00:00How can you not be romantic about winning a challenge, baby?
00:06All right, catchers off the schneid.
00:08It's about time.
00:10You talked about this last week, Bobby.
00:12You talked about the end of last week.
00:13How the Rangers did not have a single challenge won.
00:18I don't know that Jansen had put one in.
00:21I don't think he had.
00:23Yeah, so they hadn't even tried really challenging.
00:28And you get to the point of the season where they were dead last.
00:34They were dead last going into yesterday's game in terms of overall challenge percentage.
00:43It's a weird quirk.
00:45I was like, I don't know.
00:46Are they telling the catchers not to challenge because they had the fewest challenges of any team?
00:52You know, through nine games, they had not had one.
00:55We have catchers already in the double digits.
00:57Just two of them going into yesterday's game had 11-plus challenges on the season.
01:02Seems crazy high.
01:04The Twins are challenging at an ungodly rate.
01:07Going into last night, they had attempted 32 challenges, for crying out loud.
01:1232, and the Rangers had the fewest at 10.
01:15But last night, we get one.
01:17We get a challenge victory.
01:19Big off the schneid as they get the 2-1 victory over Seattle.
01:25Another day, the offense doesn't do a whole lot.
01:28Nope.
01:29Are you ready to concede or believe that last year they weren't unlucky?
01:38I know it's early, but they lost four straight.
01:41They've now scored nine runs over their last five games.
01:44And the absolute stinker against the Reds, obviously.
01:47So nine runs over their last five games.
01:51I need to go look.
01:55How many runs Wyatt Lankford is leaving on the table right now?
02:02Because Nimmo's getting on at a crazy rate.
02:05If Brandon Nimmo has a 440 on base in two months, I mean, they need to be much, much higher
02:13in the total run scored.
02:14Because that means he's getting on, and you've got your power guys coming up.
02:18That's just the reality of it.
02:19And if Wyatt Lankford and Seager, you know, because Seager, he's doing, he's, I mean, 270 is nothing, it's not,
02:26it's not bad.
02:27It feels like it's better to me.
02:28It does.
02:29Just because probably everyone else disappeared.
02:31Right, because he's sandwiched, you know, around Wyatt and then, you know, Peterson's two batters later.
02:36Yeah.
02:37You read that, what was it, how many in the last five games?
02:39Nine runs?
02:39Nine.
02:40It's four runs in the last 34 innings.
02:4236 innings is four full games.
02:44They're basically a run a game right now, the last four days.
02:47I'm sure that you guys gave Sandler a hard time, but I had to, I don't know why I gave
02:51Bobby the victory, I guess because it's the offseason.
02:54I did not, I did not give him a hard time.
02:56I let him, I let it completely go.
02:58Really?
02:58Didn't even reference it.
02:59Yeah, because Jared had texted last week, Bobby the Rangers, I don't know what they're going to end up being,
03:07but their offense isn't amazing.
03:11It has a way better structure and balance to it.
03:13Now, this is on March 31st.
03:15It's not amazing.
03:16It has a way better structure and balance.
03:19And I said, chill.
03:21I'm the one who wrote back.
03:22I said, it's early.
03:24Josh Young stinks right now.
03:26Berger will cool down.
03:27And injuries are still to come.
03:30The injuries have not happened yet, but the offense has cooled.
03:35Well, I mean, look, from a balance standpoint, you do have lefty, righty, lefty, righty, lefty.
03:40Top five.
03:41That's okay.
03:42You know, it's, if you could break those up at the top of your order and you don't allow for,
03:47you know, for the loogie to come in, that's great.
03:49I think a couple of the guys, I think Young has seen more pitches per at-bat than he was
03:53last year.
03:54I think Jock Early is on that, too.
03:57So, I mean, there's some of that there.
03:59Also, I'm just testing a new way of getting my satisfaction, Sean, which is everybody always expects me to rub
04:05it in.
04:06I'm trying the new one of just, I'm not going to rub it in.
04:08And then watching somebody get so, like, furious knowing that I'm thinking it.
04:12And then that they're the one admitting it.
04:14I kind of like this one.
04:15Their 20th in runs scored, they are 12th in average, which I'm surprised by.
04:20That is surprising.
04:20What do you think their team average is?
04:2312th in average, you said?
04:24Yeah.
04:26231.
04:28244.
04:28Good guess, Choppy.
04:30237.
04:32237 has you.
04:33What a jerk.
04:3312th.
04:34Almost top 10.
04:35I know.
04:35Not the American League in the sport.
04:37In the sport.
04:38We were, like, basically the same distance away in the guess.
04:41Who has the...
04:42Shut up.
04:43Price is right rules, baby.
04:44Who has the worst...
04:46What's the worst batting average in the league?
04:48Not who.
04:49What?
04:50The number?
04:50Yeah.
04:52202.
04:53This early on, I would imagine it could be pretty bad.
04:55We'll say 197.
04:58Good job, Bob.
04:59Woo!
05:00It's not 197.
05:02Damn it.
05:02188.
05:03Seattle.
05:04God.
05:05188.
05:06Seattle.
05:06I mean, he had done nothing until yesterday.
05:10What do you have, like, 15 strikeouts already in the game?
05:11And the leaders, the Dodgers, at 299.
05:14Of course the Dodgers are leading at 299.
05:17That's...
05:18The way the sport's gone, you know, average is not what they're looking for, but you still
05:23would love to have it.
05:24The league leader, the league average, the team leader last year on average was at what
05:29number?
05:30What do you think it was?
05:31Last year, the league average?
05:33Yeah, the leader.
05:34Oh, the team 259.
05:37265.
05:38265 led the sport.
05:40We looked this up last year at one point.
05:42That's sad, man.
05:42Led the sport!
05:44It's like 20 years ago, the Pirates had the worst...
05:46They were the worst hitting team in baseball or something.
05:48And if you took their average 20 years ago, last year I think it would have been like
05:5211th in Major League Baseball or something.
05:54Like, it's top third.
05:55So, we talked a little bit about Wyatt yesterday.
06:00No walks.
06:01Doesn't look like he has any idea what the strike is.
06:04He's sitting here.
06:05A small sample, but, you know, he's one for four on challenges.
06:11It's just like, this guy's got no idea what's going on right now.
06:14Second worst percentage.
06:16It's a bad sign.
06:17And the good news is Ronald Acuna also has a bad percentage.
06:20He's a proven hitter.
06:21Wyatt isn't hitting.
06:22He doesn't seem to know what a hit, what a strike is.
06:26Nice double yesterday that he had, which, I mean, you need him to get going.
06:32If he can get going, obviously with Nimmo batting ahead of him, that would change a lot.
06:37But if you had Wyatt as a dark horse MVP, it's not the best start for him at all.
06:44And they've got to get him going because if they don't, they really have no chance.
06:47They really have no chance.
06:48But DeGrom goes yesterday, five innings, and this was the third straight start.
06:53The Rangers have only gotten five innings out of their starter.
06:56You would like to get more.
06:57You're going to have your bullpen continuing to go four innings every single night.
07:01And now we've got another, another really good pitching matchup of Valdi and Kirby.
07:08Tonight, 7.05, 6.30 is your first pitch.
07:11Well, hopefully we bring in on our end, Nate costing me my hot gambling streak, and then
07:17the, what, 11 ERA to start the year?
07:20Yeah, high ERA to start the year.
07:23And then tomorrow you've got Gore and Brian Wu, and Wu is fantastic.
07:25Wu is one of those guys, they call him a pitcher's pitcher.
07:28You love to watch him pitch.
07:30If you love pitching, you're going to want to watch Wu tomorrow to wrap up the three-game
07:34set.
07:34But good matchup tonight with Valdi and with George Kirby.
07:38Now, let's get some good news.
07:42The Rangers are tied for fourth in the American League in terms of odds to win the pennant
07:48and represent the American League in the World Series.
07:51What?
07:52They're tied.
07:53From who?
07:54This is on ESPN.
07:55This is on ESPN.
07:57So it's from DraftKings.
07:58Fourth best odds in the American League?
08:00In the American League.
08:00So the best odds in the American League are the Yankees.
08:03They are three and a half to one.
08:05Seven and two.
08:07Seattle is next at four and a half to one.
08:09Four and seven.
08:11And then Toronto is next at seven to one.
08:16Four and six.
08:17They have the worst run differential.
08:19They got second worst run differential in the sport.
08:22Again, ten games in.
08:23They're minus 20.
08:24Yeah.
08:24I'm sorry.
08:25They're fifth.
08:25I left Detroit out.
08:26Detroit's at nine to one.
08:27Second worst run differential in the league.
08:31Who does?
08:32Toronto?
08:33Yes.
08:33So Detroit's at nine to one.
08:36And then tied for the fifth, Rangers-Astros-Red Sox at ten to one.
08:43So.
08:44Wait.
08:45Rangers who?
08:46Astros and Boston.
08:47Boston is still there at two and eight.
08:50And Boston can't.
08:50They can't score.
08:52And everyone is talking about, in Boston, the decision that they made to trade Devers in favor of Bregman.
09:01And then Bregman leaves a few months later after a one-year deal.
09:06They sign him a deal.
09:07And then he opts out.
09:08And he becomes a free agent.
09:10Was that about Bregman, though?
09:11Or wasn't that about they were kind of fed up with Devers?
09:13Well, they were fed up with Devers.
09:14But the fans are like, guys, you traded him away.
09:16He's a good hitter.
09:17This team can't hit.
09:18Yeah, they got Roman Anthony.
09:19And all they're going to do is pitch around Roman Anthony.
09:21Because who are you going to worry about?
09:23Duran?
09:23I mean, it's just not the same.
09:25But there they are.
09:26I mean, like, that's.
09:26I was surprised to see that.
09:28That they were just behind the Yankees, Seattle, Detroit, and Toronto.
09:35And that's it in the American League.
09:37So Vegas is absolutely buying into their first five-game stretch.
09:40And not the last five-game stretch where they.
09:43You said four runs in nine games?
09:45Nine runs in four games?
09:46Insane.
09:47Better hope that's not a ballpark issue.
09:50Oh.
09:51Well, it might be.
09:52Nine and five.
09:53Nine and five.
09:53It might be a ballpark issue.
09:55We talked about that yesterday where we don't know.
09:58We talked about Brett Boone.
09:59You guys.
10:02You're going to make me come in here and be a.
10:04I don't want to do this my first day back.
10:07You guys are making a lot of excuses.
10:09What do you mean?
10:10Hey, this is a talented lineup.
10:12You're making a lot of excuses.
10:15And you're making it overcomplicated.
10:17That's all I'm going to say for now.
10:18I don't want to deal with this.
10:19The rest of my daughter.
10:20I got to go home and deal with her.
10:21I can't be on Twitter next the rest of the day with a couple of psycho Ranger fans.
10:26So just stop making so many excuses.
10:27Well, and it's obviously a small sample size.
10:29Especially you.
10:31What would you say has been the biggest difference that you've seen from the road start to the home games
10:35then?
10:36Is it just that they're hitting differently?
10:37You don't think it's been ballpark factor at all?
10:39I don't particularly think it is either.
10:42I'm just saying.
10:42I don't know why it clicked all of a sudden when they got back here that they couldn't hit.
10:46But I don't know.
10:47Because they played five games.
10:49They played five games.
10:50And we had to play another five games.
10:52Like, I do think, you know, Evan Carter's fly ball in the Reds game, that's a home run in a
10:59lot of other places.
11:00Higgy, same thing.
11:02They had 33.
11:03The most amazing stat for this is what Sandler tweeted out about Jock.
11:08And then he said, I'm going to duck now.
11:10And his mentions blew up.
11:13Did you guys bring that up to him?
11:14Or did he bring it up yesterday?
11:15No.
11:16Well, I was hoping you could fill a little bit of time while I looked it up.
11:19Well, I got a stat for you.
11:20I haven't seen it.
11:20They had 33 balls in that series against the Reds.
11:24They were hitting 95 miles an hour or higher.
11:27They only got 11 hits out of them.
11:28Yeah.
11:29That is.
11:29That's a little unlucky.
11:32But also, are you hitting ground balls?
11:33Are you hitting fly balls?
11:34Are you hitting fly balls in this ballpark?
11:36Oh, here it is.
11:36Cal Raleigh's home run last night probably goes.
11:39It looked like it should have gone further than it did.
11:41This was two days ago.
11:43Jock, back in the starting lineup, he has zero hits.
11:46But he has the highest, hardest hit rate and highest exit velocity of any player with zero hits
11:52through eight games in Major League Baseball since 2015.
11:57Obviously needs that exit data to turn into hits, but worth considering.
12:00I'll duck for cover.
12:01Hang on.
12:02He got 101 responses to that stat on Jock Peterson.
12:06That's reminding me of you all.
12:07Not really, Bobby.
12:08He is Elliott Sandler Parks, man.
12:11Out here going like, Jalen Hurts has not thrown an interception during training camp practices.
12:15How many hitters had gone hitless in their first eight games in that time frame?
12:22Like two?
12:23Right.
12:23What is it, two?
12:24It's 2015.
12:27Now, depressing news.
12:30Watchability.
12:31How watchable is this team?
12:33They ranked all the 30 teams on how watchable they are.
12:36They used star power, young talent.
12:40Do they steal bases?
12:41Are they good defensively?
12:42Are they, you know, not striking out on offense?
12:44Pitchers going deep in the games.
12:46They were 20th.
12:4821st at 18 points.
12:50What a great job by the boys.
12:52It's just they got, obviously, they write up this Seager, Lankford, DeGrom, Evaldi.
12:56Give them a solid core of star power.
12:58Rating surprisingly well.
13:01The addition of Gore and Leiter give them more interesting rotations, but they can't hit.
13:07The reality is they can't hit.
13:09They get a half a point boost.
13:11They actually had to figure out a way to get them a boost for the Nolan Ryan bloody lip jersey
13:16giveaway.
13:17What?
13:18So they're given, it's called the bonus category.
13:21So anything they want.
13:21So they gave them a half point beside an Andrew McCutcheon, right?
13:25But they also gave them a one point for the Nolan Ryan bloody lip jersey giveaway.
13:30Otherwise, if they didn't have those two, they would be way back, like, further down the list.
13:35But they're basically saying bottom third in watchability.
13:38And when they're playing at this ballpark, they are bottom third in watchability.
13:42Better be good.
13:43You better be good.
13:43Because that's the old rule.
13:45If you're going to be bad, you better be fun.
13:48Yeah.
13:49Better hit.
13:49It's boring right now.
13:50That Red Series is zapped it out of me.
13:53There's like, how?
13:54Why is this happening?
13:55How is this happening?
13:56There's two ways to have it.
13:57I was bad on them.
13:58And we've had it both ways.
13:59The 2004-08 Rangers, which would score 15 runs and lose 16-15, or this?
14:08That.
14:09That's maddening in its own right.
14:11It is.
14:11Because it's four-hour games.
14:13But it's fun.
14:14Yeah.
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