Shoe.
Otani had a day yesterday. He was dealing, He struck out the side in the fourth inning, he punched out eight. He hit a danger who was his one thousandth career hit, and it went to center fields Otani style. Now, his team lost the game five to three, So we'll get into that as well, but we are again witnessing something that no one else has done really ever in our sport. You can go back to Babe Ruth. It was a little bit of a different style and a different game
back then. Show Otani is one of a kind. Jack hairis La times. That's the pleasure of watching Otani often in person. Jack Ray to have you back on the show. So how did Otani look? Because I will also mention that there was some concern from fans about the cramping that he had, and I think those concerns are dwindling.
Yeah, I mean, he can still pitch a little bit. He can still swing the bat pretty hard. I mean, you know, and even in that game in Cincinnati, like he was pitching okay until the fourth inning. It was really like the first time all year he's kind to look human in a way of just like not being able on one day to physically, you know, get through
a full two way outing. So to see him come back yesterday and look as dominant as he did on the mound, continue to look as sharp as he has coming off a second Tommy John, which I think is kind of the underrated part of all this is just how seamlessly he's come back as a pitcher this year, and then to have another good day at the plate. He had been struggling a little bit. He'd only been hitting you know, like two thirty since he started pitching
again back in June. But the last week you've seen him get on base a little bit more, You've seen him come up with some really big hits, and then you know, obviously the home run he had yesterday put him in a position to win the game. It was
his thousandth career hit. So for all the little other things that the Dodgers are still working through right now, to have that guy playing as well as he is again probably is the biggest reason for hope that they have going into these final two months here, that they can play up to their ceiling in a way that they haven't really done for an extended stretch this season.
Hey Jacks, as a fan, now that I'm on the side of a fan and now media as well, and we talk about things like voter for teg, voter fatigue, and I'm not even talking about the MVP race. Do the Doddie fans still appreciate how special it is to watch Shoe Halo tiny on the daily basis now that he's back on the mount as well. I know last year he was incredible as a DH, but to see what he's doing on both sides, I think sometimes as fans, you know, we take for granted how special this is.
I mean, it hadn't happened over you know, centuries, you know, since Babe Ruth. How special you know, is it to watch him? Do they still appreciate how good he really is?
Yeah?
I think especially just because they're getting to watch him pitch for the first time since he didn't do it last year, and to see him, you know, like watching him pitch is such a it's just a visually kind of different experience. He throws the ball so hard. He's
such an imposing presence up on the mound. He has a little bit of a different demeanor, you know, when he's hitting, he's he kind of playful, you know, waving around it guys, and when he's pitching, he just Dave Roberts talked about this, you know, just has a little bit more of an edge out there, like, okay, this is this is the thing that you know, going all the way back to when he was coming up like that's he always kind of looked at himself as a
pitcher first. So I think that's been a cool thing for fans to get to experience. Obviously in a game like yesterday where he strikes out eight guys and then goes to the plate and hits a home run. You know, for all he did last year, that kind of experience
is a different thing. And I think again has been one of the cooler parts about this season for the Dodgers is because when he signed last year, there was some uncertainty about, Okay, how you know, how long is it going to take him to go back to being a two way player? Is he going to be as good as a pitcher once he does try to return to it, Can he be you know, as good at this incredibly difficult role as he was with the Angels,
And so far he has been. And I think it's been one of the things that Dodger fans have appreciated most about the season.
Can't be you up, Yeah, I mean we're gonna just talk about a talent hit right here, and during break I was able to get my baseball, my one thousand hit off my show. This is one of my pride and joys. But it took me almost ten years to get it. So there's not really a question here. I just want to say it makes me sick how good he is, how quickly he is able to get it. But my question to you is just being around the team,
watching the team. I know it's a real thing. I've been a part of some good teams that have been to the playoffs every year and really they're playing to win a World Series. Do you think there's an element of just a little bit of complacency in the regular season right now, just you know, kind of count down
the days waiting to get to the regular season. Obviously they've had some health issues too, but you know, when you're a team that goes to the playoffs every year, you know, I don't want to make breaking news here, but the regular season to a lot of those guys is a little bit boring, you know, it's kind of all practice games until they get to the real season. Do you get a sense of that at all.
Yeah, I mean that's always been something the Dodgers, as you know, Kevin like, would have to battle over the last decade. Now with the run of success that they've had, I think especially this year, I mean you look back at the last eighteen months for this team. They've had two international trips to Korea and Japan. They have had the circus of the media, circus of having Shoheo Tani around,
and all that's gone into that. They have last year's you know, World Series run, they have this offseason where they spend a bunch of money and there's all this talk about are they bad for the sport or whatnot?
And yeah, I think what you might be seeing now is a team that has all of that baggage in the background, coupled with Max Munsey was hurt and some of their best hitters were struggling, and you're at that part of the season where, especially when you're in kind of an extended slump as a lineup, it's hard to generate a lot of energy if guys aren't hitting and you have, you know, key guys that are out injured, and you're kind of trying to grind through the year.
I think to that end, you know, the impressive part about what the Dodgers have done so far is keep themselves in first place, is to overcome some of the injuries and underperformances and just the general grind of the season and still be in a pretty good spot going into the last two months. But now they're getting to the point where they do need to flip the switch a little bit, especially as the Padres keep nipping at their heels, especially as the rest of the NL continues
to play well. I mean, the Dodgers want to win the division. They want to have a top two seed, and if they're gonna do that, they're gonna have to be a lot better over these last two months and kind of find that higher gear again like they did, you know, way back at the start of the season when they got off to a hot start.
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You talk about flipping the switch, jack, Is there any chance when we flip that switch and the lights come on, well we see Mookie Betts and right field. Because I truly believe you know, Dave Roberts has done this for a long time. He is one of my mentors in San Diego. But I spoke about this the other day and started somewhat of a debate. I truly believe if you want to take some pressure, some mental pressure off
of Mookie bekscause I think it's between the ears. I know physically he went through some things early in the season, but I just really believe, you know, having going through going gone through a position change, moving him back to right field will really free up some mental and allow him to just do something that he's really accustomed to in the big leagues and go out and just focus
on hitting. Like, what are the chances that you know, when that switch comes back on, we see MOOKI and right and not to mention it might make the defense better when you put Tao in left. It kind of lines everything up in the way that I think defensively, you know, bodes well for the Dodgers. Yeah.
I mean this has been the big unanswerable question with Mookie Betts's season and kind of what it means for the team. He's been pretty adamant that playing shortstop is not the reason why he has struggled. He points to the fact that last year he hit really well over the first half of the season while initially making that switch. You know, the fact that that at the start of this season. He got off to a good start his first couple of weeks while trying to you know, reacclimate
at the shortstop position at the same time. You know, the longer this slump has gone on, the harder it is to not look at the shortstop things at least being a factor. And maybe it's not the reason he has slumped or did kind of lose his mechanics with the swing, but you know it might be something that
certainly is and helping him get out of it. I think the challenge this year compared to last year when they did move him back to right field down the stretch and did have him there when they won the World Series, is that a the roster it doesn't quite line up as well. You know, if you put him back and right, you probably could move to Oscar to the left. You'd have Andy pae Has in center. But they've liked the way Michael Confordo's been swinging the bat.
They added another outfielder, and Alex called the trade deadline. They certainly haven't operated as if they're planning to move Mookie Bets back to the outfield at some point. And then Mookie Betts has been a lot better shortstop this year than he was last year, and I think he does take pride in that and in the fact that you know, he's become, you know, an above league average player at you know, one of the most demanding positions defensively.
This is, though, is all kind of part of the calculus the Dodgers have to weigh.
Now.
Dave Roberts has been adamant, like, you know, I don't see if I just put him in right field one day, he's suddenly going to have three hits and everything's fixed. And I do think that whatever the cumulative toll of playing shortstop has been, you know, at this point, I don't know if moving him to the outfield kind of undoes all that and fixes it. So I'm not expecting him to move. The Dodgers certainly haven't indicated that that's going to be something. They consider it all. They like
what he's giving them defensively. They think that there's still going to be some production in his back come the end of the season. You Know, one thing that he did well last year is he didn't finish the season all that great. The last three weeks. He was really bad going into the playoffs, but then he got to October and just kind of wiped the slate clean, focused on putting together more competitive at bats, got out of his head a little bit about all the mechanics, and
then had a really nice postseason. That's kind of what the Dodgers are banking on again, and this time doing it probably with him at shortstop.
Yeah. I want to give my flowers to Will Smith. And I guess my question to you is are we not making a big enough deal of the season he's having. I mean, he's on the verge of potentially winning the batting title as a catcher. And I don't know the historical context. I know it hasn't been done in recent history. I don't know how many years. But are we not making a we? It sounds we like we the media. I guess I'm part of the media now because I'm
no longer a player. But we should we be making a bigger deal of it?
No.
I mean I made this exact point too well at the All Star Game because I wrote about how his season's gone overlooked, and I said, you know, I think even from us, we've kind of, you know, missed exactly
how good you've been this year. Because he has. You know, this is a guy who, especially the last couple of years, was dealing with injuries, did not have very good second halfs to the season, and there were some questions about, you know, was he going to get back to being this top of the line offensive catcher that it looked like he was going to be early in his career.
And this year, you know, it's been pretty simple for him, he said, a he's healthy, he's been able to stay fresh that you know, he's he's kind of teetering right on that line of having enough qualified or enough plate appearances to be a qualified hitter, because they have been managing his workload a little bit more and he's just found something with a swing that he said has has been repeatable, you know, for for basically the entire season. You know, this is a guy who's always had kind
of a simple, compact, repeatable motion. He struggled getting to fastballs the last couple of years while he was dealing with some injury stuff. But now that he's healthy again, you know, he can he can cover all parts of the plate so well. He has such a good eye, and you know he might he might not hit thirty home runs. He's not gonna have a cow Rawley kind
of season. He's not gonna have a show Heyo Tani kind of season in terms of, you know, some of the top line numbers, but in terms of someone who's been a consistent, productive, top of the line hitter, especially for a lineup that lately has needed that kind of consistent production. There's a few guys I think that have been more valuable to their teams than will Smith, especially when you later on when he's done behind the plate and managing a pitching staff that's used to forty different
pitchers this year. So yeah, I think even even within the Dodgers this year, you know, he's gone a little bit overlooked, but he's gonna be someone at the end of the year that yeh'd probably be a surprise if he doesn't win the batting title right now, and it is probably going to be getting some MVP votes too.
You talk about getting some guys back pitching right the starting rotation, and I don't know if he's going to be a starting role or a bullpen roll. But where's Roki Sazaki right now? His his you know, journey back to helping the Dodgers, Like you said, trying to win another World Series title.
He's in a throwing program. He's supposed to do a three inning live VP at the end of this week, after which he could go out on a rehab assignment, and the hope is that he'll be back as a starter, maybe near the end of this month early in September. In terms of a longer term role, it's going to be open ended. Dave Roberts put it this way, just saying, you know, when we go into October, we're going to
take the thirteen best arms we have. If Roki Sasaki is one of them, whether it's to help fill out the rotation or maybe serving a bullpen roll, you know, he'll be part of that group. And if he's not, he won't be And that's gonna be the big question for Roki. You know, assuming he can come back healthy, he can get through a rehab assignment without any more setbacks, it's how does he look. You know, his fastball was only sitting around ninety six at the start of the year.
That's a pitch that's supposed to be closer to one hundred and kind of needs to be closer to one hundred because it's just a little bit flatter and easier to hit, and opponents were able to square it up a lot early in the season. You know, can he locate his splitter a little bit better. It's a really good pitch. It's got you know, you even Dodger teammates have lotted you know, just how tough it is to pick up in the box and the kind of movement he gets on it. But if he can't throw it
for strikes, it becomes easier to lay off. And then he's tried to add a two seam er two, which I think is something that's just an interesting development for a guy who clearly at this stage of his career is trying to figure out, Okay, how does my stuff play in the big leagues? What do I need to do to get big league hitters out. He struggled with that while being primarily a fastball splitter guy at the start of the season, with a few sliders mixed in.
So I think it's a good sign of growth that he's willing to embrace, you know, trying out a two seam or trying something new and seeing if it gives him a little bit more success. When he does come back this year as the Nadyers trying to figure out if he's somebody that they can trust in a postseason environment.
Well, somebody I know they can trust. And I continue to say there's no staff for character, but there's also no staff from Moxie, right. How important it is it, you know, and has it been to get Max Munthsy back in that lineup? We saw him hit you know, two homers Tuesday night and in the struggling lineup. How you know, just important is his energy and him being that lineup? You know, how much does it mean to his Dodgers team?
Yeah, I mean there's obviously everything he does with the bat and the ability to work good at bats and supply some power and get on base and make things happen. But you know, Dave Roberts described it as just the presence of having him in the lineup, especially with how well he was hitting before he got hurt, with what he looked like on Tuesday with the two home run game.
There's something about, especially for a team that's been struggling, just knowing that they have that that one extra guy in the lineup who can help make something happen, that one extra guy that lengthens things out A little bit who can deliver a big swing, and then when he does, you know, just kind of raise the confidence and the
energy around the team. And I think that's what you've seen from Max Munsey maybe more than any other player outside of Shoheo Tani this year, which is when Munsy's hot and he's hitting big home runs and he's getting on base and he's making things happen, the Dodgers have been really good. They were the highest scoring offense in baseball before he got hurt, and then they were the lowest scoring offense in baseball during the twenty five games
he missed. That's not all because of him. There are some other factors that went into that, other guys struggling while he was out. But a stat like that really underlines how important he's been, not just with what he's been able to produce, but also just the way his presence in the lineup can change a little bit what the Dodgers are able to do offensively.
That sounds like a fun case on his side. When they have another contract discussion, I think he usually signs like the two year extensions, or you could just be like, I'm going to play this clip from Jack harris On found territory on August seven. Then you guys make the offer the way you want to make it, and you know, I want to be here, right.
He's picking the wrong year to do this ahead of a team option next year.
I'm afraid that's true.
It's going to be though.
Hey they haven't they been doing that. They tack on an extra year or two.
Something like that.
Yep, DoD Dodgs are the one team that I feel like I have done some really good faith deals and taking care of guys.
Kershaw. Yeah, Yeah, that's true.
I think it's funny we're sitting here. I think it's funny we're sitting here talking about the Dodgers as if they're not playing well, where they're not a good team still record, and it's just it's just the expectation they've created for themselves, the Dodger brand. We expect them to never lose.
Yeah, And I think that is kind of like the story of this year so far, as if for all that's gone wrong, they are still in a good position here. It's just about, you know, can they show that kind of that higher level version of themselves down the stretch that they're going to try to defend a world.
So okay, one last one before you go. Man. With that said, what are they hoping the rotation looks like going into October? Like, what do they help Dries and everything involved? What do they say, best case scenario, this is our starting rotation going into the playoffs, That's what I want to know.
Yeah, in an ideal world, in some order, it's Yamamotos Snell Glass now, and then whatever you're getting out of Otani, which at this point you know, could be five or six innings at least one time in a playoff series, maybe a couple if you try to put them in
a Game one and a Game five or something like that. So, assuming they stay healthy, I think that's the biggest difference about how this team might look the rest of the year compared to how it's been up to this point, is that the starting pitching should be better, should be healthy, should be a lot closer to what they envisioned coming into the year. And if they get that, I think it takes care of a lot of the other problems
that they've had. But then again, they've had a lot of years the last few seasons where they expected to have a certain amount of deductive and trustworthy guys in their rotation, and they got to October and didn't. So as long as that group stays healthy and productive, I think they're going to be okay. And I think they're going to look a lot closer to one hundred plus win team we expected to see this year, but that still is a little bit of an if as they try to navigate these last two months.
That's true. I think they'll have more firepower in October from their rotation than they did last year, and they did win a World Series last year. Jack, good stuff, Thanks for stopping by. Give Jack a follow at by Jack Harris on Twitter. Check them out in the La Times. Thanks Jack, Thank you guys. Line movement, let's see if we can get through two here open to now. Dodgers opened at plus four hundred. Now they're at plus two
fifty to win the World Series. Phillies from plus eleven hundred to plus eight hundred, and the Tigers are huge movers right now. They're at plus nine hundred to win the World Series. They started this season or a little before that, right when the line opened at plus four thousand. A nice little jump there, KP. Tiger's in a better spot than what most people thought, including the books.
Yeah, I mean, I don't think they should have been you know, plus four thousand after the type of season they had, but maybe people thought it was a little bit of an unsustainable run they went on at the end of the season. But I mean, if you're a Tigers fan and you're a betting fan and you saw that number early in the year in spring training and you took it, good for you.
That's right, got a shot and biggest liability cam for World Series winner with the minute to go here Angels, Giants, Dodgers. Now you have to understand what we're talking about here. This means Betham jam takes the biggest hit. If the Angels in the World Series, Giants, there's some people that threw down and got amazing odds, but their odds are long for a reason. Now with the Dodgers, that's the volume of how many people have thrown down on them
to win the World Series. So that explains how this is put together For people that are like, wait, what the Angels the Giants. Yeah, there's people going, hey, I'm gonna get plus five thousand on this right, absolutely right.
That's and that for me, those are the smart betters right, because a lot of those two you bet the daughters is like you know, bet bet attle, bet a little to win a little, or bet a lot to win a little. So yeah, you know, of course, why would you not, man, that's how you bet. I'm not a gambling man, you know that. You know, you guys are still teaching me how to gamble, evenough I'm even though I'm up in the money this year.
Yeah, you know.
To me, Yeah, for me, I'm not touching that. There's a there's a really happy medium there where you can find teams like the Phillies, Padres, et cetera. There you go, giants and angels, your bolts if you're going there. But if yeh, lightning strikes, great for you.