Drug Lords, Sheep Detectives, and Baseball | Hour 3 (feat. Jessica Smetana and David Samson)

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz

Episode: Drug Lords, Sheep Detectives, and Baseball | Hour 3
Date: May 21, 2026
Notables: Dan Le Batard, Stugotz, Jessica Smetana, David Samson, Mike Golick Jr.

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Overview

This episode, recorded at the Elser Hotel in Downtown Miami, delivers the show's trademark blend of sports banter, pop-culture riffing, and playful panel dynamics. Dan, Stugotz, Jessica Smetana, and David Samson dive into everything from absurd TV plotlines ("Euphoria"), the merits of family-friendly movies, the evolving college football playoff debate, late-night TV's shift, and a nerdy deep dive into Major League Baseball history with nostalgic trivia and analysis.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Pop Culture, TV, and Movie Banter

Euphoria Recap (01:40-03:50)

• Jessica and Jess exchange wild, exaggerated synopses of "Euphoria" despite not watching it, riffing on its sensational leaps: Rue as an FBI informant, missing toes and fingers, OnlyFans plots, and plenty of drug lords.
  • Memorable Quote:
    Jess: "The last time I saw, she was buried up to her neck in D. Some guy was riding a horse and I said, what is the show even about?" (01:57)
  • The panel jokes about convoluted, dark teen drama plot devices and exchanges secondhand accounts from friends.

Discussion of DTF St. Louis (04:09-05:47)

• Dan and Jess discuss Jason Bateman's recent series:
  • Praise for its "dark, funny" tone.
  • Jess points out a "weird" ending and sideline of Bateman's wife, but appreciates experimental storytelling.
  • Dan laughs at mundane comedic details: the "giant umpiring equipment" as a sensual buzzkill.

Sheep Detectives Movie Review (06:16-10:22)

• Jess enthusiastically reviews "Sheep Detectives":
  • CGI sheep, Hugh Jackman as a shepherd, talking animals, and murder mystery with a twee, emotional touch.
  • Both Jess and Mike Golick Jr. admit to crying during the film, though the mystery was easy.
• Mike Golick Jr. shares theater anecdotes, watching in an empty auditorium with his daughter.
  • Quote:
    Mike Golick Jr.: "It was actually pretty great to watch a whodunit that way because we were just by ourselves...we were shouting back and forth at one another the latest developments in the case." (09:44)
• Brief rabbit holes about AMC’s loyalty program and popcorn perks.

2. Sports Talk: College Football Playoff Expansion

College Football Playoff Debate (15:01-18:57)

• Jess expresses disapproval:
  • Rapid changes to playoff format without letting the current 12-team system "breathe."
  • Main concerns: bloated postseasons, devalued regular seasons, TV revenue risks.
• Dan and Jess discuss potential consequences—loss of conference championship games, risk to SEC regular season ratings, "Super League" fears.
  • Quote:
    Jess: "It makes absolutely no sense to me. Why not...wait and see how this looks in like five years before we make a major change again?" (15:49)
• Mike Golick Jr. and Jess riff on how fans outside SEC/Big Ten circles would simply move on if the two big leagues "broke away."
  • Mike quotes Iowa State’s AD: "Let them go all in on all their sports. See how fun it is...when it's just 20 of you." (17:20)

3. Topic Roulette: Stephen Colbert, Robots, and More

Stephen Colbert’s Next Act (20:01-21:31)

• Jess chooses to discuss Colbert, noting his love for Lord of the Rings.
  • Excitement for a rumored new Tolkien film focused on "Fog on the Barrow Downs" with Colbert co-writing.
  • Faith that Colbert, as a "genuine fan," will "be a great steward of J.R.R. Tolkien's original intent."
• Panel jokes about confusing "Barry White" with "Barrow-wights."

4. Baseball Deep Dive: The Pitch Clock Segment

MLB Standings Parity and Trends (24:10-36:26)

• David Samson breaks down current AL/NL disparities:
  • AL has only four teams at .500 or better, NL has ten.
  • Compares seasonal league strength shifts to NBA conference ebb and flow.
  • Explains the "46 collar" to measure standings clustering.
  • Quote:
    "Baseball is at its best when interleague's a part of life...when you've got enough teams that can actually play competitively against each other." (29:20)

Phillies’ Turnaround and Manager Effect (30:08-32:51)

• Phillies surged to 15-4 since firing Rob Thompson and hiring Don Mattingly.
• David Samson is skeptical about "manager effect" being the only reason:
  • "It's so much more random than people think."
  • Cites 2003 Marlins’ midseason turnaround for parallel.

Cincinnati Reds’ Slump (34:58-36:26)

• The Reds, once a feel-good story, are now struggling; David urges focus on reaching .500 and pitching depth.
  • Young stars like Elly De La Cruz must adapt as the league adjusts to them.

Marlins' Diamond-in-the-Rough Finds and Rays Pitching Factory (36:26-40:04)

• Praise for Marlins finding under-the-radar players: Liam Hicks (RBIs leader), Otto Lopez (leading in hitting).
• Discussion of Nick Martinez, reinvention at age 35, and Tampa’s uncanny pitcher development.
  • Memorable Quote:
    David Samson: "When [the Rays] choose to pay a pitcher $13 million, I believe they know something that I got wrong or my guys didn't see..." (38:00)
  • The panel marvels at the Rays’ mysterious "secret sauce."

5. Baseball Nostalgia Trivia: Marlins/Expos Challenge

Pitch Clock Trivia Game (24:10–44:16)

• Participants play an all-time lineup game: Marlins and Expos franchise leaders by position.
• Spirited guessing and self-deprecating banter as several key names are finally guessed after struggles.
• Key moments:
  • Andre Dawson as an Expo legend (42:27).
  • Orlando Cabrera correctly guessed at SS (43:11).
  • Tim Raines, Tim Wallach, and Andres Galarraga round out the list.
  • Dan’s classic exasperation:
    Dan: "If the answer is Tim Wallach and it's an all time leader...we should never have done this. This is garbage." (43:53)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• TV Nonsense:
  Jess: "Sometimes she'll come over, she'll just tell me, like, the whole plot of Despicable Me 3 for, like, an hour, and then she'll leave." (03:59)

• Movie Talk:
  Jessica: "Are they real sheep?" (08:05 & 19:01 — repeated for comedic effect)

• Playoff Expansion:
  Dan Le Batard: "Money. Just more games." (16:17)

• Tolkien Love:
  Jess: "If we get more Tolkien content by, like, Stephen Colbert...then I'm happy he'll have that extra time on his hands." (21:13)

• Baseball Joke:
  Dan Le Batard: "He looks like something between a billiards ball and the movie Powder." (19:25)

• Baseball Panel Groans:
  Dan Le Batard: "This is a stupid game." (43:18)
  Chris Cody: "Your franchise stunk." (43:57)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:40–03:50: Euphoria absurd recap
• 04:09–05:47: DTF St. Louis discussion
• 06:16–10:22: Sheep Detectives movie review
• 15:01–18:57: College football playoff expansion debate
• 20:01–21:31: Stephen Colbert’s next project / Lord of the Rings
• 24:10–44:16: Pitch Clock: MLB trivia, debate, and analysis with David Samson

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Tone and Atmosphere

Playful, irreverent, and heavy on inside jokes and pop culture asides. The group’s chemistry is palpable, mixing knowledgeable sports breakdowns with comic asides, running gags (the realness of CGI sheep, hat punishments), and layered nostalgia—especially in the baseball trivia banter.

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For New Listeners

This episode is a microcosm of what makes the Le Batard Show unique: expect hilarious deep-dives into the trivial and the topical, sharp yet silly commentary on the state of sports and TV, and an atmosphere where knowledge and absurdity co-exist. The standout discussions here are the playful takedown of current TV show plots, a heartfelt/mocking review of a children’s whodunit, a smart critique of college football’s postseason changes, and an enjoyable, exasperating trip down MLB memory lane.

Transcript

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[Dan LeBatard]

This is the Dan Levatar show with the Stugats podcast.

Pitch Clock is coming up later this hour and I am going to delay what it is that I just promised you on late night television. I'm sure everybody can't believe that I'm going to delay it because they want to hear again what I have to say about late night television until the post game show. But Jess is here. Check out her weekly Notre Dame podcast, the Echoes on with Mike Golick Jr. And is not, not, not an echo, echo chamber. Zaz, do you have any updates for her? I know you and her have been connecting over Euphoria.

[Jessica]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Jess, have you watched the most recent episode of Euphoria?

[Jess]

No, just clips on Twitter.

[Jessica]

Neither have I. I've never seen the show before. Can you believe what's going on with Rue right now? She is like, she's. She's a. She's an FBI informant now. Jess, I.

[Jess]

The last time I saw, she was buried up to her neck in D. Some guy was riding a horse and I said, what is the show even about? That I don't even know anymore. That's Alamo High School, Zaz. I thought they were in high school.

[Jessica]

No, that was years ago. That's seasons one and two again. I've never seen the show, but that. Seasons one and two, that was Alamo who buried her up to her neck and he was, he was threatening to like, you know, hit her with a polo stick. He's. He's a drug lord. That's who she's running drugs for. But he doesn't know yet. She's now an FBI informant because she got arrested. Okay? So Rue is in very big trouble. And then you got her whole relationship with Jules, who she's still, like, trying to get with, even though that didn't really work in high school. And that's a very complicated relationship. Ruin Jules. And then you got Nate, who still owes that guy all the money. He had his toe cut off, his pinky toe. And now Dan. They cut off his finger, all right, because he hasn't paid yet. And that's what happens if you don't pay people. So he doesn't have a finger now, but he's suddenly very supportive, even though his wife Cassie, has moved out to pursue her only fans career. And Nate is very. He's very supportive because he's kind of manipulating her to make all the money doing the only fans and sex work stuff, and then send him the money so he can get out of debt. You know, he's manipulating.

[Jess]

It's not going from pinky toe to finger. Kind of an aggressive escalation. At least go to fourth toe or other pinky toe.

[Jessica]

Jess.

[Jess]

I mean, we're really.

[Jessica]

Jess. He owes a million dollars. He owes a million dollars. He's lucky the guy hasn't killed him yet. All right, But Cassie's out there doing her thing with Maddie. I think she's stabbing Maddie in the back. Kind of like the old high school days again. High school is seasons one and two. I've never seen an episode, but they're not. Shit's popping off in Euphoria these days, Jess.

[Jess]

It's definitely popping off. I had. Lucy came over the other day and told me everything that's happening. And the toe thing, I don't like it.

[Jessica]

Oh, so Lucy has seen Euphoria.

[Jess]

Lucy actually watches it. She says she hates pressing play on it every Sunday.

[Jessica]

I've never seen it.

[Jess]

Sometimes she'll come over, she'll just tell me, like, the whole plot of Despicable Me 3 for, like, an hour, and then she'll leave. That's what our hangs are like. It's fun.

[Dan LeBatard]

Do you like or did you like DTF St. Louis? Because I really thought that was a great, dark, funny show. And basically, at this point, anything Jason Bateman is choosing to attach himself to is something I want to watch.

[Jess]

I did like it, Dan. We talked about it very briefly when you were gone a few weeks ago. It was very dark, very weird. I'm not sure if I loved how it ended. And I also had a slight issue with how they ignored Jason Bateman's wife. For the entire season and tried to make him like a. You know, he was a sympathetic character, I would say, but I also felt kind of bad for his family, but it was different and I like different, so I enjoyed it. I would. I don't know if they can do a season two, because that would be weird, but if they did, I would watch it.

[Dan LeBatard]

Well, one of the things that they did that was so funny, and I had just never considered the funny in the idea of how the umpire. Not sensual. The giant umpiring equipment is like, what?

[Jess]

What?

[Dan LeBatard]

What an incredible turnoff. The giant chest protector is what? Tony, what are you shaking your head off?

What is this supposed to be like?

[Mike Golick Jr.]

I don't understand.

[Jess]

Like, so Linda Cardellini is married to David Harbour, and Jason Bateman is a local weatherman who becomes friends with David Harbour. And part of the premise is that David Harbour no longer finds Linda Cardellini attractive. Which, in my head, I was like, bullshit. That's impossible. She's one of the hottest women ever. But then they have this running. She decides to become an umpire to make some cash on the side. And so they show these, like, montages of her in her umpire outfit. And that is. That was when I started realizing, oh, I think I. This sense of humor fits with what I. What I like. That is a very funny bit.

[Dan LeBatard]

There are a few shows like that that are really testing boundaries between dark and funny. Widow's Bay, I just started this on Apple four episodes in, and it's both dark and funny.

[Jess]

I haven't watched it yet. I was told I will love it. It has Matthew Rees in it, who was in the Americans, and I love him, Dan. I love him. So that's my plan for Memorial Day weekend.

[Dan LeBatard]

Zaz, what do you know about DTF St. Louis?

[Jessica]

Not that I've never seen it.

[Jess]

Well, you know what else I saw this past weekend? Zaz, what do you know about Sheep Detectives?

[Jessica]

Oh, I. I think I want to see that. That looks funny, right?

[Jess]

It was funny. It was also a tear jerker. I cried.

[David Sampson]

I.

[Jess]

Again, Lucy. AMC A Lister took me to the movies. We were in.

[Jessica]

Like, hold on, hold on a second. Yeah, okay. What does that encompass, AMC A Lister?

[Jess]

No idea. It encompasses. She got all the tickets and the popcorn.

[Jessica]

Like, does she get to go? Okay, Dan, I don't know. When's the last time you went to the movies? Okay, but that at amc, there's like, you have the snack line, and snack line kind of, you know, wraps around like a maze. And then if you're like, in Their membership Express lane. Yeah, yeah. You get to, like, skip all the way over here and go first. Like, is that. Is that part of the. Like, does Lucy get to do that?

[Jess]

So we were in the children's section of the theater where there's a separate concessions line, and she was telling me while we were in line because there was a line. So I guess. No, there's not a separate line. She's like, they give me an upgrade on popcorn with my AMC list membership. So she went up and she's like, I'll get the medium popcorn, but it comes with an upgrade to large. And I'm like, this. This girl, she knows what she's doing. So we did get an upgrade on the popcorn, and that might be it. I think you get discounted tickets. I imagine that would be the whole premise of it is the discounted tickets. But, yeah, Sheep Detective, if you have to. If you are bored this weekend, the weather is stinky, you get. You have an extra day off work, and you need a movie that is family friendly but also funny for adults. Highly recommend the Sheep Detectives because it was. First of all, it's a murder mystery, which I obviously, Dan, you know, as a Columbo Stan. A Poirot Stan. A Murder She Wrote Stan. Like, this is right up my alley. It's a murder mystery. And this is not a spoiler, but Hugh Jackman is a shepherd in a small village in England.

[Jessica]

Are they real sheep?

[Jess]

No, they're all CGI sheep, but they

[Mike Golick Jr.]

actually don't look like a ridiculous human being.

[Chris Cody]

You are.

[Jess]

Well, I mean.

[Mike Golick Jr.]

No, no, no.

[Dan LeBatard]

That was.

[Mike Golick Jr.]

That was for Zaz. Just how he communicated.

[Jess]

I know, I know it was for Zaz, but I don't think.

[Jessica]

Oh, real sheep.

[Jess]

I think it was a fair question. I think it was a fair question. The delivery. Yeah, the delivery is always going to be special with him. But the sheep do talk, which I thought would be a term.

[Jessica]

So not real.

[Jess]

Correct. They did it well enough where the talking sheep actually don't look terrible. So it's a murder mystery. Hugh Jackman, he's a very nice shepherd, also super hot. I'm like, okay, sure, buddy. He's living in this village in England and he gets murdered, and the sheep are like, oh, my God, we have to. And Nicholas Braun, whose cousin Greg in succession plays a bumbling British police officer in the small town. So he has to solve the crime. It's very cute, very twee, very sad. I cried.

[Mike Golick Jr.]

I was super excited for this film. I take my daughter to movies all the time, and this trailer caught our attention. She wanted to see the sheep movie. So we went for an 11am Saturday morning showing. Oh, and we were the only ones ruined your day? No, we were. We were the only ones in the theater. I was bummed. I've been. I'm a big sheep detectives guy. I cracked the case about 35 minutes in. I knew it.

[Jess]

Oh, same. Yeah, it was. It was not. Not the most difficult mystery to solve. But Mike did. Did Julia like it was it?

[Mike Golick Jr.]

She did. But she had never been in an empty theater before. It was just us too. So she spent most of the movie not really following the case, but climbing on every individual seat that was available in the theater.

[Jeremy]

Have to.

[Mike Golick Jr.]

But it was actually pretty great. It was actually pretty great to watch a whodunit that way because we were just by ourselves. So we were shouting back and forth at one another the latest developments in the case and how we think that that might play into our working theory. We got there together, which was a beautiful thing.

[Jess]

Well, I was worried about this with young Lucy, but like, were any of the themes too heavy for your. For your daughter? Because it was. There were times in the movie where there was quite some depressing things happening on screen.

[Dan LeBatard]

Young Lucy, you think is the same as Mike?

[Jeremy]

Was she running around the theater as well?

[Dan LeBatard]

Daughter.

[Jess]

No, I'm just kidding. But we did turn to each other at the end and we both had. I had a fat tear rolling down my cheek. And we looked at each other and

[Dan LeBatard]

we were like, God, Mike does a lot of things to just amuse himself. You can put that back on the screen again. You'll see here that he had a hat made to celebrate how Tony pronounces cons. You saw that?

[Mike Golick Jr.]

That's Cane's connection to you. Dan. Look at my shirt.

[Chris Cody]

I don't have N D ls, I

[Mike Golick Jr.]

have Canes written on it.

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[Jessica]

Don LeBatard I don't like smutty either.

[Mike Golick Jr.]

Stugats.

[Jess]

Women stay home in the kitchen where they belong.

[Jessica]

This is the Dan Levatar show with the stugats.

[Dan LeBatard]

Jessica, what are your Thoughts on the 24 team college football Playoff debate?

[Jess]

Speaking of the Canes, I hate it, Dan. I hate that there is so much support for it right now. The only things standing in its way are ESPN and the SEC who are not cool with it. They don't want 24 teams. They want to either stay with 12 or do 14 or 16. If you've seen any of the mock brackets that have been out there for what the 2014 playoff would have looked like this past football season, you may notice that most of the first round games are not that good. But the second round games look like they're all awesome. Which is why I'm like, okay, the 16 team playoff, if you have like five auto bids and then 11 at large teams, I, I can kind of see what we're doing here, but I just find it quite absurd in its totality for so many reasons. But one of the main reasons that I don't think is discussed enough is that we've, we've changed the postseason already, like multiple times in the last decade. And we, we're gonna do it again with like such a limited sample size for what this actually has done for the sport in the postseason. It makes absolutely no sense to me. Why not? I mean, I know why, but like, hypothetically, if I didn't know, why not just wait and see how this looks in like five years before we make a major change again?

[Dan LeBatard]

Money. Just more games.

More.

[Jess]

I mean, that's why. More games. But, like, I don't even think ESPN wants the games. Like, I think that they're concerned, which is, I think a very legit concerned, that the regular season ratings that they have, especially their SEC ratings in the regular season are so good right now, you might F that up if you a like, they SEC certainly does not want to get rid of their conference championship game. They have like the most revenue generated from their conference championship game. This would get rid of conference championship games. But if you have teams going into the season who can lose three, maybe even four games and still make a playoff, then your, you know, weeks six or week seven, Alabama, Tennessee, regular season game doesn't matter as much or, you know, all of these games matter slightly less. And I don't think you can really effectively convince me that that would not be the case. So if the regular season ratings, which are really good right now are going to go down in hopes that maybe you make it up on the back end with playoffs that are now going head to head possibly with the NFL in the, you know, December, January part of the year where the NFL doesn't have to abide by the Sports Broadcasting act, where they, you know, can't do Friday, Saturday or whatever. Like, I feel like this would be a pretty big mistake if I'm the

[Mike Golick Jr.]

other conferences and if I'm Notre Dame, I hold the line as long as possible because only so many more years of Alabama traveling to Tallahassee and losing to FSU can you keep doing this SEC Big 10 bullshit that has been happening for the last few years while other teams from other conferences are making it all to the title game. I don't know if you saw the quotes from Iowa State's athletic director yesterday, but I'm kind of down with this attitude quote on the Big Ten in sec. Let them break away. We should let them break away. Let them go. But they have to go all in on all their sports. See how fun it is to play baseball, softball and track when it's just 20 of you. That's what I'm thinking we should do. But I'm one person, so that's probably a little bit more draconian. But that's how I feel like about it. Like, let's quit talking. Go ahead, do it. Quit threatening.

[Jess]

Yeah, why not? I mean, there's dozens of us, right, Mike? Like there, there's a. There's so many college football fans and college, just sports fans in general outside of the Big Ten in the sec that would be like, okay, cool, I guess. Well, you guys can keep playing your Michigan State, Purdue games and stuff. But, like, we're. Our teams are still playing over here, so have fun with that. We're going to keep doing our thing. I don't know. I think the whole thing is depressing. I guess maybe like the argument for the 2014 playoff is that it delays the inevitable Super League. But yeah, I don't. I don't think the Super League is a very appealing thing for me either, as a fan.

[Jessica]

Are they real sheep? It's a legit question.

[Jess]

Can you play that again?

[Jessica]

Are they real sheep?

[Mike Golick Jr.]

It had to be asked,

[Jess]

was there like a grit of death punishment that I missed? Like, why no hat?

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh, geez.

Oh, no. Oh no.

[Jessica]

Are they real sheep?

[Dan LeBatard]

She thinks it's a punishment to take away your hat.

[Jess]

I've never seen him without a hat on.

[Dan LeBatard]

He looks like something between a billiards ball and the movie Powder.

[Jessica]

I don't know what you're laughing so hard about, Jeremy.

[Dan LeBatard]

Yeah, go after me for what?

[Jeremy]

Someone in the YouTube comments said earlier that he looks like a glow stick that won't turn off.

[Jess]

God, that's mean.

[Jessica]

You're the one who said it.

[Jess]

I did not say glow stick that won't turn off.

[Dan LeBatard]

We've got pitch clock in a couple of minutes and we're going to play Topic Roulette with Jessica. Would you prefer to talk about robots, Caitlin Clark or Stephen Colbert?

[Jess]

Oh, Stephen Colbert. Wait, do we have to spin the wheel?

[Dan LeBatard]

No. Okay.

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[Jeremy]

Yeah,

[Jess]

I landed on Stephen Colbert. Dan. I'll start. I love Stephen Colbert because he's the biggest Lord of the Rings nerd ever. And while I'm sad that his show is going away, he apparently is helping write a new Lord of the Rings movie based off of a chapter in the Fellowship of the Ring Fog on the Barrow Downs, which is when the hobbits are kidnapped by barrow wights. And they Barrow wights are like these kind of undead evil spirit things. And this none of this showed up in the movies. There was no Tom Bombadil in the movies. He was in the Amazon series, which was a fairly controversial decision. But this movie would be one of, I think one of reader's favorite chapters of the Lord of the Rings that never made it into Peter Jackson's original trilogy. And so I'm really excited that he's going to have time to work on this now. And if we get more Tolkien content, buy like Stephen Colbert, who is a genuine fan and who loves it and I think will be a great steward of J.R.R. tolkien's original intent in his work Then I'm happy he'll have that extra time on his hands. And I'm really excited to see this movie. And I think. I think a lot of Lord of the Rings fans feel the same way.

[Dan LeBatard]

Dan, what an unusual decision for him to make on what his next move is. It's the only thing he's announced that he's gonna actually do next.

[Mike Golick Jr.]

But I'm excited to finally watch a Lord of the Rings movie because Barry White. Are you kidding me?

[Dan LeBatard]

More than one.

[Mike Golick Jr.]

I'm a huge Barry White guy, so.

[Chime Advertiser]

You're right.

[Dan LeBatard]

Thank you, Jessica. Appreciate the time.

[Jess]

Salute.

[Dan LeBatard]

Pitchcock.

[Jess]

I don't know why I saluted.

[Mike Golick Jr.]

Damn it, Tony. You know that moment at a party or at a tailgate where everything just sort of clicks? I know it.

[Dan LeBatard]

Well, it's usually when I show up, everybody goes crazy.

[Mike Golick Jr.]

Yeah. You usually take all the credit for it, but it's because Tony usually walks in with Cuervo.

[Dan LeBatard]

Walking like this.

[Mike Golick Jr.]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cuervo is a thing that turns hanging out into this is the night. It has that effect on people.

[Jessica]

It does.

[Mike Golick Jr.]

You usually take the credit for it, but again, it's the Cuervo effect. It's like that moment in a big game where everyone in the crowd just starts standing up, hooting and hollering. Keep it Cuervo.

[Dan LeBatard]

Keep it cuervo, baby.

[Jessica]

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[Jessica]

Don LeBatard can I tell you something? I don't know, maybe like a month ago and I decided to watch Pitch Clock and I told Jeremy Stugats, this is a good show you're doing. This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stugach.

[Dan LeBatard]

So nobody on the show told people that we wouldn't have a pitch clock

[Jeremy]

last week we didn't have one.

[Dan LeBatard]

No.

[Chime Advertiser]

What?

[Dan LeBatard]

Welcome to the Pitch Clock. Here's the Pitch, a two part baseball segment combining a nostalgic baseball trivia game and an interview with an expert. This is the Pitch Clock. We're back.

[David Sampson]

However.

[Dan LeBatard]

Pitch clock's back. Sorry we missed you last week. I was on a chartered flight and staying in first class hotels. It was awesome. Anyway, it's. I just had to brag. It's time for our trivia game. Before David Sampson joins us us on this episode, we'll dive into a bunch of fun stuff. But Ethan, what is our trivia game today?

[Chris Cody]

So guys, I've obviously been watching a lot of the hockey and this week the Montreal Canadiens advanced.

[Dan LeBatard]

I don't like where this is going. Oh boy.

[Chris Cody]

Guys, we all remember the Montreal Expos, right? Don't we miss them? Don't you miss those uniforms? The logo. So young when they moved to Washington. But I, I just, I'm still nostalgic

[Jeremy]

for the lad throwing the ball on a string from right field all the

[Chris Cody]

way to the cat, Larry Walker. The Montreal Expos had some great players. Like you don't realize how many great players they have.

[Mike Golick Jr.]

Gary Carter.

[Chris Cody]

So anyway, inside your folder if you'll open I will actually on one on the side that you'll open to, you see a Marlins logo.

[Dan LeBatard]

I do see a Marlins.

[Chris Cody]

So famously the Marlins played in the last game in Stadio.

[Dan LeBatard]

Olympic.

[Chris Cody]

I believe that's what it's called in Montreal. I just know that means Olympic Stadium in French cooking.

[Jeremy]

Already here.

[Dan LeBatard]

Yeah.

[Chris Cody]

So the Marlins played in the last game on September 29th, 9th, 2004 in Montreal's ballpark.

[Jeremy]

Do you know who that right fielder is? I do.

[Chris Cody]

So on the other side of the sheet, this is a double sided sheet, you will see a roster of Expos.

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh boy.

[Chris Cody]

These are their all time leaders in hits like that position, there are some players that were the leaders at multiple positions I took put them in their primary position and then for their secondary position, I took second place. The pitcher in this lineup is the all time leader in wins for the Montreal Expos.

[Dan LeBatard]

So man, it would help if I knew how Long.

[Chris Cody]

The expos were around 1969 to 2004.

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh, boy.

[Chris Cody]

We're gonna do three strikes and you're out. Chris Cody, you were the winner of Pitch Clock Jeopardy. Last time out two weeks ago. You have the board.

[Jeremy]

Luis Castillo, number one. Of course. Second base.

[Dan LeBatard]

Who else would that be? All right, well, I'll go ahead. Juan Pierre, number nine, center field for the Marlins.

[Chime Advertiser]

Yep.

[Chris Cody]

Off to a fast start.

[Jeremy]

Alex Gonzalez, shortstop.

[Chris Cody]

Yep. Correct.

[Dan LeBatard]

Mike Lowell, third base.

[Chris Cody]

Of course.

[Jeremy]

Jeff Conine, first base.

[Mike Golick Jr.]

Yep.

[Chris Cody]

We could do this all day.

[Dan LeBatard]

Voice. Miguel Cabrera, left field.

[Jessica]

Yes.

[Jeremy]

You ready for this? I'm afraid I don't want to do it. I'm so scared. Carl Pavano, pitcher.

[Chris Cody]

Correct.

[Dan LeBatard]

Nice.

[Jeremy]

I know who right field is. I'm, like, 80% sure.

[Dan LeBatard]

I'm afraid to say so. I'm afraid.

[Chris Cody]

What about behind the plate?

[Dan LeBatard]

I'm afraid. On Catcher, number 14? I'm afraid you know where my head's at.

[Chris Cody]

I know where you do.

[Jeremy]

Shut your mouth.

[Dan LeBatard]

No, because we know.

[Jeremy]

Here's what it is. Just shut your mouth.

[Dan LeBatard]

There's a guy that they trade. We've talked about him recently as a

[Jeremy]

trade, and he wore either that number

[Dan LeBatard]

or six or another number. You knew the other number? I was thinking. I'm going with it. Paula Duca.

[Chris Cody]

That is correct.

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh, thank God.

[Chris Cody]

What's the other name you were thinking of? I'm curious.

[Jeremy]

No, he's just.

[Dan LeBatard]

He wasn't sure if it was. I wasn't sure if it was 14 or 16.

[Chris Cody]

I think he wore 14 and then he switched to 16.

[Dan LeBatard]

Really?

[Chris Cody]

Because on MVP baseball 2005, he wears 16.

[Dan LeBatard]

Guy knows everything about MP.

[Jeremy]

Now, I totally could be wrong on this, but I know this guy wore number three for us.

[Mike Golick Jr.]

Yeah.

[Jeremy]

Chris Agila.

[Chris Cody]

That's the one. I wasn't sure if you guys were gonna get it. I wasn't sure if you guys were gonna get it.

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh, all right. Well, we're done with the Marlin, so

[Chris Cody]

we went perfect on the Marlins.

[Dan LeBatard]

Wow. And now back with US as our 2026 MLB expert is David Sampson of Nothing Personal with David Sampson. David, very excited to have you back here on the pitch clock, and I want to dive right into this with you because it's been kind of a strange season so far. When you look at the American League and the National League, in the American League as we sit here during this recording, There are only four teams that are at.500 or better, and yet in the national league, there are 10 teams that are.500 or better. You see some of the the, the different things in the standings like the NL Central, where there are two teams that are about 10 back in their own division, that would basically be a wild card team in the American League. It's unbelievable to watch. What do you make of this disparity between the American League and the National League right now?

[David Sampson]

There is no exact reason other than some years the Western Conference in the NBA is stronger than the Eastern Conference. Some years the Eastern Conference is stronger. Generally we've seen what I would call league parody where you had, generally at the end of the season, X Number of teams below 500. X Number of teams above 500. But mostly within what we call the 46 collar. The 46 collar in the front office. When we talk about that, generally teams are going to be.600 winning percentage or lower and.400 winning percentage or better. And if you're lower than that, you're definitely, you're going to lose over 100 games. And if you're higher than that, you're clearly going to win the division to be a favorite to win the World Series. And so when I look at that collar, which is how I examine the standing, and you look to see Tampa at 674, but sort of in the, in the 4 to 6 collar, the only teams in baseball are the Astros and the Angels and the Rockies. There's three teams below that color and there's no teams really playing. You know, you've got Atlanta higher than 650 and you've got, of course, the Tampa bay rays higher than 650. And what I'm enjoying thinking about that is what it means for the rest of the season. Because baseball is at its best when interleague's a part of life, it's a part of the math. But the dog days of summer are manageable when you've got enough teams that can actually play competitively against each other. Yeah. And to do that, you have to have as few crappy teams as possible.

[Dan LeBatard]

Yeah, there are a lot of really solid teams right now that are sitting near the bottom of their division, but. But only a few games back of one another. Because there are teams that got off to bad starts that have been good. There are teams that got off to good starts that have been bad. And I actually want to go through a couple of those with you because ever since the Phillies fired Rob Thompson and hired Don Mattingly, they have literally been the best team in baseball. They're 15 and 4 at the time of this recording. Since hiring Don Mattingly, Kyle Schwaber's on pace for what feels like 90 home runs. All of a sudden, he's. He's totally turned it around. And what's so funny, David, is you and I sat on this podcast about a week into the season, and we're both maybe even a little bit enjoying, but watching the Phillies and going, oh, my God, they're old. They're done. It's over. And now they've been playing out of their minds. What do you see in their turnaround?

[David Sampson]

Well, think about our Marlins from 03. We fired Jeff Torborg, and we were 10 games under.500. That's where the Phillies were at 9 to 19. We brought in Jack McKeon, and we were the best team in baseball starting in May, and that lasted all the way through October. And the irony is, we were not supposed to be underdogs against the Giants or the Cubs or the Yankees, but we were gambling underdogs. But in terms of who the better team was, it was always our team. And when you look at what Philly's done, is Don Mattingly so different than Rob Thompson? I will tell you that Jack McKean was different than Jeff Torborg. There's no question about him. It. But I'll also tell you that we had good players, and those good players were put in a position to be good, which many teams do. But then we actually won games. So it's so much more random than people think in terms of. We now have a narrative. We pin this to Donnie, and I love Don Mattingly. It's just outstanding that he's the manager of that team. But are you telling me that up and down that Philadelphia lineup, that all of a sudden he did something to switch something? Don Mattingly wanted Rob Thompson to succeed. If Dom Mattingly saw something, he was on the staff. But the timing that we talked about on this show, when you fire a guy going into a soft part of the schedule, that's the hope that you can play well, which they did. And then that can, all of a sudden give you confidence, carry you forward. And we're seeing it. Last thing on this, Jeremy. It's still early.

[Dan LeBatard]

Yep.

[David Sampson]

We're still in May. In order for the Phillies to complete this quote, unquote turnaround, they have to sustain it for June, July, August, September, and that's two thirds of the year. Do I think they can. They certainly have the talent. Do I think they will, you know, wait to see?

[Dan LeBatard]

And now I'm screwed. Okay.

[Chris Cody]

I know two of these.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Dan LeBatard]

I'm gonna go ahead and go with right field. Vladimir Guerrero, the scenario I told. Not earlier. Vladimir Senior. He said junior. No, we're not gonna do that.

[Chris Cody]

It's not gonna happen.

[Jeremy]

Olivia, you heard him.

[Dan LeBatard]

I refuse. I refuse.

[Chris Cody]

All right, I'll give you Vlad. Yeah, of course.

[Dan LeBatard]

Give me Vlad. I got you. Said his son. Relax, Chris.

[Jeremy]

Jose Vidro.

[Chris Cody]

Nice.

[Dan LeBatard]

I mean, second base. Relax.

[Chris Cody]

Nice.

[Chime Advertiser]

I said third base.

[Chris Cody]

Unbelievable. Yeah, that is a great pull.

[Jeremy]

Oh, yeah.

[Dan LeBatard]

We're screwed.

[Jeremy]

But Jeremy's gonna go for first, so if we both go, strike, strike, strike, strike, strike. Then he loses first.

[Chris Cody]

Correct.

[Dan LeBatard]

Okay, I guess I'll just try it there. Number eight, catcher, Gary Carter.

[Mike Golick Jr.]

That is correct.

[Jeremy]

Okay, well, we're back. And I'm screwed again. So this is the leader in hits

[Chris Cody]

all time at each position for the Expos.

[Dan LeBatard]

And Jose Vedro is a really good pull.

[Chris Cody]

That was great.

[Jeremy]

Pedro Martinez, pitcher.

[Dan LeBatard]

He is not the all time, isn't he?

[Jeremy]

He played for them, right?

[Dan LeBatard]

He did.

[Jeremy]

And he.

[Jess]

Yes.

[Chris Cody]

So Chris Cody.

[Jeremy]

I just was like.

[Dan LeBatard]

I just. So you can see. Just so that you know, I also have Pedro.

[Jeremy]

Yeah, Yeah. I was like, who else?

[Dan LeBatard]

I don't know who else it could be.

[Jeremy]

So I have one strike, correct.

[Dan LeBatard]

This is a weird and random guess. That's probably wrong. Is 30 in left field. Cliff Floyd.

[Chris Cody]

That is incorrect as well.

[Dan LeBatard]

Okay, that's fine. As long as we both keep getting one strike each. I can't even think.

[Chris Cody]

There are names on here that. There are names on here that you should be able to get.

[Dan LeBatard]

Yeah, I'm sure there are.

[Jeremy]

Did this guy wear number 30? Larry Walker.

[Chris Cody]

Larry Walker did. Did play for the Expos, but that was not him. He is not on this list.

[Dan LeBatard]

I have another random thought, but I. I'm not. I don't. I'm just gonna give. Did Devon White play center field and lead them in hits?

[Chris Cody]

That is incorrect.

[Jeremy]

I was. I. Devon White also came to mind.

[Chris Cody]

All right.

[Jeremy]

For sure.

[Chris Cody]

All right, so we're down at two strikes. I really thought you guys would do a little bit better here, but this is very difficult.

[Dan LeBatard]

This is difficult. I want to now turn to another team that got off to a great start at the end of April. The Reds had the fourth best record in baseball. They're 4 and 13 since. And they were such a good, feel good story, but now they've really struggled. So sort of the same question. When you see what's happening with the Reds, what are your thoughts there? I.

[David Sampson]

What I would be saying to the Reds is you have to not believe that you're 4 and 13. You have to actually believe that you're 24 and 24. It doesn't matter how we got there. So now that we've hit.500, what do we do to win series? To start creeping a game above and then two games above and then three games above. And for them, the key, like with all teams is going to be their pitching and whether or not Ellie De La Cruz can continue to outsmart the adjustments. And what that means, Jeremy, is that with these players it happens. And you see it with young players when they come up and have great success, then all of a sudden there's scatter reports. All of a sudden the pitchers have a plan and then it gets super hard again and then the hitters have to adjust. Can Ellie De La Cruz continue to evolve as a player? Which I think he can because he's that good, but the league and the pitching will catch up to him. So then I look to their pitching staff. I wouldn't call it deep, I would call it interesting. I would call them roughly a 79 to 83 win team, which is roughly where they are. And how you get there matters less.

[Dan LeBatard]

Absolutely. It's funny, I was just having this conversation not to do the baseball bonafi bona fides thing, but when I was on the road trip with the Marlins, I was talking to Jacob Marcy and Connor Norby right before the game on Saturday where they ended up scoring eight runs in the. In the 10th inning in this crazy game. But right before that game, I was talking with them. You know, they were a few games under and they were like, it's been such a struggle over the last few weeks and since they started six zero. It felt so good. Then it felt so bad. And they were like, we have to remember, like if we had been at this point in the schedule and we're sitting right around 500, that's all right. We need to just get going. And they were talking about the guys that haven't gotten going, some of the guys who have. And I'll actually mention before we wrap this up, but I do want to get to our golden era stars of the week and have you pick one here. And I just went with the guys who were right at the top of Major League Baseball and ERA because the names would never have been predicted. You might have had Cam Schlitler at the top. He's a great young pitcher for the New York Yankees. You never would have had Davis Martin of the Chicago White Sox or Nick Martinez of the Rays, who's a Miami boy who at 35 years old has totally reinvented himself and just moves around the mound the entire time he's pitching. It's pretty amazing to watch Nick Martinez and what he's doing right now. But David, of these three pitchers, who do you want to highlight is our golden era star of the week?

[David Sampson]

I want to highlight Nick Martinez and I'll tell you why. Go take a look at how much he's being paid. And I believe that he's being paid $13 million by the Tampa Bay race. And I would tell you, given my experience with the raised front office, when they choose to pay a picture $13 million, I believe that they know something that I got wrong or my guys didn't see. And that is, that's not an investment that they throw away like, hey, we need innings, let's sign him and give him 13 million. They don't engage in that sort of behavior because they can't. And so they had an expectation for him and he came in and I'm gonna draw the comparison to the Marlins in a second. Yeah, but look what he's done as a 13 million dollar pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays. He is leading that staff and leading that team as we sit today to be the best team in the American League in a division that was supposed to be all about everybody but them.

[Dan LeBatard]

It's amazing. Like Nick Martinez, the way they have this pitching factory in Tampa where they just find this way to see the one thing that they can change in a pitcher's game that can unlock something else. And they've done that here with Nick Martinez and his change up in particular.

[David Sampson]

And it's important to think about that because what happens is that people get hired from that organization, they go to other organizations, you try to find people with connectivity to the organization and then you realize when they're on their own, like, oh, was it more of a team effort, like, and, and I'm not saying that Peter Bennix is doing a bad job with the Marlins, but the Marlins want to be the Rays and they're not the race. I'm sorry to say that, but nobody's the Rays. We tried for years to be the Rays. You just can't be. And I don't know what the secret sauce is. I've spent a lot of time with people in that front office. People had been in that front office office. Every time we play on them on the road, I'd go to the games trying to buy osmosis figure out. And it is a mystery. And I would just say that emulation is really common in baseball, but it's really hard to put into practice.

[Dan LeBatard]

Yeah, it takes the right guys to figure it out. And. And it actually leads into those guys. I wanted to mention with the Marlins because, like you mentioned, Pete Fairbanks has not quite lived up to that $13 million contract. Chris Paddock was a tough one, for that matter. Christopher Morell as a Major league signing has not quite been there. But the guys, they took the dart throws on where you're looking to find the diamonds in the rough. Liam Hicks, who was a Rule 5 pick who had never played higher than Double a in his second season, is now leading Major League Baseball. And RBIs, which is just bonkers. Otto Lopez, a guy who was DFA'd playing shortstop for the Marlins to meet, should end up being an All Star. He's leading the league in hitting. Those are a couple of great finds they've had. And that pitching staff with all the guys from Driveline, have really helped Max Meyer take a step. The only qualified starter in Major League Baseball without a loss thus far this season. So a few bright spots for the Marlins that I had no choice. I'm contractually obligated to make sure that I mentioned. I love watching those guys play. I. I also love having you here, David. Thank you for joining me on this episode of the Pitch Clock. I'm really struggling.

[Jeremy]

This is just.

[Jess]

No way.

[Jeremy]

This is right.

[Dan LeBatard]

I'm not gonna lie to you. 18 is staring me in the face in a way that is, like, uncomfortable to you. I know. I'm supposed to know who that is.

[Jeremy]

Number 10 in center field is kind of just like, annoying me a little bit.

[Dan LeBatard]

I know. So while you contemplate for the audio audience, the numbers left for us are number, number 14 at first base, number 18 at shortstop, number 29 at third, number 45 on the mound. That's where we're looking for wins. Number 30 in left field and number 10 in center field.

[Jeremy]

Wait a minute.

[Dan LeBatard]

Did I unlock.

[Jeremy]

I just thought of a guy, but I thought he didn't wear any of these numbers.

[Dan LeBatard]

Like, I can't even.

[Jeremy]

I just thought of an Expos legend.

[Dan LeBatard]

I can't think of. Ah, Expo. Right now.

[Jeremy]

I'm just going to say an Expo. An Expo's legend just popped up into my.

[Dan LeBatard]

You got to say the position.

[Chime Advertiser]

Okay.

[Chris Cody]

Yeah.

[Dan LeBatard]

You can't just say the name. You got to say who he is.

[Jeremy]

Okay. I know he didn't wear number 30, and I know he's an outfielder, so I'll just say 10 in center field. But I don't think he wore 10. He wore number eight and his name is Hawk. Andre Dawson.

[Chris Cody]

That is correct. What?

[Jeremy]

Well, I can't believe I pulled that out of my front. I just thought of letting like.

[Dan LeBatard]

That's kind of. Yeah, I feel like an idiot.

[Jeremy]

Yeah, I'm so.

[Dan LeBatard]

I can't believe you're gonna win.

[Chime Advertiser]

That's cool.

[Jeremy]

Only because Olivia's in here.

[Shabba]

It's really.

[Dan LeBatard]

I'm like sick of it

[Chris Cody]

now.

[Dan LeBatard]

I've lost track of our record.

[Jeremy]

It ain't good when Olivia's in here.

[Dan LeBatard]

Give me the first Expo, I'm just gonna exist.

Say.

He didn't even been. No, he didn't play for them. Omar Viscal.

[Chris Cody]

Omar Vasquel is not the answer. The answer at Short Stop.

[Dan LeBatard]

It's over.

No, it's over.

[Chris Cody]

That was Jeremy's third strike.

[David Sampson]

I guess who I thought it was

[Jeremy]

going to be Orlando Cabrera.

[Chris Cody]

Orlando Cabrera was the answer.

[Jessica]

Is that the answer?

[Chris Cody]

That's the answer. So let's fill out the rest of it. Let's fill out the rest of the lineup here. So Orlando Cabrera was at short.

[Dan LeBatard]

This is a stupid game.

[Chris Cody]

Tim Wallach was at third base. Former Marlins hitting, our infield coach. And Tim Rains was in left field. That's the one. You guys.

[Dan LeBatard]

Tim Reigns.

[Chris Cody]

I should have gotten the Rock. Hall of Famer, I believe. Do you think of him as an Expo, though? Or a white?

[Dan LeBatard]

I think of him as a white.

[Chris Cody]

Who's the pitcher? Steve Rogers was the pitcher. Not sure you guys would have known that one.

[Dan LeBatard]

Isn't that Captain America?

[Chris Cody]

Yes. And Andres Galarraga was the first baseman.

[David Sampson]

Oh, the big cat.

[Chris Cody]

See, I think of him as a Rocky right in the Blake Street Bombers.

[Jeremy]

Ah, the big cat.

[Dan LeBatard]

I'm gonna be honest with you. If the answer is Tim Wallach and it's an all time leader.

[Mike Golick Jr.]

Yeah.

[Dan LeBatard]

We should never have done this. This is garbage.

[Shabba]

Garbage.

[Chris Cody]

Your franchise stunk.

[Dan LeBatard]

Sucks.

[Chris Cody]

So Dawson was actually the leader in center field and in right field. But I didn't want to put him twice.

[Jess]

Yeah.

[Chris Cody]

So I put Vlad. That. That was what I talked about earlier. I put Vlad first. Was second.

[Jeremy]

I hate to see it, Jeremy, but

[Chris Cody]

hey, at least got the dub.

[Jeremy]

At least you get to talk to David Sampson.

[Dan LeBatard]

I'll be back next week with vengeance.

[Jeremy]

Jack.