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Episode 24: PAC-12 Preview and Bubblicious MLB Trade Deadline Teams
11 Plays2 days ago
In the South, it doesn't feel anything close to like fall outside...but on the football calendar, fall lingers just around the corner! As today marks only 40 days to the kickoff of the college football season, the boys reunite to deliver their first conference preview. Join us for a look into the new-look PAC-12 who is bringing us a new look at scheduling as well. The PAC-12 isn't what it used to be but it certainly deserves more respect than what its getting.
Also, we sit only two weeks out to the trade deadline and half the league still needs to figure out if they are buying or selling. We take a look at the trends surrounding 10 bubble teams and let you know if they should buy or sell. All that and more on this episode of The Coastal Launch Sports Talk!
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Transcript
Introduction and Focus on New Look Pac-12
00:00:01
Cody Atkinson
Hello and welcome to the Coastal Launch Sports Talk. I'm Cody, coming to you from the bayous of Houston, Texas.
00:00:09
Justin Daulton
And I'm Justin coming to you from the magic of Orlando, Florida.
00:00:13
Cody Atkinson
And today we will be your destination for the new look Pac-12. Today, Justin, I don't know if you knew this. I didn't know this. I thought the number was going to way higher. But today marks 40 days until the kickoff of the college football season. I cannot believe how quick it's going to be here. And because of that, today also marks the beginning of our college football conference previews. We are starting you with the only group of six conference that we will be previewing, given that the new look Pac-12 is probably the fan favorite to get the fifth auto bid when it comes time for the college football playoffs.
Upcoming MLB Trade Deadline
00:00:52
Cody Atkinson
We have a lot more than that for you today, though. MLB trade deadline is only two weeks out, so you know we'll be talking about that. as well. But with this trajectory set, it's time to sit back, lock in and get started with the rundown. This is the Coastal Launch and we are ready for liftoff here on episode 24. Oh, you're
00:01:13
Justin Daulton
All right, man. Good to be back. I want a round of applause for you real quick for for holding it down last week.
00:01:16
Cody Atkinson
good to have you back, man.
00:01:19
Justin Daulton
Good job. I listened to it while i was on the cruise ship. had a good time. Before we dive into the rundown, I have one note and one note only, and I and i know you had a caveat for when you did the draft breakdown, but I won't be remiss if I will say that there is there is a key point that you did not mention in that in that segment.
00:01:31
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:01:39
Justin Daulton
is that the number one pick and the number two pig went to teams that are going right this season right now for the chance of being the best team in the American league in the, in the Chicago White Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays.
00:01:53
Justin Daulton
i know you did I know you said that you don't you didn't you didn't you don't have a pulse on on on high school prospects, whatever may be, but i can't believe you didn't even mention the fact that the Tampa Rays had a number two pick and have as of right now, the third best record in baseball, best record in the American League as of right now.
MLB Draft Picks and Team Strategies
00:02:14
Cody Atkinson
That's the kind of stuff that like falls onto the like it falls off the writer's table when you're the only one doing a show. Because I thought to myself during the draft, this is pretty crazy that the White Sox and the Rays have top picks and they're also both...
00:02:20
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:02:30
Cody Atkinson
playoff World Series contending teams this year. That's an insane thing, like an insane turnaround for both teams. I thought that, and then I just proceeded to not say it because I got distracted doing other things, and I didn't have anybody there to remind me that that was something that I needed to say.
00:02:47
Cody Atkinson
So that's it that's a that's a good catch.
00:02:48
Justin Daulton
yeah no no you're good and obviously i mean the race picking a high school prospect he's going to go down to into the farm system he's not someone that's going start in the next year or two um but the buzz around tampa is that the the rays have found their shortstop of the future uh you know obviously taylor walls is is a serviceable shortstop in the major leagues but
00:02:56
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:03:04
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:03:09
Justin Daulton
haslem halls and his and his ability. So definitely the buzz out of this kid from in the Dallas-Fort Worth area up there, you know, he definitely seems to be the shortstop of the future for the race.
00:03:21
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I think the consensus is that he was the number one prospect talent-wise. the the The benefit between him and Chalovsky being that Chalovsky's further advanced in his career, closer to the majors, um a little easier to not have to overpay. So you see the White Sox go that route, pick one. um and And that leaves a team like the Rays there to absolutely capitalize by being Quite possibly the best team in the AL, being the number two pick and getting the number one prospect, a high school shortstop that should, you know, obviously anything can happen in the few years it takes to develop, but should be an absolute stud for for decades to come.
00:04:01
Justin Daulton
Yeah, hopefully when we open this new ballpark, keysa he's one of the faces of the of the franchise whenever this new ballpark gets going. so But that's all i want say, man.
00:04:08
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, just, ah um I was just going to unlike your last top prospect, just monitor him when he's overseas a little closer.
00:04:16
Justin Daulton
Listen, i our current you know number one guy is a pretty good pretty good guy you know out ah out of the DR in Camonero, and that's working out pretty well for us.
00:04:16
Cody Atkinson
That's all I'm going to say.
00:04:24
Cody Atkinson
if
00:04:26
Justin Daulton
So, um yeah, you know if you want talk if we want to talk about shortstop prospects, he maybe maybe pay a little closer attention.
00:04:27
Cody Atkinson
True. There was one.
00:04:33
Justin Daulton
Maybe we've got a good Texas guy on the team now, so maybe that'll work out in our favor.
00:04:36
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. Just monitor. if That's all I'm saying.
00:04:39
Justin Daulton
Yeah, no, for sure. No, I gotcha. gotcha on that. But ah just shout out to you, man. Good job holding it down last week. I can speak for myself. I know how hard the the solo podcast life is. So shout out to you on that.
World Cup Final Analysis
00:04:50
Justin Daulton
But ah we do have some cool topics to talk about this week, so I wanted to jump in, man.
00:04:53
Justin Daulton
World Cup, man, it it's over. um As of yesterday, Spain hoist their second season. World Cup trophy, obviously second within this millennia. um There's a note that you put in there for me gi with 1-0 victory over Argentina.
00:05:12
Justin Daulton
My real quick thought on just this game a alone before we talk more about um like the game or at least the you know the World Cup itself is that Spain shut down Argentina.
00:05:27
Justin Daulton
Like, it was pure domination. I think I saw the stat was, like, Argentina only had two actual shots on goal, like, actual legitimate chances to score. So, this really goes to show, like, what this Spain team was able to do to a team that, for the most part, looks pretty unstoppable for most of this tournament in in Argentina.
00:05:47
Justin Daulton
Take away what all social media wanted to say about Argentina and the reps and all that stuff this year. This team looks like it was meant to be, it was meant that Messi was going to go out and win two straight World Cups retire from international play play a couple more years in miami and call it a career but then spain comes in with a youthful team and just runs straight through them and like it looked like we' were going to go to pks i'm glad we didn't go to pk like to penalty kicks i'm glad that this ended with an actual you know you know 11 on 10 at the very least but like
00:06:19
Justin Daulton
i' glad it ended in the way that it should have ended
00:06:22
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, no, I agree. This was, I was thinking it throughout, I think at the 80 minute mark, I was watching it with Amanda, I think at the 80 minute mark, I told Amanda, this is the most dominant zero to zero game I've ever seen in my life. And then by the end of it, it was still the most dominant one to zero game I've ever seen in my life. it I, partway through, it became very clear that Argentina was playing for penalty kicks, right? They heavy defense and they were like, if we get to penalty kicks, then,
00:06:54
Cody Atkinson
The advantage is neutralized. that Spain can't play this defense that's so suffocating. They won't have the man advantage. And we have a goalkeeper who is the most insane performance I've ever seen.
00:07:08
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:07:08
Cody Atkinson
like that we have that We have this guy having the game of his life. Get him into penalty kicks. And we have a really good chance to win this. It became clear that that was the the goal and and the whole time i was watching it i was i was getting shades of honestly u.s canada in uh the olympics this year i was getting shades of tampa bay montreal game seven and i was thinking to myself are we gonna have another analytical outlier that that changes the course of a tournament right like what was it nine like in the montreal game it was like the nine shots and they they managed to beat yeah
00:07:24
Justin Daulton
sure
00:07:39
Justin Daulton
For the entire game, yeah, it was less than 10, yeah.
00:07:42
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, and then we've talked about the Canada-US game. Endlessly, we are the premier hockey country in the world, but that was like a game whose possession was dominated by Canada.
00:07:52
Cody Atkinson
And then a couple get slipped through, and you and you kind of saw it there again at the end.
00:07:53
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:07:56
Cody Atkinson
like It looked like Argentina was on a roll in the last ten five to ten minutes. of extra time where they were getting shots. That's where they got there. I think they had one shot high, so it wasn't a shot on goal.
00:08:07
Cody Atkinson
And then I think Messi had the one that hit the dude in the face that was ah that that did register as a shot on goal.
00:08:10
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:08:12
Cody Atkinson
But there was like there's a moment where it where it looked like after playing 110 almost perfect minutes that that Spain was going to give up the tying goal to Messi.
00:08:23
Cody Atkinson
And so I'm just personally glad that we didn't see that. I think the better team won um i It should have been 5-0, it felt like, if the if the goalie wasn't having an absolutely lights-out game and you know the inches weren't going Argentina's way when it came to the finishes, right?
00:08:31
Justin Daulton
Yeah. The game of his life.
00:08:40
Cody Atkinson
Like the the elbow offsides, the accidentally steps on his foot, penalty calls the goal back.
00:08:44
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:08:46
Cody Atkinson
The right team won. um I don't think Argentina... put on well for the country there. There came a point where they just, it it looked like they were more interested in in drawing fights out of Spain to try to get the demand advantage neutralized or try to get it back.
00:09:04
Cody Atkinson
I mean, ah you had the the one dude for them, I think Paredes kind of gets subbed in and he gets a yellow card six minutes in and proceeds to try to initiate fights for the rest of the game. And then he was the one that initiated a fight after the game.
00:09:16
Cody Atkinson
I saw that today. I didn't see that live, but
00:09:17
Justin Daulton
Yep.
00:09:18
Cody Atkinson
he He tried to throw punches after the game I didn't think the the people around Messi, I don't think they put on the best show from a sportsmanship standpoint, but you're not you're not always going to get that in the the highest of the highs, right? When the pressure mounts, people panic, and and that's what Argentina did. They knew there wasn't a chance in the world they could beat beat Spain on that day, and so they tried to find edges by getting physical and getting Spain out of their...
00:09:42
Cody Atkinson
game and it it worked at times but but Spain held on to win I thought it was an incredible game I've heard some people say that it was an embarrassment I thought it was incredible i was on the edge of my seat legitimately I needed to go to the bathroom and I was just watching waiting for a commercial because I can't walk away like this this might end and um
00:09:59
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:10:01
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, it was electric. The only other thing I want to say, Spain wins. You said it. A young Spain team wins. Laminia Mall's 19. And then this best young player in the tournament, Pau Kubarsi. I don't know how old he is, but he wins best young player in the tournament as well. Spain, it talk about primes to at least be in a position to repeat. it looks like, you know, they've got the pieces.
00:10:28
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I mean, as per tradition on the pod, you know, we always kind of talk about, you know, what's next, you know, for for the sport, what's next for the next kind of run, right? We talked about it with the Super Bowl, we talked about it with hockey, we talked about it in the Olympics, right? You know, or what are what are the teams that are up to to do this in the future?
00:10:44
Justin Daulton
And it's tough to not think about Spain and in four years, obviously, being a host country in four years, right, with Portugal and Morocco. um But, like, you get...
00:10:55
Justin Daulton
ah You get a youthful team in and Spain and with the opportunity to really repeat and cement those themselves as one of the best soccer powers and in the world, right? So, you know, obviously, you know, you already said, but I completely agree with you. It's tough to not think about Spain in four years as a team that's going to do the exact same thing and potentially win the whole damn thing again.
00:11:17
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. Yeah. And I honestly, like it's a, it's a slow bleed style of play. It's not for everybody, but I find it exhilarating. Um, so i personally would not hate to see, um, this Spain team make another run here in, you know, four years when they will be one of the host countries, one of the many.
00:11:37
Justin Daulton
It'll be fun. It'll be fun to watch them in their host country as well, like in their home country. playing and playing there. And obviously I think Spain is supposed to be the country that hosts the final, um like the U S was this year as the three teams or three countries. So obviously coming back to America for, for the final.
00:11:53
Justin Daulton
So i think it's supposed to be Spain for it. So that'll be, that'll be a blast.
00:11:56
Cody Atkinson
Could be electric.
00:11:58
Justin Daulton
Yeah. I don't think it could be, I think it will be electric at times. You know, I think it'll be, yeah if they make it, I do think it's,
00:12:02
Cody Atkinson
I guess if they make it. but they they have to make it.
00:12:06
Justin Daulton
I do think it's going to be tough on Spain, Morocco, and and and Portugal to really top what this World Cup did. I know we have other topics to get to, but i i do want to say just kind of wrapping up the World Cup.
00:12:18
Justin Daulton
Obviously, you put a lot of awards in there. I can breeze through them real quick. Yeah. Yeah.
00:12:21
Cody Atkinson
Those were, I mean, those were mainly just a reminder to you. These are what the awards are.
00:12:26
Justin Daulton
yeah
00:12:27
Cody Atkinson
I don't, if you had any thoughts on them, I don't think we need to read through them, but if if one of them stuck out, I wanted to mention Kubarsi. So I just wrote all of the awards down and obviously Simone, Simon, and Unai Simone.
00:12:34
Justin Daulton
Yeah, Koubarsi, I mean, it's it's good to it's good to mention. yeah i mean Yeah, I mean, there's things in there worth mentioning.
00:12:41
Cody Atkinson
stu
00:12:41
Justin Daulton
Obviously, Mbappe winning his second-strike golden boot in the in the World Cup. um Jude Bellingham coming on the scene, like bursting onto the scene for England this year, coming in third in that race.
00:12:54
Justin Daulton
Messi still racking up accolades. So, I mean, there's plenty of words to talk about. Obviously, third-place game was electric. lot of people are probably going to say the third-place game should have been the
00:13:04
Cody Atkinson
but the the The third place game is what you get when you get the two of the best teams in the world playing for nothing.
00:13:13
Justin Daulton
Yeah, correct.
00:13:13
Cody Atkinson
That's the, like like the the, the, the finals game is what you get when everything is on the line and the slightest mistake can ruin everything you've spent four years working for.
00:13:14
Justin Daulton
It's an exhibition game.
00:13:19
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:13:23
Cody Atkinson
The third place game is what you get when none of it matters and they can just, they can just skill. It's like a skills competition.
00:13:29
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:13:30
Cody Atkinson
And, and it's electric and I'm glad and I will say this. I didn't realize there was a third place game. Like that's not something I'm used to seeing.
00:13:36
Justin Daulton
Hmm.
00:13:38
Cody Atkinson
And I've never, i guess I haven't paid close enough attention. i'm actually I'm really glad they do it because it is fun to see what these two teams can do when it doesn't matter and there's no pressure.
00:13:49
Justin Daulton
Sure.
00:13:49
Cody Atkinson
Take all the pressure off, let them go have fun, and you're just like, this is such a fun sport. And and then you get to you get to balance that out by seeing what what it looks like when there's the most pressure.
00:14:02
Cody Atkinson
and it And it kind of gives you a an appreciation for the moment.
00:14:06
Justin Daulton
Yeah. My last thoughts, and then obviously we can kick it to you if you have any last thoughts on on just a World Cup, or I have two thoughts. The first being just how great North America was as a host for the World Cup between Canada, U.S., s and Mexico.
00:14:19
Justin Daulton
I saw stats. This is the most attended World Cup in history. This is the most watched World Cup in history. There's already talks about U.S. putting in acclaim for the World Cup in what was it and I think is what I saw like 8 or 12 years whatever whichever one is like up next for the draw based off of one yeah i don't know how far out they have it right okay
00:14:37
Cody Atkinson
Okay.
00:14:42
Cody Atkinson
It's got to be at least 12, I think. Because for four is going to be the everybody. Eight, I'm pretty sure, is like already earmarked for Saudi. And so I think 12 is the earliest it could be, if not 16.
00:14:56
Justin Daulton
okay so 12 or 16 whatever it lines up and I know that there's already been talks of like the US or North America Federation like putting in for it once again Um, and it, it's already built in i think the world is seeing that but like the us is able to handle this and you're not leaving empty stadiums for for decades where you're not going to get like there's still there's still stadiums in south africa that are being used that they built for the 2008 world cup like so i think the world is seeing like what the us is able to do we have the tourism industry that's able to bring these people in efficiently all this stuff so um i know that we've spoken at length about the how the world has discovered america in the last you know two months uh but i i think the
00:15:16
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:15:37
Justin Daulton
like the FIFA, the the analytical side, the actual like money side of it all has shown through in the last two months of like what the U.S. can do for these big events. Obviously, we're going to see it here in what, two years with the Summer Olympics as well out in L.A. So like another chance for us to show off what we can do when we're bringing in these big events. So hopefully we continue to see these big events in our lives come back to to the U.S. or at least to North America.
00:16:05
Justin Daulton
And then my other point, and I'll kick it to you for like your last thoughts on the World Cup. As electric as the tournament was, my thought over the last two weeks, and obviously I was on a boat last week, so I didn't to watch the semi-final matches.
00:16:17
Justin Daulton
It really like the energy died down because of, and it's it's just a product of of a tournament, right? of We went from having games so frequently to, you know, it was like a week, it felt like, without a game.
00:16:30
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:16:30
Justin Daulton
So it was just like, it felt like the energy kind of just died off.
00:16:33
Justin Daulton
And I know you want to save those teams and let them build back build their rest back up for you so you can have the best product on the field but when you look at what the olympics was able to do with hockey we had competitive hockey back to back to back to back to back to back there was no break service like hey we're gos gonna go and these guys are just gonna fight it out and we still got really good hockey out of it but like i kind of wish we could then sit down a little bit i'm good with the amount of teams and those conversations are around expanding and bringing in more teams um in a couple of years whatever sure cool have fun but feel like you got
00:17:06
Justin Daulton
find a way to shorten it just a little bit is like almost two months of of world cup socc of World Cup soccer. It's a lot to maintain from a product standpoint.
00:17:18
Justin Daulton
But like, man, if you can tighten it up a little bit, carry that electricity all the way through and have have a blast.
00:17:24
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I could see that. um I do. I do think the energy died down
NHL Free Agency and Hockey's Rising Popularity
00:17:29
Cody Atkinson
right up until the final. I noticed the energy picked back up like the day of the final.
00:17:34
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:17:34
Cody Atkinson
We went to like we went to church that morning, multiple people talking about what are you doing to watch the World Cup tonight?
00:17:35
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:17:40
Cody Atkinson
I got invited to go three different places to watch the World Cup. I just watched it at home. We went to Home Depot or no, went to Lowe's to pick some stuff up. Cashiers asking us if we're gonna watch for watching the World Cup.
00:17:51
Cody Atkinson
It picked back up on final day for sure.
00:17:51
Justin Daulton
Yeah, for sure.
00:17:53
Cody Atkinson
But it did die down for like a couple weeks leading up to that. I do think... um You could look into shortening it. I think a lot of the die down feeling is tied to the fact that the US wasn't in it anymore.
00:18:06
Cody Atkinson
The electricity left the building when the US s got eliminated in the fashion they did And that's the majority of the content that we're being fed, right?
00:18:07
Justin Daulton
right.
00:18:15
Cody Atkinson
The majority of the people that we listen to that that that that that hits our algorithm is US soccer. So immediately my algorithm changed from U.S.
00:18:27
Cody Atkinson
soccer talk to how do we make youth soccer less expensive so we can compete in the World Cup.
00:18:32
Justin Daulton
yeah
00:18:32
Cody Atkinson
And you know and then it stopped being about the World Cup. It started being about all the problems with U.S. soccer and why we... you know That was the immediate immediate flip.
00:18:39
Justin Daulton
sure
00:18:40
Cody Atkinson
and And I think that does contribute to it. I think part of why the Olympic hockey experience was so different is because the U.S. was in it until the end. And so we were... the market that was getting fed energy after energy after energy. Whereas when you see the the shots of of Spain and some in the England watch parties with the country still in it, we're still feeling it we just We just weren't one of them.
00:19:03
Cody Atkinson
But there's certainly also something to be said for the length of it. If they could tighten it, if it has an impact on the quality of game, I would say just keep it going. But if there's a way to tighten it and and keep the energy levels the way they are, I'm also not opposed to that. i do just I think the U.S. getting eliminated was the biggest driver of the fall off of the energy.
00:19:27
Justin Daulton
Yeah, that makes sense. Any other last thoughts before we wrap up the World Cup?
00:19:33
Cody Atkinson
No, no, that's all I got. um You heard it on the episode while you were gone. I did i did claim Spain as the the new vibes team. well There wasn't a real vibes team because that the top four teams were the top four teams.
00:19:41
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:19:46
Cody Atkinson
But i did I did claim Spain as the new team that we wanted to win. I said it on your behalf, even though we didn't discuss it. And so I was glad to see them win. It was a lot of fun.
00:19:56
Justin Daulton
Yeah, victory lap on that for a sure, i'll for you for calling that opportunity of Spain winning it all. So good on you for that. Because I think I would have still, well, by that point, it was still the 270 finals when you recorded.
00:20:08
Justin Daulton
i think I probably would still have still held fast on France-Argentina going into the final.
00:20:14
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:20:14
Justin Daulton
So good on you for for seeing ah an opportunity there for for Spain to pop through and ultimately winning the whole whole thing.
00:20:23
Cody Atkinson
That's right.
00:20:24
Justin Daulton
um We have one notification for you guys because we have two bigger topics this week. So one notification coming from the world of hockey. I think last week you talked a little bit about it. Maybe it was two weeks ago. I don't know. Everything's blurted together since vacation.
00:20:37
Justin Daulton
But free agency in hockey over the summer has been crazy. You know, people moving. i think you talked about the – was it um Leo Carlson from – yeah, you talked about that last week of kind of like –
00:20:47
Cody Atkinson
The Carl Leo Carlson 18 million year. eighteen mill a year
00:20:51
Justin Daulton
you know Yeah, being an insane deal for a player that's and you never won a Stanley Cup, never been in a position a Stanley Cup, betting your future on a guy to win a Stanley Cup. Me kind of bandwagoning a little bit last playoff after of the lightning loss that the Ducks were going to be a team that would be but reckoned with.
00:21:09
Justin Daulton
The Ducks kind of falling off because of this Leo Carlson deal and losing some pieces. A little concerning, but that's something that we can say for NHL preview towards the late September time frame.
00:21:19
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:21:21
Justin Daulton
But something to note from this week is Conor Bedard's signs of five years, $75 million dollars contract extension for a $15 million dollars average over the the life of the contract falling just under the Leo Carlson deal.
00:21:35
Justin Daulton
um The fun fact you put in here for us, an NHL team has never won a single couple the player getting paid more than $10 million dollars a year. um You're saying get ready for that to change.
00:21:45
Justin Daulton
So you're saying bet on Conor Bedard and the Blackhawks.
00:21:47
Cody Atkinson
No, I'm not saying bet on Conor Bedard. I'm saying that in two weeks, we saw two players get more than like we, this is the new norm.
00:21:57
Justin Daulton
Oh, okay.
00:21:58
Cody Atkinson
So I'm saying the salary cap's going up and, and we're not right now, at least we're not really seeing what looks like players taking home count, hometown deals.
00:22:01
Justin Daulton
Got it.
00:22:07
Cody Atkinson
So what I'm saying is players making 15 to million, maybe not the 18, but like 15 is going to be the norm. So get ready for for a team who's paying a player a lot of money um to win a Stanley Cup because this the the salaries in the and NHL are climbing.
00:22:26
Cody Atkinson
And the NHL had an incredible season media wise, attention wise.
00:22:26
Justin Daulton
Got it. Okay. I
00:22:31
Cody Atkinson
So prepare for them to continue rising. And and I think that's a stat that's going to go away. I i don't think Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks are the team that are going to do it.
00:22:39
Justin Daulton
understand.
00:22:40
Cody Atkinson
um I still think it's more likely that Leo Carlson and the Ducks would be, but also Kirill Kaprizov is above 10 million for the wild team that's going to be in it.
00:22:52
Cody Atkinson
I'm just saying, look for this type of contract to become the norm. And we're going to see that number change, partly just because of inflation, but also um just ah the quality of these players we're we're seeing come out right now.
00:23:06
Justin Daulton
for sure yeah it's be interesting just kind of watching the landscape of NHL change like it's it's an interesting time to be a hockey fan because for most of our lives hockey has been of the major four sports right when you talk about what has taken us attention right it's always been the bottom the bottom of it all of the number four of number fours right it seems like in recent years vanicill has become almost the number three league now kind of passing up the nba uh i don't think it's completely surpassed the nba i still think there's a there's a big grip on on basketball and american culture and in and
00:23:44
Justin Daulton
mind space and social media space but i think seeing a how the stanley cup finals went this year um being a blast watching the hurricanes right for for that series but it's the the olympics helping that out um as well i think there's so much to be said of like is hockey kind of stepping into that number three spot is there a chance that it overtakes baseball in the future um as the as the number two um i don't think it ever exceeds football in American sports, but there's a chance that you can see the way that hockey has continued to grow and continue to be prominent in in American culture. I think there's a chance that we're talking about hockey in a way of that like could rival you know screen time against the NFL in the future.
00:24:32
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I think to your point, I think the NHL, I think it's still probably fourth right now, but it is a much stronger competitor to to the MLB and the NBA instead of there being a big three of sports.
00:24:39
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:24:45
Cody Atkinson
I think it's ah certainly a big four with soccer probably being a kind of a distant five. um what what ah to to your point, four.
00:24:52
Justin Daulton
Yeah. 26, no,
00:24:56
Cody Atkinson
um the MLB facing a lockout next year, an almost guaranteed lockout next year, I think that's where you can look out for the NHL to make a significant jump.
00:25:07
Cody Atkinson
The and NHL had a lockout, however, many years ago now, I think it was, you know, a close.
00:25:11
Justin Daulton
that's 26, 2014. 2012, 2014 range, somewhere around there. Yeah. twenty twelve twenty fourteen range somewhere in there
00:25:18
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. they' They're still recovering from that. Like they're still bouncing back from that. I think if the MLB doesn't, do it's just due do due diligence to to avoid this lockout, then you're going to see a significant hit to them.
00:25:31
Cody Atkinson
And that's where I think you can see the NHL really jump into the number three more so than an NBA who at least from a games played standpoint is, is in on pretty stable ground and is, is really benefiting from the, the rise of the Knicks as well.
00:25:47
Cody Atkinson
I think that helped a lot in their, in their ratings this last year. That's
00:25:51
Justin Daulton
Yeah. Shout out Dan Housen for that, for helping that out.
00:25:54
Cody Atkinson
right.
00:25:55
Justin Daulton
So, oh, I did see a video speaking of Dan Housen. Dan Housen has officially uncursed the Jets for a fourth time at Fanatics FanFest this weekend. Will that help out the Jets?
00:26:05
Cody Atkinson
If he can be bought.
00:26:07
Justin Daulton
No. is No spoilers here.
00:26:08
Cody Atkinson
No.
00:26:09
Justin Daulton
But once again, we've talked about on this podcast, just because you are uncursed, does that mean you are guaranteed to win the championship? Just means that some bad fortunes are alleviated from you.
00:26:21
Cody Atkinson
i think I think it might be safe to be like when you look at the over under win total, if a team has been uncursed and stays uncursed, maybe take the over on the win total.
00:26:21
Justin Daulton
Sure.
00:26:31
Cody Atkinson
But like don't betting on Super Bowls and – and whatnot. That's only only if there's a direct curse, then you can bet on the team that's going against that team once it's playoff time.
00:26:46
Cody Atkinson
But maybe the over-under, like maybe the Jets and the Dolphins are both looking at, you know, their over-under can't be high, so maybe they're looking at getting just on the other side now that they've been uncursed.
00:26:55
Justin Daulton
Yeah, maybe if you're maybe if your over-under like four and a half, I might be going ahead and calling up Vegas, and i was like I'll put in a bet for five wins.
00:27:02
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, Miami's winning five because because they got uncursed, like that kind of thing.
00:27:04
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:27:06
Justin Daulton
Yeah, no, I'm on board with that.
00:27:08
Cody Atkinson
yeah but we are ah we are a Dan Housen curse show so that is something that we do have to track we gotta I'm gonna make like a little we gotta make like a little table so we can track who's cursed and uncursed throughout the year you know that way we can monitor yeah yeah yeah we got
00:27:21
Justin Daulton
I'm on board. We are the official unofficial podcast of Dan Housen. I need to start tweeting Dan Housen with the show link so we can get support from Dan Housen.
00:27:30
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, we'll have we'll have a Danhausen curse like check in every week, and we'll just clip it and send it to him every week until we until we get recognized.
00:27:39
Justin Daulton
we'll have ah We'll have him curse opposing podcasts so we can get more and more popular.
00:27:44
Cody Atkinson
Dude, that could be the way to do it.
00:27:44
Justin Daulton
Could work. Could work.
00:27:46
Cody Atkinson
and we
In-depth MLB Trade Deadline Analysis
00:27:47
Justin Daulton
Could work.
00:27:47
Cody Atkinson
don't We don't know that his curse stretches beyond competition on the on the playing field, so that that could be a good test to see the they're kind of the span of his powers.
00:27:53
Justin Daulton
Sure.
00:27:58
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I mean, it works on the WWE ring and it works on sports teams. So we to figure out.
00:28:03
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:28:03
Justin Daulton
We got to figure out where his power lies.
00:28:04
Cody Atkinson
yeah We have to see how far this can spread because as as as ah the famous, I believe, comedian once said, there's got to be a way to make money off of this.
00:28:16
Cody Atkinson
We just got to find it.
00:28:17
Justin Daulton
Yeah, absolutely. We just got to figure out how to make it happen.
00:28:19
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. We just got to figure it out.
00:28:20
Justin Daulton
um Any other thoughts, man, on NHL free agency craze before we jump into these weeks' topics?
00:28:27
Cody Atkinson
No, I haven't. I'm not keeping up heavily with NHL free agency the last couple weeks. I just saw the Bedard news. I knew I mentioned him on the last pod, so I wanted to make sure we gave an update on that. But I think it's time to talk baseball if you're you're ready to make the transition.
00:28:43
Justin Daulton
Yeah, if you guys are normal listeners, usually this is where going jump into the wrap-up, but because we're doing our monthly MLB check-in, a little different this month than the last couple months of MLB check-in since we're so close to the trade deadline, but well we will still be talking about the Astros and the Rays during the wrap-up as we did the last couple of check-ins as well. So with without further ado, man, this is your section, so take it away.
00:29:05
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, this is this is my baby right here. If you were listening last week, you know that my fixation right now is on the MLB trade deadline. As an Astros fan, I do believe that this will be the most impactful trade deadline of the Astros history, potentially, because it will either...
00:29:22
Cody Atkinson
Either they will start a rebuild or it will delay it by eight years because you had a GM who is on the final year his contract. We'll get into that more later. um So our MLB check-in this week is just a trade deadline update. i'm gonna play So what we're going to here, Justin, is I've got...
00:29:40
Cody Atkinson
Every team listed as a buyer, a seller, or bubblicious, meaning that they we don't know yet what they're going to be. They have two weeks to decide. So I'm going rattle off the buyers here for you.
00:29:53
Cody Atkinson
And I just want you to tell me if you disagree with anyone that I have listed as a buyer, if you think they should be bubble, or you think they should be seller, or if we can move past them. Obviously, the raise will be in here. So we can pause before we hit the bubble and let you do your raise talk as well.
00:30:09
Cody Atkinson
So this is who I have as definitive buyers. i have the Rays, the Yankees, the White Sox, the Guardians, the Rangers, the Mariners, the Braves, Phillies, Brewers, Cubs, Dodgers, and Diamondbacks.
00:30:27
Cody Atkinson
Anyone you think should not be a guaranteed buyer.
00:30:27
Justin Daulton
I think
00:30:31
Justin Daulton
a guaranteed buyer. um
00:30:37
Justin Daulton
think you're i think the only bubble team that could be the talk about it is probably the Diamondbacks. I know they've come on strong in the last month or so.
00:30:42
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:30:46
Justin Daulton
um The hard part is that they are still very much a wildcard team internationally that the wildcard race is so... clogged up so it's so hard to say that will they buy yes but i do think they're more of a bubble team like there's no guarantee that they will they may just be okay making the run with what they got because this week's stakes for school goal is going to be so high the you know talks um of the padres movie mason miller like there's so many names that like Will they try to be a buyer in this market? I'm not 100% sure.
00:31:18
Justin Daulton
So that's where I might put them more in that bubble range of, I don't know they'll be in a position to buy, if that makes sense.
00:31:25
Cody Atkinson
No, that's fair. To to your point, they're they're half a game out of the wild card right now. um That puts them tied with the Marlins and the Pirates, two teams you will notice I did not have.
00:31:37
Cody Atkinson
As definitive buyers, I did include the Diamondbacks as definitive buyers because they have been talking as if they're going to buy. And I did let that kind of shade the the decision there. But yeah, absolutely. You could you could move the Diamondbacks into the bubble, certainly.
00:31:55
Cody Atkinson
Because a couple bad weeks and and they they could be out of the race. A couple good weeks, that'll be they'll be looking to spend, spend, spend. So that's fair.
00:32:03
Justin Daulton
And I think
00:32:03
Cody Atkinson
You could definitely see Diamondbacks as bubble team.
00:32:06
Justin Daulton
and And I think to that credit, right, you talk about how, you know, a bad week can really mess up a team like Arizona and a good week can make them, right? But they're on that they're on that precipice, right, which is the the quintessential bubble team, right?
00:32:19
Justin Daulton
We can kind of transit and use this as my transition piece to talk about the Rays here where a bad week for Tampa didn't blow up their season, right? They had a bad, you know, jump off point from the all-star break but ran into a buzzsaw in Boston. In Boston, that's when, what, now 13 straight games?
00:32:36
Justin Daulton
as a Red Sox. So, like, is it higher now?
00:32:38
Cody Atkinson
It's 14 now because they beat yeah they beat the Orioles just a couple hours ago.
00:32:42
Justin Daulton
14 now.
00:32:46
Justin Daulton
Yeah, but, like, Tampa bounces back and thwomps Toronto tonight. I think 7-1 or 8-1 was the final score. So, like, you know, a bad week for Tampa doesn't break the season, right? We talked about the bad spell that they had through June, and then early July, or late June into early July, they had a really good run.
00:33:06
Justin Daulton
So like a bad week doesn't break these teams that are definitive buyers where if the Dinovacs come out next week and they drop, you know, six straight, now we're talking about them not buying because they're seven games of the wildcard now.
00:33:21
Justin Daulton
So it's like that it's ah that's where I put them more in the bubble conversation.
00:33:26
Cody Atkinson
I think that's fair. There's, there's a couple borderlines there. I think guardians could also be considered borderline.
00:33:31
Justin Daulton
Sure. Yeah.
00:33:32
Cody Atkinson
But I, I did feel, feel good about, about these ones, Diamondbacks again, mostly because they've talked about buying. um So I feel like they're kind of dead set on that, but yeah, they have from a metrics record standpoint, they look more like a bubble than a buyer.
00:33:49
Justin Daulton
Yeah. But I guess to pivot into the Rays before you get to talk about your bubblicious teams here, um ah you and I texted a couple days ago about the who the the Rays have been linked to so far.
00:34:01
Justin Daulton
and My surprise came from the fact that they've been tied to the Scoobble conversation. This is not new for Tampa fans. what is it, three, four years ago now, we were we were tied to the Otani so sweet stakes when the Angels were trading Otani away.
00:34:19
Justin Daulton
And then eventually, yes, it was Caminero.
00:34:20
Cody Atkinson
You know who the centerpiece of that was, right?
00:34:25
Cody Atkinson
With Kamenera. Could you imagine? ah That would suck so bad.
00:34:31
Cody Atkinson
The Angels had a chance. They could have moved from Otani to I took to a, to a trout Cam and narrow combo. And they chose to let Ohtani walk for a comp pick. That's crazy, but the raise a massive beneficiaries of that blunder.
00:34:31
Justin Daulton
Correct.
00:34:46
Justin Daulton
yeah i mean yeah i mean ultimately the right pick of you weren't going to re-sign Otani in that situation. So like the Rays are in the same situation right now around the conversation around Scoobal, right? we We as an organization cannot afford to pay Scoobal what he is going to win over the offseason, right? So it's going to open up like, okay, cool.
00:35:04
Justin Daulton
You know Detroit, who's falling out of the race in the in the Central, is going to win a major haul back for Scoobal, right? You're talking about a back-to-back Cy Young winner in the American League, talking about a guy that's literally ready to win, you know, 20 plus games in the season, any, any season that he steps into them um on the mound and he's healthy. Right. so as long as you don't sell the farm,
00:35:29
Justin Daulton
and you can get school in Tampa, that goes into what you have talking about with Tampa. like They're an arm away. They're a battle away from potentially being a World Series contender and potentially having a chance to make a run at a Dodgers team and actually be competitive against a Dodgers team.
00:35:46
Justin Daulton
So it's been real interesting to be in the area listening to these kind of rumors circulating around like what could be on the table what can't be on the table obviously camonero now being like can't sell camonero can't sell the picks that you just got this year you know so who does that leave you know you can't move off of the bolt off of the the starting rotation so it it puts it in a really tricky spot for a team that really hasn't been super successful on the trade block in last couple of years so it'll be interesting to see what they can do um the other other name of before we kind of i give it back to you to for any thoughts that you may have it is um and the one that surprised you is the rays have been attach attached to adley rutchman um from the baltimore orioles from a catcher obviously the orioles um as i talked about earlier in the season a team that's not going to be competitive this year
00:36:39
Justin Daulton
looking like they may sell the farm and try to rebuild um they were a team that looked like they were goingnna make a run and be prominent in the AL East for the next decade with this young team that they built and it just kind of hasn't worked for all intents purposes um a lot of connections with race players for Rutschman uh he played with uh Rasmussen um Baker in the bullpen when they were all at Oregon State.
00:37:06
Justin Daulton
I believe it was Oregon State that they all played together at. um
00:37:09
Cody Atkinson
Uh, Rushman is Oregon state for sure.
00:37:11
Justin Daulton
Oregon State. So they all played at Oregon State together. So there's that connection. But then they the fact that Kevin Cash picked up the phone to call um the manager for the for the American League. i don't remember who who managed the the bench for the American League.
00:37:27
Justin Daulton
But wanted specifically that if a raised pitcher was going on the mound, they wanted Rutschman to catch for them. almost as like a trial period for what could happen if they can make this trade happen to be the everyday catcher for for the Rays.
00:37:33
Cody Atkinson
Hmm.
00:37:38
Cody Atkinson
Interesting.
00:37:43
Justin Daulton
So, you know, my attention has always been we need an outfield back. Centerfield has been a rotation, a platoon position for us all season. Serviceable guys playing out there, but not an everyday 162 starter.
00:37:55
Justin Daulton
So the conversation has been around, hey, can we get at a starting – center fielder a byron buxton-esque guy from minnesota um to be our everyday center fielder there's rumors that he's on the block he's been attached to tampa conversations for the last two months so it was interesting for the conversation to go to catcher so i'll be very interested to see um of those are those are two all-stars that the rays have been attached to um to make a move at and potentially you bring him into tampa if there's if there's any way that you get both of those guys in there, you immediately have to start talking about Tampa as as an immediate World Series contender.
00:38:32
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I mean, I do think right now, in general, the the league still views Tampa as a fun story more than a legitimate threat because you don't have, you know, for right or wrong, better or worse, you don't have the names that jump off the page and make you think this is sustainable.
00:38:49
Cody Atkinson
It doesn't mean that it's not, it just means that's what, that's what people view it as. And if you were able to go out and get any one of like a scooball or a Buxton, if you're looking for a shortstop until Emerson's ready, Jeremy Pena, I'll, I'll say you can go get him, Adley Rushman, like,
00:39:05
Justin Daulton
Well, Lindor, Lindor apparently being on on the on the market as well. Like it sounds like the Mets are willing to to sell off pieces as well.
00:39:13
Cody Atkinson
mm-hmm.
00:39:14
Justin Daulton
So like, where's Lindor fall in those conversations? right like Yeah. shortstop center field catcher like a lot of people are looking for arms they're looking at the arms race to to bolster
00:39:25
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:39:27
Justin Daulton
the rotation on the full pin so like not a lot of people that i've seen or at least in conversations i' looked at the the utility player or the the platoon guide to to make a difference
00:39:39
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I think the Rays could absolutely become a legitimate threat in most people's eyes. They could become a favorite. I personally hope they swing big. It's something that we really haven't seen the Rays do.
00:39:52
Cody Atkinson
you know They build up to these moments where they it feels like they could do something, and then they stay conservative. They fall just a little bit short, and they maintain this cycle of of always being impressively good for the for the market, but but never having kind of – peaked the the mountain. And so I would love to see them go crazy here.
00:40:15
Cody Atkinson
Obviously you don't like to your point, you don't trade the guy you just drafted, but I'm, you know, looking at the, the raised top 30 prospects. um You have two catchers on here. So if you're going for a catcher,
00:40:29
Cody Atkinson
You do have your number two and number three prospect or catchers. So there's some redundancy there. You can you can trade from that. Caden Bodine of Coastal Carolina, your number three prospect, is a dude that I am a massive fan of.
00:40:43
Cody Atkinson
um You have... the opportunity to move off of some of these guys. And because you were just the number two pick in the draft, you will barely notice once the guys from this year's draft take over because the Rays had a really good draft. So I think the Rays are in a position where the farm system is deep because you're a year early. You can capitalize on that, take a big risk. um and maybe achieve something you haven't before. And I really do hope they do it, whether that's Buxton, um whether that's Rutschman and company, whether that's Apena, whoever it may be. i hope I really do hope to see the race swing big because I want to see them be a story for a long time this year.
00:41:23
Justin Daulton
Yeah, for sure.
00:41:25
Cody Atkinson
All right, we're moving on to Bubblicious here. So everything that I'm about, all the stats I'm about to give you are as of the end of yesterday. um peek behind the curtain, I prepped the rundown earlier in the day, usually around the lunch window. um we record late in the evening i don't always go back to update this because some of the games finished while we're recording and if i wouldn't be contributing very much if i was going to try to clean up all these stats while um also listening to you know whatever talking point we're on right now so this is all as of uh end of games yesterday i've got one two three so
00:42:08
Cody Atkinson
I think I've got 10, 10 or 11 teams here. I'm going to give you a handful of stats. to give you their current, their, their last 10 games, their current win streak or loss streak, their run differential, their record against teams with a record greater than 500.
00:42:27
Cody Atkinson
So their record against playoff caliber teams, their games back in the division games back in the wildcard, You won't have a name. Some of these you'll figure out because it's painfully obvious.
00:42:38
Cody Atkinson
Some of these you won't. And I want you to tell me if you think they should be a buyer or a seller. And and we're going to kind of get to the bottom of how thin the selling market might be here because we do have i have sellers of the Royals, the A's, the Angels.
00:42:54
Cody Atkinson
the Mets, the Nationals, the Reds, the Giants, and the Rockies. That is a much shorter list than the buyers. So we are we are going to have a surplus of buyers, a shortage of sellers.
00:43:00
Justin Daulton
Sure.
00:43:05
Cody Atkinson
So we're gonna get to the bottom of how how bad this might be, how high the prices might get based on on where these teams are going. So I'm gonna start you off with a with a softball here.
00:43:19
Cody Atkinson
This team coming into today was on a 13 game win streak They have a run differential of plus 45. They're 27 and 22 against teams with record better than 500.
00:43:34
Cody Atkinson
They're six games back in the division, and they are currently holding wild card spot. Should this team buy or sell?
00:43:42
Justin Daulton
Well, first off, it's the Boston Red Sox. So that's the important piece here.
00:43:44
Cody Atkinson
That's true.
00:43:46
Justin Daulton
um Mainly because i the race just lost to them as we spoke about earlier. um This is a weird team, to be honest with you.
00:43:56
Justin Daulton
It's tough because first off, we pronounced them dead in in May.
00:44:00
Cody Atkinson
We did twice.
00:44:02
Justin Daulton
Yeah, twice. um ah victory like that twice this year. um
00:44:06
Cody Atkinson
Oh yeah.
00:44:07
Justin Daulton
So it's a weird team in that I don't know they have enough to sustain are they a product of this 13 game win streak and that's what's catapulted them back into this and are they a product of a weak american league um i don't think they buy because they have so much talent on the roster and it just wasn't producing i don't know if i want to say they're sellers i think they're more of they stay at home type of situation yeah i think they stand
00:44:29
Cody Atkinson
Hmm.
00:44:34
Cody Atkinson
You think they stand still.
00:44:39
Cody Atkinson
I will say stay pat. That feels like the right thing. Okay. That wasn't a category I had here. um But i think that's a really good point, right? The win streak is stretched to 14.
00:44:51
Cody Atkinson
As of today, they did beat the Orioles by one. um they're I have them as buyers personally, just because if you're going to be in the playoffs, I feel like you're a buyer and they currently sit in a playoff position. The other thing about them, which I think kind of and lines up with your state pat concept is,
00:45:11
Cody Atkinson
the The Red Sox have an outfield surplus and they have an infield shortage. So you absolutely could see them trade MLB players for other MLB players. you could I think Jaron Duran is one of the players that they absolutely could move on from in order to get a infielder so that they have less, you know, wasted talent on the bench and they can get that talent onto the field.
00:45:26
Justin Daulton
Mm-hmm.
00:45:37
Cody Atkinson
They've, that was That was the offseason. They were they wanted Isak Paredes from the Astros. They couldn't come to an agreement. I wouldn't be surprised to see them turn over that rock again. I wouldn't be surprised to see them go after Pena, Lindor, some of these same guys we said for the Rays. They definitely could use infielders. So you could see them do a little bit of staying put in the aggregate by both buying and selling.
00:46:03
Justin Daulton
Yeah, for sure. for sure
00:46:05
Cody Atkinson
all right. Next team going into today with seven and three in their last 10 games. They were winners of seven straight. Despite that, they still had a minus 13 run differential.
00:46:18
Cody Atkinson
They were 21 and 26 against playoff caliber teams, eight games back in the division, two games back in the wild card. Do you think that's good enough to buy or should this team sell?
00:46:30
Justin Daulton
That run differential is atrocious. Minus 13. When you probably look at...
00:46:35
Cody Atkinson
not good.
00:46:36
Justin Daulton
mean, i mean obviously, we talked about the Red Sox at plus 45. Everyone else is in that same range. That's ah that's a...
00:46:44
Cody Atkinson
Well, careful now. There's some bad ones in here.
00:46:46
Justin Daulton
Well, at least ones that are playoff, like when you talk about Rays, Yankees, you know White Sox, Dodgers, etc.
00:46:49
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:46:54
Justin Daulton
Those bunch of teams are they're not going to fall to the negatives and run differential this season.
00:47:00
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:47:02
Justin Daulton
So that that scares me. The 21 and 26 reminds me a lot of the what we just did with the Red Sox, man. Like you're you're floating around 500 with competitive teams, which is never good.
00:47:14
Justin Daulton
You want to be on the positive end, which is where I felt stay pat for the Red Sox made sense. The eight games back in division, two games back in the wild card doesn't really do a whole lot for me, to be completely honest, because I'm assuming this is an AL team, which means the wild card
00:47:28
Cody Atkinson
there is a There is a mix, just to be clear.
00:47:31
Justin Daulton
Okay. it it feels like it's it feels like a
00:47:33
Cody Atkinson
This is an AL team, though.
00:47:35
Justin Daulton
It feels like an American League team because the wildcard situation in the American League is atrocious.
00:47:37
Cody Atkinson
It is.
00:47:40
Justin Daulton
I think this team should sell, to be honest.
00:47:44
Cody Atkinson
Self, this team, I'm going to drumroll, even though you're the only one that can see me unhighlight this. This team is the Baltimore Orioles. That means Adley Rushman is on the market for you.
00:47:53
Justin Daulton
Yeah, okay.
00:47:56
Justin Daulton
Perfect, perfect.
00:47:57
Cody Atkinson
All right so Baltimore Orioles are sellers, which I tend to agree with. they're They're coming off a sweep of the Astros, which I think gives them a reason to consider competing, but they would need a very, very strong two weeks um to to to justify buying, in my opinion. I think they're either a seller stay put, depending on you know well who they have and what contracts they have that they think maybe they can just come back next year with the same roster.
00:48:26
Cody Atkinson
and and get better results. Who knows? But definitely don't don't think they're in buying territory quite yet. The next team on here in their last 10 games is four and six.
00:48:38
Cody Atkinson
They were losers of one in a row. So this is a team that's kind of been headed in the wrong direction. a Minus 45 run differential. I told you there's some bad ones on here. 21 and 26 against playoff caliber teams. They're 10 and a half back in the division and four and a half back in the wild card. this um I think this one's pretty straightforward. I'm gonna let you go, but this is gonna be one of the the worst examples that we have in this bubble.
00:49:04
Justin Daulton
Yeah. What was that stock market show where the guy would like bang the drum, like sell sell, sell, sell, sell?
00:49:10
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, right.
00:49:11
Justin Daulton
Like that's the situation. like You need to sell the farm. Like this, is your your season's over, your future is tied up with it. Just go ahead and sell.
00:49:19
Cody Atkinson
So I agree. This is a team that I am shocked by. This is the Toronto Blue Jays. I ah really thought a few weeks ago, I thought this was a team that was primed for turnaround.
00:49:26
Justin Daulton
Hmm.
00:49:32
Cody Atkinson
They just in no way, shape or form have done that. And they do not appear to be legitimate contenders. So I am in agreement with the sell decision here.
00:49:42
Justin Daulton
the hard part is like, outside ah outside of latty jr.
00:49:42
Cody Atkinson
question.
00:49:45
Justin Daulton
Like, who do you have to sell? Like, you have a couple of pictures that you could sell but like, there's that that was the
00:49:49
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. i mean, they have some, they have some of those borderline guys that aren't going to, they're not going to get incredible returns, but you can get a little something because like Dalton Varsha is a guy that I feel like every like talking head is obsessed with and I don't understand it, but like, he's apparently going to be a a big name on the market.
00:49:59
Justin Daulton
Yeah,
00:50:10
Cody Atkinson
And I'm like, he's, he's all right. They got those kinds of guys, you know?
00:50:12
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I don't know. I just don't know. No one on that team really impressed me enough to be like, I'm going to go sell draft capital prospects, a potential swap of, you know, ah positions, whatever for it.
00:50:24
Justin Daulton
Like, no one on besides Vlade Jr., you know, jumps off the page for me um to go by and Vlade Jr.
00:50:29
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:50:31
Justin Daulton
doesn't do much for the race at this point in time.
00:50:32
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. Now, if they decided to sell Trey Yosavage, I would snag him, but he's in literally the second year of his career, so there'd be stupid. There's no point in selling him this early, but I do love Trey Yosavage.
00:50:43
Justin Daulton
Mm-hmm.
00:50:46
Cody Atkinson
All right. Next one. This one, we're improving a little bit here. We're six and four in the last 10, but losers of two in a row. Minus 24 run differential. Not good.
00:50:57
Cody Atkinson
28 and 30 against playoff teams. They were four games back in the division and only two games back in the wild card.
00:51:06
Cody Atkinson
It's funny. i actually forgot who like all these teams are. I don't know who this one is.
00:51:10
Justin Daulton
that you now now you forgetting your own team or your own games uh yeah um yeah this feels a very similar conversation that we just had with the orioles right it's almost verbatim as the orioles um and i said sell so i think i'm gonna go with sell here again although no it's it's basically the xit exact same yeah i'm gonna stay with sell
00:51:14
Cody Atkinson
But I can't highlight them because then you'll see it too.
00:51:38
Cody Atkinson
know, stay with sell. Let's that's really, this is the Minnesota Twins. There you go.
00:51:43
Justin Daulton
Yeah. Firebox on market.
00:51:43
Cody Atkinson
So that's that that's Byron Buxton. That's Joe Ryan. Lots of of names the Twins can sell. I'm in agreement on this one. just It wasn't supposed to be the Twins year.
00:51:54
Cody Atkinson
It's not their year. So there's no reason for them to significantly and invest in it. I will say I'm closer to the Orioles as a buy than the Twins, just because the Orioles are hot right now.
00:52:06
Cody Atkinson
And the Twins are, you know, not necessarily headed in that direction. I do think they lost again today. So next we got a team that's seven and three in their last 10, although they did lose their last game one in a row, plus 31 on the run differential.
00:52:23
Cody Atkinson
27 and 28 against playoff teams. They're six and a half back of the division and four and a half back of the wild card. So they're they're trying to make a run like the the Orioles and the Red Sox, but they are coming. They are starting from a little further back. They're still four and a half games out.
00:52:40
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I mean, you got to feel good about the 7-3 in the last 10. The plus thirty one run de differential feels good. That puts you in that conversation of teams that are winning, and they win a pretty good amount of games because of the rough and run differential. twenty seven twenty eight you're youre you can win games against competitive teams. not Not enough to to obviously be winning your division or winning your wild card.
00:53:05
Justin Daulton
It's tough with the six and a half games back in the division. You feel like you're almost buying for the wild card. Not knowing this is AL or NL. AL wild card is a little bit more open. nl wild card is a little more all over the place.
00:53:18
Justin Daulton
If this is an NL team, I'd probably say stay pat. If this is an AL team, I'd say buy. Okay.
00:53:23
Cody Atkinson
Okay, this is an AL team, so we're giving them the bye here. You'll start to notice I forgot to like mix these up in any way, shape, or form. This is the Detroit Tigers.
00:53:31
Justin Daulton
Okay.
00:53:32
Cody Atkinson
um This is the Detroit Tigers.
00:53:32
Justin Daulton
Okay.
00:53:34
Cody Atkinson
The the Tigers and the Red Sox are the two teams I highlighted last week who've made incredible turnarounds and turnarounds that I think are real. I could absolutely see the Tigers buying, which would part put...
00:53:45
Cody Atkinson
They turned the market on its absolute head because the Tigers were supposed to be putting four arms onto the market. Basically, you were going have Scoob, you were going to have Mize, potentially Flaherty, the bullpen guys.
00:54:02
Cody Atkinson
Riley Green was potentially going to be on the market. like They were going to be... the the meat of the market was going to come from the Tigers. and And you're looking at a team that could be trying to buy to support what is ultimately and ah what appears to be a top end rotation. but You're going to see them trying to buy to ah support that. Tigers, I agree.
00:54:24
Cody Atkinson
um They're on the run. They're currently playing against the Cubs, but currently up one. So continuing to try to climb, I believe in the Tigers at this point in the season.
00:54:37
Justin Daulton
Yeah, it it really comes down the fact that the AL wildcard is just so wide openly. The conversation we're going have here in a little bit about repicking the division winners, like, there's a reason why the central is ah a hot topic of conversation.
00:54:52
Justin Daulton
A lot of talking heads aren't comfortable enough yet to say the White Sox can continue to do what they've been doing. There's not a lot of talk. Like there's talking, the guardians can get back up into the conversation the right way.
00:55:02
Justin Daulton
Are the Tigers going to be someone that buys and gets back in the conversation? It's like the the central is the conversation in both leagues, funny enough, but like, it's It's an interesting you know dilemma with the AL Central of like what's going to happen with with these three teams that are vying for the top.
00:55:21
Justin Daulton
I don't think the Tigers make a run for the division, and I'm going to hold pretty steady on that. But because of this wildcard situation in the American League, it's going to be very interesting between the White Sox, Guardians, Tigers. There is going to be a wildcard team out of those three teams. It's just which three get it.
00:55:39
Cody Atkinson
I agree. i think the division's probably out of reach, but I do think the guardians are a team that currently sits in the playoffs that absolutely could be primed for a slip in which case the tigers look like the team that can really take advantage of that.
00:55:53
Cody Atkinson
And especially as a team that is going to have a lot head to head with the guardians since they're in the same division.
00:55:54
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:56:00
Cody Atkinson
All right. Next one. This is, this one looks pretty rough, Justin. We got three and seven in the last 10. Losers of four in a row. They have a minus 53 run differential.
00:56:12
Cody Atkinson
They're 26 and 28 against playoff caliber teams, four games back of the division, four and a half back of the wild card.
00:56:20
Justin Daulton
God, what shitty division is this? The fact that you're minus 53 and you're only four games back from your division, like that's strikingness. That's a week and a half of wins in your first place in your division.
00:56:34
Justin Daulton
um I feel like because of the way this is going, I feel like this is the Astros.
00:56:38
Cody Atkinson
Tennis is the Astros. Minus 53, dude.
00:56:42
Justin Daulton
um
00:56:44
Cody Atkinson
minus fifty three do That's so bad.
00:56:46
Justin Daulton
That's so bad, but like you're right there. because this division is so bad um I don't think I can drag myself to give it myself that they're going to buy.
00:56:57
Justin Daulton
i don't think anyone's going to let the Astros buy. But I don't think they sell. i think they're going to be forced to stay put.
00:57:06
Cody Atkinson
I will say, I think that's a disgusting scenario. um I agree with you. it The fact that they're so close in the division and the wild card.
00:57:17
Cody Atkinson
really opens the door to convincing themselves that they are still in this thing. Even though they, and nothing, if you look at them in isolation, there's nothing you look at that says this is a good baseball team, this is a baseball team worth investing in.
00:57:35
Cody Atkinson
But when you add in the teams they're competing with, suddenly it makes you think that they're close enough to do something. And that scares me because i i they do have a GM team who is on the last year of his contract. They do have a manager on the last year of his contract. They do have an owner who has said that the window will always be open as long as he owns the team. I absolutely could see them buying and mortgaging the future, um, to which I will be utterly devastated on this podcast and every day of my life.
00:58:03
Cody Atkinson
Um, I think they should sell. i think the minus 53 tells you all you need to know. i think if you look at the deeper stats, obviously these are very surface level stats we're looking at. if you If you dig deeper, you will find the same thing, that this is a bad baseball team that is only in the running because they are in a division with other bad baseball teams.
00:58:23
Cody Atkinson
In fact, as we sit here, they now three games out of the division instead of four after today. um So i could i don't think I don't know.
00:58:34
Cody Atkinson
I think buy or stay put are the two most likely. i am in the camp of hoping they sell, but I do think they either buy or they stay put and hope for better in injury luck next year.
00:58:46
Justin Daulton
Yeah. It's a tough spot for Houston because like if you choose to sell the entire major league baseball is going to lining up at Dyken Park's front door to buy every player because there are players on
00:58:58
Cody Atkinson
But that that's why I'd want to.
00:59:01
Justin Daulton
like and i get it i understand that but like
00:59:01
Cody Atkinson
wait great
00:59:05
Justin Daulton
you made the argument like there's a reason why Espada and them are not going to sell. Like they're dirt not. But like if they did, if they picked up the phone tomorrow and said Tampa, Jordan is available, sell it, sell us your farm.
00:59:20
Justin Daulton
Tampa's going to say yes because it's Jordan.
00:59:24
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I will say if I want, I do want them to sell. i do want them to stop short of your Don. Like I think you sell Pena.
00:59:30
Justin Daulton
Sure.
00:59:30
Cody Atkinson
I think you sell Paredes.
00:59:31
Justin Daulton
Yeah. Yeah.
00:59:33
Cody Atkinson
I think if you want to sell Hader, you sell Hader.
00:59:36
Cody Atkinson
If somebody is going to pay you for Hunter Brown, i I generally would like Hunter Brown to stick around, but that's fine. He's only got a couple years left, so if somebody wants to buy him, i would i would listen. Yiner Diaz, a catcher, if somebody wants to buy him, I would listen.
00:59:36
Justin Daulton
Hunter Brown.
00:59:51
Cody Atkinson
There's a couple other bullpen names. i you We talked about the Tigers taking the meat out of the market by becoming buyers. it It goes right back into the market if the Astros are sellers because they do have names. They do have dudes. they just have It's just not constructed in a way that that they're able to put something together.
01:00:10
Cody Atkinson
But I would stop short of Jordan personally, just because if you sell well, I think he can still be in his prime by the time you're ready to compete again. And in the meantime, you keep a fan base happy and you give them something to care about, which is Jordan trying to break home run records and win triple crowns while the team wins 40 games, you know?
01:00:19
Justin Daulton
Sure.
01:00:32
Justin Daulton
You feel like Houston of, what is it, 07, 08, when they bring up 100 pence and they sell 100 pence to the Giants, that's where you kind of feel like you're at right now.
01:00:37
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:00:41
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:00:42
Justin Daulton
Like, you still have a cash cow in Jordan Alvarez, but if you sell him, you lose the fans. Like, and that's what you're in it.
01:00:48
Cody Atkinson
If you sell them, it's 2013 and you're tanking and nobody's going to the games.
01:00:51
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:00:54
Cody Atkinson
If you keep them, you can keep some interest and be like, sorry, we suck.
01:01:00
Justin Daulton
Yeah, you I mean, you can at least sell the fan base on, give us two years to build it back up the right way. And there's a chance that you're looking at the next generation of Altuve, Springer, Correa, but different names, obviously.
01:01:10
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. Yeah, with largely going to be guys that you got at the deadline this year.
01:01:17
Justin Daulton
Yes.
01:01:17
Cody Atkinson
plus you know the handful of guys that you have in in the minors already. But right now you don't have enough in the minors to see a legitimate core come together, which is why I think you need to restock. it a ham just If you can double what you have, because what you have is at the bottom of the league as far as prospects go, if you can double what you have, now you have a core that you can build around.
01:01:38
Cody Atkinson
And I would love to see them go do that. ah But to your point, I'm not convinced that they will because the division is so for the taking.
01:01:43
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:01:47
Justin Daulton
Yeah, absolutely.
01:01:49
Cody Atkinson
All right, we are we are officially moving on to the NL here. You will notice that because of the games back in the division are much more aggressive in the NL because the top the NL is very good.
01:01:59
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:01:59
Cody Atkinson
This team in the NL is 4-6 in their last 10, losers of two straight. They have a plus-4 run differential. They are 29-33 against playoff-caliber teams.
01:02:10
Cody Atkinson
Ten and a half games back in the division, and I believe at this at the time of putting this together, they were tied for a wild-card spot.
01:02:19
Justin Daulton
Jeez, that 10 and a half games back from the division. Jeez. My God.
01:02:24
Cody Atkinson
The top of the NL is good.
01:02:26
Justin Daulton
Yeah, no, it's real good. Um, I, um, you're, man, that 29 to 33 sucks.
01:02:32
Cody Atkinson
If you want a little extra information here, this team, the their game is not over today, but they are currently winning today.
01:02:42
Justin Daulton
That 29 and 33 just sucks. You can't win consistently against competitive teams, and that scares me going into it the same way that the AL teams did. um The plus four run differential, you might well just say it's zero and you it's a 50-50 if you're going to win or not. um I think you stay put if you're this team.
01:03:02
Cody Atkinson
Stay put. um I could also see sometimes stay put, I think could also be a light sell, right? If you have any expiring contracts, move move those guys.
01:03:09
Justin Daulton
yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:03:11
Cody Atkinson
But don't...
01:03:12
Justin Daulton
Especially a player that you know you're not going to be able to keep, right?
01:03:14
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:03:15
Justin Daulton
Same thing with the Tigers.
01:03:15
Cody Atkinson
But...
01:03:16
Cody Atkinson
but
01:03:16
Justin Daulton
The Tigers should buy, but if they stay put, you can still move Scoobl because you know you're not going to resign Scoobl after the season.
01:03:20
Cody Atkinson
Right, right, right. Yeah, and this team is the St. Louis Cardinals. um So I think this is a good...
01:03:26
Justin Daulton
Fair?
01:03:27
Cody Atkinson
Outcome for them, they we've talked about them many times. They are way ahead of schedule this year.
01:03:33
Justin Daulton
Mm-hmm.
01:03:33
Cody Atkinson
So by no means do you sell because you are outperforming your expectations. But I think we are in agreement that this is not a buy year for them.
01:03:43
Cody Atkinson
So maybe stay put.
01:03:44
Cody Atkinson
And if you have a couple of of of minor pieces that you can move off of to strengthen next year's roster, this would be a good time to do that.
01:03:44
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:03:44
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:03:53
Cody Atkinson
All right. Another team. In the NL, this team is 7-3 in their last 10. Winners of one in a row, they have a plus 54 run differential, although they are 29-32 against playoff caliber teams. They are also 10.5 games back of a division and were also tied for a wildcard spot. So they have the same record as the Cardinals coming into today.
01:04:14
Justin Daulton
Are these your beloved Cubs?
01:04:17
Cody Atkinson
These are not the below the Cubs. The Cubs, did I not write them?
01:04:19
Justin Daulton
Oh.
01:04:20
Cody Atkinson
might No, the cubs were in the the Cubs were in the pure buyers buyers category.
01:04:23
Justin Daulton
Oh, were they? Okay, sorry, I missed them then.
01:04:25
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, yeah
01:04:25
Justin Daulton
Okay, cool, cool. um I think this team's in a much better
01:04:29
Cody Atkinson
yeah, yeah. But the game's back is kind of dead giveaway that they are in the same division as the Cardinals.
01:04:34
Justin Daulton
way. By rule of thumb, it's the Pirates, right? Yeah.
01:04:39
Cody Atkinson
It is the Pirates. It's got to be, right?
01:04:40
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:04:40
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, it's the Pirates.
01:04:45
Justin Daulton
We're total professionals on this podcast. It's great. Um...
01:04:48
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I didn't forget.
01:04:50
Justin Daulton
The 29-32 sucks. and you're it's Yes, you have a win differential, but it just means you can't win when it matters against these competitive teams. Just because you beat up on the bottom of the divisions, like that doesn't mean you're a playoff team or a team that needs to buy.
01:05:06
Justin Daulton
I think this is a team like the Cardinals. I think you stay put unless you can get incredible value for Paul Skeens, and you think that you need to move off of Skeens before... His price goes up, and while you can still you know get him on he's healthy, he's one the Cy Young, you know you know you can move Skeens to a team that's going to pay you know you know three first-round picks, you know prospects, whatever it may be.
01:05:30
Justin Daulton
That's the only way that I think you move Skeens at this point in time for a quote-unquote down year for Skeens. But think you stay put.
01:05:37
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, mean I think this is, ah like you said, a a solid stay put to light sell scenario. I don't think you i don't think this is the year you move skeins.
01:05:48
Cody Atkinson
You have a lot of team control left. You don't know what's about to happen with the collective bargaining. So skeins may become affordable and or you may be forced to
01:05:56
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:05:59
Cody Atkinson
to have a salary of a certain level that incentivizes you to keep skeins. So I don't think you want to do that yet. The only way I could see this being a buy is if you feel the need to not waste more of Paul Skein's career. If you think, you know, we've got him for four or more years or whatever it is, and at some point we have to compete while he's here, then I could see you buying in a way that that is not for rentals, but for guys that can stay around and keep you competitive for years to come. So you can try to capitalize on on having at least what once was the the the best pitcher in baseball. Obviously he's, like you said, not not that this year, but you know definitely still has that within him. So that's the only way I could see this as ah as a buy is if you're trying to to kind of prove that you can build around him.
01:06:47
Justin Daulton
God, could you imagine skeins in an analytical team, like an like an Astros or a Tampa, like that I could actually can tell him when he needs to be throwing these pitches for efficiency's sake would be unreal.
01:06:50
Cody Atkinson
That would be unreal.
01:06:56
Cody Atkinson
I mean, Yeah, I mean, Tampa, Milwaukee is one of those. Cleveland is one of those.
01:07:00
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:07:01
Cody Atkinson
Houston is one of those. It would be incredible. We've got two more of these left. We can fly through this. Five and five in the last ten winners, of one in a row, minus 32 run differential, 27 and 35 against playoff caliber teams.
01:07:16
Cody Atkinson
That's the worst we've seen so far. Thirteen and a half games back of the division, two and a half games back of the wild card.
01:07:23
Justin Daulton
then Once again, this is the hard part, right? With the NL wildcard being everyone basically within like three games of each other, it's so hard to say someone should sell or stay put or or buy. you The negative 32 and the twenty seven thirty five I think that's enough for me to say that this deep this team needs to sell, move on and just start looking at whatever the future is.
01:07:47
Cody Atkinson
This one's going to shock you. This is San Diego Padres, a team that i once picked team that I once picked to win their division, a team that has Mason Miller.
01:07:53
Justin Daulton
Oh no, that doesn't surprise me at all. Yeah.
01:07:59
Cody Atkinson
This is a Mason Miller podcast. It's at a point where it is a sell candidate. And I agree with you. I think that's a sell. Minus 32, not good. You are not beating playoff caliber teams.
01:08:10
Cody Atkinson
And you have an uphill battle to climb to get back into this thing. you have the guys like Mason Miller that you can get a lot back for. You gave up a lot for him.
01:08:20
Cody Atkinson
You have guys that you can get a lot back for and and try to reset.
01:08:21
Justin Daulton
Mm-hmm.
01:08:26
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I think the hard part with with San Diego is you've lost out on the guys you fought, right? Snell leaves, right?
01:08:35
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
01:08:36
Justin Daulton
That that hurts. You know, you bring in Mason Miller thinking and that that's going to be the way that you win baseball games in the playoffs where they haven't been able win baseball games. and it doesn't And it's not enough. it It's not enough for 162 plus whatever you get into in September and October, right? Yeah.
01:08:53
Justin Daulton
Yes, is Mason Miller an incredible but incredible baseball player? 100%. This is a Mason Miller podcast. We're the biggest Mason Miller fans on this on this planet outside of the San Diego Padre fans. But he's not enough to win you baseball games.
01:09:04
Justin Daulton
We saw it win the Yankees.
01:09:05
Cody Atkinson
you got it You have to get it to him.
01:09:07
Justin Daulton
Correct. But we saw it with the Yankees, right? If you're not good enough to get the ball to Mario that doesn't mean anything because it doesn't matter if you have Mario or Rivera, you can't get him the ball. And that's what happened so long in New York because like they just weren't good enough to get the ball to the ninth inning.
01:09:23
Justin Daulton
But when you did, yes, you were guaranteed a win. It's the same thing you do with Mason Miller. So it just, it sucks.
01:09:27
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:09:29
Justin Daulton
You lost out on some of these players that you, you you bought at the trade deadline. You try to spend money in the offseason, and just didn't work. But I think you can get money back from Machado. You can sell Mason Miller.
01:09:41
Justin Daulton
you know You can get some of this money back and build for the future.
01:09:45
Cody Atkinson
No, I agree. This is ah ah for me a shocking sell. I thought they would be a real contender this year with Mason Miller. They are not. And it appears time for them to try to maybe find a way to build from within, because to your point, they've done a lot of buying the last few years and um it hasn't worked out. it There's a lot of prospects around the league that if if they stayed in San Diego, they'd be in a better spot right now.
01:10:08
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:10:08
Cody Atkinson
Final team. This team I actually originally had in buyers until I kind of spotted the trend here that they were losers of six in a row. So they're four and six in the last 10 losers of six in a row.
01:10:22
Cody Atkinson
They are plus 19 in run differential. They're 32 and 30 against playoff caliber teams. So that's actually one of the better records we've seen. There's only, think there were only two of these teams we looked at that had a positive record there. There are six games back in the division. Coming into today, they were tied for a wild card spot.
01:10:48
Justin Daulton
I'm going to say the last 10.
01:10:51
Cody Atkinson
I'd say they have a lot of positive metrics, but the last 10 is concerning.
01:10:54
Justin Daulton
Yeah. Last 10 is concerning, but like it doesn't feel like it's indicative of their overall stretch of the season. So I feel like this team is in a stay put, but light buy.
01:11:09
Justin Daulton
um market but it's it's teetering I think you can see what happens over this next week and really put you in a position that you could become a firm buyer but like you're definitely this is a true definition of a bubble team
01:11:14
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:11:22
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, this is the Miami Marlins. They did lose today, so they are now losers of seven in a row. um They were once a certain buyer, and to your point, they are now right square on the bubble. They have two weeks to turn it around and prove that you know the rest of the season is more indicative of who they are, in which case they should buy. If they can't turn it around and the slump continues, they they head straight to sell, um at least light sell, stay put to light sell.
01:11:51
Cody Atkinson
um which would be you know very disappointing for them and their fans. But like that this is, the like you said, the best example of a bubble team that that we have.
01:12:02
Justin Daulton
Yeah, 1%. one percent
01:12:02
Cody Atkinson
um I know we need to get to the Pac-12 preview, so I'm going to fly through this. We promised to repick division winners and World Series picks every time we did a check-in. So I'm going just rattle yours off and let me know if any of these need to change. We've got Rays.
01:12:20
Cody Atkinson
Rays in the East, Guardians in the Central, Mariners in the West. On the NL side, we have Braves in the East, Cardinals in the Central, Dodgers in the West.
01:12:31
Justin Daulton
um i think both my central picks are gonna change here I think I'm confident enough now to say that the White Sox will win the Central. I've been talking about them the last two check-ins that like I wasn't ready to see or wasn't ready to say that they could do it. I needed to see them consistently do this.
01:12:51
Justin Daulton
And the consistent climb up it has been enough for me to say that this team has so much talent. It's raw. but they have so much talent going for them. I do think the Guardians have a chance to climb back up and take this division at any time, at any point in time. But right now I can see the White Sox, you know, going through the rest of July, going through August and really have a chance to, to have this division locked up by the end of August, by the way that it looks.
01:13:17
Justin Daulton
Um, My National I think I'm joining you officially on the Brewers bandwagon.
01:13:22
Cody Atkinson
I'm a brewer's baby. Yeah.
01:13:24
Justin Daulton
Yep. The Cardinals were fun. That 10 and a half games back in the division is a tough thing to overcome. I do feel good about the Cardinals being a wildcard team. I think they're the second team out of that division that take a wildcard spot.
01:13:37
Justin Daulton
So i do feel good about that and ahead of schedule for a St. Louis team that has a lot going for them in in the near future. But I feel good about Tampa holding onto it.
01:13:48
Justin Daulton
um Oh, I had Mariners over on the West.
01:13:53
Justin Daulton
I'm going to keep the Mariners there. I still think ah yeah they've had a rough stretch. i don't I still think the Rangers are pretenders, so going to keep the Mariners out there.
01:13:59
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:14:00
Justin Daulton
um
01:14:01
Cody Atkinson
I will say the um the underlying metrics support the Mariners finding a way.
01:14:01
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:14:07
Justin Daulton
and just I just don't see the Rangers having enough to do it. i think the Rangers could sneak into a wildcard spot. It'd be a really rough wildcard spot to get into. I don't know how they get to it, but I can see them sneaking up to it if they if they can construct if they can have a pretty successful August to go along with what they've been doing recently.
01:14:27
Cody Atkinson
Yep. ah Mine looks very similar to yours. I think the only difference that we had coming into this was the Brewers Cardinals. So I had Rays, Guardians, Mariners, same as you. I had Braves, Brewers, Dodgers, which is what you have now.
01:14:42
Cody Atkinson
i am At this point in the season, we will be... in lockstep with each other. i will put the White Sox as the AL Central as well. I think they've held onto it long enough to believe in them.
01:14:54
Cody Atkinson
And I think they've held onto it long enough to be buyers in a way that makes what they're doing more sustainable. there's always If they were gonna fall off before the trade deadline, it it could it could have changed the way they viewed the team, could have changed the way they they operated it, and left the door open for the Guardians Tigers. I think they've held on long enough to be to be buyers,
01:15:16
Cody Atkinson
which will give them the added firepower to stay atop the division. So we are now in complete unison when it comes to who we think will win these divisions, which makes sense. The closer we get to the end of the season, the more um the more data we have, the more in line we will tend to be. Your World Series pick was Braves over Mariners. I had Braves over Yankees. Are you looking to change that?
01:15:42
Justin Daulton
I've been saying the last two check-ins, I've been checking my own Homer situation here, right? Of like not claiming the raise yet. And I'm going still hold on to that. of Like I can't say raise yet because I need to see what the trade deadline is. Like if we're aggressive, like we've been saying we're going to be, if we can get a school, if we can get a Rudgeman, a Buxton, a Lindor, whoever it is, whatever the sweepstakes is for Tampa.
01:16:05
Justin Daulton
That's where I feel more confident to do that because there are still holes on this roster for me to to tip my favor to say that this team can win the World Series or go to the World Series.
01:16:16
Justin Daulton
Do I think Tampa has a good chance of making a deep run, maybe an ALCS appearance? 100%. I do think that that, I still think it's a 1A, 1B. i just can't say Yankees go to the World Series. That's the unfortunate part for me here.
01:16:29
Justin Daulton
So I'm going to hold on to the Braves over Mariners. as of right now but I do think my, I think August MLB check-in, whenever we do that, I do think it'll change. I can almost guarantee it will change because we will then know for sure who are the contenders for this and the pretenders um through the playoffs.
01:16:49
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, that makes sense. I'm going to make a slight change here. This appears to be the year of the small market smart team. The Rays are doing incredible and the Milwaukee Brewers are doing incredible with a similar formula.
01:17:02
Justin Daulton
Okay.
01:17:05
Cody Atkinson
I'm going to have some fun with this. I don't know for sure that the Brewers have enough firepower to take a team like the Braves down. But I love what the Brewers have this year. And in news that we skipped over in the last couple of weeks, the Brewers picked up one of my favorite players of all time, which is Lance McCullers Jr., well past his prime injury riddled.
01:17:24
Justin Daulton
Mm-hmm.
01:17:28
Cody Atkinson
seasons with the Astros. He had to go. There was nowhere to put him on the roster. You could not keep him. But that doesn't change what he's been for this team. And that doesn't change how much of a dog he is, how great of a personality he is. The Brewers plan to use him in the bullpen, which I've been saying for years, the Astros should bite the bullet on this and move him to the bullpen so that you can have him more consistently his arm could not hold up to a starters role you were paying him like a starter that's a real bummer but i'd rather be paying him to pitch out of the bullpen than to sit on the il um i think this is going to great move
Pac-12 Conference Preview and Realignment
01:17:59
Cody Atkinson
for the brewers i am picking this because i think the brewers are one of the best teams in baseball but i'm also picking this because i would love to see lance mccullers get another shot to to pitch in the world series even if it's not um in an astros uniform
01:18:18
Justin Daulton
Yeah, one of my favorite Astros of all time. So happy to see him be ah what what what looks to be like an actual contender for at least the National League, if not the World Series in itself.
01:18:28
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, i mean, we were looking, I mean, the Cardinals and the Pirates were 10 games, 10 games back ah or 10 and a half games back. That was of the Brewers. Like this is a, this is a really good team and you have, you know, you're going to enter, you know, obviously barring any unseen health issues, you're going to enter every series with Jacob Mizorowski pitching game one.
01:18:36
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:18:48
Cody Atkinson
And that's going to feel really good to do.
01:18:50
Justin Daulton
Yeah, for sure.
01:18:53
Cody Atkinson
And with that, we're going to kick it over to you, man. You're you're running the Pac-12 preview. We're testing out a format here. This is going to be may our first college football preview. And let's talk about the new look Pac-12.
01:19:04
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I'll put the preface out there for everyone as we kind of get into these college football previews over the next couple of weeks. um We will not pretend to be experts on these on these conferences. um i am a We are both casual Boise State fans that we enjoy Boise State, but I will not pretend to know every player on this roster um like we will when we get to the SEC season.
01:19:26
Justin Daulton
um and and maybe some Big Ten teams, you know. So this will be fun. I think this is just a little fun introspective look at it a new conference and a team that, or at least a conference that is trying to get back into relevancy over the next couple of years.
01:19:39
Justin Daulton
um So let's cover the Pac-12. I think we'll fly through this pretty relatively quick. But the new Pac-12 this year, holding its inaugural season, at least of this iteration of the Pac-12.
01:19:50
Justin Daulton
Last year, Pac-2, with Oregon State and Washington State holding true to the Pac-12 conference while everyone else left. teams of note that have joined them from the Mountain West Conference, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, and Utah State.
01:20:06
Justin Daulton
And then from the Sunbelt Conference, Texas State. So it really feels like you must have state in your name to join the Pac-12. Only thing to note of a team that is not playing football but is a part of the Pac-12 is Gonzaga joins them as well in other sports.
01:20:23
Justin Daulton
So it'll be very interesting to see if maybe Gonzaga tries to fire up a football program to join that and be...
01:20:27
Cody Atkinson
I would love it.
01:20:29
Cody Atkinson
Please do.
01:20:29
Justin Daulton
It'd be so fun.
01:20:30
Justin Daulton
But as we right now, they're not playing football. So they're not being mentioned in this preview outside of that. um
01:20:36
Cody Atkinson
in a world
01:20:36
Justin Daulton
Things I wanted to talk about.
01:20:37
Cody Atkinson
In a world where Monster Energy Drinks is sponsoring the Big 12, It is an absolute shame that Allstate is not sponsoring the Pac-12 yet.
01:20:41
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:20:45
Cody Atkinson
This is the Allstate conference. um I came up with this joke on my own.
01:20:48
Justin Daulton
yeah
01:20:49
Cody Atkinson
Then I read a couple of previews and they both made the same joke. And I realized it wasn't that good of a joke, but i was going to say it anyways. This should be the Allstate conference. So do what is right. Put the Pac-12 in good hands and and let's get them named properly.
01:21:03
Justin Daulton
No, I'm on board with that Pac-12 is doing something. This is a note that I sent you earlier today, Cody, that I wanted to talk about this unique schedule that the Pac-12 is trying to go through. Obviously, they do not have the 10-team minimum that is expected to host you know the the typical kind of rotation of schedules that you see in the SEC, Big 10, Big 12.
01:21:24
Justin Daulton
So with that, they're doing something a little different. So they're doing a seven-week round robin. Obviously, they will still have the four-game preseason out of conference schedule kind of scenario that we see in college football um
01:21:37
Cody Atkinson
Some pretty daunting preseason earth some pretty daunting non-conference schedules in this conference.
01:21:42
Justin Daulton
yeah um so the way that they're to do it is it's all to culminate in a week 13 flex game so no one building the schedule knows of a if they're going have a home game away game where they're getting who going to play none of it do they know okay at least they know home and away
01:21:55
Cody Atkinson
the They do know home and away. They do know home and away. um they cause Because if you look, they they have a predicted week 13 matchup that's subject to change.
01:22:06
Cody Atkinson
but But it does say in there that the home teams will remain. That way everyone gets a fourth home game. So like that the the teams that are playing three home and four away are guaranteed a home game in that week eight.
01:22:14
Justin Daulton
Okay, cool.
01:22:22
Justin Daulton
Got it. Okay. So that was the thing that i was i didn't know going into the preview. like Do they know if it's going to home and away? Cool. But they don't know who they're playing. um And so this can be flexed into a scenario where what's this used Boise State from a few years ago, right? Boise State's undefeated.
01:22:39
Justin Daulton
um they would probably more than likely to preserve Boise State getting into playoffs would have given them a cupcake team to play. Maybe they get a Texas State in there to to preserve that and Texas State gives them a muffin and they just go through and and they remain undefeated.
01:22:55
Justin Daulton
Maybe Boise State... is undefeated but doesn't have a quality win so maybe they give them a team that's on a bubble to give them another quality win so maybe they get um looking through who's going be maybe a ah team with them maybe a fresno state to give them another quality win to avoid to save them make sure they have another one on their resume um to to move higher up in the rankings to be able to edge out another g5 or g6 um um so i thought that was really unique um in a way that they were kind of doing these the schedule this year
01:23:12
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
01:23:27
Justin Daulton
um I'll kick to you if you have any thoughts on the schedule, if you like it, don't like it, interested at least to see how it plays out.
01:23:36
Cody Atkinson
On the outset, I was a huge fan of it um because it's new and different and could lead to great matchups. we We talked about this. I think this is something that the larger conferences could really benefit from. And then I'll talk about why it turns out I don't actually like it that much. Yeah.
01:23:55
Cody Atkinson
is something the big conferences could could benefit from because we always talk about like this team is 11 and one but they never played anybody right they had the cupcake version of their own conference schedule because the conferences are too big for there to be consistency within the conferences and this is the kind of thing you would love to see where it's like you have you know if you like two years ago it was indiana making their first run as a team and they were 11 and one but they like
01:24:19
Justin Daulton
Sure.
01:24:21
Cody Atkinson
No, they were like 10-2, and two and like the two teams they had played were like Ohio State and Michigan or something, and like nobody else they beat was was any good. or You could look at what people said about A&M last year where they were like they only played the bottom of the SEC.
01:24:32
Justin Daulton
Mm-hmm.
01:24:35
Cody Atkinson
If you could set a a week where you wear one plays two and three plays four and five plays six and seven plays eight, you give guaranteed quality matchups. So we would have known for sure what Indiana was. We would have known for sure what A&M was last year or what they turned out to be kind of when they sputtered at the end there. You guarantee this in a way that I think gives us ah a better playoff once we get there, right? Because we weed out the unexpected to a degree, to a degree. As long as you have multiple quality teams in a conference, you weed out some of the
01:25:10
Cody Atkinson
team shows up to the playoff and gets embarrassed that we saw last year. As it turns out, that's not what this is. And that's why this disappoints me. And I don't like it because I don't, I love the upside of Boise state needs a big win and we can give them one.
01:25:24
Cody Atkinson
I hate the downside of Boise state needs to be protected and we can do that. And for me, that trade-off is not worth it because I feel like I'm going to be watching more protection than I'm going to be watching
01:25:28
Justin Daulton
Sure.
01:25:36
Cody Atkinson
setting up games for the benefit of the fan. I thought this was an experience where we were going to get to see Boise State play the second best team in the conference, you know, every season for the foreseeable future. And it was going to be awesome.
01:25:50
Cody Atkinson
And the the fact that you could set them up with the easiest possible game to protect your playoff investment. It is disappointing. I love they're trying something new. I hope we can work it into something better.
01:26:02
Cody Atkinson
But on the outset, it's too, there's too much room for them to operate for their best interest and not the game's best interest. in And my assumption is we will get the downside because that's usually what they give us.
01:26:17
Justin Daulton
Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how it shakes out, especially because with them not having the minimum, you're not getting a conference championship game scenario because you that's why you're doing the round robin style of it all. So it'll be interesting maybe once they flesh out the conference. that they I think a conversation we can have a little bit here, and it's small one, is do any of the West Coast powers come back to the West Coast conference?
01:26:38
Cody Atkinson
No, we do.
01:26:38
Justin Daulton
Because i i and i think I think it makes sense for them.
01:26:38
Cody Atkinson
yeah But they're not going to, but we do.
01:26:43
Justin Daulton
It should, right? I do think there's a t there's a conversation around like a UCLA probably should come back to the West Coast Conference, right? You know, they don't really necessarily fit in this in this in this ecosystem that they're in.
01:26:54
Justin Daulton
You know, Oregon, I don't think, comes back. Oregon's found a home in the Big Ten. USC has found a home with the Big Ten. So, like... a I think there's some in there that you can, maybe you get a Stanford back in the mix out West.
01:27:07
Justin Daulton
I think a UCLA makes sense out West. um So I think if you can do that and flesh it back, and I'll get back to 10. Maybe Gonzaga fires up, gets an 11 in there. Maybe that's, you get some fun in there, but I do think it'll be interesting to watch next couple of seasons as well.
01:27:23
Justin Daulton
you know, as we're about to get into kind of what we would and would imagine is Boise State kind of running the table the next couple, at least the next at least this season. But going forward, you know, Boise being the power it be in this conference.
01:27:36
Cody Atkinson
I think Cal and Stanford coming back to the West Coast to be in this conference would make a lot of sense.
01:27:40
Justin Daulton
Mm-hmm.
01:27:41
Cody Atkinson
I just don't know if the additional financing from the the ACC is worth the travel restriction or the the the travel requirements and the exhaustion that comes with that, and also just the lack of fit, like the the games you just feel like you don't need to be watching.
01:27:54
Justin Daulton
Yeah. Yeah.
01:27:59
Cody Atkinson
It's obviously a step down for them in competition. I don't think in our lifetimes we will see a school take a step down um on their own, right? Like I think we'll only see what we saw with Oregon State and Washington State where it was – It wasn't their decision. They were just, this is where what they were left with.
01:28:18
Cody Atkinson
I don't think we'll see because money drives it. But if they could bring Cal and Stanford back, I think that would be sick. And I do, I do hope, I think if you saw the death of conference championship games, which is already being talked about, if you replaced it with a week like this,
01:28:34
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:28:36
Cody Atkinson
That would be awesome where you still get one to play two, but you also get to watch three, play four and five, play six and seven, play eight. That would just be so much fun.
01:28:43
Justin Daulton
Yes.
01:28:45
Cody Atkinson
And it would be the most meaningful data point in a game where it feels like we don't have enough data points to make, you know, quality decisions.
01:28:54
Justin Daulton
Yeah. i just want to have that quick conversation as we kind of go through this conversation here with the, with the, looking at the PAC 12, um, you put an interesting quote.
01:28:59
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, it's ah it's a money it's a money thing.
01:29:02
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:29:03
Cody Atkinson
UCLA won't come back because they would be taking a multi-million dollar pay cut, but I agree with you. They would fit better back on the West Coast, with with with the at least from a football perspective.
01:29:10
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:29:14
Cody Atkinson
like They don't belong in the Big Ten, but and um the but from a money perspective, you you can't do it.
01:29:16
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:29:20
Cody Atkinson
you're your academic or Your athletic department would go under.
01:29:25
Justin Daulton
For sure. Yeah. I mean, the booster money, the NIL money alone, like it tanks because of the of that decision, for sure.
01:29:28
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:29:32
Justin Daulton
Um, you put an interesting question in here, man. And it's, uh, where do we believe the PAC 12 lands in the football landscape? Um, in my, in your eyes or my RRIs are the G6 power forward.
01:29:43
Justin Daulton
Um, and then the last question within it is if G6, where do you rate them amongst the other G6 conferences? Um, that's going to be like your, your Sunbelt, your Mountain West. Um, uh, what is in
01:29:53
Cody Atkinson
American,
01:29:54
Justin Daulton
American conference, the the rest of them, right. That are out there.
01:29:57
Cody Atkinson
which one's Jamie's song about there?
01:29:59
Justin Daulton
I don't remember. Yeah, yeah somebel yeah. So I'll run through my questions or my answer here. um I think where they fall on the landscape, i think they fall on this like, it'll almost become this mid-major conversation, not necessarily what we expect of a group of six or a G6, G5, whatever you want to label them in the past.
01:30:22
Justin Daulton
i don't think they fit in that conversation anymore but they're not a power conference either they're not going to a conference that goes up to 16 teams and competes against the SEC every year right but I think they're at least a conference that is almost going to work their way into a guaranteed playoff spot with the current format at the very least they will work their way into it by the nature of the quality of teams that are in this conference so that's kind of where I see them fall And I guess that kind of goes into the next question of like, are they G6 or Power 4? They're neither because they they're not on the scale of a JMU like we saw last year, but they're not necessarily Boise from two years ago either.
01:31:05
Justin Daulton
So like there're it's this weird kind of in-between land that they're falling into.
01:31:05
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:31:09
Justin Daulton
um And for the conversation to say, if G6 were at a month, write them they're at the top of it. like They have to be at this point the top of this conversation unless they come out and into everyone just falls flat on their face and we we look like idiots here here in two months because everyone is losing. Obviously, we talked about some of these teams have very daunting out-of-conference schedules that they're going to have navigate here very soon. But you know you've got to look at Boise State, who has booster money behind them, NIL money.
01:31:37
Justin Daulton
um you know, have the facilities to draw players in. You have an Ashton Gentry that's an ambassador for that team on top of Kellen Moore, who's an ambassador for that team and that program. Like there's proven winning track records out of Boise State.
01:31:50
Justin Daulton
There's proven track record of winning at, you know, at San Diego State as well. Like there there's some of those in there, Fresno State, that have proven to win in the Mountain West that, you know, have a potential of a still running with Boise like they have been, but also a potential of being a national power within this kind of mid major range that's developing now with this PAC 12.
01:32:13
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, i think that was the though the point of the question, right? Is like, we make fun of the Pac-12, at least as a society, right? We make fun of this Pac-12 a lot because it is such a far cry from what it what the Pac-12 we grew up with was, right? it was a Pac-12 to the Pac-2. That's technically the Pac-12 again, but in no way, shape or form does it hold a candle to what it used to be.
01:32:33
Cody Atkinson
And we're going to a lot of jokes off because of that, but this is still the top G6 league in the country. I don't think it's Power Four. It's not that good. But to your point, it it almost exists in the middle there because I don't think any other G6 can bring this level of depth to the conversation. I think the Americans right up there at the top, you have the Tulane, you have the the Navy and Army, you There's another one on like a UTSA, East Carolina. You do have Sunbelt where Texas State used to be, where you saw JMU, you know, play very well against, you know, all things considered against Oregon. They they put up a a fight more than what most people would have given them credit for.
01:33:20
Cody Atkinson
um they don't, they they, these teams, like the the depth of these conferences doesn't hold up to the top to bottom that the Pac-12 can give you. And the Pac-12 still has the top level of Boise State that can compete with the top level of these others. And then you have legitimate threats in Fresno State, San Diego State, Utah State is,
01:33:43
Cody Atkinson
nothing to to to shake at. Texas State is a team that's been on the rise for a few years now that that I think the the world is finally taking notice of. This is a a very strong conference. It is certainly not P4, but for all the the slack it gets, this is the best conference that's not P4 in the country. um I don't know. I'll say this because we don't have this as a as a topic. I don't know that they have the team that makes the playoff this year.
01:34:12
Cody Atkinson
Um, I, I struggle to, to see Boise doing it because Ashton, how much Ashton Gentry carried that team and how much Boise state tests itself. Like they open, I think with Oregon again this year.
01:34:29
Cody Atkinson
Um,
01:34:29
Justin Daulton
Yeah, they did a home and away with Oregon.
01:34:31
Cody Atkinson
They are not going to make it easy on themselves. and And I need to see Madsen do more for me to say they're a playoff team. But I think this is going to be the conference that you look to first every year when you say who's the who's the number five going to be.
01:34:41
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:34:47
Cody Atkinson
You're going say this is a Pac-12 of somebody, and then you're going go look elsewhere.
01:34:52
Justin Daulton
Sure. I mean, it's a conversation you had, you know, does a two-lane step into it, you know, this year. you know, we're not we're not previewing the other, you know, G5, G6 leagues. So, like, you know, there's a JMU pop back up in there, a two-lane Army, Navy. You know, we kind of had that conversation a couple of years ago with the Army, Navy.
01:35:11
Justin Daulton
being very competitive and being both of them being undefeated going into an Army-Navy game. So, like, what does that look like? So, i mean, you know, ultimately, can they do it this year? For sure. I mean, Boise State can always beat Boise State every year in and year out, right?
01:35:25
Justin Daulton
You know, Fresno has had a potential and they've had really good success with the Carr brothers throughout their history and, you know, and they've been able to stay relevant outside of that. You know, we have San Diego State that we're going to talk about here in a little bit as well. Like, these are programs that have won football games, right?
01:35:41
Justin Daulton
Yeah, their out-of-conference schedule may not be – that may not help them, but they're going to be – they're all going to play each other. like, this conversation with the SEC beats each other up throughout the season, that actually pertains more to this Pac-12 setup. by like They're all going to beat each other up, and you're going to get the best team out of this conference every single year, potentially going into the playoffs.
01:36:03
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, absolutely. it's At some point, we will need to do playoff predictions, I think, because the that 12 seed is it's going to be very intriguing this year. Tulane loses their head coach.
01:36:17
Cody Atkinson
JMU loses their head coach. So the two teams that made it last year, i don't think you can necessarily expect to bounce right back. And so that's going to be wide open, just like it felt wide open last year because Boise State wasn't bringing Ashton Gentry back. And so at some point we'll need to do that because you could you could pick anybody in that spot. I think you could make it make sense.
01:36:41
Justin Daulton
Yeah, for sure. Maybe we'll throw that in. The SEC preview is the last preview we have on the docket before the regular season starts. So maybe maybe we'll throw it at the tail end of the SEC preview there and do some ah some CFP predictions.
01:36:47
Cody Atkinson
There
01:36:53
Justin Daulton
um
01:36:54
Cody Atkinson
you go.
01:36:54
Justin Daulton
Be fun to do throughout the season too, like every week, because we're going to record before the top 10 comes out or the CFP rankings.
01:37:01
Cody Atkinson
That's true. Potentially.
01:37:02
Justin Daulton
So maybe we do a ah weekend recap on that ideas for the future.
01:37:07
Cody Atkinson
We'll have to write that one down.
01:37:09
Justin Daulton
Yeah. Last topic like I have for you man, before we kind of get off of here for the night, um discussions around favorite sleeper and the potential bust in this conference. You wrote down the the three teams that I think that everyone's going talk about in this group because, unfortunately, I don't see a Colorado State being ultra competitive.
01:37:26
Justin Daulton
Washington the State and Oregon State both last year looked really bad for most of the season, so I don't see them taking a step towards that. being super competitive. Um, so I do think that this is a three team race, at least at the outset of the season.
01:37:39
Justin Daulton
Um, and that's going to be between Boise state, Fresno state and San Diego state. Um, I think, by the way, that we've been talking, Boise is the odds-on favorite to to win this conference and and be the team to be competitive.
01:37:48
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
01:37:52
Justin Daulton
I think we're going learn a lot about this Boise team on week one when they go to Eugene and play Oregon, because I think this is the year that they go to Eugene. So we're going to learn a lot about this team week one and what they're put what they able to do. You've already mentioned Maddox Madsen, someone that you know you and I have watched for the last three years play up there in Boise and really become – a pretty decent serviceable quarterback looks like someone that could be a really good backup in the NFL.
01:38:18
Justin Daulton
Um, maybe be a, a practice squad type of guy and work his way into a backup role in the NFL. Um, so it's gonna be very interesting to see that you also have names written down. You're two running backs, Dylan Riley and, and see your gains.
01:38:30
Justin Daulton
Um, two guys that have a potential of being thousand yard rushers in this conference um you can probably have two thousand yard rushers and these guys on this team alone so it's gonna be really interesting to kind of see what what this Boise team can do um going into it and can they get some weapons to work with Maddox on the offensive side can the defense hold up it's always been Boise's issues the the defense is a wet paper towel and
01:38:58
Justin Daulton
we're going to know a lot about this Boise State team come week one.
01:39:03
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, um i I mentioned last year felt like a down year for Boise State, just coming off of the loss of Ashton Gentry having to replace him. In that down year, they still won the Mountain West Conference, which is the conference that their biggest competitors are going coming from. So like they beat the likes of Fresno State and in San Diego State last year in what felt like.
01:39:24
Cody Atkinson
a down year. Um, I, I put the two running backs there because again, coming back to Ashton Gentile, like that's what they're going to have to replace. If they want to take it to the next level, they're bringing back their top two guys from last year who were very good or should only be getting better with time.
01:39:37
Cody Atkinson
Um, and you just feel good about the coach and the stability. Uh, I think Boise state has to be the favorite until, uh, until somebody else proves otherwise, right? Like somebody got to take them down their back-to-back conference champions and their biggest competition is coming from that same conference.
01:39:53
Justin Daulton
Yeah. I think the next two, you have sleeper and bust here. think both of these teams are interchangeable in this category of either one of them could be a sleeper pick and either one of them could be a bust through this season.
01:40:06
Justin Daulton
um You know, in San Diego State Fresno State. So I'll kind of let you run the conversation here on kind of where you feel like it's going to go. But to me, they both feel kind of interchangeable. You know, you have written down. Both of them went nine at four last season.
01:40:19
Justin Daulton
um Fresno goes 5-3 in the conference, where San Diego State goes 6-2 in conference play. So, like, both pretty much interchangeable. San Diego State will take the abuse some more, ah brings back some more people, as opposed to what Fresno has. So, it's it's interesting. I feel like they're almost interchangeable at this point.
01:40:39
Cody Atkinson
They definitely could be. i think that the the big thing about these teams is that these are two teams with with history on their side, right? They both have at least recent success. And they both have some historic success that they can point out to being a higher end G6 teams.
01:40:55
Cody Atkinson
um And you feel really good about the coaching staff. I think the San Diego State coach, if if Wisconsin had chosen to fire Luke Fickle last year, this coach is a Wisconsin grad. I think he was going to be up there for the Wisconsin job. If you look at Fresno State, their head coach made his name as a part of the North Dakota State dynasty. He went 16-11. and won two FCS championships at North Dakota State.
01:41:21
Cody Atkinson
The reason I have Fresno State as my sleeper is one, because I'm going to give the nod to their head coach. he um He has two FCS national championships, which I take a lot of stock in.
01:41:35
Cody Atkinson
Kurt Signetti came from us. like He was a guy that climbed through that path.
01:41:37
Justin Daulton
Mm-hmm.
01:41:40
Cody Atkinson
um Also, last year was his first year at Fresno State. He went 9-4 after they were coming off a 6-7 season the year before. So immediate success. of This is an ah offense that was predicated on running the ball. They brought back their three top running backs. So that's huge. They do have ton to replace. All of these teams have a ton to replace. If they didn't leave for the NFL, they left for the Power Four.
01:42:02
Cody Atkinson
That's just the world we live in. But of all the teams, Fresno returns – quite ah yeah I would say they they return they lost less than than a lot of the teams they're going up against. And and their coach just has the pedigree for producing defensive players. And so there's there's they I think both of these teams have to have two cornerbacks each that were stars that they have to replace. Yeah.
01:42:29
Cody Atkinson
and And I don't think either of them really went portal shopping. They believed in the replacements they have on hand. That's going to come that's goingnna be a big factor. um I'm just buying Fresno State because of the head coach largely.
01:42:41
Cody Atkinson
um Why I'm selling San Diego State, I have them as my bust, a team that a lot of people might pick to win it that's not going to. I have some numbers written down here, Justin. I have 256, 205, 124, 194, 132, 17, 81, 162.
01:42:57
Cody Atkinson
eighty one one sixty two do you want to take a stab at what that is?
01:43:02
Justin Daulton
Well, 162 is the amount of games in a baseball season.
01:43:04
Cody Atkinson
That's true. 81 would be the amount of home games for a baseball team.
01:43:08
Justin Daulton
Yeah, that's true. So i they're good at baseball?
01:43:12
Cody Atkinson
not so Not so much. Although I believe Steven Strasburg won here.
01:43:14
Justin Daulton
Oh, okay.
01:43:15
Cody Atkinson
So.
01:43:16
Justin Daulton
He did. He did, actually.
01:43:17
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, so fun fact for you there. This is the passing yards in conference games for San Diego State last year. You will see it starts out strong, 256-205, fine.
01:43:25
Justin Daulton
Disgusting.
01:43:30
Cody Atkinson
It's disgusting after that, as low as 17-81. I went into this expecting to pick San Diego State as my sleeper because I was really looking to see who they brought in at quarterback to turn this thing around.
01:43:41
Cody Atkinson
like This is a team... that ummo That was almost in the playoff discussion, despite having one of the worst quarterback performances i've ever seen. They are returning their quarterback. He is expected to be the starter again this year. That is massively disappointing for me.
01:43:56
Cody Atkinson
The biggest weakness on your team, you did not...
01:43:56
Justin Daulton
Peace.
01:43:58
Cody Atkinson
replace They also lost four offensive line starters, and they were decimated on defense. Their two best pass rushers went to the power four.
01:44:09
Cody Atkinson
I believe their two best quarterbacks went to the NFL. They had a linebacker and a safety go to Nebraska. um like These were big. A&M took one of the edge rushers, and Texas Tech took the other. like These were big portal guys that that garnered a lot of money.
01:44:23
Cody Atkinson
Nebraska took the other two and the other two went to the NFL. um I like the coach, like I said, pedigree. Absolutely. I like the skill positions, the running backs, the wide receivers. If you know much about me, you know, I know a lot about San Diego State because that was my first dynasty in in college football 25. So I'm actually familiar with these names. I won championships with them.
01:44:46
Cody Atkinson
Their skill positions are legit, um but but but they they lose a lot in in and what I think is the biggest disappointment. They do not upgrade at the quarterback position, and that's why I think you see fall off from them this year.
01:45:00
Justin Daulton
that's fair I really want to go back and watch this game where 17 passing yards is what happens like I want to know what happened in that football like game Yeah, I want to watch that game.
01:45:06
Cody Atkinson
You want to watch that? Yeah.
01:45:09
Justin Daulton
I need to know what game that is so I can at least just go back and watch. Maybe highlights, but I need to know what happened in this whole game.
01:45:13
Cody Atkinson
listenson I'll check which game this was and I'll see if I can find a broad broadcast for you.
01:45:19
Justin Daulton
Yeah, i need I need to understand how that happened because I'm pretty confident that you and I can walk out onto a football field and get more than 17 passing yards.
01:45:28
Cody Atkinson
I could throw enough screen. i could I'm not going to be responsible for the yards, but like I could probably complete a couple screen passes and let the guy take it for 17.
01:45:31
Justin Daulton
That's what I'm saying.
01:45:34
Justin Daulton
No. yeah i can hit a couple i can' hit a couple slant passes maybe maybe get a little out route go action going but like i don't need to throw the ball 50 yards on the field correct oh yeah i'll have more than 17 yards i would guarantee that that i'd have more than 17 passing yards
01:45:37
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:45:41
Cody Atkinson
yeah ah this I'll be three for 30 with 12 interceptions, but I'll have gotten Assuming I was able to stand up after like 10 minutes of getting hit by whoever.
01:45:59
Justin Daulton
well hopefully we'd have offensive line that could protect us for more than five seconds so we get the little ball
01:46:00
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:46:04
Cody Atkinson
I mean, they lost four starters and they had an insane running attack. So the offensive line appears to have been very good last year.
01:46:12
Justin Daulton
Yeah. I'm going to probably lean to agree with you. i mean, the stats are the stats, right We talked about stats and logic here on this podcast a little bit, right? It definitely feels like that's the trend here, but I do feel like the Fresno State, San Diego State conversation can be interchangeable on just where they can fall. But until until we so get into their conference play and we really see them start going against each other, the odds on batting here it has to be Boise State and the Blue Tariff at this point in time.
01:46:40
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, it has to be. But the thing I'll say about the Pac-12 is I think it's going to be a lot of fun to watch the first season of this new look Pac-12. They have a broadcast deal. So you will be able to watch them, I believe, on the CW as well as maybe like USA Network or something like that.
01:46:53
Justin Daulton
Oh. Can
01:46:56
Cody Atkinson
I forget. which one you will be able to watch them nationally. And I would highly recommend tuning in. I think it's gonna be a lot of fun to watch these teams play. You just took the best of the mountain West and you just put them in their own little corner and you added two former PAC 12 teams and one of the better team, one of the the more up and coming teams in the Sunbelt.
01:47:17
Cody Atkinson
So there should not be a down week really.
01:47:18
Justin Daulton
can we can we officially say... No, there shouldn't be. But can we officially say that Pac-12 After their Dark is back?
01:47:26
Cody Atkinson
As long as they schedule it as such, like as long as they're giving us 9 p.m. games at 10 p.m. for you, then then we will say it's back. But I need to make sure that they actually scheduled that and they didn't rip us off.
01:47:37
Justin Daulton
Okay, if Pac-12 After Dark is back, going to be so excited for it to figure out how to watch them on a weekly basis.
01:47:38
Cody Atkinson
But yeah, if you give me Boise State, Fresno State at 9, then Pac-12 after dar is dark is back, absolutely.
01:47:48
Justin Daulton
but we're talking about you know We were talking about this this little small side tangent for everyone listening. like You and i were talking about Premier League Saturday morning. You know, you watching Everton, you watching Chelsea Saturday mornings, going into A&M, you know, probably two o'clock kick, maybe a noon kick in there some weeks, right? maybe we get a Maybe we get a primetime kick. Maybe we get a primetime kick in there are some weeks.
01:48:09
Justin Daulton
But then you for sure get primetime games at seven o'clock your time, eight o'clock my time. And then you're also getting Pac-12 after dark. Yeah. What a great day sports.
01:48:20
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, it just, it's gonna, it's gonna take you back in time and and we'll do that. We'll get that one day. Like there'll be one Saturday where we get that and then we'll be reminded that we're in our thirties and we have responsibilities and we won't be allowed to do that again.
01:48:34
Justin Daulton
the why the wives will look at us and like, you did what?
01:48:38
Cody Atkinson
<unk>ll They'll just be like, no, absolutely not. I think, all right, fine.
01:48:43
Justin Daulton
Fine. But we did it for one week and we relived our college days.
01:48:47
Cody Atkinson
That's right.
01:48:49
Justin Daulton
Well, that's all I got, man.
01:48:49
Cody Atkinson
I'm trying to...
01:48:50
Justin Daulton
Unless you have any other last thoughts on it before we kind of set to everyone up for next week.
01:48:52
Cody Atkinson
i' gonna I'm going to pull this one game for you so I can tell you the 17-yard passing game to watch.
01:48:59
Justin Daulton
Okay, you look at that. Let me tell everyone what we got going on next week.
01:49:01
Cody Atkinson
Oh, it's Boise State. San Diego versus Boise State last year.
01:49:04
Justin Daulton
oh
01:49:05
Cody Atkinson
There you go.
01:49:06
Justin Daulton
Perfect. Perfect. Yeah. If you can find me a broadcast of that or like maybe a YouTube compilation or whatever, i need to understand what happened in the game.
01:49:09
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:49:13
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I'll find it for you.
01:49:13
Justin Daulton
man Next week, we're taking a break from college football previews to bring in our official WWE correspondent, Michael Judd. to come in here and talk SummerSlam, which is the summer big of the big four. This is the this is the third big PLE of the year.
01:49:31
Justin Daulton
So we're bringing Judd back in to talk about the current state of affairs and kind of getting into the predictions. As we talked about before my vacation, Cody gets to make an attempt at reading names. So Cody, you cannot look at the match card until the night of.
01:49:44
Justin Daulton
That is the agreement I need you to make right now.
01:49:44
Cody Atkinson
I can promise you I won't. There is no risk that what whatsoever.
01:49:47
Justin Daulton
Perfect. So that'll be fun. um So that'll be fun. got call him this week to make sure that he's locked in for next week too, because he's in the thick of getting ready for Holland Hornets.
01:49:58
Justin Daulton
But he should be ready to go for us to talk next week. And then after that, it is all football, basically up until September, that we'll come back with the Big 12 preview the following week after that, where we get to talk about Cody's favorite football program and all of it.
01:50:13
Justin Daulton
and all college football. And that is the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Once again, they will dominate this podcast conversation once again.
01:50:19
Cody Atkinson
Dude, it's just going to be an hour and a half of me calling them overrated.
01:50:24
Justin Daulton
But that's what we got coming up for you guys in the next couple of weeks. Obviously we'll get into more of the college football and then round out at the end of the, at the end of August, where we start getting into, and it's really fun to say this NFL preview, the Houston Texans, if you did not know Cody are 10 days away from reporting the training camp.
01:50:41
Cody Atkinson
There you go.
01:50:42
Justin Daulton
So very excited. i I'm excited to see if Tankdale pops up at training camp. Excited to see how he looks, if he's going to be ready for a training camp, if he's to ready for preseason day one. um Where is Tankdale? Where is the offensive line? Braden Smith apparently is supposed to be cleared for action for for a training camp.
01:51:00
Justin Daulton
So that's exciting for him coming off of his surgery at the end of the season last year. so So small news coming out of the Texas camp as we edge closer and closer to – the Texans coming back into to relevance here on this podcast.
01:51:13
Cody Atkinson
it We'll be able to start firing off preseason takes in less than a month. That's pretty big time right there.
01:51:18
Justin Daulton
Correct. Yeah, we're back in football, man. we're we're We're done with the list videos. We are we are here. we're We're locked in on college football and then soon to be NFL previews.
01:51:29
Justin Daulton
And by the time that we wrap up these previews, we'll be in the thick of of major headlines from college football and NFL football and maybe some Premier League headlines as both of us try to navigate our way back into some Premier League action in this fall.
01:51:38
Cody Atkinson
Maybe.
01:51:43
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, that's all I got for him, man. We got a lot coming up, but it is it's getting late for both of us. So I think i think we we go ahead and wrap this up here.
01:51:50
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:51:52
Cody Atkinson
if you
01:51:52
Justin Daulton
Let's do it, man. Let's get out of here.
01:51:53
Cody Atkinson
If you're still listening, thanks for hanging in in with us this long. Get stoked for the Big 12, ACC, Big 10, SEC. Let us know how you like the format, if there's anything else you want us to include. um Let us know if we're stupid and you think that we got all of our our our picks wrong.
01:52:07
Cody Atkinson
Let us know what yours are. um Other than that, thanks for thanks for hanging out with us.
01:52:08
Justin Daulton
I'm
01:52:11
Cody Atkinson
We'll catch you next time. I'm Cody.
01:52:13
Justin Daulton
Justin.
01:52:14
Cody Atkinson
Peace.
01:52:15
Justin Daulton
Peace.