00:00I found myself not being phased as much by this Guardians loss in the postseason
00:05as opposed to Saturday's loss by the Guardians in the postseason
00:09because at some point I was just like, well, you got seven hits in three games.
00:15I'm sorry, two games with three runs.
00:17Like, at some point you deserve to lose, you know?
00:20Well, yeah, I mean, that's kind of the theme.
00:21I think what everyone was scared of all season long is coming true for this Guardians team.
00:25We've seen them go through stretches where they have no offense.
00:28Even when it's going well, they don't have much of an offense.
00:30But we've seen them go through stretches with no offense,
00:32and that's obviously rearing its ugly head right now.
00:34Yeah, and it's interesting.
00:35Like, I get that there's just things that we do when your team loses
00:41and you feel like they should win.
00:42And the number one thing with a bullet is blame the coach.
00:46I've done that wrongly before in moments of emotion as well,
00:50but there was a lot of Steven Vogt anger and people calling last night a Steven Vogt loss.
00:56And we can haggle about pulling Gavin Williams when he did or leaving Sobrowski in too long,
01:02which I know Jake Murron was real hot about before the show and after last night's game.
01:07Jake Murron was really hot about that?
01:08Yeah, he really was.
01:09Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:09And I think his point was he hadn't heard anybody talk about leaving in Sobrowski an extra pitcher.
01:14And I think that's a valid – again, that's a valid criticism, but not why they lost.
01:19Like, that might have contributed to the loss.
01:21No, you lost because your offense is lost.
01:24You don't deserve to win those games.
01:25I thought the vote part of this was almost like a misdirection of sorts.
01:28It was like a red herring to not want to talk about the real and true part of this Guardians
01:32team
01:33that has failed them time and time again, and that's the idea that they just don't have enough offense.
01:36They never got enough power.
01:38That never came around.
01:3929th in runs, 30th in slugging in baseball, it never came around.
01:43But that – I mean, it's pretty simple.
01:44It's pretty cut and dry.
01:45It's not this pitching staff is the reason why you lose these games.
01:48It's always the bats, and it continued to be the bats.
01:50I always thought the Tito criticism in moments like this or in lost seasons was off.
01:55But the truth is, you could at least look at that and go, all right, well, that's a good season.
02:01That's a bad season from Tito, meaning like the team underperformed to our expectations.
02:05We're like a 500 team.
02:07But Steven Vogt, they've been in the playoffs all three years.
02:10Like, that's – in Cleveland, and I know nobody wants to hear this, that's the goal.
02:14The goal is to get into the tournament and then see what happens.
02:18And it hasn't worked out.
02:20I'm not saying anybody should like the fact it hasn't worked out.
02:23I've certainly not enjoyed most of the last two games.
02:26But if you're a small market manager and you're able to, with the youngest team in baseball
02:31and a bottom five payroll almost every year you've been here – no, actually, every year you've been here,
02:36one of the five youngest team and one of the five cheapest teams,
02:38if you're in the playoff tournament three straight times, I'm sorry, you're not the problem,
02:43even if, again, no manager is perfect and everybody can share some of the loss,
02:47even if the lion's share of the loss goes to the offense yesterday.
02:50Well, in real time watching the Gavin Williams decision, it was defensible then,
02:54and it's defensible now.
02:55He's at 98 pitches.
02:56I know some people are like, oh, he should have gone 110.
02:58They don't go 110 these days.
03:00They just don't.
03:00100 is the benchmark, and that's the number.
03:02If you want to use him for game five.
03:03Now, the alternative to this is, well, no, you take out Gavin – or, sorry,
03:07you put Gavin to 110, 115, and you nuke the possibility of him starting game five,
03:12but you do so in the idea that you have to, you must win game two.
03:16I just – I didn't think that was what you wanted to do there.
03:19I think you had to have Gavin out there for game five,
03:21and you should be able to trust Sbrowski at this point.
03:23I'm sorry, Sbrowski's been good enough this year.
03:25I can trust him in that moment.
03:27It didn't work out yesterday, but I can trust him.
03:29Yeah, and again, the bullpen's not why you lost.
03:31Pulling Gavin early isn't why you lost.
03:33The offense –
03:34The offense was it.
03:34And honestly, it's as simple as the first inning.
03:37You had them – you had their opener who had killed you this season on the ropes,
03:42and you had a run to show for it – sorry, two runs to show for it.
03:45That's –
03:45That you didn't even produce, though.
03:46That's the other side of this.
03:47Right there.
03:47It was just – it was from an error.
03:48They didn't – the Guardians didn't mass-produce that run.
03:51Now, I wonder if the conversation would be drastically different if Adele's home run
03:55or attempted home run just goes a little bit further.
03:58The ball off the wall, maybe we're talking a little bit differently, but it didn't.
04:01And so you have to live with what we have.
04:03And right now, we have zero offense, and that's a theme that we've had all season long.
04:07We're just in a weird spot where – and I understand the anger.
04:10I do.
04:11And I thought Ken and Anthony did a great job of leading off the show with that kind of
04:15– the right atmosphere of despair versus anger and anguish and all that stuff.
04:21I've become very quickly numb to this.
04:24Not that I don't care, but it's just like, well, when you waste Parker Messick
04:28and the start of Gavey in game one, and then you turn around and waste Gavin Williams in
04:33game two, that's your advantage.
04:35And somehow, your offense has turned their pitching staff into the advantage, and you
04:41haven't been able to conquer a good team, by the way, good White Sox team, but not a
04:45great White Sox team with your two aces.
04:48So, okay, that's just – that's how five-game series go.
04:53I mean, it's obviously –
04:54That's the flukishness that we talk about with shorter series.
04:56It's obviously maddening for fans watching, though, and I understand that frustration,
04:59but I feel like why half the fan base is livid and up in arms and angry, and the other
05:03half of the fan base is maybe taking your tone of it of like, all right, that is how
05:06that goes down sometimes, is the Guardians didn't invent new ways to lose.
05:10I always feel like fans – you get angry, you get upset when you invent new ways to lose,
05:15or you show a fan base something they haven't seen before, Parker Messick being great, or
05:19Gavin Williams being great.
05:20Hell, for a stretch, it was Tanner Bybee.
05:21Tanner Bybee couldn't buy a W to save his life, and part of that reason was they'd have
05:25these really nice outings that just got wasted.
05:27The Guardians fan is numb to a starting pitcher going six innings, throwing really strong
05:32stuff, having a bunch of strikeouts, and then not getting the payoff at the end of it.
05:37We're used to that.
05:37And here's the thing.
05:38Part of, I think, why I'm just like, well, that's the way she goes for right now.
05:43Part of that is because I do think there's a pathway to the offense being better in the
05:47future.
05:48You know, like, I look at this and I go, all right, this should be the worst version of
05:53Bazzana we have.
05:54This should be the worst version of Chase DeLauter.
05:57Like, those guys both have immense upside.
06:00You combine it with the fact that Hosey's clearly not healthy, and it's like, oh, a year
06:04from now, if everyone's healthy, that offense looks completely different, even if Kwon isn't
06:08here, depending on what happens this offseason with him.
06:10So, like, I guess maybe part of it's like, it's easier to accept this isn't your year
06:15when I don't look at this offense and say there's a flukish element to this.
06:20Like, I actually think they're going to get better the more experience these guys have
06:24and the longer you get with Joe Adele.
06:26Like, even Hanau, finding like an everyday role.
06:29Like, I think that he struggled down the stretch.
06:31In 2023, it was like, well, okay, this is kind of your year.
06:34You kind of got to make hay because Oscar Gonzalez is a fluke.
06:37So, but that's why I wanted the Adele home run so bad.
06:39We all obviously wanted it just to tie the game up, and it was what it was.
06:42But I wanted the Guardians to get rewarded for signing not a big bopper, but somebody
06:47with enough power like Adele has.
06:49And like, the fact that in the past month of the season, between Adele and between Lowe,
06:54they started to realize, like, oh, oh, it is cool when guys hit home runs when we acquire
06:58them at the deadline.
06:59I thought it was real momentum and a real positive thing.
07:02And something that they would, like, learn from, I don't know that they're going to get it.
07:07And I think that's some of the fear that Guardians fans have.
07:09It's like, even though they've been shown proof of concept, and they know, they know
07:13they have to hit more home runs.
07:15They know that their offense is killing them.
07:16They don't make the necessary moves.
07:18Are we ready for a silver lining?
07:21Am I going, are you going to be mad at me?
07:24Are our listeners going to be mad at me if I give you why?
07:28Today doesn't feel like a silver linings day, but I can't tell you how to operate.
07:31See, I guess my thing is, like, we've had, rightfully so, we've had eight hours of doom
07:36and gloom.
07:36And a lot of that is the proximity to the loss.
07:39Should we wait until the series is over?
07:40Because we do have, we do have two more starts for Messick, and then obviously Gavin Williams.
07:44I don't know what's going to happen for game three.
07:46Well, no, that's not going to work in my silver lining.
07:48Okay.
07:48My silver lining is exclusive to the next two games.
07:51Okay.
07:52Game three and game four exclusive.
07:53Game three and game four exclusively.
07:55In Chicago.
07:55In Chicago.
07:56And it's going to be, it's going to be a circus there.
08:00Their fans are over the moon.
08:02They were in our mentions yesterday, blowing us up about stuff.
08:04And rightfully so.
08:05That's what you get to do when your team comes in and steals home, home, home field advantage
08:09from you.
08:10Get those big sushi pops they sell at the rate.
08:12But let me ask you, do we know that it's truly home field advantage for the White Sox?
08:17Very good at home this year.
08:19It was also really good away from progressive field to Cleveland Guardians.
08:22Seven games above 500 on the road.
08:25Okay.
08:25They were a better team on the road than they were at home where they were just a 500 team.
08:30Maybe they need some of that windy city cooking.
08:32And all of a sudden, that offense comes alive.
08:36It's very thin, isn't it?
08:37That's a real stretch.
08:38It's a real thin.
08:38I'm trying, though.
08:39You are.
08:40I appreciate the offense.
08:41I don't like that face, Marcotch.
08:42Not your face, but the face you're making right now.
08:45That was a real stretch there.
08:46Hey, they're down 0-2.
08:48That was a big room yoga level stretch.
08:51Kobe Bryant.
08:51Okay.
08:52Are they seven games above 500 or not?
08:54What are they at the rate, then?
08:55What are they, Guardians, White Sox at the rate?
08:58I have no idea.
08:59I don't care.
09:00I just know away from progressive field, the Guardians are seven games above 500.
09:04Wouldn't that matter?
09:04Wouldn't that matter more than just playing on the road?
09:06It would matter.
09:07No.
09:07What do you think is happening at home for this team?
09:09Do you think we have too many distractions at home?
09:11Is that the idea?
09:12I think the women here are too good looking.
09:13Too many wives?
09:14Is that it?
09:14I think the women here are too good looking.
09:16We are, you know, the beautiful Midwestern women.
09:19I've heard that.
09:19Ohio women are better than everyone else.
09:22Everyone knows that.
09:23Yeah.
09:23Hot Cleveland.
09:23I've heard it.
09:23I think there's too many hot Clevelanders.
09:26And by the way, not just ladies.
09:28Fellas, give yourself a hand.
09:30A lot of hot Clevelanders right now.
09:31I think the Guardians are two.
09:32We're so sexy.
09:34We're two and four at Guaranteed Rate Field.
09:36Or the rate.
09:37See, also, by the way.
09:38I hate calling it Rate Field.
09:39It's just so awful.
09:40Yeah, it's just the White Sox Stadium.
09:42I get no money when I mention a corporate sponsorship for a baseball stadium.
09:45But I'm open to it.
09:46That's my take on it.
09:47I call it Huntington Bank.
09:49When they start paying me money, I'll start calling it Huntington Bank.
09:51And again, I am open to that.
09:52Yeah, no, me too.
09:53I can be bought.
09:54I can be bought.
09:54Especially by a bank.
09:55I got none of those naming rights.
09:57So I'll call it whatever the hell I want to call it.
09:59Okay.
09:59But maybe people in Chicago are also incredibly attractive, too.
10:03Yeah.
10:03I mean, I...
10:04I mean, people in the heartland, we're built a little bigger.
10:06We're corn-fed.
10:07But damn it, we're beautiful.
10:08Yeah, but the thing about Chicago is you could basically...
10:12Basically, like, every hot person from Iowa goes to Chicago.
10:15Every hot person from Wisconsin goes to...
10:17If you're the hottest person in your high school, you go to Chicago.
10:20If you're, like, from Wisconsin or Iowa...
10:22Where does the pool?
10:22Does Indiana do that, too?
10:23Indiana, same thing.
10:24Yeah, like, the hottest person from every high school...
10:27Or is it kind of like a weird...
10:29It's like some AM radio maps.
10:30If you went to a Big Ten school and you also were the hottest person at your high school,
10:34you then go to Chicago at some point in life.
10:36Good for Chicago.
10:36That's kind of how that works.
10:38We're all just too hot in the Midwest.
10:40That's all this really is.
