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Gambling problem. Call 1-877-8-OPNY or text OpenY. It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. NFL season is underway. NBA is Going through its media days.
NHL is upon us as well, but Major League Baseball We're going into the postseason. That's right. We got postseason baseball that starts. Tomorrow. Yeah, tomorrow we got these wild card games that will be underway.
We got a bunch of teams that are in. We have a few teams like the Mets and Astros who are out. We got a team like Detroit who still hung in there despite how they finished up the season. And then we got some of the big players that people are Looking forward to, of course, the Dodgers and the Yankees, teams like the Blue Jays and Seattle surging as well to talk about everything going on. What we can expect through the Major League Baseball postseason is someone who covers all things baseball for USA Today.
Joining us right now is Gabe Lax. Gabe, how are you, man? I'm doing good. How are you tonight, J.R.? I'm good.
Always a pleasure to have you on. Before we get into the teams that are in, let's talk about the teams that are not. I mean, we heard and got the apology from Steve Coleman with the New York Mets earlier today. What are some of the adjustments that they can make? Like, Peter Lonzo is likely to be back, of course, right?
Yeah, you know, it's interesting what happens when you go onto the open market. Bottom line is, he's going to cost a lot more. Than he just last winter when they were able to get him on a two-year $54 million deal with an opt-out. He's obviously opting out great season, 36 home runs, I think, more than 120 RBIs. Uh this year he will not be attached to a compensatory draft tick, which a lot of teams use As an excuse to not sign guys.
So he is an unfettered free agent, absolutely nothing holding him back. And with those numbers, Uh, it's uh, it's going to be a pretty pretty big market for the polar bears, so they're going to have to. Ask themselves You know, do we want to commit to that? Do we want to make him a $35 million player and commit nine figures to him? Because I'm sure there will be a fair amount of suitors this year as opposed to last year when you know, his uh agent Scott Boris just could not kind of develop the leverage and he ended up being Signed relatively close to spring training.
With that being said, you know, interesting thing, David Stearns mentioned at today's press conference is He wants to continue to try to build kitchen from within. And that's the biggest That's the biggest, I guess, paucity in the Mets right now is the pitching. Obviously, Nolan McLean had a wonderful. Uh eight uh start I'm gonna say Camio, he was their best pitcher by the end of the year.
So, you know, and then the other two guys, Jonah Tong and Brandon Spro, they, you know, see if they can take a step forward as well.
So, and that was kind of Stern's style with the Brewers as well, was kind of piece together the pitching, however, and obviously he has a lot more money to play with now, but You know, you gotta pay for power. And I think, you know, you you're gonna continue to try to do that and try to get more runs out of the production that they got from just a phenomenal, you know, all three of those guys, Pete Alonso, Francisco, Lindor, Juan Soto, they're all gonna get. MVP votes, quite a few of them for Soto and Lindor, but the production didn't quite equate to a team with. It's such a big three at the top. I think they're going to retain Alonzo just based on the fact that Yeah.
They'll find another way to skin the cat with regard to solving their pitching problems, which will probably be. A lot of depth signings toward the back of the rotation. Try to find a Griffin Canning who was great before he blew out his Achilles this year, guys like that.
So yeah, I'd I'd lean toward uh toward Pete coming back. Yeah, Gabe Blacks is joining us from USA today. New York Mets not making a postseason with that $300-plus million dollar payroll. A team that also, I don't want to say, fell into the postseason, they certainly did. The Detroit Tigers, they are still in.
There are no Houston Astros. And in the swiftest and best way possible, the Tigers are going to take on a team that pretty much jumped them to get into the postseason. They have a chance to go out here and beat Cleveland. Dave, Gabe, you think that's going to happen? I don't see it.
You know, it's a new day. Nothing matters. Two and one and eleven, whatever it was down the stretch, does not matter. One and five against the Guardians the last two weeks does not matter. They're going to hand the ball to Tarek School in game one and they're going to take their chances.
And that's why, you know, you're kind of seeing them as a Relatively slight betting favorite for the series.
Now they've got a lot of problems. With regard to the depth of their pitching, first of all, and the sort of trustworthiness of their bullpen beyond a couple of guys. But that's that's not not too you know not too different from other teams. I think the thing that they have in their favor is that Cleveland really can't hit. Not a daunting.
Valentine offensive lineup, the two guys everybody knows you need to shut down are Stephen Kwong and the eternal MVP candidate, Jose Ramirez. And uh you know it's uh You kind of know what you're dealing with. You're going to have a bunch of platoon pieces flying at you, but you're going to have a bunch of guys batting 190 trying to support these two absolute studs in the middle of. you know, the middle of the uh of the lineup there.
So it's uh Yeah, it's going to be interesting. It's going to be entertaining. It's going to be spirited. These rust belt rivalries are no joke. But I do think the Tigers can push the reset button.
I don't know how far they'll get, but I think they're going to get past the Guardians. Oh, Gabe, you mentioned School. He will be on the mound tomorrow, 1 p.m. Eastern Time, trying to get things set up. Restart their season in a new season, a postseason, against the Cleveland Guardians.
We got some new faces here. It seems like the Mariners are always close to getting in, but don't get in. And this year, they're in. What are the chances that the Mariners and then also these Blue Jays advance to the World Series? They look like they're situated from top to bottom.
I, you know, this isn't March Madness or even the NFL playoffs, so you don't. you kind of lose the use this term lightly or not at all in baseball, but The Mariners got the proverbial great draw. They earned it. as they played their way into the number two seed and in the first round by They get the winner of the Tigers and Guardians, which means you're not going to see Scoobel until at least game two. Um that's a that's a pretty big advantage going forward.
So I like the Mariners to get to the ALCS with the I don't want to say relative ease, but I think they'll handle the winner of that series.
So yes, they're definitely a live dog, especially with their pitching. You know, a guy like Kyle Rowley, I mean, 60 home runs doesn't necessarily equate to a postseason success, but they finally, finally surrounded him with a little bit more. In the lineup, there obviously Julio Rodriguez returned to an MVP-ish caliber form, but Josh Naylor has been a godsend since he got a Acquired from Arizona. Eugenio Suarez took a while to get going, but he's back in the mix. nearly hitting 50 home runs.
Key guy to keep an eye on. You know, Brian Wu has a pectoral issue. Yeah. Kind of. Yeah.
Put a damper on the end of his year, but he should be all right. But that's he's been their best pitcher this year.
So we'll see what happens.
So I like the Mariner's chances much better to get to the ALCS than I do the Blue G. The Blue Jays certainly going to have to deal with either the New York Yankees or the Boston Red Sox. Not necessarily the juice that we got twenty or so years ago between these two teams. But what do you expect from this wild card series between Yankees and Boston? Oh, it'll be really good.
And, you know, these even though it's not a wildcard game, it is now a quote unquote series. Uh It's uh You know, it's still just Bam, and it's done. You know, the team that wins game one almost always, I think it's practically always one. you know, this, you know, the entire series. It's everything tomorrow night.
Max Freed versus Garrett Crochet. You know, the Yankees finished on, I think, an eight-game winning streak, 17-3 down the stretch. Uh, but they're already, you know, Aaron Boone said today, making adjustments.
So, you know, they're going to. take a couple of lefties out of the lineup, you know, Ben Rice. And Jazz Chisholm as well to get Paul Goldschmidtz bat in there. That's how good Garrett Crochet is. He does make you adjust.
And try to do the best you can against him.
So it's going to be an incredible pitching matchup tomorrow. Yeah, I think uh I don't think it'll be you know that that amazing spirited 2004 Eight tests. That it was back in the day, but it'll be highly entertaining. Tomorrow's game is probably the best. Definitely the best game in the wildcard run, just the two guys that are pitching.
I think I lean slightly toward the Yankees, just being at home, having a little bit better pitching depth and the lineup by and large is in a really good place right now. Gay Blacks is joining us from USA today. When you take a look at the the National League, we know the Dodgers won the championship last year. They're trying to figure out where they can best situate all of their pitchers throughout Just even into the bullpen, they have a surplus at this point in time. And if they advance, I assume they will against Cincinnati, they take on the Phils right away in the second round, the divisional round.
What are your thoughts on how things can shape up in this National League bracket? Knowing that the Brewers is still there, they're probably the most complete team. Yeah, it's really interesting. The great unknown is, you know, the. The Brewers, the proverbial team that you know the the whole is better than the sum of their parts uh How is that going to equate to the postseason?
Because they got a lot of guys, you know, and they mix and match so well, but you shorten things down, you're facing an ace pretty much almost every day in the postseason. How does that lineup? going to take it to the postseason.
So that's still a lot of unanswered questions. I'm not dismissing them at all. I just don't know. I don't think anybody knows what the Brewers are going to bring to the table. Very solid team, run the bases well, fundamentally sound.
Pretty deep, they can match up with you all day, but we'll see how that plays in the playoffs.
Now, let's look back to last year for a minute. The Pondres and Dongers met in the NL Division Series, and when it was all over in retrospect, That was the best matchup of the postseason. That was kind of a mini World Series when you saw what the you know, the Dodgers did to the Yankees pretty much wiped the floor with them. They were in an absolute battle with the Padres, who had to come through the wildcard.
So I think you're going to see that with Philly's Dodgers. Not to say that they're definitely the two best teams, but This might be, you know, the the winner may go on to win the World Series, and that's going to be a. Just a phenomenal matchup. And obviously the the Phillies can just sit there and wait and then that that uh that little madhouse they got down on Broad Street will be absolutely rocking by the time the Dodgers presumably get there. Although I gotta say, it kind of looks like the biggest mismatch uh of these four wildcard matchups.
Oh, it it certainly does. It it sounds like you're you're leaning towards a That 365 is paying out before the final whistle. Check out Bet365's unrivaled early payout offer. When you bet on the 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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Must be physically located in North Carolina. TNC Supplies. Are you ready to dive into the story, stats, and personalities that make baseball the greatest game in the world? Rob Bradford from the Baseballs and Boring Podcast here, and we'll have you covered every day with podcasts that bring you closer to the action from the bleachers to the clubhouse. Whether you're a die-hard fan or just a casual observer, these conversations are aimed to educate, entertain, and most importantly, inform you.
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I am feeling I'm feeling A Philly's Yankees matchup. And I uh you know, I don't necessarily You know, take that to the bank, especially because the Yankees do have that extra step to take through the wildcard round. The Blue Jays are reeling a little bit. You know, just the pitching isn't quite firing the way they would like it to be. They're going to have to rely on a.
You know, a kid who just came up a month ago, Trey Yasavich, he's probably going to be in their playoff rotation.
So that's a lot to ask. You know, so I think they get through the Jays and then. Yeah, it just that playoff experience, I think, and that determination that, you know, wanting to get back there so badly. I think they match up pretty well with the Mariners. That would be a very good ALCS.
Yeah. sensitively casting my lot with the Yankees to get out of the AL. No gay, we know year to year things can change so much. We have an expanded postseason now. We know teams can get hot.
We saw what happened with the New York Mets this year and then they can fall off. Is there a team are there a few teams that you think will be better situated to make the postseason next year that didn't make it this year? Yes, a lot of teams with a lot of disappointment, a lot of unmet expectations. You can kind of start with the Baltimore Orioles, one hundred and one wins twenty twenty three, ninety one wins the year after that. lot of injuries, lot of uh kind of meh.
Offseason acquisitions. They finished last in the AL East, but that young core is there. They need to kind of look themselves in the eye and get better over the winter. They need a frontline starting pitcher, but they definitely have a lot of things in place to clip from seventy five and eighty seven to eighty seven or maybe even more wins.
So I started there with Baltimore. Uh Beyond that, you know, it's a good question. I think that, you know, the the Mets Have to perform a little better. They have to be better than 83 wins next year. I have confidence that David Stearns will push the right buttons in the.
In the postseason. And then beyond that, the San Francisco Giants fired Bob Nolvin today. Be very interesting to see who they tap for manager with Bruce Bocey, perhaps run that back. Know and reawakening the glory years, but again, they have finished 80 and 82, 81 and 81, 81 and 81 the last three years. Yep.
That's not much. You don't need much more. You need a little bit more pitching. You know, you'll have a whole year. of Rafael Devers and Willie Adamez getting used to hitting in San Francisco, which is not easy.
It's a tough reality check for a slugger when you go, Oh my god, you know, that ball didn't get out. You know, if you're used to hitting at Finlay Park, You know, next year they'll know how to kind of better leverage their talents of the ballpark and know what they're dealing with.
So, yeah, I see the Giants as a bit of a sleeper as well, pending, of course, everything that's. coming around in the offseason in just a few weeks.
Well, we're glad that the postseason is here. Get started tomorrow. We got a full slate of wild card games all afternoon into the evening. Gabe, thank you so much for taking the time to join us. Where can people follow you and all your work with USA today?
Yes, it's at gay blacks, G-A-B-E-L-A-C-Q-U-E-S, or at mlb.usatoday.com. And yeah, we'll be pumping it out for the next five weeks here. Plenty of content to fill the bill there. Yeah, best, best time of the year, if you ask me. Hey, Gabe, we'll catch you down the line, okay?
Okay, appreciate it, man. Take care. That 365 is paying out before the final whistle. Check out Bet365's unrivaled early payout offer. When you bet on the 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. Hold up. You get early payout on parlays too! Download the app and see why it's never ordinary at SET365. Family problem?
Call 1-877-718-5543 or visit morethanagame.nc.gov. Must be physically located in North Carolina. TNC Supplies. Are you ready to dive into the story, stats, and personalities that make baseball the greatest game in the world? Rob Bradford from the Baseballs and Boring Podcast here, and we'll have you covered every day with podcasts that bring you closer to the action from the bleachers to the clubhouse.
Whether you're a die-hard fan or just a casual observer, these conversations are aimed to educate, entertain, and most importantly, inform you. Follow the Baseballs and Boring podcast in the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast. Did you know you can get more with New York Lottery Plus? You pulling my leg. No, seriously.
Just enter scratch off and draw game tickets and get more points. Pulling a fast one? Nope. And you can put your points towards chances to win gift cards, cash prizes, and more. Is this a stunt?
No, you even get points for playing new games. Pulling my chain, aren't you? No. Hmm. Pulling my finger?
What? No. Man, put that thing away.
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