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Fair Territory: Wild Card previews, Competitive Balance spotlight · Foul Territory

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: All right, the Video Music Awards are over. The postseason
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: is here, and a tremendous final weekend to the regular season.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Not just the competition on the field, but of course
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the Justin Verlander farewell, the Max Scherzer and George Springer,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: maybe not farewells in either case, but the emotional scene
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: at Rogers Center yesterday. A lot of cool stuff happened,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: and a lot of cool stuff awaits. The wildcard round
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: begins Tuesday, and we have four rather interesting series. I'm
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: going to start with the American League. We'll get to
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: the National League. And then we will get later in
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: the show to my competitive balance column from earlier today.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: We published it this morning. I'm sure some people have
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: some opinions about that. First, the American League. And the
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Yankees and Red Sox are going to be the marquee
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: matchup of this round. They would be the marquee matchup
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: if it was the LCS. And maybe it should be
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: the LCS. These are teams with the second and third
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: best records in the American League. Yankees second. Red Sox third.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: And one of the key questions to start with here
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: is who is going to play? Will Aaron Judge play?
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: My guess is no. Will Wilson Contreras play? My guess
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: there is yes. And the Red Sox also will be
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: without one of their top relievers, Tyron Guerrero. But obviously
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: the injury question hangs over this series, particularly with the Yankees,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: with Judge, with the calf problem. And again, The odds
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: of him playing do not appear good. He hasn't done
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: much baseball activity since this started, and that is the
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: overriding thing that will maybe define this series. The other thing,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: and Mike Petriello of MLB.com wrote about this this morning,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: the Red Sox feature one of the most lefty heavy staffs,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: pitching staffs, in the history of the game. And that
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: is going to be a challenge for the Yankees, particularly
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: if Judge does not play. The Yankees are more vulnerable
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: to left-handed pitching, and the Red Sox have a ton
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: of it. Now, their starters, two of the three will
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: be left-handed. Tolian Suarez, Sonny Gray, of course, is right-handed.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: And the question for the Yankees becomes, okay, we've got
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: Cam Schlittler, we've got Max Fried, we've got Garrett Cole
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: lined up. But what do we do offensively? And that
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: is going to be a challenge because... There's a possibility
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Giancarlo Stanton might play, but he hasn't played since late April.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: I don't know how much you can expect of him
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: in a postseason scenario. Aaron Boone is going to have
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: to mix and match. And I would say Anthony Volpe
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: at third over Ryan McMahon because he's a right-handed hitter
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: against the lefties. These are the kinds of things you're
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: going to see. Ahmed Rosario in this series, I imagine,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: would be a factor. And then there's the Red Sox
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: offense on the other side of this. Hasn't been great
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: in September. One of the lowest OPSs in the majors
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: in September. I'm not sure what to read into that.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: They were hot for a long time. They haven't been
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: hot lately. Contreras being out is one part of it.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: So that's going to be a significant question going into
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: this thing. Do the Red Sox hit Yankee pitching? Of course,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: that's one question. And do the Yankees, how do they
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: handle the Red Sox lefty heavy staff? It's not just
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: the rotation. It's the bullpen as well. They've got lefties
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: all over the place. This is going to be a
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: good managerial chess match to see how Aaron Boone and
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Chad Tracy go at it head-to-head. All right, that's the
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Yankees and the Red Sox. Let's move on to the
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: White Sox and the Astros. Now, this is a fascinating matchup.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: We've got the 84-78 White Sox against the 81-81 Astros,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: the team with, I don't know, the worst record by
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: a division winner since 1995. Pretty bad. But that is
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: the hand we've been dealt here. The hand baseball has
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: been dealt. And it's going to be, yes, a matchup
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: of the 2005 World Series. And it's also going to
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: be a matchup of two teams seemingly headed in different
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: directions in the big picture. And what I mean by
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: that is the Astros, we always say this, it might
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: not be true again, but they certainly seem to be
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: on the downside of their run here. And they fired
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: their general manager this season. They may end up firing
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: their manager. They've got a team that obviously is turning
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: over and becoming somewhat younger, but they still have some
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: older anchors. Jeremy Pena could be traded this offseason. All
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: of this is in play for the Astros. Then the
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: White Sox are the up-and-coming team. The team that, yes,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: did not win the AL Central, but still pulled off
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: the incredible achievement of making the playoffs this after losing
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: 100 games three years in a row. So we're going
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: to see here quite the interesting contrast. Now, the series
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: is in Houston. The Astros have far more postseason experience.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: We know that. One team has a ton of postseason experience.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: The other team has virtually none. With the White Sox,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: I'm a little worried about their offense in terms of
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Montgomery and Murakami being so strikeout prone and vulnerable. They
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: haven't been great the last two months of the season.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: The White Sox actually ranked fifth in runs in the
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: regular season. More athletic team than the Astros. Both teams
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: hit home runs. The Astros were first. The White Sox
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: were fifth. So it could be kind of an interesting
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: blow-by-blows series here, or blow-for-blows series, because these two teams
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: can go deep. And of course, this series will be
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: largely defined, or at least somewhat defined, by Jordan Alvarez,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: the frontrunner for AL MVP. So That is the American League.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: We'll get to the National League right after this. All right,
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: this is On Deck presented by Fox One app. And
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: the NL playoffs, of course, will be on Fox after
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: the wildcard round. The wildcard round will be on NBC
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: and Peacock. And then we come in. I'll be on
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: the Dodgers series and NFL. We'll start off here with
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: the Phillies and the Braves. I had the Phillies on
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Fox Saturday. The Phillies at that point, the way they
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: were routed Saturday night, looked like they might not make
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: the playoffs. They had one of the bigger collapses we've seen,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: but it didn't end up as a collapse because they
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: ended up in the playoffs. Now, the problem is, and
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: we talked about this on the air Saturday night, the
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: problem for the Phillies is this went down to the
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: last day. So in game one, against Chris Sale, they
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: don't have Zach Wheeler. they're going to have maybe Andrew Painter,
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: maybe Jesus Lizardo in some capacity. They don't really have
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: a plan here, at least not yet for game one,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: or at least an obvious starter. Game two will be
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: Christopher Sanchez. Game three can be Aaron Nola. From that perspective, okay.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: But game one, which might have been a difficult one
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: to win anyway, considering the Braves are starting Chris Sale,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: game one is problematic for the Phillies to say the least. Now,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: For the Braves, they too have had rotation issues, of course.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: Sale will start Game 1. Tyler Malley has been the
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: best trade line pickup of any starting pitcher, including Tarek Skubal,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: will be Game 2. Game 3, they can go with
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: an opener. They can go with Grant Holmes. They've got
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: some possibilities. Their rotation and their rotation questions will be
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: more of an issue if they get into a deeper round.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, there are questions that define
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: this series that have to do with the offenses too.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: in particular the Phillies offense. Which one are we going
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: to see here? Is it the one that was terrible
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: to start the season, got the manager fired, then great
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: for two months under Don Mattingly? No, I'm sorry, great
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: for two months, bad for another month, great again in August,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: and then struggled in September. Who knows? That's the Phillies
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: and the Braves too. Their offense is problematic, has not
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: been great. So I'm not exactly sure how this is
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: going to go. I would expect the Braves to win
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: game one, and if they don't, they're in trouble. But
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: at the same time, the Phillies have the kind of
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: team that can get hot, and if they somehow steal
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: game one, and even if they don't, with Sanchez pitching
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: game two, they still stand a fighter's chance in this series.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: The one thing I like about the Braves right now,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: their bullpen is in a much better spot than the Phillies.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Suarez is back, Robert Suarez. They've got him, Didier Fuentes,
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: the rookie, Dylan Lee, who's been a little bit inconsistent
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: of late, and Reza Iglesias at the end. That is
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: an impressive group, and that will be able to buttress
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: what they have in the rotation. All right, the other
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: series in the NL, this one will be fascinating. Cubs
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: and Padres at Petco Park, and those are the keywords here,
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: at Petco Park. I don't know that people realize what
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: a home field advantage Petco has become for the Padres, but...
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: They were 51-30 at home this season. 51-30. Now, there
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: were three teams with better home records. The Brewers, the Braves,
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: and the Rays. But consider this. In their last 32
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: home games, the Padres, who of course got hot in
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: the second half. In their last 32 home games, they
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: were 26-6. 26-6. That's pretty good. Now, these are two
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: of the best offenses since the All-Star break. Actually, they
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: are the two best. The Cubs... Number one offense, Padres
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: number two since the break. The Padres were a different
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: team after the All-Star break. They had those struggles in
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: the first half, of course. And then they kind of
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: came alive. Tatis got hot. Jackson Merrill got hot. Manny Machado,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: you could say it's his worst season. Still had 30
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: home runs. Still did some really big things down the stretch.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: So the Padres, in that place where they are a
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: momentum team, they get the lead. But that bullpen is...
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: is going to be quick. Now, the Cubs are problematic
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: in terms of where their pitching is. They'd like to
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: start ideally a righty in game one, Kevin Gossman's physical condition,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: that left shoulder. You don't know how that's going to be,
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: but they do have competent starting group. It's Matthew Boyd.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: It's Imanaga, who's been hot in September. David Peterson. Maybe
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: some of these guys can contribute in the relief role
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: as well. Their bullpen has been an issue. And it's
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: been a little bit better last week or so. But
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: if you look at the comparison of bullpens in this series,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: it's not even close. So that is going to be
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: a problem for the Cubs. I don't see the Cubs
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: surviving this. I see the Padres winning it. But We'll
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: just have to see how this all goes down. It's
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: going to be a fascinating series because the Cubs have
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: been a tremendous team all year. One of the best
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: offenses in the league, one of the best defenses in
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: the league. The Padres don't play defense quite as well,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: but they have the two big things going for them,
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: the home field thing and the bullpen, which is maybe
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: the most dominant aspect of any team in this postseason.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: All right, MLB on Fox is streaming on Fox One.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: The postseason is here. And we have the front row
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: seat to the wildest walk-offs, lights out pitching, and clutch
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: plays all playoffs long. Stream each NLDS and NLCS game,
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: then the 2026 World Series live on Fox One. At
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: home or on the go, live or on demand, never
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: miss a moment. Stream now. Start your Fox One three-day
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: free trial today at foxone.com. I better get that right.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: They're my employer. All right, time now for the inside dish,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: the part of the program where I talk about a
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: story I've written, trend in the game, something else entirely.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: And today I want to talk about the column we
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: published in The Athletic this morning, the one I wrote
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: about competitive balance and about where the sport stands as
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: we begin the postseason. And you see the headline right there.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: Even if the Rays or Brewers throw the Guardians in too,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: even if one of those teams win the World Series,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: the competitive balance argument will endure. And right off the
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: bat in this column, I say that nothing that happens here,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: if the Brewers or the Rays or the Guardians win
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: the World Series, or even if they get there, nothing
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: is going to change the owner's quest for a salary cap.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: They want that regardless. And if indeed one of those
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: small market teams has a great breakthrough here, what MLB
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: will say is it's an aberration. If you look at
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: the playoff results since 2015, The only small market team
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: to win in that period were the 2015 Kansas City Royals.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: MLB would say, we want more of this. We want
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: more teams competing to this level. That is why we
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: want a salary cap. Now, this is a question that
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: is going to rage really probably through the lockout and
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: into the next season, whenever that might be. The question is,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: does this sport really have a competitive balance problem? It
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: definitely has a revenue disparity problem. And I would suggest
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: that that is a problem, not suggest, this is the
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: problem that definitely needs to be addressed. And people will
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: say to me in comments, on Twitter, whatever, hey, Ken,
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: you don't think there's a problem. You don't think the
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: small markets need help. No, that's not true. Read every
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: word I've written on this. It's been very consistent. There
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: is a problem. The question is, is how to solve it.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: And the question also is how severe this competitive balance
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: problem really is. And in the article column, I cite
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: some press releases the league issued at the start of
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: the 2021 and 2022 seasons. In both those press releases,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: they trumpeted, wrote very positively about how MLB was doing
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: well with competitive balance. In fact, those press releases described
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: competitive balance as a hallmark of MLB. 2023 World Series,
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Texas Rangers won that over the Arizona Diamondbacks. That made
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: it 16 different World Series champions in 23 years. And
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: then going into the 2024 World Series, Yankees versus Dodgers,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Commissioner Rob Manfred gets asked about competitive balance, and he
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: says it's darn good. Manfred was on the defensive because,
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: of course, Yankees, Dodgers, people were raising this question. So
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: what has changed? What is so different just two years later?
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: A couple of things. The Dodgers won back-to-back World Series
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: with monstrous payrolls. And also, the owners want a cap.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: And competitive balance is one argument they are using. Now,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: the league talks about how, again, there hasn't been a
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: small market World Series champion since the 2015 World Series
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: champion Kansas City Royals. That's true. It's undeniable. You can't
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: argue that. But in that time, since 2015, that's the
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: line of demarcation the league is using that year. Guardians,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: fourth in regular season wins. Brewers, fifth, Rays, seventh. Three
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: small market teams in the top seven in regular season wins. Now,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: I wrote, the league, in emphasizing postseason results, is devaluing
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: the most accurate measure of a club, the six-month grind
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: of a regular season. And you might say, well, Ken,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: that's not true. The only thing that matters is winning
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: the World Series. If you're a fan of baseball, if
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: you understand how baseball works, if you've followed it over
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: the years, you understand that the regular season is a
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: true test. And the postseason is, if not a crapshoot,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: certainly more random than the regular season. Okay, so... You
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: wonder why the league is devaluing its regular season in that.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, you can see the problem too.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: And when the Dodgers are here and the Mets are
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: here and every other team is below that and certain
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: teams are way below that, yeah, you have an issue. Now,
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: I would suggest that the issue at the bottom is
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: as offensive as the one at the top. If you're
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: bothered by the Dodgers and if you're bothered by the Mets,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: even the Yankees, the teams at the top, the Phillies,
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: all these teams, if you're really bothered by that, you
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: should be just as bothered by some of the teams
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: at the bottom that aren't spending. Now, this is not,
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: in my view, an all or nothing situation. Based on
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: its proposals, even the union, which has kind of fought
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: this idea for years, they think giving small market teams
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: an even better opportunity to retain their players would benefit
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: the sport. And as I wrote, a salary cap is
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: not necessary to make the adjustments that need to be
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: made here. And you saw that thing just flash up there.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: That was a column I wrote in February. We can
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: see it one more time if you want. I made
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: a series of suggestions that hopefully would fix the sport
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: without having a salary cap. How can MLB address revenue
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: disparity without a salary cap? Here are a few ideas. Now,
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: I'm not an economist. I'm not an attorney. I don't
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: have all the answers. These were just some thoughts. One
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: of them was a mechanism at the bottom of the
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: pay structure to match the mechanism, the luxury tax mechanism
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: at the top, have penalties for teams below a certain level.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: And I didn't believe and still don't believe MLB can
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: philosophically argue that when, of course, they're doing it at
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: the top. And I don't know why the union has
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: not pushed for this in the past. It's kind of
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: a moot point now. MLB will say, as it has
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: said in its proposals, We're only giving you a floor
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: if we get a cap. Okay, that's one of the
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: many things in contention here. So where are we going
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: with this? Well, again, I would suggest where we should
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: be going is at some point a compromise that does
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: not involve a salary cap. And people say, I don't care.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: I just want a cap. I don't care if they
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: miss a year. Yeah, you do. Everyone cares if the
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: sport misses a year and the sport will be incredibly
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: damaged if if it misses any length of time at all.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: For those of us who remember 1995, it wasn't a
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: quick comeback. It took Cal Ripken, which was a unique circumstance,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: and it took the steroid era to bring the sport back.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: And in some ways, some would argue it never regained
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: its place in the national conversation that it had before then.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: I don't know that that's true. Sport did rally and
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: come back. And right now, it's in a really good place.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: So people might ask me, Ken, are you for the union?
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: Are you for the owners? I'll tell you what I'm for.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: I'm for baseball in 2027 and how to get there.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: And if the owners insist, as they have, on a
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: salary cap, we're going to have a work stoppage. We're,
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: of course, going to have a lockout. We all know that.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: But we're going to have a work stoppage that possibly
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: extends and probably extends into the 27th season. That's not
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: good for baseball. This is a sport. with, in 2025,
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: $ 12 billion of revenue. I'm sorry, 2024. They haven't announced
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: the revenues for 2025. I assume they were higher. $ 12,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: $ 13 billion in revenue, and this sport wants to shut down?
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying, again, there are issues here that do
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: not need to be solved. There are issues that need
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: to be solved. And yes, there need to be ways
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: for the small market teams to get more revenue. There
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: need to be ways for those teams to better retain
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: their players. They retain them. And I cite many examples
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: in the column of how small market teams have signed
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: players long term. But no one would say, hey, this
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: is going great. This is the economic system that is
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: perfect and let's just keep going with it. No one
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: would suggest that. No one should suggest that. There need
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: to be ways to find solutions. And all these smart
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: people in baseball, these people with their formulas, these people
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: who tell us all the time that the sport has
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: never been in an intellectually higher capacity, some of these people,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: I would expect, would be able to figure this all out.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: And that is what I am arguing for. Figure this out.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: And in the column, I ended by saying that If
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: competitive balance is the object, it's a lot closer than
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: it appears. I say that because of the successes of
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: the Guardians and the Brewers and the Rays. Those successes
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: can be emulated and should be emulated by the other
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: small market teams. In many cases, we're talking about poor
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: ownership and poor management. Well, okay, that's going to happen,
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: salary cap or not. And that's something that needs to
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: be addressed separately in those individual circumstances. So In my view,
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: to sum this all up, I don't think the sport
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: is in an existential crisis. I don't think the sport
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: is in a terrible place. Look at the attendance. Look
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: at the television ratings, and you'll see otherwise. Now, again,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: to repeat, and I want to make this absolutely clear,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying the sport is perfect, and I'm not
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: saying this next CBA should just be kind of like
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: the current CBA. There need to be solutions implemented. There
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: need to be restrictions, greater restrictions at the top, need
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: to be incentives at the bottom. Let's go. The sport
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: is in a great place. Let's make it greater and
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: let's not miss any time. That is my primary concern.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Baseball in 2027. All right, we'll be right back with
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: Grill and Ken after this.
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: Crouchy, just because the website says the tickets are sold
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: out doesn't mean you can't go see the Brewers in Milwaukee,
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: see the Dodgers in L.A., see the Rays in Tampa Bay.
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: You can go to SeatGeek and find the best seat available.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: Pick wherever you want to sit and buy one.
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: There's no bad seats in Milwaukee because the stadium is
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: right on top of the field. It feels like you're
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: in the grass. L.A., just don't get a seat near
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: the speakers. But you can find out where the best
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: seats in each stadium are on SeatGeek. And of course
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: I have a code for you guys. You can use
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: code TERRITORY10 for 10% off your next set of tickets
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: at SeatGeek. That's 10% off any tickets with promo code TERRITORY10.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: Make sure you click the link in the description to
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: download the app and have the code automatically added to
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: your account so.
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: You can use it later.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: And you know what?
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: If your team's not in the playoffs, it's no big deal.
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: Because SeatGeek's got you for tickets for NFL, for concerts,
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: anything that you want.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: All right, time now for Grill and Ken, the part
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: of the show where I answer your questions. And there
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: are a lot of questions that have nothing to do
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: with the playoffs, I'm sure. Let's get right to it.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: First question comes from Justin Yamas1, who asks, can we
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: talk about the Angels losing 100 for the first time?
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: We certainly can talk about that. It should not be overlooked.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: And what a way for Artie Moreno to go out
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: with the worst season in Angels history. They've got new
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: ownership coming in, the Kroenke group. They're going to have
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: to make some decisions on their president of baseball operations,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: general manager, which would seemingly be John Mazzella continuing that role.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: And then with the manager, Kurt Suzuki, if they want
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: to dismiss him, they might do it as soon as today, Monday.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: I don't know exactly which way they're going to go
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: with that, but it stands to reason that there are
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: big changes coming in Anaheim. All right, next question. LazerShow15
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: slash U4, I don't know, whatever. Is the Diamondbacks falling
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: short all Cattell Marte's fault? No, I would not say that.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: And I'm not even sure I would assign much blame
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: to his absence at last month, I believe it was,
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: when he went no show on the team in Boston.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: He missed a few games. Certainly it was distracting and
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: a disruption to the Diamondbacks. But the greater issue for
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: the Diamondbacks, actually there were two. One were their pitching injuries,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: which they never really overcame. They had a series of injuries.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Burns was a big one. They had some in their
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: bullpen as well. Gallon wasn't as good. Kelly wasn't as good.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: These guys were relatively healthy. Gallon was out for a
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: little bit. They just had too much to overcome from
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: that perspective. And the other issue, and this goes to
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Cattell Marte because he was part of it, their best
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: three hitters, Marte, Perdomo, and Corbin Carroll, were not quite
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: as good as they've been in the past. And that
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: really hurt them. They're built around those guys. And their
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: performances were not as transcendent, again, as they might have been.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: And that is what ultimately hurt them. Now, did the
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: Marte situation play a role? You bet it did. It
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: wasn't good. And when you miss by one game, who
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: knows what might have happened if that had never occurred.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, I would say the issues
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: with the injuries and the issues with the offense were
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: the greater problems for the Arizona Diamondbacks. All right, next question.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: From CowboysInquirer7259, how far do the Astros need to go
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: to save Joe Espada's job? Remember, we're talking about a
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: team that parted ways with its general manager after winning
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: the 2021 World Series, right? I can't remember the years,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: but they did it. The Astros parted with James Click
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: after winning the World Series, and it could be that
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: they do exactly the same with Joe Espada even if
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: they win the World Series, which I do not expect
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: them to do. Now, can they go on a run? Sure.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: I didn't mention this in the opening segment. They've got
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: problems with the Game 1 starter, too, much like the Phillies.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: They don't have one. Hunter Brown lined up for Game 2.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: Hayden Wisniewski for Game 3. Maybe they survive this round,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: and then maybe they beat Cleveland in the Division Series.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: I can see this happening. It's not out of the
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: realm of possibility because they're the Astros. So they get
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: to the LCS somehow. You say, hey, maybe the Astros
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: should keep Joe Espada, but here's the problem. The problem
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: is they're going to hire a new general manager. They
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: fired Dana Brown as their GM, and the new general
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: manager you would think would want to hire his own manager.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: And from that reason or that perspective alone, Espada's in trouble.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: Should he be in trouble? I'm not sure he should be.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: In fact, I would say he should not be. It's
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: one of his better jobs. They've had injuries, of course,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: all season long. They had a pitching staff that was
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: put together by Dana Brown that was ineffective. He brought
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: in a number of pitchers in the offseason, and almost
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: all of them were bad. The exception is Lambert, who's
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: been really good, and he was like a minor league signing.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: So Espada should not be held responsible. Espada, if he
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: gets fired, should have another job, as should Torrey Lovello
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: in Arizona. It doesn't always work out that way, at
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: least not right away, but Houston operates a little bit differently.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: Their owner, Jim Crane... has a very, very high standard
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: of success, sometimes an unreasonable standard of success, and he
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: can be rather picky with who is running his baseball team.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: All right, I want to thank everyone for watching and listening.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Foul Territory coming up at 1 p.m. Eastern. Host, A.J. Brzezinski,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Eric Kratz, Scott Braun. The guests include Jim Bowden and
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: Chuck Garfian from the Chicago White Sox broadcast. The Fair
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: Territory returns Thursday at 12.30. That'll be Alana and myself.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: We'll be chatting with you then. Enjoy the wildcard round,
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: and we'll be back with you on Thursday.
• 28:00
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