Transcript of Tim Kurkjian Says Otto Lopez Should Be An MLB All-Star Starter!!! | Hour 1

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I was introduced last night to the Tartan Army. I had never experienced anything quite like that. I live about 8 stories above a sports bar, one of the few sports bars in South Beach. There are not very many. And the amount of drunken song that went on with bagpipes for 7 straight hours, all different songs, never stopping, was one thing. But then getting up this morning to walk my dog across Ocean Drive and seeing the sheer number of cigarette butts and cigarette packages that were just thrown on the street like litter after a parade was, uh, just a bit stunning at the mess that they left behind. And they're going to be at the Marlins game tonight.

The idea that you saw a mess on South Beach that was stunning to you, like, these mothers can party on South Beach. Dan woke up and walked through the streets of, uh, South Beach, Miami. I was like, whoa, what happened here?

It was 7 straight hours of very loud drunken, uh, singing. And then the mess they left this morning for people to clean up was an insanity.

No repeat songs?

No, they were singing different songs.

That's a good set.

I couldn't believe— I— my— Valerie kept saying, how do they know all of the words to all of these songs? Because it was just so incredibly loud. When we go to the World Cup coverage though, because the United States— there aren't a whole lot of teams so far in this tournament that have looked better than the United States. And so people are now talking in a way that I think is absurd. Right. You've got, you've got Zlatan saying it's not ridiculous that the United States could win the World Cup. Chris Richards is saying it's not ridiculous that the United States can win the World Cup. However, Tim Howard, our most famous keeper, he says it is ridiculous to think we could win the World Cup.

The US cannot unequivocally win the World Cup. The US will have to play the greatest game they've ever played 3 times in a row. Sorry, 4 games in a row. Round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, finals. It is literally impossible for the US to win the World Cup. That's going to come across crazy. People are going to say I'm whatever. That's just the reality. But we're super excited for this ride we're on.

Well, I feel great now.

Yeah. Tim Howard, look up the word literally. It is not literally impossible for them to win the World Cup. Is it still doubtful? Of course it is. But that's old thinking. That's traditional thinking by him. When I look at the teams in the World Cup, Argentina is really good, but a team rarely repeats in the World Cup. It hadn't happened since 1962. And there are flaws in every team that I've watched in this World Cup. Spain gets tied by Cape Verde. I mean, there have been shocking results. Can the U.S. win the World Cup? Yeah, they can. No, they can't. Is it going to take an extraordinary effort and for them to beat a few superior teams, quote unquote superior teams?

Yes, superior teams, not quote unquote. The teams in this tournament that are better than the U.S. are indeed better than the U.S. and they can make a run. They can't win the World Cup. This is a better U.S.

Team than we've seen.

They can make a run. They can't win the World Cup.

Okay, that's, that's, that's standard thinking. Okay, that's standard thinking. You're allowed to— the World Cup is a dream machine. You're allowed to dream and think your team is better than it is. There's no law against that. It's nourishing. That's right.

I believe that we will win. I believe that we will win. I believe that we will win.

I believe that we will win. I believe that we will win. You believe that we're whoop! Whoa-ho-whoop-wee-yah-heh-wheeeyay! Let's go States! Woo!

Danza hater—

They can't win it?

Can't win the tournament? No one like them has ever won the tournament.

This is why America.

I think so first of all literally. I feel like 20 years from now the definition will actually be changed in the dictionary because no one actually uses "literally" for what it means at this point. I think at some point we're just going to accept that literally no longer means literally. It means like, I really, really believe. However, I think obviously the way that soccer works is the margins are so small. And I don't mean the talent margins. I mean the scoring margins is that, yeah, an underdog can win. An underdog can get a different result. You can go to penalties and it's a whole different game. It feels more like a gamble, like a crapshoot. What I think Dan is saying is how many times can the US come up on the other side of that coin toss where they win a game that they shouldn't win? So right now, if they go into the knockout round, they'll be playing their first game against— likely be against a team that they're better than. Bosnia-Herzegovina or like Qatar. I think it's a high percentage chance that they'll play a team that's worse than them. They've beaten two teams that I guess Australia is definitely worse than them.

And, uh, by the way, And Paraguay, they're probably more comparable. They've beaten them. So I guess that's the question. If we assume that they can, they get into the knockout stage, they win their group, they get into a knockout stage against a lesser opponent, they can win that. How many more times would they have to get lucky and how lucky do they have to get?

3 at least. And they're going to be playing teams a good deal better than them the last 3 games. As you said, everyone though, now in this next game, right, we don't need— the United States doesn't need to keep playing the way that it's played through the first 2 games. They can give this next one away.

Yeah, the game last week really worked out perfect for them. Because they got to sit Pulisic and they still won, you know, and left no doubt. So now you definitely don't play Pulisic this week against Türkiye. And, and, well, I mean, look, I don't want to insult other countries. Everybody knows I'm very respectful, all right? So I don't want to insult anyone.

I'm shocked when I'm watching these, these promos, they pop up and they say Türkiye.

Yeah, that's right.

I guess that's what we're doing.

Get on board, man. Get on board.

They changed names.

I'm down for whatever you want to be called. I'm gonna call you what you want to be called. It's that— but it's official that that's what they want to be called.

That's right.

That's what they call themselves.

That's right.

Yeah, spelling change, the whole bit.

You also gotta sit anyone that has a yellow card because if you pick up two yellows— seems very punitive— if you pick up two yellows in group play, you then get suspended for the next game, even if it's a knockout game. So you have to sit anyone who's accumulated a card.

Yeah, I mean, there's some value in winning that match because people who don't follow the World Cup that closely, if they lose, a lot of people are gonna go, "Oh, here we go again." But I don't think there's any value to winning.

Like, they've already won their group.

They've already won the group in advance. Sure.

But the value is, is if you believe in momentum, if you believe in, in a springboard, at the risk, at the risk of a, at the risk of a single yellow card losing you an important player, it's not worth it. You're already advanced. This is, this is a friendly. This is an exhibition. It's a game that doesn't mean anything.

I agree. I agree that you don't play Pulisic. You don't play anybody who's the least bit hurt. You don't play anybody on a yellow card. But look, they're going to start 5 or 6 starters. I mean, it's not as if they're going to clear their bench. They want to win this game, but not at the expense of getting a suspension in the next game or having Pulisic re-injured.

You've, you've earned the right to treat this game any way you want to. I agree that you don't want to take the risk of getting a second yellow or getting someone suspended for the next game and certainly don't want to hurt Pulisic in this situation. However, I do think it's an opportunity to work on things. And like, that's the end to like to show different things that you haven't shown, to test out things. They've earned this right. So if you think the rest is more important, that's fine. I think winning the following game, to your point, Dan, is probably unlikely that they go on a deep run. Winning a knockout stage round game against a team that you are ranked higher than is a must at this point. And then the next one, then we're looking at icing. Now we're looking at potentially going up against one of the juggernauts. And you the way that the rankings— and obviously I'm not a soccer expert, but the way that the rankings work out is like US is 13, I think, according to the FIFA rankings, which is pretty high. However, they're tier. So of course I would say normally if you're 13, like, oh, you're in the mix.

But there's like a different type of 13 where it's like the top 2 or 3 if you include England in that. I'm guessing that it'd be like England, France, and Spain, right? They're the top and they're alone and the rest of you guys a little bit under that.

Well, there's 4 big teams right now.

Okay.

Spain, France, England, and, and Argentina. 4 big teams. Okay. Let's say the U.S. beats Bosnia in the, in the round of 32. If, if they luck to avoid one of those 4 teams in the round of 16, all of a sudden they're in the quarterfinals. I'm not saying it's a safe prediction.

They're the 5th according to DraftKings. They're the 5th. They've got the best, 5th best rankings to get to the quarterfinals. That's not what I'm talking about. They can get to the quarterfinals. They can't win the tournament. The same countries always always win the tournament, and the same countries are always better than the United States and are still better than the United States. But it's fine to hope and believe. Nothing is better than sports patriotism. And sports patriotism, when you wrap it up in what?

Look, Tim Howard can't say they have no chance to win.

No chance.

Neither can you.

No chance.

You can't say that.

None. No. Zero.

Okay.

Zero.

Fine. Zero. Okay.

Zero.

Okay.

Zero chance.

They're gonna lose in You know, they're going to lose in the quarterfinals and everybody else is going to be cheering what a great performance it was by the US. And you're going to be going, see, I told you so.

I'm so— first of all, don't you want to be on the right side of this? Like, I'd rather be wrong and sad than right and lose. And I would say that you would have said the same thing about the Knicks. You would have said the same thing about the Seahawks at the beginning of the season. Weird things. You would have said the same thing.

Nope. He loves the Knicks.

The USA hockey team.

Nope.

And I believe we're a lot better than us at soccer. In soccer. I know that the United States has exceptionalism.

And always will be, that's your attitude.

No, I know the United States always thinks it's going to be the best at everything. In this instance, it's not. And it is, it does make me the asshole as everyone celebrates. I will be right and I will feel bad about being right.

You believe the United States to be arrogant and I don't think you understand the difference between arrogance and confidence.

Thank you for finally getting me to the Zlatan sound I've been trying to get to. I appreciate it. It's only 45 minutes after I wanted to do it. So everyone hates Alexi Lalas, and in this particular instance, this is a funny team. I don't know what— you guys tell me in the history of broadcasting when you've seen people and you've watched their chemistry and you've said, ooh, those guys don't really like each other very much on television. Now Thierry Henry and Zlatan are both looking at Alexi Lalas and being like, why are you up here with us? Because you're not as good as we are. You are American exceptionalism. You're the best of the Americans, but you're nowhere near our standard of what it is to play good soccer. And so Lalas and Landon Donovan accused the French in the first half that they had against— I think it was Senegal— they accused them of being arrogant. And this is how this went on the set of the broadcast.

I mean, we had that nice little fun back and forth between Landon and Thierry about whether the French were arrogant in the first half. We can have that discussion, but the The reality is that if they are arrogant, it's because they can do things like that. And the patience that they showed after a poor first half to come back and provide a masterful second half with the talent that they have and the big stars showing up, you know, that's pretty special.

Well, you may not—

Arrogance is confidence.

Ignorant people will say it's arrogance.

Intelligent people will say it's confidence.

Love it.

They don't like each other, right? Nobody likes Lalo.

Everyone hates him. I don't know if I want to say I don't get it, because like I do understand the reasons that people hate him, but it seems so over the top. Like, I don't ever let the broadcaster bother me so much that it's something I want to speak out about and like it's making me turn the channel. That never happens with me, and it feels like people are saying that about Lawless. They can't stand him.

Yeah, I think it's a combination of him One, not necessarily his off-the-field stuff is offensive to people. So I think that's one place to start. I think having him up there next to like legitimate legends, I think is also a bit offensive. And then I think you top it off with he's not an exceptional— he doesn't give exceptional analysis or he's not exceptionally funny or interesting. So I think all of that is like, so why are you here? I think is why.

How's he been doing this for so long then?

He's opinionated. He's not— I wouldn't say he doesn't give— he gives analysis. You might not like it.

Exceptional. When we're watching these games, and I, I'm, again, I'm parachuting in, so I'm sure if, if people want to tell me that I'm wrong about this, but when I show up and I'm listening to these people talk, I'm like, all right, that's interesting. That gives me something to look forward to in the second half. The idea of just taking the arrogance thing, that to me falls in the category, and I'm guilty of this also, of like falling into these like lazy tropes where it's like a really good team plays poorly relative to the opponent rather than breaking down how the tactics in that situation might have made this happen or give me something to look at or understand. It goes to this like they're just playing arrogant when I don't imagine that that's actually what happened. That diminishes what the opponent is doing and it kind of belittles what this team is doing, which is why I think they're like, arrogance, what's that? They're the best. They are the best. Yes, of course they're going to have some level of confidence. So I think that's part of it is when you look at Lalas, you're like, what?

Why is he here? He wasn't a great player. He's not a great analyst. He doesn't seem like sometimes you have someone and everyone hates him. Who's like super funny or like has the turn of phrase that turns you on. It's like, oh, this is great. It doesn't seem to give you anything.

Well, what he does do though, if you've ever heard Pulisic interviewed Mike Ryan, I tried to help Mike Ryan with those interviews because it's like sticking a crowbar in the side of his mouth to get a word. He's more colorful and has more opinions than most of the American stars. Doesn't make him a charismatic personality, just makes him more charismatic than the stiff dry cleaning bags that represent most of U.S. soccer.

I also think that he's recognizable when people turn it on. We remember him having like the wild red hair and it's like, that's Alexi Lalas. He means soccer to us. And I think that's why he's there. And so all of us, like neophyte, like just parachute into the World Cup people, we turn it on, we see him. I know his face. That makes me feel soccer.

And he's in the American bucket, right? It's not like he's a soccer expert. He's an American soccer expert. So he's very like niche in his role. But are we falling into the trope of like, oh, Thierry Henry and Zlatan were way better players, so they have more to say?

Like, I also—

that's not true, but they also do have more to say or they say more interesting things. It's been my— when I'm watching it, I feel a little bit— and it's also as someone who wasn't a great player, like I'm sensitive to this.

You're a great player. Stop that.

Which is why I mean, relative to actual great players, I think sometimes what you have is the great players don't give the best analysis. They just like, I did this, I did that. And a lot of times the lesser, like, successful players find the way. If you look around in sports media, I think a lot of the people who have had success are not the superstar guys. And like, if you look at Barkley and Shaq, they have a lot of success in being superstars, but it's not— it's because they're personalities, they're big personalities who are interesting. It's not because they give great analysis. So I think when people look at Lawless, they're like, all right, you're not particularly interesting, you're not a great player, you just— we just remember you had that funny beard and a lot of hair, and it was cool, right?

I mean, they, they had to have a token American on, on that desk. They had to. It didn't have to be Lalas. He's, he's not one of the great players. Landon Donovan would have been a better choice, I, I think, and any number of other players would have, including Tim Howard, even though he had the ridiculous opinion that it's impossible.

How's that a ridiculous—

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I'm not filthy rich. I can't afford a Lamborghini.

Greg Cody!

Well, I probably can, but that's besides the point. Hey!

Oh, wow!

Okay, Greg! This is the Dan Levatar Show!

How do you think that Lawless feels about affirmative action considering that he's an affirmative action?

Tim Kirkshon with us now. Always delightful to have Tim Kirkshon around. And I want to bring him in with what it is that Dominique is saying, because sometimes the best players aren't the best at describing things or explaining things to people. I remember walking through the Giants clubhouse, San Francisco Giants clubhouse one time, and Rich Aurelia was like in a long slump and he's studying all this film and Barry Bonds just walks by him and he's like, Rich, you still don't know what you're doing wrong. Here's where your hands are, here's where your hips are. And then he walks off and Aurelia just sort of shakes his head and it's like, like, asshole, because he's Barry Bonds and he can do things that other people can't do. Tim, thank you for joining us. We've got some baseball stuff to talk about with you. But what is your favorite Barry Bonds story? You must have a bunch of them.

Well, he's the greatest hitter I've ever seen. And after Babe Ruth and Ted Williams, I think he's the greatest hitter of all time. Barry was a little different in the way that he dealt with people. I never had a bad moment with Barry, but I always made sure I chose the right time to go to him. But I was at the batting cage in St. Louis once, and, you know, Barry never comes up to anyone and just says, "Hello," including teammates sometimes. But he just came up to me at the batting cage and said, "How you doing, little man?" And I went, "What?" Like, if my Labrador retriever had spoken to me, I would've been less surprised than if Barry Bonds had just brought that up up around the batting cage. But Barry, Barry, as Tony Gwynn told me, that other than Ted Williams, Barry Bonds knew hitting better than anyone that Tony Gwynn had ever met. And that is really saying something because Tony Gwynn was, you know, knew, understood the art of hitting as well as anyone I've ever met. But I do know I asked AJ Prasinski once what was the most amazing thing he ever saw in the major leagues.

And he said, well, I played one year with Barry Bonds. So I said, well, what happened? He goes, well, he comes in the clubhouse before opening day in Houston and tells the whole team, um, I'm gonna get a bunch of hits and get on base these first 3 games, but I'm not going to hit any homers because I'm going to wait till I get home so I can hit number 660, which was Willie Mays's number, and therefore I can tie it with Willie Mays in the building. So Barry goes through these first 3 days in Houston and he gets like 6 hits and walks like 7 times. It's ridiculous. So he goes home now for the first home game, announces to the whole clubhouse, I'm going to hit a homer today because Willie's here. And of course Barry hits a homer in the home opener. He comes in the next day and says Barry's here again today. I'm going to hit another home run so I can pass him while he's in the stands. And that's what Barry Bonds did. So AJ, not easily impressed, by the way, looks at me and goes, this is the hardest game in the world to play.

And Barry just basically told us what he was going to do and how he was going to do it. And then he went out and did it. He said, that's the most amazing thing that I've seen in baseball is how Barry Bonds could do that.

Does Adam Silver Dan, just stop.

Just stop. Don't even ask me anymore. I'm almost 70 years old. I have 5 grandchildren now. This is embarrassing that a grown man like me laughs like this. What? What?

Adam Silver, does he look like a knitting needle?

Yeah. Dan, this is so bad. Let me tell you how bad it is in my life. This is my daily life. I was in a restaurant the other day. And some guy stops me as I'm walking to my table. He has a basket full of onion rings, and in the middle he has put one French fry. He doesn't even say hello to me. He just goes, Tim, look, it's Adam Silver. Now they're using props to describe the NBA commissioner. He looks like a French fry in a bag of onion rings. How can this be that your stupid show has turned me into this? I'm just so bad.

Does he look like an Apple Watch charger? Does he look like a magician's wand? Does he look like the last lollipop in the jar at the doctor's office? Does he look like a torpedo bat? Does he look like a dandelion with all the seeds blown off? Does he look like the 4-star general in a post-apocalyptic movie faced with the daunting reality of an alien invasion and the likely end of humanity as we know it, who says, staring off into the distance, they're already here, we're the aliens now? Tim, Kyle Schwarber has 5 3-home run games. Last night he hit a ball 420 feet and he has been a surprise to me. I don't understand how this is one of the best home run hitters I have ever seen. Is any of this a surprise to baseball?

Not really, Dan. I mean, he's closing in— not quite yet— on 400 career homers, and he's going to hit 500 homers before he is done. I remember talking to a scout friend of mine who was in the Cubs system, and he said The Cubs think Schwarber is ready already. This is when he was a catcher in the minor leagues and everything else. So he was regarded as a great home run power hitting prospect, you know, a long time ago. So this, this is not a complete surprise that he is doing what he's doing because his power is ridiculous. He's got great hands. Never forget, never forget, Dan, when he missed the entire 2016 season when he tore up his knee on the warning track during BP, he came back and played in the World Series and actually contributed, having not played all season, because that's how good a hitter he is. And don't be, don't be mistaken with all the strikeouts and a low batting average. He is a tremendous power hitter. He's got, as you said, he's got 5 3-homer games. Keep in mind, David Ortiz never had one. Neither did Gary Sheffield. Neither did Rafael Palmeiro.

They never had a 3-homer game. Kyle Schwarber has 5 of them in his career. The record is 6 by Sammy Sosa, by Mookie Betts, and I'll remember the third guy here in a minute. But it's just amazing how big of a power threat Kyle Schwarber has become.

Hey Tim, it's Mina. I was wondering, you were talking about being a hitting artist at one point, and I think of artists like, I guess, Ichiro, Tony Gwynn type of artists. Are there hitters in the game today that you would consider hitting artists in the way that, um, you might consider those guys artists?

Well, first off, Johnny Mize is the third guy to have 6 3-homer games. Sorry, that was a lapse of memory.

He wasn't listening to much of anything what you said at the beginning because he He was disgusted with himself and looking at his paperwork like just furious at himself that he didn't come up with Johnny Mize off the top of his head.

Yes. Okay. There are artistic hitters out there still, because even though today's game doesn't really ask for you to be an artist, they just want you to be a sledgehammer. They just want you to hit as many balls over the fence as you can. But that Luis Arraez guy. For the Giants. As of the other day, he had struck out 13 times the entire season. Guys strike out 13 times in a 4-game series these days, and it's not especially surprising. But this guy puts the bat on the ball better than anybody. He puts it in play. He gets hits. He has not lost the value of getting a hit in today's game. So he, he's one of the few that that, that can do that. But I know when he went to the Padres a couple of years ago and ended up winning his third batting title for his third team, they all looked at him and go, this is unbelievable how good this guy is. And he made them a better offensive team because other guys on the team said, well, if he can put it in play so easily, maybe I should work a little bit harder at that.

It's hard to do that in today's game. The pitching, the stuff we see is the greatest just, uh, it's the hardest hitting environment in baseball history, but this guy has still found a way to get a hit better than anyone.

Dan Levitar. This is the quickest it goes. Hey, this is the quickest it goes. Greg Cody. Everybody, this is the quickest it goes. Yeah, this is the Dan Levitar Show.

Tim, what's What's next with the Giants and Rafael Devers? Kind of an ugly scene last night with him trying to refuse the pinch runner.

Yeah, that was, that was not good. He isn't going anywhere. However, you ask what's next for him. I think he's— his contract is just so big that there's just no way you're going to move him. That doesn't suggest the Giants are going to move him or want to move him because he's a really good hitter still. But that contract is going to make it virtually impossible to move him. So this is going to create create, you know, a bit of an awkward situation moving forward when he's defying the pinch runner not once but twice when he came out and eventually he left the field. But that, that's not a good sign, especially when the team is 15 games under .500 and really struggling.

They just got swept by the Marlins. The Marlins are playing really well. You mentioned a bit of an awkward situation. This is a bit awkward, but your background seems to be blowing in the wind there. What is appearing to look like a, a desk And whatever is happening behind you, Tim, it's blowing. Something is blowing that background around that makes it seem like what's behind you seems to be made of papier-mâché. What is behind you there and why is it blowing? Is there a fan in there?

I don't know why it's blowing. It's not supposed to, but this is a—

Yeah, I know. It's— Yeah, I'm not—

So I was doing our podcast. I was doing our— oh, now it looks like the ocean. Oh, I'm sorry. So the other day I was doing the podcast with my son Jeff and this thing behind me just furled up like really fast and like closed on its own. It was so embarrassing. It was right in the middle of an interview with Harold Reynolds. And then I couldn't figure out how to pull it back down. I am such a dope. It is unbelievable. So yes, that's what it is. I pull it down because everything behind that screen is a picture of me. And I thought that would just be a little bit ridiculous to have when I go on TV or a podcast or do anything.

Tim, is baseball in the middle of a renaissance?

Yeah, Greg, I, I think it's in really good shape now. Now, I acknowledge we have too many walks, too many strikeouts, and too many homers. The game would be better if we had more Luis Arises out there. I mean, this Spencer Steer guy, not picking on him, but with the Reds, As of the other day, he was 3 for his last 45 and all 3 hits were home runs. I mean, that is the game that we are still playing today. Eventually, we're going to get to the point where the Marlins, who have what, 87 stolen bases, are going to start to change slowly how we play the game, that you don't have to hit the ball out of the ballpark. But the point is, Greg, there are so many good players in the game today. It is amazing. And every year kids come up from the minor leagues throwing 100 miles an hour, shortstops that can fly, right fielders that can throw. I mean, the talent level in the big leagues right now is exceptionally high. They are bigger, stronger, faster than ever. It's not even close. And when it comes to the pitching, I was talking to Bryce Harper the other day and Manny Machado got on first base.

And Harper looks at Machado in the middle of the game and says, Manny, we should have taken advantage of 2012 when guys were throwing 88 to 90 and they were throwing a curveball at 75 miles an hour. He said, those days are over. And my goodness, are those days over, because every single night I watch a Major League game or go to a Major League game and I wonder, how does anybody get a hit anymore? This pitches, velocity like we've never seen, secondary stuff like we've never seen. And once these pitchers really learn how to command that ridiculous stuff, no one's going to get a hit. It's that good right now.

Given that resurgence that you're talking about, are you concerned or how concerned should we be about the potential labor, labor issues between the league and the players union? Are we going to see a lockout or any sort of work stoppage similar to '94 that kind of tanked a bit of the league's popularity.

Yeah, I, I covered the '81 strike. '81 strike. That was 45 years ago. So I have some history in this. And I'm, I am concerned like everybody else is. And I would say at this moment we are headed for a work stoppage in 2027. And the timing is just awful because October was one of the greatest Octobers I've ever seen. It was the best World Series I've ever covered. The WBC was absolutely fabulous. And this season, despite some, you know, some issues here and there, has been great also. This is the worst possible time to shut down this game. But at this point, I think that's where we're headed. But I really hope we're not, because I mean, I don't even know what to do with myself if there's no baseball. There's no baseball in 2027. I'm not sure what to do. I've watched every Columbo episode about 10 times. So if we don't have baseball, I'm in trouble.

My parents still on Saturday night— on Saturday nights watch Columbo wherever it's aired instead of doing it with streaming. They go home Saturday nights to watch Columbo. There are only 69 episodes. I learned this the other day because they're like, we're watching repeats now. There are too many repeats. There aren't that many episodes of Columbo. Can you tell me, Tim, whether you believe that there's going to be a salary cap? Because the owners want a salary cap. And I think— I don't know whether it's the chief issue on this, but I think it's where the labor dispute— it's, to me, it seems like the biggest issue.

It is the biggest issue. And this is why we— most people think there is going to be a work stoppage, because it seems as if the owners are determined to get a salary cap no matter what. And the union is not going to allow a salary cap, period. Because if they cave in on this, then everything that Gene Orza John Fehr, Michael Wiener, and of course Marvin Miller did, is going to be lost. This is something that the union is, you know, really strident about. So that's why I think we're all in trouble right now, is that if the owners are going to say we have to have a cap, then we're not going to— then we're going to miss some baseball games in 2027 because the union at this point is just not going to allow it to happen.

A very frustrated and hurt Jeremy has been trying to talk to his hero Tim Kerkshun throughout, and there hasn't been the space for it. So go ahead, Jeremy.

Tim, Otto Lopez has been—

Oh, I'm sorry.

Breaking news out of the NBA. Sham Sharania has just tweeted that Michigan coach Dusty May has agreed to become the new head coach of the Dallas Mavericks.

Oh, breaking news. I thought we were just doing a thing.

From FAU to the— to Cooper Flagg. Golly, did anyone see that one coming? Where did that come from? He's got nothing left to accomplish in college, right? Like, why? What a perfect timing by Dusty May there. Go ahead, Jeremy. What did you want to ask Tim?

I wanted to ask Tim if Otto Lopez should be the starting shortstop in the National League. He was 5th in the first round of voting, which feels like a shame because he leads the league in hits. He leads the league in batting average like you were talking about, and he has the best WAR amongst shortstops in the National League. How great has Otto Lopez been for this Marlins team that's playing great baseball?

Olo.

Yeah, he's been great. And you're right, Jeremy, he should be the everyday— he should be the starting shortstop in the All-Star Game. He has a 3.3 WAR, which is pretty hard to do when you're not even halfway through the season. Like you said, he's hitting .332 in a time when guys just can't get a hit anymore, which I have acknowledged multiple times. He's also got 15 stolen bases. The Marlins are a couple of games over .500. And yes, he should be the starting shortstop in the National League.

Does Fernando Mendoza look like the cashier in a 1960s McDonald's poster? Does Hunter Pence look like the pirate forced to walk the plank after a failed mutiny against the captain, Jeff Samardzija?

Yeah.

Does Draymond Green look like he has to sneeze? Does Ed Malloy look like the guy who brushes his teeth in the company bathroom?

Ed Malloy? I should know that.

Oh yes, NBA referee Ed Malloy. Yes, there he is. If not, if you don't know who he is, there's the picture. Does that guy look like he brushes his teeth in the company bathroom? Yes, he does. Tim, it's always nice seeing you. Thank you for making time for us. I will tell the audience again, listen and subscribe to Tim and Jeff Kirkshun's podcast, Is This a Great Game or What? You can be watching and listening and all of a sudden, uh, Tim's entire background will furl up and leave him discombobulated and feeling like an idiot. Uh, Tim, nice seeing you. Thank you, sir.

All right, guys, see ya.

You think you could stump Tim with a trivia question? You think it's possible? Like a realistic, normal— not like some obscure nonsense.

You think it's possible that any of us could stump him with a trivia I've never met anybody who has more expertise over their subject matter than he does. And I've also never met anybody who knows less about anything other than the expertise that he has because he's dedicated his life to only knowing that thing. It's almost— you don't understand how mad he's going to be at himself for not remembering off the top of his head that Johnny Mize had 6 3-home run games. I'm going to go ahead and guess that. So Kyle Schwarber now is at more 3-home run games than Willie Mays, than Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth didn't have 6 3-home-run games like Kyle Schwarber's got 5 now. He had another one this weekend. It's, it's asinine. He didn't mention Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth does not— wouldn't you have assumed? Would you not have guessed that Hank Aaron or Babe Ruth had 5 3-home-run games?

Yeah, I would have, but then again, Babe Ruth's career, when it started, I think guys were still winning the home run title with 16 or 15. The boom to what allowed him to get 61 was immediate, but it wasn't at the very beginning, if that makes any sense.

It qualifies, I think, kind of as the 3-point shooting thing, whereas a lot of those guys might have been able to do it but weren't given the leeway to do so.

Uh, Zazz, why were you waving 4 fingers at me? Is it the 4th quarter?

Yeah.

No, Ed Malloy!