2nd Half storyline roundtables: NL West, AL Contenders, NL East

00:00:00
Speaker 1: It's not a lineup full of stars and guys we think of us traditional sluggers, but they've had success, they've had a good offense, but they do a lot of little things. Well.

00:00:14
Speaker 2: Hello everybody, and welcome back to a special episode of Foul Territory. I am your host, Alana Rizzo. I am pleased to be joined by Kyle Glazer, does a great job covering the San Diego Padres among the other twenty nine teams, and Jack Sommers, who does a tremendous job covering the Arizona Diamondbacks. We welcome you to the NL West Round Table as we get set for the second half of the season. So let's start with you.

00:00:38
Speaker 3: Kyle.

00:00:38
Speaker 2: Great to be with you. Are the Dodgers, in your opinion, inevitable in terms of obviously making it to the postseason, but winning it again.

00:00:48
Speaker 4: I don't know about winning it again, but winning this division and reaching the postseason. Absolutely. The depth of talent that Dodgors have a mast goes beyond what any other team in baseball has, and I don't mean just the major league roster higher organization. Let's be clear, the Dodgers had fourteen pitchers on the IL at one point this season, including most of the best starters, most of their best relievers, and despite that, they've had the best record in the division pretty much the whole year, and one of the best records in baseball pretty much the whole year. If the Potters or Giants had fourteen pitchers on the il, their records would look like the Rockies. It's incredible what the Dodgers have done and how they've been able to withstand this, and they do it every year.

00:01:26
Speaker 2: Jack, let me ask you about the Arizona Diamondbacks. This is a team that obviously came into the twenty twenty five season with high expectations, so much so that they spent more money this year on their payroll on their roster than they have any other year previous. They've been decimated more than anybody, I believe with injuries. Are you pleased? I guess with what they have that they're even still in the mix.

00:01:49
Speaker 5: I think that Tory Leavella gets a lot of credit here for keeping this team fighting and in it. Unfortunately, the truth is is that despite losing Corbyn Burns and Agu and Justin Martinez, they were not playing great baseball even before all those injuries. Went down. They were kind of underperforming a little bit, but then the injuries just kept rolling and got into the second thirdier players, and it's looking like it's becoming too much to overcome.

00:02:17
Speaker 6: Unfortunately, Kyle.

00:02:19
Speaker 2: When you look at the San Diego Padres and what they need to do moving forward in terms of this second half, what needs to change in order for them to be legitimate competitors in that in a West to get to the postseason.

00:02:33
Speaker 4: There's two key developments that have to happen with the offense. Let's be clear, the Potters pitching has an excellent top ten in pretty much every category in Major League Baseball. They're a great defensive team. They've been running the base as well. The problem is an offense that has been bottom five into baseball and virtually every category since May fifteenth. First and foremost, they need to get their stars going. Fernanta Teast Junior and Jackson Merrill have been marred in terrible slumps for the better part of two months. They need them to snap out of it. Many Mitchel's been doing his job. Rise has mostly been doing his job, but they need the best versions of Tatisan Merrill for this offense. Toruly get going again. The other part of it is the bottom of this lineup is just non competitive. You look at the bottom two spots on any given night, they're basically automatic outs, and if anyone else has an off night, you're looking at three or four automatic outs in the lineup. Realistically, the Padres need to go out and acquire at least two everyday hitters, and they need to improve their bench as well, getting another bat to help there. So it's going to be too pronged. This is not something where this offense is one player away or one player who's slumping snapping out of it away. They need a lot of things to happen for this offense to even just be an average offense in Major League Baseball. This has been a truly terrible and unwatchable offense for the better part of two months now.

00:03:43
Speaker 2: Jack I feel that regardless of where the Padres are in the standings, I feel like aj Preler, they could be twenty games out and AJ Preler is going to.

00:03:50
Speaker 7: Be making moves.

00:03:51
Speaker 2: I think it's a little bit different for the Arizona Diamondbacks because they're in a bit of a precarious situation. They're not definitely going to make the postseason, but they're certainly not out of it. Are the Diamondbacks buyers or sellers? And what are their biggest needs in terms of the deadline.

00:04:06
Speaker 5: What general manager Mike Hasen has been talking about is how many teams they're behind and how far back are they. He's not really pegging it to a wins total. The question is is are there enough games left before he has to make the decision, and it's starting to appear that there aren't. So in order for him to become an aggressive buyer, this team needs to get on a very hot run and give him the opportunity to add to the team. If he can add to the team, certainly the bullpen. He needs to pick up a couple of strong relievers to be able to sustain or run laid into the season. They could probably use a left handed DH as well. Peven Smith got off to a hot start, then slumped for over two months, and now he's on the injured list with an oblique injury, so they really could use a good left handed DH as well. But they've had a top three, four or five offense the entire year, so offense isn't the biggest need. They need pitching and specifically bullpen.

00:05:01
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00:06:03
Speaker 2: I think every team, all thirty teams, could say that bullpen is in need, and guys, the Los Angeles Dodgers are no different when it comes to that. Coming into the season, Andrew Friedman, the president of Baseball Operations, was very clear that he wanted to make the biggest moves in the offseason, so at this trade deadline period, he did not have to really look for much. Of course, when you have one hundred and two million on the il Tyler glassnow back, of course, Blake Snell on his way back, you're kind of thinking about what are the needs for the Dodgers moving forward, and I think to Jack's point with the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers need bullpen help as well. You look at the fact that Blake trinin, you're not certain when he's coming back. Evan Phillips is out, obviously, Bruce dark Gratterol is not back yet. You know a couple of key pieces in that Dodgers' bullpen are down. What does that mean for them? Do they go after a guy like Joe Kelly who is toomping at the bit to come back for the Dodgers and certainly has pitched in beginnings before for that team, as well as the Red Sox and the Cardinals as a starter. Do they go back and find somebody else to solidify what is a bullpen that's already very tired because the Los Angeles Dodgers and their starters have not gone deep into the game and the bullpen is tired. So I think every single team, Kyle needs that bullpen help from your perspective, looking at what is the juggernaut in the NL West for years in the past, obviously for a decade, What are the Dodgers' biggest needs moving forward besides bullpen help?

00:07:27
Speaker 4: I think you always look to the Dodgers to make a starting pitcher addition at the deadline, even though they have all these great starters. We know that year in and year out, Andrew Friedman likes to fortify it for the stretch rund Last year they went out and acquired Jack Flair to the year before, they went out and acquired Lancelid. Obviously that one didn't work, but they still went out and got a notable pitcher twenty twenty one, making the trade for Max Scherz or and Trey Turner. Just given the Dodgers injury history with so many of their starters. We talk about Tyler glassnaw, we talk about Blake Snell, Roki Sasaki. Obviously we have no idea of Holly Back this year, Showani or ramping him up slowly. There's always going to be concerns about starting pitcher innings with this club. I would not be shocked at all if Andrew Freeman went out and acquired a starter at the deadline, because frankly, that's what they do pretty much every year, and there is a need for it this year despite all the starting pitchers they signed.

00:08:16
Speaker 2: Jack, what is it like from your perspective covering the Arizona Diamondbacks? Obviously, Jack Summer's the host of Snake's Territory here on the Foul Territory Network. Do the Diamondbacks still believe that they can compete with the Dodgers and the Padres, and to a certain extent, obviously the Giants this season in the division, with the way that the roster is right now and kind of the injuries that they're dealing with.

00:08:39
Speaker 5: I don't think they believe that they have a shot at taking the division. They probably just don't have the horses if they were speaking from their heart. Of course, they're never going to openly or publicly state that until they're forced into a cell position. If we're looking at the trade deadline, the other point that we need to consider is that the Diamondbacks need control glible starting pitching going beyond twenty twenty five. So in their case, don't be surprised if they do kind of a buy sell two step. I would not be shocked if they moved a player or two, and it would give the appearance that they've given up on the season, while at the same time moving a prospect or to to bring in some controllable pitching and then see where it goes from there. They still have a shot at the Wildcards, so I would say that the time is running out for them to be buyers at the deadline, but it's still far too early to count them out for a shot at the postseason.

00:09:33
Speaker 2: I know we don't have a Giants representative on this NL West round table, but let's talk about those San Francisco Giants. I think a lot of people maybe wrote them off or I'm not certain, you know, what they thought they were going to do this year. But they're in the mix of things right. They're making it very interesting in the nationally west. Rafael Devers making splashes in terms of news in our industry. When the Boston Red Sox elected to trade him to San Francisco, some say it was a salary dump, say some say it was to get that personality out of the clubhouse. Kyle, do you think that so far Rafi has made the impact that the Giants have hoped that he would not Yet.

00:10:11
Speaker 4: He's not hitting for a ton of average, He's not hitting for a ton of power. But we see that players when they get traded, especially in season, it can take a little bit of time to get acclimated again. He's new league, entire opposite side of the country, new teammates, new clubhouse, new coaches. It takes some time, just as we saw in New York. It took Juan Soto two full months to get going. It wouldn't shock me if it takes Raffaeld Devers around the same time period. Eventually, you expect him to pick it up. And I think if you're the Giants, you're really just waiting for Raffaeld Devers to get comfortable, get acclimated, and also Willie Damas to start hitting. If those two players start doing what they can offensively, I actually think the Giants the team that's going to finish second in the division. Both the Giants and Potters have been struggling to score. Both have been bottom five offenses and runs scored for the better part of two months now. But it's easier to see how the Giants get better. It's just okay, one or two players really start picking it up. They're actually getting decent production from a couple of hous in their lineup, whereas on the Podtery side you have to have about five different things happen. It's just going to be very, very difficult. So I actually have more bullish on the Giants and their chances down the stretch than I am the Potters, because I do think Rafael Devers and Willie Damas will click it into years sooner rather than later.

00:11:21
Speaker 2: Jack the Diamondbacks will face the San Francisco Giants six times in the month of September. They've always had good starting pitching the Giants have. That is certainly the case this year. This team seems to be more legitimate than many had thought. What is your perspective from the outside, looking in at what the Giants need and what makes them good.

00:11:42
Speaker 5: Well, the Giants look like a team that obviously could use a little bit more offense. I'm not sure what Buster Posey's going to do there. I'm sure that they have their eye on their schedule, so I would expect them to be very aggressive going forward. They're not done adding.

00:11:56
Speaker 2: And with you, Kyle, if you look at the San Francisco Giants, well, it's so funny to me still hearing what Jack was just saying. Let's see what Buster Posey's going to do. What I still imagine Buster Posey behind the plate, not president of baseball operations for the Giants. Are they as good as they seem to be?

00:12:13
Speaker 3: Kyle?

00:12:15
Speaker 4: The pitching is as good as it seems to be. You look at what Logan Webb's been able to do at the front of the rotation, what Robbie Ray's been able to do at the front of the rotation. These are two pitchers that are Syung Award contenders at their peaks. Robbie Ray has a Sign Award, Logan Webb was a SI Young runner up. The bullpen has been lights out. Randy Rodriguez is excellent, but they have so many arms they can throw at you that are just really, really high quality arms. Eric Miller's left you with real stuff. Camilla Daval can bring it any given night. This pitching staff is absolute legit. And their defense is pretty solid too when you look at having a Damas and Chapman on the left side of the endfield. In some ways, they and the Potters mirror each other. Great pitching staffs, great bullpens. These are probably the two teams in baseball that actually don't need bullpen help. I could probably trade from the bullpen to go get some bats, but it's just going to come down to the offense and the stars clicking into gear. The Giants and Potters have the exact same problems. It's just going to be a matter of does it happen or does it not? And we'll see Jack.

00:13:09
Speaker 2: Do the Arizona Diamondbacks make the postseason in twenty twenty five.

00:13:15
Speaker 5: I do not believe they do. There's just too much to overcome. I think that, ironically, just as their pitching actually has been improved of late this month in July, their offenses regressing to the mean a little bit. Just too many injuries, too much depth has been taken away from them. I don't think they're going to make it.

00:13:38
Speaker 2: Kyle, how do the Padres make the postseason in twenty twenty five.

00:13:44
Speaker 4: Everyone has to start hitting and they need to bring in multiple bats, and realistically, I think it's hard to say right now with the way the Potters have been playing. Let's be clear, I talk about this two month stretch of the offense struggling. They're a below five hundred team. In that time they go off to a twenty seven fifteen start, but since then they've been an under five hundred team. It's very, very hard to say right now that the Potters will make the postseason when you look at what so many other teams are doing, whether it's the Brewers, whether it's the Cardinals, of course, you know the East with the Mets and the Phillies. One of them is going to take a wild card spot. There's about five different headers that have to suddenly, after struggling all year, find it, and it's just hard to bet on that happening.

00:14:24
Speaker 2: Jackie brought up the point that the Dodgers and the Diamond Dodgers and the Giants rather see each other many more times this season. Who wins the division in your opinion, the Dodgers or the Giants.

00:14:35
Speaker 5: The smart money has to be on the Dodgers, of course, but if you're looking for maybe a little bit of a long shot bet, I think the Giants serve possibility for somebody to make a little bit of coin there.

00:14:48
Speaker 2: All right, if I'm a betting person, all right, got We appreciate you guys very much. Kyle Glazer, host of Friar Tory, Jack Summer's, host of Snake's Territory. Thanks for watching this NL West Roundtable everybody. We look forward to watching how the second half unfold. Subscribed to Snakes, Friar and Dodgers' Territory on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.

00:15:08
Speaker 6: Welcome back to Foul Territory.

00:15:09
Speaker 9: I'm Chandler Roam of Crush City Territory, joined by Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic and Tiger Territory and Max Goodman of NJ dot Com covering the Yankees. Guys, we're gonna talk a little bit about the American League and a first half that I don't think played out as many people expected it. Cody, you cover the best team in baseball, which I don't think is something you expected coming into the year. I don't think it's something I expected to say coming into the year. In the American League Central, though the Tigers have obviously run out to a massive lead, what has been the biggest storyline maybe in that division aside from the Tigers. That's allowed the Tigers to really gain so much ground and really run away with this division.

00:15:54
Speaker 1: You know, I think it was hard entering this season to pick a clear favorite in the Ales Central. I heard people pick the tig hired people to pick the Royals, the Twins, the Guardians, everyone but the White Sox was kind of supposed to be in this Now, you know, we're here more than halfway through the season and the Tigers are the only team with above a five hundred record. They've obviously had a million things go right. They've played really good baseball. They've also gotten some unlikely comeback stories Javi or Pias spin twirkleson. But the Guardians have been a disappointment. The Twins have been really up and down. The Royals have not taken off based on the foundation they built last year. It's maybe hard to boil that down to one storyline. But some of these teams that were supposed to be good, not great, have been more mediocre. And meanwhile, the Tigers have swored to, like you said, the best record in all of baseball. Certainly unexpected, but they've played really good, really consistently for more than more than half a season.

00:16:52
Speaker 9: Now, Max, the AL East always right for storylines, there's never a shortage of it's never boring. And that division the Yankees, they began the season, really got out to a nice little lead, and then the Blue Jays have come on very strong toward the end of this first half. What have you sized up about the Al least maybe from top to bottom that has the Yankees right now in a position to get a wild card spot, that certainly not in the position to win that division.

00:17:21
Speaker 10: Well, if we were having this conversation a month ago, maybe a month and a half ago, I would have said that the Yankees were cruising to a division title. Maybe it was a little too early to say cruising, but they were a positioned to really run away with this thing. And credit to Toronto. I think a lot of people underestimated them for this year. I mean, I quite frankly haven't thought about their core as a unit that was going to be able to get it done after all those years where they've disappointed in the Al East, Tampa is always around. I think Boston's had a disappointing year with all they've been going through, and the Dever situation is a big part of that. I guess they could still be in striking distance, but they've got certainly a lot of work to do and are one of the biggest stories and disappointments in baseball. With they're in the cellar, they're going to be sellers at the deadline probably, and they've got such an impressive young core that this is a wasted year for them. But the Yankees are It's been a high and low type of season for them, right. I mean, they've got Aaron Judge, They've got Max Freed, a lot of guys have been stepping up on that team, but they definitely have holes and we've seen with their basically annual summer swoon that they go through that this is not a perfect roster.

00:18:29
Speaker 3: So they've definitely got some work.

00:18:30
Speaker 10: To do before the trade deadline.

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00:19:31
Speaker 9: Watching the Yankees play the Mariners, you are getting an up close look at everything the American League West has to offer with the Seattle Mariners, who win in a Yankee Stadium and got swept. The final sweep clinching game, they carried a no hitter into the eighth inning and still somehow lost a five run lead with their closer on the mound. And it's just par for the course for an American League West that is again chasing the Houston Astros, and Astros really kind of a skeleton crew. Alvarez has only played twenty nine games in the first half. Jeremy Panya has a broken rib. They have five starters on the injured list, including three members of their season opening starting rotation. Two of them are out for the year. This is a team that has dealt with injuries all season. They have dealt with underperformance from Christian Walker, their premier edition at first base. They have dealt with underperformance from catcher yiner Diez, but again find themselves where everyone presumes they'll be. That's atop the AL West. Part of that is the Texas Rangers have severely underperformed. They have the league's lowest ERA but somehow can't hit, to the point where they got Bret Boone to come be their hitting coach in mid May to try to turn things around. The Angels have been a surprise, but certainly I don't think a team that anyone fancies a contender. The A's are miserable in a Triple A ballpark, So it leaves the Astros and the Mariners jockeying for the division lead. And the Astros have kind of shown that they're inevitable and until someone dethrones them, I don't think I'm gonna pick against the Astros to win the AL West. They're doing this with, like I said, a skeleton crew of people, but they have found a way to tap into the little organizational depth they have to compensate for some of these injuries, for some of these underperformance. You know, as we look going forward, guys, what do you think is the biggest threat maybe to your team's pursuit of a playoff spot, your team's pursuit of a division title. I just said the Astros, it's gonna be injuries. They've got to get Jeremy Panna back. They've got to get Jordan Alvarez back from his broken hand. They've got about four or five guys rehabbing at their West Pitchers rehabing in West Palm Beach at their spring training facility. They need at least two or three of them to come back and give a boost to this pitching staff.

00:21:54
Speaker 6: Max.

00:21:54
Speaker 9: As you look at the Yankees, what is maybe their biggest threat trying to get a AL playoff spot or win the American League East.

00:22:03
Speaker 10: I mentioned that they have a lot of work to do. I think it comes down to the injuries and the holes with this roster and Yankees GM Brian Cashman spoke recently about the trade deadline, and even he admitted that he's got quite a hefty shopping list that he's going to have to try to take care of here. And they're going to go to town this month of July and try to upgrade this roster. But there are no guarantees that you're going to be able to bring in a third baseman, which was a weakness even going into this season. Finally they cut ties with DJ Lemayhew, but a mix of Oswald, Perrazza and your beat Vivas is not going to cut it at third, especially not offensively. Starting pitching, Garrett Cole hasn't thrown a pitch all year and he won't heet Tommy John surgery. Clark Schmidt recently went down with the same procedure and Luis Heel might not be back for another month, if not at the very least in early August. So they need a starter who's going to pitch Game three of a playoff series behind Freed and Rodin, and then the bullpen too. Man, it's been a rough go for that bullpen over the last several weeks. Williams has distinguished himself as the true closer for them, and Luke Weaver is still that setup guy. But you're missing Mark Lighter, Junior Fernando Cruz, They're both hurt. Jonathan Wisega has not looked like the old version of himself this year. So they got to go out and get reinforcements, not only to have more high leverage options, but to get to October, because you don't want your best leidening guys to burn out too early.

00:23:24
Speaker 9: Cody biggest threat maybe internally or externally to the Tigers, and they're as we just have talked about their best record in baseball. What's maybe their biggest threat the next couple months of the season.

00:23:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, at least in regards to the Ale Central, I'm not sure they have to worry much about an external threat. Last year, the Tigers overcame near insurmountable odds. They had zero point two percent playoff chances in August. That's nearly inverse. Now they have enough to weather anything that might go wrong in the second half. But if we think bigger, if we think the American League got large, how can the Tigers maintain the best record in baseball? And when the AL I think you really have to look at their pitching. We've seen some cracks in that framework. In June. The Tiger's bullpen era ranked twenty sixth. Will Veast and Tommy Cainley have been very good at the back end. Chase Lee has been an interesting story, but otherwise there are not a lot of dependable options in the bullpen. Scott Harris and the Tigers are going to be tested on how aggressive they will be at the trade deadline. I think they're gonna have to get at least one leverage reliever, maybe two, add some swing and miss to this bullpen. And then even in the rotation the Tigers have, of course, Trek's scouble Casey miz is having a nice year resols and just got back from injury. Jack Flaherty hasn't been very reliable. They don't have a stable fifth starter. There's a case they should add starting pitching too, And that's another thing. The Tigers ride so heavily on Trek's scooble. What if something goes wrong there? What if he gets takes a comeback or off the foot and has to miss some time. I mean, I think there's a case to both bolstering the rotation. They're gonna lane on some internal improvements, guys like Tyler Holton who have been very good in the past and maybe not quite as good so far this season, but they're gonna have to shore up the pitching a little bit to fully get the job done.

00:25:17
Speaker 9: I think, Cody, I'm insanely jealous. You get to watch Trek Schoolgill pitch every fifth day. Max, I'm insanely jealous you get to watch Aaron Judge take a bats every day.

00:25:27
Speaker 6: You two guys.

00:25:28
Speaker 9: Cover probably the well not probably. You cover the best pitcher in baseball, Cody, Max, you cover the best player position player in baseball. So the answer to this next question is pretty can be pretty obvious for you guys, but I want you to think outside the box a little bit. Why are the Yankees' best position to exceed in October Max and Aaron Judge can't be your answer.

00:25:51
Speaker 10: Can I say the offense as a whole?

00:25:53
Speaker 6: Sure?

00:25:54
Speaker 3: Sure, Okay, I'll say the offense as a whole.

00:25:57
Speaker 10: I think that you mentioned the Brian Wu game, and I think that's a perfect example here that this offense is really never out of a ballgame, and they can put up crooked numbers like the best of them. And that summer swoon that they've seemingly emerged from was a sign of the fact that it's an imperfect offense in the sense that they do struggle at times with situational hitting. But when they're firing on all cylinders, when John Carlos Stanton is leaving the ballpark, when you're getting more production from those youngsters who have stepped up this year, Ben Rice, Jason Dimingez, when the veterans Cody Bellinger has looked great this year, the whole Plan B experience trying to figure out who's going to step up after losing out on Juan Soto and free agency. Paul Goldschmiz had a pretty solid season too. A lot of the guys that they've brought in have have performed and in many cases exceeded expectations. So the left side of the infield, it's been a disappointing year for Anthony Volpi, and again, third base is still a black hole on offense for the Yankees.

00:26:55
Speaker 3: If they can bring in.

00:26:56
Speaker 10: A slugger to play third and shore up that spot, then this offense really has the ability to beat any pitching staff out there. Granted, you face Detroit in the playoff series and you've got Scooble for two or three games, and it gets a little tougher and you wonder if it's enough. But the upside of this Yankees offense can take them all the way through October.

00:27:19
Speaker 9: Cody, you can't take Trek Scobel out of the equation. He's obviously going to be a big reason the Tigers excel in October if they do. But maybe outside of Schooble, what is the Tigers' best attribute that will allow them to excel in October?

00:27:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, in like a five game Alds having Schooble pretty good built in advantage. But if you're looking to win a seven game series, that's more where the Tigers are geared this year. I think that's where it's worth considering the fact they're really well rounded. This is not a perfect team. I just talked about some of the weaknesses and the pitching staff. It's not a lineup full of stars and guys we think of as traditional sluggers. But they've had success, They've had a good off but they do a lot of little things well. They go first to third at the highest rate in baseball. They get the platoon advantage nearly as often as anyone in baseball. They have a manager in aj Hinch, who has both won in the postseason before and is regarded as one of the best tacticians in the sport. I think you look around and it's hard to make it case there's another team as well rounded as the Tigers. The Astros are always a looming threat, but the Tigers beat the Astros in the playoffs last year. This is a better Tigers team, at least on paper. I'm not sure it's a better Astros team the Yankees. Man, there's some star power there, there's some slug there, but we've already seen midseason like how quickly things can go wrong in the Bronx. The Mariners are an interesting team. The Jays are an interesting team. I think there's still a lot that could change in the second half in the American League. I think the Tigers well roundedness, the way they do the little things is going to serve them well and give them a chance to compete with anybody.

00:28:59
Speaker 9: Yeah, on paper, this is a worse Astros team than the one that lost the Tigers in the Wildcard Series last year. But somehow they have a better record, and somehow they have soared to seventeen games above five hundred. How that happened is what will allow the Astros to succeed in October. They have two of the best starting pitchers in baseball, and Hunter Brown and Fromer Valdez. In a seven game series, if you can get four starts out of them, that's an advantage that not a lot of teams will have. They have two of the best relievers in baseball and setup man Bryan and Bray you closer Josh Hater, who is pitching like every bit of the ninety five million dollar closer the Astros believe they were getting last season. So when you can shorten a game in the postseason with those four arms, you have a pretty pretty good advantage in October. But I think the Astros' biggest advantage in October is twofold one. It's Jose al Tube. He was just a steady heartbeat, a guy that will enter this October second in a second all time in postseason home runs behind Manny Ramirez, as he is the engine that makes this thing go. Even if he is not maybe the most vocal ra ra guy, He's gonna be the guy in the playoffs that really this entire team turns to. And you know that segues into what the next thing that makes the Astros so dangerous in October it's just their aura, It's their inevitability. You kind of just I think other teams. The Tigers may have dispelled this theory last year, but when a team runs up against the Astros in the postseason, it just seems like, no matter who is wearing in the Ashers uniform, someone is able to come through. Someone always steps up on the biggest stage.

00:30:34
Speaker 6: It is a.

00:30:35
Speaker 9: Playoff experience team that there's few other teams in the AL that can claim to have that much October experience. And I think that's gonna be maybe what tips the scales in the astros favor as this October comes and looms, and you know it's a it's a difficult AL playoff picture to maybe maybe diagnose at the moment, but this is an Astros team with enough experience and enough just in ability about them to make you think they have a deep run in them. Thanks for watching this AL Contenders Roundtable. Be sure check out Max's work at NJ dot com and subscribe to Tiger and Crush City Territory.

00:31:13
Speaker 11: Welcome back to Foul Territory. My name is Brad Rowland. I'm one of the hosts of the Hammer Territory podcast covering the Atlanta Braves all year round, and I'm joining this NL East roundtable by a couple of friends. We have Jim Salisbury from The Philly Show and James Chiano from Mets Up. Guys, welcome, how are we doing?

00:31:31
Speaker 6: Doing great? Thanks Brad, Good to be with you.

00:31:33
Speaker 12: Doing great, Really excited to talk about a very interesting division, National League East.

00:31:38
Speaker 11: It has been interesting. The team that I covered the most, Atlanta Braves, is interesting for a not so good reason. We'll probably come back to that at some point of them. But unless you're a Metrophillies fan, of course, But what would you say is the kind of biggest first half storyline in the division could be a team that could be the team you cover, could be another team. But what do you guys think is the kind of lead storyline of the first quote unquote half of the season of the division?

00:32:03
Speaker 13: Can I say the Braves are in fourth place? I think that's pretty significant, But yeah, I'm not sure if I can pick the biggest storyline. One of my big interests coming into this season was could the New York Mets recapture that great chemistry they had for the final really four months of the regular season last year and into the postseason. I think they've done a pretty good job at it. It's really kind of shaping up as a two team race with them in the Phillies. Mets have had some injury problems in their rotation, but I think they're going to make it interesting as their guys get healthy. But honestly, for me, probably the biggest storyline is the fact that the Braves are not going to be at this party in the second half.

00:32:48
Speaker 12: Yeah, sadly, I do agree with Jim that I think the biggest story is the fact that the Braves have fallen off to the degree that they have basically the only team baseball and they can beat is the Mets, which is much to my chagrin, but the fact that we're going through this race and something that was really meant to be a three team race, something that it would have delivered well as a three team race because the Mets in the Phillies are while they have both had amazing seasons, they both have hot streaks and cold streaks, they are have both shown some flaws bye being some of the better teams the National League. Like it would be the perfect trio with the Braves as a three team race, but they've just between the injuries and the inconsistency and the poor play from some stars.

00:33:24
Speaker 3: Brad.

00:33:25
Speaker 12: I remember when I came on your Guys show as for a Mets previews the beginning of the season. You guys ask me like, what has to happen for the Mets to win this division? And I was like, I'm going to tell you ten things that have to go wrong for the Braves, and we need about seven of them to come through, and somehow maybe eight or nine of them have actually come through, with the exception Broald Dacrune Junior returning and being a superstar. But that is that, to me, is the story, along with something I'm sure we're not going to talk about much past this, so I want to give it some mention. The Marlins going on becoming something like an okay decent team over the last two months, I think is something that needs more recognition because they're likely going to sell against the deadline, They're likely not going to compete for a while cart spot. But this was a team that many thought in April and May was destined to have one of the worst records in Major League history, and they've gotten themselves within a stone starre off five hundred, which is amazing. And the fall off of the Nationals that has now coincided with the firing of Davey Martinez and general matger Mike Grizzo in theast the last couple of weeks. So I think that those are interesting storylines, but there are far behind the race of the Mets and Phillies and the complete dissolution of the Braves.

00:34:26
Speaker 11: I certainly agree. I was going to mention the Marlins if you did, just to give them a little bit of a shot out for playing better baseball, and they're right there with the Braves, which is not where anybody would even the biggest Braves hater would not have had the Marlins even or ahead of them at the All Star break, and I think that the answer is the Braves. But look, I'm actually intrigued to watch the Phillies Mets battle for the rest of the season at the top of the division. Intrigued is not excited. I'm using intrigued in a less excited or positive sense, But I am interested in it to see which team kind of you know, crowds out the other and wins the division and then obviously, you know, good set up for wildcard stuff as well. I want to look ahead of the second half a little bit and say, you know, that's kind of the I think that's probably the headline topic looking forward is the Mets versus Phillies battle. I'm sure you guys both have big time thoughts as to what's going to be happening in this race. I will leave it up to you to see who has the first salvo in this back and forth in the Phillies and the Mets.

00:35:18
Speaker 6: God, James, we hear you.

00:35:20
Speaker 12: One thing that I'm a little disappointed in between what's going to be a great second half between the Mets and the Phillies is the way that we've now changed the major league schedule over the last few years, so the Mets and Phillies haven't seen each other for a while now, and then we're not going to play again until Monday, August twenty fifth, and then we'll play the Phillies seven times in about a three week stretch as the series closes. This would be a great summer to have the old school schedule. We have six series, five series against the Phillies to figure out this division.

00:35:46
Speaker 3: Mono Imano, but the Phillies are like.

00:35:48
Speaker 12: Just sadly, who we thought they were is probably right now still the best or one of the top three rotations in all baseball with four guys who are just clicking. I know, hey, sus Lazar, they'll have his has his blow ups ever here and there, but still on the started and start out basis, he's somewhat to fear. Zach Wheeler is the best pitcher in the National League right now. He's pitching like the best pitcher in the National League. Aaron Nola will come back. I'll never believe that Aaronola will is the guy who saw in the first half. I think we'll see a rebound in Aaronola and Christopher Sanchez and Ranger Suarez just man as in terms of lefties in the National League.

00:36:18
Speaker 3: Like who is the better guys than that?

00:36:20
Speaker 12: With Lazardo on top, Like, that's a five man rotation that is terrifying to me as a Mets fan and one that I'm not excited to have to catch games against guys who go through the second half.

00:36:31
Speaker 13: It is a fantastic rotation, one that we often draw parallels with the twenty eleven rotation, which was also a great one with Halliday, Lee Cole Hamill's roy Oswalt.

00:36:45
Speaker 6: And that rotation.

00:36:46
Speaker 13: The Filis rotation has lived up with you know, the preseason copy on this team was a good, great rotation, and they've really been a great rotation.

00:36:55
Speaker 6: Lozardo has been a nice pickup. He had a couple.

00:36:59
Speaker 13: Pretty serious blips, but he's you know, he's overcome them. And that rotation is so deep and so effective. I think it's going to help them down the road solve some issues in their bullpen. Bullpen inconsistent offense. You know, they have some wild highs on the offense and they have some very low lows on the offensive side. So that and the bullpen I think are this team's two biggest weaknesses. Dave Dombrowski's going to address that bullpen. They're going to get a shut down down arm at the trade deadline.

00:37:30
Speaker 6: They have to. They have to.

00:37:32
Speaker 13: They can't risk going forward with this bullpen the way it is. And then I think they'll get somebody out of that rotation that'll go down there and help.

00:37:39
Speaker 6: I agree with you, Aaron Nola. I don't count him out.

00:37:42
Speaker 13: I think he's going to come back and have a nice stretch drive and Zach Wheeler for Mets fans, that's got to really sting watching him, you know, leave the Mets and just have this kind of mid career ascension, not just to be very good, but to be among the one or two very elite pictures in this game. He's a really great one, a fun one to watch. And that the Phillies rotation, you know, I expect him fully to play in October. I expect that rotation to give them an advantage on most nights, but they have to avoid you know, the nights where they have tons of swing and miss, tons of strikeouts left on base, you know, those one for ten with scoring runners and scoring position nights, and they need to fix the bullpen. If they do that, I think they're a legit World Series contender.

00:38:29
Speaker 11: It's actually a good opportunity to look at a tried and true topic during the All Star break, and that is the deadline, which Jim just brought up. What teams are going to be trying to do, I know, covering the Braves. It's different than I thought it was going to be. They're talking about maybe even selling a little bit in a way that was not anticipated. There's been pushback locally. I would say all on the record and off the record that they're not going to sell guys with future contracts. But they're weigh in this balance now where it's like, hey, if you're really going to be out of it, you might want to consider a more big picture overall change. But it's mostly do you sell or do you kind of hold steady. I wonder what you guys think about. Obviously you would be a buying motive for the Phillies and the Mets, But we can go back to gym like, is it just is it as simple as the bullpen as the priority?

00:39:11
Speaker 8: Like?

00:39:11
Speaker 11: What does the priority list look like for the Affillies? They have the deadline.

00:39:15
Speaker 13: Priorities bullpen, big arm, shut down on leverage arm, maybe with some experience, maybe even with a little control in future seasons, because I think they're willing to give up. They have, you know, a handful of really nice prospects at the high end, top end of their minor league system, and they're willing to to, you know, bite down and give up somebody to get the right reliever.

00:39:38
Speaker 6: Here.

00:39:39
Speaker 13: You look at this nucleus, you know you only get Zach Wheeler is going to retire in two years. He's thirty five years old. Bryce Harper's over thirty, Trey turn is over thirty, Castiano Schwarmer, Real Mudo all over thirty. The odometer on this team is high. They're not going to be together forever. It's sort of like win now when next year times are getting you know, the clock is running on this team. So they are prepared to give up a prospect, maybe two, for the piece they think will put them over the top. So I think it's going to be a busy trade deadline for the Phillies, prioritizing a leverage arm or shut down arm at the back of the bullpen. If they can get two of them. They'd love to get two of them. I'm talking you know, one upper tier maybe one mid mid tier guy back there, and they would love to bring in a right handed bat to help out in the outfield. But you know, you look at the guys that are out there, and nothing really jumps out at you. I think there's guys out there that could mitigate some of their problems, maybe in left field, maybe as a platoon guy on the right handed side, but first and foremost it's bullpen.

00:40:45
Speaker 12: I think the Mets have a similar approach to the Phillies where but even more so where we need kind of one of everything. The Mets could use at least one or two relievers. They could probably use one mid level rotation star the even with the returns of Coda, Sang and Sean and I, you just never know what the second half will hold in terms of health for those guys and the rest of a rotation. Even with those guys, the Mets only have a five man rotation. In the past with codes Sega, they've shown to prefer six man rotation most of the time, and then the Mets lineup as talent as the top half is. It's been inconsistent for most of the season, especially with runners in scoring position, which is something.

00:41:16
Speaker 3: That we hope does level out over time.

00:41:18
Speaker 12: Based on the talent we know we have and the process stats, we know the Mets are doing well, but there probably does need to be some kind of right handed bat that steadies this bench in the bottom of the order in lieu of the guys who are there trying to do it like Starling Marte. You know, Mark Fientos has had a very very poor season trying to follow up his heroics of last year. The Mets probably do need to take a bit more of an all fields approach to this trade deadline, find a little bit of everything. I still do think, similar to the Phillies, the number one need for this team is bullpen help. It's not exactly a shutdown guy like the Phillies need, with you know, with us having Edwind Diaz in the backside, but before Edwin Diaz there's Reed Garrett, who is I think a very high, high level believer, but then it still has his moments of inconsistency. There needs to be one or two guys thrown into that mix to make this team have the kind of upside that we felt like they had last year. Getting two games away from the World Series.

00:42:08
Speaker 13: If I could, do you think the Braves would move any any relievers. I'm not saying they would move them within the division, you know what do you think?

00:42:18
Speaker 11: Yeah, I was gonna say probably not to the Phillies with the Mets if I had to guess, unless the return was absurd. But yeah, I think that's the one area other than something like like Marcelo Zuna, who's on an expiring contract. He's the other guy that could be available. But yeah, I think the bullpen is probably the natural place for the Braves to maybe trade a few guys. You know, Ray saw Glacis is right of the ship recently, he had a very rough start of the season, but he's an expiring deal, proven late ending reliever, big dollar cost, but as a good picture with a long record. Pierce Johnson kind of a secondary guy to that. They have a couple of guys who are expiring contracts, and even beyond that, you got a couple of Aaron Bummers wrapped up as well, multi year deal. But certainly, if I'm the Braves and I'm looking long term relievers, is where you could probably sell without too much pain, if that makes sense, Like you're kind of looking at the long term and relievers are not going to be generally building blocks for your future, So that is where I would be, Well, guys, do you have any predictions quickly as to who's gonna win National League GeSe. I'm sure're looking to pick the teams you cover, but feel free.

00:43:16
Speaker 13: I might hold off though, when I got to see what the Phillies do with the deadline. But they need a you know, like I said, they need somebody that comes in and can get big outs at the end of games so they win the games they're supposed to win. They also need Bryce Harper, who's had you know, kind of a down seasons. He's struggled with a wrist injury. He's made some real strides recently in terms of feeling better and producing more. They need him to be Bryce Harper. They need Schwarber, and they need Alec Bohm, and they need production from Tray Turner, who's had a very good season. So I think if the Phillies are gonna win this division for second straight year, they're gonna win it with their big guys, the guys that are here having good second halves and whoever they you know, get as an addition is going to be a solid compliment. So but I do think that bullpen compliment is important enough that I'm gonna I'm gonna hold off on predicting who wins it because it's such a tight race right now with the Mets. I will say this, I think it's gonna be fascinating. I think that those I know there's a September mid September series against the Mets, and it's yeah, it's going to be a great one. So I think either team could win it.

00:44:25
Speaker 6: I really do.

00:44:27
Speaker 3: I agree. I do think either team can win it.

00:44:29
Speaker 12: But I think that the Mets need more things to break right for them to win it. We need a little bit more luck on our side to win this, just because of the strength of that Phillies rotation and the basically guarantee, like you mentioned, Jim, that Dave Dombraski will.

00:44:41
Speaker 3: Go out and plug the biggest hole you guys have.

00:44:43
Speaker 12: You will have a new shutdown, high leverage reliever by this time in August. There's no doubt about it. That's the kind of general manager he is. We're in the flip side. That's not exactly the type of general manager David Stearns is and while this Mets team is getting up there in age similar sneakily to the Phillies with Francisco Indoor over at thirty, EP Longs on a one year contract, Brandon nim over.

00:45:01
Speaker 3: Thirty, most of this rotation over thirty.

00:45:03
Speaker 12: I don't see them as having a similar type of urgency as as what Dave Dobraski has had his entire career in what they have with this Phillies rosters. So I do think the Mets might take a bit more of a trepidacious approach with the trade deadline and really need the guys in house to take their steps forward. Someone like Brett Bayes' ascension must continue. Ron Marisio must get hot, Fiantos has to wake up. For Cisco alivers back from the miners. I think the Mets will need a huge contribution from at least two of those four players I just mentioned to make this race interesting or just get you know, red hot for a four game series in Philadelphia September.

00:45:37
Speaker 13: Yeah, big, get big, big urgency here in Philadelphia. And there's no way Dombroski, He's been around long enough that.

00:45:45
Speaker 6: I know he feels it. I know he hears it.

00:45:48
Speaker 13: He's made moves a couple of deadlines here that just they haven't really paid dividends. There's a lot of pressure on him to make a big score in that bullpen. And uh, because this rotation is so good and you just can't kind of you can't waste this season. You can't waste the work you're get in from this rotation because you have a shaky bullpen.

00:46:11
Speaker 6: You got to go out and fix it.

00:46:13
Speaker 11: All right, guys, that was gonna do it for our NL Least Roundtable. Thank you for watching this NT Least Roundtable. Look forward to watching our second half unfolds. Of course, Subscribe to all three of our podcasts, Messed Up the Phillies Show and Hammer Territory on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.