Yankees and Phillies Vie for Top MLB Seeds in 2024
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00:00And if we're lining up right now in the American League in order, the Kansas City Royals six
00:07games back, the Yankees two games back, the Orioles two games back of the Cleveland Guardians.
00:13So if we're looking at the odds market here at the FanDuel Sportsbook, to have the number
00:16one seed in the American League, it's the Yankees at a minus 120 price.
00:20It's the Orioles at a plus 190.
00:22And the Guardians right now, if the season ended today, have a two game lead at a plus
00:26470 price.
00:27Who are we hunting in the American League to get that number one overall seed?
00:33It's tough.
00:34I mean, the Guardians certainly have a good track, but you got to go, you know, the Yankees
00:39are a favorite, I think, for a reason at this particular point, Donnie, and they should
00:43be because of the experience, because any lineup that has Trout, not Trout, Soto, and
00:50of course, the big man, Judge, is a lineup that you've got to pay close attention to.
00:56I love the pickup of Leiter Jr. at the trade deadline.
01:00Listen, they got at the trade deadline, they did just enough to plug a few holes.
01:06And they're asking the guys they already have who have underperformed all year to step it
01:11up and perform.
01:13You saw LeMahieu do that in his last game there with the six RBIs.
01:17They sweep your Phillies.
01:19The Yankees, to me, remain the team to beat.
01:23This was a team everyone was like, oh, what the hell's wrong with the Yankees?
01:26They were 18 games over, 500 at the break, and we were all sticking a fork in them.
01:30Like, settle down.
01:32They have the talent, they have the pitching, they will figure it out.
01:36They are the team to beat as far as I'm concerned.
01:38I'm with you on that.
01:39I never gave up on the Yankees, or even they were losing.
01:42And also, like, before the all-star break, I was like, man, the Yankees could be five
01:44games out of first place in the American League East when it's all said and done, and now
01:48look at them playing good baseball once again, hammering the Philadelphia Phillies.
01:52As we segue over to the National League, I was singing Tom Petty yesterday on the radio,
01:56free-falling.
01:57Yeah, that's my Philadelphia Phillies right now.
01:59After they swept the Dodgers, oh, that'll do it.
02:01NL East is done.
02:02National League number one seed, it's easy.
02:05Here go the Phillies on a losing streak.
02:06Now the Dodgers, two and a half games back on the Philadelphia Phillies for that top
02:10seed.
02:11Four games back are the Brewers, six games back are the Braves, seven are the surging
02:14San Diego Padres on the FanDuel Sportsbook odds market right now.
02:18The Phillies still the favorite, though, Joe.
02:19Minus 150 price to take down that number one overall seed.
02:22Number two is the Dodgers at plus 155, then the Braves at a 12-to-1 price.
02:26So if we just focus on the top two teams, are the Dodgers going to surpass the Phillies
02:30or is it just a case of, look, you can't play great all season long, the Phillies will eventually
02:35get it together and take down that top seed?
02:37Well, that's the whole thing, right?
02:39Because what the Phillies did, and you and I have talked about this, the Phillies have
02:45notoriously been a slow-starting team, but they were the team you wanted to back after
02:49the all-star break, because they finally started clicking after the all-star break
02:54to make their runs.
02:55This year, the schedule lined up and the way they were playing, they overperformed to a
02:59certain aspect in the first half.
03:02There was bound to be this point in the season, Donnie, where regression was going to hit.
03:06I think that's what we're seeing now, but they are not a team that I am worried about
03:09because they, too, like the Guardians, have one of the best home field advantages in all
03:14of Major League Baseball.
03:16They'll be fine.
03:17Yeah, take a look at the National League here, just the run differential.
03:20I know a lot of people like to look at the Phillies' only team over 100 as a plus run
03:25differential.
03:26They're at plus 102.
03:27The Dodgers at a plus 86, followed by the Brewers at plus 77, and the Braves at a plus
03:3161.
03:32So it should be an exciting finish overall to the season itself.
03:35If we're looking at the Phillies and the Dodgers toe-to-toe, because here's what I thought
03:39about at the trade deadline, and also the price points here when you take a look at
03:42the Dodgers to either win the National League and or win the World Series.
03:46I was expecting the Dodgers to go, oh my gosh, how can baseball allow this?
03:51The commissioner might have to step in because there were talks that money doesn't matter
03:55to the Dodgers.
03:56They have more prospects than anybody every year because their scouting is phenomenal,
03:59and also their minor league system, teaching system, is phenomenal as well.
04:03I actually thought they were going to come away with like a Tarek Skubal, a Crochet,
04:06or another top flight pitcher at the deadline.
04:08I love the fact they got Flaherty.
04:10I think that's going to help them down the stretch.
04:12But my expectations for the Dodgers were that they were going to blow everybody out.
04:15So at the same time, they don't do that at the trade deadline, I think he got a breath
04:19of fresh air from the rest of the Major League Baseball going, okay, Flaherty's a solid pitcher,
04:23but that's not enough, Joe, to run away with everything.
04:26So just my two cents on that, and as a Phillies fan, boy, it has been tough watching these
04:30games play out.
04:31Big series on deck this weekend as the Phillies head out to the West Coast.
04:34We'll see if they can tidy up some things and hold off the Dodgers, the Brewers, and
04:38the Braves down the stretch we go.