2 Guys Talking Baseball
Dallas Danger and Brian Logan discuss the game of baseball. Two fans, two personalities, Two Guys!
2 Guys Talking Baseball
Almost the off season!
Unlock the secrets behind Major League Baseball's playoff drama as we scrutinize the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers' dominant performances. Could the Dodgers' strategic decisions and a collective culture of accountability be the recipe for their success? We'll also tackle the turbulent waters facing the Chicago Cubs, analyzing the controversial email that pointed fingers and the pressing need for leadership within the organization. Join us to see how these teams are navigating their unique challenges on the road to the World Series.
Shift gears with us as we highlight the Dodgers' formidable playoff potential, focusing on their pitching prowess and key players like Max Muncy and Kike Hernandez. Discover how resting Yoshinobu Yamamoto could be a masterstroke in their quest for the championship. In a lighter moment, revel in the unexpected intersection of baseball and marketing with a Grimace sighting at a Mets game, and discuss what this could mean for fan engagement and branding.
Finally, embark on a journey through the logistical labyrinth facing the Tampa Bay Rays as they brace for a temporary relocation. With potential venues ranging from Durham to Disney, what could this mean for the team and MLB's expansion prospects? We also offer a glimpse into the Kansas City Royals' promising farm system and celebrate quirky minor league moments, like the unique pitching coincidence with the Gwinnett Stripers. As the offseason looms, our analysis promises to keep your baseball passion alive.
Hello and welcome inside the Three Crows Studios in Morristown, tennessee. This is Two Guys Talking Baseball. We are happy to be back with you once again this week to talk some playoff baseball and some other things going on around the game. We're creeping up on the offseason and so we're getting warmed up for the wackiness of doing a show about baseball every week when there's not Major League Baseball being played. So anyhow, we'll get into all that. But first my name is Dallas Danger, as you probably know if you have listened before, and I'm joined as always by my best friend and colleague, the sea lion himself, brian Logan.
Speaker 2:It's been a great week for baseball and what an introduction this week. Thank you, thank you, thank you, you finally nailed it I did.
Speaker 1:It took me a few weeks to get it right, but I I got it.
Speaker 2:You had to get a running start yeah, I had to focus I really, I just had to fuck us.
Speaker 1:I really had to fuck us. It was a pretty good week of baseball.
Speaker 1:I have to say we are down to four teams remaining. We are in the thick of League Championship Series. As we are recording, the Yankees are up two games to none on the Cleveland Guardians on the American League side and, of course, on the National League side, brian the Dodgers last night, as we are recording, took a 2-1 lead with a big win in New York. So you know, as we did last week, we're going to kind of skip over the Cubs talk because there's nothing to really talk about with the Cubs.
Speaker 2:There is Other than I would like to say that they sent out a letter to all the fans. Do you know about this? I don't, I have not seen this. Okay, so I got it. I got it. They sent out an email to all the fans it's on the list and they basically were saying that we're sorry that it happened, we're sorry that we didn't live up to standards and it's everybody else's fault and they really caught some hell for that. So the finger pointing is just getting worse and worse. Oh, my god, I mean I thought I was pointing fingers, but this whole email and it was a long email, right, I'll have to, I'll forward it to you. Yeah, please not read it, and but it was, it was long and they really like they caught some hell for it yeah, well, I mean obviously because you know the season, you know they got eliminated.
Speaker 1:Yeah, season's not even over and hoyer and council are are in press conferences.
Speaker 2:Just yeah, just passing the buck pointed at each other and that's exactly what what happened. And and, uh, you know, council wasn't happy about this email and when I got it, I was surprised that I got it. I mean, I'm on their mailing list, but this was. It was billed like an insider email. Yeah, I mean it was, and it was a mass-released email obviously, but yeah, they were. It was a big deal they got to get their shit together.
Speaker 2:They really do. It was a big deal. They got to get their shit together. They really do. Ricketts is just not overseeing the ship and Hoyer's not overseeing the ship and Council is. You know, I thought he did a great job this season, yeah, and coming from enemy territory, you know. So I thought he did a real good job. I really think he's going to do a good job next year. If they all can just get whatever the problem is straightened out and the problem is not pointing fingers at someone else, Someone's going to have to say, okay, I did it, it's my fault, but here's how we fix it.
Speaker 1:Well, and that's, I think, the difference. Because when you look talent-wise, they're right there with anybody else, absolutely. But somebody's got to take responsibility, somebody's got to be a leader in that room and say, ok, I'm going to wear this, I don't believe it's my fault, but I'm going to wear it Right, so that nobody else has to has to wear it Right, and that's you know. And I hate to put this on council because I agree with you, he did do a good job with what he was handed, but he's got to be that guy that says, look, it's on me, this is my ball club, I'm responsible, good, bad or indifferent. And that's not him admitting it, that's him protecting his players. Yeah, stand up for him, because when nobody's taking the responsibility, it falls on the star players and the guys, the veteran guys and the leaders in the in the clubhouse. Yeah, and you can't do that, you can't let them wear that. Yeah, you gotta wear it, you know, and I think hoyer should do the same thing.
Speaker 2:Oh, I definitely think he should. I think council should, should step up for the players and the boys and all this, because that's his position to take the flack. But then Hoyer needs to. He's the one that made the decisions. So he's going to have to say well, I made the decisions, it's my fault. Yeah, and that's not me getting started on him, it's just.
Speaker 1:No, I agree.
Speaker 2:No, I has to stop somewhere, I agree, you know, and the ricketts family, I mean well, it's not our fault that we hired them to do it.
Speaker 1:Well then, maybe you hired the wrong people to do it yeah you know, so it's a mess over there it sounds like it and it's funny because to me, all that says and you know, I obviously am used to dealing with an organization and a manager and front office people and even ownership that have come out and said that for the Dodgers to win one World Series in this 10, 11, 12-year run is an organizational failure. It doesn't fall on one person, it falls on everybody. Yeah, and that's an that's. That's. That's the difference in the dodgers, the goal is winning championships, right right and I don't know, across the board in chicago on the north side, if that's the goal.
Speaker 1:Top to bottom.
Speaker 1:Everybody in the room yeah because I agree, because the rickets, I think, have other things that they're more concerned about, and I think that trickles down to jed. Yeah, you know, you know, and and I, in a way, I feel kind of sorry for Jed Hoyer, because I think when Theo left, he knew, he saw the writing on the wall, he knew that if he stayed he was going to have to break up the team that he was famous for putting together to break the curse. And he's the curse breaker. He did it in Boston, he did it with the Cubs and he saw that and said, well, I'm gonna get out while the getting's good and on top got a cushy spot with with the league.
Speaker 1:And you know, uh is doing just fine and and I think he just left jed to to to have to take the, the blame for something that really, if we we're being honest, was probably inevitable with that ownership group and the way they don't really want to spend. Well, they want to spend sometimes, but not all the time and pretty much never when it makes any damn sense. I don't know, you're right, it's a mess over there.
Speaker 2:They're bipolar on the spending, know they can literally spend one day and the next day be mad about it, or vice versa. Um, it's. It's like there's no confidence in what they're doing yeah you know, it's like they're just winging this stuff day by day um, and you can't run a ball club like that no, not a successful one.
Speaker 1:No, not not one that's going to win a lot of ball games and compete and 83 games.
Speaker 2:I mean that's not bad. I mean it's not good, but it's not bad. I mean we're talking a matter of what? 10 more games. If they had won, that would be a different conversation.
Speaker 1:I mean, I think it's a matter of three to five more games.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I mean, they were really close.
Speaker 1:Let's say you take five games. I'm actually going to quickly look something up because I don't really know. All right, but I'm going to get to the bottom of this. How many games exactly? All right, that they would have needed, that they would have needed.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:That's not going to help me. This is really riveting radio right now.
Speaker 2:Yes, the viewers, listeners, always like it when we Google we. Yes, we, because it's a team effort here. There's no Jed Hoyers in this bunch.
Speaker 1:All right, so Six more games. Let's say you take six games that they probably should have won and didn't and flip the result and they're in the playoffs. Yeah, you know, and the team they would have edged out is in the NLCS right now in the Mets. So you know they're right there.
Speaker 2:I mean think about that Six games and then our two teams are playing each other in the playoffs. I mean theoretically, theoretically, I mean that's a big theoretical situation, but it's not far-fetched.
Speaker 1:No, not at all, not at all. So yeah, it's, and I'm sure, for for people like you, fans of the team, it's, it's maddening, you know, to be going through this and see a team that you know one move at the one, one move at the deadline or one signing, and it doesn't have to be a juan soto, it can be a role player guy. I mean, look at the dodgers. They went out and got teoscar hernandez, who was coming off of a down year and could only get a one-year contract right when he was looking for more and I mean, I don't know a single dodger fan that is not screaming.
Speaker 1:Please extend teoscar hernandez, keep him here. Yeah, you know, that's the difference. Yeah, um, and I think that's probably a good place to transition. We did get some time out of the Cubs today.
Speaker 2:We did. We did real quick. Before we transitioned to the Dodgers, I got two more things off script. What about the Braves fired everybody, all their coaches. I don't know if you're.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I did see. It's that time of year though, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, they made a big sweep of it though. Yeah, but also that the Southsiders, the White Sox, our favorite topic of the, our mid-card topic, mid. That's giving them a lot of credit, they're wanting to sell?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I did see. Reinsdorf is open to the idea. The Twins are up for sale too. Did you see that? No, I did not. Yeah, the twins are apparently and this isn't like, maybe I'm thinking about it, they're, they're like on the market. So, um, minnesota fans, it's another organization that's kind of been right there and every.
Speaker 2:At the beginning of the podcast both runs of it I said we've got to watch the twins. I know they're not an exciting team to watch the Twins. I know they're not an exciting team to watch, but they're a sleeper team and they just missed it too. Yeah, you know they, and and they're a really good team that just need a little something extra. They need some health.
Speaker 1:Byron Buxton and Royce Lewis. If they're healthy for full seasons, I mean, that's a different ball club. Yeah, yeah, and it just, it just hadn't gone in their favor.
Speaker 2:Well, and they need a little excitement, somebody that brings a little razzmatazz with them, to brighten up the team a little bit. Yeah, that would go a long way for them. It really would. A little motivation.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Somebody that's outgoing.
Speaker 1:Right, or even like a Paul Skeens type, like a young pitcher that comes up quick, yeah, and like a Paul Skeens type, like a young pitcher that comes up quick and turns into an ace, and then you've got you're talking about a team that's already right on the cusp and then every five days you feel really good about winning the ballgame. Yeah, I mean, that changes the culture of an entire organization.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. I mean a couple changes, and I think they're in there too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and very quietly and in a traffic jam of a division, because, let's remember, three other teams from their division got in this year, yeah, in the guardians, uh, royals and tigers. So, um, I guess we should bring, speaking of the royals, I guess, um, the mets, putting the ph, the Phillies, out, ended you and mine's picks completely. I'm glad we were wrong.
Speaker 2:Yes, it snatched a feat from the jaws of interpretation.
Speaker 1:All right, let's talk some Dodgers. Brian, all right, let's talk some Dodgers. How are you feeling coming off of that big Game 3 win last night? About the Dodgers, I think they're unstoppable.
Speaker 2:Yeah, are you feeling coming off of that big game three win last night? I think they're unstoppable. Yeah, they're just. I mean they, they throw you off by giving the other team a victory. And what I mean by that is they don't show up with the bats, so they're kind of giving that away a little bit. When they show up with the bats, you can just forget about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and we're talking about, you know, last night, score eight runs, get a gem of a game on the pitching side. Again, you know another shutout. You know this is like three shutouts in five games or something crazy like that, Maybe even four out of five or something like that.
Speaker 1:I mean it's crazy what this pitching staff is doing, when that was viewed, coming into this postseason, as the glaring weakness of the dodgers. Yeah, but you're right, because last night mookie betts, freddie freeman, tay oscar combined two hits. It was everybody else, it was the bottom of the order, it was kike hernandez, tommy edmund. They moved max muncy up to the cleanup spot. Yeah, and he's reached base eight, uh, eight plate appearances in a row. Yeah, because he's he's hitting home runs and drawing walks, which, when max muncy is right, that's what he does. You know he waits for you to make a mistake and if you don't make that mistake, he just spits on everything and gets to first base.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and, and he even said in an interview last night that's what he. You know he's like the home run didn't matter, it was, it was, the home run was in garbage time. What matters is I'm getting up to the plate and I'm seeing pitches and I'm getting on base for the people behind me. And he said that's what I've always done, that's who I am is is I get on base and if you make a mistake, I'm gonna hit it into next week. Yep, yep, but if you just mess around with Max Muncy, he's on first base. Yeah, and you know, I think this team is coming together right now in a way that they haven't in a couple years, and I think I'm not big on this, like a lot of fans are, but I think there's a hunger with this year's version of the Dodgers that maybe hasn't existed for a couple years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a good way to describe it Because you know, I mean Kike Hernandez flat out got asked what's the difference, what makes this Dodger team difference? And he literally said are we live? Yes, Kike, we're live. And he said we don't give a fuck. Yeah, and no better way to illustrate the point than ask if you're live and then say that anyway, yeah, you know, we don't give a fuck, this team doesn't give a fuck. They've blocked out the outside noise, They've given up the pressure and now they're just showing up to the ballpark every day and trying to do their job.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just trying to win, Just trying to win, and they're doing a heck of a job of it. I mean, you know, some of those games make me nervous when you know they give up so many runs but they seem to bounce back. I mean it's like a cat playing with a ball.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like they're giving them hope and then, nah, we're going to snatch that right back from you, yeah, so now, in theory, you've got you know officially now Yoshinobu Yamamoto is going in Game 4. And in my mind, if you win Game 4 and you go up 3-1 with a chance to win it in five, you got Jack Flaherty ready for game five. Oh yeah, and you know if you can get through the Mets without having to throw another bullpen game. That's going to line your pitching up really well. Yes, it is, because we're already a day ahead of the American League because of the way they stagger the schedule. So you win this thing in five games.
Speaker 1:You don't really use your bullpen to the degree that a lot of people probably thought you were going to have to. Every arm is now rested, yeah, and you can line up that World Series basically however you want, and that might include finally having a playoff series where Yamamoto can go twice. Right, you know that's tricky because they're and to their credit, this is a long-term investment on a young pitcher. Right, and they said doesn't matter the circumstances, circumstances, he's going on extra rest the whole way through. Yeah, and a lot of people thought there's no way they can do that with all the injuries.
Speaker 1:They've stuck to that plan and look where they are yeah, yeah, they're just humming right along, man, they're just moving right through and they're doing great I think the key for the dodgers is this, and I mentioned earlier that they've let go a lot of the outside noise and now they're just showing up every day to do the job. And if they show up and they do that, who's going to beat them?
Speaker 1:There's good teams out there. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that head and shoulders above. But you know we talked for a lot of this year about how tight the pack was. And when you look at the injuries the Dodgers have dealt with, if those injuries aren't in place and I know we're talking in hypotheticals again and not reality, but let's just say that half of those injuries don't happen Is this Dodger team just dominating everybody?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean because, again, when this Dodger team shows up like they did last night, I don't know that there's a team that, if they show up too with their best, that can beat them four out of seven games.
Speaker 2:Well, let me run this by you their best that can beat them four out of seven games. Well, let me let me run this by you what if the injuries allowed them to pace themselves better this year and slowed them down that if they were so, if they didn't have the injuries, they would be going so full board that they might tire themselves out like they had in past seasons. I think the injuries with injuries don't help, but I think it helped slow them down, for them to to pace themselves, to get them through the playoffs maybe.
Speaker 1:I mean there might be something to that. I mean, it's all a matter of how you respond to whatever, because we, you know, we talk about this all the time. Baseball is unique in the length of the season, the arduous run you have to go on to win a championship in Major League Baseball. And this is a team that is, the pitching staff is decimated with injuries. They've got a world-class rotation on the injured list, you know. And then you add you know Brujdar Gratterall's out, joe Kelly's out. Now Alex Vessi is not on the NLCS roster.
Speaker 1:So you've got guys like Ben Kasparius, edgardo Henriquez in that bullpen and even Brent Honeywell that are not established major league arms. But there's trust in the stuff, there's trust in the makeup of these guys that they don't have to have the previous experience to go in there and do their job. Yeah, and you know, the high leverage arms are doing that and keeping guys like Kasperius, honeywell, enriquez out of high leverage situations. So you know and you know, game two bullpen game landing, that gets lit up a little bit. It doesn't go to plan, but I think when you look back on it, they set themselves up for last night really, really well by not using any important, really important high leverage relievers at all.
Speaker 1:Right, many important, really important high leverage relievers at all. Right, heading into three straight days on the road where you don't have these built-in days off for three games. So you got you might need guys to pitch to maybe three of those games and you're set up to do that. And even last night they get that big lead later, later on. And, yeah, they use trinan and kopeck, but you didn't see evan phillips, you didn't see daniel hudson. So now, if you need those two guys two days in a row, they're ready, yeah, they're rested, and then you get a day off after. I mean this pitching staff. For all the injuries, for all the talk about how that was going to be the undoing of this team, they have shown, shown up, they have done their job and they have set themselves up to where now it is hard to imagine the Dodgers not at least closing this series out and getting to the World Series Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I think you're exactly right. I think they're sitting right where they need to be, the rotation's going to really help with all the rest and everything, and I mean they just got to get through this and then I think we're wide open.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we'll talk more about the potential in the World Series here a little bit later, but I feel really good about where the Dodgers are right now. Well.
Speaker 2:I mean, how can you not with all the runs they scored?
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, and again, we're shutting teams out almost every night.
Speaker 2:Well again, I mean, do you think the Dodgers have ever heard of like a 3-2 win? I mean they just well, if we can't beat you by, you know seven.
Speaker 1:Then you're going to beat us by seven.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean there's no, you know nail biters in this thing, yeah.
Speaker 1:I will say this, and I thought about saying this out loud until it was all said and done but I've had a calm this postseason that has not existed for me personally in a few years. Yeah, I don't know what it is, and there have been times this postseason that have been stressful. Well, the medication's working for you. Well, I'm not on any different medication.
Speaker 2:Okay, well then, the Dodgers is the medication, I guess.
Speaker 1:So I've just not been that stressed out this postseason and that probably says more about me than it does anything else. But you know, it doesn't change the fact that that's the scenario.
Speaker 2:Well, there is a feeling of we got this.
Speaker 1:There is a bit of a feeling of even when the chips are down, we're going to bounce back back, and every time they've had a loss or a bad game, you know, post game they get asked and they all say, well, we just flush it and come back tomorrow yeah, they don't dwell on it, they just move on just move on and and, and.
Speaker 1:You know, the dodgers in this run in the dave roberts era are at their very best when they view everything one game at a time. Yeah, show up worried about one thing, and that's that day and and again.
Speaker 1:If you can do that because that's easier said than done that sounds real easy coming out of my mouth right you know it when you've got all this pressure and you've spent all this money and you're kind of the hated team now, maybe not on the level of the Yankees, but certainly getting there. It's not easy, but if they can do that again, I just don't know that there's a team that can really truly get the best of the dodgers.
Speaker 2:Our best against their best, yeah yeah, no, they're, I think they're favored and they're, they're showing it and, uh, if people aren't noticing it, they need to pay more attention, because this team is really getting it done. I mean, and like, like you said, when there is a setback, it is a momentary setback, it is not a large setback. Yeah, exactly, so I mean this, I feel really good about them.
Speaker 1:I do too. I feel great about where we're at right now. Yeah, you know, I'm ready for tonight. I'm ready for game. What are we at four? Yeah, yeah, game four. I'm ready for game four. Yeah, me too. Yamamoto on the mound and Quintana. You know, interesting guy Quintana, because he's not good because of the stuff, he's just good with what he does with it sometimes.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But you know Kike Hernandez has a three-home run game against Quintana in an NLCS yeah, not to bring up bad memories, but you know Quintana is, you know it's no guarantee for the Mets Right With Quintana on the mound Right and he's been good this year. He's had a really good year and I'm not taking anything away from him because he's a veteran guy. He keeps getting jobs because he is solid. He's a solid pitcher but he doesn't have overwhelming stuff and there's that history with some of these hitters. And you know, with Yoshi on the mound coming off of a really good start, and you know, with Yoshi on the mound coming off of a really good start, a bounce-back start against the Padres in Game 5 of the Division Series. You know, I just you know. I mean the Mets are really behind the eight ball now. They really are Really behind the eight ball.
Speaker 2:They're going to have to up their game to really pull this off.
Speaker 1:Well, they have to now have to, yeah, steal one of these last two in new york to even have a shot to go back to la and try to win this series, you know, on the road, um. So yeah, man, I, I, I think I think we're feeling really really good about where the dodgers did you see the shot that they had right towards the end?
Speaker 2:I forget what inning it was eighth or ninth inning, maybe seven, but somewhere towards the end and they showed Grimace sitting in the seat and Grimace was just so sad.
Speaker 1:Maybe I did see the guy that he just had like a purple tarp on or something it like didn't even look like Grimace. Yeah, I didn't see that and I don't know what was really going on, but the broadcast was like oh, grimace is hiding his face.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this was the full Grimace.
Speaker 1:And he was sitting in his chair and he looked sad.
Speaker 2:He was just kind of sitting there with his arms down and you know, people around him because the camera was on him was going wild. He was just he wasn't cheering or nothing. He was just he was grimacing. He was grimacing, yes, in more ways than one I mean it could have just been the guy in the suit had to go pee, but I don't know. I mean he just didn't look happy, he looked uncomfortable well, you know, this could be the end of the grimace mets, it could be well, I mean, they'll have to repaint that chair.
Speaker 2:No, I don't think so.
Speaker 1:I think they've made more of a run this year than a lot of people expected, and the Grimace vibes was a big part of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think that's something that, even if this is the end of the road for this year's Mets, they should celebrate that moving forward and McDonald's is just going to keep throwing money at them?
Speaker 2:Well, of course they are, because it's good business for McDonald's.
Speaker 1:Really good business for McDonald's and it's almost like free advertising for McDonald's. They show up to do one promotional day and it turns into this whole thing.
Speaker 2:Well, on a side note, McDonald's is talking about putting the McDonaldland action figures back out in the Happy Meals. Really, yeah, and they didn't come out and say this, but I had to think that it had something to do with Grimace's popularity, maybe Because they haven't done those in years.
Speaker 1:You put a Mets hat on a Grimace figure. You're going to sell a lot of.
Speaker 2:Happy Meals. You're going to sell a lot of Happy Meals, a lot of Happy Meals.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I mean, I'd go get one.
Speaker 2:Well, of course, of course. Besides, happy Meals are just yummy anyway.
Speaker 1:We can put a Grimace in a Mets hat in here somewhere, sure, we'll find him a spot. Yeah, I mean and that shelf that you're maybe going to buy us at some point.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're going to get that shelf at some point. We're going to upgrade to the shelving Even though we're yeah we'll finally have everything in the room and no one's going to see it, that's okay.
Speaker 1:Hey, speaking of bobbleheads, yes, I just got. So my brother had the chance to see a game at Dodger Stadium, okay, and it happened to be Max Muncy bobblehead night.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:And he left the bobblehead with my mom.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:To get to me and I finally got my hands on it. So, uh, a new, a new bobble in my collection.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, you're going to have to bring a picture in and let us see it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure he's up. He's up on my shelf with, uh, with my other bobbleheads in my office at home and just bobbling, just bobbling. It's a cool bobblehead too, because he's swinging the bat. Yeah, you know, it's a little bit. It's not shaped like the normal Bobblehead, it's kind of wide and you've got to position him on the shelf a little differently. Yeah, but his nameplate is positioned differently, so you can do that and it still looks display-ready, right, really, I mean, the Dodgers do such a great job with Bobbleheads.
Speaker 1:They're the kings of Bobbleheads as far as how many different ones, but they also give out more per giveaway, like a lot more.
Speaker 2:They're more detailed, it seems.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're just really good at bobbleheads.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they are.
Speaker 1:There's a couple from this year that I still got to try and get my hands on.
Speaker 2:I mean the Cubs put out like three a year Right and they probably give out like 10, 15, 20,000.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not a lot of them. The Dodgers do 10, 12 a year and give out 40,000 of each one of them. So you know I mean those Shohei bobblehead nights are like Beatlemania Of course they are At Dodger Stadium.
Speaker 2:It was. It was an event inside the event, and those things.
Speaker 1:Good luck getting your hands on one secondary market, because they are just astronomically priced. Yes yes, I'm talking like five times what you pay for. You know, just a random dodger giveaway.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I mean they're. They're highly sought after. They're doing something right with those.
Speaker 1:I'd love to get my hands on one, but I don't know, I'm not holding my breath. Yeah, yeah, uh, speaking of which I mean a little off topic, I guess, but patreoncom slash 2GTB.
Speaker 1:What a shameless plug. We have a store too, 2gtbstore. So lots of ways to fuel our bobblehead collections if you wish to do so, and we would appreciate that. Yeah, but we're going to move on that. Yeah, but we're going to move on. And last week we touched on the effects of the hurricanes that have hit recently and talk specifically about Tropicana Field and the damage to the roof done by Hurricane Milton there in Florida. And it has now been reported by by the, you know, the, the local media in tampa that tropicana field officially will not be ready for the start of the 25 season. And that is such a bigger deal than I think anybody is talking about, because not only do they now have to, very last minute, find somewhere else for the Rays to play their home games, but now the schedule is made. So you know, and there's a lot of possibilities being thrown around, and largely people are talking about minor league ballparks. Well, the way the minor league schedule is designed, you can't just go and do that, because conflicting with them.
Speaker 1:Well, without changing one of one of the two schedules, you either have to change the minor league schedule or the probably both, if we're being honest. Right, because the minors now they do week-long series. So, for instance, the a's excuse me who are playing in Sacramento next year, are also going to be playing week-long homestands or week-long road trips all season. Yeah, because they have to line up with Sacramento's schedule, which is already kind of regimented with the rest of the minor leagues because that's just the way it's set up now, kind of regimented with the rest of the minor leagues, because that's just the way it's set up now. So you know, um, there is the yankees spring training and single a facility in tampa steinbrenner field. There's, uh, port charlotte, which is the race spring training and single a home. But again, those are not options unless schedules get redone, and it's super last minute to do that. I mean you know these are schedules that have been out for months now. I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I mean, you only got what? Four or five months to change them, Right?
Speaker 1:Six tops. I mean, yeah, you're looking at March. So, yeah, I mean not even five months really to get this figured out and set in stone, but there's been some interesting possibilities thrown around. So if we're looking at a minor league park where the schedules do get changed and that's something that they take on, the schedules do get changed and that's something that they take on.
Speaker 1:There's also been some whispers about the Rays AAA, which is the Durham Bulls, so we could have major league games in Durham which would be incredible yes, it would, and I've also heard Nashville thrown out there and those would both kind of be tryouts for potential future expansion, because Nashville has been talked about for expansion for a while now. There's been a group there led by a lot of baseball people that want to bring Major League Baseball to Nashville and re-establish the Nashville Stars stars which were the negro league team in nashville, a very, very black heavy group trying to get this movement going right, which is very cool, very, very cool, you know, and you could do a lot with that. The nashville stars, you know it's. It takes on a new meaning now because of what Nashville is to the music industry and that would be really interesting to see the Rays play there in Nashville, which is a lovely park I've been to a game there the coolest scoreboard in the world, because it's shaped like a guitar and every aspect, even like the tuners on the, on the headstock of the guitar, are little isolated video boards.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's cool, yeah, you know. And then they the, the neck of the guitar is like the, the box, the nine inning box you know score, which is cool.
Speaker 1:And then the big, the body of the guitar, you know, is just the big video board that they do all kinds of different shit on right. Uh, really cool ballpark, nice place to see a game. Um, and nashville's not a bad city, you know. No, it's getting a little big for its britches, but you know that's, you could say that about just about anywhere these days, yeah, any big cities, even, you know, secondary cities and smaller towns are getting big for their bridges. These days it seems like but yeah, um, but to me there's one park that, if they can work it out and if the facilities can be or get up to snuff to house a major league team, there's a ballpark at disney in orlando that's not really being used right now.
Speaker 2:So I would say that's depending on making the deal with disney. That's probably their best prospect yeah because it's closer, it's not being used, it's at a major facility where they could possibly uh pipe into the crowd.
Speaker 1:Well, that's what I'm saying too is is you've got a built-in crowd? Yeah, for every game. Yeah, you know, and the rays have sort of historically not been a big draw in Tampa, but for you and me, brian, it harkens back to WCW, when they started doing their tapings at Disney. For that very reason, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And I've wrestled on those shows.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, and so the goal there was you've always got a built in audience. You can recycle the audience every so often, so it's not getting you know, because when they were taping in Atlanta, the audience was there, but you went to Disney people, they switched them every hour.
Speaker 1:They switched them every hour. It was exciting. You could get them hyped up because everybody's excited and having a good time, having a good day at Disney, and that's just now part of their experience. I think it could work out. And again, it's a matter of working out the deal with Disney, which is probably a headache, of working out the deal with Disney, which is probably a headache, but also making sure the facility is up to snuff, you know, and capable of housing. You know.
Speaker 1:Major League Baseball, yeah, because you know, and that was a big part of the realignment a few years ago was making sure that minor league teams were playing in good facilities across the board. So it's a really interesting thing. It's unfortunate, you know, and the new ballpark's not going to be ready until you know 2028, I think, is what they've said. So you know, and who knows, this might be a multiple season issue. You know, the good news is, if this goes into 26, they'll know ahead of time and they can make the schedule accordingly. But, um, yeah, I mean, who knows, who knows where the rays are going to?
Speaker 2:be? My guess is is they're going to be playing there for multiple years whenever they do it, because they're probably going to go ahead and close the current field and go ahead and start building the secondary?
Speaker 1:yeah, I think if they can work something out that that they can do for for the next what three years, that's probably what they're going to do. Yeah, and here's the thing if you do that for 25 and 26, maybe you can go ahead and tear down tropicana and build the new park and get them in, and maybe get them in there a year early Exactly.
Speaker 2:Because they don't have to do the, the build the one and then tear down the other.
Speaker 1:Right, which is complicated when you're playing games in the existing park, Right. So you know it's tough, it's a mess, but, um, you know, the Rays organization in a lot of ways has largely been a mess.
Speaker 2:Well, and I've got a secondary question. It's been popped up on the Rays page on Facebook and no one seems to know the answer. Have they relocated the Stingrays, the Devil Rays that were in the ballpark Well? I don't know, I don't know, because I didn't even think about it until after, about a week after, and I was like, oh yeah, those are in there. I mean, they're going to have to move them somewhere. So I hope those babies are okay and that they did something to secure them.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, it's a funny thing. Well, are they okay? But seriously, are they really okay?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I don't know man. Tough times for the Rays right now.
Speaker 2:It really is, it really is.
Speaker 1:You know, Major League offices are going to have to work their asses off to figure this out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, christopher Murrell's hanging out with the Devil Rays in his apartment. They're eating him out of house and home.
Speaker 1:Is he Dominican? Yeah, he's probably in the Republic right now. I would say so, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Maybe I don't know, might just be hanging out.
Speaker 1:Might just be hanging out in Tampa.
Speaker 2:Yeah, with the devil rays.
Speaker 1:With the actual rays.
Speaker 2:And they're watching TV, smoking cigarettes, drinking Red Bull. That's what you do, that's what I do With dogs instead of Devil Race. That is exactly what we do.
Speaker 1:All right. So let's switch gears and talk a little bit about the American League Championship Series. We would like to preface this by saying neither of us have really watched any of the American League Championship Series, but we're not going to let that slow us down. No, we're going to talk about it, absolutely. We're going to talk about it because there's some interesting things going on with these playoffs.
Speaker 1:As we mentioned earlier in the show, the Yankees are now up two games to zero on the Guardians before they head to Cleveland to play three games which are now very crucial games for Stephen Vogt and his club there, the Guardians. But the Yankees are cooking in a way that they have not in a long time. And just some of the storylines Aaron Judge, who you know for his career his OPS is over a thousand in the regular season, you know which puts him in like the conversation for the best hitters of all time, which is not bad by any means, but when your expectation is, you know, 400 points higher than that, he's been a little bit of a disappointment. So game two of the ALCS Judge hits his first home run this October. Seems to be getting hot. Right about the right time, right?
Speaker 1:No-transcript. Not even that long ago, is now an elite closer, maybe the best closer in the game right now for the Yankees. So you've got this high-powered offense Judge Stanton, soto, jazz, chisholm and so on and so forth. You get a lead, you get into those late innings. Yeah, you can call on him. I mean, this is another team that's going to be a tough out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, very tough out, um, you know the whether it's the Mets or the Dodgers, they're going to have their hands full with the Yankees. And what about the path getting there?
Speaker 1:yeah, that's. The other thing too is a lot of people are saying that the Yankees have had an easy path. So they, they, they get the Royals you know a wild card team in the division series and take care of business there, which is not really surprising, you know. The Royals are still kind of coming into their own. I do want to say briefly there was a picture and some video going around when the Yankees won that series. The entire Royals team left the dugout except bobby witt jr yeah, he stayed there.
Speaker 1:They're a young star he sat there in the dugout and watched them celebrate the whole thing and I saw somebody shared that and said they remembered the last time a young star who'd had a 10 war season go to his first postseason and then get knocked out like that and never go again. And they're talking, of course, about Mike Trout. Yeah, and look at what we're. You know the conversation. The narrative on Trout's career now is there are those, mostly on the advanced stats analytical side of baseball, that view him as one of the greatest players of all time and they have evidence to back that up. It's not just a flippant claim, right? Can you say that about a guy who played one series in the playoffs for his whole career Because Trout, unless Artie Moreno smartens up and trades him, which is probably never going to happen, no, I don't see that happening either he's not going back, no, he's not happen.
Speaker 1:No, I don't see that happening either.
Speaker 2:He's not going back?
Speaker 1:No, he's not Ever. No, we got Trout in the playoffs one time.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And now we've had Bobby Witt Jr in the playoffs one time. I think he'll get back. I think the Royals are here to stay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think they've got more of a chance to come back.
Speaker 1:They're definitely better than the angels in a lot of ways, but you know that's worth bringing up because you know, man, I mean just him sitting there watching that.
Speaker 2:I mean that's that says so much about his character, because I'm sure it wasn't. I mean I'm sure it was shocked and disappointment, because he's an athlete but he was also, uh, had the best seat in the house for it well, I think there's two ways of looking at it.
Speaker 1:I think there's most guys that are saying I don't want to see that. Yeah, season's over, let's just move on Right, let's go. You know, reset our brain, enjoy time with our families and, you know, rest and just step away from baseball until, you know, after the holidays and we get in our off-season routines. And then there's guys that go no, I want to see every second of this. I want to feel this because I want to remember this next year when we're in the same position next year, and I need that little extra bump of motivation. I need to remember why we're doing this. I'm going to remember that and I think that's Bobby Witt Jr. He knows that the success and failures of that team largely fall on his shoulders. Yeah, he's the guy. He is and he's going to be for a long time there in Kansas City. So I don't look for that to be the last time we ever see Bobby Witt Jr in the playoffs.
Speaker 2:But it is possible. That's all I'm saying. It is possible. That's all I'm saying. It is possible.
Speaker 1:I think we said that about Trout at the time too. He'll be back, and he's never gone back, and now Shohei's left him, thankfully. Now we get Otani in the postseason, which has been amazing to watch.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, not just because I'm a Dodger fan, but you know, just because I'm a baseball fan and Shohei's the best player in the world right now, so he should be playing meaningful baseball.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely I mean. Yeah, I think we'll see the Royals before it's over with with him in the playoffs again, and I think it'll be sooner than you think.
Speaker 1:Maybe. Yeah, we'll talk more about the Royals organizationally here later on in another segment. But going back to the Yankees, yeah, I mean, a lot of people view this as an easy path for them, whereas you know, you look at, the Dodgers had to beat the Padres and the Mets not only had to win a wildcard series on the road, they had to beat the Phillies, not only had to win a wild card series on the road, they had to beat the Phillies. And so I think whoever comes out of the National League is going to be a little bit more battle-tested, a little more hardened when we get to the World Series.
Speaker 1:No matter what combination we get to, I think you're going to see a National League team that's ready and has beat good teams, and not that the yankees have not beat good teams. You got to be good to get to this point, but, um, when you compare the two, maybe the yankees did have a little bit easier road. Um, now you can't fault the yankees for that. They can only play the team in the other dugout. It's all they can do, but you know it is. It is an interesting point of conversation and obviously a lot of people are going there because a lot of people hate the yankees, two people on these microphones included. Yes, you know, um, that's just the yankees. You're either a fan or you want them to die I mean, that's just how it goes with.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's no in between of you know oh, they're all right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, you know, if it's them and this other team, I guess I'm rooting for the Yankees. No, most people put the Yankees down at the bottom of the list. Yeah, you know, hopefully right below the Dodgers, because the Dodgers are pretty low on people's lists these days as well. But you know that's what success gets you. It gets you a lot of people wishing for your demise and your fall. Yeah, but here's the, you know, talking about the Dodgers and the Yankees. This is something that's been talked about for the last few years especially. Are we going to get back to something we used to see a lot and that's a Yankees-Dodgers World Series?
Speaker 2:I think this could be the starting starting of re reliving history. With that, I mean, there was a time when they were the two teams, and we may be coming back into that era again yeah, I mean, there's so much world series history between these two teams yeah you know, um, I'm not going to rattle it all off because it would just, you know, I'd forget things and it would take too long and all that.
Speaker 1:But I mean, this is a storied rivalry when it comes to the World Series and we're as close to getting that back as we've been in a very long time. Last time the Dodgers and Yankees met in the World Series was 43 years ago, 1981. Yeah, the Yankees haven't been to the World Series in 15 years. It's their longest drought since they went to their first World Series. So this is a historic drought for the Yankees and they have put together a team that is designed to end that drought. Put together a team that is designed to end that drought.
Speaker 1:Um, you know, and for the dodgers, you know, this is a team that has been very successful in the regular season for the last, you know, decade plus, but only have the one world series championship to show for it. Yeah, um, should be too. I have to say, you know, 2017 should have went differently, but you know you can't go back and change it. It just is what it is. Um, yeah, I mean this. This is really interesting on a lot of different levels. You know, there's the history there, that that we touched on. But also, yankees Dodgers meeting in the world series means your two top players, your two most marketable athletes, are facing each other in the world series. Yeah, and for baseball that's a dream scenario, it sure is, you know.
Speaker 2:Judge versus Otani in the world series. Yeah, the promos just sell themselves, they're already doing the promos.
Speaker 1:You know, and a lot of people have been like oh well, I guess I know what they're rooting for. Yeah, they're marketing their two most marketable players, who happen to be on really good ball clubs, who are still in the mix.
Speaker 2:Yep, who are heading towards each other like steamrollers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a collision course. Right now, it seems like.
Speaker 2:I'm making explosion gestures. Gestures, and I must have got him.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, we apologize. You can't see Brian's ridiculousness anymore.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, we're sorry for the frivolity.
Speaker 1:It's okay.
Speaker 2:Well-mannered frivolity. That's what this show's about.
Speaker 1:It pretty much is that, and kind of baseball too, yeah, but it's been an interesting season and it's funny. You know, a lot of the talk coming into the postseason was what's happened the last two years since the first-round bye got implemented in this new playoff format. Yeah, buy got implemented in this new playoff format. Yeah, and how. You know, largely it seems like the lower seeded teams are getting hot, getting in and then just steamrolling the higher seeded teams that get those first round buys. This year three of the four teams in the championship series were teams that got first round buys. The only team that's here, that's not really supposed to be, is the Mets.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And for a year where we've had this parity and we've talked so much about no 100-win team, no clear favorites, if it comes down to the two teams that were supposed to be there, that would be almost as unexpected as the sixth seed win in the National League the last two years. So you know, that's baseball for you, yeah, anything can happen here.
Speaker 2:I mean in television and sports and good entertainment. You want to pyramid your two best to the end to have the biggest bang for your buck, for your entertainment value. But still these teams aren't out. They look out but they could come back. That's the greatness of baseball is we could be next this time next week talking about we're wrong again cleveland and the mets, yeah, I mean wow, wow.
Speaker 1:Wow, can you imagine we're sitting here talking about salivating over the possibility of judging the Yankees versus Shohei and the Dodgers, and then it turns out that we get the Guardians and the Mets instead.
Speaker 2:That would be wild.
Speaker 1:It would be heartbroken. I don't know It'd be a fun series.
Speaker 2:It would be. It would be. I mean, the Guardians are hard, we know that. Yeah, I mean, that was years ago, but they're not a pushover.
Speaker 1:No, the good ball club and a first-year manager who you know, the last God, probably five years of Steven Vogt's career. Everybody's like, well, that's a future manager. Yeah, future manager. Steven Vogt, all-star catcher, old-school throwback type of catcher, managed the pitching staff, gave you defense first hit a little bit, but just a team leader type of guy and again everybody saw him being a manager. And when he got hired by Cleveland I knew that was a good fit. That was a good fit because Terry Francona had a good ball club there the last few years and it just wasn't the right. It just didn't mesh. Granted, it doesn't hurt that the Astros got upset in the wild card round this year because they've dominated the AL playoffs the last close to a decade. Some of that again is questionable. We're not even questionable anymore.
Speaker 2:Yeah good riddance to them.
Speaker 1:They were fucking cheating. But yeah, it's going to be interesting, no matter what happens from here on out. But I'm, you know, because here's the thing, I'm the type as a Dodger fan myself, even as badly as we want a world championship for the dodgers. I don't want, I don't want to, I don't want anybody to be able to say, yeah, they didn't really beat anybody. Yeah, they, they just everybody else got upset and they were the last real good team standing. I want to, I want to beat the best. Well, of course, I want to beat the very best that baseball has to offer, and right now, that's the yankee. Yeah, and you know, aaron boone has managed his ass off and he takes a lot of heat. You know, some he deserves and some not so much. Um, it's just, it's just. It's like being the quarterback of the dallas cowboys, you know, the manager of the yankees. It's a tough job, it's an unsung job.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:Well, it's one of those things where, if they're successful, your name goes in the long lineage of the greats Right.
Speaker 2:And if not, it's your fault. Yeah, it's all your fault.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, at least he doesn't have to deal with George Steinbrenner anymore, exactly, you know, firing him twice and rehiring him, like Billy Martin, in the same season, yeah, but this has been a really great postseason. I mean it has. It's been fun. I don't think baseball could ask for anything more out of a postseason than they've gotten this year, because it's been really fun to watch what I've been able to watch. You know, obviously, with the Dodgers being in it and all the other crazy shit I have going on in my life, I've not been able to watch every game, but I've kept up with it, you know, obviously because we want to sound like we know what we're talking about on this show, right, but it's been a lot of fun. I mean, from that doubleheader, you know, on that extra day of the regular season, all the way to now, it's just been non-stop. It has just exhilarating baseball.
Speaker 1:Uh, the stories, as they often do in this game, have written themselves, uh, over and over again the last few weeks and it's just been, uh, it's been really great. Um, I don't know if you saw this brian the, the Dodgers-Mets, I think it was game one of the NLCS was the highest rated league championship series game one in like 15 years. No, I didn't see that. Yeah, eight point, almost nine million average viewers, yeah, which is huge.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean you're talking like you're getting close to like NFL numbers at that point huge, yeah, I mean you're talking like you're getting close to like nfl numbers at that point, which is that you know nfl is like the one thing that's doing ratings on tv period anymore yeah, you know, uh, it's just the the. The industry has changed um, but I'm ready, I'm ready, give, give me dodgers, yankees, I want it yeah, I'm ready too.
Speaker 1:Inject that shit into my veins. I'm ready man. That would be so cool and, honestly, if the Mets put the Dodgers out, I'm going to root for the Mets. One of my brothers is a big Mets fan and we've been texting a little bit through all this and everything and I just love the energy of that Mets team and I like Steven Vogt, who's managing the Guardians, and we've put him over today and I'll continue to put him over because I think he's doing what he was put on earth to do and that's manage a ball club. He's just the right guy at the right time for the Guardians. So four good ball clubs left a lot of baseball.
Speaker 2:A lot of baseball left A lot of meat and potatoes.
Speaker 1:We're going to be talking about two teams the next time we're recording this show next week.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we'll be down to two and we'll know and we'll be in it.
Speaker 1:And I'll have to dig the dredges of the Internet to find shit to talk about even more. We'll just talk. We'll be like like, how are you okay? That's great therapy session yes, in the spirit of that, uh, it is almost the off season and, uh, brian and I have not yet done an off season on this show. Um, for those of you that maybe knew, perhaps are new listeners on Pirate Flag Radio, which we're so excited to be a part of with this show, very excited to be a part of.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's very cool. We've gotten a good response so far. But if you're new, brian and I started this show in 2022. We did 11 episodes and life kind of got in the way and we put it on the shelf and we came back middle of this season. So we've yet to really do an off season and I've been very worried about coming up with content to talk about on a weekly basis. We're going to have to get real creative. So this week gave us some practice on that and I dug up an article by Benjamin Hill. If you're not familiar, you should get familiar. Benjamin Hill is a great minor league baseball journalist. He travels all season long, goes to a lot of different parks, covers the minor league culture in a really, really great professional but also fun way, and he put out an article of the weirdest stats and plays from the final month of the minor league season. And I wanted to pick out a couple things here, brian, and talk about them.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:So we talked about the Royals and their chances to continue this good run and make some more playoff appearances. Their AAA affiliate, the Omaha Storm Chasers, who have been a Royals affiliate since they were founded in 1969, which in today's climate, is remarkable. You know, teams have switched affiliations so frequently. Now that, that's, I mean that's, that's, that's, that's saying something. I mean that that's 55 years in one organization, long commitment, very long. Well, they, they won the international league championship this year and that made them the first triple a team ever to win the title in three different leagues. They did it once in the American Association and then once in the Pacific Coast League. Now they're in the International League and they have, they have won a championship at all three of those leagues. And with that long and and here's the thing about the Royals they have for a long time been viewed as an organization that drafts really well and develops really well. And I think the conversation spinning out of this topic, brian, is why are the Royals not a more consistent contender in the major leagues?
Speaker 2:yeah with, with them drafting like that and taking care of everything like that. I don't know, it's got to be something in the pipeline.
Speaker 1:Well, I thought about it and, first off, they're kind of well and you know we're sort of glossing over the fact that less than 10 years ago, the Royals won a World Series Right and a lot of that team, you know, was built on homegrown talent and not big free agent signings. But this team as it sits right now their core, bobby Witt Jr, Vinny Pasquantino this is a homegrown core. I saw Pasquantino play rookie ball for the royals in the appalachian league, you know, in 2019. Uh, he's been with the royals his whole professional career, you know. And bobby witt jr the same. So I they might be a little bit of a financial commitment from their ownership, away from really putting this thing together and and and being a long, a long time contender in the american league. So, um, it's just, it's just kind of fascinating and that's that's again we go back to. Baseball is a complicated, difficult game. Yeah, it is. You can draft your ass off. You can develop players really well. You still got to get the job done at the highest level.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean that's the thing is, they can put all the effort into it, but they've got to get the guys that produce in the end, and you know who knows what the problem is. I mean, it could be anything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we would have to do a little bit more research and a little bit more of a deep dive to really figure that out. But, uh, but it is fascinating and it ties into what we were talking about earlier with Bobby Witt Jr and that team and everything. So, um, you know, but just just fascinating. So the other, the other, um, I think it's George Brett's fault.
Speaker 2:personally, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what do you got against, george?
Speaker 2:No, I love George Brett. One of my greatest moments of my entire life was the pine tar home run. Wow, yeah, what a, what a moment in history. Oh, yeah, uh, and the documentary on mlbtv about it is just fantastic, because the way he talks about it but, yeah, I think it's. I think he demands that every man be a man's man and, uh, I think it's too much for him sometimes. Yeah, yeah, because he's definitely a man's man and, uh, I think it's too much for him sometimes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, because he's definitely a man's man well and I'm not super familiar with, with the royals organizationally, but maybe that's just it. Maybe they haven't modernized enough, might be, you know, maybe they're just now getting to the point where they're trusting the analytics and the information and the data you know, and and that's the thing is this game is, it has evolved so much with, um, with free-flowing information which we, which everybody, has now in all walks of life in all fields.
Speaker 1:But you know it's um, you know good for the royals that they got in this year. They made a splash. I mean they went to baltimore, baltimore, and punched the Orioles in the mouth. I mean I can't take that away from them?
Speaker 2:No, absolutely not, and I didn't see that coming.
Speaker 1:Well, I did, because I picked them to win the American League.
Speaker 2:Of course you did.
Speaker 1:Shows how right I was. That's right. Yeah, you were on top of that one they ran into the Bronx Bombers. So the other part of this article that I found really interesting.
Speaker 2:I hear he's main event tonight who?
Speaker 1:The Bronx Bomber. All right, so now that that went over everybody's head, but mine, jesus Christ, that reminds me I got to tell you something off air about that. Okay, don't let me forget.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Anyways, out of our inner conversations, the other part of this article that I found really fascinating. The Gwinnett Stripers, the AAA affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, had Jimmy and I think it's Herget H-E-R-G-E-T Herget, herget, something like that. He pitched an inning and a third in relief against the Nashville Sounds on September the 4th. The next pitcher to take the mound for Gwinnett was Kevin Herget. Spelled exactly the same. They are not related and they are the only two known Hurgetts to ever play professional baseball. Wow, what a coincidence.
Speaker 2:Only baseball, only baseball. I mean, did they look alike? I don't know, I didn't look up to see what they looked like. Yeah, if they were twins it would be even creepier.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what if they were like twins, separated at birth? Yeah right, and they ended up pitching for the same team.
Speaker 2:Same last name. They just went. You know, one went here and one went there and they're reunited by baseball and it feels so good and it feels so good.
Speaker 1:That's the best I've ever heard you sing. Yeah, baby, it was still terrible, it was.
Speaker 2:It was an improvement for you, it was, it was it terrible it was.
Speaker 1:It was. It was an improvement for you. It was. It was. It's coming out on my next album? Yeah, but what are the odds of that? I want an odds maker to give me the odds on that that's astronomical.
Speaker 2:I mean just having two guys with the same last name.
Speaker 1:That's not johnson jackson, sure I mean, this is it's, it's, it's a last name I don't think I'd ever heard before right, right it's.
Speaker 2:It's very unique, and to have two of them and them not be, you know, related is that's wild, it's crazy, and it is one of those anomalies in baseball that yeah, it's one of those things we talk about where if you pitched that script to hollywood, they'd say it was too unbelievable.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's too unrealistic to to make a movie out of, yeah, you know, or a tv show out of like it's just so far fetched that it's hard to believe it's true.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, but uh but yeah, time with the hergots that'd be the name of the show, happy time with the hergots. And they run a bar in uh des moines, iowa shouldn't it be then?
Speaker 1:shouldn't it be happy hour with the hergots? It could be happy hour. It could be. We're just spitballing here we could.
Speaker 2:We could happy hour with the Hurgetts. It could be happy hour. It could be. We're just spitballing here we could happy hour with the Hurgetts.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Coming to you, live from Des Moines.
Speaker 1:We got to get in the writer's room with that. We do, we do.
Speaker 2:We will have a full script for you next week.
Speaker 1:I don't have time for that shit. I don't have time to write a script that one's going to be on you pal.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:I'll have it done, all right, so.
Speaker 2:Brian promises a happy hour with the.
Speaker 1:Hurgetts script for the pilot episode.
Speaker 2:next week A teleplay if you will A teleplay. That's what they say now. That's what the kids say Teleplay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, moving pictures, moving pictures.
Speaker 2:We're going to do major motion pictures and sitcoms here at the uh, two guys talking baseball.
Speaker 1:Oh, always, always something brewing at three crows entertainment. That's right, good grief, what a week for three crows, I know what a week for three crows, I know anyhow, shout out to benjamin hill always does a great job covering the minor leagues and giving us nuggets like that to talk about. Also, he covered one of our dear friends, roscoe the Rooster, the talking mascot. Yep, if you don't know about Roscoe, get in your Google machine.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:There's a really nice person behind the rooster head.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's one of our favorite people and a shout out to him what's happening, man, and you know we love him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we love you, roscoe. We sure do. Chicken, as we like to call him, if you happen to be listening and I hope you are because he's a guy that we encountered through wrestling, that shared our love of baseball, obviously having worked in baseball first as a clubhouse attendant and then eventually as a mascot and then the story of how he became a talking mascot, which I think he was really the first to do that yeah, at least at that high of a level. So a really good story there. Maybe we'll get Rooster on the show.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we need to bring him back. We did a little bit I think it's on Patreon now our interview with him but we need to bring him back.
Speaker 1:Did we interview him on the podcast?
Speaker 2:We did. I forgot about that.
Speaker 1:I knew I interviewed him in 2020 when I was doing the the blog. Yeah, no, we. We have him on patreon part of, uh, princeton palooza episode. That's right, but it wasn't as the rooster he was uh, the the whistle pig.
Speaker 2:Yeah, bucky or whatever.
Speaker 1:Bucky the whistle pig yeah, yeah, which was also, uh, really fun. Yeah, uh, that is a really fun episode we did. We went to princeton um, unfortunately no longer a part of the appalachian league, but, uh, when they had the princeton whistle pigs, we we went and did an on location episode there in princeton and had some of the great food and met some of the great people, including Danny, their general manager, who sat down with us as well, and, um, you know, uh, it was a really good time.
Speaker 2:It was worth giving it a watch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, worth worth a few bucks. On Patreon and uh, and with that I guess I'll I'll do the plugs. Um, you can follow the Twitter at 2GTBpod. I'm at Dallas. Danger Brian is at 3CrowsBri.
Speaker 1:You can go to 2GTBcom for basically anything. There's links to you know just about anything 2GTB related there. If you want to go directly to our merchandise store, that's at 2GTBstore T-shirts, hats, jerseys, stuff for your pets, a lot of good, practical things you can use. We've said this a lot, but we really try to offer a little something for everybody and just practical stuff, not just another T-shirt, not just another hat, something you can really get some use out of Good way to support us directly. Get some use out of good way to support us directly. And and then again the patreon. You can see princeton palooza and the other original 11 episodes, as long as some bonus content we've thrown up there more recently. That's patreoncom slash 2gtb and uh, it's always free to go take a look, folks. So, uh, so, even if you can't give us your money, you can give us a little bit of your time. We appreciate that too and we appreciate all of you listening. Brian, you got anything else this week?
Speaker 2:Nope, we love you and we're glad you tuned in.
Speaker 1:All right, we'll be back next week to talk World Series, hopefully Dodgers World Series, but until then I'm Dallas.
Speaker 2:That's Brian We'll see you at the ballpark.
