Hour 2: Running Through A Wall Szn
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$45 upfront payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three-month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speeds lower above 40 gigabytes. See details. Now's a good time to remember where the story of tequila started. In 1795, the first tequila distillery was opened by the Cuervo family. And 229 years later, Cuervo is still going strong. Family owned from the start. Same family, same land. Now's a good time to enjoy Cuervo.

The tequila that invented tequila. Go to Cuervo.com to shop tequila or visit a store near you. Cuervo, now's a good time. Trademarks owned by Bekle. SAB, the CV. Copyright 2024. Proximo. Jersey City, New Jersey. Please drink responsibly. This is the Dan Levitar Show with the Stugatz Podcast. That's right. It's time for Against the Spread.

And it is brought to you by our lovers at DraftKings. Stay tuned because you're going to hear everything that DraftKings has throughout the show. DraftKings, the crown is yours. Jeremy, kick us off.

Going to start with some Major League Baseball. And those of you who haven't been paying attention might not realize the Atlanta Braves might not make the playoffs this season. Haven't been playing all that great as of late. Haven't been playing that well all season long. They're in San Francisco taking on Robbie Ray and the Giants. The Giants are favored in this one, minus one and a half. We're going to take the Giants against the Sprint!

So you're taking them to win by more than a run if you're taking them at minus one and a half. Acuna's kind of important to the Braves. Yeah, kind of important. Kind of matters. Yeah, he matters. Jess, you're up. Thanks, Chris.

Thanks, Mike. The WNBA is back tomorrow. All the players are back from Paris, and three of them play for the Mercury. Clea Copper, MVP of that final gold medal match. Diana Tarazi and Brittany Griner. And they're playing against the Chicago Sky, who had no players in Paris. I like where you're headed. It's plus three right now for the Sky against the Mercury, who is undoubtedly a better team. But I'm

I'm going to give the Sky the edge there because they're coming off better rest. Tired. More practice together. Diana Taurasi, well rested, though. Yeah. True. She did not play on Sunday. But she did play earlier in the tournament, and they had to fly back from France, and they were probably partying on Sunday. I would have to guess. So, I don't know. Sleepy legs. Against the Spurs. Against the Spurs.

Take it to sky plus three, just to reiterate. I like that. I'm going to stay in the W, and I'm going to go opposite. I'm going oppo with that. The Atlanta Dream are facing the Seattle Storm, and they had some players that played for Australia. Salute to my sister Rae Gunn, Ezzie McBador.

And also Sammy Whitcomb. They got the bad taste in their mouth right now of that, what, the bronze medal they got? Bronze medal, yep. Salute to bronze. But Jewel also on the gold team. Also Jewel on the gold team. She's not going to have to do much because they're playing the Atlanta Dream. And as we know, the Atlanta Dream need a little help. So I'm going with the Seattle Storm plus or minus seven. Against the Gills of Spring!

Tony is writing in Costco pizza. I was laughed at for having it on my list of best pizza. Tony from the beyond. Oh, God, that pizza list. It's not the list, Dan. It's who delivers the list. I mean... Well, but I think people were objecting in here. I'm not familiar with the Costco pizza. I will not mock someone for finding value and taste in a bargain. So if you tell me...

the Costco pizza is exceptional. I'm not going to dismiss that opinion just because it's Costco or just because it's cheap. Here's what I'm objecting to. Ron was featured in Eater Miami and his answer to best pizza was Costco. Not like any of the local, not showing love to any of the local pizza joints. I bet it's good pizza. It's Costco. They make things well there. But Tony, yes, we are still laughing at you.

I wanted to ask you guys something here about what Joe Rogan told Adam Sandler about Will Smith. I just bought Will Smith's biography because I'm interested in the entirety of his life and we were talking about movie stars earlier.

Will Smith is the only one ever to make eight consecutive hundred million dollar movies. There's never been another. And so Sandler and Rogan are talking. And this is what Rogan said. And I do not agree with it.

In everybody's mind, when you see Will Smith, oh, he slapped Chris Rock. Not I Am Legend, not Muhammad Ali, not Insanely Good Movies. Guy's an incredible actor. He's been in so many banger movies. He's a bleeping blockbuster movie star. And when people see him, they go, oh, he slapped Chris Rock.

Is that what you guys do? Because it is not at all what I do, even though that was a moment heard around America. We all just back here disagreed. I think I still think of Fresh Prince. I don't know. I think of the men in black dance with all the guys in the suits. Here come the men in black. What do you think of, Amin, when you think of Will Smith, if you're doing Will Smith Word Association?

I think my mic isn't on. Oh, wow. Mic's not on. Look, I understand what he's saying. I don't personally think of that slap, but that slap was a pretty big deal. And so the Bad Boys, what's the latest Bad Boys called? Not for life. What's it called? Forever or something. Forever, yeah, whatever. That press tour was so huge that...

Because they were trying to erase basically the last memory that anybody had of Will Smith, which was slapping Chris Rock. It's not as small a deal as I think you're trying to imply that it is. But at the same time, yeah, like Jess said, I think of Fresh Prince first of all. And then I think the next thing I think about probably is Welcome to Earth.

Put it on the poll, Juju, at Levitard Show. First thing you think of when you think of Will Smith, Fresh Prince, movie star, or slapped Chris Rock? Juju says it was Bad Boys Ride or Die, by the way. The second thing I think of, Men in Black Ride at Universal, where you shoot the aliens. Oh, yeah. Best ride at Universal. Oh!

Chris Cody mentioned to me that he wanted to surprise me with a home run call he thought I would enjoy. So I have not heard the home run call that Chris Cody thinks that all of us will enjoy. Oh, is this Big Christmas? He likes to pimp out his trots. Let's see what we've got here. There's a ball hammered deep left. Where?

Big Christmas and a one-horse open sleigh rounding the bases after an absolute missile of a home run. And the Guardians take the lead 2-1. My goodness. Oh, Smiley, he wants to kill himself. He hung him a breaking ball, and boy, Noel took advantage of it.

Smiley wants to kill himself is what the color commentator said. Oh, Smiley, he wants to kill himself. There will be more baseball at the end of this hour. Pitch Clock with Jeremy has taken the world by storm. But Chris Cody also wanted me to hear a Jeff Francoeur story that I have not heard. Now, Jeff Francoeur, if you do not know who he was, was a former Atlanta Brave player.

And I don't know the context of this story at all, but other teammates used to enjoy making fun of Francoeur because he was a bit of an airhead. He could be somebody who sometimes would miss obvious things. So can you do me the favor, please, Chris, at your leisure? Like a grooved-in fastball? Definitely.

Does anyone here know or care about Jeff Francoeur? Because he's on here with Tim Kirkson. By the way, Tim Kirkson does such a great job with this podcast with his son. And I know he is enjoying the holy hell this late in life as baseball shrinks so much at ESPN to be able to do this with his son. I love this story. This is Jeff Francoeur telling it, but it's really a Bobby Cox story. This is great.

But what the coolest Bobby Cox story is, guys, is, you know, Bobby during spring training loved us to play golf. Love this. We were playing the Yankees at one o'clock on a day game. And I was 22 years old. I'd been playing for three months as a starter. I was not going to go up to Bobby and be like, hey, I need the day off. Right. Like, but he comes out to stretch and goes, Smoltzy said you had a chance to play with Tiger today. There was a 150 tee time. And I'm like, Bobby, I'm fine. Like, I'm playing today. He goes, no, I'll make you a deal.

He said, after your first at-bat today, run through first base and kind of rub your ankle a little bit like you hurt your ankle. And he's like, in two days, we're going to Bradenton. And you know, Tim, you have to have whatever, three starters make a road trip. Sure. And he's like, I hate Bradenton's infield. I don't want to get any of the guys hurt. So if you go to Bradenton, I'll let you go play with Tiger today.

So sure enough, man, we're playing the Yankees, 12, 13,000 people, Orlando. I ground out the first about I run through first, I start, you know, rubbing my ankle and you know, Bobby, he waddles out there with his cleats and he checks on me. I run inside. I literally throw my golf clothes on it and shower. I get to the golf course and they're on the first fairway. So I hit my tee shot. We ended up playing 27 holes.

And about 4.30, my wife sends me a little thing that there was an update that said, Frank Court day-to-day with a high ankle. Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha!

Can you guys look up for me, please? How many times Bobby Cox was ejected in his career? Because I think it was a full season of 162 career ejections. The next most is 121. They don't make them like Bobby Cox anymore. I'm telling you. Put it on the poll, Juju. Do they make them like Bobby Cox?

anymore waddling out to the base just classic I can still see it to this day where's Tony La Russa on this list he was ejected 98 more times than Lou Piniella what was who came in who came in at 120 121 was John McGraw huh okay that's like 1800 weavers at 96 La Russa 93

Lou Piniella, I think, is the only one of those managers who ran out and grabbed second base and threw it into center field. I think. I think there's video of that. I think he threw it in a nump, didn't he? No, he didn't throw the base. The bases are surprisingly heavy. You'd be surprised. Lloyd McClendon's the one that turned the...

He put a rosin bag into a grenade. And then did the crawl, the army crawl on his elbows? No, no, no. Bruce Bochy, still active. He's on the list. That's a minor league name. John McGraw was born in 1873. Okay. Which generation is that? Can you guys get me, please, the video of just, this is not a Hal McRae ejection, but I want to play for the young people here, perhaps a video that they have not seen before of Hal McRae

spinning around and throwing a landline into the wall. That is how old this video is in the manager's office. See if you can find that for me, because I'd like to throw that at the people before we get out of here on the hour.

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Official sleep and wellness partner of the NFL. See store for details. Don Levitard. In terms of Heat fans, you're the most irrational of us right now. What's the pivot? How am I irrational? Stugatz. How am I irrational? Did you not hear your voice there? If I were making a cartoon thing that was meant to symbolize irrational, that's the voice I would give. This is the Don Levitard Show with the Stugatz.

Chris Cody mentioned to me something that I was not aware of. I don't know if it's this month, this time, or this day, but Chris Cody has officially announced that with the Olympics over and with football approaching, that it is officially running through walls time-wise.

It is a time to run through a wall where all of a sudden you're getting a whole lot of quotes about players saying that they're willing to run through walls for their coaches and not since...

I don't know. The original Dolphin, whose name escapes me now, Reagan. He was Samoan. Reagan Muiya? Thank you, Stu Gatz. You got it. Not Ray Gunn Muiya, but Reagan Muiya ran through drywall famously, and we all just said draft him.

because in the weight room, he just physically ran through a wall. He actually did it. But it was just drywall. Why is it running through walls season right now, Chris? Because the other day, J.J. McCarthy, we played the clip of him telling the Vikings, hey, you want to draft me? I'll run through a wall for you. And they drafted him. He got hurt the next day, so people are blaming me, saying we finally got to that topic and it's my fault.

that he hurt his knee. But now it's just they're falling out of the sky. People are tweeting at me, and we have a Jets player, Morgan Moses, who is the latest to run through a wall. First of all, it starts with the head coach, Coach Sala. Guys will run through a wall for him. There's not many head coaches out here where guys can say, like, dude, I will die on the field for this dude. You know what I'm saying? I want to see one person run through a wall. Other than the Kool-Aid man? Tony? Not drywall, though. Like a real one.

I'll take any wall, honestly. What do you mean by that? We just had a discussion about Reagan Mawiya, who ran through drywall like he did it. You needed to be a brick wall like the Kool-Aid man. Right. Okay. Oh, yeah. Or John Wall. Oh. I will.

I would run through a wall for Matt Eberflus with a beard, but I would not do it for him without a beard. Also, his hair is slicked back, not pushed back. Yes, he looks so much better. What a reinvention. I would be willing to start a new segment right now based on how this one goes, even though it's more video than audio, in which...

Because I'm not sure Amin has seen this either. He wouldn't have had access to baseball highlights from the 80s. But this is one of the more famous managerial meltdowns after a game. Hal McRae is the manager of the Royals. He is in his office after a game. And I'd like to see how many of you have seen this and whether you'd be down for an episode.

a segment in which we play again and again a video that we're introducing you to from the past. Okay, for some reason we don't have the sound with this. The sound is much better than just the video. If the B-roll here doesn't work, if you don't have him spinning around, this is

terrible video this video is trash hold on salute to the to the audio audience basically first of all it's very grainy it's 80 style video the guy holding the camera isn't very confident because it's very shaky there's like a vignette around the corners number two and this is the thing that shocked me more than anything is that they were doing the post game presser in his office

I was going to ask. Okay, so he's like throwing stuff off his desk. By the way, a thing that's always in the movies that like I've never had the opportunity to do. I would love to just go, just slide everything off my desk. I've thought that with like in movies, like the sex scenes sometimes start that way. It's like, it's just now we have a mess to clean up afterwards. Like there's a couch over here. Like why are we going to clear off everything? Now I got to clean. I meant more angrily, but I guess sexily too works. Sexily.

I think baseball managers still do their press conference stuff in their offices. Is that not a thing? No, at least not for the Marlins. It's not. They have like a separate press conference room because they need to have a TV camera in there so that they can properly get into the broadcast. You have to be old school to do it, to pull it off. You just sit in your office. You sit in your chair. It's, hey, I'm not coming to you. You want to talk to me, you come to me. So like Bochy can do it. La Russa could do it. Bobby Cox, Earl Weaver, any of those guys. Yes.

Can we run the video again? Because I want to examine what was on his desk. It looked like an answering machine. They're going to try and get better video. It was unfair what I did to them asking them to get that quickly. And so they're going to see if they have better camera work than that. But it was, you know, 1980s. So I don't say it. But...

But I'm with Stugatz on this one. I do wonder if in the big leagues – because I remember when it is that I had to talk to Joe Girardi or Don Mattingly. I wasn't going into a separate area. I was going into their office, and it wasn't just me who was going into their office.

It was also the local television crews as well. It was camera crews as well. And there would be two dozen people gathered around the manager's desk. And I do wonder if this is a matter of sometimes the manager says it has so much seniority that he's saying, I'm not going out there. I'm going to do it right here in my office. Do they not have all types of proprietary stuff on the walls, like whiteboards with all types of moves and things that you don't want out? Jim Leland just had an ashtray. I mean...

That's the concern, I think, though, Amin, is that they have all sorts of information up on their walls now, the assistant coaches as well, that maybe it wasn't happening that way before. But right now, like Skip Schumacher, pregame, he's in the dugout, and that's where they have all of the local TV cameras go. And then postgame, there's a postgame clubhouse. It's a media availability thing. Are we worried about Skip giving away the secrets? Go on.

It does feel like a good opportunity for a little espionage. You pose someone as a young reporter, get them credentialed, and they go in there and they take little iPhone pictures of the wall, see the lineup, see, I don't know, what other things? The hand signals? What do they do? We talk to Connor Stallions and figure out what do you do in this kind of situation? How do you do the espionage thing? How do you pretend? The Marlins whiteboard just says you get their secrets. We're going to trade everyone after the game. It's...

Look at Jeremy. He's still pissed off about the conversation we had last week about the Marlins while he was on vacation. All right, so in order to tease pitch clock here that's going to be an hour and be a perfect, or at the end of this hour, be a perfect bridge to it by hearing more Jeremy before we get to more Jeremy, go ahead and object to everything we said Marlins-related while you were on vacation. Thanks for that setup, Dan-o. I...

Look, the Marlins making this move this time around is the right one. They're a bad baseball team. They didn't have a ton of great players on that team. They took the assets that they had. They took their farm system from being the very worst in Major League Baseball to moving it up to about halfway. They acquired, I believe, 10 of their best prospects in these deals. They acquired seven of the 25 best prospects who were acquired at the deadline. Several of them can rake and they're going to be here forever.

Not five years from now. They're all supposed to be in the bigs in the next year or two. So it's not like you're sitting around and waiting forever. You took a bad team. You gave yourself a chance for the future. This is not what happened in 2007. I need more of this. More baseball talk. Next.

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Don Libetard! Punctuate this segment with what is your Strike 3 call? Well, Strike 1 would be... Strike! And then you stand up and you give a good point to the right. Stugatz! That's the same for Strike 2. But Strike 3, you get down low, you got your hands behind the catcher, alright? The right arm goes up into the air. Hyah! And then you finish it with a punch. The right arm flings way up into the air. Hyah! Hyah!

I wish I could see that. It's terrible. The audio is great. This is the Don Levitas Show with the Stugats. Welcome to the Pitch Clock. Here's the pitch. A two-part baseball segment combining a nostalgic baseball trivia game and an interview with an expert. This is the Pitch Clock. ♪

Back with another episode of The Pitch Clock, and we have Roy Bellamy and Chris Cody with us for this one for the game. We'll have our guests coming up momentarily, but Taylor, tell us, what game are we playing today? The game this week is three strikes and you're out, and you guys can flip the papers. You'll be guessing opening day starting pitchers from the 2000 season.

So you have the team and the initials of the starting pitcher, and then you'll alternate guesses. I like this a lot. We'll start. We'll let Roy get the first guess here. I want to go first. No, he already said my name. All right, so it'll go Roy, me, Chris. I'm going to go with that. Hold on a second. Randy Johnson. God damn it, you.

Piece of shit. Why are you doing this to us? I'm sorry. That's obviously Roy's guess. I saw him circling it. He's clearly going to guess it. It's a Diamondback with the initials RJ. All right. Well, all right. So opening day starters from the year 2000. Roy, what's your guess? All right. For the Baltimore Orioles. Oh, you're not? Okay. So we're just going to let Chris go first then. All right. Chris went first. He picked Randy Johnson. Yeah. Randy Johnson's out of this. Unbelievable. For the Baltimore Orioles, I am going to go with Mike Messina. Oh, good guess. That is correct. That's correct. All right.

Two off the board there. I'll go ahead and pick the Florida Marlins, Alex Fernandez. Okay. Good call. I mean, that's obvious. I mean, we're Marlins. All right. So after round one thus far, Chris has selected Randy Johnson. Roy has selected Mike Mussina. I've selected Alex Fernandez. Chris, you are now on the clock. And Roy, since you don't know, here on the pitch clock, you only have 20 seconds, the length of the pitch clock, to make your pick.

pick. Wow. How about that? I know a handful of these. I'm going to try to take away some of the easier ones. Yeah, of course you are. I'll take away Greg Maddox from the Braves. That is correct. For the Boston Red Sox, I'm going with Pedro Martinez. That's a good one. That is correct. Oh, there's a bunch of easy ones on here. Boston Red Sox, Pedro Martinez. How about the Cleveland baseball team, Bartolo Colon? Yeah, that is correct. That's good. That's good.

All right. So there's two rounds. There have been no strikes yet. Chris Cody just landed. Who did Chris get? Greg Maddox. Roy landed Pedro Martinez. And I just got Bartolo Colon. Round number three. I'm not going to guess this one next because there's easier ones. But the Tigers is intriguing to me. Yeah. I have the exact same thought, I think, that you do. Yeah. I think we all have the same thought, but I'm not sure that it's. Did he play that? I'm nervous. I don't think so. It must have been a short, short shot. Six seconds. Oh, yeah. Oh, shit. Mike Hampton, Mets. Oh.

That's correct. That's good. That scared me there. Can you hit me at 10 seconds, please? Jesus, give me six. You were doing a little preamble. I didn't know the time officially started. I'm going to stay in the American League Eastern Division with the New York Yankees and Orlando Hernandez. Good one, El Duque. All right. And then I'm going to head out west to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kevin Brown. It is Kevin Brown. Wow.

And now we're very excited here on the Pitch Clock to welcome in our newest baseball expert on our show. It's Joe Posnanski. It's Joe Bloggs on Substack. He's the host of the Pazcast, as you all know. He's also the author of the Baseball 100 and Why We Love Baseball, A History in 50 Moments. Joe, thank you so much for joining us today on the Pitch Clock.

Great to be here. People might be surprised if they're just tuning into Major League Baseball right now to know that the Braves are on the cusp of potentially missing the playoffs. They're the last wildcard team in the National League at the moment. And you've got teams like the Mets, the Cardinals, the Giants, the Cubs sort of nipping at their heels. What's your level of surprise with the way the Braves have played thus far this season? And do you think that they're going to end up making the postseason or will they be someone who comes up short?

It's really crazy because I'm surprised on two different levels with the Braves.

I'm surprised that they're in this position that you're talking about. This is a team that came into the year, I think, as the most complete team in baseball, even including the Dodgers. But honestly, I'm more surprised they're still in it. You lose two of the 10, 15 best players in baseball. You lose a Ronald Acuna Jr., who might have been the best player in baseball. And you lose Spencer Strider, who might have been the best pitcher in baseball. You lose both those guys in the same year,

I mean, I don't know that there's any other team that could handle that. I mean, if the Yankees lost Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, I mean, they're not a playoff team. I mean, they're not even close to a playoff team. The Dodgers lost. They lost Mookie.

The Dodgers are probably the only other team that could do it. But if they lost Shohei and Mookie, I mean, that lineup would just be, you know, completely gone. Obviously, the Dodgers have lost a lot of people. And they've managed to overcome that. But the Braves, so in some ways, I'm surprised, certainly, that they're not in better position than they are. But I still do think that they have more talent than all these teams that are chasing after them. But on the other hand...

I mean, that's a beating. To lose Ronald Acuna Jr. and Spencer Strider, that's a beating.

All right, so through three rounds, no strikes thus far. The names off the board are Randy Johnson, Kevin Brown, Greg Maddox, Alex Fernandez, Mike Hampton, Bartolo Colon, Mike Mussina, and Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez. Yeah. So, Chris, you're up. All right, I have two here that I was like, which one's easier? Actually, this and that. I'm starting to run out of names that I'm going to know here, guys. I have three or four more that I know.

I'll go Pirates Jason Schmidt. Oh. That's a good one. Man. It's Jason Schmidt. Bro, this is my wheelhouse. 2000? 2000, yeah. I'm not going to do it better than anything in life. How old were you in 2000? Because this is a little tough. Right. So I was five. Yeah. So this is getting a little dicey for me. Going to the National League Western Division for the San Francisco Giants. I am going LeBron Hernandez. Wow.

I was trying to find that one. Guys, I think I might get my first strike here. Roy didn't want to play this either. He's like, guys, I'm not a baseball guy. No, I didn't say I wasn't a baseball guy. I'm saying I'm getting old. It's hard to forget. I'm going to stay in the West. Still a baseball guy. Seattle Mariners, Jamie Moyer. Crap, you left.

All right. All right. So through four rounds thus far, there have been zero strikes. 12 starting pitchers from 2000 opening day are off the board. Chris Cody, kick us off for round number five. Blue Jays, David Wells. That's good. That's a very good one.

I got like one or two more. I think I've got maybe two. For the American League West, I'm going with the Texas Rangers with Kenny Rogers. Yep, that's one of mine. Didn't know that one. Oh, no. All right, this is, I think, potentially... Roy is deep in his bag right now. Yeah, this is unbelievable, Roy. You walked in here thinking you weren't going to know anything, and you haven't gotten one wrong yet. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, boy.

This is hard. It's making me emotional. Ten seconds. All right. I think I'm going to go for the guess, guys. Detroit Tigers, Hideo Nomo. Yeah. It is Hideo Nomo. Oh, yes. Thank goodness. Oh, my gosh. So we're through five rounds without a strike thus far. Fifteen starters off the board. Now it's going to have to start getting dicey. Round number six. Chris Cody, get us started. Okay. Um...

I'm trying to think which one of these two that I know you'd be least likely. Was he pitching this early? I just had a brain fart. I'm going to go with the one I know. Daryl Kyle, RIP. St. Louis Cardinals. Wow. That's a good poll. I would never have gotten that.

When we look at some of the good teams, there's also the bad teams. And when we talk about the bad teams, there is a historically bad team in the Chicago White Sox. At the moment, I believe they're they were recording this. They're twenty eight and ninety one. They had a twenty one game losing streak. They're on pace right now, I believe.

For more than 120 losses, which would break the modern era record for the most losses in a season, the 1962 expansion New York Mets lost 120 games. Can you contextualize just how horrendous this season has been for the Chicago White Sox?

I mean, it is, it's, you know, this season is sort of the crescendo of one of the most remarkable collapses we've ever seen. I mean, this is an organization that,

Four years ago was, you know, they won 93 games and were young and kind of exciting. I mean, they made that bizarro hiring of Tony La Russa to be their manager. And it kind of still didn't matter. They still won a bunch of games and went to the playoffs. And you were just like, this team is going places. They had some prospects. They had some young guys. I mean, their pitching staff was really good. And you're just like this.

And the hiring of La Russa, I do believe, is what started this collapse. I mean, it's like it was such a bizarre, like...

It was just so, so off center of what that team was supposed to be about. They're supposed to be this young, exciting team. And you hire a, you know, a, an 80 year old hall of famer. It just felt so weird. Um, but you can't blame Tony La Russa for this. I mean, since his, you know, retirement or whatever you want to call the ending, they've just completely collapsed. I mean, they've collapsed, uh,

Organizationally, they've collapsed. You know, the players that they had high hopes for have collapsed. Their pitching staff has completely shattered and fallen apart. I mean, it's incredible. And now you look at that team, and honestly, if there was an expansion draft...

I don't think anybody would – I mean, except for maybe Luis Robert. Right. I don't think there's a single player on that team that anybody wants. I mean, it is – well, I mean, there is, but we don't want to get into the whole pitching issue there. Right. But, I mean, that team is so – they're one of those teams, you look at their record, right? So right now, yeah, 28-91. Right.

You look at that record and you look at that team and you're like, yeah, no, that's right. That's what that record should be. I mean, they're no better than 28 and 91. The American League Central. I'm going with the Minnesota Twins and Brad Racky.

Oh, wow. That was my next guess. Roy is so in it. Roy, Brad Radke. Paul Radke's nephew. Wow. I'm not sure I have. What team is that? Guys, I might lose this game. I might lose this game. Yeah, I'm running out over here, man. There is not one that's standing out to me. 10 seconds. 30 seconds.

I don't have one. I literally can't think of one. That's strike number one for me, and it looks like I'm going to be out of here real quick because I genuinely don't think I have an answer. Through six rounds, I am the only one with a strike, and I have run out of names here. Am I up? The good news for the two of you is more likely than not,

You guys can just get both of your strikes, but I'm going to get to three strikes first because this is a disaster. Chris Cody, you're up here. 15 pitchers, 17 pitchers have gone off the board. I might be a little early for this guy, but I don't know what other guy could have been their ace. John Lester, Cubs? Oh, wow.

I think I'm out of names here. So I'm going to go with a joke for the Philadelphia Phillies. Antonio Afonseca. That was the joke. That is incorrect. Yeah, there you go. So I got a strike. So we all have strikes now. I am no closer to knowing any of these names. Oh, I just thought. Hold on. W. Williams. Wow. H. Williams.

J.S. feels like I should know it with the Royals. It just does. I just found it. You know it? It just came to your head by me doing it? Yep. Yeah, baby! J.S. John? Is it a John?

No. I bet you I could tell you his first name and you still wouldn't get it. Don't. I don't have it. I don't have it. I don't have it. I'm going to take another strike. I'm just taking it right down the middle. All right, so it's my turn? Yeah, that's strike number two for me. And let's just know that that means we are now through, I believe, seven rounds of this game. I have two strikes. Chris Cody has one strike. Roy Bellamy has one strike. Chris Cody, your guess. Royals. Jeff Supan. Jeff Supan. No. Wow.

No soup for me. Okay. I know. Not a good joke. It's my show. All right.

To me, I think this has been one of the best years for like superstars thriving in Major League Baseball. Obviously, in the National League, you got Shohei Otani and everything that he is as the superstar that he is. Then you got those those two young shortstops and there's more than that. But the two young shortstops in the American League in Bobby Witt Jr. and Gunnar Henderson. So the question I have for you.

Is Aaron Judge the clear and away best player in baseball, or do one of these guys give him a run for his money? Well, I definitely think – I mean, Shohei is his own thing. I never – when people ask me, like, who the best player in baseball is, I'm like, well, Shohei Otani is his own category and then the rest of them, right? Because Shohei Otani is –

Certainly one of the five best players in baseball now as a designated hitter, which is a whole other thing. I mean, if he was pitching, nobody comes close to him. So, look, I think – and I just came back actually from Kansas City where people are pretty excited about the Royals –

And, you know, you can't, you won't convince a single person in Kansas City that Bobby Witt Jr. is not the best player in baseball. I mean, he, the way he is offensively, defensively on the base paths. I mean, he is, he's everything. He's absolutely everything. And then, you know, I'm sure in Baltimore, you would get similar, you know, thoughts about Gunnar Henderson, right? I mean, he's, he's been everything for that team. That said, all of that said, with no, with no disrespect to those young guys,

Yeah, we've not seen a guy hit like Aaron Judge since Barry Bonds in his heyday. And obviously people have their own feelings about that.

and uh yeah what you're seeing on what you're seeing on your screen right now joe is our producer taylor who's a die-hard yankees fan in his yankee shirt holding up the mvp for eric judge yeah well i you know i actually by the way think he could be the best player in baseball and they could still give the mvp to to bobby wood jr i mean i you know i think when you look at what bobby wood jr is doing for that team but

I think it's fair to say I'm not a Yankee guy, as anybody who's ever listened to the podcast knows. Yeah.

But Aaron Judge is a generational hitter. I mean, we haven't seen anybody, you know, even Albert Pujols in his prime, A-Rod in his prime. Those guys aren't hitting the way Aaron Judge has hit the last three seasons. And he's absolutely incredible. And he's got great star power. I mean, he is, I think right now, if you had to say, all right, best player in baseball, non-show A division, yeah, I think right now it's Aaron Judge.

Roy, can you foul one off here? Can you stay alive? Can you keep up with Chris Cody, or are you going to get your second strike here as well? I think I might get my second strike. I think I am out of names here. Ten seconds. I can't really think of anything. The Reds, Pat Hintken. That's incorrect. Well, I tried on that one. All right.

I'm looking at one team and just trying to see if it will come to me. I'm looking at... Talk me through it. Okay, so I'm looking... Yeah, I know. I'm going to talk you through it. I'm looking at the Angels. Ten seconds. And I'm seeing KH. And it just feels like I should know who it is. But I don't. I don't know who it is. Three seconds.

Kike Hernandez. Incorrect. I figured as much. Okay, we're through eight rounds, and I believe that was my third strike, so I am out of this game. I've been rung up. Chris Cody, you have one strike. Roy, you have two. So, we're in a position here where, Chris, if you get this right, you are in major control of this game. Yeah.

If you get a strike, Roy can keep things alive and put the pressure back on you, Chris Cody. Who's the JL if it's not Jon Lester? When did Lester get to the Cubs? Way later. Yeah, way later. He wasn't in 03? Yeah, I'm an idiot. No, he was. I was a dumb guess. He pitched for the Red Sox. But JL and you said Cubs? I mean, what are you going to do? I kept thinking that the Angels guy was Kevin Millwood, but that would be KM. Yeah. Five seconds. Okay.

David Haas Expos. No. No. I don't think I need a fact check. Yeah. All right. So that's two strikes. Boy, if you can get just one of these names, the pressure shifts to Chris and

And if he strikes out, Roy Bellamy becomes the winner. All right. Yeah, no, that's true. That's true. That's true. I apologize for jumping the gun here, but this is a big moment. Roy, are you going to stay alive? My guess for the Milwaukee Brewers is Scott Wilson. Milwaukee Brewers. I need this list alphabetical. Uh,

Scott Wilson, he said. Strike three for Roy Bellamy. I completely made up that name. So that's the end of it. That's the end of it. Chris Cody, the winner of 2,000 opening day starters here on the Pitch Clock. Yeah, can you give us some of the names that we missed? To help the audience make this easier, give me Cubs JL. John Lieber.

John Lieber. Give me Angels KH. No way. Ken Hill. I've never heard of that person. Give me White Sox MS. Mike Sirotica. You're kidding me. I don't know any of these. Who are these people? Who are these Peacock? Was it the Padres? Oh, man! What about Rockies PA? This is all making me feel better because at least it's not names that I knew. Pedro Astacio. Nope. What about Reds PH? You just said that one? Pete Harnish. AA for the Philadelphia Phillies. Oh, no!

Andy Ashby. Oh, he was still pitching? He was still pitching? ST for the Rays? Steve Traskle. My goodness. All right, what about KA for the A's? Kevin Apier. Oh! Man, that's a name. That's a baseball name. That's one that makes me smile. What about Astros SR?

This was one that Cougs actually got because I think he's an Astros fan. Shane Reynolds. Shane Reynolds. Come on, that's not a person. That is a person. That's not a person. That's all. That's not a person. I feel like we did. I mean, I feel like all things considered. After hearing all those names, I got all the ones I knew. Maybe Ashby's like the only one. Maybe Ashby's not sure of getting that one. 15 straight without getting it out. I'm pretty proud of us, guys. Look at us. How about us? How about us? Way to go.

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