Rates & Barrels - The Padres rally to force Game 3, the A's advance and the Reds can't score

Episode Date: October 2, 2020

Eno, Britt and DVR discuss the Padres' thrilling Game 2 win over the Cards, the A's triumph over the White Sox, and the Reds bowing out of the postseason without plating a run.  Rundown 1:20 Who Pitches for San Diego in Game 3? 6:33 The A's Advance to the ALDS 10:49 Does Rick Renteria Deserve This Much Criticism? 15:50 Ian Anderson Delivers 18:06 Will the Reds' Offense Be a Strength in 2021? 24:27 Marcell Ozuna's Fake Selfie & Mic'ing Up Players in a Playoff Game? 33:35 The Dodgers Cruise, But What Happens with Kenley Jansen Going Forward? 37:04 What's Next for the Brewers? 39:28 Marlins-Cubs & Cards-Padres Predictions Follow Eno on Twitter: @enosarris Follow Britt on Twitter: @Britt_Ghiroli Follow DVR on Twitter: @DerekVanRiper e-mail: [e-mail] Subscribe to The Athletic for $1/month: theathletic.com/ratesandbarrels Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Peloton. Forget the pressure to be crushing your workout on day one. Just start moving with the Peloton Bike, Bike Plus, Tread, Row, Guide, or App. There are thousands of classes and over 50 Peloton instructors ready to support you from the beginning. Remember, doing something is everything. Rent the Peloton Bike or Bike Plus today at onepeloton.ca slash bike slash rentals. All access memberships separate. Terms apply. Welcome to Rates and Barrels, episode number 147, playoff episode number 5.

Derek Van Ryper, Eno Saris, Britt Giroli here with you. It is Friday, October 2nd. We are moving through this wildcard round, and it was a wild day on Thursday. A lot of exciting games to talk about. We got a few game threes coming up on Friday to get ready for as well. Let's get right into it. Let's start with the Padres-Cardinals game, which was bananas for a whole lot of reasons. And I think the best stat I saw today came from Sarah Langs on Twitter, at Slangsangs on Sports, if you're looking for the very phonetic handle there. Fernando Tatis and Will Myers both hit two home runs in this game. It's the first

time teammates did that in the postseason since October 1st, 1932, when Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig did that. It's amazing that it was actually on the same day, too, with these games both being on October 1st. But here's the thing that I'm still kind of laughing about. Trevor Rosenthal, Britt, who you saw with the Nationals last year, is an important reliever on a team that a lot of us like to make a deep run in this postseason. And this game was back and forth, and Rosenthal made it very interesting until the very last out.

Yeah, you know, guys, I'm as excited as everyone else that the Padres won that game. My main question, though, is that it was a nail-biter, and they scored 11 runs. So who pitches for them now in Game 3? Yes, they had to get there. I get that. But they're missing two very important starters already. We know this. They already used Paddock. They already used Davies, who started tonight and did not look sharp, obviously, early.

They fell behind 6-2 pretty early on. As fun as this offense is, as much as I want the Slam Diego Padres to continue, I'm very worried about what they do tomorrow in an all-hands-on-deck situation, because tonight was all-hands-on-deck. So, you know, if you're the Padres and you're Jace Tingler, like, who do you pitch? Like, how do you even navigate through this game right now? It's going to be tough. Richards threw three pitches, so i think he's on board for an inning or two um adrian morahan they've been careful with so maybe an inning from him and then as tough as it sounds i think you might have to you know and what's funny is front offices do this they will

write a plan down they will write a plan and give it to their manager. And maybe some organizations differ with like how much power the manager has to change that plan. Like famously, David Roberts maybe has less power to change that plan. And famously, probably, you know, Nationals managers have had more power in the past because it's a little bit slightly different organization. I would say that with AJ Preller at the helm, Tingler is going to be able to have some autonomy when it comes to changing the plan. But I think the plan will be Patino, Morahan, Garrett Richards. You go righty, lefty, righty. Maybe it's Morahan, Patino, Richards, something like that. You mess with the go righty lefty righty maybe it's morahan patino richard something like that you you you mess with the righty lefty thing and that means that patino and morahan

two rookies they throw real hard they have a lot of stuff they don't always have the best command but it's gonna be on the backs of two rookies and one last note about trevor rosenthal there since he entered the league um minimum 200 innings thrown by relievers. He has the 16th worst walk rate, um, of any reliever like that. And the other 15 that are ahead of him are out of the league. So that was always,

we all, you know, that's a thing. I mean, you watched him. He had the yips last year. And he had the yips tonight. Right? Yes. Do you, do you trust him he had the yips last year and he had the yips tonight right yes yes do you do you trust him i was like oh there's trevor rosenthal i mean he's pitching against his former team right he's from lee summit like there's a lot i'm sure going going on

pitching against the cardinals in that scenario but man he looked shaky and we know the velo's there right we know the impressive fastball is there. The issue is he just doesn't know where it's going sometimes. And I don't know if I trust him. I don't know if they're going to have a choice, though. Like you said, there's going to be a plan. There's not going to be too much variance just based on the workload here. The good news is their offense is finally hitting.

The bad news is, guys, where did the Cardinals offense come from? I've been very surprised. I know that playoff Yachty is way better than regular Yachty, but still, up and down this Cardinals lineup, their defense obviously has improved vastly as well. San Diego's made a lot more errors, I feel like, overall in these first two games. But St. Louis hitting might be one of the bigger surprises to me in all of this

postseason. Yeah. Paul Goldschmidt had a big home run, almost brought the Cardinals back in this one. You look at Dylan Carlson. We talked about him being in that cleanup spot. He didn't do much in game two, but did draw a couple of walks.

Colton Wong homered in this game. I mean, I think what it is, it's a little bit like what we talked about with the Cubs, where the Cardinals do have a few older players who've underperformed this season. If they get something closer to their previous norms, then the offense wakes up a bit and becomes scary. But I think that's still pretty unlikely.

I mean, we saw Matt Carpenter in that bat he had against Rosenthal in the ninth. He swung at a pitch that went about 56 feet. bat he had against Rosenthal in the ninth, he swung at a pitch that went about 56 feet. And I don't think the Cardinals are actually that good. And I know it's a dangerous thing to say in October because I've said it before and they've gone on to win with devil magic, with players that you just don't think they can win with. So I think the silver lining here, and it's a good point with Patino, he hasn't pitched in the series yet. He's the freshest arm that the Padres have available. I don't know if they let him go more than about three innings,

if he's pitching well. Most of the relievers they've used have gone one inning or less. So generally, even though it's going to be back-to-back-to-back for some of those guys, it's actually doable, relatively speaking. It wasn't like a situation like we saw with the a's where liam hendricks threw was 45 pitches on wednesday and then he came back and hit 100 he was 49 49 really good the a's hey look the a's exercise some playoff demons today and i feel like

i feel like it took a long time to watch that one play out. It felt like that was the slowest game I've ever watched. No, the slowest game you ever watched was that Cleveland Yankees game. I know. I'm flipping back and forth, though, on that one. The problem with the A's game is it was standalone. And the reason why the A's game was so slow was a little bit different right than the cleveland yankees game because the cleveland yankees game get in the box you know the hitters are walking around in circles the pitchers are looking at the sky and you're like what is there

a game on and you know you kind of like get on the get in the box get on the mound i think with the a's thing and the socks, it was a little bit different. These are young players, a lot of them, like most of them actually, because these are young teams. The difference was, I think they used 18 pitchers? Yeah, it was the pitching changes. It wasn't pace of play. It was this is an elimination game. Guys are getting hurt.

We're trying to make adjustments. And one bummer of a news item, aside from the fact that the White Sox were eliminated, Garrett Crochet left with forearm tightness. Hopefully that doesn't end up being anything serious, but that was a big blow for them early on in that game. And it ended up being a really big blow because they had planned, they planned to go to a bullpen game because Crochet was actually warming as Dane Dunning was pitching. And, you know, I don't think that one or two runs would have decided that game. As much as I like the bullpen strategy,

I don't think the White Sox, A, have the bullpen depth to... You saw it. They don't. They don't have the bullpen depth to really do a full nine-inning bullpen game. You don't really want to do that in an elimination game if you don't have to. Like, the Cardinals are favored tomorrow because, in some, on some level, because they have Jack Flaherty going, as opposed to, you know, all hands on deck bullpen type thing. And, you know, you don't think that one or two runs is going to finish that game off. So I would have let Dane Dunning go for an inning or two, even if I was

going to go to crochet. And what happens is, go to crochet and this guy sits 99. So all of a sudden he's sitting 96 and they pull him. And then it just was downhill from there. Just reliever change after reliever change. And it proved they didn't really have the bullpen depth to sustain that strategy. And I would also say one last thing. I've been fascinated by like what good coaching is and what good coaching looks like. And I think a lot of it is soft skills and people skills. And I'm not yelling at Rick Renteria for pulling guys out early or leaving guys in too long or whatever it is that people are yelling about. I'm yelling at Rick Renteria for those squats he was doing and the body language he was giving off.

Dude, that dude looked nervous every time they they showed rick rentaria i got nervous and i didn't care you know about what was gonna happen you know so i think you know there's a lot to be said for uh bruce bocci you know i it's weird to bring up bruce bocci here but bruce bocci like i i don't think you can hear his heart rate you know what i mean it's like one of those things it pounds like once an hour and that's i think that's been a good thing for him in the postseason he never won um a manager of the year what stupid stupid award he never won manager of the year in san francisco but then he goes to the postseason he's just like steady eddie dude and like you know Eddie dude and super calm

and everyone's like, oh yeah, Boach, we love him. Yeah, guys, Eno voted for manager of the year for those of you who are wondering why that was laced with sarcasm. My kid took the fart gun. And I've been laced with sarcasm. The fart gun has gone missing. My kid took the fart gun and I would do the fart gun.

The fart gun, for those of you who don't know, is from the movie Despicable Me, which is not a children's movie. It's for everyone. So carry on, Britt. Oh, I've actually never seen it. So I'll add it to my list. It's okay. I know.

It's okay. I know. I'll add it to my list. But the interesting thing with Renteria, I'm glad you brought it up. One, he's getting skewered by the White Sox media already for those decisions. And two, this is the first time he's ever managed a good team, a team with any kind of expectations. You know, and so people are kind of wondering, is he the manager of the next really good White Sox team, right? Could be a scapegoat, right?

Right. Like you're looking at this White Sox team and OK, this should be the beginning of it all, right? They're similar to the Blue Jays. We think this is just the tip of the iceberg of a of a long few years, at least of them being good at being competitive. You look at this lineup, you look at some of the talent that they have pitching wise as well.

And, you know, do they make a managerial change? Was Renteria the placeholder until they got good? They got good probably a little earlier than people expected. It's kind of an interesting storyline to follow. I don't know his contract status. I don't know where they are with that. But why not get a veteran guy? And I think it's also really interesting they bring up the Blue Jays on Montoyo, Charlie Montoyo, because I've been on the Rays' Zooms all week, right?

And there have been Blue Jays writers coming in to ask about Charlie Montoyo, and every Rays player has gushed about Charlie Montoyo, and Kevin Cash has gushed about Charlie Montoyo. And Kevin Cash, everyone thinks is brilliant brilliant and if he thinks Charlie Montoya is good and the Rays hire great coaches and if they think he's he's a great coach like I don't actually think taking a guy out too early or leaving a guy out in too long or whatever it is I don't actually think that's a great measure of a good coach you know I mean I think that's how we skewer guys, but I don't think that's necessarily right. I think that it's all reading the tea leaves and it's just, it's all revisionist history too. It's right. Like, oh, you, you left that guy in too long because he gave up a home run on the next

guy. Well, is that it? Is that it? He's a bad manager because he let the guy in and the pitcher gave up a home run or, or would the know like i don't know i i i think charlie montoyo um seems to be a very good manager and with renteria i'm just gonna leave the door door open i don't know i don't know but i don't think that either way it's about you know a pitcher they left in too long nervous energy is contagious i think that's a fair statement to make and i got that vibe too watching renteria i thought he got a raw deal on the north side of Chicago a few years back, a one-year stint with the Cubs. Then Joe Maddon became available. And it was like the old trick that people used to pull in high school where you'd kind of secure a prom date and then someone better would come along and then your original prom date would go with someone else because you broke your plans. That's what the Cubs did to Rick Renneria. I thought that was always unfair. Yeah.

Yeah, that is a good point. I mean, you know what, guys, is also getting shoved aside here is the fact that the A's finally won an elimination game. And Melvin is cool, calm, collected, man. I don't think it's been on Melvin. I think it's more what Billy Bean says. My poop doesn't work in the playoffs right like he he he builds teams uh that that are deep and platoon and do this and win the winnable games and blah blah blah and then when it comes down to it you're like who's your game two starter dude who are these guys what's going on here like you know if this had

been like a best of five series, you'd have been like, you're going to throw Shamanaya out there throwing 89 miles an hour tomorrow? Okay, good luck. I mean, is Shamanaya the game one starter in the division series? I hope not. Right. No, it's interesting. There are a whole bunch of no names.

Liam Hendricks said, we trust our bullpen with our lives, which is a good thing because they're starting rotation. Like you saw today, this was the first time in postseason history there's been two starters in a winner-take-all game that both didn't go to innings. That's why the game took so long. From the A's side, you've got to be a little concerned about that rotation over a five-game series now. Yeah, Montas looked pretty good, and so maybe you've got Montas Lizardo, but Lizardo looks like he can only go four, and Montas only went four,

so basically your two best starters can go four, and Luchavino is the soft underbelly of that bullpen, and we saw that today too. I don't actually get it. Sometimes you watch guys, and you're like, Luchavino throws 95 and has three pitches, and he's not good. Yeah, what's up with that?

What is that? I don't know. It's not even terrible command. It must be not good command, but it doesn't seem like, it's not like Trevor Rosenthal bad command. I don't get it. Every year I think,

oh, Trevino's going to be great or something. No, I don't know. That's got to be it. He's got to be tipping pitches. There's no other explanation. I don't get it. Every year I think, oh, Trevino's going to be great or something. No, I don't know. That's got to be it. He's got to be tipping pitches. There's no other explanation. I don't know. He just wasn't good. I don't know.

But, yeah, congrats to the A's for winning a series finally. Of course they do it the year that I finally pick against them. But, yeah, whatever. My bracket's probably busted at this point. Mine's completely broken. As you might recall, I predicted an all-Ohio World Series. whatever the bracket my brackets probably busted at this point mine's completely broken as uh you might recall i predicted an all ohio world series uh cleveland went out yesterday the reds didn't score a run in two games so they didn't win a game didn't get a single game from my two world

series picks i love this format uh but look the the brave's got a great pitching performance again, this time from Ian Anderson. I kept looking at him, and I think I was... Yeah, super meaningful. I was locked into what we talked about on this show a few months ago. The stuff just didn't seem like it was going to play up as much as it has to this point for him. It's a really good command, though. It's a really good command, but I wonder,

is it just a case where the book hasn't been written on him yet he hasn't been up that long right like that's always the question that you kind of come back to in the short short series the braves didn't have to get into that pitching depth that's going to be a problem in a longer series but they could score enough runs i think they can out hit pitching. So they're still very dangerous, certainly capable of making a run. But I've been blown away by Anderson so far. I didn't expect to see what we got today. I think the one thing that's really interesting, because somebody pointed out he has good command,

but his walk rates in the minors have not always been great. And I was thinking, watching him, I think his command is pretty good high in the zone. But I think the umpires in the minor leagues are not good. So, I mean, they're by definition not as good as the umpires in the major leagues. And we know what people think of the umpires in the major leagues. So, I think that maybe one place that the umpires in the minor leagues might not be as good is high in the zone. You know, maybe they don't pitch as much as high in the zone. Or maybe they're just getting to kind of get used to that.

So, I think if i were gonna uh to to go against ian anderson i would look for the fastball high in the zone um of course that makes you a little bit vulnerable to that straight change which you'll also throw um you know decently high uh but if you can somehow spot the change up uh and and and focus on the on the fastball high in the zone. I don't think the curveball is great. It's just about where he puts it. It's not necessarily a great pitch by itself. I don't know. I thought it was super important that Ian Anderson did that today. The Reds' offense is not good, or it wasn't good this year. It's possible there's some positive regression. What do you guys think about the Reds offense going forward? Do you think next year they need to spend another

$50 million on a player or just sort of wait around for some regression from Nick Castellanos and Mike Moustakas? Mike Moustakas looked not great physically this season and postseason. So maybe you say, okay, Mike Moustakas comes back in good health, Suarez has a normal year again, and Castellanos has some bad regression and we have a good offense again next year.

Is that where you sit? He is an option, doesn't he? Doesn't Castellanos have an option or about to be a free agent? Isn't there a scenario where he's not there? I don't think anybody who has an opt-out is going to opt-out this year. You might be right. I think there's a scenario where he's not there next year, but think anybody who has an opt-out is going to opt-out this year. You might be right. I think there's a scenario where he's not there next year, but you're right. The rest of the lineup is largely in place.

They're going to deal with what a lot of teams are going to deal with, like how much do you make of a 60-game season, right? Joey Votto was saying it would have evened out if we had played another 100 games. The signs were there. They're last in the major leagues in batting average, The team that relied the most on home runs, right? The team that I think had the worst batting average on balls put in play. This series we should have seen coming. You knew their offense was bad. You were just hoping it was more of an outlier. And now they're going to be forced to kind of sit back and say, were we just bad? Or, you know, like it's a weird position to be in. You don't want to overreact. Like if you're the twins, you know, their general manager, Derek Falvey, said today, like we're going to look at, you know, this postseason thing,

not being able to win, but also we can't just like throw the baby out with the bathwater. Still a good team. Yeah, yeah. Right. So that's like the weird balancing act that these teams are going to have to deal with now, especially the ones eliminated early on is, OK, what do we make of this weird short season where nothing was right? Do we put a lot of stock into it? Do we put no stock into it? I've heard scouts call it extended spring training. So, I mean, what do you do with that? You know, what do you I don't know what you do with that. I mean, it's obviously the Reds are missing Bauer, but they've still got a good core, right? They've still got a good rotation, a good chunk of that lineup. I think Bauer's a really interesting question, too, because Bauer, I think, has made it clear that he wants to pitch like every fourth day and be a crazy person.

And we know he wants to be a crazy person. I think he's also made it clear that he wants to pitch every fourth day. And we also know that he wants to sign like a one-year $40 million deal. If you think about it, there's only like three or four teams that would do that. And I think the Reds would be one of them. Because you have to think about where a team is in the win cycle. You have to think about how open they are to weird ideas. I wouldn't give the Reds a 50-50 chance,

but I would say the Reds are the leader for getting Bauer back. I then wonder if they have any money left to spend on offense or if they just wait for the regression there. I think they're a fascinating team to watch in the offseason. I think they do believe their win cycle is now. I think that's evident just by how they spent to get Castellanos and Moustakis. I think this is an above-average offense over the long haul. I think there's a few things to look at for next season.

Tyler Stevenson should give them an offensive upgrade behind the plate. Great catching prospect. I think there's one little boost there. Jesse Winker missed a little bit of time, but he's good. He's good. Jesse Winker's a really good hitter. Senzel could be maybe healthy for a full year and do something good there. Yeah, and Eugenio Suarez I think is more than 4% above a league average hitter.

I think there's a bit more there. I think they had a bunch of guys who underperformed a little. They've got a couple of young guys who are going to play more prominent roles next year. That Moustakas contract from the day it was signed, I think there was some concern that years three and four might be a problem. I don't think anyone expected year one to be a problem.

But the question I have for you guys with the Reds, this seems like something that we sort of brushed aside and forgot about. They had a couple of instances, a couple of scares with COVID where it looked like players were going to be unavailable, whether that was false positives or illnesses with symptoms similar to COVID. I don't know if we've ever fully been able to pin that down. you do wonder if for teams that underperform for stretches, if that could be yet another unknown sort of reason or underreported sort of reason for players just not being themselves. Yeah. It's hard because,

you know, Charlie Blackman was hitting 400 at some point. Right. And, and Freddie Freeman might win the NL MVP, but like, right. And he thought he was going to go in the middle of the night.

And Eduardo Rodriguez, like, I think he just got cleared to walk. I read that sentence. I couldn't believe that. He got cleared to walk? He wasn't in great shape before, and his knees were bad. He hasn't been walking? So, yeah, I think it's uneven.

There's evidence of myocarditis. We know that Edward Rodriguez has, we know that some people coming off of it are having a decreased lung function for a long time. It's hard to kind of look at the play, the teams like the Marlins and the Cardinals and say, Oh, well they got it the worst and they're playing fine.

So everything's fine. You don't know, like, you know, some of those pictures like Caleb Smith is not even with the Marlins anymore. And you know, there's different players and maybe it those pitchers, like Caleb Smith, is not even with the Marlins anymore. There's different players, and maybe it hurts pitchers,

or maybe it hurts hitters more than pitchers, right? Because pitchers maybe don't have to be as aerobic. Pitchers famously kind of stop jogging. Remember, pitchers had to jog all the time, and then teams were like, why are the pitchers jogging? When do they need to jog? They never do. It's a game of short bursts.

Exactly. Why are they jogging in the outfield? But, yeah, I think that's an open question for the Reds. And maybe it's just one of those years where, you know, Joey Botto always talks about, like, I get my swing in May. And I don't know what the May was of this year, but I don't know if we had it. Yeah.

The Nats mentioned that a lot, too. They were like,erzer mentioned in september that he felt like it was may so i i do think i do think the start and stop is weird to to make it to change away from the the downer of covid onto a better topic i am two two things i want your guys quick opinion on one the marcelo zuna fake selfie which i thought was terrific to espn micing selfie, which I thought was terrific. Two, ESPN micing up players, which I thought was horrific. Awful. Should never be done again. Super uncomfortable.

Starting with Justin Turner was really the first one I noticed last night or Wednesday night, I guess, with the Dodgers. But today, obviously, in Oakland, super embarrassing as well. I think there's, I think you kind of want to separate execution from a concept, right? And there have been some problems with execution. Like Mark Conha, when he was doing his, apparently Bob Melvin didn't even know he was doing it.

So that's a little bit weird. Your manager doesn't know about it. And then today when they did Ramon Lariano, yeah, he blurted out a big cuss word. He got involved in like three plays uh he had to throw a ball 97 miles an hour while he was mic'd up uh he missed fixing his head yeah he was yeah he fixed his headpiece while he was running for the catch

that's right yeah you know that's that stuff i don't like but that's a question of of of um of execution and you know people i think some of it was, it went too far. Like they were saying, oh, they're asking Ramon Laureano by the weather. No, no, we're in California. That wasn't a question about weather. That was a question about air. Like we're like today was a bad air day. We were at 150 AQI. Anybody in California knows you're not supposed to be really outside. You're supposed to limit your outside and they were playing outside. So that was a little bit more deep of a question. I thought some of the questions were all right. Like Romulo Ariadne talked about positioning.

He talked about Eloy Jimenez's foot and how well he was running. And he talked about some stuff that was kind of interesting. And so that's where we get, I think, to the concept because I was really uncomfortable with the concept because I was like, I want to know what players are thinking. And I want to hear this but i feel dirty like i feel like i'm doing something i shouldn't be doing i feel like i'm rubbernecking i feel like i'm watching like someone has let me into something that shouldn't be going on like i definitely felt bad about it and i wanted to go hug loriano almost or like i

wanted to go up to loriano just rip the thing out of his ear and be like play ball like what are you doing what is this so i think i agree with you i wanted to know it and so there was like this disagreement on twitter about like should we know these things do we deserve to know these things was this fun they all agreed to it so it's fine i don't know if that's cool because if a tv person comes up to you and asks you for something a lot of players will say yes just to get on tv you know so i don't i don't think it's just like oh he said yes it's cool um and i also don't think it's like oh i want to know it so i should get it i don't i'm not that entitled you know like i'm not just like give me everything i'm a big baby i want to hear exactly what ramon leono thinks right now you know so i uh i'm mostly against it as much as i like

kind of enjoyed it a little bit i like the concept i didn't like the execution and i kind of just agree with the idea that it's not something we should be asking for in a playoff game having an interview with the manager or maybe the idea that it's not something we should be asking for in a playoff game. Having an interview with the manager or maybe the guy that pitched the day before in the dugout, no problem. There's no immediate impact on the game. Throw some seeds around, have some banter. That's fine. That's close enough.

I don't think we need to be closer than that. I think that's where the line is. And this, again, we're all people that want access, but that just seems like abusing the option by saying, Hey, man, put this camera, put this mic on. No, no. What does it end? That slip was great. That slip was great. What's the next step? Oh, it's going to be a camera.

Hey, Mookie, can you put a camera on your head? Yeah. Can you put a camera on your head while you're in center field, please? That is what's going to happen. That's too much, man. We'll probably get into this more on our episode this weekend as we preview the ALDS matchups. A lot of people are annoyed by the broadcasters throughout this postseason.

A-Rod. Yeah, right, mostly A-Rod. I don't think anyone likes A-Rod right now. The ranking, and the ranking is he's at the bottom. I think everyone's looking for something a little bit different. We're not looking for A-Rod,

but we're all looking for something a little bit different with broadcasters. Because we're missing the crowd. We're missing the crowd, so we're focusing on them even more than usual, probably. Yeah, and I think... Is that why?

I feel like they've been worse than any other year. But their conditions are harder. I think the... Yeah, there's a lot Is that why? I feel like they've been worse than any other year. But their conditions are harder. I think the... Yeah, there's a lot of space to fill now. How good is it when Vin Scully is quiet, right? And you hear Dodger Stadium just like... You know what I mean?

They can't do that. They've got to fill the space. You can't let the game breathe as much. Some of these games have been really long. To fill in the time between pitches for four hours when you don't have that team all season long i think is actually really tough and i've never heard me just be like get in the box just be yelling from from the box get in the box i know you can hear me down there and i know i know that they theoretically should be kind

of used to it by now but covering a game when you're not there watching on a monitor and trying to call a game with someone else who's also remote whose feed might not be synced up with yours that's hell like as someone who produces audio i'm thinking through this in my head and i'm thinking holy crap this is why this is such an awkward nightmare. No video cues. You're not looking at it. You can't even, you can't do that thing. We have Zoom on video so you can do a little bit like kind of like lean forward or, you know, like you spot like someone wants to talk.

So then you kind of finish up. Yeah, none of that. So you're just in rooms. And, you know, sometimes like they had Dave Fleming fly to... What are they? Did you hear about this? They had Dave Fleming fly to Charlotte to do the game in Oakland. 2020 for a broadcaster in one sentence.

He lives in San Francisco. Also, fans don't care, though. Oh, yeah. Sorry, sorry. You're getting paid a lot of money. Do a better job. Do a better job. As a consumer of the game, I kind of feel bad because I'm in the media.

And like you guys said, it's hard. But as a fan of the game, like, do better. This was the year to experiment more. And we should talk about this more for the preview because, like, this was the year, in my opinion, to do the stats cast. And to, I don't know, just inject more fun into the game. Interview fans at home. I don't know. Do something. It just seems so flat. Let us know how you would fix it.

Yeah, you just, I mean, you're saying do something and then you're skewering them for doing the mic up, right? No? Okay. Do something, not that. Anything but that. That's why I think it's a bigger question that the baseball community should provide some answer for.

Let's tell Major League Baseball, what do we like? What do we dislike? But what should we try? I don't think anybody in this world wants more problems dumped on their lap or more complaints dumped on their lap. Bring people actual ideas and solutions. And I think we're at a point right now where everyone's so damn tired that they're probably going to give your idea

an actual consideration and maybe actually try it. Like it's worth a shot. So let's be clear. When it comes to shipping internationally, can I provide trade documents electronically? Mm-hmm. The answer is FedEx. Okay.

But what about estimating duties and taxes on my shipments? How do I find all the... Also FedEx. Impressive. Is there a regulatory specialist I can ask about? FedEx. Oh, but let's say that... FedEx. What? FedEx. Thanks.

No more questions. Always your answer for international shipping. FedEx. Where now meets next. So we got a couple more things to get to. Cubs-Marlins game two coming up on Friday. I don't know why they postponed that. There was rain, but it didn't seem bad enough to actually postpone a game. So we get Darvish versus Sixto coming up on Friday afternoon.

Pretty exciting. Really exciting pitching matchup. Everyone thinks Bauer's the NL Cy Young winner by the way. It's Darvish for me. If I had to vote, I'd go Darvish over Bauer. That's close. As a voter, it's Bauer had the 1-7-5.

He had the only guy who had the sub-2 ERA. That's pretty sexy. Yeah, I know. Darvish is just... I trust him more in a big game, believe it or not. Brewer's post-mortem is coming up. Bauer had a good game in the postseason. No, I know. He pitched really well.

But I'm just saying, going forward, I trust Darvish more than I trust Bauer. I think there's a better overall track record there that sort of breaks the tie when we're dealing with a dozen starts to choose. More good years, yeah. Yeah, that's what it is. Also, I love how Derek introduces the Dodgers game as Brewers post-mortem.

Clayton Kershaw has vexed his playoff demons, and our Brewers fan host over here is like, well, the Brewers season is kaput. Well, we can be sad for DDR. But Kershaw, eight scoreless. Pretty damn good. He looks great. And Woodruff was pitching really well in this game.

If not for an error, maybe the Brewers would still be playing into October for one more day. I don't think they were going to make a run anyway with the rash of injuries they've been dealing with. It was a poorly constructed offense that took a couple of hits it couldn't afford, and not having Corbin Burns was huge for this team as well. The full post-mortem, though, will be on the Section 422 podcast with Will Salmon, so we're not going to spend time on that. I think the thing we should talk about is Kenley Jansen and the back end of the Dodgers bullpen. As this postseason continues, what is the trust level that Dave Roberts and the Dodgers front office should have in Kenley Jansen finishing out games? I mean, you know, we were talking before we started recording, he's not the same Kenley that he was at the beginning of the

season. I don't know how I missed this because I think I checked in early on. I had Jansen, you know, this used to be a fantasy podcast. So I had Jansen in a couple places and he didn't really blow a lot of saves, right? He kept the job. I checked some velo early on. I was like 91, 92. That's okay. I'm okay with it. And then, you know, other teams got my eye late in the season. He didn't lose his job, but holy crap, he sat 88 in the last game. Yeah, I feel like he's been a worry for them for a while now, right? He just hasn't been a sure thing. He certainly wasn't last year. He's obviously a big piece of, if they want to win the World Series, they need to get him going. The thing for me, though, that you got to take out

of this series, because they didn't really hit that well, right? Against the Brewers, who, Brendan Woodruff's got to be one of the most underrated, underappreciated starters in baseball. I think people who don't pay attention to the Brewers don't realize how good he is. Then he goes out there and, you know, really deserved a better fate, right? I mean, that error, that double play that doesn't get turned, probably the turning point of the game there but the dodgers offense this mighty offense even yesterday against the bull the bullpen game didn't really hit so to me what's you know obviously look at jensen and he's got to be able to turn it around but if clayton kershaw if this is the clayton kershaw you're going to get in the playoffs combined with you know walker bueller and you know that dodgers lineup if they can really start hitting here. This team is going to be exactly what we thought they were. Well, not any of us because none of us picked them to win the World Series. Whoops.

They haven't even used Dustin May yet, have they? Nope. They haven't used Dustin May. And hopefully they never have to use Joe Kelly. Again. It's funny that he had this whole thing where he's making the crying face of the Astros when you're like, dude, if they had a choice, they wouldn't play you much.

In fact, they had a choice, and they didn't play you. No, I do think the underbellies, they're still there for the Dodgers, and it is the bullpen, and it is a slightly older team when it comes to offense we haven't seen them hit so much so it's it's still an open question how much they're going to hit in these playoffs um other than Mookie who's who's been great um and then there's a open question of like if you're in a five game series can you play all these games with like

Gonsolin coming in and Urias coming in and May coming in can you can you figure it out where you're like okay in game one we're gonna have at this point I guess who would start game one maybe like Gonsolin and we'll do like Gonsolin May and that'll be great and then Urias will come in behind Buehler and then we'll have Kershaw in game three whatever it is can you play that for a five game series or will you come short or will you have to pitch joe kelly will you have to pitch pedro baez will you have to pitch um adam kolarik oh god all those guys from last those all those guys had a hand in blowing that game five last year against the nationals i mean that's what i'm saying that's what i'm saying in a five game series

they might have to start to show their heads yeah i, I don't know. Derek, as the Brewers season here, the clock strikes midnight and they're about to turn into a pumpkin. What awaits us for the Milwaukee future here, in your opinion? I'm really not sure how much they're going to be willing to spend. I feel like a larger share of their revenue comes from drawing really well for a team in a market that size. And I wonder how much not having fans this year impacts them compared to a bigger market team with a bigger budget. I wonder if it'll be merely used as an excuse. But they loaded up on temporary solutions at a bunch of spots.

They got a little bit of money coming off the books. Ryan Braun's contract is up. There's a $5 million buyout, I think, on the final year. They're obviously going to pay the $5 million there. They do have a little bit of flexibility. I think the problem is their window is now too, much like the Reds we talked about before. Lorenzo Cain presumably comes back after opting out this year,

so that's a nice lift to the offense. Jelic, I think, bounces back. There's still reasons to like Keston Hira, even though he was more bad than good in the aggregate so far. Woodruff and Burns emerged. Woodruff and Burns are a legitimate one-two at the top. And we talked about some of the bullpen guys they were throwing in Game 1, right? Rasmussen, Topa, Devin Williams, if that shoulder's okay.

If they don't trade a hater this winter, they could have one of the league's best bullpens. I think they're still well-positioned. I'm just trying to figure out who they would even spend money on in free agency. It might be the trade route again. He's got no minor leaguers, though. Nobody wants their minor leaguers. They're bad. They spent so much money on Maryville, too. That's one thing that worries me. They spent so much money on Maryvale, too. That's one thing that worries me. They spent so much money on Maryvale. They haven't made any of their prospects any better in order to market them, I feel like.

Who is the best prospect for the Brewers right now? Is it like Lucas Urseg? No, no. It's Bryce Terang. Bryce Terang. Yeah, speedy shortstop. I don't know if it's about trading a high-end player. I think it's more about trading a controllable position player. I think it's trading Keston Hira or something along those lines.

Oh, big moves. People wouldn't have expected Trent Grisham to get traded going into last offseason, right? So I think it's going to be something more like that. Maybe it is a hater trade. I don't know. This has become the Brewers podcast. Just get to the prediction segment. I should have known better asking about

the Brewers toward the end of the show. I didn't put them on the rundown. Listen to the Brewers show if you want to hear about the Brewers. This one's totally on both of you guys. Real quick from each of you, predictions for the games we have on the slate on Friday. Game two, Cubs, Marlins. Britt, who wins that one?

Marlins. All right. Marlins in a sweep. What do you think? I'm all in. You, Darvish. Cubs. Nope.

Sicto is about to sick them. I'm getting loopy. I'm going to back Darvish. I think it's the Cubs that have been so right about predictions. I'm sure you can take that one to the bank. Flaherty versus Padres at all? The Padres have no one to pitch.

I just saw a quote from Jace Tingler that says I have no clue who's pitching. It's going to be a long night. It's going to be not exactly what you want to hear when you're in a winner take all. I'm going to be not exactly what you want to hear when you're in a winner take all. So I'm going to have to go Cardinals. I think the devil magic wins out. I'm going to try and reverse jinx the Cardinals. I'll pick the Cardinals. I do think

Flaherty, he's a top 10 pitcher. So that's a huge advantage to have given the circumstances. What do you think, Eno? I'm going to a renegade beer of the week selection. And I had a great beer tonight. It was a Green Cheek and North Park collaboration

called Comforts of Repetition, a really nice West Coast IPA. And North Park is a really great emerging brewery in San Diego, and I'm going to leave it at that. I don't want to jinx in either direction. I don't want to try and reverse. I don't want to. I think Jack Flaherty is a really good pitcher.

But I've always, you know, people on this podcast know I love Luis Patino. So I've been a little disappointed what he's done this year, but I could see him pulling something out of his proverbial butt. What a cop-out that was. I would love to see it, though. I know. Can I tell you guys a secret? Sure.

We're not supposed to root. And I shouldn't admit this, but I'm kind of rooting a little bit for the Padres. It's uncomfortable for me, so I'm not going to pick. I think a lot of people are rooting for the Padres. I mean, they're so exciting.

Tatis was so amazing today, dude. Yeah. I've got family in San Diego, so I'm rooting for them. I mean, yeah. It's just been bad forever, and they have no other sports. Yeah. Yeah, that's true too. They lost their only...

No one. I just love that Tatis changed that narrative with the two-home run game, right? Because I messaged you guys like, oh, he just struck out on three pitches against Austin Gomber. I think he'd stranded 10 runners in two games at that point. You knew that was going to be the tagline of what's been a great season for him.

So I'm just glad he turned it around, came through, played the role of hero in Game 2, and has a shot at advancing with the Padres in Game 3. That's the big star of the day tomorrow, I think. I mean, yes, Darvish for 6-0 would be really fun, but the night game is the big one. If you're enjoying this show on a platform that allows you to rate and review the podcast, please take a moment to do that. We greatly appreciate it.

If you are not already a subscriber to The Athletic, $1 a month will get you a subscription at theathletic.com slash ratesandbarrels. It gets you all of Britt's coverage, all of Eno's coverage, everything we're doing for the postseason and for other sports as well. As always, hit us up on the email ratesandbarrels at theathletic.com

on Twitter. She's at Britt underscore Giroliandbarrels at theathletic.com. On Twitter, she's at Britt underscore Giroli. He's at Inoceros. I'm at Derek Van Ryper. Let us know, how would you fix the broadcast booth? What changes would you actually make? We'll try to talk about that a little bit as we get to the weekend. We've got a couple of

days off. We're back with you on Monday, previewing the ALDS. Enjoy the games on Monday previewing the ALDS. Enjoy the games on Friday. Have a great weekend. Thanks for listening.