The Show, the Voice and Grandpa: A PTFO Surprise

Summary

Pablo Torre Finds Out

Episode: "The Show, the Voice and Grandpa: A PTFO Surprise"

Date: May 22, 2025
Host: Pablo Torre (with John "Boog" Sciambi, Kim Soriano, and Matt Soriano)

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Overview

This episode is a delightful blend of generational fandom, baseball nostalgia, and meta-humor, as Pablo Torre sets up a heartfelt, lightly mischievous surprise for Kim Soriano—the 86-year-old "sports grandpa" who went viral for playing every game of each Yankees season in MLB The Show and meticulously scoring each one by hand, just as if he were at the ballpark. Baseball broadcaster and real-life MLB The Show announcer John "Boog" Sciambi joins in on the surprise, ultimately meeting one of his most dedicated (and sharply opinionated) listeners. The conversation explores the personal, almost sacred rituals fans maintain, the merging of analog and digital sports culture, and what it means to truly love the game.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Setting the Scene: The Ritual of the Voice

• Pablo opens with playful banter with Boog Sciambi about vocal talents and the unique comfort of professional sound studios.

• Boog shares stories about the "silly" but meaningful ways his voice connects with young fans (03:48):

  "It’s the one space—when a nine or ten year old kid is excited to meet me or I say 'Hey, do you play MLB the Show?' and they say yeah and I say 'I’m that guy.'"
  (Boog Sciambi, 03:48)

• Pablo teases the main attraction: a heartening and eccentric viral story about a grandfather, a video game, and a lifetime of Yankees games, real and virtual.

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2. Meet Kim Soriano: Grandson-Shared Fandom, Analog Devotion

• Kim joins the show in-studio with his grandson Matt, instantly charming everyone with his dry wit and thick New Jersey accent.

• He reveals his real name (“Kim”—it's a family joke) and his ritual:

  • He hand-scores all 162 Yankees games each year in MLB The Show, using custom scorecards (10:36).
  • He starts with 182 blank copies every spring and plays one game per day, mirroring the real Yankees schedule (11:09).

  "I'll play a game and they may come close to the game that I’m actually playing, what they play. Sometimes it scares me."
  (Kim Soriano, 12:24)

• Pablo is wowed by the analog/digital crossover, calling Kim "the Internet’s favorite sports grandpa... merging a beloved analog ritual with the video game world" (09:54+).

• Kim only plays as the hitter—he automates pitching, baserunning, and fielding (13:13).

• Injuries? If they happen in real life, he manually adds them to his video game roster using a handwritten guide on a scrap of paper (14:18).

• He describes the emotional highs and lows:

  "In the playoffs, I have never gotten to the World Series except for last year... Sometimes my wife says, 'What, are you crazy?' Because like I'll strike out and I'll... go bang the table."
  (Kim Soriano, 15:16, 15:42)

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3. The Surprise: The Real Boog Enters the Game (Literally)

• Kim critiques MLB The Show’s commentary:

  "That’s the thing I don’t like about this game: the announcers are too repetitive. It’s the same thing. So I put it on the lowest volume I could think of..."
  (Kim Soriano, 17:43)

• Pablo has muted the in-game commentary, secretly piping in live play-by-play from Boog behind the glass. Boog skillfully announces Kim’s gameplay, adding in real-time references to Pablo and the studio (19:24–24:52).

• The ruse works until Kim, ever the careful fan, notices the announcer mentioning things that shouldn’t be possible (his blue sweater, "Pablo," etc.):

  "How was that done? They mentioned your name and the blue sweater. How was that? Who was broadcasting the game?"
  (Kim Soriano, 25:14)

• Realization and delight mix with sharp critique—Kim recognizes the voices and questions the plausibility, but quickly pivots back to the fun.

• Boog emerges for the reveal (27:29), and Kim is both a little dazed and clearly moved by the experience.

• They bond over their mutual love of keeping score, sharing and comparing their scorecards (32:28+).

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4. Inside the Voice: The Art and Grind of Video Game Announcing

• Boog explains the technical process behind voice acting in MLB The Show (34:34):

  "The way we have to record it in order to stitch it together—I have to say 'Aaron Judge,' and then I say 'Judge,' and then I say 'Judge' so that they can stitch them all together so that I can say 'Aaron Judge from California.'"
  (Boog Sciambi, 34:34)

• The duo discusses the limitations of video game commentary—how repetition is inevitable for the superusers who, like Kim, play hundreds of games each year.

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5. Closing Reflections: Baseball as Ritual and Connection

• Kim discusses his decades-long attachment to the game, both real and virtual, and how the ritual keeps him engaged and emotionally invested (37:07).

• He shares childhood memories of simulating baseball in the backyard—suggesting the game is a lifelong passion, migrated from steps and stickball to PlayStation and scorecards.

• Asked what he'd say to Boog, Kim sums up with heartfelt baseball fandom:

  "I just hope it continues until I go to the Great Beyond. No, I just want the game to continue because I enjoy playing it."
  (Kim Soriano, 38:53)

• The episode ends with a classic baseball joke, co-signed by all in the studio.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It’s exciting that in some way I might be impacting some kid’s love for baseball through this silly game.”
  — John "Boog" Sciambi (04:19)

• “I have never been bored playing this game. I look forward to the next day, and that’s it.”
  — Kim Soriano (11:50)

• “Sometimes it scares me because I’ll play a game and they may come close to the game that I’m actually playing, what they play.”
  — Kim Soriano (12:24)

• “You have instructions you’ve written down on a torn off scrap of paper ... Go to gameplay ... set injuries to manual so you can control it.”
  — Pablo Torre, impressed by Kim's dedication (14:32)

• “The announcers—yeah, they’re on top of it ... So repetitive and realistic...”
  — Pablo Torre (22:33, with tongue in cheek)

• “How was that done?... They mentioned your name and the blue sweater. How was that?”
  — Kim Soriano, putting the pieces together (25:14)

• “I just hope it continues until I go to the Great Beyond… I just want the game to continue because I enjoy playing it.”
  — Kim Soriano (38:53)

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Segment Timestamps

• 00:36 – Pablo and Boog banter; discuss voice work and the comfort of the studio
• 03:48 – Boog talks about younger fans recognizing his voice from MLB The Show
• 08:04 – Kim Soriano introduced, explains his background and surname
• 10:36 – Kim describes his binder and score-keeping ritual
• 11:09 – Describes prepping for each new season with blank scorecards
• 13:13 – Kim explains his style of play (only hits, automates the rest)
• 14:18 – Kim explains how he adds injuries to his roster, with handwritten instructions
• 17:43 – Kim critiques the repetitive nature of video game commentary
• 19:24–24:52 – Live play-by-play prank: Boog announces Kim's gameplay from the control room
• 25:14 – Kim gets suspicious about the live commentary referencing his real life
• 27:29 – Boog emerges for the surprise reveal
• 32:28+ – Kim and Boog compare and discuss their methods of score-keeping
• 34:34 – Boog breaks down how video game commentary is recorded
• 37:07 – Kim reflects on why the game and the ritual mean so much to him
• 38:53 – Closing thoughts from Kim on his love of the game
• 39:29 – Final joke and the episode wraps

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This episode is a heartfelt, humorous, and meta-exploration of the love for baseball and the ways fans—of all ages—find meaning, ritual, and even family in the sports (and games) they love. It is as much about human connection as it is about fandom, making it a highlights reel of everything Pablo Torre Finds Out does best.

Transcript

[A]

Welcome to Pablo Torre finds out. I am Pablo Torre. Today's episode is brought to you by DraftKings. DraftKings. The Crown is yours. And today we're going to find out what this sound is.

[B]

Bellinger trying to throw it in. Let go of the baseball, Pablo.

[A]

Right after this ad.

[B]

You're listening to DraftKings Network.

[A]

Thank you for being here, sitting in that chair, by the way.

[B]

Love being in this chair.

[A]

It's really good to have you back. I've been trying ever since we had you on the show last. I've been trying to speak from the bottom of my.

[B]

Yeah, of my. From your diaphragm.

[A]

Diaphragm was remembering which part of the fram. The. The framing.

[B]

The sound quality in here is so good and calm. It's. Yeah, it's really. It's really wonderful. I mean, literally, if you just. If you wanted to leave for like three minutes, I would just sit here and just say stuff to myself and like, this is what I do for a living.

[A]

What would you say to yourself if I wasn't here? What are the vocal exercises that you would run or the vocal masturbation that you would do more than exercising? Clearly.

[B]

I have red sneakers on. I love my red sneakers. I look slimmer and black. My hair looks good.

[A]

I like me those not watching on YouTube. Bo is just gazing at his own reflection.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

Look, we though, as a. As a show had you do some, I would say, credibility imperiling things.

[B]

The last time you were on, I had totally forgotten. So early in the year, the Cubs play the Dodgers, and I run into Joe Posnanski and Mike Shore, and sure, at some point it comes up what we had done, and I had just disconnected and forgotten. I said, you, you know, Velociraptor on his horse. The kick and the pitch. Swinging a ball driven right field towards the corner, slicing fairball. That's gonna get into the corner. And Velociraptor is on his horse, on his way to third. Velociraptor, they're gonna send him. Soto trying to dig it out. Velociraptor on his way to the plate and save ball game. Cubs win. Pablo Torre, the hero, as he knocks in Velociraptor. And the Cubs walk it off. And Mike, she's like, I wrote that.

[A]

We did assemble a writers room, and then I got credit for it, but it was really the guy who wrote, you know, the office and parks and rec and whatever. So ridiculous and wonderful and a credit truly to the Credibility of, as I always say, the best voice in baseball. The best voice in announcing the guy with a Stradivarius in his diaphragm. And the thing that I didn't talk to you enough about last time that I was confronted by on the Internet was the work you do in video games. The video game Boog.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Is known to a whole universe that I, I think I've aged out of because I'm not. Because of Violet being her age and me being too busy to have fun anymore. I am less fluent in the world that you are also the voice of MLB the Show. How do you feel that? How does that sort of like make itself known to you?

[B]

I will say it's the one space. Yeah. When a nine or ten year old kid is excited to meet me or I say, hey, do you play MLB the Show? And they say yeah. And I say I'm that guy.

[C]

Play by play announcer John Boog Shombi.

[B]

And color analyst Chris Singleton swing a deep drive and forget it. Singy. He's been red hot, man. He is really seeing the ball well in this one. And watch their eyes get big.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I can't lie. I dig that. It's exciting that in some way I might be impacting some kids love for baseball through this silly game.

[A]

People play this thing a lot.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And so the idea that a someone in baseball is doing the thing that baseball has always been anxious about, which is reaching out and converting. Converting. Baptizing young people a little bit.

[B]

Sure. Yeah.

[A]

You get to feel that and you're the voice of that. But then there's a video that I saw recently. This is the reason why I brought you in the studio today because the video is not this. Actually, it is arguably the opposite.

[B]

He's got MLB to show in his house. He's sitting on his couch, older gentleman and he keeps score. So he's clearly playing and he keeps score of the game that he's playing, which is wild. And of course the dork in me that loves keeping score likes keeping a really clean scorecard.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Is like what's going on over there? What's keeping score of?

[A]

I didn't know that was possible or a thing anybody wanted to do. But of course when you are apparently an 86 year old gentleman whose grandson has decided to actually share with the world the thing that he's been seeing his grandfather doing apparently for 20 years.

[B]

It's Aaron Judge.

[A]

Now.

[B]

Here'S a swing and a drive left field. And he knew it. Amazing.

[A]

Because it's 20, 25 now. And that's true that you can play a video game at age 86 for 20 or so years and play and score it as if it's a real game. That this is the thing that the Internet. Agreed. Like we must celebrate. People need to know that this guy is out here merging the two worlds, virtual and real in a way that I, my mind was blown upon learning of this man and his passion.

[B]

The outside of the binder says mlb the show. I mean this is, we're, you know.

[A]

Analog, digital have rarely been so interwoven.

[B]

Holy cow.

[A]

And so I have an idea and I just need you to be willing to imperil your credibility again.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

Because this, this 86 year old man and say grandson may or may not be on their way here and you may or may not need to be the voice of the very thing that I have been talking about. Really, you're going to need to, to, to do something that I have full confidence, your ability to do.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Which is A, be yourself and, and.

[B]

B, be your monkey. That's what you're really saying.

[A]

I'm going to need you to dance.

[B]

I mean it's liter, it's, it's dancing, but it's also like. And you're going to put your hand up the back of my shirt and then just like, yeah, turn me into your, your sort of Muppet.

[A]

I'm going to be all up in there, man.

[C]

Sir Pablo.

[A]

Hello.

[C]

Hello. How are you?

[A]

Oh, the pleasure's all mine.

[C]

Call me Kim. Kim.

[A]

Kim, Kim, Kim.

[C]

Okay, that's it. So it's not my real name. But.

[A]

Wait a minute, what do you mean it's not your real name?

[C]

My real name is Joey Kim. My legal name. But my mother had a sense of humor. She cut it off and made Kim. So that's it. So, but my last name is Soriano.

[A]

So I was going to say any relation to.

[C]

No.

[A]

Alfonso.

[C]

No, same name, not the same money. That's the difference.

[A]

Well played. So this is New Jersey's own Kim Soriano, the 86 year old from the viral video which has been shared now and viewed well over a million times across TikTok and Instagram and all these other platforms. And what Kim proved to be as soon as I met him is a real character because, yeah, I just met him right then when I walked into our studio in that scene, you just heard, he was sitting at my desk. My mic wasn't even on yet. But what caught my attention even more immediately was the binder that Kim brought with him. Because what Kim's grandson Matt had told us is that his grandpa has not only been playing mlb, the show as the Yankees, his favorite team, but also he's been scoring the 162 games he has been playing on the video game every season over two decades now. Meaning that Kim is logging the unfolding details of a virtual video game by hand, as if he himself is also sitting in the stands or at home watching a real game. Which sounds crazy. Obviously, the Internet's favorite sports grandpa is basically merging a beloved analog ritual, which bugsjambi, by the way, also does. Does for every real life game that he calls in the booth with the video game world. And Kim's binder, which is now sitting here atop our desk, is the unambiguously earnest proof, which does make me feel a little guilty about what I'm about to do. So the book you have brought with you in studio today, can you describe it for people who may just be listening to us?

[C]

Okay.

[A]

What does it look like? What does it say on the front cover?

[C]

Well, I just put this on. Okay. The show. I just. Cause that's what I play, the show. Okay. Now what I do is I play every single Yankee.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The blue bind being opened up. Yeah.

[C]

I keep score.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

Of the lineup, and I keep score. And this is the. This right here is the blank page. And what I do is I go to a copy company.

[A]

Right.

[C]

And I get 182. 182 copies. And that's it.

[A]

So when does this start? When the game comes out. You get 182 copies ready for the new release of every game.

[C]

Yeah. Let's say the season opened this year. I think March 27th or something like that. I usually go beginning of March.

[A]

And will you play one game per day matching the real life schedule?

[C]

Yes.

[A]

Oh, my God. So you've been living a parallel Yankees season as this season has gone for.

[C]

You can call it that. Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

Does Giancarlo Stanton also have double tennis elbow in your universe, in your timeline.

[C]

I may get, like, tennis thumbs. What?

[A]

Yeah. I got blisters. I got. I got. Yeah. Blisters on my fingers. As. As a wise man, once.

[C]

But. And I'll tell you this, in all the years I have never been bored playing this game. And the fact I look forward to the next day, and that's it. It takes me about hour and 15 minutes, hour and 20 minutes to play the game.

[A]

And in your case, because you like me, we're both Yankee fans. You're living a parallel Yankee Season that I have to imagine is better than what we've been experiencing in real life so far.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

How are you guys doing in your timeline?

[C]

We're both in first place.

[A]

Amazing.

[C]

Sometimes it scares me because I'll play a game and they may come close to the game that I'm actually playing, what they play.

[A]

Right.

[C]

So right now, if I can remember right, I'm like, I'm in first place about three games. They're in first place by two and a half.

[A]

Right?

[B]

Right.

[C]

So it's. Sometimes it's scary.

[A]

So what you're saying is that sometimes the video game in real life, they couldn't match up, match up, even interact. Maybe the streams cross every now and again.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

This has gotten a little spooky, Kim. You may have more power in your controller, in these thumbs, than I realized.

[C]

The only thing I do when I play the game, I hit. Only I don't pitch. I put. I set everything up automatic. Automatic.

[A]

Oh, you automate pitching.

[C]

Automate pitching. Automate base, running, throwing. And all I do is hit.

[A]

Yeah. Why is that?

[C]

Because I was never too good at the other.

[A]

I'm getting a sense of how much you use this video game where you can do anything as truly like a simulation of something like your actual lived experience here on this version of planet Earth.

[C]

I've tried pitching. I tried hitting. And I mean hitting, throwing, base, running. I'm not good at that. And they're noisy, so.

[A]

But hitting, you think you would have covered first like Garrett Cole?

[C]

Garrett? No, I don't think so.

[A]

Yeah. Can't get him. Can't get on him for that one. That still haunts me, by the way. I was at game five at the stadium. You were there World Series? Yeah, I was there.

[C]

Really?

[A]

Yeah. I paid money off a StubHub okay to attend.

[C]

Well, he's out for the year, so.

[A]

Yeah, I know.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

I'm not giving him a break, though.

[C]

See? And I do that also. What do you do if Caracol's out?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I'll injure him.

[A]

You'll take a digital crowbar, take him out back.

[C]

There's a. An app on here. Okay. That you can manually injure a player.

[A]

That is sadistic, Kim. And I didn't realize that was possible.

[C]

Why? I got the. Hi. How you do it?

[A]

Oh, what is that?

[C]

Well, here.

[A]

Oh, you're taking a slip of paper.

[C]

From your blue binder setting.

[B]

You have.

[A]

You have. You have instructions you've written down on a torn off scrap of paper.

[C]

Go to gameplay.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

General set. The manual set to Manual? Yeah. You set injuries to manual so you can control it.

[A]

Do you feel like a God when you do that? Do you feel like you're in control of everything when you do that? It just feels like an intoxicating power to manually.

[C]

I think I feel more realistic.

[A]

I haven't played this game in probably 15 years.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

And you've been playing it every season. 182ish times a year. 82ish because the Yankees are making the postseason.

[C]

If I get to the playoffs.

[A]

Yeah. You're smiling. And I gotta say, this Yankee fan.

[C]

In the playoffs, I have never gotten to the World Series except for last year.

[A]

This is an honest suffering you signed up for. Does it hurt to not make and win the World Series?

[C]

You know, bobble at times, yeah.

[A]

I feel like you live, you are carrying and feeling the marathon that is the baseball season in a way that no video game player is actually signing up for. No one else is doing this.

[C]

Well, sometimes my wife says, what, are you crazy? Because like I'll strike out and I'll.

[A]

Go bang the table.

[C]

But all in all in all, it's. It's fun and I enjoy it.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And that's it. I don't have, I guess you could call it a hobby.

[A]

I mean, it feels like a lifestyle at this point.

[C]

I don't collect stamps, I don't collect coins. I don't go fishing, hunting that.

[A]

Should we start playing? Maybe. So this is not a competitive game. Can this be a tourist? You take me, Kim, on a tour of your world.

[C]

Okay. All right.

[A]

So while all of this is happening in our studio, I do need to review to you what 86 year old Kim Soriano does not know as the two of us sit here wearing headphones, which is that behind the reflective darkened glass of the PTFO studio where my producers normally sit is John Boog Chiambi, the voice of Kim's favorite thing in the entire world and the man who is going to surprise him in real life when Boog walks into the studio to join us. But before any of that can happen, what I've asked Boog to do in his capacity as guy who calls games for the Chicago Cubs on television as well as the World Series for ESPN Radio, in addition to the hundreds of hours of pre recorded voice work he does for mlb, the show is to do something similar, but something I did not realize at all when we set up this whole prank slash experiment is that Kim Soriano, perhaps predictably in retrospect, has a lot of opinions about Boog's line of work.

[C]

That's the thing I don't like about this game is the announcers are too repetitive. It's the same thing. So I put it on the lowest volume I could think of without totally shutting it off.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And that's the problem with the show.

[A]

Mmm.

[C]

It's repetitive.

[A]

You're saying that when you play the game, it all feels like that. That damn voice just keeps on saying the same, same over and over again.

[C]

Yep.

[A]

Is the announcer, though a good announcer, in your view?

[C]

I was a good announcer.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

Okay. But the tendency. The same thing over and over every single day.

[A]

That. That's just the.

[C]

Yeah. I don't want to hear the stories anymore.

[A]

Because you've heard them all.

[C]

I heard them all. Yeah.

[A]

Yankees, Cubs.

[C]

And that starts it.

[A]

Yeah. But what we've already done here that the Internet's favorite sports grandpa does not yet realize, but his grandson Matt does, is go into the game's manual settings not to injure any players, but to manually mute the show's announcing team of Play by Playman John Boog Chiambi and color guy and former MLB outfielder Chris Singleton all together. Which would allow the real Boog behind the glass to do play by play of our virtual Yankees Cubs game live into the headphones that Matt's grandpa and I are both wearing in studio. At least until Kim notices.

[B]

Welcome to Wrigley Field, everybody. A beautiful day for baseball. Second oldest park in the majors. It's the Yankees and the Cubs as we get ready for baseball on a gorgeous afternoon. And we've got a good pitching matchup. Couple of lefties. It'll be Max Freed and Shota Imanaga.

[C]

I never played on a screen this big.

[A]

Oh, yeah. Imanaga takes the mound.

[B]

Take a look at the numbers for the left hander. A season to go on. All Star Shota Imanoga and a 291 era. Anthony Volpe climbs in for the Yankees. And we're ready to go from the Friendly Confines.

[C]

So now this should work if I try to hit it right.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. So I'm going to. I'm going to throw you some heat. Spoiler alert.

[B]

Imanaga ready to work. Volpe waits. And here we go.

[A]

Oh, boy.

[B]

And the first pitch missing. A little bit low for ball one. Fans wanted that call to strike. So one and nothing of the Yankee shortstop, the lefty from Japan. Imanaga fires. And a swing and a miss. Anthony Volpe grew up. A Yankees fan checks his swing. The pitch misses low. It's two and one.

[C]

There you Go.

[A]

I don't like what I'm doing here.

[B]

And a pitch.

[A]

Totally. No. Come on.

[B]

And that misses. 3 and 1. Tight strike zone here in the early going.

[C]

See, it's a good game.

[B]

And a pitch. Swing and a miss. 4 seam fastball right there. And now the count is full. Nobody on, nobody out. Just getting started here at Wrigley. Three, two, pitch, check, swing. Did he go? Yes, he did.

[A]

I'm not. I'm not gonna lie to you, Kim. I don't really know what I'm doing. And I now understand why you only hit.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

Chisholm fouls. One off. And that one hit foul. So an opportunity for the Yankees as Pablo needs to clean up the defense.

[C]

See, right now he's hurt and I won't play him. I didn't even see that I was talking to you.

[A]

Oh, you're mad that the rosters on this one haven't updated.

[B]

Chisum is down on strikes. And now here's a matchup. It'll be Judge and Imanaga. This one drilled out to center field. Crow Armstrong. The early dive. Now he'll retrieve it and fire it in. And a single from Aaron judge. Big number 99 on base. Two aboard and one out.

[A]

I feel old these days, but not so old that a literal grandpa explaining how video games works to me isn't deeply confidence shaking.

[B]

Here's the former Cub, Cody Bellinger. This is drilled right field. Tucker is there to make the catch.

[C]

See how realistic it is?

[A]

That's realistic, man. This whole thing. By the way, the announcers. Yeah, They're. They're on top of it. They're on top of it.

[B]

So repetitive and realistic. And now it's John Carlos Stanton, tennis elbow or not, here he is.

[C]

I don't play him either. He's out.

[A]

Yeah, because he has double tennis elbow, obviously.

[C]

Huh?

[A]

Because he has the double elbow. Tendonitis.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Two away opportunity for the Yankees as Stanton bows it away. And it's one and one on the ground. Workmen will pick it up.

[C]

Up.

[B]

Races out.

[C]

You're pretty good at this.

[A]

Thank you.

[B]

Number three. That's some good defense by the man in the blue sweater. End of a half inning, the Yankees nothing. The Cubs coming to bat.

[A]

That's pretty good.

[C]

It is pretty good. Now what. What happens here now?

[A]

So I believe that. Okay, so in this case. Yeah, you're pitching. So do you want to hit? Do you want to?

[C]

Yeah, why not?

[A]

Okay. All right.

[C]

Okay. I'll be the Cubs still.

[A]

So we're switching controllers because Kim refuses as A permanent dh. In video games, you are going to hit and I'm going to now pitch.

[C]

So I should be able to hit now, right?

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

Ian Happ stands in facing Garrett Cole. And a swing and a miss. Early reports had Max Freed on the mound, but instead it will be the right hander Cole. If you're scoring at home, all the strike on the leadoff man. Three time Gold Glove winner, Ian Hap. Swing.

[C]

See what I like about this game? The stadiums are realistic.

[A]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[C]

The play is realistic.

[B]

One and two, here comes swing and a miss. And it gets past the catcher Wells. And safe at first is Ian Happ. How do you like that? In the first inning, each team with a strikeout and a reach in a wild pitch. Waka waka.

[A]

Honestly, like the repetitiveness of the announcers. He's. This guy's on top of it.

[B]

Beautiful day here at the Friendly Confines. Suzuki Hammers one. That's it in the right center field. Bellinger can't get it. That'll bang up against the brick wall as it hits off the ivy. Bellinger trying to throw it in. Let go of the baseball, Pablo.

[C]

Wait a minute. I got a question. How was that done? They mentioned your name and the blue sweater. How was that? Who was broadcasting the game?

[A]

That's. Isn't this game that. That doesn't happen for you, huh? That doesn't happen for you?

[C]

No.

[B]

Michael Bush at the plate now.

[C]

Totally different.

[A]

That's. I don't know.

[B]

And Bush takes a strike.

[A]

Wait, you're saying you've played this game this often and that's not happened yet?

[C]

Well.

[B]

Here at Wrigley Field, John Shamy with you, Chris Singleton on assignment. And they chant, let's go, Cubbies.

[C]

You see, that's the same guy that announces it. Jambi.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

But they never mentioned that the other guy is on assignment because that other guy, Chris Singleton, is always there and he's the one that comes up with the story. The repetitive.

[A]

So in other words, Seanbi, you're like, that guy's cool. It's Singleton, where you're just like, come on.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Golden opportunity for the Cubs.

[A]

He's a color guy and. Yeah, so.

[B]

And what the.

[C]

That's all right. I don't.

[A]

That's a problem.

[C]

See.

[B]

Here comes.

[A]

Isn't. That's. That's just newfangled baseball.

[B]

Lots going on and that was nasty. Garrett Cole, the backwards strikeout, and Bush down on strikes. Here comes Dansby Swanson and that one in there for a strike. It is nothing. And 1. What a gorgeous afternoon here on the north side of Chicago. The Cubs looking to strike first. John Chambi without the always repetitive Chris Singleton here on MLB the Show as that one gets away.

[A]

Do you miss Chris Singleton? Do you miss Chris Singleton?

[B]

What about John Schombi? Do you like John Schombi?

[C]

The other or not? The color guy?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Chris Singleton.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

The same stuff over and over.

[A]

Right, right.

[B]

We're gonna work on fixing that.

[C]

Hi.

[B]

How are you?

[C]

Good.

[B]

I'm John Shambi. Oh, nice to meet you.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

Love you. Playing MLB the Show.

[C]

Nice meeting you. It's a pleasure.

[B]

Yes. We got rid of Chris Singleton and his stories and it's just me. It's just me.

[C]

Is it just you?

[B]

It's just me. He's not here. I mean, eventually he's going to come and talk.

[C]

No, of course it's not.

[A]

He's going to be pretty pissed off.

[B]

He's. He's already pissed off.

[C]

I text that drives you clean.

[B]

Well, I mean, you play the game a lot. You do play the game a lot. I mean, you're playing a lot of the games. You know, like, we've been recording like 400 hours, like, but it's hard, you.

[C]

Know, I. I play 160. I've been playing this game since 2006.

[B]

It's amazing. So nice to meet you. I. Yes. Your video on Tick Tock. Amazing. I love that you keep score.

[A]

All right. We gotta. We gotta get booed.

[C]

Yeah. This is yesterday's. Yeah.

[B]

You know, I wanted to show you. I have my. So I keep score on an iPad.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

But it. But it looks exactly like this. I wanted to show you my scorecard from the World Series because I called the World Series on radio.

[C]

This is the blank ones.

[B]

Yeah. So there you go. I have them. I have them, too. I'll show you. I can show you mine.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah. I would like to see.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

Can you.

[B]

Can you go grab that.

[A]

Can you move your chair from the other side of the glass?

[C]

You walked in and you said you're John. I like blank.

[B]

How great is that, by the way? To play on that? Wouldn't you love to play? You play all the time there.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

It's pretty cool.

[C]

It is.

[B]

All right, back. I'm gonna get my. I'll get my score card and I'll show you and get a chair in there.

[A]

So. Surprise.

[C]

Huh?

[A]

I said surprise.

[C]

Yes. I looked. I said no to my shot. Like, everything went blank.

[A]

Part of me, Kim, feels very bad for what we perpetrated on You. The other part of me could not be happier. So while Boog has stepped out to grab his iPad and his own meticulously kept scorecards from the 2024 World Series when the Dodgers beat the Yankees in, you know, our actual timeline, which is parallel to the virtual timeline where Kim Soriano's virtual Yankees made the world for the first time in their history. I do just need to jump in here to clarify that I am not quite sure if our starstruck and pitching a verse and 86 year old grandpa totally understood what had just happened to him here in the Pablo Torre finds out studio. And who could blame him? What we've just done. You're now. You're now. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that we just.

[C]

That what?

[A]

We played an entirely fake fake. So Boog was announcing that game.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

From the other side of the glass.

[C]

I don't care. I thought it was cool.

[A]

Oh my God. I mean, just, just, just. There are a couple of moments when he personally mentioned my name where I was like, Boog, you are flying way too close to the sun right now. He is gonna find out.

[C]

I said to myself, wait, you mentioned Pablo guy in the blue sweater? I said, I never heard this.

[A]

But I was gonna say you would be the 1 person on earth to note that this does not typically happen in this video game. And you did notice that. But you were very polite. You were very polite.

[C]

But he does a great job of analogy.

[A]

He's gonna come sit with us.

[C]

He's got.

[A]

He's got the best voice in baseball.

[C]

Yes. I'm just gonna say that by far. By far, yes.

[A]

Boog is. Is an old friend of mine. And so we're gonna. We're gonna bring him in.

[B]

That's what my World Series score. You can just page it and with your hands. But that's.

[C]

It's similar.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And I use the same Sigura. You did a double single. Same as I do it. Except if the ground ball is short, I'll put G S. Okay. And then a dollar sign to it. Ah well, because we granted a second. It's. It's s. Right.

[B]

So I. I do 6, 3, 4, 3. That type of stuff.

[C]

Is this normal way? What broadcasters.

[B]

So I would say. I would say close to half of us now. I would say close to half of us now use that. But I would say half are still using paper.

[C]

Oh really?

[B]

Yeah. So like this is just a scan of your sheet.

[C]

I'll tell you that's. It's. It's detailed.

[B]

Yeah. So and then like, so that's the Dodgers down there and this is game one.

[C]

And you can save all.

[B]

Yeah, I have every game. I have all.

[C]

So, like, geez, maybe I should get something like that.

[B]

So, like, right, so this is game five of the World Series.

[C]

Right?

[B]

So that's that. This is game four.

[A]

So you. So Kim was asking, why are you here? And I feel like that's a reasonable question given that you just appeared out of the LED screen in my studio.

[C]

But when you showed up, y' all went totally my like.

[B]

So I am here because Pablo and I are good friends. And he told me, he showed me the. The Tick Tock video and he said, I think it'd be we. I've come in to do the show a few times. And he said, don't you think it'd be fun to come in and.

[A]

And torture the Internet?

[C]

And you've got the perfect voice for.

[B]

Thank you.

[C]

And better than Michael K. I'm telling.

[B]

Can we cut that part out? And yeah, we're going to clip that.

[A]

Send it to Michael.

[C]

Well, that's okay. That's my opinion.

[B]

Well, you know, I'm a New York City guy, by the way, so I grew up. I grew up. I went to Regis High School in New York. He and I went. We're separated by a few years, but okay.

[C]

But this game, this game, like I said, Pablo, it's realistic. It doesn't look like a video game. Doesn't look like a Pac man, you know, where they run like crazy. It's actual.

[B]

It's crazy how much the players look like the players.

[A]

Don't you think so in real life? So today Boog was on the other side of the glass narrating Truman showing, as it were, your experience in our studio. But when it comes to, like, how you actually recorded all of this for the game.

[B]

Yeah. So one of the things that's tough and I understand for the people that have been playing for a long time, you know, again, you have to remember how frequently you're playing the game relative to, you know, the amount of games that are actually being, you know, called. So you're going to hear some of the same stuff, but the way we have to record it in order to stitch it together, I have to say I record Aaron Judge's name, and I say Aaron Judge. And then I say Judge, and then I say Judge so that they can stitch them all together so that I can say Aaron Judge from California. But then if I want to say Judge swings and drives one, so. So they just take Judge. But then if I want to make a point and I say, judge, who was a pretty good high school basketball player. Like there's all these intonations that you have to follow. So you're just, you're recording. And then any type of exciting play, you have a. I'll come in and record. And they'll say, we're going to record a walk off homer in the division series, a walk off homer in the lcs in the, you know, on and on.

[C]

So it's, it's, it's amazing the way it's done because every game you broadcast, it's a different. It's different. Different. Totally different.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

You know, when I say the repetitive. It's more. It's more. No, actually, if I. And I know I put on a lot of YouTube shows and people who review, they say the same thing. They say, what they do is they turn the commentator all the way down.

[A]

I just like that. What I plan to be truly a. I had no idea how this was going to go. What I underestimated was how Kim had the most developed perspective of anybody. Into how many combinations of words your.

[B]

Pre recorded voice could fit into. Yeah, yeah.

[C]

Well.

[B]

And then the part that was hysterical was that I was. I made the reference to him in the blue sweater and he caught that. And then I said his name and his name was. And I said his name and he was like, wait a second.

[A]

So look at the AI Man. Crazy times. I don't know.

[B]

That's right. You never know.

[A]

You know, they're robots. Am I a robot right now, Kim? Hard to tell. You know?

[C]

You know, and the thing is, again, like, I've been playing this since the inception of. Yeah, since 2006. Okay. Since the 20th year. I have never been bored.

[A]

Can I ask you just what made you pick up the game in the first place and say, this is how I'm going to spend the next? At this point, 20 years.

[C]

Oh, I never figured that, that I was going to play for 20 years, but I used to imagine games. In fact, I used to go to my grandmother's house and in the backyard they had great steps. And I used to throw the ball against the steps to make believe I'm pitching and hitting. Okay. And then the years go on. I don't know if you remember. You probably do. When we didn't have the Internet, it was a dial up.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

I started with that.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[C]

Yeah. I used to plug it in.

[B]

Sure.

[C]

It was New Jersey Bell. And then I developed this. That's it.

[A]

And how long did it take you for you to fall in love with this game as.

[C]

Immediately. Immediately. And then I get very disappointed at the end of the season because it's over.

[A]

What am I going to do when the season ends? When your season ends for you? Which is?

[C]

Well, I end the season basically around the same time.

[A]

Right. So have you ever considered playing more games in between?

[B]

No. You're saying this season's over. I love this.

[A]

Before we say thank you and let you go, Kim, free you from the psychological experiment that you've unwittingly entered into thanks to your accomplice of a grandson, do you have anything you want to tell Boog at the end here? Do you have any last thoughts about this thing that you love, that he happens to be the voice of that you?

[C]

I just hope it continues until I go to the Great Beyond. No, I just want the game to continue because I enjoy playing it. Yeah.

[B]

You love baseball, don't you?

[C]

I do. Yeah, I do.

[A]

I am confident that in the Great beyond we can get booged to, you know, just be on the side of the glass, maybe.

[C]

You've done a great job. We really appreciate it, but I'm really happy to be here.

[A]

I cannot tell you how delightful it is for this entire thing to have just happened in front of me.

[C]

Well, there was a joke about Pete and Mike, who are the best of friends. They love baseball. They did everything together. They played every single game. And one day, Pete dies, goes to heaven. Two days later, he comes down and says, mike, I got good news and bad news. Good news is baseball and heaven. Bad news, you're pitching tomorrow.

[A]

This has been Pablo Torre Finds Out, a Meadowlark Media production. And I'll talk to you next time.