Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: Oh yeah. And it's time for the Game Sports Podcast is Your host David McCaig Jr. The Game Sports Podcast is powered by 91 Network. You can check out 91N on the 91N YouTube channel. The game is also featured on spaces through Suited A and Village Media. Just head on over to Suit today and check out Spaces. You can check out all the unique spaces through the Suite Marie community and so on where Spaces has expanded. Now, the Game Sports podcast has been on a brief break and throughout the summer we had minimal recordings as we normally do throughout July and August. But we haven't done a recording in over a month and it feels great to be back at the same time. A little bit bittersweet because that means summer is coming toward an end as of course during the summer months we do more limited recordings. But at the same token it is an exciting time because it is starting to pick up more in the sports world such as hockey, football and we're hitting the big parts of the baseball season and so on. Very exciting stuff going on in the world of sports. Now on tonight's edition of the Game. In our return after a brief vacation, this is going to be following our new format. In particular a one straight out segment, commercial free for your enjoyment. And we're going to be getting into, well, me solo for the first few minutes here, but I'll be joined momentarily by Justin Heikal. And we're going to be having season nine of in the Pocket. Yes, that is going to be a part of this where it's going to be segmentized so in the Pocket, even though it's going to be considered a segment with in the show as we introduce kind of our new format that it's still going to be considered the in the pocket portion of the show because we want to keep those totals running. So Justin will join me. We're going to get into football because football is back, baby. It is back this week and it's going to be one heck of an exciting season. And to wrap up the show, it's going to be baseball content with myself and Connor Henderson in the strike zone segment of the show. We did plan to have a bit more hockey on this episode and particular with Chuck A Puck returning. But we're going to be having that more so next week and we're going to be getting back with Top shelf. So all these segments are going to be all put together in one segment and it's going to be just fluent. It's going to be a segment the co hosts will get off. And the new co hosts will be joining me or I will continue the show solo, whatever the plan may be for your enjoyment. And we are looking forward to bringing back our interview shows with those athletes and professional sports and also looping those into our new show. So very excited to be returning to, well, that format but also introducing this new one as well. So hopefully you got and understood all that.
Before I do introduce Justin who will be in here very momentarily, I just want to dive into saying congratulations. Well, firstly, Sarah McCall and Aidan Wright have been brought into the hockey operations department for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. And former guest on the show and friend of mine, Aiden Wright, Goose we like to call him, is now a part of Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. He is the former captain of the Lake Superior State University Lakers. So definitely a great ad as well as Sarah. But with Gooser, this, with knowing him, I want to make sure I give him a special shout out here. And of course the game is located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. So a little bit of extra love for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, the main major junior team that I grew up cheering for in, in my, well throughout my life. Now we're very excited to bring a lot of hockey content on the show and we do bring a variety of content on the show. As you know, our core is definitely hockey, football and baseball. We're talking about all sports, but it's very exciting, okay. That we get to bring back football and having football back with perfect time only.
Justin Heiko. Look, Hike, you just gave me the perfect timing. I gave my shout out to Aiden Reich, booster who just joined the Suzanne Greyhound staff involving the hockey operations department. And I had to say a quick little note that there is no hockey this, this episode. It's football and baseball. So I know some people might be like, ah, because obviously we get into it when it comes to hockey, but you know what week it is. It's week one, National Football League, baby. Okay. And football is back. Okay. So hike, my friend, how are you? How's life? I haven't talked. You haven't been on all summer, obviously. Well, obviously, given the segments that we do. But how's everything been?
[00:04:57] Speaker B: It's. It's been a pretty solid summer, honestly. Golfing a little bit, not good, but I've been golfing well, hydrated, that's, that's for sure.
You can tell we're going into week one because I'm wearing a cold hat. So bitterness. Yeah. See, everybody's in a great mood. Nothing, no no, no team has made us miserable yet.
Even the Blue Jays are still not.
[00:05:25] Speaker A: Making us miserable, which is exciting. And I see you got a. A pet behind you there for this episode here, I think. Is there. Is that something moving in the background there?
[00:05:37] Speaker B: Oh yeah, yeah, no, she's there.
[00:05:40] Speaker A: That's a new addition.
[00:05:41] Speaker B: That is Mrs. Petunia.
I just call her Tunes or Toon Dog.
Love that. Yeah, she just chills.
[00:05:52] Speaker A: See, I didn't even.
[00:05:52] Speaker B: I did honestly didn't even notice her there. I thought it was a Lego set.
[00:05:56] Speaker A: I tend to just always enjoy your background, especially the X Wing and the Lego set. Everything that you got going on there, of course, and like seeing a little bit of movement in the background. I was a little bit more intrigued to know what that is, but it's a living creature.
[00:06:10] Speaker B: Yeah, no, she's there. She's just chilling now.
[00:06:13] Speaker A: I was gonna show my son on this episode. I haven't done that yet. I haven't shown his face on this podcast yet. But he is currently getting ready for bedtime and there will be. There is no interruption. If you are a parent, you'll know we're trying our best to get him down and to sleep. And I will, knock on wood. He has been sleeping throughout the night the past few weeks and it's been a joy. And we're very superstitious, if you will, my wife and I, on being on the routine. Bath time, 6:55.
He's done by 7:15 and then he's feeding by 7:20 and he's out by 8:30. Done.
[00:06:49] Speaker B: We were. We were hard routine people. And now she goes down. She sleeps for 12 hours at night so you could work so. So you can get a ton of done. And she sleeps.
She naps. She only naps for now. This is such a weird segue for this show, but she naps for like an hour at daycare during the week. On the weekends, three hours, one to four.
Guess who's still a happy dad about that this Sunday.
Wonderful. Wonderful. Yeah, the Colts. Colts are only getting one o' clock games, so, yeah, I win.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: So here, here's the thing. Hike. I. I honestly know we're talking about football, so we'll gear to that because we have a new format this year and your first time being on this new format. Log in, log out. Usually we have hike on the.
On the end of the show and truly my intention of this was feedback from listeners about keeping our episodes more fluent, especially because we do. We focus on being commercial free. Sorry to our advertise. Advertisers, we give Love 91 and SportsCenter we give our love to them, but in a way that is fluent for your enjoyment. So you're usually at the end Hike where you get to do your. You know EJ does a SIA who can't join us this week. Unfortunately you got your your piece and the obviously my booyah at the end and all that. But this is going to be a very exciting a new format for us that we hope you enjoy. So make sure you comment below. But Hike of course got to miss the beginning. The normal boring maybe if you want to say that. Just kidding. Very entertaining because you had me talk a little bit of hockey for your enjoyment. But to welcome you back to the game and I am officially kicking off in the Pocket. Despite this new format and being a fluent show, it is still considered the in the Pocket segment of the show.
Ninth season of in the Pocket Peeps. Let me tell you something. I love this team on the Game Sports podcast. Hike has been here since Uno. Okay. We've had our family together since the starts and look, I won't get emotional here or anything like that, but find yourself people in your life that are like the Game Sports podcast to each other. That's all I can say. And only Hike and the crew knows what I mean by that. The love, the chirps, the loyalty. It has been great and very exciting to bring you season nine of this and season officially seven of Top Shelf and all these different segments that we have.
And we are certainly excited to bring you some new stuff this year. We've been looking forward to in a change. But in the Pocket is our longest running show longest running segments within the Game Sports podcast. Just a little fun fact might be a trivia question down the road for fans. Just for a fun little Christmas giveaway maybe now Hike look in the pocket. We're getting to it and you know what? I will say get it over with off the hop. You can roll your eyes and tell me to shut up after the Taylor Swift Travis Kelsey stuff is done. It has happened. Travis is engaged. Taylor Swift. If you haven't known that New Heights broke records with their podcast, it was I did watch it with my wife as she's definitely a big Swifty. My wife. I've enjoyed too. Maybe it's because I've inherited that now. But if you're wondering if we're going to be talking about Travis Kelsey Taylor Swift's engagement, that's the only piece that you're getting on this show because we got news to get to, but we'd be fools to maybe not mention it because of, you know, just overall audio and recording and she does get clicks.
[00:10:24] Speaker B: She does listen. They had to get it out of the. He was going to do it after the Super Bowl. They got their teeth kicked in.
[00:10:30] Speaker A: Wasn't.
[00:10:31] Speaker B: Wasn't going to look great. He had to do it before the season started because he's checked out anyways. He's not going to do Jack this year.
[00:10:38] Speaker A: No, I. There's points that now I want to. I'm going to ask you it now. Okay. Because this is fun.
Super bowl halftime show. I think it's going to be Taylor Swift this year.
Bold prediction. I think this is the year. I do think it's Taylor Swift's year to do the halftime show for this.
[00:10:55] Speaker B: Where. Where's the Super Bowl?
[00:10:58] Speaker A: San Francisco. And she was talking about Sourdough. What is the name of the San Francisco's mascot? Sourdough?
[00:11:06] Speaker B: I don't know. Here we go. I. My, My thought on this is that if it's in San Francisco, San Francisco, it should only be Metallica. And that's.
[00:11:15] Speaker A: Maybe we're not.
[00:11:16] Speaker B: Yeah, we're not gonna get that, though. It's gonna be something lame as hell.
[00:11:19] Speaker A: So I got a prediction. It's got. It's gonna be Taylor this year. I'm telling everybody that right now. Taylor Swift will be the halftime.
[00:11:26] Speaker B: Well, I guess the only way Kelsey's getting there, so.
[00:11:29] Speaker A: And if he gets there in the same game, does she announce a pregnancy during the super bowl halftime show? Does it turn into a sideshow? Oh, my God.
[00:11:39] Speaker B: Listen, the way. The way this world is trending right now might be a live birth. Who knows?
Like, let's. We gotta move on. This is gonna get out of hand.
[00:11:48] Speaker A: I will admit that. New Heights podcast. I gotta give them love. I do love their show. I will say that right now. I do love their show. But football this week. Hike. We're back to week one. There's a lot of news throughout the off season. Obviously, recently Parsons make. Parsons went over from the Cowboys to the packers and I watched that Cowboys documentary, the. I believe it's called Americans Team.
[00:12:11] Speaker B: Yeah, I haven't. I haven't watched it yet, but it's on my. I saw it there and then I started watching K of the Hill and.
[00:12:17] Speaker A: Oh, I haven't revisited that, but I will tell you. Hike, as you. If, you know, as a fan of the game sports podcast. I'm a Steelers fan. Hike is a Colts fan. I still got my flag. Guerrero Jersey up. Not my, not my Troy Palomalu. Because that's why I'm representing the sweater.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: Hey, that's still relevant.
[00:12:33] Speaker A: So it still is that. Very relevant. But the thing is like I enjoyed that documentary and say what you want about Jerry Jones, the guy is a business genius for how he pulled off everything that he did to buy the team and hike. You'll see it and we'll talk about it when we get to that point. But if you haven't watched it, get on it. It's very enjoyable. And when you have a newborn, when he falls asleep, your newborn falls asleep on you. You got things, you got some time to, you know. And my wife luckily for me has let me kind of sleep in a different room in the house during the night, during the weekday. So I go to work rested. So I've been able to put on a show and watch it during my, my lay down time. So I recommend that show. But the Cowboys my time, I call it where I or my lay low time, whatever you want to call it. But to begin the season the Cowboys, that's my segue and we're going to talk about our picks and our pick them by the end of the segment. But the Cowboys opened their season against the Eagles on Thursday and Eagles defending champs Cowboys. You know there's some expectation going into this year but after moving Parsons Jerry Jones is still confident in his team and what the future will bring because of this trade. But I think this trade they got undervalued for hike. I think they could have got more.
[00:13:46] Speaker B: If he would have pulled it off. I mean this is probably the most over talked about topic. I mean lately if you've tuned into any sports media just because it's the only thing lately there is to talk about aside from tennis but if he would have pulled this off like free agency time like I honestly do think they squeeze another pick in there at the very least he's a. Do we want to say generational but he's a very talented player. They don't. Micah Parsons doesn't come around very often especially for trade.
[00:14:15] Speaker A: No.
[00:14:15] Speaker B: So and I mean and to, for Jerry Jones defense to basically be the family guy skit where it could be anything, it could even be a boat.
You know, it's. I don't know. I, I see Jerry's, he owns a team and he's a general manager do whatever the hell he wants. So that's what he wanted and so that's what he did. If there had to have been some animosity there between him and Micah that they couldn't overcome. Because as a rule, Jerry, as crazy as you want to see Jerry Jones is, he pays his guys. Dak Prescott's like one of the highest paid, if not the highest paid quarterback. They got some corners that are pretty well compensated, their offensive line, you know, like, he doesn't. Ezekiel Elliott's been basically taking care of his entire life without doing anything. You know what I mean? Like, it's just. It's. He. He takes care of his guys. So there had to have been something that happened, something that was said and that was. That relationship was irreparable.
[00:15:10] Speaker A: Yeah. And maybe he didn't want to move them before now, given what happened throughout the summer. Maybe some more conversations, some more issues come up. We don't know. And that's what, you know, factored in the trade.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: We'll never. We'll never know the whole story. That's. That's the fun of it. We can all come up with our, you know, ESPN can come up with their thing, but we're never gonna know what actually happened. That's. Jerry and Micah are the only two that know. I mean, Micah might say on his podcast at some point, but forgot he has that.
[00:15:38] Speaker A: But you know what? That. My whole segue to that hike is kind of a little review of the off season a little bit. What do you. What do you feel was significant that stood out in the offseason to you? What team made themselves better? And this will segue into power rankings that I would like to do for, of course, clips. If you got here for clips, you're going to see a little power ranking clip. But before I get into that, what are some things that stood out to you this off season for some teams, besides Micah going to Green Bay and.
[00:16:05] Speaker B: Travis kelso getting engaged I Minnesota committing to JJ McCarthy, like, that's. He's our guy to me is pretty cool. Like, that's. He's got a lot of horses there. Let's, you know, let's see if he can figure it out. The NFC north is a pretty tough division, and I'm interested to see how that shakes out. I'm interested to see what happens in New England with a new offensive coordinator and Drake May.
I mean, there's going to be a theme here. New young quarterbacks, Denver Broncos, Bo Nix.
Broncos defense is lights out. So if Bo Nix can start to perform, I mean, they've J.K. dobbins there, who had a hell of a year in almost at San Diego, L.A. last year, and he basically walked in On a nothing deal to Denver. I forget the guy they drafted. Also going to be a pretty good Bronco running back. Use him for a year, throw him in the garbage. So we'll see how it goes. I mean, Sutton's been a sleeper in a lot of people's drafts. I think the Broncos, in a division where the Chiefs have owned it, I think the Broncos kind of have a chance to make a splash.
[00:17:06] Speaker A: Yeah, they, the Broncos. It's a very good take. And I was really looking for, you know, I the Detroit Lions this off season, who I will have in my power rankings top five, still is fielding a very good team.
But that was a team that I thought would be a bit more active in a. Maybe a high profile trade. Not saying Parsons necessarily, but for in that, in that fit. There wasn't a fit there. But to kind of put them over the top. But the money is the challenge. Right. I also look at the. You brought up the Broncos. I think Bonix is built to have a good season this year. He has the resources around him more so on the defensive side to help keep them in football games. Right. And then you have Cincinnati, who has been some a team that's been in the top 10 for the last few years in terms of expectations. And then injuries. Drama. Injuries and drama. You know, from chasing the drama. Let's call it that. That's just a little hint. And then you sign Hendrickson. Finally you got something worked out. But drama there. Joe Burrow hasn't been healthy. Will he be healthy? But like overall this off season I felt was fairly entertaining. A lot of good news. I felt the draft was very entertaining as well.
But I gotta really point my fingers, my hat towards you brought the Broncos. That was definitely one of mine. But I, I feel that the, the Lions maybe could have did more. But you brought up the key point. The money isn't it.
[00:18:34] Speaker B: And I don't know how much change the Lions wanted to do, losing both coordinators. Right. Like, it's just, let's try to keep things status quo here. We'll get some new guys in, we'll see what works. What doesn't work. Dan Campbell seems to be like type of guy where no matter what, it's going to work.
So I mean the important part of the Lions offense is they still have Gibbs, they still have Montgomery, there's his name. So I mean that was I think like 22 touchdowns combined just rushing between the two of them last year. So as long as they can still run the ball, I think the Lions are going to Be in games. They're going to be a problem for people.
[00:19:08] Speaker A: Yeah, I agree.
[00:19:09] Speaker B: It's just that division tough.
[00:19:11] Speaker A: That's that. Yeah, there it is. It's. It's tough. I feel like money is always a big piece when it comes to sports, which makes it more competitive, you know, getting players and makes teams more balanced by leagues have their. Depending on what league you talk about, salary cap, tax, whatever you want to look at it. But I feel like this year we have an opportunity to see multiple teams be in the running for different reasons. The one that will come down to one game between two strong teams. Any team can win in that. So it's hard to predict who could win at the end of this year. You can always have a favorite, someone that you cheer for. Maybe a little bit of bias, whatever your case may be.
But what is the true storytelling here is that this offseason, the way it's shaped up, additions, teams adding, not adding, subtracting changes, coaching maneuvers which always happen, it's going to lead. It led to this offseason being completed, to now being a season where, yes, you have your power juggernaut type teams, but he got it. You can't. You can't undermine the elite teams that's called them. That could be a problem. And those elite teams that I'm highlighting would be. I'm still considering the commanders in the top 10, in my opinion. But you're talking about the Broncos, you're talking about the Bengals. I've even noted that I think there's not enough respect for the 49ers still. I. I know in an NFL.com power ranking they have them at 50.
I think that's got to be a little bit higher. And there of course is no love for the Pittsburgh Steelers because of who they added. But I'm not going to talk Steelers, but team that really stands out as the commanders could be a team that I consider elite. I don't say they're a juggernaut. I see they're an elite team. They had a deep run last year. They have a lot to prove. And the Buccaneers. Baker Mayfield's found his home. Very nice built team there too then. Do you really think that if the Eagles played the Buccaneers that they're going to smoke them in a playoff game that it's going to be a disaster? I don't think they're going to smoke them. I know they did take care of the Chiefs last year pretty good. But my point is the balance, I think is pretty good. It's going to make for a lot of competitive games, especially down the stretch going into the playoffs when we have those one games that are do or die moments in the playoffs.
[00:21:27] Speaker B: I mean there's a lot of parity across the league. I think honestly you're. There's 20 teams that match up well against each other and you could take two out of a hat, throw them together and it's going to be a good game. Like there's not. When you look at the schedule, there's not a lot of stinkers. I mean there's obvious stinkers that every year. You know what I mean?
It is what it is.
But I think there's a couple teams where you're like the Bills should be a juggernaut, but when you peel it back, there's still stuff you can pick apart. The Ravens juggernaut, but there's still stuff you can pick apart. Washington should be an absolute juggernaut. Jaden Daniels has to really, really, really nail it in year two sophomore slump. Yeah. And then. Exactly. But he has a supporting cast that as you know, you look at it, there should be enough there to bring him up even if he starts to falter a little bit.
I think we're just kind of starting to see the rise of Baker in the last year was awesome and he's just going to keep going there. And I think that he's in a division where it's his really.
[00:22:35] Speaker A: It's.
[00:22:35] Speaker B: It's his until it's not.
[00:22:37] Speaker A: You know, it might be a thread hike who I don't also like if you look@the NFL.com because we're going to talk about their power ranking shortly. Like who doesn't like they were labeled 18th in the power ranking so I'll give them a little bit of respect. But you're talking about the Lions division before you mentioned the the packers got better with Parsons. That's all we need to say is generational talent defense. They look at defensive side of the football or look at the offensive football players. That could be big effects in the game. That could be ball rushers, could be corner. Whatever you want to look at at Steeler fantasy Watt.
Right. So that could be pivotal moments in a game. As an example, Parsons has that effect that Watt would on Pittsburgh. Crosby would. Right. Like it's. Those are big effects. But a team that I think should start getting a little bit more love this year, and I can't believe I'm saying it is the Bears.
I think this is a team that's not going to be 1 in 16 or whatever on the season I think they're a 500 football club. Maybe a game over 500 which. Okay, well how they a threat then? Well you know what when you're playing against a team that is growing now at the trying to grow each year when it comes to the last three, four weeks of a season when they're still grinding with nothing to lose and you're trying to win your division or earn a playoff spot, they. That's the type of team that's going to give you trouble is the Bears. And that's my honest man. I don't know if you agree but I think the Bears not not making no playoffs this year don't bear play. But I think they there's teams like the Bears and and including the Bears that need to be considered a threat in the division. Like if you're a Lions fan or if you're looking Are you thinking the Patriots are to the Bills? I don't. The Patriots should have maybe a bit more respect this year. Not the Jets. Right. There's those teams though beside the juggernaut and L in the elite and good and then bad then absolute teams and those teams that are in the bad are going to give problems to those elite teams because of the playoff playoff push near the end of the season. That's what I'm trying to say about it.
[00:24:32] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't the Bear. I mean the Bears to me are a prove it team. But I see what you're trying to say there. Like they're. They're the spoiler the one the team you know in week 15 that you're just like whatever and if you take you have that mentality against I mean it's still the NFL they're still the best football players in the world. So. And football out of any professional sport is anyone can win any night.
I don't really care.
It just happens. I mean you're not you don't see it in a lot of other sports. I mean like basketball, if you're down your best two guys you're kind of pooched. Baseball if it just doesn't line up that you know. You know what I mean you just sometimes it doesn't go your way. You can have the best players in the world and it just sucks to suck. You know hockey sucks to stock sometimes doesn't matter. Yeah. Guy guys have their own brain injuries and imaginations that make them not good at stuff. But whatever.
[00:25:29] Speaker A: You see and you know what and and hike. I think this season is going to bring a lot of I Think it's going to be an exciting season. I say that every year, but I have a feeling, just an.
A little feeling that we're gonna see some odd story lines this year. And I'm not saying controversies or dramas. I'm not saying that. No, no. I'm talking about teams that are going to be surprising on the good front that aren't, and on the bad front that are going to be surprising.
Yeah. The Bears are that team, I think could be surprising. Could be. And that team that could be bad could be the Bengals. If that drama, like, if that. The expectation there. Are they going to start.
Be like they were last year?
[00:26:07] Speaker B: I think once.
Once December rolls around and all those, like, wacky prime time games just start showing up, it's like, hey, it's Tuesday night. What's on tv? The Bears are playing for some reason. Right on.
I think a lot of those games are going to be like, semi playoff games because, well, there's going to be a lot of teams that are eight. Eight or, you know, just on that, like, one win, cusp of taking their division or the wild card or.
And it's going to be an entertaining month where, like, the playoff picture is probably going to shift a couple times and some people are going to get their hearts broken.
[00:26:40] Speaker A: So let's do that. I know we're running low on time because.
[00:26:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:44] Speaker A: Here on the game. So we got two things. I want three things. I want to get to two that are tied. The same thing. Like. So I wanted. I wanted to do two predictions. I wanted to give our top five power rankings going into this season and that I want to predict the divisional winners this year. Just the winners. And on top of that, I guess there's a third one, your super bowl winner. So there's three things. Okay, so let's do our power rankings. I'll start the power rankings, and then we'll work around that way. All right, so I'm going to go. I'm going to go from five to one. Okay. And from number five, I'm going to give to the Kansas City Chiefs. I'm going to say they're my number five this year. I can feel Travis Kelce hucking a football at my window. For number four, I'm gonna go with. And I wrote this down, and it's gonna be a surprise because of my picks later on. But my number four, I'm actually gonna give to the Philadelphia Eagles a little bit of a number three, I am gonna give to the Detroit Lions. Okay. Number two, I'm gonna Go to the Buffalo Bills. Number one power ranking for me this year, divisional rival. Who I really dislike, the Baltimore Ravens. Okay. And I say that I dislike because of the sweater that I'm wearing, but got a feeling about those Ravens this year, and. Nope, that's not my pick for Super Bowl. Okay. I'm just letting you know that. But there's the top five. My power rank. It's. How about you? Hike.
[00:28:08] Speaker B: I mean, number five. It feels like slander to not have the lines in the top five, and I don't want to hurt Pat's feelings, so I'm gonna keep the Lions at five. My gripe with this, and I'm not going to go on a big story because we're crunched for time, but. But the way they folded in the playoffs, you got to be better than that if you're going to be a top five team. You can't do like that.
Don't hump the ground and then your pants in the game. Don't do that. Be better. That's it.
Number four. I'm. I'm agreeing with you on the Eagles there. I didn't see.
It's like. It's kind of shitty to keep them that low, but I didn't really do anything in the offseason to get better.
I don't want to have the Chiefs at three, so I'm not. I'm gonna put Washington at three.
Just an absolute wild card. Throwing Washington in there with all the changes they've done.
Bills at 2, Ravens at 1.
[00:29:02] Speaker A: Love that. Love that. Ravens. Thank you.
Ravens are for real now. Divisional winners. I'm gonna go.
I want. I'll let you go first with this one. Who you think's winning each division?
[00:29:14] Speaker B: Let's. You're gonna rhyme off divisions or.
[00:29:16] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:29:17] Speaker B: You know what? We'll go.
[00:29:18] Speaker A: You know what? I'll kick it off, actually. We'll ripple, pivot, and we'll do. I'll just go down the list from AFC to nfc. So the AFC East. I'm gonna go with the Bills. The AFC West. I'm gonna go with the Chiefs. The North, I'm gonna go with the. With the Ravens. With the South, I'm gonna go with the Texans. With the NFC East, I'm gonna go with the cow. No, I'm not. Wow. Cowboys. Let me rephrase. The Eagles. Yikes. With the NFC West, I'm gonna go with the 49ers. I don't care. 49ers are winning that division this year. The NFC North, Lions. But Colby, a tight Division, My goodness. And the NFC south in the Kakapoopu Division. I'm going to call it.
I'll be nice. I'm going to give this to the Buccaneers. Easily, easily winning this division this year.
[00:30:04] Speaker B: All right, so I'm going to go Bills, Ravens, Broncos. And then just because I hate every team in my division, I am taking Tennessee to win the AFC South.
Every player that Cam Ward played with at Miami has been cut, I believe, from their NFL team. So that leads me to believe that he is the man and he's going to do it in Tennessee.
[00:30:32] Speaker A: Okay?
[00:30:33] Speaker B: Lions, Washington, the Bucks, the Rams.
[00:30:38] Speaker A: Love that. Love that. It's different picks. Love it. And I can't believe I called the NFC south the Kakapoopoo Division.
[00:30:45] Speaker B: Definitely.
[00:30:46] Speaker A: I'm in dad mode for sure. But it is a kaka poopoo.
[00:30:49] Speaker B: It is until it isn't.
[00:30:51] Speaker A: Yeah. 100.
Now the. The third thing. Super bowl favorite. Hike. Go first. Who's your super bowl winner?
[00:30:57] Speaker B: Early right now? Only because I just want to see it happen. And their alternate jerseys are sick as hell.
[00:31:03] Speaker A: The Bills, I would love to see it happen, too. But I'm actually going to say it's the Lions year. I'm going to say this is it. The Lions will do it this year. I have a gut feeling. But my true instincts is the Ravens. But I'm going to say the Lions are going to do it this year. Lions fans, make sure you like and comment and follow the show because I know there's a good chunk of you who listen to the show. So if you're not following, shame on you because I'm giving you love and I'm not even saying that. Don't forget about this team right here this year because if Aaron Rodgers come. I'm just kidding. I'm not going to get into Aaron Rodgers. Not going to give him the time. Nonetheless, this will be an exciting football here. Hike. And we here on in the Pocket have a tradition. And as we wrap up towards the end, before Connor joins us. Pick them is back, baby. Pick them is back. And we're gonna list our picks for week one. Last year, I started the year 15 and one.
Yes, I did. Let's see if I can match what I did last year. That means I have to go 15 and one or go 16. Oh. Or just. Just get everything right. You know, that's. That's not very likely. But last year I am considering myself the defending champ. Despite that EJ resigned early. I am still taking the title from him because I just feel like it that's, that's, that's main reason why. Hike. I'm gonna go to you first to lay out your winners for this week before we conclude in the pocket.
[00:32:18] Speaker B: All right, so I'm taking Philly, I'm taking KC over the Chargers, taking Tampa over Atlanta, Cincy over Cleveland, Indy over Miami, Vegas over New England, Arizona over New Orleans, Pittsburgh over the Jets, Washington over the Giants, Jacksonville over Carolina. Yuck. Denver over Tennessee, San Fran over Seattle, Detroit over Green Bay, Rams over Houston, Buffalo over Baltimore and Minnesota over. So for tiebreakers, I got Minnesota 24, Chicago 18 and Buffalo 34, Baltimore 31.
Most points this week, Arizona. Least points this week, New Orleans.
[00:32:59] Speaker A: Oh, I was actually not picking New Orleans for my least score this week. I got another team and I think I might get a, I might get hunted down by the mafia for it. And you'll laugh when you know. Hike. When you watch a documentary coming up. There's my spoiler going with this week. I'm going to say the Eagles, Chiefs, Bucks, Bengals, Dolphins, Raiders, Cardinals, Steelers, Commanders, Panthers over the Jags. Take that too on FanDuel or Bet365. Telling you right now, Broncos. Yes, I'm promoting betting 49ers. Lions, Rams, Bills, Vikings, Vikings 21, bears 1721. Ravens 27. Bills. Even though I said the Ravens will be number one, this is their one and only loss this year, I'm saying the Ravens are losing one second this year. That is this week. And the most points this week, Eagles less least.
Cowboys, Week one, game one. We're going to see a high scoring Eagles game and the Cowboys are just going to be all sorts of. I don't know what's going on. They're not going to get more than a field goal this week. That's my prediction for week one. Book it because Dave was 15:1 last year. Might be 1 in 15 this week or whatever if I got my math right.
[00:34:16] Speaker B: Might want to give Hannah your phone so you don't do any betting this weekend.
[00:34:21] Speaker A: Love that hike. You know, as Connor waits in the winds here, as we get ready for our strike zone, as he's logged on patiently.
[00:34:27] Speaker B: Patiently I might add.
[00:34:29] Speaker A: Yeah, he's a very patient guy. We're only a couple minutes over. This is a record for in the pocket.
[00:34:34] Speaker B: Honestly, this is like a 15 out of 10 for us.
[00:34:37] Speaker A: Yeah, this is literally. If EJ was here, we'd still be on the first point about Travis Kelce getting engaged.
But we're, we're not there. Hike. My friend. This has been in the Pocket. We'll be back next week, so I want to say thank you to you for taking the time and we'll see how this picks the picks this week go, my friend.
[00:34:55] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, we'll see how it shakes out. Everybody enjoy the football this weekend and have fun, fellas. Talk to you next week.
[00:35:01] Speaker A: I do the sia. You got to do the. Yeah, there it is.
[00:35:04] Speaker B: I gotta get the salute.
We'll get. We'll find Polish this next week.
[00:35:10] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
Now, without further ado, what a nice, easy transition. Obviously, on the video side, if you're watching, you got to wait and see Connor get ready beforehand. That's great, because then you get to look at him like, oh, my God, Connor's here.
You get yourself ready in the mirror. Even though Connor can't see you, we can. We can feel you here on the game sports podcast. As weird as that sounds, I don't care. Connor, my friend, great to see you. It's been. You know, I was telling the listeners at the beginning and the viewers, I gotta make sure I say both because listeners is audio, viewers is video, you know, etiquette, you know, because we follow that very well on the show. That's not a joke. We do, but the beginning. I mentioned how we had a month off and we were hoping to do a bit more baseball content this summer, but life got in the way.
It would. Things came up, and during July and August, the game had, as always, since 2016. This is our going into near a 10th year. Connor, man, man. 10 years. And we've been on live, we've been around live radio. We've done it. The Sue's allowed us to be the market. Thank you.
You know, no one's wanted to. I'm not going to encourage anyone to start up. I'm just kidding. If you want to start a podcast, do.
But that aside, we've been around for 10 years hitting this year, Connor. But every year here, July and August, we have taken a break. But we did have shows throughout the summer. We had a few episodes, we had some clips get up while we've done it. But now we're into our routine. We're back. It's after Labor Day, and every time when this time of year comes, we see a lot more of Connor. You know why we see a lot more, Connor? Because Strike Zone. And this is our Strike Zone segment, baby. And it's baseball. And it's the hot month of baseball. Not literally because of the weather, not just because the roster expansion in the ML, not just because the Pandas didn't make the finals for the first time in four years in men's league baseball. It's okay. We had a good run, very good teams this year, which was very exciting, by the way, to add. And I think the finals is going on right now as we speak. It's the Cardinals. I think they're playing despite the weather because the two teams I think they are could be wrong, but nonetheless, Connor, you heard that we didn't make it. But this means now we're hitting playoff time in mlb. Like we're heading close to playoff time. We can, we can smell it. We. It's around the corner, it's less than 30 days, around 30 days away where we're going to have a full playoff picture. And since we last talked, the standings and teams have changed a whole bunch. And in a good way, may I add, a very exciting way because if you listen to a previous edition of the game, I was pretty vocal about a few things about the Jays and now they're in a different spot. And the last time the Jays paid the Tigers and go too well for the, for the Tigers. It's, you know, it'd be a nice AL, ALCS matchup. You know, wouldn't that be just absolutely pretty for us? But jokes aside, Connor, before we get into that, how are you? I gotta say that. How are you, my friend? I missed you.
[00:38:06] Speaker C: I'm doing good, Dave. I missed you. The month off always hurts the soul, but we're back and well rested, ready to roll. And, and like you said, this time of the year is perfect for sports. Football starting up, hockey's right around the corner and baseball is reaching its peak. Drama. So excited to talk about it and excited to dig into a few stories here. I think there's one in particular that's not on this large scale, but, but on a small, smaller scale that I really wanted to touch on with Aroldus Chapman that I thought would be really cool to touch on. And of course, looking at the Jays and the Tigers heading into their playoff pushes as you've got a couple teams now, especially in the AL east, nipping at the tails of the Toronto Blue Jays, those being the Red Sox and the Yankees.
[00:38:51] Speaker A: Of course they are. Hate the Yankees. Sorry. There's my one swear for the day.
You know, I, I gotta say that this is our. We were talking about in the Pocket being our ninth year of in the Pocket and top shelf. We've done three different hockey segments between the late Scott Nason and myself. And even with myself, Brad Cochimigo, before being part of the show. Yes, I name dropped Brad. It's been, it's been a long time since that name on the show, but we went through different names of hockey so top shelf being the official name is it's seven years but this, this is not far behind those we're hitting our sixth year of strike zone based on what I saw looking back Connor so like the show has been around for 10 years, but people got to realize that it didn't come over into Sault Ste. Marie as a podcast until after our first year on live radio on on Eagle 95.1 across the river and then expanding to ESPN 1400 radio. And now after Scott had passed, I directed the show towards podcasting and Sault Ste Marie is the home base now it's not a shared home base like we had off the obviously given the nature of where I and we all live for the most part but six years, Connor, of diving into this as an official segment. We've always talked baseball, but we've been doing this and we've been doing it and I told Heikal that I want to see if you laugh at this, if you can find yourself somebody who looks at you the way the game sports podcast is loyal to each other and is to each other. Hold them tight. Because this family I appreciate and I want to say I'm very excited to dive into this. I know it's been already near the end of baseball season. It's a little bit of a different timeline each summer given our schedule. But this is I'm very excited about September, especially when the Blue Jays are winning and Canada should be excited too, because this is when enrollment for baseball picks up. This is when popularity in baseball and that's one topic I had for you today. Actually, before we get into talking about the teams itself, I know you want to talk about a role this Chapman, so I'm going to give you the full floor on that. The veteran clothes are locking. An extension with the Red Sox floor is yours.
[00:40:55] Speaker C: Yeah, one year 13 million. But I think the real story that's been making the rounds right now and I believe I saw Buster only tell this story online is nowadays for those who don't know, they do this thing called pitchcom or pitch tracks, where they basically stick a an earbud in the pitcher's ear. And rather than a catcher putting down finger signs to indicate I want a fastball, I want a curve curveball, now they just press a button and the pitcher could hear in their ear I want inside fastball, I Want low curveball away, you know, and, and that way there's no chance that the other team can steal signs because camera tech is so good.
[00:41:32] Speaker A: That's true.
[00:41:33] Speaker C: Teams are so, so looking for an edge and you know, if you can live update people on the fly with, with what pitch is coming, I mean these are pro hitters.
Over time it'll, it'll help them out. So, so there's this interesting story going around. Roll this. Chapman, AKA the Cuban Missile. Big six foot.
[00:41:53] Speaker A: A while since I heard that name. Oh my God, what a nickname. That's right.
[00:41:57] Speaker C: Jesus. These like 6 foot 5 and if you don't know him, I mean left handed power pitcher, the premier closer of our generation. Him and Craig Kimbrell would be the two guys from the last 15 years.
He's 37, but he's maintained his killer fastball velocity in triple digits. He was famous for once having the hardest pitch ever thrown at 105.4. I believe it's been broken now.
[00:42:24] Speaker A: I believe it is. I think it has.
[00:42:25] Speaker C: But ultimately I'm belaboring a bit here.
There was this story going around that with the pitch calm in his ear, the catcher clicked and it said throw inside fastball.
And Araldes described saying, it just clicked for me. And he threw his fastball inside and he got the guy out.
And it was the first time, I guess in his career where he had considered spotting his pitches, which seems, seems insane before.
So I guess previously he was just, he'd see one and he would just huck a fastball towards the plate and would just kind of let it ride like he wasn't spotting the. And until he had. Yeah, I swear to God.
[00:43:10] Speaker A: Men's league. Men's league. That's what that is. That's how it's men's league.
[00:43:14] Speaker C: You know what? And like when you don't have good control, if you aim for the center, you'll probably hit one of the corners anyway. But if you, you know, professional pitchers are supposed to spot their pitches because hitters have tendencies. So when you have a guy like Araldes who's had as much success as he had, I mean, he's a future hall of Famer in my opinion.
And now he's having the best season he's ever pitched in his life with a one era, he's getting a new contract, he's built like a brick house. Also, at age 37, he's used a unit. But all because the little voice in his. Rather than seeing the one finger that says fastball or maybe where it's pointing.
[00:43:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:43:52] Speaker C: Hearing the word inside fastball and then everything clicks after. You know, for him, what is probably 25 years, 30 years of playing baseball, and now he's having the best season of his career at age 37.
[00:44:05] Speaker A: Imagine if he had that since day one and how good he was now. And to confirm, the hardest pitch, it's still a role. This chapman. It is 5.8. It still is. September 24, 2010. I thought that was broken, but it holds MLB stat cast and Guinness World record for fastest pitch is still the fastest officially recorded pitch at MLB speed history. So just to confirm that, I thought it was broken, too, but it's good. I wanted. That's what I typed to confirm. But he is still the Cuban missile. And imagine if he had the voice in his head since day one. You know, look at. Yeah, and I know he's a starter, but look at Paul Skeen's Hawking missiles. Yeah, right. The plan. Like, what if a role that was able to locate that fastball in a different way, different approach, what would be the advantage there? But you can think of the way to. Of how the past was to now for hitters in the day. There used to be the roid era. You know, that is a. That is a deemed era that we see. But I find it hard to always be mad at the people with the roid era, like, say it's cheating because it wasn't enforced. It was actually. I think it's. And we're getting into. I won't get into the topic. It's a. It's. It's a touchy topic, but perhaps encouraged by coaches, managers, friends, influences lead it. Don't get into that. But we're in a new era of baseball where relievers are throwing hard, throwing effects.
You know, to see someone throw that knuckle curve like Louis Varlan does on the Jays. It's not just by slower speed, not seeing the R.A. dickey, Tim Wakefield rest. Peace to Wakefield. But that knuckleball, you know, it's lost. I think Waldron's the only guy on San Diego that really hucks that.
I believe his last name is Waldron, but he throws that knuckleball to, like, some of the dying pieces. But one thing never died was that Aroldis Chapman has been throwing missiles. He's entered the league and given the nickname, but now he's throwing missiles with location. And that is some scary. And it's hilarious that you can hear and see back in the day where he was hucking and saying all right. And just hucking, just hucking for fun, like men's league. That's how I throw now, mind you. I throw 50. He throws 105. But. And you know, but like, it's, it's. It's. That's, that's. That's hilarious. That is hilarious. And he is flourishing with the Red Sox and. Right. He's been with the Yankees, he's been with the Reds. He's been with a few teams in his career. And at the age 37, you think, oh, is it done? And the Red Sox have found a guy that has found comfort and is still someone who's in very good shape for his age. You know, like someone who was doing it very effective at that age. There's very minimal closers that have. Mariano Rivera was very good as the best relief pitcher of all time, in my opinion. Obviously, he has the award named after him now, but he was doing very well at the higher age as he hit closer to that, to the near 40, even.
[00:46:41] Speaker C: Even his final season. He was still elite.
[00:46:44] Speaker A: Still elite. He probably had a couple years left in him.
[00:46:46] Speaker C: He did, yeah. For sure.
[00:46:48] Speaker A: But maybe there was sore. Who knows, right? You just know when your body hits that. You just know. You know, you just. You just know. I don't know that yet from playing men's league about sports and hockey.
[00:46:57] Speaker C: You're well away from that, Dave.
[00:46:59] Speaker A: You got well away. And plus, I don't throw hard enough if you're talking baseball, to have to retire from throwing. But I love that point, Connor, about bringing up with Chapman. Such a good topic guy. He's got the fastest pitch in registered history. But he's doing such a good year now. It's unfortunate he's on the Red Sox and this is happening if you're a Jays fan, even a Yankees fan. But you got to give credit where it's due, man. You're 37. You're still hucking balls like that. And you're still being the Cuban missile. You're still known as that. You got to walk around with swag. And when he throws that pitch at the end, he does that stance. He does a little.
[00:47:30] Speaker C: Yeah, he puts a little English on it.
[00:47:31] Speaker A: Gives a little. Oh, you gotta love it. Look. You know what? I wish that was more. Because if you look back at the bat flip with Bautista, we know what happened with Texas, right? Then you think of the bat drop with Incarnacion. The Orioles are even a bit mad at that. But now people are like, it's. People do more conceited. Let's call it reactions, but it's not conceited. It's emotion. What would you do in that moment? If I'm in front of 50,000 people and I hit a clutch home run that likely knew I was winning that series because of that. You, you bet your bottom dollar, especially me. I am hitting a celly like it's my last day on earth. Okay. And that's not because you're cocky.
[00:48:10] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:48:10] Speaker A: You're not up 11 five or 11 nothing. Sorry. In the bottom of the ninth and you hit a grand slam to make it 15 nothing. Or you're in the regular season game doing a bat flip and you know doing any. They'll down the. Or skip down the line. You're not doing that emotional. I love to see that emotion now. I've seen a different piece of that and Chapman doing his little like I love it. I think it's great. He has such swag. Such swag. And it's deserving that he gets the extension with the Sox.
[00:48:37] Speaker C: Absolutely. And speaking of the Sox and sort of that that push there, how are you feeling comfort wise with the Jays and their lead in the L East?
[00:48:45] Speaker A: You know what I said this a month ago when they swept the Yankees big pivotal, right. And this Friday the Jays play the Yankees in the Bronx. And they usually be pretty good in the Bronx and at Fenway they've been playing playing pretty good. The road records for teams this year are really weird. Like if you look at the Ales, for example, the Jays are.500. The Yankees are just three games above.500. The Sox are under.500. The Rays and Orioles are all under.500. If you look at teams in the American League, you can even scroll down. You can look at the Tigers three games above.500. Right? Look at the Astros two games above.500 on the road. That's in the American League. And if you look over at the National League, the only team that does very good on the road is the Brewers. Even the Dodgers are against game under.500 on the road. The Padres are six games under.500 on the road. The road has not been friendly to teams in the whole league. And I'm not counting the Rockies or teams that are trash in my opinion. I'm just talking about the teams that are in the competitive race. But in at home, look at the Jays, look at the Yankees. You know, they're almost, almost. It's not exact a handful off, but near 15, 20 games above.500. Because of your home success. Tigers very successful at home. 45 and 27 right. And the Astros pretty successful. And if you scroll down to the brewers, very successful at home. 45 and 25. Dodgers 45 and 26 despite a very bad away record. I bring that up because these games down the stretch, Connor, they're playing the Yankees in the Bronx. They got some road games where they're going to have to try to find find ways to win. And good ball teams, good teams in general in sports find ways to win. And in baseball, getting the bat on the ball, winning in small ball bullpen not sucking like the Jays bullpen has as of late. It was pivotal a month ago to get that lead that they did on the Red Sox and Yankees for breathing room for what we're talking about now. Because now you're in September now you're going to be playing a lot of games against your own division. From the last I checked, a lot of teams are playing teams in their own division and you've had a little bit of a lead. But now two and a half games is not a cushion. It's a breathing room to a degree where if you make one game mistake, it's fine. But you got to make sure you regroup and bounce back with a couple game winning streak and get back on and staying ahead of them. So how do I feel as a Blue Jays fan? I am not hitting no panic button, but I'm nervous but at the same time excited. This is like as a fan, what you look at the excitement down the stretch, earning that playoff push, earning that division. This is a very tough division in baseball. The Ales because of the Yankees and now the Red Sox surge. But no Blue Jay fan should be comfortable where they're at. And I hope the Blue Jays are comfortable and doesn't matter. This is going to come down to game 162 to win this division, I think between one of those three teams.
So I'll flip the question to you because you have a team that has a very, very good lead even though they had an atrocious August, if I remember correctly.
[00:51:39] Speaker C: Yeah, it wasn't.
[00:51:40] Speaker A: It wasn't.
It's so. But look at they still have a nine and a half game lead. The Jays don't have that luxury. But as a Tiger fan, I'm sure you're looking at like okay, yeah, unless we, we really crap the bed, we're in good shape here. You know, you're looking at an automatic buy likely, likely any kind of collapse despite what the Astros or Jays may do. But to win the division this year.
[00:52:06] Speaker C: Yeah, no, I completely agree you're 9 and a half games up with like 20 ish games left in the season, you're feeling pretty good. There's no cause for concern. I think one thing that I don't know if this is a benefit or not, I'd be curious for your take is so the Jays need to fight till the finish. Sometimes I feel like you never want to take your foot off the gas.
The Tigers are in a position right now where, not that they can take their foot off the gas, but you know, when, when there's not somebody nipping at your heels as you kind of cruise into the playoffs and then you have to work yourself back up where the Jays are sitting there and they're going Mach 10 flying into the playoffs, fighting for their lives. I wonder what team is better situated. Do the Jays burn out earlier because they've had to fight and scratch and close, or are they playoff ready from the get go while the Tigers are chilling and you know, maybe rope a dope hoping that their team stays healthy over this last stretch of games, Especially the pitching. When you see, you know, Reese Olson's had some injury this year, Casey Mize returning from his injury starting this season, Jackson Joe blew his arm out like the Tigers, you know, their pitching staff has, has, you know, taken a, taken a hit. They're, they're trying to maintain and, and just sort of steady the ship. As you said, they had a rough stretch there midway through the summer and they want to course correct it to make sure that they're, they're full steam ahead. But yeah, I, I really, I'm curious whether it's better or worse to be in, in fight or flight mode because the Tigers went into the playoffs last year fighting for their lives over that last, you know, 30 games or so, right. And great right run. Right. And then they take that, that energy and that rush and I mean, sure, they, they ended up getting bounced in the playoffs. They weren't particularly close to the World Series by any means when they, they lost to Cleveland. But ultimately they fought their way in and they had momentum and they were, you know, a few pitches away from, from knocking off Cleveland and advancing. Jays on the other hand, you know, they're fighting in a tougher division against tougher competition. They've got just as good of a record as the Tigers and they have to stay in peak performance to maintain it as they fight their way through. I mean, hell, they've got four players right now on their, on the roster who are in and around.300 batting average in an era where nobody has a.300 batting average anymore and they've got, you know, with Springer and Kirk and, and Bo and Vladdy now. I mean, heck, the season Bo's having, what a, what a bounce back from, from injury. This is a dream season.
He saw that money that Vladdy got and now he's thinking, oh, it's my turn.
[00:54:44] Speaker A: I remember saying about Bo Quick is to be cautious about spending with him because he's had those ups and down seasons. But you mentioned flight or flight and what I want to share about flight or flight. Fight or flight. Easy for me to say. There's risks and pros to the flight. Okay. Like to the flight piece, you can rest, healing, give people opportunities, help grow momentum, get back into a swing. That is a pro to it. A risk is letting the foot off the gas, not feeling the pressure, then having to do it in the playoffs.
The fight is the risk of injury because you're playing guys every day, your top pitchers, maybe you got to switch around. I know they played a six man rotation with the Jays right now. Bieber's been a great addition.
I know he's currently starting as we talk right now against the Reds. But the, that is where you risk injury, but you do go into the playoffs with a step forward in momentum. Right? I agree with those points. So what's the better point? And I'm not saying this as a Jays fan, I'm actually referencing the Tigers last year because you said it and I'm referencing the Jays, Yankees and Red Sox now.
I would rather fight because you learn how, how to fight. You're playing playoff baseball right now, today.
Every team is still, because there's still so much time left. But when you look at the Tigers, you're like, you'd have to really, really mess up. Okay? Like you'd have to. That would be. People would be fired type scenario if stuff happened like that. But I would rather fight. But that doesn't take away anything from the teams. Like the Tigers, I guess, like the, the brewers, like, despite how good that they're doing, they're only five games up on the Cubs.
[00:56:26] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:56:27] Speaker A: Like they're still, they're going to be fighting. So there's a lot of parity in the league for that. So a lot of teams are fighting. And to be open, the Tigers, the only team that I think have more of that flight scenario, despite five games or six games for the Phillies and five games for the Cubs behind the brewers, that's not. That can change in a week.
The Tigers need two weeks to Struggle for the Royals to catch them. Right. And there's only three and a half weeks left of the season. So I would rather fight Connor. I think that's my honest opinion. But you can also. The risk of injury is so much higher and then you go into the playoffs with injuries and wounds. But when it comes to the playoffs, the wild card game doesn't matter if you're a wildcard team or divisional team. Doesn't, doesn't matter where you go. It's, it's, it's a miniseries or it's a one game elimination. If you're talking about the wild card. Right. So anything thing can happen.
And maybe if you're a team that had the flight, maybe, maybe if you didn't have momentum going and you win that one wild card game, if you didn't get that buy, maybe that's the only fight that you need. So it really depends. But I'd rather fight. And I'm sure you, I don't know if you agree, but I would, I would rather drop the mitts and go to work. I'd rather go to work and be like, let's do this. Every game's a playoff game.
[00:57:39] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. Like iron sharpens iron, right? And you want to be battle tested before you hit the playoffs. It is great. I mean, the Bieber thing with the Jays is awesome. Scherzer coming back like you got a couple psychos getting added to the starting rotation. It's never a bad idea to give yourself a little bit more firepower. But it was a cheeky move too. Like, I didn't see anything on the, on the radar that Bieber was getting eyed up. And here he is coming in, former Cy Young winner, great pick.
[00:58:09] Speaker A: He has five. I'm looking at the score right now as we talk. It's mid fifth. The Jays are up 6, 5. Bieber has let five runs, but, you know, for the first two games he's been dealing for the Jays. Right. But pivotal series against the Yankees coming up for, for the Blue Jays and the Tigers. Every game is pivotal as you go near the playoffs. But they get to, they're chilling.
[00:58:26] Speaker C: They're. They're chilling a bit. Yeah, for sure. I.
[00:58:29] Speaker A: And they got the White Sox coming up like, yeah, have a good breeze after the White Sox. You got the Yankees. Hopefully the Tigers beat the Yankees. Listen, Tigers fans, look here, we got you.
We need, we need, we need a Detroit Tigers, Toronto Blue Jays, alcs. I need that. I know it creates tension and Sault Ste. Marie being me and Connor will chirp and have fun, you know, because that's just how we are. But would love to see that. And that's my prediction for the ALCs to be open with you. That's who I think think it is. ALCS this year, I think we're going to see some Tiger Jays mix and Jays fans are going to flood Comerica and Tigers fans are going to flood the Rogers Center. It's going to be something. And we have some. We have a chance to witness greatness with baseball here. And I'll let you have a point to that. Then a second point to as we near our wrap up here, the Blue Jays being in first, heck, even the Tigers do help. But I wanted to touch on Canadian baseball.
The Detroit Detroit or the Toronto Blue Jays being successful helps enrollment in Baseball Canada.
And you can't tell me any different. Am I right or am I wrong?
[00:59:35] Speaker C: Yeah, without question.
You can even look at when Vladi or. Sorry, not when Vladdy. When the bat flip and the batista Edwin Encarnacion era around 2014, 2015 really spiked. And then you look at enrollment in Sault Ste. Marie baseball as like a sample. The kids in your open league, Dave, who are like 20, 21 years old, those kids would have been getting enrolled in baseball, you know, 10 years ago in and around the point where so the bat flip, you know what I mean?
[01:00:07] Speaker A: So those.
[01:00:08] Speaker C: So that's when, you know, the best athletes see the Jays succeeding. And mom and dad like, I don't want to just do summer ice. I want to do summer ice with my hockey and play baseball. And you get that mixed bag of experience where in Sault Ste. Marie in particular, our best athletes typically play hockey.
But now we're starting to see some spillover into other sports. Football, of course, but then also now baseball. Whenever the Jays do well, Sioux baseball does well, Canada, baseball does well. And same goes for the Tigers. They're a border town bordering on southwestern Ontario, London Windsor areas and Hamilton. And those regions are not only hotbeds for baseball, but they're hotbeds for sports. And when the Tigers and Detroit sports do well, baseball in Canada succeeds. The fact that both the Blue Jays and the Tigers are good at the same time, it's rare. When the Tigers were World Series competitors in the early 2010s, the Jays weren't as good. Then the Tigers fell off, the Jays got better and they were the competitors. And we sort of had this yin and yang with them for a bit. Now, now they're both good and it's, it's perfect. Couldn't ask for more.
[01:01:18] Speaker A: And I'm gonna go to the ALCS game telling you and I both are gonna go to an ALCS game if they play. Connor. I'm telling you right now. We're going as we wrap up strike zone in our show here tonight because this is the last segment of the show football and baseball it on this show Pocket brief little bit of love at the beginning but it's taking a back seat here today. Hawk he's taken still on vacation but any final thoughts you want to bring forward before we hit the the final.
[01:01:45] Speaker C: The wrap up shall we say nothing further. Just looking forward to the playoff push heading into the last few weeks of the season. And shout out to my dad his team finished with a silver medal at provincials for their U13 selects this past weekend. So heartbreaker. They lost by one run in the final game. Shout out to Pat Henderson, former Black Sox coach, current U13 selects coach in.
[01:02:07] Speaker A: The zoo honestly and I know there was another team I can't recall their age but the finished third at provincials as well. There was a team that finished third at provincials I forget 14 it's been.
[01:02:18] Speaker C: It'S been successful year there's a dedicated selects win for the U13s and the U8 Black Sox also did very well in their obas at the rep level a division they finished I think top four in the province at their division which was the best season they've had in 15 years.
[01:02:36] Speaker A: Let's do that and to remind everyone the game sports podcast located Sioux City Maurice we are going to give a little bit of extra some extra love when Sioux stuff happens and it's good to see for baseball now the last hot take that I'll say and I wanted to end the show on this and you can go ahead and show them this. All right this year yours truly and I'll brag and my team's gonna chirp me on it. Dave McCaig highest average on the pandas with a.368 average.
I gotta do that second in RBI only to Nathan in inch an inch had a web an epic year last year I had a 5 ERA but this year I ended with a 10 ERA.
[01:03:12] Speaker C: Twice as good as last year.
[01:03:14] Speaker A: It was it wasn't great but my batting has been great. I definitely hit singles but I had to show a little I want to not just give my stats for probably a one of my just a great year all around. Despite not getting our third title in four years we've won a couple times. Time to share but the best men's league pitcher in Sault ste. Marie is 100. I know. People think Bryce off the. Off the Flamingos. And I forget his last name.
Thank you. People think Binkley, Tyler Binkley drafted by the Mets. Very easy. He's great, very good. But there's one guy, Colton Reed, my guy there is a very good effing pitcher. That's all I gotta say. I'm giving love to Colton Reed as. As my, my. Let's call it the Game Sports podcast. I don't have a trophy near me. I thought I did. But we'll pretend as my little MVP because I'm. I'm predicting the swing away Cardinals are winning men's league playoffs this year, which is a. Trudeau is on the Cardinals and I had a great hit off Trudeau this year and I'm gonna bug them all year.
[01:04:17] Speaker C: Good.
[01:04:18] Speaker A: I love it. I think he gave me one down the pipe. Connor. Okay.
[01:04:21] Speaker C: No, no, you're sitting on him.
[01:04:24] Speaker A: Curveball down the middle. I looked at it and I saw it. I'm like, oh my.
A little bit of a gift. We were losing nine nothing. So very nice to you truths to do that. But Connor, my friend, it has been a pleasure. We are back weekly here on the game every Tuesday. So the hope is that we can have you on. I know we did a little longer today. That's fine. I left a little bit of extra room for baseball on the show here today because lots to catch up on. But I would like to ensure we get you on each week as we near playoffs. As long as it fits for your schedule. And get our strike zone as we hit the playoff time, my friend.
[01:04:56] Speaker C: It's right around the corner, Dave. I'm looking forward to it.
[01:04:59] Speaker A: Awesome. Awesome. And I hope all's well with you and everything. So I appreciate you taking the time and outside of baseball, hope you get to enjoy some football watching this, this, this weekend.
[01:05:09] Speaker C: We'll try it. We'll try to get. Get some games and hopefully, fingers crossed, we'll see. Hopefully my, my Browns will have a better season last than last year.
[01:05:19] Speaker A: You and E.J. need to meet. You and E.J. need to meet Browns fans. I know two Browns fans. Oh my God.
Connor. Thank you again, my friend. And I want to say thank you again to Justin Heikle, to everyone here on the Game Sports podcast who's involved to you, the viewers and listeners. I gotta give a shout out to my wife. She's a rock star. She lets I work all day. I come here, record a podcast and she's putting her kid to bed. Like, shout out to Hannah, like, deserves every bit of that.
And she's our social media manager on the Game Sports podcast. So you know what, she just gets all the extra accolades today.
But nonetheless, we are back here with the game. Very excited to get back into a routine. We're rested, we're ready to lock and load and Connor, I want to say thank you again, my friend, and we'll see you next week.
[01:06:01] Speaker C: Thanks, Dave. Thanks for having me.
[01:06:03] Speaker A: Of course. Now we are now at the the exit part of the show was thank you again to Connor and to the crew here on the Game Sports podcast. And we'll be back Tuesday. Next week is when we record. But today being Wednesday, we did have to push the recording the additional day to Thursday. So we do plan to have our uploads occur on Wednesday or Thursday mornings just to make you aware of that. So we have a lot of great things coming this year and I'm very happy you're able to join us for our, let's say, return from break show. But baby, we're back and forth. Hockey's around the corner and I'm very excited about hockey, especially as my birthday was a few weeks ago and I found out I'm going to watch Mitch Marner against the Toronto Maple Leafs in January. Doggy. It's going to be a great year of sports indeed. Now, until next week, I'm here to remind you, keep your stick on the ice, swing your bats, catch touchdowns, drain your threes and shoot your shots. Oh, yeah.
