00:00It does look like Tampa's about to close out. The Athletics are in the top of the ninth,
00:048-4 in that one. I do believe this will be a 9-0 West Coast trip. If they win
00:11this one,
00:11they'll head home Friday. They'll start a home series then. But yeah, I don't think anybody's
00:19done a better job of beating sub-500 teams than the Tampa Bay Rays this year, Tom. And I guess
00:25that is really got to be the question. Do you believe that, yes, Tampa's won the games they're
00:31supposed to win, but are we buying that that's good enough to win the games they're not supposed
00:36to win at times here? That's a big question. The Rays overperforming and beating preseason
00:44expectations by so much. They're unbelievable at home, as we just saw. They are constantly
00:52getting good pitching performances. They are putting up runs when they need to. They can
00:55win low-scoring games. They've agreed back into the bullpen with Brian Baker. They kind
01:00of check off all the boxes that you possibly want. The question becomes is, when they have
01:06to go on the road in a postseason series, how much can we trust them? What if the hitting
01:11dies down a little bit? What if they lose a game at home? Because they're great at home.
01:15They're obviously not perfect at home. But if they were to host a series and they lose one
01:20of those games, does that set them up to fail? So that's really the question about
01:25the Rays. Because if they are truly the class of the AL, they're going to have home field
01:30advantage throughout. And you're getting them at the games to the favor right now. That's
01:34just, again, a risk thing for the books. But you get the Rays at a great price to win
01:38the AL, knowing that they've home field the entire time.
01:43Yeah, that I think remains to be seen, right? I mean, on paper, it looks, but it really does
01:51feel like it remains to be seen here. And I got to play the, I believe it when I see
01:57it card. There's no reason for them not to. I do think, obviously, they've done with half
02:04the payroll what teams only wish they can do there. But they were so good. 41 and 18
02:10at home this year. But you got to get the schedule really played into their hands, Tom. And even
02:17when they go out west here, and you start beating up the Seattle's of the world and the athletics
02:22of the world, you know, the remaining schedule is, it's kind of favorable here. There's not a
02:29lot, except for a, you know, a series against the Yankees here in Boston. But I think we're
02:34going to learn a little something over the next, you know, four to six weeks to see whether
02:38they can be a contender or a pretender. And I'm talking about not just in the American
02:43League pennant, but can they win it all, Tom? Is that even, can you look at them and go,
02:48yes, they got the pitching, the hitting, they got the bullpen. Can they get it done and, you
02:54know, run the table? That remains to be seen for me. I would say the same. I, frankly,
03:00I still think I would take the Braves in a series straight up over the race. Yeah. So
03:04I put the Rays, like, okay, we want to put the Dodgers in the top tier. That's fine. It
03:09really comes down to who's that next tier. And to me, it's comprised of, let's call it
03:14in order, the Braves, the Brewers, the Rays, the Yankees, the Phillies in that order
03:21specifically. So I think they're, they're in that second class, but I'm not sure they
03:26have enough to beat the Dodgers. And again, if they run a little bit cold in the post
03:31season, they have to run into the Yankees or even a red hot Red Sox team that could spell
03:35trouble for them. Yep. Big time. And yeah. And we're going to, you know, we're going to
03:41see here. I do think home field will matter for them if they can continue to run the table
03:46and grab that. But, you know, I'm hearing Stanton now is a week away from, from also
03:53getting back into the rehab situation there. We know judge and the light work best case
03:59scenario. They're back when Tom, September. Yeah. Yeah. Stanton Bellinger judge apparently
04:08is the order that they'll return. And I think it's going to be September 15th. If they can
04:12all be back by September 15th, let's call it a month from now, they can all be back.
04:17I think you start off judge as just the DH. You don't have them playing the field. You
04:21don't want to stress things too much. And then as the final week of the season goes on, he
04:25can ramp up on field. He plays a game or two in the outfield and then you'd be ready to
04:28roll. And that's what makes the Yankees dangerous is that if they have a post season as they did
04:33two years ago, when judges Stanton were hitting a million home runs, that's something that most
04:38teams can't keep up with. And the fact that the Yankees have top tier pitching
04:42and one of the best pitching staffs and have three game one starters, essentially, that
04:47you could be throwing out there between Freed, Schlittler and Cole, knowing that you could
04:51still bring in someone like Will Warren or Carlos Rodon and bring them out of the bullpen
04:56in a series and still get your four innings out of those guys.
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