Atlanta Braves & Tampa Bay Rays lead the pack - MLB Division Rundown & Brandon Returns

MLB All Star Week 
 Division Rundown
 BaseballBiz 199

[00:00:00] 

[00:00:00] Mark Corbett: Welcome to BaseballBiz On Deck. I'm Mark Corbett your host. And with me today. Oh, with me today. Let's beam him up, Scotty. All right, man. I have been waiting to talk with this guy for a while. He has been on another planet, but he has deemed it reasonable to visit us here on Planet Baseball. Hey, welcome, Mr. Brandon Noe, Mr.

[00:00:22] Mark Corbett: SportsBlitzPod himself. How you doing today, buddy? 

[00:00:26] Brandon Noe: I'm doing great. Thank you for letting me back off of Planet Suspension. 

[00:00:31] Mark Corbett: We're glad to have you here, my friend. But honestly, you've been up a little north of where we're at these days in the land of Jaja. And we'll talk about a team that's from Georgia who's doing pretty well right now and in just a bit.

[00:00:47] Mark Corbett: But man, I tell you what it is, good to see you again, Brandon. And for those of you who haven't been paying attention long enough, Brandon has been here from the early starts when BaseballBiz On Deck was on at Hillsborough Community [00:01:00] College Radio. And Brandon had a other show, another show called Sports Splits Pod, I thought just sports splits, I believe, at the time.

[00:01:07] Mark Corbett: And are you still posting things occasionally on Twitter? 

[00:01:11] Brandon Noe: I keep saying I'm gonna get back into it, use it as like my sports burner account, but I always, I just never have gotten back into it. So hopefully I will again sometime soon. Yo, just 

[00:01:24] Mark Corbett: keep liking what I post and then I'll be fine. I'll retweet it.

[00:01:28] Mark Corbett: That's right, brother. That's right. I'm so glad you're back because man, there's so much excitement. What this, what's happening in baseball right now whether it be the business or just tracking the games and what better time to start than mid-season just before the All-Star games get started.

[00:01:51] Mark Corbett: And let's take a rundown of what's going with those teams. If you don't mind, we'll go division by division and you and I just [00:02:00] interject wherever as always. Let's see, my friend, all right, man. Let's talk for a moment about the L East that has just been phenomenal. Where is all of this going? If you're going to be looking at these different teams, you know where they're gonna be in the standings.

[00:02:20] Mark Corbett: The very beginning of the year, if we looked at the a l East, we saw the Rays come out and win 13 games in a row, and from opening day, which was just unbelievable. Everybody was watching it, everybody was criticizing and said yeah, they're playing a lot of scrap teams, so you can expect that.

[00:02:38] Mark Corbett: But they've maintained pretty well in the ales. Until about eight games ago and they started a seventh game losing streak. It's like arg command that just hurt like nobody's business. 

[00:02:55] Brandon Noe: Yeah, I think, I wish I could find that stat again. I saw it on Twitter. [00:03:00] I wish I saved it and sent it to you, but I believe it said the Rays started the season 29 and eight and then ever since then they played about 29 and 29 baseball.

[00:03:13] Mark Corbett: And it's been interesting because early in the season it was taught with Mat Germain, who's really the Rays analyst. And he gets on here quite often. But the one thing he kept reminding me early on, said, mark, I want you to understand something as enthusiastic as you are, you have to realize.

[00:03:32] Mark Corbett: There's gonna be a point in this season where the Rays have some bumps where they have some rays. The Rays have some rough spots, and he says, but don't worry about it. They'll smooth those out. And we know it looks like they did have the big bump here, like I said, these last few games, but they came back and they redeemed themself with the last game , before coming into the middle of the season with the win against the Braves.

[00:03:58] Mark Corbett: And, let's see, I got a [00:04:00] summary here we gotta go into. It was interesting too, Brandon looking at the last series here at the Trop before the mid-season is playing the Braves, they had all three of those games this past Friday, Saturday, and Sunday sold out. You I thought the people locally are here to support their fans.

[00:04:27] Mark Corbett: But I gotta tell you, man, when the Braves performed, when the Atlanta Braves performed, you heard a lot of noise. It was a lot of Braves fan in Tropicana. You got mixed feelings. One, you love to see a large crowd. Two, it hurts when you think maybe the Rays contingent of fans isn't as large as the competitions at the drop.

[00:04:53] Brandon Noe: Yeah, and I know the Braves, I've spent some time in the heart of Braves country the [00:05:00] past year or so, and they're honestly the only merchandise I've seen that even comes close to Georgia Bulldog merchandise up there. They're by far and away the favorite team up there, professional team up there, .

[00:05:16] Brandon Noe: With the rays, it feels like they get hurt because the Braves were, they were, I believe they were shown down here before the Rays were here. So they already had a big fan base anyways. And I'm sure a lot of 'em came down a weekend trip go to Orlando, go to the beaches, watch your team as well.

[00:05:35] Brandon Noe: And I thought for sure the upper deck was gonna be open cuz this was a potential World series matchup. You think you'd want every seat available. And I'm pretty sure if every seat were available it would be pretty close to sold out. Cuz these have been the two best teams all year. And the Rays were the first team to 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 wins.

[00:05:58] Brandon Noe: The Rays were the first team to [00:06:00] 60 wins, which I saw on Twitter as well. And the Braves they're just hitting everybody. But I can say that from when we get the Braves talk later. 

[00:06:09] Mark Corbett: Yeah. Okay. We, and we will it, it is interesting what you said about Atlanta. Being the preferred team when we, when there was no raised team here in town I had that conversation with others as well, who said mark, there's a reason I said, okay.

[00:06:25] Mark Corbett: I, I, being a newcomer to Tampa, relatively newcomer for about 20 years that I didn't realize the, all that prera attention to Atlanta. And it sounds pretty strong. So I, I wanna give a quick summary here of what happened in their last three games there at the Trump. Let's see. We're looking at Saturday.

[00:06:46] Mark Corbett: No, see Friday's game Glasnow he was there. He pitched for five and two thirds innings. He gave up two hits, one walk and one run. And the struck out 13 batters in that game. Charlie Morton, former Ray [00:07:00] and Beloved guy. He and Travis DNO of Atlanta Braves. Both of them had been with the Rays and they're both performing very well there.

[00:07:10] Mark Corbett: Charlie, he pitched six in the third innings. He gave up four hits, two walks and two runs, and the Braves struck out nine batters. But finally it was a low scoring game and the Rays lost at home two to one. And so after game one, we had Saturday game number two, and , the Rays had that young talent come up for Taj Bradley, and he's always fun to watch.

[00:07:32] Mark Corbett: And he would be facing the Braves. Spencer Strider. Now Taj, he pitched five innings for the Rays and gave up four runs and two walks. That hurts but he seems to have a determination in any post-game conversations that kinda lifts him up. Spencer Strider for the Braves.

[00:07:53] Mark Corbett: He pitched six and a third innings. He gave up four hits, one walk and 11 strikeouts. Ga 11 [00:08:00] strikeouts six, six and a third innings. That's impressive Brandon. Yeah, 

[00:08:05] Brandon Noe: him and his Freddie Mercury mustache. He was on Unhittable all night. That wasn't the Ray's best showing on both sides of the ball on Saturday night.

[00:08:16] Brandon Noe: Lucky you didn't have to watch it. And Bradley, I give him credit , he's not supposed to be here right now, he's supposed to still be in Durham. But just with all the injuries he's had to come up and he's really showed glimpses of what he can be. But you also see the points where he is.

[00:08:38] Brandon Noe: Hey, he's not supposed to be here, so you gotta cut him some slack. But when you're going against the Braves you can't ha cut anybody any slack just cuz of how good they are. 

[00:08:48] Mark Corbett: Amen. Amen brother. And it was tough. Like I said, Taj, he's got talent and I, he's got a strong attitude.

[00:08:56] Mark Corbett: It just didn't happen that day. Like you said, going against a strong [00:09:00] team the Braves won that one, six to one. Wow. And you said yeah, you said I was what Basically I didn't have the pain as much cuz I wasn't able to watch it. And one quick note on that, I am just as displeased as punch when it came to watching that game because m l B and its infinite wisdom is making it more and more difficult for fans to watch their team mean if you can't make it to the stadium when they're sold out.

[00:09:34] Mark Corbett: And you've got MLB tv or you have streaming Bally Sports and I have both. You can't watch the Rays. They're going to put 'em on Peacock, they're gonna put 'em on Fox, they're gonna put 'em on ESPN and Apple tv. These are where a lot of those games are going. And man, that really burns my butter. I'll say it again, it's just wrong.

[00:09:56] Mark Corbett: With all the excitement that there's been lately [00:10:00] with some really great players, and we'll talk about some of 'em here in a moment, Elly de La Cruz it saddens me to think that while there's a better opportunity to expand the reach of baseball to people, it's being squashed. Because if we're still talking about broadcasting on cable, there's a lot of people who've cut the cord.

[00:10:22] Mark Corbett: Some do Direct TV and they could still maybe access Fox there. There's a lot of people said, heck with all that, if I'm not getting it through my laptop, just streaming directly, I don't want it. And that's saying no to a lot of people. 

[00:10:37] Brandon Noe: Yeah. To me, I was one of those people, and I'm pretty sure I said it on here, I was big on streaming is the future.

[00:10:44] Brandon Noe: And I still believe it is. It's just the way all these companies and studios went about it. Like for example, like you said, apple tv, I have an easier time getting through the D M [00:11:00] V than signing into Apple tv. It, it just doesn't work for me no Mater what I do. And even like you said, peacock this year, college football is gonna, NBC's gonna put some of their college football games on there and that's great.

[00:11:18] Brandon Noe: I have peacock and I actually like Peacock. I feel like I'm in the minority there. For football, people love to change the channel. During commercials they channel surf. They'll go from one game to another, they'll flip back and forth. You can't do that with this cause you gotta out log outta the app, find the channel, then you gotta get back real quick to the other app so you don't miss a play.

[00:11:42] Brandon Noe: I've, we went over this I think they should simulcast it that way. You get the best of both worlds cuz you can bring in the people like you who did cut the cord in, can't watch those games while also having it on a streaming service so those people can [00:12:00] watch it. You get the best of both worlds and I'm sure there's probably a real complex answer to that.

[00:12:05] Brandon Noe: Probably just, it's probably just too simple to me. But I'm, I just think that would be easier in this day and age, the way the streaming world was broken up into millions of pieces. 

[00:12:20] Mark Corbett: Yeah. And that's the case. One thing I like about MLB.Tv, I don't like that it blacks me out from seeing anything locally I do like is that I can segment out two or three grain games on my screen, on my laptop anyway, may not be able to do it with a TV so much.

[00:12:37] Mark Corbett: But on my laptop I can break out two or three games and watch those and go back and forth, et cetera. And going back to the old cable TV or broadcast tv, I like to be able to just switch a channel, go back to this one, go back to that one. If I don't have something as nice as that MLB.tv app. And it is frustrating cause the time it takes to go in and out.

[00:12:59] Mark Corbett: And you were talking [00:13:00] about the challenges of even getting on Apple tv that technology needs to keep up with what the consumer needs or wants.

[00:13:11] Brandon Noe: And maybe it's just user error for me cuz I'm, I've always had the Apple stuff messed up. Maybe. Maybe it's just user error, but like I said, I've been through DM D M V processes smoother than logging into that app. 

[00:13:25] Mark Corbett: I was in advertising. I know you're searching across that field as well, and one of the things they taught me early on was you need to make sure that your message can be clear to the lowest common denominator.

[00:13:40] Mark Corbett: And it wasn't mean make your message for dumb folks. What it meant was make it as broadly wide available for whatever level of intelligence or education your audience may have. And when it comes to working with apps with a lot of this technology, we ain't all brain surgeons, our rocket scientist for that Mater.[00:14:00] 

[00:14:01] Brandon Noe: I mean I've seen, like my dad, for example, watching him do technology and he's in his late forties. It's something, especially QR codes, that's always a joy to watch. My sister and I always have a good laugh at his expense. Oh, I have to make sure I send you several of the BaseballBiz On Deck business cards where you have to scan the QR code on the back of the card to get to the show, or you can just go to www.baseballbizondeck.com.

[00:14:32] Mark Corbett: Hey, is it okay if I just go ahead and drop that little commercial in the middle of all this? 

[00:14:35] Brandon Noe: Hey, of course, you gotta do a little bit of advertising. 

[00:14:39] Mark Corbett: Okay. And still looking at the AL East and those, the final game that the Rays were going to play as the leaders of the AL East, but no longer the leaders of all of Major League baseball.

[00:14:53] Mark Corbett: The rays, after having that. Did I say seven game or eight game Losing streak? I [00:15:00] think it was seven game. Yeah. Seven game losing streak. They played a final game of the Trop against the Braves and I thought what's gonna happen here is just gonna go ahead and they're gonna sweep them. I thought, good lord, that would be so painful.

[00:15:14] Mark Corbett: But Zach Eflin, man, I was so glad to see him come on board with the raise this year. Know he broke that streak. The raise wound. Yes, go ahead. 

[00:15:27] Brandon Noe: Alright, sorry to cut you off there, but Eflin I think has been, he's probably been one of the best signings. The Rays I've had in years and he's arguably been there.

[00:15:38] Brandon Noe: I think he's been the rock of their rotation cuz you know, McClanahan's, he's had his injury problems with his back this year, Glasnow trying to get back up into form. And he has that weird cramping thing in his hand the other night. And he did. The thing that an ace does is you come in, you stop the streak.

[00:15:54] Brandon Noe: And that's what he did. 

[00:15:57] Mark Corbett: Yes he did. And like I said, I'm really happy to see him there [00:16:00] as well. He knocked it dead. The Rays that night the pitchers, the Zach and the rest of them, they delivered 10 strikeouts to the Braves in the game. And let's see, as of Sunday night, I think the Braves now have Homer love this 28 consecutive games.

[00:16:16] Mark Corbett: They've had a Homer. Man, if you're a Braves fan, that has to be exciting. I love that. I think the, yeah, the latest home run on Sunday came from a former Ray Travis d'Arnaud. I have a hard time. Pulling against Travis when he is up there, but I'm sorry, Travis. When you're facing the rays, it makes a difference, but that home run didn't make a difference for the Braves that night.

[00:16:41] Mark Corbett: Not much anyway, because final score was the Braves 4, Rays 10. And man, that looks like they got your mojo back because that offense has been Oh, dying on the vine. I one of my favorite statistics, Brandon, has been l o [00:17:00] b and I cannot even begin to look and see how many players have been left on base in these last several games.

[00:17:07] Mark Corbett: But it's, he can't be a nice number. 

[00:17:11] Brandon Noe: Oh man that's been a running joke for years. My dad and I, it was like, Hey, they didn't win the game, but they won the l o b cuz they would always leave eight guys on base. And I don't remember which game it was against the Phillies, I think it was the second game, whatever game they went into extras.

[00:17:29] Brandon Noe: It's like Philly had no problem getting guys in the 11th, but the raise, like they, they didn't even put a ball in play. It's did we move the runner or something? And they left him on second. It's if you can't score an extra innings with the second base rule, then you don't deserve to win.

[00:17:46] Brandon Noe: Oh. So that's another plus with that rule. 

[00:17:48] Mark Corbett: I, first I hated the Manfred man band, but it does get things moving. It's been an exciting year. I think a lot of people had problems with shift. A lot of [00:18:00] people had problems with the pitch clock. I don't think many people had problems with a larger base, but it's been an exciting year and I don't wanna see any stops put to any of it.

[00:18:10] Mark Corbett: There's so many good things going with the game. That's it, man. This past week to be able to see the two top teams in Major League Baseball face off, unless you're me I gotta say that folks at W D A E you've got my ear with Andy and Neil, and even when I do have television, I get to listen to guys

[00:18:30] Mark Corbett: let's take a look down the rest of the American League East and some things early on. Let's talk with Nate from Full Count Chaos. Big OS program. If you ever wanna see, find out more about them, check out that podcast. Full Count Chaos. I love that name. And so while all this is going on, the Orioles they continued to ascend, man.

[00:18:57] Mark Corbett: It's been amazing to watch them. They're [00:19:00] a good, strong young team. People keep talking about rebuilds. These guys have got the team put together. They've won six of their last 10 games, I believe, and only two games. Let's see, only two games. Behind the, oh, we all, they're just behind the Rays .

[00:19:20] Mark Corbett: So they're number two. They're ready to take over the number one spot if they, the Rays continue to lose. Only two games back. . The Orioles split a four game series in Yankee Stadium this week. Okay. I dunno about you, but if I'm a Yankees fan and I see the Orioles come to my home and they slap me around a bit I'm not gonna like it.

[00:19:43] Brandon Noe: And the Orioles we've been saying for what, past year or two that they're a team of the future cuz we saw the prospects that were coming up, we saw the momentum that they were building. Like I thought they would be good this year. I didn't think they would be this good or they're borderline the best team in [00:20:00] baseball.

[00:20:00] Brandon Noe: Yeah. And you put me on E S P N and call me Stephen A here with the hot take. I think, how possible do you think it'd be that they could make like a long Cinderella type run? Just from the fact that they are young they really don't know any better about the playoffs. Cuz we see it happen all the time where a team comes in, in, it's like they don't know better.

[00:20:24] Brandon Noe: Yeah. And they end up making a run Is it outta the realm of possibility to say that the Orioles could do that? 

[00:20:30] Mark Corbett: Oh, not at all. You and I have talked about it and I said talked about it with Nate too. I see them, they're definitely postseason and they could be the American League champion. It's, that's not at all impossible. But right now though, and if you're the Yankees, like I said, you're gonna be sad as can be because. Hey, they slapped him around with a 14 to 1 win the other day and most of that came in the third inning. If you wanna hurt your opponent you'd like to do it in the first inning.

[00:20:58] Mark Corbett: And I think they came out with [00:21:00] oh, Gunnar Henderson. He started out the, he started out the first inning for the Orioles, and he gets a home run. And then by the time you get the third inning you got Ryan o Hearn hitting is a double and bringing some folks in. Cedric Mullins hits a double, brings some folks in, and then Westburg, he hit a r b I double.

[00:21:19] Mark Corbett: It's just gets to be ridiculous. But yeah I say they have a very strong chance of being there. I could see them as the American League champs. 

[00:21:31] Brandon Noe: Yeah. And you're talking about the Yankees the, their year. They just fired their hitting coach. And I believe that's the first time that Cashman has ever fired a coach mid-season.

[00:21:43] Brandon Noe: That's just something that he never does. They, I believe they said they split their series with the oils. They lost two outta three against the Cubs over the weekend. The Yankees, they feel like at least Boone and maybe Cashman again everybody's for the [00:22:00] millionth year in a row, Yankees fans are calling for them to be fired.

[00:22:03] Brandon Noe: This could be the off season. Maybe they get their wish, cuz it feels like they're like s I don't know, I can't think of the word. Like they're stagnated. They're not, they can't do anything anymore. 

[00:22:14] Mark Corbett: They cannot move. They cannot move the dial. And you were talking about what happened with the Cubs and the O's, but they also lost a series to the Cardinals and they just, before all of that, it's oh my gosh.

[00:22:28] Mark Corbett: And they're now fourth in the AL East. That means the Blue Jays are above them and. I didn't know if the blue jays were gonna get their act together. It seemed like with Alek Manoah, boy they were just suffering before they took him out for rehab. He had a two seven record with a 5.91 e r a.

[00:22:48] Mark Corbett: He allowed, let's see, to this number here, 42 earned runs in 64 innings pitched, oh my gosh. Pulled him from the mound, thank goodness. And put him in a [00:23:00] rehab. But he's came back, he did pretty well. Think to the other day against the Astros. 

[00:23:04] Brandon Noe: Oh, it was the Tigers. I think he went seven and gave up one run. 

[00:23:08] Mark Corbett: Oh, there you go.

[00:23:10] Mark Corbett: Wow. Wow. Okay, so we know where the Yankees, we know where the blue js are. And that leaves number five in the Al East and that is the Boston Red Sox. Nine games back and fifth and Al East with a 48, 43 record. I think The's the latest. Yeah. They swept the J's in three game series recently and they took two of three games against the Rangers at Fenway.

[00:23:37] Mark Corbett: Then they also swept the Oakland A's in a three game series in Boston. So they're not a dead dying team. They're nine games back, and that's just one game less than the Yankees above them. There's some real possibility there to advance up to the Al East. I don't know as far as the rest of the season what to expect, [00:24:00] but .

[00:24:01] Brandon Noe: Yeah. With the East, and I believe it's next week, the week series, you have Orioles and Rays going up against each other. That could potentially be for first place, depending on how boat teams do this weekend. 

[00:24:16] Mark Corbett: The All-Star Week coming up here. And this is gonna be exciting times.

[00:24:19] Mark Corbett: We'll talk a little bit about that in a minute. Between the game, the home run derby, the draft, gosh, there's a lot going on, but let's continue down on what's happening with the rest of baseball. I know you dig a li did a little bit of a deeper dive on the next division in the American League. Who is that?

[00:24:41] Brandon Noe: Oh the Al Comedy Central. Yeah. Gotta dust off that nickname. And I believe you and Mat talked about it about a month or so ago when he was on about eliminating divisions and just doing like the top six teams make the playoffs. Yeah. [00:25:00] This division is exhibit A of why that should be the case. You look at the guardians, they're in the lead of the central, they're the ninth best team.

[00:25:11] Brandon Noe: And they would be seventh in the wild card by my rough count. And like that you're saying they deserve a chance to play for a World Series, but you would take a team like I. The Yankees, the Red Sox, the Mariners, even out of the playoffs. But because a team won a mediocre division and them themselves were barely mediocre, deserve a chance to win a World Series, even the Tigers have a chance to make the playoffs.

[00:25:47] Brandon Noe: Watching them play, they're 

[00:25:48] Mark Corbett: not good. Oh. Oh gosh. So this 

[00:25:52] Brandon Noe: is Exhibit A. Please get rid of division sometime in the future. I like how hockey used to do it [00:26:00] and how basketball used to do it, I believe. Whereas like you had your conferences and they just took the top eight teams and they make the playoffs and they seated 'em on their record.

[00:26:10] Brandon Noe: That's the way it should 

[00:26:11] Mark Corbett: be. Yeah. Yeah. The Al Central is an embarrassment to baseball and certainly to anybody who's in that division. As you said, the guardians are leading this. With a record of 45 and 45, man you go all the way to the bottom of the a l East and the Red Sox, they got a 48 43 record.

[00:26:32] Mark Corbett: So the guardians lead, the Al Central with a 500 win percentage, and you go all the way down to line with, to the poor Royals. And I always feel bad for Kansas City and Salvador Perez, who I just think is fantastic. They're at a 26 and 65 win loss record at 286 percentage. Ouch. Ouch. 

[00:26:55] Brandon Noe: And they're still not the worst team in the American League.[00:27:00] 

[00:27:00] Mark Corbett: At least they have that going for them. Yeah. We'll get that division here in just a minute. But it's sad. I don't know, brother, that's I have to agree with Mat. I like the idea. I don't know man. I like the divisions and the. Do we just break 'em up and throw some of these other guys from the east into the central and west?

[00:27:19] Mark Corbett: Maybe we get rid of the whole geographical designation because we're, we've reduced the number of games that you play in your own division. I don't know, but I think Mat was on point about maybe just, I dunno that completely eliminating the divisions, but maybe something different. 

[00:27:37] Brandon Noe: Yeah something has to change cuz

[00:27:41] Brandon Noe: we're only at the unofficial halfway point, but I don't see a team in the Al Central that deserves a shot in the playoffs when their best team is ninth in the entire American League at 

[00:27:55] Mark Corbett: best. 

[00:27:59] Mark Corbett: I'll tell you what, brother [00:28:00] I, let's, we won't beat up on 'em anymore on the Al Comedy Central, as you have named them.

[00:28:06] Mark Corbett: And I think unfortunately and appropriately but if we continue to move down the American League, we get to the West and we're looking at I've always found them to be interesting and good to watch. You got former World Series, the Astros Rangers, Mariners Angels, and then the team, the Oakland Athletics, a team with a very storied history, a team with some fantastic players that will go down as part of the Hall of Fame.

[00:28:38] Mark Corbett: And looking at the seventies I had the, I think I mentioned before on the show, I had the opportunity to briefly meet Joe Rudi and his family. And you see these guys, you think Reggie Jackson Rollie Fingers and that kind of history. But that's all about to be, I. Eradicated. But [00:29:00] let's go down the list here and I'm gonna talk more about the athletics.

[00:29:02] Mark Corbett: So the Rangers, Texas Rangers, they're, they've lo, let's see, their last 10 games, they've won only three of those. They're at 5 71 win loss percentage. The Astros are following them 50 to 41 on their wins and loss, 5 49 percentage. The Mariners, who I expected a little bit more of, they're 45 and 44, and just over 500 Angels, 45 and 46 at 4 95.

[00:29:31] Mark Corbett: And the athletics, as you mentioned, the Royals are not at the very bottom of the American League. The athletics are sitting with a win loss of 25 and 67, which gives them a 2 72 win loss percentage. Ouch. 

[00:29:52] Brandon Noe: I did expect more from the Mariners. I didn't think they'd be like the Orioles or the Rays right now where they're [00:30:00] 54 and 58 wins.

[00:30:01] Brandon Noe: But I thought they'd be like the Blue Jays or the Astros where they're sitting at 50 wins at the All-Star break something like that. Cuz you know they had a brighter future and maybe this is like a sophomore slump type of year for them. Kinda like how the Rays had in oh nine after they went on a World Series run.

[00:30:20] Brandon Noe: So maybe that's what that is for them or it's just they need to get going cuz they've. Going seven and three over their last 10. So maybe they're just gonna be a late bloomer coming into this year. They've fallen short of expectations this year. The angels are, they're just the angels.

[00:30:38] Brandon Noe: They have all that talent and things just seemed to go wrong for them on the injury front, especially cuz there was one day, it was the day they played the, it was the 4th of July, actually it was like 1130. They put trout on the IL for his wrist surgery. Then at six o'clock Rendon foul the ball off of his shin and had to leave a game.[00:31:00] 

[00:31:00] Brandon Noe: And then an hour later, Ohtani left the game because of a blister on his middle finger. So it's like that's the angels over the last how many years in just a span of eight 

[00:31:12] Mark Corbett: hours? I don't know. I thought Joe Madden was gonna turn everything around. They turned. Him around, out the door. I you again, look at the talent of the angels.

[00:31:24] Mark Corbett: You've got two of the best people in baseball. Some would argue absolutely number one and two with Tani and Trout. And if you look at their last 10 games, they're won in, they've won one outta their last 10 games. Brandon, I know injuries play teams. I know all kinds of things happened with teams, but all teams wind up with injuries. It seems like the angels, I don't know if it's the fates conspiring against them or what, but they're just not there. And I don't know what it's gonna take to get them out of there. [00:32:00] I maybe, 

[00:32:02] Brandon Noe: I, I don't know how, this isn't really like a good baseball opinion. It's like maybe they're just cursed.

[00:32:08] Brandon Noe: They're just not allowed to have good things cuz they've had two of the best players of the century at the same time, on the same team and done nothing with 'em. Yeah. And that's all we're gonna hear for the next maybe six, seven months. Where is Ohtani going? Cuz hate to say it, angel fans, everybody's gonna be saying he is going somewhere else, even if he might wanna stay in la I don't know.

[00:32:33] Brandon Noe: I haven't really heard anything on that front that's gonna be dominating the baseball headlines the next few months. It already is. 

[00:32:42] Mark Corbett: Yeah. Yeah. Postseason. Okay. Postseason, the man wants to get postseason, he wants to get the World Series and he sees that angel ticket. That train doesn't go there.

[00:32:52] Mark Corbett: It hadn't gone there. So if he's going to be moving somewhere else, you know that, that has gotta be a major [00:33:00] consideration. Maybe he'll move to the Mets. 

[00:33:03] Brandon Noe: Oh, you wanna talk about a team that falls short of expectations. 

[00:33:06] Mark Corbett: Yeah. Let's move to the National League. Let's take a look at the n l East.

[00:33:11] Brandon Noe: Oh. We skipped over the a's 

[00:33:13] Mark Corbett: did okay. Yeah. Let's come back. I'm sorry. They're so forgettable. Let's go back to the A's. Tell me, cuz you've done a, I've tried to step away from that and erase that part from my memory. It's disastrous. But share with us and your insights on the poor Oakland A's and their fans.

[00:33:34] Mark Corbett: Oh man. This 

[00:33:35] Brandon Noe: team is, it's been my sick obsession the past few months, and I've watched a guy he works for, I believe it's NBC Bay Area. His name is Brody, Brazil. He's like their version of Rich Hollenberg and just this whole situation. It's one of those things where if you were to write it on a movie script and pitch it [00:34:00] to a movie studio, they would say, this is ridiculous.

[00:34:03] Brandon Noe: It makes no sense. We're gonna pass. It makes the owner for major league look like a confident owner. Cause Mike Fisher, I believe that's the name. I'm horrible with names. I'll be honest, I apologize. 

[00:34:19] Mark Corbett: You should work for ESP N 

[00:34:20] Brandon Noe: Oh. Shots fired. No, no sir. Their owner, he buys the team, he does nothing but slash payroll.

[00:34:32] Brandon Noe: The Coliseum has been a horrible place to play for basically as long as I've been alive. And Oakland. They already lost the Warriors, where at least they went across the bay to San Francisco. So it's not like they left town, the Raiders, they left for Vegas too. The, a's, it's like that's the last thing they're ha they have, and [00:35:00] Oakland, I believe is like one of the most underrated sports towns out there.

[00:35:06] Brandon Noe: And you got a guy who's coming in saying he is gonna move the team. And Brody, Brazil, he's done a really great job. We, I really recommend watching his videos on this whole thing. The Tropicana site where they wanna build their new stadium. It'd be only on nine acres with a retractable roof. And there's no way in today's day and age, you're gonna fit a modern ballpark with a retractable roof on nine acres.

[00:35:36] Brandon Noe: I believe the smallest is 10 and a half. And that's the Brewer's Stadium and it's. Then they come in there they upset the casino owners almost immediately saying that the casino owners would be responsible for overrun costs. So they already upset them. You got the Tropicana site, which is [00:36:00] tiny on its own, and then they release a rendering of it.

[00:36:03] Brandon Noe: They put this big ring over it, like why is that there? And they, I don't know if it just didn't cross their mind or something, but if you look in the background of that rendering, it's right next to the airport for Las Vegas. So it's like the FAA might not allow that to happen. Put a big ring right next to the, an airport and then I believe it's, I'm not good with the money aspect of things, but with the bonds that Clark County would be giving them to help pay off the stadium. Football season, there's gonna be a drop= and 

[00:36:47] Brandon Noe: especially in Vegas, there's so much stuff you can do that can take your time. It's like here in Tampa or Miami, there's so much other stuff you can be doing. So it's if they're [00:37:00] not good, there's other stuff that people can do to fill their time. And especially in Vegas with their sports teams.

[00:37:07] Brandon Noe: The Golden Knights love 'em or hate 'em. Vegas really embraced them cuz they go by the Vegas born mantra or whatever it's called, they really go with that. And the Raiders, they moved there a couple years ago and guaranteed, or given that they haven't been a very good team, they don't feel like they've been embraced as much as the Golden Knights have because they were somebody else's team that moved there and they weren't a team that was awarded to them and built up in the image of the city.

[00:37:41] Brandon Noe: So that's another thing that's going for it or going against it. It's just this whole thing makes no sense. This is one of the times where it's I wish MLB would say this is unacceptable. You sh should be investigated and possibly lose your team cuz this whole thing has [00:38:00] been a disaster.

[00:38:01] Mark Corbett: I don't think there's any doubt about that. 

[00:38:05] Brandon Noe: Yeah it seemed like it's all but guaranteed at this point to happen. And honestly, if I were Vegas, I would say I don't want this team here. I've senior your track record. I'd rather take my chances on an expansion team, to be honest. And Oakland, I would say they deserve an expansion team cuz that team or that city has been nothing but kicked by this ownership group and this team they honestly deserve better.

[00:38:29] Brandon Noe: Honestly, both cities deserve better. 

[00:38:31] Mark Corbett: We'll see how all this plays out. It's unfortunate and like I said, the team with such storied history as team was, which normally has a strong fan base, but who's abdicated to the insanity of the ownership not putting forth the talent on there.

[00:38:46] Mark Corbett: And by the way, I can't imagine being the guy who got drafted by the as right now of it seemed would be a very uncertain future. But I don't know. We'll see. We'll see. Okay. [00:39:00] Now let's dig into the National League. And the number one team in baseball also leads the NL East. That is of course, the team we were talking about earlier.

[00:39:11] Mark Corbett: The Braves, the Atlanta Braves. Okay. Hometown heroes for you and your collegiate buddies. What do you have to say about that team? My friend? Oh 

[00:39:23] Brandon Noe: man. I don't know what hasn't been said about them. The, they're just beating everybody. They're hitting the cover off the ball.

[00:39:31] Brandon Noe: They're pitching is was great. Especially this series outside of Sunday, they just shut down the rays. Yeah. Offensively Acuna, he's looks like an MVP again. Even Albee's has quite, it seems like he's not really getting the credit. Albee's and Olson as well. Feel like looking at them both. Acuna gets all the MVP buzz.

[00:39:53] Brandon Noe: He has 21 Homers, 55 rbis, hitting 3 31 according to the ESPN app. I know how you're a fan [00:40:00] of them. And then Ibis, he has 22 Homers, 63 rbis and Olson 29 Homers 72 rbis. So it's like the guy that's getting all the MVP buzz on this team, he doesn't even lead a team in Homer rbis. 

[00:40:19] Mark Corbett: Oh, I it is stunning to me when you look at what they've achieved brian Snitker has a way with that team and the front office has had a way with bringing into good talent and keeping 'em there. So I think that's making a difference. Unless you've got something more to say about the Braves, I wanna talk about the Marlins. Oh yeah, go ahead.

[00:40:45] Mark Corbett: The Marlins he had Lou Schiff on the show occasionally here, who's like the Marlin fan and for good reason. But over the last few years you keep seeing Sandy, Alcon Elantra, I can't say his name properly. [00:41:00] Sandy has been amazing. They've had six Sixto Sanchez, he's also been amazing.

[00:41:04] Mark Corbett: There's all kinds of other players on the team I've enjoyed watching, but a lot of times it seemed difficult for the Marlins to put it together. Right now the Marlins are a number two spot in the n l East with a winning percentage of 5 76. Now, to give you an idea that you say 5 76, they got 53 wins at 39 losses.

[00:41:23] Mark Corbett: But much like some things you'll see in the American League, that winning percentage outranks both of the leaders in both the n l Central and the AAL Central. And the AL West just by a smidgen on the Rangers of the Al West.

[00:41:41] Mark Corbett: But that's been a team that has continued to grow a lot of excitement with what's going on down there at Miami. 

[00:41:51] Brandon Noe: And they've done it very quietly this year. Cuz I'll be honest I didn't know until a couple weeks ago until I really looked at the standings, [00:42:00] like the Marlins are one of the best teams in baseball and you wouldn't know cuz nobody's talking 

[00:42:05] Mark Corbett: about them.

[00:42:07] Mark Corbett: That sounds familiar, doesn't it? It does. The Tampa Bay Rays nobody thought much about 'em then 2020 and Covid came and they wound up being the World Series, and still they weren't talked about much. But I felt that way also about the Orioles this year. And yet now they're evolving.

[00:42:25] Mark Corbett: And the Marlins, yes, I am absolutely excited to see them coming up and as you say, quietly, because they're not you, the team right now. They're eight and a half games back behind the Braves, but still, and you're winning percentage is better than the leaders of four other yeah, four other of the six divisions that says something.

[00:42:47] Mark Corbett: You're building something. I'm actually looking forward, I'm going to meet Lou down there in Miami sometime soon and watch the Rays play, the Marlins, so that should be a lot of fun. 

[00:42:58] Brandon Noe: Ooh, we'd be seeing you on [00:43:00] TV in the background. 

[00:43:01] Mark Corbett: Oh yeah. I'll be waving. Actually, man, I got some I got some fairly inexpensive seats.

[00:43:07] Mark Corbett: I'm about 11 rows back near home plate for 20 bucks each now. Nice. Yeah, I bought 'em on Seat Geek. This is not a commercial, but I bought 'em like month a month or so ago. Cuz I, I wanted to get to see them. I gotta tell you, my experience is that my wife and I also went to Fenway and watched.

[00:43:28] Mark Corbett: The red Sox play the Rays there in the cold. Man, it was like a wind chill, a 41 in a slight drizzle the whole time we were there. But I have a better respect for Red Sox fans when I realized that what you have as far as rain delays, et cetera, and just being out there in some, sometimes very nasty weather.

[00:43:50] Mark Corbett: But and coming back saying where I'm gonna be going, also going to see the Orioles this year. I hope to see Nate up there [00:44:00] later on as well. But the Marlins come back to what's going on there. They've got a new manager Kim Angst, she has just been there a couple years as the general manager and this, these post Jeter years they might really prove to be something not just here, but on years to come.

[00:44:21] Brandon Noe: Yeah I'd like for the Marlins to be good. We don't have. It's funny, the only in-state rivalry that Florida really has is in hockey with the Lightning and Panthers, where they've met in the playoffs a couple times and they don't like each other. We always take each side, takes shots at the other when they can.

[00:44:42] Brandon Noe: You'd think it'd be baseball or football. It's not both. Neither team is ever good at the same time. Really in any of those sports, especially in baseball. Yeah. It feels and football and Dolphins, they might be actually pretty good this year at the Bucks they'll be at the complete other end of the [00:45:00] spectrum.

[00:45:01] Brandon Noe: We'll have to talk about them, but I think it would be really cool to have the Marlins and Rays at the good at the same time, cuz that could help grow the game with younger fans like it did for hockey. 

[00:45:12] Mark Corbett: Yep. Oh, one one. The last thing you talk about Fenway when I was there, My wife and I took a tour through Fenway, which was great, and one of the people who were guiding the tour said, where y'all from?

[00:45:26] Mark Corbett: Tampa said you can thank us for that Super Bowl. We gave you that fellow who actually won it for you. And they started to say something about the Trop. I said, now how many? Oh, cause that's right. We don't have any rainouts down there and it's 72 stinking degrees throughout the game. Oh.

[00:45:43] Mark Corbett: Thought you guys might like to remember that too. 

[00:45:46] Brandon Noe: Hey, only we can make jokes about the Trop. We're from here. 

[00:45:49] Mark Corbett: That's right, brother. Oh gosh. But still ca Hmm? it's Milly the Wonderdog. She speaks let me go see if I can [00:46:00] get her her own podcast. Yeah. So anyway, looking back again at the, no, east the Phillies the Phillies weren't looking that fantastic early on, but they seemed to be moving forward on this. I'm not sure where we'll see them as the months go on, but number four in the NL East.

[00:46:23] Mark Corbett: It is those magical ,and miracle Mets. Not the team that, yeah, the team that owner, Steve Cohen was ready to make a real commitment to and pour a lot of dollars into some aging pitchers. And ah, gosh, man, they're under 500, 42 wins and 48 losses. They are 18 and a half games back behind the Braves.

[00:46:50] Mark Corbett: Woof. I don't know. You 

[00:46:55] Brandon Noe: I 

[00:46:56] Mark Corbett: don't know either. Where do you start, brother? [00:47:00] Again, you're looking at a team almost like the Angels. You see some top talent there and you expect great things, but it's just not happening. And I don't know what they need to do to get the engines firing all at the same time.

[00:47:11] Mark Corbett: All the pistons running at the same time, I should say. But it's not there yet. And steve Cohen, when he spent all that money in the beginning, he said, oh, you're buying a World Series. That's all you're doing. And I actually feel for him, I'm not that I'd want them to be at the World Series, but tag on man.

[00:47:26] Mark Corbett: I'd love to see anybody who puts that much money down that they're actually getting something back from it. What is it? Is it Sportstrac? I was looking at them earlier today and the total amount that I remember for their salary was like 324 million or something like that. It's yeah.

[00:47:45] Mark Corbett: With uh, I think the Rays are probably under 80 million, but geez, you can't buy team 

[00:47:54] Brandon Noe: maybe with the Mets, and maybe it's the same thing with the Angels, cuz it does feel like they're the same [00:48:00] team with all that talent on them. Maybe it's just a case of you can put all that talent together, but they can't play as a team.

[00:48:12] Brandon Noe: Something like that maybe. Yeah. I've 

[00:48:17] Mark Corbett: talked to him again. I worked down at the Tampa Baseball Museum now and then, and one of the things I remember hearing was somebody asking Al Lopez, who was the first Tampanian ever in Major League baseball, entered back in 1928, I think. He also was a manager and person said, what is your success as a manager and his.

[00:48:39] Mark Corbett: I can't remember the exact quote, but it was being able to bring together 26 people with different personalities and making it work. I thought that that is such a realistic attitude about what is required of a manager to, to get a team to work because you got showboats out there, you got [00:49:00] people who need, need you to hold their hand.

[00:49:02] Mark Corbett: You got professionals who just assume never look in your direction because they know what they wanna get done. And when you have all these type of personalities, it can be difficult because if you're spending that much money, it's probably, probably players with an all of a, all A type personalities.

[00:49:20] Mark Corbett: And that doesn't mean they disregard their teammates. It just means sometimes folks are set in their ways.

[00:49:28] Brandon Noe: Yeah. And maybe that's just all it is. Cause Verlander, he. Scherzer are um, I mean, unless all of a sudden they're over the hill and just has beens at this point, yeah, maybe that's it. They just can't play as a team.

[00:49:44] Brandon Noe: Is all it is. 

[00:49:46] Mark Corbett: I don't know. We'll, We'll see. And you know, and much as we were mocking the, the Mets here and being 18 and a half games back, it's worth noting there's another team in the NL East, and that's the Nationals with a [00:50:00] 400 winning percentage and 24 and a half games back behind the Braves. So send up the white flag with a 36 win 54 loss record.

[00:50:12] Mark Corbett: Fans will send you home and you come back next year. We'll see if we can, if we can field a team that's actually gonna do something, 

[00:50:18] Brandon Noe: Hey, they won a World Series a few years ago. At least have that 

[00:50:23] Mark Corbett: true now. Moving on to the NL Central and there's no comedy here. There's teams that are performing differently than I thought Cardinals Historically I thought that they would be moving up, but that's neither here or there cuz there's a lot of things in history that make no sense of where folks are today.

[00:50:44] Mark Corbett: The brewers, I had the brewers early on saying they're gonna be leading this all the way. And the brewers, they're just barely over 500, 5 38 and they are in the second place in NL Central. Number one [00:51:00] is the Cincinnati Reds and outside of the Braves, they had probably one of the best records over the last 10 games having won seven of the last 10 games.

[00:51:12] Mark Corbett: I wanna pause here for a moment of reverence and that is for what's happening with that Reds team. A couple things, think about it. Joey Votto returns a guy who is a lifelong Cincinnati red. He is a fan favorite and there was an energy that came with him. And as much as I'm excited about seeing him come back, there's a young man who joined the team this year who completely blew just about everybody's socks off.

[00:51:46] Mark Corbett: And that's Mr. Elly De La Cruz. Can you believe this, Brandon? The guys a rookie at this point. He's got 30 games in. He's 21 years old. He's from the Dominican Republic. First [00:52:00] couple years in the, Cincy he system, cuz they, they were the ones who brought him in. They drafted him. He was, eh you know, they were kind of looking at him, but not much.

[00:52:07] Mark Corbett: And then he seemed to be taking off in the minors people weren't paying enough attention to him when he came in later into the season. It was around his 16th or 15th game. And believe it or not, th I'm trying to think, was who were they playing the Braves?

[00:52:21] Mark Corbett: Let's see. In his 15th game with the Reds at the Great American ballpark, he hit for this cycle, a double a home run, a single and a triple in his first four at bats in that game. And he led the Reds to their 12th straight win. So that was a nice little winning streak for them too. And I think that's like the longest winning streak they've had since 1957.

[00:52:44] Mark Corbett: Now, obviously it wasn't De La Cruz uh, making the only difference. Joey Votto was doing fantastic that game and I can't remember everything. He cheated did a lot, but De La Cruz got all the press for hitting the cycle cuz uh, it had been [00:53:00] since 1989. And Eric Davis. He'd hit the cycle back then.

[00:53:04] Mark Corbett: So, And that game you know, by the way, reds won that game when he hit the cycle and that's with 11 to 10 win over the Atlanta Braves. Wow. 

[00:53:20] Brandon Noe: Elly De La Cruz. It, as much as you've heard him accomplish and how much you've heard about him, you'd think he'd have been up at the major league level all year. He's only been here a month, and just the other night he stole every base on the field and only two pitches.

[00:53:41] Brandon Noe: I don't think that's ever been done before in the history of baseball. And this is a guy, and I hope they've learned you know, from Mike Trout. This is a guy they need to really market and put on commercials out there. Oh yeah. Because, What he's doing [00:54:00] is amazing. It's like Ohtani you, you, you market those two.

[00:54:05] Brandon Noe: You can draw people that maybe don't really care for baseball or don't really watch it. You can draw them in just by saying, Hey you know, these guys seem cool. Check them out and see what happens.

[00:54:16] Mark Corbett: I love it. I'm right there with you. I mean, Elly de La Cruz, he's got a positive energy. He's out in the field.

[00:54:22] Mark Corbett: His, he's got his locks flailing behind him you know, and he shows the excitement and you get that whole team spirit with him. And like you said, the other day he, he stole second, third, and a homer. He did. Oh my gosh. Uh, See, what was it? I'm looking here. I think they said that's the first time that's happened with the red since 2019.

[00:54:43] Mark Corbett: No, no, no, No. Hang on. Yeah, it's, it became the first Reds player since 1919. To steal second, third in home in the same inning. But he did it what the same at bat, did he? Yeah, he did it in two pitches.[00:55:00] 

[00:55:00] Mark Corbett: Oh. Oh my gosh. I love the larger bases. But even with that on this guy's got the talent. He may have been able to achieve it anyway, it's just amazing. 

[00:55:10] Brandon Noe: Oh, he's the real life version of Willie Mays Hayes.

[00:55:17] Mark Corbett: Yes. Yeah. That fits that. That really fits. I mean, oh, Oh my gosh. Well, I, I, again, going back to what we're looking at with these folks and. What's happening as far as the uh, the standings. It's, It's not surprising to see the, the Red's doing what they're doing. And one other thing, I wanna look back to NL East for one thing, cuz it's an apology on my part.

[00:55:45] Mark Corbett: Uh, a, A player there who's just done amazing, Luis Arraez, I keep wanna call him. Rays. Rays. I've done that before. Yeah. So, uh, Apologies, Luis, I should have said that earlier. But getting [00:56:00] back to a NL Central and the Reds Elly De La Cruz, I can't wait to see the future of this guy. He is going to be a generational player.

[00:56:08] Mark Corbett: He's gonna be someone much like Ohtani people are gonna be talking about for years. 

[00:56:14] Brandon Noe: I hope he can keep this up and it's not just a flash in the pan cuz I've only seen the highlights of him. I've never seen him play an actual game and I, I hope I can watch him, him play a game sometime soon cuz he looks like a ton of fun to watch.

[00:56:26] Mark Corbett: Oh yeah, yeah. You know. And the n l Centro the brewers, like I said, they're not doing as well as like only a game back behind the Reds. And then you look at the middle part of the n l Central, you got the Cubs, the Cubby's tough year under five hundred and four seventy two. But it was fun watching them beat the Yankees.

[00:56:48] Mark Corbett: I think it was at Yankee Stadium too. 

[00:56:50] Brandon Noe: Oh yeah. It's the first time they won there in over a hundred years, I believe. 

[00:56:55] Mark Corbett: And if we continue down the list in the MLB standings for Central, we'll see the pirates at number [00:57:00] four and they're under see, 41 wins and 49 losses. But they got the first crack at the draft the other night, and who was a young man, Paul Skeens, and I think he's from lsu. It'll be interesting to see how they do with that.

[00:57:16] Mark Corbett: They've, They've had some good luck in the past. I mean, I didn't realize some of their first overall picks in the past that Garrett Cole was ranked amongst those. And uh, yeah. Yeah. Back in 2011. I know when it comes to the Pirates, they made some trades with us in the past. Who was it? Did we get Glasnow?

[00:57:37] Mark Corbett: And Austin Metals from them with the ray. Yeah. 

[00:57:41] Brandon Noe: We got those two. And uh, Shane Baz as well, I 

[00:57:44] Mark Corbett: believe. Sheesh. Yeah. And you know, recently, I think Choi, I don't know if we actually traded Troy or if he was a free agent and went to the parts. 

[00:57:55] Brandon Noe: I think we traded him. I can double check. I believe it was a trade.

[00:57:58] Brandon Noe: Yeah. 

[00:57:59] Mark Corbett: [00:58:00] A lot of people were sad to see him go from first base, but my gosh, it has been amazing to watch uh, Yandy Diaz and everything he performs at the plate and at first base. So while there was a bit of sadness, seeing Choi go away, The Rays, you're not gonna be attached to any player for too long because they're ready to move some folks up and some folks out and Neander the bunch.

[00:58:24] Mark Corbett: You're going to see great players, certainly good players moved. Um, One other one I would talk about that they did that with recently kind of bounced around here is Kluber. The Rays pretty much said, Nope, I'm not gonna bring you back. And Red Sox did. And Corey unfortunately sent so poorly there. They've actually put him on as a reliever, so tough times there.

[00:58:50] Brandon Noe: And Choi was traded? He was traded for right-handed pitcher. 

[00:58:55] Mark Corbett: Who is that? Uh, Jack Hartman. Okay. [00:59:00] All right. So he's probably down in the, the minors right now cause I don't remember seeing his name on the Rays roster. Oh. And then pulling up the last in the NL Central is the Cardinals with a 38 52 win loss record.

[00:59:14] Mark Corbett: They are 11 and a half games back. Not as bad as the nationals here are 24 and a half games back in the n l east, but it's still pretty tough. Let's venture on then, unless you have something else to talk about, the NL Central onto the NL West. Yeah I, I'd say let's head west. Okay. Uh Oh. It's been interesting.

[00:59:38] Mark Corbett: You know, You look at the Dodgers, a great history there you know, in recent years and looking there as far as, most recently, the last 10 games they won, seven out of 10. They're at a 5.7 uh, 0.57, three winning percentage, 51 wins, 38 losses. And if you look at who's right behind 'em, it's the [01:00:00] Diamondbacks.

[01:00:00] Mark Corbett: And actually they're even, they share the number one spot with the Diamondbacks. And the Diamondbacks to me, I don't know that I would say they were ever underrated, but I think there's always been so much attention. The Dodgers, the Padres, and the Giants that I think the Diamondbacks tend to be overlooked earlier in the year.

[01:00:22] Mark Corbett: And I mean the Padres, I, they're fourth in this division. I expect it greater, therefore, 78, 43 wins, 47 losses Giants 49 and 41 is the number three spot. And laying there at the bottom in the National League is the Colorado Rockies 34 wins, 57 losses with a 3 74 winning percentage or loss percentage. I dunno.

[01:00:51] Mark Corbett: Uh, It, it is tough, man. If you're a Rockies fan you know, if you're a nationalist fan, if you're an Oakland fan or a [01:01:00] Royals fan, all those. Our teams that have, that I know that are really hurting and the fan base has to be as well. Maybe, Maybe, again, going back to what Mat Germain was talking about, eliminating the uh, the divisions.

[01:01:15] Mark Corbett: Maybe, Maybe you're not pointing as much as to these teams that are number five. Of course. I guess, I guess they would all be number 27, 28, 29, 30. They're going down that list instead. Uh, I don't know if there's any way to raise up the uh, the attitudes of fans with, with seasons like that going on. 

[01:01:37] Brandon Noe: You just gotta try and sell 'em that you're rebuilding and actually do a good job of it.

[01:01:42] Brandon Noe: Like, you know, Say the Tigers did, which that sounds like they could be headed for another rebuild over the next few years. Maybe a quicker one from what I've heard. But it's, it's still a rebuild nonetheless. 

[01:01:56] Mark Corbett: Yes. Rebuild It is. I am, I gotta tell you, Brandon [01:02:00] you know, that's a. Scary word and people don't like to hear it.

[01:02:04] Mark Corbett: I know the Oreos heard it for several years and it's starting to show fruit there, but people don't want to hear that word cuz they keep thinking. That's just a way of managing, saying, yeah, we're not willing to invest the money or the talent or whatever else to make this happen. But I, I do believe it does make a difference what else we got my friend?

[01:02:23] Brandon Noe: Um, What you were saying with rebuilds it to me, it just depends on when it's happening. If it's like something where you feel like you're close and then they blow it up for some reason just cuz they don't wanna spend money, then that's upsetting. But you know, Sometimes, like for example, us with the lightning, there's gonna come a time where there's gonna be no choice but to rebuild.

[01:02:45] Brandon Noe: Cuz you know, guys are getting older, they're retiring or going off to do new things where you just have to rebuild and. You know, It just happens, but every team will go through it. Some teams just go through it a [01:03:00] lot more and a lot longer than other teams. But it's just one of the, it's probably the only guarantee in sports is that you'll rebuild at some 

[01:03:08] Brandon Noe: point.

[01:03:10] Mark Corbett: And I think it's interesting if you look at farm systems and you see who's developing what, and I can only imagine going back to being a Cincinnati Reds fan and having, watching Elly de La Cruz the last couple years in the minors and seeing him come up and then this year not from the start of the year, but they bring him up and bam, he very well could be rookie of the year there.

[01:03:33] Mark Corbett: There's others out there I'm sure that I haven't paid enough attention to, but I think with L De La Cruz hitting the cycle and stealing all those bases the other day with two pitches, that was just stunning. So, I would put him there. Uh, we, We've entered the halfway mark, my friend. It's all-Star season.

[01:03:55] Mark Corbett: It's uh, home run derby time and I'd love to go on and [01:04:00] on with these things, but maybe we'll, we'll talk about that uh, in another day because I can go on a whole diatribe about, about, you and I have talked before about the home run derby. Is there any, are there any other points you want to hit today?

[01:04:14] Brandon Noe: Oh man, I think we pretty much covered everything we set out to cover

[01:04:18] Mark Corbett: yeah, I feel likewise. Okay, my friend, well this has been episode number 199 and I wanna say how thankful I am to have been able to work with Brandon on many of these episodes, especially early on. Back before we were actually uh, a podcast, we were live broadcast at Hillsborough Community College Hawk Radio.

[01:04:37] Mark Corbett: Coming soon to you, Mr. Sports split Spot and Mark Garman with baseball business on Deck. Okay. Good Lord. Who is that guys? Settling him down. Too much caffeine. No. Brandon, I wanna thank you man. It's been a lot of fun. Well, Thanks the folks joining us, us here today. And do you have any kind words you wanna share with our listeners [01:05:00] before we go out into the All-Star Games?

[01:05:03] Mark Corbett: All-Star Week. 

[01:05:06] Brandon Noe: Just everybody. Thank you for listening. Whether it's your first time or if you've been here with every episode that we've listened to, especially if you listen to every episode, you deserve a special shout out having to listen to the two of us over that time span, and we thank you for the support.

[01:05:21] Brandon Noe: Mark. You've done really good Over that time. I've enjoyed listening to the show as well. I've been on suspension. Even though, I'm just kidding. I've been off away doing other things, but it's always a fun thing to listen to, especially when you bring guests on like, like Mat Germain, all those guys. They do really great stuff and I can't wait to hear what's in store for hopefully another two episode, 200 episodes.

[01:05:43] Mark Corbett: Absolutely. My friends. So what we coming up on number 200 here, shortly. And again, I want to thank Brandon and I wanna thank all of our fans for joining us here today on BaseballBiz On Deck. Uh, We've got a whole lot going on with BaseballBiz on Deck. We're actually on the road some of the time. We're out visiting a couple of uh, communities and talking about the [01:06:00] history of baseball.

[01:06:00] Mark Corbett: So if you ever want us to participate with you, love to uh, you can reach me, mark at the baseball biz on Twitter, or you can reach me by email at markscorbett@gmail.com or go to www.BaseballBizOnDeck.com and you can leave me a message there. There's a little place where you can. Click on a mic and uh, say whatever you wish to.

[01:06:23] Mark Corbett: So thank you all again for joining us here today. Yeah, I know. Say what? You want to thank y'all for joining us here today, and we look forward to talking with you again real soon. Special thanks to XT r UX for them. Music rocking forward. Ta da. 

[01:06:43] Brandon Noe: I got scared at one point when you were, when you left for a second, they moved the recording button before for me.

[01:06:51] Brandon Noe: It was next to your name and I looked next to your name and there was no blinking red light. I thought we just recorded an [01:07:00] hour of a show and nothing was recorded. Oh, tell, I looked. It was just up at the top. 

[01:07:06] Mark Corbett: Oh, Jesus. I'll tell you what I did look about 20 or 30 minutes into it, I thought, oh shit, Don.

[01:07:11] Mark Corbett: Shit, oh shit. Today record. And, but what I've done is I take the window with you for Zoom and I make it just, I bought a. Larger laptops, so I could do some, so I could just have the zoom here. But when I do some of the bottom of the screen where I have things like set video, mute, et cetera, the whole recording thing doesn't show it's, there's a little more button down there to see it.

[01:07:34] Mark Corbett: And I was just hoping the whole time that I was still recording, I thought, shit, no, it's, that's really, yeah. Looks fine on my end. That's never happened before, has it? No. We, you're usually pretty good at that. 

[01:07:48] Brandon Noe: We never make 

[01:07:49] Mark Corbett: mistakes. Oh lord. Oh gosh, my friend. I tell you what, it's wild. I don't know what you're up for.

[01:07:58] Mark Corbett: We could do another [01:08:00] show the next couple of days, maybe on the all-Star game or I may just put something chart together myself. But I would like to if looking at doing something for number 200 and having you with it I may, if I do something with the All-Star game, I'll do it as a.

[01:08:18] Mark Corbett: Kind of it won't be the 200 even if it is. And but I'm thinking about looking across all or at least find a couple of things across the several episodes we have. And if there's anything key that you can think of that would be good to do, let me know and we'll do that. 

[01:08:44] Brandon Noe: I think me getting, I didn't almost get struck, but the big lightning strike from one of our first few episodes.

[01:08:51] Brandon Noe: That's one of the first things I always think of. 

[01:08:54] Mark Corbett: Let me write that. Yeah. The gobbler. Oh yeah, the 

[01:08:57] Brandon Noe: gobbler. The staple of the [01:09:00] show. Yeah. I think it would be cool, if we told people more of like how we met. Like before the podcast. Cause that is interesting. At least. At least I 

[01:09:12] Mark Corbett: think it is.

[01:09:13] Mark Corbett: Yeah. Yeah. Writing that down now. Yeah. Yeah, it's, cuz I was thinking about that today. I thought you and I have been doing it for quite a while. I even thought about I had a couple other folks before I actually met Brandon. It was Paul, I can't think Paul, and he was the guy who was, I think tied into his church or his faith quite a bit too.

[01:09:35] Mark Corbett: He's a funny little guy. He has a sense of humor and his voice was a little high. It was funny because I like having different voices. Somebody who doesn't sound the same and you and I have enough variance, but sometimes you hear two announcers in said, which one of 'em is actually talking if I'm listening on radio.

[01:09:56] Mark Corbett: But his was funny that there was [01:10:00] a lady, and I don't know where she was from. She's a Latin lady. I loved her. And she went by, she had a Latin show on the channel, on Hawk. And she was fun. But getting back to what you said, yeah, I would like to talk about how we met when h ccc, some things like that.

[01:10:18] Mark Corbett: And we even talk briefly maybe about how Covid brought us into this. 

[01:10:25] Brandon Noe: Yeah. Cuz I don't know if this would've happened if it weren't for 

[01:10:29] Mark Corbett: Covid. Covid changed a lot of things for people if somebody would never, ever guess. And yeah. So that, and anything else you think of, I'll I'll continue putting stuff together.

[01:10:39] Mark Corbett: I had a whole bunch Allstar Wipa. That's that's just gonna be too much. So something else I wanted to, oh, I know. I wanted to show you something. You got a couple more minutes. Oh, yeah. All right. Let's sit. Share screen.

[01:10:57] Mark Corbett: Sit share. [01:11:00] All right. So you should be able to see my entire screen now. There is, it's the bottom of my bar here. There is a tool called Descrip. Did I tell you about this before? 

[01:11:11] Brandon Noe: Yes. Script. Oh, I don't think I see that far. The furthest I see is The Mariners. 

[01:11:17] Mark Corbett: Okay, so it's a little bit below that.

[01:11:19] Mark Corbett: All right. So yeah, so my bottom task bar, the, I opened Descrip. Okay. Script does this really cool thing and it's gonna take a moment to open. But first off, so Mater of fact, why don't not go ahead and stop the recording. No, I'll do that in a minute cuz takes some other process. Alright, this is the interview I did with Bobby Valentine, but I'm gonna go over here and I'm going to go back to projects.

[01:11:48] Mark Corbett: I'm going to go over here somewhere. There is new project and then I'm going to choose a [01:12:00] file to transcribe. Geez. So desktop and

[01:12:14] Mark Corbett: what? July, page 1 98.

[01:12:25] Mark Corbett: Okay. I'm gonna select the file. This is the audio file of the show. So at this point, it starts rendering the file and it creates, starts trans transcribing. It offers me to select speakers. So if I can't, that was probably just me, so I'm not gonna play with it. But if I had both you and I it would identify unique voices and I would give that information there now.

[01:12:54] Mark Corbett: So it's doing two things. It's going to go ahead. It would identify and [01:13:00] give timestamps on the conversation. And which really wouldn't be relevant if I gave it this raw file that you and I are creating right now because I go in and edit out space. But I could run the transcription again later and it's taken this file and it's gonna make it so that I can actually edit the recording.

[01:13:26] Mark Corbett: See so it says transcribing at the moment. It's so fancy. Yeah. And it's relatively inexpensive. I think it's 15 bucks a month. So it says done. Let's see. It's done. I hit done. I probably shouldn't have anyway. What happened? I don't, you probably can't see the bottom of, can you see where I've got the cursor and I got pla.

[01:13:53] Mark Corbett: Okay. Yeah, I see a play button. 

[01:13:56] Mark Corbett: Okay. Now do you see it's actually created [01:14:00] a a transcript of the entire show.

[01:14:06] Mark Corbett: Wow. Yeah. If there's two speakers, I would've told it. And then there's ums and uhs in here and I say, okay let's see. Do it, can I do it here? Remove filler words. It's kinda do you I can tell it to actually remove all these, which can go either way, cuz you know, sometimes you have a pause, and I don't necessarily, I wouldn't wanna necessarily lose that, but yeah, I haven't figured out how to do that. But I've applied, I don't wanna hit apply. So it will go through the entire document. Did you hear that? Let's get started. No. Okay. Apply to all. Now all of those ums, uhs, or whatever, are now gone.

[01:14:58] Mark Corbett: Now let's see [01:15:00] if I want to play. I know you can't hear it, but it, as you see word being highlighted, it's playing that I can hear the audio in my headset and

[01:15:28] Mark Corbett: so you see how it's going through every word now? Yeah. At the bottom. I don't see how I could do it here, but usually I could go ahead and cut out a word. I could cut out space. I prefer, I think normally I. To use Audacity for some of the final edits, but I've also taken some files like this one, and while I can save it as a, I can hit publish and I got export and I can [01:16:00] export it as a transcript and it would give composition name markers.

[01:16:07] Mark Corbett: If I had more than one speaker all that time, coach audio I can export it as the entire selection, whatever. There's just all these different things I can do with it. So it's just a pretty cool tool that's it 

[01:16:26] Brandon Noe: seems like something fancy that like actual studios 

[01:16:28] Mark Corbett: use. Yeah. And it, in of itself it's a minor tool, but it's pretty good.

[01:16:35] Mark Corbett: It can kill, it can greatly reduce production time. In some cases where I take five, six hours post postproduction or whatever, it can take it down to two. Something like that. Yeah. Considerable. Then I can take this transcript and if I wanna be attentive to it and make sure there's, I can read it and change it and make corrections through it, I can [01:17:00] then upload that when I post the podcast and the transcript goes with it, so that if you're going through different directories, potentially this would be there, you would've access as a user to get the transcript and it helps the seo.

[01:17:20] Brandon Noe: That's cool. Cause editing is always pain and you always like overthink stuff and at least I do. Oh that, that's me. Excellent. I did that show with Allen Alfred the other day, and it just completely sucked. But which is sad for him and for me. But yeah, I would've tried to get on other people's shows more this whole thing where I'm working with the Tampa Baseball Museum and I still have to create a presentation for Wednesday.

[01:17:49] Mark Corbett: People wanna know more about the history of Tampa with baseball instead of just with the Tampa Baseball Museum and Al Lopez and blah, blah, blah. [01:18:00] They're not really paying me for the production time that I put all into that, but that's okay. They pay 12 bucks an hour for me as a docent to go down there.

[01:18:08] Mark Corbett: So it's something and it be a cool partnership. Yeah. Yeah. It kinda is. And I'm just trying to make sure that it doesn't overwhelm what I wanna do with baseball b and that, so there's points where we need to be independent of one another. So I say I work with, instead of work for. Yeah, I got a job down at the Tampa Baseball Museum with Johnny and it's a lot of fun.

[01:18:34] Mark Corbett: Gee, wheels guys, come on down. I don't wanna be that fella. By the way though, we are open Thursday through Saturdays and if you're gonna come down there, let me know sometime, cuz I'm don't work all of those. But I work anywhere from six to eight days a month. And you can come down free with me anytime you like, obviously.

[01:18:52] Mark Corbett: But that sounds cool. I had to come down there sometime. Yeah, it's down there in eor and right next to the [01:19:00] centennial park, the big park down there where it's pretty cool. It's a small little casita, so if you rush through it it wouldn't take long. But people spend sometimes a couple hours, some spend 10, 15 minutes.

[01:19:14] Mark Corbett: So anyway I wanna stop recording, which I should have done earlier.