third in the league in on-base percentage.
20:37
Speaker 3: Third down. Third, not third on the team, third in
20:40
Speaker 3: the league in on-base percentage. So if you pitch around him,
20:45
Speaker 3: then he does what he's been doing the whole year.
20:47
Speaker 3: So I think there's a key to that. Usually the
20:50
Speaker 3: key players for me in the batting order are that
20:53
Speaker 3: four through six. And then the seventh hitter is the
20:57
Speaker 3: one who's going to come up with a lot, a
21:00
Speaker 3: lot of times up with guys in running scoring position
21:06
Speaker 3: or a situation where it's a key at bat of
21:08
Speaker 3: the game, you got to move them over. Yeah, anybody
21:10
Speaker 3: can drive them in from third, but how do you
21:12
Speaker 3: get them from second to third against Drew Rasmussen, who's
21:15
Speaker 3: been dealing for six innings?
21:18
Speaker 1: I mean, the same thing holds true here with key
21:20
Speaker 1: player for the Rays. This is the last poll that
21:22
Speaker 1: we'll show from the article here. Junior Caminero ran away
21:26
Speaker 1: with it. They gave 11 votes to the key player
21:28
Speaker 1: for the Rays. I mean, kind of duh, but KP,
21:31
Speaker 1: if I'm looking for the category that you're talking about,
21:35
Speaker 1: I go one slot down to Chandler Simpson.
21:38
Speaker 2: Right.
21:38
Speaker 1: And, and he's actually a guy that's tougher to even
21:41
Speaker 1: try and work around. First of all, you're not pitching
21:43
Speaker 1: around Chandler Simpson when you've got guys like Yandy and
21:46
Speaker 1: Aranda and junior Caminero in there yet.
21:49
Speaker 4: Yeah.
21:49
Speaker 1: Even if you were trying to avoid him in one
21:51
Speaker 1: specific AB, you don't want them on base. So he
21:53
Speaker 1: he's doing things and he, he causes rushing.
21:57
Speaker 3: Right.
21:58
Speaker 1: He causes mistakes because people get worried about their clock
22:01
Speaker 1: and how quickly they need to make a play.
22:05
Speaker 4: I can't overlook the one and a half votes, though.
22:07
Speaker 3: I don't know how we got. I can't overlook that.
22:11
Speaker 4: No, but I agree with you. But I would even
22:12
Speaker 4: go deeper than that. Like Chandler Simpson's already kind of,
22:16
Speaker 4: you know, he's already kind of proven who he is
22:17
Speaker 4: as a player and the sort of things that he
22:19
Speaker 4: does to disrupt the other team. But to me, a key.
22:22
Speaker 4: for a Tampa Bay Rays is someone else in that
22:24
Speaker 4: bullpen has to step up. Who's going to be the
22:27
Speaker 4: other guy? Right now it feels like they have, you know,
22:30
Speaker 4: we talked about Baker only really pitching one inning. Who
22:33
Speaker 4: are these other guys in the bullpen? A key's got
22:35
Speaker 4: to be someone out of that bullpen who's been really
22:38
Speaker 4: good during the regular season that helped them get there,
22:40
Speaker 4: who hasn't pitched necessarily great in the postseason, but who's
22:43
Speaker 4: going to step up as a guy who is going
22:45
Speaker 4: to be, who's going to, when Kevin Cash calls down
22:48
Speaker 4: at the bullpen, he knows what he's going to get.
22:52
Speaker 3: And we shall see.
22:53
Speaker 1: We'll do our own predictions in a different segment. So
22:56
Speaker 1: it's fun to make fun of other people's predictions. But
22:59
Speaker 1: then the pressure will be on us over the next
23:01
Speaker 1: couple of days. We'll get KP's predictions on Friday. Yeah,
23:04
Speaker 1: one and a half for everything.
23:05
Speaker 3: I'm only bringing a half a vote. Yeah, that is true.
23:09
Speaker 3: Somebody really short. That's why they only got a half
23:12
Speaker 3: a vote.
23:13
Speaker 1: For the key players, you can't just give me a
23:15
Speaker 1: full vote for someone. Wow, that's a very political answer
23:18
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