Welcome everyone into the Thursday edition of Fair Territory.

I'm Penn Rosenthal here with Alana Rizzo and Alana.

I want to start off by saying that it's not often in this job I feel overwhelmed.

I feel like I can't catch my breath.

The last few days I felt exactly like that.

There is so much going on with the races.

Then we're going to get to it all that.

Yes, it's a little overwhelming.

It is a little overwhelming.

A lot to unpack can make it make sense.

Well, let's start with the AL West, which was decided last night and decided in dramatic fashion, with Cal Rowley hitting home runs number fifty nine and number sixty for the Mariners as they clinched the AL West for the first time since two thousand and one.

Think about that, first time since twenty and one, twenty four years.

First division title for the Mariners.

Congratulations they have won.

Listen to this, fifteen of their last sixteen games, ten straight at home, and twenty of their last twenty two home.

If they win today or if Cleveland loses, they get a bye.

What a dramatic turn of events in the AL West, considering that a week ago, they went into a series in Houston tied with the Astros for the AL West.

To see it right there, the Mariners are Al West champions.

Now.

Talk about a dramatic turn of events.

It's almost impossible to describe how dramatic what has happened in the AL Central has been.

On September eleventh, I believe it was or September twelfth, somewhere in early September, the Cleveland Guardians were eleven games behind the Detroit Tigers.

Actually it was September fifth, eleven games.

They were fifteen and a half games back in early July fifteen and a half.

And here they are right now, after their wins in the last two games against Detroit at home, sitting on a one game lead in the AL Central.

It's amazing what they have done.

They traded Shane Bieber, they lost leads or tees to that gambling related investigation, and yet they're going with a six man rotation, including some pictures I'm sure most casual fans have never heard of.

And that rotation has allowed two runs or fewer in nineteen straight games.

If they do it again today against the Tigers, that will be twenty straight.

That will tie, the record held by the nineteen seventeen Chicago White Sox.

That was the dead Ball era of folks.

Here's what I'm talking about.

Sarah Langs, of course, was on this most consecutive starts with two or fewer runs allowed since the mound moved to its current distance in eighteen ninety three.

You see the Guardians right there.

Just a stunning, crazy turn of events.

I want to show you a tweet as well from Zach Meisel of The Athletic in which he shows the evolution of the playoff odds for the Guardians over the last few days.

It's rather amazing.

Alana, October, I'm sorry, August twenty fifth, Fangrafs gave the Guardians a zero points zero chance to win the Ale Central September tenth, zero point one percent chance, and now Alana, the Guardians lead the Ale Central and own the tiebreaker over Detroit with four games remaining.

You see the standings right there, and you look at those last ten.

That kind of tells the story.

Detroit's collapse has been staggering.

They've lost eight straight, they've lost eleven of twelve, they've lost twenty of twenty seven.

It's the opposite of last year Alana, when of course they led a charmed existence down the stretch.

This is that it's insane.

Ken.

So you're saying there's a chance for the Guardians.

You mentioned it's September fifth, eleven games out.

Now they are the division leaders.

Are there any parallels in your mind what the Guardians are doing in twenty twenty five to what the Colorado Rockies did in two thousand and seven.

It's quite similar.

And I don't recall the exact numbers with the Rockies and how many games they won in a certain amount of time.

It was a lot right down to the end.

But yes, that's kind of the parallel we're seeing here.

But this is more historic than that.

Even fifteen and a half game deficit, No team has ever lost that deficit and lost the division title or league in that scenario.

Back before divisional play, it never happened.

The Miracle Braves, not fifteen games, these seventy eight Yankees.

No, it was a staggering thing to think about that this could happen, and it is happening.

Now.

We have some clinching scenarios that want to go through to as well as we enter Tonight's play.

In today's play, the Cleveland Guardians are in a position right now where they can clinch a playoff berth not the AL Central just yet, with a win or Houston loss.

Boston is in with a win or a Houston loss, and then Seattle clinches a bye with a win or a Cleveland loss.

Houston has lost five straight.

They are in real trouble here.

They're one game behind the Tigers for the third wildcard, and the Tigers hold the tiebreaker.

From Ravaldez, tonight could be his last start in an Astros uniform as a potential free agent if they missed the playoffs.

This could be it.

The Astros haven't had Erodon Alvarez in September fifteenth, they haven't had Jeremy Panne in the last three games because of oblique sorenus, and that is where they stand now.

Here are the wildcard standings that we're putting the Yankees there, even though they're tied with the Blue Jays because as of right now, the Blue Jays hold the tiebreaker.

But let's not forget the Al East.

What is going on there is insane as well.

The Jays have lost six of seven.

The Yankees now tied with them for the division lead.

Yes, with the Jays holding the tiebreaker, and the Jays are in this precarious spot right now where they're trying to avoid the wildcard series.

The winner of this division is going to likely be the team that finishes with the best record in the American League and the number one seed.

The Jays, why do they want to avoid the wildcard series?

Remember twenty twenty, twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three.

They got swept in the wildcard round all three of those seasons.

So there is so much at stake for these two teams.

The Jays host the Rays this weekend, the Yankees host the Orioles, and of course the Jays have one more game left against the Red Sox and that has not been an easy series for them so far.

So again, Alana, Man, it's spinning right now.

It's spinning hard.

Yeah, take a breath, Ken Rosenthal, It so.

I always feel like there's one of those boards that have all of the different strings and photos and all of the different scenarios, kind of like you know, a beautiful mind, where all of the different numbers are going around.

That is what I feel like.

This postseason push is at the moment.

Two weeks ago, we thought we had it all figured out right.

The biggest thing we were talking about was seeding.

Now it's like we don't even know who's going to get in.

And that is the case for that final National League wildcard spot.

Is it going to be the Mets?

Is it going to be somebody else?

Do the Dodgers win the division?

Do the Padres win the division?

What's going on in the senior circuit?

Ken Well, the Dodgers are looking good.

They're one win or one San Diego loss away clinching the division.

Not that they've done it in particularly impressive fashion, but at least last night Sasaki out of the bullpen and Kershaw out of the bullpen both were extremely impressive.

Now you look at the wild card race, all three of the top contenders for the third spot lost last night, The Diamondbacks and Reds in extra innings go down.

The Mets lose to the Cubs, got trounced.

Now the Mets are in a tough spot here, and they're in a tough spot because they are, believe it or not, with a three hundred and forty million dollar payroll running out of starting pitching.

They're gonna go with McClain tonight.

They're gonna go with sprot tomorrow.

Then maybe Clay Holmes, who pitched in relief last night on Saturday, he would be the most likely option, and who knows where they go on Sunday.

The Diamondbacks, they have had this incredible run, despite their injuries, despite their trades.

They are playing their hearts out.

They've got the Padres this weekend and they rearrange their rotation.

What they're gonna do is go with a bullpen game tonight against the Dodgers.

Got a situation where they're facing Yamamoto.

They want to push Gallon, Edward Rodriguez and Brandan fought back to the San Diego series that will be in San Diego, so that will give them the best chances of winning those games tonight.

Let's face it, you don't want to burn gown necessarily against Yamamoto, not when you need every win.

They may lose tonight, or they may pull one out of their hats somewhere, but this is the way they're going in the Reds.

Man I wrote about these teams earlier this week, both the Reds and Diamondbacks.

They are two games over five hundred.

They are only in this conversation because this is the National League Final Wildcard race, brought to you by the New York Mets.

The Reds are now three and twelve in extra innings.

They were looking good after they swept forward from the Cubs, but what has happened?

They lost two straight to the Pirates.

Now, obviously last night, with Skins pitching, you could expect it, but they took it the extra innings and they fell apart again.

So tiebreakers people are gonna want to know that as well.

The Reds hold them over the met and Diamondbacks.

The Diamondbacks hold it over the Mets, so the Mets have no tiebreakers.

They need to keep winning here.

They need to preserve that one game lead because otherwise they're out.

Mets are a mess.

Dodgers' bullpen is a mess, Ken Rosenthal, I mean I every time I look up, they're blown another save.

And it pains me greatly to say that.

Obviously, the Dodgers are in the postseason.

They could still win the division.

They could do it as early as today.

This bullpen, though it must give you.

Pause, it does.

And yes, last night Blake tryin and got out of it.

One batter, And yes, it was impressive to see Sasaki and Kershel what they did, especially Sasaki one two three Bingo that said, this is their achilles heel right now.

And the last two nights they blew four to one leads, I believe in the eighth inning, both to the Diamondbacks.

And you wonder just how effective they're going to be in the postseason.

Yeah, they've got great starters.

Stars aren't going to go nine innings.

They never do in the postseason.

They never do period in baseball anymore.

So there is legitimate concern about the Dodgers.

This is a team.

Remember at the start of the season, we were all talking about them ruining baseball potentially maybe winning one hundred and fifteen games.

They're not even gonna win ninety five games.

They're not even gonna get to ninety five.

I think they can max out at ninety three.

So yes, there are troubling signs for the Dodgers.

And as we look at all of this and ponder it, Alana.

And we consider what is going on right now, think about what is going to happen in October with all of this unpredictability, it's going to be just as unpredictable, if not more so in October especially, And I was thinking about this this morning with all of these bullpens in such disarray.

And it's not just the Dodgers.

There are any number of teams you can point to that have bullpen troubles.

A number of teams also have rotation problems.

So yeah, we're looking at a wide open postseason for sure.

Coming up, Ken, it is.

A beautiful mess exist exactly like we wanted at this time of the year.

What would surprise you more before we get to break, don't forget, guys, get your questions in for Grill and Ken.

Coming up after the break, What would surprise you more?

The Mets don't make it, the Yankees win the division, the Guardians are the AL Central winners, or the Houston Astros don't make the postseason.

Well, that's a great question.

A lot oh would qualify as a surprise.

The Guardians though, the biggest surprise.

Last I checked this was yesterday.

They are twenty seventh in the major leagues in runs per game, twenty seventh in scoring.

They have no offense.

They have Jose Ramirez, a little bit of Stephen Kwan, a little bit of some other guys, but that's it.

They are doing this solely on the basis of well, not solely, but mostly on the basis of their starting pitching, which, as we detailed, has been utterly brilliant.

And that is intriguing for the postseason because if they get there and continue on with these guys, okay, they could go on a little bit of a run.

The Reds are in the same kind of position.

Offense has been inconsistent.

Kind of drives you nuts watching them play.

But you go into a postseason series with Hunter Green, Andrew Abbott, Brady Singer, Nicoldolo, you've got a shot.

So if they can get there, they're interesting.

This end of season drama is better than any reality show.

Ken Rosenthal coming up after the break, We're gonna talk to Ken about some questions that you guys have.

Get them in.

We'll be back right after this.

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Get those questions in.

We're taking questions from our YouTube family.

We appreciate the conversation.

Everyone's talking about it.

Ken, You've been asked about it a thousand times, so has so have I al MVP Daniel brings up a good point though, can't judge, and Ralli be co MVP.

If people think they deserve it, has happened before nineteen seventy nine.

I mean, that was what forty six years ago.

It could happen again.

I doubt it's going to tell me more, Daniel.

The reason it probably won't happen is just the way the vote voting is done.

It's a point system, and you have thirty voters, two in each American League city, and the chances of a tie occurring are quite slim.

Could it happen, Yes, it could happen.

I just don't expect it to happen.

The real question for me now, with Raleigh getting to sixty is if that pushes him over the top.

And I know there is one hundred and seventy point difference in ops between Judge and Raleigh.

Judge is having another historic season by a right handed hitter.

And I know also that Raleigh has done some things defensively that we cannot even measure.

So it's an incredibly close race.

In my opinion.

I have said all along, there is no wrong choice.

I know Yankee fans say, oh, it's ridiculous.

Judge is much better offensively, okay, And I know people who root for the Mariners say it's ridiculous.

Cal Raley does things defensively and plays the most physically demanding position, and has done things as a catcher.

No one has ever done things as a switch hitter.

No one has ever done which is the MVP.

They're both MVPs to me.

So, Daniel, maybe the solution is a tie.

I just don't expect it to happen.

I mean, no answer is wrong, Ken, I mean, it's as much of a coin flip today as it has ever been.

Really, do you think, though, if it's all comparison apples to apples, the tie goes to the catcher.

First of all, it's not apples to apples.

That's the whole problem.

A lot of we're talking about, as you just said, a catcher versus a right fielder and a right fielder who was a DH for about a month Raleigh DHS two.

That is the problem here, that you can't really measure what cal Raley is doing.

And we have war.

But war is an imperfect measure, even when you like it, and even when you use it to compare players, it's imperfect.

It's especially imperfect because all the things that Rally does to handle a pitching staff in involving game calling, all these different things they can't be measured.

Measure framing, and you can measure throwing and all that, but there are elements to his game that just are immeasurable.

That is the problem here.

That is why it's difficult to compare them.

It's always been a subjective vote, it always will be as long as it's most valuable player.

But this one is particularly difficult, even more difficult than last season when it was Judge versus Bobby Witt having an amazing season of his own.

It's funny, Chrome Fan in our chat says Judge equals most valuable hitter, Rawleigh equals most valuable player.

Interesting take on that Chrome Fan Again, I don't think anybody has be like, how could they give it to Aaron Judge?

Oh my gosh.

Can let me ask you another question from Vincent about the Dodgers.

He wants to know from you.

Can the Dodgers repeat?

Even though I know they have not played their best baseball yet?

Vincent, we're running out of calendar, Vincent.

The question is a good one and the answer is yes, they can repeat.

The reason I believe they can repeat is their starting rotation with Tany just pitching at an extremely high level Yamamoto, top five cy young finisher most likely and Blake Snell being sick and half Blake Snell.

That is a great place to start.

And then you've got Glass.

Now for game four, if you get to a best of seven NLCS, they have to figure out their bullpen if they can do that, and last night again was encouraging just seeing Sasaki handle himself the way he did and Kershaw of course as well.

If they can get that group straight and right now it's not straight, then actually they are a team that certainly can win the World Series, will be a big time threat to win the World Series.

I still don't like them as much as the Phillies and maybe even the Brewers, but the Dodgers are going to be there if again that bullpen gets fixed.

Ken, are you a fan of piggybacking starters in that situation in the same game, if it means that you can go to your bullpen less.

Yes, and that's certainly something that will explore.

They've got Glass, now, they've got img, they've got Kershaw.

They can piggy back to their hearts the light and maybe that's one way to stay away from some of their lesser options.

But a guy like Alex Vesti.

He's been pretty good for most of the year.

Now he had a rough night last night.

Do you trust him?

You do trust him?

Blake Trining after last postseason?

Do you trust him?

Dave Roberts does.

Dodger fans don't, So it's going to be really interesting to see how they handle it.

Bilana, you raise a great point.

Because they have this starting pitching depth, they can piggyback and maybe eliminate or reduce the number of bullpen endings they need.

That way, all right, Mark Mead has a good question, Ken, I don't know if you know how much home field advantage.

I have my answer, but I'm interested to know yours.

What team is going to benefit most from home field advantage in the playoffs?

I would say Seattle right now because of how hot they are at home.

I would say Toronto if they get there, because their home crowd has been great all season long.

Really, most teams would benefit, of course, and don't forget Sandye now, they're not going to open at home, and they lost Ramo Loreano last night to a fractured finger, which is going to hurt their offense.

But should they get past the Cubs and what looks like will be a first Round series at Wrigley Field.

Then they go home, of course, and have home games in the division series.

And Peco Park right now is one of the best home parks or home environments in baseball.

So those three come immediately to mind.

If I'm forgetting anyone, I'm sorry to offend you.

The only forgetting I think is the Phillies Ken.

I think Citizens Bank Park is unbelievably a phenomenal home field advantage, which actually leads me to my next question.

In terms of the Philadelphia Phillies, let's talk about the pitching here.

FtF Benji two wants to know do the Phillies really trust bringing in three lefties for the postseason with Lozardo, Sanchez, and Suarez only have one Writy in Nola, and Nola's had his struggles recently.

Feel like that's too many lefties, especially with Aaron the struggles.

All right, First of all, sorry to forget Philly in my list of great home parks.

It's amazing.

Now this question is your classic rich people's problem.

Yes, I'd rather have another Writy in there, and I don't know that you want Nola pitching Game three.

But the way to change this up is to start Sanchez in game one, Suarez in game two.

Who is more less or less reliant?

I should say on velocity he's more of a crafty left hander, and then bring Lizardo in for Game three.

That to me is probably what they should do in the Division series.

Now, maybe they'll see a good matchup for Nola and maybe they'll like him on the road.

It's possible.

Rather than Lozardo in game three, I can see them turning to Nola, who has had his moments since coming back, but it has been largely inconsistent.

At the same time, those three lefties are really good.

Yes, you'd prefer one of them to be right handed, But I'm not gonna weep too much for the Phillies over this particular issue.

Yeah, I can.

I don't think anyone's crying for the Phillies or these big market teams.

They'll figure it out as always have done.

Okay, coming up after the break, we're talking about our dude and dork of the week.

Who are we giving flowers to?

Who are we saying?

What are you thinking?

We'll be right back.

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Dude, Dude, dude, Okay, Ken, who's your dude of the week.

I'm going to go a little bit off the board here.

You have any number of candidates.

Cal Ralely, Aaron Judge right down the line, and Mundo Soso, the Philadelphia Phillies first shortstop in Phillies' history last night to hit three home runs in the game.

He comes off the Ils to do this.

Here's Jason Stark's tweet about it.

The Phillies shortstops to have hit three overs in a game.

There's only one.

And also, I want to acknowledge Edmundo Sosa as one of the more popular players in his own clubhouse.

The players on the Phillies love him, and they love him because he's a great teammate, great guy.

He just comes to work every day, doesn't care what role is.

And again that is classic due to the week stuff, both his performance and the way he is, just his personality and Mindo Sosa due to the week.

Hang on, I'm calling Jimmy Rawlins right now and be like, man, you couldn't hit three home runs in a game?

What is wrong with you?

J rowl?

All right, So my dude of the week, the Cleveland Guardians.

I know I'm not going out on a limb here, but what they have been able to do, Stephen Vote.

Obviously coming off Manager of the Year award last year, this team was left for dead.

Absolutely unreal what they've been able to do.

I love this picture, by the way, but think about it.

Yes, you mentioned they don't have any offense to speak of, but their pitching is getting it done and for whatever reason, they now lead the Al Central And that's unbelievable to think about, Ken, considering where they were Cleveland.

Nice job, all right, Time now for the dork of the week.

Okay, Kenny, who do you have?

Well, a lot of the Colorado Rockies are sitting one hundred and fifteen.

They're run differential negative for twelve.

It's the worst in modern Major League history Colorado Rockies.

Need we say any more dorks of the week?

Okay, that's your dork of the week.

I'm always on board when you use that franchise as a dork of the week is more of a network situation, and again I can see it from both sides, but mine is going to be the fact that in what is probably going to be Clayton Kershaw's last start ever at Dodger Stadium.

If you think about the fact that they're probably taking him out of the bullpen.

In the postseason, we didn't get to see Clayton's last regular start as a Dodger at home because it was on Apple TV.

And I understand that it's not Apple TV's fault, but I wish there would have been a scenario in which everybody, in terms of milestone moments like this, at least whether it's the last inning or the last out.

I guess you don't know exactly when the last inning is going to be, But the point is I would have loved to have been able for the masses to be able to see that moment for Clayton, a man who has spent his entire career in one jersey for eighteen years.

Let's let all the fans be able to witness that.

Another possible scenario ken if the Boston Red Sox do not clinch today, if Houston doesn't lose, or the Red Sox don't win today, they could clinch tomorrow on a Friday night, which would also be on Apple TV.

I get Apple pays a bazillion dollars for it.

I get it, it's not their fault.

I just wish in moments like that, as we want to grow the sport I think that's important for everybody to be able to see it.

So that that is my do or excuse me, my dork of the week.

All right, if you are watching on TV, thank you so much for joining us.

We appreciate you guys.

As always, we will see you next time.

Can I ask you this question?

Who is the best pitcher in baseball right now?

Well, it's pretty obvious right now it's Paul Skeins.

He's the only pitcher in baseball, the only starting pitcher with a sub to era.

He is at one point nine to seven after his final regular season start last night against the Cincinnati Reds.

His innings are not at the top, but certainly among the league leaders.

He's at one hundred and eighty seven and a third.

I believe this has become appointment viewing when he pitches, it is something where the entire sport is paying attention, kind of like Doc Gooden when he came up as our producer.

Mark Winter mentioned earlier today, that's exciting.

And what's really unfortunate about the Skien situation is the team he's playing for.

And I'm not saying anything bad about the Pirates in terms of their fans or what they are trying to do as individual players.

But this team is wasting brilliant performance, historic performance from a pitcher that they might not have for a long term time.

I believe Skeens has four more years of controlf to this one.

The clock is ticking and with him you have to do your best to build a team around him.

They have not done that.

I just posted a story about all of the teams that could be facing changes in their heads of baseball operations or their managers, and of course I included Pittsburgh in there.

They have to decide do we want Ben Sherrington to continue as general manager?

Do we want Don Kelly to continue as manager?

Are we going to put a team around Paul Skeins because right now they're wasting a very, very valuable resource.

And just to play Devil's advocate, does Paul Skins have those numbers in a different division.

I have not looked at his breakdown of starts how it kind of is relative to the NL Central versus everywhere else.

I believe he would.

He's that good.

And if it wasn't one point nine to seven pitching in the NL Central, if it was, I don't know.

In the Ana least two point two zero or whatever it might be.

He's still the best and Schoobles really despite his unfortunate start the other night in Cleveland.

Obviously, Christopher Sanchez has had a great year.

Garrett Crochet, brilliant season, all good.

They're not Skeens and that's not an insult to any of those guys.

Like I said, they're elite.

This guy is a level above all.

Yeah, no question about it.

Paul Skins, what a tremendous year.

We appreciate being able to watch your career.

Ken Rosenthal, it's been a pleasure.

Try to take a deep breath.

I know it's unbelievable trying to keep all of this separate.

We appreciate you.

Ken of course is back on Foul Territory tomorrow, a fresh episode with Ken by himself on Monday, A Fair Territory.

Foul Territory is next.

Some great guests, We of course have Aj Prunski here at krat Scott Ron Padrey's manager Mike Schilt is on the show Guardians Pitcher Slade Chaconi, which I love to say, and of course Jim Bowden will join him as well.

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