00:00Our focus is going to be on those athletics.
00:01Craig, we've done a lot of shows so far this year.
00:04Hanging around first place for most of the season, it actually was the athletics.
00:07Now, we always said to ourselves, the Mariners, probably the better team,
00:10and we're waiting for the Rangers to wake up as well.
00:12The cream's going to rise to the top.
00:13But the good thing about teams in the West is you don't have to be playing great baseball,
00:16and you can still be in first place.
00:18Hence, the Mariners at 34 and 31.
00:20But the athletics sit at 30 and 34, lost three straight games heading into Sunday,
00:25three and seven, excuse me, in their last 10, waiting on those athletics.
00:30It's probably about what we thought they would be, and still only three and a half games back.
00:34But it feels like, I don't know if they're going to catch back up to the leaders here, per se.
00:38Or catch back up to 500.
00:40I think they've probably played their best baseball so far.
00:44Thursday, they had a win in their grasp against the Cubs.
00:46It could have been a sweep.
00:48And then Pete Crow Armstrong and some others led them back, and they lost seven to six.
00:52And they're getting clobbered by Houston this weekend.
00:55So, look, the A's, what can we say that's good about them?
00:58It looks like they're making progress.
01:00I think that that's fair.
01:01They have a couple of really strong hitters, maybe going to the All-Star game,
01:04and Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeleers.
01:06Their pitching to me, Donnie, is probably not that good,
01:09and they're probably not going to invest in that while they're playing in that ballpark.
01:11It doesn't really make a lot of sense in Sacramento.
01:13So, at some point, and I don't know if it's next year, Donnie,
01:18but you're going to see this from them when they get closer to moving into Las Vegas
01:21and that new stadium, they're going to have to build a lot more goodwill
01:25than what they've done and start to fight,
01:27because you can't open up a brand-new stadium in Las Vegas
01:30with a team that's going to be winning 72 games and losing 90.
01:34So, this is probably not the year for them to move forward a little bit,
01:38but if they ended up winning somewhere between 70 and 75 games a season,
01:43which they're certainly on track for,
01:44then I think that that's somewhat of progress for them.
01:46Right now, I think their pace is for about 75, which isn't bad.
01:50I'll tell you what is interesting about the A's, too,
01:52with that whole move down to Vegas.
01:53You saw, again, with a franchise that hasn't been very successful
01:56for, let's just say, the past 25 years,
01:58the Oakland Raiders when they moved to Vegas.
02:01You almost get that imprint right away, Craig.
02:03It's like, okay, we might be bad, but that is a destination city
02:06for every other fan base to come in, and no matter what,
02:08we're going to be popular because that stadium is going to be filled.
02:11Like, the athletics throughout their tenure in Oakland,
02:13even way back, they weren't always fantastic in attendance,
02:16but we didn't have the hatred from the fan base towards ownership
02:20and then eventually saying, let's have 1,000 people in the ballpark,
02:23and they eventually move.
02:24I'm interested to see if you do have that same thing, Craig,
02:26like, hey, you know what?
02:27Let's plan a vacation.
02:28Phillies fans, yeah, we're going to go to Vegas.
02:29If athletics are bad, they'll still be able to fill up that ballpark,
02:32and I just want to see what that ballpark actually does look like
02:35when it's completed.
02:36A lot of energy down there on that old side.
02:38I think it was the Tropicana that they knocked down.
02:40I want to say, it's getting up there.
02:41You got the beams in place, and a lot of stuff is going underway,
02:44so fun to take a look at here.
02:45But, Craig, College World Series, Super Regionals going down.
02:50Sometimes I can't even keep up here.
02:51Who's doing what?
02:52I know you're a Gators fan.
02:53Me, I sort of check in on Miami.
02:55Look, Miami used to be really good in college baseball.
02:58Not so much anymore.
02:59But he's been following along, Craig, here.
03:01I know your son's big into baseball,
03:02and maybe you're going to start to take some of those trips out there
03:05to Florida, to Miami, to Alabama.
03:08Have you been keeping an eye on the College World Series at all?
03:10I mean, it's hard with all the baseball that I have.
03:13How much baseball, Donnie, is too much baseball?
03:15I mean, you think about it.
03:17So when the Marlins are here, I'm there because I'm on that broadcast.
03:21And this summer, when they're not here,
03:23I'm somewhere else with my son while he's playing somewhere else.
03:27So last weekend, we were in Fort Myers,
03:31and we get there for a tournament, Fort Myers, Florida,
03:34and we go to a minor league game.
03:36So I guess the answer to your question is, Donnie,
03:38how do I even have time for this?
03:40So the only thing that I can unequivocally say
03:43is what's great about this year's Omaha,
03:47this year's College World Series,
03:48is that it's a lot of Cinderella stories coming out of it this year.
03:52That's the one thing.
03:53A lot of the major teams got knocked off
03:55even before they got to that point.
03:58So maybe potentially could it be Troy, West Virginia, Ole Miss,
04:02one of those teams that was a little bit of a surprise.
04:04Look, the end is always going to be great.
04:06There's always going to be great moments.
04:08And when it gets to the end, I'll probably watch.
04:10And I hate to disappoint people by saying,
04:11oh, I don't watch college baseball.
04:12It's not a matter of that.
04:13It's like my hands are just completely full.
04:16Like, there is not a weekend where I'm not involved in some baseball.
04:20For folks who are watching this show on Sunday,
04:23whenever it is, in all likelihood,
04:24I'm either in the car when you're watching right now,
04:27after on a replay somewhere,
04:29headed down to watch the Marlins play the Rays,
04:32or I'm headed back, or I'm at the stadium,
04:34and I'm getting ready for next week when the Marlins play Arizona.
04:38And then after they're done, I'm headed to West Palm Beach, Florida,
04:41because my son has two games next Thursday,
04:43one game next Friday, one game next Saturday,
04:45and then some sort of bracket game next Sunday.
04:48So, Donnie, I'm living it.
04:49I'm in it.
04:50Every single day.
04:51Sorry, College Baseball World Series.
04:53I'll catch you at the end.
04:54I'll catch you at the end.
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