00:00You know, it's pretty much seeing a lot of parity in baseball out of the gate here
00:04when you look at the divisions right now in baseball in the National American League.
00:08So let me take you to Tampa.
00:11The Rays end up taking the opening of that series against the Yankees.
00:14The Yankees got out to a great start.
00:16We'll talk about that a little bit later on here.
00:18But what do you like in this series here?
00:20You know, starting pitching is probably going to be a centerpiece here with this.
00:25Yankees and Rays in this weekend series, who do you like?
00:29Well, you know, yesterday's game was a good one.
00:32And the Rays always play the Yankees tough.
00:34When you got Max Fried on the mound, you know, you figure you're going to have a chance to win.
00:38The thing with the Yankees is that their batting has been so inconsistent.
00:42I don't think they've done a good enough job in getting the bats they need.
00:46And another thing I don't like with the Yankees is Aaron Boone messing with Ben Rice.
00:51The kid can hit.
00:52If there's a lefty on the mound, throw him in there.
00:55I mean, you got Goldschmidt there, I understand.
00:57But, you know, if you've got guys that can hit, get them in there, let them roll.
01:01You know, Ben Rice is an MVP candidate right now out of nowhere.
01:04And yet, you know, he sits versus most lefties still, where Aaron Boone said he's going to play more against
01:09lefties.
01:10So there's still some inconsistencies with the Yankees that I think need to be cleaned up.
01:14And, you know, they're hitting as well.
01:16Their pitching is ridiculous.
01:17And they have more reinforcements coming.
01:19They just got to get the hitting under control.
01:20And that doesn't necessarily mean getting, you know, hitters via trade or anything.
01:24That would help.
01:25But I think Aaron Boone messes with that lineup a little more than you should.
01:29How about in Baltimore?
01:30They made a lot of moves.
01:31They got to get a lot of young guys as core dudes that they're trying to build around by putting
01:36some of these free agents in.
01:37They got the Giants.
01:39Who do you like in this series this weekend?
01:41Yeah, I like the Orioles.
01:43I mean, the Giants are starting to hit.
01:44They got off to a really, really slow start with the bats.
01:47The thing with the Orioles is that their pitchers haven't come out of the gate very strong, but they're going
01:52to be fine.
01:53They have a very solid rotation there.
01:56It's just some of these guys haven't got out of the gate very quick.
02:00But I do like the Orioles at home.
02:02Their bats are starting to wake up.
02:04Gunnar Henderson now is tied for lead league and home runs.
02:07And he always does well early in the season, too.
02:10So it's nice to see that he's come out of the gate well after a slow start last season.
02:13I like the Orioles.
02:15How about the Padres this year?
02:18A lot of people are saying now that they're stopped spending money because they lost that television contract with Valley
02:24Sports.
02:25And so now all of a sudden you're seeing that pullback.
02:27I know they're going through a transition when it comes to ownership.
02:30Peter Seiler unfortunately died last year.
02:33Got Colorado.
02:35Are the Padres starting to come back to the pack now?
02:38Machado, Tatis, still got a lot of superstars on that baseball team.
02:42But, again, Colorado, San Diego this weekend.
02:45Who do you like?
02:46Yeah, I still have my doubts about the Padres popping in that division.
02:51I did make a big no bet on them to make the playoffs this year.
02:54I was looking to go under their win total.
02:57But their win total was right around 83.5 or so.
03:00So they could still clear that win total and miss the playoffs.
03:03Mason Miller is a big story.
03:04His Cy Young odds were 100-1, now down to 25-1.
03:09He's ridiculous.
03:10He's like Superman on the mound.
03:11We'll see how long that lasts.
03:13You know, relievers tend to, you know, have their days and have their hot streaks.
03:18You know, the Rockies have done pretty good.
03:21Their pitching has been pretty surprising.
03:24Whether that can continue, I don't know.
03:28This weekend, though, you've got to give the nod to the Padres.
03:30But you've got Tatis, who's, I don't think he's hit a home run yet.
03:33And there's a lot of issues there.
03:35And I don't see the Padres doing anything at the trade deadline because they're spending right now.
03:39You know, there's a pause button hit on it.
03:41So we'll see.
03:43And obviously, I can get a sense of a Dodger fan there a little bit here.
03:48Dodgers and Rangers.
03:50Hey, I saw Shohei Otani, his last outing.
03:54What was it?
03:54Six and a third.
03:55This guy's throwing BBs now.
03:57Is it me, or is he getting better and better and better every single time I tune on the television?
04:04Tommy, he's become appointment-setting TV.
04:07I mean, remember when Bonds used to come to the plate?
04:09You'd want to watch what Bonds would do.
04:11You know, people getting around him.
04:13Real quick here, in your opinion.
04:14I mean, Shohei Otani, is he getting better?
04:18Yeah, I think there's two sides to this.
04:20I think it's pretty obvious that he focused on making sure he was fully cranked to pitch this year, and
04:26it's showing.
04:27The bat, you know, he's still getting on base.
04:30The critique with him is if he's B-plus or A-batter, that's great because he's been A-plus the
04:36whole time, though.
04:37So I think with the bat, there's going to be a slight regression.
04:41But like I said, you're talking about an A-plus student getting an A.
04:45But the focus has been on pitching, and he's just getting better on the mound.
04:48It's pretty ridiculous.
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