Latest / Foul Territory / Tom Verducci joins FT: Chaotic AL postseason race, Paul Skenes tweaks, Who can slay the Dodgers?

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Tom Verducci joins FT: Chaotic AL postseason race, Paul Skenes tweaks, Who can slay the Dodgers? · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: SI senior writer, my Fox colleague, best hair in the game,
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: hardest working out compatriot I have at Fox for sure.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Cause Ken Rosenthal, I see him talking on a phone
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: next to a treadmill. I actually see Tom Verducci doing
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: treadmill work running. If you're ever in the same town
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: as Tom Verducci, there's a good chance you'll see him
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: jogging past you a lot faster than you can honestly believe. Tom,
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: on the record with you, you catch me, you take
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: me as a listen to vinyl kind of guy. Do
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: you still listen to vinyl records?
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: I do actually.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: Uh, there's something about it, man.
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: I can't say I do it all the time, but
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: sometimes with the right album, a little Crosby stills and Nash,
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: put it on the turntable and just listen to it.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: Crackle.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 0:50
  Speaker 5: I love it.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 0:51
  Speaker 5: Oh, they still scratch when, when it, when it hits,
• 0:55
  Speaker 5: like when you bump it, there's still go because that's
• 0:57
  Speaker 5: what I remember about him.
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it still does. It's part of the charm, man.
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: It's like, you know what I miss in talking about noises?
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: Like going to a ballpark for early BP where no
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: music is being played and all you hear is the
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: crack of the bat like echoing around the ballpark. But
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: of course, today's player, they can't hit without music. So
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: we don't hear that anymore, the crack of the bat.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: All right, Tom, before we get to baseball, better version
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: of Southern Cross.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Crosby, Stills, and Nash or Jimmy Buffett?
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: That is a tough one, but I'll go CSN on
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: that one.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: That's fair. That's fair.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: It's a great song. Both of them have sung it.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: They both did great. They both did it their own way.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: It was awesome.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: So, Tom, speaking of better, the Dodgers, still number one
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: in my power rankings. They're going to be number one
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: until someone beats them. Who are their biggest competitors, I
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: guess is the word, in the National League? Is it
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: the Brewers? Is it the Braves?
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Is it a team like the Phillies?
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: That's a great question.
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: I think in a short series, Milwaukee would be really
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: a handful, you know, starting with Miz.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: And we saw the way he pitched out there at
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: Dodger Stadium.
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: You know, in a seven game series, I still like
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: the Phillies as the opportunity to take them out.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: I think they're still the chalk. Don't get me wrong.
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: But we know that things can go sideways in the postseason.
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: But I think you're going to have to pitch with
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: them in the first six or seven innings of a game.
• 2:19
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: I don't think bullpenning is a way to go.
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: I think the Dodger rotation right now, I think it's
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: not just the most expensive rotation. I think it's the
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: best rotation going into the postseason in baseball history. When
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: you think about what they're, every game they're going to
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: put somebody on the mound who's either won a couple
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: of Cy Youngs or won a postseason MVP award. I mean,
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: it's just crazy. Right now I've got Shohei as my
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: fourth starter. I've got Glasnow and Roque in the bullpen
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: as piggyback guys, maybe closers. So I just think you
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: look at the stuff they're going to bring to the
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: mound of the seven game series, a five game series.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: I just think they are the team to beat.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: During this time, obviously, they just won six in a row.
• 3:00
  Speaker 5: But is this lineup that got shut down in the
• 3:03
  Speaker 5: first series against the Phillies last year and was on
• 3:08
  Speaker 5: the ropes? Is this lineup enough to win in the
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: playoffs this year? Or is that the one question mark
• 3:15
  Speaker 5: that they have?
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: That's a great point, by the way.
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: I think a lot of people overlooked how close Philly
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: came to actually winning that series.
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: Every game was tight.
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: They just got outpitched, but they hung with them for
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: the most part. And you look at their offense and
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: their top five offensive team runs per game, they don't
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: swing and miss much. They're like top five in contact rate.
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: So they have the ability to win games with their offense.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: I'm talking about scoring five, six runs in a postseason environment.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: Which is a breakout. But right now they don't look
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: that great. I mean, part of that is Freddie Freeman
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: right now.
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: He hasn't hit a home run since the 4th of July. And,
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: you know, the ball's just not coming off his back.
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: He still finds ways to get his hits, move a runner,
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: take his walks. But that power, are you worried about
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: Freddie Freeman? No, he's one of the most consistent hitters
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: in all of baseball. But, you know, I think you
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: look at some of the vulnerability they have against lefties
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: with the season that Tucker has had. Um, Mookie has
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: struggled for the most part this year against fastballs, which
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: is hard to believe. So yeah, I mean, listen, you
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: can concoct a scenario where you can shut down the
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: Dodgers and win some games three to two, three to one.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: Okay, Tom. So you just mentioned Freddie Freeman. I'll see
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: him on Thursday. He'll give me a hug. He'll hit
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: a Homer. Sorry, Chris. I love you too. But every
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: time Freddie sees me, he does something cool.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: So, uh he'll break that slump hopefully on thursday night
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: with us on fs1 uh who are you more worried
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: about you mentioned kyle tucker right and he's been taking
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: a beating they're talking about he can't you know mental
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: coaches and everything but then you have edwin diaz so
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: which one's the bigger concern for the dodgers at this
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: point and with the edwin diaz dilemma like you wrote
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: about even if he comes back will they just automatically
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: insert him into the closer role.
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I would not do that, AJ, right now. I'm
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: not just handing him the high leverage spot. I want
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: to find an easy runway for him to sort of
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: build the confidence. You know, it's not quite to this extent,
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: but it reminded me of when the Diamondbacks were closing
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: with Seawald. And I never like it when the third
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: last relief pitcher you're bringing to a game has less
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: stuff than the others, right? It should be working at
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: a scale towards the best stuff on the bullpen. And
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: right now, his stuff is not that good, talking about Diaz.
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: You know, he's... A lot of these two pitch closers
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: scare me because if they don't command both pitches, just
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: do the math. You're down to one pitch that a
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: hitter has to honor. I always thought that was the
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: case with Craig Kimbrell. You know, if he didn't land
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: a breaking pitch early in account, look out when people
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: just ruled out the breaking.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: Pitch and sat on fastball. That's where Edwin Diaz is
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: right now.
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: If you look at his slider right now and it's
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: always been a chase pitch, I get it, but it's
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: a non-competitive pitch a lot. And I think people are
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: just kind of spitting on that pitch. And his fastball
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: is getting waffled, hitting over 400 against the fastball. The
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: arm is down a little bit from where it was
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: last year. But to me, I got to find him
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: a runway to get him back confidence-wise and stuff-wise. He's
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: got to establish strike one, show hitters he can land
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: the slider in the zone. So I'm not just handing
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: him the job there. And I think even in a
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: postseason environment, guys, if it doesn't work out for him
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: in the next five weeks... Listen, I would think about
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: Sasaki again as a closer. He's been great since the
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: All-Star break, since they got him the world's biggest glove
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: when he's not tipping his pitches. And even Glasnow, I
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: don't know how much he can do it in terms
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: of back-to-back closing games late, but stuff-wise, yeah, I have
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: no problem giving that a try.
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: One of the things that I wasn't very good at
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: was playing Major League Baseball. One of the things that
• 6:47
  Speaker 5: I'm really good at is sweating. Even now, when I'm
• 6:50
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• 7:39
  Speaker 5: You said the next five weeks for Edwin Diaz. Now
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: that Andy Pajas is out, is Kyle Tucker for sure
• 7:45
  Speaker 5: going to start every playoff game?
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: No.
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say yes.
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's concerning that this has gone on all year.
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: And as you guys alluded to, they've tried everything with
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: Kyle Tucker. Just watching him last night, it looked like
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: he was a little bit quieter in the box. I mean, listen,
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: Kyle Tucker has never had a textbook swing. I mean,
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: he lays the barrel down before he brings it to
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: his own. There's a lot going on with his feet
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: moving back and forth. I thought he was a little
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: quieter in the last couple of days, last couple of games.
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: But still, the ball is not coming off the bat.
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: What's alarming to me is when you look at his
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: base running and especially his defense, they've all gone downhill,
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: like markedly so. So we can talk a lot about, yeah,
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: it's a year of adjustment and, you know, the swing
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: just isn't there. But his entire game this year has declined.
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: So we're fifth month of the season now and he
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: still hasn't turned a corner yet. It's a concern, but
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: I still think you're going to find a way that
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: he's going to be in the lineup come postseason.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: So you're saying he's not going to opt out of
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: his contract, Tom?
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: Is that what you're saying?
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: I don't think so.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: What is he, 50 or 60 million again next year?
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: So I think he's probably going to opt in.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: That's fine. That's fine.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: You mentioned Edwin Diaz and his arm angle had dropped.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: Paul Skeens has made some adjustments. He was kind of
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: closed off, and then he went a little more square,
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: and then he went back to closed off, and he
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: pitched really.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Well last night again.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: How easy is it for a big league pitcher at
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: Paul Skeens' level to make adjustments like this?
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's difficult to do it this season, right?
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: If it's any major mechanical adjustment and he did, it
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: started with, I think it was June or July 9th
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: game against the Dodgers where instead of throwing crossfire, he
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: went to kind of just a neutral delivery where his
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: stride was toward the plate. I've always thought that Paul's
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: stuff works best. You can see the pictures where The
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: stride directly towards the plate, he lost that vertical or
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: the horizontal attack angle.
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: He's not a big vertical attack angle guy.
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: His foreseeing fastball, if you break it down, guys, it
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: doesn't have a high spin.
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: It's actually a below average spin.
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: It doesn't have a high inverted induced vertical break.
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: It's actually below average. So he has to rely on
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: coming offset.
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: With, you see the right hand where it's way towards
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: the right hand batter's box and coming across the plate
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: with cut ride to it, uh, more than just pure
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: four seam spin. And I think what happened was he
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: has a very rotational delivery. He got too rotational where
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: that hand was coming too far behind his back as
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: he got to the loaded position. So to fix that,
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: he changed the stride direction. And that's when this two-month
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: slump started.
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: Now, if you look at him the last three starts
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: and even last night, he's much more back to crossfire.
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: But here's the interesting thing, guys. That was a different
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: version of Paul Skeens who pitched well last night. He
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: threw more sinkers than he ever has in his career,
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: like 27% sinkers. As I said, he's not a guy
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: now that can live on a four-seam fastball at the
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: top of his own. Not at 96 and 95 miles
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: an hour, which is where he is. He can do
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: it 98, but he doesn't have 98 and he hasn't
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: had it for months. Keep this in mind. His last
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: eight starts, he's hit 98 only twice. In April, he
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: hit 54 times. So he doesn't have that high octane.
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: Here it is.
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: Try to hit it. Top of the zone fastball. Now
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: he's a guy who's going to have to work east
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: and west. Cut right in the four seamer. and that
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: two-seamer running in. So I think this is the version
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: you're going to see for the rest of the season
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: with Paul Skeens. A lot of sinkers playing off four-seamers
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: cutting away from right-handers. I don't think he can live,
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: and I think he's figured this out the last couple
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: of months. The ball's just not coming out of his hand.
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: The spin rate is down. He always had that in
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: his back pocket, that high-octane heater to put you away.
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: He had no strikeouts last night. on a four-seam fastball.
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: That's only the sixth time in 82 career starts he
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: didn't put somebody away with a four-seamer.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: That doesn't mean he can't pitch this way. You saw
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: he pitched well last night, but I think he has
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: to pitch differently. And it's taken him a lot of
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: work to get to this point. I know this guy
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: works as hard as anybody. You can make a case
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: he actually tinkers too much.
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: I'm glad to see that he's kind of reduced to
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: the pitches that he throws. He stopped throwing the curveball.
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: To me, the changeup and the splitter are too much alike.
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: Even the splitter has gone away. He's not throwing that
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: nearly as much as he did before because he still throws.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: That really hard at 93.
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: And if you're going to throw a fastball at 96,
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: it's losing its effectiveness. But I think playing an East-West
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: game now more than North-South game, I think this is
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: who Paul Skeens is for now. I'm not saying he
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: doesn't get the top VLO back, but he's a different pitcher.
• 12:31
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• 12:32
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• 12:33
  Speaker 1: Bella.
• 12:33
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• 12:34
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• 12:37
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• 13:30
  Speaker 2: All right, so I need to ask you this. So
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: I played with a guy named Shelby Miller. He's still pitching, right?
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: One of the biggest things we always talked about with
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: him was stride direction because he would do the same thing.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: He would throw close. And we always said, it's so
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: hard for you.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: Now, when you're young, you can maintain it because your
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: body is young and loose and all this. But as
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: you get older, you start losing velocity because your body
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: can't constantly throw across, throw across without your core, your legs. Eventually,
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: you end up having arm trouble. Not saying this is
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: what's going to happen to Paul Skeens, but Shelby Miller,
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: we had, I remember we were in Had a whole
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: conversation repeatedly.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: You need to fix your stride because.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: You're throwing across, across, across.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: Are we worried about.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: Paul Skeens and maybe him being so across is what
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: caused his dip in velocity?
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: Well, that's a great point because I don't think there's
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: a pitching coach out there who would actually teach it.
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: Now, if this is the way your body wants to work.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: I mean, listen, if this is the way your body
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: works best, I wouldn't try to fight it. Here's an
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: example for you, Jake Arrieta. He had a million coaches
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: in Baltimore. really, really struggled. They tried him to be
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: a neutral stride guy, tried to get him to be
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: a neutral stride guy. And he got to the Cubs
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: and they said, this is how you throw. Let's throw
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: severe crossfire. And had that Cy Young season and had
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: some great years with the Cubs. So, but I do
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: think you're right. I think there's a little bit more strain,
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: if you will, to pitching that way. But again, I
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: think this is the way his body seems to work best.
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: I wouldn't try to turn him into a neutral stride guy.
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: I really wouldn't unless... He was really, really bad, and
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: he hasn't been nearly as bad as we think. It's
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: just that he set the bar so darn high the
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: first two years that the question of what's wrong with
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: Paul Skeens has been out there for the last two months.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: That's pretty good. When you're down, you're just above average.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: That's nice. That's nice.
• 15:17
  Speaker 5: We had a stat on before you came on about
• 15:19
  Speaker 5: how terrible I was in one season, so the rest
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: of my seasons must have been tremendous. I like how
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: you think, Tom. I like that.
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: Just make sure you don't set the bar too high,
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: and then you can get away with a bad year.
• 15:32
  Speaker 5: No, no, no. You always got to set the bar high,
• 15:34
  Speaker 5: get paid, and then just cruise through the rest of
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: your career.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: There you go. Come on. Come on. Level of expectation.
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: But the Miz, you wrote an article about Jacob Mizorowski
• 15:45
  Speaker 5: comparing him to, and tell me if I'm wrong, the
• 15:50
  Speaker 5: 2000 season for Pedro Martinez as far as whiffs and
• 15:54
  Speaker 5: the things that he's doing on the mound?
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: I mean, that's probably as good as it gets, right?
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: In an extreme hitter's environment back in the day in 2000,
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: the way Pedro just dealt over matching hitters. But I've
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: never seen, I don't think anybody has ever seen a
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: pitcher throw like Jacob Mizorowski. Now, I'm not putting him
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: in Petey's category in terms of just being a polished pitcher.
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: But when you talk about someone who's six foot seven
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: and lets the ball go seven and a half feet
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: in front of the rubber at 105 miles an hour,
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: that's a perceived velocity of 107. And perceived velo is
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: all that counts because how it looks to a hitter
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: matters more than what it looks like on a radar gun.
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: That ball looks like 107 coming into a major league
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: hitter when he's at top velo. And when he's cruising,
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: it's still coming in at 104, 105. Here's the difference too.
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: He is now a strike thrower. He's developed this year
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: into a premium strike thrower at Elite Velo. So, yes,
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: that's why when I look at some of the great seasons,
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: certainly Pedro's 2000 is up there. Sub two ERA with
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: a strikeout walk rate and a strike percentage rate like Miz. Yeah,
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: this is an all time great season. So I give
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: him a ton of credit. You know, he worked really
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: hard in the offseason to add some weight. And now
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: he's carrying this season well and his stuff into August 2021.
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: Brewers have done a great job with him as far
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: as giving extra days here in the second half. Let's
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: face it, they need this guy to be at peak strength,
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: not just kind of running out of gas when they
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: get through October. And I think they've done a really
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: good job with that. But the biggest thing, guys, I
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: know we all talk about his velo.
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: To me, it's his command.
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: It's the way he's now able to just pound the
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: strike zone and put hitters on the defensive. So I've
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: never seen anybody, I don't think anybody's ever seen someone
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: throw like Jacob Mizorowski, just shortening the distance literally between
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: the mound and home plate the way he does.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Agreed. And he's going to have the Cy Young unless
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: something crazy happens. He has the Cy Young.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: And it's amazing how far he's come from last year
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: in the postseason when Pat Murphy was like, I don't
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: know if he's going to start, if he's going to
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: be a reliever. He might not pitch. And now he's
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: the best starter in baseball. So it's amazing how far
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: he can come. Speaking of the postseason, Tom, I'm pretty
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: sure we're going to be together again, right, for the postseason.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: You're going to We're going to pick you up for
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: the DS, right? And we have, as Fox, we have
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: the National League, which is great, which means we're going
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: to Milwaukee or L.A.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: More than likely.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: We're going to get a great matchup, whichever one we'll
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: end up with seeing in Milwaukee, Tom. But how happy
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: are we that we don't have the American League this year?
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: Because is the American League, is this the worst time
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: you've ever seen for one league? I mean, this whole league,
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: other than the Rays, Yankees, and Red Sox, is not
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: very good. I mean, I'm a White Sox fan, and
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: they're winning in first place, but they have major wars.
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: I totally agree with you.
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: I mean, listen, in a full season, the record for
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: fewest wins for an American League postseason team is 84
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: by the 84 Royals. We might have two teams in
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: the postseason in the American League with less than 84 wins,
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: maybe even a losing record. So, yeah, this kind of
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: slow speed car chase we're watching here in the wild card.
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's kind of fun because it's a traffic
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: jam and there's no separation, but you keep waiting for
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: somebody to separate.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: I mean, I was joking with A.J.
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: Hinch the other day that, you know, every team is
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: just maybe one week, one good week away.
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: From pulling out.
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: I mean, if you go five and two, you can
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: separate yourself from somebody else in the course of one week.
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: But nobody seems to be doing that. So listen, when
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: I look at the American League, I think of those
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: teams kind of bunched together there.
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: I like Cleveland a lot. I mean, I love their
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: deadline deals.
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: Joe Adele has really added some more sock to that
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: lineup from the right side. Foster Griffin has made this
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: rotation really, really strong because Gavin Williams and Parker Messick.
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: Is just so good at one, two.
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: It's hard to see them going into a slide where
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: they have a bad week.
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: But the team to me, I've been watching all year.
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: I've been waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Seattle.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: I've been, maybe they're getting their act together at this point,
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: maybe a couple of wins against the Phillies. I don't know.
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: But when you look at their high end talent that
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: they have, man, they.
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: Should be much better than they are right now.
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: And they should be able to run down Houston because
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: Houston just doesn't have the kind of starting pitching to
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: run off a good week or two.
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: They really don't.
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: I think they're 28th in starting pitching, which is hard
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: to do and win a division. They might pull that off.
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: But to me, Seattle is sort of this rope-a-dope team, man,
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: that we've all been waiting for. And I still think
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: they have a run in them. I'll believe it when
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: I see it. But if you're asking me who's got
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: the highest ceiling of that group, I still would say Seattle.
• 20:26
  Speaker 7: It's time to remind everyone why baseball is glorious, especially nowadays,
• 20:30
  Speaker 7: where you could think your team is out of it,
• 20:32
  Speaker 7: but they might be back in it again. Let me
• 20:34
  Speaker 7: introduce you to the American League wildcard KP, and let's
• 20:38
  Speaker 7: tell everyone why they might need to head back to SeatGeek,
• 20:41
  Speaker 7: grab some more tickets for what is a playoff race
• 20:44
  Speaker 7: before the playoffs actually begin.
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: Well, speaking about being out of it, I'm an American
• 20:50
  Speaker 6: League East guy, and I'm talking to you Toronto fans.
• 20:53
  Speaker 6: I'm talking to you Baltimore fans. A couple of weeks ago,
• 20:56
  Speaker 6: Probably not a reason to come out to the games.
• 20:58
  Speaker 6: Look at the standings right now. Both of you teams
• 21:00
  Speaker 6: are right back in this wildcard race.
• 21:02
  Speaker 7: Rangers fans, we can go on and on. Mariners fans,
• 21:06
  Speaker 7: you might be feeling a little queasy, but you're still
• 21:08
  Speaker 7: in this thing too. So all of you should head
• 21:10
  Speaker 7: to SeatGeek and get yourself 10% off your next set
• 21:14
  Speaker 7: of MLB tickets. 10% off MLB tickets with the promo
• 21:18
  Speaker 7: code TERRITORY10. Make sure you click the link in the
• 21:21
  Speaker 7: description to download the app and have the code automatically
• 21:23
  Speaker 7: added to your account so that you can use it later.
• 21:26
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and they don't have to travel as much in September,
• 21:28
  Speaker 5: and we always hear about Seattle's travel, so that could
• 21:31
  Speaker 5: help them. Easier schedule, all that stuff. Should Major League
• 21:34
  Speaker 5: Baseball look into divisions playing each other right out of
• 21:39
  Speaker 5: the gate in the playoffs in the sense that we talked–
• 21:43
  Speaker 5: AJ talked about it yesterday. The White Sox are going
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: to essentially have a cakewalk to the American League Championship
• 21:50
  Speaker 5: Series because– the Yankees, the Rays, the Red Sox are
• 21:56
  Speaker 5: all going to play each other, knock each other out,
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: and the bad teams are all going to play the
• 22:02
  Speaker 5: White Sox. Should the divisions not be allowed to play
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: each other in the first round? Obviously, it's tough when
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: three could come from the American League East.
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: That's a great idea. I don't know if it's feasible
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: to do.
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: I guess it is feasible to do or what it
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: would entail, but I don't have a problem when the
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: Yankees and Red Sox match up at a wild card,
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: might do it again. I don't know, but I don't
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: have a problem with that just because they're in the
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: same division, but you make a good point about kind
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: of staggering or seeding, if you will, these teams based
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: on records so that you can win a division, say
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: like the White Sox and get an easier draw.
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: It doesn't on the face of it seem right. So
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: I think it's a good idea. It's worth exploring.
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: I'm not sure what the argument would be against it,
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: but I kind of like where you're thinking there.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: And by the way, the White Sox, think about this, Tom.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: The White Sox are going to get a bye right
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: now unless something crazy happens. They'll get the three or
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: winner of the three and the six, which could be
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: Houston and a team under 500 or the Rangers and Mariners,
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: whoever it is, and a team under 500. And then
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: they win that, and then they get to play the
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: winner of the Rays-Yankees-Red Sox, the three-way American lease battle,
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: after beating the crap out of each other for two rounds.
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: And the White Sox are just going to be sitting
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: back going, we have the Pope. And we have Mike
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: Vassell with his magic wand.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: We're going to the World.
• 23:23
  Speaker 6: Series, baby.
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: What could possibly go wrong when you get all that
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: on your side? It kind of reminds me of the
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: Yankees a couple of years ago. And their path to
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: the World Series was what? I think it was Kansas
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: City and Cleveland or something. The draw just worked out
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: so well for the Yankees that year. And, of course,
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: they stumbled, more so than stumbled, against the Dodgers in
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: the World Series. But the path there you're talking about
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: looks like it's very similar for the White Sox.
• 23:48
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 23:48
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: I mean, that's just a product of this league being down.
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: We've known that all along this year. The National League
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: has beaten up on this team, on this league. And
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: the National League is so much deeper. And you're right
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: about as far as Fox, you can pick any playoff
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: matchup in the National League, man, and it's going to
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: be exciting.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: You're right. You're right.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: That's why we're going to be, you know, Tom, I
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: know we're not supposed to root for matchups, but it's,
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: I mean, if it's Braves, Dodgers, cool. We won't have
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: that series, plus the travel will suck. But you know
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: what we need to root for, Tom, you and I?
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Milwaukee, Chicago.
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: Milwaukee, Chicago.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: You got it, buddy. We are on the same page.
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: I'm with you, bro. No flights in between.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: And man.
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: You've been to those games.
• 24:32
  Speaker 4: Those ballparks are rocking because you have so many fans
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: from both sides, right? I mean, the energy, you're going
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: to get it anyway in a postseason game at either place,
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: but there's something about that rivalry. Sign me up for
• 24:44
  Speaker 4: that one. Again, we're not supposed to root for it,
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: but that sounds like a great one.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: Hey, we root for the best matchups, right? We're company people, Tom.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: We're company people. Speaking of company, thank you, Tom. You
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: can watch him tonight covering the Dodgers and Braves. tonight
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: on MLB Network, and check out his weekly baseball newsletter,
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: Verducci's View, at SportsIllustrated.com.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: Thanks, Tom. I love you. I can't wait to see you.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: Always fine with you guys. Thank you.