May 13, 2024 • 44 mins
Talkin' Jake goes over the stats he found while making his MLB power rankings and what he's liked during these NBA Playoff Series.
Timestamps:
0:00 Saw A Lot of Things Around Baseball This Weekend
1:15 My Small Victory
2:20 We Did Power Rankings
5:25 Red Sox are Still First in ERA by a LOT & Other Team Stats
14:45 Cleveland vs. Kansas City is FASCINATING
16:20 Rhys Hoskins was the Best Signing of the Offseason
17:30 You Need to Hit to Be Good
21:40 Shoutout Danny Jansen
23:35 NL Central Back to Being Bad
23:50 Nuggets vs. Timberwolves is TIED
28:35 Boston Should Finish Off Cleveland
21:25 OKC vs. Dallas is Fun
36:20 Knicks and Pacers are Tied
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to Waken Jake Myself, Jake's Story, Ellie
Producer BBD, Happy Jeff Passing Day to all those who
celebrate May thirteenth. Baseball season in a fun spot. We
just did our first ever power rankings on Talking Baseball.
Not gonna dive too much into that. There were some
(00:21):
fun thoughts that came out of it, and I got
into the team stats. I'll do a little baseball around
the horn. Watched a ton of ball this weekend. I
guess shout out DraftKings. I've been placing a lot of
little bets on games and that's made me tune into
the games more and that seems good for my lifestyle
because I talk about baseball a lot, so that's something
(00:43):
I have to be careful with. But saw a lot
of things from around the league that I want to
talk to you about. And it's still sports Apocalypse season.
Huge Edmonton Oiler's game last night. No, not going to
talk about hockey. Might mention the Rangers because we're rooting
for them in this office. But basketball. I got to
take a slight victory lap and I hope you took
(01:04):
it with me. After Game one of Nuggets Nuggets Wolves,
I said, just a weird sports thing. I have no
actual inside info or hints, tips or codes, real ones.
Remember having a search those for video games on the internet.
(01:26):
After Game one where the Wolves won, it was kind
of a it seemed like an NBA game that was
gonna be the Nuggets would come back at the end
and it would come down to a final shot. Wolves
kind of ran away with it. I had a weird
feeling that it was gonna be just road team wins
the first four games, because we see that in sports
every year now, and maybe it's a motivation thing, maybe
(01:47):
it's whatever. But Nuggets, man, they so lame, but they
showed like heart of a champion. And that's why lame
things sometimes work out in sports and in life. So
we'll talk about more of that coming up later. Because
the NBA Playoffs, actually, I've enjoyed them, probably more than
(02:09):
I thought, probably more than I thought. Except the East.
We'll get there. Let's do some baseball and if you
don't know, and if you're watching on YouTube, high subscribe.
I'm wearing a suit today. Four years ago during the pandemic,
made up Jeff Passing Day, So dress like brother Jeff.
Maybe I'll get him a call in the middle of
(02:31):
this episode. See if he picks up, See if he
says something appropriate, See if BBD has to edit it out.
But we'll go from there. We did power rankings for
the first time on Talking Baseball. I think we had
some hesitations in the past because it's such feels like
a generic thing. But we're at the quarter pole of
(02:52):
the season. You obviously know the big movers and shakers,
like you know, Houston's probably started the year and every
one's top six seven eight teams. They've been one of
the bottom six seven eight teams in baseball. We'll see
if they can turn it around. They've been hitting, which
I'll get to that in a second. I think the
(03:13):
fun of the exercise trying to sort the middle right
now is ridiculous, trying to decide who you like more,
whether you just want to stand in the West and
Texas Rangers are Seattle Mariners. Seattle Mariners, They're pitching has
like fully clicked. It's kind of what everyone dreamed of
before the season. They just took the AL West first
(03:37):
play spot because Texas got swept by the Rockies. Texas
hasn't felt like they've clicked all year. They're hitting and
pitching stats. They've been lackluster pitching and the hitting hasn't
been over the moon. That we could look back at
either of those teams in two months and just laugh
(03:59):
because they could be two of the best teams in baseball.
Mariners again, it's your it's glass half full, glass half
empty season. Are the Mariners gonna hit because they'll be
a top five team? Uh? Is Texas gonna pitch a
little more and have their hitting go off, because then
they could be back to being Texas from last year.
I think we just saw the Arizona Diamondbacks turn the corner.
(04:20):
Uh they got a couple guys back. Corbyn Carroll kind
of broke out of his slump that I think you're
gonna see the Snakes make a run. But in that als,
what does a run even mean at this point, like
an eight and five stretch if you're an NLS team,
I think that's a pretty good run right now because
that division is deep, trying to divide up the Ale
(04:42):
Central teams. I was laughing because I wanted to look
at some team stats and we've done We've done some
of this on here. I think like two weeks in
I did a lot of team stats because I didn't
want to. I don't know, talking about players two weeks
in you could get hurt because as we just looked
up Gary Sanchez's stats from zero for two twelve, he's
been like a nine to sixty five ohps since the
(05:04):
start of the season. Uh, players, it's kind of unfair
to look at like that, and teams too, because things
can change on a dime. But now again, quarter the
way through the season, May May the thirteenth be with
you looking at the team pitching stats. The Red Sox
are still first in ERA by a lot. The Red
(05:27):
Sox team has a two seven five ERA two seven five.
The next beecs team is the New York Yankees with
a three to one. So how about that Yankees Red Sox, Babe,
we still got it. This is baseball. Last year your
(05:49):
team er leaders was the Milwaukee Brewers at three seven
to one. So expect a lot of those numbers to
come up. But actually it's been a pitching season. We've
talked about ops pluses a lot. Pitching's been up this year.
Hitting's been down a little bit.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, there's ten teams better than that this year. That
Brewer's number.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Yeah, so that's that's pretty wild to see. Let me
look at last year's hitting a little bit, just to
see if it felt like hitting.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Was up and Brewers aren't one of them.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah. Oh, I went back to twenty twenty three hitting
last year. My god, what the Braves did was unholy
shout out Sam Smith. Yeah, I guess hitting was up
a little bit across the board last year. So an
interesting thing as this season goes on, and I feel
like there's always a week every summer where there's just
(06:47):
a massive hitting week and everyone's just like it got warmer,
the hitter's caught up. We'll see if that happens. I
don't know something like that will, but that was every year.
The stats I wanted to talk to about before I
derailed my personal self. I mentioned the team pitching. The
Red Sox two seventy five is insane. They have seven
(07:10):
games with Tampa this week. Tampa just got a couple
bodies back. Both these teams floating around five hundred. Let's
see if push comes to shove in any of those games. Yankees,
it's funny their second in era have they felt like
that kind of kind starting pitching has been really good.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Of lately, even without necessarily the innings from some guys
and on the whole, I think that's corrected. But early
I feel like nobody was giving them length. But we
were all like, but, like, that is a good.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Start, and the bullpen was scary. But they also had
a stretch of like eighteen scoreless or something, which was
just again, you're looking at the names back there, and
it's not the twenty nineteen Yankees pen, but they've been
pitching the Dodgers pitch every year. They are third in
team era. The Philadelphia Phillies three to two nine. They
(08:01):
were our number two team on power rankings. Go look
at their stats. They are on top of the NL
East right now. I know they just lost Trey Turner,
but with what Rangers Suarez has done and Alec Bohm,
a couple other guys, Jeff Hoffman out of their bullpen,
Phillies are stacked. Baltimore Orioles are somehow fifth. Every year
(08:21):
we look at their pitching and we're like, well, they
don't they don't really have any names. Well, Cole Irvin's
pitching his TUTSI off, and you know, I don't like
saying that corn Burns has been great Kyle Bradish just
came back. And then sixth is your Seattle Mariners with
a three three eight ERA A Orioles, Phillies, Dodgers, Yankees.
(08:47):
Those are two through five, and they they were all
in the top five of our power rankings we did,
so that kind of scratches before we get to the offense.
I did think it was funny. There's one big leap
on here you go. Braves are tenth in ERA at
three four seven. Uh, then it jumps to the Mets
(09:08):
at three seven to two. So that's kind of one
of her If you were doing team era tiers, that
would be one of the tiers. The three teams in
the Central excuse me, the Detroit Tigers, the Royals in
the Guardians, so no twins yet they're still twins. Are
funky to evaluate just because I mean, it's been a
(09:30):
tale of two seasons. They've they've had a seventeen and
three run. That's they've looked like one of the best teams.
I think they had a seven and thirteen run before that,
So tough to evaluate their team stats. The Tigers have
a three to four to one ERA, Okay, that's pretty good.
That has them in seventh. The Royals are three four
(09:53):
to two, so one down and point oh one down
from them as the Guardians, so the al Central that
we've applauded because they've been better. I thought it was
funny that all three of those teams are separated by
decimal points pitching wise, which then takes me over to
(10:13):
the hitting side of the ball because I mentioned all
those good teams on the top of the pitching stats,
which makes sense. But if you've been listening to Talking
Baseball or waken Jake, thank you and your top teams
by ops, Los Angeles Dodgers, they were first on our
(10:34):
power rankings for obvious reasons. Number two the Philadelphia Phillies.
They were second on our power rankings. The Milwaukee Brewers,
which turned out were a consensus sixth team in our
power rankings. Who they're getting it done on both sides
of the ball. The New York Yankees, who are consensus
(10:55):
top five in our power rankings. They are fourth and
ops and second in tam Era. Okay, Yankees, they are
They are at the table this year. And this is
before Cole this is before Jason Dominguez, no dj lem Mayhew.
This season, we remember the quote from the offseason. That
was like, remember when they were doing lineup stuff and
(11:16):
Judge had his you know, as long as me, DJ
and Soda were up there.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yeah, I mean Judge didn't go until a week ago.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
His stats, It's funny. The expectations for Aaron Judge are
very high, uh, and he pretty much lives up to them.
His OPS is eight sixty six. Now it's felt like
a down year for Judge.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
It was it kind was it legitimately was like the
worst month he's had since his rookie year.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
But he's so good, man, that's awesome. Trevor took him
in the Homer draft against the Twins this week, and
I'm starting to like you that pick. Go Judge, you
go anyways. Team offenses, Yankees are fourth, Orioles fifth lead MLB,
and homers fifth and OPS. The Atlanta Braves are six.
(12:07):
They were slightly controversial on the power rankings because it
felt like they haven't clicked yet, but they do have
one of the best records in baseball, and you know
they're gonna be there. I'll be interested to see for
whatever reason, they've played the least amount of games. They've
played thirty seven games, where.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
I remember them losing at least one of their Mets games,
where they'll make up later.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
The majority of teams have played forty two to forty
one games, so I think I think that's the funny
part of the exercise. If the Braves play their next
four games and they go three and one in them,
the Braves have gone off to this, the records start
that we've more or less expected without the performance, which
is crazy and I think it's almost scary, but I
(12:56):
do hope it's teeing up for an awesome NL East
chase between them in the field this summer. What I
was getting to, I'm on a big hitting kicks, hitting wins, Dodgers, Phillies, Brewers,
Yankees Orioles, Braves. That was almost our consensus top six me,
Trev BBD. I'm talking baseball. They are your top six
(13:19):
hitting teams. My only hole in this system. Currently the
Houston Astros are eighth, and you know what's going on
with their season, and we'll see what they can salvage.
I think they're ten games under five hundred right now,
still a little time to get hot after them. It
keeps going. I mean the Twins who are now competing
(13:41):
in the favorites for the Central again, San Diego and
the Texas Rangers round off the top ten. What to
do with that Al Central? I have no idea. I
want one of you teams to win my heart over,
and I just don't know if you're gonna do it. Uh.
(14:03):
The Guardians and Royals eerily similar. If the Royals were
named the Guardians. How about that. Here's a fun exercise
for you if both of these teams were named the Guardians.
If it was Guardians A in Guardians B, which team
would you like more? It's an interesting conversation because I
(14:27):
don't know the Royals history, especially recently, gets in the way.
I mean, do you like Bobby Witt over Jay Ram?
They're close? Yeah? I mean I was.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
I was about to say something about leaning on Cleveland
having an MVP candidate. Then I remember Bobby Witt, who
right now is much more of an MVP candidate.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Bobby Wit and Jay Ram. Let's say they go toe
for toe? Okay, Salvy and Naylor? Is that your comp sure?
Pascalentino and Kwan like again, it starts getting weird because
these guys have very different ballgames. Michael Garcia and Andres Jimenez.
(15:15):
I don't know. Uh. I think these two teams are
very close, especially with the way the Royal has been pitching.
Mentioned both these pitching staffs. I think Cleveland has the
best bullpen era that yeah, Kansas City starting pitching has
been better. Their lineups have been similar. I think Casey
(15:37):
has a slide edge that yeah. We just the Guardians
do have a recent history of winning and got off
to a really hot start. They kind of overshadowed a
couple other teams in the Central. If you like the Guardians,
you should like the Royals. If you like the Royals,
you should like the Guardians. If you don't like either,
that's kind of then you live on the East or
(15:57):
the West coast. And yet the Twins have snuck up
and Fangrafts has them as sixty one point one percent
chance to win the division this year. Uh My other
closing final notes on just some of the team stuff
and around around the league watching this weekend. Reese Hoskins
for those Brewers that are top five on both lists,
(16:21):
his stability of just being Reese Hoskins is huge for
that team, and he won them a game with a
three run home or late against Andrew Kittridge that that
may go down as the signing of the offseason, and
we will relive this offseason at some point to see
how guys are contributing. I think we made fun of
the Cooper Chriswell trade pretty bad for the Socks. He's
(16:44):
been great.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
That's some deep cut stuff.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Huh wow. The other things I just I wanted to
know on the other side of the coin. We talked
about a lot of positives. The Brewers might be really
Brewers are third in OPS. Where are they pitching wise? Oh?
(17:08):
More middle of the pack than I thought. Okay, they've
been offensively generated, good run prevention team Braves are coming.
Can't wait to see if Seattle hits. On the other
end of the spectrum. If you can't hit, you're not
gonna be a good team. The bottom ops teams in
(17:29):
reverse order. Chicago White Sox yep, they have a six
to two team OPS. That's horrid. Two seventeen team batting average.
It's gross. Miami Marlins YEP. Saint Louis Birds makes sense. Unfortunately,
(17:54):
that's gotta be frustrating because they thought they could hit
and now they're not hitting this year. The wheels are
falling off quick there. Pirates have been ugly to watch
for a while. Cincinnati Reds they have not had the
juice this year. They have a tough schedule coming. It's
(18:14):
kind of put up her shut up time in Cincinnati.
And then you have this hodgepodge Mariners, Tigers, Blue Jays.
How about this, I'll spin it in a positive way.
One of those three teams should hit, and maybe Mariners
are coming. Julio's been a slow starter. We've talked about
(18:37):
that here in talking baseball. Maybe the Blue Jays light
bulb needs to go off. And I know Vladdie's picked
it up. They had a nice comeback win. Will the
Chet pick it up? Who else? Or the Tigers? If
they can just become middle of the pack, I think
they're pitching has a chance to be plus one of
those three teams will pick it up. And if they
(18:57):
can become an average offense, I think think they can
have a good team. But also if they stay around there,
It's why I've been nervous about Seattle. If they stay
like this, it's just unsustainable because you're pitching feels this
m H like. I was watching some of their games
(19:17):
with Oakland this weekend Oakland felt like the power player,
which it's three teams. I'm not gonna overanalyze it. But
if you're Seattle and you're pitching that well with your
starting pitching and your bullpen, but your offense isn't bringing it,
there's just there's something looming in the air every night
(19:39):
that if you make one bad pitch and that game
goes from a one to nothing lead to a three
to one lead for the other team, just turns into
backbreaking losses that I've been nervous on the Mariners. I
think their offense is gonna pick up because Julio drives it.
He started so every year. But they need to see
(20:00):
that because otherwise we talk about stressful pitches. The Mariners
are throwing more stressful pitches because they're in tight games,
so they need to figure it out.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Blue Jays, it's more tight games, it's more you know,
you can ever give your good bullpen the night off.
You have to extend your starter a little more or
you don't get them lower lift late innings like that
adds up over a year. You gotta you got it.
I've seen the Yankees try to do.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
That last year and a half.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
It's a bad feeling and anecdotally much more fun to
watch a team that hits a lot, even if you
can't pitch, than a team that does pitch well but
you can't hit. That's just more fun.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
The Toronto Blue Jays are twenty fifth and Temyra twenty
fourth and team ops now who they're supposed to be.
I hope that's something they can look back and laugh on,
because right now they're starting to hit a dangerous area.
Let's check out some Blue Jay schedule Toronto. They just
(21:10):
played Minnesota at Baltimore for three, Tampa in the White Sox.
Hey handle some division business and you guys will be back.
But it hasn't been their strength.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
You know what.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Another guy that just deserves a shout out because I
can't believe how good he is, Danny Jansen.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
He just stuck out looking at their staff page. Ye
Kirkie getting more starts right now?
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Here's a and this isn't when you know you're getting
into loser baseball talk. Danny Jansen's last three years one
hundred and seventy six games, so over a full season,
those are almost like, I don't want to say two
full catcher seasons, but close. If you're playing ninety games
as a catcher. It's a little off pace, but he's
(22:01):
had injuries and splitting times. In one hundred and seventy
six games, Danny Jansen's had thirty six home runs, a
two fifty batting average, three thirty one on basin eight
forty one ops. Danny Jansen has been a slugger for
the past three years when he's been on the field.
You know, I mean, is there a way ooh no,
(22:24):
it might be kind of well, no, I just want
this to be complimentary to Danny Jansen, But I mean
there's an argument he's been better than Vladdie.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
I mean, especially positional value.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
I mean, Vladdy plays that kind of running back last year.
Gladdie plays every day, which he does deserve more credit for.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
That's awes.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Vladdie the last three years has a seven ninety eight ops. Flatty,
let's go, man, let's go twenty five. Sorry Blue Jay
fans for landing in that spot. But I know you guys,
I've seen your guys comments. You guys want something to
happen with this team, and it is fight or flight mode.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
I mean we've set up before, but one you're on
Vladdy's page looks like an outlier, right, and the rest
it ain't bad. The rest that's not bad.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Did I see anything else? Uh No, I think I
touched on it, Saint Louis. The NL Central went from
are we good? To not pretty quick? Pirates, Reds and
Cardinals all in the bad place. God, Cardinals, what a
sad story. Figure it out. Figure it out. Let's jump
(23:50):
to the other sports, because I think, honestly, I think
playoff basketball has been a lot of fun. Let's go
back to Nuggers, Nuggets and the Tea Wolves. Road Road
Road Road has famously heard on this program. Last night
(24:12):
was a great game that should have been an even
better game. Anthony Edwards goes nuts. Anthony Edwards goes sixteen
of twenty five from the field. He's a guard, five
of eight from three, forty four points, five rebounds, five assists,
who steals one block forty five minutes is the most
(24:35):
on his team. The second most was thirty eight. He
was out there grinding. He was so much of the offense.
He needed a little help from Towns or Conley or
somewhere else Nikolai Alexander Walker, and he didn't get it
from those guys. Towns was five of eighteen, naw Nikolaie
(24:56):
Alexander Walker one for seven and the biggest thing that
happened in this game, and if you were watching in
live time, it's again where the NBA can kind of
win over other sports. T Wolves are scrambling. Nuggets went
nuts for a little bit. I think they made nine
(25:16):
straight baskets at one point, and I think a joker
was on the bench for a part of that run.
T Wolves are in scramble mode all night. In the
first half, they scrambled to get back in it. They did.
They got it to about seven points. Nuggets hit a three. Okay,
(25:40):
they turn it over. Nuggets get another two. There's one
point something seconds on the clock. They throw a pair
prayer pass down the court. Jamal Murray picks it off,
hits a half court shot right before the half, right
in front of the sideline with the eyes on the call.
(26:00):
Kevin Harlan is screaming, standing up in his seat right
in front of Jamal Murray. Jamal Murray has come alive
in this series and it's been the difference. Along with
Aaron Gordon eleven of twelve from the field last night
and Nikola Nko La. He was fifteen of twenty six
is own. So if you're looking for the stars to perform,
(26:23):
they're doing it in this series. They're going back to
Denver for Game five. If someone tells you they know
what's gonna happen, I think they're lying to you. I
texted our sweet Lorenzo texted me this weekend, go check
out Swamp Donkey Radio if you're looking for some more sports.
(26:46):
And he texted me saying like, dude, you might you
might be able to eat on your road game winning
quote because he had heard that, and I was like, yeah,
you know whatever another day. Uh. And during Game three
I texted Nuggets in seven, I I think they have
(27:09):
shown the championship pedigree, like we went so fast on
the t Wolves, you know is next and this is
another level of defense and all of that. I thought
the Nuggets would punch back. I didn't think they'd punch
back this well, if it goes seven, it's in Denver,
(27:30):
and I don't know. I just believe in I believe
in what the Nuggets do, and I think the t
Wolves will have to use this as their NBA got
punched in the chin, got real close moment. If I'm wrong.
I'm okay with that man, because the t Wolves are awesome.
Anthony Edwards is delightful, the vigor he plays with, getting
(27:58):
to the rim at will with such power. Him and
Jamal Murray had a collision that you just don't see
on a basketball court a lot where is a playoff foul.
He almost fought through and got the end one. He
did not come on cat Karl, Anthony Town's our guy.
(28:19):
They need him to be better than five of eighteen.
Don't be shocked if he is, because offensively he is
a brilliant player. Brilliant. That series as much must watch
anytime it is on Boston and Cleveland. I think might
get put to bed tonight. Boston's up to one. Cleveland
(28:42):
won Game two. The Celtics had their classic Game two
slip up, and then Tatum hit him with like just
the quotes you don't want to hear from your star player.
I get it, and the more I've digested I understand
it more. You know he was saying, and like, you know,
you guys didn't give us Coach of the Year. I
(29:03):
didn't get MVP respect, Like we're not a super team,
and it's kind of like it's kind of ignoring the
point of a super team that it's all the sum
of all parts, like everything all in makes you a
super team. They lost that game too to Cleveland, and
then they dominated Game three. I would expect more of
(29:27):
the same tonight. I don't think they're gonna lose to
the Cleveland Cavaliers. If they do, people will be on
their ass again and Tatum will get all the hate.
I've kind of said, there's my New York kicks in
with Tatum a little bit. I don't love them as
much as I should, but it's very much like New
(29:47):
York bias, and I don't know the other thing by
me is dumb, like it's it's that he channels Kobe
a lot, and him and Kobe play so differently, and
some of that should be complimentary to Tatum, like Kobe's
play was a lot of people were critical of Kobe
(30:10):
because he didn't play team basketball, which the Celtics are
doing and dominating team So.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
The last several years of Kobe's career, when it's stopped
translating to a lot of winning, it wasn't complimented.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
It was anti complimentary. It was.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
We've thrown that bit of history away given circumstances.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
And that's really dumb because the Celtics play a great
team game. They are a great team, sixty four wins
and you know, listening to Simmons Risillo talk about it,
they're they're just playing the matchups on a given night.
That Max Struce was guarding Jalen Brown and that's a mismatch,
so they fed Jalen Brown. If Struce was on Tatum,
they went to Tatum. So, uh, they're not a super
(30:56):
team yet. Tatum's right about that and the other thing
he was right about in that press conferences, like they're
gonna lose games. This is the NBA. It's Donovan Mitchell,
like Calves were the four seed, So I understand it.
The quotes kind of came off as tough and it's
not what you want to hear from your star player.
(31:17):
But you can get over that pretty easily. OKC in Dallas,
now that's the goods. I mean, this is a pretty
typical NBA. OKC thunder are the better team. They won
fifty seven games this regular season. Sga is a star.
(31:41):
I think he can go toe to toe with any
other star. It's kind of the secondary pieces for Oklahoma City.
Where where are they gonna get their big nights from?
The MAVs have taken the last two games to take
a two to one series lead, as they'll play one
more in Dallas. PJ. Washington has gone nuts. Like people
(32:02):
are debating to call the Dallas Luca, Kyrie and PJ
Washington a big three. You might wanna pause on that.
We saw Caleb Martin go nuts last year for Miami,
and that then its stick is big three. PJ Washington
was in a pretty bad situation with Charlotte. Feels like
it's coming together. Good for him. Kats go, PJ. Him
(32:27):
and Kyrie have been electric. Luca kinda hasn't been amazing,
although twenty two, five, fifteen and five, and that's his
not amazing again. Luca kind of lives in another realm.
Dallas really knows what they do. PJ. Washington, Go get
some buckets, shoot three, Kyrie B Kyrie, Luca B Luca Gafford.
(32:53):
Put your hands in the air, dunket or grab rebounds.
That's what you're doing. Derek Jones junior, be an athlete,
play defense, cut hard. If they give you an open three,
take it. Derek Lively Gafford Part two B Big be Athletic.
A couple other guys are contributing for them, But my
point more so is taking it over to Oklahoma City
(33:16):
and looking at this game. Three box score Sga goes
for thirty one, ten and six. Okay, kind of what
you're looking for is ten to twenty three from the field.
Took a couple meshots late, but nine to ten from
the free throw line. Like that's that's a solid Shay game.
You'll get better. That's a solid Shay game. Uh Giddy
(33:38):
four for eight in it limited minutes. Dort three for nine,
but he plays crazy defense, Like that's an okay Dort line.
You'd hope for a little more.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
That line won't kill you.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
No, Dort's out there to play defense. J Dubb Jalen
Williams sixteen points, eight assists, sports seven of twelve from
the field. It's a good night. They kind of look
for him for more scoring, but what he was doing
was helping the team. Check goes five of nine, thirteen points,
(34:14):
eight rebounds. They're looking for a little more from Check
and that's fair, but again the percentages, nobody really had
a bad night for them. The other Jalen Williams zero
for two and thirteen minutes. Sure, Isaiah Joe, who's an
awesome shooter scorer off the bench for them, he goes
(34:36):
five of seven. So I guess for me where I
get scared. Luca kind of hasn't had his game yet.
If you're okay, see, it's one of those you're kind
of looking around and wondering, what did we really do
that wrong on our end? And it kind of comes
back to NBA stars are kind of going to be
(35:01):
the stars, like for Denver Nuggets them coming back in
these games, it's nicol Le Jamal, Aaron Gordon like, that's
that's where they get it. Dallas has that set up.
Kyrie and Luca gotta do their thing and PJ has
(35:23):
been where if you're okac, I don't know you need
Shay's doing his thing. He's going to continue to. Maybe
you need Jalen Williams to take a step up. It's
where they're young. Big Game three or Big Game four,
excuse me in Dallas. If Dallas can get that three
(35:43):
to one lead, uh, exciting and scary because you're going
back to okay. See, you don't want to get people
talking about three to one in NBA. That is like
the biggest gasp. People almost expect failure when three to
one happens. Uh, But that series has been a lot
of fun, good basketball and Kyrie Irving. A lot of
(36:06):
people wrote off Kyrie, well he's writing back, tell him Gino.
That quote still don't make sense. Didn't right back, just
doesn't make sense. The last series your New York Knicks.
They have been playing the Hicks Indiana Pacers, and I
(36:30):
would have gotten these games reversed. Game three, the Knicks
they know they're gonna be without og Nanobi, Mitchell Robinson
is out Pacers going back down two to oh season
on the line that I kind of thought. I didn't
think they'd mail it in, but I definitely thought if
the Pacers got some good juice going early, that the
(36:52):
Knicks would be like, hey, we're playing short.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
Going into that game, I thought decent chance Nicks get
as stomped as they can.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
People assume the Knicks were gonna lose Game four and
potentially in bad fashion. They came out and they did
not do that. They had a lead going into the fourth.
Jalen Brunson twenty six points. The shooting numbers are a
little more inefficient than you think. Evencenzo seven of eleven
(37:23):
for three. That guy is having a postseason. Get some
positive contribution from Deuce McBride, which again the Knicks are
just looking for anyone else to contribute. The game basically
comes down to Nemhard shooting a prayer of a three
from deep that basically goes off his chin as he's shooting,
(37:46):
and he drains it. That if for that shot of
his career, easily that shot doesn't go in, we might
be talking about Nick's going up three to nothing with
a chance to sweep or fully reset. Instead, Game four happens,
in which everyone thought was gonna be the Game three
(38:08):
where the Pacers just roll them. I mean, there's some
shooting stuff early that you know. I think the Pacers
were making sixty percent of their threes and the Knicks
were at ten percent. They finished the game seven of
thirty seven from three for the New York Knicks best
three point shooting team in the league. Well, the Pacers
went fourteen of thirty one forty five point two. That
(38:30):
wasn't everything, though, because a big chunk of it is
that the Knicks are just worn out and beat up
I mean they're missing three guys that if you just
looked at their roster and everyone was healthy, that could
be starters. I mean, Julius Randall has been out, Annobe
Mitch rob that they are depleted right now, and you're
(38:53):
just hoping maybe Alec Burks twenty three minutes matter, or
Duce plays another thirty two in that game, or maybe
the most important thing that happened for the Knicks is
that Josh Hart played twenty four minutes. Brunton still plays
thirty one, which is light work for him now. Unfortunately,
(39:16):
good on the Pacers. They take care of their home court.
Haliburton is looking more like early season Halliburton, which could
change this series and put on it head. I cannot
wait for Game five. TJ. McConnell getting more run, which
I don't love for the Knicks. The Garden should be
(39:37):
rocking for Game five. I think Knicks are going to
be all hands on deck. The Garden's going to be
all hands on deck. It should be a rowdy environment.
If the Pacers take that one, the Knicks might just
be worn out. But another reason, obviously there's three games
left in a tight series. Every game is important. Jake
(40:00):
I think after Game five there's an extra rest day,
which for the Knicks is just imperative. At this point.
The Pacers are so deep. If the Knicks had the
Pacers bench, this series might be over. The Knicks are
(40:22):
just working with it's half a team, nothing, nothing, and
they still have a chance. So it'll be funny, funny.
It'll be fun to see if Jalen Brunson kind of
closes the loop on his just magic season, if he
can carry this Knicks roster to the next round, even
if it's to get bludgeoned by the Celtics, it's somewhat
(40:45):
legendary stuff. Or the Pacers, who reminder your losers of
the nd season tournament, if they can go on and
we have to do two weeks of like can the
Pacers kind of give them hell? And maybe they can
something that probably needs to be acknowledged a little more.
(41:08):
Uh Rick Carlisle is like an all time NBA coach
for sure. Like I'll bring up his wiki real quick
for you, and I won't talk about uh when he
was playing in the CBA for the Albany Patroons, I
(41:30):
will uh oh one to oh three Detroit Pistons. He
like passed the baton of that team to Larry Brown,
which kind of tough.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
And those are two fifty win teams.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
Fifty win teams. He goes on, uh to the three
oh seven Pacers. From there, Uh, they put some ball
ball clubs together. Uh. And then he goes to the
Mavericks and he wins, like Dirk Nowitzki NBA Championship, that
team that's famously like Dirk and a bunch of other guys.
(42:07):
Guess who should get a chunk of credit for that?
I mean it's for Carlisle. So I don't know, it's
I don't know how that series is gonna end. I
would have to assume Vegas. Who does Vegas have is
the favorites at this point? Let's see, because in my
head it's Indiana, Like the Knicks are worn out Nicks.
They do have homes.
Speaker 2 (42:29):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (42:32):
How was it take.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
Series winner combinecer's favorites, But it is awfully close.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
It makes sense.
Speaker 2 (42:44):
Knicks are plus one hundred to win, Pacers minus one twenty,
so they have it right there, essentially a pick.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Them God, Carlisle, Luka Doncricerra, all right, I'm gonna have
to get off of his Wikipedia although he is married.
In two thousand, he married pediatrician doctor Donna Nobil. Sure,
Wikipedia is a weird place. Huh.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
He's an avid. Rick Carli is an avid pianist and
private pilot. Okay, get me off of this page. Hey,
important note on game five of the next series.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
I'll be there.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
Wow, go pants BBD. Thank you guys for tuning in.
I hope you're enjoying the sports Apocalypse. I know it
didn't talk hockey because there's not gonna be much I
can add to you. I'm still watching. I'm finding it
hard to go to bed while there's still a game on,
which maybe that's just some personal stuff, but I did
(43:47):
watch Florida take a three to one lead on Boston
yesterday and Vancouver take down Edmonton while the Rangers hopefully
go for the gentleman sweep tonight. And I'll probably end
up watching Stars Avs too, because why not lived in
both those cities. People forget that? Yeah, how about that?
(44:09):
Thank you guys for tuning in. Enjoy the sports. We'll
see you Wednesday. Subscribe and waken Jake is a production
of Dan Patrick Productions, John Boy Media, and Workhouse Media.
We'll see you guys,
Hello, and welcome to Waken Jake Myself, Jake's Story, Ellie
Producer BBD, Happy Jeff Passing Day to all those who
celebrate May thirteenth. Baseball season in a fun spot. We
just did our first ever power rankings on Talking Baseball.
Not gonna dive too much into that. There were some
(00:21):
fun thoughts that came out of it, and I got
into the team stats. I'll do a little baseball around
the horn. Watched a ton of ball this weekend. I
guess shout out DraftKings. I've been placing a lot of
little bets on games and that's made me tune into
the games more and that seems good for my lifestyle
because I talk about baseball a lot, so that's something
(00:43):
I have to be careful with. But saw a lot
of things from around the league that I want to
talk to you about. And it's still sports Apocalypse season.
Huge Edmonton Oiler's game last night. No, not going to
talk about hockey. Might mention the Rangers because we're rooting
for them in this office. But basketball. I got to
take a slight victory lap and I hope you took
(01:04):
it with me. After Game one of Nuggets Nuggets Wolves,
I said, just a weird sports thing. I have no
actual inside info or hints, tips or codes, real ones.
Remember having a search those for video games on the internet.
(01:26):
After Game one where the Wolves won, it was kind
of a it seemed like an NBA game that was
gonna be the Nuggets would come back at the end
and it would come down to a final shot. Wolves
kind of ran away with it. I had a weird
feeling that it was gonna be just road team wins
the first four games, because we see that in sports
every year now, and maybe it's a motivation thing, maybe
(01:47):
it's whatever. But Nuggets, man, they so lame, but they
showed like heart of a champion. And that's why lame
things sometimes work out in sports and in life. So
we'll talk about more of that coming up later. Because
the NBA Playoffs, actually, I've enjoyed them, probably more than
(02:09):
I thought, probably more than I thought. Except the East.
We'll get there. Let's do some baseball and if you
don't know, and if you're watching on YouTube, high subscribe.
I'm wearing a suit today. Four years ago during the pandemic,
made up Jeff Passing Day, So dress like brother Jeff.
Maybe I'll get him a call in the middle of
(02:31):
this episode. See if he picks up, See if he
says something appropriate, See if BBD has to edit it out.
But we'll go from there. We did power rankings for
the first time on Talking Baseball. I think we had
some hesitations in the past because it's such feels like
a generic thing. But we're at the quarter pole of
(02:52):
the season. You obviously know the big movers and shakers,
like you know, Houston's probably started the year and every
one's top six seven eight teams. They've been one of
the bottom six seven eight teams in baseball. We'll see
if they can turn it around. They've been hitting, which
I'll get to that in a second. I think the
(03:13):
fun of the exercise trying to sort the middle right
now is ridiculous, trying to decide who you like more,
whether you just want to stand in the West and
Texas Rangers are Seattle Mariners. Seattle Mariners, They're pitching has
like fully clicked. It's kind of what everyone dreamed of
before the season. They just took the AL West first
(03:37):
play spot because Texas got swept by the Rockies. Texas
hasn't felt like they've clicked all year. They're hitting and
pitching stats. They've been lackluster pitching and the hitting hasn't
been over the moon. That we could look back at
either of those teams in two months and just laugh
(03:59):
because they could be two of the best teams in baseball.
Mariners again, it's your it's glass half full, glass half
empty season. Are the Mariners gonna hit because they'll be
a top five team? Uh? Is Texas gonna pitch a
little more and have their hitting go off, because then
they could be back to being Texas from last year.
I think we just saw the Arizona Diamondbacks turn the corner.
(04:20):
Uh they got a couple guys back. Corbyn Carroll kind
of broke out of his slump that I think you're
gonna see the Snakes make a run. But in that als,
what does a run even mean at this point, like
an eight and five stretch if you're an NLS team,
I think that's a pretty good run right now because
that division is deep, trying to divide up the Ale
(04:42):
Central teams. I was laughing because I wanted to look
at some team stats and we've done We've done some
of this on here. I think like two weeks in
I did a lot of team stats because I didn't
want to. I don't know, talking about players two weeks
in you could get hurt because as we just looked
up Gary Sanchez's stats from zero for two twelve, he's
been like a nine to sixty five ohps since the
(05:04):
start of the season. Uh, players, it's kind of unfair
to look at like that, and teams too, because things
can change on a dime. But now again, quarter the
way through the season, May May the thirteenth be with
you looking at the team pitching stats. The Red Sox
are still first in ERA by a lot. The Red
(05:27):
Sox team has a two seven five ERA two seven five.
The next beecs team is the New York Yankees with
a three to one. So how about that Yankees Red Sox, Babe,
we still got it. This is baseball. Last year your
(05:49):
team er leaders was the Milwaukee Brewers at three seven
to one. So expect a lot of those numbers to
come up. But actually it's been a pitching season. We've
talked about ops pluses a lot. Pitching's been up this year.
Hitting's been down a little bit.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, there's ten teams better than that this year. That
Brewer's number.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Yeah, so that's that's pretty wild to see. Let me
look at last year's hitting a little bit, just to
see if it felt like hitting.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Was up and Brewers aren't one of them.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah. Oh, I went back to twenty twenty three hitting
last year. My god, what the Braves did was unholy
shout out Sam Smith. Yeah, I guess hitting was up
a little bit across the board last year. So an
interesting thing as this season goes on, and I feel
like there's always a week every summer where there's just
(06:47):
a massive hitting week and everyone's just like it got warmer,
the hitter's caught up. We'll see if that happens. I
don't know something like that will, but that was every year.
The stats I wanted to talk to about before I
derailed my personal self. I mentioned the team pitching. The
Red Sox two seventy five is insane. They have seven
(07:10):
games with Tampa this week. Tampa just got a couple
bodies back. Both these teams floating around five hundred. Let's
see if push comes to shove in any of those games. Yankees,
it's funny their second in era have they felt like
that kind of kind starting pitching has been really good.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Of lately, even without necessarily the innings from some guys
and on the whole, I think that's corrected. But early
I feel like nobody was giving them length. But we
were all like, but, like, that is a good.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Start, and the bullpen was scary. But they also had
a stretch of like eighteen scoreless or something, which was
just again, you're looking at the names back there, and
it's not the twenty nineteen Yankees pen, but they've been
pitching the Dodgers pitch every year. They are third in
team era. The Philadelphia Phillies three to two nine. They
(08:01):
were our number two team on power rankings. Go look
at their stats. They are on top of the NL
East right now. I know they just lost Trey Turner,
but with what Rangers Suarez has done and Alec Bohm,
a couple other guys, Jeff Hoffman out of their bullpen,
Phillies are stacked. Baltimore Orioles are somehow fifth. Every year
(08:21):
we look at their pitching and we're like, well, they
don't they don't really have any names. Well, Cole Irvin's
pitching his TUTSI off, and you know, I don't like
saying that corn Burns has been great Kyle Bradish just
came back. And then sixth is your Seattle Mariners with
a three three eight ERA A Orioles, Phillies, Dodgers, Yankees.
(08:47):
Those are two through five, and they they were all
in the top five of our power rankings we did,
so that kind of scratches before we get to the offense.
I did think it was funny. There's one big leap
on here you go. Braves are tenth in ERA at
three four seven. Uh, then it jumps to the Mets
(09:08):
at three seven to two. So that's kind of one
of her If you were doing team era tiers, that
would be one of the tiers. The three teams in
the Central excuse me, the Detroit Tigers, the Royals in
the Guardians, so no twins yet they're still twins. Are
funky to evaluate just because I mean, it's been a
(09:30):
tale of two seasons. They've they've had a seventeen and
three run. That's they've looked like one of the best teams.
I think they had a seven and thirteen run before that,
So tough to evaluate their team stats. The Tigers have
a three to four to one ERA, Okay, that's pretty good.
That has them in seventh. The Royals are three four
(09:53):
to two, so one down and point oh one down
from them as the Guardians, so the al Central that
we've applauded because they've been better. I thought it was
funny that all three of those teams are separated by
decimal points pitching wise, which then takes me over to
(10:13):
the hitting side of the ball because I mentioned all
those good teams on the top of the pitching stats,
which makes sense. But if you've been listening to Talking
Baseball or waken Jake, thank you and your top teams
by ops, Los Angeles Dodgers, they were first on our
(10:34):
power rankings for obvious reasons. Number two the Philadelphia Phillies.
They were second on our power rankings. The Milwaukee Brewers,
which turned out were a consensus sixth team in our
power rankings. Who they're getting it done on both sides
of the ball. The New York Yankees, who are consensus
(10:55):
top five in our power rankings. They are fourth and
ops and second in tam Era. Okay, Yankees, they are
They are at the table this year. And this is
before Cole this is before Jason Dominguez, no dj lem Mayhew.
This season, we remember the quote from the offseason. That
was like, remember when they were doing lineup stuff and
(11:16):
Judge had his you know, as long as me, DJ
and Soda were up there.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yeah, I mean Judge didn't go until a week ago.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
His stats, It's funny. The expectations for Aaron Judge are
very high, uh, and he pretty much lives up to them.
His OPS is eight sixty six. Now it's felt like
a down year for Judge.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
It was it kind was it legitimately was like the
worst month he's had since his rookie year.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
But he's so good, man, that's awesome. Trevor took him
in the Homer draft against the Twins this week, and
I'm starting to like you that pick. Go Judge, you
go anyways. Team offenses, Yankees are fourth, Orioles fifth lead MLB,
and homers fifth and OPS. The Atlanta Braves are six.
(12:07):
They were slightly controversial on the power rankings because it
felt like they haven't clicked yet, but they do have
one of the best records in baseball, and you know
they're gonna be there. I'll be interested to see for
whatever reason, they've played the least amount of games. They've
played thirty seven games, where.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
I remember them losing at least one of their Mets games,
where they'll make up later.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
The majority of teams have played forty two to forty
one games, so I think I think that's the funny
part of the exercise. If the Braves play their next
four games and they go three and one in them,
the Braves have gone off to this, the records start
that we've more or less expected without the performance, which
is crazy and I think it's almost scary, but I
(12:56):
do hope it's teeing up for an awesome NL East
chase between them in the field this summer. What I
was getting to, I'm on a big hitting kicks, hitting wins, Dodgers, Phillies, Brewers,
Yankees Orioles, Braves. That was almost our consensus top six me,
Trev BBD. I'm talking baseball. They are your top six
(13:19):
hitting teams. My only hole in this system. Currently the
Houston Astros are eighth, and you know what's going on
with their season, and we'll see what they can salvage.
I think they're ten games under five hundred right now,
still a little time to get hot after them. It
keeps going. I mean the Twins who are now competing
(13:41):
in the favorites for the Central again, San Diego and
the Texas Rangers round off the top ten. What to
do with that Al Central? I have no idea. I
want one of you teams to win my heart over,
and I just don't know if you're gonna do it. Uh.
(14:03):
The Guardians and Royals eerily similar. If the Royals were
named the Guardians. How about that. Here's a fun exercise
for you if both of these teams were named the Guardians.
If it was Guardians A in Guardians B, which team
would you like more? It's an interesting conversation because I
(14:27):
don't know the Royals history, especially recently, gets in the way.
I mean, do you like Bobby Witt over Jay Ram?
They're close? Yeah? I mean I was.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
I was about to say something about leaning on Cleveland
having an MVP candidate. Then I remember Bobby Witt, who
right now is much more of an MVP candidate.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Bobby Wit and Jay Ram. Let's say they go toe
for toe? Okay, Salvy and Naylor? Is that your comp sure?
Pascalentino and Kwan like again, it starts getting weird because
these guys have very different ballgames. Michael Garcia and Andres Jimenez.
(15:15):
I don't know. Uh. I think these two teams are
very close, especially with the way the Royal has been pitching.
Mentioned both these pitching staffs. I think Cleveland has the
best bullpen era that yeah, Kansas City starting pitching has
been better. Their lineups have been similar. I think Casey
(15:37):
has a slide edge that yeah. We just the Guardians
do have a recent history of winning and got off
to a really hot start. They kind of overshadowed a
couple other teams in the Central. If you like the Guardians,
you should like the Royals. If you like the Royals,
you should like the Guardians. If you don't like either,
that's kind of then you live on the East or
(15:57):
the West coast. And yet the Twins have snuck up
and Fangrafts has them as sixty one point one percent
chance to win the division this year. Uh My other
closing final notes on just some of the team stuff
and around around the league watching this weekend. Reese Hoskins
for those Brewers that are top five on both lists,
(16:21):
his stability of just being Reese Hoskins is huge for
that team, and he won them a game with a
three run home or late against Andrew Kittridge that that
may go down as the signing of the offseason, and
we will relive this offseason at some point to see
how guys are contributing. I think we made fun of
the Cooper Chriswell trade pretty bad for the Socks. He's
(16:44):
been great.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
That's some deep cut stuff.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Huh wow. The other things I just I wanted to
know on the other side of the coin. We talked
about a lot of positives. The Brewers might be really
Brewers are third in OPS. Where are they pitching wise? Oh?
(17:08):
More middle of the pack than I thought. Okay, they've
been offensively generated, good run prevention team Braves are coming.
Can't wait to see if Seattle hits. On the other
end of the spectrum. If you can't hit, you're not
gonna be a good team. The bottom ops teams in
(17:29):
reverse order. Chicago White Sox yep, they have a six
to two team OPS. That's horrid. Two seventeen team batting average.
It's gross. Miami Marlins YEP. Saint Louis Birds makes sense. Unfortunately,
(17:54):
that's gotta be frustrating because they thought they could hit
and now they're not hitting this year. The wheels are
falling off quick there. Pirates have been ugly to watch
for a while. Cincinnati Reds they have not had the
juice this year. They have a tough schedule coming. It's
(18:14):
kind of put up her shut up time in Cincinnati.
And then you have this hodgepodge Mariners, Tigers, Blue Jays.
How about this, I'll spin it in a positive way.
One of those three teams should hit, and maybe Mariners
are coming. Julio's been a slow starter. We've talked about
(18:37):
that here in talking baseball. Maybe the Blue Jays light
bulb needs to go off. And I know Vladdie's picked
it up. They had a nice comeback win. Will the
Chet pick it up? Who else? Or the Tigers? If
they can just become middle of the pack, I think
they're pitching has a chance to be plus one of
those three teams will pick it up. And if they
(18:57):
can become an average offense, I think think they can
have a good team. But also if they stay around there,
It's why I've been nervous about Seattle. If they stay
like this, it's just unsustainable because you're pitching feels this
m H like. I was watching some of their games
(19:17):
with Oakland this weekend Oakland felt like the power player,
which it's three teams. I'm not gonna overanalyze it. But
if you're Seattle and you're pitching that well with your
starting pitching and your bullpen, but your offense isn't bringing it,
there's just there's something looming in the air every night
(19:39):
that if you make one bad pitch and that game
goes from a one to nothing lead to a three
to one lead for the other team, just turns into
backbreaking losses that I've been nervous on the Mariners. I
think their offense is gonna pick up because Julio drives it.
He started so every year. But they need to see
(20:00):
that because otherwise we talk about stressful pitches. The Mariners
are throwing more stressful pitches because they're in tight games,
so they need to figure it out.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Blue Jays, it's more tight games, it's more you know,
you can ever give your good bullpen the night off.
You have to extend your starter a little more or
you don't get them lower lift late innings like that
adds up over a year. You gotta you got it.
I've seen the Yankees try to do.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
That last year and a half.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
It's a bad feeling and anecdotally much more fun to
watch a team that hits a lot, even if you
can't pitch, than a team that does pitch well but
you can't hit. That's just more fun.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
The Toronto Blue Jays are twenty fifth and Temyra twenty
fourth and team ops now who they're supposed to be.
I hope that's something they can look back and laugh on,
because right now they're starting to hit a dangerous area.
Let's check out some Blue Jay schedule Toronto. They just
(21:10):
played Minnesota at Baltimore for three, Tampa in the White Sox.
Hey handle some division business and you guys will be back.
But it hasn't been their strength.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
You know what.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Another guy that just deserves a shout out because I
can't believe how good he is, Danny Jansen.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
He just stuck out looking at their staff page. Ye
Kirkie getting more starts right now?
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Here's a and this isn't when you know you're getting
into loser baseball talk. Danny Jansen's last three years one
hundred and seventy six games, so over a full season,
those are almost like, I don't want to say two
full catcher seasons, but close. If you're playing ninety games
as a catcher. It's a little off pace, but he's
(22:01):
had injuries and splitting times. In one hundred and seventy
six games, Danny Jansen's had thirty six home runs, a
two fifty batting average, three thirty one on basin eight
forty one ops. Danny Jansen has been a slugger for
the past three years when he's been on the field.
You know, I mean, is there a way ooh no,
(22:24):
it might be kind of well, no, I just want
this to be complimentary to Danny Jansen, But I mean
there's an argument he's been better than Vladdie.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
I mean, especially positional value.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
I mean, Vladdy plays that kind of running back last year.
Gladdie plays every day, which he does deserve more credit for.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
That's awes.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Vladdie the last three years has a seven ninety eight ops. Flatty,
let's go, man, let's go twenty five. Sorry Blue Jay
fans for landing in that spot. But I know you guys,
I've seen your guys comments. You guys want something to
happen with this team, and it is fight or flight mode.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
I mean we've set up before, but one you're on
Vladdy's page looks like an outlier, right, and the rest
it ain't bad. The rest that's not bad.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Did I see anything else? Uh No, I think I
touched on it, Saint Louis. The NL Central went from
are we good? To not pretty quick? Pirates, Reds and
Cardinals all in the bad place. God, Cardinals, what a
sad story. Figure it out. Figure it out. Let's jump
(23:50):
to the other sports, because I think, honestly, I think
playoff basketball has been a lot of fun. Let's go
back to Nuggers, Nuggets and the Tea Wolves. Road Road
Road Road has famously heard on this program. Last night
(24:12):
was a great game that should have been an even
better game. Anthony Edwards goes nuts. Anthony Edwards goes sixteen
of twenty five from the field. He's a guard, five
of eight from three, forty four points, five rebounds, five assists,
who steals one block forty five minutes is the most
(24:35):
on his team. The second most was thirty eight. He
was out there grinding. He was so much of the offense.
He needed a little help from Towns or Conley or
somewhere else Nikolai Alexander Walker, and he didn't get it
from those guys. Towns was five of eighteen, naw Nikolaie
(24:56):
Alexander Walker one for seven and the biggest thing that
happened in this game, and if you were watching in
live time, it's again where the NBA can kind of
win over other sports. T Wolves are scrambling. Nuggets went
nuts for a little bit. I think they made nine
(25:16):
straight baskets at one point, and I think a joker
was on the bench for a part of that run.
T Wolves are in scramble mode all night. In the
first half, they scrambled to get back in it. They did.
They got it to about seven points. Nuggets hit a three. Okay,
(25:40):
they turn it over. Nuggets get another two. There's one
point something seconds on the clock. They throw a pair
prayer pass down the court. Jamal Murray picks it off,
hits a half court shot right before the half, right
in front of the sideline with the eyes on the call.
(26:00):
Kevin Harlan is screaming, standing up in his seat right
in front of Jamal Murray. Jamal Murray has come alive
in this series and it's been the difference. Along with
Aaron Gordon eleven of twelve from the field last night
and Nikola Nko La. He was fifteen of twenty six
is own. So if you're looking for the stars to perform,
(26:23):
they're doing it in this series. They're going back to
Denver for Game five. If someone tells you they know
what's gonna happen, I think they're lying to you. I
texted our sweet Lorenzo texted me this weekend, go check
out Swamp Donkey Radio if you're looking for some more sports.
(26:46):
And he texted me saying like, dude, you might you
might be able to eat on your road game winning
quote because he had heard that, and I was like, yeah,
you know whatever another day. Uh. And during Game three
I texted Nuggets in seven, I I think they have
(27:09):
shown the championship pedigree, like we went so fast on
the t Wolves, you know is next and this is
another level of defense and all of that. I thought
the Nuggets would punch back. I didn't think they'd punch
back this well, if it goes seven, it's in Denver,
(27:30):
and I don't know. I just believe in I believe
in what the Nuggets do, and I think the t
Wolves will have to use this as their NBA got
punched in the chin, got real close moment. If I'm wrong.
I'm okay with that man, because the t Wolves are awesome.
Anthony Edwards is delightful, the vigor he plays with, getting
(27:58):
to the rim at will with such power. Him and
Jamal Murray had a collision that you just don't see
on a basketball court a lot where is a playoff foul.
He almost fought through and got the end one. He
did not come on cat Karl, Anthony Town's our guy.
(28:19):
They need him to be better than five of eighteen.
Don't be shocked if he is, because offensively he is
a brilliant player. Brilliant. That series as much must watch
anytime it is on Boston and Cleveland. I think might
get put to bed tonight. Boston's up to one. Cleveland
(28:42):
won Game two. The Celtics had their classic Game two
slip up, and then Tatum hit him with like just
the quotes you don't want to hear from your star player.
I get it, and the more I've digested I understand
it more. You know he was saying, and like, you know,
you guys didn't give us Coach of the Year. I
(29:03):
didn't get MVP respect, Like we're not a super team,
and it's kind of like it's kind of ignoring the
point of a super team that it's all the sum
of all parts, like everything all in makes you a
super team. They lost that game too to Cleveland, and
then they dominated Game three. I would expect more of
(29:27):
the same tonight. I don't think they're gonna lose to
the Cleveland Cavaliers. If they do, people will be on
their ass again and Tatum will get all the hate.
I've kind of said, there's my New York kicks in
with Tatum a little bit. I don't love them as
much as I should, but it's very much like New
(29:47):
York bias, and I don't know the other thing by
me is dumb, like it's it's that he channels Kobe
a lot, and him and Kobe play so differently, and
some of that should be complimentary to Tatum, like Kobe's
play was a lot of people were critical of Kobe
(30:10):
because he didn't play team basketball, which the Celtics are
doing and dominating team So.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
The last several years of Kobe's career, when it's stopped
translating to a lot of winning, it wasn't complimented.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
It was anti complimentary. It was.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
We've thrown that bit of history away given circumstances.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
And that's really dumb because the Celtics play a great
team game. They are a great team, sixty four wins
and you know, listening to Simmons Risillo talk about it,
they're they're just playing the matchups on a given night.
That Max Struce was guarding Jalen Brown and that's a mismatch,
so they fed Jalen Brown. If Struce was on Tatum,
they went to Tatum. So, uh, they're not a super
(30:56):
team yet. Tatum's right about that and the other thing
he was right about in that press conferences, like they're
gonna lose games. This is the NBA. It's Donovan Mitchell,
like Calves were the four seed, So I understand it.
The quotes kind of came off as tough and it's
not what you want to hear from your star player.
(31:17):
But you can get over that pretty easily. OKC in Dallas,
now that's the goods. I mean, this is a pretty
typical NBA. OKC thunder are the better team. They won
fifty seven games this regular season. Sga is a star.
(31:41):
I think he can go toe to toe with any
other star. It's kind of the secondary pieces for Oklahoma City.
Where where are they gonna get their big nights from?
The MAVs have taken the last two games to take
a two to one series lead, as they'll play one
more in Dallas. PJ. Washington has gone nuts. Like people
(32:02):
are debating to call the Dallas Luca, Kyrie and PJ
Washington a big three. You might wanna pause on that.
We saw Caleb Martin go nuts last year for Miami,
and that then its stick is big three. PJ Washington
was in a pretty bad situation with Charlotte. Feels like
it's coming together. Good for him. Kats go, PJ. Him
(32:27):
and Kyrie have been electric. Luca kinda hasn't been amazing,
although twenty two, five, fifteen and five, and that's his
not amazing again. Luca kind of lives in another realm.
Dallas really knows what they do. PJ. Washington, Go get
some buckets, shoot three, Kyrie B Kyrie, Luca B Luca Gafford.
(32:53):
Put your hands in the air, dunket or grab rebounds.
That's what you're doing. Derek Jones junior, be an athlete,
play defense, cut hard. If they give you an open three,
take it. Derek Lively Gafford Part two B Big be Athletic.
A couple other guys are contributing for them, But my
point more so is taking it over to Oklahoma City
(33:16):
and looking at this game. Three box score Sga goes
for thirty one, ten and six. Okay, kind of what
you're looking for is ten to twenty three from the field.
Took a couple meshots late, but nine to ten from
the free throw line. Like that's that's a solid Shay game.
You'll get better. That's a solid Shay game. Uh Giddy
(33:38):
four for eight in it limited minutes. Dort three for nine,
but he plays crazy defense, Like that's an okay Dort line.
You'd hope for a little more.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
That line won't kill you.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
No, Dort's out there to play defense. J Dubb Jalen
Williams sixteen points, eight assists, sports seven of twelve from
the field. It's a good night. They kind of look
for him for more scoring, but what he was doing
was helping the team. Check goes five of nine, thirteen points,
(34:14):
eight rebounds. They're looking for a little more from Check
and that's fair, but again the percentages, nobody really had
a bad night for them. The other Jalen Williams zero
for two and thirteen minutes. Sure, Isaiah Joe, who's an
awesome shooter scorer off the bench for them, he goes
(34:36):
five of seven. So I guess for me where I
get scared. Luca kind of hasn't had his game yet.
If you're okay, see, it's one of those you're kind
of looking around and wondering, what did we really do
that wrong on our end? And it kind of comes
back to NBA stars are kind of going to be
(35:01):
the stars, like for Denver Nuggets them coming back in
these games, it's nicol Le Jamal, Aaron Gordon like, that's
that's where they get it. Dallas has that set up.
Kyrie and Luca gotta do their thing and PJ has
(35:23):
been where if you're okac, I don't know you need
Shay's doing his thing. He's going to continue to. Maybe
you need Jalen Williams to take a step up. It's
where they're young. Big Game three or Big Game four,
excuse me in Dallas. If Dallas can get that three
(35:43):
to one lead, uh, exciting and scary because you're going
back to okay. See, you don't want to get people
talking about three to one in NBA. That is like
the biggest gasp. People almost expect failure when three to
one happens. Uh, But that series has been a lot
of fun, good basketball and Kyrie Irving. A lot of
(36:06):
people wrote off Kyrie, well he's writing back, tell him Gino.
That quote still don't make sense. Didn't right back, just
doesn't make sense. The last series your New York Knicks.
They have been playing the Hicks Indiana Pacers, and I
(36:30):
would have gotten these games reversed. Game three, the Knicks
they know they're gonna be without og Nanobi, Mitchell Robinson
is out Pacers going back down two to oh season
on the line that I kind of thought. I didn't
think they'd mail it in, but I definitely thought if
the Pacers got some good juice going early, that the
(36:52):
Knicks would be like, hey, we're playing short.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
Going into that game, I thought decent chance Nicks get
as stomped as they can.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
People assume the Knicks were gonna lose Game four and
potentially in bad fashion. They came out and they did
not do that. They had a lead going into the fourth.
Jalen Brunson twenty six points. The shooting numbers are a
little more inefficient than you think. Evencenzo seven of eleven
(37:23):
for three. That guy is having a postseason. Get some
positive contribution from Deuce McBride, which again the Knicks are
just looking for anyone else to contribute. The game basically
comes down to Nemhard shooting a prayer of a three
from deep that basically goes off his chin as he's shooting,
(37:46):
and he drains it. That if for that shot of
his career, easily that shot doesn't go in, we might
be talking about Nick's going up three to nothing with
a chance to sweep or fully reset. Instead, Game four happens,
in which everyone thought was gonna be the Game three
(38:08):
where the Pacers just roll them. I mean, there's some
shooting stuff early that you know. I think the Pacers
were making sixty percent of their threes and the Knicks
were at ten percent. They finished the game seven of
thirty seven from three for the New York Knicks best
three point shooting team in the league. Well, the Pacers
went fourteen of thirty one forty five point two. That
(38:30):
wasn't everything, though, because a big chunk of it is
that the Knicks are just worn out and beat up
I mean they're missing three guys that if you just
looked at their roster and everyone was healthy, that could
be starters. I mean, Julius Randall has been out, Annobe
Mitch rob that they are depleted right now, and you're
(38:53):
just hoping maybe Alec Burks twenty three minutes matter, or
Duce plays another thirty two in that game, or maybe
the most important thing that happened for the Knicks is
that Josh Hart played twenty four minutes. Brunton still plays
thirty one, which is light work for him now. Unfortunately,
(39:16):
good on the Pacers. They take care of their home court.
Haliburton is looking more like early season Halliburton, which could
change this series and put on it head. I cannot
wait for Game five. TJ. McConnell getting more run, which
I don't love for the Knicks. The Garden should be
(39:37):
rocking for Game five. I think Knicks are going to
be all hands on deck. The Garden's going to be
all hands on deck. It should be a rowdy environment.
If the Pacers take that one, the Knicks might just
be worn out. But another reason, obviously there's three games
left in a tight series. Every game is important. Jake
(40:00):
I think after Game five there's an extra rest day,
which for the Knicks is just imperative. At this point.
The Pacers are so deep. If the Knicks had the
Pacers bench, this series might be over. The Knicks are
(40:22):
just working with it's half a team, nothing, nothing, and
they still have a chance. So it'll be funny, funny.
It'll be fun to see if Jalen Brunson kind of
closes the loop on his just magic season, if he
can carry this Knicks roster to the next round, even
if it's to get bludgeoned by the Celtics, it's somewhat
(40:45):
legendary stuff. Or the Pacers, who reminder your losers of
the nd season tournament, if they can go on and
we have to do two weeks of like can the
Pacers kind of give them hell? And maybe they can
something that probably needs to be acknowledged a little more.
(41:08):
Uh Rick Carlisle is like an all time NBA coach
for sure. Like I'll bring up his wiki real quick
for you, and I won't talk about uh when he
was playing in the CBA for the Albany Patroons, I
(41:30):
will uh oh one to oh three Detroit Pistons. He
like passed the baton of that team to Larry Brown,
which kind of tough.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
And those are two fifty win teams.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
Fifty win teams. He goes on, uh to the three
oh seven Pacers. From there, Uh, they put some ball
ball clubs together. Uh. And then he goes to the
Mavericks and he wins, like Dirk Nowitzki NBA Championship, that
team that's famously like Dirk and a bunch of other guys.
(42:07):
Guess who should get a chunk of credit for that?
I mean it's for Carlisle. So I don't know, it's
I don't know how that series is gonna end. I
would have to assume Vegas. Who does Vegas have is
the favorites at this point? Let's see, because in my
head it's Indiana, Like the Knicks are worn out Nicks.
They do have homes.
Speaker 2 (42:29):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (42:32):
How was it take.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
Series winner combinecer's favorites, But it is awfully close.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
It makes sense.
Speaker 2 (42:44):
Knicks are plus one hundred to win, Pacers minus one twenty,
so they have it right there, essentially a pick.
Speaker 1 (42:51):
Them God, Carlisle, Luka Doncricerra, all right, I'm gonna have
to get off of his Wikipedia although he is married.
In two thousand, he married pediatrician doctor Donna Nobil. Sure,
Wikipedia is a weird place. Huh.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
Nice.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
He's an avid. Rick Carli is an avid pianist and
private pilot. Okay, get me off of this page. Hey,
important note on game five of the next series.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
I'll be there.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
Wow, go pants BBD. Thank you guys for tuning in.
I hope you're enjoying the sports Apocalypse. I know it
didn't talk hockey because there's not gonna be much I
can add to you. I'm still watching. I'm finding it
hard to go to bed while there's still a game on,
which maybe that's just some personal stuff, but I did
(43:47):
watch Florida take a three to one lead on Boston
yesterday and Vancouver take down Edmonton while the Rangers hopefully
go for the gentleman sweep tonight. And I'll probably end
up watching Stars Avs too, because why not lived in
both those cities. People forget that? Yeah, how about that?
(44:09):
Thank you guys for tuning in. Enjoy the sports. We'll
see you Wednesday. Subscribe and waken Jake is a production
of Dan Patrick Productions, John Boy Media, and Workhouse Media.
We'll see you guys,
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