October 6, 2025 • 43 mins
That whole bye week stale bats convo seems dead now. (Top of show) We had plenty of evidence from the weekend.
(2:47) The Mariners even their series with Detroit and we have boots on the ground with AJ breaking down what’s really happening.
Foul Territory Presented by FOX One: Start your 7-day free trial today at FOXOne.com
(14:50) Kurt Suzuki & Nick Hundley are in the mix for the Giants manager opening.
(16:14) Injuries suck: How much will Jackson Chourio be hindered by his latest hammy issue? AJ also wants to know why Matt Boyd was pitched on short rest.
Go to Superpower.com to learn more and lock in the special $199 price while it lasts. Live up to your 100-Year potential. #superpowerpod
(21:42) The Blue Jays are the 2nd team in postseason history with more HR than strikeouts in their first two games. Guess the other!
(24:13) Alex Anthopoulos indicated that Brian Snitker would still be the Braves manager if he wanted to keep going.
Get 20% off your first Slab Pack or card purchase by going to ArenaClub.com/FOUL and use code FOUL
(25:41) We will die on this hill! Does home field advantage matter? The home issues in Philly take center stage.
(37:50) Skip Schumaker is the new dugout main man in Arlington.
(40:21) Shout out to FT fan Bruce Torres for rocking our merch at the game in Philly! Check it out at FoulTerritoryShop.com. And special congrats to Brett Phillips on announcing his retirement.
Don’t miss our postgame show tonight after Cubs-Brewers Game 2!
Hosts: AJ Pierzynski, Erik Kratz, Scott Braun
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
We got a lot to do today, a lot to do.
AJ doing a great job. Love listening to the Tigers
Mariners series going on right now, and we're gonna dive
into that one coming up in just a moment. But
before that, the annual rest versus rust discussion. I don't
want to spend more than thirty seconds on it, but
based on what Milwaukee and Toronto alone did, are we
(00:25):
cool to say? Who fing cares?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Does it matter? Because the teams that got rest won
some games and the teams that got rest lost some games,
So what does it really matter? I'm I've been banging
on this trum forever. I don't think it matters. But
that's just me. Teams matter, and.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Yeah, but it matters to the Red Sox, it matters
to any of the teams that got bounced in the
last round, right because.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I'm talking about that team still playing. I'm talking about
teams still playing scot those teams that are home their home,
they don't care about the rest. We've got lots of
rest now. But I want to get rid of.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
The narrative that it's like, oh, you can't hit coming
off that right, like the Brewers and the Blue Jays
they can hit.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
You're right, And the Dodgers had a chance to win
that game and didn't. Sorry, krats, And also listen to
Mariners ran into no hitting except for calin Julio. Their
layoff didn't seem to hurt them at all. They seem
to be doing just fine. Callin Julio or are swinging
it all right? And Plannka went deep off Scooba last
night twice and he had a week off. So I listen,
(01:30):
if you lose, you cry about the rest, and if
you win, nobody cares. So just win, baby, as Al
Davis would say.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
That's right. And also you meant Philly's had a chance
to win first the Dodgers, right.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Sorry, sorry, yeah, I got you. Just red Eye last night, Scott,
get you that red Eye. Yeah, I'll de Detroit, It'll
get you.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
You're in prime form, all right, Krats, Rest versus rest?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Last word, it's gonna be fifty to fifty forever. Who
really cares? My biggest thing, Go ask the Red Sox
they want to rest. Go ask all the teams have
played in the first round. Everybody wants rest because there's
half those teams every year go home. So you never
want to play that Wildcard round boom exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
All right, So it's Monday, we're back. We're recapping the weekend,
and we're also doing postgame shows this week. So we'll
lay out the schedule for this evening. There are two
games tonight, and we will be on after the second game.
That's Milwaukee and Chicago. There you go, Cubs and Brewers,
nine o'clock East Coast time, eight o'clock Central out there,
(02:34):
and we'll talk about that one. Plus we'll do our
recap of the prior game as well, the Dodgers and
the Phillies. So you'll get thoughts from us tonight, and
then of course we'll keep recapping tomorrow. But let's charge
chout one to one Tigers and Mariners. Let's start there.
(02:54):
That's the most recent game since our show, right because
that was Sunday night, and that's along with Adam Wainwright
and Adam Amin i'll call in the game on Fox.
AJA thoughts on the one to one series heading to
Detroit here.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Well, Detroit had a chance to really take a stranglehold
with Schooble pitching last night and the Mariners, listen, Luis
Castillo did an amazing job. These have been two awesome games.
If you haven't watched these two games now, granted, if
you like offense, you're not going to see a lot
of that. But if you like pitching and a couple
some clutch hitting and a lot of strategy, these are
the games for you because there is like who should
they bring in? When should they take the starter out?
(03:31):
Who should they pinch hit for? Should they bunch? Should
they run? What should they do? And the game on
Saturday went extra innings and the Tigers won three to two,
and with a clutch hit from Zach McKinstry after a
leadoff walk in a wild pitch. And then last night
Plonka with the two homers off schoobl Spencer Torcosson with
a huge base hit, and we can debate pitch calling
all day long. Cratzy as you know. And then all
(03:54):
of a sudden, to Calin Julio show shows up back
to back doubles of Kyle Finnegan, a guy who has
now pitched in four or five days, and the Mariners
beat the Tiger three to two. And if you didn't
see the guy crying in the stands that we showed
on Fox, it was incredible. The guy in a banana's
hat because it was the first win for the Mariners
in Seattle since two thousand and one, two thousand and
(04:17):
one since they won a home playoff game, and the
Seahawks had just lost and late in the game, so
they were already all riled up. They're facing school and
then they win through to two. There was a lot
of emotions in Seattle on the crowd there has been awesome.
So I hope Detroit matches that crowd.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
I saw a bunch of people online saying these are
boring games because there's not a lot of offense. Why
would I want to even watch this series? This is
the reason these games are so close. It hinges on
one pitch. It hinges on your pitch selection, It hinges
on the fact that you know how to get a
guy out because both these offenses are kind of struggling
(04:52):
minus Holy Ow and Cow, but every pitch what could
change the trajectory of both these teams.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
I think the Mariners are the better team.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
I think the Tigers had their chance, and I think
it's swung back in the favor of the Mariners. Oh wait,
except the Mariners now have to go as as aj says,
East of Spokane, So we'll see how they play. I
think they still have the advantage, but they're out of
their friendly confines. And I have no idea why that
(05:23):
guy was crying.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
That's true though. It's two weeks too for the Tigers
and now they're back home. What aj you're you're going.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
To defend eleven eleven eleven Street?
Speaker 5 (05:35):
No?
Speaker 2 (05:35):
I think guys, listen, it was awesome.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
Man.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
The guy has yeah, I like he's having a moment,
all right, he was having a moment, had a moment
just come on, yeah, I mean.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Not about a game, but I mean, come on, that
was twenty four years ago.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
How old was that guy? How old was that guy? Eleven?
Speaker 2 (05:51):
I don't know how old he was, but it was awesome.
It was an awesome shot by our director Mitch Regan.
So way to go camera, guys, and Mitch for nailing
that shot.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Also careful and I'll tell you why. And then you'll go, oh,
what if, for example, there's someone close and he lost
them and he's thinking they would be loving this moment
right now? Just throwing that those kind of ideas out
there because that's what happens so often with other teams
that hadn't say, won a World Series in forever, and
you have emotions and tears, and often they're connected to
(06:20):
lifetime memory, experienced, family, friends, situations. Just throwing that out there.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Yeah, that's a good one. That's a good one.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Sure anyway, And by the way, no, but by the way, listen,
I don't know what's going to happen in this series.
But now it gets really interesting because the Mariners are
so much better at home than they are in the road.
And they come to Detroit, where they did sweep the
Tigers right before they All Star break, but it was
a different team. They get Flaherty, who pitched really well
in the Wildcard Series, as we know, the bullpens get
a day of rest, and then Logan Gilbert. Everyone was
(06:51):
shocked he didn't pitch Game one or two. Nobody really
got a reason why. It was just kind of we
want Castillo and Kirby to pitch one and two. There
wasn't really any reason given other than oh, we like
and Gilbert in Game three. So the Mariner has been
terrible on the road, as we know, they were the
best home record, I think in baseball this year in
the American League. So I don't know what's going to happen,
but it's just it's intriguing as hell. These games are
tight because neither one of these teams has really hit
(07:12):
the ball very well. So much, like I said, so
much strategy with these two managers. When are they bringing
in first game the Kerry Carpenter home run? He have
brought in Gabe Spier to pitch to him instead of
letting Kirby face him for the third time? Who carry
Carpenter owns? He's now five for eleven with five homers.
That's it. He's five for eleven with five homers. No singles,
no doubles, no triples, just he just hits homers off
(07:33):
of them and they let him pitch to him and
he hit the home run, and then the bullpen usage
and the way it went down. I mean, if you
talk to the people in the media around those games,
they are like, man, you second guess everything in these series.
It's awesome and it has been. It's been awesome. Yeah,
it's not the thirteen to seven or whatever the Yankees
Blue Jays game was yesterday, but at least they have
been close games and there's a lot to talk about.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Our playoff coverage for the next few weeks is all
presented by Fox One. Shout out to them and the
new app and streaming service where you can get yourself
a seven day free trial at foxone dot com. So
for example, if you're like, I don't have anything else,
but I want to watch the playoffs, then you can
watch AJ and Adam and Adam do their game and
(08:16):
then eventually obviously the CS and the World Series as well.
All you AJ, We're gonna watch you even if we can't.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Right, we were in commercial. I was like, well, I
didn't realize this was live. I know, sorry, this is
the commercial. You get MLB obviously in the playoffs because
Fox rules MLB playoffs. I think you get Big Noon,
which is their big college football show. I don't know
if you can get the NFL on there, but yeah,
you get games. Oh well, then how do you not
(08:47):
have Fox one? I have Fox one. I watch it
all the time. I need to watch a game. People
are complaining they couldn't find the game. If you have
Fox one there it is boom, It's easy.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
What about Brian Wu not being involved here for this
the pectoral inflammation since our last show is when we
learned that he's officially not part of this series. To me,
it makes game three even more critical for the marriage.
Is Bryce Miller rumored to Yes.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
He starts scheduled. He's scheduled to start in game four.
Now how long will we go? It all depends on
Game three, I think. But these managers are riding their
bullpens hard. Other than Schooble, like the ultimate we talk
about X factors, the ultimate wildcard is schoobl because Hinch
knows that he can get seven innings like he did
last night. And listen to people that say, oh, scoobld
and Pitchell. He went seven innings, gave up two solo homers,
(09:35):
punched out I think nine. I think in seven innings.
One walk that's usually pretty good, that's usually really good
against the team that won their division at home. That
it's been way better at home. So Schooble pitch really well.
He made two mistakes other than that, and then Finnegan
came in and gave it the two doubles. But man,
I mean, listen, I don't know what we're gonna get
out of Logan Gilbert, but it's gonna be fascinating to watch.
(09:55):
And then Bryce Miller when he starts. He might go
well one time through maybe, and then they're gonna run
to their bullpen, which has been great, So we'll see
how it goes. But Jack Flaherty tomorrow and then Casey myyes,
I mean if you look on paper, you're like, man,
I think maybe the Tigers have a little bit of
an advantage because they're at home. But you could have
said that about Game two and the Tigers lost a
schoobl game with a chase chance to really put their
foot on the Mariner's throat and put them away maybe,
(10:18):
but they didn't do it.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Yeah, that makes this one pretty tough to predict right now, Crass,
You've got a team that struggles away from home and
they're down basically their best starter this year, right, I mean,
Brian wu was their best starting pitcher and he was
durable and going deep into games for them. It's a
massive loss for this team, whether it's in the division
series or the next round, it is going to burn
(10:43):
them because they had a big three and a half ish.
I guess you could put Castillo in there. He looked
really good in Game two. But man, you're so much
more dangerous if you're the Mariners. If you have a
guy who's a legit number one for the entire twenty
twenty five season in your rotation.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
I mean you would think Logan Gilbert's a legit number
one too, he just hasn't been this year. To me,
if AJ's right and it's going to be bull down
to the bullpens, Mariners have the advantage.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
I get it.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
The Mariners have gotten you know, their bullpen got cooked
last night because Castillo went four and a third or
four and two thirds. But the Tigers have been using
their bullpen. But this is where the wild card and
the layoff comes into play. The Tigers have been playing
their bullpen, has been pitching every single day, and to me,
(11:34):
it's going to catch up to them somewhere. And if
it becomes two teams that are playing bullpen games, I
think it's advantage Mariners.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
And just want to shout out the other historic part here. Yeah,
I mean, Seattle hadn't even won a postseason game at home,
like we talked about at the top there, so that's special.
I think Julio Rodriguez being the big, big long term
money guy for them showing up big with some clutch
knocks in the first two games is huge. So some
shout outs there, and then one other thing. I started
(12:06):
to mention AJ the Tigers. They looked up. They hadn't
been home in two weeks.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Yeah, eleven game, it's a long time. They're probably happy
they get to change underwear.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
It was pretty funny. Hinchester in his office and we're like, oh,
you get to go home. And they didn't actually take
the red eye home. They took there. They spent the
night interflying. I think they get home maybe four or
five o'clock this afternoon. So the Mariners took the red
Eye and got here early this morning, and the Tigers
shows to spend another night in the road. If I
was on those Tigers teams, I would have been like,
give me the heck home so I can sleep in
(12:36):
my own bed. I don't want to sleep in another hotel.
But they chose to do it the way they do it.
Teams have all these sleep schedules and all that stuff,
and oh man, it's just it's it's fascinating how this
is going to go.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Does Gabs Fire have to face Carrie Carpenter now? In
those kind of moments, like if you're mid game and
you're thinking about it, and it's a one or two
run game and there's too much pressure. You have to
just bring him in as the kryptonite.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Him and him and Calen Ferguson have to face that
pocket of Riley Green and Kerry Carpenter.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Okay, yeah, that to me was the big change from
game one to game two.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
Right.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
If there's one thing a manager can can impact it
that and Kratz. The move was made by Dan Wilson.
It's like, if I get beat this time around, okay,
but I'm not going to get beat with the same
exact strategy.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Because you may not ever get to another at bat
like you, Like I get it, you might want to
try to get by him and Kerry Carpenter's shown that.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
I get it. He caught him that time.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
But until he can beat Spire or Ferguson, can't can't
let it, can't let it happen. You got it, That's
where you gotta go to. So you're gonna live and
die on that hill.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
Mm hmmm.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
One more quick shoutouts. I don't know, I don't remember
if we really said his name much yet, but Zach
McKinstry has had an awesome year and had the clutch
knock in Game one. Otherwise, who knows. Maybe the Mariners
do get themselves a little walk off action and then's
too to Detroit.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Zach mckinchry had a great first half. Don't don't look
at his second half numbers because no, boy, no, he
had a great first half. He did not have a
good second half. I'm sorry a lot of it. But
you could say that about a lot of these Tigers. Also,
by the way you talk, we're going to talk Tiger's territory. Cody. Cody,
who's on Tiger's territory, walked right by me, blew me off.
I had to call him out on it in Tiger's
club house. I was like, oh, I don't say hi,
(14:21):
you're fired.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Wow. And with that Tiger territory. If if you're mad
at Aj because you think that he's favoring the Mariners,
then the Tigers and the Tigers and the Mariners, then schoolball,
then Kirby whatever, then you can listen to Cody Stavenhagen
and the Tiger Territory crew part of the Ft network.
Maybe he's just a little grumpy because he doesn't have
(14:44):
the club. He's washing underwear and socks like Schoogle had
to get because they ran out of things on the road. Hey,
there's a manager's search going on. There's many of them, actually,
So Kurtzuzuki interviewed for the Giants opening A catcher being
interviewed by catcher Buster Posey, forty one years old, sixteen
seasons in Biggs. Currently a special assistant to the GM
with the Angels, Nick Huntley is in the mix for
(15:07):
the Giants' opening job. No guarantees, but the Rangers executive
and former catcher with the Giants is according to John Hymen.
The last one was according to Robert Murray. But anyway,
this former Giants catcher well respected and Buster Posey's backup
in twenty seventeen and twenty eighteen. Well, AJ sounds like
Buster Posey is interested in hiring a catcher.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yeah, I mean Kratz was available. Kratz was a catcher.
Krowts played for the Giants. Didn't he play with Buster Posey?
White Krauts Krowts, Why a don't you getting an interview?
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Matt?
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Come on, put your name in that ring. You want
to you know you want to do that?
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Who said I didn't? Who said I don't like traffic?
In San Francisco, who said, I don't like a forty
five minute commute three miles away.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
You don't have to You can do a boat. You
didn't live across the street. You can just walk. You
don't even need a commute, you don't even need a car.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
I know Buster, I know, I know Buster likes Nick.
I know Buster liked Nick a lot because I came
to I came to San fran in nineteen and I
think it was something that Buster and far Haan didn't
quite agree because Nick didn't have the receiving numbers like
they really wanted, and so that's why they brought me
in to fill in for a little bit until they
(16:10):
found until Voter got healthy. But so I know he
really liked Nick as a person.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Injury suck. We do have some injury news to hit
with the Cubs Brewers series. Jackson Cheerio missed time with
a hammy. Then he left the game even though he
had a game's worth of production with a hammy issue.
We'll see how much of a factor it is for
the rest of the series. I mean, he had gone
three for three in the first couple innings of a
shellacking that the Brewers put on the Cubs in that
(16:37):
first game. AJ concern level for Cheerio. I mean, he's
a big part of the team. I know this is
like a sum of parts kind of team and organization,
but Jackson Cheerio is special.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Oh he's very special here. They did play a long
time without him though, so they've used to playing without
Jackson Turia. But in the playoffs, you want your best
players out there, and I think he's gonna try to
be out there no matter what. Man, what a first
two innings you had to what three hits in two
inns for youngest guy ever, first to ever have three
hits in the first two innings or something crazy. But
they're they're gonna need him if they want to make
as deep a run as the Brewers think they can do.
(17:08):
So they have already enough injuries, let's let's get Jackson
back healthy because he's fun to watch.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
I mean, who are they gonna fill in with that's
better than him?
Speaker 4 (17:18):
Is my thing.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
There's people that can't do as well as he does.
But when you're talking about having the best players out there,
you always want the best players. And he wasn't even
at one hundred percent. He's still coming back from his
previous injury a little bit slowed down, but they need
I'm not gonna say they need him back in there,
but they are a better team with him in the lineup,
(17:42):
bar none, hands down.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Can they win this round without him?
Speaker 2 (17:47):
No doubt? Yes, Humming, I don't even think. I mean,
we didn't get to talk about it, but you guys,
I'm sure you guys talked about it. Maybe I don't know, No,
we didn't.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
I know what you're gonna say, Boyd.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Matt Boyd, like you never have anyone ever gone into
a game one of a playoff series doing a guy
on short rest? And I don't think. I don't know
Mad Boys ever pitched on short rest, but it shouldn't
look like he'd ever pitched on short rest because that
game was over as soon as the first inning happened.
I mean, I listen, I was watching that, and we
know where I stand on the Cubs. And I went
and took a shower and it was one nothing Cubs,
(18:22):
and I came out and it was ten pitches in
and it was three to one Brewers, and I was like,
holy crap, what happened? And then it just kept going
and going, and when the defense fell apart. That was
that was a strange game for the Cubs. But gosh,
I mean, I just don't know that. I mean, I
know they had to go three games with the Padres,
but man, they threw Matt Boyd on short rest in
the first game of a series like that was It
seemed odd to me.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
And Matt Boyd, you know, was an incredible signing for them.
I had a huge first half, he was an All Star.
Wasn't as good in the second half, especially in his
last I want to say, like eight starts or so.
So you're looking at all of that and you're like,
is he tired? Because last year, remember he's coming off surgery,
he went like fifty something innings and eight appearances I
think almost two hundred innings one hundred almost one to
(19:02):
eighty this year, right, So add all of that up.
Is that who you want to start on short rest?
It has nothing to do with Matt to me, Kratz,
it had more to do with just the durability factor
here for somebody who hadn't pitched like that. And yes,
to answer AJ's question three times in his career, all
of them a long time ago, like twenty fifteen, sixteen
and seventeen one time each of those years. So to me,
(19:26):
it was like a risk and it completely bombed. Right,
That's what happened there. I mean his stuff was not
as sharp as it usually looks. They were hanging breaking pitches.
You know, even the fastball wasn't as sharp as it
usually is. Is that what you saw?
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Yeah, it looked like he was not crisp. And you're
gonna go right to the short rest. And I've been
in these meetings with Craig Council down the stretch end
of the season, our best pitcher was Julie's Chessine. I mean,
nobody's gonna say, oh, twenty eighteen, the Brewers rode the
back of he's just seen No. We kept asking him
(20:02):
to throw on short rest, short rest, short rest, short rest,
and the picture is always in that moment gonna say
yes I can go. I have never seen heard been
a part of a meeting where a pictuer goes, I
don't know, man, like I just I'm not gonna have it.
So if you're a manager, you're anization, and you go
(20:22):
to that guy and say, can you give it to us?
Can you give us game one? Because then we'll have
you back in game five too, if we need you
like you're our best shot. Even at eighty percent, picture's
always going to be like one hundred percent. This means
the world to me. I want it, and it didn't
work out for him.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Ft FAM. Let's talk about Superpower. Eric Kratz is a
proud Superpower customer and he's gonna give us more of
the personal experience. But I'll just start it with this.
You ever go to the doctor and the doc's just like, oh,
drink more water. Are you looking for more data, more
of a game plan. Superpower does that for you. They
give you the experience that athletes get with teams.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
The lab results came back for me.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
Now it's streamlines everything.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
That I kind of had an idea of, but now
it really lets me focus on the things that I'm
deficient in, the things that I have good, good lab
test results from. And I could go in that direction.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
I want to go nutritional guidance, supplement suggestions, you name it.
There's so much more info to check out at superpower
dot com and you can lock in the special one
hundred and ninety nine dollars price while at lasts after
you sign up, they're gonna ask you how you heard
about them? Mention ft to support the show Your biology decoded,
Your blueprint activated with superpower. Let's talk about Sarah Langs
(21:44):
and the Blue Jays stat note that I think probably
stood out more than any other eight home runs so
far there severely outslugging. The Yankees seven strikeouts in their
first two games, so they're doing both and aj the
only time this is happened. More homers are about strikeouts
in the first two games of a postseason two thousand
(22:05):
and five, White Stocks six homers, four k's in two games.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Guess who had two of those homers Scott and I'll
think he had one only. I mean he had two
all year and they were both in the postseason. But
but I don't know if I had any strikeouts. So yeah,
I was two on the plus side, zero on the
negative side. That's pretty good. That's pretty amazing. Actually, if
you think about it more home and now back twenty
years ago was a little different. But in today's game,
(22:32):
because I just watched the series with the Mariners. I
watched two games with the Mariners and the Tigers, and
they strike out, it's like ten, twelve, fifteen, whatever. We're
going to strike out fifteen times a game. We're still
gonna try and win. But to eight homers and seven
punch outs, especially against now that I mean Freed and Heel,
but Freed is the big one who usually gets punch outs,
and the Yankees bullpen supposed be able to get punch outs.
So kudos to the Blue Jays.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
You said it's different. You said it's different, but you're
not facing any You're not facing a fourth and fifth
starter in the postseason. You're not facing the sixth guy
out of the bullpen. I don't care if it's nineteen
fifty four or twenty twenty five. You're facing the best pitchers.
Those stats, those stats to out homer your strikeouts is awesome.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
That is an amazing stat.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
That's why I were at the best postseason team of
all time Crats, And I'll stand by that one because
we went eleven and one in the postseason and didn't
strike out and hit homers and we're just awesome and
through four complete games. So I know people ask me
I think we did. I had to do the breakdown
for Fox. They asked me to do it for Fox.
One the best five postseason teams since two thousand. Of
(23:43):
course mine was number one? Are you kidding me? But yeah?
Speaker 4 (23:47):
Who else did you have up there?
Speaker 2 (23:49):
I think two was the two thousand Yankees because they
were the end of the three peat two thousand and
four Red Sox for three. I think Dodgers last year
we're five and four.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Was I can't say Royal.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Was one of the twelve, the twenty twelve Giants, the
twenty twelve Giants just because I think that was the
best team of three the three that they won. I
thought the twelve team was the best team.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Hey, alexand Thoppolos spoke over the weekend at his end
of season media session. They said they're working on the
next manager. But he did mention AJ that if Brian
Snicker wanted to continue managing, he would have been given
that opportunity. Of course, some brave Patroll fans online were like,
I don't believe you. But he didn't have to say this,
and eventually it could get disputed by someone, So I
(24:35):
believe him.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Why not?
Speaker 1 (24:36):
I think they would have let him come back for
another season and then finish it if that's what he
wanted to do.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
This was one Snid's decision. I feel like I don't
feel like Alexandobos was lying about this at all. I
think I think this was what Snitt weighed his options.
He's got grand kids, a game, an opportunity to still
be part of the organization for his fiftieth year in
the organization. Yeah, would have been cool if he would
have been managing. Yeah, but he went through a lot, man,
and he's won a World Series. He was there with
(25:02):
Bobby forever and one of the cool things was, I
don't know if you'll knew this or not, but in
Bull Durham he was and Susan Sarandon's wall, he was
the little baseball card that is under mirror in early
in the movie. So, France Sticker has done a lot
in life, done a lot for the Braves organization. He
deserved to go out the way he wanted and this
was the way he wanted to go out.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Now the Braves will look for their next manager, and
somebody is going to have a position where you can
jump into a lot of talent very quickly. This is
a much more coveted job than quite a few of
the other spots. You know, it's a big one. This
isn't going to be a first year Guy New segment,
Larry pressure Cooker. We're talking about the Phillies Dodgers series.
(25:45):
So Kratz, obviously you're watching most of the Phillies games
this year, and you see what happened in Game one
where the Dodgers take them down five unanswered runs. I'm
going to actually start here. Is the home field advantage
more fun for us as a narrative in a storyline
than the actual impact they've lost for of their last
five games at his Citizens Bank Park. They've had other
(26:06):
bad losses there, what a couple of years ago when
the Diamondbacks took them down. I'm not trying to slight
the Phillies in general. I'm just more slighting the home
field advantage discussion that we like to talk about and
that looks and sounds fun, but does it really do anything.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
No.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Maybe there's something with a team not playing at home,
like they're not as comfortable, so you're playing against a
team that's not as comfortable, but it doesn't mean Citizens
Bank is any more Like, Oh man, I'm so nervous
these fans are really they just feel like they're really
getting on me too much. I don't know if I'm
going to be able to hit. I've never met a
(26:44):
player that's said, I'm not going to be able to
catch the ball in the outfield If I can't, if
the Citizens Bank fans are going to be crazy, They're
crazy out there.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
Now.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
I've been played, I've played with guys who at home
they're home team fans boo them and hate them so
much that they didn't like playing at home during the
regular season. But those are few and far between softer players,
but not in No, No, I don't think. I don't
think it has the It's more a media driven, like
(27:16):
fun story.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
Yeah. I mean.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
The smallest, no, the smallest home field advantage in any
sport is baseball. To me, it doesn't It doesn't do anything. Now,
I remember playing in the Metronome in the playoffs and
it was loud as all get out, but it never
really affected a game. I mean, yeah, I don't know,
the white roof affected more games than the crowd noise
did so, and the turf affected more games than the
crowd noise did so. Was it loud yeah? Was it awesome? Yeah?
(27:43):
But at the same time, I mean, hopefield advantage in
baseball just just doesn't do it a lot for me.
It's cool because guys get get you know, the cheers
and the moments when the home runs and all that
happened are great and got guys crying because they just
can't believe that their team won a playoff game. But
other than that, it doesn't do a lot.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
I will also say though, that I think the fact
that Baseball doesn't have a neutral site for their final
game of the season is the greatest part of it.
Like I would hate a neutral site for Baseball championship games,
like I hate that the Super Bowl is won at
a city that near the teams playing. I love the
(28:23):
fact because it's such a long season, fans have a
part of it. They feel like they're a part of it,
and they ride along with this team. So I don't
I wouldn call it an advantage. I would just call
it like we look at the Mariners. Look at the Mariners.
The Mariners play really well at home. Maybe they're just
a really good team and their travel sucks, so that's
(28:44):
why they don't play good on the road. They're out
on the East Coast for nine days, being in a
different time zone. Maybe that's why they don't play well
on the road. Maybe they're just a good team and
when they're in more of a comfortable situation, sleeping time zone,
families around them, all those things that has nothing to
do with like what's going on in the stadium.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
Well.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Also, if you want to factor in ballparks, AJ, some
ballparks play very different, right.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
But Mariners Seattle Mariners for sure, Like in this series.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Philadelphia is obviously a hitters park. But like the Dodgers,
I think I have more homers than the Phillies this year.
So it's not like, oh, the Phillies have this advantage.
They're this home run hitting team and the Dodgers aren't.
Like the Dodgers are loaded with power.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Agreed, Yeah, ballpark factor is a big deal. But you know,
Seattle is a huge difference because of the ballpark, the
worst hitting place in the in the league. So yeah,
does it matter. I mean, the fans are great because
they get behind you and they're you know, they make
they make moments. The fans make the moments. The players
do the things, and then the fans and the way
they cheer and the reaction makes a lot of the moment.
(29:51):
So does it?
Speaker 4 (29:52):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (29:53):
I mean, but Milwaukee in Chicago, they've played at each
other's park for how many I mean, you know, fifteen
times a year forever, so they're used to going to
those places. The Dodgers have played at Phillies. They have
a bunch of veterans. The Phillies have played at Dodger
Stadium a million times because they have a bunch of veterans.
So I mean, the Yankees and Blue Jays play again
twenty times a year, so they're used to going to Toronto.
They're used to go in to the Yankee Stadium. It's
(30:13):
not that big of a deal. So I mean, I
think I love home field advantage. I love home field
and engine football. I love home field advantage in the NBA.
I love home field oh my ice advantage in the NHL.
But in baseball it's just not a thing. I don't think.
And look at the series, look at who won and
who didn't win. Right, road teams won and home teams won.
It's very equal.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
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(31:35):
M Yeah, Otani was not faced. You know, he pitched well,
he did not hit well. Actually he had what four strikeouts,
which is pretty rare for him. He gets the day
off now and then hops into the lineup.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Yeah, because Christopher Sanchez, Because Christopher is really good.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Sanchez is let's not forgetting Christmas is really good. Yeah,
dirty change up. He was top He's gonna finish top
three side in the National League this year. We do
have lineup he'll get to. I mean, I'm just saying
three to be safe in case I'm forgetting someone. But
you're right, he'll probably be number two. So we have
two injury factors here with this series to keep an
(32:11):
eye on. One is Will Smith returning right. We saw
him appear for the first time in Game one later
in the game, but he's not in the starting lineup
for Game two. So that's on the Dodgers side still
Ben Wertvett, who actually took a pitch to the forearm,
but he's shacked, so I don't think it bothered him much.
If anything, you know, the trainers come out and look
at him, and I think he's just given a few
(32:32):
extra minutes for show hey to take a breath. But
Will Smith's out and Kratz Arison Bader is not in
the starting lineup for Game two. He can't run yet
at one hundred percent. This according to manager Rob Thompson,
he would probably or possibly, I should say, that was
the word he used to be available to pinch hit.
(32:53):
He's been a great pick up for them at the
trade deadline. How much does this hurt?
Speaker 3 (32:58):
It hurts if the Phillies and they strike out twelve
times again, just like they did the last time, Blake
Snell just kept throwing that curveball to him. Nick was
in the lineup that time. The lineup is essentially exactly
besides Mundo Sosa the last time they faced Blake Snell.
So it hurts them. It hurts them because Bader was
doing well. It hurts them because maybe Nick hasn't gotten
(33:21):
a lot of at bats, but now they have the
guy who had the second most hits, had the best
series last year in the playoffs in Nick Costianas. This
team's back is up against the wall and they're facing
a dude who dominated him less than a month ago.
And I don't care who's out there autto Camp's hitting ninth.
(33:43):
You know, Nick Costianos is essentially in the middle of
the order. I think that six to seventh spot in
the playoffs is the prime location for big spots because
you're you're not gonna let the big boys hurt you.
You're not gonna let Schwarber, Harper and maybe even Baum
if he's had some success against lefties, not gonna let
(34:04):
those guys hurt you. So it's at six, seven, eight
slot that's probably not your better hitters, but you can't
let them hurt you, or you can't let the other
guys hurt you. So you're gonna have to go after somebody.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Yeah, and top three in the order is gonna have
to do better than one for eleven with six strikeouts.
Stars got to be stars. And I know it's only
one game, but star's got to be stars. Trey Turner,
Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
And why is Will Smith? Why is Will Smith okay
to catch five innings of a game but not okay
to start?
Speaker 2 (34:39):
It's a great question for Dave Roberts. Should have them
on Dodger's territory.
Speaker 4 (34:42):
You're here like a hand.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
That hand to me has to hurt more because after
the home run he got hit by the pitch by
robertson the curve ball and then the home run, he's
waiting for ta Oscar at home plate. And I mean
he's got the big Mitt thing on his right hand
and he's only high fiving with his left hand. Maybe
I'm making too much out of it because he's got
(35:07):
the big mint thing. But if he's okay to play, sorry,
I know. Ben Rovetz has called some amazing games. I
mean he has been. He has been the picture whisperer
or the pictures are just really good. But Will Smith
played almost half the game, I think, if not more
than half the game. I'm not sure how many innings
he he was in there for. But so he's not
(35:29):
good enough to start. I'm confused by that.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
I am too. I mean I thought I caught a
quote from him that he was almost one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (35:39):
Maybe it's game.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
Yeah, Oh you think he saw after catching for a
day and a half, I think.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
So, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Yeah, you mean his hand to sore, like his body's
sore from because he didn't play.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Maybe his body's I don't know why he did.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
I don't know, but he was lat in about a month.
He hadn't caught it about him like he's been out
for a minute, you know, And then he gets thrust
back into the scene here. But he's played a lot
of postseason ball. I mean, you guys, tell me, if
you don't catch it all for a month and I
don't think he'd rehab games or anything like that, right
then you just jump right back into the playoffs. There's
(36:15):
a half game versus a game and then a day
off any of that matter, or you're like, nah, screw it.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
I mean I screw it. I'm saying screw it because
especially the day off following it. I'm in there.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
I mean, I think a rusty let's put it this
one here, here's a good example. Aji Prasinski, Aeric Kratz.
Aeric Kratz is calling great games. Aj Persinski hasn't played
for a month. He's gonna be rusty. Who do you
think is a better hitter? Who do you think is
gonna have more impact than their fore at bats in
the game in the playoffs? To me, it's a no brainer.
(36:51):
Me at one hundred percent is still not as good
as eighty percent of Aj Perzinski.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
But Aj has very high pain tolerance. I don't know
what Will has.
Speaker 4 (37:02):
That's never judge. I know there's a pain time. Yeah
I don't.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Yeah, you can't judge it. Never judge that because you
never know.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
That's what I'm saying. I don't know. So that's a
thing because they mentioned it on the broadcast, even though
he said he's close to one hundred percent and laurn Trot.
He's talking and you usually get information like that from
the coaching staff, and she's saying pain tolerance thing for him.
So then I'm like, okay, which which one pain tolerance
thing or one because those two things are a little
bit different. But anyway, he's not in the lineup for
(37:30):
Game two. We'll see if that's a factor. Maybe the
Dodgers are like, ah, we don't care, We're so good.
We'll just ease him back into the mix. The Dodgers
are playing for the World Series, just like they were
playing for October for most of the regular season. They're like,
we're just we're prepping. We're we're getting load management in
for the World Series. I mean they're up one. Oh,
they're in control. Roki Sazaki's the best closer on the
planet now. Skip Schumacher is a skipper now again in
(37:53):
Major League Baseball for the Rangers. And if you caught
what was it Thursday or Friday show, you probably already
had a good feeling about it. Kratz, what did you
say or what did you say? I can't talk. It's
probably some other teams interested. Well, that seemed to be
the case for people that were recording about it. And
he lands himself a four year contract.
Speaker 4 (38:11):
Yeah, got you gotta do it.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
Maybe you gotta do a litle extra if you really
want your guy free agency. Skip Schumacher went to manager
free agency. So good for Skip. Good for the Rangers too,
because they're still on a spot where they want to
win and he's clearly shown that he can win in Miami,
so I'm pretty sure he can win with a with
a nice star studded lineup too.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
Yeah, this was all set up this way, aj that
he goes over to the Rangers to work in the
front office for a year and then Boachie is done.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Yeah, he was a manager in waiting kind of right,
is what they said. He went over there and everyone
this is one of the reasons why they thought Boachi
might only be there for one more year, and he was.
And now Skip slides right in because there was you know,
thoughts of Skip maybe going to San Francisco had been mentioned.
I know Saint Louis. But Ali's back again. There was
places where Skip's name had come up as a possible replace,
(39:00):
and now he's in Texas and they know him, he
knows the organization. Seems like a pretty easy transition if
you ask me.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
Yeah, did a nice job with the Marlins. You got
the Marlins to the playoffs and got fired and got fired.
But so did the yemended, so did the GM. Essentially,
they essentially pushed the GM at the time out the door,
and Kim Ang, who built the team for two three years,
(39:28):
got him to the playoffs, and then they were like,
we're basically demoting you and going to hire someone above you,
so you should leave. I mean that's they should have.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
You should ask Polar this because you can Skip Schumacher.
You know. He mentioned some things going on there mm
hmm and changed some of them.
Speaker 3 (39:44):
Things the culture, the environment.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Well we just heard KP about the Blue Jays culture
and environment and he said it is a completely different
world there now. Coaching staff manager, I guess they matter.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
That's exactly what they do. X's and o's in the games. Sorry,
that's not you hope you get them right. But when
people are like menagerial decisions really really suspect all year?
Speaker 4 (40:12):
Really? Really were they?
Speaker 3 (40:15):
Because you went to the seventh inning guy and the
seventh inning and the eighth inning guy in the eighth inning.
Speaker 4 (40:19):
It's paint by numbers, all right, Let's.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
Lap hey, shout out to one fan that's going to
be in Philly today in a Foul Territory shirt. Maybe
that brings a little extra luck crafts Foul Territory Shop
dot com shameless plug.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
I mean, I don't know if it brings luck or
not to the team. My guy's gonna be comfortable, though,
because that shirt is one of my favorite go to
is for sure.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
A j any last thoughts here obviously will be talking,
but any last thoughts on the series anything we didn't get.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
To No, I think I think we've covered all the
series pretty well. I just I'm interested to see how
the Cubs respond to getting slapped the other night. How
they come out today was showed on the Mound Bullpen
game for the Brewers. And also, you know what, how
the Phillies respond, because I know they had an off day,
but that's a game the Phillies are used to winning.
(41:25):
In taoscar with the home run late and is a
deja vu all over again. As Jogi Barra said to
what happened to him against the Mets.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
Last year, that's true with me with the Cubs, I
just think about really the top two guys that would
be starting playoff games for them would be Justin Steele
and Kate Horton. To be missing both of those, everybody's
missing guys right now. I get that. I'm just saying
it definitely is showing a little bit when you're going
with Boyd on short rest. So we'll see what happens
for them the rest of the way. Here and a
(41:52):
shout out to Brett Phillips always brought a lot of
personality and flavor on the field, and he officially announced
his retirement at the famous photo from what was it
twenty twenty when he was flying around and he was
an airplane. Yeah, COVID, great, Coday.
Speaker 4 (42:09):
Wait till he comes on.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
I can't wait till he comes on so he can
say he's a quitter and not a retirer.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
But we'll wait till he gets on here official announcement.
I mean, he's retired and yet you guys aren't. It's amazing, Uh,
Todd Father is hosting tomorrow. AJ's got the day game,
but he'll join us with a special guest from the booth.
Very nice. Jerry Harrison Junior also scheduled to join us tomorrow.
We'll talk a little Dodgers Phillies series with him. That'll
(42:36):
be after their game too, and then they'll have an
off day, so we'll have plenty of time to break
that down. And then tonight Cubs Brewers postgame show live
on the ft YouTube channel and if you miss anything afterward,
we'll post it on the podcast platform. But we'll also
do our recap up the Phillies Dodgers series there. So AJ,
we'll chat with you at some point tomorrow. Have a
(42:57):
good call tomorrow with the guys. Super fun to listen
to you guys on the Mariners Tigers series. And how
is it in Detroit?
Speaker 2 (43:06):
Is it? It's hot today and it's supposed to rain
and get cold tomorrow. It's like eighty five.
Speaker 6 (43:12):
It's like eighty five today, Birmingham.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
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We got a lot to do today, a lot to do.
AJ doing a great job. Love listening to the Tigers
Mariners series going on right now, and we're gonna dive
into that one coming up in just a moment. But
before that, the annual rest versus rust discussion. I don't
want to spend more than thirty seconds on it, but
based on what Milwaukee and Toronto alone did, are we
(00:25):
cool to say? Who fing cares?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Does it matter? Because the teams that got rest won
some games and the teams that got rest lost some games,
So what does it really matter? I'm I've been banging
on this trum forever. I don't think it matters. But
that's just me. Teams matter, and.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Yeah, but it matters to the Red Sox, it matters
to any of the teams that got bounced in the
last round, right because.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I'm talking about that team still playing. I'm talking about
teams still playing scot those teams that are home their home,
they don't care about the rest. We've got lots of
rest now. But I want to get rid of.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
The narrative that it's like, oh, you can't hit coming
off that right, like the Brewers and the Blue Jays
they can hit.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
You're right, And the Dodgers had a chance to win
that game and didn't. Sorry, krats, And also listen to
Mariners ran into no hitting except for calin Julio. Their
layoff didn't seem to hurt them at all. They seem
to be doing just fine. Callin Julio or are swinging
it all right? And Plannka went deep off Scooba last
night twice and he had a week off. So I listen,
(01:30):
if you lose, you cry about the rest, and if
you win, nobody cares. So just win, baby, as Al
Davis would say.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
That's right. And also you meant Philly's had a chance
to win first the Dodgers, right.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Sorry, sorry, yeah, I got you. Just red Eye last night, Scott,
get you that red Eye. Yeah, I'll de Detroit, It'll
get you.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
You're in prime form, all right, Krats, Rest versus rest?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Last word, it's gonna be fifty to fifty forever. Who
really cares? My biggest thing, Go ask the Red Sox
they want to rest. Go ask all the teams have
played in the first round. Everybody wants rest because there's
half those teams every year go home. So you never
want to play that Wildcard round boom exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
All right, So it's Monday, we're back. We're recapping the weekend,
and we're also doing postgame shows this week. So we'll
lay out the schedule for this evening. There are two
games tonight, and we will be on after the second game.
That's Milwaukee and Chicago. There you go, Cubs and Brewers,
nine o'clock East Coast time, eight o'clock Central out there,
(02:34):
and we'll talk about that one. Plus we'll do our
recap of the prior game as well, the Dodgers and
the Phillies. So you'll get thoughts from us tonight, and
then of course we'll keep recapping tomorrow. But let's charge
chout one to one Tigers and Mariners. Let's start there.
(02:54):
That's the most recent game since our show, right because
that was Sunday night, and that's along with Adam Wainwright
and Adam Amin i'll call in the game on Fox.
AJA thoughts on the one to one series heading to
Detroit here.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Well, Detroit had a chance to really take a stranglehold
with Schooble pitching last night and the Mariners, listen, Luis
Castillo did an amazing job. These have been two awesome games.
If you haven't watched these two games now, granted, if
you like offense, you're not going to see a lot
of that. But if you like pitching and a couple
some clutch hitting and a lot of strategy, these are
the games for you because there is like who should
they bring in? When should they take the starter out?
(03:31):
Who should they pinch hit for? Should they bunch? Should
they run? What should they do? And the game on
Saturday went extra innings and the Tigers won three to two,
and with a clutch hit from Zach McKinstry after a
leadoff walk in a wild pitch. And then last night
Plonka with the two homers off schoobl Spencer Torcosson with
a huge base hit, and we can debate pitch calling
all day long. Cratzy as you know. And then all
(03:54):
of a sudden, to Calin Julio show shows up back
to back doubles of Kyle Finnegan, a guy who has
now pitched in four or five days, and the Mariners
beat the Tiger three to two. And if you didn't
see the guy crying in the stands that we showed
on Fox, it was incredible. The guy in a banana's
hat because it was the first win for the Mariners
in Seattle since two thousand and one, two thousand and
(04:17):
one since they won a home playoff game, and the
Seahawks had just lost and late in the game, so
they were already all riled up. They're facing school and
then they win through to two. There was a lot
of emotions in Seattle on the crowd there has been awesome.
So I hope Detroit matches that crowd.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
I saw a bunch of people online saying these are
boring games because there's not a lot of offense. Why
would I want to even watch this series? This is
the reason these games are so close. It hinges on
one pitch. It hinges on your pitch selection, It hinges
on the fact that you know how to get a
guy out because both these offenses are kind of struggling
(04:52):
minus Holy Ow and Cow, but every pitch what could
change the trajectory of both these teams.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
I think the Mariners are the better team.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
I think the Tigers had their chance, and I think
it's swung back in the favor of the Mariners. Oh wait,
except the Mariners now have to go as as aj says,
East of Spokane, So we'll see how they play. I
think they still have the advantage, but they're out of
their friendly confines. And I have no idea why that
(05:23):
guy was crying.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
That's true though. It's two weeks too for the Tigers
and now they're back home. What aj you're you're going.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
To defend eleven eleven eleven Street?
Speaker 5 (05:35):
No?
Speaker 2 (05:35):
I think guys, listen, it was awesome.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
Man.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
The guy has yeah, I like he's having a moment,
all right, he was having a moment, had a moment
just come on, yeah, I mean.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Not about a game, but I mean, come on, that
was twenty four years ago.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
How old was that guy? How old was that guy? Eleven?
Speaker 2 (05:51):
I don't know how old he was, but it was awesome.
It was an awesome shot by our director Mitch Regan.
So way to go camera, guys, and Mitch for nailing
that shot.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Also careful and I'll tell you why. And then you'll go, oh,
what if, for example, there's someone close and he lost
them and he's thinking they would be loving this moment
right now? Just throwing that those kind of ideas out
there because that's what happens so often with other teams
that hadn't say, won a World Series in forever, and
you have emotions and tears, and often they're connected to
(06:20):
lifetime memory, experienced, family, friends, situations. Just throwing that out there.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Yeah, that's a good one. That's a good one.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Sure anyway, And by the way, no, but by the way, listen,
I don't know what's going to happen in this series.
But now it gets really interesting because the Mariners are
so much better at home than they are in the road.
And they come to Detroit, where they did sweep the
Tigers right before they All Star break, but it was
a different team. They get Flaherty, who pitched really well
in the Wildcard Series, as we know, the bullpens get
a day of rest, and then Logan Gilbert. Everyone was
(06:51):
shocked he didn't pitch Game one or two. Nobody really
got a reason why. It was just kind of we
want Castillo and Kirby to pitch one and two. There
wasn't really any reason given other than oh, we like
and Gilbert in Game three. So the Mariner has been
terrible on the road, as we know, they were the
best home record, I think in baseball this year in
the American League. So I don't know what's going to happen,
but it's just it's intriguing as hell. These games are
tight because neither one of these teams has really hit
(07:12):
the ball very well. So much, like I said, so
much strategy with these two managers. When are they bringing
in first game the Kerry Carpenter home run? He have
brought in Gabe Spier to pitch to him instead of
letting Kirby face him for the third time? Who carry
Carpenter owns? He's now five for eleven with five homers.
That's it. He's five for eleven with five homers. No singles,
no doubles, no triples, just he just hits homers off
(07:33):
of them and they let him pitch to him and
he hit the home run, and then the bullpen usage
and the way it went down. I mean, if you
talk to the people in the media around those games,
they are like, man, you second guess everything in these series.
It's awesome and it has been. It's been awesome. Yeah,
it's not the thirteen to seven or whatever the Yankees
Blue Jays game was yesterday, but at least they have
been close games and there's a lot to talk about.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Our playoff coverage for the next few weeks is all
presented by Fox One. Shout out to them and the
new app and streaming service where you can get yourself
a seven day free trial at foxone dot com. So
for example, if you're like, I don't have anything else,
but I want to watch the playoffs, then you can
watch AJ and Adam and Adam do their game and
(08:16):
then eventually obviously the CS and the World Series as well.
All you AJ, We're gonna watch you even if we can't.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Right, we were in commercial. I was like, well, I
didn't realize this was live. I know, sorry, this is
the commercial. You get MLB obviously in the playoffs because
Fox rules MLB playoffs. I think you get Big Noon,
which is their big college football show. I don't know
if you can get the NFL on there, but yeah,
you get games. Oh well, then how do you not
(08:47):
have Fox one? I have Fox one. I watch it
all the time. I need to watch a game. People
are complaining they couldn't find the game. If you have
Fox one there it is boom, It's easy.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
What about Brian Wu not being involved here for this
the pectoral inflammation since our last show is when we
learned that he's officially not part of this series. To me,
it makes game three even more critical for the marriage.
Is Bryce Miller rumored to Yes.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
He starts scheduled. He's scheduled to start in game four.
Now how long will we go? It all depends on
Game three, I think. But these managers are riding their
bullpens hard. Other than Schooble, like the ultimate we talk
about X factors, the ultimate wildcard is schoobl because Hinch
knows that he can get seven innings like he did
last night. And listen to people that say, oh, scoobld
and Pitchell. He went seven innings, gave up two solo homers,
(09:35):
punched out I think nine. I think in seven innings.
One walk that's usually pretty good, that's usually really good
against the team that won their division at home. That
it's been way better at home. So Schooble pitch really well.
He made two mistakes other than that, and then Finnegan
came in and gave it the two doubles. But man,
I mean, listen, I don't know what we're gonna get
out of Logan Gilbert, but it's gonna be fascinating to watch.
(09:55):
And then Bryce Miller when he starts. He might go
well one time through maybe, and then they're gonna run
to their bullpen, which has been great, So we'll see
how it goes. But Jack Flaherty tomorrow and then Casey myyes,
I mean if you look on paper, you're like, man,
I think maybe the Tigers have a little bit of
an advantage because they're at home. But you could have
said that about Game two and the Tigers lost a
schoobl game with a chase chance to really put their
foot on the Mariner's throat and put them away maybe,
(10:18):
but they didn't do it.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Yeah, that makes this one pretty tough to predict right now, Crass,
You've got a team that struggles away from home and
they're down basically their best starter this year, right, I mean,
Brian wu was their best starting pitcher and he was
durable and going deep into games for them. It's a
massive loss for this team, whether it's in the division
series or the next round, it is going to burn
(10:43):
them because they had a big three and a half ish.
I guess you could put Castillo in there. He looked
really good in Game two. But man, you're so much
more dangerous if you're the Mariners. If you have a
guy who's a legit number one for the entire twenty
twenty five season in your rotation.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
I mean you would think Logan Gilbert's a legit number
one too, he just hasn't been this year. To me,
if AJ's right and it's going to be bull down
to the bullpens, Mariners have the advantage.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
I get it.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
The Mariners have gotten you know, their bullpen got cooked
last night because Castillo went four and a third or
four and two thirds. But the Tigers have been using
their bullpen. But this is where the wild card and
the layoff comes into play. The Tigers have been playing
their bullpen, has been pitching every single day, and to me,
(11:34):
it's going to catch up to them somewhere. And if
it becomes two teams that are playing bullpen games, I
think it's advantage Mariners.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
And just want to shout out the other historic part here. Yeah,
I mean, Seattle hadn't even won a postseason game at home,
like we talked about at the top there, so that's special.
I think Julio Rodriguez being the big, big long term
money guy for them showing up big with some clutch
knocks in the first two games is huge. So some
shout outs there, and then one other thing. I started
(12:06):
to mention AJ the Tigers. They looked up. They hadn't
been home in two weeks.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Yeah, eleven game, it's a long time. They're probably happy
they get to change underwear.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
It was pretty funny. Hinchester in his office and we're like, oh,
you get to go home. And they didn't actually take
the red eye home. They took there. They spent the
night interflying. I think they get home maybe four or
five o'clock this afternoon. So the Mariners took the red
Eye and got here early this morning, and the Tigers
shows to spend another night in the road. If I
was on those Tigers teams, I would have been like,
give me the heck home so I can sleep in
(12:36):
my own bed. I don't want to sleep in another hotel.
But they chose to do it the way they do it.
Teams have all these sleep schedules and all that stuff,
and oh man, it's just it's it's fascinating how this
is going to go.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Does Gabs Fire have to face Carrie Carpenter now? In
those kind of moments, like if you're mid game and
you're thinking about it, and it's a one or two
run game and there's too much pressure. You have to
just bring him in as the kryptonite.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Him and him and Calen Ferguson have to face that
pocket of Riley Green and Kerry Carpenter.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Okay, yeah, that to me was the big change from
game one to game two.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
Right.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
If there's one thing a manager can can impact it
that and Kratz. The move was made by Dan Wilson.
It's like, if I get beat this time around, okay,
but I'm not going to get beat with the same
exact strategy.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Because you may not ever get to another at bat
like you, Like I get it, you might want to
try to get by him and Kerry Carpenter's shown that.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
I get it. He caught him that time.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
But until he can beat Spire or Ferguson, can't can't
let it, can't let it happen. You got it, That's
where you gotta go to. So you're gonna live and
die on that hill.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
Mm hmmm.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
One more quick shoutouts. I don't know, I don't remember
if we really said his name much yet, but Zach
McKinstry has had an awesome year and had the clutch
knock in Game one. Otherwise, who knows. Maybe the Mariners
do get themselves a little walk off action and then's
too to Detroit.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Zach mckinchry had a great first half. Don't don't look
at his second half numbers because no, boy, no, he
had a great first half. He did not have a
good second half. I'm sorry a lot of it. But
you could say that about a lot of these Tigers. Also,
by the way you talk, we're going to talk Tiger's territory. Cody. Cody,
who's on Tiger's territory, walked right by me, blew me off.
I had to call him out on it in Tiger's
club house. I was like, oh, I don't say hi,
(14:21):
you're fired.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Wow. And with that Tiger territory. If if you're mad
at Aj because you think that he's favoring the Mariners,
then the Tigers and the Tigers and the Mariners, then schoolball,
then Kirby whatever, then you can listen to Cody Stavenhagen
and the Tiger Territory crew part of the Ft network.
Maybe he's just a little grumpy because he doesn't have
(14:44):
the club. He's washing underwear and socks like Schoogle had
to get because they ran out of things on the road. Hey,
there's a manager's search going on. There's many of them, actually,
So Kurtzuzuki interviewed for the Giants opening A catcher being
interviewed by catcher Buster Posey, forty one years old, sixteen
seasons in Biggs. Currently a special assistant to the GM
with the Angels, Nick Huntley is in the mix for
(15:07):
the Giants' opening job. No guarantees, but the Rangers executive
and former catcher with the Giants is according to John Hymen.
The last one was according to Robert Murray. But anyway,
this former Giants catcher well respected and Buster Posey's backup
in twenty seventeen and twenty eighteen. Well, AJ sounds like
Buster Posey is interested in hiring a catcher.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yeah, I mean Kratz was available. Kratz was a catcher.
Krowts played for the Giants. Didn't he play with Buster Posey?
White Krauts Krowts, Why a don't you getting an interview?
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Matt?
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Come on, put your name in that ring. You want
to you know you want to do that?
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Who said I didn't? Who said I don't like traffic?
In San Francisco, who said, I don't like a forty
five minute commute three miles away.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
You don't have to You can do a boat. You
didn't live across the street. You can just walk. You
don't even need a commute, you don't even need a car.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
I know Buster, I know, I know Buster likes Nick.
I know Buster liked Nick a lot because I came
to I came to San fran in nineteen and I
think it was something that Buster and far Haan didn't
quite agree because Nick didn't have the receiving numbers like
they really wanted, and so that's why they brought me
in to fill in for a little bit until they
(16:10):
found until Voter got healthy. But so I know he
really liked Nick as a person.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Injury suck. We do have some injury news to hit
with the Cubs Brewers series. Jackson Cheerio missed time with
a hammy. Then he left the game even though he
had a game's worth of production with a hammy issue.
We'll see how much of a factor it is for
the rest of the series. I mean, he had gone
three for three in the first couple innings of a
shellacking that the Brewers put on the Cubs in that
(16:37):
first game. AJ concern level for Cheerio. I mean, he's
a big part of the team. I know this is
like a sum of parts kind of team and organization,
but Jackson Cheerio is special.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Oh he's very special here. They did play a long
time without him though, so they've used to playing without
Jackson Turia. But in the playoffs, you want your best
players out there, and I think he's gonna try to
be out there no matter what. Man, what a first
two innings you had to what three hits in two
inns for youngest guy ever, first to ever have three
hits in the first two innings or something crazy. But
they're they're gonna need him if they want to make
as deep a run as the Brewers think they can do.
(17:08):
So they have already enough injuries, let's let's get Jackson
back healthy because he's fun to watch.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
I mean, who are they gonna fill in with that's
better than him?
Speaker 4 (17:18):
Is my thing.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
There's people that can't do as well as he does.
But when you're talking about having the best players out there,
you always want the best players. And he wasn't even
at one hundred percent. He's still coming back from his
previous injury a little bit slowed down, but they need
I'm not gonna say they need him back in there,
but they are a better team with him in the lineup,
(17:42):
bar none, hands down.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Can they win this round without him?
Speaker 2 (17:47):
No doubt? Yes, Humming, I don't even think. I mean,
we didn't get to talk about it, but you guys,
I'm sure you guys talked about it. Maybe I don't know, No,
we didn't.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
I know what you're gonna say, Boyd.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Matt Boyd, like you never have anyone ever gone into
a game one of a playoff series doing a guy
on short rest? And I don't think. I don't know
Mad Boys ever pitched on short rest, but it shouldn't
look like he'd ever pitched on short rest because that
game was over as soon as the first inning happened.
I mean, I listen, I was watching that, and we
know where I stand on the Cubs. And I went
and took a shower and it was one nothing Cubs,
(18:22):
and I came out and it was ten pitches in
and it was three to one Brewers, and I was like,
holy crap, what happened? And then it just kept going
and going, and when the defense fell apart. That was
that was a strange game for the Cubs. But gosh,
I mean, I just don't know that. I mean, I
know they had to go three games with the Padres,
but man, they threw Matt Boyd on short rest in
the first game of a series like that was It
seemed odd to me.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
And Matt Boyd, you know, was an incredible signing for them.
I had a huge first half, he was an All Star.
Wasn't as good in the second half, especially in his
last I want to say, like eight starts or so.
So you're looking at all of that and you're like,
is he tired? Because last year, remember he's coming off surgery,
he went like fifty something innings and eight appearances I
think almost two hundred innings one hundred almost one to
(19:02):
eighty this year, right, So add all of that up.
Is that who you want to start on short rest?
It has nothing to do with Matt to me, Kratz,
it had more to do with just the durability factor
here for somebody who hadn't pitched like that. And yes,
to answer AJ's question three times in his career, all
of them a long time ago, like twenty fifteen, sixteen
and seventeen one time each of those years. So to me,
(19:26):
it was like a risk and it completely bombed. Right,
That's what happened there. I mean his stuff was not
as sharp as it usually looks. They were hanging breaking pitches.
You know, even the fastball wasn't as sharp as it
usually is. Is that what you saw?
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Yeah, it looked like he was not crisp. And you're
gonna go right to the short rest. And I've been
in these meetings with Craig Council down the stretch end
of the season, our best pitcher was Julie's Chessine. I mean,
nobody's gonna say, oh, twenty eighteen, the Brewers rode the
back of he's just seen No. We kept asking him
(20:02):
to throw on short rest, short rest, short rest, short rest,
and the picture is always in that moment gonna say
yes I can go. I have never seen heard been
a part of a meeting where a pictuer goes, I
don't know, man, like I just I'm not gonna have it.
So if you're a manager, you're anization, and you go
(20:22):
to that guy and say, can you give it to us?
Can you give us game one? Because then we'll have
you back in game five too, if we need you
like you're our best shot. Even at eighty percent, picture's
always going to be like one hundred percent. This means
the world to me. I want it, and it didn't
work out for him.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Ft FAM. Let's talk about Superpower. Eric Kratz is a
proud Superpower customer and he's gonna give us more of
the personal experience. But I'll just start it with this.
You ever go to the doctor and the doc's just like, oh,
drink more water. Are you looking for more data, more
of a game plan. Superpower does that for you. They
give you the experience that athletes get with teams.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
The lab results came back for me.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
Now it's streamlines everything.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
That I kind of had an idea of, but now
it really lets me focus on the things that I'm
deficient in, the things that I have good, good lab
test results from. And I could go in that direction.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
I want to go nutritional guidance, supplement suggestions, you name it.
There's so much more info to check out at superpower
dot com and you can lock in the special one
hundred and ninety nine dollars price while at lasts after
you sign up, they're gonna ask you how you heard
about them? Mention ft to support the show Your biology decoded,
Your blueprint activated with superpower. Let's talk about Sarah Langs
(21:44):
and the Blue Jays stat note that I think probably
stood out more than any other eight home runs so
far there severely outslugging. The Yankees seven strikeouts in their
first two games, so they're doing both and aj the
only time this is happened. More homers are about strikeouts
in the first two games of a postseason two thousand
(22:05):
and five, White Stocks six homers, four k's in two games.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Guess who had two of those homers Scott and I'll
think he had one only. I mean he had two
all year and they were both in the postseason. But
but I don't know if I had any strikeouts. So yeah,
I was two on the plus side, zero on the
negative side. That's pretty good. That's pretty amazing. Actually, if
you think about it more home and now back twenty
years ago was a little different. But in today's game,
(22:32):
because I just watched the series with the Mariners. I
watched two games with the Mariners and the Tigers, and
they strike out, it's like ten, twelve, fifteen, whatever. We're
going to strike out fifteen times a game. We're still
gonna try and win. But to eight homers and seven
punch outs, especially against now that I mean Freed and Heel,
but Freed is the big one who usually gets punch outs,
and the Yankees bullpen supposed be able to get punch outs.
So kudos to the Blue Jays.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
You said it's different. You said it's different, but you're
not facing any You're not facing a fourth and fifth
starter in the postseason. You're not facing the sixth guy
out of the bullpen. I don't care if it's nineteen
fifty four or twenty twenty five. You're facing the best pitchers.
Those stats, those stats to out homer your strikeouts is awesome.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
That is an amazing stat.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
That's why I were at the best postseason team of
all time Crats, And I'll stand by that one because
we went eleven and one in the postseason and didn't
strike out and hit homers and we're just awesome and
through four complete games. So I know people ask me
I think we did. I had to do the breakdown
for Fox. They asked me to do it for Fox.
One the best five postseason teams since two thousand. Of
(23:43):
course mine was number one? Are you kidding me? But yeah?
Speaker 4 (23:47):
Who else did you have up there?
Speaker 2 (23:49):
I think two was the two thousand Yankees because they
were the end of the three peat two thousand and
four Red Sox for three. I think Dodgers last year
we're five and four.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Was I can't say Royal.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Was one of the twelve, the twenty twelve Giants, the
twenty twelve Giants just because I think that was the
best team of three the three that they won. I
thought the twelve team was the best team.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Hey, alexand Thoppolos spoke over the weekend at his end
of season media session. They said they're working on the
next manager. But he did mention AJ that if Brian
Snicker wanted to continue managing, he would have been given
that opportunity. Of course, some brave Patroll fans online were like,
I don't believe you. But he didn't have to say this,
and eventually it could get disputed by someone, So I
(24:35):
believe him.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Why not?
Speaker 1 (24:36):
I think they would have let him come back for
another season and then finish it if that's what he
wanted to do.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
This was one Snid's decision. I feel like I don't
feel like Alexandobos was lying about this at all. I
think I think this was what Snitt weighed his options.
He's got grand kids, a game, an opportunity to still
be part of the organization for his fiftieth year in
the organization. Yeah, would have been cool if he would
have been managing. Yeah, but he went through a lot, man,
and he's won a World Series. He was there with
(25:02):
Bobby forever and one of the cool things was, I
don't know if you'll knew this or not, but in
Bull Durham he was and Susan Sarandon's wall, he was
the little baseball card that is under mirror in early
in the movie. So, France Sticker has done a lot
in life, done a lot for the Braves organization. He
deserved to go out the way he wanted and this
was the way he wanted to go out.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Now the Braves will look for their next manager, and
somebody is going to have a position where you can
jump into a lot of talent very quickly. This is
a much more coveted job than quite a few of
the other spots. You know, it's a big one. This
isn't going to be a first year Guy New segment,
Larry pressure Cooker. We're talking about the Phillies Dodgers series.
(25:45):
So Kratz, obviously you're watching most of the Phillies games
this year, and you see what happened in Game one
where the Dodgers take them down five unanswered runs. I'm
going to actually start here. Is the home field advantage
more fun for us as a narrative in a storyline
than the actual impact they've lost for of their last
five games at his Citizens Bank Park. They've had other
(26:06):
bad losses there, what a couple of years ago when
the Diamondbacks took them down. I'm not trying to slight
the Phillies in general. I'm just more slighting the home
field advantage discussion that we like to talk about and
that looks and sounds fun, but does it really do anything.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
No.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Maybe there's something with a team not playing at home,
like they're not as comfortable, so you're playing against a
team that's not as comfortable, but it doesn't mean Citizens
Bank is any more Like, Oh man, I'm so nervous
these fans are really they just feel like they're really
getting on me too much. I don't know if I'm
going to be able to hit. I've never met a
(26:44):
player that's said, I'm not going to be able to
catch the ball in the outfield If I can't, if
the Citizens Bank fans are going to be crazy, They're
crazy out there.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
Now.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
I've been played, I've played with guys who at home
they're home team fans boo them and hate them so
much that they didn't like playing at home during the
regular season. But those are few and far between softer players,
but not in No, No, I don't think. I don't
think it has the It's more a media driven, like
(27:16):
fun story.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
Yeah. I mean.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
The smallest, no, the smallest home field advantage in any
sport is baseball. To me, it doesn't It doesn't do anything. Now,
I remember playing in the Metronome in the playoffs and
it was loud as all get out, but it never
really affected a game. I mean, yeah, I don't know,
the white roof affected more games than the crowd noise
did so, and the turf affected more games than the
crowd noise did so. Was it loud yeah? Was it awesome? Yeah?
(27:43):
But at the same time, I mean, hopefield advantage in
baseball just just doesn't do it a lot for me.
It's cool because guys get get you know, the cheers
and the moments when the home runs and all that
happened are great and got guys crying because they just
can't believe that their team won a playoff game. But
other than that, it doesn't do a lot.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
I will also say though, that I think the fact
that Baseball doesn't have a neutral site for their final
game of the season is the greatest part of it.
Like I would hate a neutral site for Baseball championship games,
like I hate that the Super Bowl is won at
a city that near the teams playing. I love the
(28:23):
fact because it's such a long season, fans have a
part of it. They feel like they're a part of it,
and they ride along with this team. So I don't
I wouldn call it an advantage. I would just call
it like we look at the Mariners. Look at the Mariners.
The Mariners play really well at home. Maybe they're just
a really good team and their travel sucks, so that's
(28:44):
why they don't play good on the road. They're out
on the East Coast for nine days, being in a
different time zone. Maybe that's why they don't play well
on the road. Maybe they're just a good team and
when they're in more of a comfortable situation, sleeping time zone,
families around them, all those things that has nothing to
do with like what's going on in the stadium.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
Well.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Also, if you want to factor in ballparks, AJ, some
ballparks play very different, right.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
But Mariners Seattle Mariners for sure, Like in this series.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Philadelphia is obviously a hitters park. But like the Dodgers,
I think I have more homers than the Phillies this year.
So it's not like, oh, the Phillies have this advantage.
They're this home run hitting team and the Dodgers aren't.
Like the Dodgers are loaded with power.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Agreed, Yeah, ballpark factor is a big deal. But you know,
Seattle is a huge difference because of the ballpark, the
worst hitting place in the in the league. So yeah,
does it matter. I mean, the fans are great because
they get behind you and they're you know, they make
they make moments. The fans make the moments. The players
do the things, and then the fans and the way
they cheer and the reaction makes a lot of the moment.
(29:51):
So does it?
Speaker 4 (29:52):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (29:53):
I mean, but Milwaukee in Chicago, they've played at each
other's park for how many I mean, you know, fifteen
times a year forever, so they're used to going to
those places. The Dodgers have played at Phillies. They have
a bunch of veterans. The Phillies have played at Dodger
Stadium a million times because they have a bunch of veterans.
So I mean, the Yankees and Blue Jays play again
twenty times a year, so they're used to going to Toronto.
They're used to go in to the Yankee Stadium. It's
(30:13):
not that big of a deal. So I mean, I
think I love home field advantage. I love home field
and engine football. I love home field advantage in the NBA.
I love home field oh my ice advantage in the NHL.
But in baseball it's just not a thing. I don't think.
And look at the series, look at who won and
who didn't win. Right, road teams won and home teams won.
It's very equal.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
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(31:35):
M Yeah, Otani was not faced. You know, he pitched well,
he did not hit well. Actually he had what four strikeouts,
which is pretty rare for him. He gets the day
off now and then hops into the lineup.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Yeah, because Christopher Sanchez, Because Christopher is really good.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Sanchez is let's not forgetting Christmas is really good. Yeah,
dirty change up. He was top He's gonna finish top
three side in the National League this year. We do
have lineup he'll get to. I mean, I'm just saying
three to be safe in case I'm forgetting someone. But
you're right, he'll probably be number two. So we have
two injury factors here with this series to keep an
(32:11):
eye on. One is Will Smith returning right. We saw
him appear for the first time in Game one later
in the game, but he's not in the starting lineup
for Game two. So that's on the Dodgers side still
Ben Wertvett, who actually took a pitch to the forearm,
but he's shacked, so I don't think it bothered him much.
If anything, you know, the trainers come out and look
at him, and I think he's just given a few
(32:32):
extra minutes for show hey to take a breath. But
Will Smith's out and Kratz Arison Bader is not in
the starting lineup for Game two. He can't run yet
at one hundred percent. This according to manager Rob Thompson,
he would probably or possibly, I should say, that was
the word he used to be available to pinch hit.
(32:53):
He's been a great pick up for them at the
trade deadline. How much does this hurt?
Speaker 3 (32:58):
It hurts if the Phillies and they strike out twelve
times again, just like they did the last time, Blake
Snell just kept throwing that curveball to him. Nick was
in the lineup that time. The lineup is essentially exactly
besides Mundo Sosa the last time they faced Blake Snell.
So it hurts them. It hurts them because Bader was
doing well. It hurts them because maybe Nick hasn't gotten
(33:21):
a lot of at bats, but now they have the
guy who had the second most hits, had the best
series last year in the playoffs in Nick Costianas. This
team's back is up against the wall and they're facing
a dude who dominated him less than a month ago.
And I don't care who's out there autto Camp's hitting ninth.
(33:43):
You know, Nick Costianos is essentially in the middle of
the order. I think that six to seventh spot in
the playoffs is the prime location for big spots because
you're you're not gonna let the big boys hurt you.
You're not gonna let Schwarber, Harper and maybe even Baum
if he's had some success against lefties, not gonna let
(34:04):
those guys hurt you. So it's at six, seven, eight
slot that's probably not your better hitters, but you can't
let them hurt you, or you can't let the other
guys hurt you. So you're gonna have to go after somebody.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Yeah, and top three in the order is gonna have
to do better than one for eleven with six strikeouts.
Stars got to be stars. And I know it's only
one game, but star's got to be stars. Trey Turner,
Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
And why is Will Smith? Why is Will Smith okay
to catch five innings of a game but not okay
to start?
Speaker 2 (34:39):
It's a great question for Dave Roberts. Should have them
on Dodger's territory.
Speaker 4 (34:42):
You're here like a hand.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
That hand to me has to hurt more because after
the home run he got hit by the pitch by
robertson the curve ball and then the home run, he's
waiting for ta Oscar at home plate. And I mean
he's got the big Mitt thing on his right hand
and he's only high fiving with his left hand. Maybe
I'm making too much out of it because he's got
(35:07):
the big mint thing. But if he's okay to play, sorry,
I know. Ben Rovetz has called some amazing games. I
mean he has been. He has been the picture whisperer
or the pictures are just really good. But Will Smith
played almost half the game, I think, if not more
than half the game. I'm not sure how many innings
he he was in there for. But so he's not
(35:29):
good enough to start. I'm confused by that.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
I am too. I mean I thought I caught a
quote from him that he was almost one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (35:39):
Maybe it's game.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
Yeah, Oh you think he saw after catching for a
day and a half, I think.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
So, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Yeah, you mean his hand to sore, like his body's
sore from because he didn't play.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Maybe his body's I don't know why he did.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
I don't know, but he was lat in about a month.
He hadn't caught it about him like he's been out
for a minute, you know, And then he gets thrust
back into the scene here. But he's played a lot
of postseason ball. I mean, you guys, tell me, if
you don't catch it all for a month and I
don't think he'd rehab games or anything like that, right
then you just jump right back into the playoffs. There's
(36:15):
a half game versus a game and then a day
off any of that matter, or you're like, nah, screw it.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
I mean I screw it. I'm saying screw it because
especially the day off following it. I'm in there.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
I mean, I think a rusty let's put it this
one here, here's a good example. Aji Prasinski, Aeric Kratz.
Aeric Kratz is calling great games. Aj Persinski hasn't played
for a month. He's gonna be rusty. Who do you
think is a better hitter? Who do you think is
gonna have more impact than their fore at bats in
the game in the playoffs? To me, it's a no brainer.
(36:51):
Me at one hundred percent is still not as good
as eighty percent of Aj Perzinski.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
But Aj has very high pain tolerance. I don't know
what Will has.
Speaker 4 (37:02):
That's never judge. I know there's a pain time. Yeah
I don't.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Yeah, you can't judge it. Never judge that because you
never know.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
That's what I'm saying. I don't know. So that's a
thing because they mentioned it on the broadcast, even though
he said he's close to one hundred percent and laurn Trot.
He's talking and you usually get information like that from
the coaching staff, and she's saying pain tolerance thing for him.
So then I'm like, okay, which which one pain tolerance
thing or one because those two things are a little
bit different. But anyway, he's not in the lineup for
(37:30):
Game two. We'll see if that's a factor. Maybe the
Dodgers are like, ah, we don't care, We're so good.
We'll just ease him back into the mix. The Dodgers
are playing for the World Series, just like they were
playing for October for most of the regular season. They're like,
we're just we're prepping. We're we're getting load management in
for the World Series. I mean they're up one. Oh,
they're in control. Roki Sazaki's the best closer on the
planet now. Skip Schumacher is a skipper now again in
(37:53):
Major League Baseball for the Rangers. And if you caught
what was it Thursday or Friday show, you probably already
had a good feeling about it. Kratz, what did you
say or what did you say? I can't talk. It's
probably some other teams interested. Well, that seemed to be
the case for people that were recording about it. And
he lands himself a four year contract.
Speaker 4 (38:11):
Yeah, got you gotta do it.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
Maybe you gotta do a litle extra if you really
want your guy free agency. Skip Schumacher went to manager
free agency. So good for Skip. Good for the Rangers too,
because they're still on a spot where they want to
win and he's clearly shown that he can win in Miami,
so I'm pretty sure he can win with a with
a nice star studded lineup too.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
Yeah, this was all set up this way, aj that
he goes over to the Rangers to work in the
front office for a year and then Boachie is done.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Yeah, he was a manager in waiting kind of right,
is what they said. He went over there and everyone
this is one of the reasons why they thought Boachi
might only be there for one more year, and he was.
And now Skip slides right in because there was you know,
thoughts of Skip maybe going to San Francisco had been mentioned.
I know Saint Louis. But Ali's back again. There was
places where Skip's name had come up as a possible replace,
(39:00):
and now he's in Texas and they know him, he
knows the organization. Seems like a pretty easy transition if
you ask me.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
Yeah, did a nice job with the Marlins. You got
the Marlins to the playoffs and got fired and got fired.
But so did the yemended, so did the GM. Essentially,
they essentially pushed the GM at the time out the door,
and Kim Ang, who built the team for two three years,
(39:28):
got him to the playoffs, and then they were like,
we're basically demoting you and going to hire someone above you,
so you should leave. I mean that's they should have.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
You should ask Polar this because you can Skip Schumacher.
You know. He mentioned some things going on there mm
hmm and changed some of them.
Speaker 3 (39:44):
Things the culture, the environment.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Well we just heard KP about the Blue Jays culture
and environment and he said it is a completely different
world there now. Coaching staff manager, I guess they matter.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
That's exactly what they do. X's and o's in the games. Sorry,
that's not you hope you get them right. But when
people are like menagerial decisions really really suspect all year?
Speaker 4 (40:12):
Really? Really were they?
Speaker 3 (40:15):
Because you went to the seventh inning guy and the
seventh inning and the eighth inning guy in the eighth inning.
Speaker 4 (40:19):
It's paint by numbers, all right, Let's.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
Lap hey, shout out to one fan that's going to
be in Philly today in a Foul Territory shirt. Maybe
that brings a little extra luck crafts Foul Territory Shop
dot com shameless plug.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
I mean, I don't know if it brings luck or
not to the team. My guy's gonna be comfortable, though,
because that shirt is one of my favorite go to
is for sure.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
A j any last thoughts here obviously will be talking,
but any last thoughts on the series anything we didn't get.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
To No, I think I think we've covered all the
series pretty well. I just I'm interested to see how
the Cubs respond to getting slapped the other night. How
they come out today was showed on the Mound Bullpen
game for the Brewers. And also, you know what, how
the Phillies respond, because I know they had an off day,
but that's a game the Phillies are used to winning.
(41:25):
In taoscar with the home run late and is a
deja vu all over again. As Jogi Barra said to
what happened to him against the Mets.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
Last year, that's true with me with the Cubs, I
just think about really the top two guys that would
be starting playoff games for them would be Justin Steele
and Kate Horton. To be missing both of those, everybody's
missing guys right now. I get that. I'm just saying
it definitely is showing a little bit when you're going
with Boyd on short rest. So we'll see what happens
for them the rest of the way. Here and a
(41:52):
shout out to Brett Phillips always brought a lot of
personality and flavor on the field, and he officially announced
his retirement at the famous photo from what was it
twenty twenty when he was flying around and he was
an airplane. Yeah, COVID, great, Coday.
Speaker 4 (42:09):
Wait till he comes on.
Speaker 3 (42:10):
I can't wait till he comes on so he can
say he's a quitter and not a retirer.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
But we'll wait till he gets on here official announcement.
I mean, he's retired and yet you guys aren't. It's amazing, Uh,
Todd Father is hosting tomorrow. AJ's got the day game,
but he'll join us with a special guest from the booth.
Very nice. Jerry Harrison Junior also scheduled to join us tomorrow.
We'll talk a little Dodgers Phillies series with him. That'll
(42:36):
be after their game too, and then they'll have an
off day, so we'll have plenty of time to break
that down. And then tonight Cubs Brewers postgame show live
on the ft YouTube channel and if you miss anything afterward,
we'll post it on the podcast platform. But we'll also
do our recap up the Phillies Dodgers series there. So AJ,
we'll chat with you at some point tomorrow. Have a
(42:57):
good call tomorrow with the guys. Super fun to listen
to you guys on the Mariners Tigers series. And how
is it in Detroit?
Speaker 2 (43:06):
Is it? It's hot today and it's supposed to rain
and get cold tomorrow. It's like eighty five.
Speaker 6 (43:12):
It's like eighty five today, Birmingham.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
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