Episode 213 - MLB 2026 Preview

We have gotten underway with the MLB season. Johnny and Eric do their yearly MLB preview. We choose who we think is going to win each division in 2026 and choose a sleeper team in each league. We'll see how we fared at the end of the season and then make our playoffs predictions.

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Transcript

0:05

Subtitling by Universal Studios Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of the Year and Fun Average podcast. I'm your host, Eric Profit, coming to you from Wichita, Kansas, and with me as always, I have Johnny Bowen, lake, Charles Gumbo Gator, super fan of course, coming today from the Bayou Broadcast Center. Well, nothing says, uh, March, like 90 degree weather that we've been having here. I'm assuming you guys have been pretty warm weather down there. It was, uh, 86 yesterday. So nothing like sweat and pollen to make the season broad for sure. Well, at the time of this recording, the MLB season finally kicked off for 2026. Actually, two days ago. They did a one night early. from what they typically would do on a Thursday, they did the Yankees and the Giants, the Tennessee Giants, I believe. Oh, no, that, that's just their coach that went from college to MLB. But I believe the Yankees shut'em out in that game. And then. Most of the other teams started their season yesterday with opening day. However, there were, I'm assuming, one of your teams, and then my team have not kicked off yet. They kick off today. so the remaining teams that haven't played yet will get a chance to start their season today, but today's gonna be our annual MLB preview. So much like in the years past, we're gonna make our predictions who we think is gonna win each division, and you'll see pretty quickly how bad our predictions usually are. Uh, Eric, should I do our yearly disclaimer? Yes. if you enjoy gambling, please don't base your betting on this podcast episode. Okay. That's our EFA, warning here. This is just pure speculation, not based on fact, if you choose to gamble. You lose based on our predictions. please send a letter to our corporate headquarters in Wichita. It's in a building with a Verizon and a Pizza Hut. So, our one employee left a few years ago, Joe Profit. I'm sure the mail has been piling up for the last two years in our office. So, and if the mail doesn't get received, just call 1-800-GAMBLER and you can, uh. Go through some help since, uh, if you go through, listening to us and taking our advice on what teams to pick. I can't believe that idiot said the Mariners in Mississippi. What was he like? They weren't too far off of it last year. No, no. Not at all. Maybe if we say, uh, Rockies, white Sox World Series, then you know, probably don't listen to us and then watch. That'll come October and that's who it is. Then we're like, see, we told you so. That'd be a fun different world series the least being first there, right. With those two teams and uh mm-hmm. That would be, uh, that would be a fun, a fun matchup. You know, two Cinderellas we're in March Madness season is, we're recording, so two real Cinderellas, making it to the, to the big dance and all the way to the championship, and that would be fun viewing anyway. Before we get going with our predictions, let's talk about our, uh, hats. And I'm curious of the hat you're wearing, which MLB team this relates to? Well, in the random category, you know, and you were my inspiration from a few weeks ago. You were Anheuser Busch and, and, hey, listen, it would be regional. I would take this chain as our sponsor. We we're still looking for sponsors. Loves, uh, Yaris. I'm wearing, uh, this was purchased locally in Bruce, Mississippi, a Piggly Wily Black and camo hat. I've always been a big fan of the Pig logo. When I was in college, I was thrown out of a pig wiggly, or my friend was working. I, I show, I, I used to work for the competition Just to go see him and it, it was one of those days the weather had dropped and I didn't have a jacket. All I had was my food world smock the red. So I threw it on. So here I'm at the pig, the wiggly in Pleasant Grove, talking to my friend Wayne. Manager comes up to me, he goes, son, Wayne's got work to do. You need to leave. Wow. So, yeah, I've actually been tossed outta a pig lu wi. So yeah, representing the pig today and Pig lu wiggly. We would love to, for you to be our sponsor. I know it's regional, it's not our national and, and there's probably no pig wiggles in Canada, but we would take you, uh, lovingly as our corporate sponsor. Please, please call us We're ready. For myself, I am wearing my Kansas City Royals. It's the City Connect, not a on field hat, but it's got a fun blue color to it. Got the R with the little crown on top, and then on the side can't really see it, but it has the fountains. The Royals original city Connect is for the city of Fountains that they're known as. And so I got that in honor of opening day for the Royals. They're actually playing your favorite team tonight. They're in Atlanta playing the Braves. Well, you know, it's a scientific fact. When you enter Atlanta, you drop 20 IQ points until you pull up at that enormous humongous airport there in Atlanta. so you lose IQ points. Thankfully it's not June or July or August in Atlanta, so you won't be, you know, the extreme heat in in Atlanta, Georgia. And I will say this wholeheartedly. Go Royals. Thank you. Go Royals. Uh, stop the chopped, as I like to say. Well, let's go ahead and get started here. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna go through each of the divisions and we're gonna predict what, what we think's gonna happen this year. so let me just go through real quick and do a recap from last year, just so everybody can kind of remember what happened. So, in the a l East, the American League East, Toronto ended up winning that division. they tied with the Yankees, however, they had the. tiebreaker. So the Blue Jays won the a l East Yankees finished second, and then Boston finished third. All three of them made the playoffs. And then you had the Tampa Bay Rays and the Baltimore Orioles finished last, the race finished last by two games and that, or sorry, the Orioles finished last in that division by two games. And then my division, the Al Central, uh, the Cleveland Guardians came back from. Good 15, 16 games back and took over and won the Al Central, uh, game over the Detroit Tigers. But both those teams made the playoffs. Kansas City Royals finished just outside by, five games at the Tigers and six games from the Guardians, and so they missed the playoffs. And then you had Minnesota and then Chicago White Sox 60 and 102. So 102 lost White Sox team. Then lastly, in the al, we have the AL West, the Seattle Mariners won that Division three games over the Houston, Astros, the Texas Rangers, the Sacramento A's, and the LA Angels. Seattle was the only team that made the playoffs from that division. Because you had three from the A L East, two from the AL Central, and then just the Seattle Mariners from the AL West. So that was what took place in the, regular season for the al. And then of course, it was the Toronto Blue Jays who wore the A LCS Champs and represented the AL side in the World Series. Then heading over to the National League in the NL East, the Phillies won the division. By 13 full games over the New York Mets who finished second, your Miami Marlins finished third in the division, 17 games back, and then you had Atlanta and the Washington Nationals. the Phillies were the only team in that division to make the playoffs. And then in the NL Central, much like the a LE, there were three teams that made it. Milwaukee ended up winning five games over the Cubs, so they won the A NL Central and then the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds finished second and third. Both of them made the playoffs and then sitting on the outside the St. Louis Cardinals, followed by the Pittsburgh Pirates. And then lastly, in the NL West, of course, as most people expected, LA Dodgers won that division by three games over the San Diego Padres, but the Padres did make the playoffs, and then the San Francisco Giants. The Arizona Diamondbacks, and lastly, the Colorado Rockies at 43 and 119. So they were a full 17 games worse than the White Sox in terms of losses. And so that's kind of how that wrapped up. And then, as you all probably know, the LA Dodgers ended up winning the NL pennant. Played the Blue Jays in the World Series and that was actually a really good game. You know, you and I had talked about end of season did kind of a wrap up and talked about that and it was one of those that were like, blue Jays Dodgers is really anybody gonna care about it? But it was ultimately a really good series went down to what Game seven. And overall it was a really good World series and, but the Dodgers were able to repeat and so they are the defending World Series champs. Yeah, that was a shockingly good World series, and as I think I said this last year, I just don't wanna watch the Blue Jays, but they kinda snuck up on me. I, I don't, watch a lot of Blue Jay baseball. I'm not saying that's a good thing or a bad thing, I stand corrected about the greatness of the Toronto Blue Jays. Pat Larson. If you're listen, we'll listen to this, so All right, well, we're gonna go through then and see what we think for 2026. Now, like I said, more than a, I believe half the teams have already started their season, but I don't think one game's gonna make or break their entire season. It could, but not necessarily. So even though we're doing this technically on the third day. Of the MLB season that I don't think we're gonna have a whole lot of, predictions that, I mean, they could come correct, uh, true, but probably won't. So let's go ahead and start, go back to the a l east here. So we have the Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, and the Baltimore Orioles. Any thoughts on who you think is gonna take the East this year? As always, it's gonna be a really good division. I expect. With the rays back in that dome that those home games will be electric in Tampa Bay. So I don't think we need to sleep on those Tampa Bay Rays. Uh uh, you feel like they're gonna be rejuvenated after playing in a minor league park at home? They're back in, in their home and the future's looking bright for the Tampa Bay Rays, and so they could be a sneaky team in that division. All those teams have really good players. I mean, there's just, it is just loaded. it's gonna be probably right down to the end, but shockingly or not shockingly, give me the new you Yankees, I'm going to, I'm gonna go Yankees in a, in a tough, tough division. You could probably get both wild cards probably, out of that division as well with Boston and Tampa. should be a lot of fun to watch this year. Yeah, no, I would agree with that. So, I think I heard somebody else say it as well, and I would agree with you on that, that Tampa being back in their stadium, uh, I believe they'll, uh, have a little more motivation this year and be excited, like you had mentioned. So I think they'll probably be a little bit better, and they've been pretty good here over the few last, six or so years. But to me, Baltimore, that one was one that was really surprising because they finished. In second in 2024, they got the wild card. So they made the playoffs. Uh, they did lose to the Royals in the playoffs in 2024, but the shocking part of them being so young, but finishing 19 games back. And finishing, 12 games under 500. I didn't expect that from the Orioles. Now, I don't think they're necessarily going to even probably finish in the top two, but I think they'll probably be better this year. So as a whole, and I'll come kind of with you where I believe that that's gonna be a division where, you know, I think it'll be a fight between the blue Jays Yankees and the Red Sox. Red Sox only finished five games back last year. So whereas the Blue Jays and Yankees had the same record, but then the Blue Jays won the, you know, the tiebreaker to win the division and be the top seed. I think it could be pretty close between any of'em. I still think the Blue Jays will make the playoffs, but I don't think they'll take the division again. So I think I'm gonna agree with you on this one. On this year I believe it's gonna be the Yankees, especially with getting cold back. Greatly missed last year. Greatly missed. No, no excuses. Toronto had a great team. Became, you know, eyelash from winning the World Series, you know, really had an outstanding team. So I take nothing away from them in all seriousness, but, I just think with cold back, that'll be kind of the X factor for this season. For the Yankees. Yep. Correct. All right. Let's hop over to the other side. Let's go the NL East. so again, the Phillies won the division last year. You have the New York Mets. who I believe still have Soto, and then they brought over Bob Bette from the Blue Jays, so he's gonna play third base there this year. Your Miami Marlins, who only were four games under 500, you know, they were still 17 games back and missed the playoffs, but compared to two years ago where they weren't quite as good, I felt like they had a, a better season last year. the Marlins and then of course you have Atlanta who really underperformed, but it had a lot to do with injuries. And then of course the Washington National. So in the East, I'll go ahead and start. think that it's probably gonna be the Phillies again. If I had to guess. Miami I feel like will probably be above 500 this year, but I don't know if they have quite enough to be able to get in the playoffs yet. so I honestly think that the. Standings in that will probably be very similar to last year. So I think it'll be the Phillies and then the Mets. Now the Mets right there at the end just missed out on making the playoffs. But I think this year they probably will. but I still feel like Philadelphia is gonna win the division. What about you? I, I agree with you. I think it'll be the Phillies again. I'm begrudgingly of course say that Mr. Caputo, he's just. It is, it is like he sleeps on a bed of money with the Phillies every year over the last several years. yeah, I think the Mets will of course make it close. I think you're right about the Marlins. You, if they can keep it. How many years have they said that Miami, right. If we could keep it together, build, uh, I think they will go undefeated at home on Sundays in the beautiful black and teal as it should be. I wore my, uh, sugar. I have a Sugar Kings golf shirt and hat yesterday and somebody accusing me, uh, accusing me of wearing ole Mista because blue and red and one they said, don't you see? It says Miami Marlins all the time. So people, I guess I get a, I hear this a lot with you, with people saying. is that the Auburn Tigers? No, that's a D for Detroit. So people just see colors and see logos and don't even bother to check to see what the actual team is. Yeah, and it's, and it's kind of that, that really, I love that shade of blue. You know, it's the old course, not the current city connect, but it's got a crown on the front with a EM meal in the back of the caps says Sugar kings. The shirt has on a a, it's a, looks like a, a package of sugar that says Miami Marlins on it. You know? Is that Ole Miss stuff you're wearing? Miami Marlins. well, you know, we had talked about the Marlins two years previous after making the playoffs, what, three years ago? Two years ago. they, a hundred lost year and then they bounced back and, had 17 more wins, than the previous year. So. Again, I think they'll be pretty successful. Successful, excuse me. I don't know that they will quite make the playoffs now. I don't know that it would a hundred percent surprise me if they do. I do think they are gonna be better than four games under 500 this year though. Yeah, it is gonna be fun to watch to see the pro, hopefully the progress of the Marlins this year. But that, that's a good, another good division. Maybe not l East good, but it's, it's good. Good division. the Mets have all that money and talent and Phillies are so, such a well run organization. Good team in the last several years. And so, uh, it, it will be fun to lock watch just as long as the Marons, fish head of the Braves. Again. That's all, you know. That's my trophy. I take, I'll tell you. We, let's, uh, go back to the al this time we're gonna go to my division, the Al Central. again, we had the Guardians who won last year after overcoming a huge deficit late in the season, uh, Detroit had a little bit of a collapse. Now they did get their revenge coming back through the playoffs and the tigers were able to advance on that one. but so we got the guardians, tigers, Royals, twins, and White Sox in that order last year. what do you predict for the Al Central this year? You just feel like there's going to be a year over the last couple seasons where Detroit just breaks out, like they're just right there. Like they're just, they haven't quite gotten to that next level, but they're, they're right there. I'm going to go Detroit. I'm going to go Detroit. Another division that should be really competitive between Cleveland, Kansas City and Detroit. But I, you just think it, like I said, at some point Detroit's gonna take that next step. Yeah, obviously, like I said, one game separated them this past year and I think it's gonna be pretty close again. But I also think it's possible that the royals could finish right there. So I think it could be like a th three, team race, kinda like the a l East with Toronto, New York and Boston. I think it could be Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City. I'm gonna go ahead. I think Cleveland. Probably'cause I know they were, you know, happy that they were to overcome that big deficit and win the division. But then unfortunately because of how the playoffs went and didn't get to advance as far as they would've liked, that they're gonna have a little motivation for that. So I think it'll be Cleveland this year, but again, I think it's gonna be really close. Come down to a couple games, maybe one or two again. and then I think Kansas City's gonna be right there. Now this year. The White Sox. They improve from the year before, 60 wins. I think they'll probably improve. I still think they'll, I actually probably think that they may finish, in fourth instead of fifth. I think Minnesota. With a new manager and they, have a, a lot of new pieces and everything. I think Minnesota's probably gonna be at the bottom this year. I think they'll finish a little bit lower than the White Sox do. But, yeah, gimme the Guardians in the Central this year. Oh, that sounds good. Yeah. It'll be, it'll be another fun division to keep up with another one of those divisions circling over to the NL Central, uh, that had three playoff teams. You had the brewers that finished in first five games up on the Cubs, and then the Reds, uh, were able to make the playoffs as well. Four games over 500. Uh, and then you had the cardinals and the pirates. So I think unfortunately the pirates are probably gonna stay where they're at. They have skis, I believe they have Bubba Chandler, but, I don't know beyond that. They skis did not look good at all yesterday, and the home opener only lasted two thirds of an inning. Coming off being kind of the main guy for the WBC, you figured he would've done a little bit better, but unfortunately not. honestly think it's gonna stay the same. I still think the brewers with their manager, pat Murphy, I think they're gonna win the division again. But I still think that Cubs will probably get a wild card and I can potentially still see the Reds.'cause I've always been high on them. We always. Seem to pick a sleeper team from each, division each or from each, you know, al and uh, nl and I've always been kind of high on the reds lately, but to me, I still think the brewers will win the division again this year. I agree with you. I'll go with the Brewers Cubs Reds could be really, really close. I, I'm gonna go brewers another team like Detroit, just trying to get to that next level. Well, and I know again, it's early and it's only been one game, but the Cubs, did already lose yesterday, 10 to four. So, uh, I don't know if that's early indications or anything, but yeah, it's possible that the Cubs, may not be quite as strong as they were, but I have a feeling they'll probably make and get one of the wildcards, but I don't think that they'll win the division this year. Yeah. Would that, would, that payroll and fan base and the talent that they have, it's hard to count them out, but yeah, I, I agree with you. Absolutely. All right. Johnny got two more divisions. We are looking at the AL West and then the NL West, so we'll start Al West here. Uh, we have the Seattle Mariners who were ever so close, if I'm not mistaken, didn't go to game seven with the Blue Jays and the A LCS. And so they were pretty close making the World Series. Uh, I got the Houston Astros. The Texas Rangers, the Sacramento Athletics, and the LA Angels, and I know it's early, but it's been one game. The Angels beat and I'm pretty sure shut out the Astros already yesterday. So look out for those, uh, angels of Anaheim coming. But any thoughts on the Al West this year, do you think? Seattle, Houston, what do you think? my heart says Mariners. I just, great fan base, passionate fans, great support, always there, thick and thin. I, I just have so much respect for the fan base of that franchise.'cause you, you watch their games, even they didn't have great teams. Those people come and support. They're not Fairweather fans. They, passionate about that team. So I'm going, I'm calling for a Mariners repeat as division champions. Yeah. I, I think I would say the same. Uh, I don't know why, but I feel like the athletics are gonna be a little bit better this year. And even the rangers, rangers finished in third, but we're right at 500. But I feel like they had some injuries. So coming off of that good season, a couple years prior, you know, you would've thought they would've been a little bit better last year. But I think some injuries caught up with them. but I agree. I think Seattle, they picked up, so a few new guys. I kind of agree. I think Seattle will take the AL West again and who knows, maybe they'll be able to get over the hump and. get to the World Series'cause they were pretty close to getting there last year. S in the World Series would be fantastic, you know? Yeah. It's not, not a team you typically see, so Yeah. I think it'd be fun to kinda watch a team you're not used to. if you, you know, again, back to March Madness, if you don't like a traditional Blue Blood in your World Series, you know, A baseball fan and either your team's been eliminated or didn't make it. And well, you know, you had, uh, 50 states pulling for the Mariners against Bluejack. Sorry, Patrick. We all rallied around those Seattle Mariners and like you said, just came a, came up a little short, with the, uh, A LCS and so yeah, I'm going, I'm going Mariners. Yeah. And then lastly is the NL West. Uh, with those La Dodgers, team's been struggling over the last couple years, you know, haven't done a whole lot. So, uh, I got the Padres, the Giants, the Diamondbacks, and then those Rockies 119 Lost Rockies. I always say it every time. You wouldn't think it could get worse, but technically it could. I don't see the Rockies losing more than 119, this year. I still feel like they're gonna be, in last place, but I mean, until they prove or do otherwise, you gotta go with the Dodgers, right? Yeah. That, that's a no brainer. they started last night at the time of this recording and. Arizona foolishly went up two zero just, and it's like they play with their food. They're like a cat, you know? Oh, you gonna get up a two up oh two oh on us, and then next thing you know, it's over. They only won that division last year by three games over the Padres, and although they finished, 24 games above 500 to their standards, I felt like it wasn't as good of a regular season. But you're right. As soon as they make the playoffs, then they just, you know, take over and, but I, again, it was a really good World Series last year and Toronto was right there inches away, a couple different times from, from winning that. But yeah, I don't see any way where the Dodgers don't win that division again. San Diego has a new manager, so I feel like they may not finish quite as good. And then the, giants were right at 500, at 81 and 81, but with the. college coach. I just don't see them being as good this year, so I actually think they're going to finish and fourth, and I think the Diamondbacks will come back a little bit better and they'll jump over them and finish. Possibly, I honestly think they could finish second and then San Diego third, and then of course the Rockies and last. But yeah, at this point I don't see anybody overtaking the Dodgers, two time defending Champs, and until they get proved otherwise, I see them going back to the playoffs again. Something about the, the college manager I saw on Facebook, I guess it was last week, somebody took a picture of a hat from, I guess from a Tennessee store. They had put the Tennessee logo on the side of a Giants hat. I saw that. He saw that with like, what are we doing? Like what do we, you know, when they made that hire and he was a fantastic college coach. But if I'm the manager of the San Jose Giants, I'm in a ball and they bring in some guy who has zero experience in professional baseball to be the manager, major league manager, I'd be like, no. Why am I in ho uh, San Jose, California? You know, making, you know, trying to survive on that salary. And this dude went from one high paying job to a higher paying job, but hasn't paid his dues in the minor league system. And, and, and so he, he might surprise us, the benefit for him, if it doesn't work out, there'll be colleges lining up to hiring. He's gonna have a job. You know, he, it's a, the whole situation for Tony is a win-win, right? I mean mm-hmm. Got a national championship on his resume at Tennessee. he won, he did a great job at Tennessee. So if this doesn't, and I'm not comparing him to the Nick Saban of baseball, but yeah, it didn't work out with the dolphins well. It worked out okay. After we went back to college. Right. You know? Right. Had success in college. It's, it's kind of parallel Saban a little bit. Right. But of course, Saban had NFL experience as an assistant, so it's not quite a apples to apples comparison. But they'll, like I said, they'll be schools. If this thing with the Giants doesn't work out and he fails as a manager, then you know. He'll have a, these bigger programs and baseball will be lining up hiring Well, as we're wrapping up here, uh, I wanna go through kinda like we did last year and pick one sleeper team from the AL and one from the nl. so if I was to go ahead and start, can't really pick much of a sleeper. In the way of the a l East when you had three of the five teams make the playoffs. Now, like you could see Baltimore or even Tampa at least be better than they were last year. but I think the athletics will be my sleeper team. They have, Nick Kurtz and they have Soderstrom and Jacob Wilson, and I think they have some, uh, really good young hitters. Denzel Clark, I believe. So. Not sure about their pitching still at this point. but I think they will, have some pretty good hitting. So for me, gimme in the American League. Gimme those athletics as kind of a sleeper team. Yeah. As you know, I picked them last year. I really liked the commemorative patch. You've seen the patch they're gonna wear this year? Yep. You look at all the cities they've been in, it's. Philadelphia, Kansas City, Oakland, now Sacramento on the, patch. Whew. I, I spoke, I praised them earlier. And like you said, A is is hard, but I just got a feeling about those Tampa Bay Rays. Yeah. they're gonna be a problem. For whoever they play. They're gonna be a problem. Well, well managed. Good organization. I said they've got some brighter days ahead, back home, new ownership, some stability. You know, those fans in Tampa are, will be loud and showing up at that ballpark after a year away. Yeah. Like you said, it's hard to say that's a sleeper because of how good that division is, but I won't go Tampa Bay. and if you're listening, that one's for you. Okay. There you go. Yeah, there you go. Well, Tampa. Then I'll let you start then in the nl. Any thoughts on a sleeper NL team? Ooh, can I do a Florida two shot and with total bias and go my Marlins? Can I go? Can I go raise and Marlins as my sleepers? I mean back showing Florida some love. Why not on this episode? Um. Like I said earlier, they'll be undefeated Sunday at home in those tilled jerseys and black hats as it should be, as I said, right. the magic of the, of the glory days will be back. Even the not glory days. Uh, I saw, I read something today that they, online, I think they've already sold out, and people were paying like$400 for those. Wow. Germans Speaking of that has just what, as I always get sidetracked, we have a, a couple in our church and they're both originally from Arizona and they went on vacation a few weeks ago and they wanted to surprise me with a Jersey Eric Profit. And so they went to the ballpark, went to the shop to custom make a jersey, so they picked out the jersey was gonna have bowling on the back, a real jersey. And the Glenda said they handed her the ticket, it was$375 and she said, we like brother Johnny, but we don't like him that much. it's$75 for a Diamondbacks jersey. It would've had bowling. I don't know what number on the back. Yeah. And I don't think that's in a slight against you. That's just Yeah, that is really expensive. That, that is crazy money, and I just laugh when she told me that the other week. Like, I just thought that was the funniest thing. Like, that it was 375 bucks for a authentic, so on letter we had had a discussion. So she was at talking about Jersey and I said, well, you know, jerseys come in very, you know, the cheaper ones and they're not that cheap. It's the screen all, and they're not cheap, cheap. I said, but when you get into like the authentic with the sono lettering, well that's the N-F-L-M-L-B, the real jerseys, like the players where you're gonna, My Marcus Colson jersey is a flashback to the Saints of years ago was$75 and they had 75% off.'cause the store was going out of bus business and mandible, Louisiana. And so I paid 15 bucks for it. But the sticker on that for a replica screen on numbers and name was 75 bucks years ago. Mm-hmm. I, I would've never envisioned$375. But when I read that today, that Marlin's jerseys were flying off the shelf uh, up to 410. So I guess that is pardon the punt in the ballpark, right. So, well, I was thinking here for my NL Sleeper, I had two teams in mind. And it's funny'cause you basically talked about both. I was thinking Miami originally, and that wouldn't, I don't think you can go wrong with him necessarily, but I think as you'd mentioned Arizona. Give me the Diamondbacks. Mm Uh, I know Corbin Carroll's coming off of an injury, and I don't know if he's back yet or how long he'll be out. Uh, was supposed to be in the WBC, but got her, believe his hand, in spring training. but yeah, when you're talking about them in Arizona and the Diamondbacks jersey, that's my sleep, but that's who I'm gonna go with. I think the Diamondbacks don't know if they can make the, playoffs. it'll be obviously hard to overcome. The Dodgers and I think they could probably get by the Padres because the Padres have a new manager this year, but. still may not be right there to make the playoffs as a wild card team, but my sleeper would be the Diamondbacks good call. Like we, we were talking before we were recording, they just got a cool look. They always have had just to me. Mm-hmm. Their stuff just looks good. Whether you're a fan of the Diamondbacks or not, it's a clever name. Every color combo designs, all that. I love the snake that forms the d that they've used. And, and they, they just, that's just a cool, well designed logo team. You know, I, they, they just really for all these years have just really impressed me with their, their unis and the hats and they, they playing that cool ballpark and, you know, it is just a, it's just a really. Fun team. That's one of those. If you're, you know, if you're at your store store and wanting to buy a hat and you see one of their hats, it's gonna be up there. Like, if it's not your team, you'd be like, Hey, I kinda like that Diamondbacks hat, you know?'cause like I said, the colors and logos are just fantastic. Yeah, I definitely agree on that. Well, Joni, we'll see here. Come. end of season August, September into October, uh, we will revisit, do a end of regular season wrap up. And then, like we typically do, we make our, playoff predictions once those come out. So we'll see how far off we were. didn't stray too far away. We pretty much had the same, picks the route, and it was mostly the same teams. know, who knows? It could be, a lot of new division winners, but at the same time, it could be very well, same teams'cause a lot of, players move around, but at the same time, a lot of them stay there at the same, the same teams. It's not like college and they're gone every, two or three years. So we'll revisit this. See how far off we were? More than likely. Probably quite a bit off like we usually are. really appreciate you joining me today talking as the MLB season starts, and even though, like I said, majority of the team's already started, both the Marlins and the Royals have yet to play. So we'll see, how that pans out, at the end of tonight, once our teams have got our first game underway. But. Even if we lose, still got 161 more after that on the road to 1 62 and oh, that's what we're shooting for. Uh, a perfect season won't happen, and, and the fans of, of the earn fund average, both of you will be will notice without me saying anything. If I'm in a better mood this summer, you know, the Marlins are having a good year. It'll just be there. Right? It'll just be in my voice. The lightness and tone of my voice. I won't, say anything about the Marlins. They'll know. Most of our listeners will know. They'll, they'll know, they'll pick up on it. Well, we appreciate everybody joining us and if you guys wanna throw your division winner predictions out in the comments when we post online, uh, you can find us on Instagram, Twitter, blue sky and threads. give us a follow there. And as always, appreciate everybody listening and Johnny, if you'd start it, I'll finish us off. America and Canada are friends in Canada. Lower your standards average is what Johnny and Eric do best. តូក្តូវងក្លី្តប់នេនៅ។