2 Guys Talking Baseball
Where the Players Play!
What does it take for the Chicago Cubs to turn their season around and make a serious playoff push? Join us as we dissect the bullpen's performance since June 27th and explore the team's potential to manufacture runs and convert close losses into wins. We discuss the challenges the Cubs face with stronger teams like the Mets, Braves, Padres, and Diamondbacks vying for the wild card spots and look into the team's inconsistent performance and roster uncertainties, including Jack Neely's recent debut.
Shifting gears, we celebrate the resilience of the Dodgers, who have remarkably maintained their division lead despite a slew of injuries. With standout performances from stars like Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and a resurgent Gavin Lux, the Dodgers' depth and strategic roster decisions have kept them in the hunt. From Clayton Kershaw's impressive return to the strategic considerations around Walker Buehler's role, we break down how the Dodgers are gearing up for October baseball.
Lastly, we dive into the fun and creativity of Players Weekend, from Jock Peterson's crayon bat to Jackson Merrill's lightsaber bat. We also reflect on Joey Votto's announcement to retire, celebrating his illustrious career and impact on the sport. We appreciate all our listeners' support and share exciting plans to enhance the podcast, including live shots from different ballparks and engaging classic game discussions during the offseason. Tune in for a jam-packed episode that covers everything from playoff hopes to the beloved traditions and personalities that make baseball special.
What does it take for the Chicago Cubs to turn their season around and make a serious playoff push? Join us as we dissect the bullpen's performance since June 27th and explore the team's potential to manufacture runs and convert close losses into wins. We discuss the challenges the Cubs face with stronger teams like the Mets, Braves, Padres, and Diamondbacks vying for the wild card spots and look into the team's inconsistent performance and roster uncertainties, including Jack Neely's recent debut.
Shifting gears, we celebrate the resilience of the Dodgers, who have remarkably maintained their division lead despite a slew of injuries. With standout performances from stars like Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and a resurgent Gavin Lux, the Dodgers' depth and strategic roster decisions have kept them in the hunt. From Clayton Kershaw's impressive return to the strategic considerations around Walker Buehler's role, we break down how the Dodgers are gearing up for October baseball.
Lastly, we dive into the fun and creativity of Players Weekend, from Jock Peterson's crayon bat to Jackson Merrill's lightsaber bat. We also reflect on Joey Votto's announcement to retire, celebrating his illustrious career and impact on the sport. We appreciate all our listeners' support and share exciting plans to enhance the podcast, including live shots from different ballparks and engaging classic game discussions during the offseason. Tune in for a jam-packed episode that covers everything from playoff hopes to the beloved traditions and personalities that make baseball special.
Hello everyone, welcome back inside the three crows studios in lovely Morristown, tennessee. This is two guys talking baseball. As always, I am Dallas danger, joined by my esteemed colleague and best friend in the whole world, brian Logan. Brian, you got your red red gear on the day. Easy for me to say it was a great week for baseball again.
Speaker 1:I don't even get a question out anymore. I say his name and it's like I put a nickel in him. You know you, you were saying sir, yeah, it's been, it has been a good week. Uh, we've, we've, we've got some things to talk about. Uh, we're going to focus, uh, largely on players weekend, which is like one of the coolest weekends of the year. Uh, as far as the baseball season goes, we got a lot of thoughts on some of the fun that was had over the weekend.
Speaker 1:But we've got big news right out of the gate we are finally on all your favorite podcast streaming platforms. So we're going to continue to do the video version of the show on our YouTube channel. So if you've been enjoying that, there's no reason to switch it up. But if you want to listen to us in your car, you know, if you just prefer Apple or Spotify or iHeartRadio or any of the other many options out there, you can hear us on all of those. Now, we apologize for taking so long to get on those, but as we kind of laid out I think it was last week, you know, this is a mom and pop production company. We're real shoestring and and we we're just doing the best we can and we appreciate you listening no matter, no matter where, and and brian we got was really excited to uh finish up some, you know some, renovations, so to speak, on on the website.
Speaker 2:Brian, yeah, we've got some really cool features added. Now, anywhere you listen to your podcasting, you can text message us directly. Click on the link of send us a message and it'll text us directly and we can answer your questions or just give you a shout out. Let us know that you're out there and we'll receive that on our phone. So that's a really cool added feature that I'm really looking forward to. Having everybody interact with us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it can be anything. If you just want to say hi, you know, if you want to talk about, if you see something happen in a game and you want to talk to us about it, then we'll talk to you about it. You know we love talking about baseball. Obviously, you know we wouldn't be doing this podcast if we didn't. So, uh, yeah, that's a cool feature that we found when we got back on the streaming platforms. That was not an option for us, uh, two years ago.
Speaker 2:So, uh, but, yeah, but, but the website looks really good and and uh, we, we, we've got everything you need all the information now at 2gtbcom yeah, you can go there and you can click on uh, the uh internet page icon in the big uh up in the right hand corner and that'll take you directly to the store. Also all of our social media links there and our patreon link. So if you want to go to 2gtbcom, you can literally get connected with us or anything you would need.
Speaker 1:That's two guys talking baseball, yeah that's the hub now, as it should be. But you know, again, it took us a little while to get set up and ready there. But we are and we're excited about it and making it a little easier for you to tell your friends about the show and a little easier for people to find us. Hopefully, as we go along here, a little easier for people to find us, hopefully, yeah, um, as we as we go along here and and uh, yeah, we're, we're, we're really committed to making this last long term, this go-round. You know, we, we, we, we did 11 episodes in 2022 and just sort of we just sort of quit, um, you know, there's not really a reason or an excuse to give. We just didn't continue doing it and we want to.
Speaker 1:You know, we've been talking recently off air brian and I have about the excitement of, you know, next season, because we've never done this show through an entirety of a regular season. Yeah, I can't wait, so we're looking forward to covering an entire year. We're also really kind of excited about the prospects of the offseason. We've decided after talking about it, we are going to keep this. You know, probably a weekly show during the offseason. You know, there's going to be some things to talk about, but we're also going to try to maybe watch some old games. Uh come up with some topics around the, the current events that we can kind of get out and left field a little bit, so to speak. And you know, uh still still come to you and talk baseball every week because uh, if you're anything like me, you know december, january rolls around and and you're starving for baseball content. So we don't want, we don't want you to starve, we're going to feed you year round.
Speaker 2:I'm excited about watching some of the classic games, uh, some of the series. I mean, I'm recently, uh you know, I've been watching the uh American League Championship Series from 1978 the Yankees and uh the Royals yeah, I caught a little bit of uh, what was it?
Speaker 1:Game 3 we were watching before we came up to the studio today and it's a lot of fun to go back and watch those games. I think for me the biggest thing is how jarring the difference a lot of the differences are in the game in 78 to the game now. Yeah, it's totally night and day. It is night and day and I don't want to get too far into that now because I think that's something we'll address in the off season when we we watch some of these games and and do the reviews and and all that. But we got a lot of things we're mulling around. I think today we're gonna, we're gonna shoot at least one uh new special segment for the patreon. Yes, yes, uh, I'll talk to you about that a little bit uh later on as we, as we leave you and give you all the fun uh info that we give at the end of the episode how to excuse me, how to support us, how to talk to us. But uh, yeah, so a lot of exciting things going on in, uh, the 2g tb world and the Three Crows Entertainment world.
Speaker 1:If you're into good old rock and roll, I'm actually doing a radio show Three Crows is kind of producing that as well, and it's called the Danger Zone and it's Tuesday nights at 11. Get me on social media at Dallas Danger to get all the info about where to listen there. It's totally online so it's easy to listen from anywhere. And yeah, we're doing a lot and we're really excited to be. You know, it's funny. We've talked a lot the last week or so, especially Three Crows Entertainment. When I first came on board six years ago or so, yeah, it was very much a video based company. Yeah, and now we're doing a ton of audio. Audio is kind of our wheelhouse now. We were terrible at audio back then.
Speaker 2:When we first started, the audio was like our Waterloo man. We could not get it right, so to speak. We couldn't get it synced up, right and everything. And now that's what we're doing, and we've got know, and we've, we've got it down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's gone from our waterloo to our wheelhouse yes, it really has very eloquently stated yeah, you know, every squirrel finds a nut, um, but anyways, brian, uh, with all that said, let's get into it and uh, let's talk some Cubs baseball okay, man.
Speaker 2:Uh, I mean, the Cubs are the Cubs and they're strange. It's like the wind at Wrigley it can change any minute. I mean, what was it Last week? I was saying the season's over and now we're in second place and you know, we got a shot at the wild card. Yeah, within shouting distance, within shouting distance. So if we keep it up, then we've got a shot. They say that's what they're saying on the TV. They're saying we've got a shot at it. So the pitching since June 27th in the bullpen has been really, really good and that's what it takes. That was our problem early in the season was our bullpen was letting it go. Now we still have to manufacture more runs because we're losing by one or two runs every night that we'd lose, right so? But we've traded off almost all of the pitchers. I think there's two pitchers left from opening day and it's a whole new bullpen and they're all the best bullpen in baseball right now. But we just got to manufacture more runs.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, okay. So I'm looking at the wild card standings as they sit right now while we're recording. The Cubs are five and a half out of a wild card spot. Directly in front of them are the Cardinals and the Giants. Without looking at the schedule, I imagine they'll play the Cardinals some more, being divisional rivals, and the Cardinals and Giants are not really good teams. I mean, they're not bad teams per se, but if the Cubs get a little hot, you know they're half a game behind the Cardinals, they're two games behind the Giants. That's.
Speaker 1:I can look at that and go, okay, I can believe they can leapfrog those two. Yeah. Then you've got Mets, Braves, Padres, Diamondbacks that's what we tough. And you've got Mets, Braves, Padres, Diamondbacks that's going to be tough. And you've just got to leapfrog two of those four. The Braves are reeling. They're still pretty good, Don't get me wrong. They're a good team that's just having some struggles. And the Mets, who are the Mets? You know, we don't really know. They've yet to really cement themselves as a contender, but they're right there, you know. So it's kind of like dumb and dumber. So you're saying there's a chance. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:There's a chance. I mean, this is a long shot. They were talking last night JD and Boog was talking about. You know, as long as we take two out of every three, then we're fine. Well, isn't that the whole point of the whole season?
Speaker 1:Here's the thing the best team in the league right now, which is the Dodgers, who we'll talk about at length here in a minute. Their win percentage is 594.
Speaker 1:Nobody's winning two out of every three, yeah, nobody. Like on the season nobody's winning. Two out of three, yeah, and generally there's at least a team or two that's like they're gonna win 100 games. Their winning percentage is over 600. You know, like there's just those teams just aren just don't exist right now, and that is largely the parity in the game. That is what is keeping the Cubs within shouting distance of a playoff spot right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it proves that like and I hate saying anything remotely close to this, because it's not what I believe in, it's not why I love the game of baseball but April through July, as long as you don't, as long as you're not so bad that you White Sox yourself and you're mathematically eliminated in August, you just got to keep yourself within shouting distance. And right now is when we're going to find out who's going into the playoffs. Hot, right, and if that's the Cubs, if they get hot right now, they're in. Yeah, they leapfrog those teams and they get in. I mean, it's that simple, because all those teams are playing well enough to be in contention. But aren't that good of ball clubs? Right, but with the expanded playoffs and the number of teams that get in, now we're looking at the most teams having a shot at this juncture that I think we've had in a long time, without going back and doing the research and really knowing it feels like this is still anybody's season. Yeah, and you know that includes the Cubs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's kind of exciting, but then if you watch them every day, I mean reality has to set in. I'm not I'm not, you know disenfranchised against them, I'm just being realistic. I would love to see them get on a tear and get a wild card. I just don't know if it's there. I just don't know if we have every day like we should for the rest of the season.
Speaker 1:I don't know that the pieces are quite there yet. They're not, you know. I mean there are some good pieces. I mean there's a foundation there that they're trying to build around. They're just not building around it yet.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you know, and by the time they start building around the current foundation, where is Bellinger playing Right? Where is Dansby Swanson playing? I don't remember his contract situation, you know. They just don't have a lot of guys inked up that long.
Speaker 2:No, they don't. And then Neely came in in the game. It was his debut from the trade and he did not do well. He did not do well at all. I was very disappointed in what he showed out there. I thought he would be better the way they touted him coming in. But that's you know. But that's what we've been doing all season is we've been, you know, saying one thing and then we go out and do maybe the opposite, and then we'll do the opposite of that for a while. It's just very inconsistent is the Cubs situation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, jack Neely. He's 24 years old. He's a tree, 6'8", 245.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he looks great, he looks impressive, but you, know he's.
Speaker 1:I mean, that was his first game in the majors this year. Yeah, you know he came over as a prospect, so you know what can you expect him. Came over as a prospect, so you know what can you expect him to really do Sure.
Speaker 1:Like you know, he looked nervous and he probably was Well, yeah, major league debut and a lot of pitchers, especially relievers, get roughed up the first time they come up. You know it's just part of it. So you know, maybe he takes some licks and and and becomes a valuable piece for him. You know, um, you know, drafted by the yankees he was. He was drafted in 21, so he made it to the majors pretty quickly. Yeah, all things considered, you know three years is is. Yeah, I mean, I would at least say that's average.
Speaker 1:You know that's an average path to the major leagues, at least historically. Nowadays, if you're good you can cut that in half or less, you know. Yeah, you know Paul Skeens went from a number one draft pick to starting the All-Star game in a year. So you know the path is shorter now if you have the stuff. But there are still opportunities for guys that take a few more years, a little bit longer in the minor leagues and the Cubs. You know, especially in that bullpen, like you've said, since the end of June, best bullpen ERA in the majors and that was their biggest issue, right, Most of the year.
Speaker 2:So they did fix that problem.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know. So that's good, but there's so many other issues that are popping up and it's not like they're popping up like big time. They're shoes that are popping up, and it's not like they're popping up like big time.
Speaker 1:They're just rearing their ugly head every now and then sure, which?
Speaker 2:so it's hard to. If it was whack-a-mole, it'd be hard to to get it. Yeah, yeah, you know. So that's just, that's just the nature of the game with the cubs. You know they're. They're the lovable losers and the friendly confines is friendly because it's you know, we're not usually in it. You had said something a couple of shows ago, or maybe last show, that since 2016, everybody's put more on the Cubs.
Speaker 1:Maybe we put more on the Cubs as a fandom than we should. Yeah, and I think that that's part of it, too, is the expectation is recalibrating for the Cubs, at least from the perspective of the fans, and I think that's healthy. I think that's good because this is not a team that's going to go out and spend every year. No, it's just not, and I think expecting them to is not reasonable. Yeah, because even when they were winning, they won with a boatload of homegrown talent that they weren't paying that much, that had a lot of team control. Then, as that team control dwindles down, rizzo becomes a Yankee, baez goes to the Mets, chris Bryant leaves you know, all these things happen and I don't think it's something where you can.
Speaker 1:You can't look at the timing of it and blame that on the Cubs. Yeah, because they had to make a lot of really tough decisions at the same time on guys and Chris Bryant. They made the right decision, absolutely, javi Baez. They made the right decision Right Because those guys are getting paid a lot of money to be completely fucking irrelevant right now. Yeah, javi Baez is one of the worst rated hitters in the world this year.
Speaker 2:Speaking of Javi. He did return to. Wrigley Field and they gave him a good return. They gave him a great return. Actually, it was perfect for me because we celebrated him. He was on the pregame show showing his new glove, which was awesome. It was purple and gold, but they gave him a standing ovation when he came to bat and then he struck out four times.
Speaker 1:It was perfect because he didn't hurt us. But welcome home. That's Javi Baez. You remember his time with the Cubs fondly and you look at him now and you go. How is he on a major league roster? Oh, I know, and he just swings at everything, everything, everything. You can throw it into the stands and he's going to try to get a hold of it, oh yeah. Why ever throw him anything in the strike zone?
Speaker 2:You know, the kid that that always, like the ball, would go too high and he'd throw the bat up to try to hit it.
Speaker 1:That's what I see hobby doing.
Speaker 2:You know, the bat up up in the air and I love, I love that they put el mago on his locker.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was awesome, that was, that was the. That's a cool little thing that, like you know, you've got to be a class organization to to think about, you know, and then the've got to be a class organization to think about, you know, and the Cubs are obviously a class organization, you know. Yes, definitely, and you know we've said what we've said about their front office here and that was you know. I mean, that was literally on an episode that we titled Mid-Season Frustration. I think everybody at a certain level in a long season gets those frustrations, no matter how. I mean, good Lord, look at Dodger Twitter right now. Yeah, best record in baseball. Just got all the big names back and people are still freaking out and calling for people to get fired and DFA'd and shit, and it's just, it's ridiculous.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, I feel bad for going off on Jed Hoyer like that, I'm not apologizing, I I feel bad for going off on Jed Hoyer like that. I'm not apologizing, I just feel bad for him. You know that it got out there.
Speaker 1:Well, listen he fixed the bullpen. Yeah, he did fix the bullpen, that's true. And I mean, if at the trade deadline, I had asked you what's the one thing you want the Cubs to address, you'd have probably said the bullpen, absolutely. And he did that. And they re, they retooled the whole group and and and it paid off.
Speaker 2:yeah, uh, now they just can't score runs and that's well and that's the frustration of it. If we were losing 10 to nothing, then okay. But we're losing by one run, like a lot of one to nothings or two to nothings and something like that. You know it's. It's frustrating that we can't get the runs across.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and as we talk about the parity and the number of teams that have a shot at making the playoffs and we transition into the Dodgers, you know, dave Roberts said post-game, either last night or the night before, we're in playoff mode. Yeah, he was like, I'll be honest, I'm in playoff mode already and the environments are playoff environments. We're playing really meaningful baseball all across the league. You know, in August, yeah, in the middle of August, getting towards the end of August now, and if you can't win those close games, you're hurting right now. Yeah, because you have to win close games.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's a must at this time of year. You know it's nut-cutting time.
Speaker 1:You've got to win the close ones and again you know we're not seeing teams run away with divisions, you know. So, getting started on the Dodgers this week last year the Dodgers won the NL West by 15 games. The year before they won by 22 games. We currently have a four-game lead and that's as comfortable as it's been in probably 10 days. I mean, this is a much different league than it was even one year ago and I think that's good. I think it's healthy for the game of baseball. But I'll be honest, you know the Dodgers are really starting to come together at the right time.
Speaker 1:You know we have dealt with more injuries Statistically speaking don't at me. Statistically speaking, we have dealt with more impactful injuries than any other team. Okay, we have the best record in the majors, yeah, and that's a testament to this organization. It's a testament to the coaching staff and Dave Roberts and it's a testament to the guys on the field, yeah, that they're still going out there and getting the job done. And you know Muncie has come back and is tearing the cover off the ball. Mookie came back, you know, a week or so ago and he looks like he never left.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, rehab start.
Speaker 1:Yeah, hadn't played in an actual game in two months, picked up right where he left off and it's yeah, it's like he was never gone. Yeah, tommy Edmund has made some real impact plays already and gotten some hits and been a real, you know, a game changer at the bottom of that lineup and in really. I mean he's playing shortstop in center field. He's playing very, very premier positions and doing it at a high level. Yeah, kevin Kiermaier, speaking of center field, has come in and he's hit the ball a little bit, but man don't hit the ball anywhere near him.
Speaker 2:He's a vacuum cleaner out there. Yeah, he's doing great out there in center.
Speaker 1:Four-time gold glover and talking about retiring at the end of this year. Four-time gold glover and talking about retiring at the end of this year he has not missed a beat out there. Yeah, I mean, he's great, you know, and everybody started talking. Kiermaier gets hot and everybody says, well, I guess the odd man out is Hayward, because Chris Taylor's coming off the IL, you know, tomorrow, I think, soon, and we don't have a spot for him.
Speaker 2:What a great problem to have.
Speaker 1:What a problem to have yeah, I mean, the issue is, if they want Taylor back on the roster before September 1st, somebody's got to go. Yeah, and I think in an ideal world you want all those options September 1st, when the rosters expand and you have room for everybody, then you can go. Okay, guys, go out there and earn your playoff roster spot, yeah. So you know, I think somebody is going to wink wink. Have some back tightness, yeah, or arm's going to get sore.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:You know, Conveniently.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, take 10 days off, get some rest and we'll you on september 1st when the when the rosters expand. And and I think hayward is a good candidate for that because he's he's a little older, he's had some, some ailments in the past and he's the type of guy that you can let sit for 10 days, bring him off the bench and he's going to homer. Absolutely, you know, he's four for eight as a pinch hitter this year with two home runs. Yeah, both times he's had IL stints this year. He's come back and hit a homer the first game. The other night he hits the eventual game winner out of the park and he hadn't been in a game in several days. So he's a good candidate.
Speaker 1:If wink, wink, nudge, nudge, that's your move, and I think it should be, because I don't think you can afford to get rid of anybody on this roster right now. But Chris Taylor deserves the right to come back and have a shot to earn a spot on the playoff roster. He's a guy you're committed to multiple years contractually. He's a guy that we have seen over and over in October, can get the job done for you at the plate and he's valuable as a bench piece because of his flexibility. He's a guy you can put anywhere on the diamond and he's going to play serviceable defense at the very worst.
Speaker 1:He's also said, while he's been out with injury, it's given him time to fix his swing, which was a big issue early in the year. Chris Taylor for those of you that aren't really aware has a really complicated swing. There's a lot of elements to it so he gets off mechanically kind of easily, or at least more easily than your average guy who swings the same all the time, and sometimes he just needs to take a minute and figure out what's going on mechanically and fix that. And he, he, he says that he's, he's had time to do that. So I'm excited to see what he brings to the table because if he can come up and be serviceable too, I mean they're gonna they're gonna really be pulling their hair outs in the room in that room figuring out who makes this roster in october.
Speaker 2:oh yeah, they're gonna to have some problems with too much talent, I mean, and we laugh and joke, but that's a real problem. They'll have too much.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, you've got. You know you have to, at the end of the day, put the team out there that gives you the best shot to win, and that's what the Dodgers are doing right now is trying to figure out what that looks like. Who Now he's trying to figure out what that looks like? Who are those 26 guys that give you the best shot to win a playoff series? And you know, I don't know the answers. You know, I think between Kiermaier, jason Hayward, chris Taylor and Kike Hernandez there's a case to be made for and against all those guys at this point. If Taylor comes in and hits the ball really well, he puts the pressure on. If Kevin Kiermaier continues to hit a little bit, he puts some pressure on. You know, kike is a really good bench player and a really good situational hitter. He's not an everyday guy. He doesn't succeed at the plate all the time. But if you bring him in with a couple guys on base in a real crucial situation against a left-hander or even a right-hander that's having trouble finding the zone that you're expecting to throw some like obvious strikes, kike can give you a big hit. Kike can give you a home run and the lead in a big spot and swing momentum. You know the pendulum of momentum, a certain way, the way you want it to go right. So these are all guys that have something to offer. It's just figuring out. You know right now, in this moment, who gives you the best shot.
Speaker 1:And I love Jason Hayward. He's been a great addition to this clubhouse. Yeah, he's great. Most of what he brings to the table for this team he can do from an inactive roster spot. Okay, most of what he brings to the table if he's on the injured list or he's not on the on the active roster, but he can still be in the clubhouse and in the dugout. That's what you get from jason hayward is that leadership and that guidance and that that deme. What you get from jason hayward is that leadership and that guidance and that that demeanor. You know he just the way he carries himself, is an example for younger players, less experienced players and, and again, he knows exactly what it takes to win a ring. You know he's not just a guy that was on the team. He has that famous speech in the rain delay rally.
Speaker 1:The rally the troops, man and and got them a world series victory. So you know, as you said, a good problem to have. But you know, the dodgers just uh, came, came home, played three games with the mariners against three really really good starting pitchers yeah, best era staff in all of the majors in the Mariners and swept them and got big hits in big situations against really good pitching. And that is so encouraging to see, because this is not your usual Dodgers of the last few years where they are the best team in those big spots, because they haven't been. They've been very average to mediocre, with runners in scoring position with two outs, with two strikes. Those are the stats that we're starting to see them turn and do what we're used to the Dodgers doing and that is hit very well with runners in scoring position very well with two outs, very well with two strikes.
Speaker 1:You add all those three together and they get even better. And that's what this team looks like now very well with two outs, very well with two strikes. You add all those three together and they get even better. Right, and that's what this team looks like now, and that is largely due to the fact that this team looks on paper like we thought they would, for maybe the first time all year, or at least in months, you know, this has not been a squad on the field and in the lineup all year long. I mean, the depth of this roster has been challenged and I think the team has risen to that challenge, largely Because, again, with all those injuries, with everything that's gone on, best record in the majors and getting better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and doing that without the, the total, you know group, you know you taking that. What was it like? Six guys out at one time?
Speaker 1:Well, I, mean it was, it was double that. Yeah, if you look at the whole roster and you know everything going on, I mean we we've had, you know, we have lost more war to injury than any other team and it's not close. Yeah, and I don't want to chew my food two, three times because we've talked about that, but it's just the truth and it's part of the context of this Dodgers season. And again, shut up about Dave Roberts. He's doing an immaculate job with this, you know, and despite everything, he's getting wins out of this team. And while we had all those guys out, we weren't winning 60% of our games, but we were treading water.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:We were keeping, you know, we were keeping the other teams in the division at bay and, yeah, yeah, the lead got down to two two-and-a-half games but we didn't lose the lead. Yeah, I'd still rather be ahead by two games than not, you know, than be second place two games behind. Yeah, yeah, you know, I mean that's just how it goes. So, you know, really encouraged, really like the makeup of this team and you know from Dave Roberts himself, we're in playoff mode, you know.
Speaker 2:And it shows that they're I mean, they are really just kicking it in. You know, they were good all season. Now they're really kicking it in. Oh yeah, you know going down, you know down four to nothing and making a comeback and winning the game. I mean just dominating.
Speaker 1:Yeah, playing really good baseball, Doing it largely without Shohei's bat. I know when he's got hits they've been impactful hits, but he's batting under 200. The last little bit. Tay Oscar has not been himself lately but Mookie coming back and hitting. Well, freddie doing what freddie does, gavin lux is now the gavin lux we thought we were getting in in, you know, four years ago.
Speaker 1:Yeah, finally, and and and that's not a dig on him he has gone through so much adversity and overcome it now and figured things out and he's hitting for average, he's hitting for power, he's hitting in clutch situations, he's doing all the things that we believed he could do. And here's the thing he came up so young he's still I don't know that he's 25, 26. I mean he's still got a long time and is going to be a good ball player, be a good major leaguer, and he's been good for so long. Now, this isn't a fluke or a streak. This is who Gavin Lux is and when he hits, I mean he's going to slump. We hope he doesn't do it in October, but when he hits that hole again, he now has this huge foundation to get out of it and that's important. So you know Max Muncy's back and he's hitting seventh in the order. Yeah, that's wild. Max Muncy is your seven hitter. Yeah, that's incredible. Right, who else going into October has that? I mean, it's just stacked all the way through and I know there's probably somebody here in this going well, they're going to choke in October again. It's just what they do and maybe they do. But here's the thing they're putting the best team they can out there and giving themselves the best shot to win and as a fan, that's all I can ask.
Speaker 1:Right, the guys don't show up in October. It happens, it's happened to us the last couple years. Yeah, the guys you need in October just haven't shown up. But this team and I say this over and over again every single week this team was built not for August, not for April, it was built for October. So this is a team of guys that when they're right, when they're healthy, those are the situations they thrive in and they want to be in those situations.
Speaker 1:You know, teoscar Hernandez wants to be at the plate with the bases loaded in a tie game. Two outs in the ninth, he lives for that. Yeah, he does. You know. Mookie Betts wants to be up there. Shohei wants to be up the bases loaded in a tie game, two outs in the ninth. He lives for that. Yeah, he does. You know, mookie Betts wants to be up there, shohei wants to be up there, freddie wants to be up there. I'd say now, gavin Lux wants that opportunity, he wants to show this is the real Gavin Lux.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of guys on that roster Max Muncy good grief, max Muncy's right at home in that situation. You know, and and that's that's what this team is, is built for. You know, and I haven't talked much about the pitching, but the pitching is doing better. Getting there, I feel a lot better about our options and the fact that we have them going into October at least how things sit right now. You know, the last couple of years it's been like well, we, these are the four guys, because these have to be the four guys in the rotation, but there's not a lance lynn getting a start in october this year like there was last year yeah, just not happening.
Speaker 1:You know, um, yeah, I mean kershaw has come back and been vintage. You know you, you get rid of that. Start in San Diego. It's Ben Vintage Kershaw, and I think that was just every starter, especially coming back from a shoulder surgery, the first surgery of that magnitude they've had in their career. They're going to have a clunker or two and Kershaw, maybe as much as anybody in all of Major League Baseball, has earned and deserves the right to get through those clunkers and have a spot.
Speaker 1:What about Buehler? What about his return man? Here's the thing I like Walker Buehler a lot. If he is going to pitch for the Dodgers in October, it's going to be out of the bullpen, yeah, and I don't know at what point they explore that in practice. Do they leave? I mean right now you have to leave him in the rotation at least till glasnow gets back. Uh, I mean you don't have to, but it makes the most sense to just let him kind of tread water as a starter. But at some point I think the bullpen doors are going to open and Walker Bueller is going to come out.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I loved, you know dipshit reporter in the middle of him talking about his struggles right now and trying to figure it out and coming off of, you know, missing two years on a second tommy john surgery. Oh hey, what about the fact that you're a free agent and bueller said there's nothing to talk about? You talk about free agency when you have a 2-5 and you're running through the league.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I have a 6 era right now yeah I'm trying to figure out how to get guys in the big leagues out, and this was the exact quote he said. That's all I give a fuck about right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:There you go, sorry, sorry, that's not a better story for the morning beat tomorrow, but it's the truth. I mean, how many teams do you think are going to offer him a big contract right now? Not one, no, not one. For him a big contract right now? Not one, no, not one. He's getting. He's getting an opportunity next year whether will that be with the dodgers yet to be determined but he's not getting the big contract anymore. He's getting an opportunity next year, yeah. And and frankly, if, if he doesn't get much better this year, he'll be lucky to get that.
Speaker 1:Because the thing with Walker is that he has always been known for that high-heat fastball. He doesn't have that anymore. I mean, guys are literally taking two breaking pitches in the strike zone because they're sitting fastball, because they know they can hit it if he throws it in the strike zone. He's got to learn how to be a different pitcher than he's been in the past. And I think that's the crux of the issue with walker bueller is he can't go out there and do what he's always done. He has to learn a new way to do it. Now he's in a great environment for that because he can sit next to clayton kershaw every day, and kershaw has been the master of that. Because Kershaw was the same type of pitcher at first He'd just blow it past you, but over time he loses velocity. He's always had that great curveball. But then he adds the slider and that slider is a Hall of Fame slider and now he's throwing different grips with his pitches. He's doing so many different things that he didn't always do, and that's just the art of pitching is understanding. You can't do it the same way every day. You've got to take a little bit off stuff. You've got to approach different lineups and different hitters uniquely and to their game plan and to the way they swing the bat. And Buehler, he's just got to figure that out, and I think he will, mostly because he's a really hard-headed dude. I don't think he's going to take no for an answer. That's good. He shouldn't. And if that means he's a clunker the rest of this year and he's got to go to Japan or Korea or IndyBall, I think he'll do it. Because I think there's a clunker the rest of this year and he's got to go to Japan or Korea or Indy ball. I think he'll do it. Yeah, cause I think there's a belief there.
Speaker 1:I think there's an internal belief with Walker Bueller that he can get back to being a really, really good pitcher in the in the big leagues and obviously that's what he wants. So you know it might take some time. It might take some more. You know adversity in addition to what he's already faced. But you know coming off of Tommy John is tough and not a lot of guys come back and in their first season back are really good. Yeah, it takes them some time, you know, because you have to trust that that arm can do what you need it to do. And there's a real mental aspect. I mean he didn't pitch for two years in a big league game. Two years, yeah, that's a lot.
Speaker 2:That's a long time.
Speaker 1:Earlier in the season everybody was bitching about Gavin Lux. Ah, he's never going to be anything. We've been through this experiment and it failed. He missed all of last season, All of the year last year. It just takes some time, even for the best of the best, to get back where they need to be.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, and I think Buehler will get there, but, man, if he pitches for the Dodgers in October, I firmly believe it's going to be out of the bullpen and I think he's open to that. You know, I don't think he'll reject that idea. But you know, yeah, I mean he's sort of and we've gone from a lot of question marks to he's like the one big question mark right now. You know, at least internally. You know the national broadcast last weekend, oh, tylerasnow's back on the il. Well, tyler glasnow was like look, I feel fine. Yeah, it's all precautionary. You know, and and and I think the general consensus from the dodger fan base was if it was october he'd have pitched. You know, um, so I don't know. You know bueller, I love him, I want to do well, obviously, I want him to do well for the Dodgers. But you know, he's kind of the one guy right now that's really, really struggling and trying to like figure out a way to get on the postseason roster.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, uh, I enjoyed it the the other day. He uh, I was at two nights ago that, uh, that Bueller washler got into it with the umpire for a little bit. A little schmoz there and Dave come running out. Good old CB Buckner, yeah, yeah, dave was to the rescue, brother, he was sprinting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now that Angel Hernandez is gone, CB Buckner might be the worst.
Speaker 2:Oh, he's so inconsistent. He's terrible, he's terrible.
Speaker 1:But yeah, in summation, I feel really good about the Dodgers and I'm excited to see how the rest of the season goes, because things seem to be falling into place at the absolute right time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I think they're heading that way. I mean, they're dressed for the part and they know what they're doing.
Speaker 1:All right. So the big topic this week is going to be players weekend. We love players weekend. I'm glad they brought it back. Uh, in the past, the the gimmick for players weekend has been, uh, the players get to pick what goes on the back of their jersey nicknames, funny things that nobody understands. We've gotten a lot of fun. You know situations out of that. A lot of nicknames have come to light that way too. Nicknames, funny things that nobody understands. We've gotten a lot of fun. You know situations out of that. A lot of nicknames have come to light that way too, nicknames we didn't really know about publicly. Then they put them on the jersey and it's like oh, what does that mean? Oh, that's what everybody calls me. You know, there you go. This year they didn't do that. But a lot of custom cleats, a lot of custom bats, a lot of fun, a lot of fun from players. We can, brian sort, tell me some of your takeaways. What did you really enjoy about players we get?
Speaker 2:well, I love the pencils. I thought the pencils looked really great, I mean, they looked really cool. And I love the crayons, especially the one that was, uh, painted foul pole yellow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was jock peterson. Now, with the diamondbacks, had the foul pole yellow crayon bat, which was great. He had the gloves to match and everything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I thought those were great. The cleats were very personalized. This year I know the Cubs had, like the Mexican players, had the Mexican flag on there. A lot of them had their charity work with a lot of cancer kids had their their name on there, which was really cool. And then there were the ones where, like their daughter, would paint the shoes themselves. That was really cool.
Speaker 1:You know, it was like the one I saw had flowers all over it like a garden right, yeah so you know stuff that you really wouldn't think but, but your daughter made it, so that makes it really really cool yeah, this wasn't players weekend, but when clayton kershaw pitched his first game off the surgery, he had cleats that the kids had drawn and written on.
Speaker 1:You know, uh, and it was great, you know, and had the little like they all drew themselves. So it was like the whole family and like stick figures and, yeah, crayon, you know it was great and there was a lot of that. Um, you know, uh, just just a really fun weekend and and it was cool all weekend to be on social media and see what the teams were putting out there pictures and videos and interviews and the league was. The league did a really good job. The league social media isn't always the best, uh, depending on how you look at it, but but they did a good job of covering players weekend, yeah, and making sure that the really cool stuff got, um, you know, got attention.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, there were a lot of scooby-doo stuff, a lot of uh, you know, video game type deal, and those were really cool. A lot of people had coffee on their uh shoes. I didn't see any of that. Yeah, a lot of java. Yeah, I know a couple of the cubs had that. I think.
Speaker 2:Well, he and half had it on his well, he sells coffee, he sells coffee, so that's kind of a no-brainer um. But yeah, that that was some really cool stuff that we saw there. I mean, I just can't get over the pencil.
Speaker 1:The pencil is my favorite well, ever since they did the pen, the aluminum pencil bats a while back I don't even remember how that came to be, I guess it was a college thing or something. But ever since then the pencil bat has kind of taken on this whole new I don't know man, it's just becoming its own thing, you know. So all the pencils and crayons, and you know that was really cool and that was. It was kind of a theme to it, you know. But there's a lot of interesting stuff. Um, I didn't have this in my notes but um, I'm. I have it fresh on my mind because we just got the announcement yesterday that the backyard sports franchise is back. Okay, they have film and tv plans, they're gonna release the games again. They have a whole new strategy for this property.
Speaker 1:And when I was growing up, backyard sports was big. It was a computer game where basically the stars of whatever sport you know baseball, basketball, football, whatever you know game you had they were playing as kids in the backyard. Yeah, and part of that was also there were kids on the game like made-up characters. And if you know anything about these games, you know the name Pablo Sanchez. He's the king of backyard sports, just a world beater in every sport. You wanted him on your team, no matter which backyard game you were playing. Just a world beater in every sport. You wanted him on your team, no matter which backyard game you were playing, and very cool and very ahead of its time, because one of the gimmicks of Pablo's character is he doesn't speak any English. He's a Spanish speaker and in an American game 25, 30 years ago, that just wasn't something you saw very often being celebrated. So very cool, very ahead of their time.
Speaker 1:Bobby Witt jr had a pablo sanchez bat, yeah, and I was just like, oh, my god, that's incredible, so cool, like, um, yeah, so so. And then you know again, yesterday, as we're recording, I see on on twitter, backyard sports is back and it's like man, that's incredible. And I don't know if they had anything to do with the Bobby Witt Jr thing or if it was just good timing, but if that was on their part to market and get people talking about the franchise and then immediately after, like the next week, to make the announcement, I mean that was really good marketing. And here's the thing, even if they were like, oh, we weren't going to make the announcement yet, but we better do it now, that's a, that was a good move, a good move by the marketing department handling all that.
Speaker 1:So, um, so, yeah, so let's run through some of this, uh, some of this stuff that we saw for players weekend. I want to get in some specifics, okay, um, so we'll start logan ohoppy, who we talked about recently because apparently the cubs wanted him, wanted him at the trade deadline and couldn't work out a deal. Uh, he went to a children's hospital with his chest protector okay, he's a catcher and had the kids in the hospital draw on it. Okay, just like, here, here's a marker, draw your name or whatever picture you want, just draw on my chest protector, including those kids in that experience. And that was that was so cool, that is cool. Um, you know, wasn't the most fashionable thing worn, you know, it was literally just a chest protector that kids had drawn on. But you know, um, very meaningful, very cool, very meaningful for those kids and for, you know, the organizations fighting for those kids yeah and um, you know, oh, hoppy's a good young player and and that that makes me like him a lot.
Speaker 1:You know that he took the platform of players weekend and nothing against the guys that did their own thing, because that's what it's all about is doing what whatever moves you individually, but for him to take that platform and use it in that way, I thought was very commendable and admirable, and I gained a lot of respect for Logan Ohapi.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, definitely I mean and that's something that you know very unselfish of him.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, 100%, and that shouldn't be surprising that a major league catcher did something unselfish when given the opportunity to not Absolutely, and again, that's not taking anything away from what anybody else did. A lot of guys did charity-related stuff, like you said, and that's cool if that's what they wanted to do, but it's also cool if you wanted to have, for instance, toy Story cleats and a bat, like michael harris, the second from the braves, did. Yeah, um, would it had a woody bat and, uh, his cleats were like one woody, one buzz, yeah, and those were incredible, like super cool. Um, toy story rules, you know it's, it's a great franchise and, um, you know that that was. That was pretty awesome. You know, michael Harris is not a player I think about very much and when I do, it's usually frustrating because I don't really like Atlanta. Yeah, you know, and that's just. You know. They've been the team in the way of the Dodgers a lot, gee why don't you like Atlanta?
Speaker 1:Let's not get started on that. We won't go down that. We'll save that for the off season.
Speaker 2:Who do you hate the most in Atlanta?
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 1:All right, sorry, no, it's okay. It's okay. Um, I do not like the Atlanta Braves mascot at all and we're not going to get into that today because we're going to have a fun time talking about players weekend. But, but maybe maybe today, because we're going to have a fun time talking about players weekend, but but maybe maybe on another day I'll be fired up enough to tell you why blooper is the sorriest excuse for a mascot I've ever seen and what tommy lasorda would do if he was still alive. But not. Not the time or place for that.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right not the time nor the place uh, we talked about jock peterson's foul pole yellow bat. That was on my list. I love, I love jock. You know jock's one of my guys, even though he's on the diamondbacks now, um, and played for the giants before that. You know he's, he's been, he's been a rival a lot, uh, the last few years, but and the braves before that I mean really, I mean he's and the cubs for a little bit so he's we had him too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's. He's been a rival. Yeah, you know, really, since the the moment that submitted him as one of my guys forever, which was winning the 2020 world series with the dodgers ever since then he's been a rival. Yeah, but I love him. Super cool guy, uh, outside the box thinker, which I love more than anything, because there's so many guys in baseball that are just, you know, a cliche of a human being. They have no personality, yeah, but yeah, love Jock, love that bat. Shohei Otani had cleats with Decoy the dog.
Speaker 2:Yes, those were some of the best. I wanted to say that was one of my favorites, but I didn't want to take it away from you. No, it's okay Talk about them, but yeah, no, they were very cool. The picture was very accurate, very cool, very nice puppy looking. But they were a nice shoe too. I mean it was done very, very well, yeah, so I really enjoyed those.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's one thing to see the Jordan cleats that, like everybody wears, yeah, and then to see him in New Balances. It's still kind of jarring when he comes up to the plate and he, you know, he pulls his hands up with the bat and he's got new balance. It's like new balance. It's like, uh, it's like clayton, kershaw and sketchers yeah, you know they just give.
Speaker 1:They just give curse shit for being old with the sketchers thing you know, oh, you got the extra support in your shoe, you know it, it is what it is. But uh, yeah, those were really cool and, uh, we love the animals and the dogs, especially here at 2gtb, so so love that they're getting ready to give away the, the shohei and decoy bobblehead oh, yeah, uh, there's gonna be pandemonium in the streets. Pandalirium uh, there, there's already a few on ebay. If you want one real bad and you got three hundred dollars, uh, that is five times the normal bobblehead price on on ebay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know if that'll be in our collection I don't think so, pal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, uh, you know, totally unrelated, patreoncom slash 2GTB. Yeah, go give us some money. Yeah, we are. We have made concrete plans to get the bobblehead shelf for the studio.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we planned that out, so that won't be too far away.
Speaker 1:No, we're yeah, we're going to make that happen in the near future, and it won't be on camera, so you'll never get to see it, that's right?
Speaker 2:No, we'll show it to them. We'll take a we'll swing it over.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it'll be, I'm just, I'm just having fun. Of course, you'll see it if we get it on thenoxious but we're gonna be.
Speaker 2:We're gonna be proud of it, yeah it's gonna be cool. Yeah, I gotta bring my christopher murrell up here and put it on the table.
Speaker 1:You do, you do because all we got right now is our boy rocky. It's just rocky. Yeah, we love him. If you didn't hear last week's episode, please go back and listen. Uh, meg hackett, for rocky's mom, uh, represented the rocky foundation and told us all about that and we loved, loved that. So please go back and listen. But moving on with Players Weekend stuff, I don't think this was necessarily because of Players Weekend, it just happened during Players Weekend so I wanted to bring it up. So, during Fanatics Fest, which was a big sports-related convention in New York run by Fanatics, who owns everything. As far as sports, major sports merchandising now, yeah, um, a lot of athletes, a lot of wwe stars, you know, it's sort of a who's who type of convention. Yeah, for sports fans, um, livy dunn, paul skeens, his girlfriend, who is, for now, more famous than he is right, that gap is closing rapidly I was gonna say that he's coming up in the rankings very, very quickly.
Speaker 1:I think she's a gymnast and then just kind of became an influencer. I don't know much about her, but she, she showed up to fanatics fest dressed just like paul skeen yeah, had the hair up in the hat, had the fake mustache on full uniform, no notes, yeah, incredible. Yeah, you know, because here's the thing, man we live in a culture where those influencer girls are expected to show up in like designer clothes and like look in a certain way. And nah, I'm gonna dress up like my boyfriend, who happens to be a major league pitcher with a Hall of Fame mustache.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, she had to get the mustache over man. That's what completes the ensemble. Well, she wouldn't have been him without it? No, she wouldn't have. I mean, that's his trademark.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, it's just a part of who he is, so really well done. Yeah, I mean, that's just, it's just a part of who he is, so really well done. Yeah, I mean, you know, brian and I have worked some conventions over the years in in all of our endeavors, and you know cosplay no matter what the theme of the convention is, cosplay is part of it. It's a big convention culture, cultural aspect. I guess I should say and and so for her to lean into that and have that much fun with it. And you know, and here's the thing, and Joe Maddon kind of begrudgingly said this recently players are a brand of their own and that's good for the Paul Skeens brand, sure is.
Speaker 1:And you can't hate on that. I mean you can, but just go be miserable somewhere else. We don't subscribe to that way of thinking or living your life. Uh, this is fun and it's and it's and it's good for the paul skeens brand. I'm not saying that's why they did it. I think she did it because she's funny and just wanted to be funny. Yeah, you know um, but yeah, just super cool. Not necessarily um, you know, not necessarily, not necessarily players. We can relate it directly, but we really liked it and I wanted to mention it. Yeah, definitely enjoyed it. A couple more things here on the list Christian Yelich, who I don't like yeah, don't like him either, but he had someone I do like on his bats and that was Bob Uecker, mr.
Speaker 2:Baseball.
Speaker 1:He had Bob Uecker bats and that was really classy, which is one of the reasons I don't like Christian Yellich, because I don't think he's a classy dude, was it actually?
Speaker 2:Bob Uecker or was it his character from? No, it was Bob Okay, because I saw a player had him and he was his character from Major League, harry Doyle, harry Doyle.
Speaker 1:Well, okay. So the Christian Yelich bats I saw said Mr Baseball had Bob's picture on them and then under that had some of the quotes, oh, okay. Or maybe there was a second bat that was just like all the quotes all over the bat, okay, okay. So celebrating both, not just Harry Doyle, the character, but Bob Euchre, the actual baseball announcer that's why he got cast in that role, because that's what he does I thought that was really classy, and especially being the biggest star on the Milwaukee Brewers. Yeah, I mean, bob is the guy there and should be Wonderful personality and a guy that has made the game better.
Speaker 2:Made the game more fun.
Speaker 1:And there's another guy like that we'll talk about here in our next segment. But first, Brian, I wanted to wrap up Players Weekend with maybe the coolest bat we saw. Yeah, and that was Jackson Merrill, the rookie from the Padres glow-in-the-dark lightsaber bat.
Speaker 2:I know that took the winning. That's the winner right there. Winner winner chicken dinner. It's the one that stood out above the rest. It was great man, I loved it.
Speaker 1:Star Wars If you ever watch Mad TV. No, it was super cool. The glow-in-the-dark aspect made it Sure did. Because you turn the lights off and it looks like a lightsaber and he's up there swinging a lightsaber.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and brian's a big star wars yeah, love the star wars and it just fit right in and I've never seen anything like that before, so I was just loving it brian carries star wars luggage yeah yes, I did.
Speaker 1:It's uh. It's pretty fascinating to go places with him and see him being a, you know, in a lot of rooms the the largest man in the room and he's covered in tattoos and he looks like the type of guy you didn't want to meet in a meet in a dark alley and he has Star Wars Star Wars luggage.
Speaker 2:It looks like R2D2 and the other one, the C3PO and the the rebel Alliance bags. Like yeah that, yeah, if they were, If you really were in the Rebel Alliance, that's what their bags would look like Right, yeah, so yeah, we really liked all that stuff from Players Weekend Kudos to the league.
Speaker 1:This is like four weeks in a row we've given props to Major League Baseball.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're doing great with it.
Speaker 1:But they deserve it, because Players Weekend was awesome. It was Made covering the game and following the game a lot more fun, even than it normally is, because it's a very fun thing generally speaking. But man, we had a blast this weekend looking through all that and watching more games just to kind of see what we could see from Players Weekend.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love Players Weekend. I've loved it before, but I think they did a great job and this was the best of the ones they've done.
Speaker 1:And we didn't even talk about the Little League Classic at all. Yeah, which is always cool, you know, real quick, before we move on, I saw Jazz Chisholm had met one of the young players and basically was like yeah, I told him he's my little brother now and I'm going to help him get to the big leagues there you go.
Speaker 1:And that's what those sorts of things are all about, because, yeah, these kids are playing on ESPN, but they're still just kids and a vast majority of them maybe all of them are going to do something other than play baseball for a living, when they grow up.
Speaker 1:So for him to latch on to one of these kids and say, no, I'm going to help you get to the big leagues, I'm your big brother now. That was huge. That's always fun to see. I didn't watch the Little League Classic because I don't get in the habit of watching ESPN games that I don't have to.
Speaker 1:Yeah for the commentators it's not even the commentators, it's not them. I don't have a problem with Carl Ravitch or David Cohn or the other guy whose name is escaping me, eduardo or whatever his name is, but I just you know their coverage. I have a problem with ESPN having anything to do with Major League Baseball at all. So again, another topic for another day. That contract's coming up, so I'm sure the day will come where it's very appropriate to talk about the relationship between MLB and ESPN. But that's why I didn't watch the game largely outside of just time constraints. I didn't watch the game largely outside of just time constraints, but I did see a lot of the highlights and you know the fun that the Yankees and the Tigers were having with the kids and you know for a team the level of the Yankees to be involved in that really cool, you know.
Speaker 2:Aaron.
Speaker 1:Judge, juan Soto, jazz Chisholm. Now, you know a lot of guys that these kids look up to. I I mean jazz chisholm was on the cover of the video game last year. Yeah, I mean, and I remember, I remember two years ago we were talking about jazz, uh, I think when we were picking our all-star picks and I said, you know, look, harold reynolds does a lot of work with youth, youth baseball and he got on tv and was like, look, these kids, you ask them, jazz is their guy. Yeah, you know it. Yeah, you know, it's not Aaron Judge, it's not Juan Soto, it's Jazz Chisholm. Jazz Chisholm is the guy all these players, these youth players, want to be.
Speaker 1:Look up to. He's cool. Yeah, he's really cool. You know he's got a cool name and he's flashy. And you know, on the game, yeah, game, yeah, man, he's on the cover of the game and it was all bright and colorful and cool. And you know, just, and it's good that he's on the yankees, you know, because he's on, he's got a platform now and um, and he's already using it super uh, in a super positive way for the, for the well, the well-being and good good of all mankind yeah, so so good again.
Speaker 1:Good on. Major league baseball players. Weekend was a rousing success, best I could tell, best we could tell. And, yeah, man, it's something to look forward to for next year. Hopefully they'll bring it back on a regular basis. Yeah, I agree, and it stays so.
Speaker 1:The last thing we wanted to touch on today before we go on our merry way was we found out just yesterday. Great timing on his part, because we're able to cover it when it's really, really topical. You may have noticed, if you're watching this on YouTube, brian has a Reds jersey on today, and that is just because Joey Votto has announced his retirement from baseball. Yep, we love Joey Votto. Yeah, we do. A lot of people do, and there's a reason for that. Um, we talked about bob euchre being the the type of person that has left baseball better than it was when he found it. Joey vato is 100 that type of guy. Yes, the game is better for having had him.
Speaker 1:Um, I saw a stat, you know, because automatically everybody goes is he a Hall of Famer? First off, the answer is yes. The question should be is he a first ballot Hall of Famer? I saw something yesterday, and if this isn't accurate, don't attack me because it was just a tweet. Attack me because it was just a tweet, but it it claimed that if joey vato comes out of retirement and goes, oh, for 477, he will still have a higher career on base percentage than tony gwen. Wow, that's amazing. If that's not a hall of famer, yeah, I don't know what is anymore exactly, you know, and again, we're not going to go down that road because that's something we're going to talk about in the off season. And the back, the back of that jersey brian is wearing says number 14, rose. Yes, so we're gonna get into all that, yeah, but but joey vato is a hall of fame guy, he's a hall of fame player and, uh, I'll miss him, brian yeah, I'll miss him too.
Speaker 2:Uh, you know, he struggled with, you know, being on the spectrum and that was something that I looked up to. He went from I don't want to deal with the fans, that's not a direct quote, but basically I don't want to deal with the fans to okay, I'm going to embrace this despite my you know my situation and dealt with the fans very lovingly and he learned to do that and it's that's a hard thing, I know. I know it's a hard thing to learn to be social when you have issues of being on the spectrum. So he was just so good, you know, with the kids and I saw that one that, like I mentioned that, that I did a photo shoot at the ballpark with him doing some kids signing autographs for some kids and he was just a great guy.
Speaker 2:Just took the time in the world, man, it was awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, I saw a bunch of clips last night obviously people's favorite moments or memorable moments of his, and one of those you know, speaking to what you're saying was you know, he got, he got. He was really good at Tik TOK. He got a Tik TOK and was like the best thing on Tik TOK, uh, and, and there was a little girl in the in the crowd at a game that held up a sign that said Joey Votto, will you make a Tik TOK with me? And and you know they, you know they show him like showing her the dance moves and what to do, and then they shoot the tiktok. It was just what a guy man. And and for me, the thing I saw that that warmed my heart the most was, uh, I guess he was injured or something. He was in the booth, uh, in cincinnati, and they were. They were talking to him about the different dimensions and the different quirks of every ballpark. And you know, cincinnati that's a hitter's ballpark. Yes, it is.
Speaker 2:Pitchers hate that place. Yeah, they tell you as part of the tour up there that it's designed to be home run friendly.
Speaker 1:Right, and he's talking about all these things. You know the wind in Wrigley and you know all these different quirks. And one of the announcers said do you like that? And Joey said I love it. He's like that's. My favorite part of this is that our game is so nuanced and so you know, uh, compared to any other sport because here's the thing outside of the crowd noise being different. What's the difference in the playing field in nfl stadiums? Right, nothing. What's the difference in basketball courts?
Speaker 1:in the nba. Yeah, you know you're playing on a on a, a standard field. That's the same all the time. Hell Houston used to have a heel in straightaway center field. Yeah, you know, the polo grounds in New York was like 7,000 feet to hit a home run. Yeah, you know, I mean it's. You know. And Coors Field with the thin air has the second largest outfield, so there's just tons of green grass out there to just put a ball in and that's why it's such an offensive park. The ball carries because of the thin air, but they've fixed some of that with the humidor and the baseballs, but there's still so much real estate out there. And for him to say that was his favorite part of the game tells you what a baseball guy he is.
Speaker 1:Because you're not just playing the other team, you're playing the park too 100%, and for me, that's one of the beauties of baseball is that it's the only team sport, because it is a team sport after all, that is also such an individual sport Because at the crux of baseball, it's one guy with the ball and one guy with a bat, yeah, and that it's one-on-one, but you're trying to win that one-on-one to help your team, yeah, and then, once that ball gets put into play, the the team by. You know what I'm saying. Yeah, it's a team sport, but it's also there's a lot, also a lot, of individual elements wrapped up in it. So you know, and and joey vato very clearly a next level thinker. You know whether that's being on the spectrum or or just who he is as a person, or some combination of both.
Speaker 2:Right, you know he thinks about things differently than the average joe walking down the street right, yeah, I mean, he looks at everything completely different and, uh, that probably helped him with his success.
Speaker 1:Yeah, apparently uh, apparently when you get to first base and Joey Votto's playing first base, he will ask you some of the most random Questions, ridiculous questions, you know he loves talking about like space. Yeah, he don't want to talk about baseball. When you get over there, he wants to talk about whatever's, you know.
Speaker 2:Do you think the moon landing was real? Yeah, just like crazy shit.
Speaker 1:You know the autistic brain wants to talk about, not what the normal brain wants to talk about. So, yeah, we say all that to say thank you, Joey Votto. We will miss you. We hope you still come around and are in the public eye, some because we're very happy that we were around and got to see your career. I mean six-time All-Star, 2010 National League MVP, a Hall of Famer.
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1:You don't even have to ask me, because he's a Hall of Famer. Yes, and you know. Hopefully we'll get to see him in Cooperstown one day. I think we will.
Speaker 1:I do too, and I don't think it'll be that long of a wait for him. Yeah, cooperstown one day, I think we will. Uh, and I don't think it'll be that long of a wait for him. Yeah, honestly, um, you know, because again, so much of that is wrapped up in you know the writer's opinion of you personally, right, who's keeping him out? Cause he's not a nice guy. You know, I mean what? What a good dude and likable in every way, and and just, you know, um, and, as you said, and, as you said, made a big, made a big turn in that aspect of his career. Yeah, um, and and and that's great. So, uh, so kudos on a great, I think, 17 year career. Yeah, I think it was for joey vato, something in that ballpark, you know, didn't quite get to 20, but who does that these days? Yeah, um, you know, really great career, really fun to have around. And you know best part, I think, to the whole conversation his last major league game. He got ejected.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's it, I'm done folks, we did it, that's it.
Speaker 1:You know, and in spring training, the first pitch he saw with the Blue Jays, he hit out, yeah, and was headed back to the big leagues. Just, it just never, just never happened for him, you know, and that's, that's the way it goes, uh, the reality of it, uh, but but we love you, joey vato. Yeah, definitely, and uh, thank you again for everything you've given the game and and we'll never forget it, no, we never will thank you all right with all that said.
Speaker 2:Brian, you got anything else you want, I just want to give a shout out to our guys over there in Germany. We see you, we want you to keep listening, and I appreciate you guys, so I hope you're listening this week, if you are actually listening in Germany.
Speaker 1:Brian gets so excited every time we get a download from your country, so please keep it up and feel free to shoot us a line. Yeah, texas, we have the technology. I mean, if you're listening, you know english, you know. So, uh, if you, if you're not good typing english, type it in german and we'll translate yeah, we'll figure it out, yeah we we'd love to hear from you, um. We want to know that there's interest in this game in in other countries yeah, that would be so cool to get a message from them that's fascinating, fascinating.
Speaker 1:So please reach out, and if you're not in Germany, we want to hear from you too. I don't want to say that I don't want to hear from everybody.
Speaker 2:No, we want to hear from everybody and all your opinions, good, bad or indifferent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, please tell us what you think. Get in touch with us and I'm going to tell you how you can do that. Uh, the whatever streaming, whatever platform. Yes, um, you know, if you're on YouTube, there's always the YouTube comments. Uh, that you can, that you can utilize it or we're we're all. We're always on Twitter. The uh show is at two GTV pod. Brian is at three crows, bri I am at Dallas danger you can hit us up. The store is at 2gtbstore, patreoncom, slash 2gtb. Those are the two best ways to support us financially and there's links to those on the website, which is 2gtbcom, a little easier to remember. And, of course, subscribe wherever you're listening or if you're watching on YouTube. We appreciate the subscription counts. Those help us out a lot. Helps us get the show out to more people, especially with YouTube.
Speaker 2:There's a lot we want to do that our subscriber count is limiting us from doing right now. Yeah, if we can get that up, we want to go one location and do some live shots from there and at some ballparks and stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, all things we've talked about doing. We just need your help.
Speaker 1:And if you've already done those things, we love you and we appreciate you and please spread the word, tell your other friends that are into the game of baseball about 2gtb and what we're doing and, uh, you know, uh, we're not going anywhere this time we're here we're here for the long haul and and we're that's why we're going through all the work to get all these things in place, get the website right, get on all these platforms, because we believe in what we're doing here and we just love sitting here for an hour, hour and a half every week and talking about baseball together.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, basically this is what we do anyway, we just decided to record it that's literally where this podcast came from is we, brian and I, were on the phone one day and I said you know what we should do, because we spend hours a week talking about baseball. Let's just sit down and do that and do it into microphones, absolutely, and hit record and see what comes out. And we did one and we were like man, that was really great, yeah, and we had fun. Yeah, we have a blast doing this and that's what it's all about for us, you know. But you know, at the end of the day, money makes things happen and if you can support us financially, we really appreciate that. If you can't, we just appreciate you listening and subscribing and spreading the word a little bit. You know that that's all it takes to.
Speaker 2:To make us happy is just just have fun with us yeah, just be there and uh, give it a listen, and we're in this together, that's right and we will be back with more 2gtb in seven days for brian.
Speaker 1:I'm dallas. We'll see you at the ballpark.