00:00saving some of their cash for Nats playoff tickets.
00:04They are currently the No. 3 wild card in the NL
00:08after a 7-3 win over the Kansas City Royals last night.
00:13Nats are now 38-35,
00:15marking the franchise's best record
00:17through the first 73 games since the 2018 season
00:22to set a new high in the year one of the Blake Butera era.
00:27It's also the first time since 2019
00:29the Nats are sitting three games above .500.
00:33They've won 7 out of 10.
00:35We talked about it yesterday.
00:36They've won 9 of their last 12 series.
00:40They've already got the first of the three-game series
00:42against Kansas City.
00:46They're just getting production from pretty much everybody.
00:50Who's heating up?
00:51Dylan Cruz.
00:52Did a three-run bomb yesterday.
00:54Dylan Cruz.
00:55Now, his average is still below .200.
00:58Understood.
00:59But I think he's got three bombs in his last six games.
01:02Yep.
01:02Something like that.
01:04Second within a week.
01:05James Wood is just having a bomb year.
01:08This is where James Wood ranks in some of the categories.
01:11He's No. 1 in runs scored.
01:13This is Major League Baseball.
01:14Not National League.
01:15This is Major League Baseball.
01:16Yep.
01:16He's tied for fourth in bombs.
01:18He's tied for four in walks.
01:21He's third in total bases.
01:24He's eight in slugging percentage.
01:26He's 11 in hits.
01:28Yep.
01:29Now, despite all that, I believe he's way down in the NL All-Star voting.
01:33He's like seven.
01:34But you Mets fans, you need to get out there and vote some more.
01:37Put some more votes out there for our guy James Wood.
01:40He's about 6,000 votes outside of the sixth spot.
01:43Yeah.
01:43And he's having a better year than most of the guys in front of him.
01:47Isn't Major League Baseball wacky, too, where you can vote a bunch for your guys for the
01:52All-Star team?
01:53Online, yeah.
01:53But you might be able to vote like 20 or more times per day.
01:56Dude, I remember as a kid, that would be a big deal.
01:58It's insane.
01:59I just voted for the first time today, so I got to keep doing it.
02:02I remember it was old school, though.
02:03You'd go to a game.
02:04I'm sure you guys remember.
02:05You'd go to a game.
02:06They'd pass out the things.
02:07Like a physical ballot.
02:07Yeah, and you'd punch the holes in it or whatever.
02:11So great.
02:11Did you ever get to do that, Valdez?
02:13Yeah, when you were a kid?
02:14Oh, yeah.
02:14The ushers would come around and pass out the things.
02:18It'd be so great.
02:19And you would fill it out.
02:20You'd vote for Cal.
02:21Vote for Eddie Murray.
02:22I would always compare my team against my brothers.
02:25Like, my team's sillier than yours.
02:26And then you hand it back to the usher.
02:28My team's all Orioles.
02:29How about yours?
02:31Now it's just whatever.
02:31I definitely did used to do that.
02:33Yeah, of course you did.
02:34Whatever bot program is better.
02:36Yeah.
02:36You know.
02:38Yeah, it sucks.
02:38But they've, I mean, they just keep scoring runs.
02:42You know, they have little streaks here and there where they're, you know, they score
02:45two, three, one like they did against the Marlins.
02:48But they bounce back with 14 the next time they, you know, they went out to Arizona.
02:52Put up seven yesterday.
02:55That's, I don't know what to think.
02:57Are they, I think they might stick around for, if not the entire season.
03:04Before the deadline, I think they're going to be in the mix.
03:06I don't think they're going to be seven, eight games out.
03:08I don't think they're going to go on some horrible losing streak.
03:10No.
03:11I mean, they might go through a losing streak, Jason, but I think they'll bounce back.
03:17Yeah, I just don't see them losing seven or eight in a row, which would kind of just,
03:21they would be dead in terms of the wild card.
03:23But they're just, their bats are just, they just play loose.
03:27They play free.
03:28They play fun.
03:29They're just, James Woods, one of the best leadoff hitters in baseball.
03:33They should give the hitting coach and his staff like merit raises because they've,
03:37they've done wonders with the offense and some of these guys hitting.
03:41It kind of, it kind of defies logic because, you know, I don't really recall a stretch where
03:47the bats have gone cold, right?
03:49Not for a long stretch.
03:52Not for a long stretch.
03:53Like I said, for three games, maybe four.
03:55But not like, not for over a week.
03:58No, I haven't.
03:59I can't remember the last time that happened.
04:00In their wins, since they took on the Diamondbacks on the West Coast road trip,
04:04they've scored 14, 6, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 7.
04:13Yeah.
04:14It's pretty remarkable.
04:15And one of their losses, they scored 10.
04:18The big collapse against the Giants.
04:20I mean, that's the most impressive part because, because that's, that's a, that's a game where
04:26it can really take the momentum out of, out of your sales after a loss like that.
04:31And then to be able to rebound and regroup after blowing a lead like that, that could,
04:38that could have easily, because drop said that that could have easily been kind of a season
04:41defining loss.
04:42Absolutely.
04:42Where, where it's a fork in the road and then all of a sudden you veer off and start
04:47playing, you know, how you expect.
04:49Right.
04:49Like you could lose like seven of eight easily.
04:52But I also think that, and I said it, I always say that the teams that we get off to
04:56a certain
04:56start, sometimes it just sets the tone.
04:57You believe you're that good.
04:59You know, sets the tone and you're 50 games in, 60 games in, you just believe you're that
05:03good.
05:04I guarantee they do.
05:05Yeah.
05:06I mean, they, I don't think they think it's a fluke.
05:09I mean, I don't think so.
05:09Atlanta's running away with the NL East.
05:12They're 46 and 25, but the Nats are kind of right there with Philly.
05:15Philly's only a game and a half ahead of them in the standings.
05:18Philly's 39 and 33.
05:20Nats are 38 and 35.
05:22Kind of surprising the Marlins are just two games back of, of the Nats.
05:27But I mean, they're, they're just right there in the mix.
05:30It's hugely impressive what Butera and Taboti have done.
05:35I 100% agree.
05:36And their starting pitching has been pretty damn good the last month.
05:41It started out very shaky.
05:43Bullpen is still shaky.
05:44But think about this.
05:46The Nats have 40 more runs, 40, than the Atlanta Braves.
05:51Now the Braves are a better team.
05:52They got a nine game lead.
05:53Right.
05:53On the Nats.
05:54Because they've got better pitching.
05:56Yeah, the Braves are giving up way less runs.
05:57They got better defense.
05:58Yeah.
05:58But think about the, the bats that the Braves have in their lineup.
06:02Olsen going to be an all-star.
06:04They've got Albies, stud.
06:06They've got Austin Riley.
06:07They've got, um, Michael Harris, probably going to be an all-star.
06:11They got Acuna, who's been kind of banged up this year.
06:14Drake Baldwin's a stud catcher.
06:15They got all kinds of bats.
06:17They've got 40 more runs scored.
06:18Mm-hmm.
06:1940.
06:20They've got nine more runs scored than Dodgers.
06:23And the Dodgers payroll's about a billion.
06:25Yeah, but the Braves have 107 run differential.
06:29Right.
06:29And the Nats have 17.
06:30No, that's what I'm saying.
06:31They've got a much better defense and better pitching.
06:33I get it.
06:34I'm just talking about the lineup.
06:35Well, they also have a massive payroll compared to the Nats, too.
06:38I know that.
06:39They're probably spending $200 million more on the on-field product.
06:42That's why it's so surprising that the Nats are leading the league in run scores.
06:47If they're still this way, come the deadline.
06:49I mean, you ask a Braves fan who Curtis Mead is?
06:52Yeah.
06:52They don't know who he is.
06:53They don't know he's Australian.
06:54Jason, would you give up a prospect or two, not one of your elite prospects, but a prospect
07:01or two, or maybe...
07:04Ride it out?
07:05Or, no, the other option, which I hadn't thought of, but I think it was Daugherty told us
07:11is an option.
07:11You bring one of your young guys up, maybe your starters, and you just have them act as
07:16a reliever for the second half of the season.
07:20One of your young guys, and instead of asking them to pitch five, six innings at the big league
07:23level, you ask them to pitch an inning or situational, and they add to your bullpen.
07:28They're young, though, but you're not asking them to do that much.
07:31I would like to get someone established.
07:33You'd rather do that?
07:34I'd rather give up something I have that's no guarantee to make the big league roster and
07:40get something established to help the bullpen, if not a starter.
07:44I don't know if they're going to go out and get a starter.
07:45I think they're going to probably...
07:46If they make any moves, it'll be to get bullpen help.
07:49But you don't think they'll bring up one of their prospects?
07:52They might.
07:52They might.
07:53I mean...
07:53Who's maybe a year away from really full-time contributing, but they could use him in pinch
07:59situations.
07:59We asked Taboney about that last week.
08:01Yeah, and he kind of said, yeah, it's possible.
08:04He said, yeah, we'll just have to see, and it's good to have that kind of problem, and
08:08I'm not dodging your question, but we'll just have to see.
08:12I went on to this...
08:14I can't remember who wrote this column.
08:16Matt Snyder, I believe, for CBS Sports, and he did the power rankings of Major League
08:24Baseball teams.
08:25Where does he have the Nats?
08:27Take a guess.
08:28He's got the Nats at 12.
08:30You nailed it.
08:32I'm silly.
08:32Baseball cakes knows.
08:33The Washington Nats.
08:34He had them at 12.
08:35Wow.
08:36That's pretty crazy.
08:38Now, look, a lot of it's based on...
08:40Well, it's what they're doing.
08:41...what their records are.
08:43What they're doing.
08:44But 12?
08:45Hey, they're performing.
08:47I mean, it's a pretty cool story.
08:49Their offense can't be stopped.
08:51Right.
08:52It's kind of the way you look at them at this point.
08:53And they're going to have two All-Stars, because Abrams is leading right now in voting
08:58for NL shortstops.
08:59James Wood will be an All-Star.
09:00Yeah.
09:01I don't know if he'll be a starter.
09:03I would love for him to be a starter.
09:04Yeah, let's vote him in as a starter.
09:05But, yeah, it's...
09:07Man, it's really cool.
09:08It's fun to watch.
09:09Dalen Lyle's been fun to watch.
09:10Is he a homegrown guy?
09:13Like, he's a guy that we drafted or whatever.
09:15What round did we draft him in?
09:16Do you have any idea?
09:17He was second.
09:17Oh, he was pretty high.
09:19Second or third.
09:20Okay.
09:20You'd have to go back and check.
09:21Uh-huh.
09:22Yeah.
09:23That was...
09:24They were drafted under Rizzo's guys.
09:26The Nats are fun.
09:26In the third wild card spot as we speak.
09:30Hopefully, they get their...
09:31Is it the fourth win in a row?
09:32Foster Griffin on the mound today.
09:34He's been...
09:35645 start.
09:36And he's been balling.
09:37Yep.
09:37He's been very good.
09:39All right.
09:39When we come back, we'll get back into the NBA draft.
09:41Tyler Metcalf, the founder of No Ceilings NBA.
09:45He's going to join us.
09:46We will talk about the draft, which is one week away.
Comments