PMS 2.0 1375 - LIVE From The Home Run Derby, Rob Manfred, CC Sabathia, Jett Passan, Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani

Summary

Detailed Summary of The Pat McAfee Show – Episode PMS 2.0 1375

Podcast Information:

• Title: The Pat McAfee Show
• Host/Authors: Pat McAfee, AJ Hawk, the Toxic Table, and Tone Digs
• Episode: PMS 2.0 1375 - LIVE From The Home Run Derby
• Release Date: July 14, 2025

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1. Live from Atlanta: Setting the Stage (00:02 – 04:20)

Pat McAfee kicks off the episode with vibrant energy, broadcasting live from the Coca Cola Roxy Theater at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia, during the MLB All-Star Game and Home Run Derby.

• Pat McAfee (00:02): “We are live from beautiful Atlanta, Georgia, where all the bats are harder and hotter than a Georgia summer.”

Pat expresses gratitude towards MLB and highlights the effort taken to include his show despite internal ESPN resistance. He acknowledges key figures such as Rob Manfred, Mike Foss, and his production team for facilitating their presence.

• Pat McAfee (02:59): “Ty Schmidt—it’s a dream come true.”

Ty Schmidt shares his excitement about participating in the All-Star festivities, emphasizing the unique opportunity to be on the field and interact closely with MLB operations.

2. The Home Run Derby Buzz (04:20 – 07:00)

The conversation shifts to the anticipation surrounding the Home Run Derby, highlighting star participants and the event's impact on both players and fans.

• Pat McAfee (06:00): “Cal Raleigh, MLB leader in home runs, doing the Home Run Derby is a big deal.”

Ty Schmidt discusses Cal Raleigh's outstanding first half, noting his prowess as a switch hitter and his status as the favorite to win the Derby.

• Ty Schmidt (07:00): “Cal Raleigh is the current home run king in the MLB and he's agreeing to do the derby. It's awesome.”

They delve into the excitement and potential impact of the Home Run Derby on players’ performances and the broader baseball narrative.

3. All-Star Game Insights and Community Interactions (07:00 – 16:29)

Pat and his co-hosts engage with other attendees, including Boston Connor and Darius J. Butler, discussing team dynamics, player interactions, and the overall atmosphere of the event.

• Pat McAfee (09:15): “There's a lot of young stars who casual fans haven't heard of.”

They touch upon the American League's dominance in All-Star Game outcomes and explore betting perspectives on the game.

4. Exclusive Interview with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred (16:29 – 44:05)

A significant portion of the episode features an in-depth conversation with Rob Manfred, the MLB Commissioner. The discussion covers several critical areas:

a. Embracing Digital and Internet Integration (18:10 – 19:49)

• Rob Manfred (18:35): “We realized the right strategy is to make sure we are where the people are going.”

Rob explains MLB's strategic shift towards embracing internet and digital platforms, moving away from prioritizing their proprietary MLB TV service to aligning with where fans are consuming content.

b. Rule Changes and Enhancing Game Pace (19:49 – 23:13)

• Rob Manfred (20:00): “When you get to the point that you think you have it figured out, you better retire.”

He discusses ongoing efforts to streamline gameplay, implement a pitch clock, eliminate shifting, and introduce larger bases to make the game faster and more athletic.

c. Handling Public Relations and Controversies (21:44 – 25:47)

Pat raises concerns about past controversies, specifically referencing the Astros scandal and its fallout.

• Rob Manfred (23:15): “It made me better at the job as time has gone on.”

Rob reflects on lessons learned from handling public criticism and the importance of transparency and resilience in leadership roles.

d. Future of MLB and Competitive Balance (25:47 – 30:17)

The conversation shifts to the potential introduction of a salary cap to ensure competitive balance across MLB teams.

• Rob Manfred (25:08): “Anything that undermines competition, which I believe the issue you're raising does, sooner or later, we're going to have to come to grips with that issue 100%.”

He emphasizes the necessity of maintaining competitive integrity to keep the league engaging and fair for all teams.

e. Automated Strike Zone and Technology Integration (33:45 – 40:28)

Rob elaborates on the implementation of an automated strike zone system, clarifying misconceptions about "robot umpires."

• Rob Manfred (34:47): “We are preserving the role of the umpire in the game.”

He addresses pitcher and hitter concerns regarding the new technology, likening its reception to the initial pushback seen in the NFL with instant replay systems.

f. Global Expansion and International Media (28:39 – 30:03)

Rob discusses MLB's efforts to expand its global reach, particularly in Japan, and the importance of international sponsorships.

• Rob Manfred (29:10): “Another great example is Shohei Ohtani.”

He highlights the influx of international talent enhancing MLB's appeal and global footprint.

5. Conversations with MLB Stars: Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge (44:05 – 87:02)

The show includes interviews with prominent MLB players, Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, providing personal insights and experiences.

a. Shohei Ohtani's Journey and Impact (44:07 – 56:05)

Shohei Ohtani shares his excitement about the All-Star festivities and his dual role as both a pitcher and hitter.

• Shohei Ohtani (45:26): “We have great momentum right now.”

He discusses the challenges and rewards of contributing to MLB's growing popularity and the significance of the Home Run Derby in showcasing talent.

b. Aaron Judge's Achievements and Fan Engagement (56:05 – 87:02)

Aaron Judge reflects on his first All-Star experience, the responsibility of being a Yankees captain, and his commitment to both pitching and batting excellence.

• Aaron Judge (67:11): “The Home Run Derby is a showcase for emerging talents.”

He emphasizes the importance of maintaining high performance and the emotional aspects of participating in such high-profile events.

6. Predictions and Fan Engagement (87:02 – 99:18)

Pat and his co-hosts engage in a lively prediction segment for the Home Run Derby, encouraging listeners to participate by sharing their choices.

• Boston Connor (56:04): “I’m personally, gonna pull selfishly for Big Dumper, but I’m gonna pick the hometown kid, Matt Olson.”

Ty Schmidt expresses confidence in Jazz Chisholm Jr., anticipating an entertaining performance.

• Ty Schmidt (89:14): “Jazz is a showman and he's gonna go out there with the intention of putting on a show.”

7. Closing Remarks and Transition to Home Run Derby (99:18 – End)

As the show nears its end, Pat McAfee summarizes the key takeaways, thanks MLB and the participants, and transitions to the live Home Run Derby event. He reiterates gratitude towards MLB for allowing his show to be part of the festivities and encourages listeners to tune into the Derby.

• Pat McAfee (140:51): “We continue on YouTube, even ESPN plus Disney plus TikTok Live. Also, the press conference I will be hosting will be live at 2 o' clock here and on MLB Network.”

Notable Quotes:

• Pat McAfee (00:02): “We are live from beautiful Atlanta, Georgia, where all the bats are harder and hotter than a Georgia summer.”

• Rob Manfred (20:00): “When you get to the point that you think you have it figured out, you better retire because they meet a different guy.”

• Shohei Ohtani (45:26): “We have great momentum right now.”

• Aaron Judge (67:11): “The Home Run Derby is a showcase for emerging talents.”

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Conclusion:

This episode of The Pat McAfee Show offers an immersive experience into the MLB All-Star festivities, featuring exclusive insights from MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and star players Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge. Discussions ranged from MLB's strategic shifts towards digital integration and rule changes aimed at enhancing game pace, to personal anecdotes from players about their journey and impact on the sport. The lively prediction segment for the Home Run Derby added an engaging element for listeners, emphasizing the show's commitment to being at the heart of major sports events. This detailed coverage not only entertains but also provides valuable perspectives on the evolving landscape of Major League Baseball.

Transcript

[Pat McAfee]

This is the SportsCenter 5050 Tour. We will be landing in Atlanta shortly, Mr. Mac. Next stop, the Home Run Derby. Let's go. We are live from beautiful Atlanta, Georgia, where all the bats are harder and hotter than a Georgia summer. The Pat McAfee show is here and we're coming out swinging. Hey, let's go. This show stinks. And the fact that you listen, we are very, very thankful for be all aligned with a gorgeous assist, the all time leading tackler for the Green Bay Packers. You pick. Damn it. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice could change their life. Hello, beautiful people and welcome to glorious Atlanta, Georgia. More specifically, the Coca Cola Roxy Theater here in the battery of Truest park at the All Star Game. This program begins now. Baseball. It's the Midsummer Classic and we have somehow been invited to be a part of the entire operation. We are so incredibly grateful and thankful for the MLB because the MLB had to really move mountains to get us here. There's some people at ESPN who have hated us since the day we got to ESPN who were trying to hold us back in. SVP Mike Foss turned over every single stone. The MLB heard about our problems and they said, how can we help? We would like you to experience the Midsummer Classic, the thing that captivates the world. And most specifically the Home Run Derby where dongs are in abundance. So shout out to the mlb. We'll have the commissioner Rob Manfred joining us in about 15 minutes. Shout out to Mike Foss doing his thing. Shout out to the production people that built this in the middle of the Roxy Theater. Shout out to a man who was 28 years in the army doing her audio and all the boys here. It is going to be an absolute blast as we celebrate baseball in a world that we don't know necessarily everything about now. Not saying there's any world we know everything about, but this is certainly one that I am a little bit of a fish out of water. But learning about the great tradition and the history and the amount of stats and the amount of things that pop off every single night in the baseball world has been a blast. We're off for a week. We hope you all had a great one. We certainly enjoyed the time but it is magical to be back chit chatting about sports, more specifically the sport of baseball. The talks at tables here at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidt. Ty, you have the eye black on in the entire American League All Star uniform. Feels like you really made the team last night whenever they gifted you all this.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, without a doubt. I mean this is, you know, this is a dream come true. We were on the field last night just having a catch, you know, I mean, just tossing the ball around. I never thought, I've never been to an All Star game, never been to a derby. Never really thought at this point I'd ever have the opportunity. But man, that was just incredible, you know, like, how often do you get to go to NMLB ballpark and have it be completely cleared out and then just be like, hey, you jackasses can kind of go have your pick of the litter, do whatever you want now. I don't think they were too jacked up that we were on the field. You know, we got the lights turned out on us a couple times.

[Pat McAfee]

Couple times, yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

But, but no, so far, I mean, this has been a one. So hats off to the mlb. It's, it's. This has been literally a dream come true.

[Pat McAfee]

Shout to the mlb, being very kind to us and obviously, Ty, you and I might be a part of something a little bit later that's going to be absolutely ridiculous before the Home Run Derby. Cannot wait for that. I will also be hosting the press conference that'll be happening here at the Coca Cola Roxy Theater, which is part of the battery here at Truist Park. Truist Park. This is the third time that the All Star game has been hosted in Atlanta. First time at Truist Park. We got the whole tour last night, clubhouses and everything. Now I'll say the American League clubhouse, they had the boom booms on that. The equipment managers and everybody that was in the American League clubhouse last night. A lot more of a bop sesh last night in there. National League, super professional. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Very pristine.

[Pat McAfee]

Very, very professional. Very pristine. If you want to look into betting. And does that change any? I don't know. No players were here. But the certainly equipment managers and everybody setting up this glorious event. We're in there. Everybody from the MLB has been so cool to us. It's been nice to meet everybody and walking around their clubhouse was something special. They got a lot of cleats. They got a lot of stuff. Yeah, a lot of stuff. And obviously I believe that is. Yeah, it's Paul Skeens. He's the starting pitcher for the National League tonight. Canards on, on Wednesday. I cannot wait. Boston Connors here. You're wearing a hard hat there. What do you have going on?

[Boston Connor]

Just want to, you know, it's all players and I get it is the derby. You know, the coaches can't get out there and compete in some Kind of coach derby, but typically it's a first base coach, third base coach type of uniform. However, this is actually the future star game. I don't know what you guys did this week. I actually played in the MLB future stars. The. The. The future stars won because now the.

[Pat McAfee]

Audience, they got to.

[Ty Schmidt]

Exactly.

[Boston Connor]

They won too, because they got to.

[Pat McAfee]

See what I think the winning coach was. Chipper Jones, I believe.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, Chipper was there. You know, if Chipper's way he's win.

[Pat McAfee]

Chipper Jones. Chipper Jones. Chipper Jones. Chipper Jones. We're in an empty theater except for the people that have set this up. But they can hear that outside of here, I would assume. Got a chance to buy Chipper Jones dinner last night in Atlanta. What an honor of a lifetime. He looks so cool. Obviously an absolute beast.

[Ty Schmidt]

Best switch hitter him or Mickey Mantle? Best switch hitter ever.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. So since Mickey Mantle, the best switch hitter of all time, and I think he would take a lot of respect to that after the story we heard about him hitting from both sides of the plate. Big story tonight in a Home Run Derby is Cal Rawley also switch hitter. Obviously the catcher for the Seattle Mariners leads the MLB in dingers front of the show. He has the nickname Big Dump. He has the odds on favorite. And tonight it should be a spectacle. We got a chance to see a lot of the things they have in store. And obviously we've watched the Home Run Derby for home because I'm an add guy. So whether you're a baseball fan or not, the Home Run Derby is. You watch. Yes. We're talking dongs. Then somebody gets cold. This guy sucks. And then the pitcher starts missing the strike zone and it's like, this guy sucks. There's drama. There's little kids in the outfield trying to catch fly balls. There's balls getting sent into orbit. And inevitably there's a story that we'll talk about forever, which is whoever wins this Home Run Derby, you look back on the great times, Harper winning with his dad, how emotional that was. You go through it, all the stories and the bombs, but they do talk about a little bit of maybe a slump after the Home Run Derby, which is why maybe some of the guys don't like to do it. Cal Raleigh, MLB leader in home runs. Doing the Home Run Derby is a big deal, I think, for the Home Run Derby, right?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, without a doubt. I mean, he's, you know, had arguably the best first half, you know, in one of the best first halfs in the history of baseball. We'll See, I mean, you hit 38 homers before the break. Even if he does have a little slump, like he's got breathing room and he can still hit 60 plus homers. So. But yeah, this is, this is why, you know, like a lot of times we'll get some of these younger stars who maybe like the casual fan hasn't really heard of and you know, you get kind of like the buzzwords like, oh, his exit velocity or you know, the amount of barrels he hits. Like he hits the ball really hard, swings really fast. Cal Raleigh is the current home run king in the mlb and he's agreeing to do the derby. It's awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it's a huge deal. But I think there is just like the dunk contest became and all these other things. I think people were worried about getting hurt or maybe using extra reps or maybe changing their swing for this so it ruins the game and we know how little stitious baseball is.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, for sure.

[Pat McAfee]

So you add something into the middle of the season that's a little bit different than your regular routine. Do you want to change anything? We shall see. Big dumper ain't worried about nothing. Can't wait to watch him and the boys tonight. Including the cruise missile. Let's go to one half of the Hammer. Done. Cowboys. AP Tone, I hope your break was good. People said you're really tall on the Internet with that.

[Darius J. Butler]

Being said was tough situation.

[Pat McAfee]

Have shoes. You got Sicily on it pretty bad.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Darius J. Butler]

A group of six, eight guys wanted.

[Pat McAfee]

To come up, take a photo, get out of that group. Get out of that group.

[Darius J. Butler]

Were like, why is he wearing shoes? I was at the beach. Who wears shoes at the beach?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, agreed. We're having an off time. You got to do what you got to do. I'm happy to hear you enjoyed it. People were calling you a short king.

[Darius J. Butler]

They were.

[Boston Connor]

Which from other short kings I saw.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, there's tone right there. So you're saying that group of friends right there, six, eight plus. Yeah.

[Darius J. Butler]

I mean, you know, you start, you.

[Pat McAfee]

Know, the furthest away from the. You Siciliano' ed yourself. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Birkenstock's ain't six.

[Darius J. Butler]

Listen, listen, we know that I was leaving.

[Pat McAfee]

He's closest to the camera. He gets it.

[Darius J. Butler]

I was leaving the beach with a three year old. I just carried six chairs up to my truck in 95 degree heat. I wasn't really thinking about anything except for, hey, let's let, let's get this beautiful picture and let's get back.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Nice to meet the boys. I'M happy to see that that happened. Good interaction. I'm just saying a lot of people make it funny. I don't like that. Thanks for representing. Don't embarrass program. They said. Some people say it was kind of embarrassing with how short you looked. I don't think that's the case, but next time we'll obviously have a better read on it. You obviously like to go onboard on things. We just saw a big dumper as the odds on favor for the Home Run Derby. Let's go to the All Star Game as a whole. There was an interesting stat there about the American League. Just belt to ass in this all star game. Yeah.

[Darius J. Butler]

Al has won 10 out of the last 11. Now the NL won two years ago. Al won last year. So the last two years it's been split. But the Al has been the more dominant of the side. They are currently plus115 to win the All Star Game on Tuesday night. So if you like those odds, basically a pick them for which side you want to go with. And then recently the total, I believe is seven and a half. It has been a lower scoring game in the last four or five seasons just because, I mean you got pitchers going one inning, giving their best stuff and pitching normally trumps hitting. So in this, in these games, it's.

[Pat McAfee]

Normally a lower scoring nine year NFL vet Darius J. Butler. You look so cool in that shot right there next to Diggs. Obviously, everybody, everybody's trying to figure out the. You look tall too. Yeah, everybody's trying to figure out the All Star Game, the Pro bowl, the Special. You know, I think hockey had it good with the four nations. I think they stumbled into something that's very beautiful. Basketball.

[Boston Connor]

Changing it to basketball is going to.

[Pat McAfee]

Do the World Cup, I think, or whatever the case.

[Boston Connor]

World versus us.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. So it's like there is a lot of things that are hopefully getting right. NFL, Pro Bowl. I don't know what they. I don't know how you fix it. I. I don't think flag football, I guess it's just as impossible. It's almost like a carnival. Yeah. It's like a festival. Shout out to T Mobile, by the way.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, T Mobile.

[Pat McAfee]

T Mobile came in a big way and was like, you guys should do this on that bus. Thank you.

[Aaron Judge]

Great, great service center. I was so happy about it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Debaum put together a good graphic of what our actual life was driving down here and shout to T Mobile. Shout to Red Bull too, for giving us wings. But T Mobile really stepped up in a big Way there's shits everywhere here. So like there was no reason for them to have to do anything more for us. Especially because we are a late edition once again. Because we're being held back by people saying we couldn't come here, who actually didn't know that we couldn't come here, who actually have no power and they think they do and then they find out quickly that they don't. Accurate. That's kind of the breakdown of the entire situation story. Second verse, actually it's like the fifth verse at this point. And it's just different departments. This one just so happened to be baseball world. And it's like, I don't know why you would act like that, but just know inevitably you're a dinosaur. Okay. And that's the way things go. Let's move along. But T Mobile calling in and being like, hey, we want to help out however we can. We can help. It's like, thank you, T Mobile. And your color pink is dope. Yeah. Very, very, very dope. But figuring out the All Star Game, it feels like the mid summer classic is just part of tradition now. It's just part of folklore. It's just part of past. It is what baseball's pastime is. Celebrating all the greats. I don't know how the game is. I guess they have to pitch because the balls have to be strikes. You have to get out of the game. But like the home run derby, kicking it all off. What a spectacle. What a beautiful spectacle.

[Aaron Judge]

You can't go wrong with home runs. You mentioned the dunk contest earlier. That was something we used to look forward to as kids for the All Star weekend. Deep balls. In football, you always want to see deep balls. And then obviously deep balls of baseball. The bombs. We kind of grew up in that era where maybe not the balls, only the ball's been juiced up. So we saw a bunch of home runs every night. We got everything thing being juiced up. But I'm excited to see Cruise miss.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I didn't know what you're talking about.

[Aaron Judge]

You know what I'm talking.

[Darius J. Butler]

Actually, I think it's trunk I was gonna say.

[Aaron Judge]

I mean, I wouldn't mind bringing it. Bringing that air back.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, I did pitch immediately upon meeting the three MLB people that I've been in correspondence with via email. As soon as I saw him in person last night, just straight to the. When you guys gonna give it up and just say let the boys juice? Yeah, well, come on.

[Ty Schmidt]

He's like, well, we did it once.

[Pat McAfee]

Had a run, had A run, had to run. The MLB people are electrifying. That is what we have learned and we're very thankful for their hospitality. The commissioner, Rob Manford will join us in about four minutes or so. Let's chit chat about some summer sports that are taking place around, you know, the sports Globe. I don't know if you saw it. There was an ex hockey guy playing golf. Oh, yeah, we saw that was big time sports moment this weekend. Now we have since learned that guy's face that got beat up had taken down a lot of booze. Sure, 36 holes. But what I'm saying is if this is happening to you on a golf course, I think it's time to hang up the clubs. 36 holes, boozing all day. Feeling good. Obviously liquid courage is a real deal. God. Do some recon on who you're stepping up to here. X Goon guy played multiple hockey levels. Guy who's been no stranger to war, tosses his ass in the pond after telling him he's gonna do it. I'm gonna throw you in this water. You watch your mouth. And this is a nice warning once again for everybody out there. Covid got everybody comfortable? Yeah, very. He's coming back. He throw me water. I don't believe that's good. Bang. He says, bang. Oh, you like that? I'm doing my own soundtrack. Then his friend, wait, don't watch it. Get out of. Bang, bang, bang, bang. And he goes, I'm not dying yet. I just had my 30th beer. You think you're tough, don't you? I'm gonna throw you once again in his pond. You don't first time shout out to the Canadians? I guess. First time that we have seen an Internet video where everybody immediately goes, the guy who beat the guy's ass is right.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And then the guy who got his ass beat comes out and gives his speech and we all go, all right. We've had friends that are in that situation as well. No doubt. I'm happy the boys dropped the gloves. One of them settled things and we've all moved forward thinking the right thing happened here.

[Aaron Judge]

Shout out to cameraman too. You know, usually you looking like, hey, Cameron had one job, you know, get for him to have that type frame because I didn't. I had no clue who he was picking this fight with. And then once big fella came into the frame, what were you drinking? To pick that fight with the biggest dude on the course. But yeah, that turned out exactly how it should have.

[Pat McAfee]

That might have been four Loko Nick out there. Nick's a little bit taller than that guy. I also appreciate the fact that that guy got humble a little bit. You know, every once in a while, you need to get punched right in the mouth. And we Covid. People got too comfortable. That's where I was headed. Everybody got comfortable talking shit on people. Social media.

[Aaron Judge]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Bam, bam, bam. We're locked in our houses, literally. Nobody can see anybody. Then everybody just thought that Internet life carried into real life. Like, I can go ahead and fire this tweet off at this guy. You want some? You want some? Come meet me. And the guy's like, well, I'm actually here, and this is real life. And let me tell you what's going to happen in real life. Bang, bang, bang. I love everything about it.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, the best. We had that string of videos from baseball games, actually. And that was. That was your big takeaway. It's like, hey, guess what? We're back out in public now. You can't be bumping your gums. And if you are bumping your gums, you have to understand that this guy might not be about it, and he might drop you like a bad habit real quick.

[Pat McAfee]

And baseball is no stranger to settling their differences in a fight as well.

[Ty Schmidt]

Correct.

[Pat McAfee]

Which I actually respect. They have a lot of hockey tool. You know, baseball has a lot of the hockey past. We need to monitor our own game, police and govern our own sport. They'll throw a fastball at somebody's jaw. Yes. And then everybody will run in and say, hey, whoa, whoa. You don't do that to my teammate. I respect that. I appreciate that. I like that that still exists in 2025. Now, speaking of existing in 2025, almost maybe even thriving. Now, granted, we talked about an era there where there's summer of dongs. Sure. And everybody's oh, yeah, baseball, dongs. And I mean, every summer is potentially summer. Correct. But there was one summer of dongs where in abundance. But now it feels like after a lot has happened, a lot of transition, a lot of change, MLB is in a great spot. Joining us now is a man who's been the commish of MLB for the last 10 years. I believe he signed on through 2029. 2029. Ladies and gentlemen, commissioner of MLB, Rob Manfred. Yeah.

[Aaron Judge]

Commish.

[Pat McAfee]

Appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Let me get this the hell out of here your way here. Okay. I'll put this down. Put this down here. This bad boy on.

[Ty Schmidt]

Great.

[Rob Manfred]

Thanks. Nailed it.

[Pat McAfee]

No problem. I'll put this over your Shoulder too. Super professional. Super professional.

[Rob Manfred]

There you go.

[Pat McAfee]

Commission. Hey, thank you for letting us be here.

[Rob Manfred]

Great. Thank you for being here. We, we're just thrilled to have all of you and I hope you have a good time while you're here. It's actually a great four days and you know, the best we have to offer in a lot of ways.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so let's talk about that. Getting a chance to meet your people. Okay. And the three guys. Chuck, I don't want to, I don't want to get to name. I got last names and first names from the zoom calls and emails. Don't. I don't want to mess it up. There's been three lads from your team that have been here for like 30 years each that have taken care of us and made sure that we have a great time. So hospitable. Which leads to this question. Feels like your guys league as Internet people was a league that didn't want to see the Internet become a big baseball place. I only say that because cease and desist were happening. There wasn't a lot of videos being distributed. There wasn't a lot of interviews with players. It almost felt like the MLB did not want the Internet to kind of do their thing. Then over the last few years it feels like, and this has had to be the decision that you have made and people that have been around here a long time transition to maybe into the most open league whenever it comes to the Internet and digital, obviously signing John Boy, obviously with how welcoming you've been to us, what went into that decision and do you believe like we believe that that is a great thing for the mlb?

[Rob Manfred]

Well, you know, it absolutely is a great thing for Major League Baseball 100%. Ironically, in the early years we were, you know, very forward thinking on Internet delivery. You know, MLB TV was the first over the top product. The problem is we got into this thing where we thought we could drive everything to our platform.

[Pat McAfee]

Got it.

[Rob Manfred]

Okay. So then when I became commissioner, you know, I came up a different side of the business. Some of the people you were referring to came to me and said, you know, we got this wrong. You know, we're just in the wrong place. We're trying to drive everybody here. The right strategy is to make sure we are where the people are. You gotta go where people are going. And that shift has been a really good thing for us. A really good thing.

[Pat McAfee]

We've enjoyed the hell out of it. We've enjoyed covering it. And obviously you know this now because you guys have leaned into it and Your crew has. It's like a lot of things are clips. Like our show is a clip show to some people where they just see clips and it doesn't matter if it's just the clips. At least they're seeing our product. I like to see that you guys are doing the same thing with the mlb. Now another question. The rules changes that have taken place, I talked to Bettman a little bit and whenever they had the lockout, I think the NHL had the lockout, they changed the rules and made a different game coming out of the lockout. They have obviously prospered since then. For you guys, it seems like you guys have tinkered with the rules. Whether it's the pitch clock or some other things, no game is too long. It feels like it's all consumable. Is that ongoing? Is that at a point where you figured it out? Like, and when does the decision go to, let's try to make our game more suitable for the modern times.

[Rob Manfred]

Well, look, when you get to the point that you think you have it figured out, you better retire because they meet a different guy. I just, I mean, 100% got to tell you that we're always trying to fix this.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah, I got it. I respect that.

[Rob Manfred]

I mean, look, we feel like we made a set of really fundamental changes. You know, the institution of the clock, the elimination of the shift, the bigger bases, they were really two themes behind it. Number one, we listened to our fans. Our fans were saying, the game's too long, there's not enough action. And you know, we worked to address that. The second thing is all of the changes were directed at athleticism. You know, when you can take your defenders and move them around wherever you want on the field, that player doesn't need to be as athletic as if he has to stay in position. And you know, you saw it last night in the draft. I had my little 7 year old grandson was with me sitting in the front row. He sits through like 24 picks. So I saw him this morning, he says, why did they only pick shortstops? I said, well, he picked shortstops because it's the best athlete, right? And that's important. And we need to continue to look at the game, listen to what our fans are saying. And you know, I'm not looking to discard the history and tradition. I am looking to make adjustments to make sure we stay relevant.

[Pat McAfee]

How long have you been with the MLB?

[Rob Manfred]

I came inside in 1998 and I was an outside lawyer for 10 years before that. I'm old.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so 37 years.

[Rob Manfred]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Roughly. With the.

[Rob Manfred]

With the league.

[Pat McAfee]

The league. I. First of all, thank you for your commitment to sport and commitment to league. I said that to a lot of people. There's a. I think the equipment manager for the AL.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Is 49 years or something like that. And then the equipment manager for the NL is the Braves guy. I think it's like 30 some years. It's like everybody we've met has a lot of, like, skin in the game here at the MLB for a long time. With that being said, I have to bring something up.

[Rob Manfred]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Because I attacked it pretty good. When you get caught on a conversation by somebody recording here, you're over here and call it a piece of metal or whatever. Listen, I thought you got screwed there because you're getting recorded whenever you don't know it, but do you think like that and other things have led to a stain about how people view you? Just strictly. Let me tell you why me working with you and your people these last two weeks, you might have the greatest group around you out of all the leagues, legitimately, you might have all the greatest group around you. And obviously, you were the one in charge of them. But at that moment, it was hard not to just be like, what is this guy? Did you learn anything from that moment? And did that moment, deep down, piss you off? Because it's like, how am I getting outed by people that are supposed to be my team there?

[Rob Manfred]

Look, I think if you got one chance to turn the clock back and undo something, that would probably be the thing that I would undo. I did learn a couple of things from it. Number one, you know, I'm a lawyer by training. You know, you say things to defend a position. In this case, it was, you know, what we had decided to do with respect to the Astros and that whole situation. You say things to defend your decision. And one of the things I've learned, you know, at some point, you put your decision out there and let people think what they think, and you're better off. You know, you really are better off because you're the guy who thinks you're wrong. The chances you're turning them around ain't.

[Pat McAfee]

Never good, especially in this world.

[Rob Manfred]

Just not that good, you know? And so, yeah, I really did learn something from it. I think it made me better at the job as time has gone on. But, you know, one of the great things about this job is you learn something every day. You know, you kind of. And I think one of the reasons that you've had a positive experience with the people that work in baseball is, I do think, as an organization, even though we have the reputation of history and tradition, I do think the organization looks at the game every day and says, what should we be doing to make sure we're better?

[Pat McAfee]

Well, I believe it. And just from what I've experienced, and I want to let you know, we were a part of that whole thing coming after you. I appreciate you addressing it, but I also appreciate you sitting in that batter's box, pun intended, and just continuing to go about it because you're in the fire, brother. You are in the fire. Ty Schmidt, lifelong fan, also an AL All Star this year. Yeah, absolutely.

[Ty Schmidt]

In respect to the salary cap debate, how likely do you think that will be in the next? I mean, I don't know, 10 years. Because I think as a Yankees fan, and we've talked about this a bunch, like, I know there will be a floor, so teams will have to spend to that. But I've never liked how, you know, like, teams like the Yankees and the Dodgers and the Mets will get punished because their owners are willing to go spend money, you know, to bring town in where, you know, these guys are from Pittsburgh. And it's like, we miserable. Yeah, exactly. They just. They're okay with not spending money and hoping that their farm system and the guys they draft will be good enough to kind of take them to the next level.

[Rob Manfred]

So.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, just where do you see that go?

[Rob Manfred]

Yeah. So here's what I think about that. You know, we begin on every issue by listening to our fans. I think it is undeniable. If you're denying it, you're not being honest, that we have fans in markets who believe they don't have a fair opportunity to win.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that's one of them right there.

[Rob Manfred]

And, you know, you can blame the owner, whatever. It's the system. It is the system that produces that. And at the end of the day, what we sell is competition. And so anything that undermines competition, which I believe the issue you're raising does, sooner or later, we're going to have to come to grips with that issue 100%. You know what? I'm looking at his jersey. You know, I got to tell you, we did a custom one for you, Pat, just to show that we watch.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you. You're welcome. You're welcome. That is awesome.

[Rob Manfred]

We thought it would increase the likelihood.

[Shohei Ohtani]

You would wear it.

[Pat McAfee]

Hold on, though. To follow up on his question. And it's real. Like, I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Okay. We had the Pittsburgh Penguins. They've won Multiple back to back Stanley Cups, Pittsburgh Steelers, obviously. You might as well just. They've been season tickets for that like 30 years holding. You know what I mean?

[Boston Connor]

Premiere.

[Pat McAfee]

So, like the Pirates being a team. How many interviews you done with a shirtless man?

[Rob Manfred]

Not that many.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, not that many. Okay, well, maybe this will be the last one. Maybe this will be an annual tradition. But the.

[Rob Manfred]

Oh, now that looks good.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, that really looks good too.

[Darius J. Butler]

I should have stumbled.

[Pat McAfee]

I appreciate you. When I grew up in Pittsburgh, though, I wasn't the biggest baseball fan strictly because I wasn't a Pirates fan. And the reason why I wasn't a Pirates fan is because the Pirates were just a team that you go down to the ballpark and have a good time. You never expected them to actually win. And it's like, I think at this stage, especially with the sell the team chance, everything you say, it's the systems fault. It's like it'd be good for the league for every team to be competitive, right? Is that what you're selling is whenever it's like we're trying to get that.

[Rob Manfred]

100% for the good of the game, brother.

[Pat McAfee]

Because I think I would have been a good baseball fan and probably player would have been a good player, but just stayed away from it strictly because my dad was like, nope, we're not doing it and we're not getting into it because of the Pirates experience. Not saying it's just the Pirates. There's other teams that feel this way as well. But it is, it's good for the sport, I think. Right?

[Rob Manfred]

Oh, you're right on the money, Pat. I mean, exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

Right.

[Rob Manfred]

The fact of the matter is Pittsburgh's a great sports town.

[Pat McAfee]

Great.

[Rob Manfred]

It is a great sports town. There are tons and tons of really passionate Pirates fans who remember. Who remember when the Pirates were a great, great team year in, year out, and they just want to look at the system and say, we got a fair chance to win. When you're sitting around in February looking at, you know, spring training and what the year is going to be like and we need to deal with that issue.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, well, we appreciate you. We assume you will for the good of all yinzers. Now, speaking of the Pirates, we got the guy, we got the starting pitcher, okay? Paul Skeens. Paul Skeens, we love him. He played for the Indians in Indianapolis, obviously. We watched his run in Omaha with lsu. He's been very cool to us. We're very appreciative of him. I saw him miss a football throw for a million bucks. At my big night out, he told me he slept soundly too. Sorry. Cause I didn't have to give away another million bucks. So. I like the cut of his jib. But it's not just Paul. I see. Obviously there's an entire slew of international media right now. I assume that's Japanese media, but I don't want to get too. You get. I think that's Japanese media lined up around Shohei. Aaron Judge is hitting absolute bombs. You got big Dumper Cal Raleigh playing great. Feels like your stars are all playing great. How good is that for the MLB and sports as a whole?

[Rob Manfred]

Look, we feel like we have great momentum right now. The rule changes helped. We're three years into them. They appear to be durable. You know, when you make a change, you want it to last.

[Pat McAfee]

Right?

[Rob Manfred]

They appear to be durable. But you throw on top of that, the influx of talent that we've had into the game. You know, Paul, Paul Skiing is a great example. I mean, nobody, you know, really knows about him. And then, you know, all of a sudden, in one year, he's the guy, you know, I mean, he, you know. Aaron Judge.

[Pat McAfee]

Shohei Scubal too. Sorry. Yeah.

[Rob Manfred]

I mean, another great example. And I'll tell you, you think it's crazy. Here we. Our opener in Japan, that was fun to watch, dude. I mean, it was unbelievable. I mean, unbelievable.

[Pat McAfee]

You guys are. Hey, are you guys are selling ads to Japanese companies?

[Rob Manfred]

Oh yeah, our Japanese business. We had a reception before game one and it was our sponsorship group. So I thought, you know, I'm going to this party, I'm going to see the usual suspects. You know, our American sponsors, 25 Japanese companies, completely separate slate of companies. And you know, our individual teams have taken advantage of it. The Dodgers, clearly. And you know, the Cubs went with the Dodgers on in that trip and you know, it was great. Friend of the program, you know. That's true. You know, and it's important to say that it's not just one guy.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes, agreed, exactly.

[Rob Manfred]

It's a group of guys that have come here and made a difference. We're lucky. We got great players. We got some of our very best in big markets. And as a result, you know, our attendance and our ratings are really good.

[Pat McAfee]

Commissioners always hated by their crew. Bettman even had the best year that they've had. He got his ass booed at the draft. Yeah, Roger Goodell, I think he's having a little bit of a baby face turn. I think he's having a little bit of a baby face turn. Still got to Go out there with firefighters and the military, still got to do that. How do you handle that as a human? Because, you know, you have to make decisions and you have to be the face of decisions and people are going to hate it. Everybody will say you get paid well, obviously, but you're still a human in there. You're a lawyer, but I assume you're a human in there.

[Rob Manfred]

I haven't practiced in a really long time. I'll tell anybody who tells you. It doesn't bother them.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Rob Manfred]

Is lying to you okay? I mean, just 100%. Nobody likes getting booed, but, you know, you do learn to manage it. I mean, even last night during the draft, you come out, you try to smile at the people that are booing.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, they're gonna boo.

[Rob Manfred]

You know, they're gonna boo no matter what. You come out, you smile and you go on. And, you know, I do think that the biggest thing to think about is to convince the majority of the fans that you care about what you're putting out there in front of them. For us, you know, 186 days, so many 62 game season.

[Pat McAfee]

So it's unbelievable.

[Aaron Judge]

Yeah. What's the biggest, I guess common misconception on the commissioner's job, what you guys do? And then I guess the second part of that question is there we talk about the new rules and speeding up the game. Is there any old school MLB rules you bring back?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, maybe like a boxing glove for when you want to fight, more fighting.

[Rob Manfred]

You know, I have to tell you, your second question may be the hardest question anybody's asked me in a really long time. You know, and I'll tell you why, we are really forward focused. And having said that, all of the rule changes that we put in three years ago are kind of theme internally is let's put back out there the best form of baseball. Right. Let's bring back the stolen base. Let's bring back the athletic middle infielders. Let's bring back the ball and play not just relying on a home run. So in a really kind of weird way, we were looking backwards too. You know, we wanted to get back to our best. I think the piece of the commissioner's job that people completely ignore is the internal piece. And it gets back to what Pat was talking about with our organization. You know, people focus. There's the guy, you know, he's running the sport. The fact of the matter is our sport gets run by 1200 hard working people that are in that office in New York every single day. And it's really hard to get it right. Everybody thinks, you know, oh God, everyone wants to work in a sport, baseball, football, whatever your sport is. But it's harder than you think to get your organization right.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, your culture is seemingly great. Everybody that we have met, so congratulations on that. Not easy as a leader. I know you want to defer to other people, but there's somebody that has to guide the culture. You're doing a great job. I think Tone, Pittsburgh Pirates fan, loves your league, has a question for you.

[Darius J. Butler]

Yes, I do. Yeah. You talked about forward thinking. The robot umpires, the auto strike zone, which is going to be used tomorrow night I believe is probably some of the most forward thinking thing that's come across. Obviously umpires in the strike zone and strike zone, changing every game, like it's something that's just been a part of baseball forever. Where are we at on that? And do you think that would be the most forward thinking role that you guys have done?

[Rob Manfred]

Yeah, look, I'm going to object to one piece of your question.

[Pat McAfee]

Sure.

[Rob Manfred]

I never call the automated strike zone system robot umpires because one of the things we really do want to preserve is the role of the umpire in the game. And you know, the way the system is designed, he gets the call, he makes the call just like he does today in order to. That's his role, you know, that's what he's doing out there, number one. Number two, technology off the charts. Good. I mean, we started 10 years ago. You know, it was two inches. That was the margin error. Now it's like a hundredth of an inch. I mean, it's unbelievably good. And so here's the funny thing. You know, I have a very. We're not going to get into exactly what it is, but I do have a transparent email and it's on purpose. I like to hear from people, figure it out. Just regular fans and I do. Now there's filters for bands. I want to kill you does not get through.

[Pat McAfee]

I wish I had that filter on my.

[Rob Manfred]

But here's the thing. You know, we put it out there in spring training. You know, obviously a lot of people go to spring training. It's a really great time of the year for us. So this year the emails about being bad balls and strike calls have gone like this up crazy because they've now seen you can do it better. And the sort of theme of the emails is, what the hell are you waiting for?

[Pat McAfee]

I got it.

[Rob Manfred]

You know, you ought to go.

[Pat McAfee]

And then there's this too, right. The reviews yeah, challenges. Yeah. Which is not in regular season yet.

[Rob Manfred]

Right, right. We're going to. We're going to use it tonight. It's been used in the minor leagues for several years, and we tested it with big league guys in spring training last year. We're in a process directed at bringing it to the big leagues next year. The great thing about it that we didn't fully understand, you know, the rendition on the board afterwards is like a fan friendly.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Like tennis, the Hawkeye technology, when it's coming in. Yeah.

[Rob Manfred]

You know, I mean, it's weird. I was actually out at the US Open and you know, I played a lot of competitive tennis up through college.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, really? You checked the watch?

[Rob Manfred]

I quit a long time ago, but I did play. Anyways, I'm out at the open and all of a sudden I realize there's no linesman. There's no linesman. But what had misled me is they're still showing the rendition up on the board. And, you know, it made me realize there is entertainment value in that rendition that we need to take advantage of.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, there's also skepticism if you ask the tennis players. I mean, that was the first thing that we asked. Because in our league, the NFL, we've had to go through a lot of technology. And I think what you're going to experience over the next couple of years is the same thing the NFL experienced at the beginning of it all. The umps are not just gonna casually just disappear. Okay. The refs for the NFL had a lot of pride in the calls that they're making in the field. So the technology thing was almost a pushback from the refs until it was sold to them, like, hey, they're here to help you. Cause I think I saw a guy like casually go like this, and the ump was like, get your ass. Get the hell out of here. And that's cause the ump is like, oh, you think you're gonna show me up? Show me up. So we had that with the NFL refs for a bit until they got to the point of like just acknowledging it was gonna happen and understanding that it's there to help them as opposed to hurt them. Good luck to you. Trying to sell all the umpires on that especially. Cause you guys got like umps that are like legendary. Oh, yeah.

[Rob Manfred]

So I'll tell you about that. That's actually kind of interesting. We had exactly that dynamic when we first went to instant replay. We don't want it, you know, we want no problem.

[Pat McAfee]

Because they think you're showing Them up.

[Rob Manfred]

Yeah. You know what flipped them? The media. They got tired of seeing themselves being shown up, you know, on ESPN and wherever, so they flipped. On repl play, we actually have the right with our umpires union to deploy the automated strike zone system. And, you know, they were really forward thinking about it this time around. They really were good about it.

[Pat McAfee]

It helps them. You know, that's like the NFL refs, I think, had to. And I don't think all of them are on board just yet still. But I think for them it was just pointing out, like, hey, instead of getting your family threatened afterwards, can we not just correct this in like 2 minutes or 2 seconds and move forward? Connor has a question for you. Commission?

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, commission. You guys were kind of ahead of, it feels like, was the streaming with Apple tv. You guys are one of the first to kind of be on a streaming service full time basically throughout an entire season. I know how important local markets is to baseball when it comes to tv. How are you navigating that kind of situation especially now, as, you know, the NFL gets into it in other places and.

[Pat McAfee]

Are you guys up right now? I'm sorry, are your right steals up right now?

[Rob Manfred]

No, no, we're not up until after the 29 season.

[Pat McAfee]

Got it.

[Rob Manfred]

So.

[Pat McAfee]

Excuse me.

[Rob Manfred]

I said 29, 28, 29 will be the beginning of our new gotcha.

[Pat McAfee]

It's right around the corner.

[Rob Manfred]

So look, I think the most important thing to say is, you know, the. The media environment right now is really kind of disrupted, particularly at the local level. It's hardest for us because we're the most local dependent in the RSN model. I think our goal is twofold. Number one, we want to sell more games nationally. Okay. We think it's good for our exposure, more broadcast exposure, big game exposure. We also believe that the buyers that are out there are going to be national buyers, you know, particularly the streaming companies. They don't want to buy the state of Wisconsin, with all due respect.

[Pat McAfee]

We love Wisconsin.

[Rob Manfred]

Yeah, we do. And two counties in Michigan, which is what the brewers have to sell. You got to sell more nationally. Secondly, we need to streamline our offering. We need to get out of the blackout business. I mean, here's a great one for you. We took over the Padres local broadcast a couple years ago because of. Because of the bankruptcy that had occurred. Within two weeks, we lit up MLB tv, which is an outer market product. We lit it up in market in San Diego. We sold 20,000 subscriptions in the middle of the season. What's that tell you? There were 20,000 people in San Diego, wanted to watch games, were willing to pay for it. And we were telling them, sorry, you.

[Darius J. Butler]

Know, can't help you.

[Rob Manfred]

So we need to. We need, we need. And we are too many places right now. We've experimented. Apple's been a great experiment, but we do have a lot of fragmentation. We need to get into a more streamlined model where a fan knows, Friday, I want to see my game tonight. Either they go to a digital service, they know the game's there. If it's not there, it's going to be one of a couple of national games. And it's easy for the fans. That's what it needs to look.

[Pat McAfee]

By 2029, all the fans are going to be sophisticated enough with everything.

[Boston Connor]

Bingo.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, and are you watching all the other leagues? Do you guys talk to each other? Do you have a commissioner's group text?

[Rob Manfred]

I was with all. I had dinner with all four of them. We don't have a group text that we use regularly. I had dinner with all four of them last week in Sun Valley. I've known Roger the longest. You know, we actually belonged to the same golf club years before either of us were commissioners.

[Pat McAfee]

Which golf club?

[Rob Manfred]

That's the place in New York. We don't need to do that.

[Pat McAfee]

Just trying to get in there, you.

[Rob Manfred]

Know, Adam, we've had a great relationship. You know, he's great about. Came to the World Series last year, as did Roger, actually. And, you know, I went to the Super Bowl, I went to part of the NBA playoffs. Really nice back and forth. And Gary and I actually went to the same undergraduate school. So I've been doing panels with Commissioner Bettman for a really long time. And he will occasionally remind me that he's been commissioner longer than I can imagine.

[Pat McAfee]

Holding that over your head for a little bit. That's a great group of people to be friends with each other because for us as sports fans, we appreciate the fact. For everything you guys do for us year round. And we appreciate what baseball has done for us, not only like these last couple weeks, but until we're done, I think. I think it's going to become a new summer thing for us. And I'm learning about the game, so I'm like a child that doesn't really know much about the game. Can throw it, can catch it a little bit, can make contact if I have to. Love ball skiings, Love Shohei, love Aaron, Judge Dumper, love Big Thumper, love the trumpets guy. And I love the Home Run Derby. So, like, I'm an eager new fan. And I think the way you guys have handled it has been fantastic. You should be very proud of yourself.

[Rob Manfred]

Well, thank you. And look, we're happy, really happy to have you here. I can't tell you. You know, it's part of where we started. Your first question. We want to go where people go. And I know people are listening, watching.

[Pat McAfee]

All of the people watch our show. So outrageous. Well, Kamish, how do you think tonight goes?

[Rob Manfred]

I think it's going to be really exciting. You know, it's just for our fans. It's a different kind of product. Right. It's kind of made for the one off event. Let's get some excitement. You get a view of the players. That's different. They'll be at. You'll see out on the field, very casual, the guys that are not participating. So it's going to be a really fun evening, man.

[Pat McAfee]

We appreciate the hell out of you. What's that, Connor?

[Boston Connor]

I mean, yeah, it'll be a really fun evening if we just juice the balls.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that is a question.

[Boston Connor]

Why don't we just.

[Pat McAfee]

What's going on with the balls? Why are the balls always a question? So just quick follow up. Obviously, Big Dumper's not feeling the effects. Neither is Aaron or Shohei. There's some guys, but then there's other guys maybe that don't have as much power that are saying the balls are different. Is that a constant conversation in baseball? I remember a few years back, they were juice, allegedly.

[Rob Manfred]

Yeah. We did have four or five years ago, a statistically significant performance of the baseball. We undertook a whole program directed at one thing, consistency. At the end of the day, you have to remember our product like unlike anything else in professional sports. It's handmade. You know, the sewing and everything is different. So, like the issue that people were talking about this year, the seams are a statistically insignificant amount higher. But that's just kind of how the sewing went this year, you know. You're not going to fix that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Well, we're hoping tonight we got little baby seams. These balls are flying. Big bats. We appreciate you so much. Hopefully it's the first of many times we get a chance to chat with you. Congratulations on everything you've been through at the mlb and thank you for the hospitality.

[Rob Manfred]

Well, thanks for having me. It's great to be with all you guys.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, the commissioner of mlb, Rob Manfred. Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Come here.

[Rob Manfred]

Thank you. That was really fun.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Hey, we're still live. Great job. You know, if you don't want to bury anything. Don't say anything's a piece of butter. Okay. As Commissioner Manfred continues about his day, we will obviously move to a legend, a first ballot hall of Famer. I believe Commish and CC are about to switch chase places with each other and we can't thank him enough. First ballot hall of Famer. Ladies and gentlemen, World Series champ, legend, Cece Sabathi. Hey, Commish. Thank you. You're awesome. You're awesome.

[Rob Manfred]

Go get him.

[Boston Connor]

Hell yeah.

[Shohei Ohtani]

Going on.

[Pat McAfee]

And if you want a little bit of Red Bull, it does give you wings. There's a sugar free one too, if you need it. Cece, good to see you.

[Aaron Judge]

Diesel.

[Pat McAfee]

Hi. Hey, good to see you.

[Darius J. Butler]

We're not all six.

[Shohei Ohtani]

My seat. All right, here we go. All right.

[Pat McAfee]

How tall are you?

[Shohei Ohtani]

67.

[Pat McAfee]

Congratulations. First ballot.

[Shohei Ohtani]

Thank you.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you.

[Ty Schmidt]

Well earned.

[Pat McAfee]

Legendary stuff. Appreciate it. Obviously, you've done a lot of great things for the league since retiring and obviously while you're playing. That's my first time getting a chat with him. I feel like he's. Hey, I feel like he MLB are doing very good. Do you. Do you agree?

[Shohei Ohtani]

Yeah, I feel like we're on the right track. I feel like we're doing some good things and, you know, getting fans back to the ballpark. The pitch clock has helped. You know, that was Rob, you know, the abs, I think is going to help. So I'm excited about where the game is actually going.

[Pat McAfee]

Abs automatic, automatic walking strikes. I'm sorry, it's not robot. I'm sorry. Don't call it, call it a robot. We do not like saying it's a ribbon. They're taking our job. Obviously. Boone is the manager and a lot of Yankees represented out here at the All Star Game. What is it like for the players at the All Star? Is it a lot of chit chatting with people they've never met before? Do all these guys know each other? Like, what's the big benefit of the All Star?

[Shohei Ohtani]

Some of these guys know each other, right? Because, you know, a lot of them play perfect game coming up and you know, so they know.

[Pat McAfee]

What's that?

[Shohei Ohtani]

It's like aau.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Shohei Ohtani]

For baseball. So it's like you know them coming up together. But now, you know, there you get here and there's some guys that you don't know. You get to hang out with, you know, some. Some players that you look up to if you're a young guy. I know Jacob Mizorowski is, you know, 25 innings into his career and gets to come out here and hang out with Clayton Kershaw and all these different guys. So it's a lot of fun to be able to mingle here. It's tiring though. I feel like the All Star break. I always tell them that the All Star break is too short. Like the, they just ended last night. They get here, they got the Home Run Derby, all the media stuff, then you got the game and then you're right back on.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it's really like for the players.

[Shohei Ohtani]

We need like Friday to Friday.

[Pat McAfee]

We were watching, we were watching them load in the bags last night at like midnight. Yeah.

[Shohei Ohtani]

And guys are coming in if, if you have a night game on Sunday and you get in at, you know, 1:00am and you got to be up to do all of this stuff and gets a little tired.

[Pat McAfee]

That is baseball as a whole though, though. You guys are on the road for 186 days, I believe is what Manford just said there. 162 games.

[Shohei Ohtani]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Too many games.

[Shohei Ohtani]

No, no, I love it. I love it. I mean it's every day, you know, when, when you get to be a part of it. Well, I didn't play every day either.

[Pat McAfee]

So I'm only playing every fifth day. So.

[Darius J. Butler]

Yeah, see, I have a question about Skins, you know, because you started your career with a small market club but you were never like, he has a two ERA and he's four and eight right now. Like, how does he, how do you deal with that mentally as a pitcher? Like, how is it in the clubhouse? Like it's. Do you think he feels jade at all? Like, how do you think that's going to affect his career later?

[Shohei Ohtani]

No, I think, I mean, I think it's. When you're in that situation, I mean, I was never as good as he was, you know what I'm saying?

[Darius J. Butler]

But first battlefield.

[Shohei Ohtani]

But I think, I mean, it's weird. It's not weird, but guys are like apologizing to you like, oh, you know, we want to score you runs and you know, they feel just as bad as, you know, the fans. You do. But as a pitcher, you know, you go out and do your thing and it's all, it's a team sport so you know, they don't, they don't feel, they don't get on you when you give up homers or give up runs and stuff like that. So I never, you know, got on my teammates about not scoring runs or making errors or anything like that because nobody's saying anything to me when I'm giving up 900 foot home runs.

[Pat McAfee]

They're talking like some historic shit for Paul Skeens right now. And obviously the Pirates went on a little bit of a run. I think we have a graphic with all the era plus I believe is this stat here? Yeah. Average era plus. Can we take off the lower third? There is 100. Okay. This is new stats. You guys make up every sports making up new stats.

[Shohei Ohtani]

Yeah, I don't even. I don't understand that. You guys can explain.

[Darius J. Butler]

I was told it's era plus factoring ballpark dimensions and weather.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. A bad era is 75. A good era plus is 125. Paul Skeins 214. Oh, wow. Right now in 43 career starts, 22% better than any live ball pitcher since 1920 across his first two MLB seasons. So he's holding up his end of the bargain. Obviously he's starting pitcher for the all Star game. It's not just him. Scubal the other guy pitcher for the Detroit Tigers. He's an absolute monster. Feels like there's a lot of great pitching going on right now.

[Shohei Ohtani]

It is. I mean I feel like the pitching out does the hitting right now. But Scubal right Now he throws 103 mile an hour cutters.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Shohei Ohtani]

Like he is unbelievable. He almost took the Detroit to the World Series by himself last year. You got them to the ALCS so that team has a really good chance to win. Last year they were doing it with just pitching. Now they're doing it with pitching and offense. So it's going to be scary come October when that guy's healthy and he's on the mound. It's. He's going to be hard to beat.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, he's got a lot of moxie to him. I appreciate that.

[Shohei Ohtani]

I love that emotion.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Shohei Ohtani]

Got to picture that emotion. I love it.

[Pat McAfee]

Got to be a human. Who won 26 last night? Gage Wood. Kid from Arkansas. Correct. He was the one that was. Whenever they called, time was staring at the guy. I love everything about Good.

[Shohei Ohtani]

Yeah.

[Aaron Judge]

These guys are trying to get to where you. I think Tony mentioned it. First ballot hall of Famer. I know one of the special things for us in NFL was we watched Baker get that knock at the door. What was that moment like when you found out you were going. I know you probably expecting. But what was that moment like when it was realized?

[Shohei Ohtani]

You know, it was. It was a great moment. I, I didn't expect anything. You know, I had a bunch of people over at the house and they have this like hall of Fame tracker and you Know, everybody was telling me not to check it. I was checking that thing every five minutes. I kept checking, and I was refreshing, refreshing. And, you know, I felt pretty good on the morning of. And even when I got the call, I mean, they tell you, you know, if they don't. If it's between 6 and 6:45, they call it, like 6:38.

[Pat McAfee]

You know what I mean? It was closing, and everybody's sitting around.

[Shohei Ohtani]

But it was cool. I mean, I was kind of in shock. And then if you watch the video, my daughter kind of grabs me, and then I kind of come out of it and get to celebrate. But it's just a surreal feeling coming from where I came from in Valle, California, into Cooperstown. If I can make it there. I feel like any kid can make it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, if you're 67 and can throw the ball.

[Ty Schmidt]

I want to go back to the Yankees. When you first got there, I. I remember a lot of, like, the rhetoric or, like, the media was saying, like, oh, he might not want to go to New York because he doesn't want to deal with all the surrounding it.

[Pat McAfee]

Hoopla.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, hoopla, if you will. How impressive you've been with Max Freed, who, you know, goes there and initially, like, he's not expected to be the ace. You know, they have Garrett Cole, and then he. He kind of has to set step up, and he's been unbelievable so far. How. How impressed have you been with him, and how difficult is that when you're kind of thrust into, like, hey, you got to be the guy for the Yankees.

[Shohei Ohtani]

Yeah. I mean, it's been incredible to watch what he's done, you know, coming over from Atlanta. You know, he's already an established pitcher, a great pitcher. And then coming into New York is. It could. It could be difficult. Difficult. And, you know, we've seen so many guys come in there and fail, but I knew in spring training, I just watched him, watch his demeanor, watch the way he worked in his bullpens. I'm like, he's gonna be fine. No matter whether he has to be the ace or whatever he has to be, he'll be pretty good. So it's. It's kind of hard making that transition to New York myself. I. I didn't want to come just because I was a West coast kid. You know, I grew up on the West Coast. I thought I'd play for Dodgers, Anaheim or whatever, but it ended up being the best move I could make. It was the best decision I ever made. Coming to New York, my family's growing There we blossom. But if, if you can make that place work, it's the greatest place on earth to play.

[Pat McAfee]

If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere.

[Shohei Ohtani]

It's a true story. It's a traveling circus. It's, you know, everywhere we go, the stadium's filled. Every time you show up in the Bronx Stadium, I mean, it's all, I get choked. I look like I got, you know, it's real. So it's a lot of fun. Stripes.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, let's talk about the other side of the country. And you talked about a team you'd be playing for, the Dodgers. I mean, over here we got Japanese media already setting up for Shohei. Obviously they got in here like an hour before we even started. Nobody else was here except for them shutting it all up. He has been spectacular for baseball as a whole. Yeah. Have you got a chance to meet him? Chit chow. I think we're talking to him at like 2:35ish right here. I'll host the press conference. Have you heard about this? Oh, yeah, I'm hosting the press.

[Shohei Ohtani]

I love it, I love it, I love it.

[Ty Schmidt]

Hard hitting questions like, where are you.

[Rob Manfred]

Supposed to be in that jersey?

[Pat McAfee]

You guys bet you got to keep the jersey 1 million percent. You got a question? Making a good one. All right, enough. Let's move along. Honored to be a part of it. But then we're talking to Shohei here because the NL media day is right after that press conference. So everybody's going to be in here. This place is going to be berserk. Yeah, he has been spectacular for baseball. Have you ever met him? What are your thoughts? How do the OGs feel about it?

[Shohei Ohtani]

Yeah, no, I met him a couple times and, and the very first time I seen Ohtani play, we were in Anaheim. And he hits a ground ball chopper to short and he beats it out. And I looked at Luis Severino right to my right and I was like, that's the best baseball, baseball player I've ever seen in my life. He's the best baseball player. You remember that? You guys played Little League.

[Pat McAfee]

We've been saying that since a 12.

[Shohei Ohtani]

Year old kid that just hit homers.

[Pat McAfee]

He threw the hardest hit, the fastest grow spurt early.

[Shohei Ohtani]

This guy's doing that in the big leagues, you know what I'm saying? He's the, he throws the hardest. He hits the ball the furthest like he's the best player that I've ever seen. I mean, I'm a huge Barry Bonds fan. Grew up in the Bay Area and he's my goat. But I have to put Shohei up there because I don't think Barry can go out and throw seven inning shout outs.

[Pat McAfee]

So me and D Butts, not big baseball people. We agree. This guy's pitching fast. Everybody. He's hitting. It isn't at the game. Isn't that the game is literally our first guy.

[Aaron Judge]

Yeah, I've created that guy on the show a thousand times. I told Todd, hey, Todd, this is the guy.

[Shohei Ohtani]

He's like, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Pat McAfee]

Relax. Yeah, but think about that. The guy you created probably in real life gon have a little bit of an arrogance problem. The complete opposite. It's like, hello, thank you very much. It's an honor to be here. I am better than all of you at everything. And yeah, and then hit the bat flip. That one game where he was getting back, I was like, yeah, I, I like that. The Americanism. Oh, in front of our eyes it is. Cece, we appreciate you stopping by. Congratulations on the hall of Fame mod. And what are you looking forward to tonight? We need big. Big Dumper needs to hit a few, right?

[Shohei Ohtani]

Big Dumper needs to hit a few. But James Wood, James Wood is my favorite player in the big leagues, man. And watch, this kid's gonna put on the show tonight.

[Rob Manfred]

Yeah.

[Shohei Ohtani]

James Wood.

[Pat McAfee]

James Wood from Rockville, Maryland, known for his unique combo power and athleticism.

[Shohei Ohtani]

Yes, sir.

[Pat McAfee]

Got some notes on each of the hitters from the ML.

[Shohei Ohtani]

You ready for the press conference.

[Pat McAfee]

Ladies and gen? What's that? Okay, here's put that up. Ben Ward from ESPN who does our simulcast said their stats people ran through all their stats. They think the cruise missile o' Neal Cruz is the odds on favorite to witness strictly because of Velo and bat speed is what they're saying.

[Shohei Ohtani]

And I've heard that he puts on a show during bp.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh my God. They just released a video the other day. From the catchers point of view. The ball jumps off his bat like, like no one else.

[Shohei Ohtani]

I feel like we got a good field. It's going to be a lot of fun. Jazz is going to put on the show. Obviously, you know, he's a showman. Byron Buxton's from Atlanta. It's going to be a lot of fun. Big Dumper is leading the league in homer. So Brent Runker is excited to be in the in the home run derby. So it's going to be a lot of fun. This should be a good one.

[Pat McAfee]

Shout out to ESPN stats for all of that and shout out to the Pirates. Probably winning the Home Run Derby and having the ace and not being able to win a goddamn day. That's cool. Ladies and gentlemen, first round hall of Famer.

[Shohei Ohtani]

Appreciate it.

[Pat McAfee]

DC Sabathia. We'll be back in the next hour. Before we lead into the press conference that's happening right here that I will be hosting, we'll be streaming it live on our YouTube. It'll also be on MLB Network. Yes, we think it's ridiculous, but I'm gonna go up there and I'm gonna try to because this is the All Star Game. This is a Midsummer Classic. This is history. This is legacy. This is legendary. And this is a week we'll talk about forever. Ty's on the All Star team. Congratulations.

[Ty Schmidt]

First All Star.

[Pat McAfee]

Now I didn't see the pants I like for you. Yeah, I love that. What are you talking about? Can you put those things up there real quick? Just.

[Boston Connor]

So get the socks.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah, he's part of the team.

[Shohei Ohtani]

We got to get you some Js, though.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Hey, Aaron Judge will be joining us in the next hour. I believe there is a little bit of a J talk potentially happening there. Also, like to be able to smoke some J's in this place. Did not do that earlier. Just want to let everybody know I am proud of me. With a Venmo debit card, you can Venmo more than just your friends. You can use your balance in so many ways. You can Venmo everything. Need gas? You can Venmo this. How about snacks? You can Venmo that. Your favorite band's merch? You can Venmo this or their next show? You can Venmo that. Visit Venmo Me Debit to learn more. The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp bank and a pursuant to license by Mastercard International, Inc. Card may be used everywhere. MasterCard is accepted. Venmo purchase restrictions apply.

[Jet Passan]

This message is brought to you by Abercrombie and Fitch. I've been ready for summer for a while and now it's finally time for summer outfits. With a trip coming up, the A.

[Pat McAfee]

And F Vacation Shop has me covered.

[Jet Passan]

Abercrombie really knows how to do a lightweight outfit. Their tees, sweater, polos and linen blend shorts never miss. I wear Abercrombie denim year round.

[Pat McAfee]

Their shorts are no different and have the comfort I need for summer. Prep for your next trip with the A and F Vacation Shop, get their.

[Jet Passan]

Newest arrivals in store online and in the app.

[Pat McAfee]

Baseball is happening in a massive way in this glorious city. It is the third Time this this city has hosted the Midsummer Classic. First time it'll be in Truist Park. We are currently in the Battery I believe is what they describe this area. The Roxy Theater here is right across the street from Truist Park. Then they have some bars across the street on the other side. It is a beautiful setup down here. This is exactly what everybody in professional sports is looking for. Let's own the park, let's own the restaurants that people are tailgating outside of and let's even own the theater across the street for people to do shows at. This place is beautiful. Obviously the MLB has done fantastic work in setting it all up and thank you to them for having us. Now I reiterated, I will reiterate the fact that I stated in the first hour there was a lot of people working against us coming here. A lot of people. The MLB stepped in and said we would love for you guys to come. Them and Mike Foss came together. No stone unturned. I was on the emails, literally watching it all in full. Send in a well tell that guy to go fuck himself and then watch them kind of do their thing. I'm pretty good. One of those email sender might be the best in the history of business to be clear. I think I potentially am. But the way this has come together we are very, very thankful and grateful to be here. I think Ty and I will be a part of the Home Run Derby tonight. What? I'm hosting the press conference that is happening on this stage at 2pm you.

[Darius J. Butler]

Guys are getting the bats.

[Pat McAfee]

We will stream live on our YouTube on ESPN, Disney and TikTok live. They will run it it on the MLB Network. What I'm saying is we're very thankful and grateful to be here in the middle of the summer. We're at the Home Run Derby. We're going to watch this anyways. The fact that we get a chance to experience it, we're very thankful. The talks and tables here at Boston. Connor and Anti Schmidt. Ty, really cool to be here.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, without a doubt. I mean you mentioned it you know like as we've done this for a while now and I love baseball. I watch literally every single Yankees game every night of the week and I just kind of figured like you know, and you get it because we're a football show. It's like hey what we're gonna get through the summer best way we can and doofuses.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, for sure.

[Ty Schmidt]

So I didn't ever think this would be an option, much less like basically having the red carpet rolled out for us, you know it's like I I.

[Pat McAfee]

And there's gonna be baseball people that hate to hear that.

[Ty Schmidt]

Definitely.

[Pat McAfee]

We just would like to tell you we're sorry that it's happening and it hasn't happened to you. Hopefully it does happen for you guys someday. But after our conversation with Rob feels like Rob really wants everybody to become a part of the MLB in baseball. I don't like the gatekeeping fans that sports.

[Ty Schmidt]

I don't get that.

[Pat McAfee]

So like professional wrestling has it and they're the worst people on the Internet.

[Ty Schmidt]

Sure.

[Boston Connor]

I feel like all every sport damn near.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know if every sport football.

[Boston Connor]

I feel like, I feel like football.

[Pat McAfee]

Does because remember Taylor Swift that's nine year NFL vet Darius J. Butler. He might have the most that's one half of the Hammer Cowboys AP tone I think wrestling community, Internet wrestling community without a doubt very heavy gatekeepers. And what they like is not what I like at all. I've been a wrestling fan my entire life. What do I know? Nothing. Yeah that entire thing. They're very gatekeeper. Y feels like UFC has that as well. Casuals guy will have a couple affliction shirts obviously have it figured out and we appreciate those people's passion because they are committed fully to said thing. They don't want to see it get ruined by others. But it's like we get a chance to experience these fans in a negative way a lot because we're very lucky to be brought into these worlds. The baseball gatekeepers are something I saw. I saw some baseball people pissed off about us getting an opportunity to be here. And it's like I understand why you're pissed because you probably think that you should be here. When you get to the point you should be here. I think Rob will have you. Like we're very thankful and very lucky. We're going to try to do it some justice.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, without a doubt. And I mean like you said like it's not.

[Pat McAfee]

It's also TV execs that are not happy that we're here.

[Ty Schmidt]

That is also.

[Pat McAfee]

That's a whole nother animal to talk about. But it's also no bullshit mid level powerless TV execs. Just so you know And I think you're experiencing that right now. He who is watching this?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, we're here.

[Pat McAfee]

None power negative. Just so you know. Go ahead Ty.

[Ty Schmidt]

Well I was just gonna say like it's, it's no the way we've been talking about it like you've, you've said multiple times and it like it Is sincere. Like, hey, I'm actually like, enjoying baseball this year. You know, it doesn't mean that you're gonna sit down and watch nine innings every single night. But like, if. If the Dodgers are playing late and Shohei is going to get it bat or, you know, the Yankees are playing, everybody's watching. Exactly, exactly. And it's been super entertaining. So, yeah, this is kind of a perfect time for us to. Hey, let's. Let's dive into this a little bit more.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And learn about it. D Buch. I don't know how big of a baseball fan you are. You're a fan of every team in every league.

[Aaron Judge]

That's not true.

[Boston Connor]

What's that stupid shit too? Like F1?

[Aaron Judge]

I mean, that's not stupid. We're off this weekend. And that's why Senator's brother was able to make his memoir 10 final. But yeah, I do like sports in summer. You know, summertime has been a tough stretch. You know, I'm a football guy, basketball guy, so it was tough.

[Pat McAfee]

Hockey, obviously. That's embarrassing. That. That's embarrassing. You just forgot you're a Panther. You're back to back.

[Aaron Judge]

I didn't forget top two. I just got into hockey, what, four years ago. So obviously we are defending champ.

[Pat McAfee]

Back since inception, you've been a.

[Aaron Judge]

He knew what actually following. Actually watch. Watching the game. Like 10 years ago, I couldn't name five guys on the roster. Now I can. You know, I can go talk.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, we'll talk to Jet Passing here in a matter of moments. He's been our baseball source plug for years. Can't wait to chitch out anytime we get to see him in person. It's good. Before we get to Jet, there's some summer sports talk that we need to get to. Hashtag summer sports talk. Hashtag program. Summer road trip. Hell yeah. Hashtag things are happening. Yeah. The NFL always has its drama. Drama always has its drama. Yep, a lot of them. Guy got arrested over the weekend. Obviously. Don't love that. Don't love that at all. T.J. watts. Still not a Pittsburgh Steeler. What the hell is going on? What the hell is going on in the Pittsburgh Steelers world, brother?

[Darius J. Butler]

You know, I. I haven't worried in a long, long time. I'm starting to hear things.

[Pat McAfee]

No, because remember, everybody say it's going to get done. We all know it's going to get done. He's T.J. watties. Pittsburgh. Why is he skipping mandatory Medicaid? Him.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, he's willing to take it. That's just Part of the process. That's what everybody said we're talking about. Trey Hendrickson over in Cincinnati, has come out and gone very public about it, and we're like, they're in trouble. They're in trouble. And then all Cincinnati Bengals fans kept saying was, well, is T.J. watt in the building or not? Because it's kind of similar situation. And the entire time, we're like, no. Then we asked the people that would know. The insiders are like, it'll get. We all think it's going to get done. It's like, are we sure that this is going to get done? TJ Watt heading to the market would be bananas at this time of year. I don't even know how possible it would be, but they still do not have a deal done. And Caboli, who is the Pittsburgh Steelers reporter for this particular program, has been saying a lot of things. Todd.

[Darius J. Butler]

Yeah, yeah, he's right there. He's talking about the length of deal guarantees and total value. So when, like, TJ's 30 years old right now, so I think the team's kind of having a situation where they want to look at. How many years do you want to have guaranteed money with tj? Miles Garrett had basically three years of.

[Pat McAfee]

What you want, you wonder. It's TJ Watt, first palace, gold jacket.

[Darius J. Butler]

Listen, listen. I'm just telling you what I'm hearing, okay? I'm not saying I'm making these decisions. I'm not saying it's my opinion.

[Pat McAfee]

What side are you on yet? What?

[Darius J. Butler]

I won't decide until dust has settled. Tell you what, if the Steelers keep tj, great, great move. If they decide to move on, boy, what kind of value did we get?

[Pat McAfee]

The best. Yeah. You think Omar Khan's gonna be able to work a good deal? The con artist, the general manager for the Pittsburgh Steelers, they're in the middle of it. They've done a lot of things. Obviously, you go all the way back to Darius Slay, then DK Metcalf, Aaron Rodgers, trade for Jalen Ramsey, trade for Johnny Smith. You make a lot of moves going all in. Seemingly, you would think that T.J. watt would be on the team, but there's a lot of money going to a lot of places. And I know you're only paying Aaron 10 million or whatever the case is, but it's like, how do you get to the 40 number correct that TJ is probably expecting? Because you guys have kicked this can down the road a little bit and still have everybody. We shall see. This would almost be the year where The Steelers would be hoping for a hometown discount as opposed to the last couple years that they've gotten.

[Aaron Judge]

It's like, hell no.

[Pat McAfee]

Exactly. That's why they pushed past the point of hometown discount for TJ Watt in his eyes. And, you know, if you listen to JJ Watt speak, and he didn't speak about TJ's situation, he was speaking about Trey Hendrickson's situation. He's like, if you get the deal done earlier, it's obviously a lot cheaper and better for all parties. When you kick it down the road, hey, we'll take care of next year. We'll take care of next year. It only gets higher. And then the feelings, too, little negative feelings kind of can creep in there whenever it's that type of business. So everybody's assuming it gets done outside the world. TJ skipped mandatory minicamp. That's a statement. Yeah. But I'm hoping he gets it done because this Steelers team, if TJ was also on the team, you're talking about a real run, maybe for. Oh, mama, I'm in fear for my life from the long. Are you worried? Yeah, a little bit.

[Darius J. Butler]

But also, the contract's out there. Like, it's miles. Contract's already done. Like, that should be TJ's contract. Just do that one.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, so now you're on. Now you're on TJ side.

[Darius J. Butler]

I'm waffling a bit.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, nice penny pinching pits. All right, let's talk about what else is happening around the NFL. The quarterback series is back on Netflix. And thank God. God, thank God for it. Obviously. Baseball carrying us. Yep. WNBA doing its thing.

[Ty Schmidt]

Shout out.

[Pat McAfee]

W. Shout out to the W. Shout out. I think there's some other sports happening internationally. I think I saw ping pong was taking place this morning. Super table tennis. They had a big FIFA, super duper cup. Congrats to Trump and Chelsea for winning that one.

[Boston Connor]

Both of them.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Darius J. Butler]

Trump won that one.

[Ty Schmidt]

Score two goals.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, Gumpy. Let's go to the back there. Gumpy was Trump. Did he. Did President Trump play for Chelsea in that final? Or how did that. That hell come together?

[Darius J. Butler]

Gumpy, he was the first one to touch the trophy. So technically he did play well, actually.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't want to say too much. I touched that trophy before anybody else. Are you leaving? No, we did this. Now I believe FIFA. Look at Trump. Look at how much fun he's happened. This is awesome. The FIFA presence back in there. I thought we were leaving. I thought we were leaving. So the president obviously celebrating with Chelsea. They win $100 million, Gumpy. And this tournament is now officially over. Was it a success or a failure? Gump, how should we be viewing the super duper FIFA World Cup?

[Darius J. Butler]

Oh, they have it. Chelsea won between 130 and $150 million. The tournament produced $2 billion in revenue. Cole Palmer scored two goals in the final, one player of the tournament, man of the match. And Chelsea beat psg, who won the ever pretty much everything. PSG won everything. This year was the first time they lost in a final. So Chelsea had an unbelievable tournament. They were plus 1200 at the start of the tournament to win it.

[Pat McAfee]

And you, the Palmer guy, you talked about scoring two goals. I don't know if it was the finals or the semifinals. They were actually signing guys to their team. Guys were hopping on planes, flying over to these games and scoring goals.

[Darius J. Butler]

Yeah, Joao Pedro, they signed him his first game.

[Pat McAfee]

He.

[Darius J. Butler]

He scored two goals in the semifinals.

[Pat McAfee]

He wasn't even on Chelsea at the beginning of the tournament.

[Darius J. Butler]

He's unbelievable. Scored again yesterday too.

[Aaron Judge]

Can you do that in tst?

[Pat McAfee]

Well, so that's the thing. Every TST has this registration process where you got to be registered as coach or a player. If in a super duper FIFA World cup, we can just call guys, put him on a plane and come win 140 million bucks. Yeah. Can Team USA do this during the World Cup?

[Ty Schmidt]

We should be able to.

[Darius J. Butler]

Lou Messi.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

Didn't that poopy Premier League team just do that too? They signed some guy like halfway through the season.

[Pat McAfee]

Who? Burnley? Yeah. Wasn't it Burnley?

[Boston Connor]

Didn't Burnley just sign some guy?

[Pat McAfee]

Burnley made a big time acquisition. Who was it? They spent some money on a famous guy. Gumps. It just happened.

[Darius J. Butler]

Kyle Walker is one of the best right backs in England history.

[Pat McAfee]

He'll be playing for J.J. watts, Burnley. So soccer's happening. Appreciate that. But the quarterback series on Netflix is back. Three quarterbacks. Jared Goff, Kirk Cousins and Joey Burke. Now, all three, very interesting. Kirk Cousins, I appreciate the way he operates. I appreciate the way he operates. It's more the same from the first season. And you say to yourself, this is the most humble guy. This is the most nerdy quarterback in the history. He's very lovable. I will say Kirk Cousins in the entirety. Joey Burrow is a dog. Joe Burr drops a lot of fucks. I like that. That is something. Seems like he's not holding anything back. Also, he's learned how to play the piano. Just because he walks past the piano in his house and he figures he might as well, sit down for 10, 15 minutes and learn how to do this. And now he's playing the piano. Haven't seen the entire series. I've seen a lot of it. Jared Goff and MC DC have been a huge piece of the story. And I'll tell you, if I'm a Lions fan and Foxy, you could probably reiterate this more. You guys are bopping to quarterback, I assume? Yeah, I absolutely love quarterback. Pat, to your point, I didn't know anything about Joe Burrow. Learn a lot about him. I like him more. Kirk Cousins, we knew he was a dog. How he handled the penic situation was flawless. It was perfect. Love Kirk Cousins. But watching Detroit Lions, mcdc, Jared Goff in their best season ever, getting the full recap, it was amazing. It made me love Jared Goff so much more. It made me love mcdc so much more. And that's saying a lot. Like, trust me, I already love these guys favorite and franchise history, and I thought that quarterback did an outstanding job. And some of these clips, some of these behind the scenes are absolutely beautiful. Foxy forced us to run this, but here's two clips from Quarterback on Netflix, which is a long one. Yeah, it's. It's like six minutes, but I'll tell you, it is beautiful. And congrats to Omaha, Congrats to NFL Films. Congrats to Patrick Mahomes. Congrats to Netflix on an incredible new season of Quarterback. Here's some footage of mcdc and Jared Goff being on the same page. I'm gonna tell you how this is gonna go down. Offense, we are gonna fucking put everything on your fucking ass, okay? I'm just telling you right now, you gotta show up. You gotta show up in a big way. The way we play ball, we're fucking going. We're going four downs all the way up and down this field. As long as it's not for 20, you understand? We're going. And we will just march down this building. It's going to be so glorious, gentlemen. This will be one you're never gonna forget. Let's go. Hello. Can we get this? They'll be left in probably about 50 seconds. 50. Okay, got it. If we. If we don't get a first. No, I'm saying they'll have. Yeah. If we don't get a first. Yes, I had at least 50. But if we get it, we'll bring it down to zero. Yeah, I got, I got, I got it. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. One more first down and we can grind it all the way down and kick it. Okay, we need one more first down here. Okay, let's go, baby. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Blitz comes golf back. Golf looking, Golf throwing deep downfield. It is caught inside the 25. Very close to a first. First down. Does he have it? Hold on. One short. It's gonna be third and one for the Lions. Third down. Third down. They're gonna need about a half yard. 180. What's up? Takes the snap, turns, gives the Demo right side. He is hit and he's gonna come up short. It is going to be fourth down and about a half yard. Now, this is a fascinating decision. He's dying to go for it, but obviously he's got to kick this field goal. What do we do? Kick it.

[Jet Passan]

I'm not sure what we're gonna do. I'm really.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm unsure. I know the prudent decision would be.

[Jet Passan]

To kick the field goal and go.

[Pat McAfee]

Play defense for 30 seconds and finish it off there.

[Jet Passan]

But I know the way that Dan.

[Pat McAfee]

Had come into the game mentally was.

[Jet Passan]

That we were gonna be really aggressive.

[Pat McAfee]

We going, we are under a minute. They got no timeouts. We going kick the field goal. That's probably the right thing to do. I was pissed that we were not going to be able to finish the game with no time left and give them a chance to score. I think we do feed off each.

[Jet Passan]

Other a little bit.

[Pat McAfee]

So I thought, man, we were hurting on defense and we just brought some guys in off the street that were starting for us. And to me, that's not fair to ask them with 40 something seconds left to go out there against that offense. And I think his confidence is always going to help me. Let's finish this. Gotta go, coach. Gotta go. We're going. They are trying to kill this clock. They put Jake Bates in a position to go win it. We need a half a yard. Okay. Come on. Come on. Let's go, boys. You got it. You got it. On fourth down, Jared up under center. 180 was that turns, gives it to Montgomery. Gets the first down. Yeah. Oh, my God. Jared. Slip right hand. That could have been bad.

[Darius J. Butler]

My shoe's just a size too big.

[Pat McAfee]

And I think one of our linemen got a little piece of it. Jared tripped as he came out from behind center, handed it to Demo. Just barely got it to him. He got the first down. You let that clock run now. Down to 30 and the packers can't stop it. Good job. Hey, what's on. Going goal. That's that. Good call.

[Jet Passan]

If that hadn't worked, our defense would.

[Darius J. Butler]

Have had to get a stop and.

[Jet Passan]

We would have had to beat him in overtime.

[Pat McAfee]

But yeah, Big balls by Dan Bates is ready. Lions going for the win. Locks the whole kick away. It is up and it is good. You want to talk about grit? What a night for the Detroit Lions. Hey, hey, hey, hey.

[Will]

Four or five on fourth down.

[Pat McAfee]

Amazing. Hey, keep going, buddy. Keep going. See you in the playoffs. Probably 12 and 1. Still on top of the NFC. Yeah. I told you you'd never forget this game. You will never forget this game. We don't have to talk about how tough we are. We don't have to talk about how resilient we are. We live it, man. We've been living it. Hey, hey, hey. Like he said, this just don't just happen, boys. We're different again. I'll say it again. This group's different. Went on three. One, two, three. That's awesome. Foxy. You had to love that. I assume Foxy and shout out to football being as amazing as it is nice to relive that moment and thank you to the Lions for allowing Omaha and NFL Films basically in to creep on them all year. Same with Joe Burrow and Kirk Cousins yet again, especially down here in Atlanta with what he experienced. Speaking of Atlanta, the third time this city has hosted the All Star game. First time in Truest Park. Joining us now is the insider, the pundit, the brain of the next generation of baseball, ladies and gentlemen, from espn, Jet passing. You look really good, Jet. Thank you. This is a grade A suit. Also, we got a little bit of a top notch pocket square and we got the three peaks on that. Did you fold that yourself?

[Will]

Sure did.

[Pat McAfee]

Wow.

[Aaron Judge]

It's a pro.

[Pat McAfee]

It's the All Star.

[Will]

Listen, if you're gonna wear a suit in this heat, it better be right. I'm gonna be outside at the derby tonight. It's gonna be a mess.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I like that sweat through it. It's a midsummer classic and it's hot. We're gonna be out there as well. His eye black might run a little bit because of how into it he's gonna be. Jen, let's. Let's chit chat about this. What are the main storylines coming into All Star Weekend? All the studs playing, all the stars playing. Should be a great home run derby. Like what is the story of baseball coming in here? Is there free agencies or trades? What should we be talking about?

[Will]

I think tonight, tonight we're going to be talking about Cal Raleigh, you know, the big dumper in his breakout season. I love the fact that Cal Raleigh is going to be out there leading major league baseball in home runs. Pat, at a time when Aaron Judge is around, when Shohei Ohtani is around, when you have all of these great home run hitters, here's a guy, a switch hitter has never won the derby before. Cal Raleigh's a switch hitter, a catcher has never won the derby before.

[Pat McAfee]

He's a catcher.

[Will]

He's a catcher. His dad Todd, who was a head coach for a long time in college baseball, gonna be throwing the pitches to him. His younger brother, 15 year old T. Raleigh, behind the plate catching all catchers. A family full of catchers. And so the idea that this can be a family affair, but that you're also gonna have just monsters out there. James Wood, 6 7, could have been a tight end in another life. O' Neal Cruz, hitting balls 122 mph.

[Aaron Judge]

How tall is he?

[Will]

Byron Buxton, big guy, finally healthy from Georgia, coming into his own. Matt Olson, been a home run hitter for a long time. This is, you know, it's not the most star studded field, but I think it's got a chance to be a really entertaining home run derby.

[Pat McAfee]

We got dongs on the way. Ty has a question for you, Jet.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Jet, in terms, are you surprised by, I don't want to say like the youth movement, but I like, like we were kind of talking a little bit and it does seem that the last couple years All Star weekend has kind of been like a, a way for the MLB to show like, hey, there are so many good young players that casual fans know nothing about. Like the derby is a perfect example.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Will]

And, and I think that that's why the derby and the All Star game are so important to this sport. Like baseball right now in Shohei Ohtani, in Aaron Judd, have I think the two biggest stars of the last 25 years, like these are real transcendent across all sports. Names that people know who do things that people can really like look at and say, hey, that's impressive. Shohei Ohtani playing both ways, hitting 50 home runs and stealing 50 bases. These are things that, you know, baseball has a difficult time going across into the football realm, the basketball realm. But, but I think baseball has a moment right now and those young stars are a big part of it. We're going to see one tonight in Junior Caminero. He's 21 years old, he's hit 20 plus home runs already in his first full season with the Tampa Bay Rays, has the fastest bat speed along with o' Neal Cruz in baseball, and has a chance to really put on a show tonight. And that's what the All Star Game should be, right? Like, this is a show. This is why Major League Baseball chose Jacob Mizarav to come here after five starts in the big leagues. He might be a Hall of Famer, he might be a guy who flames out. We don't, like, we don't know at this point. It's too early in his career. But what he, what we know he is right now is a guy who's gonna go out there in one inning and throw 102 or 103 or who knows how hard and throw maybe 105.

[Pat McAfee]

I love that.

[Will]

Listen, he could. He could. He's got. He's got that arm in him and he's got that dog in him, too. And I'm looking forward to seeing him go out there and pitch. Kansas City, Missouri, represent.

[Pat McAfee]

You talk about. Shout out to you. You talk about the youth movement and everything like that. I think it's the seventh consecutive All Star game where there's 30 fresh faces, 30 times making 30 players making their debut at the All Star game. I think 13 out of the last 15 all star games has had that stat. So it is like a lot of youth movement coming through the All Star. Is it still heralded around the league as a big deal to be an All Star, I assume? Yes, it is.

[Will]

I mean, listen, they've had this year particularly like some bigger names drop out. Not like Zach Wheeler didn't, you know, wanted to go take some time off. Jose Ramirez wanted to go nurse some injuries. And there are so many All Stars now, it's almost like, okay, are we getting into the realm of participation trophy at this point?

[Pat McAfee]

We have like top 20 quarterbacks make the Pro Bowl.

[Will]

It's not. Yeah, it's exactly. It's not quite like at the Drake May level at this point, but baseball's All Star Game has also evolved. It used to be like back in the 70s, if you were a starter, you would play all nine innings like it was a full game. They did not care. The starting pitcher would go deep into the game. And, you know, like the old baseball fan in me wants to see it return to that. So there aren't complaints about Mizarowskis or someone coming into here and not being deserving of it. But Major League Baseball has been accused of not being able to create stars. Well, when you bring a guy who throws 102 or 103 to an event where eyeballs are going to be on it a whole lot more than they normally are for the Milwaukee Brewers. What are you trying to do? You're trying to create a star. It's tough to have both. And so while I understand the Philadelphia Phillies being mad that Christopher Sanchez isn't here because he's had a phenomenal first half, I also understand Major League Baseball has got a duty to its fans to put on the best game possible. And I'm sorry, but for one inning, I would rather see Jacob Misarowski than Christopher Sanchez. No disrespect, Chris, like, great pitcher. Oh, I dot's been watching film.

[Pat McAfee]

He's with the Phillies.

[Boston Connor]

Sanchez.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, he's with the Phillies. He's with the Johns over there. Thinking that Sanchez should be in this thing. We want to see fast pitches, big bombs. Yeah, that's what we're going to see, the All Star, especially, because there's a lot of casuals watching like myself tonight. We just want to see the ball, ball fly far. And I want to see somebody throw 104 miles an hour in a couple. That is simple. Just. I'm a simpleton. I apologize for that. But I want to see guys who make actual bats look this size and I want to see them take balls really far. And I want to see pitchers on that mound throwing it really fast.

[Will]

Pat, here's why I wholeheartedly agree with you on that. Because what the All Star Game should serve as is the gateway for people to become actual fans. When you see guys do incredible things, you're like, that's a guy I gotta watch. That's someone I want to see a little bit more of. And then you watch a game and it's not slogging on for like three hours.

[Pat McAfee]

Like, it's quick.

[Will]

You got your two and a half hour quick baseball game and it's like, oh, this, this sport's not boring. There's actually action going on. It's interesting. There are characters, there are personalities. Like, I think baseball has a good product to sell right now.

[Pat McAfee]

Agreed.

[Will]

And what the All Star Game should serve as is giving a little bit to the people to like bring them in, give them those dopamine hits with those 104 mile an hour pitches and with those 500 foot home runs. And after that say, hey, we also have something that has thought and that has strategy and that has all the things that, you know, those of us who have been baseball fans for a long time fell in love with it.

[Rob Manfred]

Because of.

[Pat McAfee]

So it's not just the players, it's not just sport. Teams have their own runs, storybook type stuff happens. Droughts, heaters, you name it. Throughout 162 games right now there's a bunch of that are feeling themselves. Go ahead.

[Boston Connor]

Con man Pat said it. The Boston Red Sox are the team of baseball right now. You know, the story is the stars, but when talking teams, the story is the Boston Red Sox. Okay. And they're on a 10 game win streak. Everyone after, you know, Devers gets traded, the Sox kind of fall off a cliff a little bit. Now they're on a 10 game win streak. Some people are saying it's because Alex Cora has the boys going. Some people are saying it's because Roman Anthony and Marcelo Meer, they're playing so well on the field. They're all also doing very well off the field per sources and photos. But a lot of other people are saying that, you know, Donald Trump knows the game like Pete Rose. Now I'm not saying that that's there.

[Pat McAfee]

A film study in the Oval Office.

[Boston Connor]

But yeah, some people are leaning towards the, the idea that maybe they got in there and J.D. vance taught him how to turn too. I'm not sure again whether that's the case or not.

[Pat McAfee]

Some people judging his running technique this weekend. Yeah, he looks to be in quite a panic. Tough trade. Yeah, it looked like.

[Will]

It looked like he was running after a child.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes, that's the. I agree.

[Will]

Every dad knows that.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Will]

I don't want to go sprinting after my child who's jumping into a tiger cage.

[Pat McAfee]

Agreed. But to that point they go Visit the Oval Officer 10 and oh, now that is going to be something that is celebrated by a political party. But for the people of Boston, Boston, whenever they trade away Rafael Devers and then they trade away Marshawn from the Bruins, a lot of Boston fans are like, these sports, our sports over in this town. We're waiting on the Patriots now. They're the hottest team in baseball. Can that continue? And how many different teams go through these types of things?

[Will]

Every team does remember.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, not the Pirates. They won four straight.

[Darius J. Butler]

I guess they won seven straight. And then we, we went off for a week and they lost every single.

[Pat McAfee]

Game we came back.

[Darius J. Butler]

But they won last night.

[Pat McAfee]

So if we're working, we're back, we're back. They win it.

[Will]

Pirates did well in the draft last.

[Darius J. Butler]

Night too, by the way.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I know every draft that matters.

[Will]

Seth Hernandez at 6 is good.

[Pat McAfee]

But back to the. We'll see him in 10 years.

[Boston Connor]

Seth.

[Will]

I, you know, Seth Sethi, hard throwing.

[Darius J. Butler]

Righty out of California.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, I like this guy.

[Will]

I picked the Red Sox to win the American League east before the season.

[Pat McAfee]

Boom. Tell them, Jet. And.

[Will]

And in early June, when they were struggling, I was standing by the. And here's why. Because they have been an incredibly talented team the whole time. Sometimes it takes 100 games to figure out who you are. And that's an insane thing to think.

[Pat McAfee]

About.

[Will]

But it's reality. Like Sadan Rafaela, who's been brilliant, like one of the best players in baseball. We didn't know what position he was for sure in May. Was he going to be an infielder? Was he going to be a center fielder? Now, he's one of the best center fielders in baseball. And you could make an argument that he belongs here in Atlanta right now. Roman Anthony, you know, it takes a little while to figure out big league pitching. When I was talking with. With Cal Raleigh's dad, Cal Raleigh's dad was saying, you know, we used to talk about this in our house. In baseball, you know, you have low A, you have high a, double A, triple A. Major league baseball is 8A. That's how big the leap is from AAA up to the big league level. So it takes guys some time to figure it out. And Roman Anthony seems to finally be figuring it out. And they've gotten healthier at this point. Alex Bregman coming back is going to make it even better. And now we're going toward the July 31 trade deadline and all eyes are going to be on the Red Sox. Aroldis Chapman's going nowhere. Alex Bregman's going nowhere. They're going to add, and if they get enough, another starting pitcher who can be at the top of that rotation. With Garrett Crochet, Brian Baio, Lucas Giolito, the Boston Red Sox are legitimate World Series contenders.

[Pat McAfee]

Suck it, everybody. Everybody. Not. That was not directed at any. No individual team or person. I'm back. Just the world.

[Ty Schmidt]

With that being said, Jet, Brian Cashman, basically, and he never does this, he was like, hey, we need a reliever, we need a third baseman, and we probably need another bat. With how well the Red Sox have closed out the All Star break here and with how shitty the Yankees have been pretty much for the better part of the last month, how much do you think that kind of lights the fire under their ass? Like, hey, they need to go get multiple pieces.

[Will]

And the fact that both of them, by the way, are still behind the Toronto Blue Jays and The American League east and the fact that the Tampa Bay Rays, I know that they're the Red Sox, you know, took care of them over the weekend. But the Rays are a dangerous team too. It's like the American League right now is the east, those four teams. The Central, Detroit's running away with it. And out west you've got Houston and Seattle. So there's seven teams competing for six playoff spots at this point. The urgency for the Yankees should be paramount right now because this is a team that is having a prime year from Aaron Judge. You cannot waste another Aaron Judge, like all time, great season. And the Yankees, if they do not improve their team right now, are at the risk of doing that. But look, they've gotten a really good year from Cody Bellinger. Jason Dominguez I think is better than. Certainly I thought that he was going to be like, it's a, it's a pretty deep lineup in the starting rotation. If you have Freed and Radon at the top in a playoff series, you feel good. They need to shore up that bullpen. No question about it. If they can go out and get a Eugenio Suarez to fill that third base spot and go and get a couple of relief pitchers and maybe a. I don't even think they need to top the rotation starter. I think more like a back end starting pitcher just to fill in. I think the Yankees are going to be just fine. And then October is such a crapshoot. Like I would love to sit here and say if you go into October with the best roster out of anyone, you're going to, to win the World Series. That's not true. Like it happens every couple of years. If, if not the Dodgers would win every damn World Series. And you know, if the Dodgers lost this year, it wouldn't surprise anyone, despite how much talent they have.

[Pat McAfee]

I, I don't think Dodgers going to lose anybody. No. Maybe Pittsburgh Pirates if they meet him in October.

[Ty Schmidt]

They haven't ended the, the break here very well. Dodgers, you know.

[Boston Connor]

The Boston Red Sox. But, but with the AL east kind of sticking with them for a second. What happened to the Baltimore Orioles because they were supposed to be the. Like you're talking about how, you know, the Pirates had a great draft. You build your team in that way. And then I thought the Orioles did that. They were the one seed or they.

[Will]

Were up there two years ago.

[Boston Connor]

Two years ago. Yeah. And now they fell off a cliff. Like is there, is there a way you can build your team right and then for the whole entire thing to collapse a year later because it feels like that's what happened with Baltimore.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Will]

And I don't think Baltimore is going to have to go back into like a rebuild mode here. Right. Like, they've still got a lot of talent there. What they don't have is pitching. Pitching's been the Achilles heel all year. And you know, I. They addressed it last year by going out and getting Corbin Burns, and Corbin Burns was phenomenal for them, but he left in free agency this offseason. They signed Tomoyuki Sagano. You know, they signed Andrew Kittredge. Like they. They just did fill in gap to gap moves and it. It didn't work.

[Pat McAfee]

Like the Pirates.

[Will]

No.

[Pat McAfee]

We got Paul Skeens, brother Pirates and the Cruise miss filling in gap to gap.

[Rob Manfred]

Excuse me.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of gaps, but we got a couple gaps that we've certainly covered up.

[Darius J. Butler]

You ever seen Titanic?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, there's a couple holes. Yeah. And then that thing goes up like this. But Skeens is upper just. Yeah. Playing that thing down.

[Darius J. Butler]

He's the captain, poor guy.

[Pat McAfee]

And the missile Cruise Missile is out there just hitting bombs in front of a great fan base that fears that they'll never see a winner anyway. Tone has a question for you.

[Darius J. Butler]

I do have a question about Paul. Do you vote for any MLB awards, player awards?

[Will]

I don't anymore. I stopped smart.

[Pat McAfee]

Do you think the voters will hold.

[Darius J. Butler]

It against him that he, you know, is the best pitcher? He has a 2 ERA, but he's 4 and 8. Do you think he's like. Because I saw he's no longer the favorite to win the NL Cy Young, which he definitely should be. Do you think voters are going to hold it against him that he's not winning games?

[Will]

Nobody looks at wins anymore.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, good.

[Will]

Yeah, this. And it stopped with Felix Hernandez.

[Pat McAfee]

Like when Felix, thank God, says the Pirates loser mentality.

[Aaron Judge]

Yeah.

[Darius J. Butler]

King Felix did have situation like this.

[Will]

Yeah. And here's the thing. I think we all look at what teams do winning games, but pitcher wins are not in any way reflection of their performance. You're going to have a guy probably win 17, 18, 19 games this year who's half the pitcher that Paul Skeens is. And so they will look at. When I was voting for the Cy Young, the first thing that I looked at was innings pitched. And I know that's kind of old school of me, but I want to see who goes out there and who posts. Like who is going to get me deep into games, who's going to save my bullpen, who's going to go CG if I need it, which is why Zach Wheeler is right up there with like, Zach Wheeler's awesome. And, and I think Zach Wheeler in the past, frankly, the year Corbin Burdens won the Cy Young, Zach Wheeler threw something like 35, 40 more innings than him, and it should have been a lot closer than it was. But Skins is going to throw a lot of innings this year, so I don't think there's going to be that much separation from there. I look at strikeouts, I look at walks, I look at home runs allowed. And then from there, if those numbers are all tight, it's just looking at little tiny granular things. It's going to be an interesting and close vote. I will say there's a chance that some voters, if there is almost a virtual tie in terms of numbers, do wind up looking at the success of the team and. And Wheeler would be the favorite because of that.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so let's talk about the future of this particular sport and league celebration last night in a pretty big way. Go ahead, D. Buzz.

[Aaron Judge]

Yeah. You talked about Seth Hernandez, number six, who was the winner? Yeah, of course. Who was the winner last night in your eyes of the draft? I know it's much different than our draft in NFL. We gonna see. Yeah, we're gonna see those guys week one hopefully impacting wins. But who, who won in your eyes last night?

[Will]

I think the Seattle Mariners really won. You know, they, they were a borderline playoff team last year, and Major League Baseball in this last collective bargaining agreement, instituted a draft lottery for the first time. And so the Mariners would have been picking down in like the mid to late teens had they not won the number three overall pick. And you know, Eli Willits goes number one overall. The Nationals are essentially in rebuild right now, and so they're spreading their money out among a bunch of young, talented high school players. And Willits is getting a way under slot deal, which means, you know, the, the slot value for that top pick is around $11 million. It's not like the NFL where you get paid what your slot is, or the NBA where you get paid like it in baseball, you can get creative, you can shift money around a little bit. And so Eli.

[Pat McAfee]

Bobby Benit.

[Will]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And who's that other guy we talked about last night? He's getting 9 million bucks for the next 14 years.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, Chris Davis.

[Will]

Chris Davis. Max Scherzer is the second highest paid Washington national this year. Yeah, right behind Steven Strasberg, who's not playing either.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Will]

Number two overall pick.

[Pat McAfee]

The.

[Will]

The Angels Gave Tyler Bremner, who was expected to go like in the early to mid teens. He went up to number two because he was willing to take a haircut on the pick. But Kate Anderson was widely regarded as the top prospect in the draft. And the Mariners, who already have Logan Gilbert, Brian Wu, who's here as an all Star right now, George Kirby, Luis Castillo and Bryce Miller in their rotation, get a guy who could be in the big leagues at some point in the next year or two and could be a top end starter. An absolute coup for the Mariners.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, well, thank you for the intel. Thank you for the, the vibes around baseball for years and years with us. You have been our plug for baseball for years. And I think we've been very transparent on our relationship with baseball. I don't know much about it, but now that we're here, we have you to thank for a lot of it. J. We appreciate you bringing us into the world and we appreciate you taking care of us. You're the man.

[Will]

I honestly, I'm so glad you guys are here. Just to get to experience what this is like. This is like, I think this is my 22nd or 23rd all star game. I've been like, I've been doing this a while now and, and being able to reach out to a wider group of fans and show them what this world is like, it means a lot to me and you guys are a big part of that. So thank you guys.

[Pat McAfee]

Come on, you're the man. Ladies and gentlemen, senior MLB Insider, ESPN and pundit, Jet Passage. Jet, we appreciate you, brother.

[Will]

Thank you.

[Boston Connor]

See you, Jet.

[Pat McAfee]

See you, Jet.

[Darius J. Butler]

Bye, Jet.

[Pat McAfee]

See you, Jet. All right. All right. Jet the PR kid. All right. Take a hike, Jet. I'm leaving. That's what they're saying. Not me. I want to let you. Oh, athlete.

[Boston Connor]

Good dismount.

[Aaron Judge]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

That was like 45% of his body height.

[Boston Connor]

Well, he's got a low center of gravity.

[Pat McAfee]

It is about 45. Yeah, I know. I did quick math. I eyed it.

[Ty Schmidt]

Got that re put together back.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, exactly. Hey, also beat that tree. People forget.

[Ty Schmidt]

Exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

Did you take that tree, turn into a bat, hit a couple dingers with it? Did you take. Yeah, yeah. Bring the whole tree. All right. Anyways, Tree tried to kill Jetpassen. He survived. He survived. Hey, joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who's a two time AL mvp, a seven time all star, three time all MLB first team, four time Silver Slugger, AL record for the most home runs in a season with 62. Currently has 35 homers. He's hitting.355 in 81 RBIs at one point. He was above.400 on the season. Ladies and gentlemen, Ty Schmitz, Dream human Aaron Judge. Well said. Well said, Judge. All rise. Gentlemen, Seriously, I don't know if you're gonna able to fit. You're a gigantic human being.

[Boston Connor]

Wor about it.

[Pat McAfee]

Took that from your locker. Yeah. He took that from your locker last night.

[Aaron Judge]

First All Star knot for the kid.

[Pat McAfee]

That's right. Yeah. This is his first All Star. So you remember your first time All Star? This is his first All Star. Holy. We got to lower down a little bit. Can you put that on? Is that big enough? Let's do it. Jeez.

[Shohei Ohtani]

Oh.

[Jet Passan]

Let's go.

[Pat McAfee]

Yep. Oh, yeah.

[Aaron Judge]

Here we go.

[Pat McAfee]

Hell, yeah. Ty, is there anything you'd like to say to Aaron here before we get started?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, I have two girls. If I do have a boy, I will be naming him after you. No pressure, but that is Judge or Aaron? Aaron. Maybe Aaron. Judge. Schmidt, potentially.

[Pat McAfee]

On that note, how does it feel to be the guy we. I chit chatted with him about you, and he talks about how you've really accepted and embraced the role of being the captain of the Yankees, being the face of the pinstripes, which is obviously a big deal to him and your entire fan base. How has that been becoming that guy? Because obviously we've seen you for a while. Gigantic human. All rise. We're hitting bombs. You've gone through your entire life publicly, seemingly, at this point, but how does it feel to be the guy in New York?

[Jet Passan]

It's. It's incredible. I wouldn't say I'm the guy. You know, I'm just another guy.

[Pat McAfee]

Which is what the guy would say.

[Ty Schmidt]

Exactly.

[Jet Passan]

No, I'm just trying to follow, just keep this legacy going. You know, the captains that came before me, you know, especially the last one, Jeter, you know, the way he went about it, the way he played the game, you know, the championships, the. Just staying out of the spotlight, doing everything the right way. You know, I just try to kind of follow his lead and just kind of keep that legacy going. So then when I'm done playing, hopefully someone behind me is kind of taking the next torch.

[Pat McAfee]

And, yeah, it's an old, old school mindset. It really is an old school mindset. It feels like baseball has a lot of that inside of it, and we will certainly ask you about that. You saying, like, not doing a lot of publicity? He was kind of forced to do this one. So we Appreciate you. We, like let people know Aaron Judge was not reaching out to get his face on a camera anymore. Kind of felt obligated to the MLB people because we asked about it for Ty and also because we've been following you this year. Different. You're over 400 there for a while and we're talking about like a varsity player playing against jv. Does it look like a beach ball whenever you're in one of these zones? Or what is it about this year? Or maybe you just as a hitter.

[Jet Passan]

As a whole, it's just trying to get better every year. You know, we had a great season last year. I'll get all the way to the World Series. You know, we didn't finish a job, but, you know, that's where I take the offseason. Kind of take a couple weeks to reflect and be like, hey, how can I get better? How can I help the team? You know, what things can I do personally to just kind of take that next level in my development? And we're just working on it. So try not to look at his stats.

[Pat McAfee]

The ball better. What is it like, how does that work? How do you get better at seeing the ball at your. How old are you?

[Jet Passan]

33.

[Pat McAfee]

You're about to beat Jesus. You make it one more year, congratulations and God bless him. But with that being said, how do seeing the ball better, is that something or like, take me as somebody never played baseball. Well, how does a hitter get better?

[Jet Passan]

Well, I think the. The cool thing about with the major leagues, like when you're working your way up through the minor leagues, you know, you. You're in high A, you do well there, they bump you up the double A. And now it's a whole new league, new pitchers, new players. You do well there. Triple A. Well, in the big leagues, you're kind of. You're at the top. There's nowhere else to go. So you're seeing the same pictures over and over and over again. The new guys kind of come up, they might stay there for a little bit, they're gone. But you see the same pitchers over and over. So I feel like just getting a chance to see the same guy and get more at bats, get a feel for it, you know, it's a good thing, is usually going to happen more for the hitter.

[Pat McAfee]

How many times behind closed doors have you fist fought SH Otani?

[Jet Passan]

Not once. Not once, man.

[Pat McAfee]

He's.

[Jet Passan]

He's a great guy, you know, great ambassador for this game. We're going to get him back, though. We'll see him down the road.

[Pat McAfee]

I just talked to, literally talked to Manford about this and I assume he's very grateful for you and all the stars in the league. But you and Shohei and Big Dumper and Scubal and Skiings, all the stars playing well is great for the league. Do you guys feel that for the league? Do you feel the momentum that you guys are kind of a part of right now with the league as a whole?

[Jet Passan]

Yeah, baseball's in a great spot. I feel like just every stadium we go to, it's packed out. You know, just the publicity a lot of these guys are getting, you know, worldwide. You know, we're having fans all around the world watching this game, celebrating this game. It's. It's something special. So like you said, when the stars are out there playing their best, it's good thing, good things for the sport. That's for sure. And I gotta say also like at when I work out at the Yankee complex your guys, this show is on 24 7. Just to let you guys know. So this wasn't, I wasn't forced to do this. When we heard about it, I was like, I couldn't wait to get on here. So it's special.

[Boston Connor]

Special, that's all.

[Pat McAfee]

I appreciate you. Go ahead, Ty.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's awesome. I just got goosebumps.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. So you guys have heard Ty, I assume. Yeah. All right, good. That's good.

[Ty Schmidt]

Obviously everyone, you know, hitting wise, like it's kind of crazy cuz I, I expect you to, if not hit a homer every single game, at least go 2 to 4. So like sometimes like you know, if you go over two with a couple walks, like Jesus Christ, what's going on with Judgy today? But I've, I've.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Just to act like that. Yeah. No, no.

[Ty Schmidt]

Well, I mean this guy gets it. I'll take a bullet for him. I've long said though, I don't think you get nearly enough credit for how good you are defensively. I mean just. What was it Saturday against the Cubs? Yoruba PCA home run. You have the shoestring catch and then you know, you, you have that, the sliding grab to end Rodans in and get out there unscathed. How, how much of it? Because obviously like everyone's always going to talk about your, your numbers at the plate. How much do you have to put in defensively though to, to make sure that you're sharp because you are a weapon in the outfield.

[Jet Passan]

Yeah, I just never wanted to be a liability out there, you know, I wanted to be A complete player. I know how hard the pitcher is working on, on the mound, you know, and I don't be that guy that, you know, drops the ball, you know, lets the ball fall in and he's like this, come on, man. I didn't want that look. So I just want to always be a guy that, you know, the ball's hit my direction, you know, my teammates can depend on me. And you know, talking about earlier, what you said about you know, going 0 for 2 or 2 for 4, I love those expectations. You know, that's one thing that drives me every single day is knowing that, you know, fans are coming to the ballpark, they're turning on the tv, you know, expect, expect me to go out there and, and do something great for the team. So it's that that pumps me up, hearing that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, you kind of ruined our show there for a while because remember, we were just doing the 400 watch. Yeah. Because you're batting over 400. So if we could, if we could please get back to over 4D. Bud has a question for you. Yeah.

[Aaron Judge]

Aaron, you obviously made the correct choice, but we're in a world now where young kids start to get specialized in sports. Really early on you were phenomenal athlete. I know on at least the high school level in all different sports. When did you know for sure it was going to be baseball and you're going to go that direction?

[Jet Passan]

I always thought it'd be baseball. You know, I love playing baseball growing up. Just a chess match back and forth. Pitcher, hitter, you know, the pitcher, catcher, just everything involved. But I love football growing up. You know, just the mentality you got to have to go out there and just, you know, I'm going to kill this guy in front of me, which.

[Pat McAfee]

Was, you know, put your ass at tackle though, in. Oh yeah, six, seven.

[Rob Manfred]

You're right.

[Pat McAfee]

But there is like a. Is baseball six, seven? I mean, I think as well. Is there like a too tall moment? Like if you get to 68, is that too big for baseball?

[Jet Passan]

Well, I think I'm technically 68, but I tell people 6, 7.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, because of this.

[Jet Passan]

To stay underneath that.

[Shohei Ohtani]

Yeah, exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

Because I assume too tall, not. I mean, how many Randy Johnson's the.

[Boston Connor]

Only one I can think of.

[Darius J. Butler]

You can be as tall as you want.

[Jet Passan]

Yeah. There's not too many.

[Pat McAfee]

Your strike zone is gigantic.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh yeah, he gets screwed with the low strikes all the time.

[Jet Passan]

Yeah, we'll talk about that. We'll talk about that.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, before we go on any further, we're going to see you in some fresh cleats, I believe, at this All Star game.

[Jet Passan]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Ladies and gentlemen, I think this is the debut. I think this is the first time anybody's getting eyes on him except for the team at Jordan or Aaron Judge. Here's the air Jordan 4 retro baseball cleat that he will be debuting and will be available on Wednesday on sale, I believe so. Clean size 75. I don't know if anybody else is going to have this size. Those things are beautiful. You're obviously on the Jordan team. How long has that been and how cool is that? And how much do you have say in, like, what you want to kind of wear next? Because these are filthy. Obviously a classic that everybody loves.

[Jet Passan]

Yeah, this is a classic. Classic. You know, especially for the All Star game, it's cool to kind of bring something out like this. But we, the Jordan team, they're so great with us every off season and even during the season. You know, next couple weeks we'll be kind of talking about what we're going to do next year. You know, I've been on the brand since 2023, so it's just a special partnership, man. What they. The love and support they show us every single night is incredible. I want to also hook all you guys up with some fresh Jordans, too, before we get out of here. So we'll try to. We're going to get that lined up. We'll get all your sizes.

[Pat McAfee]

We're getting Jordan gloves.

[Ty Schmidt]

It's my captain.

[Jet Passan]

If you want some gloves, we'll hook up. We'll hook up some gloves.

[Pat McAfee]

No, no. Is that what you were talking about? What?

[Jet Passan]

You were talking about some shoes?

[Aaron Judge]

Shoes.

[Jet Passan]

We'll get you some fresh Js. So I know you got some fresh shoes on right now, but I'll. Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

This snake died in its sleep, Aaron. Okay. It lived a nice, great life. But I will certainly put some Js on, especially if they're going to be gifted by you, the Jordan team in every sport. Sport is obviously such a high rank in everything. All Star week, obviously gigantic. You're very comfortable in this setting. What is it like for the new All Stars? Like, whenever you come here and you see all like, what is All Star week like as an all Star for you guys? Is it too much? Is it tiring? Is it exhausting? Do you enjoy it? Is it waste of time? Like, what is the mindset of most players whenever they come here for this celebration?

[Jet Passan]

Ty, you want to get this one.

[Pat McAfee]

Or you want first time?

[Ty Schmidt]

I can't wait to Chop it up with you in the clubhouse later.

[Jet Passan]

Honestly, I think, you know, I go back to my first one in 2017 in Miami. It was just for me, it was amazing to see a lot of the players that I looked up to. You know, Buster Posey was one of them, you know, and I'm stepping in for my first at bat in my first All Star game. And I got Buster Posey for San Francisco Giants calling pitches against me where I watch as a kid, you know, rooting them on. On tv. So I think that's probably the coolest thing thing is just getting a chance to interact with some guys you usually don't get to see pick their brain a little bit, you know, come out here, celebrate the game. I love what they're doing now. Having the draft here, have everything here. I think it just brings more excitement to this, you know, special day.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it makes it a big hub. You know, we get a chance to experience in football. The super bowl will do their thing. And then for college football, the playoffs have kind of become that in the NBA. All Star week is when everybody kind of comes feels the same right now. I don't know if it's always been like this. You said it's pretty new, but draft left into this press conference, into the Home Run Derby and everything, it's taken over the conversation. We're lucky to be here. Boston Red Sox fan. Boston, Connor has a question for you.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, Aaron, thank you for leading with that pack. That's what I want to ask about something that I love about baseball and just sports in general is just hate. You know, I love the hate that teams have for each other. And the best rivalry in sports, it feels like across the board is, you know, Sox, Yankees, or at least it was, you know, as of recent, you know, the Sox haven't been good when the Yankees are good and then, you know, the Yankees haven't gone. The Sox are good right now. It's kind of hitting its stride here where the Sox are getting good again. Do you think it's still possible to have very passionate, you know, throwback rivalries like the Red Sox in the Yankees used to have? Or do you think at this point now because of all the access, because, you know, everyone's friendly with each other much, much closer that that it's almost. We're past. Past the era of Veritech and a Rod and you know, those guys. And now like the Red Sox, Yankees rivalry and just rivalries in general are kind of going into a different stratosphere when it comes to that stuff, I.

[Jet Passan]

Think it's still there. You know, I think. I think there's a level of respect that we have for everybody, especially when we go to Fenway and we step in that historic ballpark and, you know, playing against those guys, I got a certain level of respect for them, but I also, you know, can't wait to, you know, beat them every single game I can. So, you know, especially you hear from the fans, the fans are yelling at you. They're saying some things you can't say on here, I don't think.

[Pat McAfee]

And in Boston, of course, I've never heard it as much, but I know what you're. I know what you're saying. Yeah, absolutely.

[Jet Passan]

But it's fun, you know, I enjoy it. You know, I think we might get to that point at some. There might be some times where maybe a couple guys throw inside, maybe we throw inside, we kind of see what happens, happens. Yeah, but it's. I don't know, it might be good for the game, but we'll see. Man, I got so much respect for those guys. I think they kind of feel the same. So we just try to go out there and just put on a good show and, you know, kind of leave it all on the field.

[Pat McAfee]

On that note of throwing inside, Tone has a question for you.

[Darius J. Butler]

Yeah, I do. And throwing inside. And Ty talked about it, throwing low earlier in the low strike call, you talked about getting better each year. How do you feel? Like, how do you deal with now in this point of your career? Like, just getting pitched around the time. Can you tell at the beginning of the at bat that you're going to be pitched around or. Or you like, hey, I'm not going to get a pitch to hit this at bat. Or can you tell when. When you know, like, hey, they're not going to give. Give you anything.

[Jet Passan]

Usually have a feeling, but I try just to block that out because there might be a one slip up or one mistake they make, and that might be the only pitch I see.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah. Might steal a dong shot.

[Shohei Ohtani]

Exactly.

[Jet Passan]

So you just try to stay locked in. You kind of have a feeling. You know, I think I get most upset when, you know, they're pitching around me and they're umpire back here is like, come on, buddy.

[Pat McAfee]

How do you feel about the not robotic? The A.B.S. manfred told us, Please don't say robot. Yeah, he did. Okay, I'm gonna. I take exception with you saying robot. It's a system that we have crafted over the years. How do you feel about that? Hitters love it. Pitchers hate it. Is that a good read?

[Jet Passan]

Yeah, a little bit. I think it's just new. So it's just new. Anything that's new, people are kind of have their opinions kind of hit on a little bit. But I still love the human element of the game. You know, it's kind of been my thing growing up. I don't know if it's old school or not, but I just love having the umpire back there, the human feel. But I know it's coming. It's coming the next couple years, so we just got to get used to it.

[Pat McAfee]

So are you allowed to. I don't know the rules. Please bear with me. They're throwing outside on. You okay with getting a walk, maybe steal a couple strikes. Strikes, though. Can you step into that thing and hit that? Like, are you, like. You're not allowed to cross home plate there.

[Jet Passan]

You can do whatever you want as long as you stay in that little. A little batter's box.

[Pat McAfee]

So you can go all the way out to the edge of that. Oh, you cannot leave that going forward. Because if you were to take somebody who's trying to take you out, step on the plate, that would be higher. If you did. I'm not saying you should do that. Don't change anything. Jesus. Especially for me. But know that if you did do that, big pop out of me at my house. House. Sure. With that being said, thank you so much for stopping by. Congrats on the new shoes. Congrats on another All Star bid. Congrats on another phenomenal year. And thanks for representing the Yankees so well because this guy's happy as hell every time he sees you.

[Ty Schmidt]

Without a doubt.

[Pat McAfee]

Without a doubt.

[Ty Schmidt]

Are you excited to watch Jazz tonight in the derby?

[Jet Passan]

I can't wait. I can't wait. He's gonna put on a show. He's an entertainer and he's one of the.

[Pat McAfee]

Are you gonna be on the field?

[Aaron Judge]

We miss you, Jazz.

[Jet Passan]

I'll be out there. I'll be out there.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Shohei Ohtani]

Hey, come on.

[Aaron Judge]

Miss you, J.

[Pat McAfee]

Appreciate you. We continue on YouTube, even ESPN plus Disney plus TikTok Live. Also, the press conference I will be hosting will be live at 2 o' clock here and on MLB Network. We'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye. Okay, we're still digital. Don't say anything that you wouldn't want to say. You understand what I'm saying?

[Boston Connor]

To your grandma.

[Pat McAfee]

You understand what I'm saying?

[Aaron Judge]

It's the Cap.

[Pat McAfee]

People are still listening. Cap. Okay, I don't want to say it, but I'm going to Say it for Ty. Every time you guys go into a slump, this guy's getting closer and closer to driving into traffic. Okay, so when these slumps happen, long season, what is it that gets you guys out of it? What, like, can you feel it when you're in it? Is everybody, like, actually from the baseball movies I watch, are we changing our underwear? Are we doing, like, is that type of happening, like what happens in modern baseball? That kind of. To get out of a slump or do you feel like when you're going into one for teams, not players, but teams as a whole. Whole.

[Jet Passan]

For teams as a whole.

[Pat McAfee]

Because Ty is thinking about jumping off cliffs. You. You need to know that. That. That is what's happening.

[Jet Passan]

I don't believe that he's a true Yankee fan.

[Shohei Ohtani]

He.

[Jet Passan]

He rides and dies with us.

[Pat McAfee]

That's that second part.

[Boston Connor]

That's what I'm talking about.

[Pat McAfee]

Eric, you are repeating what I'm saying.

[Shohei Ohtani]

Yes, you.

[Jet Passan]

You know, we play every single day. You know, so you kind of are just so focused on today, and all a sudden you look up and it's like, hey, we lost five in a row. And you know, we'll just, hey, you got to change something up. We'll kind of. I think it's more of a joke. We'll kind of like, hey, you know, we got to switch things up here. Try to do something fun. Just kind of get our mind off of the fact we just got our butts kicked for three games against the Red Sox. So we gotta. We gotta switch it up here.

[Pat McAfee]

So, you guys, your mental toughness for dealing with failure is crazy. It's not. It's nothing like any other sport. So I have so much respect for it. And obviously I respect the hell out of you. Sick.

[Darius J. Butler]

Yeah. The T shirt.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. The Accenture jacket. The. Fuck yeah. Yeah. The. You should see the ring too. I mean, the whole thing.

[Boston Connor]

The ring's filthy.

[Pat McAfee]

Baseball. We forget.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Jet Passan]

That's my wife.

[Pat McAfee]

Great taste. Yep. Great taste. You're the man. Thank you so much for the hospitality. We'll see you tonight, I think. Can't wait. I think we're doing the. The intros for everybody.

[Jet Passan]

Oh, boy.

[Shohei Ohtani]

That's gonna be.

[Jet Passan]

No, it's great. I'm excited.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm excited. Mr. Captain, I would respect a little bit of a better response. Yeah. We should have a good time. We appreciate you. Okay, I'm gonna go do that. And we'll continue on the other side. I believe Shohei is joining us after the press conference at around 2:30. I will ask him about the other side of the Aaron Judge. Punch him in the face behind closed doors where he said it didn't happen. We shall see. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're live from the All Star Game. Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. Now. I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited Premium Wireless for $15 a month is back. So I thought it would be fun if we made $15 bills, but it turns out that's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront payment of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required new customer offer for first three months only. Speed slow after 35 gigabytes of networks busy taxes and fees extra. See mintmobile.com the Jack Welch Management Institute at Strayer University helps you go from I know the way to I've arrived.

[Rob Manfred]

With our top 10 ranked online MBA.

[Pat McAfee]

Gain skills you can learn today and apply tomorrow. Get ready to go from make it happen to made it happen and keep striving. Visit Strayer Edu Jack Welchmba to learn more. Strayer University is certified to operate in Virginia by Chevin as many campuses including at 2121 15th Street north in Arlington, Virginia. Baseball is happening and we are incredibly lucky to be here. The 1/2 of the toxic table is here at Ty Schmidt in full regard 1/2 of the hammer down Cowboys AP Tone is here. Nine year NFL vet Darius J. Butler is here. And ladies and gentlemen, joining us live is a man who is in goat conversations already. He can throw it, he can hit it, he can captivate an entire globe. Will, are you telling him these things? Ladies and gentlemen, sh. Okay sir, thank you. Thank you so much for coming by. Congratulations on another All Star. What has allstar Week become for you? Just as you enjoy the week as a whole.

[J]

I'm just grateful just be part of this All Star festivity. The fans voted me in so I'm very grateful that I get to participate and play. So I'm looking forward to it.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey Will, can you ask him who were some of the players when he got to his first All Star that he was excited to meet and maybe got a little star struck which I assume they did the same exact thing for him. And Will, can we have we have good energy on the delivery.

[J]

To be honest, I grew up watching Ichiro play in the All Star game, so that was somebody who I wanted.

[Pat McAfee]

To meet whenever you were growing up it feels like when you got to the mlb, all the baseball purists were like, hey, this is a guy who can be a guy. Has he committed his entire life to baseball? And at what age did he think, okay, this could become full time profession?

[J]

A lot more.

[Pat McAfee]

And also, also domo regatta. Yeah.

[J]

I initially, you know, grew up watching professional baseball in Japan. So I wanted to be a, you know, NPB player first. But then as I started to watch more Major League Baseball, I. My dream grew and, and I really wanted to play in the big leagues.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so let's talk about you playing in the big leagues. Babe Ruth comparisons immediately, because you pitch and you hit. I'm new to baseball. Casual baseball did not play growing up. And all the baseball people are like, it's impossible to do because it's either too much wear or tear or not enough focus on something. It's very difficult to do. Why do you think you've been able to have success doing it when so many other people don't?

[J]

I'm going to yaki. Kick a knife. Yeah. Of course there's some hardships being able to pitch and hit at the same time, but I grew up doing both throughout my whole life. Aside from a couple injuries that I had here and here and there, but for me it's pretty normal.

[Pat McAfee]

That's a great answer, Will. Good delivery. I think it even matched the tone here from Shohei. Last question for me before the boys have some. And once again, domo rigato for coming by and everything like that. Do you have, you think, stronger muscles, stronger bones, better tendons than everybody else because you're able to do both? And if so, what should I be eating to become Shohei? Oh, Tani. Like.

[J]

I actually grew up pretty thin and it was not the way I look right now. So I. I worked out a lot and I ate a lot and that this is how I became.

[Pat McAfee]

What are you eating? What is meal of choice?

[J]

I love meat.

[Pat McAfee]

A lot of meat. Have you enjoyed America's customs and cultures since coming over here? And what is your favorite thing that America does that you go like? This is very American of America and I like it.

[J]

Yeah, I just really enjoy being with the guys. The teammates, they really welcomed me with open arms when I first came here to the US As a foreign player. So I'm just really happy with hanging.

[Pat McAfee]

Out with the guys like the lads. Love that. Ty Schmidt has a question for you.

[Ty Schmidt]

I'm sure you get asked this all the time, but would you rather pitch against yourself when you're on, like an absolute heater or would you rather hit against yourself like when you're just spinning it like you never have on the mound?

[Pat McAfee]

Could you strike you out?

[Ty Schmidt]

I think I can, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Is going to Genjo? Yeah.

[J]

I feel more confident being able to get. Get the hitter version of me out. As a pitcher.

[Pat McAfee]

Do you view yourself more as a pitcher or a hitter? Like whenever A lot of the baseball purists are like, he's such a good hitter, there's no reason for us to potentially go into pitching. But on the flip side, you're such a good pitcher and baseball revolves around having a good pitcher as well. Do you view yourself as a pitcher? Is that how we should talk about you just happens to be a great hitter or are you a great hitter who happens to be a great pitcher? How would you like us to talk about you as doofuses that have a microphone? Can you please explain that?

[J]

I grew up, you know, I feel like I was more talented as a hitter growing up and it was hard for me to pitch actually. So I feel like I'm more of like a hitter who could. Who learn how to pitch more than the pitcher learning how to hit.

[Pat McAfee]

What was the word doofus that you used in there? So.

[J]

Ahorashi.

[Pat McAfee]

Is that. Is that what? Doofus? That's. What is it again?

[J]

Ahorashi.

[Pat McAfee]

Ahorashi.

[J]

Ahorashi.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so yeah, D. But professional athlete. Horseshoe.

[Aaron Judge]

Yeah. So obviously I've dealt with injuries. You dealt with two major elbow injuries. Were there any difference coming back from this one? I know you've been taking them out recently. Any differences coming back from this one or is it pretty similar to the one before?

[J]

I actually felt pretty comfortable and felt better after the second surgery. You know, just the way the ball fell in my hands when I first threw. Ever since the surgery, the progression throughout felt really comfortable and progressed a lot more quickly than the first surgery.

[Pat McAfee]

How close to full go are we? You don't have to tell us, obviously. Please tell him he doesn't have to tell us.

[J]

I really just have to increase volume and. But aside from that, I feel pretty good with what I have.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. That's awesome. What are you throwing me? Hi Fasco. So fast to Jeez. To has a question for you.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Darius J. Butler]

I think it's awesome that you bat leadoff. Cuz normally with someone with your numbers, someone with your powers, batting 3rd, 4th, 5th.

[Pat McAfee]

Why?

[Darius J. Butler]

Why do you bat leadoff? Is it something that you want to do that Coach Roberts wants to have you do? Why are you in that in that leadoff sp.

[J]

I feel pretty comfortable batting anywhere. And so at the end of the day, I want to make sure that I'm honoring what the team wants and what the manager wants and how it just fits well with the lineup.

[Pat McAfee]

There's a couple that you like, you know, and then home run. There's a couple of you. It just looks like you're. How long have you been. You said you were skinny growing up. How long have you been a bomb hitter? You are a bomb hitter. I mean, you hit the shit out of the ball just so far. I mean, they travel, so. And as a pitcher, it like, that doesn't really correlate, which I think why Harichis like myself here in America are so dumbfounded by it. But how long have you been a bomb hitter? And. And do you take pride in the fact that it's fireworks whenever you are at bat? Like, must watch.

[J]

Yeah. If you look back, my first year in the big leagues, I was pretty skinny, so I would say, like, probably 20, 21.

[Pat McAfee]

What pitch do you feel like you're a better hitter because you're the best pitcher hitter that there is in the league? Like, do you see the ball better? You think. Do you have a feel for it whenever you're pitching and hitting? Do you feel like that is an advantage to do both? You think one helps the other choices?

[J]

Yeah, I think I have a more of a mindset as a pitcher. And as a pitcher, you kind of know what the hitters don't want to hit or don't want to swing at. So I really take that experience as a hitter on the mound.

[Pat McAfee]

You've been an mvp. You're a world champion. You captivated the globe. Globe, okay. Captivated the entire globe. You put the MLB in a spot that it's never been. We say thank you for that, for the sport, but you're still so young. In this entire game, is every day a process of trying to get better still? Is there new goals, new dreams, new everything? Like, what does day to day look like for you whenever you're forecasting future plans?

[J]

Yeah, naturally. I just want to progress and get better. So I do have, like, a vision of just getting better in many, many steps. So that's what I'm trying to do.

[Pat McAfee]

I.

[J]

A daily basis.

[Pat McAfee]

You're a dog, dude. Oh, you know what that means? That's good. Welcome to America. Yeah. We appreciate the hell out of you coming here. We appreciate you stopping by our show. Thank you for what you do for sports as a whole, and I think you help bring the world together. Brother. And I think that's a beautiful thing. So thank you so much. We appreciate you. And Will, great work. Will, you had great. You really good work. You brought energy at one point. Yay. Show had proof. So we've never had to deal with this. I can only speak one language. Okay. He's. You and him have to get along very well, right? I mean, you legit. You guys have to get along very well. Is that an accurate assessment of the entire thing? So with Will, whenever it starts. Will, I guess I'll ask you. It's a feeling out process, like a relationship, I would assume. Right. And trying to catch his demeanor and his tone and everything like that. Because you were a very important piece. Piece of Shohei Ohtani's. Shohei Ohtani as a whole.

[Aaron Judge]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Legit. Is it like getting a feel for who he is as a person, the tone or how does that kind of work for you guys when you start?

[J]

Oh, well, he's a great person. So I really don't have to do much.

[Pat McAfee]

No, but that's what you. Because you're trying to be. Yeah. Well, I just want to let you guys know. It's amazing what you've done. We appreciate the hell out of you. And go baseball, dude. Yeah. Yeah. Good luck out there.

[Ty Schmidt]

Thank you.

[Pat McAfee]

Enjoy the week. Thank you, Will. Great work.

[J]

Thanks.

[Ty Schmidt]

Thank you, guys.

[Pat McAfee]

Ladies and gentlemen, multiple time mvp. World champion, world icon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. Sh. Thanks, man. We appreciate you. Holy hell. Hey, great. Thank you.

[Aaron Judge]

Good luck.

[Pat McAfee]

I gotta steal it. Hey, can I steal a selfie? Boys, boys. Hell yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Awesome, man. Great work, Will. Really good work, Will. Hey, couple all stars right there.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no, no. He's an athlete. Thank you, Shohei.

[Darius J. Butler]

Did you see what he did?

[Pat McAfee]

Don't look back.

[Darius J. Butler]

Oh, you. From this angle, he went, ah.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, is that what he did? Yeah.

[Darius J. Butler]

He was mad mess with us.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Because I thought he was looking back mad at me that I thought he would get out jumping off of that. No, he went, ah, Shohei, they will ban us forever from everything. Hey, nice.

[Darius J. Butler]

I guess I should.

[Pat McAfee]

What's up, man? Nice old Monday here. Hey, Not a bad little show. Not a bad little show. Not at all. Tonight gonna be a part of the show as well.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Boston Connor]

So pumped for that.

[Pat McAfee]

Host a press conference out there.

[Darius J. Butler]

Yeah, you did.

[Pat McAfee]

You hit an excellent job, Andy.

[Boston Connor]

You know, you had to step in in a couple.

[Pat McAfee]

I couldn't hear. I couldn't hear. We couldn't hear.

[Boston Connor]

I couldn't hear. It either. So then I listened to it on YouTube.

[Pat McAfee]

I couldn't. I couldn't hear the multitude of questions. But that one. The. The. The rhythm and tone of it felt like. Oh, this one is a little bit more serious. Could you please say that again? It was a long one. Yeah, we are. Because I could not hear it. It was pretty. Where we were sitting. I think speakers were shooting out. Yeah. So we were kind of loud. It was loud in the back. Yeah. It was a. It was an interesting thing. So we. Nobody on the stage could hear most of that stuff. So that's probably where my role probably could have been better. But I couldn't hear him.

[Boston Connor]

I need a mic.

[Pat McAfee]

It's a good moment. We're celebrating sports though. Lucky to be a part of it. Thankful to be here and thank you to the MLB for the hospitality. I think that that's the big takeaway for this whole thing. Yep. I got a sleeveless jersey. Friendly commission.

[Darius J. Butler]

So sick.

[Boston Connor]

Very cool.

[Pat McAfee]

They put us right in the middle of the damn theater.

[Aaron Judge]

We got jerseys, too.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah. They give jerseys.

[Aaron Judge]

Yeah.

[Darius J. Butler]

Hey, also spelled our names right.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Darius J. Butler]

Even mine.

[Ty Schmidt]

Wow.

[Pat McAfee]

Wow. All the.

[Darius J. Butler]

All the vows.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah. Have my real name.

[Pat McAfee]

Really?

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Wow.

[Boston Connor]

Jersey.

[Pat McAfee]

But these people have been grateful. Us. You get tonight should be awesome. I think everybody should watch. Ty and I think are introducing the batters.

[Ty Schmidt]

So cool.

[Pat McAfee]

What? Yeah. I don't know if I was supposed to say that. Surprise. Oops. No. I don't think anybody would be mad that we said that. And I think they probably just told us to handle it however we want. Me and Ty are going to be introducing the batters this evening. It is a title and an opportunity and an honor to be asked to do as such. And we will do it justice. We understand what the situation calls for.

[Ty Schmidt]

Hell yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And what situation doesn't call for? We'll be certainly excited to do the job. And I think we'll be standing on like second base.

[Ty Schmidt]

Correct.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. In the middle of truth so far. Wow. Gloves. Something about. Certainly. I think we're holding.

[Boston Connor]

You want.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey. Ball security. Job security, brother. You won't have one.

[Aaron Judge]

I didn't have the glove on.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey. Oh, Nice snag with the palm too. Yikes.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah. What was.

[Pat McAfee]

Was a catch. It was a catch. Hey, we're a baseball program, aren't we?

[Boston Connor]

Yes, we are.

[Pat McAfee]

Nobody talks about it. Even us Sometimes we have a catch all the time.

[Darius J. Butler]

We do have a catch.

[Pat McAfee]

This glove is the worst. Stinks a little stiff.

[Boston Connor]

That's a show.

[Pat McAfee]

It's cool looking, though. Not like show hey, no.

[Boston Connor]

Like a show pony shot.

[Pat McAfee]

The T Mobile can't say it enough. If you're looking for a phone coverage, get the best network. The best mobile network in the United States as it was voted on by the name right here above my head.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, man, that's fine.

[Pat McAfee]

Prime frame. Yeah.

[Darius J. Butler]

Speed test.

[Pat McAfee]

I believe it says, according to.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah, something. Speed. Oklahoma. Oh, God.

[Pat McAfee]

I didn't see that helmet. Is there something on that helmet? Speed test said T Mobile is not the best network. You can check it out@t mobile.com forward/network. It's better over here.

[Boston Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

T Mobile.

[Boston Connor]

It's like Will being the best translator. I mean, Joy would legitimately not be able to communicate with anybody.

[Aaron Judge]

Don't actually, don't.

[Pat McAfee]

So he understood what you're saying?

[Aaron Judge]

I think he would.

[Pat McAfee]

So I told Shohei. In that conversation, I told Shohei that I only speak one language. That is true. I can kind of understand another one, though.

[Darius J. Butler]

You're right.

[Pat McAfee]

So, like, French, I took, I think, two years in high school, and then I took four semesters in college of French.

[Boston Connor]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

So. So I can. I understand what they're trying to do with the words. So, like, I know the ballpark of.

[Boston Connor]

The words, how they're supposed to sound.

[Pat McAfee]

So, like, I was in Morocco. French is the second native language there. So I heard people speaking in French, could understand kind of what they were saying, but could not. Didn't have the word bank to respond.

[Darius J. Butler]

Italian with Spanish felt like that's what.

[Pat McAfee]

Shohei was kind of doing there. He understood what we were saying, but it's like. I don't know if I have the entire answer yet.

[Ty Schmidt]

Especially with English where it's like, there's so many slang terms.

[Pat McAfee]

The Japanese is so much different than English language. I mean, that is a tough jump, I think, both ways. Like, I. I think English to Japanese, tough. No, nothing similar. Like, there's like, you know, like in the French language, E, E, S, E, N, T, O, N, T. Like the ending of words. All mean things. Masculine, feminine words. So you kind of do that in the Japanese language. There's. It's very different. I mean, it was. I went over there. It's tough. I mean, nowadays with AI that we're learning. Yeah. Sunglasses.

[Boston Connor]

My goodness.

[Pat McAfee]

Shit. Sunglasses. I might be able to just talk to everybody, which would be so sweet. Should have used them for this. Oh, yeah. How do I say sunglasses? Hey, Meta.

[Darius J. Butler]

Translate this.

[Pat McAfee]

But it's like, I think he's going to get to the point where he speaks very good English. But I think at the Moment. It appears he can understand what we're saying, but I don't know if he has the confidence fully yet to commit to a full answer. Do you think that's probably a good.

[Jet Passan]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

And I also think part of it is, like, you see what he already has to deal with with the Japanese media. So if you start speaking English, unbelievable. It's like he's never gonna be able to breathe. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. You've heard that with like some hockey players, right? Like, some of the Russian hockey players are like, nah, I'm not learning. Yeah, if I learn. What's that? I gotta talk to him.

[Ty Schmidt]

No, I gotta talk to everybody.

[Pat McAfee]

Ah, it's amazing. Shohei was awesome.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Incredible.

[Aaron Judge]

I love how they have to walk around their full unit.

[Ty Schmidt]

I know. I think that's an MLB mandate. I think all of the guys who are here have to be in full uniform.

[Pat McAfee]

Dude, him. I was on my phone. All right. What. How much time do we have? And then we're go. Hey, hey, hey. So everybody was like, hey, hey, hey. Look over. Holy sh. Otani in his full uniform. Holy. Good to see you. You all right? We're out of here. It's great to be back. Tomorrow we'll be in Indianapolis and then Wednesday will be in Los angeles for the ESPYs. ESPYs are Wednesday. Shane Gillis is hosting. Let's have a good night at the ESPYs. Let's enjoy that. And then Thursday, who knows where we are legit or what we're doing? Could be a new Utah, could be in Vegas. We'll be doing a whole show. Who knows? The summer road trip is kind of destination list. Yeah. You're kind of on our way, but are we ever getting there?

[Aaron Judge]

Of course.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, we'll find out.

[Aaron Judge]

We got wings. Of course.

[Pat McAfee]

Shout out Red Bull. Red Bull was like, yeah, we just. Hey, we just kind of want to be in your guys world. Whatever you want to do. It's like, all right, how about, how about next week? We got to go to we need you.

[Aaron Judge]

Sounds good.

[Pat McAfee]

Because we drink Red Bull. Oh, yeah. So like them becoming a partner. Good news. This is just like whenever we actually use all the companies.

[Ty Schmidt]

Without a doubt.

[Aaron Judge]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And they work. Those ones work.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Shout out Red Bull for all the years of service. All the years of service.

[Ty Schmidt]

Long time.

[Pat McAfee]

And for getting in the sugar free game and not the taste changing drastically. And speaking. Speaking of taste, thank you for working on the taste. Yeah, yeah. Over the years, you remember way, way, way, way, way back. Oh, yeah. Gave you wings. But also it was tough to get motor oil. Yeah.

[Shohei Ohtani]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Red Bull want the work. Yeah. Yeah. Say, hey, we got something here. They certainly do. They've given us wings for decades. Thank you to Red Bull. All right, let's get the hell out of here. Ty, you and I got a big night. Yeah, we do.

[Ty Schmidt]

Excited for it.

[Boston Connor]

Come on, boys.

[Darius J. Butler]

Come on, boys.

[Boston Connor]

Pumped for you guys.

[Darius J. Butler]

Oh, you got one in today.

[Pat McAfee]

Got some notes.

[Darius J. Butler]

Who you got winning?

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, do you want to hear the notes first?

[Boston Connor]

Oh, yeah, sure.

[Pat McAfee]

And then this might sway who you pick. Sure. D bus, you'll be last.

[Aaron Judge]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Connor, you'll be first.

[Boston Connor]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

James Wood. I don't know if everybody knows who's batting when. Never mind.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, yeah, good point.

[Pat McAfee]

Good point. Oh, yeah.

[Darius J. Butler]

Good call, James. Now I know who leading it off, maybe or last.

[Pat McAfee]

But.

[Ty Schmidt]

But do they? Yeah, good point.

[Aaron Judge]

Just pick them. Just read them randomly.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't think I want to do that either.

[Ty Schmidt]

Here, just look. Just look at the list and then pick who you think's going to.

[Aaron Judge]

Okay. Boom.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Aaron Judge]

Perfect.

[Pat McAfee]

Boston Connor, who will be winning the Home Run Derby this evening that Ty and I will be announcing and hopefully kick it off in a proper fashion.

[Boston Connor]

I mean, I've given this a lot of thought and I'm really bummed we took that list off. Off already, Foxy. Yep. And just taking a look again at the guys again that I have been looking into a lot. I. I'm personally, of course, gonna pull selfishly for Big Dumper, but I'm going to pick the hometown kid, Matt Olson.

[Darius J. Butler]

Oh, I like it.

[Boston Connor]

To win the derby. I mean, I think that's the best scene. A bunch of Braves fans here are going to be pulling form. Come on, Matty O.

[Pat McAfee]

Make something.

[Boston Connor]

Make something out of your season because everyone says you either or strike out.

[Pat McAfee]

Or hit a homer. Okay. That's from Boston Connor, who looked like this at one point on today's show. Obviously. Stare it down. Stare it down.

[Boston Connor]

It's all my chance.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, good selection. Okay, we'll go with you, Ty Schmidt. Obviously you'll be introducing the guys who wins it.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, I'm gonna go with the long shot. I'm gonna go with my Yankee brethren, my all star Brethren, Jazz Chisholm Jr. I think it's just a great night. Jazz is a showman and I think he's gonna go out there with the intention. Intention of putting on a show. So I'm go with Jazz.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. AP turn. Do you agree or disagree with that, Ty Schmidt?

[Darius J. Butler]

I disagree. I'm gonna go with o' Neill Cruz. He's got, you know, the vlo. He's got the bat speed. But if you're looking for a, you know, a dark horse, Junior Caminero would be a second.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, remember ESPN stats says cruise missile winner because the bat speed velocity. So they're saying, hey, who's gonna win the cruise missile D butts? Do you agree with anybody or do you have your own?

[Aaron Judge]

I got my own. Go with the guy who was fourth on that list, but first in the big leagues and home runs. And that's the big dumper right there. Cal. He's the favorite. I'm going there. Not going to make it too hard. Plus 260. I like that bet. I'm going a big dumper.

[Pat McAfee]

How about big dumper? And obviously I won't make any selections because I would like to be non biased journalism smart. With that being said. Come on, Dump.

[Aaron Judge]

Come on.

[Boston Connor]

He's a dump.

[Pat McAfee]

With that being said, Cruz Missile would be cool too. Yeah, how about Great Wood, James, Wood, Olson, Rooker, Buxton, Caminero, Chisholm, Rizzum. Let's have a night tonight.

[Darius J. Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Here we go. Let's enjoy it. Thank you to the mlb. Great work in the back, boys. Great work, great work. Production team that did everything.

[Boston Connor]

Work, boys.

[Pat McAfee]

Audio microphone. Everything that goes into this is absurd. So we appreciate everybody that does it. It's not easy either and it's very tedious at times because you got to plug one thing into another thing. And then guess what, you got to do that 100 more times and they got little prongers that are tough. And also if one is wrong and if you one thing up, whole Show's ruined. All 100. Boom. Just like that.

[Darius J. Butler]

They just gave us lights.

[Pat McAfee]

That's awesome. Good night. This show's over. We're an MLB show. Yeah. Yeah, that's cool. All right. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice to my. Change your life. We're interesting together. Team on me. Team on three. This one's for baseball. One, two, three. Team. Goodbye.

[Darius J. Butler]

You've seen the headlines, heard the debates.

[Pat McAfee]

Some say the three point ball has created a monotonous rhythm to the game.

[Will]

Has the three pointer ruined basketball? And how did we get here?

[Pat McAfee]

The rise of the three point shot can be partially traced to an eccentric Kansas genius named Martin Manley, whose story.

[Will]

Didn'T turn out quite the way he imagined.

[Pat McAfee]

I decided I wanted to have one of the most organized goodbyes in history. And I think I will be successful.

[Will]

30 for 30 podcast presents a brand.

[Pat McAfee]

New original series Chasing Basketball Heaven. Available July 22nd. Wherever you get your podcasts. Good. Liberty, our WNBA champion. We can't get enough of the WNBA. A fresh draft class has arrived. Dallas Wings select Paige Beckers. Teams stacked with new talent. Julia's a complete dog. The Valkyries take flight in the bay. We've got more stars and more heat than ever. WNBA on espn, presented by Google. We can't get enough.