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So jump aboard the BIB Express. Follow and listen to baseball as I'm boring, presented by Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. About the halfway point, stay to the game at the all-star break. Just give me your thoughts on where we are, any big stories you want to talk about, Tyler, surprises, disappointments, where are we in the baseball season? Yeah, I think it's interesting. We've had some, it's hard to ignore the injuries. It's hard to ignore the fact that we're missing some of the big guys we're used to seeing out there. You know, Ronald Acuna was so great last year. The game misses him. Mike Trout, I mean, he's already kind of halfway to being invisible, Hananahai, many way. And now he's been hurt most of the year. And we lost some pitchers early on. But at the same time, I mean, Shoui Otani in LA has been a huge success. That's been great. It's exciting to see the Cleveland Guardians. It's surprising a lot of people. It's cool to see a team like the Kansas City Royals with four all-stars. And the Phillies have been killing it in the East, kind of upending the Braves a little bit there, although Atlanta won the series this weekend. So, the Orioles continue to do their thing. And Yankees have hit the skids a little bit. But there's always a lot of fun stuff to watch. I do feel like we're missing a couple of key guys, unfortunately. Boonie? I look at the parody and I think there's a lot. I mean, I'm sitting here at the Midway Point in the Major League Baseball season. And I've seen a lot of scripts the first half. Yankees were hot. Now they're cold. Baltimore is better than I thought they were going to be even though they won 100 a year ago. The Cleveland Indians, as Tyler mentioned, what a story. And I think you sit here as an analyst and you go, "Okay, when are they going to falter? When is that pitching not going to be enough?" And they just keep going. I mean, they've got something special, I think, going on in Cleveland. I think the Milwaukee situation in the end out with the big shakeup last year of Burns going to Baltimore and their skipper counsel going to the Cubs, who are now in last place. So, I think there's a lot of storylines. I think it's going to be a real fun second half. And the thing that's different about 2024 versus year's, yesteryear, is you can only eliminate right now, probably four or five teams from the postseason. It kind of officially go, "Ah, they're not going to make it this year." The rest is still. A lot of cities involved. Yes, I'm on the outside looking in, but nevertheless, they have hoped for a second half. We're in years past. You were kind of done at this point and going, "Ah, we're going to play for numbers." So, I think it should be an interesting second half. Is the parody good or bad for baseball? Because as nice as it is, Tyler, to have a bunch of teams with an opportunity and a bunch of cities still locked in as we get ready for NFL training camp, we also don't see any superstar, gigantic juggernaut teams that captures the nation's imagination. Yeah, I think it's good. I mean, I think if you're paying attention, you realize that the last two years, there's been a six seed getting to the World Series. That third wild card can be a pathway to the end. So, sometimes that can be hard to realize because if your team's puttering around 500, you think, "Ah, the Phillies are so great or the Dodgers and Orioles, and how are we going to compete with these guys?" But then you sit back and you realize, all you really do need to do is get in, and it could be frustrating. I think for some of those teams that are around 500, you're kind of playing for that 84 wins, but it has happened. So, we see a team like the Red Sox, where there doesn't seem to be a lot of enthusiasm going into the year for that team because the front office didn't do a whole lot. But it turns out that they're playing really well, and Al's Corps is doing a great job, and they're in the spot for a playoff. So, I think it's good. I think there's enough excitement at the top with some really, really good teams. And to make it plausible, you can look at the exciting teams. Yeah, you know, there's four or five teams that are just dreadful. But then there's a lot of those teams in the middle that can go either way, and it's going to make for a really exciting trade deadline, I think. All right, Brett, for you, for the players' perspective, yeah, it's great. You're in the race. If you're the Rangers, seven back, I can get in the wildcard for there. I'm not dead. Tampa Bay, five and a half Houston, three and a half. They're a team that's been on a run lately. But as a player, you also look around, you know, there's so many other guys out there. What goes through your head when there's 12 teams still in the hunt? Well, as a player, it's a gift, you know, because some of these teams are pretty mediocre, but they do have a chance. That's what today's format, in the playoff format, that Major League Baseball has implemented that affords the player. It's like you got a chance. And I see what you're, you know, I know what you're talking about, Rich, when you're talking about is the parity, good, or the bad. If I'm in the business of, what do I want? I want Yankees Dodgers in the World Series for the ratings. But as a baseball fan, I want that excitement, you know, I want that going down to the wire. And still in September, there's six, seven cities that still baseball is the main topic on the talk radio stations. And we're not in years past, it's gone on to football. And I think now it keeps baseball at the forefront. For a fan of the game, I love, I love the parity, and I love the excitement and so many more teams being in it for so much longer. Take your business further with a smart and flexible American Express Business Gold Card. It offers flexible spending capacity that adapts to your business. You can also earn up to $395 in annual statement credits on eligible purchases at select business merchants. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms apply, learn more at americanexpress.com/businessgoldcard. All right, Tyler, help me out here. Help me out here. I've worked for more bad baseball teams than anybody else. I worked at Candlestick Park. I worked at the Oakley Coliseum. I worked at Tropicana Field. And I was saying this this weekend on Infinity Sports Network that I have this special gift that I can talk people into coming out to ball games even though you're under 520 games out. I think I always get people they'll call me on the radio and go, you know, baseball just wants the Yankees and they want the Dodgers in the World Series, just what Brett was saying. Is this an urban myth that baseball actively roots for New York, Los Angeles, Chicago to make it every year. And when it's other teams, a Kansas City, an Arizona, somebody who's not Philadelphia, they kind of root against it and throw up roadblocks and try to keep them from getting into the postseason. I don't think so. I think what they really root for are players and storylines that can get people to watch wherever that is. And if the World Series goes six or seven games, that's where the ratings really kick in. And if it doesn't, they don't. I mean, there was a series a few years ago, Red Sox and Dodgers, two major markets, and it didn't do very well. The ratings are usually pretty low for the national games, for whatever reason, but the networks still pay a lot and those rights fees are still where the league wants them to be. So I never get too caught up in the markets and who's playing home. I think baseball set up now is actually kind of cool when you think about it because it's a non-salaried cap league so teams can spend, yeah, with penalties, but teams can spend whatever they want at the top. But because you have now six playoff teams each year, you can get a situation like last year where the little brother Arizona Diamondbacks can go in Dodger Stadium and just wipe out the Dodgers. They had some pitching problems. Some guys were out or hurt, whatever. Arizona just just pounced, right? And they start on the road and they beat in the walkie, then they beat up the Dodgers and then they surprise the Phillies. So the point is that in the postseason, that's where those small market teams can do some damage because of the nature of baseball. That's why I said you just have to get in. So, yeah, you can say baseball and then once the Dodgers and Yankees, the Dodgers and the Yankees haven't played together in the World Series since 1981. The Yankees haven't made a World Series in 15 years, as Brett's brother knows all too well, and the Dodgers have won one World Series since 1988. So it was as short in the series as a moment series as well. Right. So you could say like you could say all those points because it's not a salary cap league. So so the rich always there's always a big big disparity. But baseball has had more different champions in this century than any other sport. I mean, more than half the teams have have have won a championship. So I think in reality, there's more parity than the perception. And he would know he's a best-selling author, Brett. That's why Tyler Kepner is joining over here. By the way, there was a book. Really smart guy wrote about all the great moments in the World Series. Do you know what I'm talking about? Yes. What was it called? The grandest stage, the history of the World Series. Pay with no double day 2022. Go get it. Wait a minute, Rich. I wrote a book. He did. But did it make the it was it a top seller? No, it was a it was an interesting it was a learning process. Tell you what, Brett's book though is on the is on the bookshelf in the visiting manager's office at Yankee Stadium. Mine is not mine or not. So really? Yeah. It's right there right behind it. You know, you never know a manager's gonna pull well that I gave your prepare for the game. What happens? I was too engrossed in the bread food store. Well, I gave it to Joe Torrey and he must have just left it there. Right. That's what it was. Although your book is for sale inside the Mariners team store, Brett. Yes, I noticed that. But I was out there a couple years ago. The one in. Kepner, what what do you not notice? You're going from Yankee Yankee Skipper's office to Mariner team store. Mariner team store and down to the L there on that. That is a baseball fan. He's selling and selling off fish. That's what I think. Tyler, do you ever show up? Do you ever like go to a bookstore to see if your book's in there? All the time. Okay. That's that's one thing when you write a book, and it's like, you know, a major publisher or whatever, and you have reason to think that it might be every bookstore you ever go to, or every bookshelf you ever see for the rest of your life, you're like, it's fine on there. It's fine. And then you see one and you have like the ball or move where you just sort of go in and and you can either ask them if you want, or you can just go and sign it and just put it back in. It's like a little surprise for the people. Yeah. Do you do that? Do you go on the autograph book? Yeah, it's kind of cool. I mean, you know, people Brett's career, people have been wanting his autograph for 30 years, whatever. So I just, I take advantage of every chance I can get if someone might want my autograph, bring it to the front desk and say, hey, you know, I wrote this book. I'm happy to sign it if you want. Oh, wow, cool.
