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Episode 48 - 2025 MLB Playoff Preview + Regular Season Awards
29 Plays2 months ago
Another year with a Zach-less pod where Mac and Josh talk the 2025 MLB postseason. The boys give their bracket breakdowns then go all in on regular season awards and why the media is always wrong. Tune in for another UNEDITED and wild episode of Championship Or Bust!
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Transcript
Opening and Playoff Preview
00:00:03
Mac
Well, as Mariah Carey would say, it's time. What's up, everybody? Welcome to our, I think, third annual now playoff preview of Championship War Bust with Mac and Josh.
00:00:15
Mac
No Zach today. He decided to go out to Cancun to hang out with the Mets. So that's going very well for him.
00:00:20
Zach Hecht
well
00:00:21
Mac
um But no, seriously, he's in Disney right now. So we hate Zach right now. That's the main thing.
00:00:26
Zach Hecht
two Two years in a row that he's not present for this.
00:00:29
Mac
Yeah, I mean, what commitment issues he must have. you know we
00:00:32
Zach Hecht
I know. well
00:00:33
Mac
He's the one who came up with this pod idea and hasn't shown up to one of our biggest ones of the year.
00:00:36
Zach Hecht
did This was probably his idea to do the season of recap as well, wasn't it?
00:00:40
Mac
Yeah, he was the one who said we should do this. So great job, Zach.
00:00:42
Zach Hecht
Wow.
Yankees' Success vs. Mets' Struggles
00:00:43
Mac
But Josh, um how are you doing?
00:00:45
Zach Hecht
i'm I'm doing great. The Yankees somehow made the playoffs.
00:00:48
Mac
I cannot believe that actually happened. I'm to be in the building tomorrow night for game one. I'm going to be heartbroken and I'm going be leaving. It's a six o'clock start. I'll be out the door by eight.
00:00:57
Zach Hecht
That sounds about right.
00:00:58
Mac
Yeah, it's going to be fun. we got, you know, Garrett Crochet versus Max Fried. ah It's going to be quite rough.
00:01:05
Zach Hecht
It should be a 0-0 game until Devin Williams blows it.
00:01:08
Mac
Yep, that's about right. But you know what? Can't be worse than the New York Mets. What a disappointment.
00:01:16
Zach Hecht
They are a sad, sad team.
00:01:19
Mac
but I have to say, you know what was really so much fun? Watching Juan Soto see Lindor ground into a double play and standing in the on-deck circle knowing he can't do a damn thing about it.
00:01:31
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:01:32
Mac
That was awesome to me. I really enjoyed that.
00:01:34
Zach Hecht
I was going to say watching the Reds posting ah videos of Frank the Tank having a mental breakdown was pretty funny.
00:01:42
Mac
The Reds posted it.
00:01:43
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:01:44
Mac
but That's awesome.
00:01:44
Zach Hecht
Yeah. but The Reds, zo who had no business making the playoffs, who who i I think they went 40-40 in the last 80 games of the year. That's how that's how bad the Mets were, that they let a team that went 500 in the entire second half of the season and beat them for a playoff spot.
00:01:59
Mac
my My other favorite thing was when the Mets announcers, Gary, Keith, and Ron, were complaining that the Marlins were taking pictures in the dugout. As if yeah it's not the Mets' fault that they got beat.
00:02:11
Mac
It's pathetic.
00:02:11
Zach Hecht
Hey, honestly, I think he got a hand into the Marlins for a team that was projected to be like absolutely god awful. They really did not play that bad this year.
Surprises and Near Misses in Playoffs
00:02:20
Mac
They might get the award from the most pleasant surprise team.
00:02:20
Zach Hecht
mean, they were bad, but they weren't as bad as they could have been.
00:02:26
Zach Hecht
Yeah, their pitching is still atrocious, but they're starting to have some guys in the lineup that, you know, not bad.
00:02:26
Mac
They competed every night.
00:02:33
Mac
Yeah, I mean, they're pretty good. And then I guess biggest disappointment would probably have to be the Mets.
00:02:39
Zach Hecht
Yeah, I mean it was so almost the Tigers.
00:02:39
Mac
And then...
00:02:41
Zach Hecht
so they were They were getting there really, really close.
00:02:44
Mac
Tiger's got to be in the conversation because that was that was scary for a bit.
00:02:49
Zach Hecht
and I mean, it's it's still scary.
00:02:52
Mac
So there's six, right?
00:02:54
Zach Hecht
Yes.
00:02:55
Mac
Yikes.
00:02:56
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:02:56
Mac
Wow.
00:02:57
Zach Hecht
I mean, they were that close to not making it at all.
00:02:58
Mac
and that That's actually brutal.
00:03:02
Zach Hecht
Yeah, they had 12.5 game lead, think. blew 12.5 game lead
00:03:07
Zach Hecht
they blew a twelve and a half ga
00:03:07
Mac
12 and a half.
00:03:11
Mac
I'm surprised AJ Hinch even let him celebrate.
00:03:14
Zach Hecht
i I wouldn't have. I would not have.
00:03:16
Mac
way. No way. But, I mean, when it comes to the Yankees, and we'll get to it when we talk about playoffs, do you think Boone's job's on the line with this one?
00:03:28
Mac
ah justice only Does Justice finally have some risk?
00:03:28
Zach Hecht
No, his job is never on the line. No, his job is never on the line.
Yankees' Playoff Concerns and Predictions
00:03:34
Zach Hecht
His job is never on the line. He's going to walk into the office tomorrow morning and there's going to be a lineup printed out or it sitting on his desk that some stat nerd came up with and they're going to release it to And they're release it to the public, and Yankees Twitter is going to be having an absolute field day.
00:03:46
Mac
I know.
00:03:53
Mac
But I mean, this series, I don't know how you feel, but this series scares me.
00:03:57
Zach Hecht
As it should.
00:03:57
Mac
I'm actually terrified of this series.
00:03:59
Zach Hecht
As it should. They've they've played Boston 13 times this year, and they've lost nine times.
00:04:04
Mac
And just like the fact that recent history, every time they play Boston in the playoffs, they've gotten crushed.
00:04:11
Zach Hecht
Yeah, I mean, on paper, they're better team, but, you know. What team shows up is is the question.
00:04:17
Mac
but they play on grass.
00:04:20
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:04:21
Mac
That's the problem. But I mean, i guess we'll roll right into playoff bracket. We might as well since we're in Yankees Red Sox. How do you feel about this series?
00:04:30
Zach Hecht
ah i I mean, yeah aye i think the Yankees can win. i would put the Yankees on my bracket, but I am shaking in my boots, as they say.
00:04:43
Mac
That's how I feel.
00:04:45
Zach Hecht
I mean, yeah
00:04:45
Mac
I think they lose tomorrow night. When I'm in the building, I go home sad.
00:04:47
Zach Hecht
i Yeah.
00:04:50
Mac
And their path is to beat out Bello and whoever's going to go game three because now Giolito is out.
Playoff Game Strategies
00:04:58
Zach Hecht
yeah no I mean, yeah. You you
00:05:03
Mac
But
00:05:03
Zach Hecht
you know, the thing they have to do is that if you're going to lose to crochet, you have to not blow the bullpen. that That's going to be the key.
00:05:09
Mac
that's a concern.
00:05:11
Zach Hecht
If you're down you know if you're down like two runs against Crochet, you have to like, all right, let's throw Leiter tonight.
00:05:19
Mac
Punt.
00:05:19
Zach Hecht
like Let's throw Deval tonight. like Let's save Weaver and Bednar. You cannot be throwing these guys. And I mean, not to say you're punting, but there's no reason to use your best relievers in a game you're losing.
00:05:34
Mac
So it's three days in a row, right? Like it's three straight days.
00:05:36
Zach Hecht
Yeah. Yeah, no no travel. Three days in a row.
00:05:39
Mac
Yeah, that's tough.
00:05:40
Zach Hecht
The DS starts on, I think, Saturday or Sunday.
00:05:44
Mac
That sounds right. Because it would be Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, day off, go to the next place.
00:05:49
Zach Hecht
No.
00:05:50
Mac
So it's like really the equivalent of a regular series, but at the same time, like you don't want to mess around with that bullpen too much. No way.
00:05:57
Zach Hecht
now No, you have to be careful. I mean, that's that's the one thing that Boone controls is is who comes out of the ballpen.
00:06:06
Mac
Yeah. So I have Yankees in three. I'm guessing you have Yankees in three too.
00:06:09
Zach Hecht
um I don't know if he makes it three up.
00:06:12
Mac
And Zach went Yankees. I'm assuming.
00:06:16
Zach Hecht
Let look. Zach said, yeah yes, Kenny Ahees win two games.
00:06:19
Mac
Yes, he did.
00:06:22
Zach Hecht
and That crochet doesn't start. I think they can, especially at home. I take Radon, Schlitler, Rebello, and Giolito. actually didn't know Giolito was hurt
Pitching Challenges and Opportunities
00:06:29
Zach Hecht
at the time.
00:06:29
Mac
Yeah, but he didn't know that, so I won't clown him for that one.
00:06:32
Zach Hecht
I didn't know that until you just said it.
00:06:34
Mac
Yeah, it got announced like an hour ago, but he has elbow issues again.
00:06:38
Zach Hecht
Again, yeah, his career might be over.
00:06:39
Mac
that not That's not good.
00:06:40
Zach Hecht
That's not good, no.
00:06:42
Mac
It's a shame because actually like Giolito. He's a good pitcher.
00:06:44
Zach Hecht
For a guy that that doesn't throw you know upper 90s, he's quite an effective player.
00:06:50
Mac
Yeah, he's got a similar style to Shota. yeah Just knows how to pitch.
00:06:55
Zach Hecht
Yeah. Yeah, nose out of pitch. That's all right. No, it's just a thrower.
00:06:59
Mac
Yeah. Up to you. Do you want to go ALNL, ALNL, or do you want to go back to?
00:07:05
Zach Hecht
I'd say it's just... At least finish the ALY with the wild card side.
00:07:07
Mac
All right.
00:07:10
Mac
Sounds good. So Detroit-Cleveland.
00:07:13
Zach Hecht
ah Cleveland, yeah. Two games.
00:07:16
Mac
You're going in Cleveland in two?
00:07:17
Zach Hecht
Actually, no. I take Cleveland in three.
00:07:19
Mac
I went Cleveland in three also. Very boring start to this episode.
00:07:22
Zach Hecht
i you know I think that school bowl is going to mo mow Cleveland down and then after that Cleveland is just going to... Detroit is on.
00:07:34
Zach Hecht
It's colder than ice right now. I mean, they're below zero and the guardians are hot. I just, yeah, I don't know how you can say Detroit's going to win this.
00:07:47
Mac
When we do manager of the year, we got to give credit to Steven Vogt because this team was in the trenches.
00:07:51
Zach Hecht
Yes. Yes, we do. Correct.
00:07:54
Mac
And then you have two guys who are probably going get banned from baseball, including the most talented closer in the game. And they didn't give up and they're in the playoffs. And they're...
00:08:04
Zach Hecht
I don't know he's the most talented closer in a game, but yeah.
00:08:07
Mac
You don't
Reds vs. Dodgers Series Analysis
00:08:08
Mac
think?
00:08:08
Zach Hecht
I mean, i I think there's a guy who's more talented than him that's going to win the reliever of the year by a landslide.
00:08:15
Mac
We'll get to that. But we're talking about a guy who was third place in Cy Young last year, was getting comps ridiculous comps Mariano Rivera.
00:08:21
Zach Hecht
Yeah, he had one good year. Yeah, he had one good year. The media seems to love guys that have one good year and then create some ridiculous narrative about how great he is.
00:08:25
Mac
He had like three good years.
00:08:32
Mac
He had like three to four really good years.
00:08:35
Zach Hecht
I hadn't said, I said a good year.
00:08:35
Mac
And then yeah he got popped into the road.
00:08:36
Zach Hecht
I mean, he had it he had good years, but he had one year that I was like, oh my God.
00:08:41
Mac
Oh, he had one, like, world-class year.
00:08:43
Zach Hecht
Blow it out of proportion.
00:08:43
Mac
He had really, really good years.
00:08:47
Mac
Like, he was one that he came into a game and you're excited when he comes in the game because something's going to happen.
00:08:53
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:08:53
Mac
He checked that box years ago. But the point is, like, even having, you know, your guy go down like that and your team still pull it out, they came back from over 10 games down.
00:09:06
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:09:06
Mac
we were just saying, you 12, what was it, 12 games?
00:09:09
Zach Hecht
12 and a half, yeah.
00:09:10
Mac
Yeah, so 12 and a half games after that all goes down.
00:09:14
Zach Hecht
With a completely unassuming roster.
00:09:16
Mac
And the Tigers just take the slow plunge.
00:09:19
Zach Hecht
Yeah, i mean, that's brutal. Absolutely brutal.
00:09:22
Mac
So we we both go Guardians in three.
00:09:25
Zach Hecht
Yep.
00:09:25
Mac
Zach says, Cleveland's been the hottest team in baseball and they have great pitching. Easy pick is the Guardians right now, but I would take almost anybody over Detroit at this point. Ouch.
00:09:33
Zach Hecht
Honestly, same.
00:09:34
Mac
Yeah, it's true, but...
00:09:34
Zach Hecht
Honestly, same. and Detroit's only saving grace as they have the best pitcher in the American League right now. And to beat him is very difficult, but that means you still have to beat somebody else.
00:09:49
Mac
That's the thing.
00:09:50
Zach Hecht
i don't know I don't know if Detroit can pick up another win after that.
00:09:54
Mac
you're
00:09:54
Zach Hecht
I honestly don't know if Detroit can pick up a win with him on the mound. I mean, he could go seven scores he could still lose. They've done that a lot this year.
00:10:00
Mac
It has happened quite a bit, but I i think though I'm going to pencil them in for winning the game. He's on the mound, so that would be game one, I'm guessing, depending – but no, would it – he has confirmed?
00:10:06
Zach Hecht
Sam. Yes. Yep. Yep. He's already confirmed.
00:10:11
Mac
Okay.
00:10:11
Zach Hecht
Yep.
00:10:12
Mac
i For some reason, I thought he pitched like the second-to-last game of the season, so I wasn't sure what the rest right.
00:10:16
Zach Hecht
ah He was slated to pitch on Sunday, but they pulled them, obviously.
00:10:20
Mac
Yeah, smart.
00:10:23
Mac
So and NL wildcards, I guess we'll go with the, in my opinion, the easier one, Reds-Dodgers.
00:10:30
Zach Hecht
Yes.
00:10:31
Mac
um I'll let you have the floor on this. You know them better than any of us do.
00:10:35
Zach Hecht
ah Yeah, I say Dodgers in three.
00:10:40
Mac
i I went Dodgers in two.
00:10:42
Zach Hecht
I say Dodgers in three only because of the pitching matchup in game one.
00:10:46
Mac
Who's going for LA in game one?
00:10:48
Zach Hecht
Blake Snell.
00:10:49
Mac
Okay. Against Hunter?
00:10:51
Zach Hecht
Against Hunter Green. Yep.
00:10:52
Mac
Okay. I think Snell has the experience, so He's pitched in the World Series. I don't think that's going crazy thought if the Dodgers win that one.
00:11:02
Zach Hecht
I don't think it's a crazy thought either, but I'd like to give the Reds benefit of the doubt and win a game.
00:11:06
Mac
The only thing is that...
00:11:07
Zach Hecht
I think the Reds have a lot of picture they'll have a lot of hitters that hit right- handed pitching very well ah left-handed pitching very well. um So that that's that's my reasoning.
00:11:14
Mac
its If they can keep it close through the six innings... And they can do hell.
00:11:19
Zach Hecht
Oh, it's going to be like a 2-1 game. It's not going to a blowout.
00:11:21
Mac
Right.
00:11:22
Zach Hecht
the The next two games I think are scary.
00:11:25
Mac
But the Dodgers' bullpen has been awful.
00:11:25
Zach Hecht
yeah
00:11:28
Zach Hecht
This is true.
00:11:29
Mac
So if they can keep him close...
00:11:30
Zach Hecht
But I think you're also going see Roki Sasaki in the Dodgers bullpen, and he'll probably be the closer for them.
00:11:35
Mac
Yeah, but he's shown that, you know, how when the lights are bright, he struggles.
00:11:41
Zach Hecht
This is also true.
00:11:42
Mac
I don't buy into him yet.
00:11:43
Zach Hecht
I mean, I don't think the Dodgers are as good of a team as they were. don't... they were not as They're not as strong as they were last year, but I think that they still beat the Reds.
00:11:47
Mac
No.
00:11:51
Zach Hecht
they I mean, the Reds are, let let's be real, ah the Reds are a joke.
00:11:56
Mac
They are. They should not be here.
00:11:57
Zach Hecht
hey I mean, listen to these stats here. The Reds are the first team in LB history have no qualify to to make the playoffs with no qualifying hitter hitting more than 270, have no hitter hitting more than 25 home runs, have no pitcher win more than 15 games, or get more than 200 strikeouts.
00:12:15
Mac
So they're a team.
00:12:17
Zach Hecht
They are a team.
00:12:17
Mac
and guess that's the approach. A lot of mediocrity makes the team work.
00:12:23
Zach Hecht
However, in their defense, when the Reds won in 1990, they didn't have a player get not more than 90 RBIs. No one with more than 200 hits. No one more than 100 runs. No one more than 30 home runs.
00:12:36
Zach Hecht
No pitcher with fifteen with more than 15 wins and no pitcher with more than 200 strikeouts. So, if you get hot, you get hot.
00:12:41
Mac
That just might be the Reds.
00:12:43
Zach Hecht
I mean, I just don't think they have enough to get hot.
00:12:43
Mac
Yeah.
00:12:46
Mac
No, they don't. I don't think so either.
00:12:49
Zach Hecht
I think that Hunter Green is a special, and then they have Andrew Abbott after that. and And Abbott and habit is not doing as well as he was, and they just don't have the heading to ah match up with a...
00:12:56
Mac
Abbott had a rough second. like I won't say second, but rough month.
00:13:07
Zach Hecht
You're not going to get you're not even into a slugfest a Dodgers and win.
00:13:10
Mac
So now, if they win, like, let's say the Reds did win, they would take on, I'm trying to see where the bracket would go from there.
00:13:16
Zach Hecht
They would take on
Yankees vs. Toronto Series Breakdown
00:13:17
Zach Hecht
Philly, and Philly would absolutely crap on them.
00:13:17
Mac
Really, like, yeah, I was going to say, because the seven-game series with those three guys, Green, Abbott, Lodolo, I feel like they they could be a force to be reckoned with.
00:13:20
Zach Hecht
it would It would not last.
00:13:29
Mac
It's just rough matchups for them all around.
00:13:32
Zach Hecht
it Isn't the DS still a five-game series? Or did they change that?
00:13:36
Mac
ALDS is a five-game.
00:13:38
Zach Hecht
Right. Yeah, I mean, i don't yeah I don't think they can beat Philly.
00:13:39
Mac
But...
00:13:42
Zach Hecht
don't think they can beat Philly in a five-game series, especially when
00:13:43
Mac
No, they can't.
00:13:46
Zach Hecht
You're starting God knows who in game in in game one. Probably Brady Singer.
00:13:52
Mac
Yeah, because you're right with them being used.
00:13:56
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:13:56
Mac
Because the Brady Singer against probably Christopher Sanchez and goodnight.
00:13:59
Zach Hecht
Yeah. I mean, you're going be down 1-0 before anything even starts.
00:14:03
Mac
It's weird because like with the Phillies, you almost have to flip the rotation around from what it was earlier in the year. Because Sanchez had a hell of a year. Suarez had a good year. Nola sucked. And Wheeler's out.
00:14:13
Zach Hecht
And Wheeler's gone. Yep.
00:14:14
Mac
So you're basically you know you're banking on those two.
00:14:17
Zach Hecht
Yes.
00:14:18
Mac
Who would have been, I guess, your three and four to start the year?
00:14:18
Zach Hecht
Yes, you are.
00:14:22
Mac
Maybe Suarez would have been your two over Nola.
00:14:26
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:14:26
Mac
But that that's tough.
00:14:29
Zach Hecht
It is. It is.
00:14:32
Mac
And then Padres-Cubs. This one was tough for me. um I guess I'll do this one because you started off the other one. I have the Cubs in three. um i just I trust that outfield.
00:14:45
Mac
And I know that PCA struggled in the second half the year. I know Kyle Tucker has had a share of struggles. But Kyle Tucker has been there before. i just feel like every year I pick the Padres and every year I get let down.
00:14:57
Mac
And I do not trust the Padres rotation at all.
00:14:59
Zach Hecht
yeah Yeah, I mean, I'm kind of with you on this one. The history seems to be not on the Padres' side. So i'm I'm going to say the Cubs. I think both of these teams are not doing so hot.
00:15:13
Zach Hecht
And there's a lot of holes in their lineups and their pitching staffs are questionable. But i would still I would still pick the Cubs.
00:15:21
Mac
I would like to see you, Darvish, do some damage, but it's not going to happen.
00:15:24
Zach Hecht
The only thing he's going to do damage is to his own career.
00:15:27
Mac
It's time for him to retire. He's so done.
00:15:30
Zach Hecht
Yeah, I agree. This might be it for him, I think.
00:15:32
Mac
ah
00:15:33
Zach Hecht
he you yeah His contract spires, right?
00:15:35
Mac
i think he's got another two years.
00:15:37
Zach Hecht
Oh, Jesus.
00:15:38
Mac
Because I've been looking to see him play. It's just never happened. like it's Every time he's been in town, it just hasn't worked out schedule-wise.
00:15:40
Zach Hecht
Oh, Jesus.
00:15:43
Mac
And then he wasn't in town at all this year.
00:15:44
Zach Hecht
How old is you? How old is you, Darvish?
00:15:48
Mac
38. He's a year older than Kershaw.
00:15:50
Zach Hecht
Oh, bro. Oh, come on. He's 39! Oh, dude. Yeah, go back home. Retire. Come on. What are we doing here?
00:15:56
Mac
Well, let him stay for one more game. Let him do his return.
00:15:58
Zach Hecht
I mean, he only plays half the year anyway.
00:16:01
Mac
Yeah, let him do his return at Yankee Stadium. Or not Yankee Stadium, at Citi Field in August, right before my wedding. That would be my little wedding gift to myself.
00:16:10
Zach Hecht
He did not have a good year.
00:16:14
Mac
um But it's funny because so far with the wild card, we agree completely.
00:16:18
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:16:19
Mac
We're four for four together.
00:16:20
Zach Hecht
Yeah, this is this is boring.
00:16:21
Mac
I know, but let's make za let's bring Zach in to make it more interesting. ah Zach's going, in his words, full psycho and picking Cincinnati over the Dodgers.
00:16:30
Zach Hecht
Oh, yeah. Yeah, he is full he has completely a psychopath.
00:16:33
Mac
Green can get you one game and then you just need to win one of two. Great analysis.
00:16:38
Zach Hecht
Yes, and then he said, hopefully I can go to a game. Yes, I'm definitely going to fly out to L.A. for that. forget Forgetting that all the games are played at one stadium.
00:16:47
Mac
I mean, you can fly out to LA.
00:16:48
Zach Hecht
and I will not be flying out to
00:16:48
Mac
It's not like you have work or anything. Like, what's work?
00:16:51
Zach Hecht
Yeah. Yeah, no, i yeah I don't just get to go to Disneyland.
00:16:57
Mac
Or Hawaii.
00:16:57
Zach Hecht
Or Paris, wherever where wherever wherever he was last time we recorded without him.
00:17:01
Mac
We were going to go to women's tennis in Ohio.
00:17:03
Zach Hecht
Yes, yes, what eight when he sent me a picture of some women's tennis match on a Monday at noon went, oh, you should have gotten this. Like, yeah, Zach, I got nothing better to do on a Monday at noon.
00:17:12
Mac
Yup. Not happening.
00:17:15
Zach Hecht
For women's tennis.
00:17:16
Mac
But hey, you know I'm off in August. one that One year I can come down and we can go watch $3 women's tennis because that's the top thing to go to Ohio for.
00:17:22
Zach Hecht
Yeah, there you go.
00:17:25
Mac
Not Canton, Ohio, not Progressive Field or anything like that.
00:17:25
Zach Hecht
Absolutely.
00:17:30
Zach Hecht
Yeah, no, I would you want to go see a sports game or you know go to Cedar Point or Kings Island when you go see women's tennis.
00:17:35
Mac
Cedar Point, Kings Island would be top of my list.
00:17:37
Zach Hecht
but
00:17:37
Mac
I do really want to go there at some point.
00:17:40
Zach Hecht
it's It's fantastic. I highly recommend.
00:17:43
Mac
And then for Padres-Cubs, Zach said, this one's tough for me, but I'm going San Diego. Cubs have fallen off a bit as of late, and think the Padres the better pitching. I've fallen into this trap countless times. I get why he did it.
00:17:55
Mac
I don't blame him. I'm just refusing to him.
00:17:56
Zach Hecht
But do they have the better pitching, though?
00:17:59
Mac
They really don't.
00:18:00
Zach Hecht
I don't know if they do.
00:18:01
Mac
ah They don't.
00:18:02
Zach Hecht
I mean, the Cubs, you're I assume Imanaga's pitching game one, and then Horton, yeah, and then you have Horton after that, and Boyd, yeah, I don't, I i don't i would, Boyd is healthy.
00:18:07
Mac
Horton.
00:18:09
Mac
And then Boyd.
00:18:13
Mac
But it is healthy, right?
00:18:14
Zach Hecht
I would not say the Padres have the better pitching. I think it's it's probably even when you, when you, Pavetta had a fantastic season.
00:18:19
Mac
will say Pavetta had a heck of a season. the Like, you would he's won the Tottenham line.
00:18:24
Zach Hecht
I wouldn't, I didn't even notice that until I started looking at it.
00:18:27
Mac
I knew it because I was following it along like following along with the Padres in particular for Darvish, hoping he would start. But he had a really good season.
00:18:36
Zach Hecht
So, I thought was just somehow going to up pitching game two, and he's going to blow it. So, that should be a free win.
00:18:40
Mac
I think he's going game... I think he's going three.
00:18:44
Zach Hecht
Well, that should definitely be a free win.
00:18:45
Mac
I think.
00:18:46
Zach Hecht
Don't don't let it don't want to get to game three. don't know
00:18:49
Mac
Probably.
00:18:49
Zach Hecht
Padre fans are at home, but doesn't get to three games.
00:18:49
Mac
solve
00:18:54
Mac
let's see if Let's see if it's up yet to bring entire rotation. They're bringing the entire rotation. They intend to carry all their pitches on the roster.
00:19:02
Zach Hecht
Why?
00:19:03
Mac
ah Looks like it's going to...
00:19:03
Zach Hecht
What's the point of that?
00:19:05
Mac
Oh, Pavetta's going game one, and then they're deciding on game two between Cease, Starvish, King, and Vasquez. So, everybody.
00:19:14
Zach Hecht
So Cease, it's going to be Cease. I would pitch Cease.
00:19:17
Mac
i i don't trust Cease at all.
00:19:19
Zach Hecht
Do you trust? I mean, you're not pitching Vasquez.
00:19:22
Mac
No, I wouldn't. I would probably go Michael King.
00:19:24
Zach Hecht
I mean, yeah, but I would probably pitch King too.
00:19:28
Mac
i know he hasn't played a whole lot this year, but Cease struggled. But when he is on, he looks great.
00:19:32
Zach Hecht
So who has it on that ra on that staff though, other than Pavetta?
00:19:36
Mac
I'd probably go Pavetta 1, King 2, Cease 3, and then Darvish would be my spot 4. So, have a 10 guy.
00:19:42
Zach Hecht
i would just put Darvish in the bullpen. Yeah.
00:19:44
Mac
I'd be fine with that too. Kind of like what CeCe was doing like in the 17-19.
00:19:51
Mac
guess Yeah.
00:19:52
Zach Hecht
Yeah, I mean, to have one of your starters in the pen for a long relief is is beneficial and in the postseason. Just in case somebody gets hurt or can only, you know, throw way too many pitches.
00:20:05
Mac
be a long reliever. I'm
00:20:07
Zach Hecht
Gasco shouldn't even be on the roster. i i must Unless their bullpen is that bad, which which I know it's not.
00:20:10
Mac
surprised they put him on.
00:20:14
Zach Hecht
There's no reason for him to be on the roster.
00:20:16
Mac
Well, Kershaw didn't make the Dodgers roster.
00:20:19
Zach Hecht
As he shouldn't be. why are you carrying You don't need to carry around your fourth and fifth starter for a three-game series.
00:20:20
Mac
Yeah.
00:20:23
Zach Hecht
That makes no sense.
00:20:23
Mac
Yeah, there's no need.
00:20:24
Zach Hecht
It makes no sense.
00:20:25
Mac
Especially when he pitched yesterday.
00:20:27
Zach Hecht
Well, yeah, I mean, that's that's why he's definitely not on line.
00:20:29
Mac
You're already out game one and two. You're not pitching Clayton Kershaw on two days rest.
00:20:33
Zach Hecht
No. No. Yes.
00:20:35
Mac
But moving into, I guess we'll do the ALDS first. We have the same bracket so far.
00:20:41
Zach Hecht
Yes.
00:20:41
Mac
So it's Seattle-Cleveland.
00:20:44
Zach Hecht
Yes.
00:20:46
Mac
i you want me to go or you want to go first?
00:20:48
Zach Hecht
ah You go first.
00:20:50
Mac
It's Seattle. and
00:20:51
Zach Hecht
i You're just trying to back up try to back off your prediction for earlier in here, aren't you?
00:20:57
Mac
You're absolutely right, but i I stand by it. I mean, Seattle's been really, really good. Their rotation's sick. like They're the opposite of the Padres. you know we We were talking about Brian Wu as a 4-5.
00:21:10
Mac
He's now your number one guy. i trust Luis Castillo in the playoffs.
00:21:12
Zach Hecht
Yeah. And Castillo has become your 4-5.
00:21:14
Mac
We're
00:21:15
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:21:16
Mac
I know, but I still trust him to the playoffs. And when he's another guy on the right day, he's nasty. George Kirby has had his struggles this year, um but he doesn't walk people at all, which can help him move in through some innings.
00:21:30
Mac
He's actually had a... Decent few games. Those the last four games, ah four innings pitched, three earned runs, rough. 6.1 innings pitched, two earned runs, six shutout innings, and then five innings with two runs.
00:21:42
Mac
So he's been on lately, and that was against, you know I know Houston didn't make the playoffs, but a good Houston team. He went up against the Dodgers. he He's pitching against competition, and he's doing well.
00:21:54
Mac
um You still have Logan Gilbert. um So you still have four legit starters here.
00:22:01
Zach Hecht
I ain't gonna need him. Yep.
00:22:03
Mac
So I do like this team. um I think Julio Rodriguez, even though the it's weird, like his OPS looks rough. When you correlate it with OPS+, plus it looks a lot better.
00:22:15
Mac
Obviously, you have Cal Rally, who probably won't be seeing a whole lot of pitches. And you know I think they'll have enough to get you know to at least do some damage. And adding in Suarez is huge.
00:22:30
Zach Hecht
ye Yeah, I mean, i have to agree with you. I think Seattle and ah Cleveland are built very similarly.
00:22:36
Mac
oh
00:22:38
Zach Hecht
They have a very strong pitching staff, and then their hitters are yuck, except for like one or two guys.
00:22:44
Mac
Yeah.
00:22:47
Zach Hecht
um But Seattle went out and got some very boomer bust players and in Suarez and Naylor, who, yeah, they're not going to get on base. No, definitely not going to get on base.
00:22:58
Mac
Definitely not.
00:22:59
Zach Hecht
Neither neither is Cal Rally, but you know One of those three guys is probably going home run at some point. And when you're playing against two strong pitching staffs, and the game might end 2-1, and that solo shot could prove the difference.
00:23:13
Mac
Yep.
00:23:14
Zach Hecht
So yeah, I agree. I'd take Seattle. I'd say Seattle in 4. There
00:23:20
Mac
I had Seattle. I wrote down Mariners in four as well, actually.
00:23:25
Zach Hecht
there we go.
00:23:26
Mac
So we're we're really in sync here. Zach actually agrees with us here. Seattle staff is too good. This is where Cleveland's luck runs out. Thanks, Zachy. Yankees, Jays. ah Tag, you're it. You're up first. Go ahead.
00:23:40
Zach Hecht
ah Yeah, ah Toronto in five.
00:23:43
Mac
You go Toronto here, okay?
00:23:45
Zach Hecht
going to go Toronto in five. yeah I mean, the Yankees are... ah It's not even that the Yankees, it's that Toronto. ah Toronto's pitching is not great. ah Their starters are not great.
00:23:57
Zach Hecht
Their bullpen is not great. But their hitting is so much better than the Yankees, it's not even funny. And i just I'm just going to make the assumption that they're going to show up and Aaron Judge is not.
00:24:09
Zach Hecht
So I say Toronto in five.
00:24:11
Mac
So i I agree with everything you're saying. i couldn't get myself to pick against them yet.
00:24:21
Zach Hecht
I can.
00:24:22
Mac
I couldn't get there yet.
00:24:23
Zach Hecht
I can.
00:24:23
Mac
um The one thing that works, I think, in your favor is that the Blue Jays, like you said, like i don't you don't trust their rotation, but their rotation is very experienced. They're not going to be scared of the moment.
00:24:35
Zach Hecht
I agree with that,
00:24:35
Mac
you know, alderman Bassett, Berrio Scherzer. They're not going to be panicked. You have Bieber as well. um Chad Green has pitched big games in the bullpen. Sir Anthony Dominguez has pitched big games in the bullpen.
00:24:48
Mac
So I think they'll be all right in terms of not being scared of it. The Yankees are going to have to go and take it from them. I don't feel super confident in that happening, but
00:24:59
Zach Hecht
I just don't think that they can... they kind They can outscore Toronto. That's what I think it's going to come down to in a series against Toronto. Every game is going to be eight to seven and I just don't think they can outscore
00:25:10
Mac
I think the key to this series for them would be Dalton Varsho because he kicks the crap out of us every time we play him.
00:25:18
Zach Hecht
them. They don't have a guy in their lineup where it's like, oh, there's an automatic out. And Yankees have too many of those.
00:25:24
Mac
Actually, um' part of me is considering changing the pick just because I'm thinking about it more and I'm just – I'm staring at their roster right now and it's like you're not getting that guy out. You're not getting that guy out. You're not getting that guy out.
00:25:35
Mac
So what do you do? Um – The key for the Yankees, I think, is going to be Cam Schlittler starts because Fried will show up. Rodon will show up one out of every two games he throws, and he'll get shelled the other one.
00:25:48
Zach Hecht
Yep. You idea what you're going to get out of Schlitler. And then there's Will Warren, our fourth starter. Oh, boy.
00:25:54
Mac
if Yeah.
00:25:57
Mac
I feel like my backbone is crumbling. I'm leaning towards agreeing with you here.
00:26:05
Zach Hecht
Well, gun to your head, what are we picking right now?
00:26:08
Mac
Toronto.
00:26:08
Zach Hecht
There you go.
00:26:09
Mac
Yeah.
00:26:10
Zach Hecht
There we go.
00:26:10
Mac
Okay.
00:26:10
Zach Hecht
Here's your answer.
00:26:11
Mac
I couldn't get myself there. i It was funny. i I wrote down Yankees in four. going to go Blue Jays in five. I think they'll win the freed starts.
00:26:20
Zach Hecht
Yeah, i I don't know what games they're going to win, but I know that Aaron Boone managed themselves out of one game at least, so I'm going to go Toronto in five.
00:26:27
Mac
I was hoping that I could stick to my guns so that we could at least have some disagreement, but so far we're...
00:26:30
Zach Hecht
and i'm so um I'm sticking to my guns.
00:26:33
Mac
So far, we're identical. We'll see if anything changes over the course. um Yankees, Jays for Zach. Toronto has shown their human over the last month. Valid. Yankees rotation might be a bit better.
00:26:45
Mac
and Maybe.
00:26:47
Zach Hecht
Yeah, I don't know.
00:26:47
Mac
Top um of it, yeah.
00:26:49
Zach Hecht
I don't know about that.
00:26:50
Mac
We're top heavy. Bieber hasn't been the same, and I don't trust Scherzer anymore.
00:26:55
Zach Hecht
i That's a fair statement.
00:26:56
Mac
ah It's funny, though. i If you give me one game, I do trust Scherzer October. I do.
00:27:02
Zach Hecht
i I don't know if I trust Scherzer in the year of 2025.
00:27:03
Mac
um not
00:27:06
Zach Hecht
Yeah,
00:27:07
Mac
So you're really just worried about Gaussman.
00:27:10
Zach Hecht
yeah i they can't hit Gaussman.
00:27:12
Mac
That's... Yeah, that's gonna be rough.
00:27:15
Mac
So we have...
00:27:16
Zach Hecht
But do you never know, because the team that gets that rested ah does... They don't always play great. To be fair.
00:27:23
Mac
Right. Right.
00:27:25
Zach Hecht
And if the Yankees do somehow beat Boston, they'll have won, like, at worst-case scenario, 10 of their last 11.
00:27:34
Mac
Right.
00:27:36
Zach Hecht
Granted, you know, a lot of those games were against Baltimore and and Chicago, the White Sox. But they're still winning games, and they're on a high.
00:27:41
Mac
Yeah.
00:27:44
Mac
Yeah, they got momentum. was going be tough.
00:27:51
Mac
Moving into the NLDS. So i got to be careful as I read this because Zach, this is where Zach differs from us. He has Reds versus Phillies, but we have Dodgers Phillies. So we'll do ours first and we'll read his.
00:28:05
Zach Hecht
yeah
00:28:07
Mac
Where are you going?
00:28:09
Zach Hecht
Oh, Phillies. i yeah i think I think this is finally the year to Phillies slay the demon.
00:28:14
Mac
We agree again. Phillies in five.
00:28:16
Zach Hecht
I don't think the Dodgers are as strong as they were. i don't think they're as deep lineup-wise as they were. And I think the Phillies have enough pitching enough pitching to get the job done. I say Phillies in four.
00:28:32
Mac
Oh, new news just surfaced from Bob Nightingale. Max Monty is good to go for the wildcard series against the Reds.
00:28:40
Zach Hecht
That doesn't change my opinion at all.
00:28:42
Mac
I know, but just pointing it out. um I think if Wheeler was playing, it would be not even close.
00:28:49
Zach Hecht
i agree.
00:28:50
Mac
um But i'm I'm going Phillies here reluctantly because now Zach's going to be very happy.
00:28:54
Zach Hecht
yeah and when and when the phillies And when the Phillies lose, ah they will all Phillies fans will be crying. Oh, Wheeler was playing. Wheeler was playing.
00:29:03
Mac
Yeah, that's going to be the...
00:29:04
Zach Hecht
Just like the 80s fans, if Garrett Cole was playing.
00:29:07
Mac
Yup. Boo-hoo. Cry about it. So, we both go Phillies. Zach, I mean, i don't even really have to read it.
00:29:15
Zach Hecht
Obviously, we know the answer to this question already.
00:29:15
Mac
Zach agrees with us. Sanchez-Suarez combo goes crazy. If Nola shows up, he could be a serviceable number three. Phillies take this, but you guys already knew I would be saying that.
00:29:25
Mac
So, he knows...
00:29:26
Zach Hecht
at least Yeah, at least he knows. At least he knows.
00:29:28
Mac
He knows us so well, and we know him even better.
00:29:29
Zach Hecht
He really does. That's true.
00:29:33
Mac
Padres Brewers. So for we've been unanimous. I just had that one little hesitation with the Yankees to get rid of my home.
00:29:39
Zach Hecht
Yeah, well, i you know what if I don't think if I said say anything, you might have said Yankees.
00:29:43
Mac
I would have, but I would have been, you know, I'm not very convinced. And then you would have said something like you're right.
00:29:52
Mac
But that's the only thing we've somewhat differed on.
00:29:54
Zach Hecht
right so So we have Brewers-Cubs and he has Brewers-Padres.
00:29:56
Mac
We have Brewers-Cubs. Zach has Padres-Brewers, correct?
00:29:58
Zach Hecht
yeah ah Yeah, Brewers.
00:30:03
Mac
Yeah.
00:30:03
Zach Hecht
Yeah, they're the best team in baseball right now.
00:30:06
Mac
So you owe Brewers over Cubs. I'm going Cubs over Brewers.
00:30:13
Zach Hecht
Really?
00:30:13
Mac
This is our first disagreement, finally.
00:30:15
Zach Hecht
I don't know how you can make that statement with a straight face.
00:30:19
Mac
But with the Brewers, I only trust Peralta starter.
00:30:24
Mac
That's the only starter I trust with Milwaukee.
00:30:27
Zach Hecht
I mean...
00:30:28
Mac
And I don't really trust their lineup much either. I mean, it's it's a lot of – it's like a red structure. It's a lot of good. There's not a lot of great. And I think if the Cubs can flip the switch – I think if the Cubs can flip the switch, they'll be fine.
00:30:39
Zach Hecht
what are the cubs what What exactly do the Cubs have that's great? The Cubs have one guy on the team that's playing well.
00:30:48
Mac
Who is that?
00:30:49
Zach Hecht
Suzuki. Suzuki.
00:30:49
Mac
Right. So have Suzuki. I think, you know, if Tucker has the experience, he can flip a switch. Pico Armstrong had a few, had obviously a great few months.
00:30:58
Zach Hecht
PCA is dead in the water, bro.
00:31:00
Mac
Defensively, he's still good.
00:31:03
Zach Hecht
Yeah, like that matters.
00:31:03
Mac
And the Cubs just play fundamental baseball better than anybody I've seen.
00:31:07
Zach Hecht
The Brewers play fundamental baseball better ner it and and anybody I've ever ever seen.
00:31:12
Mac
But you got Nico Horner, you got Michael Bush, Dancy Swanson's played in big moments. I trust them. I know that they've struggled. I think they're the they're the flip a switch team.
00:31:25
Zach Hecht
I don't think they'll be flipping nothing.
00:31:27
Mac
Fair enough. I'm going Cubs. You're going Brewers. It's also nice to finally have a disagreement. I'm to stick to my guns on this one. We're going to Cubs.
00:31:34
Zach Hecht
Alright, congratulations. I think you're wrong. You're very wrong.
00:31:38
Mac
We'll see where it goes. so um Padres Brewers for Zach. I'll take the Padres in an upset.
00:31:44
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:31:45
Mac
Brewers always have a good regular season and never deliver a playoff.
00:31:46
Zach Hecht
I think it's a good thing that we don't let Zach do this.
00:31:49
Mac
I agree with him on the the sentiment. I just think it's a different team facing them. So we're not too far off there. So now this is where things get a little crazy because now we all have very different things.
00:32:00
Mac
But ALDS – do you want to do AL first or NL first?
00:32:03
Zach Hecht
ALCS? Let's go back to AL.
00:32:04
Mac
ALCS. He wrote ALDS, and I'm reading all – I don't know what he's doing.
00:32:05
Zach Hecht
Let's go back to AL. Yeah, he's dumb. He went ALDS twice.
00:32:10
Mac
But ALCS, the championship series, we have um Blue Jays Seattle. Zach has Yankees Seattle.
00:32:19
Zach Hecht
Right.
00:32:19
Mac
So you know where I'm going.
00:32:23
Zach Hecht
Yes.
00:32:23
Mac
um I'm going Mariners in seven.
00:32:25
Zach Hecht
Yes.
00:32:26
Mac
um I, again, same thing applies here. I'm still going with it. i We all talked about how inconsistent, all three of us said, how inconsistent the Blue Jays rotation is and how we don't really trust them and how they've kind of had difficulty showing up recently.
00:32:37
Zach Hecht
Yes.
00:32:41
Mac
um you Yesterday, not included. The Mariners have been hot. The Mariners starting rotation is sick. And the Mariners hitters have been better than expected. I have no reason to go against my original plan of the Mariners winning the American League.
00:32:57
Zach Hecht
Okay.
00:32:58
Mac
Where are you going?
00:32:59
Zach Hecht
Yeah, I'm going Toronto in seven.
00:33:01
Mac
Wow.
00:33:02
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:33:02
Mac
What?
00:33:03
Zach Hecht
ah Because I think this is where the magic of the Mariners falls apart.
00:33:08
Mac
Listen, I am a big believer in the theory of teams that historically choke are going to do it again no matter who's there.
00:33:17
Zach Hecht
Correct. That's why i say they're going to choke again.
00:33:18
Mac
I get it.
00:33:19
Zach Hecht
They've
00:33:19
Mac
I cannot argue with you on it. because Look at the Mets. Yeah.
00:33:23
Zach Hecht
done nothing. They've done nothing to... pre i mean looked up past I just don't...
00:33:25
Mac
ah
00:33:26
Zach Hecht
I don't think Seattle's... Their pitching is great. I don't think they have what it takes to beat a real team.
00:33:33
Mac
The Mariners, I believe, still own the most wins in Major League history in a season and lost in the first round.
00:33:38
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:33:42
Mac
Yeah, 116 2001. won't.
00:33:44
Zach Hecht
Yeah. I just don't. i I think this is where the magic the magic runs out.
00:33:50
Mac
i won't
00:33:51
Zach Hecht
yeah and just don't They don't have a hitter on the team that's like, oh my god, this guy is like actually scary. i A lot of guys, it's like, this guy's probably going to strike out.
00:33:59
Mac
And I i get it. And it's one of those things, like, if you can keep the ball in the yard, you'll beat them. But you also have to understand, i picked them an ape in March.
00:34:11
Zach Hecht
The thing is that the Mariners' home field is not a keep ball in the yard stadium.
00:34:18
Mac
But how do I not pick them at least go this far now?
00:34:22
Zach Hecht
i
00:34:22
Mac
Especially when the AL is just weak.
00:34:23
Zach Hecht
Yes, I understand that. I just say i think they're going choke.
00:34:24
Mac
Yeah. That's fair. I get it. And I have but i've been a subscriber to that theory for a long time.
00:34:32
Zach Hecht
I mean, you could but you could go by Zach's reasoning.
00:34:32
Mac
I get it.
00:34:35
Mac
Zach's reasoning, he so he has Yankees versus Seattle.
00:34:38
Zach Hecht
Right. Right.
00:34:39
Mac
Call me crazy, but let's go Yankees. I got no reasoning behind it, but I'm calling it upset.
00:34:44
Zach Hecht
yeah so at least At least I have a reasoning behind it. so
00:34:47
Mac
Yeah, and i I think I do too. I think mine's valid, a you know just in terms of the rotation and the hitters. if they hit If they hit ball far, they win. If they don't hit ball far, they're going to lose.
00:34:56
Zach Hecht
Yes, hit ball far.
00:34:58
Mac
It's that simple.
00:35:01
Mac
NLCS. Zach, you're killing me with this NLDS stuff. Can you please edit this message?
00:35:06
Zach Hecht
Okay, awful.
00:35:07
Mac
NLCS. So he has Phillies Padres. I have Phillies Cubs. You have Phillies Brewers. Right? Something like that?
00:35:18
Zach Hecht
Yeah, I have Phillies-Brewers, yes.
00:35:20
Mac
Okay, so you go first, because now we all have the Phillies here, so it's more a matter of if the Phillies going win or lose. So, you go first.
00:35:29
Zach Hecht
ah As much as it pains me to say it, I think that the Phillies will win this one.
00:35:35
Mac
How many games?
00:35:37
Zach Hecht
Six.
00:35:38
Mac
I agree. Just different teams.
00:35:39
Zach Hecht
I think their lineup is significantly stronger.
00:35:40
Mac
Okay.
00:35:42
Mac
So it really didn't matter much for both of us because we both went the same direction. We both had the Phillies in the World Series.
00:35:48
Zach Hecht
Yes. hate you say that.
00:35:49
Mac
NLCS MVP. i just I didn't prep you for it.
00:35:55
Zach Hecht
oh
00:35:55
Mac
I'm just thinking out loud in my head.
00:35:57
Zach Hecht
Kyle Schwarber.
00:35:58
Mac
I'm to Trey Turner.
00:36:00
Zach Hecht
Ew.
00:36:02
Mac
He gets hits. I know you've you've never liked Turner.
00:36:04
Zach Hecht
Yeah, but Schwarber is theirs.
00:36:07
Mac
You didn't like Trey Turner the but names in Washington.
00:36:08
Zach Hecht
No, do like Trey Turner. I've had Trey Turner on my fantasy multiple times. Don't tell me I don't like him.
00:36:14
Mac
Yeah, but you would pick him at value. You would always complain about how high his value was. I remember this. Since, like, high school.
00:36:20
Zach Hecht
No, I mean...
00:36:24
Zach Hecht
talk about a guy who is a weak defensive shortstop. A weak defensive shortstop. And yeah, he hits.300. He didn't really have any power, but he's gotten stronger over the years hitting the ball farther.
00:36:36
Mac
So, it won't surprise you... because you've read it, but it won't surprise our listeners to know that Zach also picked the Phillies to win.
00:36:45
Zach Hecht
It wouldn't surprise a deaf man.
00:36:47
Mac
Because that's what's in. Phillies beat the Padres a few years ago in the NLCS, and they can do it again. And then he wrote a little addition. Oh, would you look at that? Zaki has picked the Yankees and Phillies to meet in the WS twice in a row, smiley face.
00:37:01
Mac
He was half right last year, so hopefully both teams make it this year. And he gave his pick of Yankees in seven with a smiley face and about five right parentheses after it.
00:37:14
Zach Hecht
that's that's That's all the chins.
00:37:16
Mac
Yeah.
00:37:21
Mac
All of um Rowdy Tellez's chins represented.
00:37:24
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:37:25
Mac
um So he goes Yankees, and now it's just us. We both have Phillies. we All three of us had the Phillies representing the National League. So I have Mariners Phillies.
00:37:36
Mac
You have Blue Jays Phillies.
00:37:38
Zach Hecht
yeah
00:37:39
Mac
So I guess I'll take my first. I got to do the – I cannot go against the Mariners.
00:37:44
Zach Hecht
Yeah, you have to.
00:37:44
Mac
I can't.
00:37:45
Zach Hecht
You have to.
00:37:45
Mac
How do you not at this point? You guys laughed at me for having them in the playoffs.
00:37:49
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:37:49
Mac
And my reasoning was that they can get in the playoffs. They're going to win. So they did the first part. I can't turn that down now. So that's my that's my main reasoning.
00:38:02
Zach Hecht
Okay.
00:38:02
Mac
I think Phillies are probably better on paper.
00:38:02
Zach Hecht
All right.
00:38:04
Mac
But I'm going to stick to my guns from March and go with that. My World Series iss MVP is Julio Rodriguez. And think that's his bounce back arc.
00:38:10
Zach Hecht
Alright. There you go.
00:38:13
Mac
Go ahead.
00:38:14
Zach Hecht
ah Yeah, I got Phillies in six over the Blue Jays.
00:38:17
Mac
ah you So we have three different...
00:38:20
Zach Hecht
As much as it pains me and I can't stand either franchise, I think the Phillies match up very well against Toronto and Schwarber World Series MVP.
00:38:32
Mac
So go on Schwarber, World Series MVP. I went Julio.
00:38:33
Zach Hecht
He'll hit 200, but he'll have six home runs.
00:38:37
Mac
And I'm just going say it for Zach because he didn't do World Series MVP. He went Anthony Volpe, World Series MVP.
00:38:41
Zach Hecht
yeah Yeah, Zach would say that and be serious about it. There you
00:38:45
Mac
So I'm going to reserve that for him. But yeah, so our playoff brackets started off very similar and then kind of faded off at the end, which I guess makes for good podcasting.
00:38:54
Zach Hecht
Absolute disaster.
00:38:56
Mac
So that's always good.
00:38:57
Zach Hecht
There you
00:38:58
Mac
What award do you want to start with?
00:39:01
Zach Hecht
go. I think we have to start off with the MVPs, do we not?
00:39:04
Mac
Yeah. um Do we do the big debate first?
00:39:07
Zach Hecht
i We can.
00:39:10
Mac
right, hit it. I mean, you and I both are and our lockstep on this one.
00:39:14
Zach Hecht
Do we want to go 1 through 10, or do you want to just start with number 1 here?
00:39:18
Mac
Do we go ten to like reverse order 10-1?
00:39:21
Zach Hecht
ah We can, if you'd like.
00:39:23
Mac
Because I feel like that's where things get a little dicey.
00:39:25
Zach Hecht
ah Yeah, sure. i We start at 10. We can go back and forth. You want to go through your whole list? Okay.
00:39:29
Mac
Let's do back and forth. Why not? And we'll see ah if... And then like when you say it, I can say where he was or something. We'll figure it out.
00:39:36
Zach Hecht
Okay. All right, so MVP, number 10 for me, Garrett Crochet.
00:39:37
Mac
So you go first.
00:39:43
Mac
I have him higher. went at number 10, Junior Caminero.
00:39:48
Zach Hecht
Okay, I have him higher.
00:39:49
Mac
Really? Okay.
00:39:50
Zach Hecht
yeah So number nine for me, Cody Bellinger.
00:39:55
Mac
I thought about it. i i didn't do it. I really thought about it.
00:39:59
Zach Hecht
I think that he won't get as many votes as he probably deserves because of Judge, obviously. But he's had an absolutely fantastic year, and I don't think it should be overlooked.
00:40:08
Mac
It's very fair. He was like my 11. I struggled between him and Camonero, but I went Camonero just because he was the guy anchoring that offense.
00:40:18
Zach Hecht
Okay.
00:40:20
Mac
Number nine, I went Byron Buxton.
00:40:22
Zach Hecht
Byron Buxton. I did not have him on my list.
00:40:23
Mac
ah want I wanted to shout him out. I mean, he had a great season, and it's one of the few seasons where he was actually healthy for most of it. um
00:40:31
Zach Hecht
Surprisingly.
00:40:32
Mac
But he had a five-war season, 136 OPS plus, and he voluntarily chose to stay on the sinking ship. I know i shouldn't count for much, but it counts in my heart. So for an eighth for number nine on the MVP voting, I think that's fair.
00:40:43
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:40:46
Zach Hecht
Okay, I guess I can get behind that.
00:40:48
Mac
that but That was my main reasoning to give him nine number nine.
00:40:52
Zach Hecht
i don't even know if you would be in my top 20, to be honest with you.
00:40:55
Mac
Really? Okay.
00:40:56
Zach Hecht
I have no idea after 10.
00:40:58
Mac
You'd be surprised after you see like who' who's left. like There's not a lot left.
00:41:02
Zach Hecht
Maybe. So my number 8 Camonero. Junior
00:41:07
Mac
Okay, my number eight is probably going be a surprise to you. You're either going to have him way higher or you're not gonna have him at all. But I put Nick Kurtz in there.
00:41:14
Zach Hecht
i yeah i I did not have him on mine. I don't think he played enough games.
00:41:17
Mac
He's been great, man.
00:41:19
Zach Hecht
He has been great. i just I did not put him in because i don't think he played enough games. He only played like 110.
00:41:24
Mac
He played 117. He 1,000 OPS and a 173 OPS plus.
00:41:26
Zach Hecht
that's more than I thought. like
00:41:31
Mac
That's nasty.
00:41:31
Zach Hecht
That is nasty. He's going to be a great player ah for years to come on another team.
00:41:32
Mac
and
00:41:36
Mac
Yeah, but I think like if we gave Skeens the Cy Young votes last year, i tried to stay consistent with that.
00:41:37
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:41:42
Zach Hecht
Okay.
00:41:42
Mac
and
00:41:42
Zach Hecht
i
00:41:43
Mac
This isn't Jacob Mizorowski.
00:41:43
Zach Hecht
I can get behind that. I can get behind that.
00:41:46
Mac
There was enough of a sample size for me. um You can go 7.
00:41:50
Zach Hecht
I have Leggero Jr., number 7.
00:41:52
Mac
So he was another one I was borderline on. I didn't put him in. I did put another Blue Jay in coming up in a bit. ah Number seven is where I put Garrett Crochet.
00:41:58
Zach Hecht
Okay.
00:42:01
Zach Hecht
Okay.
00:42:02
Mac
Because he walked on that team and they got better.
00:42:02
Zach Hecht
I can get behind that.
00:42:06
Zach Hecht
That's true. They did. i don't know if it's solely because of him, but they did get better.
00:42:12
Mac
i I just feel like i i where i I've kind of stacked pictures where I found there was a drop-off.
00:42:18
Zach Hecht
Okay.
00:42:18
Mac
And I felt between this next guy and Kurtz, There was a drop-off.
00:42:23
Zach Hecht
Understandable. Alright.
00:42:25
Mac
Six.
00:42:26
Zach Hecht
Six, Bobby Witt Jr.
00:42:28
Mac
I have him higher.
00:42:30
Zach Hecht
Okay.
00:42:30
Mac
i have George Springer six.
00:42:32
Zach Hecht
Okay. i have him i have I have him higher.
00:42:33
Mac
He's been elite. He's been elite. I thought about going higher on him. I thought you'd clown me for it.
00:42:40
Zach Hecht
Nope. I have him higher.
00:42:41
Mac
Wow. Okay.
00:42:43
Zach Hecht
Number five, Tarek Skubel.
00:42:45
Mac
I have him higher.
00:42:46
Zach Hecht
Okay. Okay.
00:42:48
Mac
I went Jose Ramirez.
00:42:49
Zach Hecht
All right. Well, I should spoil it. and I have Jose Ramirez at four. There you go.
00:42:53
Mac
And I had Bobby Witted for him.
00:42:56
Zach Hecht
ah So my number three is actually George Springer.
00:42:58
Mac
I was going to say he's the only one left. You to have George Springer high? Wow. I thought I was coming in high on him.
00:43:03
Zach Hecht
I mean, he had 30 home runs and hit over 300.
00:43:05
Mac
oh he's I'm not against it at all. I thought I was kind of being a little ambitious.
00:43:11
Zach Hecht
His only knock is he DH'd for almost the entire year.
00:43:14
Mac
That's what held me ah off on going over Ramirez. But number three was Tarek Skubel for me.
00:43:20
Zach Hecht
Okay, I can get behind that.
00:43:21
Mac
That filled in that spot.
00:43:24
Zach Hecht
ah So I'm just going to go right to number one here.
00:43:27
Mac
Yeah, but I mean, we both know who the top two are.
00:43:29
Zach Hecht
Yes, we wait we everybody knows it's it's Judge and Rantley. And yeah, yeah, of course he did.
00:43:33
Mac
Oh, you have Rally? Oh, I had Jazz. Yeah.
00:43:37
Zach Hecht
ah Let me just ah say that if you do not have Aaron Judge as your number one for MVP, stop watching baseball.
00:43:45
Mac
Stop watching baseball.
00:43:47
Zach Hecht
You are a moron.
00:43:49
Mac
Yep.
00:43:49
Zach Hecht
This goes literally out to everybody. i just I don't know how you can make an argument. I mean, you can make an argument for Raleigh. But when your only fact behind him being an MVP is that he catches, that's not an argument.
00:44:07
Zach Hecht
And then it's usually followed up by well, he's a platinum glove catcher. Have you seen Cal Raleigh's defensive stats this year? He's not even a top 10 catcher in the American League.
00:44:19
Zach Hecht
I mean, he's awful. He's awful, awful, awful catcher this year defensively, atrociously bad.
00:44:24
Mac
yeah Yeah, no, it's been rough.
00:44:28
Zach Hecht
and And then and then the the next argument is usually, well, the Mariners won their first divisional championship in however many years. And what team had a better record than them?
00:44:39
Zach Hecht
What team had a better record than the Mariners?
00:44:41
Mac
The New York Yankees.
00:44:42
Zach Hecht
The New York Yankees.
00:44:43
Mac
Yes, they did.
00:44:44
Zach Hecht
What team falls apart consistently here after year when when when Aaron Judge gets hurt? The New York Yankees. I mean...
00:44:50
Mac
Yep.
00:44:53
Zach Hecht
So, there's their arguments completely all out the window. And then you look at Judge's stats, and you see... I hear people talking to go, well, you just bring up the baseball reference side-by-side comparison.
00:45:03
Zach Hecht
that That doesn't speak the whole game. I think it speaks more than the whole game when a guy has 200 points higher in OPS plus than you.
00:45:10
Mac
Yeah.
00:45:11
Zach Hecht
When you're... a Cal Rally would have the lowest average of an MVP player ever that was not a pitcher by a wide margin.
00:45:23
Zach Hecht
The guy is not even hitting.250.
00:45:23
Mac
yeah you like ninth lowest batting average. And they're all pitchers.
00:45:26
Zach Hecht
you can i just i ah I said it last year when we talked about Lindor that I can't get wrap my head around voting MVP for a guy who's hitting with a low average. And Rally's average is so much lower than Lindor's was.
00:45:39
Mac
Yeah, 100%.
00:45:39
Zach Hecht
While Judge is hitting.330.
00:45:39
Mac
but hundred
00:45:42
Mac
No, this is a consistent stance for you. you You're not being a homer with it. I agree with you.
00:45:47
Zach Hecht
Like, I'm not saying that average is a huge thing because I don't i don't think it is. I will say that I don't think it is. But when the difference is that large, it can't be overlooked. And people are like, well, average doesn't mean anything.
00:45:59
Zach Hecht
It's like, yeah okay, if average doesn't mean anything, then let's talk about on-base. Let's talk about you know slugging. And judge so much higher. Like, it's so much higher. And and then think the thing that kills me is that I listen to Mark DeRosa.
00:46:15
Zach Hecht
who I don't know how this guy has become like the smartest man in baseball suddenly, and where he's the manager of Team USA and he's the guy that everyone asks the questions to on LB Network. And DeRosa literally says, I don't want him hitting. I don't want Cal Raleigh hitting singles to clog up the base pass.
00:46:32
Zach Hecht
What?
00:46:33
Mac
That's awful.
00:46:34
Zach Hecht
What? I mean, what? What is this take? Oh, I'd rather. I mean, he said without saying, I'd rather Cal Raleigh get out swinging for the fence.
00:46:46
Mac
Yes, that's terrible.
00:46:47
Zach Hecht
and have And have a guy like Judge get on base. It's like, yes, that's why Judge scored like 30 or 40 more times in rally because he got on base. i I don't know how you can say something that ridiculous.
00:47:02
Zach Hecht
But I guess that's why USA is going to lose to Japan in horrifying fashion.
00:47:06
Mac
Yes, they are. So the reasoning for Judge that I have, honestly, is everyone wants to talk about how batting average is obsolete, runs batted in their obsolete. Fine.
00:47:17
Mac
You know, the triple crown stats that we talked about traditionally mean nothing. But when we look at the rates that triple crown on base slugging and OPS, oh, look, who led the league in that? Aaron Judge.
00:47:27
Zach Hecht
yeah By a wide, wide margin.
00:47:30
Mac
Three times in the last four years, he's led the league in all three categories, on-base, slugging, and OPS. This year, he happened to add batting average to that, walks to that, war to that, OPS plus to that, and some of the years, he yeah he led those two.
00:47:44
Mac
But he led the league in war, runs scored, walks, batting average, on-base, slugging, OPS, OPS plus. How do you not give him the MVP?
00:47:53
Zach Hecht
He has set the AL record for most intentional walks in a season.
00:47:58
Zach Hecht
He's the first player to win a batting title while hitting 50-plus home runs.
00:47:58
Mac
That's...
00:48:03
Zach Hecht
I'm sorry, not the first player. he's He's the third player to do that, but the first since 1956. It
00:48:08
Mac
what was it, Mickey Mantle?
00:48:10
Zach Hecht
it was Mickey Mantle was the last one to do it.
00:48:12
Mac
And I think Jimmy Fox did it, and like, thirty yeah, right when we did Championship Boston.
00:48:12
Zach Hecht
And Jimmy Fox did it in 38. Jimmy Fox did it in 38.
00:48:17
Mac
It was one of the last episodes, that's the only reason why I know it.
00:48:17
Zach Hecht
And Mantle... Yeah. It's happened three times and it hasn't happened in 70 years.
00:48:24
Mac
Yeah. Yeah.
00:48:25
Zach Hecht
I just... yeah I don't know, dude. I don't understand how people are seriously saying, well, Raleigh's a catcher and he's a switcher. and And then people like looked like look you straight in the eye and go, this is the best season hitting season a catcher has ever had.
00:48:39
Zach Hecht
And I and i go, like you got to be stupid.
00:48:42
Mac
and
00:48:44
Zach Hecht
like You have to be. like You have to be just completely uneducated to say that out loud.
00:48:49
Mac
Even if it was, why should that be the case?
00:48:54
Zach Hecht
yeah That's the thing, dude. it's like I take nothing away from what Cal Raleigh has done. He's having the best season of his career, and yes, he has set records as a catcher and as a switch hitter, but you cannot take away that Judge is just a better player, period.
00:48:58
Mac
Not at all.
00:49:06
Mac
Yep. 100%. but hundred percent
00:49:08
Zach Hecht
And I mean, honestly, and I don't like this argument either, but Judge had an MVP stolen from him by Altuve in 2017.
00:49:12
Mac
Thank you.
00:49:18
Zach Hecht
when all the media went, well, home runs don't matter. Judge hit 52, Altuve hit 25, but Altuve hit 340 and Judge only hit whatever he hit. Still way higher than Raleigh, whatever Raleigh hit.
00:49:30
Zach Hecht
um And they said, well, home runs don't matter. Altuve was a better hit all around. Okay. I mean, it's it's it's difficult to you know defend that argument, but then when now now the the roles are reversed here and Judges hit 330 and you're going to vote for a guy at hit hit to hit 240 and then say, oh, well average average doesn't matter now.
00:49:51
Zach Hecht
Now it's only home runs. And it's not like there was a 25 home run gap either. It's a seven home run gap.
00:49:57
Mac
Yep.
00:49:57
Zach Hecht
Seven. Seven. was seven home run gap.
00:49:59
Mac
Yep.
00:50:00
Zach Hecht
You I thought about Cal Raleigh, like he hit 60 and everybody else hit 30.
00:50:00
Mac
But look at the gap everywhere else.
00:50:05
Zach Hecht
like That's just not what happened.
00:50:06
Mac
But look at the gap everywhere else. It's not even close. The distance between Judge and Raleigh and OPS, I was looking at this for, is equivalent to Raleigh and Brandon Nimmo.
00:50:16
Zach Hecht
That's the thing, dude, is that if you if you take the difference between Judge and Rally's OPS and subtract that from Rally's OPS, he's ah he's a league average hitter.
00:50:17
Mac
It's not even close.
00:50:24
Mac
Yep. But I want to go back in time to a little bit because, you know, championship robust is what we do. couple years from when we were recording, 1941, there was an MVP race between a Yankee and a Red Sox.
00:50:37
Mac
Ted Williams hit 406. The last time anyone's hit 406. He didn't win the MVP.
00:50:44
Zach Hecht
I, uh...
00:50:44
Mac
He led the league in batting on base slugging OPS. Didn't win MVP. And honestly, he probably should have. The reason why he didn't.
00:50:50
Zach Hecht
You know, there's definitely a voter fatigue thing, dude. It has to be. It's the only thing.
00:50:53
Mac
It wasn't for him because it was only a third year in the league. He never won MVP. The reason why he didn't win it was because Joe DiMaggio had his 56-game hit streak in 1941. They gave the hit streak the MVP over the 406.
00:51:06
Mac
My point is don't let history repeat itself.
00:51:06
Zach Hecht
i
00:51:09
Mac
Honestly, Ted Williams won everything.
00:51:09
Zach Hecht
they like the The media is dumb and they love some weird, stupid narrative.
00:51:14
Mac
They want narrative. The MVP is a narrative award, and I do believe that even though we both think Joe should win it, I think Rally is going to end up winning it.
00:51:21
Zach Hecht
I think he'll end the winning it.
00:51:23
Mac
think history is going to repeat itself.
00:51:24
Zach Hecht
But I never actually finished my point.
00:51:26
Mac
Go ahead.
00:51:26
Zach Hecht
um my My original point, I got sidetracked.
00:51:26
Mac
Sorry.
00:51:29
Mac
All good.
00:51:29
Zach Hecht
Judge lost an MVP already that he should have won.
00:51:31
Mac
Right.
00:51:32
Zach Hecht
And if you're going to make him lose another MVP he should won, you are seriously hurting a guy's Hall Fame candidacy for a guy who didn't get into the league until very late.
00:51:42
Mac
Yeah, that...
00:51:42
Zach Hecht
you know god God forbid Judge gets hurt or something happens where he he you know he's not going to hit a magic number of home runs.
00:51:50
Zach Hecht
Four MVPs is going to get you into Hall Fame either way.
00:51:50
Mac
like
00:51:53
Mac
Yes.
00:51:53
Zach Hecht
now you're going to have two MVPs. Yeah, you might seriously be doing damage to a guy's Hall of Fame career for a one-off gimmick season.
00:52:01
Mac
Yeah, I agree.
00:52:01
Zach Hecht
And to think Riley's going to hit 60 home runs again, I think you have to be crazy. I don't think he will.
00:52:05
Mac
Yeah, no, that's not happening.
00:52:05
Zach Hecht
I don't i don't know if he's ever going to hit 50 again.
00:52:08
Mac
The only thing that I think will save Judge, even if he doesn't win another MVP and he finishes with two and doesn't, let's say he has like one more good year.
00:52:19
Mac
One more good year would get him to like 66 war. And I think the nerds will get him up there and the peak, you know, he'll appeal to the, to the war nerds and he'll appeal to the, that boy, nice people.
00:52:31
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:52:31
Mac
So I think we'll get an invite.
00:52:32
Zach Hecht
Oh, I'd also like ah i was like to point out that Raleigh only hit 49 home runs while catching, by the way. I just want to point that put that one out there.
00:52:38
Mac
Yes. Yep. It's the Mauer Hall of Fame argument.
00:52:40
Zach Hecht
So.
00:52:41
Mac
Oh, how much did he do when he was catching? Which, you know, we could we could go back and forth on all day.
00:52:44
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:52:48
Mac
But i think I think Judge's legacy in terms of the Hall of Fame case is lots. I don't think any – I think he's going to get in no matter what. He played his 10 years. He has 450 home run seasons, which the only guy who did ster who didn't do steroids that has that is Babe Ruth.
00:53:02
Zach Hecht
f You could be right, but you might be hurting a 95% Hall of Fame on the first ballot guy to a guy that that might not get in on the first try.
00:53:09
Mac
Yes.
00:53:12
Mac
And I think if you're putting Trout in on first ballot, you kind of have to put Judge in on first ballot. I think Trout will set that precedent.
00:53:18
Zach Hecht
that's That's certainly possible.
00:53:20
Mac
So, which is a good thing. I think Trout should be on the Hall of Fame first ballot. I don't want to say that I don't feel that way. I do.
00:53:25
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:53:25
Mac
But I think that's the correct thing to do. But once he breaks through that mold of the, you know, under 2,000 hit guys, I think Judge will follow him quickly.
00:53:34
Zach Hecht
yeah So anyway, that's my rant. you vote for Cal Rally, you're dumb.
00:53:38
Mac
I'm with it.
00:53:41
Mac
NL MVP. I guess since you went first on yours, I'll do my 10 and then you can critique it as you go.
00:53:46
Zach Hecht
yeah Yeah, you start with yours and I'll do your 10. We'll go through numberinging up my number again.
00:53:52
Mac
Number 10. You're going to clown me. I went Pete Crow Armstrong.
00:53:57
Zach Hecht
Yeah, you should be cloned. That's disgusting.
00:53:59
Mac
I went with it.
00:54:00
Zach Hecht
That's absolutely disgusting.
00:54:00
Mac
There's not a lot. I didn't i wasn't impressed with a lot of the NL guys.
00:54:04
Zach Hecht
Uh, yeah, that's disgusting. You should feel ashamed. I have Freddie Freeman.
00:54:08
Mac
I thought about them. I didn't go there.
00:54:10
Zach Hecht
Yeah, you you put PCA over Freddie Freeman, you should, yeah, you, oh my god. You should start start putting on the makeup, dude. that's the That's absolutely deplorable.
00:54:17
Mac
i
00:54:20
Mac
I threw in the, you know, the gold glove center field in there too.
00:54:23
Zach Hecht
Deplorable.
00:54:23
Mac
And by the way, Krohjong has almost double Freeman's War since you love war so much.
00:54:27
Zach Hecht
that's but That's deplorable.
00:54:29
Mac
P. Krohjong has six.
00:54:30
Zach Hecht
Bigger Orsum hit like 240.
00:54:30
Mac
but pre may He
00:54:33
Zach Hecht
He hit 20 home runs the first month of the year, and I think he finished with 22. I mean, really. That's how bad he was.
00:54:39
Mac
still had no PS Plus of 118 and he played gold glove defense in center. And he played on a team that was relative to expectations, didn't fall below them like f Freeman did.
00:54:50
Zach Hecht
Deplorable. Freddie Freeman all the way.
00:54:51
Mac
All right, fine. So you had Freeman at 10.
00:54:54
Zach Hecht
have Freeman at 10.
00:54:54
Mac
Number nine, I had Pete Alonzo.
00:54:56
Zach Hecht
I had Pete Alonzo way higher. I have Cattell Marte at number 9.
00:55:00
Mac
Wow, okay. I didn't have Cattell Marte.
00:55:02
Zach Hecht
Only you guys can tell Marte did not play as many games as he could have because he was hurt.
00:55:06
Mac
left off Cattell Marte as well.
00:55:08
Zach Hecht
Oh, wow. These are really going to start different, huh?
00:55:10
Mac
I thought about...
00:55:10
Zach Hecht
National League is it was hard. National League is really hard.
00:55:13
Mac
It was. I mean, it's I feel like you're kind of splitting hairs between like 12 to 13 guys. Marte was on my radar. Freeman wasn't as much, but Marte was. I thought about it.
00:55:24
Zach Hecht
Okay.
00:55:24
Mac
ah His numbers are great. I won't deny that.
00:55:26
Zach Hecht
Okay.
00:55:27
Mac
Number eight, I put Christopher Sanchez. I thought he had good...
00:55:29
Zach Hecht
That's my number eight as well.
00:55:30
Mac
Wow, okay. Number seven, I went with another Philly. I went with Trey Turner.
00:55:35
Zach Hecht
I do not have him anywhere near my list.
00:55:37
Mac
Wow, okay.
00:55:38
Zach Hecht
Not even considered. I have Corbin Carroll at number seven.
00:55:41
Mac
That's a good one. I have him at six.
00:55:43
Zach Hecht
Okay. At my six is Gerardo Perdomo.
00:55:46
Mac
I had him five.
00:55:47
Zach Hecht
Okay, well, my number five is Pete Alonso.
00:55:49
Mac
Okay, so there we go. It all kind of evened out. Perdomo honestly had us. He was another one. No one really talked about it much, but he had a really good season.
00:55:59
Zach Hecht
He quietly was incredible player this year. Very quietly.
00:56:02
Mac
Fun fact, he led the National League in war for hitters.
00:56:05
Zach Hecht
He was insane this year.
00:56:07
Mac
He was great. on number So I think our top four are going to be the same. as a matter where we put them.
00:56:12
Zach Hecht
Yes.
00:56:13
Mac
Number four, I have Juan Soto.
00:56:15
Zach Hecht
I also have Juan Soto, yes.
00:56:17
Mac
At four.
00:56:18
Zach Hecht
Yes.
00:56:19
Mac
Number three, have Kyle Schwarber.
00:56:21
Zach Hecht
I also have Klaus Forger at number three.
00:56:23
Mac
Wow.
00:56:26
Mac
So i we talked about it off pod about possibly not going with the norm.
00:56:29
Zach Hecht
Yes. Yes.
00:56:33
Mac
Well, I was saying it.
00:56:33
Zach Hecht
Yes. yes
00:56:35
Mac
So the question is, did I stick to my guns?
00:56:38
Zach Hecht
Yes.
00:56:38
Mac
And I did.
00:56:40
Zach Hecht
Good.
00:56:40
Mac
So I have Shohei Otani.
00:56:41
Zach Hecht
i I stuck to your guns as well.
00:56:41
Mac
Number two. You went with you went my guy too?
00:56:45
Zach Hecht
I did, yes.
00:56:46
Mac
We both have Paul Skeens for MVP.
00:56:47
Zach Hecht
we We both have Volskis for MVP.
00:56:50
Mac
i I successfully pitched it. Wow. Were you going to do that
00:56:52
Zach Hecht
You did. I did. I was not. I was going to have him ah either two or three, and then I really started looking at the numbers, and I realized how dominant and how good he is, and I realized that I just don't like Otani.
00:57:04
Mac
that?
00:57:07
Zach Hecht
and i'm tired And I'm tired of hearing...
00:57:07
Mac
You have perfect me.
00:57:09
Zach Hecht
Can I just say, can I just say that out of all the stupidest crap that I've heard, you know, he had the fifty fifty he season last year, 50 home runs, 50 stolen bases. of course, this year he only stole 20 bases because they wanted him to pitch.
00:57:22
Zach Hecht
They told him not to steal, which I think, which I'm pretty sure I said last year that he would never do it ever again because they're going to tell him not to steal bases.
00:57:26
Mac
Yep.
00:57:29
Zach Hecht
And the only reason why he stole 50 was because they told him, go wild.
00:57:33
Mac
Are you kidding me?
00:57:34
Zach Hecht
ah I'm sure I said that last year. Anyway, I've seen people go, yeah, he started doing 50-50 club this year. Yeah, 50 home runs, 50 innings pitched.
00:57:46
Zach Hecht
Oh my God, I want to reach through the screen and smack crap out of anybody who said that.
00:57:46
Mac
ah you
00:57:50
Mac
i I can't believe I kept that clean because i I almost said it. I was ready to ruin this episode in one quick word. Wow.
00:57:57
Zach Hecht
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's that's actually awful.
00:57:58
Mac
um That's awful. um That's actually terrible. Yeah.
00:58:02
Zach Hecht
Yeah. It's funny because Zach said this exact same thing.
00:58:03
Mac
yeah
00:58:05
Zach Hecht
Actually, he said, Otani sigh. Can we all agree Emily Tadding the 50 innings pitch thing is kind of pathetic? Yes, it is. it's ah It is incredibly pathetic.
00:58:12
Mac
Yes, it is. And Zach also went judge for MVP. I just forgot to mention that.
00:58:15
Zach Hecht
Yes.
00:58:15
Mac
um So Zach differed with us on
MVP Award Debate
00:58:18
Mac
Otani. I guess I couldn't convince him enough. But my pitch for everybody listening is just that, honestly, if we had Mike Trout and Shoya Otani winning five MVPs for the Angels in the American League, and in that stretch, I believe they only played in three playoff games.
00:58:32
Mac
which Otani didn't play in If we're going to not really care about team success and we're going purely with the best player in the National League, the best player in the National League was pretty clearly Paul Skeens.
00:58:43
Zach Hecht
Agreed. Yeah.
00:58:44
Mac
It's not a question. Otani had a great season. Otani had a great Otani-like season. But Skeens had a better season. His team stinks, which stinks for us because it'd be great to see him in October.
00:58:58
Zach Hecht
yeah My thing is, is that there's incredible inconsistency with the writers and how they vote. And, you know, they would vote for Trout and they would vote for Otani and they would be like, wow, that's really mad when he finished, you know They were a god-awful team. They were barely 500. They didn't make the playoffs by a wide by a wide margin. And then they'll be like, well, Skate shouldn't be MVP because the Pirates are terrible.
00:59:19
Zach Hecht
It's like, you you can't make that... You cannot make those statements.
00:59:23
Mac
Yep. But here's the thing. We were saying last year when Zach clowned us for voting for him for Rookie the Year over Jackson Merrill, right?
00:59:29
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:59:30
Mac
That, you know, my my pitch was that, yeah, he only played in 23 games, but he had an ERA of 1.96 and a whip of.947. He had an ERA under two and a whip under one.
00:59:40
Mac
Well, guess what? In nine more games this year, his ERA went up one hundredth of a point and his whip went up one thousandth of a point.
00:59:49
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
00:59:50
Mac
He was a freak.
00:59:50
Zach Hecht
He was insane this year.
00:59:52
Mac
And I honestly feel really bad for Christopher Sanchez because he was great too. I feel bad that I can't vote him Cy Young because Skeens was just better. It's like a rally. I think that's the the one that we're not talking about enough. You know, it's been a lot of talk about like, oh, if you don't vote rally, you're disrespecting him and disrespecting catches.
01:00:08
Mac
Christopher Sanchez had a hell of a season. No one's complaining about it because no one's doubting Skeens because Skeens has never won it before. But Skeens deserves the NL MVP to me.
01:00:19
Zach Hecht
I agree. I agree. It's just a shame the Pirates are as bad as they are.
01:00:24
Mac
Yeah, it really is.
01:00:24
Zach Hecht
I mean, I saw a stat the other day that the Pirates gave him just three runs of support in all of his starts. He would have 35 wins. He was in a 35-game winner since the 60s. Yeah.
01:00:35
Mac
Wow.
01:00:36
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
01:00:37
Mac
But that's what he does. And if we're not worried about playoffs, is that like Joey Votto won the MVP the year against Carlos Gonzalez and somebody else.
01:00:39
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
01:00:46
Mac
I forget who it was.
01:00:47
Zach Hecht
yeah
01:00:47
Mac
ah The main reason Joey Votto won the MVP was because they made the playoffs.
01:00:50
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
01:00:50
Mac
Joey Votto is going to make the Hall of Fame off that MVP.
01:00:54
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
01:00:54
Mac
Yes, he led the league in on-base a bunch of times. Yes, he led the league on-base a few times. He led league in walks a ton of times. He convinced a lot of non-sabermetric people with that MVP.
01:01:05
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
01:01:05
Mac
That's going to lot of heavy lifting. And I just see, you know, if team success doesn't matter anymore, like it did back then, then Skeen should be the MVP.
01:01:17
Zach Hecht
yeah
01:01:18
Mac
I can't believe I convinced you.
01:01:21
Zach Hecht
I wouldn't be shocked. i don't think you should be shocked.
01:01:24
Mac
I am. i know you i know you're looking for anything to not vote for Otani.
01:01:28
Zach Hecht
Well, yeah, that's exactly why you shouldn't be shocked.
01:01:28
Mac
I'm going to put this in a feather in cap.
01:01:30
Zach Hecht
That's why you shouldn't be shocked.
01:01:31
Mac
It's going to be a feather in my cap. I'm excited. I'm jacked up for that one. um So I guess we might as well do NL Cy Young first then because we're, I mean, we know who won it.
01:01:39
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
01:01:41
Mac
We're both going skeins.
01:01:42
Zach Hecht
Correct, yeah.
01:01:43
Mac
I'm assuming we're both going Christopher Sanchez too.
01:01:45
Zach Hecht
Correct, yep.
01:01:46
Mac
I guess since we already know one and two, we'll do the three, four, five slow roll.
01:01:49
Zach Hecht
All right.
01:01:49
Mac
So do you want to do this one or the other one?
Cy Young and Rookie of the Year Discussions
01:01:52
Zach Hecht
I can do this one. I have Yoshinobu Yamamoto at three.
01:01:54
Mac
Go for it.
01:01:57
Mac
I agree. I didn't expect that, but I agree.
01:01:59
Zach Hecht
think he's had fantastic year, surprisingly. I'm actually shocked that he was able to put it together, basically, in America.
01:02:01
Mac
And,
01:02:07
Mac
And no one's really talking about it either. Like last year he was the talk of the town and Imanaga was the one that no one talked about.
01:02:09
Zach Hecht
Oh. Blew under the radar. Probably.
01:02:13
Mac
this year he went very under – I guess that injury might have impacted it.
01:02:17
Zach Hecht
Probably.
01:02:18
Mac
But he still salvaged it with a whip under one.
01:02:20
Zach Hecht
I think because they were too busy screaming that Sasaki is terrible.
01:02:24
Mac
And he still started 30 games.
01:02:26
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
01:02:27
Mac
So it's not like he had an incomplete season by any means.
01:02:30
Zach Hecht
No, did not.
01:02:31
Mac
Who was your four?
01:02:33
Zach Hecht
Freddy Peralta.
01:02:34
Mac
I agree.
01:02:35
Zach Hecht
think he had a fantastic year. Also not talked about much, but he talked a little bit.
01:02:37
Mac
Yes, he did.
01:02:39
Zach Hecht
little bit of media attention. But he had a fantastic year.
01:02:43
Mac
I originally had him three, but I changed it about, let's say, 12 hours ago.
01:02:43
Zach Hecht
Definitely an ace.
01:02:51
Zach Hecht
but
01:02:53
Zach Hecht
I'm curious to what your number five is. Mine is Nick Pavetta.
01:02:58
Mac
He was my sixth.
01:02:59
Zach Hecht
Ooh.
01:03:00
Mac
I went Andrew Abbott.
01:03:01
Zach Hecht
Okay. I mean, I don't hate that, but I think Pavetta was better.
01:03:05
Mac
i It's fair. i was borderline. It's just Andrew Abbott was so good for that first half that I wanted to kind of still reward that. And I felt if if I'm putting Pete Kronstrom in my bottom ballot MVP, I get it.
01:03:16
Zach Hecht
Still deplorable.
01:03:18
Mac
I understand you're not going like that. But I tried to take a listen to that.
01:03:21
Zach Hecht
I don't, Mike, I don't not like it. I hate it, actually. I hate it.
01:03:26
Mac
It's fair. I get it. I'm not... I mean, I guess the same logic. I could have put James Wood in there, but at least Pete Kromshaw was going to see October baseball and didn't almost break the strikeout record. But...
01:03:37
Zach Hecht
i think I would have been more behind Wood, though.
01:03:41
Mac
Really?
01:03:42
Zach Hecht
Yeah. I mean, I think that's still a terrible pick, but I think I would have still been more behind it than PCA.
01:03:47
Mac
that's the only one that you think is that terrible so far, then we're not really having a bad pod.
01:03:52
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
01:03:53
Mac
But I went Andrew Abbott as my fifth...
01:03:55
Zach Hecht
Okay. Okay.
01:03:56
Mac
But I do like the Pavetta pick. I thought about I didn't have the the guts to do it.
01:04:00
Zach Hecht
Okay.
01:04:02
Mac
AL. um I guess we'll go reverse order here because we already know where we're going for one. And I'm borderline on two to three. so I'm interested to see where you go. But my number... So you did the NL, so I'll do the AL. Number five, I had Max Fried.
01:04:15
Zach Hecht
Number five, I have Brian Wu.
01:04:17
Mac
I thought about it. He was by six. I actually wrote here, I'm sorry, Brian Wu.
01:04:20
Zach Hecht
I have Brian Wu. You should be sorry because he deserved it.
01:04:24
Mac
I felt bad. Did you have Freed in your list at all?
01:04:27
Zach Hecht
I do have Frieden in my list.
01:04:28
Mac
Okay, so then that means you don't have the next guy I have then. Number four, I have Jacob deGrom.
01:04:31
Zach Hecht
Probably. I do not have DeGrom. I definitely do If you look at the numbers, I was torn between him and Wu, but I think Wu's are just slightly better.
01:04:34
Mac
I think he absolutely should be. That's incredible.
01:04:42
Zach Hecht
And I think Wu's having whatever consecutive starts with six plus inning pitch that he had this year was better than DeGrom.
01:04:49
Mac
I get it.
01:04:49
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
01:04:50
Mac
um My bigger thing is having deGrom out over Freed.
01:04:55
Zach Hecht
I disagree with that.
01:04:56
Mac
ah yeah I get Wu. I put Freed in because I'm a Yankee homer.
01:04:59
Zach Hecht
i I think Freed deserves it, absolutely. I have Freed at four. Yeah,
01:05:03
Mac
But Freed also had a rough month's stretch.
01:05:05
Zach Hecht
ah he did, but he was so good in the first half and turned it around at the end.
01:05:09
Mac
Fair enough. i just So we basically our real difference is DeGrom versus wo Our three are going to be the same. It's matter of where we put him.
01:05:16
Zach Hecht
Yes.
01:05:16
Mac
Three, I have Hunter Brown. Reluctantly, I wanted to put him two.
01:05:18
Zach Hecht
I also have Hunter Brown.
01:05:20
Mac
I actually really wanted to put him two for a while. ah Crochet sealed it for me in the last games.
01:05:25
Zach Hecht
If Prochet didn't have 250 strikeouts, I might agree with you.
01:05:28
Mac
Yeah, i there was a while where I thought I was going to go Hunter Brown 2 then I just didn't. Crochet 2, Scoble 1. There's nothing to debate there.
01:05:34
Zach Hecht
Yep.
01:05:37
Zach Hecht
Agreed. Yep,
01:05:38
Mac
Also, honorable mention to Nathan Evaldi. ah He didn't have the full season, but he was pitching great.
01:05:42
Zach Hecht
it was. Yeah, if he didn't get hurt, it is a shame.
01:05:44
Mac
It's a shame. ah It's just not enough.
01:05:45
Zach Hecht
It's a shame Yanks gave up on him.
01:05:49
Mac
So he pitched 22 games. So he only pitched one less game than Skeens did last year, if you put it into perspective.
01:05:55
Zach Hecht
Yeah, but it's a different circumstance.
01:05:56
Mac
But... Yeah, I agree. But i did I wrote here, sorry, Nathan Evaldi and Brian Wu. It's the only one I did honorable mentions for.
01:06:04
Zach Hecht
Okay.
01:06:04
Mac
But I just, I had, I was so borderline on those seven.
01:06:08
Zach Hecht
all right.
01:06:09
Mac
Not bad so far.
01:06:10
Zach Hecht
Not bad so far.
01:06:11
Mac
What a award would you like to do next?
01:06:13
Zach Hecht
I think we should go Rookie
01:06:14
Mac
That's fine by me. Pick your league and you can find it.
01:06:17
Zach Hecht
of Let's go AL. I think I'll start at three. My AL Rookie of the Year, number three, is Jacob Wilson.
01:06:25
Mac
I agree.
01:06:26
Zach Hecht
Okay. I think he had a fantastic year. Good average hitter. power could Power could be a little higher, but I think he had a great year. My number two, Roman Anthony.
01:06:35
Mac
I agree.
01:06:36
Zach Hecht
I think he is going to be a pain in Yankees' ass for a long, long time, which is unfortunate.
01:06:39
Mac
Starting tomorrow.
01:06:41
Zach Hecht
ah Starting tomorrow, yep. And number one is obviously, we've talked about already, Nick Kurtz.
01:06:45
Mac
I agree. The only reason why I went Anthony over Wilson was I know Anthony, similar to Vivaldi, got hurt for a while. um Actually, I guess he won't be if they're on the Yankee side tomorrow. Is he playing?
01:06:56
Zach Hecht
i don't think he is, actually. You're right.
01:06:58
Mac
Never mind, so we're good there. But um in terms of that, I wound up going Anthony just because his rate stats are so much better than Wilson's.
01:07:05
Zach Hecht
I agree. i Wilson's not really a power
01:07:09
Mac
Yeah, so that's AL. NL, this is going be an interesting one because the NL felt like it was more slim pickings to me.
01:07:15
Zach Hecht
guy. I agree.
01:07:18
Mac
I went Isaac Collins 3.
01:07:20
Zach Hecht
would Caleb Durbin 3.
01:07:22
Mac
Okay, I thought about him. he was my He was the guy who I had barely on the outside out of those two. And then I think it goes up a little bit.
Manager and Reliever Awards
01:07:30
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
01:07:30
Mac
um You're going disagree with me here. I have Drake Baldwin too.
01:07:33
Zach Hecht
had Drake Baldwin too.
01:07:35
Mac
Oh, you did? Okay. So we both went Kate Horton.
01:07:36
Zach Hecht
Yeah. and Yes.
01:07:38
Mac
Okay. I also thought about Augustin Ramirez, but I couldn't do it.
01:07:41
Zach Hecht
I looked at his numbers and went, ew, that's disgusting.
01:07:44
Mac
That's exactly what I thought. reaction The exact same reaction.
01:07:48
Zach Hecht
I was like, who even was a rookie in the NL? And it was like, oh, Ramirez. And I look up his numbers. I'm like, oh.
01:07:53
Mac
Yeah, i
01:07:53
Zach Hecht
I actually like really shuddered when I looked at them.
01:07:54
Mac
i
01:07:56
Mac
I saw him hit an absolute moonshot at Citi Field, and I went to look him because I'm like, I know he's a rookie.
01:08:02
Zach Hecht
he's Gary Sanchez.
01:08:03
Mac
I'm like, oh, yeah, that's bad. And then I forgot about it because it was a month ago.
01:08:07
Zach Hecht
Dude, he's Gary Sanchez. He's a cacker that weighs 300 pounds. That's going to hit an absolute nuke every once in a while, but he's only going to hit 210.
01:08:13
Mac
Yep. That's about right.
01:08:18
Mac
that's rookie of the year.
01:08:20
Zach Hecht
Yep, I would go of the year.
01:08:20
Mac
Manager of the year.
01:08:21
Zach Hecht
Yep.
01:08:22
Mac
Oh, by the way, for Cy Young, because that's one of Zach's last awards, he also won Skeens in school.
01:08:28
Zach Hecht
Ah, yes. Good.
01:08:29
Mac
Didn't do a ranking, but those are his two.
01:08:33
Mac
Manager of the Year, you said...
01:08:33
Zach Hecht
So manager the
01:08:35
Mac
All
01:08:36
Zach Hecht
I actually have, ah it's funny because I copied my sheet over from last year and I did not change my managers of the year. I think it should to be the same two peoples last year. ah So American League, I think a vote absolutely should get it for somehow pulling the Guardians out of the depths of, you know, the underworld to get back into this race and not only get into the race, but win the division.
01:08:47
Mac
right.
01:08:59
Mac
And NL.
01:09:01
Zach Hecht
Pat Murphy with the Brewers. I don't know. yeah I can't vote against him.
01:09:03
Mac
We match. We match. I did give a lot of consideration to Dan Wilson with the Mariners. ah
01:09:10
Zach Hecht
I gave consideration to whoever the Blue Jays manager is. I don't remember off the top my head.
01:09:14
Mac
I also gave consideration to Terry Francona.
01:09:17
Zach Hecht
Yeah, you know what? If the Reds weren't a 50-50 team for this complete second half the season, and I would also consider giving it Frank Conner.
01:09:24
Mac
Yeah. So I wound up going with vote mainly because of the circumstances surrounding Ortiz and class A, which we talked about before. Just the fact that you, you know, when you think about everything, this team could have crashed and burned a long time ago and they didn't, they fought and they came back.
01:09:41
Mac
So I, I think votes to pick. And I think Pat Murphy is the clear pick in the NL.
01:09:47
Zach Hecht
Alright. Well, look at that.
01:09:48
Mac
We're doing well.
01:09:49
Zach Hecht
There we are. Let's do reliever of the year.
01:09:52
Mac
Got it. I'm ready.
01:09:53
Zach Hecht
I'll go with AL. I did top three. ah so my My number three is Josh Hader.
01:09:59
Mac
Okay, I didn't because of the injury. I thought he was great. I don't disagree with it necessarily. I just couldn't get there.
01:10:11
Zach Hecht
What's your three?
01:10:12
Mac
My three? Oh, so I thought you were going do NL next. um But I had Kenley Jansen third.
01:10:17
Zach Hecht
Third, okay.
01:10:19
Mac
um I had... Wait, so you had Hader three.
01:10:22
Zach Hecht
I hate your three. have Andres Munoz at two.
01:10:25
Mac
I didn't go Munoz.
01:10:26
Zach Hecht
You didn't put Munoz in your top three.
01:10:28
Mac
His save percentage is a lot lower than you would have thought.
01:10:33
Mac
I'll find it. I got to pull it up. Give me a few minutes. But I did look at him. And then I'm like, I'm not there. But we'll pull up on Stadhead the number. um I had Carlos Estevez second.
01:10:46
Zach Hecht
Yeah, you know, i he reminds me of that year that Familia had like 50 saves where he was just terrible at his job. And it's still that 50 saves. And they're like, wow, this is one of the greatest season we've ever seen. It's like he was awful.
01:11:00
Zach Hecht
And I just don't think Estevez was actually that good despite the number.
01:11:03
Mac
yeah had He had an 88% save percentage, which, believe it or not, I think was better than Munoz.
01:11:08
Zach Hecht
I just, I don't know.
01:11:11
Mac
And then Kenley Jansen, very sneaky, 96.7% save percentage, 29 saves, 2.59 ERA.
01:11:18
Zach Hecht
Yeah, but I mean, that guy gets it to a save like once every year. like you know, once a month with with the Angels.
01:11:22
Mac
That's not his fault the team stinks. That's not his fault the team stinks.
01:11:25
Zach Hecht
That's why save percentage, I don't know, that one doesn't really...
01:11:28
Mac
He produced when he had the chance.
01:11:31
Zach Hecht
I don't know
01:11:33
Mac
I'm not going hold that against him. He showed up when it mattered.
01:11:37
Zach Hecht
know. Well, your number one better be rolled as Chapman or have a problem here.
01:11:40
Zach Hecht
Okay, good.
01:11:40
Mac
Yes, i agree.
01:11:42
Mac
Unfortunately, I didn't want to, but I did.
01:11:44
Zach Hecht
I didn't want to, but you can't not.
01:11:47
Mac
Let's see. i'm going to pull up those numbers for you so you have it. um Let's find Munoz.
01:11:55
Mac
He blew seven saves this year.
01:12:00
Mac
which gives him a save percentage of 84.4, which is lower than Estevez.
01:12:07
Zach Hecht
I don't know. i
01:12:08
Mac
And he had four less saves than Estevez. So objectively, it's not close.
01:12:09
Zach Hecht
I still think Munoz was a better. I i don't i disagree.
01:12:17
Mac
What's the reasoning, though?
01:12:22
Zach Hecht
I think he was objectively a better pitcher.
01:12:25
Mac
But he blew a lot of saves.
01:12:28
Zach Hecht
He had a 170 array.
01:12:31
Mac
But blew a lot of saves, which matters.
01:12:32
Zach Hecht
And Estivis had a 240 array. That's a big difference.
01:12:37
Mac
Yes, but he showed up in the save situations.
01:12:43
Zach Hecht
I don't know, dude. I don't know if I agree with that.
01:12:47
Mac
Alright.
01:12:49
Mac
NL, I kind of struggled to pick number three.
01:12:52
Zach Hecht
um you guys I
01:12:55
Mac
i went Johan Duran. Because there's not much left.
01:12:58
Zach Hecht
i won with Jason Adam.
01:13:01
Mac
I thought about him, but um I didn't get there.
01:13:06
Mac
That's actually not a bad pick.
01:13:09
Zach Hecht
I want Jason at... Jason number three. I think he had a fantastic year. He's not a closer, but his numbers were and insane. and
01:13:15
Mac
Yeah, I mainly stuck to closers for this because I figured anyone who's deserving of the award should be the best reliever on their team.
01:13:24
Mac
And to be the best reliever your team is going the ninth inning.
01:13:24
Zach Hecht
Yeah. Well,
01:13:27
Mac
The higher leverage guys I tend to edge to. But it's not a bad pick. He had a great year.
01:13:33
Zach Hecht
but you're going to hate my number two, then.
01:13:34
Mac
Number two, I went Robert Suarez.
01:13:36
Zach Hecht
I want Randy Rodriguez.
01:13:38
Mac
Wow. Okay.
01:13:40
Zach Hecht
I think just like Adam, he had a fantastic year. He wasn't the closer, but he was untouchable.
01:13:44
Mac
Well, he had a little bit where he was.
01:13:46
Zach Hecht
ah He did have a little bit where he was, but he was pretty much untouchable.
01:13:47
Mac
so I can get behind that a little more. And then number one, I went Edwin Diaz.
01:13:51
Zach Hecht
Yeah, absolutely. He had an insane year.
01:13:52
Mac
Wow. Okay. I wasn't sure how you were going to feel about that one, but an ERA 1.63. Yeah.
01:13:57
Zach Hecht
Oh, he had a great year.
01:13:58
Mac
yeah
01:13:59
Zach Hecht
I i when i i can't argue about that one.
01:14:01
Mac
Fair enough. So we're good on reliever of the year then.
01:14:04
Zach Hecht
don't remember the year. ah So, I mean, we can do the little little crappy awards here. The Hank Aaron Award, best hitter in each league, respectively.
01:14:14
Mac
Yeah.
01:14:14
Zach Hecht
i think this is a no-brainer here. ah It's Judge and Otani.
01:14:19
Mac
I went Judge and Schwarber.
01:14:22
Zach Hecht
I would, but Schwarber's...
01:14:22
Mac
Just because Hank Aaron Award is associated with home runs.
01:14:25
Zach Hecht
I can't with Schwarber also hitting 240.
01:14:28
Mac
What?
01:14:29
Zach Hecht
I can't with Schwarber hitting.
01:14:29
Mac
i I also thought about going Cowrally here just to give him the token award.
01:14:34
Zach Hecht
Yeah, I can't.
01:14:35
Mac
I thought about it. i mean...
01:14:37
Zach Hecht
I've heard people literally say, well, the MVP is about best player. Hank Aaron award best hitter. Judge can win Hank Aaron award.
01:14:43
Mac
Right, so that's why i'm like, Calrally, can we get a word? It's fine.
01:14:47
Zach Hecht
i Rally gets nothing. He gets nothing and he'll like it.
01:14:49
Mac
Okay.
01:14:50
Zach Hecht
He'll get a silver slugger. That's what he'll get. He'll go on only first team.
01:14:51
Mac
And he'll get all MLB first team.
01:14:54
Zach Hecht
Yes, that's right.
01:14:57
Mac
Come back. What?
01:14:58
Zach Hecht
Yeah, comeback player of the year. Yep.
01:15:00
Mac
I think these were easy. I went Jacob deGrom AL.
01:15:05
Zach Hecht
Yep.
01:15:06
Mac
Maybe this one wasn't easy. I went Ronald Acuna Jr.
01:15:08
Zach Hecht
I also want Ronald Acuna Jr.
01:15:08
Mac
NL. It's tough to say comeback player of the year when you got hurt again, but he was great.
01:15:13
Zach Hecht
That's true.
Defensive and Offensive Awards
01:15:14
Zach Hecht
Yeah, he was great. He was great when he was on the field.
01:15:16
Mac
I also thought about for AL, I mean, if we're talking and ending it in June, Javi Baez would have had consideration.
01:15:22
Zach Hecht
Yeah, so he didn't completely collapse.
01:15:23
Mac
But he fell off.
01:15:24
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
01:15:27
Mac
So that's comeback.
01:15:28
Zach Hecht
Edgar Martinez is the last one.
01:15:31
Mac
DH award.
01:15:32
Zach Hecht
year
01:15:32
Mac
I slumped on AL.
01:15:32
Zach Hecht
For the entire the entire... There's only use only one award. One award.
01:15:36
Mac
it's only one overall. Okay, so and that's easy.
01:15:37
Zach Hecht
or Yes, Kyle Schwarber.
01:15:40
Mac
Okay. Over Otani.
01:15:43
Zach Hecht
Yes, because Otani pitched. He wasn't a DH.
01:15:46
Mac
Is he eligible for the award?
01:15:47
Zach Hecht
I don't know, but I didn't want to pick him because he pitched.
01:15:49
Mac
You know what? That's valid.
01:15:50
Zach Hecht
i
01:15:51
Mac
I get behind that.
01:15:52
Zach Hecht
but that's That's my point.
01:15:54
Mac
You know what? I get behind that. That's fair.
01:15:56
Zach Hecht
He pitched 50 innings, and Schwarber does not play the field.
01:15:57
Mac
That's absolutely fair. Fair enough. We want to call him a pitcher, then he's not a DH.
01:16:01
Zach Hecht
somebody Every outfielder that the Phillies have would have to break their legs for Schwarber to go into the outfield.
01:16:02
Mac
but
01:16:06
Mac
You know what? I love that. Perfect.
01:16:08
Zach Hecht
so that's why
01:16:09
Mac
first way I'm in.
01:16:10
Zach Hecht
Okay, good.
01:16:11
Mac
You sold me.
01:16:13
Zach Hecht
That's my life goal right there.
01:16:15
Mac
Yep.
01:16:16
Zach Hecht
You sold me on scenes, I sold you. I'm getting Martinez award.
01:16:18
Mac
Yep. Perfect. Teamwork makes the dream work.
01:16:22
Zach Hecht
so So Silver Sluggers or Gold Gloves next.
01:16:26
Mac
Let's get the gold gloves of the way because they're corny and awful.
01:16:29
Zach Hecht
Okay. i You know what? I will go through my list here. I'll go position by position. You can tell me yours. So Pitcher, we'll start with. For the AL, I have Max Fried. For the NL, I Logan Webb.
01:16:42
Mac
AL, have Max Freed. NL, I also have Logan Webb.
01:16:45
Zach Hecht
Alright, so ah for catcher, I have Alejandro Kirk in the AL and Patrick Barrely for the NL.
01:16:51
Mac
Two for two.
01:16:53
Zach Hecht
First base, I have Ty France in the AL Matt Olson in the NL.
01:16:56
Mac
I went with Matt Olsen. I went with Christian Walker.
01:16:59
Zach Hecht
That's okay. I think France is much better than Walker.
01:17:05
Mac
It's not a bad pick. Walker's got the reputation too.
01:17:10
Zach Hecht
That's true, but France has the stats.
01:17:13
Mac
It's hard to tell stats with first baseman though.
01:17:16
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
01:17:17
Mac
I don't...
01:17:17
Zach Hecht
Unless your medal is just better than everybody else. Alright.
01:17:19
Mac
Right. i don't... It's hard for me to get into defenses stats for first baseman.
01:17:25
Zach Hecht
Okay. I will go number second base. I have Andres Jimenez in the AL and Nico Horner in the NL. and n l i think
01:17:33
Mac
I thought about Nico Horner. I went Ozzie Albies, but I did think about Horner. I do agree with you on Jimenez.
01:17:37
Zach Hecht
I think Horner is much better than Albies.
01:17:39
Mac
That's a good pick. I i did consider him.
01:17:42
Zach Hecht
All right.
01:17:43
Mac
I went ah spoiler they went a lot of Cubs, so I didn't want to do too many.
01:17:45
Zach Hecht
Okay. Okay. So for third base, I have Michael Garcia from the Royals for the AL and Cabrian Hayes in the NL.
01:17:54
Mac
We're dead on there.
01:17:56
Zach Hecht
All right. Shortstop, I have Bobby Wood Jr. for the AL and Mason Wynn for the NL.
01:18:01
Mac
Mason Wynn's the pick that I didn't think of. I wrote down Betts just because his errors were low.
01:18:04
Zach Hecht
Okay. Okay.
01:18:06
Mac
But Mason Wynn would have been my pick if I thought of him, honestly.
01:18:09
Zach Hecht
Okay. um I went position by position here. So left field, I have Juan in the AL and Isaac Collins in the NL.
01:18:13
Mac
I did too. Yep. I went Ian Happ.
01:18:18
Zach Hecht
That's not bad. I think Collins was better, though, in my opinion.
01:18:20
Mac
Fair enough.
01:18:22
Zach Hecht
Center field, Sedan, Raffaella in the AL and PCA in the NL.
01:18:26
Mac
I went PCA. I went with Denzel Clark.
01:18:29
Zach Hecht
Denzel Clark. how many games did he How many games did he play?
01:18:31
Mac
How do you not give to that catch? I don't care. How do you not give it to that catch?
01:18:36
Zach Hecht
have to look this up. How many games did Denzel Clark?
01:18:38
Mac
yeah had 148 at-bats. I know. i get it. He had 47 games.
01:18:42
Zach Hecht
why
01:18:42
Mac
But I did not give it to that catch.
01:18:43
Zach Hecht
Oh my god, he had 47 games. Come on.
01:18:45
Mac
Yes. Look at that catch.
01:18:47
Zach Hecht
Oh my god. I mean, I'm not saying he's in an insane field. played 47 games.
01:18:52
Mac
Those 47 games he played, he probably had 10 web gems.
01:18:54
Zach Hecht
Okay. Okay. I mean, you're not wrong. You're not wrong.
01:18:58
Mac
So quality over quantity here.
01:19:00
Zach Hecht
Okay. Well, let's go to right field here. i have Willier Abreu in the AL and Fernando Tatis Jr. in the NL.
01:19:06
Mac
I agree with Tatis. I wound up going Adolis Garcia. When you look at it, there's only five right fielders in the AL who played over 100 games.
01:19:10
Zach Hecht
That's not bad.
01:19:13
Zach Hecht
He's a tight second.
01:19:15
Mac
Okay.
01:19:16
Zach Hecht
Tight second for me.
01:19:16
Mac
So it's closer than I thought you were going to say.
01:19:18
Zach Hecht
ah And utility, I have, this is impossible, but I have Ernie Clement in the AL and Tommy Edmund in the NL.
01:19:26
Mac
This is hard because like how do you classify utility? Is it a guy who... like You usually associate utility as the guy who doesn't start and comes off the bench.
01:19:35
Zach Hecht
Yeah, I mean, it's a guy who's played a bunch of different positions.
01:19:36
Mac
But in reality, it's plays more than one position. So I went Edmund also, and I went with Cody Bellinger in the American League for that reason.
01:19:42
Zach Hecht
See, i i i can't get behind that, and I looked at a bunch of outfielders because it's like, yeah but you're playing outfield.
01:19:50
Mac
Yeah, but he played infield for a bit, and he played every outfield position.
01:19:52
Zach Hecht
Not really. it couldn't play yeah much Yeah, I guess.
01:19:54
Mac
Well,
01:19:56
Zach Hecht
I mean, I guess you're right.
01:19:58
Mac
if we can't get him...
01:19:58
Zach Hecht
i guess i guess I guess I can get behind it.
01:20:00
Mac
Because we can't give, like if we're doing position by position, if we were doing just plain outfield, then yeah, fine. But if we're doing left field, right field, center field, if they do, then give them outfield.
01:20:06
Zach Hecht
I think the league votes by outfield, though, don't they?
01:20:10
Mac
But since we that this is what we go by, then I had to get, I could not in good conscience not give Cody Bellinger a vote for this year.
01:20:15
Zach Hecht
Okay. All right. Okay.
01:20:19
Mac
So Silver Slugger, I'll take over this one. Do you want AL or NL first?
01:20:25
Zach Hecht
Watch everyone you'd like.
01:20:26
Mac
We'll do AL first.
01:20:27
Zach Hecht
know?
01:20:28
Mac
Catch or Cal Raleigh?
01:20:29
Zach Hecht
Obviously.
01:20:30
Mac
First baseman, Nick Kurtz.
01:20:33
Zach Hecht
i have Lagro Jr.
01:20:35
Mac
I thought about him too.
01:20:36
Zach Hecht
I thought about Kurtz, but i still the games played is just not enough.
01:20:40
Mac
I think those are the two either way. i I'm not against Vlad.
01:20:44
Zach Hecht
All right.
01:20:45
Mac
Second baseman, you're not gonna like it. I went Jazz.
01:20:47
Zach Hecht
I also want Jazz, and I don't like it.
01:20:49
Mac
Wow. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
01:20:51
Zach Hecht
I mean, what second baseman hit better than him in the American League?
01:20:53
Mac
that That was my thought. I mean, Glaber had a shot and then fell off quick.
01:20:57
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
01:20:59
Mac
But I did think about him just for the first half.
01:21:00
Zach Hecht
Despite Jazz's average, that makes me shiver. He did have a 30-30 season.
01:21:06
Mac
Yeah. Shortstop, I went Bobby Witt.
01:21:10
Zach Hecht
I also want Bobby Witt.
01:21:12
Mac
Wow. Okay. We're actually pretty spot on here. Third baseman, I went Junior Caminero.
01:21:17
Zach Hecht
I went J-Ram.
01:21:18
Mac
Fair. I have no argument there. That's fine. i just I went with the home runs.
01:21:23
Zach Hecht
Alright.
01:21:24
Mac
That's associate with Slugger. For the most part, if I was borderline on someone, I went with the home run guy.
01:21:29
Zach Hecht
Okay.
01:21:30
Mac
Left field, I went Riley Green.
01:21:32
Zach Hecht
I went, as much as I love that pick, I went Cody Bellinger, and this is why I couldn't give him a utility gold glove, because I gave him a left field silver slugger.
01:21:37
Mac
Okay.
01:21:40
Mac
That's fair. I do like the Bellinger pick as well. There's another one of those things like where am I putting him in the out?
01:21:46
Zach Hecht
I don't know how many innings he played in left field compared to anything else.
01:21:46
Mac
Like if you're going assume where do I put him?
01:21:50
Mac
Yeah.
01:21:50
Zach Hecht
But I'm giving him to in left field.
01:21:52
Mac
Fair enough. I'll give you that. um Center field, I went Byron Buxton.
01:21:58
Zach Hecht
I also went Byron Buxton.
01:21:59
Mac
Okay, i didn't expect that.
01:21:59
Zach Hecht
ahars ah
01:22:01
Mac
Right field is obvious, Aaron Judge.
01:22:03
Zach Hecht
Yep.
01:22:05
Mac
DH, I struggled because I was trying to figure out even who would qualify in the American League.
01:22:08
Zach Hecht
DH is the one that we talked about and I have the answer for you.
01:22:12
Mac
Give it to me.
01:22:13
Zach Hecht
It's George Springer. He played over 100 games at DH this year.
01:22:16
Mac
He did play over 100. Then, yeah, that's the guy. I wrote Rooker down just as the guy, as like the placeholder.
01:22:22
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
01:22:23
Mac
But if he played 100 games DH and then Springer, clearly.
01:22:25
Zach Hecht
Yeah, clearly.
01:22:26
Mac
So that's a good one. I didn't know that. um Utility, he technically, I guess, wouldn't be a utility guy, but I use the utility definition as the guy who came off the bench here. And I went with Trent Grisham because he was great.
01:22:38
Zach Hecht
Okay. Yeah, I can't do that because he played one position.
01:22:42
Mac
Because he was great, but he was utility. He came off the bench a lot.
01:22:44
Zach Hecht
Yeah, I use utility as a guy who played a couple positions, and I picked Zach McKinstry from the tires.
01:22:45
Mac
but
01:22:49
Zach Hecht
I mean, I don't think he has any but but opportunity to win Solar Slugger if he wasn't a utility.
01:22:55
Mac
That's fair. That's a good pick. If we're talking the pure... like It depends on what you define as utility. That's why I kind of tease that.
01:23:01
Zach Hecht
Yeah. Utilities plays multiple positions, by the way. I'm pretty sure that's the MLB's definition of it.
01:23:06
Mac
Oh, I know, but I'm going to use it to fit my narrative as much as I can.
01:23:13
Mac
NL. Catcher Will Smith.
01:23:16
Zach Hecht
Absolutely Will Smith.
01:23:18
Mac
That's an easy one.
01:23:18
Zach Hecht
No doubt about it. Because
01:23:19
Mac
That's an easy one. It's funny because I forgot him for a split second when I was going for him.
01:23:23
Zach Hecht
he got hurt.
01:23:24
Mac
And then the second I'm like, wait, I'm an idiot. How am I forgetting this guy? So Will Smith was the pick. First baseman I went Pete Alonzo.
01:23:32
Zach Hecht
Yeah, no doubter. No doubt, Pete Alonso.
01:23:34
Mac
Second baseman I went Quetel Marte.
01:23:36
Zach Hecht
I also want Cattell Marte.
01:23:37
Mac
Shortstop I went Perdomo.
01:23:39
Zach Hecht
I also want Perdomo. Deserves it.
01:23:41
Mac
Third baseman is going to be an interesting one. i wound up I was reluctant, but I wound up going Manny Machado.
01:23:46
Zach Hecht
I also went Manny Machado. I didn't realize how bad the third basemen are in the National League. They're all awful. Every one of them are terrible. Nobody deserves this award, but Machado is the best of the disgusting bunch.
01:23:53
Mac
know
01:23:57
Mac
Yes, pretty much. That sums it up. I actually really like that.
01:24:00
Zach Hecht
Good.
01:24:01
Mac
this will be a third silver slugger. Not going to be of much of a feather in the cap for what will end up being a Hall of Fame candidacy, but it's not going to matter much anyway.
01:24:04
Zach Hecht
Doesn't deserve it.
01:24:08
Zach Hecht
Yes.
01:24:10
Mac
Left field, again, very reluctant. I went James Wood.
01:24:13
Zach Hecht
I also went James Wood. Not a lot of good left fielders.
01:24:17
Mac
Now for the same reason you're not going to like it, I went PCA.
01:24:21
Zach Hecht
Yeah, that's, this again, this absolutely absolutely deplorable pick.
01:24:25
Mac
Who are you going?
01:24:26
Zach Hecht
You know, i yeah I could have gotten somewhat behind, and I still think it's deplorable that PCA had an MVP vote because of his defense. this this This category has nothing to do with defense, and his hitting was atrocious.
01:24:41
Zach Hecht
but I mean, he had 20 home runs.
01:24:41
Mac
He had 31 home runs and 95 runs batted in.
01:24:45
Zach Hecht
He had 20 home runs by April.
01:24:47
Mac
Fine. who was better Who has better numbers?
01:24:50
Zach Hecht
Andy Pages of the Dodgers.
01:24:52
Mac
I thought about him, but no. Because he got benefited by everybody else being in his lineup.
01:24:54
Zach Hecht
Yes.
01:24:57
Zach Hecht
I don't care.
01:24:58
Mac
And he also had less home runs than Pete Crow Armstrong.
01:25:01
Zach Hecht
Home runs don't mean everything.
01:25:01
Mac
He had 12 more hits than Pete Crow Armstrong.
01:25:03
Zach Hecht
Home runs don't mean everything. And we learned how we learned nothing about this podcast. Home runs don't mean everything.
01:25:08
Mac
Fine, but Kromitrong had a better slugging percentage. He had a slightly lower OPS by like six points, and he had a higher OPS plus.
01:25:14
Zach Hecht
I just... i I can't get behind a guy who just absolutely crashed and burned in the second half the year.
01:25:15
Mac
But they
01:25:20
Mac
Pahez was benefited by everybody being around him.
01:25:23
Zach Hecht
PCA benefits from being around them.
01:25:26
Mac
Tucker and Pat versus Otani, Trent, Freeman, Fernandez, Will Smith.
01:25:27
Zach Hecht
Tucker, Suzuki, Warner, Happ. They're all better hitters than him. Bush. You're wrong. Disgusting. Deplorable.
01:25:37
Zach Hecht
i off
01:25:38
Mac
PCA is like the but the third best hitter in his lineup.
01:25:39
Zach Hecht
disgusting deplorable
01:25:41
Mac
Andy Paz is what, the seventh?
01:25:43
Zach Hecht
PCA is not the third best hitter in his lineup.
01:25:45
Mac
The seventh? All right, fine.
01:25:46
Zach Hecht
It's not the third best hitter in his lineup.
01:25:49
Mac
You're never go to agree with me on that. Right field, I reluctantly went with Juan Soto.
01:25:52
Zach Hecht
i yeah I can't even say that reluctantly. He deserves it.
01:25:56
Mac
DHA went with Kyle Schwarber.
01:25:57
Zach Hecht
Absolutely.
01:25:59
Mac
Utility, I was trying to go through like the definition-based thing again. um i was stuck between two, and they're polar opposites. I was stuck between Kyle Stowers and Louisa Rize, and I wound up going with Stowers.
01:26:12
Zach Hecht
Yeah, so if you're we're going to use the definition of plays multiple outfield positions as utility, then yes, I would agree with Stowers.
01:26:19
Mac
Right.
01:26:19
Zach Hecht
And I would switch my vote to that. But I have, ah
Closing Thoughts and Future Predictions
01:26:23
Zach Hecht
and this is ah does this is worse than PC. I have Jeff McNeil.
01:26:28
Mac
Okay, yeah, you can't say anything about PCA again. You went with him over Luisa Rice.
01:26:32
Zach Hecht
ah Yeah, I think Luis Arise is an overrated, just a scumbag. I don't like him.
01:26:36
Mac
Why a scumbag?
01:26:37
Zach Hecht
but I don't like him.
01:26:37
Mac
What's wrong with his personality?
01:26:38
Zach Hecht
I don't like anything about him. I don't like anything about him.
01:26:42
Mac
ah Okay.
01:26:42
Zach Hecht
I actually, I think he's terrible. I think he's terrible for the game of baseball.
01:26:45
Mac
ah Okay. hey So you don't like singles hitters? You don't like guys who get...
01:26:52
Zach Hecht
No.
01:26:52
Mac
Well, I mean, not that he really gets on base.
01:26:53
Zach Hecht
The thing is is that if you are if you are a guy that can't hit the ball out of the infield, you better be fast.
01:26:54
Mac
Okay.
01:26:58
Zach Hecht
And dude, he is slower than slow.
01:27:03
Mac
He led the league in hits.
01:27:04
Zach Hecht
Dude, he can hit a line drive the right field and thrown out of first base. That's how freaking slow he is.
01:27:09
Mac
He led the league in hits.
01:27:11
Zach Hecht
Terrible.
01:27:13
Mac
All right, but I i would go Stowers over him. I just wasn't sure about how we were defining it.
01:27:16
Zach Hecht
i would I would change my vote to Stowers.
01:27:19
Mac
Fair enough.
01:27:21
Mac
So we got Silver Sluggers rolling. We did go gloves.
01:27:25
Zach Hecht
i forgot I forgot to do Platinum Glove. Would you like to pick a Platinum Glove for each league?
01:27:28
Mac
I actually didn't do it, but I'll do it quick.
01:27:30
Zach Hecht
Okay.
01:27:31
Mac
That's a good one. i didn't think of that. So it's one total.
01:27:33
Zach Hecht
One total for each league, yes. I have mine. I think they're very clear-cut and dry.
01:27:39
Mac
My NL is cut and dry. My AL, I need to think.
01:27:41
Zach Hecht
I think they're both cut and dry.
01:27:43
Mac
Go ahead.
01:27:43
Zach Hecht
Somebody tells me you're going to pick different ones than I have.
01:27:46
Mac
Go ahead.
01:27:47
Zach Hecht
ah I guess I'll go with NL first. You said yours is cut and dry. Mine is Cabrian Hayes.
01:27:51
Mac
I agree.
01:27:51
Zach Hecht
Okay, excellent. Yeah, he's an insane defensive third baseman.
01:27:52
Mac
That's That's the easy call.
01:27:56
Mac
that's the easy call
01:27:57
Zach Hecht
Had a ridiculous run saved and an ounce above average this year.
01:28:01
Mac
Yep.
01:28:01
Zach Hecht
And I think ah similarly Bobby Wood Jr. in the American League.
01:28:07
Mac
Looking at my guys here, I would lean that as well. um If we're going by pure you quality plays in time, Denzel Clark would have had my consideration, but he didn't play enough.
01:28:17
Zach Hecht
not say that. Do not give him a plasma glove.
01:28:19
Mac
He didn't play enough. um i also would have thought about Alejandro Kirk here.
01:28:24
Zach Hecht
Okay.
01:28:24
Mac
But I'm going go Witt as well.
01:28:26
Zach Hecht
I don't hate that.
01:28:30
Mac
Steven Kwan also wouldn't be a bad pick either.
01:28:35
Mac
But I feel like if you go with you got to go with a tougher position.
01:28:36
Zach Hecht
I don't hate that either, but I think... Yeah.
01:28:40
Mac
So I'm mowing shortstop for center field most of the time.
01:28:43
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
01:28:45
Mac
So yeah, I'll go Witt, and then Kirk would be my number two.
01:28:48
Zach Hecht
Okay. Okay. Well, I think that's everything. I think we've hit everything. We've talked about talked about the playoffs, and we have Clown Zach, as usual.
01:29:02
Mac
Yeah, and I think that'll pretty much wrap us up, right?
01:29:05
Zach Hecht
Yeah.
01:29:06
Mac
And this will wrap up our second or third annual postseason preview with Championship or Boss. Thank you for listening. Tune in now and then tune back in in November where we can see how wrong we all were.
01:29:18
Mac
So we'll see you next time.
01:29:20
Zach Hecht
Peace.