Dodgers & Yankees - Game 5 World Series Wisdom

 World Series Game 5 Expectations

•  Dodgers’ unexpected struggle to close out the series, 
• Freddie Freeman's impact: Mat highlights Freeman’s impressive streak with six home runs across six World Series games, 
• Yankees’ Comeback Attempt: Anthony Volpe energized the Yankees, k
• Ohtani's Injury and Resilience with arm  - Mat reflects on Ohtani’s ability to play while injured, likening his resilience to legends like Vlad Guerrero.
• Aaron Judge's Struggles and Adjustments
• Dodgers’ Pressure and Rotation Challenges
•  Future Outlook Yankees' 2025 Roster Outlook & 
  • Payroll
  • Young Talent on the Horizon
• Future of AL East Competition - The Orioles as Potential Favorites
• Tension for the Dodgers in Game 5 
• Dodgers' Pitching Woes and World Series Strategy:
• Pitching Staff Injuries:  Tyler Glasnow, Tony Gonsolin, and Clayton Kershaw.
• Three-Pitcher Strategy: 
• Brent Honeywell's Dedication: commitment to helping Mookie Betts out of a slump, highlighting the dedication and team spirit essential in high-stakes playoff moments.
• Mookie Betts Post-Game Focus: he downplays fan drama to focus on the team’s performance.
• Fan Behavior and Stadium Etiquette
• Impact on Future Fans: Both hosts reflect on the importance of modeling good behavior to foster a respectful stadium environment.
• World Series Sweeps: 21 World Series have ended in sweeps, with the Yankees involved in over half of these.
• Fun with Baseball Stats: 
• Pre-Game and Post-Game Performances:
• Ice Cube and Fat Joe Performances: Is it worth the ticket. Does this attract a younger audience?
•  Babyface - National Anthem Performances and Commentary
• Memorable Moments and Player Challenges
•  Shohei Ohtani’s underwhelming playoff performance and Mat’s admiration for Kike Hernández’s underrated postseason consistency. 
• Documentary: See Her, Be Her
• WPBL Women’s Baseball Progress and New Leagues
•  Baseball for All, a women’s baseball organization led by Justine Siegal, and the development of the Women’s Professional Baseball League (WPBL) slated for a 2026 launch. Mat and Mark discuss the potential for growth and visibility of women’s sports
• Mat on Funding and Broadcasting Women’s Baseball
• National Exposure and Strategic Marketing of Women in Baseball
• Upcoming Events: Arizona Fall League & Australian Baseball League
• Game 5 starting with Shohei Ohtani’s recent first-pitch pop-out in good spirits.
  
  
• Thanks to Mat Germain for bringing his knowledge, wit and wisdom to the show. You can catch more of Mat on Twitter x.com @Mat_Germain_   
   Mark can be found on Twitter x.com  @TheBaseballBiz & and at  http://www.baseballbizondeck.com
  Subscribe, follow and rate the show. Thank you.
  BaseballBiz is on iheartradio, Stitcher, Apple, and Spotify
  Special thanks to XTaKeRuX for the music “Rocking Forward"

Transcript

262 BaseballBiz 2024 World Series

[00:00:00] Mark Corbett: Welcome to Baseball Biz on Deck. I am Mark Corbett. With me of course is Mr. Mat Germain. How you doing today, buddy? Game five is in the works, Mat. Oh, come on, man. Game five. It was supposed to be over in four games, right?

[00:00:15] Mark Corbett: I mean, I'm sitting there and I'm thinking, oh, I would absolutely love to see a sweep. I would love to see the Dodgers sweep the Yankees and doing it right there in New York, New York. We'll 

[00:00:29] Mat Germain: Yeah, when Freddie hit that six home run, like six World Series games in a row, he hit a home run. When he hit that one, I thought, yeah, that's going to be hard to come back from.

[00:00:41] Mat Germain: But kudos to the Yankees for making a game of it. Anthony Volpe channeled his inner New Yorker and, uh, and put them on the board. And that seemed to, uh, to open up the floodgates for a team that has the ability to score a lot of runs when they want to. 

[00:00:58] Mark Corbett: Yeah, that's those type of stories are the ones that keep you interested in the game anyway, seeing a hometown boy making a difference out there, but it's, we'll see what comes tonight.

[00:01:08] Mark Corbett: I mean, let's see, breaking down my little list here. The first 4 games. I mean, it was exciting to see, I guess, unless something drastic changes. I do believe Freeman's going to be the MVP with the impact he's made this far. 

[00:01:21] Mat Germain: He better be. I mean, gosh. On one ankle, of all things. 

[00:01:27] Mark Corbett: Right. I mean, I don't think anybody thought necessarily he'd be able to come back the way he did.

[00:01:31] Mark Corbett: Heard they were very aggressive in his treatment to get him back up there, but still, wow. And as long as we're talking about health, I know you weren't able to see all the games. I don't know if you saw game two or not, but man, seeing Ohtani steal second. And then not get up. I mean, he's tagged out and he's not getting up and he's holding an arm.

[00:01:54] Mark Corbett: And you think, Oh my gosh, what does this mean? Well, you know, the good news is the arm that he was holding. It was not the one he pitches with, but nonetheless, I thought, did he injure the other one? Was he, is he going to be able to go to bed? Can he, will he be able to maintain his balance? But he, he's right back in there, man.

[00:02:15] Mat Germain: Yeah, you could tell there's a couple of balls he hit yesterday that would have gone out normally if he had been fully healthy. I think it's, it is sapping a lot of his, uh, his strength. Uh, so if I were him and, and I'm definitely not, um, I, I would be aiming more for line drives than, than the normal swing for home runs because, uh, Uh, you know, it's leading to a lot of fly outs, but the fact that he's in there, the fact that he's hobbling around with his arm, like, you know, he's grabbing onto his jersey with the left arm there and, and making sure it doesn't bounce around too much because the pain that it causes, um, so he's basically playing the game one handed and still driving the ball to the, you know, To the warning track, which is ridiculous.

[00:03:03] Mat Germain: I mean, you know, I can remember as a kid watching Vladdy Guerrero, , hitting bottle caps with broomsticks and it's right in that category of, of like, you're just, you're kidding me. This is talent, like, beyond anything. And I hope he does get healthy over time. I doubt it'll be at any point in this world series, even if it goes to Sunday.

[00:03:23] Mat Germain: But you want to see the best in there. You want to see them go toe to toe. Um, so I'm glad that he's, you know, sticking with it, but to be quite honest, what are their other options? You know, when you're that top heavy and you've invested so much in the top talent, you know, the bringing in somebody else to DHS is quite the drop off.

[00:03:43] Mat Germain: Um, so I think they're hoping that at some point he can still, you know, drive a couple of runs in or get on board a few times he did earn a walk. So it hasn't all been duds. 

[00:03:54] Mark Corbett: No, not, no, not at all. But I mean, I thought I'd really be watching him and Judge a lot more and. Or Aaron Judge. I mean, last night he was doing okay, but the rest of the postseason, he is falling short and he knew it.

[00:04:11] Mark Corbett: I mean, at one point there was discussions instead of having him, uh, second in the lineup, you know, moving him up to our third in line, moving him up to the top spot to take a little of the, um, stress off of him and said, Nope, Nope. The captain said he wants to be right where he's at. And do you think about who is it right now?

[00:04:29] Mark Corbett: They had, uh, some Gleybor Torres. And then Soto and then Judge. And then it was, um, Stanton, the change they made the other day was, is they moved jazz Chisholm up in the Stanton's place, but the first three guys in the lineup, they didn't change at all. 

[00:04:48] Mat Germain: Yeah, I'm not sure I understand that part because to me, World Series, especially when you're down where they are, Gleyber Torres is not an optimal leadoff guy.

[00:04:57] Mat Germain: I would have slid both Soto and Judge in a one two spot. I don't care what order they put them in. I want to get those guys the maximum number of at bats. And like, I had to remind somebody on X yesterday that, you know, this guy, Judge hit 322 with 58 home runs this season. He, he knows how to get himself out of slump and that was after a terrible start.

[00:05:19] Mat Germain: So, I, I, hot streaks are going to be part of baseball, cold streaks are going to be part of baseball. To me, the best way to get him out of it is to get him more at bats and you're right, yesterday his at bats were much better. Uh, he was seeing the ball more, he had a better plan, he wasn't, um, overly aggressive and I think that's been his major, uh, You know, hard point.

[00:05:41] Mat Germain: I think Aaron Judge, regardless of how he looks, how big he is. I think he's putting a lot of pressure on himself to not only, you know, be of impact for the, for the Yankees to win a world series because he, he knows he's getting up there in age. And so are his teammates that are the core. Um, so he's putting a lot of pressure on himself for that, but also to show that, you know, Soto isn't the be all end all of the future of the Yankees, that he's going to be a major part of that.

[00:06:11] Mat Germain: I think that, in his heart, even though he'll never say it out loud, is what's driving so much of that pressure, and it's having an impact on his at bats. So, You know, the best piece of advice most managers would give somebody like that. And it's, it's the easiest thing to say, the hard, hardest thing to do in this situation is to just go out there and have fun, play the game the way you know how to play the game, stop overthinking everything and just go up there and take the one out bat and focus on that one at bat.

[00:06:40] Mat Germain: Well, 

[00:06:41] Mark Corbett: I presume that's what indeed what Aaron Judge has done, because like you said, he's starting to get better at it. He did, he did look like, you know, what I remember when I first played golf. For a while. And I would come up to the ball and I would swing, like I was going to kill that thing. And of course, you know, real crappy shot from that.

[00:06:58] Mark Corbett: But the thing that was, um, I was trying too hard and was not getting the, the, uh, contact that I wanted. And certainly with Judge, it looks like he wanted it so hard that he was going to swing hard at it, no Mater what he's balanced that out as of last night. So I'm really curious to see here tonight, game five, how it's going to play out.

[00:07:21] Mat Germain: Yeah, there's going to be a lot more pressure on the Dodgers right now, because like you said, they're banged up, right? Like, they, Freeman and Ohtani are both banged up. Um, they're not going to feel any better through this series. If anything, they're going to feel harder because there's not that many games or days off between the games now.

[00:07:40] Mat Germain: Um, it's pretty steady play, uh, and, and the pitching matchup tonight. I mean, you have Jack Flaherty against Gerrett Cole. That's clearly in the Yankees favor, uh, assuming Gerrett stays, uh, stays. Healthy and then has a good outing. He's susceptible to more home runs now, which, you know, uh, maybe Freddie hits another one out and makes it seven in a row.

[00:08:02] Mat Germain: But, uh, but I think, you know, the, the Dodgers are opening the door a little bit to, to keep, let the Yankees come back in, assuming tonight, Gerrett Cole is able to pull it out and, and lead the Yankees to victory they're down three, two. So at that point, you know, it's a two game series. Um, I don't want to say anything can happen because winning four against the Dodgers is pretty hard to do, um, but worse teams have done it.

[00:08:33] Mat Germain: I remember, I think the Oakland A's did it this year or last, right? And so it can happen, especially if, you know, the A's can do it, I'm pretty positive the Yankees can do it, but the fact that some of those games would have to happen in LA to me is the kicker. That's the part where I'm like, I don't think I believe that part.

[00:08:54] Mat Germain: I think they would be able to figure out a way to, to pull one of those out. Um, so regardless, I still envision the, the Dodgers winning it. So let's assume that's true. What does that mean for the Yankees? Who, if you, if you look at the, their 2025 season, They have five players that are going to make 150 million between them.

[00:09:19] Mat Germain: Uh, that's Stanton who will be 35, uh, Judge who's 30, who'll be 34. Um, Cole who'll be 34, uh, Stroman who'll be 34 and Rodon who'll be 32. You know, they're not going to get any better. A lot of them are looking long in the tooth when it comes to the pitchers, especially. So what does that mean for their core?

[00:09:42] Mat Germain: So if you're starting a team with that, yes, you have some youthful talent. You have the Minguez, you have Volpe, you have some guys coming up behind them that are intriguing, um, who will be able to take some of the pressure off of those core guys, but you're starting to see cracks in the armor of a pretty formidable, you know, Team that was supposed to, to kind of, uh, at least win one championship for, you know, the last five, six, seven years.

[00:10:08] Mark Corbett: The pain has to be there, especially with these old man, geriatric group, that's playing for the Yankees and pulling down that kind of money. Uh, I don't know how Cashman's going to do what he's going to do. And you figure that Soto's up next year, free agent. Will he want to stay in New York? If so, does Mets talk to him?

[00:10:27] Mark Corbett: I don't know. But coming back to the game itself. Yeah, it's tough when you look at these gentlemen. You can't expect the same thing. From them as you do the young bloods that, uh, and mean to plant. Obviously some of the younger guys, especially the pitchers don't necessarily have it all figured out. They may not have a full retinue of pitches that they can deliver, but powerful young batters.

[00:10:51] Mark Corbett: And I'm going to go out and left field here, but talking about somebody like even Xavier outside of this universe, but bringing him back in, looking at young talent coming up. And, and I haven't seen the Yankee system to know what they have in the pipeline. And 

[00:11:06] Mat Germain: Um, they have a, I like the column. I was screaming for the Rays to draft them when they, uh, when they ended up.

[00:11:13] Mat Germain: I think it was the year they drafted Xavier Isaac. So let's just say I'm okay with it now. I get it. I get why the Rays went that route. But at the time, , I was all in on, on a guy who's exactly the same size as, , as Aaron Judge. And I'm pretty sure that the, the Yankees are molding him, , to be, , the, the same, , Kind of hitter at the plate and also the same kind of fielder.

[00:11:38] Mat Germain: They have, , a lot more pitching that people would anticipate, um, they would have, even though they've lost a lot of guys through trades, a lot of guys through rule five, they, they were peppered with guys getting taken off the board. Um, but they still have guys like Will Warren, Cody Petit, um, you know, the some way, somehow their development of their system in terms of pitching has improved, uh, beyond the point of just being average.

[00:12:10] Mat Germain: They're more of a well above average at this point in terms of, uh, developing their own pitchers. So that's, that's where I would say that they have a strength and an out But as we've seen with a lot of young pitchers, there's no guarantees. And especially when you're talking about the Yankees. So Spencer Jones may come up and be very Aaron Judge like, uh, but.

[00:12:35] Mat Germain: He, he's not going to be able to pitch as far as I know, and, and you can have as good a lineup as you want. Uh, and, and just so you know, like this guy's only six foot seven, about 240 pounds. And, uh, and he steals about 25 bases while, while hitting above 20 bases, uh, home runs a year as well. He's got a really good eye at the plate.

[00:12:58] Mat Germain: I like him a lot. I think he's, he's going to be a beast of a player once he figures it out. Um, But the Yankees are not like another example. I'll give you is Ben Rice, right? He came up. You did very well at the beginning of the year was I think he he over achieved for what people had in terms of expectations, but it was an encouraging thing that the Yankees used to win a lot of games early on the season or early You know, in the first half of the season, but then he had a terrible second half and he ended up not being on the roster for the world series example.

[00:13:29] Mat Germain: So the Yankees, they tend to lean a lot on bringing in guys from elsewhere, like they did with Verdugo, like they did with Trent Grisham and a lot of other guys, because they know the pressure to perform in New York and the media and everything else is unlike anything else. Um, so they lean a lot on that and I get it.

[00:13:50] Mat Germain: But when you start paying guys long term deals, like they did Aaron Judge, like they did DJ, they made you like they did, um, you know, um, Gerrett Cole, you're, you're making yourself susceptible to having dud contracts a little bit in the same way as what the angels have done, not to the same degree. Cause they did so many of them and all with hitters.

[00:14:15] Mat Germain: But you're, you're make opening the door for having some dud seasons or dud stretches where you really can't patchwork your roster, unless you spend 400 million and, and you know, it's, it's a little bit ridiculous when you put it like that, but , the Yankees are going to have to figure out, like, just as, as an example, like you said before, they have to replace Juan Soto & Torres this off season.

[00:14:39] Mat Germain: Right. And that's, Two of the top, their, their top two hitters in their lineup. And then they have Anthony Rizzo. They're not very happy with, so you're figured they're going to want to do something with that. Whether they move Aaron Judge to first base or not. I still think that's the answer. They're not listening to me, but.

[00:14:57] Mat Germain: I'll put some, put other people in the L field that are younger, have better legs before he gets hurt. They still have DJ on the books. They still have a Nestor Cortes that they have to figure out. The rotation is going to be a mess next year. I don't even know where they're going to start in order to shore it up because they have guys signed that are, I don't want to call them subpar, but if you're aiming for a world series win, then you want more than that.

[00:15:24] Mat Germain: That's all. Bye. Like, I honestly don't know what to think of the Yankees for next year. All I'll say is that if the Orioles are to spend the way they should spend to add to what they have in house, they should be the favourites again next year to win the AL East. 

[00:15:43] Mark Corbett: You know, yeah, well, we'll see how they're going to spin and see what that what that team looks like because I don't know.

[00:15:50] Mark Corbett: I really am. I shake my head. I think because Soto seems like such an essential key part to that team and Volpe is really, you know, he's shining during this postseason. But I don't know. I mean, you're talking about these old man and it's like, they're going to be injured more. And Stanton, I just, I don't know how much longer he's gonna be able to be out there, but, uh, I, another thing though, too, when we're looking at this from the Dodgers perspective, let's, let's talk about pitching for a moment, Mat, because let's see, Dodgers, we had Flaherty, Yamamoto, and Buehler.

[00:16:26] Mark Corbett: Those were the three starters. Then here you are a team that has all this money and you don't have a fourth day pitcher in a fifth day pitch. You got a bullpen pitching on the fourth day, man. I mean, you get Flaherty back for your fifth day or fifth game, but my gosh, I mean, it was a Kershaw was sitting there in the dugout 

[00:16:48] Mat Germain: and let's go through their IL.

[00:16:50] Mat Germain: Okay. So we've got Tyler Glasnow. That's out with elbow tendonitis. Uh, you've got Tony Gonsolin, who's out with Tommy John. , Clayton Kershaw has a toe inflammation issue. He's not going to be back. , Dustin May is a flexor tendon surgery. , he's been out the majority of the year. , River Ryan is another guy. Tommy John Emmett Sheehan is another guy with the Tommy John Gavin Stone shoulder surgery.

[00:17:15] Mat Germain: I mean, You talk about the Rays went through that this last year, and, and it's one of those years where, you know, they, they brought in guys that I thought were going to have more of an impact that guys like Bobby Miller. Um, and, and they, they have Nick Frasso, a couple of guys that you could have dreamed on to actually have a big role in the world series.

[00:17:39] Mat Germain: But the truth of the Mater is like, you just stayed it right there. You only need three starters. In the World Series, you don't really need more than that, to be honest, as long as you run your pen the right way, and you give guys the days off that they deserve, and you have two inning relievers in the pen that you can actually lean on to eat up some innings when you need them.

[00:18:01] Mat Germain: Uh, that's what I think if you listen to, uh, the commissioner talk recently, uh, through this world series, they're trying to address it. They're trying to not force starters to go a certain number of innings and do that kind of stuff, but it's such an effective strategy, especially when, when the other team isn't as familiar with the picture as the otherwise would be, uh, they don't get to see that.

[00:18:26] Mat Germain: Pitcher a second time. They're always seeing new guys. Uh, it throws them off their game and it's to the point where you can actually, you know, earn a lot of wins that way because they're not able to capitalize on some of your weaknesses like they would somebody that they see more often. So the, the Dodgers have figured that out and, and they know that, you know, lineup wise and defensively especially, they're better than the Yankees.

[00:18:52] Mat Germain: Uh, so they're able to actually You know, do a little bit with less. Uh, I don't think they went out and got enough at the deadline. I'm with you. They should have gotten another starter and I think their job this world series would be easier if they had But I get like how many injuries they have is just ridiculous It's to the point where you're looking at your training staff going.

[00:19:15] Mat Germain: Okay, boys Like, well, what are we doing 

[00:19:18] Mark Corbett: right 

[00:19:18] Mat Germain: now that we need to change? Cause this can't keep happening to our, you know, whatever, 400 million roster. 

[00:19:26] Mark Corbett: Yeah. I mean, the, the old scouting tale, you know, if there's, if you have talent, they'll find you. Well, there's, there has to be more talent that they can bring up.

[00:19:35] Mark Corbett: There's, there has to be something that's not being seen. And there, I'm also kind of going off on a tangent here too. When we talk about having enough pitchers. Do we expand the roster by two people and allow each team to have two more pitchers than they do just so they can have, uh, maybe a little more arm health.

[00:19:56] Mark Corbett: Uh, I liked your idea earlier this year. You talked about the six man rotation, and I think that's an essential piece that teams longterm need to look at for right now, this world series. This three, this three man bullpen rotation, it looks like it'll probably work. I'm really curious to see how Flaherty and Cole do tonight.

[00:20:15] Mat Germain: You know, an interesting piece of information that I wanted to add also that I heard during the broadcast was that Brent Honeywell, volunteered to throw, , pitches. Uh, in, I don't know how many he threw, but apparently it was a significant amount, uh, to Mookie Betts because Mookie Betts was struggling during the Padres series.

[00:20:38] Mat Germain: And apparently he got him right back on track and it kicked off what has been since then a better playoff and all the players were raving that Brent Honeywell was willing to do that at a time when he knows that he could be called upon to actually, you know, Performing games and yada, yada, yada. And that it was going to, you know, put a lot of pressure on his arm.

[00:21:00] Mat Germain: He was willing to do it because he knew the stakes were high and he wanted to get Mookie right. And, uh, it, it speaks to what kind of teammate he is and knowing, you know, what it takes to get yourself in that situation to perform at a high level. Um, he, he didn't want to not. Take that opportunity, I guess, um, so I tip my cap to him and I think that those kinds of stories is what I wish we would hear more about.

[00:21:26] Mat Germain: I'm sure it happens hundreds of times that we don't hear anything about, but just a little nuggets that like that, that, you know, during the playoffs, you hear and you're like, wow, that's pretty special. 

[00:21:39] Mark Corbett: Well, anytime you hear a story about a selfless teammate who gives in a situation like Mr. Honeywell did there, I mean, yes, it's encouraging, it shows the true nature of what you'd hope sports is going to be, and I mean, working together as a team, and sometimes maybe, I won't say injuring yourself, but giving of yourself for the betterment of another.

[00:22:01] Mark Corbett: And I mean, it sounds like that's what Honeywell did with Mookie Betts. You know, I don't know if he saw this or not, and I don't want to spend a whole lot of time talking about it, but when you brought up Mookie Betts, made me think of something else. I saw him post game yesterday and people were asking him regular things about the game.

[00:22:20] Mark Corbett: And then, uh, the other thing they wanted to ask him about too, was about the yo yo out there. Who, uh, grabs a ball and the glove and everything out of him and the Yankees fan and to Mookie's credit, he said, that's not relevant. We lost. He said, that's what's relevant. I said, I said, aces. Okay, man, Mookie. I thought good for you, brother.

[00:22:43] Mark Corbett: Good for you. One, he's an athlete with a focus being on making sure one understanding what the heck happened out there. And it doesn't have to do anything with that one instance. He says, you know, this isn't about. Anything in my mind, well, he didn't even get into more detail there. He just pretty much said it's not relevant.

[00:23:00] Mark Corbett: And they asked him if he was okay. 

[00:23:02] Mat Germain: Yeah. The last thing they want to do is to give the Yankees ammunition by, you know, by talking about the fan and, and being, you know, calling them out for, for being that kind of fan at all. That's what you can expect at Yankee stadium, which is what you heard a lot on X and elsewhere.

[00:23:19] Mat Germain: Um, but yeah, I think it's hilarious because you know what, Mark, it teaches you a little bit about the world. I guess Yankee fans were going up to him and asking for his autograph and have pictures taken with them. And I was like, Oh my God, this is just, this is one of those situations where you just realize how outlandish sports can be.

[00:23:43] Mat Germain: And, and how ridiculously seriously, some people take it, uh, you know, it's, it's to the point where you're getting autographs of fans that, that through that did what some would call a stupid thing and, and really, you know, I don't know what he paid for the tickets and what he had paid for this game, but apparently he's out for this game as well.

[00:24:09] Mat Germain: Um, so he's cost himself a lot of fandom, uh, opportunities. And I just think it's, you know, it's a lesson for a lot of other fans and especially younger ones and older ones that might've acted in a similar way to, to think again, you know, they get trying to, to be a better fan. 

[00:24:29] Mark Corbett: I think a fan who does that kind of activity or it's, they need to.

[00:24:33] Mark Corbett: Have a strong punishment for it. I'm at least saying a person should not be in any ball stadium, next year, all of 2025. And maybe there's some probably feel that way about life with both of those guys up here. They do. I get that because it's not something that should be celebrated.

[00:24:51] Mark Corbett: That kind of behavior. If we start that, it's a dark road to go down. I mean, it's, it's, it's the gateway bad behavior drug, But, um, I don't know what I said. I didn't want to focus much on. I just primarily want to say I want to, uh, I was really happy to see how Mookie handled that situation and it's like next, you know, let's move on to the next game.

[00:25:13] Mark Corbett: So we will see. Mr. Cole takes the mound tonight. The Yankees have got to have a lot of juice rolling right now after winning. Game four. And I didn't realize Mat, I was wondering how many times there been a sweep in the world series, you know, there's 21 times that there's been a sweep. My gosh, 

[00:25:35] Mat Germain: it's quite a bit.

[00:25:35] Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

[00:25:36] Mat Germain: I didn't realize it was that many. 

[00:25:40] Mark Corbett: Yeah. And oh, the 21 times. The Yankees were, what, oh, 11, I think 11 times, and they swept eight themselves and they were swept three times. Yeah. Wow. So the 21, they're almost, yeah, a little over half. Of all the World Series sweeps involve the Yankees. 

[00:26:05] Mat Germain: That's interesting.

[00:26:06] Mat Germain: So I wonder if you look at all the series in a season on average, how many of them are sweeps? 

[00:26:13] Mark Corbett: I'd like to dig that. That's a good one for a future show. I want to dig that up. Because 

[00:26:17] Mat Germain: , how similar is it than the Yank, the Yankees, the World Series, uh, percentage of, uh, of, of series that are sweeps.

[00:26:25] Mat Germain: Like maybe it's just a baseball cyclical thing, , more , than anything. Sort of like if you roll dice or if you flip a coin, how many times is it going to be, heads or tails? , man, it's, I think, you know, statistics in baseball are so much fun and there's so many playoff stats that have come out of the limelight and especially with Freddie Freeman's six games in our, uh, six World Series games in a row, hitting a home run.

[00:26:50] Mat Germain: You start to realize, you know, how, uh, how rare some of these statistics are once they do come out. And, , and so apparently sweeps are not that rare. 

[00:27:01] Mark Corbett: Yeah. 21 sweeps, man. That just kind of knocked me down. I, I didn't anticipate, say anticipate seeing a number that high. I was surprised even to see it went into double digits.

[00:27:10] Mat Germain: I wanted to ask you about the performers. What did you think of the difference between Ice Cube and Fat Joe? And where is it going to go to next is what I want to know.

[00:27:24] Mat Germain: Like, is this team driven? Do they pass it by Major League Baseball? Is there any, like, just because I'm, I'm, I'm comparing it to what happens at the Superbowl and I'm just thinking like, first of all, it's before the game ever happens. 

[00:27:39] Mark Corbett: Yeah. 

[00:27:41] Mat Germain: Isn't the seventh inning stretch a better time to have this kind of thing?

[00:27:44] Mat Germain: Like. I don't know. It's one of those things where I get what they're trying to do. Personally, I think if you do that, they should have a concert from that individual after the game as well. So sure, you want to go spit some lyrics at the beginning of the game before, you know, first pitch. But at the end of the game, I want to see some bling.

[00:28:05] Mat Germain: I want to see you put on a show because I gave you that opportunity, gave you that stage and and it gives the fans a little boost of something extra for the ridiculous amount of money. They pay for the tickets. So yeah, I think that's the next step for Major League Baseball. I don't mind it. Like, yeah, people will talk about Ice Cube being so much better than Fat Joe in terms of the performance, whatever that is, and the crowd being more into it.

[00:28:30] Mat Germain: But, you know, they can figure that out over time how they want to do it. But I think the intent and the potential , is what's interesting about that whole situation. 

[00:28:41] Mark Corbett: Well, I'm glad you brought that up because when I heard Ice Cube, I thought, okay, well, are we trying to find a younger audience? I said, I remember Ice Cube, you know, a couple of decades ago, people, you know, but, uh, I love him.

[00:28:57] Mark Corbett: Don't get me wrong. I love him. But I thought who's the audience we're going after here. And. When he was doing his bit out there, he had basically the full echo and reverberation , of the Dodger stadium. And it's like, Oh, I don't know. It's, it struck me as, as weird because I thought, why couldn't you find somebody who has appeal maybe to a younger audience?

[00:29:20] Mark Corbett: It was my first thing that went to with that. And I like the idea of maybe they do come out and do two songs, this also in the seventh inning stretch. And then they, they have a post, uh, Post game concert that, that, like I said, as much as I had to pay for those tickets. Yeah. Why not? Why not? But if that Joe, Oh gosh, man, when he got up here saying, I wasn't sure if it was him or if it was Memorex, I thought, are you lip syncing this?

[00:29:54] Mark Corbett: It just. The effectiveness or the, the quality of the performance was better than me, but not necessarily by much. 

[00:30:06] Mat Germain: So here's what I want to put out there. Okay. Let's say next year, the Detroit Tigers make it in the world series. Do you have MNN do this thing? As, as an example, right? Who's the main artist in Atlanta?

[00:30:20] Mat Germain: Like who's, I also think in New York, I would have put the Wu Tang clan in there instead of fat Joe. I think it's a wider audience and much better music, but, but I, I think that the potential is so huge in terms of the wide variety of artists. And a lot of times when you look at the super bowl. They bring their friends.

[00:30:39] Mat Germain: They're not alone. You just assign them, you know, okay, put on a show and then they, they select the, whatever set that they want to do with their friends and everybody else. So I think it just would bring a lot more eyes on the game. If they announced it ahead of time, first of all, it's not a surprise.

[00:30:57] Mat Germain: They promote it correctly and and they actually set things up to have a big bang at the end and then people can keep watching, you know, if they want, um, once the game is over. So, um, I don't know. I think the marketing wise baseball has had a really hard time to get its feet under it. They got it right with the, the field of dreams, uh, thing.

[00:31:21] Mat Germain: I think this is the next step. This is like making the playoffs relevant. For baseball is a huge thing, New York, Los Angeles series is, is a good, you know, uh, way for, for baseball to test that. And I think that's what the ice cube and fat Joe thing was really. And, and I don't know, like, let's say it goes game six or seven, you know, they're both going to be in LA.

[00:31:49] Mat Germain: So who do you get to play, you know, in front of those. Fans while the pressure is mounting and everything else. It'd be interesting to see. 

[00:31:57] Mark Corbett: Okay. You know who they got singing the national anthem right now? Game five is getting ready to start. Who's that? Care is a baby face. 

[00:32:04] Mat Germain: Oh, no way. I'm not watching it.

[00:32:07] Mat Germain: Oh, wow. 

[00:32:09] Mark Corbett: Baby. He's up there saying the national anthem, man. Come on. I kid you not brother. Well, Oh, 

[00:32:20] Mat Germain: my, maybe they went to the Steinbrenners and they said, listen, who do you guys like as artists? And then they're just spit balling things. And 

[00:32:30] Mark Corbett: yeah, here's the mixtape, here's the mixtape. Dan made me for me 20 years ago, found an artist from there we can use.

[00:32:38] Mark Corbett: Oh gosh. I don't know, man. It's it's funny. It's, but I tell you, it's. But this, before this began, I'm seeing two Goliaths and I'm thinking, Oh, great. That's just going to be boring as hell. But I have to say, it has been great to watch this. And of course, you and I having people that we like on the Dodgers, as far as former Rays, that's been a big part of it through the interest.

[00:33:03] Mark Corbett: And with me, there was also my connection with Louisville and I looked at, or Louisville, as us natives say, and Will Smith, who grew up in Louisville, went to University of Louisville and, uh, Walker Bueller. Who is from Lexington, Kentucky and went to Vanderbilt, I believe. You know, there's always connections you can find out there.

[00:33:25] Mark Corbett: And, and to me that in the, the great team that the Dodgers have and the many rays that, that are on that team have definitely made that the one I'm cheering for this year. 

[00:33:37] Mat Germain: Yeah, it's, uh, you're right. Like the personalities, like there's no, there's no like severely hated person on the, on either team. I think they're, you know.

[00:33:50] Mat Germain: There might be some that somebody likes less than others, but, uh, but I think there's a, there's a definite heavier tilt towards the Dodgers, especially if you are a raise fan or, um, even the X, let's say the Red Sox fans, I'm sure there's a lot of them that still pull for Mookie and then the fact that he's up against the Yankees is just a big bonus.

[00:34:13] Mat Germain: So I think if you went across America and you asked them, you know, Who do you, would you prefer to win if you had to choose one? I think the majority would still say the, the Dodgers. And, uh, it has a lot to do with how likable a lot of those players are. 

[00:34:30] Mark Corbett: Is there a player that you look out there on the, during this last four games?

[00:34:34] Mark Corbett: And they had a moment and you said, Oh man, I'm sorry, dude. I was really sorry to see that that worked out that way for you. 

[00:34:42] Mat Germain: Um, I have to say show. Hey, like the, the, the whole slide, uh, because I do, I know he wants to perform at his best and the fact that he can't actually show the world now that he's on the biggest stage in the biggest series.

[00:34:57] Mat Germain: He's not able to perform at his best, and so people are not seeing, you know, the best version of him, and they've been showing like how insane the coverage is in Japan for, for these World Series games, and, you know, they, they want to see the best of Shohei, and they want to see themselves represented in, in, in the best way he knows how to do, and, and so he did that during the WBC, he's done it in other You know, uh, environments, but I think in this one, especially when it went, as you were saying before, being Judged against so tiny, uh, and that's really how a lot of people, I think, saw the series, even though Juan Soto is sitting right there, people still saw it as Judge against so tiny.

[00:35:42] Mat Germain: So, uh, I think that would be the one. The other one, I would say, if I had to pick another one, uh, would, would just be, you know, the, the, the. The whole,

[00:35:58] Mat Germain: what do you want to call it? Uh, underrated aspects of Kike Hernandez's game. So I think it seems to me like year after year, after year, after year, after year, after year, after year, Kike Hernandez goes into the playoffs and performs. And if you look up his stats, it's insane. How just steady this guy is the regardless what team he's playing for.

[00:36:25] Mat Germain: If you look up all his playoff statistics, um, he is a guy that you want on your team. When you get into the playoffs, uh, it doesn't Mater who he's playing for. He just shows up and yet he gets zero recognition. It really does. He's like, if, if Randy or Rosalina had been ignored during the raise, you know, 2020 playoffs, that would be KK Hernandez.

[00:36:49] Mark Corbett: Hernandez. What you mean? Tiaz or don't you? He gets lost. He gets lost behind the Oscar. That's what it is. 

[00:36:59] Mat Germain: I don't get it, but, uh, I, I don't know. I think those would be the two that I would point out. What about you? 

[00:37:04] Mark Corbett: Oh, the one I've, I've felt for, and that was Nestor Cortes. And, you know, after the whole big deal about, well, is he going to be able to play?

[00:37:14] Mark Corbett: Well, you know, even if I hurt my arm, I'll come out when they need me and I'll make a difference. And, you know, the first pitch he throws and bam, Ohtani gets, he goes all the way and Verdugo lunges, you know, over the embankment to catch the ball and that's it. And Ohtani's out and said, okay, okay, let's try to get it.

[00:37:33] Mark Corbett: And then the next one, the second pitch. Guess what? Home run and it's over, but that was a grand slam. Wasn't it? Oh my gosh. So Nestor, I felt for Nestor because I felt like all the, the hype about him being able to come in and make a difference. I felt like the weight was really on him for that. So I would say that was probably where I felt, uh, the most difficulty for a player.

[00:38:03] Mark Corbett: Pardon me. Sorry about that. And then game four, I was, I could think of, it wasn't necessarily an individual person, but looking at all those pitchers that were coming up in that bullpen and thinking, yeah, you're good, but you're a reliever, you know, at best you're a reliever and you're not a good, you're not the final reliever.

[00:38:20] Mark Corbett: You're not the closer. And they just, I felt like, I don't know if they had the confidence that was needed to beat the Yankees last night. 

[00:38:33] Mat Germain: Yeah, I, yeah, that's a good point. 

[00:38:37] Mark Corbett: Anyway, well, you know, let's, let's take a step back here. The games would start here in a few minutes. And I do want to point out that mentioned before about see her, be her, that the documentary from, from grassroots baseball, Jean fruit put together and some others.

[00:38:54] Mark Corbett: And it was great. What I was able to get to see of it. It was on the MLB network on the, between game two and game. Three, however, I don't have MLB network and I did sherry rig up something here while my computer where I could try to get it that way. I wasn't able to see it all, but it looked like a really great documentary and.

[00:39:15] Mark Corbett: Here's the thing though, Mat, a film like it should be a film. That documentary should be a film. And on the, uh, on the MLB network, they put advertising in there, which is to be expected, but it was the start of advertising where it butted up right next to whatever was playing. It's like in mid sentence, almost you would hear what somebody talking on C or B or, and then the, uh, The, the spot, whatever the advertising would begin to say, well, wait, wait a minute, is, am I still in the show?

[00:39:48] Mark Corbett: And this little things like that, of course, you know, I'm real persnickety about that anyway, but the show itself, what I saw of it was great and I'm, I'm hoping I'm going to see it again. I spoke with some of the folks from grassroots baseball and they said, yeah, they're trying to find a place where they can stream it.

[00:40:05] Mark Corbett: And once they do, they'll get that information out there. Man, it's a, yeah, seeing, I mean, and there's so many different women they have on there. Like some of the ladies who've been here to like Veronica Alvarez, who's a coach with the Oakland A's organization. And also is the, you know, the coach for the United States women's team that they play this year up in Canada.

[00:40:26] Mark Corbett: And it was a Maybel Blair from the all American girls professional baseball league. So when that comes back out again, I'll make sure everybody knows about it. And. Almost immediately thereafter, maybe 24 hours later, there is another organization that's been around for a while, and that's Baseball for All.

[00:40:46] Mark Corbett: And that is, uh, Justine Siegel. And she's one of the first women coaches in MLB. She has also done a lot to make sure women have a place to play baseball. She's put together tournaments throughout the year and inviting different women teams to come and they do round Robins or, or, uh, that sort of thing, but she's also done a lot to develop some, uh, clubs, some women's college clubs, which I want to learn more about too.

[00:41:15] Mark Corbett: But her and another gentleman by the name of Keith Stein had put together this new organization. It's called the world's professional baseball. Excuse me. No, that's incorrect. Women's professional baseball league. And I, I want to see this happen, but I haven't seen much as far as the meat and potatoes of it yet.

[00:41:36] Mark Corbett: They put out a press release and I'll share more with you all on that later, but it is still seems like in the growth stages, if you will. I think there is support behind it. I'm just not sure where it's going to be. So hopefully I'll get Justine and or, um, Keith on here. Let's see real quickly. They'll rewrite history about creating an elite league that provides the world's best female players with the platform they deserve and serve as a catalyst for the creation.

[00:42:08] Mark Corbett: Uh, a women's baseball culture in America. You know, that's part of the, of it there to see there, but there is a note in here to talking about still, I think how they're going to broadcast this, that it's not just going to be something where you have to be in a stadium to see them. So good times ahead. I hope here for the women's professional baseball league.

[00:42:29] Mat Germain: Yeah, no, that's awesome. 

[00:42:30] Mark Corbett: Yeah. See what's to come, my friend. 

[00:42:35] Mat Germain: I'm still curious to see how quickly, uh, their funding avenues will grow. So, for all the, the women's leagues, uh, whether it be soccer, uh, basketball, uh, or now baseball, uh, you get to see how much, uh, growth, uh, the WNBA has, uh, You know, being been able to garner over the years to the point where, you know, you can say they're a very strong league and one day could challenge some of the men's leagues in terms of revenues.

[00:43:08] Mat Germain: Um, so, so. You know, soccer is growing. We all know in North America and it already is the number one sport around the world. So how much of, of headway can, can baseball make? And, and what's interesting about this, and this is what I'll say. They're coming up at a time. When baseball is redefining the way that they're broadcasting things in there, some would say that they're about to take more ownership of that and and have more control over it directly.

[00:43:40] Mat Germain: Um, so, you know, they've already brought in the minor leagues and into that umbrella. If you're getting MLB TV, you automatically get MLB TV. Um, so you get to watch all the minor league games. So is there an avenue for the women to get involved in that as well? Uh, and get some revenues and, and, and improved, you know, access to things, especially technology wise, they don't have to build their own platforms, for instance.

[00:44:06] Mat Germain: Um, and they can kind of share the stage, uh, with the other baseball avenues. That's. You know, my mind goes there just because I know how hard it must be for them to, to kick things off when, you know, the attention span of people is already being stretched thin. And, and then there's a lot of noise out there, so it's hard to get yourself heard, uh, when you want to be 

[00:44:31] Mark Corbett: well, and you bring up something to about having.

[00:44:34] Mark Corbett: You know, I think a national exposure instead of just having one officer having to build something with yourself when it becomes to, uh, being able to promote our market or stream or whatever, because there's so diversified where we all have to spend our dollars these days to, to, to see the games that we want to, you know, and, and even when things were going on with the, uh, women's baseball, uh, tournament up in Thunder Bay in Ontario, I mean, that was, you know, Trying to find where to watch that.

[00:45:03] Mark Corbett: If I didn't know people to talk to, I don't know that I would be able to see it. So even though it's something as big as a international championship, there's got to be a way to market this stronger together and. All these organizations and, and even this, uh, upcoming women's pro baseball league, they're going to have to find a way together that they can boost their presence.

[00:45:30] Mark Corbett: And I'm not saying you all have to go down one channel, but you got to find a way to really support one another. I see I'm looking here. It says they plan on securing a national broadcast deal for its inaugural season, which will consist of a regular season playoffs and championship throughout summer of 2026.

[00:45:48] Mark Corbett: Uh, the WPPL will be a national league with teams based across the U. S. for the 2026 season. The WPBL will launch with six teams, predominantly in the Northeast. You know, the thing about this too, it sounds a lot like what Sousa, Sousa Paye was talking about. So I'm, I'm curious if there's any kind of working together that we'll find out more later on.

[00:46:15] Mat Germain: We'll keep tabs. 

[00:46:16] Mark Corbett: That's right, brother. That's right. Well, it looks like Gerrett calls, take the mound. So maybe we'll go ahead and say goodbye to everybody and we'll come. Is there any other goodies we need to, to touch base with my friend? 

[00:46:29] Mat Germain: No, no, just the, uh, the Arizona fall league is still going on and the guys are still doing well.

[00:46:34] Mat Germain: Um, the Australian baseball league is about two weeks away from starting. And, uh, Shohei Ohtani did not listen to my advice. He popped out the first, uh, first pitch of the game. Damn. Damn. 

[00:46:50] Mark Corbett: Man. I'm telling you that we got to get you on a conference call with those folks. As long 

[00:47:00] Mat Germain: as nobody hears about it. I'm happy.

[00:47:02] Mat Germain: All 

[00:47:04] Mark Corbett: right, Mat. Thanks again, buddy. Once again, for being here with Mat and I always are happy to have you here on the show and love talking all about baseball and God knows there's been plenty. Anyway. Thanks again, Mat. 

[00:47:17] Mat Germain: Not a problem. Always a pleasure. 

[00:47:18] Mark Corbett: Okay. Thanks again, everybody. We'll talk with you again real soon.