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Fair Territory: AL West Chaos, Mets on the Brink, Ken Addresses Viral Cameraman Moment · Foul Territory

0:03
Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Monday edition of Fair Territory. Less
0:06
Speaker 1: than two weeks to go in the regular season, and yes,
0:10
Speaker 1: we have action. It's not total chaos. We've got some
0:14
Speaker 1: things that are pretty much decided. The AL Central, the
0:17
Speaker 1: NL Central, the NL East, the AL East, and the
0:21
Speaker 1: NL West are trending that way. They got the Dodgers
0:23
Speaker 1: up two and a half, the Jay's up four with
0:26
Speaker 1: thirteen to play.
0:27
Speaker 2: But there's still a lot of.
0:29
Speaker 1: Things going on that are intriguing and we're going to
0:32
Speaker 1: get into them in this program today. We're going to
0:34
Speaker 1: get into a lot of things, including what happens Saturday
0:37
Speaker 1: night in Milwaukee. Now, let's start with the AL West
0:41
Speaker 1: and Wild Card because right now that is the most
0:43
Speaker 1: interesting of all the races. They're kind of both connected
0:47
Speaker 1: and we have three teams in those races, the Mariners,
0:50
Speaker 1: the Astros, and the Rangers. And if you heard Brewers
0:53
Speaker 1: manager Pat Murphy after the Brewers clinched their postseason birth,
0:57
Speaker 1: he talked about the Pakoda projection system, and he talked
1:00
Speaker 1: about how the Brewers were projected by Pakoda to win
1:03
Speaker 1: only eighty point two games this year. Obviously they've done
1:07
Speaker 1: much better than that, but the projection Systems actually got
1:11
Speaker 1: the Al West right, and the projection system said at
1:14
Speaker 1: the start of the season that the Mariners, Astros and
1:17
Speaker 1: Rangers would really be close the whole season. I remember
1:20
Speaker 1: Mike Petriello of MLB dot Com writing a whole story
1:24
Speaker 1: about this, and while it hasn't been the exact path
1:28
Speaker 1: that we might have thought, here we are with those
1:31
Speaker 1: three teams really close to each other. Now this week
1:34
Speaker 1: is going to be huge. The Mariners have taken sole
1:37
Speaker 1: possession of the division lead for the first time since
1:40
Speaker 1: June first, Wow, three months and now with nine straight wins,
1:46
Speaker 1: a huge week lies ahead because the Astros, the team
1:49
Speaker 1: that's been in first place for most of the season.
1:52
Speaker 1: Their next six games are at home against the Rangers
1:56
Speaker 1: and the Mariners. Now, the Astros they led the division
2:00
Speaker 1: by six games on July twenty third, even with all
2:03
Speaker 1: their injuries eighteen players on the injured list at one point,
2:07
Speaker 1: including I believe it was twelve starting pitchers at the time.
2:10
Speaker 1: They still have fourteen players on the il, including Josh Hader.
2:14
Speaker 1: So it's been that kind of year for the Astros,
2:17
Speaker 1: and yet they've held on. They held on without Jurdan
2:20
Speaker 1: Alvarez for a while without Jeremy.
2:22
Speaker 2: Panna, They've had all kinds of things happen.
2:25
Speaker 1: And yet since July twenty third, they're twenty one and
2:29
Speaker 1: twenty six. There are bottom six offense in the major leagues.
2:33
Speaker 1: That surprising to me. The Astros are a bottom six
2:37
Speaker 1: offense and they really haven't been that much better since
2:40
Speaker 1: getting Correa, Arias and Sanchez at the deadline and then
2:44
Speaker 1: getting Alvarez back.
2:45
Speaker 2: You see the standings right there.
2:46
Speaker 1: This is the Al West and the Mariners obviously up
2:50
Speaker 1: by a game on the Astros, up three.
2:52
Speaker 2: Game on the Rangers, three games on the Rangers.
2:55
Speaker 1: The Rangers, to me, are the most fascinating team of all.
2:59
Speaker 1: For five months, they drove their front office crazy, they
3:04
Speaker 1: drove their fans crazy. They underachieved. Only after injuries to
3:09
Speaker 1: Corey Seger, Marcus Simeon, Nathan Evoldi, and a bunch of
3:13
Speaker 1: others did they finally start to snap out of it.
3:16
Speaker 1: And they finally started to snap out of it with
3:18
Speaker 1: the players that they're TV analyst David Murphy dubbed the
3:21
Speaker 1: little rascals.
3:22
Speaker 2: Who am I talking about?
3:23
Speaker 1: Cody Freeman, Michael Hellman, Dustin Harris, who has now been
3:26
Speaker 1: demoted Alejandro Asunya. These guys, many casual fans have never
3:31
Speaker 1: heard of them. They've given the Rangers energy and the
3:34
Speaker 1: Rangers are in a great spot here. Well, still an
3:37
Speaker 1: uphill fight, but in a great spot considering where they were.
3:41
Speaker 1: Adolice Garcia came back yesterday, he too was injured, and
3:44
Speaker 1: Corey Seeger is expected back from his appendicitis or his
3:48
Speaker 1: appendix removal, probably the end of this week. So the
3:54
Speaker 1: Rangers are in an interesting spot here. And let's not
3:57
Speaker 1: forget the Guardians either. The Guardians in this wildcard race
4:01
Speaker 1: here they are they're only two and a half out.
4:03
Speaker 1: You see the Rangers, they're two out in the wildcard standings.
4:06
Speaker 1: The Guardians are two and a half out.
4:07
Speaker 2: Now, with this.
4:09
Speaker 1: Late stage of the season, with so few games remaining,
4:12
Speaker 1: two and two and a half is a significant deficit.
4:15
Speaker 1: It's hard to make it up. Kind of have to
4:17
Speaker 1: win every day. But we'll see what happens here because
4:21
Speaker 1: it's been unpredictable. And the Guardians they've won nine of ten.
4:26
Speaker 1: They two are a depleted team in many ways. Remember
4:29
Speaker 1: they've lost Luis Ortiz and a Manuel class A because
4:32
Speaker 1: of the gambling investigation, and yet they're starting pitching of
4:36
Speaker 1: late has been brilliant. They're reliever Kate Smith, who is
4:39
Speaker 1: one of the more underappreciated relievers in the game. He's
4:42
Speaker 1: got saves in seven straight appearances. They've been really good.
4:46
Speaker 1: So the Guardians, I wouldn't say they have a great chance.
4:49
Speaker 2: I wouldn't even say they have a good chance, but
4:51
Speaker 2: they're there.
4:52
Speaker 1: They're playing meaningful games on September fifteenth, And what I
4:56
Speaker 1: always say to fans is that really is the baseline
5:00
Speaker 1: of what you can ask of your favorite team. If
5:02
Speaker 1: they're doing that, you've had a fun season. As maddening
5:05
Speaker 1: as some of these seasons can be. Now, let's turn
5:08
Speaker 1: to the National League Wildcard because this one, this one
5:12
Speaker 1: is something that none of us saw coming. The Mets
5:16
Speaker 1: finally ended their eight game losing streak on Sunday. Both
5:20
Speaker 1: San Francisco and Cincinnati also lost, so they didn't actually
5:25
Speaker 1: lost ground in this particular situation, so the Mets maybe
5:28
Speaker 1: have a little bit of breathing room. They're game and
5:30
Speaker 1: a half over the Giants right now in the wildcard standings,
5:33
Speaker 1: two games over the Diamondbacks, who suddenly have slipped into
5:36
Speaker 1: this equation, and the Reds are now two and a
5:38
Speaker 1: half back. The Mets hold a tiebreaker over the Giants,
5:43
Speaker 1: not the Reds. The one with the Diamondbacks would be
5:45
Speaker 1: decided by intra division record.
5:46
Speaker 2: It's complicated. Let's not even go there.
5:49
Speaker 1: But the Mets are still tied for the third worst
5:53
Speaker 1: winning percentage in the Majors since June twelfth, third worst
5:59
Speaker 1: tied for the work. It's amazing what has happened here,
6:03
Speaker 1: and we're gonna get into it more a little bit
6:05
Speaker 1: later in the inside dish.
6:07
Speaker 2: Obviously, they were forty five.
6:08
Speaker 1: And twenty four at one point. Their starting pitching at
6:11
Speaker 1: that point was the best in the majors. It has
6:13
Speaker 1: since fallen apart. We've seen them use their rookies and
6:17
Speaker 1: actually to pretty good effect. Jonah Thong, I know, struggled
6:20
Speaker 1: Friday night, but sprot and McLain were really good this weekend.
6:24
Speaker 1: The Mets are gonna.
6:24
Speaker 2: Ride those guys.
6:25
Speaker 1: Sean Maniya is now in the bullpen. But as I
6:28
Speaker 1: said on Fox on our broadcast Saturday, if the Mets
6:32
Speaker 1: cannot make a twelve team playoff with a three hundred
6:36
Speaker 1: and forty million dollars payroll, it's gonna go down as
6:40
Speaker 1: one of the biggest flops in major League history. Now
6:44
Speaker 1: they should get in. Still, I believe they've got the
6:46
Speaker 1: kid pitchers, David Peterson as well. It's not great, but
6:50
Speaker 1: it's good enough. But what's incredible to me is that
6:54
Speaker 1: it's even gotten to this point. Let's look at the teams,
6:58
Speaker 1: or talk about the teams that are chasing the Mets.
7:02
Speaker 2: The Giants, a team.
7:04
Speaker 1: That's sold at the deadline, a team that sold, in fact,
7:07
Speaker 1: a relief pitcher to the Mets, Tyler Rodgers. The Giants,
7:11
Speaker 1: a team that about two weeks ago people were talking
7:14
Speaker 1: about their manager, Bob Melvin not coming back. The Diamondbacks,
7:19
Speaker 1: this is a team that also sold to the deadline.
7:21
Speaker 1: Let's not forget Ajohano Suarez, Merril, Kelly, Josh Naylor, Randall,
7:26
Speaker 1: gritchik All gone, Shelby Miller two, he's now hurt. They
7:30
Speaker 1: sold in a big way. They're still in contention. And
7:33
Speaker 1: then the Reds, who have kind of sputtered along all year.
7:36
Speaker 1: They're two and a half back. Now they're blow five hundred.
7:39
Speaker 1: These teams are all hovering around five hundred. Nothing great
7:42
Speaker 1: on any of them, but they're in these they're in
7:46
Speaker 1: this race as well. And all three of these teams
7:48
Speaker 1: as I mentioned, have at least some degree of hope.
7:52
Speaker 1: Now the Mets have a somewhat difficult schedule, remaining homestand
7:56
Speaker 1: continues against the Padres, who are starting to play a
7:59
Speaker 1: little bit better, or again albeit against the Rockies and
8:02
Speaker 1: the Nationals, and then they're on the road against the Cubs,
8:04
Speaker 1: who I guess would have clinched by the time this
8:06
Speaker 1: series takes place. Clinched a playoff spot, I should say.
8:09
Speaker 1: And then they complete the season with Miami the Giants.
8:14
Speaker 1: They're at Arizona this week. That's a big series. Suddenly
8:17
Speaker 1: they've got the Dodgers in LA for four. That's going
8:21
Speaker 1: to be a big series. They just play the Dodgers
8:23
Speaker 1: and lost two of three, and then they're home against
8:25
Speaker 1: the Cardinals and Rocky So if they can hang in,
8:28
Speaker 1: they end with a fairly easy schedule. The Cardinals, by
8:30
Speaker 1: the way, they're only four out in the wild card
8:33
Speaker 1: Stanleys and they've had not a great season. Then there
8:36
Speaker 1: are the Diamondbacks. They host the Giants and Phillies, and
8:40
Speaker 1: then they play the Dodgers and they're at San Diego.
8:42
Speaker 2: They've got a really difficult schedule, and.
8:45
Speaker 1: Then Cincinnati at Saint Louis home against the Cubs home
8:48
Speaker 1: against the Pirates at Milwaukee, which will be lining up
8:50
Speaker 1: its playoff rotation.
8:52
Speaker 2: So there you have it. That's the NL race.
8:55
Speaker 1: And again, it shouldn't have ever come to this, but
9:00
Speaker 1: here we are, and I would expect again the Mets
9:03
Speaker 1: have enough of a cushion, even though it's not much
9:05
Speaker 1: of a cushion, but enough of a cushion to hold
9:08
Speaker 1: on here. All they have to do is hit. Yes,
9:11
Speaker 1: they're pitching is problematic. We all know that at this
9:13
Speaker 1: point they just haven't hit in the way that you
9:17
Speaker 1: would expect from a team with Peter Alonzo and Juan
9:20
Speaker 1: Soto and Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimo, all of these
9:25
Speaker 1: superstar types. Nimo less of a superstar, but a guy
9:28
Speaker 1: who's highly paid for sure, and for whatever reason, they
9:31
Speaker 1: have not fired. So all right, that is it for
9:34
Speaker 1: the Pennant Races. Now, finally, before we go into our
9:37
Speaker 1: next segment, the Inside Dish, I want to talk about
9:39
Speaker 1: what happens Saturday night when I accidentally bowled over Scott
9:43
Speaker 1: ballas Paulus, the Brewer's team photographer, while I was getting
9:47
Speaker 1: out of the way of the Brewers dumping water on
9:50
Speaker 1: Andrew Monasterium. Now, the ever observant AJ Prazinski joked afterward
9:56
Speaker 1: that I looked like Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston. Now, Aj,
10:01
Speaker 1: of course, is more experienced in these kinds of interactions
10:04
Speaker 1: than I am, and I must admit though, when I
10:09
Speaker 1: looked at the video when I saw this, I was
10:12
Speaker 1: surprised at how upset I appeared. I was more confused
10:16
Speaker 1: than anything. Now I had to continue the interview. We
10:19
Speaker 1: were live folks on national television.
10:22
Speaker 2: Couldn't stop.
10:23
Speaker 1: And that said, I felt awful about what happened, And
10:28
Speaker 1: afterward I went up to Scott, who I've worked with
10:30
Speaker 1: in Pitts before over the years, and I apologize, and
10:33
Speaker 1: I apologize profusely, because let's face it, I don't think
10:36
Speaker 1: that you ever expect knocking someone down is going to.
10:39
Speaker 2: Happen in any particular situation. So yeah, sure, I apologized.
10:44
Speaker 1: And Fox is doing the American League playoffs this year,
10:47
Speaker 1: so I won't see the Brewers again unless it's the
10:49
Speaker 1: World Series. But if I do see the Brewers in
10:52
Speaker 1: the World Series, I look forward to working with Scott
10:54
Speaker 1: again in the photo pit, and I also look forward
10:57
Speaker 1: to sharing a good laugh with him over this, Okay,
11:00
Speaker 1: The Inside Dish is next.
11:02
Speaker 2: Stay with us.
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Speaker 1: All right, Time out for the inside Dish, the part
12:28
Speaker 1: of the show where I talk about a story I've written,
12:31
Speaker 1: something going on in the game, or something else entirely.
12:34
Speaker 1: And I guess today I would classify classify this one
12:38
Speaker 1: as talking about something going on in the game and
12:40
Speaker 1: something I've written, something that's always been interesting to me.
12:45
Speaker 1: And the subject is chemistry, team chemistry. And as I
12:49
Speaker 1: wrote Friday in a column about Bryce Harper and the Phillies,
12:52
Speaker 1: chemistry can be elusive. It's difficult to capture, it's difficult
12:56
Speaker 1: to define, but it is something and I know over
13:01
Speaker 1: the years when I used to work at MLB Network,
13:03
Speaker 1: I would argue with Brian Kenny about the importance of
13:06
Speaker 1: chemistry all the time, and Brian would poo poo it.
13:09
Speaker 1: He would say, Oh, it's not as important as the numbers,
13:11
Speaker 1: as performance. But if you've ever walked into a Major
13:15
Speaker 1: league clubhouse, if you've ever covered the sport, if you've
13:18
Speaker 1: ever been around the sport in any meaningful way, and
13:20
Speaker 1: even if you're a fan watching the games, you know
13:23
Speaker 1: that chemistry does matter, and you know that teams with
13:27
Speaker 1: big stars often face a different dynamic, and occasionally it's
13:33
Speaker 1: an uncomfortable dynamic. Now, the subject of this column was Harper,
13:38
Speaker 1: and the reason I wrote it because when I went
13:40
Speaker 1: to Philadelphia last week a couple of people mentioned to me,
13:45
Speaker 1: a few people mentioned to me actually that they were
13:48
Speaker 1: worried or just thinking that maybe Bryce Harper was kind
13:53
Speaker 1: of put off or out of sorts a little bit,
13:56
Speaker 1: that Kyle Schwarber was getting all the attention because Kyle
13:59
Speaker 1: Schwarber fifty home run season, a magical campaign in his
14:02
Speaker 1: free agent year, and that struck me as a little
14:06
Speaker 1: bit odd, but I sort of understood too. Bryce Harper
14:11
Speaker 1: been on the cover of Sports Illustrated from the time
14:13
Speaker 1: he was sixteen years old. That was the first time
14:15
Speaker 1: he was on the cover, and he's been the center
14:17
Speaker 1: of attention ever since then. He's a two time MVP,
14:20
Speaker 1: he was the MVP of the twenty twenty two NLCS.
14:24
Speaker 1: He is the Alpha of alphas. So when I heard
14:28
Speaker 1: these people talking about that, they thought maybe Bryce was
14:30
Speaker 1: in a little bit of a funk because of it.
14:32
Speaker 1: I'm not making any of this up. This is people
14:34
Speaker 1: telling me stuff. So I go up to Bryce, who's
14:37
Speaker 1: always open to questions, and I said, Hey, anything going on?
14:41
Speaker 2: Here? Are the Phillies in your mind?
14:44
Speaker 1: Still your team? And does it matter if they're still
14:47
Speaker 1: your team? And the answer he gave was enlightening. At first,
14:52
Speaker 1: he left, he thought the question. He didn't think it
14:54
Speaker 1: was offensive or anything like that. He just thought it
14:56
Speaker 1: was kind of funny. And here is what he said.
14:58
Speaker 1: Because what he said again and was revealing, at least
15:01
Speaker 1: in terms of his mindset relative to Kyle schwarpr I
15:05
Speaker 1: cut the quote down a little bit from the one
15:07
Speaker 1: I use in the column, but this is it. I
15:09
Speaker 1: think it's everybody's team in here. Kyle is obviously having
15:13
Speaker 1: an incredible year in a contract year as well, He's
15:16
Speaker 1: going to have that hype around him. I've never been
15:19
Speaker 1: that type of guy where I wanted it to be
15:21
Speaker 1: my team or someone else's team.
15:24
Speaker 2: Our main goal is winning.
15:26
Speaker 1: That's everybody's mindset.
15:28
Speaker 2: Now.
15:29
Speaker 1: I don't know that you can answer that question much
15:31
Speaker 1: better than that. It's practically a perfect answer, right But
15:36
Speaker 1: at the same time, just wonder how these things.
15:39
Speaker 2: Play out now.
15:39
Speaker 1: Right now, the Phillies confidence is rather striking.
15:43
Speaker 2: Being around them, you could feel it.
15:45
Speaker 1: This was, of course, in the middle of their sweep
15:47
Speaker 1: of the Mets, which was a great series for them.
15:50
Speaker 1: But even without Zach Wheeler who's out for this season,
15:53
Speaker 1: even without Trey Turner and Alec Bohm who are coming
15:56
Speaker 1: back but still injured, right now, they have this vibe
16:00
Speaker 1: I've been feeling about them. Other teams have it too
16:02
Speaker 1: right now. I would say the Blue Jays have that
16:04
Speaker 1: kind of feeling. They've been really a great team all
16:08
Speaker 1: season long, most comebacks in the major leagues, and you
16:11
Speaker 1: sense a togetherness there. I think you sense it with
16:15
Speaker 1: the Mariners too, to some extent. And I'm sure I'm
16:17
Speaker 1: missing teams, but when you see it and you know
16:20
Speaker 1: it when you don't, and that brings me to the Mets.
16:23
Speaker 2: Now.
16:24
Speaker 1: Maybe the Mets finally snapped out of it yesterday. And
16:27
Speaker 1: let's be clear, as I wrote, the biggest problem with
16:30
Speaker 1: the Mets by far it's not even close, is starting pitching.
16:35
Speaker 1: What I said in the first segment rings true. They
16:37
Speaker 1: were forty five and twenty four with the best rotation
16:39
Speaker 1: in the majors as of June twelfth. It crumbled from
16:43
Speaker 1: their injuries and effectiveness. All kinds of things happened, and
16:47
Speaker 1: this is why they are now where they are kind
16:51
Speaker 1: of holding on for dear life in the National League
16:53
Speaker 1: wildcard race.
16:54
Speaker 2: So that's the main thing.
16:56
Speaker 1: But as I also wrote, something seems with them now.
17:02
Speaker 1: I don't know exactly what it is. If anything, the
17:06
Speaker 1: Mets big stars, Lindora, Alonso, Sodo, they're viewed by the
17:11
Speaker 1: team by their own people, club officials, teammates, etc. All
17:15
Speaker 1: good people, all good guys. No one says this guy's
17:18
Speaker 1: a jerk, that guy's that.
17:20
Speaker 2: Or anything like that.
17:21
Speaker 1: But is it all meshing together perfectly? I would suggest
17:25
Speaker 1: that the evidence says no. Now, the easy target here
17:29
Speaker 1: is Sodo. He's the seven hundred and sixty five million
17:32
Speaker 1: dollar edition, he's the new guy, all of that. But
17:36
Speaker 1: he sure seemed to fit in well with the Yankees
17:38
Speaker 1: last season, and my goodness, he's having a season that
17:42
Speaker 1: is right up there with his best.
17:43
Speaker 2: And that's saying something because this is Wan Soda. We're
17:46
Speaker 2: talking about.
17:47
Speaker 1: Forty homers, thirty two stolen bases, nine to twenty one
17:50
Speaker 1: ops right there in the top ten, as he always
17:53
Speaker 1: has been and or is he often has been the
17:57
Speaker 1: last two months since August first, he's been absolutely brilliant.
18:01
Speaker 1: So if you want to say the problem is Soto,
18:04
Speaker 1: if indeed there's a problem, I would push back on that.
18:08
Speaker 2: But is it possible that some stuff.
18:11
Speaker 1: Is going on here now? Only the Mets truly.
18:13
Speaker 2: Know what is going on in their clubhouse.
18:16
Speaker 1: If there is indetention or jealousy or even friction, he
18:22
Speaker 1: can't say for sure. But these guys are who they are.
18:26
Speaker 1: This is what I want to stress here. They're who
18:28
Speaker 1: they are because they have massive egos and I'm not
18:31
Speaker 1: saying that in a bad way. They have an incredible
18:34
Speaker 1: belief in their abilities. They're all alphas, and when you
18:38
Speaker 1: put these kinds of players in a room together, sometimes
18:41
Speaker 1: it works, sometimes it doesn't. It can be disruptive when
18:45
Speaker 1: you have big time players who maybe get along but
18:50
Speaker 1: just have.
18:50
Speaker 2: A wariness about each other.
18:52
Speaker 1: Again, hard to define, hard to capture, hard to even
18:56
Speaker 1: talk about because you don't know if it's there. But
19:00
Speaker 1: it has just been striking with the Mets that this
19:02
Speaker 1: has been such a slide for them. And yes, the
19:06
Speaker 1: starting pitching is the main culprit, but you just wonder.
19:09
Speaker 2: Hey, what else is up with them? So the easy.
19:12
Speaker 1: Answer here, the way to erase all doubts and establish
19:16
Speaker 1: good chemiratrtry.
19:17
Speaker 2: We know the answer is. The easy answer is to win.
19:22
Speaker 1: And the Mets, for all their troubles, all that has
19:25
Speaker 1: happened in the last couple of months, they are still
19:28
Speaker 1: in a position where a they can make the postseason
19:32
Speaker 1: and b they can go on a run. They're fully
19:35
Speaker 1: capable of doing that. And if they do do that,
19:39
Speaker 1: these questions, all the things that I'm talking about, all
19:41
Speaker 1: the things I'm speculating about, those questions will fade. You
19:45
Speaker 1: won't hear anything about them. You'll hear about how they
19:47
Speaker 1: came together and were always together and it was all good.
19:51
Speaker 1: But if they don't get to the playoffs, if they
19:54
Speaker 1: have what I said earlier was an incredibly disappointing season
19:59
Speaker 1: and turn out to be one of the biggest flops
20:01
Speaker 1: in Major league history, yes, those questions might only increase.
20:06
Speaker 1: All right, so much for the inside dish. We'll be
20:07
Speaker 1: back with your questions in grilling Ken after this.
20:10
Speaker 3: Okay, Kratz, I opened up Arena Club, put my own
20:13
Speaker 3: money in there, and I wasn't gonna go big.
20:16
Speaker 1: I know.
20:16
Speaker 3: We went over the Ruby pack a week ago. This
20:18
Speaker 3: time I just went for the low level pack where
20:21
Speaker 3: it's an easy entry point. Twenty five bucks. You can
20:24
Speaker 3: get yourself a big boy card. The grail has many
20:26
Speaker 3: good options. I slice open the pack. We're looking at
20:29
Speaker 3: it if you're watching us right now, and I pull
20:31
Speaker 3: a card from the nineteen fifties, super cool. I enjoyed
20:35
Speaker 3: the experience looking at it. It's Jim Gilliam, It's the
20:38
Speaker 3: top set from the mid fifties. It's cool. It's a
20:41
Speaker 3: Brooklyn Dodger. But it's worth more than the card.
20:44
Speaker 2: Like I said, I'm gonna sell it back.
20:46
Speaker 3: I got twenty eight bucks instantly, so I can buy
20:48
Speaker 3: another one of those packs and try and get what
20:51
Speaker 3: I want.
20:52
Speaker 4: Absolutely the excitement I heard Kip say before. The excitement's
20:56
Speaker 4: in the chase. You sold it back. Now you get
20:58
Speaker 4: to open another one. I enjoy when you slide it
21:01
Speaker 4: across the screen there and the pack opens.
21:03
Speaker 2: You know where to go.
21:04
Speaker 3: Arenaclub dot com slash foul twenty percent off your first
21:07
Speaker 3: slab Packer card purchase. Get after It.
21:11
Speaker 5: Bet MGM players will receive an MLB parlay Boost token.
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Speaker 2: Gambler can the part of.
21:37
Speaker 1: The program where I answer your questions? Let's get right
21:40
Speaker 1: to them. First question comes from rpg Man forty five,
21:46
Speaker 1: who asks who's better right now in the AL besides
21:49
Speaker 1: the JS They can come back in any game.
21:53
Speaker 2: Very valid question.
21:54
Speaker 1: Now, jash Chishom Junior of the Yankees seem to have
21:57
Speaker 1: his own answer. This week, he said the Yankees were
21:59
Speaker 1: the best.
21:59
Speaker 2: Team in the US American League. But I would agree
22:01
Speaker 2: with rpg Man forty.
22:03
Speaker 1: Five that the Jays right now they're in great spot
22:06
Speaker 1: to finish the season with the best record in the
22:08
Speaker 1: league over the Tigers. And yes, those forty six forty
22:12
Speaker 1: five come from behind victories are quite telling, but it's
22:16
Speaker 1: more than that. It's the kind of team that they've built,
22:19
Speaker 1: not just stars, but contributing players as well. And their
22:24
Speaker 1: deadline move for Shane Bieber one that I wasn't sure
22:27
Speaker 1: about at the time, now looks like it was great.
22:30
Speaker 1: Shane Bieber has pitched wonderfully for them. He could be
22:32
Speaker 1: their Game one starter. They've got Scherzer, They've got Gossman,
22:36
Speaker 1: who is hot right now, and their bullpen which has
22:38
Speaker 1: been a problem, and Jeff Hoffmin's given up a lot
22:41
Speaker 1: of home runs. Yes, but they've pitched a little bit
22:44
Speaker 1: better of late. And this team just seems to have
22:48
Speaker 1: what I was talking about with the Phillies earlier, this
22:50
Speaker 1: quality about them, and it's a really good quality Springer
22:54
Speaker 1: comeback Player of the year I think almost for certain. Obviously,
22:57
Speaker 1: they need both Rochette back for the playoffs doing with
23:00
Speaker 1: lad Does I love the Blue.
23:02
Speaker 2: Jays right now?
23:03
Speaker 1: And all that criticism I had of them really for
23:06
Speaker 1: I guess a couple of years when I would call
23:08
Speaker 1: them the paper Tigers and question whether they had the
23:12
Speaker 1: chemistry to be a better team to play to their
23:15
Speaker 1: talent level, those questions for me have faded now. The
23:18
Speaker 1: playoffs were another thing, of course, and that wouldn't be
23:21
Speaker 1: nice to see them win a series finally. But yes,
23:24
Speaker 1: they've had amazing and amazing regular season, a magnificent regular season,
23:29
Speaker 1: and I would say, despite what Jazz Chisholm might think,
23:33
Speaker 1: they're the best team in the American League right now.
23:35
Speaker 1: Let's go to the next question. This one comes from
23:39
Speaker 1: Henry who asks what is the key for the Mariners
23:42
Speaker 1: to make the World Series? And that's a big question, Henry,
23:45
Speaker 1: because the Mariners were in that incredible slide on that
23:49
Speaker 1: road trip to the East a little bit ago, and
23:51
Speaker 1: now they've won nine straight and they're like so many
23:54
Speaker 1: teams right now, you don't know exactly what to make
23:58
Speaker 1: of them.
23:58
Speaker 2: They're obviously good, and.
24:00
Speaker 1: The deadline moves to get Suarez and Naylor clearly helped them.
24:04
Speaker 1: They are a team too that has a little bit
24:06
Speaker 1: of magic going right now. The walk offs last week
24:08
Speaker 1: with Mitch Garver and Henry Ford, the rookie, all of
24:12
Speaker 1: these things are good. They're starting pitching has not been
24:16
Speaker 1: quite at the level where it's been in the past,
24:19
Speaker 1: and that's kind of a concern here. Brian wu is
24:23
Speaker 1: a guy who is going to get some cy young
24:25
Speaker 1: down down boot votes. He's had a brilliant season. Castillo
24:28
Speaker 1: better in his last start, but he's been inconsistent. You've
24:31
Speaker 1: got Logan Gilbert Kirby was really good his last start.
24:34
Speaker 2: They're fine. Obviously they're really good.
24:37
Speaker 1: And if these guys get hot, that's the key to
24:39
Speaker 1: them getting to the World Series. I still don't love
24:43
Speaker 1: their offense. It's not what I would call an explosive offense.
24:46
Speaker 1: Oh and I forgot to mention that guy with the
24:48
Speaker 1: fifty four home runs, Kyle Raleigh. But because of Raleigh,
24:52
Speaker 1: in large part, the offense is good enough. And Raleigh,
24:55
Speaker 1: my goodness, the fact that he's tied Mickey Mantle for
24:58
Speaker 1: most home runs by a switch hitter is an achievement
25:01
Speaker 1: that I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around.
25:03
Speaker 2: But for them to get.
25:04
Speaker 1: To the World Series, I would say it really.
25:06
Speaker 2: Keys on their starting pitching. All right, let's get to
25:10
Speaker 2: the next one.
25:11
Speaker 1: This next question comes from George, who asks what is
25:14
Speaker 1: Kyle Schwarber's per year value going to look like in
25:17
Speaker 1: free agency? George, great question, and I would say it
25:22
Speaker 1: starts with the three. It's at least thirty million dollars
25:25
Speaker 1: a year. I would not be surprised if it reached
25:27
Speaker 1: thirty five million per year, and I would not be
25:30
Speaker 1: surprised if it went four years. Now where do I
25:32
Speaker 1: expect him to be? I expect him to be a Philly,
25:36
Speaker 1: but what the price is going to be, That much
25:39
Speaker 1: remains to be seen. That's said, Kyle Schwarber pretty much
25:43
Speaker 1: is going to get a lot of buddy and because
25:45
Speaker 1: of his leadership qualities as well as his slugging, he's
25:48
Speaker 1: gonna deserve it all right, Thanks and we will be
25:52
Speaker 1: joining Thursday Live with a lot of Rivo our usual
25:56
Speaker 1: Thursday show, twelve thirty Eastern. Have a great week everyone,
25:59
Speaker 1: stay with us. Foto