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The JR Sport Brief Show. on the Infiniti Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you so much to everybody tuned in, locked in all over North America. I hope you've had a great Friday.
I'll be hanging out with you for the next two hours. this show gets started. Every weekday, 6 PM Eastern. Three. Pacific.
Man, we've been hanging out. Of course we've been talking about football. Talking some college football and NFL football. We had Wes Reynolds join us from VCN in the last break. Thank you so much, Wes, for coming through.
We talked about some teams that are well, Undefeated. Like the Cardinals and the 49ers, they're going after it. Brock Purdy is questionable. Don't expect him to play. Don't expect to see that man.
We talked about Jaden Daniels. He's also out. All these quarterbacks are feeling out. Jaden Daniels has got a knee sprain. We're going to see Marcus Mariota start.
against the Raiders, okay? Dolphins and Bills kicked us off last night. Got Jerry Jones and Dallas Cowboys getting ready to take on the Bears. We found out Jadavion Clowney was arrested before he signed his contract with the cowboys. He was he was parked somewhere?
The police told him not to park there. He parked anyway. He got arrested. What a dumbass I mean, I'm not going to say if you're going to get arrested, make it worthwhile, but come on, man, do better than that. We got the Rams and the Eagles.
We'll talk about that momentarily. We got Levi Weaver joining us from the athletic. to talk Major League Baseball. Tonight is Clayton Kershaw's. final home start ever For the Dodgers, he told us last night he's going to retire.
We'll see him in the postseason, but no more starts. In Chaverse's ravine. Man, we got so much more to get into, of course, at the end of the show. We'll talk about a few things that took place this day in sports history. We got a bunch of other quarterbacks, a bunch of backups like Carson Wentz and Jake Browning who are going to play.
We'll get into all of that, okay? If you've missed a minute of the show. Go ahead and hit rewind. won the Free Odyssey Act. You can tune in on your local affiliate.
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Bad, in between, horrific, saying horrible things, saying nice things. Yeah, I'm all of those places. At. J. R.
Sport brief. We've talked about a lot of these games. I gotta tell you. This weekend at NFL football The kind are underwhelming to a certain degree. Like do I really want to watch?
The New York Jetson Tarade Taylor take on Tampa Bay. Er no, I I'd rather see Justin Fields and see what he can do, but he's in concussion protocol. Do I really want to see the Atlanta Falcons in Carolina against the Panthers? No, not really. Do I want to see Houston and Jacksonville?
No, thanks. New Orleans is one of the worst teams in the entire NFL. Do I want to see them versus Seattle? Uh, hell no. But there is one matchup.
I mean, it's kind of crazy. Even Sunday night. We got Kansas City. At the New York Giants. His two teams are undefeated.
But before we get there, I think this is the best game Of Sunday, And it's early, too. It'll be on Fox. We have the Los Angeles Rams, Taking on the Philadelphia Eagles.
Now, look, I don't got to write you a whole book. about the Philadelphia Eagles. They're your reigning Super Bowl champs. We know what they just did in the Super Bowl against Kansas City. We saw what they did against Kansas City again this past Sunday.
Tsush push. Six, seven times Successful every single time. There's so much scrutiny surrounding them at this point. People are looking at Jalen Hurts. They're saying, hey, the guy doesn't even throw a touchdown.
The Eagles just win. It may not be pretty, But they get The job. Done.
Now they take on the Rams, who also happen to be two in all. They beat Houston. They beat Tennessee, and Matthew Stafford missed the bad back, So far his back is fine five hundred forty three yards passing. Three touchdowns. In one interception.
I mean, that's good for Matthew Stafford. Every now and then he wants to be a little bit of a gunslinger. And so, this should be a matchup. This should be a game. This might be a preview of the NFC Championship game.
But, all anybody wants to talk about. It's the tush push. Apparently the NFL already told everybody. Yeah, there's some uh some false starts here. there are some guys that are off sides.
And so where we just came out of an off season. Where the NFL owners barely missed a vote to ban the tush push, it's still here and it's garnering more attention. It feels like by the time we get to this off season The tush push will be banned Period. But for right now it exists Right now it's not going anywhere. The most anybody could do.
is take a look at this season, Take a look at the tush bush. in the NFL could take the approach of Well Let's just officiate the hell out of it. Let's make sure that nobody's jumping off sides. Let's make sure that nobody is screwing. Things.
Up. Dean Blandino. He's one of these uh former officials who sit on T V now. and broadcast. He actually sat around.
He was having a chat with Eisen, and he basically said, He thinks this tush push is awful, he thinks it's bad. For the game. And let's know what Dean Blindino had to say. I'm going to present my argument three different ways.
Okay, three different ways. First, we'll start with health and safety.
Now, I don't think. There's no hard data that says this play is any more dangerous than other plays in the game or short yachtage plays, right?
So I don't think that's necessarily a strong argument that, oh, we have all these injuries. But the league has in the past, I think about low blocks and some of the chop blocks and some of the things they've outlawed. There wasn't a ton of injuries, but the league said this is putting our players. In a position of unnecessary risk. Let's be proactive versus reactive.
So let's not wait for somebody to get hurt on a play like this. Let's say, okay, this is unnecessary. We don't allow the defense to push in field goal formations because the league felt it was dangerous, right? We're pushing these teammates, the down linemen, into the offensive formation.
So I think from a health and safety perspective, being proactive versus being reactive. The second argument I have is that it's a competitively unfair play. It is. When you think about the defense, if the defense Hits the running back at the line of scrimmage, stacks him up, and drives him 10 yards back. The offense isn't going to lose 10 yards, right?
You got forward progress right there. But we allow the offense to push and now gain an advantage in that instance. And it's also a hard play to officiate consistently. It just really is. And it's never been legal in the history of the NFL.
You go back, I was talking to Joel Bussert yesterday, longtime head of player personnel, yes, at the league office, liaison to the NFL Competition Committee, and a historian. Of the game, and he was reading to me from the 1938 rule book, you know, as one does on a random Wednesday. And the language in that book about aiding the runner was almost verbatim to where it was in 2005 before it came out.
So it's never been legal in the NFL until 2006. And so, because the people that created this game and made the rules, they wanted to kind of separate it from rugby, right? This is more a rugby play, it's not a modern football play. And so, they wanted to separate it from that. And that's where I think, you know, it's never been legal.
Why do we allow it? And the third thing is just as a fan. It's not a fun play to watch. It's not. I think it's fun to watch.
So first uh w we can throw the health aspect out of it, okay? The NFL. Doesn't give a damn about player safety. Outside of we don't want no lawsuits when these guys are retired. That's it.
Okay, when is the NFL giving a damn about player safety?
So let's throw that the hell upon out the window. the third and last thing he had to say about rugby? But we got to separate this from it's not a fun thing to watch. Like, I like it. I like the fact that nobody can stop it.
It's like the juggernaut. Nobody stops the juggernaut. Nobody does. And then the second part about it, about the rules, well, rules change. And right now it's allowed.
And it's not just allowed for the Philadelphia Eagles. It's allowed for everybody.
So get over it. The Philadelphia Eagles can go out there and execute it and nobody else can. Let's leave it alone, okay? I mean outside the Buffalo Bills. We don't really even have teams who are out here trying to execute.
The tush-push.
So I say this. I I have a feeling. based on all the animosity and now the fact that it is difficult to officiate, And people are off sides and neutral zone infractions and guys are jumping. They're gonna get rid of it. this upcoming um and off season.
It didn't happen last year. Didn't happen earlier this year. It's going to happen.
Next. offseason. And I think that sucks, but I want to enjoy it while we got it.
Now I believe this game, based on that, It it's going to be a bleep show. when it comes down to the officiating. Every time the Eagles line up, and who knows, six times for a tush push, Yeah, it seems obnoxious. We haven't seen it that many times ever. But the minute that they line up at the goal line, or they got a third and one or fourth and one and they go for it and they go for the tush push.
The referee's gonna blow that whistle, you can bet you behind. It doesn't matter if there is no infraction. It doesn't matter if it's clean. That whistle. is gonna blow.
Shoutouts to Too Short. The referees ain't gonna play no games. This is an unfair advantage now. To the Philadelphia Eagles. They've been busting people up.
And look, if you can get away with it in the games, which they've done, they haven't broken no rules.
Now it's the referees who can't call it. Come on, man. Sush push. They're gonna ban it. They're going to get rid of it.
But for right now, It's here.
So I expect a good one. I wouldn't be surprised if the Rams win this game. I wouldn't. The game is going to take place in Philadelphia, but I'm going to go ahead and give it to the Rams. Because I think the NFL in the officials They're going to give the Eagles how.
The Eagles may have to win this on the ground in the air without the tush push, and I know Jalen Hurts receives a lot of criticism. He has yet to throw a touchdown pass this year. And when you're going to get the ball, A.J. Brown, they're 2-0. Let's see if they go out here and and beat the Rams.
I know their head coach, Nick Ziriani. I want you to hear. From Nick Siriani, he says, you know what? It doesn't matter who we're playing. Doesn't matter what they say about the tush push, we are taking it one game at a time.
We got to remember that this is a 17-game season and not to overreact on things that have happened just through the first two games. We found ways to win. We know we have to get better, but there's a progression to it. And so that's what our goal is and our focus is right now. Yeah.
This is going to be a uh This is going to be one of those referee games. Unfortunately, this may be a slow slog. of a game. And then on the other hand, you got Sean McVay, he ain't worried about no tush push, even though he kinda told the NFL, Hey, look at these guys, it looks like they're off sides. He publicly said, I'm worried about Saquon Barkley.
He's so damn dynamic and he's so explosive. And if he gets a vertical seam and he gets clean to the second and third levels, he's as special of a slash runner as there is. He's so explosive because of the speed and the ability to finish. Yeah, you better worry I mean, everybody's worried about Saquon. I got the Rams in this one.
I just think that the Eagles are They gonna catch hell over this tush push, and I think the referees are gonna give them a difficult time. I really do. 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-45. 4ISN.
And we got T Money here from Tucson, Arizona. You're on the Chair Sport Ree Show. Go ahead, T Money. Hey Jared, great show. Hey, uh, you know what?
when the telecast started pointing out on two different occasions And both guard were it's a false star of both guards. That was it. That was the nail in the cost. Everybody kind of hated it and didn't know why. It's kind of like that family memory that all was up.
But then you find out something, you're like, oh, that's what. That's what it is. where they're getting off the line a half second early, getting that surge And then over 80 years of the NFL tradition and rules, where we grew up playing football saying you can't do that. You can't push a dude in the back across the goal line. That's that's a penalty.
I mean uh the The the Bush push, that was that was, you know, dude was a pariah.
So, I mean, and then they change a rule, some rule that nobody and then, you know, uh uh This dude, Siriani and Fat Dom, and all these people in Philadelphia figured out, come on, man. Not that this is playground ball. They could do that for four downs and pick up a first down every time.
So you haven't why do you have an issue with it? I know you named some of the the reasons that you've heard and seen about the rules. Do you really care? You sitting down watching the game, do you really care? I I hate it every time I see it.
I it's not a football play. I do, yeah, and I hate it. All right. It doesn't matter to me. I'm just.
Look, I'm watching three, four hours, eight hours of football, ten hours of football. To see one team run it, it doesn't bother me. I don't care. I'm mad they're gonna get rid of it.
Well, at least it'll work for you, Tom T-Money. Thank you for calling from Tucson, okay? All right. Alright, thank you. Shoutouts to Team Money.
I don't care. And it's not like it's every single play. It happens a couple times. I'm like, yo, let somebody else try it. We got one team doing it.
Everybody will be okay. You'll be everybody will be fine. When the tush push is gone, next year is probably going to get voted out. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you, coast to coast, on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to take a break.
When we come back on the other side, it's time to have a conversation. with Levi Weaver. It's time to talk some baseball. Clayton Kershaw is getting ready to enter into his final home start of his career. We're getting into the home stretch of the Major League Baseball season.
We'll have a conversation with Levi about everything. Dodgers, the Phillies, is Cal Rowley going to win MVP. Mariners and Astros, they're neck and neck in the AL West. We'll have a lot to talk about. with Levi Weaver.
It's the JR Sport Reef Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. That 365 is paying out before the final whistle. Check out Bet365's unrivaled early payout offer. When you bet on a team to win and they take a 17-point lead, you get paid no matter the final score. Forget the final whistle and start counting that cash.
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The Women's Hoop Show, a podcast hosted by me, Jordan Robinson, brings you fresh women's basketball voices and breakdowns every week. I'll be joined by hoop experts all year long. Find the Women's Hoop Show on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast. on the Infinity Sports Network.
This portion of the show is brought to you by Wesley Financial. Are you stuck in a time sharing one out? Contact Wesley Financial Group now and get a free Tom Share exit information kit at Wesley Financial Group. Dot Come. Amongst all the NFL going on right now, Major League Baseball is driving into the home stretch.
Trying to figure out who's going to get a wild card spot, who's locking in some of these. These divisional spots, we got retirements going on, we got MVP races that are still ongoing, and joining us right now to talk about it all is someone who covers all things baseball, national MLB writer for the athletic. Welcome back, Levi Weaver. Levi, we appreciate the time. Yeah, of course, no problem.
Now, we all know and we heard that Clayton Kershaw is hanging him up. He gave us the heads up yesterday before the Dodgers went out there and beat the Giants. Tonight will be his final. A home game start in Los Angeles at Dodgers Stadium. Is Clayton Kershaw the best pitcher this century?
Who That's a good question. I mean, I guess if you're talking about people who pitched only in this century. Yeah. He might have a case, sure, right? Because, like, you know, Pedro Martinez was around for the turn of the century.
Man. Off the top of my head, I'd say he's certainly in the top five. You know, Justin Verlander is probably right there with him. Max Scherzer is right there with him. Um And you know, I think there are guys that we will see.
You know, we're we'll see how it turns out, you know, 10 years from now. But starting pitchers are used differently now. And so, as far as those numbers go, even the guys right now, you look at Terrick Schubel, for example, his numbers aren't going to look like Clayton Kershaw's, even if he sticks around as long as Kershaw did.
So, um, Yeah, I can't refute that claim off the top of my head. No, he's got a good case for it.
Well, we we heard Kershaw, he says, I'm done. I'm gonna go back home to Texas. And then you mentioned Justin Verlander. We know about all of his successes. He just said yesterday that he wants to pitch again.
Next year. Is he sick and tired of his family? Does he not want to stay at home with his supermodel wife? Does he want 300 wins? Like, why is he still going?
Yeah. I I don't know. I I can't say, but I can, you know, look at at the Look at the facts and just sort of make my best guess, right? Clayton Kershaw is a good example. He had.
Injuries that really like wrecked his 2024 season. I think he only got like seven starts. And it had been a half decade of wondering: is this the last year for Kershaw? He started signing these one-year deals. There was the like, is he gonna go pitch in Texas and finish his career at home?
So There was There were questions, but He kind of said, you know, I wanted to stick around and And But success. I want it to be good at the end. I wanted to, I'm paraphrasing all of this, but you know, and he has. He's had a good season this year. He's proven that he's sort of walking out on his own terms or at very least.
not due to injury. Verlander has been a little bit different situation. He hasn't been bad. In fact, in the second half, he's been pretty good, but he's had such bad luck trying to get wins. The Giants offense can't support him.
He's, you know, the record isn't good.
So. My best guess is, yeah, he would like 300 wins, and if he can stick around another few years, and you know, this year certainly didn't help him out much in that quest, but Maybe get as close as you can to three hundred. Maybe that's it? Yeah. I yeah, the guy got a record.
I think it's three and ten right now. Ugh. I don't know. What what do you think? He'd have to a few more years?
I think it what'd he have to be pitching for four or five more years to get to three hundred? Maybe, yeah, I mean, at this rate, especially with his age, and you know, there's only one Nolan Ryan, and there's only one Jamie Moyer. And I don't, I mean, he's closer to Nolan Ryan than he is Jamie Moyer, but even Ryan got to pitch into the seventh, eighth, ninth innings because that was the way things were done back then. You know, he pitched his. His last few no-hitters as a member of the Rangers in his later years.
Verlander, the Managers are sort of treating him almost like like a prospect that's breaking into the league that isn't used to throwing that many innings. See, but I think you're right. He would have to have probably. Probably three extremely good years, but more likely four or five for him to hit that 300-win plateau. I don't think he's going to get there, if I'm honest.
Yeah, I don't think so either. A national baseball rider for the athletic Levi Weaver is joining us.
Well, we know his team. The Giants are cooked, but we know two teams that aren't. They're probably at the top of the food chain when it comes to the National League. That happens to be the Dodgers and on the Phillies, who happen to be on a heater right now. Between these two teams, what would be the next best competition?
And do you believe one of these two are going to represent the NL in the World Series?
Well, I mean, the team with the best record in the league is the Brewers.
So I think you sort of have to give them at least a nod towards being a legitimate contender in the NL. And the thing is, the Brewers play such a different style of game. It's a lot of contact, it's a lot of. You know, taking the extra base, good fundamentals. I love watching the Brewers.
They're so much fun. If you're a cranky old guy, man, the Brewers are your team. You should love watching them. They don't even. You can't bat flip if you don't hit home runs, and they really don't hit that many home runs.
So the pitching is good. The defense is good. I kind of. You know. I'm a big fan of an underdog.
Weirdly, my underdog this year is the team with the best record in baseball.
So the Brewers are certainly one of those teams. The Cubs have a good roster. But unless Kyle Tucker Gets healthy and is Kyle Tucker. And unless Pete Crowe Armstrong figures out what's causing the slump, I don't. I don't really see the Dodgers as I mean, uh the the Cubs as a as a huge Threat to either of those teams.
And then the Mets. You know, the Mets are a wild card in the truest sense of the word. You never know what you're going to get from them. They were one of the best teams in the league for the first couple months. They've been pretty bad ever since.
I've been then there's They have a two-game lead. Over the Diamondbacks and the Reds. Let me ask you, do you think they're going to hold on to that two game lead? Ugh. I i I don't it's what do we got?
Two weeks left? I think they will. Yeah, it's I I think they will. This is but this is the worst part about m this part of the year. And I don't want to go into a whole complaint about the postseason structure and format.
I I I hate how many teams get in now anyway. Like, now you're going to send me off on a tangent. Like, I hate the entire adjustment, and we need to make sure everybody feels invested into the postseason and the playoffs. And we got a bunch of teams that think they'll compete, but then they really don't. Like, we can take a look at the The Giants thought they were doing something.
Nobody's talking about the Padres.
So, Levi, don't send me on a diatribe, okay? Yeah, no, I get it. There are a lot of people that feel that way. It certainly makes the trade deadline. More chaotic, right?
Because your sellers are not. quite as obvious as they used to be. You know, if I'm at, if I'm a, I live in Texas.
So Under the old format where it's you know four teams that get in People would have stopped talking about the Rangers and started watching Cowboys Training Camp a month ago. they would have done it anyway. Yeah. I do think that it's good for the sport in that you've got more fan bases that stay engaged longer. Right, so the Giants are a great example.
They're they're only three games out in the National League. Uh they they're a game under five hundred. That's not great. That team should not make the playoffs. But if I'm the commissioner of the league, And I want my fans in San Francisco to stay engaged and keep buying tickets and keep watching games.
It serves the purpose, right?
So it's there are pros and cons to it. I know that people feel strongly about this one way or another. I kind of see both sides of it and just shrug and go, look, nothing that I say is going to make a big difference anyway. I might as well. Just enjoy the sport for what it is.
Yeah, I get it from a business standpoint. From my personal standpoint, I'm like, yeah, who cares? But if we want to talk about growing the game, and we had this discussion early in the show prior to you joining us. Clayton Kershaw, you would think his final home start of the regular season in Chavez Ravine. Would be promoted, would be somewhere where we can watch.
It's on Apple TV, Levi. What are we doing? It's cut. Uh okay, so I'm gonna say something that I'm not 100% sure is true, but it was true last year. That you don't have to have an Apple TV subscription to watch the games.
I don't know, you just have to have an account. I don't know if that's still true. Try it out. If you don't have a subscription, try it out tonight. You might be able to watch the game anyway.
I think. You can watch the games without a without a subscription. All right. I remember that when it first started, I feel like I was paying some money. I don't know if that's the case, but don't crucify me if that's not true.
If it's not true, I'm sorry to have misled you, but I think that might be the case. The fact that we even have a discussion about this and not know that it's here or there and we know it's easily accessible, that says enough, Levi. Yeah, and it's not like these were scheduled months ago. It's not like they could have been like, well, this is going to be Kershaw's final start. But I hear what you're saying.
Yeah, it's I want to watch the best of the best and not necessarily have these questions. Levi Weaver is joining us from the athletic. I want to talk about some some AL baseball a little bit. Uh we got Cal Raleigh who's out here mashing. Doesn't seem like he's gonna slow down.
Is he gonna end up being an MVP? I can say this because I don't have an MVP vote this year.
Now, don't ask me about AL Rookie of the Year. I'm not allowed to talk about it. But uh MVP, if if I had a vote. I would vote for Cal Raleigh. And it's it is purely because listen, I know j Aaron Judge's numbers are better.
I get it. But he has barely played the field a whole lot this year. And when he does, it's in right field. Cal Raleigh is not only A catcher. He is one of the best catchers in the league.
He is handling a pitching staff that is the Mariner's biggest strength. He's game planning. It is the most physically demanding position. It is the most mentally demanding position. He's doing all of that at an extremely high level.
And he's hit all these home runs. Uh Yeah, I mean, I think I think that you could justify the vote either way. If you're if you want to vote for Judge and point out his batting average and his RBIs and his OPS, great. I get it. That is a valid vote.
But for me, I think Cal Rawley's defense And also the value that he provides to his team. Right. You know, the the Yankees are going to be the Yankees. And everybody defines value either way. Yes, the Yankees are more exciting with Aaron Judge.
I'm not in any way saying that he's somebody that they could do without. But Cal Raleigh has been the Mariners' offense this year. Who would have thought two years ago that Cal Raleigh would be a bigger star in Seattle than Julio Rodriguez? No, nobody. The value that he's brought to the organization, not just from his offense, not just from his defense, but in bringing.
National attention. We're talking about Seattle Mariners right now. I think that the value that he brings to them is more, in my opinion, and the value that Judge brings to the Yankees. But I I recognize that You know, it's If the Versus 49.5.
Well, being where we are right now, you talk about the Mariners, they're neck and neck with the Astros. And then you talk about the New York Yankees, it's like, hey, do they have enough? who do you feel is uh best situated to come out of the American League? Jeez, this was such an easy question before the all-star break. You could just be like, hey, the Tigers, they look unstoppable.
They're great. Look at the Tigers. They're so good. They got Tarek Skubel. They're scoring runs.
Look at these exciting guys. And then uh That's not the case anymore. In fact, they are just doing their best to stave off the Guardians in the division. They had a 15-game lead over the Guardians earlier this year. It's down to like three and a half, I think, right now.
So, you know, it's probably not the Tigers. Houston has looked very beatable at times. The Mariners have never won a World Series.
So until they do, you can't really call it. They won, what? Like. 800 games in 2001 and didn't go to the World Series.
So Um Toronto, I mean, by default, is it Toronto? They've got a pretty good offense. Let's see how Bobachet looks when he gets back from injury. Their pitching has been good enough. The bullpen's not great.
Uh but bullpins you know We again, living in Texas, I watched the 2023 Rangers have a terrible bullpen all year. And they got into the to the end of the postseason and all of a sudden they were nails.
So it's hard to predict bullpens. But yeah, the the pitching, the starting pitching and the hitting is there.
So uh Toronto, sure.
Okay, so what are we looking at for a World Series? You're looking at some Blue Jays and who? Who's walking away with the Commissioners Trophy, aka Big Polla John? Oh, it's probably the Dodgers. I mean, it.
It's it I don't they've they've looked so vincible lately. Um But I just kind of think that they are going to flip the switch when they get into the postseason. I think that's what's going to happen.
Now, look. I would rather have Blue Jay's brewers. I know I just talked about what's good for the game. That would be horrible for the, like, the commissioner would. Would not sleep for the entire, he would hate it.
But I would love to see Brewers versus Blue Jays. I think that would be a great matchup. Give me some variety. But we're probably we'll probably get Yankees Dodgers again, just 'cause that's how it seems to go. Yeah, well, I mean, damn it, could you imagine another World Series in Toronto?
It's been, what, going on almost 40 years at this point? Yeah, Joe Carter was the last one, right? Yeah, it was 92, 93? Yeah, right around there. Yeah, what a throwback.
I mean, well, I know the people in Toronto would certainly. They'd appreciate that if it came true. Or Levi. Always a pleasure. I'm going to try to figure out how to watch Clayton Kershaw tonight with having to incur a charge on my credit card, and we always appreciate you.
Tell everybody where we can follow you and your work. I'm just on the athletic. If you go to theathletic.com and go to our baseball page, there's a little subsection called the wind up.
Now, this part I do know is true. You don't have to have a subscription to the athletic. To receive the wind-up baseball newsletter every day. That is free. You can get that.
For free, just sign up for the newsletter. It's me and Ken Rosenthal five days a week, and I will do my best to not listen. If if I were reporting in the in the newsletter About Apple TV, I would look it up first before I said it. You know, radio is different. I got to say some things sometimes that I'm not sure because I don't have it in front of me.
Hey, nobody's holding it to you. We always appreciate your time and your insight, Levi. We'll catch you soon, okay? All right, take care. All right, thank you so much to Levi Weaver joining us from the athletic.
Yeah, I'm going to try to find a way to watch. Clayton Kershaw. I'll tell you this much. I ain't paying for it. And I'm going to do it legally.
I do everything legally. I don't break the law. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you, Coast to Coast, on the Infinity Sports Network. When we come back, we'll talk some more football, get into some more business. But right now, let's roll into a newsflash with Rich Ackerman.
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It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast. On the Infiniti Sports Network. Hey, thank you so much to Levi Weaver for joining us. National Baseball Writer for the athletic. I mean, he said, I don't know if they're magic words, I don't know if they're bad words.
Levi basically said, hey, if we're going to have a World Series, you know. Yeah, and Major League Ba oh of course Major League Baseball would want Yankees and Dodgers again, and the Dodgers would probably wax the Yankees, I believe they would. The Blue Jays are possibility to go to the World Series. That'd be pretty awesome to see. Hey, Ray.
If you had a choice Well, Ray, are you a you a Yankees fan or a Mets fan? What are you? I am a long suffering Mets fan. Oh boy, okay. Realistically, Who the hell you think is gonna be in the World Series?
Realistically, I have both of my feet on the ground when I say this, it will not be the New York Mets. But when I look at the American League and the way the Yankees are kind of rounding in the shape, considering the amount of slander they've taken for about two and a half months, it would not surprise me if the Yankees are representing the American League in the World Series again. On the National League side, there's a lot of people loving what they're seeing from the Milwaukee Brewers. What the Milwaukee Brewers looks like, that classic. NL or AL team that gets really hot at the wrong time, and they're out in the first round.
So I'm throwing the Brewers out immediately. I'm looking at the National League, and I got to say right now, I hate to repeat what we just heard. Oh, no. I hate to do it. Oh, boy.
I don't believe in the Phillies. I don't believe in the Brewers. The only thing I can truly depend on is the Dodgers in the World Series. We're getting the rematch, JR. Yankees, Dodgers, part two.
And it's probably going to go the same. I think it'll be worse than what we saw last year. It'll be much uglier this time. Yeah, the Dodgers just gonna ru this is gonna be like the fifties all over again.
Well, you know, in reverse, you got to think about it. Back in the day, the Yankees had their way with the Dodgers and the Giants. I think Karma comes full circle, and now the Dodgers are having their little dynasty, and they'll get to punk the Yankees a little bit. Oh my god. If you know what, this sounds absolutely awful, and of course uh this is I'm exaggerating just a little bit.
Last year I watched, and it's every game that went by, and then Boone is out here helping to blow games, but every game that went by. I'm like, man, the Yankees, they this is over. This is done. Like, if that happened to be the World Series before we even got to game one, I would just say it's over. Like, in my s I would say the Dodgers would sweep the Yankees.
Maybe the Yankees pick up a game, but I'd be like, this is a sweep. Like, what am I watching? Disrespectful, J.R. That's a little disrespectful. A sweep?
Were the Yankees gonna win one game? I think the Yankees starting pitcher this year pitching this year is better than last year starting pitching. I think they're still two games. Would you go Freed, Rodan, and then that I see, but it's not so much the pitching. You got Schlittler.
We got to be careful. We're on the air. You know, he's a solid rookie. What's his name? Cam Schlittler.
Okay, all right, solid rookie year. We're going to ask a lot of him to get that far, but. He's been showing us something as New York is showing up with the brightest lights that is Yankee Stadium. You got to give credit where it's due. Rodon, we're not, we're not.
Rodon is a guaranteed L in that series. We're not depending on Rodon to do anything. But, you know, I think Freed and Schlittler, you know, maybe, possibly.
Okay.
Alright, well, I mean, damn it, the Yankees won one game in a World Series last year. What'd they freaking do?
Okay? Like i that's called a gentleman sweep. I'm gonna be nice enough. to go ahead and give you one victory. I'm supposed to what what difference does it make if you win one game or you get swept?
Does it matter? Yeah, you never want the brooms to be rubbed against your back as they kick you out the stadium. You want to at least say you fought a little bit. No, it doesn't. It doesn't matter.
I don't care, and this is almost like any game. I don't care what league or what sport it is. You get to that point where you go up against superior competition. and you say to yourself, Do I want this to be long and agonizing? And you go, yeah, you know, give me.
Give me a competitive matchup, or do you just want the team to get the hell blown out of 'em. If I had to look at the New York Yankees and the Dodgers again in the World Series I would hope that the Dodgers just get it over with. Like quick And painless.
So, what? The New York Yankees? I don't trust that. Do you trust the offense? I know we just had Levi here from the athletic.
Who am I supposed to trust on the Yankees' offense besides Aaron Judge. And who am I supposed to trust outside of him hitting a home? What am I supposed to believe in with that offense? Logistically, the answer is nobody. But to be fair, Bellinger has had a really strong season replacing Soto.
We know Stanton is a playoff performer as well. I like that middle-of-the-art scenario. Yeah. Come on, I'm just saying. And if you look at the rest of the American League, who are you banking on?
The AL Central is basically barbecue chicken when they go up against the Yankees. Every year. Every year. I'm not taking the Tigers over the Yankees. The Blue Jays have had a very strong season, but.
They're literally in a show-me period, and they're kind of fumbling the division lead by the game.
So, I can't necessarily depend on them. We don't know if the Red Sox are going to make the playoffs. This stud rookie is out right now. We can't depend on them. Maybe the Astros, but this is not the Astros, we remember.
We can't depend on them. They need to cheat. They need to cheat. They need trash cans. Get them trash cans.
Get the camera in center field. Do what you got to do. But when we all shake it out, it's the Yankees and everybody else in the AL. Yeah. And I'm a Met fan saying this.
It kills me to say that. Yeah, I'm I'm just I'm not sold. I feel like You see, when the Yankees were consistently, I know this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. If you go back 25 years when the New York Yankees were winning, and I get it, baseball is much different than what it was 25 years ago. But the Yankees were they were playing on base.
Baseball. How do we get on base? How do we move the runners? And oh, yeah, by the way, we got guys throughout the lineup who can hit home runs. But it wasn't predicated on just long balls.
Like, it drives me crazy that the New York Yankees, it's just home run a bust. Like, can we get a guy who can? Get on base with a double? Can we get a guy who can consistently steal? Can we get a threat outside of we got some big dude coming to the plate?
And maybe he's going to swing and hit a home run, or maybe he's going to strike out, or maybe he's going to pop up. Like, there's no art. to the offense of the New York Yankees. It's just Let's go up and swing. It might as well be backyard baseball.
It doesn't seem like there's a strategy, and it doesn't seem like they have the players to do it. I mean, watching Freddie Freeman play baseball last year in the World Series against the Yankees, like it was. It was watch it was like watching a baseball player. Versus a bunch of guys who just swing. And the Yankees are a bunch of.
This sounds crazy. Pardon me, Ray.
Well, what? I'm going to say. Do you think? The Yankees are just a bunch of swingers, man. They're just a bunch of swingers.
These New York Yankees ain't they they not baseball players. Giancarlo Stante can't even run the bases. He could swing. He could swing real hard. He can make it go real far.
But man, this is going over there.
Well, he can go hard and far, but he's not a baseball player. But you know what? I think they've gotten addicted to building a team for that short porch at the new Yankee Stadium because I've been there a few times, I've had to work there a few times, and it's a joke. I believe I can hit one out. And I think over the last however many years, since 2009, when they opened the stadium, they've kind of gotten away from the fundamentals and they've tried to consistently build teams that can take advantage of that short porch.
And I guess logistics would say that that's what you're supposed to do. But in the playoffs, we know it gets colder, the ball doesn't travel as far. You need to play small ball to win championships. We saw the Dodgers score five-plus runs in that inning against the Yankees playing small ball and watching the Yankees, of course, play terrible defense, but it wasn't a home run. It wasn't a basis clearing double.
It was small ball. You got to be able to move the guy along and score runs the easier way than hitting one run. We need baseball players. and not swingers. That's it.
It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We're gonna take a break. When we come back, Forget swingers. Let's talk about throwers. A bunch of backups are going to play on Sunday.
We'll go through it all. NFL football, the J.R. Sport Reshow, Infinity Sports Network. That 365 is paying out before the final whistle. Check out Bet365's unrivaled early payout offer.
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Gambling problem? Call 1-877-718-5543 or visit morethanagame.nc.gov. Must be physically located in North Carolina. TNC's applies. I'm Jordan Robinson, host of the new podcast, The Women's Hoop Show.
Each episode, I'll be joined by a rotating group of women's basketball experts to talk WNBA, college hoops, the new unrivaled league, and the shifting landscape of the sport. The game is growing and so are we. Listen to and follow the Women's Hoop Show and Odyssey podcast available now for free on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Botox Cosmetic, Adobotulinum Toxin A, FDA approved for over 20 years.
So, talk to your specialist to see if Botox Cosmetic is right for you. For full prescribing information, including boxed warning, visit Botoxcosmetic.com or call 877-351-0300. Remember to ask for Botox Cosmetic by name. To see for yourself and learn more, visit BotoxCosmetic.com. That's BotoxCosmetic.com.
Mm-hmm.
