MLB Wild Card, Manager changes, Postseason Analysis with Mat Germain RaysUp

MLB Wild Card with Mat Germain RaysUp

[00:00:00] Mark Corbett: Welcome to Baseball Biz on Deck. I'm Mark Corbett, your host, and with me is the real host of the show, and that's Mr. Mat Germain, because today we're going to dig up that host season from 2023, put a shovel in it at the end of the day, and see what really happened with this. I mean, it was insane, Mat.

[00:00:25] Mark Corbett: I mean, you saw my tweet this morning. One thing I was like, oh, I guess I'm going to have to hear this phrase one more time. If the season ended today, the playoffs would be like, yeah, I'm, we're here, man. We're finally there. What's mom, you know, are we there yet? Are we there yet? I guess we are. 

[00:00:43] Mat Germain: Yeah. The major league baseball is one of those weird oddities where you get so used to having it every day that when you get to the end of the line, there's a mix of emotions.

[00:00:52] Mat Germain: You're happy you get to the playoffs. You're sad that there's no more daily games. Now you have to wait. Is there a game today? What time is the game on today? Well, and the scheduling becomes an issue, but more than anything, like you said, it's no longer about what if it's Yeah, actually happening, which is the greatest 

[00:01:08] Mark Corbett: thing of all and exhaustion, pure exhaustion.

[00:01:11] Mark Corbett: I mean, as a fan, I can't even begin to imagine what that's like to be a player after playing these 162 games. I've got to say one thing, man, though. I am thankful. I am very thankful that the commissioner did not make Miami go back up to New York to play the last inning of a game. Oh gosh, that was going to be ugly.

[00:01:32] Mat Germain: Yeah, those grounds crews really messed up on the, the scheduling bit. 

[00:01:37] Mark Corbett: Jeezy, Pete. Yeah, I, I don't know, it's, anybody, I said it and I'll say it again, anybody who complains about a dome, I said, Hmm, I can think of reasons why it works, but you know, Hey, Oh, wow. So look at the news. I mean, at toward the end of the season, you always expect some changes and Gabe Kaplan, San Francisco giants.

[00:02:00] Mark Corbett: Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. 

[00:02:01] Mat Germain: I'm a little surprised that I think knowing for Anxiety and the way that organization operates, it makes a lot of sense though, because he was a lot more sandpaper than I think they were probably looking for. I think they're more of the Bruce Bochy type, right? Like they like the big cuddly bear, kind of gets along with everyone.

[00:02:21] Mat Germain: And then when you get to Gabe Kappler, he's confrontational. He's getting in your face and he's telling you what's what. And if you don't like it, you're, you know, step aside because it's still happening. Okay. So, I don't know, it's, uh, it makes sense on that end, but in the other end, I say he's the perfect fit for the angels because that's what they need.

[00:02:41] Mat Germain: They need somebody that's going to run that place like a, like a policeman or a sheriff, because they're outlaws and they're just running around doing whatever they want and it's not working 

[00:02:51] Mark Corbett: for them. Oh, brother. Yeah. That, I was wondering, we're going to do something with the angels. And not surprisingly, I guess it was, should have been a little bit, but not surprisingly was to see what came out of Steve Cohen's mouth.

[00:03:03] Mark Corbett: You know, well, I just like to say that Buck did a great job this year. He did everything we asked him and now we're going to say goodbye. So again, geez, Pete Buck Showalter, you know, came back from the grave, spent two seasons with the, with Mets trying to build something with the largest budget in the world.

[00:03:22] Mark Corbett: And it didn't happen. 

[00:03:24] Mat Germain: It reminds me a lot of when Cedo Gaston went back to Toronto and tried to go at it again. And it just, you know, at some point in time, you've kind of been outpaced by the game and you need to kind of, uh, you need to find that perfect fit if you're going to do that. Sort of like what Dusty Baker has done with the Astros, right?

[00:03:41] Mat Germain: Um, that to me, that's, if Buck Schulter can still do it on the right team. 

[00:03:47] Mark Corbett: Yeah. And like you said, it's finding the right fit and dusty. My gosh, man. I absolutely loved seeing him come back. I mean, it was the smartest thing crane could have done in the midst of all the brouhaha with the trash cans. This, he brought integrity to this, to this, to the team and they needed it bad, but.

[00:04:05] Mark Corbett: Seeing that guy sitting in the dugout, just slowly picking at that toothpick, you know, making his decisions about what's going out there on the field. And, uh, say, I mean, wasn't he already in the hall of fame as a manager and came back, you know, you feel like when you see somebody like that's wow. Oh, he's, oh my gosh.

[00:04:23] Mark Corbett: He is truly a pillar of this game. 

[00:04:26] Mat Germain: I think people a lot of time, especially those casual fans of baseball, they miss the fact that managers really truly are human being managers. They are not just baseball managers. They're managing the team, the front office, everything melding together. comes together because of the way the manager manages the entire communication routes, uh, that happen between everyone.

[00:04:52] Mat Germain: So Dusty was just a great human being that knows humans are fallible and that they have, uh, faults and crevices. And, uh, he was able to meld those together and actually get them in the right direction, which is a pretty big feat considering what he was up against. 

[00:05:08] Mark Corbett: Oh yeah. Oh, yeah. And I wonder about that.

[00:05:10] Mark Corbett: And I was always trying to figure those locker rooms, what they're like, you know, is it something from a movie where it comes in with a fire and brimstone sitting in there after the game and given hell kinds of hell to the players, you know, kicking over seats and all that sort of thing. And so guys, damn it, we're going to do this, that, and the other.

[00:05:27] Mark Corbett: And what the hell you were doing out there today? You know, that sort of thing, or as a guy who's just more at peace more, who was the manager for the, um, who was the coach for the Chicago bulls? 

[00:05:39] Mat Germain: Oh, uh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a, you had the mustache and the Zen guy. 

[00:05:44] Mark Corbett: Yeah. That's it. I'm looking for the Zen guy.

[00:05:46] Mark Corbett: Okay. I mean, I remember you Jackson. There you go. Phil Jackson, Phil Jackson. And I was, I could think of is like, you know, is, or is that is, I don't know how Zen Phil was, especially with some of that crew, you know, I remember. Years ago, Tyler's talking about meditation and all this. And I thought, I don't see Kevin B, Kevin cash with the, with the raise being the kind of guy who kicks things around, but there's other managers out there who I think I could see very well doing just that.

[00:06:16] Mat Germain: I've talked to a lot of players and, and, and gotten kind of a feel for what most of them seem to like, and that's consistency. If you know what to expect on a daily basis and somebody isn't up and down like a yo yo You can work with it and you can deal with it and and you're gonna know that the manager has an agenda and he's gonna You know try to approach every individual in a different manner because everybody's different So they're probably not going to say the same thing to every person he comes across But I think as long as they're approachable number one And they actually do show that they care and they're trying to do things for the right reasons They tend to be successful for the most part.

[00:06:55] Mat Germain: Look at Terry from Francona is a good example. Like the guy could, you know, walk on water for most players because he's just everything that you would want in a manager, including caring about everything that happens to you and really listening when you talk and actually paying attention to the details of your life, not just baseball, not just the game, but of everything.

[00:07:19] Mat Germain: And that's, that's, you know, That's an understated quality. And I think Kevin Cash has that as well. Uh, there's a few other managers in the game that really highlight that quality. 

[00:07:30] Mark Corbett: I was reading, uh, Ortiz's book again, big poppy. And he talks about Frank Kona when he came in with the Red Sox. Big poppies air batting practice.

[00:07:39] Mark Corbett: And he's got, he's talking about Francona lean up against the batting cage there with lean up against the fence and watching the Ortiz. And this is the first time he's met Francona and he walks over afterwards because Francona didn't say anything, just kind of stone faced mostly. And he said, do you.

[00:07:57] Mark Corbett: Artie says, you have something to say about, no, no, I have nothing to say with what you're doing, keep doing what you're doing, you know, 

[00:08:07] Mat Germain: some sort of input and insight that'll make them, you know, better. Yeah, I get it. 

[00:08:12] Mark Corbett: Yeah. He said a little more than that, but it was mostly about trusting. Big poppy. And he said, you know, that really stuck with me.

[00:08:18] Mark Corbett: And I trust, he said, I had a lot of respect for him because he had respect for what I was doing. And it wasn't just, you know, a lot of times there will be a coach who comes in and gives advice because they have to give advice, you know, I've, I've been brought in for this, so therefore I'm going to give you my attention and we need to make changes.

[00:08:35] Mark Corbett: And that's coaches, managers, whatever. Sometimes it goes that way. Sometimes you get somebody like Tony Francona and he's, he's a cool dude. We're going to miss him too, man. He's leaving underneath his own choice, but I didn't know how long he was going to stay in the game, but it's, it's been fun having him there.

[00:08:54] Mark Corbett: I wonder if he'll take a front office gig or just go to some remote Island for a couple of years. 

[00:08:59] Mat Germain: I could see an advisory role for them if they'll have them, um, for sure. Uh, and I don't see why they wouldn't. It's one of those hard things to step away from the game and not be directly involved and be like halfway out though, I think for a lot of people.

[00:09:14] Mat Germain: So I don't know which one he'll prefer. He's pretty down to earth. I could see it go either 

[00:09:18] Mark Corbett: way. Yeah. I don't think there'd be any misunderstanding about how he felt about it. I don't think that he's excoriating anybody like that, but I think that it's either this or it's that with him. Yeah. See who else looking?

[00:09:32] Mark Corbett: Oh, Mickey. My gosh, Miguel Cabrera. Finally, I thought last year he was going to go, but. Left the Detroit Tigers, my friend. 

[00:09:41] Mat Germain: All I can think of when I think of Miguel Cabrera is what could have been for Miami. I can't help it. All I can think of is if Jeffrey Loya doesn't happen in Miami, is McGee still there?

[00:09:53] Mat Germain: Is the core of that team different all the way through all those years? And what would the status of that franchise be if he had stuck around? You know, and I guess you could do the same thing with Albert Pujols in St. Louis. But his career had stayed more steady if he hadn't put all that pressure on himself in L.

[00:10:13] Mat Germain: A. So, I don't know. It's a missed opportunity in the career wise, but at the same time, you're really thankful of it. And I'd say also Joey Votto and the way that he went out with getting ejected. I don't know if he's coming back or not officially, but, uh. I mean, that's quite a way. That's a statement. I mean, if I were him, I would have brought came back on the field with my scooter and then go and gone back off to the outfield, like out off the fence, like as a goodbye as I'm waving to everyone.

[00:10:44] Mat Germain: Why not? You're ejected, it's the last game of 

[00:10:46] Mark Corbett: the year, what are you going to do? I love it. I mean, that would, that would be pure vato. I mean, those guys are mainstays where they were. They were the identity of their team. You know, we don't see that, we rarely see that. As a Ray fan, we thought we had that with Longoria for a long time, and we thought we had it for Kirmar for even longer.

[00:11:07] Mark Corbett: But those things change. So I'm glad that Miggy's leaving that, that he's leaving on his own, but he also I understand is going to be taking a job in the front office. So he's, he's going to have some kind of attachment still to the Tigers. So he went through 

[00:11:22] Mat Germain: a lot of life, uh, life learning issues with the Tigers, like in terms of, uh, you know, alcohol and substance abuse and that kind of stuff that they stuck with him.

[00:11:32] Mat Germain: All the way through that. So I think he he's grown a lot as a man with that franchise and it's great to see him kind of stick around there for that for sure. 

[00:11:41] Mark Corbett: Wow. Well, as we're now wrapping up this season, and we're stepping into the wild card and the rest of the post season, walking our way up here to the World Series, and you and I've talked about time and again about how this is all set up.

[00:12:01] Mark Corbett: You know, one, I don't know, we want to talk about the format here first, or if we can talk about that later as we get to how, how the later span, okay, well, let's looking at the, the world series itself in this, the wildcard games, um, you know, we went from a single wildcard game to, to having the potential playing best two out of three.

[00:12:22] Mark Corbett: Uh, we've got that. I mean, do you like. The way that is set up now, 

[00:12:28] Mat Germain: I do like the three games. I, I, I wasn't a fan of the one game because it is 160, you know, two games to get here. You wanna have some sort of balance, so at least you're getting three starters worth of your rotation in not just one starter.

[00:12:43] Mat Germain: And that's it. Um, you're getting chance to see bullpens be involved more. Um, you get a, a better feel for lefty righty kind of balance throughout the team. So baseball is a game that's based on depth. And talent, right? And if you're not testing the depth of any team, then really you're just skimming the surface of what they have to offer.

[00:13:04] Mat Germain: And to me, that's not reflective of the organization and it's not baseball at its core. So I liked the three game, but to me, I wanted to go to a five game with a bigger. Uh, with 32 teams and more and two more teams in the playoffs, basically, so that you end up with everybody. No buys, no buys. Your, your benefit is that you face the lowest ranked team.

[00:13:29] Mat Germain: If you're at the top, that's it. You still have to play the games because based, to me, it punishes the teams that get buys. I, I would hate it if my team got a buy. 'cause they get rusty, they get outta sync. They, they don't get used to that same fight that they're doing at the end of the season. They get, I don't wanna say lazy, that's not the right word.

[00:13:47] Mat Germain: It, it's, um, it's out of sync it seems. It's like not their personality to be away from the game for that long. You always see it draining Allstar games, the one that don't, the ones that don't go to the All-Star game, they come back after the break and they're not really themselves. Sometimes, the majority of the time they're a little bit rusty.

[00:14:04] Mat Germain: Sometimes they can be a little bit better. But you're not getting the reflection of actually what that team is, right? So, to me, that's the big thing is I want them actually going all the way through. Bang! All the teams are in the playoffs and you kick it off and you're 

[00:14:18] Mark Corbett: good to go. Well, I like that. I mean, the good part about that is to...

[00:14:24] Mark Corbett: All of these teams will be as weary as the next one to it and you, the simulated games, I guess that doesn't hold any weight with you as far as these guys who right now are like the Orioles at 

[00:14:36] Mat Germain: all. Anybody will tell you that, right? There's a reason they play spring training games. If not, they wouldn't even face each other.

[00:14:42] Mat Germain: They'd be at their own facilities throwing to each other. It doesn't make an, it's not the same. It's not the same as being in a competitive environment and having that adrenaline and 

[00:14:52] Mark Corbett: focus. Well, let's dig into what you and I both love, and that's the Tampa Bay Rays. I know with what you're talking about recently, you and I were speaking and you said, Mark, I'm just as happy not to have won the division for just what you were saying, because that means the Rays can continually play.

[00:15:11] Mark Corbett: They can stay warm. They can keep their momentum going. The Orioles, they're going to have to sit on their hands for a week. So yeah, well, we've got that when we're, we're still at home. So that's great too. It's like, geez, my knees, Mat, did you think we would get here? I mean, at the beginning of the year and the team we wound up with now it's, it's mind numbing.

[00:15:33] Mark Corbett: It's 

[00:15:33] Mat Germain: one of the weird things about being a race fan, right? You always expect the unexpected and you always expect a lot of turnover. Those are the two guarantees that you basically have. And, um, I never would have guessed the rotation would be as beat up as it has been. Uh, but I'm not surprised that they fixed it appropriately for, for the moment.

[00:15:53] Mat Germain: Um, so I think. We're in for a great series. I'm glad originally it looked like the Blue Jays were going to be playing the Rays and then you have all the AL East teams on one side and then you'd have all the West teams on the other side. It seemed too cookie cutter, right? At least now you've got some crossover and you're seeing some different teams, different, you know, the Nate Lowe versus Josh Lowe story.

[00:16:17] Mat Germain: Uh, you've got the, Yeah, the angle in terms of the Blue Jays and the Jose Barrios kind of deal that they made. So there's a lot more stories that are going to come out of this, and I like the way that it's set up right now for the, for the Rays. For the most part, because I think the Twins, Astros, and Blue Jays all have the best pitching after the Rays.

[00:16:39] Mat Germain: That's in the playoffs right now. So the Rays are going to face weaker pitching with the Rangers, and they're going to face weaker pitching with the Orioles. In my opinion, then they would have faced otherwise. So, to me, this is the benefit of letting the other side beat themselves up, and you only have to beat one of those three teams, and then they're pitching, right?

[00:17:00] Mat Germain: So, uh, I think there's a very good chance the Twins will surprise some people because their pitching is deeper than people know. It just depends on if their bats can get some runs in against, uh, a pretty tough rotation that the Rays are gonna thro uh, Jays are gonna throw at them. 

[00:17:15] Mark Corbett: Yeah, I, you know, you're looking at who the team is, like I said, Ray is one thing we know is whoever we start out with at the beginning of the year is not who we're going to see necessarily at the end and.

[00:17:26] Mark Corbett: I'm looking at these names that you, you, I know him cause you've been watching the Maters for so long. You know, junior came in there. Who's that guy? Yeah. Oh, he's double eight. Yeah. Okay. Uh, tell me when he gets a triple name. We'll talk about it. You know, a Slevis Masabi. Yeah. Uh, Rhonda. Well, he's been with us a bit more, uh, Tapia, all these names.

[00:17:45] Mark Corbett: I'm just like, I, if you'd asked me some of these two months ago, I'd say, who are they? My gosh, they're making an impact. Oh, one other thing before we get too much deep in that team, I want to mention is game 162 is interesting to me because that's when Yandi got the batting title, if you will, in American league for the best batting average.

[00:18:05] Mark Corbett: And he got that because a certain ranger Went 0 4 on what is one, the 63rd game. It's like you win by default, you win because your nemesis actually stepped into the game and just couldn't do a daggone thing. Whereas you got to sit back and rest. 

[00:18:22] Mat Germain: Yeah, I mean you could look at any moment in time during the season where it was flip flop.

[00:18:27] Mat Germain: I think Corey Seager only played enough games recently to qualify to begin with. Wow. Well, he had way more downtime than Yandy Diaz did. Yandy just happened to have it at the end. 

[00:18:38] Mark Corbett: Yeah, but, but, but getting back to, yeah, I, that just tickled me in no way because they were continually cutting in on this, the game the other day.

[00:18:46] Mark Corbett: He said, well, Seeger's up to bat now. And no, he didn't do so well here either. Ooh, it gets it closer. But it was, uh, it's humor in this game. There's plenty of it out there. And I'm, I'm going to miss Listening to, you know, the ballet, ballet sports, listening to Brian Anderson, sitting there with Deweyne and, uh, having their conversations.

[00:19:09] Mark Corbett: I hate that during this part of the year, the people who have taken us all the way to here, they are said, they're told you got to jump ship. I'm sorry. You, you can't take the rest of the ride with us. Maybe you can buy a seat in the stadium. We'll let you watch. 

[00:19:22] Mat Germain: I will admit to this. Okay. For all raise games, not the other ones, but for raise ones, I put the radio on.

[00:19:29] Mat Germain: And I turned the volume down on the TV. I do not listen to the national broadcasts. They are horrific Not just terrible like scary bad. Yeah, so one sided and so blinded To the balance of what they are supposed to do that. I can't stand it. I can't It really irritates me and especially john schmaltz and a bunch of the ones that are national, you know broadcasters that really irritate me with their old world views and then their I, I just, I can't, I can't tolerate it.

[00:20:04] Mat Germain: So I have to put the radio on and listen to whoever is doing the broadcast elsewhere. 

[00:20:11] Mark Corbett: I get that. I get that. I was watching a little MLB network this morning and they were talking about the Rangers and the rays facing off and. I got the sense that the guy didn't really know enough about the Rays, even to this point.

[00:20:27] Mark Corbett: You know, the conversation was things about the Rangers and just barely, yeah, because these things are really good here. Oh, and the Rays, yeah, they got some stuff going on and it's like, geez, when these do. Still bringing up 

[00:20:38] Mat Germain: Joe Madden and they're still bringing up Andrew Friedman and come on, let's get, turn the page.

[00:20:44] Mat Germain: This is like 10 years old. Like, come on. Let's move on. 

[00:20:48] Mark Corbett: I don't know. I gotta tell you, man, it's, it's entertaining. But, uh, the, when the, uh, let's see MLB PR put up something MLB TV, I just, you know, throw this in here, their most streamed season in 21 years of history, uh, that's right. They didn't have television or streaming back then, did they?

[00:21:12] Mark Corbett: Uh, 12. 7 billion minutes. You know, that's what they did, man. And see, they had 11. 7 billion in 2022, a 14 percent increase in users and a 17 percent increase in games watched. And I tweeted back and said, yeah, what would those numbers look like? If we weren't blacked out, you know, in a lot of games and I don't know what we're going to see as far as.

[00:21:39] Mark Corbett: Potentially in changes in 2024, there's all kinds of talk about the regional sports networks. What who may or may not be there if they continue on with Bali diamond, et cetera. But so while they throw these numbers out there, I thought, don't insult your fans though. Take care of your fans. I'm glad you got these numbers, but take care of your fans.

[00:21:58] Mark Corbett: There's 

[00:21:58] Mat Germain: a couple of things I'll throw out there. I think Apple TV is having a better, a bigger positive impact than people are aware of. Um, I think that the, the MLB TV is doing a better job now of, of getting, uh, advertising onto that platform. And there's a reason they're investing into that because.

[00:22:17] Mat Germain: Advertisers are aware that MLB is about to take the reins on a lot of those local networks, and so they're capitalizing on that. To me, that's a huge source of revenue. It's not like the other sports where you're getting, you know, 17 games a year for football, or you're getting, you know, whatever. You're talking 162 games a year for each franchise.

[00:22:38] Mat Germain: Like that is an insane amount of repetition and marketing is all about repetition. Drill that into your head. And over 

[00:22:47] Mark Corbett: frequency, frequency, frequency. 

[00:22:49] Mat Germain: Exactly. And then you put the gambling into it too, where the gambler, gambling sites are advertising more on those platforms as well. And I think MLB wants to control that message a lot.

[00:23:01] Mat Germain: So if they leave it to the local networks, they don't get assurances that that message will be put out there. Whereas if they... Capitalize on the local markets going to MLB TV. They can push that gambling over and over and over again So there's a lot of of angles to it Some of which are more positive and then others and some of those that are very negative in my opinion Gambling on baseball is like playing russian roulette.

[00:23:26] Mat Germain: It just doesn't make any sense to me. But uh It is what it is. Some people like to throw money out the window and I, I think MLB in general is in a very good place and in part because they're making the right changes to their game in a lot of ways, pace of play, uh, the, the action in the game. I do think.

[00:23:48] Mat Germain: The last bastion of baseball is adding some more entertainment in there somewhere. Um, you know, like the basketball has the halftime show, like where they do a whole bunch of stuff, stunts, yadda, yadda, yadda. Uh, football has the same thing where they tend to have shows a lot of times between first and second half.

[00:24:07] Mat Germain: Baseball needs that seven inning stretch to become an entertainment spectacle of some sort, or something like that, right? Um, I think that's the last. That'll draw more people to the, uh, to the parks and actually move the game along to the next 

[00:24:22] Mark Corbett: level. I heard that the Rays were trying to get a taller class now to bring a Taylor Swift with him into the game.

[00:24:30] Mark Corbett: The other day, it's made that increased attendance.

[00:24:36] Mat Germain: It's funny you say that because my I couldn't get my daughter tickets to the concert I really couldn't find any tickets and we tried the lottery thing and it didn't work out So for her birthday, I got every single one of her records on vinyl and gave that those to her for her birthday She'll be the last a lifetime instead of one moment in a concert and uh, you know that's the better alternative but taylor swift does draw people like Like nobody else right now.

[00:25:05] Mat Germain: It's crazy. It's insane 

[00:25:07] Mark Corbett: I love it. I mean, she took over the freaking NFL. You know, we talk about minutes being streamed. That's been, that's been amazing. I don't know. Yeah. We need something like that. We, I like your idea about some kind of entertainment, uh, seven inch ranch or something else. But, uh, I don't know.

[00:25:23] Mark Corbett: I don't know what that would be, man. Now, what, one of the, who was it the other day, the guy that retired and played a concert. Oh, it was the Cardinals. Who's he's, he's, he's who just retired for the Cardinals last night. Uh, Wainwright, Wainwright, he actually had a little concert, I think, for him, too. 

[00:25:39] Mat Germain: It doesn't have to be too crazy.

[00:25:41] Mat Germain: It can be extreme sports, right? You have, uh, somebody doing a trick of some sort. Uh, there's a whole bunch of ways you could go. Cirque du Soleil acts. Uh, you can have a whole bunch of people that are actually advertising for, for their own shows, like Blue Man Group, or... Whatever it may be, right? I know there's ways and creative ones, whether it be local on occasion and then bigger acts on the weekend.

[00:26:08] Mat Germain: You can run, you 

[00:26:09] Mark Corbett: know, run it whatever way you want. Now we got Orlando right here anyway. Surely there's something we could bring up for the night. You know, that's who is it? Uh, did you see that there's a thing on Netflix? It's called the saint of second chances. Have you seen that? No, I haven't. Okay. The Chicago White Sox.

[00:26:27] Mark Corbett: His son did a lot with promotion. One of the things that he did was with the Chicago White Sox and they had the hate disco night where they blew up all the records out there in the middle of the field. Okay. Yeah. And they had a riot and just people came out there under the field, tore stuff up, ripped out the bases and everything else.

[00:26:47] Mark Corbett: And this is the middle of a double header. The same guy actually, after that, and some other missteps, he's a saint of second chances. He, um, He took a job with the race and he shot out fireworks in the Ra in Tropicana Field, but they forgot to vent open the vents and made for, 

[00:27:07] Mat Germain: they're all spokey and, 

[00:27:08] Mark Corbett: yeah.

[00:27:09] Mark Corbett: Yeah. So I don't know, man. I, I, I don't necessarily think we need to blow up records in the middle of the stadium, but there's probably some cool stuff we could do. What to figure that out. Oh gosh. Oh, getting back to our raise. Yeah. And. Post season, Mat, like I was talking about earlier, these guys, I didn't know who some of them were.

[00:27:28] Mark Corbett: Tapia, Caminero, and others. And I mean, Aranda, I had a basic knowledge of him, and I'd heard of it, Basabi, but geez, these guys have become critical in the last few games of the season. Yeah, the 

[00:27:41] Mat Germain: The sad truth is that it looks like so far Jose Siri and Luke really are going to be able to make a comeback.

[00:27:49] Mat Germain: They're on the edge. They're apparently going to assess them again tomorrow morning. They've had all their writing practice and fielding stuff. They're going to see how they feel tomorrow. I guess they're going to get tested and then they'll make a decision on whether or not they make the roster, which could cut to those young.

[00:28:06] Mat Germain: Players off the team. I say sad. It's great to have Siri, especially in center field because with his D, the Rays are way better team, um, than they are with Marno Margo, who seems to be juggling the ball out there every time that it comes to him. Yeah. So, um, I, I think that's a really crucial piece. If the Rays are going to go far, then again, you don't want to bring them too fast back too fast and have that fracture, you know, refracture.

[00:28:32] Mat Germain: So hopefully they're, they're doing their due diligence on that part. I want to speak to Junior Caminero, especially because When I look at him and his reaction and his playing ability under pressure in a big moment, he is prepared. His mind is ready. He is steady. There's no, um, hesitation. There's no bobbling completely opposite the Taylor Walls.

[00:28:57] Mat Germain: Taylor Walls is, is, has the talent to be the best defender in the infield across MLB, but he does not have the mental toughness to do it. And there's a, there's a difference there between the ability. And being able to translate that into action. Um, and I've seen him make too many, um, mistakes recently in the last three to four weeks.

[00:29:22] Mat Germain: That, that it tells me that the pressure is getting to him defensively. If, if you're a shortstop of his caliber and you're running towards first base. You grab the ball and sure you bobble in your glove a little bit and then you throw it 15 feet right of first base. That's telling me that you're not in the right state of mind to be, you know, just because you rushed the moment because the guy was running towards first base.

[00:29:49] Mat Germain: So Junior Caminero was a guy I'm hoping Unseats Taylor Walls on the roster. I think it would make a huge statement and is extremely unlikely to happen. More than likely, both of them make it or Taylor Walls makes it. But what my heart says that Junior Caminero should be the starting shortstop when they play the 

[00:30:11] Mark Corbett: Rangers.

[00:30:13] Mark Corbett: I'm glad you said that because I had that down. Here's a question. I thought if we bring back really, if we bring back Siri, Who's going to go. And I thought, well, maybe a guy's going to play a little more and it may be, you know, maybe Mr. Walsh, because I've seen that. I certainly said, well, it'd be him and Basabi were the ones I would see going for Basabi.

[00:30:32] Mark Corbett: He's still trying to figure things out. They moved him out to right field the other day and he was completely lost and it was a sad play. You know, it's one of those where you hate to add it and you, you almost feel like you can't say, shout at the poor guy. Cause like, Oh, it's more like, Oh man. I mean, I felt that way about.

[00:30:48] Mark Corbett: Hicks with the New York Yankees back in left field, uh, was he, he had this terrible misstep. He thought the play was over. There's a big difference 

[00:30:57] Mat Germain: though. Like Aaron Hicks has played hundreds of games in the outfield. Osvaldo Basavis played less than a handful 

[00:31:05] Mark Corbett: in his entire 

[00:31:06] Mat Germain: minor's career. Uh, so I mean, to do that at the MLB level, like for sure, his roots are going to be pretty awful, 

[00:31:15] Mark Corbett: pretty awful.

[00:31:16] Mark Corbett: He's, he's new, you know, and, and lots, lots forgiven for that. So I'm looking forward to a much, you know, a greater career for him fully down the line. I just don't know that he will be one of the people that make the playoff. And when I was looking through the rules, if you have somebody on your team, you can actually ask the commissioner to replace them during the postseason.

[00:31:38] Mark Corbett: But it has to be for that same type of player, either a fielder for a fielder or a pitcher for a pitcher. So that if you do take somebody out. You know, that's the swap that they can 

[00:31:50] Mat Germain: do. The other point I'll make on that too is that the Rays were originally set to face the Blue Jays, right? And then facing the Blue Jays, they were going to face Kevin Gossman, who's a righty.

[00:32:01] Mat Germain: Uh, Jose Barrios, who's a righty. And they were going to face Chris Bassett, who's a righty. Those were the three starting pitchers in that series that they were going to face. Now... They're facing Jordan Montgomery first, and they're likely, if the G. U. D. does get to game three, would see Andrew Heaney, another lefty.

[00:32:18] Mat Germain: So that bodes well for somebody like Junior Caminero, who's a righty, and very badly for Taylor Walls, who could not hit a lefty if it landed on, you know, it's one of those things that I... I don't know. Recently, I should say he has in the past. So it's hard to say and label and say this, that, or the other thing, but I don't know, I, I think Kevin cash likes to walls enough that he'll probably want to use them in the playoffs.

[00:32:49] Mat Germain: But I do think the fact that with the Rangers. They're going to see a lot more left handed pitching that it's going to change the way that they make that lineup up in the way the roster is. So do they leave Luke Raley off because he is a lefty and you don't want to have that lefty on lefty as often and then carry another right handed bat?

[00:33:08] Mat Germain: You know, that's, that's a consideration. So it'll be interesting to see how the roster, because they do have a lot of tough decisions 

[00:33:15] Mark Corbett: to make. Yeah, I mean, think about it. He's able to wait until tomorrow to make those decisions. I thought surely he'd have to do it before then, but yeah. Wow. So scary times.

[00:33:26] Mark Corbett: You know, I'm looking here at the brackets. And kind of quickly look at the American League. So the ones that are matching up is the twins meeting up with Blue Jays. And then of course the Rangers are here. The folks that got the buys, Houston Astros and the Orioles. So they're the ones sitting and waiting.

[00:33:49] Mark Corbett: We look across the board into the National League and we're seeing that the. Uh, what the Arizona and Milwaukees will be facing one another and the Marlins and the Phillies. And I've been pulling for the Marlins. I got to tell you that, man. I mean, one, cause Lucia has been on the show before. That is a team that has a lot of excitement too, whether it's Lizardo, everything about that team has been exciting for me.

[00:34:10] Mark Corbett: So I'm really hoping to see them progress, but we'll see how they do with the Phillies. I'm not sure. 

[00:34:15] Mat Germain: Yeah, the Phillies are built for the playoffs. Like they're, they're a complete, you know, in your face, uh, run and gun sort of team that wants to, uh, to chew the meat off the bone. Like the Kyle Schwarber just has a knack for the big hit at the right moment.

[00:34:30] Mat Germain: But you're right. Like, I think the, the Marlins are fun to watch. They have a lot of x rays on there too, that I know well, like Jesus Sanchez and Joey Wendell, uh, and Xavier Edwards has done pretty well with them as well. So I think. The nice thing about the the Marlins is that they're a young up and coming team that's trying to earn their stripes and is finally going to get some seasoning now in the playoffs, which is great.

[00:34:55] Mat Germain: It's going to be a great experience for them. I don't know that all their pitching is at their best this year so. I anticipate like 2024 would be a more productive season for them. I think Kim Ing deserves a lot of credit for how she shaped this team. Um, she didn't tear it apart. Like a lot of people were saying she might want to do.

[00:35:15] Mat Germain: She didn't trade away too many pieces. She just did that one big decisive. Deal, which was hard because Pablo Lopez was very well liked in that organization. And as somebody you could build a franchise around and she gave them up for the right offensive piece that put them on the map in terms of scoring run steadily without him, like they, they are not the same team at all.

[00:35:38] Mark Corbett: No, they have been exciting to watch and I'm looking forward to seeing how they progress. Um, I think a lot of people would see the Braves making it all the way there, 104 wins for the regular season. What, how about you? I'm the Brewers. I'm 

[00:35:52] Mat Germain: all the Brewers. 

[00:35:54] Mark Corbett: Really? 

[00:35:54] Mat Germain: Wow. Their pitching is the best in the National League for, uh, for the playoffs.

[00:36:00] Mat Germain: Charlie Morton being out for the Braves sets them back a lot in terms of playoff seasoning. Now, it could be that one of their young guys steps up and fills that hole. Uh, they have the talent for it, for sure. It's just in the moment, you don't know. And I don't like their pen as much now that Kenley Jansen left.

[00:36:17] Mat Germain: I think there are some holes in the back of the pen that late in the game could give teams an opening. Whereas the Brewers have Devin Williams shortens the game. I could see them running just one or two relievers every night with the pitching that they have. That's a huge advantage for the Brewers compared to what the Braves 

[00:36:33] Mark Corbett: have.

[00:36:35] Mark Corbett: I want to ask you about the American League because we both picked the Rays, right? Pardon me. Yes. Uh, anyway. Yeah. So it's, it's going to be an exciting season. I mean, my gosh, man, it's one thing I'll say more about. The walk to the world series, and that's the three o'clock times for the wild card games.

[00:36:55] Mark Corbett: It's like what in God's green earth? I'd like to see how MLB measures the viewership during three o'clock games. It might do well on replay, but I don't know. We'll see. 

[00:37:08] Mat Germain: I don't know, ratings wise, like, okay, think about the NFL, okay? The NFL has how many games running concurrently, like, on a Sunday afternoon?

[00:37:20] Mat Germain: Like, and they do fine. Like, they're able to capitalize on that, no problem. Why? Because people say, during these times, I am going to have my butt on the couch, and I'm going to be able to find something that interests me. What they have done by moving the game times around is basically say nobody's going to be around to watch this game And some of them will be interested in the next game It's really a loss loss situation and I don't understand Nobody can sell it to me that it makes any sense if they want to start it early like six o'clock in the evening Sure.

[00:37:56] Mat Germain: Okay, then I can buy it A lot of people are off work. Some will get in there halfway through the game, maybe. Nobody's going to watch the Rays and the Rangers unless it's their team. They're just not. They're not. They're busy. They're at work. They're in, you know, they're driving home. They're going, they're doing groceries.

[00:38:14] Mat Germain: They're getting their kids to and from sporting activities. They are not watching this game. They're not. So it's, I don't understand. The reason, now as a fan that's going to be able to watch the games over those times, I'm more than happy to watch them during the day and have my evenings to myself, don't get me wrong.

[00:38:35] Mat Germain: But, if I wasn't a fan of the Razor Rangers would I be watching it? Not a chance. I probably would not. No, I would be doing other things that I wouldn't make time out of my day to do that. 

[00:38:50] Mark Corbett: I remember the days when you just had broadcast TV and newspapers, man. You read box scores the next morning to see what was going on.

[00:38:58] Mark Corbett: But the other thing was radio and I can remember being at work and I can't tell you how many people during the world series I would see with a little bitty earplug in there, a small little box of transistor radio sitting in their pocket or on their desk. And there's a certain excitement about that, but we don't need to go back to the old ways.

[00:39:16] Mark Corbett: It, you know, I, I get, like you said, man, there's not going to be the volume of people coming, certainly not at a three o'clock game. So I don't know. I I'm, I'm looking for changes, man. I'm looking for MLB changes as far as. How they schedule these teams, you know, uh, some weirdness we saw with the rays at the end of the season, seeing the Blue Jays twice and potentially we'd see, you know, again for three more games, what less than two weeks we would have seen them nine times, man.

[00:39:42] Mark Corbett: That that's, that's absolutely insane. I mean, we've got to do something about this format, dude. 

[00:39:47] Mat Germain: I agree. I think I do like the balance schedule. I think that was gold this year, seeing more teams, not having everybody in their face so much. Can you imagine if the Rays would have seen the Yankees for another six games?

[00:40:01] Mat Germain: They might have rioted. You might have had to call up the entire Double A team by the time they were done with hitting the Rays and trying to break their wrists. The biggest thing is to keep tweaking it, I think. And they're doing a great job with that. I think the 13 games is a happy number. I can live with it.

[00:40:20] Mat Germain: I'm happy with that. In terms of the timing of the season, it's unfortunate. Could go either way. You can't really plan these things out, uh, that well. I do think that having more games in the south during the spring makes a lot more sense. And having more games in the south in the fall makes more sense.

[00:40:37] Mat Germain: So, uh, especially for the open air stadiums. So they should take that into consideration as well. Like you're looking at the Mets, for instance, and what's going on there and the field conditions. Well, maybe give yourself more certainty and have dome environments at the end or south. You know, areas that aren't in a hurricane zone and stuff like that.

[00:40:57] Mat Germain: Jeez. You 

[00:40:57] Mark Corbett: know? 

[00:40:58] Mat Germain: So... There's considerations they can make based on history and everything else that that would make a lot of sense and lower the heartache. But overall, I think we're in a pretty good place scheduling wise. I like the, I think if they do go to, to 32 teams and they do go to a five game, uh, Uh, playoff, uh, system for the first series, they should just cut three games off the season, I think, and go down to 159 games a year and, uh, and use that time to kind of battle the NFL a little bit more effectively.

[00:41:31] Mark Corbett: I like that. I like that a lot. Yeah. I mean, cause this time of year, it seems like, okay, we got hockey, we got football and all this. And suddenly I'm not able to access as much news about. The team across so many different media is, you know, it's lackluster, but well, so tell me a little bit more about how you would change the setup of the teams.

[00:41:52] Mark Corbett: I mean, as far as like the number of teams, the format of all that. 

[00:41:56] Mat Germain: I think once they do go to 32 teams, and from what I'm hearing, they're, you know, 12 to 18 months away from doing that, and that Montreal is still, you know, well among the top end of the list, as long as they still have an ownership group that makes sense.

[00:42:10] Mat Germain: Um, I think Nashville, Utah, yadda yadda, whoever ends up being in, they've already started to go more regional, and if you do it with a Northeast, Southeast, uh, South, and then West divisions, You're encompassing pretty much the entire, um, league and I've separated it in terms of eight teams per. So then you would have a set amount of teams making it into the playoffs based on those regions so that you can have, um, set series from the get go without having to have wildcards of any sort.

[00:42:45] Mat Germain: There's, there's arguments about winning percentages and having no Mater what the highest winning percentages teams make it in. I do think that you have to give some consideration to the divisional thing and regional aspects when you're doing playoff things. And also the conditions within each division are different.

[00:43:06] Mat Germain: So to try to make. You know, the, the win percentage reflect the same across all the divisions just isn't right because they're not facing the same competition for the same number of games. So, I think if you, if you actually set the number of teams that make it in per, per division, no wildcards, then you take the top two of each division and you call it a day and that's your.

[00:43:30] Mat Germain: That's your, your playoff brackets right there, or you go deeper if you want, so you can do it whatever way that you want, but each team that makes the playoffs starts from the get go end of the season, they step right into the playoffs and they keep going. I like 

[00:43:44] Mark Corbett: that, man. I like that. Okay. Send that to uncle Robbie and see if he and, uh, you know, the rest of the gang aired New York MLBs.

[00:43:52] Mark Corbett: Yes. That's what we need to do. They have an instant replay on the entire season and figure it out. Well, you know, Well, it's been a chilling thought to see some of these changes, but I'm excited for the race. I'm really excited to see today's Monday and we're October 2nd tomorrow, Tuesday, October 3rd.

[00:44:12] Mark Corbett: Kevin Cash is going to say what that postseason roster is going to look like. Um, I'm really curious to see who he does have on there. And like you, I know he has a certain affinity for You know, here's, here's Taylor. He's, he's, he's a good guy. I like him, but I get that feel, but I really hope we get to see junior, man, that would, that would be exciting.

[00:44:33] Mat Germain: Yeah, I think the way he hits the ball is harder than anybody the Rays have ever called up, um, ever, and he's 20 years old. And, I mean, he, he's a game changer. He's a phenom. Like, we know, we use the word phenom a lot to describe Wanda Franco, and I don't know why people have not used it for Junior Caminero, but he's in that same realm.

[00:44:57] Mat Germain: Like, the guy started the year in the ABL this winter. Make less than I was watching him in the playoffs in the ABL in February. And then he makes it to high A and you're like, okay, well, he's not making it to MLB this year, rushes high A. And then you're thinking, well, Carson Williams is the shortstop on that team.

[00:45:15] Mat Germain: He's playing third. You know, Carson Williams and him or Carson Williams is going to get called up to play shortstop for double A because they needed a shortstop after they dealt Alvin Williams out. So, so then they, they deal him out and then you're like, okay, well. Well, who's going to take over shortstop?

[00:45:33] Mat Germain: It's Junior Caminero. And then Junior Caminero, you know, plays the position. You're like starting to wonder, okay, well, what's going on? And at the same time, they do that. Wander Franco is having his issues and getting benched. You're like, whoa, wait a minute. So they just took a phenom from high A to double A.

[00:45:49] Mat Germain: And while their own phenom up in MLB is getting benched, there's a link there somewhere. There's something. So they were preparing for this move a long time ago. Um, and I think they've seen enough positives, especially the mature at bats to me. That's the difference maker. And it's not just one at bat.

[00:46:06] Mat Germain: It's not just two at bats. Every at bat he takes is impressive. It's mature. It's unrushed. It's methodical, making contact, taking the right pitches, not expanding the zone. I mean, every announcer that's that, because I was forced to watch the Jays coverage when they were playing the Blue Jays up here and they were all raving about how he was able to lay off the right pitches and they're right.

[00:46:31] Mat Germain: Like Buck Martinez was pointing it out all the time. How did he take that? How does he walk? Normally a young player is eager and wants to make an impact with the bat and prove that he can get the hit. But no, he took the walk and he said, you're not throwing me any strikes. Why would I swing? So I think that's where he separated himself from Taylor walls, you know, you're going to get higher quality at bats.

[00:46:52] Mat Germain: You know, you're going to get better fielding to be honest on the easier plays might not make the highlight play. That's like insane. But how many of those in the game do you really get? So I think he'll be 

[00:47:05] Mark Corbett: fine. Well, I'm really excited about him too. I mean, cause I've heard a few people in talking about, uh, Cameron Harrell.

[00:47:11] Mark Corbett: They said, Junior, he's, he's a veteran. He said, he's like, you look at him, the things like you were talking about waiting for the walk. It's like, okay, he's, he's got taken a veteran attitude. He's not going to just swing to swing. So I think we could probably close with that. You got any other goodies you would mention?

[00:47:27] Mat Germain: Uh, the only other goodie I would say is, is watch for the pen makeup. Like there's a good chance. That one of the young guys or, or Zach Littell ends up in the pen for the um, for the Wildcard series. And so the pen makeup might not be exactly what you think it, it would be otherwise. So there's a good chance Taj Bradley or Zach Littell or, or somebody else ends up in the pen and that it takes the role away from somebody else.

[00:47:54] Mat Germain: Um, so it'll depend on what they think the strengths and weaknesses are of their pen as in accordance with the Rangers. So it'll be really interesting who they keep and who they don't keep. 

[00:48:06] Mark Corbett: I did want to ask you about that when you said Taj Bradley, because I'm watching this. With the Blue Jays. And I saw some of your tweets about the whole thing about that particular game.

[00:48:16] Mark Corbett: It's like, Whoa, my phone about burned up. Some things you had to say, but the thing of it was putting Taj in as a reliever. And then we put him in again, the last game of the year is, is this a new role for him? Is 

[00:48:30] Mat Germain: this. For this year, I think they're going to Dodger. The Dodgers did this with, uh, Julio Urias when he wasn't ready to be in the rotation per se.

[00:48:39] Mat Germain: And they did it only for certain series. And as they got deeper in the playoffs, they gave him a higher inning load. Um, so that he was still sharp and, but they were using basically the best. Pitchers. The pen in the playoffs is very different from in season. It's not about wear and tear anymore. It's about counting outs and getting those outs with the best arms possible.

[00:49:04] Mat Germain: So they can use Todd Bradley over two innings in the playoff series or three innings. Even that is a huge, you know, um, you know, uptick for their pen compared to what they would have to work with otherwise. There's a lot of swing and miss in what Taj has to offer. So if you're telling him he can let it fly a little bit more and add a mile an hour or two to his pitches, especially the slider and the curve.

[00:49:29] Mat Germain: And you're, you're putting the, the, the opponents on the, on the ropes pretty quickly. 

[00:49:36] Mark Corbett: Well, may I tell you what, it's exciting. I'm glad you brought up the pitching. Cause when you said that about Taj and look at a Caminero, both of them, I look at Taj, he's fearless. It's like, you've heard it, I've heard it.

[00:49:48] Mark Corbett: He throws one pitch, whatever, how great or how terrible it was, he goes on to the next pitch. Doesn't seem to be any change in his composure. You know, even when you get him after the game, I'm thinking you're talking to a robot. He's so calm. So, so much. So cool about it, which I admire the heck out of, but anyway, no, this is, it's going to be fun times, man.

[00:50:06] Mark Corbett: I'm, I'm real excited about this. Yes. I'll be getting up three o'clock and seeing if I can sneak it in the game. You know, I've got some work I'm supposed to be doing, but, uh, I found a way. 

[00:50:16] Mat Germain: The tickets are still for sale. Apparently I looked at the tickets. I haven't looked today cause I've been too busy with some other things, but uh, when I looked at them on Sunday, they still had a lot of seats for sale, you know, and I found that pretty strange, but like we said, the time of day isn't ideal to get out to the park.

[00:50:35] Mat Germain: So what can you 

[00:50:36] Mark Corbett: do? What can you do is right. Well, brother, I want to thank you. Once again, we're listening to Mat Germain, taking his advice and soaking it all in. And you can find Mat on Twitter. And that is at Mat M A T underscore Germain G E R M A I N underscore. And Mat, you, Craig Calcaterra, and a bunch of other guys, the ones I look to every day to see what's going on with the sport.

[00:51:00] Mark Corbett: So thanks again for sharing your wit and wisdom and insight to the game with us today, my friend. Not a problem. Anytime, Mark. Anytime. All right. Special. Thanks to Mat. Jermaine for joining us here today. Just remember, you can find Mat on Twitter at Mat M a T. Underscore Germaine, G E R M A I. N underscore Mat_Germain_. You can find me, mark at the baseball biz on Twitter, and you can also find me baseball biz, www.baseballbizondeck.com, and anywhere you like on a directories, whether it be Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, et cetera.

[00:51:38] Mark Corbett: So until next time, thanks again and we look forward to talking with you again real soon. Special thanks to XTakRUx for the music, Rocking Forward.