Pirates Sweep Brewers and Make a Wild Card Statement

Yo. Welcome to North Shore Nine Podcast presented by FanDuel. This is Bucco Brew powered by Defer Coffee and Tea. I'm your host, Anthony DiNardo. With me, we have Ryan.

Good morning, DiNardo. What are you doing here? What is up? I don't know. I just showed up. I got up early. I figured, let me see what DiNardo's up to. The Buckos just swept the brewers. The first place brewers. Why not? Why not join you this morning?

Okay. Yeah, sure. Why not? We started this back 10 years ago with a pirate stunk. Might as well come on with our above 500.

That's right. And Jim is off. I don't know. Jim has a tea time somewhere in Indiana. So that's why I'm here. It's the all-star break for Jim.

Yeah, apparently. Oh, I have a work retreat. Okay, cool. I'll be up at 7 a.m. talking about the Pittsburgh Pirates.

That's right. The Pittsburgh Pirates, though, are three games above 500. Ryan, warn everyone. The Pittsburgh Pirates are three games above 500 right now. What is going on? What is happening?

I don't know. It was a good weekend for the Pirates. It was a good series. This team has just been yo-yoing for, what, two months? Back and forth.

500. One game up. One game below. 500. And they finally get, not, I guess, I wouldn't say like they went on an eight-game tear, but it was like they finally get somewhat hot and the all-star break hit.

So that's typical. But, hey, they, we keep saying they're hanging around. And now they're three games up at the all-star break, which is, I think, better than where most of us thought they'd be. And I don't know.

Maybe you get hot in the second half a little bit and make some deals at the deadline and maybe you hang around for a little bit. But, yeah, they're definitely hanging around. Like, this team is, I've gone back and forth on the blog. Like, eh, it's not, this isn't the year. They're a year away.

And then I'm like, oh, well, they could get hot. They can, they're hanging around. And it's just, we've been doing that. So I think the way you look at it depends on how you look at it. Like, do you believe this team has enough to do something or not? But I chose, I chose optimism this morning.

And it's a little easier to do that because they swept, they're coming off a sweep of the brewers. So, yeah, optimism.

It's honestly like a good way of putting it. No matter what viewpoint you have, you can use this team to back up and support that viewpoint.

Well, they're terrible. Just look at that bullpen. you can't, you can't get to the playoffs. You can't, you can't be successful with a bullpen like this.

Check. Correct. This team's destined to be good. They have the number one offense in baseball. They just need to make a trade and they could be there.

Correct. Check. Like any viewpoint, like I said, and that's why, ironically enough, too, we've been saying this for some time. That's why a team like this is just so frustrating because you can see all shades of gray here or sunshine or darkness or whatever it might be.

again, like after this three game series, it's the Milwaukee Brewers. Like they're a good baseball team.

It's not just because of a certain division, because also this division is rather good for teams above 500 in this division.

Still, it's a Milwaukee Brewers are a good team. You come in the PNC park and you don't even sweep them. You just annihilate them.

that's a good team, right? So maybe it's just, like I said, it's a frustrating ball club because in baseball, it's, I guess what I'm getting at is like in football, a good team loses like three games all year.

The winning percentage is ridiculous. Like even the best teams are just winning six out of 10, you know? So you still lose like a lot of games per se, in the grand scheme of things.

So, you're always going to have these few wins, few losses here and there, right? You're always bouncing back and forth. But again, at the end of the day, the ultimate thing that we want to talk about here is this was a team that, they had some losses here.

You have a tough schedule coming up. It easily could be like Nate, two games below 500 Ryan. And I don't think you and I would be surprised, but I also don't think you and I would be looking at this.

Like, well, it's definitely not the year. it's still, it's still possible being three games over 500 though is a much different feeling than two games below.

Yeah. Yesterday was a big game. you don't want to say like one game is a must win game or whatnot, but that's the difference between one game up at the break or three.

It's a, it's a bit, it was a big game and they came out and my goodness, they hit in that fourth inning for like an hour and they went 14 to five.

And the thing I keep coming back to with this team is they've lost guys. Like they got a ton of guys on the aisle, especially the hitters, the pitching has been struggling, the bullpen's bad, but like, they just keep hanging around.

And they, every time we write them off, they bounce back. Like they're resilient bounce, whatever word you want to use.

But I keep going back against the divisional teams. Like you mentioned how good the division's been besides the Cardinals.

Like they've been pretty good against the division this year and obviously very good against the Brewers who's in first place. I think we're four and three against the Cubs on the season.

So like you've beaten the division teams. Now this year, you don't, they don't play division teams like 20 times like they used to or whatever, but they just, yeah, they keep hanging around against the teams.

They in their division and everything and they keep winning and I don't know, get healthy. You got to make some moves like this deadline is going to be huge.

I think at this point, I think they showed it with the, with the trade last week, that they're, that they're going to be buyers.

I think we can, unless they go on like a 10 game losing streak or something here to start the second half, but I think they're going to be buyers for sure.

And yeah, you have to, you have to go get some arms, but like, look at Saturday game two pirates, take a three to two lead in that sixth inning.

Nobody thought that, okay, we're going to need some more runs because the bullpen is not going to hold this yet.

Somehow they did.

So like this bullpen is bad, but then like every once in a while they can hold a lead like that.

And it's just, no one's expecting it to, but they somehow pull it off.

And then, game one, they throw Mlodzinski for three.

And so, yeah, it's, I don't really know how they're doing it with the bullpen, but every once in a while, the bullpen shows up and can put some zeros up.

And then, and then they have their stinkers too, but yeah, you have to improve the bullpen.

Yeah.

that's absolutely, without a doubt, you have to improve the bullpen because even though they have played better recently playing better.

you're playing good and it's, again, it's, they played better, but yeah, they had the moments like you don't trust it.

And luckily this weekend, it was fine.

It worked.

Thank God.

The offense of course also helped in a bit of that Esmerlyn Valdez really helped.

A lot of that.

but you're right, man.

again, I think the word he tossed around is resilient.

Like that's what this team is somehow or another, Ryan, this team went from the offense they had last year, which was terrible.

the offensive base, we could argue as a second worst, whatever.

It's the definitely the bottom two in offense last year.

And so right now that they've played 97 games.

All right.

If I were to tell you that Oneil Cruz is going to come into this year and he's going to put up a phenomenal season.

And again, like he is, whether we look at it, he's hitting two 64, three 50 slugging four 72, a one 24 winner on square plus 1.6 war.

But that's also in just 64 games.

he's missed 30 plus games.

There hasn't played in 30 plus games this year because of injury and such.

Right.

That's a, that's a loss.

Spencer Horwitz.

Also Spencer Horwitz having an amazing season.

I don't think I'm going to be shocked because of what he did last year, but he's having an even better year than last year.

Spencer Horwitz, two 83, 86, four 55 with a one 33 way around square plus 1.4 war.

But he's only played in 74 games because he's also injured.

Like those are two mainstays that are in this lineup.

Two big players.

Like you knew if this team was going to be good this year, those two are going to be a big part of it.

And they've missed, almost a third of the season, not being in games.

And yet somehow Ryan, the Pittsburgh pirates of 2026 have the most runs in baseball.

They have the second best OPS in baseball.

Their OPS as a team is seven 68.

Isn't that crazy?

It's crazy.

As a team.

One, right.

Like including Henry Davis, trial on the pirate.

Right.

Last year, one person and I was horrible, but sniffed that last year and that's them as a team.

It's a, it's an amazing turnaround.

And we've seen bad offense for a long time.

And then all of a sudden this year, they're just, they use it best in baseball.

Most runs are tied with the nationals for most runs of the break.

And it's the pitching that flipped like what we're expecting to be the strength that just completely flipped.

And, we've seen good bullpens in the bad years too.

And all of a sudden, of course, this year, the bullpen can't do anything right.

But yeah, you have to pull another rabbit out of your hat and try to fix this bullpen in like, in less than a month.

But I wanted to as we talk about this first half and everything, DiNardo, there's three categories, the pirates, players, lead.

I think baseball reference does the NL, the NL in at the break.

Do you know what those three categories are or what players say this again?

So there's three players that lead a national league category, like a stat category.

Do you know what, like baseball reference does it, the stat.

Yeah, like by war, slug, like, yeah.

Yeah.

So there's three, there's three different pirates and they lead the NL in three categories.

Do you have an idea?

Well, if we're going just NL.

And it's tough because like you said, everybody in the lineup has missed time.

Like Ryan O'Hearns missed time.

Brennan Liles missed a little bit of time.

Like, I would assume.

Is it Nick Gonzales of batting average?

No, he's at 308.

I think, I think Otto Lopez is way ahead of him.

I think so too.

But I'm trying to, if someone's going to lead it, he doesn't lead in hits then, does he?

No.

All right.

Let me just tell you these.

Cause yeah, you probably are.

Okay.

I was going to say, I was going to say, Oh, on base percentage, Bryan Reynolds, maybe.

Is that one?

No, he wouldn't.

No, but Bryan Reynolds is Bryan Reynolds is one of the players.

So we mentioned like, he's one of the guys that pretty much hasn't missed any time.

He leads the NL in games played at 97.

Oh, and then wait, it gets, it gets better.

Paul Skenes leads the NL in 20 games started, which is absurd that he's already got 20 starts.

And then the third one is Bubba Chandler leads the NL in walks with 55.

That's it.

Oh, okay.

Right.

I know it's, well, it's not, yeah, it's not three.

I hate you, Ryan, for that.

I know you're like on base percentage.

Like, no, it's not, it's not a, it's not a main category here.

Yeah, clearly.

That's it.

That's why I was like, but it's funny because Reynolds is the only one that hasn't really missed time in this lineup and like, that's a good thing because he's been good.

Dude's been good.

Like what is a one 41 way to run credit plus he has on this season.

Like again, like what just a resurgence of Bryan Reynolds.

he's having one of his best seasons he's ever had.

Like, it's not even just like, can he be better?

like you didn't, you, he wasn't even like even a league average hitter last year, technically speaking.

Well, he was like, okay.

He fixed his swing though.

He fixed it.

Well, he did.

People got to laugh at it.

He's like, that was his, that was his big off season thing.

He's like, my swing was bad.

So I fixed it.

It's like, oh, okay.

End of, end of question.

Yeah.

Well, what'd you work on this off season?

Certainly.

I fixed my swing.

So I fixed it.

Yeah.

That was classic, but he did heading into the break.

One 43 way to run credit plus 2.9 war.

Yep.

But yeah, he's killing it.

And you're right.

Like, yes, he must've fixed the swing, but he also has dudes around him in the lineup now.

Like that a hundred percent has helped him as helped Cruz.

Like we always wondered like, well, those guys, we like assumed like it's probably going to help those guys to just like see better pitches, be a better hitter.

And my goodness.

It's definitely worked out for Bryan Reynolds.

Like he's been, he's been great.

And then, he's been great.

And then, yeah.

Ryan O'Hare professional hitter, 16 home runs, Brandon Lowe, 21 home runs, Cruz before the injury.

He has 14 home runs with 20 steals.

Spencer Horwitz.

Like it's everybody.

And then you got guys like yesterday, Henry Davis, homering triolo double, Jake Mangum, three hits and a couple of steals.

And Valdez is just hitting everything out of the ballpark.

Like as Greg Brown said on, I think Saturday, what is going on?

That's what I, that's what I ask at times.

I don't, I don't know.

Right.

Nobody does.

But right.

Again, like this team has such a next man up mentality that again, that's something that's been lost in pirates teams for years, for centuries.

Maybe even some could argue it's just, like when you've had guys that have just come up and produced, it's hardly ever, hardly ever.

And this year you've pretty much seen it.

Like there isn't too many guys that come in and are just a bad hitter or a bad player.

they typically come up and they'll give you something at least like Tyler Callihan, like another great example.

Tyler Callihan isn't absolutely just like coming up here and being a monster like Esmerlyn Valdez.

But I'm going to do this since June 1st, I have some numbers out here since June first.

Like Callihan pisses 84 plate appearances.

He has a one or two way to run credit.

Plus like he's not tearing the cover off the ball per se, but it's, he's a league average hitter.

Like typically these guys that come up are just awful and they're not awful.

yes.

Like Esmerlyn Valdez, we understand what he's doing.

Like again, we're talking about since also again, Ryan, like I just can't believe I'm saying this, but since June 1st, Esmerlyn Valdez, 87 plate appearances, he has a 207 way to runs

created plus like in 23 games.

He has a two, he's two times better than league average since June 1st, like just absolutely clearing up.

But like, yeah.

And the Rodriguez, another part of that, like, that's a guy you written off.

He comes up 136 way to runs credit plus since June 1st.

Like even Jake Mangum, Jake Mangum was the fourth outfield.

There's a lot of discussion if he's even a major league or not.

he's a 29 year old rookie, like it's not, Hey, 132 way to runs credit plus since June 1st, Henry Davis, Ryan, since June 1st, a 129 way to runs created

plus is he coming out of it a little bit?

Is he, it's like, it's only slugging with him, which is fine.

Like you just, if you're going to hit 20 home runs as a, part-time catcher, I'm good with it.

But is that, is that what he, is that what he is now?

Is he figuring something out?

I don't know if he's figuring anything out yet.

I don't, I'm not ready to crown him anything, right?

I'm just okay to say, Oh, well, you're not hurting the team.

So continue being the backup catcher continue just doing this, but like, at least Hey, everyone, the catcher, like I just told you what ended since June 1st, ending a 136 way to runs credit plus since June 1st, Henry Davis, the one, what'd I just say?

129 weighted runs created plus the catcher position is not, I know it's like the mindset of a lot of people just like the catcher position.

It's a black hole, the catcher position for the Pirates is terrible.

The catcher position has been good, especially of late.

It's been good.

It's not weighing this team down by any means.

Even Flores who came up for a hot minute, like he's a home run.

He's got like a, he only had like 12 at bats, but like he has a 800 slugging percentage.

Like it's just everybody, you could talk about Marcell Ozuna since June 1st or something too.

Like, he's been better, but like everybody, well, right.

117 weighted runs created plus.

Like that's what I'm saying.

His is also weird too.

Like if Ozuna comes in like one game, like yesterday, like it's like one game, big spurt.

And then I'll have like seven clunkers over three weeks stretch.

Right.

And like 14 failed challenges.

Right.

In the first inning.

Right.

But regardless, like, yes.

yeah.

Ironically enough, you know who the worst hitter is since June 1st.

And this is, this is basically if you have 15 plate appearances or higher.

No, Trillo is better than this person.

Brandon Lowe.

I was going to say, technically speaking, has an 85 way to run creative plus Jared Triolo is an 86.

So like, again, also like even Jared Triolo in that mix, like I understand 86 way to run creative pluses and turn the cover off either, but like, that's not the 56 way to run creative plus or, that he's like been good.

Right.

Right.

But yeah, like technically speaking, the worst hitter on the team since June 1st is Brandon Lowe.

Crazy.

It is.

It is, man.

It's, it literally, you mentioned about, you're like, I can't believe I'm going to say this.

It took me a good, probably two and a half months to like, writing the blog and takeaways after every game and stuff.

Like it took me a good two and a half months to be like pirates go down five, nothing.

Like, Bubba just gives up five runs and you're like, this game's over.

Like that was the normal mentality.

And this offense, it's not that like this, it's not over.

Like this offense typically will get to almost every starter, unless you're like Christopher Sanchez, they will get a couple of runs, three, four runs off a starter.

They will eventually get to them.

And then they add on, they do insurance runs, things we haven't seen in like a decade.

And it just took you, it took me two and a half months to get out of that mindset where it was like, oh, this offense is just going to go down in order.

And it's like, no, this offense is like, it's real.

Like it's legit, real, whatever you want to call it.

And it's not just one guy.

It's not just that, like, it's all of them.

And like, you may, we just mentioned all the other guys that came up and are performing and yeah, it really was a, it's like a shock to like, be like, Hey, this offense is like, it's good.

Like, look at the numbers.

Every offensive category, they're in the top five, number one in runs.

But yeah, it took, it took a while to really like, be like, I can't believe I'm writing this or saying this.

And it was, it's been something and it's just like, yeah, can the pitching just hold it together?

And I think that like the starting rotation, like on Saturday bubble gets hit around Ashcraft had one of his worst starts.

Like, I don't like, I think the all-star break came at a good time for those guys.

And, skeins pitch good yesterday, went five and a third.

He didn't really need to go longer in that game because it was a blowout, but like, yeah, like I think just get these guys of rest and a break and a reset.

Hopefully we'll help them because that's another thing too.

We talk about adding to the bullpen, but there's going to be a lot of innings on this rotation here in the second half.

And it's like, are we picking up another starter?

Cause it's going to be tough to manage all these innings.

Right.

Yeah, for sure.

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So yeah, back to this team, man.

I want to bring this up also because this was something almost like how you said for the first two months is like, I don't know if I'm going to believe this for the first two months.

This was their MO and I think it's something that has stuck with them, even though it's gotten better runners in scoring position.

that was like their kryptonite.

Yeah.

The offense is good, but every time there's someone that every time they need a timely hit, they just fail.

And that was again, like certainly the case, some numbers out here.

and again, this number here is just more impressive of the offense in general.

They have the second most played appearances with runners in scoring position.

all that just being, which is a good thing.

Yeah.

like they're always, they're always doing damage.

Like they're always getting guys in scoring position.

So that's the start, right?

Clogging up the base.

Getting someone in scoring position.

So they have a thousand and 92 plate appearances with runners in scoring position.

Only Milwaukee's higher with 1103.

Their batting average.

Okay.

That's again, that's, I think the first thing people equate to, like when they have runners in scoring position, they strike out where they don't, they don't do anything with runs in scoring position.

They have a 262 batting average with, which is eighth in baseball.

That's not elite.

Like I get that reason I'm saying this.

So is this used to be much worse.

Like they were like hanging around like 19th in baseball.

They're nine.

I'm sorry.

They're eight.

They're eighth in baseball.

Like that's not terrible.

Like that's not like detrimental.

When you look at the weighted runs created plus with runners in scoring position right now, they have a one Oh eight.

We'd run square plus, which is tied for 11th in baseball.

Again, like this isn't elite stuff.

I get that, but where they were once were right earlier season.

they were in the bottom third and like a lot of these categories and now they're creeping up in like top 10 or middle of the pack.

So again, like, I just want to throw that out there.

They've actually been more clutch of recent and that's, what's, that's, what's nice.

So you mentioned clutch and fan graphs has a clutch category stat that again, it basically just says it tells you how much better or worse a player is in a high leverage situation

than he would have done in a neutral situation.

Now all overall, the whole season, the pirates are second to last in the majors in this, in this clutch category, which makes sense.

Like we've seen this team.

we just talked about it.

Like they haven't been too clutch, since June 1st, they're a little better.

They're 24th in the league.

And since July 1st, they are even a little bit better.

They're 21st.

So like they're, I didn't say they're clutch.

Now they, again, if they like the other, like yesterday, they loaded the bases and they just kept scoring and it was like a blowout at that point.

So like that clutch probably doesn't even factor into that.

Cause they were up so many runs.

True.

but it factors into the runners in scoring position like mine.

So right.

You're understanding the differences in here.

Right.

So, yeah.

So, but the clutch category, like close game, a couple of guys on, it's a big spot late in the, their clutch category is never good, but it is, it is better.

So it is better, but they still are all season.

They're second to last, which is, it makes sense.

That's all I can say about that.

No, good stuff.

Good stuff.

And so, like I said, I put those overall numbers and things as we can, we're wrapping up the first half, but in the spirit of the show, we've been doing right now.

Like again, like we've been doing more recent now, the runs and scoring position since June 1st, Ryan, as a team with runners and scoring position again, since June 1st, they're batting 300, three 71, five 34.

That's a 904 OPS with runners and scoring position since June 1st, a 144 weighted runs created plus since June 1st, leading baseball since June 1st.

So again, like, yes.

What have they done recently?

Like they are good with runners and scoring position.

That has not been a problem as of late.

So again, I feel like that's something that's been carrying over throughout all the months because that's, that was their MO early on.

no, they are doing absolute damage when they have guys in scoring position of recent.

So yeah, like you can knock that out right now about when they have guys on, they don't do anything.

Oh, typical pride pirates.

Like this offense, again, going back to your thing, like this offense is just super legit right now.

Too legit to quit.

They might say too legit to quit.

There you go.

And it, we've seen this before where they go into the break real hot, and it's like, is the break going to cool them off?

So hopefully not.

You guys will be with the team in Cleveland as the second half starts.

So yeah, hopefully again, going back to Jim's comment, like, yeah, I want them to get hot, but hopefully they don't do what they did this other time where they came out of the break and they were super hot and they made a disastrous trade.

Of the century.

Yeah.

Chris Archer.

It was different circumstances then though.

It was, I'm just saying.

We know.

There's a lot of similarities between the two seasons.

Ben's a lot of things, but I'm not sure Ben is the, like, let me just throw this against the wall, aggressive move out of nowhere.

Neither was Neil.

That's true.

That is true.

But yeah, I don't, I don't know what he was.

The two are seeing the jobs on the line.

Anyways, again, just careful of what's coming with Ben trying to maybe save his job.

But again, the trade that he just made recently doesn't appear to be a guy who's too concerned about now, so.

Right.

But no, come out in the second half and just win the first eight and you'll be sitting 11 over and you'll be, you'll be in a good spot and you can make whatever trade you want.

And look, what's funny, like you say that like somewhat in a sarcastic tone.

Right.

But they faced the Braves in the, in the Milwaukee Brewers, like getting into this, it was like, and this is going to be a brutal stretch.

How that was our show last week.

How are they going to get through this?

Like they just have, it was like, if they just do what they're doing right now, which was they're just like slightly below a 500 team, like they're hanging around, but it's not like they're hanging around like a game or two above it.

They're hanging around like a game or two below it.

It's like, they just do that through the all-star break, through the trade deadline.

Like it's, you want to see better, but it's not the end of the world.

And again, like the first two series, they come up four and two.

Awesome.

They go in the break.

Then they have Cleveland and New York.

Like those are two, the same thing.

Like those are two strong teams.

So how are they going to do this in, well, maybe they can.

But yeah, they split that series in Philadelphia, which is, you'll take that every day of the week.

Phillies are a good team.

They're facing that pretty much.

They're up against them in the wildcard race right now.

Yeah.

And yellow beard here says, should have won that game.

When Jones faced the Braves, that's the thing.

There's like eight games in the first half where you could be like, no, they should have won that.

Like they were a 98%, win probability and they lost it.

And they did, they do.

They have games like that.

Like they could easily be, you went half that you're seven up at the break.

You're eight up at the break.

Like who knows?

But unfortunately they lost those games because the bullpen and defense and whatnot, it's just things they have to shore up in this, in this next couple of weeks here.

And the only way to really do that is trades and get healthy and whatnot.

You said get healthy.

Yeah.

Like speaking of shoring up, Oh, no, Cruz, Spencer Horwitz.

Again, I'm like, I'm not sure if it's going to be after the all-star break.

It didn't sound that way when Ben was talking about, like immediately, but sometime after the break, sometime before August, he expects those two to be back.

Now, the other thing too, is like this offense doesn't technically need.

Yeah.

Oh, no, Cruz and Spencer Horwitz the way that we want them back.

That's the question, right?

Yeah.

Like I think I said this with Doug on one of the post game shows, ironically enough, they could end up being worse offensively when those two come back, but yes, technically speaking, those two are coming back.

So you would think that might help stabilize the offense.

if anything, Oh, no, Cruz has been hitting lefties this year.

Maybe at least he helps the lefty side of things.

So it's not just as abysmal as it's been of recent.

but like also Wilber Dotel is close to returning.

So the bullpen, like maybe he helps that as well.

So like, there are some reinforcements coming that don't include actual trades being made, you know?

So like, hopefully this team is stabilizing a little bit more than they have, which again, even with that being said, they've not missed a beat with a lot of those guys being out.

so yeah, like that's, that's so that could maybe help out this team also.

So, and then you're right, man, like this team needs some trades, some real legit trades.

They just had one that happened on Saturday, Friday night, Friday night.

Yeah.

late per Ben Cherington's MO.

I'm not going to really say too much more about that trade.

I'll just, again, like bullpen wise, at least I don't really think that shores up this bullpen.

So like they still need to make something happen to stabilize the major problem and probably a starter too.

Yes.

Yeah.

You need, you need at least two trades for that early, whatever you get it in one trade, but they need two arms in that bullpen, at least it's like minimum.

And then, yeah, you're probably going to need a starter or some, somebody that does both or something, because you got a lot of, you got a lot of innings in this first half.

And, yeah, it's, and that's like triple a, I guess your Katie's been pitching better.

Like he's been pitching really good at triple a, but he's really the only one.

Sure.

Like everybody else, has not been pitching well.

So in Hunter Barco, I think it's on the aisle in triple a.

So like, yeah, you don't have many options.

So like, you're probably going to need to go get a starter.

So Ben's got some work to do here in the next, couple of weeks, but like, yeah, you can't don't wait until the night before on the, like they need to, this needs to happen in the next week or two, like a couple of weeks here and start at least start making the

trades.

because yeah, they don't need to, you said rough stretch coming up.

They need to fit, try to fix something with that.

And yeah, the guys coming back like Horwitz and Cruz, although they'll be back after the break.

That's great.

That's big.

That's nice.

But like you said, the lineup's not really missing them right now.

Like people are asking Dinardo is Jake Mangum, the glue.

Well, he's been balling out and so has the offense.

I just like if at the very least though, which again, like Marcel has been playing better per se, but also with that, it just seems it's more, he's playing very sparingly, very sparingly.

That's what I was going to say.

And so with that being said, he doesn't have a whole lot of plate appearances and it just seems like he'll, he has like six to eight games to avoid myself.

I'm saying six, seven, six to eight games where he just looks bad.

And then he has that one game.

It just explodes and that normalizes the numbers.

But again, like he technically hasn't been killing the team as of late, but what I'm alluding to is like when these guys come back, well, first off you have some guys like playing the position a little bit more better.

You maybe use that DH role a little bit more, some guys like maybe giving Bryan Reynolds a day off onto the DH role, he has played a lot of games, Cruz can get in there.

But yeah, like there's just a lot of options that you're going to have at your disposal once those guys come back and, it definitely deepens the bench.

But again, like it's not like the bench has been terrible.

I guess Billy Cook's gone, but again, like Billy Cook has had like 14 plate appearances since like June.

It's not like Billy Cook has been detrimental to this team.

Like I know he's not good, but I know there's a lot of people complaining about Billy Cook.

How's he on this team?

Well, he's not really doing much.

He's just, he's just hoisting a cone.

So, right.

like, he's just the vibes guy.

I don't really need him.

He's not really doing too much.

Like he comes in the eighth or ninth inning to give himself a defensive replacement.

That's pretty much about it.

Whatever.

Yeah.

Well, crew with these guys coming back, I think his time might be running out, but yeah, you're just, you're the, you're the cone guy.

to bring something up here, if you want to talk about it.

like our key has been pitching better in triple a cause that was the one thing too.

Like when he went down there initially, he was also terrible, but in the past 13 games for Urquidy, 66 innings, he has a three 68 ERA, a one Oh six whip.

So, it is an option.

I don't know what they do, but like that is an option.

I'm surprised we haven't seen him for a second stamp.

Like, I feel like we've seen everybody in triple a couple of times.

Barco, camp Sanders is like up and down.

Like you wouldn't believe.

And, but yeah, your kid, he's just been down there, but he's like really the only one like, they called Harrington up.

He never even pitched, but Harrington's got like a six, five ERA at triple a, he gets sent back down.

but yeah, your kid is really the only guy that I think you'd want to try again.

So that may happen, but you still need to, but you have to make the moves.

Like, it's just, there's no, like I said, he may be the guy to like help with innings for the starters, but you need somebody, you need a couple of guys in that bullpen that you can rely on.

Cause again, like Soto on Saturday, they bring him in for that save and it's like, okay, but it was, it was a drama, it was a drama filled ninth inning with Soto.

They got the double play.

They got it.

But yeah, like you don't really want him being your closer in the second half.

Like it's, he can close from time to time, but you don't want him to be, he's not the guy.

Like they need a guy.

Yeah.

You're right.

Like, I don't want to say he's been exposed, but he was thrusted into the closer role.

the reason you signed him was because he's a late innings guy who has some closer experience.

And so like, just have that's nice, but he's not going to be a closer.

That's probably Dennis Santana, but he'll get some opportunities, and very early on he was thrown like, okay, you're the, you're the closer now.

And he was excellent when he wasn't the closer.

He was excellent when he first became the closer and then it just fell apart.

So over his career, he's been fine.

he was an all-star with the tigers as the closer.

He has experience like, he's been fine.

He hasn't been this bad, in this stretch.

So I don't know.

Maybe, right.

Maybe if they go out there and get someone who's like, can be a bonafide closer and get him more in the role that he's more accustomed to or something he's more doing earlier on this season, he can reform that and get his confidence back.

And you can have more confidence in him being in that, in that bullpen, maybe if he's just not the guy and he's put in better situations, like, Hey, we need a lefty up in

the ladings, go do your thing.

You posted like, we just need the closer.

It doesn't matter who's up to bat.

yeah, maybe he can get better in that sense.

Like, and I don't believe that Soto's this guy or he's a bad pitcher.

I think he certainly can be better than what he's doing.

It's just not the role that maybe is fit best for him right now.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He was like you said, not exposed, but he was just, he was used a little, they were all used way too often probably than they should.

Then they really were.

The plan was to be, and again, he was good for a while.

Like you said, it was like, Oh, Santana's the closer.

No, it's Soto.

And then it then it was like, no, one's the closer.

And that's where we're at.

Like, so, and again, you don't have to go get a role as Chapman, but as the Red Sox are red hot.

I don't even know if he's available, but you got to get somebody.

It's like Chapman-esque, right?

Yeah.

You need a dude in the, in the ninth inning that you can rely on game in and game out as your closer.

And Soto, again, he can, he can do it if you need them to, or late innings.

But I think he's definitely well, more suited for that, like late inning role set up, or face some lefties, whatever, but yeah, I wouldn't be, they need, they need better.

They need somebody else.

They need more.

And, Ben got his trade out of the way, got his shortstop, to help while Connor's out and, give Triola some days off, I guess.

But yeah, you got to, you gotta, you gotta focus on the bullpen now, Ben.

Yeah.

Let's go ahead and kick it on over Cody and we'll finish the show up.

Talk a little more about this team.

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The pirates had 64,000 runners in that fourth inning yesterday.

They did without an out.

Yeah, so I had to go to my niece's graduation party and it's, I was going to Sharon.

So it's like, it's like a half hour drive and I got, my phone, I got the app pulled up and I'm, I thought the app broke, DiNardo.

I was getting ready to text you.

It was the pirates batted that whole drive.

Like I, they were in the, they were in the bottom of the fourth inning, that whole drive.

I was like, it just kept saying bases loaded.

And I was like, is any, what's happening here?

Like what?

And yeah, it just run another run.

It was, yeah.

Seemed like a fun one.

Well, it's just as wild to watch it too.

Cause like it's in the post game show.

And if you watch, you saw, but like, yeah, like Marcell Ozuna, again, the big game, he had a hit, then he had a home run in that fourth inning.

He hit a home run.

Marcell Ozuna hit a home run.

That was wild in itself.

And then he also made the very first out.

His next at bat in the same inning.

Like what?

He strikes out and it's like, wow, of course, Marcell Ozuna makes the first out of the inning.

However, he also hit a home run in the same inning.

In the inning.

Right.

Could have had two home runs in the same inning.

Okay.

Tatis.

I know.

Right.

Right.

But we've had some, the Orion O'Hearn game, and then you got Valdez the other day with eight RBIs and the double header.

we've had some crazy performances this year just from this offense.

Yeah.

And like, and then again, it's like, it's almost like as the trout Ohtani meme, right.

With the angels, but at least something ridiculous as the angels lose five to four.

Right.

Like that's been like the pirates this year because they have, they've done, all season they've had some things happen, right?

Like, yeah.

Brandon Lowe had a three home run game earlier on as the pirates lose to the Mets.

And, it's like, it's just frustrating.

They've been doing some like incredible things, but they're just hanging around 500 while they do this.

Yeah.

Not so much angels level, like, this past year, but yeah, it's funny.

I want to bring up one thing though.

I just want to hear your opinion because, and I'm just going to talk about this now because we're talking about the bullpen.

And I was ready to claim Dennis Santana is somewhat back a few nights ago.

Oh, I thought you were going to say you were going to call him dead on arrival.

Well, that's the thing.

It's so again, theme right now is MOs that have been sticking all year long.

Like Dennis Santana has been very bad, but it was like of recent, I felt like he's been better.

I feel like his stuff has been better.

The slider's been better.

He's getting more whiffs, getting more strikeouts.

Like he's not himself.

He's not like 2025 Dennis Santana, but I felt like it's coming along.

And then, well, the past few games happen and it's like, all right, I don't know.

I say this because a lot of people, and I would have on board with it because again, like it's just not really happening.

Thought he was going to be DFA with all his transactions.

He didn't.

He survived it once again.

Are we just hanging on to Dennis Santana at this point in time?

Because like, we're just so hopeful or, and again, I'm just asking you this.

I don't know if you're thinking too much into it, but like, is there maybe still something in there that needs to be unlocked with Dennis Santana?

I don't, it's tough to say because it seems like the pirates, they're real reluctant to like, get rid of them.

Like you said, like there was plenty of chances to be like that.

This is it.

Like we're DFA in them.

We got other guys.

I don't think, I don't think he, I think he could go.

I think they would DFA him, but I, they have to get better guys and they really haven't done that like today.

Like they, there are no better guys.

So while they're not really, yes, Don Kelly did still relying on them later in games when they have a lead or something.

Like, I don't think it's something the pirates are, I don't know if it's fixable and I don't know if the pirates feel that it is like they're hopeful.

Like, oh, he's going to be the guy in September.

Like we can, we can rely on them.

We'll fix them.

I don't know if that's the hope still from them.

I just think they have to, they're holding onto them until they get better guys and they haven't done that yet.

we got Brandon nicer, but he's a lefty.

It's a little different, but well, right.

Yeah.

And you're like, you mentioned, they'll tell us going to be coming back, sis should be back at some point.

You should make some trades.

So like, there's going to have to be some guys, Yohan Ramirez has been pitching well.

He hasn't allowed to run in quite a while, which is absurd.

You know what?

Yeah.

Maybe we can talk about that here for a second too, after this, that's wild.

Yeah.

But like, and you could, we could talk about that more, but like, obviously Soto and Montgomery are going to be there.

Mlodzinski, whether he goes back to the rotation or he's, staying in the rotation or staying in the bullpen, you have Mattson, who's been better since coming back from triple a, but like, yeah, you're going to have to lose some of these guys once, if you make upgrades.

So I think, I think they're hanging on to Santana until they have better.

And if he has to go, like if then, yeah, let him go.

Like you didn't, you didn't put much, you didn't put much money or anything invested in him, he's not making much, you got him for nothing.

So you can, you can get rid of him.

Look at this.

What a comment from Smitty here around the 412.

Nice to see some talent actually on the show this AM.

Thank that's what I'm talking about.

That's a good comment.

See Jim.

That's right.

That's right.

Jim's playing golf.

Right.

Yeah.

I don't know, man.

Like, that's just the thing.

Dennis Santana just so perplexing right now because he's the guy that he'll go out there and just look really good.

And then the next time he goes out there, he just looks really bad.

So I don't know.

I don't know.

Like I said, I was, I was willing to.

And again, like the biggest reason too, is it looked like he didn't have it because he wasn't getting anyone to swing and miss.

that was what it was 41.

I think played up here, like 41 straight batters without a strikeout.

It was like something absurd at one point.

he went that long without a strikeout.

And again, since we're doing the whole June thing, like since June 1st, he's striking out 10.13 batters per nine.

Like the strikeouts are actually up there.

he's actually has a lot of swing and miss in his game again.

That's why I was getting more encouraged.

Well, we won't talk about that, but it's been 31.

it's not any better.

It's worse actually.

Right.

Cause you're going to get 5.80.

Well, and again, like the thing about this, when you take away the past two games, we gave up all those runs, right?

At that point in time, it was like, when you take out the Colorado game, the ERA was actually good.

And again, and with that's why I said, I want to talk about Dennis Santana, I think might be back without the Colorado game before these past two games.

When I wanted to talk about it, the ERA was fine, but again, it's all this stuff within it that is encouraging.

And that's why I said, like the walk with the walk rates a little bit high, but it's all the manageable, but like the strikeout rate, he's making guys swing and miss again.

That's something he wasn't doing when it all came crashing for him.

So that's why, again, like the slide is working a lot better.

Like maybe Dennis Santana is finding himself once again.

And then yes, these past two games have been clunkers.

And now we're talking about the 31 ERA and it's not just without Colorado.

So yeah, again, I don't know, not to spend too much time on that, I guess, but I wanted to bring him up.

You got some hopium in there.

You want it, you wanted it to be real, but it's just, it hasn't, it hasn't been.

And I don't know, maybe if you had a couple bullpen arms and there's been this, they don't have to rely on them and he can just come in and three batter spurts and at certain spots, maybe he'll be okay, but it's just, it's been bad.

It's been bad.

So I, no, I'm fine DFA in them, but yeah, to date, they haven't really been, they really haven't felt the need to, but again, I just think it's because they don't really have too many better options.

Right.

But yeah, Yohan Ramirez 0.93 URA since June 1st and 19.1 innings, 14 games.

It's a lot of that one run.

He's an experience, isn't he?

Oh God.

Yes.

Not in a good way, but yes.

But yeah, he's been, he's been better, but he, again, he's more of like a two inning guy.

He's not going to be out there in like the ninth inning or something, closing a game out.

But yeah, like Ramirez, Yohan Ramirez, get some, get some arms at this deadline, but Ramirez is going to be part of this bullpen.

Like he's earned that for sure.

He's got a role.

He does like you said, the experience, I don't, I don't know how it happens, but oftentimes he comes out there unscathed.

He creates a mess and he gets out of it.

And at the end of the day, you're like, okay, I guess Yohan Ramirez has a 0.93 URA since June 1st in 19.1 innings, but he probably allowed like 38 base runners in that timeframe too.

Right.

There we are.

Those that nationals game, he walked three scoreless inning, right?

Like it's just, yeah, let me, let me load the bases here by nothing but walks and then not give up a hit.

Let me get out of it.

And that's how it was early on too.

I felt like he was in these crucial moments, especially like early on when they're going to extras, right?

Like he kept prolonging the game to help this team win, but he did it by allowing, there's already gone second when you go to extras and it was like, he would walk a guy or like a guy would get a hit.

He would walk a guy somehow get like an out, hit a batter, somehow get an out, get out, get out of that inning.

And it's like, how do they, how do they move on?

But yeah, he's an experience or walks per nine, but then he's striking out over, 10 per nine.

So yeah, he has stuff, can't harness it.

Right.

Right.

It's an experience.

But again, when you're looking at this bullpen and who's been performing or not, he's been getting the job done and not many of them have.

So yeah, he's making, he's staying in the bullpen.

Yeah.

Or at least on the team.

so what else do you want to talk about in this wrap up?

I did want to mention like, you look at the first half as a whole, once you get to the break and they got, do you remember like, there was always teams that like they'd have a great first half and you'd be like, well, they're like, they've

won 20 more one run games and they've lost, like it's not sustainable.

They're going to fall off and then they fall off or whatever.

But like, just looking around, like the pirates are 14 and 10 in one run games, like not anything crazy.

that I've mentioned about the division there are five and one against the brewers four and three against the Cubs, the reds there's six and three against the reds.

And then the Cardinals two and five, and I said, besides the Cardinals, they've been very good against the division, interleague there's 16 and eight in interleague play, which is wild.

They're playing 500 ball on the road.

they're finally three up at home.

Thanks to this last, homestand against the brewers there, but like, yeah, all these numbers, these records, when you get to that, like they all look sustainable.

Like they're not nothing like sticks out where they're like, Oh, that's going to regress.

they're three and six and extra inning games.

Like they're just, they're not very good in extra inning games.

but yeah, like key, if they keep playing 500 ball on the road, that's a very good sign.

And then hopefully you win, more games than you lose at home.

But yeah, like it's all looking good there.

It's all looking good.

New member.

Shout out to Amber for a new member on YouTube.

Right.

But you're right.

Like, I guess that's the one thing I talked about earlier on, like no matter what viewpoint you have, anything this team does can support it.

If you are the mindset of this is a good team, those things that you just mentioned, there's a lot of good in those to indicate this is a good team.

Like, again, like this is a team that takes care of business on the road.

Usually good teams do that.

they're not like home field merchants.

Like, oh, this team fits this ballpark and they just feast on or whatever.

And when they go away, they only win like 30 to 8% of the games.

Like this team wins on the road and they've, it's not like they've had a cakewalk.

again, you're talking about almost a hundred games.

Like it's a large sample.

It's not like they just feasted off of the lowly, whoever in their division.

Again, this is a tough division too.

Like the reds are the worst team and the reds aren't like a pushover.

by any means.

So there's just like the run differential as well.

like the run differential is really good.

This team won a better in baseball.

And actually, as a matter of fact, let me pull this up here so I can see it.

Where are they at?

Yeah.

Like plus 44, which is the fifth best in the NL.

Again, you're looking at wildcard six teams, make it like they have the fifth best run differential in the national league.

So there's just, there's a lot that's going the way.

And again, we'd say this because there's a lot of struggles this team had.

And the biggest one is the bullpen.

And I feel like if there's the easiest thing to fix at a tread to trade deadline, it is the bullpen.

Now you have to do it, but you gotta, but you gotta pay up.

You're going to have to, you can't try to, well, we're going to hold on to everybody.

Like you're going to have to give up something, but that's, if there's something that, is your Achilles heel, this point in time, that's the thing that's easiest to shore

up and make you become that good team.

And that's why I think there is a lot of positive again, like that's why this team being three games above 500 was important, because they got through this stretch and there are, there are three games up.

They're just two games out of the wildcard.

They're right in the thick of things.

They can shore up this bullpen.

All these indicators we talked about, this offense we're talking about, the runner scoring position we're talking about, the guys are coming back healthy again, right?

For his depth and everything.

You can absolutely talk about this team being a wildcard team this year, they have to take care of business.

They, Ben's got to do his job.

Ben has to do his job.

Starters need to start doing their job.

Bullpen has no help there.

They just need to be X.

We just need to execute people in the bullpen, replace them.

That's Ben's job.

But this team absolutely is in the hunt and is in this race to be.

In the playoffs for 2026.

Like no doubt.

They are.

And they've, this first half, they've been here before.

Like they've gone on little spurts where they went above 500.

Like they were 16 and 11 and then they went back down to 500 and then they got some wins going.

They were like 24 and 20 and right back down to 500.

And then they did it again.

They were, let's see here, 34 and 29.

And then they went on that Braves Dodgers series and they went right back down to 500.

So like they've done this before where they've been four or five games up three and they go right back to 500.

Like they need to avoid that happening again.

Like stay above, keep winning, make some moves at the deadline.

And like you, we mentioned this tough stretch to come out of the break with it.

It's on the road, Cleveland.

You guys will be there in New York, but they played well on the road, like at least 500.

So like, yeah, just avoid the little losing streak that puts you back at 500.

Like keep playing 500 until you get hot or you get some, reserves for the bullpen.

And hopefully you can stay above that.

You got to pass the Cardinals.

You got to get the Cubs.

And then you can talk about, being in the wildcard racer, I keep playing the Brewers.

Maybe we can catch them in the division.

My goodness.

Gained three games on them over the weekend.

Apparently.

Yeah.

Pirates own the Brewers this year.

Who would have thought?

Right.

Yeah.

It's yellow beer here says is the Gonzalez acquisition, a precursor for trading Nikki G.

I don't think at this point, I don't, I'd say no, I don't think you can, at least they shouldn't, I don't think they should trade from the major league roster at this point.

unless like the right deal shows up, which those are usually.

It's tricky to be like trading for, a major leaguer for a major leaguer, but right.

Like, yeah, I would just, cause I guess that if you, even if you added a couple of bats or something, like those guys go to the bench and they're very good coming off the bench.

So I, yeah, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be looking to trade him, but yeah.

Yeah.

I agree.

I think that's more of a Connor replacement for now, or at least, like, as you mentioned, that's the triolo Gonzalez platoon at shortstop until Connor comes back.

Again, the way I look at it's, it's a, it's a short-term fix for that slightly.

with a long-term viewpoint, like that's Gonzalez.

They like what he's done with this swing.

Maybe he could be a long-term future piece.

Like Britain allows going to be going away next year.

So some of the play second, there's a third, if Gonzalez can be that guy that, he was drafted to be, then that makes Brent allow going away a lot easier to swallow.

So that's a look at this.

I don't think it's something where it's like, okay, now we got him.

We can trade Nick Gonzales or someone on this major league roster.

I guess it's possible.

And the trade makes sense.

Trade makes sense.

But I don't think that's the design of this.

Right.

Right.

No, I agree.

And again, if you actually get a third basement or somebody to move over, Nikki G could come off that bench and he, we know what he's done with the bat this year.

So it's just been his defense at third because he's out of position.

There's like three guys out of position.

So yeah, they, that's another thing to work about, but no, but to me, it's all, it's all bullpen.

I'm still, I'm still, my stomach is still rolling with that throw to home plate with Henry Davis that.

Yeah.

And it was funny.

It went a whole different way than the Brewers.

Was that, was it Yellich coming from third?

Like he was surprised and he just like, Henry Davis just like stood there.

Like, did I get the out?

Like it was the weirdest double play.

Like, and you just like, you're just holding your breath.

Cause you're like, you see him throw a home and that usually never turns out well, but no.

Yeah.

So they both just like tag you.

Okay.

Game's over.

Right.

So, but anyways, yeah, I guess the first half is, I guess, how would you rate the first half like a grade?

You want to grade?

Yeah.

I think I saw God.

Cause it's like, you could give them an a or you could give them a D, but I guess I'll go in the middle.

I guess you got to even it out.

I'll say, I'll say B.

I saw someone, I think early in this chat, say B minus, I'm going to go B minus.

I think that's good.

I'm going to go, I'm going to go be straight solid B.

And the reason I do say that is again, like there's a lot of struggles, but March 15th, Ryan, you're told also break.

This team is three games above 500.

How would you feel?

Like, would you be given, would you say, well, I got to probably give them a B or an A or something?

Probably a B probably in there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I guess that's how I look at it.

Like it's just been done differently.

It's been a wild events.

It's been a long, frustrating, emotional journey, but at the end of the day, there are three games above 500 and they're thicker things.

Like I know they're not in the wild card right now, but that's why I guess I give it a B because like as much as they're alive, the bullpen of the struggles, like this offense is just so damn good.

No one expected this offense like this.

So I guess I look at it as a B, but again, there's three games above 500.

I will take that.

I, given that the way this team was built, you look that this team is probably going to be a team that might finish the year three games above 500 and that's it.

So at the break, the three games above 500, I got to give them a B.

Yeah.

And I'm right there with you.

I just, I'm going B minus just cause I, we, I watched the first half and it was like, there was so many, they left.

What's the thing we, it's, they left some on the table that I think they could have been, they could have had a much better first half.

It could have been worse too, but they left a lot on the table.

Like there was a lot of games that they had one and it just didn't, they didn't get it done.

So yeah, so I'll go B minus, but again, they're, they ended on a nice note.

They're right there.

They got to take advantage of it and keep it going.

So, and meanwhile, fix the bullpen.

Fix it, Ben.

Fix it.

All right, let's get out of here.

So it's the all-star break.

Jim's already on his break.

He's on his vacation, but yeah, like that's pretty much it for it.

We don't have like any more shows lined up and such cause of the all-star break.

And as mentioned, Paul Skenes's and Braxton Ashcraft are all-stars.

They're going to be in Philly.

We saw them on the plane last night.

If, well, we did, if you did it or not, they're on the plane, they're going to Philly, but they're not playing.

They won't be partaking in the all-star game.

Did they definitely announce that for Ashcraft?

Yeah, because they, who was it?

I forget.

I figured, I figured the rain out.

Okay.

I figured the rain out Friday did that in.

Same.

Since he pitched on Saturday, he's going to be too close.

So yeah, they have, they have the action.

I'm fine with it.

These guys need a rest.

Go enjoy the red carpet, Braxton, Livvy, and Paul.

But yeah, get these guys a break.

Yeah.

I'm good with it too.

But I'm alluding to is, yeah, there's nobody, there's no pirates.

That's going to be partaking in any of the festivities.

So it just is what it is.

So yeah, we're, we'll be back also, I guess, when they play the guardians on Friday, we'll have an NS nine live on Thursday night from Cleveland.

I think it's probably going to be at the Airbnb because by the time everyone gets in and stuff.

So probably the Airbnb and then, yeah, we'll be at the games all weekend.

We did announce it.

So Saturday before the guardians game at 11 AM, we'll be at the whistle.

It's like adjacent to the ballpark.

So it's right there.

So if you're going to the game, that's what we have beforehand.

So come along.

There's nothing formal set up.

We're just going to be hanging out, drinking some beer, having some food and go to the game.

So, but we'll be at all three games, but on Saturday, 11 o'clock, we'll be at the whistle beforehand.

So come join us.

The North, the North shore nine invades downtown Cleveland.

It should be a good one.

We're going to class that place up, baby.

That's right.

That's right.

Do you know?

I guess, cause we talked about, but there's no tailgating allowed.

That's stupid.

I feel like, I have to like, see that in person.

Like I know Jim looked it up, but I'm like, was it just like a bad information website?

Or is that true?