July 22, 2025 • 14 mins
We're at the second half of the MLB season(technically we're more like 2/3rds of the way through) we're looking at the Royals upcoming schedule and whether they are really contenders. We look at the drama between the Yankees and Braves and see who was really out of line.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome back to this Is Baseball.
My name is Brandon Johnson.
Thank you for tuning in onthis Tuesday.
I'm excited to be back.
The All Star break is over.
We're officially in the secondhalf of the Major League Baseball
season, and this is whenthings start to get real around the
(00:27):
league.
We're getting close to thetrade deadline that's coming up about
10 days from now, so we'll geta good idea of buyers and sellers,
who's for real and who isconceding and maybe looking ahead
to next season.
So we'll have more clarity onall of that about a week and a half
(00:52):
from now, which will then giveus some space to talk about contenders
and look at division races andwild card races and look at some
of the moves that were madeduring the trade deadline.
(01:12):
But again, that's the backhalf of next week.
We've still got some stuff togo over between now and then.
So that's what I want to do today.
I want to go over the bigstory in baseball that happened over
(01:33):
the weekend.
The Yankees and Braves met upin a series in Atlanta, and the Yankees
took two out of three gamesagainst the Braves, but that was
not the big story of the weekend.
Obviously, a lot of teams goon the road and win series, but something
(01:58):
happened on Saturday's gamebetween Jazz Chisholm Jr. And one
of the Braves bench coaches,Eddie Perez.
So the Yankees have beenstealing signs from second base.
(02:20):
So runners on second base aredeciphering signs and relaying them
to the batters.
This is something that hasbeen allowed forever.
It's not illegal.
What they're doing has beenhappening for a long time and is
completely within the rulesbecause they're doing it naturally
(02:41):
and legally and just bygaining information and not by banging
on trash cans as one team in2017 decided to do.
But Eddie Perez, the AtlantaBraves bench coach, took exception
to this.
(03:03):
From mlb.com Jazz Chisholm Jr.Was standing on third base during
a mountain visit in the sixthinning of the game on Saturday and
was staring towards the Braves dugout.
He made a crying gesture andthen kind of waved them off dismissively.
And come to find out, JazzChisholm Jr. Was targeting the bench
(03:25):
coach Eddie Perez, who waskind of yelling across the field
at Jazz Chisholm Jr. And Iguess Eddie Perez kind of pointed
at his own head and JazzChisholm Jr. And some of the Yankees
players interpreted that as,hey, we're going to hit you in the
head with a pitch.
(03:46):
We're going to be in you.
Which obviously Hittingplayers with pitches is something
that happens in baseball.
Retaliation happens in baseball.
Usually you go to try to hitpeople between the numbers.
(04:06):
MLB and teams have been tryingto stop this.
You actually don't see itnearly as much as you used to.
But hitting somebody in thehead is something that is never okay
and completely dangerous.
And Eddie Perez clarified hewas not intending to threaten Jazz
(04:28):
Chisholm Jr.
He was just saying that youneed to be smart.
Eddie Perez even said againfrom MLB.com I like that guy.
He's one of my favorites.
And he got mad about it.
I don't know why he got madabout it.
So I was like, hey, take it easy.
I don't really think anythingelse is going to come out of this.
I think we've seen a lot ofinstances where Jazz Chisholm Jr.
(04:52):
Is in some sort of interactionwith the opposing team.
I've talked about it with theRoyals when the Yankees were in Kansas
City.
Jasmine jazz chisholm jr feltlike mikel Garcia tagged him too
hard in the head and said he'sgonna slap Mikel Garcia.
So I don't know.
I think Jazz Chisholm Jr.Might also be somebody that looks
(05:16):
for trouble when there isn't any.
Because even with that MichaelGarcia, if you go look at the replay
there, Mikel Garcia didn't taghim hard in the head at all.
It's just kind of naturallywhat happened.
But it anyway just some goodsilly little drama to start out the
show between the Yankees and Braves.
(05:38):
But to cap off the Yankeesconversation going into Atlanta and
taking two out of threeagainst Atlanta was huge because
they sit three games behindthe Toronto Blue Jays and the American
League East.
The Toronto Blue Jays justswept the San Francisco Giants at
(05:59):
home and now the Yankees andBlue Jays go head to head in a three
game series.
So by the end of this week orby the middle of this week, the the
American League east could be tied.
But we'll have to see.
(06:20):
The American League east isall of a sudden really interesting.
Like I said, the Toronto BlueJays are a team that got really hot
and Boston Red Sox went on a10 game winning streak prior to the
All Star break.
They did drop two out of threeover the weekend.
(06:40):
But it is a three team racewith five games separating the Boston
Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jaysand and one might argue that it's
a four team race.
The Tampa Bay Rays are rightthere as well.
They're six and a half gamesback in the division race.
And to cap off the Bravesconversation, they obviously are
(07:03):
not having the season thatthey want to be having.
But coming up on August 2nd,MLB is doing the MLB Speedway Classic.
This is is going to be betweenthe Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati
Reds.
This is going to be in Bristol.
So they've got a full baseballfield set up at Bristol Speedway
(07:26):
in Tennessee and just a bunchof different attractions and things
to do while you're there.
So this is the first MajorLeague Baseball game that will be
played in the state of Tennessee.
So gonna be awesome.
Again, that's coming up onAugust 2nd.
(07:48):
That is, I think, somethingthat Major League Baseball does really
well.
The Field of Dreams game wasalways something that was very well
done and had a great presentation.
They do the Little League gamefor the Little League World Series
in Pennsylvania.
(08:09):
That tends to do really well.
So this is just another prettycool experience on Major League Baseball
schedule.
All right.
Oh boy.
It is time to talk some KansasCity Royals as we like to do on this
podcast.
Listen.
(08:31):
Royals had a great opportunityto go into Miami on the road after
the All Star break and go taketwo out of three against a bad Marlins
team.
But instead they lost two outof three.
They tried to lose the game on Sunday.
(08:51):
They were up seven to nothingand ended up winning the game seven
to four because the Marlinsscored four runs of the ninth.
Friday's game.
Royals were down five nothingearly, came back with some unlikely
heroes.
John Rave hitting multiplehome runs in a game, ended up forcing
(09:12):
extras and lost the game 8 to7 against the Marlins and lost 3
to 1 on Saturday.
Friday night against theMarlins, Seth Lugo had one of his
worst outings of the seasonand Carlos Estes did not have a good
night as well.
So now they've got, you know,they've lost two out of three against
(09:34):
the Marlins and now they'regoing to go on the road against the
Cubs.
The Cubs are one of the threebest teams in the National League.
They, they're actuallycurrently tied with the Milwaukee
brewers for first place in theNational League Central.
They're both sitting at 59 and 40.
(09:55):
The brewers just will not go away.
In fact, the Cubs and Brewersboth have the best.
They have the most wins in theNational League and they have the
second most wins in all ofMajor League Baseball.
The only team that has morewins in the Cubs and Brewers are
the Detroit Tigers, who justwon their 60th game.
(10:17):
But back to the Royals, theymade a little move, traded for Adam
Frazier.
Adam Frazier was on the Royalsteam last year.
They traded him for aprospect, infielder Cam Devaney.
I Think I'm saying that right?
He's like 28 or 29 years old,so pretty loose term of prospect,
(10:39):
has yet to make his majorleague debut.
He was up on the Royals majorleague roster, so he might have at
some point.
But bring in some veteranhelp, veteran leadership, a little
bit of depth, better defenseand hopefully can help this team
(11:00):
out because they desperatelyneed it.
I'm very curious to see whatother types of moves these Royals
are going to make on or overthe next 10 days.
I heard an interview with JJPiccolo that he doesn't see this
(11:21):
team as a seller.
I think if he says if you'reselling you are conceding and he
doesn't see that with this team.
I don't really know whatthey're looking at doing.
Obviously we'll know when we know.
But looking at the royalschedule, they have three games against
(11:46):
the Cubs and play the Guardians.
Guardians are currently secondplace in the Central.
Neither of them are above.500.
Both of them are chasing awild card spot at best this season.
Then Royals host the Braves,then go on the road against a Blue
(12:08):
Jays team that is very hot.
Mentioned them earlier thaninto Boston against a hot Boston
team.
Then the Twins and the Royalsjust don't seem to fare well against
Minnesota.
I say all this looking at theschedule that I think time is running
(12:30):
out and not sure if a big moveat the deadline will help.
I don't know.
I think I still have thishomer delusion that the Royals can
figure it out, but basically2/3 through the schedule they haven't.
So I think they are what theyare and they're gonna need to do
(12:53):
some things in the offseasonto get this Royals team going.
I've said it a thousand timesthis season though.
It is awesome that we arenearing August and still have high
expectations of the KansasCity Royals.
I don't need to give you ahistory lesson on how bad the Royals
(13:17):
have been over the lastdecade, but with the success last
year and the expectations theyhad this year, while I don't think
they're going to return to thepostseason this year at this point,
unless something crazyhappens, I do still feel like even
(13:37):
in 2026, 2027, 2028, this teamis going to be a team that we look
at as somebody that can becompetitive in the American League.
So that's good.
But just comes down to maybethey make a trade, get some outfield
(13:59):
help, some legit outfield helpand obviously more pitching.
Nobody's ever complained aboutmore pitching, but we've got a long
way to go.
So right now, as it stands, Idon't see the Royals in the postseason.
But baseball is a game aboutwho is hot at the right time and
if they can finally startputting everything together.
(14:22):
Making an August and andSeptember run towards the postseason
is something that is notimpossible and something that we've
definitely seen happen many,many times.
I think the Detroit Tigers area team that is a great example of
that in 2024.
So maybe the Royals can be the2024 Detroit Tigers and make a run
at the end of 2025.
(14:43):
They're going to need a lot ofhelp from some other teams along
the way, but we're going toride it out and see what happens.
So thank you for tuning inthis week.
I'll see you Thursday.
Welcome back to this Is Baseball.
My name is Brandon Johnson.
Thank you for tuning in onthis Tuesday.
I'm excited to be back.
The All Star break is over.
We're officially in the secondhalf of the Major League Baseball
season, and this is whenthings start to get real around the
(00:27):
league.
We're getting close to thetrade deadline that's coming up about
10 days from now, so we'll geta good idea of buyers and sellers,
who's for real and who isconceding and maybe looking ahead
to next season.
So we'll have more clarity onall of that about a week and a half
(00:52):
from now, which will then giveus some space to talk about contenders
and look at division races andwild card races and look at some
of the moves that were madeduring the trade deadline.
(01:12):
But again, that's the backhalf of next week.
We've still got some stuff togo over between now and then.
So that's what I want to do today.
I want to go over the bigstory in baseball that happened over
(01:33):
the weekend.
The Yankees and Braves met upin a series in Atlanta, and the Yankees
took two out of three gamesagainst the Braves, but that was
not the big story of the weekend.
Obviously, a lot of teams goon the road and win series, but something
(01:58):
happened on Saturday's gamebetween Jazz Chisholm Jr. And one
of the Braves bench coaches,Eddie Perez.
So the Yankees have beenstealing signs from second base.
(02:20):
So runners on second base aredeciphering signs and relaying them
to the batters.
This is something that hasbeen allowed forever.
It's not illegal.
What they're doing has beenhappening for a long time and is
completely within the rulesbecause they're doing it naturally
(02:41):
and legally and just bygaining information and not by banging
on trash cans as one team in2017 decided to do.
But Eddie Perez, the AtlantaBraves bench coach, took exception
to this.
(03:03):
From mlb.com Jazz Chisholm Jr.Was standing on third base during
a mountain visit in the sixthinning of the game on Saturday and
was staring towards the Braves dugout.
He made a crying gesture andthen kind of waved them off dismissively.
And come to find out, JazzChisholm Jr. Was targeting the bench
(03:25):
coach Eddie Perez, who waskind of yelling across the field
at Jazz Chisholm Jr. And Iguess Eddie Perez kind of pointed
at his own head and JazzChisholm Jr. And some of the Yankees
players interpreted that as,hey, we're going to hit you in the
head with a pitch.
(03:46):
We're going to be in you.
Which obviously Hittingplayers with pitches is something
that happens in baseball.
Retaliation happens in baseball.
Usually you go to try to hitpeople between the numbers.
(04:06):
MLB and teams have been tryingto stop this.
You actually don't see itnearly as much as you used to.
But hitting somebody in thehead is something that is never okay
and completely dangerous.
And Eddie Perez clarified hewas not intending to threaten Jazz
(04:28):
Chisholm Jr.
He was just saying that youneed to be smart.
Eddie Perez even said againfrom MLB.com I like that guy.
He's one of my favorites.
And he got mad about it.
I don't know why he got madabout it.
So I was like, hey, take it easy.
I don't really think anythingelse is going to come out of this.
I think we've seen a lot ofinstances where Jazz Chisholm Jr.
(04:52):
Is in some sort of interactionwith the opposing team.
I've talked about it with theRoyals when the Yankees were in Kansas
City.
Jasmine jazz chisholm jr feltlike mikel Garcia tagged him too
hard in the head and said he'sgonna slap Mikel Garcia.
So I don't know.
I think Jazz Chisholm Jr.Might also be somebody that looks
(05:16):
for trouble when there isn't any.
Because even with that MichaelGarcia, if you go look at the replay
there, Mikel Garcia didn't taghim hard in the head at all.
It's just kind of naturallywhat happened.
But it anyway just some goodsilly little drama to start out the
show between the Yankees and Braves.
(05:38):
But to cap off the Yankeesconversation going into Atlanta and
taking two out of threeagainst Atlanta was huge because
they sit three games behindthe Toronto Blue Jays and the American
League East.
The Toronto Blue Jays justswept the San Francisco Giants at
(05:59):
home and now the Yankees andBlue Jays go head to head in a three
game series.
So by the end of this week orby the middle of this week, the the
American League east could be tied.
But we'll have to see.
(06:20):
The American League east isall of a sudden really interesting.
Like I said, the Toronto BlueJays are a team that got really hot
and Boston Red Sox went on a10 game winning streak prior to the
All Star break.
They did drop two out of threeover the weekend.
(06:40):
But it is a three team racewith five games separating the Boston
Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jaysand and one might argue that it's
a four team race.
The Tampa Bay Rays are rightthere as well.
They're six and a half gamesback in the division race.
And to cap off the Bravesconversation, they obviously are
(07:03):
not having the season thatthey want to be having.
But coming up on August 2nd,MLB is doing the MLB Speedway Classic.
This is is going to be betweenthe Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati
Reds.
This is going to be in Bristol.
So they've got a full baseballfield set up at Bristol Speedway
(07:26):
in Tennessee and just a bunchof different attractions and things
to do while you're there.
So this is the first MajorLeague Baseball game that will be
played in the state of Tennessee.
So gonna be awesome.
Again, that's coming up onAugust 2nd.
(07:48):
That is, I think, somethingthat Major League Baseball does really
well.
The Field of Dreams game wasalways something that was very well
done and had a great presentation.
They do the Little League gamefor the Little League World Series
in Pennsylvania.
(08:09):
That tends to do really well.
So this is just another prettycool experience on Major League Baseball
schedule.
All right.
Oh boy.
It is time to talk some KansasCity Royals as we like to do on this
podcast.
Listen.
(08:31):
Royals had a great opportunityto go into Miami on the road after
the All Star break and go taketwo out of three against a bad Marlins
team.
But instead they lost two outof three.
They tried to lose the game on Sunday.
(08:51):
They were up seven to nothingand ended up winning the game seven
to four because the Marlinsscored four runs of the ninth.
Friday's game.
Royals were down five nothingearly, came back with some unlikely
heroes.
John Rave hitting multiplehome runs in a game, ended up forcing
(09:12):
extras and lost the game 8 to7 against the Marlins and lost 3
to 1 on Saturday.
Friday night against theMarlins, Seth Lugo had one of his
worst outings of the seasonand Carlos Estes did not have a good
night as well.
So now they've got, you know,they've lost two out of three against
(09:34):
the Marlins and now they'regoing to go on the road against the
Cubs.
The Cubs are one of the threebest teams in the National League.
They, they're actuallycurrently tied with the Milwaukee
brewers for first place in theNational League Central.
They're both sitting at 59 and 40.
(09:55):
The brewers just will not go away.
In fact, the Cubs and Brewersboth have the best.
They have the most wins in theNational League and they have the
second most wins in all ofMajor League Baseball.
The only team that has morewins in the Cubs and Brewers are
the Detroit Tigers, who justwon their 60th game.
(10:17):
But back to the Royals, theymade a little move, traded for Adam
Frazier.
Adam Frazier was on the Royalsteam last year.
They traded him for aprospect, infielder Cam Devaney.
I Think I'm saying that right?
He's like 28 or 29 years old,so pretty loose term of prospect,
(10:39):
has yet to make his majorleague debut.
He was up on the Royals majorleague roster, so he might have at
some point.
But bring in some veteranhelp, veteran leadership, a little
bit of depth, better defenseand hopefully can help this team
(11:00):
out because they desperatelyneed it.
I'm very curious to see whatother types of moves these Royals
are going to make on or overthe next 10 days.
I heard an interview with JJPiccolo that he doesn't see this
(11:21):
team as a seller.
I think if he says if you'reselling you are conceding and he
doesn't see that with this team.
I don't really know whatthey're looking at doing.
Obviously we'll know when we know.
But looking at the royalschedule, they have three games against
(11:46):
the Cubs and play the Guardians.
Guardians are currently secondplace in the Central.
Neither of them are above.500.
Both of them are chasing awild card spot at best this season.
Then Royals host the Braves,then go on the road against a Blue
(12:08):
Jays team that is very hot.
Mentioned them earlier thaninto Boston against a hot Boston
team.
Then the Twins and the Royalsjust don't seem to fare well against
Minnesota.
I say all this looking at theschedule that I think time is running
(12:30):
out and not sure if a big moveat the deadline will help.
I don't know.
I think I still have thishomer delusion that the Royals can
figure it out, but basically2/3 through the schedule they haven't.
So I think they are what theyare and they're gonna need to do
(12:53):
some things in the offseasonto get this Royals team going.
I've said it a thousand timesthis season though.
It is awesome that we arenearing August and still have high
expectations of the KansasCity Royals.
I don't need to give you ahistory lesson on how bad the Royals
(13:17):
have been over the lastdecade, but with the success last
year and the expectations theyhad this year, while I don't think
they're going to return to thepostseason this year at this point,
unless something crazyhappens, I do still feel like even
(13:37):
in 2026, 2027, 2028, this teamis going to be a team that we look
at as somebody that can becompetitive in the American League.
So that's good.
But just comes down to maybethey make a trade, get some outfield
(13:59):
help, some legit outfield helpand obviously more pitching.
Nobody's ever complained aboutmore pitching, but we've got a long
way to go.
So right now, as it stands, Idon't see the Royals in the postseason.
But baseball is a game aboutwho is hot at the right time and
if they can finally startputting everything together.
(14:22):
Making an August and andSeptember run towards the postseason
is something that is notimpossible and something that we've
definitely seen happen many,many times.
I think the Detroit Tigers area team that is a great example of
that in 2024.
So maybe the Royals can be the2024 Detroit Tigers and make a run
at the end of 2025.
(14:43):
They're going to need a lot ofhelp from some other teams along
the way, but we're going toride it out and see what happens.
So thank you for tuning inthis week.
I'll see you Thursday.
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