メジャーリーグの地区優勝争いが白熱！

メジャーリーグの地区優勝争いが白熱！

Just baseball dough. It might be football season. It’s still baseball season for us. Jack McMullen. Arm late. We’re brought to you by the fine folks at Bet MGM. I’m sort of kind of a Bears fan, but my level of involvement goes down on Sundays. Arm is a Dolphins fan, so he is locked in on baseball and the weekend that was in baseball. We got a lot to recap there. Uh, you told me right before we hit the air, you’re rooting for 0 and 16 for your fins. Is that true? Well, 0 and 17. Um, oh yeah, I forgot. I’m going all the way here. But yeah, I they need to shake it up. I I’ve not watch I didn’t watch a down of of week one cuz I had a feeling it was going to go this way and it went even worse than I could have ever imagined when I look at the box score after. And uh judging by my group chats with my home friends, you know, I grew up with going to Dolphins games, it was even worse than the box score uh suggested. So uh I think it’s Einstein’s definition of insanity uh if uh they don’t shake things up here. And I think it’s going to require an 0 and17 uh or at least something really bad to shake it up. So, uh I can’t believe I’m rooting for that, but that’s where I’m at. I’m focused on the fantasy teams and baseball. Uh and I’m really excited about the the division chases here, too. This is also a Bears household. My girlfriend Ellie Bears fan. Uh I at least can like get behind the excitement of that team instead of the same old thing with the Dolphins. Yeah. And listen, Detroit’s offense did not look great on Sunday. So, I’m hoping that Ben Johnson took it over to Chicago. and my level of involvement with the Chicago Bears can escalate a little bit. Uh you mentioned the division races. Here’s what we got on the docket today. Division races. Trey Turner has a hamstring strain. MRI on Monday. Have not gotten the results of that just yet. Kodai Sango was optioned to Syracuse to get right. We want to talk about that as well. The whole idea of an underappreciated pitcher, I want to hit on that and expand. Couple of guys are expected to be posted from NPB over in Japan. That’ll be the back half of the episode. Uh, and then the series of the week kind of pushing into this playoff hunt as we get into the second week of September. But you brought up the division races and I am curious, does anybody really want to win the American League East, the American League West or the National League West? And I pose that to you and we’ll kind of go division by division here. The one that jumps out to me is the NL West. In that regard, Dodgers have dropped seven to 10. They salvaged. They avoided the sweep in Baltimore. Padres’s have dropped 7-10. They did win a series over the weekend. The Dodgers sit at 79 and 64. The Padres’s at 78 and 65. So, a game separates those two right now. So, I ask you simply, who wants to win this division right now? It’s funny because we always talk about 162 as a like a battle of attrition, right? like it’s it’s just whoever can can survive the the neverending journey that is a Major League Baseball season can can just usually take it or you generate such a lead in the first half because you’re so dominant at LA Tigers uh that you can coast a little bit more down the stretch. I it really I don’t know if I can remember in the last few years an example of the the battle of attrition side of things being highlighted in in so many divisions at the same time. Um, and I look at the Dodgers and the Padres’s where I was trying to prepare for this for this conversation and say, “Okay, well, what are some statistics I can look at, some trends I can look at?” It changes every series. You figure, “Oh, they’ll get right here.” I I I came prepared with the schedule remaining, but that might not even matter because the Pirates just beat up on them. So, I I I don’t really know. I do still want to go through the schedule remaining. Uh, but it really is just going to come down to like who’s gonna get hot here over the final week or two or who’s not gonna suck. I think that might be it, too. Who can play 500 ball while the other one sucks? I I think that’s the big thing to me because I look at the Dodgers getting swept by the Pirates in Pittsburgh. And by the way, Don Kelly, I think still over 500 uh as the Pirate skipper since taking over as the interim manager. Yeah, it is a huge deal. So, they’re going to remove that interim tag very quickly on Don Kelly and make him the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates. But Dodgers got swept by the Pirates in Pittsburgh. And then a day after that series concludes, Kyle Freeland goes eight scoreless and punches out 10 Padres’s in Colorado. And I’m thinking, what in the wide world of sports is happening right now? But that’s the nature of the beast. Walk us through the remaining schedules for the Dodgers and the Padres’s. you. Let’s talk through that because I’m just trying to figure out who’s going to will their way to the finish line sooner. It’s like uh it’s like Ricky, Bobby, and John Gerard jogging to the finish line at Tallaladega and Tal. Yeah. Yes. Literally. Also, I guess Kyle Freeland took out all the uh Rafie De’s frustration and just decided to have an all time outing. He started on two days rest because he only threw eight pitches and the eighth pitch of the game was taken to Mar. That’s an interesting note that Kyle Fre went on seven days rest. Uh maybe that’s that’s the fix. He’s just going to shove. But so Dodgers, they have three at the Rockies as we’re recording this. Three at or sorry, three at home against the Rockies, three at the Giants, three at home against the Phillies, four at home against the Giants, three at the Diamondbacks, and three at the Mariners. Overall, it’s a pretty tough schedule. And I think when you compare it to, you tell me which you think is more difficult. Padres’s have three at home versus the Reds, four at home versus the Rockies, three at the Mets, three at the White Socks, three at home against the Brewers, and three at home against the Dbacks. Dodgers is way more difficult there. I agree. I agree. So, naturally, I think you you forecast San Diego makes up the game and they could very well win this division. Yeah, but you know that’s not how it’s going to go, right? you know, the the somehow the the Padres’s are going to get swept by the White Socks, the Dodgers are are going to, you know, have a great series against the Phillies than flounder against the Dback. Like, that’s the thing. I always want to go by schedule, but if you really are stuck on a tiebreaker here, I I I do think that the Padres’s have a better path ahead, especially when you got three against the the Rockies and, you know, another three against the White Socks. Yeah. So, or four against the Rockies, excuse me. Four against Colorado. Okay. Yeah, it is interesting. And San Francisco could also just win 15 in a row and be, but that’s not going to happen. I promise you that. Uh San Francisco looked a little dead this past weekend in St. Louis. I don’t know, man. It’s really interesting. I will say I don’t expect either of them to avoid the wildard series. I would expect the two buys in the National League go to Philadelphia and go to Milwaukee. So, you know, they will get those and you’ll see the Rocky or you’ll see the Dodgers and the Padres’s both playing uh on wildcard weekend. Real quick, I have the same question about the AL East and the AL West. Let’s go to the AL West here. Houston is the leader right now. Seattle is two and a half back. Texas is four back. Houston has dropped six of the last 10. Seattle has dropped six of the last 10. Texas has won seven of their last 10. So, Texas is trending upwards, but they do chase by four. How do you see this division stacking up at the end? Yeah, I think it’s still just too much. Four with with the amount of games that we have left. It’s going to be tough to to make up that ground, especially when then you look at the the Mariners schedule. Uh they also everyone plays the Rockies here down the stretch, I swear. But they got three against the Rockies. But I will say like it’s not necessarily a cakewalk. It’s three at home against the Cardinals, three at home against the Angels, three at the Royals who are going to fight till the bitter end, three at the Astros, which that series is going to be circled and they got to go win on the road there. Like that’s something that’s been a little bit of a challenge for them. those three affforementioned at the Rockies and then three against the Dodgers to wrap things up. So you flip that around though, it’s not like the Astros is a cakewalk either. They’ve got three at the Jays who are going to be fighting tooth and nail, three at the Braves who are playing better ball right now, three against the Rangers at home, that Mariners series we mentioned, three at the Athletics which can turn into anything, and then they close out with three at the Angels. So, I think it’s a little bit easier maybe for the Astros, but I really think the schedules are very comparable and a lot’s going to come down to that series of those two teams against each other. I could absolutely see that shaking out. And then Texas is the wild card that you would throw in here. Are you factoring Texas out entirely? I think it’s going to be hard to make that up. No, probably. I mean, four back on September 8th is very hard to make up, but all of a sudden, you know, Seattle loses, Houston loses, and Texas wins. And then you’re right back in the conversation. Texas is pitching. No. Eavaldi, I felt like was going to be the thing to do them in. No. Evaldi and no Seagar I feel like is surely the thing to do them in. But this is baseball. You never really know how weird it can be. You think Texas is on the outside looking at I I do because of that. He I feel like they you know they would need to go in a crazy stretch where they’ve got like a guy giving them six impressive innings every single time out. And I being in that rotation would help that. That said, Kelly has been fantastic. Lighter continues to throw well. Uh, but I think it’s going to take a miracle run from them to to get the division. Okay, we got a minute. Who wins the AL West and why? AL West. I I I still think the Mariners. I think the Mariners will will finish strong here, get a little bit hot down the stretch. J-Rod does his thing. Uh, when you pair him with with Cal, uh, I I think this team is just going to swing it well enough and the pitching will do its thing. Houston for me is my pick because Hunter Brown is throwing the ball exceptionally well right now. And you’re done. Alvarez is swinging out of his freaking mind at the moment. Welcome back to the fold. Yordon Alvarez. He’s swinging like he was never hurt and he missed 5 months this year, which is absolutely amazing. It will be a showdown in the American League West. We’re going to talk about the AL East in a moment and a notable injury in the National League East to Philly shortstop Trey Turner. Stay locked right here on Sports Grid and on the Just Baseball Show. Just baseball show. Jack McMullen, Arm Leighton. The only other division that we didn’t talk about that is in a deadlock in segment one. We talked about the NL West and the AL West. I want to talk about the American League East real quick because Toronto, while they have been magical, is stalling out a little bit right now. They dropped two in a row over the weekend on Saturday and Sunday. They’ve won five and lost five of their last 10. Meanwhile, Yankees are playing good ball in large part because the Yankees just took a series at home against the Blue Jays over the weekend. Boston sputtered a little bit. They dropped two or three in Arizona over the weekend and the Red Sox are three and a half back as it stands right now. Toronto was 82 and 61. Yankees are 80 and 63. They’re two back and the Red Sox 79 and 65 again. They’re three and a half back. How do you feel like this thing shakes out? Do you feel like the Yankees are in a position to push and maybe bunny hop Toronto? I think they’re in a position to push Toronto and kind of separate themselves from the Red Sox and and it’s just unfortunate for Boston. I we talked about it on the show a couple times, but I just think Roman is Roman Anony’s just was such a ridiculous dynamic to add to the top of your lineup, but other than the trade deadline and you imagine how expensive would it be to add uh a a bat that can get on base at the clip that Roman was getting on, hit the ball as hard as he is, play solid defense. I mean, Roman was the the prototypical modern, you know, leadoff hitter that I think added this layer to their lineup that they were missing. You compound that with Willu just not quite coming around here on this injury rehab. They put him on the IIL like I think retroactively, so it won’t be as long, but they’re focused on getting him back for the playoffs. So, all of a sudden, you know, I think this team that this outfield depth is a little bit thin. Uh, and I think you’re seeing the Yankees a little bit separate themselves a little bit there. I thought overall the way that they played against Houston was was a fun series where you got a felt like you’re getting a little bit of taste of what postseason baseball could look like. But I think the Jays like they’re going to hit and they’re going to defend. They’re going to do their thing, but they do look like they’re hitting a little bit of wall here. And the Yankees, I don’t know what where are you at after the last series or so with them where all of a sudden I look at the the the roster, I look at the box score and I’m like this is still a really good team. Um, when you’re watching these games, all of a sudden you say, “Okay, well, I can talk myself into it when they’re all clicking.” And when Jazz is swinging the bat like he is, John Carlos come down to earth a little bit, but then still had a big homer the other day. And and Judge is fully back. And I think that’s the biggest layer in this thing, too. Like Judge is getting that OPS back, you know, up over a thousand. Yeah. I I think the way that I took in this weekend is number one, I take Jazz Chism for granted, and I should stop taking him for granted. We talked about it on the last episode of the Just Baseball Show. Jazz is pushing to become the third Yankee in the 3030 club. Alfonso Seroraniano did it twice. Bobby Bonds did it once. Alfonso Seraniano, Bobby Bonds, and Jazz Chisum. This is the Yankees that we’re talking about. And Jazz could be the third to have a 3030 campaign. Obviously, the game has changed. It’s probably a little bit easier when your focus is on hitting the ball in the ballpark and stealing bases. But Jazz is trying to do something that Manel never did, like Deasio never did, which is crazy to think about in the history of the Yankees franchise. But I take Jazz for granted or I took him for granted. I won’t moving forward. And honestly, I thought Schlitler was throwing the ball better than really anybody else in that Yankee rotation. And he was the one that coughed up a game on Friday against Toronto. So for me, I look at this starting rotation right now and I say, okay, it’s at least on par with the Blue Jays at the moment. And obviously Bieber’s presence is huge, but it’s not like Bereio is throwing the heck out of the ball right now. Gauzeman has been very good, but it’s not like Bassid has been great. And the bullpen has plenty of concerns. The Yankee bullpen, it’s been well documented their struggles, but at the end of the day, you bet on the Bednars and the Dovalls and I I guess the Devons and the Luke Weavers. you bet on that. I feel like on paper and the rest of the way this just skews the way the Yankees. Yeah, it’s I just think of the last two series. Maybe it’s a little bit of recency bias, but like that’s a this is a gauntlet stretch and I’m interested to see how they, you know, handle the the Tigers series as well cuz when you take two out of three from the Astros and really beat them up in two of the three wins and then it was kind of a back and forth, you know, battle in in the middle game and then you mentioned just kind of getting your teeth kicked in a little bit with your young pitcher on the first game of the series against the Jays, but then bouncing back for two hard-fought wins. It just seems like they’re locking in here at the right time. And uh that that could make things really interesting. And then you look at the schedule. The Jays have three against the Astros and the Orioles, four in Tampa, three in KC, three in Boston, and then three at home to wrap up against Tampa again. So it’s not necessarily a cakewalk because you know Tampa’s going to push it all the way down to the finish line and they’ll probably be mathematically alive up until maybe that last series. And then with the Yankees, they kind of got through, I think, some of the toughest part of their remaining schedule here. They’ll have the three against the Tigers, but then it’s three at Boston, three at Minnesota, three at Baltimore, three against the White Socks, and then three at home against the Orioles again. So, it is I mean, I’m sure the Orioles would love to play Spoiler, and they have plenty of talent, but I I I know which of those two schedules I’m taking, right? You’re playing teams that want to play spoiler versus teams that are in it. And I would much rather play the teams that want to play spoiler because every team out of contention wants to quote unquote play spoiler. How many genuinely believe that and are, you know, hellbent on doing that moving forward? I’m just not sure that there are many teams that can do that night in and night out in the month of September. But we shall see. Yeah. So, we got a couple more minutes here on this segment. I do want to talk about Trey Turner for a brief second because this guy, he exited Sunday’s game against the Marlins in Miami with a hamstring strain. Trey Turner was trying to leg out an infield single. He ended up reaching on an error. It didn’t look like he was limping at all, but he walked right into the Phillies dugout and down the clubhouse steps and into the clubhouse. It was a bizarre sequence and you knew this guy was hurt. Trey Turner has been amazing this year. This is a quote from his manager, Rob Thompson, after the game on Sunday. There’s some concern there. Obviously, he’s having a great year. He’s a big part of this ball club. I want to keep people healthy, especially coming down the stretch here. We’ll know more tomorrow. We are waiting to learn a little bit more about Trey Turner. He had a hamstring strain last year. Jason Stark of the Athletic mentioned that he missed six weeks at that point. Six weeks is no good because that gets you into midocctober. You hope it’s low grade and you hope it’s two, three weeks and he can ramp up a little bit and be ready for postseason play, but based on that, it seems like the Phillies could be without Turner as they try and lock up a division. It sucks, too, because for those types of players, you just feel like they’re playing even when they come back just at a diminished version of themselves because the speed is such a big part of their game, right? So, it’s it’s always tough. And of course, you’re going to take that bat, too. He’s slashing 305, 356, 458 this year. is having one of the best seasons of his career from a war F4 perspective. He was on pace to make a push to be right there to his highest total which was in 2021 at 7.1 um with a trade in between which is funny. Uh but this is I think the biggest part about this too that’s interesting to me is Turner’s made a huge leap defensively this year. Uh and and the metrics love him, right? He’s playing as good a shortstop as he’s really ever played. And I wonder when he comes back from that, like is the hamstring going to hamper some of that range and that quickness and that movement that has clearly been an asset to him and his team at shortstop this year? And then beyond that, how big is stealing that 90 ft, you know, and getting that bag and and Turner’s that dynamic that he adds to a lineup of just thumpers uh with 36 bags this year is something that I’m sure even if he does come back is going to be diminished. So, I am a little bit concerned about that because I think he’s been one of the more important players with the multiaceted dynamic that he brings to this team. Yep. We shall see. Trey Turner, his war total, it matches currently that of Jimmy Rollins in his MVP season for the highest war by a Philly shortstop. We’ll be back in a moment on the Just Baseball Show. Just baseball show. Jack McMullen, Arm Leighton. We are talking National League East. We just mentioned Trey Turner in the hamstring strain. You hope that Turner is okay. Trey Turner, if the season were to end today, he would have won the National League batting title. He’s sitting 305, which is just amazing. Another guy having a good year on paper is Kodi Sanga, the right-hander for the New York Mets. And if you just looked at Kodi Sanga’s baseball reference page of the back of the baseball card, you feel really good about what Sanga has done this year. Bounced back. He made just one start in 24. He’s got 22 starts at a 302 erra. But Sanga, his last couple of starts, four and a third in Milwaukee. He walked three, allowed three runs. Then five and two/3s of two-run ball, he was good against Atlanta. Then he goes to Washington. Five innings of five run ball. He walked two. Then he starts at home against the Phillies. Four innings of three-run ball. He walked three. And then he starts at home against the Marlins. Four and two/3, five runs, he walked two. This guy is just not throwing strikes right now. It seems like something is totally off. And the New York Mets with the approval of Kodi Sanga, who signed a free agent deal, he did not have to accept this minor league assignment was optioned to AAA Syracuse. Kodi Sanga, 22 starts at a 302 RA is going to triple AAA. Vaguely, what do you make of that? Well, one, I I appreciate him being willing to to do that and not take, you know, hold the team hostage there and go work on something while they can bring up another arm. And Sprro threw really well in his big league debut. Um, and I think that was that was exciting, right, to to be able to bring up another prospect here and have Brandon Sprrot do what he did in Great American Ballpark. Uh, I thought that was extremely impressive. So getting Sprout that opportunity and getting a little bit of spark into the rotation is great instead of like a oh crap what’s going to look like this time around again. Get a breather from that. But at the same time it is interesting because when I look at the data there’s nothing like I would say concretely different uh when you look at the just kind of the strike rate uh you look at just some of the chase numbers in general. But the one thing that does stick out to me is the chase numbers against that splitter which are down. And is that because of how he’s locating it? It’s easier takes or is that because the league is adjusting to Sangga a little bit and saying that’s the one pitch that if I can recognize it or if I can recognize a starting point here basically anything that starts at the belt I’m leaving. And if it’s a fast ball he locates at the knee step the cap but his fast ball’s not that good. So I have a good chance of feel like I can get to it. And if it’s a splitter, it’s going to break below the zone. Seeing that splitter chase rate drop by 7 8%. Like that’s huge for a guy that doesn’t throw a ton of strikes, right? Because he’s relying on that chase to up his strike rate because his inzone rate is very low. Uh so that is definitely a challenge for him now. And it’s like, okay, how can I get guys out inside of the zone? How can I beat hitters within the zone now? And I think that’s going to be the focus going back to Triple A. the cutter is probably that bridge pick pitch to make make it happen. Um, and that’s a pitch that he had going for him a little bit more early in the year. That pitch hasn’t been there as much this year and maybe that’s going to be the focus for him. It’s funny, we kind of sound like a broken record as it pertains to Sanga because if you were listening to this show at the end of April, we talked about all the guys with a sub two erra at that point after the first month of the season and Sanga was one of them. And we went indepth on Kodi Sena and we said, “How is this guy throwing the ball this well?” And we talked about the fastball fork combination and we ided the cutter. We said that Cutter being a taste breaker enough, being present enough in his arsenal is making him a frontline starting pitcher because he can flash 96 at you. He was also sitting 96 at that point. The thing that jumped out to me and watching his last start in the big leagues before this AAA option, the velocity was so inconsistent on the fast ball and the cutter. I mean, one is 92 and then the next is 97 on the four seam fast ball. What’s happening right now with Kodi Sanga? And then he’s spraying it a little bit at the moment, but that cutter, the presence of it has not entirely gone away, but it’s diminished from what he was doing at the beginning of the year. So to your point, the taste breaker is gone. You effectively turn him into a two- pitch pitcher and also to your point, it’s not an awesome fourseam fast ball. No. So you can halfbaked prep for that and then just identify where you want to let the ghost fork go. And if you have your spot down and saying we’re not going to swing at that ghost fork when we identify it, okay, you’re probably drawing a walk or you’re getting a hit on the four seam fast. Well, I think you nailed it. Like if I’m trying to prepare my team of hitters right now and I I’m just giving them these numbers here. Uh last 10 starts for Kodisa, opponents are hitting against this four seamer 315 with,51 OPS. Yeah, the splitter has a 492 OPS against in that span, but it has an inzone rate of 29%. So, what are you going to let beat you? I think I’m going to let the guy who throws a splitter in the zone 29% of the time throw it in the zone three times to to beat me. You say, “Oh, well, that’s easier said than done because the whole point is it looks like a fast ball and then it, you know, bites below.” Great. So then I’m also going to dare the guy who knows his fast ball has an OPS against north of a thousand to throw that fast ball at the knees and freeze me because one he I don’t think he has the confidence to locate it there. Two he ends up messing up with the fast ball then it gets crushed and three he has to then either locate the fast ball at the knees then also the splitter or the splitter multiple times and and right now that’s just too hard to do. We’ll see if Sanga can recalibrate in Triple A and be back for the postseason push. We’ll keep on moving next on the Just Baseball Show. Just Baseball Show as always is presented by the fine folks at Bet MGM. Jack McMullen, RM Leighton. We’re talking to you via YouTube, we’re talking to you via podcast, wherever you are listening, whether that’s Spotify, Apple, somewhere else. Those are like the big two. And then everybody else is kind of weird in my opinion, but that’s okay. I respect you if you listen somewhere else. And on Sports Grid, we just talked about Kodi Sanga accepting his option to Triple A, trying to gear up for a Mets postseason push. Now, I want to talk about some guys that are underappreciated on the mound in Major League Baseball. And we started talking about this on the last episode of the Just Baseball Show. I watched Christopher Sanchez go seven innings of one-run ball for the Philadelphia Phillies and lower the ERA, I think, to 2.6. Christopher Sanchez. Yeah, he’s fifth in all of Major League Baseball in RA. And 24 hours later, I watched Yoshino Yamamoto put up maybe the best pitching performance that we’ve seen in 2025. The Dodger right-hander went eight and two/3s no hit before Jackson Holiday clipped him in that wild game on Saturday night in Baltimore. That was a 4-3 win for the Orioles, celebrating 2131 for Cal Ripken. It was the game in which he broke Blue Garrick’s iron man streak. Yoshino Yamamoto got my gears turning a little bit in my head and I thought, “Okay, this guy’s a $325 million pitcher.” So far this year, he’s made 27 starts at a 2.72 RA. Since he debuted last year, he’s top five in all of baseball and RA. The only guys ahead of him are Skins, Scooble, Sale, and Wheeler. Why does he still feel underappreciated? And I got to thinking, it’s because when we think of the Dodgers, it’s, oh, this guy’s hurt, right? Snell was hurt, now he’s back. You’re curious to watch Snell starts. Tyler Glass now is hurt. Clayton Kershaw is amazing. He just got his 3000th strikeout. Show Otani is amazing. Freddy Freeman, he’s awesome. Mookie Betts is struggling. Why? Tayscar Hernandez can’t play right field anymore. What’s going on with Confordto? The guy lost in the shuffle is one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball that’s making $325 million. That jumped out to me and I started to think about who are the underappreciated pitchers in baseball and why are they underappreciated? And Yamamoto jumps out to me because he’s so far down on the list of headlines for the Dodgers and Sanchez simply put he’s not sexy but it works and it’s been working for years. What makes a pitcher underappreciated in your eyes? Uh yeah, it’s it’s funny. I guess it’s just it’s now the modern day of it is just how much are we getting inundated with their clips and stats and stuff every time we scroll on social and to be honest it’s not enough with those two. Uh and I think that’s a big part and then it’s air time and all that good stuff. But I also just think you put the conversation together of since this date Yamamoto has been doing X which puts him with pitchers YZ and W which you just did. and all of the pitchers that you listed alongside get more airtime than him. So, I think that’s a really good way to put it, you know, I think put that case together of who’s the most underrated of this group or underappreciated. It’s the guy that’s not getting as much discussion as the players who are statistically right around him. Um, and I think the interesting thing with Yamamoto, too, is when you’re on a team like that and the expectations are so high and you meet your expectations, it’s almost a good thing to be like under the radar in that regard. That means you’re doing your job, right? But at the same time, I think his contract put him in a spot where he it really I think causes fans to to underestimate how impressive it is what he’s doing. Yes, he got paid to to do this, but to come over from Japan and immediately make the impact that he’s making. And mind you, he had an injury last year, a shoulder thing that we we were pretty confident like his javelin throwing, this guy’s got it figured out. He’s going to get himself back and he did. He came back as strong as ever, and then made some big postseason starts for them. Um, and then, you know, has done what he’s done this year. He’s been awesome. And and then I think you look at the Christopher Sanchez side. I think it is because it’s not sexy and he just goes out there and picks your lineup apart. Doesn’t maybe pop up in any crazy stat queries or things like that. Um, but I mean Yamamoto was one out away from throwing a no hitter and I think we would have saw a little bit more love for him if he had got that. But I think we’ll see it in the postseason when more eyeballs are there because this guy has the complete pitch mix and that’s the difference, right? Like and that’s why when I was writing up the scouting report on him before he was coming as he was coming over felt so good about his chances of succeeding in the big leagues because it’s a it’s a deep bag of pitches that are all really really good and he executes all of them. I you look at the holiday homer and I think Rob Freriedman pitching ninja put this out. He had where the catcher was set up on that and Yamamoto dotted that on the inside rail of the strike zone and Holiday just got his hands in and belted it to right field. Was it, you know, mistake spot? I don’t know. That’s for you to decide. That’s for the scouting report. But at the end of the day, Yamamoto hit his spot to a T on pitch number 112 of his start. This guy’s a gamer. And I do think the love is going to build up to your point in the postseason because you will see the postseason ace Yoshi No Yamamoto shine through. But people are going to be obsessed with the Otani start. People are going to be obsessed with, you know, the possible Kershaw start in the postseason. He’s got a low three ZRA. He’s probably in that postseason rotation. It’s just fascinating to me. I do want to turn this. Yeah. What you got? I was just going to say every pitch is good. It’s really fun to watch. And on the kind like on the other side, Christopher Sanchez has two pitches. Like it’s a show me slider. He’s got two pitches. They kind of move the same. One of them is just 10 miles an hour slower and he gets ground balls at will. Ground ball pitchers, I think, are inherently going to be more underappreciated. Like I’ve thought Logan Webb has been underappreciated for a while, but it seems like people are starting to come around on him. I don’t want to turn this into like guys naming dudes, but I am curious if you have other underappreciated arms in baseball because there is a clear-cut one that jumps out for me. He’s got a 225 RA this year. Like I feel like not enough people are acknowledging Hunter Brown as one of the best pitchers in the game. Yes, I I agree with that in terms of like I don’t think people are realizing how freaking good this guy has been. But Sanchez is a is like a poster boy of that right now because it’s it’s not just the ground ball is 58% ground ball rate. It’s a 26% K rate and then yeah it is mostly the two pitches but the slider is good enough that the Sanga conversation. The slider is good enough where it can be that bridge pitch and that taste breaker that makes him effective. And I I don’t know I think you were part of this too. I definitely you could definitely pull some audio of me the the talking heads on this show saying how could you trade Curtis me for Christopher Sanchez? I’m sure. Hey, they always say don’t trade with the Rays, right? Well, there’s another instance where sometimes you can you can you can win there. Um, but I I trying to think of the obvious, you know, an obvious answer, but Mel Kelly like he does it every single year and I still don’t feel like he gets enough shine. Like no, I felt like he wasn’t even really discussed that much as a huge deadline acquisition. In terms of pitchers who were acquired at the deadline, how many have been performing better than Mel Kelly? Yeah, nobody really. I’m trying to think. I don’t think anybody has. I think maybe Yoan Don as it pertains to like arms in general, but in terms of a starting pitcher, nobody aside from Errol Kelly. And bigger. Nick Petta has a 285 by the way. That was the other one. I was going to say Nick Paveta. Pavetta has a 285. The other two that jumped out to me to be honest with you, Abbott has a 288. And I know Abbott has struggled a little bit, Andrew Abbott and Cincinnati. It it feels broken recordish on this show, but you know, I watched I watched a clip of, you know, a different pod saying like, I don’t understand how he gets out. He gets outs and it stems from fast ball and change up execution and a little weirdness and crossfire nature to his delivery. The other one that I wanted to highlight here is Brian Woo in Seattle. I don’t think people appreciate that he gets through six every single time. He was an out away from extending that. I think record at the outset or one of the records at the outset in terms of six innings every single time he toes the rubber. Woo does it with a fourseam fast ball and a sinker and the four seam fast ball gets pubed but I don’t think people are acknowledging him as a possible top 10 pitcher in baseball just yet when they probably should. I mean he’s a 207 opponent batting average with a 615 slug and he walks nobody or sorry 3 364 slug 615 OPS. He walks nobody. Um, I’d say the only thing for him is just keeping the ball in the yard a little bit more and that’s going to be what comes with the high carry fastball guys. But man, I mean, he he easily has more to unlock, too. Sneaky just 25 years old as well. Like he’s young. He taught himself that sinker cuz people said you were going to have a home run problem and he finds that sinker. I I think he’s going to just continue to evolve and get better as well. So, we shall see uh what goes on in terms of these guys and how their careers mature. But it does seem like Yamamoto has a possible Sai Young in his future. Maybe a couple. It seems like Sanchez might have, you know, not a Sai Young, but Sai Young votes coming this year. Could Freddy Peralta get one? Freddy Peralta could be underappreciated. He could track for that. Obviously, Skins is kind of dominating the National League right now, but Freddy Peralta is probably going to finish second and Sanchez could very well finish third. Uh, okay, we got 20 seconds. How many Sai Youngs does Yamamoto win in his career? Oh, it’s so tough because he could have an incredible career and not get one because of that Skins guy like you said. But I think he has I think he gets one. I think he gets one. It’s just And not because it’s his fault because we’re in this pitching renaissance right now too with these guys. I think he gets one. Okay, I’m with you. See you soon on the Just Baseball Show. When I said see you soon, I meant talk to you in two minutes or 5 seconds depending on where you are. Uh back here on the Just Baseball Show, Jack McMullen, Arm Leighton, we just talked about the underappreciated arms in baseball. And now I want to pivot to a couple of guys that are coming states side. We saw this note on MLB trade rumors that a couple of guys are expected to be posted for MLB teams. John Haymon reported that Kazuma Okamoto and Tetssuya Imi are expected to be posted uh for Major League Baseball. The big ticket name in international free agency this year is the powerhitting third baseman that was on team Japan in the World Baseball Classic. Munitaka Morakami, if you remember that name, Murakami was dealing with some serious strikeout issues over the last couple of years. He was all the rage in 23 because in 22 he had over 50 homers in Nepon professional baseball which is that league in Japan. It’s the second best league on the planet. Morakami struggled for a little bit. He’s having an out-of- body experience offensively right now. Um but what jumps out about these two guys? We can start with Morakami or we can go to these two. Yeah. quickly on Morakami, the more I’ve been able to watch of him and the more just I’ve been digging and trying to get info, research, the more I’m buying in um he was hurt, you know, banged up the last year or so. Still also a guy that’s sneaky just 25 years old. The the then you start to compare the batted ball data to a guy that had a lot of power that came over but also had some things you needed to clean up and some whiff show Otani and it’s not that different. Now, I’m not comparing him to Showi, but it’s important to note like Showi’s data was not perfect when he was coming over. And yes, he did make a ton of changes and and found things and it may not be a path that everybody can follow, but Merkami’s hitting the ball harder. So, there’s just some interesting wrinkles there. Uh, but the more I I dig in and the more I watch, the more I’m I’m getting excited about what he can be. And yeah, I keep hearing phenomenal things about the makeup of Makami as well, which is really important when you’re coming over uh and totally having your, you know, life flipped upside down. and uh just put into such difficult situations both socially and and and in terms of just playing. Uh but I I’ll start with Amay. Is that is that is that how you pronounce it? I think so. Tatsuya and I do want to give you kind of the survey look of his stats as they stand right now. Uh not a big guy. 27 year old listed at 5’11 154. I’m not sure if you have a different listed height and weight. No, that’s exactly what I got. In 143 and twothirds innings, he’s got a5 RA. Opponents have 85 hits against him in 144 innings pitched. He’s punched out 159. And he’s not walking, guys. Fewer than two and a half walks per nine. So, the statistics from a survey look are unbelievable for him. Yeah, I think the floor is pretty high for a guy like this. Um and and I think he’s got a great chance to come over state side and and get outs. What I’m interested to see is just just how much swing and miss. Uh we talked about just kind of the differences when you go to the big league ball as well because what’s interesting with Amay’s you have kind of low release and it’s kind of a a low 3/4 release and he works down the mound well. So when he’s getting 13 inches of induced vertical break and 13 inches of horizontal which is kind of dead zone from that low release in that arm angle that’s going to play up and still generate whiff at the top. I don’t know if he’s going to get that same kind of action with a force where he may end up or with a big league ball. May end up kind of getting off on the side of it a little bit more and turns into more of a sinker. So, it’s just something that’s interesting there. Um the splitter has been good and it’s a really nasty swing and miss pitch, but his feel for it already is a little bit spotty at points. So, is it going to be there more or less with a big league ball? What’s interesting with him is that he actually has a really good slider. Um, and that pitch, it’s like a gyro slider. That’s a big swing and miss offering, which should bode well for his move over the fact that he can really spin a pitch there. But the command is so good. Very athletic on the mound. The one other thing is I’ve seen him throw fast balls as hard as 98. I’ve seen him throw fast balls as low as 92. There’s this kind of wide range of velocities here. Um, and that’s something that is is important because I think he’s going to be a VO dependent guy. Uh, so if if it’s more 95s, I I think he’s going to be in a really good spot. But if it’s 92s, 93s, and probably a little bit flatter, those are going to get hit harder. So that’s the fascinating wrinkle in this whole thing. But you also remember he’s not going to be throwing 125 pitches every outing. Um, so so that would help. Yeah, that would certainly help. You feel like the fit is mid-rotation arm, back the rotation arm. Like what what would you forecast the deal to look like? Would it be like five for 75? Yeah, I I think it would be something Sanga-ish. Like I I I think you’re you’re dreaming on middle rotation, like high-end middle rotation, but you’re also bracing for back end of the rotation, and you don’t want to be devastated if that’s the case. Like I think there’s a good chance that it could be that, too. And given that range, I think that’s probably a fair price point based on the look that you’ve gotten so far. And based on the you did like very good reporting on Sha Imanaga when he was coming over. You think Shoto is better than Ami? I do think Shoto is better. Okay. Cuz I I think Sha’s stuff and as I like and I thank you for the compliment. When I wrote that piece, I I was really focused on why Imanaga is going to translate well here. And it was the way that he could generate vert and that invisible fast ball that you could just lock in to have success here. And this is more velocity dependent than vert dependent. Yeah. And maybe he can spin a little bit better of a slider, but I splitter was was a little bit ahead, too. So I I but also’s younger so you see how much that matters and you could maybe give him a longer term deal and say worst case this guy’s eating innings for us and if he’s a four well great he’s going to go throw 180 innings at at a low fours some years high threes and no one’s going to lose sleep over that deal. Um but I just felt like Imanaga had a higher ceiling. We got about two minutes. Tell me about Kazuma Okamoto. I like Okamoto and I was I I think when you’re looking at a free agent class that could be a little bit light on the bats and especially corner infield. I don’t think there’s a ton of corner infield bats in this class. There’s not. He’s he’s kind of coming over at the perfect time both for him and and I just think free agency. He’s 29 years old. I think he’s, you know, right in his prime. It’s not going to be a mega long deal, but a team that gets Okamoto could feel pretty good about him being being able to jump in and make an impact right away. Gets the ball in the air consistently. It’s a 31% ground ball rate. the EVs are plus and he has a really good feel to turn around velocity and and pull the ball hard in the air which has just become so invogue in Major League Baseball now, right? So, you got a guy that fits the that bill. I feel really good about sticking him at first base and saying, you know, go Mash for us. And I know that he could play a little bit of third, too. I I won’t pretend to have done the defensive dive there just yet, but I love the bat speed. I love the swing. I love where he’s at. If he can fill in at third, that’s great. That helps even more. Um, but even if you’re moving him at first, he’s going to be an asset, I think, in this class that doesn’t have a ton of power bats that can can blend, I think, decent bats of ball and really good angles and above average exit velocities. And he seems like somebody that a mid-market team could be interested in in terms of suit of a corner infielder, first baseman, third baseman. Kazuma Okamoto 143 games in 2024, hit 280 with 27 homers. This year been limited to just 60 games to this point. But in those 60 contests, Okamoto 305 batting average, a 381 on base, 11 homers, and oh by the way, he really doesn’t punch out. He’s walked 23 times and cade 29 times. So it seems like a relatively safe bat. But we shall see how I does on the free agent market, how Okamoto does, and if Morakami comes over, how Morakami does. Back to rap in a minute on the Just Baseball Show. All right, just baseball show is wrapping up here. Jack McMullen, RM Leighton. Uh, timing constraints might have cut us short on Okamoto here. I mentioned he could be interesting for possible mid-market teams. It doesn’t seem like Okamoto would be, you know, like, oh, the slam dunk. Let’s get $100 million from the Yankees here. Like, you’re thinking what, like a two, threeyear deal. Like, hey, this can work and we’ll see if we get 20 homers from you. Exactly. And I think, you know, maybe there’s a world where you get enough mi middle market teams involved and a couple big markets checking in and maybe they can squeeze out a fourth year, but I I still think this is a guy that is is that shot to take for these middle market teams that you have the you could dream on 30 homers because he’s got the power and the ability. But, you know, I think also the fact that there’s pressure on the bat, maybe you teams are going to be aiming a little bit higher at premium offensive positions. it could be a good entry point of like a high ceiling opportunity uh for for teams that usually don’t have a shot at players, you know, with that kind of ability because if you can hit 30 home runs in the show, uh usually you you’ve done it before and you’re going to get a lot of money in free agency. So, I I think this would be the perfect target for a lot of these middle market teams and he he has the ability batted ball angles wise and qualitywise to to hit 30 home runs if it all works out. And you mentioned I mean the corner infield market is pretty tight right now. Like I look at this market and I see oh who’s available for the middle markets and I see like a Carlos Santana. Uh it’s not like Bregman is going to be available there. It’s it’s really interesting to see. So this guy could uh kind of have his pick of the litter as it pertains to teams in the market for middle market bats. But we’ll see what happens with Emi. We’ll see what happens with Okamoto. Wrapping real quick. I just want to go over like the series of the week because it’s a fascinating week of baseball. You got the Mets and the Phillies in Philly. It’s four at Citizens Bank Park. That’s fascinating to me. Milwaukee is in Texas for a midweek series. Cincinnati’s in San Diego. Meanwhile, you got the Dodgers trying to hold off the Rockies at home. So, like I’m just looking at how the NL East is going to shake out. Tying back to the beginning, I’m looking at how the AL East is going to shake out. And obviously, I’m looking uh at how the AL West is going to shake out as well. By the way, you got Tigers Yankees going on in the Bronx as well this week. So, there are a couple of series that jump out to me. Which ones catch your eye in particular? And you’re saying this could actually have an impact on what happens come the final week of September? I I think what we alluded to a little bit earlier and it’s more just about like a a gut check. Um, I think Yankees Tigers because and not doing the Yankees thing here, you know, we’re not going to do that, but like it’s just because they’ve have this bender of a stretch here and I’m still trying to figure out who they are. Uh, and and you know, they they’re making a really strong case with the last two series against two teams that are they have a great chance of potentially playing in the postseason and are are good measuring sticks for them. And then you got another one right here, too. uh and and and a team that can beat you in a little bit of a different way than the other two. So, I I think just seeing how they battle against the the Tigers will be really interesting to me. Um just to get an idea of of where the Yankees are at now. And you also look at, you know, some of the pitching matchups there as well. Um I I think it it makes for a fun, you know, a fun battle. You got Mai versus Warren as the probables. Then you’ve got Flity versus Rodon. um which I think is like that would potentially be a postseason matchup because I they’re both those guys are going to have to be relied upon. Um and then we’ll see who gets the ball in the in the third game, but it should be Schlitler who’s going to get a chance to bounce back here against the Tigers. Other one that jumps out to me, I failed to mention uh Houston and Toronto north of the border. Houston and Toronto is an interesting midweek set right now because again you’ve got Toronto trying to keep the stiff arm on the rest of the AL East, notably the Yankees and then you’ve got Houston trying to keep the stiff arm on Seattle and the Rangers right now. So that series jumps out to me. The other one is Cincinnati and San Diego. How does the cookie crumble in Southern California this week? I Cincinnati’s sort of kind of making a push. The Mets have really done nothing to secure that third wild card spot. Um I that one is going to pretzel. It’s kind of a last gasp for them too because I mean if if they drop two out of three and they’re still f they’re still alive theoretically, but they get swept or whatever the Reds like they’re in trouble. So I I think it’s a chance to and also if it goes the other way, you win two out of three there, the schedule gets softer the rest of the way. And I think the obvious one is is Mets Phillies, right, which we alluded to. But I the way it is too, you know, they’ll end up like battling each other and then it’ll come down to some the final series when they’re not playing each other. But I think there’s a lot of storylines within that series because what Shawn Maniah are you getting? Like Sha Maniah needs to match Ranger Suarez who’s the pro, you know, those are the probable starters there. Like that’s I think going to be a really important thing to to to monitor there. What’s the deal with Klay Holmes? Is he running out of gas? How are they going to utilize him? He needs to match Christopher Sanchez. Like all of a sudden, when you see these teams match up against each other, you feel the the pitching gap all of a sudden, even without Wheeler. Um, and I think that’s going to be important. And then with the Mets, I don’t think they get their their wonder rookies going in any of these games, right? Then it’s going to be David Peterson most likely on Thursday, unless they change something against I don’t know who who has announced as the probable yet for the Phillies. So, it’s not any of the rookies. It’s kind of the vets that they need and expect and are going to probably need to make them, you know, are going to need to get going in the postseason. Here’s your chance. Fascinating week of baseball in front of us on the American League side and the National League side. Thank you for joining us on the Just Baseball Show again here every week on Sports Grid. For Arm Leaden, I’m Jack McMullen. For our podcast folk, we will talk to you on Thursday. Have a great rest of your day.

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The MLB division races are getting tight — and we break down everything you need to know. From the AL East battle and Trea Turner’s impact, to Kodai Senga’s demotion, Yamamoto vs Cristopher Sanchez, and even Japanese stars Okamoto and Imai. We wrap with our Series of the Week spotlight.

Who do you have winning each division? Drop your pick in the comments ⬇️

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Timestamps:
0:00 Intro / Division Races
10:00 AL East / Trea Turner
18:16 Kodai Senga
24:16 Yamamoto / Cristopher Sanchez
34:16 Okamoto / Imai
42:16 Series of the Week
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