Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Booyah. And it's time for the Game Sports Podcast is your host David McCaig Jr. The game is powered by 91 Network and featured on Spaces. 91N is a YouTube channel where you can check out video editions of the game and Spaces is through Village Media and Sioux Today where you can check out on the hockey or sports space of Spaces for the Game. But you can also get connected to the space that you enjoy Most through Sioux St. Marie in any area where you have space spaces. Now speaking more about the Game Sports Podcast, you can follow us on all social media platforms, Tik Tok, Instagram, Facebook, all at the Game Sports Podcast. You can also follow us on all AI technology if you will that in particular through chat GPT Gemini. You just search us, it will direct you to us. But we're on all audio platforms, notably through Spotify and Podbean, Amazon and Google. You just search the Game Sports Podcast you will find find us again. We're located here in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. We've had over 10 years of this show. We are getting closer now to our 11th birthday here for the Game where it all originated in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and then expanded to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Now the sole location office is in Sioux, Ontario, but we do keep an eye on all things local. But obviously our content is featured for national sports. Just in case you're new to coming on the show. If you are new, thanks for tuning in and also making us a part of your day. And if you're returning viewer listener for the past year, two years, 10 years. Either way, we're very happy that you take the time to join us here on the Game for our episodes. Make sure you hit like follow, subscribe and interact with us. Now for tonight's agenda, I'm going to have a little sidebar after I get through this agenda, but there's going to be a direct table conversation. There's going to be NHL and there's going to be mlb. Those are going to be the topics here today. Direct table will touch on a couple little sports items but we'll transition one of those table items will transition to the hockey topic and then we're going to be concluding with the baseball. Now there is a sidebar point as I mentioned. So okay, I'm going to try to make this as less ranty or or too much shade to throw. Okay. But here in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and throughout the entirety of Ontario, it happens throughout Canada from time to time. Happens everywhere in the world, stress everywhere in the world, it can happen. But here, as of today, when I'm recording July 16, 2026, we are in the middle of some challenges with wildfires. And it's been a big challenge in all of ont Toronto. Some unbelievable pictures that I saw of Toronto, just orange skies. It looked like an apocalypse scene from the Justice League movie. The, the. The Zack Snyder cut. Okay, just if anyone knows my reference. So it's been challenging. There's been people in southern Ontario, northern Ontario here, they've been facing a lot of challenges and different challenges. And it's never really obviously a time where it's something that is resolved quickly, it spreads quickly. We have a lot of wildfires per year and I know this is not anything we related to sports, but I wanted just to say that before we get to the ice, before I get to the diamond, before I get to the other sports topic, I think we need to have a sidebar saying I've been seeing some absolutely ridiculous posts online and a lot of it from our neighbors south of the border. And you know what, there's a lot of listeners and viewers from this, from the Sioux, Michigan side that enjoy the game sports podcast and obviously with how it all partnered in together and still does. But I want to say that I've been seeing a lot of disappointing posts and that's what's hard. I wish that, you know social media, you can see it on Google, you see it on TikTok. It doesn't matter where you look on your phone, you find something that you do not want to see. And there's a lot of shade getting thrown at Canada that we are somehow not holding down the wa. The wildfire. And there's been jokes about tariffs, charging US tariffs for the smoke and you know how it's unhealthy for them to breathe in. Okay, I'm going to just give you a reality check for a second and let's get real. We have massive fires burning right here in Ontario and we have firefighters literally risking and dedicating their lives on the front lines every day and other. Other service workers and so on. And we have real people losing their homes. Okay? And guess what? Canada is not the only place with wildfires. The US Might have to look in their backyard. And I don't want to.
[00:04:28] It's not everybody. It's not. But I want to use this platform despite how many people see it or not, just to say that there's fires burning everywhere and there just needs to be kindness. That's all that there needs to be. If you have nothing nice to say, stay away. But you know what? That's when it comes to the trolls of the Internet and to people that are opinionated and know what to touch on that. Speaking of people who could be harsh on the Internet, don't let it bother you to anyone if they have anything direct. I post something on Sue Marketplace or for Sue Local support to see if anyone wants to come do work at my house and people throw shade at each other. So it is a common thing online. So I'm not saying that this one couple minute rant that I'm doing here is going to change anything, but if anyone hears this, I want to know that there's been a lot of challenges and people that are facing a lot of adversity and a lot of, let's just say, loss with this fire, you don't know who could be affected by what they, what you, what they see online. So Canada's not the only place burning right now in Ontario, notably. Okay, so the I want to say instead of pointing fingers and whining on social media, how about a little silent and maybe a little bit of kindness from everybody? I am pointing towards one direction because of what I've saw. Let's maybe just zip it and, and let the people on the ground do the real work and show some respect. Enough of the online typing. Heck, let's have more, some more online support. That's my rant. Okay, now let's get to the sports why you're here today and I appreciate you hearing that rant and hopefully I didn't cause anyone to be upset with that. My point is that I wanted to just make sure that I bring that up because I was really disappointed to see a lot of the posts online and there's a lot of people working very hard, especially in Ontario. And I hope everyone is being safe and everyone is safe and if anyone has went through loss that they're reaching out for support to get that addressed. Now let's get to the direct table. Enough of that. Let's get to the fun, the fun stuff and the reason why you're tuning into the game sports podcast today. So the first direct table. I like that term topic. There's only two of them today. Okay. Once through the NBA that has two topics, but then one's about a video game. Yes and no, not gta. Yes. I'm excited everybody. But direct table, the NBA.
[00:06:33] Kawhi Leonard. Look, trade happens now. There's the trade's been pulled back. There's an investigation going on. It's Completely on hold still. And I almost want to feel like teams are playing chicken because no one is moving and everyone's frozen in place. And I don't want to say it, but I wonder if it's because they're waiting on the king. But this is an investigation, the FBI is involved. So I think that's absolutely ludicrous to say the trade will happen, it will go through. I don't see there being any challenges, but obviously Raptors fans a little bit unease about what's going on because they want this trade to go through, they're excited about next year and they want to see Kawhi back in Toronto and hopefully that there's a resolution. I don't have too many updates to really share from it. I've had some insiders all through the the world of sports and there's been no movement that I can really share to anyone on here. So all I can share is my own opinion. And obviously given the investigation that is going on with Kawhi and the business and all that, it's obviously serious and with the FBI involved, they need to do the due diligence and before they can clear the trade, that has to get cleared and obviously there's something holding it up and they ain't going to rush it for anybod. So I think we're in it for a little bit longer here, especially if you're a Toronto Raptors fan like myself. But hopefully that gets all worked out and this is back in the rear view mirror to get ready for the NBA upcoming season. See Kawhi back in the north now. The LeBron factor. Look, LeBron James, he talked about it today. He's gonna have a decision, okay? He doesn't want to make us wait. His decisions come into the pipeline. Any minute now. There could be a, a release before I post this show, which would be really unfortunate because those of you in the podcast world knows when you post a show, anything that's outdated that you've talked about, you're like, dam, I gotta look at editing that out. Or maybe I just keep it and I look like an idiot. So I'm not going to get into it too much. I'm not going to make predictions. Obviously the teams out there, they're known. There's the warriors, there's the Cavs, there's the Phillies. They're the Phillies. Let me correct myself theory. I'm thinking baseball. The 76ers. So you got obviously the Warriors, Cavs, the 76ers. Please allow me to correct myself and of course, yeah, you. You got the Heat that are involved in that as well. And you know, the Tyrese Halliburton thing was really funny. Texting LeBron about trying to go to Indiana and he said a laughing spot. Doesn't look like he's going to Indian Raptors fans. Wouldn't that be cool? Ain't gonna happen. Lakers fans just don't give a. So obviously those are the four teams that we're looking at. And it's interesting because you see clips from the Miami, from the. From Steve Kerr in a car today saying that you got LeBron, but then you got Riley from the Miami Heat saying there's waiting on one more plane to land. And that's LeBron's and Giannis Attenti Kupo's reaction about him potentially signing with the Cavs. And they had that joke. Seeing how he was upset, it almost seems like he thinks LeBron is going to Miami. Then you got the Cavs who just aren't really talking about too much here. You know, you have hard back there. Got Mitchell. Really a LeBron thing would be a big piece. It would make sense for him to go home. The warriors, they were quiet up until today. Now the 76ers, another quiet team in all this too, right? So is it going to be the quiet team that comes out or the loud team? You know what, in the NBA, I always find out that it's the. The loud team. But I think LeBron might make a decision that might surprise us. Not too sure, but I think obviously fingers are pointing to one of those four teams. Not going to make a prediction on which one. I already did on a previous show, so we'll see what happens. But nonetheless, the floodgates, I think will open once that first domino falls. There's going to be some more floodgates that are going to open in terms of trade and anyone who's still available to sign. But if LeBron goes one way, Kawhi goes. The Raptors suitors that maybe would have been in on LeBron are going to pivot another way to try to enhance their roster. So got to be on high alert now. The second topic for Direct Table. NHL 27 released their trailer today. The game. Macklin Celebrini is on the COVID Love it. Love that decision. Canadian boy, future top dog in Canada, next to likely Gavin McKenna and of course Connor McDavid and Nathan McKinney in the middle of that, the future Olympics. But nonetheless, I'm going to say as I talk video games, the NHL cover athlete and Trailer was dropped. Everything was saying, as I said, and I've been buying NHL. Well, I guess I can't say that I bought it, so I was able to actually buy it. And I was working in my teens, but I've been able to play by Ben Boughton, whatever the term is right to say the NHL EA sports since 1995 when it was on Sega. Okay. If you know, you. And having. Having said that, okay. Every year there's been different enhancements and I can remember NHL 98, I played that on PC. I didn't play it on PS1. I really didn't start playing the PS1 until NHL 2000 when that came out. 2001, it might have been. Nonetheless, I've gotten it every year that it has came out and been able to purchase. And one of my favorite years, you know, 98 was great, 2000 was great, 10205 was fantastic as well. You know, there's been a lot of good years. 2011, 2012, 2013, those years were good with all the updates and there's been a lot of good years of NHL 27. But you know, every year I'm hopeful and every single year they make it hard to not be excited because you're like, okay, this might be the year where the update franchise mode right now. Speaking of that, they did make an update to franchise mode, but in a different way. Not in the actual franchise mode, which I enjoy, but overall I've been buying it, as I said, and each year for the last few years I've been disappointed. But of course I buy it because the podcast team has a team in it and we play online. It's a. It's a good use of killing time at night when you're just hanging out after, after my son's been put down to bed, my wife may be going to bed a little bit earlier than I do and I want to stay up a little bit. It's something that I enjoy to do. And. And when this trailer came out, they're bragging about authentic team arenas and. And goal songs, which in my opinion is pretty cool. The goal song thing is pretty cool. I hope there's some customization ability there. And the authentic are really cool because then you're actually in msg, you're actually in these arenas. It's not just some random throw in things at times and how that's going to look when you build an arena, if you really want to do that, etc. But where's the actual investment into the game? That's what I want to ask. There's no deep franchise updates. You got online franchise, which seems to be a disaster. You can make it within some teams, but then you. You can't trade within computer teams. Or you can trade within computer teams. It seems like you can't. Your league is just with your friends and what are you going to. What am I going to just make a trade with. With Alex Parr about making some trade? It's not going to happen. It does not seem that it was well thought out and there's some slight animations, but on how people skate, it looks like. And deflections and celebrations. No real tangible changes to the actual gameplay to make it a bit more authentic. And it's just the same old story. And they refuse to put real money into rebuilding the code of the game. And I know their money's invested elsewhere. You got FIFA, other games, you got your mind.
[00:13:18] But I would love EA to actually get off their wallet and spend money on that game because it is a very good and important game. It's the only game that really comes out for hockey. Why doesn't 2k to say, you know what, wow, people are dissatisfied with the online play. People are dissatisfied with franchise mode. We know how to do that. Why don't we jump into that? Where's 2k on this? But EA Sports, the game legendary company, Electronic Arts, EA Sports, it's in the game legendary. And what's going on right now is the game that you keep putting out seems to be the same old BS with no real care or thought into the game. And I don't mean to chirp the developers, I'm sure they work their ass off, but they're doing it on a limited budget. Okay. To top it all off, friend of the show, okay. You can listen to his edition. It was a fire edition as all the special editions where we have over 80 of them that you can check out. James Cybulsky is no longer in the virtual bot broadcast booth where he had it with Sarah Pounder before. And I have no offense to, you know, in the day you had the dog talk, you had, you know, Eddie Olshek and. And Ray Ferraro, who I'm a big fan of is Ray Ferraro, of course who was there alongside as well. Okay. And don't get me wrong, Darren Pang, cool analyst, but I'm a James Sabalski guy now.
[00:14:32] Jim Houston has been the guy that rings through my ears through because that's a great save. Kippersoff, right? It's the like you could just Hear him throughout your household. Especially for the 90s birthday boys and girls that played the game. And having a friend of the show, James Sabalski was really cool. It was really cool to his clips on say I could talk to him and hear his voice now. I thought he did fantastic with his work and the voice, but now it gives me a massive blow to the vibe. I. I'm not a fan of the update from the broadcast booth perspective. So you want to see what a real sports game looks like going back to what 2K was. Look at NBA 2K or MLB the show. I love what the show does. I think the franchise mode, they do update it, they make changes. NBA 2K has three way trades that you can do. You can force trades. I don't, I don't want to do that in franchise mode. If you know, you know. But ultimately they make it a more real experience. Some cool additions, all unnecessary. Invest some real time. There could be more trailers come out and announcements that I don't know about. So I could be on them in a, in a time that I don't need to do it. But at the end of the day it just seems like no thought or care is put into it. But you know what? This is what the sad thing is. And you know what the real problem is? People like me, I'm still gonna buy it. I won't even play it that much. I'll play with my friends online and the off franchise mode, but I'll still buy it, hoping for change and that maybe my experience will be better. But maybe that's why they don't fix it. Because of people like me, the loyal buyers who just keep buying it and loving the endless cycle of disappointment. Basically, it's like being a Toronto Maple Leafs fan, which I am. All right. Speaking of the NHL, here's a segue I was gonna tell you. There's limited news when it comes to the NHL. For the past couple weeks, I mean there's been stuff to talk about, but not everything that I already had to be talked about has. So why don't I just give you a little bit of the foundation and a little bit of the updates. Overall, the schedule has been release today. Of course, Connor McMichael obviously gets a contract. So Connor McMichael, $6.75 million per. After Jordan Kyro is out, you bring in McMichael. He is locked up. You have some free agents that are still out there. I'll get to that in just a moment, but I want to dive into the schedule Drop for just a moment. The 2026, 2027 HL schedule drop today. And it's packed. And a reminder, the league has now moved to 84 games, a more grueling 84 game format. And in one of those 84 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs, I did purchase tickets for November 10th to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs take on the Colorado Avalanche at home before my wife and I go to Bali. Very excited about that. Now going back to the schedule drop. Take 84 games. Look, I, I, there is a lot of confusion with the 84 games. And people, people are saying, why add the two games? You got people saying it's just two games, what does it matter? They do play a less amount of preseason games just to share to everybody. Okay, so they played less preseason games. They added more regular season games. It does bring in more money for the National Hockey League. It brings in more money for the teams. It does make it a little bit more interesting when it comes to playoff time. Those two games will matter, I guarantee you. Somewhere then you're going to have somebody who's going to say, oh, if they only played 82 like they used to, well, they would have made the playoffs. But now my team didn't make the playoffs. Okay, there are teams that have a little bit of a more grueling travel schedule than other teams do in the National Hockey League. But ultimately the 84 games, adding the two financially and from an excitement perspective is how I see it. I don't really see a difference. It doesn't really matter if you add 10 games. I think that's a different story. Adding the two I'm perfectly fine with and I can't even notice. I don't eat, even notice. But I'd be interested to know what other people think about the 84 games. I'm pro for it. I think it's a good idea. I think the NHL adding games just gives people more opportunity to watch more games in a season. But the Stanley cup playoff format, and when the Stanley Cups handed out, it's hand out in June, they have a short off season. I think there's an opportunity for the NHL to really look at their schedule going forward to try to offer the cup earlier, more condensed games, but also not trying to increase season games any longer, might be me being Pro to the 84 games. Of course, the Hockey night in Canada format changes things. There's a lot of differences to look at going into this year that we'll certainly have to keep an eye on and adjust to. Now, aside from that out of the worst schedules that I had, I thought of the Columbus Blue Jackets. I could have counted incorrectly, but there's 191 days where they're fitting in the 84 games, which the less days span in the 84 games. But then I thought I kind of counted other teams that seem to have to reach pretty equally. So I'd be interested to see and hear any comments about what people think about the, about people's schedules, especially the Columbus Blue Jackets. Very, very interesting. A lot of different travel at different points in the season, too, for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Now, last thing for hockey that I want to touch on, three agents that are still remaining. You got Patrick Lyney and you got Patrick Kane. You got the Patrick just hanging out to. Spelt a little bit differently. One has a C, one doesn't. One's American, one's Finnish. Both two different players. One's a goal scorer, one' a playmaker. One's going into the hall of Fame. One should have been going into the hall of Fame, but is not on track to be going in the hall of Fame. Now, I bring up these two players because I want to try to look at it from different contracts. Okay. Patrick Kane's a veteran. I think that somebody is going to go to a team on a discounted price and he's going to go to a contender. Patrick Liney is somebody that could fit in on a top nine, that could score goals on the second unit of a power play and help increase the scoring in the offense for a hockey team. Okay. So I, I'm not, I don't want to just stick with these two. There are others. I, I just, given time, these are the only two that I am going to touch on. And as the summer goes on with our clips and our reactions, we will, we will react on specific signings. But I wanted to pick these two because they're two different players. Veteran playmaker, still a veteran. A little bit of a band aid, but a goal scorer. And both these players are rumored to be on the Toronto Maple Leafs target list. But speaking of Patrick Kane, he's had some target with looking at Chicago. Chicago no longer has Conor Beddow Bedard. I don't think Patrick Kane is going to Chicago. Connor Bedard's gone and out for a while. I think he wants to go to a team that's contending he might retire with the Blackhawks and do a Johnny Dave saying. But I don't think Patrick Kane is looking to, to. To go to the Chicago Blackhawks, the team that Makes the most sense for Patrick Kane. I've talked about it on the show before and people ask me about Patty King, why he still hasn't been signed. There could be health issues. It could be he could just take his time. Who cares? He wants to see how the summer lights out. Buffalo makes the most sense for Patrick Kane. It just does worry veteran guys want a copies from Buffalo. Why not go home? Buffalo has a lot of expectations going into this year. They're in a very challenging division, though. Very challenging division. That is with Tampa, that's with Florida. You got Buffalo in there. Who I. Who I'm talking about. You got the Toronto Maple Leafs who are trying to resurge into this year. The Montreal Canadiens. Bruins. Don't ever count out the Boston Bruins. Ottawa was in the playoffs. Don't ever count them out. Despite losing Brady Tkachuk, The Red Wings, despite being the lonely team in that division, in my opinion now going through a lot of adversity there on that team is still a team that can steal wins in a night. Okay, they have some firepower on that team and it's all headed by Moritz Cider, but big cider fan. That is one tough division. So does Patrick Kane look at it to maybe go to a team that could be more of a heavier favorite in. In a division? No, not Minnesota, not Colorado to me to say. But does he look at someone like Vegas? Does he look at someone like the Edmonton Oilers? Is that somewhere that he decides to look at going to try to put them over the top? Buffalo has to remain the favorite, but you know, Toronto and some other teams are in that mix. Patrick, line A. Look goal scorer, second unit. The Leafs are targeted here too, and it does make sense. But the best fit for me that I see for Patrick Liney is with the Pittsburgh Penguins. And I know I talked about earlier in the show that I can log off and Kane and line A could be signed somewhere and I'll bite the bullet for that if I'm right or if I'm wrong on those predictions. But something about the Pittsburgh Penguins that has me a little bit looking at Patrick Liney just would make sense. Imagine lining with Sidney Crosby. I feel like despite being injured, I feel like when you go to Pittsburgh, you get some of that, that, that resurgence. I think that's what Patrick Liney needs where it's off the limelight. He'll be playing with Sidney Crosby. Crosby gives him the puck all day. You got Robertson over there now, who I think will fit in tremendously with Afghani Malkin. Think of like a Russ Crosby line A line I think that is just a tremendous fit. Manta goes over there and comes off a 33 goal season. Imagine if line A can be healthy with the goal scoring ability that he has. He can also be a 30 plus goal scorer guy after a one year deal and look at getting paid. Just saying hot takes for a couple guys are so remain there's other names on the board. It's going to be interesting to see what happens and what other trades still happen. Morgan Riley is still on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Is that going to be a trade that happens? Dylan Larkin is still at large with the Minnesota with not the Minnesota Wild. That's one of the rumor teams with the Detroit Red Wings. Steve Iserman stepping stepping down from the GM site going the operations side. Does that open the door for Brendan Shanahan? Yes, I said it. Does Brendan Shanahan go over to the Detroit Red Wings as GM or do they get someone else off the board? It's lots of stories can still happen this summer. Okay. And it's going to be interesting to see see what happens. Oof, doggy. Unbelievable. All right. Transitioning from hockey to baseball. We're hitting closer to our time limit here today. So what I'm going to do because I'm going solo here on strike zone, Conor's off today. So with being a solo strike zone, you'll see him on social clips for the rest of summer. But I'm going to just hand out some half season grades and I'm also going to give you a little discussion when it comes to the Home Run Derby. And before I even get into those topics and get into the second half preview, I just want to share that I didn't mind the Home Run Derby. I didn't mind the All Star.
[00:24:40] I think it was actually really entertaining. Jordan Walker winning and be and silencing the Philadelphia fans. Look, y' all Philly fans are very passionate. I sat beside a kid that was a Phillies fan at the Rogers center this year and o was he ever passionate about the Phillies? But it's great to see that the Philadelphia fan base just so loud. And there was quiet when Walker did it. And does anyone look at Walker and realize that he looks like he could play from the 80s? Like no offense, the kid's young. That beard, beard that, that look that he has. I feel like I'm looking at Strawberry from the Mets. I, I, I don't know. I feel like I'm looking at someone who played in the 80s. You know what I, I, I Just got that vibe. I don't mean to chirp him because he looks old. Okay, for sure if you shave off his, his beard, mustache, that he probably look his age. But his mom and parents and stands look the same age as him and he looks like he's from the 80s. I'm just saying. Hot take, but a lot of power. He's living up to his potential finally. I'm sure the Cards fans are loving that. I love the Home Run Derby. I think it's so exciting to watch and I think that the, the game overall too. I didn't really watch it too much. It was on the background. Dylan Cease pitched a jam. Ernie Clement, man, nice play. But it was a, it was a shutout game. What do you, you know, obviously you know, the players were trying and yeah, Cam and Arrow gets hit at the All Star Game, it's getting a little bit more intense. You know, the, the World Series depends on that, right? Like if you, if you win the game, you get the home field advantage. You start and end the Series at the World Series, which the Jays experienced last year but lost to the Dodgers. So ultimately, All Star Game for the MLB is the only All Star Game that I'll probably look at looking. But the. Or look.
[00:26:08] But the only thing I ever watch in the All Star festivities is the Home Run Derby. Games are useless to me. You all know how I feel about All Star games on this show. Okay? Now I'm going to do first half grades and then I'll get into some second half expectations and then I'm going to wrap up or. Sorry, I'm. Then I'm going to have. I forgot one piece. I will get into some trade deadline discussion and then I will look at wrapping up the show here. So going to the grades for the first half, I'm going to start going, going by each division. Al, nl. And I'm going to give you from ABC downwards. Okay, then same for the nl. So AL NL grades from the first half of the MLB season starting with the al. I'm giving only letters. No plus minus, none of that nonsense. Get that out of here. A's to the Rays and to the White Sox. B's to the Yankees and Guardians. C to the Twins and Rangers. And I'm skipping the letter D and going to fail. Blue Jays, Jays, Tigers and the Royals. Now look, I will say something about the Blue Jays. They obviously get a little bit of extra love from me here. Look, I know they've dealt with injuries and technically they're still in striking distance of a wild card spot, okay. But this team is absolutely not lived up to the massive expectations that they've had and players have not played to their level that they could be playing at. There's still plenty of ball left in the second half, but they've earned the failing grade so far. The biggest failing grade out of the al. And yeah, people look at it. They've had injuries. Injuries. They have injuries. They should have a higher grade. No they should not. They if your good team has depth, you step up to the occasion. Pitching has been not consistent. Bullpen not consistent. Hitters aren't hitting. This is a team that was two outs away from a World Series and there's a manager there that keeps putting players into the game that shouldn't be in the game. That team needs a quick wake up call going into the second half and losing games that they should be winning. The NL grades A Braves and the Phillies. Massive improvement. Look where they started the year. Brewers, Pirates and the Dodgers get an a as well. BNCs combine them. Cubs, Cardinals and Marlins. I'm going to give the D to the Padres. They get a letter D from me. I was really looking at C because there has been some improvement but they haven't lived up to expectations. Fail. Speaking of failure, the Mets, they have the biggest fail throughout the entire mlb. The absolute bottom second F I'm giving to the Reds but the Mets just not meeting expectations. Now for the second half predictions I'm going to give you. Blue Jays are going to be one of the hottest teams in baseball. Mets will not get better. Just saying they will not get better. White Sox will make the playoffs. Okay and I will say that the Yankees finished third in the division. Can't believe it has said that on here. Now I'm going to get through to some trade speculation because we are now really close on time. I got to wrap up here shortly so I want to get in some trade dead speculation. We're not going to have a trade deadline preview show or anything in that regard. So I am going to just dive into what I think some names are going to be out there and kind of discussions about some teams that are buyers and that are sellers for the trade deadline and then when it comes to trade deadline time we will have a clips or maybe even a bonus edition might come out. But getting to the trade speculation, there's massive surplus of buyers and barely any sellers. That's my observation. The line is incredibly blurry. Okay, Sellers, Mets, Royals, Tigers, Angels, Giants, Rockies and the Reds in my honest opinion. Yeah the Blue Jays are not in the sellers category. My buyers and surprising a lot of people. The Blue Jays are in the buyer category because I know that they are going to want to save this season with the players that they have and people getting healthy to come play. Jays will be buyers along with the Braves, the Rays, the Dodgers and of course the Yankees. Big Target Names I got some hot names for you. Francisco Lindor, Tarek, Scubal, Mike Trout and keep your your eyes on Freddy Peralta. And I'm also going to throw a very hot take on Mason Miller depending on how the Padres do by trade deadline. They gave up a lot for Mason Miller. I wonder if they'll look at someone like the Yankees or if they'll look at someone maybe like the White Sox or something that they think they might get out of the AL or the Rays if they'll look at someone to be a really solid solidify being a closer. Those are some names I have out. There's many other names from those other teams that I've mentioned that could be thought of but ultimate those are names that I am highlighted. Realistically out of that I don't see Trout and Lindor getting traded. I see that be more of offseason move but someone like Freddie Peralta and even Tarek Scubal on an expiring deal. I think the Tigers need to make that move and you got to bet your bottom dollar that the Yankees, the Jays are all in on both of those pitchers and you know that other teams going to be on that, the Phillies and so on. But you know the Dodgers are going to do something annoying because that's what the Dodgers Dodgers do right? Nonetheless look that is the full strike zone that you're getting from me. Grades preview for the second half of some hot takes and really have a preview for you take on the Home Run Derby and All Star Game and then some trade deadline where I think buyers are going to be a surplus sellers at a minimum in comparison to that and some names. Comment below about who you think would be some names that we should be thinking of in terms of the trade deadline coming up and what are your expectations for the second half of the season when it comes to baseball and your first half reaction. There's always a lot that we talk here on the Game Sports podcast. We're not like other podcasts where we talk about just one thing. If it's hockey and baseball, we do talk about everything on the show. We have 11 staff members, five of which being full time and the rest be more on a casual basis and who have been with the show since day one. But that's what we love doing. Talking about all different shows and we'd love that. You've been a part of the ride for near 11 years and there's still a lot more to go here for the Game Sports podcast. So to share with you, kind of an offseason play plan that connects to everything. Because we're off the air for full shows until September, we'll be doing reaction clips as I mentioned for baseball for the trade deadline. NHL clips that come out, everything will be through social media. Okay. But one thing for baseball fans, your 2027 season is already out. So start planning your road trips now. But as you're playing your road trips, if you're wanting for some baseball content from the game, we will still have you covered. Hockey fans will have you covered. NBA fans, we got you covered. Just keep an eye on clips and on social from myself and the crew here on the Game as we do not plan to have another new show until September and the day that we're looking at right now From September is September 8th would be our next new show right after Labor Day. Unbelievable. So just make sure you're prepared to keep an eye on all socials. Last thing I'll share about that, we will be looking at special edition shows. This is normally where we pre record some. So there might be a surprise new show. Don't get me wrong wrong. But keep an eye on the special editions that might come out. We don't, we don't brag, we don't, we don't promote those until they're out. Okay. So if you want to know about anything coming out for the game, social media, 91N spaces, all of it will be on there. Do not miss any clips or potential surprise episodes. Okay, so that's a wrap on our last official news show of this season. Technically, if you think about it, when we take this vacation, we take of it like a season. So the 10th season is at a wrap technically and we're going to be resuming technically in our 11th season September 8th. So definitely keep an eye on everything. As I have mentioned, I'll be 35 years old because my birthday is on August 21st by the next time we have a new show. So that's going to be during our pastor summer break. Like man, time flies. 35 years old. I remember doing this and starting it when I was 24 with Scott. Unbelievable. Now I got a one year old who's going to daycare in September. That's unbelievable. The last thing I'll mention. Support the firefighters, support each other and kindness. Ignore any noise and enjoy your summer, everybody. And as I said, keep an eye on socials. We're going to be keeping you up to date despite no new shows. I'm going to tell you for the 10th time, we will have something for you. Okay? The Game does not disappoint. Dave McKay with the game Sports Podcast here to remind you before I get to my outro where I'll mind you again but follow on all social media pages. Tik Tok, Instagram, Facebook, we're on Podbean, Spotify, Amazon, go Google, Apple, podcasts, we're on all those audio platforms. Spaces91n As I previously mentioned, you can all follow us and search us on the Game Sports Podcast. You'll find everything that you need to know. Now I'm here to remind you, till next time, keep your stick on the ice, swing your bats, catch touchdowns, drain your threes and shoot your shots. Booyah.
