Grading Every MLB Team's First Half Performance (with Trevor Plouffe)

Trevor Plouffe joins Talkin' Jake from the Corona House in Dallas, TX to grade every team's first half of the season on a curve. Who are the three biggest winners and losers of the season?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to Waken Jake Myself, Jake's Story, La
BBD on the Ones, twos and threes, and a special
bi annual Maybe just buy. Trevor Ploof is here with
us and it's yuck and Ball season. We're you gonna
yuckball a little bit too. But I gave you the option, Trevor,
I love we peel back the currents. We're live from
the Corona House. We're at the All Star Game, just

(00:23):
like feet down the road. Please don't don't come find
our house. We had that appened in La Scary. I
gave Trevor the option. I said, you know what, we
did an episode where I was like, hey, let's yuckball
and be almost like a little more honest. It sounds
rude to talk in baseball, but you know, we kind
of we have to filter some thoughts where you can't
be like, hey, that Red series didn't mean shit. Is

(00:45):
that what you do here? Unfiltered? Unfiltered you get the
real talk, Okay? I said. The other idea, that's something
I've been brewed for a little bit. Because it's the
All Star break, it's a good check in time. I said,
let's do a bell curve grading system, which why that's
something that is in my head anyways, is whatever. But
I always liked the concept of it, Like, hey, I

(01:08):
kind of hated the classes where like twenty people were
like we got a's. It's like okay, so we were
just we weren't competing. Okay, So the Bell curve, we've
done it our way obviously, but I put it at
we can get first.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
I want to just let the know we were like,
what's a bell curve? Yeah, we had like we knew
what it was.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
It was like, let's it's like that. I wasn't part
of that conversation I could have.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
I think it's more like grading on a curve for
us this time, except we are going to use the
belt because we're gonna only have a few at the
top a few at the bottom.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
Well, and I should yes, and I should clarify. Bell
curve has helped me Before there was a statistics class.
I took that like everyone was failing, so he bell
curved everyone up, of course, So that was a beauty.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
That's when it's great.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Sorry for those who achieved in school, we looked at
the numbers and basically it would have been we would
have had to give like one team in A and
that would have been pretty ugly. So we've made our
own bell curve. We've gone three a's, seven b's, ten c's,
seven d's, three fs. So basically, you get ten on
the bottom DNF, you got ten in the middle with

(02:20):
C and you got ten is kind of upper echelon,
which is gonna sting a couple teams because there's gonna
be some playoff teams that are kind of c's.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Sure, but that's that's fine with them because their expectations
were high. I'm gonna keep track right here because I
just remember we probably should do that.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, And well, you know, I got my guys here,
and I think we want to start from the bottom.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
And we're gonna go quickly through this, yeah, because.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
There's a lot of teams, so we're gonna try not
to get hung up along the way. Obviously, there's a
couple good discussion points that we'll hit and we'll work
our way off with the f's. So we have to
give out three f's to teams in the first half
of this baseball season. I think there's one team that
we consensus agreed on that would be the click if

(03:09):
we if we wanted to make this the the clip
Socials put out, I'd rather not because this fan base
especially doesn't like Yankee fans. I think the f that
makes the most sense of all the fs is the
Toronto Blue Jays. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
I mean there were definitely one of the teams that
I thought of and going by expectations before the season,
and what I think this roster actually could like achieve
where they're at right now is just not acceptable. And
I'm gonna tell you guys where they're at right now.
They're ten games back of the wild card. Okay, so
before the season they had an eighty six and a

(03:46):
half over under total that was from DraftKings. You and
Jimmy had them over. I said, I think it's over,
but the line's a trap, so I went under nice
and right now, I mean this is a while back.
I mean they're on pace for seven any three wins.
I think it's even lower than that.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Now.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
They have an underachieving offense. I think an underachieving pitching staff.
Right now, they're eighteenth and web thirteenth in era. Their
bullpen's been a disaster. Alec Manoa, who was coming off
a second in the cy Young not too long ago,
has just turned into, you know, something that we don't
really understand what's going on there. So from where their

(04:27):
expectations were, and this is Vladdie and bo second to
last year there. If they don't get up, it's this
core that they had and they're building around hasn't produced
really anything. And here they are again, ten games out
of the wild card as we speak.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
Gone yeah, And I mean the teams behind them in
the American League, the Angels, the Athletics, and the White Sox.
I mean that's.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
That's so there are first. They are our first f team.
And I don't think Toronto fans will be upset about it,
to be honest, I think they'll understand, Yeah, it hasn't
gone well.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
Right like Blue Jay fans. I'm assuming you agree. Uh
obviously feel free to comment as always, But I don't
even know how you could spin it. You can't spin
it as a c like this is this is kind
of passable, Like no, you're last in the East, Red
Sox raise and when you do zoom out to that
bigger picture, they're also eighth and payroll. I wanted to

(05:22):
bring that up.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
That's what I'm saying. They've constructed a roster. They've they've
brought guys in, they've made trades, they've you know, made
additions to really the starting staff a lot. But it's, uh,
it just hasn't gone their way, man, And I think
we should move on to next team, okay, and I
think we can go quickly, well not really, we can
go quickly at this one.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
For me, it's a Chicago White Sox.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
They have been the most talked about disaster in the
big leagues. They had the worst record in the bigagues
right now, twenty seven and seventy one. Coach, that's a
two to seventy six winning percentage. Whoa you repeat that
to you guys, twenty seven and seventy one. And I
don't think they had a lot of expectations coming in
this year. Chris gets you know, new GM takes over.

(06:02):
Still has some like decent players on the roster. I've
been like, champion this roster since twenty twenty one, whatever
the heck it was if they haven't done anything, but
it's it's been worse. It's been worse than that. Like
every team is using them as a get right series.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
They did have Garrett Crochet become one of the better
starters in all of the big leagues, So like, that's
awesome for him, but they're gonna trade them.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
And I mean that's about it. Like fetti, that might
be a trade thing for them. Luis Robert might be
done like e Lloyd there, we talked about the Blue
Jays young Core. I mean, since the White Sox have
landed where they are, we don't even talk about that anymore.
But this was a few years ago, a young core
that was supposed to compete. Trev You won me over
because at first I was like, we're giving the White

(06:45):
Sox an f like it kind of is what it is.
You hit me with the the broadcast crew has sold
on them so hard.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
Then No, No, the the ring show, yes, the post
game show. The broadcast is that the new guy, he's
been all about them and he wants to fight the
other teams. And that's a little interesting. So maybe he's
part of the reason they're there. Ozzie on the other hand,
and I forget the other guy's name. If you look
that ut beavers for us. But it's the postgame show.

(07:11):
I don't know if you guys have seen it or not,
but you can tune into that and be pretty entertained,
and I'm like halfway, like man that I can't really
get on board with it.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
That halfway I'm like, this is hilarious. Yeah, right, like
they're all entertaining. Like, how else do you have people
watch that postgame show? I think the final aft, which
this one can be quick. I think it's Miami. There's
a team we'll talk about, or a few teams in
the D section, but Miami. It was when we were

(07:39):
doing their tpp A. They weren't playoff team last year,
and we were like, what like Miami and we've done
the same We'll talk about Seattle. We laugh whenever we
talk about Seattle on Talking Baseball because we're like, it's
been the same thing for three years now. It feels
like Miami. It feels like it's been the same thing,
just with gaps of winning and losing. And they are

(08:01):
worst record in the NL. They were a playoff team
last year. I know it's expanded playoffs or whatever, but
they're not. They're the worst team, worse than the Rockies,
worse than whoever you want in the NL.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
They got dealt with a ton of blows, you know,
to their pitching staff, which was their calling card right now,
any way you cook it, twenty ninth in ops, that's tough,
twenty ninth in era for their starters, the bullpen, fifteenth
in the rates.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
They got some guys doing it, but that's not going.

Speaker 2 (08:31):
To get anything done. But again, I think you have
to mention the injuries. You got Sandy, you got Braxton,
you got Jesus Lizard, you got Uri Perez, you got
Sixto Sanchez, Ryan Weathers. That's a lot of people on
the aisle.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
Is that a Jesus Lizard?

Speaker 2 (08:44):
Yeah, so it's it's not good down there. Chisholm seems
to be on the move. People are looking at him.
They're playing him at second base now to up his
trade value. So I think there was some real expects
coming in. I guess, you know, they needed offense. They
didn't do much to go get it. Seventy eight and

(09:05):
a half was there over under and right now their
record is thirty three and sixty three. That's a three
forty four percent. So yeah, they're they're an F tier
team for me.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
Is that what we're calling it? I guess. So this
is like an old we were, This is like an
old school tier list. This is before them young and go. Yeah,
we just we'd call them mail curves. Okay, so those
are the f's for now. Let's try to We're gonna
have seven d's, so let's each maybe nominate two. Okay,
to nominate two, I've got two that jump out.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
I mean the Oakland A's had zero, Yeah, zero expectations.

Speaker 1 (09:42):
They're moving out of Oakland.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
Uh, everything is bad as opposed to that song, everything
is awesome opposite of that.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
Uh, they were fifty six and a half over under.
We took the under throw the Rocks in there too,
Like Rockies and A's are same and sane, like no expectations.
It's been bad and like I feel bad for both
franchises for different reasons.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
The Rockies at least have I mean, I guess we
love them as great job on Mason Miller.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
What are you gonna do with them?

Speaker 2 (10:09):
JJ bled, Lawrence Butler went three times hell but and
then the Rockies. Big Man's probably a trade piece for them.
Nolan jan is a guy. Brian's had some interesting quotes
this year and hasn't been on the field. So I
think they're a D team.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
Hard hard to give them a C anywhere. Uh. The
team that I thought could have been a borderline f
I mentioned payrolls before. The team I've been tough on
and you countered well and accurately, the Chicago Cubs. They
were the favorites in the division gambling wise coming into
the season. They have thought they're in a window or

(10:46):
starting a window. But between I don't know their free
agent moves, their top prospects, nothing's really come together that
for the seventh highest payroll to have a record of
what forty six and fifty one did they win today?

Speaker 2 (11:03):
Forty seven and fifty one seven three and a half
games back out of the wild card. So there is
a glimmer of pauper. That whole NL Central has been
jumbled up, just like we thought it would be right.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
But the Cubs were supposed to be I could do.

Speaker 2 (11:16):
Didn't you see their their promotion for Cubs calm.

Speaker 1 (11:18):
Don't you know you know what that you know that
gets Didn't you see that that gets me?

Speaker 2 (11:23):
They got Craig Council.

Speaker 1 (11:24):
I'm not a Cub and solved. Dude. When you've got
Hall of Famers on the bottom low of the bottom
row of that La La Plouza poster, what are we doing.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
Bellinger just broke his finger, I believe. Yeah, this is
it's been tough, Ian Hap you've been crushing it as
of late.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
Obvious for you. Yeah, so that's your dteam, huh, one
of them. I mean they were close to an f
for me. But when you actually look at the standings
and like if the Cubs go if the Cubs get
hot out of the break and they go ten and three,
they're actually gonna be sitting okay, but between expectations, payroll,
and who they should be in that division, they're over
under was eighty four and a half.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
We all took the over you said, eighty seven wins
and we had this on pace and at June twenty six,
so it doesn't matter. But at that point seventy.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
Will they add or what do they do? Because last year,
remember they talked about this a lot.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
I talked about this a lot, either with you or
with Chris Rose. I don't know, but they're yeah, they're
they kind of have like their guys. Yeah, so they
either like strip it completely down or their guys are
kind of there, either they have long term contracts or
they're under team control for a while. Like they just
I mean showed has been great for them.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
I actually had one pitture reach out to me. Let's
just like, wow, Paul Skians starting the alscer game. I
think we all think it's a good thing. I said
to Chris. I said, I know all around baseball right now,
baseball players are like, nah, this ain't it because such
a hierarchy, like it means something to starting pitchers to
start the All Star Game. Yeah, and so there's a
bunch of older guys being like no, like you gotta

(12:58):
earn it eleven starts, and one pitch reached out to
me and said, hey man, why didn't we give it
to Showdie Minaga. Do you remember what he did from
his first eleven starts right? You barely give up a run,
So like it. I think Skeins is the right play
right now. But whatever, I see both sides of it,
because how did we get there.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
He should be displayed in front of baseball because he
does look like he's next. I had tires or tire
fan tweeted us and was like, you guys not really
caring about Trek Scouble starting the All Star Game. That
kind of hurts me. And I was like, damn, I
get that, Like Schooble kind of has the best that
he's a good young pitcher, but we don't care as
much because he hasn't had the hype train.

Speaker 2 (13:37):
How many D I gotta give you, I gotta give
you a D right now?

Speaker 1 (13:43):
Okay, I've got I've got two. Well, it's my turn, Okay,
I mean this is easy for me. It's the Los
Angeles Angels. Yeah, I think we just checked that box.
Halo fans, if.

Speaker 2 (13:54):
You're came out freaking hot now you know on the ILU,
nothing really has gone great for them. My guy Willie
Calhoun did hit a walko from her homer two nights ago.
That was nice, but it's just they didn't really have
a lot of expectations coming into this year. You lose, Hey,
they're gone Angels.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
I want to double down out West. Okay, Texas Rangers. Right,
they're forty six and forty six and fifty. They won
the World Series last year.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
It's not a hangover anymore. Hangovers end, hangovers end. They
had eighty nine and a half over under. You went
under and you said you already regret it. Jimmy and
I both went over. And right now they are forty
six and fifty. They're seven and a half games out
of the wild Card.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
They've salvaged it just a little bit at the end.
But I don't know DE means disappointing, but they have been.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
I think they have been disappointing. I mean they've dealt
with a ton of injuries, some underperformances from their offense.
I mean, look, they had a couple guys. Josh Smith
has been really good for them, and Seegers come on
extremely strong. Somehow Marcus Simmy to start in the All
Star Game. Gonna see him tonight, Love you, mar Chus.
But with Joseel Tuova out, he's starting, they're closer in
the division five and a half games back. Mariners fans,
how are you feeling right now? Yeah, right right now,

(15:11):
we're gonna get to the Mariners. Houston ash is one
and a half out, Rangers five and a half out,
and that is they've been slowly, slowly sliding down. So
I guess with expectations, I can agree with you on
the Rangers. I think is there a path back for them?
I mean, they're GM, We're gonna sell unless there's a
drastic turnaround. And they've they've they've they've done it.

Speaker 1 (15:32):
I mean the change is in. It's it's not changes
they have to make. It's Marcus Simmon, You've got two
weeks to get hot. Seeger, you've kind of gotten hot.
Adulties like his numbers on the year are not where
they need to be. Sure's are just came back so
they I mean, it's fun and it's scary if you're
a Rangers fan, because the next two weeks, if you

(15:52):
get hot, I think you're one of the scariest teams
in the AL. If you don't, you're selling and you
should be. Uh, this is where they get ugly.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
We need I think I got, I think I got
We need two.

Speaker 1 (16:03):
More D teams. I think I've got one. I might
have two. Who's the team you see, I'm gonna go
to Nationals? Okay, Like that's a tough one. I think
they could be a C team. And they have shown
like flashes of you know, James Wood coming up and C.
J Abrams is hitting absolute tank shots all the time.
Really nice to see there.

Speaker 2 (16:23):
Jake Irvin's been great, so there has been good things happening.
But they got like to five hundred.

Speaker 1 (16:28):
It's been an ugly stretch. And then and then.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
They've really slipped down. They're forty four and fifty three
right now, they're eighteen and a half games back in
the division because the Phillies are so strong, and then
in the wild card Jake they slipped and slipped their
six games back. They're like away from that tier. The
Giants in the Cubs are three and a half games back.
There's a couple of teams closer than that, but four
more teams in front of them. So I mean, they're

(16:50):
the third worst record in the National League. So although
the expectations weren't there, so maybe they don't deserve a
D ranking. I think that because because of what they showed,
or like, hey this this team could go and maybe
they're going to add they've they've just slid.

Speaker 1 (17:07):
So how about this. I've got three teams that I
think are eligible. I think the Gnats are them. I
think these other two teams, if you can separate them
for better or worse, I'm fine with it. Or these
teams kind of paired together better than the Nats, who
didn't have expectations and have seen a lot of young
guys like play good ball. The two teams that jump
out are San Francisco and Detroit. Okay, Like both teams

(17:30):
came into this year like wanting to be punchy wildcard teams,
and at the end of the first half they're not.
I mean, the Giants are looking up.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
So I if I have to help you make this
because the last one in our d tar, I'll go Tigers. Okay,
they've had good things happen. Look, Flaherty was a great sign.
You're gonna trade him? Uh, Trek Scoogle, He's probably gonna
win the sty young in the Ale. He's a stud's
no doubt about it.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
But you're nowhere. You're not Toles.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
Yeah, you're three games back of five hundred, seven games
back of the wild card. What was the over under here, Jake?
The over under for the Detroit Tigers eighty point five.
We all took the over I said, eighty one wins exactly.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
Yeah, and they still can't.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
They still they still can get that.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
But how about this. Their wild card hopes are done?

Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yes, they're not a playoff team. You know, they're not
a playoff team this year. And they've had they've had
aspirations of taking the next step for many times.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
And if you.

Speaker 2 (18:28):
Were to tell them before the year that Scoobs was
going to pitch the way he pitched, and the signing
of Jack Flaherty was going to work out the way
it's worked out, which is like, yeah, one of the
better pitchers in the American League, striking out a million people.
They would have expected to be higher. So I think
that's where I'm at. Riley Green, Hey, you're a guy.
Matt Vierling, Okay, Hobby Bias.

Speaker 1 (18:49):
Yeah, I mean they brought in Hinch, they brought him Bias.
It's it's time in Detroit Motor City, and it has
been the opposite.

Speaker 2 (18:56):
I'm not ready to put the Giants here because I
don't really know what they're I mean, they.

Speaker 1 (19:01):
Made you kind of like the Giants I do. I mean,
they're everyone kind of like so three and a half
games out of the Wildcards, so I think they're gonna
be a CE team for us. They could be our
first that's fair. They could be first team Detroit if
someone sold me and they were like, hey, dude, the
Giants are gonna have a big second half. They got
some starting pitching coming. Ellie Ron blah blah blah.

Speaker 2 (19:18):
Are we this is not like a rankking like so
like the Sea teams, can be because I think the
Rays are probably like me lower than the Giants right
now as far as like relations and stuff like that.
But but we're not doing that. So Giants are going
to be our first team in this year.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
So how about it? I figured this out. So Nationals
and Detroit Tigers round out the D section Rockies, Cubs, Angels,
Texas Nats, Tigers. So this is how this is gonna work. Trump,
I say we jump up to a B now because
that's easier than doing ten seed teams, and that'll leave
us the ten seed teams. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (19:59):
Up to you, this is your sh I think.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
So I was kind of if we get caught up
in ten sea teams, we could be here. I think
we could rattle them off. We might not be Sea
teams are just they are what they are. Then, you
know what, King Cook, this is why we do it.
This is ready to rip.

Speaker 2 (20:17):
Yeah, Giants. Giants are one of them. They're on their way,
like you know, people are talking, Hey, we're getting Robbie
Raybeck Snell came back you know, for like what the
second time.

Speaker 1 (20:26):
Maybe, and he's looked pretty good. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
Elliott Ramos has been a revelation, like they're they're starting
to go a little bit their ex third basement. Evan
Longoria threw a great first pace the other night, stud
So I think they're there.

Speaker 1 (20:39):
They're over under to begin the year was.

Speaker 2 (20:44):
Eighty one and a half and they're like, they're basically
on pace for that because right now, Jake, they are
sitting at forty six and fifty, so they're a little
bit under there, but they're three and a half games
back of the wild card. I think, you know, we
can talk about pretty much the entire NL Center.

Speaker 1 (20:59):
Dreads and it's it's tough to give them a higher grade.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
Reds, I think, And I'm going to talk about them
on TV, and I don't want to give too much
away there. I'm I'm I bought red stock.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
Really, I've always been on the train. It's just been
an ugly start, ugly start, but there they go. This year,
they're they're getting new bodies and.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
Has actually been pretty good.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
Yeah, that was supposed to be there.

Speaker 2 (21:26):
But as far as expectations for the year and where
they're at their three games back, I think they should
be there. I think the Pirates, gosh, they I mean,
they're they're not They're almost a B team for me
because of what.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
I think when we get to B teams we're going
to see they're not. But seeing their record at five
hundred going into the All Star Break with it, it
does feel a little better. But I think Bell Curve World.
I think they're CEE.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
Okay, so we went Giants and we went reds Pirates
and Pirates. Okay, so we need.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
Seven more teams.

Speaker 2 (21:57):
I think that's pretty easy.

Speaker 1 (21:58):
Coach.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
I think we can go and say that the Rays
are one of them. They're directly seeing directly at five hundred,
they're over under was at eighty six and a half
or eighty four and a half.

Speaker 1 (22:09):
We jumped at it. Uh.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
They've been dealing with injuries, they've shipped some people out.
They traded Aaron Savale, like who they went and got.
This is interesting.

Speaker 1 (22:16):
The sea area is a little bit of stock.

Speaker 2 (22:20):
You can got them stock.

Speaker 1 (22:21):
I've got a little bit of raised stock. The names
have changed. Brandon Law is back, Josh Lowe has been
around always Esak but even they're like with their two trades,
they traded Savally and Mayiton, it's like addition by subtraction.
They got something back and they're calling up guys that

(22:41):
are raised guys.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
TODs Bradley has had a really nice stretch of starts.
Their offense is kind of but that's been the thing.
Like last year when they went on the feet of
the April, their offense was just like the best, and
it just hasn't hasn't been the best, it's been pretty bad.
I'll also go, I think Arizona Diamondbacks deserved to be
in this tier coming off a World Series bid, you know,
like made some improvements. Even though guys some guys, yeah,

(23:06):
they're on the way up, but they well.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
If you put them, you have to put San Diego to.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
I think I'm going to four forty nine and forty seven.
The a couple of games were five hundred. I think
if you told them that prior to the year, they'd
be like, yeah, that seems like okay, yeah, like that's
not like great for them.

Speaker 1 (23:20):
We've wanted more, Yes, we've wanted more from both teams.
Let's put in there. Corden Carrol is like going off, Yeah,
that's such a six. The fact that he could just
be he can look like that for two months and
then it just comes we're.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
Going padres after that they're sitting two games over five
they're only a half game out of the wild Card,
but you know they're coming. They're like, I like the Padres,
and I think Prowler is going to do something. They've
had some really good success stories there as well. The
Waldron's been a success story. Jackson Merrill has been a

(23:57):
success story Jerks and Profar has been a success story
for TIS. I think is going to be out for
like quite some time. Yeah, which kind of sucks. I'm
curious to see what they do. But again, two games
over five hundred. I think if you asked the fan
base prior to the year, they'd be like, all right,
Like where are we at? You said, oh, half came
back to the wald Car like all right, Like we
like that, but they're not. That's not overachieving. I think
they're achieving kind of fairly or maybe even a little

(24:21):
bit under.

Speaker 1 (24:22):
So that's one.

Speaker 2 (24:23):
They've dele some injuries to the staff as well, all
that stuff, But like, I think that's a good tier
for them.

Speaker 1 (24:28):
This is where things are gonna get ugly.

Speaker 2 (24:30):
I think the Houston are in this tier.

Speaker 1 (24:31):
I think you're right. I'm glad, I'm glad you said it.
That sounds a little better than coming from the Yankee mouth.
But you know, they've erased a lot of it recently,
but that's because they were in F.

Speaker 2 (24:41):
They're one and a half out of the West right.

Speaker 1 (24:43):
Now, right, they were in F. They're currently not in
the playoffs, right, I think they are. No, they're out,
are they They're Yeah, they're further back in the wildcard
they're West. You're right, they're one and a half out
of there in the wild card. Yeah, that's I mean, there's
an argument for lower that. See. I think that's they're like.

Speaker 2 (24:59):
A C minus. They were in these seas, aren't ranked
as we do. Yeah, they're like a C minus.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
As far as expectations, I think we feel they get
the sea because they've been the good student that's shown
their coming. Yes that by the end of the year
their numbers are going to be. Everyone is terrified of
the Astros right now? Are you kidding me? I've got
the other one that I think would be kind of
clicky is Atlanta. I was right at for se.

Speaker 2 (25:25):
For C They've they've had good, they've had good. Ronaldo
Lopez has been he just got qualified. He's got like
the best in the NL Chris Sale has been uh incredible,
But how nuts is that?

Speaker 1 (25:36):
If you told us Sale is going to be a
cy young contender and Ranaldo Lopez, we would have said
the Braves were ten up. Right now, they're nine back
of Philly.

Speaker 2 (25:45):
And they are currently not Oh they are, they're leading
the wild card.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
Excuse me? Can I tell the people what name you
just put for Braves?

Speaker 2 (25:53):
Since I was thinking about, like, look, they'd lost this guy, it's.

Speaker 1 (25:59):
Got he's down each team and he meant to write Braves,
but he was doing when you write your thoughts, he wrote, yes.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
Well, I mean you lose you had some guys. That's
tough early on in the season, not performed to expectations,
Mettals and like the start, they're starting to come on
very strong. So they're on their way up there of
the I mean not on the way up, they're they're
they're there. They've been here intrenching what they have the
fourth best record in baseball and that's and they're in

(26:29):
the season because because.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
These last two teams are really tricky, because honestly, nothing's
jumping off the board for me, like it feels rude
to put the Mets because the Mets are there. What
are you talking about? Okay, go off, King, I just okay,
So today I'm going to show you they are. I'm
going to show you the two teams I think them.
And that's tough. We're this is the toughest part thing.

Speaker 2 (26:57):
Okay, full disclosure. I'm think about the Royals, but I
think the real are more of a success than and
they've just been kind of dipping down as of late.
I think they're more of a success than what like
the Yankees. I think he's expected to be there.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
We got to get out of this pitch because the
Yankees didn't didn't like the Yankees. Yes, they added one Soto,
they just came off missing the playoffs, and I know
they've limped into the finish line, but they're dude, They're
an Anthony Volpi ground ball from being first place New
York Yankees over Baltimore, who like Baltimore's really good.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
This is where it gets tough, Jake. Yeah, Kansas City
lost almost one hundred games last year or did they
lose one hundred games last year?

Speaker 1 (27:39):
I think they I think they did. Every time we looked
at Kansas City's numbers, we were blown. And right now
they won fifty something.

Speaker 2 (27:46):
And right now they're fifty two and forty five, so
they're almost at their last season win total. Very hard
to put them in the Sea category. I don't think
I can either. The Mariners are in first place in
the division, although they're slipping away. Can't put them a
brutal See, you can't do that, Brewers. We can't do
it now. So I think the Cardinals can be there

(28:07):
because have I'm gonna put the Cardinals there even though
they're back then interesting goodness, because there's too much talent
on the roster and they've improved. I'm putting them on
the seatier because if you were to tell them, hey,
you're gonna be four and a half games back of
the Brewers.

Speaker 1 (28:23):
Right, dude, how about this is well, like they have
a minus thirty eight run differential, Like if if we're
going to some other numbers. I know this has felt
so much better for Saint Louis, but this is as
of late, right, and if we're giving all these other
wildcard teams like, oh this should happen.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
I think, look, they if you told them we're gonna be,
you guys are gonna be you know, a wild card team,
And like there's a lot of people breathing down your neck.

Speaker 1 (28:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:51):
I think they would say, yeah, like, that's not overachieving.
So I'm coming tough last year.

Speaker 1 (28:56):
I know last is.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
Really bad, but they've had something disaster.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
Yeah. Are there any baseball pundits slamming the table for
Saint Louis like me?

Speaker 2 (29:06):
Me and Katie Wou love Katie Wu love Katie Woo.

Speaker 1 (29:10):
One more team. So it's looking like Mets Kansas City.
I mean, I don't want you to be offended. Maybe
the Twins are in play. They had a little more
expectations than Kansas City.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
I've been thinking about the Twins. I think it's between
the Twins probably and the Mets.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
The Mets are so hard to grade.

Speaker 2 (29:33):
They have so much. They're so fun and dumb at
the same time that I can't put them in the
seat here.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
Yeah, I think Twins, man, it's between the Royals and
Mets are similar stories expectation wise. I'm in.

Speaker 2 (29:48):
I'm in for the Twins.

Speaker 1 (29:49):
I mean, they're they're like the Twins, though I.

Speaker 2 (29:51):
Do too, and I think I think if they get
Royce Lewis back at full strength and they have a
Royce Lewis Carlos Korea, brooks Lee infield, and Jose Miranda
like manning first base. He's been crushing the ball, although
he just won on the aisle. Uh, it'll be a
different story. Eddie Julian comes up as like a bench
bet eventually when he gets things going.

Speaker 1 (30:13):
Trevor, I might be in on the Twins front office.
They've got like young bodies. Cy.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
I like the guys at first fall, so you know,
I talked to them and they're rat No, they're open
to talking to me, which is cool. Like we talk
real ball, Like I go in there and we talk
ball and they're not afraid to do it. So I
respect that. I think they're a little hamstrung by like
payroll restrictions. Like I can't give them like this excellent
grade because they haven't made a ton of news and
they've they've whiffed on some, they've hit hit on some

(30:43):
as well. They've done well drafting. I'll put the Twins
in the seatier. Okay, that'll be the last one. And yeah, wait,
we'll do one last time. I'll tell you why the
Twins this real quick. Oh, the starting pitching hasn't been
that good. Papa's regressed a ton. Yeah, he needs to
get to go on his off speed stuff has not
worked this year at all. Bailey Ober has been more
shaky he was. He was the model of consistency last year.

(31:04):
Just a bunch of quality starts. Joe ryan'son really good.
But then after that, like Simeon's Wood, Richardson has been
pretty good. He's had some really good starts. Do I
like love him in a playoff series?

Speaker 1 (31:16):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
And then the guys they have brought up behind him,
they just haven't really done it yet. So I'm okay
with that fun deadline coming for them. Can't bring on
a lot of money, they have assets. I like how
the Twins look. Man that lineup, That lineup goes okay.
So this one's I think for the next This is
the Beatier seventeen. This is overachieving, yeah, I mean or

(31:41):
just having agree get a good grade, you know. I
think the Kansas City of ros had to be our
first one Royals because they've just improved by so many games.
Bobby Wood juniors like absolutely turned the corner. He is
like a bona fide superstar. And I do if someone
can find the clip of me saying I'd rather have
Bobby Wood Junior than Julio Darriguez.

Speaker 1 (32:00):
This was years ago.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
Yeah, and I didn't have great reasons for it.

Speaker 1 (32:04):
I don't think. I think it was more of a
positional thing, like he gave me the short stop the
way you said Julia was a little white there. I
didn't say Julia sound a little Julia.

Speaker 2 (32:13):
If if I did, it's because Eddie Julian.

Speaker 1 (32:15):
I think, Yeah, I think it rolled off a little bit.
You know, I'm not trying to cancel you. Yeah, don't
cancel me. Verse kid speaking and canceled. I'll throw my
Yankees in the mix like it's it's everything. We said.
You can't give them an A although they had it
for a little bit. Well they had an A and
then they just failed like two tests.

Speaker 2 (32:34):
No, they had it wasn't like just today, You're not
going to give him an A if they win today's game, No,
you're going to And then you had a horrible three weeks, which.

Speaker 1 (32:46):
It's a little pass baseball. Yeah, there was the worst
little past baseball. I'm fine with that.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
I think the Mets deserve to be in this tier
as well. They're three games over five hundred, They're in
the dance in the dance that today they've clawed their
way back because this the whole talk was, what the
who are they going to sell? What's Pete a long?
Who's he going to be playing for the Mariners?

Speaker 1 (33:08):
Like we want Pete?

Speaker 2 (33:09):
And we're like, no, please, don't go there, or go there,
thank goodness, whatever, which one, whatever side you're on. And
now Jose Iglesias is the number one that in pop Star,
in all of baseball. He's gonna be performing here the
Al Star Game. He's in like four hundred. He just
hit two homers their day. Yeah, him and Harrison Bader
hit both hit two homers.

Speaker 1 (33:26):
Live decline, love you live. I'm in the middle, babe,
you know me. He's paying paying bills. So where was I? Oh,
Mets are there? Mets and I'll I'll keep it rolling.
The good job, great job. They're in the playoffs. Dodgers
should not Dodger should have been seat tier.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
You think so we can go back?

Speaker 1 (33:49):
Can't wa? Or should we go back? Now? That's tough?
We can Who would you bump up the Twins? It's
tough because they're a first place team.

Speaker 2 (33:59):
Yeah, all right, we'll go You know what we could
say about that.

Speaker 1 (34:03):
In first place by a lot.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
They're getting a job done despite do you see what's
on their ie l Glass now Kershaw, who's on his
way back? Esophagus tear? What's up with that? You gotta
look you look like you've done that before. Tony Gonslin
has been out. Tyler Glass now is out?

Speaker 1 (34:24):
Y'a Amoto?

Speaker 2 (34:25):
Your your four hundred dollars picture, who's never stepped foote
he's out? Walker Buehler has had a step back. Bobby Miller, Bobby.

Speaker 1 (34:33):
Miller and you are still in first place. They're still
very much in first place. Yeah, you can't give them
a c. But I think that's a fair landing.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
And they're going to you know, they're going to go
after people like it's either Crochet or Flaherty for them.
I would bet a lot on it.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
Okay, how about I think another easy one Seattle. They're
in first place. Congrats Seattle. You play in your division.
That's all you can do. I think is baseball fans
seeing the start Houston and Texas had that, we everyone
feels like we should be sitting here with the Mariners

(35:11):
eight games up and it's a game and a half,
but they are in first place in their division.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
Coach, it's the same old song and dance, not a
song of fire and ice, which we like.

Speaker 1 (35:21):
Bump bump, bump bump.

Speaker 2 (35:23):
Their pitchers have the best whip in baseball. Their starting pitchers,
the relievers are the third best whip in baseball.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
Perfect.

Speaker 2 (35:33):
What's your offense doing? Oh, we wanted to cut down
a strike ups? We're dead lasting strike up percentage. By
the way, we're twenty seventh in ops, twenty ninth and
average twenty six in run scored.

Speaker 1 (35:42):
Dude, they come out of the break.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
Why do we do it?

Speaker 1 (35:44):
They come out of the break with Houston. I feel
like I've seen that before. You are in first place.
You're in first place. Hey, it's a long season.

Speaker 2 (35:54):
So we're giving you the bea to your right now.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
If playoffs or tomorrow you've won the Al West, you
are a b So how many teams do we have
be now?

Speaker 2 (36:01):
So we're going we're going Phillies in this tier. Another
first place team is.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
The hot one. You and I are an eyed eye
on this.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
I am eyed eye because this roster I'm gonna make
you this roster. This is this roster is they're supposed
to be the best in baseball. They're a complete roster bro.
They really are. Now you can say, hey, Chris Sanchez
came out of freaking nowhere, right, keep growing, but you
keeps growing. But you already had Nola, Wheeler Suarez, you

(36:32):
already had the bullpen, you already had this lineup that
you've constructed and extended. They're there forever. They've dealt with
some injuries. But and they're in first place and they
had the best record in baseball. I get that, but
I also think the regular season means nothing to them
or the fan base.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
It doesn't. It'll it's true once wait, they hit the playoffs,
their World Series or bust team.

Speaker 2 (36:54):
That's why the Dodgers are here too. Yeah, the Dodgers
behind them. They have a sixty two and thirty four record.
The Dodgers have a fifty six and forty one, so
they're you know, five games back.

Speaker 1 (37:04):
That's kind of a lot.

Speaker 2 (37:06):
But you know what I'm saying, like, Yeah, the Dodgers
in Phillies expected to be in the playoffs. They're doing fine.
I think they're having a great year. But we're talking
expectations here, Jack Jake. I think if you said, hey, man,
the only thing that would bump them up is if
you said, hey, you're gonna be nine games up on
the Braves coming also, then they're like, oh.

Speaker 1 (37:27):
That's what's tough for me because they are best record
in baseball, but we don't have nine games.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
We don't have three in the eight tiers.

Speaker 1 (37:33):
I know. And that's that's where the expectations are a
big part. And the discussion goes all around. And I
guess if you're thinking of Bell Curve, the original tierless, like,
let's if the Phillies are a B plus and the
Braves are a C. Doesn't that check out? You know? Yeah,
we put you put the most of these teams expected

(37:54):
to be in the playoffs. Sure, the Braves think they
should have that record. Philly, we've waited to see this
regular season. And then, not to throw our own thoughts
under the bus, but if the Phillies lose in the DS,
this has been a bigger failure than their last two
seasons three seasons, the season would be viewed as disappointing.

Speaker 2 (38:15):
Yeah, I want to make Phillies fans feel better. Please, Baltimore,
you're also in the B list. Yeah, Like the expectations
are there, Like you guys continue to surprise us with
all your blonde haired, long, freaking handsome, frat boy looking
prospects that you bring up. Stop it, you made great trades.
You got Cordon Burns over there, and it's been incredible.

Speaker 1 (38:36):
Hit them with the MJ. Stop it. Fuck them kids,
yeah for real, no shit.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
So like, look, they're having a great year. Fifty eight
and thirty eight. I believe that's the second best record
in all the baseball and.

Speaker 1 (38:49):
If they end up in the wild card, that's disappointing.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
They won the division last year.

Speaker 1 (38:54):
They're one game.

Speaker 2 (38:55):
They're one game up on the Yankees, who are also
in this year, so that you can give them a
B or B plus where.

Speaker 1 (38:59):
They could have in one game the other way with
one ground ball would have flipped.

Speaker 2 (39:06):
If it's if they're one game back and they won
that game, it would have.

Speaker 1 (39:09):
Been weren't they tied going into today? Today? They were
by like games back. It was zero today. Yeah, yeah,
because if the Yankees won, so.

Speaker 2 (39:19):
They haven't they haven't played two games.

Speaker 1 (39:21):
I don't know. Today, I believe we're not even going there.
We're not gone there. So there are last time Yankees
Mets Dodger Seattle Phillies Baltimore. That does make the Phillies
feel better, right, And then we come to the aghier
deductive reasoning. Some people have figured it out because there's

(39:42):
three teams left, but tell them about them.

Speaker 2 (39:45):
I think we should start off with the most obvious.

Speaker 1 (39:50):
Uh one, and who are they?

Speaker 2 (39:54):
I think it's Cleveland, Well, Cleveland, it's Cleveland. Cleveland is
fifty eight and thirty seven. They've had an incredible offensive run.
They're pitching has been borderline atrocious. I'm talking about their
starting pitching. Yeah, it's been bad. They've sent guys down,
They've had injuries.

Speaker 1 (40:14):
Sticks.

Speaker 2 (40:14):
Man, their bullpen has been otherworldly. They have six seven
dudes that they could count on at any given moment
in the game, and that's what's gotten them.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
Through this year.

Speaker 2 (40:25):
Plus they got guys raking dude, Yeah, swing harder and
all of a sudden, he's like a legit, like elite
hitter in the big leagues. Naylor has been like I
wish he was in the home in Derby. I think
he might be one of my favorite hitters.

Speaker 1 (40:42):
He is. How many RBIs does he have? I'm looking
it up right now, Josh Naylor RBI. Guess I'm going
sixty one.

Speaker 2 (40:47):
I think it's higher. I think it's like sixty five.

Speaker 1 (40:50):
Abd's on research and I think Koseirmirs might have seventy. Yeah,
Jay Ram has a ton.

Speaker 2 (40:55):
So they've just gotten it done man, And they're over
under what eighty I mean they're close to half.

Speaker 1 (41:04):
Seventy RBIs for josh Naylor, seventy for Joshna. What about
for j Ram? Give me seventy seventy three? It's hire looking,
look ginglet's seventy six.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
Jay, you took the under.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
It was seven seventy seven, seventy seven by j Rare
driving in runs. I know.

Speaker 2 (41:24):
Seventy eight and a half was the over undercoming into
the year. People you said, ready to be wrong playing
the odds games. This must have been one of the
later ones that we did. You had too many overs.
Jimmy and I both took the over.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
They are.

Speaker 2 (41:39):
I think if you ask any Guardians fan and you said, hey,
you're starting, pitching is gonna be probably the worst in
all the baseball I have some statistics. They're not the worst,
but being closed twenty fifth and whip twenty fourth in era,
they walk way too many people. They are twenty fourth
and walks per noun. The bullpen stats, they give up third.
They're the worst team in homers per nine and in

(42:00):
the bullpen stats. Ones across the board. Yeah, offense, borderline
top ten offense and with guys playing like we just mentioned,
you know, seventy and higher runs driven in prior to
the All Star breaks. So I think they're they're they're
on the A list for you know, expectations for sure.

Speaker 1 (42:19):
When Trev says one's across the board for the bullpen
e ra a whip k per nine, home runs per
nine and hits per nine, that's just that's sick. That's everything.
It's sick. Moving on the next team, I think, well,
let's go. Well, here's what I was going to say.
I think I think this year has cemented Cleveland as

(42:40):
the Milwaukee of the Ale Center.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
I think they're better. They're better than that. There they
go back to twenty twelve or something. Their record is incredible.

Speaker 1 (42:48):
Like these organizations have sneaky run the divisions for a bit. Now.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
New managers Stephen Vote takes over a young Guardians team,
guides them because that's what he does. Pat Murphy comes
into the to the Brewers job bench coach you know,
the guy in front of you is a fucking right
headlining Lallapalooza for the Cubs, and you're just okay, I
guess I'll be the manager. Thanks, you know, and you

(43:14):
trade away your ace, your closer gets hurt. Yeah, what
what are we doing here? All of a sudden? We
just have a defensive mastermind team yally playing at an
MVP level.

Speaker 1 (43:29):
Last year it looked like they had a crop of
freshmen literally their terms. That looked like it wasn't gonna happen.
They were okay.

Speaker 2 (43:37):
They brought new guys up this year, terrang Terrain's been
great and you know, I mean, dude, Joey Weimer used
to be the like highlight and now he's kind of out.
They they they have, I mean, where are they at right?
Their first their first essential?

Speaker 1 (43:53):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (43:53):
The Brewers are fifty five and forty two. They're over under.

Speaker 1 (43:57):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (43:58):
This year was seventy six and a half.

Speaker 1 (44:00):
This was my loss, seventy six and a half.

Speaker 2 (44:02):
That's true, we all took the over. I put out
a tweet and I said, I think this team has
a better chance of winning ninety games and how they
were constructed before Corbyn Burns was hit.

Speaker 1 (44:11):
That's just stupid. I was kind of joking about cock sure,
but like this.

Speaker 2 (44:15):
Is what they do.

Speaker 1 (44:17):
I like you guys. But if Steven Voting Pat Murphy
hit me up right now steaks and whiskey, they hit
me up and hit me in three days, me and Voter,
you know.

Speaker 2 (44:29):
And and they're so again for for Milwaukee before we
move on to the number one team, you expect pitching
from them. So the bullpen's been good. Fourth in the
e race, seventh and whip eighth and hits P nine.
They're not striking many people out, but they're getting the
job done. And then it's been there. It's been their
offense man their eighth and runs third and obp so
they're getting on and their second and stolen bases. They

(44:51):
have zigged when everyone else has zagged with going younger
and more athletic. Yeah, we see that from time to time.
And the team they were about to talk about as well,
is sort of doing that. They are, they're ahead, They're
always one step ahead of every other team in the league.

Speaker 1 (45:08):
Well, I've said this on Talking Baseball a lot, but
as I look at looking at Milwaukee and Cleveland back
to back, we've got teams that are hitting, which okay,
I'm not bringing a ton to the table When I
tell you you need a team hitting, I think you
need a deep line up, although Cleveland's not super deep,
although they've had guys gone runs between and some other bodies.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
David Fries out of nowhere. Least he's taking a dive,
but still.

Speaker 1 (45:32):
I mean what they've gone from him. As I look
at those two team outlooks. The bullpen for both of
these teams has been great. Yep, They've had good hitting, which, okay, that's.

Speaker 2 (45:42):
The time for both of them.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
I think both those teams also play defense, like the
Brewers pride themselves on defense. And then I think for Cleveland,
just if you go around like Kwan is a goal glover,
Jose Ramirez every year plays good defense. Jimenez is a
platty glove type guy that I think if you go
around those teams, defense, bullpen and enough hitting. Yes, both

(46:09):
those teams starting pitching kind of bad.

Speaker 2 (46:11):
Milwaukee Brandon Woodrooff didn't start the year, see right, So
you trade your ace and then we lose Woodroof. Robert
Gasser is a guy who brought up he looked pre
dang good. All of a sudden, Tommy John dal Hall,
the guy you traded for, he's been out since April.
H Wade Miley out since April. So like they've dealt
with their share of injury. So that explains why they're starting.
Pitching hasn't been up to par, but you know you're

(46:36):
getting some you're getting some performances.

Speaker 1 (46:39):
Like there their bullpen looks like almost the Brewers are
testing themselves, like, hey, do you think we can make
an elite bullpen with McGill, Hudson, Piguero pie Amps, Hoby Milner.
I think there's this strinth sky in there.

Speaker 2 (46:55):
There's not one player in their pitching on their pitching staff,
bullpen or starters that they drafted.

Speaker 1 (47:03):
This is all the acquisitions. Hey, you guys screw up
these pitchers and then will take them and we'll make
them great. That leaves one team, trev.

Speaker 2 (47:13):
And this is I've been I've been hitting on this.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
We're on this a lot.

Speaker 2 (47:16):
It's gonna it's the Boston Red Sox. The expectations for
them weren't great. You know, I think a lot of
people at the beginning of the year just pointed right at.

Speaker 1 (47:27):
The starting pitching. It was like what is this right?

Speaker 2 (47:30):
A bunch of guys you've used as swingman? Are they starters?

Speaker 1 (47:32):
Now?

Speaker 2 (47:32):
We kind of saw that throughout baseball, We're seeing these
guys transition. We just didn't think there was enough like
Brian Beya, who like we like, get famous to get
trolled for like what is he? He hasn't even been
been a guy this year. It's been everybody else. They're
over under? Was it eighty and a half? We all
took the under. This is after Gilito gets hurt. They

(47:54):
actually change it to seventy seven and a half. So
we thought we were getting a three game cush here
on the under. And then they have just come on
like absolute fire, a bunch of young guys playing like
good hustle ball athletes, athletes.

Speaker 1 (48:12):
In the athletes.

Speaker 2 (48:13):
And then which is crazy?

Speaker 1 (48:15):
The pitching?

Speaker 2 (48:16):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (48:17):
No, the pitching. I've referenced it probably too many times
now when we do our TPPS before the season. If
if you told us, hey, here's an exercise, how can
the Red Sox have a top five pitching staff? I
would say I'd be like, okay, this is before Giolito.
You'd say, Gilito, he kind of he threw his most innings.
Last year, he's nasty. This year he has an awesome year.

(48:39):
Bao has a full blown breakout. Cutter Crawford was actually
very good last year and he's continued that. And then
I guess if we needed to, we would have thrown
Hawk or Piv in the mix, but we wouldn't have
believed in it. This would have been like Fantasy Land.
How had an argument to start the All Star Game.

Speaker 2 (48:56):
Yep, they've just they've they've done it. They've basically been able.
They've been able to start like their top like five
guys like most of the year, which I think is
really helps, which.

Speaker 1 (49:10):
Is really good because that means you're healthy.

Speaker 2 (49:12):
And yes, How and Cutter Crawford have been there every
single start. Bo's got sixteen starts, Paveta's fourteen, Cooper Criswell's
got thirteen. And then they have a couple other guys,
you know, Garret Witlock gets hurt. Uh he started off
four games with a one, nine and six, so you
take him out of the mix as well. And then
ken Lee has been really good. He's been great at

(49:33):
the back end. They have some guys in the bullpen
they're shutting it down. Bernardino has been great Boozer, and
then for me, it's for me, it's really like the
young guys that they put out there that they've made
them Wong Dog Connor Wong's been great. You mentioned you
loved the Tyler O'Neal signing, So like Yoshida, who like
we thought was gonna be like their guy, he's like

(49:54):
kind of just like off to the side, like an
extra piece, a depth piece.

Speaker 1 (49:57):
In the lineup.

Speaker 2 (49:57):
And you got will youard bra you Jared Durant.

Speaker 1 (50:00):
This has been out he If we told you this
Red Sox team was in a good spot, we'd say
Cassas is one of the best young first basemen in baseball.

Speaker 2 (50:07):
Rob Refsnyder coming in, you know, playing that like role
that he plays doing it, and they're just it's it's
a lot of fun. We can go by the numbers
here eighth and average six and o ps six and
stolen bases. Their starting pitchers are third and whip fifth
and e ra a fifth and hits per nine. Their
bullpen is tenth in whip and most of that is

(50:29):
because they don't walk anybody, right, the lowest walks per
nine in all of baseball. They're giving up some hits,
but they're not putting out free Yeah.

Speaker 1 (50:37):
I think this was I told I told Trev.

Speaker 2 (50:40):
Coming in a little spicy.

Speaker 1 (50:42):
I think I told Trev coming in. I was like, Hey,
we should kind of line up our A and F
so those aren't the debate areas because that can get
a little ugly. I had Philly, you had Boston. I
think both sides are laid out pretty clear. Philly's been
the best team in baseball. They haven't done the full
regular season dance, but I kind of agree with you.
At the end of the day, their report card gets

(51:05):
made in the postseason that it is tough to not
give them and A. They've been the best team in baseball,
but they have the talent that they've always supposed to be,
supposed to be in. One of the best teams in baseball.
The Red Sox.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
In May since the beginning of June, so you know,
through June through the All Star break, they're twenty three
and thirteen, playing ten games over five.

Speaker 1 (51:26):
Hundred and by the way, check out who they played
in that time. It's not all the strongest teams. Like
I know, they finished with A. I think there's an
Oakland in there and some other teams. But like they
did against the Yankees, they did against the Dodgers, I
think I think Philly might have been in the mix,
like they took down San Diego, or it starts at

(51:47):
the top Philly, New York. Did they win that Atlanta
series that's a two games, they split it Toronto. They
swept them, who they needed to.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
Two or three from Sincy. Then they split a two
game with Toronto, took an l from the Padres in
one of my teams, swept Miami, beat New York, beat Oakland,
and then we'll see how it goes to that. I
believe they won this series. So they won another series
against Kansas.

Speaker 1 (52:11):
City today, beat New York twice.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
Against the Yankees this year they're four and two. I
just think as far as expectations go and where they're
at and where they're headed, I think this seems really
fun to watch as well.

Speaker 1 (52:27):
So I like putting on the atier. I do eight
and three in July. Yeah, I get it. I don't
have a ton of fight to it. I insert a
one minute via speech about like I believe in Cora.
I do know, I know, we don't know what to do. Hey,
I think Andrew Bailey, the pitching coacher. Whoever's pulling the

(52:47):
pitching strings in Boston, they deserve a ton of love. Like,
that's not Cora's lane. Cora's lane is hey, Raphaela, you're
gonna bat nine, figure it out, be an athlete. And
he's done that, and he started to tea.

Speaker 2 (53:01):
They were dealing with a ton of injuries at the
beginning of the year, so everyone they were all like
out of position almost You had Rob Faylet playing short stuff.

Speaker 1 (53:09):
Yeah, you can't have that. Yeah, you know.

Speaker 2 (53:12):
He goes back out and he's manning center field and
he's doing great. If you wanted to do the record
against the Phillies.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
Or two and one. So that's how they're they tier.
That's the separator. Uh. If you have your list in
front of you, Trev, I guess can burn burned through?
I will do it right now, and yeah, let me
know if if there's anything that feels off otherwise, I
think this is the final list.

Speaker 2 (53:35):
So we'll go from the bottom F tier Toronto. Massive
expectations are like good expectations at least, uh not good
White Sox Marlins kind of like laughing stock teams.

Speaker 1 (53:47):
Right now.

Speaker 2 (53:47):
Then it's like the teams that are doing bad and
didn't really have expectations A's and Rockies, like they're just
doing bad, but not like not historically bad, like the
A's have actually won some games.

Speaker 1 (53:58):
Expectations are they.

Speaker 2 (53:59):
Were they were dirt cheap. The Cubs are in this
D tier because of the expectations and Craig Council, which
hasn't worked out necessarily for them, Angels, Texas, other expectation teams,
Nationals and Tigers. Then the middle tier team it's like
like where they kind of like happy with where we're
at the or the expectations meet our match where they're at. Giants,

(54:21):
reds Pirates, Rays, d Bags, Padres, Astros, Braves.

Speaker 1 (54:26):
Cardinals, Twins.

Speaker 2 (54:28):
So this is that's a division where like you are
a tier where you're like, okay, like we're doing fine, right,
Like the Braves are in there, yeah right, but as
far as expectations, they're kind of just like, yeah, that's
if you'd have told us this before the year. They're
probably not too stoked on it. Then in the B tier,
Kansas City overachieving or a massive upgrade from last year,

(54:51):
Yankees doing it, Mess doing it, Dodgers, Seattle Phillies, Baltimore.
Those are all the teams that are at the front
of their divisions. Yeah, and then our A tier was
the Guardians, who again they're winning because they're fucking raking,
which no one really expected them to do. The Brewers,
who are putting together this team that again I just

(55:11):
feel they're one step ahead of everybody, like their front offices,
there's a lot of credit.

Speaker 1 (55:15):
And then it's the Red Sox. If you had to
move one team, okay, up or down in our bell curve,
who would it be?

Speaker 2 (55:27):
I would say, like probably the like I put Baltimore
in the A over the Phillies over yeah, over the
Red Sox. I just think, like I thought, I thought
last year was kind of flucish, okay, and maybe I'm
just dumb and not hip to what's going on. They
won one hundred and one games, won the division last year,
but like I felt like there was regression coming and
this team is Gunnar Henderson is an absolute stud They've

(55:48):
gotten pitching where I didn't think they had enough pitching
and h I mean, they went out and got Corton Burns,
which is showing that they're there. They have guys they
can trade wherever they want. So I think in like
if they make a move of the deadline, like they're
going to jump into that eightier because they I mean,
they have all of the prospect.

Speaker 1 (56:06):
Yeah. Yeah, a slippery week from the Guards, Brewers or
Red Sox like Baltimore is gonna be there.

Speaker 2 (56:13):
Yeah, the Cardinals are hot on the Brewers, the Twins
are hot on the Guardian, so like it's for them,
I could see it. I don't think anyone's catching Baltimore.
I mean, I know the Yankees were close today, but
they're going to be at the top of that division
one hundred percent in the playoffs, and they have much
more of an ability than the Yankees do to improve
their team.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
Yeah, they have the capitol. Yeah, I guess. I mean Braves,
B and C. Is a little odd because it's almost
the opposite of the Phillies argument, like they'll get their
grade come October. That feels a little off Tires gnats, No,
I think We're all around it. Wow, Trev Special, this

(56:53):
is what the people want. And now we'll talk about
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Speaker 2 (57:11):
Dude, Bailey on your show all the time. No, I
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Speaker 1 (57:16):
You go through thick and thin. I don't know where
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