MLB Postseason: Is it time to bench Ohtani? Brewers bullpen is LIGHTS OUT! Guardians just don't quit! (Episode 1499 Hour 1)

There's a narrative out there by those who believe that the Dodgers being in the World Series would be illustrative of certain positions that are being taken amongst those arguing about salary caps, not salary caps, what's good for baseball, what's bad for baseball, who loves New York, who doesn't like the coasts at all.

But if we dig deep into the Dodgers team, and the Brewers team, I would like you to consider, and this is super hard to do, and I get it.

And when we do these exercises in the front office, we pretend we can do it, but it is really difficult.

You have to pretend that money is not a factor.

Now, who does that? People can say they do that, but they really don't.

Because money and business is pervasive in anything we do and any decision we make.

But pretend that you did not know where the Dodgers payroll was and where the Brewers payroll was.

Let's look at the teams on the field competing and what we've seen the last two games.

Well, everybody would say you have to start with Shohei Ohtani.

Shohei Ohtani is the best player in baseball.

That's true.

Shohei Otani stopped pitching in July.

He became a full-time designated hitter in July.

That's also true.

Shohei Otani went on the injured list in September.

That's also true.

Shohei Otani has won RBI since August 19th.

It is now October 13th.

That's also true.

Shohei Otani... is batting 150 with a basic 150 slugging in the postseason.

Shohei Otani is an automatic out these days.

So if I'm evaluating the contribution of Shohei Otani to the Dodgers, I think you'd agree that his contribution has not even been at replacement level.

So the question you ask yourself when you have a player who's not playing at replacement level is, should we replace him? And after the Dodgers went down two games to zero last night, which is a situation that 36 out of the last 38 teams who are down to nothing get eliminated in a seven-game series.

So already the Dodgers are up against long, long odds.

It is not a coincidence that reporting started almost after the final out gotten by Aaron Ashby, and we'll talk about the Brewers bullpen in a moment.

There's a narrative out there by those who believe that the Dodgers being in the World Series would be illustrative of certain positions that are being taken amongst those arguing about salary caps, not salary caps, what's good for baseball, what's bad for baseball, who loves New York, who doesn't like the coasts at all.

But if we dig deep into the Dodgers team, and the Brewers team, I would like you to consider, and this is super hard to do, and I get it.

And when we do these exercises in the front office, we pretend we can do it, but it is really difficult.

You have to pretend that money is not a factor.

Now, who does that? People can say they do that, but they really don't.

Because money and business is pervasive in anything we do and any decision we make.

But pretend that you did not know where the Dodgers payroll was and where the Brewers payroll was.

Let's look at the teams on the field competing and what we've seen the last two games.

Well, everybody would say you have to start with Shohei Ohtani.

Shohei Ohtani is the best player in baseball.

That's true.

Shohei Otani stopped pitching in July.

He became a full-time designated hitter in July.

That's also true.

Shohei Otani went on the injured list in September.

That's also true.

Shohei Otani has won RBI since August 19th.

It is now October 13th.

That's also true.

Shohei Otani... is batting 150 with a basic 150 slugging in the postseason.

Shohei Otani is an automatic out these days.

So if I'm evaluating the contribution of Shohei Otani to the Dodgers, I think you'd agree that his contribution has not even been at replacement level.

So the question you ask yourself when you have a player who's not playing at replacement level is, should we replace him? And after the Dodgers went down two games to zero last night, which is a situation that 36 out of the last 38 teams who are down to nothing get eliminated in a seven-game series.

So already the Dodgers are up against long, long odds.

It is not a coincidence that reporting started almost after the final out gotten by Aaron Ashby, and we'll talk about the Brewers bullpen in a moment.