October 12, 2023 • 35 mins
In Hour 3 of tonight’s edition of the Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon, the guys react to the Dodgers once again being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. Jason breaks down what could be next for the boys in blue, and if Dave Roberts will survive another winter as manager. FOX MLB insider Jon Paul Morosi joins the show to break down a wild night in the postseason, previews the Astros-Rangers ALCS, discusses who will come out on top in the Phillies-Braves series, breaks down the Dodgers’ downfall and so much more!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Foxsports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every night on the
iHeartRadio app by searching fsrles give this.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Part you're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Greetings, Welcome inside our three The Jason Smith Show with
my best friend Mike Harmon hobo live from the tire
raq dot Com studios tirac dot com. I'll help you
get there an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping and free
road has protection and over ten thousand recommended installers. Tirack
dot com. The Way tire buying Should be It is
(00:49):
now official in the NLCS for the first time since
two thousand and seven. The Arizona Diamondbacks, after they polish
off the Los Angeles Dodgers by a final of four
to two, Dodgers get a runner on in the ninth
and a couple of really hard hit balls Chris Taylor.
His bid to tie the game falls short about three
(01:12):
feet from the fence. What ak, that's you know, they say,
you know, and I get it. That's a home run
almost anywhere else, and that is.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
But unfortunately you are not playing anywhere else tonight.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Not in Phoenix. And then Key Key Hernandez a big
line drive to left field. You thought, mabe, that's gonna
get down, get in the corner. Instead all it finds
is a glove and the Diamondbacks are onto the NLCS,
winning at four to two, where they await the winner
of the Phillies and the Braves. Obviously that series one
game away for the Phillies, who could be back in
(01:44):
the NLCS for a second straight year. But you know, look,
there's so many things to say about the Dodgers. There's
a lot of things to say, and if it was
just one thing, I could say, Boy, the Dodgers did this,
did this? Did this? Because it looked like it was
just gonna be one thing right overall looking for where
to blame, right, just like Tom Cruise hasn't a few
good men. Jury trials are about a signing blame. People
(02:06):
want to know what's wrong, what happened? Why did the
Dodgers happen? We got a micro point, then a macro
point for you, the micro point. First micro, I have
one for you. It looked like it was gonna be
the Dodgers starting pitching. Well, the Dodgers starting pitching was awful.
Era of the starters were twenty. Lanceln gives up four
home runs today in the third inning. I really get that.
(02:29):
I'm not being it's not being physiced. No, he gave
up four home runs in the third inning. That was
all the Diamondbacks major.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
League Baseball record that has never been done before. Goes
back to the old Jason Stark truism that you give
us with great regularity. Smith, every night we watched baseball,
we will likely see something we have never seen before.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
One hundred and forty years baseball has been played. I've
never seen that before. It's amazing. And it looked like
it was good. Well, the starting pitching and the Dodgers,
all right, they didn't do a good enough job at
the at the deadline of starting pitching. And yeah, and
Walter Rodriguez didn't want to come. He wanted to stay
in Detroit. He would have been a huge upgrade, a
guy that would have pitched Game two for the Dodgers.
You thought, Julio Urries would be that guy. He's away
(03:10):
from the team non for non baseball reasons, probably not
gonna pitch again. You thought Walker Bueller could come back. Nope,
find out in September. Can't do. It's gonna be another
few months for Walker Buhller. So, yeah, you had the chance,
you had what you thought. It didn't work, But it
wasn't just the pitching. Nobody hit the Dodgers at two
hundred in their last the last five playoff games. They fit.
They didn't hit last year at the end of the playoffs,
(03:32):
didn't hit this year in the playoffs. It too. Freddie
Freeman got one hit. Mookie Betts did not get a hit.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
They were twenty one.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
You are not gonna win when you don't pitch and
you don't hit. It's that simple. It's like, oh, the
starting pitching really hurt, and they lost a bunch of
games like nine eight or eight seven, and they hit
a boy, the starting pitching really put us behind the
eight ball. No, no, no, or boy we really didn't hit,
but boy, we pitched great, man, The starters were great,
and we lost one nothing at two. No, you don't hit,
(04:01):
you don't pitch, You're not gonna win.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
But even today, simple your bullpen once again did the
job right, Lance Lynn has the yes, But legitimately you
give up four runs. You've got this offense chip away
at the stone, get a gratuitous uh seventies Aerosmith reverence
into the show. But the the idea that you're you're
(04:26):
swinging for the downs on every pitch, your your first ball,
swinging throughout this series. Like a lot of the discipline,
a lot of the the advantages that you've built into
the way your squad is handled the season, it just
got thrown out the window in this series and watching
it unfold and and again, you know, Lynn gives up
(04:47):
the four home runs. Okay, you would have liked him
to go another inning, but if you told me he
gave you four innings pitched and gave up four runs,
I count that as a win at this point.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
See, I don't see the And that's the thing is, look,
this sets where he had to. This is a series
that looks like it was over the first inning of
Game one, right, getting five off of Kershaw before he
even got it out right, you can look back and
say that's when the series was over. And sometimes there's
so much in a game where when you get behind
big that early all the time, you're not gonna have
(05:21):
any energy. You're not gonna there's not gonna be a
big comeback. You're not gonna be able to pull on
those reserves and the karma that you've had, the relationships
you have. And you're talking about the first two games
very early. In both of these games you are down
by crooked numbers. You're I mean the first and then
in this game it's okay, it's nothing, nothing in the third.
And it's not like the Diamondbacks got a run in
the third, or if they got one in the third
(05:43):
and one in the fourth. One this was four in
the third inning. So it's the same thing. And it's great.
Now we're down by this much and these runs look insurmountable.
And the Dodgers lost everything. Again, nothing went their way.
They played terribly, the Diamondbacks played great. The better team
in this series won to sit here and say, oh no,
the day they completely went book.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
No, they got dominated every point, right. But what's funny
is you know, as you lay out the deficits, wasn't
that the hallmark of this twenty twenty three team. Wasn't
that what we kept hearing here locally in Los Angeles
all year, how versatile and how resilient this squad was,
(06:26):
and with the bullpen pitching as well as did in
the second half, the number of you know, late game
heroics from insert hero of the day here. Nobody put
on a cape today, Nobody put on a cape on
Sunday or on Monday, and certainly nobody going all the
way back to Saturdays. Sorry, I forgot about these idiotic
(06:46):
days off in between everything. We're not going up against
the NFL take that day off, but just abject failure.
And once again everybody's wringing their hands. And when we
got into the playoffs and you and I were talking
about which series you know where you're scared about, you
went with the Phillies over the Braves. I had the
(07:08):
Orioles getting beaten. But we talked about the Dodgers a lot,
and where it just didn't feel right given where Mookie
Betts was hitting through the month of September, a guy
who had made his claim towards a possible share or
a discussion point for the nl MVP, and he disappeared
(07:29):
in the month Freddie Freeman.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
While the batting average was there.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
The power and the extra base hits and run production
had dipped a little bit, and then they both absolutely
no showed when you needed a jump start from one
of your leaders.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Now there's a macro point to make from here as well.
The Jason Smiths or Mike Carmon Live from the Tiraq
dot Com Studios Tonight Show brought to you by Progressive Insurance.
Progressive makes bundling easy and affordable. Get a multi policy
discount by combining your motorcycle, RV, bow ATV and more
all your protection in one plays Bundle and save at
Progressive dot Com. When I look at the Dodgers and
(08:07):
you say, it's another year of regular season excellence and
they fall short in the playoffs, right, they win the
COVID World Series in twenty twenty, And this has now
been well over a decade of the Dodgers being the
best team in the regular season during the during the
regular season, and then to get to the playoffs and
they find a way to not win. And when I
look at the Dodge to try to sum up this decade,
(08:27):
because now you have a lot of data to look at,
I look at the Dodgers like I look at Peyton Manning.
Right now, Peyton Manning's NFL career, he had one level
of excellence. Right. He was a great regular season quarterback,
and he prepared for every game in the regular season
like he prepared for games in the playoffs. He had
one way to do things that was a high level
of excellence.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Right.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
It could be Game three against the Jaguars, or it
could be the AFC Championship game. He was preparing the
same way. When you get to the playoffs, and NFL
team especially you get to the playoffs, Hey, why did
Peyton Manning have a five hundred record over the course
of his career, Because other teams that haven't played to
that level still have that next gear they hit when
(09:07):
they get to the playoffs, and when that happens, that's
enough to pull the upset half the time. Right, It's
not like Peyton Manning. You know his record in the
playoffs was terrible. He only won three games. No, he
was a five hundred quarterback in the playoffs because half
the time another team coming in with a little bit more,
a little bit more I would say, desire and a
(09:29):
next gear they have yet defined. Because you get to
the playoffs, that adrenaline everything else, Hey, you hit that
next gear that gives a team the impetus it takes
to win a game, right, and win a big playoff game.
The same thing for the Dodgers, right, they have one
level of excellence every year. Regular season, they steamroll through people.
They were playing in August that looked like they weren't
(09:50):
gonna lose a game. Their stars were hitting. Everything was great.
Now they get to this round of the playoffs, and
what happens. The Diamondbacks had that next level gear. They
couldn't wait for this series. They want. They hadn't beaten
the Dodger in the playoffs in in nine years, like
the last nine times they played, and they've been waiting
for this, waiting for it, waiting for it. They had
that next level gear, and they came out with blood
(10:12):
in their eye at the beginning of every game. They
were crooked numbers. And if we don't care, if it's
Kershaw or Bobby Miller or anybody, we don't care. And
they came out and they had that next level and
the Dodgers did not. And sometimes that's enough to win.
Sometimes the Dodgers talent is enough to win. Sometimes it's
not right. It's why The Dodgers win a couple of
rounds in the playoffs every year, and then you get
(10:33):
to a team playing at a higher level, with a
little bit more of a next level to get to. Hey,
they beat you. But and sometimes it happens in the
ALC and the NLCS. Sometimes it happens in the NLDS
like it happens here. But it happens. And this is
the deal with the Dodgers. They don't have that next
level gear in the playoffs because they're already there and
they're out there saying, we're out there, we're executing just
like we did in the regular season, and we're gonna
(10:55):
go out there and win. And it doesn't happen because
watch Diamondbacks. Who is a team playing with all kinds
of confidence, who had the better body language, who had
the more desire, who was screaming into their mits after
big outs, who was screaming on their way to the
dugout after big pitches, they believed they could win. They
came in and took this series, and the Dodgers just
let them. That's why the Dodgers are out.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Came in with the mantra, I believe that we will
win eighty four wins in the regular season, and they
needed every one of them down the stretch.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
We watched the battle for the wild Card.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
I got in my inbox, having bought tickets to Wrigley
Field in the past, the nice note that Tom Ricketts
sent to people that have bought tickets in Chicago to say,
We're sorry we didn't get the job done. I would
expect Dodger fans receive a very long one coming out
of this one out of this series, but the same
(11:47):
message of hey, we fought hard, we didn't get there. Well,
the Diamondbacks did. Diamondbacks kept going. Some of the young
guys that are on the com that are becoming household
names with this series, and certain Corby and Carroll, a
guy that people were starting to know. You look at
Christian Walker once upon a time, you know, was the
(12:07):
next big thing as he was coming up, and now
with another squad making a name, so it's you know,
it's it's big time stuff right where you get an
opportunity to shine, get on the national stage, and you
you come for the.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Dodgers because you're tired of hearing about the Dodgers.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
We've talked about this a lot, right, We've talked about
it with that Bills Dolphins game two weeks ago, right,
the Bills then went and got thumped by Jacksonville.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
But that pay no mind to that.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
Here this goes back to, you know, the Dolphins and
Dolphins and Dolphins and Dolphins, and then the Bills went
and said, all right, we're gonna punch them in the mouth,
and they did. And we see that time and time
again in sports. In this case, you did it three
straight games out of the jump, getting into the batter's
box on the road and just saying we're taking it
to these guys. Miller, young guy had a great year,
(12:56):
is going to be a force. Guess what for one
day he got got Clayton Kershaw. People want to talk
about shoulders, whatever he took the mound.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Nobody's one hundred percent at the end of the season,
particularly a guy that's put as many innings in as
he has. There's no excuse. You just didn't perform. Once
you get in between the white lines, how much your
hurt goes out the window.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
We don't you'll win or you lose.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
And right now, for Dodger fans, it's another early exit
and another season of handwringing, wondering what changes in the
mechanics and in the formula, because there's a lot that
needs to change if you're suddenly going to change your
postseason success.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Twitter at how about a fresco Mike get swollen dome.
I'm glad you say that, Mike, because the Diamondbacks winning
this series should now see a concrete strategy for all
of Major League Baseball. We'll get to that coming up
later on this hour. There should be one strategy every
single team employees going into every regular season. What is it?
(14:05):
Don't worry, We'll tell you attack. Let's come ahead. We
got that coming up later on this hour The Jason
Smithson with Mike carmon lifthtirerack dot Com Studios. But before
we head out and welcome in John Paul Morosi. Coming
up in a few minutes. How about the final call
Diamondbacks in the NLCS over the Dodgers. The wind sounded
(14:26):
like this.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Hey, I'm Doug Gottlieb. The podcast is called All Ball.
We usually talk all basketball all the time, but it's
more about the stories about what made these people love
their sport and all the interesting interactions along the way.
We talked to coaches, we talked to players, We tell
you stories.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
You download it, you listen to it.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I think you like it.
Speaker 5 (14:50):
Listen to All Ball with Doug Gottlieb on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific ed TJ.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Clearly the Diamondbacks hungry like the wolf tonight, or at
least hungrier than the Dodgers with their three game sweep TJ,
Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon. That show brought you by Discover. If
you like using debit over credit, shouldn't you also get rewarded?
Well now you can with Discover cash Back Debit, So
(15:28):
checking account the rewards everyone with cash back on everyday
purchases with no fees period. Check out eligibility in terms
at discover dot com, Slash cashbackdebit That's discovered dot com
Slash cashback debit Discover Bank member fdi C. So the
Dodgers are out, the Astros are in the Phillies. Maybe
(15:51):
in joining us now on the hotline to break it
all down. Nobody better. MLB Network insider extraordinaire, Brand New
Laws insider and host of The Sternsey and the Pope
Morning Show, taking Michigan by storm. It is John Paul
Morosi JP. What's happening, buddy? How are you good?
Speaker 6 (16:12):
Evening? My friends? Still trying to process all that transpired
to the Diamondbacks Dodgers series. Let's think about that. The
Dodgers did not have a lead at any point in
that series. Remarkable dominus in the Diamondbacks. They have not
lost the game in this postseason, nor have the Texas Rangers.
(16:35):
We've got some new teams to talk about this time
of year, and my goodness to Dodgers have a lot
of questions to face this offseason.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
All right, JP, I'm going to give you a loaded
question here, because this is going to be at the
big question. Here's another season where the Dodgers regular season
excellence does not translate into postseason success. I say to you,
the Dodgers are out of the playoffs because how do
you do you answer that? However long you need to answer,
how do you the Dodgers are out of the playoffs because.
Speaker 6 (17:06):
Their starting pitching was not good enough? And this was
not a surprise. I don't think to a lot of
people who watch this team carefully down the stretch. Now,
the sweep was probably a surprise. The magnitude of the sweep,
the Dodgers never having a lead at any point was
a surprise, but the ultimate result I would really caution
(17:31):
people to avoid using the words shocking, startling, unforeseen, because
look at the pitching they've had all season long. They
had seventeen different starting pitchers. Kershaw had shown at different
points during the year that he was vulnerable to injury
and just not having his best stuff. They had to
(17:52):
really massage his innings down the stretch just to make
sure that he was ready to go for the postseason.
And then they had to trust Lance Lynn, who at
different times has been very hittable and beatable, and obviously
it was really just one inning that got him tonight.
And then the previous started was a rookie and Bobby Miller.
So the certainty of this rotation. There is still a
(18:15):
place in this game, and the Phillies are showing it,
the Diamondbacks have shown it, the Rangers have shown it.
There is a way to win in this sport at
this time of year around, still dominant starting pitching and
trying to bullpen your way through every single game is
just not really sustainable. And it might work for one series,
(18:38):
it's not going to work for four rounds or three rounds.
And I think the Dodgers just got a really sobering
wake up call as to how far they are from
being a dominant team. Now. Next year, maybe Walker Buehler
comes back, but they still have to work on this
rotation in a very, very substantive way because they were
(18:58):
just behind. They were behind and that gallon, they were
behind what Merril Kelly gave the Dbacks, and they were
behind Brendan Fox tonight in terms of what the opposing
starting pitchers were able to do. So the Dodgers, this
should prompt a whole lot of introspection or they may
continue to have these October failings going forward.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
Yeah, as Mets and White Sox fans on the show,
JP not feeling so bad anymore, Misery Loves Company postseason games.
Speaker 6 (19:32):
You do have some alumni of both of those teams
that are that are at least involved in this und
and maybe beyond. But you're right, and this is where
to me, guys, I've made the statement before, but I
think tonight it's really appropriate. We have to remember that
it's a different sport, a different exercise, a different competitive
(19:55):
element when you're talking about the postseason than when you
talk about a big one sixty two, and we can
talk about the playoff format. I get it. The Astros
clearly have not been bothered by it, and they've had
the buy each of the last two years, so that
might be part of it. I tend to think the
Dodgers their issue was making sure the rotation was rested
(20:17):
and ready to go. They had even more time and
they still didn't get it right. To me, we are
at a point of the game now where teams are
going to have to start adjusting their projections in the
way they value players based on the expectations of those
players to be available to you in a big way
in the month of October, and the teams that fall
(20:39):
short in that regard are just not able to win.
And that's exactly what we are seeing right now. And
it was even true to an extend for Baltimore, a
great story, but they didn't have an ace, and so
all these teams that have fallen off early on guys,
they're going to have a lot of questions to answer.
And we've talked a lot about Otani in our conversations
(21:02):
during the course of the year. He's not gonna be
able to pitch in twenty twenty four. So you've got
to be creative if you're the Dodgers, because a team
that's as proud and good as the Dodgers, they're not
gonna just punt on twenty twenty four. They're going to
try to win the World Series. And I think today
and this week really underscored how far they are away
(21:23):
from getting back to that point.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
You know, JP, we talked about it a few minutes ago.
We had the micro point in the macro point, and
I said, when I look at at the Dodgers, if
they remind me of Peyton Manning when he played, he
had a great level of excellence in the regular season,
and he maintained that level in the playoffs. And the
reason his record was five hundred is because other teams
have that next level to get to that you surprise
(21:45):
you sometimes you don't think it happens, and Peyton Manning
had one level of play and hey, sometimes that's why
his record was five hundred. Other teams had that next level,
that next gear in the playoffs. That's kind of how
I see the Dodgers. They have a great level of
excellence and they just roll that right in the playoffs.
But other teams have this extra gear that we see
when they play the Dodgers, and I don't see the
(22:05):
Dodgers ever with an extra gear. I see them at
that level they're playing, and sometimes it's enough to win
the first round or or the division round, or even
the league championship series, but they lose half their series
because I don't see a next level from them that
I see out of other teams.
Speaker 6 (22:22):
Well, that's fair, and I certainly understand where you're coming
from on that. And two, we've gotten this part of
our conversation without mentioning that Mookie Bets and Freddie Freeman
just didn't do much in this series. In the case
of Mookie not a hit, and so that is it's
when your best players, when your best players don't produce,
(22:44):
and when you do not have another dimension of your
lineup to score with, like small ball, running the bases,
hit and run stolen bases. That's not how the Dodgers
are built. They're built for Mookie and Freddy to get
on base and then for Jadie Martinez and Munsey to
(23:05):
slug and Will Smith to slug. And that's how this
team is built. And certainly it would it have been
different had they had Gavin Locke. Sure, but that happened
back in spring training. They had plenty of time to
address that shortcoming. And so I think to your point,
this time of year benefits teams that can score runs
(23:27):
in different ways. The power component is crucial. In fact,
today had decided the entire series with the four solo
homers by the Diamondbacks. But look at Arizona's lineup. Cantel
Marte can still a base, per Dolo can still a base.
Thomas is an excellent athlete. Corbyn Carroll is one of
the most dynamic talents in the sport. They can beat
(23:48):
you in different ways, and honestly, it's there are some
parallels to my other favorite sport in the NHL, where
winning for four rounds of the playoffs is just a
different task. You have to be a little harder, you
have to be a little more adaptable than the straight
up play of the regular season. And the Dodgers are
realizing this. I mean they have realized this in the past,
(24:09):
they've had one of the best playoff streaks in the
history of the sport, but they've come up short in
October yet again. Obviously, the one title they had was
twenty twenty, and we don't know what Clayton Kershaw's future holds.
So there's a lot of uncertainy right now surrounding the
Los Angeles Dodgers.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
Now, JP after word gets out about the tagging up
play for Bryce Harper, he decides to say, Hey, King
Kong got nothing on me, and one of the greatest
staredowns in baseball history six home runs hit by the
Phils today.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Suddenly the Braves are reeling.
Speaker 6 (24:44):
They are, and certainly you think about the way that
the latter stages of Game two unfolded. We are very
close to talking about both the Dodgers and the Braves
being swept. The Braves were a couple moments away from
that being the end of their season. You're right, Harper,
two overs tonight stared down Arcia. I understand why Bryce
(25:05):
did it. I understand why the Braves maybe aren't thrilled
that it became a topic. And at the end of
the day, you just gave a little additional fuel to
someone who doesn't really.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Need it well, and.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Don't say stuff you don't want to come out right.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
And at the end of the day, and again I
was not I was not in the room. When when
certain things are said in the clubhouses and the media
is there and you've got scores of reporters in the clubhouse,
things can sometimes take on a life of their own.
I think that's what that's what happened here. I'm not
going to say anybody was right or wrong in that
(25:44):
particular situation. I just think it added to the narrative.
And when you've got cameras and no pads and everybody
in the world there, it tends to catch fire. And
obviously Bryce learned about it and had a little extra
motivation here in game three. So I'm sure a difficult
situation for the Braves. They have to play better. They
(26:06):
did not do much offensively in this game. Elder really struggled.
They have to like though their chances in game four.
At the end of the day, for the Atlanta Braves,
don't think about Game five. Think about the fact that
you've got one game to win. You've got Spencer Strider
on the mound against Rangers, Suarez. You've got one of
the best lineups that the game has seen ever. Really,
(26:29):
so if on the Braves, they should feel good, they
should feel confident. I guess time will tell. It's a
quick turnaround twenty four hours later. Let's see what the
weather's like, how loud the crowd is, all those atmospheric
things that can sometimes affect the energy of a playoff game.
The Braves have to come in and make a statement
early because that crowd has a way of taking over
(26:51):
and becoming a force unto itself.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
All Right, Lastly, JP, we have an Alcs that's going
to be so much fun because they just absolutely we
hate each other. We got the Rangers and the Astros
and Verlander, the potential return of Max Scherzer. I say
to you, the team playing in the World Series from
the American League is who you're gonna tell me?
Speaker 6 (27:12):
The Houston Astros. They know how to win this time
of year. They really do that. They have been tested.
They had to win some huge games down the stretch
to get in. Obviously, Texas has been unbeatable in the postseason.
I think it's gonna be a tremendous series, close both ways.
(27:32):
I believe, but until someone proves otherwise. The Houston Astros,
with their high quality at bats, just look at the
approach they take at this time of year. Look at JR.
Don Alvarez, look at Bregman, look at Altuve, look down
the line, look at Tucker, look at Brandy. These are
professional hitters who know how to get it done in October.
(27:56):
So until someone proves otherwise. Bruce Bochie loved what the
Rangers have built and their roster, but I think Houston
is the king until some of Bruce otherwise.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
He's on Twitter at John Morosi, that is at John
Morosi MLB Network Insider. He gave us the Lions to
keep things going next week with a big win. JP
is always buddy, appreciated man. We'll talk to you next week.
Have fun.
Speaker 6 (28:20):
Indeed, indeed, Lions seventeen. I'll come back with the predictions
next time.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
All right, the best you got it, buddy, We'll talk
to you.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
He's the best.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
I love. JP is awesome. He wanted to give the
score again.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
I gave it last night, but here it is thirty
four missed it.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
The audience is always changing and growing here at Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
I want to give it again, I want to make
sure you guys get it.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
Well, what's great is we get the managerial matchup between
Bochie's hat size and Dusty Baker wearing that coat that
kind of looks like a cape. It's just long enough
to where he's got like that Darth Vader effect kind
of going on.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
For so it's pretty good.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yeah, no, no, no, hey, I'm with you. I'm with you.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
I think people of veteran managers. I love it.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
It's it's gonna be so much fun. I mean really,
and and and for me to say it when I
have to potentially sit here and watch Verlander and Scherzer
and Tommy fam all in the Alcs, all who started
the season with the Mets, for me to tell you
it's gonna be fun, It's gonna be fun. It's good
about digging it.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
At some point, you just have to uh accept the
failures of your squad.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
I did long ago.
Speaker 4 (29:27):
Yeah, I mean they did their one, two three cancun
chant I think August first, So trade deadlines over those
guys left, although it is still difficult to watch Joseatos.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Guys are gone.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
Okay, God, Homer's again today, not that he was traded,
but the fact that he's in Houston and he has
these meaningful of bats and he hits the homers like
I love that guy not with the ats.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon Weekday You Said, ten pm Eastern,
seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio
Fox Sports.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best friend Mike
Harmon TJ. Once again, the MLB Playoffs proving to be
toxic to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Speaker 4 (30:17):
TJE, there's a story that we you know, passing the
note around earlier that I was going to take exception to,
and you're giving me more evidence to add to my list.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Keep going, tough guy?
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Was that just at a time to tie to one
I had? It's all I had? Although TJ. The Dodgers
clearly telling Mookie Bets, how about a hit one more time?
But instead he goes over the LDS. TJ.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
You gotta get a baby in there, going.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
A freestyle different ways. Okay.
Speaker 5 (30:51):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
So the Dodgers go out, they get swept by the
Diamondbacks and this is an eighty four win team that
is now in the NLCS. Last year we had eighty
four to eighty seven win team in the NLCS with
the Phillies and the Padres. Now that we have enough
of a sample size with the new playoffs and and
(31:13):
and what the rounds look like when you play the
best of three, then you get into the divisional playoff
and the and the NLCS, the ALCS. There's different things
that you can different strategies. Okay, well, the week off
versus not having the week off like that. That that's
a load of crap because sometimes the team with the
week off wins and it's all, yeah, that really helped
because they lined up there pitching how they wanted to.
Sometimes that's that Philosophically, wouldn't that make more sense?
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Yeah, well, if we don't have enough data points at
this point.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
But I mean, look, but would you rather have to
play a best of three? Would you rather sit? You
want to wait? You don't want to have to play games?
You don't have to play? Come on it.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Anything happens in a best of three.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
But sometimes sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But the
big takeaway from it is this is that every team
should go into the season thinking this and this helps
with spending, this helps with everything in the off season
into the regular season. Build yourself a five hundred team, right,
(32:12):
build yourself a five hundred team. Don't don't, don't sit
there and just you know, not spend any money. Don't
go overboard and spend all kind three hundred and fifty
four million. No, no, no, build yourself a five hundred team.
This is why I suddenly I feel good about the
Mets next year. Build yourself a five hundred team. And
when you get to the trade deadline, you make your moves,
(32:32):
because then you will have had even though it's only
one trade deadline, you will have had all of April, May, June,
and July. You will have four months to say, what
do we need if we're going to really take the
next step. And then you make your moves to make
your team the best they can be, and you hit
the playoffs and you see what happens because you have
teams now that all you had to do if you
(32:52):
were the if you were the Diamondbacks, you just need
to be five hundred going into the final week end
of the regular season. That's it. Go to the final
weekend of the regular season and you're in the playoffs.
That's at five hundred, you don't need to be great.
You need to This is less than one win over
five hundred a month. This is not even a just
be be fifteen and fourteen every month, or fourteen and thirteen. No,
(33:14):
it's not even that. It's just be fud, just be even,
be dead even. But then when it's time to when
it's time to make the moves to the deadline, that's
when you say, okay, well we need a centerfielder, we
need a couple of middle relievers. That's when you make
the moves because, as we have seen, you just need
to get into the playoffs, and anything happens. You can't
control the chaos. You can't control hey we're sitting around
(33:36):
for a couple for a week, or we're playing every day,
or this round of the playoffs. No, you can't control
any of that. It is chaotic. Well you can control
is how do we get in? How do we make
sure we get in? And then are we hot? And
are we good enough? And every year, as long as
you build yourself to be a five hundred team, every year,
every team in Major League Baseball should walk into a
season and think we can make the playoffs. Because even
(33:58):
the worst teams the Royals. You could walk in and say, hey,
let's just build a five hundred team, and if we're
good at the deadline, okay, we make a move. Every
team in Major League Baseball should have hope going into
the regular season, because clearly this is the strategy that
works the best, that allows you to get in not
worry about overspending or making be five hundred, making most
(34:18):
of the deadline. That's it.
Speaker 4 (34:19):
I kind of like this theoretical world that you're living
in now in certain respects, like say the Dodgers, it
just meant you have more than one guy you're going
after in the final hours leading up to the deadline.
Just just kind of throwing that out there, at least
what we've been led to believe at this point that
it was all in on one guy, that he was
(34:41):
the only difference maker. And then obviously Lance Lynn coming over.
But you're looking at a situation whereby you know, spending
habits and roster construction, you know, you know you don't
want to leave a lot up to chance, right certainly
(35:02):
because you don't know how many players get because in
your scenario, everybody's now a contender and a buyer.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
There are no sellers oh.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
No, No, Well, by the time you get to the
end of July, if you're as long as you're five hundred.
If you're under five hundred, you're selling.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
I'm just saying you're gonna play out the four but
you're gonna have more teams creeping towards that five hundred log. Okay, okay,
then at the bottom, which means there's not gonna be
a lot of guys available for you to go and
add to your depth.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
No, there's gonna be bad teams that Hey, we thought
we built a five hundred team going in. It didn't
work out. So we're the sellers at the deadline. That's fine.
So we're gonna sell.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Someone that I inspired a mediocrity. There's a message.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Put a shirt.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
Let's go put you you know you're the motivational speaker
at nowhere.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
You put that on a T shirt for me. There
you go, aspire a mediocrity brought to you by people
at Nowhere.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
You're gonna get it done.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Put that out there.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
I'm working on it.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
We'll hear from Dave robertson more from the shocking upset
of the Dodgers. Straight ahead. This is Fox Sports Radio.
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Foxsports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every night on the
iHeartRadio app by searching fsrles give this.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Part you're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Greetings, Welcome inside our three The Jason Smith Show with
my best friend Mike Harmon hobo live from the tire
raq dot Com studios tirac dot com. I'll help you
get there an unmatched selection, fast, free shipping and free
road has protection and over ten thousand recommended installers. Tirack
dot com. The Way tire buying Should be It is
(00:49):
now official in the NLCS for the first time since
two thousand and seven. The Arizona Diamondbacks, after they polish
off the Los Angeles Dodgers by a final of four
to two, Dodgers get a runner on in the ninth
and a couple of really hard hit balls Chris Taylor.
His bid to tie the game falls short about three
(01:12):
feet from the fence. What ak, that's you know, they say,
you know, and I get it. That's a home run
almost anywhere else, and that is.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
But unfortunately you are not playing anywhere else tonight.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Not in Phoenix. And then Key Key Hernandez a big
line drive to left field. You thought, mabe, that's gonna
get down, get in the corner. Instead all it finds
is a glove and the Diamondbacks are onto the NLCS,
winning at four to two, where they await the winner
of the Phillies and the Braves. Obviously that series one
game away for the Phillies, who could be back in
(01:44):
the NLCS for a second straight year. But you know, look,
there's so many things to say about the Dodgers. There's
a lot of things to say, and if it was
just one thing, I could say, Boy, the Dodgers did this,
did this? Did this? Because it looked like it was
just gonna be one thing right overall looking for where
to blame, right, just like Tom Cruise hasn't a few
good men. Jury trials are about a signing blame. People
(02:06):
want to know what's wrong, what happened? Why did the
Dodgers happen? We got a micro point, then a macro
point for you, the micro point. First micro, I have
one for you. It looked like it was gonna be
the Dodgers starting pitching. Well, the Dodgers starting pitching was awful.
Era of the starters were twenty. Lanceln gives up four
home runs today in the third inning. I really get that.
(02:29):
I'm not being it's not being physiced. No, he gave
up four home runs in the third inning. That was
all the Diamondbacks major.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
League Baseball record that has never been done before. Goes
back to the old Jason Stark truism that you give
us with great regularity. Smith, every night we watched baseball,
we will likely see something we have never seen before.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
One hundred and forty years baseball has been played. I've
never seen that before. It's amazing. And it looked like
it was good. Well, the starting pitching and the Dodgers,
all right, they didn't do a good enough job at
the at the deadline of starting pitching. And yeah, and
Walter Rodriguez didn't want to come. He wanted to stay
in Detroit. He would have been a huge upgrade, a
guy that would have pitched Game two for the Dodgers.
You thought, Julio Urries would be that guy. He's away
(03:10):
from the team non for non baseball reasons, probably not
gonna pitch again. You thought Walker Bueller could come back. Nope,
find out in September. Can't do. It's gonna be another
few months for Walker Buhller. So, yeah, you had the chance,
you had what you thought. It didn't work, But it
wasn't just the pitching. Nobody hit the Dodgers at two
hundred in their last the last five playoff games. They fit.
They didn't hit last year at the end of the playoffs,
(03:32):
didn't hit this year in the playoffs. It too. Freddie
Freeman got one hit. Mookie Betts did not get a hit.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
They were twenty one.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
You are not gonna win when you don't pitch and
you don't hit. It's that simple. It's like, oh, the
starting pitching really hurt, and they lost a bunch of
games like nine eight or eight seven, and they hit
a boy, the starting pitching really put us behind the
eight ball. No, no, no, or boy we really didn't hit,
but boy, we pitched great, man, The starters were great,
and we lost one nothing at two. No, you don't hit,
(04:01):
you don't pitch, You're not gonna win.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
But even today, simple your bullpen once again did the
job right, Lance Lynn has the yes, But legitimately you
give up four runs. You've got this offense chip away
at the stone, get a gratuitous uh seventies Aerosmith reverence
into the show. But the the idea that you're you're
(04:26):
swinging for the downs on every pitch, your your first ball,
swinging throughout this series. Like a lot of the discipline,
a lot of the the advantages that you've built into
the way your squad is handled the season, it just
got thrown out the window in this series and watching
it unfold and and again, you know, Lynn gives up
(04:47):
the four home runs. Okay, you would have liked him
to go another inning, but if you told me he
gave you four innings pitched and gave up four runs,
I count that as a win at this point.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
See, I don't see the And that's the thing is, look,
this sets where he had to. This is a series
that looks like it was over the first inning of
Game one, right, getting five off of Kershaw before he
even got it out right, you can look back and
say that's when the series was over. And sometimes there's
so much in a game where when you get behind
big that early all the time, you're not gonna have
(05:21):
any energy. You're not gonna there's not gonna be a
big comeback. You're not gonna be able to pull on
those reserves and the karma that you've had, the relationships
you have. And you're talking about the first two games
very early. In both of these games you are down
by crooked numbers. You're I mean the first and then
in this game it's okay, it's nothing, nothing in the third.
And it's not like the Diamondbacks got a run in
the third, or if they got one in the third
(05:43):
and one in the fourth. One this was four in
the third inning. So it's the same thing. And it's great.
Now we're down by this much and these runs look insurmountable.
And the Dodgers lost everything. Again, nothing went their way.
They played terribly, the Diamondbacks played great. The better team
in this series won to sit here and say, oh no,
the day they completely went book.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
No, they got dominated every point, right. But what's funny
is you know, as you lay out the deficits, wasn't
that the hallmark of this twenty twenty three team. Wasn't
that what we kept hearing here locally in Los Angeles
all year, how versatile and how resilient this squad was,
(06:26):
and with the bullpen pitching as well as did in
the second half, the number of you know, late game
heroics from insert hero of the day here. Nobody put
on a cape today, Nobody put on a cape on
Sunday or on Monday, and certainly nobody going all the
way back to Saturdays. Sorry, I forgot about these idiotic
(06:46):
days off in between everything. We're not going up against
the NFL take that day off, but just abject failure.
And once again everybody's wringing their hands. And when we
got into the playoffs and you and I were talking
about which series you know where you're scared about, you
went with the Phillies over the Braves. I had the
(07:08):
Orioles getting beaten. But we talked about the Dodgers a lot,
and where it just didn't feel right given where Mookie
Betts was hitting through the month of September, a guy
who had made his claim towards a possible share or
a discussion point for the nl MVP, and he disappeared
(07:29):
in the month Freddie Freeman.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
While the batting average was there.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
The power and the extra base hits and run production
had dipped a little bit, and then they both absolutely
no showed when you needed a jump start from one
of your leaders.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Now there's a macro point to make from here as well.
The Jason Smiths or Mike Carmon Live from the Tiraq
dot Com Studios Tonight Show brought to you by Progressive Insurance.
Progressive makes bundling easy and affordable. Get a multi policy
discount by combining your motorcycle, RV, bow ATV and more
all your protection in one plays Bundle and save at
Progressive dot Com. When I look at the Dodgers and
(08:07):
you say, it's another year of regular season excellence and
they fall short in the playoffs, right, they win the
COVID World Series in twenty twenty, And this has now
been well over a decade of the Dodgers being the
best team in the regular season during the during the
regular season, and then to get to the playoffs and
they find a way to not win. And when I
look at the Dodge to try to sum up this decade,
(08:27):
because now you have a lot of data to look at,
I look at the Dodgers like I look at Peyton Manning.
Right now, Peyton Manning's NFL career, he had one level
of excellence. Right. He was a great regular season quarterback,
and he prepared for every game in the regular season
like he prepared for games in the playoffs. He had
one way to do things that was a high level
of excellence.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Right.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
It could be Game three against the Jaguars, or it
could be the AFC Championship game. He was preparing the
same way. When you get to the playoffs, and NFL
team especially you get to the playoffs, Hey, why did
Peyton Manning have a five hundred record over the course
of his career, Because other teams that haven't played to
that level still have that next gear they hit when
(09:07):
they get to the playoffs, and when that happens, that's
enough to pull the upset half the time. Right, It's
not like Peyton Manning. You know his record in the
playoffs was terrible. He only won three games. No, he
was a five hundred quarterback in the playoffs because half
the time another team coming in with a little bit more,
a little bit more I would say, desire and a
(09:29):
next gear they have yet defined. Because you get to
the playoffs, that adrenaline everything else, Hey, you hit that
next gear that gives a team the impetus it takes
to win a game, right, and win a big playoff game.
The same thing for the Dodgers, right, they have one
level of excellence every year. Regular season, they steamroll through people.
They were playing in August that looked like they weren't
(09:50):
gonna lose a game. Their stars were hitting. Everything was great.
Now they get to this round of the playoffs, and
what happens. The Diamondbacks had that next level gear. They
couldn't wait for this series. They want. They hadn't beaten
the Dodger in the playoffs in in nine years, like
the last nine times they played, and they've been waiting
for this, waiting for it, waiting for it. They had
that next level gear, and they came out with blood
(10:12):
in their eye at the beginning of every game. They
were crooked numbers. And if we don't care, if it's
Kershaw or Bobby Miller or anybody, we don't care. And
they came out and they had that next level and
the Dodgers did not. And sometimes that's enough to win.
Sometimes the Dodgers talent is enough to win. Sometimes it's
not right. It's why The Dodgers win a couple of
rounds in the playoffs every year, and then you get
(10:33):
to a team playing at a higher level, with a
little bit more of a next level to get to. Hey,
they beat you. But and sometimes it happens in the
ALC and the NLCS. Sometimes it happens in the NLDS
like it happens here. But it happens. And this is
the deal with the Dodgers. They don't have that next
level gear in the playoffs because they're already there and
they're out there saying, we're out there, we're executing just
like we did in the regular season, and we're gonna
(10:55):
go out there and win. And it doesn't happen because
watch Diamondbacks. Who is a team playing with all kinds
of confidence, who had the better body language, who had
the more desire, who was screaming into their mits after
big outs, who was screaming on their way to the
dugout after big pitches, they believed they could win. They
came in and took this series, and the Dodgers just
let them. That's why the Dodgers are out.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Came in with the mantra, I believe that we will
win eighty four wins in the regular season, and they
needed every one of them down the stretch.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
We watched the battle for the wild Card.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
I got in my inbox, having bought tickets to Wrigley
Field in the past, the nice note that Tom Ricketts
sent to people that have bought tickets in Chicago to say,
We're sorry we didn't get the job done. I would
expect Dodger fans receive a very long one coming out
of this one out of this series, but the same
(11:47):
message of hey, we fought hard, we didn't get there. Well,
the Diamondbacks did. Diamondbacks kept going. Some of the young
guys that are on the com that are becoming household
names with this series, and certain Corby and Carroll, a
guy that people were starting to know. You look at
Christian Walker once upon a time, you know, was the
(12:07):
next big thing as he was coming up, and now
with another squad making a name, so it's you know,
it's it's big time stuff right where you get an
opportunity to shine, get on the national stage, and you
you come for the.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Dodgers because you're tired of hearing about the Dodgers.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
We've talked about this a lot, right, We've talked about
it with that Bills Dolphins game two weeks ago, right,
the Bills then went and got thumped by Jacksonville.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
But that pay no mind to that.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
Here this goes back to, you know, the Dolphins and
Dolphins and Dolphins and Dolphins, and then the Bills went
and said, all right, we're gonna punch them in the mouth,
and they did. And we see that time and time
again in sports. In this case, you did it three
straight games out of the jump, getting into the batter's
box on the road and just saying we're taking it
to these guys. Miller, young guy had a great year,
(12:56):
is going to be a force. Guess what for one
day he got got Clayton Kershaw. People want to talk
about shoulders, whatever he took the mound.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Nobody's one hundred percent at the end of the season,
particularly a guy that's put as many innings in as
he has. There's no excuse. You just didn't perform. Once
you get in between the white lines, how much your
hurt goes out the window.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
We don't you'll win or you lose.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
And right now, for Dodger fans, it's another early exit
and another season of handwringing, wondering what changes in the
mechanics and in the formula, because there's a lot that
needs to change if you're suddenly going to change your
postseason success.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Twitter at how about a fresco Mike get swollen dome.
I'm glad you say that, Mike, because the Diamondbacks winning
this series should now see a concrete strategy for all
of Major League Baseball. We'll get to that coming up
later on this hour. There should be one strategy every
single team employees going into every regular season. What is it?
(14:05):
Don't worry, We'll tell you attack. Let's come ahead. We
got that coming up later on this hour The Jason
Smithson with Mike carmon lifthtirerack dot Com Studios. But before
we head out and welcome in John Paul Morosi. Coming
up in a few minutes. How about the final call
Diamondbacks in the NLCS over the Dodgers. The wind sounded
(14:26):
like this.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Hey, I'm Doug Gottlieb. The podcast is called All Ball.
We usually talk all basketball all the time, but it's
more about the stories about what made these people love
their sport and all the interesting interactions along the way.
We talked to coaches, we talked to players, We tell
you stories.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
You download it, you listen to it.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I think you like it.
Speaker 5 (14:50):
Listen to All Ball with Doug Gottlieb on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific ed TJ.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Clearly the Diamondbacks hungry like the wolf tonight, or at
least hungrier than the Dodgers with their three game sweep TJ,
Fox Sports Radio, The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon. That show brought you by Discover. If
you like using debit over credit, shouldn't you also get rewarded?
Well now you can with Discover cash Back Debit, So
(15:28):
checking account the rewards everyone with cash back on everyday
purchases with no fees period. Check out eligibility in terms
at discover dot com, Slash cashbackdebit That's discovered dot com
Slash cashback debit Discover Bank member fdi C. So the
Dodgers are out, the Astros are in the Phillies. Maybe
(15:51):
in joining us now on the hotline to break it
all down. Nobody better. MLB Network insider extraordinaire, Brand New
Laws insider and host of The Sternsey and the Pope
Morning Show, taking Michigan by storm. It is John Paul
Morosi JP. What's happening, buddy? How are you good?
Speaker 6 (16:12):
Evening? My friends? Still trying to process all that transpired
to the Diamondbacks Dodgers series. Let's think about that. The
Dodgers did not have a lead at any point in
that series. Remarkable dominus in the Diamondbacks. They have not
lost the game in this postseason, nor have the Texas Rangers.
(16:35):
We've got some new teams to talk about this time
of year, and my goodness to Dodgers have a lot
of questions to face this offseason.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
All right, JP, I'm going to give you a loaded
question here, because this is going to be at the
big question. Here's another season where the Dodgers regular season
excellence does not translate into postseason success. I say to you,
the Dodgers are out of the playoffs because how do
you do you answer that? However long you need to answer,
how do you the Dodgers are out of the playoffs because.
Speaker 6 (17:06):
Their starting pitching was not good enough? And this was
not a surprise. I don't think to a lot of
people who watch this team carefully down the stretch. Now,
the sweep was probably a surprise. The magnitude of the sweep,
the Dodgers never having a lead at any point was
a surprise, but the ultimate result I would really caution
(17:31):
people to avoid using the words shocking, startling, unforeseen, because
look at the pitching they've had all season long. They
had seventeen different starting pitchers. Kershaw had shown at different
points during the year that he was vulnerable to injury
and just not having his best stuff. They had to
(17:52):
really massage his innings down the stretch just to make
sure that he was ready to go for the postseason.
And then they had to trust Lance Lynn, who at
different times has been very hittable and beatable, and obviously
it was really just one inning that got him tonight.
And then the previous started was a rookie and Bobby Miller.
So the certainty of this rotation. There is still a
(18:15):
place in this game, and the Phillies are showing it,
the Diamondbacks have shown it, the Rangers have shown it.
There is a way to win in this sport at
this time of year around, still dominant starting pitching and
trying to bullpen your way through every single game is
just not really sustainable. And it might work for one series,
(18:38):
it's not going to work for four rounds or three rounds.
And I think the Dodgers just got a really sobering
wake up call as to how far they are from
being a dominant team. Now. Next year, maybe Walker Buehler
comes back, but they still have to work on this
rotation in a very, very substantive way because they were
(18:58):
just behind. They were behind and that gallon, they were
behind what Merril Kelly gave the Dbacks, and they were
behind Brendan Fox tonight in terms of what the opposing
starting pitchers were able to do. So the Dodgers, this
should prompt a whole lot of introspection or they may
continue to have these October failings going forward.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
Yeah, as Mets and White Sox fans on the show,
JP not feeling so bad anymore, Misery Loves Company postseason games.
Speaker 6 (19:32):
You do have some alumni of both of those teams
that are that are at least involved in this und
and maybe beyond. But you're right, and this is where
to me, guys, I've made the statement before, but I
think tonight it's really appropriate. We have to remember that
it's a different sport, a different exercise, a different competitive
(19:55):
element when you're talking about the postseason than when you
talk about a big one sixty two, and we can
talk about the playoff format. I get it. The Astros
clearly have not been bothered by it, and they've had
the buy each of the last two years, so that
might be part of it. I tend to think the
Dodgers their issue was making sure the rotation was rested
(20:17):
and ready to go. They had even more time and
they still didn't get it right. To me, we are
at a point of the game now where teams are
going to have to start adjusting their projections in the
way they value players based on the expectations of those
players to be available to you in a big way
in the month of October, and the teams that fall
(20:39):
short in that regard are just not able to win.
And that's exactly what we are seeing right now. And
it was even true to an extend for Baltimore, a
great story, but they didn't have an ace, and so
all these teams that have fallen off early on guys,
they're going to have a lot of questions to answer.
And we've talked a lot about Otani in our conversations
(21:02):
during the course of the year. He's not gonna be
able to pitch in twenty twenty four. So you've got
to be creative if you're the Dodgers, because a team
that's as proud and good as the Dodgers, they're not
gonna just punt on twenty twenty four. They're going to
try to win the World Series. And I think today
and this week really underscored how far they are away
(21:23):
from getting back to that point.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
You know, JP, we talked about it a few minutes ago.
We had the micro point in the macro point, and
I said, when I look at at the Dodgers, if
they remind me of Peyton Manning when he played, he
had a great level of excellence in the regular season,
and he maintained that level in the playoffs. And the
reason his record was five hundred is because other teams
have that next level to get to that you surprise
(21:45):
you sometimes you don't think it happens, and Peyton Manning
had one level of play and hey, sometimes that's why
his record was five hundred. Other teams had that next level,
that next gear in the playoffs. That's kind of how
I see the Dodgers. They have a great level of
excellence and they just roll that right in the playoffs.
But other teams have this extra gear that we see
when they play the Dodgers, and I don't see the
(22:05):
Dodgers ever with an extra gear. I see them at
that level they're playing, and sometimes it's enough to win
the first round or or the division round, or even
the league championship series, but they lose half their series
because I don't see a next level from them that
I see out of other teams.
Speaker 6 (22:22):
Well, that's fair, and I certainly understand where you're coming
from on that. And two, we've gotten this part of
our conversation without mentioning that Mookie Bets and Freddie Freeman
just didn't do much in this series. In the case
of Mookie not a hit, and so that is it's
when your best players, when your best players don't produce,
(22:44):
and when you do not have another dimension of your
lineup to score with, like small ball, running the bases,
hit and run stolen bases. That's not how the Dodgers
are built. They're built for Mookie and Freddy to get
on base and then for Jadie Martinez and Munsey to
(23:05):
slug and Will Smith to slug. And that's how this
team is built. And certainly it would it have been
different had they had Gavin Locke. Sure, but that happened
back in spring training. They had plenty of time to
address that shortcoming. And so I think to your point,
this time of year benefits teams that can score runs
(23:27):
in different ways. The power component is crucial. In fact,
today had decided the entire series with the four solo
homers by the Diamondbacks. But look at Arizona's lineup. Cantel
Marte can still a base, per Dolo can still a base.
Thomas is an excellent athlete. Corbyn Carroll is one of
the most dynamic talents in the sport. They can beat
(23:48):
you in different ways, and honestly, it's there are some
parallels to my other favorite sport in the NHL, where
winning for four rounds of the playoffs is just a
different task. You have to be a little harder, you
have to be a little more adaptable than the straight
up play of the regular season. And the Dodgers are
realizing this. I mean they have realized this in the past,
(24:09):
they've had one of the best playoff streaks in the
history of the sport, but they've come up short in
October yet again. Obviously, the one title they had was
twenty twenty, and we don't know what Clayton Kershaw's future holds.
So there's a lot of uncertainy right now surrounding the
Los Angeles Dodgers.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
Now, JP after word gets out about the tagging up
play for Bryce Harper, he decides to say, Hey, King
Kong got nothing on me, and one of the greatest
staredowns in baseball history six home runs hit by the
Phils today.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Suddenly the Braves are reeling.
Speaker 6 (24:44):
They are, and certainly you think about the way that
the latter stages of Game two unfolded. We are very
close to talking about both the Dodgers and the Braves
being swept. The Braves were a couple moments away from
that being the end of their season. You're right, Harper,
two overs tonight stared down Arcia. I understand why Bryce
(25:05):
did it. I understand why the Braves maybe aren't thrilled
that it became a topic. And at the end of
the day, you just gave a little additional fuel to
someone who doesn't really.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Need it well, and.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Don't say stuff you don't want to come out right.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
And at the end of the day, and again I
was not I was not in the room. When when
certain things are said in the clubhouses and the media
is there and you've got scores of reporters in the clubhouse,
things can sometimes take on a life of their own.
I think that's what that's what happened here. I'm not
going to say anybody was right or wrong in that
(25:44):
particular situation. I just think it added to the narrative.
And when you've got cameras and no pads and everybody
in the world there, it tends to catch fire. And
obviously Bryce learned about it and had a little extra
motivation here in game three. So I'm sure a difficult
situation for the Braves. They have to play better. They
(26:06):
did not do much offensively in this game. Elder really struggled.
They have to like though their chances in game four.
At the end of the day, for the Atlanta Braves,
don't think about Game five. Think about the fact that
you've got one game to win. You've got Spencer Strider
on the mound against Rangers, Suarez. You've got one of
the best lineups that the game has seen ever. Really,
(26:29):
so if on the Braves, they should feel good, they
should feel confident. I guess time will tell. It's a
quick turnaround twenty four hours later. Let's see what the
weather's like, how loud the crowd is, all those atmospheric
things that can sometimes affect the energy of a playoff game.
The Braves have to come in and make a statement
early because that crowd has a way of taking over
(26:51):
and becoming a force unto itself.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
All Right, Lastly, JP, we have an Alcs that's going
to be so much fun because they just absolutely we
hate each other. We got the Rangers and the Astros
and Verlander, the potential return of Max Scherzer. I say
to you, the team playing in the World Series from
the American League is who you're gonna tell me?
Speaker 6 (27:12):
The Houston Astros. They know how to win this time
of year. They really do that. They have been tested.
They had to win some huge games down the stretch
to get in. Obviously, Texas has been unbeatable in the postseason.
I think it's gonna be a tremendous series, close both ways.
(27:32):
I believe, but until someone proves otherwise. The Houston Astros,
with their high quality at bats, just look at the
approach they take at this time of year. Look at JR.
Don Alvarez, look at Bregman, look at Altuve, look down
the line, look at Tucker, look at Brandy. These are
professional hitters who know how to get it done in October.
(27:56):
So until someone proves otherwise. Bruce Bochie loved what the
Rangers have built and their roster, but I think Houston
is the king until some of Bruce otherwise.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
He's on Twitter at John Morosi, that is at John
Morosi MLB Network Insider. He gave us the Lions to
keep things going next week with a big win. JP
is always buddy, appreciated man. We'll talk to you next week.
Have fun.
Speaker 6 (28:20):
Indeed, indeed, Lions seventeen. I'll come back with the predictions
next time.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
All right, the best you got it, buddy, We'll talk
to you.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
He's the best.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
I love. JP is awesome. He wanted to give the
score again.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
I gave it last night, but here it is thirty
four missed it.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
The audience is always changing and growing here at Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
I want to give it again, I want to make
sure you guys get it.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
Well, what's great is we get the managerial matchup between
Bochie's hat size and Dusty Baker wearing that coat that
kind of looks like a cape. It's just long enough
to where he's got like that Darth Vader effect kind
of going on.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
For so it's pretty good.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yeah, no, no, no, hey, I'm with you. I'm with you.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
I think people of veteran managers. I love it.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
It's it's gonna be so much fun. I mean really,
and and and for me to say it when I
have to potentially sit here and watch Verlander and Scherzer
and Tommy fam all in the Alcs, all who started
the season with the Mets, for me to tell you
it's gonna be fun, It's gonna be fun. It's good
about digging it.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
At some point, you just have to uh accept the
failures of your squad.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
I did long ago.
Speaker 4 (29:27):
Yeah, I mean they did their one, two three cancun
chant I think August first, So trade deadlines over those
guys left, although it is still difficult to watch Joseatos.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Guys are gone.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
Okay, God, Homer's again today, not that he was traded,
but the fact that he's in Houston and he has
these meaningful of bats and he hits the homers like
I love that guy not with the ats.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon Weekday You Said, ten pm Eastern,
seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio
Fox Sports.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Radio The Jason Smith Show with My best friend Mike
Harmon TJ. Once again, the MLB Playoffs proving to be
toxic to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Speaker 4 (30:17):
TJE, there's a story that we you know, passing the
note around earlier that I was going to take exception to,
and you're giving me more evidence to add to my list.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Keep going, tough guy?
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Was that just at a time to tie to one
I had? It's all I had? Although TJ. The Dodgers
clearly telling Mookie Bets, how about a hit one more time?
But instead he goes over the LDS. TJ.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
You gotta get a baby in there, going.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
A freestyle different ways. Okay.
Speaker 5 (30:51):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
So the Dodgers go out, they get swept by the
Diamondbacks and this is an eighty four win team that
is now in the NLCS. Last year we had eighty
four to eighty seven win team in the NLCS with
the Phillies and the Padres. Now that we have enough
of a sample size with the new playoffs and and
(31:13):
and what the rounds look like when you play the
best of three, then you get into the divisional playoff
and the and the NLCS, the ALCS. There's different things
that you can different strategies. Okay, well, the week off
versus not having the week off like that. That that's
a load of crap because sometimes the team with the
week off wins and it's all, yeah, that really helped
because they lined up there pitching how they wanted to.
Sometimes that's that Philosophically, wouldn't that make more sense?
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Yeah, well, if we don't have enough data points at
this point.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
But I mean, look, but would you rather have to
play a best of three? Would you rather sit? You
want to wait? You don't want to have to play games?
You don't have to play? Come on it.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Anything happens in a best of three.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
But sometimes sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But the
big takeaway from it is this is that every team
should go into the season thinking this and this helps
with spending, this helps with everything in the off season
into the regular season. Build yourself a five hundred team, right,
(32:12):
build yourself a five hundred team. Don't don't, don't sit
there and just you know, not spend any money. Don't
go overboard and spend all kind three hundred and fifty
four million. No, no, no, build yourself a five hundred team.
This is why I suddenly I feel good about the
Mets next year. Build yourself a five hundred team. And
when you get to the trade deadline, you make your moves,
(32:32):
because then you will have had even though it's only
one trade deadline, you will have had all of April, May, June,
and July. You will have four months to say, what
do we need if we're going to really take the
next step. And then you make your moves to make
your team the best they can be, and you hit
the playoffs and you see what happens because you have
teams now that all you had to do if you
(32:52):
were the if you were the Diamondbacks, you just need
to be five hundred going into the final week end
of the regular season. That's it. Go to the final
weekend of the regular season and you're in the playoffs.
That's at five hundred, you don't need to be great.
You need to This is less than one win over
five hundred a month. This is not even a just
be be fifteen and fourteen every month, or fourteen and thirteen. No,
(33:14):
it's not even that. It's just be fud, just be even,
be dead even. But then when it's time to when
it's time to make the moves to the deadline, that's
when you say, okay, well we need a centerfielder, we
need a couple of middle relievers. That's when you make
the moves because, as we have seen, you just need
to get into the playoffs, and anything happens. You can't
control the chaos. You can't control hey we're sitting around
(33:36):
for a couple for a week, or we're playing every day,
or this round of the playoffs. No, you can't control
any of that. It is chaotic. Well you can control
is how do we get in? How do we make
sure we get in? And then are we hot? And
are we good enough? And every year, as long as
you build yourself to be a five hundred team, every year,
every team in Major League Baseball should walk into a
season and think we can make the playoffs. Because even
(33:58):
the worst teams the Royals. You could walk in and say, hey,
let's just build a five hundred team, and if we're
good at the deadline, okay, we make a move. Every
team in Major League Baseball should have hope going into
the regular season, because clearly this is the strategy that
works the best, that allows you to get in not
worry about overspending or making be five hundred, making most
(34:18):
of the deadline. That's it.
Speaker 4 (34:19):
I kind of like this theoretical world that you're living
in now in certain respects, like say the Dodgers, it
just meant you have more than one guy you're going
after in the final hours leading up to the deadline.
Just just kind of throwing that out there, at least
what we've been led to believe at this point that
it was all in on one guy, that he was
(34:41):
the only difference maker. And then obviously Lance Lynn coming over.
But you're looking at a situation whereby you know, spending
habits and roster construction, you know, you know you don't
want to leave a lot up to chance, right certainly
(35:02):
because you don't know how many players get because in
your scenario, everybody's now a contender and a buyer.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
There are no sellers oh.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
No, No, Well, by the time you get to the
end of July, if you're as long as you're five hundred.
If you're under five hundred, you're selling.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
I'm just saying you're gonna play out the four but
you're gonna have more teams creeping towards that five hundred log. Okay, okay,
then at the bottom, which means there's not gonna be
a lot of guys available for you to go and
add to your depth.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
No, there's gonna be bad teams that Hey, we thought
we built a five hundred team going in. It didn't
work out. So we're the sellers at the deadline. That's fine.
So we're gonna sell.
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Someone that I inspired a mediocrity. There's a message.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Put a shirt.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
Let's go put you you know you're the motivational speaker
at nowhere.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
You put that on a T shirt for me. There
you go, aspire a mediocrity brought to you by people
at Nowhere.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
You're gonna get it done.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Put that out there.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
I'm working on it.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
We'll hear from Dave robertson more from the shocking upset
of the Dodgers. Straight ahead. This is Fox Sports Radio.
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Are You A Charlotte?
In 1997, actress Kristin Davis’ life was forever changed when she took on the role of Charlotte York in Sex and the City. As we watched Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte navigate relationships in NYC, the show helped push once unacceptable conversation topics out of the shadows and altered the narrative around women and sex. We all saw ourselves in them as they searched for fulfillment in life, sex and friendships. Now, Kristin Davis wants to connect with you, the fans, and share untold stories and all the behind the scenes. Together, with Kristin and special guests, what will begin with Sex and the City will evolve into talks about themes that are still so relevant today. "Are you a Charlotte?" is much more than just rewatching this beloved show, it brings the past and the present together as we talk with heart, humor and of course some optimism.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.