Gwynn & Chris On Demand
Aug. 15th Hour 2: New MLB rule change + Rob Bradford
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Terms and conditions apply. Linked in. The place to be. To be. No matter what you're going through, you are never alone. Join me on my podcast, From the Heart with Rachel Braithin, every Friday. Each episode is like sitting down with your best friend for a cup of coffee. From self-care tips to inspiration for healing, this podcast offers the chance to return to nature, return to community and return to who you are at your core. Straight from my heart to yours. Listen to and follow From the Heart with Rachel Braithin on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast. And welcome back to it, San Diego, our number two of Gwen and Chris on this Thursday edition in the studio today, Chris Solo, Tony Gwen Jr., Adam Klug on the ones and twos today filling in for Mr. Scraeby. Bryce Miller, thank you to him for coming on from the San Diego Union Tribune, talking about what else the Padres right now. We are a little podri crazy in this town. Rightly so as the team is in the midst of its greatest winning stretch ever, 19 wins. In the last 22 games, Padres will look to keep it going tomorrow in Denver against those troublesome Rockies. Real quick, you know, that makes me think about the many combinations you can have throughout the course of 162 games that gets you a streak like this. I mean, the Padres, I think record and wins is that 98 team. Yeah, 98. 98 wins. Right. They never got to that mark, right? They had probably one of the worst September's of any team yet they still got the 98 wins and it just goes to show you why they called a marathon. You can have a run of 19 and three as this team has done, right? And you know, still be sitting free. You can not have a run like that and be one of the best teams in the league, depending on the year, you know? Well, just to underscore that point, Tony, I believe the Padres all time record for longest winning streak in franchise history is 14 in a row. And I believe it came in a season in which they finished in last place in the division, right in the middle of that year, they won 14 in a row. I think it was 1999 actually or 2000 somewhere around there, but it didn't help them get where they wanted to go that year. But this streak does seem like it's going to help them. People who figure those kinds of things outside the Padres are a 95% shot now to make the playoffs. I really hate hearing the percentage. I know you don't want to hear because it's just, well, you lose three in a row. It's going to go to 85. So it really doesn't mean a whole, a hell of beans, it really doesn't. But here's what means something Dodgers lost again today, blowing lead in Milwaukee. So the deficit in the division is two games, those Diamondbacks are idle today. So both the Padres and Diamondbacks are two back of the Dodgers and the Mets lost today. So if you're keeping track, the Padres are currently six and a half games clear of a wild card spot. That is not something any of us could have imagined three weeks ago. There is one other newsworthy item to bring to your attention here in town today, reports surrounding our women's professional soccer team, the way is wild. Yes, they've been without a coach for a quite a while here, but reports are starting to circulate now that the very popular and well known, Landon Donovan is going to be brought on at least as an interim head coach. I guess they have a few games still left in this season, but the wave, maybe they go with Landon Donovan. I think it, you know, it's, it doesn't hurt to hire somebody who is quite popular in the soccer community and, you know, I think knows a few things about soccer. You know, and he, you know, he did a very good job with the loyal when he was the head coach there. So, you know, hopefully this is a good match because certainly the, the wave team has struggled a little bit this year. They have struggled this year. By the way, the, the San Diego FC hired their general manager today. They don't call it a general manager though, what do they call it, director or something director, sporting director, it is something like that. And excuse me for not having his name at the, at the, my tip of my fingertips here, but I saw it in the paper today. So they are, you know, that league, you know, it's going to be a big deal here in San Diego and I know people are excited about that. So that franchise is starting to get all of its ducks in a row as well. All right. In about 10 minutes, Tony and I are going to talk about something that could be. Can I just throw it in their Tyler heaps is his name. Thank you. Yeah. I appreciate you throwing it in their Tyler heaps. Nice. Like 30 years old, youngest sporting director in MLS. Sporty director. Why do we have to call this one? Because that's what they call everybody else calls it a ZV because they call it a president, president of soccer, because they call it a pitch Tony, not a field to check that's a that's a great point. That's just what they do. Well, okay. Hold on. I know that in baseball, we call it a manager instead of a head coach to show other sports head coach. Adam. Come in with the points, very good, Adam, it's where he's supposed to go big. This is great. What did he say? Matthew Scrabby idle today, but in about 10 minutes, Tony and I are going to talk about something baseball is considering making a change that to me would be seismic even in comparison to all of the other changes they've already made without a doubt. So we'll talk about that in about 10 minutes, but right now, we're going to get to some winners, some losers, some scoreboards. It's called the daily gambit. Do you like money? I think about money a lot. Do you like money without doing anything? Uh, winning. Do you want to make money while watching sports? I think Washington is immortal luck. Washington. Woo hoo. If you answer, yes, this is your segment. Just don't blame us when you lose. Nothing is ever your fault. It's your game. Take it. When and Chris go through the top bets of the day in the daily gambit, a 97.3 the fan. All right, daily gambit today. Please gamble responsibly, definitely don't gamble at all. If you are planning a wager, like, say on an NFL preseason game, I think I said it last week. If you're betting preseason NFL, check yourself right into gambling rehab. That's just crazy. We don't have any games to review before we get to some of the games tonight. The latest World Series odds are out. And I was wondering where the Padres would rank considering they've had this run of 19 and 3. Where are my odds? And honestly, according to the odds, Tony, I don't really think the Padres have jumped up as much as I would think. Here are the latest. According to Draft King Sportsbook, Dodgers are still a solid favorite, three and a half to one to win the World Series, Yankees at five to one, Phillies six to one, Orioles eight to one, still Astros and Guardians 10 to one. The seventh choice is the twins 13 to one. Keep those odds up. The eighth choice is Adam's Braves 15 to one. The Padres are currently the ninth choice like your money on fire at 16 to one. That's good odds. That's for the Padres. Good odds. The Brewers are 17 to one. This may even sound better. The Diamondbacks are still 20 to one. That is better. Despite the fact that they've won 20 of their last 25 games. So again, doesn't mean a hill of beans, but it just I think it gives you a little idea of what the thinking is out there. Yeah, I would think the Padres odds would be a tad lower considering the streak they've been on as I learned from my partner, Chris, hello, those lines are based off what the people are. Right. That's what I mean. That's why that's why I'm putting them out there because I think it's interesting. This is what people are thinking that despite the hot streets to me that that lines up like all of those teams you named are like the teams that come to mind it first, right. But the Dodgers are two games ahead of the Padres right now. They don't care, but they're three to one and the Padres are 16 to one. I'm just saying that I agree with you, but I'm saying that I don't think that this seems about right to me bet responsibly, whatever you do like for instance, don't just for the hell of it throw 10 bucks on the Rockies at 100,000 to one. It would be nice. But I know they're playing the Padres this weekend, but it's still a little crazy. There'll be eliminated here to next week, yes, they will. All right, a couple of things we can look at for tonight. The WNBA returns to action tonight. And one of the polarizing players in the league is Angel Reese. She is also one of the best in the league, especially when it comes to rebounding the basketball. She and her Chicago sky tonight are home to the Phoenix Mercury and Angel Reese is over under his 13 and a half rebounds for this game. That says a lot about how good Angel Reese is. That's a high number. Yeah. Tony, you think she can get over it? I'm going over. Gonna say she can go over it. I'm gonna say over to Angel Reese. And she's, I don't know, the people just have to criticize Angel Reese has been criticized for doing the Moses Malone tap the ball up to the basket thing this year. I'm like, you know what? If you're tapping it back up there and you keep getting it, then you keep getting rebounds. Right. That's on the stop it. The fenders need to box you out. Yes. Somebody box her out. I don't know. Angel Reese, like I said, she's polarizing. I think people pick on her a little bit too much. Sometimes I'm even guilty of that. New York Liberty, 11 and a half point favorites in L.A. tonight over the Sparks. The Liberty have the best record in the league. I think they're 20 and four sparks are near the bottom in the West. I'm first. That's too many points on the road. I say the Sparks rise up at home after the Olympic break. I'll take the 11 and a half points. Tony. What do you want to do? I'll take the Sparks as well. All right. Go with the Sparks here. Why not? The Liberty have two of the best players in the league. They were both Olympians. Sabrina Ionescu and Brianna Stewart. Both have the same point value over under 20 and a half points tonight's game Liberty at Sparks. So I ask you, who will score more? Tony, Brianna Stewart or Sabrina, Ionescu Sabrina, you know, it's interesting. These two players at least are really similar when it comes to what they do for the Liberty. Yeah. But in the Olympics, Ionescu barely played and Brianna Stewart was the star of the team. Yeah. It's supposed to show you a different situation. It's no different than the Minsai, right? Everybody's heads popping off because Tatum didn't get benched a couple times, but then you look on the court, well, you take it off at that point. Yeah. There's levels to it. Yeah. I'll take Brianna Stewart. Yes, in this instance, all right, a couple of quick baseball ones, the Minnesota twins tonight and we're coming to town next week. I will tell you, they do have one pretty good pitcher out there, Bailey Ober. Have you seen this guy yet? Tony's about seven feet tall. Ober. No, we are pitches for the Minnesota twins. I think he's six nine, but he is a tall drink of water. He's pitching in Texas tonight and the over under for him is five and two thirds innings pitched. He'll probably pitch here in San Diego next week would be my guess. So we're doing a little scouting report here tonight over under what five and two thirds innings pitch. He needs to go six to be over and they're playing the rain at Texas. Rangers have phoned it in. I say he goes over. I'm go over even on the road. And then Zach Wheeler on the mound tonight for the slumping Phillies. Phillies did rally last night to beat the nationals, but it's not been a smooth sailing for Philadelphia of late Zach Wheeler tonight, seven and a half strikeouts against the gnats Tony, your first here over over seven and a half. I'll say under just for far from all right, we'll see how those picks come along later this evening. And then we'll get back to you on a tomorrow by the way, on tomorrow's show, no, no Joe Musgrove is scheduled to be our Friar Friday interview, Tony, you're going to be going to Denver tomorrow. I should be here for by the time he hops on the oh good. All right. Yeah, you're going to be. You didn't go with the team on this trip, no, you spent a little extra time with the kiddos. Yeah, very good. They're all going back to school. Right? Yeah. Next week is their start date. When did that happen? I don't they start early. They start early. I'm not if I feel for the kids, I say I'm not a cat, a classroom in August. Right. I say I'm not a fan of it, but you can't wait until they go back to have some peace and quiet at the house for a few hours, I will say that. But I mean, when I went, I know back we used to get out of the glory days and go to school in September, Labor Day was the last weekend before you went back to school. Now that's not even close to now. The truth. That's siphoned off more days off for our kids. Now, my kids don't go back to the next Wednesday, I'm drowning. That's where my kids start. I cannot come quickly, not come quick enough for you next Wednesday is the glory day for parents all around town. All right. Quick timeout. Like I said, when we come back, we're going to talk about this potential proposed baseball rule change that is going to shake up the game, unlike any of the changes they've already made. I'll tell you what it is when Gwyn and Chris returns after a check of traffic. Tired of fine lines and wrinkles? Durham McLaren has the solution. Our 100% medical grade silicone patches are designed to naturally reduce wrinkles and improve skin texture, safe, effective and reusable. These patches deliver visible results in as little as 20 minutes and lasting results in just 30 days. More customers rave about their transformations. Plus with our satisfaction guarantee, you can try DermaCare with free. Discover the power of natural skincare@dermaclair.com and say hello to youthful radiant skin. My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for career day and said he was a big row as man, then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. 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From self-care tips to inspiration for healing, this podcast offers the chance to return to nature, return to community, and return to who you are at your core. Straight from my heart to yours. Listen to and follow From the Heart with Rachel Braithin on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. 3.21 on the clock, Tony Gwen Jr. Chris Sello almost said Matt's Grady, but it's not. It's Adam Klugel on the ones and twos, prayers up to the Scravey family as I think his grandfather passed away. It's his funeral, so we wish them, you know, nothing but strength as we move forward. Prayers up to the Orsillo family as well. Absolutely. Don Orsillo's mother passed away yesterday. That was a tough day for Don. Yeah, I mean, how to, you know, to do a baseball broadcast and people say, how do you do it? I'm not sure, but I think Don would tell you that it was something that helped him get it off his mind for a couple of hours, you know, but he's going back. I know home soon to take care of that. Yeah. I'm not mistaken. I think he found out as we started today, we got the text and, you know, having dealt with a parent, losing a parent, it's no matter how old they are, it's not an easy thing to deal with. And he was able to be a pro as he always is. And so prayers up for the Orsillo family as well. We're talking some baseball here now to change gears as the best I can. Aaron Judge, all rise to judge got to number 300 last night. The fastest to 300 when everybody is like, you know, and they should be 300 home runs is a lot. I mean, if he doesn't hit another home run, he has hit a ton of home runs at the Major League level. But how old is Aaron Judge there, Adam? I'm glad you asked Adam because I don't know he's got the computer right in front of it. He's got it. He's pretty quick on it. So he is quick on it. He is 32 years old, 32 years old. He got to 300 and under, what was it, 900, 100, 1000 games, I think it was? 955. 955. Yeah. I was, I'm old enough to remember when Ryan Howard had this feat, he was the second fastest to 300. He also was older. I don't know that he was 32. He might have been a little bit younger than that, but he might have been right around that age actually. And I bring it up to say as great as this feat is this game. And it comes with those type of numbers is often about longevity and how long you can produce at that level as you get older. Well, longevity is an interesting word because most people think about it like how late into your career you can play, but it also takes into account how early you began and Aaron Judge kind of reached the big later, he got, he got there a little bit. That is the one tough thing about being a Yankee a lot of times is they have the money to bring in and whoever they want and a lot of times and then the past they have really done that. They use the free agent market and their prospects to be a better team and it's worked for them. But Aaron Judge is kind of the new wave of guys that came up and he is just, right now he is one of the, if not the best player in the league. And I tell you why. I mean, he's hitting 330 basically. He's right around that a mark. He's got 40 plus homers. He's going to have over a hundred RBIs here. If he doesn't already have it, I think he does. I think him and Soto are like pushing a hundred right now. The, those type of players are, are really unicorns and, and you also place pretty good defense. He's not a bad defender at all. Yeah. You know, defense is a tough thing for me now because I think in today's day and age, you can, the deep, the, the analytics and the measurements are so good. These guys are really starting in better spots than they ever have in Major League Baseball. I mean, that's how good the technology is. Oh, you mean in terms of where they're placed before the ball, before the ball is hit. I watched teams come to Petco Park, specifically the Dodgers and for, for the first couple of years I was doing a job, I was often wondering what are they doing is like they have this like almost like one of those golf readings and they're like putting marks down in the grass. This is where these guys are playing on most occasions and I'm getting sidetracked here, but that is just something to keep in mind as he's reached 300. He's 32 years of age, 500 is probably the big, the big, the next big, big one for him. Okay. It's 200 more home runs where we talking 40 a year for him at this point is what he's, he's doing. Can he keep that pace up? He's got a pretty good chance of making 500. I think when you see though that he's the youngest guy to reach a certain number, I think one of the thoughts you start having this, can he be the fastest? Not the youngest. Fastest. Sorry. Yeah. He's not the youngest. I was going to say his rookie year. He was 24 years old. All right. So he started a little later, but can he get all the way to, to bury bonds and 762 home runs? I caution that he still needs 462 more and only 35 guys in the history of the game have hit that many let alone to tack on the first 300 also bonds pace picked up as he carried on in the game. And I don't feel like even political discussion about that, even if you take him off, can he get the 715? Like, I mean, right. Can he get to, or hang rearing 755? Yeah, those records are so incredible. So, you know how many home runs and RBI's he has this year? It's got 110 RBI's got 40. Right? 40, 43 home runs. Yeah. You know, 120 games. He's already at 110 RBI's. Yeah. And that's why Hack Wilson's record is unbelievable in, in his, in his 52 home run season, which was his second year, his 52 home run season in 2017. He had 114 RBI's. Well, he didn't. He's already at 110. That's why Juan Soto hit it in front of him. By the way, he's leading the league in runs with like 115 or something. Just 95 runs. That's, that's what I'm saying. Like, it's the perfect storm for him right now. Juan Soto hitting in front of him. And we'll get into that whole thing. Yes, a little later on in the big five in terms of my guy, Grady Sizemore going, you know, we'll put one on. We're going to face, we're going to face the right of here. Didn't work out for him, but yeah, we'll talk a little bit about that strategy a little bit later on. Let's get to what my man, Chris, Lo teased. Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about this potential rule change, ESPN's Jesse Rogers, who's been on this, this station many times before, posted an article today on ESPN that suggests that baseball is not just thinking about, but is seriously considering moving towards a rule that would require starting pitchers to pitch a minimum of six innings in every game. And I get a pause a little bit when you hear that because that kind of is a jolt. Yeah. Like really, you're going to ask them to pitch six innings every game, no matter what, like if you give up 13 runs in the first inning, well, you read a little deeper into the article. They're going to probably try to have some kind of, you know, if you get hammered around like that, you could come out of the game. But the idea basically is for starting pitchers to become a bigger deal again. If I'm a starting pitcher, first of all, Tony, anywhere in baseball, I'm all for this because if they do that, starting pitchers then can once again start asking for big time money and salaries that are getting more and more difficult for them to achieve because starting pitching has been D, you know, D emphasized in the game, but six innings every single time out and that would keep managers basically from using a first of all, an opener and second of all, after five innings of shutout baseball, just saying, you know what I'm taking this guy out because the analytics say, I sure he's got 86 pitches and you're like, oh, he got at least another inning. And all of a sudden you see the reliever coming. Now there's a couple caveats. You'd be able to remove your starter prior to six innings if he's throwing a hundred pitches, allowed four or more earned runs or he gets injured. Oh, you mean if he, oh, you wouldn't have to pitch six innings and his arm is hanging by his side. Right. Right. That's sorry. I can't. Listen, I don't know. Jesse Rogers obviously put this story up today, but it comes on the heels of what was probably one of the better pitching duels of the season with Blake Snell and Chris Sill going at Blake had a no, no through seven Blake Snell and excuse me, Chris Sill ended up winning that game and out pitching Blake Snell. And that used to be how Major League Baseball promoted the game. It was such and such starting pitcher versus such and such starting pitch. You don't want to miss it. Sunday night baseball, I can't tell you how many times I had to pay attention to a Tom Seaver versus, you know, Bob Gibson, I'm going back too far, but you know, even in the 80s, if it was Brett Sabre or Dwight Gooden. Yeah. Stop it. I thought it was going to day off from that. Nope. But, you know, if Dwight Gooden pitched, like you stopped what you were doing to follow his performance in the 80s, because he was that dominant Pedro in the 90s. Randy Johnson paid for the great Maddox, right now. Even the best pitcher in baseball still could very easily be out of the game in the sixth inning. You don't have anybody that goes, you know, seven, eight innings consistently anymore. So baseball's trying to get that done. What do you think, Tony? Is there any chances happens? Yeah. I think you could happen. I think there's a drum beat about the offense being down. There is clearly something in the water and what you're saying to that is too many relievers, too early in games, make it harder to score runs. No doubt. Okay. I think that's been proven over time. The other thing is these injuries, they are piling up at an obnoxious number right now. I mean, this year alone, you're missing some of the marquee a ton of arms because of injury and we talk about it a lot, redlining and max and at this point, I had a long conversation with Max Scherzer when we are in Texas. Guys aren't going to like throttle back now. As you like to say, the toothpaste is out of the tube on that, but you know, I think a rule like this has so many implications in terms of how guys are training anymore at this point. I was talking to Jesse about it before the game yesterday. Very rarely there. It was a time when you show up to the park as early as I do, whoever was the starting pitcher, if the weather permitted and it wasn't like 100 plus degrees, they'd be out there just running foul poll to foul poll. You don't see that anymore. No. And I think that is part of the things that you could see change. If this rule is put in place, the 200 inning thing is like, it's, it's like the big, it's like the big number now. Yeah. Ryan and those guys went 380, they were blowing the innings. And so I think ultimately it does two things. You want to be able to promote the game in a, in a different way. But I think just as important, they want some offense to, to be involved in this game again. Yeah. Here's one of the things that they're going to have to do. I don't, I don't put that all on the pitchers in terms of the opposite. I think the hitters have to kind of be willing to give up something a little bit, which to this point, they haven't been able to do. One of the things they're going to have to do if they're going to put the six inning rule in is immediately change the rule in the minor leagues and start having guys go six innings. And here's why I bring this up. According to Jesse Rogers and stats and information, major league starters average 5.2 innings per start. So they'll average less than six, but in AAA starters only average four and a third innings per start. That's the average in the minor leagues. So that tells me that absolutely nobody's coming up to the big leagues built up to pitch six or seven innings. I think we've got to, and this is across all sports, right? Because there was a time where we got to a point where we started understanding how much, how much value rest had in terms of athletes. But I think as we often do in a lot of things that happen in life, we, the pendulum has swung too far and you look at it at basketball. You look at it in baseball, guys are doing less and getting hurt more. Right. And that's, that's across the board. Basketball is the same way. We talked about, um, the, the wood is load managing like that is having a clear effect on guys being able to make it through a season. They talk often about practices and I'm using the basketball because it's the easiest to kind of point out. Those guys no longer practice, have those hard practices anymore. And in those hard practices, what happens is it builds you up for what you're going to be doing during the, during the regular season, how helps you get through those 82. It's the same thing on the pitching side in the minor leagues, 4.2. That happens because they're trying to protect those young arms, but in protecting them, you're not actually building them up, not getting them ready to prepare for what they're about to embark on. So we'll see where this lands, as sure as an off season topic that we'll hear plenty about because if major league baseball executives are talking to Jesse Rogers about it, that means they're trying to put it out there and feel, get a feel for how people are going to feel about it. And pitchers are calling Jesse Rogers saying, please make it happen. Starting pitchers. No doubt. No doubt. All right. Uh, let's get to break. When we come back. We got you guys. All right. Guy, you're, you're, you're a walking billboard for this guy today. Rob Bradford joins us. Odyssey's baseball isn't boring podcast. Yes. I'm wearing a shirt. I got it in Boston. He'll join us next to give us a little East Coast perspective on what we're seeing out this way. And we're going to Chris on the other side. Hi. Welcome back to going to Chris. Chris. Hello. Tony going junior. Adam Clue. Sitting in for a scrapie today, 341 is the time will be here to five o'clock before then. We'll not only play a little Chris versus the fans. We'll also give you a chance to win a pair of tickets to see deaf leopard and journey coming up at Petco Park on August 30th. So stay tuned for that. Right now we go out to the host of Odyssey's baseball isn't boring podcast. It's pretty rare that somebody gets to come on the show and when one of the hosts of the actual show are wearing a T shirt that promotes the guy's podcast, but Rob Bradford, that is the case today with Tony Gwen Jr. He has your T shirt on. But before I go to that, I'm sorry. I have to check a quick thing of traffic. Adam's giving me the signal. Sorry. All right, Rob. We gave you that just in case you jump in a car here in Southern California, you'll be prepared. Well, first off, first off, could you give me Kelly's address? I want to send her a T shirt. I've got everybody you want everybody in the show to have a T shirt on for sure. So Rob Bradford, the baseball isn't boring podcast. And I tell you one thing, Rob, baseball's not been boring out here of late. Obviously, Padre fans are incredibly excited. I know you're back there at our sister station, W E E I in Boston. But I'd imagine a 19 and three streak has kind of got the attention of everybody around baseball right now. Listen, it is not boring to be in Arizona or San Diego right now, right? Listen, I think this is so awesome for baseball. It really is. You look at what's happening in the National League West and it's not just the Dodgers just mailing it in and then landing with a 10 game lead at the end of the day. No, I mean, you actually have a race out there because of these two teams, including the Padres. And then you look at the NL West East is the same thing. I think that we saw it last year where there's some some surprising teams pop up, you know, like the Miami Marlins and even Pittsburgh for a little bit. I think the difference here is guys and you can tell me if you don't agree, but I've looked at it the other day. And I told Kenley Janssen this, I think this, this 16 teams, I could make a case for winning the world theory and I'll tell you what, the Padres are definitely in the upper tier of that 16 teams right now. Yeah, there's no doubt there. There seems to be a ton of parity. I mean, this is what baseball, Major League Baseball has really been searching for for quite some time. And this is the first year it feels like it's, it's kind of coming together in a, in a real way. Robert, let me ask you, cause you saw this Padres ball club of coast and personal. They came to Boston. They took two or three. I mean, what were your impressions watching this team play? Well, first of all, I'm going to tell you something you guys already know, Jackson Merrill is a special player. I find Jackson Merrill fascinating because that 2021 draft is fascinating. And not only for baseball, but really for the Padres, because of the James Wood, you get James Wood right after him. And, and Merrill was a guy, what is it, 21 overall in a draft that was loaded full of high school short stops and a lot of those high school short stops are still trying to find their way. You know, you have Marcelo Meyer, Jordan Lawler, uh, Matt McLean wasn't a high school short stop, but he made it to the Major League. There was a lot of short stops in that draft. And then here's Merrill who, as you guys know, not only switch positions, but had to switch positions upon the switching position and after spring training. So this guy, the answer to your question, what a dynamic player he has been and continues to be over a thousand OPS in the last couple of weeks in August. So he continues to do what he's doing. And then, you know, I, I look at it this way guy is that it's all going to come down to who can line up their top tier starters. And I think that the Padres, what Dylan sees has been doing, I know he had a little bit of a hiccup the other day, but what Dylan sees has been doing, you look at King, you look at what he's been doing, you look at Martin Perez. I've seen the good Martin Perez, I mean, it's not always a good Martin Perez, but the good run of Martin Perez is a really, really impactful thing for a team. So, uh, yeah, I mean, I would, for all those reasons, I would put the Padres at the top of the top, like if that top tier of these teams are vying for World Series. Rob Bradford is the host of Odyssey's, uh, baseball isn't boring podcast and, uh, you're on the East Coast. So I'm going to just attach to you, unfortunately, some East Coast bias here, Rob, uh, because we all really think it exists out here. And I look at a guy like Bobby Whit Jr., who's having the year of his life for Kansas City, doing incredible things, but he really has no chance to win the MVP. Aaron Judge is going to get it and he deserves it. On the other side in the National League, and we'll go back to Jackson Merrill, Tony gets mad at me because we're talking about it in August, but Paul schemes is the East Coast guy and he's the baseball guy. I mean, it started the All-Star game, et cetera. Is East Coast bias going to hurt Merrill? Is that a real thing or is the award just going to come down to who plays better the last six weeks? Yeah. I mean, I think I would like to say that, that all these voters take hours upon hours to really take a deep dive in it. But I think more than East Coast bias, you know, this is the unfortunate thing. I voted for the MVP a few different times I have a big vote again, and I think people default to war immediately, and then they go from that, and that's just how it is. Now, obviously, it's a useful step, but a flawed step. I think it just has to do with, you know, the team's doing well, so that helps Jackson certainly the all-around game, he's doing well, you know, but you start the conversation always with the award, but I do think this. I think that Jackson Merrill, because of the publicity he has gotten over the last month and a half and continues to get, I think that will be impactful. And, you know, so I think that still, if he keeps going down, like I said, over a thousand OPs from the last two weeks, this guy isn't going away any time soon. It's a great point, Rob. I mean, so often in these MVP races, these rookie of the year races, narrative is a big part of it. And him having that week where he's constantly putting the Padres are ahead or tying late with homers certainly has brought him up, elevated him or leveled up as my man, Jesse Agler would say. Rob, let me ask you, because you're on the East Coast, you get a chance to see the Yankees, the Padres made a big trade with the Yankees. They move Soto. They get some pieces. They flip the piece to get cease. What have you seen from that Yankee squad specifically Soto judge that match up there? Because it seems like that pairing has been a match made in heaven for the Yankees. Yeah. You know, first of all, I love that trade. And, obviously, you go down, you know, all the, all the sort of roots of that trade, of you trade, of what AJ Preller has done, you know, all the way to the trade deadline. You know, I think that, you know, I know the age he was catching some heat early on in the season, but as we sit here right now, boy, man, he's looking pretty good, not only because of that, but because of the deadline most. But with the Yankees, it really is, it's like the Dodgers, right? You're so top heavy. No one's going to argue about Soto and judge and what they can bring, but what can everybody else bring? Right. And I thought, I thought that jazz chism might have been the most impactful move at the deadline at the time. I saw the first game that he played and how dynamic he was, the energy that he brought to that team, which a team that needed energy. But now you have that injury. Yeah. I think it's a big deal, man. Like, I think it's a big deal. So I think that they can, they can hang their hat on short, judge and Soto, no question about it. But as we have found out, they, they were a different team, I thought, once jazz. I agree. Yeah. It's a good point. Bradford is the host of a podcast, baseball isn't boring. Also W E I in Boston, our sister station there, Rob, uh, people might have been able to argue with you a few years ago that baseball actually was boring before they put all of the pitch clocks in before they put the imaginary, the ghost runner in before they put the pick off rule in all of things that I will admit to. I didn't like when they put them in, but now I look at it, I'm like, man, how did they ever watch baseball without that stuff? That said today comes story that, uh, they're thinking about going six innings for starting pitchers. And my first thought is that's crazy, but maybe I shouldn't, you know, be so quick to judge. Baseball's made a lot of changes and most of them have worked. We are so like minded when the, the, in terms of this, this topic, because I was walking to the park today and I was reading up on this six inning proposal and I, and you're trying to stop yourself to saying, Hey, listen, they've had rules and we're turning like, Oh, those were super rules. Those were super rules. But the example that I always give was remember one of the first things they did, they said, you can't take both feet out of the batter's box. Um, and, and, and David Dortique flipped. I hated it. I was with him on that one. Right. He flipped out. Right. But at the end of the day, like after he retired, he's like, Oh, maybe look at the next pitch quicker or whatever it is. So we, we still, we still like, we have to remind ourselves, there's so many things, but we also have to remind ourselves that they still do stupid things. Right. Like there is no reason you had to go from 20 to 18 seconds, but there's no reason to do that. So you, in this case, I can, as much as I think about it, I cannot get my head around how this could possibly be a good idea. I can't do it. And, and, and, and so like, can I just ask you guys, like why six innings, like I understand that their whole thing is we want you to say that you have the, uh, you know, you have the Dylan C ticket. So that's important. So it's important to see that guy and you have to see that guy in the starting picture is the star of the day. Well, that's fine, but this be realistic. Why can't it be three innings? Why does it have to be six? Like, if you want to eliminate the, the opener, then just make it three or four innings, I find four innings, just three innings. I can't fathom that this ever is going to happen, but hey, listen, it gets my blood pressure up, which is, it's funny, Rob, because it's hard to envision it, but I've been wrong this past time. Yes. Every time they come up with an idea, I'm like hesitant to criticize. We're going to put a ghost run around second base. But this, this one you can't, I can't fathom it. I cannot fathom it. And I'm sure there's been other rules that I'm forgetting that they have sort of like floated out there and they've gone away. Um, but again, I understand what they're trying to do. And I think the premise of it is terrible. I hate openers. I really do. I think they're overrated. I think a lot of the pitching gurus keep saying, well, look, they, they work, this is the way to do it. Well, I also knew no important, how important routine is for starters. Right. And I've seen it where they've said, oh, we're going to have the starter start in the third inning instead of the first. And then they blow up because they're not, they don't have the same routine. So anyway, old man, y'all in the clouds, whatever, you know, I'm sure we'll be thinking the praises of the sixth inning starter rule any day. I have a sneaky suspicion it has something to do with offense as well. I just, it's connected to it in some way. Yeah. And how about that? Right. And so this is very clear. The offense is this, it's almost becoming too clear how much they're prioritizing the offense. And one of the things, you know, this tragic machine, I don't know if people are familiar with it. It's the batting practice pitching machine, which has the video, right? And so this year and people didn't even realize, I know some hitting coaches didn't even realize in February. This year, the team, they're allowed to actually during the game, go hit off of a picture on a screen in the middle of a game. So in the pictures are saying, wait, you, you weren't letting us use this in the bullpen. So anyway, yeah, it's great. Rob, really good. I wish we had a little more time came to you a little late, unfortunately, but I hope we are able to catch up with you again. I have a lot more things. I want to run past and it's good to have a partner in the, in looking at the old days of baseball with a clear view. Rob, thanks so much, man. We appreciate it. Let's have you on again. All right. Got teachers on the way. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Rob Bradford. Odyssey's baseball isn't boring podcast. Gwen and Chris comes back with Chris versus the fans. 833-288-0973. 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