Latest / District Territory / James Wood and CJ Abrams can not be stopped

Transcript

James Wood and CJ Abrams can not be stopped · District Territory

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the District Territory podcast. I'm Eric Shellhouse
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: from the Bat Boys and joining me today. Spencer Dusbaum
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: of The Athletic Spencer was at Nationals Park last night
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: and it was a thrilling one as the All Stars
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: showed why they deserve to be there. Cj Abrams the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: first National to go to the All Star Game voted
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: in as a starter since Bryce Harper in twenty eighteen,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: and James Wood the first All Star going back to
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: back since Juan Soto in twenty one twenty two. But
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: last night a thrilling one twelve to one, Nationals trailing
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: by a score of six to three in the bottom
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: of the third inning, cj Abrams blasted a three run
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: homer to get the Nats right back into it, and
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: then in the bottom of the fifth inning, Curtis Mead
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: with a home run eight of his fifteen home runs
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: this season have put the Nationals ahead that stat courtesy
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: of Kevin Franzen the Washington Nationals, and then in the
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: bottom of the fifth inning, James Wood with a Titanic
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: grand slam to put them up twelve to six again.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: They won by a five score of twelve to one.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: It was back and forth all night long with Spencer.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: What an incredible night for those two guys in the
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: All Star Game.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's there's a reason I've been saying for a
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: month and a half that this offense is not going
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: to have any sort of serious aggression. And it's nice
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: like these right, Like you know, when you have James
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: and CJ at the top and middle of the lineup,
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: you're you're just so well suited and sure like the
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: floor has raised. And I think all that is important
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: to mention. But James has been an absolute tear recently.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: And I actually wrote about CG this morning in The Athletic,
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: which people can go check out. He's he's been in
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: a slump recently. I think that this is a case where, uh,
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: you know, he's been chasing more than usual and he's
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: he's felt less relaxed at the plate. I should say
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: is that's kind of how he put it. But just
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: felt like something clicked today and felt like he kind
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: of got back in that usual low key CGA himself
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: that we're used to seeing. And so yeah, he tied
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: the game. And when he and James are going, you
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: really don't need the rest of the offense to do
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: a whole lot and now, of course they did, they
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: will probably continue to and yeah, what the offense is
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: able to do in some of these games putting the
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: game theoretically out of reach is really impressive.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, twelve to eleven your final score. And as I
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: bring up one of your looking for right now live
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: tweets from the game, it was an exciting one. It
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: was a nail bighter throughout. It had scores of six
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: to one Astros, then twelve to six Nationals, finally twelve
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: to eleven in the bottom of the eighth inning. I
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: know we've been told not to use the words scrappy,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: but last night really felt reminiscent of those scrappy Nats
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: and their ability to come from behind.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: I don't even really know what the word is, and
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: maybe almost one hundred games into the season I should.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: But beyond even reminiscing or looking forward, it's it's just
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: unbelievable how no Nationals game is ever safe. And I
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: think that there's that old, like complimentary derogatory meme that's
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: that's kind of what it is, right, Like, a six
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: to one lead should be safe for the Astros, and
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: it is not a twelve six leads should be safe
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: for the Nationals, and it was, but it got really
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: close there at the end. Blake was pretty a candid
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: after the game, and and he'll really never go out
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: of his way after a win to put the team
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: down or put the guys down, but he's been, I guess,
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: more specific and complementing the position player group and their
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: resiliency as opposed to the resiliency of the whole group.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: That's not to say that they're not working with the
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: bullpen or trying to instill confidence in them, but it's
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: just so clear how much the the position player group
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: is carrying them right now.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Definitely, and you look at the pitching side of things.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: You spoke to Blake Puterra the other day saying he
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: will face live hitters on Wednesday tomorrow and follow goes well,
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: hopefully a rehab assignment soon. Just wanted to check in
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: on what you know about him, where he's coming along.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: I spoke to Simon Matthews a few weeks ago and
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: he was Jake was really rolling before he went down,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: is what he was saying. And he wants to get
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: him committed to a consistent process driven by the last
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: few outings before he went down. But where's the at
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: in his progression?
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so Jake is throwing his very sorry, he's facing
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: live hitters, as we said on Wednesday, I believe and
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: will theoretically if that goes well, probably pitching a couple
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: of rehab outings. I'm not saying a couple to mean
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: too in particular. I just have to imagine it's at
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: least two. I think the big thing with Jake is
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: that we've seen, over relatively extended stretches that he can
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: be a productive big league pitcher. He's someone where I've
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: always kind of believed it's there because the work ethic
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: is there, the intelligence is there, and more than that,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: when the velocity is there, he looks nasty. It's just
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: that in the starts where you've seen him give up
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: five six earned runs, he hasn't really had the velocity there,
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: And so I hate to boil a player down to
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: just that. But in terms of like slow playing the
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: rehab process or trying to get him back when he's
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: fully one hundred percent as opposed to just throwing him
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: to eat innings like, I think they're going to prioritize
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: the former more than the.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Latter really quickly. We had some mock GM trade submissions
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: from you all after last week's episode. We're going to
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: go through really quickly. But a resounding theme here was
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: to flip Foster Griffin. I really like the one of
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: the top though, Foster Griffin for Jared Triolo and maybe
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: a prospect, you know, get some defensive help on the infield.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: But Spencer, We've talked about this before. This is a
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: team that's in a very interesting position and you can't
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: really see them making a push without that guy. You know,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: if they flip him there, they're clearly selling. But what
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: is it that the Nationals would need the most in return?
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: What is it that the Nets in theory would be
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: buying if they become sellers at this deadline.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So the general theme that I'll kind of reiterate,
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: and this is this is so hard to convey because
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: it's such a hedge, but the Nationals need as much
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: value as possible. But also I think they're comfortable trading
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: from a position of strength to address a position of weakness,
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: which is to say, like gun to their heads. They'll
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: take pitching prospects, but they're not if they get a
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: lot more value from position player prospects. They will take
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: position player prospects over pitching prospects, and I think, as
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: we've talked about before, it's it's so hard to see
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: them making the postseason without Foster. I do think there's
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: a world out there where you bring up Jackson Kent
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: who's pitched really well in Triple A, and say give
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: him the keys, and say, we don't expect you to
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: be Foster, but we expect you to be a productive
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: big league pitcher in your first year. And he's pitched
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: so well in Rochester that like, is he going to
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: carry an ere in the twos? Probably not right, but
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: maybe that's the solution. But yeah, in terms of what
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: they're looking for, just as much value as possible, I
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: think is kind of what they'd be targeting.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: Really quickly, I want to remind our listeners and viewers
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: to subscribe. You don't want to miss any of our
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: episodes throughout the season or into the off season. Just
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: a territory is brought to you by Fandel. Baseball Fans.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: The MLB season is in full swing and Fandel is
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: giving you a chance to call your shots with daily dingers.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Joining the action is easy, just make your free pick
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: on who's hitting a home running their game, and if
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: you're right, you'll get a profit boost to use on
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: your next bet for a chance at extra winnings. It's
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: just another reason why FanDuel is the home of home runs.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: So later on today, the Astros in town. Luis Garcia Junior,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: he's been on a tear. He's going to be my pick,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: seems like the obvious answer. But Spencer, who's going to
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: be your choice for later on today?
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah? With the way that James Wood is swinging the bat,
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: it's hard to look at a guy that hit the
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: ball four and you're forty six feet yesterday and staring
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: at his done out and say that guy's not going
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: to do it again. So yeah, I'm big James. It's
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: good James.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: If you're ready to head, If you're ready to play
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: your game, head over to FanDuel dot com slash podcast
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: to get started. That's FanDuel dot com slash podcast. To
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: opt in for Daily Dingers and make your free pick
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: on who's hitting a home run. Playball and swing for
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: the fences on FanDuel, an official partner of Major League Baseball.
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: No purchase necessary, opt in required. Bonus issue does non
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: withdrawable profit boost tokens. Restrictions apply, including any token expiration
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: and max wager amount. See terms at sportsbook dot fandel
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: dot com gambling problem caller tax one eight hundred gambler.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Although the Nationals were not victorious on Sunday, it was
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: an exciting day for Luis Garcia Junior, as he said
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: a new career high in home runs with nineteen. He
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: has no one as least at the time that Spencer
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: put out the street had more home runs since May
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: twenty fourth. It is just a ridiculous run that he
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: has been on. Spencer. Is he gonna win that? I'll
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: player of the week again?
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: Here?
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: Did he win it? I'll play the week again?
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: Uh? Oh, that's a good question. I haven't even thought
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: about that one. I'd have to go back and look
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: to see if this week was quite as good as
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: the week before. But it feels just like an extension
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: of it, right I think, Yeah, I'm gonna say probably not,
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: But yeah, you've given me a thought to go look
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: in fangrafts and see just how hot he's been. Because
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: this is man. We haven't seen a stretch like this
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: in a long.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: Time, right, as Nationals fans, we've seen the flashes in
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: the pan from Louis before, but to see him put
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: it together since May twenty fourth, it's been exciting to watch.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: But Sunday it was really just the Connor Griffin show.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: He made this ridiculous play, one of a couple ridiculous
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: plays that he made going into the outfield. Later on,
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: he was the one to give them to go ahead.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Hit Spencer. You tweeted out that fans were going to
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: be practicing that catch and the other one that Connor
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: made the other day. But how does he change the
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: game for the Pirates? I know, I know this in
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: NAT's podcast, but he is a special player.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well he's a he's a five toel player, right,
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: and it's it's funny. There was nothing that Nationals could
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: do about this in terms of Connor Griffin was taken
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: one pick before their pick two years ago. They tried
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: the Nexpecs thing, which is, you know, bringing over the
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: guy who selected him and Justin Horowitz as their new
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: you know, a GM in charge of acquisitions. But yeah, Connor,
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: just what he was able to do on the field,
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: It really was reminiscent back in the day when my
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: brother and I would try to replicate plays in the
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: field as Drew boll Cabrera before his Gnats days, used
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: to have these crazy plays when he was with Cleveland,
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: and we would always try to, you know, over the
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: head or over the shoulder and all these different things.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: And the plays I saw from Connor Griffin the other day, like,
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: we're even better than that. It's unbelievable how he's able
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: to change the game with just every element of his game.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: Some of the infield hits the Nats legged out in
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: that series had me astounded that he could even get
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: to those balls and then make a throw to make
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: it that close. What an incredible defender hitter all around
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: five till players you mentioned Sunday also saw a major
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: league debut two innings, three strikeouts and no hits for
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Eddie Gene, But just as quickly as he was up,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: he was optioned back down to tripa A And not
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: to be lost in all of this, Robert Hassel was
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: DFAE to clear Room Spencer. It was electric stuff that
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: we saw from him the other day. But catch Nats
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: fans up on what this means for the organization in
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: terms of the departure of Robert Hassel, and when we
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: might see Eddie Gene again in the future.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll start with Gene. So we actually talked to
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: Blake the next day and asked about that move, and
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: Blake said candidly, like the plan was for Eddie to
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: stay in the major leagues and continue to pitch the
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: way he's been pitching. The fact of the matter is
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: he had to come in in the third inning and
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: that was kind of the end of it, right, Like,
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: he did three ups, which he hasn't done in the
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: minor leagues, and they needed guys to cover the next evening.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: So what he laid out as clearly as he could
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: possibly say was I am sorry that we had to
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: send Eddie down. It is because Caid had to pitch
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: in the heat, and we should see this guy again soon.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: So I don't know if it'll be the exact fifteen
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: days that the Nationals will have to wait and then
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: they'll call him up, or if they'll just like wait
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: another month or whatever, But I get the sense he's
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: going to be at as soon as possible because they
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: really like him here. They added him to the forty men,
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: and frankly, I think he's you never want to draw
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: conclusions after one outing, but I think he's legit, which
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: is all that the stuff would play. Yeah, they saw
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: it on Sunday.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: It'll be big league stuff and they're excited to see
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: him again soon. The Nationals are wrapping up a three
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: game set against the Astros before they get an off
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: day and take on the Yankees before the all start break.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: But your probable pictures for later on. Today we got
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Andrew Alparez and Tasuya my from the Astros, and tomorrow
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: Foster Griffin Fosterfest he will get the rock Spencer. This
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: is a big series for the Nationals, obviously, it's also
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: a big series for the Astros. But what are going
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: to be some of your keys for the next two
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: days as far as what the Nationals need to do.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I mean we I'll keep coming back to
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: the bullpend because I always come back to the bullpen.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: Like the Astros offense has not been incredible recently, but
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: as we saw yesterday, they have enough guys in there
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: to put up a real fight. And honestly, you're done.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: Didn't even really do much yesterday and that doesn't happen
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: three games in a row. So I think either pitching
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: around him or making sure you handle the rest of
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: the lineup is huge beyond that, Like, this is a
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: this is a very winnable series for the Nationals. And
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: that's not just because they took the first game. It's
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: because they can hit so so well and the Astros
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: pitching has been really, really bad. And so you put
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: those two things together, you say, are they gonna put
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: up twelve runs every night? Maybe not, but can you
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: put up like eight? I mean, that's that's wild to say, Hey,
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: can we expect an offense but of eight? But like
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: that's kind of where the Nationals are at right now.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: We kind of can, I mean with I don't know
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: what the updated stat is on games in which we've
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: scored at least ten runs, but there is a strike
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: there a jew where it was just absurd, like twenty
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: five center fifteen for Senator games scoring double digit runs.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: So no, I don't think it is ridiculous to say
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: you're expecting that much out of them really quickly, final
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: thing from the Pirate series. I do want to talk
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: about Artemis first pitches that was going on on Saturday
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: when I was at the ballpark. That was really cool,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: and then it only took one pitch to the Gnats
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: to get back into that game. Although it wasn't very exciting,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: James would just a gargantu went blast. When was the
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: last time, Spencer you can remember someone hitting one up
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: into the third deck there? It's been a while since
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: they've had to add a red seat.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, someone on the Nationals, I think, And I'm going
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: to go back and look at this now, I think
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Joey Gallo might have done it in twenty twenty four.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: At least, that feels like someone who could do it.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: It feels like schwar Ward has probably done it against
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: the Gnats and probably did it when he's with the Nats.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: But yeah, it's been a while since I've seen that
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: third deck get you know, get occupied.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was thrilling. And again James with the cell
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: look to the dugout. He knew we're going to take
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: a quick break and when we come back more previewing.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: Hey, for the families out there looking for a different
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: path to help your child succeed at home, looking to
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: K twelve Powered Schools. K twelve offers tuition free, accredited
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: online public education for students in K through twelve on
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: a setting that works for your family. Todd Father, you've
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: done the homeschooling thing in the past. I know you
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: liked it.
• 16:27
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I did. I liked it a lot. All my
• 16:29
  Speaker 5: kids have done it before. It's an opportunity for them
• 16:33
  Speaker 5: to stay at home and enjoy school just as much.
• 16:36
  Speaker 5: They learn a lot. And this is an opportunity for
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: families that are on the go too as well. They
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: have to understand listen, can't be at a regular school
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: at all times. I need my child to be doing this,
• 16:46
  Speaker 5: whether it's an athletic career, whatever stature they are at.
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: And we loved every second of it, and I think
• 16:52
  Speaker 5: it is an easy opportunity for some children.
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: See how K twelve powed schools can help unlock your
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: child's full potential. Enroll today at K twe slash foul.
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: That's the letter K the number twelve dot com slash foul.
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: K twelve dot com slash foul.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: I'd like to look at the National League East standings
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: this morning. The Nationals two games over at forty seven
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: and forty five. They're just six and a half back
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: Braves have lost two in a row. Mets found some
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: late magic last night, but over to the National League
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: wildcard standings just two and a half back, they jump
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: back in front of the Pirates. This is also a
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: big series for the Astros. It's almost been comical how
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: much worse the American League has been in the National
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: League this year. But they find themselves three games back
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: in the division despite being three games under, and find
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: themselves just a game and a half out of the
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: wildcard spot. It's been such a funky year for baseball
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: between the National League and the American League. Spencer, but
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: you look ahead, Yankees after this series. Is it fair
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: to say that the Nationals need to take at least
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: one of these next two to feel like they're in
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: a good spot going into the All Starbery.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: Yes, and because the office needs to feel good, right like.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: I think the players have been resilient and shown that
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: they can meet me challenge, and if they lose two
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: series in a row, they're liable to take the next three.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: But this is a case where you're trying to prove
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: to the front office, hey, you guys should you guys
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: should buy And not only are we massive massive overachievers,
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: not only are we having this phenomenal season that no
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: one outside the building thought we would have, but we
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: are also able to not just be a league average team,
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: but even better. So whatever their record's forty seven and
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: forty five. Now, I think if you've got four or
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: five games over five hundred at the end of this stretch,
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: you really start to force the issue a little bit.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: And that's not I should clarify, that's me speculating more
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: than anything. Like Again, these are stole small samples, and
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: I can't get inside the front office's brain to that
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: degree and say we know that if we are x
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: games over five h on X date, we will buy.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: It's not that simple. But any sort of these stretches
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: right now, right before the break, right after the break,
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: just feel so important.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, especially with the way the Yankees have been playing.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: They've been a very good team of late. One win
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: last night, two of eight in their last ten. It's
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: a team you want to beat up on. As the
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: schedule starts to ease up. They have the Athletics as
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: soon as the break resumes, a very good team as well.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: I mean, very similar teams to the Nationals, I should say.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: But this is a part of the stretch that they
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: circled at the start of the year and said Hey,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: in theory should ease up a little bit, and it
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: feels like it couldn't be coming at a better time.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: I want to remind our subscribers one more time to
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: our listeners to subscribe over on YouTube. You do not
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: want to miss our Eli Willets giveaway. We're doing that
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: at a thousand subscribers and we have giveaways every Friday, Spencer.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: I think that's going to conclude today's episode. Thank you
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: all for being patient. Hope you all have a terrific
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: Tuesdays and waiting a day for the episode to come out.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Have another one on Thursday, and then our final episode
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: of the week on Friday, Spencer, anything you want toss
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: in before you're over at the ballpark later today.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: I would just reiterate that subscribing is a really good idea.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: It's a good idea. Keep listening to Foul Territory, Network,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: District Territory and reading The Athletic until next time. See
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: you later.