Ben & Woods On Demand Podcast
7.18.23 97.3 The Fan Roundtable - All Star Break Edition!
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Or block out another research and supply major league baseball trade parts used with permission. It's that time, Prior Faithful. Time to discuss everything going on with the Padres. We've gathered the entire 97-3 the fan crew together to bring you the most in-depth discussion on the priors in our weekly Padres Round Table, presented by San Diego Round Table Pizza. Here's your host, Ben Higgins. No, your ears are not deceiving you. It is still the all-star break, and yet we are here for another commercial-free 97-3 the fan Padres Round Table presented by San Diego Round Table Pizza. We got most of the crew in today other than Tony Gwen, who I believe is on his way to Cleveland for the start of the second half of the season. We've got Amy Halbrin all the way to my left. Hello, Ben. Hello, Annie. We've got Stephen Woods. We just finished four hours on the radio. Hi, Benjamin. Craig Elston in the middle is usual spot-high, Craig. Good to see you. And Chris Sello, right to my immediate left. Ben Hummin. All right, not much has changed in terms of record-wise, other than two losses in a win since our last Round Table last Thursday, and we've really kind of gone through the first half of the season, I think, pretty well in the last few Round Tables. However, I will say, I thought Craig and Annie, you did a great job, like breaking down the best games of the first half and going through it. I was listening to your show this week, but I do want to ask one question. I mentioned it to Woods on our show. Not best game, but what was your favorite moment, like singular moment from the first half of the season? If you could just boil it down to one thing you really enjoy. Chris? Oh, I think the biggest electricity bolt of the first half was Manny's two-run home run against the Nationals after the incident with Profar. Profar's grand slam on top of it was icing on the cake, but for Manny to be able to answer that on the first pitch with a two-run homer, man, that was electric. I mean, you're not supposed to cheer in the press box, but I was attempting to give Jeff Sanders of the UT a high five, and he was like, what are you doing? But I thought it was pretty cool. That's a good one, Craig, but any other moments that come to mind from the first half? You know what's funny, I'm going to just let everyone enjoy all the best answers for the baseball moments, because there's a big difference to me between like the best game and your favorite moment. My favorite moment was being at 3 a.m. at seven mile casino in the dead of night. Unreal. And seeing that place completely slammed wall to wall people went home that couldn't get in. Literally. Literally. And to see just that level of excitement for this team in the middle of the night in the middle of March. Woods and I, we stayed at the rambler, a little motel, and I remember like waking up to do the show at, you know, when I was like two, you know, two thirty and I see people streaming past my like door, like, where are they coming from? There's a parking lot, you know, at seven mile, it's like, no, it's already full. There are people waiting to get in for this opener. It was incredible. Yeah, the, the, that is, it's a great pull, Craig, because it just goes to show you how passionate people are in this town for this team. And they fill the ballpark every night. I had the same answer as you, but it was for a different reason. And obviously the, the two run homer was great for Manny, but for me, it was honest to God. Manny grabbing Cabert Ruiz, because we have talked so much on, on our show, the last six years about, man, did these guys ever stick up for each other? Like ever? How many times has Tatisse worn one or Manny wore 98 to the back? Nobody even attempted to get up over the railing. It was the first time I, I have seen a pottery, stick up for another pottery. I felt, and I know it's probably recency bias, but to grab someone, push him away with a little bit of force and say, you're not doing that today. The home run was the icing on the cake, but it was just the fact that one of the guys came to the defense of the other guy. I love that so much. It was my favorite moment. Annie, you have a favorite moment? Luis arises, walk off in his home debut. What a great one. That was, that's second for me, but a great one, real close. But to me, it was the same one that you had, the same game that you had at Chris, but, uh, jerks and pro-farts Grand Slam only because it was like, it encapsulated the kind of season that he's having, going to the all-star game, huge clutch in the big moment. Just kind of that storybook feeling for him. One of the great things about baseball though is our enjoyment of it is not simply watching the team on the field. It's who we're watching it with and the context of the game, kind of like the seven mile casino story that Craig told. And my favorite moment, we actually were celebrating my son's 21st birthday, had the whole family together. We were sitting in actually one of the cool suites behind home plate and it just happened to be the game that Jeremiah Estrada struck out his 11th, 12th and 13th batters in a row. And game was already pretty well in hand at that point, but he comes in and you could sense that the crowd kind of knew something special was going on and he gets the first strikeout and just the volume starts to rise and people are starting to get to their feet. And every successive pitch that is swung on and missed, it just gets more and more excited in the ballpark and then he finishes it off because that was a save opportunity. With the third strikeout, the Major League record, 13th in a row and everybody is going crazy and we stayed until the end and the family was there and it just turned that evening from already a really special family moment. It just took it to the next level. So I think that was actually my favorite moment from the first half. Really good. It had to be that good to keep me there at the ballpark to the final hour before I ran to my car to be traffic and there was no way I was leaving and you're right about the fan reaction that night. The fans really showed how savvy they were when it came into that game. It was a little bit of a buzz and it was almost like people were telling people, "No, you can't go home. You've got to stay and watch this. And here's why." Whoops. I had a feeling that was going to happen. Little dropped his water bottle. But as it continued to ramp up, man, that was really something. I almost liken that moment to the electricity and the playoffs of the Dodgers, just for a half an inning of people being that excited. There's been a lot of great games, a lot of great games. I mean, so many good moments, so many more moments in 99 games than we got in 162 last year. It's not even particularly close. The record is not what we all hoped it would be, but oh my God, the moments that this team has given us so far have been outstanding. I think we all know that the Major League Baseball draft is not the NFL draft or even the NBA draft in terms of talk and speculation and just churning things to discuss. However, Padres did make all the picks over the last week, 20 rounds total, wanted to get some observations if anyone had a particular player or something interesting from the draft that they wanted to share. I know this is kind of an open ended question, Annie, but they chose the best names of anyone. Cale Fountain, or the cash. Carresteers. My God, don't forget about Brandon Butterworth, Brandon Butterworth, a whose mother, Mrs. Butterworth. Correct. Now coming to San Diego, hopefully. I thought it was pretty much in line with what AJ Preller likes to do, right? They take high school guys, they put a lot of faith into their scouting system and we learned a lot about how he scouts this week, that article in the UT and him hiding and looking at Jackson Merrill and so you figure, you know, they've done their homework and they feel good about a lot of these guys and then took quite a few college players as well. But I thought they also took a two-way player, so a little bit of the flyer here and there and some stuff that I think AJ Preller likes to do, but I felt like it was pretty in line with the risk he likes to take. Yeah, and we talked on our show about Cavara's tears and I was reading that right up the, what was it, the hellish raw power of Cavara's tears and I went, "Good God, hellish raw power." That's the greatest, that's the greatest right up I've ever seen. I want somebody with hellish raw power on my team, teach that kid how to hit off speed and let's roll with Cavara's tears and yeah, arms, arms, arms, arms, stock the, stock the farm and that's what he does and this is where, you know, this is where he really thrives and has gotten progressively better, I think, over the last few years. And we haven't even mentioned that they drafted someone nicknamed Sasquatch. Sasquatch. Yeah, either. Okay. I mean, I think the track record of AJ Preller as a drafter allows you to have confidence in whatever group of players he selects that he's probably on to something and he's at least found a couple of people who can get to the big leagues and he's probably found a few more that'll be enticing as potential trade prospects. I guess the only takeaway I had was that there was no sign of an evaluator who was worried that this was going to be his last draft. None at all. None. So he, it appeared to me that AJ Preller was working with the complete confidence that he would be there for a long time taking high school kids with his first three picks. Not to say that there weren't, they did go with some college players later in the draft and one that caught my eye because it is so rare that anyone drafted will make it to the big leagues in the first few months. But Tyson neighbors, the reliever from Kansas state, oh, there's almost an outside chance you could see him in like September with the San Diego Padres. If he shows enough, he's advanced enough, has the kind of stuff that could play pretty quickly in the big leagues. If they really had some need in the bullpen and wanted to advance someone quickly, that's a guy to keep your eye on. I think over the next couple of months here. I just got a alert on my phone. He's been traded. All right. I wouldn't be surprised if he trades for your four of these guys before they were attached is what you're saying. You don't settle in guys. Don't buy a house. But you know, me with the draft. So that's my comment. Although I did enjoy your tweet about the kid who pitched a four hitter this year. And then you said not in one game, the whole season he pitched a four hitter. Yes. So that sounds pretty good. I don't know what the competition is like in the Oklahoma high school cert rural, Oklahoma high school circuit. It's a fair question to ask. It's pretty impressive, though, you know, you know, you know, he forgets an entire season. You're doing something. It was 30 batting average against literally struck out all but 17 of it. He faced. How much do you how do you feel if you're the one kid who actually got knock knock? There was a run the scored off of him. I drove out of run off of this guy. It's like that. That's your probably baseball story. So I've joked that the guy pitched a perfect game, struck out 27 and except gave up one foul ball. Yeah. And the scout said, well, where's the kid who hit the foul ball? A hundred percent, you know, during the all star break. This is our 97 three, the fan pot raise round table again, presented commercial free by round table pizza pizza royalty. Rob Manfred did his, you know, media news conference, state of the MLB thing. And one thing he talked about was the possibility more than possibility, the plan to bring the automated strike ball system at least into spring training next year as a challenge model. We've talked about it a little bit in the past. Craig, I'll start with you. Your feeling on how Major League Baseball is proceeding very slowly and cautiously after five years of experimentation in the minor leagues of trying to bring the robot umpires to the big league level. I think it's really smart to do it very slowly because there's going to be a collective grown when it begins from all the traditionalists. But I look at, for example, I know you did too, I watched the Wimbledon men's final on Sunday, they've had that Hawkeye system forever and it's, it's so quick. It's a guy says, okay, I'm in a challenge and then be pop-boop and then everyone sees it. Yeah. And it's wonderful. I expect this to be a challenge system when we get. I don't think it's just going to be a robot ump. I think it's going to be a human ump. Everyone's, everyone's unions will remain happy, but there'll be an automatic, it'll be a challenge system. But when it comes up, it'll be quickly implemented. And I think one of the reasons it'll be quickly implemented is because it's had enough time in the minors that'll be enough players in the majors with experience with it. Do you guys know, just sorry to interrupt, but do you know how it works exactly in the minors? Like we were talking about our show kind of kind of laughing about three challenges. All right, guys. Yeah. For the whole game. The catcher, the pitcher, and/or the hitter. So, so, so like the hitter can feel the pitches outside here and called strike tap his helmet. Boom. Challenge. That's if he's right. But hang on. You keep it if you're right. Yeah. Okay. If you're right. Yeah. And then same thing. The pitcher or the catcher or the pitcher could tell the catcher and the catcher goes, okay, let's check that. Let's check with that. Three total strike. But three wrongs. Yeah. Three strikes and you're out. Three strikes and you're out. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Because I was, I just pictured Mike Schilt before the game going. All right. We've only, we got five to work with Manny. Don't. Luis, Luis, you're good. Yeah. Greenlight for you. Jurickson. No. No. I just roll your eyes. Too many strikes. You guys a lot. Not in your head after, you know, it's clearly a strike on television. So, I, I, I got a laugh out of that just wondering, you know, how many you get, you know, how it, how it's going to work. I think it's a great idea. I, I, I used to be a big, just get robots. And I've come around to the fact of like, that's not going to work either. So, the, the challenge system is, is I think fair and, and takes, takes some, some off the home plate umpires plate because it's a, as much as I, I rail against them. It's like the hardest job that there is calling balls and strikes at the big league level. Yeah. I mean, I think so when Xander was doing his minor league rehab, he called one of these. He, he, he, in fact, the broadcaster was like, I've always wondered if the MLB rehabber would utilize the ABS challenge system in a triple A game. Andrew Bogart's did it. It was unsuccessful. And what's great is that the broadcaster was saying, you know, I wonder if this is going to come back and halt them later in the game and see if you're not going to have a challenge. So I think it's going to be interesting to watch it because I don't know all the rules exactly. I'm not even sure if that's out there, but I had heard three, two, but I'm not sure. Right. Exactly. What Craig said, but how it's all going to work and get unraveled and everybody, they'll adjust just like they did to the, you know, pitchers stepping off the mound and guys having better time outs and they'll adjust, but it's, it's going to be interesting there for a while. I'd be surprised if a single teammate or coach said a word to Xander Bogart. It's about it. Like, I sure you wanted to use that challenge. No, it's fine. You know, it's fine. Oh, nice challenge. More on. Really. You've really, you've really crossed this. Yeah. And they said no. So you brought up the, the slow implementation, the experimentation that they've done and how people tend to be resistant to change, but Chris, you're, you're the most resistant to change. It's true. Yeah. But the, the changes that Major League Baseball made, the pitch clock, the new rules that we all thought were going to be so difficult to accept, even you'd probably have to agree, went down pretty easily. Actually hard to believe that I railed against does all of them. Does that make you feel like it could be an easier transition to an automated strike zone? Yeah. And honestly, there was one pitch this year that changed my opinion on it. And it was the last pitch of the Arizona game when the Padres were rallying and there's two guys on and Cronan worth was left holding his bat. And that, that I thought to myself, you know, if you had a challenge system, that's where it would be fair. But otherwise I really always felt that if it's close swing, two strikes, that's what we're all taught. Right. We don't need an umpire. The other thing that I'm a little concerned with and not to name drop, but I end up sitting with Mike Winters a lot, the former umpire up in the press box, and he's pointed out to me correctly that that center field camera is not directly in line, you know, it has to be off an angle a little bit so that we can see around the picture. It's much like when they show a check swing from the first base camera. That's not the same angle as the umpire has. Right. And we all go, ah, how'd you miss that? But he's looking at something a little different. So you know, let's just make sure that when we're going to go to this challenge, that a strike is a strike and that's going to be hard to do. When they do catcher cam or umpire cam, that's when I'm like, all right, I need to shut up because it is just like that. And then I was going to be like strike or ball. You never get a sense for it until they show you exactly what they see. And yes, it is incredibly hard. I know Tony has said he doesn't like the box. I like the box because it just gives me a frame of reference and I've been watching the game forever and playing the game forever. It still gives me a little bit of a sense of reference, but we were talking about on our show as long as the spirit of it, um, stays the same that I'm fine, the replays in baseball. Yeah, we love them when they very clearly, this guy was safe by three feet. Like what they blew them, they're human, they're going to make mistakes. But it's the guy that slides in the second base. His quad comes off the base for a split second, but you kept the tag on him. Oh no, you're out now that I disagree with. That's what bugs me about replays sometimes. But as long as they are able to do this, use the challenges, keep the spirit of it intact. I'm good with it. I just think it's important to note to building off your point, Chris, that what they will use to determine the challenge will be the track manner, you know, beach, FX, TV box, not the TV box, nor the TV camera angles. So what you're saying is that the viewer at home is going to see the ball a little off the box. Yep. Still get mad. It's going to be a strike and then they're going to challenge and they're going to still call it a strike and the viewer is going to go whoa, wait a minute, we'll have a 3D when they challenge it. It'll be like tennis and they'll have it down. And Rob Manfred said that in the minors where they don't have those TV boxes, it's accurate to 1/100th of an inch, which is a really tight tolerance when it comes to accuracy, which is good enough in my mind to be pretty much as accurate as you're ever really going to get it. Speaking of Rob Manfred, another topic from his press conference this week, the idea that a lot of major league baseball players would like to see the ability to compete for their country in the Olympics, maybe starting as soon as 2028 in Los Angeles. But Annie, this obviously comes with logistical nightmares to take a two-week break maybe in the middle of the season with everybody going off to compete for their countries. What about training camps and actually time? Not every, but then you have a bunch of players who are just sitting around doing nothing for that time. Is there a way in your mind that they could make this work? I think there is a way, but it's going to be a logistical nightmare and you're going to have people that are unhappy on both sides of it and then people that are thrilled to get to compete for their country in the Olympics. It's hard, I think it's hard to say to a player you can't do that, you can't go take this on. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a lot of them. At the same time, they are getting paid a lot of money by their club to be ready, to make a playoff push, to keep themselves good for the whole season. So there's a lot of things they would need to iron out. The season is already very long. I don't know if you attach weeks at the beginning or the end. I don't think the owners are going to go for the whole losing money by taking out 15 games. So there's a lot to work through, but I think it could be cool if you could do it. Chris, I know you and Tony were talking about this a little bit on your show this week, I believe. What kind of conclusions did you draw? My conclusion is that you've got to follow the money and the money says that the owners will never give up games off their home schedule and I think the nightmare of, you can't extend the season much longer. You're going to go into late November or you're going to start in early March. So I don't think it's going to happen. And I just think that it does sound pretty fun, but I look at the World Cup and soccer as the premier event. They do have an Olympic soccer tournament that I really don't think anybody cares about. So I don't know that the Olympic baseball tournament, if these guys were allowed to compete, you've already got the World Baseball Classic for that. And is that overkill to have both a World Baseball Classic, Craig and an Olympic tournament, meaning every two years you're going to compete internationally for your country now? Well, it's funny, yes, because this is something that Annie and Braden and I talked about on the show a couple of days ago. Personally, I would love to see the Olympics happen in 2028 specifically to set the precedent to allow the World Baseball Classic to move into that summer window. And then you don't have to bring the MLB players to the Olympics anymore. It could be a one-off for the Olympics that sets the precedent of moving the WBC into the middle. And I agree to the logistical hurdles all the way around, including earlier starts to the season. That's terrible for cold weather teams in the East. Later, oh my God, how late are we going to go? But international soccer has sorted all this out over time, and it makes sense everywhere where clubs pause for international breaks. I think that can be resolved. I think as Braden has talked about, something could be done with the remaining players and some sort of like goofy NBA Cup tournament or something. If you wanted to do that to keep the content-milled churning, but I'd like to see it happen. What's if there's anyone I know who doesn't get enough baseball? It's you. If there was a UFL for baseball in like January to March, you'd be the only person watching. Yeah, I make fun of the NFL for all their little ancillary things, but I would actually like more. I would like more baseball. This just scares me. When you start comparing sports, I think you look at it 30,000 foot viewing, well, they do it. If they do it, they can do it. I mean, we've talked to Skip Schumacher about the, I mean, how it ruined Al Contra for him. You know, his ace going and having to heat up and ramp up for the WBC, I don't know if the middle of the season does any different. The weird thing would be to keep playing, keep your, we're playing, we're just going to bring somebody up from the minors and he's going to fill in for Manny, who goes to play for the Dominican Republic and Tatis who leaves like, they do that in soccer sometimes. They do it in soccer sometimes. Like you said, the NWSL is doing a cup tournament while the players are gone. I honestly think that may be the best way to do it to where Sandy Al Contra has been pitching for three months and he had a spring training and he's ready to jam. So he's going to go pitch for his home, you know, his home country. We're just going to be without him for two weeks and we're going to have to find a way to manage. Which you make those non-regular season games though, like they do sometimes in soccer. Like, hey, this is our cup tournament where you're still charging people. Come to Pekka Park. Have a great time. See some of the younger guys that we've brought up, but these count as their service. I don't know how it's filling out with the union. It still counts for your 162 game record, which is rough, right? And also off on a rocket ride and you're like four of our guys are leaving. We have to replace them, but they'll be back in two weeks. I think that's, for me, that's the only thing that makes sense logically in my head as weird as it sounds. Now with the MLB app, you can get baseball your way. Pick your favorite team, your favorite players, and get customized highlights, stories and breaking news right on your home field. Follow the action with Game Ted, where 3D replays add another dimension, plus notifications can keep you connected to every pitch, every hit, every game, the MLB app, baseball your way. Download it now for free from the App Store or Google Play, block out another research and supply major league baseball trade parts used with permission. Nice. Today's episode is sponsored by Nerd Wallet Smart Money Podcast. Get your head in the financial game with smart investing and budgeting tips straight from the nerds. Nerd wallets experts will set future you up for success. With dependable, fact-based insights, no financial misinformation allowed. Learn how to save on your summer vacation, find your next credit card, or loan for a big purchase, and invest in your next index fund. Make smarter decisions in 2024. Follow Nerd Wallet Smart Money Podcast on your favorite podcast app. Get a discount when Manny's on the I.L., you know what I'm saying? They all operate without their stars for some of them longer than others. It's like, man, for two weeks to suck it up, all of us suck it up as fans, and then the players get to go out and represent their country, potentially win a gold medal. They all say to a man, "World Series or gold medal?" They're like gold medal. Now, I don't know if I believe it. I don't know if I believe it, but they all say it. Nick Martinez. Remember when Nick Martinez did it? Oh, my God. This guy, nothing would touch the Olympics for him. He wanted a World Series so bad because he just wanted to taste what it felt like for him to be in the Olympics again, like he talks about it like nothing could ever compare to it. Plus, there's the idea of competing against your own product. If you've got major leaders playing in the Olympics at the same time that you're trying to put on a game at Petco Park, it's not a week, though. I think in two weeks, you wear it every-- it's two weeks, every what? Two years? Four years. Four years. Sorry. You figure it out. Two many problems. Yeah. We've come up with 35 problems just among us in three minutes. All right. Get out of here. It's our 97-3, the fan pot raise roundtable, presented commercial free by San Diego roundtable pizza. Let's get into our look ahead to the second half of the pot raise season. And I'll just start simply, pot raise begin with a very tough road trip coming up. Cleveland has the best record in the American League. Then to Washington, and while they have been struggling lately, they're not going to forget what happened a month ago at Petco Park when the pot raise go visit them. And then to Baltimore, the second best record in the American League. Annie, what are you kind of looking for in this first nine-game road trip from the pot raise? What are you keying in on to start the second half of the season? Well, AJ Preller described it as a 60-game sprint. He's pretty much right, 63 games. And Craig said earlier this week, you know, this is kind of when it starts this 11-game sprint really through those three teams and then to the Dodgers right after that, I think that they're buyers no matter what in the term of like, we're going for it. Could it change for me maybe how they look at their club or how they view some kind of how much they go in on things? You know, depending on how they get through this 11-game stretch, I think it could. Like, I think you've got to at least do better than 500 or do 500 or better through this road trip. I'll take it back. It's a hard road trip. 500, at least. Just don't let yourself slide too, too, too far deep down in that NL wild card race. What's we've seen the pot raise at least at times, seemingly play their best against better teams? Sure. Are you optimistic that this is another one of those chances for the pot raise to show their, their medal here to start the second half? I wish I could say I was optimistic about it, man. I really do. I'm hopeful. Obviously, I don't know that I've ever been this nervous for the second half to start in my entire life. Really, like I am, they have given us so much, they've proven a lot this year, but as I've said many, many times, God, they've had a scratch in claw to get to 50 and 49. And I mean scratch and claw and come back and, and, you know, battle their asses off all year. It's terrified, you know, of, of the second half starting. I'm going to be a nervous wreck when this thing goes because again, man, the, the teams that we all thought were, yeah, we don't have to worry about them. Well, they're all around now. The Giants are back. The Mets are back. The Dbacks are back and, and you're like, here we go, but this is, this is the beauty of sports. They're not talking about this in Chicago right now. They're not talking about this in Miami. We get to experience it. So I wish I could say I was optimistic, Benny, I got to go get back to my win today, win today's game. I can't look at the 11. Yeah, we need to win. I just, for me personally, find a way to win today's game, find a way to win to go one and O today. And that one game at a time. One game at a time. That's it. Want to know. Isn't your producer Matt Scabie, the guy who's refusing to look at the standings until now August 1st? Can you do that? That's because he can't read. He's just making an excuse. I'm worried about this road trip as well, but here's the thing. Right now between the Cardinals who sit fifth and the Cubs who sit 12th, there's only a four game spread. Two of those eight teams are going to make the playoffs. If you just assume that ahead of them, the Braves, Brewers, Dodgers and Phillies are in good shape. Yeah. I'm all I'm concerned about for these 11 games and maybe into August and the return of Fernando and hopefully Musgrove is, can we stay in that three to four game window of the playoffs? Don't die. Yeah. Don't die. That's it. Exactly. I did have an amazing job of keeping their head above water. Yeah. And as a matter of fact, they even flourished when they won the 12 out of 15. But I just don't know how, I mean, Matt Waldron is starting the first game of the second half. Who would have? Who would have predicted that? Correct. Right. Except for Craig and you know, cease and then king and then you're kind of, you're hopeful. So it's going to be really tough and can they hang in until Fernando and hopefully Musgrove come back? Don't die. That's what I'm watching. Don't die. Don't die. Don't die. That's it. You said what I would have said. My only goal is survival for this trip. On the line, you know, I mean, it's again, when today, you and Mike Schilter are going to have a great combo tomorrow. I don't know, baby. That's the only thing he's going to say to you. I heard him respond that way to AJ after, you know, after Sunday last Sunday's game. You know, the tomorrow is the most important game of the season. Well, okay. Yes, absolutely. And you're going to have to be Cleveland. They haven't lost a series at home all year. Oh my God. So like, really? Yeah. So not one. So if you just went and penciled a one and two there and a one and two in Baltimore, which would be a decent result, honestly, right? Yeah. If you took one. Yeah. Better sweep the nationals. Yeah. You better sweep the nationals. If the nationals have your number, that particular three game set, you could be looking at being at the bottom of that grouping, you know, come to the deadline. Craig, you've instituted a number of red alerts over the course of the season. And I haven't kept quite as close track. How have they done during your red alerts? And is this the reddest of red alerts so far? Yes. For the Padres. Well, you know what? They didn't always instantly respond, right? They would sometimes lose the next game, but they've always come back and bounce back. We've seen that all year from this team. They'll get to the precipice of disaster and then they will bounce back. I think they're on that precipice. Again, there's a real shaky underpinning and you just said it. And I agreed when we went through the 10 greatest games of the first 99 games of the season, like so many of them were the bullpen blew it, the pitcher put you in a giant hole, the offense rallied in probably somebody hit a two out homer. And it's like, if you just pull a couple of those results, this season looks completely different. Oh, yeah. So they need to get it going now. Wouldn't it be so like this team though to go eight and three? Yes. Yeah. Who would be surprised? I mean, explain something. The Rockies have won one road series this year. I know where it was. That was here. They didn't lose a game in that series. So it'd be just like the Padres to go hand Cleveland their first home series lost. It would be just like this team, but you brought up, I mean, the pitching and the bullpen. And we talked about this a little bit on our show 50 and 49. You can really break that down. So there's four or five game losing streaks outside of that. The Padres are 50 and 29 really, really throw him out the window. But so many of those 49 losses can be ascribed to either the starting pitching got you in a deep hole early by giving up, you know, three or four runs in the first four innings and you couldn't come back or the bullpen just kind of randomly exploded later in the game. I mean, that feels like about 60% of the losses. Yeah, there were games where the offense didn't show up. Sure. That happens with every team. Every team. Not as worried about the offense. It's the pitching in the second half. How will the pitching respond? Is there an up depth? Can they get some consistency? Is there any other way to frame the second half other than through the lens of starting pitching and relief pitches? That's huge. We saw what happened in 2021. It's huge. You have Michael King, who has done tremendous, but he is on some kind of innings watch at least, right? Matt Waldron is on some kind of innings watch. You've got Dylan Sees, who had a great start to end the ceremonial first half, but has been inconsistent. Then you've got Randy Vasquez, maybe Johnny burrito, maybe, I don't know, you know, it becomes now. Luckily, they have some off days. They can work some creativity in there perhaps. But when you get creative like that, those guys that are all on innings limits, you're putting them back. You know what I mean? Yeah. You're adding or two here and it's like -- It's a stress. You can be as creative as you want to be, but you know, you know, Saris has told us many times with every pitch they throw, they just -- Relief pitchers get worse, they just get worse. Day one until the end of the season, they just keep getting worse. It's just attrition, you know, basically, and yeah, being creative is awesome, but you still have to have those -- I mean, who are the three most durable pitchers in the big leagues right now? I don't know off the top of my head, but you'd have to be careful with those guys if, you know, if one of them -- Sees might be one of them. Yeah, Sees may be one of them. And so the threat of burnout, you know, without adding pieces is so palpable to add pieces. They have to. They have to. They have to. Well, you know, we looked at a bunch of them the other day, and I just think Crochet's a pipe dream. I just think that's way too much to give up for a guy that is already over his innings limit. I think it would be way too risky. I think Tyler Anderson of the Angels makes the most sense. He's pitched in this division. He's an all-star two of the last three years. He's having a great year. I think you can get him for a fair amount from the Angels, and I think that A.J. Preller knows it. So I don't think we're going to have to wait much longer to get a picture. You know, Tyler Anderson was the name that made the most sense to me. I'm throwing a little bit of a dart at a board, but they have to do something, and I'm pretty sure. A.J. would never let this opportunity go without taking a shot. Well, I like that name, and I just want to say if you're going to make a deal with the Angels, then you might as well bring Carlos Estebas to Kevin Palar along with you in a deal like that, because you could probably do a package like that with Anaheim. Estebas is a guy they can let go. They don't need a closer. They stink. Palar's already retired. I mean, he's announced the penalty. You've been calling for him since May, and I'm not going to argue with you because you are the Waldron guy. Well, and then, by the way, he's been terrible, like the last three weeks, and he's hit like a hundred, but I think if he came to a situation like this, playing for a pennant at the end of his career, I think he'd be revitalized. I've heard Rich Hill is Stan Loose, right? Oh, my gosh. He's ready. He wanted to come back in the second half. He did. He won the first half for his kids' game. There's a guy called you for you guys. I know he's out there now. Oh, yeah. Let me go home, man. Just got released. I saw yesterday somebody said, "Dallas Keiko has elected free agency," and somebody tweeted, "Free agency has politely declined." [laughter] Blamed me out, man, but yeah, the lightning in the bottle of a Dallas Keiko or a Rich Hill. I saw Joey Lukasey maybe look at Brigham Home, like, "Oh, my God, here we go. All right. We're about 35 minutes into our pot raise round table, presented by round table pizza. You guys want to do the draft or the seventh inning stretch first? We're kind of in a no-man's land here. Draft. Draft. All right. Annie has spoken. All right. Today's round table draft topic. And remember, you each get to go in order, but you have to pick someone different from the last person. And we'll start with Annie, since she was decisive. Go right around the room. I will go last. You can pick one pot raise player and guarantee they will be locked in at peak performance for the rest of the season. Allah Blake Snell in the second half last year. Which pot raise player are you picking to have the locked in second half and then take your chances with everybody else? I'm picking Manny Machado, not that he wouldn't be locked in, but that his health is entirely locked in where it needs to be. His health is included. His health is included. Everything is locked. Everything is rocking and rolling for Manny, because when he is hot, he just, I mean, he can be a game changer for this team. No doubt about it. Fair enough, because we've always said as Manny goes, goes, so goes the pot. We just spent about 10 minutes talking about how pitching is so important. Woods, would you take a position player to impact every day? Or would you want to have a pitcher who's locked in so you at least don't have to worry about one fifth of your starting rotation for the last two and a half months? I'll take, I'll take jerks and pro far to stay on this torrid pace that he's on. He is, you know, while leadership is always questioned within the Padres, he does seem to be the most forward facing lately. The guy that's in front of his locker saying, "We've got to be better. We can't lose this," like he keeps it up. I like our chances. All right, Craig. All right. I want to be clear on the rules. Health and availability is part of this. Yes. It's both solid. Yeah. You're going to be available. You're going to be healthy. You can speed Fernando back. Okay. I'm not sure that either. Is that okay? No, I'm going to take advantage of this and I'm going to say you Darvish. Okay. I mean, for goodness sakes, and that's probably the biggest long shot. If you want to go Musgrove out there in the audience because you just don't know if you is going to appear or not, that's fine. But those two guys being gone are the biggest problem with this team right now and restoring one of them would be the biggest thing I could do to make this team locked in. Chris, because my answer was taken by Annie, I'll take Dylan Sees to go seven innings and allow one hit every start to rest of the season. Sign me up. Great answer. That was going to be my answer. Good steal. Sorry. For you go. So my thinking on this is always I take my chances with some of the superstar players sometimes that they're supposed to be locked in more often than not and I don't really want to waste it. I thought the pro far pick was an interesting one. He's been so locked in. You kind of maybe want to roll the dice with jerks and pro far and let him go. I think though it's important to take care of the pitching staff since Dylan Sees is already gone. Let's go with Joe Musgrove and just get Joe back. The emotional leader that he is for this team, get him back on the mound. Get him, you know, 15, 12 to 15 good starts the rest of the way and take your chances with the rest of the rotation. Agreed. Good pick. How about we get all five of those things? Yes. And then we just make plans for October. Uh huh. Luis Arise was another one I thought about too. I mean, you know, he's been in locked in as what? Yep. 450. Yes. You're talking pretty good lock in every time he comes to the play. There's a guy on base, maybe even on second. And I mean, there's an argument for Hassan Kim when he gets locked in and you know, he starts hitting. Boy, the value, his value can be through the roof. Luis Arise would hit 450 if he was locked in and draw two walks the rest of the way. Exactly. 450 with a 461. Yeah. Well, that's the right. Same with Tony. Same with Tony. You win. Yeah. The reason they didn't walk is because not because they didn't understand the strikes. They just never missed a ball. Never missed a ball. Never missed a ball. Too good at making contact with the ball and part of walking occasionally requires swinging and missing at a pitch. Right. To get worse pitches to take later in the end. You guys remember when Arise struck out twice in one game recently? It was like, it was like, it was like looking at the eclipse or something. I was like, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is the new he was out of the event. Right. It really was like, something's often in the universe. All right. Now we are far enough and we can get to our seventh inning stretch, our non baseball Padres topic and Woods and I have already talked about this one this week, but we had a lot of fun with it. So let's start with Chris. He surprised us that a couple of these seventh inning stretches today's topic is what is an activity or sport you tried one time and hated so much that you will never do it again. What and done? And has one. Yeah. All right. I'll prime the pump. The mine was water skiing. Lake Tahoe, freezing, melted snow, unable to get up on like five or six tries just dumping face first into the water, skis playing everywhere. It looks so fun from the shore. You're watching people sailing along, relaxing, holding on with one hand, waving, you know, doing tricks out there. Turns out you need core strength. It was like the most miserable thing I have ever experienced. I will never try water skiing again. It was horrible, horrible. How I'll go with fishing. That was fally. Yeah. Was it really? Yeah. I went fishing on a full day boat, which was really dumb. I mean, I think we got a deal or somebody, you know, got us in on this full day boat. What's that? Out to the ocean, out to the ocean fishing, you're leaving out here from, you know, one of these point loma landing spots, and honestly, it was eight hours of just throwing my reel in and reeling it back up and throwing it in and putting that little salamanders eyes through the hole and throwing it out there and reeling it in even, no, I didn't catch one thing. And had I even caught something, I really don't think it would have interested me enough to come back. Fishing is such a polarizing activity. People who love fishing. They love it. All the love of it. I remember growing up and you go to the newspaper and they have like the fish counts. Listed in the sports section, like, yeah, here's what they got at this landing on this boat, holding this many, this many Marlin and this many swordfish and I'm going, it didn't help that the yo-yo guy right next to me. One step from me was reeling them in all the, like, how is this, what is this? Doing different. It's amazing. There's a shell down there and you're locked in, you're locked in in that trip for, I don't want to be locked in anywhere except the round table. For eight hours a day. You couldn't get out. Kick it out. And there's the nausea if you get a little seasick going out on the ocean as well. It smells like fish and not great. Craig activity you tried once, never again. Yeah, you know, and, and factually my dad and I went fishing once too, but I don't think he liked fishing either, but I had a very similar, yeah, a very similar experience of being there a couple hours catching nothing, doing nothing, it was cold, it was dark. And you're like, all right, see you later. See you later. What are we doing here? You can only do it at four in the morning, get up, so early, obnoxious. All right, it's any dad's dream to have your hobby shared by your son. So I very much understand how this came to be, but my dad used to all the time go dirt bike riding in the desert as one of his hobbies. You know, we'd take the motor home out to wherever, somewhere in the Mojave Desert and he, his buddies would go dirt bike riding, you know, and then they have a campfire or whatever. And that, you know, that was a thing. And so we always had a motor, a dirt bike motorcycle in our garage. And then when I was about my son's age, like 13, 12 or 13, he got me a smaller dirt bike. And we went one time dirt bike riding at this place where everyone goes. So somewhere out by Bandini Mountain, it was like, you know, with big sand dunes and beginners level. It's probably yes. And I got to the top of a dune and lost my balance and fell and the bike fell on me and, you know, wrenched my ankle and it couldn't get up. You know, completely miserable. I had to be rescued from it. I remember us stopping it in and out in the way home, like, you know, just to get a mercy burger. The pity burger. Yeah. And that little dirt bike stayed in the garage for the remainder of my tears. You know how much when I was a kid, all I wanted was a dirt bike or a moped. My parents were like, bro, there is no chance you're getting on anything motorized until you're 16. But I knew kids like that too that had those and they were so good at escape boarding was one I could never do ever. Mine was paddle boarding. I tried it once. I set up on a blind date and I went, which is not a beach guy. You know, I'm really not having to do with the beach. For me, it was like the, the lugging of the giant board down there. And they all again, they make it look so easy as they're just paddling through waves and they're standing up with their perfect balance. And then I mean, I wiped out on it. I was like, I, the upper body was like, this is awful. Why would anybody want to do this? And then I realized I have to lug this thing back up to the rental place. And I was one Don Annie. I did dance but my sister did gymnastics and she was really good. So they had the gym over there at San Diego State. And I was like, Hey, I want to do gymnastics too, you know? So get the gymnastics, leotard, everything set up, put the chalk on my hands. And they're like, okay, get on this beam, you know, up here at four inches wide and now go backwards. We're going to spot you. I was like, nope, I jumped off that beam. I'm like, you can stick with gymnastics. I will stick with dance. We're good. Didn't even try. I didn't think I did one and they spotted me and then they wanted me to do it by myself. And I was like, yep, nope, I'm good. I remember that that beam is only four feet high, but your eyes are another five feet above that. Yeah. So when you're on a beam, you feel like you're nine, ten feet up, you're not laying on your belly. It's tight. It's like, by the way, we did summer activities, but if we had expanded to winter, regular skiing is also something I loved one and done. I did okay on the bunny slope like all day. I was going. So plowing. That's it. Okay, let's go try an intermediate slope. Could not slow down. Crashed. I could see the disappointment is he had like carry my skis and me down the entire mountain breaks didn't work because I could not get down. One of my childhood friends growing up broke his leg skiing. And then the one time I went, I was so sure paranoid that you just break your leg when you have to skiing right past that George Kim broke his leg. I'm sure I'm going to break my leg. I petrified only time I ever went. I did snowboarding one year in high school. And then the next day, actually I was doing sort of like acrobatics or whatever, broke my, broke both bones on my leg. They both popped out of my leg and I swore it was because my mom was like, it was cold in the snow. Maybe, maybe something happened that the bones got, you know, so I never went back. So I never went back. Sunny bono then Lindsey Vaughn. That's for you. Can I just say one last thing about water skiing, I had the same experience you had the only time I went water skiing. However, and I wanted to ask you, I did stand up a couple of times. And I will tell you, it made all of the falling almost worthwhile. I know it is really cool. If you can finally get standing up there, all right, let's get back to baseball final few minutes of our Padres round table presented by San Diego round table pizza. Chris, you mentioned that list of teams from the Braves on down to the Cubs on the fringe of the wild guard. So the question now is, who are the three teams that you think will end up with the wild guard spots in the national league at the end of the season? Well, the Braves, I think R1, I think they're a little clearer the group right now. The Cardinals concerned me, I think they've been a little, I think they're aging, you know, I mean, Aaron Otto and Goldschmidt, just, I don't feel great about them going forward. They're young guys of hell to help put them where they are. I feel like I feel weird that the Diamondbacks are going to get in. They're tied with the Padres right now. So I must say the Braves, the Diamondbacks, and I mean, I'm in San Diego, I better say the Padres. I mean, come on. I got to have some faith. Okay. So why do you think the Padres will make it then? What's going right that gets them in? The superstars are going to play like superstars in the second half and that they got to hear without them really being superstars is going to work in their favor. Annie, give me your three teams event, why or why you don't think the Padres will be one of them? I'm pretty much the same. I'm Braves Diamondbacks and Padres and I hear you say this all the time, Woodsy. If the Padres are going right, a team doesn't want to face them. I mean, once they get some of their superstars back or they get some of their role players, the big guys that have been out for injuries, you know, totally different dynamic that they might have, get hot and ride into those playoffs. So I think they have a great shot, but the Diamondbacks to me, they've been in this position before. They know how to surge. I think they can do it again. Carol can hit 199 in this again, can he can? I can. I can. I don't want to be the gloom and doom guy, but no one's brought up the Mets. I was going to put them in mind as well. I don't know. I don't know why I feel it. It's the resurgence of Lindor and they are they're playing really well as a team together. Now if they hang on to polar bear, I don't know what they're going to do. I mean, there's they have some options of and guys that are going to be coming back getting healthy as well. They had a really good year like there could be there could be they could finally kind of figure it out. They were one of mine along with, obviously, the Braves and the Padres. All right. So you think the Padres make it as well as I'm hoping is a super star hope is not a strategy. I'm counting on you, AJ Preller, I'm counting on you, AJ Preller to fortify the back end of this bullpen, the front end of this bullpen and the starting pitching core. Craig, are you going to break the streak? All three have the Padres in the postseason. Now their fan graphs projection is about 39% to make the playoffs right now. It is. I know what I'm supposed to say, but it's not what I'm going to say. If you're going to ask me today, the Braves are going to make it, the Diamondbacks are going to make it and the Mets are going to make it and the Padres are not going to make the playoffs. I don't think the Padres can overcome the complete absence of you, Darvish and Joe Musgrove at the trade deadline. I don't think that is overcomable. So no matter who you trade for, you're not trading for two guys like that, like yeah, school or yeah, you can't do it. You can't do it in today's market. And by the way, every single guy at the top of the market, there's a team out there better position than the Padres to trade for them big time in the next 10 days. We've made two giant trains. So I don't want that to be the case. I'm not rooting it for it to be the case. But if you're asking me today by odds, I think we finish like 82 and 80 again, or 81 and 81. Do you want some good news? Yeah. So I would love some good. Kevin Acey just tweeted, "Fernando Tati's Jr. had an MRI this week that showed the progress in healing the Padres that hoped for. He can continue to incrementally increase his baseball activity. He has already begun playing catch and swinging a bat. He thought he was going to miss the rest of the season. He really did when it first happened. So this could mean that he's on progression to be able to return in August. Also some news that Tierso Ornelas is getting promoted to the big leagues we heard and will be on the trip with the Padres, so bringing up some more depth from the minor leagues. I haven't gone yet and I'll have to say, I think we've seen they nationally be so close in the wildcard. I think inevitably it's coming down to a tiebreaker on one of these last spots. And the good news is the Padres have grabbed tiebreakers with a couple of the teams that they've already faced, including the Atlanta Braves. I know everyone who has the Braves in there, call me crazy. I don't think they're immune to a collapse in the second half with all the injuries that they've had. I think they might have a struggling second half this year. They've put a lot of miles on, you know, playoffs the last few years. I think the Braves might go down. I do like the Diamondbacks coming back. I think the Mets are going to be very aggressive now at the trade deadline and I think they hang on. I think it comes down to the Padres and the Giants. So that last spot Blake Snell is heating up, they could get more players back. Robbie Ray is there. I think they're still a threat. They would love. I mean, can you imagine if it comes down and there's still a lot of the season series left between the Padres and the Giants. I think the Giants have a slight edge so far. Four three. Four three. I think it comes down to who wins that season series in the end. It comes down to Bob Melvin versus Mike Schilt for the last playoff spot in the last weeks of the season. And you know what? The Padres round table, I'll go with the Padres to pull it out in the end and make the postseason. That Giants team has had so many injuries for them to even be in it. I mean, it's also maybe a testament to everybody kind of being around 500, but they're still in it. Yep. And the difference will be, and you know, I know that, you know, we have them on each week, but the fight that this team has shown under Mike Schilt that we did not see under Bob Melvin, hopefully that carries over this year for the same two teams that could be battling it out at the end of the season for one of the last playoff spots in the National League West that this year, it's the Padres year to get that edge by a game or a tiebreaker or whatever it is. But this is going to be close people. Yeah. The only one thing I want to say because I was the only person who played the odds there is that I think the Padres of all those teams have the highest potential scores if everyone comes back. It always says the one no one wants to face in the playoffs, they are in and healthy and hot. No one wants to see them. It's just a matter of seeing how many things have to go right for us in order to get our full team back. Well, check your local listings as we go forward. I'm not sure what our schedule is. Next Thursday, Padres have an early game in Washington. So and then the week after that, there's already talk about a special trade deadline edition of the round table that might be happening right around the Tuesday, the Tuesday I talked around table, they said that's the only one they're willing to move from Thursday. So spend it now, Adam. No, and that's it. We will definitely keep, you know, I just listened to all of the shows. We will keep you updated on the future of the Padres round table. And whenever the next round table is, I can guarantee you this. Everything will look completely different than it does today, but it's the only thing that has been consistent about the San Diego Padres this season is from round table to round table. Topics change 100% on this team. So things will either get much better or much worse before the next time that we all get together and talk about this team again. Right? Correct. Yes. It's the only correct thing we've said all year. I don't know. It's pretty much the same standings, you know. I think they'll actually do both by the time we talk. Yes, that's true. They'll get better worse. And then they'll get worse. And then they'll wind up about where we are now, probably. That is all the time we have. Thank you for taking the time to join us. Thank you to San Diego round table pizza for providing us this platform every week commercial free. We'll see you when we see you. If you're live, Annie and Elston coming up next year for three more hours as we get ready for the second half of the Padres baseball season for Annie Halbrun, Stephen Woods, Craig Elston and Chris Ello. I'm Ben Higgins. Have a great rest of your day from all of us here at San Diego's number one sports station 97-3 the fans. So long, everybody. Now with the MLB app, you can get baseball your way. 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Follow Nerd Wallet Smart Money Podcast on your favorite podcast app. Annie, give me your three teams event, why or why you don't think the Padres will be one of them? I'm pretty much the same. I'm Braves, Diamondbacks, and Padres, and I hear you say this all the time, Lindsay. If the Padres are going right, a team doesn't want to face them. I mean, once they get some of their superstars back or they get some of their role players, the big guys that have been out for injuries, you know, totally different dynamic that they might have. Get hot and ride into those playoffs. So I think they have a great shot, but the Diamondbacks to me, they've been in this position before. They know how to surge. I think they can do it again. Corbin Carroll can't hit 199 in this again, can he? He can. I can. He can. I don't want to be the gloom and doom guy, but no one's brought up the Mets. I just was going to put them in mind as well. I don't know why I feel it. It's the resurgence of Lindor, and they are playing really well as a team together. Now if they hang on to polar bear, I don't know what they're going to do. I mean, they have some options of guys that are going to be coming back, getting healthy as well. Nemo's had a really good year. Like there could be. There could be. They could finally kind of figure it out. They were one of mine, along with obviously the Braves and the Padres. All right, so you think the Padres make it as well as it is a pitching is a super starter. Hope is not a strategy. I'm counting on you, AJ Preller. I'm counting on you, AJ Preller to fortify the back end of this bullpen, the front end of this bullpen and the starting pitching core. Craig, are you going to break the streak? All three have the Padres in the postseason. Right now, their fan graphs projection is about 39% to make the playoffs right now. It is. I know what I'm supposed to say, but it's not what I'm going to say. If you're going to ask me today, the Braves are going to make it, the Diamondbacks are going to make it, and the Mets are going to make it. And the Padres are not going to make the playoffs. I don't think the Padres can overcome the complete absence of you, Darvish and Joe Musgrove, at the trade deadline. I don't think that is overcomable. So no matter who you trade for, you're not trading for two guys like that, like yeah, school or yes, you can't do it. You can't do it in today's market. And by the way, every single guy at the top of the market, there's a team out there better position than the Padres to trade for them big time in the next 10 days. We've made two giant trains. So I don't want that to be the case. I'm not rooting it for it to be the case, but if you're asking me today by odds, I think we finish like 82 and 80 again, or 81 and 81. Do you want some good news? Yeah, so I would love some good. Kevin Acey just tweeted, "Fernando Tati's Jr. had an MRI this week that showed the progress in healing the Padres that hoped for. He can continue to incrementally increase his baseball activity. He has already begun playing catch and swinging a bat. He thought he was going to miss the rest of the season. He really did when it first happened. So this could mean that he's on progression to be able to return and also some news that Tierso Ornelas is getting promoted to the big leagues we heard, and we'll be on the trip with the Padres, so bringing up some more depth from the minor leagues." I haven't gone yet, and I'll have to say, I think we've seen they nationally be so close in the wild card. I think inevitably it's coming down to a tiebreaker on one of these last spots, and the good news is that the Padres have grabbed tiebreakers with a couple of the teams that they've already faced, including the Atlanta Braves, and I know everyone has the Braves in there. Call me crazy. I don't think they're immune to a collapse in the second half with all the injuries that they've had. I think they might have a struggling second half this year. They've put a lot of miles on, you know, playoffs the last few years. I think the Braves might go down. I do like the Diamondbacks coming back. I think the Mets are going to be very aggressive now at the trade deadline, and I think they hang on. I think it comes down to the Padres and the Giants. For that last spot, Blake Snell is heating up. They could get more players back. Robbie Reyes is there. I think they're still a threat. They would love. I mean, can you imagine if it comes down and there's still a lot of the season series left between the Padres and the Giants. I think the Giants have a slight edge so far for three. Four three. I think it comes down to who wins that season series in the end. It comes down to Bob Melvin versus Mike Schilt for the last playoff spot in the last weeks of the season. And you know what? All right. This is a Padres round table. The Padres to pull it out in the end and make the postseason. That Giants team has had so many injuries for them to even be in it. I mean, it's also maybe a testament to everybody kind of being around 500, but they're still in it. Yep. And the difference will be, and you know, I know that, you know, we have them on each week, but the fight that this team has shown under Mike Schilt that we did not see under Bob Melvin. Hopefully that carries over this year for the same two teams that could be battling it out at the end of the season for one of the last playoff spots in the national league West that that this year, it's the Padres year to get that edge by a game or a tiebreaker or whatever it is, but this is going to be close people. Yeah. The only one thing I want to say because I was the only person who played the odds there is that I think the Padres of all those teams have the highest potential scores if everyone comes back. It always says the one no one wants to face in the playoffs, they are in and healthy and hot. No one wants to see them. Yeah. So it's just a matter of seeing how many things have to go right for us in order to get our full team back. Well, check your local listings as we go forward. I'm not sure what our schedule is next Thursday, Padres have an early game in Washington. Yes. Yes. So, and then the week after that, there's already talk about a special trade deadline edition of the round table. I heard that. Yes. That might be happening right around Tuesday. One instant. The Tuesday. I talked around here. They said that's the only one they're willing to move from Thursday. So spend it now, Adam. No. And that's it. You know, I just listened to all of the shows. We will keep you updated on the future of the Padres round table. And whenever the next round table is, I can guarantee you this. Everything will look completely different than it does today, because that's the only thing that has been consistent about the San Diego Padres this season is from round table to round table. Topics change a hundred percent on this team. So things will either get much better or much worse before the next time that we all get together and talk about this team again. Right. Correct. Yes. We said all year. I don't know. Pretty much the same standings, you know. I think they'll actually do both by the time we go. Yes, that's true. They'll get better. And then they'll get our game and then they'll wind up about where we are now, probably. That is all the time we have. Thank you for taking the time to join us. Thank you to San Diego round table pizza for providing us this platform every week, commercial free. We'll see you when we see it. If you're live, Annie and Elston coming up next year for three more hours as we get ready for the second half of the Padres baseball season for Annie Halbrun, Stephen Woods, Craig Alston and Chris Ello, I'm Ben Higgins. Today's episode is sponsored by Nerd Wallet Smart Money Podcast. Get your head in the financial game with smart investing and budgeting tips straight from the nerds. All its experts will set future you up for success. With dependable, fact-based insights, no financial misinformation allowed. Learn how to save on your summer vacation, find your next credit card, or loan for a big purchase, and invest in your next index fund. Make smarter decisions in 2024. Follow Nerd Wallet Smart Money Podcast on your favorite podcast ad. Trying to figure out what to eat for dinner yet again? With no sides and bullion as you're not so secret ingredient, you can skip the drive-through and do dinner at home. 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