Fair Territory: AL West Chaos, Mets on the Brink, Ken Addresses Viral Cameraman Moment

00:00:03
Speaker 1: Welcome everyone to the Monday edition of Fair Territory. Less than two weeks to go in the regular season, and yes, we have action. It's not total chaos. We've got some things that are pretty much decided. The AL Central, the NL Central, the NL East, the AL East, and the NL West are trending that way. They got the Dodgers up two and a half, the Jay's up four with thirteen to play.

00:00:27
Speaker 2: But there's still a lot of.

00:00:29
Speaker 1: Things going on that are intriguing and we're going to get into them in this program today. We're going to get into a lot of things, including what happens Saturday night in Milwaukee. Now, let's start with the AL West and Wild Card because right now that is the most interesting of all the races. They're kind of both connected and we have three teams in those races, the Mariners, the Astros, and the Rangers. And if you heard Brewers manager Pat Murphy after the Brewers clinched their postseason birth, he talked about the Pakoda projection system, and he talked about how the Brewers were projected by Pakoda to win only eighty point two games this year. Obviously they've done much better than that, but the projection Systems actually got the Al West right, and the projection system said at the start of the season that the Mariners, Astros and Rangers would really be close the whole season. I remember Mike Petriello of MLB dot Com writing a whole story about this, and while it hasn't been the exact path that we might have thought, here we are with those three teams really close to each other. Now this week is going to be huge. The Mariners have taken sole possession of the division lead for the first time since June first, Wow, three months and now with nine straight wins, a huge week lies ahead because the Astros, the team that's been in first place for most of the season. Their next six games are at home against the Rangers and the Mariners. Now, the Astros they led the division by six games on July twenty third, even with all their injuries eighteen players on the injured list at one point, including I believe it was twelve starting pitchers at the time. They still have fourteen players on the il, including Josh Hader. So it's been that kind of year for the Astros, and yet they've held on. They held on without Jurdan Alvarez for a while without Jeremy.

00:02:22
Speaker 2: Panna, They've had all kinds of things happen.

00:02:25
Speaker 1: And yet since July twenty third, they're twenty one and twenty six. There are bottom six offense in the major leagues. That surprising to me. The Astros are a bottom six offense and they really haven't been that much better since getting Correa, Arias and Sanchez at the deadline and then getting Alvarez back.

00:02:45
Speaker 2: You see the standings right there.

00:02:46
Speaker 1: This is the Al West and the Mariners obviously up by a game on the Astros, up three.

00:02:52
Speaker 2: Game on the Rangers, three games on the Rangers.

00:02:55
Speaker 1: The Rangers, to me, are the most fascinating team of all. For five months, they drove their front office crazy, they drove their fans crazy. They underachieved. Only after injuries to Corey Seger, Marcus Simeon, Nathan Evoldi, and a bunch of others did they finally start to snap out of it. And they finally started to snap out of it with the players that they're TV analyst David Murphy dubbed the little rascals.

00:03:22
Speaker 2: Who am I talking about?

00:03:23
Speaker 1: Cody Freeman, Michael Hellman, Dustin Harris, who has now been demoted Alejandro Asunya. These guys, many casual fans have never heard of them. They've given the Rangers energy and the Rangers are in a great spot here. Well, still an uphill fight, but in a great spot considering where they were. Adolice Garcia came back yesterday, he too was injured, and Corey Seeger is expected back from his appendicitis or his appendix removal, probably the end of this week. So the Rangers are in an interesting spot here. And let's not forget the Guardians either. The Guardians in this wildcard race here they are they're only two and a half out. You see the Rangers, they're two out in the wildcard standings. The Guardians are two and a half out.

00:04:07
Speaker 2: Now, with this.

00:04:09
Speaker 1: Late stage of the season, with so few games remaining, two and two and a half is a significant deficit. It's hard to make it up. Kind of have to win every day. But we'll see what happens here because it's been unpredictable. And the Guardians they've won nine of ten. They two are a depleted team in many ways. Remember they've lost Luis Ortiz and a Manuel class A because of the gambling investigation, and yet they're starting pitching of late has been brilliant. They're reliever Kate Smith, who is one of the more underappreciated relievers in the game. He's got saves in seven straight appearances. They've been really good. So the Guardians, I wouldn't say they have a great chance.

00:04:49
Speaker 2: I wouldn't even say they have a good chance, but they're there.

00:04:52
Speaker 1: They're playing meaningful games on September fifteenth, And what I always say to fans is that really is the baseline of what you can ask of your favorite team. If they're doing that, you've had a fun season. As maddening as some of these seasons can be. Now, let's turn to the National League Wildcard because this one, this one is something that none of us saw coming. The Mets finally ended their eight game losing streak on Sunday. Both San Francisco and Cincinnati also lost, so they didn't actually lost ground in this particular situation, so the Mets maybe have a little bit of breathing room. They're game and a half over the Giants right now in the wildcard standings, two games over the Diamondbacks, who suddenly have slipped into this equation, and the Reds are now two and a half back. The Mets hold a tiebreaker over the Giants, not the Reds. The one with the Diamondbacks would be decided by intra division record.

00:05:46
Speaker 2: It's complicated. Let's not even go there.

00:05:49
Speaker 1: But the Mets are still tied for the third worst winning percentage in the Majors since June twelfth, third worst tied for the work. It's amazing what has happened here, and we're gonna get into it more a little bit later in the inside dish.

00:06:07
Speaker 2: Obviously, they were forty five.

00:06:08
Speaker 1: And twenty four at one point. Their starting pitching at that point was the best in the majors. It has since fallen apart. We've seen them use their rookies and actually to pretty good effect. Jonah Thong, I know, struggled Friday night, but sprot and McLain were really good this weekend. The Mets are gonna.

00:06:24
Speaker 2: Ride those guys.

00:06:25
Speaker 1: Sean Maniya is now in the bullpen. But as I said on Fox on our broadcast Saturday, if the Mets cannot make a twelve team playoff with a three hundred and forty million dollars payroll, it's gonna go down as one of the biggest flops in major League history. Now they should get in. Still, I believe they've got the kid pitchers, David Peterson as well. It's not great, but it's good enough. But what's incredible to me is that it's even gotten to this point. Let's look at the teams, or talk about the teams that are chasing the Mets.

00:07:02
Speaker 2: The Giants, a team.

00:07:04
Speaker 1: That's sold at the deadline, a team that sold, in fact, a relief pitcher to the Mets, Tyler Rodgers. The Giants, a team that about two weeks ago people were talking about their manager, Bob Melvin not coming back. The Diamondbacks, this is a team that also sold to the deadline. Let's not forget Ajohano Suarez, Merril, Kelly, Josh Naylor, Randall, gritchik All gone, Shelby Miller two, he's now hurt. They sold in a big way. They're still in contention. And then the Reds, who have kind of sputtered along all year. They're two and a half back. Now they're blow five hundred. These teams are all hovering around five hundred. Nothing great on any of them, but they're in these they're in this race as well. And all three of these teams as I mentioned, have at least some degree of hope. Now the Mets have a somewhat difficult schedule, remaining homestand continues against the Padres, who are starting to play a little bit better, or again albeit against the Rockies and the Nationals, and then they're on the road against the Cubs, who I guess would have clinched by the time this series takes place. Clinched a playoff spot, I should say. And then they complete the season with Miami the Giants. They're at Arizona this week. That's a big series. Suddenly they've got the Dodgers in LA for four. That's going to be a big series. They just play the Dodgers and lost two of three, and then they're home against the Cardinals and Rocky So if they can hang in, they end with a fairly easy schedule. The Cardinals, by the way, they're only four out in the wild card Stanleys and they've had not a great season. Then there are the Diamondbacks. They host the Giants and Phillies, and then they play the Dodgers and they're at San Diego.

00:08:42
Speaker 2: They've got a really difficult schedule, and.

00:08:45
Speaker 1: Then Cincinnati at Saint Louis home against the Cubs home against the Pirates at Milwaukee, which will be lining up its playoff rotation.

00:08:52
Speaker 2: So there you have it. That's the NL race.

00:08:55
Speaker 1: And again, it shouldn't have ever come to this, but here we are, and I would expect again the Mets have enough of a cushion, even though it's not much of a cushion, but enough of a cushion to hold on here. All they have to do is hit. Yes, they're pitching is problematic. We all know that at this point they just haven't hit in the way that you would expect from a team with Peter Alonzo and Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimo, all of these superstar types. Nimo less of a superstar, but a guy who's highly paid for sure, and for whatever reason, they have not fired. So all right, that is it for the Pennant Races. Now, finally, before we go into our next segment, the Inside Dish, I want to talk about what happens Saturday night when I accidentally bowled over Scott ballas Paulus, the Brewer's team photographer, while I was getting out of the way of the Brewers dumping water on Andrew Monasterium. Now, the ever observant AJ Prazinski joked afterward that I looked like Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston. Now, Aj, of course, is more experienced in these kinds of interactions than I am, and I must admit though, when I looked at the video when I saw this, I was surprised at how upset I appeared. I was more confused than anything. Now I had to continue the interview. We were live folks on national television.

00:10:22
Speaker 2: Couldn't stop.

00:10:23
Speaker 1: And that said, I felt awful about what happened, And afterward I went up to Scott, who I've worked with in Pitts before over the years, and I apologize, and I apologize profusely, because let's face it, I don't think that you ever expect knocking someone down is going to.

00:10:39
Speaker 2: Happen in any particular situation. So yeah, sure, I apologized.

00:10:44
Speaker 1: And Fox is doing the American League playoffs this year, so I won't see the Brewers again unless it's the World Series. But if I do see the Brewers in the World Series, I look forward to working with Scott again in the photo pit, and I also look forward to sharing a good laugh with him over this, Okay, The Inside Dish is next.

00:11:02
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00:11:03
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00:11:35
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00:12:26
Speaker 1: All right, Time out for the inside Dish, the part of the show where I talk about a story I've written, something going on in the game, or something else entirely. And I guess today I would classify classify this one as talking about something going on in the game and something I've written, something that's always been interesting to me. And the subject is chemistry, team chemistry. And as I wrote Friday in a column about Bryce Harper and the Phillies, chemistry can be elusive. It's difficult to capture, it's difficult to define, but it is something and I know over the years when I used to work at MLB Network, I would argue with Brian Kenny about the importance of chemistry all the time, and Brian would poo poo it. He would say, Oh, it's not as important as the numbers, as performance. But if you've ever walked into a Major league clubhouse, if you've ever covered the sport, if you've ever been around the sport in any meaningful way, and even if you're a fan watching the games, you know that chemistry does matter, and you know that teams with big stars often face a different dynamic, and occasionally it's an uncomfortable dynamic. Now, the subject of this column was Harper, and the reason I wrote it because when I went to Philadelphia last week a couple of people mentioned to me, a few people mentioned to me actually that they were worried or just thinking that maybe Bryce Harper was kind of put off or out of sorts a little bit, that Kyle Schwarber was getting all the attention because Kyle Schwarber fifty home run season, a magical campaign in his free agent year, and that struck me as a little bit odd, but I sort of understood too. Bryce Harper been on the cover of Sports Illustrated from the time he was sixteen years old. That was the first time he was on the cover, and he's been the center of attention ever since then. He's a two time MVP, he was the MVP of the twenty twenty two NLCS. He is the Alpha of alphas. So when I heard these people talking about that, they thought maybe Bryce was in a little bit of a funk because of it. I'm not making any of this up. This is people telling me stuff. So I go up to Bryce, who's always open to questions, and I said, Hey, anything going on?

00:14:41
Speaker 2: Here? Are the Phillies in your mind?

00:14:44
Speaker 1: Still your team? And does it matter if they're still your team? And the answer he gave was enlightening. At first, he left, he thought the question. He didn't think it was offensive or anything like that. He just thought it was kind of funny. And here is what he said. Because what he said again and was revealing, at least in terms of his mindset relative to Kyle schwarpr I cut the quote down a little bit from the one I use in the column, but this is it. I think it's everybody's team in here. Kyle is obviously having an incredible year in a contract year as well, He's going to have that hype around him. I've never been that type of guy where I wanted it to be my team or someone else's team.

00:15:24
Speaker 2: Our main goal is winning.

00:15:26
Speaker 1: That's everybody's mindset.

00:15:28
Speaker 2: Now.

00:15:29
Speaker 1: I don't know that you can answer that question much better than that. It's practically a perfect answer, right But at the same time, just wonder how these things.

00:15:39
Speaker 2: Play out now.

00:15:39
Speaker 1: Right now, the Phillies confidence is rather striking.

00:15:43
Speaker 2: Being around them, you could feel it.

00:15:45
Speaker 1: This was, of course, in the middle of their sweep of the Mets, which was a great series for them. But even without Zach Wheeler who's out for this season, even without Trey Turner and Alec Bohm who are coming back but still injured, right now, they have this vibe I've been feeling about them. Other teams have it too right now. I would say the Blue Jays have that kind of feeling. They've been really a great team all season long, most comebacks in the major leagues, and you sense a togetherness there. I think you sense it with the Mariners too, to some extent. And I'm sure I'm missing teams, but when you see it and you know it when you don't, and that brings me to the Mets.

00:16:23
Speaker 2: Now.

00:16:24
Speaker 1: Maybe the Mets finally snapped out of it yesterday. And let's be clear, as I wrote, the biggest problem with the Mets by far it's not even close, is starting pitching. What I said in the first segment rings true. They were forty five and twenty four with the best rotation in the majors as of June twelfth. It crumbled from their injuries and effectiveness. All kinds of things happened, and this is why they are now where they are kind of holding on for dear life in the National League wildcard race.

00:16:54
Speaker 2: So that's the main thing.

00:16:56
Speaker 1: But as I also wrote, something seems with them now. I don't know exactly what it is. If anything, the Mets big stars, Lindora, Alonso, Sodo, they're viewed by the team by their own people, club officials, teammates, etc. All good people, all good guys. No one says this guy's a jerk, that guy's that.

00:17:20
Speaker 2: Or anything like that.

00:17:21
Speaker 1: But is it all meshing together perfectly? I would suggest that the evidence says no. Now, the easy target here is Sodo. He's the seven hundred and sixty five million dollar edition, he's the new guy, all of that. But he sure seemed to fit in well with the Yankees last season, and my goodness, he's having a season that is right up there with his best.

00:17:43
Speaker 2: And that's saying something because this is Wan Soda. We're talking about.

00:17:47
Speaker 1: Forty homers, thirty two stolen bases, nine to twenty one ops right there in the top ten, as he always has been and or is he often has been the last two months since August first, he's been absolutely brilliant. So if you want to say the problem is Soto, if indeed there's a problem, I would push back on that.

00:18:08
Speaker 2: But is it possible that some stuff.

00:18:11
Speaker 1: Is going on here now? Only the Mets truly.

00:18:13
Speaker 2: Know what is going on in their clubhouse.

00:18:16
Speaker 1: If there is indetention or jealousy or even friction, he can't say for sure. But these guys are who they are. This is what I want to stress here. They're who they are because they have massive egos and I'm not saying that in a bad way. They have an incredible belief in their abilities. They're all alphas, and when you put these kinds of players in a room together, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It can be disruptive when you have big time players who maybe get along but just have.

00:18:50
Speaker 2: A wariness about each other.

00:18:52
Speaker 1: Again, hard to define, hard to capture, hard to even talk about because you don't know if it's there. But it has just been striking with the Mets that this has been such a slide for them. And yes, the starting pitching is the main culprit, but you just wonder.

00:19:09
Speaker 2: Hey, what else is up with them? So the easy.

00:19:12
Speaker 1: Answer here, the way to erase all doubts and establish good chemiratrtry.

00:19:17
Speaker 2: We know the answer is. The easy answer is to win.

00:19:22
Speaker 1: And the Mets, for all their troubles, all that has happened in the last couple of months, they are still in a position where a they can make the postseason and b they can go on a run. They're fully capable of doing that. And if they do do that, these questions, all the things that I'm talking about, all the things I'm speculating about, those questions will fade. You won't hear anything about them. You'll hear about how they came together and were always together and it was all good. But if they don't get to the playoffs, if they have what I said earlier was an incredibly disappointing season and turn out to be one of the biggest flops in Major league history, yes, those questions might only increase. All right, so much for the inside dish. We'll be back with your questions in grilling Ken after this.

00:20:10
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00:20:16
Speaker 1: I know.

00:20:16
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00:20:44
Speaker 2: Like I said, I'm gonna sell it back.

00:20:46
Speaker 3: I got twenty eight bucks instantly, so I can buy another one of those packs and try and get what I want.

00:20:52
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00:21:11
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00:21:29
Speaker 2: Gambler can the part of.

00:21:37
Speaker 1: The program where I answer your questions? Let's get right to them. First question comes from rpg Man forty five, who asks who's better right now in the AL besides the JS They can come back in any game.

00:21:53
Speaker 2: Very valid question.

00:21:54
Speaker 1: Now, jash Chishom Junior of the Yankees seem to have his own answer. This week, he said the Yankees were the best.

00:21:59
Speaker 2: Team in the US American League. But I would agree with rpg Man forty.

00:22:03
Speaker 1: Five that the Jays right now they're in great spot to finish the season with the best record in the league over the Tigers. And yes, those forty six forty five come from behind victories are quite telling, but it's more than that. It's the kind of team that they've built, not just stars, but contributing players as well. And their deadline move for Shane Bieber one that I wasn't sure about at the time, now looks like it was great. Shane Bieber has pitched wonderfully for them. He could be their Game one starter. They've got Scherzer, They've got Gossman, who is hot right now, and their bullpen which has been a problem, and Jeff Hoffmin's given up a lot of home runs. Yes, but they've pitched a little bit better of late. And this team just seems to have what I was talking about with the Phillies earlier, this quality about them, and it's a really good quality Springer comeback Player of the year I think almost for certain. Obviously, they need both Rochette back for the playoffs doing with lad Does I love the Blue.

00:23:02
Speaker 2: Jays right now?

00:23:03
Speaker 1: And all that criticism I had of them really for I guess a couple of years when I would call them the paper Tigers and question whether they had the chemistry to be a better team to play to their talent level, those questions for me have faded now. The playoffs were another thing, of course, and that wouldn't be nice to see them win a series finally. But yes, they've had amazing and amazing regular season, a magnificent regular season, and I would say, despite what Jazz Chisholm might think, they're the best team in the American League right now. Let's go to the next question. This one comes from Henry who asks what is the key for the Mariners to make the World Series? And that's a big question, Henry, because the Mariners were in that incredible slide on that road trip to the East a little bit ago, and now they've won nine straight and they're like so many teams right now, you don't know exactly what to make of them.

00:23:58
Speaker 2: They're obviously good, and.

00:24:00
Speaker 1: The deadline moves to get Suarez and Naylor clearly helped them. They are a team too that has a little bit of magic going right now. The walk offs last week with Mitch Garver and Henry Ford, the rookie, all of these things are good. They're starting pitching has not been quite at the level where it's been in the past, and that's kind of a concern here. Brian wu is a guy who is going to get some cy young down down boot votes. He's had a brilliant season. Castillo better in his last start, but he's been inconsistent. You've got Logan Gilbert Kirby was really good his last start.

00:24:34
Speaker 2: They're fine. Obviously they're really good.

00:24:37
Speaker 1: And if these guys get hot, that's the key to them getting to the World Series. I still don't love their offense. It's not what I would call an explosive offense. Oh and I forgot to mention that guy with the fifty four home runs, Kyle Raleigh. But because of Raleigh, in large part, the offense is good enough. And Raleigh, my goodness, the fact that he's tied Mickey Mantle for most home runs by a switch hitter is an achievement that I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around.

00:25:03
Speaker 2: But for them to get.

00:25:04
Speaker 1: To the World Series, I would say it really.

00:25:06
Speaker 2: Keys on their starting pitching. All right, let's get to the next one.

00:25:11
Speaker 1: This next question comes from George, who asks what is Kyle Schwarber's per year value going to look like in free agency? George, great question, and I would say it starts with the three. It's at least thirty million dollars a year. I would not be surprised if it reached thirty five million per year, and I would not be surprised if it went four years. Now where do I expect him to be? I expect him to be a Philly, but what the price is going to be, That much remains to be seen. That's said, Kyle Schwarber pretty much is going to get a lot of buddy and because of his leadership qualities as well as his slugging, he's gonna deserve it all right, Thanks and we will be joining Thursday Live with a lot of Rivo our usual Thursday show, twelve thirty Eastern. Have a great week everyone, stay with us. Foto