2-0 LCS leads, Tyler Kepner joins from Seattle, Payroll problems?

00:00:04
Speaker 1: La baby, I neighver thought father, feeling good, feeling good. I'm excited to reveal a hat later to don't do it yet, but I'm excited pretty much.

00:00:15
Speaker 2: Tell who it is from.

00:00:15
Speaker 1: The well, I'm saying the front though, but yeah, yes, we know who it is the logo. But it's fresh.

00:00:21
Speaker 3: I was trying to have crafts hats, but can't hide. Can't hide greatness, can't hide greatness.

00:00:30
Speaker 1: So a couple of things. First off, this postseason is the most watched since twenty ten so far.

00:00:36
Speaker 2: Wow, that's good.

00:00:37
Speaker 1: Baseball is in a good spot.

00:00:39
Speaker 2: That's really good spot.

00:00:41
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:00:41
Speaker 4: Good time for good time for a lockout, good time for owners. They're making a lot of money. Good time.

00:00:48
Speaker 1: Hold up, we're doing well.

00:00:49
Speaker 2: We need to this up. That is true.

00:00:52
Speaker 1: How about this one? I got one more trivia question before we start. The last team to win a best of seven series after losing the first two at home. The last team to take a best of seven series that could be in today's world in LS yes or a world series DODG that they lost the first two at home.

00:01:14
Speaker 2: That's got to be a while back.

00:01:16
Speaker 1: It's not in the twenty first century.

00:01:22
Speaker 2: That's all. How about nineteen oh nine, kid, that's way back.

00:01:29
Speaker 1: Let's go nineties.

00:01:30
Speaker 3: Nineties break, go ahead and say ninety four some kidding? Yeah, I'm not sure.

00:01:42
Speaker 1: Nineteen ninety six, Braves, I mean nineties, right? World Series? You got the thanks, you got it?

00:01:51
Speaker 4: I thought. I thought the Astros lost. I mean the Dodgers lost the first two games at home in that in that World Series, we went to Houston, won all three games in Houston, then came back home and lost the next two. Did I not get that right? I thought nobody that World Series won a game at home.

00:02:11
Speaker 1: That does sound right? Did I get that info?

00:02:14
Speaker 4: I don't know. Let's check it out. Let's have our crack reporters.

00:02:22
Speaker 2: Well either pretty far back.

00:02:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I'm gonna look throughout the show again. I'll look at who tweeted it out.

00:02:30
Speaker 2: We got two chances at it, Yeah we do.

00:02:32
Speaker 1: I'll look at who tweeted it out making me look stupid or maybe not, maybe not anyway, Let's charge charge. Let's charge the man presented by LIDS. Where we're at with the NLCS. Kratz and I did a long postgame show last night. But your thoughts, Lucky, I'm a moto.

00:03:00
Speaker 3: You know, it's so funny. I'm listening to the broadcast and I forget who was broadcasting. He's like, well, could be like a gift and a curse.

00:03:07
Speaker 2: You know.

00:03:08
Speaker 3: It could be when you know, you go golf and you get that first birdie on the first hole and then everything else goes to you know what, Well, guess what. Milwaukee got that first birdie and that was it. They double bogie triple bogied after that. I mean, ya, Mamoto, my goodness, what an outing. I'm glad they let him keep going. He deserved it. His splitter, it felt like it got nastier and nasty as the game went on. Giving up a first inning home run, Yeah it stinks, but at the same time, for him, it's like Wow. To come back and only give up two more hits after that was absolutely incredible. And he didn't get fifteen strikeouts. You know, it wasn't like he was super overpowering. He got the outs when he needed to, and he threw really, really well.

00:03:49
Speaker 1: And Pat Murphy, the manager for the Brewers, thinks that the team is chasing more than ever this season. So he said, quote, we chased more than we've chased all year. We've been the best team in baseball at not chasing, these pitchers brought out the worst in US. Starting pitchers for the Dodgers in these first two games have allowed four hits. Milwaukee's got a total of five hits in two games, two runs scored, four played appearances with runners in scoring position, which all game in that ninth inning of Game one, which they had a chance to steal could have Now it looks like they really needed that first games. So that's where they're at. Do you think that this is just stupid good pitching? I like to ask this question each time to Kratz.

00:04:37
Speaker 3: Well, for me, yeah, I think it's a little bit of all. I think it's a little bit of both. I think you're right they're swinging outside the zone. I think they're not getting the hits when they need them. I think the Dodgers are also playing a little bit better, truthfully, maybe a lot better. They're playing hard. I think the focus on what the Brewers need to do is just build off each other. Like you make a play home run in the first inning, that's great, but you got to keep tacking on. You got to keep moving forward. And the biggest problem is.

00:05:06
Speaker 2: They're not and when Yamamoto got going. It was pretty much it.

00:05:10
Speaker 3: I mean, I remember I stopped watching the game for if I come back it's the ninth inning, I'm like, holy cow, what that coppen here? So I think the focus on the Brewers is forget about what just happened. You know, things can happen in a hurry. It's a big tidal wave of things that compiled for them to lose. Dude, what's his name? Show Tony not even hitting. He finally got, you know, an RBI single yesterday. That's awesome. That's a plus. Reddy Freeman hit the home run. That's about it. Like, you got two of their top dogs not doing pretty much and you're still losing. That's the bigger problem I have in this whole situation.

00:05:44
Speaker 4: We got to sit here and say this pitching has been elite. Yamamoto's probably going to be top three, if not, I would say maybe top five in the Say Young voting this year. And Blake Snell has two two Sy Young's, he's won them and they're hitting on all cylinders right now. So to me, we definitely need in the playoffs, we need to give credit where credit is due, and both of these guys have been dominant. Now people can say, oh, you know, the Brewers are twenty ninth in barrel percentage and they you know, but they scored the third most runs. But they're in the National League Central. Let's make sure we keep the same narrative for all things, because we just saw the Blue Jays beat a Yankees team. And every time the Yankees lose, whether it's to the Dodgers in the World Series or in the Alds, oh, they just too much swing and miss, not enough. You know, they got to make contact. Well, the Brewers have made some contact, I get it. They struck out seventeen times against the starters in the last two days. But like this is a team built for contact, it's not working. So what's the common denominator? When a really big slug team gets knocked out and a really good contact team like Jays and the Brewers lose the common denominators they've run off against some good pitching and no more of A example of that was young Mooto last night. He didn't shy away from the zone after that first first at bat Homer the opposite field. He said, you know what, I'm going to continue to throw my game and he did, and look what happened.

00:07:23
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00:07:40
Speaker 4: The reason I'm stonefacing you is because that's how soft they are. It's ridiculous, Like I don't even understand what kind of material it is. It's got to be something space age.

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00:08:24
Speaker 3: Did you see him after the game? He went wow, Like after they get the last strikeout, he turned. He's like, didn't know what to do and he's like.

00:08:32
Speaker 4: Wow, I've never been out there for the ninth thing.

00:08:36
Speaker 3: I thought that was pretty unique. I wonder how many times he's done it in Japan.

00:08:41
Speaker 4: I'll look it up.

00:08:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm just curious because I don't think he has one. Yeah for him to say wow, like it was it wow? Like holy cow, they let me go nine innings?

00:08:50
Speaker 2: Or was it wow? This is my first ever nine innings? You know, masterpiece?

00:08:55
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying Like that, That's where I'm I'm confused. But to hear it in English, it was and you could see his mouth go wow and like clap his hand into his glove. I'm like, you know what, that's pretty cool. He's you know, he's being human at that same moment.

00:09:08
Speaker 1: Over fifty starts in the big leagues, including postseason, and he hadn't done it. I'm currently searching to see if I can have.

00:09:16
Speaker 4: Yeah, I have his MPOs and NPB stats. I'll look it up. But I know Roki Roki had that no hitter and then he almost threw it back to back or back to back like perfect games or something like that. I'll look it up.

00:09:30
Speaker 1: He's got he's got I've got at least Game six of the twenty twenty three Japan Series, which is like the World Series out there, nine innings, fourteen ks. So he's done it at least, let's see, he's had, he's had, He's had quite a few out there. But here they don't do that here. Not often we have it, but not often postseason almost never. Last time do you know the last time? Do you guys know this? I'm confident on this one because I saw this from multiple reporters. Sometimes I grabbed something from one or two that are a little shy. But Jose the Dodgers at the last Dodger okay, but the last pitcher in the playoffs to go CG mhm. Twenty seventeen, Oh, Charlie more than.

00:10:19
Speaker 2: ALC.

00:10:19
Speaker 1: Yes, it was actually twenty seventeen on the day of Oh or no, not to knocker because that was that would be on your side, Britlander.

00:10:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, JB. Yeah, Visile, he crosses that.

00:10:34
Speaker 1: You guys do that in seven ALCS Game two in twenty seventeen. Yeah, they we faced them in the ALCS.

00:10:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, we lost them. We lost game one and two. One.

00:10:45
Speaker 3: We would have been the ones that came back at home or beat him whatever. Then we won three, four, five, and then they won six seven. But yes, he threw twice against us. I don't remember how went.

00:10:56
Speaker 4: Was that when you hit the double that's stuck in the top of the fest Yeah. Yeah, there was a collector that told me.

00:11:03
Speaker 2: I reached out to Yeah there was.

00:11:06
Speaker 4: There was a collector that told me if I could get that ball. Obviously it was after the game, if I could get that ball out of the fence, he would give me two hundred and fifty dollars for it. I was like, what, now what he should who does that?

00:11:19
Speaker 3: I would have said, twenty five hundred, easy money, let's go famous baseball?

00:11:25
Speaker 4: Was that was that Game two?

00:11:26
Speaker 5: Though?

00:11:27
Speaker 2: It's weird. Yeah, yeah, I think that was Game two. We tied at one one, like in a six I don't remember.

00:11:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, so now what now? What for Milwaukee?

00:11:39
Speaker 2: Good luck? I mean.

00:11:42
Speaker 3: Serious, I mean I sit here and say that with being all funny and stuff.

00:11:45
Speaker 2: But yeah, they still have a chance.

00:11:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, of course anything can happen, but it's it's going to be a climb, it's going to become they have game this Game three is the most important game in their lives, and they have to find a way to win it.

00:12:00
Speaker 2: I think that's the biggest problem they have.

00:12:03
Speaker 3: Game Game three is so big because Game four Dodgers can pretty much do what they want. You know, they can nitpick, you know, put whoever they want out there. So Connie, Yeah, that's what I mean. Or do you save them for another day? That's what I mean. Like they could I'm not saying to do that, but they can decide on really what they want to do.

00:12:21
Speaker 4: So I got kind of eviscerated on Twitter for saying saying what I said about how the Dodgers, well would be that will be the Brewer's game plan. How do they be glass now, you know, make them throw strikes and all this stuff, and I said some other things and fans are like, no way, not a chance. Like this show gives you the player's point of view, and if you were to ask the Brewers players to be one hundred percent honest, they would tell you, yeah, we're not out of this, like we one hundred percent got this. We swept this team in the regular season. Is it going to be tough? Yeah, you can't win four games in one night, but you can win one each night and play view when they're down. Is I'm not going away. I'm not going away without a fight. So you're gonna see some fight from the Brewers. And if you want somebody on it, if you want to watch another show where people are like, yeah, analytically, they just don't have any chance here, And I just don't see how it's like, don't don't come on a show. Don't watch a show where players will give you the real view of what they're thinking in this moment, like they're not quitting and they're gonna give Tyler glassan now all he can handle.

00:13:33
Speaker 2: For sure?

00:13:37
Speaker 1: What would you tell the boys, Like, if you're Pat Murphy right now, who is a wordsmith, he's really fine. He is well covered as a manager, both for the success that he's out on the field the last couple of seasons, and he's immedia darling. But what do you tell them?

00:13:53
Speaker 3: I think I'll bring it back to when we were down two o to Cleveland in seventeen. I think, you know where, we probably should have won game too, if we found a way to get you know, a review in in time, which didn't happen. Whatever, we ended up winning a series. Win the day, Just win the day, go out and win the inning. Every inning, every day. Don't worry about anything that's going on outside. Win today and then we'll worry about tomorrow. Find a way to win today. It doesn't mean you have to win by the home run. Win scrappy, beat out a ball, make the play, you know, get on base from the air, steal a base something, find a way to win the game.

00:14:31
Speaker 2: Cratzy.

00:14:32
Speaker 4: If you have the If you have music on in the clubhouse after a big win and you come in and you're too you're down too, I'd say turn the music on, turning music on. We're flying to LA. It's time to get going. Just like just like Biggie said going back to Cali.

00:14:51
Speaker 2: Could have said it, I'm going going back back to CALLI. Yes, all that good stuff.

00:14:58
Speaker 1: Hey, we do this a lot in the offseason, but we'll let it go into this current postseason as well because it's becoming a big story. The Dodgers spend a lot, the Brewers don't, the payroll disparity, the league and the owners just love this conversation. What are your thoughts on these two teams matching up? And I'm going to kick it off, okay, because the top two teams in the National League this year. Are the Brewers and the Dodgers, right, they're the last two teams standing. The Dodgers spend a lot, the Brewers don't. There are a lot of teams in between the Dodgers and the Brewers that aren't there. So there are a bunch of really really dumb teams that spend a lot of money. And I have no idea what they're doing because the way that people speak, you would think that you just look at the sheet, look at the payroll sheet, the top ten, and I think half the teams didn't make it, and you just be like, Okay, National League side easy, Dodgers, Mets, NLCS every single year. Last year, actually the Mets look like crap. At the beginning of the year, Yeah, got hot, made it to the NLCS. But this year really really dropped the wallet down and said let's go. They didn't make the playoffs.

00:16:13
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, we can have a whole hour session about that. But I got to ask the question today about whether it's good or bad for baseball that the Dodgers are winning, and I said, I thought it was just fine. I gotta be honest with you, I seeing what they have. They still have guys that are injured that aren't even playing. And that's the crazy part about the Dodgers. How good this team really is. It goes to show you, Hey, if I'm a baseball fan, I gotta respect what the Dodgers are doing here. They're spending money on quality guys and guess what happens. They're winning games. Will they win the World Series? They might, they have the best chance. But again, I think this is great. You want to say the Dodgers do win Scotty next thing. You know, Like, if I'm on the team, I'm like, that's the team I want to beat. Now you get a little hungrier, maybe you pick up a.

00:16:59
Speaker 2: Guy here too.

00:17:00
Speaker 3: But you know, everybody in this business has money when it comes to being a president and all this kind of stuff. They just don't want to spend. So I don't feel bad for those teams. They have the money. It's what their businessmen want to do about, you know, when they want to get the better players.

00:17:16
Speaker 4: Well, how about instead of looking at the actual dollars that are spent, because yeah, they're never going to match up, how about we look at the percentage of revenue brought in compared to the salaries, and then we see see, oh well, maybe this team could have spent a little bit more like teams may not be able to spend the same number, but percentage wise, maybe we got to get a little bit closer to this. So if you want to talk about salary caps, how about this. Let's bring in the salary floor and that'll enhance a lot of competition. If it's because of money, then make sure your team is spending the same percentage as the Dodgers are spending of the revenue that they bring in. Just a percentage, that's it.

00:17:56
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:17:57
Speaker 1: Also, you could just improve revenue sharing. You could say, hey, here's another fifty mil to Milwaukee that we're all splitting on TV money. There's plenty that already exists. The problem is that process is broken because you don't have to spend it on players. You can spend it on quote, improving your team. There are ways as yeah, improve your real estate. So we can talk more about that than the off season. We have all off season long. I don't like to get into that too much, but it is standing out right now, being that you have the Dodgers and the Brewers matched up like this. Anyway, thoughts, obviously you know where to go let us know if you're watching us live or later on, drop a comment for us. I check as many as possible and shout out to Lids for hooking us up with charge the Mound. Text territory t E r R I t O r Y to two nine zero one seven, and you instantly get yourself twenty percent off your next headwear or apparel purchase at any US LID store. And there are a ton of them, so go get after it. Port ft text territory to two nine zero one seven. Kratz Summer is over. Fair Harbor is still dominating. Same style right, comfort, feels thin, it's soft, All of the material of their clothing is there for you, and it's super cool. They've got gray colors.

00:19:21
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00:19:29
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00:20:49
Speaker 4: Hope the organization looks at it like, well, why were they successful? The first five months might be generous, but first four months of season was it actual success or were they kind of being held up on a thin pedestal of not controlling the strike zone. There's general things that work and don't work, and were you doing those things in those first four months. If they were and then they switched, then what happened? You got a pinpoint exactly before you just go and say hitting coaches gone, this guy gone, game planning gone, like whoa, whoa, whoa. There was some success there and they were the best team in the Central for a long time.

00:21:31
Speaker 1: Tyler Kepner joining us right now. You can catch so many great articles of his in the Athletic Tyler, great to see you. First off, How is the postseason going for you?

00:21:41
Speaker 5: It's great, guys, good to be here. I've been following the Mariners the whole way through. So let's do a lot worse than hang out in Seattle for the month. It's been fun.

00:21:52
Speaker 1: I'm with you, okay, So give us the goods. You've been with one team the entire postseason. Tell us what you've seen from Seattle. What's something that maybe most of the world doesn't know obviously, I'm sure you've covered it in articles, but give us something good to kick this off.

00:22:08
Speaker 5: Wow, well, something that most of the world doesn't know.

00:22:14
Speaker 4: I don't know.

00:22:14
Speaker 5: I mean I I go a lot of ways with that, but it is it is just really impressive how much they outpitch people. I mean, everybody kind of knows that, and now we're seeing it. They just have more good pitchers. And for them to go to Toronto and get half their innings from starters who were on short rest is just and win both games is amazing. I mean, you would go out there and hope to get a split, you know, you could. You could even envision that they're tired and you come back and you're down oh two, but you reset, they're up to to oh and they got half their innings from starters on short rest. It's pretty amazing. But it shows the depth they have. And now they're getting Brian Wuback. So it kind of goes to the philosophy they've been building here and sticking with through a lot of you know, ups and down. They've believed in it. Strike throwing is gonna work most of the time, and here they are.

00:23:09
Speaker 3: You talk about good hitting and you know, well actually talk about good pitching. He brought up hitting a little bit too as well. One of those hitters, Jhe Polanco man just coming on so strong. You give him my nickname here, I'll let you talk about that. Just give a little insight of how good he's been in these playoffs. And it seems like, you know, over the years, he's been doing this for a long time now and doing pretty well out it.

00:23:31
Speaker 5: Yeah, Todd, it's kind of nice to see a player who's been around a while, been just a solid, sort of everyday guy for about eight or ten years, have this kind of moment. I mean, three games in a row, this guy is driven in the go ahead run. Plus he hit two home runs off Schoogle in Game two. You know, it's not like he's hitting four hundred, but his his hits have all been monumental. So whenever they have a clutch situation they need to take the lead. You know, he's the guy, his switch hitter, so you know he's hard to pitch too. He'd he's a great pull hitter. He's just the kind of guy who you know, sort of a glue guy on the team and Honestly, he was their big move last offseason. They were very quiet after a season where you know, they came a little bit short of a playoffs, but it was a real disappointment. He was their big move to bring him back for one year in seven point seventy five after him two thirteen last year. But they knew that he was just really really physically compromised last year with that knee. He tried to grind his way through it. He had the potel attendon fixed up this this week last year, and you know, he's been he's been terrific. He's been the player they thought they were getting last year.

00:24:39
Speaker 4: All right, let's reverse back to Game four. The end of Game four of the Alds. The Tigers just beat them pretty handily in a bullpen. That's from the bullpen that's kind of tired. How looking forward likely was it going to be that they were two to zero in the Alcs going back home, considering they had to beat the best pitcher on the planet for the fourth time in one season and they couldn't out hit a team In my opinion, that in the Tigers that just lost their bats in the second half, like they like. These two teams were gonna beat each other up in a pillow fight, and then they were gonna get boat raced by the Blue Jays. And now we're looking at a team that's well rested, they're at home, and they have a two to zero league.

00:25:27
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's really and there were so many moments in that fifteen inning game where it could have gone either way, right, I mean, it was that close to having the Tigers be the team and knocking out the Mariners, and the whole narratives different. Seattle just wins a lot of those three to one, three two games. It feels like they played three two games almost every day. You know, there was three to two in the last game of the LDS, three to one in the first game, and then they kind of boat race the Blue Jays at the end of that second game. But you're right, it could have gone either way. They looked at the Tigers and found a team that was very much like them in the sense that, you know, they do strike out some, but they walk some. They pitch really well from the starting standpoint. But yeah, they just were able to outlast him. And maybe it's one of those fluky things of baseball, but they were able to get that win in fifteen innings, and then, like I said, go to Toronto and get that kind of performance from Bryce Miller, right Like, I think we forget sometimes how good Bryce Miller is because his year was really choppy. I mean, he was injured twice, you know, and when he was out there, he you know, he had a five mid five Zra. But this is a guy who was a budding superstar just last year and now he looks like that pitcher again. Last game against Toronto was his best outing of the year. He was a little upset because, you know, in Game four they pulled him at fifty five pitches. He felt he was rolling. But as it turned out, they got a little lucky because having only thrown fifty five pitches, he was in a good spot to go six innings and give them a really strong representative start. And not just the six innings, but that kept the bullpen to where they didn't have to use that extra guy in the in that sixth And I feel like it's so important right now. If you've get a manager who's willing to let his starter go six seven innings, if he's if he's feeling good, then you don't expose the bullpen as much, guys get a little more rest. And so I cred Dan Wilson for going with his eyes on what he saw with Miller in game six, Game one and let him go six in it.

00:27:23
Speaker 4: All right, Obviously, there's only two series going on right now, so America is locked into two series. Tell us something about Josh Naylor that we don't see in day to day games watching this series, watching this team play because you're there every day. Tell us something that he brings obviously offensively, stealing bases, all that stuff to this team. But tell us something we don't know about Josh Nayler.

00:27:49
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's a great that's a great question, Eric, and I was just texting with my college Jason Stark about that. Josh Nailer is the kind of player the more you watch him, the more impressed you are. He he just he's always thinking, you know, like he makes a lot of really smart plays in the field, and on the basis he's had a couple of errors this postseason, but he's also had to play. He had like a three he had like a double play where you know, the guy was on first and he had to tag the right guy first, and he just execut he's always thinking. You see that on the basis too, as you mentioned the big stolen base against Google to you know, to scratch out the one run they they were really going to get off off him. So he's you know, he's a he's a good hitter, not just a good power hitter, right like I mean, he's he's got power. But he hit two ninety five this year. It's really hard to hit three hunderd now, and he came really close. I just think he's a winner. I think he's a winning player who really brings so much to that, to that lineup to make it more legit, you know. And as far as something that you don't know, I happen to be sitting next to his family yesterday on the plane and his dad was wearing a really sweet Gary Payton jersey. So you know, they're really in the full Seattle Seattle mode right now, the family. So it's cool to see them along for the ride too.

00:29:12
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00:30:15
Speaker 4: Was that because there was no Shawn Kemp jerseys available.

00:30:19
Speaker 2: I don't know.

00:30:20
Speaker 5: Maybe he's the They gotta love the Glove, I think. I think the Glove is a little more like the soul of those old Sonics teams. I like Camp too, though, I mean.

00:30:32
Speaker 4: McDaniel.

00:30:32
Speaker 5: If you want to go back a little farther, I would. Okay, you know, the X Man, Okay, I'm a little older, probably.

00:30:38
Speaker 4: So the Super the SuperSonics. I like that. But the other guy that they picked up at the trade deadline. Is there any signs that Henneo Suarez is going to break out of what the slump that he's in. I don't want to say slump, or has he because it's a he's a very flyball hitter. He didn't have a great year when he came over to Seattle. It's forty nine home runs, so I could really care less what his what his short sample size, you know, but he's a very flyball hitter coming home to a very unfriendly flyball park. Is there any signs of him possibly breaking out or where it's or is it just like, man, I hope he runs into one.

00:31:22
Speaker 5: That's kind of how I see it now, Like I don't. I can't obviously see it with the eyes of a of a hitter, but to me, it just looks like it's a lot of big swings, and you hope he runs into one. And the good thing about Seattle, I guess, you know from what the numbers say is that you can hit home runs here. I mean cal Raley, this is his home ballpark, right It's there's no doubles and triples though, It's like a lot of fly balls will just hang up there and be caught on the warning track or you know those fly balls, Like you said, for a flyball hitter, if you really hit it, it's going to go, but it's it's it'll get caught in the air a lot if it's not really really well struck, and then just become a harmless flyout. So you're seeing that, you know, the flats a lot of strikeouts. There's a lot of swinging myths there. But he's a He is a guy though, right that, Like if you're a manager, you always know where he is because he can do so much damage. And he's had a good season, a good series, good couple's series in the field too. You know, he's a solid guy there, so you know he's he's a big leaguer. I just felt like that there were for so long that the Mariners just had a lot of guys who weren't really legit everyday big leaguers in that lineup. And over the course of last year when they got a Rose Arena and Rojas and this year with Nailor and Suarez, they just got a solid big league lineup one through nine. And when you got Suarez, Batton Low and then JP Crawcher about a ninth. That's the lineup you have to respect all the way through.

00:32:48
Speaker 3: I want to talk not only about the players there, but I want to talk about the stadium. We're talk a little bit about playing in Seattle. The atmosphere there is that like a tenth man for this team, and how excited there and say right now to see this team get after.

00:33:02
Speaker 5: Yeah, Todd, I I think it definitely can be. I mean, you know, a lot of great atmosphere is in October pretty much everywhere, but I think it is it is special here. They have a really good they're engineer to play well at home. You know, it's based on their personnel. But this is a tremendous sports city and this venue is it's my favorite stadium. Maybe I'm a little biased because I was covering the team back in the nineties of the year they moved here into the from the Kingdome to Safecoast, so I saw the whole thing. But it's the it's the only ballpark where the roof is really just an umbrella.

00:33:36
Speaker 2: You know.

00:33:37
Speaker 5: It's it's so it always feels like Seattle. You can't enclose it, so it's gonna be you know, it could be cold, it could be you know a little that that that heavy air, but it's gonna feel like seattle. But you're always gonna get a game because because you got the roof, and the roof helps that sound, you know, reverberate. And you've got three you've really got like upper decks in left field, center and right. You know that at lefield upper deck is right over the it pretty much overhangs the field just about centerfield the same thing, so you've got that kind of surround sound effect with the roof, and that's pretty cool. And they've you know, they've since ninety five. Really, I mean their attendance that's going up and down, but that ninety five team really cemented baseball in this city. And when they're good like they are now, I mean, these fans really really show out. So it was the stating was shaking. I could feel a shake in Game five. And they bring out the legends here, and they've got a good amount of legends. You know that Game five, see Griffy. We've seen Alvin Davis, mister Mariner. You know, I'm sure each year will be back. I mean, he's there all the time anyway, he's in uniform half the time. He played in the He played in the scrimmage games they had earlier this month, so you know, Felix, I'm sure it'll be by maybe Randy. So they've got a lot of a lot of cool alumni to to blow the roof off it.

00:34:57
Speaker 4: All right, I need your case for MVP or not MVP.

00:35:04
Speaker 5: Well, I have a I do have a vote, so I can't really say exactly, but I you know, I've written books about baseball history. I feel like I have an appreciation for historical feats and it certainly really catches your eye when you evaluate a performance that we've never seen before. Sixty home runs for a catcher, a switch hitter, We've never seen anything like that. I mean, he took down Ken Griffey Junior's Mariners record, Mickey Mantles switch hitting record, and the record for catchers from every catcher who's ever played baseball. So that's pretty significant. While doing it for a playoff team and coming to the plate seven hundred times, that's a lot. So it's it's it really makes you think. So I Judge was incredible too. I go on on about Iron Judge. It sawhim a lot in New York. But cal Raley when you think about all that seven hundred times the plate, more games caught than just about anybody else, for a really good staff, excellent defense, and all the home runs and production that gets your attention.

00:36:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm with you. For me, they're both incredible seasons. I don't think it's close because you do ultimately have to make one choice. But whatever, it's not about me. A great, great explanation, Tyler.

00:36:25
Speaker 2: There so tell us without telling us, you chose cal Me for sure.

00:36:29
Speaker 1: But I don't have a vote, Tyler does.

00:36:31
Speaker 3: Tyler tell us you basically told us who you picked for. But that's okay, we we love you.

00:36:36
Speaker 4: That's not true.

00:36:37
Speaker 5: Hey, I mean, you know, I gotta dance a little bit, but I'm not a good chancer, dude. So but yeah, so no, it's uh, it's it's all good. It's it's gonna be all of a race. It'd be cool if it was a tie, but I agree. I mean, one thing I will say about baseball writers is that if historically we kind of do I think understand maybe it because we've all read Eric's book, but we do sort of understand the importance of catching and how rigorous that is, and the toll that it takes in your body and you're hitting and all that. So, I mean, I think that's why you'll see Yati Molina be a Hall of Famer and you'll probably Sea Buster Posey be a Hall of Famer. I think there's a lot of respect for what you catchers have to go through, and when you do it on a high level like cal, it's it's super impressive. And he's been great in the postseason too. I mean, he's getting a lot of singles, which is a little unusual for him, but he does have a couple of big home runs and helping the pitching staff at key moments.

00:37:37
Speaker 1: Hey, last one for you, Tyler, because you are a legendary historian. We've been debating this now for like thirty minutes, and actually you can help me settle this. So the most recent team to lose the first two games at home and come back to win a best of seven series. Okay, and I know your thing is world series where you just basically know everything right and LCS. That starts to get a little bit crazy, but I've Kratz came back to me. Kratz twenty seventeen. They split the first two at home, So that's off. Someone else came back at me online about a couple of things that I went back on, So you do you know what it is?

00:38:11
Speaker 5: I mean, the six ninety six World Series was you know, the Yankees lost two at home. Atlanta had just stormed through the Cardinals the end of that series. They blew out the Yankees twice. They never looked any better, and then they go to Atlanta and lose three, and really that shifted the whole balance of power in the nineties from the Braves to the Yankees in those last four games. So I think that was the last time. It also happened in eighty five and eighty six, also we had the Mets lost two at home, they won in seven. The Royals lost two at home in eighty five and they won in seven. So it did happen three times in eleven years eighty five, eighty six, and ninety six. But I think that's the only three times it's happened in the World Series.

00:38:52
Speaker 1: Bingo, that is correct. Those are the only three in the World Series. And the last time that happened, even extending it to LCS was still the ninety six Atlanta Braves. So good stuff. I knew this was perfect timing that he's the best at this. Tyler, you're the man. Thank you so much for joining us.

00:39:06
Speaker 5: Great to see you, all right, fell It's good to see you too, and it's always always good to talk to a Monco guy.

00:39:11
Speaker 4: Eric. Yes, yes, sir, appreciate you. Although I don't I miss having all your hats in the background, so yeah, maybe.

00:39:19
Speaker 2: I have a few.

00:39:19
Speaker 5: And they had a great store in in uh Toronto. I got a call like a vintage Angels and the vintage Oakland A's, the Swinging A's, you know, so that was pretty cool. But they're they're over there, all right.

00:39:31
Speaker 1: We'll get when he's back at home. Appreciate you, Tyler. Thank you all right, let's slap and a quick shout out to the hotel out in Milwaukee that scares everyone away. To ask her. Hernandez added fuel to the fire that he's not staying there. His wife was spooked by the ghosts. That's the fists are out in Milwaukee. It gets a ton of attention. I don't know if it's good or bad attention. It's a little bit of both. Some people that are into that stuff like to go there. For me, the place is dated, so it's not for me. I know there's some cool parts to it, but I'd rather just stay in a nice, clean, fresh spot. That's me and that's Mookie Bets too. He doesn't stay there, and some others don't either. Sorry about it.

00:40:20
Speaker 3: I've had I've had a weird problem there that you know, TV just went on for no reason in the middle of the night, and I wasn't happy about it.

00:40:28
Speaker 1: Cried, that was nervous.

00:40:31
Speaker 4: It's not a big deal.

00:40:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is a big deal.

00:40:35
Speaker 4: If you don't get your sleep, that's a big deal.

00:40:40
Speaker 1: Now we're gonna do it. Hey, the boost that Perhap was talking about is available. If you got a bet MGM account, go check out that MLBAT postseason odds boost token. You activate it, you add it to your bet slip, and if you win your wager that was made with that token, you get extra winnings. Gambling problem or concern called one eight hundred gambler