Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: WVUA FM Tuscaloosa.
[00:00:14] Speaker B: And hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Student section MLB here during the playoff hunt heading into the World Series, a lot to talk about. We've had playoff series end. We have sweeps. We have crying Braves fans and one of them right now we are in depression mode here, but we have more to talk about, of course, what's going to happen with future teams while we're going to look at that and more with this episode. So, guys, let's start off first with a course we didn't fully get to see the end of the wild card round when the show ended last week. So let's talk about that. The only game that I think we really missed was just Arizona versus Milwaukee. Arizona had that comeback to sweep the brewers. I guess your thoughts real quick about.
[00:00:59] Speaker C: We saw the Diamondbacks had took the lead during our show and the show ended and they just held on to the lead in that game. Pretty boring wild card slate, if you ask me. I mean, everyone was a sweep. That was the closest series we saw. The Diamondbacks came back in both of the games down early, but other than that, pretty standard wild card.
[00:01:22] Speaker A: I think the Diamondbacks looked like the team that they looked like to start the year.
They looked complete and into the divisional series, they looked very complete. I mean, if we want to just jump right to that. Dave Martinez is getting fired.
[00:01:39] Speaker B: Dave Martina or Dave Roberts?
[00:01:41] Speaker A: Dave Roberts.
[00:01:42] Speaker B: I don't know why. All right, my bad.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: Yeah, Dave Roberts is gone.
[00:01:47] Speaker B: We'll get to that later. So we've had that kind of come and go, but let's kind of go into this when it comes to, I guess the series everyone wants to talk about right now is Philadelphia versus let's. Let's rip off the Band Aid. I want to make an.
Yeah, keep smiling, buddy. All right.
I apologize to the New York Yankees. I was too harsh on them. My team ended up being possibly being big chogurs. Please prove me wrong. Brace, but please.
I don't like this. I feel like a New York Yankees fan right now.
[00:02:28] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:02:29] Speaker B: You're welcome.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: I accept your apology.
[00:02:31] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you, Luke.
[00:02:32] Speaker A: But it's still a red October.
Red October.
[00:02:37] Speaker B: Anyway. Your mic is mel muted. Anyway.
All right.
[00:02:42] Speaker A: Anyway yes.
[00:02:44] Speaker B: There we go. You gave me control the soundboard when I showed him. All right. Anyway, man, let's just go and get into this. I mean God.
Game one. Sure. You have game one blues. Big deal. You have the game two comeback. All right.
You have that energy.
It felt like there was a potential momentum shift that was a really good ending to kind of say, okay, we're getting back in the driver's seat. And then you have the game that is happening right now. Current score is currently still eight two, Philadelphia.
[00:03:23] Speaker A: Sorry.
[00:03:23] Speaker B: Thanks.
We're entering the bomb of the 8th. Of course, Philly will be, of course, heading there.
Man, if Atlanta loses, I think we are going to be in a very interesting place. I mean, what do you guys think? Do you think that again, we still have game four because it's currently a one one series luck and change. We have a 9th inning kind of comeback. But look, To, I'll let you go first on this.
[00:03:59] Speaker A: I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't see a world where the Braves win this series. I mean, you got game four at the bank and that is a very tough environment for any team.
Philly fans are ruthless. Philly fans are aggressive. They're loud, I mean, rude. Yeah, I think that fell under the ruthless category. But that's a very tough environment to play in, especially with your back against the wall. That place is going to be jumping. And even if you guys do somehow win game four in the bank, yeah, you go back home, but you're facing Zach Wheeler who shut you guys down last time out.
So as it stands right now, I would probably have to say that Phillies are winning this series.
As I said before the series started, I did predict that.
[00:05:02] Speaker B: Just want to put that out there. Okay. All right.
[00:05:04] Speaker C: Yeah, I would just say right before I get into it, quick update for you guys because there's games going on right now. Astros just hit a two run homer. They're leading three one in the top of the fourth. Now, I'll get into this. I think if the Braves lose this series, which I think is very likely, as Luke pointed out, they're very, very likely to lose this game, I see no chance of them coming back in this one. And then I think it's going to be really hard for them to win a game four in citizens Bank Park. As Luke pointed out. I think the Braves will be on immediate pack watch. I think they can be comparable even to the Dodgers as of now. I mean, that's going to be back to back years with 100 win seasons, NL east champions just to lose in the first round of the playoffs to the Phillies twice who are in your division that you won against them and then you're going to lose in the playoffs to them. That's just a terrible look, sadly for you guys here in the studio who are Braves fans and in general, I don't know what's going to have to change. I mean, you see, they're one of the best lineups in the regular I mean, they had the most wins in the regular season. They had probably the best lineup in the regular season. And they can't really quickly interrupting just.
[00:06:10] Speaker B: To induce more depression. It is now nine two, Philadelphia who scored.
[00:06:16] Speaker A: Nick Castellanos just hit a 452nd of the day.
[00:06:19] Speaker C: By the way, Bryce, that's four homers in this game for the Phillies. And keep in mind, the only reason the Braves are still in the series is because of their miracle comeback a few days ago after Zach Wheeler went five and a third hitless innings and they got a nice comeback with two run homers and they ended up winning. But if you lose two games by getting basically blown out and your only win comes in comeback fashion like that, it's really hard to say that you're going to win the Series overall. So I don't have high hopes for you guys. But I've said it as a Mets fan. To my fellow Mets fans, I just hope both teams in this series don't have fun and I hope whoever wins loses in the NLCS. But it's going to be hard to tell because the Phillies aren't a role right now. So it's going to be hard to bet against them in the NLCS if they make it there. And if the Braves pull off a comeback, then they're going to be hot and it's going to be hard to bet against them in that LCS, but I don't know.
[00:07:23] Speaker B: Carson man as a Braves fan okay, as a Braves fan, I am unhappy and I'm going to say I have an unhappy prediction that we might see.
[00:07:36] Speaker C: Which has happened.
[00:07:37] Speaker A: Brandon Marsh. Oh, Jeez. Solo home run, back to back jacks by the Phillies. It's ten to two in the 8th inning.
[00:07:47] Speaker C: That's not good.
[00:07:48] Speaker A: They are pouring it on.
[00:07:50] Speaker B: I want to say so many wars are banned by the FCC right now.
[00:07:54] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:07:57] Speaker C: Oh, boy, that can't be fun.
[00:08:00] Speaker B: Yes. Anyway, as you guys can hear me just internally, just unhappiness, I'll say there has to be some consequences for this, and I'm just going to say I hate saying this, but if Atlanta doesn't want to end up like the Dodgers, there might be a good chance Brian.
[00:08:31] Speaker C: Snicker needs to get I would agree.
[00:08:34] Speaker B: Yeah, there might be a chance because 2021, that was a little bit of a fluke, let's be honest. Even.
[00:08:44] Speaker C: I wouldn't say that was a fluke.
[00:08:46] Speaker A: I wouldn't even say that.
[00:08:47] Speaker B: No.
[00:08:48] Speaker C: I would say that the Braves team that won the World Series is definitely the worst out of the past three Braves teams.
I would agree with that.
[00:08:58] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a good I don't think it's fair to say that Snicker should be gone.
[00:09:05] Speaker B: Okay. At least he should be on very thin ice.
[00:09:10] Speaker A: I don't even know about that. I would say Snicker is one of the top ten managers in baseball right now.
[00:09:15] Speaker B: Here's the problem. To be a great manager, though, you have to be able to go into the postseason with one of the best rosters in all baseball at the moment, with one of the most insanely cheap rosters. I should also add, without because of.
[00:09:28] Speaker A: The cheating that they're doing.
[00:09:30] Speaker B: There is no cheating. We are not the New York Mets.
[00:09:33] Speaker A: Kidding.
[00:09:33] Speaker B: I'm kidding.
[00:09:33] Speaker C: We'll get into that one later.
[00:09:36] Speaker A: I got overshadowed by the throw strays. I told you I was going to throw strays.
[00:09:44] Speaker B: I love my co host, but moving on.
[00:09:47] Speaker A: Hey, you did it to me. All right.
[00:09:49] Speaker B: Okay. That was like once or twice, maybe.
[00:09:53] Speaker C: More than that hit over the head.
[00:09:55] Speaker B: Okay. Anyway, at least when it comes to the pitching coaches or at least some hit I want to say hitting coaches because this feels like the team just randomly got cold when it came to hitting pitching coaches. I think there needs to be an overturn on that. I feel like pitching has absolutely been an issue because it feels like the team has, like, three good starters with strider fried and then sometimes Morton and then know. It feels like basically you just have to kind of home your way to.
[00:10:26] Speaker C: A victory, which they haven't been doing at all in the series.
[00:10:29] Speaker B: That's the issue. And then you also have again, I feel like we are reaching a point where and this is where I say this is a bit of a depression cope induced prediction.
I think there's at least a 50% chance Shoyotani is going to be a Brave because guess what? You get pitching, you get hitting, you're able to bring him in not pitching.
[00:10:53] Speaker A: All of next year.
[00:10:54] Speaker B: I know, but still think about the future. The Braves are a very future focused organization. I think we can all agree to that. They're an organization that does not exactly like to throw away pieces that they could use, even though, yes, maybe you wait a year again, having someone like that on the lineup and you have his services, that's something that should be looked at when you're looking at this. You need to make a I think 100% there's going to be some free agency splashes when it comes to pitching because, again, the wonderful Acuna and Ozzy contracts, those are up in three years and they're going to get big money. And I think I'm a little concerned maybe the Braves will not want to play ball. Exactly.
With both Ozzy and Acunya, I think there could be one choice.
[00:11:46] Speaker A: So you're saying Ronald Acuna is a Yankee is what you're saying?
[00:11:49] Speaker B: No, I'm saying possibly Ozzy Albie's this oh, boy.
[00:11:53] Speaker A: If that like hypothetical world because that would never happen. But if that were to happen and our outfield consisted of Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, and Ronald Acuna, I think I'd probably just drop out of school and just live in Yankee stadium. So you'd be like, george, I would just take exactly honestly.
[00:12:15] Speaker B: Anyway. But I guess what I'm saying is I'm not saying the window is closing because that's absolutely not true. The Braves have a window that right now looks to be at least open till 2031. That's a very fair statement to say. I think no one's going to disagree with that. However, you have to keep that window sustained, not where it's okay, it's a bit open window. But a window that's wide open like it is right now for the next three years, you have to make some big splashes. And right now, pitching is an issue. I mean, what we said, I think we're at six homers today that the Phillies have been given.
[00:12:56] Speaker C: Yeah, I think so.
[00:12:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:57] Speaker B: Six. Who allows six homers in one game?
[00:13:01] Speaker A: The Atlanta Braves.
[00:13:02] Speaker B: Well, I'm talking about besides, is there any other team right now?
[00:13:07] Speaker C: No.
[00:13:11] Speaker A: Probably not.
[00:13:12] Speaker C: Well, maybe the Dodgers. Is that what they did this I.
[00:13:16] Speaker B: Was just clayton Kershaw.
[00:13:17] Speaker A: Let me check if they gave up six homers in that game, I think.
[00:13:21] Speaker C: Kershaw playoff choker, by the way, they gave up.
[00:13:26] Speaker A: 1234.
[00:13:31] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:13:31] Speaker A: Four.
[00:13:32] Speaker C: Yeah, that series is not going too hot either. But we could talk about that in a minute.
[00:13:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:42] Speaker B: At this point, I'm just going to say this one, who are some pitchers are going into free agency that is not 300 years old like Clayton Kershaw.
[00:13:54] Speaker C: Not sure. Also, Clayton Kershaw will either retire or just resign with the Dodgers. Anyway.
[00:13:59] Speaker A: I think it's time to hang up the cleats, brother.
[00:14:01] Speaker C: Especially after the game. One, I think he'll probably retire.
[00:14:04] Speaker A: That's a rough way to go.
[00:14:07] Speaker B: Yeah, I think he kind of got old yellowed a little bit. But, man, I mean, I'm just thinking the issue is the Braves are needing a big free agent pitcher when last season was kind of the season to really go after mean, it makes you kind of mean. There's probably a very unrealistic chance, but, man, that the Braves could have gone after Max Scherzer when he was on the market, possibly Justin Verlander. I mean, again, in a division, mets already hate the Braves enough. You have all that.
Know, I'm honestly at a point I kind of like, okay, how do you move forward from this? Because the only way I see it is I'm not going to say you have a complete tear down the roster because that's unrealistic. But I feel like that this is a roster again, you have your window wide open. I don't think you trade away anyone. I think you have to go out and sign.
[00:15:04] Speaker A: Do you just want to interrupt for a second? Bryce Harper is coming up to bat right now with runners on first and second one out in the bottom of the 8th. He very well could be swinging freely because this game is already out of control. So be on the lookout for a third home run from Bryce Harper.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: We're going to ignore that alert when that happens.
[00:15:24] Speaker C: Anyway, I just looked into it. These are a couple names for free agent pitchers. Unrestricted. Aaron Nola sonny Gray blake Snell louis Severino jordan Montgomery.
[00:15:36] Speaker B: Blake Snell could be a couple.
[00:15:38] Speaker A: Blake Snell is a Yankee. And Sonny Gray.
[00:15:42] Speaker C: Everyone is a Yankee.
[00:15:42] Speaker A: Sonny Gray can't be a Yankee because we already tried that and he see.
[00:15:47] Speaker B: Gray or Snell is going to be a Yankee.
[00:15:49] Speaker A: I'm not a Yankee but a Brave. Yeah, I could very well see the Braves going after Sonny Gray. That would be a good fit.
[00:15:54] Speaker C: Yeah, I think totally that would work. But I think they absolutely have to do something. I mean, their window is definitely nowhere near closed. And if they've had one of the best teams, regular season teams for the past two years and by the way.
[00:16:07] Speaker B: Let me say first round, I cannot think of any contracts that are up this upcoming season for the Braves that are on that current lineup.
[00:16:13] Speaker C: That I don't know. I could look into that.
[00:16:15] Speaker B: I think possibly because Garcia's got a deal this season, maybe Freed and maybe.
[00:16:24] Speaker A: What'S Soroka's deal.
[00:16:26] Speaker B: Just who mike soroka at this point, though, let's be honest, he's kind of washed.
[00:16:31] Speaker A: I wouldn't really say watched. He's just dealt with injuries his entire career.
[00:16:35] Speaker B: But at what point do these injuries keep affecting him because he tears his ACL, like, what, every three steps? Now, I hate sounding mean, but let's.
[00:16:45] Speaker A: Be honest, 20 count on Harper just.
[00:16:47] Speaker C: By the way he's about to hit a homer.
[00:16:49] Speaker A: Could you imagine?
[00:16:51] Speaker C: Let's see. Braves unrestricted free agents, kevin Pilar, Mets legend, not anyone super notable on their.
[00:17:02] Speaker B: It'S like, again, this is like the perfect the issue is this is the.
[00:17:10] Speaker C: Year for them, for sure.
[00:17:11] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. If you want to go after free agents, this is like the perfect oh, absolutely. Because you don't have to worry about any big contract contracts. But again, it's like the issue is then Alex is an amazing GM. We've seen what he can do when it comes to picking up great trades, when it comes to signing young players and keeping them around for a long while. But it's like with free agency, man, I don't know. He gets way too scared when it comes to contracts. I think he gets really scared. Again, I think you after Snell and you after Gray. I think you at least get four pitchers lined up in there. Where? Look, they might not all be an ace, but they're willing to at least go out there, give you four or five innings, maybe of good.
[00:17:59] Speaker C: You.
[00:17:59] Speaker B: I'm not going to say again, you win the NL. Or maybe you win the World Series, but you're going to get a really good chance with a lineup like that when it comes to pitching and a new pitching. Staff. Let's be honest.
Again, I'm going to say it again, you probably got to fire the pitching staff because this performance no, again, there's consequences for this series and I hope Liberty Media and again, the Braves just so everyone remembers, the Braves are technically now publicly owned. You can buy stock. Oh, wow. Yeah, Philly's already bought them.
[00:18:38] Speaker C: Bryce Harper has all this stock in the Braves. Clearly him and Nick Cassiano I'm getting because they're owning dirty Braves right now.
[00:18:45] Speaker A: The amount of dirty looks around this room is bad.
[00:18:48] Speaker C: Yeah, just a few stats. The Braves postseason Era is a 4.97.
Meanwhile, the Phillies, and this includes the Wild Card Series, though the Phillies postseason Era is 1.67. In terms of the Phillies lineup, let me go to that. Phillies have five guys in their lineup with a postseason Ops over one. And Trey Turner, Bryce Harper, JT real Muto, Nick Castellanos and Brandon Marsh. Meanwhile, the Braves lineup, which was the best in the regular season, ronald Acuna has a 750 Ops.
[00:19:23] Speaker B: On that note, I think this is a good time for a commercial break. All I'm going to say is let's.
[00:19:30] Speaker C: Hope there's a miracle.
[00:19:32] Speaker B: I am hoping game four, we see things change. And maybe this is like the moment where, again, kind of like the Brewer Series in 2021, where the Braves kind of finally figure it out when it comes to the postseason, because I am not having fun right now.
I am sad, I am tired, I am depressed. I want to have fun again with this team. I want pearls. Give me a new pearl. I don't know, something. I don't know. Give me like a cheap fox, gold painted, like, chain. There you go. It's like the gold spray paint. I'll take that at this point.
[00:20:06] Speaker C: I just want to hear Luke say it before we go to commercial.
[00:20:08] Speaker B: Say it.
[00:20:10] Speaker C: Say the line. What is it?
[00:20:12] Speaker A: Red October.
[00:20:13] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:20:14] Speaker A: The Red October.
[00:20:15] Speaker C: There we go.
[00:20:15] Speaker B: All right, communists. We'll be back in about five minutes.
[00:20:31] Speaker A: WVUA FM tuscaloosa.
[00:20:47] Speaker B: And welcome back, everybody, to soon. Section MLB here on WVUA of course, I'm your host, Carson Keel.
[00:20:53] Speaker C: Luke Torrey and Luke Anderson.
[00:20:55] Speaker B: And no more depressing Braves talk. It's over. It's over.
[00:20:58] Speaker A: Well, it's not over yet. There's two outs in the 9th and then it'll be over.
[00:21:01] Speaker B: Okay, well, the series isn't over, so I'll say that. There you go.
[00:21:04] Speaker A: I beg to differ.
[00:21:07] Speaker B: Okay. Anyway, we didn't get a chance to talk about this last week, I think, so I'm not going to make a big deal because, let's be honest, this is a bit of a I'll be honest. I'll be nice to you guys. I think this is a bit of the owners just getting mad at Steve Cohen. I agree with this a little bit. So the New York Mets are under investigation. After the Mets GM has resigned. This, of course, came basically as soon as he got the news about improper use of the internal reserve.
[00:21:41] Speaker A: They cheated.
[00:21:43] Speaker B: Yes, they did cheat. But let's be honest at the same time, let's be honest at the same time, they cheated with the best payroll.
[00:21:50] Speaker A: In baseball and missed the playoffs.
[00:21:53] Speaker B: Okay?
[00:21:54] Speaker A: I'm throwing strays everywhere tonight.
[00:21:56] Speaker B: Okay?
[00:21:57] Speaker C: I do not deserve to be catching.
[00:21:59] Speaker B: These.
[00:22:01] Speaker C: I'm only kidding.
[00:22:03] Speaker B: I'm just going to say it. Everyone does this.
[00:22:05] Speaker C: That's what I was about to say. I was going to say 100%, Billy Eppler resigned and the MLB investigates him. And yes, I agree this shouldn't be happening. I think obviously the issue is that they were putting players on the injured reserve that weren't actually injured in order to get an extra roster spot for better players. This is evident. Tim Lacastro was on the Mets il, like, almost the whole year.
He's probably the player who wasn't hurt.
[00:22:30] Speaker A: I haven't heard that name since last year when he was on the Yankees.
[00:22:33] Speaker C: But I was going to say the same thing. I mean, yes, it is illegal, but every team has been doing this for years now, and I'm just lost as to why it's the Mets who are being investigated specifically.
[00:22:46] Speaker B: I'll be honest, I think I said this over the show because they also sucked.
[00:22:49] Speaker C: I don't know why they're picking the Mets out.
[00:22:51] Speaker B: They suck because it's okay. Here's the problem. I think the issue was, one, the Mets were pretty blatant about it.
I think that's one thing. The other teams, they kind of hide it with lesser players, players that are not on huge contracts. And then two, it's 100%. Let's be honest. Steve absolutely poked the bear with this past season with so many signings and so many huge contracts.
[00:23:15] Speaker C: Yeah, true.
[00:23:16] Speaker B: And it kind of sent the owners into a tizzy.
[00:23:19] Speaker A: Live update. The game is officially over, and the Phillies have taken a two one series lead on the Braves with game four coming tomorrow.
[00:23:28] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:23:28] Speaker A: Friday.
[00:23:29] Speaker C: No, it is tomorrow.
[00:23:29] Speaker A: I thought it was tomorrow.
[00:23:30] Speaker C: It is tomorrow.
[00:23:31] Speaker A: It is tomorrow.
[00:23:32] Speaker B: Yes. All right, so next show, you'll probably hear me crying anyway.
It could be tears of joys. Tears of joy. You never know. But still. Man, here's the issue. I think baseball has always had its things with cheating, but of course, you have the 90s Red scandal with their owner and the controversy that followed that. You had, of course, recently with the Houston Astros, which, let's be honest, the MLB kind of let them get away with that a little bit. Now I'm just kind of thinking, like, you've had steroids, of course, you had the Black Sox in the 19 hundreds with, course, the 1919 World Series team, and then now you kind of look at this and it's like, this isn't a super big deal.
[00:24:23] Speaker A: Yeah, I wouldn't put it in any category of the Astros or the Sox or anything like that.
This is like borderline cheating. Honestly, it's a bigger story than it should be, in my opinion.
[00:24:38] Speaker B: Well, here's the thing, though.
I guess this is where you kind of start to have the thing is, you have an owner that comes in again, tries to basically try to pulls off what the Dodgers have attempted to do. Still don't have a real ring, by the way. Dodgers, I think we all agree on that part.
[00:24:55] Speaker C: True.
[00:24:55] Speaker A: 100%.
[00:24:56] Speaker C: And they won't get one this year.
[00:24:57] Speaker B: Yeah, most definitely.
[00:24:59] Speaker C: Besides the point anyway.
[00:25:02] Speaker B: But this is like a warning shot. Can we be honest?
[00:25:07] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:25:07] Speaker A: I would say the reason it's a big deal is because everybody else is doing it. It's more of like a, hey, we will take things seriously, figure it out before we investigate everybody.
[00:25:19] Speaker C: Yeah, I don't think much is going to come out of the investigation. I mean, I think they know that every team's doing this. I don't think they're going to particularly punish the Mets.
[00:25:27] Speaker B: I don't know, if the offender resigns.
[00:25:32] Speaker C: And it's on him, it's probably just.
[00:25:33] Speaker B: Going to be like, the commissioner gets sent a letter like, don't do this, Mets. That's it.
[00:25:37] Speaker C: Exactly. And I mean, if every team is doing it and they're having issues with the roster and stuff, maybe they should just expand the roster, add an extra roster spot.
[00:25:44] Speaker B: Hey, Budy, we don't need real thoughts and solutions on this.
[00:25:47] Speaker C: That's true. We just need to pick Billy Epler as the scapegoat and say, don't do this, and then not do anything about it. We could do that too.
[00:25:55] Speaker B: All right, well, speaking of scapegoats, let's.
[00:25:57] Speaker C: Talk about the Baltimore Orioles escape goat for being bad.
[00:26:02] Speaker B: Well, the scapegoat also for Lowell Al East a little bit.
[00:26:06] Speaker A: Oh, let me handle this.
[00:26:09] Speaker B: All right.
[00:26:10] Speaker A: The Yankees had the same amount of postseason wins as the Orioles, as the Rays, and as the Blue Jays.
[00:26:21] Speaker C: So.
[00:26:24] Speaker A: This postseason could end right now, and I would be the happiest person on the earth. Everything I wanted to happen has happened. Now the Astros are I was about to say, now the Twins just need to take care of business against the Astros. And this will be my favorite offseason I mean, my favorite postseason ever that did not include the Yankees. It already honestly, this is sweet as a Yankee, I'm enjoying everything. I'm enjoying everything.
That's all I wanted to say.
[00:26:55] Speaker B: Luke Anderson, you had a certain prediction about the Texas Rangers. I know you're a happy man right now.
[00:27:01] Speaker C: Yeah, I just want to brag about the Texas Rangers. They were my team to win the World Series, and so far they have gone five and o against the 200 win American League teams. And these are a couple of stats on how they've been doing so far in those five games. So in five games, they have 51 hits, 32 runs, and an 865 team Ops. Plus, as a team, in terms of individual players, you have Corey Seeger has a 429 average with a 1.5 Ops, mitch Garver has a 400 average with a 1.2 Ops.
Evan Carter has a 429 average and a 1.4 Ops. And Josh Young has a 400 average and a 1.2 Ops. As I said, the Texas Rangers definitely had a scary lineup. Yes, they were cold for the past two weeks of the regular season, but they've clearly picked it up against the Rays, who have good pitching, and the Orioles, like I said before when I made my ALDS prediction, the Orioles don't have the best pitching staff, which is probably why they got swept this series. But, I mean, the Rangers picked it up and they've been hot in terms of their pitching. They have a 2.2 team Era in the postseason with a one Whip, which is very good. And the big part about that team that people had doubts about was their bullpen. But their team bullpen Era in their five postseason games is also around 2.2 as well. So just overall, as a full team, they've looked amazing so far, and that's nothing to discredit the Orioles. The Orioles were a very good team in the regular season, and the Rangers just blew past them. So I don't know who's going to win that other series, but I find it very hard to beat this Rangers team right now. And if you go to this is kind of me being salty as a Mets fan, but if you look at last year when the Mets won 100 games and they got eliminated in the wild card round, everyone was like, lol Mets and all that. But then when the Rays and the Orioles get swept by the Rangers, no one really bats an eye and they're like, oh, yeah, those teams were still good. Yes, I am salty because I think last year's Mets team was good and they lost. But I do think that the Rays and Orioles teams that the Rangers just blew past were very good teams. So I think that my Rangers World Series prediction looks pretty good right now.
[00:29:18] Speaker B: I was going to say this.
The issue is, I think this is playing a huge part into this Rangers playoff run.
They got embarrassed because they looked like they were winning the Los. They even did a little locker room celebration about it.
[00:29:32] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, it looks like on their shoulder.
[00:29:34] Speaker B: Yeah, like that's an angry team. And again, Max hurts when he's angry.
You don't want that on the mound.
[00:29:44] Speaker C: Yeah, let me look into that. Actually, I don't know what he's like if he'll be on the CS roster.
[00:29:51] Speaker B: I have not seen anything about him not being in.
[00:29:53] Speaker A: While you guys do look for that, I just wanted to say there was a bit of bad news. Former Phillies manager Charlie Manuel suffered a stroke, but they removed a blood clot, and he is doing I the reason I brought this up was during the game today, I saw a clip on Twitter.
[00:30:14] Speaker B: Oh, God.
[00:30:15] Speaker A: Bit of a flip of the script, actually. Usually Nick Castellanos hits home runs during bad news or bad times, as everybody has seen. The Phillies broadcasters were not the Phillies, just the game broadcasters were providing a health update and saying very good news about Charlie Manuel and Castellanos went deep. So maybe this is a switch for human nature. For humankind. Because as all of you know, historically, nick Castellanos loves bad news.
[00:30:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:48] Speaker A: Of that's, you know, kind of surprising and good.
[00:30:52] Speaker C: Some news about Max Scherzer.
[00:30:54] Speaker B: I don't.
[00:30:55] Speaker C: Know what the outcome was, but apparently he threw a simulated game today and hopes that he'll be ready for the Championship Series. To be on that roster, that would be major. Yeah. I mean, Max Scherzer is also low key, a playoff choker going back to last year, me being salty as a Mets fan. But they also have Dane Dunning, Jordan Montgomery, and Nathan Ivaldi, who have both all three of them have been really good. And their three starts well, I mean, Jordan Montgomery's start in game two of the Division Series was not great, but his wild card start was really so they've all three of them are scary to face in the Championship Series if you're the Astros or the Twins. I think if the Astros face the Rangers, it will be a very angry Rangers team. Like Carson said, they're going to want to prove why they should have won the division, and I think it's just going to be really hard to beat them.
[00:31:44] Speaker B: Yeah.
Oh, man, I wish my team could sweep a know in three games.
[00:31:50] Speaker C: Yeah, that would be nice. I just wish Jacob Degrom was pitching in the postseason right now, because that would just be insane to watch.
[00:31:57] Speaker B: It would be. But now let's talk about kind of because this is live. We're not going to have an update probably until next week Astros game. Yes. So right now, the Astros are currently the end of the fifth. Astros are leading three to one against the Minnesota Twins. Of course, the Houston has a two one series lead. They can possibly end the series tonight. And we'll have a possible All Texas ALCS using the remaining time of the segment. We got about a few minutes left. Your thoughts on a possible All Texas matchup? And as we're looking quickly at the ALCS, luke, I think those are the.
[00:32:36] Speaker A: Two hottest offenses in baseball right now, other than, I mean, honestly, the Phillies. But that wasn't meant to be disrespectful in any way.
[00:32:46] Speaker C: It was actually no disrespect.
[00:32:51] Speaker B: All right, back on topic.
[00:32:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
I mean, Jordan Alvarez should never be pissed ever again.
[00:32:57] Speaker C: He's not human.
[00:32:58] Speaker A: I think genuinely in the entirety of the ALCS, because we know the Twins are not going to pull this out. Unfortunately, the entirety of that matchup, I don't want a single I don't care what situation it is, given the Barry Bonds treatment, because if you're a betting man out there, you might as well bet anytime. Home run every single game for Jordan.
[00:33:20] Speaker C: Alvarez here, I'll say this, Luke. Jordan Alvarez in the postseason, 500 average, 2.3 Ops in the middle, and he's one for two this game, and he scored a run.
I agree with you on the fact he should just be walked every time he steps up to the plate. I completely agree with it's.
[00:33:41] Speaker A: And then you look at the other side. Corey seeger? Adoles Garcia. Marcus Simeon. That lineup is just stacked. And obviously the Astros are. This Astros roster is very familiar with the postseason, very familiar with the ALCS.
This is a scene that they have seen before. And I hate the Astros. I hate the Astros. And for that reason I want Texas to win. And I think they will. I genuinely I think the Texas Rangers will win in seven games. I think that goes to seven, no matter who wins, because no matter how hot that Texas Rangers offense is and how well those pitchers are doing, like Avaldi has been shut down and if they get Scherzer back, you know him in the postseason, they have the upper hand there. But you look at the Astros with the experience they have in the postseason, in the ALCS, especially that roster, because that roster has been constructed, give or take a few guys, a bunch of guys on that roster have been with that team for a while and they have not been there. They have been there every step of the way. And that's what they have the upper hand with experience. The other team's got the Texas has the upper hand know, pitching and I would say the lineup too.
That series is going to seven games.
I'm going to take the Rangers, but I think that's going to seven games.
[00:35:16] Speaker B: Well, that's quite a bit that you said right there. Let's get next segment, we come back in about five minutes. We're going to talk about Dodgers, Diamondbacks, I mean, that could possibly be ending tonight with another sweep. That's going to be interesting thing we're going to talk about and then we'll wrap up, of course, with our predictions possibly for ALCS matchups. But we'll be back in five minutes.
[00:35:55] Speaker A: WVUA FM Tuscaloosa.
[00:36:10] Speaker B: And welcome back to the final segment of soon section MLB here on the 11 October, there's no other objective.
There's no adjective that goes with it.
[00:36:23] Speaker C: October that might be red.
[00:36:26] Speaker B: No, there's not. Anyway, the 11 October, there's no submarine, fictional submarine name. That where there might be a hunt for like that. But moving on.
Okay, let's get into Diamondbacks Dodgers.
[00:36:41] Speaker C: I mean, the Twins just hit a home run.
[00:36:44] Speaker A: How many runs?
[00:36:45] Speaker C: One. It was a solo shot, so it.
[00:36:47] Speaker B: Is now a three.
[00:36:48] Speaker C: Cut the lead to three to two. It was Edoir julianne that's only their third hit of the day, keep in mind.
[00:36:56] Speaker B: Okay, but anyway, back on track again. That game won with Diamondback Dodgers. Can we talk about that? We mentioned earlier with Kershaw and how bad a performance was he allowed? Six hits, six runs. Six runs. Excuse me. Six runs in the first inning and then he was pulled.
[00:37:23] Speaker C: It's actually just tragic. I actually feel bad. I saw his postseason Era for this season is 162 after that start. It's just sad because especially we talked about how he might retire and this is 100 win Dodgers team again.
[00:37:39] Speaker B: I really hope at this point what I hope is he signs basically a bare minimum deal, and he comes in and they let him go out on a win until he wins. If that's the way he wants to do it, I think that's completely fair.
But man, it's just hard.
Even all of us who hate the Dodgers because of how that team runs, you feel bad. That's a gut punch.
[00:38:09] Speaker C: He studied a 2.46 Era in the regular season and 24 starts, which is the most he's had in a while. Even though he did miss a few starts, he was still amazing in the regular season. I don't know how this keeps happening to him in the postseason. It's just really sad to see because he still clearly has the stuff. So it's just sad that you can't see him get it done in the postseason. On a Dodgers team that we've talked about before should be winning pennants almost every year, and instead in the past ten years, they've only won three.
[00:38:41] Speaker B: Again.
Yeah, but then I guess my question is, what is up with performance? Because the Dodgers were hot. It feels like similar to the Braves where the Dodgers were hot coming into the end and it's just like I don't think they did simulated games like the Braves, but still they're getting decimated by large margins against the Diamondbacks. And I don't get this. This feels really off and I can't figure out what exactly the blame is. Besides, it's just Dave Roberts just having the absolutely worst luck when it comes to how his postseason goes. Because if the man was know, manager of the San Diego Padres and he had the same roster, maybe it's just a Dodgers curse.
[00:39:32] Speaker C: I just cannot be I mean, here's some stats on the Dodgers in the past two games for the postseason in the NLDS, one of the best lineups in the regular season, by the way, team batting average at 159, team Ops of 508. Mookie Betts does not have a hit in the two games against the Diamondbacks. Freddie Freeman has a 167 batting average and Max Muncie 143 batting average. These are all guys who should be stellar. These are all guys who are amazing in the regular season. And this is keep in mind, no hate to the Diamondbacks against a pitching staff that isn't really the greatest. They have Zach Gallin, who is very good, but other than him, their pitching staff is really not the greatest. And the Dodgers Mookie Betts doesn't have a hit in two games when he's going to be NL MVP runner up. It's just like such a severe underperformance. I mean, Mookie bets at a 163 Ops plus in the regular season. He doesn't have a hit in two games. So I don't know how drastically they can underperform. And this is a team it's another divisional matchup. I talked about how the Brave I'm not going to bring up the Braves again. I feel bad for you, Carson, but this is a division that the Dodgers won by like 20 games and the Diamondbacks are in that division. So the Dodgers should win this series. And they've just looked like, quite frankly, a joke in these past two games.
At this point, I feel like they're just trying to avoid a sweep because I really don't see them coming back and I don't even know if they can avoid a sweep. I mean, Lancelin is starting this game. I just don't even know if they can avoid the sweep.
[00:41:03] Speaker B: Oh, no. That series is over.
I'm not going to say this is changing the guard because Elena is very new still into the scene when it comes to playoffs. But again, we talked about this a couple weeks ago for the Dodgers, it felt like we're very much seeing is we're probably entering teardown time and this is where you kind of the windows closed. It's now time to kind of move on and prepare for the future.
But even for Arizona, it feels like they've been in a competitive rebuild and they're seeing the success.
And that's very strange to me because you shouldn't be seeing that. Really? You think, okay, maybe they'll make it into the wild card.
Okay, wait, why are they having they're probably going to go to the NLCS.
[00:41:52] Speaker C: Yeah, this is a Diamond X team.
[00:41:53] Speaker B: And isn't this their first NLCS since the 2000?
[00:41:57] Speaker C: Probably. Actually, I'm pretty sure it is. Yeah. I mean, this is a Diamondbacks team. I had the same kind of prediction that I did with the Orioles. It's a team that has like zero playoff experience in recent history and a team that has just kind of an okay ish pitching staff. So I kind of said, like I said with the Orioles that they were probably going to lose. I thought that the Diamondbacks would just lose to the Dodgers. No mean props to them for getting here. And I was like, okay, well, that's gonna be it. See you later. I mean, it was a great season for them, but now they're going to move on to the NLCS. So it's a crazy run that they're having. Luke, what do you think?
[00:42:31] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, I'm rooting for the Diamondbacks, obviously.
I'm sick of seeing the Dodgers just like on top of the world with their roster that they construct every year. But yeah, everybody likes a Cinderella run. And as much as this looks like a Cinderella run, you got to remember the Diamondbacks led that division to start the year by a landslide. They came out hot and they're looking like that team right now. And I don't see the Dodgers winning that series. I think it's wrapped up.
[00:43:04] Speaker B: This isn't a weird season of the absolutely. It's like, you know, are the Rangers going to go to the World Series because they'll be underdogs to the Astros? Possibly.
[00:43:16] Speaker C: My whole thing is I don't think the Rangers should be underdogs, but I mean, technically they are because they're fifth seed. So twins are underdogs, they might win the game's. Still very close.
[00:43:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:43:25] Speaker C: And obviously Diamondbacks underdogs about to smoke their way like no problem to the NLCS. Phillies were underdogs, I mean, by record in this series. And it looks like they'll win. So it's going to be I don't mean I would have never thought that even at the beginning of the season, especially let alone even three years ago, that the championship series this year would be Texas Rangers would be in it and the Arizona Diamondbacks would be in it. I would have never saw this coming.
[00:43:55] Speaker B: I don't think anyone else predicted this besides you with the Rangers. That was it.
[00:44:01] Speaker C: Well, that was before the World after once the playoffs were set. I would have never predicted this before the season.
[00:44:10] Speaker A: Have you seen the Rangers record in the past two seasons before this year?
[00:44:14] Speaker C: They had like the same roster last year, horrible, except without Degrom. And then Degrom started five games.
[00:44:20] Speaker A: Horrible record. And now they're on the way to the World Series.
[00:44:26] Speaker B: All right, well, I think with this, let's go and start making some predictions because it looks like we'll probably have at least game one or two of the NLCS and ALCS completed by the time we're on.
Going to I'm going to have a Cope prediction when it comes to my saying I'm taking Braves Diamondbacks. Oh, ha ha, very funny, Mr. All right. Anyway.
And then for my ALCS, I'm taking Texas. Houston, I'm going to say again, cope, Cope, cope coming from me. Yeah.
I'm taking the Braves in six for the NLCS. I'm going to take Rangers in seven for the ALCS.
[00:45:05] Speaker A: Luke Tory, I think Diamondbacks end up winning the series against the Dodgers. Phillies end up winning the series against the Braves. I think Phillies win in five over the Diamondbacks and I think the Rangers win in seven against the.
[00:45:25] Speaker C: Mean. Luke talked about this on the last segment. I think Houston's going to move on and I think this might be one of the best series we've seen a really long time. I mean, Luke pointed out perfectly. I think Texas has the slight advantage in terms of their team, but obviously Houston has the experience winning the past three Al pennants now. It's going to be a great series.
Gimme Texas in seven, I think as well, in terms of the National League, I think the Diamondbacks win tonight and move on. I think the Phillies hold on, although I would like to see the Braves win just because I don't like hearing about a red, unfortunately.
But I think regardless of who wins, I know I said this last week about the Diamondbacks facing the Dodgers, but I don't think the Diamondbacks could take a game off of the Phillies or Braves. So give me Phillies in four, Texas in seven, and give me Texas to win the World Series.
[00:46:19] Speaker B: Know, I was thinking about texas versus Phillies. Could be a World Series rematch.
Remember that? Would it be? Yeah, 2010.
[00:46:30] Speaker C: Oh, no, wait, I thought that was the Phillies played the Yankees, but no, that was they played Texas. That's when they won it.
[00:46:36] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:46:37] Speaker C: All right, but give me Texas this time.
[00:46:39] Speaker B: Okay? All right. Well, before I head off here on Soon Section LB, all I have to say, if you know a Braves fan, call them. Tell them you love them. Make sure that they're in a safe place. Be, I am upset, but have a good night, everyone. Stay safe until then. We'll see you next week.
