012: From the Bachelor to the Ballpark - The MLB Episode

We’re back with spring vibes, MLB drama, and a Bachelor-inspired breakdown of baseball’s quirky farm system. From spring training traditions to the truth about minor leaguers (spoiler: not all “pros” are created equal), we’re covering why Opening Day should be a national holiday. Toss in a Bob Uecker tribute, a few dating app red flags, and a spotlight on Jenny Cavnar—a true game-changer in sports broadcasting—and this episode’s a total home run. 

Get in touch! 

ALMOST FANS INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/almostfanspodcast/  

MEET TERYN: https://www.instagram.com/teryn.laferney/  

MEET AMBRE: https://www.instagram.com/ambre.hobson/  

VISIT OUR WEBSITE: https://www.almostfanspodcast.com/

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Chapters

• 09:25 – Understanding MLB Rosters (Kind Of) 
• 19:35 – MLB Rosters Explained, Bachelor Style
•  23:25 – Your Profile Pic Needs Help
•  32:18 – Baseball Money Is Monopoly Money
•  37:11 –  Honoring Bob Uecker With a Rap 
•  40:19 –  Women in Sports Broadcasting FTW 

Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01)
So MLB has this really cool farm system set up, minor league baseball. It's this amazing ladder that players climb up before they get into the big league, which is major league baseball. And technically all of the players in any of these levels have been drafted by a team. So here is my dating nugget for you. If you meet a dude at a bar and he tells you he's a professional baseball player, you should ask him,

what league he's in, do not assume that he plays for an MLB team. Because it's highly unlikely actually. Yeah, exactly. Or something in the very lowest league where it's just a part, part, part, part, part.

Speaker 2 (00:36)
Play for the Savannah bananas.

Hey, I don't know that I'd care.

Have you ever wondered why people get so hyped about their favorite sports teams? Well, it turns out it's not just about the game. It's about the community. My name is Teryn.

Speaker 1 (01:03)
And I'm Ambre. Welcome to Almost Fans, the sports podcast that's fun, a little bit educational, and will give you plenty to say when you're trying to keep up with those diehard sports fans in your life.

Hey everyone, welcome to the show. Today we are diving in to the wild world of MLB. From the sun soaked antics of spring training to the buzz of opening day traditions. So grab your peanuts, grab your crackerjacks, we're about to knock today's episode out of the park. But first, of course, we kick things off with our hat trick segment. Today's topic is top three.

best sports celebrations. So we chose this topic together ahead of time, but we have not compared notes. We don't know what's going to be on each other's lists. So we're going to kick it off right now. Teryn, tell me your number three.

Speaker 2 (02:01)
Okay, number three, I'm going in the NFL. You might know him as T.O., formerly known as Terrell Owens. He was known for his bold celebrations and one of his most famous came in 2000 when he scored a touchdown for the 49ers and he pulled a pin out of his sock, signed the football.

in pure showmanship and swagger, handed that football to someone in the stands.

Speaker 1 (02:30)
That's excellent. was really hoping you were going to say handed it to like the other team or something. No, no. as good. He's sad. He's a sassy dude, right? Like that's totally his MO.

Speaker 2 (02:40)
Totally.

There are multiple that you could pick from him. Doing crazy things.

Speaker 1 (02:46)
My number three is over in the golfing world and it is Mr. Red Polo. It was like a red dry fit Nike shirt in this particular scenario, but Mr. Tiger Woods. Yep. He won the masters in 2019 and this was significant because it was his first major win after being gone for a really long time, 11 years to be specific, during which time there were injuries, surgeries and a whole lot of

Speaker 2 (02:59)
It must have been a Sunday.

Speaker 1 (03:15)
personal drama, which we won't get into. yeah, so this final putt, it's like a really little tiny one. Everybody's quiet and he nails it and the place goes wild. I think probably they were going wild because he was going wild. He was fist pumping. He was hugging his kids. It took him four minutes to get from the green up to the clubhouse. You know, right before he walks in, he's shaking hands with all these other dudes in the green blazers. So the prior years,

Speaker 2 (03:18)
Yep.

Speaker 1 (03:44)
winners going back lots of history. he, yeah, you could just see it all over his face. He was over the moon. That's been it.

Speaker 2 (03:50)
I was

watching that one live. Super great. Okay. My number two, we're going to women's world cup soccer.

Also Brandi Chastain. It's epic. You know what? You've seen it after scoring the winning penalty kick in the final game against China. She dropped to her knees, ripped off her Jersey in celebration, like holding up that shirt, just her in her sports bra. Absolutely iconic. it was total victory for her. Did you know this fun fact that you probably did?

that she played for the US Women's National Team from 1988 to 2004.

Speaker 1 (04:39)
I did not know that. Man, I have so much respect for lots of athletes, but when they can have a ton of longevity, that's like next level respect.

Speaker 2 (04:50)
wild, right? She's just amazing. Unapologetic. We love them.

Speaker 1 (04:54)
that.

Yeah. I also had written down that that particular win was a big turning point for yes, women's soccer, but women's sports in general. I know we talk about turning points, women's sports, and I think that was one of those early on ones. Also, I watched the video of this. She takes this penalty shot and the camera watches it go in and it comes back to her and she's already got her top off. So she must have kicked that and been like, that was a winner.

Speaker 2 (05:18)
She knew.

Speaker 1 (05:22)
Let's do this. I'm just going to start my celebration right now as soon as my toe leaves that ball.

Speaker 2 (05:28)
Well,

generally, think how it works with penalty kicks is you're basically picking one side or the other and the goalie is just picking one side or the other too, right? They're just guessing. like, because you don't have enough time to make a decision based on how they kick it or where you think it's going to go. It's too late at that point.

Speaker 1 (05:43)
Yeah, I love that one. Okay, go back to your number one.

Speaker 2 (05:46)
Okay, my number one is this one goes all the way back to the 1997 NBA finals when Michael Jordan hit the game winning shot against the Utah Jazz to seal his sixth championship with the Bulls. This shot where he seems to like float in the air after he makes this game winning basket. It's so epic.

And I feel like you see it in basically all of those compilations of people celebrating after a big win. It's just something that you can totally picture. Michael Jordan leaping in the air, winning his sixth championship. And I love it. I love that for him too, because I'm a big Michael Jordan fan here.

Speaker 1 (06:28)
That's excellent. You're going to love my third and final hat trick because it is our good friend, said with sarcasm, Nick Saban. Ugh. I know. Come from SEC football schools. So when Nick Saban coached the Crimson Tide, man, they were so good and it was just hard not to hate them when you were cheering for any other team in the SEC. So this is why you're going to love this one and why it's my number one here.

So Nick Saban had a rule, his teams were not allowed to Gatorade shower him. At the end of a winning game, usually an important game, they'll dump a huge thing of Gatorade on the coach. Well, this particular day was, I don't know, the year's championship game. He was coaching Alabama. He was wearing a very nice and crisp looking white long sleeve, dry fit shirt. The team breaks the rule, breaks the no Gatorade bath rule and dumps.

red Gatorade all over him. my You can see right away on his face, he's not happy about this, but he's not happy because they broke the rule because I don't know, maybe he cares about wearing a white shirt and now it's all ruined with red Gatorade, but also because in their enthusiasm, they thwacked him in the head with the cooler. I watched it in slow motion a bunch of times just for kicks and man, that looked really painful. So that was my number one celebration.

Nick Saban Gatorade bath. was red. Gatorade.

Speaker 2 (08:00)
He was totally doing the wet t-shirt contest and he was pissed. And he was, and he stained his shirt and everybody had to run laps.

Speaker 1 (08:10)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he was very PG about it with reporters afterward. He's like, was, you know, it was, it's fine. My players did it. It was a big game. I understand. But all in that video, in that moment, Nick Saban was not a happy camper.

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So today we are diving in to MLB, Major League Baseball. Can I just take a moment and say, Tara knows this, baseball brings me the warm fuzzies. And here's why, to me baseball is like the soundtrack of summer. We went to a lot of games when we were kids. My dad always had the Brewers playing in the background. I worked, I.

bartended in the summer, in college and whatnot. so it was just always on, the windows were always open, the sun was shining, we were in shorts. It's just like the feels of summer to me. And also, because it's quote unquote America's pastime, it has all sorts of history and legacy in the United States. All about nostalgia. Okay, to warm us up, Teryn, you know from our first episode, I do believe that the Sandlot is one of my favorite

movies. So I have a couple of quick quizzes for you about the Sandlot. Number one.

Speaker 2 (10:30)
you're

gonna make everyone hate me.

Speaker 1 (10:32)
I made some of these purposely easy. The first one, what type of animal was the beast? Yep. looked like a St. Bernard. Massive? yes. That's what I saw. Somebody said massive. I was like, it's St. Bernard. Anyway, a dog. And quick bonus point. I'm sure you wouldn't have gotten this, but in the movie, his actual name was Hercules. Yeah. What stunt?

Speaker 2 (10:34)
Five years since I've seen this.

Giant dog. It sounds familiar.

Speaker 1 (11:01)
does squints pull off at the public pool?

Speaker 2 (11:06)
He pretends to drown so that the hot girl can give him mouth-to-mouth and he like kisses her.

Speaker 1 (11:13)
Wendy

peppercorn, they get married eventually. great. Well done. Well done. What nickname did Benny Rodriguez earn?

Speaker 2 (11:15)
Yeah, that's one of the things.

he was the cute one. He was the one I always liked growing up. Same.

Speaker 1 (11:28)
He was the one I liked. He's also the one I wanted to be in a weird way. Yeah, I don't know. He these great shoes.

Speaker 2 (11:32)
That is weird.

We should dissect that Ambre. I can't, I don't know. I don't know that one. Okay. Wouldn't have got that.

Speaker 1 (11:37)
Yeah.

the jet.

The baseball that the boys lose in the beasts junkyard. What famous baseball player signed it? Yeah. See, you're doing way better than you thought. No confidence. So there. Okay. The final one.

Speaker 2 (11:52)
Bye, Bruce.

I got a lot of heat for the movies that I hadn't seen, okay?

Speaker 1 (12:04)
You continue to get heat for that. I'll have to just have a movie day and rectify all of that, all of the problems there. My fifth and final question, what is the ultimate insult that the Sandlot boys yell at the kids from the right side of the tracks?

Speaker 2 (12:20)
Like they throw like a girl or something?

Speaker 1 (12:21)
Yeah. You play ball like a girl and everybody goes, mean, have so many thoughts about that. You know, I have thoughts about these sorts of things. But come on friends. I know it was. So that movie was and still is one of my favorite symbols of the magic of summer. When my kids roll up into the house with buckets of slugs and whatever, and they're just drenched in, or maybe we nail the neighbors.

HOA president, it's not a good thing. Maybe we nailed her window with a baseball. It just makes me happy. That's summer magic. okay, MLB, I had questions about spring training. How does this work? When does it happen? I don't know. What is this about? So I want to sort of break this down. Spring training and opening day, some of those things that happen at the beginning of the season. So spring training is what it sounds like. It's a series of

preseason games, sort of like in NFL, have those preseason games. They don't count. Probably the starters aren't going to play a whole lot. But it's still a chance to kind of get a feel for the teams. The teams get a feel for kind of coming back into the game situations. So for MLB, there's two preseason leagues. There's one in Florida called the Grapefruit League and then one in Arizona called the Cactus League. Wait, did you

Speaker 2 (13:46)
Is

grapefruit or grapefruit?

Speaker 1 (13:49)
grapefruit, like the tangy pink.

Speaker 2 (13:53)
I've never heard that before. I knew it was Florida and Arizona, but I didn't know that they had names.

Speaker 1 (13:57)
Yeah, grapefruit and cactus leagues. The league that your team is in just depends on history, but probably just boring old geography, whatever's closest for the most part. The Brewers, by the way, are part of the Cactus League in case you're wondering. So who goes to spring training? It's each team's full roster. So all your dudes go to spring training, plus possibly some other recruits that you might want to just be checking out.

How do they play? How do they mesh with the team? Spring training is sort of like an interview, a tryout and a reunion in some respects. They've been gone for a long time. haven't seen their teammates all rolled into one crazy experience. So you're training, you're strengthening, there's team bonding, there's exhibition games. So again, they don't count. The starters might not play a whole lot, but those are all the things happening at season. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:50)
I have a question.

You said they haven't seen each other for a long time. Are they not practicing in the off season?

Speaker 1 (14:55)
I don't know. I don't know. you. They're probably unofficially practicing, but spring training feels like this is the starting line.

Speaker 2 (14:58)
Have to see each other some,

their own trainers and stuff that they're doing work with in the off season.

Speaker 1 (15:14)
Yeah, I'm sure. Just like NFL players, probably.

Speaker 2 (15:17)
I don't know, I don't know how it works.

Speaker 1 (15:19)
Yeah,

NFL players are, they're training, you know, I mean, so like your body, I was trained in strength and conditioning. So your body has to go through different series and different periods. can't operate at, you know, the top level of performance all the time. That wouldn't be healthy. You couldn't do that. So I'm guessing that, you know, MLB players, probably most athletes are just taking some down steps in their training and off season. But spring training is when you start to kind of start to ramp up again. Got it.

Speaker 2 (15:46)
Okay, thank you.

Speaker 1 (15:48)
Spring training traditions in general. Fans get closer access for autographs because they're smaller stadiums. Probably there's not as many people there. So it's more likely that you could get John Hancock from your favorite dude. Players are testing walk-up songs. Why do you need to a walk-up song?

Speaker 2 (16:08)
You gotta feel the vibes.

Speaker 1 (16:11)
feels essential. How is this one going to bounce off the grass? don't know. Yeah, there's some light hazing, no big deal, know, versus rookies. Everybody, you know, kind of does their, their dues sort of thing. On March 17th, teams wear green uniforms. I might've forgotten to mention spring training is happening in February and March. So right over top of St. Patrick's Day. And if the team is playing on March 17th, they get all geared up in green. And a lot of times too, you hear about some of those diehard baseball fans.

Speaker 2 (16:15)
my god

Speaker 1 (16:40)
road tripping, especially if you're in maybe some colder States, road tripping to go check out some spring training games in February, March. Okay. So spring training is complete and now we're at opening day. Okay. So there's 30 MLB teams and they all begin their season. The starting line for all of the teams is the same day.

This is not the same day that they have their home opener, because that's not possible. All of the teams can't play a first home game on the same day. So, but there is still an opening day. It's late March and then the team's first home game is the home opener. Okay. So opening day can be a big deal and or home opener can be big deals for some teams with traditions. So I have a personality quiz for you, Teryn.

If you had an opening day style, which of these three would you be? Would you be the Cincinnati Reds, you love nostalgia and a big party? Or would you be the Yankees? You're all about the glitz and the Hollywood moments. Red carpet hello. Or, and don't just choose them because of where they're from, would you be Detroit Tigers?

where your opening day version is actually just tailgating for eight hours straight, which team you'd be.

Speaker 2 (18:12)
So it's all about the tailgating or do I wanna party?

Speaker 1 (18:15)
Or you want the glitz and glamour.

Speaker 2 (18:17)
No, not that one. I'm not the Yankees. Definitely not that it's either the Reds or the tigers, but I mean, give me the tigers, give me some tailgating.

Speaker 1 (18:24)
day.

I knew it. I knew it. I was like I should remove them but I just yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:31)
I mean, come on, like a bunch of people out in a parking lot. Again, girl in a brats, come on.

Speaker 1 (18:35)
Drink a beer?

Yeah,

fair enough. Love that. Yeah. you know, teams have all sorts of really cool traditions around opening day and their home opener game. It's super fun. Again, baseball is just so entrenched in traditions and history and stuff.

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Okay, so Teryn, are you familiar with the different rosters in baseball? Like how many people are on a team, the different minor league baseball?

Speaker 2 (19:44)
Like AAA, AA, single A, I know that. don't know exactly how many players are on each team. No.

Speaker 1 (19:52)
So there's 40 players on, in a team picture on the roster, 40 man roster. So MLB has this really cool farm system set up, minor league baseball. It's this amazing ladder that players climb up the last level before they get into the big league, which is major league baseball is AAA, like you just mentioned. And technically all of the players in any of these levels,

have been drafted by a team. They are being paid by a professional team and they are technically professional baseball players. So here is my dating nugget for you. If you meet a dude at a bar and he tells you he's a professional baseball player, you should ask him what league he's in. Do not assume that he plays for an MLB team because it's highly unlikely actually. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (20:46)
for the Savannah bananas.

Speaker 1 (20:50)
or

Speaker 2 (20:56)
Hey, I don't know that I'd care.

Speaker 1 (20:59)
I mean, you could still be a really good dude. Just keep the expectations.

Speaker 2 (21:05)
Hey, if you're out there, if you're in the AAA or the AA or the single A, I'm still single.

Speaker 1 (21:13)
What is the update on your love life? is online dating going? No update. It's a tough world out there for single people these days,

Speaker 2 (21:16)
a terrible

You know what? The likes, this is how it goes. You like get on the apps and then you do them scroll for three straight days and then you delete it. Yeah, exactly. It's just like scrolling on social media. You're just like, what's out there? And you're like, no, no, no, no, no. And then you delete the app off your phone for three weeks because you're tired.

Speaker 1 (21:32)
Are you swiping?

Tell me, tell me when you find a yes, what's your, what's your play? Like what's your opening line to start a conversation with them?

Speaker 2 (21:55)
Ooh, I'm pretty boring probably. I usually don't do anything crazy, more just like maybe make a comment about something they say on their profile or how's your Tuesday?

Speaker 1 (22:11)
That's your Tuesday. That's just a zinger,

Speaker 2 (22:14)
But listen, these guys, don't know how to keep up. They just are so boring. They either don't look at the apps and they reply back every third day. And it's like, I don't have time for that. Either get in or get out. And I'm out.

Speaker 1 (22:28)
Yeah. What are some faux pas that, okay, so like not replying for two, three days, that's a faux pas. What other faux pas have guys committed?

Speaker 2 (22:38)
Too eager to go out. I had a guy who literally within, I messaged him once, he messaged me once, I messaged again and he said, we should go out. And I said, I am a single mom. I have got to be more picky than that.

Speaker 1 (22:57)
I

Speaker 2 (22:59)
Yeah, I'm a single mom and I have two jobs. I have a podcast and a regular day job and a child. I have exactly three hours free per week. And I'm not going to just waste it on someone random.

Speaker 1 (23:12)
Yeah. Time is valuable. What are, what things do you look for on a, I have so many questions. It's been a while since we talked about this. What are things you look for on a profile before you ask somebody how their Tuesday is going?

Speaker 2 (23:25)
Ooh, there's so many things. don't know. I want to give away all my secrets, but I mean, obviously you need to be attracted to them because like if, okay, I'll give you a good example. Like if someone has a selfie picture and it's the same picture, like four times in a row, you know, like just in a different room of their house, you're like, I didn't learn anything about you. You know, maybe that's your best angle. And I don't know. You need to have like a picture of like your full body.

Speaker 1 (23:48)
branding, branding, lack of

Speaker 2 (23:53)
at least one so you can like just get a whole picture of what they look like. not too many pictures with you and other dudes that look exactly like you. Cause it's like, who are you? Which one's you? You know, so it doesn't mean you can't have any pictures with anyone else, just like one or two other people where it's clear who you are, you know, not like a group photo where you're in the back and all I can see is your chin up.

Speaker 1 (24:04)
Mm. Blending into the crowd.

Do you only click on dudes that have sports paraphernalia in their pictures?

Speaker 2 (24:24)
it's not a requirement, but it's definitely a plus. they should definitely not have anything weird on their profile. Like some people say weird things and you're like, what? I mean, sexual things. Burn off. yeah. another one that guys like to do that is so annoying. So they will put a picture of themselves with someone else.

Speaker 1 (24:29)
Yeah.

But if they're

Yeah.

Speaker 2 (24:52)
Right? So they'll have like a picture. It'd be like picture of you and me, except for they would like put an emoji over your face. so it's like, well, then pick a different picture. Yeah. Don't use that picture if you have to put like, if you have to cover up the other person's face in the picture, it's usually like a kid or, know, it's like, this is my sister's kid and I didn't want to put their face on there. Then don't use that picture. Use a different picture.

Speaker 1 (25:18)
He's like, but it was showing off my calves really well, so go ahead and the picture.

Speaker 2 (25:22)
Yeah, I'm definitely out on that. If they're funny, if they can like say something witty and funny in their thing, that will boost them up a few points.

Speaker 1 (25:31)
Yeah, sense of humor. That's big for you.

Speaker 2 (25:33)
Yeah, and sometimes they'll come in on my profile and almost always they make some kind of comment about because I'm from Michigan. So they all like assume I'm a Lions fan and. Right. Well, it's like, but it's fine. I don't, I'm not offended by that, but they'll be like, you're a Lions fan. And then they like try and make fun of me for that. it's like, well, you are wrong one and two, like go away.

Speaker 1 (25:44)
How dare they?

And three, the Lions actually did really well last year. Yeah, there's that.

Speaker 2 (26:02)
Way better than the Packers, by the way.

So there you go, there's the update.

Speaker 1 (26:10)
really fast. How did you get here? Tell, tell everybody about your

Speaker 2 (26:16)
You're the big D. Divorced. I'm a divorced mother of one. Sweet,

Speaker 1 (26:18)
Yeah. Yeah.

Super attractive, loving, sports loving, divorced mom.

Speaker 2 (26:30)
I thought you were talking about my me. You're talking about me. I'm talking about. Thank you. That's very kind. yeah, no, just, so there's a, that's a lot to that, but yeah, just been divorced for a little over a year.

Speaker 1 (26:35)
Yeah, you. Yeah. Yeah.

looking for love and just struggling with those dating apps.

Speaker 2 (26:51)
The love will come. I'm certain it comes.

Speaker 1 (26:55)
Mm-hmm. It will. I don't even know how to segue from that back to MLB. sorry. So.

Speaker 2 (27:01)
Back to, hey, if you are in any one of the.

Speaker 1 (27:05)
leaves any.

Speaker 2 (27:07)
I don't discriminate.

Speaker 1 (27:10)
No matter what, he's got to be athletic. That checks at least one entry-level box.

Speaker 2 (27:16)
Nice butt. And baseball pants.

Speaker 1 (27:18)
Yeah, they do wear very tight pants. I love a baseball bat.

Speaker 2 (27:28)
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Speaker 1 (28:01)
Anyway, so all minor league baseball players are technically pros, technically paid by a major league team. They were drafted. The average salary of a minor league baseball team player is 50K per year. So I mentioned that the top of the food chain is the AAA. That's the last step before you get up to the major league baseball league. I said that twice.

Speaker 2 (28:27)
MLB League.

Speaker 1 (28:29)
MLB League. So players, almost everybody in the MLB went through the minor league baseball system for at least a minute. They probably got recruited out of high school or college. You don't technically have to go to college to be able to play in the MLB. They might've gotten recruited internationally, but pretty much everybody goes through the minor league system. Whether they stay there for a long time or for a short period and then get called up to the big leagues.

depends on them, depends on their team's needs. And some players probably most commonly bounce back and forth depending on injuries, depending on how they're doing. The team picks up another stellar left fielder so maybe they get bumped down for some amount of time, maybe traded out. Okay, so what does a team actually look like? Teryn, you mentioned there's a specific roster. It's a 40 man roster. And these are the dudes, like I said, who are in the team picture. They might not actually be eligible to

play each day. Some are hanging out on the bench. ready to go, ready to play. 26 of them are the other 14 are going to be hanging out in the triple A team, hoping and praying and crossing their fingers that they get called up to actually play in the game. So the 26 man roster are the dudes who actually suit up for the games. And there's just a lot of movement back and forth between these two, between the major league baseball team and it's triple A affiliate.

So I want to hit home these various leagues and stats with a friendly bachelor analogy. Ooh, okay. Okay. So you've got your minor leaguers. I want to talk about below the AAA. So AA, single A, and down. They're technically, like we've mentioned several times, professional players, but they haven't made it big yet. Think of these leagues like

your first round of ladies on The Bachelor who get cut. Management and recruitment were like, this girl's going all the way, the next big thing, but they fizzled right away. Doesn't mean they're not coming back. They could come back. These professional players could get picked up by a different team. This lady who got cut early, she could be The Bachelorette next season. You never know. There's always- not though. Probably not, but I'm saying there's a chance.

Speaker 2 (30:53)
There's

always a chance.

Speaker 1 (30:55)
There's always a chance. Okay. So those are your double A and down, right? Like minor, minor leaguers. Now you've got the triple A. So this is the last step before the big league. Some baseball players here, like I said, could get called up quickly or they might sit for a long time, linger forever. Think of these players like the bachelor contestants on the edge of greatness. They keep making it back week after week, but they never actually get a one-on-one date.

They don't ever actually get called in to the action. So that's AAA. Now your 40-man roster, you've made it onto the roster for an MLB team. Your spot on the field though, again, suiting up is not guaranteed. That's a 26-man roster. But this 40-man roster, I want you to think of like hometown visits, right? Like those spots in the 26-man roster are really coveted.

Not everybody gets them. There's limited space. So you got to work really hard to get onto the 26 man roster or work really hard to get a hometown visit on the bachelor. And then finally the 26 man roster. I don't know here. Like let's talk about roses championships. You're in the game. You're in the finals. Again, they got to work really hard for that Rose. Got to work really hard for that championship trophy, but you're totally there. You're in the game. You're on the field.

So the last topic I want to talk about today was salary structure and the luxury tax. Yeah, it's so fascinating all the different ways that different sports pay or don't pay their athletes. In Major League Baseball, there is no salary cap. There is no rule that says, hey, you MLB team, you can only pay your people this much money. There isn't that. There is like a soft threshold.

hey, we hope you don't pay your people over this. And if you do, we're gonna tax you on whatever money you spend over this threshold.

Speaker 2 (32:55)
by

teams like the Yankees stay good for so long. have a lot of money.

Speaker 1 (33:00)
They have a bunch of money. Yeah, they're like, taxes what? We don't care because if we shell out all this money and we get more players and we got to pay taxes later on down the road, we can get some baller players, win a bunch of games, bring more people to our games, get better sponsorships, better TV deals, sell more merchandise, ticket sales. So we're going to make back that tax anyway is how this works in my brain. But the first time you bust through this threshold and you pay over

the amount that you're supposed to pay. You pay 20 % tax on the excess. The second time you do it, second year, right? You pay 30%. The third year you do it 50 % or more. I imagine there's a bunch of teams out there who have been living in this 50 % life for a long time.

Speaker 2 (33:47)
They just live there. They

just it in.

Speaker 1 (33:52)
So in 2025, the threshold is set at $241 million. For those of you who can't do math without a calculator like me, that's an average of 6 mil per person on a 40 person roster. So of the 30 MLB teams, can you guess the number of teams in 2024 that went past the threshold out of 30 teams? How many do think?

Very close, nine. So let's just point out one in three MLB teams is like threshold. What? We don't care. We're just gonna, I mean, I'm sure they're calculating into budgeting, right? But like, you know, nose up at you, MLB. We're gonna pay our players. We wanna win. We wanna have a shot at recruiting some of these bigger players for our team.

Speaker 2 (34:40)
Yeah, I mean, they're all like the really big city teams. I'm sure it's like the LA, the New York.

Speaker 1 (34:47)
Yep. New York and New York, the Mets and the Yankees. Both. Yep. LA. Yep. Yep. All of that. So a quick case study. Does this work? Like, is it working? I mean, we know. Yes, right? Like more money begets more money. But the LA Dodgers paid $103 million in taxes in 2024. And by the way, that's like a really big number.

Speaker 2 (34:50)
Chicago.

Speaker 1 (35:14)
and the Mets and the Yankees were like just behind them. It's not like they were a big outlier. know, these three teams in particular were spending a bunch of money over the threshold. So think like Billy Madison, that's what this makes me think of. Also, because I was listening to a thing, there's a new Waterboy 2 movie coming out and I cannot wait. So Adam Sandler, anyway, Billy Madison, right? You know, his house in that movie, he has

all of the toys, money is no object. That's how I think about some of these teams that are like spend, spend, spend. Let's just get the best of the best for us, for our teams. So the LA Dodgers spent the most over the threshold in 2024 and it worked because they won the championship. They could buy a bunch of really solid players like Shohei Otani and did really well. it's working. It's working for these teams.

Speaker 2 (36:06)
think it's Shohei. I could be wrong.

Speaker 1 (36:09)
That could be wrong too. Okay. So plan C, there's just one more thing I want to talk about related to money, deferred compensation. So you can sign a player and say, Hey, Teryn, you're so awesome. We want to bring you onto our team. We're going to pay you, for example, a million dollars a year starting in 10 years for the following 20 years. I don't know, but you can basically defer compensation. And sometimes this is super smart for these players to do.

It's smart for the players, smart for the team, because then they get to spend more money on some of those bigger players earlier on.

Speaker 2 (36:42)
And you don't blow all your money at once.

Speaker 1 (36:45)
You don't

spend it all in one place. That's right. So before we segue over to She's Got Game, I want to take just a really quick moment for an ode to the late great Mr. Bob Uecker. So he passed away. I know. Rest in peace. He passed away in January, 2025. He was the voice of the Milwaukee Brewers. He was actually the soundtrack of my summer.

His voice and his wit, all the things that he stood for, the warm storytelling and delivery. He lit up every room he came into. He won an award back in the 2000s and he came up to give his acceptance speech. Usually that would be like a, you so much. Wow, I didn't expect that. Actually, he stayed on the mic for 20 minutes, groaning, crying, tears of laughter, falling on the ground. His delivery is so dry and so fantastic.

Speaker 2 (37:35)
Yeah, he's hilarious.

Speaker 1 (37:41)
So.

Speaker 2 (37:42)
Before

you move on, have you seen the clip of him on, I think it's the Tonight Show? Or yes, Johnny Carson, think. So funny, so funny. You could not get him to give a straight answer, not even once.

Speaker 1 (37:45)
I think so, with David Letterman or Johnny Carson.

Yeah, no, and he never breaks. He's in character the whole time.

Speaker 2 (38:05)
Never broke a smile, never chuckled, never smiled, nothing. It was so funny.

Speaker 1 (38:10)
So I'm about to move into a segment where I want to talk about another sports broadcaster. But before I do, I want to truly give an ode to Bob Euker with a rap song that I created about Bob.

Speaker 2 (38:24)
Are you gonna rap right now?

Speaker 1 (38:26)
I mean, it's more just like talking with some rhythm, but yes. And it is set to the rhythm of the only rap song I could possibly think of, which is obviously the theme song of the Prince of Bel-Air.

Speaker 2 (38:30)
let's go.

Okay, let's go.

Speaker 1 (38:43)
Now this is a story all about how Bob Uecker turned the game upside down. And I'd like to take a minute so just sit right there. I'll tell you how he became Milwaukee's voice on the air. In good old Milwaukee, born and raised on the baseball field where he spent most of his days catching out back and joking all cool.

Tossing wild pitches, breaking every rule, when a couple of scouts who were up to some good said, hey Bob, you should play like a pro if you could. He played for the Braves, Cards, Phillies, all of that, but he made more hits on the mic than the bat. He got on TV and the world took note with Miller Lite ads and a Hall of Fame quote. If anything, I'd say this guy was rare. The voice of the Brewers, a legend on air.

Speaker 2 (39:34)
my.

Speaker 1 (39:37)
That was so great. I practiced that. I was hoping you could drop me a beat at the beginning, but I figured if I asked that.

Speaker 2 (39:45)
I don't know, couldn't get on the beat that you did though. You crushed it. Great job.

Speaker 1 (39:49)
Man, Bob Euker. RIP, my friend. Yeah, RIP. Legend.

Continuing with the theme of sports broadcasters, we bring you the She's Got Game segment. And I say we're continuing the theme of sports broadcasting because our She's Got Game highlighted woman, a woman doing something awesome in sports today is Ms. Jenny Kavnar. Have you heard of her?

Speaker 2 (40:19)
I have. Yeah, I saw something about her in the news recently.

Speaker 1 (40:23)
Yeah, that is probably because she is the first woman in MLB history to serve as a team's regular play-by-play broadcaster. Teryn, what is the difference between a play-by-play broadcaster and a color commentator?

Speaker 2 (40:39)
Yeah. So the play by play is just like what it sounds. They talk about the play that just happened. So that was a strike. That was a ball. They hit it into left field, like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. and the color commentator comes in and adds the, for lack of a better term, the color, right? Like the, this kind of interesting stat about their time in the minor leagues or something personal about the player or.

something that's happening in the dugout, know, so the color commentators adding to what the play by play person is the facts, basically.

Speaker 1 (41:18)
Yeah. Adding some more fun things, softer stuff. theoretically, the play-by-play broadcasters, the one who has to have the more sports knowledge. So, and this is the first time ever that a woman has been in that role for an MLB team. She's been in the industry for 20 years. Super cool trailblazer. What an awesome accomplishment. When you look at where she came from, she always wanted to be actually a sideline reporter because

She said that that's where she saw representation. Women were usually on the sidelines. They were doing some of the, you know, the really quick segments of coach. I'm thinking about NFL, you know, at halftime or at the end of the game. Right. So she always just assumed that that's really the only place where a woman could be. Here's where I do need to call out Teryn's girl crush. Miss Erin Andrews. Yep. So perfect example. And she crushes it. Not to say that that is not an excellent job, but

Speaker 2 (42:06)
Say like Aaron Andrews.

Speaker 1 (42:14)
Jenny Kavnar always believed that that was the only way that a woman could be in sports broadcasting because that's the only place that she saw women. So really awesome for her to be at this moment. It has not come without some controversy. I want to lead into this with this headline that I had read connected to Jenny. Female play-by-play broadcasters are on the rise in men's sports. So is the criticism. So there was one night where Jenny was calling the game.

And there was a player who came up and she's calling the game by the way, for the Oakland A's that's where she has this trailblazing job. So they're playing the Tampa Bay Rays and one of the outfielders for the opposite team came up to the plate. His last name is Siri. He hadn't had a good night, really just hadn't been hitting really well. So I think he swung and he missed a pitch and Jenny says something like, Hey Siri, his last name tonight is not your night. And then.

very soon after a couple of innings later, he crushed a game tying home run. mean, yeah, right. Like good for him. Way to go. Social media did not appreciate this. You know, basically they started questioning her expertise because she had...

Speaker 2 (43:20)
Hey, there you go.

my gosh.

many people say stuff like that. That is literally what their job is to be like, it hasn't been his night tonight. my gosh.

Speaker 1 (43:45)
fired up. Let me just fire you up even further with some specifics about what people are writing on social media. One person said, I really want to know how she got this job. Another said, go back to the kitchen lady. Yeah. Okay. Can just hold onto your fire. I would like to stoke it slightly more in a different game. There was a dude, a dude play by play broadcaster.

Speaker 2 (44:00)
Of course

Speaker 1 (44:14)
And he on the mic, this picture was lightened up, picture was crushing it. And he says something like, no hitter alert, meaning wow, this picture is doing well.

Speaker 2 (44:24)
You can't

say that. That's not a cool thing to say. No!

Speaker 1 (44:28)
It was

very soon after the pitcher gives up a home run. The batter catches a home run. Like against the rules. Do you want to know what social media said about this? I'm sure you can guess. They said, oh, that's so funny. Hilarious. The funniest. So when a woman play by play broadcaster does something like this, what they're supposed to do is comment on how well or how not well somebody is doing. When Jenny Kavnar did this,

Speaker 2 (44:33)
Look at that guy.

Speaker 1 (44:57)
there was a petition circulated saying that she needed to be fired. It was signed by 600 people. 600 people.

Speaker 2 (45:08)
all the chads and the brads.

Speaker 1 (45:10)
I it highlights first off how people just feel really emboldened on social media and they can say and do anything they want. But it just also highlights how this shift into having more females in the sports world, whether broadcasting, managing, coaching, owning, playing, what have you, comes with some growing pains. And I'm not saying that that's okay, but it really does highlight that. I found this quote from a professor.

Cheryl Cookie, a professor of Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies at Purdue University. She said, there is a way that knowledge about sports is gendered masculine and there's a way that it's policed as being masculine knowledge only. There's a subset of sports fans that are really invested in maintaining sports for, by, and about men. It's always been done that way. This is my quote now. It's always been done that way, so it should continue to be that way. So I just...

I applaud Jenny for stepping up to the plate. Look at that analogy right there. Stepping up to the plate, just doing an awesome job. It's fun to listen to her talk about the game. And when she's asked about some of these controversies or some of the haters out there, this is how she replies. She says, I trust the advice of the people that have helped me get to this point and those I admire in the business. And that is not something I would find in reading online comments.

Speaker 2 (46:35)
Right. And I'm going to use the words of Taylor Swift. Why you got to be so mean?

Speaker 1 (46:42)
What are some good lyrics from The Man?

Speaker 2 (46:47)
Oh, so many.

Wondering if I could. I was a man.

Speaker 1 (46:51)
Gotten here faster.

Yeah. All those things, but we often are talking about trailblazers when we're, when we're getting into our, she's got game highlights almost always. And Jenny is in that group trailblazing for sure. And that is why we have chosen her as today's she's got game highlight.

Speaker 2 (47:11)
you

All right, that's a wrap on this week's episode of Almost Fans. We had a blast diving into the MLB and talking about some of those unforgettable moments in sports history. Whether you're a true fan or just here for the wild stories or the dating stories, we hope you had as much fun as we did. And hey, if you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review. It helps us bring you more good stuff.

That's it for today, folks. Keep those baseball facts in your back pocket because you never know when you'll need them. Until next time, Almost fans.