Transcript of Why This World Series is "Baseball for Sickos" (ft. Adnan Virk) | Pitch Clock

Dude, I'm so ready for the World Series.

Yeah?

Yeah.

You excited about how Aaron Ashby pitched in the NLCS?

You called it.

I told you.

Fist me.

Yeah, man.

Let's start the show.

Okay. 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. Happy World Series Eve. This is the best time of the year. We've got the World Series starting tomorrow. We got Adnan Virk talking about it. It's been so much fun hanging out with him throughout the course of this postseason and talking Major League Baseball. But Gabe, at the start of last episode, I asked you for an update on our score. We said we were pretty sure where things stood.

Oh boy.

So after that one, I said, Gabe, can you do me a favor? And as we enter the World Series—

Oh boy, I don't like where this is going.

Can you please calculate what the score is after last week's results. So,

so basically you were like, Gabe, go back and then tell me I'm in the lead.

That's exactly what I asked. Gabe, do I have the lead?

And that's exactly what happened.

Yeah, that's what happened.

14-13.

You guys are evil.

I'm, I mean, I'm not evil.

I don't trust any of this.

I asked him to do it.

It's a good concept for a year-long trivia game to just never know what the score is. I like how we did this.

Next next year we'll know. Yeah. And, and you know what I bet? I bet that there are plenty of people at home that have been keeping track. They're like, these idiots have no idea what the score is.

And I'm all, yeah. And that, and they're shaking their head. So am I, listener.

They, they like the little narrative. Um, all right. What's, what's the game we're gonna play now?

Well, the Brewers are heading to the World Series. Brewers. First time since 1982. Oh boy. Today you guys are gonna guess that starting lineup. I am just kidding.

Oh my God.

Thank God. Oh my God. That was about to be the worst pitch clock ever.

Wait, what are we doing?

I love how

he let us sit in it for a half

Yeah, but, but he was— he knew how upset we were gonna be, but my stomach dropped.

Yeah.

Today we're gonna play Pitch Clock Wager. You each are gonna get 30 coins.

Oh boy.

Okay.

I'm gonna tell you a category. Mm-hmm. There you're gonna make your wager poker style. One, let's say Chris starts first with a wager. He's gonna make a wager. You have a chance to either call

or fold

or fold or raise.

Ooh, interesting.

Which we'll go back to Chris and see what he—

I like, I like, I like that. That's fun.

Okay.

Okay. And we have a total of 30. How many categories do we have?

I have 7 categories.

Okay.

First category is name teams that has won the World Series 4, 5 or more times.

Okay.

And you have 25 seconds to write down the team.

Okay. And so we have 25 seconds to write down as many teams as possible that have won 4 or more World Series and just—

5 or more. Sorry. I get it.

I get it.

You got to make your wager.

Okay. My wager is 3.

I'll call.

Ooh.

I'll call. We'll go with 3 off the top. We're feeling nervous. All right.

Go for it.

All right. I wrote 6 down. I don't know if they're all right.

So how does this work?

So whoever gets more of them— Just in case. Ooh, just to grade.

Yes. Ooh,

you might, you might have one. You have one that I don't. Oh,

I can't believe I didn't write that second one. What an idiot I am.

All right, so who are the teams?

Yankees, Cardinals, Dodgers, Athletics.

Whoa.

Red Sox, Giants.

Oh, so I got Giants, you got Dodgers. Reds. So we're like even.

Empires.

So ultimately we both got Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals. You got the Giants. I got the Reds, but I also got the Dodgers. So I'm up 33 to 27. We're finally here. The 2026 World Series is about to get going on Friday. Game 1 in Milwaukee between the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays. Something that I believe our guest here, Adnan Virk, I don't know if he predicted, but I do know he was rooting for ultimately. Absolutely. You see the 2 1 seeds in Major League Baseball face each other here. A rarity in Major League Baseball to have both 1 seeds seeds in the postseason get to play each other, a mirror of one another in the Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays, 2 teams who play this game the right way. I couldn't be more excited. I know you couldn't be more excited, Adnan. And the way I want to kind of break this down is I want to go sort of position group by position group with you as we look at this matchup to ultimately help the people understand not only how maybe even-handed this World Series is, but who has strengths in which places.

So I want to start on the offensive side of the ball in terms of both hitting and base running, which will be a key in this series. Who has the advantage on the offensive side of the ball between the Brewers and the Rays?

Well, I'm with you first and foremost, Jeremy. It's going to be a great World Series. I mean, this is baseball for sickos. These are 2 teams that do things all around well, fundamentally strong, well-coached, all the rest of it. So hitting-wise, you know, Tampa had been slumping a little bit against Cleveland's pitching until the top 3 stepped up. And so once Yandy Diaz and Junior Caminero hit a home run, by the way, 38.7-second home run trot.

Amazing.

While. And Jonathan Aranda as well stepping up. So that's very important for them. But I think offensively Milwaukee is the better team. I mean, they just faced that Dodgers gauntlet of starting pitching. And you're talking about the biggest reason why everyone thought LA would win is nobody could beat those starters. But somehow they did it. They beat Tarik Skubal and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. And Blake Snell got to him, those late home runs, and did it against Tyler Glasnow. So to me, this Brewers offense has so much depth. The theory was They didn't hit enough home runs in the regular season. That hasn't been an issue in the playoffs. We've seen these guys, whether it's Jackson Scherzer or William Contreras or Jake Bowers, the ALCS MVP, go deep. So I like the Brewers offense more.

Yeah, I mean, when you see Bowers having the type of series that he did, Garrett Mitchell, I mean, up and down the lineup, both of these teams can produce. Both of these teams can do some interesting things on the base paths. We saw Chandler Simpson felt like he had 9 hits that went a total of 10 feet in the air where he's just hitting it right into the ground and then running. And you'll see We'll see some of that in the World Series as well. But both of these teams put the ball in play at a high rate, and that's actually where I want to go next. Because when you put the ball in play and you put it on the ground, you're forcing other teams to make mistakes. We saw the Rays do that with the Yankees. We saw the Rays do that with the Guardians. We've seen the Brewers do it, forcing the hand of the Dodgers as well. On the defensive side of the ball, which team has the better defense? The team that'll make Fewer mistakes.

So I think both teams are strong defensively, but I do like Milwaukee a little bit more. You know, Luis Lara is one of my favorite players. He's spectacular defensively. May not always play because Sal Freilich is there in right field, but Lara can snatch a few balls away. And I just think interior, their offense is so strong. I will say, though, Jeremy, if there's one defender to watch, it's Taylor Walls. That's amazing. The vacuum and shortstop for the Rays. You watch the game, you go, why is he hitting? He has a .606 OPS. And then you see his defense and it's spectacular. So I like him individually as a defender, but collectively I like Milwaukee's defense.

What's our category?

All-time pitcher wins in postseason.

In the postseason?

Yes. So I'm going to give you the category and you list the top 10 players, just the names.

Okay. So it'll be whoever can get the most players in the top 10 of this category, and that'll be everything moving forward. We did World Series before. But this is now as many players that can fit within the top 10.

Correct.

Okay. I'll wager 5.

Call.

All right,

go for it.

Passing them over to you.

I just wrote last names.

Yeah, I started with last names there. I put a couple of— ooh, you— we have a bunch of different ones.

The list is Pettit, Verlander.

I knew I got that. Smoltz. Verlander.

Glavine, Kershaw, Clemens, Bill Foster, Gerrit Cole, Greg Maddux, and Curt Schilling.

Man,

Chris got 2,

Jeremy got 3.

It's now 38 to 22. Okay, and Chris has the wager on our next category where we're looking for the top 10 of what?

All-time leaders in home runs for the Brewers.

Whoa. Okay, what's your wager?

Uh, my wager is 7.

All right, I'll call. I'll call on that. I don't feel great about that.

Was there a guy with the last name Mount? Or—

You're— are you thinking of Paul Molitor?

No.

Okay. Robin Yount?

Yount, that's awesome.

I had him. Mount is not gonna count. Yeah, Mount doesn't count.

Come on.

Mount doesn't count.

His first initial was M, then I would have given it to you.

Everyone knows Mount don't count, it's Yount.

Well, the list is Ryan Braun.

Boom!

Me too.

Where? Oh, fuck.

Robin Yount.

Damn it.

Yeah.

Princefield.

Fuck. 3-1 lead so far, but there's plenty of time.

Jeff Jenkins.

Never heard of him.

Gorman Jenkins.

What?

Cecil Thomas. Christian Yelich. Yeah!

Oh boy.

Ben Ogilvie.

Whoa.

Greg Vaughn. Ben

Ogilvie.

And Jeremy Bernick. Yeah!

Oh my God, tied!

Damn it!

I got Bernick! That's a split draw. All right, so we say, uh, all right, so we split that one. So it's still 38-22. Okay. And we're headed into the 4th category.

Top 10 all-time home run leaders for the Tampa Bay Rays.

Aye yai yai.

I raise to 5.

Oh boy, 5 on the line and time starts now. All right, all right, what's our top 10?

The top 10 is Longoria.

Yep, boom, both got it.

Carlos Peña.

Damn it.

Oh, Carlos Peña.

Brandon Lowe.

Wow.

Aubrey Huff.

Damn.

Yandy Diaz.

Damn, I have— wait, I have Yandy Diaz.

Where?

Right there, I think.

Fuck you.

BJ Upton.

Both got that.

Ben Zobrist.

Oh, you got that.

Yes. We're tied 3-3.

Carl Crawford.

Carl Crawford, really? I didn't put Crawford. Almost hit. Well, it's home court.

I put Deion Navarro.

Yeah, I can't believe you put Deion Navarro. Is there— are there any names left?

Fred McGriff.

Yeah, we both got that.

And Junior Camenitz.

Wow, he's already top 10.

I put—

I almost put—

A Rosarena.

That's crazy. You put a Rosarena and Deion Navarro. I think I put Wade Boggs on there just because I associated— So we tie again. We tie again. It's a draw again. It's 38-22 still. I'll take my lead. Oh boy. What's our category?

All-time home run leaders for the Cleveland Guardians.

Ooh, okay. What's your bet, sir?

Uh, 7.

I'll call. All right. We have, we all have Jose Ramirez.

Yes.

Manny Ramirez?

Yes.

Jim Thome?

Yes.

Travis Haffner?

Yes.

So who was my last one? Sandy Alomar Jr.?

Nope.

Oh man, so we tie again! You and I know a lot of the same stuff of the same era of baseball. I think that's the thing I've learned through everything that's happening today. That leads us to the pitching. I'm gonna break it up into starting pitching and bullpen. So we look at the starting pitching between the Rays and the Brewers. I think I know where you're going to lean on this one, but who has the better starting pitching between these 2 teams?

Yeah, the best starter is Jacob Mizorowski, and I hope that he steps up the way he has all regular season. So far in the playoffs, Jeremy, it's been a bit underwhelming, right? 4 innings, 88 pitches his first start. Next time, 4 and a third, only allowed 1 run, hasn't gone deep. But the answer is clearly Tampa. If the Rays win the World Series, it's because of their starting pitching. Rasmussen is the equal to Mizorowski, you could argue. Both those guys are going to get Cy Young votes. Mizzou is going to win, but Rasmussen could be top 3. That's how strong he was this season. And he's been an absolute horse in the playoffs so far. After that, Freddie Peralta just won ALCS MVP. He's back to being fastball Freddie. And Nick Martinez was an All-Star. Don't sleep on him as a number 3. For Milwaukee, Logan Henderson is a good pitcher. You know, 3 earned runs or less, you pretty much can count on that. Robert Gasser was a revelation against the Dodgers and did a nice job for 5 innings. But to me, starting pitching, it's clearly, definitively the Rays' strength. The Rays win.

It's because their starters stepped up.

It's a great point. And I believe I repeated this stat that, that David Sampson told me about on not only our pregame shows, but I believe as well on the show earlier this week. And this is the one that blew my mind on Freddy Peralta. There are now 3 pitchers ever to compile over the course of 10 starts at least 50 innings pitched, allowing 1 run or fewer in each of those starts, and their team to win all 10 of those games? It's Freddy Peralta. Wow. And it's Bob Gibson and Walter Johnson. That's it. Over the course of time. And he's doing that leading into the World Series. And he'll be the Game 2 starter, by the way, because Drew Rasmussen has been so spectacular and hasn't taken an L since July 9th. So that's how good their starting pitching is. But Adnan, we saw it In the series against the Dodgers. Milwaukee's bullpen was spectacular. Now, we know Brian Baker might just be the very best closer in baseball. We saw some huge moments from that Rays bullpen as well. This actually feels like a series between these 2 teams that no matter how good the starting pitching is, no matter how great Miz is in Game 1, no matter how great both Rasmussen and Peralta can be in Games 1 and 2, this is probably going to come down to the bullpen.

2 teams that could put the ball in play, they can get it done, they could run the bases. So which team has the better bullpen between Milwaukee and Tampa Bay?

You're right that Baker's a formidable closer, but I just keep flashing back to Ian Seymour unable to find the strike zone there against Cleveland. And so, okay, the soft underbelly of this Rays team may be trying to get those outs from inning 6 to inning 9. If the starters go deep and there's not much work for Baker to do, then it'll be fine. But I think it's Milwaukee. The bullpen won every single game in that series. It's crazy. It was lights out that game too, Jeremy, when they had 6 innings, 6 innings they pitched to the bullpen. I said that will catch up to them eventually. When the Dodgers push this series to 6 or 7, they'll see these relievers more and more again, advantages them. No, this is what Milwaukee did. We'll just put the pedal to the metal, step on their throats and win this series. And then you won't have to worry about overexposing that bullpen because the series is over in 4 games. And McGill was fantastic at the back end, but full credit to you. You said watch out for Ashby and your guy was awesome. That Game 4 performance, like a 3-inning save.

This is Goose Gossett style. And yeah, Hall is so important as well. Like what they're able to do to lefties and they have so many different combinations. And, and Pat Murphy doesn't hesitate in using any of those guys in any of those situations. So again, I, to me it's a decided advantage. The Brewers bullpen has been phenomenal.

Looking through what we just did there now, Adnan. All right. So, so I'm seeing offense for Milwaukee. I'm seeing bullpen for Milwaukee. I'm seeing defense for Milwaukee. It's that starting pitching for the Rays and starting pitching ultimately most of the time is the thing that makes the difference in the World Series. We saw that last year for the Los Angeles Dodgers. We've seen it time after time after time. But if the advantage in all these other spots is Milwaukee, I want to know, Adnan, who's your pick to win this World Series and in how many games?

Ultimately, I got the Brewers winning it, Jeremy. I want to see them win it, quite frankly. I think they're going to win this in 6 games. You know, you see the prices going for Game 1 at $2,200. Just insane. Crazy. Brewers fans have— they've never won a World Series. Of course, Bennett was back in '82. I know the Rays haven't won a World Series, but not nearly as celebrated a run since you're going back to 1998. But I think collectively Milwaukee is a stronger team. They won 103 games this year for good reason. It's the best collection of talent they've had. You could argue for the Rays, it's the best Rays team we've ever seen as well. Third time in the World Series. But I think Milwaukee, top to bottom, is the better team. My only fear, the immortal argument, rust versus rest. That is lousy for Milwaukee to be off for a week. And I'm telling you, the numbers do not point to success in that regard. Look back at the '07 Rockies, you know, for most recent vintage. So I do worry that game 1, are they going to be a little bit rusty?

Whereas the Rays have been stronger. But ultimately, I think the Brewers are the better team. I think it's a whale of a series and I think they win it in 6.

I couldn't agree with you more on all of those fronts. You got to hope in a sense, if you're Milwaukee, that the rest for Mizerowski is actually a good thing as opposed to something that makes him almost a little too strong where he's throwing 107 miles an hour but can't find the zone. I know that if David Sampson was listening to this, he'd be frustrated with us even mentioning rust first rest because he refuses to believe that it's a reality, which is funny to me. And Dan Levitard would be frustrated with you because you picked the Brewers over the Rays. So he's going to be rooting against you and against those Brewers. I know Sampson will be rooting for the Brewers as the Milwaukee guy. I'm rooting for great baseball. I know you're doing the same, Adnan, and hopefully we get a chance. I'm going to try to weasel some people into getting a little watch-along going. We'll see if we can make that happen. But Adnan, it's always fun with you, my friend. Hey, the next time we talk, this World Series may just be over or we'll be headed to games 6 and 7.

I hope that we're there. This should be a spectacular series between 2 incredible baseball teams. Guys, if for some reason you're watching the pitch clock and you haven't been watching this postseason or you're somehow not excited about the Brewers and the Rays, I can promise you you, if you're a fan of yesterday's baseball, this is the series for you because these teams play the game the right way. I think this is going to be amazing baseball. Adnan, thank you for being here throughout the postseason to cover it with us.

Of course, Jeremy. It's been a blast. First World Series since 1980 in which the winner will win for the first time— Phillies and the Royals. So that to me is an irresistible storyline. If you want underdogs, it's great. And we've talked so much about payroll disparity, incoming lockout, The Rays are the 28th biggest payroll. Milwaukee, 19th biggest payroll. A small market team is going to get the victory that they deserve. It's going to be awesome. And I'm with you. If we talk next time the series is over, I'd be shocked. Me too. 6 or 7. It's got to happen.

I couldn't agree with you more. So Milwaukee in 6 or Milwaukee in 7,

then? Milwaukee in 6. Although as a baseball guy, trust me, the more baseball, the better. If it goes 7, I would be thrilled.

Mo— Mo— Mo— Rays in 7. I don't have to pick. It's fine. It's my show. I don't have to do it. See ya, Adnan. 2 more categories on the board. It is My Bet. And what is our category here, Gabe?

Just top 10 all-time leaders in pitch— in strikeouts for the Brewers.

Pitchers.

Pitching strikeouts. All top time— top 10 all-time strikeout leaders for— don't do that. You don't get to write down before.

No, I was just writing. I was scritching. I was finishing one from before.

What does it say? Because it's gonna say a name that I know. It's gonna say a name. It's gonna— I bet, I'll bet $100 that the name he wrote down is the guy who threw the first pitch at the NLCS. Is it Ben Sheets?

I mean, like, can we move on with the game, please?

All right, let's move on with the game. I bet it's Ben Sheets. Um, all right, I'm gonna keep, I'm gonna keep my wager at just 3. You're writing names down!

No, I'm not!

This guy's a jerk!

I didn't see anything.

You're ridiculous. He's a jerk. Turning a blind eye.

He's a jerk.

Stop with this. The wager's 3.

10. 7.

Sure, but just to make it interesting, let's do 7. Okay. You're gonna win.

What were the names you guys wrote?

Ben Sheets.

Yeah, I wrote Ben Sheets.

Yes.

I got— I wrote down Gallardo.

Yes.

Oh, good one. I wrote down C.C. Sabathia.

Damn it. No.

Yes!

I wrote down Kevin Millwood.

Nope.

I wrote down Jacob Mizerowski.

Please be wrong. No. Yes! So I win regardless.

Is Capuano on there?

He was 12th.

Great call. All right, so that means it— that was 7. It's 31 to 29, and it's your bet.

Last category is all-time leaders in stolen bases for the Marlins.

Oh my God.

And these are the top 20.

Oh, is Medi in the top 20? Okay.

3. And I'll give you extra time.

3. 29.

Call.

Great. All right, I have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and I don't feel good about that.

I wrote 8, but I wrote Dan Uggles as one of them.

All right, all right, let's see.

All right, here's the list. Luis Castillo.

Okay.

Hanley Ramirez.

We both have those.

Juan Pierre.

We all have all 3 of those.

Dee Gordon.

Yeah, we both have those.

Chuck Carr.

I got that one.

Bonifacio.

Oh, you have that one, so we're tied.

Even.

Yeah. John Birdie.

Wow, Birdie! Wow!

Cliff Floyd.

Oh, that's a dumb miss.

Edgar Renteria.

Damn it, another dumb miss.

Preston Wilson.

Let's slow down here. What am I at right now? 5? So we're both at 5. I need to gain— oh no, I just need to win to get the points.

Yeah, we both need to win.

Uh, I said Renteria, Preston Wilson.

Damn it.

Xavier Edwards.

Oh my God, I didn't put X.

Jazz Chisholm.

Damn it.

Corey Sheffield.

We're idiots.

Christian Jelic.

Okay, we both had that one, so we're both at 6.

Otto Lopez.

Damn it.

Kilby Alvarez.

Damn it.

Derek Lee.

Damn it.

Miguel Rojas.

Damn

it. Alfredo—

Amezica!

I need, I need it.

I have Amezica.

I need a Devon White. It's not gonna happen.

Nope. Andy Fox.

God bless Alfredo Amezica! God bless Alfredo Amezica! God bless Alfredo Amezica! Alfredo Amezaga, God bless. A win right here, that's a 2-point lead, that's a 2-game lead. Chris has got to win the final 2 to force a swing-off pitch clock. Yeah!