00:00You had a bit of a Sophie's Choice question about what Cleveland's sports fans would prefer this
00:07weekend. Well, it shouldn't really be that hard of a decision. I think for a lot of people online,
00:12we get clowned for even asking it. That's why we're not putting up a poll. But I know there
00:15are Browns fans out there that legitimately feel like if given the opportunity to choose between
00:19a win for the Browns this weekend, move to four and one, or a win for the Guardians on Saturday
00:25and have the Guardians advance to the LCS. And I need help. 21647400092 because I don't want to seem
00:30like I think there's Browns fans out there that would subscribe to the Browns win and then nobody
00:35call up and defend me here. I would take the Guardians. I don't want to speak for you yet
00:41because you said you might be surprising people, so I don't know what you're doing. I would assume
00:44Mark Koch is taking the Guardians. I think most people listening are taking the Guardians. But
00:47there are Browns fans out there that would choose going four and one. I'm very torn. I'm very,
00:52very, very, very, very torn on this because I'm the guy that yesterday talked about the importance
00:59of winning three straight games in the postseason, how impressive that is, as opposed to starting
01:04the season four and one. I don't, my confidence in the Guardians being able to make a run in the
01:12ALCS is, it's shattered right now. The Hosey thing is my glimmer of hope. But I mean,
01:18that's kind of what upsets this in an interesting way. If you think the Guardians are dead and buried
01:23going to the LCS, then why even bother going to the LCS? Well, I think it's myself. I would rather
01:28go and give it a chance. And I also think the LCS is a massive accomplishment. It kind of goes
01:32back
01:32to the idea of the Browns starting four and one is very impressive as is coming back down from
01:38O2 to win a five game series in the postseason. I want to win the ALDS. I don't know how
01:46much of a
01:47competitive series you're going to give. And a lot of it goes to, I just don't think you have
01:51the right mix of, of, of people. And I think with the Brown side of things, I think a very
01:58fun fall
01:59and into winter, I just have not experienced one of those in about three years. And I think that has
02:05massive implications to the future of Todd Munkin in Cleveland. I think that has massive implications to
02:12your, your, your organizational direction for these young guys learning to play in a winning
02:17environment. But you can still do all that at three and two. Yeah. And then you go into the
02:21Ravens game and maybe, maybe it's a different story, but that's, that's what makes it so it's
02:24what makes it interesting. And I like how you set it up because I, you took an approach to it
02:28that I
02:28like and appreciate. Like the LCS is not a given. In fact, most people would say you're going to lose
02:34to the Rays four and one 82% chance you make the playoffs four and one means something across the
02:40NFL. And there's a chance, there's a real chance that it's not even competitive in the ALCS. And I
02:46think that's, that's where my head is watching this team. Oh no, you don't want a Knicks Cavs
02:51thing happening. Yeah. I don't, I don't want them to get housed or honestly, it was the Yankees
02:55guardians from was a three years ago where we went in thinking, Hey, you got a real chance to do
03:01something. And I mean, it was Stanton and judge just run and train on you in that game, in those
03:08games. And now it's different. Cause I have a lot more respect for the Rays organization.
03:12And I just think the Yankees, I'm just so sick of the damn Yankees. You'll get pissed about the
03:17openers just the same way we're pissed about the openers with the white socks. They do that better
03:20than the better than the white socks do and more aggressively, but it's crazy to me that I am an,
03:25I'm an ardent guardians fan. I know you are a gigantic baseball fan. Yeah.
03:30I think now that we're talking about it, I think I'd take the win against the Jets on Sunday.
03:34I would, I think, I think four and one is such an incredible start to the season. It buys you
03:40so much more bandwidth for the next month afterwards. And this Browns team being interesting, like
03:47that is, that is gold. That is not just professionally great for us. I know there's like this, I've tried
03:54to shoot this down. You've tried, I think Lime, everybody's tried to shoot this down. People act
03:58like people in the media want the Browns to be bad because it's good for business. And it's like,
04:03I've seen the ratings when the Browns are awful and when they're phenomenal. And believe me,
04:09I want it to be phenomenal. And so there's the personal side of this, but it's just, I do think
04:14like at some point in the next three weeks, if the Browns keep winning, while there will still be
04:20people who say analytically, it's not this and not that, it's like, man, I think you're going to get
04:24people to really start to, to find some joy in this team. I think people are going to like Todd
04:29Munkin outside of Cleveland on top of it. Um, there's, yeah, no, I think I'm just going to go
04:35with the Browns. I really buy into this. All right. So it makes it more of a question than maybe
04:38I
04:38thought in my head. Cause I didn't think you'd go that route to one, six, four, seven, four to below
04:4292 though. But I need help from you guys, because if I'm going to sell this idea, I think if
04:45we put it
04:46up on a poll, I don't think people would look at it the way you, you presented it, which is
04:50if,
04:50if you think the ALCS is just dead and buried as is, then what is really making the ALCS means
04:55to
04:55you myself? I still want that. I want the ALCS. I want to be the final four. I think that
05:00that says
05:00something in baseball. If you're in the final four, I feel like the worst guardians fan in the world
05:04saying it. And again, we're, we're saying we want both to happen, but the genie says you get one.
05:09The genie says you get one win this weekend. You either choose Saturday or you choose Sunday.
05:13You can't get both because this is like a scantron test. You only get to pick one,
05:17you know, cause you go to four and one and then we still have some hope coming off of,
05:21all right, is Lamar going to be able to play in the Ravens game? And you start five and one
05:25and
05:25Jonathan, we're, I know, but you already said this game was a free roll though. No, no, no, it is.
05:30It is. Cause that's not, that's not implying free roll. No, the free roll part of it is I'm going
05:35to try not to be furious if they lose a game that should be competitive, right? Like I'm not going
05:39to
05:39try and put the cart before the horse in terms of my expectations. I still want this win.
05:44And I still think a win like four and one is just so hard to pick apart unless you're Aaron
05:50shots,
05:50unless you're one of the analytics guys that I just think like four and one's the spot where
05:55you're going to see, you know, even, even some of those fans that still aren't pleased with who's
06:01leading them to four and one. Uh, this is, there's something special. If I thought the, the guardians
06:06were going to win the ALCS. Oh, it wouldn't even be a conversation. If I thought they had a chance
06:11to win the world series, it wouldn't even be a conversation. I put the ALCS at about a 20%
06:15chance. I think that's generous. I think when Vegas comes out with their numbers, I think
06:20it'll showcase somewhere around a 20%. And honestly, at this point, it is, I don't know
06:24what you're giving out of Messick. I think last night should shake us. Remember guys, this
06:28is the most he's pitched and the deepest he's pitched into, uh, any moment in his career.
06:35Gavin 90% trust, but like, you know, there's still 90% trust. You're, you're still going
06:42to have to have either Espino and Cantelo or Bybee, uh, steal at least one game in there.
06:47Oh, definitely. No, there's going to have to be a lot that happens with this bullpen
06:50right now. That's before we talk about the offense. That's before we talk about the back
06:54end of the bullpen. Yep. Yep. Yep. And like, I just, I, the rays are really damn good guys.
06:59Nice. And, and also I'm going to have to choke down the vomit that is the junior Caminero
07:04talk for a full 10 days, uh, because that's the only thing that guardians fans want to
07:10talk about when they lose is the camera. When we, when we win suddenly that that's less
07:14of a conversation point. He has turned into one of the top three hitters in the American
07:17league. Bad traits happen. You can understand why people would bring it up. But I think the
07:23point is at some point you, you would have exhausted nobody. When they traded junior Caminero
07:27for Tobias Myers, uh, six years ago, there wasn't a single guardians fan who was like,
07:34what? Not Caminero. You didn't know who the hell he was. They didn't know who the hell
07:38he was getting MVP votes. And so it changes the story. So I should, but by the way, it's
07:42not just guardians fans. It's going to be a huge part of the media coverage. And I think
07:47something you said yesterday about the white Sox series. I, I think the guardians are still
07:53going to be the team in this series that I'm going to have to listen to the announcers,
07:57paint the rays is this great story. And they're not going to mention the guardians world series,
08:02uh, victory drought. They're not going to look at the guardians of some team. They're
08:07going to look at the guardians of some active mouth baseball malfeasance that don't really
08:11belong there. And I think that's also going to, I don't know about that. What I do think
08:14is going to happen is going to turn into the Spider-Man meme. And it's going to be like,
08:18basically all these two teams, they've been doing it for so long. And they're the, the pillars
08:21of success while doing it with no money. That's, that's going to be the theme. The theme
08:25is going to be there. They're basically the same team made the ALCS. What are they able
08:30to do that? Nobody else in baseball is able to do with the lack of payroll. Mike saying,
08:34I love them both, but it's a no brainer. Give me a guards win over a Browns win. Uh,
08:39this Tampa is invincible narrative is nonsense. Uh, I know the guys, they want to, they were
08:45one of two actually good AL teams in the regular season. I think Jack brings up a good point
08:49on Twitter. He says he wants this for the young guys, for the guards. And like, and they
08:53like the development and everything that happens in a seven game ALCS series and taking it a
08:57little bit longer and getting that, the playoff experience, the playoff experience this year
09:01can pay off dividends and obviously future playoff experiences. I mean, yes, but they've already
09:06been to the playoffs. Like they are, I mean that the, the Chicago, the atmosphere in all
09:11four games has been raucous and riotous. I think, I think yes, more playoff experience,
09:19the better. And if I knew again, if it was greater than like 10%, I just think I would
09:24be more into this, but that's a good point. I just want to make the beggar, the better
09:28point there that it is, that it's better. Tommy saying you can go four and one in the
09:32NFL any year. Yeah, really can't. I don't know if you know this, Tommy do that. Yeah.
09:37I don't know if you're hopefully there becomes a spot where we're talking a couple of years
09:41from now, where four and one is the given and four and one is the expectation, but there
09:44was a moment. It's not it right now. I mean, if you think about it, like whether it
09:48was a 21 or 22, again, two different quarterbacks, two different settings, but
09:53there's a moment where we just started to believe the Browns could win on any
09:56given year. That to me is what this year is about. And I also think like the far
10:01reaching, I can maybe find my own, my kind of own implication that Jack made
10:06there about the guardians with, with their young players. I think winning year one
10:12for a head coach is the most important thing you can do because I thought that
10:16bought, I thought that bought Stefanski so much time and so much goodwill. Yeah.
10:22You immediately just say, nope, this guy can coach and the distraction of can he
10:26coach goes the way of the dodo. And that's such a huge thing. And in starting four and
10:31one again, from four and one to seven and two, you know, right. Seven and three to start
10:38the season. And it's just, it's, it would be such an unexpected thing. And to have this
10:44happen early for Mason Graham, for Denzel Boston, for all the youth you have on this
10:51team, I just, you've already got the point where I think the arrow is sky high for the
10:56guardians in the future. Even if I'm not sure about them right now, the, the really
11:01pushing the arrow in the right direction where next year we could go into that draft
11:05saying, well, let's take these two first rounders and maybe a couple other picks
11:08and let's go get that quarterback because what this would validate is winning with the
11:14Sean is your quarterback and winning the way they have been winning tells me you're
11:17a franchise quarterback away from being right where we thought we were in 2020, 2021,
11:23I know, but a lot of that still exists. If you go three and two, and then you just beat
11:26the Ravens or three and two, you can go three and three. And then all of a sudden you beat
11:29the Titans or four and three. And I, there's a lot that still exists on the table for the
11:34Browns and a lot of what you're discussing, even with a loss this weekend.
11:37Meanwhile, guards lose season over. Is there anyone out there that might actually
11:41agree with me? It is paining me to say this, but I would choose a Browns win on
11:46Sunday over the jets over a guardians win, a series win this weekend. Let's go with
11:52Steven, a cast, Steven, a cat. Welcome to the show. Steven, a cat. What's up guys. Uh,
11:58it's gotta be the guardians. And here's why one Chicago is also a young team. If we
12:05take them down twice in a row, first of the regular season, and also in the playoffs,
12:10that's going to mess with their young team moving forward and give us much more momentum
12:14next year. Also, there's something to be said about being the last, one of the last four.
12:20All right. I know. I agree with that part of it. And listen, we appreciate it. We do need
12:23to just remind everybody, if you're just tuning in, it's a, you can't choose both. That's the
12:27idea of this exercise. You obviously, everyone listening wants both to happen. You can't choose
12:31both. You have to choose one. And, uh, I I'm, I'm surprised you're on that side of the fence.
12:36I am. I think again, I didn't start the segment there. I, I, I kind of started it kind of
12:41split.
12:42Oh, here's what I'll say though, to the white socks thing. I think another part of this is,
12:46I think this is a fluky team. I think the white socks go back to being a middle of the
12:52road team
12:52next year. I mean, they kind of were, they were just over 500. So there's, there's a, there's a big
12:57part of me that just isn't afraid of the white socks. I mean, even the talk about the, the
13:02Garrett crochet trade, it's like Kyle Thiel's a nice defensive catcher. He's, he's not a great
13:06player yet. Montgomery is a very nice defensive player. He's not a great offensive player. Like
13:10there's, there's a lot of paper tiger to the white socks. I don't know. There's, there's some
13:14green in the shoots though. Like they, they have, they have between Vargas becoming a dead awesome
13:20hitter when two years ago, people didn't even think he could hit for anything. Murakami's a great
13:25like there's, there's enough there. The white socks are going to, you mentioned two, the white
13:28socks are going to hang around for a while. I, well, I like, I like Tristan Peters more than
13:31most people do. I like both Montgomery's kind of guy. Why do people keep making that joke?
13:38Cause it's fun. I guess it is. I actually think it's like one of the coolest stories that he was
13:43a Savannah banana five years ago. I actually do think it's a really fun story.
