Hour 2: AWWWWWWWWWWW! (feat. Elle Duncan)

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz – Hour 2: AWWWWWWWWWWW! (feat. Elle Duncan)
Release Date: June 12, 2025
Duration: Approximately 38 minutes

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1. Introduction and Special Guest Appearance (00:00 - 01:00)

The episode kicks off with host Dan Le Batard introducing the show, quickly transitioning into a lively interaction as former NFL player Dominique Foxworth makes a surprise appearance.

• Dan Le Batard [00:00]: "This is the Dan Levator show with the Stugats podcast."
• Stugotz [00:07]: Expresses excitement upon seeing Foxworth, leading to a playful exchange about past invitations and current relations with Foxworth and Charlie.

Key Points:

• Dominique Foxworth joins unexpectedly, sparking humorous banter.
• Greg Cody voices mock offense about Foxworth’s enthusiastic greeting compared to the hosts.

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2. NBA Finals Breakdown: Pacers vs. OKC (02:13 - 07:39)

The hosts delve into the ongoing NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder, analyzing team performances and player contributions.

• Greg Cody [02:13]: "Your thoughts last night on all things Pacers here..."
• Stugotz [02:47]: Discusses the Pacers' struggles with turnovers and Tyrese Haliburton's role, highlighting the Thunder's bench performance and overall team dynamics.
• Stugotz [05:20]: Emphasizes the competitiveness of the series, particularly praising a recent Pacers game as "competitive from beginning to end."

Notable Insights:

• The Pacers' reliance on Tyrese Haliburton and the Thunder’s inconsistent performance.
• Stugotz [04:35]: Critiques the statistical significance of historical trends in game outcomes, suggesting the Thunder will need a longer series to secure victory.

Quotes:

• Stugotz [05:56]: "This is why we always try to push those teams on you, because that's what you consume, that's what you like."

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3. "L yes or L no" Segment (07:39 - 17:47)

A recurring interactive segment where participants vote on various light-hearted topics, accompanied by humor and playful debates.

Topics Discussed:

• Socks with Sandals (07:54 - 09:57):

  • Stugotz [08:06]: "L no to socks with sandals and L no period to men with their toes out. It's so gross."
  • Participants express strong aversions with banter about men's feet and fashion choices.

• Writer Association Voting (09:41 - 11:34):

  • Greg Cody [09:42]: Questions the legitimacy of being a writer without published work.
  • Dominique Foxworth [10:10]: Defends her writing contributions.
  • Stugotz [10:57]: Clarifies his minimal involvement in acting and writing, Dan Le Batard [11:00]: Mentions having an op-ed.

• Cold Pizza Debate (12:40 - 17:28):

  • Greg Cody [12:41]: Introduces cold pizza as a topic.
  • Stugotz [13:22]: Shares personal dislike for leftovers and cold pizza.
  • Discussion about different types of soups: Stugotz [16:22]: Reinforces that soup must be warm, dismissing cold soups as akin to baby food.

Notable Quotes:

• Stugotz [08:07]: "It's disgusting. Stop."
• Dan Le Batard [17:23]: "I hate man feet."

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4. "Pitch Clock" – Baseball Trivia Game (17:47 - 37:28)

A two-part baseball-themed trivia segment combining nostalgic questions and expert interviews, engaging hosts and guests in competitive gameplay.

Gameplay Highlights:

• Round 1: 2006 Runs Scored (19:44 - 20:35)

  • Participants guess historic baseball stats.
  • Jealousy over correct answers:
    • Kylie McDaniel (Guest) [20:23]: "You share your picks, only unique answers earn points."

• Round 2: 2004 Walks (25:47 - 35:37)

  • Focuses on players with high walk counts.
  • Greg Cody [26:01]: Bluffs with names like Barry Bonds, adding humor.

• Round 3: 1997 Home Runs (34:12 - 37:08)

  • Participants name players with specific home run counts.
  • June Taylor emerges as the first-time champion despite playful competition.

Expert Interview:

• Kylie McDaniel [29:16 - 33:31]: Discusses top MLB prospects and the upcoming MLB draft, highlighting standout players like Roman Anthony, Seth Hernandez, and Jacob Mizyurowski.
  • Roy Bellamy [25:45]: Focuses on Tarek Skubal’s exceptional performance, challenging traditional pitching forecasts.
  • Greg Cody [33:17]: Applauds Kylie’s analysis and hints at future insights post-draft.

Notable Quotes:

• Roy Bellamy [25:47]: "Tarek Skubal is defying all of these rules."
• Stugotz [37:28]: "Thank you for joining us for a second straight week on the pitch clock."

Participant Banter:

• Greg Cody and Chris Cody engage in playful trash talk over game points.
• Elle Duncan [17:28]: Hosts Elle Duncan, promoting her new show "ESPN's Vibe Check" on Disney Plus.

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5. Closing Remarks and Transition (37:28 - End)

The segment concludes with laughter and good-natured teasing as the hosts wrap up the trivia game and hint at future content.

• June Taylor [37:28]: Expresses gratitude for participating.
• Stugotz [37:28]: Signs off humorously, "Thank you for joining us for a second straight week on the pitch clock."

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Overall Highlights:

• Engaging Guest Interactions: Dominique Foxworth and Elle Duncan contribute to dynamic conversations, blending sports analysis with entertainment.
• In-depth Sports Analysis: Comprehensive breakdowns of the NBA Finals and MLB prospects provide valuable insights for sports enthusiasts.
• Interactive and Humorous Segments: The "L yes or L no" and "Pitch Clock" segments offer a mix of light-hearted fun and competitive trivia, maintaining listener engagement.
• Notable Quotes with Timestamps: Key moments and memorable lines are highlighted, adding depth to the summary and preserving the podcast's lively spirit.

This episode masterfully balances sports commentary with entertaining segments, ensuring both informative content and comedic relief. Whether dissecting high-stakes basketball finals or engaging in spirited trivia battles, Dan Le Batard and Stugotz create a compelling and enjoyable listening experience.

Transcript

[Dan Le Batard]

This is the Dan Levator show with the Stugats podcast.

[Stugotz]

Oh, is that Fox? Oh, shit. What a fox. Hey.

[Dominique Foxworth]

But I had to.

[Stugotz]

Hey, homie.

[Dominique Foxworth]

I had to come on Dan's show to see you.

[Greg Cody]

Oh, she sounded so much happier to see you than to see us. And we greet her with, no, no. This is offensive.

[Stugotz]

It was shocking.

[Greg Cody]

This is hurtful to me, Dan. This is hurtful to me. What just happened there is. I was just going to greet her. I was going to. I was getting ready in my. I'm going to greet her with, hell yeah. But instead, she just gravitates immediately to foxworth and greets him with more enthusiasm than she's ever had to see me, us, or anyone around here.

[Stugotz]

It's so not true. It's the fact that I fully expect I'm going to see Dan Levittart on the Dan Levatard show, not Fox. And Fox never invites me on his podcast anymore. I think him and Charlie clearly have something that they're doing where they just want to ban me from their show and I don't have a show anymore to invite him on. So this is a fun surprise.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Smart redirection right there. You knew I was coming for you and say that you rejected us last couple of times we invited you, so you preemptively blamed us.

[Greg Cody]

The best redirection since Mike Ryan still hasn't answered for your golden cane criticism. I'm hoping we get it at some point before.

[Elle Duncan]

I'm sorry I didn't answer. When's the last time that I golden caned?

[Greg Cody]

When we get to pitch clock. Before we get to pitch clock, I need to play this sound that proves to the audience, everyone listening to this, that not only is Elle just thrilled to see Dominique and less thrilled to see the rest of us. She doesn't even know who Chris Cody is.

[Stugotz]

Hey, what's up, Greg?

[Chris Cody]

I was just telling her, people do this to me at Panthers game. Now I'll walk by someone. Oh, hey, what's up, Greg?

[Stugotz]

And what did I say? You need to just go by Cody. Like, I think that's probably like the fail safe there.

[Chris Cody]

Or learn my name.

[Elle Duncan]

Learn his name.

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

There's already a Cody.

[Roy Bellamy]

Wow.

[Greg Cody]

Jesus.

[Elle Duncan]

Cuz, that won't be confusing. Just learn his name.

[Greg Cody]

This is one.

[Elle Duncan]

He's Chris.

[Greg Cody]

This is one.

[Jeremy Tache]

I know, I know.

[Chris Cody]

Chris is a tough one.

[Stugotz]

Oh, hey, what's up, Greg? I've told you this. If it makes you feel better. Everyone calls me Ellie and I don't correct them. It's just like it's Fine. I'm a big fan, Ellie. I'm like, clearly, you watch my show on mute.

[Greg Cody]

Your thoughts last night on all things Pacers here, because I understand that 2 to 1 doesn't mean anything and that OKC has been better all year, but it is fair to ask, I think, hey, okc, when have you been tested by somebody who has proven to you that they can beat you and now is up to, you know, you're in trouble. OKC is in trouble and needs to. Needs to win. Your thoughts on what happened yesterday? Because I think it's in the end, is not merely a surprise. I think that also last night was a surprise.

[Stugotz]

No, I think everyone predicted it would be the Benedict Mathering game. What do you mean, Dan? Yeah, I think I'm actually in Indianapolis covering this for SportsCenter. And by the way, I was today years old when I found out Nat Town, their nickname is not because it's a sleepy town, which is what I assumed, but short for Indianapolis. So I'm learning all kinds of things. I think, honestly, it was all of the things that we had said. The. The Pacers had only played one good quarter in this entire series and led for two minutes in this whole series. And they needed to fix everything. Their turnovers. They needed Tyrese Halliburton to, like, step up and assert himself, you know, because a big part of their issues was his passivity. And, like, you want a great facilitator. That's. He always says that's what he's like. His first goal is just to dish, but he also needs to assert himself. And he did that. And then they needed help from, like, everyone not named Tyrese Haliburton. And the pendulum really swung because in game two, the Thunder bench sc like, 48 points. They shot 51% from the field. Like, they were ridiculous. And it completely went the other way yesterday. It was the Pacers bench that was great. They kept that pace that they had not been able to do particularly well. Tyrese was finally driving, and then they turned OKC over a ton. So, yeah, I think, like, if you're the Thunder, you're feeling some kind of way. I. I did think the Pacers would win this game. I thought that it was their best opportunity for this series to go at least six or seven games. And the energy and the, you know, it had been 25 years and all those other storylines that went into it. Um, but, yeah, like, the Thunder are certainly in trouble. We did. Dan, do you know, on SportsCenter, the whole thing that everyone does like, the winners of game three and a tied series in the finals have won 33 times compared to just eight losses. But in recent history, that's not really been the case. And so the Thunder. Absolutely. I think they're still going to be the favorites to win this thing. It's just that it's not going to be in five anymore. It's going to have to probably be in seven.

[Greg Cody]

Who was that person with the shoulders? What is that thing that we do? What is the.

[Stugotz]

That's an anchor. That's a. Yeah, that's a broadcaster. Using all the same signals that we.

[Greg Cody]

All have, 33 and 8 in these games. But it doesn't mean anything. I'm just doing my happy anchor dance. I think that Chris Cody had the best take I've heard, and I haven't heard a better one off of last night's game, which is the following. That someone named Benedict Matheran looks like TJ McConnell, but someone named TJ McConnell is more likely to look like Benedict Matheran, 100%.

[Stugotz]

If you just hear Benedict Matheran and you have never seen him, you would think it'd be like some French dude, you know, or like some. Like. Like. Like some guy that looks European. And in fact, I can confirm he is a black person. So I'm in the.

[Greg Cody]

Excellent confirming. Thank you, Greg. It was journalism. It was a great point by you, but the Pacers winning this part. Right. We did not spend this season talking about Curry and LeBron and the idea that this would all get toppled possibly in two games by T.J. mcConnell. Nice. Smith, Nem. Hart. Like, perimeter. Yeah, yeah. Perimeter defense, like, and. And Halliburton, a very nice star, according to everybody. About six months ago, maybe three months ago.

[Stugotz]

Yeah, I think, like, part of. I was actually really confused by this idea, though, that nobody was going to want to watch this series. And I know the numbers have not been fantastic and that these are two small market teams, like, Like a lot of times. And you know, this. It's our job storylines, even if there isn't really any, we just have to manufacture them. But it feels like there are really good storylines. But this also goes back to the ultimate point that I try to make. Whenever fans air their grievances about how all we ever do is talk about the Lakers, even if they're not good. We only talk about the Cowboys. We only talk about. I'm like, you all control that. And the idea that you've got these young superstars, the youngest team we've ever seen in the NBA Finals, this Canadian this, like, hood slash Canadian kid, which just the polarity of that alone is wild to me. Who is this MVP who is like this otherworldly star? And then you've got the Pacers and the Reggie Miller sort of history, and they've never won. They've only won aba. Like, it's supposed to be prime for all of those fans that say, we don't show love to anyone else, that we're not building towards the future, that what happens when LeBron and Steph retire. And then you guys aren't watching in the same way that you would watch if it was LeBron, you know, or Steph Curry playing in the Finals or the Celtics or any of these sort of legacy team. So I go back to the point of, like, this is what we're talking about. Like, this is why we always try to push those teams on you, because that's what you consume, that's what you like. And if you really want to usher in a new era of the NBA, then you need to embrace this series and watch it. It has not been largely competitive outside of the end of game one. Game two was a blowout. Yesterday was a good game. Like, it was a competitive game from beginning to end. It was good. It's fun to watch these teams score and they run and I don't know. I don't know how else we sell this.

[Greg Cody]

You know what's good and fun to watch? L yes or l no? Are you ready to play it with us? Because I want to get. I want to. I want. I have other sports questions. But first, I want to play L yes or l, no. Do we have any fanfare? Do we have any. Does this have any accompaniment or. We've done no imaging on.

[Chris Cody]

A little heads up on this would have been nice.

[Greg Cody]

Okay. Well, she was joining.

[Elle Duncan]

She provides it by saying, l. Yeah.

[Greg Cody]

Okay. All right. There's no. All right, I've got some fanfare here. I don't know. All right. Socks with sandals. L, yes or l no.

[Stugotz]

L, no. And I will add on, if you are a man, I don't want to see your toes unless you're walking into water. So I just say, l no to socks with sandals and l no period to men with their toes out. It's so gross. Oh, yeah. Thank you.

[Jeremy Tache]

Close toes. No matter what I have.

[Chris Cody]

Nice to see.

[Dan Le Batard]

No, you don't.

[Stugotz]

Walking into water, walking into the pool, walking out of the gym. Fine. I don't want you at work with your toes out. It's disgusting. It really bothers me. It's Gross. Stop. Roy, hair on your feet.

[Greg Cody]

This vigorous applause by you. This vigorous applause in support of against male toes. What? What? What? What are you doing?

[Dan Le Batard]

I hate man feet.

[Chris Cody]

He's so anti man feet that I think there's something going on there.

[Dan Le Batard]

What?

[Greg Cody]

But what?

[Jeremy Tache]

What?

[Stugotz]

Do you have bad feet, Roy?

[Greg Cody]

What are you accusing him of?

[Chris Cody]

I think he really likes man feet.

[Dan Le Batard]

I don't know. What. No, I do not. I visit. I am anti man.

[Greg Cody]

What an accusation. What kind of accusation is that from you? You don a closet of man footer.

[Elle Duncan]

Sorry, Roy, answer the question. L, yes or El?

[Dan Le Batard]

N. I feel the same way about Sidney Crosby. That's how much I hate so El.

[Chris Cody]

That's a sentence that's probably never been said before.

[Greg Cody]

It's just strange. It's. The whole thing is, I feel the.

[Chris Cody]

Same way about my men's feet as I feel about Sydney Crosby.

[Elle Duncan]

I'm with you. That's the first time that's ever been.

[Greg Cody]

Never been put together in that order by anyone before and spoken. That's the first tough to do in.

[Chris Cody]

This day and age.

[Jeremy Tache]

I did it.

[Dan Le Batard]

That's why I'm a hot writer. That's why I'm in the writer.

[Greg Cody]

It is why?

[Stugotz]

All right.

[Greg Cody]

L, yes or l, no? You can be a voter and a writer in a writing association if you have not yet written an article. L, yes or L no?

[Chris Cody]

Ooh.

[Stugotz]

L, no. Like what? Don't you have to put in, like. Like a little. A little bit of work? Like, don't you have to just, like, try, like. Like a touch, even a fluff piece? Like. Okay, if you're going to have an opportunity to vote and represent the writers association, you should probably. Right, yes. What do I know? I'm not a writer.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Which has happened.

[Roy Bellamy]

Hell, yeah.

[Dominique Foxworth]

She's. See, you guys are poorly framing the question.

[Elle Duncan]

He wrote it after he gained entry.

[Stugotz]

Did you do this, Fox? Did you do this, Fox? No, no, no.

[Dominique Foxworth]

I've written plenty of plenty.

[Elle Duncan]

That was a wonderful answer. Let me just say, Elliot to you. It's great to have you on the show. Thank you so much.

[Jeremy Tache]

I write all the time.

[Stugotz]

Oh, Roy, you're a writer now. Aw, that was dismissive. That was cute.

[Chris Cody]

That's adorable.

[Stugotz]

Oh.

[Elle Duncan]

Oh, they had us in that first half. They had us in that first half, but we came back.

[Chris Cody]

Roy, let me pitch your cheeky little writer.

[Jeremy Tache]

Come here.

[Chris Cody]

You're so adorable. Little writer.

[Jeremy Tache]

Come here, you little writer.

[Stugotz]

No.

[Elle Duncan]

What a comeback.

[Roy Bellamy]

No, it's just usually.

[Stugotz]

Usually people start with writing and then they like producing. No, no, no.

[Elle Duncan]

Perfectly logical.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yes, you're absolutely right.

[Elle Duncan]

Usually, typically, they start with writing and then they're granted like, you know what. What perfect answer. L. Thank you.

[Greg Cody]

Wow.

[Jeremy Tache]

The warriors blew a 31 lead.

[Dan Le Batard]

Listen, I was invited into the Professional Hockey Riders association by the chapter chair in the region. So thank you very much.

[Jeremy Tache]

Chapter chair?

[Stugotz]

Well, never mind then.

[Greg Cody]

L. The sound of pity.

[Dan Le Batard]

I'll take it.

[Elle Duncan]

Take that L spelled E. L, L.

[Chris Cody]

E. Get us that chapter chair.

[Dan Le Batard]

I will take the pity and the W. Thank you very much.

[Stugotz]

It was very condescend. I'm sorry, Roy. I didn't mean it that way. I kind of did, but my bad.

[Dan Le Batard]

I wrote an op Ed.

[Stugotz]

It just looks like.

[Chris Cody]

After an op Ed. Sounds impressive.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, it does.

[Stugotz]

Impressive. It does sound very courageous to give your opinion, Roy.

[Chris Cody]

So brave, Roy.

[Dan Le Batard]

It was a political opinion, Susan.

[Elle Duncan]

The person that showed courage on this show today let it be known it was Mike Ryan Ruiz. And he has been justified.

[Greg Cody]

I. I have. I'm horrified by everything that's happened here. Most horrified at all by you bellowing into the screaming something about a committee chair.

[Dominique Foxworth]

He was invited.

[Stugotz]

I know people.

[Chris Cody]

Sounds impressive.

[Stugotz]

Really? If it makes you feel bad, let me. Let me self own if it makes you feel bad. I am still a member of SAG and the only thing I've ever done with my acting career is be an extra and ride along. So there you go. So I'm not really befitting of that honor.

[Dan Le Batard]

E. Well, you still got your SAD card.

[Stugotz]

Yeah, I still pay that check.

[Dan Le Batard]

Yeah, that's true.

[Greg Cody]

L, yes or L no. Cold pizza.

[Chris Cody]

The show.

[Dan Le Batard]

The show.

[Greg Cody]

Not the show that nobody even remembers the show.

[Jeremy Tache]

We all remember the show.

[Stugotz]

No one remembers cold pizza. J. Croft. Jay Crawford. Yeah, all right.

[Greg Cody]

That's not how you play. L, yes or L no.

[Chris Cody]

What's he up to?

[Greg Cody]

I'm not Jay Crawford.

[Stugotz]

El no. Yeah. Elno to edible cold pizza. I love Jay Crawford. He's a good dude. El no to cold pizza.

[Dominique Foxworth]

The birthplace of first take, right?

[Stugotz]

He is living his best life.

[Elle Duncan]

What a hit. This has been great.

[Stugotz]

It was. That was the first. Yeah, it burst. That.

[Greg Cody]

Cold pizza. You're going, hell, no. You got pizza has to be warm for you.

[Stugotz]

Yeah, I have a thing. I hope this doesn't make me sound like a 2 percenter. I've always been this way. I don't like leftovers. I don't like them. I think they're disgusting and I won't eat them. So that would involve cold pizza as well.

[Greg Cody]

Put it on the poll at lebartage Show. Do you hate leftovers. This is a. This is a bit of a shocker, is it not?

[Dan Le Batard]

Who.

[Greg Cody]

Who hates leftovers?

[Dominique Foxworth]

Al Duncan, L.A.L.

[Greg Cody]

Yes. Or L. No. The Real Housewives series.

[Stugotz]

Oh. So I was actually on the Real Housewives a couple times, and I was like, somewhat trying to be recruited to be like a friend. You know, not a cast member, but a friend of the cast member. And for Cynthia, this is 15 years ago when I was still living in Atlanta. And I remember saying to them specifically, like, I want to be, like, a sports broadcaster. Like, I don't really think that this is the way to do that. And they were like, no, this is great publicity. This is great for you. People will figure out who you are. And I was like, has anyone ever gone from doing this to being on, like, espn? They were like, no. I was like, then I'm all set. I'm out on it just because I know how fake it is. I've been on it a few times. I know how manufactured all of it is. Like, literally takes. It's not just that they feed you lines and things like that. It's that if they don't like how it went, they'll redo it three or four or five times. And so, yeah, I'm. I'm not. I'm not in on it. I don't watch it.

[Greg Cody]

You unmasked the entire industry right there.

[Chris Cody]

How been ruined?

[Greg Cody]

L, yes or EL no. Paige Beckers will win a WNBA title before Caitlyn Clark.

[Stugotz]

I love Paige Beckers. It will not be because of anything she's done. But have you seen Dallas play? Hell, no. Like, the fever actually built to win a championship this year. They got derailed, obviously, with Caitlin getting hurt, but, like, that's a championship caliber team. That is not what's happening in the wings. So I'll say El, note to that.

[Greg Cody]

Coco Golf will win 10 plus majors. L, yes. Or El no.

[Stugotz]

21. He has two in the, what, six years? So I'm just trying to do the math. If she keeps up with her average, 10, that's a lot. L. Yes. L. Yes.

[Greg Cody]

Look at that. Confident and positive. It sounded like you were trying to talk yourself into it. It didn't. It sounded like you're rooting for it. But if you had to bet on.

[Dominique Foxworth]

It, you realize there was no winning in saying L, no. In our heart.

[Greg Cody]

In our heart. In fact, I'm calling L, no bullshit on L. Yes.

[Stugotz]

I don't want her, after she wins her major to like, pull this up and be like, you never believed in me. I believe in her. I really, really do. I were a little bit poisoned by Serena, who was just rattling off majors all the time. And like I said, She's 1 2, and she's been around for about six years now. So at that pace, like, you know, maybe not, but I think based on what I saw at the French Open, like, if she can kind of pick up some momentum. Sure. Yeah. I'm hopeful.

[Greg Cody]

L. Yes. Or el.

[Jeremy Tache]

No.

[Greg Cody]

A soup has to be warm.

[Stugotz]

Oh, hell, yes. Ew. Like, not warm. Soups are like gazpacho. He eats that. Yeah.

[Greg Cody]

Thank you. Borscht. No, no, no, no. I'm with you. People think they're making me. They're shaming me about saying soup has to be warm or it's not soup.

[Elle Duncan]

It's like saying a writer has to be a writer before they're a writer. It's crazy. I like you as the arbiter. You've done us no wrong.

[Stugotz]

No. If it's. If it's not warm, it's like a. It's like a. It's like baby food. It's puree. It's just like a smoothie.

[Roy Bellamy]

It's.

[Stugotz]

Of course it has to be warm. I don't understand how that' thing.

[Greg Cody]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Chris Cody]

Yeah, but we listed some cold soups, and they make sense. Like, listen. No one disagrees.

[Stugotz]

What are cold soups?

[Chris Cody]

I forget them.

[Dominique Foxworth]

Gazpacho. They're, like.

[Stugotz]

So they're memorable, then.

[Jeremy Tache]

Chilled avocado soup. Coconut curry soup. Chilled saffron and almond soup. A curried yogurt soup. These are all out of Jessica's.

[Chris Cody]

I feel like the yogurt's just yogurt, right?

[Stugotz]

I mean, yeah.

[Roy Bellamy]

Cold yogurt soup. All right.

[Elle Duncan]

She agreed with you. Take yogurt off the list.

[Greg Cody]

Elle, nice seeing you. Always nice seeing you.

[Elle Duncan]

Very nice seeing you.

[Greg Cody]

I should tell people. By the way, she's the host of ESPN's Vibe Check, premiering exclusively on Disney plus later this month.

[Jeremy Tache]

Vibe Check.

[Greg Cody]

Happy to see her voice in more places. Always nice seeing you, Elle. Thank you for making the time, Dan.

[Stugotz]

Thank you so much, Dan. I'm out for it.

[Greg Cody]

She's a fraud. She's a fraud. Pitch clock is next.

[Dan Le Batard]

Don Lebatard.

[Jeremy Tache]

It sounds to me like everybody could use a hug, because a hug is always the right. Right size st. All I have put in my body today is three cups of coffee and an entire cup of honey.

[Chris Cody]

Don't let him fool you. He said in the break that he's jittery.

[Dan Le Batard]

This is the d Ler show with the st.

[Jeremy Tache]

Welcome to the Pitch Clock. Here's the Pitch, a two part baseball segment combining a nostalgic baseball trivia game and an 8 interview with an expert. This is the Pitch Clock. The Pitch Clock is back again here on a Thursday. Yeah, there's our typical intro with Chris Cody.

[Chris Cody]

We obviously has to be confusing to June.

[Jeremy Tache]

Yeah, of course. Well, and that's what I wanted to mention. Chris Cody's here. I'm here. Jun Lee is back with us for another week. Except this time, instead of being our 2025 MLB expert, we are subjecting him to Taylor's trivia.

[Stugotz]

Yeah.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah.

[Jeremy Tache]

So Taylor is here. Taylor, please explain the trivia game. We are about play with me, Chris and June.

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

This is a new one. So you guys will be given five categories, one at a time. For each one, you just need to give one answer that you think fits. The number of points you get is based on what they did in the category. So if the category was 2024 home runs and you guessed Ohtani, you would get 54 points for that round.

[Greg Cody]

Wow.

[Jeremy Tache]

Okay. This is insane.

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

The catch is if you guys write the same answer as another person, no points.

[Jeremy Tache]

Whoa. Okay. It cancels itself out. So unique choices here are important as well.

[Chris Cody]

At least it's not confusing for June's first time.

[Jeremy Tache]

Yeah, this is super not confusing at all. All right, Taylor, so let's do this first. First category, first stat that you want us to look at.

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

2006 run score scored.

[Jeremy Tache]

Okay. 2006 runs scored.

[Stugotz]

2006.

[Jeremy Tache]

I'm gonna go ahead.

[Chris Cody]

I gotta. I gotta be honest here. This is like a ball went out on me situation. I. I saw what Jeremy wrote.

[Jeremy Tache]

You did?

[Chris Cody]

Yeah.

[Jeremy Tache]

So it's the name that I have.

[Chris Cody]

Well, wouldn't you think I'd want to put the name that you have? Anyways, we're getting bogged.

[Jeremy Tache]

I don't think so.

[Chris Cody]

All right, June, let's reveal the names.

[Jeremy Tache]

Yeah. Do you have a name written down, June?

[Taylor]

I have the name Ichiro.

[Jeremy Tache]

Oh.

[Taylor]

And then I have very little frame of refere for what number could be plausible here. So I just put down 157.

[Jeremy Tache]

I like that you put a number. I didn't put a number. I'm. I'm fascinated to see.

[Roy Bellamy]

I.

[Chris Cody]

So I put Alex Rodriguez and I.

[Jeremy Tache]

Put Derek Jeter, which is the name that Chris definitely originally put and then.

[Chris Cody]

Crossed it, which is just helping you.

[Jeremy Tache]

That's fine. Yeah. No, it's good for everybody.

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

So June is going to get 110 points for Ichiro Chris Cody is going to get, get 113 points for a rod and then Jeremy is going to get 118 points. Yeah, after, after one round. Those are three, three pretty good guesses.

[Chris Cody]

That actually helped me.

[Jeremy Tache]

That felt pretty good. If I picked, if you had done cheater, we'd be down by 100 points.

[Chris Cody]

If I just see the paper sitting there, I'm going to glance at it.

[Jeremy Tache]

All right, I, I understand you circled it. I thought you said cheaters never prosper. And now our 2025 baseball expert is here. We have Kylie McDaniel. You can follow him on Twitter @kylie McD. He's an ESPN baseball insider. Thank you for joining us. I'm very happy that you're here. And let's just dive into it with the College World Series. We finally got the eight team set, headed to Omaha for the final round of the College World Series this weekend. Kicking off action. So. So what have been some of your favorite moments that have led to here and who have been some of the teams and stars worth watching during this tournament?

[Roy Bellamy]

So you have two teams in Arkansas and LSU that I think two are the three teams with the most pro talent. They made it. Tennessee was the other one that was there. They would have made it but they were playing against Arkansas so only one of them could make it. And so the rest of the field is. Then you have some of the, the resourced mid majors. We have west coast teams like ucla, Arizona, Oregon State. We have maybe the Gonzaga of baseball and Coastal Carolina. All of them have won titles in the last 15 years. They're all back. We had Louisvill who was the surprise of the ACC teams to make it. They are one of those sort of second tier resource teams but they weren't supposed to be here. They were fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth in the acc. And then the big surprise, the Cinderella which we didn't think they really existed in college baseball anymore is Murray State. We had Oral Roberts 2 years ago who had some pro prospects. We have Murray State this year who has probably one guy on the whole team that will even be drafted. I had some tweets this week because I was trying to figure out why they got here. So. So in the postseason Murray State has played Ole Miss, Georgia Tech and Duke. Those teams had a combined 24 players who sat 92 or higher with their fastball. Do you want to guess how many Murray state had of those? 24,00. There was. There were 17 players on those four teams that hit a ball 109 or higher off the bat. Murray State had one of them. That's crazy. They are completely overmatched when it comes to big tools and pro scouting and prospect prospects. But they're here and that's why it's interesting. Like, they don't really belong. They've already completely overshot the Runway in terms of their expectations. But, like, that's kind of the beautiful thing of college baseball. These guys are here and they kind of shouldn't be. And, like, who knows how far it could go. They only have to win a handful more games.

[Jeremy Tache]

We love a Cinderella story generally, right, in sports, but Murray State making the College World Series is. Is truly like one of the biggest Cinderella stories I think, this entire century in any college sport. It's really unbelievable given the stats that you just said. So in the. Many of us are rooting for the Indiana Pacers. We should be rooting for the Murray State Racers. But let's move on to the MLB draft here because that's coming up in about a month and that changes the. The fortune for so many franchises is, you know, we'll talk about a couple of guys who have been high draft picks later in this episode, but we'll start with you here, Kylie, and try to bring in some. Some more guests over the next few weeks to get people started. But, but I want to start with sort of a sampler here. So who are some of the players at the top of this draft that people should get to know ahead of the draft? And who's one of your favorite players in this draft, whether you think they're going to be a surefire superstar or maybe going to be a steal for a team as they drop to, you know, a different point in that first round.

[Roy Bellamy]

The guys that I think are of most note to the audience here, there's a couple of high school players generally seen as the best of those is Ethan Holiday, shortstop out of Oklahoma High School. Another one of the holidays, obviously. His older brother's Jackson. His dad is Matt. And then the. The other high school player of note is Seth Hernandez, a high school righty out of Southern California team. His high school, Corona has two guys that are gonna go in the top 10 picks and then another guy that's gonna get drafted later. There's an unbelievably loaded one high school. Yes. From one high school. They have multiple. They have an underclassmen going to LSU like they are. They are better than some college teams. Yeah.

[Jeremy Tache]

This high school team that has more talent than Murray State, who's at the College World Team Series.

[Roy Bellamy]

So those are the two high school guys that I think are seen as candidates to go in the top two or three picks overall. And then from the college side, there's three lefties. The probably the best of the group right now is Kate Anderson, a lefty at LSU that's in the College World Series that has been trending up of late. The other two, Liam Doyle, lefty out of Tennessee. It just feels like Hell's Bells are playing every time he comes in. Welcome to the jungle. It's that kind of guy. It's just hair. Goes back throwing 100 all over the place sometimes, but also dominates at a level we haven't seen since. Like Paul Skeens, basically. And the last one is lefty Florida out of Florida State, Jamie Arnold, those three college pitchers that are in that conversation. And then Ivarquette, the shortstop, Oregon State, who's also in the College World Series, is the best college hitter. He's also in that group. And so that. That's probably like the top five guys out of that group of players that. That is in the mix for those top few picks.

[Jeremy Tache]

Second round. Let's do this.

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

Taylor, the category is 2004 walks.

[Jeremy Tache]

Oh, this is some devilish work by you, Taylor. Taylor. Because we all want to put the same name, but then what happens if none of us put that name?

[Chris Cody]

Just know I'm putting it.

[Jeremy Tache]

Yeah, you call dibs.

[Chris Cody]

I might just be saying that.

[Jeremy Tache]

Yeah. No, you got it.

[Chris Cody]

Or I'm putting down Barry Bonds.

[Jeremy Tache]

Right. All right, all right, all right, all right. Does everybody have a name? Does everybody. Has everybody written down a name?

[Chris Cody]

Yes.

[Jeremy Tache]

Okay, I have. Yes, I'll start. I put a rod.

[Taylor]

Well, I put down Barry Vaughn.

[Roy Bellamy]

Oh, no.

[Chris Cody]

Jeremy, why didn't you do it? You should have done it. You said you were gonna do it. It's your game.

[Jeremy Tache]

So who'd you put?

[Chris Cody]

Nick Johnson.

[Jeremy Tache]

God, you're an idiot.

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

June gets 232 points for Barry Boss.

[Jeremy Tache]

Go.

[Taylor]

Let's go.

[Roy Bellamy]

Ridiculous.

[Chris Cody]

Evil. Putting that one in there.

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

Jeremy gets 80 points for Alex Rodriguez.

[Jeremy Tache]

We have no chance of winning this game now. Okay, give me.

[Chris Cody]

Give me Nick Johnson.

[Jeremy Tache]

And where was Nick Johnson?

[Chris Cody]

Give me him.

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

Nick Johnson, 40 walks.

[Taylor]

All right, I think.

[Jeremy Tache]

Think to.

[Taylor]

I think to Cody's slight defense.

[Chris Cody]

Thank you.

[Taylor]

My natural instinct was to put down, like, a hipster pick, right? Like Bill Miller or something like that.

[Chris Cody]

You're tickling me.

[Jeremy Tache]

Yeah, that's. See, this is why we play the game for names, because he was a big OBP guy.

[Taylor]

But then I was just like, if I want to win yeah, obviously the answer is Barry Bonds.

[Jeremy Tache]

Well, at this point, I feel like this competition is gonna end up being over, but let's. It's fine. Let's continue into round three.

[Chris Cody]

Sold out for him in a row.

[Stugotz]

We're.

[Jeremy Tache]

We're gonna be right back in it. Taylor.

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

2009 innings pitched.

[Jeremy Tache]

Ooh, I like that. I'm gonna.

[Chris Cody]

I feel good about mine.

[Jeremy Tache]

It's just like, I'm a little worried.

[Chris Cody]

So many guys that it's like there's like a 15 year period. I'm like, yeah. Was he at the front of the.

[Jeremy Tache]

There's. There's three guys on. On one team that I want to put on this list, and I'm not.

[Chris Cody]

All right, I'm ready.

[Taylor]

Okay, I got.

[Jeremy Tache]

You have your name.

[Taylor]

My name.

[Jeremy Tache]

I already regret. Mine. Mine. What's your name?

[Taylor]

Jamie Moyer.

[Jeremy Tache]

Oh, that's a fun one. Okay, I have Tim Linceum, Johan Santana. That's the name I'm so glad I didn't pivot because he was the next name I was thinking of.

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

June. Jamie Moyer. 162 innings.

[Greg Cody]

That's not bad.

[Jeremy Tache]

Not bad, not bad.

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

Chris Cody. Johan Santana. 166.6.2.

[Jeremy Tache]

Wow.

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

Jeremy. Tim Lincecum was in the top 10 innings pitch that season. He was number nine. 20. 225.1.

[Jeremy Tache]

Let's go. That's my boy. Tim Linceum. Big time. Timmy.

[Roy Bellamy]

Jim.

[Jeremy Tache]

Let's move on to what's going on in Major League Baseball right now and some of those prospects that you've been looking at for years who have all just come up. It's been a really good month or so here for prospects coming up in Major League Baseball. So I'm going to ask for quick notes on actual. Actually, three different guys here. It's Roman Anthony, who's the Red Sox top prospect, who just came up and it's a huge deal. We saw what a big day it was in Boston. Then there's Jacob Mizyurowski, the Brewers pitcher who can hit.103 on the gun, and he'll be making his major league debut tonight starting for the Brewers. And then this is just an excuse to show some of the greatest catches I've ever seen in his first 18 games. Denzel Clark is basically Tory Hunter in center field for the Athletics. So those three guys. Guys, really exciting time for baseball to have the three of them come up. Can I get a couple of notes on. On each of them?

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah. Roman Anthony's an easy one to get excited about. He's been the top Prospect in baseball since Roki Sasaki graduated. He was a guy that's been a multi million dollar type player out of high school. He has a chance to hit 30, maybe even 40 homers but currently he still hits too many ground balls so he doesn't have that loft in his swing. But the exit V suggests that there is you know, home run derby type, multiple all star, chance to be an MVP kind of talent. Probably like a, I'd say a med average, maybe 250, 260 hitter, tons of walks, really good plate selection. And then he's also a pretty good athlete, pretty good runner, can fill in in center field, but is more of a good right fielder. Denzel Clark is really interesting. He's been a slow burn prospect, came from a mid major college, has been in the minors for a little while. The scouting report has kind of always been it's plus plus power, plus plus speed plus plus defense. We'll see if he can put the bat on the ball enough for any of that to matter. And so the question is, does he turn into like a defensive replacement with unbelievable tools that doesn't really very much or does he turn into like Mike Cameron? Like that would be, if everything clicks, he could turn into that. And then I would argue probably the most fun. I, I think fans have the most fun watching these guys like Jacob Misarowski that can just throw 103. He is 6, 7, comes at you, he has a cutter, a slider, a curveball. Everything is plus the plus plus. It's all moving all over the place. And then this year he just magically started throwing strikes to AAA and nobody really knows what to do with this. And the question is basically is this guy gonna be one the of, of the better closers in the league or is he going to actually turn into like Zach Wheeler and the whole thing's going to click. And so this might actually be the hyped guy that they can turn into something.

[Jeremy Tache]

This is one of the craziest, most electric arms we've ever seen in Major League Baseball. And he takes the mound tonight. Let's move to our star of the week. And Kylie, you may not know this, we've been calling this a golden era in Major League Baseball for, for, for superstars. And I'm actually going to to throw three of them at you. Normally we're making our guests choose between two, but it's been such a ridiculous week and such a ridiculous season for all three of these guys. I'm going to throw each of three players and A stat at you and then you're going to focus on one of them as we move forward. So there's my guy, Tarek Skubal with the Detroit Tigers. He's gone 60 with a 161 erra 13 earn runs and 72⅔ innings pitched with 95 strikeouts and three walks, walks across his last 11 starts.

[Roy Bellamy]

Is that, is that good?

[Jeremy Tache]

That's pretty good. He might not even be as good as Paul Skeens because There have been 90 occurrences all time where an MLB pitcher has a sub 2.1 ERA and 80 plus strikeouts through 13 starts of a season. Paul Skeens in 2025 is the only one of those to have a losing record in Pittsburgh. He's 4 and 6 over that stretch. This is a guy with an ERA under two in his first, first 37 starts in major League Baseball. And then there's Cal Raleigh, who we've brought up the big dumper on this show multiple times. But he continues to lead Major League Baseball in home runs. And over the last 30 days, he's first in nearly every category. And that's as Aaron Judge is having one of his sickest seasons of all time. So Cal Raleigh, Paul Skeens, Tarik Skubal. Pick one and let's focus on him.

[Roy Bellamy]

I would pick Terek Skubal. He went in the ninth round. Like everyone thought he was just okay. And we, we've seen it a couple times the past. It doesn't happen very often. Jacob deGrom is the one that I think of the most where there are rules about baseball and pitching. Where this might sound counterintuitive, but V essentially goes up until you're around age 25 and then it starts to slowly come down. And the trick for pitchers is you have to learn as much command to make up for the velocity you lose as you get older. Tarek Skubal's V has gone up four years in a row and he's 28. He hadn't really hit triple digits. And then this year he had 103 in like the 80th pitch of a game game. Like he's defying all of these rules. And so like at age 27, he won his first Cy Young last year. Now he's hitting new heights in velocity. I don't, I don't know how to explain any of this to anyone. Like all of the scouting that you do, all the history you create, all of the like, well, he does this and he's good at this. It's all presumed on well, he's not going to start throwing harder at 26, 27, and 28 and then learn the best new pitch that he wasn't throwing that much. Like, none of this stuff is supposed to happen, and he's kind of doing all of it. And that's really fascinating to me because it just kind of blows up the entire, like, rubric of the way that I've been taught to, like, judge pitchers.

[Jeremy Tache]

Right. Tarik Skubal is the exception to the rule, and I appreciate that. What you've done is basically spent this entire time giving us your expertise and then immediately undermining your own expertise by saying, I didn't think this guy who's the best pitcher in baseball was going to be any good. Kylie McDaniel, thank you very much for all of the analysis that you've given us. This was a blank blast. Hope to have you back sometime soon after the draft. We can catch up on all of the things that occur there and some of the prospects that come up in the meantime. But for now, let's get back to our competition with Chris and June Taylor. What is our stat?

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

1997 home runs.

[Stugotz]

Jesus.

[Jeremy Tache]

1997 home runs. Wow. Okay. What a time for home runs because there have been 10 different guys who came to mind. But I'm. Here's where I'm going. Does everybody have a name written down?

[Chris Cody]

Oh, wait, I was thinking oh, three for a second.

[Jeremy Tache]

You want to take a second? Well, but you should probably write it down before we.

[Chris Cody]

Yeah, okay, I got it.

[Jeremy Tache]

All right, I'll just unveil mine first. My. My name was Ken Griffey Jr. Oh.

[Taylor]

That'S a good name.

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

Does anybody have Ken Griffey?

[Taylor]

No, no, I have. I have Mark McGuire.

[Jeremy Tache]

Great.

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

Chris, who do you have just crossed out Sosa.

[Chris Cody]

And I put Jim Tomi.

[Jeremy Tache]

That is one of the names I was just thinking of. Him and Frank Thomas were a couple of the names.

[Roy Bellamy]

Yeah.

[Jeremy Tache]

Who they were playing?

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

Chris Cody, Jim told me, was eighth with 40 home runs.

[Chris Cody]

I stink.

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

So you get 40 points there.

[Chris Cody]

Same amount of walks as Nick Johnson.

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

Mark McGuire. 58 home runs that season.

[Jeremy Tache]

Yeah.

[Chris Cody]

Where was Sosa?

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

And then Ken Griffey right behind Mark McGuire in second. 56.

[Jeremy Tache]

Hell, yeah. All right.

[Chris Cody]

This was pre Sosa.

[Roy Bellamy]

Right.

[Chris Cody]

That was a good cross by me.

[Jeremy Tache]

Started, he had 36 that year. Sosa's run from 98 to 01 or 02 was cross out.

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

So, Chris Cody, you're within 200. And luckily for you, this category, I'm.

[Chris Cody]

Within 200 and three of you.

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

So this category is 2, 000 hits.

[Jeremy Tache]

Hate you.

[Chris Cody]

Oh, this is. Okay, good. I like what you did there, Taylor.

[Jeremy Tache]

All right, so hold on to Glory. The question that I have here is do I want to put the name that I think was at the top of that list and potentially cancel myself out with June because I have a feeling everyone's thinking the same thing or do I put a name that I just think will be on that list?

[Chris Cody]

I think you should do.

[Stugotz]

What I do.

[Chris Cody]

Whatever your heart tells you not to do.

[Jeremy Tache]

You have a name?

[Chris Cody]

Yeah.

[Jeremy Tache]

You have a name? June.

[Chris Cody]

I have a name. I'm going live.

[Jeremy Tache]

All right. All right. June, you go for first.

[Taylor]

My name is no more Garcia.

[Jeremy Tache]

Okay. My name second time used. Derek Jeter. You have Jeter? No. Oh, thank God.

[Chris Cody]

I went each.

[Taylor]

Well, we're really hitting at the core of the bas.

[Jeremy Tache]

Ichiro's 2001 debut. Dude.

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

Yeah.

[Jeremy Tache]

He had no hits.

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

2001 rookie of the year. Ichiro did not have a hit.

[Jeremy Tache]

In Japan.

[Chris Cody]

About no one said we were talking about major League Baseball.

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

Chris Cody could take the asterisk. 153 hits anyways because it's third on this list.

[Jeremy Tache]

Thank you.

[Mike Ryan Ruiz]

Derek Jeter, 201 hits. Nomar197. 2. Two solid guesses but it clinches you.

[Jeremy Tache]

I June is victorious. Congratulations June, on being a first time champion in your first game. That. That's devastating because we play this every week and we both stink at it. So congratulations on your victory. Thank you for joining us for a second straight week on the pitch clock.

[Taylor]

Yeah, thank you for having me.