Episode 48 - 2025 MLB Playoff Preview + Regular Season Awards

Transcript

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.

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.

Zach Hecht: well

Mac: um But no, seriously, he's in Disney right now. So we hate Zach right now. That's the main thing.

Zach Hecht: two Two years in a row that he's not present for this.

Mac: Yeah, I mean, what commitment issues he must have. you know we

Zach Hecht: I know. well

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.

Zach Hecht: did This was probably his idea to do the season of recap as well, wasn't it?

Mac: Yeah, he was the one who said we should do this. So great job, Zach.

Zach Hecht: Wow.

Mac: But Josh, um how are you doing?

Zach Hecht: i'm I'm doing great. The Yankees somehow made the playoffs.

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.

Zach Hecht: That sounds about right.

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.

Zach Hecht: It should be a 0-0 game until Devin Williams blows it.

Mac: Yep, that's about right. But you know what? Can't be worse than the New York Mets. What a disappointment.

Zach Hecht: They are a sad, sad team.

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.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: That was awesome to me. I really enjoyed that.

Zach Hecht: I was going to say watching the Reds posting ah videos of Frank the Tank having a mental breakdown was pretty funny.

Mac: The Reds posted it.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: but That's awesome.

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.

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.

Mac: It's pathetic.

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.

Mac: They might get the award from the most pleasant surprise team.

Zach Hecht: mean, they were bad, but they weren't as bad as they could have been.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, their pitching is still atrocious, but they're starting to have some guys in the lineup that, you know, not bad.

Mac: They competed every night.

Mac: Yeah, I mean, they're pretty good. And then I guess biggest disappointment would probably have to be the Mets.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, I mean it was so almost the Tigers.

Mac: And then...

Zach Hecht: so they were They were getting there really, really close.

Mac: Tiger's got to be in the conversation because that was that was scary for a bit.

Zach Hecht: and I mean, it's it's still scary.

Mac: So there's six, right?

Zach Hecht: Yes.

Mac: Yikes.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: Wow.

Zach Hecht: I mean, they were that close to not making it at all.

Mac: and that That's actually brutal.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, they had 12.5 game lead, think. blew 12.5 game lead

Zach Hecht: they blew a twelve and a half ga

Mac: 12 and a half.

Mac: I'm surprised AJ Hinch even let him celebrate.

Zach Hecht: i I wouldn't have. I would not have.

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?

Mac: ah justice only Does Justice finally have some risk?

Zach Hecht: No, his job is never on the line. No, his job is never on the line. 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.

Mac: I know.

Mac: But I mean, this series, I don't know how you feel, but this series scares me.

Zach Hecht: As it should.

Mac: I'm actually terrified of this series.

Zach Hecht: As it should. They've they've played Boston 13 times this year, and they've lost nine times.

Mac: And just like the fact that recent history, every time they play Boston in the playoffs, they've gotten crushed.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, I mean, on paper, they're better team, but, you know. What team shows up is is the question.

Mac: but they play on grass.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

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?

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.

Mac: That's how I feel.

Zach Hecht: I mean, yeah

Mac: I think they lose tomorrow night. When I'm in the building, I go home sad.

Zach Hecht: i Yeah.

Mac: And their path is to beat out Bello and whoever's going to go game three because now Giolito is out.

Zach Hecht: yeah no I mean, yeah. You you

Mac: But

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.

Mac: that's a concern.

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.

Mac: Punt.

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.

Mac: So it's three days in a row, right? Like it's three straight days.

Zach Hecht: Yeah. Yeah, no no travel. Three days in a row.

Mac: Yeah, that's tough.

Zach Hecht: The DS starts on, I think, Saturday or Sunday.

Mac: That sounds right. Because it would be Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, day off, go to the next place.

Zach Hecht: No.

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.

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.

Mac: Yeah. So I have Yankees in three. I'm guessing you have Yankees in three too.

Zach Hecht: um I don't know if he makes it three up.

Mac: And Zach went Yankees. I'm assuming.

Zach Hecht: Let look. Zach said, yeah yes, Kenny Ahees win two games.

Mac: Yes, he did.

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 at the time.

Mac: Yeah, but he didn't know that, so I won't clown him for that one.

Zach Hecht: I didn't know that until you just said it.

Mac: Yeah, it got announced like an hour ago, but he has elbow issues again.

Zach Hecht: Again, yeah, his career might be over.

Mac: that not That's not good.

Zach Hecht: That's not good, no.

Mac: It's a shame because actually like Giolito. He's a good pitcher.

Zach Hecht: For a guy that that doesn't throw you know upper 90s, he's quite an effective player.

Mac: Yeah, he's got a similar style to Shota. yeah Just knows how to pitch.

Zach Hecht: Yeah. Yeah, nose out of pitch. That's all right. No, it's just a thrower.

Mac: Yeah. Up to you. Do you want to go ALNL, ALNL, or do you want to go back to?

Zach Hecht: I'd say it's just... At least finish the ALY with the wild card side.

Mac: All right.

Mac: Sounds good. So Detroit-Cleveland.

Zach Hecht: ah Cleveland, yeah. Two games.

Mac: You're going in Cleveland in two?

Zach Hecht: Actually, no. I take Cleveland in three.

Mac: I went Cleveland in three also. Very boring start to this episode.

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.

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.

Mac: When we do manager of the year, we got to give credit to Steven Vogt because this team was in the trenches.

Zach Hecht: Yes. Yes, we do. Correct.

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...

Zach Hecht: I don't know he's the most talented closer in a game, but yeah.

Mac: You don't think?

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.

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.

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.

Mac: He had like three good years.

Mac: He had like three to four really good years.

Zach Hecht: I hadn't said, I said a good year.

Mac: And then yeah he got popped into the road.

Zach Hecht: I mean, he had it he had good years, but he had one year that I was like, oh my God.

Mac: Oh, he had one, like, world-class year.

Zach Hecht: Blow it out of proportion.

Mac: He had really, really good years.

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.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

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.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: we were just saying, you 12, what was it, 12 games?

Zach Hecht: 12 and a half, yeah.

Mac: Yeah, so 12 and a half games after that all goes down.

Zach Hecht: With a completely unassuming roster.

Mac: And the Tigers just take the slow plunge.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, i mean, that's brutal. Absolutely brutal.

Mac: So we we both go Guardians in three.

Zach Hecht: Yep.

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.

Zach Hecht: Honestly, same.

Mac: Yeah, it's true, but...

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.

Mac: That's the thing.

Zach Hecht: i don't know I don't know if Detroit can pick up another win after that.

Mac: you're

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.

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?

Zach Hecht: Sam. Yes. Yep. Yep. He's already confirmed.

Mac: Okay.

Zach Hecht: Yep.

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.

Zach Hecht: ah He was slated to pitch on Sunday, but they pulled them, obviously.

Mac: Yeah, smart.

Mac: So and NL wildcards, I guess we'll go with the, in my opinion, the easier one, Reds-Dodgers.

Zach Hecht: Yes.

Mac: um I'll let you have the floor on this. You know them better than any of us do.

Zach Hecht: ah Yeah, I say Dodgers in three.

Mac: i I went Dodgers in two.

Zach Hecht: I say Dodgers in three only because of the pitching matchup in game one.

Mac: Who's going for LA in game one?

Zach Hecht: Blake Snell.

Mac: Okay. Against Hunter?

Zach Hecht: Against Hunter Green. Yep.

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.

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.

Mac: The only thing is that...

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.

Mac: its If they can keep it close through the six innings... And they can do hell.

Zach Hecht: Oh, it's going to be like a 2-1 game. It's not going to a blowout.

Mac: Right.

Zach Hecht: the The next two games I think are scary.

Mac: But the Dodgers' bullpen has been awful.

Zach Hecht: yeah

Zach Hecht: This is true.

Mac: So if they can keep him close...

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.

Mac: Yeah, but he's shown that, you know, how when the lights are bright, he struggles.

Zach Hecht: This is also true.

Mac: I don't buy into him yet.

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.

Mac: No.

Zach Hecht: they I mean, the Reds are, let let's be real, ah the Reds are a joke.

Mac: They are. They should not be here.

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.

Mac: So they're a team.

Zach Hecht: They are a team.

Mac: and guess that's the approach. A lot of mediocrity makes the team work.

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.

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.

Mac: That just might be the Reds.

Zach Hecht: I mean, I just don't think they have enough to get hot.

Mac: Yeah.

Mac: No, they don't. I don't think so either.

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...

Mac: Abbott had a rough second. like I won't say second, but rough month.

Zach Hecht: You're not going to get you're not even into a slugfest a Dodgers and win.

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.

Zach Hecht: They would take on Philly, and Philly would absolutely crap on them.

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.

Zach Hecht: it would It would not last.

Mac: It's just rough matchups for them all around.

Zach Hecht: it Isn't the DS still a five-game series? Or did they change that?

Mac: ALDS is a five-game.

Zach Hecht: Right. Yeah, I mean, i don't yeah I don't think they can beat Philly.

Mac: But...

Zach Hecht: don't think they can beat Philly in a five-game series, especially when

Mac: No, they can't.

Zach Hecht: You're starting God knows who in game in in game one. Probably Brady Singer.

Mac: Yeah, because you're right with them being used.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: Because the Brady Singer against probably Christopher Sanchez and goodnight.

Zach Hecht: Yeah. I mean, you're going be down 1-0 before anything even starts.

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.

Zach Hecht: And Wheeler's gone. Yep.

Mac: So you're basically you know you're banking on those two.

Zach Hecht: Yes.

Mac: Who would have been, I guess, your three and four to start the year?

Zach Hecht: Yes, you are.

Mac: Maybe Suarez would have been your two over Nola.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: But that that's tough.

Zach Hecht: It is. It is.

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.

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.

Mac: And I do not trust the Padres rotation at all.

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.

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.

Mac: I would like to see you, Darvish, do some damage, but it's not going to happen.

Zach Hecht: The only thing he's going to do damage is to his own career.

Mac: It's time for him to retire. He's so done.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, I agree. This might be it for him, I think.

Mac: ah

Zach Hecht: he you yeah His contract spires, right?

Mac: i think he's got another two years.

Zach Hecht: Oh, Jesus.

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.

Zach Hecht: Oh, Jesus.

Mac: And then he wasn't in town at all this year.

Zach Hecht: How old is you? How old is you, Darvish?

Mac: 38. He's a year older than Kershaw.

Zach Hecht: Oh, bro. Oh, come on. He's 39! Oh, dude. Yeah, go back home. Retire. Come on. What are we doing here?

Mac: Well, let him stay for one more game. Let him do his return.

Zach Hecht: I mean, he only plays half the year anyway.

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.

Zach Hecht: He did not have a good year.

Mac: um But it's funny because so far with the wild card, we agree completely.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: We're four for four together.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, this is this is boring.

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.

Zach Hecht: Oh, yeah. Yeah, he is full he has completely a psychopath.

Mac: Green can get you one game and then you just need to win one of two. Great analysis.

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.

Mac: I mean, you can fly out to LA.

Zach Hecht: and I will not be flying out to

Mac: It's not like you have work or anything. Like, what's work?

Zach Hecht: Yeah. Yeah, no, i yeah I don't just get to go to Disneyland.

Mac: Or Hawaii.

Zach Hecht: Or Paris, wherever where wherever wherever he was last time we recorded without him.

Mac: We were going to go to women's tennis in Ohio.

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.

Mac: Yup. Not happening.

Zach Hecht: For women's tennis.

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.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, there you go.

Mac: Not Canton, Ohio, not Progressive Field or anything like that.

Zach Hecht: Absolutely.

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.

Mac: Cedar Point, Kings Island would be top of my list.

Zach Hecht: but

Mac: I do really want to go there at some point.

Zach Hecht: it's It's fantastic. I highly recommend.

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.

Mac: I don't blame him. I'm just refusing to him.

Zach Hecht: But do they have the better pitching, though?

Mac: They really don't.

Zach Hecht: I don't know if they do.

Mac: ah They don't.

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.

Mac: Horton.

Mac: And then Boyd.

Mac: But it is healthy, right?

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.

Mac: will say Pavetta had a heck of a season. the Like, you would he's won the Tottenham line.

Zach Hecht: I wouldn't, I didn't even notice that until I started looking at it.

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.

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.

Mac: I think he's going game... I think he's going three.

Zach Hecht: Well, that should definitely be a free win.

Mac: I think.

Zach Hecht: Don't don't let it don't want to get to game three. don't know

Mac: Probably.

Zach Hecht: Padre fans are at home, but doesn't get to three games.

Mac: solve

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.

Zach Hecht: Why?

Mac: ah Looks like it's going to...

Zach Hecht: What's the point of that?

Mac: Oh, Pavetta's going game one, and then they're deciding on game two between Cease, Starvish, King, and Vasquez. So, everybody.

Zach Hecht: So Cease, it's going to be Cease. I would pitch Cease.

Mac: i i don't trust Cease at all.

Zach Hecht: Do you trust? I mean, you're not pitching Vasquez.

Mac: No, I wouldn't. I would probably go Michael King.

Zach Hecht: I mean, yeah, but I would probably pitch King too.

Mac: i know he hasn't played a whole lot this year, but Cease struggled. But when he is on, he looks great.

Zach Hecht: So who has it on that ra on that staff though, other than Pavetta?

Mac: I'd probably go Pavetta 1, King 2, Cease 3, and then Darvish would be my spot 4. So, have a 10 guy.

Zach Hecht: i would just put Darvish in the bullpen. Yeah.

Mac: I'd be fine with that too. Kind of like what CeCe was doing like in the 17-19.

Mac: guess Yeah.

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.

Mac: be a long reliever. I'm

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.

Mac: surprised they put him on.

Zach Hecht: There's no reason for him to be on the roster.

Mac: Well, Kershaw didn't make the Dodgers roster.

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.

Mac: Yeah.

Zach Hecht: That makes no sense.

Mac: Yeah, there's no need.

Zach Hecht: It makes no sense.

Mac: Especially when he pitched yesterday.

Zach Hecht: Well, yeah, I mean, that's that's why he's definitely not on line.

Mac: You're already out game one and two. You're not pitching Clayton Kershaw on two days rest.

Zach Hecht: No. No. Yes.

Mac: But moving into, I guess we'll do the ALDS first. We have the same bracket so far.

Zach Hecht: Yes.

Mac: So it's Seattle-Cleveland.

Zach Hecht: Yes.

Mac: i you want me to go or you want to go first?

Zach Hecht: ah You go first.

Mac: It's Seattle. and

Zach Hecht: i You're just trying to back up try to back off your prediction for earlier in here, aren't you?

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.

Mac: He's now your number one guy. i trust Luis Castillo in the playoffs.

Zach Hecht: Yeah. And Castillo has become your 4-5.

Mac: We're

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

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.

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.

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.

Mac: um You still have Logan Gilbert. um So you still have four legit starters here.

Zach Hecht: I ain't gonna need him. Yep.

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.

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.

Zach Hecht: ye Yeah, I mean, i have to agree with you. I think Seattle and ah Cleveland are built very similarly.

Mac: oh

Zach Hecht: They have a very strong pitching staff, and then their hitters are yuck, except for like one or two guys.

Mac: Yeah.

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.

Mac: Definitely not.

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.

Mac: Yep.

Zach Hecht: So yeah, I agree. I'd take Seattle. I'd say Seattle in 4. There

Mac: I had Seattle. I wrote down Mariners in four as well, actually.

Zach Hecht: there we go.

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.

Zach Hecht: ah Yeah, ah Toronto in five.

Mac: You go Toronto here, okay?

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.

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.

Zach Hecht: So I say Toronto in five.

Mac: So i I agree with everything you're saying. i couldn't get myself to pick against them yet.

Zach Hecht: I can.

Mac: I couldn't get there yet.

Zach Hecht: I can.

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.

Zach Hecht: I agree with that,

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Mac: if Yeah.

Mac: I feel like my backbone is crumbling. I'm leaning towards agreeing with you here.

Zach Hecht: Well, gun to your head, what are we picking right now?

Mac: Toronto.

Zach Hecht: There you go.

Mac: Yeah.

Zach Hecht: There we go.

Mac: Okay.

Zach Hecht: Here's your answer.

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.

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.

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...

Zach Hecht: and i'm so um I'm sticking to my guns.

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.

Mac: and Maybe.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, I don't know.

Mac: Top um of it, yeah.

Zach Hecht: I don't know about that.

Mac: We're top heavy. Bieber hasn't been the same, and I don't trust Scherzer anymore.

Zach Hecht: i That's a fair statement.

Mac: ah It's funny, though. i If you give me one game, I do trust Scherzer October. I do.

Zach Hecht: i I don't know if I trust Scherzer in the year of 2025.

Mac: um not

Zach Hecht: Yeah,

Mac: So you're really just worried about Gaussman.

Zach Hecht: yeah i they can't hit Gaussman.

Mac: That's... Yeah, that's gonna be rough.

Mac: So we have...

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.

Mac: Right. Right.

Zach Hecht: And if the Yankees do somehow beat Boston, they'll have won, like, at worst-case scenario, 10 of their last 11.

Mac: Right.

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.

Mac: Yeah.

Mac: Yeah, they got momentum. was going be tough.

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.

Zach Hecht: yeah

Mac: Where are you going?

Zach Hecht: Oh, Phillies. i yeah i think I think this is finally the year to Phillies slay the demon.

Mac: We agree again. Phillies in five.

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.

Mac: Oh, new news just surfaced from Bob Nightingale. Max Monty is good to go for the wildcard series against the Reds.

Zach Hecht: That doesn't change my opinion at all.

Mac: I know, but just pointing it out. um I think if Wheeler was playing, it would be not even close.

Zach Hecht: i agree.

Mac: um But i'm I'm going Phillies here reluctantly because now Zach's going to be very happy.

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.

Mac: Yeah, that's going to be the...

Zach Hecht: Just like the 80s fans, if Garrett Cole was playing.

Mac: Yup. Boo-hoo. Cry about it. So, we both go Phillies. Zach, I mean, i don't even really have to read it.

Zach Hecht: Obviously, we know the answer to this question already.

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.

Mac: So, he knows...

Zach Hecht: at least Yeah, at least he knows. At least he knows.

Mac: He knows us so well, and we know him even better.

Zach Hecht: He really does. That's true.

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.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, well, i you know what if I don't think if I said say anything, you might have said Yankees.

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.

Mac: But that's the only thing we've somewhat differed on.

Zach Hecht: right so So we have Brewers-Cubs and he has Brewers-Padres.

Mac: We have Brewers-Cubs. Zach has Padres-Brewers, correct?

Zach Hecht: yeah ah Yeah, Brewers.

Mac: Yeah.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, they're the best team in baseball right now.

Mac: So you owe Brewers over Cubs. I'm going Cubs over Brewers.

Zach Hecht: Really?

Mac: This is our first disagreement, finally.

Zach Hecht: I don't know how you can make that statement with a straight face.

Mac: But with the Brewers, I only trust Peralta starter.

Mac: That's the only starter I trust with Milwaukee.

Zach Hecht: I mean...

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.

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.

Mac: Who is that?

Zach Hecht: Suzuki. Suzuki.

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.

Zach Hecht: PCA is dead in the water, bro.

Mac: Defensively, he's still good.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, like that matters.

Mac: And the Cubs just play fundamental baseball better than anybody I've seen.

Zach Hecht: The Brewers play fundamental baseball better ner it and and anybody I've ever ever seen.

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.

Zach Hecht: I don't think they'll be flipping nothing.

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.

Zach Hecht: Alright, congratulations. I think you're wrong. You're very wrong.

Mac: We'll see where it goes. so um Padres Brewers for Zach. I'll take the Padres in an upset.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: Brewers always have a good regular season and never deliver a playoff.

Zach Hecht: I think it's a good thing that we don't let Zach do this.

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.

Mac: But ALDS – do you want to do AL first or NL first?

Zach Hecht: ALCS? Let's go back to AL.

Mac: ALCS. He wrote ALDS, and I'm reading all – I don't know what he's doing.

Zach Hecht: Let's go back to AL. Yeah, he's dumb. He went ALDS twice.

Mac: But ALCS, the championship series, we have um Blue Jays Seattle. Zach has Yankees Seattle.

Zach Hecht: Right.

Mac: So you know where I'm going.

Zach Hecht: Yes.

Mac: um I'm going Mariners in seven.

Zach Hecht: Yes.

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.

Zach Hecht: Yes.

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.

Zach Hecht: Okay.

Mac: Where are you going?

Zach Hecht: Yeah, I'm going Toronto in seven.

Mac: Wow.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: What?

Zach Hecht: ah Because I think this is where the magic of the Mariners falls apart.

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.

Zach Hecht: Correct. That's why i say they're going to choke again.

Mac: I get it.

Zach Hecht: They've

Mac: I cannot argue with you on it. because Look at the Mets. Yeah.

Zach Hecht: done nothing. They've done nothing to... pre i mean looked up past I just don't...

Mac: ah

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.

Mac: The Mariners, I believe, still own the most wins in Major League history in a season and lost in the first round.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: Yeah, 116 2001. won't.

Zach Hecht: Yeah. I just don't. i I think this is where the magic the magic runs out.

Mac: i won't

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.

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.

Zach Hecht: The thing is that the Mariners' home field is not a keep ball in the yard stadium.

Mac: But how do I not pick them at least go this far now?

Zach Hecht: i

Mac: Especially when the AL is just weak.

Zach Hecht: Yes, I understand that. I just say i think they're going choke.

Mac: Yeah. That's fair. I get it. And I have but i've been a subscriber to that theory for a long time.

Zach Hecht: I mean, you could but you could go by Zach's reasoning.

Mac: I get it.

Mac: Zach's reasoning, he so he has Yankees versus Seattle.

Zach Hecht: Right. Right.

Mac: Call me crazy, but let's go Yankees. I got no reasoning behind it, but I'm calling it upset.

Zach Hecht: yeah so at least At least I have a reasoning behind it. so

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.

Zach Hecht: Yes, hit ball far.

Mac: It's that simple.

Mac: NLCS. Zach, you're killing me with this NLDS stuff. Can you please edit this message?

Zach Hecht: Okay, awful.

Mac: NLCS. So he has Phillies Padres. I have Phillies Cubs. You have Phillies Brewers. Right? Something like that?

Zach Hecht: Yeah, I have Phillies-Brewers, yes.

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.

Zach Hecht: ah As much as it pains me to say it, I think that the Phillies will win this one.

Mac: How many games?

Zach Hecht: Six.

Mac: I agree. Just different teams.

Zach Hecht: I think their lineup is significantly stronger.

Mac: Okay.

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.

Zach Hecht: Yes. hate you say that.

Mac: NLCS MVP. i just I didn't prep you for it.

Zach Hecht: oh

Mac: I'm just thinking out loud in my head.

Zach Hecht: Kyle Schwarber.

Mac: I'm to Trey Turner.

Zach Hecht: Ew.

Mac: He gets hits. I know you've you've never liked Turner.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, but Schwarber is theirs.

Mac: You didn't like Trey Turner the but names in Washington.

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.

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.

Zach Hecht: No, I mean...

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.

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.

Zach Hecht: It wouldn't surprise a deaf man.

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.

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.

Zach Hecht: that's that's That's all the chins.

Mac: Yeah.

Mac: All of um Rowdy Tellez's chins represented.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

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.

Mac: You have Blue Jays Phillies.

Zach Hecht: yeah

Mac: So I guess I'll take my first. I got to do the – I cannot go against the Mariners.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, you have to.

Mac: I can't.

Zach Hecht: You have to.

Mac: How do you not at this point? You guys laughed at me for having them in the playoffs.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

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.

Zach Hecht: Okay.

Mac: I think Phillies are probably better on paper.

Zach Hecht: All right.

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.

Zach Hecht: Alright. There you go.

Mac: Go ahead.

Zach Hecht: ah Yeah, I got Phillies in six over the Blue Jays.

Mac: ah you So we have three different...

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.

Mac: So go on Schwarber, World Series MVP. I went Julio.

Zach Hecht: He'll hit 200, but he'll have six home runs.

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.

Zach Hecht: yeah Yeah, Zach would say that and be serious about it. There you

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.

Zach Hecht: Absolute disaster.

Mac: So that's always good.

Zach Hecht: There you

Mac: What award do you want to start with?

Zach Hecht: go. I think we have to start off with the MVPs, do we not?

Mac: Yeah. um Do we do the big debate first?

Zach Hecht: i We can.

Mac: right, hit it. I mean, you and I both are and our lockstep on this one.

Zach Hecht: Do we want to go 1 through 10, or do you want to just start with number 1 here?

Mac: Do we go ten to like reverse order 10-1?

Zach Hecht: ah We can, if you'd like.

Mac: Because I feel like that's where things get a little dicey.

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.

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.

Zach Hecht: Okay. All right, so MVP, number 10 for me, Garrett Crochet.

Mac: So you go first.

Mac: I have him higher. went at number 10, Junior Caminero.

Zach Hecht: Okay, I have him higher.

Mac: Really? Okay.

Zach Hecht: yeah So number nine for me, Cody Bellinger.

Mac: I thought about it. i i didn't do it. I really thought about it.

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.

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.

Zach Hecht: Okay.

Mac: Number nine, I went Byron Buxton.

Zach Hecht: Byron Buxton. I did not have him on my list.

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

Zach Hecht: Surprisingly.

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.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Zach Hecht: Okay, I guess I can get behind that.

Mac: that but That was my main reasoning to give him nine number nine.

Zach Hecht: i don't even know if you would be in my top 20, to be honest with you.

Mac: Really? Okay.

Zach Hecht: I have no idea after 10.

Mac: You'd be surprised after you see like who' who's left. like There's not a lot left.

Zach Hecht: Maybe. So my number 8 Camonero. Junior

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.

Zach Hecht: i yeah i I did not have him on mine. I don't think he played enough games.

Mac: He's been great, man.

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.

Mac: He played 117. He 1,000 OPS and a 173 OPS plus.

Zach Hecht: that's more than I thought. like

Mac: That's nasty.

Zach Hecht: That is nasty. He's going to be a great player ah for years to come on another team.

Mac: and

Mac: Yeah, but I think like if we gave Skeens the Cy Young votes last year, i tried to stay consistent with that.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Zach Hecht: Okay.

Mac: and

Zach Hecht: i

Mac: This isn't Jacob Mizorowski.

Zach Hecht: I can get behind that. I can get behind that.

Mac: There was enough of a sample size for me. um You can go 7.

Zach Hecht: I have Leggero Jr., number 7.

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.

Zach Hecht: Okay.

Zach Hecht: Okay.

Mac: Because he walked on that team and they got better.

Zach Hecht: I can get behind that.

Zach Hecht: That's true. They did. i don't know if it's solely because of him, but they did get better.

Mac: i I just feel like i i where i I've kind of stacked pictures where I found there was a drop-off.

Zach Hecht: Okay.

Mac: And I felt between this next guy and Kurtz, There was a drop-off.

Zach Hecht: Understandable. Alright.

Mac: Six.

Zach Hecht: Six, Bobby Witt Jr.

Mac: I have him higher.

Zach Hecht: Okay.

Mac: i have George Springer six.

Zach Hecht: Okay. i have him i have I have him higher.

Mac: He's been elite. He's been elite. I thought about going higher on him. I thought you'd clown me for it.

Zach Hecht: Nope. I have him higher.

Mac: Wow. Okay.

Zach Hecht: Number five, Tarek Skubel.

Mac: I have him higher.

Zach Hecht: Okay. Okay.

Mac: I went Jose Ramirez.

Zach Hecht: All right. Well, I should spoil it. and I have Jose Ramirez at four. There you go.

Mac: And I had Bobby Witted for him.

Zach Hecht: ah So my number three is actually George Springer.

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.

Zach Hecht: I mean, he had 30 home runs and hit over 300.

Mac: oh he's I'm not against it at all. I thought I was kind of being a little ambitious.

Zach Hecht: His only knock is he DH'd for almost the entire year.

Mac: That's what held me ah off on going over Ramirez. But number three was Tarek Skubel for me.

Zach Hecht: Okay, I can get behind that.

Mac: That filled in that spot.

Zach Hecht: ah So I'm just going to go right to number one here.

Mac: Yeah, but I mean, we both know who the top two are.

Zach Hecht: Yes, we wait we everybody knows it's it's Judge and Rantley. And yeah, yeah, of course he did.

Mac: Oh, you have Rally? Oh, I had Jazz. Yeah.

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.

Mac: Stop watching baseball.

Zach Hecht: You are a moron.

Mac: Yep.

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.

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.

Zach Hecht: I mean, he's awful. He's awful, awful, awful catcher this year defensively, atrociously bad.

Mac: yeah Yeah, no, it's been rough.

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?

Zach Hecht: What team had a better record than the Mariners?

Mac: The New York Yankees.

Zach Hecht: The New York Yankees.

Mac: Yes, they did.

Zach Hecht: What team falls apart consistently here after year when when when Aaron Judge gets hurt? The New York Yankees. I mean...

Mac: Yep.

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.

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.

Mac: Yeah.

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.

Zach Hecht: The guy is not even hitting.250.

Mac: yeah you like ninth lowest batting average. And they're all pitchers.

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.

Mac: Yeah, 100%.

Zach Hecht: While Judge is hitting.330.

Mac: but hundred

Mac: No, this is a consistent stance for you. you You're not being a homer with it. I agree with you.

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.

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.

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.

Zach Hecht: What?

Mac: That's awful.

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.

Mac: Yes, that's terrible.

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.

Zach Hecht: But I guess that's why USA is going to lose to Japan in horrifying fashion.

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.

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.

Zach Hecht: yeah By a wide, wide margin.

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.

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?

Zach Hecht: He has set the AL record for most intentional walks in a season.

Zach Hecht: He's the first player to win a batting title while hitting 50-plus home runs.

Mac: That's...

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

Mac: what was it, Mickey Mantle?

Zach Hecht: it was Mickey Mantle was the last one to do it.

Mac: And I think Jimmy Fox did it, and like, thirty yeah, right when we did Championship Boston.

Zach Hecht: And Jimmy Fox did it in 38. Jimmy Fox did it in 38.

Mac: It was one of the last episodes, that's the only reason why I know it.

Zach Hecht: And Mantle... Yeah. It's happened three times and it hasn't happened in 70 years.

Mac: Yeah. Yeah.

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.

Zach Hecht: And I and i go, like you got to be stupid.

Mac: and

Zach Hecht: like You have to be. like You have to be just completely uneducated to say that out loud.

Mac: Even if it was, why should that be the case?

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.

Mac: Not at all.

Mac: Yep. 100%. but hundred percent

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.

Mac: Thank you.

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.

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.

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.

Mac: Yep.

Zach Hecht: Seven. Seven. was seven home run gap.

Mac: Yep.

Zach Hecht: You I thought about Cal Raleigh, like he hit 60 and everybody else hit 30.

Mac: But look at the gap everywhere else.

Zach Hecht: like That's just not what happened.

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.

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.

Mac: It's not even close.

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.

Mac: Ted Williams hit 406. The last time anyone's hit 406. He didn't win the MVP.

Zach Hecht: I, uh...

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.

Zach Hecht: You know, there's definitely a voter fatigue thing, dude. It has to be. It's the only thing.

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.

Mac: My point is don't let history repeat itself.

Zach Hecht: i

Mac: Honestly, Ted Williams won everything.

Zach Hecht: they like the The media is dumb and they love some weird, stupid narrative.

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.

Zach Hecht: I think he'll end the winning it.

Mac: think history is going to repeat itself.

Zach Hecht: But I never actually finished my point.

Mac: Go ahead.

Zach Hecht: um my My original point, I got sidetracked.

Mac: Sorry.

Mac: All good.

Zach Hecht: Judge lost an MVP already that he should have won.

Mac: Right.

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.

Mac: Yeah, that...

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.

Zach Hecht: Four MVPs is going to get you into Hall Fame either way.

Mac: like

Mac: Yes.

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.

Mac: Yeah, I agree.

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.

Mac: Yeah, no, that's not happening.

Zach Hecht: I don't i don't know if he's ever going to hit 50 again.

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.

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.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: So I think we'll get an invite.

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.

Mac: Yes. Yep. It's the Mauer Hall of Fame argument.

Zach Hecht: So.

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.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

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.

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.

Mac: Yes.

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.

Zach Hecht: that's That's certainly possible.

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.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

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.

Zach Hecht: yeah So anyway, that's my rant. you vote for Cal Rally, you're dumb.

Mac: I'm with it.

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.

Zach Hecht: yeah Yeah, you start with yours and I'll do your 10. We'll go through numberinging up my number again.

Mac: Number 10. You're going to clown me. I went Pete Crow Armstrong.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, you should be cloned. That's disgusting.

Mac: I went with it.

Zach Hecht: That's absolutely disgusting.

Mac: There's not a lot. I didn't i wasn't impressed with a lot of the NL guys.

Zach Hecht: Uh, yeah, that's disgusting. You should feel ashamed. I have Freddie Freeman.

Mac: I thought about them. I didn't go there.

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.

Mac: i

Mac: I threw in the, you know, the gold glove center field in there too.

Zach Hecht: Deplorable.

Mac: And by the way, Krohjong has almost double Freeman's War since you love war so much.

Zach Hecht: that's but That's deplorable.

Mac: P. Krohjong has six.

Zach Hecht: Bigger Orsum hit like 240.

Mac: but pre may He

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.

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.

Zach Hecht: Deplorable. Freddie Freeman all the way.

Mac: All right, fine. So you had Freeman at 10.

Zach Hecht: have Freeman at 10.

Mac: Number nine, I had Pete Alonzo.

Zach Hecht: I had Pete Alonzo way higher. I have Cattell Marte at number 9.

Mac: Wow, okay. I didn't have Cattell Marte.

Zach Hecht: Only you guys can tell Marte did not play as many games as he could have because he was hurt.

Mac: left off Cattell Marte as well.

Zach Hecht: Oh, wow. These are really going to start different, huh?

Mac: I thought about...

Zach Hecht: National League is it was hard. National League is really hard.

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.

Zach Hecht: Okay.

Mac: ah His numbers are great. I won't deny that.

Zach Hecht: Okay.

Mac: Number eight, I put Christopher Sanchez. I thought he had good...

Zach Hecht: That's my number eight as well.

Mac: Wow, okay. Number seven, I went with another Philly. I went with Trey Turner.

Zach Hecht: I do not have him anywhere near my list.

Mac: Wow, okay.

Zach Hecht: Not even considered. I have Corbin Carroll at number seven.

Mac: That's a good one. I have him at six.

Zach Hecht: Okay. At my six is Gerardo Perdomo.

Mac: I had him five.

Zach Hecht: Okay, well, my number five is Pete Alonso.

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.

Zach Hecht: He quietly was incredible player this year. Very quietly.

Mac: Fun fact, he led the National League in war for hitters.

Zach Hecht: He was insane this year.

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.

Zach Hecht: Yes.

Mac: Number four, I have Juan Soto.

Zach Hecht: I also have Juan Soto, yes.

Mac: At four.

Zach Hecht: Yes.

Mac: Number three, have Kyle Schwarber.

Zach Hecht: I also have Klaus Forger at number three.

Mac: Wow.

Mac: So i we talked about it off pod about possibly not going with the norm.

Zach Hecht: Yes. Yes.

Mac: Well, I was saying it.

Zach Hecht: Yes. yes

Mac: So the question is, did I stick to my guns?

Zach Hecht: Yes.

Mac: And I did.

Zach Hecht: Good.

Mac: So I have Shohei Otani.

Zach Hecht: i I stuck to your guns as well.

Mac: Number two. You went with you went my guy too?

Zach Hecht: I did, yes.

Mac: We both have Paul Skeens for MVP.

Zach Hecht: we We both have Volskis for MVP.

Mac: i I successfully pitched it. Wow. Were you going to do that

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.

Mac: that?

Zach Hecht: and i'm tired And I'm tired of hearing...

Mac: You have perfect me.

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.

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.

Mac: Yep.

Zach Hecht: And the only reason why he stole 50 was because they told him, go wild.

Mac: Are you kidding me?

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.

Zach Hecht: Oh my God, I want to reach through the screen and smack crap out of anybody who said that.

Mac: ah you

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.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's that's actually awful.

Mac: um That's awful. um That's actually terrible. Yeah.

Zach Hecht: Yeah. It's funny because Zach said this exact same thing.

Mac: yeah

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.

Mac: Yes, it is. And Zach also went judge for MVP. I just forgot to mention that.

Zach Hecht: Yes.

Mac: um So Zach differed with us on 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.

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.

Zach Hecht: Agreed. Yeah.

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.

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.

Zach Hecht: It's like, you you can't make that... You cannot make those statements.

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?

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

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.

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.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: He was a freak.

Zach Hecht: He was insane this year.

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.

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.

Zach Hecht: I agree. I agree. It's just a shame the Pirates are as bad as they are.

Mac: Yeah, it really is.

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.

Mac: Wow.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

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.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: I forget who it was.

Zach Hecht: yeah

Mac: ah The main reason Joey Votto won the MVP was because they made the playoffs.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: Joey Votto is going to make the Hall of Fame off that MVP.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

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.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

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.

Zach Hecht: yeah

Mac: I can't believe I convinced you.

Zach Hecht: I wouldn't be shocked. i don't think you should be shocked.

Mac: I am. i know you i know you're looking for anything to not vote for Otani.

Zach Hecht: Well, yeah, that's exactly why you shouldn't be shocked.

Mac: I'm going to put this in a feather in cap.

Zach Hecht: That's why you shouldn't be shocked.

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.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: We're both going skeins.

Zach Hecht: Correct, yeah.

Mac: I'm assuming we're both going Christopher Sanchez too.

Zach Hecht: Correct, yep.

Mac: I guess since we already know one and two, we'll do the three, four, five slow roll.

Zach Hecht: All right.

Mac: So do you want to do this one or the other one?

Zach Hecht: I can do this one. I have Yoshinobu Yamamoto at three.

Mac: Go for it.

Mac: I agree. I didn't expect that, but I agree.

Zach Hecht: think he's had fantastic year, surprisingly. I'm actually shocked that he was able to put it together, basically, in America.

Mac: And,

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.

Zach Hecht: Oh. Blew under the radar. Probably.

Mac: this year he went very under – I guess that injury might have impacted it.

Zach Hecht: Probably.

Mac: But he still salvaged it with a whip under one.

Zach Hecht: I think because they were too busy screaming that Sasaki is terrible.

Mac: And he still started 30 games.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: So it's not like he had an incomplete season by any means.

Zach Hecht: No, did not.

Mac: Who was your four?

Zach Hecht: Freddy Peralta.

Mac: I agree.

Zach Hecht: think he had a fantastic year. Also not talked about much, but he talked a little bit.

Mac: Yes, he did.

Zach Hecht: little bit of media attention. But he had a fantastic year.

Mac: I originally had him three, but I changed it about, let's say, 12 hours ago.

Zach Hecht: Definitely an ace.

Zach Hecht: but

Zach Hecht: I'm curious to what your number five is. Mine is Nick Pavetta.

Mac: He was my sixth.

Zach Hecht: Ooh.

Mac: I went Andrew Abbott.

Zach Hecht: Okay. I mean, I don't hate that, but I think Pavetta was better.

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.

Zach Hecht: Still deplorable.

Mac: I understand you're not going like that. But I tried to take a listen to that.

Zach Hecht: I don't, Mike, I don't not like it. I hate it, actually. I hate it.

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...

Zach Hecht: i think I would have been more behind Wood, though.

Mac: Really?

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.

Mac: that's the only one that you think is that terrible so far, then we're not really having a bad pod.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: But I went Andrew Abbott as my fifth...

Zach Hecht: Okay. Okay.

Mac: But I do like the Pavetta pick. I thought about I didn't have the the guts to do it.

Zach Hecht: Okay.

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.

Zach Hecht: Number five, I have Brian Wu.

Mac: I thought about it. He was by six. I actually wrote here, I'm sorry, Brian Wu.

Zach Hecht: I have Brian Wu. You should be sorry because he deserved it.

Mac: I felt bad. Did you have Freed in your list at all?

Zach Hecht: I do have Frieden in my list.

Mac: Okay, so then that means you don't have the next guy I have then. Number four, I have Jacob deGrom.

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.

Mac: I think he absolutely should be. That's incredible.

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.

Mac: I get it.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: um My bigger thing is having deGrom out over Freed.

Zach Hecht: I disagree with that.

Mac: ah yeah I get Wu. I put Freed in because I'm a Yankee homer.

Zach Hecht: i I think Freed deserves it, absolutely. I have Freed at four. Yeah,

Mac: But Freed also had a rough month's stretch.

Zach Hecht: ah he did, but he was so good in the first half and turned it around at the end.

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.

Zach Hecht: Yes.

Mac: Three, I have Hunter Brown. Reluctantly, I wanted to put him two.

Zach Hecht: I also have Hunter Brown.

Mac: I actually really wanted to put him two for a while. ah Crochet sealed it for me in the last games.

Zach Hecht: If Prochet didn't have 250 strikeouts, I might agree with you.

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.

Zach Hecht: Yep.

Zach Hecht: Agreed. Yep,

Mac: Also, honorable mention to Nathan Evaldi. ah He didn't have the full season, but he was pitching great.

Zach Hecht: it was. Yeah, if he didn't get hurt, it is a shame.

Mac: It's a shame. ah It's just not enough.

Zach Hecht: It's a shame Yanks gave up on him.

Mac: So he pitched 22 games. So he only pitched one less game than Skeens did last year, if you put it into perspective.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, but it's a different circumstance.

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.

Zach Hecht: Okay.

Mac: But I just, I had, I was so borderline on those seven.

Zach Hecht: all right.

Mac: Not bad so far.

Zach Hecht: Not bad so far.

Mac: What a award would you like to do next?

Zach Hecht: I think we should go Rookie

Mac: That's fine by me. Pick your league and you can find it.

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.

Mac: I agree.

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.

Mac: I agree.

Zach Hecht: I think he is going to be a pain in Yankees' ass for a long, long time, which is unfortunate.

Mac: Starting tomorrow.

Zach Hecht: ah Starting tomorrow, yep. And number one is obviously, we've talked about already, Nick Kurtz.

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?

Zach Hecht: i don't think he is, actually. You're right.

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.

Zach Hecht: I agree. i Wilson's not really a power

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.

Zach Hecht: guy. I agree.

Mac: I went Isaac Collins 3.

Zach Hecht: would Caleb Durbin 3.

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.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: um You're going disagree with me here. I have Drake Baldwin too.

Zach Hecht: had Drake Baldwin too.

Mac: Oh, you did? Okay. So we both went Kate Horton.

Zach Hecht: Yeah. and Yes.

Mac: Okay. I also thought about Augustin Ramirez, but I couldn't do it.

Zach Hecht: I looked at his numbers and went, ew, that's disgusting.

Mac: That's exactly what I thought. reaction The exact same reaction.

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.

Mac: Yeah, i

Zach Hecht: I actually like really shuddered when I looked at them.

Mac: i

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.

Zach Hecht: he's Gary Sanchez.

Mac: I'm like, oh, yeah, that's bad. And then I forgot about it because it was a month ago.

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.

Mac: Yep. That's about right.

Mac: that's rookie of the year.

Zach Hecht: Yep, I would go of the year.

Mac: Manager of the year.

Zach Hecht: Yep.

Mac: Oh, by the way, for Cy Young, because that's one of Zach's last awards, he also won Skeens in school.

Zach Hecht: Ah, yes. Good.

Mac: Didn't do a ranking, but those are his two.

Mac: Manager of the Year, you said...

Zach Hecht: So manager the

Mac: All

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.

Mac: right.

Mac: And NL.

Zach Hecht: Pat Murphy with the Brewers. I don't know. yeah I can't vote against him.

Mac: We match. We match. I did give a lot of consideration to Dan Wilson with the Mariners. ah

Zach Hecht: I gave consideration to whoever the Blue Jays manager is. I don't remember off the top my head.

Mac: I also gave consideration to Terry Francona.

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.

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.

Mac: So I, I think votes to pick. And I think Pat Murphy is the clear pick in the NL.

Zach Hecht: Alright. Well, look at that.

Mac: We're doing well.

Zach Hecht: There we are. Let's do reliever of the year.

Mac: Got it. I'm ready.

Zach Hecht: I'll go with AL. I did top three. ah so my My number three is Josh Hader.

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.

Zach Hecht: What's your three?

Mac: My three? Oh, so I thought you were going do NL next. um But I had Kenley Jansen third.

Zach Hecht: Third, okay.

Mac: um I had... Wait, so you had Hader three.

Zach Hecht: I hate your three. have Andres Munoz at two.

Mac: I didn't go Munoz.

Zach Hecht: You didn't put Munoz in your top three.

Mac: His save percentage is a lot lower than you would have thought.

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.

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.

Zach Hecht: And I just don't think Estevez was actually that good despite the number.

Mac: yeah had He had an 88% save percentage, which, believe it or not, I think was better than Munoz.

Zach Hecht: I just, I don't know.

Mac: And then Kenley Jansen, very sneaky, 96.7% save percentage, 29 saves, 2.59 ERA.

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.

Mac: That's not his fault the team stinks. That's not his fault the team stinks.

Zach Hecht: That's why save percentage, I don't know, that one doesn't really...

Mac: He produced when he had the chance.

Zach Hecht: I don't know

Mac: I'm not going hold that against him. He showed up when it mattered.

Zach Hecht: know. Well, your number one better be rolled as Chapman or have a problem here.

Mac: Yes, i agree.

Zach Hecht: Okay, good.

Mac: Unfortunately, I didn't want to, but I did.

Zach Hecht: I didn't want to, but you can't not.

Mac: Let's see. i'm going to pull up those numbers for you so you have it. um Let's find Munoz.

Mac: He blew seven saves this year.

Mac: which gives him a save percentage of 84.4, which is lower than Estevez.

Zach Hecht: I don't know. i

Mac: And he had four less saves than Estevez. So objectively, it's not close.

Zach Hecht: I still think Munoz was a better. I i don't i disagree.

Mac: What's the reasoning, though?

Zach Hecht: I think he was objectively a better pitcher.

Mac: But he blew a lot of saves.

Zach Hecht: He had a 170 array.

Mac: But blew a lot of saves, which matters.

Zach Hecht: And Estivis had a 240 array. That's a big difference.

Mac: Yes, but he showed up in the save situations.

Zach Hecht: I don't know, dude. I don't know if I agree with that.

Mac: Alright.

Mac: NL, I kind of struggled to pick number three.

Zach Hecht: um you guys I

Mac: i went Johan Duran. Because there's not much left.

Zach Hecht: i won with Jason Adam.

Mac: I thought about him, but um I didn't get there.

Mac: That's actually not a bad pick.

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

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.

Mac: And to be the best reliever your team is going the ninth inning.

Zach Hecht: Yeah. Well,

Mac: The higher leverage guys I tend to edge to. But it's not a bad pick. He had a great year.

Zach Hecht: but you're going to hate my number two, then.

Mac: Number two, I went Robert Suarez.

Zach Hecht: I want Randy Rodriguez.

Mac: Wow. Okay.

Zach Hecht: I think just like Adam, he had a fantastic year. He wasn't the closer, but he was untouchable.

Mac: Well, he had a little bit where he was.

Zach Hecht: ah He did have a little bit where he was, but he was pretty much untouchable.

Mac: so I can get behind that a little more. And then number one, I went Edwin Diaz.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, absolutely. He had an insane year.

Mac: Wow. Okay. I wasn't sure how you were going to feel about that one, but an ERA 1.63. Yeah.

Zach Hecht: Oh, he had a great year.

Mac: yeah

Zach Hecht: I i when i i can't argue about that one.

Mac: Fair enough. So we're good on reliever of the year then.

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.

Mac: Yeah.

Zach Hecht: i think this is a no-brainer here. ah It's Judge and Otani.

Mac: I went Judge and Schwarber.

Zach Hecht: I would, but Schwarber's...

Mac: Just because Hank Aaron Award is associated with home runs.

Zach Hecht: I can't with Schwarber also hitting 240.

Mac: What?

Zach Hecht: I can't with Schwarber hitting.

Mac: i I also thought about going Cowrally here just to give him the token award.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, I can't.

Mac: I thought about it. i mean...

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.

Mac: Right, so that's why i'm like, Calrally, can we get a word? It's fine.

Zach Hecht: i Rally gets nothing. He gets nothing and he'll like it.

Mac: Okay.

Zach Hecht: He'll get a silver slugger. That's what he'll get. He'll go on only first team.

Mac: And he'll get all MLB first team.

Zach Hecht: Yes, that's right.

Mac: Come back. What?

Zach Hecht: Yeah, comeback player of the year. Yep.

Mac: I think these were easy. I went Jacob deGrom AL.

Zach Hecht: Yep.

Mac: Maybe this one wasn't easy. I went Ronald Acuna Jr.

Zach Hecht: I also want Ronald Acuna Jr.

Mac: NL. It's tough to say comeback player of the year when you got hurt again, but he was great.

Zach Hecht: That's true. Yeah, he was great. He was great when he was on the field.

Mac: I also thought about for AL, I mean, if we're talking and ending it in June, Javi Baez would have had consideration.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, so he didn't completely collapse.

Mac: But he fell off.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: So that's comeback.

Zach Hecht: Edgar Martinez is the last one.

Mac: DH award.

Zach Hecht: year

Mac: I slumped on AL.

Zach Hecht: For the entire the entire... There's only use only one award. One award.

Mac: it's only one overall. Okay, so and that's easy.

Zach Hecht: or Yes, Kyle Schwarber.

Mac: Okay. Over Otani.

Zach Hecht: Yes, because Otani pitched. He wasn't a DH.

Mac: Is he eligible for the award?

Zach Hecht: I don't know, but I didn't want to pick him because he pitched.

Mac: You know what? That's valid.

Zach Hecht: i

Mac: I get behind that.

Zach Hecht: but that's That's my point.

Mac: You know what? I get behind that. That's fair.

Zach Hecht: He pitched 50 innings, and Schwarber does not play the field.

Mac: That's absolutely fair. Fair enough. We want to call him a pitcher, then he's not a DH.

Zach Hecht: somebody Every outfielder that the Phillies have would have to break their legs for Schwarber to go into the outfield.

Mac: but

Mac: You know what? I love that. Perfect.

Zach Hecht: so that's why

Mac: first way I'm in.

Zach Hecht: Okay, good.

Mac: You sold me.

Zach Hecht: That's my life goal right there.

Mac: Yep.

Zach Hecht: You sold me on scenes, I sold you. I'm getting Martinez award.

Mac: Yep. Perfect. Teamwork makes the dream work.

Zach Hecht: so So Silver Sluggers or Gold Gloves next.

Mac: Let's get the gold gloves of the way because they're corny and awful.

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.

Mac: AL, have Max Freed. NL, I also have Logan Webb.

Zach Hecht: Alright, so ah for catcher, I have Alejandro Kirk in the AL and Patrick Barrely for the NL.

Mac: Two for two.

Zach Hecht: First base, I have Ty France in the AL Matt Olson in the NL.

Mac: I went with Matt Olsen. I went with Christian Walker.

Zach Hecht: That's okay. I think France is much better than Walker.

Mac: It's not a bad pick. Walker's got the reputation too.

Zach Hecht: That's true, but France has the stats.

Mac: It's hard to tell stats with first baseman though.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: I don't...

Zach Hecht: Unless your medal is just better than everybody else. Alright.

Mac: Right. i don't... It's hard for me to get into defenses stats for first baseman.

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

Mac: I thought about Nico Horner. I went Ozzie Albies, but I did think about Horner. I do agree with you on Jimenez.

Zach Hecht: I think Horner is much better than Albies.

Mac: That's a good pick. I i did consider him.

Zach Hecht: All right.

Mac: I went ah spoiler they went a lot of Cubs, so I didn't want to do too many.

Zach Hecht: Okay. Okay. So for third base, I have Michael Garcia from the Royals for the AL and Cabrian Hayes in the NL.

Mac: We're dead on there.

Zach Hecht: All right. Shortstop, I have Bobby Wood Jr. for the AL and Mason Wynn for the NL.

Mac: Mason Wynn's the pick that I didn't think of. I wrote down Betts just because his errors were low.

Zach Hecht: Okay. Okay.

Mac: But Mason Wynn would have been my pick if I thought of him, honestly.

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.

Mac: I did too. Yep. I went Ian Happ.

Zach Hecht: That's not bad. I think Collins was better, though, in my opinion.

Mac: Fair enough.

Zach Hecht: Center field, Sedan, Raffaella in the AL and PCA in the NL.

Mac: I went PCA. I went with Denzel Clark.

Zach Hecht: Denzel Clark. how many games did he How many games did he play?

Mac: How do you not give to that catch? I don't care. How do you not give it to that catch?

Zach Hecht: have to look this up. How many games did Denzel Clark?

Mac: yeah had 148 at-bats. I know. i get it. He had 47 games.

Zach Hecht: why

Mac: But I did not give it to that catch.

Zach Hecht: Oh my god, he had 47 games. Come on.

Mac: Yes. Look at that catch.

Zach Hecht: Oh my god. I mean, I'm not saying he's in an insane field. played 47 games.

Mac: Those 47 games he played, he probably had 10 web gems.

Zach Hecht: Okay. Okay. I mean, you're not wrong. You're not wrong.

Mac: So quality over quantity here.

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.

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.

Zach Hecht: That's not bad.

Zach Hecht: He's a tight second.

Mac: Okay.

Zach Hecht: Tight second for me.

Mac: So it's closer than I thought you were going to say.

Zach Hecht: ah And utility, I have, this is impossible, but I have Ernie Clement in the AL and Tommy Edmund in the NL.

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.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, I mean, it's a guy who's played a bunch of different positions.

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.

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.

Mac: Yeah, but he played infield for a bit, and he played every outfield position.

Zach Hecht: Not really. it couldn't play yeah much Yeah, I guess.

Mac: Well,

Zach Hecht: I mean, I guess you're right.

Mac: if we can't get him...

Zach Hecht: i guess i guess I guess I can get behind it.

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.

Zach Hecht: I think the league votes by outfield, though, don't they?

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.

Zach Hecht: Okay. All right. Okay.

Mac: So Silver Slugger, I'll take over this one. Do you want AL or NL first?

Zach Hecht: Watch everyone you'd like.

Mac: We'll do AL first.

Zach Hecht: know?

Mac: Catch or Cal Raleigh?

Zach Hecht: Obviously.

Mac: First baseman, Nick Kurtz.

Zach Hecht: i have Lagro Jr.

Mac: I thought about him too.

Zach Hecht: I thought about Kurtz, but i still the games played is just not enough.

Mac: I think those are the two either way. i I'm not against Vlad.

Zach Hecht: All right.

Mac: Second baseman, you're not gonna like it. I went Jazz.

Zach Hecht: I also want Jazz, and I don't like it.

Mac: Wow. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Zach Hecht: I mean, what second baseman hit better than him in the American League?

Mac: that That was my thought. I mean, Glaber had a shot and then fell off quick.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: But I did think about him just for the first half.

Zach Hecht: Despite Jazz's average, that makes me shiver. He did have a 30-30 season.

Mac: Yeah. Shortstop, I went Bobby Witt.

Zach Hecht: I also want Bobby Witt.

Mac: Wow. Okay. We're actually pretty spot on here. Third baseman, I went Junior Caminero.

Zach Hecht: I went J-Ram.

Mac: Fair. I have no argument there. That's fine. i just I went with the home runs.

Zach Hecht: Alright.

Mac: That's associate with Slugger. For the most part, if I was borderline on someone, I went with the home run guy.

Zach Hecht: Okay.

Mac: Left field, I went Riley Green.

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.

Mac: Okay.

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?

Zach Hecht: I don't know how many innings he played in left field compared to anything else.

Mac: Like if you're going assume where do I put him?

Mac: Yeah.

Zach Hecht: But I'm giving him to in left field.

Mac: Fair enough. I'll give you that. um Center field, I went Byron Buxton.

Zach Hecht: I also went Byron Buxton.

Mac: Okay, i didn't expect that.

Zach Hecht: ahars ah

Mac: Right field is obvious, Aaron Judge.

Zach Hecht: Yep.

Mac: DH, I struggled because I was trying to figure out even who would qualify in the American League.

Zach Hecht: DH is the one that we talked about and I have the answer for you.

Mac: Give it to me.

Zach Hecht: It's George Springer. He played over 100 games at DH this year.

Mac: He did play over 100. Then, yeah, that's the guy. I wrote Rooker down just as the guy, as like the placeholder.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: But if he played 100 games DH and then Springer, clearly.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, clearly.

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.

Zach Hecht: Okay. Yeah, I can't do that because he played one position.

Mac: Because he was great, but he was utility. He came off the bench a lot.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, I use utility as a guy who played a couple positions, and I picked Zach McKinstry from the tires.

Mac: but

Zach Hecht: I mean, I don't think he has any but but opportunity to win Solar Slugger if he wasn't a utility.

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.

Zach Hecht: Yeah. Utilities plays multiple positions, by the way. I'm pretty sure that's the MLB's definition of it.

Mac: Oh, I know, but I'm going to use it to fit my narrative as much as I can.

Mac: NL. Catcher Will Smith.

Zach Hecht: Absolutely Will Smith.

Mac: That's an easy one.

Zach Hecht: No doubt about it. Because

Mac: That's an easy one. It's funny because I forgot him for a split second when I was going for him.

Zach Hecht: he got hurt.

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.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, no doubter. No doubt, Pete Alonso.

Mac: Second baseman I went Quetel Marte.

Zach Hecht: I also want Cattell Marte.

Mac: Shortstop I went Perdomo.

Zach Hecht: I also want Perdomo. Deserves it.

Mac: Third baseman is going to be an interesting one. i wound up I was reluctant, but I wound up going Manny Machado.

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.

Mac: know

Mac: Yes, pretty much. That sums it up. I actually really like that.

Zach Hecht: Good.

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.

Zach Hecht: Doesn't deserve it.

Zach Hecht: Yes.

Mac: Left field, again, very reluctant. I went James Wood.

Zach Hecht: I also went James Wood. Not a lot of good left fielders.

Mac: Now for the same reason you're not going to like it, I went PCA.

Zach Hecht: Yeah, that's, this again, this absolutely absolutely deplorable pick.

Mac: Who are you going?

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.

Zach Hecht: but I mean, he had 20 home runs.

Mac: He had 31 home runs and 95 runs batted in.

Zach Hecht: He had 20 home runs by April.

Mac: Fine. who was better Who has better numbers?

Zach Hecht: Andy Pages of the Dodgers.

Mac: I thought about him, but no. Because he got benefited by everybody else being in his lineup.

Zach Hecht: Yes.

Zach Hecht: I don't care.

Mac: And he also had less home runs than Pete Crow Armstrong.

Zach Hecht: Home runs don't mean everything.

Mac: He had 12 more hits than Pete Crow Armstrong.

Zach Hecht: Home runs don't mean everything. And we learned how we learned nothing about this podcast. Home runs don't mean everything.

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.

Zach Hecht: I just... i I can't get behind a guy who just absolutely crashed and burned in the second half the year.

Mac: But they

Mac: Pahez was benefited by everybody being around him.

Zach Hecht: PCA benefits from being around them.

Mac: Tucker and Pat versus Otani, Trent, Freeman, Fernandez, Will Smith.

Zach Hecht: Tucker, Suzuki, Warner, Happ. They're all better hitters than him. Bush. You're wrong. Disgusting. Deplorable.

Zach Hecht: i off

Mac: PCA is like the but the third best hitter in his lineup.

Zach Hecht: disgusting deplorable

Mac: Andy Paz is what, the seventh?

Zach Hecht: PCA is not the third best hitter in his lineup.

Mac: The seventh? All right, fine.

Zach Hecht: It's not the third best hitter in his lineup.

Mac: You're never go to agree with me on that. Right field, I reluctantly went with Juan Soto.

Zach Hecht: i yeah I can't even say that reluctantly. He deserves it.

Mac: DHA went with Kyle Schwarber.

Zach Hecht: Absolutely.

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.

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.

Mac: Right.

Zach Hecht: And I would switch my vote to that. But I have, ah and this is ah does this is worse than PC. I have Jeff McNeil.

Mac: Okay, yeah, you can't say anything about PCA again. You went with him over Luisa Rice.

Zach Hecht: ah Yeah, I think Luis Arise is an overrated, just a scumbag. I don't like him.

Mac: Why a scumbag?

Zach Hecht: but I don't like him.

Mac: What's wrong with his personality?

Zach Hecht: I don't like anything about him. I don't like anything about him.

Mac: ah Okay.

Zach Hecht: I actually, I think he's terrible. I think he's terrible for the game of baseball.

Mac: ah Okay. hey So you don't like singles hitters? You don't like guys who get...

Zach Hecht: No.

Mac: Well, I mean, not that he really gets on base.

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.

Mac: Okay.

Zach Hecht: And dude, he is slower than slow.

Mac: He led the league in hits.

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.

Mac: He led the league in hits.

Zach Hecht: Terrible.

Mac: All right, but I i would go Stowers over him. I just wasn't sure about how we were defining it.

Zach Hecht: i would I would change my vote to Stowers.

Mac: Fair enough.

Mac: So we got Silver Sluggers rolling. We did go gloves.

Zach Hecht: i forgot I forgot to do Platinum Glove. Would you like to pick a Platinum Glove for each league?

Mac: I actually didn't do it, but I'll do it quick.

Zach Hecht: Okay.

Mac: That's a good one. i didn't think of that. So it's one total.

Zach Hecht: One total for each league, yes. I have mine. I think they're very clear-cut and dry.

Mac: My NL is cut and dry. My AL, I need to think.

Zach Hecht: I think they're both cut and dry.

Mac: Go ahead.

Zach Hecht: Somebody tells me you're going to pick different ones than I have.

Mac: Go ahead.

Zach Hecht: ah I guess I'll go with NL first. You said yours is cut and dry. Mine is Cabrian Hayes.

Mac: I agree.

Zach Hecht: Okay, excellent. Yeah, he's an insane defensive third baseman.

Mac: That's That's the easy call.

Mac: that's the easy call

Zach Hecht: Had a ridiculous run saved and an ounce above average this year.

Mac: Yep.

Zach Hecht: And I think ah similarly Bobby Wood Jr. in the American League.

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.

Zach Hecht: not say that. Do not give him a plasma glove.

Mac: He didn't play enough. um i also would have thought about Alejandro Kirk here.

Zach Hecht: Okay.

Mac: But I'm going go Witt as well.

Zach Hecht: I don't hate that.

Mac: Steven Kwan also wouldn't be a bad pick either.

Mac: But I feel like if you go with you got to go with a tougher position.

Zach Hecht: I don't hate that either, but I think... Yeah.

Mac: So I'm mowing shortstop for center field most of the time.

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

Mac: So yeah, I'll go Witt, and then Kirk would be my number two.

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.

Mac: Yeah, and I think that'll pretty much wrap us up, right?

Zach Hecht: Yeah.

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.

Mac: So we'll see you next time.

Zach Hecht: Peace.