NHL Playoff Race, Utes spit with Whitt, Ace Bailey Shines, MLB Baseball is here!

The sports world is absolutely buzzing right now and we’ve got you covered on ALL the biggest storylines!

In today’s video:
🏒 The NHL playoff race is going down to the wire — who’s in, who’s out, and which teams are surging at the perfect time?

🏈 Trouble in Utah? We break down the latest on the Utes and Coach Whitt and what it could mean moving forward.

⭐ Rising star Ace Bailey is turning heads — is he the next big thing?

⚾ MLB is officially BACK! Opening action, early reactions, and what to watch this season.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

You are looking live here in beautiful Salt Lake City, Utah, here at DNA HQ on today's episode of the DNA Sports Recap. The Utah Mammoth are in a playoff hunt.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

With the Utah Jazz, is Ace Bailey living up to his number five pick? With Utah football, is there drama with Coach Witt's departure? And MLB is back, and let's also talk some of our favorite moments from WBC.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

All that and more, my name's Darren. That is AJ, and this is the DNA Sports Recap. Roll the intro. I am living the dream here. It is gorgeous outside. A little too warm, honestly, for late March, but for yeah, for March, it's really weird. Yeah. 83, I think, is what it is. It's 79 right now, which is you know, way too warm for when we have great golfing weather. Great golfing weather. Yeah. Yeah, definitely is. We're not golfing either. No, we're not. No, we're not. We're sitting enslaving over a hot computer for you guys. Hours on end for you guys. That's right. You're welcome, though. That's right. All right. So let's go ahead and get into it, man. Let's jump into our first subject. Let's talk a little bit about the Utah Mammoth, shall we? Let's do it. All right, man. So let's go ahead and get it started off with a little bit of discussion about the Utah Mammoth. Um, so the playoff, uh, the playoff race has begun, AJ. There are two teams that have clinched their tickets so far, and this is in the Western Conference. We have Colorado and Dallas. Um, and some teams are getting close to punching their ticket to the postseason. We have, you know, the Buffalo Sabres, the Carolina Hurricanes, Tampa Bay Lightning, and some others. Um, but yeah, right now we have the regular season concluding April 16th. The Mammoth are sitting um in the midst of what I would consider right now as to be a wild card wild card battle for uh with three other teams. Um now Utah holds the top spot at the time of recording with 80 points, uh, only three up from the predators at the time of recording, AJ, which is a little concerning.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

Yeah, and especially because they're way behind the wild. I mean, the wild have 92 points again at the time of recording, so it's not like they're gonna catch them and and surpass them for that next wildcard spot. So they've just got to make sure they keep winning because a couple losses and the predators could take a couple wins, they can catch up to them really fast.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

Well, the the mammoth have the top wild card spot. Oh, the top wildcard spot. Yes, the wild is have the yeah, so the you have sorry, Utah has the top wild card spot, and the predators have the second wild card spot. Oh, okay, because they have because the divisions. Yeah, the division. So yeah, they're the division is out of sight for the state. Yeah, they can't, yeah, they definitely can't win the division. Yeah. I mean, technically they're not numerically eliminated from that, but they are basically. Um, so yeah, the the the two teams, the three teams they have to worry about are the Kings, the Kraken, and the Jets. Those three are the ones that are sitting on the outside looking in. And then we also have the predators that have the second spot, which now again, they're only three points up against the predators right now.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Which at the time of our last conversation when we started talking about this, uh, they were six points ahead of that. So hasn't been exactly a best two weeks of hockey for for the for the mammoth. Not necessarily that they were playing bad, uh, just simply because everybody else is like behind them is just winning. They're just everybody just keeps winning. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. When we talked, they had a 98.9% chance of making the playoffs. That is down to 94% as of as of recording.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

I think if you're in the mammoth, you're not super upset about a 94% chance to make the playoffs, though. No, definitely not. But they do, they got some key games coming up, though, because they got games against the Kings, the Kraken, the Predators, the Blues. So you've got to make sure that through these games you push through, get wins. I mean, you don't got to win all of them. I mean, obviously that's great, but if you can win some of those games, that's gonna help. Um, you know, A, prepare you for the playoffs, right? Good games against good teams. Um, this team, this team needs those games right now to start getting into playoff shape because they're planning on going. That's that's everything they want, that's everything they've been working for. And if they can get into that position, they'll be just fine. So yeah, they got to win some of these super important games that they got coming up for sure.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Absolutely, man. Absolutely. Now, is it possible for them to fall out of contention? Probably not. Um, that's not likely, but the chances of them missing that top wild card spot with which they've held on to for so long would be kind of a bummer to see that slip. Oh, yeah. You know, it's kind of like it's been, you know, again, all the all the numbers are pointing the right way since we added uh that uigan uh kid. Yeah, he's really helped. His his advanced metrics have gone up since coming over here. I mean, nobody over there um in Calgary actually was having a great year, so his numbers weren't exactly great down there, but or up there, wherever we are.

SPEAKER_00 5:33

Um yeah, McKenzie Weager's been huge for this team. I mean you you can just see it. He his he he has a veteran presence that's kind of helped level some things out. He goes out there, he he plays tough hockey. He's been he's been fun to watch, and you can see that he's going to make this team better. And he was kind of that team, that piece that this team needed to kind of keep pushing forward because this team's hungry, man. I mean, they they've been working all season, they wanted to make the playoffs, they're in position to do that now. And by going out and making a move, you know, in in before the trade deadline and getting somebody, it it shows that they're still committed to to achieving that goal.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

So yeah, you definitely point hit it on a point there is that he's been helping this team because especially with Mikkel's servant shirt, Miguel Sir Mikkel Servicheck, his uh overall advanced steps have gone up as well. Yeah. Uh in response to this, to that trade. So those two play together quite well. Um, so yeah, man. I mean, while I'm not expecting them to fall out of contention for the for the playoff spot, seeing a five percent, six percent drop in just two weeks uh does uh perk your eye. Especially with some tough games coming up. Yeah, these games are gonna be important, but the team is, I think, you know, set up and ready for uh a good playoff push here.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

So yeah, they really needed that game against the ducks. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, when they dropped that one and it wasn't even close. I mean, I actually watched that one and they lost, I think, 3-0. That's tough. And yeah, they they really needed that win against the Ducks and they lost it.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

So yeah, well, unfortunately, that's unfortunate, but we want to hear from you folks. Let us know what your thoughts are in the comments down below when it comes to uh the Utah Mammoth. Um, are you concerned about the chances of them sliding out of the playoffs? Um, are you not? We want to hear from you. Uh, we'll keep you guys updated um as this story progresses there within you know more teams clinching. We'll we'll we'll talk about it and we'll see. We'll follow this team all the way down to the end to the April 16th, man.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

And hopefully we can report that they clinched and we're good to go.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

That'd be great. Yeah. That would be great. As a reminder, folks, we did launch a channel specifically for Utah Mammoth called Utah Mammoth DNA. All of our mammoth content will be posted here on this sub channel. If you're watching this on our main channel, DNA Sports Recap during our live stream, or if you're listening on the podcast afterward on the audio. A link to Utah Mammoth DNA will be in the description down below. We will be giving away a hockey jersey once this channel hits a thousand subscribers. Absolutely. Like, subscribe, all the fun things. Absolutely, absolutely. Um, all right, so let's go ahead and pivot on over and talk a little bit about the youth, shall we? Yeah, absolutely. Uh before we do that, actually, uh we just wanted to run this in here, man. We're just so excited to talk about the youths. Let's go ahead and hit one more subject here when it comes to uh the Utah Mammoth. And that's actually that the this came down a couple days ago. Uh the contract extension that we got uh for Caleb.

unknown 8:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

Caleb Desnoyers uh was inked a three-year contract, entry-level contract extension.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

Yeah, I mean, and this is huge for an 18-year-old, right? Uh you know, he was a first-round draft pick a couple years ago. Um, and he did he did have that setback in his first year where he had surgery on his on his hand, I believe, that caused him to miss some time. Um but really he's played really well. He had 78 points in 45 games, um, which is the second best points per game rate in the league. Um, because he was playing down one.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Yeah, in the Montauk Wildcats.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

Yeah. So he's played some, he's played some good hockey. This is this is great to see the Mammoth sign some of these younger players. Um they they've done a good job drafting, and it and unfortunately for these guys, they have a really talented team and they've got good players all over. So for them to be able to sign some guys that they can they can uh keep on contract and keep them, you know, with the club, it it's it's a great look for them. And um it's also really exciting, you know, to to just keep having guys that you can, you know, if you if you've got to make some moves, you've got some pieces that are under contract.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

So for sure. There's a lot of talent on this team that is under in the middle of eight-year contracts, yeah. You know, and this team's really built kind of well. We already talked about on a previous episode how this team's already established itself in year two is kind of a destination place. Like Weigan even uh had to wave his um no trade clause in order to come here. Yeah, while he probably while this probably wasn't the only destination he would have been willing to do that for, that list was probably pretty short. He really liked it where he was at. So yeah, and he spent his whole career there too. Yeah, so to come here and be willing to wave that was kind of huge. And you know, to your point there, like we have these players that are kind of establishing like a core, and then from there we're building throughout the draft, throughout the draft and and kind of up through it. You really like that some of this young talent is getting some contract extensions now. More than likely, he is probably gonna play with the Tucson Roadrunners to start this contract. Uh he probably won't be with the Utah Mammoth, he'll be down in the AHL team. Uh, but this will get him out of the QMJHL uh you know space there. Um he but what I really like about was what Bill Armstrong uh described um Desnoyers as is an incredibly skilled player and extremely bright future. Um yeah, so look forward to him potentially joining the Mammoth at some point during these three years for sure. Yeah, absolutely. As a reminder, folks, we want to hear from you. Let us know what your thoughts are in the comments down below when it comes to the Utah Mammoth. Did you like the Caleb's contract extension? Does it mean something, nothing, everything? You know, what are your thoughts in regards to that and how this team is building itself up overall for more of that more of that prolonged, um, prolonged um what's the word I'm looking for? Depth. Prolonged depth and like uh prolonged like time for building being a contender, basically.

SPEAKER_03 11:24

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

Window. Yeah. Exactly. We want to hear from you. Um as a reminder, folks, Utah Mammoth DNA, channel dedicated specifically for Utah Mammoth. Um, all of our content will be posted on this channel, Utah Mammoth DNA. Uh so be sure to check it out. Once this video, once this channel hits a thousand subscribers, we'll be doing a giveaway. So make sure you uh subscribe to the channel so you don't miss out on that.

SPEAKER_03 11:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

All right, let's go ahead and pivot on over and talk a little bit about the Utah Utes. All right, man. So before we get in the content, before we get in the content, folks, we just we did just want to remind you about the Utah football DNA. This is the channel we have dedicated to all of our Utah football content. All of our content regarding the Utah football will be here on this channel. So if you're watching this on our live stream or you're listening to our podcast or on our main channel, DNA Sports Recap, a link to Utah Football DNA will be in the description down below. So if you are here for our youth content, this is where you want to be. Right here. That's right. That's right. All right, so man, Utah football, man. So when it comes to the U when it comes to Utah, another messy and drama-filled situation of a longtime coach uh moving on in the state. Yeah. It seems like we did this already with Coach Sloan, and uh here we are uh with a T being spilled with Winningham's departure drama. It's uh pretty crazy, pretty crazy.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

Yeah, yeah, it it really has been too. I mean, at first it just it seemed really harmless. Like they were it was a pretty mutual departure, but it seems like quite a few of the details have come out since then, huh?

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Absolutely, absolutely. Let's get into that. Let's quickly hit uh this uh comment here we got from Greg Hawkins. Channel legend Greg Hawkins got gr uh got Miller High Life in hand and DNA Sports Recap on the TV. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Well, cheers to that, my friend. Cheers to you, cheers to you, Greg. Yeah, so uh what we're gonna do here is we're gonna um when it comes to this, I want to break down the timeline. I think that's kind of crucial that we kind of identify this. Now you've probably read the stories, you've probably seen everything out there about this being kind of a messy split. Um, so let's go ahead and talk about that. So Winningham coaches his final regular season game in a 31-21 win over Kansas, finishing the season 10 and 2. Yep. On December 2nd, Winningham's agent informs Utah that he does not plan to retire and seeks a salary raise of over 9.6 million, um, expects another two million for his coaching pool, and is requesting 20 million in NIL funding. This is on December 2nd. December 12th, Whittingham formally announces his decision to step down as head coach for the youths. Now, right there, between those two things, I think is a key piece that we need to hit on. Right? Yeah. And that is after Whittingham's agent submitted to the University of Utah what he would like, the University of Utah came back with a counteroff.

SPEAKER_03 14:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

And that's kind of the key thing that I wanted to touch on that really kind of tells the story here and really kind of puts you in a position where you understand where the youths are coming from, right? So the youths made the counteroffer to Coach Witt. Uh the salary increased to 8 million for the 2026 season instead of the 9 to 9.6 million range that Whittingham wanted. More importantly, uh there was the piece of the loss of control. This still includes that would require that Whittingham secedes control of the program uh to the defensive coordinator slash coach in waiting, Morgan Scalley. Um recruiting and personnel uh limitations. Uh you know, Morgan Scaly would also have full and finer final oversight on overall recruiting of players, personnel, and the team's general, and will be the team's general manager. Right. Right. Uh future staffing, Scaly would actually have complete uh authority over any decisions impacting the program beyond 2026. Um he'd also the youths required that a senior administrator chosen by the athletic director uh would be uh housed full-time within the football facility. Um I think that was the dagger for Coach. Um and again, there's also a termination clause uh that if Witt violated any of these terms, he would be faced with a $500, $500,000 fine for the first violation and uh termination within the second violation. So obviously Whittingham uh did decline this offer, leading to him resignate to his resignation um on December 12th, 2025. A subsequent um separation of uh contract uh basically indendum kind of came into there, which was the Utes would be paying him $13 million uh for separation apart the agreement of his previous contract. So again, that all went down kind of around the December 12th. That's when he found out the counter option. And instead of just instead of just doing the negotiation, there was just a flat out, okay. Whittingham is fully announced formally announcing his decision to step down as head coach for the Utes. Um on the December 13th, the University of Utah um promoted uh promoted Morgan Scally officially to be named the next head coach of the University of Utah, and then expecting Whittingham to stay on and in a more advisory role. Right, absolutely. This is on December 13th. Now, right around that time, I believe this is December 17th, or right around that time. I don't have the exact date on that one. Sorry, my notes are I skipped that part on the date. But anyway, more uh Michigan uh fires head coach Sharone Moore after his arrest, and then Winningham emerges as a top candidate. On December 26, 2025, Michigan announces Kyle Winningham is their new head coach.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

That was the worst Christmas present ever, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

And then Winningham, um, and then late December 2025, uh Whittingham abandons his plans to coach the Vegas Bowl on December 31st to start at Michigan immediately. Now, why why is that part uh initially important? Why is that particular part important?

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Well, I mean it showed you that he was he was ready to move all the way away from the University of Utah.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

Right. Now the youths are definitely unhappy with the way this was handled. Oh, yeah. Um, with the situation. So uh when the athletic director made the first payment, he also accompanied it with a payment of eight million dollars, with the payment of eight million dollars, the first part of this thirteen million dollar severance deal that they had, he included a letter. Um, and the letter basically kind of just stated that they were not happy with how um Coach Whittingham handled the situation. Yeah, there's supposed to be a smooth transition of power from Wittingham over to Morgan Scally, and basically just kind of abandoning the team for the uh during the bowl game was not how they wanted to be handled.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

So that kind of left a sour taste in the mouth for years of Utah.

SPEAKER_00 18:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

So it basically just kind of just starts how there's basically feelings on both sides that basically made it kind of there's a little bit of animosity between the two and creating this whole drama-filled scenario. Now, I kind of talked about my key piece there on why I think things went sour pretty pretty quickly when this discussion. And given, you know, I work full remote and I have a lot of people I work with that are, you know, outside of the this bubble, right? Outside the Utah bubble. And I the question I get the most of from anybody I talk to outside of Utah is if Coach Whittingham was willing to still coach, why isn't he not coaching in Utah?

SPEAKER_00 19:22

The reason that he's not coaching at Utah is because the AD Mark Harlan had come to terms fully. He thinks he thought that Kyle Whittingham's career here had plateaued. He had taken this team as far as he could possibly take it. There there was no further up that he could go. He thought that there was probably more potential. And at that time, Jason Beck, he thought we've got the right offensive coordinator. The offense looked fantastic last year. Morgan Scaly's done a great job with the defense for years. We're good with the way that is. You know, obviously he's going to replace us somebody. We know Colton Swan's going to be a great a great person to take that role over. This football program is in a better position if we can use Kyle Whittingham for his knowledge and keep using him to help recruiting and his legacy. And we can turn this over to Morgan Scally and he can bring a fresh set of eyes to this football program to take it to the next level.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

That was part of the letter where he absolutely they put it in the contract there that he was not able to take on any Joel, any job paid or unpaid, in the state of Utah before 2028. Yeah. That's the key part there that Utah messed up on, they said before 2020. Uh in the state. That's where they messed up.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

But allowed jobs outside of the state. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

Yeah. So I mean, yeah, I mean, the the university was just ready to to put a fresh set of eyes and a fresh person at the helm to run this program. And I I think there might be some truth to that. You know what I mean? Kyle Whittingham did a great job, and he got the pro he got this football program to where it is, and he he coached it. But I think that with the talent that he's able to bring in, I think that it was just that that was that's as far as he could take it. You know, now I'm not saying that he can't do better things with Michigan because he's gonna have much better talent in Michigan. He took a lot of great players, he took a lot of great coaches, um but with with what the resources that he had at the University of Utah, I think he he is plateaued, and I think it needed somebody to put a fresh set and a fresh opinion and just they needed a change, right? And it it's like they weren't trying to do Kyle Whittingham dirty, they were trying to do it the right way and make sure that his legacy as a Utah man stayed intact. And all of this coming out I don't know if it'll tarnish his his reputation because I think as a as a Utah football fan, I don't know if I'll ever have sour feelings for the way that this has all gone down, right? Yeah, he did take a lot of coaches and he took A lot of things that made that, you know, that he'd a lot of players that he'd recruited that were great players that you know Morgan Scally had coached up and made into great players. Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:09

That the that the team was expecting and and the school was expecting, yeah, the program was expecting to maintain in this transition.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

Absolutely. But yeah, I mean that's that's my opinion. That's what I tell everybody. I mean, realistically, I I just think that his his ability to take this team to the next level has plateaued. I don't think he had any more in him to take this team any further.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

I'm gonna have to agree with you on that one. And then one of the things that I've been hearing a lot when it comes to not only just you know podcasts that with people in the know that I've listened to that I follow, and you probably follow the same ones, um, and the people that we've been speaking to that have knowledge up on the hill, is that the University of Utah was just kind of tired of Kyle Whittingham being the end all be all of this program.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

It just got to the point where you know, it's time for, like you mentioned, it's time to move on. Um can he achieve greatness else elsewhere? Absolutely. Um, but I definitely think his time had his time had run out here at the University of Utah as the head coach. You know, it's could it have happened earlier? I think it should have. Yeah. But this is definitely, you know, I don't think if the team didn't struggle the way it did, he probably would have retired. I mean, he mentioned that that retirement was on the table, yeah, but he just didn't want to go out like that. So we figured 10 and two season he might retire after that. You know, just come out and say like he's stepping down and then immediately taking a head coaching job somewhere else was kind of blindsided. Now the full story has been released on why we now know why that is the case. He wasn't done coaching football, and he, you know, basically just like, oh, okay, well, you know, you folks were ready to move on. I guess I'm ready to move on too. I don't think there's gonna be any sour blood. I think this is one of those things, just like uh Coach Sloan, uh, very similar situation with Coach Sloan. He kind of ran his course in Utah for the Utah Jazz before and honestly stayed on longer than he should have. The game kind of changed. Yeah. And I think in college football, the game has kind of changed as well. Like you need, you know, at the University of Utah, you need somebody who's gonna be more specific to the NIL, not the traditional recruiting route that Coach Whittingham's better at. You know, at Michigan, he's gonna have a brand behind him that's gonna help out with that kind of side of things. Uh that's gonna be a little bit more he's gonna have a brand and NIL money behind him. Yes, exactly. Which he didn't really have here at Utah.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

So well, and and the whole brand that he had here at Utah, he built. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

I mean, he was the brand at Utah. Yeah, so just similar to like the Coach Sloan situation, I think this is gonna die down over time. Yeah. And we're he's gonna be known for the legacy that he left behind. Not necessarily his messy exit.

SPEAKER_00 24:41

Yeah, no, I totally agree. And I and I really do look forward to the different set of eyes and the fresh approach, uh, the fresh approach that I think Morgan Scaly can bring. Um, I think that you know, we have we have lots of options as far as this team can be really good. And and I think Morgan Scaly has the ability to take him to the next level.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

Absolutely. Let's go ahead and hit a few comments here before we move on. Mark Arn is a terrible AD and Winningham peaked in 2019 and would have retired by now if not for Cam Rising's uh resurrecting his career in 2023 and especially 2024 with the exhaustible, with the inexhaustible coaching jobs. Yeah, I'd have to like there's a little bit of truth to that for sure, because there's part of that where you know, back to back years, the University of Utah was on a fifth string quarterback and he was just trying to get through. There might have been a chance there where, like, hey, once Ken Rising comes back, we're gonna make a run for this one more time. We're gonna, you know, try to either a finish off the Pac-12 as conference champions, and we'll just write off right off in the sunset then or like his first year in, and then just everything went a different direction. Yeah, you know, the next comments are exactly it, too. We got the next one here from uh Greg Hawkins. Uh I will never miss the will he, won't he game uh game Winningham play with rising for like four years. Yeah, and you know, I believe the University of Utah got fined for that, didn't they? Because just like everything else, everything's owned by the betting houses now. And so if you're not letting out to know what the who's playing before like hours before the game starts, you know, yeah, it's becoming an issue. So I know he didn't like playing that way. So yeah, I'm I'm right there with you though. I I hated that. I hated seeing Cam rising warming up on on the field in pads, and just have not just not have him in the game at all. Yeah, I got really tired of seeing that. Like if he's not playing, he's not playing. Let us know.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

And we did a lot of and we did a lot of talking about that too.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 26:38

I mean, I mean, you go back to some of our previous videos, and we talked a lot about will Cam rising play. It was all, I mean, it was the biggest story because we just didn't know what was gonna happen. And it was all based on Kyle Whittingham and his reports of if he's ready to go, if the coach, if the he's a game time decision, and if the doctors say yes, he's gonna play. And you know, that was that was it.

SPEAKER_01 26:59

Yeah, and then game time happens and he's not out there, and he's not out there, yeah. Yeah, it's it was awesome. Ken uh Whittingham has a brand and NIL money now and still chooses to recruit out of Lehigh and Trade. That's where he's comfortable, man. That's where he's gonna go. Absolutely. Exactly. Why why you know I get totally get that? Yeah, you know, his mansion in Michigan's not ready yet, you know. Um, and this is my favorite one. I'm not salty, I'm kind of salty. Yeah, I'm 100% right there with you, man. Um, yeah, I just think it's kind of funny because that is something we hear a lot about, like why, and we thought that too. If he wasn't gonna play at Utah, we thought of our coach at Utah, we thought he was gonna retire. Yeah, and so to come out. He'd just be done. He would just be done. And then, you know, this whole thing comes out, and then you know, after they after the arrest slash firing of the Michigan head coach there, and then Winningham emerges as a top candidate, you're like, Oh, okay, maybe I'm not done. Yeah, you know, maybe I can just you know step out of this advisory role and make a run at it. Yeah, and maybe he had a bit of sour grapes and now has something to prove, you know, in a Big Ten school.

SPEAKER_00 28:00

And maybe it re maybe it kind of reignited that fire for him for for Utah to say, hey, we're ready to move on. You know what I mean? Like we're we're ready for Morgan Scally to take the reins and start leading this team to the the direction we wanted to go, which is we want to win a Big 12 championship, we want to do it next year. These are all the things we think we can that we think we can accomplish, and we're just not sure you're the guy for it. Yeah, you know, like as a head coach, I'm sure you're like, challenge accepted, watch this. I'll go win the Big Ten. Yeah. Watch him do it too. It's the toughest conference in college football. Of course, he's good. That's exactly what he wants to do.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

Yeah, watch him do it too. He's got the talent, he's got the money. And he's a great head coach. He's a great coach. Yeah, we want to see it, man. Love to see it. Um, again, we want to hear from you folks. Let us know what your thoughts are in the comments down below when it comes to this whole situation. We want to hear from you uh on anything regarding this, um, you know, his departure, all this, all these records that are coming out after. You know, what are your thoughts on all this? We want to hear from you. Absolutely. Let us know your thoughts. Yeah, without burning uh sources or anything like that. We kind of understood the writing on the wall for this already. You know, the people in the room, the money in the room, uh were ready to move on uh from wits, and they were basically holding back the purse strings and basically said, as long as Wit's in charge, we're not giving you another money, we're not we're not spending money.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

We're not gonna make those that many changes. Yeah, and we're definitely not paying him even more money to do the same thing again.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

Yes. Which, if you really think about it, Utah is getting a steal at that guy.

SPEAKER_00 29:29

Oh, absolutely. I mean, uh realistically, they countered him with eight million and to move him into an advisory role. Yeah, I mean, hey, that's that is literally just like here, take take our money, help Morgan Scally however you can. Eight million?

SPEAKER_01 29:44

Like, come on now. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

Yeah, and his current contract, he did have uh, if he chose to retire, he was still getting paid three and a half million dollars for like three more years, for three more years. So, you know, no crying for a coach witt, that's for sure. Um, let's go ahead and move on over to some of our happier news, shall we? Absolutely. All right, so this was an article that was in uh Sports Illustrated, uh, which is fantastic. I think Sports Illustrated does a great job covering college sports and not just because they seem to have a have a shining towards the University of Utah. No, it's my favorite place to read Utah news, man. I know. Just like the like they seriously need to reach out to you for commentary because I really think they should. You're the eternal touching. I got you. You're the internal Utah Optimist. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:27

So but but but explain why I'm the eternal Utah Optimist and how this story sinks up so good.

SPEAKER_01 30:33

So for this article on SI.com, we'll link to it in the description down below, uh, if we can bother to remember. Uh, sitting uh what it says is it states that the FanDuel's sportsbook released their odds on who's gonna be winning the conference. Shocker to no one that the defending conference champions, Texas Tech, is holding on the top spot at a negative 115 uh on odds to repeat. But coming in in a distant number two is the University of Utah at plus 700.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

Hey Darum, where did I have Utah finishing this year in the top five rankings in the Big 12? Uh, I'm gonna have to check. Uh, I'm gonna link down below. Uh, I think you have actually, you know what? I'll edit this one. I'll put the I'll put the video right here. Okay, right here. You guys check it out.

SPEAKER_01 31:17

Yes, so there you go. You had the University of Utah taking second behind Texas Tech. Crazy.

SPEAKER_00 31:24

Funny how that works. Crazy. And betting odds, and for the record, this was before this article came out. Okay, this is way before betting odds.

SPEAKER_01 31:32

It was posted on the internet.

SPEAKER_00 31:33

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 31:34

You nailed it, dude. You nailed it.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

I have Utah as the number two team in the conference. Okay, so why don't you explain to us why that is? What's the justification behind this? Uh the the biggest justification is they are this team is returning enough key players all the way through that they are going to be able to make a difference in every single game. And their over-under at eight and a half wins is too low. Like you you take the over on that every single time. And this team, when they got back, Bird Ficklin and Devin Dampier, you knew this team could continue to make a run, right? Regardless of who the offensive coordinator is. I think Jason Beck is is great, and we just got a comment about the offensive coordinator, but but but Jason Beck, as great as he was and as great as he used Devin Dampier, I think that Kevin McGivin will be able to do the exact same thing. I think that he's gonna have he's gonna be able to get the best out of these two quarterbacks. Um, Braden Pegan is a great player. Um, and and I've been watching the University of Utah, their spring camp. I watch every single video, and he's already talking about the chemistry that he's got with Pegan. And just like I predicted in the video, I think he's gonna be one of their top receiving targets. Morgan Scally defenses are always tough. This team is still gonna be hard-nosed, they're still gonna be relentless, smart, nasty ball hawks, just like Morgan Scally. He's coaching nothing but relentless effort. That is what you need from a Utah football team, and they have a favorable schedule. Uh, they you know the you miss you miss TC, you or you miss Texas Tech this year. Um, and and when you're when the first time you're gonna see them could potentially be in a Big 12 championship game, that's where you want it to be. On a neutral field. I'm all in, man. I mean that that's the reason that they're there.

SPEAKER_01 33:35

Yeah, yeah. I'd have to agree with you on that one. Let's go ahead and hit that comment from Greg Hawkins. I'm not sold on the offensive coordinator, I'll have to see it before I believe it. Um 100% agree on that, man.

SPEAKER_00 33:46

But but I would say, Greg, go watch some Utah State games from last year because because if you see what he did with Bryson Barnes and the player that he made Bryson Barnes into, we watched a ton of Bryson Barnes over the last couple of weeks. And and and that's that's just it. Like he made him, he he made him use his legs more because Bryson Barnes was always a strong runner. Hey, he wasn't fast, but he was crafty, he could move. If you go watch those, just just a few of those games, even just the highlights of those games, you see how crafty he is with offense. And it gives you a lot of hope. I mean, it gave me a lot of hope. I'm just like, okay, with the talent that Utah has, this is this is what we needed.

SPEAKER_01 34:28

Yeah, I I I agree with you on a few things. One, definitely, the favorable schedule is definitely playing in their favor for sure. Absolutely. Uh, when it comes to that on this, uh, another one is also Utah is close to finishing a $500 million private equity deal with uh or Otro uh Otro Capital, uh, which might have something to do with that. Um, you know, it sure does help competitiveness when you got a little bit of money to spend. Yeah, so I think that also plays a big part of it. So if that's to if that's to happen before the season starts, you know, expect that to move the needle a little bit for a lot of folks that would choose to come to Utah for sure. Um or just simply put Utah in a great light going forward. It's also worth noting, folks, that on the same thing that uh BYU is right on them, and this is no soaking reference for those people down south, but they also have a 750 odds, so they were right behind the University of Utah 750. So spot on. BYU is right is is neck and neck. I said they were number three. That's true.

SPEAKER_00 35:27

Again, nailing it. They're nailing it all day. All day, AJ. That's what I'm here for, man. For my my expertise. It's great. You know what I mean? It's great. A little victory laugh for AJ on this part of the episode. I'll take it, man. You know what I mean? Because that video didn't get watched very much, but I was waiting to be trashed in the comments on that one. Yeah, exactly. But now we got some backup, you know what I mean? Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

So we'll link that one and we'll link this one to that one.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

Yeah, FanDuel says I'm right.

SPEAKER_01 35:53

So exactly. And when are they wrong? Yeah. Hashtag never sponsor us. Uh please tell. Yeah. As a reminder, folks, we did launch a channel specifically for the University of Utah. Call it Utah Football DNA. All of our Utah football content will be placed here. So if you're watching this on our live stream on our on our or on our main channel, DNA Sports Recap, a link to Utah Football DNA will be in the description down below. Uh, if you're listening to this to on the podcast, same thing there in the description. Check out Utah Football DNA. If that's what you're here for, be sure to subscribe to that. Like, subscribe, comment, let us know what you guys think. Exactly. We'll be giving away something once that channel hits a thousand subscribers. So be sure to check it out. Yep. Um, think uh your tickets or maybe uh some kind of some kind of giveaway. We'll give away something.

SPEAKER_00 36:38

We'll give away something. Just like and subscribe.

SPEAKER_01 36:40

Do the things. I love it. All right, let's go ahead and pivot on over and talk a little about the uh the Utah Jazz.

SPEAKER_02 36:46

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

Before we get into the content, folks, we did want to remind you about Utah Jazz DNA. Uh, we want to encourage you to join the conversation in the comments down below. While you're down there, consider subscribing to Utah Jazz DNA. Smash that boy, uh, smash that like button for your boy AJ right over there. It makes him smile. And uh yeah, so consider subscribing to this channel. We'll be giving away one of those sweet Utah Black Road jerseys uh once this channel hits a thousand subscribers. Yeah, those mountain jerseys are badass. Yeah, they're super cool. Yeah, I also like the pullovers that just have the mountains.

SPEAKER_00 37:24

Oh, I do like them a lot too. Yeah, it's just like the like the stick mountains.

SPEAKER_01 37:28

Yeah, yeah, I like super sick. I want to give me one of those for sure. Yeah, um, all right. So let's go ahead and jump right into it. I want to talk a few things about the Utah Jazz here. The second subject, so be sure to stick around on that. That one's called a tease. A little bit into the uh conspiracy theory realm, uh something we want to talk about, which we want to hear you guys' impact on uh your thoughts on. So let us know what you thought are your thoughts are in the comments down below. But let's go ahead and start with Ace Bailey, man. Oh, yeah. Um, so this kid, man, we wanted to talk about how is this kid living up to the number five pick that he was selected in the last in last year's draft, right? Um so on the app on the season, AJ, he's averaging 13.4 points per game, 47% from the field, 36% from three, uh, so 47% overall, 51% from two. Um, but mainly, AJ, over the last three games, this guy's kicked it into another level. Uh he's had averaging 31 points per game, three and a half assists per game, and seven rebounds. Um, if you look at his top 20 games of the year, uh there is definitely a trend that you can see that's pretty, pretty kind of just jumps out at you.

SPEAKER_03 38:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:33

And that's been when you give this kid 30 minutes on the court, he's averaging over 20 points per game. And that just shows you when you give this kid some minutes, he will produce.

SPEAKER_00 38:42

Yeah. Absolutely awesome. It it is, and it's been it's been really fun, really fun to see Ace just just change the whole way that he sees the game of basketball. You know what I mean? Because you think when we went back and we picked this kid, there was a bunch of controversy around him. We didn't know if he was gonna be the player that everyone said he could be. You know, there was drama, he didn't want to go here, his agent was pushing him certain directions. He was shorter than he said on the shorter, like there. I mean, you name it, there was this drama around this kid, but he's been getting better and then better, and then even a little bit better, and you can just really tell that the game of basketball for him at the NBA speed has just slowed down. And I I am so looking forward to a full season with NBA trainers and NBA, you know, being around NBA players, and and really you you can see that Ace's main goal is to be a starter next season. He wants to be on the floor when we have JJJ out there and Walker Kessler and Laurie Markinen and Keontae George. He wants to show that he can contribute in those minutes. And if he can get 30 minutes a night and do this, is he gonna have that kind of production with those guys on the floor? No, probably not.

SPEAKER_01 40:01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:01

And absolutely, and that's some of that to the and that's uh there's absolutely that that is some of the reason, right? He is the guy that needs to score while he's out there with 10-day guys, but you can see that he's putting in the effort, and it's not just the offensive side of the ball, it's the defensive side of the ball. He had five blocks, I think, a couple nights ago in one game where he had over 25 points. Like, that is very, very impressive. And if he can produce that much on the defensive side of the ball, that's where he's gonna earn those minutes, and and that's how he's continuing to show that he's worth the number five pick because he can play defense. We we knew he was gonna be a great scorer. He was kind of like a borderline, he's supposed to be a good defensive player. Is he really big enough to be an effective defensive player in the NBA? We'll see. Is he fast enough? Like there's a lot of questions around him. But he's he's there, man. I mean, he's got when you put his offensive talent out there and his defensive effort out there with Lari and and Keontae. This kid, this kid's gonna live up to the hype, I think. I think he's really got a chance. Does he start next year? I I think there's a chance. I I really think that you could see Ace Bailey in the starting rotation at some point next year.

SPEAKER_01 41:17

Last week we were playing around with the whole Utah Jazz signing Austin Reeves in the offseason. Absolutely, yeah. And he's really kind of the only position you would have to give up to get him. Yeah. And that's one of my main reasons why I was not okay with it.

SPEAKER_00 41:31

With the Austin Reeves, yeah. Yeah, you Ace Bailey's gone if they take Austin Reeves.

SPEAKER_01 41:36

Yeah, he would have to be well, he would be traded, but again, you would trade him for what? Right?

SPEAKER_00 41:41

Like, yeah, we don't need picks, we need players. We do we need players? Well, no, no, but I'm just like Austin Reeves is the player, right? You know what I mean? Like exactly we're we've moved from rebuilding and trying to to draft players to we need we need player capital now, right? We're we're we've we've moved away from the win then now. We we want to win now.

SPEAKER_01 42:04

I think I think the Ace Bailey conversation is perfect for what we're talking about now because we're coming down to the end of the season. Yes, he's playing a bunch of you know, playing with a bunch of 10-day contract guys, so of course he's gonna be scoring. It's the efficiency that's the important part. Absolutely. His shot efficiency is up, his all of his point percentage points on the field for his shot selections all all up. He's got more turnovers, but again, 10-day contracts. You throw a bad pass to somebody who's not expecting it, that's your turnover. So there's a little bit more of that too. But you got to keep in mind, like, even in the beginning, he's not playing against 10-day guys. Correct. You know, that's that's such a great point, actually. There are some players, he's still playing NBA players, yeah. He's not playing 10-day guys, he's having to produce against players that are still trying to win games. Yeah, so I think it's very important that we kind of keep that in mind. I do want Ace Bailey to be the starting two guard on this team uh with Keontae George as the starting point guard. I think both of those two players have earned their right to really kind of give the reins to and see what happens with this team. Because you got those two guys in the backcourt. First of all, length, hello. That's insane. It just that's like a you know my wet dream right there. We actually have length on this team. We're not running out of point guard that's an inch shorter than me out there. Yeah. You know, it's it's a little ridiculous. But on the same side of that, there it's you know, you have these two incredibly young talent, talented players with a Walker Kessler. Yes, we are re-signing him, he's not going anywhere, with Larry Markinen and Triple J. You know, I mean, that's just that's an insane lineup, man. It is. I don't I don't even think we're talking play-in in the Western Conference at that point.

SPEAKER_00 43:43

No, I think you make I think you make the playoffs. Yeah, I mean, I don't think you're even worried. I mean, I think you're and you you always ask the health question, right? Because we've had so many we know we know where the health question is question is the last couple years. But if you can keep this team healthy, if you can just, you know, rest guys for actual reasons like, hey, we're trying to extend their NBA season, this team, this team is gonna be there. They've got enough talent, they've put together, they've developed enough players. We all know that uh Will Hardy's a great coach. He's done a great job. He's done what they've asked him to. Hey, get us in this position. This is where we need to be, this is how many games we need to win. He's done the things that he needed to do. And and when you can take those reins off and say, hey, Will, it's time to go now. Like we we we need to win. It's time to win. It's time we've wanted to bring a championship to Utah. You now have a team assembled that you can do that with. Now let's see what you can do.

SPEAKER_01 44:46

Yeah. I when it comes to to Will Hardy, I think he's chopping at the bit, man. He knows he's getting paid to lose games right now. And but he's trying to lose games but still build a winning culture. But exactly.

SPEAKER_00 44:58

He's he's trying to coach a culture that is a winning culture and a team first and be all in for the for the guy next to you, but also you're not playing, you're not playing, you're not playing, you're not playing. We're gonna do our best.

SPEAKER_01 45:13

Yeah, like hey, everybody else, you guys want to be with this team next year? Or you want one of the other 29 teams to pick you up next year off this 10 day? Yeah, I'm gonna need the best out of you. Yep, but not too much because we still need you to lose. Yeah, but take it easy. Yeah, exactly. Speaking of which, man, I I want to talk on that. Like, yeah, I do think that uh these two that Ace Bailey is playing up to the number five pick. You know, he's not lighting it up like Conka Nipple or anything like that, who's probably gonna win rookie of the year over over Cooper Flag.

SPEAKER_00 45:39

It does appear that way, yeah. Yeah, so you know, remember we a while ago when we said that oh dude, you I was I forgot to say something. I forgot about this. Did you see the Keontae George most improved player dilemma? No, Keontae George, they say he could be a front runner for most improved player. Okay, okay, but if he doesn't play in 10 of the last 12 games, he'll miss the 65-game deadline. He won't qualify for it, he won't qualify. So it's curious to see, and I the jazz game's on now. If you guys are available, let us know if Keonta is playing because if he's available, he could potentially win most improved player, but he has to play in like 10 of the last 12.

SPEAKER_01 46:21

Yeah, let us know. If you could pull yourself away from Netflix, uh more on that to come later, which by the way, that's a that's a teaser for the next segment. Yeah, absolutely. But yeah, dude, I I yeah, I think that's awesome, man. We're gonna have to cover that a little bit. Yeah, we will. I'm sorry. Definitely cover that. Yeah. Um, I also future subject that I want to talk about right now that we're gonna tease for next week is with the vote. The vote passed today, by the way, in the NBA for them yeah. The expansion teams. Yeah. The expansion teams. You know what that means?

SPEAKER_00 46:48

That means the supersonics are potentially coming back?

SPEAKER_01 46:52

Yes, but more importantly, expansion draft. Utah Jazz can only pick eight players to protect. Who are you picking and why?

SPEAKER_00 46:59

Oh, that is a good one.

SPEAKER_01 47:00

Stay tuned for next week.

SPEAKER_00 47:01

Next week. Oh, dude, that is so good. Um put that up there right now.

SPEAKER_01 47:06

Yeah, absolutely. Uh, I want to hit this comment here before we move on to the subject here. We got McKinley Cutler. Thank you very much for joining us again, McKinley. Absolutely. Seven blocks is crazy for our def for our defense, and he's going to be nasty next year. Yes. Yes, it's gonna be nasty next year for sure. And I want to hit this one up because yeah, it's totally it's worth talking about. Um, I also missed the part about Kyle Whittingham's news, but what was crazy that Mark Harlan Mark Harlan might be on the hot seat for the youths fall short next fall.

SPEAKER_00 47:32

Um sorry, McKinley, but the youths aren't falling short next year. Okay. Number two in the conference. Make sure you go back and rewatch it. I predicted it. FanDuel's got it. We'll catch you up. Yeah. It's great.

unknown 47:43

It's great.

SPEAKER_00 47:44

BYU right behind him on the 750. Yeah. Hey, right where I put him in my rankings, too.

SPEAKER_01 47:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:50

All respect.

SPEAKER_01 47:50

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, all love. No comments on my soaking comment, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 47:54

Nothing. Yeah, nothing. I just spaced it. Yeah. I was just like, I'm not even going to say anything. I'm not even going there. Come on, Greg. Not even you. Yeah, Greg, that was that's more surprising than me, is Greg not saying anything.

SPEAKER_01 48:06

Absolutely. Um, anyway, so I did want to continue the conversation about the Utah Jazz. We talked about how deep this team's gonna be. One of those death pieces is gonna be Yousuf Nurkic. Um, you know, and it was announced about a month ago, uh, almost to the day, by the way, uh, that he was going to be out for the rest of the season to undergo surgery for fixing uh his breathing and sleeping issues caused by a previous fracture. Uh this guy was in a final year of a four-year, $70 million contract. The Utah Jazz are paying him 19.4 million to sit on the bench for the last two years. Uh sorry, the last two months of his of the season. Two plus months of the season. Yeah. So my question to you is, AJ, when you're this is where the conspiracy theory kind of jumps in. He's only 31 years old. He's got a chance for another good payday coming up. Yeah. And he dis willingly decides to sit out the rest of the year to fix a deviate septum or something that's causing him. I think that's actually what it was.

SPEAKER_00 49:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:07

And that's something I I had that surgery, and believe it or not, I was back to 100% like two weeks after that.

unknown 49:14

Right.

SPEAKER_01 49:15

Full breathe, full breathing, everything.

SPEAKER_00 49:17

But you're not an NBA player.

SPEAKER_01 49:18

But I'm not an NBA player, so the stress on my breathing. Yeah, exactly. Um not yet. Yeah. No, yeah, definitely. So we were thinking when we were talking about this, like, this is a serviceable big man on a serviceable big man on a third 31 years old on a contract year. Uh, why the heck would you sit out and agree to do that for the last two plus months of your season to fix your nose unless you knew that it wasn't your last year of your contract? Is there a potential that the Jazz have a handshake deal with Nurkick?

SPEAKER_00 49:51

I think that's the only explanation. I think that they have already negotiated a salary um with Nurkic. I mean, we all know how great of an addition he was. And it's crazy because I can say myself, I didn't when the Jazz picked up Nurkic, I was just like, why are we getting this guy? Like, it doesn't make any sense. We've got Walker Kessler, you know, we've got like we just drafted a six foot eight guy. Like, where does he fit into this rotation? I just I didn't see it. But then we saw him play, you know, and like and and to to not just see him play against your team, but to see him play with your team and to see again the presence that he brings when he's on the floor, the effort that he plays with. The dude has so much basketball intelligence. He makes great passes. He just, I mean, great energy. I mean, realistically, he was very healthy the whole season. I mean, the only reason he got shut down this year was because the Jazz decided that he needed a surgery. They're like, What do you got broken? He's like, I snore a little bit. And they're like, Yeah, that's it. You're out the rest of the year. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:56

I mean, yeah, wait a minute. That looks like a deviated septum right there.

SPEAKER_00 51:00

That's deviated for sure. You're out. Um, anybody, JJJ, he's like, my knee, like I bumped it, and they're like, Yep, that's surgery too. I mean, they're just handing surgeries out to people at the end of this year. Um, but but he did, he he played such a great game um for the whole time that he was here. And and it's kind of funny because we realized as we, you know, we needed that depth, and we'll need it next year too. Right. For sure. Well, uh Walker Kessler, as much as we all love him, has not been healthy. He he got hurt, that that shoulders caused him a ton of issues. Hopefully he's got it repaired and he's ready to go next year. But but in the event that he isn't, you're gonna want someone like Yusuf Nerdkich. And it and if you've already got a handshake deal that says, hey, we'll pay you eight million a year, that's totally within our budget. Um, how do you like Utah? And he's just like, oh, and you know, in Bosnia and like thumbs up or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 51:48

I don't think it's anywhere near 8 million. I think it's well north of that.

SPEAKER_00 51:51

Uh I'm just saying whatever that is.

SPEAKER_01 51:53

Absolutely. I think they're giving him close to what he made this year. I think that's the only way you get him. Which could be, yeah. The only way you get him to agree to sit on a contract year.

SPEAKER_00 52:04

I I just wonder if you 15. The jazz are really good at building contracts, front loading them on this year, and then decreasing their value. So that could be the case, right? Maybe they pay him, maybe they're paying him 40 million and 20 in the first year and then you know, 10, 5, 5, or whatever, 40 million on five years or so. Why is it marketing's contract the opposite?

SPEAKER_01 52:25

Why is it so back heavy?

SPEAKER_00 52:27

Well, they had they had to do marketins because of the way the other contracts were all built in, though. I guess so. Right? Because like the JC contract went up. So they needed marketins to be higher and then go back down or be lower and then go back up.

SPEAKER_01 52:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:40

So you're you're, I mean, you're gonna continue to to play that game with every contract, right? So that you can balance the salary cap out every year.

SPEAKER_01 52:47

Yeah. I agree with you on that one, man. I definitely think that he's gonna be back next year with the Utah Jazz just simply because, again, to your point, depth piece, I don't think Flip's gonna be um able to contribute the way that Jazz would need a backup center to be contributing with with the issues that you mentioned with Lar with Walker Kessler.

SPEAKER_00 53:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:06

You know, Flip's development, he's gonna need another year.

SPEAKER_00 53:09

Flip needs another year, maybe two years, and and then you ask the question is he ever going to be ready to be any sort of a defensive player and not just a turnstyle? Yeah. Because he's horrible at all. No, no, he can he he's not a turnstile, he'll just get four fouls in one quarter and then have to sit. Yeah, and that's his whole time. He's just like, yeah, sorry, I got four fouls, I can't touch anybody at this point. So what do you want me to do? It's the T-Rex Rs, man.

SPEAKER_01 53:32

Oh, dude. That's what it is. That's what his his reach just isn't there for his size. Um, yeah, it's but you know, again, with it how much length this team's gonna have going into next year. You got triple J is a power forward, being that help help the helper defense. Maybe that covers up some of uh Flip's uh shortcomings there, you know.

SPEAKER_00 53:50

But could you imagine going in there and then you beat Walker Kessler and now triple J's coming over to just swat your shot into the third row?

SPEAKER_01 53:57

Yeah, and Kessler is smart enough on the defensive end to help uh cover the back.

SPEAKER_00 54:00

Yeah, you know, so it's just yeah, once he gets beat, he's down and back up to swat it again.

SPEAKER_01 54:04

Yeah, there's just always been the problem for the jazz ever since Rudy was gone. Even when Rudy was here, there was nobody helping the helper. Never. Like he would always come back on that help defense, and there was nobody there to take his guy for the putback. So you'd love to see it. You'd love to see the size that they're gonna have. Uh once again, folks, we did launch a channel specifically for your Utah Jazz called Utah Jazz DNA. All of our jazz content will be posted here on this channel. So if you're watching this on our live stream, by the way, thank you for joining us. We do this every Wednesday at 7:30 mountain time. Uh, be sure to check us out. Uh, if you're watching this on our live stream or listening to us on our podcast, be sure to check out Utah Jazz DNA. A link to that channel will be in the description down below. If you're here for the jazz content, let us know what you think about the Utah Jazz. Let us know what you think about Ace Bailey, Yousuf Nurkic in the comments down below. Smash that like button, subscribe to this channel, and uh yeah, we'll be doing a like, comment, subscribe, all the things. All the things. We'll be doing a giveaway once this channel hits a thousand subscribers. Let us know what your thoughts are in the comments about what we should do.

SPEAKER_00 55:00

Yeah, I want to give away one of those road jerseys, but if you guys want to do something else, let me know. And make sure you guys tune in next week. We got lots of good stuff coming. I am I am so excited. That's just such a good that is such a good thing, dude.

SPEAKER_01 55:10

Yep, it's gonna be fun. Yeah. All right, let's go ahead and pivot on over and talk some baseball, shall we? Yep, let's do Major League Baseball. AJ, we are here, my friend. We are here. It is opening night. And you know, let's get in, we'll get into that here in a minute. Yeah. For everybody watching on Netflix, appreciate it. Thanks for tuning in to um this little baseball channel we got going on, uh, which I'll get into all that here.

SPEAKER_00 55:41

Also, we have some people watching, I'm sure, and I have seen Greg, and I'm looking directly at you. If you can't, yeah, yeah, you you have not subscribed to Major League DNA, and it's very disappointing.

SPEAKER_01 55:52

As a reminder, folks, we did just launch a channel specifically for Major League Baseball called Major League DNA. Uh, we've actually had several people uh saying that we need to create a channel for baseball because it's one of our top discussed uh topics on this channel, and we have a lot of views on this uh um on this subject, so we had to definitely um put together a channel for it. Yeah, can't help but notice that it's not centered, AJ. It is centered.

SPEAKER_00 56:17

I double checked all of them before I put them on here. Maybe we're not centered here. It could be. Is that better?

SPEAKER_01 56:24

It could be. I might be league in anyway. Yeah, I think you're leaning. Yeah, lean that way. You got it, man. You got it. But as a reminder, folks, we did the launch a channel specifically for Major League Baseball called Major League DNA. A link for that channel will be in the description down below. Be sure to check it out. If you're listening to us for some baseball, subscribe to this channel. And uh yeah, we'd love to chat with you guys about baseball. We want that to really grow because this is something that we've talked a lot about that has a lot of views on our main channel, and you know, we've listened to you guys. We want to make sure that our sub channels cover the topics you guys want to talk about. So yeah, you know, be sure to jump over there. Uh, let's go ahead and talk about uh let's go ahead and hit a comment real quick. Tammy Price, uh friend of the channel, Tabby Price, also somebody who has not subscribed to Major League DNA yet. Um just putting it out there, Tammy. Yeah, um opening night, yeah. Happy opening night. Yes, happy opening night to you too, Tammy. Yep. Now, before we do that, we do want to hit uh one thing before and something we wanted to do last week, but we didn't get a chance to do it because we ran out of time, which we actually want to end the WBC with content with our favorite moments for the WBC. Yeah. Now I want you to uh do you have a moment you want to you want to go with first, or do you want me to go first?

SPEAKER_00 57:33

I do, I'll go first. Okay, because my favorite WBC moment happened multiple times, and it was like I think it became a fan and just world favorite thing that was happening because it's the best celebration all time, I think, in sports, right? Fans, players, everyone in between just embraced it, and that was an Italy home run followed by a shot of espresso. That's right, dude. You just can't beat that.

SPEAKER_01 58:02

Espresso shot the dugout and the double kiss.

SPEAKER_00 58:05

Yeah, I mean, it's the best. The whole thing is like that is the moment, like that's kind of like the thing that I think of when I think of this WBC is like that celebration, and then and and not to mention an Italy team that made a great run. Great run that was not expected to do anything in this tournament. And they just they just kind of take down Team USA and then they take down who was the next one.

SPEAKER_01 58:28

I think it was the was it the DR?

SPEAKER_00 58:31

Yeah. Then they take down the DR, which they were not supposed to beat the Dominican Republic.

SPEAKER_01 58:35

But it looks at the camera and says, You're welcome, USA.

SPEAKER_00 58:37

Yeah, yeah. And it was love it. So I don't know. That was that was my favorite moment to see that team just and the celebration is great, but I think it's also just seeing that team win and have success and have fun doing it. You know, they put together a great celebration as a team, and and you could just tell they were enjoying being out there together um playing for their country. Absolutely, man.

SPEAKER_01 58:58

You love it, you love it. Love that one. Good choice, my friend. Good choice. So I told you already about what mine is. I did, yes. And I think this one is something I wanted to talk about last year when we covered the WBC, and I didn't get a chance to. So I want to talk about it.

SPEAKER_00 59:12

That would have been two years ago, Darien.

SPEAKER_01 59:14

Oh, shoot, two years ago. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:17

That just tells you we've been doing this for a long time.

SPEAKER_01 59:20

Yeah, hey, let's keep it going, man. I'm enjoying it. Let's keep it going. Yeah, let's do it. But I want to talk about a uh player from the Czech Republic, Andreas Satoria. Satoria? Satoria, let's go with it. I've heard it both ways. Uh, but Satoria was a pitcher from the Czech Republic who again uh had a very memorable moment last WBC in 2023. This is a guy who uh is known for striking out Shohei Otani in the 2023 WBC. Yeah. He became a Japanese legend at that point. Uh the whole David versus Goliath where he slayed the dragon and and took out the captain of Team Samurai and struck him out, and just his legend was defined at that point. I mean, built where's a statue. That's what I want to know. Exactly. So now Santoria is not a major league star. Um, he's not even a regular, you know, baseball player, he never played in the major leagues, never played anything like that. He is from the Czech Republic, and he's often described as just an electrician, right? He's a guy who had to get uh PTO to even play in the WBC. Um, and the Czech Republic is just a very small baseball uh market. And this year they had to play Japan again. And not only was he able to keep elite hitters like Shohei Otani at bay again, but this man defied expectations. This guy can barely even throw 80 miles an hour, but he kept Japan scoreless through four innings. Japan did not score. Now let me say it again. Japan did not score the defending champions of the WBC that were just dump trucking guys in the pool playing qualifying in the exhibition games, you know, putting up 10 runs. This Chechnyan electrician held Japan scoreless for over four innings in 2026. That is to me gotta be one of the most incredible moments in the WBC. Not only that, but because of this game, and he held him in check for that long, this these games were played in Tokyo, by the way. Right. In Tokyo, Japan. So he was already in front of a hostile crowd. But the Japanese fans knew this guy. Yeah. And as he was walking off the field, Japan gave him a standing ovation.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:48

That is really cool, dude. I mean, to to play in the country that you're playing against and to get a standing ovation against, I mean, one of the best assembled teams in the WBC. The returning champions, yeah. But to get to get a a standing ovation from their crowd is a is a really, really cool moment.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:10

In a zero-zero game, A. It's not like the Czech Republic were winning, it's not like Japan was winning. It was zero-zero. Like we were waiting for someone to score here, and the Japanese crowd saw this guy and gave him a standing ovation. You know, I just think that is ultimately my favorite part of this and really kind of speaks to what this international tournament really is. It really is kind of a two weeks there where it goes beyond baseball and just talks about how not only like this this story here is gonna affect uh how baseball is handled in the Czech Republic going forward.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:45

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:46

You know, he this guy's a legend in Japan already. Yeah, you know, and that just legend's gonna continue to grow. And he was playing against their team, man. It's just absolutely love it. My favorite part about the whole WBC right there for sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:58

Absolutely, build him a statue in front of the electrical union. That's what I vote.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:01

Oh, did you also see that in the uh one of the exhibition games, Shoei Otani's home run hit 10 million views in one day? No way, yeah. So cool, man. So cool. The W20 the 2023 WBC broke records for viewership, right? Even here in America, it broke records in viewership. In the 2026 WBC, in the US alone, broke viewing represent uh records of the previous one. Yeah, the WBC championship game between Venezuela and the US actually had higher rating and higher viewerships than any single game in the NBA finals. That's insane. That's some growth, man. You love it. You love it. Absolutely. Greg Hawkins, Chad Allegend, Greg Hawkins, such a cool story. Absolutely, man. Absolutely. So, all right, so let's go ahead and pivot on over and let's talk, dude. AJ, it is opening night in baseball. Yes, sir. Opening night, and the only reason why I'm not wearing any Dodgers gear is because I'm protesting opening night. I think it's the dumbest thing ever. Um, but AJ, baseball matters today. It does. Baseball matters. We got the Yankees and the Giants playing right now on Netflix. Please, folks, give us a score update if you're watching. Uh, if you're tuning in, let's know how that went. Um, but that's not what we're talking about today. No, we're not talking about that today. And uh we're gonna be talking about how the this time of year, majority of teams are super excited. Yes, it's a fresh year. Our team's going all the way. Our teams we're gonna have a great year. Every team is thinking that right now, uh, with the exception of a few teams. There are a few teams out there that already know, you know what it is, it is uh the beginning of the year, and the Colorado Rockies are already eliminated for the playoffs. You know, so some of this stuff is for them that's a little different. Uh, but today we're not talking about them either, AJ. We're gonna be talking about the Atlanta Braves and why things are looking not so hot right out the gate.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:02

I mean, not so hot is is a way to say it, okay. But when you lose Spencer Strider for at least four or five weeks before opening day, yeah, not the best way to start the season.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:16

Yeah, let me go ahead and give you a full rundown of the uh Lenabrays injury report. Would you like to hear this? Yeah, I yeah. I'm sure they would like to hear this. You probably don't want to hear it. I don't. I I know, unfortunately. So we got Spencer Strider out with an oblique strain. He's on the 10 day IL, which how do you get an oblique strain with legs like that? Oh, there's a lot of rotation, man. You gotta think about there's a lot of that, you know, a lot of that whipping around. You know, when you got legs that strong, you can't get him, but it's like, oh, maybe that's why. Quadzilla, dude. His abs just aren't strong enough for that lower half. Needs to do more core workout. Exactly. Um, so he's expected to return sometime in April, right? Yeah, uh shortstop, Has Yung Kim, uh injured finger. He will be out until the first half of May. Yep. Uh then we also have Sean Murphy, your catcher, uh with a hip injury. He's gonna be out until May as well. Yep. Uh we got left-handed pitcher, relief pitcher, Danny Young. Uh Will is expected to be out until the all-star break, after the all-star break. Right-handed pitcher, uh starter, Spencer Schwellenbach, elbow surgery, not TJ. Right. Uh is expected to be out until June or July. You also have Joey Wentz, who is out for the season. Uh, sorry, Joey Wentz, who's out for the season with a torn ACL. And of course, you have Jrickson Profar, who is suspended for the whole season for his second PED uh violation.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:37

Yeah. That's a little tough, man. I mean, Dais Bel Hernandez. Um, he's also out until some point in May with a right shoulder injury. Um, AJ Smith Chauver had Tommy John surgery. He's August September return. Uh the injury list for the Braves goes on and on and on.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:57

I didn't want to, I I figured I'd just stop there.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:59

It goes on and on and on.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:00

And it's but AJ, I want to ask you as the internal optimist, yeah. I want to hear from you, man. Like, tell me why why they're gonna turn this around, man. Tell me how they're turning this around and why you're still optimistic about your Braves this year.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:15

Um, the optimism comes from we still have Chris Sale um as a starting pitcher. Grant Holmes looked great as a starter last year. Um Reinaldo Lopez kind of had an up and down season last year, but he's looked great in spring training. Um Aaron Bummer out of the bullpen, Dylan Lee both looked great at at points last year. Um and then at catcher, you know, you mentioned Sean Murphy at catcher, and yeah, that hurts because Sean Murphy has played really well for us, but Drake Baldwin, his bat has looked great. He's also a switch hitting catcher. So Drake Baldwin's looked really good. Uh, and then and then the infield is is a place where you you know you kind of go back to feeling comfortable with Matt Olson and Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley. So you've got enough, you've got enough steady players out there that you're still gonna be okay. Um Mike Mike Yastremsky looked really good this whole pre-season preseason spring spring training, yeah. Um, and then we still got Michael Harris and Ronald Acunio Jr. out there, and then you know that backup outfielder they got is Eli White, who you know you'll see him later in games if you need to steal some bases and stuff. So this is still a really talented Braves team that can go out there and win games, and we got a chance.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:36

So yeah, I like it, man. I like it. We got some optimism back at you from Tammy Price, friend of the channel, Tammy Price, saying they will and uh be ready by be ready for October. And that's really kind of the key thing that I think most baseball fans need to remember, especially for Dodgers fans. We're actually entered in entering our 162 spring training uh game season right now. Yeah. Um, none of this matters until October for the for the Dodgers. So um, but yeah, I have to 100% agree with you on that, man. And and Tammy Price. Sorry, and Tammy Price uh on that one. There's a lot of optimism. They also just signed uh former Dodger Kyle Farmer as a two-week guy for the infield slash you know outfield potential there. And he's a great player uh that played a lot of shortstop for the Reds. That was quite good.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:22

And he's listed as an infielder on the Braves 26-man roster.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:25

Yeah, so with Hasio and Kim going down, you know, I think that would actually be great. Um, I all this stems back to if this doesn't turn around for him, it all stems back to the same problem that a lot of teams are having when it comes to this. It's just the TV deal, man. Yeah, this team could not go out and sign talent because they have no idea where their local and regional money's coming from. Right. That's all hurting this team. They are a really good team. I think they're actually projected in the top five of wins still for Major League Baseball right now. So they still, while they're not picked to win the division, they are picked to make it to the playoffs. So I think that there's a lot of hope for the Atlanta Braves for sure going forward. Uh just wanted to start off the year with the fact that, oh my gosh, AJ. Like more injuries, more injuries. Sidmark, why the heck did the Braves let Ronald Acunia Jr. play in the WBC?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:12

A question that I wish I could answer myself, dude. How all these players are getting nicks from the WBC, and we have our star player who's injury prone as anybody else in the league out there playing the whole series of the WBC, every game. Go out there, Ralph. Just tear it up, man. Come for it, buddy. Yeah, but just make sure you're not leaning a certain direction on that knee. Okay. Let's go ahead and tape that puppy up.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:38

Yeah, I think that's hilarious. Um, anyway, so just thought that was pretty funny. We wanted to talk a little bit about that. Now, again, games uh counting now, AJ, and something we didn't talk about, which was some of the rule changes that came into effect this year. One of the big ones is gonna be uh the ABS challenge system.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:54

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, baseball's changing right in front of us, right? And and it's funny because even with baseball changing, it's already like delivering these moments that you couldn't even write a script for. And it's and it's so funny because um in a spring training game in Scottsdale, um, just a routine at bat, you know, guardians, the giants are playing. It's 105 degrees in Scottsdale. And so obviously it's hot. And uh he got a close pitch. Um, the umpire calls it a ball. And uh still he he still had his mic on after he, you know, after he announced that the that the ABS had been they had challenged the call. And on his hot mic, he's heard saying, please be a strike. And the pitch turned out to be a ball, just like he called it, by four-tenths of an inch. Um but he wanted to be overturned. He wanted it to be overturned purely for the fact that it's 105 degrees on the field and he was ready to get some water. So it's love it. It's really, it's really cool. Um and it really it just it leads into a perfect, you know, kind of conversation about abs and oh for sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:07

Um it's just kind of it speaks a lot to that because like even though that umpire wants to be over, and you're there's a lot of times where you're just like, dude, um, do you have a reservation somewhere that you can get to? Yeah, it's really funny that even though he's dying out there, overturn it. Please let this be wrong. Just be a strike. I call it right, but please just let it just overturn it. It's close enough. Let's get out of here. I absolutely love it. But yeah, to your point, man, um, this is hilarious because again, just like we mentioned there, uh, this guy was caught in Doby Digital on a mic saying this kind of stuff. Yeah. Um, so the rules are what so this is something that's gonna be implemented. This was in spring training last year, and it was gonna be ruled that this is gonna be happening for this year, and this is how we're gonna be doing balls and strikes now. The rule is each team can have two challenges on balls and strike calls with simply tapping the head. There are three people that are allowed to do it. It can't be shot from the dugout, it can't be a player on the field, it has to be one of three players, which is gonna be the pitcher, the catcher, or the batter. Those are the three people that are allowed to tap on their hat and challenge the call. Now, if you challenge the call and you get it right and it's overturned, you retain that challenge. Right. But if you get it wrong and the call stands, you lose your challenge and you only have one left for the game. So as long as you are saying it, as long as you are you know challenging correctly, you have you can challenge calls all night. All game. All game. One of the rules I thought was really kind of funny that I actually did not realize until uh recently on a WBC, sorry, not WBC, on a spring training game, is that there's a time frame you have to challenge the call. Right, right. It's it's like within what, five seconds? Two seconds. Two seconds. Okay, so it's immediate. Two seconds of the call being called, you have to tap. Someone has to tap it's within two seconds of the call. Yeah. And so there's this uh moment, I think John Boy did it, uh coverage on it, where uh uh he thought it was a ball, it was called strike three, the batter flipped his bat and then tapped his head after that. And because that flipping the bat and catching it and leaning back and then tapping took too long, he's like, nope, you took too long back to the bench for you. Yeah, you know, call his S stands. Call his S stands. You have two seconds. Yeah. So depending on how animated the umpire is on that called strike, like you're gonna have to like get to that pretty quickly. Yeah. You know, or that you know, short. They're like, oh no, sorry. Yeah. If he like does an air guitar movement or something like that, you got no time. No time, dude. So if you're an umpire and you want to like mess with that, you can mess with that a little bit. Oh, yeah. You can control it, dude. Did you hear what they're also doing when it comes to the broadcast of this? When it comes to the ABS. Oh, I did see this. They changed the they changed what you're actually gonna be able to see on the screen, right? Yes. So for the first time in like 10 years, whenever you're watching a game and you're watching the pitches go into the strike zone, they'll put the ball as it crosses the plate where it is on that little box. Right. So they're gonna keep the box, the box is gonna be there, but what's gonna be gone now is it's going to be um it's gonna be a the ball is gonna be gone. They're not gonna show the ball as it crosses the plate anymore. Okay. Because where that uh zone is being picked up is gonna be different. And the strike zone is also gonna be different for every hitter for ABS, yeah. Which is something I want to talk about. So don't we we cannot move off of the subject without talking about this. Okay. We gotta talk about it.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:25

Uh, but so yeah, so because that reason, they don't want a pitch going in, reading as a strike on the ABS system on the broadcast and having it be a ball on the ABS. Yeah. So they don't want to have it be conflicted, so they're just not gonna show the ball as it crosses the plate. And well, they show the ball. They're not gonna put the marker, they're not putting the marker of where the ball is crossing the plate anymore because of several reasons. One, where that marker is and where on the ABS system, it's literally like right in the center of the plate. So it's gonna cause for a bit of commotion there and a bit of confusion. So they're just not gonna do that, which I think is fair. Yeah, absolutely. So it makes sense, yeah. Now, another unintended consequence of the ABS system. Did you hear about this one? I don't think so. Okay, so you know how it works, right? So it's not just gonna be like a standard when you're looking at TV, it seems like that box never moves, it's just there, right? Yeah, doesn't matter if it's Jose Altuve walking up or Aaron Judge, right? That box is just same box, right? And that's not how this works. The ABS system is based off of your height, right? Because it's a percentage of your height, yeah. Yeah, percentage of your height from the knee to like the it's like there's like a percentage of your height from the ground to your top, you know, that's where the strike zone's gonna be because it's gonna be based off every individual player. Yeah, right. So the problem was is there this ABS system is catching players cheating about how tall they are in Major League Baseball. They're like, I'm not 6'4, I'm actually 5'11. A perfect example is uh player for the Rays now, Gavin Lux, former Dodger player, um, had his baseball reference that he is 6'2. He's actually 5'11. That's the wrong way. So instead of just taking and trusting what they were putting down as their height and not being a problem with the ball and strike call, because they're just like, oh my god, that's not right. It's because the zone was going based off of what they said they were, yeah, and and retracting based off of what they are. So yeah, this ABS system is catching a lot of players that were saying they're a certain height, not really being that. One of them is I'm gonna jump on this and we'll get back to the other ones, Greg, but this one's hilarious. Bregman went from six feet tall to five nine. Way shorter than I look. You gotta love it. You gotta love it. Uh, the strike zone box on the broadcast is dumb, it's not even accurate. No, but everybody watching it will assume it is, right? So, um, but actually, you know, it is funny because there is one player that went the other way around. Oh, really? And I guarantee you can guess who this player is. The most humble baseball player out there was advertising he was shorter than he actually was. Who is that player? Shohe Otani. Exactly. Shohei Otani had on his baseball reference that he was 6'3. Now that they're actually measuring, when they're actually you know, when they're standing in the bot and when as they're approaching the plate, they get measured, right? So it's a measurement that's done, which is really kind of another subject subject because you when you crouch down, that makes your strike zone smaller, but you're it's measured based off of your starting height. Yeah. So depending on, you know, anyway, um, he's actually 6'4, not 6'3. So his strike zone got bigger. Yeah. So even though you know, everybody wants to brag about being taller than that, he's like, no, no, no. I'm I'm I'm an inch shorter than I actually, you know. That's that's your show Ao Toddy. So really maybe he's 6'3 without cleats on. Maybe. Who knows? Yeah, who knows? But yeah, he was actually being measured at an inch taller than what he was putting on his baseball reference, which was hilarious. Uh, we got another comment here from Greg Hawkins saying, Cubs tomorrow, 1220. I am so happy. That's awesome, man. Love looking forward to uh the Cubs, they're gonna have a great year, man. I picked them winning the central, yeah. Um, and then we also have uh Tevy Price, that is funny. Um, yeah. So before we get out of here, one last thing we want to cover in baseball. Um, bold prediction for the 2026 season, AJ.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:22

My bold prediction for 2026 is that the Philadelphia Phillies do not make the playoffs.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:29

Oh, wow. They just spent $330 million to get their exact team back. And you think that is my prediction. Miss the playoffs.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:38

I think the Mets take the East, okay, and the Braves will take the next wild card spot, and I think the Phillies miss.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:45

Yeah, because you got you got the Cubs winning their division, probably, and then you got the Brewers taking that other potential wild card, and then the third one's probably gonna come out of the NL West. Yeah. Ooh, that's a good one. That's my prediction. You're here to hear the first Phillies miss the playoffs. You hear to hear first. AJ's claiming the Phillies are gonna miss the playoffs. I love that. I love that. Mine's actually kind of in a similar vein. You want to hear mine? Yeah. My bold MLB prediction for 2026 is the Oakland A's will make the postseason. Sorry, the Sacramento A's will make the postseason. Okay. This team is actually signing their talent. They are putting, they're pushing their chips in the middle, and they might be forced to because they're forced to be spending money or the rest of the owners wouldn't agree to their move to Vegas in the first place.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:35

Right, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:36

But they did sign Rooker, they signed a lot of their young talents to extending them into longer contracts. They actually had a much better year last year than they did the year before. I believe they even finished last year, not even last place. I think they're they weren't in last. Yeah, so my bulk, I first wanted to pick the Angels, but it's still the Angels. Yeah, that's tough. But I'm like, well, wait a minute, which team is gonna come out of the come out of the AL that hasn't been there before? I gotta take a nice long look at Sacramento A's. They're wearing Sacramento on their jerseys this year. Which is super cool. Very, very cool. Yeah, you hit it here first. Philly's not making the playoffs, the Sacramento A's make the playoffs. Boom. We want to hear from you folks. Let us know where your thoughts are in the comments down below. As a reminder, we launched a channel specifically for Major League Baseball called Major League DNA. All of our baseball content will be posted here. So if you're watching this on our live stream or you're listening to our podcast, After the Fact on Audio, a link to Major League DNA will be in the description down below. So be sure to uh jump down there, check us out. Uh comment on the video, like the video, subscribe to the channel so you don't miss out on any of our baseball content. A giveaway will be coming away, coming your way once this channel hits a thousand subscribers. Let us know what your thoughts are in the comments down below. What should we do? Should we do some uh memorabilia giveaway?

SPEAKER_00 1:21:50

Yeah, we'll do some. We'll find something. Something fun like, subscribe, let us know what your bold prediction is for 2026.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:55

We want to hear from you. Let us know what your thoughts are in the comments down below for sure. As a reminder, folks, uh, this is a live stream. So if you are watching this or listening to this after the fact, please feel free to join us on our live stream every Wednesday at 7 30. Our main channel, DNA Sports Recap, is where our live stream will be posted every week. So be sure to check it out. This channel has hit a thousand subscribers. This channel is monetized, so we are giving the first $500 that this channel earns in essence revenue back to y'all. So if you have not subscribed to DNA Sports Recap, our primary channel that the podcast is on, please be sure to jump in, hit that subscribe button, hit that notification bell because we'll be giving $100 away to five lucky subscribers. So make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss out on the giveaway.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:34

Yep. And if you're watching on YouTube on one of our short videos, just know this is available as a podcast wherever you get your audio. With all that said, my name is Darren.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:41

That is AJ, and this has been an episode of the DNA sports recap. Till next time.