Did he get it right? Yeah.

My first loss of the evening, I would have bet a lot of money you guys would have swept on the Chiefs, for sure.

Here's the thing, guys.

The numbers where it should be, honestly, is at home, which the home field has not been a huge benefit.

The last, actually, 10 years, road teams have covered more than home teams in the NFL.

But Arrowhead is a different animal, as is Seattle.

There's a few spots that still hold two and a half, three points.

I mean, that adds up,

Fat Jack, how are you, my friend? Yeah, I mean, week zero

and week one actually can be a fickle mistress in college football because nobody knows what's going on or a lot of people don't.

And I tried to celebrate last week.

It's unders and underdogs most of the time.

Now, NFL preseason, totally different animal.

Thank goodness that's in the rearview mirror.

But the college stuff, it's super tough, especially if you play favorites last week and this week because the value, whatever value would be there, is all gone because the lines have moved all summer.

Fat Jack, what do you see?

yeah,

yeah.

Like that actually happened one night.

I was right next to Willie at this show.

It was a benefit on Maui.

And I was in line.

I was looking around.

anything feel close to a barrel other than your wife?

What do you love about fatherhood, Jack?

Oh, it's fun.

I mean, it's like you get a, a chance to lay on the floor and play Legos again when they're that age.

You get a chance to kinda, like, an excuse to go surfing all the time or just, like, get your coffee ready and put out your lou- your little chair and watch a soccer game.

Like, all that stuff is just so much fun.

I love it all.

And it's, it is a balance for us to kinda, like...

Hmm

And was music in your head a lot at that time?

Music.

When I look back, I always really loved music.

I didn't become aware about making music until I was about 14 years old.

That's when I learned my first chords.

Um, But I always had music in the house.

My parents loved music.

At what point did you realize like how much you had in music, how much it was a part of you? Yeah.

Yeah, seriously.

But, but I don't see them getting better next year.

Um, but they also need to assemble a rotation next year, and you do have Lugo and Wacha under contract, and you're not gonna replace five guys in the rotation next year.

So if they don't get what they want, uh, then no, you don't need to move them.

But I'd be worried that they're gonna ask for the moon when everybody understands 35 and 36-year-old arms on, not expensive contracts.

I believe Wacha's making somewhere between 14 and 17 this year.

Lugo's north of 20, and Lugo's been really poor over the last month and a half or so.

Mm-hmm

[laughs]

All right.

[laughs] Now in for six.

Oh, too easy.

Turn down for what.

Jimi Hendrix, and I love pretty much everything he ever put out.

My favorite album would be Electric Ladyland.

[laughs]

He's here to share with us his true story on this Unshackled daily devotional.

I'm Jack Johnson, and as a teenager, I became self-centered.

Several times I refused pot, then gave in to my friends' pleading.

Getting high gave me the desire to become a writer, after which Jesus Christ became remote.

Still, reminders popped up, like the girl who wrote in my yearbook, "God died for you.

What have you done for Him?" I had grandiose ambitions and chafed at doing menial labor while I went to college.

I dreamed of writing great screenplays, one in particular about the Book of Revelation.

[laughs]

Like, what is, this doesn't happen.

Like, what is riding bikes, talking to the CFO.

And then when...

I think my wife and I, we were also from San Diego, met at Chico State.

We were probably two weeks away from moving back down to San Diego after we both graduated, and I was like, "Maybe pump the brakes 'cause [laughs] might have a job offer coming here soon." And then yeah, accepted that right June, 2020.

It was right when COVID was kicking off, going nuts.

Yeah.

hey jack it must be a crazy time for you brie and i grew up with your music and we know you from the first time around but there's a whole new generation of kids young people that are discovering jack johnson music on things like tick tock or on um spotify playlists just titled like coastal chill vibes or something like that how do you process that and how does that feel

It's cool.

I mean, you know, it's like I feel so lucky just to have had any career at all.

A good example is my my daughter was playing soccer and, you know, I was like one of the coaches.

I was like Uncle Jack to all these girls.

And then one day I got to game day and I showed up and all of a sudden they all came running up and they're like, Uncle Jack.

we're famous now you're famous and like all of a sudden I became relevant on all their TikTok feeds I guess what

How the hell did you rope those two lads into it? Do you just send them a text and say, boys, should we get together?

[laughs]

...

I feel like you guys are real similar to like my crew of friends and stuff.

And, um, but so that thought you just had there, that's something I, I realized at some point is somebody asked me one time like, "Oh, what are you trying to, um, what are you trying to teach people in your songs?" Like, "What are you trying to, what's the message or so?" And I was, when I thought about it, I was like, "I don't think that I'm really ever trying to like give somebody like an original thought." And I realized, "Oh, you know what it is? It's..." I kind of pondered my own mind, like what is it what I love about songs, and it's just what you said right there.

It's like all my favorite songwriters, what they do is they bring something to the surface in your mind that you've always felt or thought about, but they finally articulated it in a way that makes perfect sense, and it's-

What, yeah, like-

Two older brothers.

Two o- it's, like, for sure.

It's hilarious, in my opinion.

Yeah.

I mean, the only thing, I remember when Shane Smith got sent down, I thought it was so uncharacteristic, especially with guys that Zach Bove works with.

I mean, Zach Bove and Brian Sweeney, when they came to Kansas City, they had taken over a rotation that was one of the worst in baseball, and A part of their growth, and of course you bring in some experience with guys like Seth Lugo and Michael Walker, but the growth of Chris Bubic, the growth of Cole Regans, the growth of Noah Cameron, it was because there was patience with those guys.

It was, "Hey, you're gonna have that start where you walk five guys, and you don't have command of your first, second, third, or even your fourth pitch.

There's gonna be times that you have some bad luck.

You get knocked around for, you know, 11 hits and give up six earned runs.

All right, Jack, hit us with where the, the Royals offense is, uh, because I know Salvador Perez is making everybody sad right now, but Carter Jensen, I would rather not see him anytime soon personally.

The entire-

You're not allowed to stop this song until everyone here shakes it off

Did they-

How many times did you hear, uh, 24K Magic by Bruno Mars? That, that-

I think Braves fans and Royals fans are going to get a real treat in this opening series, getting to watch these two players on display.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, these guys are superstars in the sport.

And there is some ties to Ronald Acuna Jr., too, when you're talking about the Royals, because Alcides Escobar, of course, he has a family tied to Michael Garcia and Michael Garcia's cousin with Ronald Acuna Jr.

Way, way back when he was being scouted before he had come over to the States, the Royals had interest.

And Escobar was telling the Royals about, you know, sign this kid.

And Obviously, that didn't happen.

Absolutely.

I just wanna ask you first off, Jag, before we get into the series, how was the Royals offseason? The Braves had [laughs] a very interesting one, which we can talk about, but how was the Royals offseason?

Yeah, the main goal going into the offseason was to, you know, raise the floor of this offense.

And what the, the talk around the organization was, uh, kind of, uh, involved a corner outfield bat, a middle of the order bat, an impact bat that could, you know, be plugged into left field or right field.

And based on what the, the top of the lineup did last year with Michael García, Bobby Witt Jr., Vinny Pasquantino, and Salvador Pérez, you kind of thought you needed, like, five or six above average bats to, to pair with the rotation that was really banged up last year.

But you knew that going into the offseason, most of the guys that were banged up in the rotation, they were gonna be back for 2026.

The goal was, though, to transform the offense, and unfortunately, the price just never matched up for Jarren Duran.

It never matched up for Brendan Donovan.

A lot of really good pitchers, but I feel like Cole Ragans has to be that ace to match up against guys like Chris Sale.

Jack Locked On Royals, who had the best off-season move in the division? Now, the Royals were pretty active, but what was the best off-season move in the AL Central?

I'm gonna stay with Detroit as well, but I'm actually not gonna pick Framber Valdez.

I thought the pickup of Kenley Jansen, uh, was incredibly underrated 'cause last year I'm not sure I looked at Detroit and said the rotation was the issue.

I mean, it's, it's easy to say that 'cause Tarik Skubal clouded a lot of it 'cause he was so unbelievably impressive, but there were times where the bullpen was shaky.

And because Kenley Jansen was on a bad team last year, he flew under the radar, and you go and look at the numbers, they were incredibly good.

And what Kenley Jansen allows the Tigers to do is kind of now mix and match the back end of the bullpen, where I thought last, last year, when there were those struggles, it was like, "Let's roll Tommy Keinley as long as we can," right? Or, "Let's roll Vest as long as we can." And now you've got that true probably Hall of Fame closer that's still contributing at a high level, where everybody else can kind of exhale and go, "All right.

I'm not the guy.

So, uh, I'm, uh, very interested to see if the White Sox take that next jump.

Jack lockdown Royals, who had the best off season move in the division? Other Royals were pretty active, but what was the best off season move in the AL central?

I'm going to stay with Detroit as well, but I'm actually not going to pick Fran Brevaldez.

I thought the pickup of Kenley Jansen was incredibly underrated because last year, I'm not sure I looked at Detroit and said the rotation was the issue.

I mean, it's easy to say that because Tarek Skubal clouded a lot of it because he was so unbelievably impressive.

But there were times where the bullpen was shaky.

And because Kenley Jansen was on a bad team last year, he flew under the radar.

And you go and look at the numbers.

So I'm very interested to see if the White Sox take that next jump.

Where are they gonna finish in the division in 2026?

Yeah, it's funny, Scott said that he had, you know, listeners get mad at him.

I had people that were mad at me last year when I picked the Tigers to win the division, and I felt great about the pick for about 90% of the season, and then of course we saw what Cleveland did at the very end.

Uh, yeah, I'm still gonna go with Detroit here a- and the reason being that offensively they're the team that I think has the fewest question marks.

Now, I totally agree with Scott about Cleveland.

I mean, you just, you can't rule them out because they seem to just get in that 85 to 90 win territory every single year regardless of what the offense looks like.

But with Kansas City, a- and we've been talking about this all off-season long, you've got a great core with Bobby Witt Jr. and, and Vinny Pasquantino and Michael Garcia.

Jack, Locked On Royals, who had the best off-season move in the division? Now, the Royals were pretty active, but what was the best off-season move in the AL Central?

Jack, lockdown Royals, who had the best offseason move in the division? I know the Royals were pretty active, but what was the best offseason move in the AL Central?

I'm going to stay with Detroit as well, but I'm actually not going to pick Fran Brevaldez.

I thought the pickup of Kenley Jansen was incredibly underrated because last year, I'm not sure I looked at Detroit and said the rotation was the issue.

I mean, it's easy to say that because Tarek Skubal clouded a lot of it because he was so unbelievably impressive.

But there were times where the bullpen was shaky.

And because Kenley Jansen was on a bad team last year, he flew under the radar.

And you go and look at the numbers.

So I'm very interested to see if the White Sox take that next jump.

And I could see one of those names, the Red Sox, not being afraid to throw in if it meant getting a guy like Regan's back.

Yeah, and I would say that, you know, I've used this comparison on the last couple of my episodes.

It's just like, you know, going into your boss's office and asking for a raise.

You know, you always ask for a couple thousand more, if not more than that, than what you really expect to get.

So I feel with the Royals and the Red Sox, they're kind of doing that.

Where early on in the offseason, they know both these teams don't have to move those players.

They are teams that are going to be competing consistently.

But I do feel like he's a guy that if they can maximize his potential, he could no doubt be a boost to the Red Sox rotation.

What was it like?

Oh, man.

I mean, to this day, it's the single greatest environment I've ever been in in my entire life.

I have been to countless Chiefs games right across the parking lot.

I've been to KU games, K-State games, Missouri games, all local schools here.

When it's loud and it's rivalry games and it's college game day, there is nothing.

And in my opinion, there will never be anything that lives up to what that day was like.

What was the eruption going on like? What was your feelings going into extra innings?