An Historic Night (In A Bad Way) For The Braves

00:00:21
Speaker 1: Welcome one and all to the Hemmer Territory Podcast. My name is Jean Coleman. Hope, wherever you are and wherever you are listening, I hope to the high heavens your night did not involve watching the Braves on Winter on Thursday night. Can't thank you enough for joining us as always here with my podcast partner Stephen Tolbert. The Braves tonight lost to the Philadelphia Phillies nineteen to four. A horribly historic night for the Braves. Is the best way that I can describe it it honestly is it's nearly been exactly a decade. Like the last time the Braves gave up eighteen plus runs in a game was two thousand and fifteen, August twenty eight of twenty and fifteen. That's how long it's been since the Braves gave up this many runs as they did on Thursday Night. Just a completely forgettable game. But you know what, we're here to cover it no matter how bad or how good it gets. And that's what we're gonna do tonight. And Steve and I know you're chomping at the bit ready to break down the historic start from cal Control and the historic game from the Braves. Good talking with you as always, my friend.

00:01:27
Speaker 2: Hey buddy, yeah, what a fun night. I had the had the multiple TV you know, obviously it's college football season now, so had the multiple TV setup going, had the Braves on one, had Boise the Boise State game on the other, and I was curious, like, Who's gonna score more points? The Phillies are Boise State, and the Phillies kicked their ass. It was I think boys only scored seven and the Phillies scored nineteen. There's gonna be a number of teams that the Phillies outscored a number of college football teams that get out score by the Phillies. But yeah, it was tough. I mean, cal Kuntrol, We're gonna talk about him, I guess if we have to. But you know, you lose, you give up nineteen runs, and you give up four homers for the second time in the season to one guy. I mean, just the twenty twent I mean just a standing just a standing ovation for the twenty twenty five Braves. I mean what just what a masterclass of just a shit show that they put on this season. And you know, hats off to them.

00:02:32
Speaker 1: I mean the Braves, though, are doing favors for their teams. They single handedly made Eugenio Suarez the most sought after bat at the trade deadline, and they may, after tonight, have single handedly allowed for Kyle Schwarber to clearly step forward his candidacy for the twenty twenty five n L MVP. But all jokes aside, it was a historic night for all the wrong reasons when it comes to the Braves. But for the second time this year, it is correct. They gave up four home runs to the same player in one game. So that's now nineteen times in Major League Baseball history that a player has hit four home runs in one game. Steven, I don't know if you besides tonight and that game was swore as if you've ever seen another four homer game. One that I vividly remember was, I believe in nineteen ninety three at Riverfront Stadium, Mark Whitten of the Cardinals. I was a more Cardinals fan at the time. I don't don't don't sitting often out.

00:03:29
Speaker 2: I believe you just admitted that.

00:03:31
Speaker 1: I did admit it, you know, hey, with where I was. My dad was a huge Cardinals fan. But I remember seeing Mark Witten do that, and it's it's an impressive feat like you want to talk about, like a level of locked in that you rarely see. It absolutely is true to those who may not know, nineteen four home run games. It's a more rare occurrence than a perfect game by a starting pitcher. That's how rare it is. So when it happens, it is very notable. And of course it's now happened, I believe for the third time this season. I believe that's the most in a single season ever. Nick Kurtz also did it for the A's. But I bring all this up because there's no Major League Baseball franchise who's more tied to allowing or four homer games occurring than the Braves. And it's absolutely true. They're now the only team in Major League Baseball history to have allowed multiple players to hit four homers in a game against them in a single season. It's now been done against the Braves franchise on three separate occasions, the most by any MLB franchise in Major League Baseball history. It happened against them in nineteen fifty as well, and teams are now seventeen and two in the nineteen games where a player hits four home runs. The Braves were involved in both those losses. They beat Eugenios Fourrez earlier this year when he hit four home runs, and of course the infamous Bob Horner four home run game that we lost in the nineteen eighties. So if there is something to hang your hat on tonight, it is the fact that, yes, when it comes to the MLB franchise, that is most connected to one of the rarest offensive feats in the game, the four home run game, no team tops the Atlanta Brays.

00:05:21
Speaker 2: Awesome, just tremendous stuff. That's hilarious. I do remember this was like a probably more than a decade ago. I think Josh Hamilton had a four home run game against Baltimore that I remember watching. I think he actually hit five homers in a row, but he hit a two run homer in his last at bat the game before, so he hit five homers in a row, but four of them were in one game. I think I remember Sean Green did it for the Dodgers, maybe against the Brewers. I was randomly watching that game all I mean, this was probably twenty plus years ago, but I actually remember watching that game. I think he went like six for six with four homers and like two doubles, like the greatest offensive game of all time, at least at that point. So yeah, I mean they're notable, of course, and like you said, they're more rare than than perfect games. I mean, it just doesn't happen.

00:06:12
Speaker 1: So I just want to confirm. I am highly impressed your details were absolutely correct. Down to the day. Hamilton and Green both did it. You got the play, you got the teams that they played against correct, you got the time frames correct. Kudos to us.

00:06:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I remember the Hamilton won because all five of his homers in a row were all two run homers, which was the crazy part about that. And then I just remember Sean Greens because it was like the greatest offensive day of all time. But yeah, I mean, more rare than a perfect game, that's I mean, that's that is why it's unbelievable that the Braves have allowed this to happen twice in one season. You know, just endlessly funny that the one time Kyle Schuber made it out tonight was with Bruhan the position player pitching in the ninth or the eighth inning. He popped him up on a on a fifty seven mile per hour slider. Maybe that's the trick. But yeah, I mean, you know, I guess being infamous is better than being not known at all. But this is not exactly a record I wanted any part of, and I'm sure nobody in the Braves clubhouse is particularly interested in having this sort of record around their neck. The only team ever to allow multiple players to hit four home runs in a game in a single season. But you know, that's just kind of par for the course for the twenty twenty five season for the Atlanta Braves, So it sucks that it was against the Phillies. I actually really like Kyle Schwarber. It was a guy that I wanted the Braves to aggressively go after and still want them to go after, although he might be pricing himself out of Atlanta's range at this point. But Kyle Schwarber's always seem like a really cool dude, but he plays with the Phillies, so you know, you gotta kind of hate him. Like I think Bryce Harper is a cool dude as well, but he plays for the Phillies, so he kind of you have to hate him, So you know that sucks. I don't want to ever get just I mean, just to get kicked in the nuts like that against the division rival. I don't care what the season is going, you know what it's going like, you don't want that to happen. And so tonight was kind of miserable. But I mean, I guess, if you're gonna fall in your face, at least make some history doing.

00:08:19
Speaker 1: It, exactly, you know, at least at least at least, you know, be notorious. If you're not going to be notable. The thing that I'll say is I agree with you.

00:08:27
Speaker 3: You know.

00:08:27
Speaker 1: One thing is that to me, the there are a lot more likable Phillies than there are Mets, for instance.

00:08:34
Speaker 2: But I've had this debate before with people like I hate the Mets. I don't like the Phillies just because they have like eliminated the Braves multiple times in this run. And you know, you know, there's always a little incidences. But like Zach Wheeler, Kyle Schwarber, Trey Turner, Bryce Harper, all those players are infinitely more likable than anybody on the Mets. I'll I would definitely pick the Phillies over the Mets. Agreed.

00:09:01
Speaker 1: And then the thing that stands out about Phillies is that they just got such an assortment of Braves killers. But listen, we'll let the Phillies show part of the Foul Territory family of podcasts that they're in singing the Phillies praises. The other thing though, that stands out tonight, besides the Braves making history for all the wrong reasons, cal Quandrill obviously came into the Braves organization a little over a week ago. You know. The idea was for him to eat innings, and the problem is is that he's not really accomplished that goal. Just an absolute crash course and how not to have success with they knew franchise through two starts. Now, I would not be surprised that this would be his last start, you know if the Braves, you know, maybe even this weekend once Chrisselle is brought up. But just an absolutely brutal you know. And that's the crazy thing about tonight, Stephen, is that this game started off about as good as you could think with Aaron Nola struggling. You had the Braves working walks, getting big hits, so on and so forth, and then as soon as the top of the first inning ended, it was just all Phillies and there was no question about it. Cal Quantrille just if you want to talk about if you want an example of a pitcher who just absolutely did not have it tonight, that's an understatement for how off cal quantri was.

00:10:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think he's on a pretty strong consecutive streak of not having it going on like three years now. So my guess is he's probably not going to have a major league job. You know, maybe by the time you're listening to this podcast, it might be you know, he might have like ten minutes left in his major league career. It was ugly and listen, he wasn't good with Miami. There was a reason he was available. He hasn't been good for a while. He's never really been that good like he's had. He had a couple of like smoking mirror seasons I think with Cleveland. But he gets hit very hard. He doesn't strike a lot of people out. That's a really dangerous, really tough nomination to survive with. And obviously he's not. I mean, my guess is Chris Sale's coming back on Saturday. My guess is they just dump Quantroll and go back to five a five man rotation would be my guess. I don't I haven't heard that or read that anywhere, but that would make logical sense to me unless they just want to give everybody extra innings, and I guess you could get somebody. I mean, they just need to dump Quantrill quite frankly, and listen, if I was the Phillies like already losing Zach Wheeler, and by the way, you know, shout out to Zach Wheeler. Hope, what he's going through is much more serious than baseball. It is. It's a pretty devastating energy that he's going through, So you know, best wishes to Zach Wheeler. But after losing Wheeler, Aaron Nola does not look good and hasn't looked good most of the season. I have real concerns about the Phillies once they get to the postseason. Now, this is not the Phillies show, so we're not gonna spend any time breaking that down. But just as a side, Aaron Nola also did not look great tonight. But yeah, I mean, cal Quntri is just not a major league pitcher at this point point. I would not be stunned at all if when sale comes up, Quantrill is the one to get.

00:12:05
Speaker 1: Dumped, absolutely, and it will be very interesting to see kind of what happens this weekend when it comes to the roster moves that the Braves will make. But despite aaa very forgettable and unfortunate start to the weekend, there is plenty of reason to remain tuned into the Braves when it comes to some potential recognition for young Braves this weekend. We're going to discuss that in just a moment after a word from our partners.

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00:13:37
Speaker 1: So, Stephen, it is August twenty eight and we were about to enter the lab. We're in the home stretch. We're about to enter the last month of the season. Obviously, you know what many of us had hoped would be the goals that we would be close to accomplishing this time of year have not happened. This season went off the tracks a while ago. So what still stands out as as you know, opportunities to track, reason to watch, things to cheer for when it comes to this Braves team this season. And you know, one thing that we've talked about is of course the n L Rookie of the Year race Drake Baldwin. Of course, everybody knows if he were to win the award and be an honor obviously be a great accomplishment for a breakout year for him, but also the you know draft pick, you know that could come to us if he wins. That's one thing to certainly keep track of through the end of the season, but through the end of this weekend, it's also important to keep track of what could be in L Pitcher of the Month honors for Hirston Waldrop, who's been arguably the best pitcher in the National League for the month of August, and he has one more opportunity to add to that resume on Sunday. But I bring up Hurston Waldrop's pursuit of August of n L August Pitcher of the Month and Drake Baldwin's pursuit of n OL Rookie of the Year because there's one person who actually could do both of those campaigns, and we talked about him earlier this week, that is, Cubs pitcher Cad Horton. Horton has firmly established himself as the favorite now for the n L Rookie of the Year race because of the fact that he has emerged as Waldrop's main competition for NL Picture of the Month in the month of August. He's been absolutely spectacular. So on both fronts, it's going to be a very interesting watch when it comes to Great Baldwin's playing time. Hurst and Waldrops start on Sunday, and then of course what Cad Horton does on the mound in Colorado tomorrow.

00:15:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, so if you haven't, you know, I would not be surprised if there's a lot of Braves fans that don't know this, but if you're not following like the odds on a daily basis, Cad Horton has kind of pretty comfortably moved into the betting favorite odds to win National League Rookie of the Year. You know, he's just been awesome, and especially in the second half, and you know, obviously Baldwin has slowed down a bit in the second half. And listen, we mentioned this on our last show. The Cubs are just a better team. They're playing in more meaningful games. You know that matters. I don't know if it should matter, but it does. It does matter, and it matters to a lot of voters. So yeah, I mean, you know, I'm guessing if the award happened today, Cad Horton would win. And I'm talking about the Rookie of the Year. You know, obviously National League Picture of the Month is much more of just a kind of a vanity award. But considering where Hurston Waldrip was before August, which was on no one's radar, to be on the major league team, that's pretty incredible. Like the first month you come up, all season you are in You're in contention to winning best Picture of the Month in the entire league. So that would be cool. But yes, I mean it's the Rookie of the Year is kind of getting away from Baldwin a little bit. I am gonna be curious to see. So the Phillies throw three consecutive lefties Friday, Saturday, Sunday that there's Suarez, Sanchez and then Lozardo, and they have been sitting Baldwin versu lefties, and now I don't think they're gonna sit them all three days. But like if you told me right now they're gonna sit them two of the three days, I wouldn't be surprised. And I can already tell you that it's gonna piss some people off. So yeah, I mean, as we sit here today, I would definitely say that, you know, Drake Baldwin is no longer the favorite to win Rookie of the Year. He does need to get hot when he does get playing time. We'll see how much playing time he gets, especially you know, the Bray's facing three consecutive lefties this weekend. We'll see. But that would be really cool for Herston to come up and literally your first month of the season win you know, picture of the month, not Rookie of the Month, but like picture of the month for the entire league. That would be a pretty cool story.

00:17:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I want to make it clear, you know, and I think people will think both of us as strong advocates for Drake Baldmen getting as much playing time as possible to win Rookie of the Year. I wouldn't make something perfectly clear, like even if he had played ninety plus percent of the games, there's still a very good chance, Kate Horton would have moved in front of him. So I'm just my point that I'm getting at is is Cade Horton has legitimately been that good. He has fully earned the right to be the NL Rookie of the Year leader right now and also potentially the Picture of the Month in August for the National League. So certainly want to give credit where credit is due. But I know that Brad and Scott talked about Hirst and Waldrop earlier earlier or excuse me on yesterday's podcast. But Stephen, one thing that stood out to me that I was very very impressed about when it came to Waldrop, and it's something that you have it. This is what has separated Brave's young pitchers over the past several years, the Schwellenbox and the Riders and now potentially the Waldrops from the Elders and others. It's the ability to be resourceful when your go to source of success is not there. Against the Marlins in that first inning when he pitched earlier this week, the Marlins clearly were trying to lay off that splitter and we're making it to where they were going to make him throw strikes and they were going to try to tee off on him. Waldrop did a great job even without strikeout stuff weakening contact. I bring that up because it's going to be very interesting to see how he adapts to facing a much stronger Phillies lineup than any lineup he's faced so far. So I know tonight was not fun, but if there's one thing to look forward to, this is going to be a true, true test of where Waldrop is is a pitcher. These are the type of tests that Schwellenbach excelled at last year to show how good he is. If Waldrip can do the same, that's a really good sign that how Waldrop is finding success can't be sustained moving forward.

00:20:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean listen, Sharbur and Harper are very different animals than anything he's faced really since he's been up. I mean, he's you know, he had the Reds, he had the Marlins, he had the White Sox, even though some of those teams had gotten hot. You know what the Phillies throughout you offensively is just a much different animals. So you know he's gonna have to be good. But you were talking about like storylines to follow, even though the Braves stink and the season has been over for a while, Like how Hurston Waldrip finishes the season, how many innings he can get to, how far the Braves push him, Like there's a whole Hurston Waldrip storyline in the last month of the season that matters very much for twenty twenty six. So like, you know, even if you have to go on like individual levels, we're not really watching the games for the team performance or the team win loss record, but we're kind of watching just for individual performances right now. Hurston Waldrip, what he looks like, Joey Wentz, what he looks like, Chris Sale when he comes back, what does he look like, Spencer Strider? Does he continue making adjustments? You know, what does he look like? You know, we're still tracking Jerkson Profar, how he's doing. Michael Harris and Azzy Albi's are trying to have second half resurgences to change the narrative of their season. You know, how much does Drake Baldwin play, Marcelo Zuna's Sean Murphy Like they're still on an individual level storylines to follow, and that's what we're gonna focus on. We're gonna focus on big picture stuff for the team, but on you know, on the daily level, we're gonna focus more on individual stories that have an impact for twenty twenty six and beyond.

00:21:39
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and a couple of other individual stories for veterans will be worth tracking this weekend as well. One veteran starting to return to form, thankfully, but the return of another veteran in Chris Sale, who could have a really, really awesome matchup with Christopher Sangez on Saturday Night. More on that in just a moment, after another word from our partners.

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00:23:00
Speaker 1: So Stephen. The other you know, weekend specific storyline where you keep talking about storylines, the one that really is the focus of this week to look forward to. Besides urs carom Waldrop will be the return of Chris Sale for the first time in more than two months, as he'll take the Mound in Philadelphia. Now, of course, you know it's a mound that he's familiar with. We saw him, I believe a couple of times last year have a lot of success. He's going to be facing off against someone that you could clearly say is a top three or four left hander in the game, along with Sale and Christopher Sanchez, so it's certainly going to be a matchup to watch. What are you looking for from Sale? In that matchup, Stephen, what makes it a successful night for you? What Sale takes the mount?

00:23:42
Speaker 2: Yeah? So obviously just comfort? Right? How do you How does he look? I haven't actually put eyes on him on any of his Triple A starts. I have a very hard time watching minor league baseball. I don't know what the hell is happening with like the in minor league baseball, but like, why do why does every minor league baseball game look like you're why does it look like you're filming it with a potato? I don't under I don't understand what. I don't understand what's happening on that level where like I have a better camera in my pocket than what they use to film those games anyway, So I have not spent Yeah, sorry, I haven't spent a lot of time watching Chris Sale in the minor So I just want to see how comfortable he looks. The stuff I don't really care about that much in the first start that'll build back up, even like the command, how sharp he is. I don't really care about any of that stuff. The results I certainly don't care about. Just how, you know, is he comfortable? You know, does he does he look like he's pitching any different because of the rib. As long as he looks comfortable, I don't really care what happens. And obviously, as long as he gets out healthy, that's all I really care about. But yeah, Christopher Sanchez, like I don't know if people know, but like Christopher sanch when Wheeler went down, Sanchez bumped up, Like in l Cai Young odds like he's gonna be a guy who gets plenty of cy Young votes. I don't know if people know that, but he's been one of the best pitchers in baseball this year, so that could be a really fun game. You know, obviously we don't know what Chris Sale is going to look like in the first start in three months, so you know, he might be you know, he might be very rusty and sloppy, and you know, the results are the results at this point. But yeah, just just Chris looking comfortable is what I want to see. And obviously just getting out healthy.

00:25:29
Speaker 1: Absolutely. And you know the other thing that stands out about you know, Chris Sale is you know, just the simple fact that when he takes the mound, it just it brings a new level of attention. It's just fun to see him, you know, locked in. Don't necessarily know if that's going to be the case on Saturday, but it'll just be good to see him on the mound again. One thing again, if we want to talk about rest of the season storylines, one thing that absolutely needs to emerge as one of the biggest storylines. Having as many of our best players entered the off season as healthy as possible, that is a huge storyline to follow, and you get a much better sense that's the case for Chris, So if he's on the mound than if he's not. I also want us to talk about a bit of a return to four. Go ahead.

00:26:14
Speaker 2: Sorry, I just read this, so I'm going to bring it up. Mark Bowman. MLB dot Com beat writer Mark Bowman said that Snith said that because Sale is coming back and they have an off day every single week in September, that they are going back to a five man rotation. Just gotcha?

00:26:31
Speaker 1: Okay, So so that so that would mean Sale Waldrop when Strider and Quantrell Elder Who am I missing?

00:26:44
Speaker 2: It would Yeah, yeah, Qure, I'm guessing Quantrill it will be the corresponding move.

00:26:52
Speaker 1: For I was trying to think if there was an extra there, but Fetti was the extra.

00:26:55
Speaker 2: I mean, Quantrell and Elder are probably not that different, but or at least has youth and minor league options on his side.

00:27:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's a body.

00:27:06
Speaker 2: So yeah, but.

00:27:08
Speaker 1: All Kenning aside. The person that I was referring to, of course, was is Matt Olsen. And you know, we talked so much about, you know, how good Profars looked, how good you know Michael Harris has looked. A few weeks ago, or maybe ten or so days ago, Steve and I we were talking about the fact that with how good Matt Olsen at times has been this year, the emergence of Drake Baldwin and then the second half surges as well a Profar and Michael Harris, whatever you know, validation or value you want to put in, how legitimate those surges are. If Matt Olsen can end the season on a good note. One thing that all of a sudden has gone from a clear area of concern to becoming a strength for this Braves team is their ability to hit as left handers with Profar and Harris as well as Olsen, and that quartet is quite dangerous to go along with the Cooney as well as Riley moving forward. Good to see Olson, you know, putting the power back on display. I'm not necessarily saying that, you know, he's back to twenty twenty three form, but it's better when he's hitting home runs than when he's not. But the point that I'm getting at is is that, again, Profar Harris, whatever value you want to put on how much you actually believe in their surges. But if Matt Olsen can start hitting for power, then you go into the off season where that balance that we've talked about for the past two years for this lineup, it looks a lot better going into twenty twenty six than it has even the past few offseasons.

00:28:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, listen, you know, you and I talked about it on the last show, like I want to see the power of the entire lineup because I think that's how you sustain offense for six months as you have a lineup full of guys that can they can hit homers. It's just instant, instant offense, and Matt is a big part of that. And you and I spent a lot of time talking last year about how I felt like or how we felt like Matt Olsen was arguably the most important player in the Braves lineup because at that time they did not have a lot of left handed pop and he was one of the only ones. Well, I think they did a good job in the off season addressing that with Baldwin obviously being caught up and Profar, who's been a revelation quite honestly, you know, I know Scott and Brad did a full Profar segment, so we're not gonna do that. But you know, if Profar hits like this, if Baldwin hits like this, and Olsen, who is very streaky, We've talked about the streakiness of this lineup. It's just full of individual players who just go hot and cold for like months at a time. And August was was a pretty cold month for Matt, especially if you look at like his expected numbers. Ivan at Battery Power wrote a good piece if you missed it on Matt Olsen's August and you know he went through all the expected numbers and how he just wasn't hitting the ball with the same authority all month. And you know there was some talkings like is he is he getting tired? Like the dude literally plays every day, every inning of every game, so seeing him these last few days, you know, hit doubles, hit homers. That was a good sign. And obviously he's a very important player for twenty twenty six and beyond.

00:30:10
Speaker 1: Obviously, you know the other thing about matt Olsen is this is that you know, I think in terms of you know, I'm going to say, I'm going to say a phrase here and don't want people to you know, take it the wrong way. But matt Olsen is on a career trajectory. I talked about it earlier this year where you know, he had, you know, reached a certain plateau. I believe it's yeah, it's either it was by age. I think it was by age, and that he was one of you know, five players to have reached a certain threshold for power numbers, and three of those players were Hall of Famers. The other was Mark Tshera. You know, matt Olsen is on the trajectory to where I don't think that he's going to make the Hall of Fame, but it would not be completely far fetched if he just absolutely went off in his thirties. We'd love to see it. But the point that I'm getting at is is that when it comes to matt Olsen, I know that he's on the wrong side of thirty now, but there's still plenty of reason to want him to be successful. I know we talk about that the most important part of the contender equation for the Braves is Austin Miley returning to form now. But a reason why we say that is because matt Olsen has clearly established himself as as streaky as he is being one of the most consistent guys, especially against better competition. So it is vitally important that matt Olsen ends the season on a good note because he is one of our most reliable options in big games, and if he can continue to be that way into his thirties, there's really going to be a better shot for the Braves to be where they want to be if matt Olsen's power continues. But just also in general, he keeps showing up in those big moments.

00:31:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll say this for matt Olsen's Hall of Fame. Chances is that like big and slow guys actually age better than the small, fast, athletic guys because if you're already big and slow, you know, father time can't do that much more to you, right, I mean, father time can do a number on Ronald Acuna Junior and Byron Buxton, and you know, pick your best athletes, Mike Trout. But when you're already you know, when you run like Matt Olsen, which is basically like you know, he runs backwards. I mean that's how slow the guy is, then you can't you know, age is not going to do anything else to you. So he could very well have like a Nelson Cruz type second half of his career, and I think he'd make the Hall of Fame if he gets to five hundred homers first. You know, for instance, that's all all for a long time, been in benchmark, you know, even kind of like a Kyle Schorber type of resurgence in his thirties. I can make the case that Kyle Shuber has been a better player in his thirties than he was in his twenties. So it's not impossible. And I do hope he gets I mean, I would love just because of how much crap he catches, because his name is Freddie Freeman from Bradves fans, that would be that would be unbelievable if at the end of his career, hopefully most of with the Braves, he and got inducted into the Hall of Fame because he just went crazy in his thirties. That would be a pretty fun story.

00:33:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, I believe eighty home runs now for his career after tonight, so two twenty away from five hundred. You know, it's funny, you know, with the you know, Carlos Stanton, you know, knocking on the door of five hundred in time, College Schwarber maybe having an outside chance matt Olsen had, maybe having an outside chance. It's gonna be ab the fun debate just how important that five hundred home run threshold is, you know, to these Hall of famers in time. But you know, again, we're not saying anything that people don't know when it comes to matt Olsen. Everybody knows how important he is to the Braves success. But I don't think it can be overstated that this truly has been one of this past decade's best power hitters and he still clearly is in the prime of his career to be able to deliver not only big flies, but do it in big moments, and that's gonna be crucial to the Brave success. We would ford Steven Tobert anything else from you as we wrap up this edition of the Hammer Territory Podcast.

00:34:11
Speaker 2: No, just fun game, you know, fun game tonight. It was a lot of fun to watch. I'm talking about the football game of course that I was watching. Yeah, we'll see what the weekend brings. I'm very interesting Chris Sale. You know, even though that game's on Saturday, first day of college football, I will have that game on because I want to see what Chris Sale looks like it's gonna I'm very curious see how much s Trek Baldwin plays this weekend with three straight lefties. I really hope they do the sensible thing and at least play him in two of those games. I will not be surprised at all if he's sitting in at least two of those games. But we'll see. But we appreciate the support.

00:34:47
Speaker 1: You know.

00:34:47
Speaker 2: We'll follow the team as normal, and I think we'll have our next show on Sunday, so we'll recap kind of the full weekend on the Sunday show. But we appreciate the support as always.

00:34:58
Speaker 1: All right, Steven, so listen, you know, I know that we're a boys podcast, but we're both huge college football fans. Let's end the show in style with football season being here, gonna throw out five quick games from this weekend and we'll get your thoughts on who will win those games, potentially why, and we'll see next week when we reconvene for the next our next edition The hambita territory podcast, who had the better predictions? So we'll start off with your Alabama Crimson Tide versus the Florida State Seminoles, Steven Talvert, who wins?

00:35:34
Speaker 2: Did in Florida State win like two games last year?

00:35:36
Speaker 1: They won two games last year.

00:35:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know how good BAM is, but they won more than two games last year, So I'll take them, all right, I'll.

00:35:45
Speaker 1: Take I'll take BAM as well. Stephen Talvert. My beloved Tennessee volunteers will play in the Braves homes hometown, the City of the Braves in Atlanta against the Syracuse Orangeman hall Aho Lot of Orange is going to be in the state of Georgia this weekend. Your thoughts who wins between it between the Syracuse Orange Men and the Tennessee Volunteers.

00:36:12
Speaker 2: I don't know when, I don't know who wins. I know who loses is whoever has to watch those two ugly ass Orange teams play each other. Yeah, that might be the most visually unappealing game I can think of to watch. Yeah, Tennessee should beat the crap out of them, But the loser is everybody who has to watch it.

00:36:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, those Orange jail as you've racked up over the past few years. Oops. All right, Hey, let's get to the big games of the weekend. By the way, I am picking Tennessee as well. Let's get to the big games of the weekend, and we will start, well start actually, you know what, Hold on one second here, Yeah, we will start with the Notre Dame fighting Irish against the Miami Hurricanes. Steeven, who do you pick?

00:37:05
Speaker 2: I don't know a lot about these I haven't really followed either one of these two teams off season. I know Miami obviously lost your quarterback. He went to the NFL as the number one pick. I'll take Notre Dame. I just trust that program to rebuild or to restock more than I trust Miami. I think Miami did have a really good offseat. I think they brought in a lot of talent. But I'm going with the program that's been a little bit more stable, and I'll take Notre Dame.

00:37:27
Speaker 1: I'm a huge Marcus Freeman fan, and I think, yeah, I think when it comes to coming off a big because you know, Notre Dame obviously was in the playoffs themselves. They they they made it all the way to the National championship. Coming off a big year last year, they have.

00:37:44
Speaker 2: A new quarterback. They have a new quarterback too though the NFL.

00:37:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, but Marcus Freeman coach up a defense. I think that he can run a program very well. So I pick Notre Dame as well. Steven, We've got a matchup of two quarterbacks who Garrett Mesmeyer I believe, and Kay Clebnick. Yeah, though for for LSU and Clemson, those two teams will be facing each other on Saturday. Steven tobert LSU or Clemson.

00:38:15
Speaker 2: For some reason, Brian Kelly just absolutely stinks at these openers, Like I think they've lost like four or five in a row. LSU typically just gets better as the year goes on, but they usually don't start great. Clemson doesn't usually start great either. I'll take Clemson. I don't feel great about it, though you could probably talk me the other way.

00:38:36
Speaker 1: No, I'm gonna go Clemson as well. I think Clemson has the better defense. I'm not going to sit in here and act like I know a lot about these two teams, but I think that Clemson overall are probably has a bit better roster, and I think the Dabo Sweeney realizes that this, you know, really could be you know, his opportunity to get back into that upper echelon of the national spot like he's fallen off over the past five to seven years since they you know, won multiple national titles. But this could be, you know, the best chance he's had in years to really have a true shot at that national title. So I think I'm gonna go with Clubs.

00:39:12
Speaker 2: By the way, I saw a mock draft, like a twenty twenty seven mock draft or twenty twenty six mock draft, Kate Klubnick was the number one pick.

00:39:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, And I believe again it's Garrett Newsmaier. I believe Ne Smyer. He's someone that I think could be a first round pick. I know that there's a lot.

00:39:31
Speaker 2: Of maybe I just don't pay attention to not to club Nick. I did not like I've never watched him thinking oh yeah, that's like the clearly like the next number one pick.

00:39:38
Speaker 1: Well, my understanding is from what I've read when it comes to this quarterback class is that there's a lot of really intriguing, high profile, how high pedigree quarterbacks in this class compared to the last few classes. But there's not like a true real number one pick among them. Like if Arch Manning came out, who will talk about in just a minute, he would be I think the you know prize of that class to go number one. The Leonora Sellers of South Carolina is another guy that I've heard, you know, could surprise people with going number one, kind of like cam Ward did over the past year. But I just think that this is going to be a deeper quarterback class than we've seen in recent years. But yes, I've seen that as well, where he could go number one. But but speaking of number one, possibly one of the biggest overall matchups that we have seen in recent history for an opening weekend game, the number one Texas Longhorns against the number three excuse me, the number one?

00:40:35
Speaker 4: Is it?

00:40:35
Speaker 1: Number one Texas long Horns? Yeah, I think I got that right. Versus Ohio State. Yeah, number one Texas long Horns versus the number three Ohio State Buckeyes. Steven Tolbert, who you got.

00:40:50
Speaker 2: Well. I think Ohio Said has the best defensive player in the country and the best offensive player in the country. I think Caleb Downs of Alabama, by the way, is the best defensive player in the country.

00:40:59
Speaker 1: Uh.

00:41:00
Speaker 2: I think Jeremi Smith's the best offensive player in the country. I don't know anything about Ohio State's quarterback though, Like if you quarter if your quarterback sucks, then it's tough to do anything. And their quarterback he might, he might be good, he might suck. Honestly, the same goes with arch Manning. I know the name is Manning, but like he might suck, he could suck. If he's good, then they're probably gonna be very good.

00:41:23
Speaker 1: Uh.

00:41:24
Speaker 2: You know, Sarkisian has really built that program into a powerhouse. So if arch Manning is actually as good as they think he is, Texas might just might just road grade to the national championship. But if he's not, I mean, they got to go into Columbus, they got to go into the Horseshoe and beat Ohio State. That's not easy. So I could see I'm actually gonna take Ohio State in this game anytime, I don't know for sure. I usually just take the home team. So I'm gonna I'm gonna roll with Ohio State in this game, but their quarterback might stink and they might lose by fifty. You know, a lot of it's gonna come down a quarterback play.

00:41:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's hard to say. The finding game of a quarterback's career is the first game when he truly takes over. I mean, Archmanning started games already for Texas, but this is the first one where he truly is the guy for Texas. I'm going to go with the Ohio State as well. I agree with you. I know that, I know, I know we're not here to cause controversy. We're here for common sense. I feel like that.

00:42:26
Speaker 2: I'm taking Syracuse. I'm changing it. I'm taking Syracuse over Tennessee.

00:42:30
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, I'd rather you go with common sense than just be stupid to creak.

00:42:35
Speaker 2: Everybody knows by now that I'm not going to go with common sense.

00:42:38
Speaker 1: I think that's fair. But uh no, when I do think so when it comes to Ohio State, that both of these teams lost a lot of talent, they're having to replace it. But to your point, they've got the best offensive player and defensive player that's that stands out more in these type of games, I think than most games, even playoff games, these regular season games where it's the first game that you're playing as to start the y, you're painting against quality opponent. The known products are who you truly hope show up and perform, and most Smith and Downs could do that. So for Stephen Tolbert the Pixar iiO State, Clemson, Notre Dame, Syracuse and Alabama. For myself it is Ohio State, Clemson, Notre Dame Tennessee by fifty, as well as Alabama. Hopefully TuS Timpson has a great game, so not a lot of difference there. But listen, it's just here to discuss college football. Don't mean to make the show longer than it needs to be, but let's end it on a good note. Let's end it on a positive note, something me and Stephen both enjoy. Go Braves, go Valls. Will leave it at that. I'll let Stephen wind up wrap it up with anybody that he wants to cheer on. But more than anything, I hope that you have a very safe and healthy, happy and healthy weekend with your friends and family. Enjoy brace baseball and enjoin football. All just enjoying the end of the summer as we always like to do with fall right around the corner.

00:44:06
Speaker 2: And I went in the show shouting out what I hope to be the brand new insurance salesman. Cal Control has been a great career. It might be time to head to the dealership, you know, open up your own dealership, life insurance, car insurance, whatever you want to do. Uh, the world is your oyster, my friend.

00:44:28
Speaker 1: Oh Cal Quantroll, if you're listening, we wish you the best, sir.

00:44:33
Speaker 3: It was.

00:44:34
Speaker 2: It was a pleasure and a joy to watch you.

00:44:36
Speaker 1: We wish you all the best in your future endeavors. Cal Quantrill. Until next time, we'll talk to you here on the Hammit Territory podcast for Steve Otber that be Underscore Outliers on Twitter, slash x myself at stats sac. You can find Hammit Territory across all forms of social networks. You can find foul Territory, Great Great Great parent Company, foul Territory across all forms of social networks. Make sure you tune into YouTube, Spotify, wherever you check out your podcast, that's where we'll be for free. Make sure to enjoy it until Next time, go braze. We'll talk to you again soon here on the Hammer Territory podcast