Alex and Bobby review the results of the Wild Card round, take a look at the matchups they’re excited for in the division series, and unpack Bobby’s uneasy relationship with Mets fandom currently, then answer listener questions about the updated Enemy of the Pod with the Rays eliminated, Joe Musgrove’s ear, the potential for Joe West album features, and more.
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Songs featured in this episode:
Loretta Lynn — “You Ain’t Woman Enough” • Booker T & the M.G.’s — “Green Onions”
Episode Transcript
[INTRO MUSIC]
Tell us a little bit about what you saw and, and, and being able to relay that message to Cora when you watch Kimbrel pitching and kind of help out so he wasn’t Tipping his Pitches. So Tipping Pitches, we hear about it all the time. People are home on the stand, what Tipping Pitches it’s all about? That’s amazing! That’s remarkable.
BOBBY: Alex, I want to start this podcast out with an apology to all of our listeners for it being a day late. So my sincere apologies. But it was very important to me as our listeners can understand, it was very important for me to fly out to Los Angeles, which is where I’m recording this podcast from right now. Because when the the baseball team that you’re a lifelong fan of has a historic season gets a buy, and is going to be playing a really important National League Division Series. You got to just drop everything and fly out and go see him. So I’m here in Los Angeles to see the Los Angeles Dodgers–
ALEX: Hell, yeah!
BOBBY: –who I’ve been work [1:05]
ALEX: Let’s go! Yeah, I mean, you were rocking your, you- I know you were rocking your [1:13] Bay jersey the other day.
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: When we were recording last week’s podcast, I know that you’ve been–
BOBBY: I have Andre Ethier in every color.
ALEX: Right, exactly!
BOBBY: And, you know, we were sharing that we were at the, the Mets-Padres opening wildcard game on Friday night. But really, I was just there as a Dodgers advanced scout to see who was going to advance and play against them.
ALEX: Right. I know you have that open line of communication with Andrew Friedman. I mean, it’s kind of, we have a great sort of yin and yang on this podcast. Because you have a direct line to front office’s and I have the direct line to owners.
BOBBY: That [1:47]–
ALEX: So we really have all our covered, our bases covered.
BOBBY: I mean, Friedman and I go back to his days with the Rays where I was one of his, his biggest supporters, frankly, honestly, his right, right hand man–
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: –among middle schoolers.
ALEX: Yeah, defending him, amongst, you know, jealous edgelords online.
BOBBY: On all of the forums on all of the Reddit threads.
ALEX: Exactly, exactly.
BOBBY: No, no, Alex, I’m in Los Angeles, for work. And for My Chemical Romance concert. Those–
ALEX: Right, you are.
BOBBY: –and those two reasons alone, it has nothing to do with the National League Division Series. It has nothing to do with my dearly departed New York Mets. Or my new preferred team to win the World Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers. How are you, how are you doing?
ALEX: You know, mostly worried about you. Uhm, you know, last 48 hours has been a little touch and go.
BOBBY: Are you gonna popup in the iMessage for this pod?
ALEX: Should we [2:43]. What me trying to just have a conversation about baseball with you and you saying, physically, I’m like four planets away. So like I, there a- you know it was a little tough. But I’m also, you know, a being in the bag for the Mets being your friend. And just being a fan of like good baseball, that the, the Mets-Padres series was especially tough to watch. Really weird kind of overall, wildcard series. Very little normal about it. And I know we’re gonna get into all of it. But I have a lot of feelings are going so many different directions, and I, I need your help to ha- to parse through them if that’s okay.
BOBBY: Okay, I can, I, I think that I’m in the state–
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: –to be the [3:29]–
ALEX: You are to be the emotional support, right?
BOBBY: Right. Exactly. Well, then why don’t we waste no more time? Let’s get into it. But before we do, I am Bobby Wagner.
ALEX: Hi, I’m Alex Bazeley.
BOBBY: And this is Tipping Pitches.
[3:42]
[Music Theme]
BOBBY: Alex, the time has come for me to talk about the New York Mets being eliminated from the playoffs.
ALEX: Are we just getting right to it?
BOBBY: I think we should, right? Like unless there’s–
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: –something else that you want to talk about.
ALEX: What are we burying, burying the lede?
BOBBY: We can talk about the ESPN broadcast first if you want to.
ALEX: No.
BOBBY: But that seems like a poor practice bad content creation. No, we should talk about the Mets because this was the first time they have made the playoffs, since we’ve had this podcast. My misery has been much more spread out in past years. Rather than the very concentrated misery that I experienced in the last three days. I honestly don’t know how to, how to talk about it. It was genuinely a really bad, like real world bad feeling, bad vibes. I’m more so interested in hearing your advice for me.
ALEX: I’m interested to hear a bit about the circumstances under which you witnessed this, this moment. Can you tell, tell me, tell the listeners just kind of the space that, that you were in. And if that informed in any way how were you were feeling if it reinforced it if you felt more alone, if you just, you know felt at home in a room of people who are feeling the same thing as you. Like what was, what was that process like?
BOBBY: Alone In a crowded room?
ALEX: Exactly.
BOBBY: So this is where like writing a Robin song about my experience watching the mess. So, okay, Game 1, Friday night we went together. One of the more miserable baseball experiences I’ve ever had in my life. Max Scherzer looking about has as bad as he’s ever looked on a major league mound. The air completely coming out of a, of a pretty rockin’ Citi Field. That was my first time watching the Mets in person in playoffs in my life. I had only ever been to one playoff baseball game before that, it was the Dodgers and Giants last year in the NLDS. It was actually Scherzer start that the Dodgers won. So the cruel irony, the cruel, cruel irony of that. The, the thing about that game is that it was so bad from the very beginning. That it was just not a fun game to sit there and watch to the bitter end. I mean, nobody in, in, in our section, or most people in the stadium, were having a good time. Like almost everyone on the team was getting booed for their performance. And then tried to flush it, Saturday, we, we had a nice day together, you, me our significant others, our whole friend group. We went apple picking, what a wholesome day for us to come back and watch the Mets win, have a nice performance.
ALEX: Contouring of those good vibes, just–
BOBBY: Exactly.
ALEX: –all around us.
BOBBY: Just, just soaking in October, you know. Just having the most Americana experience, teaching you what a hay ride is. Because apparently that’s something that you didn’t know.
ALEX: Like, like coastal elite is showing.
BOBBY: They have hay on the coasts. I don’t understand, I grew up 45 minutes from the ocean, and we had hay rides. We have farmed.
ALEX: Alright, we’re not doing this again!
BOBBY: Okay, we’re not doing this again. So Sunday rolls around, I’m trying to be as optimistic as possible. But there’s a, there’s a deep pit in my stomach all day long. Because the Mets have already shown their Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in this one series. And even more so in the last month in September. Where I’ve sort of been watching this train wreck in slow motion of all of the Mets flaws be put on center stage in his trial running in the series against the Braves, the last weekend of the regular season. And I’m like trying to, there’s like competing thoughts in my head. Like on one hand, I’m like, I’ve watched the Mets fail so many times. On the other hand, I remember 2015, I remember being surprised by this team. I remember good things happening. I saw this team win 101 games this year, I thought maybe this was different. They put up the dudiest of duds that I’ve ever seen. And the most frustrating part honestly, the most frustrating part of all, the status part is all the guys who might not be on the team next year. And I don’t even think that I’m ready to talk about that until–
ALEX: No.
BOBBY: –it’s like confirmed that it’s not happening, or that it is happening.
ALEX: We’ll get, we’ll get to that on next week’s session.
BOBBY: Right, you gotta keep me coming back. You gotta keep getting my copay. The most frustrating part is that they just looked totally heartless. And I’m usually not one of those people that is like, oh, they rolled over, or at least not publicly in front of microphones. I’ll say shit like that to you all the time. But that’s just–
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: –my frustrations manifesting in my years and years of listening to New York sports radio. But I’m usually not one of those people that’s like, they look like they gave up, they looked like they had too much pressure. They looked like they, they shrunk in the moment. But I don’t know how you watch that series. And I don’t know how you watch the last two weeks of the regular season and think anything differently of this team. There was just a lot of 2021’s false confidence peeking through at the worst times. And I don’t think that they took the dire situation that they were in seriously enough.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: And it came back to bite them because everybody who makes it to October is good. And this Padres team is, is no joke, man. They are all in as all in gets. And they were just exposed. And frankly, when I saw that it was Musgrove-Bassitt on Sunday. Because I was really trying to take it game by game, you know, Darvish-Scherzer felt like a real coin toss to me. I was very confident about beating Snell. Because even though Snell has put up good numbers against the Mets over the years, this Mets team is different. And Snell is a nibbler and they take a lot of pitches. They see a lot of pitches, they work counts. I just felt good about them bouncing back against a bad performance against Darvish. But then Musgrave just feels like the exact kind of pitcher who was going to steamroll them and he did. And it honestly was sad to watch unfold. All of the sticky stuff controversy. Just the air being let completely out of the balloon for nine straight innings. It, it really like at the end of it. When I was just sitting there, staring at the TV that I had shut off the second they made the last out.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Because I couldn’t put up with this ESPN broadcast anymore. If I have to hear Karl Ravech again. I’m just kind of lose it end, just gonna lose it. I sat there staring and I just thought, man, I don’t, I don’t know how many more times I can do this. I don’t know how many more times I can watch 135 games in a baseball season and feel this strongly about each and every one of them. Just for it to come to an end in, in three days.
ALEX: Yeah. You, you texted me something similar, right after the game ended. That’s what I was, I was concerned. You know, I was like, we have a patron to do. People are, people are kind of counting on, on your sorrow to, you know like, come on, man. No, I, I–
BOBBY: Just pushing me back out here. Get back on stage, Elvis.
ALEX: Exactly. Yeah, next I’m going to be doing like a weird like Transylvanian accent you know.
BOBBY: Right. Can you–
ALEX: The boy must, must go on. This is what you get, like two glasses of wine in.
BOBBY: Sure. Yeah. Listen, I flew across the country today. If I can do it, you can do it.
ALEX: I mean, I wish I had more like words of affirmation, or, or, like support to give you. I mean, there was a lot of sort of fatalism around the Mets as the year came to an end. Because they looked pretty limp, as you mentioned over the last few weeks of the season. And that translated to the playoffs as it you know. I mean, there’s been a whole dialogue about momentum, right? Going into the postseason over the last maybe decade or so. And if it really matters, if it really means anything, and I maybe put less stock in it than other people do. But I also think it’s very real that players get worn down after a long year.
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: And it sucks when you see a collection of them all sort of look a little winded at the same time. As you end up in this situation, right? But for, you know, two thirds of the year, they looked like the team they were actually playing like, right. And, and that’s the thing that like I’m struggling to grapple with, as it comes to the Mets is like, is it they were fraudulent? Or is it that they–
BOBBY: There’s just no way to pose a question like that [12:22]–
ALEX: [12:22] I know.
BOBBY: –like Princessa.
ALEX: Yeah, they were fraud the Mets Fraudulent–
BOBBY: Right after this, call in.
ALEX: But are they just a baseball team who got pulled in August and September and October, right? And, and honestly, at the end of the day, it doesn’t even matter, right? Because if you lose the last game of the season, it really doesn’t matter where your streaks came where your hot streaks came where your cold streaks game.
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: But it makes it hard to sort of decipher what to make this seem especially as you mentioned, going into such an uncertain offseason,
BOBBY: They just, they just feel like a team carrying like a weight around their neck, all the time. And the fan base feels like they’re, they’re waiting for everything to go wrong all the time. And when I say like, I don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this. I don’t mean like how much longer I can continue to watch baseball, how much longer I can continue to be a Mets fan. But I don’t know how much longer I can just opt in all the time, you know, to, to that feeling. Like I don’t know how much longer I can opt into feeling the lows as low as possible. And feeling the highs and allowing myself to, to dream about what might actually happen, you know.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Because, because at the end of the day, it’s like it’s not, it’s not really an indictment of like the Mets organization, or it’s not just the same old Mets that they lost in this playoffs. It’s just that, number one, they weren’t the best team. They, I think Atlanta proved that they were better than them. I think the Dodgers did more than prove that they were better than them. Even though the Mets took series off them in the middle of the summer that everybody got really excited about. But even if they had been the best team, it doesn’t guarantee that they’re gonna win the World Series. It doesn’t like that very rarely ever just shakes out that way. And the Mets fan base more so than any other fan base, to me feels like they don’t want to experience joy. And they’re just waiting for everything to go wrong.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: And I mean, I’m certain that I’ve been a part of that as much as the average man, if not more. But it just doesn’t feel like the best way to watch baseball. And I’m really trying to, try to think about what that means for how I watch baseball going forward.
ALEX: Uh-hmm. Yeah.
BOBBY: It feels, it feels really bad, you know, like, I, I put a call for listener questions out. And a lot of people just asked about the Mets. Or you know, our friend, Abigail, bring the noise on Twitter, or Alison McCaig, who was on this podcast a few weeks ago, asked how do I not be sad? And I just, I don’t, I don’t have the answer. I don’t have an answer.
ALEX: I don’t know!
BOBBY: I don’t have an answer for that. We got a question in Slack from, from Dante, who asks, Are you okay? And I’m like, Yes, I’m okay. But I feel stupid for tagging [15:14]. So stressed about this team all year, just for them to put up one of the worst performances. They, it literally could not have gotten worse on Friday and Sunday.
ALEX: Nope!
BOBBY: Like don’t, they could not have played worse. And I’m just like, look at me and my stupid clown makeup for putting so much time into this team.
ALEX: That’s the folly of life as it is–
BOBBY: It is.
ALEX: –you know.
BOBBY: And that’s just the sport, though.
ALEX: Right. Yeah. And I mean, I think you’re, you’re certainly right when you talk about Mets fans specific sort of relationship to their team, right? And I, you know, I saw some, like Mets fans online, coming into the playoffs being like, Why does everyone like make fun of us? Everyone’s like, you know, rooting for us to fail, or, like, expecting us to, like, lose, or whatever. And a part of me is kind of like, right, because that’s your guys mo like, 80% of the time. Like other fans are going to inevitably chime in. And it may be right and it may be wrong, but, I mean, maybe only you guys can talk about the team that way. Maybe we can, you know, because we’re not actually in a relationship with them, right? Like there’s something deeper there. But I do think that relationship to the team is particularly unhealthy, you know. Like sports–
BOBBY: It’s super unhealthy.
ALEX: –fans relationship to their teams in general, is not the most healthy thing. But I, I agree that like when I see you like this, I’m like, buddy, there’s, there’s got to be a better way.
BOBBY: Dude, you know what I think it is? Because baseball reveres its history so deeply. It’s just impossible for Mets fans to divorce this team, this year’s team 2022 from any past team.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: So whether that’s 2015 and getting on an incredible heater, and coming up short in the end, to the Royals. Or whether that’s 2006 Adam Wainwright striking out Carlos Beltran. Those low, those incredible lows, coupled with the highs that the franchise has had the like very occasional highs, you know. Going on an insane run in 1969, starting the “Ya Gotta Believe”, making it to the World Series in 1973. Tom Seaver having some of the greatest seasons that pitchers have ever had. And then 1986, just the best team in franchise history, pulling it out of the hat at the last minute, even though they were the better team and they should have been expected to win. These highs at the franchise have had are so high that it just feels like so all or nothing with this team, like every single year, just chips are in the center of the table, emotionally speaking. And even if that’s not true, about the way that the team is behaving competitively, it may be more true now than it ever was in the past with the way that Steve Cohen spent this year. It just feels like so all or nothing all the time. And, and, and just uncertain, and I just don’t know, like, I don’t know how we break out of that cycle. And I don’t know if it’s just like, needing to see it for three, four or five years of this team being good. And being in it and getting multiple shots in a row. But man, this team made the playoffs, like a couple times early in my life than didn’t make the playoffs again until the mid 2000s. And then went on in a huge drought, and didn’t make the playoffs again until 2015. And then they made the wildcard in 2016, they were out of it for six more years in a row. Like I just, we’re all so, I don’t want to speak for all Mets fans, because maybe they don’t all feel this way. But we’re all so nervous of them blowing every individual chance they have to make those, you know, generational memories. That just feels like every time, it’s just this insane gut punch in a way that, I don’t know, man, it didn’t really feel like the Nationals felt pretty cursed in the way that they went out, you know, three or four years in a row in the mid 2010s. And I never really felt like this level of angst from the Nationals fan base. And I’m just trying to like reckon with those two things in my head. Like why does it always have to be either the greatest triumph in the history of sports, where we make 10 documentaries about these teams. Or the most embarrassing loss in American professional sports history. There’s never anything in between. And it’s just not a good way to be a fan of a team in a sport that is already taxing on its fans. Because of how, because of how many games you have to play throughout the year and how long the season is and how much time you have to invest in each and every team. And how many things could go wrong in that long, long calendar of the season.
ALEX: Yeah, baseball is particularly greating. Because you probably dedicate more time to watching games than you do in any other sport, for the most part, any other major sport in the US, certainly. So once you’re done with, like you said 100, 123 hour games, like what am I left with?
BOBBY: Yeah, watch this team for like–
ALEX: I got this, I got this awesome, free shirt Friday shirt, sponsored by P.C. Richard & Son. I, I wish I had the answer for you. I’m trying to I’m trying to play, play the role of the empathetic friend. And rather than try and provide you with a solution. I’m just trying to wallow with you here in the misery, you know. Sometimes, the thing you need most is just someone to say, hey, your pain is valid. And Bobby, I just want to let you know, your pain is valid. I hear you.
BOBBY: They’re going to do it one of these days, I guess. I have no other choice but to continue to tell myself that. We got a question in the Slack from Anthony, What will, what will we remember about this year’s Mets team? What are the good things that we will remember about this year’s Mets team? I mean, there are so many things. That’s why part of partially why it’s so crushing. Because right now, with only 24 hours of retrospect, it feels not that great to remember those things. But I’m sure a couple of months from now, it’ll feel really great to remember those things. It’ll feel amazing to remember all of the new guys that joined this team. Mark Canha, Eduardo Escobar, ou know, these guys becoming pretty immediate fan favorite, Starling Marte. Sorry to just name multiple A’s, that the Mets got.
ALEX: Rid different stages of grief right now, it’s fine.
BOBBY: Right, exactly. You’re, you, you’re in acceptance.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: You are, you’re already–
ALEX: And way into it. Yeah, yeah.
BOBBY: I mean, Francisco Lindor had the best Mets shortstop season in franchise history. And he is–
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: –a, you know, he has a beam of light on this franchise. He’s such an easy guy to get by, he’s such an easy guy to root for. The way that he has sort of become a cornerstone of this franchise. Like you couldn’t, you couldn’t script a better person to be in the center of the diamond every day to have this wonderful relationship with Buck and the front office. And to see his family sort of like ingratiate themselves amongst the Queens, Queens community. I’ll remember all of that. I remember deGrom coming back halfway through, even though honestly, not to get too far ahead of myself with the whole like deGrom opting out is he going to be back storyline? It’s sort of felt like he was, he was like his own entity within the team this year, because he came in halfway through and he’s so good. And he’s such a franchise icon that it almost felt like he was like not a real guy. Like he was just a sort of like a superhero just sitting there in the clubhouse that everyone’s sort of like, towing lightly around the whole situation with him. But of course, I remember watching him I, I made an appointment viewing as often as I could. I mean, I remember Pete Alonso having one of the best offensive seasons in, in Mets history, you know. Like, and of course, I remember Buck, I mean, I don’t, the Mets haven’t really had a manager like this in my life. They’ve had good managers, they’ve had managers that I’ve really liked. I will forever be a Willie Randolph fan. Forever be a Terry Collins fan, even though he’s done his best to, to lose some fans over the last couple years. But he’s a franchise legend too. But they’ve never really had someone like Buck who’s just like been all around the league. And to just seems like this fountain of wisdom all the time. And he’s so entertaining to watch talk. And I could just listen to him, tell stories and answer questions all day. And it just adds such a richness and a texture to the fan experience to have a manager who’s up there like that. With this, this sort of like, the sort of the type of humility that you can only gained from being humbled year over year over year over year as a manager, this guy has never won a World Series. He’s never made a World Series. He has the most wins of any manager to have never managed a World Series game. So he felt sort of like the perfect guy to be at the helm of this team to try, to try to steer them to the promised land. While he’s also trying to do that for himself for his, for his historic and wonderful career. There’s a lot of stuff. I mean, I’m sure I’m forgetting a bunch of stuff. I remember going to games with you, and all of our friends. Moving back to New York, having a great team greet me. When I got back here. There’s a lot, there’s a lot of really good stuff to take away from this season. It’s just, like I said, I just, I feel spent. And I guess that’s how you’re supposed to feel at the end of a baseball season. But I don’t remember feeling this spent at the end of every other one. Maybe it’s just because I was 19 in 2015 but I felt like weirdly optimistic when they lost the Royals like they’ll be back.
ALEX: Yeah. Well, I think it’s–
BOBBY: Now I sort of like, am I gonna live to see them get back?
ALEX: Yeah, I mean, it’s I think that like, certainly the pressures placed upon the team also have grown in the last couple of years with Cohen at the helm. I think there’s maybe a little bit of an expectation whether it’s correctly placed or not that things are gonna change top to bottom, right? It’s not the the Mets of yesteryear. These are the Steve Cohen Mets, right? We’ve got, we’ve done away with the Wilpons. And they’re, you know, shoddy business practices. It’s a new era, and it kind of hurts to see things end like this. Even when, you know, it’s not necessarily a reflection on the specific talents of the individual players. I don’t know man. It’s, it’s, it’s a fool’s errand trying to like do a retrospective on a, on a season like two days after it’s over, a day after it’s over, right? You know, like, yeah, like, I don’t know, what did I, what did I enjoy about this season? Did I enjoy anything? I didn’t, I also didn’t not enjoy anything. I just kind of was, you know, just, just there.
BOBBY: Uhm, congratulations to the Padres. They’re good, I don’t think that they stand a chance against the Dodgers. But–
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: –they’re good, they’re a good team.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: They got some, some really good players.
ALEX: I wish I had more apt- more to add to that, but I don’t. So the Dodgers are remain very good. Yeah.
BOBBY: Should we, should we move on to the rest of the Wild Card Series or do you want to, do want to spend this time here, do want to spend this time here talking about the ESPN broadcasts?
ALEX: I know you got some takes.
BOBBY: Media criticism, Alex is here, he’s ready.
ALEX: I have some brief thoughts but some of them relate specifically to some of the other ga- some of the other series that were played. So let’s, let’s get to those and then maybe we can dive in a little bit.
BOBBY: Okay. Let’s do Phillies-Cardinals next.
ALEX: Right the one that relates to my complaints about ESPN, mostly done!
BOBBY: It’s almost like we play in this. Uhm, so, so do the Phillies just have devil magic now. So what this means is the sort of like if you out devil magic, the devil, then you become him. I’m losing them, losing the [27:10]–
ALEX: Right just like how it, how, if you out Pizza the Hut, you become that, right?
BOBBY: No one out Pizza the Hut.
ALEX: Ohh, okay
BOBBY: I dont think it’s not be carried away.
ALEX: Okay, okay, okay.
BOBBY: So is it like, is it like a, like a title belt in boxing? You know, if you beat the champ, you get to hold the belt until they beat you again.
ALEX: Right, exactly. When you’re playing Knockout you get to play until someone else knocks you out.
BOBBY: Let’s get going. Let’s see if we can keep, keep this one running. It’s like a freeze tag, when you’re it.
ALEX: Right. It’s like when you’re in the MLB playoffs and you get to continue playing until someone else beats you.
BOBBY: Right, exactly. This was, the Phillies are, our, man I’m gonna hate to say this phrase out loud, Alex. The Phillies are a fun team to be in this playoffs. They’re just like a you never know what’s gonna happen. They could make–
ALEX: That is, that is true.
BOBBY: –they could make three errors in an inning. And they could, that could cause them to lose 10 to 1. They could be down two nothing heading into the ninth looking deader than dead and then they could put up a sixth spot on you. They could–
ALEX: They could, they could probably do both in the same inning if you–
BOBBY: Exactly.
ALEX: –asks to them to.
BOBBY: They could try it out Zack Wheeler and Ellen- Aaron Nola and make Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. Two of the top three MVP finishers in the National League most likely.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Look like Double-A players.
ALEX: They can make–
BOBBY: Or–
ALEX: –Zach Eflin their fucking closer, man. Like I don’t know, they can do whatever they want.
BOBBY: Literally, they are, they are the, the chaos team of 2022 to me. That is, to me that is what they represent. And if I’m on the other side of that, I feel uneasy. Like they’re playing with house money.
ALEX: I think I probably underestimated the Phillies a little bit throughout the year. Because they were playing in a really competitive NL East, right? They obviously–
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: –their defensive woes have been well documented as have their trials in the bullpen. Which has just been an adventure, really. And–
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: –and yet you do watch them play baseball for a few innings and you’re like that’s pretty good [29:18]. That’s pretty good, pretty decent one two punch. That’s, they actually do have most of the pieces to play competitive baseball–
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: –most, most of.
BOBBY: So we don’t have a ton of time to break down every individual series. But you know, you as the Cardinals apologist on the podcast.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: Would you like to maybe have a, a nice little therapeutic pour one out for them the way that I just did for the Mets? I know how near and dear they are to your heart.
ALEX: Yeah, can I get 20 minutes on Yadier Molina like you got on the Mets?
BOBBY: Yadier now you’re doing the Albert. I like how, I like how the whole it season has been about Albert coming back, chasing 700. Yadier and Wayno breaking all these records. But like Wainwright is going to be back next year. Still throwing 89 3.5 era, throwing curveballs getting people to roll over. Like–
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: –the, nobody has explicitly said that he’s retiring or coming back, but it just seems like they’ve only really been giving the send off to Yadier and Albert.
ALEX: Right. Well, like he didn’t, I don’t even think he played in this Wild Card Series, right? Like he didn’t start certainly. So like–
BOBBY: Yeah, anytime you can get Miles Mikolas out there. You just got to do it.
ALEX: Wow!
BOBBY: Good–
ALEX: Riddle drive by on our man.
BOBBY: Just couldn’t happen to a better guy, you know?
ALEX: No, they wouldn’t send Wainwright off like that. So you’re right that like they, them being made as like this trio.
BOBBY: Them starting Jose Quintana in Game 1 of a series that they had their entire rotation setup for in 2022. Jose Quintana like a like a dump trade contender from four years ago.
ALEX: Wow! Wow!
BOBBY: No, he’s [31:10]–
ALEX: Going after the hole.
BOBBY: I’m saying oh, he’s really turned his, his career back around. He was great–
ALEX: Oh, I see.
BOBBY: –he was middling. And now he’s pretty good again. But honestly, I think it’s a little bit of an indictment on the Cardinals franchise, generally speaking, that they don’t have like a top of the rotation guy that they feel great about. They are sort of trying, they’re in this, they’re in this period where they’re trying to like, like, wring more out of this strategy that they’ve employed for the last two decades to great, great success. Which is just develop these players, pull these guys out of nowhere, get the most with the least, you know, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, you know. And they felt a little bit, like punched in the mouth. And they, they didn’t have a counter punch to throw. In, in part because Goldschmidt and Arenado, who are sort of they’re all in moves. Just came very, very small. Very small.
ALEX: Yeah, it’s kind of nice that we, it didn’t even take a Canadian Vax law to see them put up zeros in the playoffs, you know. Like, that’s actually, silver lining.
BOBBY: Justin Trudeau couldn’t keep us down.
ALEX: That’s right.
BOBBY: Let’s move on to the Mariners-Blue Jays.
ALEX: I just wanted to mention, and we don’t have to dwell on this too much. But I wanted to put out there the idea that watching baseball on ESPN is not a good fan experience.
BOBBY: Bro, we’ve been on this though.
ALEX: Yeah, I know. And yet, and yet, every time I tune in, and the little score bug is like glitching out, or the audio is like dropping out for like three seconds, or whatever it is.
BOBBY: Or admin–
ALEX: I’m like–
BOBBY: –is coming in and they’re not showing Marcos.
ALEX: I’m like, sorry, I maybe I missed your description. It was the worldwide leader in sports.
BOBBY: Oh my God get ’em. Wow!
ALEX: Like–
BOBBY: Part of this–
ALEX: –for me be the guy who’s like ESPN needs to be put in their place. But like, come on, man! It’s a fuckin’ wild card game. Like–
BOBBY: Wow! Alex putting out the dropping the gauntlet to big Mickey Mouse.
ALEX: Yeah, I mean, someone has had to put them in their place, right? For a long while now.
BOBBY: Bob J. Peck is running and hiding from this podcast.
ALEX: Part of, part of these are like gripes with the general production. Which I think–
BOBBY: Right.
ALEX: –is somewhat lacking and part of it is like the talent they choose the staff, right? Alex Rodriguez was, Alex Rodriguez was suggesting bottom nine to outs Cardinals with a runner on first. But they should like seal second, you know. They’re probably not going to be paying much attention to you, he said. So why not try and steal second base here? Michael K, Michael K, who’s the other person in this booth says A. Rod. don’t you think it would be kind of a bad look to [34:19]–
BOBBY: And you’re seeking [34:20]–
ALEX: –out in the second base?
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: And he’s like, yeah, yeah, no, definitely the rest are really high. Which is why they probably shouldn’t do that. I was like, I, this gives me so much hope for success in life. It really, it really, really does.
BOBBY: I mean, not to, not to go full audio file on you. But the mixing of this broadcast–
ALEX: There, here it is.
BOBBY: –the crowd, the crowd noise–
ALEX: Now is thrown out the greatest.
BOBBY: I have genuinely no idea how loud the crowd was at any point.
ALEX: No.
BOBBY: It just all felt like the same low hum throughout the series. Even in–
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: –big moments, you didn’t hear any kind of roar. You know what you could hear though?
ALEX: The ball off bat?
BOBBY: The ball off the bat, the umpire, taking every breath that he took–
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: –for some reason. Him telling the pitcher whether it was high, low inside or outside. That’s what actually come to baseball for is to hear the umpire. I get to hear Chris Bassitt grunting his–
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: –way through a shitty three inning start.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: That was [35:22]–
ALEX: And telling–
BOBBY: –can here.
ALEX: –Tomas Nido that he couldn’t hear the PitchCom.
BOBBY: In big bright shining lights in October, listen to the umpire grunt. I’m sure Rob Manfred is on the case, though.
ALEX: I–
BOBBY: I’m sure he’s really going to put the requisite pressure that needs to put on their broadcasting partners to really step their game up. We got a question from Alex, not you, different Alex. Did you guys talk about this one in that group chat?
ALEX: We did, yeah.
BOBBY: Do you think fans will ever be able to choose between their local broadcrast- broadcast crews and national crews to cover playoff games? The answer to this question is no, I don’t think they will ever be able to choose that. Because playoff money is a cash cow. And the ability to sell those playoff rights separately from the RSNs allows owners to pocket all of the money from playoff revenue. This revenue is not shared or bargained over in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, at least not currently. And so when you see the expansion of playoffs, that TV money was always going to be a huge, huge windfall for the owners. And that’s why it was such a bargaining chip to allow the playoffs to be expanded was because the the actual financial boon from it was not ever going to be seen by the players. Except in the instance that their team actually makes it all the way to the end, and they get more of a playoff share. By winning more games, that does happen. But it’s not directly correlated to playoff revenue. So to answer your question, Alex, no, they will sell it to the highest bidder, which will always be a national broadcast crew. Because that way that they can sell, that way they can package those two things separately, and make the most money off of it.
ALEX: Yeah, well put, I have nothing, nothing to add to that my immediate answer was also, resounding no.
BOBBY: I mean, the only way that it would happen would be if your local broadcaster chose to sign a contract to announce for one of these national contracts, it won’t go to the artisans. Now if our essence die out in like five years, and there’s a completely different revolution on how we broadcast baseball games, I reserve the right to retract the statement. But currently how it’s set up and currently how MLB has decided to present their products, no.
ALEX: I would I would also just like to add that at any time during this podcast, we reserve the right to change our opinion if the circumstances change. Okay, any prediction we make, any take that we have is fluid.
BOBBY: Right. Like me saying that, I don’t know how much longer I can do this as a Mets fan. Please don’t throw this back in my face–
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: –on February 24. When I’m like, fuck yeah, let’s go!
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Max Scherzer starting opening day.
ALEX: No, old takes expose is not welcome here.
BOBBY: Max Scherzer’s not gonna be starting opening day. Because Jacob deGrom is going to come back. So he’s going to start opening day. Just so everybody knows, just so everybody’s aware.
ALEX: That’s true.
BOBBY: We all, all are clear here on the same page. Okay. Let’s talk about the Mariners and Blue Jays. Let’s go AMS dude!
ALEX: Bro!
BOBBY: Jen Ramos, friend of the podcast asked us, one of listener questions. Jen responded and said, What was the most sickos Wild Card Series? This was it, this was it. The Mariners making their first playoff appearance in 21 years. Them going down 8-1 in the second game on Saturday in Toronto. And roaring back to tie the game and send it to extra innings. All at the same time that the Cleveland Guardians and the Tampa Bay Rays were tied 0-0 all the way through the 14th inning. To me it was the Mariners and Blue Jays, I don’t know if you have a different answer for Jen. But–
ALEX: No, no I, I agree with that, I mean, I think that the Mariners and Blue Jays series and the, the Guardians and Rays series are like two sides of the same coin. Like equally sicko level series for completely opposite reasons. The Guardians and Rays which we may get to in a second, or maybe not, I’ll just gloss right over. Uhm, brutal to watch, like that’s where I look at that and I’m like, this is only sickos here. I’m watching Mariners-Blue Jays, and I’m like this game has turned us all into sickos. Like we were not coming into this and it has Jokerfide every one of us.
BOBBY: So okay, somebody sent us Foolish Baseball’s tweet, which I don’t know if you saw that tweet. Where he–
ALEX: I, yes, yeah.
BOBBY: –who said 0-0 in the 14th because of good pitching. I’m not reading verbatim, I’m just going from memory here. 0-0 in the 14th because of good pitching. Baseball is terrible, it’s so boring. How could we possibly watch this?
ALEX: These are–
BOBBY: And I was like–
ALEX: –franchises.
BOBBY: Yeah, 9-9 in the 10th because of good hitting. This is what baseball is supposed to be. This is electric, this is October. So are you, are you agreeing with Foolish? I actually think he was being kind of tongue- tongue in cheek.
ALEX: Well, I thought–
BOBBY: I think they’re saying those are two sides of the same coin.
ALEX: I agree. But I still think one is more fun than the other. I reserve the right to call a 0-0 game in 15 innings. And interesting, or poverty [40:42] or whatever it is. But like, I feel like it’s just kind of a general agreement that to the broader public it’s more fun to watch big hits, big moments at the plate than it is to necessarily watch like a really good pitching duel. And I don’t know what that says necessarily about the quality of either of these games. But as far as like, I need to sit down and watch because I have no idea what’s going to happen next. Like it was Mariners, Blue Jays–
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: –right? Clea- like Guardians-Rays, I was like, bro, we were in apple picking farm for like three hours from like the third to the eighth inning, and they were still playing.
BOBBY: That’s just good fundies, though. That’s just good baseball. That’s ball. You don’t know ball if you don’t think that’s good baseball.
ALEX: Right. That’s like, that’s a real players game, right?
BOBBY: Sorry. I just got replaced by an AI, that, that only speaks in like weird amalgamations of like, people who tweet with like, 13 followers. Like he, he knows ball.
ALEX: Right. You miss, you miss 100% of the pitches.
BOBBY: Yup, you’re getting there. You can land this mine.
ALEX: No note, wait, no, that was it. That was the same they were missing 100% of the pitches.
BOBBY: That, that’s actually true. Okay, here’s my take on that. I think that if you’re like a baseball purist, you can look at those two games, and you can make a case for why they are equally good October baseball. However, the average fan routes for things to happen. And this is like, you know I’m producing a podcast at The Ringer right now called Gamblers. And in one of our most recent episodes, we were talking about Super Bowl Profits. And how this guy who is like the king of the Super Bowl Prop, he makes his money by betting that stuff won’t happen. Because most people when they bet on Super Bowl Props, they they bet on what their heart wants. Even if they don’t know they’re doing it subconsciously they bet on what they want to see. They want to see a quarterback throw for over three touchdowns. They want to see the game go over on points. And so most people make these bets, hoping that stuff will happen versus making a ton of bets that nothing will happen in the game and it’ll be boring and a stinker. Because nobody wants to manifest that. And so I think that that is the same exact dichotomy that we’re watching play out. When you see a 0-0 game go into the 14th and you see an 8-8 game go into extra innings in Toronto. We just want to see stuff happen because we want to see this like highlight reel in our head for years to come of stuff that we remember happening. And you’re just not going to remember a 1, 2, 3 inning by game James Karinchak. You’re just not, you just not. Unless you are actively invested in whether James Karinchak is a cheater where she definitely is.
ALEX: So you’re saying I, should have put this month’s rent on the Padres to shut out the Mets, in the hopes that the opposite? Is it kind of like a, is it kind of like a, like a don’t step on your track or your break your brother’s back thing? Like you–
BOBBY: No, it’s like you can get better odds by betting on shit not happening, ’cause everyone else is betting on that stuff will happen.
ALEX: Oh, you were just giving betting tips. Okay.
BOBBY: Right. Yeah. You should have bet the under Cleveland versus the Rays, clearly.
ALEX: Obviously.
BOBBY: It would have it, that’s my, if we should just do a bit where we just give betting advice for games that have already happened. Like we only, we just do like two minute videos. And we’re like hey, listen, I think we’re gonna, you’re gonna want the under on Cleveland versus Tampa Bay. And we just see quickly people are like, Wait, what the fuck are these guys talking about? Amazing bit, amazing bit. We’ll see if we’re the–
ALEX: Turning–
BOBBY: –sponsor for it.
ALEX: –turning Monday morning quarterbacking into a full time job.
BOBBY: Monday morning–
ALEX: Hell yeah!
BOBBY: –betting advice.
ALEX: Yeah, exactly.BOBBY: I mean, that, that effectively covers Guardians versus Rays. Congratulations to the Cleveland Guardians who are very, very fun to fundamentally sound baseball team with a really cool baseball player named Jose Ramirez. Not sure if you’ve heard of him, and a bunch of other like just really solid players, including two former Mets, Amed Rosario. and Andrés Giménez, who I’m, who I’m rooting for, which is why they’ve skyrocketed up a little bit in my, my now post Mets postseason power rankings. Willing to get a sponsor for that one too, if anyone’s listening once the sponsor that that running list as more teams get eliminated. We’ve gone a little long here, Alex, do you, I don’t know, how do you want to talk about the Division Series? How do you want to preview the Division Series? What series are you most excited to watch? Because I have an answer for myself. I honestly, I mean, I watched parts of all of these series. But I didn’t watch a full like a full first pitch to final out of any of the other games of the, of the wild card round because I was so invested in the New York Mets.
ALEX: I mean, I think like many people whose team is out of contention this year, kind of in on the Mariners. They feel like this sort of de facto underdog pick. And so I’m really excited to watch them versus the Astros. In part because as far as, like leaguewide juggernauts go. The Astros feel like one or two degrees easier to topple than the Dodgers. Like even when the Dodgers are performing poorly, I still look at them and say, I don’t know how you could literally score a single run off them, right? The Astros, like you can kind of work a little bit and find holes, or see how certain matchups might work to your advantage, whatever it is. I’m excited for that series. And also, you know, It pits to division rivals against each other. There’s sort of these competing narratives with Astros fans feeling like they have a five year chip on their shoulder and Mariners fans feeling like they’re just here for a good time. I love that energy. I love that energy.
BOBBY: I like that answer. I also, the running storyline of the Astros’ absolutely owning the Mariners over the last four or five years that they just completely dominate them. Which I have been watching through Jordan Shusterman’s eyes for the last couple years. Where he’s just like, oh, here comes another sweep. Here comes, here comes, ohh, gonna Houston, here comes another sweep. I think will be interesting to see if they can, they can flip that. You know the one thing I will say about the Mariners. Man, that is a roster that is constructed for October. You know we have all these old adages about what you need to do to be able to win in the playoffs and sometimes they’re true and sometimes they’re not. But they have 2 to 4 really good starting pitchers. Good to great, Luis Castillo is a top seven pitcher in baseball.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: And he is electric right now. He is on, he is on one. Their bullpen is full of dudes who just throw incredibly hard with ridiculous movement. If more than a couple guys in their lineup with incredible pop in their bag, who can get really hot. And I don’t, like all of that stuff they just make for a tough out, you know? Look at me, tough out, the’ye tough out. That’s my analysis. Mariners are a tough out, Alex.
ALEX: The AI has kicks back in.
BOBBY: Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
ALEX: Are they, are they the series that you’re most looking forward to? Is, is there another one on your docket?
BOBBY: No, I’d like to watch the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres the most.
ALEX: Because you’ll be in and out really quickly?
BOBBY: No, because the Dodgers are a core part of my identity. And I love every one of them so deeply. I have a, I have a Dodgers hat with me right here.
ALEX: That you do.
BOBBY: Right now. I’m showing it on the camera. Alex can verify that, I, I brought it with me to Los Angeles. Because I’m such a big fan of them. No–
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: –no, I’m really excited to see this like quasi rivalry that never was. Because the Dodgers have just been so much better than the Padres in the NL West. Despite the fact that the Padres are making their, their best attempt at challenging them for this division that they have dominated so greatly over the last decade or so. And also, you know, I’m such a huge fan of, like historical greatness. I like tend to be the kind of person who’s like, you know what, there’s a shot of the dynasty, I’m gonna just gonna kind of support it. And, like not even from a front runner perspective, like pretending to be a fan of the team. But just being really excited about being able to witness. Now it’s not like LeBron ad, for like witness greatness in an ironic way. Like it’s really, it’s really cool. Like, do you want to tell your grandkids about the 87 win Phillies and Zach Eflin closing it out? Or do you want to tell your grandkids about the 113 win Dodgers who brought it home and who put the exclamation point on their dominant run of success over the last 10 years. Like to me that, that is a compelling narrative. And that is one of the, one of the core reasons to why I actually am genuinely rooting for the Dodgers in this October. Dodgers-Mariners, win win, can’t lose.
ALEX: Huge win. Oh my God, it’s, it feels like there’s a sort of clear delineation among the remaining teams as to like, if you are teamless, going into this round of the playoffs. They’re like a handful that are very easy choices and a handful that you probably wouldn’t. There are a handful that you’re not even going near. And I think teams like the Mariners and weirdly enough the Dodgers. Dodgers get like, weirdly get a buy for being like a you know, 110 win team, you know, and being an absolute juggernaut. And people are like, but like they’re good, and they’re kind of fun too.
BOBBY: I actually.
ALEX: And that’s kind of it.
BOBBY: I genuinely think that they have some of the least annoying fans.
ALEX: They do- they absolutely do. Yeah.
BOBBY: The Dodgers fans are just kind of chill having a good time.
ALEX: You would be, too!
BOBBY: I don’t know what that is, we gotta, we gotta do some sort of empirical study into why that is.
ALEX: Right. We gotta shut this down until we can figure out what is going on.
BOBBY: Do you want to answer some, some questions that are still lingering from the–
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: –listeners.
ALEX: Yes.
BOBBY: Friend of the podcast, Mike Schubert asks, what is the wildest choice for the red hot conspiracy? I don’t know if people were paying attention to this. But Joe Musgrove ears appeared to be a little bit shiny and very red. During the Sunday game against the New York Mets in which he dominated them Buck Showalter came out and he asked for a substance check. Because Joe Musgrove spin rates were up a little bit. And so you know, Buck was just coming out, just to just to ask the umpires to double check it. The umpire rubbedJoe Musgrove’s ear on live television.
ALEX: I can’t believe we’re mentioning this at like, the hour–
BOBBY: Minute 60.
ALEX: –mark of the podcast.
BOBBY: Yeah. So, Schubes asks, what’s your, what’s the wildest choice for what he actually had on his ear? The, the actual red hot medical rub, hot sauce, the red hot, hot sauce, or red hots the candy? And what would be your choice to put on your ear?
ALEX: Sorry, can you run through the for me again? So it–
BOBBY: So–
ALEX: –it was the medical substance?
BOBBY: Right. Which is like kind of like icy hot.
ALEX: Uh-hmm, right.
BOBBY: Which Andrew McCutchen was the person who came on Twitter, funnily enough to share that some pitchers do shit like that. I guess, like it’s hot sauce, like Frank’s RedHot.
ALEX: Okay.
BOBBY: Slathering on that ear.
ALEX: Which, which I, which I love, by the way. If you’re gonna do hot sauce, do Frank’s RedHot.
BOBBY: Sure. No, no free ads.
ALEX: We got Frank’s RedHot.
BOBBY: Josh, stop. Don’t make me bleep this out. Or the Candy RedHots, I guess in this situation, Schubes, you’re gonna have to confirm whether this is true or not. But you would melt that down to some sort of liquid and rub that on your ears. What would be the wildest choice? I think, I think it’s the third, pretty obviously.
ALEX: It’s probably the third. Yeah.
BOBBY: That’s a solid, that is a solid, you can’t rub that on your ears. And which would be your choice to put on your ear? You know, I don’t like the sensation of my ears being hot. So I think that I would just opt out entirely.
ALEX: I, I would too.
BOBBY: I’m not beyond, I’m not beyond like putting ice hot on my muscles, like before an athletic event. Like I don’t think, if you’re like sore or you’re having problems. Like, I remember, in my illustrious pitching career, I had, had a close play at the plate and like the, the runner didn’t slide. And they like need me in the shoulder. And so I had like this deep like muscle bruise. And I like couldn’t shake it for like a couple of weeks. And so like before my starts, I would literally just slather my shoulder in Biofreeze. So I would smell, you know, like mint or whatever that, that insane smell is. And like in between innings it would start to rub off and I would just put more Biofreeze on. And I was like this is probably not a healthy thing to do. I probably should have taken a month off.
ALEX: Learning so much about you.
BOBBY: I know, it’s amazing, you know, we’ve been together. We’re like an old married couple. Still learning stuff about each other. We’re still keeping it fresh, Alex.
ALEX: I just want to say, I, I find options two and three equally weird. Mostly because, I mean, three is maybe a step beyond. Because as we, as we mentioned, it is a solid. But neither of these substances are actually going to do any thing to your skin, I would presume. Like I mean, if Joe Musgrove has, like made little cuts along his ear–
BOBBY: Now we’re just getting into–
ALEX: It’s not the hot sauce all of this.
BOBBY: –in same territory.
ALEX: We’re getting into the same territory. Yeah.
BOBBY: This is like a horror movie. Like this is like baseball’s version of Pinhead like what are we doing here.
ALEX: Well, was it not?! With the playoffs not your horror movie?
BOBBY: I’m not ready to answer that question.
ALEX: Okay. All right, we can move on.
BOBBY: I felt a little bit like how Florence Pugh’s character in Midsommar feels. Where she’s just watching everything go wrong slowly. And she’s been like I kind of felt like it was gonna go wrong this whole time ever since we went to Sweden. Like why are we here with this weird Colts? She started notice stuff getting a little weirder. Sort of like me, in September. Didn’t want it–
ALEX: [55:28] bizarro world–
BOBBY: Didn’t want–
ALEX: –looking around.
BOBBY: –admit that it could happen, you know. Cat Father and our friend Tom Payne have asked, if the Phillies won the World Series, will you become Tipping Pitches a Phillies Podcast? The answer to that is just a resounding no. No! Just because we lost one bet does not mean that you can just get a bet with us for free. Let me just say that right here once and for all. All people doing like Tipping Pitches, a Yankees Podcast. Tipping Pitches, a Brewers Podcast. No, we’re not! No, we lost one bet, one time. If you would like to wager something with us, we will hear your offer. But my question to you Cat Father and Tom Payne is what are you willing to give? Were you willing to risk if the Phillies don’t win the World Series? Will you become Cat Father, a Mets fan? Will you become Tom Payne, lifelong New York Giants fan? Death to the Eagles? No, you won’t. So don’t, don’t just put this pressure on us with nothing in return. That’s my rant.
ALEX: I have nothing to add to that. You encapsulated perfectly. I was just listening to the art.
BOBBY: Thank you. Next question. Dante in our Slack wants to know, now that the Rays are out, who do we hate the most strictly because of how they spend on players? And why is the right answer Cleveland? Dante, you answered your own question. What else are we supposed to say? Of course, the answer is Cleveland.
ALEX: Right, exactly.
BOBBY: It literally trade away all–
ALEX: Because they–
BOBBY: –players.
ALEX: –don’t spend on their players, that’s why.
BOBBY: I mean, it does raise an interesting question. The, the whole like Tipping Pitches narrative ball of, of the teams that are remaining. There’s, they’re, there two very high stakes on each side of the scale is that that Cleveland could win. And it could basically cause a, a decade of fallout of everybody trading away a bunch of their players and trying to do what they’ve done. Which teams already want to do and are already trying to do. And then the Padres winning on the other side, which is just like go all in screw it, small market, whatever that even means. I don’t even care. Let’s try to win the World Series. Those are sort of the two poles. So if you’re looking at it through this lens, I would advise you to route for the Padres or the Dodgers, I guess, you know, big market spent a lot of money.
ALEX: Right, but that’s like–
BOBBY: But don’t root for the Yankees.
ALEX: The Pa- the Dodgers are like the third way that no one else has really figured out yet. Like you can root for the Dodgers but it’s not going to be replicable–
BOBBY: Nope.
ALEX: –in the next decade.
BOBBY: No, not unless Andrew Friedman has some twin brother that wants to run the New York Mets the only other team willing to spend like that. Alex, I’m going to speed round three questions for you at the end here.
ALEX: Okay.
BOBBY: With all due respect to Breathing Orange Fire, who has been a longtime follower and question asker, huge Astros fan. Huge, huge Astros fan who asked us to set the Astros rotation after Justin Verlander, I don’t feel qualified to do that.
ALEX: I think [58:24]–
BOBBY: [58:24]
ALEX: –like all of my Astros are just general baseball analysis [58:28].
BOBBY: Right. Frommer would be second for me, that’s my take.
ALEX: Right, yeah. Justin Verlander, good. Good at throwing the ball. Okay.
BOBBY: A three music related questions to close it out. Number one, Jamie Lowry asks, Will Joe West have features on his album?
ALEX: Wait, does he have a new one?
BOBBY: I don’t know! I guess Jamie is asking if Joe West has features–
ALEX: Or like–
BOBBY: –on the current album.
ALEX: –just would he, would he generally. He seems like he’s at the age where he’s probably in victory lap mode a little bit. Which I think encourages getting features on your app. You know, once you’ve kind of done what you’ve set out to accomplish. Yeah, just bring all your friends on, right?
BOBBY: Right.
ALEX: Everyone you’ve made along that you, everyone you’ve met along the way have them come drop a verse, why not?
BOBBY: Exactly, like I would describe him as sort of like a made man in the spoken country album world. And so because of that he can really get anyone to come travel feature. So well, Joe West have features on his album, yes. The second music related question comes from Julian, Julian asks, are the Dodgers going to become the new Giants and win a World Series every year Taylor Swift released his new album? I love this theory. The answer is a resounding, yes! The Dodgers are the new Giants. We’ve been saying it, for years. Yeah, the Dodgers are the new Giants and I feel like Taylor is more aligned with the Dodgers anyway, if we’re being, if we’re being honest. Like sort of like–
ALEX: From LA like–
BOBBY: –LA, New York connection between the two of them. Sort of like the, the like mass appeal like how could you not love the sort of like Americana.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: Feel that the Dodgers have. More so than the Giants who are like, evil, evil–
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: –something deep, deep on toward is going on with that franchise.
ALEX: But okay. Well, I’m just curious about the premise–
BOBBY: Dodgers playing heaven, come on.
ALEX: I’m curious about the premise ’cause in 2020, Taylor released two albums, and the Dodgers didn’t even win won World Series.
BOBBY: Wow!
ALEX: So–
BOBBY: Because they win the Mickey Mouse title.
ALEX: I’m sorry, I just–
BOBBY: You’re such a hater, dawg. Like while I’m over here being warmly embraced by Dodgers Twitter.
ALEX: Right. You are actually.
BOBBY: I’m being brought in with open arms. My services are for hire. You’re over there making enemies. And that’s the divide between the two of us. I’m the lover, you’re the fighter. We’ve always like this.
ALEX: Just trying to keep you humble, man.
BOBBY: Julia, and the answer is yes, the Dodgers are winning it all until it ships gonna put out another phenomenal album. Even though I do have some reservations about everything that’s happened so far with that album. Final question, Jesse in our Slack asks, Which Taylor Swift song best describes and encapsulates the Wild Card Series, or the Divisional Series? I’m gonna let you take this one. Because I don’t have an answer.
ALEX: Well, I, I was thinking about this answer in the wake of the Mets elimination, and in the lead up to recording this podcast. And so I was thinking about it from a sort of scorned fan whose team just got eliminated, right?
BOBBY: Okay.
ALEX: So I might say a song like, Picture To Burn.
BOBBY: Hmm!
ALEX: Encapsulates for say, a Mets fan or a Cardinals fan.
BOBBY: Sure.
ALEX: The, the Wild Card series. Uhm, as an A’s fan, it’s I Forgot That You Existed. I just, I know, I thought that it would kill me and it didn’t.
BOBBY: I have a–
ALEX: I’m just saying.
BOBBY: A, as a Mets fan, I gotta say, this season sort of feels like the one. Just gonna leave that there. On Sunday night, I was feeling kind of Coney Island vibes.
ALEX: Would have been fun.
BOBBY: It would have been fun.
ALEX: Bobby, soon you’ll get better.
BOBBY: But honestly–
ALEX: You, you have to.
BOBBY: –can you sing that? Can you hit that full setup? I’m feeling a little bit like Don’t Blame Me, you know. Don’t Blame Me for being this crazy about the Mets, you guys made me this way. You guys being the New York Mets organization and the collective New York Mets fandom.
ALEX: Well, ’cause if it doesn’t, you’re not doing it right.
BOBBY: That’s what I’ve been told!
ALEX: Exactly!
BOBBY: That’s the problem. So those are my three. Thank you for the phenomenal questions.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Thank you for listening to another episode of Tipping Pitches. Thank you as well to everyone who signed up for our Patreon in this past week. It’s so many of you joining us for October and the Slack has been absolutely out of control in October. Some of the best baseball analysis on the internet, honestly. People should be, people should be paying to read this content. Those new members this week are Marcus, Jamie, Jesse, Edweirdo, Jack, Steven, Jonah, Greta, Owen, Dawson, Globular Dumbass. Specifically asked to be identified as Globular Dumbass. Max, Tuck, Reno, and Natalie. Major shout out to all of our Alex Rodriguez VIP Club patrons This week I’m sorry I don’t have the list of five of you in front of me. Because I’m I was on the road and wasn’t able to prepare it. But we appreciate all of you especially at this time when baseball is more stressful to me than ever.
ALEX: This is, this is the time where you really need a community of support.
BOBBY: Exactly right.
ALEX: And they have provided that safety net.
BOBBY: And you know what? The A. Rod. VIP Club tier was riding high with all the A. Rod. content from this week. All of the A. Rod. And just like I said the Mariners advanced, we’re getting closer and closer to him just being fucking weird when the Mariners in the World Series him just be his absolute weirdest self still don’t know what’s going on.
ALEX: That is a pretty good reason to [1:04:39] there.
BOBBY: It is. So–
ALEX: It’s what you said last week and I’m it resonates with me now.
BOBBY: Thank you. Still don’t really know what’s going on with his Timberwolves payments. But more to come on that and the offseason for certain. Alex, anything else to leave the people with this week?
ALEX: No, I don’t think so. We should be back on a normal schedule next week. But obviously with post season in full swing, we want to make sure that we are giving you the most up to date takes, obviously. So we’re trying to space it out, series by series. But in any case, we’ll be back jopefully in a less like deranged state next week, I don’t know. Or maybe we’ll get [1:05:16]–
BOBBY: [1:05:16] rain state who even knows what makes it better–
ALEX: That’s really the hope.
BOBBY: –if your team is still in it, best of luck to you, unless your team happens to be one of the other teams in the National League East in which case I hope they will lose.
ALEX: You mean the Phillies?
BOBBY: Talk to you next week.
[1:05:32]
[Music]
[1:05:45]
[Outro]
ALEX RODRIGUEZ: Hello everybody, I’m Alex Rodriguez, Tipping Pitches, Tipping Pitches. This is the one that I love the most, Tipping Pitches. So we’ll see you next week. See ya!
Transcriptionist: Vernon Bryann Casil
Editor: Krizia Marrie Casil
Tipping Pitches 
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