00:00It's tough because they're only two games above .500,
00:02but they're starting to find a way that this is at home.
00:08Fans are going nuts yesterday.
00:10Rocchio has done this four times in the division this year.
00:14So does it have a touch of magic?
00:16It is a philosophical question.
00:17It's not exactly the 95 Indians.
00:21It's baseball.
00:22There's 162 games of it.
00:23Oh, I used the term, and I'm sorry.
00:25The sport has 162 games in it.
00:28It's nearly an everyday sport with about an off day a week, right?
00:31When you have six days a week where you're playing the game,
00:34there's plenty of opportunities for, quote-unquote, magic to happen.
00:38Just like there was magic earlier in the season, there was magic last night.
00:42Are they magical?
00:44You also have to consider the question comparing them to other teams
00:48that we've seen in the past, other Steven Vogt squads that we've seen in the past.
00:53Are they magical compared to last year's Guardians?
00:55Absolutely not.
00:56How could you say that?
00:58From 15 1⁄2 down to the top of the AL Central, that's magical.
01:02However, you could use that against them and go, well, are they magical?
01:05Or did Poltergeist just go to Detroit?
01:09Which one would you say?
01:10So I think it's a deep, deep philosophical sports question of, are they magical?
01:17Because when a baseball team takes a lead of a division or fights for a lead of a division or
01:23it has just a simple walk-off in the month of September,
01:27the magical conversation, not whether or not they are, we just say there's magic.
01:34They're magical.
01:36Well, especially because in the bottom, going into the bottom of the sixth, when they found themselves down, the bullpen
01:44gave up four runs in the inning,
01:45it felt like the division was over.
01:49Mm-hmm.
01:51Did you, were you not thinking that way, Owen?
01:53Were you not?
01:54Yeah.
01:54It felt like that's it.
01:56Now it's time to play for the wild card.
01:58When Yoho's out there giving up runs.
02:00Yeah.
02:02So are they, do you believe that they're magical this year?
02:05I don't know if you want to, you see, if I ask that question later in the show, are you
02:09more willing to say it?
02:10Because I don't know if you, nobody wants to sit there after a great win by, and Brian Rocchio walks
02:15it off, you come from behind.
02:17If you want to have a Foster Griffin conversation later in this segment, I think we can have a Foster
02:20Griffin conversation later in this segment.
02:21Are you more apt to say they are not magical later in the show?
02:27Like 9-20 after Jason Lloyd.
02:31Like, say we ask Jason, are they magical?
02:33After it sets in, it's like, all right, we're closer to the 1 o'clock first pitch today as we
02:40are from when the hit had happened.
02:43Are they magical?
02:44I don't know if I'd get the same answer from Tone at 9-20 as I would at 6-0
02:48-5.
02:48It's a yes or no.
02:49Like, do you feel like this team has magic in them, or is it just September magic and not October
02:54magic?
02:54Well, I'll tell you this.
02:55Is there a difference?
02:55Like, do you feel this team has what it takes to upset one of the teams ahead of them in
03:03the playoffs?
03:04This is what made, well, yeah, why wouldn't they?
03:06See, now you're talking magic.
03:07Well, like if they played the Rays, 91-59, if they played the Yankees, 88-63, if they played, you
03:14know, any of those, heck, Boston's 82-69.
03:17If they are matched up in a series with them, do you think they have what it takes to shock
03:22the world?
03:23Because everybody will be picking them to lose.
03:24Well, you are right, everybody would, but I would say you're top-end starting, because you would start in the
03:30first couple of games.
03:31If you were on a wild-card series or if you were in a divisional round series, wouldn't you start
03:36Gavin Williams and Parker Messick at the top?
03:38Yeah, I mean, it all depends on the route to get there.
03:39It depends on how the season stops, because you're probably going to take up the entire season to get to
03:43the postseason here.
03:44You got, what, two weeks left to go in the season?
03:47Just under two weeks left to go in the season.
03:48You only got four home games left.
03:51Yeah, your pitching advantage could be, with your rotation, could be squandered if you are in desperation mode heading in.
03:58So you start a series.
04:00Think about this.
04:01You start a series.
04:03Under normal circumstances, I would imagine it would be Gavin Williams and Parker Messick.
04:08Yeah, probably just based off of age.
04:11Okay, yeah, exactly.
04:12Experience, bingo.
04:14Then Tanner Bybee.
04:15Tanner Bybee's not that terrible to throw out there in a game three, right?
04:19But if you were to have, like, well, we got to get this win.
04:22Gavin Williams, he went on seven days rest.
04:23Now he's going to go on short rest, because we got to get this win at the end of the
04:26year to get ourselves in.
04:27Which probably Gavin Williams would be more comfortable with on short rest than he would long rest there.
04:33I'm just guessing from what I've seen this year.
04:35Then I think you would go, okay, Tanner Bybee would start game one.
04:38You don't want to give away game one.
04:40But then you'd probably feel pretty strong about two and three.
04:42Except it would probably be Parker Messick, then Gavin Williams in two and three.
04:46See, there you go.
04:47We're talking in a wild card.
04:48We're talking in a wild card series, yes.
04:51Yeah, because I think Vote would trust Foster Griffin, too.
04:55I do think he would have a say at the third starting pitcher.
04:59Now he...
05:00Would the fans trust him?
05:01There you go.
05:03There's the conversation.
05:03As we've seen a lot in the last three years, what Vote trusts and what the fans trust are two
05:09different things.
05:09Oh, they are certainly two different things.
05:11I mean, based on what we've seen from him, we've only had him for, you know, how many starts.
05:16And it hasn't been great since he's been here.
05:19No, it hasn't.
05:19So I don't think fans would be nearly as trusting into him.
05:24It hasn't been horrific.
05:26It just hasn't been like...
05:28It's a bad comparison.
05:30Like, Andrew Miller came here halfway through, and it was his city for that season.
05:34And then later on...
05:36You looked at the record coming in, and it doesn't seem that we got that same guy that was in
05:41Washington.
05:42No.
05:42Record-wise, right?
05:43Just based off of...
05:44Because who really knew Foster Griffin before he came to Cleveland?
05:48He just knew he was an all-star.
05:49Yeah.
05:49Yeah.
05:50That's about it.
05:52And, you know, you had mentioned what some people in D.C. were trying to say to you.
05:56Like, ah, you know, maybe his best days are behind him this year.
06:01Because weren't the starts leading up to the trade not that great?
06:05The last three.
06:06The last three.
06:07Yeah.
06:07And now he's doubled his ERA in Cleveland to what it was in Washington.
06:11Okay, because you had kind of warned everybody, like, hey, it's exciting to go out and get guys, but...
06:17And then, you know, they started losing baseball games, so then people...
06:20I think people were looking for reasons to check out, which then would bring you back to the conversation of,
06:25if you're looking for reasons to check out, because there for a moment in the month of August, it was
06:29not very good.
06:30And so if you're looking for reasons to do it, then maybe, and then, yeah, the magic is there.
06:35Last night was a tremendous win, don't get me wrong.
06:38And I got to tell you, there is a feeling, and it has nothing to do...
06:41Like, nobody in baseball heaven is looking down saying, well, if Anthony starts saying good things about the Guardians,
06:48I'm going to spike them, and they're going to lose.
06:50Nobody is sitting up there in baseball heaven saying the same thing about me or Owen or anybody else.
06:55But it does feel like every time...
06:58Like, there's been two separate occasions this year.
07:00I was thinking about this yesterday driving over to football practice, because I was listening to Nick Padone and Jonathan
07:05yesterday.
07:06And I was thinking about this on the way over to football practice.
07:09I've talked about them being an ALCS type of team twice.
07:13And any time I've thought about them being an ALCS type of team, which I'm not the only one who
07:18thought about it at those times,
07:19it was followed by, like, a losing streak.
07:21Like a three-game, just flat out, or, you know, losing two out of three, and they score, like, one
07:29run in 16 innings.
07:30Like, it's just this flat feeling.
07:33And I think that's really indicative, not of luck.
07:36I think that's indicative of the type of season that they've had.
07:39Is it not?
07:40Like, I don't know.
07:41I don't think I didn't need to say any of those things or say any of those things for those
07:45things to happen.
07:46Make sense to you, Tone?
07:48So what type of team are they?
07:50I think that that's, I think, the hardest thing about this team to try to project anything,
07:54is they just seem to be a, you know, win two series, lose two series, win two games, lose two
08:01games.
08:01Like, there is really no pattern other than they're up and down, and they're just kind of hanging in there.
08:07And you're using their past regular season success to say, well, they're going to be able to hang on.
08:14And this would be...
08:15Even though there's a lot of different players that have been on those teams.
08:17See, because of their history, I feel like I should be, like, a Bills fan.
08:23Like, I think if we were WGR and we talked about the Bills, when you get to the postseason,
08:28I would imagine they're on pins and needles at all times.
08:33Terrified of the game that's ahead of them, considering the expectations that are there for them.
08:38However, I don't know.
08:40With the way this season has gone, I'd probably feel as free and easy as I felt in a long
08:43time.
08:44Last year, I felt pretty free and easy of it, but they were a massive disappointment until things started getting
08:49going.
08:49You're feeling free and easy because the expectations aren't there?
08:52I don't think, like, you brought it up.
08:54Nobody would take them against the Rays outside of Cleveland.
08:56Nobody would take them against the Yankees outside of Cleveland.
08:58I don't even think in Cleveland people would take them against the Rays.
09:00And I think that that's part of it where it's like, okay, we're kind of free and easy.
09:03It's been this up-and-down middling year.
09:05Yes?
09:06Well, you were asking Magic right earlier, and so I ran some numbers here.
09:11The last 10 seasons, they've had 64 walk-offs.
09:14They have eight this year.
09:15Eight walk-offs this year.
09:17They had nine last year.
09:18They average right around six.
09:19It looks like six almost every year.
09:22Their down year was 2020.
09:23They only played 60 games.
09:24They had four walk-offs in that year.
09:26I mean, is it Magic if you do it consistently?
09:30If we've built our roster in such a way that we're never going to go out and run away with
09:36things?
09:36Games are always going to be close.
09:37If they have eight and 162 and they have four and 60, that's kind of the same percentage.
09:43Yeah.
09:43And how many of those walk-offs are in extra innings?
09:45Because, as we know, extra innings are built a little differently this year.
09:49This year is what I can give you.
09:50They have three this year in extra innings.
09:53Five in the ninth.
09:55Yeah, I mean.
09:56So you're disproving the Magic notion.
09:58Well, it's not that it's Magic.
10:00It's the term that I hate the most, but it's guards ball, right?
10:04Like, that's what they built themselves.
10:06Well, it's just, if it was any other team, I would poo-poo it.
10:12But this is the way that the whole thing is structured.
10:16It's go find farmhands.
10:18Just draft as many shortstops as you can.
10:21They seem to be the most athletic.
10:23They're the quarterbacks, right?
10:24Get them on the field somewhere.
10:26Get the right guys to swing the bat at the right time.
10:30Cycle through them.
10:31When they wash out, wave them, get the next guy up here.
10:35And they've done that for, since Francona got here in 2013.
10:40That's been the model.
10:41Yes, it has.
10:42And it's, I mean, honestly.
10:44And they haven't been pitching.
10:44I know they haven't.
10:45And really, the pitching's been the down spot of the year.
10:49Especially the relief pitching.
10:51Has been underwhelming compared to what we've had in seasons past.
10:55They haven't won the World Series, but they've been a very competitive franchise.
10:58And they've been very successful because of that outlook.
11:02Like, you wouldn't, if things continue the way they are, you wouldn't change anything about where the Guardians are.
11:07Now, if there is a cap.
11:08They're the most successful, or maybe tied with Tampa, most successful non-World Series competing franchise in Major League Baseball.
11:16And that's, and that's the whole issue that I have with the whole, I got to draw this back to
11:21the opening segment yesterday.
11:23Like, who do we always compare when we compare football?
11:25Who do we always compare it to?
11:27I know I just felt like, I was like, well, the Bills going to the postseason.
11:29But you always compare them to the Steelers.
11:32When you have the three teams in the city, and I understand that one cause is considerably more heartache than
11:38the other two.
11:38Probably, combined, it's not even close.
11:43You know, when you say, well, they always play good enough to get me upset.
11:47They play good enough to care, and they play good enough just to make you mad at the end of
11:51the season that, you know, more was not done.
11:55I get that you want to really go for it, and part of going for it is the T word.
12:01But also, I don't have to deal with videos of people saying that they're not Browns fans anymore, or Guardians
12:07fans anymore, I should say, like they do with the Browns.
12:10Like, you don't have to deal with that.
12:12And I do think that says something about consistency.
12:15Like, consistency, I still think, is a good thing.
12:18I don't think, yeah, you can get bored by 8-8.
12:21You can get bored by 80-2 and 80, and making the division every year, winning the division every year,
12:27and just getting bounced in the either ALDS, maybe you get to an ALCS, things like that.
12:32I understand that that can go and get a little bit old at times, but it's still a better baseline
12:37than what a lot of teams deal with.
12:39Like, you had Seattle.
12:40They didn't make the postseason for, what, 21 years before they finally cracked it, like last year?
12:45Like, you have these teams that go through these droughts, and it's like, man, it's not that they don't care.
12:50It's that they're mad at them.
12:52They stop caring, and then they're mad at them.
12:54Anytime anybody says that they're like, well, I'm not a big Guardians fan anymore, either they're still hung up on
12:59the name, or they don't like the way that baseball is organized.
13:03They don't like the way that there's no salary cap in the structure of the game.
13:06It's not a Guardians issue.
13:08No.
13:08Because they're a successful franchise.
13:09They just feel that they don't have a chance.
13:11Well, they've had some nice crowds here down the stretch.
13:13They had another 20-some thousand last night, and it felt like the electricity was there.
13:18Just in watching that game.
13:20We've made plans to go today, and had no plans before the other day, and now we're making it a
13:26priority.
13:27We get one more day game here that's a weekday game.
13:30It's the beauty of the $50 a month ticket.
13:32Yeah.
13:33It's one of the greatest ideas they've ever had.
13:35Like, I think any sports team of years.
13:36It's $59 now.
13:37It's $59 a month.
13:38I mean, after taxes.
13:40Well, you think about it.
13:40How many do you guys get?
13:41You guys get two or three or four?
13:43We get three.
13:43You get three of them.
13:44Well, that's...
13:45And then, well, you know, when we take more kids, we buy an extra one or an extra ticket,
13:49whatever.
13:50But, yeah.
13:51No one has a lot of kids, everybody.
13:53He has many.
13:54I only love two at a time, so...
13:56He loves the Guardians, and he loves them more than you do, because he has...
14:00Rokeo can stay in my house any day.
14:01That's a good point.
14:02Did you see the expected batting average of that hit off the bat?
14:07What was it?
14:08In the ninth, it was .50, but basically, that's supposed to be a pretty routine catch.
14:15Really?
14:15Oh.
14:15Yeah.
14:16But the route that he took, plus he was shallow and shaded towards center.
14:22He looked like he was taking the scenic route to it, didn't he?
14:25Well, think about early in the game, Adele.
14:27Adele took some wild routes early in the game.
14:30Made up for it a little bit later in the game, too.
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