Latest / District Territory / Out of nowhere, the Nationals offense looks like a juggernaut

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Out of nowhere, the Nationals offense looks like a juggernaut · District Territory

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Good morning, Nationals fans, good afternoon, good night wherever you
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: might be listening from. I'm Eric Shellhouse alongside me Spencer
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Nusbound from the Athletic. You might recognize me from social
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: media on bat boys Baseball talking to the Nationals at
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: the park over the years, Spencer, how long you been
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: covering this team and what has been so exciting about
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: them in the last few days.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so this is year three for me. It's year
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: one at the Athletic. The two previous years I covered
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: them at the Washington Post. I have seen a lot
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: of losses over the last but as we'll cover in
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: this episode, I just keep seeing more and more wins.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Over the last week, they swept the Brewers. We've seen
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: some really incredible baseball as of late. And you never
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: want to say that a team has entirely turned the
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: corner fifteen games into a season, but there's so much
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: encouraging to go over. There's so much interesting with this team,
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: this new operation, and yeah, I can't wait to get
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: into it and explain to the fans what I'm seeing
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: behind the scenes.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, just what we've been able to see down on
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: the field. There does seem to be like a change
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: in the philosophy from this organization, and the players seem
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: to be fully embracing it, which is probably the most
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: exciting part. As you just mentioned, coming off a sweep
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: in Milwaukee, a sweep in Milwaukee, I don't think anyone
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: could have drawn that up on paper before. How did
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: it happen? You might ask, good pitching, good hitting, and
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: of course a good bullpen, which was kind of what
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: was lacking in the first couple of weeks. But what
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: did you like from the bullpen this weekend? Spence? Because
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: they came in and put out the fire every time.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it was a real change of pace.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: This season, we've seen them consistently struggle to get hitters out,
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: specifically struggle to strike hitters out, and that's something that
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: almost every great bullpen in baseball does. I will offer
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: a caveat first, which is to say that they still
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: didn't miss a ton of bats in this series. But
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: what they did is they got soft contact. Outside of
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: a brief Cole Henry appearance, they had really sharp command.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: It just seemed like the preparation going into the games,
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: based on what I was seeing, looked really really sharp.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: And so you know, am I ready to say that
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: this bullpen is back. I think again, we need more
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: of a sample there. But you look at guys like
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Brad Lord, CNL Perez, Gus Varland, PJ Pool and all
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: those guys did their job this weekend, and you know,
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: I know this is kind of a trial period for
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: those Nats relievers and you know, kind of an audition
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: to see if they're going to be part of the
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: next great Nats team. I think what you saw this
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: weekend was, hey, you know, we can have it's in
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: the NL and really show up. Yeah, that's a It
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: was very encouraging, but as you said, it wasn't just
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: the bullpen. I'm curious kind of your your thoughts on
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: the rest of the operation.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you mentioned Brad Lord, and I just love what
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: I saw from him in the home stand in in Milwaukee,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: because he's such an interesting piece of this pitching staff.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Does he start seeing the bullpen. He can do both
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: and he's really great at it. So yeah, MPJ and
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Sign everyone else did a really good job over there
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: in Milwaukee from what I was watching on TV. You,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: of course are in Pittsford now, but yeah, I'm excited
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: to see what the bats can do in Pittsford because
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: it's a different lineup that Blake is running out every
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: single day, and it's beautiful every time I look at it,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: top to bottom. I love the matchups that he's sending
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: out there. I guess the biggest notice to me, or
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: noticeable difference I think for Nats fans this season has
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: been James Wood at the top of the lineup, and
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: we haven't really teetered away from that too much. It
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: wasn't going incredible on the spring, wasn't going incredible in
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: the first week the season, and he finally is finding
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: his stride here in the last ten games or so.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: I think he's up to four home runs now or
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: three either way. He mashed one the other day in Milwaukee.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Four and he seems to be putting it together. Like
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: we were talking about it on the field. It's not
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: a matter of he's not slumping and he's not seeing
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: the ball well. He was having so many deep flyouts
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: in those first couple of series. I think the win
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: was knocking the ball down in Chicago. Is something Now
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: that he is clicking on all cylinders. It's a beautiful
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: thing to watch. And the other noticeable thing I think
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: is CJ is not in that leadoff spot. We see
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: him coming up and later on in the lineup with
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: opportunities to drive runs in, and he has been thriving
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: in those situations and getting the job done. But yeah,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: the lineup top to bottom is really interesting to me.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: And you just did a story earlier today for The
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: Athletic about the new hitter meetings that have been going on.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: What can you tell me about that?
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so the Nationals have had hitters meetings like every
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: other team in baseball has before games. Obviously, since I've
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: been on the Beaaten since long before that, started talking
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: to players late in in that first series in Chicago
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: and Beyond. What I heard again and again was Hey,
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: we are going in more prepared than ever. That's what
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Blake pe Terror was saying, and that's what you know,
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: the staff had kind of alluded to. But that's really
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: what the players are saying too, And that's what's most important.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: When I talk to guys like Drew Millis, they said, hey, like,
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: there were good meetings in the past, but there were
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: also bad meetings where it felt like we were kind
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: of going through the motions or you know, maybe it
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: would be a little repetitive from the last game. What
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: a lot of players have talked about this season in particular,
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: is just how much the meetings will change on a
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: game to game basis and how prepared they go they
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: feel going into the park. When they all go home
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: at night, they you know, look at their tablets and
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: go over video and stats. When they get to the park,
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: they have a homework assignment, which is new. It's left
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: at their locker and they're supposed to fill out where
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: they want to swing that day, and really just kind
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: of what all of them said is, hey, like, we're
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: big leaguers. We're good having you know, like more metrics
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: than we had in the past and looking through these numbers,
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: and the coaching staff does a really good job of
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: simplifying all that, and so they feel like they've really
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: kind of modernized the meetings and that's really helped them
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: prepare going into games, whether it's again like the starting
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: nine and look at the starting pitcher or even the
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: guys off the bench saying like, hey, like, we're locked in.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: We know we're going to face these relievers potentially in
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: these innings, and this is how we're going to prepare.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: I mean, it was just one glowing response after another.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: And now, as as I think I wrote in that story,
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: the two best offenses in baseball are the Los Angeles Dodgers,
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: who won the World Series last year, in the Washington Nationals,
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: who didn't add a free agent this offseason. So yeah,
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: they've done a really exceptional job. As you said, the
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: lineups look different, but really, I mean so much of
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: it as a credit to the preparation and the players
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: buying into this preparation has been huge.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you mentioned you know, it just seems like
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: such a cohesive unit. I don't think i've seen a
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: team like this since twenty nineteen or since two thousand
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: and five that has come through here. It's not as
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: good on paper as the twenty twelve team or maybe
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: the twenty fourteen or sixteen team, but they seem to
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: be enjoying the game a lot more and also going
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: into it every day, one day at a time, trying
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: to win that game, just looking at the season as
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: a whole, and they seem to be moving yeah, so cohesively.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: If one guy strikes out, next suit in the lineup
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: is there to pick him out, pick him up. And
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: if we're not going to get a hit. Let's make
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: a productive out. Like the hitting approach just seems to
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: be flipped overnight, and that's really working out for our guy, James.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: Wo what hid you seen specifically from James over the
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: last few games that has been working out for him.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's funny we have that graphic up. Actually, frankly
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: probably should have updated it over his last seven games.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna read these off. It's not going to look
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: exactly like it does on the screen for our our
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: viewers who are actually watching. He has exit velocities of
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: one oh one, one o two, one oh four, one
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: oh five again, one o eight, one o eight again,
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: one eleven, one twelve, fourteen, one fifteen, one sixteen, and
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: one sixteen again. Those are the sort of metrics you
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: might see over like a three week stretch of a
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: really good hitter. James has done that over the last week.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: He's sitting five hundred. I think his ops is up
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: near seventeen hundred over the last week. And when I
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: really look at his swing and his approach, the biggest
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: things that I've seen are just how well he's squaring
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: up the ball when it's in the zone. I think
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: if you look at his overall metrics, you'll see, Hey,
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: the chase rate hasn't improved dramatically the whiff the and
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: that's because again, like he's he's still chasing a little
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: bit too much outside the zone, and he's still whiffing
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: a good decent bit when the baseball is outside of
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: the zone, but when it's inside of it, he's crushing
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: the ball. And I think that's kind of been the
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: biggest key for him, is saying, Hey, if I can
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: keep my barrel in the zone as long as possible,
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: I know I can do a ton of damage. And
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: so yeah, I think one reason that I wasn't necessarily
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: worried about James even after that first week of the
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: season was he was still hitting the ball hard, but
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: you did see him maybe taking a feature many pitches
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: down the middle, and you did see him maybe chasing
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: a little too often outside the zone. It just seems like,
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: right now, look, he's like, look, I'm gonna keep my
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: barrel on the zone. I know I can do damage,
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: and he's going up there with a really smart approach.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: So again, end of the season, would I be shocked
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: if you got MVP votes? No, I wouldn't you know,
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: Maybe it's not a first place MVP vote, but yeah,
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: he's someone who's who's looked really spectacular so far. Him
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: and C. J Abrams, I mean, they're they're kind of
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: just crushing right now. So really encouraging if you're a
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: Nationals fan to see that sort of production at the
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: top of the lineup, and for cj Abrams, as you
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: alluded to earlier, the middle of the lineup. I'm curious
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: kind of your thoughts there.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean those of us who like track the
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: analytics so closely know the pitch selection is everything, and
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: I think they've just fit a lot better at taking
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: balls collectively, the whole team taking balls and swinging it.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Strikes in the zone, swinging it fast balls in the zone,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: don't swing it, junk in the zone, don't fall behind
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: zero and two, and force yourself to be looking for
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: Junker thinking oh, what's he gonna throw me here? Get
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: yourself into a position to attack. And for James, I
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: can only imagine what that's like. Third C in the
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: league lights it up first two seasons and now they're
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: starting to figure you out. Okay, now they got a
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: little bit of scouting report We're not just going to
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: give this kid a cookie down the middle every single time.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: So it's a lot. And yeah, I mean for CJ,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: he's I think been so good this season at stuffing
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: up and seeing where the base runner is, how many
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: outs are there, what's the score? What can I do
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: in this atpat to put the team in a better
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: position to win this game? And like you said, he's
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: been smoking it, crushing it. I would want to ask
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: you really quickly, what have your thoughts been on the
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: Avs so far? The system and how the Nationals submit that.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Do you have any of those stats pulled up? What
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: has our challenge rate been like? Because it's made it
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: a lot more exciting to watch, but I think we
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: could be doing a little better in that department. I'm
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: not sure what the philosophy is that each team is embracing,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: because there's a lot of different ways you could go
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: about it, but it seems like maybe we're not doing
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: that as well as.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: We could one hundred percent. If you were to pick
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: out a detail that maybe surprised me the most in
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: terms of where the Nationals have fallen flat, I would
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: say it is the kind of abs system. I think
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: both on the catching side as well as the hitting side.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: They haven't been in the top half of baseball. You know,
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: this is such a detail oriented and process oriented team.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: And so that's like I said, why it kind of
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: surprised me when I've talked to the players and Blake
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: by Terror about this. The philosophy has changed a little
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: bit since the start of the season. He had told
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: me and reporters after the series in Philadelphia, where it
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: kind of came back to bite them, that hey, like,
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: we really haven't gone into this in a ton of depth,
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: and we've told guys, hey, like, try to save it
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: for leverage, but also like if it's a smart call,
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: call it early on. They had run out of some
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: challenges pretty early. And so I think that philosophy has
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: changed a little bit where now they're saying, hey, let's
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: make sure that we have one remaining in the in
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: the later innings, and you know, if you're gonna use one,
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: make sure you're one hundred percent right early in the game.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: I think one of the most interesting aspects of this
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: is that a because the Nationals have been outclassed by
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: their team used to in a row really really well.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: The other day that almost flip the game on the Nationals. Uh,
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: you know you've you've kind of seen that disparity. But
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: one of the biggest things that I guess I've been
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: paying attention to is just how much, excuse me, just
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: how much the Nationals are saving those for the later
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: innings after games where it's rough and I think they're
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: still trying to find that balance there where it's hey
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: like Kber hasn't done a great job behind the dish there,
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: Let's let's save his for the sixth inning and beyond.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: Or hey, like na see Nunez is you know, called
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: didn't go their way. Let's try to save those. But
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: actually mentioned the other day, I thought this is really
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: interesting that it is very hard for hitters to gain
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: these sorts of things, because again, they try to go
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: up to the plate with a clear mind, and the
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: ABS system is just one more thing for them to
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: think about. And so if there's any way that the
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: coaching staff is able to say, hey, let's simplify things,
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: let's just say we're not calling it before exiting, or
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: anything of that nature, I wouldn't be shocked if that
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: sort of comes into play later in the season, because
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: you have a ton of young hitters who are already
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: trying to find their approach at the plate. So I
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: think they only have so much space in their brains
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: for all that, and the ABS system eventually will be
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: part of it, but is not there yet. So that's
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: been fascinating.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been exciting to watch and the other teams
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: when guys will tap and go well, actually, I don't know,
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: and the umpire goes, no, no, you can't. You committed
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: to the challenge and then it ends usually ends up
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: working out for the player. The umpire is trying to
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: burn the guy and be like, no, man, you challenge.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: Let's see, Yeah that was wrong, take your base. But yeah,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: that is one thing I've noticed about the Nationals, or
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: at least on Saturday night, we had a situation, punched
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: a guy out, and I'm like, we didn't have our challenge,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: but you know, in plenty of situations where we had
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: used our challenge throughout that game, I thought it was justifiable,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: justifiable before that, looking ahead, looking at it to later
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: today and before we come home for the home stand
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: against the Giants the Braves, we got the Pirates for
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: the next three what's the outlook here? Pirates? Have been
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: playing oh sorry, four correct, four four games and then
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: we come back home for the Giants and then the
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: Braves I believe in that word. But the Pirates have
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: been playing incredible, very good baseball this spring. Do you know,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: starting pitching matchups coming up? And what should be looking
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: out for from them?
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean the most exciting one is happening this
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: very night. It's Kade Cavali against Paul Skians, which, again,
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: if you are a Nationals fan, if you're a Pirates fan,
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: I'm certain you're going to be tuned into that one.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: It is kind of the quintessential pitcher in baseball, guy
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: who you know, throws hard, has a ton of pitches,
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: he does every single thing right in Paul Skins. And
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: then a guy who's trying to get there in Kate Cavali,
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: which again almost strange to say because Kate is twenty
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: seven now, but he's started at this point less than
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: twenty games in his big league career just because of injuries.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: So that's one where I'm really looking to see, Hey,
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: what is what are Schemes and Cavali doing similarly? What
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: are they doing differently? And especially for Cavali, the biggest
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: thing I'm paying attention to is just how often he's
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: in the zone. When I looked this up the other day,
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: I believe Kate had the second lowest in zone rate
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: in baseball. He had thrown a ton of pitches outside
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: the zone. The fastball in particular had been hit pretty hard.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: And so I want to see, Hey, like, you know,
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: you have a era in the mid twos when your
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: command isn't at its best. I would love to see
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: what that is when the command really locks in and
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: just kind of what that perfect balance is there for him.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: So yeah, that's really the biggest thing I'm looking for
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: in this series. Beyond that, it's again if the starting
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: pitching can keep it going. I know we haven't talked
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: about Foster Griffin yet. He's someone who had an exceptional
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: start the other night, carried no hitter through five, and
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: I believe he's probably slated for the final game of
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: this series the game. But beyond that, can the guys
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: in game to game on three and Miles michaelists on
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: two and they can they avoid the home run ball
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: and can they quiet a Pirates offense that Again, I
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: don't think either of us expected to be exceptional this season,
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: but those reinforcements have really been been cooking for them.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: So yeah, it's it's interesting to see how the Nationals
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: could even maybe like borrow some traits that the Pirates
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: have in terms of again maybe establishing great pitching down
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: the line or a great setup down the line, and
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: then kind of slowly adding veterans veterans along the way.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: It's just really interesting philosophically to see that play out
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: this season, and that's what I'm excited for. I guess
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: I'm curious what you're going to be looking at.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, like you said, I think tonight's starting pitching matchup
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: is going to be the biggest one. Call me crazy,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: but I don't know if you saw any of Ovechkin
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: and Crosby the other day. Go other Pittsburgh DC matchup here,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: And I hope we get to see this one for
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: years to come, because I really think that Kate is
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: going to be something specially. I think for him, the
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: lack of command may even just be there's so much
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: movement on some of his pitches. He is still trying
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: to figure out where exactly these things, how much they're
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: going to drop, how much they're going to break. I
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: had him break down his change up the other day,
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: and what he said is it's such an aggressive pitch
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: for him. It's not one you know, you're just trying
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: to feel out the change. He just lets it rip.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: And way that that pitch drops at ninety two miles
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: an hour blows my mind. But I think, yeah, the
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: pitching matchups is what I'm most excited for. And can
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: we kind of keep the ball in the yard Pittsburgh. Definitely,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: ball's gonna fly a little more than it has in
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Chicago or Milwaukee or even DC for that matter. So yeah,
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: can can the pitchers keep the ball in the yard?
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: And can the bats keep it hot? Because they have
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: been very hot. I'm sure we'll be doing a series
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: recap for that one as well, But yeah, we will
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: be putting out multiple episodes or at least an episode
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: each week throughout the season on District Territory here. If
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: you're still listening, thank you so much for joining us
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: for the pilot episode, Spencer, there's anything else you want
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: to add?
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: No, I mean, just keep listening to us, keep reading
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: me at the Athletic, keep falling Eric over at bat Boys.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I'm really excited for this and again, there
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: is so much interesting with this team. I know the
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: projections aren't super high on them, but I promise you
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: there is so much going on behind the scenes that
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: Eric and I will cover this season. And again they're
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: off to a very encouraging start, so that'll be fun
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: to follow.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, stay tuned for the next one for the Pittsburgh recap,
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: and I hope you've enjoyed this series. Preview this Milwaukee recap,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: and we'll see you on the next one. Thank you.