Transcript of The Stanley Cup, NBA Finals Tickets... and Baseball? | Hour 3 (feat. Alex Day) New

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This is the Dan Levatar Show with the Stuckatz Podcast.

You thought it was a joke? It's not a joke. Middle of the show, Dan left, going to New York.

How did he get a helicopter in the parking garage?

Going to New York. Yeah, it was— we're on like the third floor. There's a helicopter in the garage on this floor. He's gone.

He's in New York.

No, sure, he's going there tonight. Now I'm going tomorrow. I am. I'm going to New York for the weekend.

All right, helicopter for you?

No, no, we're gonna, we're gonna be coaching it. All right, but we get the aisle seats, you know, so we get extra. I gotta get my manspread on.

You got side-to-side aisle seats, like your wife sits in the other arm?

Yes, that's— that's— see, that's a vet move, right? Rookie move when one of you— why would one of you try to sit in the middle seat? You know what's also a vet move, but it depends where you're going? It's just two of you, you buy the aisle and the window, and you do it kind of not in the back because no one wants to sit all the way in the back, but you do it toward the last third of the plane because you feel like, you know what? No one's going to choose to sit in between us when there's other seats available. So there's some risk involved there when you, when you buy the aisle and the window. But the real move, like Tony said, the vet move where you don't have to worry about it. All right. Well, let's give in to having to sit next to someone, but we're both going to be in the aisle. So guaranteed manspread.

I do love that scenario of you bought the window seat, you buy the aisle. And you're just like, okay, if someone sits in this middle seat, we'll just say, hey, we're together, let us sit next to each other. And I like that person being like, no, I'm staying in the middle. I would like the middle seat.

Okay, that's weird.

That's to the point of doing it. No one would ever do that. Like, who in their right mind would rather— who?

No one would ever do that. But— and I've said that to my wife, where I'll buy the aisle, you'll buy the window. If someone comes in the middle, you'll switch. Obviously she will, not me. You'll switch, you'll sit in the middle. But she's like, no, I want the window. I'm staying there. It's like, there's gonna be someone sitting between us and I'm talking over them? She's like, yeah.

Some sweaty guy?

That's crazy, right? I got in trouble with my wife. I got in trouble with my wife one time.

Go on.

We're boarding the plane. I think it was coming back from New York. We're boarding the plane. As a family, by the way, okay? We're boarding the plane, we're going down the aisles, and you could see from afar, you know, you're in like row 15, 16, whatever it is. So you start to look, "Oh, you know, who's sitting next to me?" 'Cause it's 4 of us, so we have 3 on one side, and then we also have the window, okay? So whoever's in the window, which in this case is me, I have the window, uh, the aisle, excuse me. So whoever's in the aisle, which is me in this case, I'm gonna have to sit next to a random person in the middle seat. So you start looking, you know, as you're walking down the aisle, who's— And I— my wife and I both see at the same time, and I go, "Oh, shit." And she sees all— it's like a really heavy dude. Big, alright? And she turns to me as we're walking towards the seat, she goes, "Do you want me to sit there?" Now, I don't know what she was expecting me to say, but the answer was obviously yes.

She turns, "You want me to sit there?" "Yes, I do." She may have been shook. But don't offer if you're only expecting one answer, because I'm gonna make a choice. If you're offering something nice, I'mma take you up on it.

So she sat next to the Big Swagga?

She sat next to him, that's right. Because she— you know why she sat next to him? Because she said to me, do you want me to sit there?

Yeah, she offered it.

Yeah, I said yes, I do, because it was either do I want her to sit there or do I want to sit there? And obviously I want her to sit there.

Were one of the kids an option?

No, no, they weren't going to do that. And that just feels weird. Hey, uh, we don't want to sit there, so you sit there. You know, 8-year-old.

You could do that to your wife, not your kid.

No, no, I don't want my kid to sit next to a strange person. If the other option's me or my wife.

Should probably be you.

She doesn't let me live it down. Every time we walk through the aisle of a plane and there's a situation like that, she always manages to remind me of how—

She's right.

What I did. What I did? You offered. I took you up on it.

All right, to put a button though on all of our Knicks coverage, because I agree it's been a lot, are you actually going to go to a bar and try to soak up the atmosphere? Like, you've never really had the opportunity in your adult life to capture this moment in New York with the Knicks in the Finals.

We're landing at like 8 PM, so it's, you know, a little bit like 10 minutes before the game starts. We're flying into LaGuardia, so I don't know, if we're lucky we'll get into the city by 9, if we're lucky. And yeah, I think my plan is, uh, we'll, we'll find a bar. Really, I mean, maybe it's the hotel bar, you know.

But I mean, of all the times to fly in, close to tip, that's probably the least amount of traffic that you'll have. Yeah, that's actually pretty good in Manhattan.

Yeah, the intros take like 45 minutes, so it takes super long.

Yeah, so, uh, yeah, and I gotta get AI Tony Parker in there. That was weird, right? That was weird. Do we have that? Can video put that up on the screen where I didn't catch this, but it was all over, you know, social media, how apparently one time when ESPN on ABC went to break, and you know, they like to show the former players of the teams playing where they're holding the trophy because, because they won, you know, they're showing memories. And Tony Parker has won 4 championships with the San Antonio Spurs, so they did a cutaway of Tony Parker on the Spurs floor with confetti raining down —And like, that's not Tony Parker.

Doesn't look really anything like him. It looks like a Lifetime movie on Tony Parker and Eva Longoria's marriage. This doesn't— why do this? There's no shortage of actual photos that are compelling of Tony Parker celebrating championships.

And like, when you zoom in on the jacket, the championship jacket that— first of all, why would Tony Parker all of a sudden when the game ends, let me put on a jacket? Like, And you zoom in on the jacket, it's their weird logo. No, it's AI slop. It's AI slop. Why did they do that?

Because it's the end of the earth.

Yeah, I don't understand why.

Is that a Real Madrid logo in the bottom right?

It might be. It's just totally unnecessary to do. It's super distracting. I can understand using an AI graphic because it looks cool and good. There's certainly that kind of technology out there. Like, for me, the most like head-scratching part about it, Zazz, is Why pick a bad one? Yeah, why, why do it so poor?

That looks like Tony, right?

Yeah, just throw it in. Why does that not look like Tony Parker?

You have embarrassed everybody in the operation.

It's so odd. I'll tell you, I did like some things. You know, this Adam Silver, he's a nothing. Everybody knows that. But sometimes, uh, even a blind squirrel finds a nut. Wow. Yeah, yeah. And last night It seems like such an easy thing to do. I don't know why they got away from it. Having the trophy on the court, it is such a— it's such an easy move. You got to have the trophy on the court and they abandoned it for years. I don't know why. You got to have the court look like it's special. You got to have it look like it's the Finals. And so, yes, the Larry O'Brien Trophy is back on the court and it looked great.

Yeah, the issue that they were having prior to is that people were saying that it was slick because it was like a sticker of some sort.

I know people were saying that during the in-season tournament. That was the excuse back in the day also.

Back in the day it was slick and people would slip on it and—

Figure it out, NBA, billion-dollar business. Figure it out, right?

Figure it out. Adhesion got better in the last, you know, 15 years, so—

You see also— Yeah, is that right? You see also when they— and I like that they got back to the player introductions. Make it— feel like it's the Finals. And last night when they're introducing the New York Knicks, I don't know if it's something they always do in San Antonio, maybe during regular season games too, I don't know. The music? But they're playing children's music. Yeah, it was actually good. That's good, right? Yeah. That's good.

Yeah, I think Mike Brown even enjoyed it a little bit from the cutaway.

Yeah, like that's fun.

They should always do stuff like that. One thing that I was like, hmm, kind of drew my attention was when Mike Breen, there was, I think it was a bunch of I think it was Adam Silver and a couple other like executives of big companies like Jimmy Pitaro.

So they're like, good looking guys here, huh?

And everybody's like, Mike, okay. And he's like, yeah, no, yeah, yeah, yeah. Kind of like I didn't, I didn't see that coming from— he knows where his bread's buttered.

It's a good move. That was the point.

Did you guys see how terrible Stephen A. Smith's like view was of the end of the game? There was one cutaway like 4 minutes left in the game. They were just kind of panning and I saw him. He was like in the— 'Cause like in the Spurs arena, when they walk to the tunnel, it's like directly behind the basket. Like that's where the walkway is. So I just saw he was like with standing with 30 other people and I just saw him like looking around the basket and I'm just like, how does Stephen A not have a better spot?

Summer always hits different once the big game starts stacking up. Now you've got finals games on every other night. Baseball's rolling all week, racing on the weekends, and suddenly everybody's looking for an excuse to get together. The other night, a buddy texted me, we've got the game on, come through. I figured I'd stop by for maybe an hour. That was optimistic. Next thing you know, everybody's locked into the game and we're all part of the coaching staff. Somebody's yelling at the ref, somebody else is suddenly an expert on pitch strategy, and nobody's even pretending they're leaving early anymore. It's one of those nights where you take a sip of Miller Lite, look around, and realize, yeah, this is exactly what summer is supposed to be. That's why Miller Lite is always part of these nights for me. It's clean, refreshing, Easy to drink when it's hot outside and perfect for long nights hanging with friends, watching games. An all-American summer starts with an all-American beer. Miller Lite. Go to MillerLite.com/Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly.

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Tony, you know that moment at a party or at a tailgate where everything just sort of clicks?

I know it well. It's usually when I show up, everybody goes crazy.

Yeah, you usually take all the credit for it, but It's because Tony usually walks in with Cuervo. I walk in like this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cuervo is a thing that turns hanging out into this is the night.

It has that effect on people.

It does. You usually take the credit for it, but again, it's the Cuervo effect. It's like that moment in a big game where everyone in the crowd just starts standing up, hooting and hollering. Keep it Cuervo. Keep it Cuervo, baby.

Don le Batard. John. Can you rate my Al Pacino from that billiard scene in Carlito's Way if I do it for you? I think it's pretty good. Yeah, okay. Stugatz! You think you're big time? Well, you're going to die! Big time!

That is, on my infamous scale of 1 to 10, that's a, that's a 7.6. Solid.

Good job, Dennis. Good job, Dennis. Good job.

That's a Sui nominee right there.

This is the Don Levatar Show with the Stugatz. You know, he took credit for the Spurs' current run of 12 in a row because he called them out on television after they were down 2-1. And they, they responded to, you know, his criticism. Me personally, I give credit to Danhausen. I mean, Danhausen uncursed the Knicks after they fell down 2-1 because originally he cursed them, then they lost the two games, he uncursed them, now they've won 12 in a row. That seems pretty obvious to me. The Stanley Cup Final Game 2 is tonight, and I'll tell you, I didn't expect this, maybe because I forgot, but I'm sitting on the couch waiting for the start of the game two nights ago, and you get the open the, the, the package they put together. Oh, that was excellent. My first question is, are they going to do something like that every game? Like, will be— will there be a different package before every single game? I hope so, because this package that they opened up with, it was like a 3 and a half minute package, and it's, it's an older Raymond Bourque who is just describing what the journey was like going into his 22nd year, where he finally won the Stanley Cup.

And then Jelly Roll, right?

And then they show the highlights of him winning it, and like, I, I get so caught up with the emotions with that trophy, with the Stanley Cup. There's just something about it. I don't know how to explain it. There's something about it. Did you know that Jelly Roll had a drug problem?

What?

I've heard that. Do you know he spent some time in prison? Yeah, I caught wind of that. Yeah, and, and then, and then I found myself, I was going, I picked up my phone, you know, because I got my phone next to me when I'm watching the game, you know, and I picked picked up my phone and I start going back and I was watching videos of Sasha Barkov holding up the trophy. And like, thank you. This is all before the game start. Now I'm like emotional. Oh, now I'm ready for the Stanley Cup Final.

Our run was so long that the early parts of it are nostalgic.

So long ago, yet so, so close.

It does feel long ago. And this is the longest offseason I've had in the last 3 years. Like, this It's gonna be crazy when Panther hockey finally rolls around. I'm gonna be like, man, where have these guys been?

There's something about those commercials that they put together for the Stanley Cup. Like, no one— I don't know, why do they, the NHL and whoever they partner with in that spot, why do they do it so much better than the NFL? And Parker, then AI Tony Parker. Like, my favorite one I feel like it should be everyone's favorite one. You know, the Stanley Cup Final preview commercial. This is— it's like 10 years ago.

I thought you were going to say when Freddie Blassie was in black and white. That was a good—

that was for WrestleMania 17. That was a good one. But it was like 10+ years ago, and there's no— there's no words in the commercial. It's just— it goes from player to player to player to player to player. In their post-winning the Stanley Cup interview. They're trying to interview him, yeah. And they're all speechless, and they're all like sighing, or they can't come up with the right words, they're shaking their head. There's no words to it. It's just pure emotion. And then, and they show the Stanley Cup in the end, it's like, man, They're so good at previewing this turn at this, this, uh, championship round. It's really good stuff.

You know what's really good stuff? Anytime that Mike has a wrestling reference, you know exactly where it was from and what number it was and like, you know everything. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, Blasi, Freddy Blasi. You know, he was originally, uh, uh, Hulk Hogan's heel, Hulk Hogan's manager, Freddy Blasi. That's right. I don't think he was called Hulk Hogan though. There's a little nugget for you. Thanks. Yeah, that kind of thing. So, uh, yeah, like, hey, there you go. You're welcome. Uh, last night the guy runs on the court.

I, I really wanted to go an entire show not mentioning that.

No, but the reason that I want to mention it is I don't understand. Like, I saw that— I saw, I guess, the guy, he posted the video, right? He posted the video afterward of him recording himself while he's running on the court. Wouldn't The first thing you do when you catch him and you hustle him off the court, you take the phone and you could be really mean and smash it, or at the very least, you delete the video that he just made. Like, why would you allow him, I think, to keep it and then post it?

Says in this day and age, someone runs onto the court with a device in their hand, you— it's a security issue. You, you confiscate it. Okay, immediately. Okay, like, yeah, yet you don't know what that could be.

But then they clearly gave it back to him. But then they clearly gave it back to him and allowed him to keep the video that he made.

Yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't like it one bit. But thank you, Richard Jefferson was there to tell us. That guy's not here for basketball.

Usually they, uh, usually they pan the camera away.

Yeah, I was surprised they showed us the whole thing.

Good point, Roy. It happened so fast though that I don't think people— because it was in the middle of a play, like the play was starting. I think the Knicks had even stolen the ball. Wemby got a kick out of it a little bit.

Yeah, Wemby was cheesing for the photo.

Mitchell Robinson was very confused.

Twinge of evil in Wemby's eye. No, he was smiling. No, I know, but there's a twinge of evil behind the smile.

Like, that happens when Messi gets— or other, you know, huge soccer players— and they get run up like that. And, uh, it's usually, you know, like a kid— not a kid, but like someone who's underage— and they run up there. I see sometimes a soccer player, like, he stands there, like, he poses with them, like, and they give him a hug. They— and This shouldn't be okay. Why do you give him a hug for, you know? And but again, I don't understand. How do you let the guy keep the photo? You got to hit delete. This was not only going to spend the night in jail, but got nothing out of it.

There's got to be some legal reason why they can't go onto your phone and delete it.

Oh, please. Legal reason. You know what we talked earlier about? And it's no joke. $7,500 to get in right now for Game 3. And have you seen the seat? It's terrible. Yeah, it's all the way up high, of course. It's like obstructed view. Of course. $7,500 just to get into Madison Square Garden for Game 3. And look, I'm lucky. I, I've been to almost every— well, at least half, I would say. I've been to at least half of Miami Heat NBA Finals games. I've been to most Miami Heat NBA Finals games. I've been to a Florida Panthers Stanley Cup— one Florida Panthers Stanley Cup Final game. But like If the Dolphins were to ever make the Super Bowl, because I've never seen the Dolphins in the Super Bowl, I'll never be able to go. I'll never see the Dolphins in person in the Super Bowl. And the point I'm trying to make is, for a young Knicks fan, and they haven't been in the NBA Finals for 27 years, you're never gonna get to go to a Knicks NBA Finals game in your life when the get-in price is $7,500. Because if your dad wants to take you, and it's just you, it's $15,000.

Like, You're never ever going to— and no one's gonna give you free tickets, alright? You're never ever gonna go and see your favorite team in the world get to play in a championship round. And that's why I bring up the Dolphins, like, and it's fine, like, I don't really care, but I'll never get to see the Dolphins in person in the Super Bowl, where if it was 20 years ago, oh yeah, alright, let's make a trip, we'll go to the Dolphins in the Super Bowl, we'll go to the game, I'll pay $1,000 a ticket, we'll make it work. But these tickets are— I don't understand why— and I know, Mike, you've explained this to me before— how the ticket market is different overseas, right? Why is it so out of control here and we can't do what they do?

Corruption. I mean, they, they were taking a task. Previous administration had made progress in curtailing what the ticketing industry in, um, the United States gets away with. Look at what's happening in Canada right now. They outlawed the the sale for profit. You cannot sell beyond the face value.

I feel like that's what it used to be here when we would walk by the arena. Be careful, you can't sell your tickets on the arena property, you're gonna go to jail.

These huge companies have greased up politicians. They got off with a really soft settlement, and they laugh at us, literally laugh at American consumers in their emails. And the government that's supposed to protect the consumers rips the consumer protections away in the name of corruption. That's why.

Yeah, it's, it's, it's a bummer, and it's a bipartisan issue.

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Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER, 1-800-MY-RESET. New York, call 877-8-HOPENWIRE, text HOPENY. Connecticut, call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org. On behalf of Boothill Casino in Kansas, bet, text, pass through, mail, play in Illinois. 21 and over. Void in Ontario. Event contract trading with DraftKings predictions Predictions involves risk of loss. Sportsbook bonus bets expire in 7 days. $50 in predictions dollars issued weekly for 3 weeks expire in 1 year. Redeem 1 non-withdrawable reward. Availability varies. Predictions offer void in New York. Ends June 28th. Terms at dkng.co/audio. Dan Lebatard.

Can I tell you something? I don't know, it was maybe like a month ago, and I decided to watch Pitch Clock, and I told Jeremy Stugatz, this is a good show you're doing. This is the Dan Lebatard Show with the Stugatz.

Danny says that we have the early 1900s head conversation.

Just moments ago. By the way, that guy with the mutton chops does not look like me. I don't care what anyone says.

What's going on with his head? He's bald.

Heads were weird back then, Ethan. It was a weird time for heads.

I'll put that down.

All right, was the early 1900s a weird time for heads?

Or I could just sing the Puerto Rico song as the cold open.

No, I definitely don't want that. Okay. Um, oh, is it because AI wrote it? I didn't even know that, but definitely yes.

Welcome to the Pitch Clock.

Here's the pitch: a two-part baseball segment combining a nostalgic baseball trivia game and an interview with an expert. This is the Pitch Clock.

It's the Pitch Clock.

Hi everybody. I never looked up our records, so I don't know where we stand. I'm going to pretend like I have a lead after after last week's victory.

We are sitting, so it doesn't really matter where we sit.

And Olivia's not here. What? Yeah, she's not here, so that makes it dangerous for Chris Kubiak.

I have a great shot at a blowout victory.

The odds just went up.

Yeah, I don't know why.

I don't know what that is. I'm a showman.

Let's play the game.

All right, we're gonna play the game. You guys, you guys like The Price Is Right? No. You guys are gonna draft a team. You're gonna draft 5 players. I want the closest without going over to 250 stolen bases from the year 2006. Whoa. 20 years ago.

Just to clarify for the audience, this isn't the only part, right? We're going to do multiple or are we drafting?

You're drafting 5 players out loud. Okay. Gotcha. Okay. One at a time. Okay. Jeremy, you are back in the winner's circle. That's right. After a bit of a rough stretch where Chris Cody was taking control. That's right, you have the first pick.

Okay, 2006. The debate here is, do you want to like knock someone off? You just need 5 guys that stole 50 bases, boom, 250, call it a day, right? But that's not normally how it works. It's called easy math there, folks. Um, quick math. You know what, I'm just going to start with a, a favorite of mine who probably wasn't playing quite as much at this point. That's always, um, it's always good to get a guy that hasn't played a lot, but enough.

Juan Pierre, always a great pick. He had 58 stolen bases in 2006. He was also the first person I knew you would pick.

Yeah, he, I mean, he was inevitable, right? It was him or one other guy, uh, but I could remember where he was at in his career.

Sean Figgins.

Sean Figgins, what a name. What a name.

He He's going to have had a lot. 52 stolen bases. He was 4th that year on the leaderboard. 52.

What were you at? What was your— I was at 58.

Okay.

José Reyes. Jeremy, you're off the flyer.

Number 1 in stolen bases that year was 64 stolen bases.

All right.

I feel like Jeremy's cheating. All right.

How? That was the other name I thought of. Uh, Fast guys. I've— those are the first two names and I haven't thought of anyone since.

Give me Hanley.

Hanley, 5th that year, 51 stolen bases.

Oh, you know what? Alfonso Soriano.

Damn it, I just wrote that name down.

Alfonso Soriano, 9th on the stolen base list.

Just put two names down.

41 stolen bases.

I just thought of a name that I'm like, I got to say it. If you think of this name and you're playing this game, you just say it and you live with the consequences.

Yeah. Corey Patterson. Corey Patterson. Corey Patterson. Wow. Corey Patterson stole 45 stolen bases.

So through 3 rounds, Chris stands at 148, I stand at 163. And now I'm very excited to welcome in a new expert to Pitch Clock. If you don't know who he is, his name is Alex Day. He's a host for YES Network. He's @alexday5 on TikTok, @alexday7 on Insta. And my favorite thing in the bios there is humanizing your favorite athletes. Love that. That's his job. He's a content creator and he's here to talk Yankees and a little bit around that. But first, before we dive into it, for the folks who don't know you, Alex, basically, can you give me like your elevator pitch on what your role is with YES and all of this work that you do, you know, bringing people closer to athletes and in particular the Yankees?

So I'm a content creator. I'm also a host for the YES Network on digital side, TV side. But what I do is I cover New York sports and I interview athletes and fans. I'm really bringing the fans closer to what it's like, you know, for the players on the team. And, you know, we see all these videos of crazy Knicks fans after wins. Those Knicks fans are also Yankee fans. So Yankee fans are one of a kind, and I love to mix it up with them and really bring them to the forefront because I think that's something that makes the Yankees organization so special.

I have a kind of like dual-pronged question here, maybe tri-pronged question, which is who's the most overlooked piece of the Yankees' success? Like, who's the X factor going to be moving forward if they want to reach where they ultimately hope to be? Is that the same person? Is this person already on the team? Like, what is your view of, of this sort of, well, really not very specific question I've asked you?

Of course, everything starts with Judge. It starts and ends with Judge, and it always will. The pitching staff is really deep, but to me, the X factor is Jazz Chisholm. And that feels kind of cliché to say, But with as important as Judge is, and Ben Rice has shown that he's really the Robin to Aaron Judge's Batman, you know what you're going to get from Stanton when he's healthy. Jazz is so incredibly dynamic. He was 40-40 in his first 162 games as a Yankee. It's been a very up and down season so far. He got off to a really rough start. He's been a lot better throughout May. If they can get Jazz into what we saw last year, it just takes this thing to a whole nother level.

Now, this Yankees team is as good as anybody in baseball. And it's funny because here on the Pitch Clock Club, we've talked about the Rays a bit. That's because Dan is obsessed with the Rays. We've also talked about the Dodgers because they're this inevitable force. But the Yankees somehow have gone under the radar and they have their sights set on a World Series championship. Jazz is always one of those guys who can put a team over the top. But I want to talk to you about a couple of teams, Alex, that are within your sort of purview, within that Yankees realm, rivals of the Yankees that haven't exactly had good seasons. And I'll leave it up to you here. The Red Sox are a disaster. The Mets have been a disaster. Dealer's choice here. Which of those teams would you like to highlight in their struggle?

I'm going to go with the Mets because for the Red Sox, it feels like, hey, if you don't pay, your team's not going to be good. I would feel bad for Red Sox fans if they weren't Red Sox fans. So I don't feel bad for them. But it is a tough situation for the Mets. Just a complete miscalculation on their part because the whole thing we heard the whole offseason from David Sterns was run prevention, run prevention, run prevention. And you look at the moves and not even hindsight 20/20, but they didn't really make much sense. You know, you let Pete Alonso go, who you know is going to be that pop in the middle of the order hitting behind Soto.. And you don't really have another plan at first base. You bring in Jorge Polanco. And by the way, they were choosing between Polanco and Murakami. They chose Polanco, who had never played first base, instead of Murakami, who David Searns went over to Japan and decided not to sign. So you paid the same amount of money for one guy who doesn't play the position, the other guy who's raking. Yeah, like maybe the best—

maybe the best offensive first baseman in baseball right now.

Right. And where's that pop coming from? Where are you replacing that pop with? Bo Bichette, obviously a great player. If we're talking run prevention, bringing a guy into a new market when he played his whole career in Toronto to now play a new position after just having to try to live up to this contract, I feel bad for the guy. That's not a great situation. So the bad vibes is an interesting part because the vibes are obviously bad last year in their first year with Soto. They ship out Nimmo, they ship out McNeil, guys who were supposed to be the problem. You bring in some hired guns. The vibes aren't that much better. You know, to me, Juan Soto isn't just an amazing player. He is a lightning rod. He brought an energy to the Bronx every time he stepped out on the field. To me, it matters that I haven't seen him, Soto, shuffle in Queens. That's weird. You're not just paying for production, you're paying for the leadership. On opening day, before the injury luck and everything, Soto and Lindor, weird energy. No, you know, they do handshakes with everyone. Those two don't even look at each other in the eye.

I don't know what's going on. I'm not an insider. I'm not a reporter. But the front office is to blame. The clubhouse is weird. And injury luck struck them. And as of right now, they're sellers.

Okay, fast guys, you know, leadoff hitter but didn't have a ton of stolen bases. Ooh, Jacoby Ellsbury.

So we have a conundrum. What's our conundrum? Jacoby Ellsbury did not play baseball in the major leagues in 2006. Damn it. Okay, so do you Do I draft a new player or do I give you a zero? I don't know, that's—

I'll leave it to Chris. Do I? I have to take a zero.

No, I'm gonna take a zero. I'm gonna take a zero. I'm gonna take a zero. That is huge.

You don't think I'm, you don't think I'm capable of a zero?

No, I'm taking a zero. That's fine. I'm capable of a zero. I was worried you were gonna have one and now I premature—

God, why is that so hard to say?

So prematurely Ellsbury.

Because it, because ejaculate starts with an E.

I don't think that that's it at all.

Prematurely Ellsbury.

It's— nope. So here's what we've got going on here. Jeremy's at 163 after 4 players. Chris Cody's at 148. Now, Chris, it would seem like the door is very much ajar for you, but if you bust here and go over 250, Jeremy can still win. Just flying. Uh-huh. I can.

No, I can. I have a name. No, no, I mean, I have a name and I know he played this year.

Like, I feel good about this. Okay. Ichiro. Ichiro tied with Corey Patterson. Wow. 45 stolen bases.

What a nightmare. A couple Corey Pattersons, Ichiro's just cutting it up. So you're at 193. Mm-hmm. God, what a nightmare. I want to talk to you about a couple of those stars with the Yankees because every week over here we do our Star of the Week. And so I figured we could use your expertise here. We always have our expert pick one of several players, but I'll stick to an offensive player. And a pitcher for the Yankees, and they've been two of the best players in baseball all year long. Cam Schlittler, at the time of this recording, leads the American League in ERA as a starter. It's, I believe, 1.5 on the dot going into his Tuesday start. And then there's Ben Rice, who leads baseball in OPS, which if you told me going into June Ben Rice was going to be the OPS leader on the Yankees, let alone Major League Baseball, I would not have believed you. Which of those two guys do you want to shed some light on for our viewers?

To me, it's Ben Rice because I actually predicted, I believe it was opening day, Schlittler had one start maybe under his belt. And I said my bold prediction for the year is that Cam Schlittler ends up as the best starting pitcher the Yankees have this year. Ben Rice, I predicted a good season. I didn't predict him leading the MLB in OPS. How many hitters would you rather have than Ben Rice this season?

He's a true hitter.

He is an ethical hitter. He hits line to line. He is not just a power hitter. As much as it hurt when Soto didn't sign with the Yankees, the value that they're getting with Ben Rice and the value that they're getting with Max Fried and how they've supplemented the production loss with Soto has gone better than I think even the front office could have predicted. So Ben Rice has been, to me, the story of the year for the Yankees.

I love ethical hitter the way we're talking about ethical hoopers all across basketball, which leads me to one one unfortunate thing I'm going to let you do, even though this is a baseball show. I'm going to give you 30 seconds to wax poetic about how cool it is for New York that the Knicks are in the finals. Go ahead.

There's probably a lot of people watching right now who are not from New York and think a lot of the clips on social media are just clip farming. But let me tell you, it's not. Because if you are really under the age of 50 or 60, we are that desperate for a championship. And people love the Yankees, but there's Mets fans. People love the Giants,— that are Jets fans. Everyone comes together on the Knicks. You can't turn a corner in New York without seeing a basketball court. And not just is this organization loved, this team is so loved. And it's so clear that these guys love each other. They love New York. They all feel like New Yorkers. You can tell they're all friends and the city has embraced them. If they win their first championship since 1973, this city is going to burn down and I might be contributing to it. But it really, it really is kind of hard to put into words what a championship in New York is like. And I'm telling you, if you're not from New York, you might think it's a little bit silly. It's legit. And it is.

It has been true pain what Knicks fans have endured really since '99. There have been some bad teams. It has been a circus at times, more often than not a circus. You know, think about Charles Oakley getting carried out of MSG or, some 17-win seasons. There have been no bright spots in my lifetime as a 31-year-old Knicks fan. We have our moment right now.

Alex, first of all, that was more than 30 seconds. Second of all, I couldn't help it. I've grown to like you a lot through your content. I've grown to like you more through this conversation. But no matter how much that is the case, I cannot and will not find myself rooting for the Knicks, no matter how likable some of those players are. But that being said, I hope to have you back here on the Pitch Clock. It was a blast having you here today. Go follow him and everything that he does as he makes the effort to humanize your favorite athletes. Alex, thanks so much for joining me.

Thank you so much for having me.

Go Knicks! There's literally no way for him to lose and no way for me to win.

There is one player he could take that would get him over 250.

Okay, so I should just take an okay, like, nobody base dealer though. How many are mine? But if you bust—

I know, what am I at right now? If you bust, it's over.

And what's he at, period?

163. Yeah, but you have to get past me.

No, if you go past— in, in, in Price is Right, if you go over, it's not like you go back to whatever your previous guess was. I'm gonna guess— I'm gonna bust. I mean, if you try to guess how much base dealer Jeremy, I'm going to take Kenny Lofton.

You play to win the game. Kenny Lofton was 17th on this list, 32 stolen bases in 2006.

All right, so I'm literally in, in the case where we were doing this and it was like if you went over, I am too ahead of you. Oh, you're too ahead of me. So you have to get somebody that stole a base. Wait, 3 bases?

3 bases. This has actually made it way more difficult.

I was—

well, no, I was going to guess Mike Jacobs.

There is an obvious guy to pick that definitely didn't steal 58 bases, that definitely stole several bases. The teams you play for. You want me to just give them to you?

No, no. I want Chris Cody to draft a player and I want him— I, I prefer my preferred scenario here is Chris Cody picks the guy.

Is another, another Corey Patterson an-esque player just popped into my name.

Do it.

But I, I don't want to because you're not sure he played that year.

No, I know this guy had a few years of really good stolen base numbers. I want you to do it.

Major mistake. That was brutal.

I want to figure out, I want to figure out after if the guy, like, we'll see if the guy I was going to choose would have caused you to bust. They wouldn't have, but it's more of a wherever he ends up, would I have beat him or not?

All right. I think I have my answer.

Felipe Lopez. Oh, Felipe Lopez played for 2 teams this season. He was 8th in stolen bases with 44. So you did not pick the guy that you needed. Wait, I won then? Yeah, correct.

237.

The guy that you needed to bust. I almost said Derek Jeter.

How many did you pick?

So that's funny. So Jeter was the guy. That I was going to have you say that was my original just get on the board, you have a lead. And then I went with Ellsbury because I was trying to like really get close to 250. How many bases did Derek Jeter steal?

34.

Oh, fuck out of here.

I would have won by 2. No, you wouldn't have. No, no, because you just had 34 to yourself.

Oh, you're right. I would have lost by 8 anyway.

You would have lost by 8.

Okay, that makes me feel better.

I'm not getting nothing for the Felipe Lopez. Just so you know, it's a great pull.

Corey Patterson and Felipe Lopez. I mean, come on. I mean, what a name, Chris.

By the way, this team of names right here. No, that's well done. Sean Figgins, Hanley Ramirez, Corey Patterson, Ichiro Suzuki, and Felipe Lopez. Beautiful.

No, this is—

now wait, just so you know, really quick, spirit of the game, you just did about as well as any of us have ever done on the pitch clock because you got a really good score and great names. Yeah. Several amazing polls have not been brought up on this show before. Yeah.

Cord Patterson makes me hard. Well, congratulations. I almost said Rocco Baldelli.

Well, I am infuriated and I'm going to start studying again. I won without Olivia!