00:00First time you can truly look at the standings page in the New York Post and the California Post
00:05and make a true judgment, and also simultaneously appropriately look into the crystal ball.
00:11So, in that spirit, we present to you our first annual Shine 9 Baseball Fit Check.
00:28The best story in baseball, the Atlanta Braves.
00:32I want to make sure we give the Atlanta Braves their due.
00:3737-19.
00:39And the way the Atlanta Braves were able to take care of business a couple of weeks ago in L
00:44.A.,
00:44we made a big deal about that series.
00:46We had Dylan Hernandez from the California Post on Shine Time.
00:49It's incredible.
00:51And they won that series.
00:52And Atlanta, I think, has another gear attached to them.
00:57I don't think there's any question about that.
00:59When you take a look at Strider, and if he hits his stride down the stretch of the season,
01:05Acuna obviously has to stay healthy.
01:07But this team is not a fluke in any way, shape, or form.
01:11Best story in the first eight weeks of the baseball season, and I subscribe to this, right?
01:16The first time you check to see the standings in Major League Baseball, the week after Memorial Day.
01:25And I think the Braves have staying power.
01:27I absolutely believe that.
01:29Walt Weiss, Manager of the Year in the National League.
01:32No question about that.
01:33Sales don't pitch in like an ace.
01:35I think Olsen, you can make a case for him.
01:37Matty Olsen as the leader in the clubhouse for the MVP in the National League.
01:41I think the best story in baseball, the Atlanta Braves.
01:45Number two, no one's been in the Dodgers.
01:48Think about all the issues in L.A.
01:51Things we've talked about night in, night out, day in, day out on Chi-Time.
01:56The injuries, the slumps.
01:58Mookie was hurt for a significant period of time.
02:00Freddie Freeman was in a funk.
02:02Shohei had that time frame where he couldn't hit with any kind of authority.
02:07The power numbers were down.
02:09Everybody's hurt.
02:09It's like R.E.M. was singing about the Dodgers rotation.
02:12And they're pitching.
02:13Diaz is out.
02:14And obviously, Glasnow and Snell.
02:17And the L.A. Dodgers are in first place in the NL West.
02:22The Dodgers have a run differential of plus 162, the best in the National League.
02:28The L.A. Dodgers have a brilliant manager.
02:30They have Shohei Otani, who's not going to let him down.
02:33No one is going to beat the L.A. Dodgers.
02:35If you're going to grade on a curve and you grade him, let's say, as a B plus right now
02:41when you check the standings page for the first time, it means it's going to eventually
02:45be an A, A minus, A plus.
02:47I do think it's important for Los Angeles to ultimately get, you don't need necessarily
02:52the one seed, but a buy, one or two, because they are a little bit long in the tooth.
02:57And I think that that matters in terms of injuries.
02:59But the Dodgers, what an unbelievable start to the season, even when they were scuffling
03:05a little bit, just absolutely off the charts.
03:08Number three, obsessed with the NL Central.
03:10Still like the Pirates to win it.
03:12But how about the fact that every single team in this division is above 500?
03:15This is so much fun to watch.
03:17And I love watching the Reds.
03:18And I love watching the Cardinals and their ability to overachieve.
03:22The only team that I think doesn't have staying power is St. Louis.
03:25How about the Cubbies?
03:26They've had a 10-game winning streak, 10-game losing streak.
03:29I still think with Skeens, Pirates, absolutely the team to beat.
03:34But the Milwaukee Brewers, listen, they keep making me look like a horse's ass.
03:40They just do.
03:42Miz is unbelievable.
03:43They're a pitching factory.
03:44Patty Murphy's unbelievable.
03:46He would be number two behind Walt Weiss to me for the National League Manager of the
03:50Year.
03:50It's an honor.
03:52The Brewers with Miz, that's a team in a short series that can give Los Angeles
03:56some fits.
03:57I am all in here on the NL Central.
04:01This division's unbelievable.
04:03I hope they get two, three teams in.
04:05I think that they will eventually.
04:06And I'm still picking the Pittsburgh Pirates as the team that will eventually, they're
04:11last right now, eventually win this division.
04:14Number four, don't sleep with the Phillies.
04:1629 and 27, 20 and 8 under Don Mattingly.
04:19Give Dave Dombrowski a lot of credit.
04:21He fired Rob Thompson.
04:23This is something at the end of the day that the Mets should have done with Carlos Mendoza.
04:27David Stearns failed.
04:28And the Philadelphia Phillies did not.
04:31They saw a problem and fixed the problem.
04:33And Donnie Baseball's unbelievable.
04:34And you take a look at Christopher Sanchez.
04:37He's been untouchable.
04:3844 and two-thirds scoreless in the month of May.
04:41He hasn't given up a run since the NFL draft.
04:44He's unbelievable.
04:46Harper's incredible.
04:47Schwarber hitting bombs left and right.
04:49Phillies are making the playoffs.
04:50Wheeler is back and pitching unbelievable.
04:53I think the Philadelphia Phillies are going to make the playoffs.
04:57I think they're eight games out right now for the division.
05:00Would it be surprised by the All-Star break if they cut that in half to four?
05:05Number five, in terms of our check of the standings page,
05:10the Mets are the NL's biggest embarrassment.
05:13Fourteen games at a first.
05:15They have zero fundamentals.
05:17This team is so fundamentally unsound, they're impossible to watch.
05:21There's no feel.
05:23There's no clue.
05:24There are no good vibes.
05:26The defense stinks.
05:28The back end of the rotation stinks.
05:30The manager's terrible.
05:31The general manager's terrible.
05:33The bottom of the order is scuffling left and right.
05:35The plan in the bullpen was terrible.
05:38The Mets are dead.
05:39No team in the history of baseball has had a losing streak as long as the Mets did earlier
05:42in the season, 12, and find a way to make the playoffs.
05:45I mean, 14 games out of first and no hope inside.
05:49Bag it, Mets.
05:51The biggest embarrassment in baseball, the Boston Red Sox, 23-31.
05:55This team is a disgrace.
05:57I feel terrible for the Red Sox fan.
05:59You guys deserve so much more.
06:01You deserve so much better.
06:02The Boston Red Sox are just poorly owned, poorly constructed.
06:06I mean, John Henry has no idea what the hell he's doing.
06:10It's absolutely awful when you look at the way that they handled Bregman and Devers and
06:16what transpired with Alex Cora, who should have never been fired.
06:19Lineup is awful.
06:20The pitching has not lived up.
06:22The Boston Red Sox are on a road to nowhere.
06:25A lot of teams are in the conversation for this.
06:27We can talk Orioles, we can talk Giants, we can talk Mets, Tigers.
06:30I didn't like the Tigers before the season, but they have been dreadful.
06:33The biggest disappointment in baseball, biggest embarrassment in baseball, the Boston Red Sox.
06:38Number seven, the American League sticks.
06:41Only four teams over .500.
06:43I still think the best ball lies ahead for the Mariners and the Rangers.
06:48They need to ultimately wake up.
06:51I think the best ball lies ahead for the Blue Jays.
06:54Wouldn't be surprised if we see the Blue Jays and the Rangers and the Mariners all make
07:01the playoffs when it's all said and done.
07:03But it leads us to number eight.
07:05Yankees are winning the American League.
07:07Rays have come back down to earth.
07:09Rays now have lost four in a row.
07:10I don't think Tampa's even going to make the playoffs.
07:13I mean, you know, the Cleveland Guardians are not real competition.
07:18You know, the A's are not real competition.
07:20The White Sox are not real competition.
07:22Cam's unbelievable.
07:24Gary Cole's unbelievable.
07:25Judge, not worried about the funk that he's been in.
07:28Bottom of the order.
07:29Needs to put the bat on the ball.
07:31No question about that.
07:32And Brian Cashman needs to make some trades for the back end of that bullpen.
07:37I want two to four new relievers for the Yankees.
07:40And number nine, look, you take a look at the standings page.
07:43Isolation Dodgers-Yankees.
07:45Big picture like we're doing.
07:47Nothing has changed for me.
07:48Dodgers-Yankees, my World Series pick.
07:52Dodgers and Yankees, two best teams.
07:54When I look at it now, objectively, when I watch, take a look at the games, the rotation's unbelievable.
08:00And I think we are on a delicious collision course when you look at it with the Yankees and the
08:07Dodgers playing in the fall classic.
08:10And that's going to be unbelievable for Major League Baseball.
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