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00:00Let's go around Major League Baseball. The odds outlook in
00:06both of the pennant races live right here on this Thursday on
00:11the early line on Sports Grid. Most of the midweek sets have
00:14come to a close. A fourth and final game today in Los Angeles
00:19between the Dodgers and their rivals from up north. The San
00:23Francisco Giants in returning for the Dodgers on the bump
00:28today. Clayton Kershaw, a familiar face, is back in LA.
00:33So, DRS, when we entered the all-star break with the week
00:37prior, the Philadelphia Phillies sweeping Los Angeles in
00:41the city of brotherly love and the Dodgers entered the break
00:43dropping eight of their last eleven. It looked as though
00:47Philly had made its statement. It was the top team in the
00:50National League and it closed the gap from the odds
00:53perspective with LA. Well, the Philz have lost both of their
00:57sets since returning from the all-star break and the Dodgers
01:00have won five of six games. Now, that gap a little bit
01:04wider at the top plus 150 for the Dodgers plus 210 for the
01:09Philz. The Braves had a plus 450 price earlier this week
01:12backed by a bucket plus 550. Yeah, and again, these prices
01:16are going to change. We have to understand it's not really a
01:20spot here based on where these teams are in the standings.
01:23Otherwise, it would just go odds repeated. Who's in first?
01:26Who's in second? Who's in third? And the odds will be
01:28accordingly here. We're anticipating again just under
01:31now feels like a week out of that trade deadline. What are
01:34we going to get because that's going to change those numbers
01:36quite a bit as opposed to what's actually taking place on
01:39the field. Now, you might ask like that and Donnie hat that
01:42doesn't make any sense. Why would it not be what's on the
01:44field? It's projections of what these two teams will look like
01:47in the standings at the end of September heading into October
01:50baseball. What are these rosters going to look like? Is
01:53Clayton Kersher going to come back and say, hey, you know, I
01:54pitched two games. I just don't have it anymore and hang
01:57them up at this point. Are the Dodgers going to go out and get
01:59a Tarek school ball at the trade deadline because that
02:01will shift odds. No doubt about it regardless of anything that
02:04takes place on the diamond here. So that's what I'm
02:06waiting for to watch. I don't disagree with how these two
02:09teams are shaping up and also told you Ben last week when the
02:12Phillies swept the Dodgers. What are you taking out of it?
02:14It's great. The Phillies will probably end up the number one
02:16overall seed, but the Phillies are going to take on these
02:18beat-level pitchers in the playoffs. You're going to get
02:21frontline starters that we expect to be a either healthy
02:24traded onto that Dodgers roster. So I don't have any
02:26complaints with the way that sits with the Dodgers up top
02:29of the plus 150. Yeah, I think it's a pretty good point there
02:32DRS as well. Philadelphia didn't lose its only series
02:36following the Dodgers before the all-star break, but the
02:40Phillies still have a three and a half game advantage over LA
02:43at this moment for that best record in the National League.
02:46There are three teams around MLB that have won more than 60
02:50games this year. The Phillies was 64. The Dodgers now with
02:5461 and the Guardians in the American League 61 wins. We'll
02:58talk AL pennant prices in just a moment. What is also very
03:02compelling in the NL is the wild card race. The Mets sweeping
03:06the subway set for the season overall, but this week over the
03:10Yankees now in that second spot in the National League wild
03:14card standings. The Mets only a game and a half behind the
03:18Braves who are on a four-game skid having lost seven of their
03:22last ten. So when you put the Braves and the Mets, but we'll
03:26separate. They're just a game and a half. The Cardinals in
03:29the Padres currently tied for the third and final National
03:33League wild card spot. The Redbirds were blank yesterday
03:36by the Buccos in Pittsburgh. There are five teams right now
03:40Donnie for the final two wild card spots in the three sitting
03:44outside currently or the two sitting outside because the
03:47Padres and the Cardinals are tied all separated by just a
03:51game and a half. That's the Mets Cardinals Padres D backs
03:56pirates five teams battling for the final two wild card spots
04:01only separated by just a game and a half now past the 100
04:05game point of this Major League Baseball campaign. Yeah, and
04:09you probably would take it as low. Let's just say if the
04:11season ended today, right again, it would be the Braves
04:13Mets and the Cardinals that would make it into the playoffs,
04:15but some teams are close. You probably would go down to and
04:17say legitimate chance the San Francisco Giants at four and a
04:20half games back. They still have some pretty good frontline
04:22starting pitching a decent lineup as long as their
04:25organization. I haven't heard any of this by the way that
04:27they're going to be sellers at the deadline. I don't think
04:28that's the case Cubs Nationals Rockies Marlins. You can put
04:31them to bed at this point. So I do think there's a lot of teams
04:34that are going to be up for it. Also the Pittsburgh Pirates.
04:36We've talked about it so many times just keep that young core
04:39intact throughout the rest of the season. Don't shut anybody
04:42down quite frankly, they probably are going to make the
04:44playoffs, but I think the biggest jump here is now that
04:46we start we've told you all season long. The Atlanta Braves
04:49are still a quality ball club. They're just really injured
04:51right now. Love the front office. Yeah. Let's see what
04:53type of changes they make and the reason is because sometimes
04:56Ben you don't actually look at the standings. You just make
04:59that say I know the Braves are struggling, but they're still
05:01going to be there at the end and maybe the third best overall
05:04team in the National League. Then you look at the standings
05:06say wait a second in the wild card two game lead over the
05:09Mets, you know again over the Cardinals. Yeah, they're right
05:12in it. You talk about the Braves losing the next three
05:14out of four games and possibly being fighting for the wild
05:17card lives. That's something that I would have anticipated
05:20unless I'm looking directly at the standings themselves and
05:22the reason I want to bring up the Braves too is I've told you
05:25time and time again. I love that front office. They usually
05:28make the right sound decisions at the right moment. They're
05:31probably understanding the same thing we are like. Yes, there's
05:34a chance the Braves can make a run, but what are we actually
05:37doing as a Braves franchise at the deadline because I've told
05:40you I think they're going to make the playoffs. I don't
05:41think they can do damage and we're relying on Chris Sale
05:44being unbelievable and a Cy Young award-winning pitcher
05:47something we didn't see coming into the year. The same thing
05:49with Ronaldo Lopez. Let's just say if one of them stays at
05:52like sale might win the Cy Young, but Lopez falls off. Are
05:56we making moves next week at the deadline to sort of trade
05:58away prospects to get a number three to number four pitcher to
06:01say, you know what let's get into the playoffs knowing that
06:03we probably won't win it. I'm really interested to see what
06:06they do at the deadline then the Brewers extending the gap in
06:09the National League. Centrally six-game lead. It does stand
06:12out to me that both San Diego and Arizona have a more
06:16optimistic odds outlook than the Mets in the Cardinals who
06:19are the two teams in the wild card spots right now. The
06:22Padres tied with St. Louis for that third and final. The
06:25Dodgers have won five of six since returning from the
06:28All-Star break starting to get healthier. Tyler Glass now
06:31despite a loss yesterday back Clayton Kershaw makes his
06:35season debut year number 17 in Los Angeles today in 2024.
06:41Mookie Betts will be back. Yoshinobu Yamamoto and as Donny
06:45has mentioned, they can always make a move at the deadline
06:4861 and 42 to get to 100 wins plus 170. The Dodgers have won
06:54at least 100 games in each of the last four full seasons in
06:58Major League Baseball. Clayton Kershaw makes his season debut
07:04today against the Giants. Year number 17. He is now 36 years
07:09old. He was darn good last year in the regular season. Only
07:14postseason outing just a third of an inning of work got shelled
07:19by the D-backs. Now the American League up next. National
07:22League pennant prices now to the American League. The Yankees
07:27are still the favorites to win the American League pennant. Is
07:30it justified with how the Yankees have played since the
07:33middle of June. Capped off this week by a subway series and
07:38season sweep against the New York Mets. Not the Yankees
07:41sweeping but the Yankees being swept. They lost all four games
07:45against their in-city foe in the Amazons this season. And
07:49Donny, we highlighted this earlier on. From the start of
07:52the first subway set back at Citi Field in Queens at the end
07:57of June, the Yankees are now eight and sixteen after being
08:01swept once again by the Mets this week. Meanwhile, the New
08:04York Mets much more of an optimistic outlook. Fifteen and
08:08nine from that point. What has to happen for the Yankees to
08:13not be booked as the favorites anymore in the American League
08:16pennant. A place they have been pretty much since the opening
08:18week of the year. The Orioles have to start running away with
08:22the division but they're not helping out in that aspect. You
08:25start to say to yourselves, you're in striking distance.
08:26It's one and a half today, right? Is the distance between
08:28the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees. You know what
08:30has to happen? Yeah. Three games, four games, five games,
08:34six games, and they say, oh, wow, how about this? The Yankees
08:36gonna have to go the wild card route without home field
08:38advantage, home field advantage. Yes, but also. Yeah. We're
08:41taking a look at the trade deadline coming up and I think
08:43a lot of these prices are going to be held over because the one
08:46thing I keep continuously saying, this isn't bad right
08:48now for the Yankees. Donny, what do you mean? Like, wouldn't
08:50they rather be in first? Well, of course, they would rather be
08:52in first place but you get so much pressure and that's a
08:55pressure cooking environment to be a New York Yankees team just
08:58getting shelled by the New York Mets and now falling back in
09:01the standings and nothing is going right. The front office,
09:04which is basically Brian Cashman, he can't just say, oh,
09:06well, I think we'll work this out in August and September. We
09:09have the guys to do it in this locker room. That's not the
09:11case and also, yesterday was a big game. Same way I talk about
09:14the Philadelphia Phillies, right? Coming out of the break.
09:16Let me just see what Zach Wheeler's gonna do regardless
09:18of wins or losses. Looked really good in that start. He'll
09:21probably be back to being Zach Wheeler the rest of the way. No
09:24worries here. We were waiting on that for Gary Cole yesterday.
09:26That was a game yesterday for Gary Cole. Seven innings pitch.
09:29Yeah. A hundred pitches. One earned run and a victory and
09:32even if they didn't win, let's say the bullpen blew up late in
09:34the game. You say, it doesn't matter. Gary Cole looks like he
09:37found what we needed him to find and now, if we can just get
09:40Luis Hill to perform at a high level, you know, we're on the
09:43average. We'll go out at the break and you know what we'll do
09:45as well. We'll add on another pitcher but you saw yesterday
09:48when I said like, I wish I had like the, I can hit the bells
09:51and whistles on my computer here because those alarm bells
09:53are starting to go off because if you don't have Gary Cole
09:57back as an efficient pitcher down the stretch, I don't think
09:59the Yankees can win and I was basing a lot of that then on my
10:02theory still like, I'm still trusting the Yankees. I'm still
10:05trusting the Yankees because number one, I think they'll make
10:07moves but number two, I was just expecting Gary Cole just to
10:10be back to being, I don't need Cy Young Gary Cole but just give
10:12me the 2.75, 2.85 ERA Gary Cole and we'll be just fine. The one
10:17I saw yesterday, that is gonna be a really a struggle. If you
10:21don't have good Gary Cole down the stretch, again, I'm not
10:24sure the Yankees can win it. That's the optimism for the
10:28Yankees. I think still being booked as dependent favorites.
10:31Yes, there are players that are injured for the Yanks in
10:34their offensive lineup but moves have to be made and if
10:37you're baking in a price as a favorite for expected moves at
10:41the deadline, that's not really a team that I think you have
10:44the confidence in betting. As we compare the Yankees in the
10:49Orioles for the second time in the weeks surrounding the
10:53All-Star break, Baltimore is squandering opportunities to
10:57extend its lead and maybe run away with the American League
11:01East division. In the final week before the All-Star break, the
11:04Yanks and the O's played in that final weekend set. The
11:07Yankees won two of three. The Orioles won the finale to take a
11:11one-game lead into the break but before that, the Yankees lost a
11:15midweek set to Tampa. The Orioles had to play the low
11:19league Cubs who were struggling. They got swept at
11:21home in Camden Yards. Okay, the Yankees swept this week by the
11:25Mets in a short two-game set in the Subway Series. Who are the
11:29Orioles playing? The bottom of the barrel in the National
11:33League in Miami and they've lost the opening two games of
11:36the series six to three. Baltimore, wake up, please.
11:42Will you? Meanwhile, a change in the American League West. The
11:45Astros, a one-game lead. Now, the third best price to win the
11:49American League pennant at six to one. The Mariners are
11:53struggling. They were 11 games above 500 on June 22nd, 45 and
11:5834. They have lost 17 of their last 25 including being swept
12:03by the Angels in the midweek. Now, 16 to one, the Astros in
12:08first. We'll talk more Yankees with John Jastrzemski later on
12:11in our third hour but just to paint the picture of where the
12:14Yankees have been from a pennant price all year long.
12:17Opening day, second best number. Actually, some market
12:20moving against them because of the injury uncertainty around
12:23Gary Cole in spring training but after they swept the Astros
12:27in that opening four-game set, they pretty much became the
12:30favorites to win the American League pennant and have held
12:33strong there despite the struggles since the middle of
12:37June. Hour number three starts after the break. Live right
12:41here on TEL.