00:00Two teams with even records going to duel tonight on Sunday Night Baseball from Detroit.
00:05St. Louis is in town to finish their series here.
00:07Lay is going to be on the mound going up against Montero.
00:10And as I said, Craig, both of these teams, it's early.
00:13The Tigers won two straight games to even up their record at 4-4.
00:16But there are the St. Louis Cardinals who didn't have a lot of expectations sitting at 4-4.
00:20But they opened up the season 4-2, got a little excitement at home.
00:24How are we feeling early season about both of these teams?
00:26And the expectations for me, Detroit's going to be really good and be in the playoffs.
00:29But could this be maybe get off to a decent start, Cardinals start to get some of that,
00:34hey, you know, we might be able to hang around the wildcard race.
00:36Or do we know what's going to happen on the Cardinals this year?
00:39I think it's fool's gold with the Cardinals.
00:41I do.
00:43The one thing that could change that a little bit would be,
00:48I don't know what their expectations were going into the season with Jordan Walker,
00:53who they certainly had huge expectations two years ago and then last year.
00:57And then it kind of felt like this was it for him, you know?
01:01Like, we'll give him another shot, tinker with some more things, see if he can catch fire.
01:05And boy, has he caught fire, Donnie, or what?
01:08Like, if Jordan Walker is what they thought he was going to be several years ago,
01:12then that's another big bat in their lineup in a lineup that doesn't have a lot.
01:17They have Gorman.
01:18They have Burleson.
01:19I mean, Donnie, what are those guys going to be in July?
01:21On another team, right?
01:22Most likely.
01:23So if Weatherholt can hold Pat and if Walker can hold Pat,
01:29maybe it would be a little bit better than what you would have thought at the beginning of the season.
01:33But let's be honest.
01:34This is a very strange choice for Sunday night baseball.
01:38I mean, what did you think you were going to get?
01:40Maybe you thought you'd get Scooble or Framber on the other side.
01:43This is a yikes dog poo matchup here.
01:46No offense to the starting pitchers here.
01:48I saw Leahy pitch in the spring.
01:50I didn't think very much of him, but I'm okay with that because I know where the Cardinals are headed.
01:54Kyder Montero, I mean, there's a chance the Cardinals can hit the ball again tonight.
01:58He doesn't strike out a lot of guys either.
02:00So maybe we'll get a fun game tonight, but week two of the baseball season,
02:05and this is the prime matchup on NBC Peacock, I think, tonight too.
02:10Come on, Craig.
02:11You know, people would say, oh, no, you can't put on Yankees, Red Sox once again here.
02:15Yeah, well, you're going to get St. Louis and Detroit here early season at this point here in the temperatures.
02:19Let me just take a quick look at Detroit.
02:21Oh, yeah, Craig, 40 degrees at first pitch.
02:23We've got a 10-mile-out win blowing out to left field.
02:26Leahy versus Monteros, we just brought it up here.
02:29Favorite is Detroit.
02:30However, they're under a minus 150 price point here.
02:32Open up overnight around a minus 135, Craig.
02:34We're seeing as high as minus 140s, minus 145s in the marketplace,
02:38but eight out of every 10 Moneyline tickets I'm seeing coming in on Detroit,
02:41people just not believing here in St. Louis at this point now.
02:45But if we are looking at the game as it lines up, Craig, you're right about this.
02:49Leahy last year, by the way, 363 batters that he faced in an 095 ISO and a 284 weighted on
02:55base percentage.
02:56Not a big strikeout guy, but on the early season, he's gotten lumped up here so far by left-handed
03:01batters.
03:02But if we go with Cotter Montero, again, talking about left-handed batters, he faced, Craig, 198 of those last
03:08year.
03:09How about a 229 ISO against and a weighted on base percentage of 374 and a K rate of only
03:1313%?
03:14Can the lefties do damage against the Cardinals?
03:17Am I crazy to say, flip that coin up there and just take the underdog in this game today?
03:22You could, man.
03:23Like, I don't like the Cardinals long-term, but I do think in this game it's possible.
03:27And again, I mean, Jordan Walker is one of the hottest hitters going now in the last few days.
03:32So if that's going to continue, then you certainly have a shot.
03:35On the side of Detroit, the one thing that I would say is at some point, Spencer Torkelson, at the
03:39end of the season, we're going to look up.
03:41He's going to have 30 home runs.
03:42He has none.
03:43So I would expect either tonight or tomorrow or the next day.
03:47I mean, this guy is a power hitter, and he's going to end up with 30 bombs.
03:51It is a little strange to me to see his numbers here in the early part of the year, but
03:55I think that will normalize.
03:57He was almost a guy that I picked to click tonight.
03:59I was very close on that, but he will get going soon.
04:03Now, because if you're a Cardinals fan tonight and this game was at home, Craig, what is it?
04:06The $20 ticket that gets you all you can each up to the ballpark regardless of your team wins or
04:10loses in a tree?
04:11It's like, that makes it a little bit more manageable.
04:13Like, you've got to see a bad baseball team in cold weather, but you're loading up on nachos, hot dogs,
04:18beverages, soft drinks, and all that good stuff.
04:20Maybe it makes it more palatable, but St. Louis in Detroit tonight for a cold temperature game.
04:25And again, that's not a great hitter's ballpark, to say the least.
04:28Now, the wind is blowing out double digits to left, but you're going to be making contact tonight, and it
04:32is going to be hurt in the hands.
04:33However, if you take a look at the lineup today, Kevin McGonigal, 25 at-bats, gets ready in the pitch.
04:38He's doing well.
04:39227 ISO, 407 weighted on-base percentage there, Craig, for the youngster.
04:43Yeah, we have a lot of rookies off to really good starts.
04:46I know it was scorching for a couple days, and now everyone is certainly waiting for that to normalize a
04:54little bit.
04:54But I do think that this rookie of the year market, when we talk about it coming up next on
04:59Polymarket, is certainly interesting,
05:00because I think you could have three or four guys in the league go right down to the wire here
05:05in the end.
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