Bobby and Alex gather to preview the 2024 World Series, which is here at long last and consists of two teams that everyone is having very Normal and Measured reactions to! They do so by presenting a list statements and deciding whether they will be true or false by the end of the series. Baseball analysis is everywhere for those with eyes (ears) to see (hear) it!
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Transcript
Tell us a little bit about what you saw and be able to relay that message to Cora when you watch Kimbrel pitch 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 all about? That’s amazing. That’s remarkable.
BOBBY: Oh, boy. Alex.
ALEX: Robert.
BOBBY: Do you think that the baseball world is in a sorry state of affairs as my voice currently? Do you think that Yankees-Dodgers is the end? That the small market fans are not represented by this October?
ALEX: Yeah. I can say confidently that the outcome of your voice here is literally the last thing I was rooting for. Like, it is the thing I wanted to happen the least, and yet here I am, engaging with you, you know? And engaging—
BOBBY: Hmm.
ALEX: —with it, right?
BOBBY: Uh-hmm. Yeah. Well—
ALEX: That’s because I respect the process.
BOBBY: —much like the World Series matchup of Yankees-Dodgers, this is the last thing that you wanted and the first thing that Rob Manfred wanted. He’s trying to silence me. He sent someone to my hotel room overnight to change the air so that I don’t have the voice—
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: —to speak about this Fall Classic.
ALEX: They’re playing the long game. They’re trying to deteriorate your vocal cords over a period of weeks, months.
BOBBY: They’ve been spiking my herbal tea. First, he fires Rosenthal, then he fires me from my own podcast.
ALEX: Yeah, they brought Havana syndrome stateside specifically to target leftist podcasters.
BOBBY: My head— I actually did have a really bad headache yesterday. Do you think he did that to me, too? My voice has been really up and down today, so I’m hoping that, like, it’s starting at a low point and going to get better throughout this podcast recording. So if you’re listening—
ALEX: That usually is how it goes.
BOBBY: —don’t tap out quite yet.
ALEX: Best yet to com.
BOBBY: We might bounce back. It is over at the moment, but we might be back at some point. What’s up, man? How are you?
ALEX: Doing well. We’re talking midweek right now, which I usually do.
BOBBY: Yeah, why is that? Yeah.
ALEX: But extenuating circumstances have— have forced our hand.
BOBBY: Do you think that the— we— they can be considered extenuating circumstances when this is the date that this series has been planned to start for— for months?
ALEX: Since, like, April.
BOBBY: Yeah. The World Series is here. Are you excited? I’m pretty excited.
ALEX: I am pretty excited, honestly.
BOBBY: My second favorite team is in the World Series.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: We’ll take that. You know? My favorite team got bounced. My second favorite team made it. And of course, I’m talking about the Los Angeles Dodgers.
ALEX: Are you—
BOBBY: Tipping Pitches, a Dodgers podcast.
ALEX: Naturally. Have you ever been in an— in a— inadherent to the idea of like you root for the team that eliminates you?
BOBBY: Absolutely the fuck not. No.
ALEX: Okay.
BOBBY: I think that’s such a dumb concept. No shade to anybody who is doing that currently, but like to borrow an annoying phrase from the internet, that’s some serious cope. Like—
ALEX: Right. Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: —the Dodgers winning the World Series does not mean the Mets would have won the World Series. Just like the Brewers fans can’t say that the last few years, they basically made the World Series because they always got eliminated by the team that went.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: That’s not how that works.
ALEX: Yeah, I agree. Get that toxic positivity shit out of here. You know? None of that— none of that— none of that, “Oh, go get ’em. You know, you guys earned this one.”
BOBBY: Hmm. Uh-hmm.
ALEX: Just go— go— go slay the dragon now.
BOBBY: Yeah. We tip our caps to you, sirs. We tip our caps to you. No, I’m not like that. But the toxic positivity is saved for the Patreon feed, where, if you’re a patron, you just heard in our most recent episode, my voice was slightly better and my mood was really good about the—
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: —New York Mets being eliminated. So if you’d like—
ALEX: Yes.
BOBBY: —to hear my—
ALEX: It was a good pod.
BOBBY: —full thoughts about the New York Mets being eliminated from this October, you can find those over on patreon.com/tippingpitches. I’m sure it’ll come up on this episode, but that’s not what we’re here to do. We’re here to show respect to the Los Angeles Dodgers, to the New York Yankees for making it to the World Series. And so to do that, to preview that series, we are going to play a little game of true or false. By that, I mean each of us will share three statements about this upcoming World Series, things that we think could happen, might happen, and the other host will say whether they think that statement at the conclusion of this series will end up being true or end up being false. Does the concept make sense to you, Alex? Because if it makes sense to you, I think it makes sense to— to our very smart listeners.
ALEX: Right. I’m— I’m the lowest common denominator. You’re like, “I just need to clear the— clear the Alex bar.”
BOBBY: Yeah. No, exactly.
ALEX: And then we’re good.
BOBBY: Exactly.
ALEX: It does make sense to me. Familiar with the concept of true or false. And did you want to start with our ups first or our downs?
BOBBY: Now, you’re just confusing me, a lot. It’s been a long day.
ALEX: You’re right. That was— that was mean. I know you’re— yeah.
BOBBY: You have to sell my shit on this episode because I can’t talk more than I have to.
ALEX: I know. You’ve had the— the lasers pointed at your brain all day. Like, they’ve been— they’ve been putting in work, so—
BOBBY: I don’t think it’s lasers. I think it’s like electromagnetic waves.
ALEX: What’s the difference?
BOBBY: What do you know about magnetic fields?
ALEX: It’s like where they all grow, right?
BOBBY: Yeah, yeah. They grow on trees.
ALEX: Uh-huh.
BOBBY: Yo, magnets are sick. Like we don’t— I feel like maybe we don’t really talk enough about magnets in the culture.
ALEX: Uh-hmm. Yeah.
BOBBY: Like, that is dope. When Apple was like— our computer charger is a magnet, it made no sense, except for if you account for the fact that magnets are sick.
ALEX: That is true.
BOBBY: And so we talk, like, this would be cool if we did it that way and the other person was like, “You’re right.” And then they realized it was a pretty bad way to charge a computer and so they’ve made five different ways to do it since then, and now they’re back to the magnet.
ALEX: Yep. I think we should start applying that logic to more things in society of just pointing— pointing to something and saying, “Magnet,” and because occasionally, we’ll be right. Occasionally, you’ll point at a bat and a baseball and be like, “Magnet.”
BOBBY: Hmm.
ALEX: And it’s gonna create for some weird shit.
BOBBY: Do you think that’s how Rob Manfred rigged the National League Championship Series?
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: He put a magnet in Tommy Edman’s bat and another magnet in the ball— every ball that the Mets somehow threw. Did you see the—
ALEX: Yeah, they did.
BOBBY: —the juiced ball theory that the—
ALEX: Yeah, I did. Yeah.
BOBBY: —that the Mets fans were passing around that, like, Manfred gave the juice balls to the Dodgers because— then the Mets—
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: —had the dead ball, because so many balls are dying on the warning track. Five years ago, I would have believed this.
ALEX: I know. I respect it. You know? There’s— you’re still holding on.
BOBBY: Yeah, man. Game recognized game.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: We can’t act like we’re better than conspiratorializing about Major League Baseball. I mean, we made a fucking brand off of this.
ALEX: Yeah. Hey, man, salute to the— to the Patriots in 2024 who were sitting there being like, “There’s something weird going on at this pizza shop in DC, you know?”
BOBBY: All right. All right.
ALEX: Like, at least, you know— at least you know they believe.
BOBBY: What was the company that— that made the voting booths? What were they called again? Remind me.
ALEX: Dominion?
BOBBY: Yeah [7:36]
ALEX: [7:36] we’re really off the rails.
BOBBY: All right. True or false, Tipping Pitches 2024 World Series preview, here it comes, but first, I’m Bobby Wagner.
ALEX: I’m Alex Bazeley.
BOBBY: And this is Tipping Pitches. That’s not what I said. And you are listening to Tipping Pitches.
[theme]
BOBBY: What’s this podcast called? What are we doing? Who are you? All right, dude. Thank you to this week’s new patrons. There’s a number of you. Unfortunately, I forgot to write your names down, and I could use every word. I need to preserve every word I possibly can, so I’ll say thanks to you guys in a couple weeks, but thank you very much. Much appreciated. Do you want to just get right into it?
ALEX: I think let’s dive in. Let’s do it.
BOBBY: No more metaphorical throat clearing, as we say in the podcast world, or literal throat clearing in my case today.
ALEX: Right, exactly. Yeah.
BOBBY: All right. You go first.
ALEX: So I mean, the— the listeners will have to bear with us as we sort of stumble through 45 minutes of baseball analysis.
BOBBY: Hmm. Uh-hmm. Yeah.
ALEX: Something we’re very familiar with. And—
BOBBY: Actually, wait, before you start—
ALEX: Okay, okay.
BOBBY: —a funny thing happened to me today, which is that the reason that I’m traveling and partially lost my voice is that I’m in Los Angeles for work. Some of you may know that I work for The Ringer and that one of my co-workers is fellow baseball podcaster Ben Lindbergh, and I saw him today because we’re having, like, an all hands meeting this week. And I said to him— he asked me, like, how the podcast is going, and how— you know, how Tipping Pitches is going, and how just podcasting about baseball is going. And we were chatting about that for a little while. And I said to him, and I was like, “You know, there’s definitely like a triangulation going on, like, between you guys and us and Batting Around, and we’re all kind of talking to the same people but in different ways. And I was like, “I just want to formally thank you right now for doing so much talk about actual baseball, because that means that, like, we know that all of our listeners are listening to you guys talk about the games.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: And what’s going on, like, from a real analysis perspective and that means that we don’t have to do it. So you’re doing the homework for us. And I was like, “And you know, if you’re feeling generous, you can say thank you to us, because then you don’t have to talk about Alex Rodriguez and the Magna Carta all that much. Because we truly do have that covered.”
ALEX: Yeah, we do.
BOBBY: So I thought that that was a fun thing to share with— with you and with our listeners.
ALEX: Did he thank you, though? That’s what I want to know.
BOBBY: He just— he just laughed and he was like, “We don’t really need you, but—” no, he was— he—
ALEX: I think there’s— there’s enough room on the coattails for everyone, guys.
BOBBY: Right. Exactly. That’s exactly right. Shout out to Effectively Wild, friends of the show.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: All right. Your first true or false.
ALEX: All right. Bobby, true or false—
BOBBY: True.
ALEX: —Walker—
BOBBY: I want the truth. You can’t handle the truth.
ALEX: Walker Buehler—
BOBBY: Ooh.
ALEX: —reclaims his A status shoves at Yankee Stadium. Shuts up the Yankee faithful.
BOBBY: So is Walker pitching game one? I know Cole has lined up to pitch for the Yankees, but I didn’t hear them say much about game one for the Dodgers. And I would assume that everybody is on full rest, because they basically just had a week off, but Walker was—
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: —due up to pitch next. So have they said anything about this?
ALEX: I think it’s gonna go Flaherty, Yamamoto.
BOBBY: Okay, all right. So then— yeah, so then Buehler will pitch on the road at Yankee Stadium.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: Okay. Interesting that they didn’t— they’re not going to use Yamamoto at Yankee Stadium, even though the best start of his career was a game at Yankee Stadium. That’s fascinating. I think this is true.
ALEX: Hell yeah.
BOBBY: Because, I mean, let’s be honest, like his best start of the season was his most recent start against the Mets in the playoffs.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: He had his most swings and misses of the year. He had one of the best by swings and misses, by swing and miss stuff, one of the best starts at the playoffs. I mean, I know he didn’t give them very much length in that game, but that was never really the game plan to try to get that much length out of their starters for the Dodgers. And I’m a believer in Walker Buehler, like his pitch mix, his tenacity, his confidence. And I know that might make me look silly sometimes, because his fastball is flat when he doesn’t have it, and it gets hit hard.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: And at Yankee Stadium, that’s home runs. You know? He’s facing one of the best left-handed hitters we’ve ever seen in our lives. And even some of his other stuff, like his two seamer, if he’s not spotting that where it needs to be to a guy like Aaron Judge, like that’s coming right back into his swing plane. So it’s kind of dicey, but, like, I kind of believe in him, and there’s not, like, a lot of analysis— statistical analysis behind that. It’s just like a gut feeling that I have, but who knows? I could be very wrong about that.
ALEX: Hey, all of these are— are based off gut feeling. I want to be— I want to be very clear. Do you think I did research? You think I— you think I was looking at splits before we logged on to this recording? You started talking about swing plane and my eyes just glazed over. So thank you for playing the Ben Lindbergh role here—
BOBBY: You’re welcome.
ALEX: —on this— on this podcast.
BOBBY: Well, you know, I’m thinking about Aaron Judge’s swing plane a lot in part because his swing plane this October and most October is usually right over the ball. I’m ser— I’m curious how that narrative resolves itself in this World Series.
ALEX: Yeah. I mean, it’s been a tough year for Walker. A coup— couple of years, really.
BOBBY: Yeah. I mean, health-wise, it just hasn’t been there.
ALEX: But he really does seem like the kind of player who is sort of built for this sort of stage, you know? Like, I don’t want to— I— we can start talking meta narratives or whatever, but like, he’s one of those guys and I just look at him—
BOBBY: What do you mean Meta?
ALEX: Like, meta—
BOBBY: Zuckerberg?
ALEX: Like— like—
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: Oh, as in, like, the narratives we will have after this in the metaverse.
BOBBY: Well, I was thinking more about, like, the narratives that Meta AI has been able to bring to, like, long time and really loyal users of the Facebook product. But your meta narrative— your meta thing is cool, too.
ALEX: Right. Uh-huh.
BOBBY: It’s all right. Yeah. It’s good.
ALEX: I’m glad we got an AI reference 15 minutes into our World Series preview.
BOBBY: But you’re not adjusting for the fact that this is only going to be a 45-minute episode.
ALEX: So we got to get them all in.
BOBBY: Yeah, exactly. Like, I’m— I’m doing the work here, bro.
ALEX: Yeah. I don’t know. I just think that picture of Walker Buehler screaming as he walks off the mound in front of a bunch of Yankees fans who are, like, booing him is just gonna hit so fucking hard, man.
BOBBY: Yeah. I mean, I was, like, weirdly and— really encouraged as someone who now will be rooting for the Dodgers, like, from a leave my fandom aside point. Like seeing him get big strikeouts against the Mets and, like, walking off the field, talking shit, like yelling towards the Mets dugout. Like—
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: —that’s Walker Buehler. Like, we need— we need Walker Buehlers. We need starters. We need them to be who they are. It’s just like kind of sad to watch him go, like, three innings and just get mashed.
ALEX: Yeah, I agree.
BOBBY: I don’t really— that’s not good for people who want to enjoy good baseball. So maybe this is partially, like, my heart speaking, but— and I want the Dodgers to win the World Series, like in case I wasn’t clear about the fact that I said it three times on this podcast already.
ALEX: Right. Yeah.
BOBBY: So, yeah, I think it’s true.
ALEX: All right. Book it.
BOBBY: All right. Place your wagers.
ALEX: You— I was— I was about to say enter code pitches for— I don’t know. I didn’t have an [15:48] for that.
BOBBY: You can’t even fake it. Like you can’t— you can’t even do it.
ALEX: I couldn’t t even— I couldn’t even fake it, yes.
BOBBY: No. Okay. Here’s my first one.
ALEX: Okay.
BOBBY: True or false, my number one enemy and your goat, Jazz Chisholm, will win World Series MVP. Here’s your guy. It’s time to put up or shut up. You’ve been saying Jazz, greatest second baseman of all time?
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: You’ve been saying Jazz, most deserving cover athlete in the history of video games.
ALEX: I have, yeah.
BOBBY: You’ve been saying Jazz, five-tool superstar 40-40 threat, and the best defender who’s ever graced the field. These are all things you have said—
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: —on this podcast.
ALEX: You’re quoting me.
BOBBY: Yeah, I know. These statements by you have been submitted to the Library of Congress and the National Baseball archives, which is a thing.
ALEX: Right. We should start that.
BOBBY: So— yeah. The Baseball Hall of Fame? So if that’s the case, I mean, I don’t see another player on either of these teams that has that kind of— those kind of audits. So—
ALEX: Was this just an excuse to get one more Jazz dig in? Like this wasn’t even a real prediction. You just wanted to spend five minutes.
BOBBY: Bro, this is— this is— this is how podcasting is done. I don’t know what to tell you. We— you hammer your bits. You just keep hammering them, like pull the curtain back for you and the listeners at home. True or false, bro. Because think how silly you’ll look when you say false, and then he does win the World Series MVP.
ALEX: Yeah, I know. There’s no— there’s no winning out— right. And the— the other side of that coin is that I say jazz Chisholm is gonna win World Series MVP.
BOBBY: Yeah. And then he goes, like, 2-23 or whatever.
ALEX: Right. Which he just does what he’s been doing these whole playoffs.
BOBBY: Yeah. Yeah.
ALEX: Like, I mean, he’s—
BOBBY: Can I interest you in a .445 OPS? Is that good?
ALEX: Yeah. Can I interest you in a 37 wRC+?
BOBBY: Yeah. Yeah.
ALEX: That’s really bleak stuff, man.
BOBBY: DH for Jazz?
ALEX: DH for Jazz? Yeah.
BOBBY: Like Gerrit Cole hit.
ALEX: Get Cole in the box, yeah, actually, to be quite honest. No, I’m gonna say false on this one. I—
BOBBY: All right. Coward.
ALEX: Much— much as you—
BOBBY: Coward.
ALEX: You know this, you know this. As soon as— as soon as I feel an ounce of scrutiny on a bit of mine, I back down immediately, back down immediately.
BOBBY: On a bit or a take?
ALEX: Either.
BOBBY: Because it— it wasn’t a bit that you said that you think Jazz is good.
ALEX: No, I mean—
BOBBY: The bit was me saying that I think Jazz is like not a professional baseball player. That’s a bit.
ALEX: All right. I mean, I still— I think Jazz is a good baseball player still. I don’t think he’s gonna win World Series MVP.
BOBBY: Yeah. I mean, this was just my way of— sort of introducing the concept of World Series MVP and, like, who you might think would be a contender. Since in a normal World Series preview, one host of a baseball podcast might ask another host of a baseball podcast, who do you think is gonna win World Series MVP?
ALEX: [18:51]
BOBBY: So who do you think is gonna win World Series MVP?
ALEX: Right. Yes, well done. I mean, frankly, I did write that my— my dark horse candidate is Teoscar Hernández.
BOBBY: Okay. Yeah, he broke out in a big way in game six against the Mets. He have been 0 for— the whole series.
ALEX: He did. He— he have been 0-2 through the series, yeah.
BOBBY: And I believe he went three for four, including the longest single of the season that hit off the top of the center field wall.
ALEX: Right. Yeah. Hey, we’ve all been there.
BOBBY: Not me.
ALEX: Now, I mean— I mean—
BOBBY: I— I always run it out. As you know I like— I run down the hallway. I run to your apartment whenever I come over.
ALEX: That’s true. No ma— no matter the bit, you know?
BOBBY: Many are saying—
ALEX: Even if [19:35] even if we [19:36] even if it’s, you know—
BOBBY: —I’m the Brandon Nimmo of baseball podcasters. I run everywhere I go, even when I take my walks.
ALEX: Uh-huh.
BOBBY: Teoscar. I like it.
ALEX: All that— oh, yeah. All that to say, I mean, like, I think that— I mean, it— it kind of flies in the face of what I think is actually going to happen in this World Series.
BOBBY: You’re playing both sides, that way you’re never wrong.
ALEX: I’m playing— exactly. Exactly. God, now you understand me. I don’t know. I don’t know. Can they—
BOBBY: It took until now but I finally understand you.
ALEX: I think they should give World Series MVP to someone on the losing team one of these days.
BOBBY: Yeah. Yeah, they should give the World Series MVP to Francisco Lindor. He just had such a great season. I mean, let’s give him something.
ALEX: He— he did, yeah.
BOBBY: They won’t give him anything else. They won’t give him a Gold Glove or an All-Star appearance.
ALEX: I— do you— do you have a World Series MVP?
BOBBY: Jazz, yeah.
ALEX: Okay.
BOBBY: Max Muncy.
ALEX: All right.
BOBBY: Could that be because I’m furious at the fact that he walked like 15 times in one series against the Mets and I can’t see anyone getting him out?
ALEX: Is his— his streak is still going, right?
BOBBY: No.
ALEX: His— nope? Okay.
BOBBY: His streak of not getting out, you mean?
ALEX: Yeah. No, it’s no— it’s not still going.
BOBBY: It ended at the end of game five, and then he was on, like, three out of— four out of five times in game six. So that’s not going, but it’s— it’s going in a different way, you know? Like he’s still going. So—
ALEX: Right. When your streak gets downgraded from plate appearances in a row to games in a row, you’re in a decent spot.
BOBBY: Yeah. He hasn’t, like— had like a great year by his Dodger standards, but he has, like, a preternatural command of the strike zone. And, you know, Yankees bullpen has been really strong. It’s been one of the strong suits of the team during this October. It’s been variable in quality throughout the season, but they seem to have found sort of like a nice mix for them. But all that being said, like they have a lot of pitchers who are, like, kind of max effort, prone to walk, and they also don’t have, like, a ton of great left-handed options out of the bullpen to get him out, and he crushes right-handed pitching. I mean, I know they have Carlos Rodon, who will be starting, I assume game two for them, so that’s not a great matchup for Max Muncy, but I like him against basically every other Yankees pitcher, even the ones who are nasty, even Gerrit Cole, even Lu— even Gil. Like, I think Luis Gil could walk him like six times in the series alone. You know?
ALEX: Yes. No, I mean, he’s such a— he’s so good at grinding out at-bats that—
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: —it puts a lot of pressure on the pitchers to not make a mistake. And, I mean, I think that’s going to be really key, especially getting through the top of that Yankees rotation, just grinding out at-bats, making them throw pitches, making them throw pitches. You get Cole out of the game, you start feeling a lot better, I would say.
BOBBY: Yeah. And that’s been not Gerrit Cole’s kryptonite. Like, his kryptonite has been just home runs. Like, if his fly ball home run, a fly ball rate is good, then his ERA is going to be, like, 2.4. If it’s bad, it’s going to be, like, 3.8 and it’s basically just, like, that’s Gerrit Cole. That’s the pitcher that he is. So we’ll see. I’m— I’m excited to see that— that game of chess, that, like, Aaron Boone will be playing with the different left-handed hitters in the Dodgers’ lineup, because it’s not every day that you have to face a lineup that has three lefties in it, like Ohtani, Freeman, and Muncy. And I know it sounds ridiculous to put Muncy next to those two guys, but, like, when he’s going well and when he’s healthy, he’s the truest three true outcomes guy in the game. Like, he’s either gonna walk or you might get him to strike out, or he’s gonna hit it 425 feet. So that’s my pick. It’s also like a little bit of a hipster pick, you know? Like, kind of boring to say Ohtani.
ALEX: Right. Yeah. Well, you just like—
BOBBY: Even though it probably will be Ohtani.
ALEX: I’m just gonna start going down the lineup and picking one player lower than you, you know?
BOBBY: Yeah, yeah.
ALEX: You’re like—
BOBBY: Gavin Lux, World Series MVP?
ALEX: [24:19] Gavin Lux, right.
BOBBY: Okay.
ALEX: All right. Does— does that kick it back to me?
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: Okay.
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: Bobby Wagner, true or false, Freddie Freeman etches his name into Dodgers history with— with a storybook hit. I don’t necessarily know the— the— the fashion in which it comes.
BOBBY: Hmm.
ALEX: Maybe I’m not [24:42] I’m already ba—
BOBBY: We’re [24:46] no, we’re good.
ALEX: I’m already ba— I’m already backing myself into a rock and a— a hard place here.
BOBBY: Yeah, yeah.
ALEX: That’s for— that’s for the real heads.
BOBBY: Yeah, it is.
ALEX: You know, maybe he has a night off, rest the ankle.
BOBBY: He’s had—
ALEX: Comes up—
BOBBY: —five nights off.
ALEX: Comes up in a big pinch hit.
BOBBY: Fi— this the Five Nights at Freddie’s that everyone’s been talking about, right?
ALEX: Nice.
BOBBY: Thank you. I’m here all week. Actually, I’m not, because I don’t have a voice.
ALEX: And it clinches a really— an emotional series for him. On— on the field, off the field, he gets his moment, he gets his Kirk Gibson fist pump, rounding the bases and Dodger legend forever. What say you?
BOBBY: So just so I have this clear, the true or false here is that Freddie Freeman, while hobbled, has a walk-off World Series winning hit?
ALEX: Yes.
BOBBY: Or just like a game-winning hit?
ALEX: Yeah, yeah. Or— or I— it’s— look, what— do you want me to say Freddie Freeman—
BOBBY: I’m just talking about the discrete [25:44] outcomes.
ALEX: Freddie Freeman will go 3 for 14.
BOBBY: No, not a lot of at-bats.
ALEX: With three— well, again, he’s walking. He’s working the count. That’s sort of the— there are grinders over there.
BOBBY: Okay. No, Freddie wants to hit. I will say false. He doesn’t look very good at the moment.
ALEX: No, he doesn’t.
BOBBY: He looks just like a little over matched in the Mets series, in a way that like— you know, and you hear Smoltz talking about it on the broadcast as someone who’s, like, been around Freddie for his whole career because he’s a memb— a former member of the Braves organization. Like, just talking about the fact that, like, it’s very rare that you see Freddie swing and miss three times in one at-bat, and you saw that a couple times in the Mets series. And part of that is credits— credit— where credit is due to guys like Sean Manaea, guys like Edwin Diaz, like just executing. But part of that is, like, let’s be honest, like he looks really unhealthy. Like, he’s playing on like a six-week injury, not like a two-week, 10-day IL situation. So, I mean, Freddie’s fine. Like, I’m kind of indifferent to Freddie. Like, I get why people really gravitate to him. I get why, like, capital B, Baseball, capital P, People really like him.
ALEX: Right. Because he’s capital W, White.
BOBBY: Now, there’s a guy who runs down hard— down the line, hard to first base. But, yeah, I just— I don’t know. He’s probably not going to start against Rodon. Like—
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: And Rodon will probably pitch twice in this series, so it’s just tough. I mean, it’s not ideal at this time of the season, but my guy, Max Muncy, has to be the World Series MVP, so I need him over there at first.
ALEX: That’s true. That’s true. All right, fair. Conflicted interests.
BOBBY: Okay. My second true or false. You know, I think one of the themes of this October has been the Phillies suck, and one of the other themes of this October— that’s just unrelated, but one of the other themes of this October is that closers and elite relievers have blown up in the biggest spots that the guys who have been really reliable all season, go-to guys, like they’ve been touched up in this October. And we talked about, I think on— I think on— in Three Up, Three Down, one of my ups was that that’s made for really exciting baseball. To be completely honest, the only two guys who are like— you know, who were in great form during the regular season as relievers, and who could be considered, like, legitimate either set up guys, back into the bullpen guys, or closers who have not been touched up in this October are Michael Kopech and Blake Treinen. Those two guys have each only given up one earned run so far. So my true or false for you, Alex, is sort of a roundabout way of saying like, will that hold Michael Kopech and Blake Treinen will complete this October each only allowing one run? Or if you say false, like you think that the Yankees will touch them up in this series in a way that the Padres and the Mets, two teams that were locked in with hot lineups have not been able to do, have looked really overmatched against those two guys in particular?
ALEX: Yeah. I mean, this is a great one. Every time I watch Blake Treinen take an out—
BOBBY: I don’t know how anyone even sees the ball.
ALEX: I don’t get it.
BOBBY: Let alone gets a hit.
ALEX: I— I genuinely do not understand it.
BOBBY: When he’s healthy, it’s— it’s like a different thing. Like he is just—
ALEX: It’s— yeah.
BOBBY: —like, doing a different thing than most pitchers. He’s tapping into the power of Q.
ALEX: He really is, if there’s anything that’s gonna make me believe.
BOBBY: What— dude, this is a detour, but, like, his facial hair is so crazy. He’s like so— he’s— he has the opposite facial hair as me. He’s like so clean shaven—
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: —on the mustache and his goatee situation is so robust that it looks like a costume. He looks like he should be the front man— actually, no. He looks like he should be the bassist of a new metal band. Not like the— the best reliever in baseball—
ALEX: Yes. That’s a— that’s a good one. Yes. Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: —in 2024.
ALEX: Yeah. I mean, they’d end up having the same politics still, but, you know—
BOBBY: Well, look, I’m not trying to defend Linkin Park’s politics here, Alex. I’m trying to defend their discography.
ALEX: That wasn’t even— that wasn’t even a shade at Lincoln Park, specifically.
BOBBY: The only— I actually don’t know their politics, but the only new metal band that I know has good politics is System of a Down.
ALEX: That’s right, brother. Okay. So true or false—
BOBBY: Basically, like, Kopech and Treinen won’t give up a—
ALEX: —do— do they get— do they get touched up?
BOBBY: Yeah. True or false, they won’t give up a run in this series.
ALEX: I’m gonna say false, because, like, it can’t last forever, right?
BOBBY: It doesn’t have to last forever. It only has to last four to seven more games.
ALEX: I mean, the— the Dodgers have been riding that bullpen—
BOBBY: Hard.
ALEX: —so hard.
BOBBY: Yes.
ALEX: So hard.
BOBBY: And that is the other reason that I kind of wanted to talk about relievers in particular as one of my three true or falses previewing the World Series. It’s not— it is about these two guys, but it’s not just about these two guys. It’s that like narratively, I found it really hard to believe that bullpening multiple games was something that you could continue to rely on once the series switch from five to seven and you start stacking it back-to-back.
ALEX: Yeah. I— they’ve managed to make it work so far, because they have a lot of really versatile arms in their pen.
BOBBY: And because Dave Roberts is a really good manager.
ALEX: And because he’s a legitimately good manager. Like, I—
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: —don’t know how we suffered through, basically, you know, close to a decade of being like, “What is Dave Roberts doing?”
BOBBY: Yeah. Well, he’s improved.
ALEX: I— he— I mean, he’s gotten better, actually.
BOBBY: And we’ve also come—
ALEX: He’s made some [32:09] moves.
BOBBY: We’ve also come around on some of the stuff that he was doing foundationally that, like, we didn’t really like in the past.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: And Andrew Friedman left Joe Kelly off the playoff roster so that he just sort of took that option off the table for Dave Roberts. Real Dodgers heads know that he’d be—
ALEX: Master class.
BOBBY: —trying to get Joe Kelly in as the opener of these World Series games.
ALEX: He would, he would. As he— as he should. As he should.
BOBBY: [32:30]
ALEX: My heart feels a little empty without him.
BOBBY: Dodgers legend, bro.
ALEX: Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, I think that it’s— it’s gonna catch up to you eventually, especially against a lineup like the Yankees, which are no pushovers. Like, there are—
BOBBY: Not [32:49]
ALEX: —not a lot of— not a lot of easy outs in that lineup, which is not to say that necessarily, there were in the— in the Mets or anything like that, or—
BOBBY: Well, a couple. Here and there.
ALEX: But, like, you know—
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: —the Yankees are—
BOBBY: I can think of one guy that they decided to DH for a couple of the games that maybe should have been on the bench.
ALEX: It’s fine. Everything is fine.
BOBBY: Yeah. You know?
ALEX: But I— but I think this— the rotation and pen are going to be tested in a— in a way they haven’t before, you know? You know, Bobby? This is— this is what it all comes down to, the pressure, the big lights, October. It’s different here in New York, man.
BOBBY: But like— not to be like Blake Treinen has been there before, but Blake Treinen has been there before, you know?
ALEX: No, I know. He has.
BOBBY: I actually do kind of worry about Kopech blowing up. I mean you can—
ALEX: I— I was gonna say, yes, yeah.
BOBBY: You can attest to the fact that one of my predictions for the NLCS that— was that one of the games Kopech was gonna completely blow up and melt down.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: And that just didn’t happen, you know? Sorry, he proved me wrong. But the Mets got one run off of him when he was the opener in game six.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: And then he pretty quickly shut it down after that, but I don’t know. I’m— this is one of the things that I’m most fascinated to see, is to try to see how Roberts manages 27 outs in his third straight long series against a lineup that has Aaron Judge and Juan Soto in it, two guys that you make pitching changes specifically to get out.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: You know? So that cat and mouse, that chess match, whatever you want to call it, is something that I’m really looking forward to in this series. But I’m with it. I think it’s probably false, too, honestly. I think you’re right. I think that takes us to your third and final true or false statement. We’re right on track here, on time. Look at that.
ALEX: I know, we’re doing great.
BOBBY: Also, I gotta say, I think my voice improved a little bit over the course of the episode.
ALEX: It did. It did.
BOBBY: Two for two on predictions.
ALEX: I felt— I felt some energy coming back into there.
BOBBY: Yeah, after this, I’m going on full vocal rest like Taylor Swift, though. I’d carry around a whiteboard to be like, here’s what I want to eat for dinner, and writing it down.
ALEX: All right, last true or false. Let’s bring it back to basics a little bit. We get— we’ve been getting a little heady here.
BOBBY: Hmm. Uh-hmm.
ALEX: Talking leverage.
BOBBY: Yeah. True or false—
ALEX: You know?
BOBBY: —momentum is real. True or false—
ALEX: True—
BOBBY: —wearing the pinstripes is the biggest honor in sports.
ALEX: Yeah, that’s right, brother. True or false, Bobby, Juan Soto has a series that forces the Yankees—
BOBBY: Goddammit.
ALEX: —to sign him.
BOBBY: Goddammit. This is my third one, too.
ALEX: Of course— of course, it is.
BOBBY: I— I phrased it this way, Juan Soto—
ALEX: Okay.
BOBBY: —will bring the Yankees a World Series and then sign the largest contract ever.
ALEX: True. That’s true 100%. Both of those are true.
BOBBY: I think false. I think the Dodgers—
ALEX: Oh.
BOBBY: —are gonna win and— but I do think that Soto—
ALEX: Okay.
BOBBY: —will sign the largest annual avera— average annual value contract when you account for depreciation.
ALEX: Jesus.
[laughter]
BOBBY: I think that he has already had an October that will force the Yankees—
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: —to do everything they can to re-sign him. I think that they were pot committed to trying to resign him the second they made the trade. I mean, you don’t make that trade in a guy’s walk year, giving up everything they gave up, which was real stuff. You know, Michael King was, like, one of the best pitchers of this October.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: They gave that guy up, and they could use him right now. You don’t make that trade unless this is basically like a one-year audition for trying to get him to stay. And for all the Yankees brand [36:48] bullshit that we joke about, for all of the we’re better than everyone else, elitist stuff that we talk about how the organization operates, some of that is true. Like players say it, former players say it, current Players say it. Now, it’s not true for everyone. Not everyone who’s ever played for the Yankees is like, “This is the only organization.” But, like, speaking firsthand, like, you know, listeners have probably, I’m sure, heard C.C. Sabathia say that stuff about why he signed with the Yankees, and how it felt when he got there and put that uniform on. Like, having talked to him in real life with the mics off, like he really— that’s true. Like he’s really saying that. He’s not being put up to it by Brian Cashman. Like, he really believes that. And he’s a pretty good represent— representative of how a lot of players think. He’s, like, a really— real and down-to-earth person, and so that, in and of itself, convinced me that that is a thing that players can be convinced of and can experience when they become a Yankee. So I do think that if I had to say like Soto ver— or Yankees versus the field to keep Soto, it’d be close. Like I might pick the field, just because there’s a few teams in there that I think are possibilities, but I think the Yankees are, like, at least a plurality when it comes to, like—
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: —the percentage chance. Like, at least in the 40s in terms of the percentage chance to resign him. So, you know, nothing that happens in this October— nothing that happens in this series, I think, will change that. I do think of the Yankees win the World Series, I would probably say that’s like, you know, 75% likely they will come back.
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: Could be— it’d be—
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: —tough to, like, win one with two different teams and walk away from the second team that traded for— you know, like, it’s just— be— I just can’t feel it happening and there’s no real logical thing that I can place with that. It’s just doesn’t— he wins it, he signs there—
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: —and narratively—
ALEX: Done deal.
BOBBY: —that— that—
ALEX: Like, it makes sense.
BOBBY: Yes. We put a bow tie on that.
ALEX: And I want to be clear, I do think— I— like if I had to— to pick right now, you know, if you folded me up—
BOBBY: You do have to pick. we’re at the end of this episode.
ALEX: —spine— spine— spine first, put me down in that rock and a hard place.
BOBBY: And I did all three of mine, too. So this is the end here.
ALEX: That’s true. That’s true. This is the end. This is it. I think I’m going Yankees—
BOBBY: Damn.
ALEX: —here. I— they— I just feel like they have the edge—
BOBBY: Will you sing the Frank— will you sing the Sinatra for me right here?
ALEX: Uh-hmm. It’s— which one? It’s fly me to the moon.
BOBBY: Yeah. Yeah, no, I wanted you to sing—
ALEX: That’s the one.
BOBBY: —Todd Frazier’s walk up song. That was a [39:32]
ALEX: Ain’t that a kick in the head?
BOBBY: Keep going. This is really good shit.
ALEX: No, I just— the— the— between the starting pitching depth that the Yankees have—
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: —I feel like they have a pretty versatile bullpen, the potential for Nestor Cortes to come back. And along with, you know, the obvious mainstays like— like clay Holmes and Kahnle, Tim Hill, like— now we’re just naming dudes. Who else?
BOBBY: Clay Holmes, who stinks.
ALEX: Who’s bad, yeah.
BOBBY: Kahnle, who is dope. Tim Hill, who I was talking with a friend of mine, looks like he straight out of the 80’s.
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: And kind of throws like he’s straight out of the 80’s, but also, at the same time, looks like someone I would run into at Metrograph.
ALEX: Oh, 100%.
BOBBY: Uh-huh. I’m, like, not fully convinced that I haven’t sat next to him at Metrograph before.
ALEX: I saw a— I saw a tweet today that was like— because Anne Hathaway was posting her Inst—
BOBBY: Wait, you saw a what?
ALEX: I saw a post today from someone who quote-tweeted, like screenshots of Anne Hathaway’s Instagram story where—
BOBBY: Wait, someone who what?
ALEX: I— stop, stop. It’s not even worth it anymore.
BOBBY: What do you mean someone who quote posted? I’m— I’m really sorry, honestly. [40:58]
ALEX: That’s so fine. I was just— I was gonna read the punchline to someone else’s tweet, and I couldn’t even— I don’t remember who tweeted it, so—
BOBBY: Someone else’s what?
ALEX: I’m done.
BOBBY: No, I want to know what the tweet is. I want to know what it is.
ALEX: It was just the fact that Anne Hathaway probably knows who Tim Hill is, and for some reason, that’s just really extremely funny.
[laughter]
BOBBY: Yeah. This is like when Emma Stone was at the Wild Card game against the Mets because, apparently, she’s a Padres fan.
ALEX: Padres fan, yeah.
BOBBY: And I was like, Emma Stone knows who Jake Cronenworth is. What’s— what’s happening right now? Does she know that he was a two-way player in college?
ALEX: Right. Exactly.
BOBBY: Emma, come on the pod.
ALEX: Emma, did you know that Fernando Tatis is a dancing peacock? Because I feel like— I feel like she didn’t.
BOBBY: Emma Stone is one of those people who like—
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: This is not like a humble brag or anything. Like, this is just a fact. Like, I have to interact with semi-famous people kind of often for my job. And at this point, I’ve become, like, pretty comfortable with it. Like, most people are just really normal, and I go into like, every interaction with that. But there are some people who I’m, like, a little bit intimidated by, and Emma Stone is one of those people. Like, if I ever had to interact with her, I would just be, like, freaking out, you know?
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: I might have to take that day off.
ALEX: Yeah, you do what I did with A-Rod, which is just kind of stare at him until you guys make eye contact. And then don’t look away.
BOBBY: Yeah.
ALEX: Don’t pretend like you weren’t staring. Just continue staring.
BOBBY: Yeah. Yeah.
ALEX: That puts everyone at ease, I think.
BOBBY: I met Andrew Garfield once. He came into—
ALEX: Uh-hmm.
BOBBY: —he came into the pod. And when I tell you, it was just like hanging out with a guy. He’s just a guy. It was awesome. Like, he could be here right now. If he cared about baseball, he could be on the Zoom right now cha— chatting it up.
ALEX: He may be. What— who’s in the waiting room? Who’s that in the waiting room?
BOBBY: That’s David Rubenstein. I’ve asked him to come on to reveal whether or not he bought the US Constitution for $9 million.
ALEX: If there’s any news I want to break, it’s that piece right there.
BOBBY: Yeah, exactly. All right. So you got Yankees, I got Dodgers, I got Max Muncy as World Series MVP. You have—
ALEX: All right. Teoscar in— in a stunning turn of events. Teoscar Hernandez forced the league’s hand.
BOBBY: He gets traded to the Yankees mid-series.
ALEX: Right. The— the Yankees end up having to— are down a player, and so the Dodgers have to send a player over to, like—
BOBBY: Like— like the Little League, right.
ALEX: Right. Like in Little League, “They’re like, “Yeah, you can play right field for them.”
BOBBY: I liked how in Little League, it used— the way that it used to work was that you would loan them a player, but, like, politically speaking, like, you couldn’t really loan them your worst player, because then that player would realize that they were the worst player.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: But you definitely were not going to loan them your best player, because that would be unfair for competition and, like— then your kids would get mad, so you loan them, like, your third worst player.
ALEX: Right. Right. Like, the— the 30th percentile kid, where it’s like, “I mean, you’re definitely not going to make it, but hey, man, you can—”
BOBBY: You basically—
ALEX: “—you can take a ball or two.”
BOBBY: You basically loan them the guy on your team who’s replacement level. We just didn’t know—
ALEX: Exactly.
BOBBY: —that’s what it was at the time. That’s how they determine—
ALEX: There are— there are wars everywhere for those with eyes to see.
BOBBY: Right. Well, that’s true. Culture wars.
ALEX: True for sure.
BOBBY: WAR, wins above replacement. Yeah, yeah. And I see them— I see the matrix. All right, this was fun. Was this fun?
ALEX: This was fun.
BOBBY: Did we do a good job?
ALEX: I— it’s— I mean, that’s for the listeners to decide.
BOBBY: I’m really happy that we decided to soldier through this. I won’t be able to talk to any of my coworkers for the rest of this week, even though I have to give—
ALEX: Just— just how I like it.
BOBBY: I have to give a presentation tomorrow in a theater, so we’ll see how that goes.
ALEX: All right, big man on campus. Where’s my presentation?
BOBBY: There are presentations everywhere for those with eyes to see them. These— these are all presentations. Everything I do for you, it’s a presentation.
ALEX: Yeah, you guys don’t know this, but Bobby actually shares his screen when we record this—
BOBBY: Uh-hmm.
ALEX: —and has a little PowerPoint up.
BOBBY: Your presentation was my speech at your wedding.
ALEX: Okay, there you go.
BOBBY: I was up there in front of the—
ALEX: I’ll take that.
BOBBY: —whole class. You know, I was going off notes.
ALEX: You were— someone was— was blowing spitballs from the back. I thought that was very rude of my wife—
BOBBY: Yeah. Hit me with a paper airplane.
ALEX: Right.
BOBBY: And I was just like, “All right, class.” Yeah. Okay. Thank you to everybody for listening. If you are yearning for more Tipping Pitches baseball content in which I’m kind of losing my voice and somewhat losing my sanity, we did put out a Patreon episode yesterday, patreon.com/tippingpitches. Again, I’m going to make that one available for just a few bucks if you want to buy it, to try it out. We are going to have to stop doing that, because I realized you could buy everyone a la carte, and it would be less than signing up for the monthly price. So this is just October special, just if you want to get a smattering, if you want to get a taste—
ALEX: Yeah, it’s our little October surprise for you, you know?
BOBBY: That’s what— yeah, that’s what it means to have a business. So go check that out. Couple different tiers. The top tier gives you access to a whole bag of catalog of bonus episodes. The other tiers gets you different stuff. I’m gonna go—
ALEX: Yeah.
BOBBY: —go on vocal rest, but thank you to everybody for bearing with us on this episode and for bearing with— I just got awful Kermit the Frog voice. I appreciate it. And if you’re a fan of the Dodgers or the Yankees in the World Series, good luck. And we’ll be back next week. I don’t know exactly when, but we’ll find a time to talk about the series that we just spent an hour previewing. We’ll see you then.
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!
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