Alex and Bobby reflect on some main takeaways from the ALCS and NLCS, including why you don’t start beef in the middle of a series, the arrival of Adolis García, the podcast’s hand in the Phillies’ elimination, the Rangers’ need for a karaoke machine, and more. Then they give some predictions for the World Series and share what they’re looking forward to, including a pivotal moment for Chris Young’s height, the concept of Dignity, and a January 6th reunion.
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Songs featured in this episode:
Teenage Joans — “Three Leaf Clover” • Booker T & the M.G.’s — “Green Onions”
Transcript
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’d like to start this podcast by setting a scene in Houston, Texas. How does that sound? We’re— we’re Capital J, Journalists these days, so we got to do some scene setting. Maybe get a nut graf in here a little bit. You’re gonna dump your notebook later in this podcast.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: Give it a little notes column in podcast form. That’s journalism lingo right there.
ALEX: Right. But first, you’re about to do a little showing over telling.
BOBBY: I’m gonna go Hunter S. Thompson this one. The scene, it’s the Fox Sports postgame interview set.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: On your left, you have Kevin Burkhardt. One seat to the right, you have none other than Alex Rodriguez. In the middle being interviewed, Josh Lowe. Charming guy, I have to say.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: Charming, I like him. He seems like a nice guy. He seems just like one of us, you know? Just like an awkward, kind of goofy guy. I like him. We got Papi, and of course, we have Derek Jeter sitting over there in silence, getting paid to not talk, to not ask questions, to not participate in the bits. This is how I know that we can never have Jeter on the pod because he wouldn’t participate in the bits.
ALEX: No, he absolutely wouldn’t. He’d be a great straight guy, though. Great straight guy.
BOBBY: He’s a great straight guy. It’s like the tabloids always said, “Derek Jeter, great straight guy.” We don’t need a straight man on this pod. We got two colored guys, two jokesters.
ALEX: Uh-huh.
BOBBY: You ruined my scene. You— you got me sidetracked.
ALEX: Sorry. Let’s— pull it back. Pull it back. Okay.
BOBBY: We’re in Houston.
ALEX: The fog is rolling off the hills.
BOBBY: The fog— there’s a dew on the grass.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: The slight chill in the air. Here are the three points that Alex Rodriguez needed to get over in his three interviews with Nathaniel Lowe. Did I say Nathaniel Lowe the first time or did I Josh Lowe?
ALEX: You said Josh Lowe.
BOBBY: Goddamnit.
ALEX: I just went along with it, too. I— I picture Josh Lowe in my head and was like, “Yeah, no, that tracks.”
BOBBY: It’s late. All right. It’s— it’s 11:04 p.m.
ALEX: It’s the—
BOBBY: We’re— we’re not even going to clean that one up. We’re not even going to clean that one up. It’s Nathaniel Lowe, obviously, you all know this. Here are the three points that A-Rod needed to get over. Number one, he needed to make sure that everybody knew how great of a job Ray Davis has done as the owner—
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: —of the Texas Rangers. Because sports owners stick together and we have to remember that Alex Rodriguez is a sports owner.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Though I don’t know how those payments are working out. Anybody checking on that recently? Is he making his payments?
ALEX: It’s a great question. Tonight is the— the start of the— the NBA season, so they might beyond— beyond him a little bit more.
BOBBY: Here’s Alex Rodriguez’s second important point that he had to get across. He had to make sure that everybody knows that the Rangers are an organization that comport themselves its dignity. Dignity was the word that he wanted to throw out there in the— in the ether about the Rangers.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: The Rangers owned by Ray Davis, the only team in baseball not to do a Pride Night. Dignity, interesting word choice. I just thought that was
interesting.
ALEX: It’s real, like, trying to put a— a new label on like— on the— on the—
BOBBY: Class.
ALEX: —exact same thing that you’re describing. Right. It’s like— it’s like, oh, this is— the— these guys carry themselves well, you know? Like, they— these guys are ballplayers.
BOBBY: They’re adults. They don’t get too high and they don’t get too low.
ALEX: Nope. But they pick each other up. That’s what they do. Dignity.
BOBBY: Third point. And this is just textbook Alex Rodriguez stuff. This is like him getting a 92-mile an hour fastball down the middle and smashing it for a homerun. Something that he doesn’t want anyone else to do. He looks Nathaniel Lowe right in the eye and his question about this game was, “You saw Cristian Javier coming in. It’s been tough to tee up his fastball this postseason. Were you guys trying to stay on top of the ball tonight?” I watched, like, two hours of postgame just to get this content, so I really hope that you listeners at home—
ALEX: I know you—
BOBBY: —appreciate it. Nathaniel Lowe—
ALEX: It was—
BOBBY: —he was like the fifth person interviewed, right? I had to sit through multiple interviews to get to this.
ALEX: It was good, too. The content was good— was good last night.
BOBBY: You— I wish you could have been there next to me when I heard him asked that question, because the look on Nathaniel Lowe’s face where he’s like, “How do you answer that question?” What if he was like, “No, we won’t [4:45]
ALEX: What— what do you say? Yeah.
BOBBY: He— he goes, “Yeah, I mean, he— he has a good fastball. It has good life. We just didn’t want to pop it up.” Great, great conversation. So you didn’t want to pop it. You didn’t want to have an infield fly. Awesome. Great question.
ALEX: I— I almost feel like postgame interview questions have regressed. Like they’ve just been— they’ve been really flattened into the most, like, non-offensive— I mean— I mean they’re tailor-made to encourage the exact answers that they get, right? Which is, “Yeah, you know, we just tried to go out there and take it one pitch at a time. Really great guy out there on the mound. But, you know, we just had to stay true to ourselves.” And it— and it almost feels like a lot of the questions start from the point of, “I have an idea of what I’m— what I’m looking for you to say and somehow—
BOBBY: To answer, yeah.
ALEX: “—what is— so— right. So what is like the easiest vehicle for me to get you there?”
BOBBY: Were you guys trying to stay on top of the ball tonight?” They scored 11 runs, like— but— “Yeah, we were just trying to hit singles. You know, I’m sure Adolis Garcia—”
ALEX: Right. Opposite field.
BOBBY: “He really wished that he just hit one down the line instead, you know?
ALEX: If— if you— if you look at all of Garcia’s at-bats, he was trying to stay on top of the ball in— pretty much every pitch, right?
BOBBY: He was trying—
ALEX: Line drive—
BOBBY: He was trying to, like, legitimately hit the cover off the ball. He was a man out for blood. And you know what? He got it. He got it.
ALEX: To be honest, I was probably more entertained by the— the postgame show than I was the game that preceded it, between—
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: —the Astros and the Rangers. Like I—
BOBBY: What a stinker.
ALEX: Yeah, true stinker. From— from Marcus Semien, like, coming over and— and doing the— the interview and then halfway through getting pulled away to go take the, like, team photo. We just won the ALCS and his kid is just there. Like, “Where do I go?”
BOBBY: Three kids, he had three kids there.
ALEX: Yeah, he had three kids there. Yeah. So he pulled one on his lap. And they get— my personal favorite was when they got Scherzer over there—
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: —on the— on the setup with them. And—
BOBBY: So you were grinding postgame tape along with me?
ALEX: I— I really was, you know, but I was— I was taking fastidious notes. You know, I was not— I was not trying to turn the content out night of.
BOBBY: Yeah, you were saving them for the game.
ALEX: Right, exactly. Yeah.
BOBBY: Much discussion on the Tipping Pitches livestream about the concept of being too good during the regular season and then sucking in the playoffs. Whereas Jose, Abreu, and some other players are doing it in reverse. They sucked during the regular season, and then they just saved all their hits for the postseason. And the— I gotta say that’s analytics.
ALEX: That is analytics right there.
BOBBY: That’s [7:32] metrics. The reason that we’re vamping so hard off the top here and not talking about the World Series matchup that everybody listening to this podcast already knows, is that in our time, on our timeline, it is still the top of the ninth in the Phillies-Diamondbacks game. It’s looking good for the snakes right now, but I don’t want to—
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: —commit to that because things can always go haywire in the city of Philadelphia, if that’s any— if there’s anything that we’ve learned, it’s that. So we’re going to start by talking about the— the end of the Rangers-Astros series. We will then subsequently react to the end of the NLCS in real time as it is happening. And then, of course, Alex is going to dump his notes from this past week of everything he’s observed, and I’m going to react to that, and we will talk maybe a little bit about some smaller storylines as we head into— as we head into the World Series that starts later this week. But before we do all of that, I am Bobby Wagner.
ALEX: I am Alex Bazeley.
BOBBY: And you are listening to Tipping Pitches.
[theme]
BOBBY: Alex, thank you to this week’s new patrons. Those patrons are Tim and Nicki. I made reference to the watch-along of Sunday night’s game six between the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers. We have done one watch-along per round of this postseason. We will be doing one watch-along, at least one. I don’t know. Do you want to maybe throw in an extra one? Maybe if there’s a game seven. We’ll talk about it. No promises. And those watch-alongs are available to members of the Tipping Pitches Patreon. You can find that Patreon at patreon.com/tippingpitches. You can get into those watch-alongs at any tier and they are a lot of fun. But the resounding topic of this past week was how masterclass is a Ponzi scheme. So if you want to hear such important investigations as that, the Tipping Pitches Slack, and Patreon, and watch-along community is for you. Okay. We have the American League side of the World Series. In mere minutes, we will have the National League side of the World Series, but we’re gonna focus here on the Texas Rangers. What are we— what’s going on? What’s— what’s going on in Texas, Alex? What’s going on? How did they do this? How did they overcome just horrendous vibes just crashing and burning at the end of the season, injuries to a lot of— honestly, a lot of their important players, the main pitcher that they signed to help with their woeful rotation from 2022 which caused them to lose 94 games last year, need I remind you. That man’s name Jacob deGrom. Many of you heard me going absolutely capital T, capital I, threw it last year, last offseason when he signed with the Texas Rangers. He won them six games. They needed all six of them just to make it into the postseason. And despite all of that, despite losing him, despite Scherzer getting hurt and missing a lot of the postseason and not being that effective, he comes in, he’s okay enough in game seven to carry the Rangers until their offense clicked it on, and they just— they kind of pants [10:54] the Astros.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: The dominant dynasty of our time during this podcast. They made them look worse than any other team has. Even when the Nationals beat them in the 2019 World Series, every game was pretty close, pretty well-competed. And I— the— the Rangers made the Astros look about as bad as any team has in this run, give or take, the 2018 Red Sox, who were a dominant team that won the World Series. So what’s your takeaway? How did they do it? How do you feel about them heading into the World Series? Have they made themselves any more likeable to you, after having watched 90 minutes of postgame content of them— their players being interviewed in the [11:38]
ALEX: Right. Max Scherzer and his— his three kids and Alex Rodriguez trying desperately, desperately to keep a straight face while the one kid is— is sitting there with, like, her arms flailed up in the air in the middle of the interview. That was my favorite part. I just— I just want to say.
BOBBY: A-Rod looking kind of short on that broadcast, by the way. I don’t know if his seat is lower or like what’s going on there.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: He’s looking kind of short in comparison to the players.
ALEX: I didn’t pick up on that, but again, that’s why we both do these watches is because we make up for each other’s blind spots. My— my initial takeaway from the series somewhat mimics the— the— the takeaway that I had from the Phillies-Braves series, which is stop giving the other team ammo, like stop giving them something to rile them up and, like, rally around.
BOBBY: I’m sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt, but you— you just opened the door wide open for me and I have to jump through it.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: Jim Crane is all about giving other people ammo, you know? It’s how he makes his money.
ALEX: I’m saying shut it down.
BOBBY: All right, continue.
ALEX: I just— I don’t— I don’t know. We’re— we’re 0-2 this postseason on teams positioning themselves as the victim in a relatively like minor juxtaposition to the other team, and ultimately, like, getting roundly embarrassed as a result. Correlation or causation, I will— I will leave it up to baseball prospectus. I just— I just don’t know. You’re— you’re already in the playoffs. You’re already here. You’ve proven that you deserve to be here. I’m not— I— I— I don’t want to immediately start this conversation with a whole actor— Astros victim kind of discussion, but— but— but like—
BOBBY: Why not, they’re gone? This was their last chance to do it.
ALEX: To do it— it just— oh, God. I don’t know, man. I— so obviously this— this kind of whole kerfuffle stems from Bryan Abreu hitting Adolis Garcia with a pitch in game five after Garcia— I don’t even know how you describe— how you describe the unwritten rule that he necessarily broke on the homerun that he made. There— maybe there were a couple in there [14:04]
BOBBY: I don’t even think he— well, he— he took a little bit to get to first base. But what is— it’s 2023, what are we doing?
ALEX: Well, but— which speaks to the larger question of like, what the fuck are we doing, right? But, like, it obviously turned into a whole thing. Bryan Abreu was suspended and then effectively unsuspended, which, again, didn’t end up making a difference.
BOBBY: Classic process right there from Rob. Classic process. You know, you got to stand by back to blue, back the umpires because they tossed him out of the game for hitting him intentionally and then you got to— you got to get stand by your guys.
ALEX: And then a neutral arbiter came to the clear decision that, “Okay, this was probably intentional.” Whether or not you believe it was, right, they were— they pretty much had a unified front that they thought that this wasn’t an intentional hit by pitch.
BOBBY: I just gotta say, I’m trying so hard to focus on what you’re saying and— and I heard the new phrase, neutral arbiter which, you know, I love. That really gets me going.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: That really [14:58]
ALEX: Right, yeah.
BOBBY: —fire in my stomach, but at the same time—
ALEX: [15:01] the risk manager.
BOBBY: —the Phil— and collective bargaining agreement. I’m trying so hard to focus on what you’re saying, but also this— the Phillies season has come down to Jake Cave over here on my other tabs, so it’s very hard. But the whole— that was such a— such a nonsense story that became basically the main ingredient, which is— is reminiscent. I’m so glad that you pointed out that it reminded you of the Phillies-Braves series, because it’s like, how are we letting this be the thing that throws us off our game? How are we letting this be the thing that gives Adolis G Garcia the fuel to knock a two-time champion, four-time World Series appearance, seven straight times in the ALCS team off their pedestal, a division rival, which— I mean, honestly, I think that that has vaulted itself into one of the best rivalries in baseball, it’s— it’s Texas Houston now at this point with what— it projects to be like going forward with both of these teams being good. Obviously, we hope that maybe our beloved Seattle Mariners can nip on their heels a little bit better next year, but it was— it was— it was really weird. It was weird. I’m glad— almost glad that the Ranger— I wanted the— the Astros to win this, I have discussed multiple times. But I’m always— always glad that the Rangers won so that this didn’t become like—
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: —a weird thing that— another thing for people to put on their shoulder— a chip on their shoulder is about the Houston Astros. Oh, boy. They really did it. They really did it. Very fitting ending—
ALEX: They really did, huh?
BOBBY: —to fly out to Corbin Carroll, to send the— to send the Arizona Diamondbacks to the World Series. Oh, man. Take a quick— take a quick second to compose myself over here. We’re— we’re gonna talk about that in a second, but let’s— let’s finish our thoughts on the ALCS first. I— I just think it’s a little— it’s— it— I found it a little bit hard to talk about the Rangers and what they’re doing this postseason because they are embodying so many cliches. And so almost when I find myself getting ready, getting revved up to talk about the team, it becomes challenging to not sound like the broadcast or like sound like the postgame review of what they’re doing. But they are a team that is more talented than their record. They are a team that does take quality at-bats. They are a team that will take what you give them. They are a team that honestly feels pretty gritty. They do seem well-managed. But these are all things that are very hard to prove, and I probably not knowing how well they were playing would have picked against them in all three of their series so far. I will now pick for them in the World Series, which means that the Diamondbacks are definitely going to win the World Series.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: Have they— I know I already kind of asked you this, but have they won you over as like a— as like a great team? Because then after they beat the Orioles, after they swept the Orioles, I was kind of like, “This seems pretty, like, legitimately great. Like top to bottom depths.” They’re better way faster than I thought they were gonna be.
ALEX: I mean, I guess it depends on what you define as— as like a legitimately good team, right? Are they— are they a team that is maybe— are they a team for whom the playoff might obscure some of their weaknesses? Sure, right. Like as the Rangers have shown, at least thus far, you don’t need a third starting pitcher in order to find success in the playoffs, right, given— given the layoffs. And sometimes your games one and five starter will pitch in game seven anyway. I feel like the way they kind of stumbled to the finish line has me with, like, a little shred of not doubt in my head, but kind of a desire to see them repeat the success next year with the question marks that surround guys like Scherzer and deGrom before truly cementing them as a force to be kind of reckoned with in the AL West. You know, I don’t think it necessarily ends here where they have a core that will carry them for years to come. Like there’s still question marks for them going into next year and— and again, not to like sound like we’re just doing straight analysis, but I don’t know, I got to— I got to see a little more from them.
BOBBY: I mean, yeah, we’re— are we getting ahead of ourselves? Of course, but when you dethrone a team like the Astros, who, though they struggled a lot this year, and though they barely won the division, and though the Rangers had to kind of falter at the end to give them the division, and honestly, the Rangers were probably the better team from March to, like, September 5th, you know? You still— it’s the type of series when— it’s the type of resilience— I kind of hate like how fearful I am of using these words that are just like way overused, but it’s the type of resilience from a team.
ALEX: Yeah, the type of dignity.
BOBBY: Right. Dignity. Great point. I didn’t even think about that. It’s a type of dignity from a team that makes you get out a little bit ahead of your skis, because it’s— it’s about as convincing a postseason run for a team that was legitimately horrible. Two years ago, and really bad last year that I’ve ever seen. And that’s the kind of thing that’s like these are the narratives that we come to October for. These are the narratives that you and I appreciate. And I was pretty middling on the Rangers, both for personal and for more generalist reasons. A lot of mutual fans don’t like the Rangers because they seem kind of like a sleazy organization, honestly. But within that sleazy organization, there are kind of like a lot of bright spots and we’ve talked a lot about moralizing organizations and teams this postseason. And if we can kind of let go of that a little bit, there’s a lot to like about this team. And we didn’t—we like— we haven’t even said the name Evan Carter who’s like 21—
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: —and just seems like he’s having the most fun of any human being on Earth out there and—
ALEX: Oh, my God, yeah.
BOBBY: Imagine if 21-year-old you had to take an at-bat against Bryan Abreu, I think that might be it for us, dawg. Like that might be just— it— it’s a wrap. We might just—
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: I might have to go to the LAM after that.
ALEX: Well, I’m— I’m— I’m trying to imagine like us, freshman year of college, sophomore year of college maybe, like writing—
BOBBY: Not 21 freshman year of college. I didn’t fail 11th grade five times.
ALEX: No, no. No, but I— no, but I mean us, like at our student newspaper like—
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: —writing, doing our— doing our little articles, you know? And then getting called up to the New York Times to write front page.
BOBBY: I was— I was so ready.
ALEX: You were— you were ready?
BOBBY: Yeah, I was ready. But it’s a good comparison. It would have— honestly, they got good editors there at the New York Times. It would have been more like— it would have been more like us doing our podcast for about three weeks and then getting called up to host, like, three hours on WFAN in Primetime just like the next day, No editing, no nothing. Just— you’re doing it live. You got to throw to commercial or else we’re gonna get sued by the FCC.
ALEX: See, that— that’s almost feels to me more like independent baseball, you know? I’m like you can— you can do whatever you want to hear.
BOBBY: No, you can’t. You can’t. If you curse on air, you’d get sued by the FCC.
ALEX: Yeah, but do I get sued or does WFAN get sued?
BOBBY: Well, it’s coming out of your salary, you know?
ALEX: Oh, probably. Evan Carter making league in. Tough beat. Speaking of league minimum, Chas McCormick took a 103.7 mile per hour fastball off his hamstring from Aroldis Chapman and that man is making league minimum. He’s going into his final year of pre-arb next year. This is a labor crisis. This is— this is a labor crisis. That is hazardous material on the job. He should get a year of service time for getting hit by that pitch, at least one year, maybe two.
ALEX: Not to mention the fact that he was like a— like a top 20 hitter in baseball this year or something like that. You know, like— that may even be selling him short a little bit.
BOBBY: Yeah, but it took to, like, mid-season for Dusty to believe that he’s good.
ALEX: As we’ve shown, it takes him a little bit of time to come to the realizations that maybe some other folks came here before.
BOBBY: Well, that’s not going to be a factor next year because he basically announced— soft announced his retirement, soft launch, Dusty done.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: What a career. We don’t have time—
ALEX: What a career.
BOBBY: We don’t have really that much time to spend talking about Dusty. We’ll have plenty of time in this cold, cold offseason, but a weird way to go out to win the World Series to think that he was going to go out on top, a lot of rumors about that. And then to come back for one more year, you know, flirting— flirting with fire a little bit, trying to win back-to-back for the first time since the Yankees the turn of the century. And it looks promising for a while there, and then the wheels fell off. But, you know, I guess tip of the cap to the Astros, me being the one man outside of Houston, Texas who was sympathetic to these Astros over the years. Now, it cut the exact opposite way. I didn’t need the Astros to win because I don’t need to make a deal with the devil, because they don’t need to beat another NL East team, because, Alex, your Philadelphia Phillies, they botched it.
ALEX: Dunzo.
BOBBY: They botched it. What— what happened? Did your power just run out?
ALEX: My power, which I had been carrying them through not only the end of the season, but the postseason. I think I bought my shirt too late, frankly. My— my Phillies merch. I got— I recently purchased a— a vintage Phillies ’08 World Series shirt.
BOBBY: That is honestly more of a stab in my back than you choosing to be a Phillies fan for the future.
ALEX: I know. Well, I was—
BOBBY: That’s like reaching back into my trauma.
ALEX: I was— I was—
BOBBY: Crazy bad energy move from you. Crazy bad.
ALEX: Really— really bad— really bad energy. Like I— I might be sticking the city of Philadelphia on me by putting this energy out on the world, but—
BOBBY: Dare I throw the phrase Stolen Valor out? Like dare I say that?
ALEX: You dare.
BOBBY: Who’s your favorite guy from that squad? The flying Hawaiian guy? No, it’s got to be Chooch, right?. You know about Chooch?
ALEX: Love Chooch. But I always gravitated towards Chase Utley, frankly.
BOBBY: Oh, my God. Oh, my God, we got to—
ALEX: He just— he just felt like a guy who played the game with dignity.
BOBBY: Well, this has been a nice episode of Tipping Pitches. Thank you everybody for listening. I’m looking forward to the World Series.
ALEX: This has been a nice series of Tipping Pitches.
BOBBY: I would have accepted any combination of Chooch, maybe a little Matt Stairs. So Taguchi would have been a really great poll. But really, the guy that I was looking for was Pat the Bat burl.
ALEX: Of course.
BOBBY: That’s true Philadelphia legend stuff. The fact that— just like this team, Joe Blanton, Chad Durbin.
ALEX: Joe Blanton.
BOBBY: Our guy, J. Happ pitched for this team. He might not have been on the World Series roster, because he was 25, and he only appeared in game— eight games that year. But Ryan Madson, “Lights Out” Lidge. All right. What— what’s going?
ALEX: This is great. We’re in— we’re in 2008 Phillies, remember some guys.
BOBBY: You just cursed your team.
ALEX: I know, I brought us here.
BOBBY: You just cursed your team. That’s the big headline from this. I’m really getting lost down the Andy Tracy rabbit hole here, but you cursed your team.
ALEX: So I mean—
BOBBY: J.C. Romero appeared in 77 games for the 2008 Phillies. 77 games. That’s what—
ALEX: That— you know, you don’t see that anymore.
BOBBY: That’s what modern analytics has taken away from us.
ALEX: You don’t see that anymore. John Smoltz was right. Put it on a shirt.
BOBBY: So first— first— first you say maybe billionaires got the right idea. Then you say John Smoltz was right. Alex out of context is going crazy. Someone needs to make that Twitter account. Sorry, X formerly Twitter account.
ALEX: There you go.
BOBBY: Can we talk about the topic at hand? I— I will start. I think the Diamondbacks are still fraudulent.
ALEX: [27:35]
BOBBY: I don’t know what’s going on. I’m looking at Torey Lovullo, who by the way every single announcer pronounces his name differently.
ALEX: Yup.
BOBBY: Torey Lovullo. Torey Lovullo. Torey Lovullo. I’m looking at him hugging Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick right now and it’s just sending shivers up my spine. Shivers up my spine, Alex. I don’t understand what— how— what— I— I don’t understand how this team—
ALEX: Yeah. Uh-huh.
BOBBY: I— I honestly don’t understand how this team won game six and seven on the road against the team with the best home field advantage in baseball. So you as the Phillies expert on the pod, can you please help me and all of the listeners at home understand it?
ALEX: I— no, I— I— I don’t think I can. I don’t— I don’t think the Phillies themselves can fully understand it if I’m being quite honest. I mean, this— this series was a really fascinating example of two managers who stick to their guns. You know, one— and Lovullo who says, “My guys are not seeing your— your batters a third time to the order. Like it’s just— it’s— it’s not happening, right? I don’t care if your name is— I don’t care if your name is Merrill Kelly. You don’t get to go back out there.” And Rob Thomson who says, “My lineup is my lineup. Alec Bohm is my guy, and sometimes it pays off.” But I— I— I at least appreciated that from this series that it was kind of two guys who said—
BOBBY: Cards on the table.
ALEX: “—Why are we going to stop doing what got us here?” Right? I mean— I mean, obviously, they’re like—
BOBBY: Elite like— elite baseball mentality. I love— this is one of my— this is one of my top three baseball mentalities.
ALEX: That’s— you do— you do the thing that got you here. You know, keep playing the game that you know.
BOBBY: Play to your strengths.
ALEX: Play to your strengths.
BOBBY: You’re honestly a pretty chipper. I was hoping for a little bit more of like a me last year when the Mets got eliminated in the Wild Card energy.
ALEX: No, I—
BOBBY: But that’s like— that takes decades to muster up.
ALEX: It— it really does.
BOBBY: You really got to hand it to Mike Hazen, the GM of the Diamondbacks. A guy’s name who I have no doubt—
ALEX: [29:42]
BOBBY: —been said dozens of times on this podcast.
ALEX: I— I knew he was the GM of the Diamondbacks.
BOBBY: You just got to hand it to him.
ALEX: And he’s a good one.
BOBBY: Tip of the cap—
ALEX: Definitely in the— in the upper half of the league.
BOBBY: I— okay. I’m— I’m gonna say something about the Phillies now. I’ve had enough time—
ALEX: Say something about the Phillies.
BOBBY: —to— to vamp and gather my thoughts. I still hate this team. I still honestly hate a lot of players.
ALEX: He shocks the world.
BOBBY: I still hate my relationship to the team, the organization—
ALEX: Well—
BOBBY: —most of the fans, most of the fans. But I would like to say something, if I were to say that I couldn’t— that I didn’t appreciate the energy that this team brought to October, the pure bliss and chaos that they both gave and took from the fan base, I would be such a liar. They were easily the most entertaining, easily the most entertaining team for myriad reasons. And it feels no shade— no shade to the Diamondbacks, who we’re going to spend a little bit of time talking about when we preview the World Series. And of course, as we do podcast during the World Series, we will talk about their performance. No shade to the Diamondbacks, it feels a little bit like the air coming out of the balloon right now. Like Phillies-Rangers is heavyweights fighting.
ALEX: Yeah. Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: Rangers-Diamondbacks.
ALEX: A [31:14] six series.
BOBBY: All right. Well, the Phillies have like four dudes named Bryson or some version of that.
ALEX: Yeah, right.
BOBBY: So let’s slow our roll on that. I don’t know. I mean, I— I don’t want to be unfair to the Diamondbacks, because honestly, they have— as we talked about— when you named them as like a little bit of a sleeper in our postseason preview, they have a lot of really interesting players who— playing up to their potential have clearly proven to be worthy of going against a top tier team in the Phillies. I mean, this is two straight years with the Phillies proving that they can hang with the best of them. And I— I found it genuinely shocking how many guys who— how many guys whose names are not, like, up on the proverbial billboards the way that Harper, and Trea Turner, and Zack Wheeler, and all of these guys on the Phillies are, how they just kind of matched them pitch for pitch, at-bat for at-bat. Ketel Marte, Corbin Carroll finally showing up in game seven. Christian Walker, still— still waiting, still waiting on him, but he’ll probably have a great World Series now. Even like from the top to the bottom of the order, Geraldo Perdomo having multiple good at-bats, multiple hits, getting on base, having his speed on the base paths, changing the shape of game seven. Like it’s one of the more unlikely occurrences in our time covering baseball that this team would make it to the World Series. And I don’t think that we should totally brush past that, but I do think that it’s worth pointing out that that is a little bit of a letdown for people who like the idea of the best teams getting to take as many swings at each other in October as possible.
ALEX: Well— okay. So let’s— so let’s workshop it. So, how could we better craft the playoffs to ensure that the Phillies get to the World Series, right? Okay. So like—
BOBBY: Well, first of all, we have to make sure that the Braves also get to the World Series too, because that— that wouldn’t be fair to Atlanta fans and the players.
ALEX: Right. And Phillies— Phillies-Braves World Series will be an interesting one structurally.
BOBBY: We should let them play again, for like third, you know? Like they have the bronze medal game in the Olympics.
ALEX: Yeah, right.
BOBBY: We should just let the Phillies and Braves play again. I think more people would watch that.
ALEX: They would, which is why they’re not going to do that.
BOBBY: That’s free money right there. We’re just giving away ideas. I feel compelled to tell you that you’re getting the— the real authentic Philadelphia experience after having chosen them. It would have been— it just would have been way too easy if you chose them, and two months later, they won the World Series.
ALEX: Yes, they would have.
BOBBY: Now, it’s like when the path— when the path was much— was clear and much more simply for them. That’s— that’s when they— they roped in and they let you down.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: A real Sixers-esque performance from the Phillies in this NLCS.
ALEX: Bryce Harper, who showed up to game seven today, rocking a Sixers jersey.
BOBBY: Yeah, between you buying the ’08 shirt and him showing up in a Pat Bev Sixers jersey—
ALEX: It was— it— it was— it was over before it started.
BOBBY: —it was so over, it was so over.
ALEX: The— the Diamondbacks are just so perpetually slept on, I think in part just because by virtue of the division that they play in, right? The— I mean, the Dodgers kind of leave no— the Dodgers leave barely any room to breathe there. The Padres obviously had been— you know, for years trying to gain a, you know, foothold in that division and at the very least, you know, have you know, kind of begun to carve out that space in that division for themselves, whether it maybe wasn’t for— for an extended period of time, right? And then obviously, the Giants hang around.
BOBBY: Amazing moment. Amazing moment from you saying the Giants hang around, three World Series in the 2010s.
ALEX: They’re usually there. And there’s a fifth NL West team as well, who I briefly forgot the— the name of, which— which— which might feel fitting there. But— but point being that, like, I think that it’s been very honestly easy for them to sort of slip under the people’s radar, playing in, you know, a relatively competitive division and also not being in a sort of major market, combined with the fact that they don’t have a, like, bonafide, nationally recognized star on their team.
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: It does kind of feel like everything was stacking up in favor of them being the underdog. I’m just really curious to see whether or not they actually have that vigor, you know? That grit.
BOBBY: Yeah. How— well, basically, what you’re saying is how are they going to stack up against a team with so much dignity as the Rangers have?
ALEX: Well, yeah.
BOBBY: Can they muster enough decorum to fill the Rangers dignity? Is what you’re asking.
ALEX: They really— not to, like, refocus back on the Rangers a little bit, but they do feel like a team that’s like trying to force vibes—
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: —like far too hard, you know. Like, in the— when they came out and celebrated on field, there was like one guy like wearing a pink backpack. It’s like that’s quirky.
BOBBY: I watched their, like, champagne celebration.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: Of them just like pouring beer on each other.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Just kind of half-heartedly.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: With, like, fluorescent lighting on.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: I was like, “This is— this is like a 3 out of 10.”
ALEX: Not to mention—
BOBBY: 3 out of 10.
ALEX: Not to mention, their— their whole thing this postseason has been Higher by Creed, right?
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: And so the song comes on in the clubhouse after the game and they all— I mean, they all nailed the first line, “Can you take me higher?” Right? But that’s kind of the easiest one and things really went downhill from there in terms of group participation. I—
BOBBY: If I said I give you $1 For every word that you can continue to sing after can you take me higher, how far could you go?
ALEX: Not very far. But I haven’t made it my thing, either.
BOBBY: Not yet you haven’t.
ALEX: I’m just— I’m just saying Alex Bohm can probably sing along Dancing On My Own at this point.
BOBBY: We—
ALEX: Did I say Alex Bohm?
BOBBY: You did.
ALEX: That’s funny.
BOBBY: Yeah. You did. We’re just gonna keep it rockin’.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: We celebrated Episode 300 harder than the Rangers celebrated winning the ALCS.
ALEX: We really did, actually.
BOBBY: Before we land this plane and start talking about the Oakland Athletics analytics department, which I know is really important to you, and that you really want to spend a good— good 30 to 35 minutes talking about at the end of this podcast.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: What else is left from your notebook that you want to dump out from observations from this past week?
ALEX: Some of these are formed thoughts. That’s— actually, you know, it’s a lie. There— there are very few formed thoughts in here, but I’m just going to kind of spill— spill the notebook anyway. Chris Young and Kevin Burkhardt referring to each other CY and KB during the— the postgame like trophy ceremony.
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: I know that like people call Kevin Burkhart, KB.
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: I guess I was less familiar with Chris Young going by CY. I was torn between like tenderness and revulsion, if— if— if that makes sense.
BOBBY: I gotta say, I love it.
ALEX: Yeah?
BOBBY: I love it.
ALEX: The pet names?
BOBBY: I think calling people by their initials when they sound good together is worthwhile. Maybe that’s just jealousy, because if you started calling me BW, W having two syllables— three syllables. W having three syllables doesn’t really work, you know?
ALEX: Yeah. Like, what are you, Arthur’s sister?
BOBBY: You call me bwags.
ALEX: Yeah, many do in fact.
BOBBY: Many do, although more people just call me wags—
ALEX: Hmm.
BOBBY: —without the B, because that’s just more expedient. But I’ve— I— I’ve been tempted to call you AB. It’s like a shortened version of your high school baseball nickname, A Bay.
ALEX: That’s true. Yeah.
BOBBY: What if I— what if you started introducing yourself on every pod earnestly as like A Bay? Like we took on personas. Like it’s no longer— before we get to that, I’m— it’s no longer, “I’m Bobby Wagner. I’m Alex Bazeley.” It’s I’m bwags. I’m A Bay. How many— what percentage of ours— our listeners do you think we would lose in the first episode, 30?
ALEX: I— Desus and Mero did it to great success for years.
BOBBY: Unfortunately for us, they’re cool.
ALEX: Yeah, I know. I know.
BOBBY: Then they also broke up, you know? So maybe that’s—
ALEX: Oh, yeah. Right. Not the model to follow.
BOBBY: That would be our trajectory if we started doing it like that. And I think that is the model to follow.
ALEX: Right. I think they’re relatively happy with where they landed.
BOBBY: I think we should barrel towards an inevitable fallout.
ALEX: Okay.
BOBBY: These are the ups and downs of life.
ALEX: You wanna start planting the seeds for it now?
BOBBY: Yeah, because then if we do that—
ALEX: I don’t really like AB if we’re being quite honest.
BOBBY: You already fired the first shot when you chose the Phillies.
ALEX: Oh, my God. You always do this.
BOBBY: Yeah, because then if we have the fallout, then we can have to come back, the reunion.
ALEX: Right. Yeah.
BOBBY: We will be— start dropping rumors like on Reddit, you know?
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: With anonymous accounts. They spotted together drinking coffees.
ALEX: Right. Having coffee in Paris.
BOBBY: Yeah. Paris, nice. I’m in, done, sold. After I moved to London, it’ll be much easier for me to go to Paris.
ALEX: That’s— that’s true.
BOBBY: So you’ll be the one that’s getting on a flight. Just the London thing every day, it just seems sweeter and sweeter.
ALEX: It really does. You’ve— you’ve brought it up, I think, multiple times on the pod.
BOBBY: Just thinking about living in London instead, it just— you know, my heart just grows multiple sizes like the Grinch. What a city. What a town. Fully off the rails, it’s 11:55 p.m. Fully off the rails.
ALEX: It is. Yeah.
BOBBY: All right, keep going. AB, what’s up next?
ALEX: Okay. What’s up next? Some of these are moot, I— I will admit. Like— like this one about Bryce Harper, which is that playoff Bryce Harper has [41:55] rarefied air of— of announcers who just kind of, like, do the upward intonation on every single swing you take, you know? The kind of like—
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: The— the intonation of expectation. The Harper.
BOBBY: Hmm. The intonation of expectation. Okay, Mr. Scully. Cool off.
ALEX: What’s the name of my favorite emo album from 2004? I think it’s good. I think it’s fine. I think it’s cool when announcers are excited. It’s— you don’t have to do with every pitch, but I— I guess I appreciate meeting the moment more than the alternative.
BOBBY: Falling short like— that every Joe Buck call from 2000 to 2013.
ALEX: Yeah, right. Yeah, exactly.
BOBBY: It’s gonna be a great mid-career pivot when we started an emo band and stop doing pods.
ALEX: Yeah. Well, that breakup is gonna be even more crazy.
BOBBY: That get back together is gonna sell way more tickets.
ALEX: That’s true.
BOBBY: Okay, what’s next? I really felt like Bryce was going to do something in the bottom of the seventh, two men on, down 2. It really felt like it was coming.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: But it wasn’t meant to be.
ALEX: [43:14] it did not come.
BOBBY: Narrative fall, let us down.
ALEX: I watched a little bit of a True TV— sorry, this is— I think this is the name for it. It’s the TruTV ALTcast Peloteros.
BOBBY: Hmm. Why didn’t they get one more name in there?
ALEX: It was—
BOBBY: Well, it’s important for people who don’t know at home, TruTV stylized as T-R-U, TV.
ALEX: Right. Yes. That— that actually is very important. Thank you for bringing that up. TruTV ALTcast Peloteros. It was kind of fun, honestly. It was Albert Pujols, Pedro Martinez.
BOBBY: I— oh, actually, I watched a little bit of this.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: I didn’t know that I was watching him, but I did watch a little bit of it. Anyway, who else?
ALEX: Then Nestor Cortes was on when I was watching it. Of course, hosted by the illustrious, Alanna Rizzo.
BOBBY: Wow. She’s crushing it. Between this and her appearance with Mad Dog, this is the October of Alanna.
ALEX: The stuff they’re calling—
BOBBY: You— I mean, you— famously you’ve been waiting weeks to double down on your support of her, so would you like to use this opportunity heading into the World Series?
ALEX: Right. All— all the plenty of Alanna Rizzo takes that I have— people have very strong feelings about her and I don’t really— one way or another. I think Dodgers fans do especially, because she was kind of their—
BOBBY: Yeah, field reporter. It’s one of those— Alanna Rizzo is one of those figures where she actually does suck, but then the ways that people critique her are sexist.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: So it’s like we just got to— we’re fighting a battle on two fronts here, guys.
ALEX: Yeah, it—
BOBBY: You can just critique her for sucking. You don’t have to critique her for just being a woman.
ALEX: Right. Exactly. And— and I will say like this—
BOBBY: Let women be bad also.
ALEX: Bobby out of context going crazy.
BOBBY: It officially is— it’s officially midnight, so everything we say here can’t— cannot— legally can no longer be taken out of context.
ALEX: That’s true. This is— this is weird—
BOBBY: This is podcast [45:18]
ALEX: —weird podcasting hours right now.
BOBBY: It’s all a parody. It’s always a parody, but it’s— it’s mega parody now.
ALEX: I think it is cool to just have people— and if there are players it helps, like just chatting over the game.
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: Just— just shooting the shit, right? Like not necessarily trying to remark on every single pitch that is thrown or fill every second of dead air. Now, I will say sometimes I can go too far in the other direction, right? When you have kind of three baseball players there who are just watching a baseball game.
BOBBY: Right. When you’re— when you’re talking about—
ALEX: [45:54] you don’t always have something to say.
BOBBY: When you’re on your 30th Masterclass video that you’ve been discussing like us on the— on the Tipping Pitches livestream, it’s like, “Oh, maybe it’s a little bit too far.”
ALEX: [46:03]
BOBBY: “Maybe we should rope it back in and talk about this game here.”
ALEX: But I mean, all that to say like I— I do think this is the kind of thing that, you know, Major League Baseball and its, like, broader entities should consider exploring even more. And— and if I’m being quite honest, it felt well-situated for a Spanish language broadcast. I mean, all three of these guys are— are Latin players and, you know, they would— they would answer questions or have major discussion points in— in English and then maybe have a little joke here or there with— between each other, you know? And I— and I can’t help but think that if you’re trying to grow the game, like what better way than to have some of Latin America’s biggest baseball ambassadors talking about the— some of the marquee matchups in baseball. I didn’t watch the whole broadcast. It’s not that kind of hang. I was kind of like, “All right. I’m”— having Nestor Cortes talk about how he doesn’t like facing Vladimir Guerrero is fun, but, like— it’s a little like talking about milk during a no-hitter, you know?
BOBBY: That was supposed to stay within the confines of the livestream, Alex. You’re breaking the rules.
ALEX: [47:27]
BOBBY: I like the player broadcasts. I like the alternate broadcasts, TruTV or otherwise. They’ve been doing them on MLB Network for a few years now. Obviously, like in the bag for CC because worked on R2C2 for multiple years, but he has been doing them, you know, on MLB Network along with, like, Adam Jones at various times and it’s been hosted by— been hosted by MLB Network host and— and, you know, friend of the Barbie cast when I was working on that show, Steven Nelson. So it’s like— it’s all good people, like, doing these— doing these shows and— and— and it’s a good hang and stuff. And it’s an interesting breaking of format. And I think the type of thing that can only be boosted and explored more as MLB breaks down the wall of what they think of as a broadcast, men heads into the quote-unquote, “streaming era.” I remember when they signed the contract with Apple TV+, the— the word on the street in the media world was that they were going to try to do a— a slightly less traditional broadcast, that they were going to have it be— the attempt was going to be to make it a little bit more cinematic with all of Apple’s money and streaming capabilities as this tech company that is trying to get into live sports and streaming and whatnot. And the broadcast itself was going to feel— try to feel younger for people who would already be like native to the Apple TV+ platform, and also might want to be offered something like a live sports broadcast, but that doesn’t necessarily feel like, you know, Turner in the ’90s. And it works to varying degrees, you know, like friend— friends of the show were on that, like Hannah Kaiser was involved in that. And I remember they signed Katie Nolan to be part of that and she’s talked a little bit about, like, thinking it was going to be one thing and then sort of pulling that curtain back— or pulling that— slowing that roll a little bit, and pulling it back a little bit, and saying, “Well, maybe we do need to be a little bit more traditional, because it’s just hard to do all this on the fly as we’re trying to get into the world.” But these various fits and starts with changing the way a broadcast sounds and looks and feels are interesting to me. I always— I mean, there’s always going to be a market for just, like, the straight broadcasting of a baseball game as it’s been done for 100 years. Because the product itself is still really good, you know? As evidenced by both of these series go into a game seven and, you know, various— different games within the series were less competitive and less entertaining, but on the whole, I think we got two very entertaining and storyline-filled championship series. Much, much, much, much, much better than the first couple rounds.
ALEX: Last topic, I’ll spare— I opened up this Notes app at— at one point and I had written, “I have been taken aback a multiple times this postseason.”
BOBBY: That’s the whole thought?
ALEX: And that— that was— that was the end of the thought. And I— I didn’t really know—
BOBBY: Wow.
ALEX: I didn’t really know what to do with that or what I was going for with that.
BOBBY: I really love the, like, literary version of this pod. It’s just like Alex’s shower thoughts about baseball.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: I could get into that. That can be a Patreon idea.
ALEX: That— it could be a— you know, I think there are multiple subscription services— services that would do well for that sort of content.
BOBBY: I mean, if you just— if you throw the wrinkle, that it’s ASMR, we could put it on multiple platforms.
ALEX: Well, that’s what I’m saying.
BOBBY: We cross— cross platform. Cross— we’re leaving so much money on the table. It’s ridiculous.
ALEX: We really have this treasure trove of ideas, this podcast. My last point—
BOBBY: I— I have another idea.
ALEX: Okay.
BOBBY: So, like— well, hold on, before you get to— before we get to your last— your last point here, you do the ASMR cast— like we’re basically doing like our TruTV ALTcast Peloteros, but for the pod. So there’s one version of the pod and maybe— maybe this is how we employ AI. There’s one version of the pod where you do it and all that ASMR voice. You can, like, toggle it on and off as you’re listening to it.
ALEX: Oh.
BOBBY: There’s one ver— yeah, you like that, don’t you?
ALEX: I do like that.
BOBBY: You like that? That just— the fact that I even said that we just got $30 million in PC funding.
ALEX: Absolutely.
BOBBY: There is another version of the pod where you can, like, cut me out entirely. You just find me annoying. And there’s a third version of the pod, third version of the pod where I— I do it in like full— full, like, Long Island accent, you know? I’m just doing accent work.
ALEX: Oh, my God.
BOBBY: I’m just trying it out in, like, Queens accent.
ALEX: Where can I get that one?
BOBBY: I go spend like a solid month in like accent bootcamp with my cousins.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: And I come back and I’m talking like De Niro in Mean Streets.
ALEX: I want you to come back in— in March saying that you’re in the best shape of your life. I
Just—
BOBBY: I will be. I will be. I will have watched every Martin Scorsese movie and spent 31 straight days with my cousin who runs our Mets tailgate, who— that joke is for, like, three people who listen to this, at most.
ALEX: Yeah, yeah.
BOBBY: At most, three people.
ALEX: I got it.
BOBBY: Great. audience of one.
ALEX: It’s like when musicians like— you know how they’re like releasing like— like versions of their songs for TikTok these days now. You know, it’s like their popular songs went viral.
BOBBY: The worst.
ALEX: And so they’re like, “Here’s the slow version. Here’s the fast version.”
BOBBY: It’s the worst. It’s just— the creative industry is completely tanked. It’s so done.
ALEX: Luckily, that feature is already built into your apps.
BOBBY: I don’t want— I don’t have to create the app.
ALEX: No.
BOBBY: Someone create the app for me. I’m filling your content farms. Farm me out, doesn’t matter.
ALEX: My— my last— my last takeaway is just a brief one. So on the one hand, the base camp is bad.
BOBBY: Oh, my God.
ALEX: But—
BOBBY: It’s so bad. It’s so— it’s like almost so bad that it’s good.
ALEX: Right. But like on the other hand, J. T. Realmuto stepped up on me? Like I felt— like it— like it came on in this game that we were watching, you know? They were doing, like, whip arounds of the various base cam views.
BOBBY: I don’t know what’s going on right now.
ALEX: And he like— and he like ran back to first [53:37]
BOBBY: I feel like I’m having a lucid dream. Did you just say J.T. Realmuto stepped on me on the— on the pod? And you didn’t even do an ASMR voice. This is what I mean. We’re leaving money on the table.
ALEX: I know I’m— I know that I’m not alone in this position. I’m— I’m so positive about that.
BOBBY: Think about how mad J.T. Realmuto is going to be about what’s going on in Arizona now. Yes, yes, yes. I finally got a joke that got—
ALEX: Damn it.
BOBBY: —an authentic laugh from Alex.
ALEX: Damn it.
BOBBY: This is great. This is what we should do every pod after midnight. This is great.
ALEX: I don’t even— where do we go from here? Now, we have— now we have a World Series coming up.
BOBBY: Yeah, in three days.
ALEX: I know.
BOBBY: Why are there three days built into the schedule? There’s not three off days. Now, this is only two off days now, because this game— this— this series went to game seven. So two— two off days. There’s— this is just not— it’s not— it’s not ball, you know? It’s not the ball that I grew up with.
ALEX: No. And frankly—
BOBBY: Toss it out the next day, next day. Play World Series game one as a doubleheader with Championship Series game seven.
ALEX: Well, it’s—
BOBBY: Who says no?
ALEX: Frankly, a little unfair that the Rangers had to have one extra off day over the D-backs. BOBBY: Exactly right. And it’s unfair—
ALEX: Like I— like this is—
BOBBY: —that the Rangers have to play at home— because they suck at home.
ALEX: They have 33— they have— no, sorry. They have 50% more rest than the D-backs right
now.
BOBBY: That was great math. That was great math. Did you go back to NYU and get your degree in math? I just— everyone listening at home, I just need you— you all to know about my caffeine consumption today.
ALEX: Jesus.
BOBBY: Because it’ll explain a little bit why I am acting how I am, just two double espressos, a 20-ounce Wawa hot coffee, which as anybody in the greater Philadelphia area knows that’s electric right there.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: And then right before we fired up the— the mics for this pod, just a— an English breakfast tea.
ALEX: Ooh. You knew we were getting literary, you know? You were like, “I need something I can sip pinky’s raised.”
BOBBY: Right. I do feel like Shakespeare on this one.
ALEX: You’re like something on this one.
BOBBY: Anything else from the notebook that you would like to share or would you like to mercifully end this podcast? I guess we should— we should— I don’t even want to do like a full series preview of the World Series, because we’ll— we’ll have a chance to talk during the World Series about how it’s unfolding, other places will be doing more like a matchup— specific pitching matchup, how do these rosters line up against each other, and that’s not really what you’re coming here for obviously after the last 25 minutes of whatever we’ve been doing here on the show. But I guess, in our way, predict the vibes, predict the energy, what do you think is going to happen? I’m gonna go Rangers in six.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: The Marcus Semien lovefest series.
ALEX: Ooh, okay.
BOBBY: Good luck getting it past Marcus Semien, Joe Mantiply. You’ve been coasting too easily against the Philadelphia Phillies left-handed bats.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: You’re about to be exposed, sir. Done, book it. What’s your pitch?
ALEX: Kevin— Kevin Ginkel about to be put to the test, I’ll tell you that much.
BOBBY: Well, he’s passed with flying colors in game seven.
ALEX: Fair.
BOBBY: I’m— I’m gonna buy a Ginkel jersey and I’m going to put it on the Tipping Pitches card after everything you’ve put me through this year with your Philadelphia Phillies selection.
ALEX: Well, don’t do it before this series is over because we’ve learned.
BOBBY: I don’t really care anymore. I mean, I— I want the Diamondbacks to win because I think that the Rangers are like moderately despicable, but they have dignity.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: But moderately despicable.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: But at this point, I was like, “The pressure is totally off. I’m feeling Zen. I’m feeling Zen.”
what’s your prediction?
ALEX: I mean, I hate to be lame and, like, double down on— on your position, like it’d be more fun to zag and say, “I think the Diamondbacks— I think these scrappy upstarts can do it.”
BOBBY: Which makes [57:54]
ALEX: But I think— I think— I think Rangers in five.
BOBBY: I like it. I like it.
ALEX: I think— I think it’s— I think it’s time to do some exposing.
BOBBY: I just am really looking forward to seeing some more Nasty Nate in my life. Just one of the purest joys that you can experience in the 21st century of baseball fandom, just Nasty Nate mowing through the best hitters alive.
ALEX: It really is. And like looking relatively joyful throughout it all like— like—
BOBBY: He’s a gamer.
ALEX: He is— he is a gamer, but not in like a Scherzer gamer way, you know? In like a—
BOBBY: Right.
ALEX: —like a— just— just— just go out one pitcher at a time, you know? You know, he’s like— like memory like a goldfish, right? Flush it.
BOBBY: I guess. Sure.
ALEX: Yeah, I don’t know. The point is he’s got dignity, you know? And that’s what— that’s what matters. That’s what carries you here.
BOBBY: I have one final question for you. Do you know who Craig Breslow is?
ALEX: Yeah, it’s— reliever, right? Retired reliever?
BOBBY: That’s correct, but also that’s not why he’s in the news.
ALEX: Okay.
BOBBY: He was just hired as the next president of baseball operations for the Red Sox. He has been previously serving for the last few years as the assistant GM of the Chicago Cubs and he is now the president of baseball operations for the Red Sox. Amazing moment amidst all been building to this on this pod. I love that you knew him as a— you remember some guys, though. ALEX: Well, what else you get— am I like— you know, I’m really— I’m actually—
BOBBY: Well, firstly [59:35] down the line— names of the Chicago Cubs front office.
ALEX: So— so in other words, the Red Sox were like, “Hey, it’s working out for the Rangers so far.”
BOBBY: Yes.
ALEX: “Just— just to get a—”
BOBBY: Oh, my God.
ALEX: “—a dude.”
BOBBY: Yes. I— I— you reminded me of my final take that I wanted to share on this pod.
ALEX: Oh, great.
BOBBY: I was recently listening to a— a movie podcast and the person on the podcast was talking about the film Priscilla directed by Sofia Coppola.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: Banger. It’s a banger. Get out to your— get out to your local theaters and check it out. The film by a small upstart named Sofia Coppola, just ignore the last name. The leads of this are Elvis and Priscilla Presley portrayed by Kaylee Spinney playing Priscilla, and Jacob Elordi playing Elvis. Jacob Elordi, you know, he’s in that HBO show. What’s it called?
ALEX: Succession?
BOBBY: No.
ALEX: The Sopranos?
BOBBY: The Wire. He’s in The Wire.
ALEX: Euphoria.
BOBBY: Yes, he’s in the Euphoria. He is fucking tall.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Really tall.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: Kaylee Spinney, not tall. Probably the biggest height difference of any two leads I’ve ever seen in the film. And I have been working on a take very similar to my former colleague, Robert Mays, who had to take about how quarterbacks can be too tall. If you’re above six-five, you can’t be a quarterback in the NFL. I think if you are more than a foot taller than your co-star, the movie might not work. And I think Priscilla is the exception to the rule. I think everything going forward, we can’t have a height difference that— that big in a film. It was distracting, honestly. I was like he’s legitimately twice her height. What is happening? And I’ve been working on that take—
ALEX: Okay.
BOBBY: —and I would like to paste it on to the Rangers, see why Chris Young is too tall to be a GM.
ALEX: Oh.
BOBBY: Too tall. It’s distracting. He was up there on the stage. He’s like a foot taller than every player.
ALEX: I know.
BOBBY: Why mom— my mom was watching the championship— the trophy ceremony. She was like, “Who’s that guy? Why isn’t he in uniform?” I was like, “I have amazing news for you.”
ALEX: He’s really—
BOBBY: “He played for the Mets.” She was like, “I knew I recognized his name.” Too tall to be a gym. Too tall.
ALEX: Does your opinion change based on the results of the World Series? Like, is he— like is he playing for his future—
BOBBY: For his kind—
ALEX: —in your eyes right now?
BOBBY: For his kind.
ALEX: For his kind.
BOBBY: Guys over six-six.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Yeah, I think he is. That’s what’s on the line here.
ALEX: Mike Hazen’s height, I just want to say conspicuously absent from the internet.
BOBBY: Who watched the trophy ceremony? He’s not six foot seven.
ALEX: No, he’s not. No, he’s not.
BOBBY: Okay? He’s a normal guy. Normal height.
ALEX: Yeah. Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: The work of a GM, a lot of it takes place at a desk. That’s just bad ergonomically. It’s bad.
Do you think Chris Young is on the standing desk trend?
ALEX: I feel like he’s— he’s gotta be on the standing desk trend, right?
BOBBY: There’s no desk tall enough for this man. Please, let’s— please end this podcast, please. Please.
ALEX: Yeah, we should get out of here. Rangers, Diamondbacks, World Series starts on Friday. I’m—I’m moderately stoked,.
BOBBY: Moderately stoked.
ALEX: You know, I— I think maybe I’m—
BOBBY: Put it on the poster.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Alex Bazeley, moderately stoked.
ALEX: Moderately stoked. Most of my watching experience with a lot of the games in these playoffs have started with me relatively uninterested in the game. And as the game has progressed, I have just grown more and more enthralled with everything happening in front of me, so I’m kind of hoping— hoping the trend carries over,
BOBBY: We will announce when the watch-alongs will be for the series at some point over the next couple days. We just have to take a look at our schedules and the times that these— each of these games and figure that out. But until then, we will also— you know, we’ll be in touch about when the next episode will be. Since this one is coming out pretty late in this week. But aside from all of that, sign up Tipping Pitches Patreon, patreon.com/tippingpitches. I’m going to throw out a topic that I want to talk to you about on the next livestream. And I’m telling you now, because this is my thought diary tonight, clearly, as evidenced by the last 83 minutes of my performance on spy cast, just dumping it all out there. Here’s I want to talk about, a Pool Kids tweet. Not the Pool Kids tweet about Pete Alonzo.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: Though that is Kenan now that Pete Alonzo is cool and is a nice boy. A Pool Kids tweet about the band Paramore which was sent to me and it was the best moment of my week. Paramore came to a Pool Kids show and apparently likes the snare tone of Pool Kids. And I gotta say I agree.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: More to come on the Tipping Pitches livestream. How about that for a tease? Thank you everybody for listening. Congratulations to the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers fans who listened to this podcast, but if you don’t, no congratulations to you. Your teams are despicable. We’ll see you next week.
SPEAKER 3: Are you really gonna be that guy? There’s nothing wrong with your jeans. Oh, I think there’s something wrong with me. The sun goes down, the day’s over. I guess I’m just another three-leaf clover.
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!
BOBBY: They changed everything in Zoom so that they can have— they can add two different buttons for AI features. So now there’s like an AI summary of your meeting that you can bring up in real-time and there’s an AI companion. I don’t really know what either of those things do. I do feel like if I press that button, I’m like signing away like an organ or something, you know? Like with the Zoom’s terms of service, so I’m not—
ALEX: Wait, so you’re telling me the— the one time that I don’t update my Zoom before recording is the time that you get all the AI features?
BOBBY: Yeah, you’re missing out on— yeah, I got all the AI features, bro. Maybe they— they’re—maybe they’re in beta and they just like me better than you.
ALEX: Maybe, but they think—
BOBBY: If I were to [1:06:16]
ALEX: —your data is harvestable.
BOBBY: I mean, my data is definitely more harvestable than you. You’ve made like a lifetime commitment out of keeping your data as least harvestable as possible.
ALEX: Right. Until it comes to MLB fan unions, in which case anything’s up for grabs.
BOBBY: Anything’s up for— yeah, exactly.
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