00:00Opening weekend here, that's going to be the Kansas City Royals taking on the Atlanta Braves.
00:04Opening day matchup, Cole Reagan's going to go for the Royals, going up against Chris Sale,
00:08who just got him also a big extension for a year as well.
00:11A minus 144 price on the Atlanta Braves, and the plus 122 price as a dog price here on the
00:17Kansas City Royals.
00:17But I want to start first with the home team. It's the Atlanta Braves.
00:20No team was running through pitchers and hitters in their lineup more than the Atlanta Braves.
00:24A year that you thought they might be able to compete for the division, they fell off.
00:28Why? They just kept on losing all the bullets there with their pitching staff and their players.
00:32Acuna, Baldwin, Olsen, Riley, Estremski, Albies.
00:35The position players and the pitchers are there, Tom.
00:38What are your expectations for a bounce back on the Braves, or maybe more of what we saw last year
00:42with the injuries?
00:44I am expecting a bounce back here for them, and obviously a lot has to go right in order for
00:49that to happen.
00:49Austin Riley has looked great in spring training, and he was dealing with a lot last year.
00:55And, you know, Ozzie Albies had a ton of injuries last year.
00:57Michael Harris started off super slow, and obviously Acuna wasn't there.
01:00Schreider's looked okay in spring training at best.
01:03It really just comes down to, I don't want to say tread water, but can they just tread water long
01:09enough to stay in the race in the NL East with two other great teams, the Phillies and the Mets?
01:14And then once they get the reinforcements from a Smith-Schalver, from a Schwellenbach, can those guys get back into
01:20the rotation of the team?
01:21And then they're still in the hunt.
01:22And we said this about the Reds, like, if Hunter Green can be back and they're actually in the hunt,
01:26it's good for them.
01:27The Braves are kind of in that same spot.
01:28They need to stay healthy and stay in the race, and then they'll have the shot.
01:32But if one of those things slip, they're going to fall too far behind.
01:35The Phillies just have more talent.
01:36The Mets just have more talent, and they just won't be there.
01:39Yeah, look, that's going to be a great race here in the NL East, the Phillies, the Mets, and the
01:44Atlanta Braves.
01:44And also taking a look at a key contributor here to the bullpen, bring over Robert Suarez from the San
01:48Diego Padres to go with Raycio Iglesias.
01:51That's a really good bullpen.
01:52If they stay healthy at pitching, the sky's the limit for the Braves.
01:54They should be able to do some damage if, again, they stay healthy.
01:57But, Tom, then we flip it over to the Kansas City Royals.
02:00I'm interested in this team.
02:01This team is a fun team.
02:02We've been watching them for a couple years.
02:03You've got Vinny Pasquantino, home run props here, Salvador Perez in that lineup, Jackie Caggs maybe having a great season,
02:09Bobby Witt, Mikel Garcia.
02:10I love this Royals team.
02:12And on a day-to-day basis, they're going to get a lot of attention from me, Tom.
02:17They certainly are.
02:18And, you know, between the fences being brought in as we spoke about, you know, two young players in their
02:23lineup, Jack Cagg, Leone, as we talked about, and also Carter Jensen, one of their top prospects who's going to
02:28be catching with, you know, Sal Perez doing a lot of the DH-ing.
02:31They have the pieces.
02:32They have guys that get on base with Garcia and Witt.
02:35They have power behind them.
02:36They have good pitching.
02:37I'm not going to say it's overwhelmingly great, but it is certainly good.
02:40The bullpen is solid.
02:41It's not amazing, but it is solid.
02:43I'm interested in the Royals.
02:45I think they're going to be that wild-card team this year where I think it's easy to say that
02:48the Tigers win the division.
02:50Like, not a shock.
02:51I think most people would agree with that.
02:53The Royals are going to be in the hunt for the wild-card.
02:54Them, the Rangers, and the Orioles, I think, are going to be teams fighting for a wild-card spot.
02:59Yeah, excited.
03:00And, again, the fences coming in doesn't mean, like, hey, everybody's going to hit 10 more home runs.
03:03But you've seen it.
03:04You've watched a lot of baseball.
03:05Ooh, that deep fly out to the warning track might get out of the ballpark, might hit the fence at
03:08this point to give you those extra base hits.
03:10But if you look at the projected lineup, Garcia, Witt Jr., Pasquantino, Perez, Caglione, India, Jensen, Collins, and Isbell, it's
03:17a really fun lineup.
03:18There's speed in that lineup.
03:20There's power in that lineup.
03:20They're young, trying to start their ways of saying, you know what, let's be a perennial playoff contender at this
03:25point.
03:25And that first weekend series, the Royals and the Braves, that should be one to watch here.
Comments