Latest / Foul Territory / Fair Territory: AL WC frenzy, LA lull, AL Cy race, RIP Davey Johnson

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Fair Territory: AL WC frenzy, LA lull, AL Cy race, RIP Davey Johnson · Foul Territory

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Monday edition of Fair Territory. I'm
0:04
Speaker 1: Ken Rosenthal, and needless to say, it has been a
0:08
Speaker 1: crazy season, a crazy season to say the least, and
0:11
Speaker 1: now it is reaching its climax in these final few weeks.
0:15
Speaker 1: And I want to talk about the latest craziness in
0:17
Speaker 1: the first segment this morning, and it kind of relates
0:20
Speaker 1: to a tweet that Alden Gonzalez of ESPN had a
0:24
Speaker 1: few days ago and the theme of this season. Alden
0:28
Speaker 1: summed it up really well, just when I think a
0:31
Speaker 1: team is good, it's bad. Just when I think a
0:33
Speaker 1: team is bad, it's good. This is baseball in twenty
0:37
Speaker 1: twenty five. That post by Alden kind of inspired what
0:41
Speaker 1: I wrote today in The Athletic, a column about fifteen
0:44
Speaker 1: teams and basically telling fans of each of those teams, listen,
0:48
Speaker 1: if you think you have it bad, it could be worse,
0:52
Speaker 1: because every team seems to be going through a phase
0:55
Speaker 1: or has gone through a phase in which they have
0:58
Speaker 1: their fans pulling their hair out, exasperated, frustrated, infuriated with
1:03
Speaker 1: the way their teams are playing. And there's the Columny
1:05
Speaker 1: seat right there. It's upright now, and let's start today
1:09
Speaker 1: with the NL West, because there is a division that
1:13
Speaker 1: we all thought was going to be this incredible powerhouse
1:17
Speaker 1: and it really isn't turning out quite that way. The
1:20
Speaker 1: team that is ruining baseball the Los Angeles Dodgers. On Saturday,
1:25
Speaker 1: what happened to the Los Angeles Dodgers. They were no
1:29
Speaker 1: hit by the last place Orioles for eight and two
1:32
Speaker 1: thirds innings. They had a win probability at that point
1:36
Speaker 1: of ninety nine point five percent, a three to nothing lead,
1:39
Speaker 1: and they lost the game. And this was obviously the
1:42
Speaker 1: extreme example of essentially a season long pattern for the Dodgers,
1:47
Speaker 1: but one that really since early July has been a
1:50
Speaker 1: huge issue. They are nine games under five hundred since
1:54
Speaker 1: July third, nine games under. The operating premise of this
1:58
Speaker 1: team all season has seen to be we'll turn it
2:01
Speaker 1: on at the right time. Well, guess what they've already
2:05
Speaker 1: cost themselves a buye in the postseason. Most likely they're
2:08
Speaker 1: not getting one. The Brewers and the Phillies are in
2:11
Speaker 1: commanding position for that buy now. Granted anything can happen.
2:15
Speaker 1: The deficit to the Phillies from the Dodgers is four
2:17
Speaker 1: and a half games. It's not over but it's not
2:19
Speaker 1: looking good. And there's Sarah Lang's with her classic wei
2:23
Speaker 1: on what happened Saturday night. The Dodgers have a bullpen
2:27
Speaker 1: that leads the major leagues in blown safe I know
2:30
Speaker 1: that's not an entirely telling metric, but it's a pretty
2:34
Speaker 1: good one when it comes to the Dodgers. They had
2:36
Speaker 1: another one, of course Saturday. They went one in five
2:39
Speaker 1: this week last week in Pittsburgh and Baltimore. Pittsburgh and
2:44
Speaker 1: Baltimore two last place teams. Granted, the Oriols have played
2:47
Speaker 1: a lot better in the last three months, but they're
2:50
Speaker 1: still in last place. They're still not the team that
2:53
Speaker 1: they thought they would be. So that's the Dodgers in
2:55
Speaker 1: the NL West, and then they were the Padres. Now
2:58
Speaker 1: the Padres. All Boll saluted them for winning the trade deadline,
3:03
Speaker 1: and they did that. Aj Peller, their general managers, seemed
3:06
Speaker 1: to fill every one of their needs. I loved what
3:09
Speaker 1: he did. Most fans did as well, just because he
3:12
Speaker 1: was so aggressive and did so much well since the deadline.
3:17
Speaker 1: What are the Padres? Eighteen and sixteen, just two games
3:21
Speaker 1: over five hundred and it took two wins over Colorado
3:24
Speaker 1: at Corusfield this weekend to get to two games over
3:26
Speaker 1: five hundred. Their offense is enigmatic. As I wrote today,
3:32
Speaker 1: they're starting pitching is problematic. Their bullpen is down Jason
3:36
Speaker 1: Adam now still one of the best bullpens in baseball,
3:40
Speaker 1: and they're likely going to need to overtake the Dodgers
3:43
Speaker 1: in the National League West, where they trailed by one game,
3:46
Speaker 1: to avoid playing a road series in the wildcard round.
3:49
Speaker 1: And that's important for the Padres because they draw such
3:52
Speaker 1: energy from their fans at home. So that's just the
3:56
Speaker 1: NLS where kind of wacky things are going on. It's
4:00
Speaker 1: not just in the NLS where we have this kind
4:03
Speaker 1: of commotion. The AL wildcard race two weeks ago, it
4:08
Speaker 1: wasn't a race at all. I believe, on this show
4:11
Speaker 1: or one of the others, I proclaim that, you know what,
4:14
Speaker 1: season's kind of a bummer. We already know who the
4:16
Speaker 1: twelve playoff teams are, and at that point it appeared
4:20
Speaker 1: pretty much set. Well. The Seattle Mariners have opened this
4:24
Speaker 1: thing wide open again. Now let's look at the ALE
4:27
Speaker 1: wildcard standings. Right here you see the Yankees in Red Sox.
4:30
Speaker 1: They're in commanding position. Good week for the Yankees, four
4:33
Speaker 1: and two against two first place teams, the Astros and
4:36
Speaker 1: Blue Jays. See the Red Sox, they're kind of a
4:39
Speaker 1: difficult series in Arizona, but they're in good shape even
4:41
Speaker 1: without Rome and Anthony as far as the standings are concerned.
4:44
Speaker 1: And then the Mariners. The Mariners, a team that has
4:48
Speaker 1: missed the postseason by one game each of the last
4:50
Speaker 1: two years. Here they are ten and one after the deadline,
4:55
Speaker 1: actually starting July thirty first, so ten and one from
4:58
Speaker 1: that point. They then go into IS six and fifteen
5:01
Speaker 1: RUT six and fifteen, and that opened this thing wide open.
5:06
Speaker 1: As I said before for those other teams in the mix,
5:09
Speaker 1: Let's look at those standings one more time, and I
5:11
Speaker 1: want to show you exactly what I'm talking about. The Mariners. Yes,
5:15
Speaker 1: they still leave the wildcard by a game and a
5:17
Speaker 1: half over the Rangers, two over the Royals, two and
5:20
Speaker 1: a half over the Guardians. It's a cushion. It's somewhat
5:24
Speaker 1: of a commanding cushion given how much time is remaining
5:27
Speaker 1: in this season, but it's not a total cushion. And yes,
5:31
Speaker 1: they won two games in Atlanta, two routes to go
5:34
Speaker 1: back home now and hopefully get their acts together, but
5:39
Speaker 1: this is a race that again should not have been
5:41
Speaker 1: a race. Now this week we've got Kansas City in Cleveland.
5:45
Speaker 1: That's a big series in the wildcard picture, of course,
5:48
Speaker 1: and Kansas City also has one more series against the
5:52
Speaker 1: Mariners that's obviously going to be a big series, and
5:55
Speaker 1: I believe that is next week in Kansas City. So
5:59
Speaker 1: the Oils kind of have to hold serve over the
6:02
Speaker 1: next six games on the road, and then I believe
6:05
Speaker 1: they're on the road, don't quote me on that, but
6:08
Speaker 1: then they have Seattle and that will be if they
6:10
Speaker 1: are still right where they need to be, a very
6:13
Speaker 1: telling series for them Texas. I saw them this weekend.
6:16
Speaker 1: They're an intriguing team because they're without many of their
6:20
Speaker 1: top players Nathan Avaldi, Corey Seger, Marcus Simmi and Adolice Garcia.
6:25
Speaker 1: They've got a bunch of guys I wouldn't call them
6:29
Speaker 1: casts off, more journeyman types who are helping them win
6:32
Speaker 1: right now, Cody Freeman and Michael Hellman. It's kind of
6:36
Speaker 1: an amazing run that they're on, but good for them.
6:38
Speaker 1: They've done a really good job just kind of staying
6:40
Speaker 1: in this race after an incredibly difficult and frustrating season
6:45
Speaker 1: because their offense is underperformed. So those are the two
6:49
Speaker 1: races that perhaps are most intriguing right now. And then
6:53
Speaker 1: we have another development in baseball. This is the development
6:56
Speaker 1: we always seem to have, and that is, of course,
6:59
Speaker 1: the injuries that continue to take place. Seasons still going,
7:03
Speaker 1: We're gonna still have injuries, and I just mentioned Seeger
7:06
Speaker 1: that's one of them. Emergency apendectomy on August twenty eighth.
7:10
Speaker 1: They're expecting him back, maybe even back next week, so
7:15
Speaker 1: that would be a huge boost for them. They're also
7:17
Speaker 1: expecting Adolis Garcia to come back. Simeon and Valdi the
7:21
Speaker 1: chances of them returning are remote, at least according to
7:24
Speaker 1: club officials. But on Sunday we had two other significant injuries.
7:28
Speaker 1: Now we're waiting to hear just on the extent of them.
7:31
Speaker 1: Trede Turner with the Phillies suffered a right hamstring strain
7:34
Speaker 1: running up the first base line. He's seeing a doctor today.
7:37
Speaker 1: Trey Turner has kind of gone under the radar this year.
7:40
Speaker 1: You see Jason Stark's tweet right there. He is fourth
7:44
Speaker 1: in the National League fourth, I'm sorry, fourth in the
7:46
Speaker 1: major leagues in Fangraff's version of war. He's fourth, behind
7:51
Speaker 1: only Aaron Judge, cal Raley and Bobby Wick Junior. He's
7:56
Speaker 1: had an amazing year. The Phillies obviously need him. The
7:59
Speaker 1: only good news here is if he indeed has a
8:02
Speaker 1: hamstring injury, and maybe it's a couple of weeks, that's okay.
8:05
Speaker 1: The Phillies are in commanding position in the Analyt East
8:07
Speaker 1: over the Mets. They're in commanding position for a buye.
8:10
Speaker 1: They should be okay if he needs nearly a month
8:15
Speaker 1: before the playoffs to get ready. So that's Trey Turner.
8:18
Speaker 1: Daniel Palencia, the Cub's closer. He has a right shoulder issue.
8:23
Speaker 1: Came out of the game yesterday with tightness in that
8:25
Speaker 1: right shoulder. Now that's an issue for the Cubs. Obviously,
8:29
Speaker 1: he's been really good for them. They also have injury questions,
8:32
Speaker 1: minor stuff, it seems, with Kyle Tucker and Pete crow Armstrong.
8:37
Speaker 1: Clearly they need to be healthy to be the kind
8:39
Speaker 1: of team that they want to be. And as I
8:41
Speaker 1: wrote about them today, for all that they have disappointed
8:46
Speaker 1: in some ways after that great first half, still have
8:49
Speaker 1: the third best record in the National League. They've still
8:51
Speaker 1: got a really good regular season, but they need their
8:54
Speaker 1: players obviously, and then Bobby with junior. Bobby with junior
8:58
Speaker 1: back spasms missed the last two games for the Kansas
9:01
Speaker 1: City Royals. Now we all know the meaning of Bobbywood
9:04
Speaker 1: Junior to that franchise. He is their best player. He's
9:07
Speaker 1: one of the best all around players in the sport.
9:10
Speaker 1: And for them to somehow steal this wild card from Seattle,
9:15
Speaker 1: they're going to need Bobbywood Junior healthy. There's not much
9:18
Speaker 1: doubt about that. I don't believe I am going too
9:22
Speaker 1: far out on a limb there. All Right, we got
9:24
Speaker 1: plenty else to talk about. I want to take a
9:26
Speaker 1: break here. We're going to come back next with the
9:29
Speaker 1: inside dish. I'm going to talk about my memories of
9:31
Speaker 1: Davey Johnson.
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Speaker 1: Dig in well, all right, you see it right there.
10:42
Speaker 1: Time now for the Inside Dish, the part of the
10:44
Speaker 1: show where I talk about maybe a story I've written,
10:46
Speaker 1: a trend in the game, something else going on. But
10:48
Speaker 1: this week, as I mentioned at the end of the
10:50
Speaker 1: first segment, I'd like to talk about my memories of
10:53
Speaker 1: Davy Johnson, who passed away on Saturday. Davey had a long,
10:58
Speaker 1: rich baseball life as a player, and I don't know
11:01
Speaker 1: that a lot of fans realize this fans today. He
11:04
Speaker 1: was really good. Four time All Star, three time goal
11:07
Speaker 1: Glove winner at second base, two time World Series champion
11:10
Speaker 1: for the Baltimore Orioles nineteen sixty six and nineteen seventy
11:15
Speaker 1: and as a manager, he is best known as the
11:18
Speaker 1: leader of the swashbuckling nineteen eighty six World Series champion
11:22
Speaker 1: New York Mets. And that was the team that defined
11:26
Speaker 1: him and he defined them as well. Now, he is
11:30
Speaker 1: a guy who was really smart. He was doing analytics
11:34
Speaker 1: thirty years before anyone had even heard of analytics. He
11:38
Speaker 1: took a computer course at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore
11:41
Speaker 1: when he was playing for the Orioles and created formulas
11:45
Speaker 1: where he would do this to create the optimal batting
11:48
Speaker 1: orders for the Orioles. Now, Earl Weaver didn't listen to him,
11:51
Speaker 1: but Davey was ahead of his time. Now, I covered
11:55
Speaker 1: only a small slice of his career. When he was
11:58
Speaker 1: manager of the Oriols in nineteen ninety six and ninety seven,
12:02
Speaker 1: I was a sports columnist for the Baltimore Sun, a
12:05
Speaker 1: general columnist, so I covered mostly baseball because the Ravens
12:09
Speaker 1: had just started in Baltimore at that time, but also
12:11
Speaker 1: college basketball and football and whatever else. But again the
12:16
Speaker 1: focus was mostly baseball. Now Davy would go on to
12:20
Speaker 1: manage the Dodgers and Nationals after that. But those two
12:23
Speaker 1: years when he was with the Orioles, they made the
12:25
Speaker 1: playoffs both years. They were among the most memorable years
12:29
Speaker 1: of my career, and it was because in large part
12:32
Speaker 1: he was the manager. He was a total character. He
12:35
Speaker 1: was a different guy. And the thing that struck me
12:38
Speaker 1: most about Davy from the start, compared to other managers
12:41
Speaker 1: I had covered with the Orioles, and by that time
12:44
Speaker 1: it had been ten years and I had covered quite
12:46
Speaker 1: a few managers, he had a confidence about him that
12:51
Speaker 1: was really unparalleled, and I don't see it in many
12:54
Speaker 1: managers today the way I saw it in him. Some
12:57
Speaker 1: would call it cocky, but he was really kind. Now.
13:01
Speaker 1: I told this story on Fox on Saturday during our
13:03
Speaker 1: broadcast when we had our memories of Davy, and the
13:06
Speaker 1: story goes back to Chicago, April of nineteen ninety seven.
13:10
Speaker 1: I believe freezing night at the New Komiski whatever it's called,
13:15
Speaker 1: now guaranteed raid field. And at the end of the game,
13:18
Speaker 1: Davy Johnson is in his office. He's still shivering. He
13:21
Speaker 1: had made a decision that night. I can't remember exactly
13:23
Speaker 1: the details, but the Oriols had kind of a closer
13:26
Speaker 1: controversy going on Amando Bernitez Raddy Myers, and that night
13:31
Speaker 1: Davy chose the one we thought he wouldn't choose as writers,
13:35
Speaker 1: so we could shuffle into his office at the end
13:37
Speaker 1: of the game. As I said, he's still shivering, and
13:40
Speaker 1: he opens the conversation not with hey, you guys, got
13:44
Speaker 1: any questions or just ask away. He kind of gives
13:47
Speaker 1: us a little lecture and he says, hey, I know
13:51
Speaker 1: you guys. And when they say you guys, and there
13:54
Speaker 1: are women too involved, but it's always you guys. You
13:56
Speaker 1: guys means the writers, and it's not said usually very nicely.
14:00
Speaker 1: You guys were up there in the box. Second guess
14:03
Speaker 1: in my you know what and I don't care. I'm
14:07
Speaker 1: the manager, I'm the one making all the money and
14:10
Speaker 1: I do whatever I darn please. That was Davy and
14:13
Speaker 1: by then, well, I guess we had some questions, but
14:16
Speaker 1: really what can you ask at that point. That was
14:18
Speaker 1: Davy Johnson and again he was not afraid of anyone,
14:23
Speaker 1: and the Oriols during those two years ninety six ninety seven,
14:26
Speaker 1: in my estimation, since I started covering the sport in
14:29
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty seven, they were never bigger than they were
14:32
Speaker 1: then in terms of where they were in the sport,
14:35
Speaker 1: where they placed themselves in the sport. They had some
14:38
Speaker 1: outstanding players, of course, Ripken, Palmero or Alamar. They had
14:42
Speaker 1: a Hall of Fame general manager and Pat Gillick. Camden
14:45
Speaker 1: Yards was full every night, it was alive. And again
14:48
Speaker 1: he was a big part of that. If you might
14:50
Speaker 1: remember he was named that manager of the year in
14:53
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety seven. He was feuding with Peter Angelos. He
14:55
Speaker 1: resigned the day he was named the manager of the year.
14:58
Speaker 1: On the conference call with the right he said, Hey,
15:01
Speaker 1: I'm looking for a job, but he knew anywhere I
15:04
Speaker 1: can go. It was hilarious. So that's part of what
15:09
Speaker 1: I remember about Davy. But just from a personal level
15:11
Speaker 1: covering him now, as I said, he wasn't afraid of anyone.
15:14
Speaker 1: He'd take on anyone, didn't really think anything of it.
15:19
Speaker 1: He had a nickname for me, but it wasn't even
15:21
Speaker 1: a nickname because I wasn't sure he knew my name,
15:23
Speaker 1: and what he called me was Mike, and I never
15:26
Speaker 1: could figure out why. And Joe Strauss, the late Joe Strauss,
15:29
Speaker 1: who covered the team with me in ninety seven, he
15:32
Speaker 1: was the beat writer, Buster only was the beat writer
15:34
Speaker 1: in ninety six. Joe delighted in this that he would
15:37
Speaker 1: call me Mike, and I could never figure out why.
15:40
Speaker 1: The only thing I could think of was that I
15:43
Speaker 1: was the calmest in town. Along with John Eisenberg. We
15:45
Speaker 1: had only one paper at that point, and Davy probably
15:50
Speaker 1: thought I was trying to be like Mike Lupeka in
15:52
Speaker 1: New York, which I couldn't be. There was only one
15:54
Speaker 1: Mike Lupica. But I thought that was his way of
15:57
Speaker 1: jabbing me. Now. I never asked him, Hey, why are
16:00
Speaker 1: you calling me Mike. I just kind of let him
16:02
Speaker 1: do it. But I knew he knew my name because
16:05
Speaker 1: one day, when he was upset with me, slammed his
16:09
Speaker 1: desk and said, damn it, Kenny. So I kind of
16:13
Speaker 1: figured out he knew what was going on. Now in
16:15
Speaker 1: a bigger sense with regard to the team, as I
16:18
Speaker 1: said there were no sacred cows. And at that point,
16:22
Speaker 1: Cal Ripken in nineteen ninety six was a thirty five
16:26
Speaker 1: year old shortstop. They really didn't have defensive metrics then,
16:30
Speaker 1: really to the level that we have now, if at all.
16:33
Speaker 1: Cal was slowing down at shortstop as a thirty five
16:36
Speaker 1: year old would, and Davy wanted to look at a
16:40
Speaker 1: kid named Manny Alexander, and I believe the front office
16:43
Speaker 1: did as well. Many Alexander was a gifted fielder, at
16:47
Speaker 1: least from the Dominican Republic, a young guy at that point,
16:50
Speaker 1: and while Cal was slowing down at shortstop, Davy also
16:56
Speaker 1: wanted to reduce his grip on the team as a whole.
17:00
Speaker 1: Cal's grip. Cal under the previous manager, Phil Reagan, had
17:04
Speaker 1: changed cutoffs and relays in spring training. Reagan tried to
17:08
Speaker 1: do one thing Cal wanted to do another. Cal would
17:11
Speaker 1: call pitches from shortstop. He was an incredibly influential player
17:15
Speaker 1: for good reason. He was also the smartest player on
17:17
Speaker 1: the field. But in some opinions with the Orioles, some
17:21
Speaker 1: people with the Oriols, they thought maybe he was going
17:23
Speaker 1: too far, so Davy wanted to cut him down. That
17:26
Speaker 1: was part of this well, the Manny Alexander experiment didn't work.
17:29
Speaker 1: It lasted only six games, but the issue persisted. Cal
17:33
Speaker 1: moved back to shortstoff for the rest of ninety six,
17:35
Speaker 1: and then at the end of ninety six, in the
17:37
Speaker 1: American League Championship series against the Yankees, the late Joe Morgan,
17:41
Speaker 1: calling the games I believe it was for NBC, kind
17:44
Speaker 1: of took exception with the way Cal was playing. He
17:47
Speaker 1: pointed out one play in particular, the cow should have
17:49
Speaker 1: made he didn't make. And I remember at the end
17:51
Speaker 1: of that series, I called Cal and I wanted to
17:55
Speaker 1: discuss that with him, and he explained that one of
17:58
Speaker 1: the plays, I believe the play that Morgan highlighted most
18:01
Speaker 1: there was this really fast kid, a right handed hitter
18:04
Speaker 1: who had just entered the league, and hey, his speed
18:08
Speaker 1: was the reason that Cal didn't make the play. That
18:11
Speaker 1: kid was Derek Jeter. Anyway, end of that season, the
18:15
Speaker 1: Oils signed Mike Bordick, and Mike Bordick, of course, was
18:18
Speaker 1: a really good defensive shortstop. He was not Manny Alexander.
18:21
Speaker 1: He was an established player, and at that point Cal
18:24
Speaker 1: could accept what was going on. He could understand that
18:29
Speaker 1: he had to move to third base, and he did,
18:30
Speaker 1: and he played a really good third base for the
18:33
Speaker 1: rest of his career. But I'll always remember that. I
18:35
Speaker 1: always remember Davy kind of tweaking Cal and kind of
18:39
Speaker 1: showing who was boss. For lack of a better term,
18:42
Speaker 1: I don't know that Cal took too kindly to it.
18:45
Speaker 1: He certainly didn't take too kindly to being taken off
18:48
Speaker 1: short from Manny Alexander, because again, Manny Alexander was not
18:51
Speaker 1: an established player. So to sum it up, I sort
18:56
Speaker 1: of had to laugh because while Saturday it was an
19:00
Speaker 1: incredibly sad day we lost Davy, it almost seemed to
19:04
Speaker 1: me that on the thirtieth anniversary of the celebration of
19:08
Speaker 1: Cal's streak, the record breaking night when he broke lu
19:13
Speaker 1: Gerrig's record, that was the day Davy passed. And it
19:17
Speaker 1: almost seemed like one of these things in life that happens.
19:20
Speaker 1: He was tweaking Cal one more time. Hey man, it's
19:23
Speaker 1: your day, but you know, here we go. Anyway, it
19:26
Speaker 1: was just a thought that came to my mind, not
19:28
Speaker 1: necessarily appropriate, but I want to wish Davy's family, his wife, Susan,
19:32
Speaker 1: and everyone else's family all the best. Were thinking to Davy.
19:35
Speaker 1: He was a legend. He was a blast to cover.
19:38
Speaker 1: He was one of the influential figures in the game.
19:41
Speaker 1: He had a tremendous career as a player and a manager.
19:44
Speaker 1: Davey Johnson rest in peace.
19:49
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20:55
Speaker 1: Time now for grilling Ken, the part of the show
20:56
Speaker 1: where I answer your questions. Let's get right to them.
20:59
Speaker 1: Time is a wasting all right. The first one comes
21:01
Speaker 1: from Alex Guanche, who asked favorites to reach the World Series. Now,
21:07
Speaker 1: as you guys know, if you follow me at all,
21:09
Speaker 1: my picks are always terrible. They're really terrible at the
21:12
Speaker 1: start of the season because it never turns out the
21:13
Speaker 1: way we think. I had the Rangers and the Braves
21:16
Speaker 1: had that work out for me. If I had to
21:18
Speaker 1: pick right now, who would I pick? I would say
21:22
Speaker 1: Phillies and Blue Jays. And I don't want to discount
21:26
Speaker 1: the Brewers because I do believe the Brewers have a shot,
21:29
Speaker 1: and I'm worried about the blue Jays bullpen obviously, but
21:32
Speaker 1: the American League is a total free for all. I
21:34
Speaker 1: have no idea what's going to happen the Tigers. I
21:37
Speaker 1: can see them winning too, but I'll go Phillies and
21:39
Speaker 1: Blue Jays right now. Rematch of what was that nineteen
21:43
Speaker 1: ninety three? All right? Next question, let's see what we
21:46
Speaker 1: got here. This one comes from foul territory. Who asked
21:49
Speaker 1: or which asks? Has Hunter Brown made the al Cy
21:52
Speaker 1: Young a two horse race. I don't know that I
21:55
Speaker 1: would go that far just yet, but Scooba leads league
21:59
Speaker 1: and two point one zero, Hunter Brown is next to
22:02
Speaker 1: two point twenty five, and then you've got Crochet at
22:05
Speaker 1: two point sixty seven. Schoolble to me is the runaway
22:09
Speaker 1: winner here. He not only leads in the ERA, which
22:11
Speaker 1: is just one metric, it's not the sole measure here.
22:14
Speaker 1: He also leads in strikeout rate, strikeout to walk rate,
22:17
Speaker 1: whip pretty much everything that you would want your guy
22:20
Speaker 1: to lead in now. Hunter Brown is interesting because Hunter
22:23
Speaker 1: Brown has had a season that has not gotten as
22:27
Speaker 1: much attention as Garrett Crochet's, but he has been really,
22:31
Speaker 1: really good outside of three starts in July when he
22:33
Speaker 1: dipped a little bit, it's been outstanding and as I said,
22:36
Speaker 1: second in the league in ERA right now, he's going
22:39
Speaker 1: to finish in the top three. And if he finishes
22:41
Speaker 1: in the top three, at least the way it appears
22:44
Speaker 1: right now, he will finish in the top three. Then
22:46
Speaker 1: the Astros get a pick because of the Prospect Promotion
22:49
Speaker 1: Incentive program, a pick after the first round so this
22:52
Speaker 1: has a lot of meaning to the Astros. Crochet has
22:55
Speaker 1: been outstanding all years as well. I can see him
22:59
Speaker 1: finishing second and Brown third, or depending upon how the
23:02
Speaker 1: final few weeks ago the other way around, one way
23:05
Speaker 1: or the other. It seems to me that's your top
23:07
Speaker 1: three for the American League. Cy Young, all right, next question,
23:11
Speaker 1: what do we have here? This comes from Armand who asked, Ken,
23:15
Speaker 1: did you watch Mets rookie's starting pitcher, Brandon Sprot's debut
23:18
Speaker 1: yesterday and what did you think? I did look, or
23:21
Speaker 1: did watch a little bit of that, and I was impressed.
23:24
Speaker 1: All I had heard about from reading about the Mets
23:28
Speaker 1: the last few weeks was that Jonahtang and Nolan mcclan
23:32
Speaker 1: had kind of passed Sprote as a prospect or had
23:35
Speaker 1: better years. At least I don't know that they've passed him.
23:38
Speaker 1: And watching Sproke yesterday, he looked really good. Stuff was good,
23:41
Speaker 1: stuff was down, and I know at the start of
23:44
Speaker 1: this outing it was really good. And then he allowed
23:47
Speaker 1: three straight hits after retiring, I believe the first nineteen
23:50
Speaker 1: something along those lines. He looked good. Now I touched
23:53
Speaker 1: on the Mets in my column today three rookie starters
23:57
Speaker 1: in the postseason. I'm not saying they're going to do that,
23:59
Speaker 1: but the possibility would certainly appear to exist. It's happened
24:03
Speaker 1: only a couple of times. It would seem to me
24:06
Speaker 1: to be a stretch. They need to get Peterson going again,
24:09
Speaker 1: and I don't know that you can start three rookies.
24:11
Speaker 1: But my goodness, McClain is extremely talented. He is a
24:15
Speaker 1: guy that has presence. His stuff is crazy to me.
24:19
Speaker 1: He looks like the real deal. Tong is a kid,
24:22
Speaker 1: He's got some growing to do, obviously, but extremely talented
24:25
Speaker 1: as well. And then sprote joining that group and listen
24:29
Speaker 1: for the future. It looks great, and it might even
24:32
Speaker 1: be that the present is going to require those three
24:34
Speaker 1: guys as well. All right, let's see what we have
24:37
Speaker 1: of anything else. I don't believe we do have anything else.
24:40
Speaker 1: All right, we're gonna close it out, then close out
24:42
Speaker 1: this version of our show. This is the Monday version
24:45
Speaker 1: of Foul Territory or Fair Territory. We will be back Thursday,
24:49
Speaker 1: as we always are, the live show of Fair Territory,
24:52
Speaker 1: myself with my co host Alana Rizzo. Have a great week, everyone,
24:56
Speaker 1: and I hope your favorite team doesn't drive you to nuts, swing.
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