← The Windup: A show about Baseball
The Windup: A show about Baseball
Starkville | Ken Rosenthal reviews the insane Dodgers World Series victory & previews MLB Free Agency
01:02:56
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- [00:01]
Jason Stark
Morning Zoe. Got donuts.
- [00:02]
Jeff Bridges
Jeff Bridges why are you still living above our garage?
- [00:05]
Jason Stark
Well, I dig the mattress and I want to be in a T mobile commercial like you teach me.
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Jeff Bridges
So Dana oh no, I'm not really prepared. I couldn't possibly at t mobile get the new iPhone 17 Pro on them. It's designed to be the most powerful iPhone yet and has the ultimate pro camera system.
- [00:24]
Jason Stark
Wow, impressive. Let me try. T Mobile is the best place to get iPhone 17 Pro because they've got the best network.
- [00:31]
Doug Glanville
Nice.
- [00:33]
Jason Stark
You heard them. T Mobile is the best place to.
- [00:35]
Ken Rosenthal
Get the new iPhone 17 Pro on us with eligible traded in any condition.
- [00:40]
Jason Stark
So what are we having for launch?
- [00:42]
Jeff Bridges
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- [00:44]
Ken Rosenthal
24 monthly bill credit is on experience beyond for well qualified customers + tax and 35 device connection charge credit send.
- [00:48]
Jason Stark
And balance due if you pay off earlier Cancel Finance agreement. IPhone 17 Pro 256 gigs 1099.99 and.
- [00:53]
Ken Rosenthal
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- [00:54]
Jason Stark
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- [00:58]
Ken Rosenthal
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- [01:00]
Jeff Bridges
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- [01:31]
Narrator/Advertiser
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- [02:09]
Play-by-Play Announcer
Welcome to Starkville.
- [02:11]
Jason Stark
Baseball hall of Famer Jason Stark. And then the robot said strike. That's why you're going in the hall of Fame.
- [02:18]
Play-by-Play Announcer
It's an inside the park home run.
- [02:21]
Doug Glanville
Doug Gladville Mike Trout is Coffee at Starbucks With a double latte. Skinny.
- [02:26]
Jason Stark
Doug, are you ready to make some podcast magic?
- [02:29]
Doug Glanville
I am ready. Bring on the magic wand. Let's do it.
- [02:43]
Jason Stark
Greetings and welcome to Starkville. I'm Jason Stark. I write about baseball for the Athletic, and I'm joined once again by my good friend, writer substacker, broadcaster, professor, distinguished former major leaguer, and the voice of all sorts of baseball stuff on espn, Doug Glanville. Doug, we had an amazing World Series, didn't we? Amazing.
- [03:12]
Doug Glanville
Yeah. I mean, you know, I know people have been thrown out there, you know, best ever. And it was a great series, and it crescendoed. You know, it just got better and better. I think that's what made it so incredible. And I think they. You know, we interviewed Pete Crowe Armstrong for the Gold Glove Awards, and he said it so well about. Like, that series was such a great representation of baseball at its best. You know, just the theater that was just driven from something that you had no control over. Right. As a player, as a fan, every play was like an end of a, you know, chapter that could have been a movie. You know, I mean, what a script. And then, you know, unsung, quiet heroes like Miguel Rojas, who. I never used the word unlikely because I always think that's kind of a backhanded compliment. But I think it's incredible that you see the true team spirit of baseball and how you just. The unexpected happens and every single day. And that's what our show is about. So balls get stuck in the wall, you know, who knows? But it was just. It had everything you could ask for. Great baseball.
- [04:18]
Jason Stark
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. It was tremendous. We're going to talk about it today with our good friend and probably the Starkville Tourist Bureau's most loyal customer, Ken Rosenthal. And, you know, I was thinking, Ken's literally the perfect guest, because if the World Series is over, it means the off season is not over. It's here. So we can look back at a great series and also look ahead to the wild winter with Ken. But first, Doug, there was a play that happened in game seven of the World Series that, honestly, as soon as it happened, I was thinking, I cannot wait to ask my friend Doug Glanville about this. And I'm sure you even know which play I mean. Bottom of the ninth inning, bases loaded. Isaiah Kiner. Falefe is the runner on third. Actually, pinch runner.
- [05:09]
Narrator/Advertiser
Right.
- [05:10]
Jason Stark
Let's hear what happens next.
- [05:13]
Play-by-Play Announcer
Bases loaded, one out, one two pitch. Marshall roller to second. Rojas comes home in time, and it's Miguel Rojas, who ties it in the top of the ninth, saves it in the bottom of the ninth, two out.
- [05:35]
Jason Stark
Joe Davis got a little excited there, Doug. I don't blame him.
- [05:40]
Doug Glanville
Absolutely. Deservedly so.
- [05:42]
Jason Stark
Yeah, he made a sensational play to throw out the winning run at the plate in the ninth inning. I wish that was what the entire population of Canada has been talking about ever since the great Miguel Rojas play. No, they're talking about Isaiah Kiner Falefa's really small lead off third base that felt like it kept him from scoring, literally the run that wins that game and wins the World Series. So we know from the statcast data IKF was only about, what, eight and a half feet down the line. And I'm gonna summarize the opinion of everyone in Canada on the question of, was that a big enough lead? No. And then their other opinion was, what.
- [06:31]
Ken Rosenthal
The hell were you doing?
- [06:32]
Jason Stark
Okay, so, Doug, you have such a good understanding of the whole art of baserunning, I want you to break this down for us. Should IKF have taken a bigger lead there?
- [06:45]
Doug Glanville
Yeah, and that's why it's like I pause in my answer because the reality is, you know, you see, Whit Merrifield was commenting, for example, the fact is, one out, you are the winning run. And you certainly don't want to give up two outs to end that inning under any circumstance. You don't want the line drive double play which could have happened. You don't want anything. You don't want to get picked off. So it is understandable that you're conservative. Right. You're closer to the base on one level. Now, Muncie was probably twice as far away from third, you know, but once again, if you're leaning forward, you got momentum and the ball's hit and muncie's moving that eight and a half to his 15ft becomes very similar, and then it's a foot race. So you just can't get doubled off in that situation. Right, that's that. So we'll start there. So I understand the conservative lead, but the sort of Twitter conversation with Tom Tango was about what I call, like the pre game, you know, sort of the settings. If you're playing a video game, you put it on hard, easy, expert, whatever, and then that's the game. So if you wanted to be aggressive, it would have been predetermining the risk to say, I'm at third, I'm going to take a 10, 11, 12 foot lead. I'm going to take a little bigger lead because I'm literally going for it. I'm going for it and I might get doubled off. There's a chance maybe someone tries to pick me off. But that's pretty gutsy because if Will Smith throws the third and blows it and hits you in the helmet and the game, the World Series is over, not the game. So is he going to do that? Probably not. Is Yamamoto going to throw to third and risk a balk or something? Probably not. So you might take that risk, but you have to predetermine that, right? And I'm sure they talked to third base coach with Fables and all that, but I think the main thing is you have to predetermine it and then you go for it and then you go like, almost on contact, like a squeeze play, and then you make it easy, but then you give up all this risk. So to me, it was really about a risk assessment before the play even happens. And he demonstrated, or the Blue Jays demonstrated, that they wanted to be safe and make sure they were worried more about the double play than to score on this once in a lifetime kind of play that turned out, which Miguel Rojas converted exceptionally, let alone like Will Smith's foot almost came off and it was like replayed and all that. So, yeah, that's how I see it. So I don't. I don't think there's a clear. Like, you're wrong. If he got line drive double play to third, people would have lost their minds then as well. Now, maybe that was a lower percentage play, but that could have happened. And. And you just can't have that happen when you have another crack at it with two outs. Wouldn't make sense. And even him getting thrown out, they still had another at bat, right? So it's not like, okay, it wasn't. It didn't end right there. It's like he was conservative and they still had another shot at it, wild pitch, whatever. So they had to give themselves that shot. But yeah, he was close to the bag. He was definitely conservative and that extra two feet was the difference.
- [09:56]
Jason Stark
Let me ask you about something else that I think, Doug. Doesn't that double play that ended the game the night before have to be in all of their heads? This is the fly ball to left field runner doubled off second. Doesn't get back in time to end the game. Don't you think that the Blue Jays, all of them, had to be scarred by that, too?
- [10:22]
Doug Glanville
It's a great point. I mean, you do feel that collective stress of that moment knowing that how game six ended And Rojas in the center of that as well. That's a great play. And there's no doubt that Barger just was too far. He just. That was an over aggressive play that he kind of wanted it to be true that it wasn't true. Yeah, Conor Falefa getting 10ft off instead of eight and a half or 12 and getting double off would have probably had the same thing to it for sure. But you know, I think it's a matter of being strategic. Like, I don't think Barger was strategic in saying, like, I'm just going to go for it and hope it falls versus like I'm going to take a little bigger lead. I'm increasing the risk of being doubled off, but I am increasing the risk of scoring or I'm increasing the chances of scoring, you know, five fold and maybe that's worth it, you know, and you decide that before.
- [11:14]
Jason Stark
Can I say something else about him too? I didn't get a chance to ask the Blue Jays coaches about this the next day. But you know, we live in a time where outfielders have never played deeper, correct? Never. And so every runner instinctually does this little calculus when a ball leaves the bat on whether it's going to fall or whether it's going to be caught. And it's so rare to have a left fielder be playing as shallow as Kike Hernandez was playing and then admitted afterwards he did it on his own. Just his instinct was to play that shallow. So I think that was part of the calculus in Barger's head. That's just a little aside.
- [11:52]
Doug Glanville
Look, Barger's a great player and I mean, I'm sure he beat himself up, but in the end you got to know where he's playing, right? Like, when you get a second base, you always scan the outfield, you scan the shortstop. You want to know where all the fielders are. And when you do that, you take that assessment of like, okay, wait a minute, the left fielder is crazy right now, but he's really shallow. And that should inform like how far off you got. You know, it's like my mom would say he's trying to get there without going. He was running like kind of wishing it that it was going to fall instead of really reading it that it would fall. And yeah, it's true, it might have cost him an ability to score on that one hit because if he was careful and like, oh, it then fell, then go. But yeah. Does Hernandez have any business being that shallow? Probably not. I understand, like, he's like, Hernandez played That, like, I am going to throw you out at home. You're not. You need two hits to beat me. But if you hit it over my head, that's it. I mean, that's. That's two runs. Anyway, that's what he gave up. And he said he lost it in the lights, by the way. Hernandez said he lost it in the lights and still ran in the direction, and then it came out. It was pretty. Pretty amazing. So, yeah, but that. There's no doubt that colored the next game. And IKF kind of for left, his thought about, like, don't get doubled off, but once you get into the don't be, and you kind of have that negative stance, you lose a step. And the funny thing is, like, I think I saw something where his sprint speed was, like, way above his average going home, like, he was flying down the line.
- [13:20]
Jason Stark
Good point.
- [13:21]
Doug Glanville
You know, he really tried to get that read. But that's the beauty of baseball, right? We're gonna second guess and we're gonna look back, and that game gave us 900 things to go back and say, what if that's what made that series so incredible? Every play it seemed like it was like, well, what if he did this? What a series.
- [13:40]
Jason Stark
Yeah, you just said it. That was one play from a game that lasted 4 hours and 7 minutes with 99 hitters coming to the plate. So think of how slim the difference was between winning and losing that game, which means also between winning and losing that World Series. Like, what did you text me afterwards? How many columns could you write about this game? I don't know how many thousands of words I wrote. I could have written 20,000. People are saying, well, how could you leave this out? How could you not talk about that? I wrote 5,000 words all night long, that's how. Anyway, so much we could look back on and dig into. Why don't we just do that next with our buddy Ken Rosenthal. Doug, there are so many people out there who want to visit Starkville. They never actually booked that trip. But then there is Ken Rosenthal, our friend, our co worker here at the Athletic, our favorite Fox Sports sideline reporter. I'm going to say Ken has traveled to Starkville more than any living human, and we appreciate that he's back again. So, Ken, thank you. Can you explain to people what keeps drawing you back to our beautiful town?
- [15:07]
Ken Rosenthal
Well, the tree line streets, certainly. Restaurants were incredible, but really, it's the people. Always the people. Jason Stark and Doug Glanville, two of my favorite people. So of course I would go to Starkville and Co as often as I can. Even with the five star Michelin restaurants and the beautiful 10 million dollar homes, it's an amazing place to be.
- [15:28]
Jason Stark
Yeah. The people, you just named them all. Ken, have you ever been to Bali? No. Have you ever been to Turks and Caicos?
- [15:40]
Ken Rosenthal
No.
- [15:42]
Jason Stark
So Starkville, like we're your vacation paradise minus the actual vacation part, am I right?
- [15:48]
Ken Rosenthal
That would be it, yeah. That would be pretty much it, yes. I don't know that my wife considers Starkville to be her destination of choice, but she has no choice.
- [15:58]
Doug Glanville
Yeah, we have a digital spa. So, I mean, that's always the actual.
- [16:04]
Jason Stark
Supply chain issue, Doug.
- [16:06]
Doug Glanville
Yeah, we have. We have like no hot stones or anything. They don't have any oils or nothing. Yeah, you log kind of a Yule log. Kind of.
- [16:13]
Jason Stark
You like we need a Yule log. Yeah. I'm sure there's supply chain issues with the ulogs, but get on that, Doug. All right, let's go, boys. We're gonna look ahead to the off season in this show. But first, so much to talk about as we look back on that World Series. So why don't we start with this. What are you going to remember about game 7? It's an 11 inning all time classic. Ken, you're watching from the dugout. What are you going to remember?
- [16:44]
Ken Rosenthal
It won't be one thing, certainly the Rojas, homer, Yamamoto, what he did. So many different things happened in that game and we can recount them forever. And you and Tyler and so many others have done such a great job. Jason, not just blowing smoke here of putting that game in historical perspective because it was such an unusual game any time that it would have been played, but especially for a game seven of the World Series. So Rojas, to me, I guess, would be the most memorable. But even Max Scherzer doing what he did, there were so many things and that's what's unique about this World Series. And I know we were all thinking about was it the best ever? And it's hard to judge that in the moment, but the performances that we saw.
- [17:28]
Jason Stark
Yes.
- [17:29]
Ken Rosenthal
Savage, Guerrero, Yamamoto, Ohtani in the extra inning game, all of these different things that happen. That to me is what made this so special. And it was that way right to the end.
- [17:41]
Jason Stark
Yeah. So great. Doug, what are you, what are you going to remember about this World Series?
- [17:45]
Doug Glanville
I go back to the idea of a crescendo. It felt like musical or operatic or something, you know, like just the fact that it just kept giving and it kept giving and then when you just Thought like, I've never seen that before. That can't happen. You know, it just happened. You know, it just. And then it wrote stories that you haven't even thought of, right? It's like, as writers, we're all writers here. And you kind of, you know, when you read a story and you're like, wow, that was a great turn of phrase. Or that was, you know, I never thought of that, but that was really cool. I wish I thought, whatever it is, that's what it was like. All the time through the series, I'm sitting in the studio watching this and I'm breaking it down. Sports center after and 18 innings and the 18 inning game, I'm there going, should I go to studio now or should I wait? Because when this game going to end? And I kept sitting there and sitting there and then knowing I'm going to have to sprint across the campus and all the things that happen in between. But I love the Miguel Rojas story, particularly because here's a guy that didn't play. You know, think about what he gave up all season to a certain extent, right? He was like, he selflessly taught Mookie Betts how to become a Gold Glove candidate against impossible odds. You know, he just kept the team first, he played second, he played third, wherever he had to play. And he still, like, was able to really contribute with his bat. Like, he had a lot of key hits during the regular season, but the selflessness of that and then to do it in the World Series and then show like, oh, by the way, defense is really important. You know, it's not like, you know, you can throw it away because guys had 55 home runs, but then you're just like, you got to catch the ball and you could be clutch with the glove. I mean, it was just like, that was really cool to see. You know, I always talk about how I don't like the term unlikely hero because I think it's kind of a backhanded compliment because, well, everybody could be a hero. And that that series underscored that more than anybody. Savage was in A ball and, you know, he was an A ball, right? I mean, you know, Max Sturz is like 41 and the hall of Fame and like, anybody could be a hero anytime in any moment. And it doesn't have to be with the bat. I love that about this series and it was a gift that kept on giving and it still is.
- [19:56]
Jason Stark
Yeah, you guys described it very well. Here's what I'm going to remember. This is a reminder for me for all of us. Why baseball is the greatest sport. Game 7 in our sport is unlike any game 7 in any other sport. Because the stuff that happens is so far outside the box, like you couldn't even think of it, you know, let alone draw it up. The entire Dodgers starting rotation pitched in that game. Everybody started for the Dodgers except Sandy Koufax. I said to Mark Pryor, mark, do you believe your entire rotation pitch in this game? He said, yeah, because in game seven, crazy stuff happens. And that's exactly right. You know, there's just nothing like this in the other sports. Tell me there's a basketball equivalent. Miguel Rojas hitting the home run in the ninth inning to tie that game. This guy who didn't hasn't started for three weeks, is going to start game seven of the NBA Finals. No, that's not going to happen. No, not happening.
- [21:04]
Ken Rosenthal
Jason. One more. And I didn't mention it. We haven't mentioned it. Andy Pahes 4:50, makes this amazing catch, docks over Kik Hernandez, saves.
- [21:15]
Doug Glanville
Oh, I love that.
- [21:16]
Ken Rosenthal
It was an amazing play. Dave Roberts had a great game seven. I mean, that was kind of an obvious move to put Pais in for defense, but.
- [21:23]
Jason Stark
Yeah, but he did it. The inning has started. We're watching baseball. All of a sudden, here comes Andy. Pa has run it out in the middle of the inning. Ten seconds later, he makes the catch. Hatson saves the world Series. All right.
- [21:34]
Doug Glanville
And as a center fielder, I really loved it because it's like what you want to do to every left fielder and right fielder in your life. And you could just hear it like, kiki Hernandez. I got it. I got it. And you're like, no, you don't.
- [21:49]
Jason Stark
I was sitting right there, man, in left field. I thought Kike might not be alive to ever recontinue the world Series. It was wild. He looked like he would just been steamrolled.
- [22:03]
Ken Rosenthal
Dude, did you order the new iPhone 17 Pro?
- [22:05]
Jason Stark
Got it from Verizon, the best 5G network in America. I never look so good.
- [22:10]
Ken Rosenthal
You look the same.
- [22:10]
Jason Stark
But with this camera, everything looks better.
- [22:12]
Doug Glanville
Especially me.
- [22:13]
Ken Rosenthal
You haven't changed your hair in 15 years.
- [22:16]
Jeff Bridges
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- [22:32]
Sponsor/Advertiser
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- [23:20]
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- [23:53]
Jason Stark
You guys have both touched on this, so let's go there. This honestly might have been the greatest World Series ever. I don't know if you've given this any thought where you'd put it, but let's let's kick it around a little bit. Ken, what do you think? I mean, you've been to a lot of World Series. Where's this one fit for you?
- [24:12]
Ken Rosenthal
I did this on my own podcast yesterday. I ranked my top five since I've been covering 1987 forward. I had this number three. Now part of the reason I had it number three was maybe to guard against recency bias. But my two ahead of it were 1991, five one run games and Jack Morris versus John Smoltz in game seven ten innings. Morris goes ten scoreless. That was pretty good. 2001 was my number two and in part because of course it was the end of the Yankee dynasty as Buster only wrote a book about and also because it was post 911 and it was such an emotional time for the city of New York. The country and the Yankees get down to nothing. They win the three games in New York all by one run, two in extra innings. They go back to Arizona. Arizona crushes them in game six and then game seven. Randy Johnson coming out of the bullpen pre Yamamoto and Kurt Schilling of course, and then the Luis Gonzalez hit. So I had those two above this one. But I don't know if that's right. And I don't know that this one wasn't the best. Didn't have as many one run games. And some of the games weren't all that close, at least late. They were pretty close early, most of them. So I was guarding against that maybe a little bit too much, but it was certainly in that conversation and it depends on how you look at these things. Now, I will say this before I let someone else speak. What you wrote, Jason, what Tyler wrote about Game 7, what Mike Petriello of MLB.com wrote about Game 7, how it was the greatest Game 7 ever that I buy. You guys convinced me that was a pretty clear and convincing argument. I just don't know if the seven games were as compelling as maybe the seven in 1991.
- [25:58]
Jason Stark
Something great happened in every game. Great. Yes. So I, I think the three you named all on my list, I think 2016, because the two history, right. The two droughts were riding on it, Cubs and the Indians and all the angst that hung over that every game, you know, 2011 for me, just because of the last two games.
- [26:22]
Ken Rosenthal
I had that on my list too.
- [26:24]
Jason Stark
Right. That gets elevated too. Like, Doug, what do you think?
- [26:28]
Doug Glanville
I don't know about rank as much as, like, I just think of what might have been different about it, right. Whether, I mean, yes, Canada was in the World Series before, but there's something about, like Toronto just became Canada's team. You know, the Expos are gone. There was something different about that. There's something different about the international players, star players from Japan who just dominated, you know, just created a whole new storyline about the capability of baseball, you know, going all over the world in many respects, you know, it, you know, that was. I felt like the storylines were so compelling and different. Like Otani by himself. Like, who does that? Right? Nobody. Right? That's the point. Nobody gets on base nine times in a game, right? Come on. Nobody pitches game seven and then hits and, and does what he does. And to clinch in the. Just to get to the World Series. Like, what is that? Like all these things are just. You can make them up in a, in a Hollywood script and be believed if it was based on a true story. There was a lot of that, you know. Yes. Savage being from a ball. Like, what are you talking about? You mentioned like the guy sitting for three weeks and then shooting the game, winning three. What about the kid in a ball that just got out of college and he's just like, what are you even doing here? It's like. So I felt like there was storyline after storyline after storyline that just made me go, what in the world is going on? And in a way, that just made it so compelling. I just thought I was watching a great movie and it wasn't scripted. So that's what put it in its own category for me. I don't know where it ranked, per se, but I just, you know, I was a Phillies fan, so 1980, of course, was big for me, and that's when my fandom cemented. So I have all kind of bias for that one. But this one was really special and in some ways, unexpected. Right. You thought the Mariners might match up better in some ways because they had the pitching and the home run hitters, but this was such an incredible World Series.
- [28:28]
Jason Stark
You know what, Doug? You might have just talked me into it. I was thinking 1991 was probably the answer. Ken, you didn't even mention the Kirby Puckett game. That was pretty good, too, Doug, the way you just described that the stories that flowed out of every game, sometimes every inning of this World Series might have topped any of those. Any of those. So you might be right. There's no wrong answers. All these are right answers. But when we really think back on this, when we have more than 48 hours in between game seven, and when we're talking, we might just do what Doug Landville just suggested and say this was the greatest World Series ever.
- [29:14]
Ken Rosenthal
Jason, to piggyback on Doug, what he described, all those individual performances, all the crazy things we saw, that might be, in my opinion, too, why this is number one. It's hard to rate two days afterward, but that is the one thing exactly how Doug described it. You savage all these different things that were going on, and they were so compelling, each individual storyline. I don't remember 91 being like that. I remember the games being amazing, and the games were amazing. I could not wait to get to the ballpark every day for that World Series. But what we had here with the different people emerging, we didn't even mention Will Klein. Will Klein is one of the greatest stories of any World Series. And it was like Doug said, every single night. So I'm kind of with Doug here. I don't know that it's the greatest or the third greatest, but that element of it made it great.
- [30:11]
Jason Stark
Yeah, okay. You guys had me. You guys have me there. You know, I started thinking, doing a World Series, you guys know I write a lot, write all night and. But there's Always that game where you can kind of not write all night, not just here. Okay. So I love to pull back the curtain on this show, tell people what these games are like for us. And Ken, I don't know if people care at all about how many hours we work, about how little we sleep, but we're going to tell them anyway. Okay. So you literally work all, all day and all night for Fox on the air doing live tv, and then the game ends, and then you zip into your other job, you go to the clubhouse and you write a column. And you do that every night after every game. So I'm going to ask you a crazy question. What's a typical day like for you during the World Series?
- [31:07]
Doug Glanville
Okay.
- [31:08]
Ken Rosenthal
Really, the whole post season is the same in the way it flows for me, starting with the division series. That's when FOX comes in. We don't do the wildcard round. So what I do is I wake up, obviously, and get ready for the game, for the broadcast part of it. And I prepare a series of notes for the broadcast. Most of them don't get in, but some Joe Davis will use on his own. And Tom Verducci does the exact same thing as me, including the writing, by the way. And Tom's notes I think might even be more extensive than mine. So that's early part of the day. Then we get to the ballpark. We have managers meetings, we have clubhouse time. And Doug knows this. He's been part of it. The national broadcasters get private time with the managers and the players. Sometimes the players are there, sometimes they're not. But regardless. And then I prepare for my pregame show appearances. Usually there's at least one. And then the open that we do, Tom and I both right before the game starts. And you'll see me walking around the field talking to myself. Basically, I'm rehearsing and memorizing what I have to say because that hit is timed and you gotta nail it. It's. I've often said this. It's the hardest thing I do in any job that I have. It's just a lot of pressure. The crowd is going at that point. The game's about to start and you don't want to mess it up. Game goes on. I'm on the broadcast, do the post game interviews, and then, yes, I go to the clubhouses and write night. Unlike Jason Yu and some others, I don't write right away. I'll go back to my hotel. And it kind of serves me well, and Tom, too, because you kind of have to decompress from the broadcast a little bit and then kind of go into writing mode and yeah, I'll write as late as it takes. Not as late as Jason Stark maybe, but pretty late usually, and wake up and do it again. Now, what was interesting about this World Series, like 2018, the three games in a row is the toughest, right? Because it's three games in a row without a break. Well, the first of the three this year, as in 2018, went 18 innings. And that pretty much wrecked everything.
- [33:16]
Doug Glanville
In.
- [33:16]
Ken Rosenthal
A good way, but it wrecked everything.
- [33:18]
Jason Stark
I feel your pain. I don't read all the reader comments on my columns because, I mean, it's just a good hours in the day, so. But there was a reader commenting on one of them this past week. It said something like, jason, do you ever sleep? Good question. Can you know this? What's my name? What's my term for October?
- [33:40]
Ken Rosenthal
This is one of my favorite Jason Stark lines of the million Jason Stark lines I love. But he always says to me, in late September, are you ready for National Sleep Deprivation Month? And that is what October is. And we come home. And usually. And this year is no different, I'm kind of wrecked physically. But as Jason and I were discussing yesterday, just texting each other, it's worth it. It's worth every second of it. It's worth every hour of sleep you lose. And for people watching or listening out there, of course they would like to be in our position doing what we do. We all know that. We're quite cognizant of it and grateful that we have these opportunities because it's so rare and so special.
- [34:22]
Jason Stark
Yeah, I agree. I feel so lucky to have been there, to have seen that stuff. My favorite part of my job is we get to see things that people talk about for the rest of their lives and we get to tell those stories. How lucky are we? But just to give people a Taste, after the 18 inning game, I finished writing at 5:45am Pacific. So that's nine Eastern time. Okay.
- [34:51]
Doug Glanville
I was gonna say it had to be Pacific or something.
- [34:54]
Ken Rosenthal
And they had to be at the ballpark in what, six hours after that?
- [34:56]
Jason Stark
I don't want to know, actually.
- [34:59]
Ken Rosenthal
Not even that.
- [35:00]
Jason Stark
All right. And then after that, game seven, I didn't even get back upstairs of the press box until 2 in the morning. Finished writing that column at something like 7:15 in the morning standard time. You know, that's two games where I literally wrote all night. Doug, this is where I like to ask you, what is wrong with me?
- [35:26]
Doug Glanville
It's. It's a commitment and the love for this great game.
- [35:30]
Jason Stark
It is.
- [35:31]
Doug Glanville
Sleep does not matter.
- [35:33]
Jason Stark
It matters a little bit. It's better in this week, but it's just part of the deal of National Sleep Deprivation Month. I do definitely want to talk about the off season because it's here and this is where Ken Rosenthal is the number one must read baseball writer on Earth for the next three months. So Ken, let's start here. What do you think is going to be the most interesting story that you're looking forward to or thinking you've got to spend your most time honing in on this offseason?
- [36:07]
Ken Rosenthal
Whether the Tigers trade school, they have not ruled it out. Scott Harris, their president baseball operations, held a media gathering at the end of the season with their local writers and didn't answer the question. If you don't want to trade Tara Scubal, you simply say, we're not trading them, we're keeping them and we're going to compete. Teams never want to do that because they don't want to lose leverage or whatever. But that to me is the most compelling, interesting thing. Obviously we have some great free agents, Tucker and Bregman and Alonzo, and they'll be all interesting. But the school question is perhaps the most fascinating. And our friend Joel Sherman Jason, has written that they should not trade school. That you don't get as much as you would like for a pitcher with only one more year of control who is undoubtedly headed for free agency. And why not just build around him, compete and try to win with him? You've almost won with him these past two years. I see that. I just don't know if that's the way the Tigers will go or if it's the way they should go. Tarik Scubal is to me even more valuable than Corbin Burns was when the Orioles got him from the Brewers. And that trade wasn't necessarily great for the brewers, but it got them Joey Ortiz got them DL hall got them a draft pick as well, the number 37 pick overall. It's a pretty good deal for one year of Corbin Burns. I see both sides of it and that's the most interesting one to me.
- [37:26]
Jason Stark
Do we want to speculate on who might be the big bidders for a guy like that?
- [37:31]
Ken Rosenthal
The Mets, the Phillies, maybe the Yankees, maybe the Dodgers? All the usual suspects.
- [37:37]
Jason Stark
It's for one year and really for.
- [37:41]
Ken Rosenthal
One year a team would not be as willing to give up, you know, that much. So other teams could get the mix as well. But the Mets would be number one for me they definitely need them as badly as anybody.
- [37:55]
Jason Stark
Okay, Sandy Alcantra. Ken, is this the winner that Sandy Alcantra gets traded?
- [38:00]
Doug Glanville
Oh, yeah, good one.
- [38:01]
Ken Rosenthal
I would think so, but I thought he'd be traded the deadline.
- [38:04]
Jason Stark
Honestly.
- [38:05]
Ken Rosenthal
So the Marlins obviously operate in their own way and do things maybe a little bit differently, but maybe the problem with Alcantara again is his value is not what you would want it to be. So it was the same issue at the deadline. He was not pitching all that well, so they couldn't trade him. Now he had some moments in the second half, but he's still not where you would want it. So one of Joel Sherman's points in when he wrote about Scubal was, hey, if you fall out of it, if you're the Tigers and somehow you don't compete for whatever reason, the value of school would be the same at the deadline as it would be this offseason. There's some merit to that argument. We wouldn't get much less at the deadline. So if you're the Marlins, maybe you just take it into the season, hope Sandy gets hot and then his value goes up and you've got the best the bell of the ball at the deadline. It could happen.
- [39:00]
Jason Stark
Could happen. Doug, any trade guys that are on your mind?
- [39:04]
Doug Glanville
Well, I'm definitely interested in these like opt out characters, like a Bregman. Like what, what happens? You know, it's like the. They got these strange one year deals and they, you know, go to the next bidder, I guess that's interesting. And then something just the Dodgers, like what do you do? You might repeat again, right. You know, three Pete, what does that look like? Like who do they want? Who do they get rid of? Do they get like Kyle Tucker or somebody? Like what? I'm very curious because when you've won two years in a row and you just want to rinse and repeat, how do you get better? Most of their issues was just because people were hurt, you know. So I'm curious, what does the repeat champion do in the off season to get better? I'm very curious.
- [39:51]
Ken Rosenthal
Tucker's certainly a possibility. And one of the things about the Dodgers, yes, they won the World Series, but their position player group is aging. It's an older group of players now. And you would see and have seen a little bit of decline already from some of these players. Even Freddy is not what he was three, four years ago. And Mookie of course had the bad year. Muncie's getting older, all these things. Tucker's going to be 29 so he fits from the age perspective. He becomes the next wave of greatness. I'm just not sure Kyle Tucker is going to command on the market. Maybe what we thought he would a year ago, and maybe that's good for the Dodgers. They slip in and get him. But maybe they say, you know what? I don't know that he's worth it. I don't know.
- [40:37]
Jason Stark
Let me ask you about another guy that we just watched in the World Series, Bo Bichette. I am fascinated this winter by what happens to Boba Shetty. Look into your crystal ball again.
- [40:48]
Ken Rosenthal
Well, he's not going to be a shortstop. That would be the first thing I would say about Bo. And listen, we all know what he can do offensively, and we saw it. What he did, just playing in the World Series was impressive. And then performing at the level he did, hitting the way he did, amazing. This is a guy who had the highest batting average with runners in scoring position during the regular season. He is a really, really outstanding offensive player. I expect that he's going to do well because teams will say, okay, but we'll take you at second or we'll take you at third. It's just that if he's hung up on shortstop, he's going to have a problem. His metrics are terrible. They've been terrible. But you saw game seven. You saw what he did in game seven on a bad knee. That guy can help you. And he is someone who to me is going to be quite coveted. Just not necessarily.
- [41:37]
Jason Stark
It's short and not necessarily in Toronto. I don't see it.
- [41:41]
Ken Rosenthal
Honestly, I don't see it. And things change because of the postseason and certainly they did well financially, but that's never been a problem for Rogers, period. But does he want to play second base for Toronto and lose his position effectively to Andres Jimenez? Or would he prefer, if he's going to change positions, to do it somewhere else? And sometimes it's funny with players. Doug, you know this and I want to hear your thoughts on it. I'm not doing this for the team I've played for for all these years. If I'm going to do it, it's going to have to be for somebody else. That's kind of the mentality you see sometimes. And I would expect if I'm Beau, as much as he might want to stay there, that would be difficult for him.
- [42:24]
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- [43:25]
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- [44:04]
Jason Stark
Time.
- [44:04]
Ken Rosenthal
It's always vanishing.
- [44:06]
Jeff Bridges
The commute, the errands, the work functions, the meetings, selling your car. Unless you sell your car with Carvana, get a real offer in minutes, get it picked up from your door, get paid on the spot so fast you'll wonder what the catch is. There isn't one. We just respect you and your time. Oh, you're still here. Move along now. Enjoy your day. Sell your car today.
- [44:29]
Ken Rosenthal
Carvana.
- [44:30]
Jeff Bridges
Pickup fees may apply.
- [44:36]
Doug Glanville
I wonder. Like, you know, this is where that friendship, kinship, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. You know, that's what he's there for, right? To be the anchor of this organization. And maybe you convince a few people to stay and do something different. I mean, Jimenez is a phenomenal defender. It's just really incredible. Wherever, kind of wherever you put him. But I do wonder about what they're going to do. And so maybe he gets convinced, you know, I. I don't know. I mean, his dad, you know, killed us all those years in Colorado and just kind of just kept hitting and he was like I'm in Colorado. But, yeah, Bashetta's incredible player.
- [45:12]
Jason Stark
And.
- [45:12]
Doug Glanville
But, yeah, third base. I mean, there's a lot of people looking for third base, second base, power. Hey, yeah, a lot of options.
- [45:19]
Jason Stark
Yeah, the market could line up for him if he's willing to do that. And Doug, drop Alex Bregman's name. There's another guy. Ken, I'm just so intrigued. What do you think is going to happen to Alex Brakeman this winter?
- [45:34]
Ken Rosenthal
I think he's going to do well. That's number one. Well, that's the question.
- [45:42]
Jason Stark
Good fit.
- [45:44]
Ken Rosenthal
Boston obviously saw the value in Bregman, not just, of course, in his performance on the field, but what he does on off the field. He is that rare player, and I don't know if there are three players like him in the game who not only is an extremely talented and effective player, but a guy who makes his teammates literally better. He recommends things to his teammates. He fixes pitchers. He does all kinds of things in an intangible way to help you. So there's incredible value in that. The Red Sox saw it for themselves. They know that he is someone that they would need and want for many years to come. The problem is this. He's represented by Scott Boris, and Scott Boris knows what he has, too, in Bregman, and he's going to want to set the bar with Bregman to a certain degree. And if Boston offered, for instance, just let's say this. Let's say they offered tomorrow, six years, 210 million. I'm just throwing a number out there. I have no information on this. I'm just throwing a number out there. If I'm Boris, I'm like, okay, there's the. There's the floor.
- [46:48]
Doug Glanville
Let's go. Right?
- [46:50]
Jeff Bridges
And that's.
- [46:51]
Ken Rosenthal
And that's his job. So Boston's in a really tricky spot. And can they say to Scott and Alex Bregman, hey, you just come to us at the end, we'll top whatever.
- [47:02]
Narrator/Advertiser
Maybe.
- [47:02]
Ken Rosenthal
Maybe that's what happens. But Scott Boris is a tricky negotiator in circumstances like this, when he has the leverage. He's really good, man, and he's got the leverage here.
- [47:12]
Doug Glanville
It doesn't matter that, you know, he's had these quad issues, and it's not like he's getting younger.
- [47:17]
Ken Rosenthal
You know, I do think it matters, and that's part of it. And it's part of it, really, for any player in that age category. But this guy is special with what he brings, and I saw it in Houston. We all saw it in Houston and we saw it in Boston this year. It's kind of amazing, actually.
- [47:34]
Jason Stark
Yeah. Well, speaking of Scott Boris clients, one more Pete Alonzo.
- [47:39]
Doug Glanville
Oh, yeah?
- [47:40]
Jason Stark
What do we see for Pete? Is he gonna spend his whole career playing for those Mets or not?
- [47:47]
Ken Rosenthal
Well, it's interesting, Jason. Just before I started this podcast, I got a call from Scott Boris, and I thought it was going to be about something I said on my podcast yesterday, which often happens. He isn't necessarily watching, but he'll get told something.
- [48:01]
Jason Stark
Yeah.
- [48:01]
Ken Rosenthal
So I said on my podcast yesterday that I have never been under the impression that David Stearns wants Pete Alonso long term. It's not a radical thing to say, but it is my opinion. Now, that wasn't what Scott was calling about. Good for me. But in general, this is going to be the same issue with the Mets that it was last year that I don't know that Stern sees this as a good play. The difference is no qualifying offer this time for Pete Alonso. That takes a certain restriction off him. It makes him more attractive, and he's coming off a better year. He is what he is. He is defensively challenged. He's really good at scooping, throws in first base, at first base, but the other parts of the position elude him. And if he stays with the Mets, he's not going to be playing as much first base. And maybe no matter where he goes, he won't be playing as much first base. But with power in such demand, I would expect without the qualifying offer especially, and coming off a better year, he's going to do well.
- [48:59]
Jason Stark
Doug, if you were running the Mets, would you re. Sign Pete Alonso?
- [49:02]
Doug Glanville
I would try. I would absolutely try. I mean, trying with Scott Boris is tough because it's gonna. It's not gonna be cheap, but there is a connection. And yeah, Juan Soto, I guess, is the future. And because he's committed that long. But Alonzo's kind of original, you know, he's original. And if that means anything, you know, which I think it still does, especially the postseason, 20, 24. But they fell short, you know, and they put a lot of money to do that, and they're definitely reevaluating. But I guess the question who, who would replace him? Right. If they don't sign Alonzo, who are they getting? Because, you know, I don't. I don't know if Ken has an answer to that. Kyle Tucker played first, maybe, you know, I mean, what do they do? Swerver. Yeah. So right handed, bat powered.
- [49:47]
Ken Rosenthal
Well, yeah, and certainly he's right handed. Cause left handed you would want, I would think, the right handed replacement. There is no obvious replacement and maybe there is no replacing Peter Alonso. Maybe that's why you keep him. And maybe you try to do a three year deal with a huge number to do that. But again, I just don't know their desire. And if you're the Mets after the year you had, you probably do want to mix it up a little bit, do some things a little bit differently. And that's one place you could start.
- [50:15]
Jason Stark
One more because a lot of Philadelphians listen to us. What do you think the Phillies wind up doing, Ken? It's very difficult to believe they're just going to bring back the same group again. No way.
- [50:27]
Ken Rosenthal
They're going to want to sign Schwaber and they should want to sign Schwaber and I believe that gets done.
- [50:32]
Jason Stark
Yeah.
- [50:33]
Ken Rosenthal
Now the real question is what else do they do? They've got a great team, but that team has not performed in the postseason the way you would want, it would seem to me, Jason, and you follow them more closely than I do. They need one more bat, a younger bat, maybe Kyle Tucker to kind of give that offense a jolt. And you can't have any complaints with where the rotation is. My goodness. And you'll have Wheeler coming back, you'll have Painter eventually hopefully joining the mix. But my goodness, man. There's just something offensively that hasn't clicked entirely. And that is where maybe you make the move. Maybe it's Bregman. Put him in third base. Trade Alec Bohm with something they discussed last year. Trading Alec Bohm? I don't know exactly. I'm curious what you think.
- [51:24]
Jason Stark
Yeah, I think they're going to trade Alec Bohm. I. I guess my question is where is the money going to come from to sign another big free agent? I know that John Middleton keeps talking about how it's only money, but at a certain point it's too much money. He's not going to have a 400 million dollar payroll. That's not going to happen. So if they're going to do whatever it takes to sign Schwaber, which I believe they will, then it's a choice between re signing JT Realmutu, which seems like a big priority, or given that money and then some to some other big time free agent bat. And I just don't know. I think Alex Bregman's an excellent fit. But then that's another aging guy in an aging core. They're in a tough spot trying to do the things that I think Dave dreams of doing.
- [52:18]
Ken Rosenthal
I don't know how many contracts that they have are really guys you'd want to trade. They're not trading Bryce. We know that. No, not trading Trey Turner.
- [52:26]
Jason Stark
No.
- [52:26]
Ken Rosenthal
And I'm with Jason. John Middleton is enthusiastic and owner as he is and as willing to spend as he is, there has to be a limit, and they've got to be getting somewhat close to that limit.
- [52:37]
Doug Glanville
Do you think there's any fallout of, like, you know, the conversation, the sort of discussion around Harper with Dave Dombroski about, like, you know, kind of like, you know, poking the bear a little bit? Like, hey, you know, we step it up. Like, you know, you're good, but you're not great kind of thing. Is there any fall out of that? It seemed like Harper was pretty hurt by that.
- [52:56]
Jason Stark
Okay, here's my impression, Doug. Yeah, I think there will be fallout, and I think Dave doesn't mind that fallout. I'm sure Dave didn't know that it was going to create this kind of firestorm. But as a longtime Dave Dumbaski observer, and I think he's great at his job, it feels to me like nothing comes out of his mouth that he hasn't thought about that he had that. He doesn't want to come out of his mouth. And I think he definitely wanted to send some sort of message to Bryce, and I don't think he fully explained what that message actually was. But he got Bryce's attention. He didn't. He. He got it. So what comes of that will be a. An incredibly compelling tale. But I think Dave said it for a purpose, and he's prepared to absorb what comes with it. Ken, am I right?
- [53:56]
Ken Rosenthal
I believe you are right. And what was interesting about that to me was Dave Dombrowski never mentioned the possibility of a trade. He basically only said Bryce can be better. Not a controversial comment. I don't even know that Bryce would disagree with that comment. When people took that and started writing about will the Phillies trade Bryce Harper, they were talking about it on MLB Network, too. I heard all this, saw all this. That is when Bryce, in my opinion, I haven't talked to him about this, but certainly his conversation with Matt Gilb gave an indication of it. That is what ticked him off. And that's when, obviously, Dave Dombrowski had to come out and say, we're not trading him. That's not what this was about. But I wondered at the time if this was simply Dave saying to Bryce and Scott, Boris, stop asking me for an extension. Shut up and play now. That Extension has not been a big deal. Bryce has not made it a big deal. But he has talked about being a Philly for life and, you know, maybe getting extended and whatever.
- [54:59]
Jason Stark
I don't know.
- [54:59]
Ken Rosenthal
I don't know what the motivation was. I don't know that even Dave Dombrowski thought he was saying anything particularly controversial. He wasn't, actually. But it took on a life of its own. And that is when, in my opinion, anyway, Bryce got a little ticked off. Yeah.
- [55:16]
Jason Stark
Good read. Look, Ken, I know it's time to go. I want to ask you one more thing. What's that one thing that you want to do in this off season that for some reason, you haven't had time to do lately, Maybe because you were working 23 and a half hours a day. You want to know my first item on my list? Go see the Springsteen movie.
- [55:36]
Ken Rosenthal
There it is.
- [55:37]
Jason Stark
There it is.
- [55:38]
Ken Rosenthal
And, Jason, I know there are younger writers, some of whom we work with, who look at us and say, these guys with their springs, they can talk all they want. Talk and talk and talk. We are fans of this guy. We will remain fans of this guy. And that is the first thing I am going to do when I am ready, finally, to go outside again.
- [56:00]
Jason Stark
Yeah. Second thing might be laundry. I don't. Yeah, something like that. Anyway, we. We gotta run. But, Ken, always fun to have you come visit us in Starkville. Doug, you'll give him the lovely parting gift, right? What's that gonna be again?
- [56:16]
Doug Glanville
Well, we're gonna give him a mini statue this time because he has so many large statues. Yeah, this one that he can carry in his car. And he can.
- [56:23]
Ken Rosenthal
Guys, I gotta thank you for the first class airfare. The Starkville Ritz Carlton was amazing. You guys treat me like a king.
- [56:31]
Doug Glanville
Yeah, that's how we do it.
- [56:33]
Jason Stark
Yeah. Nobody gets treated better than you, Ken. Of everybody who comes to Starkville, nobody gets treated better than you. I can definitely vouch for that. And enjoy your piece of pie at the Starkville Diner.
- [56:48]
Ken Rosenthal
Thanks so much.
- [56:50]
Jason Stark
Hey, great having you, my friend. Thank you so much.
- [56:52]
Doug Glanville
Thanks, guys. Good seeing.
- [56:53]
Ken Rosenthal
Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.
- [56:59]
Jason Stark
Strange but true. Doug, was it me, or was this World Series like a treasure trove of strange but trueness? Like every day, the strange but true gifts were piled under the Christmas tree. Was that my imagination?
- [57:17]
Doug Glanville
Nope. It's like one big turkey for Thanksgiving.
- [57:21]
Jason Stark
Just kept giving a lot of stuffing, too. So we were trying to figure out which of these things that happened in this World Series was a definitive strange but true moment that we wanted to talk about. That was hard. It was too hard. So I just wanted to throw in a couple that we almost picked first. This is one Doug you've mentioned a couple times already. How about Trae, you, Savage, he just got to the big leagues 15 minutes ago. And then he went out to pitch in game five of the World Series. And he did this one.
- [57:58]
Play-by-Play Announcer
Two to Freeman. There's a dozen for Trayus Savage. About a month and a half ago, nobody outside of the most die hard Blue Jays fans or Prospect fans would have known the name Trey.
- [58:09]
Jason Stark
As Savage, he struck out 12 in a World Series game. 12 strikeouts, no walks. Never been done. So why would we be making such a big deal about that, Doug? Here's a reason. It's not like he'd never struck out 12 in a game before. Doug, I'm positive that you remember his other 12 strikeout game, right? Don't you remember it?
- [58:33]
Doug Glanville
Well, he pitched an eight games, so I think the Yankees. He mowed down a lot of Yankees. I remember.
- [58:39]
Jason Stark
No, only 11 that day.
- [58:41]
Doug Glanville
Oh, only 11.
- [58:42]
Jason Stark
He also had a 12 strikeout day on May 13th. Of course you remember this. It was against the Bradenton Marauders.
- [58:50]
Doug Glanville
Oh, the Marauders. Oh, man, that lineup is stacked, man.
- [58:54]
Jason Stark
Right in the Florida State League. So attendance that day was 494. And then attendance at his other 12 strikeout game, which just happened to be in the World series was 52,175. So pretty much the same thing, Doug, wouldn't you say?
- [59:14]
Doug Glanville
Yeah, it's about the same. I mean, they. I guess the Marauder fan base was, you know, could fit in like the concession stand, one of the stands at least. That would have been cool.
- [59:23]
Jason Stark
Yeah. Yeah, I guess so. Okay, so that's one that we almost picked. Then there was another one. And I feel like I'm the only knucklehead who thought this was strange. But I want to go Back to game four. It's Vlad Guerrero Jr. Facing a guy named Shohei Ohtani was on the mount.
- [59:43]
Play-by-Play Announcer
There's a fly ball to deep left center field, headed back there it is gone. Vlad Jr. Gives the Jays the lead. The franchise face putting the team on his back.
- [59:57]
Jason Stark
All right, Doug, I'm going to have you guess. What do you think was so strange but true about Vlad homering off Ohtani?
- [60:04]
Doug Glanville
Well, Ohtani, I could start there. He must have done something different that I've never seen before. It was a sweeper that didn't really sweep. So there might be some broom Quidditch kind of analogy here. No, that's not it.
- [60:17]
Jason Stark
Nope, none of that. Okay, here's my question. Didn't this have to be the most expensive home run ever yet? Vladi's contract is 14 years, 500 million. That's half a billion. Shohei's contract, 10 years, 700 million. Right now, there are probably people out there screaming, what about Ohtani's deferrals?
- [60:41]
Doug Glanville
Deferral? Yes.
- [60:42]
Jason Stark
And my answer would be, why is that our problem here in Starkville? It's the accountant's problem. It's not our problem.
- [60:48]
Doug Glanville
Yeah, we don't believe in deferrals here in Starkville.
- [60:51]
Jason Stark
So when I. Yeah, so when I saw that ball, I thought, that's a $1.2 billion home run. Doesn't that have to be the most expensive home run ever?
- [61:04]
Doug Glanville
Yeah, I would think. It's kind of like the value of Pluto. Pretty close.
- [61:08]
Jason Stark
If you round it up, the value of Pluto is only 1.2 billion. You get a whole planet for 1.2 billion, or you can get one home run.
- [61:18]
Doug Glanville
That's right. Which would you prefer? I mean, it's a lot of methane ice over there, so I don't know what you'd rather have you put it in. You could make a cocktail out of Pluto. You just chip an ice, you'd have cocktails for life. Yeah.
- [61:31]
Jason Stark
Layers. If you're packing for Pluto layers, I recommend them highly. All right. Those are just the runners up, though. Remember that. Are you ready, Doug, for our strange but true grand World Series prize winner?
- [61:43]
Doug Glanville
Yes. What do we got?
- [61:45]
Jason Stark
Let's do it. We're going to go back to game seven, ninth inning, Blue Jays two outs away from winning the World Series. The Blue Jays were two outs away, Doug. Then this guy we've been talking about for much of the show, Miguel Rojas, stepped to the plate. Let's hear what happened.
- [62:05]
Play-by-Play Announcer
Hoffman delivers, Rojas hits it in the air, left field. This ball's got some carry. It is gone. It's gone. And game seven is tied. Miguel Rojas off the bench in game six. On the board in game seven.
- [62:27]
Jason Stark
So, Doug, what did you think when that ball landed on the other side of the fence?
- [62:32]
Doug Glanville
It kind of was like the call, because you're like, no, I mean, Miguel Ross. It's not like he's like zero home runs, but you know, this guy, not known for the power. So it's sort of like you're thinking, well, it's not going to go over the fence, Right. And then it kept going and kept going. And then. So there was that feeling, but then it just washed over me. How amazing what Miguel Rojas, what he's able to accomplish, right? The coming off the bench, not starting for most of the series and this coming in the middle of just great defensive plays. Picking the double play in game six, the play at the plate on an infield in where he's off balance and then the home run or the home run first, I mean just incredible. So, so I think he just didn't really, you know, because you have this cascading list of superstars on the Dodgers, right? Ohtani and Betts and you're just like, those are the guys that are going to hit the game tying home run. And he's like, nope, I have a bat in my hands too. And but so it was very fitting because Roas did so much to help Bets become the shortstop he became and just kind of gave up certain things, his role to just be a supporting cast member and a really important one.
- [63:44]
Jason Stark
Clearly I love Miguel Rojas. He's a winning player, he's a baseball player, he does stuff. But as I wrote, okay, he's not exactly Aaron Judge, you know. So what made it so strange but true? Well, let's run through it. First off, I always like to ask you these questions. How many other game tying home runs do you believe had ever been hit in the ninth inning of a World Series game? What do you think, Doug? How many?
- [64:14]
Doug Glanville
That sounds very 0ish. Tying home run on the road. Yeah, I'll go with that.
- [64:20]
Jason Stark
Zero. You know, I make these so easy for you. Just get zero to every question. You're never wrong. Okay, so zero is right. There'd never been one. And what were the odds that the guy who hit this homer, the very first game tying ninth inning homer in game seven history, was somebody who we're going to run through this. He didn't have a hit, not one hit in a month before Friday. So game six, he had not started a game in over three weeks. He'd hit one home run since July 19th. Also he was batting ninth. Probably a reason for that. And then that guy hit the first game tying home run in the ninth inning of any World Series game ever played that happened. And now I got one other favorite little nugget. So you know, the game ends and everybody in the press box tends to rush downstairs. I like to listen to the post game interviews on Fox just to get a little feel for the emotion of the heroes of games like this. So Miguel Rojas says on the Fox broadcast after the game, he said I hadn't hit a home run off A right handed pitcher all year. And I thought, you know, I'd better check on that. So turned out he was wrong. He did hit one home run off a right handed pitcher. But I can think of a reason he might not remember it. Because he hit it off a guy named Logan Porter of the Giants. And Doug, catcher. Logan Porter is not a pitcher. He is a catcher. His team was losing by 10 runs, so they threw him in there and he pitched. So is this crazy? The only home run he hit all year against a right handed pitcher was against a position player. And then he hit that home run off Jeff Hoffman, who'd given up five hits the whole month. How do we explain how this stuff happens in real life, Doug?
- [66:27]
Doug Glanville
Tom Lawless. See, that made me believe in these things. Yeah, when Tom Lawless went deep for the Cardinals, I was like. And then the way he bat flipped as if he hit 73 home runs that season. I was like, yeah, Tom. So, yeah, I think it's this that, like, it gave me a little bandwidth. But man, I thought it was so fitting too, what Roas was to the team and to just the rarity of what we were seeing seemingly every minute of this World Series of Ohtani getting on nine times or whatever. You know, it's just like, okay, let's just put that in this. In on the bingo card. Why not? Because he said he didn't have it on his bingo card. Well, now we do. Because Starkville, we have everything on the bingo card.
- [67:11]
Jason Stark
Yeah, I'm going to fill people in. So Tom Lawless. Somehow I think this is the 1987 World Series. I want to say Tom Lawless hit as many home runs in that World Series as he had hit all year. 2. And how do we explain that? It's exactly the same way that we explain Miguel Rojas. Repeat after me, Doug. It's big baseball. Yeah, that's right. Okay, that's gonna do it for this week's show. We'll get back to trivia and all the normal Starkville stuff that we do once we recover from this postseason. So send us your trivia questions@starkvilleathletic.com we still would love it if you would call our Starkville hotline with your fun baseball questions. 267-227-9867. Doug has some handy way that you can remember that number. What is it again, Doug?
- [68:19]
Doug Glanville
I don't know. I seem to forget it every week. But it is bop, bap, zoom. So you just hit the phone, type in the letters, very simple, bop, bop, zoom.
- [68:29]
Jason Stark
Right just do it in that order.
- [68:30]
Doug Glanville
Don't go bat bop Zoom no no no.
- [68:34]
Jason Stark
267 yeah, 267 but call us 267-227-9867 but for now Doug, thanks for playing. Thanks to Ken Rosenthal for visiting us in Starkville, thanks to the mayor of Starkville, Ryan Smith, for producing us and putting up with us all season long, all postseason long. And thanks to you all for for listening. Doug and I will see you soon.
- [69:03]
Doug Glanville
Stark Film.
- [69:09]
Ken Rosenthal
Dude, did you order the.
- [69:10]
Jason Stark
New iPhone 17 Pro? Got it from Verizon, the best 5G network in America. I never look so good.
- [69:15]
Ken Rosenthal
You look the same.
- [69:16]
Jason Stark
But with this camera everything looks better.
- [69:18]
Doug Glanville
Especially me.
- [69:19]
Ken Rosenthal
You haven't changed your hair in 15 years. Selfies check please.
- [69:23]
Jeff Bridges
With Verizon, get the new iPhone 17 Pro, designed to be the most powerful iPhone ever, plus a new iPad and Apple One. No trade in needed. Offer ends November 5th with a new line on Unlimited Ultimate Best 5G towards Route Metrics Data United States 2020 25. All rights reserved. Additional terms apply for all offers. See verizon.com for details. Take control of the numbers and supercharge your small business with Xero. That's X E R O. With our easy to use accounting software with automation and reporting features, you'll spend less time on manual tasks and more time understanding how your business is doing. 87% of surveyed US customers agree Xero helps improve financial visibility. Search Xero with an x or visit xero.comacast to start your 30 day free trial. Conditions apply.
- [70:09]
Ken Rosenthal
Group health insurance can challenge company budgets, but now a new form of employer.
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Sponsor/Advertiser
Coverage called an ICHRA can help. Unlike group insurance, ICRAs offer predictable costs and stable employer contributions. Learn more atambetterhealth.com ICRA.