Fair Territory: AL WC frenzy, LA lull, AL Cy race, RIP Davey Johnson

00:00:01
Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Monday edition of Fair Territory. I'm Ken Rosenthal, and needless to say, it has been a crazy season, a crazy season to say the least, and now it is reaching its climax in these final few weeks. And I want to talk about the latest craziness in the first segment this morning, and it kind of relates to a tweet that Alden Gonzalez of ESPN had a few days ago and the theme of this season. Alden summed it up really well, just when I think a team is good, it's bad. Just when I think a team is bad, it's good. This is baseball in twenty twenty five. That post by Alden kind of inspired what I wrote today in The Athletic, a column about fifteen teams and basically telling fans of each of those teams, listen, if you think you have it bad, it could be worse, because every team seems to be going through a phase or has gone through a phase in which they have their fans pulling their hair out, exasperated, frustrated, infuriated with the way their teams are playing. And there's the Columny seat right there. It's upright now, and let's start today with the NL West, because there is a division that we all thought was going to be this incredible powerhouse and it really isn't turning out quite that way. The team that is ruining baseball the Los Angeles Dodgers. On Saturday, what happened to the Los Angeles Dodgers. They were no hit by the last place Orioles for eight and two thirds innings. They had a win probability at that point of ninety nine point five percent, a three to nothing lead, and they lost the game. And this was obviously the extreme example of essentially a season long pattern for the Dodgers, but one that really since early July has been a huge issue. They are nine games under five hundred since July third, nine games under. The operating premise of this team all season has seen to be we'll turn it on at the right time. Well, guess what they've already cost themselves a buye in the postseason. Most likely they're not getting one. The Brewers and the Phillies are in commanding position for that buy now. Granted anything can happen. The deficit to the Phillies from the Dodgers is four and a half games. It's not over but it's not looking good. And there's Sarah Lang's with her classic wei on what happened Saturday night. The Dodgers have a bullpen that leads the major leagues in blown safe I know that's not an entirely telling metric, but it's a pretty good one when it comes to the Dodgers. They had another one, of course Saturday. They went one in five this week last week in Pittsburgh and Baltimore. Pittsburgh and Baltimore two last place teams. Granted, the Oriols have played a lot better in the last three months, but they're still in last place. They're still not the team that they thought they would be. So that's the Dodgers in the NL West, and then they were the Padres. Now the Padres. All Boll saluted them for winning the trade deadline, and they did that. Aj Peller, their general managers, seemed to fill every one of their needs. I loved what he did. Most fans did as well, just because he was so aggressive and did so much well since the deadline. What are the Padres? Eighteen and sixteen, just two games over five hundred and it took two wins over Colorado at Corusfield this weekend to get to two games over five hundred. Their offense is enigmatic. As I wrote today, they're starting pitching is problematic. Their bullpen is down Jason Adam now still one of the best bullpens in baseball, and they're likely going to need to overtake the Dodgers in the National League West, where they trailed by one game, to avoid playing a road series in the wildcard round. And that's important for the Padres because they draw such energy from their fans at home. So that's just the NLS where kind of wacky things are going on. It's not just in the NLS where we have this kind of commotion. The AL wildcard race two weeks ago, it wasn't a race at all. I believe, on this show or one of the others, I proclaim that, you know what, season's kind of a bummer. We already know who the twelve playoff teams are, and at that point it appeared pretty much set. Well. The Seattle Mariners have opened this thing wide open again. Now let's look at the ALE wildcard standings. Right here you see the Yankees in Red Sox. They're in commanding position. Good week for the Yankees, four and two against two first place teams, the Astros and Blue Jays. See the Red Sox, they're kind of a difficult series in Arizona, but they're in good shape even without Rome and Anthony as far as the standings are concerned. And then the Mariners. The Mariners, a team that has missed the postseason by one game each of the last two years. Here they are ten and one after the deadline, actually starting July thirty first, so ten and one from that point. They then go into IS six and fifteen RUT six and fifteen, and that opened this thing wide open. As I said before for those other teams in the mix, Let's look at those standings one more time, and I want to show you exactly what I'm talking about. The Mariners. Yes, they still leave the wildcard by a game and a half over the Rangers, two over the Royals, two and a half over the Guardians. It's a cushion. It's somewhat of a commanding cushion given how much time is remaining in this season, but it's not a total cushion. And yes, they won two games in Atlanta, two routes to go back home now and hopefully get their acts together, but this is a race that again should not have been a race. Now this week we've got Kansas City in Cleveland. That's a big series in the wildcard picture, of course, and Kansas City also has one more series against the Mariners that's obviously going to be a big series, and I believe that is next week in Kansas City. So the Oils kind of have to hold serve over the next six games on the road, and then I believe they're on the road, don't quote me on that, but then they have Seattle and that will be if they are still right where they need to be, a very telling series for them Texas. I saw them this weekend. They're an intriguing team because they're without many of their top players Nathan Avaldi, Corey Seger, Marcus Simmi and Adolice Garcia. They've got a bunch of guys I wouldn't call them casts off, more journeyman types who are helping them win right now, Cody Freeman and Michael Hellman. It's kind of an amazing run that they're on, but good for them. They've done a really good job just kind of staying in this race after an incredibly difficult and frustrating season because their offense is underperformed. So those are the two races that perhaps are most intriguing right now. And then we have another development in baseball. This is the development we always seem to have, and that is, of course, the injuries that continue to take place. Seasons still going, We're gonna still have injuries, and I just mentioned Seeger that's one of them. Emergency apendectomy on August twenty eighth. They're expecting him back, maybe even back next week, so that would be a huge boost for them. They're also expecting Adolis Garcia to come back. Simeon and Valdi the chances of them returning are remote, at least according to club officials. But on Sunday we had two other significant injuries. Now we're waiting to hear just on the extent of them. Trede Turner with the Phillies suffered a right hamstring strain running up the first base line. He's seeing a doctor today. Trey Turner has kind of gone under the radar this year. You see Jason Stark's tweet right there. He is fourth in the National League fourth, I'm sorry, fourth in the major leagues in Fangraff's version of war. He's fourth, behind only Aaron Judge, cal Raley and Bobby Wick Junior. He's had an amazing year. The Phillies obviously need him. The only good news here is if he indeed has a hamstring injury, and maybe it's a couple of weeks, that's okay. The Phillies are in commanding position in the Analyt East over the Mets. They're in commanding position for a buye. They should be okay if he needs nearly a month before the playoffs to get ready. So that's Trey Turner. Daniel Palencia, the Cub's closer. He has a right shoulder issue. Came out of the game yesterday with tightness in that right shoulder. Now that's an issue for the Cubs. Obviously, he's been really good for them. They also have injury questions, minor stuff, it seems, with Kyle Tucker and Pete crow Armstrong. Clearly they need to be healthy to be the kind of team that they want to be. And as I wrote about them today, for all that they have disappointed in some ways after that great first half, still have the third best record in the National League. They've still got a really good regular season, but they need their players obviously, and then Bobby with junior. Bobby with junior back spasms missed the last two games for the Kansas City Royals. Now we all know the meaning of Bobbywood Junior to that franchise. He is their best player. He's one of the best all around players in the sport. And for them to somehow steal this wild card from Seattle, they're going to need Bobbywood Junior healthy. There's not much doubt about that. I don't believe I am going too far out on a limb there. All Right, we got plenty else to talk about. I want to take a break here. We're going to come back next with the inside dish. I'm going to talk about my memories of Davey Johnson.

00:09:33
Speaker 2: We are longtime fans of Omaha Steaks, and I am drooling looking at the website right now featuring USDA certified Tender Steaks and also during their red Hot sale event going on right now this fall, fifty percent off site wide at Omaha steaks dot com, plus for the ftfam an extra thirty five dollars off with promo code foul at checkout. You've been a big fan of Omaha Steaks since your early days as a pro.

00:09:56
Speaker 3: Brings it back to my A ball low a ball days because we used to survive on to get a big order at the beginning of the year, cook him on our little electric grill canapeas so mac and cheese. That was dinner for four. We survived off Omaha Steaks. It still has a special place in my heart.

00:10:10
Speaker 1: You thrived, well, you guys ate like kings.

00:10:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's special. Get fired up for faull grilling with Omaha Steaks. Visit Omaha Steaks dot com for fifty percent off site wide during the red Hot Sale event, and for an extra thirty five bucks off promo code foul at checkout. Fifty percent off at Omaha Steaks dot com and an extra thirty five dollars off with promo code foul at checkout see site for details.

00:10:32
Speaker 1: Dig in well, all right, you see it right there. Time now for the Inside Dish, the part of the show where I talk about maybe a story I've written, a trend in the game, something else going on. But this week, as I mentioned at the end of the first segment, I'd like to talk about my memories of Davy Johnson, who passed away on Saturday. Davey had a long, rich baseball life as a player, and I don't know that a lot of fans realize this fans today. He was really good. Four time All Star, three time goal Glove winner at second base, two time World Series champion for the Baltimore Orioles nineteen sixty six and nineteen seventy and as a manager, he is best known as the leader of the swashbuckling nineteen eighty six World Series champion New York Mets. And that was the team that defined him and he defined them as well. Now, he is a guy who was really smart. He was doing analytics thirty years before anyone had even heard of analytics. He took a computer course at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore when he was playing for the Orioles and created formulas where he would do this to create the optimal batting orders for the Orioles. Now, Earl Weaver didn't listen to him, but Davey was ahead of his time. Now, I covered only a small slice of his career. When he was manager of the Oriols in nineteen ninety six and ninety seven, I was a sports columnist for the Baltimore Sun, a general columnist, so I covered mostly baseball because the Ravens had just started in Baltimore at that time, but also college basketball and football and whatever else. But again the focus was mostly baseball. Now Davy would go on to manage the Dodgers and Nationals after that. But those two years when he was with the Orioles, they made the playoffs both years. They were among the most memorable years of my career, and it was because in large part he was the manager. He was a total character. He was a different guy. And the thing that struck me most about Davy from the start, compared to other managers I had covered with the Orioles, and by that time it had been ten years and I had covered quite a few managers, he had a confidence about him that was really unparalleled, and I don't see it in many managers today the way I saw it in him. Some would call it cocky, but he was really kind. Now. I told this story on Fox on Saturday during our broadcast when we had our memories of Davy, and the story goes back to Chicago, April of nineteen ninety seven. I believe freezing night at the New Komiski whatever it's called, now guaranteed raid field. And at the end of the game, Davy Johnson is in his office. He's still shivering. He had made a decision that night. I can't remember exactly the details, but the Oriols had kind of a closer controversy going on Amando Bernitez Raddy Myers, and that night Davy chose the one we thought he wouldn't choose as writers, so we could shuffle into his office at the end of the game. As I said, he's still shivering, and he opens the conversation not with hey, you guys, got any questions or just ask away. He kind of gives us a little lecture and he says, hey, I know you guys. And when they say you guys, and there are women too involved, but it's always you guys. You guys means the writers, and it's not said usually very nicely. You guys were up there in the box. Second guess in my you know what and I don't care. I'm the manager, I'm the one making all the money and I do whatever I darn please. That was Davy and by then, well, I guess we had some questions, but really what can you ask at that point. That was Davy Johnson and again he was not afraid of anyone, and the Oriols during those two years ninety six ninety seven, in my estimation, since I started covering the sport in nineteen eighty seven, they were never bigger than they were then in terms of where they were in the sport, where they placed themselves in the sport. They had some outstanding players, of course, Ripken, Palmero or Alamar. They had a Hall of Fame general manager and Pat Gillick. Camden Yards was full every night, it was alive. And again he was a big part of that. If you might remember he was named that manager of the year in nineteen ninety seven. He was feuding with Peter Angelos. He resigned the day he was named the manager of the year. On the conference call with the right he said, Hey, I'm looking for a job, but he knew anywhere I can go. It was hilarious. So that's part of what I remember about Davy. But just from a personal level covering him now, as I said, he wasn't afraid of anyone. He'd take on anyone, didn't really think anything of it. He had a nickname for me, but it wasn't even a nickname because I wasn't sure he knew my name, and what he called me was Mike, and I never could figure out why. And Joe Strauss, the late Joe Strauss, who covered the team with me in ninety seven, he was the beat writer, Buster only was the beat writer in ninety six. Joe delighted in this that he would call me Mike, and I could never figure out why. The only thing I could think of was that I was the calmest in town. Along with John Eisenberg. We had only one paper at that point, and Davy probably thought I was trying to be like Mike Lupeka in New York, which I couldn't be. There was only one Mike Lupica. But I thought that was his way of jabbing me. Now. I never asked him, Hey, why are you calling me Mike. I just kind of let him do it. But I knew he knew my name because one day, when he was upset with me, slammed his desk and said, damn it, Kenny. So I kind of figured out he knew what was going on. Now in a bigger sense with regard to the team, as I said there were no sacred cows. And at that point, Cal Ripken in nineteen ninety six was a thirty five year old shortstop. They really didn't have defensive metrics then, really to the level that we have now, if at all. Cal was slowing down at shortstop as a thirty five year old would, and Davy wanted to look at a kid named Manny Alexander, and I believe the front office did as well. Many Alexander was a gifted fielder, at least from the Dominican Republic, a young guy at that point, and while Cal was slowing down at shortstop, Davy also wanted to reduce his grip on the team as a whole. Cal's grip. Cal under the previous manager, Phil Reagan, had changed cutoffs and relays in spring training. Reagan tried to do one thing Cal wanted to do another. Cal would call pitches from shortstop. He was an incredibly influential player for good reason. He was also the smartest player on the field. But in some opinions with the Orioles, some people with the Oriols, they thought maybe he was going too far, so Davy wanted to cut him down. That was part of this well, the Manny Alexander experiment didn't work. It lasted only six games, but the issue persisted. Cal moved back to shortstoff for the rest of ninety six, and then at the end of ninety six, in the American League Championship series against the Yankees, the late Joe Morgan, calling the games I believe it was for NBC, kind of took exception with the way Cal was playing. He pointed out one play in particular, the cow should have made he didn't make. And I remember at the end of that series, I called Cal and I wanted to discuss that with him, and he explained that one of the plays, I believe the play that Morgan highlighted most there was this really fast kid, a right handed hitter who had just entered the league, and hey, his speed was the reason that Cal didn't make the play. That kid was Derek Jeter. Anyway, end of that season, the Oils signed Mike Bordick, and Mike Bordick, of course, was a really good defensive shortstop. He was not Manny Alexander. He was an established player, and at that point Cal could accept what was going on. He could understand that he had to move to third base, and he did, and he played a really good third base for the rest of his career. But I'll always remember that. I always remember Davy kind of tweaking Cal and kind of showing who was boss. For lack of a better term, I don't know that Cal took too kindly to it. He certainly didn't take too kindly to being taken off short from Manny Alexander, because again, Manny Alexander was not an established player. So to sum it up, I sort of had to laugh because while Saturday it was an incredibly sad day we lost Davy, it almost seemed to me that on the thirtieth anniversary of the celebration of Cal's streak, the record breaking night when he broke lu Gerrig's record, that was the day Davy passed. And it almost seemed like one of these things in life that happens. He was tweaking Cal one more time. Hey man, it's your day, but you know, here we go. Anyway, it was just a thought that came to my mind, not necessarily appropriate, but I want to wish Davy's family, his wife, Susan, and everyone else's family all the best. Were thinking to Davy. He was a legend. He was a blast to cover. He was one of the influential figures in the game. He had a tremendous career as a player and a manager. Davey Johnson rest in peace.

00:19:49
Speaker 2: We spend a lot of time on the road. We are often concerned about our online security when you're logging in from all over the globe.

00:19:57
Speaker 1: Really, so you should maybe look into a VPN.

00:20:00
Speaker 2: What does that stand for?

00:20:01
Speaker 1: Crats Virtual Private network?

00:20:04
Speaker 2: Boom nailed it, And that virtual private network that you should look into is called surf Shark. It is time to take control of your online security and try surf Shark today. You can enjoy their thirty day money back guarantee and secure your digital world right now by visiting the link that we'll post there for you and start surfing securely surf shark dot com slash foule or the code fall at checkout, we'll get you four extra months of surf Shark VPN aka virtual Private network. It's a risk free, thirty day money back guarantee. Surf sharks unique VPN benefits include use on unlimited devices in one hundred countries and twenty four to seven support at surfshark dot com slash fo ul. This has been your tech update. Keep your data safe.

00:20:55
Speaker 1: Time now for grilling Ken, the part of the show where I answer your questions. Let's get right to them. Time is a wasting all right. The first one comes from Alex Guanche, who asked favorites to reach the World Series. Now, as you guys know, if you follow me at all, my picks are always terrible. They're really terrible at the start of the season because it never turns out the way we think. I had the Rangers and the Braves had that work out for me. If I had to pick right now, who would I pick? I would say Phillies and Blue Jays. And I don't want to discount the Brewers because I do believe the Brewers have a shot, and I'm worried about the blue Jays bullpen obviously, but the American League is a total free for all. I have no idea what's going to happen the Tigers. I can see them winning too, but I'll go Phillies and Blue Jays right now. Rematch of what was that nineteen ninety three? All right? Next question, let's see what we got here. This one comes from foul territory. Who asked or which asks? Has Hunter Brown made the al Cy Young a two horse race. I don't know that I would go that far just yet, but Scooba leads league and two point one zero, Hunter Brown is next to two point twenty five, and then you've got Crochet at two point sixty seven. Schoolble to me is the runaway winner here. He not only leads in the ERA, which is just one metric, it's not the sole measure here. He also leads in strikeout rate, strikeout to walk rate, whip pretty much everything that you would want your guy to lead in now. Hunter Brown is interesting because Hunter Brown has had a season that has not gotten as much attention as Garrett Crochet's, but he has been really, really good outside of three starts in July when he dipped a little bit, it's been outstanding and as I said, second in the league in ERA right now, he's going to finish in the top three. And if he finishes in the top three, at least the way it appears right now, he will finish in the top three. Then the Astros get a pick because of the Prospect Promotion Incentive program, a pick after the first round so this has a lot of meaning to the Astros. Crochet has been outstanding all years as well. I can see him finishing second and Brown third, or depending upon how the final few weeks ago the other way around, one way or the other. It seems to me that's your top three for the American League. Cy Young, all right, next question, what do we have here? This comes from Armand who asked, Ken, did you watch Mets rookie's starting pitcher, Brandon Sprot's debut yesterday and what did you think? I did look, or did watch a little bit of that, and I was impressed. All I had heard about from reading about the Mets the last few weeks was that Jonahtang and Nolan mcclan had kind of passed Sprote as a prospect or had better years. At least I don't know that they've passed him. And watching Sproke yesterday, he looked really good. Stuff was good, stuff was down, and I know at the start of this outing it was really good. And then he allowed three straight hits after retiring, I believe the first nineteen something along those lines. He looked good. Now I touched on the Mets in my column today three rookie starters in the postseason. I'm not saying they're going to do that, but the possibility would certainly appear to exist. It's happened only a couple of times. It would seem to me to be a stretch. They need to get Peterson going again, and I don't know that you can start three rookies. But my goodness, McClain is extremely talented. He is a guy that has presence. His stuff is crazy to me. He looks like the real deal. Tong is a kid, He's got some growing to do, obviously, but extremely talented as well. And then sprote joining that group and listen for the future. It looks great, and it might even be that the present is going to require those three guys as well. All right, let's see what we have of anything else. I don't believe we do have anything else. All right, we're gonna close it out, then close out this version of our show. This is the Monday version of Foul Territory or Fair Territory. We will be back Thursday, as we always are, the live show of Fair Territory, myself with my co host Alana Rizzo. Have a great week, everyone, and I hope your favorite team doesn't drive you to nuts, swing.

00:25:02
Speaker 2: Big on your next MLB parlay. Use this parlay boost token to score a bigger payout. If your baseball parlay hits gambling problem more concern, there is help.

00:25:11
Speaker 1: Call one eight hundred Gambler