October 10, 2025 • 25 mins
What trends are emerging this postseason on the pitching side that stand out from prior years and are hitters swinging earlier in counts than usual?
Then we feature the Mariners in our oh so popular "pick your poison" series.
Hosts: Trevor May, Erik Kratz, Scott Braun
Foul Territory Presented by FOX One: Start your 7-day free trial today at FOXone.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Trepper, What have you observed that has stood out in
this particular postseason take us inside the game.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
What do you have so a couple theories I have,
And because we have a catcher also here on the show,
I would love to get Kratz's opinion on this as well.
Something I felt when I was playing and getting ready
to pitch in a playoff game was because I was
always so forcing fastball heavy, and I threw hard and
swings and misses were a big part of my game.
(00:31):
There was always an understanding that fastballs like velocity beating guys.
You can't count on that near as much in the
playoffs as you can in the other season, because one
you're facing the best hitters. Usually it's better teams. But
also like the adrenaline the energy problem that a lot
of guys have, like let's just get the game over
or whatever, those situations don't come up right. Every pitch
(00:53):
matters so much and everyone's so dialed in that it's
just hard to get a fastball by anybody. I think
it's played out. I have some odd statistic stats. We
talked about Aaron Judge hitting the ninety nine in the playoffs.
There have been six home runs hit on pitches ninety
nine miles an arrow harder for context, during the regular season,
there was twenty three total hit in two four hundred
(01:16):
and thirty games. I believe that is one every one
hundred and five pointy six games. In the playoffs, it's
won every three point five games, so that rate is
a lot more. Now, of course there's about eight times
as many pitches over one hundred because we see so
many of the best pitchers. But still that doesn't really
account for it, right, So one does v low matter
(01:37):
as much? Or is this why we see the Lance
McCullers fifty straight curve balls or the Tommy Kinley's having
success in the playoffs because he throws sixty one straight changeups?
Is that a thing pratzy? Is that something that hitters
are aware of that like, you know, if I stay
on fastballs and I can fell off or a fight
off the breaking ball stuff, that I'm able to do
(01:58):
more damage because doing damage is so important. Because there's
just generally less hits in the playoffs, you're just seeing
relievers in the second inning, for sure.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
I think that's I think that you're not stringing as
many hits together. I feel that. But I remember the
first postseason that I was ever involved in, I didn't
get in any games, but twenty eleven, I was with
the Phillies or playing the Cardinals, and the extra I
don't know, like extra batspeed, extra distance the ball was
going justin BP getting ready for the game. It felt
(02:30):
like almost like a superpower. So fast forward to twenty fourteen.
I still didn't get in any postseason games, but it
was that same feel. It feels like you can get
to so many more pitches. Why that is, like, why
you can't do that in the regular season. I don't know.
It's probably like a Key k Hernandez type of question
because he's elite, But I felt it there was nobody
(02:52):
that was going to get a fast ball by me. Normally,
that was my best part of my hitting abilities, was
hitting a ball, But when teams in the postseason would
throw me fastballs, it was like it didn't matter if
it was ninety seven up in the zone where I
normally couldn't handle it. I was gonna get to it.
And so I think there's something to that. I think
(03:12):
it's the adrenaline. I don't think you asked, is it
like a conscious effort I don't think it's a conscious effort.
I don't think guys actually understand it. Sometimes they feel it,
but I don't think they understand it. Like why am
I able to hit the ball into the upper deck
OPO MVP during the postseason and not during the regular season.
Probably because there's a little bit of adrenaline running through
(03:35):
your veins.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, Baseball, major League baseball. So often it comes down
to if you have energy or not. Like you just
sometimes like I have no energy today. It's it is addust. Second,
the trade headline's over, and now I just you know,
we're not going for a push yet. I just want
a nap. I just want a nap. And then in
the playoffs, you're like, I don't even I don't even
need to sleep well. We worry about when I'm dead.
(04:02):
So I always felt it. It seems like it plays
out in the stats, and it's interesting guys who are
leaning on their fastball are used to doing it, like
are struggling a little bit to make that adjustment. The
second thing that I thought was interesting, and I'm going
to mention the pitch clock, but I don't think it's
the actual time of the clock. I just think it's
(04:22):
how it's changed the pace of the game. Right, Things
get going pretty quickly. We're used to playoff games being
four and a half hours long, right, And there was
a part of that that happened in the past before
the clock, that young guys pitching in the playoffs. It's
one of those things where you have there's no way
to prepare until you're there. And a strategy for veterans,
(04:44):
like Tory Hunter used to tell me this too, in
a big game, a great strategy for a veteran guy
is ice that guy, like, make him starting pitcher, he's
a rookie, make him have to be dominant in the
first inning so that he starts to question whether or
not he's got it that day. Because that is amplified
ten x. Right now we have the clock. Things are
going so quickly that the strategy seems to be Hitters
(05:07):
are like, let's jump on him with the bats, as
opposed to icing him, slowing the game down and making
him sit out there and think we need to rattle
his confidence by string and three hits together start this game.
And so that let that snowball, because the clock is
going to keep the game going no matter what we do.
And if we can get him snowballing with the clock.
We had to get the clock to use, working our
advantage as opposed to work against us. But because there's
(05:29):
less hits and it's mostly pitching heavy, the best pitchers
are out there, and that's what it's been last few
years that that tends to help the pitcher out a
little bit. And I think we've seen a little bit
like the Detroit tried to jump on Gavin Williams and
it was like the first thinning with six pitches, and
now he's feeling good and he's had a very good outing.
Kir Scooball is not going to throw balls right. So
(05:51):
if you can try to jump on him, if he
has a less than ten pitch inning, uh oh, we
might have just set him right in. And it's going
to be hard to to string these hits together. Else
to see it on the flip side, if you get
to them, there's being a lot of run scorts. So
I feel like there's it's like a low scoring game
or really high scoring game. That's all we're getting. I
feel like that's part of it is this watching the game.
Do you guys feel this at all?
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Scotti, Yeah, I definitely feel it. I definitely see see this,
and I think it's because look at the dudes that
are out on the mount. I mean, you can just
go the one night you went Garah Crochet, Max Freed,
Trek Scooble. What do they do really good besides throw strikes?
(06:30):
They strike dudes out. You do not want to strike out,
so you're gonna go and get your swing off on
the first few pitches, and you don't want to get
to two strikes, especially like if you're on the road.
Every postseason two strike at bat when it's a tie
ball game, fans are up, everybody's cheering. You don't want
to get in that situation. So guys are like, hey,
(06:52):
you know what, I'm gonna get this swing off. I'm
gonna get after this first pitch. Heater and everything's so
hard nowadays. Two. I get it that, you know, a
breaking ball is an off speed pitch, but when the
miz is out there and he's throwing a ninety four
mile hour slider, like, yeah, I'm geared up for one
hundred and four, but I'm also able to stay on
(07:13):
ninety four, So I'm just looking for something on the plate.
I'm not necessarily waiting to see Okay, wait till he
comes in my zone. No, I'm just trying to I'm
trying to get after it right away late in account.
Then I'm waiting for something in my zone.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
This is our actual shout out here to Fox one
and the streaming app and how you can get that
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get a little Tigers Mariners today, also Yankees and Blue
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(07:48):
shows to check out as well, which we'll dive into over.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
The next few weeks. But Fox one is the app.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
You can get more information at foxne dot com. That's
the spot it is. Trevor, You're the only one that
hasn't seen that one yet. Do you like what we
did there with the graphic?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Love it? Love it? Anytime I can look at Tom,
I'm happy.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
Yes, Tom looks back.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
I have jaw Wow, chiseled chiseled Tom on Sundays, Pierzinski
on many weekdays on games and Saturdays throughout the regular season.
And Trevor, this is still a dream for a starting
pitcher because you're trying to eat innings for your team,
(08:33):
and that's something that I root for. I mean, call
me old school, but I like to see a starter
go deep into a contest. In fact, Game three, Logan
Gilbert is pretty much dominating for the Mariners. I know
they got to him, I think in his last or
second or last inning a little bit, but I was like, damn.
(08:55):
I know he didn't do it much during the year,
but he's done it in the past and he's feeling
it to see them keep going. And that were early swings.
So I do think it can create these vintage starting
pitching performances that we haven't seen much of. I don't
know any math yet, but it does feel like we've
seen a little bit more of that, a little bit more, okay,
(09:16):
one more inning. You have to have the pitch count
in check to be able to do that, and to
have the pitch count in check, you have to have
some innings that stand out where it's like, oh, damn,
six pitch inning, nine pitch inning. There's been a few
too early on where I'll bring this one up. And again,
this is just going off what I'm what I'm seeing,
and I'm not putting specific stats to it yet, but
we've seen some first or secondings where sometimes you do
(09:36):
see some good takes and it's like Lozardo twenty four
pitch first, and there's been a few others, right, and
then all of a sudden you see the earlier attack
go from innings two or three through four or five,
and that enables your starter to go a little bit
deeper as well. So I've seen a little bit of
that as well, where you know you're worried about the
pitch count for the starter and you think a team
(09:56):
is going to grind out every app bad and be
taken a ton pitches and driving up deep counts, and
then the approach reverts to what you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Yeah, yeah, I feel like we've seen more starter handed
off to the closer this year than we did we
have lately. I think it's happened three times. Like I
think Tray Shaviage could have easily done it, but yeah, yeah,
we had Schlitler do it, we had Crochet do it,
we had Schoble do it. It's first out it so
like that's three's and Yammoto that's four, Like that's probably
(10:29):
I'm just guessing, and I don't think it happened very
often last year because I know, I know the Dodgers
didn't do it at all, So it's it's it's interesting
that it's both creating more of that, like where aces
are keeping their pitch count down because they're like, these
guys don't walk people and their veterans. We have to
jump on them and rattle their confidence with our bats.
(10:51):
And then it's not leaving as much space to let
a young guy who is where the moment might be
too big. It just feels like that isn't as good
of a strategy as much anymore that it used to be.
And I mean you can say that's good or bad, right,
who wants a five hour game that's too long? But
(11:12):
at the same time, like it was kind of the
games ship of the game that feels like sometimes it's
either you're gonna come out, you're going to really go
after the guy and be really aggressive, or you're going
to try to grind them out a little bit and
see if they'll put the kid themselves in trouble. And
I think we've seen that happen a couple times, you know,
with Boyd and Imanaga. Right, he got knocked around a
(11:33):
little bit and they were aggresive against him. So it's
worked a couple of times, but more or less pitchers
are benefiting a little bit more from this stuff.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
I feel like, yeah, I mean to me, look at
twenty twenty as the prime example of pulling a pitcher
too soon and not having a feel with Blake Snell
against the Dodgers, right, and then you're like, ah, I
feel like teams are going to learn their lesson after that.
They really didn't. For the next few years, it felt
like managers couldn't wait to go to the bullpen because
(12:00):
of the stuff ticking up right in our sport in general,
and you're just seeing such high velocity and great stuff
out of the bullpen and the fear of facing in
order a third time through. It does feel like there's
a bit of a shift right now, Kratz. I don't
know if you feel like that, not in all of baseball,
but it does feel like there's a little bit more
trust with certain high level starters to go a little
(12:22):
bit deeper and to have to make that decision, especially
if you go later into a Series two and say,
how many times is the same reliever going to face
the same hitter in this spot? And when I have
a starter who's dealing right now and he's at eighty
some odd pitches, can I sneak three more outs out
of him?
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Yep? But what defans want? They want the win. They
could care Honestly, I would have a hard time believing
a Red Sox fan could care less ifs if garrik
Osche goes six innings and the Red Sox win, or
if he goes eight and the Red Sox lose, they
much much rather have the w And as far as
(13:02):
front offices making those decisions, the only reason the Dodgers
are making these decisions is because they're basing it on
the fact that their best pitcher in the next inning
is still the starter is still Shoheo Tani is still
Blake Snell, is still Yamamoto because third time through or
(13:23):
not right now, their bullpen is already on their third
time through, and those guys aren't getting those outs, so
they're sticking with them. To me, I think it's the
best example of a manager and an organization really using
their eyes and watching the game, really using their eyes
and watching the game. The only reason we're talking about
(13:43):
Shane Bieber coming out of the game last night was
because they lost to me, it was a three run game.
You brought in your highest leverage reliever that you have
to me. I think Louis Varlin since he got rid
of the you know, he was tipping pitches when we
first got over there. Once he got rid of that,
he's been nails. He gave it up. I get it.
(14:05):
But you gotta go. You gotta go with you gotta
get yourself out of that jam right there. Could they
have gotten more out of Bieber? Maybe, But if you
lose with Bieber in there, you're not feeling too good
when you had some fresh arms and some good arms
in the bullpen. I don't care that today was a
bullpen day or not.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
We were a homer away from a tie game in
that spot when he was removed, right it was first
and second.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
That's why I say it was a good move. In
my opinion, that's a good move. They're not trying to
get the win for Shane Bieber. It's not like, oh,
keep him out there, it'd be so neat to get
the W. They're trying to get in a regular season game.
He's got to get himself out of that jam and
go five. And I think he probably does, but in
the postseason, No, that's not the time. In my opinion,
(14:54):
I was. I was totally on board. Even in fact,
I think they could have taken him out one one
battery four work. But it's neither here nor there.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, to me, watch Bieber Driver and watch Logan Gilbert
because you could have watched him at the same time.
And I'm just using Gilbert as my example right now
for recency. But big difference when you're watching those two
stuff wise swing and miss wise the swings with contact
that we're being made.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah, you gotta you gotta run the game, you know,
by by being the vibe like how hard is the
ball being hit? Is anything being swung? It is? That?
Is that part of that guy's game? What's his what's
his cadence? Like does he look like he's trying to
slow it down because he's something's wrong? Like all this
stuff's coming into uh into play. One thing that's really interesting,
especially about Bieber, Like one thing he is notorious for
(15:44):
is like settling down. And I'm trying to think in
a playoff game, is there a situation where he can
like what if they're down three nothing? Right? If they
quickly score three in the first he doesn't get pulled
and then he throws would maybe he get opportunities if
it's three nothing to give come back to continue to
throw a few more innings because he is literally known
for giving up a little crooked number and then throwing
(16:05):
five quietly throwing five six screls after like that, that
is maybe the only way he continues. I think that
every other situation he's not getting past the fourth because
they had they were locked and loaded in the bullpen
like they were just they're ready to go. Everyone was
ready to go. So like you got to use everybody
to really slam this store on this team and complete
(16:25):
the sweep you don't want to get Like I said,
don't give the Yankees an ench at home. Don't do
it because they'll disappoint you. And that's what they're trying
to do, and it just didn't work. If anything anyway, Yeah, yeah,
same thing.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
Aaron Nola can settle in. He can also have one
blow up inning in this moment in this season, even
if he was having a cy young type of season tonight,
facing elimination, he's not able to sell in. He has
got to be perfect, and that's a lot to ask him.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Yeah, but that's how it works. That's why it's very
different from a regular season game. This is elimination game. Sorry,
you don't get the same leash. If they're in a
spot where they think it could cost them the game even.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
Close to that, they have to play desperately.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
They have to to try and come back in a
spot like this, So I'll see what happens.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yeah, Nola, he's done it before. He's been perfect, like,
he's been pretty perfect before, so it's within the realm possibility. Yep. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
I think for Philly ideally gets one nice turn through
the lineup and then as far as swings by to
take on a pocket krats, I gotta look at the lineup,
but take on some pocket.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
And then ride it hopefully.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Well no, no, no, I'm saying after that, just saying, they'll
pinpoint a spot maybe where they want to try and
force stock Roberts to make some decisions and.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Then Ranger Swars could go four or five innings.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
In this one.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
I mean, the bullpen has not been nails for the Phillies, right,
especially the non durant pieces, like they've let them down
for the last couple of years. If I'm rob Thompson
in this spot, and I've got two starters. I mean,
I could draw up a scenario where those guys eat
most of the game up for me.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Starters to Duran, and there's some decent numbers for Ranger
Suarez versus Freddy and Mookie. So that's a that's a
scary you know I'm saying. I'm saying Nola gets through
thirteen batters.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Oh no, that's best case scenario. Okay, yeah, set the
over under for us. What do you think is the
over under app that we need? And Trevor and I
will will play the game.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Alex, I'm not sure, but but batters, I'm setting the
batters at thirteen and a half batters, assuming Freddy's hitting
third tonight.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Okay, over under Trevor, thirteen batters thirteen and a half
batter space for Nola tonight that would.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Take him to I'm assuming too, I'm gonna go under
go under, Okay.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Yeah, I'll take the under two. Pick your poison. Today's
team the Seattle Mariners. I'll introduce Trevor to the segment.
What we're doing is a little carousel around the league
to teams that are still involved in the postseason. Not
focusing in on any of their particular games right now.
(19:34):
We want this thing to last. Okay, if someone sees
this a week from now and the Mariners are still going,
they want to know, why should I be rooting for
Seattle right now?
Speaker 4 (19:42):
What stands out? So there is the lack of success.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
I'll just throw one easy one and then Trevor lives
in the area, so he'll give you a lot more.
But there is one team that has never made it
to a World Series, not to win a World Series,
obviously they haven't won. But one team that hasn't made
it to a World Series, Trevor, and would you believe that?
It's the Seattle Mariners.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
I would believe that. Yes, I am well aware of that.
I mean, we saw there was a guy in tiers
in the in the stands and I was like, why
is that got in tears? They haven't won a home
game in twenty four years. There's been a lot of
people giving their test motus saying yeah, like they haven't
won since I was six and I'm thirty, Like it's
(20:26):
it's been a long time. It's been a long time.
They've never been like, we couldn't we didn't get our
hopes up yet like we had like one time to
the Alcs once I believe in guess guess who we
lost to. And I'm saying we because I grew up
Americas fan the Yankees. So like it's it's it's a
tough time. It's a tough place to be a baseball fan.
It's not necessarily a baseball hotbed one because it rains
(20:47):
nine once of the year up here. So we need this.
We need this. It's been a while and this team
is one of the most complete teams we've had as
far as I can remember. Like, good guys, the guy
middle lineup, the studs are are being the studs. The
pitching is the pitching. The bullpen has been great. Like
I mean, they're well poisoned, they've never been there. One
(21:07):
interesting thing that I think that my people at home
might find interesting that if they're able to match up
against another team, say they do move on, say they
do end up making the World Series and they get
to match up against the Brewers. Right, the Brewers also
have never won a World Series, So first of all,
we would get a winner that we'd never had before.
And two, the Brewers were originally the Seattle pilots who
(21:28):
were only here for from seventy to seventy one and
then moved over to Milwaukee. That's why they have the
same color scheme as the Mariners Old schools. So it
would be it would be a World Series between two
teams that started in Seattle, which I think would be
also pretty interesting and just a very Steri Lings type
of type of Tim Kirchin type of fact there. So
(21:49):
I mean, sometimes you just want to see a team
that's never done it before do it. I don't know,
that's fun for me.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Yeah, I agree. I mean that's the pilot series. We'll
term it here before it happens, if it happens, but
that is the way that they'll market it.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
It's a good story.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I mean for some fans, scrats, they feel bad for
fan bases if they have not experienced winning a World Series.
So maybe you're a fan of a team that's won
a World Series ever, and you're like, I would love
this fan base, which is a good fan base.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
They have a good.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Ballpark, and they'll pack that ballpark when they get a
product that is worth packing the ballpark for.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
This is a place that you can root.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
For, adopt this team, adopt and Seattle. Well, everyone talks
about it raining all the time. Dude, it's so nice.
You're gonna go to an outdoor game and the roof
is going to be closed and you won't get rained on.
It's tremendous. Like everything about being a Seattle Mariners fan
for the next month is gonna suck you in. The
(22:48):
biggest reason I'm going to suck you in to be
a Mariners fan you get to get a jersey that's
this Big Dumper on it. Like, you get to get
the guy who everything is going right. You're going to
join a team that you get to cheer for Big Dumper,
who has done everything this year. There's no way he's
going to allow his team to lose. So you might
(23:10):
as well hop on the train and enjoy the ride.
Because I loved going out to Seattle. I love watching
Big Dumper hit. They have Julio Rodriguez who is a
superstar slash maybe an All Star, and they play with
so much energy and excitement with Josh Naylor at first base.
Like this team has to me. They have the grint
(23:34):
to make it all the way. But as a fan,
you can't not get behind this team, like they're all
a bunch of dudes where you're like, yeah, we got.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
This, and I'm going to go here, trevorck because we
haven't brought it up in a while. But the fan
frustration index was sky high for the Mariners not long ago. Okay,
you had been waiting for a winning window. They went
through a rebuild. They built up a stud starting staff,
a really good farm system, and not much offense until
(24:05):
this year. This year they not only figured it out
and their stars were stars like Julio Rodriguez, cal Raley
did things that nobody ever could have dreamed of really
from a catcher in general. But then on top of that,
they add Naylor at the deadline, a Hennio Suarez at
the deadline. This is a team that a couple of
years ago had the famous line about just trying to
get by fifty four percent of the time and things
(24:28):
hopefully will go our way. So this is a long
waist from that to actually prove to your fan base
that you give a crap because there have been significant
issues there. It starts at the tippy top. Ownership didn't
do what they said they were going to do initially
in terms of spending, but Jerry Depoto with his trades,
has saved the day at the deadline to give them
(24:49):
a complete lineup, So I think it's worth rooting for
that as well. That is frustrated as you are right
now as a fan of a team that's not in it,
or maybe a fan that's barely ever in it pirates.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
Maybe things can turn around.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
I love just worth bringing that up, wanting to throw
that out there. So anyway, if you want to root
for the Mariners, hope we convinced you. If not, then
you can check out one of our other videos where
we tell you why you should work for a team
A blank
Trepper, What have you observed that has stood out in
this particular postseason take us inside the game.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
What do you have so a couple theories I have,
And because we have a catcher also here on the show,
I would love to get Kratz's opinion on this as well.
Something I felt when I was playing and getting ready
to pitch in a playoff game was because I was
always so forcing fastball heavy, and I threw hard and
swings and misses were a big part of my game.
(00:31):
There was always an understanding that fastballs like velocity beating guys.
You can't count on that near as much in the
playoffs as you can in the other season, because one
you're facing the best hitters. Usually it's better teams. But
also like the adrenaline the energy problem that a lot
of guys have, like let's just get the game over
or whatever, those situations don't come up right. Every pitch
(00:53):
matters so much and everyone's so dialed in that it's
just hard to get a fastball by anybody. I think
it's played out. I have some odd statistic stats. We
talked about Aaron Judge hitting the ninety nine in the playoffs.
There have been six home runs hit on pitches ninety
nine miles an arrow harder for context, during the regular season,
there was twenty three total hit in two four hundred
(01:16):
and thirty games. I believe that is one every one
hundred and five pointy six games. In the playoffs, it's
won every three point five games, so that rate is
a lot more. Now, of course there's about eight times
as many pitches over one hundred because we see so
many of the best pitchers. But still that doesn't really
account for it, right, So one does v low matter
(01:37):
as much? Or is this why we see the Lance
McCullers fifty straight curve balls or the Tommy Kinley's having
success in the playoffs because he throws sixty one straight changeups?
Is that a thing pratzy? Is that something that hitters
are aware of that like, you know, if I stay
on fastballs and I can fell off or a fight
off the breaking ball stuff, that I'm able to do
(01:58):
more damage because doing damage is so important. Because there's
just generally less hits in the playoffs, you're just seeing
relievers in the second inning, for sure.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
I think that's I think that you're not stringing as
many hits together. I feel that. But I remember the
first postseason that I was ever involved in, I didn't
get in any games, but twenty eleven, I was with
the Phillies or playing the Cardinals, and the extra I
don't know, like extra batspeed, extra distance the ball was
going justin BP getting ready for the game. It felt
(02:30):
like almost like a superpower. So fast forward to twenty fourteen.
I still didn't get in any postseason games, but it
was that same feel. It feels like you can get
to so many more pitches. Why that is, like, why
you can't do that in the regular season. I don't know.
It's probably like a Key k Hernandez type of question
because he's elite, But I felt it there was nobody
(02:52):
that was going to get a fast ball by me. Normally,
that was my best part of my hitting abilities, was
hitting a ball, But when teams in the postseason would
throw me fastballs, it was like it didn't matter if
it was ninety seven up in the zone where I
normally couldn't handle it. I was gonna get to it.
And so I think there's something to that. I think
(03:12):
it's the adrenaline. I don't think you asked, is it
like a conscious effort I don't think it's a conscious effort.
I don't think guys actually understand it. Sometimes they feel it,
but I don't think they understand it. Like why am
I able to hit the ball into the upper deck
OPO MVP during the postseason and not during the regular season.
Probably because there's a little bit of adrenaline running through
(03:35):
your veins.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, Baseball, major League baseball. So often it comes down
to if you have energy or not. Like you just
sometimes like I have no energy today. It's it is addust. Second,
the trade headline's over, and now I just you know,
we're not going for a push yet. I just want
a nap. I just want a nap. And then in
the playoffs, you're like, I don't even I don't even
need to sleep well. We worry about when I'm dead.
(04:02):
So I always felt it. It seems like it plays
out in the stats, and it's interesting guys who are
leaning on their fastball are used to doing it, like
are struggling a little bit to make that adjustment. The
second thing that I thought was interesting, and I'm going
to mention the pitch clock, but I don't think it's
the actual time of the clock. I just think it's
(04:22):
how it's changed the pace of the game. Right, Things
get going pretty quickly. We're used to playoff games being
four and a half hours long, right, And there was
a part of that that happened in the past before
the clock, that young guys pitching in the playoffs. It's
one of those things where you have there's no way
to prepare until you're there. And a strategy for veterans,
(04:44):
like Tory Hunter used to tell me this too, in
a big game, a great strategy for a veteran guy
is ice that guy, like, make him starting pitcher, he's
a rookie, make him have to be dominant in the
first inning so that he starts to question whether or
not he's got it that day. Because that is amplified
ten x. Right now we have the clock. Things are
going so quickly that the strategy seems to be Hitters
(05:07):
are like, let's jump on him with the bats, as
opposed to icing him, slowing the game down and making
him sit out there and think we need to rattle
his confidence by string and three hits together start this game.
And so that let that snowball, because the clock is
going to keep the game going no matter what we do.
And if we can get him snowballing with the clock.
We had to get the clock to use, working our
advantage as opposed to work against us. But because there's
(05:29):
less hits and it's mostly pitching heavy, the best pitchers
are out there, and that's what it's been last few
years that that tends to help the pitcher out a
little bit. And I think we've seen a little bit
like the Detroit tried to jump on Gavin Williams and
it was like the first thinning with six pitches, and
now he's feeling good and he's had a very good outing.
Kir Scooball is not going to throw balls right. So
(05:51):
if you can try to jump on him, if he
has a less than ten pitch inning, uh oh, we
might have just set him right in. And it's going
to be hard to to string these hits together. Else
to see it on the flip side, if you get
to them, there's being a lot of run scorts. So
I feel like there's it's like a low scoring game
or really high scoring game. That's all we're getting. I
feel like that's part of it is this watching the game.
Do you guys feel this at all?
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Scotti, Yeah, I definitely feel it. I definitely see see this,
and I think it's because look at the dudes that
are out on the mount. I mean, you can just
go the one night you went Garah Crochet, Max Freed,
Trek Scooble. What do they do really good besides throw strikes?
(06:30):
They strike dudes out. You do not want to strike out,
so you're gonna go and get your swing off on
the first few pitches, and you don't want to get
to two strikes, especially like if you're on the road.
Every postseason two strike at bat when it's a tie
ball game, fans are up, everybody's cheering. You don't want
to get in that situation. So guys are like, hey,
(06:52):
you know what, I'm gonna get this swing off. I'm
gonna get after this first pitch. Heater and everything's so
hard nowadays. Two. I get it that, you know, a
breaking ball is an off speed pitch, but when the
miz is out there and he's throwing a ninety four
mile hour slider, like, yeah, I'm geared up for one
hundred and four, but I'm also able to stay on
(07:13):
ninety four, So I'm just looking for something on the plate.
I'm not necessarily waiting to see Okay, wait till he
comes in my zone. No, I'm just trying to I'm
trying to get after it right away late in account.
Then I'm waiting for something in my zone.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
This is our actual shout out here to Fox one
and the streaming app and how you can get that
app for free for seven days. Try it out and
get a little Tigers Mariners today, also Yankees and Blue
Jays at Night. Also NFL Action college Football Action that
includes Big neon Saturdays. It's all there. There's plenty of
(07:48):
shows to check out as well, which we'll dive into over.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
The next few weeks. But Fox one is the app.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
You can get more information at foxne dot com. That's
the spot it is. Trevor, You're the only one that
hasn't seen that one yet. Do you like what we
did there with the graphic?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Love it? Love it? Anytime I can look at Tom,
I'm happy.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
Yes, Tom looks back.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
I have jaw Wow, chiseled chiseled Tom on Sundays, Pierzinski
on many weekdays on games and Saturdays throughout the regular season.
And Trevor, this is still a dream for a starting
pitcher because you're trying to eat innings for your team,
(08:33):
and that's something that I root for. I mean, call
me old school, but I like to see a starter
go deep into a contest. In fact, Game three, Logan
Gilbert is pretty much dominating for the Mariners. I know
they got to him, I think in his last or
second or last inning a little bit, but I was like, damn.
(08:55):
I know he didn't do it much during the year,
but he's done it in the past and he's feeling
it to see them keep going. And that were early swings.
So I do think it can create these vintage starting
pitching performances that we haven't seen much of. I don't
know any math yet, but it does feel like we've
seen a little bit more of that, a little bit more, okay,
(09:16):
one more inning. You have to have the pitch count
in check to be able to do that, and to
have the pitch count in check, you have to have
some innings that stand out where it's like, oh, damn,
six pitch inning, nine pitch inning. There's been a few
too early on where I'll bring this one up. And again,
this is just going off what I'm what I'm seeing,
and I'm not putting specific stats to it yet, but
we've seen some first or secondings where sometimes you do
(09:36):
see some good takes and it's like Lozardo twenty four
pitch first, and there's been a few others, right, and
then all of a sudden you see the earlier attack
go from innings two or three through four or five,
and that enables your starter to go a little bit
deeper as well. So I've seen a little bit of
that as well, where you know you're worried about the
pitch count for the starter and you think a team
(09:56):
is going to grind out every app bad and be
taken a ton pitches and driving up deep counts, and
then the approach reverts to what you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Yeah, yeah, I feel like we've seen more starter handed
off to the closer this year than we did we
have lately. I think it's happened three times. Like I
think Tray Shaviage could have easily done it, but yeah, yeah,
we had Schlitler do it, we had Crochet do it,
we had Schoble do it. It's first out it so
like that's three's and Yammoto that's four, Like that's probably
(10:29):
I'm just guessing, and I don't think it happened very
often last year because I know, I know the Dodgers
didn't do it at all, So it's it's it's interesting
that it's both creating more of that, like where aces
are keeping their pitch count down because they're like, these
guys don't walk people and their veterans. We have to
jump on them and rattle their confidence with our bats.
(10:51):
And then it's not leaving as much space to let
a young guy who is where the moment might be
too big. It just feels like that isn't as good
of a strategy as much anymore that it used to be.
And I mean you can say that's good or bad, right,
who wants a five hour game that's too long? But
(11:12):
at the same time, like it was kind of the
games ship of the game that feels like sometimes it's
either you're gonna come out, you're going to really go
after the guy and be really aggressive, or you're going
to try to grind them out a little bit and
see if they'll put the kid themselves in trouble. And
I think we've seen that happen a couple times, you know,
with Boyd and Imanaga. Right, he got knocked around a
(11:33):
little bit and they were aggresive against him. So it's
worked a couple of times, but more or less pitchers
are benefiting a little bit more from this stuff.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
I feel like, yeah, I mean to me, look at
twenty twenty as the prime example of pulling a pitcher
too soon and not having a feel with Blake Snell
against the Dodgers, right, and then you're like, ah, I
feel like teams are going to learn their lesson after that.
They really didn't. For the next few years, it felt
like managers couldn't wait to go to the bullpen because
(12:00):
of the stuff ticking up right in our sport in general,
and you're just seeing such high velocity and great stuff
out of the bullpen and the fear of facing in
order a third time through. It does feel like there's
a bit of a shift right now, Kratz. I don't
know if you feel like that, not in all of baseball,
but it does feel like there's a little bit more
trust with certain high level starters to go a little
(12:22):
bit deeper and to have to make that decision, especially
if you go later into a Series two and say,
how many times is the same reliever going to face
the same hitter in this spot? And when I have
a starter who's dealing right now and he's at eighty
some odd pitches, can I sneak three more outs out
of him?
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Yep? But what defans want? They want the win. They
could care Honestly, I would have a hard time believing
a Red Sox fan could care less ifs if garrik
Osche goes six innings and the Red Sox win, or
if he goes eight and the Red Sox lose, they
much much rather have the w And as far as
(13:02):
front offices making those decisions, the only reason the Dodgers
are making these decisions is because they're basing it on
the fact that their best pitcher in the next inning
is still the starter is still Shoheo Tani is still
Blake Snell, is still Yamamoto because third time through or
(13:23):
not right now, their bullpen is already on their third
time through, and those guys aren't getting those outs, so
they're sticking with them. To me, I think it's the
best example of a manager and an organization really using
their eyes and watching the game, really using their eyes
and watching the game. The only reason we're talking about
(13:43):
Shane Bieber coming out of the game last night was
because they lost to me, it was a three run game.
You brought in your highest leverage reliever that you have
to me. I think Louis Varlin since he got rid
of the you know, he was tipping pitches when we
first got over there. Once he got rid of that,
he's been nails. He gave it up. I get it.
(14:05):
But you gotta go. You gotta go with you gotta
get yourself out of that jam right there. Could they
have gotten more out of Bieber? Maybe, But if you
lose with Bieber in there, you're not feeling too good
when you had some fresh arms and some good arms
in the bullpen. I don't care that today was a
bullpen day or not.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
We were a homer away from a tie game in
that spot when he was removed, right it was first
and second.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
That's why I say it was a good move. In
my opinion, that's a good move. They're not trying to
get the win for Shane Bieber. It's not like, oh,
keep him out there, it'd be so neat to get
the W. They're trying to get in a regular season game.
He's got to get himself out of that jam and
go five. And I think he probably does, but in
the postseason, No, that's not the time. In my opinion,
(14:54):
I was. I was totally on board. Even in fact,
I think they could have taken him out one one
battery four work. But it's neither here nor there.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, to me, watch Bieber Driver and watch Logan Gilbert
because you could have watched him at the same time.
And I'm just using Gilbert as my example right now
for recency. But big difference when you're watching those two
stuff wise swing and miss wise the swings with contact
that we're being made.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah, you gotta you gotta run the game, you know,
by by being the vibe like how hard is the
ball being hit? Is anything being swung? It is? That?
Is that part of that guy's game? What's his what's
his cadence? Like does he look like he's trying to
slow it down because he's something's wrong? Like all this
stuff's coming into uh into play. One thing that's really interesting,
especially about Bieber, Like one thing he is notorious for
(15:44):
is like settling down. And I'm trying to think in
a playoff game, is there a situation where he can
like what if they're down three nothing? Right? If they
quickly score three in the first he doesn't get pulled
and then he throws would maybe he get opportunities if
it's three nothing to give come back to continue to
throw a few more innings because he is literally known
for giving up a little crooked number and then throwing
(16:05):
five quietly throwing five six screls after like that, that
is maybe the only way he continues. I think that
every other situation he's not getting past the fourth because
they had they were locked and loaded in the bullpen
like they were just they're ready to go. Everyone was
ready to go. So like you got to use everybody
to really slam this store on this team and complete
(16:25):
the sweep you don't want to get Like I said,
don't give the Yankees an ench at home. Don't do
it because they'll disappoint you. And that's what they're trying
to do, and it just didn't work. If anything anyway, Yeah, yeah,
same thing.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
Aaron Nola can settle in. He can also have one
blow up inning in this moment in this season, even
if he was having a cy young type of season tonight,
facing elimination, he's not able to sell in. He has
got to be perfect, and that's a lot to ask him.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Yeah, but that's how it works. That's why it's very
different from a regular season game. This is elimination game. Sorry,
you don't get the same leash. If they're in a
spot where they think it could cost them the game even.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
Close to that, they have to play desperately.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
They have to to try and come back in a
spot like this, So I'll see what happens.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yeah, Nola, he's done it before. He's been perfect, like,
he's been pretty perfect before, so it's within the realm possibility. Yep. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
I think for Philly ideally gets one nice turn through
the lineup and then as far as swings by to
take on a pocket krats, I gotta look at the lineup,
but take on some pocket.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
And then ride it hopefully.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Well no, no, no, I'm saying after that, just saying, they'll
pinpoint a spot maybe where they want to try and
force stock Roberts to make some decisions and.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Then Ranger Swars could go four or five innings.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
In this one.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
I mean, the bullpen has not been nails for the Phillies, right,
especially the non durant pieces, like they've let them down
for the last couple of years. If I'm rob Thompson
in this spot, and I've got two starters. I mean,
I could draw up a scenario where those guys eat
most of the game up for me.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Starters to Duran, and there's some decent numbers for Ranger
Suarez versus Freddy and Mookie. So that's a that's a
scary you know I'm saying. I'm saying Nola gets through
thirteen batters.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Oh no, that's best case scenario. Okay, yeah, set the
over under for us. What do you think is the
over under app that we need? And Trevor and I
will will play the game.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Alex, I'm not sure, but but batters, I'm setting the
batters at thirteen and a half batters, assuming Freddy's hitting
third tonight.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Okay, over under Trevor, thirteen batters thirteen and a half
batter space for Nola tonight that would.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Take him to I'm assuming too, I'm gonna go under
go under, Okay.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Yeah, I'll take the under two. Pick your poison. Today's
team the Seattle Mariners. I'll introduce Trevor to the segment.
What we're doing is a little carousel around the league
to teams that are still involved in the postseason. Not
focusing in on any of their particular games right now.
(19:34):
We want this thing to last. Okay, if someone sees
this a week from now and the Mariners are still going,
they want to know, why should I be rooting for
Seattle right now?
Speaker 4 (19:42):
What stands out? So there is the lack of success.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
I'll just throw one easy one and then Trevor lives
in the area, so he'll give you a lot more.
But there is one team that has never made it
to a World Series, not to win a World Series,
obviously they haven't won. But one team that hasn't made
it to a World Series, Trevor, and would you believe that?
It's the Seattle Mariners.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
I would believe that. Yes, I am well aware of that.
I mean, we saw there was a guy in tiers
in the in the stands and I was like, why
is that got in tears? They haven't won a home
game in twenty four years. There's been a lot of
people giving their test motus saying yeah, like they haven't
won since I was six and I'm thirty, Like it's
(20:26):
it's been a long time. It's been a long time.
They've never been like, we couldn't we didn't get our
hopes up yet like we had like one time to
the Alcs once I believe in guess guess who we
lost to. And I'm saying we because I grew up
Americas fan the Yankees. So like it's it's it's a
tough time. It's a tough place to be a baseball fan.
It's not necessarily a baseball hotbed one because it rains
(20:47):
nine once of the year up here. So we need this.
We need this. It's been a while and this team
is one of the most complete teams we've had as
far as I can remember. Like, good guys, the guy
middle lineup, the studs are are being the studs. The
pitching is the pitching. The bullpen has been great. Like
I mean, they're well poisoned, they've never been there. One
(21:07):
interesting thing that I think that my people at home
might find interesting that if they're able to match up
against another team, say they do move on, say they
do end up making the World Series and they get
to match up against the Brewers. Right, the Brewers also
have never won a World Series, So first of all,
we would get a winner that we'd never had before.
And two, the Brewers were originally the Seattle pilots who
(21:28):
were only here for from seventy to seventy one and
then moved over to Milwaukee. That's why they have the
same color scheme as the Mariners Old schools. So it
would be it would be a World Series between two
teams that started in Seattle, which I think would be
also pretty interesting and just a very Steri Lings type
of type of Tim Kirchin type of fact there. So
(21:49):
I mean, sometimes you just want to see a team
that's never done it before do it. I don't know,
that's fun for me.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Yeah, I agree. I mean that's the pilot series. We'll
term it here before it happens, if it happens, but
that is the way that they'll market it.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
It's a good story.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I mean for some fans, scrats, they feel bad for
fan bases if they have not experienced winning a World Series.
So maybe you're a fan of a team that's won
a World Series ever, and you're like, I would love
this fan base, which is a good fan base.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
They have a good.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Ballpark, and they'll pack that ballpark when they get a
product that is worth packing the ballpark for.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
This is a place that you can root.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
For, adopt this team, adopt and Seattle. Well, everyone talks
about it raining all the time. Dude, it's so nice.
You're gonna go to an outdoor game and the roof
is going to be closed and you won't get rained on.
It's tremendous. Like everything about being a Seattle Mariners fan
for the next month is gonna suck you in. The
(22:48):
biggest reason I'm going to suck you in to be
a Mariners fan you get to get a jersey that's
this Big Dumper on it. Like, you get to get
the guy who everything is going right. You're going to
join a team that you get to cheer for Big Dumper,
who has done everything this year. There's no way he's
going to allow his team to lose. So you might
(23:10):
as well hop on the train and enjoy the ride.
Because I loved going out to Seattle. I love watching
Big Dumper hit. They have Julio Rodriguez who is a
superstar slash maybe an All Star, and they play with
so much energy and excitement with Josh Naylor at first base.
Like this team has to me. They have the grint
(23:34):
to make it all the way. But as a fan,
you can't not get behind this team, like they're all
a bunch of dudes where you're like, yeah, we got.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
This, and I'm going to go here, trevorck because we
haven't brought it up in a while. But the fan
frustration index was sky high for the Mariners not long ago. Okay,
you had been waiting for a winning window. They went
through a rebuild. They built up a stud starting staff,
a really good farm system, and not much offense until
(24:05):
this year. This year they not only figured it out
and their stars were stars like Julio Rodriguez, cal Raley
did things that nobody ever could have dreamed of really
from a catcher in general. But then on top of that,
they add Naylor at the deadline, a Hennio Suarez at
the deadline. This is a team that a couple of
years ago had the famous line about just trying to
get by fifty four percent of the time and things
(24:28):
hopefully will go our way. So this is a long
waist from that to actually prove to your fan base
that you give a crap because there have been significant
issues there. It starts at the tippy top. Ownership didn't
do what they said they were going to do initially
in terms of spending, but Jerry Depoto with his trades,
has saved the day at the deadline to give them
(24:49):
a complete lineup, So I think it's worth rooting for
that as well. That is frustrated as you are right
now as a fan of a team that's not in it,
or maybe a fan that's barely ever in it pirates.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
Maybe things can turn around.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
I love just worth bringing that up, wanting to throw
that out there. So anyway, if you want to root
for the Mariners, hope we convinced you. If not, then
you can check out one of our other videos where
we tell you why you should work for a team
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