Transcript of Adnan Virk Breaks Down the AL Playoff Race | Pitch Clock

The Suis are next week, right?

Yes, they are.

Did Baseball Is Blackjack make musical performance?

Oh, wouldn't you like to know?

It's a great— it's maybe my best vocal performance since starting here.

It's not good. I know it's not, but it'll be in there.

Welcome to The Pitch Clock. Here's the pitch: a 2-part baseball segment combining a nostalgic baseball trivia game and an interview with an expert.

This is The Pitch Clock.

Pitch Clock is back, Jack.

Hi, everybody.

Hey, we're here and I'm very excited because a little birdie has told me—

Did Ethan do his job?

That Ethan might've done his job. Ethan, did you do your job?

Some might say I did my job. Some might say I had somebody else do my job for me. Whatever the case may be, I have the scores.

You're a true American.

For this season, head to head. You have our head to head, Jeremy. And Chris Cody.

Head to head.

Head to head.

I can already tell by Jeremy's energy that he knows the score and he's winning.

I know the score and I know that the pitch clock is winning.

The pitch clock is winning because guys, heading into the final month of the season, we have a tie.

Oh.

Yep.

It is 10-10.

Head to head.

Isn't that crazy?

So if we count, if we count my Lewis win, which we don't. I'm up 11-10.

Yeah, we don't count that.

We're gonna have to, we're gonna figure that out later.

We're gonna leave that win out in the ether. For the time being, because it wasn't against me.

That's right.

But it's a win.

Let's figure out who's going to pick up the 11th win in this head-to-head matchup. Guys, there's this fella. His name is Pete Crow-Armstrong. I don't know if you guys have heard about him. I don't know if you guys have heard me talk about him. He is the obvious choice for National League MVP this year. There is no argument for anybody besides him.

What about the guy that's pitched 10 hits?

He has already pitched—

it's true.

Why did you do that?

He's thrown 85 innings.

Why did you do that? There is no argument.

Ethan, I already did this for you on last week's episode with Danny. We went through it.

Okay. Just breathe. He exists.

There is no argument.

Now tell us the game.

So a few weeks ago, Pete Crow-Armstrong walked off the Chicago White Sox to reach 30-30. It is his second consecutive 30-30 season.

Oh no.

So what we're gonna do today, it got me thinking about some power-speed combo guys. Okay. So what we're gonna do today—

I go first.

Is we're gonna draft a team by position. Okay. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to add up each player's highest home run total in a season and stolen base total in a season.

OK.

I love this. So like, let's say you pick a guy, he had his highest home run total was 43. And you'll take— ever. And his highest stolen base total was 38. You add that together. That's that player's score.

Love this.

We're going to add them all up. Whoever has the most home runs and stolen bases combined at the end wins the game.

Love this.

Jeremy, you're going first. You won our last game. We're going to take out 2 people because the totals are so ridiculous. We're going to take out Barry Bonds. And Rickey Henderson.

Literally, those are the first 2 people I thought of, and I despise you, guys.

Yeah, I wasn't really thinking there, so good job.

You can't— what?

You can't draft Barry Bonds and you can't draft Rickey Henderson.

I got some other names though. Oh, okay.

We'll do snake draft, and remember, you have to have one of each position.

Snake draft with 2 people? Okay, fine, I'll just go first and then I'll just keep getting the—

No, no, no, no, no, no.

It was his argument. I'm gonna just keep going.

He's right though. We only do it the first round though, clearly, right? It's not 2 and 2 every time. I— the way we— I've seen it done before. Whoever gets the first pick, then the next person gets 2, and then just back and forth.

Fine. Gabe's shaking his head yes.

Yeah, I— yeah.

All right, it's fine.

Okay. Gabe is the—

And it benefits me.

Gabe feels like garbage. Kind of feels like garbage. Can I punt? Can I, can I—

Punt or—

Can I, can I give—

I'm giving—

yeah.

Oh, you want to defer to the second half?

Yeah.

Sorry, I don't want ball though. I'll take— I'll sit on this side. Start drafting.

Jeremy, your first pick.

Alfonso Soriano.

That's who I wanted.

And what position are you putting him at?

Ooh, that's a great question.

Second base.

So Alfonso Soriano's career high in home runs was 46. His career high in stolen bases was 43.

It was a bad pick.

So that is 89.

It was a bad pick. I know, I already know it is. I know the other picks.

A-Rod.

A-Rod. Okay. And you're playing him where?

Shortstop.

Shortstop.

Wait, wait, wait. Third base.

Third base. All right. Alex Rodriguez's career high in home runs 57.

That's crazy.

And his career high in stolen bases is 46.

Hmm.

103 is the total for Chris— for A-Rod. Okay, so Chris, you have the next pick now, and then we'll go back and forth.

Damn, I should have been thinking.

Uh, Hanley.

Okay.

Shortstop.

Hanley's career high was 33 home runs and he had 51 stolen bases twice.

I nailed that except for I was— I thought he had a season with higher home runs.

So 33 and 51, that's going to be 84.

So last week after I said Danny Alvarez was our most frequent appearance on the pitch clock, I got a text from this guy who said, I'm glad you didn't say most frequent guest because that's me. And that's Adnan Virk, Adnan Virk of MLB Network, of his book Cinephile.

He's here.

He's back as our MLB expert for his monthly appearance, which means we will get him in again before we reach the end of this MLB season. But right now we got about 30 games to go for each team, and it's a very strange time in both leagues. But as Always throughout this season, the American League is the one that's particularly strange and tricky. That last American League wildcard spot is bizarre. We mentioned the Tigers a couple of weeks ago. We talked about the Orioles last week. And now, Adnan, I want to talk to you about the team presently at the top of that cluster playing the best baseball. It's the Cleveland Guardians that are actually sitting in that final wildcard spot. And I want to know from you, Adnan, what is it that makes the Guardians best equipped to potentially grab that final playoff spot?

So first off, Jeremy, always good to be with you. I'm nothing if not competitive. So I have to listen to episodes which I'm not a part of because it's not that I want to necessarily listen to your excellent analysis of the great game of baseball, but just to make sure what the intros are like with everybody else. So Danny's great. Yeah, let's not get it twisted. I am the most frequent guest here. Cleveland, I think right now is the team to beat. Now, that's funny to say because there's 7 teams vying for that final wildcard spot. But the reason why I like Cleveland, Jeremy, is I think they've got excellent starting pitching. And to me, if you've got excellent starting pitching, you can go a long way. When Tanner Bybee's at your number 4, like, I feel pretty good about that because They've got guys. And Forrest Griffin, I think, was a great pickup coming over from the Washington Nationals. You're pairing him with Parker Messick. Obviously, Gavin Williams has been awesome for them. So to me, that's, that's a really good foursome right there. And the bullpen is good. Clearly, Cade Smith is an outstanding closer.

The whole problem has been their offense has been feeble, and Jose Ramirez, since coming back from injury, has not been anything special. But here's the good news. They got Joey Adell. Joe Adell, hello, it's me. And he has been a great run producer for them since he's been acquired. He's basically been an RBI a game. And also now that offense, which was atrocious, now is okay. Like Chase DeLauter is, you know, great young player. Travis Bazana, okay, great. If Rosario Ramirez can just be a little bit better, then all of a sudden you go, you know what, Steven Kwan, yeah, they can score some runs. And in terms of strength of schedule, the 3 easiest schedules in the majors belong to the Mariners at 1, the Guardians at 2, then the Blue Jays at 3.

Wow.

So for me, the combination of Cleveland's excellent starting pitching, the acquisition of Joe Adell, Believing that Jose Ramirez will wake up at some point. Right now he's a league average player and an easy schedule. I think Cleveland gets the final wildcard spot.

I loved your analysis. I haven't been able to move on since you said, hello, it's me with Joe Adell and all that. All that the Guardians need is for Jose Ramirez to set fire to the rain for the rest of the season.

We got the Red Sox. We'll be fine. Go ahead.

Oh, yes. Oh, this is, this is the type of baseball analysis I like to do. And hey, We got the Red Sox down here this week against the Marlins, but now this weekend they're heading to Yankee Stadium for a 3-game set. And this is a bizarre thing that started to happen here because it seems like we're headed toward yet another year of Yankees-Red Sox in a wildcard round. And both of these teams have had their ups, they've had their downs. But I know which of these 2 teams would you be like least surprised if I told you when we got to the World Series, hey, this is the team representing the American League?

I think it'd be the New York Yankees because ultimately I look at their record, Jeremy, and I'm like, they're still above .500 without Aaron Judge. They're 5 games above .500 without Aaron Judge. Now, one way to look at that is like, okay, but the American League is so atrocious, you should be a lot better than that. But I would say he's one of the best players in the sport. He's their best player, 3-time MVP. And not only hold afloat, they've been above .500. To me, that's a good sign. Now, of course, with Judge there, I know, 17 games above .500, whatever it might be. He was in a sim game yesterday with Max Fried. So it looks like he's getting close. By close, I'm saying I think by Labor Day he's playing baseball. I think he's in the majors. And I think let's see another week of rehab, a week of, you know, some AAA games, whatever it might be. And then he's with the Yankees for 3 weeks until playoff time. So if you get Judge back, they already got Bellinger back. Now Stanton is not coming back. And that's concerning because 103 games he's out with a calf injury.

He strained his other calf while running. So that happens sometimes. You know what that's like.

Yeah.

injury on one side, you favor the other side. Therefore, both sides go down. And Stanton's been a great postseason impact player for them. But even without G, to me, if you get Judge and Bellinger back, you know, so go the Yankees, as do number 99. And their starting pitching is outstanding. I mean, they got the best starting pitching in the league. Cam Schlittler might win the Cy Young. Excellent race right now with Dylan Cease. Max Fried will be back at some point. Rodón is back. Gerrit Cole is looking vintage Gerrit Cole. Yes. I took one of my kids to Baltimore to Camden Yards last week, and we watched Gerrit Cole pitch 6 innings, 1 run. Like, he was like on point, 98-mile-an-hour Gerrit Cole. He's got a 1.46 ERA his last 5 starts. So Yankees starting pitching is great and their bullpen has been the best since July 1st. I mean, David Bednar has been the best closer since the All-Star break. He's right up there with Brian Baker of the Rays, Louis Varland of the Blue Jays. Like, those guys have been horses for them. So to me, ultimately, I know it's a wildcard team, but the Yankees could make the most damage, I think.

And even now, they're 3 games back of Tampa, Jimmy. They still have 4 games set against the Rays. They could still win that AL East.

It's crazy to think that the AL East can go so many different directions and that those 2 teams are sitting right there. You look at the American League standings, the 3 best teams are all in the AL East. Like, that's just the reality at this point is all 3 teams you just mentioned are the 3 best teams in the American League. It's a shame that 2 of them will have to square off in a wildcard round. But so it goes in the American League this season. Uh, center field, Ken Griffey Jr.

So Griffey's highest career home run total, he had 56 twice, '97 and '98, and he had 24 stolen bases. That's it?

So that's 80. He only ever had 24 stolen bases?

That is crazy.

See it. Shohei Ohtani. Shohei Ohtani.

This is a stupid game. This is a stupid format.

I would have thought it would have been like one year.

I agree. I thought he had. So, and you took out—

what position are you drafting Shohei Ohtani at?

My baseball knowledge.

He's never played outfield?

Oh, I guess my baseball knowledge— I'll let that one fly.

He's an outfielder.

He was a pitcher and a DH when he did both of those things. Also, I just want to make it abundantly clear.

He's never played outfield? He has.

He has.

Very briefly.

Yeah.

I want to make it clear.

Left fielder.

That my baseball— no.

Right field?

Yeah.

Okay.

My baseball knowledge would have had both Barry Bonds and Rickey Henderson. And instead— Luck.

So would mine have.

No, we wouldn't.

Shohei had 55 last year.

Nobody had.

And then that year he went 50-50.

He had 59 stolen bases.

So it's a 114 is the total for first.

It's a rough go for Jeremy right now.

Jeremy, your next pick.

Here's an, here's an odd one. I don't know what his max in stolen bases was, but Sammy Sosa.

It's a good one.

I think when he was young he stole bases, but I don't know that he ever even got to 30.

It's good. It's good.

Sammy Sosa's career-high stolen bases is 36. And his career high in home runs, of course, is 66.

I'll take that.

102. That's a good number, Jeremy. Okay.

Back in the game. Yeah, I was patronizing.

No, you're back in the game. This is closer than you think.

First base.

That's gonna be a tough position.

Mm-hmm. This is gonna be a bad answer. Yeah, but it's just, I'm just drawing a blank right now. Yeah. Center field is such a good one. Like, I shouldn't waste a bad answer here. Torrey Hunter.

Torrey Hunter.

It's not bad. Nah, but he's like just mid in both. Like, it's probably gonna be 30, 30 or something, like 60 total. Like, that's not good.

Torrey Hunter's career high in stolen bases is 23. His career high in home runs is 31. So that's 50. Dealing there, 400.

Right back in.

Jose Canseco.

Canseco stole 40 bases one year and he popped 46 home runs in '98. That's gonna be 86 for Canseco.

I'll take it.

Can any outfielder play any position?

Yes.

Yeah. Okay, do 3 outfielders. My, my 3 outfielders are off the board at this point.

Ryan Braun.

His career high in stolen bases is 33, and he popped 41 homers in 2012, probably when he was juicing. So that's gonna be a total of 74 for Ryan Braun.

I'm gonna go— I just had one in my head.

Oh no, Olivia, look at me and give me—

I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go shortstop.

Yeah.

Corey Seager.

Nice. Corey Seager's career high in stolen bases is 4.

What?

Yeah, you lose it. But his career high in home runs is 33.

I choked.

That's good. That, that got me back in the game.

Terrible.

That may— I had some bad answers the last couple, and you just—

you—

I got way too cute.

Yeah, you did.

Oh, so, so 37 is the total for Seager there.

That was such a big mistake.

Um, all right, I'm gonna go second baseman. Yeah, by the name, and you guys are gonna like this. I'm definitely not filling here. Like, I definitely know who I'm saying, so I'm really just building up suspense here. Yeah, the name that I'm about to say.

Yeah, is—

uh-huh, I got Marcus Giles. Marcus Giles.

He popped 21 homers in '03.

That's—

and he stole 17 bases in '04.

All right. I'm going to go third base, Adrian Beltre.

48 home runs in '04.

He had a big home run year, but did he steal any bases?

And he stole 18 in '99.

I'll take that.

That's pretty good.

I'll take that and I'll put it on the board. Now, we've already mentioned that the Yankees and Red Sox are playing this weekend, but we're getting to that point of the year, Adnan, where there's all sorts of important series when you look around. And, you know, some of them are funny because they feel like quasi-elimination series at this point in different races. So I, I, I want to, as Chris would make fun of, name 3 series for you here that I think are worth watching over the weekend and tell me which one that our fans should be paying closest attention to if they're, you know, hopping around MLB.tv. So you got Mariners at Blue Jays, a couple of teams hanging around in that ugly wild card race. You got the White Sox at the Twins, which is big with the White Sox leading the American League Central at the moment. We talked about the Guardians. You got the Twins right there. Or Pirates at Cardinals. Pirates feel all but out of it, but the Cardinals still, I think, 5 games back at that last wildcard spot. They're still sort of hanging around. Which of these series should our fans be watching over the weekend?

Yeah, eventually for the Pirates, injuries just caught up to them and it's unfortunate. They're out O'Neil Cruz for much of the season and now losing Ronald Hermann is big for them. So I'm not very interested in the Pirates and Cardinals. Joshua Báez had that great 3-homer game. They want an 0-for-19 hitless kid. So, so much for that. I think the series to watch honestly is the Mariners and the Blue Jays, because if it's not Cleveland getting that final wildcard spot, I think it's the Blue Jays. Their starting pitching has been excellent. They got José Soriano, they picked him up from the Angels. You know, you trade, you got Brett Baben there for Kevin Gausman. He's been helping out that offense. If Vlad can just be a good player, like he's been below average, if he can just be good for them, then the Blue Jays offense would have a huge jolt obviously by him being there. So I do think because of Toronto's pitching that they'll be in the mix. And for Seattle, every single time, Jeremy, I think they're done. I think of the great Mark Twain quote, the rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.

They'll lose 22-nothing to the Brewers and then win the next game 7-5, and then they'll look bad. And also, Kate Anderson shows up and I go, this guy's the best pitching prospect in baseball. And he's more command over stuff, which is so fascinating for me. This guy's not throwing 99 like every other prospect. No, he actually pitches and pitches really good. And he looked awesome on Saturday. And I love Arozarena. I think he's such an underrated player. 6 straight 20/20 seasons. He's one of a handful of baseball players in history that have done that, including Barry and Bobby Bonds. The problem is Julio Rodriguez has not had his patented second half. Josh Naylor has not had a great season, you know, and Cal Raleigh, besides the 3-home-run game, has been a massive disappointment. So I'm still curious about Mariners-Blue Jays because to me, that was the ALCS a year ago. Both those teams are probably the 2 biggest underachievers in the sport. They should both make a push for that final playoff spot.

You just mentioned it, the fact that those 2 teams were the ALCS last year and now you're sitting here looking at the 2 of them as trying to vie for that final playoff spot. It feels like a huge series and hey, you never know know what happens in modern Major League Baseball. Both of those teams and their starting pitching could potentially make a run. That's what makes baseball so great. You have this marathon of a season and you get to this stage. But I do want to talk to you about the Star of the Week this week, our Golden Era Star of the Week. And you mentioned Cal Raleigh, his 3-homer game. Tough not to put him up there as a nominee. Just excited for him that he finally had a good moment this season. And I saw someone say it almost felt like a Like Mike scenario because PCA went up and kind of smacked him on the ass before— is that language okay?

Yeah.

Smacked him on the ass before the game started, and all of a sudden he hits 3 runs. So it was pretty, you know, maybe he's just sort of passing off some of the powers. But then how about maybe the, the quietest Triple Crown candidate we've ever seen in the history of baseball? Yordan Alvarez and the Astros. So Cal Raleigh and his singularly great game, or Yordan Alvarez in his singularly great season?

Adnan. I'm with Yordan because every time he goes up there, I'm like, Yordan, you're done. Like, when it comes to the Triple Crown, this guy is going to do it. There's only a handful of guys hitting above .300 in the American League. He's going to hit for average. Home runs is a great race. I believe he's one ahead of Junior Camanero, so that one will go down the wire. And RBI, he has a slight edge right now. Dylan Dingler, your boy of the Tigers, is in the mix as well. But, you know, in the past you'd say, wow, a DH winning MVP, does that make sense? And in the case of Yoran Alvarez, it does. He's going to be, I think, the first Triple Crown winner since Miguel Cabrera in 2012 with the Tigers. As long as he shows a little bit more power, he's single-handedly trying to carry this Astros team. They just parted ways with Dana Brown because They might be tied for first place in the West, but they're a sub-.500 team. I can't imagine where they would be without Jordan Alvarez. That's how valuable he's been in terms of second-place MVP race.

It's probably Caminaro. Bobby Witt has a 6.2 WAR. He's in the top 3 in WAR despite the fact he hasn't had a great season overall. When it comes to WAR, Bobby Witt's that guy. But to me, Jordan's not only the MVP, but he's going to win the Triple Crown. And again, it's a remarkable achievement, Jeremy. You remember how, how great that debate was, Cabrera versus Trout back in 2012. This time there's no debate. It's like Jordan Alvarez is one of the best hitters in baseball when he's healthy. Watch out, he pulverizes the baseball. That patience at the plate along with the power and driving in runners. He's had a season for the ages, no doubt about it.

For those of you who don't watch enough of Jordan Alvarez, imagine if Big Papi was Juan Soto. That's essentially what it's like to watch Jordan Alvarez. Like you combine the best of both of those hitters and that's what you get in Alvarez. He is one of the best. And another guy who is the best is Adnan Virk. Adnan, it's always great when we can have someone like you. We each have a first baseman and a catcher. Yeah, that's left. And Chris is up.

I have a strategy here.

Yeah.

Catcher. Cal Raleigh.

It's a great strategy.

Tremendous strategy.

Tremendous. You might really—

smart strategy.

Yeah, you might have won.

Yes. He popped 60 last year, famously. And sneakily, Stole 14 bases. All right, 74 for Riley.

Wow, that's big.

That's gigantic.

That's a big number.

Okay, I have an answer for that. I could just do the same strategy, but then I have one that I think stole some bases at some point in his career, and I should go with Doug McCavige. I'm not sure if it makes up—

go with McCavige, go with your gut. I'm going—

I'm just gonna try to play it safe. safe.

Yeah.

And go Lou Gehrig. He played first base, right?

Yeah.

In '61.

His career high in home runs was 49. Roger Maris popped 61.

I'm an idiot. That's who you thought you were doing? Yeah, I'm an idiot. I know, I just messed up both of those. Oh my God. Lou Gehrig.

What an idiot.

In '61.

What an idiot.

I was like, I think McGwire hit 49.

That's an all-time That was amazing. Now, Gerrit, so—

No, we're not cutting that.

That is staying.

No, hey, all-time, all-time, all-time flub.

All-time fuck-up.

49 home runs. Now, Jeremy, not bad. 17 stolen bases. So that's gonna be—

Doesn't equal 77.

That's gonna be 66 again for Jeremy.

Oh, that's a big mistake.

That's a big, big, big mistake. I lost. I think I lost. I had a 23. I had a 2— ah, this is awful.

Mark McGuire.

Yeah, I mean, yeah, I feel—

I didn't get what you were doing here, buddy.

I feel sick to my stomach in a way that I can't articulate. Like, I'm—

my dad— You said Lou Gehrig and I was just like—

My dad is gonna watch this and he's gonna be legit, Dad, I'm sorry.

Yeah, so—

I legitimately, I like, I feel like gross.

Mr. Tasche, I can be your son.

So McGwire famously in 1998 popped 70 home runs. His career high in stolen bases was 3.

Okay, so not good.

7. You're just on a roll right now, brother.

I'm shaking up.

It's good.

I am, I am, I am, I'm truly floundering.

He never even had a Corey Seager stolen base.

All right, and I have how many?

You have 526.

Javi Lopez.

Wow, I thought about him.

So Javi Lopez Popped. Oh, yep, 43.

Yep.

No way he had—

and stole 5 bases.

Yeah, he's incredibly slow. So I, I lose.

Oh, because I didn't choose Mark McGwire.

Olivia, we are back.

Well, good game.

Okay. All right, you just— you know what, you stay here. I'm gonna leave.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna be here until next week.

Goodbye, everyone. Goodbye.