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Episode 41 - Are Juiced Balls Worse Than Steroids?
28 Plays8 months ago
With Zach too busy for a normal episode, Josh and Mac overreact about the first two weeks of the 2025 baseballs season while touching upon:
-Torpedo bats and cheating in baseball
-The Yankees
-Mac's Mariners World Series prediction
-Josh's Reds
-Fanatics ads
-Vlad Jr's new contract
-(Bonus) Alex Ovechkin all-time goals record
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Overreactions in Baseball
00:00:02
Zach Hecht
Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of Championship or Bust. And this week we are going to be just overreacting about everything in baseball. Unfortunately, we are missing the biggest overreactor of all.
00:00:17
Zach Hecht
Zachy is not with us this week. But Josh and Mac are here to talk about everything baseball for the first two weeks of the season.
Yankees' Torpedo Bats Controversy
00:00:24
Zach Hecht
And I think it is only appropriate to jump right into the torpedo bat situation if we're going to talk about overreactions.
00:00:30
Mac
Volpedo!
00:00:32
Zach Hecht
Pofito, that name has to go immediately.
00:00:35
Mac
It does.
00:00:36
Zach Hecht
I cannot believe somebody said it out loud and nobody went, no, no, no, no no don no no don't don't say that, don't say that.
00:00:41
Mac
You can't do this.
00:00:43
Zach Hecht
Absolutely not. But, I mean, this is kind of crazy. This whole thing just turns around in the first three games of the season because the Yankees had a couple home runs.
00:00:57
Zach Hecht
I mean, not a couple. I mean, they had ah they hit a ton of home runs. But there's only like four or five guys actually using in the lineup. And the guy who hit the most home runs, Judge, is not using it.
00:01:07
Mac
Yup. Because it does give me to.
00:01:09
Zach Hecht
so No, he doesn't need to. And he said he doesn't need to. Why why you know why stop a good thing? But dude, this whole thing is crazy. I mean, they're not the only team using them.
Cheating Accusations and Juiced Balls Theories
00:01:20
Zach Hecht
and they're And they're legal. But of course, you know the Yankees hit, what, eight home runs in that second game? So every single content creator and their mother was was putting out a video...
00:01:31
Zach Hecht
clickbaiting it with the Yankees are cheating. The Yankees are doing something illegal just to, you know, stir people up. And then every, you know, moron is reading this and then just regurgitating it in somebody else's comment section of, well, the Yankees are doing something illegal. They're always cheating. No, the Yankees are cheating. The Yankees are cheating.
00:01:45
Zach Hecht
It's like, no, they're not. You need to read, sir.
00:01:48
Mac
It's Astros fans crying about the whole sign-sealing situation, and they're trying to take it out and try to lump a team in with them. But you see the rules. The rules are as clear as day.
00:01:59
Mac
It's based on certain length and certain width. I was going to say a different word, but decided not so but it comes down to. it When it comes down to it, it doesn't say anything about where the furthest part of the bat has to be.
00:02:13
Mac
And even so, they went to the commissioner, Mr. Manfred, who we'll talk about later. Don't worry. I have something on that, on this topic.
00:02:20
Zach Hecht
Oh, boy.
00:02:21
Mac
Mr. Manfred was like, yeah, sure. You can do that. No problem. So this isn't like...
00:02:27
Zach Hecht
Yeah, seriously. Every one of these bats had to be checked out by the league before the games.
00:02:34
Mac
There's no plausible deniability here.
00:02:35
Zach Hecht
find that the bats don't pass.
00:02:38
Mac
Yeah. Yeah. It makes no sense that yeah the complaints here and offense is good. It had shades that first couple games. And I was at that second game, Max Reed's first start where they hit the nine home runs.
00:02:51
Mac
It was fun. I don't remember going to a baseball game where I had that good
Debate on Equipment Legality and Impact
00:02:55
Mac
of a time. And it wasn't just because the Yankees were dominating. You know, it was just, it was just fun. Home runs are fun.
00:03:02
Mac
And that's how it's supposed to be. We need baseball like that again.
00:03:06
Zach Hecht
Well, my question to you is, do we think the balls are juiced again?
00:03:11
Mac
I was actually going to ask you a similar question. i I'm not sure. I need, I think, a little more time to judge it. Part of me is not so good.
00:03:20
Zach Hecht
i don't... Oh, ahead. Sorry.
00:03:23
Mac
Conspiracy Mac sometimes thinks that the balls might be juiced for certain people.
00:03:30
Zach Hecht
Oh, you think they're giving the pitcher a ball only against certain batters?
00:03:34
Mac
I mean, it seemed a little convenient that Albert Pujols magically went on this tear at the end of his last season to get the 700 home runs. so It's a little oddly coincident that let's show Hayotani reached that 50-50 club when it didn't look like he was going to be quite on pace for it.
00:03:50
Mac
Aaron Judge was struggling to hit home runs 61 and 62 a couple years ago, and then magically it happens. I don't know. I'm just thinking here, I'm completely talking out of my butt and I get it, but it just seems oddly coincidental that when hitting milestones are close, they they tend to happen even if it may not look like they're going to get quite there.
00:04:11
Zach Hecht
I can kind of say that. But also, at the same time, great players are going to do great things.
00:04:18
Mac
Oh, 100%. I'm not saying all the situations, but all three of them, you know if it was one, I'd maybe believe it.
00:04:23
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:04:26
Zach Hecht
There have been just a couple of instances of home runs early on in this season, being as though we're, you know, 10 to 15 games in right now.
00:04:26
Mac
but open
00:04:37
Zach Hecht
There have been some bowls hit that have gone out for home runs. That I've been like, really? he He hit it that hard?
00:04:44
Mac
yeah
00:04:46
Zach Hecht
I mean, that one walk-off home run Otani hit couple nights ago. He barely swung at a pitch a foot outside. And that thing rocketed out to left center field. but
00:04:59
Mac
And notice the player who did it.
00:05:02
Mac
yeah
00:05:02
Zach Hecht
Alonzo hit a home run a couple days ago.
00:05:04
Zach Hecht
I mean, he swung at a slider in the dirt a foot off the plate. And it went out.
00:05:09
Mac
And neither one of those guys are confirmed to be using torpedo bats.
00:05:13
Zach Hecht
ah Correct. Neither of those guys are using torpedo bats.
00:05:15
Mac
At least that that we know of. But I feel like if they were, they'd be the first ones that would be talked about.
00:05:21
Zach Hecht
I don't think either of those guys would want to use a torpedo bat.
00:05:25
Mac
You don't.
00:05:25
Zach Hecht
No. I mean, I just, well you know, if you're Otani, I think it's a good thing. And I i don't think Alonzo's swing really yields to the need of a torpedo bat.
00:05:35
Mac
Yeah, I can see that. I mean, I have the list here of the guys who are confirmed using them from Yahoo Sports. It's a lot of like, you know solid starter level players. there's not a lot of superstars in here.
00:05:47
Mac
got Cody Bellinger, Alec Boehm, Junior Caminero, Jazz Chisholm, O'Neal Cruz. Ellie De La Cruz is probably the best player on here besides maybe Lindor. Goldschmidt, Nico Horner, Ryan Jeffers, Lindor, Adley Rutschman. That's an interesting one.
00:06:01
Mac
David Schneider, Dansby Swanson, Jose Trevino, Volpe, and Wells. So it's not exactly superstars for the most part. um
00:06:11
Mac
But that's...
00:06:11
Zach Hecht
Oh, but it's all guys that can get jammed inside.
00:06:13
Zach Hecht
And that's the point of the bat.
00:06:15
Mac
Right. I got to find the official rule on the bats. And I feel like that's the one that we got to discuss. um Yeah. Bats cannot exceed a certain inch in diameter and a certain inch in length.
00:06:28
Mac
But it says nothing about where that can be.
00:06:32
Mac
at all.
00:06:33
Zach Hecht
it' I think it's just one of those things where it's just been done this way for a long time and people are resistant to change and they're just going to, and I just don't like the Yankees. But honestly, I don't think it would have been such a big thing if every content creator wasn't out there trying to clickbait an article saying, you guys are cheating. You guys are cheating.
00:06:52
Zach Hecht
I mean, the guy that I hate the most the most, with a passion, is Justin Verlander's brother, Ben Verlander, who I think is the worst content
00:06:59
Mac
Oh, God. i
Enhancements and Integrity Concerns in Baseball
00:07:01
Zach Hecht
creator in MLB.
00:07:03
Zach Hecht
I cannot stand the guy. i mean, he his opinions are atrocious, and his knowledge of the game is even worse.
00:07:05
Mac
He's awful.
00:07:10
Zach Hecht
And he was one of the biggest guys going, you guys are cheating, you guys are cheating. And then 10 minutes of the video, he's like, they're not actually cheating. Ha ha ha. Just wanted to get you to watch this video.
00:07:19
Mac
I hate Ben Verlander almost as much as I hate Justin.
00:07:22
Zach Hecht
i I cannot stand Ben Verlander.
00:07:25
Mac
Here's the actual rule. Rule 302. Bats must be a smooth round and not more than 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest part or 42 inches in length. It must be one piece of solid wood.
00:07:38
Mac
So as long as the diameter at the thickest part is that much, doesn't matter where the thickest part is.
00:07:43
Mac
That's at least how it sounds to me.
00:07:43
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:07:44
Zach Hecht
i um Doesn't break a rule.
00:07:46
Mac
Yep. I don't think
00:07:47
Zach Hecht
and Everyone said, and I'm not against it either, that if the league decides it's a problem, they can change the rule.
00:07:58
Mac
Am i wrong for thinking that the juice balls are more of a problem than the torpedo bats?
00:08:04
Zach Hecht
Yes, because nobody knows if those are actually real or not.
00:08:08
Mac
Yeah, but you see it ebb and flow a lot. if If they are legit, and we've been talking about them for a couple years now, i oh we want more offense, oh we want more defense.
00:08:13
Zach Hecht
Well, that's because the league said,
00:08:17
Mac
How is that okay?
00:08:19
Zach Hecht
well, the league said, like, I forgot who was last think was last year. It was two years ago or three years ago where the league said, yeah, we were using two different balls. And everyone went, what do you mean you were using two different balls? And they were like, yeah, yeah, we were.
00:08:30
Mac
How is that
00:08:30
Zach Hecht
yeah And that was it. That was the end of the conversation. It just died there. And I remember listening to a lot of pitchers. And i think I think Verlander was one of them. And he was like, you could tell. You could tell which ball you were throwing. It felt different.
00:08:41
Zach Hecht
It flew different.
00:08:43
Mac
So how exactly is that different than Deflategate in the NFL? The fact that the the league is doing it and not the players?
00:08:49
Zach Hecht
Because the league is doing it and it's not one team.
00:08:52
Mac
But that's absurd. I think that's significantly worse than the Torpedo by at least with the Torpedo bat. Number one, it follows the rules. Number two, the players have the choice of what their preference is. yeah if they If they want the thick part lower, they have the thick part lower.
00:09:01
Zach Hecht
Well, you know...
00:09:05
Mac
It's clearly transparent. We can see the difference in the bats. I think that helps matters too. it It just feels dirty. Oh, 100%. It's definitely
00:09:15
Zach Hecht
I mean, we know from the whole of baseball that they're very hypocritical.
00:09:19
Mac
issue.
00:09:20
Zach Hecht
you know David Ortiz isn't a Hall of Fame, Barry Bonds is not.
00:09:21
Mac
definitely be first
00:09:23
Zach Hecht
So the league just does whatever they want. and they don't They're unapologetic about it.
00:09:26
Mac
Right, and I know we have differing opinions on that, but we agree on the fact that it's inconsistent at the very least.
00:09:33
Zach Hecht
Exactly.
00:09:33
Mac
And that's my big problem with it. I think the the bats are more consistent because the players can choose how they want it. And if other player if players choose not to have it, the players choose not to have it, which is almost why you could argue that steroids is less crooked than juice balls because the players can choose if they inject themselves with it.
00:09:56
Zach Hecht
no just just just no no
00:09:58
Mac
i want hear you a deal I don't actually believe that. I can make the argument. I can pull a Ben Worlander here. We can make that our clickbait title and have everybody watch.
00:10:09
Zach Hecht
oh yeah yeah absolutely that's definitely the clickbait title 100 lost your mind yeah everybody's gonna tune it in and watch it
00:10:12
Mac
Are torpedo bats worse than steroids? Are juice balls worse than steroids?
00:10:22
Mac
but at least then the player is choosing to cheat. The MLB is not, not the MLB, MLB is not choosing who to cheat for. It feels more integrity-filled when the player is cheating themselves.
00:10:30
Zach Hecht
and don i don't I also don't think that they were choosing the Chiefs for anybody. I think they just had a mix of balls when they were you know putting the balls in for the game and they got distributed it as they got distributed.
00:10:45
Zach Hecht
If a pitcher decided to throw the same ball 10 times in a row, so be it. If he decided that he didn't like it after two or three throws because it got a little fleck of dirt on it and that was their end to that ball, it's up to the pitcher.
00:10:58
Mac
but they When they came out and said that, did they say they were using it simultaneously or were they choosing it at different spurts?
00:11:03
Zach Hecht
They never said what exactly it was. They just said that, yes, there were some balls that were different than others.
00:11:09
Mac
Right. If the pitcher is choosing what ball to throw, I can live with that more.
00:11:14
Zach Hecht
Yeah, but he's not really choosing what, but he doesn't know what, what balls juiced and what's not.
00:11:15
Mac
it's all the questions you read,
00:11:20
Mac
Right, but if they choose the preference of their own throw, that's fine. But if they're using one type of ball for a month-long stretch and then they're using another ball for another month's stretch, how is that how is that consistent?
00:11:34
Zach Hecht
God knows, dude.
00:11:36
Mac
That's where I get lost.
00:11:38
Zach Hecht
But I mean, that's the thing is that, you know, you'll see a pitcher have a good month. You'll see a pitcher at a bad month. Maybe they change the balls.
00:11:45
Mac
but Exactly. That's why it's weird. You're messing with people's contracts at this point. It's got to be consistent one way or another.
00:11:51
Zach Hecht
I agree.
00:11:53
Mac
But that's where, i like again, the bats, the player can choose what they want. And they're sucking with it, that's on them.
00:12:00
Zach Hecht
So let me, so let me ask you a question. And this is a question I've i've been thinking about. If the players are allowed to use these torpedo bats to enhance their ability to hit the ball, why are pitchers not allowed to use sticky stuff?
00:12:16
Mac
ah Yeah. yeah I mean, listen, for a long time, they they got away with it, right? And um that's why for me, at what point do you just let everything go and let everybody play and see how it goes?
00:12:34
Mac
Let everybody pump up on roids.
00:12:34
Zach Hecht
I...
00:12:37
Mac
Let it screw what Congress thinks. No one cares. Let everybody load up on roids and You know, football is loaded with roids. UFC is loaded with roids. They don't go pressing into into their business, do they?
00:12:48
Mac
Let everyone be on roids. Let all the pitchers use sticky stuff. Let everyone choose what kind of bats they want and juice the balls to your fullest maximum capacity and have a great time. And let's see what superhuman bodies can do at their absolute top shape.
00:13:03
Zach Hecht
Honestly, i'm not against this. I'm actually not against this.
00:13:07
Mac
Yeah, it's, the, It's a sport that people watch. It's entertainment. Why are we so caring, you know putting sticks up where the sun don't shine for the sake of integrity?
00:13:21
Mac
Who cares? This is the same sport that wasn't allowing Jackie Robinson and people just as good as him in for over 100 years. We're that worried about integrity?
00:13:34
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:13:35
Mac
like At what point? but The game's been hypocritical since its inception.
00:13:40
Zach Hecht
this true?
00:13:41
Mac
So let's see what superhuman bodies can do. Let every hitter choose that they want to take Roy's. Let every pitcher choose that they want to take sticky stuff. That's as fair as you're going to get. It's equally unfair for every single player in the league and every single team in the league.
00:13:55
Mac
So by default, it's fair. Let's play ball.
00:13:58
Zach Hecht
agree. Do it.
Critique of Yankees' and Other Teams' Performances
00:13:59
Zach Hecht
just Just let everybody do whatever they want.
00:14:01
Mac
Right. And then we don't have these stupid conversations anymore.
00:14:04
Zach Hecht
I just think it's still funny to me that they had all these conversations about this torpedo bat, and then you know the Yankees scored 20-whatever runs in the first you know three games of the season, and then they've scored like six in the next five.
00:14:18
Mac
Yep.
00:14:18
Zach Hecht
And then nobody now nobody cares anymore.
00:14:20
Mac
Did it ever occur to you guys that the Brewers just stink?
00:14:20
Zach Hecht
It's old news.
00:14:24
Mac
And that Nesta Cortez just stinks?
00:14:26
Zach Hecht
And the Brewers and the Yankees, before the Yankees win this afternoon, had the exact same record.
00:14:33
Mac
Yep.
00:14:34
Zach Hecht
Six and five.
00:14:35
Mac
what
00:14:38
Mac
But the pitching is suspect.
00:14:41
Zach Hecht
Oh, the Yankees pitching is atrocious.
00:14:42
Mac
Both guys. Or both guys.
00:14:47
Zach Hecht
I mean, I think that's a good segue into the Yankees. ah I hate it. I hate it. Their pitching is so bad. i It hurts my it hurts my head.
00:15:02
Mac
I think Freed's been all right.
00:15:04
Zach Hecht
I think Freed's first few starts were not very good. I think his start today was fantastic, but his first few starts were not very good.
00:15:09
Mac
lawyer
00:15:12
Mac
So, I mean, he has a 1.56 ERA on the season, and seeing him in that first start against Milwaukee, that game where the Yankees were killing it in, he gave up a lot. His control was off.
00:15:23
Mac
For sure. Could have been nerves.
00:15:24
Zach Hecht
He did not have it.
00:15:25
Mac
Could have been anything. i I walked out of there. I walked in there for Max Reed. I left there, obviously, for the hitting. But I think he's one that will you keep it together and figure it out.
00:15:39
Mac
Are you pushing the panic button on Devin Williams yet?
00:15:45
Zach Hecht
I would not say I am pushing the panic button yet. However, I am concerned.
00:15:52
Mac
Yeah.
00:15:52
Zach Hecht
He has never been the guy that goes out there and sits three guys down and that's it.
00:15:59
Mac
Right.
00:15:59
Zach Hecht
But he's also never been Clay Holmes, which is what I'm seeing, where he just cannot...
00:16:03
Mac
Yeah.
00:16:08
Zach Hecht
he He can't control that change-up pitch that he throws, the airbender. And guys are just not swinging at it. And then they're waiting on the fastball.
00:16:19
Zach Hecht
And his fastball is nothing special.
00:16:22
Mac
That's the thing. like I mean, I'm not hitting the panic mode button yet either, and I think a lot of people are kind of prematurely, but that's the name of the game of closers. Most of them, you know you're you're not having Mariano Rivera. You're not having Braves' Craig Kimbrell.
00:16:36
Mac
Most of these guys have a really, really good year or two, and then they have a year that's really rough, and then they either figure it out or they're done. Devin Williams has been a guy who's figured it out.
00:16:48
Mac
I have faith that he'll figure it out again. But I think we're going to be in for a rough month or two at the very least. And then hopefully turns it around around the All-Star break.
00:16:59
Mac
But they're adjusting.
00:17:00
Zach Hecht
Yeah, I mean, know, it could be the Yankees. so I've never played on Yankees before, so I don't know how to throw anymore kind of thing. I mean, the guy, he barely played last year because he was hurt.
00:17:15
Mac
Right.
00:17:15
Zach Hecht
But I don't know. I mean, at some point, you got to got hit the plate.
00:17:19
Mac
get people out.
00:17:20
Zach Hecht
You got to hit the plate.
00:17:20
Mac
Yeah. That too.
00:17:21
Zach Hecht
You know, you can't walk guys around the base and then throw a fastball right down the middle. And I think it got overlooked the other night um in the extra innings when there was the ghost runner. But he looked bad. He looked bad really bad.
00:17:36
Mac
Yeah.
00:17:36
Zach Hecht
And when they when the Tigers won the game, I mean, he just grew the fastball down the middle and that ball... you know, pulled in on the warning track and I was like, well, oh you know, the foregone conclusion, you're to lose that game. So yeah, it was, but, uh, you know, you got to go out there and put something better than that out or Luke Weaver is going to be the closer real fast.
00:17:54
Mac
Right. But then you have like Rodan. And obviously like we know what Rodan is.
00:17:59
Zach Hecht
Still sucks.
00:18:00
Mac
When he's good, he's good. When he's bad, he's bad. And it's been the latter. You know, 519 ERA. It's been rough. he He played like crap the other night. And, you know, Will Warren. I can't stand the fact that he's even still on this team.
00:18:12
Mac
And Cookie Carrasco. Don't even get me started. i know it's the...
00:18:16
Zach Hecht
I feel better about Warren. I feel because he's still young and he's still a prospect. But the way, I can't stand the way Boone talks about him. but He talks about everybody like that. Where I go, he's so great and he's doing better. It's like, he's doing better.
00:18:26
Zach Hecht
You have 10 runs. What do you mean he's doing better?
00:18:28
Mac
Yep. Did he give up a loan last time to him?
00:18:30
Zach Hecht
Like, just just don't say anything. Like, I hate that.
00:18:33
Mac
Yeah.
00:18:33
Zach Hecht
But Carrasco sucks. Like, there's a reason why nobody wanted him.
00:18:36
Mac
Yep. And he's like 55 years old.
00:18:39
Zach Hecht
Yeah, his career is over, dude.
00:18:42
Mac
I could not believe that he made the team loan starting rotation, but i and that's the problem.
00:18:46
Zach Hecht
Who else is there to play? i mean, when when Clark Schmidt is back in a week, hopefully Carrasco will be immediately DFA'd. And it's either his decision to retire, which he probably will.
00:18:58
Mac
Yeah, but you were right. Trevor Bauer, give it a shot. How worse can it get?
00:19:06
Zach Hecht
I mean, yeah, because who else are you going to get?
00:19:11
Mac
Exactly.
00:19:12
Zach Hecht
i and honestly...
00:19:13
Mac
I mean, i mean i think that you have a shot to get Alcantara, but what are we giving up to get him?
00:19:21
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:19:22
Mac
And the Marlins are claiming that Alcantara is not available. I don't believe that for a minute. I think he'll be gone well before.
00:19:26
Zach Hecht
Oh, he's hurt again.
00:19:28
Mac
and He's on paternity leave.
00:19:30
Zach Hecht
Oh, sorry. paternity live
00:19:31
Mac
Yeah, so he...
00:19:32
Zach Hecht
I just saw that he was not on the roster.
00:19:35
Mac
Yeah, I was supposed to be seeing him ah ah yesterday, but you know he had a kid. It's all right. I forgive you, Sandy.
00:19:43
Zach Hecht
ah yeah
00:19:43
Mac
I'll see you next time. Congratulations.
00:19:45
Zach Hecht
But, the I mean, listen, we can talk about throwing a panic on Devin Williams, but you want to talk about a guy who that really should be panicking on? It's Class A.
00:19:56
Mac
How bad has he been? I haven't gotten to watch a lot of Guardians yet.
00:19:59
Zach Hecht
ah Six and a third inning, five runs, four earned.
00:20:02
Mac
Mariano Rivera for you.
00:20:04
Zach Hecht
thats That's not great. That is not great.
00:20:07
Mac
Well, they're playing the White Sox right now. It's 2-1, so we might get a safe situation there. That might be an MLB TV kind of game. Watch the White Sox. Said no one ever.
00:20:16
Zach Hecht
Yeah. I mean, he got lucky that the one game it really got smacked, gave up two runs and in the inning, was a game that they put him in, in the ninth, with a four-run lead.
00:20:29
Zach Hecht
So it wasn't even a save situation.
00:20:31
Mac
Right. Two saves in like 15 games. How? What we like 10-15 games in?
00:20:40
Zach Hecht
He's only appeared in seven games, and he's only finished one. He's only finished one game.
00:20:47
Mac
Ew.
00:20:48
Zach Hecht
i Is that true?
00:20:51
Mac
That can't be right.
00:20:52
Zach Hecht
that's That stat doesn't seem correct. I'm looking at his stats game to game, and it says that he's finished three games, but then I look at his...
00:20:56
Mac
I'll check this out.
00:21:01
Zach Hecht
Oh, that's spring training stats. Oh, that's why I'm looking at the wrong fucking thing. I'm an idiot. Sorry.
00:21:05
Mac
ah
00:21:06
Zach Hecht
All right, never mind. Let's talk about his actual stats. He has... Oh, it's actually...
00:21:09
Mac
yeah
00:21:10
Zach Hecht
Shut up.
00:21:10
Mac
you love it to play
00:21:10
Zach Hecht
It's actually it's actually not much better. It's five innings given, them three runs, three earned.
00:21:15
Mac
Yeah, not good.
00:21:17
Zach Hecht
He's got no saves. Zero.
00:21:21
Mac
Wow.
00:21:22
Zach Hecht
He has a negative.1 war.
00:21:25
Mac
So say closers.
00:21:26
Zach Hecht
He's 2-0. He's 2-0 somehow.
00:21:29
Mac
Because probably he gives he blows the save.
00:21:30
Zach Hecht
but
00:21:33
Mac
and then the team comes back and wins in the ninth.
00:21:36
Zach Hecht
ah He got a win in a 1-0 game. And he got a win...
00:21:41
Mac
ah <unk> Came in the ninth, finished the game, and they probably wanted to walk off.
00:21:46
Zach Hecht
I don't know a BW stands for.
00:21:50
Mac
BW.
00:21:53
Zach Hecht
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what that stands for.
00:21:55
Mac
Blown wind.
00:22:00
Zach Hecht
I don't know. He came in the ninth inning
00:22:05
Mac
B-Dubble.
00:22:05
Zach Hecht
and ah and a 10-inning game.
00:22:08
Mac
That's interesting.
00:22:08
Zach Hecht
i don't know what that means.
00:22:10
Mac
Yeah, I have no idea either.
00:22:14
Mac
I have no idea.
00:22:20
Zach Hecht
Okay, well, baseball reference, you're doing a great job, guys. I appreciate it.
00:22:24
Mac
What it means.
00:22:24
Zach Hecht
coming out Coming out with things that these these things say and then not letting me know what this means.
00:22:30
Mac
What it means. so
00:22:31
Zach Hecht
and i'm And I'm looking at their explanation. I still don't get it. I understand that W is a win. I do understand that. But what does the B say? Couldn't tell you.
00:22:42
Mac
Blown win. I guess maybe that's a blown save.
00:22:46
Zach Hecht
You know what? It's possible that it was that he blew the game in the ninth inning and then the team scored in the 10th and he was still technically the pitcher and got a W. That's possible.
00:22:56
Mac
Interesting.
00:22:58
Zach Hecht
It's an atrocious way of representing it.
00:23:00
Mac
Yeah, blown save and win. Oh, so he blew the save and got the win.
00:23:04
Zach Hecht
That's an atrocious way of representing it, but
00:23:05
Mac
ah sure I just checked the game log. Blown save win.
00:23:08
Zach Hecht
Yeah, ah you know what? That's awful. It should say BS, W and not BW. Awful. Absolutely atrocious.
00:23:15
Mac
Yeah,
00:23:15
Zach Hecht
Fix your website. Do they have tickets? can put in a ticket. feel like i'm back at work.
00:23:21
Mac
you can. They have him.
00:23:23
Zach Hecht
Do they actually?
00:23:24
Mac
I'll do because I have a stat head.
00:23:26
Zach Hecht
Oh, because you have the account. yeah i don't have an account, so I can't make a ticket. But you should do that. You should let them know. should let them know that Championship or Bust podcast wants everybody to know that BW not appropriate.
00:23:30
Mac
i
00:23:37
Mac
We love you guys. Please sponsor us.
00:23:39
Zach Hecht
Yeah. That was the first game of the season, too.
00:23:42
Mac
Yep. Yikes.
00:23:44
Zach Hecht
Oof. Atrocious.
00:23:47
Mac
Good start, Emmanuel.
00:23:49
Zach Hecht
I'm looking at it, says DR. I'm like, what does that mean? Days rest. It just says 99. I'm like, what the heck? because the first game of the season.
00:23:54
Mac
Yeah, I guess so. This is probably the highest you could do.
00:23:57
Zach Hecht
Yeah, that that's the limit of the number.
00:24:00
Mac
i like that set, actually. That's good to know.
00:24:04
Zach Hecht
Ridiculous.
00:24:05
Mac
okay look
00:24:06
Zach Hecht
Absolutely ridiculous. Alright, so how about, unless you have anything else to say here, let's talk about the rest of the league and how things are, so you know, falling out so far.
00:24:18
Mac
Right.
00:24:21
Mac
I mean, so far, I mean, it's early on, so it is overreaction time.
00:24:25
Mac
Baltimore Orioles, man. Five and eight. What's up?
00:24:25
Zach Hecht
Yes.
00:24:30
Zach Hecht
ah There, you know, we talked about in the beginning of the season, before season started, their pitching is not very good. And as it turns out, Neither is there hitting.
00:24:40
Mac
Right.
00:24:41
Zach Hecht
Man, I was thrilled that I drafted Adley Rutchman to my fantasy team when he hit two home runs in the first game. I think he's only got about three hits since then.
00:24:52
Mac
Yeah, and big here's someone who I want to overreact on because you gave me a perfect one here, and I probably should with this.
00:24:53
Zach Hecht
Atrocious.
00:24:57
Zach Hecht
Jackson Holloway?
00:24:59
Mac
Austin Riley, did you forget how to play baseball? They clearly aren't juicing the balls for him because I don't know what the story is with him.
00:25:03
Zach Hecht
I forgot he existed until he said that.
00:25:09
Mac
It's brutal.
00:25:09
Zach Hecht
ah overrated. Overrated.
00:25:13
Mac
It's been absolutely – I expected so much better. One of my worst fantasy picks so far to date.
00:25:19
Zach Hecht
I mean, you just drafted all of the Braves, and the Braves are 2-8, so they're problems.
00:25:22
Mac
Yeah, it shows you how I sold my stock at the right time.
00:25:27
Zach Hecht
ah Yeah.
00:25:27
Mac
I bought into it in my free fantasy baseball league, and I'm paying for it now.
00:25:32
Zach Hecht
I just, I mean, I know the Braves had a rough schedule to start the season, but man, are they bad, dude.
00:25:38
Mac
What's the story? I mean, like, everybody's pretty healthy aside from Strider and Ronaldo Lopez. They lost him, and he's probably out a while. Yeah.
00:25:46
Zach Hecht
Well, yeah, I mean, they're just not the same team they were. They're not the same team without Acuna. They, for some reason, can no longer hit the ball.
00:25:57
Mac
Riley has 16 strikeouts in 10 games. The 175 batting average and a 55 OPS plus.
00:26:03
Zach Hecht
Yeah, it's pretty bad. It was pretty bad.
00:26:04
Mac
That's bad. Downright bad. What is going on? That's my overreaction view, Austin Riley.
00:26:11
Zach Hecht
i You know what? I don't even think that's an overreaction. I think that's appropriate reaction.
00:26:15
Mac
i'm I'm worried. That's not good.
00:26:18
Zach Hecht
and I would be. I mean, dude, look at these guys' batting averages. I mean, it's it's awful.
00:26:28
Mac
I'm really surprised, though, that you didn't start with your hometown team.
00:26:35
Zach Hecht
Oh, my God.
00:26:36
Mac
I'm surprised you didn't start there. It's over here.
00:26:38
Zach Hecht
I don't know.
00:26:38
Mac
Yeah.
00:26:40
Zach Hecht
i hate you calling my hometown team. I don't know how to how to think about the Reds, honestly.
00:26:43
Mac
yeah i'll tell him nothing if
00:26:44
Zach Hecht
I really i really don't.
00:26:49
Zach Hecht
Like, I just don't, I don't get it.
00:26:50
Mac
year
00:26:54
Zach Hecht
How, how these guys, the first teams is 1960 to lose three games in a row, one to nothing. Right.
00:27:02
Mac
That's brutal, man.
00:27:04
Zach Hecht
And then, and then they go out to San Francisco against a team with one loss and then shut them out two games in a row.
00:27:14
Mac
So there's all.
00:27:15
Zach Hecht
And let me just say, I cannot believe Terry Francona pulled Hunter Green and at eight and two-thirds innings. Eight and two-thirds, shutout innings.
00:27:21
Mac
He had.
00:27:23
Mac
he had He had two on He couldn't find the plate after that. I had that game on. It was it was getting rough. It was.
00:27:28
Zach Hecht
Damn it, blow the game, let him finish it.
00:27:31
Mac
It was the right time to pull him.
00:27:32
Zach Hecht
No, it's not.
00:27:33
Mac
last The last thing is to dash that kid's confidence.
00:27:33
Zach Hecht
You let him finish that game. It is his game to lose.
00:27:38
Mac
If he blew that, all of a sudden it goes from a a great start, an amazing start, to a rough one.
00:27:45
Zach Hecht
yeah
00:27:46
Mac
Like three runs, but yeah, he gave them all up when it mattered. if that was That would have been the narrative.
00:27:52
Zach Hecht
I guess.
00:27:53
Mac
don't know how he would have reacted.
00:27:55
Zach Hecht
I don't know.
00:27:57
Zach Hecht
They're just a wild team, and i don't know. what When we talked about the team a month ago, I was like, this team has great hitting, and their pitching is going to be a problem, and it turns out it's the exact opposite.
00:28:12
Mac
yeah
00:28:13
Zach Hecht
Their hitting is is atrocious. McClain is hurt. Again, made of glass. What a world. And the only but guy that can swing a bat on that team seems to be De La Cruz.
00:28:23
Zach Hecht
And he ain't exactly swinging it either.
00:28:26
Mac
How's he even doing? Because sort of hit a moonshot, but that's one...
00:28:29
Zach Hecht
ah Yeah, he hits a moonshot or he strikes out. the guy The guy's the fastest player in baseball on he and he can't just hit the contact.
00:28:40
Zach Hecht
I mean, that's all you gotta to do. Hit the contact.
00:28:44
Mac
did.
00:28:46
Zach Hecht
I just, I don't, you know, all the guys last year that did that did pretty well, um you know, Steer and Fraley Friedel, you know, I mean, those guys were in and out of injury, but they hit, and this year nobody's hitting.
00:29:06
Zach Hecht
Taylor Cruz, by the way, is hitting.234. He has two home runs, and I'm pretty sure he hit both of those in the same game, if I remember correctly. like
00:29:12
Mac
um believe he did
00:29:13
Zach Hecht
He has 10 RBIs, and I'm like 90% sure he had 7 in that one game.
00:29:18
Mac
Let's see.
00:29:18
Zach Hecht
which means Which means that in the remaining 11 games, he has 3 RBIs.
00:29:24
Mac
Ellie... Yeah, I'll pull
00:29:25
Zach Hecht
Oof.
00:29:30
Mac
yeah i'll pull that up. Let's see.
00:29:32
Zach Hecht
it's It's bad. it's It's really bad.
00:29:39
Zach Hecht
But... I don't know, dude. National League Central is is is interesting. Cardinals started off like three or four and now and then have just plummeted. 5-7.
00:29:50
Mac
I have an NL take for you.
00:29:53
Zach Hecht
NL Central or NL in general?
00:29:55
Mac
NL in general.
00:29:56
Zach Hecht
Okay, hit me.
00:29:58
Mac
Eugenio Suarez.
00:30:01
Zach Hecht
Yes.
00:30:01
Mac
he's having He's been having some solid resurgence the last couple of years.
00:30:05
Zach Hecht
Yeah, he has.
00:30:05
Mac
No one's going to notice. 30 home run, 100 run batted in season. He's got five home runs already. He's leading the NL with Kyle Schwarber and a few others. Could there be a ah whisper of some early season MVP case?
00:30:23
Zach Hecht
I wouldn't go that far.
00:30:24
Mac
it's It's overreaction April.
00:30:26
Zach Hecht
It's overreaction. Have you looked at his at have you looked as average?
00:30:29
Mac
He's hitting 150.
00:30:31
Mac
But that's not a service.
00:30:31
Zach Hecht
Hitting 150.
00:30:31
Zach Hecht
He's
00:30:32
Mac
Look at his OPS+, plus man. 134 OPS+.
00:30:35
Zach Hecht
hitting 150. He has one hit in his last six games.
00:30:38
Mac
That's fine. If it goes if he hits 50 dingers, it could happen.
00:30:44
Zach Hecht
He's hitting 150.
00:30:46
Mac
With a 134 OPS+. is as high as his batting average. But nobody cares. No one cares about batting average anymore. All the nerds might flock to him.
00:30:56
Zach Hecht
Listen, there's difference between not caring about batting average and then there's hitting 150.
00:31:02
Zach Hecht
Listen, now i mean I mean, come on. well Jesus. i Listen, Zach's not here, so I don't want to hear it about batting averages like that. But, like, ah I said it last year about Lador. Like, I'm not going to vote.
00:31:14
Zach Hecht
I'm not going MVP votes for a guy hitting 250. I'm not giving shit to a guy hitting 150. Are you kidding me?
00:31:19
Mac
But it's early in the season. I'm not overreacting to the negative batting average. I'm overreacting to the amount of home runs. He has six hits and five of them have left the yard.
00:31:31
Mac
So if we go in theory, right, let's say he gets 100 hits.
00:31:33
Zach Hecht
That's awful.
00:31:36
Zach Hecht
Oh my God.
00:31:38
Mac
He might break bonds his record.
00:31:39
Zach Hecht
Yeah. ah Is this, is this what they call girl math? this that Is that what we're doing here?
00:31:47
Mac
I'm just thinking. I'm just thinking. That could be a possibility. If he starts hitting the ball and not putting it in the yard, he's hitting home runs 83% of the time.
00:31:56
Zach Hecht
right.
00:31:56
Mac
So last year had 146 hits.
00:31:56
Zach Hecht
Yeah. So, so we have, yeah, so we have, we have girl math and we have baseball math. Is it that, is that what we're going to call it?
00:32:03
Mac
So by that logic, if he hits the same amount of hits he had last year,
00:32:06
Zach Hecht
ah What a logic. There's no logic behind this.
00:32:09
Mac
he would have 122 home runs if he kept that percentage. Sabermetrics for
Marketing Mishaps and Attendance Issues
00:32:15
Mac
Mac.
00:32:15
Zach Hecht
Yeah, and and and after the season ends and Dimex win the World Series, there's a pig that's going fly right across the stadium.
00:32:22
Mac
Well, you said the Diamondbacks could win the World Series. Didn't you pick them?
00:32:24
Zach Hecht
I did. I'm regretting my choice. They're not even going to make the playoffs.
00:32:28
Mac
I told you. But speaking of teams that aren't going to make the playoffs, not like I'm any better, the Seattle Mariners.
00:32:33
Zach Hecht
I,
00:32:35
Mac
What the hell was I doing?
00:32:36
Zach Hecht
ah yeah, i I told you that, you were and you were losing your mind. None
00:32:42
Mac
Man, I mean, Luis Castillo is pitching well. You got to give me that.
00:32:45
Zach Hecht
of them on the team are pitching poorly. They still can't hit.
00:32:50
Mac
just can't hit.
00:32:51
Zach Hecht
J-Rod might be the ah almost most overhighest prospect ever after one season because now he's terrible.
00:32:58
Mac
Yeah.
00:32:58
Zach Hecht
And they still talk about him like he's good.
00:33:00
Mac
He had two...
00:33:01
Zach Hecht
I don't think he is. I think this might be it.
00:33:05
Zach Hecht
It's starting to get to the point of time where it's like, I i don't know if he's got anything else.
00:33:10
Mac
It's rough. He had two solid... I guess he's a season and a half of solid play. I think he has a top five MVP finish and two top tens from those two seasons. And then after that, it's just been...
00:33:24
Mac
Complete drop.
00:33:25
Zach Hecht
he has one he has He had won Rookie of the Year with a top-seven MVP finish, then he was fourth place in MVP voting, and then no votes, and then whatever you want to call this year.
00:33:39
Zach Hecht
His power has gone down significantly.
00:33:42
Mac
Yep.
00:33:45
Mac
As we're driving in runs.
00:33:46
Zach Hecht
his his average His average between the mvp ah top five MVP season and the next season were actually very close, but the quality of hits that he was getting, he was not driving the ball.
00:33:59
Zach Hecht
His slugging has diminished significantly.
00:34:03
Mac
ye
00:34:04
Zach Hecht
you know He's still a decent fielding center fielder, but like I don't know, man.
00:34:12
Mac
Yeah, it was that was a rough one on my part. I'll call that and i'll call that it already. But the good Luis Castillo's been pitching well. Logan Gilbert's been pitching well. Brian Wu's been solid. Bryce Miller's had a rough start.
00:34:24
Mac
And the other Luis Castillo is just not good.
00:34:28
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:34:29
Mac
He's not good.
00:34:31
Zach Hecht
Yeah, I just... i Yeah, the Mariners, dude, they're just... They're not it. They still can't hit.
00:34:37
Mac
But there is a little...
00:34:38
Zach Hecht
But, I mean, the Rangers, they can't hit either, but they're winning games.
00:34:42
Mac
Yeah.
00:34:42
Zach Hecht
Their staff is just that good.
00:34:44
Mac
Wyatt Langford got hurt, too.
00:34:46
Zach Hecht
Of course he did.
00:34:47
Mac
Yep.
00:34:47
Zach Hecht
The only guy that was actually swinging a bat.
00:34:50
Mac
If you were a GM, you would have a really talented team, and not a single one of them would take the field. Like, ever.
00:34:56
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:34:59
Mac
They would get their fantasy points for breathing, and then walk away.
00:35:02
Zach Hecht
I didn't draft Wainford this year.
00:35:04
Mac
You didn't?
00:35:05
Zach Hecht
No. No, I have Jackson Merrow, who also has a hamstring.
00:35:07
Mac
Oh, yeah.
00:35:09
Zach Hecht
You know, God forbid. God forbid I'm allowed to have nice things.
00:35:10
Mac
That's... i I'm hoping he's back for was not enough.
00:35:16
Zach Hecht
You know, it's really funny, too, because this year I was like, hmm, let me add a fourth IL slot. Because I don't think three is enough. And, of course, here we are three weeks into the season. I got all four filled.
00:35:27
Mac
How would you get 10?
00:35:27
Zach Hecht
Four apparently was not enough either. i
00:35:32
Mac
You can't pick anybody up unless you take someone off that's eligible anyway.
00:35:34
Zach Hecht
i
00:35:36
Mac
And you have 10.
00:35:36
Zach Hecht
it's I mean, it's it's it's it's it's it's rough out here, man.
00:35:36
Mac
Who cares?
00:35:42
Mac
And plus, like, we're one of the two out of three who actually play. So we might as well just do it all.
00:35:46
Zach Hecht
Yeah, well, no, people are doing things.
00:35:49
Mac
For now.
00:35:50
Zach Hecht
For now.
00:35:50
Mac
We'll change the box. I can start 0-10 and still make the playoffs. I'm not worried.
00:35:54
Zach Hecht
Yeah. That's, you know, I don't, that's that's an exaggeration. I think you start like 0-7, maybe. Maybe. Maybe.
00:36:01
Mac
But honestly, as I'm looking at the deeper numbers, I'm actually a little worried about some of these Mariners, guys. Like, the ERAs are good, but the fielding independent pitching is rough.
00:36:11
Mac
Luis Castillo has a 2.12 ERA. Fielding independent a well. really just logan gilbert
00:36:25
Mac
do well
00:36:27
Zach Hecht
I mean,
00:36:30
Zach Hecht
dude if you look at this team, and I'm not even going look at the pitchers right now. I'm just looking at the hitters. They have two guys hitting above 210 currently.
00:36:45
Mac
Dylan Moore and who?
00:36:46
Zach Hecht
Victor Robles is hitting 273. He has zero home runs, by the way.
00:36:48
Mac
Oh, yeah, yeah, that makes sense. And even he's not a...
00:36:54
Mac
What's his OPS, I gotta ask?
00:36:54
Zach Hecht
He has 12 rear doubles. His open...
00:36:56
Mac
It's gotta be in, like, the sixes, right?
00:36:58
Zach Hecht
Yeah, 624.
00:36:59
Mac
Yeah, not bad.
00:37:01
Zach Hecht
ah Dylan Moore hitting 308. and OPS of 938.
00:37:05
Mac
He's playing well.
00:37:07
Zach Hecht
Playing very well. He made a very nice defensive play the other day.
00:37:09
Mac
Yeah, I've seen him a few times.
00:37:11
Zach Hecht
But then you have your favorite catcher, Cal Rally, hitting 205.
00:37:11
Mac
He's playing well.
00:37:18
Mac
given
00:37:18
Zach Hecht
Donovan Solano is hitting 063.
00:37:21
Zach Hecht
He has one hit 16 at-bats. Wow.
00:37:25
Mac
ah now youre
00:37:25
Zach Hecht
Ryan Bliss, who I didn't even know existed.
00:37:26
Mac
schoolps Who?
00:37:29
Zach Hecht
Exactly. 200.
00:37:32
Mac
Who is that?
00:37:33
Zach Hecht
JP Crawford.
00:37:34
Mac
I like him.
00:37:35
Zach Hecht
I can't believe he's only 30. I really thought he was older than that, by the way.
00:37:38
Mac
thought he was younger than that.
00:37:39
Zach Hecht
And 125.
00:37:40
Mac
He's 30.
00:37:40
Zach Hecht
Randy Rosarena, 159. J-Rod, 178.
00:37:41
Mac
I thought he was younger.
00:37:42
Zach Hecht
And Rowdy 056. And one hit and 18 at-bats.
00:37:46
Mac
He only has a
00:37:47
Zach Hecht
one seventy eight and rowdy tolez all fifty yeah it's what hit
00:37:53
Mac
shoulder.
00:37:54
Zach Hecht
and eighteen
00:37:56
Mac
Dude.
00:37:57
Zach Hecht
um But R.A. Polanco is actually hitting.417, but he's only played in half the games this season.
00:38:05
Mac
So why don't play him more?
00:38:06
Zach Hecht
I don't know why. Yeah, put him in the field more. De-age him.
00:38:09
Mac
Yeah.
00:38:09
Zach Hecht
Do something.
00:38:11
Mac
How about we play him more?
00:38:11
Zach Hecht
Obviously, Rowdy Tellez is not it.
00:38:11
Mac
This is not H&L. No.
00:38:14
Zach Hecht
This is not it.
00:38:15
Mac
now
00:38:17
Zach Hecht
I just... I don't know.
00:38:22
Zach Hecht
i mean, dude, like you how do you put this team on the field, man?
00:38:26
Mac
Yeah, it's rough.
00:38:27
Zach Hecht
With that lineup.
00:38:30
Mac
But if they make to October, if they make it to October,
00:38:30
Zach Hecht
I mean this is just. Bad.
00:38:35
Zach Hecht
They make it to up Jordan. They might not. They might not make it to May.
00:38:42
Mac
They have a 55% chance to make the postseason, brother.
00:38:45
Zach Hecht
I. The athletics have a better record than this team.
00:38:51
Mac
It's early. It's overreaction April.
00:38:55
Zach Hecht
i I don't think that's an overreaction.
00:38:57
Mac
I was actually kind of wrong about Oakland. Not Oakland, whatever they are now. Sacramento, Vegas.
00:39:02
Zach Hecht
Sacramento, the Sacramento Athletics.
00:39:02
Mac
and
00:39:05
Mac
I actually am coming around on them more. i was watching them the other night, and I watched them the little bit today. They're all dead.
00:39:10
Zach Hecht
They're not bad. You just know that everybody on that team is probably not going to be on that team in five years.
00:39:16
Mac
They drew about 10,000 yesterday, too. Yeah. Yeah.
00:39:20
Zach Hecht
Yeah, I mean, then that will feel wear off.
00:39:22
Mac
yeah
00:39:23
Zach Hecht
Pretty quickly. that's that's I mean, everyone's like, ooh, let's go see a game. I'm in Sacramento. I've never seen a game before, and I'm going to go see it in this cute little ballpark, and I can get my cute little hot dog and sit there in my cute little seat or sit on the lawn.
00:39:35
Mac
Or sit on the lawn.
00:39:38
Zach Hecht
And then when it gets hot in the summer, and that's 100 degrees out in California, nobody's going show up.
00:39:44
Mac
Yeah.
00:39:46
Zach Hecht
But don't worry. They'll show up when Aaron Judge is there so they can watch Aaron Judge hit home runs because that's what the owner wants. He wants to see Aaron Judge hit home runs in his minor league ballpark.
00:39:51
Mac
That's what he wants. It's like the Long Island Ducks come see the players that we sign or play against.
00:39:57
Zach Hecht
What an absolute loser.
00:40:01
Zach Hecht
What an absolute loser that owner is.
00:40:04
Mac
That's rough. Not as bad as Nico Harrison, though, as GM. Not as bad. Not as bad in front of office as the Dallas Mavericks right now.
00:40:13
Zach Hecht
ah Yeah. Yeah, I don't know how you do that.
00:40:16
Mac
Absolutely egregious. Luka's actually playing in like an hour against the late against the Mavericks rather in Dallas for the first time, and they put out shirts on every seat.
00:40:25
Zach Hecht
Oh.
00:40:28
Mac
like i don't know you've ever seen an NBA playoff game. I know you're not a big NBA guy, but on the seats, it's rough.
00:40:31
Zach Hecht
Yeah, I do they do that in other sports.
00:40:33
Mac
but
00:40:33
Zach Hecht
I do that in other sports when I put shirts on seats.
00:40:36
Mac
I haven't really seen it in baseball or football.
00:40:38
Zach Hecht
Doing hockey all the time.
00:40:40
Mac
So they did that. And it's actually Thank You for Everything written in Slovenian. Where Luke is from.
00:40:48
Zach Hecht
Why? Why? Why?
00:40:50
Mac
It really should just be, I'm sorry, written in Slovenian for each and every one of those fans. But I guess they think that that's going to magically cure everyone's feelings. I'm very interested see how the crowd reacts tonight. They're obviously Luka standing ovation, but the fire and Nico chants are going to be deafeningly loud.
00:41:08
Zach Hecht
I feel like that is such a tone-deaf move.
00:41:11
Mac
Everything they've done is tone deaf.
00:41:14
Zach Hecht
That's...
00:41:15
Mac
They trade Luka away, everyone flips out, and then they basically try to blast him and say he's fat, and that's the reason why they moved him.
00:41:24
Mac
Then see Brady Davis gets put within 12 minutes.
00:41:24
Zach Hecht
wild, dude.
00:41:28
Mac
Then Kyrie tears his ACL. Then they so place seven players on the court. Then they raise the season ticket prices.
00:41:38
Zach Hecht
That team is disaster.
00:41:40
Mac
Yep. And that's not an overreaction, but here's the scary part, Josh.
00:41:45
Zach Hecht
No, no.
00:41:45
Mac
they They made the playoffs.
00:41:49
Zach Hecht
that's That's crazy.
00:41:50
Mac
They're a 10 seed. But yeah, just had to point that out because it was a good segue.
00:41:52
Zach Hecht
That's actually crazy.
00:42:00
Zach Hecht
All right. Going back to baseball here. And we talk about the San Francisco Giants. Are they good?
00:42:10
Mac
I think they might.
00:42:12
Zach Hecht
I don't know what to think.
00:42:15
Mac
I think they could be good.
00:42:18
Zach Hecht
They have...
00:42:18
Mac
but I'm also watching, I'm also saying this, you know ah a half hour move from Mikey Shrubbsky blasting one in the book of Bob and Ted.
00:42:26
Zach Hecht
ah Yeah.
00:42:28
Mac
But, but, I mean, i don't think they're a bad team by any means.
00:42:28
Zach Hecht
Yaz is a good player.
00:42:35
Mac
You have three legitimate veteran starters. And I understand Verlander is a question mark.
00:42:40
Zach Hecht
I was going to say i was a legitimate Verlander. Are you sure you're talking about the same guy?
00:42:43
Mac
But He's a veteran, and he's a guy who can give you ah good outing on a given night. you know He's a guy who's a veteran leader who's bringing people in, as much as I dislike him.
00:42:55
Mac
You brought in Willie Adamas. You have Matt Chapman, who's been, honestly, had a really good couple years.
00:43:03
Zach Hecht
ah can I i could go back to Verlander? Verlander has two starts. He's thrown a whopping seven innings, giving up five runs.
00:43:09
Mac
Yes, what I'm saying is a locker room perspective.
00:43:10
Zach Hecht
It's time to hang it up.
00:43:12
Mac
It is time to hang it up, but I'm saying from a locker room perspective.
00:43:16
Zach Hecht
Oh.
00:43:16
Mac
And Jordan Hicks been having a good season too.
00:43:19
Zach Hecht
Guess he has.
00:43:20
Mac
Robbie Ray is back healthy. Logan Webb is Logan Webb.
00:43:24
Mac
They're not bad.
00:43:25
Zach Hecht
This is true.
00:43:28
Mac
Not bad at all.
00:43:30
Zach Hecht
Their bullpen has been very good.
00:43:35
Zach Hecht
And they got a couple, you know, they got Jung-Hoo Lee is back off an injury. And doing everything that they thought he was going to do.
00:43:41
Mac
yeah He's been good.
00:43:42
Zach Hecht
And he's been very good. And Wilmer Flores is playing out of his mind.
00:43:47
Mac
Gotta love that.
00:43:50
Zach Hecht
Gotta love that for him.
00:43:51
Mac
Yeah, I'm happy for him. I liked him.
00:43:54
Zach Hecht
Yeah, you know. He was okay.
00:43:58
Mac
He had heart.
00:43:59
Zach Hecht
He definitely had heart. He had heart. Crying on the field in the middle of a game.
00:44:03
Mac
i He cried.
00:44:06
Zach Hecht
Yeah. That will forever be a meme.
00:44:09
Mac
that That was tough. I will say that was tough.
00:44:10
Zach Hecht
That was hard. It was hard to watch. It was actually really difficult to watch.
00:44:13
Mac
It was. Yeah.
00:44:15
Zach Hecht
Thinking that he was getting traded mid-game and starts crying on the field.
00:44:18
Mac
No, you didn't.
00:44:20
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:44:23
Zach Hecht
Alright. I have something else that I want to talk about. Did you see the opening day ad the defendant that Fanatics ah put out?
00:44:33
Mac
What?
00:44:33
Zach Hecht
Did you see this ad?
00:44:35
Mac
No.
00:44:35
Zach Hecht
I'm gonna send it to you right now, and I want you to look at this picture and tell me what's wrong with it.
00:44:40
Mac
There's no context whatsoever.
00:44:41
Zach Hecht
Just tell me what's wrong with it.
00:44:41
Mac
All right.
00:44:44
Zach Hecht
So, Fanatics put out, ah you fanatics.com, and it'll be opening day, you know, shop now, and they put out this this picture.
00:44:57
Zach Hecht
Are you looking at it? so what So what has you laughing about this first?
00:45:01
Mac
but
00:45:05
Mac
Well, number one, the guy's wearing a white t-shirt under a white jersey.
00:45:11
Zach Hecht
Okay. had that
00:45:11
Mac
I'm messing with you. Number two, let's just set up the the line.
00:45:13
Zach Hecht
Jesus.
00:45:16
Mac
Number two, um it seems to be, it's a male and a female, seems to be a couple, not sure, ah wearing matching twins jerseys. ah The only problem is that the male is wearing a Cleveland Guardians cap.
00:45:26
Zach Hecht
Yep.
00:45:33
Zach Hecht
Yeah, is it isn't that great?
00:45:35
Mac
That's a... Wow.
00:45:36
Zach Hecht
It is a it is an is an ad for Twins opening day to buy your Twins gear with the two models wearing Twins jerseys and then the guys wearing a Cleveland Guardians hat.
00:45:50
Zach Hecht
Now, do you want to know what makes this even better?
00:45:54
Mac
What?
00:45:54
Zach Hecht
If you look at the picture and look at the stadium that they're in, that's Camden Yards.
00:46:00
Mac
I was gonna say, that looked like candy hearts.
00:46:01
Zach Hecht
That's Camden Yards.
00:46:03
Mac
Are you sure it's candy hearts?
00:46:03
Zach Hecht
So they went to Camden Yards and had two models put on twin jerseys and it gave the guy a Guardian's hat and said, let's take a picture and put this online.
00:46:12
Mac
Are you sure that's Camden Yards?
00:46:13
Zach Hecht
That's Camden Yards.
00:46:17
Zach Hecht
I just, I, I just, dude, I mean, between the the jersey debacle and the uniform debacle of last year and this, I mean, dude, come on, what are we doing?
00:46:20
Mac
Wow.
00:46:30
Mac
This looks like me when I go to a MEC game. I wear the opposing team's jersey and wear a Yankee hat.
00:46:34
Zach Hecht
I just, I don't understand how you can do this.
00:46:35
Mac
And walk around.
00:46:37
Zach Hecht
And there's nobody like in Fanatics that's like, this guy's a baseball fan and they understand baseball that can look at a picture like this and go, hmm, that's not a good idea.
00:46:48
Mac
Wait, that's rough.
00:46:52
Zach Hecht
I just, this is so funny.
00:46:52
Mac
Oh my god. You gotta to be kidding me. ah How do you mess that up?
00:46:58
Zach Hecht
a Part of me wonders if they did it on purpose to draw attention to it.
00:47:01
Mac
Multiple.
00:47:02
Zach Hecht
But you know what? I don't think they're smart enough to do that. I really don't.
00:47:06
Mac
That's the thing. Could they be just almost making fun of themselves at this point? But I don't think they have that in them.
00:47:12
Zach Hecht
I don't think so. No, I think this was legitimately approved and legitimately put out there as an ad for her Twins gear.
00:47:20
Mac
Wow.
00:47:21
Zach Hecht
Wild stuff.
00:47:23
Mac
That's bad.
00:47:24
Zach Hecht
That's awful.
00:47:24
Mac
so how viral did this get?
00:47:26
Zach Hecht
um It was everywhere.
00:47:28
Mac
How did I miss this?
00:47:29
Zach Hecht
I don't know. I don't know how you missed this I saw it everywhere.
00:47:30
Mac
That's crazy. That is crazy.
00:47:33
Zach Hecht
i saw it on every social media platform.
00:47:33
Mac
Yeah.
00:47:38
Zach Hecht
But, speaking of opening day, can we talk about opening day ticket prices? Why are Red's tickets going for $170 a pop? I know the answer to this question.
00:47:48
Mac
Well, you tell me, because
00:47:50
Zach Hecht
i know the answered i know the answer to this question
00:47:50
Mac
i
00:47:54
Zach Hecht
The Reds being the oldest baseball professional baseball team have always had opening day at home every year. It's been like this forever since the league started.
00:48:06
Zach Hecht
And they do it up. They have a parade and businesses close are ah work yeah work closes and and they basically just eat and drink and whatever in the streets pretty much. It has a great time.
00:48:21
Zach Hecht
And they're playing this game at 4 o'clock on a Thursday afternoon.
00:48:27
Mac
That's a whole other issue that we have to get to.
00:48:29
Zach Hecht
And this ticket was $170 to get in. Now, if you wanted to go to this game on Saturday, the second game of the season, a 1 o'clock start, the get-in price was $10.
00:48:43
Mac
That's about right.
00:48:44
Zach Hecht
And on Sunday, another 1 o'clock start or a 4 o'clock start was, again, $10.
00:48:51
Zach Hecht
And let me tell you, nobody was there.
00:48:55
Zach Hecht
How do Reds fans only care about the first game of the season and then they could not care less after that?
00:49:00
Mac
I mean, the Mets prices weren't so bad.
00:49:01
Zach Hecht
Who are they, the Mets?
00:49:04
Mac
They're not that bad in general. The Yankees weren't as bad, but the Yankees were also playing at 3 p.m. on that day, which we'll get to. But, I mean, when it comes to the Mets, you can get into most Mets games right now for under $20.
00:49:19
Mac
And it yo they were going for more than Yankee opening day tickets.
00:49:23
Zach Hecht
Everybody had to see Juan Soto.
00:49:23
Mac
So, I guess.
00:49:24
Zach Hecht
They saw him. That was it. They had enough.
00:49:26
Mac
I guess it's the feeling of the opening day too. but I went to a Mets home opener once. I've never been to a Yankee home opener, mostly because I can't get off work. And that's the other thing i just can't stand about opening day.
00:49:37
Mac
we're so We're so focused on trying to make baseball appealing to people who don't normally watch. Opening day is the one day a year where everyone's eyes are on
Accessibility and Scheduling Challenges in Baseball
00:49:47
Mac
baseball. talk about baseball.
00:49:48
Mac
But we're going to start the games when everyone's in work and school.
00:49:52
Mac
Baseball's not appealing to the next generation. So we're going to have opening day. When they can't watch the game.
00:49:59
Zach Hecht
I think this is more of a tradition thing than anything.
00:50:02
Mac
That's all well and good. But if we were living by traditions, we'd have no lights at the stadiums. We wouldn't have any night games at all.
00:50:07
Zach Hecht
That's true. That's true.
00:50:08
Mac
So who cares about tradition? but um If we had tradition, we would still have you know drag bunks winning games.
00:50:15
Zach Hecht
There was a drag button that won a game actually a couple of days ago. I think the Brewers did it.
00:50:18
Mac
Right. One out of 162 30. happened once. It happened once.
00:50:20
Zach Hecht
yeah I'm just saying it it did happen at least one time.
00:50:23
Mac
um one happy one
00:50:26
Zach Hecht
Zach would be proud.
00:50:28
Mac
yeah We got rid of double switches for a reason. They're boring.
00:50:33
Zach Hecht
Just saying.
00:50:34
Mac
we got you If we cared about tradition, why do we have a designated hitter?
00:50:39
Zach Hecht
That's true. That's true. The game is evolving.
00:50:41
Mac
you know we have ah and Listen, I'm not saying to blindly make changes for the sake of change, but the whole point is to make the game more marketable and to make the game more available to an audience that's increasingly dying.
00:50:54
Mac
We're worried about baseball for the next generation, so why don't we put it on When the generation can watch it.
00:51:02
Zach Hecht
Listen, if you want to make the game more marketable and more appealing to fans, when it's Yankee opening day, do not force me to listen to Joe Buck tell me how great the Brewers are for three hours.
00:51:14
Zach Hecht
Okay? they They did not show any of the ceremonies or anything that Yankees do on opening day. They didn't show, you know, the players getting named, the guys walking out, none of that stuff. All they wanted to tell you was how great the Brewers are.
00:51:30
Mac
And I get that.
00:51:30
Zach Hecht
What are we doing? and and they And they got two guys in the box, right? With Joe Buck, who's a Trojans announcer to begin with. It's the Brewers play-by-play announcer to represent the Brewers, and Joe freaking Girardi of the Yankees.
00:51:46
Zach Hecht
He has nothing to do the Yankees. a matter of fact, he probably hates the Yankees for how they fire him.
00:51:51
Mac
As he should.
00:51:51
Zach Hecht
And that is the Yankees representative in the booth. I mean, how dumb are we? Honestly.
00:51:59
Mac
And the NBA has talked about this too, like with the media, like how that could be killing ratings and things like that. And maybe there's a point to it. My only issue with that is Joe Buck's a football announcer too, and this does not impact football.
00:52:14
Mac
I think baseball is just not available enough. We're moving games onto streaming services, and it's not just one streaming service.
00:52:20
Zach Hecht
That's another problem.
00:52:20
Mac
It's many different streaming services that a lot of people don't have. Oh, let's put the Friday night games, the games people can watch on Apple TV.
00:52:27
Zach Hecht
On Apple TV.
00:52:29
Mac
What are we doing?
00:52:29
Zach Hecht
And Wednesday's on Amazon.
00:52:31
Mac
So let's take our time.
00:52:31
Zach Hecht
And Sunday's on yeah e ESPN.
00:52:34
Mac
And here's the real issue with baseball, unlike any other sport. Football can get away with doing streaming services. Basketball can get away with doing streaming services. Even hockey can't. what's the problem What would you describe baseball's target, not target audience, but their main demographic of viewership?
00:52:50
Zach Hecht
That's good question.
00:52:51
Mac
Older males who don't know how to work a computer.
00:52:53
Zach Hecht
Yeah, probably. yeah
00:52:57
Mac
You guys get them to work streams.
00:52:57
Zach Hecht
That's true. That's actually really true.
00:52:58
Mac
You're going to get them to work streams. Can we get a brain? Like, what are we doing?
00:53:05
Zach Hecht
ah That's actually a really great point.
00:53:05
Mac
but a brain.
00:53:07
Zach Hecht
I never thought of that, but that's so true.
00:53:09
Mac
ah We're going to take our audience that's dying literally and figuratively because it's an older audience. Sorry, it's the case. And we're going to make it less accessible for them. It makes no sense. And then let's take our younger audience, the people that might replace our literally dying audience, and make it so that they can't watch the game. The last two Yankee games were on while I'm in school.
00:53:33
Zach Hecht
Yeah. Well, that' that was that was a weather. They did that because of the weather.
00:53:38
Mac
Fine, but it does happen a lot. Like, I'm thinking back. i I love baseball. I go to games pretty often, try to see every great player I can. I missed out on Tarek Skubal last year.
00:53:49
Mac
I missed out on Luis Castillo last year. I missed out on Farmer Valdez last year. I missed out Justin Verlander a couple years ago because I had work.
00:54:01
Zach Hecht
Yeah, I mean, i don't think they play as many day games as you're making i know it out to be.
00:54:02
Mac
I'm not the only one.
00:54:05
Zach Hecht
they They play like two or three a month.
00:54:07
Mac
And it just so happens that the best pitchers happen to be going in those games.
00:54:09
Zach Hecht
Yeah, just just how it runs this house turnss out.
00:54:10
Mac
so It always seems like that. But it's still ridiculous. We're trying to make the product more accessible for kids and trying to make the product more accessible for the current viewers, most of whom are older people. Like, we're going to make it more difficult.
00:54:21
Zach Hecht
Well, yeah, I mean, I think they they want to play more day games in the summer, because and they can' then it is acceptable for kids, because it's the summer.
00:54:31
Mac
Right. Some are fine. But in April? And I get it. Sometimes schedule logistics, you have to have some day games because you might be traveling from the East Coast to the West Coast or vice versa.
00:54:42
Mac
But it seems like they're going out of their way to try to make more of those. And on opening day, what's stopping you from starting the season on a Saturday? Have a Saturday afternoon.
00:54:55
Zach Hecht
No, I don't disagree with you on that.
00:54:55
Mac
Fine. Have the afternoon day. Saturday afternoon. Every single person can watch. Why does football work so well? It's on a Sunday.
00:55:03
Zach Hecht
That's true.
00:55:04
Mac
People but watch on Sunday. They have nothing to do but sit and watch football. And baseball has a time of year. And I understand football has the games that are more meaningful because there's less of them. Fine. And I'm not even going to advocate for shortening the schedule. I think that's stupid in and of itself.
00:55:19
Mac
But we're talking about baseball where the entire sports world stops in the summer. You have baseball women's basketball, which is starting to grow, but it's not quite there.
00:55:26
Zach Hecht
yeah
00:55:30
Zach Hecht
Yes, because we're all sitting there watching Angel Reese.
00:55:34
Mac
Yeah. Right. That's right. Yep.
00:55:39
Zach Hecht
By watching, I mean watching her just miss the miss the net over and over and over again.
00:55:39
Mac
So.
00:55:43
Mac
But, of course, the summer is the time when the two leagues that shoot themselves in the foot on a consistent basis are the ones that are on.
Sports Integrity and Cheating Scandals
00:55:49
Mac
Both of them have so much potential to bring so much joy to fans.
00:55:53
Mac
They do. The WNBA does, man. They're getting better. It's there. But the league get it.
00:55:58
Zach Hecht
If Angel Reese wasn't in the league, it actually probably would be pretty good.
00:56:01
Mac
The league doesn't get it. there there are plenty of basketball There are plenty of NBA versions of Angel Reese, the guys who get rebounds and can't do anything offensively. Ben Wallace is in the Hall of but walllle in the whole of Fame for doing that stuff.
00:56:11
Zach Hecht
But that opened their mouth and thought like they were the best player in the league.
00:56:16
Mac
I mean, Dennis Rodman was not a scorer by any means, and he averaged 16 rebounds a game as a relatively undersized big man. And obviously, like, you know him for his crazy stuff, but he was a great player.
00:56:28
Mac
He's in the top 75 players of all time list that the NBA came out with a few years ago. You could be a great player and not be a great scorer. You know, think, you know, hockey terms too.
00:56:39
Mac
you know, like, i I'll defer to you on the hockey stuff, but Patrice Bergeron was more known for his defensive ability, right?
00:56:47
Zach Hecht
Yeah, but Bergeron was also a scorer. I don't know. I don't know about that one. and
00:56:51
Mac
I'll try find to find the right comp. Maybe might be honest.
00:56:52
Zach Hecht
maybe Maybe like a defensive defenseman kind of guy You could make that can make that argument. But I don't know if they're... I mean, are there really guys in basketball that are only there to play defense?
00:56:59
Mac
What about Rohistad?
00:57:04
Zach Hecht
I mean, yeah nobody plays defense in the NBA. Yeah.
00:57:08
Mac
Yeah, I'm not allowed to.
00:57:09
Zach Hecht
i mean I mean, you can talk about like a dream on green kind of guy where he just sits there and bodies guys all game. That's the only guy that I can think of. Obviously, I don't know much about basketball.
00:57:16
Mac
Because you're not really allowed to.
00:57:18
Zach Hecht
Yeah, pretty much.
00:57:20
Mac
If they were allowed to, and last year it was different. Last year they were allowed start, like after the All-Star break, it started to be really like 90 style basketball again. And don't know what happened this year, but it just isn't there.
00:57:31
Mac
But back to baseball, I just, I think they have the opposite problem of the other sports. I think the other sports might be a little too accessible where it gets to the point where people get overstimulated with it and tune out.
00:57:44
Mac
With baseball, there's not enough accessibility. It's on every night, yeah, but the nights that everyone can actually sit down and watch it, you know they don't have work nights, they don't have school nights, they don't have their regular duties.
00:57:57
Mac
They throw it on Apple TV.
00:58:00
Mac
They have the biggest day of in the regular season of baseball opening day and they make it in the day game on a weekday. Use your heads.
00:58:09
Zach Hecht
Yeah, I agree.
00:58:09
Mac
It's common sense. And I understand your point that you said off-pod tradition. I get it. Fine. Make it Saturday. Make it Sunday. it's not It's not hard. Make it spring break for the kids.
00:58:24
Zach Hecht
I, well, you can't really do that because everyone's spring break different times, but i I agree that I do agree to the, you know, make it make it a Saturday.
00:58:25
Mac
but back to do um And they can all start at 1 o'clock.
00:58:34
Zach Hecht
Just have all the teams start on a Saturday.
00:58:39
Mac
That's fine. I'm all for that. You baseball is never going to be a sport like football where it's red zone where fantasy football is so much bigger than any other fantasy sport. People care about watching other teams.
00:58:50
Mac
Baseball is never really going have that. you're gonna Most people are going have their team and that's going to be it.
00:58:54
Mac
because there are
00:58:54
Zach Hecht
Yeah, but they still like the TV, right?
00:58:56
Zach Hecht
So they would still stagger the games anyway. yeah That's fine.
00:58:59
Mac
Which is fine too. But I'm saying make it on a day when everyone can watch.
00:59:04
Zach Hecht
and i agree.
00:59:05
Mac
What's the what's the but's the benefit of doing it on a Wednesday or Thursday?
00:59:10
Zach Hecht
I cannot think of one.
00:59:12
Mac
Right.
00:59:13
Zach Hecht
We are either geniuses or just a completely ignorant. and i don't know which one it is.
00:59:16
Mac
I would love for baseball to come out and enlighten us on that.
00:59:19
Zach Hecht
ah Rob Manfred, know, he doesn't know anything.
00:59:23
Mac
As crazy as it sounds, I don't think he's as bad as you think he is. And I know I've been just crapping on everything.
00:59:27
Zach Hecht
Yeah, well, you yeah you know what? you hold You hold on to that statement, and ah we're going to clip that statement.
00:59:31
Mac
I've been crapping on everything he's been doing. i understand that.
00:59:35
Zach Hecht
We're going clip that statement when there's no baseball in 2027 because there's a lockout.
00:59:37
Mac
No, that's my take for you because i don't blame the lockout on Rob Manfred.
00:59:42
Zach Hecht
Really.
00:59:43
Mac
I don't. I blame it on the – I blame it on number one, the Dodgers. But I blame it on these scummy agents that come up with the Deferments.
00:59:49
Zach Hecht
My guy, if this this is going to turn into your Mariners take.
00:59:53
Mac
The Deferments are the c cause of this, and Rob Manfred really couldn't do anything about that. Deferments were going on long before him. It was just teams finally decided to do it. And yeah now other teams are going to get pissed off, and that's just how it's going to be.
01:00:07
Mac
I don't see how Rob Manfred could have done anything to prevent this, aside from either instituting a salary cap, which the players you knew would never agree to.
01:00:15
Zach Hecht
correct
01:00:17
Mac
The juice ball critique is the only thing i really have of them. I like the fact that he's okay with the torpedo bats because, again, more uniqueness to the game gives the players the choice.
01:00:27
Zach Hecht
Well, I mean, listen, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.
01:00:27
Mac
I like the effort that he's doing with the pitch clock.
01:00:31
Zach Hecht
It's not that he's okay with torpedo bats. It's exactly like deferrals. It's in the rules. That's the way the rules are written, and he can't say anything a boo about it because that's the way the rules are. It's not like he's okay with it.
01:00:39
Mac
hi
01:00:39
Zach Hecht
It just doesn't break a rule.
01:00:41
Mac
Fine. But he he botched two big things. And it was the juice balls, whatever came out of that with the the um ambiguity of it. And um the Astro scandal.
01:00:53
Mac
He botched that.
01:00:53
Zach Hecht
Yeah, I was going to say he botched two things. He didn't botch that. He absolutely destroyed that.
01:00:57
Mac
But here's the thing. How much would we have found out if the players didn't agree to it? The only way you were going to find out any information about what went on and possibly prevent it from happening again was if you yeah talk to other players. But what do the other players know?
01:01:15
Mac
It's not like the steroid era where Congress went in and threatened to bring them up on federal charges if they didn't open their mouth.
01:01:21
Zach Hecht
Yeah, but i don't I don't agree with that statement because you could you could have let the players, you know, given them immunity from suspension and you know, monetary disadvantages, but that didn't stop them from, you know, stripping the title, punishing the team, punishing the owner.
01:01:22
Mac
It's a different story.
01:01:40
Mac
i'm hurry I am very against that. Absolutely not. No way. i am very against stripping titles.
01:01:46
Zach Hecht
I am not against it.
01:01:47
Mac
If you strip the title, let me ask you this.
01:01:48
Zach Hecht
I'm not against it if it was that blatant. and blatantly cheating like that. We've talked about that before.
01:01:53
Mac
And I know we plan to talk about a little bit later, but I was at the Oveshkin record game, right?
01:01:57
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
01:01:58
Mac
um he broke that record for the goals. The price went up in the to and the cost to go to the game when he scored the two goals the night, two nights before, and it seemed like he had a shot to break the record at UBS, correct? People weren't traveling from Washington to go see the Islanders play the Capitals.
01:02:14
Mac
They were going to see Ovechkin.
01:02:15
Zach Hecht
There was some would have, but not at not the volume that that obviously there were.
01:02:20
Mac
They were there to see the record. And if he didn't do it, you live with it. But now he did it. Now what happens if it comes out and says, oh, Alex Oveshkin was cheating for 10 years of his career. We're going to take away 500 of his goals.
01:02:32
Mac
They never happened. We're going to pretend like they never happened. See no evil, hear no evil. It doesn't exist. So now are you giving me back my money that I spent on Oveshkin breaking record?
01:02:40
Zach Hecht
I, well, I think that lines very much up with Barry Bonds.
01:02:45
Mac
Right. They didn't take away the whole month.
01:02:46
Zach Hecht
They still say Barry Bonds is a home run champion, but there's kind of like, you know, when it comes out of somebody's mouth, especially that's basically how Ovechkin would have been treated.
01:02:51
Mac
you can have them and right You can have a mental asterisk like you do with Bonds or a mental asterisk like you do with the asterisk, but to outright take it away and say it didn't happen.
01:03:02
Mac
They do it in college sports all the time. And honestly, this was kind of turning me off from college sports. It's the fact that oh, they cheated. oh so we're going to pretend like 200 games never happened. But don't worry. All the fans that spent their money to go to these games because they were real entertainment, that never happened.
01:03:16
Zach Hecht
Well, now you got a good story. right Now you got a good story.
01:03:18
Mac
Yeah. I should get my ticket refunded if that's the case.
01:03:22
Zach Hecht
That's a little much.
01:03:23
Mac
I think it's 100% legit. People go to championship games to watch history.
01:03:25
Zach Hecht
I don't agree with that.
01:03:27
Mac
The Astro fans that went in 2017, they're not the ones who cheated.
01:03:31
Zach Hecht
Well, listen, Mikey, we know that MLB loves rewriting history already.
01:03:32
Mac
They spent their hard money to go to that game.
01:03:37
Zach Hecht
We've gone over this. They love rewriting history. So why not just rewrite this one?
01:03:45
Zach Hecht
They no problem rewriting history when they you know when i added all the Negro League stats in.
01:03:50
Mac
that
01:03:51
Zach Hecht
Why not rewrite history and pull the Astros because they cheated?..................
01:03:51
Mac
but
01:03:54
Mac
they i could I could deal with adding history when it doesn't have an adverse impact on current history. It's more subtracting history that I have a problem with. It happened.
01:04:05
Mac
You can't just pretend it didn't. They didn't take away the stats of this. all right are you you You look at it a little bit differently. Sure, even I, who thinks Bonds and A-Rod and Clemens in the Hall Fame, I look at their numbers and say, yeah, okay, they're a little different.
01:04:16
Zach Hecht
yeah and somehow And somehow guys like Altuve and Correa are still going to make the Hall of Fame. Maybe not Correa, but a guy like Altuve is still going to make the Hall Fame, even though he blatantly cheated and everybody knew it.
01:04:24
Mac
Right, but my stance on that is that it's not...
01:04:26
Zach Hecht
this is I mean, to me, this is this is worse this is worse than David Ortiz.
01:04:26
Mac
your
01:04:30
Mac
But putting someone in the Hall of Fame is different... and Not putting someone in the Hall of Fame, rather, is different than saying, this game never happened.
01:04:39
Zach Hecht
Yeah, but
MLB's Response to Scandals and Technological Advancements
01:04:40
Zach Hecht
because they because there was no repercussion of it, no one cares anymore.
01:04:40
Mac
That's different.
01:04:43
Zach Hecht
it's That was eight years ago. Who cares?
01:04:48
Mac
It's more of a prevention to keep it from happening again. It is what it is.
01:04:52
Zach Hecht
i
01:04:52
Mac
It already happened.
01:04:53
Zach Hecht
I don't think they're preventing anything.
01:04:54
Mac
there's no way There's no way you could have taken that away. but Honestly, you sound a lot like Rob Manfred with that, with the trophy as a piece of metal. You're just taking the opposite stance. But you're basically saying that the trophy doesn't matter.
01:05:09
Mac
The trophy doesn't matter. What happened?
01:05:10
Zach Hecht
Listen, if you cheat and you get caught...
01:05:14
Mac
What about the two guys who didn't cheat?
01:05:17
Zach Hecht
You're on the team.
01:05:19
Mac
But they didn't cheat. What if one guy didn't know about it? What the pitcher...
01:05:21
Zach Hecht
listen if you ro Listen, if you rob a bank, right?
01:05:25
Mac
Right.
01:05:25
Zach Hecht
And you get caught robbing a bank. You don't just get to keep the money.
01:05:28
Mac
Right.
01:05:31
Mac
But the pitchers had no but if the gang member wasn't there, the gang member ain't going to jail.
01:05:32
Zach Hecht
Do you? were part If you were part of the gang that robbed the bank and they started arresting the gang, you probably didn't get arrested too. you know about it
01:05:44
Zach Hecht
But you knew about it.
01:05:46
Mac
And here's the thing. They're trying to learn more.
01:05:47
Zach Hecht
But you knew about it. But you knew ah about it.
01:05:49
Mac
and but wait. But what ends up happening in real life?
01:05:53
Zach Hecht
And aiding a convict.
01:05:55
Mac
If what happens in real life, they take the guy that gets caught, the Astros.
01:05:55
Zach Hecht
You knew about it.
01:06:00
Zach Hecht
yeah but the guy Yeah, but the guy that got caught is going to get you know a long time in jail.
01:06:01
Mac
home
01:06:03
Zach Hecht
And the guy that was just helping the criminals is going to get a little slap on the wrist.
01:06:07
Mac
Not necessarily.
01:06:08
Zach Hecht
little sloppy slap on the wrist.
01:06:09
Mac
Hey, dumb criminal that got caught. Tell us what you did so we we can get the criminals that are smarter than you. We don't really need to deal with you. We'll let you off. we We have bigger fish to fry.
01:06:20
Zach Hecht
Yeah, but he only let one guy off. He only needs one guy to spill the beans. He only needs a whole team.
01:06:25
Mac
And the the people that were in charge did get held accountable for it. I would have been forced to mention Alex Cora, Carlos Beltran hasn't gotten a job.
01:06:29
Zach Hecht
No, they didn't.
01:06:36
Zach Hecht
Carlos Beltran was the guy that was retiring, so they used him as the fall guy.
01:06:36
Mac
Agent Page.
01:06:40
Zach Hecht
Are you kidding me?
01:06:41
Mac
Yeah.
01:06:41
Zach Hecht
Come on.
01:06:42
Mac
but the But the Mets have not given him a job since.
01:06:47
Mac
Alex Cora is back.
01:06:48
Zach Hecht
The fact that Carlos Beltran had the biggest fallout of that whole damn thing is wild.
01:06:48
Mac
lot
01:06:53
Mac
Where's Jeff Liu now? Where's AJ? AJ Hinch is back.
01:06:59
Zach Hecht
Hinch is back. Cora's back.
01:07:03
Zach Hecht
I don't know, dude. I i don't agree with that. They stripped him of a little bit of money and a draft pick or two.
01:07:12
Mac
The problem is that how are you going to get the information you needed without doing that?
01:07:18
Zach Hecht
you only need one guy.
01:07:21
Mac
And who are you going to get?
01:07:21
Zach Hecht
And they gave and they and they gave the whole team a reprieve.
01:07:22
Mac
The guy who was fired?
01:07:27
Zach Hecht
And they basically act like it didn't happen.
01:07:29
Mac
But in terms of but let's let's take this further, though. I'm not necessarily saying Rob Manfred is a good commissioner. I'm not. But I do believe that you can make an argument that he's the best commissioner in the four major sports right now.
01:07:44
Mac
Roger Goodell has butchered several disparaging reasons.
01:07:46
Zach Hecht
that's like That's like comparing a pile of shit next to a pile of shit with flies on it.
01:07:49
Mac
Right. I think Adam Silver might be the worst of the four. um'm I'm sick of him.
01:07:55
Zach Hecht
I think, like I said, I think you will have a different opinion of Manfred when there is no baseball in 2027.
01:07:55
Mac
He's got go. He's ruining the sport.
01:08:03
Zach Hecht
And then, and before he retires, he's going to botch two expansion teams because he's suddenly decided that we need 32 teams in baseball.
01:08:03
Mac
I won't blame that on him.
01:08:15
Zach Hecht
I'm telling you, dude, I do not look forward to the continuation of Manfred as a commissioner. He hasn't done anything ah incredibly detrimental, but he's tried, and he's going to try again, and it's not going to end well.
01:08:24
Mac
What I... What I do... What I do like about Manfred is that he is willing to try to make the game evolve, which I think he's in the process of doing.
01:08:33
Zach Hecht
Good, then add automated balls to strikes. Literally had an umpire a couple days ago tell players on both teams that if they were to touch their helmet at any point during a bat, that would be seen as making fun of me and I'm going to throw you out of the game.
01:08:49
Zach Hecht
How freaking soft do you have to be? And you know what? Guy blew 30 calls that night.
01:08:56
Mac
You're not wrong. i But it was not perfect yet in spring training. There were issues with it. Let them get it right so that no one's complaining about in the regular season. and Give it another year, maybe two years.
01:09:09
Mac
That's what doing correctly.
01:09:09
Zach Hecht
but that's the thing is that but they've been working on this stuff for years. <unk> There shouldn't be any issues anymore. They track the ball. They see it's a strike. It's a strike or not. It's over. and that This does not take rocket science.
01:09:22
Mac
I think the issue with baseball as opposed to, like let's say, a tennis or even a football, with first down markers, is that the spot changes relative to the player. And I can see that being more of a challenge than let's say, oh the ball hit this line, it's in or out.
01:09:40
Zach Hecht
so We got...
01:09:41
Mac
if Automated fair foul should be easy.
01:09:43
Zach Hecht
I just... it This should not be that hard.
01:09:46
Mac
I can see automated fair foul being layup. But automated ball strikes, I can see it being more difficult because like you have to adjust the Aaron Judge strike zone. Technology technology has to adjust Aaron Judge's strike zone to Jose Altuve's.
Effectiveness of Sports Commissioners
01:10:01
Mac
two different things.
01:10:03
Zach Hecht
That's true, but I think 99% of your calls are inside-outside.
01:10:07
Mac
Yeah. But I think the high-low matters too.
01:10:11
Zach Hecht
I agree, but with the technology that we have today, again, this should not be issue.
01:10:11
Mac
and so Get it right. Do it right.
01:10:17
Mac
But if Manfred...
01:10:17
Zach Hecht
Should not be issue.
01:10:19
Mac
If Manfred's lasting legacy is a pitch clock, automated ball strikes, maybe he – the real test for him will be to realize if things don't work and he's willing to pivot back.
01:10:32
Mac
Is he willing to pivot back when – with the ghost runner, for example. Universal DH was done under Rob Manfred. I like that. There's a lot of things he's done that I do like.
01:10:44
Mac
I'm not saying he's perfect. I'm not even really saying he's good. But I don't think he's super horrible for baseball either. I think the lockout would have happened under anybody.
01:10:58
Zach Hecht
I don't know about that.
01:10:59
Mac
You have Putin as commissioner. Lockout's happening.
01:11:07
Zach Hecht
I just, you know, it's the same thing and way I say about Gary Bettman in the NHL. They talk about this guy like he's so great, and it's like, how many lockouts this guy but ah you know been the cause of? I just, I don't know if how you could ever say ah commissioner had a successful time when he's caused lockouts.
01:11:24
Mac
Bud Selig had two of them.
01:11:27
Zach Hecht
and
01:11:27
Mac
David Theron had one. least one. I think yeah might he had he had more. he had two.
01:11:34
Zach Hecht
i just i can't I can't say that a guy did a good job defeating their lockouts.
01:11:39
Mac
What's the commissioner's job?
01:11:42
Zach Hecht
Grow the game. Make sure it's playing.
01:11:45
Mac
And kiss the owner's ass.
01:11:48
Zach Hecht
Well, that's what he does it on the table.
01:11:49
Mac
At the end of the day, the commissioner can't make a deal without the owner saying – the commissioner can't facilitate a deal without the players agreeing. And he really can't even present the deal to the players without the owners agreeing.
01:12:02
Zach Hecht
That's true. Unfortunately, the owners are all dumb.
01:12:03
Mac
So how do we blame this one guy when really it's 30 – that are causing the problem. He's not the the commissioner is the fall guy for the owners.
01:12:15
Mac
So i I find it hard to blame lockouts in most instances on these guys.
01:12:18
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
01:12:19
Mac
Gary Bettman, know, I get it. We boo him. i We booed him the other night when I was there. But really, it's the owners and the players, and he's just kind of the go-between guy.
01:12:31
Mac
So how is it really on him?
01:12:33
Zach Hecht
Yeah, I mean, you say that, but he's also in the owner's pockets and he does whatever they tell him to do. It's
01:12:37
Mac
Because they signed his check. That's what he's supposed to do.
01:12:41
Zach Hecht
true.
01:12:41
Mac
That's his job. He's supposed to be the asshole for the owners. that's he's That's exactly what he's supposed to do. And that's why he's been there for so long.
01:12:48
Zach Hecht
i I didn't know that you loved commissioners like this.
01:12:51
Mac
I don't.
01:12:51
Zach Hecht
Are you sure about that?
01:12:52
Mac
I don't at all. But I'm saying no because I hate Adam Silver. I think he's awful. I think Rob Manfred is head and shoulders better than Adam Silver. Adam Silver made a great first impression with the Donald Sterling thing, and everything else has been horrible.
01:13:05
Mac
Lakers-Mavericks just tipped off. LeBron took three steps, they already called a foul. That's Adam Silver.
01:13:12
Zach Hecht
I think that's just LeBron.
01:13:14
Mac
It's Adam Silver.
01:13:16
Zach Hecht
It's LeBron.
01:13:16
Mac
It's never been this bad.
01:13:20
Zach Hecht
It's LeBron.
01:13:21
Mac
You know, that... That whole COVID bubble and all the other stuff that came with it, Adam Silver allowed. And since then, the player empowerment has become insane.
01:13:34
Mac
Because Adam Silver is Aaron Boone. He wants to be everybody's friend.
01:13:37
Zach Hecht
can i Can I say something about player empowerment, by the way? This is a radical change of topic.
01:13:41
Mac
Yes.
01:13:42
Zach Hecht
It was brought to my attention they were talking about this the other day. They were comparing Ovechkin breaking the goals record to LeBron breaking the all-time points record, right?
01:13:53
Mac
And Ovechkin scored with his teammates and LeBron scored.
01:13:55
Zach Hecht
And Ovechkin scored, and Dolvets on her ice and celebrated his teammates, and LeBron ran away from his teammates, threw his arms in the air, and were like, I am the best.
01:13:56
Mac
um
01:14:05
Mac
Oh, we know LeBron has his phoniness as well. i am not I'm not saying it's all Adam Silver.
01:14:12
Zach Hecht
You can't even go and shake the hands of the teammates that gave you the ball. What are we doing?
01:14:17
Mac
Well, to be fair, of that I think that's more of a LeBron thing than an NBA thing because I was at the game when Steph Curry broke the record. First thing he did was hug Draymond.
01:14:25
Zach Hecht
Good. Good for him.
01:14:26
Mac
i think I think it's a – I don't think that's a player thing.
01:14:27
Zach Hecht
I like him better.
01:14:31
Mac
think that's a LeBron thing.
01:14:33
Zach Hecht
Okay, well, I'm just saying. There was a lot of debate about that.
01:14:36
Mac
I did. I saw that too. I mean, i will say –
01:14:40
Zach Hecht
Apparently, P.K. Subban was yelling at Shannon Sharp. If want to listen to two idiots talk, ah it's not going be those two.
01:14:46
Mac
That's all PK does is complain about basketball because he knows nothing.
01:14:49
Zach Hecht
ah Let me tell you.
01:14:49
Mac
Yep.
01:14:49
Zach Hecht
Let me tell you. P.K. Subban is every player that was told when they were playing the game that you'd be a good broadcaster, who became a broadcaster, realized they were terrible at, and somehow never got fired.
01:15:03
Zach Hecht
That is him.
01:15:04
Mac
ye
01:15:04
Zach Hecht
they Everybody told him when he was playing that you'd be a good broadcaster. You'd be a good broadcaster. You'd be a good broadcaster. And he was always handed the mic and told to do stuff at events and stuff. And and and then they gave him the mic after he retired. And everybody went, oh, my God, he knows nothing.
01:15:18
Mac
Yep. But that's what sells now.
01:15:22
Zach Hecht
Well, we know why it sells.
01:15:23
Mac
Knowing nothing sells. What?
01:15:25
Zach Hecht
I said we know why it sells.
01:15:27
Mac
No, I'm saying it sells in general. Clickbait is what sells. Look at you. I'm sure you saw the Stephen A. LeBron stuff.
01:15:34
Zach Hecht
Look at Ben Verlander and the torpedo bats.
01:15:36
Mac
Ben Berlander is another example. People want, they want people to go, oh look at this idiot. And it's been happening for years. Skip Bayless had a career off that.
01:15:45
Zach Hecht
It's true.
01:15:48
Zach Hecht
that That makes the TikToks, Nat. That makes the kids watch it.
01:15:51
Mac
Yep.
01:15:52
Zach Hecht
Hey, look at this idiot.
01:15:52
Mac
and Look at what this idiot's saying. I'm smarter than him. I could do this. That's what they want.
Player Contracts and Future Implications
01:16:05
Zach Hecht
Yeah, no, I guess you're right about that.
01:16:09
Zach Hecht
All right, but I think the one last piece of news that we didn't talk about yet was Vlad Jr.'s new contract.
01:16:16
Mac
Yeah.
01:16:18
Zach Hecht
Wowzers. I can't believe Toronto actually did it.
01:16:21
Mac
i I mean, it's lower than what he was really looking for, right?
01:16:28
Zach Hecht
I think so.
01:16:30
Mac
I think this was his agent saying, hey, you got to get your money now.
01:16:33
Zach Hecht
I think he thinks he's better than he actually is.
01:16:36
Mac
Oh, yeah. But I mean, considering...
01:16:38
Zach Hecht
i think that's it I think what he got is about what he's worth.
01:16:39
Mac
Yeah.
01:16:41
Mac
Right.
01:16:42
Zach Hecht
But also, he's had some very good seasons and some very mediocre ones.
01:16:48
Mac
Right.
01:16:50
Mac
I think for his age,
01:16:51
Zach Hecht
You got to play up to that contract still.
01:16:55
Mac
the Blue Jays seem to have a reputation because when's the last star that was there for more than a 10-year stretch?
01:17:03
Zach Hecht
I don't know.
01:17:03
Mac
Roy Halladay?
01:17:06
Zach Hecht
Well, Blue Jays have a reputation for anytime somebody's a free agent, they use them as the, ah you know, to raise the price.
01:17:13
Mac
Right. So you might as well... keep your hometown guy when you know nobody's coming there. And i I think, honestly, Vlad took a bit of a discount that he could have gotten on the open market if he had a good if he ended up having a great season this year in a contract year.
01:17:20
Zach Hecht
They have to.
01:17:30
Mac
But i think this might have been the cue of, you know hey, listen, lockout's going to be coming. Teams may not be spending this offseason in preparation for that.
01:17:41
Mac
You got to get your money now.
01:17:41
Zach Hecht
Yep. I agree.
01:17:44
Mac
like There's no question lockout's coming. We said that before.
01:17:47
Mac
We can argue who's to blame for it. But I think this was the real telltale sign between him and Jackson Merrill signing his contract that players understand that they have to sign their contracts now.
01:17:47
Zach Hecht
Yep.
01:17:59
Zach Hecht
I agree.
01:18:00
Mac
I think we'll be seeing more of these.
01:18:02
Zach Hecht
I definitely agree.
01:18:02
Mac
How is there anything away from that?
01:18:06
Zach Hecht
I think, uh,
01:18:10
Zach Hecht
think makes the Alonzo contract look a lot better.
01:18:13
Mac
Yeah.
01:18:14
Zach Hecht
i think it look And I also think it makes the Mets look a lot better, too.
01:18:17
Mac
It does.
01:18:17
Zach Hecht
because i Because they definitely... I mean, you know they they talked a lot about how they wanted Vlad. They wanted Vlad, but I don't think they were going to pay that....
01:18:26
Mac
And I think it saves him a little bit with the fam. Like, because the way the Mets fans even were, after they got Soto, they were complaining for Alonzo. I think this kind of took a little heat off Cohen's back. Because Cohen spend $3 billion, dollars and Mets fans could be like, we spent $4 billion.
Episode Wrap-Up and Future Hints
01:18:42
Zach Hecht
yeah The Mets fans are so are so used to complaining about not spending any money, and now that they're spending money, they don't know what to say.
01:18:48
Mac
Right. It's actually ridiculous seeing it. But I mean, we do kind the same thing. So I guess I can't.
01:18:55
Zach Hecht
That's true. I just like complaining in general.
01:18:56
Mac
But.
01:18:59
Mac
Yeah, and think most people in baseball world do, too.
01:19:03
Zach Hecht
Yeah. I just don't have people ah reading my clickbait and then taking it for fact and then regurgitating it and telling everybody else.
01:19:08
Mac
Yeah, we'll get there.
01:19:13
Mac
You heard it here first. Josh agrees that steroids should be in baseball. There's your clickbait.
01:19:17
Zach Hecht
Oh, Lord. just to Edit that out. Edit that out.
01:19:23
Mac
Nope. That should be our title.
01:19:26
Zach Hecht
No, I thought we already had a title.
01:19:27
Mac
i about
01:19:28
Zach Hecht
Well, we had a title we said an hour ago, and I forgot out what it was.
01:19:31
Mac
So go back and listen when you post it. And there we go.
01:19:34
Zach Hecht
Okay. I legitimately forgot what it was. We literally said it an hour ago.
01:19:39
Mac
It was overreaction in April.
01:19:42
Zach Hecht
Yeah, it was something like that.
01:19:47
Zach Hecht
All right, well, I think I've got nothing else.
01:19:51
Mac
I'm down to wrap there.
01:19:53
Zach Hecht
All right, well, I guess that is it. That is our, you know, 10 to 15 game overreaction April summary.
01:20:02
Mac
Panic! Ah!
01:20:06
Zach Hecht
Our panic overreaction April summary.
01:20:06
Mac
Roll your die!
01:20:10
Zach Hecht
Sans Zaki, just to get something out there for people to listen to. Our lovely followers absolutely missed us.
01:20:17
Mac
Yes, we know you missed us. We missed you right back.
01:20:21
Zach Hecht
ah We will be back soon with a real World Series episode. But thank you all for listening, and we will see you.
01:20:28
Mac
This time with Zach because he's the reason you guys listen.
01:20:30
Zach Hecht
Yes, absolutely. He is the only reason why I listen.
01:20:33
Mac
Yep.
01:20:33
Zach Hecht
We'll see you all soon. Peace out.
01:20:35
Mac
See later.