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With 162 games and 30 ball clubs, a lot is happening in the world of baseball. Join a panel of 5 guys as we digest everything MLB. With a mix of interesting discussions as well as comedic reactions and some trivia questions, Big League Chewers has you covered. Take a listen as we try to chew on everything in baseball.
Welcome into Big League Cheers episode 2 of season 1. Today's episode, we are recording a late Thursday night with some new guest. We have a jam packed episode.
Jake:Woo. We'll we'll
Jacob:start off with haps and craps, a new segment alert. Whoo. And then we get into a segment I titled major L baseball. We'll talk about the recent l's Major League Baseball has been taking and why the fan base is a little unhappy. Then we'll get into the 7th inning stretch, our trivia segment here.
Jacob:A new format of a question that you guys won't wanna miss. Feel free to play along and then we'll discuss the pitching injuries. So sad that everyone is blowing out their arms. An elbow donor might be needed soon. All coming up next on Big League Cheers.
Jacob:Well, welcome in everyone. We have, episode 2 here, and we have some special guests. We have Jake Bulott and Joseph Reynaas. How are you guys doing today?
Jake:You know, we're doing good. Got to say I was not expecting I'd be on a podcast. I don't know if I have the knowledge, but, hey. We're here. We're gonna try to do our best, carry the conversation, be charismatic, and give you guys something that you can enjoy.
Jacob:How about you, Justin?
Joesph:I'm I'm also doing alright. I I wasn't expecting to be here, but, I'm a I'm down for anything spontaneous.
Jacob:For a little bit Let's do it.
Joesph:Let's do it.
Jacob:For a little bit of context, these 2 knew they were gonna be on the episode just about, I would say, like, a half hour, an hour ago. And so we're just rocking and rolling. So a little biography about yourselves. What who is your favorite team in Major League Baseball?
Joesph:I'll start. I'm a Tigers fan. I mean, anything else. If you're in fear for if you're from Michigan, Metro Detroit, anything else is betrayal. So yeah.
Evan:Good answer. Good answer.
Joesph:Lifelong Tigers fan. And you know what? It's been tough. It's been tough. It hasn't been easy.
Joesph:My life has been defined by adversity. Over coming these dark ages for the Tigers. But,
Jake:Yeah. You know, they they, what, they went to the world series 2012 and that was, like, the one one good thing that's ever happened to the Tigers, I feel like.
Jacob:They went to the world series at, like, age 10, and we were like, oh, sweet.
Jake:This is like that's when I started paying attention to baseball, and I was like, okay. This isn't too bad. We have basically an all star on the mound every night. And then after that, what, we haven't had, like, a playoff run since? 20 13, obviously.
Jake:But, like, other than that, nothing. Yeah. It's been tough.
Jacob:Yeah. Depressing. Another depressing Tigers fan we have on the show is mister Evan Katz.
Jake:Yeah.
Jacob:Today running the cameras. Evan, how are you doing?
Evan:Struggling mightily over here. Cannot figure this out.
Jacob:So, like, what what's the problem?
Evan:I'm hitting the wrong wrong buttons every time. Every time someone talks, I keep putting it to me and then it goes to them. And I'm like, well, this is great. This is why we need Aidan here.
Jacob:Trying to steal the spotlight. Well, we'll move into our first segment, haps and craps. This is, a new segment I just made up and thought it was a good way to summarize the MLB week. So, haps is short for happy and craps is short for crappy.
Jake:Creative.
Jacob:See how that, rhymes
Joesph:there? Fascinating.
Jacob:So our crap of the week is going to either your best team, player, fan base, just anything that you thought won the week, and your crap will go to just the opposite who you thought really stunk it up this week in Major League Baseball. And being the selfish person that I am, I'm gonna go first in this department. We'll start
Joesph:with the
Evan:I'd like to have a word with that. Usually, I'm first, Jacob. So you're stealing mine here with your pick, and I know what it's gonna be. So I I'm and not really happy about that.
Jacob:Evan, you told me you were struggling to find a pick, so I'll just save you here. If I have, I'm going with the Kansas City Royals. They didn't lose any of the games. So, like, how could they be a loser if they won all their games? Seven straight wins for the Royals, a sweep against the Chicago white sox, a sweep against the Houston astros.
Jacob:Their starting pitchers are just on fire. Seth Lugo, a one point 4 5 ERA to start the season. Singer, a 0.9 ERA to start the season. Absolutely mashing it up. 4 of their starters have an ERA of under 3, and Marsh, the 5th starter, has a 3.09 ERA.
Jacob:Not too far behind. Bobby Wood Junior absolutely living up to that contract extension. Salvador Perez looking good at age 33. Vasquez, Melendez, they can hit, and they might be a problem in the central. Give me them as my hap.
Jacob:So now Evan, I hope you had enough time to figure out your hap in this one.
Evan:You know, I did actually and it's gonna be the Yankees and they're off to a 10 and 3 start. Yes, on a one game losing streak, but 7 and 3 to start the year, what a phenomenal job.
Jacob:Anything else to add to the Yankees?
Joesph:I know.
Jacob:I know, Justin.
Joesph:Yeah. My my night's been ruined because I was banking on, saying the Yankees for this portion. So, I'll
Jake:I'll That's
Evan:what you get. Someone took my pick, so I'm gonna take yours.
Joesph:Yeah. Alright. Yeah. Look look at
Jacob:what you did, Jake. What are
Jake:you talking
Joesph:about? You started a chain reaction. I will add to that though. Yeah. The Yankees, I the I think this, like, all their off season picks are, like, panning out and, like, just that video of, like, the roll call in in, right field with So to bringing energy to Yankee Stadium.
Joesph:And as much as I hate it, I I have to admit that's that's panning out pretty good for them. And, I mean, among, like, the teams that are hot right now, I I think the Yankees are probably one of the more, like, sustainable runs right now. So
Jacob:So a question for you. Do you think they'll take the AL
Joesph:East? I mean, I I think, like, they they're a little fragile in the sense that, like, even even during spring training, there is, like, some injury worries with, like, Judge and stuff. And I think I think they are a couple of injuries away from, like, I guess, falling apart a little bit. Whereas, like, if you just look at the depth in the Oreo system, I mean, they just called up Jackson Holiday and, and they got so much more depth in there. Like, I think they're they're more equipped for, like, that a 100 something game season.
Joesph:So I I still think it'll be the Orioles, but I'm I'm impressed with the Yankees. I didn't think they're gonna turn around so fast. So
Jacob:Very nice. How about you, Jake? Who's your half of the week? Yeah.
Jake:I guess it extends like a little past last week, but and it's tough saying this when the Tigers just finished the series. But I'd say the Pirates.
Joesph:I
Jacob:mean, I've
Jake:always I've always enjoyed watching the Pirates. They've got like, Pittsburgh is a very cool sports town, and it's just fun to see that, like, the team's doing well there. It's a great stadium. I really like, like, the pitching looked great. I mean, it was against the Tigers, but looked great.
Jacob:It was Not that hard to do. Yeah. It's
Jake:it's not terribly hard to do, and they did have that mishap. We're unable to close out that game fortunately for the Tigers. But other than that, they've been playing great. They've had a great kinda start to the season, and I know that's fun for Pittsburgh, and it's a great sports city.
Jacob:So we look at the ALs or not the AL, the NL Central and how wide open it was. And we know last year, Pittsburgh had a hot start in April. Do Do you think that their team is here to stay, especially with more young bats and pitchers coming up in the system?
Jake:Yeah. I mean, their hitting looked really good, especially against the tigers, at first, you know, but it kinda kinda wore off there at the end. So I don't know. I mean, they've got they kinda have to like see how they play out, in this next series. I know they just lost again, so it's kinda hard say they're a hat for the week.
Jake:But, if they can kinda get their hitting up, I'd say, yeah, they could be around to stay for this season.
Evan:Whoever thought the Tigers and the Pirates would have been off to great starts. We saw them, really, to start the year undefeated at one point.
Jacob:Yeah. I mean, looking at the data we have in front of us, the Tigers and the pirates are gonna be world series. It's gonna be a match up.
Joesph:Okay. I I saw in, like, the undefeated thing that there was, like, a post. It's, like, these are the remaining teams. Everybody's, like, I'm buying my ticket to the Pirates Tigers World Series.
Jacob:It's happening. That
Joesph:that'd be fun for us, at least. I but I think that'd be good for
Jake:the league.
Jacob:Yeah. That that might be all for the league. Hey.
Jake:Gotta leave it. Too small.
Jacob:Gotta leave it right next
Jake:to each
Jacob:other. No. Okay. So recap the haps, we have royals, yankees times 2, and the pirates. Now moving on to craps.
Jacob:Evan, since you really wanted to go first in this one, we'll we'll give it over to you to go for craps. Who do you think just stunk it up this week?
Evan:White Sox. Well, 2 and 10 on the year. Doing Let's think about this for a second. They're on a one game losing streak but that doesn't show it all. You're playing the Braves, you're stinking it up.
Evan:You're playing the Tigers, you're stinking it up. You're really, I mean, they had good pitching that week, but not good offense.
Jacob:I'll be honest like the white sox were supposed to lose every game to the braves and they won one of them. So that might be a hap.
Joesph:I was gonna say, I feel like this is the this is like proportional to people's expectations for the team. And the White Sox are like, actually one of the saddest franchises in baseball right now. Like, they they literally got their Over the a's? I I mean, I would say so. Like, at least the a's have, like, news that's, like, I guess Reason.
Joesph:Interesting that, like, I feel bad for the Oakland fans, but, like, at least, like, baseball and, like, the country is looking forward to, like, these stages and I don't know, whatever saga is next for the a's. But, like, the the white hawks, they they just stink. Like, they have a they have a bad owner. There it doesn't look like they're moving right now. And, like, even if they were thinking about it, that would not go well.
Jacob:You can just say they're crap.
Joesph:Yeah. They they they are. They are. I see.
Jake:I did there.
Joesph:Smart guy. Smart guy. But, yeah, that that that's just, like, a tough scene. I mean, literally, the Tigers, their own division rivals got their play by play announcer.
Jacob:So that's tough. Yeah. They lost everything, even their comps.
Joesph:Yeah.
Jacob:Okay. So, Joseph, who's your crap? Are you going with the White Sox or just you want to rant about them?
Joesph:No. I I I was always trying to rant about the White Sox.
Evan:It's always fun
Jake:to rant about the White Sox.
Joesph:Yeah. No. I I like I was saying, like, proportional to expectations, for me, it's like, I think I think it's the Astros, the Rangers, and the Mariners, and the a out west. I just, like, I I remember going in the season. Everybody's like like, I don't know what's gonna happen in that division.
Joesph:And I mean, the Rangers are still in first but, like, how how how are they letting the the a's and the angels, like, win games right now? Especially, I mean, barring the, the no hitter and the other good performance by Blanco and, like, the Astros, that was exciting. But, I mean, even the Astros, their team hasn't changed too much, and they got some big pickups with, like, Hader and stuff. But just seeing like a Braves still not panning out and stuff that that stuff that that that stuff for the Astros. And then I don't know.
Joesph:The the mariners kinda came into their own near the end of the season, but they need to they need to pick it up sooner. Kinda like the tigers.
Jacob:Yeah. I know, like, momentum doesn't transfer over between seasons. And last week I picked the Astros to win the division just because I thought it was their quote unquote last dance.
Jake:Mhmm.
Jacob:But I don't know. It could have been last year the way they're looking.
Joesph:I I was throwing this out and, like, I I mean, once the season started, I was like, okay. Maybe the Astros actually, like, they they can make a run this year, and I still think they can. They still have, like, solid foundation. But I was like, you know, this is Verlander's last year with the Astros. What if they're not doing too hot?
Joesph:What if he he's up for for a trade at the deadline? And if the tires are doing hot.
Jacob:Yeah. Yeah. Because that's what we need is pitching.
Joesph:Yeah. Well, I don't I don't know. The, I don't know. Maeda and, flare I'm actually more confident about flarety, but Maeda, I'm a little iffy on, but we'll see.
Jacob:What about you, Jake? Who Yeah.
Jake:I was gonna kinda echo the Astros. I mean, we're gonna talk about this later, but just like the pitching injuries and that type of thing. Just like ruining the depth there. I feel like I don't know. The the AL West kinda reminds me of the AFC West from, like, this past season or a few seasons ago.
Jake:It just came in with, like, pretty high expectations, and then it's just, like, there's really only, like, one team. And I guess that's not even the case for the American League West, but yeah. I know. There's like higher expectations that I thought they live up to especially after last season, with the playoffs performances. But yeah.
Jake:Pitching, I guess, we'll go into later.
Jacob:Yeah. Yeah. So my crap of the week wasn't a team. Well, it is a team, but it was a particular instance for a team. This happened on Monday.
Jacob:Cubs, Padres. The Chicago Cubs are in San Diego on a Monday night. They They take an 8 nothing lead in the 4th inning. It was still 8 to nothing into the 6th inning and they lost. Tatis hit a 2 run bomb in the bottom of the 8th inning to put the Padres ahead 9 to 8.
Jacob:The Cubs end up losing that game, 9 to 8 is your final. Just any game that you're up by 8 runs, especially 8 to nothing. In the 6th. In the 6th inning, and you choke oh my gosh.
Jake:It's the scriptwriters, Jacob.
Evan:The scriptwriters.
Jacob:Okay. So what would the scriptwriters like is it just Slam Diego late night fest?
Evan:Pretty much, yeah.
Jacob:Because, like, I know we talked about the Red Sox, like, oh, that makes sense. Netflix is in on it. But, like, like, Padres, Cubs, maybe we just don't like baby bears.
Jake:No, we don't. Yeah.
Joesph:The cubs need a rain delay so they could rest and then come back and continue pitching and hitting. So that that's why they lost. The weather is too good.
Jacob:Yep. Just too nice in San Diego.
Joesph:Yeah. Yeah. It happens to the best of us.
Jacob:Alright. Well, that was our haps and craps. A little recap of last week in MLB. We'll move on to a segment I labeled major l baseball. You get it because MLB, but like on the sheet
Jake:I have She's a creative guy over here.
Jacob:Lowercase What creative guy. Hey, watch this.
Jake:He should be the host.
Jacob:Lower lowercase m, capital l, lowercase b. It's a genius title. So
Jake:Wow.
Jacob:Move right into it. The Angels broadcaster, Wayne Randazzo, kinda went on a rant earlier this week. He was talking about how mad he was at the MLB. I feel bad for him because he might get fined. But,
Joesph:And he's the Angels announcer. Yeah.
Jacob:Yeah. That too. He had to
Evan:deal with, 2 runners scoring on a wild pitch this week. So you gotta feel bad for him anyway.
Jacob:Yeah. Was that wait. Was that the Rockies. Right? No.
Jacob:That was the Angels.
Jake:Yeah.
Joesph:But it was They were playing the Rockies?
Jacob:Yeah. That's right.
Joesph:That that's even worse. That's even worse.
Jacob:Yeah. Maybe that's our crap.
Joesph:Yeah. The the Rockies actually might be a sadder organization than the White Sox, but that's another story.
Jake:Cool colors. That's really it.
Joesph:Yeah. Yeah.
Jacob:Cool mountains. The ball flies. High sport games. Yeah. For the other team.
Jacob:Yeah. So, basically, he was talking about how Major League Baseball was just not doing good. He was talking about how bad the umpiring has been, which I can agree about. The blackouts in certain areas, jerseys being awful, and Nolan Shonowell. So I wanted to talk about this because he's a rookie for the Angels.
Jacob:He came up a little bit last year year just straight out of college. He kinda zipped through the minors, and he was on pace to have or he was chasing the record for the a rookie on base streak. And so he had it going into this game, he got on base, but then the day the announcer was doing the rants, he had a hit in yesterday's game. So I was like, oh, he should be going into this game with still his on base streak. But the MLB changed one of their rulings on one of his base hits that happened just a week ago and they're like, no, this isn't a hit, it's an error.
Jacob:So I have it on the screen and we're gonna watch it or at least try to watch it. Here it
Jake:is. Okay. So you
Jacob:can see the 1st basement make a tough play and then the picture just drops
Jake:it. That's it. That's true.
Jacob:So originally, the play on this was
Joesph:Ruled a hit.
Jacob:It was ruled a single and then an error by the pitcher because he doesn't make a clean catch.
Jake:Yep.
Jacob:And the problem here was, like,
Joesph:that No.
Jake:It's a problem. I don't.
Jacob:They they went through because it's a tough place or it's a tough play by Mountain Castle to dive for that ball. And then he had it, and then he just he kinda make it a low throw, but he hit him in the glove so he should catch that.
Jake:Yeah.
Jacob:But then the MLB later went through it and changed it, and they said that it was an error on the 1st basement, Mount Castle, but it was still a hit.
Jake:Okay. So still a hit. Still on base.
Jacob:It's like, okay. I can agree with that because in any case, that should be a hit. That's a hard hit ball to 1st baseman. He's making a tough play. And if you wanna call it a throwing error because he didn't throw it directly to the pitcher, fine.
Jacob:Like, I'll I'm fine with that. But, they changed it again a third time and the reason they did that was because they put an appeal and I assume it was either it was Mountcastle because he's like, why did I get tasked with this error? I made a fantastic play diving, and if I didn't make that play and just let it go through the infield or into the outfield, it would have been a hit regardless. Yeah. Regardless.
Jake:Yeah. I mean, his his goal is to stop the ball.
Jacob:Yeah. He's like, why am I getting tasked for the air for, like, trying for this? So we appealed to the MLB, and that's run by the MLB Players Association. It's 3 former players. It's, I think I had it here.
Jacob:Roger Davis is one of them, Gregor Blanco and Dan Orteo. So those are 2 outfielders and a pitcher. Mhmm. So they're trying to make an a case on an infielder's play. To a pitcher.
Jacob:Yeah. To a pitcher. So they went through and ruled it that it was just straight up an
Jake:error. So no one's assigned with it?
Jacob:No one or I don't know who was assigned with it, but any case, there was no hit.
Joesph:No hit.
Jacob:And so that's what the Angels broadcaster was saying. He's like, why did we change this 3 times and our final result was the one that made no sense? And so now this this young player in the league, something that can draw people's eyes to to see if he can continue this on base streak, we're now just gonna end it because, oh, it kinda looked like an error. So that was mainly his rants.
Jake:Did that start the rant or end the rant?
Jacob:That was more because it started the rant. Because he wanted he ended with the rant. Everything else up. But I think that was the main reason why he went to rant in the first place.
Jake:That's fair.
Jacob:But I still wanted to talk about everything he discussed. So first he mentioned the umpires, and I don't know if you've guys watched, like, compilations of umpires calls, but they've been
Evan:Oh, my goodness. They've been dreadful.
Jacob:They've been awful. I've I've seen, like, there's 2 types. There's ones where they're just strikes right down the middle and the umpire is just, like, not not doing anything.
Evan:Example x, the white sacks game with the Tigers in the bottom of 10th inning. Spencer Torkelson's up to bat. He gets Or it's
Jacob:it's Mets. Was it the Mets? Are you talking about it?
Evan:Yeah. The hit by pitch.
Jacob:Yeah. Yeah.
Evan:He checks, wings it. He's Angel Hernandez
Jake:causes me.
Joesph:Yeah. It was Angel Hernandez, so Yeah. That might be an exception.
Jake:Another correlation.
Jacob:I mean, I've I think a lot of it is Angel Hernandez and, like, people have been, like because like they did a breakdown with like AJ Hinch. He's like Angel, you gotta appeal to first on that because he called it a check swing on Torkelson that clearly hit his hand and he never appealed to 1st. He's just like, oh, I I thought he swung. I don't know. And so I don't know.
Jacob:I just really hope we get an automated strike zone soon because I'm starting to not like Yeah. How bad these umpires are.
Evan:Well, I disagree with that. I feel like it takes away you need that imperfection.
Jacob:Okay. Well, okay. This is this is my proposed system. I you still need the umpire and we're instead of hiring these, like, dumb people like Angel Hernandez to ruin the game, we're gonna hire whoever has the loudest voice in in the world will will be recruiting voice voice yellers. And they'll have a microphone in their ear, and it's just a person who's gonna watch the strike zone and he's gonna be like ball or strike.
Jacob:Yeah. And if it's a strike, that umpire better yell as loud as he can to bring that excitement. And if it's a ball, he better let him know it's a ball. And then we have no disputes because it's automated, it's we know the exact call for it. We see this in volleyball too where, like, I know that that's pretty random, but they they have a, like, system to know if it hits the line.
Jacob:So if the line judge Yeah.
Jake:It's in soccer bar. Yeah.
Jacob:Yeah. It's in most sports and we're not doing it in baseball and probably the most important aspect of the game. So Evan, how do you like that scenario?
Jake:Or that compromise at least?
Jacob:Well, I I could yell for you if you want, but compromise at least?
Evan:Well, I I could yell for you if you want,
Jake:but you can't really
Evan:do that. Yeah. I'll go. I gotta get Evan up. Give
Jake:us your
Jacob:best umpire impression. Strike. Oh, no. I gotta I gotta set the scene, so Yeah.
Evan:Okay. But, you made me you made me scream
Jacob:strike for now. Okay.
Evan:That that was I appreciate that.
Jacob:That that was strike 2. We're What what what did you say? We're getting 4 count. Count. Full count.
Jacob:32.
Evan:Goodness. I gotta stand up for this.
Jake:Where's the
Jacob:middle of the night?
Jake:Where's the pitch at? Where's the location of the pitch?
Jacob:It's gonna be just on the outside corner. Okay. I'm gonna be the guy automating the pitch. Alright?
Jake:So everyone's looking at him. So you have you don't even need
Jacob:to you don't even need to look at the pitch. You can be like, up looking up. It's you just need to hear what I say. Evan.
Jake:Yeah. It's against me, someone whispering. Evan. Yes, Jacob. That was a strike 3 that just perfectly caught the outside corner.
Jake:Just give us your best call, bucko. I don't think anyone says that, but okay. Everyone's looking at you. What what is the call gonna be? Strike 3.
Jake:No.
Jacob:Alright. Yeah. How do you like that system? I I just fixed it.
Evan:Not with my scary voice, you didn't.
Jake:So there'd be no arguments. There'd Yeah. You can't I mean, there would be arguments.
Jacob:Like if, manager got kicked out of the game, it'd just be because he wanted to.
Jake:Yeah. Okay.
Jacob:He's like, my team sucks.
Jake:So then, this is a question. Do we do that for for all aspects then? Of the game?
Jacob:Like Oh, like, save to first and stuff like that? Oh, I don't know. I feel like that's fine. Because I like, you can review that. Because you can't review a ball and a strike, but you can review if someone's safe at first or not.
Jacob:And so I'm fine with that because you don't wanna like that can take some of those bang Yeah. I mean, it's
Jake:waiting for the ball to hit the mitt and stuff. So it's not as observable as a strike.
Jacob:Yeah. Because the mitt can move all over, stuff like that.
Joesph:Yeah. I don't know. It it's tough. Like, so there's, like they keep umpire scorecards and, like, these are the past 6 games. Overall accuracy, 91%, 95%, 90%, 90%, 92%, 95%, 91%.
Joesph:So it's like in the game, there are, like, couple of those calls that are just, like, really annoying. But, I mean, it kinda goes both ways.
Jake:Yeah. It gets annoying when it's not going both ways.
Joesph:Yeah. And and it's like they're actually not is it like are are we willing? Like, I mean, it's annoying, but it's also kinda nice, like, watching a game knowing that, like, you praying that you get that lucky break.
Jake:Some imperfection.
Joesph:And it's like, oh, I don't need to just rely on the fact that, like, I I I have hope that, like, Javy Baez will get a bad call as opposed to him actually getting a hit. And so it's like, you know, are are we okay with, like, that, you know, 5, 8% imperfection that gives, like, other other fan bases hope. And, I mean, it's tough for the players because, you know, it's not perfect and accurate. But also, like, if we have that perfect accuracy, is it like you know, are are we I I think that might take away a little bit of the element. And I think, like, isn't in the minor league system.
Joesph:It is more of, like, a reviewable, like, pitch and strike thing. So it only affects those, like, super pivotal calls that are, like, that are game breaking and game changing. But, like, a a couple of those, like, smaller calls, like, that ending to inning action, I think are are still spiced up by, like, umpires messing up occasionally.
Jacob:So you okay. So I get your point. So you're fine with the imperfection because it adds to the intensity of the game.
Joesph:I mean, I I don't know if I I think I would have to, like, I feel like I'd have to do, like, a case study and, like, watch 80 games with with, like, a perfect, you know, automated, like, umpires and then watch 80 games just like old school and then maybe some, like, reviewable plays. But it's tough to say. I, you know, I think I think there's a perfect version of baseball out there somewhere. But, I mean, I think that's there's a reason that people prefer playing in real life as opposed to, you know, I I guess playing, like, something like MLB the
Jacob:show. But I guess I would be fine with that. I just don't like how we have to keep bad umpires in the league. Because Angel does that website have Angel Hernandez? It's like he's just the one that comes to mind because his calls are just year after year.
Jacob:Yeah. It's consistent. It's not like he gets any better.
Joesph:I mean, yeah. I I I think even our bad umpires, like, I I think,
Jake:You just remember the the big plays, but, like, overall, it's actually not as bad.
Joesph:Shout out to Gabe Morales. No.
Jacob:It's still
Joesph:it's Giants game. 97% accuracy.
Jacob:It's it's still, like, so impressive because that is, like, inches away.
Jake:Yeah. But that's also their job. Yeah.
Jacob:No. It is.
Joesph:Dang. MLB's putting Angel Hernandez out of work. He hasn't he hasn't called a game in a minute. But, yeah, he's somewhere.
Jake:Oh. Yeah. I don't know. I think it also, like, we're kind of underestimating, how much, like, it would affect the game because, like, that affects, like, pitcher's strategy too. You know, like, some of them kind of rely on, like, getting those outside calls, and when those are being automated or whatnot, you know, it would be like it's a whole different strategy of the game of, like, the the pitching style they're gonna take, the pitches they're gonna choose to pitch, where they're gonna be aiming, that type of thing.
Jake:And same with, like, the catchers and everything and the batters. If they know that everything is gonna be in the strike zone or else it's gonna be a ball, you know.
Jacob:I feel too okay. This just came to mind, but if the catchers totally can lose the art of framing Mhmm. Because that is no longer existing if you ever wanted to make a strike zone. Yeah. I'm not gonna do
Joesph:that too.
Jacob:It's gonna be so much harder to steal because they can just pop up whenever they want to.
Jake:So those are a lot of, like, imperfections that, like, imperfections that, like, actually kind of keep the game going, you know? Yeah. You might There's, like, little stuff just, like, even, like, for me personally,
Joesph:it's like I I played catcher growing up. And, like, some of the things the coach told me are, like, make sure you go up there, you shake the umpire's hand, try and get on his good side. And then, obviously, you're trying to frame and stuff. And I I feel like that, you know, that takes away a lot if if the strike zone is absolutely perfect. I mean, I I think MLB umpires are professional enough that they're not, like, susceptible to Little League, like, charming them and stuff.
Joesph:But I mean, maybe. Maybe. But, I I I still think, like, that that framing. And I think there will be, like, a lot of smaller consequences to a seemingly, like, inconsequential change. But, you know And also in,
Jacob:Wayne Randazzo's speech, not only did he talk about the umpires, but he mentioned towards the end about their biggest star being in a betting scandal. And actually, news broke today more about that betting scandal. So we'll get into that. If you don't know who we're talking about, it's Shohei Ohtani and his interpreter, Ippy. So it came out that Ippy stole or at least according to the latest sources, I think federal investigators released this, that he gambled over 19,000,000 dollars.
Jacob:So it's way more than the original 4 we thought originally. So, man, this dude stinks at gambling.
Joesph:Is it?
Evan:That's what he said in his quote as well.
Jacob:Yeah. He said that. Yeah. I'm trying to find
Jake:I just suck at this. LOL.
Jacob:I'm terrible at this sports betting thing, LOL. Any chance you can bump me again? As you know, you don't have to worry about me not paying. Exclamation point. Those are exact texts from Ippi.
Jacob:Oh, man. So, yeah. Apparently, I saw somewhere too that his average bet was around $11,000 and he placed, I think okay. I don't wanna say it because I might mess it up, but it it was thousands of bets. And the highest one it got up to was, like, a 120,000.
Jacob:So just nuts. But I think that's better news because last week we talked about, was Shohei guilty in any of this? And even if it doesn't seem like he's guilty because we did a whole deep dive into the situation. Yeah. And basically what it the question we had to get off was how did he have access to his bank accounts?
Jacob:Because if Shohei helped him in any way, like, if he was, like, yeah. You can do this, he would be in trouble even if it was a good gesture on his part to help out his friend. Like, if he's providing money to an illegal bookie, that is, like, no no in the MLB's gambling policy. So I think the fact that we found out that Ippi manipulated the bank accounts and actually said that he was Shohei Ohtani. So he fake impersonated Shohei Ohtani to say that he had access to his bank accounts.
Jacob:He fake impersonated Shohei Ohtani and fake faked his signature to get through those checks. So it looks like as of right now that Shohei had nothing to do with this.
Evan:He even apparently turned his, bank account notifications off according to the report that came out today.
Jacob:Shohei or Ippy? Ippy
Evan:did. Ippy turned Shohei's notifications off.
Jacob:Oh. So he's Yeah. He still has access.
Jake:He's like, guys, I am so sorry.
Jacob:I am so sorry. Sending 30,000,000 to my family.
Jake:Which is also funny, like, I don't know, I've just thought this whole situation's funny because, like, if he's not trustworthy with, like, this huge thing, like, I don't know, Imagine, like, the things that I mean, Shoaib is just putting his full trust in his interpreter that he's telling them what he's saying, and it's just, like, I don't know. I don't know how much got misinterpreted between, like, Ippy and Shohay or Shohay to Ippy to the public. And it's just, like, funny to think about, like, was he actually telling him everything that was going on? Because he's just fully relying on it.
Jacob:Like, what if there was something like, hey, Shohei, you can be a better batter. Yeah. Just, like, lift up your groin just a little bit early and then he was like, yo, Shohei, you're doing great. Just up the donuts a little bit.
Joesph:Do we know what he was betting on?
Jake:Yeah. I was gonna ask that.
Jacob:I think it wasn't baseball. It was I thought it was college football. It was the majority of it. And I believe other American sports. But yeah, I don't know.
Jacob:Apparently, he wasn't a fan of the Michigan Wolverines, which he did not do good in the sports betting department. But how how do you lose $19,000,000 in sports games? Like, that is a problem.
Evan:Well, I'll tell you how. When you see a dozen commercials every day on FanDuel, you see DraftKings, even when, NFL players got suspended, in between that segment it was all FanDuel, DraftKings, and that's how you lose it because you have all those codes that you have to enter to get you win $20 for 5 if get 500 on 20. I don't know.
Jacob:Yeah. Apparently, you didn't take advantage of those promo bets. But I saw on Bleacher Report because, you know, they have, like, BR betting and stuff like that. So they promote betting in a way. And so they were talking about how, like, like, they were reporting on his situation how, like, his life is ruined now because of his gambling addiction because it caused him to make bad decisions due to that.
Jacob:And so now you look at it and Bleacher Report reported that and then all the comments were like, yo, you guys are kinda the cause of this because you, endorse it. But, yeah, just crazy situation, but
Jake:He he didn't call the the 8 font text at the bottom. Gambling, call this number for help.
Jacob:Yeah. It was too small for Epi to see. Needs some glasses.
Joesph:But what is the chance that he's just a super good friend and he's covering for Shoei? Mhmm.
Jacob:He he has
Joesph:a he has a large contract, a lot of money deferred. 30 years down the road, no
Jake:one's earning.
Jacob:Looking here?
Jake:Is it
Joesph:It's not that much.
Jake:2,000,000. 2,000,000. So that's Yeah. He's just he doesn't have enough to do it then.
Joesph:30 years down the road, if he gets, gets a new island and a new car.
Jacob:Like, showing hires,
Jake:like, he's going to, like No. No. He's coming up
Joesph:forward for for taking the
Jake:version of the Shawshank Redemption. Or what if like
Jacob:okay. Shoe has a ton of money, right? Like, what if he hired an Ippy look alike and then had that Ippy go to jail and then the real Ippy can, like, stay and he's like, yo Ippy, like, thanks for letting me use your name to, like, get out of this gambling debt.
Joesph:They he just got, like, transformative plastic surgery and the new interpreter says Yeah. If they still Get a haircut. Okay.
Jake:Yeah. I didn't even haircut. I had to go, actually. Because, like, if Ippy if he could just, like Shohei could just tell Ipi what to bet on, and then if or Shohei could just perform better or less based on that with how good of a player he is. You know?
Jake:So, like Yeah. If it was correlated with Shohei, I feel like they would have been making money not losing 19,000,000. Yeah.
Jacob:I don't know why Shohei would need more money though, but Yeah. I guess gambling's a fun little game.
Joesph:Yeah. If anything, like, if there was any conspiracy beside it, like, I think it would just be Shohei's, like, he likes gambling on the side, but I don't know. The only reason I would say that is just, like, the way they're talking about this is, like, an insane betrayal of trust if, like, it's true how much they were friends Well,
Jake:okay. In the
Joesph:scenes. And then he just goes up there and, like, holds it together during a press conference. It might be something like that cultural barrier, like, I can't read emotions as well when he's, like, talking in Japanese, but
Jacob:Well, what's interesting is, like, Ippy originally said, like, oh, yeah. Shohei was just helping me out. And then he said, oh yeah, I was a total thief once Shohei came out. So like, what if he was covering for Shohei? And then Shohei's like, shoot man, this excuse won't work.
Jacob:Like, you gotta be the thief. And so he's like, alright. But, I don't know, that's that's that's so unlikely.
Jake:I wonder what would happen if Shohei did get accused. Like, is the contract voided then with the Dodgers? Or, like, what what happens there? Yeah.
Jacob:I don't I'm thinking it would be
Evan:a administrative leave, wouldn't it?
Jacob:Yeah. It would have to be something with suspensions.
Jake:You'd regret not taking that money earlier.
Jacob:Yeah. Why was it deferred? Why was it deferred? Alright. We'll get into, trivia right now.
Jacob:The 7th inning stretch is coming up.
Jacob:Welcome to the 7th inning stretch. It's a trivia game. If you get the answer right, you win. If you get the answer wrong, you lose, and die.
Jacob:Alright, we have a little, treat for the 7th inning stretch. I didn't tell you guys how this would go, and, I kinda just thought of it today, and I was like, oh, that would be a good idea for the 7th inning stretch. So, I'm thinking of a player who has played in the MLB and what you guys are gonna do is I'm gonna go through 10 clues and by the end you guys are gonna try to guess this player. And he has
Jake:he has played in the past, so he's not active?
Jacob:He could be active.
Jake:Oh, he could be active. He could
Jacob:be active. In the past. Okay, so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna reveal a clue and each of you guys are gonna take a guess. And preferably it's gonna be along those clues, like not just saying any MLB player because how are you gonna get it right? And so I think the strategy in this is if you if you say an MLB player in your first guess, and then the second clue also corresponds with that player, you can say that player again.
Jacob:I'm not gonna tell you if you're correct until the end.
Jake:Okay. Okay.
Jacob:So if like one of you guys gets to the first try and you just say that player throughout because it matches everything, then like good on you. And some of these clues are very helpful and some of them, I don't know if they will help you at all. Great. So we're just gonna get rolling. So first clue, this player is currently in Major League Baseball.
Jacob:Wow. Alright, Joseph. Who you got? Who is this player?
Joesph:Aaron Judge. Lock it
Jake:in. Alright. Okay. Actually, isn't he in
Joesph:the minor leagues
Jake:right now?
Joesph:Tough luck. Tough luck.
Jacob:Evan, that might be not the best guess.
Evan:I mean, technically he is in the majors. He's just, the injury reserve.
Jacob:Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Go with JV. Okay.
Jacob:This player is from Okay. This is this is clue number 2. This player is from the United States of America.
Joesph:Okay.
Jake:Wait, so are you gonna, like, are you gonna say anything about our guesses or no?
Jacob:No. I'm not gonna tell you if your guess is correct until the end. Okay. So if your guess aligns with it, then you can guess that again. Okay.
Jacob:If you want to because, I mean, you could just have the right answer. I won't let you know until all 10 clues are revealed.
Joesph:Okay. Riley Greene.
Jacob:Oh, changing it up from Aaron Judge. Alright?
Jake:Jonathan. So, like okay. I'll just can I just do the same one?
Jacob:Yeah. You can do the same one.
Jake:Jackson Holiday. Okay. Mike Trapp. Okay. Tar.
Jake:That's what
Joesph:I said. I'm just kidding.
Jacob:This player, clue number 3, this player is a pitcher. So just a quick recap. They are currently in the majors or currently in the major leagues. They are from the United States, and they are a pitcher.
Joesph:Okay. Jack Flaherty.
Jake:Can't be Jack Salad anymore.
Joesph:Kershaw?
Jacob:Okay.
Jake:Yeah, I'm gonna agree with that pic. Kershaw. It can't be Mike Trout. It can't be You got so narrowed down.
Jacob:Those are acting like Kershaw is
Jake:the only one left. He's like it's gotta be. It's gotta be Kershaw.
Jacob:Let's hope Clayton Kershaw's middle name is Allen because that is clue number 4. Oh, no man. That's player's middle name is Allen.
Jake:That's clue 4? What are
Jacob:the rest are gonna be? This is clue number 4.
Jake:I don't even
Joesph:mister Blake Allen Snell.
Jake:Okay. I don't know anyone middle name. I don't even know if I'm
Joesph:I actually
Jake:don't know
Joesph:if his middle name is him.
Jacob:Yeah. I think that's the point.
Joesph:Don't think that I'm smarter than I am.
Jacob:Does Clayton Allen Kershaw sound good to you?
Jake:Does it ring a bell? I'll go with it again, I guess.
Evan:I'm gonna go with Garrett Allen Cole.
Joesph:Wow. Okay.
Jake:That sounds kinda
Jacob:believable. This player, clue number 5, was born on March 30th 19 89.
Joesph:Oh. Okay. So he's a little he he's a older fella.
Jake:He still could be Glengrish. Wait. Clayton Allen. Clayton Allen. Yeah.
Joesph:Oh, wait. No. Zach Grant. He's retired.
Jake:Yeah.
Jacob:I was gonna say, I don't think he's
Joesph:Who who's an old old pitcher? Is Rich Hill still pitching?
Jacob:Quick search. Rich Hill for the win. Rich Allen Hill. That's not
Evan:the answer if he has to search that one up.
Joesph:Yeah. Alright. Oh, wait. I don't know. I'm trying to think of old old pictures though.
Jacob:He could be good.
Joesph:I don't
Jake:know if
Joesph:he's that old though.
Jake:Well, he's what? He graduated with Matthew Stafford.
Joesph:Max Alan Scherzer. I'm just sticking with Kershaw.
Jacob:Clayton Allen Kershaw?
Jake:Clayton Allen Kershaw from the United States, born in 1989.
Jacob:For this math, a little hint, they are 35 years old.
Joesph:Oh, shoot. Okay.
Evan:What is David Robinson?
Jacob:David Allen Robinson? Yeah. Okay. Clue number 6. Okay.
Jacob:1st, let's do a little halfway point. Do you guys think one of you has the correct answer?
Jake:Abs
Evan:Absolutely not. No.
Jacob:Okay. Great confidence. Okay. This player has been on 3 major league teams.
Jake:Okay. Wait. Max Scherzer? How many he's been on 3 now?
Joesph:No. He's not only oh, wait. Max Scherzer no. But he's too old. I think he's like 37 or like 39 or something.
Joesph:Lance Lynn? Mhmm. Lance Allen Lynn.
Jake:See the Allen clue does not help.
Evan:Does not? No.
Jake:I'm trying to think 3 teams. Someone's kind of been around a little bit. I guess we'll just go
Jacob:through yours.
Jake:Lance Lynn. You like that?
Joesph:Look on Jacob's face that reaction.
Jake:Yeah. He liked that one. Okay.
Evan:Could you go with David Price? David Allen Price?
Jake:Wait. Actually that one.
Joesph:What team is he on?
Evan:He was on Boston. He was on the Tigers.
Jake:I don't know.
Joesph:And the rays.
Jake:And the rays.
Joesph:But who's he on right now?
Evan:I think Boston again. Is he not?
Jake:W three g.
Joesph:Oh, wait. Oh, wait. Wait. I got another one on Boston now.
Jacob:Alright. Clue number 7. This player won the world series in 2018.
Joesph:Oh, and, Nathan Allen Evoldi?
Jake:I'm just going with Joseph. I don't have enough depth of knowledge.
Joesph:They they actually had an insane starting rotation. I just can't remember all the players.
Jake:So I'm a Red Sox. I don't know
Evan:if David Price was on the Red Sox that year, but we're gonna go with David.
Jacob:Okay. Okay. This player was a 7 time all star. So a quick recap. Currently in the majors, from the United States, a pitcher, middle name is Allen, born on March 30, 1989, 35 years old, has been on 3 MLB teams, won the world series since 2018, and is a 7 time all star.
Jake:I don't know if Bryce went on. I don't know if he got Was he 7 time? I feel like he is. Yeah. I feel like he is.
Jake:Yeah.
Joesph:I'm kinda like Is there
Jake:a way?
Joesph:Actually I'm I I have pretty confident in saying he was on the 2018 team.
Jacob:Yeah.
Joesph:Because what was it? I think it was Price, Purcello, Vivaldi Yep. To other people who are probably
Jake:on the
Joesph:line with us.
Jake:Tampa, Detroit, Boston. I don't know. I've That's all I remember. I think
Joesph:The thing is, he's an active MLB player.
Jacob:I don't know. That's for you guys to decide.
Jake:Oh wait,
Joesph:you just you just said okay.
Jake:Well, that was the first clue.
Joesph:You know what? David Allen Price. I I need more time to think.
Jake:I concur.
Jacob:David Allen Price are going with that? Yeah. Yes. Evan, this was your guess. Are you rocking with it?
Evan:I'm struggling here.
Jake:Okay. Let's see what the next clue is.
Jacob:Clue number 9. This player's most known team, the team that he started with was in the AL Central.
Joesph:Wait, Chris Sale wasn't on the Red Sox in 2018, because I know he's on them right now.
Jacob:Yes.
Joesph:Chris Allen Sale. I'll shake things up a little bit.
Jake:Chris Allen Sale it is.
Evan:I'm gonna stick with David Perez.
Jacob:Okay. This player, your last clue, clue number 10, is a current Atlanta Brave. Oh.
Jake:Me acting like I'm thinking about this. Even though I have no clue.
Jacob:Is it? So a quick recap of all the clues, what you guys think. Currently in the MLB from the United States, a pitcher, middle name is Allen, born on March 30, 1980 9, 35 years old. This player has been on 3 MLB teams, won the world series in 2018, a 7 time all star. The starting team that he was on and probably the most known team he was on was in the AL Central and is a current Atlanta
Joesph:Brave. I honestly can't do a guess. David Allen Price. Even though it's wrong.
Jacob:So you're changing to David Allen Price?
Joesph:Yeah.
Jacob:Okay.
Jake:All I can think of is Strider. Just kidding. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah.
Jake:David Allen price for
Evan:this. I'm gonna go with Son of birth you said he was on a bridge. Yeah, it was a red sock Chris sale,
Jacob:so you're going with Chris sale
Evan:My final guess is Is Sale
Joesph:on the Braves right now?
Evan:I feel like he is.
Joesph:I think he actually is. Oh, crap.
Jake:That would be his middle man. Okay. He looks like Chris Allen, so
Joesph:Okay. What?
Jacob:K. So lock in your Well,
Jake:we know it's not price. Right?
Joesph:It it's definitely not price.
Jake:Because they yeah. He wasn't even on there.
Joesph:That cruise sale.
Jacob:Sale. Okay.
Jake:I'll just go Chris I think Chris sale would be the
Jacob:most safest. So the whole panel is going Chris sale?
Joesph:Chris sale on sale. Oh, wait. This makes perfect sense now.
Jacob:Okay. So, I'm gonna go through a little bit of the hints to make sure you guys were on the right track and then we'll reveal the final answer.
Jake:Okay.
Jacob:Okay. So this player is from the United States. He is from the state of Florida, went to Florida Gulf Coast as a college. This player is a pitcher. He is a left handed pitcher.
Jacob:This player's middle name is Allen. I don't know how to expand on that, but he was born on March 30, 1989. He is a 35 year old. He has played on 3 MLB teams. He won the world series in 2018.
Jacob:That was correct. He was on the red sox when he won the world series. Was a 7 time all star. The most known team he was on was in the AL Central. That team was the Chicago White Sox.
Jacob:He is a current Atlanta Brave. The answer to this this trivia question and the 7th inning stretch is Chris Allen Sale.
Joesph:There he is.
Jacob:Congratulations panel. I I thought Joseph might choke there.
Joesph:Evan reeled me back in. He he brought me back to reality. I I completely forgot. Like, I I actually knew he got traded, but for some reason, I got confused, and I thought he got trade back to Boston. But he was on Boston during that 2018 team.
Joesph:Mhmm.
Jacob:Because I Chicago, Boston, and then signed with Atlanta this season.
Joesph:So Yeah. Okay. Who who's the other one on that Red Sox rotation? Because I remember it resembling the Tigers.
Evan:Was it Was it Purcello.
Jacob:It was Purcello. You were right with Price. That was a good guess. Cause I was like, oh.
Joesph:Evoldi, and then sale and then Oh.
Jacob:Well, no. Sanchez was on the nationals. I forget. But, anyway, great job guys. Evan really clutched through there.
Jake:Nice job.
Jacob:Joseph with the nice initial guess. Jake kinda He carried it. Stabilizing things. Yeah. He'll get the MVP.
Jake:The coolest one.
Evan:He gave he gave me time to think.
Joesph:Time to think? That was that was my that was my thing.
Jake:Hey, we were almost on to it. Clayton Kershaw, guys.
Jacob:Okay. So moving on to the next segment, we have to talk and close this episode out with talking about the pitchers and the injuries that they have sustained during this season. These these include AL Cy Young winner, Gerrit Cole, Justin Verlander, Robbie Ray, Shane Bieber, just a whole list of potential stars. They really look like a Cy Young list if you look at them, and they are all injured. Valdez, Perez, Bieber, of course, as we mentioned earlier.
Jacob:Even Shohei Ohtani, Jacob deGrom, just not doing good as far as the pitching is concerned. And I wanna start this segment off with getting your guys' thoughts and what you think is the main reason why we are seeing so many pitchers go down so early in the season.
Joesph:Yeah. I mean, I I was, like, talking about this with other people, the stats side of this. And, I mean, I'm kinda just copying, what Justin Verlander said in, like, a recent interview. But he he pretty much I I I don't think it's one specific thing. I think it's like, a snowball effect.
Joesph:There's been a range of things just contributing. And now it's, like, extremely prevalent. And it's just stuff like, you know, that shift to analytics, then they start prioritizing spin rate and velocity. They're encouraging people to throw harder. Everybody everybody playing baseball, their ultimate goal is to be at the MLB.
Joesph:So, you know, minor league coach major league coaches say, a start throwing harder, start spinning the ball. Then minor league coaches start saying that, and then college and then high school. And so pitchers are just starting out throwing harder at a younger age. And there's just been a de emphasis, like, on, on, I guess, like, I mean, I I think there's still an emphasis on, you know, obviously hitting hitting your spots in the zone. But I think, they they obviously really don't want contact.
Joesph:And, you know, I think they just see that as, like, an unneeded risk. So the, you know, they're they're pitching they're pitching hitters for, like, no contact swing and miss. And so I I just think, like, all of that is adding together. And then obviously, the pitch clock introduction in the past 2 seasons and, you know, just taking away from people's recovery time. But there's probably some other factors too.
Joesph:I don't know. I there's probably some adaptation that could take place. I I don't really know. It'll be interesting because it seems like they can keep pushing the human body further. So it'll be interesting if they I mean, it's hard to tell people, like, don't do this even though you know that you can.
Joesph:So it'll be interesting to see, you know, do they change rules? Does medicine just adapt and they figure out ways to overcome this? I don't know.
Evan:Do you think it has to do with analytics as well? Where you're going through certain parts of the rotation. Right? You go through the lineup. You're not expected to get the lineup 3 times anymore.
Evan:Mhmm. So you're trying to throw higher velocity at the start, and then your arm's just getting tired because you're coming out of that pen throwing 99 velocity, 100 because Verlander said in that video where you have 10 year olds trying to throw 90 9 miles per hour, then they come up and they're like
Joesph:Trying.
Jake:What what happened?
Joesph:Their arm is a noodle. It's hanging on by a thread.
Jake:Yeah. I liked what you said about that. Like, how it just starts it's like what's expected. So it starts at lower levels and just like when your arm's still developing or when you're in high school or college, you know, and you're trying to do that velocity and bring that type of thing to the plate, it's just it's not gonna set you up well to succeed long term in MLB.
Jacob:And really, like, it depends on the person too because not everyone is has a body to throw a 100 miles per hour. Now you can throw a 100 miles per hour. That's not mean you're built for it. Like, our oldest Chapman, for example, he is built to throw high velocity. He's still Yeah.
Jake:We saw that last night.
Jacob:And he's like yeah. And he's high to mid thirties and he's just gassing it. He's not getting as injured as these other pitchers, and it's like Verlander said, it's just the emphasis is on spin rate and it's on velocity. And then you have factors that the MLB has put in place, which are good are good stuff. Like, the pitch clock is very good.
Jacob:It helps speed up the game and, like, the control more on, sticky stuff on the hand. I I guess that's good because you don't want too much advantage coming through. But if you have a pitcher who now doesn't have sticky control on the ball that requires more force to be thrown on their arm, more strain on their arm, as Evan said, they're not expected to go a full duration at more so, quote, unquote, eat up innings anymore and have a good quality start. It's more so just get through those 5 innings and then let the bullpen go to work because you want those more quality, high velocity pitchers as long as you can. And that with the pitch clock going down too, not as much recovery between pitches, it's just a lot of strain on these pitchers, and I'm not surprised that we're seeing it all add up.
Jacob:So I wanted to talk we talked about the reasons. Now what do you guys think are the solutions to this problem? Because obviously, we can't continue to have that because we'll have no pitchers eventually.
Jake:Mhmm.
Joesph:I mean, like, Verlander kind of pointed this out, but he thought there were, like, some changes to the baseball giving it a little more pop and stuff. I mean, I I think this would be in line with other changes they've made in the past with, like, taking away the shift rule. They want more balls that are, like, harder to field, and they want more action. And, you know, they wanna push the defense to, you know, make plays. I I think maybe changing the baseball in the future, maybe give it a little less pop, may make home runs harder to hit.
Joesph:That way, bring back an emphasis on contact and defense. I I feel like that could be a change that could come and would be subtle enough that most people probably wouldn't notice. But, I mean, aside from that, like they said, you know, I I I can remember back even, like, 5, 10 years. It's like I remember a good outing was they complete, like, a full 6 innings or they they go 7 innings or something. Now it's like, oh, you go 5 and a 3rd.
Joesph:You go 5 full innings. You know? No no runs. Then you did your duty. But then that's like, you know, that's putting stress on, like, the bullpen constantly, and then a starting pitcher eventually is required to push themselves eventually.
Joesph:So I don't know. Maybe expanding, like, open roster spots or something. But I I'm not sure if that's exactly what fans wanna see. Mean, obviously, starting pitchers like the stars of the pitching, you know, the pitching crew, aside from maybe, like, the closer. So, you know, I think it I think they're trying to balance, like, what the fans want.
Joesph:And then, obviously, the Players Association, the there there are they were already complaining saying, like, the pitch clock. So I think I don't know. I think the compromise will be somewhere between what the MLB is trying to do to engage fans and the MLB Players Association, obviously, just trying to stay healthy. So
Jake:Yeah. I'd I'd agree with that. Like, we were talking about earlier, if you find something that's worked that does work, like the high velocity, have to be some changes made, outside of just like the velocity. I don't really think the pitch clock has, like, a ton to do with this. I mean, I get, like, the the recovery time, I guess, but I think there's more root issues other than that.
Jake:Just the pitch clock there. But, yeah, I mean, as as kind of it plays out as the seasons play out with, this kind of higher velocity demanded and stuff, I think they'll be able to compare the success that they've had with this being higher demanded with the success in the past and just kinda see if, like, a diff big difference is even being made. Because if it's costing you a pitcher and you're only winning, like, 10 extra games, if you're only having such a lower ERA than before, it's like, is it really worth it when you're losing your pitcher and you're having to bring people up? So that's kinda what I would say on that, I guess.
Jacob:Yeah. Yeah. For sure. I've seen a couple of solutions for this. I know Joseph mentioned it earlier, but expanding pitcher rosters just so you can have especially when double hitters happen and then you have a game the next day.
Jacob:It's really stressful for your whole bullpen and you can you have to almost rely on someone because your bench runs out pretty quickly and you need to, I guess, be proactive in having, players available for the next days. You can't just focus on a specific game. And, I think that would be something that I think the Players Association would be good with and, like, the fans too. I don't I don't don't mind if you have another pitcher on the, starting roster. Obviously, you might see less of the starters but I think that role will be more towards the bullpen, which I don't know if that will directly solve the problem we're having with mainly starting pitchers.
Jake:Mhmm.
Jacob:But another one I saw and I didn't like the solution was it it was have a speed limit for players. It was like put it at like 96. I'm like one one that takes away from the fans because we wanna see the best baseball that can be played. Yeah. And 2, that only helps with fastballs.
Jacob:Like, if the pitch limit is 96, like, I'm still gonna try to pound that curveball or slider as fast as I can.
Jake:Are
Evan:you gonna tie, like, a brick to the player's arm that, like, makes the ball not come out when it's above 96? Yeah.
Jacob:I don't know. I think the ruling was, like, if you throw it over 96, it's just an automatic ball.
Jake:That I mean, that doesn't even really make sense. I mean, you're doing it to protect the pitcher. If the pitcher doesn't wanna hurt himself, he just won't pitch over 96. Yeah. So I don't get that.
Jacob:But, I mean, like you said, they're so they're forced to throw as fast as they can because especially in the majors, like, these like, none of their spots are guaranteed. It's not like any other sport. Like, you can be sent down and you can be sent down far, especially with how easy it is to get players up and down in the majors and minor leagues. So you're fighting every day for basically to stay up with the big boys. And even, like like, Tariq Skubal for the Tigers, like, outstanding pitcher.
Jacob:It almost seems like he has a solidified spot for the Tigers. But early on in his career, even his first, like, 3 seasons, if he had a bad stretch, he was getting sent down. Like, you always have players that you wanna replace with, especially if you have those players potential replacements who can throw faster than what you're comfortable with throwing with, it can be very stressful for these players. So I yeah. I don't know if just relying on them wanting just self control for their speed because some of these pitchers are psychos.
Jacob:Like, every pitcher will stay in the game until the manager yanks them out. It's never a pitcher saying, oh, I my arm's tired coach or manager. I I can't do this. It's always it's always the other way around. It's always the manager.
Jacob:So I think more so the focus in this case would probably be pitching coach because I we mentioned it earlier how, if you wanna if you see that the fast velocity rate only gets you, like, 1 or 2 more games, but losing a starting pitcher for a whole season might cost you whatever their war is which Yeah. Is, like, 4 or 5, let's say for a good starting pitcher. Like that hurts more than them trying to bank it
Jake:in It's not worth it.
Jacob:At a 100 miles per hour. So I think it's really up to the coaching staffs to help manage their players more properly and really, I don't really know how much the league can do besides if we wanna actually look at the pitch clock and be like it was last year.
Jake:That could that could also go down into, like, the farm systems too. Just like with what we were talking about, like, requiring those younger players to, like, perform at those levels. Like, if we can kinda preserve them maybe until they get to the big leagues where like, I know that's stuff to do when you're not practicing what you're gonna be doing, but, like, I
Jacob:don't know. Maybe put
Jake:some limitations on just in the farm system. I think there
Joesph:kind of already is. I think if you look at, like, the innings pitched by minor league pitchers, it's pretty it's not crazy. Yeah. But I I think, like, if we go along the lines of, like, it's up to the coaching staff, I I think, realistically, a change we could see in the future is just our concept of, like, a starting rotation changing. I mean, you can already see it now.
Joesph:Like, back in like I said, back in, like, 2012 or something, you had, like, a 5 man rotation. Now it's, like, a 6 man rotation with, like, 7 to 8 unofficial people on the rotation who are ready to go in the minors.
Jacob:And like bullpen days as well.
Joesph:Yeah. So it's like, I think a realistic thing is maybe just changing the idea of, like, a starting rotation and starters. It's like I mean, thinking of, like, the Tigers. It's like we have, like, Holton, Miller, Foley, Lang, like, 4 high leverage guys. And then we have, like, Fayedo.
Joesph:I, I think Chaffin kind of is an inning eater. Probably somebody else I'm forgetting on there. It's like, maybe we take away, like, you know, laying, and we have 3 inning eaters. And we have, like, you know, 3 high leverage people. And those inning eaters are regularly gonna come in and pitch.
Joesph:Or or it might be, you know, we're gonna actually start starting games, like, you know, we're gonna do 3 innings for each starter, then 3 innings for each starter. And that's, like, 6 guaranteed innings. And then maybe if they're really good, like, 4 innings, then that's, like, 8 innings. So it might be, like, school bowl and Manning are starting a game together, and they're both, like, no more than 4 4 innings. So I don't know.
Jacob:I remember when Mies and School Bowl came up because they came up at the exact same time. Hinch had to put a pitch limit on them because they were such young arms.
Jake:Mhmm.
Jacob:And so you see that
Joesph:And I still got hurt.
Jacob:Yeah. Yeah. My still and school still got hurt, but you see some of those, like, preventative things and especially with the rate they're going right now, I think you could see more common practices like that or just other concepts that they come up with.
Joesph:Yeah. I mean, I think, like, the the double starter thing is, like, a little more radical. But I think, like, a bigger change you could see is more, you know, just we don't need as many high leverage guys. We need, like, quality inning meters who are, like, as good as, you know, starters. And, you know, maybe a doubt, like, pitching roster expansion a little bit.
Joesph:So I don't know. For sure.
Jacob:Yeah. Very interesting situation and really I think a very interesting show we discussed. We talked about our haps and craps. That was very early in the episode. And then we, introduced our major l's, what we think MLB needs to fix.
Jacob:That includes umpiring, a whole range of topics. And then we got into trivia, a little, deep dive 10 question player survey that you guys can rewind and even play for yourselves. That
Jake:situation
Jacob:that situation because no one wants to see someone go down. Evan, you are raising your hand and you want to speak.
Evan:Yes. I have a question about this trivia point system. Right? You know how pick the stick has a point system where you get minus or double? Is that the thing we're doing here?
Evan:Where you get correct points for
Jacob:So you're saying because you're the only one who showed up today versus everyone else
Jake:and there is
Evan:First of all, that should be bonus in the scoreboard, but yes.
Jacob:Okay, Evan. In our unofficial scoreboard, you will have a one next to your name.
Evan:Why is this not an official scoreboard?
Jacob:It is a very official scoreboard. Jake and Joseph are also tied for the lead.
Joesph:I mean, on the Bailey thing, they have, like, people on there who I'm, like, I never even see them on TV.
Jake:Yeah. You guys need a scoreboard thing up Yeah. For every episode. Yeah. We'll have that.
Jacob:Okay. Scoreboard coming soon Yes. For trivia. Don't wanna miss that.
Evan:Just another thing I need to click over here. Yes.
Jacob:Yes. And, also, we have an Instagram page. Go follow that at bigleague_shoers says everything developed in Major League Baseball as well as our own content, So please follow along. A huge thank you to Impact Sports for letting us use their equipment and their studio today. If you want Jake and Joseph back on the show, please let us know.
Jake:Let us know. Obviously.
Jacob:We'll try to get them back on if they so choose. But that will wrap up episode 3. Thank you for joining us. Stay tuned next week for big league chewers episode 3. See
Jake:you.