00:00We started telling you this the last couple weeks, but you got to start paying attention to the Washington Nationals.
00:04We're going to get into it later in the show and do a segment because the attendance seems to be
00:09lagging.
00:10But they beat the Padres yesterday, second win in a row, took two out of three against the Padres.
00:16Another series win for the Nats.
00:18James Wood hit his 16th home run. Luis Garcia, who's been playing first base this year, hit his fifth home
00:23run.
00:24And Zach Littell's putting together a nice little season. He's up to five and four, went six innings.
00:29He's allowed just two earned runs. How about this? The catcher.
00:33We've talked a lot about their defensive issues.
00:36K-Bear Ruiz threw out three runners to end three innings.
00:41Very nice. Just mowing people down.
00:44Catcher throwing people out. You got Cade Cavalli on the mound tonight against Miami.
00:49Check your wildcard standings, Cakes.
00:52Why don't you take a look and see where the old Washington Nationals are right now in the wildcard standings.
00:58I understand it's June 1st.
01:00One game back.
01:01One back.
01:02Tied with the Reds, but also one game back.
01:04One back, EB.
01:05It's pretty impressive.
01:06Of a playoff spot.
01:07No, it's amazing.
01:07I get it. You still got June, July, August, September. It's a long ways to go.
01:11But they are now a couple games above .500.
01:15We just thought hovering close to .500 would be a big deal for this team.
01:20Two games above .500, the Washington Nationals are playing some good baseball.
01:25So, props to the Nats, and we'll see if they can get going.
01:29They face the Marlins next.
01:32I mean, is James Wood going to hit 40 dingers?
01:34Yes.
01:35I mean, he's on pace.
01:38I mean, I wouldn't be shocked if he hit 50.
01:41I mean, 50 might be a little out of reach, but 40, I mean, definitely seems very doable.
01:47What's his pace?
01:48Probably mid-40s.
01:49Got to look it up.
01:50Got 16 home runs.
01:51You've played 60 games.
01:54It's a third of the way.
01:55120.
01:56If you just double it, that's 32.
01:57He's on pace for about 45.
01:58He's a third of the way.
01:59Mid-40s.
02:00Gets a hot streak.
02:01Yeah.
02:02I'm not predicting he's going to hit 50, but I'm just saying it's not out of reach if he gets
02:07hot.
02:08So, 31-29 face the Marlins with Cavalli on the mound.
02:12Cavalli's been their best pitcher.
02:15And the Marlins aren't that good.
02:17If you do what you're supposed to do, I mean, by the end of the week, they might be holding
02:23a wild card spot, E.B.
02:24Well, now you're starting to put expectations on the team.
02:27I like watching them with zero expectations.
02:29We're 60 games in.
02:30I know.
02:30This isn't some one-month sample size.
02:33I'm just feeling like it's...
02:34They were on fire in May.
02:35I feel like we're free rolling.
02:37I just want to enjoy the free roll.
02:38I don't want to just put expectations.
02:40I mean, obviously, I'd love them to win every game, but I don't want to start counting series and stuff.
02:45Now, when we were talking about the Nationals last week and ownership, I know E.B. mentioned, well, they're not
02:53going to sell the team because of the lockout.
02:55Right.
02:56Over the weekend, I guess there's initial proposals that have come out.
03:06So, the players, they want a higher minimum salary.
03:14They want higher luxury tax thresholds.
03:18They want to expand their arbitration bonus.
03:23They want more money, right?
03:24Makes sense.
03:25The league, they want a strict cap and floor system similar to the NHL and a 50-50 revenue split
03:34with players.
03:36Bryce Harper, former National, of course, two-time MVP, who remains one of the most influential voices on the player's
03:43side, said he doesn't want to lose momentum.
03:49He said, if we can't lose the momentum as players, we can't lose that momentum as owners.
03:54So, wherever we're at, you have to come to an agreement before any of that happens because there's other things
03:59to do.
04:00So, do you think they can figure out a way where they get through the season and do not have
04:05a work stoppage?
04:06I mean, the obvious huge sticking point is a salary cap.
04:10Of course, the teams want a salary cap and the players are going to push hard against having that installed
04:17as part of the new collective bargaining agreement.
04:21But I think for the long-term health of the sport, if you want teams that can actually compete on
04:27a level playing field,
04:28you can't have some teams that are spending $330 million or more on payroll and others that are spending $50
04:34million.
04:35It's too big of a disparity.
04:37Harper makes a great point, though.
04:39It sucks because Major League Baseball, apparently, in recent years, they're up in attendance.
04:43They're up in international appeal for the source.
04:45They're up in revenue.
04:47So, you don't want to just, like, I kind of think, look, when we were growing up, it was kind
04:53of close.
04:53What was the most popular sport between baseball and the NFL?
04:56It's not even close now.
04:58I mean, nothing's close to the NFL.
05:00I think for us, it was baseball for us.
05:03I mean, they used to have Monday Night Baseball.
05:05Of course.
05:06Think about that.
05:07Yeah.
05:07I mean, I know that ESPN has different variations.
05:10No, but it was on a national scale.
05:11It's like we had four channels.
05:13It was on.
05:14It was a huge deal, and it's changed.
05:18And I do think part of that is because there's been so many work stoppages along the way.
05:22Oh, it won't hurt.
05:23It won't help them.
05:25But it just seems like it's inevitable.
05:27It'd be amazing if they could avoid it.
05:29Yeah, but the floor is a really good pitch by the owners because if you average, I think
05:34if you average out the payrolls with it, it's not that dissimilar from what it is now because
05:39you have all the teams like the Nationals, the Athletics, and all these bum teams or
05:44ownership groups that don't want to spend money, they have to spend out pay a lot more.
05:48So the players are going to have a hard time arguing that they're losing money because
05:52they're really not.
05:53You're just kind of spreading the money around.
05:54Maybe the middle-tier guys are going to lose money because the top-tier guys are still going
05:58to get paid, and now you're raising the salaries of all the men players, and so they're going
06:05to have a hard time saying, we're losing all this money.
06:07Well, really, they're not.
06:08It's just that it's being spread out differently.
06:10It's getting reallocated.
06:11Okay.
06:11I can see that.
06:13Hey, it's June 1st, and we heard that A.J.
06:16Brown was going to be traded on June 1st in the NFL.
06:21So, apparently, maybe in anticipation of all this, A.J.
06:26Brown has, for what it's worth, shut down his Twitter page.
06:29Oh, he has.
06:31Preemptive strike.
06:33So they say a trade agreement could be reported or announced at any time, can't be finalized
06:38until 4.01 p.m. today.
06:41I mean, isn't it a guarantee?
06:42And then it wouldn't become official until Tuesday.
06:45Yeah.
06:45Nobody believes he's going to be back with the Eagles for a fifth season.
06:50Most believe that he's going to be back with his first NFL head coach, Mike Vrabel, and
06:55go to the Patriots.
06:57More importantly to me, why was Iyuk trending yesterday on Twitter?
07:02I saw there was a new picture of him on a plane.
07:04Is that why?
07:06Are there any pictures or videos of him on a football field?
07:09I don't see any.
07:10Are there any of those pictures?
07:11At least he was circulating anywhere.
07:13We talked about it last week.
07:14Debo's putting out some good quality workout videos.
07:17Well, Iyuk just looks like a malcontent on a private plane.
07:23Yeah.
07:23I don't know.
07:24I didn't click on it.
07:26I couldn't understand it.
07:27If you saw he was trending, did you click on it?
07:29Yes.
07:29And then you just saw a picture of him?
07:31There was just a bunch of old stuff.
07:32But at some point yesterday, I did see a video of him in like gray sweats, kind of like slouching
07:39on a private jet somewhere.
07:42I don't know where it came from, but he was trending.
07:46Shador Sanders apparently is becoming the underdog in terms of who's going to be the starter in
07:54Cleveland.
07:55The latest reports are Deshaun Watson has a leg up on the quarterback competition, but
08:01the Browns haven't made their determination.
08:03Watson believes that Todd Munkin's offense, which has some concepts to the air raid out
08:08of college, which he has run in the past, he likes it, feels it to fit.
08:14So it will be interesting to see.
08:15Can you explain to me?
08:16Over the weekend, or maybe last week, towards the end of the week, they came out with the
08:20details of like the guys that were selling like the most jerseys or whatever, the licensing
08:25money, and Shador was right up there, right?
08:26Like $12 million.
08:28Does he get that?
08:29Did that go directly to him?
08:31Was that his share?
08:32Or is that just, they were just saying Shador Sanders, you know, sold more jerseys than anybody
08:39else?
08:39That, I don't know.
08:40But I don't think the money goes directly to him.
08:42I think it just goes into a giant pool that just gets divvied up.
08:45So he was just the biggest contributor because more people bought his jersey, but he's not
08:50getting $12 million extra.
08:51I wouldn't think so.
08:53I need clarification on how that works.
08:54But there's no way it's just spread out evenly.
08:57Like those players, like if I'm Shador Sanders, right?
09:00And everybody's buying my jersey, my share should be bigger than the third string offensive lineman
09:07who nobody buys that jersey.
09:09I'm pretty sure he got the $17 million.
09:11Yeah, I think he might.
09:13Dude, it's unbelievable.
09:15Why are so many people buying a Shador Sanders jersey?
09:18That blows my mind.
09:19He just became popular.
09:20Popular.
09:20He was very popular in college.
09:22He was a great college player.
09:23You know, he was, you know, got to start some games there in Cleveland.
09:28You know, he actually became an underdog.
09:30And his dad.
09:31I'm sure that's a big part of it.
09:34Super popular in college.
09:36And as we mentioned, the Western Conference Finals, you had Game 7.
09:41The Spurs upset the Oklahoma City Thunder.
09:45Wemby named the MVP of the Western Conference Finals.
09:49They will face the Knicks Game 1 Wednesday night.
09:53But the hockey starts before.
09:54The hockey's Tuesday.
09:56Tuesday in Carolina.
09:57I'm not going to watch that.
09:59Cakes is not rooting for Carolina.
10:01I am a lifelong Vegas Golden Knights fan.
10:04Vegas Golden Knights.
10:06Lifelong.
10:06Since they came into the league.
10:08Of course, big sports news here in Washington is the Wizards have the number one pick.
10:13We're now in June.
10:13That is the month of the draft.
10:15The draft is June 23rd and the 24th.
10:18More news on the NBA draft and what the Wizards might do and who they might select at number one.
10:24We'll get into that next here on the Junkies.
Comments