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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Miami Marlins · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

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All right, folks, you're listening to our next installment of Opposition Territory here
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at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast
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show in the world. That's right, ten years strong. Celebrating our ten
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year anniversary here in April, we've got a great Opposition Territory podcast an interview
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coming your way. We're gonna be focusing on an Nled's team this week,
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the Miami Marlins. Boy, I gotta tell you this team, they're doing
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a little bit better than some had actually thought when the season initially started,
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certainly doing a lot better than they have been in previous years. This team
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is very interesting. Let's get to the discussion right now. It is great
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to have on the podcast for the very first time, coming to us from
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fish Stripes dot com. You don't we love our sp Nation sites. He
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is the one and only Eli Sassman. Eli, how are you doing,
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Buddy? I appreciate you invited me on. Jeff It's then. This is
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a great Yeah, it's a great time to be around this team when they're
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still in the mix. This early, man, absolutely early for things that
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totally goes out. Yeah, absolutely absolutely, We're gonna certainly get into you
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know what this Miami Marlins team has really been showing us what they've been showing
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the NL least. But right before we hit the record button here, on
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April twenty fifth, we got some news that Brian Reynolds has agreed to a
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contract extension with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Now, look, Miami Marlins fan base,
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you know they were hoping that Brian Reynolds might actually be able to,
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you know, head down to Florida. Not gonna happen. Now, what
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are your thoughts on this, buddy? As you touch on this is there
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there were real conversation between the Pirates and the Marlins going back the last year
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and a half, probably about Brian Reynolds, a guy that was still several
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years away from free agency, but on a Pirates scene that as recently as
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last year had lost a hundred games, he would seem like a piece that
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if they felt they weren't all that close, he would be a natural trade
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ship to give them even more young talent to build a rounds. But instead,
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these negotiations really heated up during spring training. They've been building for a
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couple months now at this point, and it turns out it's one that's going
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to take him all the way through his prime years into his mid thirties,
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going all the way through twenty thirty when they'll be thirty five years old.
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And he apparently the sticking point was an opt out in the middle of it
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that he really wanted and ultimately he didn't get, so he doesn't even have
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an opportunity to test the market at any point during the middle of his career.
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He was amazing player in twenty twenty one to put him on the map,
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a site down year last year, but all things considered, a switch
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hitter who can give you something in center fields even if he moves to the
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corners moving forward, he's just a really safe player to build around. So
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and these are the Pirates and well at the same time, more than anything,
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just happy for the fans because as much as Marlins fans have been tortured
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in the last couple of decades, the Pirates are right there in that same
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category and having very little route for and having very few stable players. So
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congrats to them on having him in The Marlins will just have to look somewhere
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else if they're trying to add that have a player in the middle of their
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lineup. Absolutely, It's good times though in Pittsburgh a team that is really
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surprised to everybody. And now with this news coming out Pittsburgh Pirates fans,
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yet you have something to celebrate. So hang on to this, folks if
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you're a Pittsburgh Pirates fan for sure. But getting into the Miami Marlins here,
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Eli, you know, from a record perspective, as we know again
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as of recording this on April twenty fifth, they're a game over five hundred
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and Frankly, when when you look at just previous Marlins seasons as you have
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in great detail, folks like myself kind of you know from from a little
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bit of a distance. Even though they are in the NL East, this
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team from a record perspective, now they're third in the NL East. They're
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not doing too too bad during this twenty twenty three season. So I'm wondering,
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if you had one word to describe this Marlin season thus far, what
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would that one word be, and why I would go with relevant? They
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are relevant first time in a while. Now on the macro level, I
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should point out the record as recording this twelve and eleven, that's exactly where
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they were last year, and that team went on to lose ninety three games,
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So the record alone is not going to tell you a whole At this
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early in the season, they are relevant. They have more star power than
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they've had in a while, with Sandy al Contra and making that leap last
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year to being the Siding Award winner, with Jazz Chisum Junior breaking out as
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a star and getting that extra angle to him of now being the face of
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the m will be the show, video, and game. He's quickly becoming
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one of the more recognizable players in all the baseball and he's the tools that
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back it up. Then, adding to that this test offseason with the trade
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of Louisa Riis, who has been even everything they could have dreamed of near
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the top of their order as somebody that you could just trust to put the
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bat on the ball better than absolutely anybody. They have these like foundational pieces
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more so than they've had in reason years, that draw attention to them,
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and not just nationally, I mean like locally relevant more so than they have
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been in a while. This is a team everybody can see from a distance.
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Their attendance is one of the worst in the league. Even their local
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TV ratings are typically near the worst in the league as well. They just
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get overshadowed by the Miami Heat, by the Miami Dolphins, by basically any
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other team that at least is more consistently contetitive than they are. This year
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has taken that incremental step forward, and obviously the big question is how much
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they can maintain that now throughout the paraphone of the season. Fewize it's simply
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the talent that is on the field, or has it really come from the
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front office kind of a philosophy of Okay, we really understand what type of
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talent we need out there on the field for productivity to happen. I know
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it sounds very simplistic in a way, but it's something the Miami Marlins have
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struggled with year after year after year, Like what is it that creating that
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relevancy? Now? In your opinion, for this organization and team, it
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always helps to have from the highest level. It's helps to have an investment
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from ownership. This year, they're spending more money on their payroll than they
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have since Bruce Sherman took over Jeffrey Laias six years ago, so that's allowed
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them to hold on to Sandy and Jazz without feeling too much pressure to squeeze.
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I feel like their resources are too stretched, too thin. They've just
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bumped up payroll by about twenty million compared to last year, allowing them to
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trade for additional pieces to make a couple of free agent signings, all without
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having to get rid of any of the veterans from last year that they felt
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like could still be part of their futures. It's really about as simple as
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that, getting cooperation from ownership in a year where if you go to the
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front office. From Kim Hang's perspective, so much hype about her hiring and
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considering how qualified she was for that particular job, but if you look at
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the results the last couple of years and even some individual moves like I think
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i'd say her ten year, the first couple of years was disappointing to this
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point, So for her and for everybody involved, there is just more urgency
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to be competitive this year, just considering how things didn't go their way the
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previous couple of years. There is a more present view on things rather than
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the long term view. They are realizing that just about everybody involved in the
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organization, and especially the fan base as well are getting anxious to see results
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on the field. It's interesting how I was talking to a specific NFL scout
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this past week about about long term planning, about the vision setting a foundation
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for teams from an NFL draft standpoint, and I think a lot of that
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does transcend over to baseball as well, just in terms of team vision and
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laying a foundation for the future. And man, the Marlins have just had
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a tough tough time with that from a vision standpoint, and I think we
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are seeing the fruits of some new labor, perhaps a new thought processes and
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philosophies really to fruition with this team. But moving along here as well,
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Eli, you know, even though there are some good vibes that are coming
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from the Marlins this season in early season trend is that they have the seventh
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highest strikeout rate at the plate this season and power hitters, you know,
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they are striking out more these days. But I wonder if the Marlins can
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continue down this type of path, and considering that they had the fifth highest
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strikeout rate in twenty twenty two last season, if they can gonna be able
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to gain some traction in the NL least given this kind of consistent rate with
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them and their strikeout rate. So what are your thoughts on this and do
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they have to improve? I would obviously say yes. I think you would
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say yes, but they need to improve and they can't just continue doing this
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correct. Yeah. Yeah, that is a good observation on you because this
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was a big issue last year and this was such a particular area of focus
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this offseason to add contact hitting. So with the trade of a Rise,
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the signing of former Philly Jean Sigura, a similar type of player they have
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Yulee Gurriel, another free agent who specializes in contact hitting, there was a
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big focus and an understanding that this was holding them back last year. I
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mean, the short answer is, I'm not particularly worried. This is something
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that certainly caught my attention that first week and a half when they were actually
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right around number one in the league and strikeout rate in that first week and
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a half. Since then, it's been closer what you would expect. They've
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actually been better than even the league average in terms of putting the bat on
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the ball, which is closer to what the skill said of the guys have.
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One person that's been missing from the equation has been Joey Wendell. They
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went into this year thinking he'd be pretty close to an everyday shorts up for
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them or lose their primary shorts up. He got hurt the very first week
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of the season and since then they've been patching it together with a decent job
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from John Birdie and from Garrett Hampson. But those are guys that also have
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a considerable amount of swing and missing their game, whereas Wendell is on the
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pretty high end of contact hitters, so he's going to be back in about
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a week. So between that and other layers simply performing the way that you
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thought they would, at least having the batted ball profile that you thought they
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would. I think as this year goes on and one of the dust cells,
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it is going to be and that's actually gonna be a positive aspect of
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the team, is that they'll very least give themselves a chance to get on
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base by putting balls in play. Maybe that's one of their biggest strengths.
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We're gonna be getting to that a little later on in the discussion. Again,
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folks were talking to Eli Sussman from fish Stripes dot Com and they do
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fantastic We're covering the Miami Marlins Great sp Nation site at Real Eli E.
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L Y on Twitter and moving along here. You know, you were talking
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about Lewis Arise and what he's given this ball club, and I'm looking at
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him and Brian de la Cruz. You know, they have been striking the
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ball very, very well this year. I think they're the basically the top
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batters on the team. Or hey, Slayer, I think that's how you
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say his name again, I screw up freaking names all the time. He
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already has five home runs on the year, ten RBIs on this season.
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Two what are you seeing this year from a hitting standpoint that might not have
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been as prevalent perhaps back in twenty twenty two. It's a reminder of how
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early we are in the season. That mentioned Brian della Cruz in there because
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they had a double hitter. Well, they had a double hitter double header
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on Saturday in Cleveland. They swept the doubleheader and Dell Cruz had five extra
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bass he had four doubles in a home run, and like having one single
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day like that this early in the year kind of like totally bullow up your
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numbers right with him? I do agree, he is a very interesting guy,
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and he got it going late last season. He pitched last season in
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September. Is one of the hottest hitters in the league, and the question
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was how much would that carry over once you're playing more meaningful games again,
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And so far it has mostly carried over with him in terms of arise.
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In particular, that's somebody that he kind of exists outside of any team construct.
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He's just his own anomaly, the guy that he's a man out of
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time, and the way that he plays baseball where he hits. He doesn't
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hit the ball hard, and he doesn't even try to hit the ball hard,
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but he just has that such special field for exactly how he needs to
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impact a ball in order to get it over the infielders. But in front
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of the outfielders, he's batting point yeah, far and away, leading the
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league in batting Averagel the NL in the major leagues as a whole, and
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Horece a layer in his particular case. I think that's mostly about simply being
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healthy. Last year, the entire year, he was dealing with a back
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issue, even coming out of spring training. Finally in the middle of the
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year, he just couldn't play through it anymore. And they shut him down.
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This year, he's healthy this year. A lot of it has had
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to do with simply keeping him as the designated hitter. Last year he was
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there every day left fielder for a period of time, and they think that
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keeping him that DH he is a very big part of keeping him healthy.
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But he looks amazing. He has all the motivation he needs because he can
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opt out of his contract after the season and tests free agency for one big
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pay day, one final time. So he's playing like somebody that senses that
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opportunity. That's but that's another player at least as long as they have so
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layer this year, as a been born player in a community that has so
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many Cuban fans, he could potentially be one of their fan favorites. And
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he certainly adds that power elements that they need to drive all those guys that
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they have so many players that are more typical singles hitters, and that's great,
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but to win games these days, I think he referenced it where gays
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are swing for the fences, and for good reason, because when he ultimately
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it's a math equation and if you hit a certain number of home runs,
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then you're typically going to win those games. And so Layre's some guy that
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no matter what ballpark, he's hitting, and he does have really impressive power.
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Absolutely, it's interesting to me you're talking about just how major League Baseball
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has changed over the years, and we know now it's about the launch angle,
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the power, you know, the Philadelphia Phillies, I mean, that's
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what they are all about. We haven't been able to see too too much
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power from the team, you know, to start the season, but man
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powers just everything in this day and age in Major League baseball. But I
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wanted to shift over from the batter's box to the mound. And the Marlins
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bullpen has been pretty freaking stellar this season. I mean, the ranked second
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major League Baseball in terms of win probability added Dylan Floro aj Pocket, they
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have been phenomenal, and I'm wondering, Eli, can the bullpen sustain this
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type of success down in Miami and throughout the league, you know, when
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they're on the road, and if so, how much pressure is on this
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group to keep performing at a very very high level. What are your thoughts
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here? It's a big reversal of last year. Last year they lost more
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one run games than any other team. Is always opposite. As they're speaking
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now in terms a run differential, they're being outscored by their opponents Lodge,
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but whenever they get into those close games, they get it done and they're
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undefeated in one run games. Incredible in this season. So it's been a
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total reversal before equal I think mostly you give the credits to the players,
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But in addition to he like the changing manager has made a difference. I
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feel like Don Mattingly, for as much as he was respected, his bullpen
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men nagement was always just a very confusing aspect of his managerial style. It
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didn't feel like he was always putting relievers in their best positions to be successful.
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And Skip Schumacher as a brand new manager, he just has a different
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approach to it. He doesn't have these guys in very black and white rolls.
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He just brings them into the game when he thinks they can get hitters
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out. So aside from AJ Puck being the main closer, almost everybody else
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has some wiggle roum as to when exactly they come to the game. Bring
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them in just based on where they think their stuff is going to play relative
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to the hitters that they're facing. Bull Puck and Flora are the clear standouts.
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Where Flora has been practically perfect this year, a lot of home runs
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that Pete Alonzo was very first appearance, and since then he's been almost completely
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perfect. More so than like a high feeling, I just feel it's like
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a very deep bullpen where they go about seven deep with guys that I really
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like one way or the other. They traded for Matt Barnes from the Red
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Sox and he's been much better this year. He was the previous couple or
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the Red Sox. In between them, Stephen Oaker, it's been around a
16:04
couple of years. Tanner Scott, who was their closer for Big Chunkle last
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year, he had a couple of low moments against the Phillies in particular.
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I don't know if you remember the walk off home arts and Garrett Stubbs.
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Yes, that was one of the more deflating losses. If you move them
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down now in the pecking order to just be a middle reliever instead of being
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the guy having very like ends of the games, then he's pretty well qualified
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for that role. In between they just it's it's a good deep open with
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guys you can trust that can go into different situations. To answer your main
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questions to whether they can keep it up, I don't quite think so,
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just because none of these guys are huge strikeout guys. Maybe Tanner Scott on
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his good days, but there's so many dad days where he just walks the
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whole stadium as well and get some something into trouble that way. In general,
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like they're near the bottom in terms of you mentioned how like it holds
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back your offensive times when you strike up as much, and as a pitching
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staff to be the best you could possibly be and be dominant, there's a
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certain number of strikeouts. Really need to be sure that, especially when playing
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now with no more defensive shifting, if two winny balls are going to play,
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you're going to get into trouble. That's still limitation with this team in
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terms of getting guys who can miss bets. So whether it's a prospect that
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they bring up during the season that maybe can help them in that regard,
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or if they finally if they're competitive enough willing to make a trade for a
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veteran that will reliably get strikeouts, I think they should really be focused on
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doing that. In the meantime. At least it's an improvement over where they
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work in twenty twenty two. I think it's really interesting, Eli, how
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you just mentioned, you know, Don Mattingley, and he's very respected in
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terms of what he has meant for Major League Baseball. And I didn't even
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really plan on asking you this because it brought me back to Joe Girardi with
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the Philadelphia Phillies as well, another guy who has respected for his time in
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MLB. Some of these former, you know, managers who are respected in
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the game, they just don't have a good pulse on what today's game actually
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is and how to utilize certain talent. I've always found that to be very
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amazing. We don't we haven't just seen it with these two individuals and these
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two icons in Major League Baseball. I just I wonder if that time of
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having success at a certain era of Major League Baseball and trying to bring it
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into this new era is just not the best type of decision making depending it
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regardless I should say, of what that person meant to the game. I
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don't know what are your thoughts on that, because again, you had it
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with Don Mattingley with the Marlins, and I am you know, we had
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it with Joe Girardi here. What are your thoughts on that When it comes
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to the manager position these days, there's just there's more collaboration with the front
18:44
office than are before and with the GM. Yeah, in Mattingley's face,
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he had been the longest tenure manager in the Marlins have ever ever had came
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in in twenty sixteen, which means that he was here before Kim Aang was
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here and before a lot of the front office personnel they have were a year
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he wasn't really their guy, and I just don't know the working relationship was
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kind of where it needed to be when they got to the end of that,
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and maybe he stayed a little bit longer. Is that twenty twenty season
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where the Mordels made the playoffs where he won and they'll manager of the Year
19:14
That obviously that's supposed to be a good thing, But in otherwise I complicated
19:18
exactly what probably the franchise intended to do. He was he was just too
19:22
good at his job to get moved at that particular stage. Stuck around two
19:26
more years. So more than more than anything, I don't think it's any
19:30
bias necessarily against old school guys, but you certainly do need to be on
19:34
the same page with a rest of your organization and he was caught in between.
19:37
So Skip Schumacher is the first hand picked manager that this this administration has
19:44
gone to put into that position. And so, you know, so so
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far they seem that that you could kind of notice, like how aligned they
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are and how friendly they are with each other. Yeah. Yeah, it
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is amazing how the various turns and avenues that these managers do go down in
20:00
terms of finding success, and then the success is at it's just gone.
20:04
It really is amazing to reflect on that as as baseball fans. But I
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wanted to get into some of the strengths and weaknesses next with you, Eli,
20:14
with regard to this Marlins team and what we've seen during this regular season
20:18
thus far here in twenty twenty three. So I guess straight up, I'm
20:22
wondering, what are you seeing as the biggest strength of this team? And
20:25
why I had to think a while on this, just because I don't know
20:29
if they're coming into the season. What I projected to be the standout strength
20:32
was the rotation, Yeah, and the depth of the rotation, and then
20:34
the top end with Sandy al Contra. But let's keep that short. Sandy
20:37
has not been pitching particularly well early in the year, and he just had
20:41
a little injury scare with his biceps. Ye that we'll have to wait to
20:44
see whether he comes up the other end looking like as your utuls up.
20:47
And they've already had now a couple of injuries to their rotation as well,
20:49
both Trevor Rodgers and Johnny Quato on the il. In the absence of that,
20:53
I have to default to the bullpen to this point, and how deep
20:57
it is, how pleasantly surprising it has been to see the new editions like
21:02
Puck and Barnes pitching well, and to also see the guys that they brought
21:04
back from last year simply improved, whether it's Dylan Floro at the top end,
21:10
or if you dive really deep into these lesser known players washcar Brazzo,
21:14
Bond and Andrew Nardie, both of whom were rookie is last year. They're
21:18
in their first full season now and both of them are even more polished as
21:22
pitchers than they were last year. So that would have to be it that
21:26
has been they keep that's been the reason why they have overperformed to this point
21:29
in winning those close games on the weakness side, I would point to their
21:33
lineup depth the top end. We've talked on like the positive aspects of their
21:37
lineup. On the bottom en, they just have several gaping holes. Positionwise,
21:42
you could start with catcher Jacob Stallings and the court Says, who have
21:48
been like mirror images of each other in terms of just giving you nothing at
21:52
the plate whatsoever. Seventy or something like that somewhere around there. One seventy
21:56
without power and without out walks. They just don't give you anything at that
22:03
position, especially with Fortes people. There was a lot of expectation for him
22:07
to supplant Stallings as the primary catcher, and he simply hasn't hit well enough
22:11
for earlier year to do so that's been a hole. And to the same
22:15
degree, so his third base, which is now Jean Sigura's position. They
22:18
had this somewhat off the wall idea to move him the third base, even
22:22
though he'd been a second baseman for a lot of his career. Yeah,
22:25
and I'd say defensively, there's been some ups and downs. He seems to
22:30
be slowly getting used to it playing there every single day. But hitting wise,
22:33
it's a two hundred hitter without any power and without even when he gets
22:38
on base at this stage of his career, is not quite the same base
22:41
runner that he used to be as well. He leads the league at this
22:44
point in grounding into double blaze. That's been the main issues. He cannot
22:48
get the ball off the ground. Wow, I wasn't aware of that.
22:51
Yeah, wow, everything is on the ground with him. I mean,
22:53
so he keeps steadily dropping a little bit more and more in the lineup,
22:56
and it's his playing time going from every day to now almost every day,
23:02
and we'll see exactly how often he's playing once a Joey Wendell gets back and
23:04
they have another infielder to the mix. He's been a big disappointment in that
23:08
regard. Then they also have won their corner outfield spots. He kind of
23:11
fulctuates between left and right, but they're good between del Cruz and Solare and
23:18
then the other equal amount of that bats go to obviously Old Garcia and hay
23:22
Sus Sanchez, and both of those two have been pretty awful to this point
23:26
in the season. There was I don't know how you describe it, like
23:30
there was a hope that Aby would bounce, Garcia would bounce back this year
23:33
after being such a big bust last year, But there really wasn't much evidence
23:37
to suggest that there was. Just people pointing to his history and said,
23:41
during even years he is a terrible hitter, but during odd years he usually
23:45
is like his normal self. Again. Yeah, yeah, and to this
23:49
point, to this point, it's just been that bounced back that pattern.
23:53
I should say that pattern has not continued as they hoped it would, right
23:57
and reaching a point it's only early in the second year of a four year,
24:02
fifty three million dollars deal that there is now a lot of chattered building
24:07
as to whether they would simply pull a Madison bum Garner and cut him as
24:11
mad Bum was a few days ago, because he is underperforming to that extent.
24:17
It's it's at a level where you simply call up the next guy up
24:19
at Triple A and they'll probably do better than he will. At this stage,
24:23
he simply is swinging at everything and he's missing at everything. He's a
24:29
state of his career where I just don't know if you can expect them to
24:30
get on track when you go through this line of it's just not a deep
24:34
line. If there are too many automatic outs in there for them to sustain
24:37
rallies, to put up crooked numbers. Very interesting and to close us out
24:44
here, ELI wanted to get into the NLL East Division kind of as a
24:48
whole with you to get your thoughts there on where do you think things are
24:52
shaping up? Because the Braves they don't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.
24:56
They're going to be remaining at the top of this NILL East unles.
25:00
The injury bug somehow hits them. Mets are what fifteen and nine on the
25:03
season. The Phillies, they're they're digging themselves out of a hole that they
25:08
put themselves into early this season, starting to crawl out from under that hole.
25:14
Well, what are your thoughts on how the NL least is really looking
25:15
at this point? And where do you think the Marlins may actually end up
25:19
faring within the division? As we're you know, moving forward here, we
25:25
have that slightly different scheduled format in play in Major League Baseball whre you play
25:29
your division rivals list than they used to. So the Marlins opened up with
25:32
two series against the Mets, and that's already most of their head to head
25:34
matchups this entire year. It's hard for me to get in my mind ground
25:38
exactly how different that is. They won't see the Mets again until late September.
25:41
It's incredible, it yeah, because have it lined up anyway with that?
25:45
The Mets certainly had the Marlins number and both of those series, I
25:48
think they won five at a seven, And like you saw a team that
25:52
I think that's the safest team maybe, but also in terms of the one
25:57
that I still see, the Brave is the very top of the division,
26:02
as they have been year after year after year. Because they're even down a
26:04
couple of key players right now, they don't really have a center fielder,
26:07
they don't really have a short stopping yet they're continuing to roll. And I
26:11
was looking it up the other day. They just go back a long period
26:15
of time the last six years. They just don't have these prolonged losing streaks.
26:18
There's such a consistent team, and more so than ever with everybody locked
26:22
up to those long term extensions, they have so much continuity year after year
26:26
after year. That team there, I'd say their hitters get a lot of
26:30
attention, but we're recording this to night after Spencer Strider flirted with no hitter.
26:36
Their starting rotation is They're just an extremely deep team anyway you look at
26:40
it. And so I would once again it's a safe, it's a boring
26:44
thick, but I would probably say that the brains of the best chance to
26:45
actually win this whole thing. Yeah. Yeah, And as you touched on
26:49
what the Phillies they got off to relatively slow start, that's a team that
26:53
the Marlins are we're looking at as the most vulnerable of those like big markets
27:00
teams. Yeah, but I think as we look at it now, we
27:03
see a team that is getting back on track, one that is not that
27:06
far away from adding Bryce Harper back into the mix. And even outside of
27:08
him, the Phillies have just they made really I like a lot of the
27:14
moves that they've made from acquiring Brandon Marsh last summer now seeing him become the
27:18
very best version of himself. And yeah, Trey Turner was the type of
27:22
player that the Marlins really needed last offseason, but we're never going to spend
27:25
that kind of money to get him. So now to add him in the
27:26
division for the next century or the rest of his career, that's gonna be
27:32
a tough pill to swallow as well. So in terms of where the Marlins
27:36
fit in. Unfortunately, it is probably exactly where they were last or where
27:40
they're They're pretty clear fourth team. They're certainly trying more than the Washington Nationals
27:45
are because of how many wildcard spots there now are. They don't need to
27:51
think about winning the division because they've never won the division in their franchise's history.
27:56
That's ever been on the table. The question is exactly if they could
27:57
squeeze into one those wildcard spots, and I think that's possible, but they'll
28:04
I think they do need a team like the Phillies to slip up in order
28:07
to like squeeze in. There may just happen. Yeah, it's Philadelphia,
28:12
It could happen. All things considered, I think this is a better Marlin
28:17
scene than we saw in twenty twenty two, But big gap between them and
28:22
those other three Titans in the division. That gap has nowhere been close to
28:26
closed at this point. Gonna be interesting to follow this twenty twenty three season
28:30
for sure, what happens with this NL East again. Folks. Eli Sussman
28:34
at real Eli on Twitter. If you're on the Twitter dot com, give
28:37
him a follow. He is a great follow and head on over to fish
28:40
Stripes dot Com as well. You're gonna get some some pretty interesting Miami Marlin's
28:45
uh content there, Eli Man, thank you so much for taking the time
28:48
to join us on our Opposition Territory pod this week, and I hope to
28:52
have you on down the road at some point. Absolutely pleasure to come back
28:56
on with you. Jay. I don't know. I see the Philadelphia Phillies
29:00
potentially doing some stumbling in the future, and could the Marlins end up being
29:06
that third spot in this division, in this NL East Division. Absolutely,
29:11
I could actually see that happening. I don't know. Maybe it's that pessimistic
29:15
Phillies sports side of me coming out here. Maybe it's the type of April
29:18
that we have seen from the Phillies, where, like I mentioned, and
29:22
as we all know, they really dug themselves a hole. And I think
29:26
the goal for the Phillies was that they wanted to win the division after coming
29:30
off that World Series, that unbelievable and remarkable run. During the postseason,
29:36
you know, we saw and are seeing that World Series hangover. So I
29:42
think that there is a possibility in the future for the Marlins to potentially take
29:48
that third spot. If there is some consistency that kind of remains with that
29:52
team, as we know, you know, their third right now in the
29:56
NL East, and I think things are going to kind of go back and
29:59
forth between them and the Phillies throughout this season. Gonna be interesting to watch
30:03
for sure, and that's gonna do it for us here in Opposition Territory.
30:06
This week, we've got a great regular show that's gonna be dropping Thursday,
30:11
as you all know, as our subscribers know, Thursday morning, we will
30:14
be uploading our regular show. We've got some great Sixers content on the way,
30:18
got some Eagles talk as well, and we'll certainly be getting into the
30:22
Philadelphia Phillies too and what we've been seeing with them as of late. If
30:26
you are on Instagram, give us a follow up there Philadelphia Sports Table,
30:30
and if you're on the Twitter dot com at Philadelphia p ST you can follow
30:33
me at Jeffrey Underscore Warren And that's gonna do it for us, folks.
30:37
Take care, we'll catch you next time.