Guardians & Rays ALCS begins - Lunch with Mat & Mark

BaseballBiz On Deck - Post Season ALCS & NLCS

Mark Corbett: [00:00:00] Welcome to Baseball Biz  -On Deck. It's Mat Germain here, and I'm Mr.

Mark Corbett. Glad to have you guys here. We are in a celebrator- celebratory? Celebratory mood.

Oh, gosh. Well, thank- Thanksgiving's just come and gone in, in, uh, Canada, but now we're gonna have our Thanksgiving here in Tampa with having the post-season starting up today, Monday, October 12th, and we're gonna be facing up against those Guardians. And Mat, are you prepared for this? 

Mat Germain: I am, Mark, and I think the Rays are prepared for this.

I think we're both on the same page that it's gonna be a tough series. The respect being shown on both sides for one another is outstanding, and I think both teams are, are well earned to be in this position in the American League. 

Mark Corbett: And it, it encourages me when I look and you hear a lot of the national people say, "Well, you know, [00:01:00] you got the two teams from the lowest payrolls and, and they're both gonna be here."

And it's like that's, that's not even a story. That just means people are spending too much if you belong to the Dodgers. 

Mat Germain: Yeah. And, and to be fair, like, the, everybody will agree that, , the Guardians and the Rays are very intelligent organizations that have run things the right way for a long time. 

Mark Corbett: Right.

Mat Germain: There's a statistic that I heard recently, which was the Dodgers and the Guardians are the only two teams that have 86 wins or more on a consistent basis since 2016 or something like that. So you're talking about an organization that takes its season seriously, its preparation, how it builds things, , and it really speaks to their leader, which is José Ramírez, and how outstanding was he in that series and instrumental after, know, some people have been critical of him, to be honest, about his playoff performances.

But Mark, that hit that he [00:02:00] g- golfed off that would've probably hit in front of the plate if he hadn't done it, or at least the middle of the plate, it was an amazing moment for the Guardians fans and for him, personally, as somebody that actually dedicated himself to Cleveland for such a long period of time.

Mark Corbett: Well, let's take a moment and talk about José, because he to me, , he is a captain. He's one of the few I look at across baseball and see a leader here and there and say, "That person is truly a captain of a team," and he takes the responsibility of it. But as you pointed out, he has been suffering as of late until this postseason.

I think the first few games, even with Chicago and Cleveland, he even, and the rest of the team were suffering. I... it's hard, dude. You lose your two first games at home in a postseason, and then there's only three left, and two of those are gonna be away. , What, what do you expect? And, and to see that change in Chicago where they did come back and they took their two games [00:03:00] away, so they're able to come back home.

But it wasn't until, what, probably the, uh, third, maybe fourth game when José came alive. I mean, he is the reason there was a fourth and fifth game win. Without him, that would not have happened 

Mat Germain: Right. And then to me, when I watched that, that home run that he hit, the one that was like he really reached out over and pulled it over the fence, that was like their game 162 for the Rays fans.

That was their similar kind of, uh, impact and moment, and I imagine fans must've been jumping off the couch and high-fiving each other like crazy in that moment. But he's given them that moment now. Like we all know, 162 didn't result in the Rays winning the World Series. But it was still a tremendous moment that to this day, every single Rays fan will point to as a major moment in their fandom, right?

So he's... The, the Guardians are basically playing with [00:04:00] house money now. They've had their moment. They've made it to the ALCS. To be fair, any time you make it to the ALCS, the losing team earned, you know, all kinds of accolades to that point. So even though it's not gonna be as successful as if they make it to the World Series, they still feel like they accomplished everything that they could and they put themselves in a position to get there.

So the Guardians', you know, fans have to be extremely happy with what the, the franchise has done, extremely happy with the leadership that Jose Ramirez is showing. And they've got a few Rays guys, uh, on their, their team, Mark, in, in Shawn Armstrong and, uh, Nathaniel Lowe. 

Mark Corbett: Right. 

Mat Germain: Uh, who are both on the team.

So there's some ties there. And on the Rays side of things, you've got Yandy Diaz and Cole Sulser and Junior Caminero, all three of them being from the Guardians organization. So, and, and people forget about Cole Sulser. He was part of that, uh, Yandy Diaz trade. 

Mark Corbett: Mm. 

Mat Germain: And like, you [00:05:00] know, he- he's like a missing element where you just kind of forget about him because he went down to Triple-A for so long.

They don't really link him in the same way that they do Yandy Diaz. But Kevin Cash would tell you he's an important piece of the pen. Like he- Oh, yeah ... he's, yeah, he's good. 

Mark Corbett: Do you think that some of the Cleveland fans and the, uh, office managers say, "What did, why did, why did we do that with Junior Caminero?

Why did, why did we let him go?" 

Mat Germain: In the moment, Mark, you have to do what the organization, you know, decides on, and there's some tough calls. The Rays would say the s- same about Joe Ryan. They would say the same about Christopher Sanchez. Uh, you know, those... When you're an organization that's going for it and that's putting yourself out there, you're gonna have to take risks.

Yeah. And some of them are gonna pay off, some of them aren't. The, the organizations that don't do well are the ones that don't take those risks. So I would say to you, like, the ones who are being really protective of their core, of their this, of their that, like, the Rockies would be a good example, right?

How long did they keep [00:06:00] Troy Tulowitzki around before they just lost him to the Blue Jays and barely got anything back? At that point, it was, he wasn't worth anywhere near what he would've been before. So, like, there's, there's different ways to look at things. But I think in the Rays' instance, I mean, you can't argue very much that they love to make those trades with the Guardians.

Oh, yeah. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah, I mean, we used to kid about it with, uh, Terry Francona years ago and said, "Well, you know, Kevin, he has a good connection with Terry." But Terry, after a while, has to be asking, "Kev, what, what am I getting back for some of this?" You know? But it's, it's been exciting seeing all this. And if you look at the roster, let's see who they have today on here for the roster.

Have, have you seen who's gonna be pitching? 

Mat Germain: Uh, yeah. So it's Drew Rasmussen that's gonna be going up for the Rays. Yeah. Now, he, um, you know, we know he's the ace. He's had a lot of rest. The Rays are in a good position to know that everything that they want to do, depending on how they see the match-ups being, [00:07:00] they can pretty much set it up that way.

Whereas the Guardians, because they had such a tough series with the White Sox, I mean, you're talking about Gavin Williams being more in the middle of this series now because of the, the game that he threw. Mm-hmm. Um, so unfortunately, they're not able to put what you would consider to be their ace there at the front, but, but there's still gonna be a tough pitching match-up.

The R- the Rays hitters, uh, are gonna be going up against Foster Griffin, and Foster Griffin is the, um, a similar style of pitcher as Ra- Ranger Suárez, who the Rays saw in September against the Phillies, and he shut them down, to be quite honest. Um, so I don't expect it to be an easy start. The Rays haven't seen him, though.

So I don't know if previous years, I didn't go back that far when he was part of other organizations, if the Rays had come across him and maybe had some success. Uh, but I, I feel like the Rays always have a little bit of a struggle getting things [00:08:00] going with unknowns, unless their homework really pays off and they're able to, to get things through.

So I, I'm expecting a low-scoring game right up to the pens come in. And then it's just a matter of who's sharpest in the pen. 

Mark Corbett: Well, you know, I mean, what we've seen with what's going on here, what's gone on with the Rays, what's gone on, you know, last night even with the Brewers and Dodgers. Mm-hmm. One and one, one and two.

It, it's like, geez, it's getting to be a pitching game, and it's gotta be a game that your f- your outfield, all your, uh, all your field has to be strong to catch those balls. I mean, or to get a ground ball and turn it into a double play. It has been s- not a lot of dingers, my friend 

Mat Germain: But isn't that really the equalizer now where that, that we should be appreciating and praising?

Like, a lot of people will see that as a critical thing. I'm in the complete opposite side of things. To me, a team that plays strong defense [00:09:00] and, and has good pitching pays attention to details. The teams that are lazy and wanna thump through wins are the ones who are basically gonna struggle in that kind of system.

And I can remember back in the '70s, and I know you can, um, in terms of, like, all the, all the, the, the low-scoring affairs they used to have, and it was a long struggle where it was like a gritty style of baseball. Yeah. But it was very low-scoring, a lot of attention to details, a lot of small ball, small ball, small ball, a lot of small ball constantly.

And it's, it's was one of the ways that you could edge through wins. Mm-hmm. But what it means to me is that you've got a lot of nail-biters, and you've got a lot of games where both teams are in it. You're talking about the Brewers and Dodgers. That game was on the edge of your seat the entire time.

Every pitch mattered. Every play mattered. To me, that makes it more intense. If you have just home runs games, you're just, you're there, "Oh, there's another home run. Oh, there's another home run." "Oh..." And it [00:10:00] becomes boring, to be quite honest. It really does. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. So- Well, when you become to be the, the mean, the average, it's like, "Uh, and what?"

Well, guys, can't you actually run bases? I mean, can you actually steal bases? We'll never know, because alls you can do is hit homers. Yeah. I love a good homer here and there. Yeah. I love it, you know, when you bring everybody in. But like you were saying, jeez, Manice, I, I, I can't imagine, Matt, to, being that's all that you ha- a team, that's all they have to give.

As far as entertainment value, it's, it's, it's good for a minute or two, but for an entire game, no. 

Mat Germain: But if you're looking at baseball as a complete product, right? Yeah. There's pitching, there's defense, and there's offense. You want all three to be as, uh, entertaining as possible. Yeah. If you have just bombers, that means the pitching sucks, and then you don't have balance.

You have some home runs, and you have some beautiful plays, and you have some great pitching, you've got a strong [00:11:00] balance, and to me, that's what we have left in the playoffs right now. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: You have four teams that are really strong at defense, have really strong pitching, have a good sense of how to play the game defensively, and can still hit home runs.

That's an awesome kind of, you know, show that you're gonna be putting on. So I think we've got four amazing teams left. I do think the Dodgers are the, the Goliath with three Davids. So we'll see if one of those Davids can take them out. But, uh- ... the Brewers looked good, Mark. They looked like- Really good

they were present in that entire game. I have faith 

Mark Corbett: Yeah, see Jakey Byers there, Pat Murphy with that same grim face, you know, stays the whole time, whether they're winning or losing. It... And man, he's just... I wouldn't want to play poker with him, that face of his. But- 

Mat Germain: You see him with the kids at the press conference afterwards?

Mark Corbett: Yeah. I, I, I, I try to get a screenshot because, oh, I got a picture of Pat Murphy smiling now, you know. 

Mat Germain: Yeah. But- [00:12:00] It makes you, it makes you think of people at work versus people at home, right? Oh, yeah. Like they're com- yeah. 

Mark Corbett: You know- 

Mat Germain: The persona ... 

Mark Corbett: there was one thing last night during that Dodgers, well, there's many things during the Dodgers and Brewers games I had a question with, but the big one is a call that can- cannot be challenged, and that is a balk.

And some great pitching was going on, and it gets interrupted with a balk, and that just... Karen and I both looked at one another and it's like, "Oh, geez. This is just disgusting." 

Mat Germain: They're redoing the CBA right now, Mark. I would strongly put in there getting rid of the balk rule. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: I want as much tomfoolery as they wanna do on the mound.

If they wanna do the jig before they pitch- ... I don't care. Like, just that'll be entertaining. It'll be more Savannah Banana-like. To just let them wiggle around and squirm and get... catch people off guard, that's great. Pay- the players should be paying attention. They should be on their heels. So I don't understand the [00:13:00] balk rule.

I never have, and I never will. I, I find it the most deflating rule of all the rules they have left right now 

Mark Corbett: Well, I agree with you there, brother, 'cause like I said, it just, it just seems ridiculous to me. Let's move on. I do wanna take a look a little bit more at that Guardians team.

I'm an old Louisville native, and so this time of season I am looking and seeing, oh my gosh, I think, I think, uh, Adele, I think he's from Louisville. And let's see, oh, the Dodgers, Will Smith, he's from Louisville. But c- coming back to the, and, and seeing who we got with the Guardians, that is a heck of a team.

And Halpin, Steve Kwan, Angel Martinez, Chase Delauter, all them as far as out there. Bazanabanana, you got one right there. Nathaniel Lowe, and that, that king daddy of all the, - captain, , Jose Ramirez, seeing what he was able to do. I've j- you know, he, he is the biggest [00:14:00] thing I'm afraid of, you know, because he, he motivates that team.

Mat Germain: Right. Well, anybody that can hit pitches outside the strike zone and do damage on those, that's who you should be fearing. Yeah. And the, the Rays, you know, historically have done a terrible job of taming those people, and Ben Rice was a good, uh, example where they actually threw to him and they were basically like, "Well, what do we do?

We walk him? He's just a danger. The people around him are just that dangerous?" That's what Kevin Cash said. And I said, "Hell no. They're nowhere near as dangerous as, as, uh, Ben Rice is." So I would've walked him, right? So all that to, all that to say that the, the Guardians pitching though is what is going to get them over the edge if they're going to beat the Rays.

Because if they're not careful with the Rays lineup wearing people down the way that they are, um, you know, every- everybody in the league will speak to it. Garrett Cole s- spoke to it. Uh, the Yankees did all together. Like, they're just like this is a pesky team. They're really hard to get out. They put the ball in play.

They [00:15:00] play a style that is almost indefensible to be quite honest, Mark. As soon as they get a little taste of action, they're able to make, you know, that run get pushed across the board, which in playoff baseball really amps up the pr- pressure. And you could see it last night's game, the Dodgers, if they had played the style of play that the Rays use, they probably would've gotten the game tied, maybe won it, right?

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: Um, so there's a good argument for that, but Gavin Williams is the guy. Like, I saw, I watched that game against the White Sox- And what I saw was somebody in that Madison Bumgarner style of mentality in the playoffs, where he's just like, "You wanna use me every day? Go ahead. I'll shut them down." Like, "You wanna use me five innings?

10 innings? I don't care. Like, I'll get the job done." He seemed that strong and that capable, where it, I don't wanna say it looked easy for him, 'cause it's definitely not easy. 

Mark Corbett: No. 

Mat Germain: But it looked like he was unstoppable doing what he was doing. Um, and, and to... [00:16:00] Just a little nugget there, Mark, because you...

Baseball is a lot about moments, right? The Rays drafted Gavin Williams, okay? Mm-hmm. In the 30th round of the 2017 draft. Uh, and they could've signed him, right? And then obviously, you know, 30th round, he wasn't gonna get big money, et cetera. But you always look back at those things and you're just like, "What if?

What if?" What if? So it's interesting to say, but, um, Gavin Williams, when you're looking at his statistics, especially as the ga- as the year wore on and ha- as things, um, progress through the playoffs, definitely seems like he's turning into an ace. So when you're looking at the way that they line up with the Rays, you know, Drew Rasmussen is starting for the Rays, and Gavin Williams will probably get game two or three, depending on how they wanna play it.

Um, but I think that his, uh, his leadership as part of the pitching staff, like, just to throw it out there, and I know it doesn't mean much right now, but in the last [00:17:00] month of play, he has a 184 ba-, uh, batting average against, and the on base percentage is allowed is under 300. So it's, uh, .292. Uh, so the OPS is, like, a minuscule .537 over the last month of play.

Um, so you're talking about a guy that just wasn't gonna allow many runs. If you're able to score two off of Gavin Williams, you're doing well. Three, and you're doing extremely well. You're ecstatic. So, uh, we'll see what the Rays can do. Conversely, you know, the Rays have, you know, a lot of, uh, plethora of options, I would say.

And they brought Brody Hopkins aboard, Mark. 

Mark Corbett: I saw that. I, I wasn't sure if somebody was put up, something, it wasn't real or not, but... So Brody Hopkins is coming up postseason. 

Mat Germain: Yeah. I thought he might take over from Matz, but looking at it, I understand why the Rays, uh, stuck with Matz on the roster, because he had a start against the Guardians in April where he went [00:18:00] seven strong.

Mm. Like, a quality start, only allowed two runs. Looked really like he was cruising. He could've probably gone eight innings if he, you know, if the, the Rays had wanted him to. But, uh, when you have that kind of performance against a lineup like the Guardians, you take notice of it and you're like, "Yeah, that's..."

Clevenger, meanwhile, had a lot of history with, with injuries recently. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: Where you didn't know how locked in he was gonna be. So I think it came down to, okay, who's more locked in between those two right now from the left side? And so they went with Matz. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah, I w- I was a little surprised. I didn't, I'd forgotten the history that he had as far as Cleveland in the past.

Mat Germain: Mm-hmm. 

Mark Corbett: I gotta tell you, looking at some of those other pitchers during the game coming up, you know, you would see whether it be Zabowski, uh, whether you see, who else was it? Cade Smith. My gosh, looking at some of those performances, I thought, "There's no way I wanna be at bat with these guys pitching.

They are just s- Intense. 

Mat Germain: [00:19:00] For sure. And, and the thing is too, the Rays and, and Guardians, I think they're hard on each other. Like, I don't think either one would claim, uh, anywhere near that they have the edge over the other because there's like a mutual respect in there in the game planning, not just the abilities of the, the pitchers themselves, but in the fact that if they are going to miss, they're gonna miss in, generally in the right areas so that you're not doing as much damage as you otherwise would.

So it's gonna be a lot of chess game playing b- you know, pitching wise. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: Um, but in terms of the, the, the playoff experience, I think the Rays have a bit of an edge over the Guardians right now. Um, so I'm just gonna, because of the, the rest that they've had and the way they're able to line things up, I'm gonna give like a 5% advantage to the Rays overall.

'Cause if you do have Drew Rasmussen in right now, that means that you're able to use him in game four or five, depending on how you wanna line it up. So the Rays are [00:20:00] gonna see their top three pitchers well-rested twice, you know, whereas the Guardians are gonna have to squeeze out of Gavin Williams a little bit more, um, life, and he's already thrown intense games, you know, uh, twice in the previous series.

So you're asking a lot of that guy. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. Uh, you know, there's, there's the mechanical things of the game, and we've talked about this before as far as the, uh, announcers, national announcers come in. Sometimes they, sometimes they mispronounce names. I can't tell you how many different ways I've heard Caminero's s- that name in the, in the last week.

Uh, it's insane. Then, uh, we may have talked about this before, the inset. When there's somebody at bat and they have an inset of an ad going at the same time. Uh, last night I saw interviews, whether it was Murphy or the other manager, and there's somebody at bat and something's going on, and they don't even, they don't even put that on the screen with the interview, at least part.

And I'm like, damn it, I wanna see [00:21:00] the game. Or better yet, oh, thank you while there's a game going on, give me a view from outside the game looking at the structure of the open the open stadium at Milwaukee. And I'm sorry, maybe I'm a purist or I just expect a lot for that $12.99 a month I'm paying for it.

Mat Germain: Yeah. Um, the, um, yeah. I, I don't know. That, that's one of the things where I'll let you speak to it more than I can. But, uh, when you're, when you're looking the, uh, at the, at the series overall, Mark, I would say the one thing that we haven't talked about yet is the, the weather And so if you're talking about Cleveland, you know, th- they don't have the roof.

Yeah. For the Rays, you're fine. You're gonna have, you're gonna have the Trop, you're gonna be good to go. But, uh, I just took a peek at the Cleveland weather, and on Thursday it seems like it's gonna be okay. It's gonna be like 18 degrees-ish, uh, you know, as you're, as you're playing through the [00:22:00] game. But then, I, I s- say that, that's in Celsius.

So let me see. What's, uh- What's 18 Celsius in Fahrenheit? Uh, does, do they have it on here? I don't know. Hang on a sec. Uh, they should really list it. Since it's US, they should have it in Fahrenheit instead of Celsius. But what can I tell you? Um... 

Mark Corbett: You can, I can tell you that my metrics are, you know, between metric system and Celsius and Fahrenheit, I'm lost, so.

Mat Germain: Yeah, it's 64 degrees. But, uh, on the Friday it's going down to 50 Fahrenheit. So- Hmm ... you know, when you talk about how the ball flies in Cleveland, you know that game four is gonna be one to watch in terms of, okay, what kind of performances are they gonna be able to get out of, uh, out of their lineups? So I'm, I'm curious to see, um, first of all from a pitching standpoint how they format that.

'Cause the, the Guardians have been using it, a little bit of the opener on occasion [00:23:00] and- Yeah ... and trying to piecemeal a lot of their pitching. Um, so how do they adjust based on that? And if it's gonna be that cold, you know, are they gonna put more, a less home run centric kind of lineup together and more hit centric lineup?

Now, for Cleveland, probably doesn't mean much change. But for the Rays, if they were to ha- like be considering Ryan Vilade, you know, or, or somebody else, maybe they would make that kind of, of decision on game four. 

Mark Corbett: So let's look at that for a moment. As far as the first two d- games are going to be held here in Tampa, and then what is it, the next, uh, three, or is it two games at Cleveland or three games at Cleveland?

Mat Germain: I believe it's three games. Okay. And then the last two would be at Tampa, that's 

Mark Corbett: right. Yeah. Okay. So the- So we definitely gotta tee it up now. We definitely gotta get these two home games, and- Mm-hmm ... one there. All right. All right. Yeah. So yeah, there's, to get the four, we need four to win, boys and girls, out [00:24:00] of these seven.

So, you know, strap it on as far as your fandom And come on out to the Trop. Wow. 

Mat Germain: Yeah. The, the Saturday, I'm just taking a peek now, Mark, at the, the weather for Saturday, but it's going to be rainy on the Friday. Uh, but Saturday it's gonna stick right at that 50 degree mark or lower, so, uh, that's also gonna be a cold day.

So game five would be another cold one. 

Mark Corbett: So once again, give me who's pitching for whom tonight? ? 

Mat Germain: So, yeah, so it's gonna be , Griffin against, , Drew Rasmussen. Griffin. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah, so Drew gotta look- Foster Griffin. Well, well you know, it's the thing about it too, Drew got some rest 'cause if we had played more than three games with the Yankees, he would've been playing again.

So Drew definitely had some rest. I was glad to see that. And on, you know, conversely you're looking at what's going on with Cleveland, and they had to do the whole- Mm-hmm ... five games. And it wasn't just yesterday. It was just two days ago the boys were playing. [00:25:00] 

Mat Germain: And just to point that out, Foster Griffin's a lefty.

So- Yeah ... that's definitely gonna mean, like, uh, Ryan Vilade is gonna be in the lineup, Johnny DeLuca is gonna be in the lineup. There's gonna be a more right-handed centric, uh, uh, lineup for the Rays going into today's game. So I'm, I'm curious to see, um, if, if any of the guys that the Rays have brought in recently, like Ryan Vilade is a good example, that's probably seen a lot more of Foster Griffin than some of the other 

Mark Corbett: guys.

Mat Germain: , So he could have a really good game tonight. I think that he's somebody that I would look at and say, you know what, I don't know if Victor Mesa saw him a little bit more. Uh, he's hasn't been in the league that long anyway. So, , I, I think , the chances are, , that the pen of the Guardians will make an appearance before the pen of the Rays.

Mark Corbett: Mm. 

Mat Germain: Now, what are you expecting from Drew? Do you think that he'll be... Yeah, obviously he's gonna get hit a little bit more by Cleveland, but will he be able to be e- eff- efficient [00:26:00] enough to make it six, seven innings? 

Mark Corbett: I see him at seven. I really do. Mm. I know that it is the job of the offense of the Cleveland is to wear him down.

You know- Mm ... try to foul off as many, tip, tip off as many fouls as necessary if they're not getting the ball. But I truly believe after what we've seen him do recently, he can do the whole thing, and he's well-rested. So yes, I see him doing seven tonight and being strong for the Rays. 

Mat Germain: Yeah. And the last thing I'll say, and this is one of those oddities that doesn't mean anything, and I wanna do the research on it and I'll come up with it for the next time that we talk, Mark.

But I, I haven't looked to see how, um, successful Kevin Cash has been against the Guardians. 

Mark Corbett: Hmm. '

Mat Germain: Cause we talk about the teams being, you know, sometimes organizations just have your number as a manager because they see how your game planning is and they can read the cards and they can kind of [00:27:00] know what it is that you're up to.

And you were just talking about Terry Francona and r- and Kevin Cash having such a close relationship for so long. Maybe the Cleveland organization learnt a lot about Kevin Cash that other organizations don't know. So that's a little bit of a chess match as well. You know, between Carl Snyder and Kevin Cash, they have to be conscious that we don't wanna give all of our information out there to the point where we're taking away a, a competitive edge that we would have against o- other organizations.

So I, I'm c- curious to see, you know, if once I look at it, if Kevin Cash has had a lot more success against Cleveland or a little bit less because of how well they know him. 

Mark Corbett: Well, a- and think about that too, 'cause Francona was, you know, Cleveland th- for the longest time he was the manager. You know, he- Mm-hmm

he and Kevin had worked together before and they had a good understanding of one another. So while Kevin had a good understanding of Francona, he doesn't necessarily have that same understanding of, you [00:28:00] know, of the manager now. And so in some ways the, I g- I guess you could say maybe Cleveland has a little bit more understanding of h- what Tampa Bay is like.

That maybe that's an extension that's not really there, but that, that ph- that's how I see it. Hmm. I don't know, maybe 

Mat Germain: What, what is, what is the city saying in Tampa? Like, how... Are, are they, are they going to sell out the two games in the Trop that are coming up the same way that they did against New York?

And is there a buzz now? Now that they're in the ALCS, is that being felt in the city? 

Mark Corbett: Oh my gosh, yes. I mean, we're looking for success because of the past, missing the last two pa- uh, postseasons. That's there. The other thing is this new ownership and the whole idea of a new stadium coming also I think has revitalized people.

Uh, I think Ken Babby, Zalupski, and Cosgrove have done a [00:29:00] great job with the, the Rays. And as I was going through the grocery line yesterday, I did hear someone say, "Well, I hear that they're helping veterans. They're giving $40 seats up there in the 300 section for them." And I thought, "That is fantastic."

You're doing thing, a couple of things. You're honoring the, the folks who've given so much of their lives in the military, and you're also going to be able to fill those seats up more. I think that stadium will definitely be full, and, uh, I just wish I was paying what a veteran was paying for, for my tickets tonight.

Uh, but it's gonna be a lot of fun. The energy is here. The, uh, all the, all the politicians definitely are, are in line. But, uh, it's, it's exciting. Every, all the way through, all the Little League teams. 

Mat Germain: Now, is there a watch party anywhere for anyone that can't get into the stadium? Do you know of any of those?

Mark Corbett: Uh, probab- Well, I know in the past... Well- I think while they were on the road, Brett Phillips held one at The [00:30:00] Trop for the last game. Yeah. Now that was going on. Now I haven't seen watch parties for them being here at home, but I know, I think it's Riveters, they've done that in the past and there was Hooters.

I don't know. But, uh, you don't have to worry about a, a bar or the Rays sponsoring it. 

Mat Germain: No, 

Mark Corbett: but I was wondering 

Mat Germain: like- A watch party ... yeah, if in the future, right? What I would propose- Yeah ... is say, okay, even when we're at home, some people won't be able to make it into the stadium. Why not have a watch party at Raymond James and have like whoever can't make it in or doesn't wanna pay those prices, you charge them a little less, you host it there, you have a big group, you have a more relaxed atmosphere, and you can still make money off of it and still bring fandom together, right?

Um, I see it more as a, a gathering. 'Cause sometimes there's a lot of people out there, Mark, that don't have huge f- friend groups and, and still want to get together, and going to a bar is an option, but sometimes those can be crowded and they want [00:31:00] you in and out if you're not continuously buying things.

Whereas, you know, if you're going to a Raymond James style venue, then you, you would be kind of there for as long as you want to be for that, for the duration of that game. So I think there, there's something there and, and I've seen it in Montreal, uh, during the playoffs. Even when they were in Montreal, they have watch parties all over, around the arena and in the city, uh, in churches, everywhere.

Like they literally went gangbusters on the watch party concept. And, uh, I, I think there's a, a lot of validity to it, and it's a way to really make the most. Like you guys are gonna be spending, what, as a city, uh, 800 million, uh, to help out with that stadium or something like that. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: Make the most, make the most of that money and, and make your fandom felt and earn, like, get some of that back by cheering them on in a, an atmosphere that'll make you happiest.

Mark Corbett: Well, we'll be s- more able to share more of that after tonight and I, I [00:32:00] certainly will. Mm-hmm. But it's, it's, this is it, brother. It's come. I mean, here we are. We're postseason. Here we are, not the ALC- uh, ALDS. We're in the ALCS. Well, what does that mean? Oh yeah, championship series. That's it. CS, championship.

So that's where we're going. I feel like we got a good team to play against and it's gonna be a fun competition any way it goes over the next seven games. Do you think it'll go seven games? 

Mat Germain: I was just gonna ask, like, what, what is your prediction? So I'll go out there first. I'll say that the Rays pull it off in six.

Mark Corbett: That's kind of where I was too, that number I thought. But, you know, that's... It's gonna be interesting to see. They're gonna have to be highly effective here and in Cleveland to make that happen. But it's a, whew, we got a great team. You know, Cleveland's done well. Ramirez, as Karen and I were watching them this past week, it's like we respect and honor what we're seeing.

Seeing what Joe Adell put up two triples in the postseason thus far. Watch, watch out for him too, people. So [00:33:00] it should be a lot of fun. Uh, and Matt, any other words you wanna cover? 

Mat Germain: I want to just ask you one thing. So if you're, if we're talking about both of these teams- 

Mark Corbett: Mm ... 

Mat Germain: there's always one outlier.

There's one player that nobody expects to do extremely well that comes through and becomes kind of a catalyst for their respective teams. So do you want to pick one for each team? 

Mark Corbett: Well, let's see. If we're gonna talk about the Rays, I'm gonna pick somebody who's been a complete outlier. I'm gonna say Brody Hopkins.

Oh. I want to see him come in, I want to see him come in like an eighth inning somewhere along this and make a big difference, and wouldn't that be a way for a new guy to, to make something big there? Now, if we go to, I, he wouldn't be an outlier. I, I already mentioned Joe Adell. Uh, Ha- Happen- Happ is not really an outlier, but I never know what I'm gonna get with him when he comes up to bat, so with the Guardians 

Mat Germain: Yeah.

Th- th- they have a lot more guys that you could point to as, uh, outliers or guys that you would expect to have [00:34:00] a, a really strong series against the Rays. 

Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

Mat Germain: Uh, you mentioned Joe Adell before, and a lot of people would probably pick him because he seems hungry. Like, he's just in there always, um, you know, getting his nose into things because he's so happy to be on the playoff team for the first time in a long time.

Mark Corbett: Well, yeah, wasn't 

Mat Germain: it- But there's 

Mark Corbett: Trout. I'm sorry, go ahead. 

Mat Germain: Yeah, he was. He was with the Angels, exactly. So, uh, Steven Kwan is the guy that I'll go to, though, just because I feel the way the Rays are going to pitch to the Guardians, I think he's gonna be the peskiest. I'm not saying that he's going to drive the ball over the fence constantly.

He's going to be on base constantly and a constant headache, and that's what I'm predicting from them. Uh, he tends to have a streaky kind of, of, of, you know, periods of time where he's able to get on base for a good chunk of, uh, of a series of games. He's been a little bit colder in the first part of the playoffs, so I think- Mm-hmm

he's gonna be hungry to kind of, of [00:35:00] break out of that. And now that José Ramírez is having so much success behind him, I think they're gonna be more willing to be aggressive against him than they would be with José behind him. So that's why I think he's gonna have a little bit more success. On the Rays part of it, I'm, I'm just thinking Junior Caminero's gonna go off.

Mark Corbett: Mm, 

Mat Germain: yeah. I, I think he, his, his organization, you know, that he originally was born into as a professional kind of outcasted him, you know, early on, and I think he's just gonna use that as a catalyst to kind of have an impact, and he's gonna be more comfortable now than he has been, uh, in the playoffs so far.

So I think he's gonna go off in this series. 

Mark Corbett: Well, I think those are great choices. Uh, my mindset was going to outlier, like somebody- Yeah ... I wouldn't think about, but yeah, those- Oh, right. But- Sorry 

Mat Germain: about 

Mark Corbett: that. No, no, no, no. I think 

Mat Germain: of an outlier. 

Mark Corbett: That's just me, brother. 

Mat Germain: But- I'll go, I'll go, I'll go to Johnny Deluca as an outlier 

Mark Corbett: for the Rays.

Oh, yeah. Gosh, I, geez, I, I love Johnny D., man. I l- I love [00:36:00] Johnny D. Uh, but it's, it's gonna be exciting. Looking forward to it, Matt, and I'm gonna continue to share with you guys on this. Uh, like I say, get ready for tonight. If you're not able to get to the stadium, find someplace, whether at home or a bar or some community event.

And if we f- I, I'll see if I can find anything. If I do, I'll post it on Facebook, and, um, we can put it on b- Blue Sky as well, of any, uh, locations for parties, I should say watch parties, while they are in town. But that's it, brother. 

Mat Germain: Awesome. Enjoy the game. I think it's gonna be a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to the Rays getting back to the World Series, Mark.

Mark Corbett: Amen. Amen. Well, enjoy the rest of your lunch, and we'll catch up with all y'all soon. Take care. 

Mat Germain: Bong. I'm gonna order a, a gong, Mark. I'm gonna order it. It's just too, too much stress for me to have to make it with my voice.