ABS Challenges approved for ’26, Padres clinch, Key Previews: Tigers-Guards, Mets-Cubs, Pirates-Reds

00:00:00
Speaker 1: A lot of complaints from fans yesterday just due to the fact that there were barely any games last night. I know, I'm aware they mostly left Monday open for potential rain out situations to reschedule them for last night because aja they had to do that last year when the Mets and Braves had Oh wait, they didn't do that last year. Remember they could have done it earlier in the week and they didn't.

00:00:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, but here's the thing. They're going to give them Monday or Thursday off. Would you rather have Monday off or Thursday off for most teams?

00:00:33
Speaker 1: You tell me, if you were playing, what would you want.

00:00:36
Speaker 2: I mean, it doesn't matter to me, But I mean, either way, you're going to complain about Monday or Thursday. Even also, they went with Monday. That was the last six games are protected.

00:00:44
Speaker 1: And you can't really split it, right, because then you'd create problems if you're trying to do a rain makeup where both teams are going somewhere. Right, I mean, there weren't no games, there were still six teams that could have been in trouble. Right, For example, if the Raves needed to make up a game in Atlanta because they were in a Pennant Race and there was some rain out situation. Let's say they had to play the Mets. AJ wouldn't have happened. They had a game yesterday, So.

00:01:12
Speaker 2: That's applied to some chance. They took a chance and they worked out.

00:01:18
Speaker 1: It just kind of sucks when it's the last week of the season and it's so so light. I just wish there was a different way. That's all just a friendly complain.

00:01:26
Speaker 2: Everyone wanted more off days, they got more off days, and now they complain about the off days.

00:01:30
Speaker 1: Well, who wants more off days?

00:01:31
Speaker 3: The players, players, right.

00:01:34
Speaker 1: The fans don't want more off days. They want less off days. They want games every day.

00:01:40
Speaker 3: Yes, yes they do, especially this time of year. Everybody's like there's no game one I want to see a game exactly.

00:01:48
Speaker 1: It's last week of the season. I mean, we have some playoff worthy matchups that are starting tonight. Before we get to that. Just a shout out to people like Sammy Michael John all recent foul territoryshop dot com purchasers. You can get a lovely collared shirt like Kratz is rocking. The original ft T shirt is still there for you, which I am wearing today. Every team show has a store as well, so you can check that out. And the variety is extensive compared to what it was four six months ago, so go check it out. There are things that you never even maybe dreamed of, and all of a sudden you can get them. So Foul Territory Shop dot com appreciate the notes too. You can send a note when you buy an item. We've had some really nice notes come our way, you know, the I watch all the time, keep the show run and keep up the good work kind of stuff coming in, so we appreciate that from everyone. I had one saved, but I have way too many notes from today so I can't find it. But thank you to everyone that's been hitting upfowl Territory shop dot com. A lot of work behind the scenes was put together. Oh John John said, you guys, keep up at work. I bought a lightweight hooddie. Thank you, and now let's talk ball.

00:03:08
Speaker 2: Charge about.

00:03:11
Speaker 1: That was fun. We did actually have a really good game last night AJ the Padres with a walkoff win in the bottom of the eleventh. Being that the other two games didn't matter, I mostly just watched this one and it was great. The Padres like to keep things exciting for their fans this year, and they do so, even down to the buzzer of when they clinched this scenario against a Brewers team that was putting up a fight. So what do you think about the Padres making it to the postseason for the fourth time in the past six years after not being that kind of team for a long period of time.

00:03:44
Speaker 2: Good for them. Listen, this is a team that has been there. They've done it. They know how they win in the postseason. They've made their run. They haven't gotten to the final hurdle. They haven't been in the World Series in a while, but they made some runs. They've beaten They beat the Dodgers not long ago. So this is a team that can make a run. If Pavetta pitches, well you Darvis pitch as well, Dylan Seize figures it out in the postseason, and we all know about their stack bullpen. So congratulations to the Padres and Mike Shild and aj Preller and everyone out there, because they do have some of the best fans in the game. They show up every game and it was an awesome scene last night, So good for them. Now let's see if they can do some with it. Because they're more than likely going to have to travel to Wrigley Field. It's gonna be a little chilly there. Can they win two out of three against the Cubs and then go play possibly the Brewers.

00:04:31
Speaker 3: It's good, good playoff matchup. I mean, I think they're better than the Cubs. Can they score enough runs? Can the Cubs score enough runs? You know, last night they got a home run from Jose Galasias. I don't think you're gonna be seeing a lot of homers in the playoffs from Jose Galasias. But they are a team that needs to scrap and claw. They're not going to strike out that much. Freddy Peralta didn't have any strikeouts. He was only going like seventy five pitches. So to me, I think it's something that if Pavetta gives you five in Game one, which Mike Schiltz said most likely he's lining up for Game one, I think they I think they end up taking the series. If they can't. If your starter can't get you deep enough, they're gonna have a tough time scoring enough runs. Just they have to score more runs.

00:05:23
Speaker 1: How about on the road, So aj the Padres are forty eight and twenty eight at home. They had their sixty seventh sellout last night. It's playoff vibes every night there. They're thirty eight and forty three away from home. The Cubs are forty six and twenty nine at home, forty two and thirty nine on the road. These two teams are likely to match up in the Wildcard round, like you mentioned, and guess where all two or three of the games are going to be played.

00:05:49
Speaker 2: They're gonna be in really yeah, So listen, it could be an advantage for the Padres. Actually, if the wind's blowing in and the Cubs, who are built more on power, they can't hit their home runs. The Padres has done with less power the entire year, so maybe it's in advantage for him. It's gonna be chilly more than likely in Chicago, we'll see, I mean, listen. Homefield advantage means almost nothing sometimes in the postseason. Sometimes it means a lot. Sometimes it doesn't. Was the twenty nineteen World Series where the road team won every game, so and then you could go back some years in eighty seven to ninety one where the Twins won all their home games in the postseason and one World Series. So sometimes it means some, sometimes it doesn't.

00:06:25
Speaker 3: I know this.

00:06:26
Speaker 2: I like to be in the road team a lot of times because if you score early, it puts so much pressure on the home team.

00:06:31
Speaker 1: Ft fam, it's still time for you to check out what bathing suit you're wearing and why it's not Fair Harbor. Can we get a little show and tell from aeric krats nice?

00:06:44
Speaker 3: I mean, unfortunately you can't even see all the little intricacies. We got sharks, we got patterns, we got waves, we got sailboats. Oh, and they feel super buttery on your skin.

00:06:58
Speaker 1: Can you show us to the liner so people can understan and how it's different, because I've actually been talking it up. I was different vacation.

00:07:05
Speaker 3: I got the Unique Liner two, I got the I got the baby Blue John something about it. I don't know it like it pops.

00:07:12
Speaker 1: Head to Fairharbor Clothing dot com slash foul twenty and use code foul twenty foul two zero for twenty percent off your order. Once again, that's fair h A R. B O R Clothing dot com backslash foul twenty for twenty percent off. Make sure you use that promo code foul twenty so they know ft sent you and hey, you got to jump this team early because most likely you're going to get the fearsome. Forsome used to be five now four that are going to get rolled out right Morey Holan's been sick this year and the least talked about of the group. Estrada's in there. And then of course you've got the new edition Mason Miller and Robert Suarez to lock things down. Kratz. That's as good as it gets bullpen wise. If they're going to win games. I mean, they might win some lower scoring games, and they're capable of doing that if the starters can get them through a little bit early on. It was cool also that the walk off hit yesterday occurs from one of their trade deadline pickups and Freddy for me and I watched a good chunk of the celebration. Couple things that stood out. One Manny Machado's shirtless running with different alcohol. He was passed around tequila. I was like, I don't know if the sponsors are gonna like that. I saw a lot of tequila, certain tequila.

00:08:25
Speaker 3: Brand getting probably doesn't. Oh, he definitely doesn'tee with a unique bottle. I would forget what my kind's called but.

00:08:32
Speaker 1: Class a a zool. Yeah, I don't think they're a sponsor. And if Manny got a call, he'd be like, cool, I've given you fifteen years my career. I don't give a crap. And also they were yelling for aj Preller, you know, because think about it, there's so many players on that team that wouldn't be there if aj Preller weren't a psychopath at the trade deadline and loves to make deals like that, all.

00:08:58
Speaker 3: Right, but he made deals for guys who have who have? Who have? You know, they're they're controllable. It's not like like everybody's gonna look at this lineup and they're gonna say wow, you know, look at all the money and they spend on their lineup in free agency trade deadline, you're talking about being a psycho. At the trade deadline, most fans are like, we gotta go get the best available free agent, whoever, whoever that is, you know, whoever's gonna become a free agent. Look at this list. Mason Miller controllable for three years. JP Sears still has control. Ryan O'Hearn is going to be a free agent. Uh Leriano has been one of the best pickups of all these guys, Nestor Cortez. I think it's a free agent unless he has one more year for me, and I think it's for four or five more years. And I'm not sure about Will Wagner. Like they like teams that are like, hey, we'll just get a bunch of guys. They got a bunch of guys, but they got a bunch of good players too, and just decimated their farm system to do exactly what they did last night, pop bottles.

00:09:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, Loriano's a free agent the end of the year.

00:10:00
Speaker 1: No, he's got one more Oh he does, he's got an option. Yeah, and I think they're gonna pick it up.

00:10:04
Speaker 2: Okay, well then, but uh, their closer is a free agent at the end.

00:10:09
Speaker 3: Of the year.

00:10:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's gonna opt out.

00:10:10
Speaker 2: Suarez is gonna be more likely gone. That's why they went out and got Mason Miller. Dylan Seize is a free agent at the end of the year. So Michael King is a free agent at the end of the year. So they have they have a lot of holes they still have to fill. Yeah, they did a nice job of the trade deadline, but they went and got Mason Miller in case, he either starts or can close for him next year. JP Series is an option for him next year. Nestor's gone, Loreano's I don't know what they'll do with him, or Hearn's probably gone. So they do have some holes they have to fill. That's that's why the trade Dylan was important. He went out and got controllable. Yeah, they gave up a lot, but they're trying to set this up for the long term. This is the best run in Padre's history.

00:10:46
Speaker 1: Yeahlexwirez is a good example. His contract is unique. He can opt out or take eight million dollars for twenty six and eight million for twenty seven, so either option for two sixteen or opts out. He's obviously opting out from that. So they're well aware they're stacked with bullpen arms. I mean, this was five with Jason Adam, who I think is still under control for maybe one or two more seasons, although I don't know what his timetable is. But anyway, it's a special group. It was a really special trade deadline, and for some teams the trade deadline did not work out. I think it's safe to save for the Padres, the trade deadline did work out. So we'll see what happens with them. Let's talk Braves for two minutes. They had a game yesterday. Osi Albees fractured his left hamlet bone. That is not good. He fractured that left wrist in twenty twenty four and then some people think that's why he had a really really slow start. So now again he's going to be coming off a major injury for twenty twenty six. And this is why. I mean, the team didn't say this even before the injury, but you don't talk about an option until you get to the offseason. So there is a chance that the Braves move on. I doubt it, given how much of a bargain he's been. I think there's multiple years left, but that sucks. Speak of the year. It's like garbage time. And I mean, I think he would be back for spring training.

00:12:05
Speaker 2: But it's a tough It's a month. It's a month I had this. It's a month like this is not a major injury, yep, this is I have the scar I had it happen. It's a month. You're you can be back in less than that, but why rush it. It's a month to six weeks of just you really do nothing. They cut it out and then it's just healing the scar and there's nothing more to it. It's not a it's not a when Mark Bowman, who should know better, rights that this is a major injury, it's not a major injury.

00:12:30
Speaker 3: This is a.

00:12:31
Speaker 2: Month at most, and it happened in the last week of this season, so this should not affect them picking up his option. That was That was not a good tweet.

00:12:38
Speaker 3: And the only thing that sucks is Albie's was going to play one hundred and sixty two games. He's I don't think he's ever done that in his career. I'd have to look it up. I didn't look it up before this, but he was on pace. He had played every game so far. And you know those braves, dudes, they they all want to play out play there every single day.

00:12:58
Speaker 1: Big stake celebration for Patrick Zelepsky and friends. He is officially the owner of the race. The formal closing of the sale expected to be completed later this week. The other owners approved it unanimously. They approved literally everything unan. Miss Lee and Stu Sternberg was back Bay the other day. Aja and his last little Harah. So here we go.

00:13:19
Speaker 2: M Hm, we'll see. Congratulations Patrick been free to text me, so when we're supposed to get together was supposed to be in the next couple of days. So we'll see. But no congratulations to Patrick. Yeah, this is a big deal for Tampa. They're supposed to be keeping the team in Tampa. We'll see where they find a spot to do it. They're supposed to have public and private funding for a new stadium. Hopefully it works out. But yeah, this is great for Patrick and some other people that I know, the Rick Workman who's in this group. It's uh, it's it's pretty cool that they've they've got this done, got it out from under Sternberg. Now we'll see what they can do with it.

00:13:53
Speaker 1: If it doesn't work out, we're available, right, We're still available.

00:13:59
Speaker 2: Orlando's available, but I don't think that's going to happen.

00:14:01
Speaker 1: Okay, what's going to change.

00:14:05
Speaker 3: The previous contract is now Nolan void the Saint Pete whatever they were going to do with the whole like all the living area and everything around where the stadium is now that's all because it's a new owner.

00:14:19
Speaker 1: Well, that deal got broken anyway, then.

00:14:21
Speaker 2: The race couldn't pull up their end of the bargain. That was a long time ago.

00:14:25
Speaker 3: Oh I thought that guy. I thought it was just tabled until he could get the money, and then that's when he sold it. So it just got because Stu didn't bring up his portion of the money.

00:14:34
Speaker 2: Crats.

00:14:35
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00:14:52
Speaker 3: But you got to finish every meal with some delectable desserts too. They have those too to go along with these delicious steaks.

00:15:00
Speaker 1: M hm apple Cairomel tarts on the list, among many other menu items to check out. Be the hero that orders Omaha Steaks and is the most popular person in your household. So get fired up for fall grilling with Omaha Steaks. Visit Omaha steaks dot com for fifty percent off site wide during their red Hot Sale event, and for an extra thirty five dollars off. Yeah, thirty five bucks off. On top of that, use promo code foul at checkout. That's fifty percent off at Omaha Steaks dot com and an extra thirty five dollars off with promo code foul at checkout sea site for details. Time did some ft breaking news. We learn that MLB officially will implement a challenge system for balls and strikes in the twenty twenty six season. The league's Competition Committee voted, and it is happening. Robot umpiring begins, not with every pitch. Teams received two challenges to dispute calls by the home plate umpire, two per team. That puts a little heat on the lineup AJ So what do you think is to the right number? We knew this was going to happen, so let's go over the details.

00:16:11
Speaker 2: We knew this was gonna happen. This is like the biggest non surprise of all time. What do I think will happen? I think it'll make umpires lock in for nine innings if there's still challenges on the board. I think sometimes when you get it laid into games and the games you get out of hand, sometimes umpires open up the strike zone a little bit, try to get games moving. That'll be taken away. And I also think it's gonna be fascinating to see who's allowed to challenge and who's not. Most teams that I've talked to about it, so they don't want pitchers challenging. It's mostly catchers and hitters. But do you have your nine hole hitter challenging when it could cost Aaron Judge or Wan so Too a pitch later in the game. I don't know, it's gonna be fascinating to see, but you know it's here. It's not going anywhere, and we knew it was coming. So welcome coming from the nine hole hitter.

00:16:53
Speaker 3: You better be right. It better be an egregious, egregious mistake and not like that fifty to fifty. The reason it's a fifty two percent, I think was the challenges is because they're fifty to fifty pitches. Very few umpires are missing regularly pitches that are this far off or this far on. It's the borderline pitches, and so it's a fifty to fifty pitch. I think it's great because it eliminates those massively huge mistakes. Last night, Roberto Ortiz was calling pitches that were let or high, and the strike zone is below that. I think it's gonna be interesting to see how it goes. But something AJ brought up was the length of game. Umpires start to kind of stretch it a little bit. Okay, I get it. You know we got to move, We got to keep the game moving a little bit. It's an eight run game. Is it going to lengthen those games? Are we going to have more offense? Because the balls now on the plate, we'll see.

00:17:58
Speaker 1: I think that they should call it the end Hernandez Abs Challenge system. It's probably gonna have a sponsor or something to it. But I'll always remember Angel calling out, why att Langford on three pitches in another planet? And that's not going to happen anymore. You challenge that. But for me, Aja, when you have just two challenges, it does put heat on you early on in the game. You better be right, and you mentioned the stars. Let's flip it. What if you are Juan Soto and you take a lot of really close pitches and you're up for your second AB middle of the game and you say challenge, you're wrong because it was a borderline pitch and you were off, and then later in the game you don't have that to use do you think that there will be some pissed off teammates? And I'm just using Sodo as an example, but this could happen with anyone in the league, right if there was a challenge blown earlier on in a game where a player felt like it was definitely his side and it wasn't, and then they're aud of challenges at a time when they really need one.

00:18:57
Speaker 2: That's why the strategy those whole thing's gonna be fascinating. I mean, that's the whole thing of this is who's going to challenge when? And who's going to be really good at and who isn't And we'll see after a few months who should be and coaches and managers will make adjustments and then they'll go from there. But yeah, that's the whole thing, is the strategy of who and Wayne gets a challenge because if you miss, you can screw your teammates.

00:19:18
Speaker 1: And we know that front offices love to make everything into an advanced stat and a number and a probability. So Kratz, do you think there will actually be a strategy implemented by teams like will a front office sit down with the coaching staff? Then coaching staff sit down with players and say hey, this is how it's going to work on our team. These are the scenarios where you have to look out. Of course, again, like you mentioned, there might be one where it's so obvious the entire world except for the person behind on plate, knows it. But in many other cases, I think players are going to be looking to leadership for when they are comfortable to make the challenge.

00:19:53
Speaker 3: I mean players should have the confidence that they know the strike zone, catchers, hitters, pitchers they just need to stay out of this one hundred percent. Pitchers stay out of it. But they have to have that confidence. But you gain that confidence because the front office is like, go for it. I'm guaranteeing you. Just from talking to the people with the rays, They're saying, hey, you know what, let's test the limits on this. Let's see let's let's learn it, let's try to see what we can do early in the season, spring training, all that stuff with this, because they're not afraid of making mistakes. If your front office and your coaching staff comes to the players and goes, hey, everybody but Aaron Judge and Ben Rice, who you know, Cody Bellinger, the three four five guys in our lineup. Don't don't challenge, don't challenge anything. Then you're gonna be like up there, like, well, I think it's a ball, but I don't want to get in trouble. So it's really how I mean, it's like anything. Players, as confident as you can be, you're still looking to your coaches and your front office like, oh, you're pissed at me because I challenge that. Well, I thought it was a ball, so that's why I challenged it.

00:21:05
Speaker 1: Jeff Passen just tweeted some big miss from last night, and he's right, and there's people in the chat talking about it too. The Padres Brewers game had plenty of pretty obvious misses, and Passing said they're typically around one thousand missed calls a week, saying that the challenge system is going to get plenty of use. We are going to have games where there's like twelve fourteen challenges because the umpire keeps missing and the teams are on the money, right, It's not gonna happen all the time. We're also gonna have games where maybe only five or six challenges get used because teams blow them early and they're wrong. But there's gonna be some games aj where a bad umpire gets exposed and that's actually going to go viral. People are gonna be like, look, they're using twelve challenges from one team.

00:21:55
Speaker 2: Nothing's going to happen, nothing's going to change. So I don't know why it's a big deal. Yeah, it'll affect the game, but it might slow it down a little bit. But it's like the umpires. I mean, it's not like the top five routed umpires get to go to the World Series every year. I mean, that's the way it was supposed to be, but it hasn't happened. So I don't know what it's gonna change other than maybe the length of the game and the challenges, and but everyone already knows what the good umpires and the bad empires are, so I don't think it's And what's the margin of error? I mean, what's the margin of error from the strike zone? If it's this far out and the umpire calls it a ball, we challenge it, right, I mean, or they said at one point it was half an inch or something, So what's what's the Because even the things in tennis that they use aren't one hundred percent accurate, So how do we know this little thing they're doing is I don't know. There's a lot of a lot of questions.

00:22:40
Speaker 1: There are some questions in the chat, so I'll dressed a couple of them right now. One is shading MLB for trying to trim down game time and then saying this is going to extend it. I'm going to go hard against that comment. They have done a really nice job trimming down game time with the pitch clock. That's dead time that pitchers taking an hour between pitches. We had plenty of offenders like that back in the day, and you'd have certain batters taking a ton of time in between pitches. To me, this is different and also from what I've seen, unless it's going to be something different, we're talking like five is seconds to get the response, So I don't think you're going to add that much time Kratz. If you get a challenge and it has to be instant, this is not replay where you look at the manager they have like fifteen seconds they got to come up with it. This is instant. And if it's not instant and from the player himself, nothing to do with the coaches, then we move on. So let's say there are ten challenges in a game, and let's just say it takes ten seconds total for the player to signal it and then the call going to the computer. That's one hundred seconds. That's not even two minutes. So if you think this is contradictory to what MLB is trying to do, you're damn wrong. It's going to be entertaining for fans. That's a two minutes I'll sign up for.

00:23:56
Speaker 3: Go to a Triple A game. There's a week left, there's half a week left. Go to a Triple A game and watch it. I went to an Iron Pigs game about two or three weeks ago, and there was three challenges. Umpire was right on one, the players were right on the other two, and there was also two where the hitter took strike three, took one step, looked in the in the dugout and the umpire and then he turned around and was like no, no, no, I want to challenge, and the umpire was like no, no, no, Like it looked like he was saying, you looked into the dugout and they gave you. So it's like umpire's discretion if you took too long, because it was kind of quick. But it wasn't as quick as the other ones, or if someone else gave you the gave you the oh go ahead challenge it it was low or it was you know, obviously in and out you can't see from the dugout. But so I saw it where you don't have They don't always get it if it's not in on time.

00:25:01
Speaker 1: Thoughts on that.

00:25:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's got to be quick. It's gotta be quick it it's gotta be quick. It's got to be it's supposed to be quick on the TV and on the scoreboard. I don't know if it's gonna effect. It's not gonna make the game that much longer. It's just gonna make people pay attention more. Like I said, I've talked umpires about this and they just say, hey, it's gonna make us walk in for nine innings. And if god forbid, a guy gets some big couple wrong early, they're gonna make it in their head and make it a little bit strange. But this is baseball in twenty twenty six. This is this is what we're throwing out there, and I hope it's for the positive. I think it will be.

00:25:33
Speaker 3: My question My question is, and obviously this is rules stuff and we'll have it ironed out, but you have it instantly on the bench. You can have it instantly. Track man has it. That's how they're getting it. You know, they have the Hawkeye system. All that stuff is instant. If you're the catcher, can you have something where bang you look at it and you're looking over with your hand up. Can they have a green light from the dugout where it's telling you, you know where the system that you have in your dugout can tell you if it was a ball or strike. I'm not I'm thinking that's probably against the rules. But is that allowed? Like or or are they going to get in trouble for doing that?

00:26:18
Speaker 1: Wait? Say that again. I was fighting with people online.

00:26:22
Speaker 3: If the pitch comes in and you're like, you know it's that fifty to fifty ball, you know it's close, the catcher basically like turns and he has his hand up. He's turning to his dugout to give the challenge. And if it's a green light and a dugout, yes, go for it. Because they have the pitch instantly. They have the pitch instantly on their own system in the dugout. Tell me.

00:26:47
Speaker 2: They don't trouble they banded it.

00:26:51
Speaker 3: You can't. You don't can't. They don't have talking about one. I'm not talking about on the camera. I'm talking about in their own your own track man system. It populates if you're watching it on the iPad. I get it. The iPads now don't have that. Is that using too much technology?

00:27:07
Speaker 1: No, you don't have that right now?

00:27:09
Speaker 3: Have that?

00:27:09
Speaker 1: They can't do that right now. They're not going to add that.

00:27:13
Speaker 3: The teams have it, just not in the dugout. Could you have a system where would that break the rules?

00:27:19
Speaker 1: Yes?

00:27:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, they don't have that though.

00:27:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, they're not doing You're not gonna be allowed to have that. Also, if you even see a catcher go like that. This is where the umpire's job is going to expanse. If you're an ump aja and you see a catcher catch a ball and get a little pissed and go like this, you're gonna be like, Nope, can't challenge it. You looked over to your dugout, right, I think that's part of it. You have to be the one to make the call. The coaches are not involved with it.

00:27:42
Speaker 2: They don't have track man in their dugout. They can't have like they don't have instantaneous information. That was the whole Astros red sox iphoned, I watch Bang the trash can all that stuff. That That was what they eliminated.

00:27:55
Speaker 1: A good question by uh one of our director, Jeremy bind the scenes said, can a dugout whistle or do something?

00:28:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, but how do they know for sure?

00:28:04
Speaker 1: They don't? You're right, I mean, what's the vantage point in the dugout?

00:28:07
Speaker 2: But if they want to be wrong, then they've done. Everyone blames that whoever whistle.

00:28:10
Speaker 1: Don't you think the catcher has a better vantage point than anyone in the dugout? Anyway? Always you would think, yeah, okay, So.

00:28:16
Speaker 2: I think it's going to be to have the best vantage points.

00:28:19
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be fascinating. Sorry, I'm just getting into it online with people that are now trying to take the game back and say if they don't like the pitch clock, they probably don't like instant replay. I mean, let's just strip everything and have eight hour games again, because I called games during that time period in a normal game would be ninety hours. Ft fan Superpower believes that every human has one hundred year potential and they're going to help you get there. I like the sweatshirt, Aer Kratz, and I also love the way that Superpower takes care of its members.

00:28:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, you go get your lab test. You become the best you. You be a member of this group, and your test will come back. It's unlocking things that you didn't know about yourself. Off. This is stuff that players used all the time. You can do it now too.

00:29:04
Speaker 1: Exactly Kratz, how many of you have gone to a doctor's appointment you get the classic oh you're fine, or just drink more water, No real data, no real game plan. With one simple blood draw with superpower and over one hundred biomarkers, that is way more than what you'd usually get, and it unlocks so much more about your own body. Head to Superpowered dot com to learn more and lock in the special one hundred and ninety nine dollars price while it lasts. After you sign up, they'll ask you how you heard about them. Please make sure to mention the ft podcast to support the show. Your Biology Decoded, Your Blueprint Activated with Superpower Looking Ahead, I think we have to start with the Trade and Cleveland, right, Okay, because the season series is on the line too, so Cleveland, so they need to win one more and then they have the season series, which.

00:29:57
Speaker 2: Means one out of three. Then they're two down with three to play, so they have to Cleveland has to win the series at the middlem.

00:30:04
Speaker 1: But they don't have to sweep them, but.

00:30:06
Speaker 2: They have to win this. If they win two out of three, then they have they control their own destiny.

00:30:10
Speaker 1: Okay, the big one here is can Gavin Williams take down Trek Schooble If not really good man, he has been, I agree, if not. Game two features Biby and Jack Flaherty, which I think is kind of a toss of Byby's been much better again lately.

00:30:26
Speaker 2: Parker America or Messi has been really good.

00:30:29
Speaker 1: Messi has been good for Cleveland.

00:30:30
Speaker 2: Whoever for Detroit.

00:30:31
Speaker 1: Might be Kaider Montero. I think they've got the edge on that third game, right, who with Messick fornbelievable? Right?

00:30:38
Speaker 2: If Gavin Williams can can land his curveball, he's going to give the Tigers fits because they don't hit the curveball very well and his curveball is one of the best in the game. And last time they faced Schoobley, they held him. They only scored one run, but they beat it. They won the game in the long game. So can they hold the Tigers down? Because the Tiger's offense has been struggling, So can they hold him down? Get to a bull that can be got in the Tigers versus the Cleveland bullpen. The whole key is can the Guardian starters keep it close until the Guardians hoping gets into the game. That's kind of how it's how they have to win. And if you look, was the seventeenth straight games where Cleveland starters had given up two arned runs or less. It's pretty good. And they're home, and they're home, and they're giving away free tickets and they want or no fees or something. There was a whole big thing about how they're trying to get people there for their last two home stands, and good for you, Cleveland, but Cleveland, show up. Come on, Cleveland, show up for this team. Where they're at, where they've put you, I mean, come on, show up. I was there, I've been there when Jacobs Field, Progressive Field has been packed. Show up and make it fun again to go to Cleveland Baseball because they have them, And then they have Texas coming in and Texas is already out of it. So listen, you win this series, you got a great chance to go not only do the postseason, but win the division.

00:31:50
Speaker 1: How many people make the two and a half hour drive from Detroit, isn't it two and a half hours?

00:31:55
Speaker 2: Issue to to an hour?

00:31:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it should be a few. Yeah. I think it's gonna be very busy there, especially tonight, because if I'm in Detroit and I'm like, I'm gonna try and catch one game, I want to see school.

00:32:09
Speaker 3: This is a must win for the Tigers. You can't. You can't lose the Schoobale game. You can't lose. That's it. Look, if it was the third game in the series, maybe it wouldn't be as much of a must win. But they just sat through an entire off day thinking we didn't play very well. Okay, we still have a one game lead. Scooble Tonight, he might he might go all nine. Hinch might have to drag him off the mound. To me, he's that kind of guy, and that's how they win this game.

00:32:46
Speaker 1: Cards Van Cane and the Chat said, why not Detroit and Cleveland both make it and Houston misses the can't that's possible. But actually I was looking last night. I think the Astro schedule, so they're in Sacramento for three a's are good. I mean, that's not a pushover Seas. But Houston's got their big boys pitching in that one, and then they finished with three against the Angels. I mean, if you can't win four or five out of six of those last six, then you probably don't deserve to make it anyway.

00:33:12
Speaker 2: But Cleveland has the tiebreaker over Houston.

00:33:17
Speaker 1: Boston's still in play too, like we talked about.

00:33:19
Speaker 2: But Boston has the tiebreaker over Houston, I know, and I think they have it over Cleveland too. I'm not one hundred percent sure on that.

00:33:24
Speaker 1: Okay, here here's my thing.

00:33:26
Speaker 2: The other game, O, go ahead, go ahead.

00:33:32
Speaker 3: I was just gonna say, we need a cheat sheet to figure out who has the tiebreaker on who that's it all. I know have it over the Mets.

00:33:39
Speaker 1: Okay, and the Diamondbacks and that X right, all right, So what's the other one you're looking at?

00:33:44
Speaker 2: Well, here's my thing. The Reds and the Pirates play right, yep. Brady Singer has been outstanding, but the Reds have one huge advantage in this because they're checker. Who are they chasing the Mets. Basically, they start over an hour and a half of form. If they can jump on the Pirates and score some runs and get a four or five nothing eat early, and the Mets are sitting in regularly going, oh my gosh, they're winning. We have to win. Like, the pressure shifts significantly. This is where it an advantage to be on the East Coast because you can put up a number and a score, especially for like Houston. They're in Sacramento, they're already gonna know how the Guardians and Tiger before they even kick off, they're gonna be looking going, oh man, Cleveland one or Detroit one. All right, we can win and we're good, or we don't they or you know whatever.

00:34:27
Speaker 1: Oh man, but that's bad. You're saying it can be bad, yeah.

00:34:31
Speaker 2: Because you look up and you say, oh crap, they've already won. Especially if you're the Mets, you're like, oh man, the Red's already one. So basically because they're tied, but the Mets are really one game behind because of the tiebreaker, they look up and say the Mets are up four to nothing in the third inning, five nothing in third inning. We gotta win or we're two games out with five to play.

00:34:49
Speaker 1: That's tough.

00:34:50
Speaker 2: That's tough, man, knowing that you have not only they have the Cubs, and then who the Mets finished with someone else? Pretty difficult. Oh the Marlins. We're lining up the rotation him.

00:35:00
Speaker 1: So yeah, they play an hour later. It's an hour later, they'll be ahead. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati start at six point forty Eastern time. Pittsburgh does have a skeens game in this series. For Cincinnati, they gotta score runs too. Oh you know he's pitching tonight for Pittsburgh. Kratz's boy. Yea, oh Biado. He's got good numbers. He's pitched well, he's pitched well.

00:35:23
Speaker 3: He's coming back from injury. The Pirates. I'm surprised they're actually starting him. He's a starter, but the Pirates would like ease him back in the major league play and oh wait no, that's probably Chandler.

00:35:35
Speaker 1: The Pirates are so random. They either like they'll either sweep Cincinnati here or they're gonna get swept. Hey a Wikler reminder that you can get tickets for the Playmaker's Classic. It's February eighteenth, twenty twenty six, and you're like, what, that's so far away. But if you're trying to plan your spring training trip, then check out the Playmaker's Classic. We highly recommend it in downtown Phoenix. It's the fourth annual Playmakers Class they've already done for of these now run by the Players Trust, and it's the thirtieth anniversary this year of the Players Trust. So it is I think one of the premier ways to actually not just meet and greet players, but actually spend time with them throughout the evening. Many of them there really kind of just letting loose for a few hours, enjoying themselves and hanging out with the vip you fans that are there. So if you want to check it out, Players Trust dot org krats, music performances, food, drinks, games being played all night, and the players don't just show up for five minutes and leave. They're there for the entire night.

00:36:39
Speaker 3: I said it last time we talked about this. They want to be there. They understand that the money that's raised, what it's going for, and what a great cause of what all the stuff that Players Trust does. They want to be there. It's a unique environment. It's not a paid appearance type of environment, which can kind of be disingenuous. This is this is cool.

00:37:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, they'll be prizes, auctions, all kinds of things going on there, so we're looking forward to it. We'll give you more details as the off season eventually rolls on. We'll bring on some people that are going to be at the event itself. There's more details and you can slap the QR code there to check it out to see if you want to go grab tickets again. That's Players Trust dot Org. Damn, that show went fast. Let's slap and I want to shout out our friends part of the FT network. Baseball America. They threw out their big awards over the last twenty four hours. So yesterday they announced Player of the Year Connor Griffin. This is for the minor leagues in the Pirates organization. Brilliant Year, super Young, Bright Future. And then today they announced joonahtan is the picture of the Year. Life comes at you fast. Joanatongue, You're the minor league pitcher of the Year and now the Mets need you.

00:38:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, what happens. Connor Griffins got a chance to make an impact with the Pirates at some point, and Jonah Tong is already making an impact with the Mets. Just had Mendos to say how important he's been to them. So we'll see if he gets into the postseason, if he gets a chance to pitch. But it's pretty cool for both those young men, and congratulations.

00:38:24
Speaker 1: And we interviewed Connor Griffin right after the announcement was made on Hot Sheet yesterday, so let's give some love to Hot Sheet and give you a little clip from it.

00:38:33
Speaker 4: Outfield definitely comes more natural to me, but being a short, I just I just I just want to make plays, and so when those kind of in between balls are right behind me, I just I feel like I'm a center fielder again. I go back and try to track them down. But I think I think it is it's cool. It's really cool how outfield and in field kind of worked together. I feel like I feel like they stuck me a short most of the year just because, you know, kept my my footwork sharp and if I needed to go to the outfield, I could. But I think in spring training they really didn't know whether I was gonna play centerfield or sure s out there, just giving me reps at both spots. And then when the season started, they said, hey, let's sick it short and we'll let you play some centerfield if you want. But but I spent most of the year short and I loved it.

00:39:23
Speaker 1: You like the graphics, Krats, I did.

00:39:26
Speaker 3: I like that background sick A big shout out to jeriber.

00:39:31
Speaker 1: Yep producer director, behind the scenes putting Hatchet together. But it was cool to get Knor Griffin on the show. And Crats, don't worry. I stepped in to ask the classic, Hey, I did it in a unique way. But are you gonna rescue Pittsburgh and make the Pirates a playoff team again? And are you talking to Skiings? He said, Skins is keeping in touch with him, so I like that part of it, right, Paul Skins is just putting his head down and mowing down hitters for the first couple of seasons of his career to an historic pace. But if we sat down with him on on off the record conversation or had dinner with him, whatever, he would probably say what about his first couple of years? Knowing how much of a gamer he is, What do you think he would say if you were sitting down with him at dinner and like, Hey, tell me how you really feeling about being there right now?

00:40:25
Speaker 3: He's frustrated. He would explain why, he would explain why he does the scheme stare. He punches a dude out and it's maybe his fifth or sixth strikeout, and he'd be like kind of looks up. He's not looking at the radar gun, which is clearly over there. He just kind of looks up like, damn, I am good. Why can't I get players around me? So when he guys has a guy like Connor Griffin, who AJ probably remembers seeing him when he was a junior playing with a bunch of seniors when we coached the All American Game, Like you knew he had some something, but she also knew like this dude puts a lot of work in He talked about it in the interview. He put on fifteen pounds and he had the season that he had. Paul Skeins wants to bring that guy onto his boat as soon as possible. Pirates, they'll try to manipulate it however they want to say it. But this dude torched the minor leagues. And if Paul Skeins is texting him and keeping him keeping in touch. That means he knows that this dude's going to be a guy that can play behind him and maybe help him get a few more ws.

00:41:33
Speaker 1: So AJ, I'm looking at the lineup right now for Pittsburgh this year. They have one player in the Fangraft's top one hundred three hitter, Brian Reynolds, who's still below one hundred and ninety nine ops plus. I mean for him, it's more of a down year. Nobody else is in the top one hundred.

00:41:54
Speaker 2: You can't have that, can't they're pitching. We all went into the year sayd they're pitching was going to be really Jorjo was went down. Skeins has had a great hair, probably the Nlsy Young Award a winner pretty easily. Bubba Chandler hasn't got hasn't been done anything at the big league level other than come out of the bullpen. I think he started one game and Oviedo's back, but the rest of it has been kind of set and well fired. A manager trying to make different moves. But the Saint it guys, the Saint the s Ain't it pirates fans. I'm sorry, It's got to get better than this.

00:42:27
Speaker 1: Do you think Ben Charrington is back. Nobody knows because.

00:42:32
Speaker 2: I don't know what his contract status is.

00:42:36
Speaker 1: I want to say he's got a year or two left on there.

00:42:39
Speaker 2: Don't see I'm getting rid of.

00:42:41
Speaker 1: Him because he doesn't want to pay guys. Yeah, I mean most teams do that. It's rare that a GM is a lame duck. But you're saying he's not gonna do it. I know Ken was asked about this yesterday, and from what I recall I watched the show, it's a little punch drunk from a long flight. But I think he said something along the lines of Bob Nutting being too unpredictable, that it's hard for him to pinpoint what he's going to do.

00:43:06
Speaker 3: But if you do what unpredictable, you know exactly what Bob Nutting is gonna do, whatever the cheapest route is. He has not ever made a decision in since I've watched The Pirates when he has been the owner that has been anything less than about the money from cutting guys before they get their bonuses, to making sure that when a player, a historic player in the organization's contract is going to be ten million dollars, he's traded before that. Two not signing any free agency. He's very dependable. He's exactly who he always is. The money so Ben Sherdon has an extra year. Exactly what AJ said. They're not paying two guys to do one spot.

00:43:55
Speaker 1: Conflicting reports on here, but at least some of the articles I'm looking at, including one here on the CBS saying to believed he signed through twenty six or twenty seven.

00:44:07
Speaker 2: They're not going to get rid of him.

00:44:08
Speaker 1: So he's still going to run point there. Okay, but good job on Connor Griffin back to the top of the conversation. Also, happy birthday to our FT teammate Trevor May. Ken Rosenthal is joining us on tomorrow's show, So we'll check in with Ken on the races and enjoy the gamesnight because there's playoff vibes with quite a few of them, even if it's only one team fighting for their playoff lives. The Cubs are in, but the Mets are fighting. The Reds are fighting to keep that top spot against the Pirates, team that can play spoiler who else besides we've got by the way Thursday, Mike Shilt is joining us, right We're gonna talk to Shilt.

00:44:49
Speaker 2: You said he would, we'll see.

00:44:50
Speaker 1: Okay. Ryan Gowens is on the schedule for Friday, and Kratsat's at the buzzer twenty five seconds.

00:44:58
Speaker 3: Still not eliminated. Craig Mish put it down. Marlin's still in it. They're still in it. All six games to go. Just have to have a meteor hit the earth and destroy all the other teams and then the Marlins are in.

00:45:11
Speaker 1: That's dark parlay boost token, let's talk about it. If you're signed up in the bet MGM app, then you can add a little parlay wager made up entirely MLB bets to your slip, activate the token and get yourself extra winnings that your wager was made with that token and you win. Gambling problem or concerned, call one eight hundred gambler.