September 27, 2024 • 17 mins
Gene Watson, our resident MLB insider and Director of Player Personnel for the Chicago White Sox, joins the show to talk all things baseball including his favorite story about the Oakland A's.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We welcome you back here on a Friday edition of
the program here in the four o'clock hour.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Now, and as.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
I mentioned in teasing this last hour, see I'm hitting
I'm hitting him with this completely unawares. That what we'll
do when we talk baseball next week, with the playoffs underway,
We'll shift our weekly conversation with Geene Watson from the
Chicago White Sox front office from Fridays to the middle week, Gena,
(00:30):
and I'll pick out a day that works well. But
as he joins us now on the hotline, Gino, I mean,
we've got to do that right next week is the
playoffs are starting Tuesday. Heck, we might have if necessary,
double header games on Monday. How crazy is this baseball season?
Heading toward the postseason?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
We can go every day if you want to, because
this is the most exciting time of the year and
the scoreboard watching this week, especially watching my old.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Club Kansas City Royals, has been a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
And we are headed some high drama this weekend in
Major League Baseball.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
All right, let me start off with well, I want
to start off by looking back at yesterday, So the
final ever game, at least as far as we can
tell the final ever game Major League Baseball game to
we played in the Coliseemen Oakland was contested yesterday, with
(01:27):
the A's beating the Rangers yesterday three to two. And
by the way, I agree with Mike Bassett, who was
on the working as the analyst they were with Dave
Raymond on the Rangers telecast. He said, I'm not happy
about the Rangers losing, he said, but I understand and
I'm happy for the Oakland fans that they got to
celebrate a win in the final game ever there. I
(01:49):
think a lot of people probably felt that way, no
matter how they felt about the Rangers of the A's
or or anything else. But listen, you spent many a
day and or night in that place. For all of it.
It's good, it's bad, it's ugly. We heard about the
squirrels running around, and the possum and all that stuff,
and the rats and all that kind of stuf. I've
(02:09):
read a story yesterday about how under the tarping out
on Mount Davis, out there in the high seats beyond
center field that they were reserving mainly for football when
the Raiders moved back in ninety five, was that rats
had existed under there and had established their home and
were feasting on old bobblehead dolls, was the way say. So.
(02:33):
I mean, we hear all these legendary tales about Oakland,
but I know you've had your own experiences. What really
stands out to you about the games and the times
that you spend in the Oakland Coliseum.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Well, I've got a couple.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
One the summer of nineteen eighty eight, I'd played summer
ball out in Monterey, California, and I'll.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Never forget August eighth of eighty eight.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
And I remember that night because my granddad was at
the first night game at Wrigley that got rained down out.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
But that was a special time.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
My first major league road trip in nineteen ninety one,
we went Chicago, Anahei, Chicago, Oakland, Anaheim, and that trip
in ninety one, just getting to spend time with Reggie
Jackson was a great thrill. But one of the funnier
stories that ever happened for me in Oakland was we
had called up Pud Rodriguez in Chicago of that trip,
(03:26):
and then when we got to Oakland, we called up
Dean Palmer and at the time Steve Bouchelle was still
the third baseman for the Rangers, and so we were
moving Dean Palmer.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Out to left field.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
So me and Davey Lopes and Toby Hare and Dave
Oliver are out in left field during early BP, hitting
Dean Palmer fly balls, and you know, during early BP,
it can get a little it can get a little dangerous.
You got hitters hitting, You've got pitchers just throwing. You
got infielders taking ground balls, and you're working on outfield play,
(03:57):
and so it's literally pitcher throw a pitch, hit or
hit and then the fun goes, got to go to work,
to work on their outfield play. And so we're hitting
Dean Palmer fly balls in left field and Mike Stanley,
who caught for us that year, hits a ball and
hooks a ball down past the third pace bag and
(04:19):
hits me right in my right hip and went I
went down like a deer in the middle of a hayfield.
And uh, I mean, everybody's rushing to me. And once
they knew I was okay, you know, everybody starts laughing.
And it was a big joke amongst the team that
night and the next day when we go out to
do it again, they had put the crime scene tape
(04:41):
on the field of me, you know where I actually
got hit. So rare as a day where I've gone
into that ballparker watched the game there and not thought
about that incident in that day.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
It was. It was a real crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Time, no doubt about it. And you and I have
had this conversation about the A's and so many have,
and they've talked about the John Fisher ownership and how
things went south and all that other kind of stuff,
and it's and it is sad, and I know the
day was marked by sadness. And here they are looking
at playing a minimum of three years in West Sacramento
(05:14):
at the ballpark where they're supposed to yank out the
grass and put in field turp because they've got to
share the ballpark with the river Cats, who have first
call on the dates. I mean, this thing is getting
crazy when you think about it. If the A's are
indeed going to be spending three seasons over there at Sacramento.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
It really is Craig, And what's sad about it?
Speaker 3 (05:33):
For me? And I too, Like the minute I found
out they won that game, I was so happy for
the fans because it is a very unique fan base
and never has nine miles separated the fan base more
than the Giant fans and A's fans. And it's a
very unique fan base. But they love their team and
(05:55):
they take a lot of pride in their team and
that that East May has produced so many major league players.
When you talk about Dave Stewart and Dontrell Willis and
Joe Morgan and Ricky Henderson and all the guys that
came out of the Oakland era of the Oakland area,
it's it's truly one of the baseball hotbeds of America.
And but but what this time really speaks to is
(06:18):
like progression in the fact that you know, Oakland will
eventually find a good home either relocation.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Uh. It just speaks to, you know, the potential of expansion.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
It speaks to the fact that that while they couldn't
get it done in Oakland, they're going to be in
in Sacramento temporary, which is a very nice ballpark, River
cat Stadium.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
The future is going to be very, very bright for Oakland.
And they've played great baseball the second half. They've got
some of the better young players in baseball right now
on that roster.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
In so while it's.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Very sad that that the fan base has to suffer
in Oakland, and change is coming U. The future is
very bright for the Oakland a franchise.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
All right. Talking baseball with Gene Watson here of the
Chicago White Sox front office. I asked you a week
ago about your guys, the White Sox, and I said,
everybody to ose they're closing in on the most losses
ever in baseball history, and blah blah blah and so
on and so forth. And at the time you said,
nobody is giving up on anything. Nobody is. Nobody is
(07:25):
you know, packed in anything. Yet they're still trying. And
all of a sudden I look up here and here
they won three in a row. Yeah, they have one
hundred and twenty losses. But as I text you last night, listen,
if they sweep the series in Detroit and the Tigers
are trying to lock up a wild card spot, you
wind up with a better record than the sixty two Mets.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Overall.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
The point being is to your point, I think it's
a tribute to your ball club that here they are
at thirty nine and one, nobody's stopped playing. And I
think that's that's pretty cool to see. Now will the
three game winning streak heading into the final weekend of
the regular season.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
The only thing you can do when you go through
a season like this, and I've been through it so
many times, is you have to focus on today and
the moves that you can make to improve your major
league team, the development of the players on your major
league team, what you can inject from your system into
the major league team, and just doing focusing on today.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
And if you do that enough days.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
In a row, you're gonna wake up one day and
you're gonna have a good baseball team.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
And I've said this many times.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
In as bad as this season has been, it doesn't
feel as bad as the day we got to Kansas
City in two thousand and six.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
We've got a very good young core.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
When you talk about Corey Lee and Andrew Vaughn and
Brooks Baldwin, Colson Montgomery, Garrett Crochet is the bellcal of
any rotation in baseball.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
And we've got some very good young pitching.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
So the season is gonna end Sunday, and we're gonna
wake up Monday and we're gonna go to work to
do everything we can to improve the team each day,
and we'll show up in April and see what it
looks like then and continue need to move forward. But
it just doesn't feel as bad right now as it
has in a lot of places where I've began to rebuild.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
All right, So all the division races are now finally settled.
Both the Yankees and Dodgers clinched their respective divisions last time.
A little bit of alarm for the Dodgers when Freddie
Freeman tumbled over the bag. At first looks like a
spring ankle. He was in a boot afterwards, but they're
pretty optimistic. They think that there was no structural damage,
nothing broken that and this is where the bye really
(09:28):
helps LA. Obviously they can rest him get their pitching
lined up before they open it home in the divisional
around it. He's not even making the trip to Denver
this weekend as they try to get his ankle back
on track. What I want to ask you about now
are the wildcard races, because, as we mentioned, here are
the Tigers you told me about a month and a
half ago. Keep an eye on this Detroit team. Your
(09:50):
old pal A. J. Hinch is doing a heck of
a job. Their magic number and the Royals magic number
is one for locking up a playoff spot, and the
Tigers to White Sox this weekend, and then you have
this bizarre thing going on in Atlanta. The Royals are
headed there, their magic number is one. The Braves are
only a game out, but they've had two games declared
(10:13):
not playable at least for the moment by Major League
Baseball because of the heavy rains they got in Georgia.
And they say, with those games against the Mets, who
are also in the thick of the fight, are not
going to be played unless they absolutely have to be played,
and then they would be played on Monday in.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
A double header.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
I guess probably it just seemed fitting in this baseball season,
with the Royals playing in Atlanta this weekend and then
the Braves and Mets will play Monday if they have
to play money. What a weird weekend, final weekend this
is going to be.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Well, the real real heartbreaker was Minnesota losing that game
last night because they had so many chances to win it.
And you know, with us throwing crochet against the Tigers
tonight and Atlanta going sell free swelling bock, I mean,
if this thing's not done and Atlanta knows what they're
(11:09):
up against. What Atlanta wants to get to is Snell, Freed,
swelling Bock. Get to Monday, and now Sell is used
out of the pen on three days rest, and you
roll your dice on Freed and swelling Bock which to
get in. It taxes you once you're in, but right
now you got to get in. And so they are
(11:30):
lined up right now. Kansas City is not scoring runs
at a very good rate. They went into Washington and
did what they have to do and they're right there
on the one yard line to get in. But the
real kicker was Minnesota losing that game last night, because
had they won that game, they were lined up very
well to take care of business this weekend and maybe
(11:50):
sneak in. But it's gonna be a tough go now,
but we'll see. It's gonna be interesting. But I know Atlanta,
it is playoff baseball time right now with the way
the rotation lines up and what they're going to try
to accomplish this weekend.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Well, and there's a couple other interesting dynamics here, Gino,
you mentioned the Twins. The Twins desperate to get in.
They host the Orioles this weekend. The Orioles are now
locked into the four seed, so how much are they
pushing forward before they start the wildcard round next week?
Same story for the Brewers who are locked into the
three seed and they host the Mets who need to
(12:27):
get in. And there's always that interesting dynamic geno about
how much do you push if you've already wrapped up
your spot and you can't go above it and you
can't go below it. Because the Brewers are definitely the
three after the Dodgers won last night, and the Dodgers
and the Phillies are the top two seeds and get
the Buys next week.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Yeah, if there's not going to be a lot of
movement in the positioning of the playoff teams, what you
really try to do because once you turn it off,
you can't turn it back on.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
It's impossible.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Which we've all seen the momentum a wild card team
in the past fifteen to twenty years and what that
team can do. And I can tell you the Detroit
Tigers feel like the Colorado Rockies years ago when they
went on that heavy run and ended up going to
the World Series and they just called up their number
one pitching prospect Jackson job, which is an enormous move
(13:17):
for them on the chess board. And so just don't
count Detroit out. They're hot, they believe it. Nobody's playing
better baseball. But really what it gets down to is
if you don't think there's gonna be a ton of
positioning within the opponent that you're gonna play, you collectively
go around that clubhouse and you talk to every member
of the twenty six man roster, and the most important
(13:39):
thing right now is health.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
How are you feeling, do you need a day?
Speaker 3 (13:44):
What can we do to workload manage you this weekend
so that you were on tip top shape once we
get to game one, and you're so you're trying to
constantly like keep the edge of your roster, but also
manage health and just make sure that when you get
to game one on Tuesday, that you're one hundred percent
top to bottom on your roster, all right.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
And toward that end, let me ask you about two
other teams who are in kind of unique positions. The
Guardians in the American League the Dodgers in the National League.
And here's where I'm going with this. The Guardians host
the Astros this weekend. The Astors are locked into the three.
They can't go above it. They can't go below it.
They are going to be the three seed. The Guardians
are only one game back of the Yankees for best
(14:24):
record and the number one seed going in the weekend.
Similar situation for the Dodgers, who actually lead the Phillies
by one game for best overall record. LA is going
into Denver, Philly is going into Washington. But we know
the Dodgers won't have Freddy Freeman, they're resting him. They're
going with a bullpen game tonight. And then I think, uh,
(14:45):
they're gonna have Yamamoto pitch on Saturday, and it's undecided
on Sunday. So how about the dynamic that managers like
Dave Roberts in LA what had and you know what,
the mindset goes into the managers about how they approach
these types of things.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
I think it's two completely separate, separate set of circumstances.
I think that the Phillies and the Dodgers know and
don't count Arizona out and if they get in, they're
completely dangerous. But I think that you look at it
from a Philly Dodgers standpoint.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Both aircraft carriers in the National League.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
They're not worried about anything other than getting healthy, and
we'll roll the dice on our twenty six man and
we're gonna put our best against your best. I don't
think there's anything They're obviously going to try to win
every game, but manage is the best they can because
they know they're both on a collision course for each other.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
With Cleveland, it's a little different.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
You've got a seven time American League championship team that
you know you've got to beat.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
And I think that.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
The the the maneuver could be, let's do everything we
can not to play them early and take a chance
on knocking them out late, because they know that they're
going to be taking down a giant when they do it.
And so I think there's two completely different mindsets organizationally
in the way they're approaching this weekend. The Dodgers and
(16:11):
Phillies know that no, they're they're not ducking each other.
They're gonna this the road goes through both of them,
where Cleveland like, they know what they're up against and
they're gonna do everything they can to win as many
games as they can now to uh to force a
later matchup with the Astros.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
He's Geene Watson.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
I try to get him to come to the football
game to Margetssissippi State, but he's uh, he's in love
with Notre Dame as always. So he's going to be
in South Bend for the fighting Irish matchup against Louisville.
Could be a good matchup there by the way. Yeah,
so we looked at it.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
I just we need to we need to throw a
touchdown pass from Riley Leonard. But I'll be in Austin
for the Georgia game and looking forward to it, no.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Doubt about it. Gino, thanks for the time. We appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
All right, guys, take care.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
All right, that's Gene Watson from the Chicago White Sox
talking baseball.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Great stuff.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Up next, uh will Matthews conversation with Jayden Blue when
we continue on portch Radio AM thirteen under the zone
of the iHeartRadio app.
We welcome you back here on a Friday edition of
the program here in the four o'clock hour.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Now, and as.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
I mentioned in teasing this last hour, see I'm hitting
I'm hitting him with this completely unawares. That what we'll
do when we talk baseball next week, with the playoffs underway,
We'll shift our weekly conversation with Geene Watson from the
Chicago White Sox front office from Fridays to the middle week, Gena,
(00:30):
and I'll pick out a day that works well. But
as he joins us now on the hotline, Gino, I mean,
we've got to do that right next week is the
playoffs are starting Tuesday. Heck, we might have if necessary,
double header games on Monday. How crazy is this baseball season?
Heading toward the postseason?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
We can go every day if you want to, because
this is the most exciting time of the year and
the scoreboard watching this week, especially watching my old.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Club Kansas City Royals, has been a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
And we are headed some high drama this weekend in
Major League Baseball.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
All right, let me start off with well, I want
to start off by looking back at yesterday, So the
final ever game, at least as far as we can
tell the final ever game Major League Baseball game to
we played in the Coliseemen Oakland was contested yesterday, with
(01:27):
the A's beating the Rangers yesterday three to two. And
by the way, I agree with Mike Bassett, who was
on the working as the analyst they were with Dave
Raymond on the Rangers telecast. He said, I'm not happy
about the Rangers losing, he said, but I understand and
I'm happy for the Oakland fans that they got to
celebrate a win in the final game ever there. I
(01:49):
think a lot of people probably felt that way, no
matter how they felt about the Rangers of the A's
or or anything else. But listen, you spent many a
day and or night in that place. For all of it.
It's good, it's bad, it's ugly. We heard about the
squirrels running around, and the possum and all that stuff,
and the rats and all that kind of stuf. I've
(02:09):
read a story yesterday about how under the tarping out
on Mount Davis, out there in the high seats beyond
center field that they were reserving mainly for football when
the Raiders moved back in ninety five, was that rats
had existed under there and had established their home and
were feasting on old bobblehead dolls, was the way say. So.
(02:33):
I mean, we hear all these legendary tales about Oakland,
but I know you've had your own experiences. What really
stands out to you about the games and the times
that you spend in the Oakland Coliseum.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Well, I've got a couple.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
One the summer of nineteen eighty eight, I'd played summer
ball out in Monterey, California, and I'll.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Never forget August eighth of eighty eight.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
And I remember that night because my granddad was at
the first night game at Wrigley that got rained down out.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
But that was a special time.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
My first major league road trip in nineteen ninety one,
we went Chicago, Anahei, Chicago, Oakland, Anaheim, and that trip
in ninety one, just getting to spend time with Reggie
Jackson was a great thrill. But one of the funnier
stories that ever happened for me in Oakland was we
had called up Pud Rodriguez in Chicago of that trip,
(03:26):
and then when we got to Oakland, we called up
Dean Palmer and at the time Steve Bouchelle was still
the third baseman for the Rangers, and so we were
moving Dean Palmer.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Out to left field.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
So me and Davey Lopes and Toby Hare and Dave
Oliver are out in left field during early BP, hitting
Dean Palmer fly balls, and you know, during early BP,
it can get a little it can get a little dangerous.
You got hitters hitting, You've got pitchers just throwing. You
got infielders taking ground balls, and you're working on outfield play,
(03:57):
and so it's literally pitcher throw a pitch, hit or
hit and then the fun goes, got to go to work,
to work on their outfield play. And so we're hitting
Dean Palmer fly balls in left field and Mike Stanley,
who caught for us that year, hits a ball and
hooks a ball down past the third pace bag and
(04:19):
hits me right in my right hip and went I
went down like a deer in the middle of a hayfield.
And uh, I mean, everybody's rushing to me. And once
they knew I was okay, you know, everybody starts laughing.
And it was a big joke amongst the team that
night and the next day when we go out to
do it again, they had put the crime scene tape
(04:41):
on the field of me, you know where I actually
got hit. So rare as a day where I've gone
into that ballparker watched the game there and not thought
about that incident in that day.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
It was. It was a real crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Time, no doubt about it. And you and I have
had this conversation about the A's and so many have,
and they've talked about the John Fisher ownership and how
things went south and all that other kind of stuff,
and it's and it is sad, and I know the
day was marked by sadness. And here they are looking
at playing a minimum of three years in West Sacramento
(05:14):
at the ballpark where they're supposed to yank out the
grass and put in field turp because they've got to
share the ballpark with the river Cats, who have first
call on the dates. I mean, this thing is getting
crazy when you think about it. If the A's are
indeed going to be spending three seasons over there at Sacramento.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
It really is Craig, And what's sad about it?
Speaker 3 (05:33):
For me? And I too, Like the minute I found
out they won that game, I was so happy for
the fans because it is a very unique fan base
and never has nine miles separated the fan base more
than the Giant fans and A's fans. And it's a
very unique fan base. But they love their team and
(05:55):
they take a lot of pride in their team and
that that East May has produced so many major league players.
When you talk about Dave Stewart and Dontrell Willis and
Joe Morgan and Ricky Henderson and all the guys that
came out of the Oakland era of the Oakland area,
it's it's truly one of the baseball hotbeds of America.
And but but what this time really speaks to is
(06:18):
like progression in the fact that you know, Oakland will
eventually find a good home either relocation.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Uh. It just speaks to, you know, the potential of expansion.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
It speaks to the fact that that while they couldn't
get it done in Oakland, they're going to be in
in Sacramento temporary, which is a very nice ballpark, River
cat Stadium.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
The future is going to be very, very bright for Oakland.
And they've played great baseball the second half. They've got
some of the better young players in baseball right now
on that roster.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
In so while it's.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Very sad that that the fan base has to suffer
in Oakland, and change is coming U. The future is
very bright for the Oakland a franchise.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
All right. Talking baseball with Gene Watson here of the
Chicago White Sox front office. I asked you a week
ago about your guys, the White Sox, and I said,
everybody to ose they're closing in on the most losses
ever in baseball history, and blah blah blah and so
on and so forth. And at the time you said,
nobody is giving up on anything. Nobody is. Nobody is
(07:25):
you know, packed in anything. Yet they're still trying. And
all of a sudden I look up here and here
they won three in a row. Yeah, they have one
hundred and twenty losses. But as I text you last night, listen,
if they sweep the series in Detroit and the Tigers
are trying to lock up a wild card spot, you
wind up with a better record than the sixty two Mets.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Overall.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
The point being is to your point, I think it's
a tribute to your ball club that here they are
at thirty nine and one, nobody's stopped playing. And I
think that's that's pretty cool to see. Now will the
three game winning streak heading into the final weekend of
the regular season.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
The only thing you can do when you go through
a season like this, and I've been through it so
many times, is you have to focus on today and
the moves that you can make to improve your major
league team, the development of the players on your major
league team, what you can inject from your system into
the major league team, and just doing focusing on today.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
And if you do that enough days.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
In a row, you're gonna wake up one day and
you're gonna have a good baseball team.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
And I've said this many times.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
In as bad as this season has been, it doesn't
feel as bad as the day we got to Kansas
City in two thousand and six.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
We've got a very good young core.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
When you talk about Corey Lee and Andrew Vaughn and
Brooks Baldwin, Colson Montgomery, Garrett Crochet is the bellcal of
any rotation in baseball.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
And we've got some very good young pitching.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
So the season is gonna end Sunday, and we're gonna
wake up Monday and we're gonna go to work to
do everything we can to improve the team each day,
and we'll show up in April and see what it
looks like then and continue need to move forward. But
it just doesn't feel as bad right now as it
has in a lot of places where I've began to rebuild.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
All right, So all the division races are now finally settled.
Both the Yankees and Dodgers clinched their respective divisions last time.
A little bit of alarm for the Dodgers when Freddie
Freeman tumbled over the bag. At first looks like a
spring ankle. He was in a boot afterwards, but they're
pretty optimistic. They think that there was no structural damage,
nothing broken that and this is where the bye really
(09:28):
helps LA. Obviously they can rest him get their pitching
lined up before they open it home in the divisional
around it. He's not even making the trip to Denver
this weekend as they try to get his ankle back
on track. What I want to ask you about now
are the wildcard races, because, as we mentioned, here are
the Tigers you told me about a month and a
half ago. Keep an eye on this Detroit team. Your
(09:50):
old pal A. J. Hinch is doing a heck of
a job. Their magic number and the Royals magic number
is one for locking up a playoff spot, and the
Tigers to White Sox this weekend, and then you have
this bizarre thing going on in Atlanta. The Royals are
headed there, their magic number is one. The Braves are
only a game out, but they've had two games declared
(10:13):
not playable at least for the moment by Major League
Baseball because of the heavy rains they got in Georgia.
And they say, with those games against the Mets, who
are also in the thick of the fight, are not
going to be played unless they absolutely have to be played,
and then they would be played on Monday in.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
A double header.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
I guess probably it just seemed fitting in this baseball season,
with the Royals playing in Atlanta this weekend and then
the Braves and Mets will play Monday if they have
to play money. What a weird weekend, final weekend this
is going to be.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Well, the real real heartbreaker was Minnesota losing that game
last night because they had so many chances to win it.
And you know, with us throwing crochet against the Tigers
tonight and Atlanta going sell free swelling bock, I mean,
if this thing's not done and Atlanta knows what they're
(11:09):
up against. What Atlanta wants to get to is Snell, Freed,
swelling Bock. Get to Monday, and now Sell is used
out of the pen on three days rest, and you
roll your dice on Freed and swelling Bock which to
get in. It taxes you once you're in, but right
now you got to get in. And so they are
(11:30):
lined up right now. Kansas City is not scoring runs
at a very good rate. They went into Washington and
did what they have to do and they're right there
on the one yard line to get in. But the
real kicker was Minnesota losing that game last night, because
had they won that game, they were lined up very
well to take care of business this weekend and maybe
(11:50):
sneak in. But it's gonna be a tough go now,
but we'll see. It's gonna be interesting. But I know Atlanta,
it is playoff baseball time right now with the way
the rotation lines up and what they're going to try
to accomplish this weekend.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Well, and there's a couple other interesting dynamics here, Gino,
you mentioned the Twins. The Twins desperate to get in.
They host the Orioles this weekend. The Orioles are now
locked into the four seed, so how much are they
pushing forward before they start the wildcard round next week?
Same story for the Brewers who are locked into the
three seed and they host the Mets who need to
(12:27):
get in. And there's always that interesting dynamic geno about
how much do you push if you've already wrapped up
your spot and you can't go above it and you
can't go below it. Because the Brewers are definitely the
three after the Dodgers won last night, and the Dodgers
and the Phillies are the top two seeds and get
the Buys next week.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Yeah, if there's not going to be a lot of
movement in the positioning of the playoff teams, what you
really try to do because once you turn it off,
you can't turn it back on.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
It's impossible.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Which we've all seen the momentum a wild card team
in the past fifteen to twenty years and what that
team can do. And I can tell you the Detroit
Tigers feel like the Colorado Rockies years ago when they
went on that heavy run and ended up going to
the World Series and they just called up their number
one pitching prospect Jackson job, which is an enormous move
(13:17):
for them on the chess board. And so just don't
count Detroit out. They're hot, they believe it. Nobody's playing
better baseball. But really what it gets down to is
if you don't think there's gonna be a ton of
positioning within the opponent that you're gonna play, you collectively
go around that clubhouse and you talk to every member
of the twenty six man roster, and the most important
(13:39):
thing right now is health.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
How are you feeling, do you need a day?
Speaker 3 (13:44):
What can we do to workload manage you this weekend
so that you were on tip top shape once we
get to game one, and you're so you're trying to
constantly like keep the edge of your roster, but also
manage health and just make sure that when you get
to game one on Tuesday, that you're one hundred percent
top to bottom on your roster, all right.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
And toward that end, let me ask you about two
other teams who are in kind of unique positions. The
Guardians in the American League the Dodgers in the National League.
And here's where I'm going with this. The Guardians host
the Astros this weekend. The Astors are locked into the three.
They can't go above it. They can't go below it.
They are going to be the three seed. The Guardians
are only one game back of the Yankees for best
(14:24):
record and the number one seed going in the weekend.
Similar situation for the Dodgers, who actually lead the Phillies
by one game for best overall record. LA is going
into Denver, Philly is going into Washington. But we know
the Dodgers won't have Freddy Freeman, they're resting him. They're
going with a bullpen game tonight. And then I think, uh,
(14:45):
they're gonna have Yamamoto pitch on Saturday, and it's undecided
on Sunday. So how about the dynamic that managers like
Dave Roberts in LA what had and you know what,
the mindset goes into the managers about how they approach
these types of things.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
I think it's two completely separate, separate set of circumstances.
I think that the Phillies and the Dodgers know and
don't count Arizona out and if they get in, they're
completely dangerous. But I think that you look at it
from a Philly Dodgers standpoint.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Both aircraft carriers in the National League.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
They're not worried about anything other than getting healthy, and
we'll roll the dice on our twenty six man and
we're gonna put our best against your best. I don't
think there's anything They're obviously going to try to win
every game, but manage is the best they can because
they know they're both on a collision course for each other.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
With Cleveland, it's a little different.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
You've got a seven time American League championship team that
you know you've got to beat.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
And I think that.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
The the the maneuver could be, let's do everything we
can not to play them early and take a chance
on knocking them out late, because they know that they're
going to be taking down a giant when they do it.
And so I think there's two completely different mindsets organizationally
in the way they're approaching this weekend. The Dodgers and
(16:11):
Phillies know that no, they're they're not ducking each other.
They're gonna this the road goes through both of them,
where Cleveland like, they know what they're up against and
they're gonna do everything they can to win as many
games as they can now to uh to force a
later matchup with the Astros.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
He's Geene Watson.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
I try to get him to come to the football
game to Margetssissippi State, but he's uh, he's in love
with Notre Dame as always. So he's going to be
in South Bend for the fighting Irish matchup against Louisville.
Could be a good matchup there by the way. Yeah,
so we looked at it.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
I just we need to we need to throw a
touchdown pass from Riley Leonard. But I'll be in Austin
for the Georgia game and looking forward to it, no.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Doubt about it. Gino, thanks for the time. We appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
All right, guys, take care.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
All right, that's Gene Watson from the Chicago White Sox
talking baseball.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Great stuff.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Up next, uh will Matthews conversation with Jayden Blue when
we continue on portch Radio AM thirteen under the zone
of the iHeartRadio app.
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