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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 in everybody to episode 4 of big league tours. We're back just 4 days later recording another episode as Michigan State is hitting their finals week, but we're back here in studio recording another episode in in a jam packed episode today. 1st, we're gonna get into a classic segment, haps and craps, recapping the week in Major League Baseball. Then we'll talk about the city connects or as I call them, city unconnects. And then we'll move into our classic 7th inning stretch.
Jacob:The trivia segment here on big league chewers. And then finally, we have to talk about the worry o meter. Just a month into the MLB season, who are we worried about in Major League Baseball? All of that and more is coming up next on Big League Cheers. Welcome in, everybody, to episode 4.
Jacob:I'm Jacob Mower, your host. Alongside today, a short staff, but still a powerful staff here. Evan Katz to my left. Hello. How are you doing today?
Evan:I thought I was avoiding cameras, and I had to do cameras. So this is a problem for us, but, you know, we're gonna survive.
Jacob:Speaking of cameras, the guy at cameras today is Nick Fardella. Nick, how's it going?
Nic:I'm doing great. You know, learning how to do cameras for the first time, so I'm excited to do this.
Evan:Hey. I'm glad we're on the same page, boss.
Jacob:Yes, sir. We'll get into our first segment, apps and craps coming your way right now.
Nic:It's time for haps Woo hoo.
Evan:And craps.
Nic:You see who won the week?
Evan:And who didn't.
Jacob:Yes, sir. It's the old classic haps and craps. Back at it once more. So who wants to start this week? What should we start with?
Jacob:The craps or the haps?
Evan:Well, you gotta start with happy news first. Don't you to please the audience? Okay. Who
Jacob:wants to start? I mean, you're in
Evan:the host chair, so
Jacob:how do
Evan:you start?
Jacob:Alright. Well, I was gonna save this for last, but Oh. We'll start with it right now. We'll start with a little happy note. My half of the week Mhmm.
Jacob:Is Cambooser, a Red Sox relief pitcher. Let me tell you guys a little story. In high school, he broke his femur as a sophomore. Also needed some knee surgery in his sophomore year. His senior year, he broke his vertebrae weightlifting.
Jacob:He then played baseball at Oregon State tore his UCL and needed Tommy John surgery as a freshman. While rehabbing, following a sold, or so a surgery. He was hit by a car and broke a bone in his back. He then spent two and a half years after he quit baseball being a carpenter installing ceilings before becoming a coach at Washington in a training facility in 2020 where then he realized that he could throw in the nineties without any pain and thought about a comeback. He threw an inning semi pro for a team in Seattle and then an independent team, the Chicago dogs signed him, and then Nick Fardella knows about the Chicago dogs.
Nic:Yeah. I actually live 15 minutes away from the stadium, so that's kinda cool.
Jacob:Dude, Chicago growing. And then
Evan:Are you a real fan, though,
Nic:or not? I'm a real fan. I go a couple times a year with my dad and my friends. It's cool park. Right?
Nic:Outfield, you can see the highway, actually. So if anyone hits it over, the fence in the highway, it's pretty cool.
Jacob:Wait. So did you know about kamboozer?
Nic:I did not. I'm not gonna I did not know about him.
Jacob:Okay. Well, anyway, after the Chicago dogs, the Boston Red Sox signed him to a minor league contract as a free agent. And then on Friday, against the Pittsburgh pirates, pitching for the red sox, he finished off a game at 31 years old. There's a video of him emotional on the bench. I thought that was a great story in Major League Baseball and a big reason why he is my hap for this week.
Jacob:Hard to follow you guys. I don't think you're gonna beat it.
Evan:Yeah. That that is a nice happy note there you got there. My hap this week is gonna be Brian De La Cruz. He had 28 at bats this week for the Miami Marlins. 5 runs, 4 home runs, 10 RBIs, 1 stolen base, batting a 2 86 in the last 7 days, having 8 hits, 2, doubles, 1 base on ball, and a 10 strikeouts.
Evan:But But a 786 slugging percentage and a 1086 OPS. So how about that? Nick, what do you got?
Nic:My hat is Jordan Westberg. He's hit safely in 5 straight games. Of all the young baseball players we have from the orioles coming up, Westbrook was not on my list to look out for, so that's why he's my hat.
Jacob:Happy news around Major League Baseball and just the 4 day span that we were away from the Impact Podcast Network. Now moving on to the craps. People who did not do as good. Well, last week, you know, I guy I gave you guys a tragic story about 10,000 people who wasted their day at the ballpark in Chicago. Well, it doesn't get any easier.
Evan:Uh-oh. Is this another murder story?
Jacob:25,375 this time. This time in Denver, Colorado. Watching the 4 and 16 Colorado Rockies lose 7 to nothing to the Seattle Mariners. Colorado Rocky fans, what are you doing? It was 420 in a city called Mile High, and you're at a Rockies game, a team that stinks.
Jacob:And what did they give you? Nothing. They gave you no runs. You lost 7 to nothing. You're my crap.
Jacob:This is your fault. You're not the victims anymore.
Evan:I think you broke me there. I don't know how I could follow-up with that one to be honest with you, but I'm gonna go with our crap for this week being Kyle Hendrix. He had 2 starts, in this last 7 day period having 11 point 88 ERA. A little struggling there, only pitching 8.1 innings, allowing 11 hits on 11 runs, and 11 of those all being earned. 3 home run bombs, and 1 hit by pitch, and 3 walks.
Evan:So not a good, last 7 days for my man, Kyle Hendrix.
Nic:My crap is gonna be Jack Leiter. He pitched after a much anticipated debut against the Detroit Tigers. I watched that game. I was excited for Jack Leiter. He pitched only 3 2 thirds and then gave up 7 runs.
Nic:And then right back, sent the minor leagues to triple a already. That's my crap.
Jacob:And he started off so good, and then it just completely fell downhill, especially to a Tiger's offense reeks.
Nic:Yep. Yeah. I was like, what?
Jacob:That was pretty disappointing.
Nic:Tiger scored runs? What?
Jacob:Luckily for the Rangers, they still won that game because the Tiger's defense was incapable of saving the day. But still, being being brought up, your dad in attendance, and then getting sent back down that is pretty crappy well
Evan:how about that for a confidence booster
Jacob:Let's go, Jack Lyter. Alright. We'll move on from apps and craps. Little short segment there. Now move on to a segment I call city unconnects.
Evan:Is this a fanatics joke that I missed here because their jersey is unconnect?
Jacob:No. It's just because I don't know. It was called city connects, and I don't think they're very good, so I called them city unconnects. And I'm gonna explain why. So the New York Mets just released their city connect uniforms, if you guys wanna pull that up and take a look.
Jacob:And, let me just describe them to you. So they are gray
Nic:A lot of gray.
Jacob:With some stripe. All of it is gray besides the Nike swoosh, which has a little bit of purple, and a little bit of lining on the sleeve is a little bit of purple. The hat's pretty cool. It says n y for New York, like the classic New York Mets hats are, but it's also gray and white with a little bit of a bridge. Guys, this is the City Connect uniform that I just described.
Jacob:Also, across the plate, it says n y c, and maybe the most boring font you could think of. These are awful, and let me tell you why. Not because I don't think they are the worst looking City Connect uniform. I have my least favorites out there, but when I first saw this jersey, I was actually really hyped for the New York Mets City Connect jerseys to come out. It's New York.
Jacob:It's the Mets. It's Queens. They have fun colors, and I thought there was no way Nike and Fanatics could mess this up.
Evan:Strong confidence,
Jacob:But they did. Again, these City Connect uniforms have been so disappointing, and especially with the New York Mets coming out. Guys, it's New York. It's a city that doesn't sleep according to Frank Sinatra, and the colors we went with are the most boring colors you could ever think of. Now looking at the reasoning for stuff because, quote, unquote, they have reasoning for everything they put in the jersey.
Jacob:The reason for putting gray is because New York City is considered the concrete jungle, but, guys, the city doesn't sleep. It's never dark. It's always bright and lights. And, guys, the New York Mets head
Evan:It's dark because they're the Mets, and the Mets
Nic:They're playing well as of late.
Jacob:Yeah. They're they're on a little bit of a win streak, but, if they put these jerseys on, I I don't know. They're it looks like Cole. And the thing okay. This is my proposition to fix the New York Mets jerseys.
Jacob:1, get rid of NYC. Why are we going with basic city abbreviations for these teams? Pittsburgh did it. Washington did it. Guys, that's not how you connect with the city.
Jacob:It's just its abbreviation. New York fanatics and Nike, if you didn't know, has districts or little quadrants, I guess they're called. And the New York Mets playing Queens. Wouldn't it be sick if we put Queens at the front of the jersey to, quote, unquote, connect with the city? And, also, New York has some fun colors, orange and blue.
Jacob:And we decided to rock with gray. Why? We could have had so much fun here, and even looking at the jerseys, the little sliver of hope, the little sliver of credit I give to Nike fanatics and the New York Mets working on this jersey is the purple color. It looks sick and it screams New York, but we hit it so just in detail that it doesn't look good. If you made that purple the whole jersey and it said Queens with maybe a bright orange or something along those lines to indicate the lights of New York, everyone would love the jersey, but instead we're looking at a plain jersey that looks like the White Sox on an even more poverty level.
Nic:Okay. Okay. That's the soft throw shit at the White Sox.
Jacob:And I can't even blame the White Sox because although they have boring colors, their city connects are one of my favorites. Yeah.
Nic:I love it. Southside, baby.
Jacob:Southside. That's how you connect with the city. And this time instead of New York, we're just gonna put NYC like, this is something if someone was from, like, England or Australia, and they didn't know anything about New York, I feel like this is the jersey they would make. They'd be like, oh, let's abbreviate it. And, although I don't know why they would pick gray.
Jacob:I mean, this person who made it must be the most boring person ever. But anyway, there's my rant. Do you guys wanna rag react to this? Because I think city connect jerseys are just going downhill, and I'm worried because the tigers come out on May 6th, and I really wanna get one of these jerseys because the tigers jerseys have been sticking around for a long time. They only go between 2 jerseys.
Jacob:If they make a sick jersey, I really want it. But right now, with the early releases of these jerseys, I'm not a fan.
Nic:Nick? Two things with this. I like the hat. I like the bridge aspect of the hat. Make it connect to the city.
Nic:Also, New York has a Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building. It's got a lot of memorable things that hit New York. Put it in New Jersey instead of gray. It would make it pop. You guys you said earlier, make it pop more, make it connect with the city, but just gray is just bad.
Nic:It just looks like a kindergartner, Maine. It looks like you're like local league.
Jacob:And even, like, New York has so many nicknames to it. The Empire State, the big apple, as you mentioned with the Statue of Liberty and other iconic places, and you just rocked with NYC. Guys, what what are they doing?
Evan:I'm here to be the voice of reason here. I like these jerseys actually. I like I'll tell you why it's gray down here. You see those those pinstripes on the jersey, both of you? That's also talking.
Evan:I see that design as a bridge too because what?
Jacob:Do you think that a Yankees rock the bridge because they have pinstripes?
Evan:You never know.
Jacob:But That that was definitely not intentional. You know, I'm looking at a Lindor jersey, and that one really looks like a bridge post. City connect.
Evan:You know what? The the NYC stands out though to me. I I like that color.
Jacob:So bad?
Evan:No. I like that color because it stands out to you. That gray on black, that makes that NYC, what they really want you to focus on, stand out. If you think that one's bad, let's look at the, Red Sox City Connect jerseys. Those yellow minion looking jerseys things that look like a peeled banana.
Jacob:Okay. Well, I'll give Boston credit because it's tribute to the Boston city connect to it. It connects to the city of Boston. Putting NYC, city connect to it. It connects to the city of Boston, putting NYC and claiming that it looks like a bridge, and it stands out because black and gray somehow stand out.
Jacob:When has anyone ever said black on gray stands out? Like, they have so many Me. I just did. Evan, what if they made it purple?
Evan:What? You disgusting.
Jacob:What if they made it orange? You disgusting. That would stand out more though to your point.
Evan:This this is true. Yes.
Jacob:Like, can you imagine, like, being a New York mets player, and they're like, guys, we got New Jerseys. And you throw these on. You're like, hey. Someone just poured ashes on our New Jersey guys. They're dirty.
Jacob:Put them in the laundry.
Evan:It looks so clean to me.
Jacob:Well, okay. Explain more because you're not making any sense right now.
Evan:I'm not making any sense. Okay. First of all, that that pink Nike logo, I agree with you. Why is that pink out of everything else? That's purple.
Evan:It's pink.
Jacob:That that is definitely purple.
Nic:That is pink. That looks pink to me.
Evan:What? Exactly. Thank you. Overruled. Anyway, This is pink.
Evan:This is clearly pink.
Nic:This is
Jacob:like a lavender.
Evan:That is not lav that is pink. That is pure pink. Okay. Whatever. But having what you described as the bridge underneath the n y hat too,
Jacob:I love that. Okay. I I didn't criticize the hat. The hat was halfway decent. The jersey is what we're talking about.
Jacob:They're called City Connect jerseys.
Evan:A hat is part of the jersey.
Jacob:It's part of the package, so are the pants, but I'm not judging the pants. I'm not judging
Evan:the size.
Jacob:In this picture. So Actually, they're rocking white pants.
Evan:Okay. Again, overruled. Nick, what do
Jacob:you think of these jerseys?
Nic:I don't like them. Yep. They're too plain to me. New York's got everything in it and not you could done it so much more than gray.
Jacob:Okay. Evan, what do you think about putting NYC instead of Queens or, like, big apple?
Nic:I like if they put Queens, I think it would make more sense.
Evan:I would have liked Big Apple on it instead of NYC, but I like the overall NYC design.
Nic:It's just too plain. Yeah. For the city connect, you must be
Jacob:Like, I wanted this to pop. New York is a city of just bright lights and fame. What what do
Evan:you want them to put a billboard for, like, they're in Times Square on their jersey?
Jacob:Well, okay. The Padres San Diego is a nice beachy town. It's fun. Yeah. City Connect jerseys did a great job making it nice beachy and fun.
Jacob:Los Angeles is a nice, beachy, and fun town. They made it surfer style, connecting to the jersey. The Astros, I don't Houston is known for its space expeditions, and to put Space City on it and make it look a little metro out of this world look, I think looks very good. Southside down and gritty. That's exactly what the jerseys did.
Jacob:And now we're getting lazy because you had a great chance to continue this trend with New York City. Maybe bounce back from your previous jerseys, and instead we rocked with this. I don't see any element of New York in this.
Evan:You see, I'll I'll argue with you now. Because if you look at that Dodgers one, it doesn't look any different compared to the other jersey. It the other jersey is normally blue.
Jacob:It's Evan, by no means am I saying the City Connect jerseys were great early on. I'm saying there are a few examples. The Dodgers were so bad that they need another one.
Evan:Gotcha.
Jacob:Okay? They've they've messed up early. I'm just saying they as of late, they've really messed up even more, which I don't know how that's possible but it is and especially with this New York Mets jersey it's just off the charts right now
Evan:that's fair enough
Jacob:Yeah. Yeah. I thought you said they were good, though.
Evan:They're decent. They're not bad. They're decent.
Jacob:Okay. If you were a New York Mets fan Mhmm. Would you buy this jersey?
Evan:Yes. I would. Okay.
Jacob:That's not my cup of tea, but anyway. Also, I wanted to talk about the Philadelphia Phillies jersey because they were the other City Connect that got released. That was a few weeks back, but what do you guys think of City Connect jerseys that don't match team colors?
Evan:K. The the Phillies won having a that that looks like a old all star game jersey to me, honestly. I think that was, like, the colors of 2 or 3 years ago's all star game, jerseys. It kind of looks like the Brewers. You could I could see a Brewers color in there a little bit.
Evan:I see a little bit of, yellow on the sleeves and obviously the blue and looking like an ocean blue. That that one doesn't make sense to me. I don't like that one.
Jacob:It looks like Seattle.
Evan:Yeah. I could see that one too.
Nic:But I do like the hat, the Philius one. I like their hat. They have the bell on it.
Jacob:Yeah. I mean, I don't think it's as bad as New York, but At
Nic:least it's got color on it. I've just, like
Jacob:because I'm judging these jerseys for the Tigers jersey, and it's really making me scared. Tigers come out May 6th. Motor City is another one where you can really capitalize. I just really hope they don't mess it up. Citi unconnects.
Jacob:I don't like them, and I don't know how you guys can even defend them, but we'll move on to our next segment. We'll go to trivia.
Evan:Uh-oh. Coming up. Nick, you ready to lose a point?
Nic:Nah. Just to be clear, can we use Google for this segment or not? No. Okay.
Jacob:Oh, actually, I'll explain. Let's just hear the song, guys.
Evan: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:Okay, guys. Welcome to the 7th inning stretch. For this one, Aidan and Zach are out of town. So you guys have a chance to move up in the scoreboard. Let's update those rankings.
Jacob:Evan, you lead with 2 points. Nick, you have 1 and a half. Aidan is at 1.25, and Zach is at 1. So let me tell you the breaking news.
Evan:What's that?
Jacob:We are not doing 10 questions for a player. Oh. That's a classic segment. We are moving on to a different segment. Okay.
Jacob:This one is called true or false for death. I I don't know why I added death there, but Okay. Song says to die. So I'm gonna give you 10 questions. True or false questions.
Jacob:All I need from you guys is a true or a false. I will not tell you. I will not tell you if you get the answer right. Some of these will be easy. Some of them will be hard.
Jacob:But at the very end, I will reveal the score between you 2 and whoever answers the most correctly gets the points. We will rotate between who answers first. Evan, you will answer first and then Nick will follow right up. Your first question, true or false? Mhmm.
Jacob:The MLB stands for Major League Baseball.
Evan:That one I'm gonna say is true.
Jacob:Okay. Nick, does the MLB stand for Major League Baseball?
Nic:I'm also gonna go with True.
Jacob:Okay. Question number 2. Nick, we will start with you.
Evan:Okay.
Jacob:The Red Sox won the 2018 World Series in 6
Nic:games. I'm gonna go with false. I think they won in 5.
Evan:Evan. I'm gonna go with false as well and I think I'm gonna I'm gonna agree with Nick on going with 5 there.
Jacob:Okay. Question number 3. Evan, we will start with you. Ronald Acuna junior's mother's maiden name is Rojas. True or false?
Evan:I'm gonna go with true there question mark but I'm gonna lock it in and say true.
Jacob:What about you, Nick?
Nic:I'm gonna go with false just to be different and get a point.
Jacob:So you're confident that that is the right answer? No. I just yeah. He'll No. Come on.
Jacob:Where's the confidence?
Nic:I'm confident. I'm confident. Okay. But,
Evan:yeah, that that does not sell any confidence to me, to me about. Okay. Question number 4.
Jacob:This will start with Nick. Okay. Cody Bellinger stands at 6 foot 3 inches.
Nic:It's 3. I'm gonna go with true.
Evan:I am going to disagree with you there, and I'm
Jacob:Okay. Question number 5. We will start with Evan. Again, just a reminder, I hope you guys are I have your computers open, but I hope you guys aren't searching anything up, but I see your hands are pretty much clear. Okay.
Jacob:Question number 5. Javier Baez Oh, dear. Is smiling in his 2024 profile picture. True or false, Evan?
Evan:False.
Nic:I'm I'm gonna agree with you on false.
Evan:Okay. What's there to smile about?
Jacob:Yeah. What's there to smile about when
Nic:you're hired here
Jacob:by us? At least you got a 140 $1,000,000 in the bank. Alright. Question number 6, we will start with Nick. Freddie Freeman hits over 32 home runs in 2016.
Nic:I'm gonna go with false. I don't think he was he was breaking in the league at that
Evan:point. I think that was in the middle of his, like, primary. I'm gonna go with true.
Jacob:Okay. Question number 7, we will start with Evan. We'll see if I can read this one off.
Nic:Oh, god. Babe
Jacob:Ruth, his wife was killed in a house fire. True or false?
Nic:How do you expect us to know that one?
Jacob:Don't you guys know ball?
Nic:I don't know ball back way back in the day.
Jacob:Evan might have the advantage here then.
Evan:I'm gonna go with false because I just don't hope that, but I'm gonna go with false.
Nic:I'm gonna agree. I feel like if she died like that people would have known. Like more people would know.
Jacob:Okay. Question number 8. We will start with Nick. There are 5 MLB ballparks named after their own team name. True or false?
Evan:Taking a long time to say 2 words, I'm
Nic:afraid. I'm trying to, like, count my head. I'm gonna go with false. Okay.
Jacob:Evan.
Evan:I'm gonna agree with you there and say false. Alright.
Jacob:Question number 9. Okay, this one's a little bit of a thinker. We'll start with you Evan.
Evan:Great. Wonderful.
Jacob:Think about all the MLB divisions. Okay? And get rid of National League and American League. Just pretend every the NL East and the AL East is the same division, so 10 teams. The NL Central and the AL Central are 10 teams.
Jacob:The NL Central and the NL West or the NL West and the AL West are the same team
Evan:Okay. Or the
Jacob:same division, whatever. Okay? So if I were to draw a line between each section, there's no overlap. So in other words, there's no east team that is really should be the central based on geography, and there's no central that should be the east or west that should be central or central that should be west. True or false?
Jacob:So basically I'm saying that they are perfect. That a team in the central should be in the central and a team in the east should be in the east.
Evan:Well, like I told you earlier, I cannot find water when falling out of a boat, and I suck at geography, but I'm gonna go with false there.
Nic:Nick. I'm gonna go with false too.
Jacob:Okay. Question number 10, the last one. Nick, we'll start with you. The 2018 all star game for Major League Baseball was held in Miami.
Nic:I'm gonna go with false.
Evan:Yes. That would be false.
Jacob:Okay. We have now rattled through the 10 questions, and the moment of truth comes to who won. First off, I would like you guys to guess how many you got correct. Out of 10, Evan, how many do you think you got right? 6, but
Evan:I don't know which ones. Okay?
Nic:What about you, Nick? I'm gonna go with 5 or 6 too. Yeah. I think you got half of them right. Okay.
Evan:There there were some points I think Nick was playing mind games with me and I was trying to zone him out, but, you
Jacob:know. Okay. We we will start with the questions going down and then at the very end, I will reveal who got the answer right. So question number 1, the word or the acronym MLB stands for Major League Baseball. That is true.
Jacob:Congrats. You guys both got that that one right. Number 2, the Red Sox won the 2018 World Series in 6 games. You guys both said false. That is correct.
Jacob:They won in 5 games. Congrats. You guys are tied.
Evan:Oh, come on Nick. You should have got that wrong.
Jacob:Question number 3. Ronald Acuna junior's maiden name mother's maiden name is Rojas. Evan, you said true. Nick, you said false.
Nic:Yep.
Jacob:The answer is false.
Nic:Let's go. Let's go.
Jacob:Her last name is Blanco. Her maiden last name was Blanco. Evan, you have 2. Nick, you have 3. Moving on to question number 4.
Jacob:Cody Bellinger is 6 foot 3 inches. Nick, you said that was true.
Nic:Yep.
Jacob:Evan, you said that was false.
Evan:I did.
Jacob:It is false.
Evan:I'll talk about Was that correct on the height?
Jacob:You said 6 foot 1 and Cody Bellinger stands at 6 foot 4. Damn. So you were wrong, but you still got it right. So I don't know how you feel
Evan:about that. I'm not calling that as a correct answer because the only thing you were wondering was true or false.
Jacob:Yes, that was. I said is he 6 foot 3 and you said no way he wasn't 6 foot 3. So this is tied now 3 to 3. Question number 5, Javier Baez is smiling in his 2024 profile photo. You guys both said false because the same reasoning.
Jacob:What is there to smile about? Well, actually, he is smiling. It's pretty weak, but it's kinda like a So both of you guys got that one wrong. We remain at the score tied 3 to 3. Question number 6.
Jacob:Freddie Freeman hit over 32 home runs in 2016. Evan, you said true.
Evan:I did.
Jacob:Nick, you said false. Yeah. You said Freddie Freeman hadn't hit his prime yet. Evan, you said he was right in the middle of it. In 2016, Freddie Freeman hit 34 home runs.
Jacob:It is the over and, Evan, you got that one correct. 4 to 3 is now the score between you 2. Question number 7. Babe Ruth's wife was killed in a house fire. You guys both said false because you never wished that to Evan, you said you never wished that to happen upon anyone.
Jacob:And Nick, you said, what did you say? I don't go back that far? And if it what if that did happen, more people would know about it. Well, I guess more people need to know about it because that is absolutely true. Babe Ruth's wife was killed in a house fire.
Jacob:We remain at the score 4 to 3.
Evan:I would hope you wouldn't make something up like that, jayco.
Jacob:No. No. Of course not. That is a sad tragic event that I'm just trying to sped spread awareness to.
Evan:I see. Yeah.
Nic:Thank you for letting us know that now, though.
Jacob:Evan. Yes. Four correct answers, Nick. Three correct answers to question number 8 we go. There are 5 ballparks in MLB named after their own team names.
Jacob:Nick, you said false after counting for quite some time and Evan, you also said false. Uh-huh. The correct answer is true. There is Angels Stadium, Dodgers Stadium, Yankee Stadium, National Stadium and Orioles field at Camden Yards.
Nic:I miss the angels.
Evan:I miss the Orioles one.
Jacob:Okay. So those are your 5. We still remain Evan on top 4 to 3.
Evan:Time out. I have a clarification question on that one actually. The Orioles field at park, is that in its official name or is that Yes.
Jacob:When I went to Wikipedia and looked up stadium names, it said Orioles Park at Camden Yards.
Evan:Okay. Alright.
Jacob:That is their full name. Okay. Question number 9. Evans still leading 4 to 3. If you divide the lines for the MLB divisions East, central, and west, there is no overlap.
Evan:I said true to that one. No use. Said fault way.
Nic:No. We both said false.
Evan:I said false.
Jacob:You said you're pretty bad at or geography but
Evan:I mean I'm also bad at geometry but yes. Go on.
Jacob:Okay. That is true. Or wait. No. That is false.
Jacob:Yeah. You guys got that right was what I meant to say. Actually a little fun fact, Atlanta is more west than Detroit. So considering that lot that logic and also some Florida teams because Pittsburgh and Philadelphia or Pittsburgh's a real outlier. They should really be in the east, and we should move some other teams like the Braves in the central.
Jacob:But anyway, that's how it is. Geography is a little messed up, but I still like the divisions. Anyway, moving on to question 10. Evan, you are still up by a point. The total is now 5 to 4.
Evan:What happens if he ties it here? Does that mean we get a tie breaker?
Jacob:Yes.
Evan:Oh boy.
Jacob:But there will be no tie breaker because in 2018 I said the all star game was held in Miami. True or false? You guys both said false, and that is correct. It was actually held in Washington DC. Miami was a year earlier.
Jacob:So Evan, you have 6 out of 10 correct, just as you predicted. And Nick, you said you had 5 to 6 correct and you have 5 correct, but that means Evan won by a point. And Evan, you don't die this time.
Evan:Hey, Nick. I got I got something for you right here. You wanna grab it from me? Sure. What is it?
Evan:An l.
Nic:Mhmm. It was a good offer. I think we I should get a point too for Sam where to get 5 right.
Evan:Is that an option? No. You can't create rules after
Jacob:the game. Nick, I'm gonna reward you with the same amount of points that Aidan and Zac got in this round. 0. 0.
Evan:Okay. We we don't get, participation cookies or medals here, Nick. I'm sorry. It was worth a try. Yeah.
Evan:You never know until you try, I guess.
Jacob:Yeah. So anyway, that wraps up trivia here on big league chewers. Little fun true and false segment. How did you guys like that segment?
Evan:I love that. That that was honestly kept me engaged, throughout the process.
Jacob:And I didn't see any cheating going on. I was operating a mobile, so
Nic:I can manage
Jacob:Knowing that Babe Ruth's wife was killed in a house fire is very handy to have on brain.
Evan:Uh-oh. There's something involving this in the next episode, isn't there?
Jacob:What? Okay. Anyway, let's move on to our next segment. This is called the Wario meter. So now we are a month into the MLB season, and there are a few topics I want to talk about that might get a little people worried.
Jacob:Are these people doomed for danger or not? Okay. Let's get into it. Guys, I actually cooked up a theme song that I wanna play, so we'll get into our first topic, and we'll talk about if we worry about them or not. Here it is.
Evan:Are you worried about these people, baby?
Evan:First of all, I'd like to say that these theme songs are going to give me nightmares tonight with this voice. Are you worried about these people, maybe?
Jacob:No. No. I think
Nic:I think these theme songs are golden, Jacob. I appreciate it.
Evan:They are golden? What's that gonna give me nightmares?
Jacob:I'm trying to add more gasoline to the fire, I guess. I don't I don't even know. But, anyway, our first topic is the Dodgers. And I really
Evan:Womp womp. I really wanted
Jacob:to talk about this because Aiden was really worried about them last week and
Evan:I mean, I could call him real quick if you'd like.
Jacob:And they didn't really do any better. So Aidan isn't here today to talk about it, but we have a little flashback saying his thoughts from last week.
Nic:It's not going good, guys. I this this Dodgers team is not looking good. I think I think it might be time to abandon ship.
Jacob:So Aidan warned us just a week ago about how this Dodgers team wasn't looking the best. Yep. And so I guess our thoughts on the Dodgers so far stands at 12 and 1 on the c or not 12 and 1. Holy crap. Why would we be worried about them if they were 12 and 1?
Jacob:12 and 11 on the season.
Evan:13, they're 11 now. Yeah.
Jacob:They won today 10 to nothing against New York Mets, but still lost that series against a poverty franchise with some bad city connect jerseys.
Evan:Good city connect jerseys.
Jacob:Mhmm. Okay. Anyway, so we came into this season expecting the dodgers to be a 162 and o, and they aren't. So what's happening? How worried are we about the Los Angeles Dodgers?
Evan:A little bit worried, honestly. They've played let's see what the k. Where are we? When they when their season start in South Korea? Yeah.
Evan:Okay. Seoul. Yeah. They played the Padres. They played the Angels.
Evan:They played the Cardinals, which I don't think were expected to be decent this year. They've played the Giants and the Cubs, Twins as well, and also the Padres at Nationals, Mets. I'd be a little bit concerned about those. I don't think a lot of those teams that I just rambled off there were expected to really beat them or be good this year.
Jacob:What about the players? So Shohei Ohtani has had a nice bounce back. He actually leads the league in batting average. We talked about Mookie Betts, his hot start, but why are the dodgers not undefeated than if they have all these superstars and most of them are doing what they need to do?
Nic:I think it's sort of like the Shohei scandals leaning towards them a little bit. A lot of a lot of negative drama in that locker room, but, I mean, their pitching's iffy sometimes. I mean, some games they lose are giving up 8, 9 runs, but they're gonna get some really good pitches back with Walker Buehler and Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May. So, I mean, I'm worried about them a little bit because the potties are right there, but I think towards May, June, July, once they get their guys healthy, they should be getting them back in ready order.
Jacob:Yeah. As far as the worry o meter, like, I wanted us to guess rate this out of 10. I think the Dodgers are at, like, a solid 2. I am not worried about the Dodgers at all. They don't have any injuries.
Jacob:So and these star players are not just gonna all crap the bed right now. Like, they're actually doing really good. Like, there's no one really, I guess Yamamoto was a little disappointing to start the year, but he's found his groove in a couple of starts. So we'll see how he adjusts for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Evan:Yeah. I mean, pitching is 17th right now in the league, but hitting is top 3 still. So it's a lot of the pitching problems that aren't converting.
Jacob:And we talk about too the Dodgers have been in a lot of close games similar to, I guess, a lot of teams in the league right now because there's a lot of competitive games going on, but a few extra inning games for the dodgers so far this season. And, I mean, you lose a couple, but as we see with trends with most teams, if you lose a lot of close games, you'll end up winning a lot of close games later on. Like, it just always seems to balance out. You never wanna win too many close games because it doesn't translate over time, but the Dodgers are just such a dominant team on paper. I'm not really worried about them.
Jacob:I think they will bounce back very nicely as the weather warms up in the MLB.
Evan:I think the worry meter for them is probably at a solid 4a half right now.
Jacob:4a half. Okay. So why higher than 2?
Evan:Well, it's just because of their high expectations, to be honest with you. Going into the year, as you mentioned, we were maybe not a 162 and o, but they were expected to be top of the league. And the Guardians actually were the 1st team to 15 wins. So a little bit of worry there.
Jacob:What about you, Nick? Where do the Dodgers stand at the Warrior o meter?
Nic:Probably around a 2 or a 3. I mean, there's they're getting they're like, their problem, you said, having ones are pitching, and they're getting really good pitchers back. So once they get back, I feel like everything will fall set in stone for them to be a lot better than they were to start the season.
Jacob:Yeah. So so far on the Warrior O Meter, the Los Angeles Dodgers not as high on the big league chewer scale as maybe some other people coming up. Now next on the chopping block, let's meet our next guest.
Evan:Are you worried about these people, baby?
Jacob:Nice. Next up on the chopping block, we have to talk about the Houston Astros, the favorite in the AL West. And my goodness, guys. They have really crapped the bed so far. Just not where they need to be.
Jacob:The 4th worst record in all of baseball. What is happening in Houston? Houston, we seem to have a problem.
Evan:We do have we do have a problem, and that meter is very high right now. They just got Justin Verwinder back yesterday. He had a nice 6th inning, outing. But, yeah, their offense is really not clicking right now, and their their pitching is giving up a lot of runs too.
Nic:Yeah. For me, I'm gonna put them on my meter around 7 or 8. We people thought they're gonna win the division. We're starting really slow. And can someone else besides Alvarez and Kyle Tucker do anything on offense for them?
Nic:Right now, it's just them 2. But they are only 5 games back, the Rangers, who also aren't starting that hot. So there's that to take consideration too.
Evan:That is big in that division, though. You have the rangers. You have the mariners. 5 games is 5 games. I mean, not at this point in the year, but that still is a big margin for me.
Jacob:Yeah. And I would add all onto that too, Jose Altuve, and then minus all that. Their batting average aren't even that bad. Diaz is fine. Tucker's okay.
Jacob:Pena doing good. Alvarez, as you mentioned, and Altuve, just really at the top, and then the rest not really hitting where they need to be and also the pitching. You mentioned the return of Justin Verlander, but today, how do you lose 6 nothing to the Washington Nationals? Just not good for the or for the Astros also got swept by the Braves earlier this week. And, Evan, you mentioned the standings.
Jacob:I know it's early, but it's a 5 game deficit. Yeah. Now Houston is lucky because no one in the ALS or AL West is really running away with this thing right now. Texas is the leader at 12 and 11, just around the 500 mark. So Houston's goal is just to try to bounce back to that.
Jacob:But at 7 and 16, I don't think anyone expected this out of the Astros. Just really uncharacteristic to see. And for me, even though I don't like the Astros based on their history, I picked them to win this division. So they better bounce back to make me look really smart, but
Evan:smart. Jacob. That that smartness there you're smart there, but I think your prediction was wrong.
Jacob:Alright. Well, if Houston wants to come back, we mentioned they are down 5 games in the division, And what's even more sad is they are in last place in a division that has the Oakland a's in it. My goodness.
Evan:So What? Is that
Jacob:Yeah. Yeah. They are 7 and 16 and the a's are 8 and 14.
Evan:That that itself is a panic meter for 10, honestly.
Jacob:So the Wario meter now because they are trailing the Oakland a's late in April, we're putting them out at 10. Yes. I would say okay. I'm gonna go with Nick's point because, yes, they have started off bad, but it's not as big of a deficit in the division. Now 5 games is really hard to come back from, but we know Houston is a good team.
Jacob:You can really make up that difference if you play good baseball down the stretch, but they haven't recently. But it's not like they have a Cleveland Guardians in the division or, like, the Rangers are starting hot or, like, the Mariners are starting hot. Like, no team has really taken off so far in the ALS, AL West. So I'm not really panicked about the Astros. I still think they have a chance to try to bounce back and really put themselves in good position.
Jacob:I would put their warrior meter right around a 7 and a half. Not at a 10 because they're trailing Oakland, but still I, I think it's pretty high.
Evan:Yeah. I mean, they've had some injury problems too. I'd mentioned Verlander just came back. Valdez has a left yeah. A left?
Evan:A left elbow information, which I honestly looked like Tommy John. We talked about that, in a previous episode. And then you have Javier just went on the 15 day deal with neck discomfort as well. So a lot of injuries facing the pitching staff right now.
Jacob:Yeah. And that is something you don't wanna see if you're an Astros fan because injuries can really deteriorate your season. We thought Houston would really have their last dance this season, but it looks like their last dance might have been last year with how they're starting. Now
Evan:They they don't have any trash cans on them anymore.
Jacob:Yeah. That kinda hurts. Alright. Let's move on to our next team or player or situation on the worry o meter chopping block.
Evan:Are you worried about these people, baby?
Jacob:The next team on the chopping block where we will discuss if we're worried about them or not is actually a player.
Evan:Okay.
Jacob:It is Aaron Judge. If you guys are unfamiliar, Aaron Judge is a big guy for the Yankees. He usually hits a lot of home runs. He was injured last year and back this season for the Yankees, but he is batting 183 on the season. He went o for 4 in the game on Saturday and got booed in front of his home fans.
Jacob:They love Aaron Judge. Why are you booing? Are they worried about him? Are we worried about him? What are your guys' thoughts?
Evan:Yes. I am worried about him. He has 29 strikeouts so far, this year, but he also has 18 since Sunday. A big number there. And I'll answer your question there, Jacob.
Evan:New Yorkers are booing him because, well, it's New York and they have high expectations. So they're gonna be booing him and they're on the fans are, as you could say, pun fully pun intended here, the judge of whether they think their team is good or not and
Jacob:Good one.
Evan:Judge is not performing very well.
Jacob:Wow. Evan, you just surprised as someone who describes himself that can't hit water falling out of a boat. That was pretty good. I'll I'll give you credit there.
Evan:He also has 15 only 15 hits through 22 games. So he is a little bit on a struggling bus. I haven't seen a lot of his fielding plays personally, but I know his hitting side is not the greatest right now.
Nic:Yeah. As you just mentioned, you said he has more strikeouts and hits. That's obviously something to worry about. But the Yankees are still doing really, really good without him in the without him doing playing that well. So if he gets back to Aaron Judge, good, like, pinning home runs, you know, all that stuff, the Yankees can be really, really, really good.
Jacob:And Aaron Judge, we know the key part of his game is he hits the long ball. He still has 3 home runs this season for the Yankees. Maybe not on pace where he was breaking records just 2 years ago, but if he can get back on track, I think he can be in a good spot. We see sometimes players struggle in their starts and then really get warmed up as the weather warms up for these hitters. So for Aaron Judge, I would say the worry o meter is at maybe a 4.
Jacob:I guess I'm not worried about him because I've seen him been so dominant in the league before. Yes. Coming off an injury is tough, but I think he can bounce back, especially with how hot the Yankee bats are right now. Hitting is contagious as we know. I think he can be easily fixed.
Jacob:He has to work on the strikeouts. Maybe he has a little bit of a case of Javy Baez disease, but he'll try to work that out and get back in the groove for this Yankee squad.
Evan:I'd agree with you. I think his meter is low, but also and I'd say in the middle. I'd say it's probably a 6 or 7 right now just because of you mentioned the cold weather, but that's what you expected to do and deal with as a baseball player too.
Nic:Yeah. I think the meter is probably around a 5. I think once May June start, I think he's gonna start hitting the long ball out of the park.
Jacob:Aaron Judge was just on the chopping block. Now let's meet our next guest on the chopping block for the worry o meter.
Evan:Are you worried about these people, baby?
Jacob:The next guest on the chopping block for the Wario meter is mister Blake Snell. Let's read off some of his stats. An 11.57 ERA on the season just signed with the San Francisco Giants, and he struggled. Three starts this season. He started on April 8th against the Washington Nationals, only pitched 3 innings, allowing 3 hits and 3 earned runs and 2 walks.
Jacob:Then he played against the rays. He went 4 innings, allowing 6 hits and 7 earned runs. Then he pitched against the Diamondbacks, going 4 and 2 thirds just recently on Friday, allowing 9 hits in 5 earned runs. Blake Snell didn't really get the massive deal that we thought he would in free agency. Blame mister Boris or not, but still not off to the start he needs to if he wants to get that big money soon.
Jacob:How worried are you guys about mister Blake Snell?
Evan:0, zilch, nada. You mentioned he started April 8th. That's I feel like his 3 starts right now are feeling like his spring training starts a little bit because he really had he signed when? When did he sign? Late in March, start of April?
Jacob:So he really late March.
Evan:Yeah. So he really never had an opportunity to do spring training games, honestly. So I think these games right now, yes, they're rough games where you have a 12.86 ERA, a 9 ERA, an 11.75 ERA in all three of those starts, I don't think that's much to read into. So I'm gonna give that really a 2 because of it's pretty much spring training for him right
Nic:now. Yeah. I'm gonna go with around a 4 or a 5. And I think it's completely because he just hasn't pitched in spring training. You know?
Nic:Maybe if Scott Boris has his clients and everyone else does, maybe he won't be as bad. But that's just my opinion about Scott Boris.
Jacob:Jordan Montgomery actually switched agents because
Evan:of this
Evan:whole issue. He should have barely signed earlier in the season 2. Well, really, these pictures, like,
Jacob:you pitched so well. You're expecting these big long term deals that a lot of pitchers want. And Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery, both Forest clients, weren't able to get those long term deals as much as maybe other players with other agents in the league. But as far as my worry o meter with Blake Snell, it's difficult because I know a lot of people didn't wanna sign him based on his walk rate.
Evan:Yep.
Jacob:Earlier in the season. Now he's like, what the heck, guys? I won the Cy Young. Why won't you sign me? I'm able to keep the ERA low.
Jacob:But so far I mean, the walks haven't even been the problem. Only 5 walks and about 12 innings pitched. It's not as bad as it was a year ago, but it's the ERA. He's just giving up a lot of hits and a lot of big hits. So I don't know if it's a spring training thing or not.
Jacob:I'm still a little bit worried about him because, I don't know, I've seen pitcher collapses before in some off years. And I know he's basically pitching for another contract, which he shouldn't because he really earned a bigger contract than this, only 2 years. Still getting $62,000,000, but not as long term and safe as these other contracts. So maybe it's spring training, maybe it's not. I'm still a little bit worried about Blake Snell.
Jacob:I'll put it at a 6a half.
Evan:He he's getting a lot of, strike stone on his thing too. When he first well, maybe not in the 1701 game isn't a good thing to look at because, of course, most of those are gonna be strikes in his 5 earned runs.
Nic:Ouch.
Evan:But, you have in that strike column, there's 51 strikes thrown there out of 85. So that's what? What percentage is that mathematicians? Help me out here. But the I like that strike number too.
Evan:Like in your in the other column, he had 48 strikes to 78, which gets a little bit choppy there. And then his first start, it was really even worse. He had 39 strikes for 72 pitches thrown. So getting a little calm, but he's getting better as it goes.
Jacob:What about you, Nick? Where are you at the Blake Snell Wario meter scale?
Nic:I think 5. I I just feel like if he gets a couple more starts, it's Bell. He'll go back to old Blake Snell for him and just be, you know, an ace to the squad.
Evan:Old Blake Snell as in the one that Kevin Cash pulled in the 8th inning when he was cruising?
Jacob:No. That allowed the Dodgers to win the World Series. Ew. Alright. So we talked about the Warrior O Meter.
Jacob:We talked about players like Aaron Judge and Blake Snell and the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers. How worried we are with their starts to this season. We also had a nice trivia segment just around in the middle of that episode of fun little true and false, although it wasn't that fun. It's very dramatic. And then we talked about
Evan:I had fun. I get the victory.
Nic:I had fun too. I got half of them right, more than I thought I would get.
Evan:You know, you you got the l just like your white sox have gotten so far
Jacob:this year. Ouch. Oh my
Nic:goodness. Yeah. Hopefully, we'll win
Evan:20 games.
Jacob:Let's hope. Okay. And then we also talked about the city connect uniforms and my strong opinions on those. That was very early in the episode. And then to start it off, we had haps and craps, our winners and losers of the past week.
Jacob:Thank you for joining us for episode 4 of big league chewers. I'm Jacob Mauer alongside Evan Katz and Nick Fardella. We thank you for joining us, and join us next week for episode 5 Oh. Of big league chewers. We're getting it rolling.
Jacob:And, also, if you haven't already, follow that Instagram page, big league_ chewers has all the latest news and information on the Major League Baseball scale and also some videos of us perhaps. Oh, scary.
Evan:Very scary, actually.
Jacob:Big thank you to Impact radio station here at Michigan State University for allowing us to use their equipment and really just post on their website. Big thank you to them and saying so long and good night. This has been episode 4 of big league chewers. Evan, you wanna
Evan:say something? Say goodbye. You you forgot a key part. You could find us where, Jacob? You could find us on the WDBM website.
Evan:You could find us on Apple Podcasts or you could find us on Spotify.
Jacob:I feel like if they're listening to this, they already found us.
Evan:This is this is true. But
Jacob:And this is big league chewers.