Celebrating the Tampa Bay Rays at a Birthday party + the Women's National Tournament

Mark Corbett: [00:00:00] Welcome to BaseballBiz On Deck. I am Mark Corbett, and of course, with me is Mr. Mat Germain. Once again, we will take apart all of Major League Baseball and discover where the true fun is to be had.

Hey, Mat, how you doing, buddy? 

Mat Germain: I'm living the dream as always. And, uh, even though we'll break it all down, we will build it back up. 

Mark Corbett: I love it, and that's what it takes. Gotta be able to take all the Tinker Tots and toys and be able to put 'em apart, take 'em apart and put 'em together again. Oh, my gosh, I gotta tell you, brother, it has been an exciting week for me personally.

Uh, I celebrated a certain birthday, and, uh, then, it was a zero. It started with a seven. 

Mat Germain: Well, happy belated birthday, Mark. Thank you. I didn't even know. You never told me. 

Mark Corbett: Ah. 

Mat Germain: I'm gonna, I'm gonna send Karen a little, uh, a little note saying, "Next time you gotta warn me at least a week in advance." That way I can play some sort of prank on you.

I mean, get you a gift or a card or- 

Mark Corbett: Oh, thank you. [00:01:00] Thank you. No, you know, the, the thing I enjoyed about this was Karen and I were going to go see the Rays play against the Miami Marlins. 

Mat Germain: Mm-hmm. 

Mark Corbett: And so Lou Schiff kinda helped us out with some tickets, and we g- lo and behold, as we head down there, uh, Karen says there's one place we gotta stop.

I said, "Okay." Uh, drop off something for somebody. And then she asked me to come up. It was, it was in a residential area. And lo and behold, the door opens, and in silhouettes I see all these people, 'cause there's a, a patio back behind and the sun coming through. All I can see is silhouettes. It's our entire family, all our kids and their spouses are there, and a grandchild, and we have a celebration.

All of us go to the ballgame, and I get to share my love of the game with them, you know? And- That's awesome ... yeah, yeah. You know, I even walk around the park with them at, uh, Marlins Park, 'cause we don't wanna say LoanDepot Park. Marlins Park. And it, it was [00:02:00] great. , It was funny because e- what, even with the game going on, I wanna take part of that time to, to just walk through while it's live.

There's something about being on the edge of the game, you know, while you're in there. Mm-hmm. And I see Cedric Mullins is coming up, and I, I point out on the screen there. I said- Yeah ... "He is a really good center fielder." I said, "You know, but he's okay at the plate, so don't expect much." Boom. Home run.

That home run. 

Mat Germain: You know what? You just tested the baseball gods, and 

Mark Corbett: you got- That was it. And then Vilade comes up a minute later or something, I said, "Oh yeah, this, this guy, he's really bad, too." So knowing full well, I said, "Dad, are you trying to make it so that he can get the hit?" I said, "Yes." So if Vilade did g- he got a hit.

It wasn't a home run, I believe, but he, he got a hit. And, uh, it was, it was a great evening. Uh- Marlins found out it was my birthday. I got a little button, and it, they actually brought a slice of this magnificent chocolate cake to my seat to [00:03:00] serve me there. And- Wow. Yeah, yeah. And then, ,, the big happy birthday mark from your children, on the scoreboard.

All of it. I mean, it was just, it was, it was great, brother. I mean, I, I gotta say, in some ways this is the best baseball game I've ever been to, and, and one of the best birthdays I've ever had. So to have all of them there, and to enjoy a sport that both my wife and I love, and share that with the rest of the family, and for them to be actually enthused about it too.

Yeah. That's- You 

Mat Germain: know what? That is just, like, you were blessed and that's a, the kind of event that you don't walk out from. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: You just float out of the stadium at that point, because you just had that, magical moment. That it's the kind of thing that you dream about, that you, you know, you think about when you're in your early 30s.

You're like, "Someday I wish that," da da da da da da da. And it actually happened, so good for you. Oh, 

Mark Corbett: man. Very happy for you. 

Mat Germain: Well, thank 

Mark Corbett: you. You know, it, but I gotta tell you, the whole Marlins park [00:04:00] experience is, I've always found it exceptional with the parking. I mean, let's face it, part of the s- uh, the, uh, appeal, I guess, is the ease that we got in there.

Uh, we got there a little after the parks opened, and they have garages adjacent to, you know, LoanDepot Park.. You basically put all the information in about your car, you do it all online, and then you pull in there. I guess it scans your, your license plate, and you know, you're not handling any tickets, you're not doing anything like that.

So that was really cool. And- Wow ... to be able to walk just a few hundred yards, you know, to the stadium. And as you get older, you appreciate the shorter distances. So, uh, uh, it, it was, f- that part of it was great. Uh, like I said, the people there, and the park was so clean. Man, I mean, Mat, I've, I've been to some of them, and they're

Most of them are in good condition as far as keeping it up and keeping it clean, but they did an exceptional job. The, the people that were working [00:05:00] there did an exceptional job. And then the tickets, 'cause we had to buy some e- extra tickets, we had some of them that were one row behind, we were in the second row behind the dugout.

So yeah. Yeah. It was, uh, it was, to be up that close, you know, you say, "Hey, Ozzie," you know? Or you... But- 

Mat Germain: He sneezes and you can actually, you know, hear it. 

Mark Corbett: Oh gosh. I, I had my Grit & Glow jersey with the Rasmussen's name on the back there, and he was pitching that night. Oh, it was fantastic, brother. It was a great, great, great evening.

But uh, let's, let's kind of take a, take a step into today, ' Overall, the Rays have been kind of on a, on a slow scale lately, and I think right now they're five and f- uh, five and five as far as last 10 games. 

Mat Germain: Right. 

Mark Corbett: Uh, the good news is they have now swept all AL East teams.

Mat Germain: That's crazy. 

Mark Corbett: Now we've ... Let's go [00:06:00] ahead and do that with the rest of the teams as well. But that's ... It's ex- it's an exciting time. It ... But Drew took the mound again today, and I saw one s- thing come up where we were looking at the total number of pitches he had. He had, uh, Friday, when I was at Marlins Park, he pitched 87 pitches.

Mm-hmm. Had nine strikeouts, only one hit over seven innings. And today, pitched seven innings again, two hits, one walk, 13 strikeouts, and 97 pitches. So between two games, coming up with what is that? I mean, we're talking 22, uh, strikeouts over two games, and that just i- He is amazing to watch. I, I love every pitcher on that team, and between him and, and, uh, Nick Martinez, to me, those are the aces right now.

Uh, McClanahan and them, they, they're there, but these two seem to be steady forces for, for the, the Rays overall. [00:07:00] 

Mat Germain: Yeah, , the impressive thing with it too, like I know Contreras maybe less than the others, but that team's seen Drew Rasmussen quite a bit. Yeah. Like, they've been in that division for a while.

Caleb Durbin may- might be another one that's seen him less. Um I'm trying to think. No, they weren't. So I, I was just thinking of the, the Brewers connection, but they were not, not there at the same time. But Drew Rasmussen just, when he is on and he's actually hitting his spots and he's sharp- Yeah ... he's incredibly hard to hit.

And, and as long as, you know, the positionally well-regarded Rays are in the right spots when they hit the ball, then he ends up having success. But today, with the most encouraging part that you mentioned, was the 13 Ks. Mm. 'Cause that's something that hadn't been coming through so far this year. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. So to 

Mat Germain: see that kind of performance from Drew is a real eye-opener.

Whether or not he can manage it against a team like the, the Yankees or, uh, you know, the Dodgers that we're gonna see soon, we'll see, [00:08:00] but it's encouraging and it's definitely something that he's gonna enjoy, you know, building off of. The 97 pitches, I mean, every Rays fan that knows, you know, the injury-prone attributes of people are like, "Whoa, okay.

Well now let's wait and see what happens next." You know? The, I'm hoping that it continues, um, but you never know. 

Mark Corbett: Well, you never know. And, and when I see a number hit around 80, I'm like, "Okay, is K- is Kevin gonna pull, is Kevin gonna pull him? Is Kevin gonna pull him or not?" And, uh, part of me is very happy to see him in the game as long as he is, 'cause I know as a pitcher, he wants to make a difference as much as he possibly can while he's out there, and he does.

So as a fan, I love watching him, but as a person, I wanna make sure he's healthy. Drew, stay healthy, man. And Rays, keep him healthy. But, uh, wow, he is amazing. Yeah, the 13 strikeouts, brother. You know, it was a good game. You look through those first seven innings and we would put [00:09:00] up, uh, a run in the third, we'd put up three in the fifth, and we'd put up one in the sixth, and the Red Sox had nothing.

There we are, five to zip. And then what is it after that? Uh, oh my gosh, what is it? It's called the eighth inning. The eighth inning and the world turns. And we- if we look at who is it we, uh... Let's see, who was it came up after him? I'm trying to find here real quick. Yeah. Uh, he had Sulser.

I know Sulser was one of them up there, Clevenger, and a few others. But four runs up in the eighth and they put one up in the ninth. So if you'd, if we'd stopped putting up any more runs, it would've been five to five at the end of the ninth. The good news is, in the eighth inning, our boys stood up and they made things happen and we got two more runs in.

I'm so happy. So it was 7 to 5, we win the game. And it's, we- they're an exciting team to watch, period, you know? 

Mat Germain: Yeah. I, I have to talk about [00:10:00] Yandy Díaz 'cause I think- I think, you know, the, the league is finally paying attention to him and I can't remember a player, , reaching their peak that late. You know, I know there is one and he's, uh, it's evasive in my mind, like I'll remember it at some point.

It happens, but it's so rare that they continuously get better through their 30s. Yeah. Now, the one that we can point to that everybody knows is Barry Bonds, right? And, and we know why. Right. And, and, and, and it just so happens that Yandy is just as big, so it's one of those if you wanted to point fingers, you could.

But, , the testing is now not what it was then. So I, I think we're good to go on that front. But, like, I just wanna go over the stats. Like, the hitting approach and everything that he does at the plate is textbook to what you would wanna teach young players. And the thing that if you listen to the games that the Rays are playing, the commentators are going through how much of that is feeding over to Junior Caminero.

Mark Corbett: Mm-hmm. 

Mat Germain: And for somebody that's [00:11:00] 22, that is a huge, you know, maturity. And I, I remember watching Junior Caminero down in the ABL, in the Australian Baseball League, and he was w- mature beyond his years. He was the best, the, the most mature bat in the Perth Heat lineup at the time, and there was guys that were in their mid-20s and, and, or approaching their 30s that were on that team, and he was way more mature at the plate in terms of his approach even then, and he was 18.

So I can only imagine, , the amount of talking they're doing and the information sharing and the evaluations of all of the, uh, bats that are, they're going through is feeding off. Like, Yandy Diaz in June is hitting 444 with a 475 on base percentage and a, and 1,000, uh, OPS, right? So 1,058. So he's just setting the tone, setting the standard.

Jonathan Aranda's had success. Junior Caminero's had success. So it's starting that machine back up. Um, I think we've talked about, you know, [00:12:00] potentially adding somebody else, and they've brought up Austin Slater. I don't know. I, I think, again, you're talking about somebody with a mature approach at the plate that can chip in when he's put into the lineup and be productive without having, , the performance fall off like can happen with younger players.

So I think that's the approach the Rays are taking to kind of see where things lie when the trade market starts opening up. But it, it's nice to see them rebound against the Red Sox. Yeah. And, , they've had, like yous mentioned, a couple of really tough, uh, series or, , maybe week and a half.

Um, so sometimes that happens and it's a good thing because it forces the team to fight through it, to become resilient, and to realize that they have to act and play in a certain way to continue that, momentum going forward. 

Mark Corbett: Well, and that's the thing is do, do you, if you're not hitting, uh, completing a series or winning a series [00:13:00] and it's a team that's not in the top of their division, you know, d- do you just take it on the chin and cry, go up in the corner?

Or do you find a way to come back with a strategy to make sure this next game that's not gonna happen again or this, this next series that's not going to happen again? I mean, I was so glad when I went down to Marlins Park, I was there Friday and watched that game because to think that they lost two more to the Marlins, and the Marlins aren't kicking butt by any stretch of imagination.

And, uh, you know, so, uh, hmm.

Mat Germain: Pitching always gets you, right? It's the pitching. Yeah. So if the pitching is on that night, you can struggle. You know, it's, it's that easy. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah, Sandy Alcantara, you know, let's face it, you're gonna face him. That night with the Marlins is gonna be different than just about any other night that you're facing the Marlins.

And- It's- But no, it, it's been, uh, it's been good to see that. so the boys get, we're recording this on Wednesday, and, uh, they get tomorrow off, and I guess after that they're heading out to cross the other side of the continent and going to [00:14:00] be facing the Angels and the Dodgers. 

Mat Germain: Yeah. 

Mark Corbett: Oh, I never know what to expect with the Angels.

I mean, I expect Mike Trout, okay? And then, um, what else? Are 

Mat Germain: we, are we gonna go there and save Mike Trout from himself? Is that the ... Can, can we put him in a, uh, a bat bag and just bring him back to- Jeez ... , at some point. They, I know, I remember watching Ray Bourque, right? In hockey. He played with the Boston Bruins for a long time.

One of the most dominant, , defensemen of his era. , Hadn't won a Stanley Cup very late in his career. , Patrick Roy got dealt to the Colorado Avalanche. Ray Bourque saw an opportunity his last season. He says, "I've stuck with this team forever. They haven't won me anything. I'm going to Colorado and joining Patrick Roy.

I'm gonna go win a Cup." He wins the Cup, and then he retires, right? I'm hoping Mike Trout can do something of that sort because he's not going to win a World [00:15:00] Series with the Angels. I'm sorry. Yeah. Looking at the timeline of the rest of his career, it is not going to happen. So if I'm him and I'm staring in the mirror, I'm saying, "Do I want my name as a World Series champion?"

Mark Corbett: Yeah. "

Mat Germain: And if I do, then where am I going? Because I'm not, I can't stay here. A- and so how do I make that happen?" If not, then he's basically saying, you know, that, that he was so loyal to the area, to the team, whatever, that he just couldn't move on from that. Now, it happens. Some players do that, and they stick with a f- a team their whole career, and they don't win a championship, and that's okay I don't know.

Like, which one would you do, Mark, if you had, if you were in his position, right? Do you go the Cal Ripken route or do you go the Mike Trout route? And, honestly, I don't know if Cal Ripken won a World Series with the Orioles. I think he might have. 

Mark Corbett: Might have. Yeah. Might have. I don't know, Rob, Tom. No, I, I, I wonder about that because, [00:16:00] you know, w- I look at Freddie Freeman with Atlanta Braves.

Mat Germain: Mm-hmm. 

Mark Corbett: And negotiating contract. And last one, you know, Chipper Jones is working with him. There's all kinds of discussions I think we talked about before about things that were not communicated to Freddie. Mm-hmm. But coming back to Mike Trout, yeah, I, I don't know. I would like to see him go the way of getting to a team that's going to make- Not make him just the centerpiece and not have anything else around it.

That he's a man who will contribute to a team that's already strong and has made a commitment to win a World Series. I think he deserves that. So whether he as a person will do that, that's a whole other thing. Maybe he'll have the Chipper Jones mentality and he'll stay with the Braves no Mater what.

Mat Germain: You know what my prediction is though, Mark? 

Mark Corbett: What's that? 

Mat Germain: You're gonna hate me for it. 

Mark Corbett: Oh, brother. 

Mat Germain: I think he's gonna end up on the Dodgers. 

Mark Corbett: Oh, I do hate you for that. Jeez. Oh, you must be kidding me. Why in the world would you put 

Mat Germain: him- 'Cause he doesn't have to move. He doesn't have to [00:17:00] change his friends- Mm-hmm

his team, his... And he just basically shifts, you know, to the stadium and, uh, and gets to build, you know, the same kind of habits. But, you know, that'll be the... I think it's easier for him to do that than to, say, go to the Padres, right? And then he's facing Ohtani and, and in the same division and everything else.

Like, that would be a, a, a really fun one. 

Mark Corbett: Mm-hmm. 

Mat Germain: But I don't see it happening, like, especially for money reasons. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: , And then Rays' aspect is the same thing. Like, there's a money aspect to this that make it impossible. So yeah. Th- there's another team, though, that's on the West Coast that could feasibly fit him into their budget, and they are successful, and that's the Mariners.

And they've made that kind of move in the past. So they would be, like, an outlier that I would say, you know what, if, if he is thinking short-term and then he jumps back to, uh, the Dodger... or sorry, the, the Angels afterwards or something like that, um, I could see them making that kind of [00:18:00] spot. Jerry Dipoto is aggressive enough that I think he could wheel and deal something into place and, and force a...

convince ownership to, to take that on. You know, was he still GM, or was he GM when they did the Robinson Cano deal? 

Mark Corbett: I don't know, to be quite honest with you. 

Mat Germain: I don't know. Don't remember. I, I'd have to look that up, but that was a significant... Like, he stole Robinson Cano from, the Yankees, which is no small feat, , at the time.

So, , I wouldn't put it past them. That's all I'm saying. 

Mark Corbett: That would fill two of my dreams. Well, dreams are either, uh... Two things that I would like to see i- in baseball One, I'd like to see Trout be on a team that could win the World Series. Mm-hmm. Two, see the Mariners make it to the World Series.

Yeah. You know, I mean, w- X number of years they've been around now and they haven't been there yet, and my gosh. So I'd love to see Mike Trout i- in the outfield with [00:19:00] Randy Arozarena 

Mat Germain: in the outfield. Yes. And then the playoff performance that he puts on, right? Oh, 

Mark Corbett: yeah. Like, 

Mat Germain: he loves that spotlight. So you put Randy in left and, and, uh, Mike Trout in center, and then whoever in, in right.

Or, or Julio Rodriguez in center and Mike Trout in right probably. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: Um, you know, you're talking about an outfield that's, that's a pretty fearsome outfield when it comes to, to the lineup production as well, right? 

Mark Corbett: I would love that. 

Mat Germain: Mm-hmm. 

Mark Corbett: I would love that.

Mat Germain: So , we've gone to this point wh- uh, Mark, where I think that, , , it's becoming tighter in the AL East if- as for the top four teams especially. Mm-hmm. Like, there, there's still 10 games between the Rays and the Orioles. Um, the Yankees, though, are breathing down the necks of the Rays, and what are your thoughts on Aaron Judge's injury and how it impacts that Rays, and how does it change what the Rays are willing now to invest?

Does it change anything [00:20:00] or, you know? 

Mark Corbett: I don't know that the Rays would allow that to, to impact their decisions. I mean, I have no idea what goes on the, inside the mind of Erik Neander and his team. But is there going to be something that you're going to do to make it... I mean, to me,

you never welcome injury to your opponent in a game like this. No. But by the same token, I don't know that I would be motivated to make a change just because my opponent has taken, taken a hit. If anything, I, I might make some other res- reservations about what I'm doing. I don't know. To say flat out I'm, I'm mad, I don't know.

Because, b- just because they're losing an effective player for a while, why would I add something or change something? 

Mat Germain: I think because it's al- it's always a risk tolerance, right? So if you make an investment in a team and in a player, uh, and it's a short-term one, you kind of want to make sure that your in- your odds are increased to the point where, okay, we now know that Judge is gonna be [00:21:00] out for eight weeks.

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: We know that the recuperation for him to get back into form and actually be his best self could be longer. So even if he got to that point, you know, i- in mid-September where he's- Yeah ... feeling good, that's a short ramp-up to playoff baseball. And so there's going to be some awkwardness there, which then increases your, your ability to actually win a series against the Yankees.

And you're looking at them as, like, okay, they're an opponent that is gonna be consistently good every year, right? So if you're looking at the, the Blue Jays with Alejandro Kirk, you're looking at Kevin Gausman and, and their pitching woes and all their health issues that are coming up. You look at the Orioles and the struggles they have.

They're 10 games behind. You look at the Red Sox, and now you're, you're painting the picture. You're like, "Well, if Judge is out for a significant amount of time and they're having problems with Max Fried-" You know, there, there's a significant shift there where you're like, "Okay, well now we're confident that we can actually pull this thing off in terms of winning the division," [00:22:00] which means no wild card, which means , that you're piling on to that, that whole aspect of being able to get a deep playoff run.

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: At which point you're like, "Okay, well now if that secret ingredient is gonna cost us an extra $10 million, we're much more willing to absorb that because that financial hit is going to be taken care of on the end." You hope anyway. You hope. There's never any guarantees in baseball. No. We both know that.

Mark Corbett: No, we, we've talked about it be- before. I can't remember which one of the, uh, baseball analysts it was, was saying, they'd asked him, he said, "Well, who's gonna win this year? Who's gonna..." He says, "Sure, you tell me who's gonna be injured, tell me what trades are gonna happen, and then I'll tell you." 

Mat Germain: Yeah. 

Mark Corbett: But I mean, there's baseball, there's no telling what's gonna happen in the game.

You know, it's... I, I love the game. I talked to you about walking through the park with the kids and talking about specific things that happened in the game, and one of them, which I, looking at just the nature of [00:23:00] the game with Cedric Mullins, I saw a bat a home run, and now he's got three in the last seven games.

Mm-hmm. 

Mat Germain: Yeah. 

Mark Corbett: Six for the year, three in the last seven games. That's wild. I wish I'd had them with me watching the game the other night when Cedric struck out, but the ball was flubbed by the catcher. Mm-hmm. So Cedric for half a beat thought, "Huh? Maybe." But then he ran to se- uh, ran to first. So you can strike out and make it to first, boys and girls, just in case you didn't know.

I mean, there's all these little eccentricities to the game. I wish I'd had the opportunity to show them, you know, that little piece. There's, there's so many little p- pieces of the game, and I, I kind of jumping around a little bit, but it, to me there's, it's part of the excitement. I mean, you and I'd say, "Well, that's baseball."

That's what we say about a lot of things because there is so much difference. Here's one I came across the other day. Uh, John Boy Media, he's always a nut. I love him. Mm-hmm. He has [00:24:00] one on YouTube right now about women's softball, and he covers a lot of these different plays and about the enthusiasm these women play with. Now, here's one I hadn't heard before, and I need to investigate it. The woman was at bat, and she got hit by a pitch, but she didn't get a walk because there is an area between the plate and batter's box they call the river It's a space where- 

Mat Germain: You just ride with it? ... 

Mark Corbett: you get in that space, you know, you're not gonna be crowding the plate.

Basically, they're not gonna reward you for crowding a plate. Yeah. So I thought that was an interesting rule to have in place. A 

Mat Germain: whole Roger Dorn thing, right? Where you're- ... you're leaning into it. I'll absorb it. Uh. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah, yeah. But Joey Votto was pretty good about that too, wasn't he? He, he would just be right there crowding that plate like nobody's business.

Mat Germain: Who was the first ba- Anthony Rizzo did the same thing with the Yankees. Yeah. 

Mark Corbett: That's exactly... Yeah, exactly. He was notorious for that. But I thought, oh, [00:25:00] that would change parts of the game. I, I would be curious if we had that little river space that, uh, they were talking about. I'll have to investigate that further.

Uh, I know the other thing I wanna talk to you about too, Mat, was this morning I got to... I was invited to, uh, be at a quarterly meeting for an o- organization here in Tampa called Embarc, E-M-B-A-R-C. And for their quarterly leadership meeting, they had Ken Babby, well, you know, the CEO of the Rays there. And I'd been at a few different things with him, so I expected to hear certain things the same.

You know, some about how he's talking about the integrity is the most important part of, of who he is and what he wants to achieve, you know, what he wants to do as far as community, and talking about all the number of, of jobs that they're gonna bring here. One thing that I didn't realize, and you know, he has an experience- he has experience having had a father who was working with the Orioles.

Ken, I'd forgotten, had actually worked with The Washington Post with digital, rolling out with [00:26:00] like, with Steve Jobs meeting, talking about iPads and becoming digital with The Washington Post. So he was- had to be very innovative there. And then as you and I know that he left that and decided he wanted to be o- an owner of a baseball team.

So he picked up the Akron RubberDucks, and then he picked up, of course, the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. You know, which we all love what happens with minor leagues and promotions and such. But he, he mentioned that looking across all the minor leagues and also the, uh, major leagues, there was not a single Black manager, general manager I should say, across them Except for the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp.

So that was fantastic, but that gentleman now is actually gonna be part of the Rays organization. And it's, it's interesting, 'cause I, I always like the idea of bringing a minor league mentality into a major league place. And it's, I'm, I'm hoping with Babby and this other gentleman whose name escapes me at the moment, are able to continue to do that.

There are, uh, [00:27:00] celebrations the Rays are trying to do. I think they're, they're gonna boost things up. They've got Longoria. They're gonna have a special night celebrating Evan Longoria here soon. And the other thing, the gentleman who's, uh, coming down from Jacksonville, he wanted to be involved with a lot of what's going on with the community, and I understand they're doing something for Juneteenth, and that's gonna be

I, I wanna share more with that probably online, or if we get something from him in the future, we'll put that there as well. But the Rays, long before even we had this new ownership, Stu, I felt like, was involved in the community. He was finding ways to participate, and he didn't always put it up as a, a big performance of what was going on Not to say that these guys are, but it's good still to see some participation within the community.

And I hope those who, uh, who have some hesitation about funds for a stadium think about that. And I'm not saying that you should say yes or no because of it, but, you know, it should be part [00:28:00] of your consideration process about what a team and what an organization can bring to the community. So, it was interesting to listen to him talk about some of those things today.

Mat Germain: Yeah. When you talk about how a team can bind a , a city together, like I think to, , the first time that the Blue Jays won the World Series, and I remember, like, like being a part of that in Canada- Yeah ... of all places, and seeing people of all international flavors you can imagine in Toronto being part of the celebration and the event and getting everything.

And I remember how much it actually bound that city together and actually got them, to recognize the fact that all of their fans were not,, white male Canadians. Uh, y- no, that's not the fact. It, it was all colors, , types and, , international, uh, backgrounds that were involved in, in cheering that team and that effort on.

And it [00:29:00] kind of, it, it puts aside all of the noise from everything else that we live through as a society, right? 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: It allows everybody to kinda tune that out and just say, "Right now, in this point in time, we are all focused on supporting this franchise, which we're investing time into, to, help, , share that momentum together."

We just saw the Montreal Canadiens get pretty far in the playoffs. They had millions of people involved in, in the, um, the cheering of it from churches, from the streets, from the arena, getting together in all different- Oh my gosh ... you know, locations just to have watch parties. And the, the, the- The people that you saw get involved in those things were, like, very recent immigrants.

They were, like, people that came here from Syria, from Haiti, from a whole bunch of places, and actually were cheering on the Canadians as hard as a [00:30:00] fan that grew up with them his entire life. So I, I love that. Like, I think that's something that is really underrated. So when somebody speaks to you and says, um, "You'll never get your money back from..."

You know, they don't know what they're talking about. No. Because they don't know how much that, you know, all those watch parties, for instance, do they calculate all that money into, into a, a calculation that they would... No, they won- they don't. They'll look at the stadium, and the fans, and the concessions they sell, and the parking.

But they don't look at the city as a whole- 

Mark Corbett: Yeah ... 

Mat Germain: and what they're doing, and what it binds. Every bar that they go into and celebrate and get with their friends, every house that they have watch parties at where they bring in food and they buy extra whatever it is that they do to celebrate together. You know, the- I don't know.

I, I, I find that, we're heading towards a world where there's a lot of coldness- Mm-hmm ... in terms of how we interact w- between one another, and where [00:31:00] sport, cultural events, um, entertainment in general are gonna become a more and more and more prominent aspect of our lives. And that's why it's nice to see the rise of women's sports.

Yeah. And it's nice to see... You know, I think they're all interrelated. So imagine, Mark, like just think about it right now. How many leagues and cities were involved in professional sports in the '80s, right? Think back. Even in baseball, hockey, football, basketball, et cetera, how many people had access to the top level?

And now with women's and all the professional leagues that we have- Right ... how many people have that same access now, right? And, and that's great. Like, that's a happy outcome. 

Mark Corbett: It's huge. Yeah, it's huge, and when you think too, Mat, that, uh, the media, to be able to see everything.

I mean, years ago in the US if you weren't living in a major [00:32:00] city, you were WGN with the Cubs, WTBS with the Atlanta Braves. That was what baseball was for a lot of p- folks who didn't have a major city adjacent to where they were. And yeah, it means a lot. So, I ha- we got Ryan Woodward recorded earlier.

He's with the International Women's Baseball Center, and he's done a lot too with women's baseball, been involved with the Heritage Trail. There's a Women's Ba- uh, Baseball Heritage Trail which he's put together, which has stops all across the US, I think in, in Canada as well, that have some historical significance, whether it be a field or a player at different pl- you know, places that you can visit.

And then he's also now working with the, uh, world baseball, uh, coming up, the classic, the group stage that's gonna be held in Rockford, Illinois, and he'll talk a little bit about that. And this goes back to what you were saying, because that is like the national, , international I should say, of women coming together to play.

You have teams from, , Korea, you have teams from, , all of these [00:33:00] coming together to play. And in the past If I wanted to see this, I'd... One, Thunder Bay has been up there in Canada where they've held it, and I, I w- I wasn't gonna make it up to there, but I'll probably gonna make it to Rockford, Illinois.

And to me, that's exciting. But what they're putting together basically in one week is a triumvirate of women's in baseball. You're going to have the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. Those of you who think of, uh, A League of Their Own, who of you don't s- don't know who the All Americans are, those women and the fans that just love and support them, they're gonna be going on.

That's gonna happen. There's gonna be the w- the Women's Baseball Classic. Or sh- it's not classic. I never get this right. I don't know why. Hang on, brother. The Women's Baseball World Cup.

Okay, the Women's Baseball World Cup is, uh, they have a group stage this year, and that's gonna take place in Rockford and in other locations, you know, across the world. And from there, the teams that do well there, they're going to be in the [00:34:00] finals, which will be held in 2027, also in Rockford. But for in, what I'm talking about, the All Americans will be there, that will be there.

There's also Baseball For All. Now, Baseball For All, are you familiar with Baseball For All? 

Mat Germain: A little bit. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. Not- Dr. Justine Siegel, she, she saw a, a need where young girls who wanted to play baseball really didn't have an opportunity. So she wound up doing different things, whether it be for camps, uh, you know, finding ways for young girls to be able to play, get building tournaments across the US.

And a lot of those became actually, um, training grounds for some of the women who are gonna be in the Women's Pro Baseball League, which is gonna be in August in Springfield. You know, Illinois is gonna be a little busy with women's baseball here this summer. , It's great, great times ahead. So Ryan will , tell us a bit more about the upcoming events with that and w- how people can participate.

Mat Germain: Do you know what the, the [00:35:00] stadium capacity is in Rockford? Like, is that- 

Mark Corbett: I, I, I do not off the top of my head. I need to find out. 

Mat Germain: I'm, I'm curious because, like, you're talking about, you know, just hearing you say it over and over and over again, it sounds to me like eventually it'll probably become like your Cooperstown, you know, area where you could eventually put up a, , Women's Baseball Hall of Fame if you wanted to.

Um, so I, I'm excited for them. I think it's a great, um, it's a great time to kind of be a baseball fan, 'cause you're gonna get more baseball, you're gonna get more opportunities to see some great talents. Um, I've, I'm looking forward to the highlight reels, Mark. I want them to be really well-covered and to have good shots of them making their plays.

And then I think just that in itself is gonna get people to the ballparks. And, um, the more women that we have playing the game, the, the more, you know, I think the game will be [00:36:00] healthy overall. Yeah. And I look forward to the day when they have a World Baseball Classic where both women and men are involved in that same classic 

Mark Corbett: Well, and it is, it's gonna be great.

And I'm looking up here right now, Rivet Stadium is where it's gonna be held in Rockford, and it says 3,279 fixed seats and can accommodate overall crowds of over 4,000. So people, get your tickets because they are going to be sparse. Now, it's interesting because I think they have, uh, six, uh, th- three different games a day that you'll be able to see, and the USA team plays at the late game every night.

I think they have the night game at 7:00. Mm-hmm. So there's like a earl- early game, a midday game, and then that. And you c- basically, I believe in this group stage level, there may only be six teams, so you may be able to see every team every day, and that has gotta be an exciting [00:37:00] part of it as well. So a lot of great baseball is gonna be played there, and, Ryan, could tell a bit more, tell us a little bit more about it. So fun stuff. Fun stuff. 

Mat Germain: Yeah. Yeah, and if you have a, a daughter, , , that is interested in baseball in the least, do what you can to get them to watch the games. Even if you can't get into the stadium, you know, look them up. L- they'll have highlights on YouTube eventually.

Oh, yeah. They'll have access to games on replay. You don't have to see it live. Like, let them watch the, like, to me, there's a l- there's a link between learning how to play the game and watching the game, right? 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: Give you a story. So Wayne Gretzky, one of, probably one of the best hockey players ever, right?

Do you know how he got to be as knowledgeable about how the game flowed as it did? His dad would get him sitting down in front of the TV, give him a big blank sheet of paper, and he would ask him to draw where the puck is going at all times on the ice. So he had, like, an outline of the ice, and he would just draw where the puck [00:38:00] is going constantly, and just watch the game that way.

And then he would look at it afterwards and he would say, "Oh, well, the puck is always going to these areas the majority of the time." And that's how he got to know. When he's making those blind passes and it just so happens to hit somebody, it's because he's already played it in his head that it actually was going to happen that way.

Well, if you're a girl and you're watching the, the baseball games that way, and you're actually, or a girl or a boy, it doesn't Mater, but- Right ... the, the point is that you're feeding the machine then, right? Like, where, you know, if somebody sees Kelsey making some awesome plays on the field- 

Mark Corbett: Yeah ... 

Mat Germain: they're gonna wanna imitate that, and they're gonna be...

You know, you- we've all done it, where we're wearing somebody's jersey or number, and then we say, "Oh, we're in the bottom of the ninth, and we're doing what..." Like, yeah, you're just, you know, you're building the dream then. And, and I think that's the, the big thing. But you're also learning how to play the game, uh, the right way, you know, how you actually should be [00:39:00] performing, what you can do to get there, and the fact that it's even possible.

Because a lot of times it doesn't seem possible. It seems like, oh well, you know, a woman could never hit, uh, 90 miles an hour, uh, you know, with a pitch. And then you're like, "Oh, well, she just did it." Yeah. And then, oh, uh, the, this can't happen. And, and we've had it, I mean, with, with the men's. For a long time, 100 miles an hour was never heard of, and then all of a sudden they started doing it.

Now it's almost like, oh yeah, he hit 100. Can you control it, though? That's a- You know? So hopefully we get to see, , more girls get access to the games and actually get to believe in the game and, and attend, watch, and, and make it a, a big success, uh, in 2026, 2027. 

Mark Corbett: Well, before we wrap and go to him, there's a couple other things I'd like to mention as far as celebrating here in Tampa, and that is NCAA Division II. Mm-hmm. We are talking about one, St. Leo's University won [00:40:00] softball. They've won the NCAA Division II softball s- uh, it's a tournament for there. They've got that. Now, here's the other one I love.

The University of Tampa, who's going back as far as baseball, at one point even had Lou Piniella play there years ago. But they won three-peat here, boys and girls, a three-peat. They have won, once again, the NCAA Division II baseball tournament, and they're bringing that trophy home. So three times they've done that.

Uh, a friend of mine, Tony Saladino, who passed this about a year ago, uh, it was ... I was so happy that he had a grandson by the name of ... He has, he has a grandson by the name of Nico Saladino, and we were going to award something to Tony a couple years ago at Ybor, but he couldn't make it because he had to go to Cary, North Carolina, to watch his grandson play for Tampa, University of Tampa, and win that championship.

You are, you know, seeing him advance to that. [00:41:00] So there's so much joy with families and people who love the game and to be able to see at that level. So I, I want to, uh, congratulate both of those teams and hope that they ... That folks, we talked about this before, find the spirit. Find it, whether it be at a local game, a minor league game, a collegiate game.

There's just so much joy to be had, and I love every minute of it. 

Mat Germain: Amen. That's awesome. 

Mark Corbett: Amen. All right. All right, boys and girls, well, that's it, uh, for Mat- Is there anything else, Mat, you want to hit before we go? Okay. 

Mat Germain: Oh, no, just, uh, enjoy the game, like you said. It's summertime. Let's get out there.