Episode 58: Does Shohei's MVP Run End This Year?

The Jimmies recap the comings and goings in the American League and National League.  

Will Shohei keep his MVP run going?  How good of a season does it take to knock him off the pedestal.

Jose Ramirez make Cleveland Guardians history.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Baseball fans and baseball lovers, good day. Thank you for joining us for another episode of the MLB Clubhouse with the Jimmies. I'm here with the Slay dude, Justin Slay, Wendell Pops Patterson, and I am Josh Patterson. We're going to go over some good baseball over the weekend. It was rival we rivalry all year long last year. I struggle with that, didn't I?

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Wivalweek? Didn't I say it? Alright, Anubima. Somebody help me. Rivalry. Rival Week. There we go. Yeah, sorry. Rival Wee weekend. The rare wivble, the rare wivble, wivelwe.

SPEAKER_03 0:41

And we're going to talk a little shohe Otani. His bat has not quite been there. He's been getting some extra days off, but his arm has definitely carried the team on his pitching days. So we're going to deal with a little deep dive into his season so far. Let's get into it. All right. We will start off with the AL recap. We'll kick it off. We're kicking off. I'm going to get it. Rivalry. That was close, dude. Rivalry. Weekend, though.

SPEAKER_04 1:09

You did a good job.

SPEAKER_03 1:10

Thank you. Thank you. Um, with with the Jays going to Detroit. Uh, two teams, two teams that have been beat up to start the season, um, and both have gotten off to a slow start. Torkelson walks off game one. Varsho drives in the go-ahead run in game two, and Gossman threw six Shutti in game three to secure the series for Toronto. Maize and Yesavage both look really good in their starts, but the Jays take two of three. The Guardians hosted the Reds, and it was a series of sevens. Game one was seven to six Reds powered by a homer and three RBI day by Matt McLean. Game two was seven to four guard dogs, led by Angel Martinez with a two-run shot, and Jose Ramirez, who is now the sixth all-time in hits in Cleveland Guardians history. And in game three, Cleveland won by seven, as they homered six times, including two by Kyle Manzardo, and the Guardians take two out of three. Miami at Tampa Bay probably broke some attendance records this weekend. Game one was all raised led by Cedric Mullins, who went four for four, including a homer to raise his average to 176 on the season. Well done. Game two, the Marlins committed four errors and still one thanks to an eight-run tenth inning. Junior Commonero and Yandi Diaz both homered in game three, and the Rays take two out of three. Uh quick shout out to Otto Lopez as he leads the majors in both hits and batting average. The old shortstop for the fish there, getting it done this season. Uh, Milwaukee and Minnesota, no idea why this is a rivalry, but the damn. But the Brewers end up. Should I call them the Bluooooo? They took two out of three. The rival we wake up. Um, the Chicago Cubs at the Chicago White Sox. Uh, nobody's been able to handle injuries quite like the Cubbies have this season. Um, and nobody has been as pleasantly surprising as the White Sox this season. So the Cubbies took game one. Uh they sprayed the ball everywhere as they scored 10 runs without the benefit of a homer. Uh, but Murakami homered twice in game two. Vargas Montgomery and Ben and Tendi also homered as the Sox take that one. Bush and Conforto both homered for the Cubbies in the rubber game, but Tristan Peters had a big three-run jack for the Sox, and Edgar Edgar Carrow walked it off in the tenth with a two-run shot, and the White Sox end up taking two out of three. Our Rangers went to Houston, and apparently they're the only team that Houston's starting pitchers can get out. Uh, they they mustered just one run in the first two games, uh, but blew it up in game three for eight runs. At that point, who gives a shit? Because you already lost the series. Um, another unbelievably mediocre performance. Um, but luckily the rest of the vision sucks too. So uh the Astros end up taking two out of three, and the standings will come here in a minute. What's up, Hank?

unknown 4:12

Hi.

SPEAKER_03 4:12

Say hi to everybody. What's up, buddy? What's up, dude? All right, get your band-aid on and go lay down. Let me finish up, okay? Hold on.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

So you see where uh you know uh PCA try um missed that catch out there in center field, and uh uh some seats, I guess, underneath the fence, like right at field level. Yes, one of the White Sox fans started giving him crap, and uh basically he told her to suck his F and D.

SPEAKER_04 4:42

Oh nice. That's nice that you uh speaking of that. Did you watch uh the PJ yesterday, Wendell?

SPEAKER_00 4:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 4:49

When Rory hit that? Yes, and uh someone said someone said USC goes go after yourself, and he got that guy thrown out of the tournament.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

He pointed at him.

SPEAKER_04 5:02

I don't know if he ever if he threw him out, but they said today that he did, and that he then they he kind of after in his post-round conference kind of said yeah, I probably shouldn't have got that guy thrown out.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Yeah, he just kind of pointed at him and then walked on off. I didn't I didn't know if they were gonna throw him out or not.

SPEAKER_04 5:17

Good thing people don't watch us hit Wendell because uh I hit worse golf shots than that. If someone said something to me, I'd throw my club at him.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

So well, that that shot wasn't even really bad. It was the shot that he was recovering from that was the bad one.

SPEAKER_03 5:36

But all right, cool. Yeah, all right. Dodgers visit the Angels, and that went exactly how you would expect it to. Sweep by the Angels? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, uh the Dodgers sweep the Angels and they outscored them 31-3. My goodness. Yeah, uh the Padres sweep Seattle because their pitching was just better, even Walker Bueller. Um, and then the A's hosted the Giants. Uh, both teams have surprised their fans, but for different reasons. Uh, but the Giants didn't end up taking two out of three in that one. Slay dude, do you have some AL standings for me?

SPEAKER_04 6:11

I sure as heck do. Let's go ahead and look at Tampa Bay, who is the best team in the American League, the second best team in baseball thanks to a 7-3 week, and they actually gained some ground. I believe you guys last week Tam Bay was a game and a half up. They are now three and a half up thanks to their seven and three in the last ten, and the Yankees three and seven in the last ten. So Yankees do continue to mash. Got the best run differential in baseball at plus sixty eight. Tim Bay's at plus thirty-five. They're just getting it done. And hopefully, uh, like we said last week, I hope and uh one of the time the Rangers play them, they don't figure it out. But everyone seems to figure something out from a pitching standpoint when they're playing the Rangers. So we'll just see what happens. The rest of that division, guys. I mean, it is just bad. Toronto, Baltimore, Boston. Josh, you kind of alluded to it last week. Boston is just out of it. They're disappointing. 11 and a half games out, boys. That's uh that's hard to overcome at any point in the season. In the central guys, we have two teams over 500 now in the central. And who had Chicago being the number two wild card and the only other team in the central that is above 500? The only other team in baseball besides the Cleveland Indians and Tampa Bay and New York. Yeah, because the A's are now 23 and 23. So the other only other team that is above 500. So, hey, good job to the Southsiders there. I'm excited for them. Par for the course in the West, guys. We still got the exact same standings we did last week. A's are leading it, had a 500 record. Rangers, as of today, before right now, losing to the second worst team in baseball, six to two in the bottom, or excuse me, top of the fifth there in Colorado. But the Rangers, y'all, it's unbelievable. We have the least amount of runs scored in the American League, second least in the entire MLB behind San Francisco Giants. But we by far, not by far, I guess by one run behind New York, because I got a hell of a pitching staff, have the least amount of runs given up. And I would have lost a lot of money if I said we had a positive run differential. The Rangers are plus three on the year. Probably in part to an 8-0 win. But like Josh said, in the third game of a three-game series, we scored one run in two games. Who gives a shit? Happy for the win, but we did get a plus eight, so we would have been minus five going in if we did get that. So uh part for the course in the American League, it's pretty much stayed exactly where we were last week. But man, Tampa Bay 31-15. My goodness. And Josh, I think you were joking when you said they set some attendance records, I guess, with the two Florida teams playing. They might have had 15,000 people in the stands. I don't know. But you're right that you're not lying when you said they set attendance records. So they just that's not a baseball state. They're very fair weather, but just super duper surprised. We knew Tampa Bay was a club, but I didn't think that they'd be doing what they're doing. So we got Tampa Bay, Cleveland, the not Oakland Athletics, and then right now it'd be New York, Chicago, and your Texas Rangers in the wild card.

SPEAKER_03 9:11

That's crazy. Hey, would you believe me if I told you that yes, Tampa Bay's 31 and 15, but they're 18 and four in their last 22 games.

SPEAKER_04 9:21

Yeah. And you know what? That maybe getting back into Tropicana's helped them. They're 17 and 5 at home.

unknown 9:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:29

Pretty crazy. You know, I mean, you don't have a lot of fans out there distracting you, so maybe they're I mean, yeah, you know, there's dozens of fans. Really lock it in, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:38

You know, and so that's good. But you know, like talking about the Rangers, I think we uh eight and a third. We were no hit on Friday by what's it Ed A Gayeti or whatever his name is, right? And it reminded me of the Indians when uh uh Ukert was you know saying, All right, the totals the two runs on eight hits for Milwaukee and no runs on one hit for Cleveland. One hit, you tell me only got one GD hit. That's kind of how I am with the Rangers right now. But still wearing their shirt, I'm still wearing the hat. Yeah, and luckily no one in the West is doing anything, including, like you said, Josh Seattle. Can't believe they got swept and they're pitching as their strong suit. And San Diego said we're a little bit better. So uh it's uh it's been it's been interesting, it's been fun, but we are starting to at least in two of the divisions see a little bit of separation.

SPEAKER_03 10:35

Yeah, so we saw Seattle put oh Raleigh on the on the uh IL, right? Um did they do it?

SPEAKER_01 10:47

They did, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:49

He went on the IL with the oblique stain, I think is what they called it. Um what about Seeger? So he missed three games. He went on the 10-day I. Lower uh back spasm. Oh, okay. Yeah, he's actually not with the team.

SPEAKER_04 11:07

They they kept him, they kept him in Texas to get evaluated by those doctors, which basically means stay your ass at home, we'll play you whenever Houston comes in town, we go to the game next. So that's what's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_03 11:18

Pretty much well, and so at this point in the season, let's be honest, the A's aren't running away with anything. Right? We're talking about it's the middle of May. You've got two teams that a lot of people uh we see the games every day, so the Rangers scare the hell out of us as far as being a contender because they just can't hit anything. But at this point in the season, if your big bats aren't doing it and they need a couple weeks off to kind of do a reset, now's the time to do it, right? You know, and and again, Houston's not coming up on anybody's heels, the A's are not running away with it. Um hell, even I'd be the entire league, Slay. We have four teams above 500. Yep, and not that much above 500.

SPEAKER_04 12:05

No, no, you're looking at you know other than the rays over, right? The rays and the Yankees are in Cleveland and Chicago are right there. But since we're on the American League, something cool did happen. I don't know if y'all saw Nemo's home run robbery yesterday in right field. I did not it was badass. Like he tracked it the whole way, but it wasn't routine. He kind of had to jump behind him. Left hand went up and he caught it, right? But there were two Astro fans right there on the fence that absolutely could have done fan interference. Well, one chick just turned away, like Wendell said, and he was thinking that one time, I gotta make a decision. That chick's I'm bailing. And the dude next to her just put his hands out like back like this. The next inning, Nimmo came out, signed a ball for both those fans, threw them up to him, and it said, Thank you for giving me a chance. That guy posted on Twitter saying, I'm a lifelong Astros fan, but I'll always let the game be played like it's supposed to be played. And Nimmo threw this to me. Again, I'm an Astros fan, but it's hard not to like this guy. And that's how me and my dad were. I sent that screenshot to my dad today. And yeah, how do you not like Brandon Nemo? I mean, yeah, yeah. Just plays his butt off, and what an awesome gesture when you're playing your biggest rival. Absolutely rivalry, you know, rivalry.

SPEAKER_03 13:21

All right, yeah, good, good baseball moment there. Yeah, and you gotta love when the base you don't always get to see it, right? Because you're you know, what by the time you're on TV, it's game time, right? But so many of those baseball players going out there, and you know, Mike Trout signing autographs at at Yankee Stadium or Safe Co. Field or something like that, you know, when when he's a visiting player, um, he's always going out there and for the kids and stuff like that. It's just it's great to see stuff like that.

SPEAKER_04 13:51

Yeah, that's what it's about, and it's easy for us to say as we're all doing a podcast in our later years of life. But uh, I wouldn't always say that if I did, you know, you got to give the fans the props because without the fans, everybody's unemployed.

SPEAKER_03 14:04

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. All right, well, good stuff. Let's get into a little national league. Uh, the Phillies at the Pirates, uh series that means a lot more to the Phillies than it probably should. Um, and they end up taking care of business and sweeping my poor pirates. Uh, Christopher Sanchez and Zach Wheeler um definitely looked um back to par uh for them. Uh it was a good game in the first game, but it was it was all Phillies, six to nothing in the next two. So um even Paul Skeens got beat up a little bit by Bryce Harper. He ended up giving up five runs in that third game. Um they played the Nationals.

unknown 14:42

No.

SPEAKER_03 14:42

No? Oh, my bad. Yeah. Um Orioles do visit the Nationals. Um yeah, Nats ended up bringing their record to 500 as they took two out of three. Um, not a lot of people would have picked them to be 500 so far in the year. Um, Kyber Ruby's had a five RBI day in game two, and Dalen Lyle hit four home runs in as many days. The Red Sox go to Atlanta and the Braves take two out of three because that's obvious. Uh the Yankees and the Mets square it off at City Field. Um, Ju Bowl, I guess we can call that. Um, the Mets end up taking uh two out of three as they're trying to get out of the cellar. The Yanks are right there in second place. As Slay Dude said earlier, I think it probably meant a lot more to the Mets than it did the Yankees. The Royals at the Cardinals in a series of good team versus bad team. Um cards end up taking two out of three um and hold off for the standings here in a minute. And then the snakes visit the upstart rocks. A lot of offense in this one because neither team has very good pitching, um, unless they're playing the Rangers or the Giants, and Arizona ends up taking two out of three. Pops, you got some NL standings for us?

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Oh, yeah. So in the East, uh the Braves continue to uh play well. They uh um have played 16 series this year and they've won 14.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

Pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

Awesome. And they've they've only lost one to the Mariners of all teams. Uh, and then they had a uh series where they uh split with the with the uh Diamondbacks. The Phillies are making a charge, however. Um the Braves went six and four, and the Phillies picked up two games on them. Uh Phillies are like 15-4 since Topper's gone. Uh they've climbed above 500. Uh, we sat here a couple of weeks ago trying to figure out when Zach Wheeler was going to come back. Little did we know that he was going to make a state. He was coming back like then and was going to make a case for the side young award in two starts. Uh been pretty much unhittable. Um the Mets are starting to win a little bit, six and four in their last 10, 20 and 26. Uh, but they're 11 games out. They're they're kind of cooked. Uh, you know, the central continues to be dominated by the by the Cubs. Uh, this is the first time in a long time. The with the Reds, with their loss tonight, that uh not every team in the Central is above 500. Uh as the Reds fall to two 500, and uh the Pirates are off tonight. And if they lose tomorrow, then that will be potentially two teams that are not at least 500. Uh Cardinals continue to hang in there. Uh eight games over 500 somehow, game and a half out, and they are uh the National League version of the Chicago White Sox, but they're the team that nobody thought was there. Uh I believe. Um the playoffs started today that they would be the third wild card. Third wild card, and we were crap playing them all before the season started. Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, we were like, what are these guys are trying to lose? What are they doing here?

SPEAKER_03 17:53

And uh, and here they are. Well, and and the Cardinals are doing it kind of the same way the White Sox are a little bit of pitching, but a whole lot of hitting. I mean, Weatherholt and Walker and Burleson, Ivan Herrera, I mean, those guys are the real deal. Um, and that's kind of what you're seeing in Chicago with Vargas and Murakami and um Montgomery, is you have just these good young hitters who are really it either this is their first step, like like with Murakami or Weatherholt, or really, really taking the next step like with Walker or Colson Montgomery. Um, and then the pitching has been, I would say, even better than serviceable. I mean, you've got a couple of guys like McGreavy and Leahy who have pitched pretty well for St. Louis, and then the same over in Chicago with Sean Burke and and um Davis Davis Martin. Um if they get a couple more bullpen pieces, then I mean you're talking about a real real contending teams, I think.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

Yeah, I mean, well, the Cardinals will live and die with their bullpen, and you just wonder um if it gets down to the trade line, trade deadline, and they're still in contention, are they gonna would they consider giving up any of this uh young talent for judging judging by the moves they made in the offseason, you would say no, right? And and then still continue to pay their salaries, right? Yeah, well, yeah, yeah, exactly. But uh, but you know, interesting to see. Um but uh and then in in the in the West, big series starting tonight, Dodgers and Padres. Uh both of them, uh the Dodgers are on a five-game winning streak, Padres on a three-game winning streak. Uh obviously one of those will come to an end tonight. Diamondbacks are floating around 500. That's where they're gonna, that's where they're gonna spin the season, I think. And then the Giants are just they're gonna very similar to to the Mets, disappointing season. They're gonna they're gonna win about 43% of their games and all go home crying in their beer, and then the Colorado Rocky are the Colorado Rocky. So except when they play the Texas Rangers.

SPEAKER_04 20:07

That's right. Hey, we might come back. We'll see.

unknown 20:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

So yeah, we we we picked up a couple, but uh, but we'll see. But yeah, I I think the uh obviously the the Bra the Braves um started off the season as a story, but I I think the the the Phillies are gonna come back and definitely uh, you know, I mean I think that's who uh I just I think I had the Phillies and the Mets in the playoffs um with the Mets won a division. So um half right there. But uh but uh yeah, but the the Phillies, you know, it's good to see them come back like this. I think it's playing to like they normally do. Yeah, they're they're too good too good a team. You know, I don't know what was you know what was what was messed up in there, but you know, Schwarber just ran it started to run away from the the uh the league with home runs. He's got like 21 now, just just leaving everybody in the dust. And that'll be an interesting um potentially an interesting MVP debate if he gets up there and hits 60, 65 home runs with this 230 batting average. Uh they gave Shohei a couple of days off from the uh when he didn't pitch, and uh he kind of came back and had a had a much better weekend. Um seems like the pitching does take some take its physical toll, especially when he's not used to it. He's going out there and just up there and hacking away four bats a game.

SPEAKER_03 21:35

Yeah. And he and when he was struggling there, Pops, he was he he's he's always been a little bit prone to you know do a little bit of the ass out, you know, especially on an off speed pitch down and away. Um but he had a pretty solid two weeks of it looked like every swing. He was even rolling over 98 mile an hour fastballs, you know, weak grounders to first. Um So um that's a good segue into that, Pops. Thanks for the standings. Um so we are going to talk a little bit of Shohei um because as it stands right now, and I hope nobody that's listening thinks that I in any way, shape, or form think that uh Shohei is having a bad year. Um, it's just not a Shohei year. Um, you know, at least not what we've been used to the last two or three seasons.

SPEAKER_04 22:29

Or the last his whole career.

SPEAKER_03 22:31

Right. Well or the last eight, yeah. Well, so some of those angel seasons that we had when he was pitching and playing every day, he started off a little bit slower and of course ended up where he always ends up. Um but so we didn't see him pitch at all, I think, in 23 or 24. Is that right? And then he pitched about half the season last year. Was it even half last year? He he made 14 starts last year.

SPEAKER_04 23:07

Okay, I didn't realize it was that many.

SPEAKER_03 23:08

Yeah. Um, so I guess this is probably where we start to he's 32 years old now, or almost 32. Um, and Dave Roberts said in a press conference earlier in the week that he was probably going to start doing this where he either gives Shohei the day free of hitting when he's pitching, or the next day, or maybe even both, where he's getting where he doesn't have to think about hitting at all. Um it seems to be working because his pitching is going really well. Um, and like you said, Pops, it's he he came back and started hitting after he got the day off after his start. Um but I guess the big question for me is because he's still he's still playing both ways. How bad does his offense have to get before he gets kicked off the the pedestal?

SPEAKER_00 24:13

I think it's gonna be it's gonna be driven by his home run total. Like right right now, he's got six right home runs, 24 RBIs, six six for six on the stolen bases, he's hitting 258. But if he does all of that, and who cares how many wins he nobody nobody cares how many games you win, but you know, if he does all that and he's got a sub-1 ERA, like he's doing right now, and whatever, you know, he could he could still potentially actually win. Yeah. He can actually potentially win the uh the Cy Young and the MVP, which hasn't been I think Verlander was the last one to do that. We talked about that a few weeks ago, but um interesting interesting. I mean, I I think people root for him and they want him to win it.

SPEAKER_03 25:07

Yeah, for sure. So what do you think, Slate dude? I mean, is this so so say he bats 280 with 25 homers and 75 RBIs, and then like Pop said, say he goes, you know, whatever, 10 and 4 on the mound with a sub-2 ERA and a and uh whip under one and you know 200 strikeouts. I mean, that's obviously not a normal Shohei offensive season. But if you're doing if you're performing like that, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:50

I don't I didn't realize, you know, or think about it really till Pop said it, but you're looking at a guy who had a potential win, Cy Young MVP same year. And you know, why he might not offensively, let's say, be as good as he has been, or maybe as good as some other people, unless Schwarz, like Pop says, hits over 60, you know. Um if you look at the entire body of work and what Shohei does, Josh does exact statue just through out, and I was gonna say 15 and three as far as his pinching goes. I don't see if yeah, if he hits 250 with 25, 30 bombs, 90 RBIs. I mean, and as a sub two, like you said, on the mound, I just I don't see how you don't give him both, you know. And we kind of laughed about it last week. I got a good buddy of mine who's a Dodgers fan. I was like, said you need to listen to podcasts. I said, because we were talking about last week, said the Dodgers' biggest issue is when their best hitter is having a down year, he's the leading Cy Young candidate. I mean, how is that a problem? You know, and so yeah, from what from what you know Pop said, I I couldn't agree more, and that's obviously a common thread on the podcast. But if he does what he's doing on the mound, and then has an okay year. You can't give you can't not give them both because Stromb is going to hit 230. I mean, or whatever it is, right? Right 62 home runs might have something to say about it, but I I don't I think they're fine, man. Shohei might be a little bit down, but he figures it out. I'm surprised they even gave him those couple days off. But obviously they did help, and uh these managers, I guess, know what they do, and they've been around baseball a long time by telling these studs that are struggling a little bit. Hey, let's get a mental mental health break for a couple days.

SPEAKER_03 27:46

So with Shohei, what I I will say, um, you know, we're talking about a down year for Shohei. He has a 139 OPS plus, all right.

SPEAKER_04 27:56

So yeah, and they say they say 800 is elite, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 28:01

I mean, yeah. So he so his OPS is 839. He's got an OPS plus of 139, which means he's almost a player and a half, but we're used to the last three years, his OPS plus he was in the 180s all three years, so he was almost two full players, right? So that's a down year for Shohei Otani is a career year for so many other players, and then you add into the fact including every Texas Ranger. I mean, it's just I did you look at what he's doing offensively, and you're like, man, guy, there's guys that would kill to be playing like that right now, and then he's also like I don't even have his pitching stats pulled up, but like Pop said, he's the he's got an ERA under one.

SPEAKER_04 28:56

Yeah, you can't, you know, you can't compare a down year for Shohei to a down year for anybody else, right? Because like everything you just said, Josh, it's not fair to compare anybody to that. So it's like I don't feel bad for the dude. He's making 70 million bucks a year, and his translators in jail. So um, but I just you can't compare Shohei to Shohei, it's not fair. Like you said, he's doing better than anybody would say.

SPEAKER_03 29:28

I'd love to have Shohei's down here. Yeah, right. Absolutely. Um, so that brings me to the next point about it. Like, is there anybody like you you guys brought up Schwarz, but even if he has over 60 home runs, he is primarily he might play 20, 25 games in the field. But can you really replace Shohei with a guy that is a DH? Not just the fact that he bats 230, but also the fact that for 90% of his games, he is only hitting. He's not providing anything defensively whatsoever. Like, is that viable to you guys?

SPEAKER_00 30:16

Well, I I don't I don't I don't think that the positions matter, right? Because I because I do kind of think that if the positions matter, Raleigh would have won the MVP last year. Right. They just look at what the guys produce. So you can say if Schwarbs only hits 230 and he drives in 130 again like he did last year, right? Let le led the league in RBIs and then hit 65 home runs. Will he win the MVP? Probably not, but it's gonna be a dog fight.

SPEAKER_03 30:53

You think so? Okay. Yeah, yeah. I mean, he so he hit, I think, what was it, 59 last year? And he was he was second behind Shohei, right? Who had another 50 homer season, right? And made 14 starts and had an ERA under three, you know. So um, you know, so I but I it's kind of like the Jordon thing. Yordon Alvarez is a guy who could probably challenge Judge, but Judge I plays the field. So I think you're right, Pops. I think they're kind of strictly looking at offensive numbers when it comes to the MVPs, right? I I think you're right there. But at the same time, I think if it's down to, I mean, we we say Raleigh did have a historic season last season, but we forget the judge did too. Remember, he had the more home runs than anybody else who'd won a batting title in history. Right. So not only did he hit 50-something home runs, but he also won a batting title, carried his team to the playoffs again. Um uh and he also but he missed like 15 games or something with the with the elbow thing. So, you know, um it took Cal Raleigh having a historic season as a catcher to even come close to to going against Aaron Judge. Um, and Schwab's, you know, he's kind of the the same thing. I he's betting 230 now, but I think we all know by the time the seasons end, that's probably gonna be more like 210, you know.

SPEAKER_00 32:38

Yeah, I mean he mean so so last year um Schwarber hit 240. He led the National League in both home runs and RBIs. Yep. He he walked 108 times, he scored 111 times. Um he had a nine 928 OPS. Uh so you know he had all the all he played in every game. Uh and again, like you say, he probably played first base three times uh for Harper, maybe, or or whatever. But you know, I I and I'm not saying he's necessarily gonna win, but I think he's gonna make it uh if he hits 240, and so he's on pace, he's leading the leading the league right now in home runs with 20. Uh that's he's out of all the people that have hit 70 home runs in a season, he reached 20 the fastest.

SPEAKER_04 33:33

I was gonna say that seems very quick, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_00 33:36

Right.

SPEAKER_04 33:36

So it's been kind of sneaky, maybe because the Phillies have been so bad until obviously the last 15.

SPEAKER_00 33:42

Well, in the last 10 days, I think he hit like half of them in the last week and a half, right?

SPEAKER_04 33:45

Yeah, just he just a home or every other game, basically, is what he's doing right now.

SPEAKER_00 33:50

Yeah, so you know, and and maybe maybe he's gonna he would have to get to 70 for it to be a bigger conversation, but um yeah, I just it it'll be interesting to see if they decide just uh if if Shohei's offensive numbers continue to be mediocre, which is kind of where they're at a little bit, uh even though they're 139. I mean, the things people look at, right? Yeah, the home runs, the RBIs, whatever.

SPEAKER_03 34:20

So say he breaks the single season record, Pop. Say he break breaks Bond's single season record, and he's probably gonna play 40 games in left field, right? So do you think that's the thing?

SPEAKER_00 34:32

He breaks Bond's record, and maybe that's I think if he gets into 65 and 70 and Shohei's average, then uh they'll they'll give and he can and Shohei continues to dominate from a pitching perspective. Um then um I think they'll wind up with Shohei with the Cy Young and Schwarber be the MVP. But you know, I mean, so I just looked up Shohei's pitching stats, and they're not I mean his he's he's dominant, but he's only started. I guess I say only. Uh it's about right, seven seven games, right? And then uh who is it? Was it Snell that went on the IL or or the other?

SPEAKER_03 35:09

Snell was back for like one start and then went back on the IL.

SPEAKER_00 35:12

Went back, right. So you know they they may need to rely on him more for their for their for his pitching than what they need from his hitting with Pa has kick kicking ass and Smith and you know and what have you. So um it may be his turn to win the Cy Young instead.

SPEAKER_03 35:30

That's just nuts that we can talk about that.

SPEAKER_04 35:33

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I I agree. You know, they don't they don't um I don't think like Pop is saying, they don't really care what position you're playing anymore. And yes, the position is DH, obviously. So they're not even obviously not looking at average. We're looking at home runs, RBIs, run scored. And everything Pop just said about Shorber from last year was all pretty badass, right? He had more runs scored than he did walks, which means every time he's getting on base he's scoring. Now you have to have people behind you that can hit, unlike the Rangers, whenever you get on base that to knock in. But yeah, I mean I think if I think if Shorber gets to 60, dude, not even happen to you know beat the the bonds record or get to 70 or whatever it is. I I don't see how you couldn't give it to him, you know, and and MLB probably likes it because yeah, they're like, all right, finally we can get to someone behind Shohei, but hey, here's your constellation prize. It's a Cyuk. So yeah, right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:30

I mean, you know, you look at some of the like Andrew Martinez, one of the all-time great uh DH's Hall of Famer. Uh the best he ever did in the MP MVP voting voting was uh third.

SPEAKER_03 36:42

Well, I think there's only been one DH ever to win MVP. True DH, not like DH, and also he pitches.

SPEAKER_04 36:59

Before that, right? When he went Dodgers, right? I think it's him. Yeah, yeah. Okay, good.

SPEAKER_00 37:04

So I know I'm talking about yeah, yeah, like 5050 season 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, uh, 2023. Yeah, and the the best Ortiz ever did was MVP two, the year they broke the curse.

SPEAKER_03 37:18

Um yeah, so I I'm pretty sure Shohei's the only DH to ever win it, and he went 50-50 one year, and then had the amazing offensive season that he had last year, and also won however many games he won. You know, I mean it's yeah, um, I think it's gonna be pretty cool to watch. Um, but I also don't know that there's anybody that could or really should knock Judge or Shohei off the MVP pedestal right now. Yeah, I just I don't know that there's a better player in either league.

SPEAKER_04 38:00

I I don't think there is, and I think you know, it's talking about it yesterday. I said it just it's it's really neat that I guess we're here we're around and we can talk about it. I feel like it's you know, we don't know anybody really I say really, we don't, that watched Babe Ruth play baseball, that watched Lou Gary, that watched Mickey Mantle play. But all of us, Josh, you can tell your kids. I'm telling Sophia, Wendell, you tell your grandkids. I mean, we saw Shohei Otani play in his prime, and this guy's unbelievable. There's there's never been anything like him. And I kind of tell Sophia that too when we're watching, she doesn't get it. She's 10 and she's a girl, and she just doesn't understand. I'm like, this this has never happened in your old man's 40 years, right? And even like you said, with Judge, I mean someone that can hit that many home runs in an era where MVPs can bat 260 and he's batting 322.

SPEAKER_00 39:01

Right now he's batting 263, so he's so he's having a bit of a down, yeah, down, down year. So again, he would love to have a down year. He's 30, sure. Yeah, so he's he's what 32, 33 now, also. So he's probably starting to slow down a bit. But you know, I think that um you would have thought possibly coming off the last year that maybe junior would have been both either either of the juniors would have been able to uh compete. But come out with who else?

SPEAKER_04 39:32

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:37

There may be a different you're coming out, the team success. The team metrics of are stinking for those two guys. So um, and then you know, with having a good year, but nothing like his rookie rookie near rookie of the year campaign, or even even Vladi has not anybody would take what he's putting up, but it's not like he's he's not gonna he's not having the year he had last year either.

SPEAKER_03 40:01

So yeah. Well, once Judge is all said and done, then there may be a different junior that starts to come into the into the spotlight a little bit, the future um LA Dodger Junior Camonero.

SPEAKER_00 40:15

Uh I mean this this might I mean if Judge doesn't pick up with the average, I think this might he probably has the most uh the best case to unsee Judge. But I mean, I think if the season ended today, I I think um the only thing he has against him, right, is he lives and works in Tampa Bay. But you know, you make the case that he's he he's the MVP there is that so far.

SPEAKER_04 40:40

And they do like to pick the well, I mean, we can't argue with the fact that Tampa Bay right now is a winner, you know. But it's like we see in all sports, right? It's hard a lot of times to give these guys those big awards, you know, MVPs, Cy Young's for teams that aren't good, right? They want to award these teams that are that are making the postseason and making deep runs. They got that with Judge, you got that with Otani. I mean, schemes, you kind of couldn't argue with that, but last year's School Bowl and Tigers making it pretty deep. So, you know, yes, like Pop said, it you know, if you're if you're on a shitty team, it's hard to win an award.

SPEAKER_03 41:18

Well, yeah, and well, and so what's funny is so far the pirates have been a lot better than they have in several years past, and schemes has kind of been in spite of him and not because of him, right?

SPEAKER_04 41:33

Yeah, yeah, status intro or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 41:35

Yeah, that was funny. Just so you know, his ERA went up to 2.65. Somebody I think it was the Phillies, the Phillies rocked him.

SPEAKER_04 41:43

You gotta give that guy a couple couple starts off, man. He sucks.

SPEAKER_03 41:49

Well, before that, he took two no-nos into the seventh inning. Right.

SPEAKER_00 41:56

Neither one of them were against the Rangers, so they were both legit.

SPEAKER_04 41:58

1.95, 1.96, 1.97. So obviously, this dude's having some issues.

SPEAKER_03 42:06

Wrong trajectory. I almost said that word, like I say, rivalry.

SPEAKER_04 42:12

Oh no, no, you did really good. If you would have said nothing about it, we wouldn't have even laughed at you.

SPEAKER_03 42:16

Right. Um, all right. So um all right, let's talk about the worst of the week, Pops. Let's get into some bad news. Who sucked it up this week?

SPEAKER_00 42:26

Well, I've I hated to hated to do it, but I finally had to. Let me find my find my stuff. Oh, that's not it. That's not it.

SPEAKER_04 42:41

Where was it last year? Possibly. So for the best players of the week. Uh what?

SPEAKER_00 42:47

So I did what so uh the uh worst worst player of the week. I finally finally bit the bullet and did it. I had to I had to pick a pick a ranger. Unfortunately, it's one of our favorite guys so far this year, but uh Brendan Nemo. Uh yeah. Um five for 24, 208. Uh scored one run, probe in one run, um, five Ks, um 573 OPS. Just you know, the team uh you know he's he's he's he's hot and cold, he'll have a great week, and then he'll have a a week like this. So he had uh, and this was a tough week. You know, you can see you're in the middle of an 0 for 27, and they need they needed they needed something from their veteran guy and and and and and didn't get it. And then uh just so TJ didn't think I was being um taking it light on him. Um say a Suzuki wins the National League Holy Crap award. Um man. Uh he wanted to grow up to be Brandon Nemo this week. Uh three for twenty five 120 batting average. Three runs scored, one RBI, 10 Ks, and two two walks, uh, three hits. So a 345 OPS, a 160 slug. His on-base percentage was higher than his slug. So tough, tough, tough week for uh say uh I almost went with with the polar bear instead of Nemo, but it was time to pick a Ranger.

SPEAKER_05 44:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:30

Uh on the pitching front, uh, ironically enough, hopefully he's not pitching tonight against the Rangers, but I picked um Michael Lorenzen of Colorado Rocky, who I believe this is like the third week in a row. I picked a Colorado Rocky as the pitch.

SPEAKER_01 44:47

Pretty easy to do, yeah. Whooping our butts tonight. But yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_00 44:52

So uh two starts, nine and two thirds, 10Ks, uh 7.45 ERA, 1.9 uh 7 whip, almost two runners per inning, eight iron runs, 14 hits, walked five, gave up two bombs. Um two, oh and two for Colorado Rocky. And then in the National League, I went, or he's the National League, and then the American League. I went with a guy, a veteran guy, uh that this team really needs him to step up along with uh Bromber, but uh Jack Flaherty. Uh over two oh and two record, two starts, nine and two thirds innings, six K's, um, 6.52 ERA, 1.45 whip, 7 runs, 11 hits, 3 walks, um, but just uh an 0-2 record, and uh that that team needs him to really needed him to as a veteran to kind of step up and and contribute, and unfortunately he did not.

SPEAKER_03 45:59

So as a veteran with a good as a veteran with a good head on his shoulders, because they have another veteran and a framework, he just doesn't have a good head on his shoulders.

SPEAKER_00 46:07

No, he got he got rocked rocked tonight. They made him they got again the the the in the guard indians uh rocked him up pretty pretty pretty good and he still they still made him throw 90 pitches.

SPEAKER_04 46:23

Yeah, yeah, keep his ass out there. I like that.

SPEAKER_03 46:26

You're the workhorse, you don't get to take the rest of the day off just because you can't get anybody out. That's right. Remember, I was talking about Justin Robleski last week. Gave up what what was it, seven runs, six or seven runs, and pitched eight and two-thirds.

SPEAKER_04 46:42

Yeah, like you said, I was listening to uh re-listened to us because yes, fans, we do listen to our own podcast. Yeah, and what the hell, man? Let him get that last out. What are we doing? Let him finish it. He took one for the team. Let him give us up three home runs in a row with eight and two-thirds. You say, hey, dude, just keep lobbing up there.

SPEAKER_03 47:03

Someone eventually is gonna get out, right? Yeah, let him roll over one, get that out. Yeah, all right, Slay, dude. You got the uh players and the pitchers of the week.

SPEAKER_04 47:15

I do, you know, and I think for the first time in the history of the Jimmies, the podcast here. So uh I agreed with Major League on both of these. So let's go ahead with the American League player of the week. Mr. Angel, our angel for us white guys, Martinez from the Cleveland, what do you call him, Pops? The uh the Guard Indians. Guard Indians, the Guard Indians had a heck of a week, man, and they are leading their division. So all that guy did was go seven for 19, seven RBIs, four home runs, eight runs scored. Just a really, really, really good week. And then had to do it, same thing for the National League, Gavin Sheets or San Diego. I mean, 10 10 for 16, right? I mean watching the let's play eight RBIs, six runs scored, four home runs. I mean, you know, that's a team that's creeping up there on the LA Dodgers and uh Josh, you said they were gonna suck. That's it. So keep reminding I'd like to remind both of you when you're wrong, so because you're not much. So you need to remind y'all about that. Yeah, but no, just I mean, I had to, you know. I don't ever, you know, I always at least I think I have one that I don't agree with. Not not saying they didn't have great weeks, right? But I gotta go with the MLB on both of those. And let's talk about it. We alluded to it earlier, and Pop said it. This guy comes off uh the I. Oh my god, he's all of a sudden a Cyang candidate, right? We're looking at Zach Wheeler for the Phillies. That guy had an unbelievable week. All he did was go 2-0 with two quality starts, 14.1 innings pitched in both those. He got wins against Boston. Uh, one earn run uh against Boston in seven and a third. Uh seven innings pitched, no earn runs, eight K's, only one walk between those two, y'all. Against he did that against Pittsburgh. So that was that was pretty great. And uh let's give a shout out to you know, I like always like the teams like the Nationals or whoever. I like to give them players of the week. Let's give them a picture of the week, huh? How about a guy named Bailey Ober from Minnesota? Yeah, all that guy did was against Miami complete game shutout, seven K's got the win. Milwaukee only went five, give up three runs, but between the two of them, you got 14 innings pitched, eight K's, uh two wins.

SPEAKER_03 49:46

So that was a Maddox, also, by the way. That complete game shutout was a Maddox.

SPEAKER_04 49:51

Oh, what's uh gotta refresh me? What's the Maddox? Is it less than 100 pitches? Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:56

Okay, see, and then I heard another podcast. I heard another podcast say that it's the first one in nine years, but didn't Evaldi do it last year against the Reds? I think he did.

SPEAKER_00 50:07

And I don't know if it was last year, maybe in the year before the year before, but I feel like didn't he had like a one to nothing game?

SPEAKER_04 50:13

It was the Reds said that he was tied for the lead league lead in complete game shutouts. I said, Yeah, what's that? You said one.

SPEAKER_00 50:28

That was the string that the uh the Reds got shut out one to nothing, like three games in a row. Three games in a row.

SPEAKER_04 50:33

Beat the crap out of us that first game of that series, and then I think it was uh it was definitely a Baldi and then Leiter and Company the next game. We won the next two games one-nothing.

SPEAKER_03 50:43

Yeah, and then they went to another series and lost that first one one to nothing as well.

SPEAKER_04 50:49

Yes, we just thought we had problems, but hey, they made the playoffs, so good for that. Right, yeah. Fair enough.

SPEAKER_03 50:55

Yeah, all right, good stuff. Thank you for that, Slate. Y'all want to do a little trivia now?

SPEAKER_04 51:03

Sure, I'm always down for some trivia.

SPEAKER_03 51:06

So earlier I mentioned Jose Ramirez is sixth all time in Cleveland Guard Indians history um and hits. So name the top five that he will almost undoubtedly pass. But there's some Hall of Famers on here.

SPEAKER_01 51:24

Tell me.

SPEAKER_03 51:26

No, he is 13th. Chris Speaker. Nice, yes, he's number two.

SPEAKER_00 51:32

He's probably number one or number two.

SPEAKER_03 51:34

Oh wow. Another Hall of Famer, Primero Uno. Oh, uh Viscal. Viscal is number eight with 1616.

SPEAKER_00 51:50

It's not Alamar. It's not Alamar, is it? No. Either one, none of the three of them. I think that I think Daddy played there too.

SPEAKER_03 52:00

None no Alamar is in the top 25.

SPEAKER_00 52:03

Yeah, I didn't think Robbie spent enough time there.

SPEAKER_04 52:06

Yeah, he's Orial for a long time. Let's see.

unknown 52:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:14

Not Bayerga, was it?

SPEAKER_03 52:16

Bayerga's number 25.

SPEAKER_00 52:20

This gotta be like older, older, right?

SPEAKER_04 52:22

So I'm thinking of that. It doesn't tell me the year, but think of that 97 team when Pudge beat them in the World Series. Yeah, who was on the Indians?

SPEAKER_03 52:34

So the top five, I'm and y'all know I know baseball names. I know two of these names.

SPEAKER_04 52:41

Oh, so these are old school dudes. They're one of the oldest franchises around, right?

SPEAKER_00 52:47

So Napoleon Mazwine.

SPEAKER_03 52:51

Yes, very good. What? 2052 hits.

SPEAKER_04 52:56

Pedro Serrano. Well, he was more of a home run header, so he's probably gonna be a good one.

SPEAKER_00 53:01

Jake Taylor.

SPEAKER_04 53:02

Jake Taylor.

SPEAKER_00 53:04

He just had one hit.

SPEAKER_04 53:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:07

And that was really a builder's choice.

SPEAKER_04 53:09

Called a shot and laid down a butt. And he fell on his knees.

SPEAKER_03 53:16

So he just passed Hall of Fame shortstop Lou Boudreau. Okay. So you've got you got so Nap was number one, Triss was number two. So you got three, four, and five left.

SPEAKER_04 53:28

And like I said, I don't know these guys.

unknown 53:31

No.

SPEAKER_04 53:32

Oh well then I'm not gonna.

SPEAKER_00 53:34

Drew Smith. And then it wasn't Rocky Calamito, was it? Yeah, he was more of a home run hitter.

SPEAKER_04 53:43

Sounds like a made-up name, anyways.

SPEAKER_00 53:46

There were a lot of guys named Rocky back in the 50s and 60s.

SPEAKER_04 53:50

Rocky Marciano?

SPEAKER_00 53:52

Yeah. Marciano, Graziano.

SPEAKER_03 53:55

Yeah. Pops, you might know a couple of these names, but I don't. It doesn't tell me like what decades they played in or anything.

SPEAKER_00 54:02

Yeah, I mean, I'm sure I'll know the names, but all right.

SPEAKER_03 54:06

So number three, Earl Avril Sr.

SPEAKER_00 54:09

Yep, I know him.

SPEAKER_03 54:10

Yep. 1903. When did he play?

SPEAKER_00 54:13

I think he was in the 50s. Okay. Joe Sewell. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I know that name too. About the same. They were they were and haven't won anything, but they were a pretty pretty good ball club in the 40s and 50s.

SPEAKER_04 54:28

Started a very successful uh car franchise too after that. So Cadillacs.

SPEAKER_03 54:33

So he had 1800 hits, and the next one is Charlie Jameson.

SPEAKER_00 54:38

I never nerd of that one.

SPEAKER_03 54:40

Okay. 1753. Makes a good whiskey.

SPEAKER_06 54:45

Well.

SPEAKER_03 54:50

Let's see. Charles Charles Devine Jameson, nicknamed Cuckoo, was born in 1893 in Patterson, New Jersey. He probably played the Dirty Dugout, Wendell.

SPEAKER_01 55:06

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:08

Let's see. So he played with Cleveland from 1919 to 1932.

SPEAKER_04 55:18

That's a long ass time to play. That's pretty good.

SPEAKER_03 55:21

Yeah.

unknown 55:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:23

He made his debut in 1915 with Washington. I assume that was the Senators back then. Maybe. I don't know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:34

Okay. All right. Let's see. Career average of 303. Good job, man. Hall of Fame status these days.

SPEAKER_00 55:44

Charlie. That's almost a good on-base percentage these days.

SPEAKER_04 55:50

Yeah, 300 on-base percentage.

SPEAKER_03 55:53

Yeah. And Pops, I have no idea if you uh said his name right. I don't know how to say his last name. Nat Napoleon.

SPEAKER_00 56:06

That's how I've heard it pronounced that way. I don't know if that's correct or not. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:11

But not gonna be working here very much longer.

SPEAKER_03 56:18

So but he's even older than uh than Charlie Jameson there. He was born in 1874. Holy shnikes. Yeah. And he played it from 1896 until 1916. Wow. Pretty crazy. Let's see.

SPEAKER_00 56:41

So he had for his career, he had third. I thought that 2000 sounded low, but he also played with the uh Philadelphia Athletics. Yeah, yeah. Um, he had 3200 a career war of 108. Career 3200 hits, 338 batting average. 3200 hits, yeah, and uh 80 82 career home runs. Yeah, he won the triple crown with a whopping 14 home runs. That was the triple crown win. Of course, he hit 426. So oh, okay, okay. I'm gonna stop laughing.

SPEAKER_03 57:24

Yeah, better 426, 14 homers, 125 RBIs. Condolences to his family. Yeah, I don't know what it means when there's a bunch of dashes on the strikeouts. Does that mean he just didn't strike out?

SPEAKER_04 57:45

That was probably back when the Sayang. I don't know. That's not I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 57:49

I'm looking at uh I'm looking at uh you're talking about Nap. Yeah. Uh yeah, I mean I I don't see any dashes. Um I'm looking at baseball reference. I don't see any dashes.

SPEAKER_03 58:02

Okay, yeah. I'm looking on something else. I don't even know where mlb.com. Um, so listen to this, Slate. You'll love this. 516 career walks, 85 career strikeouts. Stroke out 85. 85 times, 85 times in a 21-year career.

SPEAKER_04 58:21

I think I did that my two years on Barstein High School.

SPEAKER_00 58:26

Yeah, so and uh Tris speaker was also the uh answer to a previous trivia question.

SPEAKER_03 58:34

Okay, what was the question? I don't remember.

SPEAKER_00 58:38

All all-time most doubles in the in the in a in the yeah, all-time career doubles, yeah. Yep, won three World Series 3,500 hits.

SPEAKER_03 58:55

He was the leader for was he the leader for a long time, right? Before before Cobb. Hold on, no, Cobb.

SPEAKER_00 59:08

He might have been. He might have been because his uh it was pretty much their careers pretty much overlapped. Did they? Yeah, yeah. He led the league in doubles. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight times. Wow. And had one year where he hit 52 and did not lead the league.

SPEAKER_02 59:31

Jimmy Christmas, that's crazy. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 59:36

All right, well, good stuff. Did y'all have any trivia? That's all I got.

SPEAKER_00 59:41

I I did not.

SPEAKER_03 59:42

Okay. All right, sounds good. Well, let's call it a night, then, fellas. Thank you everybody for listening. I appreciate you joining in with us for another week. Uh, if you like what we're doing, support the show. Uh, check us out on Facebook, Instagram, X. Give us a like, give us a subscription, leave us a comment, um, and let us know what you like and what you don't like. For the sleigh dude, Justin Slay, Wendell Pops Patterson. I'm Josh Patterson. Thank y'all, and we'll talk to you again next week.