Ken Giles knocks out the last six outs.

Well, I mean, it was, it was pretty easy for me at the end with, with the players that we have.

It's incredible.

But, but Verlander, uh, being able to go on three days' rest, give us what he had, I know the homer, but the, the outs after the homer are huge.

Dallas Keuchel was set up for game five if we, if this game got away from us.

Uh, all hands on deck is a real issue.

It's a real thing.

You guys always like it easy.

It's unbelievable.

Ended, uh ...

Had ended poorly with the, with the punch, but man, he was in battle mode and fouling pitches off, and really did impact the ninth inning, which ultimately, hopefully can impact today.

And, and Max has been, um, a burst of energy.

It's ...

Probably the biggest thing ...

Again, I, the first hit was fun, the big smile, the homer in Sacramento.

Yeah.

Is that a sound strategy at this point? And, and I'm asking you to put your executive hat on to some degree.

Well, I, I think everybody has great ideas, and, and I think it creates a huge conversation around what the deadline is.

Like, I've been part of deadlines where there's been massive sell-offs.

I've been the buy-sell.

I've been the just sell.

I've been the stand pat.

Like, all those happen across the entire, the entire game.

Could you give us an update on do you expect Jackson Jobe back this year in your rotation? Where, where is that? And do you expect Verlander back just in the idea of if you have to fill in, but you wanna ke- you are going to try to keep going and winning, could these guys help you along the way?

Nope.

And then we go, I'm gonna get, I get to the ballpark, I'm already here, and I have to wait, um, for a variety of meetings.

I'm gonna meet with Tarrik, I'm gonna meet with Casey, I'm gonna meet with Kenley, I'm gonna meet with Justin, [laughs] like those guys all, um, you know, had rehab outings recently or even yesterday to see how we can map it out.

We've, we, with Tarrik in specific, we've gone step by step and we're, I'm not trying to avoid the question.

I'm not trying to, like, misdirect at all.

It's just stay with this step-by-step process to make sure that we're doing it right.

Now, he, he threw a bullpen yesterday.

... knowing what, what May was and what you're hoping June will be digging out of a hole?

Was it easy for you or was it hard for you?

I think it's har- it's hard because it, it matters so much to the players and, and you wanna see these theatrical events, right? Like, who doesn't love the, the, the match-ups? I mean, dating back to Ohtani and Trout, dating, you know, and like last night seeing, you know, Mason Miller pitch and you're like, "Th- these are real match-ups that you only get in perfect scenarios, you know, um, when everything's on the line." So I, I, I obviously love Team USA.

I love the event.

As a manager, it's really hard to, to, to...

I mean, Julio Rodriguez gets hit.

I mean, the entire Mariners front office and, and coaching staff is, like, in straight panic mode.

Like, Jose got, Jose Altuve got hurt a couple of years ago.

You-

Who would that be that did it just as well or close to it? And we need to know what some of those texts sounded like on that thread between you two before and after the hearing.

So the, the, the, the guy that...

I mean, I'm...

A very similar situation was Gerrit Cole in Houston in 2019.

I mean, he was, um, on the cusp of, of hitting free agency, and he, he now has, has turned that into a major contract with the Yankees.

And, um, he was a Cy, Cy Young, um, runner-up, I believe, that year to Justin Verlander, who was also on our staff.

So those two guys were, were, were huge at introducing me on, like, what that level of player and that level of, of star pitcher, um, what he goes through every five...

Talk to me a little about them and where do you see them, you know, fitting in this 2026 year?

If you had this X piece, what pushes you to that, to that World Series this year?

So we had a top 10 offense in baseball for the majority of the season, and then things went really south at the end of the year.

We struggled.

I think we finished 11th.

So I think part of that is the growth of our young players is going to be super important.

We have some emerging young players you guys are going to have on your show, and you guys are going to love these guys.

They're not quite here yet.

Wouldn't that be nice for him to help you guys grow those guys on your, on your r- on your staff, on your position player roster?

So love for you to speak to those elements.

Yeah.

So those are both cool things for us.

And one of the things with young players for us is we will not fear failure.

Like it's okay to make a mistake.

And that does not mean that you can run into an out for 30 feet or you can, You know, not work a competitive at bat up the middle with a guy on third and less than two outs like the fundamental part of the game.

We need to stay here, too.

But can you explain the whirlwind that's Javi Baez?

You, you almost have this like football film room element, so love for you to speak to those elements.

Yeah.

So that, those are both cool things for us.

And, and one of the things with young players for us is we will not fear failure.

Like it's okay to make a mistake.

And, and that does not mean that you can run into and out for 30 feet or you can, you know, not work a competitive at-bat up the middle with a guy on third in less than two outs.

Like the fundamental part of the game we, we need to stay, adhere to.

Is it harder to manage a team like this, or is it more fun to manage a team like this?