LA Dodgers Have Their Backs Against the Wall

Hello and welcome to a very special edition of Talking Baseball. It's the Champion Series, Championship Series, they call it in baseball. It's Wednesday, October fourteenth, as I record this live. The Cleveland Guard Dogs and the Tampa Bay Rays are tied up at ones after a kind of. When you look back at it, a really bad way to lose a baseball game. Ball goes between Jose Ramirez's legs. Um. That that was the only offense Tampa scored on to win that game, but they level up the series. We can talk about that. We will mostly spend our time. On the Dodgers facing the Milwaukee Brewers, because as I record this, and it's the dangerous game in this. Uh, industry. The Dodgers are down two nothing to the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers that I I'll eloquess if that's a word. Um, you know the Brewers who have done seemingly everything right. They. They run their organization the right way. They have a star player. They pay a lot of money to and Christian Yelich, who, by the way, he's not necessarily performing at a star level at this point. Um, you know they platooned him versus lefty. It wasn't just any lefty. It was Tarek Skubal, uh, the recently named captain. He's been there for a long time now. He represents the franchise. Um, they've taken care of him. He's taken care of them in a way. Um. The pitching factory that they've turned into, tapping into different guys as they come and go. The young star of Misurawski, the young star of Churrio, and the young, probably underrated star Bryce Tarrang, who you know was in the starting lineup of Team USA, that these Brewers last year kind of announced themselves to baseball as being one of the class, if not the class, organization of the league, only to get trounced by the Dodgers. Here they are. A year later, they got better. Regular season, they got better offensively. They felt better, um, even just the growth of Misurowski fully becoming a Charizard as he was probably label himself. How's your all 22 team, um? Along with the rest of the team, just just taking strides and becoming better, and in Pat Murphy's words. Wanting it more. Um, which, as our Yankees go through another off season of what did we do wrong, and a lot of people are just like raising their hands in the back, and like you guys just need to care more. We don't have to do any Yankees today, people. Um, because Milwaukee won. The first two games against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and. Sure. They won seven to four. They took down Yoshihito Yamamoto, which I. That guy felt like he had a level of October invincibility on that. Not a lot of people were familiar with. He gets knocked out after two point two. It's only three earned runs, but only one strikeout. Seventy-five pitches through two point two innings. A couple big at bats there. Yankee drop. Jake Bowers, who we tried to highlight to you guys, who had an amazing season, second in the National League in on base percentage. His twelve pitch at bat that ends up kind of ending, ruining the outing for Yamamoto. And then they see basically the whole Dodgers bullpen. They come back every inning. The Dodgers scored. The Brewers also scored. Ah, which is a stat that I think needs to be tracked. It's tough to. Tough to fully quantify it when you actually go through with who's coming up in the lineup and who's on the mound on the other side. Like it's, it feels like it shouldn't be a one for one stat, but it is something. Those answer back innings, and I believe they said the Brewers were third in baseball this season, at responding in those innings. They had twelve hits. The Dodgers had three. The Brewers had two errors. The the Dodgers did not score on a hit. This was a domination. That if you believe in sports. You know everything Pat Murphy's saying. How last year they had a really good team, and this year they have a really good team too. But this year they want it more. I don't know. That's the stuff we used to believe in, right? That we've kind of been told by analytics, and a lot of information doesn't exactly exist anymore. I think it can. I really think it can, and. Uh, I mean, even going back to the game before this, the game one that they win, two to one. Down one, nothing after the Dodgers scored in that second inning. Uh, Torang hits a really tough home run off a Scubel. I think we talked about it here a little bit, but there is only three uh left on left. Opposite field home runs on inside fastballs this year. Uh, two of them were by Otani. And then the third was by Tereng in that playoff game off Scooble. So, a special homer by a special player who doesn't necessarily get labeled that way. Bryce Tereng almost just gets thrown in the pile of like Brewers gonna brew. Bryce Tereng. I'll double check the WAR for you. Seven point three. B war in the regular season this year, that's that's rare air. Like Mister Clean with her, um. And winning that game one was so important because Misurowski kind of wasn't the dragon they were looking for. Although it's only one earned run, uh, but what an impressive display by the Dodgers staying back and literally being like, "Hey, we're we're gonna sit heater and we're gonna try to go the other way with it." Um. If you make a mistake with a slider, maybe we turn on it. Uh. That you would have thought, the Brewers needed Misurak to be special. Um, Brewers play Brewer ball and score, which they kind of do on that. The second run they score in that first game, the Luis Lara RBI single after bunting Mitchell over, is the two runs they get off at Eric Scubel. It was the bad man traded at the deadline this year, is about to run into I don't know, three hundred million dollars, four hundred million dollars. Is he going to be the first pitcher to take one of those Kyle Tucker esque paydays where he gets eighty million a year? Like Scubel can do whatever he wants, and maybe the new CBA will dictate that. Maybe it won't. We'll be interested to see how his free agency goes. And you know, we're gonna have time to talk about that. So. Uh, with that, Milwaukee goes up two games to nothing. Uh, they win that first one, which just a massive exhale. If the Dodgers had won that game, one nothing or two one the other way, uh, if you're the Brewers fans, it's just honest. You're digging in the back of your head, like, are they gonna do this again? Uh, to come out. And straight up beat the Dodgers. Uh, everything I said about that second game coming back in every inning, uh, responding whenever they had to, seeing the whole bullpen knocking out Yamamoto. Uh, that they just won that game, like no funny business, and their bullpen has been special. Their bullpen went perfect, uh, for the final five innings, Dustin May. Former Dodger, uh, JoJo Romero. Trade deadline ad by the Brewers that. Uh, you know, in theory, a lot of teams could have been in on JoJo Romero, uh, the Brewers. You think is one of the pitching factories, and that's how we complement them. They went out and they got this guy, and then Abner Uribe. Obviously, when he's at his best, he's a special, special arm. And you could say the same about Aaron Ashby. You know, if you're in the baseball world, I think you remember him coming up and being like, "Okay, like you know, the Brewers are really into this guy, talented lefty arm. What's he going to turn into?" He was starting, not the best performance, ran into some injuries. His transition to the bullpen, and he's become one of the nastiest relievers in baseball. This postseason, on the screen right now, nine point one innings pitched, a zero ERA, a zero five four WHIP. Just a certain form, a nasty. From Ashby. 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So, with all of that. We head into the third game in LA, and this is I opened with the fear of recording this because I. I think I I didn't even finish the thought. Do I do that a lot? Probably, um. But this can all be moot in a couple hours. Uh, I think I'm recording 4:21 Eastern. Baseball game gets played in about three and a half hours. Uh, that whatever I say could go out the window. So if you're one of the people listening in those three and a half hours, awesome. You're sick. Thank you. First to the YouTube. Make sure you get that comment in. What's uh? There's. A new age, uh, not like Unreal refresh, like God tier refresh or something. There's something like generational refresh, something like that. Yeah, that always always gets me. Thank you guys for for keeping the Earth spinning. You see that dam that they dammed up enough water in China or something that they changed the Earth's rotation. That up real quick, beeps. Get an image on the screen. We educate people here on every different level. Um. That game three happens in. Three and a half hours in L.A. Um, Blake Snell, and you guys know how much I love me some Blake Snell. Ah, Robert Gasser taking the pill. Uh, for the Milwaukee Brewers, which it's been fun looking him up. He's a guy I've talked about, uh, you know, at different times this year when covering the Brewers. That it's like, oh, okay, yeah, another young, talented arm from the Brewers, lefty. Um. Nasty verse lefties. I was looking into some of that this morning. How he uses his pitch mix against righties. He's a five pitch pitcher. Against lefties, he still uses four. But definitely, I mean, one of these new age four seam sinker cutter. Four seam sinker cutter, and then he's going to mix in that sweeper a lot to both sides, and the righties you'll see a change. Shoot, yeah, look at this. Look at this! Earth changing because of a some Chinese dam. Um, I don't think it's actually doing anything, but and it seems like it's. Been doing this, and imagine being the geeks measuring this. And at that time, I guess I was using geek in a rude way, like. Okay, the the. We added .003 seconds to a year or something. Like, okay. What's that do? Three thousand years, I'll feel that a little. What do I need to do? Put up a tarp. Put up a tarp. Um. So I don't know. I guess there's probably better places to go consume that information. Some great. If you understand how this works. Some comment section. Great video footage here. I mean, we might just have to start rolling some more stuff like this in the background, even if it's like, oh, the Cardinals' infield defensively could really take a step up this year. Dam in China. Um. So we crack into the TikTok algorithm. Leather Holt, Mason Win. You put someone at third. Um. Bobby Gasser. Twirling the ball for Milwaukee, and let's be honest, like it's it's the beauty of sports that I think on a given night a lot can happen. Going back to Misurrowski's outing, if he doesn't get one of his, you know, he's not known as a double play ball pitcher. If he doesn't get a double play ball after pitch thirty-five in an inning, like if that ball finds a hole instead, he comes out of the game. And who knows what we're saying about this entire series? Like, did the Dodgers blow it open? Who knows? It's it's the beauty of sports, and also you can't play too much of that game because if we never play the results, then what are we doing? And sometimes that's the fight with. Statistics and predicting stats and all of it, but Robert Gasser had a very nice year. Very difficult against lefties, which, when you think of the Dodgers, Frederick. Showay, who has become a very popular conversation piece, Max Muncie, who Joe's McFly eloquently and correctly said every time I watch Max Muncie, he hits a homer, which it does. Just feel that way. Ah, there's some guys, and whether it's postseason or, whenever you catch the highlight or whenever you catch the game, it just seems like he does it. And Max Muncie, ah, it seems like he's that guy. Ah, of course, Kyle Tucker. Uh, the highest-paid man over a season of baseball, uh. And yeah, we'll see. There was a lot of debate if Shohei was going to stay in the lineup. He supposedly is. We'll see where he is is in the lineup. He is in a very bad postseason slump, and it happened in the regular season too. He is hurt. Um, that you know, do with that what you want. I know our our big fellow over here in New York got a lot of crap for his playoff performance, until he turned it on. But there is a reminder: Shohei did do this last postseason, and I. Not that I had to eat crow, but I was bringing it to people's attention that if you did Shohei up until. Game three of the NLCS last year. Nine games. He was 158, 273, a 641 OPS. So. Uh, and I think you can make those numbers worse if you go to Game Two of the NLCS, which we just finished Game Two of the NLCS. Yeah, it's a 599 OPS. Through Game Two of the CS last year, and then. He kind of went mental the rest of the way. Let me see if I get the stats. Um. Oh, I included this year's postseason. Oopsies. Sorry everyone, uh, last year's postseason after that start in the nine games to finish three eighty two five twenty three a one dot five eight two OPS, um, and Dave Roberts put in a, I mean just a horrific spot. Uh, gonna bench the best player ever who's telling you he can play. You kind of can't do that. Uh, so, Shohei said he can play. Roberts thinks he can play. He'll be in the lineup. Uh, and there's per usual. There's a lot of eyes on him, and there's going to be more though. Uh, if. Robert Gasser looks like the best version of himself. You'd assume he's still tough against those lefties, but just a reminder: some of the Dodgers' righties are Mookie Betts, Teoscar Hernandez, Will Smith, Andy Paez, who was one of the best center fielders for a chunk of this year, and you figure they probably get Kike in the lineup. Um, maybe four Muncy. Him and Tommy Edmund are both lefty mashers. Uh, that yeah, they'll still be able to feel they're they're lefties that might be out there tonight. Could be Freeman, Otani, and Tucker. Um, Hall of Fame first baseman, best player to ever play, highest played player ever. So, um. And, I guess while I close off the Milwaukee piece of this, maybe this is just it. You know when when that Dodgers bullpen was emptying the tank in that last game, and you saw who was coming out, you were kind of like, okay. You know, as as much as I complimented the move, it was like, what? So, what version of Chris Bubich is currently on the mound? Which version of Brock Stewart is currently on the mound? Which, by the way, when those guys are their best, uh, very good Major League Baseball pitchers. Enriquez, I thought was going to be the guy this postseason that never got hit. He gets hit. Um, their Roki usage has been very interesting to me. Um. His last inning, uh, in that game was his only inning in the past like week plus. Um. So very interesting to see if they start pressing that button more. Is he a little banged up? Like I again, Rokey was so massive to what they did, uh, on their World Series run previously, and they do have Edwin Diaz. So like, the Dodgers. You went down 2-0 in Milwaukee. Milwaukee's a good team. What do you have on the bump tonight? You have Blake Snell, um, and you guys know I, I probably over ooze about Blake Snell. Which feels weird for a two-time Cy Young winner. But, and this is kind of funny because I, I often highlight how good Blake Snell is in the second half of the year. Blake Snell put this in a jolly ol' video: two Cy Youngs, one All Star. 嗯。 So, twice he's been voted the best pitcher in his league to to play the game. Only once has been he been voted a like top thirteen pitcher in the first half. Ain't that it? Why do I like Blake Snell? Because when he's right, he is unhittable. By the way, he's his injury history, and this is the. The part I think people probably can get more frustrated about with the Dodgers is that they they can sign Blake Snell's, they can sign Glassnows, and not have to worry about the regular season, because when they do pitch, Snell had nine starts this year as a. A one nine ERA. Like he was, he was out there. He was filthy. Um, his last outing was not amazing. Uh, against Atlanta, it was three point two. Uh, five walks, five strikeouts, only one earned run. Uh, obviously not what you want, but. I don't know. It's a playoff game that in a regular season you might let Snell go a little more, although his pitch count was really up there. Um. Here's my butter knife stat that you could take with you, or you cannot take with you. In the past, this year and last year. In postseason starts, not against the Toronto Blue Jays. Blake Snell has pitched 24 innings. Three earned runs, which, if you're a math person, that's a one zero nine ERA. Um. Even when Snell's bad. He's not giving up a ton of runs because usually it's a ton of walks. Like it's the definition of. I mean, he kind of plays three true outcome baseball, but there's really only two of the outcomes. It's just walks or strikeouts, really. That it'll be interesting. The Brewers that obviously have a different approach. And hey, I I guess my what to watch for for tonight's game. If the Brewers are getting the leadoff runner on, they finished. What did they finish? Fifth in stolen bases this year. Snell is slow to home plate. Uh, so if the Brewers are constantly getting on, stealing a bag, and then you can score by making outs, doesn't that feel pretty Brewersy? Sure does, um. I believe in Snell tonight because I'm always gonna believe in Snell. Bouncing back after his last start against Atlanta. We'll be interesting to see the crowd tonight. Again, a little bit of a weird start time in L.A. 8 p.m. Eastern, so that's 5 p.m. L.A. time. 5 p.m. game for any team is a little weird. Also, I, you know, it is a place famous for its traffic and not necessarily the easiest stadium to get to. So now you're. What time are you leaving for the Dodger game? I don't have any questions about the Dodger crowd. I don't think they're skeptical about their team. I do think it's the perk of having all these veterans and believing in what you're doing. Is that? I don't think the Dodgers have fear yet. Today's episode is sponsored by Booking. dot com. Booking. dot Yeah, an official travel partner of MLB. Booking. dot com makes it easy for every baseball fan to travel and catch a game wherever the team' schedule takes them. And for me, following my team on the road means exploring a new ballpark, also an entirely new city, a steakhouse worth the stop before the game, the hotel short walk away from the park, so the whole night stays easy. That's the kind of road trip that ends up being about more than just the final score. Booking. dot com makes it simple to find the right hotel or vacation home near wherever the schedule is taking you. So. The trip comes together just as fast as the decision to go. Once somewhere gets in your head, go on, book that trip. It's easy, the easiest way from where you are to where you want to be. Booking. dot com, Booking. dot Yeah, an official travel partner of MLB, Major League Baseball trademarks used with permission. Not at all. I think it could happen quick. Like I, I don't want to discredit Milwaukee at all because they have been incredible. But going into tonight, and you know. Sports books shout out Fanatics, um, have the Dodgers as a heavy favorite as one, uh. 5 p.m. game. You're probably gonna have some weird shadows. Um, which the offense early might be pretty gnarly, and if Snell Snell doesn't need any help being nastier, so he literally just has to be in the zone. Um. So that should probably get him off to a decent start, and if he he gets off to a decent start. He's gonna get off to a decent finish. That you guys know how I feel about Snell, Gasser. I'll be interested to see in the moment. I mean Henderson and Gasser. Uh, obviously, very different pitchers. Henderson has been better, and Henderson was more of the playoff start that we're used to these days. He goes four innings. Two earned runs didn't help himself out at all, especially defensively. That you know, I think that's what the Brewers are hunting for. And depending how the scoreboard looks, I'm wondering how they're going to deploy their bullpen. Like this is our first. Sounds crazy to me, and maybe we need to rethink the whole playoff format. And we are—it's part of this CBA. This is our first three straight game chunk. Like that's nuts. With how important bullpens have become, that's just insane. That this is the first time, like managers really have to think about emptying the chamber. I mean the AL side's insane because they had that division series off day. Yeah, like the NL. I guess if you were playing four games, you had to navigate. You had enough back to backs that if you went four games, you had to think about it at least one of the days. Last year the NL had that. Yeah, but you guys know what it's about too. It's different. Um, that. And like um, Joe Girardi did a podcast appearance yesterday, and they asked him about like, oh, what would you change about the game? That was what what he said was, I would make it every day. Which I've heard other managers say the same, but it is it is the only sport where you really can treat the games different. Yeah, I, I spin on this one. I mean, two three two doesn't seem bad. Um. I mean, seven straight days. I don't. I don't think you want that. I feel like him and Buck. I think they've talked about that because they're like, you know, that's how baseball's played, but. Yes, that shows the depths of the team. I do think that turns into a conversation of like, well, do I want to see the depths of the team or do I want to see the best players? Yeah, I think Buck has a quote about like all year you talk about like how to manage the full roster and your best twenty five to forty guys, and the playoffs comes just who's. Seeing who has the best top twelve guys, right? Which I, I, I guess I see both sides of it. I understand the thought. Um, I don't know. I'm I'm open to some open to some tinkering, uh, and make the DS longer. Which you know, there's a reason that that's the information MLB is leaking out because the players are kind of interested in that, fans are kind of interested in that. That all of that is currently with the caveat of, uh, there would be a salary cap. So you know, if you're if you're getting into CBA mode, know that all the nice stuff being dangled out there is you know, kind of. Uh, supposed to be tantalizing. That's the game. That's the game. I like the Dodgers tonight. I don't. I don't think this series is done, which if it goes 3-0. I I know we live in a different era, and I I don't think teams are as scared as that. As they used to be, it's obviously the biggest hill to climb for the Brewers to come this far. And to be up 3-0, it would be over. And I, I think there is an honest side to the Dodgers that we're not there yet. But after watching these first couple games, watching a a banged up Shohei Otani. Um, no offense to my guy Miggy Rojas, but I think he'd even tell you this. Like he's. He's looking a little older. Kike looks a little older. Like as you are looking across this Dodgers team, Freddie's thirty-seven. Teoscar's thirty-four. Like these guys. These guys have been through a lot of battles. Muncie's thirty-six, man. Um, and how about this? If you don't want to take my word for it, Derek Jeter's talking on the post game show how every year an extra postseason takes more out of you. Like it just does. Um, I know we don't think of baseball as this horrific grindy sport, but it it truly is. That this Dodgers team has been doing that, um, for a few years now. That as these guys are getting older, um. Like I think they're starting to feel it, and I do think. Let's say Edwin Diaz is back, because since he's gotten hot, he's been back. Uh, even Tanner Scott, you know, Tanner Scott got paid a lot of money when he's right. He's nasty. After them. You know, I I don't know what Evan Phillips still does for me. I know Vestia's had some great postseason moments, but I I don't know the kind of fear he strikes into the other team. Henrique, as I thought, was going to be that guy. The Brewers knocked him around last outing. Not to say you can't. Come back from that, but Bailar Roki. Uh, I'm interested to see has Roberts been saving him? Do they still look at him as like the guy who saved their season last year? Because he did, um. I'm still watching for the Rokey element. I I think that would matter if it can if the ball only touches Snell, Diaz, Scott, and maybe Rokey's hands. I think that's your formula for tonight. Um, we'll see if they execute that formula or if they get brewed early, and they're trying to figure out how to piecemeal an entire game. You know, Glass now, who's supposed to be tomorrow's starters. We know the Dodgers won't be shy if they need to figure out how to survive. But we're also in that first three-game sprint of the postseason that they're going to be a little more desperate. Uh, the Brewers. Uh, McGill did not pitch last game, and if they're down, depending how much they're down, how how will they use their good bullpen? Uh, Sensatella hasn't pitched yet. Uh, that seems that seems like a great hey. We're down two, and we need two innings, pal. Let's see what you got. Um. I don't know. Uh, maybe I'm discrediting discrediting the 103 Brewer 103 Brewer wins too much. Maybe I'm discrediting their two and zero start over the Dodgers too much. Um. But I do think. Again, maybe there's a little bit of optimism in me that these two teams still aren't that far apart. That home field advantage should still matter in sport. Um, I know there's been some debates across the different sports how much that still matters. I think that should still matter, especially in LA, with the two-time defending champs returning home. Ah. I like the matchup for them tonight, and then hey, if they win tonight, what does tomorrow look like? Because that would be Snell versus they currently have it listed as Dustin May, and kind of an opener bullpen game. So if you're already going to be bullpencing game two. How are they gonna get through game one? I don't know. I I think the game has begun. It's not the hottest take ever to say like the Dodgers aren't dead. Uh, but. I guess we'll find out in a couple hours. Cause if they go down three zero, it is over. Um, it's it's not. Start the DVD time. It's are the Brewers gonna do this here or there? Uh. I don't think that's going to happen though. I, I will say I would change my vote right now, and and that's that's a it's a frigid take. I pick the Dodgers before the postseason. Currently, still have a perfect postseason bracket. Thank you. Um. If you know, if it was actually if I was gambling real money at this point, I would say the Brewers being up two zero, and they've looked like the better team. Like it wasn't. You know that first one could have went either way. That second one could not. Like the Brewer, that game probably should have been seven one. Um, and they look like the stuff we've told ourselves about sports doesn't matter as much, like caring and wanting it more, and uh, you know. Having the same goal as a team and working in in in cahoots to get there. I had a better word. I lost it. Went cahoots. Um, I don't know. I I still. As of now, I would change my pick, but I don't know. Ask me at 11:30 p.m. tonight if the Dodgers win, and what if Shohei runs into one. What if Mookie runs into one? What if Roki pitches like? Two point two with five strikeouts, nasty, and the Brewers are bullpencing tomorrow. Like, I think this series still has a lot of juice. I think a lot of people have kind of done a shrug and be like, "All right, yeah, Milwaukee's been great. They won the first two. Here we go." I think this series has a lot of baseball left. I think the last two teams that were down two nothing to win a seven game set were the twenty three Arizona Diamondbacks against the Phillies, which who had that one. Who was banging the table for the snakes then? This guy. I wasn't, but they were friendly to me, so I was friendly back, and that's how I work. And then I believe there was one in two thousand and twenty-two. Not twenty twenty two, twenty twenty twenty also all as well. Um, that's tricky. How about the English language? Um, I don't think this series is done. You know what? I reverse my bet. I'll stay on the Dodgers. I'll go down with the ship. As far as guard dogs and the Rays go, I mentioned they split at one-one. I I still feel great about the Rays. Uh, even if the Rays went down two-zero, I was gonna hammer the table. I clearly just panicked about the Dodgers and stayed on it. I don't know if I believe that. I don't think I do, um. The Rays, I still very much believe in. Although, like, if if you're guard piling this thing, I mean, Gavin Williams on the bump just looked as good as any pitcher has looked. Um, my goodness. Uh, and you know, it follows his season stats pretty decently. Like, he was nasty during the year. That they're going back to Cleveland. Uh, should be Rockies. It's going to be a 1 p.m. game, so that's going to be a little weird. They moved it up for weather. Uh, kind of crazy that that's the world we still live in. You know we still get pissy at the trop because it has rings, but we're like, hey, let's play this playoff game at 1 p.m. because there's a storm coming. I don't know. I see both sides. It would be nice if the trop was made for I don't know baseball, and it have things like that on the ceiling. But, uh, sometimes a roof can be nice. Put that on the graphic. All the money going around. You you you know. You'd like you'd like to think every team. Could work their way towards a retractable. Seems beneficial. Milwaukee has been beautiful with the open. Remember when, like, Milwaukee, Milwaukee and Toronto are two of the biggest. Like, when it's a beautiful day there, you're like, holy smokes. You guys can do this. We need to do this, Gavin Williams versus Griffin Jacks, so he can be his. Also, a certain level of nasty when he's right and on the mound, uh. The Rays they apparently saved Brian Baker from Game One, which seemed like a wrong decision. But as they're gonna need their pitching and bullpen to get through this three-game stretch, I opened up with Rays in six for this series. I think if I had to audible, I think I would go Rays in seven now. And hey, maybe I'm in overreaction mode. You guys saw me almost panic pick Milwaukee a second ago, which again in three and a half hours I could wish I did panic pick Milwaukee. I think I think the Rays are just a better team. I I know Cleveland has some fight. I know they can pitch. But I I think this Rays lineup, um, I wouldn't, I actually think baseball is gonna work. It's not work. It's magic, and I'm not gonna say it's gonna be Yamamoto stat line, but I think they're gonna bother Gavin Williams. I think the amount of speed they have, the amount of contact they had, it's a very different lineup than the White Sox. Uh, the White Sox who strike out, I think, close to the most in baseball, at least down the stretch, and the Rays who strike out the least. Like, I think this is gonna be a very different outing for Gavin Williams. Um. Yeah, it's not that Cleveland can't win it. It's not like it can't still be a great start. It can't be six innings, one earned run. But like, there's going to be hits. There's going to be action on the bases. Um. My adjusted picks are Tampa in seven. Dodgers in seven. Milwaukee's just gonna use it as fuel. And I'm kind of rooting for them, as I've told Dodger fans for the year. All right, it's time to make my same game parlay pick for tonight, or tomorrow, or this afternoon's game, depending where you're listening. Presented by the Fanatic Sports and Casino, you can make your own same game parlay, picking multiple legs from the game and combine them into one bet, or you can tail my picks right in Fanatic Sportsbook, and today. We're following a recipe. Uh, we're going with the over in Cleveland-Tampa. I know they got Cleveland's got their big dog back on the mound. Last time he looked so good, but you could say that about the Dodgers' big dog, and he had a tough outing. It's tough to keep it going. Then we're going with the over. I don't know which side. I think someone opens it up, and if we're going over, we need a couple hits to throw in there. How about Patrick Bailey? Sure, he's been hot. He's getting back out there. A hit from it him, and I love defense. How about Midnight Johnny Johnny DeLuca with one hit, and that'll get you. Goes to plus four, a high plus three. Why don't you either ride with me or make your own? And from the first pitch to the final out, come see why winning hits different at Fanatic Sports and Casino. That's kind of the baseball front. I know we missed some CBA stuff, um, a little while ago. Joe Espada is not returning. The Houston Astros, after winning the division, crazy. Uh, Don Mattingly is gonna stay with the Phillies. Great, uh, reverse nepotism there, if you remember, olditism. Um, that's not a word. Hundred percent. Let's walk through the NFL weekend. It's been a minute. It's been a minute. We got lost in the sauce, but it was the the final time of year to do it. As you guys know, sometimes I like to map out. It's more of a logistical thing, and I give a couple takes along the way. What is going on this football weekend and in the NFL? That's short for NFL. My Broncos, and we can give you a little Broncos update. My Broncos are three and two, and they are hosting the Seattle Seahawks. Caw. On Thursday night, Bo Nix has been Nixian this year. A lot of mixed mixed reactions to Nix. They've lost at Chiefs, at Forty Niners. When you think of it that way. Kind of like all right, yeah. Those are two places. Two places every team has lost this year. Their wins, Jaguars and Rams at home, are two of the most impressive wins of the football season. And then they survived the Chargers last week. Who the Chargers are. If you want to where Jake was wrong, I I was still drinking Harbaugh Kool-Aid. I drink Herbert Kool-Aid, and holy smokes, that I didn't realize how gnarly their schedule was. If I could redo that. Seeing the teams that they play and are still continuing to play was like, damn, that's they had some must-win games and they didn't win those games, and now it's getting ugly. For the Chargers, um. Still in a weird spot with Denver. Uh, they've allowed more points than they've scored. Uh, Nick's can be horribly frustrating, and then he catches fire sometimes at the end of the game. Some people think it's linked to altitude when he does that at home because they're adjusted to that. I don't know. Um, it's just a weird recipe. Um, and the Seahawks, the defending champs. People don't talk about that a lot. Um, interesting. They probably should have lost week one to the Patriots. Uh. They lost to the Commanders, crazy, um, and then they lost to the Niners, who have been the class of the NFL so far. Uh, it's a Thursday night game. It's in Denver. That makes me feel pretty good for my Broncos. Vegas has Seattle favored, um, and I do think that's right. Um, but you guys know I'm I am in that weird part of Broncos fandom where I'm not fully supporting my team, and I'm like, yeah, we're gonna kick their ass. Like I I want them to like show that to me a little more, and maybe that's unfair after last year, or maybe they're about to be three and three. Although they are two and zero at home this year, how about JSN? He's just. I I realize you know thirty six minutes after a bunch of baseball talk, you don't need to to hear me tell you how good JSN is. But, holy smokes! Like. He's given like Jerry Rice type energy. That guy feels like he's always open. It feels like when he gets in the open field, he's just another gear, and it's a weird mix of speed and power. He's delightful. Go, Buckeyes! That is your Thursday night game. I'll click over to college football, and hey now. How's your nooner, Ohio State? The same one JSN went to. Is facing Indiana four versus five. Whoever wins that game is gonna fly up the rankings, especially if it's undefeated Indiana in Indiana. They haven't looked as good this year. They survived last weekend, um, but they are hosting Ohio State, and maybe they've been building up for that. Um. Nebraska did almost beat them, but Nebraska's been off to a great start. I kind of like Matt. I like Matt Rule as a college coach, not as a pro coach. But yeah, if you're looking to jump in to this college football season, or if you're been in it, Indiana, Ohio State, what's become the class of that conference? Tease it up after Indiana. Your defending national champs are still undefeated, ranked worse than five and one, Ohio State. Uh, Texas, Florida at noon, sure. Mississippi State, LSU at noon, sure. Okay. You're looking to have a little Saturday afternooner. You can have that. How about Alabama, Tennessee at three thirty? Sure, Missouri, Ole Miss. Okay, college football. I didn't know. I wasn't familiar with your game. What if it's 7:30 p.m. and you're watching Notre Dame at BYU? That's two versus eight right now. In Provo. A lot of sodas going around the stands. Notre Dame is a ten and a half point favorite. In Provo, um. Anya, sometimes when you're that good on the lines. Find out about why the spread is that big early, or sometimes college football shows its whimsical magic, and don't be surprised if BYU has a shot at it late. Um. Let's see. Is there anything that was a ton of games? Wow. Uh, I might get jazzy. For a college football Saturday, which I believe the only baseball game that day would be guards, raise game five. So we'll see where that series is at. But okay, we can. That smells like sports to me. So, if you're not footballed out, maybe you're trying to football out. Maybe you're a Padres fan. And you're like, ah, you've been sad. You know what? I'm gonna dive into football this year. Thursday's game is pretty nice. Saturday slate. Wow, college football! Get ready, um. And then on Sunday we're in we're in London season. It's the Texans. It's the Jaguars. The Jaguars, if you take away the logo and just how that franchise is respected generally, they're playing some of the best football in the NFL, and there a lot of the sharps really like them. The Texans are one and four in adding Marvin Harrison Jr. debut. I'm not sure. It was interesting. He played in college with C.J. Stroud. Um, and they were again. There's parts of NFL that I don't fully have. Uh, you know, there is a level of NFL. If you're good, you're good. There also is a level NFL that your coaches. We see the difference that a good coach or a bad coach makes, and then there's another level to it that, like, what routes does your team run, and are you good at those routes? That I did hear people saying, like, what the Cardinals tried to do with Marvin Harrison was not what he was good at. What Houston does, and Strouds as quarterback. I don't know. I feel like football is a tough sport to have a lot of. There's very few like wide receiver resurgent, new place. Guys, after not being that successful, maybe the Texans see the board a lot differently as they go to London. Uh, Jags favored by a field goal. I did laugh at a Bill Simmons joke that I believe was never bet a London game. Cause it always feels like, what is going on over there? But I love the London games. I'm I'm a sicko for sports. 1 p.m. Bears Falcons don't really need it. If I'm being honest, Ravens Browns. Browns are sneaky fun, uh. If you if you mentally can get past. Deshaun, um. Football-wise, he's been entertaining this year. And Cleveland Browns are putting a decent product on the field. They're two and zero at home. The Ravens are three and zero on the road. This should be a fun divisional game. Obviously, the guys you know in Baltimore can still light it up. Henry Flowers, um, but I don't know this Browns team. They have a little bit of sauce right now. Fun watch, Titans Colts no. Jets Patriots not really, not really minus seven and a half New England. Kind of like the Jets there, Saints Giants. I mean. I'm all in on the G-men having just a miraculous season. Jamis and Harbaugh three one and one, hosting the Saints. The Saints are one and four, which probably isn't where they should be. As a team, I think they're better than that, and the Giants probably shouldn't be three one and one. Which normally, if this league plays out how it's supposed to. This would be a leveling out. I'm gonna get blind in the Giants. Let's go four one and one or three one and two. Those are my two ideal outcomes, um. How great would that be? The the Jamis back-to-back ties would be. Haven't lost a game he started. Can't. Can't play with him. Can't do it. Panthers, Eagles, no, not a lot of sauce there. I mean, unless you want to see if the Eagles are going to die or rally. I mean, Big Dom's getting interviewed saying we're going to be better, and it's like, what do you really? I know you're hyper involved, but you can't be talking football, man. You don't coach the football. What is your job? Part of me loves it. Bryce Young, sneaky nice year, nine touchdowns, two interceptions. My God, Chuba Hubbard always finds his way onto my fantasy team. Always does his job. Never the problem, Chuba Hubbard. I don't know. This game reeks of Eagles in every direction, doesn't it? Like you can see the Eagles rallying and putting together an awesome win. You can see the Eagles getting trounced, and everyone ******* hates each other. They also played the shortest O lineman in like fifty years. Last game, I believe he was under five eleven. Yeah, like the shortest lineman, uh, in a long time. So that's kind of some of the funny business the Eagles have going right now. Um. In Philly, let's get the boo birds out. Let's get nasty, babe. There's my guy Lampkin. Yeah, I mean he doesn't look like an O lineman. But he played last game, you know. Think of it as a position that you can't be a short guy, but I guess there really aren't many. I mean, it just obviously size helps in a lot of ways. It's a position where being large is generally very good. Yeah. Shout out to my guy Lampkin, all time short king. Uh, Steelers, Bucks, not really. Not really. The Bucks have kind of hurt my soul this year. I believed in a lot of their offensive weapons, and obviously Baker's been out. The other kid can play a little bit, but whatever. Ah, that's your 1 p.m. slate, okay, people. So I think what we're finding out here. I mean, at 1 p.m. football is Ravens Browns as the winner. There's a day to skip red zone early, um. It might be that. Let's see what we've got at the 4 p.m. Cardinals Rams, um. I don't know. Rams are 12 and a half point favorite, and I kind of love that for the Rams because they really need to start winning games. And I think they will. Chiefs Chargers zero and fiveers four and zero the Chiefs, uh, with the ability to drive the dagger through the Chargers season a blowout win could that get Harbaugh filed fired, um. Early buy for the Chiefs, and I believe Andy Reid has sicko. After the bye week, numbers that this is a bad a recipe for the Chargers, as you can imagine. That almost makes me like the Chargers, because that's when this league rears its ugly head. Um. Bills, Raiders, Reid. Raiders, uh, have been one of the fun stories of this NFL season. They look competent. Brock Bowers is back. Kirk Cousins looks pretty good. Uh, they're hosting the Bills in Las Vegas. Bills are five and a half points favor. That's always a kind of just a weird line for me. That's like nobody. Nobody knows what to believe. I don't know. I'm rooting Josh Allen for my fantasy team. Sad. Uh, and then how about this Sunday night football? Two two of the NFL uniforms that'll be burnt in my head as an old man. That even if these franchises get historically bad, I'll picture them as banner NFL teams: the Cowboys and the Packers. Aikman and Favre, we're a long way from that, huh? Um, God, I get old. In old, uh, Packers one and a half point favorite, the Micah Parsons Bowl. Wow! In modern football, um. I don't know. I'm a Packers guy. I'm actually glad I didn't talk some football last weekend because a lot of the football people I respect were trashing the Packers, and then they had a really nice win. And now look at the Packers are three and two, and like the lenses you view them through are different. It just feels like they find a way. I think the Cowboys' defense is kind of buns. That hopefully maybe we get a fun signature Sunday night shootout, while also maybe deciding the National League because I believe that would be NLCS Game Six. So let's see where that is at, and then Monday night a little Niners Commanders for you. Jane Daniels looked good until. He had the. Really embarrassing end of the game play. Oops! But the two scrambles for touchdowns, those were sick. Niners look great, and they've survived a ton of injuries. Brock Purdy would be your NFL MVP as of today. Did you know that? And when he's healthy, he looks good. So that's your football weekend. I mean, I don't know, the college game. Kinda. Might have changed my Saturday. Maybe that helped you guys out. Maybe I gave some information. Maybe I didn't. But that's the trick. Thank you guys so much. I hope your team wins. But there's only a couple baseball teams left. There's a lot of football. NBA sneaking up. Knicks won. People forget that. Uh, thank you guys. We will see you on Monday.