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Episode 14: The Accountability Pod (An MLB Season Check-In)
16 Plays26 days ago
The MLB season has hit its stride and is comfortably into its second full month. In a game of ebbs and flows, we have enough data points to look back at our bold takes and previews to see where we were right and where we were wrong...so far. And that's just what we do. Join us for the premature victory laps and the premature holding of L's on this episode of the Coastal Launch Sport Talk!
Also, the NFL schedule is soon to release with leaks already hitting the timeline, money threatens all that we love in the college sports postseason, the NHL Draft Lottery provided surprises, and the NHL Playoffs continue on with 3 great series!
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Transcript
Introduction & MLB Season Analysis
00:00:01
Cody Atkinson
Hello um and welcome to the Coastal Launch Sports Talk. I'm Cody coming to you from the bayous of Houston, Texas.
00:00:09
Justin Daulton
And I'm Justin coming to you from the magic of Orlando, Florida.
00:00:13
Cody Atkinson
And today we will be your destination for the MLB. We are well into the second full month of the MLB season, and with most teams having played around 40 of their 162-game season, it's a great time for us to check in on the season compared to our preview and see where we were right and where we were wrong.
00:00:36
Cody Atkinson
if we If nothing else, we are an accountability podcast. And so today we will hold ourselves to trial for what we told you to look out for in the
NFL International Games Discussion
00:00:45
Cody Atkinson
preview. So... With our trajectory set, it's time to sit back, lock in, and get started with the rundown.
00:00:51
Cody Atkinson
This is the Coastal Launch, and we are ready for liftoff here on episode 14.
00:00:58
Justin Daulton
14, man. Wow. All right, man. Let's dive right on in here. So, rundown for you this week. The NFL has done everything in their power to continue to stay relevant in the news media after, um obviously, we talked about the NFL draft and all that stuff. So, now they're trying to stay relevant by talking about the the schedule release coming out to this Thursday.
00:01:19
Justin Daulton
and it doesn't seem like the nfl is immune to the internet being the internet and that the there are leaks Yeah. something for for us to look forward to aaxons fan fans is that week six the texans will be traveling across the po to play the jaggures from what i saw this will be in away game so we're not losing our own game in
00:01:42
Cody Atkinson
Oh, that's good. thanks' good
00:01:43
Justin Daulton
me recently renamed to rely stadium So, something something to look forward to. The Texans haven't gone to London in quite a few years. The last time they played an international game was the Mexico City game in 2019, if I remember correctly.
00:01:57
Justin Daulton
If you are a Texan fan following along, that was Deshaun Watson years. that He was still with the team at the time. And so, that was a that was us against the... then oakland raiders was was that game in Mexico City. So the Texas is won that game for those of you that are keeping track at home.
00:02:14
Justin Daulton
So i what do you think, cody What do you think about going international in Texas? has Obviously, I've been international in about seven years now.
00:02:23
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I mean, it's – for this game specifically, i think I'm excited to see the Texans go international. I go back and forth as a general rule of thumb on, like, the number of international games done by the NFL. Like, I think it gets to be too much at times where you're just – but, like, at times it gets to be too much, but it then at other times you wake up early on a Sunday and you're like, 9.30 football. Like, that's kind of cool. Like, I get three windows – or I get two like morning windows before when I usually only get the one that starts at noon. So um I go back and forth. Ultimately, i think I like the international games in the regular season. I know there's like either talk or rumor or conspiracy. i don't know which one it is that the NFL wants to go international for the Super Bowl. That I am fully and wholeheartedly opposed to. That is our event.
00:03:16
Cody Atkinson
And i don't need the Super Bowl happening at some random time because they put it in in Cairo or wherever, but it's fun during the season to get an isolated morning window game.
00:03:16
Justin Daulton
Thank you.
00:03:28
Cody Atkinson
um it's It's fun to see them play on different fields and different backdrops with different fan environments. And, you know, it's not something that I will go to, but like it would be cool if...
00:03:42
Cody Atkinson
If I like, it's something that I thought of with enough advance to be like, I've i've always wanted to go to London, never been, might as well go when the Texans are in town. Like that's not something I had really thought of enough to plan around, but like that would be a cool experience. So I think it, I think it creates cool experiences too. Regular season.
00:03:58
Cody Atkinson
um I'm pro international games. This game specifically, since we're not losing a home game, I'm excited for because the Jags always play in London. So like it is a home game for them, but don't encroach on my post season. That's what I would say.
00:04:12
Justin Daulton
That's fair. Yeah. I mean, I don't think dedicated much thought to the idea of postseason football being overseas. I think at this point, like you have these coliseums basically and and and in the mainland USA of these giant stadiums that we can play at the Super Bowl in and from a contract standpoint and what you want to do with the Super Bowl, like you're able to do that here and and make the money.
00:04:35
Justin Daulton
I think eventually if we, you know, we're talking 10, 15 years down the road and you and you see the potential of of an international football team, then maybe that's where you start talking about finding a way to rotate it around there.
00:04:46
Justin Daulton
But while all your teams are U.S. based, there's no reason to take the the Super Bowl out of out of the mainland USA, at least.
College Sports Expansion Debate
00:04:54
Justin Daulton
But yeah, I'm with you.
00:04:54
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I think, was just saying, my point my point would be that just because there's no reason to doesn't mean they won't.
00:04:55
Justin Daulton
I'm not with. Go ahead.
00:05:02
Cody Atkinson
And we'll get to that later in the next category that I call money over customers. So I'm just saying, just because there's no reason to doesn't mean they won't. Please don't do it.
00:05:11
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I will say in the future, whenever airplane tickets are not exorbitantly expensive because of what's going on overseas right now and Jack Hill being absolutely expensive, then yeah, I would absolutely love to book a vacation.
00:05:11
Cody Atkinson
That's all.
00:05:24
Justin Daulton
You and I can take the show on the road. We'll we'll record it in London and ah in a random pub over some pints.
00:05:28
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:05:30
Justin Daulton
Absolutely. It'll be great time. But yeah, man, it's...
00:05:32
Cody Atkinson
Some warm pints.
00:05:34
Justin Daulton
I mean, I've been to London. i went to London a couple of years ago, man. i absolutely love that city. So I would love to go over there and watch the Texans play overseas. i think that'd be a hell of an experience. So, but yeah, man, it's cool. It's cool to see it.
00:05:49
Justin Daulton
all in all I mean, this year is going to an interesting one for the Texans playing a a non-division winning schedule. I think it's something that you and I talked about as the season kind of ended. We did our post-mortem of the Texans season in general that we're going to, you know, last year playing the first play schedule, you know, and getting everyone to top at top speed. You're going to get this, the you know, the the non-division winning schedules. You're going get some teams that were third and fourth in their division.
00:06:16
Justin Daulton
going forward to the season. So there's a chance that the Texans are playing for what you and I talked about at the end of the season of the possibility of being a one or a two seed and getting that first round by.
00:06:27
Justin Daulton
And then now now, you're talking about playing not just one home game in a Reliance stadium. You got a chance to at least play two. If you come out with a victory in the, in the first week of the post season. And now you're, now we're talking about an ASC championship game in the city of Houston with a chance to go to Superbowl.
00:06:43
Justin Daulton
So, You got feel good about it. We'll see, you know, we can deep dive the schedule next. We kind of do some way too early predictions next week and and see where we think the the Texans can fall with what we, you know, with the additions of of McDonald and and Rutledge to be, you know, the the the dogs down the middle there on both sides of the ball. So, I mean, lots to talk about. I'm sure we'll continue to talk football all off season long. It's something to look forward to to see what, you know, what the Texans are able to do this coming season.
00:07:14
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, absolutely. do you Do you get stoked for the schedule release, like, historically?
00:07:20
Justin Daulton
I used to when i was when I was living in Houston because then I would start kind trying to circle some dates that I would want to go to. But with it with me being in Florida now, not really. It's more so like, all right, like which ones am for sure? Maybe I can plan.
00:07:34
Justin Daulton
a day away from the house I don't have to necessarily be seated for that game because it's a game like, do I care that we're playing, you know i don't know, the Arizona Cardinals?
00:07:44
Justin Daulton
no I don't need to be seated for the Arizona Cardinal game.
00:07:45
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:07:47
Justin Daulton
So you know that's that's kind of my mentality now, like with this especially with having more family obligations. of like work well you know What can I do, is especially she as the temperatures drop down, so maybe I'm going more to do more outdoor stuff with the family and stuff like that. so I think it's more where my head's at now as a dad in my 30s, where you know in my my my early years, absolutely, I was signed i was like, all right, I got to be here for this game, this game, this game. like All right, we got to get in the car and go.
00:08:14
Cody Atkinson
That's fair. That's fair. I've never really been someone that's gotten stoked for it. I think that's because I never really went to games. Like I go to one game like every three years. Maybe the first game I ever went to was because you had season of tickets.
00:08:27
Cody Atkinson
um I will say i'm more I'm more excited for it this year as somebody who has, you know, an hour and a half or whatever to fill every Monday through the summer.
00:08:28
Justin Daulton
yeah
00:08:37
Cody Atkinson
I mean, when I saw the schedules coming out, i's like, oh, that's actually cool. That gives us something. It gives us a topic for next week when we'll be – scrounging for topics over the summer so i was i was actually pretty excited from it from that this is the closest i'll look at the schedule uh upon release like ever
00:08:54
Justin Daulton
Yeah, i'll be I think the schedule, if I had to look at one else outside of Houston that I'm like excited to look at, and I want to see what Seattle's schedule looks like. Like, what's their road to read to repeating look like?
00:09:04
Cody Atkinson
that's fair
00:09:05
Justin Daulton
and Because that's all back to episode one. We talked about what is it going to take for Seattle to repeat? And it's going to start with this coming Thursday. And, you know, what what's their schedule look like? what ah what are What is the path going to look like for Seattle to to make a run? Obviously, you know, at what the end of the season, 13-3, whatever it was.
00:09:23
Justin Daulton
last Or 14-3, I think, whatever it was last year. So, you know, it it was a pretty high win total.
00:09:26
Cody Atkinson
I don't remember if the exact.
00:09:30
Justin Daulton
So, like, I'll be interested to see if that's – you know, obtainable for them. So and maybe, maybe one that we can look at besides the Texans to see um and kind of break down the the schedule. But I do want to say one last thing before we move on. I want to see who has the best way of presenting the schedule.
00:09:46
Justin Daulton
The l LA Chargers.
00:09:47
Cody Atkinson
Oh, the Chargers always crush it.
00:09:49
Justin Daulton
Yes, absolutely. And the bills, I think had a fun one a couple of years ago too, where they, they had like a celebrity introduce it to them or some for, for everyone. and it And it was funny. They went the funny route as opposed to the Chargers making the full blown, uh,
00:10:03
Justin Daulton
Yeah,
00:10:05
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, i forgot about that. i ah got I go on like the hunt for those every year and I just like completely forgot that like this is when those come out. Heck yeah.
00:10:13
Justin Daulton
yeah absolutely. um Move.
00:10:15
Cody Atkinson
I hope the Texans do something fancy, but they usually don't.
00:10:18
Justin Daulton
No, the techs aren't really known for but their social media has been better the last couple of years. So, and from what I saw, there's a new social media manager because they had a really cool video for Will Anderson Jr. when he get signed his contract extension.
00:10:29
Justin Daulton
They walked into a room and they handed him a gift and they get back out an extension cord in it
00:10:32
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:10:34
Justin Daulton
And so it was like they're playing pranks and stuff like that.
00:10:34
Cody Atkinson
Nice.
00:10:36
Justin Daulton
So hopefully, maybe, we'll see how the we'll see what they do here come Thursday.
00:10:41
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:10:42
Justin Daulton
And then also we'll know which game they debut the rivalry jerseys on Thursday because they'll have the schedule um like themes.
00:10:48
Cody Atkinson
Oh, cool.
00:10:51
Justin Daulton
and there So we'll know when we're wearing what jerseys and such as well.
00:10:55
Cody Atkinson
Nice. Then eventually get to eventually read to figure out what these jerseys are. we don't know yet, right?
00:10:59
Justin Daulton
No, it's, ah they said August, I think is what they said, is when they'll date one will'll show them off.
00:11:03
Cody Atkinson
Oh, God.
00:11:05
Justin Daulton
So we still got a couple months away from that one. But is there anything like the rebrand that we saw two years ago? I'm stoked.
00:11:15
Justin Daulton
All right, well, moving over to Colin.
00:11:15
Cody Atkinson
No, I'm excited for it.
00:11:17
Justin Daulton
Yeah. move over to college football or college sports, I guess, in general, um, money over customers is how you've titled this segment for, for us here. Uh, the news this week, and then I'll, I'll just run through the kind of the highlights and I'll give it to you.
00:11:26
Cody Atkinson
she sister
00:11:30
Justin Daulton
Cause I think you have a rant ready to go and talking about this. Uh, the college sports is, uh, kind of starting to expand on making more money. Obviously that's the name of the game and professional and and amateur sports. Um,
00:11:43
Justin Daulton
So March Madness is moving from a 68 field to 76, which you were telling me increases the plans, which cool, great, whatever, obviously the money making process there.
00:11:50
Cody Atkinson
you
00:11:54
Justin Daulton
And then on the college football side of things, there's obviously been talks the last couple of years of obviously we went from the plus one, right? Of just the top four getting into now the top 12, getting in with the rules of um the G5s and then the Notre Dame rule that came to play this year and all that stuff. So moving into, there's two different paths. I think that's in front of the NCAA at this point.
00:12:18
Justin Daulton
It's moving to a 16-team playoff round which is where the SEC is falling. And then you have 2014, which is what the Big Ten is falling into. Obviously, the SEC and the Big Ten being your two big powers at at play here.
00:12:34
Justin Daulton
So going to kick it to you. I'll let you get your thoughts out because you seem primed and ready to go on this before we hit go. And then i'll I'll tell you where my thoughts are because I think we might differ on a couple of different opinions here. So I want to hear your your rant.
00:12:48
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, so I guess the one thing I'll almost point out in the way that you structured that is the two paths forward, right? But no one's the the third path forward of staying at 12, it's just like, doesn't seem like really on the table anymore, which is I think the point of this whole thing is like,
00:13:05
Cody Atkinson
so march madness at 64 teams was perfection it filled out this this perfectly symmetrical even bracket it the most inclusion you seemingly could possibly ask for and it just made money like crazy and then that wasn't enough for them so they snuck in 68 and you're just like i hate it but whatever now there's a playing game on a tuesday or a wednesday and and It doesn't affect my bracket anyways, because like I'm not paying attention to it. And thank God the bracket maker people don't make us pick those games. They just let us start with the actual round. and At the end of the day, they they're they're moving to 76 now. and And I think the general consensus...
00:13:47
Cody Atkinson
but from their entire fan base, like the entire fan base is 64 was perfect. 68 is fine. Why do you need to make it 76? The bubble gets weaker every year. You're leaving teams out of the tournament that like are struggling to break 500, but we got to make room for them now for some reason, because like, it's a big enough brand that ah we, we want the money from them. And so like it,
00:14:14
Cody Atkinson
It's just wild to me. I feel like this is a shift in in sports as a whole, and this is kind of where the rant comes in. is like I don't think the customer, in this case the fan, has ever mattered any less in the minds of decision makers. like when you When you look at college basketball expanding to 68, nobody wanted to do it.
00:14:34
Cody Atkinson
um The other news is the American Football Coaches Association has expressed support in the twenty fourteen playoff which is where we know the media companies who drive this want to go.
00:14:46
Cody Atkinson
Virtually nobody's asking for this. We're still trying to figure out what 12 Teams is. Like, does 12 work? Is this the right number? We have basically one, well, we have one, two data points on this and we're chopping it up every year to try to fix little issues. And and like, I think we have a really good product with 12 personally. I think this is, I think once we clean up a couple more things, like This 12 has ended up in some really good postseason football.
00:15:15
Cody Atkinson
And but before we can even settle on whether this is it or not, they're going to move to 24 regardless of what we think. and And that's where it expands to like baseball to like the lot the impending lockout.
00:15:26
Cody Atkinson
Everyone cares about what the players are going to get or what the owners want. Nobody cares about the fans missing a year of baseball or fans not being able to get tied down to their favorite player because their favorite player is just going to get traded to the Dodgers in three years if they're good enough and like it's with all these these sports and and I think if you go even further with like what's NIL needs to be reined in a little bit like the money in that is crazy and players don't stick around for more than a year and so it's just like all of this is like the fan experience has never mattered less to these organizations and to me
00:16:06
Cody Atkinson
This expansion to 76, and if they were to announce 24 in the near future, these would be the the largest examples of we don't care what the fans think because at the end of the day, they're going to watch it and they don't have to be happy. They just have to watch.
00:16:25
Cody Atkinson
So I would say stay at 12.
00:16:25
Justin Daulton
Yeah, i
00:16:28
Justin Daulton
yeah I mean, the hard part here, right, is, you know, college basketball, from from where it was when we were kids to where we're sitting now, right, it wasn't even 64.
00:16:39
Justin Daulton
It was less than that when we first kids, right? It was 52, I want to say, when we were kids, right?
00:16:46
Cody Atkinson
I have zero memories before 64. It might have been. they find and burn
00:16:50
Justin Daulton
I want to say it was 52. ah want to say it was fifty two Someone in the chat can correct me where are you if we want to fact check this after the episode, but it was less when we were kids. And then we went to 64 when we were you know in college. So going 64 felt fine. It never felt like a super big stretch to me.
00:17:07
Justin Daulton
You know, so I'm with you there that the jump to 76 just doesn't make sense to me. You know, are we going have, are we going to play a whole extra week of playing games before we even get to, you know, before we even get to the first round now?
00:17:20
Justin Daulton
So is now, is that now just the first round while we build up to this and we give the, you know, the teams that are already in a chance to play, you know, or give them a bye week?
00:17:25
Cody Atkinson
Thank you.
00:17:29
Justin Daulton
I don't know. Does this kill the NIT? Like, Who knows what happens to that because now you're taking teams away from that, which is still a televised tournament in New York City. So that plays, you know, towards the end of the March Madness tournament.
00:17:44
Justin Daulton
So it's it's one thing that, like, you're you're choosing greed to steal from greed in a way. And we, we the customers, are are paying for which sucks. But, you know, as long as...
00:17:56
Justin Daulton
as long as the competition stays us is at the same level i'm okay but we've seen there would be a competition issue in the march madness tournament because of it you're seeing the the underdog stories the cinderella stories wane in favor of you know the the major powers florida potentially on a back-to-back houston going up there and all that stuff you know a and m finding difficulty to rise to the occasion and get back into relevancy in basketball.
00:18:25
Justin Daulton
All these things come into play when you start talking ah taking up to 76. that That's the real downfall here right because sports is meant to be drama-filled adrenaline-based adrenaline based in all these other emotions tied into it. and When you start taking away what allows these sports to be those emotions, that's what that's what you're losing.
00:18:46
Justin Daulton
and I think I agree with you that we're we have a formula in college football to kind of shift from March Madness to football. We have a formula that's working. i do think the roles are are majorly skewed in the wrong way.
00:19:02
Justin Daulton
Notre Dame getting an automatic qualifier as long as they're in the top 12 is not good. That's not good for college football. now anyone that's anyone is just not going to book with with notre dame and that sucks because notre damme is a perennial powerhouse like you want to play games like i'm ruin a and booked the the home and away with with notre dame And that was huge.
00:19:21
Justin Daulton
You and I talked about trying to get to South Bend to watch that game um before we decided to get older and not have as much money.
00:19:23
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:19:29
Justin Daulton
So and not be able to go to South Bend because to take us for $400 for the nosebleeds. I'm not doing that. um But it's tough. The the rules are are not great. there's world There's room for improvement when it comes to the rules in college football.
00:19:44
Justin Daulton
i think if you do increase it it needs to go to sixteen going to twenty four doesn't make sense because at the end of the day, we've been trained forever that the top 25 is what matters.
00:19:56
Justin Daulton
So if you're going to go to 24, you might as well go to 25 and have a play-in game for 25 and 24 and make the top 25 actually make like be worthwhile at that point if you're going to go there, because that's what we've been trained in our head.
00:20:05
Cody Atkinson
Easy.
00:20:08
Justin Daulton
Even through the BCS era, all these things, whenever you win and you win a top 25 game and you get those points in the BCS, that meant something. So if you're going to increase, 16 is another half measure you Might well just go to 24 and 25 and have a play-in weekend happen instead of the the conference championship games or whatever.
00:20:28
Justin Daulton
You have a play-in game. And then you just go there and whoever wins that game is your wild card team that goes in there and that's your bracket. And you break it up from there. Do I like it?
00:20:38
Justin Daulton
No. But do I think it makes it the most fair that the goal is to get into the top 25? That's what makes most sense because then you still open up the idea for a Cinderella story at 25 to work its all way through. Because you got to think back to, what was it, 2010 State, Oklahoma.
00:20:54
Justin Daulton
boise state oklahoma Imagine that game is like actually meant something. Maybe there's actually something on the line that Boise State pulls off that upset and beats a power four in Oklahoma. And now they're moving on to the next game.
00:21:06
Justin Daulton
You have that opportunity with 25 teams in there that they someone can make that run. James Madison was still in the top 25, so James Madison still gets in at 24, I think, when when the final poll came out.
00:21:20
Justin Daulton
So all you have to do is get in. that's when That's what we've been training for for so long, is to care about top 25. And yes, does it water down your products? For sure, because now you're talking about teams that have four losses getting into a playoff format.
00:21:35
Justin Daulton
but that allows you to build up your schedule and allows your schedule, your strength of schedule to actually mean something. Now, does it hurt bowl season? Yes. Does it hurt Army Navy game? Yes. Does it hurt conference championship games?
00:21:47
Justin Daulton
Yes. But that regular season now means something because every game matters. And that's the only way to make every game matter because if you go to 16 or 24, the regular season doesn't matter. you're just going to schedule cake walklks all the way through is going coast to a 10-2 season, 11-1 season, and you're going to be fine.
00:22:05
Justin Daulton
But if you make it to where you have to play for all 25 teams, everyone's going to schedule everyone because that's when the strength of schedule matters. So you you have to get to that point to where the the regular season matters and then figure out bowl season. However you want to figure out bowl season, that can be a whole other topic ah do you want to shift the bowl season to be week zero do you want to make bull season b the actual playoff games i don't know i don't know the perfect way of doing it but you got to make it where the regular season matters. And right now the regular season will not matter if you go to 16 or even 24.
00:22:37
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I think that's the that's the ultimate point there, right? like I think a playoff system is at its best when good teams that maybe could have made a run get left out because then it's like this elite thing to attain and to to look forward to. And then if if good teams that could make a run get left out, that means every team that made it is also capable of the same thing and i and i think we're really closing in on that like obviously we have the the g5 attendee which i'm fine with um personally like i i think they deserve a seat at the table and if they get blown out 90 times but the 91st time that we get to see the coolest comeback the the coolest upset of all time like it's probably worth it for how elite that moment will be um and it's the first round anyways so um who Who really cares? um I think we have just such a good product right now where you could still get like like that Boise, Oklahoma. Boise is still the 12th team in this in this bracket that we have right now.
00:23:43
Cody Atkinson
So we still could get Boise, Oklahoma, and we have quality teams that got left out, which means that the teams that made it matter. And it means a regular season that are like, like Texas is doing all of its going on, ah on a ramp because they lost to Florida and that loss to Florida kept them out of the playoff.
00:24:01
Cody Atkinson
And Vanderbilt got left out just by being 10 and two, because they didn't, their, their schedule strength, what just wasn't quite what some of the other 10 and two teams were. And it's just so much mad.
00:24:12
Cody Atkinson
Like that the, the, the argument for four to 12 was that the regular season wouldn't matter. I think we've seen that it matters more because more teams have a chance to fight for something. But if you go from 12 to 24, I'm now on the watered down side of things, really.
00:24:27
Cody Atkinson
There's teams with three, four losses that end the season in the top 25.
00:24:31
Justin Daulton
Sure. Yeah.
00:24:32
Cody Atkinson
And at that point, like the regular season wouldn't matter anymore. And that's one of the great things about college football is how much weight is on every single game.
00:24:43
Cody Atkinson
a loss in college football feels so different than a loss in every other sport. I think it's part of what makes it great. So I just hate to see that the era that we're living in scares me. And this will be like my biggest rant week over week is that we, but we might live in the era where money kills the love of the game um truthfully. and and it And it feels like that's what this feels like with March Madness expanding and then maybe college football expansion, but hopefully we can stave off college football expansion for a little bit longer.
00:25:12
Justin Daulton
Well, mean, at least this year, theyve they've said, the committee said that they're sticking with 12 this year. So obviously we won't reevaluate until next off season of like where we're going with things in college football.
00:25:18
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:25:23
Justin Daulton
But yeah, as of the, you know, we're going in that direction. I think the sooner that we kind of start wrapping our head around that expansion to the, to the CFP is coming, you know, just what whether or not it's 16 or 24, whatever it is, you know, we'll, we just gotta start embracing what it's going to be.
NHL Draft & Playoffs Insights
00:25:41
Justin Daulton
Unfortunately.
00:25:42
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, unfortunately.
00:25:45
Justin Daulton
right. Into happier news, at least for for some teams that didn't do so well this past season. The NHL draft lottery happened, but i think, literally the next day after we recorded last week.
00:25:57
Justin Daulton
um
00:25:57
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, it was Tuesday.
00:25:59
Justin Daulton
Yeah. So the Toronto Maple Leafs come out with the number one overall pick with the best odds. The San Jose Sharks go to the second pick with the ninth best odds for it all in the Vancouver, Chicago, New York Rangers round at the top five.
00:26:13
Justin Daulton
You immediately, i think I think it was the next day, texted me saying that it's time to dust off the San Jose Sharks gear.
00:26:21
Cody Atkinson
I said it might be.
00:26:22
Justin Daulton
um So I want to kick it to you, man. What are your thoughts? what's you know Obviously, you and I talking more about NHL, I think is living this kind of wrapping your head more around the sport again. So where's where's your where's your head at, man? what's Where's your heart taking you now with NHL?
00:26:38
Cody Atkinson
Well, i just I will say I love these um the results of the draft lottery this year. i have a soft spot for Toronto. i have a soft spot for any team that has a single color and white as their color scheme. So like I love the lightning.
00:26:55
Cody Atkinson
uh the maple leaves and like the red wings the maple leaves the red wings obviously have the iconic history as well um and just gavin mckenna being a canadian prospect i am excited likely the first overall pick i am excited that he is going to go to a canadian franchise obviously ah if if the chalk had played out he would have gone to vancouver i do think that would have been cooler But I am excited to see McKenna go to Toronto, possibly pair with Austin Matthews. If he stays around, that could be very fun. But I am very excited for what the San Jose Sharks got here.
00:27:32
Cody Atkinson
ah Going all the way up from ninth to the second to pick two is incredible. I think it's his name is Ivar Stenberg is the projected number two pick. And I read an article, um and I might get this name wrong, but I recognize the name.
00:27:47
Cody Atkinson
ah ah the It did like the NHL comp thing. And I recognized the name and i was like, that means that guy's good. It was, I think, well it William Nyquist or Nyland or something like that. I'm have to look this up now.
00:27:58
Justin Daulton
Nyquist sounds right, but I might be misspeaking as well.
00:28:00
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, hold on.
00:28:03
Cody Atkinson
But the the Sharks of...
00:28:04
Justin Daulton
I'll feel airwa i'll fill it air while you look.
00:28:06
Cody Atkinson
no
00:28:08
Justin Daulton
I got into a back and forth with Dallas about about the first pick, about...
00:28:13
Cody Atkinson
Nylander.
00:28:14
Justin Daulton
Nightland, okay. um About the Maple Leafs basically being the LA Lakers space of of the NHL.
00:28:25
Justin Daulton
So where, you know, my head went to the NHL is going to do everything in their power to get the cup back into Canada because the cup hasn't been in Canada for almost 20 years, I think, right?
00:28:37
Justin Daulton
Over 20 years since the night.
00:28:37
Cody Atkinson
It's been a very long time.
00:28:39
Justin Daulton
Since the night, right?
00:28:39
Cody Atkinson
It's like the running joke.
00:28:40
Justin Daulton
I think. Yeah. So that was my initial take. His initial take was, no, you have to keep the TV ratings on Toronto because your moneymaker is in Toronto.
00:28:50
Justin Daulton
So that means you've got to kind of play, you know, you've got to let Gavin McKinnick get to some sort of Canadian team and that's and the best one to put him on. is toronto so that's kind of the the comparison was you know dallas mavericks getting the number one overall pick after sending luca to la so that you sent luca or the nba sending luca to la for the star power to play with lebron is the same type of thing of gavin mckenna playing with awesome at the captain america with captain canada basically you know, in the future.
00:29:21
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:29:22
Justin Daulton
So yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, man, I, Toronto's still going to Toronto. They still find a way to to fall apart down the stretch. I feel bad for Austin Matthews. If I was Austin Matthews, I'd want out. I'd gather McKenna's not enough for me to stay in Toronto when you could probably go to a Chicago, a Tampa, a San Jose, literally any team down South and you're going to get the money you want, especially when you're looking at, it you know, you and I talked about keeping a tampa topic in here with victor headdman Austin Matthews would insert perfectly down into Tampa. I don't know what you have to give up for to get to bring him to Tampa, but i think he slides in perfectly well on that top line that's been missing a top goal scorer like a Stephen Samkos. think that would be perfect.
00:30:06
Justin Daulton
I don't know what it's going to take to get him out of Toronto, but I think ultimately Austin Matthews is his time and kind of seeing how his season ended with Toronto. His time up there is coming to an end, and I just don't think Gavin McKenna is enough to to fix that.
00:30:21
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I do think that Toronto is headed for rebuild. So i my guess would also be that Austin Matthews finds his way out of town for a boatload of prospects.
00:30:33
Cody Atkinson
but But McKenna gives them something very fun to to build around and something to to kind of hold on to hope for the rebuild.
00:30:38
Justin Daulton
Yep.
00:30:41
Cody Atkinson
But back to to San Jose, i think this is huge for them because they it was a few years ago they took Will Smith. um They took Macklin Celebrini, who looks like he could be one of the next young goats.
00:30:53
Cody Atkinson
And they took Michael Misa, and now you get the number two pick. or you either they They could take Ivar Stenberg, who has a William Nylander comparison and could be really good, but they also need a defenseman more than...
00:31:07
Cody Atkinson
a winger So there's also a chance they just trade back and still get a top three defenseman in this draft while adding some, some bulk around that. Also sharks have two first round picks this.
00:31:19
Cody Atkinson
I'm very excited for what the sharks could be. Cause I think they're a very fun brand of hockey to watch. Um, And this could be a really big draft for them coming off of a season where they were they were battling with the Ducks for a while to be the young team that made it into the playoffs.
00:31:37
Cody Atkinson
The Ducks obviously are getting the juice from this playoff run, but like San Jose wasn't far behind them. So to have that season and get the number two pick, San Jose is a team to watch in the future.
00:31:48
Cody Atkinson
For my fandom, I have chosen my permanent team if we want to get into it. It is not San Jose.
00:31:54
Justin Daulton
Whoa.
00:31:55
Cody Atkinson
It is not San Jose.
00:31:56
Justin Daulton
Whoa.
00:31:57
Cody Atkinson
ah
00:31:58
Justin Daulton
Whoa.
00:31:58
Cody Atkinson
i couldn't I couldn't do San Jose because the whole problem with San Jose was their that all their games start at nine. And that's why I lost track of them to begin with because I was like, I can't be watching midnight hockey every night.
00:32:09
Cody Atkinson
The Houston arrows from 2000, I believe it was 2000 to 2013 or an AHL affiliate of the Minnesota wild before they moved to Iowa.
00:32:20
Justin Daulton
Oh.
00:32:22
Cody Atkinson
And I was already rooting for the Minnesota wild this year because of Quinn Hughes, Brock Faber and, uh, the other u hockey guy his name Matt Boldy, Quinn Hughes, Brock Faber. There are still two players on the Minnesota Wild who actually played with the Houston Arrows, and that's last name Spurgeon and Brodine. So I'm all in on Minnesota. I'm hanging my hat there. I will be rooting for the air for the Arrows affiliate until Houston gets a team.
00:32:57
Justin Daulton
Whoa, breaking news, man. I wasn't expecting that.
00:32:59
Cody Atkinson
Breaking news. Breaking news.
00:33:01
Justin Daulton
Dang.
00:33:02
Cody Atkinson
that The draft lottery made me made me think long and hard on some things.
00:33:07
Justin Daulton
Dang, man. i was that You kept that for me. I wasn't even expecting that. Dang.
00:33:11
Cody Atkinson
No, that was under wraps. I have also decided not to buy any gear until the season's over because I can't ah like i can't bring bad Juju in like that.
00:33:20
Justin Daulton
Well, you can't be a bandwagoner. Yeah, for sure. For sure.
00:33:22
Cody Atkinson
Mm-mm. Well, i was like, if if you recall, when I first started watching hockey, I bought a very specific t-shirt and then the the the sharks that went on to get reverse swept the day after the teacher arrived.
00:33:24
Justin Daulton
Man, I don't...
00:33:34
Justin Daulton
epi
00:33:35
Cody Atkinson
So we're not doing that.
00:33:38
Justin Daulton
Dang, I mean, I'm shell-shocked, guys. i don't I don't know where to go from here. That's that's crazy. That's crazy, man. Well, I'm glad that we'll both have we'll we'll both have a ah team to talk about come around in October when Pug Drop comes back around.
00:33:51
Cody Atkinson
That's right.
00:33:52
Justin Daulton
And I'm excited. I'm excited to talk NHL with you a little bit more. And I'll get you linked up with my brother-in-law, who is from Minnesota, and you guys can talk to Minnesota hockey because he's he's been on that emotional rollercoaster his entire life.
00:34:01
Cody Atkinson
There you go.
00:34:05
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, it's a bold move by me picking quite possibly the most cursed sports town in America, but the team stood out, had to do it.
00:34:14
Justin Daulton
Just carrying your battered Aggie syndrome to NHL. Have fun.
00:34:19
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, yeah.
00:34:21
Justin Daulton
All right, well, from one NHL topic to the next, let's let's do a little round two check-in. Last week we obviously did our predictions for round two after being one game into it. um One of us is very right and one of us is very wrong on one series.
00:34:36
Justin Daulton
i will I will take my L and go on with my day there. But yeah, update on the series, Carolina Sweets, Philly, Montreal up 2-1 over Buffalo, Anaheim and Vegas tied at 2, and then Colorado up 2-1 over Minnesota.
00:34:51
Justin Daulton
i Favorite series so far, Cody?
00:34:56
Cody Atkinson
So far, so I'm highlighting so far because later i will highlight why I think Colorado, Minnesota could become better than what it's been so far. But so far, i have to go Montreal-Buffalo because that's what I want. That's the series I wanted to see. And we we got, you know, everyone thought Montreal was going to come in their game one and really put the pedal to the metal and they got slapped in the face by Buffalo. But then the immediate bounce back to...
00:35:26
Cody Atkinson
to to to tie it up on the road, go back to Montreal, take game one, two to one. That has been my favorite series so far. I think there's an argument that the individual games have not been the best. Like there's, there's sometimes the momentum gets swinging in one team's direction and they kind of pull away.
00:35:44
Cody Atkinson
So I think like, like Sunday night's game, I think was like six to one or five to one Montreal. Yeah.
00:35:48
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:35:49
Cody Atkinson
that individual game, not as exciting, but the back and forth of this series and just the anticipation of Buffalo's counter punch. Like I really, I could not be more fired up for this series. And, and the whole time watching it, just being like that team, the the winner of this is going to play Carolina next. And that's going to be electric too. So I, it's been my favorite so far. it's been cancel all plans because Montreal Buffalo's on TV.
00:36:17
Justin Daulton
I'm going to keep riding the train that i that I got on last week, Ben. the My favorite fair series so far has been Anaheim and Vegas. ah You want to talk about a series that's going punch, counter, punch. like They're literally trading victories one for one.
00:36:29
Justin Daulton
they're they' ah they're There's comebacks in it. There's high scoring in there. There's goalie play in it. It's giving you everything that you want in a Stanley Cup playoff series. And it's showing. It's showing in the in the in the column. And it's a series that's bound for seven.
00:36:45
Justin Daulton
and it's one that it sucks because you're going to beat each other up so much that going up against Colorado in the next series, if that's the way that it goes, is going to be rough.
00:36:54
Cody Atkinson
Hopefully not.
00:36:55
Justin Daulton
Hopefully not. But if it does go to Colorado's way, going seven and then having to go right into a Colorado series, is that's a rough that's a rough ticket to take. But we talked ah about it at length last week, and this Anaheim team, there's a lot to be excited for as an Anaheim fan. And I'm um i'm happy for my boy over here in Dallas and you know the playoff run that he's getting to witness, something something that he hasn't been able to witness in almost the last decade plus, I think, for Anaheim.
00:37:23
Justin Daulton
so you know i'm gonna i'mnna write this train for as long as i can because i don't think i get to write it all into the stanley cup but i you know i hope that ah i hope whatever we get and be of the Stanley Cup is is worthwhile because the last couple of years with Florida, I've had zero interest in watching the Stanley Cup finals.
00:37:39
Justin Daulton
So something to watch.
00:37:40
Cody Atkinson
That's fair.
00:37:43
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:37:44
Justin Daulton
um Biggest surprise for you so far?
00:37:47
Cody Atkinson
This is why I went with Montreal Buffalo in the first one, because Anaheim and Vegas needed to be saved for this category. You had belief in Anaheim. You picked them. I did not. i In no way, shape, or form. i In my mind, if we were going to get one sweep,
00:38:04
Cody Atkinson
this was the best candidate because Anaheim just it felt like they had to have used up all their bullets. like this is They shouldn't have gotten this far. like There's no way they have anything left in the tank.
00:38:12
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:38:14
Cody Atkinson
that They don't know. like They're too young. They don't know how to handle round two. like I just did not believe in Anaheim's ability to put up a seven-game series with Anaheim.
00:38:26
Cody Atkinson
with uh with vegas and and it looks like that's what we're gonna get i mean obviously two of the other series we mentioned could still go to two in the next game but that one's already there and it is it's literally like you said punch counter punches vegas 1-0 anaheim 1-1 vegas 2-1 anaheim 2-2 and there's no reason to think it's going to be anything else that absolutely could have gone down as favorite series but i had to save it for biggest surprise because you believed but i i absolutely did not
00:38:55
Justin Daulton
My biggest surprise is Carolina sweeping. I thought Philly was going to have more fight in this series. Obviously, I picked them as the Vibes team to to keep going and and have a good chance at at beating Carolina in this series.
00:39:06
Justin Daulton
i think going down in the sweep this far into it just to go out and be that that gritty team that Philly was and not even able to get a punch basically in there and be what you expect a Philly team to be.
00:39:21
Justin Daulton
That's the biggest surprise for me just going down without ah without a ah without a win. And it's starting to make me really nervous from an Eastern Conference perspective. I don't want Carolina in the Stanley Cup finals just from a historical basis with Tampa.
00:39:35
Justin Daulton
So that makes me a little nervous because eight games in and you're getting what eventually will be another about another week to week and a half of rest makes me real nervous going into the Eastern Conference finals with whether it's a Buffalo or a Montreal.
00:39:52
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, but it's going to be a killer series with with them. But yeah, the Carolina will be rested and Buffalo or Montreal will be coming off of back-to-back absolute dogfights.
00:40:04
Justin Daulton
Yeah. Any disappointments for you?
00:40:08
Cody Atkinson
That's mine. um i ah Carolina sweeping Philadelphia. Obviously, I picked Carolina, so that feels good. But from an entertainment perspective, um I could not be happier with the rest of these series. It all looked like they have a chance to go six or seven.
00:40:24
Cody Atkinson
and and and Carolina sweeps sweeps Philly 4-0. I wanted to see some punch back. The thing I'm noticing with myself watching hockey this season like playoffs, which is a little different than normal. i will root for the team I picked when the series is tied and they need to go up. But once they go up, I'm rooting for the other team to tie it back up because I want my team to win the team I picked to win, but I want it to go seven because the games are so electric. And that that's what it was with Carolina Philly. Like I wanted to see Carolina go up to keep the home home ice, but I wanted to see Philly fight back in Philly. And we didn't, we didn't get to see that. So that was, that's been my biggest disappointment so far.
00:41:04
Justin Daulton
yeah I don't really have any disappointments everything with the exception of the Carolina series is pretty pretty much going the way that i anticipated going If I had to pick one, it's going to sound weird.
00:41:17
Justin Daulton
It is the Montreal Buffalo series in a way that it's not as physical as I thought it was going to be. Montreal coming off of the Tampa series, you know raking up a ton of penalty minutes, fighting, like legitimately fighting in the series.
00:41:30
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:41:31
Justin Daulton
Buffalo being a team that's been known to be super scrappy this season, really want get in your face, rattle you, um you know and talk about your mom basically in your face and in and see what happens.
00:41:43
Justin Daulton
And it really they really haven't been super physical. Like, obviously, you still have the physicality of hockey in general, but it just hasn't been that way yet. And it still can, obviously. You know, you still got quite a few games left to play, but it just hasn't been as physical as I thought it was going to be, especially the way that Montreal played Tampa.
00:42:00
Justin Daulton
And I don't know, that was just reserved for Tampa as opposed to a different philosophy against Buffalo. But it definitely seems to be more of what you expect to be playoff hockey in that series.
00:42:10
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. That makes sense. Yeah, it's just stylistically a different different different style of matchup. and And to your point, it it has produced on a game-by-game basis. It has produced less intensity than that Montreal Tampa Bay did.
00:42:26
Justin Daulton
Yeah, it just goes to show that that Montreal-Tampa series still should have been the Eastern Conference Finals because that seven-game series I think is still the best that we're going to get from probably any series if I had to guess going forward.
00:42:33
Cody Atkinson
That was awesome.
00:42:37
Justin Daulton
So hopefully I'm wrong.
00:42:38
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, that that that might be the best one.
00:42:40
Justin Daulton
I want to be wrong, but to me that's still the best series and will be the best series.
00:42:44
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, if you are wrong, it means the playoffs have something incredible in store for us still.
00:42:50
Justin Daulton
And I'll head to the Stanley Cup. That'll do it for us.
00:42:53
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I'd be stoked. That'd be a lot of fun to watch.
00:42:56
Justin Daulton
give me give me a give give me a give me a Give me a Buffalo Stanley Cup Final.
00:42:56
Cody Atkinson
Well, I guess I wouldn't be that stoked because Minnesota would have lost a along the way, but other than Minnesota making it.
00:43:06
Justin Daulton
That'll be electric.
00:43:08
Cody Atkinson
That'd be fun. but yeah if We got to fix the Anaheim jerseys, though. They're gross.
00:43:13
Justin Daulton
They just rebranded. that i think they're literally within like a year or two old now.
00:43:18
Cody Atkinson
The orange is gross, man. I don't like it.
00:43:22
Justin Daulton
I can't see you, Warren, so I have no i have no opinion.
00:43:26
Cody Atkinson
Oh, there you go. you you you You're lucky this time. I'll tell you what.
00:43:28
Justin Daulton
And and i can't I can't see Minnesota's either.
00:43:29
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:43:31
Justin Daulton
It's all brown to me. So there you go.
00:43:33
Cody Atkinson
Well, dang. That would be real unfortunate if you rooted for them. yeah Buying merch would be a disaster.
00:43:40
Justin Daulton
Why you think most of my teams wear blue? Oh, man.
00:43:43
Cody Atkinson
That's a fair, but that' that's a good point.
00:43:45
Justin Daulton
oh man All right.
00:43:45
Cody Atkinson
That's a good point. The one thing I'll say, the one last thing I'll say, i noted it earlier, Colorado, Minnesota, two to one has been a little bit of a disappointment in just the,
00:43:47
Justin Daulton
Let's move over to the wrap-up then. Oh, go ahead. Yeah.
00:44:00
Cody Atkinson
Colorado with just blitzed Minnesota in Colorado, and they're turning it back around a little bit in Minnesota. But the one reason I think this series could get really good um is that the Minnesota power play appears to be back. The Minnesota power play had gotten, I think, after game two as low as like 8% success rate in the playoffs, just disgustingly.
00:44:22
Cody Atkinson
inept power play, but in their game three, when they scored two power play goals, um, at the end of the first period today, which is all that I've seen today, no spoilers. If I had it on my phone, I would not be participating in the show.
00:44:35
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:44:36
Cody Atkinson
So I did not put it on my phone, but I'm not trying to see spoilers. So, um, in the, in, at the end of the first period, Minnesota was up one to zero with the power play goal. So that's three power play goals in, you know four periods. If the power play is back, We could get the series we hoped for with Minnesota, Colorado, where at one point it looked like we were going to get a Colorado dredging of Minnesota. So I'm hopeful that this can turn around and we can get what we were claiming we were going to get when we were hyping it up all first round.
00:45:07
Justin Daulton
Yeah, we'll see what happens. We got it another week of games here to go, so we'll see how the how this week plays out. Let's move into the wrap up, shall
00:45:17
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:45:17
Justin Daulton
So ah for me this week, i just checked my phone. I can now update the the raised, I don't think you're gonna be surprised by this, Cody, if you're looking at the document, are ready?
00:45:27
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, no way.
MLB Season Review & Predictions
00:45:29
Cody Atkinson
they were They were up 10 to 3. How did they hold on?
00:45:32
Justin Daulton
The Rays in the last week have gone five and one One game got postponed, so it was ah it would have been a seven-game week. As you noted, when we were doing the little pre-lib before we hit record, the Red Sox just went into hiding.
00:45:45
Justin Daulton
They didn't want to play the Saturday game against the Rays.
00:45:47
Cody Atkinson
dude.
00:45:49
Justin Daulton
um The game has been postponed to July, which I assume is probably shortly after the All-Star break to to to make up the game. the The week looked like a sweep of the Blue Jays and then dropped one to the Red Sox where I just couldn't get any runs across the board. It was 2-0 to the Red Sox that game.
00:46:07
Justin Daulton
But there's there's been some stats going around. And you and I talked a little bit this week about the Tampa Rays, man. Last 16 games, so before today's game went final, the Rays were 14-2, so now 15-2 in the last 17 where they have not allowed more than three runs. Today they did give up more than three runs, if I remember correctly. I'm going pull that real quick. yeah they give a five so today is the first game in 16 games that we allowed more than three runs and the team's combined ERA is 1.20 in that stretch like I told you last week I and committed to bringing you one stat a week for for the for this team and that's my stat for you this week man it's a stretch of games that are that is being led by how well the pitching staff is coming together it's a pitching staff that in our primer I wasn't super high on I didn't think there was there was potential in this road
00:46:57
Justin Daulton
and obviously We talked about it last week that the one, two, three punch of Drew Rasmussen to Nick Martinez, to Shane McClanahan is a one, two, three punch that is going to carry this team through this regular season.
00:47:09
Justin Daulton
And that's, that's where our ceiling is going to be is how high they they can go. Right. And, you know, if they, if they spit, if they fizzle out at any point in this regular season, that's where the team's going to go.
00:47:20
Justin Daulton
But if these top three guys can continue to produce in the way that we expect them to produce, this team has a ah really good chance uh, making not just the playoffs, but having a long playoff run as well, because both you and I know that pitching is what wins in the postseason.
00:47:36
Justin Daulton
And if you don't have a ah rotation that's ready to go you're you're kind of on the wrong end of history. So I'm running out of things to say about this team. I'm continuously surprised by this team each week.
00:47:49
Justin Daulton
um I think you are as well. I sent you a TikTok earlier this week of just
00:47:53
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:47:53
Justin Daulton
the hype behind this team and what it's doing to to the surrounding fans and and you know people are showing up to the chop again and and watching this team play i'm watching at least two to three games a week you know trying to stay stay a stay abreast and trying to make sure that i just have my pulse on it as well and it's it's a team that's fun to watch man like it's it's it's tough to not be a fan of the tampa rays if you're an mlb play an mlb fan like a roster that's $84 million dollars is the salary for this team.
00:48:23
Justin Daulton
And you're going up against and have the second best record in baseball and you're beating the, game correct.
00:48:27
Cody Atkinson
That's two Dodgers players.
00:48:30
Justin Daulton
Like you're beating a a Yankees team that has, ah what is it? $184 million in salary expense, like a hundred million dollars.
00:48:37
Cody Atkinson
No, it's more it's it's more than that.
00:48:38
Justin Daulton
that
00:48:40
Cody Atkinson
The Yankees, I think, are closer to 284 than 184 probably because the Yankees are are luxury taxpayers.
00:48:40
Justin Daulton
Whatever. I mean,
00:48:44
Justin Daulton
then yeah. So mean, you're talking about $2 million. Yeah, so you're talking $200 million dollars difference between the two teams, and there's one that's outperforming them by a mile right now. and you know it's Like I I'm running out of things to say when it comes to this team, and I'm soaking it all in and and enjoying it for as long as I can and hopefully get some playoff baseball out of this team.
00:49:08
Cody Atkinson
It certainly turned in that way. That'd be pretty exciting.
00:49:12
Justin Daulton
At least one of us will get to watch playoff baseball if it goes that way.
00:49:14
Cody Atkinson
Well, yeah. One of us has been looking at prospects today. its so And it's not the one that we thought was going to do that.
00:49:22
Justin Daulton
I think that you're correct. I'll let you have this segue, man. Mm-hmm.
00:49:27
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. So if you see here on our notes, Justin, I've titled this category Cody's Baseball Life is Pain.
00:49:34
Justin Daulton
say
00:49:34
Cody Atkinson
That will be my summary of A&M and the Astros this week. The only thing I get to watch when I watch baseball is I get to watch my like our best players get hurt. ah Regardless of if I'm watching the and MLB or college baseball, all I'm watching is injuries to my team. Ultimately, the Astros went two and four this week. So so the three and three wave that we were riding for two weeks has come come crashing down. We went one and two against the Dodgers, one and two against the Reds.
00:50:03
Cody Atkinson
ah Currently back at home, losing to the Mariners, unfortunately. A&M went two and two this week, so they won their midweek against Prairie View. They went one and two on the road at Ole Miss.
00:50:15
Cody Atkinson
Nothing to be ashamed of there, but but but let me just go through the last few weeks of my existence for you here. do this is So this is the last three weeks of A&M baseball. This is only this week for the Astros. But against Florida, Texas A&M second baseman Chris Okopian projected first-round draft pick collides with freshman outfielder Jordan Wilson.
00:50:35
Cody Atkinson
Chris Okopian has been relegated to the DH role since then as he does not have the flexibility to currently play defense. Nico Partita, SEC mid-season freshman of the year, ah freshman of the year candidate as countrywide, pulled a hamstring last weekend against Auburn, just awkwardly trying to field a ground ball. And then another freshman, Boston Kellner shortstop, gets hit in the face with fastball and his eye swells shut, and he is out of the lineup last week. So our –
00:51:12
Cody Atkinson
infield consisted of first baseman Gavin Karhovak playing third base, backup shortstop, backup second base, backup first base. it It's been hard to watch. um that the the The reinforcements have been pulled away as best they can.
00:51:26
Cody Atkinson
Hanging in one and two against Auburn, one and two against Ole Miss, honestly pretty good given the the circumstance. But you've really got to see them get healthy um so that we can see some excitement again. The Astros this week alone. Yiner Diaz to the 10-day IL with an oblique strain. Carlos Correa out for the season with an ankle tendon.
00:51:47
Cody Atkinson
Bennett Sousa, who's like kind of seventh inning relief pitcher, elbow inflammation, 15-day IL. And then Lance McCullers came out of the game with like a fingernail issue and and is, I guess, projected to start Wednesday. But don't know. It kind of feels like maybe he's going to go to the IL and they're going to bring somebody else up. Nobody really knows what's going on with him. So so I put TBD on this. He apparently has an injury but but may not miss time.
00:52:12
Cody Atkinson
don't know. The good news is reinforcements could be on the way soon. Jeremy Pena should start a rehab assignment this week. Josh Hader is partway through a rehab assignment, so you could get your all-star closer back.
00:52:27
Cody Atkinson
And then center fielder Jake Myers starts a rehab assignment. Tuesday. Tatsuya Imai is back, although his rehab assignment was unsuccessful, so we'll see what his return looks like. And then offseason signing na Nate Pearson has been AAA for a couple weeks now, so hope that they're building him into something.
00:52:49
Cody Atkinson
A&M reinforcements just look like those three players getting back. i it's College is different. like there's nobody There's nobody you can call up. It's just the backups playing. But shout out Ben Royo, backup shortstop this weekend in the doubleheader Saturday, went seven for seven with a walk. Two home runs, five RBIs.
00:53:09
Cody Atkinson
Shout out to him. Hopefully he can help us hold it down until they get back. But all that to say, My baseball life has been pain. That is the update. If you watch the Astros and the Aggies, you understand where I'm coming from.
00:53:21
Cody Atkinson
If you don't, ah please condolences to us as we're really going through it right now. Hopefully reinforcements. For A&M, hopefully everyone's healthy by the playoffs. Then none of this matters. Just make a run for the Astros.
00:53:35
Cody Atkinson
Hopefully they can get some guys back soon because they're in the middle of the biggest two-week stretch of the season so far with the Dodgers, Reds, Mariners, Rangers. And they're flying down the standings right now, making me look at prospects and mock drafts and hope seeing who I should be watching in the college to to get excited for.
00:53:58
Cody Atkinson
It's bad.
00:54:01
Justin Daulton
um My thoughts and condolences card is in the mail. You can expect that.
00:54:04
Cody Atkinson
Thank you. Thank you.
00:54:04
Justin Daulton
You can expect it soon.
00:54:04
Cody Atkinson
Thank you. Thank you, though.
00:54:08
Justin Daulton
um Some notifications for everyone this week, man, before moving to our MLB check-in. We did talk a little bit about Golden Tempo last week winning the Kentucky Derby and ah unsure of its future in in the Triple Crown.
00:54:21
Justin Daulton
Officially this week, Golden Tempo will not be running in the Preakness, so there's no Triple Crown winner this year. But one hell of a run for a Golden Tempo at the at the Kentucky Derby. um So I'll be interested to see if, uh, if it shows up for, um, the third one, which is in New York.
00:54:37
Justin Daulton
can't remember what the name of the Belmont.
00:54:37
Cody Atkinson
Belmont.
00:54:39
Justin Daulton
Thank you. Um, so be interesting to see if he shows up for, um, for that race. Uh, world cup warmups have started as of this week.
00:54:50
Justin Daulton
um Argentina with Messi played today, I believe, or yesterday, and one of the two. So definitely getting started there. So definitely some, for at least for us internationally, we you know we haven't had a lot of international since World Baseball Classic.
00:55:07
Justin Daulton
Cody and I will be aye doing our best to talk World Cup soccer this summer.
00:55:13
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:55:14
Justin Daulton
So definitely...
00:55:14
Cody Atkinson
We'll talk it, but if you're looking for people who know what they're talking about, this is the wrong spot.
00:55:19
Justin Daulton
This is not the right way. I am and a casual soccer fan that watches Chelsea every once in a while for for my for my soccer fandom.
00:55:30
Justin Daulton
But that's all I got for notifications, man. You ready to do this MLB check-in?
00:55:35
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I think we we we talked about it last week. Obviously, the the length of the pod did not allow for us to get into it last week. But but what we want to do is we just want to take well at least once a month and we want to hold ourselves to the flame. We want to stay accountable and we want to also we want to peacock what we got right. But were we're just going to test our previews against what we've seen so far. um so So the way we're formatting this is is there's there's two takes that we get to Peacock and then two takes that we have to take the L on.
00:56:07
Cody Atkinson
And then we will repick division winners, World Series picks. We'll kind of just, this is the the state of the game right now and and where we think, things are trending, but well let's start with, let's let's give ourselves a ah chance to to kind of flex our muscles here. And so let's start with with where we were right. And I'll give you the first go at this.
00:56:28
Cody Atkinson
where what What did you predict in the preview that you want the world to know you saw it coming?
00:56:35
Justin Daulton
I'm going to go with my second one because my first one on there I think is a little bit more that I'm i'm more proud on than the than the second one. So the second one being that the, and I already did my victory lap, I'm not going rerun my victory lap, but the Boston Red Sox being garbage.
00:56:49
Justin Daulton
um And a lot of people look at me that listen to the pod, they're my friends looking at me like you're absolutely crazy. is Boston Red Sox. They got this hundred plus, you know, million dollar salary that they're paying this year.
00:57:00
Justin Daulton
You know, we talked about the, the coaching situation there where they fired the entire coaching staff. Basically GM is probably on his way out as well as the season goes on and you kind of see what's going to happen there. But yeah, I mean, it's just the Boston Red Sox are garbage and they will continue to look like garbage going forward. and they they piece some things together, but ultimately I don't,
00:57:24
Justin Daulton
I don't see them turning it around. I do you think they're to playing for pro last place um and a division that I thought was going to be a little bit better. But that's more to come later on.
00:57:36
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, and I think that's a good one. i also thought it was, I didn't say you were crazy. You can't hear me.
00:57:42
Justin Daulton
Go ahead. i My AirPods dropped for some reason.
00:57:43
Cody Atkinson
Oh, okay. Okay, gotcha. I was like, you were giving me the signal like something was up. No, I didn't say you were crazy, but I reacted to how bold the take was to say the Red Sox were bad. And I agree with you that it it looks like they're going to stay at the bottom because they called up the AAA manager. I don't know why you would have hope for for that to be the turnaround moment. and So I would be flexing on that too if I were you. For me, the first one I'm going to hype up, I will also start with the one that I'm less excited about.
00:58:14
Cody Atkinson
and And this one gives credit to both of us because i think you were even stronger on it than I was. But we both said the Mariners were going to take a step back this year. I still had them winning the division. But when when you pressed me on that, I said to everyone else in the division sucks. So, like, ah picking them to win the division was not saying they were good. It was saying that they were going to be the best, worst team. And that's also – Standing true that the division does suck. and But but we called we called the step back. We said it would be from an offensive perspective. We said Cal Raleigh can't do that again. He's not going to do that again.
00:58:47
Cody Atkinson
He came into the day hitting 161. So we were currently right on that. he's What we saw last year was awesome. um I'm glad we got to see it. It was a it was a blip. It was not the norm.
00:59:00
Cody Atkinson
And he's kind of reverting to to form here. And I got some stats here for you. Seattle is 24th in runs scored, 27th in average, 19th in on-base percentage, and 22nd in slugging percentage.
00:59:16
Cody Atkinson
I still do think they could make a run at the playoffs because being below 500, they're only like two games out of the lead of the division. ah But that does not mean that we were wrong. The ah offense took a major step back and the Mariners aren't as good as what everyone thought they were going to be And we're planting a flag in that one.
00:59:38
Justin Daulton
Yeah, i I'll happily take the the assist there with with how it's going for for the Mariners there. um My other thing that i'm taking my my victory lap on is that the Atlanta Braves look like the the the force that we anticipated them to be.
00:59:46
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:59:55
Justin Daulton
um A team that couldn't they could end up rivaling what the Dodgers have built out there in l L.A. I want to give you some some where they're at, basically, um in the in the division.
01:00:06
Justin Daulton
They are nine games up in the division over the Miami Marlins. And mean, it's a three way tights, the Marlins, the Phillies and the nationals. And then the Mets all the down to 12 and a half games out of first place.
01:00:19
Justin Daulton
Seemingly, they seeming that the New York Mets season is already over, um which I think everyone is perfectly fine with because they also spend a crap ton of money for no, and with ah with no payoff. um Stats that I want to talk about, obviously we talked about, in the breakdown of the season is if they can stay healthy, this is a roster that can do really good things.
01:00:40
Justin Daulton
Only player hurt right now is Ronald Acuna Jr. He's on a 10-day DL or IL stand right now, so he should be back soon. But before he went down, he was batting.252 with an loss of two home runs, one triple, eight doubles.
01:00:55
Justin Daulton
So, i mean, the production was already there for Acuna. But Dominic Smith leading the team with ERA, And then from a home run perspective, Matt Olsen is hitting bomb after bomb after bomb, 14 home runs.
01:01:09
Justin Daulton
Obviously, we talked about Jordan and we talked about Junior Kim Manero for the race, but there's got be some love for Matt Olsen in the home run race for the NL as well. The dude is looking on like prime Matt Olsen and something to be definitely spoken about as the season goes on.
01:01:25
Justin Daulton
And then going down into pitching, another one that we talked about, this rotation can can settle in. This is a rotation that is going to carry them through everything. And it's showing. I mean, your top guy, Bryce Elder, 1.81 ERA with a record on the season with And then from there, 2.20 for Chris Sale.
01:01:46
Justin Daulton
And then it gets a little inflated from there with Grant Holmes at a 4.34 ERA. But the the the way that their splits are, man, 6-2, 2-1, 2-2, 2-1, Every starting pitcher is above 500 their wins-loss record.
01:01:59
Justin Daulton
every starting pitch is above five hundred on their wins lost record That's insane. That's that's what's that's your your recipe for success. And obviously, we didn't talk super heavy about their their rotation.
01:02:11
Justin Daulton
We talked a lot more about their lineup and what they could do from from a hitting perspective. But this is a team that's doing it top to bottom. And everyone at every facet is winning right now. And it shows it's showing in their in the wins and loss column for them.
01:02:24
Justin Daulton
But it's a team that is only going to get better as the season goes on. Acuna coming back only going to help this roster. So it definitely seems like the Braves are on trajectory that they're going to be able to coast once August gets here. They're going to be very much a team that we can talk about clinching very early for the NL East.
01:02:49
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, they're they're looking like a team that you're just wondering when, you're going to wonder in you know August or whatever whatever when they're going to clinch, not if they're going to clinch. They've had a lot of trouble staying healthy in in previous years, but it's it's really coming together for them this year. and ah That team, I had surprised a lot of people with how well they've played at the beginning this year, but but you saw it coming.
01:03:13
Cody Atkinson
My second one, though, I'm going on a division level here ah where we've been kind of looking at teams so far. i In the preview, I told everyone to watch the NL Central. I said this is going to be the most fun division in baseball. I didn't say the best.
01:03:33
Cody Atkinson
Maybe I should have up to this point, but I said it'll be the most fun, and I said it's going to be that way because four of the five teams – arguably have the upside of being able to win the division.
01:03:44
Cody Atkinson
And if anything, they have exceeded expectations because the fifth team that i I'll get more into, but the fifth team, the St. Louis Cardinals are also...
01:03:56
Cody Atkinson
in the running to win the division. All five teams in the NL Central are above 500. The Cubs have the, I believe, around the third best record in baseball coming into today.
01:04:07
Cody Atkinson
ah The Brewers fought back. They were down like fourth in the division earlier this year. They're up to second. The Cardinals sit in third in the division and then tied for last place is Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, who are both three games above 500 at 22 19 entering
01:04:22
Cody Atkinson
entering today Pittsburgh and Cincinnati would be winning the AL Central and the AL West right now. They are in last place in the NL Central.
01:04:30
Justin Daulton
Mm-hmm.
01:04:32
Cody Atkinson
They would be winning the AL Central and the AL West right now. um It is just insane baseball that we're getting. And if if they if it keeps this up to any degree, just the the inter-division games are going to be – So fun to watch because with so much on the line. Every run mattering, every win mattering, every night mattering. It's going to be incredible. So continue to tune into the NL Central if you're looking for if you're looking for games to watch that you're not um that you're not invested in one of the teams. That's that's where to find them.
01:05:09
Justin Daulton
I like it. I like it. i guess we're going to move over to the to our freezing cold takes here.
01:05:14
Cody Atkinson
Oh, yeah. yeah take You got to take the L. this is This is a cold takes exposed moment, but it's just us doing it to ourselves. So I'll let you kick us off.
01:05:23
Justin Daulton
um My first one is going to be a combo one, as everyone has heard me for the last month talk about how surprised I am over the Tampa Bay Rays performing to the way that they are. i I anticipated the Red Sox being dead last, but I anticipated the Rays competing for dead last in this division.
01:05:42
Justin Daulton
I also just said that the AL East was going to be one of the best divisions in baseball from the top perspective. I thought that the Yankees, Orioles, and Blue Jays were going to be you know top five top 10 teams through the entire season and it definitely doesn't seem like the orioles or the blue jays are going to want it to fight for those positions and in the mlb um but the the fact that the tampe rays are number one in this division is a surprise to me um because it's just not where i expected this team to be um coming into this season and that's my freezing cold take and it's something that i will i will own as a tampe rays fan that i will be one of the first to admit that
01:06:19
Justin Daulton
my My mind has been blown with this team and the way that they've been able to produce. But also just at the fact that the AL East is the dumpster fire, man, where you know I thought it was going to be three, maybe could be a fourth team sneaking in there to be ultra-competitive division, where it seemed like this is going to be a two-horse race through the summer with the Rays and the Yankees. And hopefully we will root for the inevitable downfall of the Yankees in August, where they maybe get closer to 500 like they have in the last couple of seasons.
01:06:49
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, we'll definitely be rooting for that as we do every year. we just have to wait for the moment. Once it comes out that they are on track for his history, for a historically great season, that's when you can expect um the fall off.
01:06:58
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:07:03
Cody Atkinson
And and hopefully hopefully, I think a lot of us, like the the world the baseball world is surprised by the Rays. And I think the baseball world is loving. what they're doing and just the the intrigue that it brings but we're all still wondering how long it can stay around for in a little bit so hopefully this brand and these performances are here to stay and and when we get the yankees fall off it comes with the rays taking a commanding lead that the yankees have to try to call back from that would be that would that would make for a lot of fun this summer and so hopefully we get that
01:07:33
Justin Daulton
Yeah, and just for just to kind of give you where they're at where the division's at the Yankees and the Rays are separated by one game. Then you have a big drop-off to Toronto 8.5, Baltimore 9, Red Sox at 9.5.
01:07:46
Justin Daulton
So there's there's definitely a big gap in terms of competitiveness in the American League East.
01:07:47
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:07:53
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. you You have two of the better records in baseball between the Rays and the Yankees. And then you have a bunch of teams under 500, which is you to your point, a huge surprise to a lot of people.
01:08:01
Justin Daulton
Yep.
01:08:04
Cody Atkinson
The Orioles were expected to be better this year. The Blue Jays coming off of a World Series appearance. You thought they would be better this year and they haven't held their own.
01:08:15
Cody Atkinson
So as we stand right now, you were wrong, but there's a lot of baseball left to be played. So I'll go i'll go first because and and I i'm going to start with my favorite one because.
01:08:22
Justin Daulton
true
01:08:30
Cody Atkinson
this was my favorite claim that I made in the preview show too, where I said the Cubs are overrated because Matthew Boyd is their king theyre opening day starter and you cannot start Matthew Boyd in the opening day and have a successful season. And currently they are 27 14.
01:08:47
Cody Atkinson
which is the third record, the third best record in baseball. I think coming into the day, the raves were the Rays were 27 and 13, if I recall, which would put them half a game up on the Cubs. I think i think that's what it was. You'd be 28 and 13 now with your win today.
01:09:02
Cody Atkinson
oh
01:09:03
Justin Daulton
26 13.
01:09:03
Cody Atkinson
So they had the, oh yeah, you know this one of us you're right, you're right.
01:09:03
Justin Daulton
So that's it today. Yes. so to today
01:09:07
Cody Atkinson
It was 26 and 13, but your win percentage was technically better than 27 and 14.
01:09:11
Justin Daulton
yes yes
01:09:13
Cody Atkinson
That's right, that's right. So now you're 27 and 13, which is even better. so They have the third best record in baseball, one of the hottest teams in baseball. ah From an offensive perspective, they lead the league in war generated by non-pitching players.
01:09:30
Cody Atkinson
They're seventh in home runs, fifth in average, first in on-base percentage, fifth and fifth in slugging. This team rakes. This team is fun. This team is really freaking good.
01:09:43
Cody Atkinson
And I have to take the L on that, but on the backside of that, 41 games this season they've played. 25 have been against teams at or below 500. The Guardians being three games against the Guardians being those at 500, but the others below.
01:10:01
Cody Atkinson
they They have the ninth best ERA in pitching, but their expected ERA is sixteenth in the league. And their fielding independent pitching, their fifth, is 14th in the league. So some of these advanced pitching metrics signal a decline in the pitching that hopefully can make my take better as the season ages. But as of right now, the Cubs are sticking it to me. Although Matthew Boyd is hurt, and he had a six yeah ERA before he got hurt. So that was correct.
01:10:28
Cody Atkinson
that he is not an opening day starter, but all the same, i am taking a massive L ah calling the Cubs out before the season started. So I'll kick it back to you for for for your last one here.
01:10:42
Justin Daulton
Yeah, my my other one was that there was there was two teams that I said they could rival LA Dodgers this year. One, obviously, what I took my victory lap on with the Atlanta Braves, and the other one being the Philadelphia Phillies.
01:10:54
Justin Daulton
I really thought that the lineup that the Phillies had partnered with the rotation that they had, really thought they were going to be able to take a step forward and get out of this lull. Obviously, we talked about their manager being fired last week, but it's really kind of not indicative of the performance on the field it's just that they don't have the pitching man like the pitching has not been there um Let me give you some stats from the offensive side.
01:11:18
Justin Daulton
Bryce Harper, is leading the national league with 41 games played at first base. And from there, his batting average is 281 with 10 home runs.
01:11:29
Justin Daulton
So you're getting production from Bryce Harper.
01:11:30
Cody Atkinson
Well.
01:11:31
Justin Daulton
You have Trey Turner who has leading the major leagues and with 167 at bats 240 batting average. Alec, or no, sorry, Brandon Marsh leading all of major league baseball with 350
01:11:46
Justin Daulton
and you have college server who's leading all of the major leagues currently with 16 home runs. So there is there is on the field performance, but when I get down and I scroll down for you and I talk to you about what's going on pitching-wise, you have one good performance and then everyone else is falling off.
01:12:06
Justin Daulton
Christopher Sanchez, their're their ace, they their number one guy in the roads are in the pitching staff, has a 2.6 more right now. And that's the only highlight for the pitching staff. He has a 4-2 record.
01:12:17
Justin Daulton
And then you as you go down, Jesus Lozardo, 3-3. Aaron Knoll, 2-3. Andrew Painter, 1-4. Tywon 1-4. andrew painter one and four taiwan walker one and four the And the yeah ERAs aren't any better. Christopher Sanchez, 2.11, 2.11, sorry, ERA, is the best on the team.
01:12:33
Justin Daulton
And then you go Jesus Lozarda at 598, Aaron Nola at 514, Andrew Painter at 689, and Tywon Walker at 913. So the pitching is just, is, is abysmal and they're not able to keep the other team off the board to allow Harper Turner and Schwarber to do what they're really good at on the offensive side of the ball.
01:12:42
Cody Atkinson
That's crazy.
01:12:57
Justin Daulton
And i really thought this was a team that they have the lineup. If I listed that rotation to you in the preseason, you would have agreed with me that this is a team that has a chance to rival the LA Dodgers.
01:13:07
Justin Daulton
And now we're looking at at a situation a with the, with the Braves run but the phillies not even being in the wild card conversation as it stands right now at in the National League.
01:13:19
Justin Daulton
So like there's nothing there. So it's it's one of those things of like I don't know what's gonna what what you can do to turn it around because I don't see anyone... i don't know what you can do from the pitching side of the ball to get it going.
01:13:33
Justin Daulton
like Maybe Aaron Nolan gets it going again. I don't know. But like when you have everyone above a 4 ERA, you're in a really bad spot, man.
01:13:43
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, that's not a good spot to be in. I think i when we were talking about who could beat the Dodgers, let you take the Braves and I took the Phillies, so I think this is an L for both of us, but it's really an L for all of baseball because everyone thought they were going to be good this year, um hence why they were so quick to to make managerial changes.
01:13:58
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:14:02
Cody Atkinson
ah my My last l that I'll take, I'm staying in the NL Central. There's a theme to my stuff this week because that is where my focus is. It's just so much fun. I called the St. Louis Cardinals a bottom dweller.
01:14:16
Cody Atkinson
And i not only that, but I think them and the Arizona Diamondbacks were the teams that I was like... not only are they a bottom dweller, but like probably don't bother to watch this team. Cause like, they're going be a boring bottom dweller, but like the Rockies or even the white socks. I was like, Hey, they're not going to win, but like watch them. Cause they're slug and you're going to have some fun watching them lose. And and i I put the Cardinals right there with the, with the diamondbacks. was like, don't expect anything from them and probably turn the TV off and watch something else if they're on. And they are 23 17 so far this season.
01:14:49
Cody Atkinson
um so far this season J.J. Weatherholt and Jordan Walker are off to incredible starts. J.J. Weatherholt being or rookie. Jordan Walker, I think, is still young, but I don't i don't think he's a rookie.
01:15:02
Cody Atkinson
um ah On the hitting side, they are the ones off to off to incredible starts, making it very fun to watch this team play. On the pitching side, they have some guy named Michael McGreevey.
01:15:13
Cody Atkinson
that sounds fake that's ah that's that's ah that's ah That's a random name-generated creative player.
01:15:15
Justin Daulton
What name.
01:15:20
Cody Atkinson
I've never heard of this guy at the college level, at the minors level, at the end of it. This is a name I have never heard before. And he's leading the St. Louis Cardinals with 2-1-8 ERA ah this far into the season.
01:15:35
Cody Atkinson
They're large they're they're exceeding exer expectations. They're third place in a division where every single team is above 500. And even this far into the season, that's not somewhere I ever thought they would be. So I'm more than willing to take the L on this. And i will not I will not kind of backhandedly try to defend why I'm going to end up right in the long term like I did with the Cubs. Because even 40 games into the season, i would have told you they'd be buried already. Where the Cubs, I'm like, all right, they're riding a high. Like, I can still be right. But with the Cardinals, like, there's no way.
01:16:14
Cody Atkinson
I didn't see anything like this coming, and and and I got to take the L on that one.
01:16:21
Cody Atkinson
All right. We want to get some we want get some picks in before we wrap this up.
01:16:25
Justin Daulton
Yeah, let's do this, man. this is the This is the fun part of it. What you got?
01:16:28
Cody Atkinson
That's right. So we're gonna we'll start off by repicking some division winners here. So why don't you rattle off um however you want to do it. I would say let's go American League first. um Go ahead and give me your three, your AL East, AL Central, AL West. Who do you think is winning in their divisions in the American League?
01:16:47
Justin Daulton
Do you want to keep notes so that way we can come back in a month and make sure that we let's hold ourselves accountable?
01:16:50
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, you're right. You're right. I got this.
01:16:53
Justin Daulton
Um, ale, let's start from the top down with baseball reference ale East. Um, as it stands right now, it's tough to not say the Tampa Bay race. Um, I think the formula is there. Um, it's the pitching. the I mean, we talked about 1.20 ERA over a 16 game stretch.
01:17:11
Justin Daulton
Um, not allowing more than three runs until the 17th game with that stretch. Um, Caminero obviously is here to stay. Nick Martinez is a guy that didn't get a lot of love in the offseason and is now looking like someone that's going to be able to be potentially an all-star game starter um on the AL side of things.
01:17:29
Justin Daulton
it's The conversation is going to come down to is what can the Yankees do? and Do the Yankees fall apart? Do the Yankees come back up? That's the question. Right now, i don't have enough to say. that the yankees over its ah like overcomes the rays because just the way that the the the branded baseball that the rays are playing with is more consistent and as a way that you can play a full 162 where I don't think the Yankees style of baseball can stretch to a 162.
01:17:58
Justin Daulton
So that's my pick there. um The Central, I picked the Guardians to win it. um If you ask me him what was my so what's been the biggest surprise for me in Major League Baseball this year, it's the fact that the Chicago White Sox are in them in the AL all-card and the AL Central conversation.
01:18:16
Justin Daulton
I'm not bold enough to sit here and tell you that the Chicago White Sox have a chance to win this division.
01:18:18
Cody Atkinson
yeah
01:18:20
Justin Daulton
But there's a real conversation here in a couple months that I think if the White Sox are still there, that it's going to really fun to talk about Mirakami in the playoffs. What can he do? If I said his name correctly, I think I did, right?
01:18:33
Cody Atkinson
Uh, yeah, Murakami, Murakami, it's something oh along, I think it's Murakami, but, um, it's close enough.
01:18:37
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:18:40
Cody Atkinson
I'm not a hundred percent certain.
01:18:40
Justin Daulton
But I mean, every this division is garbage for all tits and purposes. The Cleveland Guardians are winning the division at 500, but every single team is in the conversation. So it's going to be very fun to watch this division going forward.
01:18:54
Justin Daulton
As right now, I'm going to stick with the Guardians to win this division. But I can see this flip-flopping for me as the season goes on Obviously, Detroit is a team to watch because they just lost Scoogle for a little bit of time. So what can they do long-term? But I'm sticking with the Guardians.
01:19:09
Justin Daulton
And then AL West, um I got to give you a hat tip for calling that the Athletics have a chance to take a step up this season. And they have. Obviously, they're leaving.
01:19:17
Cody Atkinson
I should have victory like that. Dang.
01:19:19
Justin Daulton
Yeah, you should have 50 left that. Up two games on the Rangers. I did say that the Rangers were going to fall to be a bottom dweller on this division with the Angels because I thought Houston had a chance to take the number one spot again.
01:19:31
Justin Daulton
um Flip that apparently. So. whatever whatever wildness is happening in the in the west um i i'm gonna say eventually um that the rangers will come back up and they're gonna take this because i just don't see yeah see the athletics having the staying power but i do think that the rangers have enough in their arsenal that's gonna allow them to be up there and stay relevant through a full 162 so i'm gonna go with the rangers winning the division as of right now
01:19:48
Cody Atkinson
Whoa.
01:20:00
Cody Atkinson
All right. you've got Raze, Guardians, Rangers out of the AL.
01:20:06
Cody Atkinson
All right. The AL East is tough because – and what I'm going to do is I'm going to go with the Rays almost exclusively because i don't want to pick the Yankees. like
01:20:20
Justin Daulton
and
01:20:21
Cody Atkinson
like If you look at it from like we were talking about, like from a roster construction standpoint, from an investment standpoint, from an expectation standpoint, like the Yankees are the ones doing – what was expected of them coming into the year. The Rays are the ones surprising doing more with less, which makes you feel like they are more likely for a fall off, except for the fact that the Yankees do this every year.
01:20:43
Cody Atkinson
And we we feel very confident that we will get a slump and a fall off. And so if the Rays can stay grounded, they can stay playing their style of baseball. They can stay grounded.
01:20:55
Cody Atkinson
just being who they are, then they can build a gap during that slump and, and hang on to win. And if you look at like last year, that as good as the Yankees were, like the, the Blue Jays won by tiebreaker.
01:21:07
Justin Daulton
Right.
01:21:08
Cody Atkinson
This isn't a Yankee as good as the Yankees have been historically. And for the last, you know, 10 years that they have no, no championships to show for it and they they have, they have lost the division several times in that, in that range. So they are not white years above the rest of the division and they are not infallible in that sense. And so I will go with the raise because it's more fun and because I need to be able to root for the Yankees downfall.
01:21:37
Cody Atkinson
I'm going to go with the Guardians for the Central as well. I don't like being on the same train here, but I said it in the preview. The Guardians are a team that I don't care what pieces they have.
01:21:49
Cody Atkinson
I feel like they're going to get the most out of them. And I think they they're only 21 and 21, but I also think they're playing better baseball. They have Chase DeLawater, young rookie. who last I checked was playing really well, but I haven't checked in a couple weeks. Travis Bazzana, you know, Australian sensation made his debut.
01:22:06
Cody Atkinson
I expect him to get better and it just feels like a team that is going to be the most consistent. if I was going to, if I was going to lean any other way, I think I would probably go tigers because like they can get scuba back.
01:22:23
Cody Atkinson
Um, the frambers suspended for five games we actually probably could have talked about that his uh what is it was the last last year he crossed up his catcher he threw it somebody intentionally this year right he got mad about giving up a home run and threw at him yeah so like they'll get him back they'll get scuba back aj hinch i still believe one of the best managers in baseball um
01:22:35
Justin Daulton
Yeah, that's why that's what the suspension's for, yeah.
01:22:49
Cody Atkinson
I there's a party that would want to do that. But even then, like last year, the Guardians made the run like the Tigers were playing better baseball last year and the Guardians made the run. I don't remember really who ended up winning the division. It came down to the last minute, but they both made the playoffs. And um I'm just going to go with the Guardians on that for the AL West.
01:23:08
Cody Atkinson
um I do still stick with the Mariners. I think they're down. i think they are not very good, but I agree with you that I don't think the A's are ready yet to hold on to division through the whole season. and i And I see the Mariners having the most um ammo to make acquisitions at the deadline to push them over the edge to be the division winners. I think the Astros look like sellers.
01:23:33
Cody Atkinson
think the Rangers don't know what they are or what to do, which is pretty typical of the Rangers. um The A's could be buyers, and if they buy, this changes everything. But we you know we still don't know if they can put it together. And then obviously the Angels are are dead in the water already. So I'll venture i'll i'll depart from from you for the first time by going with the Mariners instead of the Rangers.
01:23:56
Cody Atkinson
And hopefully we have some more variety coming up here. We'll see. So um why don't you kick us off with the NL? What are you expecting?
01:24:04
Justin Daulton
I don't think there will be much parity in the NL side of things. NL East, it's the Braves and it's the Braves all the way through.
01:24:09
Cody Atkinson
good.
01:24:12
Justin Daulton
I don't see anyone making a run barring significant injuries on the side of the Braves. If they if this team can stay healthy, and and this that was the caveat I gave at the beginning of the season, if the Braves can stay healthy, this is a roster that can beat the Dodgers, and I will keep hanging my hat on that and it seems like that is what's sticking true obviously Acuna is out for a little bit right now so you know get Acuna back let him do what he does best obviously he was already on and also small injury so break him back into the fold and let him do what he does best out there and i mean the marlins are a second place but they're they're nine games out and obviously there's still a lot of baseball left to play but it seemed like that's already an insurmountable lead in the nl east um nl central man this is a division that i i'm gonna be real honest i don't know where to go um it's one that you've tried to do your best to break down in the beginning of the season and i don't think even
01:24:59
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:25:12
Justin Daulton
already stated you didn't predict the right way this is a division that i think can change month to month um i don't know where to go i'm gonna be real honest i think the beginning of the season i was saying cincinnati is gonna be the winner of this division and i i kind of still want us to swing that way but i think i'm gonna go the cardinals i think there's so much youth
01:25:35
Cody Atkinson
Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho.
01:25:37
Justin Daulton
i think there's so much youth there and i think there's so much talent and there's so much that she's going in the right direction for the Cardinals and 2005 2004 2003 Astros fan to me is probably kicking the screaming for saying that but it's tough to not look at how they've they've constructed this roster and to only be three and a half games out of the Cubs that it's probably only an injury away to Alex Bregman from falling out of the lead in this division if we're being completely honest so I can the Cubs stay healthy can it can can it continue
01:26:11
Justin Daulton
i don't know let's see where we're at in a month but right now i think there's there's a very real potential that the st louis cardinals can come up and win this division and steal it. But I can see this going this division going a full 162 to determine um
01:26:24
Cody Atkinson
That would be electric if that happened.
01:26:26
Justin Daulton
it. Yeah, correct. um And then out West, man, um the if the if the Yankees are the evil empire, then the Dodgers are...
01:26:39
Justin Daulton
emperor palpatine themselves basically at this point um the dodgers are winning the division are winning but they're in tie for the division with the san diego padres um we are the official mason miller podcast here um so everything in me wants to say san diego just because i can't stand the dodgers um but i don't want to be on the wrong side of history so it's the dodgers unfortunately that's going to win this division and there's no holes in this roster um if there's a if there's a hole to point it at it's the fact that Kyle Tucker is performing below average uh but he's been performing below average since he left Houston so i don't that's not anything new so it it really comes down to do you think the Dodgers by the deadline and do they get Scoobal do they get skeins you know if so then man baseball is just unfair
01:27:29
Cody Atkinson
They'd cancel the season if they cry.
01:27:32
Justin Daulton
Correct. I mean, imagine they get skiing to the deadline and then they buy Scoobble in the offseason. Like, just, I, yeah. So right now I'm going to say the Dodgers, but everything in me wants to say the San Diego Padres. Also because the San Diego Padres just have really amazing uniforms and I'm just jealous of that.
01:27:50
Justin Daulton
But it's the Dodgers, unfortunately.
01:27:54
Cody Atkinson
That's fair. um so i'll I'll make my NL East real fast. I think you've said everything there can be said. The Braves are a wagon and also the gap between them and the next in the NL East is already so vast. you have The Nationals didn't expect to compete.
01:28:11
Cody Atkinson
The Marlins didn't expect to compete. The Phillies fired their manager. The Mets are probably, but them or the Astros are next in line to fire their manager. So It's the Braves by a country mile. In El Central, i that Cardinals pick is incredible. I'm sticking with Milwaukee. I'm going with the Brewers.
01:28:32
Cody Atkinson
have the same logic behind Milwaukee in the preview and always the same logic behind them as I have behind Cleveland in in the sense that this is just an organization, a manager, team.
01:28:44
Cody Atkinson
front office, whoever it is doing it, that gets the most out of their pieces. And like I said, they were down in like fourth in the division recently. They're up to second. They're on a run. you have Mizorowski, I think through seven pitches above 104 or something like that recently.
01:29:01
Cody Atkinson
ah Just insane. ah This team is a lot of fun. And I expect that they're the type of team that I expect to get better as the season wears on, because that's just the kind of culture that they have. And so,
01:29:14
Cody Atkinson
I'm going to pick Milwaukee to keep it together and to jump Chicago. Like I already said my take the l I think there's reason to believe Chicago takes a step back and is maybe inflated a little bit by the luck of the draw in this early schedule.
01:29:31
Cody Atkinson
So give me... Milwaukee and then I just want to be different in this last one. i i have no no different notes than you had um other than the fact that i I want us to differ on more than two.
01:29:47
Cody Atkinson
So I'm going to take the Padres.
01:29:48
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:29:49
Cody Atkinson
I will take the Padres. um i And I guess if i if I say anything, my logic will be this. last year we saw the dodgers play for the postseason really like they there were a lot of times where were like this guy's been on the il longer than he needs to be this guy's getting days off once a week this yada yada yada and then they were like maybe this team's not as big of a juggernaut as we thought and then they hit the playoffs everybody's back everybody's healthy and they steamroll the playoffs up until the world series which gave us an absolute banger of a series but
01:30:23
Cody Atkinson
If the Dodgers take the same approach and they and they play for the postseason, all we have to do is get in and then we win. um And maybe maybe they take the foot off the gaff je a gas just enough to not realize how strong the Padres are with with Mason Miller at closing games at an elite rate, which I didn't look up his stats this week. I should have just for my own self. But...
01:30:44
Cody Atkinson
um I'm going to Padres just to keep it, give us a little variety here and choose fun. I'm choosing fun, which will be a theme here in a second. So as we wrap this up, ammbry with give me who over who for the World Series so that we have something to check back in on in a month.
01:31:04
Justin Daulton
God, what are we, seven months off on the World Series? So seven months to early prediction, whatever you want to call it. um
01:31:11
Cody Atkinson
like six months maybe.
01:31:11
Justin Daulton
Man, it's so hard. The American League is so wide open that in any of these teams that I feel like could end up winning the American League. Um,
01:31:24
Justin Daulton
I'm gonna say just my branded baseball perspective it's tough to not say that the Rays have a brand of baseball that can carry you through so right now I'm gonna do the homer pick but if I had to do one to take the emotion out of it I think there's a team in Seattle or or even Cleveland that can do it and i and i wouldn't be surprised by it or even a team like a Detroit out of the wild card that they can get healthy and do it the right way.
01:31:53
Justin Daulton
i think those would be the teams that compete with them. I don't see the Yankees... having enough to do it. I've said it for years now, their Achilles heel has always been pitching. And when you get to October, you need pitching to get you through, especially when you go to play in cold environments, when the ball doesn't fly as far and the bats hurt when you swing it, you you're pitching as what wins you baseball games. And I just don't see the Yankees having enough where I look at the race and I look at Detroit and I look at,
01:32:21
Justin Daulton
Seattle, I look at these teams that have deep bullpens, they have deep rotations. You know, the fact that the Rays are still throwing McClanahan at five, you know, to turn the rotation over to Rasmussen.
01:32:33
Justin Daulton
You can buy at the deadline and get ah a four, a three or a four guy and turn the ball back over to McClanahan. And you're talking about a fully well-rounded rotation. If you're looking the same thing in Detroit, you're you're looking at same thing in Seattle.
01:32:45
Justin Daulton
So I see it going down to the to those kind of those three, four teams in the American League. um But right now, I'm going to ride the high at the homer side of things. i'm gonna go the Rays winning the American League.
01:32:57
Justin Daulton
National League, I choose fun with you. and I'm going to go the Braves beat the Dodgers, and you get a Florida-Georgia line World Series with the Rays and the Braves, man. You've probably one of the prettiest ballparks against one of the the lowest end of ballparks between Truist Park and and the Trop.
01:33:18
Justin Daulton
But I think that'd be one hell of ah of a World Series matchup. And the the like said, the early 2000s Astros fan in me will be happy to beat the Braves and have the Rays hoist the the World Series trophy for the first time in its franchise history.
01:33:33
Cody Atkinson
Is that the pick? Is it Rays over Braves or is it Braves over Rays?
01:33:36
Justin Daulton
Yeah, Raves over Braves.
01:33:38
Cody Atkinson
Rays over Braves, whoa.
01:33:41
Justin Daulton
I have to write the homer pick for as long as I can. There there will be logic as the season goes on, but, you know, what are we...
01:33:43
Cody Atkinson
That's fair.
01:33:46
Cody Atkinson
You have to, at least you announce it, right? you're like, this is a homer pick.
01:33:50
Justin Daulton
It's a
Bobby Cox Tribute & Upcoming Episodes
01:33:51
Justin Daulton
homer pick. I mean, what, 39? It's 40 games as of today. 40 games into the season, you still got 120-something-odd games left to play. You know, there's still a ton of baseball to play.
01:34:01
Justin Daulton
So let me enjoy my first month of the race, you know, the of this this style of baseball, winning baseball games. And if the season were to end right now, it'd be... yay the Rays, the Rays playing the Braves would be one hell of a World Series. And I think that the brand of baseball is there.
01:34:16
Justin Daulton
And I think the rotation just stacks up a little bit better than what Atlanta has.
01:34:21
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. So I'm going to avoid picking the Dodgers as well. I think if we're like, if we're looking at this from a, who's playing the best baseball and has the most money and the most talent and yada, yada, yada, your, your mind goes Dodgers over Yankees, not in any world. Am I going to predict that? Because that in that world, I'm not watching the world series and i'm very upset about it. So yeah.
01:34:46
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:34:47
Cody Atkinson
I'm not picking that. So I'm also going to go with the Braves. I think the Braves are playing incredible baseball. I think it's far back 2021. We saw the Braves do it and win the world series. And we expected them really to be that team that stayed around because they were signing young guys to deals that got them past arbitration and helped them keep their core together for so long. And and they're a team team.
01:35:12
Cody Atkinson
anchored by Acuna that we really thought was going to be here for a long time, and they haven't. So now that they're back, I have no reason to believe that they can't put it all together again. Like you said, Bryce Elder, um incredible in the rotation. Acuna, if he gets healthy. Matt Olsen, probably one of the more underrated hitters and in all of baseball.
01:35:36
Cody Atkinson
um I can't rattle off their players, like their pitching staff, but I know it doesn't end with Bryce Elder. Like i think Spencer Strider, maybe if he's healthy, like they have guys, they have dudes. um and And there's no reason to believe that they can't keep this going. So I am going to go Braves as well.
01:35:52
Cody Atkinson
um I don't want to pick the same matchup as you. And and so on on the AL side, I will do what my heart doesn't want to do.
01:36:03
Cody Atkinson
um I will say Braves over Yankees because there are only two teams in the AL at all playing good baseball right now. There are two two teams in the AL playing good baseball right now. That's the Rays and that's the Yankees.
01:36:17
Cody Atkinson
and And to me, sitting here 11th, I want to see the Rays keep it going for another month before I really start to buy in that this is something that they can do all the way to the World Series, right? like there's still an aspect of like, what if baseball catches up and the bunt stops working here?
01:36:35
Cody Atkinson
You know, what if yada, yada, yada? What if Kevin Cash pulls a starter after a single in the seventh inning and blows that game six? You know, what if?
01:36:47
Cody Atkinson
um And so i'm going to go Braves over Yankees. I will pick the Yankees to make the World Series. That is something they have done as recently as a few years ago. But I will not pick them to win it because, i to your point, I do think they are just – they are a team that just doesn't get it done right now. I think we've all made our jokes about Aaron Judge being, you know, the best regular season hitter of all time. is It's very Clayton Kershaw in that sense. He just doesn't show up in the playoffs. And so I don't think he'll show up in the World Series and I'll take Braves over –
01:37:22
Cody Atkinson
Braves over Yankees, man. And that's, that's a wrap for this week. That's all we had on the docket. Is there anything else you wanted to get on off your chest before we sign off and prep the people for next week?
01:37:34
Justin Daulton
Only other thing, and I'll is stick with baseball. um Round of applause to Bobby Cox, passed away this week, but one hell of manager, is someone that plagued my early baseball years, yours as well, with a lot of ah lot of losses to the Houston Astros when they were still a National League team. But I so i have his profile put pulled up on Baseball Reference right now.
01:37:55
Justin Daulton
29 years as a manager from 1978 to 2010, four-time manager of the year, five-time NL Pennant winner, manager of the 1995 World Series Championship Braves, 2,504 wins, are the fourth most all-time, and then 16 postseason appearances are most all-time as a manager.
01:38:14
Justin Daulton
One hell of a career. um sad to see him pass away dude was dude was an amazing manager and someone that um for for a lot of teams not just the astros had their number um and when those when those of the atlanta teams weren't good he was still the the shining star there and uh dude was a dude was an amazing manager so a hat tip of a hat tip of a career to that guy um into and one hell of a life as well so um didn't want to do a baseball wrap-up and not and not mention bobby cox
01:38:44
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, that's that's a good catch there. That's good cleanup. Absolutely. Hat tip of a career to a man that on the baseball diamond terrorized us ah for our childhood, but had an incredible career. And yeah, I just want to give a moment to him and and and his family and everyone affected by that. And just a shout out to the the times that that that he gave us. Yeah.
01:39:08
Cody Atkinson
with that, we'll, we'll, we'll put a wrap on this episode. I think next week, it sounds like we're probably going to do a little bit of deep dive of the NFL schedule release, which will include not only tidbits about the schedules, but obviously, ah some analysis on the schedule release videos, which are way more important.
01:39:25
Cody Atkinson
So, um, we'll definitely, we got to come out with like winners and losers of the, like from a social media perspective of the schedule release and, um, take a look at some of the, you know, uh, cakewalks and, uh,
01:39:31
Justin Daulton
Oh, for sure.
01:39:38
Cody Atkinson
the the toughest sections of the schedule and and kind of ah get stoked for the season on that. And, and you know, as as we near the baseball only point of the calendar, we'll we'll look ahead to to the fall when everything kicks back up again.
01:39:54
Justin Daulton
Yeah, my I want to put it in your in your in your mind. I don't think it'll happen next week, but maybe the week after. A topic that you and I, we've talked about for years, and I want i want to officially do it, and I want to do the right way. i want to do on the pod.
01:40:07
Justin Daulton
I want to do top 10 college football quarterbacks of all time.
01:40:10
Cody Atkinson
of all time. God.
01:40:11
Justin Daulton
Of all time. Yeah. Obviously, there's going to be a lot of recency bias, but I want that to be our first list video. So the fans can look forward to that.
01:40:17
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:40:19
Justin Daulton
But I do think there'll be a lot of recent he buys but i do think it'll be interesting to see how much of the early 2000s gets put on this list because there's a lot of great quarterbacks from the early 2000s a lot of bad ones too um for for the sake of argument um but you know it'll be interesting where our where where our boy ends up on the list um mr johnny manziel as he hangs up uh can't see him he's on that wall back there um but yeah that's the first list i want to do i don't know who
01:40:31
Cody Atkinson
yeah
01:40:41
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:40:44
Cody Atkinson
The shocker, he'll be high up on lists. Shocker.
01:40:47
Justin Daulton
I think on both of our lists, it'll be pretty high up on the list, but um that I don't know if we'll time for it next week, but that's the first list that I want to do but as we get into this baseball only part of the of the sports calendar.
01:40:58
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I think ah we'll we'll see what we'll see what the NFL schedule release gets us, whether or not we can get it next week. But we are nearing um Justin breaking out a bunch of lists to get us through to to the nfl to the NFL and the college football season.
01:41:09
Justin Daulton
yeah wait
01:41:11
Cody Atkinson
So get stoked for that. But um for now, that's that's a wrap on this episode. we hope you Hope you're enjoying the show. Hope you're enjoying the and MLB season. We'll be back once a month. to check in on the season and ah keep ourselves accountable.
01:41:25
Cody Atkinson
But in the meantime, like, comment, subscribe, let us know what you like, let us know what you want us to talk about. And we'll, we'll see you next week for some social media talk and some NFL schedule talk. Peace.
01:41:37
Justin Daulton
Peace.