Latest / Rosters to Rings Podcast / The End of the Workhorse Era and Playoff Preview Continued

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The End of the Workhorse Era and Playoff Preview Continued · Rosters to Rings Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Rosters to Rings. I am Chet West
0:06
Speaker 1: alongside Thad Levine. We have a great show planned today.
0:10
Speaker 1: We are going to dive headlong into our baseball postseason.
0:15
Speaker 1: We're going to give you guys the matchups. We're going
0:18
Speaker 1: to discuss the format a little bit and cover a
0:21
Speaker 1: few things that we didn't cover in last week's show.
0:24
Speaker 1: But we're also going to take some listeners questions at
0:27
Speaker 1: the end, providing we have some time and Thad and
0:29
Speaker 1: I don't run long on the postseason. We want to
0:33
Speaker 1: start things off today, though. The 2026 season itself has
0:37
Speaker 1: given us some remarkable milestones and events. Thad, I want
0:43
Speaker 1: you to open us up here on one that happened
0:46
Speaker 1: this past weekend and kind of dive into what it
0:48
Speaker 1: means for baseball and starting pitching going forward.
0:51
Speaker 2: Well, Chet, we had two iconic pitchers who wrapped up.
0:55
Speaker 2: Justin Verlander pitched on Saturday. Max Scherzer followed up, pitched
0:59
Speaker 2: on Sunday. For anyone who got a chance to watch,
1:02
Speaker 2: Detroit did a wonderful job. On Friday, I think they
1:05
Speaker 2: had Verlander throw out a first pitch. His daughter came
1:07
Speaker 2: and embraced him on the mound. After he finished pitching
1:11
Speaker 2: on Saturday, A.J. Hinch, and who would have guessed anything but,
1:15
Speaker 2: handles it in an exceptionally classy way. He doesn't go
1:17
Speaker 2: right out to the mound. He actually goes to home plate.
1:20
Speaker 2: He retrieves Justin's daughter. They go to the mound together.
1:25
Speaker 2: Justin's daughter gives him a huge hug. It looks like
1:27
Speaker 2: Justin gets appropriately emotional. And then his wife comes out
1:31
Speaker 2: onto the field. Everyone's cheering for him and exceptionally well-deserved.
1:36
Speaker 2: But Chet, the thing that really jumps out to me
1:38
Speaker 2: is just what these two guys have achieved in their careers.
1:41
Speaker 2: And I'm just wondering... Are these the last of a
1:44
Speaker 2: breed of starting pitchers? These are guys who eclipsed 3,000
1:48
Speaker 2: innings pitched each. They eclipsed 3,500 strikeouts each. I'm just
1:52
Speaker 2: not sure if we're going to ever see these numbers
1:54
Speaker 2: again the way that Major League Baseball are handling starting
1:56
Speaker 2: pitchers nowadays.
1:58
Speaker 1: Well, I get your point there. I mean, in 2025,
2:01
Speaker 1: we saw Clayton Kershaw announce his retirement. He's finished. In 2026,
2:07
Speaker 1: we get Justin Verlander officially announcing his retirement. He gets
2:10
Speaker 1: that last game in this past weekend. And then there's
2:14
Speaker 1: Max Scherzer hanging out there. He's undecided at this point.
2:18
Speaker 1: I think you and I probably agree that maybe he
2:22
Speaker 1: should hang it up. But hey, if a team's willing
2:24
Speaker 1: to come out and pay him some money and he
2:27
Speaker 1: feels like he's got something left in the tank, maybe
2:30
Speaker 1: he will come back and try to pitch next season.
2:32
Speaker 1: But I feel like we're seeing the last of the
2:39
Speaker 1: I guess you could call it the longevity, duration. I
2:43
Speaker 1: don't know that we're going to see pitchers throw this
2:46
Speaker 1: many innings in a career in the future and do
2:50
Speaker 1: it at a clip that, I mean, you're looking at
2:52
Speaker 1: three guys who won three Cy Youngs each. That's nine
2:56
Speaker 1: Cy Youngs over the last 16 years, 17 years taken
2:59
Speaker 1: up by these guys, by my math.
3:02
Speaker 2: And Chet, you know, used to be the marker for
3:04
Speaker 2: the Hall of Fame was 300 wins from starting pitchers.
3:07
Speaker 2: I'm not sure we'll ever see that again Scherzer is
3:10
Speaker 2: sitting at 224, Verlander at 266, which are significant numbers.
3:15
Speaker 2: Verlander will go into the Hall of Fame as a
3:18
Speaker 2: first ballot Hall of Famer. So will Max Scherzer. Verlander
3:21
Speaker 2: is 24th overall in war accumulated by pitchers in the
3:24
Speaker 2: history of the game. Scherzer is right behind him at 30th.
3:28
Speaker 2: The names are the ones that are staggering for me here, Chad.
3:30
Speaker 2: When you look at the players around them, for Verlander,
3:32
Speaker 2: it's guys like Pedro Martinez and Steve Carlton. Nolan Ryan,
3:36
Speaker 2: and Bob Gibson. I mean, what an exalted arena.
3:39
Speaker 1: Those are some names. Those are some names.
3:41
Speaker 2: And Scherzer's right behind him with Clayton Kershaw, Tom Glavin,
3:44
Speaker 2: and Jim Palmer. And you mentioned it. Scherzer has 19
3:48
Speaker 2: seasons in the big leagues, and Verlander has 21. I mean,
3:52
Speaker 2: the stats these guys have put up are just absolutely staggering. Scherzer,
3:57
Speaker 2: believe it or not, is actually the junior of the two.
3:59
Speaker 2: He was an eight-time All-Star. You mentioned a three-time Cy
4:02
Speaker 2: Young All-Star. He was eight times top five in the
4:06
Speaker 2: Cy Young. He was six times did he get MVP votes.
4:10
Speaker 2: It's just remarkable. He's ninth all time in the history
4:12
Speaker 2: of the game in strikeouts. And he's behind Verlander.
4:16
Speaker 1: And he's behind Verlander. I sit and look at Verlander
4:18
Speaker 1: stats here. Let me just run down this resume because
4:22
Speaker 1: I was looking at this yesterday or two days ago
4:24
Speaker 1: while watching his final game, which I will admit that
4:27
Speaker 1: I was in tears a little bit. And I'm not
4:29
Speaker 1: one for the sappy stats. overly sappy baseball moment. And
4:34
Speaker 1: I kind of knew they were going to gussy this
4:36
Speaker 1: thing up a little bit. But when his daughter Genevieve
4:38
Speaker 1: ran onto the field, I lost it. I was like,
4:40
Speaker 1: oh man, you got to be kidding me. And the
4:43
Speaker 1: whole game, I'll get to that in a minute. I
4:45
Speaker 1: want to talk about his stats here, but there were
4:47
Speaker 1: some other things that stood out to me. Let's go
4:49
Speaker 1: through his resume here. 266 wins for Verlander, a 333 ERA,
4:51
Speaker 1: 3,560 strikeouts. He pitched 3,576 and two thirds innings, 557
5:03
Speaker 1: career starts, three Cy Youngs, an AL MVP in 2011,
5:08
Speaker 1: Rookie of the Year in 2006, 10-time All-Star, three no-hitters,
5:13
Speaker 1: should have been four, but I think he got robbed
5:14
Speaker 1: on one a while back, two World Series championships, the
5:18
Speaker 1: ALCS MVP in 2017, 300 strikeouts in 2019, 12, 12
5:20
Speaker 1: 200-inning seasons. So... 200-inning seasons. 200 innings seems to be
5:33
Speaker 1: this marker. I would be curious to know how many
5:36
Speaker 1: starting pitchers from Huron actually eclipsed that in a season.
5:41
Speaker 1: They seem to be tapered, especially the young guys. I mean,
5:44
Speaker 1: you guys have Mizoroski, right? What's he at? 174 innings
5:48
Speaker 1: or somewhere in there? 175 innings, probably. He won his
5:52
Speaker 1: third Cy Young at age 39 post Tommy John surgery.
5:58
Speaker 1: which is, I mean, Tommy John is coming. It went
6:01
Speaker 1: from being kind of the death knell for a pitcher
6:03
Speaker 1: to a degree in their effectiveness to being a rebirth,
6:07
Speaker 1: and they've got it down to such a routine now.
6:12
Speaker 1: He finishes eighth all-time in strikeouts. I remember the last
6:16
Speaker 1: conversation I had with my father, Thad, before he passed away.
6:20
Speaker 1: I remember it like it was yesterday. It was 2007.
6:23
Speaker 1: It was early June, so Verlander had only been pitching...
6:27
Speaker 1: He had like one full season under his belt in 2006.
6:31
Speaker 1: He had had a couple starts there in 2007. My
6:34
Speaker 1: dad said, you know, I think this guy might be
6:35
Speaker 1: pretty good. You just, I just read through all his stats.
6:40
Speaker 1: I think back to him saying that. And I die
6:42
Speaker 1: laughing when I think about that. You think he might
6:44
Speaker 1: be pretty good. Yeah. He's going to be real good
6:46
Speaker 1: at any rate. It was great to see the game yesterday,
6:50
Speaker 1: the way they did it. You're right. And Hinch set
6:52
Speaker 1: that whole thing up. Um, and I couldn't believe like
6:55
Speaker 1: Kirby Yates announced his retirement as of yesterday, long time
6:58
Speaker 1: reliever got his first start of his career on his
7:01
Speaker 1: last time at his last game pitching. And last he
7:04
Speaker 1: is the home plate umpire called his last game behind
7:07
Speaker 1: the plate. And by the way, he's been doing this
7:10
Speaker 1: longer than Justin's been pitching. He's been around for, I think,
7:14
Speaker 1: what is it? 30 some years now as a major
7:16
Speaker 1: league baseball umpire called his last game from behind the plate.
7:19
Speaker 1: I think he did one in the field the day after.
7:21
Speaker 1: I think he did one in the field yesterday to
7:22
Speaker 1: close it all out. Like, He he that was that
7:26
Speaker 1: storyline about Laz Diaz almost got me as much because
7:30
Speaker 1: the two teams ran out of ran out of challenges
7:33
Speaker 1: in like the fourth inning. And he won every single
7:36
Speaker 1: one of them. He was right on every call. And
7:38
Speaker 1: he started strutting around back behind home plate. He knew it.
7:42
Speaker 1: It was great. It was great theater. Jason Manetti, the
7:45
Speaker 1: Tigers announcer, set it up perfectly. And I do believe
7:49
Speaker 1: he gave Justin Verlander his fifth strikeout. He handed that
7:52
Speaker 1: one to him. Verlander flipped a backdoor slider about three
7:55
Speaker 1: or four inches outside of the strike zone and Laz
7:57
Speaker 1: rung the guy up. And I think it was just
7:59
Speaker 1: kind of like, you don't have any more challenges. So
8:01
Speaker 1: I'm calling what I want from here on out.
8:03
Speaker 2: That actually may be a classic in the sense that
8:07
Speaker 2: the number of strikeouts Verlander has gotten outside of the
8:09
Speaker 2: strike zone and the number of strikes that Laz Diaz
8:13
Speaker 2: has called out of the strike zone. That was actually
8:15
Speaker 2: pretty picturesque for their last matchup together. chad i think
8:19
Speaker 2: the thing that you're highlighting there is the instances where
8:22
Speaker 2: sports transcend competition yes and it's just special you know
8:26
Speaker 2: the fact that they allowed for that moment for verlander
8:30
Speaker 2: to have with his daughter on the mound that should
8:33
Speaker 2: happen the fact that people are recognizing las diaz that
8:36
Speaker 2: stuff should happen i hearken back to when i was
8:38
Speaker 2: with the minnesota twins and it was it was a
8:43
Speaker 2: It was Joe Maurer's last game, and he asked if
8:45
Speaker 2: he could catch as just a last thing he was
8:50
Speaker 2: going to do on a baseball field. And so we
8:52
Speaker 2: had arranged it with the opposing team. Joe picked his pitcher.
8:57
Speaker 2: It was Matt Belisle. I think it was not only
8:59
Speaker 2: because he was a good friend, but also because Matt
9:01
Speaker 2: Belisle was throwing about 86 miles an hour at that point.
9:04
Speaker 2: I think Joe felt confident he was going to catch him.
9:06
Speaker 2: The opposing team and the hitter decided they would take
9:09
Speaker 2: one pitch. And so Matt Belisle throws a pitch. Joe
9:12
Speaker 2: Maurer catches the ball. We call it a career. But
9:16
Speaker 2: before that happens, he goes out on the field. Rocco
9:19
Speaker 2: Baldelli held everyone else back. So Joe was the only
9:22
Speaker 2: player on the field for a standing ovation as he
9:25
Speaker 2: was standing out there wearing his catching gear for one
9:28
Speaker 2: last time. Matt Belisle throws the pitch. They take the pitch.
9:31
Speaker 2: Now Joe goes off the field. Both sides tip their
9:35
Speaker 2: hats to him. And I just think those are those
9:37
Speaker 2: magical moments. You said you got choked up. It's hard
9:39
Speaker 2: not to get choked up in those moments because it's
9:42
Speaker 2: where humanity kind of like intersects with professional athletics. And
9:46
Speaker 2: you realize these guys are just dads at the end
9:48
Speaker 2: of the day, their husbands and their fathers and their
9:51
Speaker 2: brothers and their sons. And they're just reveling in these
9:54
Speaker 2: moments like they're almost kids in the last moment of
9:57
Speaker 2: their careers. And that just comes to the surface. And
10:00
Speaker 2: I think it's so authentic.
10:02
Speaker 1: There wasn't a dry eye in the house. You had
10:04
Speaker 1: Genevieve going out. A.J. Hinch basically said, I'm not pulling
10:07
Speaker 1: you out of the game. Your daughter's pulling you out
10:08
Speaker 1: of the game. And she did it. And it wasn't
10:10
Speaker 1: a dry eye in the house. It was for something that...
10:15
Speaker 1: you know, the cynic in me probably could have been like,
10:17
Speaker 1: Oh goodness. So it was beautiful. It worked out great.
10:21
Speaker 1: I will say this. I do wonder watching him leave
10:25
Speaker 1: the mound. And we touched on this a little bit
10:27
Speaker 1: at the beginning. Like what is the reality in your
10:30
Speaker 1: opinion as a front office guy? What does it look
10:32
Speaker 1: like for this dominance plus longevity plus workload type picture?
10:38
Speaker 1: Are we going to start seeing a little more of
10:40
Speaker 1: like the, the bullpen game taking shape or the starter
10:44
Speaker 1: by committee taking shape, I guess they call it like,
10:47
Speaker 1: is that what's going to happen going forth to kind
10:49
Speaker 1: of preserve these guys is, are we just not going
10:52
Speaker 1: to see the likes of a Scherzer Verlander numbers in
10:56
Speaker 1: the future?
10:56
Speaker 2: I think as a front office group, we've kind of conceded.
10:59
Speaker 2: We're not going to see the 300 game winner anymore,
11:02
Speaker 2: but these guys actually are elite and they were in
11:04
Speaker 2: the two twenties and two sixties. So are we not
11:06
Speaker 2: seeing that anymore? Cause Chet, I'll just tell you, I
11:09
Speaker 2: looked it up. The guys right behind them, quote unquote,
11:13
Speaker 2: are Garrett Cole and wins. He's 103 wins behind Verlander.
11:18
Speaker 2: He's 61 behind Scherzer. He's 36 years old. He ain't
11:21
Speaker 2: catching them. You know, I looked at the innings pitch.
11:23
Speaker 1: He's running out of daylight here.
11:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, the innings pitch leader behind them is Chris Sale.
11:29
Speaker 2: He's 1,330 innings pitch behind Verlander. He's 37, also not
11:33
Speaker 2: going to catch him.
11:34
Speaker 1: And let's be honest, barely in the game. At one point,
11:37
Speaker 1: we didn't know how much Sale was going to pitch.
11:39
Speaker 2: Right, and he's 781 strikeouts behind Verlander. He's not catching them.
11:44
Speaker 2: So I think the game's telling us right now in
11:46
Speaker 2: an era where we still do have some elite starting pitching,
11:49
Speaker 2: these guys are so far and above the best that
11:53
Speaker 2: we've seen in a generation. And then to address the
11:56
Speaker 2: other half of your question, I think it leads right
11:58
Speaker 2: into our conversation about the playoffs this year because historically,
12:02
Speaker 2: if you didn't have a top 10 to 12 pitching staff,
12:06
Speaker 2: you were not making the playoffs, let alone excelling in
12:08
Speaker 2: the playoffs. When we get around to talking about some
12:10
Speaker 2: of the playoff teams in the next segment, namely the
12:13
Speaker 2: Padres and the Cubs and Houston, we're talking about three
12:17
Speaker 2: teams that made the playoffs who do not have elite
12:20
Speaker 2: starting pitching. And I think that speaks to the fact
12:22
Speaker 2: that teams are getting extremely creative as to how they're
12:25
Speaker 2: deploying their pitching. We're not singularly reliant on the starters anymore.
12:29
Speaker 2: And as a result, there's not a high correlation between
12:32
Speaker 2: solid starting pitching and whether or not you are going
12:35
Speaker 2: to play or not play in the playoffs.
12:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I've got a fun little thing. We're
12:40
Speaker 1: going to take a break here. When we come back,
12:42
Speaker 1: I'm going to throw something at Thad about one of
12:44
Speaker 1: his starting pitchers, and it's going to get us started
12:47
Speaker 1: on our conversation about some 2026 milestones that were achieved
12:51
Speaker 1: this season here on Rosters to Rings. Welcome back to
13:05
Speaker 1: Rosters to Rings. Thad, I promised you a fun little
13:09
Speaker 1: experiment I ran here. Your guy, Jacob Mizorowski, somehow, you know,
13:16
Speaker 1: if he were to somehow average his 2026 production over
13:20
Speaker 1: a course of 21 seasons, this is what it would
13:23
Speaker 1: look like. He had an incredible season this year. So
13:26
Speaker 1: I took it and I said, what does this look
13:28
Speaker 1: like if he lasts as long as Verlander and just
13:30
Speaker 1: averages this on a per season basis going forward? Probably
13:34
Speaker 1: unlikely based on his numbers he had this past year.
13:37
Speaker 1: Here's what it would look like. Mizoroski, 15 wins by
13:42
Speaker 1: 21 seasons would mean he would come out with 315
13:45
Speaker 1: wins in his career. 252 strikeouts looks like 5,292 strikeouts.
13:51
Speaker 1: He would be second all time next to Nolan Ryan,
13:54
Speaker 1: I believe, on the strikeout list. Nolan has a otherworldly
13:59
Speaker 1: number there that nobody's probably ever going to touch. Um, innings,
14:03
Speaker 1: he did 174 and two thirds innings this year. We
14:06
Speaker 1: talked about that 200 inning, uh, um, that means he
14:09
Speaker 1: would throw 3,668 innings in his career if he managed
14:13
Speaker 1: to go 21 seasons. And of course he would do
14:16
Speaker 1: it all with a 1.80 ERA and a 0.80 whip.
14:20
Speaker 1: Obviously I am not predicting anything. This is intentionally absurd
14:24
Speaker 1: just to show how incredible a one Jacob Mizorowski season was.
14:29
Speaker 1: but also kind of to illustrate that durability and longevity.
14:32
Speaker 1: And will we see that going forward? I got to believe,
14:35
Speaker 1: I mean, that Jacob's only in what seat full season
14:38
Speaker 1: two right now. If that, um, I, he's this, do
14:43
Speaker 1: you think this is the best he's going to do
14:45
Speaker 1: in his career in a season? I mean, do you
14:46
Speaker 1: think there's anything left in the tank to best what
14:48
Speaker 1: he did this season? Maybe not across the board, but.
14:53
Speaker 2: He has been exceptional. He showed flashes of this last year,
14:57
Speaker 2: you know, when he famously made the all-star team after
15:00
Speaker 2: just a handful of outings.
15:01
Speaker 1: I believe it was four. Right, right, exactly.
15:05
Speaker 2: The fact that he's built off of this and accomplished
15:08
Speaker 2: what he's done this season and how he has sustained
15:12
Speaker 2: Chet over the full season has been absolutely remarkable. And
15:16
Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of credit to go around here,
15:19
Speaker 2: not the least of which is the Milwaukee Brewers' planning
15:22
Speaker 2: for pitching and programming is just exceptional. These guys do
15:26
Speaker 2: a wonderful job. They have tremendous pitching coaches at the
15:30
Speaker 2: major league level. They've got tremendous support staff, but what
15:34
Speaker 2: Jacob has done, he deserves a ton of credit for. So,
15:37
Speaker 2: you know, anatomically, in addition to throwing 104 miles an
15:41
Speaker 2: hour at times, he's also about six foot seven, six
15:44
Speaker 2: foot eight. So his release point is about as far
15:46
Speaker 2: down the hill as you're going to see. In fact,
15:48
Speaker 2: for those people who've watched him pitch all year, The
15:51
Speaker 2: only issues he's had this year is when he's on
15:54
Speaker 2: visiting mounds and his landing spot is in a spot
15:56
Speaker 2: that no other human being is landing on. So the
15:59
Speaker 2: opposing team's grounds crew is not doctoring up the mound
16:03
Speaker 2: to perfectly fit his long stride. But to hit her,
16:07
Speaker 2: it looks like he's almost handing the ball to the catcher.
16:09
Speaker 2: So not only is he throwing 104 miles an hour,
16:12
Speaker 2: but he's releasing it a lot closer to you than
16:14
Speaker 2: the average pitcher. So you have less time to actually
16:17
Speaker 2: adjust to it.
16:18
Speaker 1: The first time I ever heard of a pitcher doing that, Thad,
16:21
Speaker 1: I think it was like Randy Johnson or something like that.
16:24
Speaker 1: They said that he had such a long stride to
16:26
Speaker 1: home plate that the ball gets on you so much
16:29
Speaker 1: faster than that of a pitcher that doesn't have that
16:31
Speaker 1: height and that distance off the mound toward the plate.
16:35
Speaker 1: I found that to be fascinating. As a hitter, that's
16:38
Speaker 1: got to be terrifying.
16:39
Speaker 2: To one degree or another. And add to another layer
16:42
Speaker 2: of it, similar to Randy Johnson, although he does it
16:45
Speaker 2: right-handed versus Randy's left-handed, just like Chris Sale. He's throwing
16:48
Speaker 2: from a little bit of a low three-quarter angle, which
16:50
Speaker 2: creates a run on the fastball. So not only is
16:53
Speaker 2: he releasing it late, not only is the velocity high,
16:56
Speaker 2: but it's also moving. It's an incredible combination that he has.
17:01
Speaker 2: The thing that is most remarkable to me, Chet, is
17:03
Speaker 2: with all the levers, with all the size, with all
17:06
Speaker 2: the length, he also commands the ball. He is not
17:09
Speaker 2: walking guys. So he doesn't inflict any self-inflicted wounds.
17:13
Speaker 1: He is.
17:14
Speaker 2: He's commanding the strike zone, so he's constantly living in
17:17
Speaker 2: pitcher's counts, which puts the hitters at a disadvantage. There's
17:21
Speaker 2: really nothing he's not mastering right now, which is just
17:26
Speaker 2: remarkable to see. You asked the question, could he get better?
17:29
Speaker 2: I would never bet against him. But my goodness, we're
17:33
Speaker 2: seeing a transcendent season. And it's saying something because guys
17:37
Speaker 2: like Chris Sale and Chris Sanchez and Zach Wheeler have
17:40
Speaker 2: had excellent seasons this year. And I would expect he's
17:43
Speaker 2: going to run away with a Cy Young in the
17:45
Speaker 2: national league this season.
17:47
Speaker 1: Is there, I read something today and you correct this stat.
17:50
Speaker 1: If you want, I've, I think I was looking through
17:53
Speaker 1: some statistics from the season that he just had. Did
17:56
Speaker 1: I see that he threw over a thousand pitches at
17:59
Speaker 1: a hundred miles an hour or greater?
18:00
Speaker 2: Does that sound right? I think it, I think it
18:04
Speaker 2: could be right. If you, if you watch this guy
18:06
Speaker 2: pitch and, and you know, relative to what the league
18:10
Speaker 2: is doing. he is just dominating at this level. We
18:14
Speaker 2: talked in many episodes ago, and we may talk about
18:18
Speaker 2: Mason Miller again in this episode, but when you look
18:20
Speaker 2: at guys like Mason Miller and his dominance as a
18:22
Speaker 2: relief pitcher, Jawan Duran and his dominance as a relief pitcher,
18:26
Speaker 2: they're throwing 100 miles an hour, and they're doing it
18:29
Speaker 2: for one inning.
18:30
Speaker 1: Emptying the tank in an inning, yeah.
18:32
Speaker 2: Right, and this guy is doing it for seven innings
18:35
Speaker 2: at a clip at a time. We just have never
18:38
Speaker 2: seen anything like this. Now, I would say you brought
18:41
Speaker 2: his name up earlier, Nolan Ryan. I will say that
18:44
Speaker 2: I do think the equipment with which we are measuring
18:46
Speaker 2: velocity has improved. I wouldn't be surprised if Nolan in
18:50
Speaker 2: his prime was throwing right now. He also may be
18:52
Speaker 2: throwing at this velocity. I'll tell a quick story. In
18:55
Speaker 2: the 2010 World Series, I was working for the Texas Rangers.
18:58
Speaker 2: Nolan Ryan was the team president. He threw out the
19:02
Speaker 2: first pitch of one of our home games. He was
19:04
Speaker 2: wearing suit pants and a blazer. And he threw to
19:08
Speaker 2: Jim Sundberg, a longtime major league catcher who had maybe
19:11
Speaker 2: 8 to 10 gold gloves to his name. He uncorked one. Chet,
19:15
Speaker 2: I mean to tell you, at age 60-something, he must
19:18
Speaker 2: have thrown about an 88-mile-an-hour fastball. Jim Sundberg lurched to
19:22
Speaker 2: catch the ball, stood up, and he had split his
19:24
Speaker 2: suit pants from waist to ankle. He was flashing everyone
19:29
Speaker 2: in the sold-out stadium his flowered boxers at the time.
19:34
Speaker 1: His trousers had split.
19:36
Speaker 2: So I would take over on the fact that Nolan
19:38
Speaker 2: Ryan with today's technology and today's game preparation probably could
19:43
Speaker 2: be throwing something similar to what we're seeing from Jacob Mizorowski.
19:46
Speaker 2: Aside from that, I don't think the game's ever seen
19:48
Speaker 2: anybody who starts and throws the innings that Jacob Mizorowski
19:52
Speaker 2: throws and does it at the velocity he is achieving.
19:54
Speaker 1: Well, it's going to be fun to watch him and
19:56
Speaker 1: watch his development over the years. And I'd be curious
19:59
Speaker 1: to say one last thing about him and what you
20:03
Speaker 1: can answer about this. his delivery and his, is he,
20:06
Speaker 1: is he, uh, is he have a pure delivery? Is
20:08
Speaker 1: this guy that's, uh, you know, getting looked at as
20:11
Speaker 1: he's going to need elbow surgery type thing, or does he,
20:14
Speaker 1: is he pretty clean?
20:15
Speaker 2: Well, you know, we, we, we've talked about this in
20:17
Speaker 2: the past relative to contracts and starting pitchers. And this,
20:21
Speaker 2: this is the stark reality is typically when general managers present, Hey,
20:26
Speaker 2: we want to sign this starting pitcher to a five-year deal.
20:28
Speaker 2: When we talk to the owner We talk about it
20:31
Speaker 2: in the context, but keep in mind, likely he'll miss
20:33
Speaker 2: one year over the five-year span due to injury. And
20:36
Speaker 2: so I think we've just conceded that most of these
20:39
Speaker 2: guys will have a challenge at some point. Right now,
20:41
Speaker 2: knock on wood, no issues whatsoever. It's hard to envision
20:45
Speaker 2: how somebody's body can hold up throwing that hard for
20:48
Speaker 2: that long, but he is in tremendous shape. He's put
20:51
Speaker 2: himself in the absolute best position to stay healthy, and
20:54
Speaker 2: that is great news for the Milwaukee Brewers and their fans.
20:58
Speaker 1: Certainly. Let's look at a few other quick milestones here.
21:02
Speaker 1: I want to talk about a guy that plays just
21:05
Speaker 1: down the road from you guys in Pete Crowe Armstrong. PCA,
21:09
Speaker 1: as he's known, had a fairly remarkable season. And by
21:12
Speaker 1: the way, PCA's, what, third year in the majors? Maybe
21:16
Speaker 1: right now we're looking at third full year. PCA got
21:20
Speaker 1: his 40th stolen base the other day. So he came
21:23
Speaker 1: in just the seventh, 40 40 player in MLB history
21:28
Speaker 1: that's 40 home runs 40 stolen bases and the first
21:31
Speaker 1: cub ever to do it which I guess I found
21:34
Speaker 1: shocking but then when there's only seven guys out there
21:36
Speaker 1: that have done it not that shocking uh he tied
21:39
Speaker 1: Kyle Schwarber for the uh MLB home run lead at
21:43
Speaker 1: 45 um you know it hasn't been awarded yet but
21:47
Speaker 1: he's probably the front runner for NL MVP right now
21:52
Speaker 1: um Are we entering another era here where the game's
21:56
Speaker 1: best players are a combination of power, speed, and elite defense?
22:00
Speaker 1: We've seen a lot of power hitters over the years
22:02
Speaker 1: here with Judge getting MVPs multiple times. Otani, multiple MVPs.
22:09
Speaker 1: Really nothing to say of speed and fielding there. Now
22:13
Speaker 1: we finally get a guy that has multiple tools in
22:17
Speaker 1: his toolbox there. Is this a change in direction or
22:22
Speaker 1: is PCA an outlier and we're probably going to reward
22:24
Speaker 1: the big boppers from here on out, so to speak?
22:28
Speaker 2: I love the question, Chet, because what I think it
22:31
Speaker 2: really sheds light on is the fact that players are
22:34
Speaker 2: extremely intelligent and they've evolved and they know that we
22:39
Speaker 2: are evaluating them now based upon war. And war takes
22:42
Speaker 2: into consideration not only your ability to hit the ball,
22:46
Speaker 2: hit the ball hard and hit the ball far, but
22:48
Speaker 2: also how you defend and how you run the bases.
22:51
Speaker 2: And so I don't think it's a mystery that a
22:53
Speaker 2: guy like Shohei Otani, who had stolen some bases with Anaheim,
22:57
Speaker 2: started stealing 40 bases with the Dodgers. And I don't
23:00
Speaker 2: think it's a mystery that some of these guys who
23:03
Speaker 2: are applying themselves differently defensively than they ever once did.
23:07
Speaker 2: Keep in mind, PCA is playing on a team that
23:10
Speaker 2: is the best offensive team in the major leagues. It's
23:12
Speaker 2: also the best defensive team in the major leagues. So
23:15
Speaker 2: he's got two other players on his team who are
23:17
Speaker 2: clicking on a lot of cylinders in Nico Horner and
23:20
Speaker 2: Alex Bregman. And that's to say nothing for Ian Happ,
23:22
Speaker 2: who is one of the best outfield defenders, who's also
23:25
Speaker 2: a two-way player. Dan Svee Swanson, who is an excellent
23:28
Speaker 2: two-way player. So to me, I think it's a combination
23:31
Speaker 2: of things. One is the fact that players today realize
23:34
Speaker 2: that they're being evaluated on different metrics and those who
23:38
Speaker 2: are great are then playing to those metrics and they
23:41
Speaker 2: are dominating in those spaces. But also that The standards
23:45
Speaker 2: of excellence on the Chicago Cubs right now are extremely high.
23:49
Speaker 2: If you're not going to defend, run the bases, and hit,
23:52
Speaker 2: you're not getting opportunities to play for Craig Council. So
23:55
Speaker 2: I think it's an elevation. The other thing I will
23:58
Speaker 2: tell you about PCH, Chet, is working for the Milwaukee
24:00
Speaker 2: Brewers this year, we went to Chicago early in the season.
24:03
Speaker 2: He was hitting 7th or 8th. He was in a
24:05
Speaker 2: funk to start the season. He actually boxed a few
24:08
Speaker 2: balls in center field that series. He and Bregman really
24:11
Speaker 2: got off to slow starts. The fact that he is
24:14
Speaker 2: going to run away with the National League MVP in
24:18
Speaker 2: the same league that Shohei Otani plays.
24:20
Speaker 1: Quite a 180. Yeah.
24:21
Speaker 2: Right. It's an incredible accomplishment. And also, you know, you
24:25
Speaker 2: just threw it out there that he tied Kyle Schwarber
24:28
Speaker 2: for the lead in home runs. If you look at
24:30
Speaker 2: those two guys anatomically, those aren't the same types of
24:33
Speaker 2: human beings. Schwarber is built for power. This guy is
24:36
Speaker 2: built for speed and defense, and he's matching Kyle Schwarber
24:40
Speaker 2: toe for toe for for the home run lead, that's
24:42
Speaker 2: an amazing accomplishment. They're scratching the surface. And then the
24:45
Speaker 2: last thing I'll say about PCA, which is an unfortunate reality,
24:48
Speaker 2: is he came up with the New York Mets. He
24:51
Speaker 2: was traded for Javi Baez in what will go down
24:55
Speaker 2: as unfortunately one of the worst trades for the Mets
24:57
Speaker 2: and one of the best trades for the Cubs. And
24:59
Speaker 2: it just goes to show, as good as we all
25:02
Speaker 2: are at our jobs, sometimes you got to get a
25:04
Speaker 2: little bit lucky. Certainly the Cubs saw something in PCA
25:07
Speaker 2: that maybe the Mets didn't, but they didn't see this.
25:09
Speaker 2: And so credit to PCA for doing what he's doing,
25:12
Speaker 2: credit for the Cubs for acquiring him, and then for
25:14
Speaker 2: putting him in a position to perform at the level
25:16
Speaker 2: he currently is.
25:18
Speaker 1: Probably the type of trade that keeps a front office
25:22
Speaker 1: person from selling off the young prospect early on for
25:27
Speaker 1: a playoff run. Probably one they think about twice.
25:31
Speaker 2: We speak of trades by the parlance of what's the
25:34
Speaker 2: haunt factor of a trade. We often say that that
25:39
Speaker 2: this could be the level of haunt factor. This was
25:41
Speaker 2: a haunt factor trade. And, you know, unfortunately the people
25:45
Speaker 2: involved in it are no longer employed by the Mets
25:47
Speaker 2: and you never want to do trades that will cost
25:50
Speaker 2: somebody their job. It happens once every five to 10 years. Uh,
25:53
Speaker 2: but two players on the same team, uh, PCA and
25:56
Speaker 2: Dansby Swanson, when he was acquired by the Arizona Dimebacks were,
26:00
Speaker 2: were both trades that were so lopsided that it costs
26:02
Speaker 2: their former general manager, their jobs.
26:05
Speaker 1: So I just throw one more, one more little, uh,
26:09
Speaker 1: highlight at you here. Um, and this one may be
26:11
Speaker 1: kind of definitely not quite on the same level of
26:15
Speaker 1: a PCA output or a, uh, or, or, um, Mizorowski
26:20
Speaker 1: output as a pitcher, but Pete Alonzo, Pete Alonzo moved
26:23
Speaker 1: from the Mets to Baltimore, led the American league this
26:25
Speaker 1: year for 43 home runs, 113 RBIs. Um, the strangest
26:30
Speaker 1: accomplishment here is he previously led the national league with
26:33
Speaker 1: 131 RBIs in 2022. Um, This makes Alonzo the first
26:38
Speaker 1: player since the RBI became an official stat in 1920
26:41
Speaker 1: to lead both the American and National Leagues in RBIs
26:44
Speaker 1: during his career. I found that interesting. I had no
26:47
Speaker 1: idea that that was such a hard feat. Now, maybe
26:50
Speaker 1: it's just that not many players have played in both leagues.
26:53
Speaker 1: I'm not sure. But it sounds like something that, you know,
26:56
Speaker 1: a bigger name person would have probably done at some
26:58
Speaker 1: point in time and may have. What are your thoughts
27:01
Speaker 1: on Pete Alonzo? And what are your thoughts on kind
27:03
Speaker 1: of how I don't know that Baltimore got everything they
27:06
Speaker 1: wanted to this year, but he performed, right? I mean,
27:11
Speaker 1: he's not the reason they're not in the postseason.
27:13
Speaker 2: So I think my initial reaction is your reaction. I
27:16
Speaker 2: was shocked to see that no one had done this before.
27:19
Speaker 2: It's also speaks to the fact that we don't necessarily
27:22
Speaker 2: zero in on this stat anymore. And it used to
27:25
Speaker 2: be such a prominent stat. I also think, you know,
27:28
Speaker 2: so it's a tale of two tapes here, in my opinion.
27:31
Speaker 2: So The New York Mets decide not to retain Pete Alonso.
27:36
Speaker 2: And part of the reason this happens, and this may
27:39
Speaker 2: be part of the unfortunate realities of the advent of analytics,
27:43
Speaker 2: is the first base position just isn't valued as highly.
27:48
Speaker 2: As we just talked about PCA and the dynamic defense
27:51
Speaker 2: he brings to center field, center field shortstop and catcher
27:54
Speaker 2: are considered elite defensive positions and they're valued accordingly. And
27:57
Speaker 2: then there's kind of a slight degradation to second base
28:00
Speaker 2: and third base, then a slight degradation to left and
28:02
Speaker 2: right field, and then a degradation to first base. And
28:04
Speaker 2: so first basemen are caring usually about the biggest parachute
28:08
Speaker 2: behind them in terms of valuation. So as a result,
28:11
Speaker 2: some of the more disciplined teams let that maturing first
28:14
Speaker 2: baseman walk because they're not really willing to pay for
28:17
Speaker 2: the offense because they know the defense doesn't bring as
28:21
Speaker 2: much value. So here the Mets decide to let him walk.
28:24
Speaker 2: We've seen in the past where he goes back plays
28:28
Speaker 2: at Citi Field and gets a standing ovation there. And
28:31
Speaker 2: much to the chagrin of their current front office group,
28:35
Speaker 2: it's made clear that he was one of the most
28:37
Speaker 2: popular players there. Now on the other side of the ledger,
28:40
Speaker 2: the Toronto Blue Jays decide they're not going to lose
28:43
Speaker 2: their first baseman. And they signed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to
28:45
Speaker 2: a $ 500 million deal. They decide he is the cornerstone
28:49
Speaker 2: of their team. He then goes and has a tough
28:51
Speaker 2: season this year. And my guess is Maybe the Mets
28:55
Speaker 2: wish they had retained Alonso. Maybe Toronto wish they had
28:58
Speaker 2: made Vladimir Guerrero go earn it. The net effect is
29:01
Speaker 2: that most teams are not investing quite as predominantly in
29:05
Speaker 2: their first baseman as Toronto did. Most are doing what
29:08
Speaker 2: the Mets did. The Mets got crucified for not signing him.
29:11
Speaker 2: Toronto got crucified for signing their first baseman. I think
29:15
Speaker 2: time will tell us how good these contracts are. But
29:18
Speaker 2: I think the layer with Pete Alonso, in addition to
29:21
Speaker 2: his incredible run production, is the fact that Clearly what
29:25
Speaker 2: we saw from the Mets fans and the Mets players
29:27
Speaker 2: is what type of leader this guy is in the clubhouse.
29:30
Speaker 2: And I think that is a skill set that we
29:31
Speaker 2: are still very much coveting. It doesn't fit into our
29:35
Speaker 2: models quite as easily. So it takes a special eye
29:38
Speaker 2: to value that appropriately and But maybe that's where the
29:41
Speaker 2: Mets lost here. Less about the run production, although that
29:44
Speaker 2: is clearly elite. And it's more about the leadership that
29:46
Speaker 2: they sacrificed in not retaining Pete Alonso.
29:50
Speaker 1: Well, that was my last one as far as the
29:52
Speaker 1: milestones go. And to be quite honest, I've always wondered
29:55
Speaker 1: when it comes to a first baseman, How many runs
29:57
Speaker 1: are they saving over their first base on errant throws
29:59
Speaker 1: across the infield? Because we really don't track that as much,
30:03
Speaker 1: probably as a statistic. I'd be curious to see it
30:06
Speaker 1: on some of the guys, especially the ones who are
30:08
Speaker 1: really good at doing the splits there and scooping and
30:12
Speaker 1: picking the ball out of the dirt. And how many
30:15
Speaker 1: errors they probably save from those other infielders. I guarantee
30:18
Speaker 1: you those infielders know who the good first basemen are
30:21
Speaker 1: at doing that.
30:21
Speaker 2: There's no doubt about it. And they know who they
30:23
Speaker 2: want to throw to over there. And it really elevates
30:26
Speaker 2: the defense of the entire infield. Chad, I've got a
30:29
Speaker 2: little bit of a nuanced one for you to react
30:31
Speaker 2: to here.
30:32
Speaker 1: All right.
30:33
Speaker 2: So what we're seeing this year is distinct. So in
30:38
Speaker 2: the last 116 playoff teams since, not counting 2020, over
30:42
Speaker 2: the last 10 years, Only four of them have walked
30:45
Speaker 2: into the playoffs with a negative run differential. The 2016
30:49
Speaker 2: Texas Rangers, for which I work, miraculously, we had a
30:52
Speaker 2: negative eight run differential. We won 95 games, which is
30:55
Speaker 2: absolutely crazy. We set a major league record by going
30:58
Speaker 2: 36 and 11 in one run games that year. The
31:02
Speaker 2: Marlins in 2023 were six games over. They had a
31:05
Speaker 2: negative 57. The Diamondbacks famously in 2023 were 15 runs
31:11
Speaker 2: outscored by their opponents and And they went to the
31:14
Speaker 2: World Series. This year, we have the Houston Astros who
31:16
Speaker 2: joined the party.
31:17
Speaker 1: They have a.
31:18
Speaker 2: Negative 32 run differential walking into the playoffs. They walk
31:22
Speaker 2: in with the fewest wins ever for a full season
31:26
Speaker 2: major league team at 81. No team had ever made
31:28
Speaker 2: the playoffs at 81. What are your expectations for the
31:31
Speaker 2: Houston Astros walking into the playoffs?
31:34
Speaker 1: To win the World Series, Dad, because why wouldn't that
31:36
Speaker 1: happen in baseball? I... Honestly, I saw this, so I
31:40
Speaker 1: was going over all the matchups, and what a great
31:42
Speaker 1: way to transition into our postseason conversation here. But Houston's 81-81.
31:48
Speaker 1: They won the AL West. I guess this is... They're
31:55
Speaker 1: hosting a wildcard series, so they actually get to not
31:59
Speaker 1: only win as winners of that division, they are hosting
32:02
Speaker 1: the wildcard series. All three games will be in Houston. So...
32:07
Speaker 1: With their negative 32 run differential, they're going to host
32:10
Speaker 1: a team with the 84-win White Sox team, who turned
32:15
Speaker 1: around three straight 100-loss seasons into a postseason run here.
32:21
Speaker 1: It would be very depressing in my book to see Houston,
32:24
Speaker 1: who seems like they're on the slide downward, to lose
32:28
Speaker 1: to the White Sox, who have a completely different trajectory
32:31
Speaker 1: right now. But baseball is going to baseball, as some
32:35
Speaker 1: of us like to say at times. Um, I, I,
32:39
Speaker 1: this is where I think the post season's a little broken.
32:43
Speaker 1: I'm not a hundred percent sure that Houston deserves to
32:46
Speaker 1: be in the post season. Also, since they're coming out
32:49
Speaker 1: of a weak division, the AL West is not, uh,
32:52
Speaker 1: is not a juggernaut per se at this point. Um,
32:57
Speaker 1: it's not, you know, I, I would look at a
33:00
Speaker 1: team like let's take the diamondbacks and They don't get
33:04
Speaker 1: a postseason. They had a better record, and they played
33:07
Speaker 1: in one of the toughest divisions in baseball and still
33:09
Speaker 1: had a better record than Houston. So I'm a little
33:13
Speaker 1: up in the air on this. Folks, when we come back,
33:16
Speaker 1: we're going to give you some postseason coverage. We'll finish
33:19
Speaker 1: our thoughts on Houston and their unremarkable 81-81 record when
33:25
Speaker 1: we return here on Roster Stories.
33:38
Speaker 2: Welcome back. Chet, you know, just a few thoughts here
33:41
Speaker 2: on the Houston Astros. I think we owe them a
33:43
Speaker 2: little bit of a retrospective look on how they're doing,
33:46
Speaker 2: you know, in line with how we lauded the careers
33:50
Speaker 2: of Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. The Houston Astros have
33:53
Speaker 2: had a tremendous run here from 2017 to 2023, a
33:57
Speaker 2: seven-year stretch. They played in the American League Championship Series
34:01
Speaker 2: or better each of those seven years. They went to
34:03
Speaker 2: the World Series four times. They won it twice. famously
34:07
Speaker 2: aided by a trash can once, another time a little
34:09
Speaker 2: bit more purely done. And oh, by the way, they
34:11
Speaker 2: also appeared in the playoffs in 2024 and now in 2026.
34:15
Speaker 2: So in the last 10 years, they've had nine playoff appearances.
34:18
Speaker 2: They have the second most wins in the playoffs in
34:20
Speaker 2: that time, only behind the Dodgers. And they almost have
34:24
Speaker 2: twice as many wins as the third team, which is
34:27
Speaker 2: the Yankees in terms of total wins. The four AL
34:30
Speaker 2: pennants they've had in the last 10 years are is
34:33
Speaker 2: three more than any one team in the American League.
34:36
Speaker 2: The next highest team only has one. Interestingly, though, Chet,
34:40
Speaker 2: over that time, they've also had three general managers. Jeff Luno,
34:44
Speaker 2: who got dismissed after the investigation was concluded in 2020.
34:48
Speaker 2: Keep in mind, the transgression was 2017. The investigation got
34:52
Speaker 2: concluded in 2020. He loses his job. James Click gets
34:55
Speaker 2: dismissed a week after winning the World Series, partially over
35:00
Speaker 2: what seemed to be a contract dispute with the owner,
35:02
Speaker 2: and that Dana Brown gets dismissed this year en route
35:05
Speaker 2: to a team winning the AL West. Although I will say,
35:08
Speaker 2: as you mentioned earlier, their 81 wins winning the AL
35:11
Speaker 2: West was similar to me being considered a good athlete
35:14
Speaker 2: at Haverford College. It comes with a heavy qualifier. But
35:19
Speaker 2: the other thing I just wanted to note about the
35:21
Speaker 2: Houston Astros, which is remarkable, when you look at the
35:23
Speaker 2: players that they have lost over the years and how
35:25
Speaker 2: they've maintained this level of excellence, George Springer, Carlos Correa,
35:30
Speaker 2: Alex Bregman, Justin Verlander, Kyle Tucker, Garrett Cole, Charlie Morton,
35:34
Speaker 2: and that's just to name a few. They've lost all
35:36
Speaker 2: of those guys who've gone on to do extremely well
35:39
Speaker 2: with other teams, and they keep clicking. It speaks to
35:43
Speaker 2: a standard of excellence with the Houston Astros, a timeframe
35:47
Speaker 2: over a seven-year run of appearing in the ALCS or better.
35:50
Speaker 2: I'm not sure we're going to see that again in
35:52
Speaker 2: the near future based upon what we're seeing about the
35:54
Speaker 2: leveling and the playing field in Major League Baseball.
35:57
Speaker 1: I said I called the Cleveland Guardians the cockroaches of
36:03
Speaker 1: baseball because they just always seemed to survive and advance
36:07
Speaker 1: on into the postseason. You couldn't kill them. Houston may
36:10
Speaker 1: be runner up for that if they aren't. Talk about
36:13
Speaker 1: an organization that has been through some change. You mentioned
36:17
Speaker 1: all the players leaving. They've had a bunch of managers leaving.
36:20
Speaker 1: They've had front office leadership changes at least two or
36:23
Speaker 1: three times here in the last couple of seasons. And
36:26
Speaker 1: yet they keep appearing in October. And we keep asking,
36:31
Speaker 1: is this the end of the Astros dynasty? When you
36:33
Speaker 1: lose guys like Bregman, you lose guys like Correa, you
36:36
Speaker 1: lose guys, you know, like Tucker and that they keep
36:38
Speaker 1: coming back. And now if a team was ever limping
36:42
Speaker 1: into the playoffs, they are limping into the playoffs. Maybe
36:44
Speaker 1: not in the win loss column so much, but they
36:46
Speaker 1: had all sorts of rotation issues earlier in the season.
36:50
Speaker 1: I did read that I believe we are going to
36:52
Speaker 1: see possibly a bullpen game in game one of the
36:55
Speaker 1: wild card. How? I mean, Hunter Brown will be their
36:59
Speaker 1: game two starter. Hayden Wisniewski is going to be available
37:03
Speaker 1: for the potential game three. Have we ever seen a
37:06
Speaker 1: bullpen game in game one of a wild card series?
37:09
Speaker 1: I mean, this is kind of almost do or die
37:12
Speaker 1: because you're getting a best of three deal here. Is
37:16
Speaker 1: that rolling the dice too much, or are they saying,
37:17
Speaker 1: you know what, we're 81-81, we don't deserve to be
37:19
Speaker 1: here anyways, so let's see what happens?
37:21
Speaker 2: Well, I think the numbers would say it is rolling
37:23
Speaker 2: the dice too much, and for this reason that since 2022,
37:27
Speaker 2: when we started having these three-game series, all played at
37:31
Speaker 2: the one ballpark, which is a huge benefit for Houston here,
37:34
Speaker 2: the team that has won game one has gone 15-1
37:38
Speaker 2: in the series, Chet. So of the 16 series, they've
37:41
Speaker 2: gone 15-1. That speaks volumes. Now, maybe you The purist
37:45
Speaker 2: would say that's not statistically significant. There's not enough data there.
37:50
Speaker 2: But that seems pretty telling to me. And I think
37:52
Speaker 2: it carries forward to a lot of these conversations. The
37:54
Speaker 2: thing that really jumps out to me about these playoffs,
37:58
Speaker 2: one of the themes is how few teams actually have
38:00
Speaker 2: a bona fide clear-cut number one starter. But one team
38:03
Speaker 2: that does, Chet, is the Philadelphia Phillies. But he's not
38:06
Speaker 2: going to be available. And he may not be available
38:08
Speaker 2: for the entirety of the series. You've got Zach Wheeler,
38:11
Speaker 2: who had to pitch Sunday. to shoehorn the Philadelphia Phillies,
38:15
Speaker 2: who were fading on the vine.
38:16
Speaker 1: Into the playoffs. Right down to the end there, didn't it?
38:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, good to the very last drop. And what a
38:23
Speaker 2: buzzsaw that they ran into. Their last two series, albeit
38:25
Speaker 2: at home, were against the National League-best Milwaukee Brewers and
38:29
Speaker 2: then the American League-best Tampa Bay Rays. And unfortunate for them,
38:33
Speaker 2: since both those teams knew they already had buys, they
38:36
Speaker 2: wanted to keep playing their starters so that they would
38:38
Speaker 2: not be rusty coming into the playoffs. So they didn't
38:41
Speaker 2: get a reprieve. They saw the Brewers best and they
38:44
Speaker 2: saw the Rays best, and they end up going two
38:46
Speaker 2: and four, which turned out to be just enough to
38:49
Speaker 2: eat their way in. But they have to use Chris Sanchez,
38:52
Speaker 2: Aaron Nola, and then ultimately Zach Wheeler to get in.
38:55
Speaker 2: It leaves them a little thin going into the playoffs
38:58
Speaker 2: where their starting pitching has certainly been their strength.
39:00
Speaker 1: Who are we getting in game one from the Phillies here?
39:04
Speaker 1: I'll be curious to see, is it going to be Lizardo,
39:06
Speaker 1: who's basically just returned from the IL, or are we
39:10
Speaker 1: going to get Painter?
39:11
Speaker 2: So here's a testament, Chet, to what's going on in
39:14
Speaker 2: our game. Right before we started recording here, which is
39:18
Speaker 2: on Monday, I looked to see what the pitching matchups
39:21
Speaker 2: were for the series. Only two of the eight teams
39:24
Speaker 2: had announced their starting pitcher, the New York Yankees and
39:26
Speaker 2: Cam Schlittler and the San Diego Padres and Mike King.
39:30
Speaker 2: The other six teams have yet to actually announce who
39:33
Speaker 2: it is who's pitching in game one. That is a
39:36
Speaker 2: real testament to how much some of these teams had
39:38
Speaker 2: to do to get in, but also how unclear it
39:41
Speaker 2: is for some of these teams as to who their
39:43
Speaker 2: number one starter may be.
39:44
Speaker 1: So the Phillies' greatest advantage rolling in is starting pitching,
39:47
Speaker 1: yet they've used it all up. So now who knows
39:51
Speaker 1: if their biggest advantage over other teams will actually be
39:54
Speaker 1: an advantage, at least in the wildcard series, be ashamed
39:57
Speaker 1: and not be able to see some of those guys
39:58
Speaker 1: pitch in the post season because they get bounced out
40:00
Speaker 1: early by the Atlanta Braves. And I'm, I'm guessing Chris
40:05
Speaker 1: sale will be the game one starter for the Braves.
40:07
Speaker 1: I don't think anything's changed there. Um, he's had a
40:09
Speaker 1: great season, 2.16 ERA for nine. I think against Philadelphia
40:15
Speaker 1: this season, I saw something Daisy three, you know, he's
40:18
Speaker 1: beat him.
40:18
Speaker 2: He's dominated them.
40:19
Speaker 1: They're, they're very familiar with each other being, um, I just,
40:25
Speaker 1: I think Philly chose a really bad time to fall
40:29
Speaker 1: off a cliff there at the end of the sea
40:31
Speaker 1: where they'd lose four straight. All they had to do
40:33
Speaker 1: was win one game and they lost four straight.
40:36
Speaker 2: Seems they were up five, four games with five to play.
40:39
Speaker 2: And it took it to the wire.
40:40
Speaker 1: It took it right down to the wire. And it
40:43
Speaker 1: was Arizona. I believe on the other end of that,
40:45
Speaker 1: trying to get in and Arizona won four in a
40:47
Speaker 1: row while they lost five or four. Arizona won four.
40:51
Speaker 1: So it came down to that last fifth game to
40:53
Speaker 1: get them in. Well, I mean, that's how different it
40:58
Speaker 1: would be if they just won that one game.
41:01
Speaker 2: Front office people are want to do this, where you
41:04
Speaker 2: start playing the game of who do you want to
41:05
Speaker 2: play and who do you not want to play? And
41:07
Speaker 2: I think where most sane people come out is there's
41:09
Speaker 2: a reason not to want to play every team because
41:11
Speaker 2: all these teams are great. But the fear factor with
41:14
Speaker 2: the Phillies really is their vaunted starting rotation. It's Zach Wheeler.
41:18
Speaker 2: It's Chris Sanchez. It's Jesus Lozardo. Those guys are really
41:22
Speaker 2: tough to face. But I think something that is a
41:24
Speaker 2: little subtlety about the Philadelphia Phillies, when they were at
41:27
Speaker 2: their best, their offense was also dominant. And what we're
41:31
Speaker 2: seeing is maybe a little bit of aging going on
41:33
Speaker 2: with that team. Bryce Harper has a great season. Kyle
41:36
Speaker 2: Schwarber has a great season. But you may be surprised
41:39
Speaker 2: to hear that before the trading deadline, they were 28th
41:41
Speaker 2: in offense of the 30 clubs. They were 22nd after
41:44
Speaker 2: the trading deadline. But that was on the strength of
41:46
Speaker 2: being one of the best offensive teams in the month
41:49
Speaker 2: of August. In the month of September, they're the worst
41:52
Speaker 2: offensive team in the majors. And I think this begs
41:54
Speaker 2: the question of how much does momentum matter going into
41:58
Speaker 2: the playoffs? Their pitching still stayed strong. So they still
42:01
Speaker 2: were an imbalanced but still good team. But does momentum
42:05
Speaker 2: really matter when you get in the playoffs? The numbers
42:08
Speaker 2: would say no, but I can tell you, when I
42:10
Speaker 2: talk to managers in Major League Baseball, they absolutely think
42:14
Speaker 2: that momentum matters. The San Diego Padres are hot as heck.
42:19
Speaker 2: The Dodgers are playing well right now. The Brewers are
42:21
Speaker 2: playing well. The Rays are playing well. The Phillies, on
42:23
Speaker 2: the other hand, have really scuffled offensively. So not only
42:27
Speaker 2: do they walk in a little bit impaired with their
42:29
Speaker 2: best strength, which is their starting rotation, But they're trying
42:31
Speaker 2: to find their identity from an offensive standpoint. Now, as
42:34
Speaker 2: you said earlier, baseball made baseball, and we may see
42:37
Speaker 2: them just sweep their way through to the next round
42:40
Speaker 2: of the playoffs. But until that happens right now, it
42:42
Speaker 2: looks like they're walking in, or as you mentioned, actually
42:45
Speaker 2: limping into the playoffs.
42:48
Speaker 1: The Phillies in the division series, if they get there,
42:50
Speaker 1: are going to look a lot different than the Phillies
42:52
Speaker 1: in the wild card. If they make it to the division,
42:56
Speaker 1: it's going to look a lot different, and the tail
42:57
Speaker 1: of the tape will be a little different there. They'll
43:00
Speaker 1: have their pitchers rested and ready to go. You want
43:03
Speaker 1: to talk about the San Diego Padres and this matchup
43:06
Speaker 1: here a little bit? This, to me, reeks of the
43:10
Speaker 1: return of Fernando Tatis for the San Diego Padres. It
43:14
Speaker 1: seems to me that he's a postseason kind of guy,
43:17
Speaker 1: and we haven't really got to see much of him
43:19
Speaker 1: over the years in the postseason, but I think he's
43:21
Speaker 1: cresting back up. He was hotter than the surface of
43:25
Speaker 1: the sun when he first came around. I think it
43:27
Speaker 1: was around the 2019, 2020, 2021. He was a great player.
43:34
Speaker 1: He got busted for the performance-enhancing substance and kind of
43:39
Speaker 1: has been climbing his way back up into the fans'
43:41
Speaker 1: hearts ever since. He seems to have done that this season.
43:45
Speaker 1: And then we've got the Cubs, who have no pitching, really,
43:49
Speaker 1: to speak of, as starters. We can sit here and
43:52
Speaker 1: talk all day long about their offense. It's tremendous. But again,
43:56
Speaker 1: you're looking at a team that your potential starters are
43:59
Speaker 1: looking like a one Matthew Boyd, a Clay Holmes, Kevin Gossman,
44:03
Speaker 1: who was a great pickup at the trade deadline, and
44:05
Speaker 1: Shota Imanaga, who has had a slight resurgence in his
44:09
Speaker 1: pitching this season, which is good to see for the Cubs.
44:12
Speaker 1: But that matchup, interestingly enough, will be in San Diego.
44:16
Speaker 1: So you're looking at a three-game set in a pitcher's
44:18
Speaker 1: ballpark where the Cubs don't have much pitching. The Padres...
44:23
Speaker 1: don't have a ton of standout pitching either. I mean,
44:26
Speaker 1: you're looking at two offenses in a pitcher's ballpark. What
44:28
Speaker 1: does that mean exactly?
44:30
Speaker 2: What do you think we're going to see? This is
44:32
Speaker 2: the quintessential conversation about what does starting pitching mean anymore?
44:36
Speaker 2: It used to be you had to have solid starting
44:38
Speaker 2: pitching to make the playoffs or at least to excel
44:41
Speaker 2: once you got there. These two teams really remade their
44:44
Speaker 2: entire starting rotations at the trading deadline. It was not
44:48
Speaker 2: too far-fetched that the Padres were actually open to selling
44:51
Speaker 2: at the deadline. They weren't sure which way to go.
44:53
Speaker 2: Were they going to sell and build for the future
44:55
Speaker 2: or were they going to buy and build for now?
44:57
Speaker 2: They go out and spend lavishly to get Robbie Ray
45:00
Speaker 2: and Casey Mize. And Chet, those guys have really struggled
45:03
Speaker 2: since they got him. Robbie Ray's got a 502 ERA.
45:06
Speaker 2: He's striking out 6.9 per nine. He's walking 5.6 per nine.
45:11
Speaker 2: Casey Mize is far worse. He's had a 746 ERA.
45:15
Speaker 2: He's walking 3.8 per nine. He's giving up 2.6 home
45:18
Speaker 2: runs per nine innings he's pitched. he may not even
45:20
Speaker 2: be on their playoff roster. So somehow the second half
45:24
Speaker 2: of the year, since that trading deadline, the Padres have
45:27
Speaker 2: gone from the 17th best pitching staff to the 12th.
45:30
Speaker 2: The Cubs have gone from the 27th to the 25th,
45:33
Speaker 2: yet they are where they are for very clear reasons.
45:36
Speaker 2: The Cubs have the best offensive unit in the game
45:40
Speaker 2: of baseball. They have the best defensive unit in the
45:43
Speaker 2: game of baseball, and they've got a hell of a manager.
45:45
Speaker 2: The Padres, on the other hand, are going toe-for-toe with
45:49
Speaker 2: them in the offense. The second-half Padres, after the trade deadline,
45:52
Speaker 2: they have the second-best offense in the game. Guys like
45:55
Speaker 2: Fernando Tatis famously got off to a really slow start,
45:58
Speaker 2: didn't hit his first home run until late May. Manny
46:01
Speaker 2: Machado looked old early in the season. So did Xander
46:03
Speaker 2: Bogarts and Jake Cronenworth. Those guys are coming on. And
46:06
Speaker 2: then Jackson Merrill is proving to be a super dynamic player,
46:09
Speaker 2: and they've gotten the resurgence from a guy like Ty France.
46:12
Speaker 2: So their offense has gone through the roof.
46:15
Speaker 1: And mind you, Jackson Merrill started slow too, if I
46:17
Speaker 1: remember correctly.
46:18
Speaker 2: The whole team was in a rut to start the year.
46:20
Speaker 2: They were sub 500. But what's carrying that team is
46:24
Speaker 2: the bullpen is excellent. So their offense and bullpen versus
46:28
Speaker 2: the Cubs offense and defense, the Padres bullpen has produced
46:33
Speaker 2: more value this year than seven major league staffs entirely,
46:37
Speaker 2: including two in the playoffs. One is the Cubs. One
46:40
Speaker 2: is the Houston Astros. That's pretty remarkable that their bullpen
46:44
Speaker 2: alone has outperformed the entirety of the Cubs' staff.
46:47
Speaker 1: When you have Mason Miller on your squad, those numbers
46:51
Speaker 1: alone will probably equal out to a couple guys.
46:56
Speaker 2: Without question. But these teams are scary for teams to
46:59
Speaker 2: play in the playoffs. The Cubs offensively can just beat you.
47:04
Speaker 2: And the Padres are going to do everything they can
47:07
Speaker 2: to shorten the game. Once they get to about the
47:08
Speaker 2: fifth inning, they're just going to go to their bullpen
47:10
Speaker 2: and they're going to ride those guys. And those guys
47:13
Speaker 2: are exceptionally tough to hit. So I think I look
47:16
Speaker 2: at these two teams and say one of them will advance.
47:19
Speaker 2: You know, you said it earlier about like the fact
47:22
Speaker 2: that Houston, one of the Houston Astros or Chicago White
47:26
Speaker 2: Sox will advance seems a little bit criminal concerning one
47:29
Speaker 2: of these two teams will be going home after this series.
47:32
Speaker 1: Kind of the opposite end of the stick there.
47:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, when you look at the Cleveland Guardians, they get
47:36
Speaker 2: a bye in the American League. They wouldn't make the
47:38
Speaker 2: playoff field in the National League. They'd be behind the
47:40
Speaker 2: Arizona Diamondbacks, who are also at home. It's a little
47:43
Speaker 2: lopsided this year, but it's a shame to think that
47:46
Speaker 2: one of these two teams is going to go home.
47:48
Speaker 2: Both of these teams could excel in the playoffs.
47:50
Speaker 1: So you're getting the Padres are making their third straight
47:53
Speaker 1: postseason appearance. One of the interesting stats here, correct me,
47:56
Speaker 1: I'm sorry if you said this, but they're 51 and
47:59
Speaker 1: 30 at home. They get to play three home games
48:02
Speaker 1: in the wild card. That bodes well. That bodes well
48:05
Speaker 1: for San Diego. I'm going to be very excited to
48:07
Speaker 1: see Tatis playing. I'll be very excited to see Mason
48:09
Speaker 1: Miller pitch. I don't get to see him that often.
48:12
Speaker 1: There is one rub here. I don't know if you've
48:14
Speaker 1: seen this in the scheduling. Of course, the Astros and
48:18
Speaker 1: the White Sox get the beloved. I think they get
48:21
Speaker 1: the 4 p.m. game in this whole deal. And I
48:24
Speaker 1: believe the Phillies and Braves have the noon or one game,
48:26
Speaker 1: one o'clock game. Um, of course they're making way for
48:30
Speaker 1: a couple of teams we haven't talked about yet to
48:32
Speaker 1: play in the prime time, which are the red Sox
48:33
Speaker 1: and Yankees. If you want to watch the Cubs and Padres, however,
48:37
Speaker 1: and you live in the central time zone, you'll be
48:38
Speaker 1: staying up quite late for the next couple of days
48:41
Speaker 1: because they don't start those games till nine o'clock. I
48:43
Speaker 1: love the run all the way through the game of
48:45
Speaker 1: the post season. By the time you get to nine
48:48
Speaker 1: o'clock watching a fourth baseball game and knowing you're going
48:50
Speaker 1: to be up till about midnight or plus with work
48:53
Speaker 1: the next day hurts a little bit, but those diehard
48:56
Speaker 1: fans out there are will make this work. So I'll,
49:00
Speaker 1: I'll be excited to see those two teams, but yes,
49:02
Speaker 1: you're right. One of them is going to have to
49:04
Speaker 1: go home and it's a shame because they both had
49:06
Speaker 1: great seasons in different ways. The Padres were under 500
49:09
Speaker 1: at the end of July. I mean, they were in a,
49:12
Speaker 1: in a very, very tough division to say they went
49:14
Speaker 1: on a heater is, is an understatement.
49:18
Speaker 2: Um, well, you know, and you know, it's, it's AJ
49:21
Speaker 2: Preller at his best again here because saner, saner minds
49:25
Speaker 2: would have sold at the deadline. They had a lot
49:28
Speaker 2: of assets that could have been valued by teams. They
49:30
Speaker 2: could have reset their payroll a little bit and played
49:32
Speaker 2: for the future and no one would have criticized him
49:34
Speaker 2: for it. Instead, he realized that there was opportunities to
49:38
Speaker 2: get back in the playoff picture and, Certainly wasn't by
49:41
Speaker 2: winning the division, but it was the harder way. You know,
49:44
Speaker 2: a week ago, as we were sitting there, it was
49:46
Speaker 2: the Cubs fighting the Phillies to see who would get
49:48
Speaker 2: home field advantage as the four seed. And lo and behold,
49:53
Speaker 2: the Padres came out from the outside and along with
49:56
Speaker 2: them came the Arizona Diamondbacks, as you referenced, and tremendous
49:59
Speaker 2: credit to the Arizona Diamondbacks for making this a race
50:02
Speaker 2: down the stretch. It seemed like a foregone conclusion who
50:05
Speaker 2: the six playoff teams were going to be in the
50:07
Speaker 2: National League. They made it exciting down the stretch, but
50:09
Speaker 2: so too did the Padres. They went from being about
50:12
Speaker 2: the seventh or eighth seed to all of a sudden
50:14
Speaker 2: being the fourth seed and securing that and seeing the
50:17
Speaker 2: Cubs in the rearview mirror. It's significant because I think
50:20
Speaker 2: if you're playing these games at Chicago, I think it
50:22
Speaker 2: could be a whole different outcome.
50:23
Speaker 1: It could be a whole different outcome. Let me throw
50:25
Speaker 1: this question at you, just kind of wrap up this
50:27
Speaker 1: pitching questions in the postseason section here. Has pitching depth
50:33
Speaker 1: sort of replaced the starting pitching dominance as the more
50:38
Speaker 1: important October advantage. In other words, it used to be,
50:40
Speaker 1: give me three elite starters. I'll win in October. Now
50:43
Speaker 1: it's kind of, how do I get 27 outs? Is
50:45
Speaker 1: that more or less the question? Yeah.
50:47
Speaker 2: So Chet, the analogy I would use, I think the
50:50
Speaker 2: analogy I would use, it was 2016 where I think
50:54
Speaker 2: Ben Zobrist put this notion of a utility player on
50:57
Speaker 2: the map as being a championship style player. I think
51:00
Speaker 2: before that time, we looked at a utility player, which
51:03
Speaker 2: is to say somebody who can play multiple positions, but
51:05
Speaker 2: rarely plays the same position every day, as something subordinate
51:09
Speaker 2: to an everyday player. The everyday player was viewed as
51:12
Speaker 2: more popular, more valuable. Then Ben Zobris went out there,
51:15
Speaker 2: he played multiple positions, and lo and behold, contributed to
51:18
Speaker 2: the Chicago Cubs winning a championship. I think what you're
51:21
Speaker 2: talking about now is now we have a better sense
51:23
Speaker 2: of who are those utility pitchers. The guy who can
51:26
Speaker 2: throw two to three innings at a clip, he can
51:29
Speaker 2: start for you if you need him to, you can
51:31
Speaker 2: pitch in the middle of the game if you want
51:33
Speaker 2: him to, or he can pitch at the end of
51:34
Speaker 2: the game. And I think the teams that are doing
51:37
Speaker 2: that are doing that extremely well. So their versatility, they
51:41
Speaker 2: are absolutely looking at those 27 outs. And when you
51:43
Speaker 2: get into the postseason, you start counting down those outs
51:46
Speaker 2: literally from out one to 27. And when you've got
51:49
Speaker 2: weapons in your bullpen that can chew off six to
51:53
Speaker 2: nine outs in a clip, those guys are invaluable. And
51:56
Speaker 2: so I think gone are the days where you build
51:58
Speaker 2: a bullpen of seven one-inning guys and count on your
52:01
Speaker 2: starter to go seven innings. You're now building your bullpen
52:04
Speaker 2: out where it used to be we'd keep our sixth, seventh,
52:07
Speaker 2: and eighth starters at AAA to make sure they were
52:09
Speaker 2: stretched out, ready to go. A lot of teams are
52:11
Speaker 2: now carrying those guys in the big leagues so that
52:14
Speaker 2: the nights that you want to stay away from your closer,
52:16
Speaker 2: because he's pitched two days in a row, you can
52:18
Speaker 2: have one of these starters pitch the last three innings
52:21
Speaker 2: of a game and still not degrade your chances of
52:23
Speaker 2: winning that night's game.
52:25
Speaker 1: And Thad, this applies to your Milwaukee Brewers to a
52:28
Speaker 1: degree too, because you guys have two horses at the
52:32
Speaker 1: top in Mizorowski and Henderson. How will you handle some
52:36
Speaker 1: of these other games? Will we see a bullpen game
52:40
Speaker 1: from the Brewers at all in the postseason? What are
52:43
Speaker 1: your thoughts going into this? You guys have the best
52:45
Speaker 1: record in baseball, plus 240 run differential, first 100 win
52:49
Speaker 1: season in franchise history. Will we see something like this
52:53
Speaker 1: from the Brewers, even though they have two studs up
52:55
Speaker 1: there at the top?
52:57
Speaker 2: I think Pat Murphy, Chris Hark, Jim Henderson, the two
53:01
Speaker 2: pitching coaches and the manager are have managed this extremely well.
53:05
Speaker 2: I think they're on the front edge. I'm not going
53:07
Speaker 2: to say they're the cutting edge because I think a
53:09
Speaker 2: few other teams are doing this too. But the number
53:11
Speaker 2: of guys who came up as starters who are on
53:14
Speaker 2: the staff now pitching out of the pen, I'm thinking
53:16
Speaker 2: of Chad Patrick and D.L. Hall and Aaron Ashby and
53:19
Speaker 2: Shane Drohan and Robert Gasser. These guys are multi-inning weapons.
53:24
Speaker 2: So yes, two guys are locked in at starting spots.
53:28
Speaker 2: I'm sure they're going to get super creative in games
53:30
Speaker 2: three and four. But I think they walk into those games.
53:32
Speaker 2: Sometimes when you have those bullpen games that you referenced earlier,
53:35
Speaker 2: you feel like you're at a disadvantage. I assure you
53:37
Speaker 2: teams like the Milwaukee Brewers, Cleveland Guardians, Tampa Bay Rays,
53:41
Speaker 2: when they're playing and they have bullpen days, they do
53:44
Speaker 2: not feel that's a disadvantage. They think they have three
53:47
Speaker 2: to five guys who are competitive advantages that they can
53:50
Speaker 2: string together. And if they do that, they can dominate
53:52
Speaker 2: the best lineups in the game.
53:53
Speaker 1: I was going to say it feels kind of silly
53:55
Speaker 1: to call it a bullpen game. It's probably more of
53:57
Speaker 1: an opener by committee or something along those lines. To
54:00
Speaker 1: say that Kyle Harrison, Dustin May, and at all are
54:04
Speaker 1: a bullpen game would be maybe a little off, but
54:07
Speaker 1: you definitely have a few guys with gas or you
54:09
Speaker 1: can throw them in there, eat four to five innings
54:11
Speaker 1: in the middle of the game after you give some
54:13
Speaker 1: guy a one inning, two inning start and be off
54:16
Speaker 1: and rolling like you never missed a beat. So I
54:18
Speaker 1: think that strategy has definitely changed slightly. I would say
54:23
Speaker 1: that the, you know, give me three elite starters and
54:25
Speaker 1: I'll win in October is It's no longer quite as
54:28
Speaker 1: simple as that or maybe even as effective as that.
54:31
Speaker 1: I mean, we'll see how this goes for these teams
54:35
Speaker 1: this postseason. Thad, give me your predictions. What do you think?
54:42
Speaker 1: Who do you like in the American League for the
54:44
Speaker 1: World Series now that we know who's going into the postseason?
54:47
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I think it's tough to pick against
54:52
Speaker 2: Houston until you see them dismissed. And I think the
54:56
Speaker 2: home field just really matters a lot in these series.
54:59
Speaker 2: So I think that Houston may advance here. I think
55:03
Speaker 2: it's going to be really challenging potentially for the Yankees
55:08
Speaker 2: without Aaron Judge. I'm intrigued by that. The way those
55:12
Speaker 2: two teams played each other, it was kind of ebbs
55:14
Speaker 2: and flows throughout the season. There were times where each
55:17
Speaker 2: of the series was kind of lopsided in favor of
55:19
Speaker 2: one of the teams who came out on top. I
55:21
Speaker 2: think will be impacted again by home field advantage. I
55:25
Speaker 2: think the fact that the Red Sox have so many
55:27
Speaker 2: left-handed pitchers there do help neutralize the Yankees, which is
55:31
Speaker 2: built for that ballpark with a lot of left-handed hitters.
55:34
Speaker 2: So they're going to have some tough decisions as to
55:36
Speaker 2: whether they're going to start some of their better left-handed
55:38
Speaker 2: hitters or if they're going to sit them against those pitchers.
55:41
Speaker 2: So I think that's going to be an absolute dogfight,
55:43
Speaker 2: as do, I think, the Padres and the Cubs series.
55:47
Speaker 2: My sense there is, I think with those teams being
55:50
Speaker 2: so evenly matched for very different reasons, I think home
55:54
Speaker 2: field is going to matter. I think if they had
55:56
Speaker 2: played in Chicago, I think it would have mattered. I
55:58
Speaker 2: think playing in San Diego will matter. I think you
56:02
Speaker 2: listed a little bit of a subtlety. They're playing on
56:04
Speaker 2: the West Coast, so the Padres are going to be
56:06
Speaker 2: more acclimated to that. It's also, to anyone who's seen
56:09
Speaker 2: a game in San Diego over the last five years,
56:12
Speaker 2: that place is electric.
56:14
Speaker 1: And so I think there will be.
56:17
Speaker 2: A real advantage to the Padres. I also think If
56:19
Speaker 2: the Cubs' offense doesn't have leads in the fifth inning,
56:23
Speaker 2: it's going to be good night because that bullpen's going
56:25
Speaker 2: to come in and just absolutely shut the door. And
56:27
Speaker 2: then it's hard not to take Atlanta over Philly right now.
56:30
Speaker 2: They had their Phillies number throughout the course of the
56:33
Speaker 2: year when Philly was playing a little bit more at
56:35
Speaker 2: full strength. Philly's playing at anything but full strength right now.
56:39
Speaker 2: I think as a result of that, you've got to
56:40
Speaker 2: take Atlanta to come out of this series as a
56:43
Speaker 2: bit of a favorite. Chris Sale has been dominant against
56:45
Speaker 2: the Phillies. He's dominant in the playoffs. They are lined up,
56:49
Speaker 2: ready to go. The Phillies aren't. Now, the flip side
56:52
Speaker 2: of that is the Phillies will have no expectations and
56:55
Speaker 2: Atlanta will have nothing but expectations. If they scare them
56:58
Speaker 2: in game one, that could be a problem. But I
57:00
Speaker 2: anticipate that Atlanta will come out on top.
57:04
Speaker 1: Excellent assessment. Everybody that wants to hear about the other
57:06
Speaker 1: teams that we only glossed over, go back to the
57:09
Speaker 1: previous episode from last week. We talked about the Rays,
57:13
Speaker 1: the Guardians, the Red Sox, the Yankees. touched on the Dodgers, Brewers,
57:18
Speaker 1: whoever we didn't hit this week. We hit last week, Atlanta.
57:22
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, listeners. Come join us this Thursday
57:25
Speaker 1: and every Thursday on Rosters to Rings.