Latest / Foul Territory / Fair Territory: Playoff seeding, A Mea Culpa! Status checks: Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Alex Bregman

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Fair Territory: Playoff seeding, A Mea Culpa! Status checks: Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Alex Bregman · Foul Territory

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome, everyone, to the Tuesday edition of Fair Territory. We're
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: on Tuesday this week instead of Monday. And you guys
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: have heard me say this before. I say it a lot.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: I'm probably repeating myself. But when people ask who's going
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: to win the World Series, who's going to make the playoffs,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: I always say, tell me who's getting traded and tell
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: me who's getting hurt. Now, normally speaking, the injuries that
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: shape a season don't occur in late September. But we've
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: got situations this week, three situations, in fact, that we're
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: watching very carefully because they involve three of the biggest
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: stars in the game. I'm talking, of course, about Aaron Judge,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Shohei Otani, who is coming back. He is the only
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: one of the three assured of coming back, and Alex Bregman.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: We're going to get into all three. Let's start with
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Aaron Judge. You heard the diagnosis, a right calf strain
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: in the soleus muscle. That's part of the calf or
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: in that area. But you didn't hear the complete diagnosis
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: because the Yankees did not give a complete diagnosis. They
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: did not say to what extent this muscle is strained.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: They did not give a degree, grade one, grade two,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: grade three. And why didn't they do that? Probably because
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: it's not great. Now, Judge wants to come back. His
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: intention is to come back. And he may very well
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: come back. But calves are notoriously tricky. And we've seen
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: this not just with Giancarlo Stanton. but many players over
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: the years. It's a tough injury to come back from.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: I know the soleus muscle is not necessarily exactly the calf,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: but again, it's in that area. I'm not a doctor.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: If I'm getting this wrong, hit me in the comments.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you will. Now, what went wrong here, if anything?
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Was this mishandled in any way? It's tough to say.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: And I wrote a column about this, oh, about 13
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: days ago. And it was after Judge came out of
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: that first game, and was unhappy about it. His first
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: game back without a rehab assignment. And what I said was,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: the headline, Yankees must be careful in building back Aaron
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Judge despite his push to play. Now, he was out
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: three months with that rib fracture, and he came back
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: again without a rehab assignment. His point was, hey, I
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: don't need a rehab assignment. It's wasting at bats. Just
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: get me into a major league game. We're in a
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: pennant race here. Not an unreasonable position to take. He's
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: a superstar. Lots of superstars return without rehab assignments, though
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: three months is a long time. Eric Kratz, though, had
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: an interesting point on foul territory about this whole thing
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: and about why a rehab assignment might have been helpful,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: even though Judge could have gotten hurt in that sense
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: as well.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: The part that rehab enables you to do is to
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: be able to get out on the field, get on
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: your feet, get cleats on for a long duration of time.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: In other sports, yes, you have quick bursts. Then you
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: go and you sit down for a little bit. But
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: you're on your feet, on defense. Essentially, being stationary can
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: kind of hurt you because it's just something you can't
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: prepare for.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Okay, that was actually Monday on Foul Territory. But you
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: see Kratz's point. And a lot of fans, I'm sure,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: dismiss this. It's just standing in the outfield. What's the
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: big deal? That is a former player talking. These guys
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: kind of know what's going on. And Eric said that
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Monday on foul territory, not Tuesday. And it was the
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: point that the kind of point the Yankees were making
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: all along. Maybe you need some time to build up. Again,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: you'll never know. He could have gotten hurt on the
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: rehab assignment. The position that Judge took was understandable. The
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: position the Yankees took was understandable. But here we are. Now,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Shohei Ohtani. There's a good chance that he gets activated
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: on Wednesday. That's tomorrow as we speak. Of course, Ohtani's
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: been dealing with the biceps and the knee problems. They
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: finally put him on the injured list after it was
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: affecting his hitting for some time. Obviously, we need to
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: know now, or we need to see now, just who...
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Ohtani is, just what kind of performance he is capable
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: of as he returns from a series of injuries that
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: have kind of nagged at him for much of the season. Now,
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: you saw right there from Fabian Ardaia, there's a good
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: chance Shohei Ohtani is activated against the Padres. Dave Roberts
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: said this is a huge series coming up, at least
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: for the Padres. He is eligible Wednesday. Ohtani is key
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: to the Dodgers World Series chances. Now, they're going to
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: be in great position If they have their pitching, their
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: rotation intact, that is a question too. But right now, Yamamoto, Skubal,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: and Glass now seem fine. The question is Blake Snell.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: He's coming off a groin issue. Says it's minor. It's
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: expected to pitch in the final series against the Giants.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: They've also got Andy Pahez coming back. Expected Tuesday. That's tonight.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: And he is coming back from his own injury, which
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: was a fractured left hand. Also without a rehab. Otani,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: no rehab. But these... Time's away for both those players.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: It was a month for Pahez, about two weeks for Otani,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: much less than what Judge endured, much less of an absence.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: So we will see if the Dodgers truly get whole here,
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: and we will see in the coming days where Otani is.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: He's got time to build up here. He's got starting Wednesday,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: if that's indeed when he comes back, five games remaining
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: in the regular season. Then the Dodgers likely will get
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: the bye. They've practically clinched the bye. He'll have more
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: time to recover. If everything is going according to plan,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: he should be okay. The Dodgers certainly need him to
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: be okay. Now, for more on Judge Notani, will Cara
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: host injury territory? Him and his esteemed members of the
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: sports medical field go deeper into baseball's bumps and bruises.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Subscribe on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts on
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: the entire Foul Territory Network. All right, there it is
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: on deck presented by Fox One. The National League wildcard
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: picture remains quite jumbled. And if you take a look
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: at it, it's really interesting to see what might happen
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: here because you have three teams essentially that have clinched
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: but are jockeying for position, as they say. It's the Phillies,
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: it's the Cubs, it's the Padres. You see the Cubs
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: there with a one game actually tie with the Padres
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: for the top spot with the Phillies one game back.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: You have tiebreakers in play as well. But Something dramatic
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: might affect this race, a dramatic injury that occurred over
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: the weekend with Alex Bregman. You saw it.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: It was awful.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: He's standing in the on-deck circle, and it's a freak accident.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Foul ball comes off Michael Bush's bat and gets him
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: right in the face. You might have seen Bregman's Instagram
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: posts in which he shows just the damage that was done.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: He has facial fractures, and you see right there the
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: story by Patrick Mooney in The Athletic. He is hoping
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: to come back. It's almost difficult to imagine him coming
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: back with those facial fractures. He is not going to
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: undergo surgery. At least that's what the Cubs say. And
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: we'll see just where this goes. But Bregman, after slowly
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: starting his season, has come on in a huge way
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: for the Cubs. He's been a huge part of what
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: they are doing. And really, the Cubs, like the Phillies,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: they've got such pronounced bullpen issues that they need to
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: win by outscoring the opponents. Hopefully their rotation can hold
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: the team down like the Phillies, but they need to score.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: And a big part of how they score is Bregman
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: in that lineup. So his potential loss for the postseason
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: is a huge thing for the Cubs, a potentially huge blow.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: We'll hopefully see him come back. Hopefully he is okay.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: He seems to be okay. He's posting, but at the
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: same time, man, that was a scary thing. We've had
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: a few scary injuries in the game in the past
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: week or so. You remember the Jared Young concussion on
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: our broadcast last week in the Phillies-Mets game when he
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: had a collision with Nolan McClain. The sport is not football, obviously,
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: in terms of the danger to the players, but there
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: are things that happen. There are things that happen that
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: are frightening and, again, life-threatening. hoping Bregman is going to
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: be okay here. All right, MLB on Fox is streaming
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: on Fox One. The race to October continues, and we
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: have your front row seat to the wildest walk-offs, lights
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: out pitching, and clutch plays all season long. Follow every
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: can't-miss matchup as teams battle for a spot in the postseason,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: then stream the 2026 World Series live on Fox One.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: At home or on the go, live or on demand,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Never miss a moment. Stream now. Start your Fox One
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: three-day free trial today at foxone.com. All right, time now
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: for the inside dish, the part of the show where
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: I talk about a story I've written, maybe a trend
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: inside the game, maybe something else entirely, or at the
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: end of a season, I present a few mea culpas.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: I was wrong kind of thing. Now, You take a
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: stand as a columnist or as a person on fair
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: or foul territory, sometimes you're going to miss and sometimes
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: you got to own it. The biggest one I have
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: to own, and I'm going to give you two. One
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: is regarding this season and one is kind of a
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: bigger picture regarding several seasons. But the big one, the
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: biggest mea culpa I have to give is to Red
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: Sox Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow. I was hard on
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: Breslow at the start of the season. And at one
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: point late in the season, I said, I will be
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: happy to eat my words. And he told me, you
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: better have a big appetite. All in good fun. And frankly, touche. Now,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: where was I on Breslow? Let's go back to the
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: start of the season and the Red Sox slow start
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: and what I wrote. It wasn't pretty, folks. Here it is. Now,
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: this was a second column. This was about GMs who
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: might be in trouble on June 25th. The first sentence
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: of the column I wrote after the firing of Alex
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: Cora was, Craig Breslow is next. Nothing that has transpired
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: since has changed my opinion. The Sox were 10-17 under Cora.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: They're 22-29 under interim manager Chad Tracy. Again, this was
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: June 25th. Sitting on the worst record in the AL.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: CEO Sam Kennedy recently said during his weekly radio appearance
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: on WEEI that the removal of Breslow was not on
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: the table, but he also called the team's season embarrassing.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: It's obvious where this is heading, particularly with an ownership
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: that is forever in search of someone to blame. On
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: June 25th, those words made sense because the Red Sox
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: were a complete mess. But that day, that very day,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: was the day they began their 32-5 run, which, of course,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: spurred their postseason appearance. And they did qualify. You see
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: it right there. They have the second wild card. And
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: why did this happen? A lot of it happened because
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: of what Chris Breslow accomplished late last season, first by
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: extending a role as Chapman, and then in the offseason, and, yes,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: by firing Alex Cora, too. The offseason, which a lot
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: of us scrutinized and criticized— because the Red Sox lost
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: Alex Bregman? Well, it turns out that Craig Breslow basically
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: threw a shutout. He basically had a perfect game of
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: an offseason. Wilson Contreras, Sonny Gray, Ranger Suarez, all good signings.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: In addition, he traded for Jake Bennett. This was a
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: prospect for prospect trade with Washington. He gave up Luis Pirellas,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: but got Bennett, who proved a capable starter for them.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: And in a trade that initially didn't look so great,
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: but now looks a lot better. With Milwaukee, he acquired
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: Caleb Durbin. I always call him Chad, but it's Caleb Durbin.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: And Andrew Monasterio, along with Anthony Sigler. Now, Monasterio and
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: Sigler kind of were big players and are big players,
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: but they proved valuable as the Red Sox had their
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: second half surge. And of course, Durbin, after a terrible start,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: has proven to be quite capable offensively and defensively at
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: third base. You see it right there. 727 OPS is
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: not Bregman, but man, he's been a really good player
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: for them. And the players that the Red Sox gave
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: up in this deal, still a lot. Kyle Harrison has faded,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: but Shane Johans had a really good rookie season for
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: the Brewers. And of course, David Hamilton is part of
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: their mix as well. A trade that looks like it's
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: going to be okay for both sides. Not a route
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: one way or the other, but certainly it didn't prove
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: to be a bad trade. So... Craig Breslow is owed
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: an apology by me and, frankly, a lot of fans
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: and other media members as well, but I was pretty
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: loud about this. So, mea culpa. Craig Breslow, great job.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: And as I wrote tongue-in-cheek in a later column, he
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: is maybe a candidate for Executive of the Year based
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: on what the Red Sox did turning this around. They
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: were 10-17 under Cora. What are they under Tracy? 74-55,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: and I believe they stand a decent chance of overtaking
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: the Yankees in the wildcard series because of their left-handed
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: pitching and because of the potential absence of Aaron Judge.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: All right, that's one mea culpa. The other one, again,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: goes back really five years. And I've written about this
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: a little bit and certainly acknowledged the change in circumstances,
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: but I want to talk about the Padres. Because five
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: years ago, when they signed Fernando Tatis Jr. to a 14-year,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: $ 340 million extension. I was not exactly critical of the move,
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: but I questioned what it meant for the Padres long-term.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: Here is what I wrote in 2021. How the heck
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: are the Padres going to sustain this? The team's previous
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: record opening day payroll was $ 108. 4 million in 2015. The
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: Tatis extension, which includes a signing bonus of more than
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: $ 10 million, Figures to push the Padres' 2021 commitments past
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: $ 180 million nearly double what they were in the last
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: full Major League season 2019. The Padres have drawn 3
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: million fans only once, in 2004, the first year of
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: Petco Park. And then their local television contract, which runs
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: through 2031, includes only modest annual increases, sources say.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: Well.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: Have the Padres sustained it? I would say yes, they have.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: They're headed to their third straight playoff appearance, haven't clinched yet,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: but they will, and their fourth postseason appearance in the
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: past five years. Three million in attendance? Well, they've done
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: that each of the last four seasons. And as evidence
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: that they built this in a proper way, they just
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: sold for $ 3. 9 billion. That was a record at the time,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: since surpassed by the Angels selling for $ 4 billion. Now,
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: There are going to be some issues with some of
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: these contracts down the line. No question. Manny Machado and
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Xander Bogarts each signed through 2033. Tatis Younger through 2034.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: Jake Cronenworth making less money, but through 2030. All right,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: some of these contracts are not going to age well.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: Manny's had a good power year, good defensive year. The
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: OPS is down. Okay, all that's going to happen. But
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: what have the Padres done here? Given their fans, several.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: Consecutive years of high-quality competitive play. And this year was
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: kind of a classic Padres thing. Now, on July 23rd,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: they were 50-53. They were four back for the last
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: wild card with four teams ahead of them. Those four
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: teams were Pittsburgh, Miami, St. Louis, and Washington. Four teams
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: ahead of them, four games out. They look like they
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: might sell. There were rumblings that A.J. Preller was looking
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: at all kinds of options, and of course he was.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: He had to at that point. But ultimately, they did
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: not sell. And what happens? Tatis had been hitting, got
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: even hotter. Jackson Merrill started to hit. Manny came on
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: a little bit, contributing power and defense, if not as usual,
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: OPS and that kind of thing. And of course, the
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: Padres had a bullpen all season long that can shorten
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: any game, and a bullpen... that once they get to
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: the postseason, will be a handful for whichever opponent they face. So,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: at the deadline, A.J. Preller did not sell. He bought.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: He picked up Casey Mize. He picked up Robbie Ray. Now,
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: neither of those pitchers has performed really well for San Diego.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: In fact, they've been actually rather mediocre, if not poor.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: But they helped stabilize the rotation. And also, Preller has
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: made a series of moves on the margins, which have
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: proven quite fruitful for the Padres. I'm talking about, of course,
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: Ty France, who's had an amazing comeback season. Samad Taylor,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: Dustin Harris, these guys have all made significant contributions to
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: what the Padres have accomplished, and here they are looking
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: really good going into the postseason. I don't know if
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: Mize or Ray figures into the for the rotation in
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: the first series, the wildcard series, because you could go
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: Michael King, you could go Nick Pavetta, and who am
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: I missing here? I'm missing one of their starters. Oh,
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Walker Buehler. He's pitched well for them as well. So
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: I don't know that Mize or Ray figure into it,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: but at the same time, the Padres are going to
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: be there. They held off a Diamondbacks team that faded,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: and they could end up, and this is something that
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: teams should be worried about if you're a potential Padres opponent,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: They could end up with the top seed of the
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: wild cards, the fourth seed overall, and that would mean
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: a home series at Petco Park, which will be rocking
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: as it always is. So, mea culpa on whether the
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: Padres could sustain it. Yes, they've sustained it. They're not
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: going away. They are a force to be reckoned with,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: and they're not going away, as I mentioned, anytime soon.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: All right, we'll be right back after this with more.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: All right, time now for Grill and Ken, the part
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: of the show where I answer your questions. Feel free
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: to fire away. All right, here we go. Armando's amazing.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: Will a team with an under 500 record make the playoffs? Armando,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: it's kind of the question of the hour, isn't it?
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Let's look at the wonderful AL West standings. The Texas Rangers,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: 78 and 78. The Houston Astros, 77 and 79. The
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: American League Central, not much better, although it looks like
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: you will only have a sub-500 team even threatening there.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: The team that wins is going to be maybe around
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: 80-45 wins. Now, could it happen? You see it right there.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: Could it happen in the AL West that a sub-500
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: team makes it? I doubt it. What it would take
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: is both Texas and Houston having poor weeks and one
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: finishing ahead of the other. Can happen. These are at
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: best 500 teams as of right now, but I see
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: one of these teams at least getting to, I don't know, 81,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: 82 wins, 83 wins, trying to creep up there. It's
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: not great. let's face it the American League has not
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: been great all season we've got three teams that are
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: I would say formidable the Rays the Yankees and the
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Red Sox they're all on one side of the bracket
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: they're going to be on one side of the bracket
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: so you're going to have in the ALCS Texas or
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: Houston or the White Sox, somebody along those lines. And
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: it's going to be a situation where it might not
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: be the most attractive matchup. And this goes to the
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: seeding question, why we should reseed after the first round
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: of the playoffs. I don't know why MLB does not
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: do that. Actually, I do know. They do it because
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: they like the NCAA tournament style bracket that exists at
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: the start of the postseason. It looks pretty. It's great.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: It's like the NCAA tournament, but it's not. And let's
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: just get back to a reseeding situation that would make
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: a whole lot more sense. All right, let's get to
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: the next question here. This one comes from Labs8696. If
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: there is MLB expansion with two new teams, is there
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: also a desire to increase the number of playoff teams?
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Good question. Now, first of all, expansion will not take
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: place until we have a collective bargaining agreement, and you
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: might start chuckling at that thought because we're not going
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: to have a new collective bargaining agreement anytime necessarily soon.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: But I expect that the new CBA, whenever it is reached,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: will include a provision, as it usually does, to allow
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: MLB to expand to go from 30 to 32 teams,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: at which point we would have eight four-team divisions. And yes,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: we probably would have another round of expanded playoffs. So
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: I don't know how it would work necessarily. I'm not
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: sure MLB even has thought that far along, but the
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: idea has always been 8-14 divisions and go about it
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: from there. It would be kind of cool. It would
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: help with regionalizing the playoffs some, no question. But at
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: the same time, we're a long way from seeing expansion
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: teams take the field in Major League Baseball. All right,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: next question. From Foul Territory, this one. Has Jordan Alvarez
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: wrapped up the AL MVP awards? might depend on whether
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: the Astros win the AL West in the minds of voters,
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: but in my mind, it shouldn't. Now, Junior Caminero has
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: had a wonderful season, as we've talked about, and yet
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: Alvarez still leads him in OPS by 135 points. That's
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: a ton. Alvarez, in win probability added, has a significant
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: margin over every player in the American League. He has
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: been even as a DH, the most valuable player in
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: the league. Now, as a DH, it's going to hurt
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: him some. Among some voters, I feel relatively confident that
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: will happen. Caminero is a third baseman who has played
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: every day and is probably an average third baseman at best,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: but he's still handled the position. You see the numbers
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: right there. It's close. No question it's close. And I
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: can see a voter saying, you know what? Caminero led
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: his team to the best record in the American League
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: He had a couple of big walk-offs down the stretch.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: He's my guy. But overall, would I say Alvarez has
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: been the superior performer, the more deserving MVP? Yeah, I
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: would say that. I would still vote for Jordan for MVP. Now,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: if the Astros collapse this week and Jordan goes 0
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: for 20, maybe a different story. But let's see that
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: happen first. All right, one more question before we go.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: This is from Stephen Holland who asks, how will the
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: Braves set up their rotation in the playoffs? Well, we
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: know who it starts with. It starts with Chris Sale.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: And Chris Sale, of course, is one of the Cy
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: Young candidates. You've got Grant Holmes as well, who will
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: be part of the mix. Martin Perez could be part
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: of that mix. They're going to be a little bit challenged.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: Bryce Elder is hurt now. Oh, and I'm forgetting the
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: best guy of all, Tyler Malley. Well, second best guy.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: Malley will fit in behind Sale. And then you've got
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: Holmes and Perez for Game 3 of the wildcard round.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: Forgive me, Tyler.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: You are the number two starter. You have been the
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: best trade deadline pickup of all. And that's how it's
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: going to go. Sale, Mally, and then Holmes and Perez.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Maybe Perez and Holmes. Maybe they piggyback. We'll see. It
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: probably depends on the matchup.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: With that, I want to thank everyone for watching, for listening.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: Foul Territory coming up at 1 p.m. Eastern. Your hosts, A.J. Pruszynski,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: Eric Kratz, and Scott Braun. The guests include Adam Adovino
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: and Julian McWilliams. Fair Territory returns Thursday at 1230 Eastern.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: Alana Rizzo and I will be with you then. Have
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: a great week, everyone. Let's hope some of these injured
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: guys come back healthy.
• 24:33
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