Is that really looming over this World Series, in your opinion, or has baseball and the MLB managed to keep that out of the discussion as we await the championship here?

No, baseball has not managed to keep it out of the discussion.

Rob Manfred has talked about it, and he should talk about it.

Not that he should stand up and be like, hey, everybody, I have some things to say, but when he's asked questions about it, I think that that's the right thing to do.

But yeah, it's probably a little morbid to say it this way.

It's not quite this dire, but we've all had situations where we have you know, an, an old grandparent that's, you know, hitting eighties and nineties.

And you're like, well, I'm not going to think about what's coming next.

And we're, we're kind of on the cusp of that, but Levi, Is there any glimmer of hope that they can avoid a work stoppage? Is there any at all, do you think?

And is that really looming over this World Series, in your opinion? Or has baseball and the MLB managed to keep that out of the discussion as we await the championship here?

No, baseball has not managed to keep it out of the discussion.

Rob Manfred has... talked about it and he should talk about it.

I think that that's, you know, not that he should sort of stand up and be like, Hey, everybody, I have some things to say, but when he's asked questions about it, I, you know, I think that that's the right thing to do.

Um, but yeah, it's, you know, like, I don't, it's probably a little morbid to say it this way.

It's not quite this dire, but you've, you know, we've all had situations where we have, you know, an, an old grandparent that's, you know, hitting eighties and nineties.

And you're like, well, I'm not going to think about what's coming next.

And we're kind of on the cusp of that, but Levi, Is there any glimmer of hope that they can avoid a work stoppage? Is there any at all, do you think?

They came to the playoffs red hot, and they absolutely obliterated the Cubbies in game one.

Yeah, and for me, there were two moments last night that really made me think, okay, this looks like those playoff teams that go on a deep run.

You know, there's a look.

There's a feel.

It's this special sort of excitement that just kind of, you know, chicken or egg, is it the fact that you're doing well in the playoffs that fosters the excitement, or is it the excitement that causes you to do well in the playoffs? Don't know.

Don't care.

You can still recognize it.

Why do you think this year could be different, or are you expecting much of the same?

They came to the playoffs red hot, and they absolutely obliterated the Cubbies in game one.

Yeah, and for me, there were two moments last night that really made me think, okay, this looks like those playoff teams that go on a deep run.

You know, there's a look.

There's a feel.

It's this special sort of excitement that just kind of, you know, chicken or egg, is it the fact that you're doing well in the playoffs that fosters the excitement, or is it the excitement that causes you to do well in the playoffs? Don't know.

Don't care.

You can still recognize it.

Why do you think this year could be different, or are you expecting much of the same?

Right.

Um, I think when you get to where it's, like, literally half the league or more than half the league, that's crazy.

Um, but I, I like...

You know, I remember being eight years old, and it's September 1st, and it's decided.

You got a whole month of baseball, and like, we, yeah, we, we already know what's gonna happen, and now we're just playing out the string with these huge 40-man rosters, and we're watching spring training games for a whole month.

Um, I, I like this better than that.

And so the sort of the trade-off, right? Is that, you know, once in a while, you're gonna get a division where this just happens.

Win a couple games for you.

[laughs]

... of these sort of wild card contenders because at certain points in time, they've been two or three games back and trailing, like, five different teams.

I'm like, okay, well, you know, they're done.

The Rangers are done.

Well, now they're a half game out.

The Blue Jays are done.

They're a half game out.

For the audience who didn't see it, uh, walk us through what that loophole was, and, um, some clever, er, some clever play to get the win there from Warren Schaefer.

they have one of the best farm systems in the sport right

now.

It can take a hit or two.

They have lost in the playoffs.

They've never won a World Series, ever.

They have the best record in the sport this year.

At what point do you go for it? At what point do you lean in and go, no, is this the wise decision for us over the next five-year gap? No, it's not.

How do you kind of see that race between him and Shohei Ohtani?

Yeah

...

Kevin McGonagal and J.J. Weatherholt are having great seasons.

You're, you're not wrong there.

Um, I, I have th- maybe theory, uh, not y- not in the scientific term where they test it before they call it a theory, but just a sort of like a thought that I had, which is that these kids are coming into a, a minor league system now where teams have understood for a while now that young players, before they hit their service time and, you know, start hitting arbitration and all of that, that's, that's the biggest value for your dollar, right? Because those salaries are, are suppressed.

Um, and it's why you started to see a bunch of teams extend players early in their career, which is like, we're gonna pay a little more early on, but we're also gonna buy out some of these free agent years.

Um, teams are not going to invest that type of money unless they know that those players are gonna be ready when they hit the big leagues.

Um, what do you make of how the Jays operated and, um, how well they thread that needle in this kind of, you know, hybrid approach?

I, I've told Dave, and I'm interested in your thoughts now that the dust has settled from the moves that Milwaukee and the Chicago Cubs have made, um, would you, would you put a hierarchy of Milwaukee, the Cubs, Philadelphia, and Atlanta? How would you rank those four contenders, and maybe even San Diego we'll throw in there? A- anyone that jumps out of that group that you feel after the deadline and what they've done this year are best positioned, they may not do it, but best positioned to try and take out the Dodgers?

The Cubs, 100%.

The, I mean- Here is, here, here was my, uh, my confusion yesterday, and I understand small market teams don't have the same, um, you know, bandwidth to work with that some of the, the bigger market teams do.

You can't ...

You know, if, if you take this risk and it doesn't work out, it's not like you can just go out in free agency and throw a few extra dollars at it to, to patch the hole.

I understand that.

But the Cubs needed pitching, and they went out and got pitching.

Mm-hmm.

Mm.

And both the Brewers and the Dodgers have very good farm systems, both of them capable of putting together a, a package to, to land somebody like Scooboo, especially on a, you know, uh, uh, pending free agent.

Last year they had the best record in baseball at the trade deadline.

Their moves, they added, but they didn't really add, like, a splashy move, and they were swept by the Dodgers in the playoffs.

I think that still stings, and so I think that the Brewers are very motivated to make a big splash.

It won't be Mason Miller this year.

Now that the Padres have, uh, sort of jumped back into the playoff picture, I don't think he gets moved unless somebody just makes, frankly, a, a stupid decision.

Okay.

Did that include tonight where they got like 13, 14 runs? [laughs]

14 nothing.

It does.

It does.

Uh, but, you know, the Guardians, Twins, and Astros are all, you know, the Guardians are in a playoff spot.

The Twins and Astros are within two games.

The Rangers are leading their division.

Oh, yeah.

Yep.

And it's not like they haven't had pitching issues, right? The, with Glasnow down and Blake Snell down, and now Shohei Ohtani is taking a break from pitching because of his knee.

So I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but it looks like they would be the favorite.

One dark horse I have heard a lot recently is the Tampa Bay Rays, and I think that would be fascinating for the Rays to do.

Uh, they don't often take big swings like this, but if you are a Rays executive, and listen, it's just a half a season, we can probably stomach that cost.

We have the prospects to do it, and who's gonna beat us in the American League this year? I mean, the Yankees are good.

They are getting healthy.

[laughs]

[laughs]

And the Tigers sort of have.

Uh, not all, obviously, but they've been very good since the 1st of June.

Uh, and their hope is that they can continue to be very good before time runs out, and they can't make up for the abysmal start that they got off to.

Um, so far so good on that front, but we are running out of time.

And, you know, if, if they don't continue to win games, uh, at an alarming rate, uh, it does make the most sense to trade Tarik Skubal.

He's going to be a free agent.

[laughs]

Hmm

... looks like he could contribute at the big league level soon.

So I don't know that the Blue Jays need a full tear-down.

It, it doesn't, they, they don't strike me as a roster that has aged out to the point of, um, of needing that.

Also, though, I, and I think this is the same thing with the Rangers, is that there's a temptation when a team goes to the World Series to think that that's who they are.

And I think the Blue Jays kind of overperformed.

I talk all the time about how the playoffs are such a crapshoot, and if you get in, you have a chance.

But, um, yeah, what have you made of the Red Sox turning it around, and not just, like, not in non-meaningful fa- Like, they are in a playoff spot now, and probably will add instead of selling at the deadline.

So what do the Rangers need to do at the trade deadline, especially if they can be a team that contends this year?

Mm-hmm.

Their rotation has actually been really good.

And I think that it will only improve once Jack Leiter is back.

He slipped on a bat in the batter's circle and twisted his ankle.

Kumar Rocker has been very inconsistent, but DeGrom has been great.

Evaldi has been great.

But this is where I love just your hot takes, what you're loving, hating, noticing about this baseball season, anything you've got.

Follow and listen on your favorite platform.

I don't know.

You know, I haven't seen the numbers yet for how it went last night.

I do think that the more...

I mean, the, the better the Home Run Derby, the more people are gonna talk about it.

And the more people that are talking about it, the more interest it's going to get, you know, next year.

Um, people will be like, "Oh yeah, Home Run Derby.

But what do you think? Is there-- Who's the biggest star that people will be watching tonight?

... breakthroughs with their, the fans they haven't reached in the past or not?

I don't know.

You know, I haven't seen the numbers yet for how it went last night.

I do think that the more ...

I mean, the, the better the Home Run Derby, the more people are gonna talk about it.

And the more people that are talking about it, the more interest it's going to get, you know, next year.

Um, people will be like, "Oh, yeah, Home Run Derby.

Who's the biggest star that people will be watching tonight?

They took 300. four games from and the Padres finally snapped that eight game losing streak with the win last night but Levi as you know San Diego quote-unquote a small market has a big payroll so we know about Manny Machado having just a miserable year at the plate what else has slowed this team down

well it hasn't just been Machado I mean a lot of their stars have been underproducing.

Not that Jake Cronenworth should be a star, but he should be a regular, and his OPS is in the low fives.

Xander Bogarts has been just okay.

Ramon Laureano hasn't really worked out.

He's on the injured list.

It's been kind of hit and miss with their offense, but really it's the lack of starting pitching depth that has hurt them.

Raphael Devers,

[laughs]

But I think so.

Um, so yeah, I mean, it's, it's good to see him do the things that people said that they expected him to do, and the Rangers need him to do that.

The problem is that they also need, you know, Jake Burger to, to hit like he did when he was with the Marlins.

And Brandon Nimmo had a great start to the season, hasn't been all that good since then.

They, they need Corey Seager to be healthy, and Corey Seager...

Because even when he's been healthy, his batting average I think this year is under 200.

What, what has to happen for the Tigers over the next couple weeks for that Scubal conversation to pick up beyond, "Hey, he's number one on the list, dot, dot, dot," if?

[laughs]

... than what they paid for him, because he's been amazing.

Um, but no, I mean, they're, you know, they're within swinging distance of, of a wild card spot, and that's crazy given the number of, of injuries that they've had.

And so if I'm the Blue Jays, I'm looking at this very optimistically.

There's...

We've got guys coming back soon, uh, Alejandro Kirk, you know, Bieber, and, and, and Cease, and all of these.

As, as they, as we repopulate the roster, nobody's el- nobody else is running away with it.

Uh, what do you make of that, man? That's, uh, it's an odd one to me.

This will always be, uh, a team that if they continue on this pace-

pace-And win all these games without having those huge payrolls.

People are always gonna find that interesting because any- in, in reality, any team can do it, but not every team does.

Hardly any teams do what the Guardians are able to do.

Mentioned a couple before in the Brewers and the Rays who, who continue to turn out, uh, these great seasons without going after the big free agents.

But, uh, there are plenty of other teams, and it's more the exception than the rule what the Guardians do, that don't spend money and don't win.

And I think the teams that are winning without doing, without doing the former are the ones that really have a, a strong idea of what it takes to put together a good team.

Who knew?

Wow.

So that's cool.

Um, I heard somewhere-- This is not on the website, so this is not canon.

But I have heard somewhere that the five stripes that they use on the C, and I guess there's five stripes coming down from the, the, the statue with the water coming down, they use five stripes for that, are supposed to represent the five, like, championships that the Reds have won.

I've d- This is m- this is me doing, like, Newsmax level worth of research.

This could be completely, uh, not true.

But this, I heard this somewhere.

... that connects more nationally, or is it just right on the s- on the line of city connect for that a r- for that particular city?

Sure.

And, uh, then I just, I wrote songs for a long time, and, um, I don't know, man.

Like, h- I wish I could give better tips on like, "Oh, here's how to become a good writer." And jokes aside, like, the, the only actual advice I have is to, like, find your own voice.

And I real- I, I wish I could remember the standup comedian that, that I heard an interview with, but he said, "When people first start with standup comedy, they're doing Seinfeld, or they're doing, you know, Louis C.K. or whoever it is that they liked growing up, and they're doing that bit.

And everybody knows, like, okay, he's doing Seinfeld.

But eventually, you kinda pick up bits and pieces from everybody else until you find your own voice." And this, this guy, he said, "It takes about 10 years of performing to find, like, who you are, what's your, what, what's your thing."

(laughs)

But eventually, you copy enough people until you kinda find what works for you.

Uh, how's he been throughout the season? Big deal and just trying to live up to, uh, the money, and also, obviously, one, win for, win one for his father.

Yeah.

I mean, he's been so good this postseason, and Vlad has been one of those guys that he's al- we've always known he was good, but it just seemed like he was not quite able to put together this, you know, put, to put it all together, and man, he definitely has done that this postseason.

He's been m- I mean, I, I think probably the best hitter that I've, that I've watched in the postseason, with the exception of, like, those two games [laughs] that Ohtani had in which that was not even, you know, human.

But, but yeah, I mean, he's, he's putting together good at-bats.

He is hitting the ball hard when he hits it.

And, and yeah.

I'd think it's a failure.

What is wrong with the Yankees?

Yankees?Boy, uh, (sighs) I mean, their curse, I think, might be... (laughs) I'm kidding.

It's, uh, I don't have a good explanation, right? They've...

like they've got good players and, yeah, you could point to things like, uh, you know, Jazz Chisholm Jr. is a very good second baseman and not a very good third baseman.

So why are they accommodating DJ LeMahieu and moving Chisholm to third by letting LeMahieu play at second? Like he's been one of the...

LeMahieu's been one of the worst players in the league.

Uh, why not just sort of jettison him and let, let Chisholm be good at second base and then figure out third base? Then you've only got one (sighs) figure out (inaudible).

(birds chirping)