Latest / Foul Territory / Fair Territory: Postseason time! Wild Card series previews, Managers on hot seats, Mets meltdown

Transcript

Fair Territory: Postseason time! Wild Card series previews, Managers on hot seats, Mets meltdown · Foul Territory

0:01
Speaker 1: All right, folks, the regular season is over. It is
0:04
Speaker 1: time for Fair Territory, the postseason edition. We're going to
0:08
Speaker 1: preview all four series as we go into the show today.
0:12
Speaker 1: Then we're going to talk about the managers who might
0:14
Speaker 1: be in trouble, what might be going on in the
0:16
Speaker 1: next couple of days. I expect a good amount of action,
0:20
Speaker 1: But first, let's look at the playoff series. Let's go
0:22
Speaker 1: one by one. We'll start with the American League. We'll
0:25
Speaker 1: start with the big one, the rivalry, the Red Sox
0:28
Speaker 1: and the Yankees, two focal points of this series. As
0:31
Speaker 1: you see the matchups right there, Aaron Judge will be one,
0:35
Speaker 1: Garrett Crochet will be the other, and of course they've
0:37
Speaker 1: had some memorable matchups already this season. In the regular season.
0:41
Speaker 1: Crochet has not lost to the Yankees this year four starts.
0:45
Speaker 1: He's been mostly brilliant against them, and Judge has had
0:49
Speaker 1: his difficulties against Crochet three for fifteen, eleven strikeouts. Why
0:54
Speaker 1: will Aaron Judge be the focal point. He's coming off
0:57
Speaker 1: one of the great seasons by a right handed hitter
0:59
Speaker 1: in Major League history, the third time he has done that,
1:02
Speaker 1: and of course, as we all know, he has struggled
1:05
Speaker 1: in the postseason. Let's look at Judge regular season and postseason,
1:10
Speaker 1: and I'll show you what I'm talking about. I'm sure
1:12
Speaker 1: Yankee fans are well acquainted with these numbers. Those are
1:15
Speaker 1: his career regular season numbers. Two ninety four, batting average
1:18
Speaker 1: four to thirteen, on base six fifteen slug for an
1:21
Speaker 1: OPS over one thousand. Now, let's look at the postseason
1:25
Speaker 1: for Aaron Judge. Not quite as good. Batting average two
1:29
Speaker 1: oh five, on base three eighteen, slug four point fifty.
1:32
Speaker 1: I believe he has sixteen homers and an OPS of
1:35
Speaker 1: seven sixty eight. Not horrible, not great. You might say,
1:39
Speaker 1: ken small sample size. Well, yes, that's what the postseason is.
1:44
Speaker 1: Small sample size, and the Wildcard series is the smallest
1:47
Speaker 1: of sample sizes. Now I mentioned Crochet. He'll be the
1:50
Speaker 1: Game one starter for the Red Sox. He is their
1:54
Speaker 1: main hope for stealing the series and going deep into
1:57
Speaker 1: the postseason. There aren't many in October anymore, many guys
2:03
Speaker 1: that you can count on and say, Wow, he's got
2:05
Speaker 1: a chance to carry his team. I would say Trek
2:07
Speaker 1: schouolbl is one. I would say the Dodgers have a
2:10
Speaker 1: couple themselves maybe there's one or two others you'd put
2:12
Speaker 1: in that category, maybe Brian wu if he's healthy with Seattle.
2:16
Speaker 1: But Crochet, as you see right there, the Red Sox
2:19
Speaker 1: say it. He is their guy three and zero with
2:22
Speaker 1: a three point twenty nine ERA in four starts against
2:25
Speaker 1: the Yankees this season. You see that too. Red Sox
2:28
Speaker 1: haven't lost to the Yankees in the playoffs since two
2:30
Speaker 1: thousand and three. None of that stuff matters. What matters
2:33
Speaker 1: is who is on the field. And what matters also,
2:35
Speaker 1: of course, is the other starting pitching in this series,
2:39
Speaker 1: Max Freeze with the Yankees, Carlos Rodan and probably Cam Schlitzler,
2:43
Speaker 1: and also the bullpens. Now the Red Sox are gonna
2:46
Speaker 1: come in Game two with Brian Beayo and Brian Beyo
2:49
Speaker 1: has been really good for the Red Sox in the
2:53
Speaker 1: situations against the Yankees. Matchups against the Yankees, I should say,
2:57
Speaker 1: two point three to five ERA in eleven starts against
3:00
Speaker 1: the Yankees, one point four to four in five starts
3:03
Speaker 1: at Yankee Stadium. He likes that stage. He's not going
3:06
Speaker 1: to be cowed by it now. He had one great
3:08
Speaker 1: start at Yankee Stadium this year, seven shutout innings another
3:12
Speaker 1: one in September that wasn't as good, so maybe the
3:14
Speaker 1: Yankees had figured something out. Now the bullpen is going
3:18
Speaker 1: to be really interesting too, because the Yankees bullpen seemingly
3:22
Speaker 1: somewhat stabilized. I say that reluctantly, and the Red Sox
3:25
Speaker 1: pen leading up to Chapman, who has been the best
3:28
Speaker 1: reliever in baseball this season, has been much better Greg
3:32
Speaker 1: Reiser and Garrett Whitlock and Connelly early the rookie coming
3:37
Speaker 1: on forty four to eight strikeout to walk ratio in September.
3:40
Speaker 1: So this will be most likely a great series. It
3:43
Speaker 1: would be even better if Roman Anthony was involved, but
3:46
Speaker 1: he is not going to be involved. Now the other
3:48
Speaker 1: American League series now, the winner of the Red Sox
3:51
Speaker 1: Yankees faces the Blue Jays. The winner of the Tigers
3:54
Speaker 1: Guardians will face the Seattle Mariners. Now, this series is
3:58
Speaker 1: a matchup that we've seen twice in the last couple
4:01
Speaker 1: of weeks. Tigers Guardians al Central. You saw what happened.
4:05
Speaker 1: The Guardians had one of the greatest, not one of
4:08
Speaker 1: the greatest, the greatest comeback in Major League history from
4:10
Speaker 1: fifteen and a half games down to catch the Tigers
4:13
Speaker 1: for the division title doesn't matter now everything starts over
4:18
Speaker 1: with the postseason. And as strange as this is, as
4:21
Speaker 1: the Tigers went three and thirteen down the stretch, the
4:24
Speaker 1: Guardians eighteen and four Trek Skoubl gives the Tigers the
4:28
Speaker 1: same advantage that Garrett Crochet gives the Red Sox even
4:31
Speaker 1: over Max Freed in the other series. So this too,
4:35
Speaker 1: is going to be a rather interesting series because of
4:37
Speaker 1: the rivalry involving these two teams, and also the Guardians,
4:42
Speaker 1: for all of their magic this weekend and in September,
4:46
Speaker 1: one of the worst offenses we've ever seen in the
4:48
Speaker 1: postseason two twenty five batting average lowest in the major leagues.
4:52
Speaker 1: They ranked twenty eighth in runs. There are only three
4:55
Speaker 1: other teams that have ever made the postseason with that
4:59
Speaker 1: lower rank. It's two teams from the twenty twenty expanded Playoffs.
5:04
Speaker 1: There were sixteen teams in the Pandemics shortened season barely
5:08
Speaker 1: even count and then the two thousand and five San
5:11
Speaker 1: Diego Padres with Bruce Bochi as their manager. So the
5:15
Speaker 1: Guardians aren't exactly a major offensive threat, but the Tigers
5:18
Speaker 1: haven't been either. In September and the Tigers offense has
5:21
Speaker 1: been a question. Really. Even when they were hot, people
5:24
Speaker 1: were saying, well, how are they doing this? They're not
5:26
Speaker 1: that dynamic an offense. And in September the Guardians offense
5:30
Speaker 1: was actually better. So this will be the third time
5:34
Speaker 1: in three weeks the Guardians are going to see schoobl
5:37
Speaker 1: They've had limited success at best against them. They had
5:40
Speaker 1: one crazy guards ball innings against them or that kind
5:44
Speaker 1: of inning against him in their previous series. But I
5:47
Speaker 1: would expect School was going to be really good. Gavin
5:49
Speaker 1: Williams and the rest of the Guardians rotation has been
5:52
Speaker 1: incredible down the stretch. That's why they stole the AL
5:55
Speaker 1: Central title from Detroit. And the Tigers rotation being on
6:00
Speaker 1: schoolbl it's Jack Flaherty, it's Casey Meiser's in decent at times,
6:05
Speaker 1: I don't know and I don't know about their bullpen either.
6:08
Speaker 1: So what looked like a dominant Tigers team turned into
6:11
Speaker 1: a much less dominant Tigers team. And the one thing
6:15
Speaker 1: I'll say about Detroit though, as we go into this,
6:18
Speaker 1: I have a vivid memory of the twenty twenty three
6:21
Speaker 1: Texas Rangers eight and eight down the stretch. They lose
6:24
Speaker 1: three or four in Seattle in the final series to
6:27
Speaker 1: blow the division title, They've got to go all the
6:29
Speaker 1: way across the country to face Tampa Bay. We all
6:33
Speaker 1: thought they'd be a quick knockout and they weren't. So
6:36
Speaker 1: maybe the Tigers find their footing here. But the Guardians
6:39
Speaker 1: have this thing going with them. They're going to be
6:41
Speaker 1: at home where they've been a really good team. We'll
6:44
Speaker 1: see how this plays out in the American League. Now
6:46
Speaker 1: in the National League. Two really interesting series, and I
6:50
Speaker 1: know people are going to say, wait a second, the
6:52
Speaker 1: Reds have no chance against the Dodgers. Actually they do
6:56
Speaker 1: in my estimation, and they do because of a guy
6:59
Speaker 1: that I sho have mentioned with Scooble and Crochet earlier,
7:03
Speaker 1: Hunter Green. Hunter Green has been one of the most
7:05
Speaker 1: dominant pitchers in baseball the last month or so. And
7:08
Speaker 1: he's not the only dominant starter that the Reds have.
7:11
Speaker 1: They also have Nick Ludolo and Andrew Abbott. Andrew Abbott
7:14
Speaker 1: likely will get some cy Young votes. This is a
7:17
Speaker 1: rotation that in a short series can do some damage.
7:21
Speaker 1: The problem for the Reds actually it's twofold. They don't
7:24
Speaker 1: really hit either. Like their Ohio neighbors. They are particularly
7:28
Speaker 1: vulnerable to left handed pitching and the Tigers. I'm sorry,
7:31
Speaker 1: the Dodgers are going to throw a bunch of left
7:33
Speaker 1: handers at them in this series, starting with Blake Snell
7:36
Speaker 1: in Game one and a number of relievers. Red's only
7:39
Speaker 1: twenty fifth in ops against left handed pitching this season.
7:43
Speaker 1: And the other thing that is an equalizer for the Dodgers,
7:47
Speaker 1: if you don't even call it that, maybe even an
7:49
Speaker 1: advantage for the Dodgers is their rotation. We're talking about Snell, Yamamoto,
7:54
Speaker 1: and Shoyotani, likely in Game three. The Dodgers seemingly watch
7:58
Speaker 1: Otani in Game three so he can have a day
8:01
Speaker 1: off after the day he pitches, So regardless of whether
8:04
Speaker 1: they win the series in three or whether he starts
8:07
Speaker 1: Game one of the DS, he'd have a day off
8:10
Speaker 1: after he pitches. That rotation that I just listed, Snell, Yamamoto, Otani,
8:15
Speaker 1: that's as good as the Reds rotation. But at the
8:18
Speaker 1: same time, you just don't know how this is going
8:20
Speaker 1: to play out. And the other factor here the Reds
8:23
Speaker 1: bullpen has been hot. It's also got to be tired
8:25
Speaker 1: at this point after that stretch run in which they
8:28
Speaker 1: caught the Mets and beat them out for that final wildcard.
8:31
Speaker 1: The Dodgers' bullpen big time question. We know that now
8:35
Speaker 1: we're going to see Sasaki in the bullpen in this series,
8:38
Speaker 1: not Kershaw. Kershaw started the last game and will not
8:41
Speaker 1: be available, will not be on the roster, But that Dodgers'
8:45
Speaker 1: bullpen has been an area of vulnerability, There's no question
8:48
Speaker 1: about it. So the winner of this series will face
8:51
Speaker 1: the Phillies. That would be an amazing matchup if it
8:53
Speaker 1: was Dodgers Phillies. That's really what you would want to
8:56
Speaker 1: see in an NLCS type situation. But here there you go.
9:01
Speaker 1: Most people, virtually all people, I'm sure, will pick the Dodgers,
9:04
Speaker 1: and I understand it. The Dodgers though might not have
9:08
Speaker 1: Will Smith. They're facing a team with a really good rotation.
9:11
Speaker 1: I don't see the Reds winning, but I can see
9:14
Speaker 1: a scenario in which this is much closer, at least
9:17
Speaker 1: in the games and the way they're playing out than
9:20
Speaker 1: we think it's going to be. And finally, the final series,
9:24
Speaker 1: this one is really interesting. It's Padres at Cubs, two
9:27
Speaker 1: teams that, at various points this season looked like perhaps
9:32
Speaker 1: the best team in baseball. It was early in the
9:34
Speaker 1: season for both of them. The Cubs had that dominant
9:36
Speaker 1: offensive first half. The Padres had that amazing start and
9:40
Speaker 1: then the deadline again when they reinforced themselves. People like
9:44
Speaker 1: myself were thinking, Wow, they can overtake the Dodgers. They
9:47
Speaker 1: can be really good. Now it didn't happen for the Padres,
9:51
Speaker 1: and I see them now as a team that is
9:55
Speaker 1: very dangerous going into this postseason. Now they're much better
9:58
Speaker 1: at Petco than they are at home. Of course, they'll
10:00
Speaker 1: be on the road at Wrigley. The thirty eight and
10:02
Speaker 1: forty three on the road this season, fifty and thirty one.
10:06
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, this is the yes, the Padres thirty eight
10:08
Speaker 1: and forty three on the road. The Cubs are rather
10:11
Speaker 1: good at Wrigley, as we all know, fifty and thirty one.
10:15
Speaker 1: The question is can the Padres with their bullpen, emerge
10:19
Speaker 1: as this dominant force in the postseason. Now their offense
10:23
Speaker 1: a little questionable here. Loriano being hurt is not going
10:26
Speaker 1: to help matters at all. But Tatisan Merrill have gotten
10:30
Speaker 1: hot many had a big season finale on Sunday. I
10:33
Speaker 1: can see the Padres putting this together. Now. I don't
10:36
Speaker 1: know that it's going to happen. And they've been a
10:38
Speaker 1: team where times it's looked like something is missing this season,
10:42
Speaker 1: especially in the second half. But if they get quality starts,
10:46
Speaker 1: and they should out of Pavetta in Game one and
10:48
Speaker 1: Cesar King maybe in Game two, they can be a force.
10:52
Speaker 1: Now the Cubs too are in the same category. They
10:56
Speaker 1: can be a team that goes on a run here,
10:58
Speaker 1: but we haven't seen that click in quite some time.
11:02
Speaker 1: And Kyle Tucker, he's coming back now, came back this weekend.
11:06
Speaker 1: We'll see how he is in the playoffs. We'll see
11:07
Speaker 1: if he's okay coming off that leg injury. I just
11:11
Speaker 1: don't know whether the Cubs offense is going to ignite
11:14
Speaker 1: the way we saw it ignite in the first half. Again,
11:17
Speaker 1: it hasn't happened. What is underestimated about the Cubs is
11:21
Speaker 1: their pitching. It's been quite good. And yes they're going
11:25
Speaker 1: to be without Cad Horton, their best starting pitcher down
11:27
Speaker 1: the stretch, the rookie who will be either first or
11:30
Speaker 1: second in the NL Rookie of the Year bouting, but
11:34
Speaker 1: they still have him Monaga, they still have Boyd, they
11:36
Speaker 1: still have Jamison ty On, and the Padres have struggled
11:39
Speaker 1: against lefties, and in Monaga and Boyd are both left
11:42
Speaker 1: handed padres nineteenth in the league in ops against left handers.
11:47
Speaker 1: So I don't know which way this is going. I
11:50
Speaker 1: don't know which team is going to end up facing
11:52
Speaker 1: the Brewers, but this is going to be a test
11:55
Speaker 1: of two teams that we've seen at times this year
11:58
Speaker 1: be really good. Can they be really good again in
12:01
Speaker 1: the postseason. Well, we're about to find out. So there
12:04
Speaker 1: you have it, the top four series, the first four series,
12:07
Speaker 1: we're going to see Wildcard series, then leading to the
12:10
Speaker 1: division series, the Mariners, the Blue Jays, and in the
12:13
Speaker 1: National League the Phillies and the Brewers. They get to
12:16
Speaker 1: rest up and get to see how this all plays out.
12:19
Speaker 1: This week, we'll be right back with the inside.
12:22
Speaker 2: Dish Okay aj our slab pack ripping continues. Now, you
12:27
Speaker 2: just ripped a card that I.
12:29
Speaker 1: Think you're actually going to keep.
12:32
Speaker 3: I am, I'm going to keep it. It's a Ken
12:33
Speaker 3: Griffy junior rookie card. The old is the famous upper
12:37
Speaker 3: deck one, I believe it is. And yeah, heck y,
12:40
Speaker 3: I'm gonna keep it because I'm gonna get Griffy to
12:42
Speaker 3: sign it. I'm gonna get him to send it to me.
12:43
Speaker 3: What you can do, and I'm gonna get Griffy to
12:45
Speaker 3: sign it, and it's only gonna make it worth more.
12:47
Speaker 3: So I am all in on this card. I'm keeping
12:50
Speaker 3: it and it is one of the coolest cars with
12:52
Speaker 3: the highest turtle neck you've ever seen and the gold
12:55
Speaker 3: chain around.
12:56
Speaker 2: His neck and graded nine nineteen eighty nine upper deck.
13:00
Speaker 2: You get the offer for one seventy nine. It's valued
13:02
Speaker 2: at around one ninety nine, and you're like, nah, I'm
13:05
Speaker 2: keeping it. But if you want it to sell it
13:06
Speaker 2: back instantly, you can. It's the beauty of Arena Club.
13:09
Speaker 2: AJ is going to send in and get the physical
13:11
Speaker 2: card sent to him and you can do the same.
13:13
Speaker 2: Twenty percent off your first slab pack or card purchase
13:16
Speaker 2: can happen for you if you go to Arena Club
13:18
Speaker 2: dot com slash foul and use the code foul.
13:24
Speaker 1: Well well, well, well, all right, time now for the
13:32
Speaker 1: inside Dish, the part of the show where I talk
13:33
Speaker 1: about maybe a story I've written, a trend in the game,
13:36
Speaker 1: something going on. Well, there's only one thing to talk
13:39
Speaker 1: about in this segment this week, because this is a
13:41
Speaker 1: big day in baseball. This will be a big week
13:44
Speaker 1: and month in baseball for managerial changes. I wrote about
13:48
Speaker 1: this on Friday in The Athletic. I went through fifteen
13:51
Speaker 1: teams that could have a change in their head of
13:53
Speaker 1: baseball operations or their manager's seat, and we're going to
13:57
Speaker 1: go through some of them here because I'll obviously in
14:00
Speaker 1: baseball things change quickly. Things might have even changed this weekend. Now,
14:05
Speaker 1: the big question I'm sure a lot of Mets fans
14:07
Speaker 1: have after their team has collapsed with a three hundred
14:10
Speaker 1: and forty million dollar payroll, is Carlos Mendoza. From every indication,
14:15
Speaker 1: Mendoza is safe. He's not going to be held responsible
14:18
Speaker 1: for that pitching staff, the retation in particular collapsing. You
14:22
Speaker 1: see it right there, Andy Martinez reporting last night the
14:24
Speaker 1: Mets have no plans to fire Carlos Mendoza, but I
14:28
Speaker 1: am quite certain there will be some changes with the Mets,
14:30
Speaker 1: perhaps on their coaching staff, perhaps in their mix on
14:33
Speaker 1: the roster. I don't know what's going to happen there,
14:35
Speaker 1: but I would expect that it's not going to be
14:38
Speaker 1: simply something where they say, you know what, let's run
14:40
Speaker 1: it back next year with the same cast. And now
14:42
Speaker 1: that's not happening. Not when you do what the Mets did,
14:45
Speaker 1: embarrass yourselves in the final four months of the season.
14:49
Speaker 1: All right, let's get to some that are more realistic.
14:51
Speaker 1: Now we have four interim managers that must be decided
14:55
Speaker 1: upon by their respective teams at some point in the
14:57
Speaker 1: near future. Washington with the El Cairo, Colorado with Warren Schaeffer,
15:02
Speaker 1: Baltimore with Tony Mansolino, and Pittsburgh with Don Kelly. I
15:06
Speaker 1: would say Kelly is the most likely of those to stay.
15:09
Speaker 1: The Pirates did play better under him than they did
15:11
Speaker 1: under Derek Shelton. The real question in Pittsburgh is the
15:14
Speaker 1: future of their general manager, Ben Sherrington, who has presided
15:18
Speaker 1: over six straight losing seasons. If Sherrington goes, perhaps then
15:22
Speaker 1: Kelly goes too. But right now we don't have any
15:25
Speaker 1: indication one way or the other how that is all
15:28
Speaker 1: going to turn out. Two other big questions regarding managers
15:32
Speaker 1: in Atlanta and in Texas Brian Snicker and Bruce Brocci.
15:36
Speaker 1: Will they continue on or will they retire or step aside.
15:40
Speaker 1: That is something that looked pretty clear at one point
15:43
Speaker 1: this season, at least for Snicker, seemed like he was
15:46
Speaker 1: going to retire, but in recent weeks he's kind of
15:48
Speaker 1: hinted that he'd like to stick around, maybe not end
15:51
Speaker 1: on the way he did with that injury, moret season
15:54
Speaker 1: that the Braves had. They still have a ton of talent.
15:57
Speaker 1: They still have a roster that should contend for a
16:02
Speaker 1: division title next year, certainly a postseason birth. If this
16:05
Speaker 1: job opens, it might be the most desirable job of
16:09
Speaker 1: all of them, but it's not clear whether it's going
16:11
Speaker 1: to open. Bruce Bochi in Texas. I was around him
16:14
Speaker 1: this weekend. He is giving no indications one way or
16:17
Speaker 1: the other of what he wants to do, whether he
16:19
Speaker 1: wants to continue managing, be it in Texas or in
16:22
Speaker 1: San Francisco. If that opens up. It's been a rumor
16:25
Speaker 1: going around. I'm not sure I see it, but stranger
16:28
Speaker 1: things have happened. So Bochie has to make a decision,
16:31
Speaker 1: and the Rangers have to make a decision too, And
16:33
Speaker 1: as I wrote, the Rangers are going to be cutting
16:36
Speaker 1: payroll this off season because they didn't get to the
16:39
Speaker 1: playoffs after increasing payroll, and it's going to come down
16:42
Speaker 1: does Bochie want to be with that team for another
16:45
Speaker 1: year of potential frustration And if hypothetically the Giants are
16:49
Speaker 1: interested in him, Trebuster Posey has some interest in Bruce Boci.
16:52
Speaker 1: What do he want to risk his legacy there by
16:55
Speaker 1: going back into an uncertain situation in a tough division.
16:59
Speaker 1: None of these questions we have the answers to, but
17:01
Speaker 1: we should find out more in the coming days. Now
17:04
Speaker 1: I mentioned San Francisco. That's a really fascinating situation. Bob Melvin,
17:10
Speaker 1: their manager, had his option picked up on July first,
17:13
Speaker 1: So on July first, just three months ago, Buster Posey,
17:17
Speaker 1: as president of Baseball Operations, determined that he wanted Bob
17:20
Speaker 1: Melvin for his manager in twenty twenty six. And yet
17:25
Speaker 1: the Giants season was one of such extremes highs, lows,
17:29
Speaker 1: highs and low's again that certainly there is talk in
17:34
Speaker 1: the Bay Area, and there are articles written by Andrew
17:36
Speaker 1: Baggerley of the Athletics this morning and others about Melvin's
17:40
Speaker 1: uncertain future. It is not certain he's going to come back.
17:44
Speaker 1: The players really like him, they have been outspoken on
17:47
Speaker 1: his behalf, but it doesn't mean that Buster Posey sees
17:50
Speaker 1: it that way. So that's a situation to watch. And
17:53
Speaker 1: Minnesota is another one. Minnesota with Rocco Baldelli. You might say, hey,
17:58
Speaker 1: they traded half their team at the death. Come on,
18:00
Speaker 1: you can't fire the guy after they did that, traded
18:03
Speaker 1: after their team at the deadline had their usual run
18:05
Speaker 1: of injuries. WHOA wait a second, But Baldeli has been there,
18:09
Speaker 1: I believe seven years now, and they may decide we're
18:13
Speaker 1: going even younger. We just want to make a change
18:16
Speaker 1: and go to a different manager who perhaps would be
18:18
Speaker 1: more suited to managing an even younger team that they
18:22
Speaker 1: had at the end of the season. Not sure that's
18:25
Speaker 1: going to happen. Starting August eighteenth, when Rocco Baldelli challenged
18:28
Speaker 1: the Twins to be more aggressive on their base, on
18:30
Speaker 1: their running base running, that team picked it up a
18:33
Speaker 1: little bit. So perhaps the management of that team looks
18:37
Speaker 1: at them and says, okay, you know what, he got
18:39
Speaker 1: them going again, at least in that respect, Let's keep
18:42
Speaker 1: him on uncertain situation. The team was recently not sold
18:46
Speaker 1: but took on some minority investors, so they've been kind
18:50
Speaker 1: of in a weird spot the whole season. We'll see
18:53
Speaker 1: how that plays out. And then Joe A spot it
18:55
Speaker 1: in Houston. Now, Joe spotted to me, does not deserve
18:59
Speaker 1: to be fine, and in fact, a couple of weeks
19:02
Speaker 1: ago I wrote he was the front runner for American
19:04
Speaker 1: League Manager of the Year for keeping that team going
19:08
Speaker 1: when they had so many injuries eighteen players on the
19:12
Speaker 1: injured list in late July, including eight starting pitchers. They
19:15
Speaker 1: lost Alvarez or don Alvarez for almost three months. Jeremy
19:19
Speaker 1: pagne Izach Parade's miss significant lengths of time, as did
19:23
Speaker 1: their closer, Josh Hayter. The fact that they contended as
19:26
Speaker 1: long as they did was actually an upset, but their owner,
19:30
Speaker 1: Jim Crane is something of a wild card, and Dana Brown,
19:34
Speaker 1: their general manager, when asked by reporters, including on the
19:37
Speaker 1: Athletics chandeler Rome yesterday, about Spottish status, did not give
19:42
Speaker 1: a firm commitments that we're going to evaluate everything. Well,
19:45
Speaker 1: the teams generally always do that. But at the same time,
19:48
Speaker 1: to hold a spotter responsible for what happened there, to me,
19:52
Speaker 1: would be a serious mistake, and if he got out
19:55
Speaker 1: there as an available manager, I imagine he would get another
19:58
Speaker 1: chance pretty quickly. Two other situations to mention, only because
20:03
Speaker 1: if these teams flame out early, it's possible that you
20:08
Speaker 1: could see a change. Philadelphia Affilies with Rob Thompson, New
20:11
Speaker 1: York Yankees with Aaron Boone. I really don't see Boone
20:14
Speaker 1: getting fired. They played well down the stretch. They look
20:17
Speaker 1: like a team right now. Yes they could go out
20:19
Speaker 1: in the first round, but yes, they also could go
20:22
Speaker 1: to the World Series and maybe even win it. They
20:24
Speaker 1: have that much talent. They have an offense that, while yes,
20:27
Speaker 1: is home run reliant, can also beat you in other ways.
20:31
Speaker 1: They have a starting rotation led by Max Fried and
20:33
Speaker 1: Carlos Rodon that is really good and a bullpen that
20:37
Speaker 1: has not yet put it together, but at the same
20:40
Speaker 1: time is really good when it's clicking. So I don't
20:44
Speaker 1: see them playing poorly. I don't see them firing Aaron Boone.
20:48
Speaker 1: Rob Thompson. I don't really see that one either. But
20:51
Speaker 1: the Phillies have had progressively earlier exits in each of
20:54
Speaker 1: the last two postseasons World Series in twenty two NLCS,
20:58
Speaker 1: in twenty three Division Series twenty four. Should they get
21:01
Speaker 1: knocked out in the Division Series? Yeah? Could you see
21:05
Speaker 1: the question arising? You certainly could.
21:07
Speaker 4: So that is a whole lot of talk about a
21:10
Speaker 4: whole lot of different managers that might be or it
21:13
Speaker 4: might not be in trouble. We're gonna see in the
21:15
Speaker 4: coming days how this all plays out. It's gonna be
21:18
Speaker 4: a kind of an interesting week, to say the least.
21:21
Speaker 4: We'll be back right after this with grilling.
21:23
Speaker 2: Can aj Let's talk steaks. Omaha Steaks to be precise,
21:28
Speaker 2: Big Big discounts will tell you about coming up in
21:31
Speaker 2: just a sec on the website. But also every steak
21:34
Speaker 2: is perfectly aged to maximize tenderness and handcuf by Master
21:37
Speaker 2: Butcher's in America's heartland. It's been around since nineteen seventeen.
21:41
Speaker 2: They know what they're.
21:41
Speaker 3: Doing, absolutely, they know what they're doing. It's they come prepackaged,
21:45
Speaker 3: perfect sizes, portion size. You can get any kind of
21:48
Speaker 3: cut you want, any kind of meat you want, and
21:51
Speaker 3: it all comes out delicious. You can freeze it, you
21:54
Speaker 3: can thought right away. There's hamburgers, there steaks, there's chicken,
21:57
Speaker 3: there's pork chops. There's everything you could ever want and
22:00
Speaker 3: it comes out delicious every time.
22:02
Speaker 2: Say big with Omaha Steaks. Visit Omaha steaks dot com
22:05
Speaker 2: for fifty percent off site wide and an extra twenty
22:08
Speaker 2: percent off select favorites during their early Black Friday sale,
22:11
Speaker 2: and for an extra thirty five dollars off. Use promo
22:14
Speaker 2: code foul at checkout terms. Apply seasite for details. That's
22:18
Speaker 2: fifty percent off at Omaha Steaks dot Com. Promo code
22:21
Speaker 2: foul at checkout terms. Apply seasite for details.
22:30
Speaker 1: All right, here we go with Will and Ken. Let's
22:32
Speaker 1: get to the first question. This one comes from the
22:36
Speaker 1: Mets Up podcast. What should David Stearns learn from this mess?
22:41
Speaker 1: Great question, and David Sterns, as Mets President as Baseball Operations,
22:45
Speaker 1: is one of the more talented, intelligent executives in the game.
22:49
Speaker 1: It's the question about that. But what happened here was
22:53
Speaker 1: a collapse of starting pitching that really doomed the Mets.
22:57
Speaker 1: I was looking yesterday offensively since the deadline, they were
23:01
Speaker 1: number one in the majors, number one in runs per game.
23:05
Speaker 1: This was simply a product of a failed rotation. Now,
23:09
Speaker 1: they made some poor decisions Stearns did in the off season.
23:12
Speaker 1: Sean Maniah was maybe a good picture, but not someone
23:15
Speaker 1: you can necessarily rely on the way they did. He
23:18
Speaker 1: did get hurt and that compromised him. Frankie Montos was
23:21
Speaker 1: a decision they always questioned. People always questioned Clay Holmes
23:25
Speaker 1: turned out to be a good signing. I would say,
23:27
Speaker 1: so they had that. They didn't go for any of
23:29
Speaker 1: the frontline guys, and that's something Stearns does not like
23:32
Speaker 1: to do. And maybe that's the lesson here. Maybe you've
23:35
Speaker 1: got to go and go big for a starting pitcher
23:38
Speaker 1: in a way that they didn't. They were in the
23:40
Speaker 1: Crochet talks but did not get him. Now they do
23:43
Speaker 1: have the three kids McLain, Sprote and Tong that presumably
23:47
Speaker 1: will play big roles for them next season. You could
23:50
Speaker 1: argue they should have brought up McClain earlier. But to
23:53
Speaker 1: be in the position they were in so shorthanded, and
23:55
Speaker 1: I know they had injuries too. Griffin Canning was another one,
23:58
Speaker 1: but to be in that position, that's the lesson here.
24:01
Speaker 1: You cannot be that short on starting pitching. You've got
24:04
Speaker 1: to have better death depth, I should say. So we'll
24:07
Speaker 1: take one more question before we get out of here.
24:09
Speaker 1: Let's see what we got here. This one comes from
24:12
Speaker 1: Omar Alesanta, who asks do you think the Brewers will
24:15
Speaker 1: continue their incredible regular season carry it into the postseason.
24:19
Speaker 1: That is one of the defining questions of this October.
24:23
Speaker 1: And I would say that the Brewers are in a
24:26
Speaker 1: good spot here. I don't know, as I said earlier,
24:28
Speaker 1: that the Cubs or Padres are going to be that
24:31
Speaker 1: dominant a postseason team. They've had their moments, yes, and
24:34
Speaker 1: they have questions about them. The Brewers are a team
24:37
Speaker 1: that people underrate simply because they're the Brewers. Ah, they
24:40
Speaker 1: playing this small market. They don't have big stars other
24:42
Speaker 1: than Yelge. No, they've had great pitching all season. Now
24:46
Speaker 1: it's a little banged up right now, and that's going
24:48
Speaker 1: to be one of the questions they have to deal with.
24:51
Speaker 1: How's Tyler or McGill, how is Jose Quintana? What do
24:54
Speaker 1: you do with the miz who struggled down the stretch.
24:56
Speaker 1: But Freddy Peralta has been dominant, the missing Woodruff, Peralta, Priester,
25:03
Speaker 1: that group pretty dawn good. That's the key to the Brewers.
25:06
Speaker 1: They're pitching that has been the key. And they're also
25:08
Speaker 1: a team that doesn't strike out much. Those kinds of
25:11
Speaker 1: teams generally farewell in the postseason. The Brewers and the
25:15
Speaker 1: Blue Jays are both in that particular profile. So I
25:19
Speaker 1: do expect the Brewers to play well. Doesn't mean they'll
25:22
Speaker 1: win the division series. Against the Cubs or Padres. But
25:24
Speaker 1: they are not a fraud. They are not this impost.
25:28
Speaker 1: They finished ladies and gentlemen with the best record in
25:31
Speaker 1: the major leagues over one hundred and sixty two games.
25:34
Speaker 1: You don't do that by accident. All right, with that,
25:37
Speaker 1: that's the show. We will be back on Thursday, myself
25:40
Speaker 1: and Alana Rizzo for our usual live Thursday show at
25:43
Speaker 1: twelve thirty Eastern. You know where to find us, YouTube, Apple, Spotify.
25:47
Speaker 1: Let's enjoy the Wildcard series and we'll back talking to
25:50
Speaker 1: you again on Thursday.
25:52
Speaker 5: Bet MGM players will receive an MLB parlay Boost token
25:56
Speaker 5: to use the token at a parlay wager made up
25:58
Speaker 5: of entirely lb bets to your bet. Slip and activate
26:02
Speaker 5: the tokens four extra winnings if you're wager that was
26:05
Speaker 5: made with the parley Boost token wins Gambling problem were concerned,
26:08
Speaker 5: there is help. Call one eight hundred Gambler