Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Hammer Territory podcast.

This is episode two seventh one.

I am your host s Brad Roland, coming to you on a Sunday evening.

You're in late September, and I'm joining as I always am, by Scott Coleman.

Scott, the Braves simply cannot stop winning baseball games, as we've talked about all scus alone, right, how are.

You hello, Brad?

Isn't it fitting that in this very frustrating season, the Braves have saved their best for last.

They have won eight games in a row, and I mean they're gonna play the Nationals and the Pirates this week.

There's a legitimate chance the Braves might go thirteen and one to close out the season.

I mean, how long can this winning streak go?

It's very very on brand that they are now playing their best ball of the year.

Yeah, it certainly is on brand, to say the least.

And first of all, we want everybody back to the show or to the show for the first time.

We are hebit Territory.

We covered the Braves pretty much every single day and you could follow us anywhere you get your podcast, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, et cetera.

And there's a lot to talk about today.

It is odd as you just allude to their longest waytric of the season eight in a row.

The schedule ahead is very very fortunate if they wanted to be, or not fortunate was we'll talk about in the second maybe if you're rooting against wins, as some are, it's been a rough week for those people.

But the previous longest way strik of the season for the Braves was five, and now they're at eight for this year.

They also didn't win Scott This is actually my heavit stat of the day.

I think they never won eight in the row last year at any point, and they made the playoffs last year having never won eight in a row.

And this team, which was dead buried two months ago, has not won eight in a row.

And it could be longer than eight.

They did win nine in a row in twenty twenty three when they won one hundred and four games, but they actually could win nine, It could win ten, and it'd be kind of darkly ironic and funny if they actually had a longer streak this year.

Then at twenty twenty three when they had the best office of all time and they look to be kind of a beatable at times.

I don't know, it's a weird season, man, It's it's kind of appropriate, almost like it sounds crazy, but the fact that it's we're talking about this stuff like we were kind of worried about We're we talking about the l last week of the season, to be honest with you, because it's like, all right, the games don't really matter, but then if you just keep winning and winning and winning, the vibes are generally more positive, even if people kind of laugh about it.

You know, fans seem to be still tuning in this weekend, which I thought was kind of an upset because there's football on everys like people are still doubt in.

Well, and I think too, when you think about this season as a whole, as frustrating and as many losses as there were, I think we all new deep down that this was a far better team than the one that was on pace to lose one hundred games as recently as a month ago.

And we've seen it over these the last two weeks.

They've been much better with runners in scoring position, they've executed better, the pitching has stabilized, especially once they've gotten Chris sailback and Spencer Strider has been really good lately.

Like the pieces here are clearly good enough to be the team that we thought the Braves are going to be coming into the season.

It obviously didn't work out for a plethora of reasons, but it's also just kind of like a tease that we are finally seeing them play at the level.

And I mean, man alive, Brad.

If this team was going to the playoffs and they were red hot and playing their best baseball of the season, I mean, I can hear it now, we'd be saying, well that, you know, are these shades of twenty twenty one?

Are they hot?

Are they Are they peaking at the right time?

Which is so important in the game of baseball?

Of course, nowhere near that.

But it's just maybe it gives us reasons for optimism going into twenty twenty six, even if the better part of the last six months have made us want to bang our heads against the wall.

Yeah.

I pulled up field Baseball Reference machine because we weren't sure they were gonna have sixty three wins a month and a half ago, like they areund pace f one hundred loss Like you said, now that it's seventy three wins to the as of today, and they've actually won more games now than they did in twenty seventeen, twenty sixteen, twenty fifteen.

When you and I were talking about this team early in our days of talking about this team in podcast form, that was a rebuilding team.

It was obviously much different.

That team was supposed to be bad, and they were, but we thought, I think collectively, that they may not get to those marks.

And now they've been better this year officially by the record.

It's gonna be funny though, and maybe this won't happen.

Maybe they'll lose four out of six end of the season, it won't really matter.

But I kind of look forward to ten years from now, fifteen years from now, looking back and being like, oh, the Braves won seventy eight games.

That year actually wasn't so bad.

Even though we'll all remember how bad it was.

I won't let anybody remember anybody, but forget about this.

This is this team is also, like you just said, you're a hundred percent right.

The talent level of a team was way better than it always was performing at this year, but also the way they played and the way they were frustrating.

I kind of almost don't want them to win seventy eight seventy nine games.

That they could get to seventy nine, that would be misleading for the season, Like they were much worse than that in actual practice, even if the talent was better than that.

That makes sense, And there's been some weird synergy too, Like we all know this team started out zero to seven on the first road trip of the year, and then in the last road trip of the year, which they just wrapped up, they go seven to zero, and there's probably nothing I mean that that's probably just is what it is.

We don't have to rehash that that opening which in some ways, that opening road trip of the year was kind of a foreshadowing of everything that was about to come.

It is what it is.

We are hopefully on to better.

Days than what we watched this past season.

But yeah, you're right, I mean, it's this feels like a the fact they're going to win seventy seven, seventy eight games this season really is just nowhere near a representation of the very frustrating challenges we have talked about, watched for the last five and a half months.

Yeah, we're going to dive in as we always would to stuff that happened with the weekend, and some takeaways on the field.

Last thing on the big picture, Brads are now in a four sorry, three way tie for fourth in the lottery odds for the draft.

If you remember they were, they were number two not long ago, and now they have slid or improved.

However, you want to look at this all the way into a three way tie or fourth because they have won eight in a row and keeps like Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Oakland, Baltimore are not winning eight in a row.

We'll say so if you're rooting for that, the Braves need to lose some games, but certainly there Their ceiling now entering the lottery is fourth at the absolute best after this weekend, and their floor is seventh eighth, even if they keep winning.

So if you're a lot of rezelo, you're punching air right now.

One more thing, Scott, This actually was a four conclusion, but I had to laugh because the seven year playoff streak the Rays just had is now officially over.

We knew that for weeks and weeks now, but on Fridays when it actually was clinched, they were missing the playoffs just by the fact they were winning all these games.

It is the fifth longest streak of playoff appearances in a row in the modern era of baseball.

Seven years is not that long, but it seems it's a lot.

It's hard to make the playoffs now.

You might see some longer streaks in the future because it's not easier now because they had the extra wildcard spots all that stuff.

But still a pretty good accomplishment.

By the way, the longest active the longest streak ever in the modern era is the Braves from ninety one, two and five fifteen years, sorry, fourteen years in a row.

The Dodgers are probably gonna catch them.

It seems like this year is I think thirteen or fourteen for the Dodgers, so that's going to be up for debate.

But ord the acomplishment, obviously it should have continued.

This team should have been built to win and make the playoff.

This year.

It is a giant disappointment that they didn't make the playoffs.

We don't want to overstate that, but seven years in a row, it's like, hey, that wasn't the easiest thing to do.

Really just makes you appreciate how hard it was in the nineties and early thousands to win the divisions consecutively that I don't think a team will ever do the division streak the Braves had the Dodgers, don't they They lost in twenty twenty one, they were the wildcard team with like one hundred and eight wins, which is crazy.

But I guess, just looking back on that ron, I also thought Stephen and Sean had an interesting conversation about Clayton kershaw Orsmatox and Glavin and Smalltz folks missed that.

I found myself going down the Baseball Reference rabbit hole on that.

But yeah, seven years heck of a run for Atlanta.

Let's hope another seven plus year playoff stretches on the horizon.

And this was just kind of a bump in the road.

But it is, I mean, it's weird, you know, like this time in a week, Brad, the baseball season is over for the Braves and there'd be no playoffs.

There'll be no playoff heartbreak and disappointment.

There'll be no playoff euphoria.

Is you know, it's a bummer that after winning the whole thing in twenty twenty one, the Braves have won two playoff games in four years.

That's not what you wanted.

No, it's it certainly is not one quick thing before we move on that was not scheduled to forgive this curve ball Scott.

We got a question that I think people are wondering still, and we've discussed this a lot recently, but we got the repeated question about Brian Sticker, basically like, hey, does this we'll talking about the winning streak, Basically does this matter at all?

Was a question we got to it's like his future A to make him want to keep doing it or B to make the Braves want to keep him.

And my response on Twitter to the person who asked us to think thank you for the question was just to remind them that, as we said on the show last time on no Shan Stephen have done this as well.

Stickers contract is up in a week.

He's only under contracted still the season ends, which is a week from today, he is not signed it anyway, there's no option, he is not under contract after week.

So it is I continue to see this repeatedly.

Frames if it's his choice, it is not only his choice at at a bare min of the moment, it's not only his choice.

The Braves have to allow him to come back if he wants to come back.

If they do, they do.

But do you have to weigh on that quickly?

I mean about like, does this matter at all?

It probably shouldn't matter, that's my opinion, But.

What do you think.

I don't think it matters, nor should it matter.

Great, the Braves are playing good for eight games.

They won eight games in a row.

Before the eight game win streak, they were gone awful.

So yeah, if the Braves want to keep Brian Stinker around, why have they waited this long?

With seven days left in the regular season.

They could have done an extension over the winter.

They could have done it quite literally any day in twenty twenty five.

They could have done it last year if they wanted to.

I mean, it's just it is highly, highly, highly unlikely to get down to the finish line and not work out a deal.

I know that Snitker has a unique circumstance because he's been around forever and all that, but it's it's really interest stein Brad that here we are and there is still no clarity.

As of eight pm Eastern Time Sunday night, there is still seemingly no clarity on what Brian Snitker wants to do.

Yeah, and maybe we'll find out, Okay, maybe we'll find out this whole time that the Braves have had a one year extension sitting on Snith's desk for the whole season, and it's that that actually would be his decision at that point, but the Braves still have to make that part to have that deal on the table for him, So we don't know about that.

That's a guess, not even a guess.

That's that's just a possibility.

I still think he won't come back if I had to guess right now.

But we got the questions.

I always want to answer it and just say like we are, we are all.

I think the four of us monitoring like daily, like, hey, is there anything going to happen here?

Announcements one way or the other would be great, some sort of clarity, because you know, if he is going to be done, you might want to give him a week to be celebrated at home in these last two series.

And if he's not going to be done, you might want to look coolhead.

Let let the world that know that now you know I haven't come back, and all those things.

So and the Braves are off on Thursday.

Yep.

So if we get no announcement, if if if there's no announcement or anything on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, I would wager Thursday might be a day where you hear something, where you don't have a game, you kind of do a whole announcement, you could do a press conference, whatever it is.

That's just a guess.

It's it's a minor hunch that Thursday might be an action day.

But again, we'll see, man Like we if snitth just casually mentioned in his press availability on Monday, hey guys, I'm done Sunday afternoon.

I'll give everybody a handshake and a high five and a hug and move on.

That could or or we might not get any resolution after one hundred and sixty two games.

And then it's like everyone keeps looking at their watch, like okay, Like.

If we don't know, yeah, if we don't know by the end of next Sunday from today, what's happening with Snicker?

That next week is going to be grab your popcorn, because you know, Alex will do his usual end of season availability and boy, I can't imagine him not having a resolution before that that would be insane.

If he goes in there with the media and has doesn't have an answer on SNIT on whatever whatever day that is, October first, whatever it's going to be, that would be crazy.

And I can't imagine him doing that, So fucko up everybody.

So I just want to say that out loud.

We got the question.

It is certainly looming over all of this, but you and I agree it should not.

A WAI stick should not impact anything.

That would be crazy if you did.

Just saying that out loud, All right, Scott, we will get to the games.

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Right, Scott, let us discuss some baseball on the field from the weekend on Friday.

The Braves, of course one because they keep winning ten to one over the ooh slumping Detroit Tigers.

Something on that in a second that we'll save some and we're actually talking about some some baseball.

Stuff non Braves later in the show, kind.

Of adjacent to the break because it involves the Mets and the Tigers, who the Bridges played.

Anyway, the Braves took it to Old Powell Charlie Morton on Friday, Akunya homeward in the game he reached base by the way, I think it was fifteen out of twenty two plate appearances at one point during this last week he is all the way back looking like Ronald Kunya.

Shocking.

He's still really good at baseball.

Who could have seen that coming?

And now the one thing I have to ask you about beyond just Charlie has still had the best year.

He hit Matt Olsen with the pitch that ever the pitcher around the world, the back the back leg curveball And how many tweets did you get?

Did you get?

Like ten?

It had to be a large amount of people be like Scott, Scott, Scott, look, America's favorite game.

It's still going strong.

It might be the final time we got to play America's favorite game maybe, which is, of course what inning is.

Charlie Morton going to hit more likely than not a left handed batter with a pitch very likely in the foot.

You know, hey, good for Charlie.

He got fifteen million dollars to pitch this year.

It was very, very bad.

He's going to finish the year with an ERA of six.

But you know what, Brad, if someone's gonna pay me fifteen million dollars to do I mean basically anything for six months, I'm gonna say yes.

And I think it's very clearly the end of the road for Charlie Morton.

We'll see if some team picks him up for one final start in the regular season.

Maybe it might be the Braves.

We'll see, but yeah, I mean the Braves.

Just even Acunya.

On Acunya's home run, he missed a fastball that was like middle middle from Charlie Morton, and the camera kind of zoomed in on Ronald's face and Ronald was like, oh my god, how did I miss that?

And then the very next pitch, Ronald did it four hundred feet the opposite way, and I mean it was just you could see the see it coming.

You know, I'm gonna do this.

I'm going to defend Charlie mildly.

There was like a two and a half month stretch this year from like late April to like mid July where he was actually good.

It was the first month of the season.

He was terrible, right he got pulled for rotation.

It was awful, and then he got pulled in the bullpen, and then he came back to start.

He actually had looking it up right now.

He had a three point five ra from April twenty ninth through the middle of July, so two and a half months free before and after that it wasn't.

It wasn't.

So I was gonna say, how bad hey he had he I'm saying he had it in there every once in a while, even even a month ago he had a six inning, six shout ending performance he had.

He shut down the Astros like three weeks ago, like he still has it just a little.

Actually he went to Philly and beat them in early August.

But when it's bad, man, we saw we saw it on Friday.

It's what I'm saying.

When it's bad, it's real bad.

And he's I mean, he's older than me.

The guy's he's not he's not a young man.

So we got questions Scott, let's just do this.

Now we've got questions about Charlie and the Braves picking him up.

I want you to explain how much money it would cost if the Braves tried to claim Charlie Morton.

Because we just figured this out on the fly, It's not an insignificant number, which is why I think it probably will happen.

But we'll see.

Yes, So Charlie Morton makes fifteen million dollars this season.

Brad and I did some research.

It appears that players are paid on a per day basis during the active season, which is one hundred and eighty seven days.

So fifteen million dollars divided by one hundred and eighty seven days.

Let's say the Braves do claim Charlie Morton five days of active service time is about four hundred thousand dollars.

The Braves would have to pay for a reunion with Chuck to make one final start this week or no worth it for me.

I'm just saying, pay the man is money.

It's fine.

I was gonna say, Brad Rowland is going to cut a check personally for four hundred thousand dollars to bring Charlie back.

I'm not kidding, though, I'm not kidding when I say this.

If they signed Charlie, if they claim Charlie, what they're probably not going to do.

If they did, I'm going to the game.

You should We'll go live.

And I'm I'm not planning on going to a game this week just for I got other things to do.

I'm working in all these things.

If they claim Morton and give him a start, I'm going to go.

We need to pull some strings and get you like row two behind the plate for that, And.

I mean my ticket costs will not be four one thousand dollars, so we'll not cover Charlie's.

But if Alex are listening, I would come.

I will pay whatever rate I need to pay to get the building by myself.

If I need to, I will come see Charlie one more time.

Tip the old cap.

Obviously, some of this is a bit with me and Charlie.

It has been for a long time, but he was really with it good for a long time.

He's a World Series hero all the things.

So I just want to mention that I felt bad that it ended that way against the I hope that wasn't the last time you ever pitched.

He was so bad on Friday, but it might be so we'll see.

Yeah, Hey, hell of a career.

Charlie Morton World Series champion, pitched on a broken leg in the World Series and got out on a broken leg, got a strike on a broken leg of Jose al Tuve.

Just one of the coolest things I think I've ever seen a pitcher do.

Or I mean, honestly, just a professional athlete do.

And the biggest moment in the biggest stage.

So yeah, but you know, Friday night, the whole offense hit.

Everybody hit.

I mean that that's kind of been the theme.

The whole lineup has been good.

Akunya Homeward, Drake Baldwin Homeward, He's had a great week.

Hastan Kim Homeward again, which he needs to relax because he's everybody Herebert on Sunday as well.

He's he's getting hot man.

Plus he might be he might be opting out.

We'll see.

Ozzie Albe's has been good.

I mean, even Michael Harris drew a walk, which is maybe the craziest thing.

I just said, selling the alarm.

Yeah, I did it with Steven the other day because Seawan was Sean was sick of as me and Steve and I think it was it was four.

He had four walks and four hundred plus play appearances, a literal one percent walk, right, so hey, anytime Michael walks, that's good.

Sean, our colleague Seankalma had the stat plug up right now to make sure I'm not gonna get it wrong.

But the a game Wing streak, they scored at least five runs in all eight games.

Now, one of those games they had they scored five runs in the tenth to do that.

But hey, they scored five runs in all these games.

First time that.

Brings have won eight in a row while scoring at least five runs in every game since nineteen eighty two.

So it's it's been the offense driving this little Wingus streak.

It's been the offense.

I mean, other than the game where it was little zero zero through nine through nine, they had been putting up crooked numbers like with regularity, which has been fun to see.

And that was a good example of about on Friday.

Also, Bryce Elder shouts to him seven innings, five bits, no walk, six strikeouts, like he's been good down the stretch.

So I don't want to be fooled by that, but it's worth typing a captain Brice.

He's been quite good for about a month.

Yeah, hey, you know what if Bryce Elder can cover five six innings and give the Braves even a remote chance to win moving forward, you take that every single time.

Yes, well said to Saturday.

Saturday was the Nacho Albarez game, to say, the least best game of his career bar none, not really any competition for it.

He had his first home run of his career on Saturday and a six to five win.

It was his two hundred and fifteenth plate appearance.

That's a lot of plaint appearances to not have a homer, like not just not a big power guy, but he was hitting like ten in the minors, like he can hit some home He's he's not Nick Allen.

He has a little bit of juice.

That was a long time and they gave him a silent treament which was fun to watch.

I'm not sure if he saw the clip, but they were.

It was a long, solid treatment for Nacho and then he hover again.

It was same game.

Plus he had the game time hit with two out in the ninth to keep a waistreak lit so awesome game for him.

You know, he's not been the best of the plate this year and his thrust into availability with Austin being unavailable, But it was fun to just watch that because, like, you know, happy for the guy.

Everybody likes the kid, and a big, fun game on a Saturday and people are fired up for him.

It was good.

Not sure, el whereas clearly has some talent.

Now do we think he's gonna be a cornerstone piece for the Braves for the next decade?

No, probably not.

I also don't know where he would necessarily play with any kind of regularity.

But he's a talented kid, and good for him for getting the two homers had I think the pitch was off the plate that he drove the other way to tie the game, and then Jerks and Profar gave him the lead.

It's been few and far between the number of times the Braves have come back in the ninth inning this year, and of course, now that we have a week left in the year, they have a really nice win and also just a backbreaking loss for the Tigers.

I mean, it's dark days in Detroit right now.

This team is on like a generational collapse right now.

For the division.

We might see one like every ten or fifteen years, but man alive.

Just a crushing Losch for Detroit and then they were beyond flat on Sunday.

So yeah, I mean the Braves, they're playing spoiler.

Nobody wants them to be in that spoiler role.

We help want them to be at top of the division and thinking about the playoffs this time of year.

But they've made life difficult for the Tigers, and I guess you know there's there's little victories and making life really difficult for other teams who have their eyes set on the postseason.

Yeah, I mean again, just to kind of a home whenever one they had to come back though they were down that game, not you had that hit.

Baul had a great weekend, which is good to see.

Joey once was solid and his basic a former team of his in Detroit.

That was good.

Yeah, awful off, we'll come back to the second, but awful lost with the Tigers.

That's what's today for the Tigers.

Just brute over them.

And as we discussed I think on our last show, maybe maybe it's with Steve.

I can't remember.

Tiger's like my number two team, Like I have family out.

I'm a Michigan fans.

That's not fun to have the Tigers just utterly collapse.

But that'll come back up in a second before we move on from the actual on field product.

Sunday, the Braids went six to two, much easier win other than the rain delay, which I thought was just hilarious that they were having a rain delay on an NFL Sunday.

It's like, no one's watching already, and then they set everybody away and watch football.

It's like, Oh, come back and watch the rest of this game.

I was trying to be professional watching it, so I did watch.

I did watch.

The entire game actually was on because the Falcons were being the Falcons.

So we'll go on from that.

But a night's win, I mean, Strider, anything anything to stick out to you from Sunday and the eighth straight win for the Bruis Spencer.

Strider looked really good again.

Over his last five starts.

Strider now has a two point one to zero e RA, which is fantastic.

Struck out six.

He continues to throw his off speed stuff at a higher rate, and we're I think one of the biggest off season questions of players already in the organization.

Is what kind of pitcher is Spencer' going to be next season?

Is he going to see any kind of increase in velocity with a normal off season for strength and conditioning.

Is he going to continue to really work in his breaking balls as he has done over the last month, because before that he was getting hit hard.

I mean he was gonna hit really hard.

So yeah, good for Spencer, I'm sure just for his mental sake too, just going into the off season knowing that he is healthy and that he found success when he doesn't have that ninety nine fastball anymore.

You don't have to have a ninety nine fastball to be successful in the majors.

But it's going to be an adjustment for him.

And good on Spencer for being able to make that change in the middle of a season where you only really have about three or four days to make any kind of adjustment what you want to do on the mound.

Yeah, and he still throws plenty hard.

You know, he still touches ninety to ninety seven regularly.

Like he can still bring it, it's just not bringing it the same leg I think it was before.

But looking good last five starts we mentioned before Baldwin homering earlier in the weekend twice, he tripled today on Sunday.

He has six base hits in the last seven games.

Love to see that.

You need a drink to finish strong for Rookie of the Year purposes all those things.

He's still a pretty big underdog at draft kings right now.

Our partner's over there to Kate Horton.

By the way, Kate Horton pitches on Tuesday, it would be very helpful for the Braves and Drake Ball one if Kate Horton got hit.

Harror on Tuesday.

Yes, unfortunately he faces the New York Mets.

Oh, so some split incentives there for Braves fans, like you want the Mets to lose, but also Horton.

Maybe the Mets can rock Horton and still lose nine to eight.

That'd be cool, Yes, something like that.

So we'll see.

Just something to circle on Tuesday when that comes up.

And of course the betting odds are not gospel, you know, they are draftings.

It's a thirty especially in baseball awards, is a thirty person voting block for awards and we don't even know who they are yet.

Like it's bbw A.

It's very like MBA awarp.

Betting is actually very very accurate because it's a bigger panel, it's easier to figure it out.

Baseball awards are often wrong, like if it's if somebody is a massive favorite, we kind of know why they're going to win.

That's not where we are.

Horton is a betting favorite, but he's not like minus three thousand, like Baldwin is very much alive.

And Rookie of the Year yes, so hopefully after you know, it's interesting, Drake had a bad first two weeks of September and we talked about it on the show last Sunday, and then we said, hey, we need Drake Baldwin to get back on track and have a really good final two weeks to give himself a chance at Rookie of the Year and the draft pick the Braves would be awarded if he wins Rookie of the Year.

And he did that, he was probably player of the Week for the Braves, him or Matt Olsen.

So yeah, I mean, it's good to see Drake get back on it.

Just Rookie of the Year or not.

What a special season for a rookie catcher who more than holds his own behind the plate and with the pitching staff.

I feel like Drake has gotten better too as the season has gotten along.

Defensively, he can throw out a base runner and his approach is just so refined you would never know he's a rookie.

And that was from day one.

I mean, this kid came up in San Diego and it was he looked like a five year vet out there.

The way he works counts uses the whole field, has power, but also can go the other way.

He's just such an impressive hitter.

And frankly, with the uncertainty of Sean Murphy going forward now that he's had this surgery, the Braves need Drake Baldon to be good, even more so than they did even a couple of weeks ago before we knew about the Murphy injury.

For sure, and you mentioned him being maybe the player of the week, like going back to the Braves offense carrying them.

I just pulled this up.

The last seven days of the Braves, they have five regulars with an ops over one thousand over the last week.

Yeah, five, Baldwin is one of them.

Baldwin, Olsen Acunya Nacho.

Given his one big game really, and then Hassan kim All had like big time weeks and that's how you end up scoring an average of like eight runs a game for the week.

That's how that.

Works, all right, Scott, oh, one more quick news thing, and then I want to close the show with some playoff talk that actually is somewhat related to the Braves, just because it's crazy.

The Braves did claim another guy of waivers in Flix.

Every day there's a waiver claim.

I know Sean steven talked about one on Thursday night.

This time it was Chuckie Robinson, a thirty year old catcher off layers from the Dodgers.

I want to bring that up just to say, listen to Shawn Stevens discussion about the forty man a few days ago, because this is another one where they put Day's belt almost sixty the il which goes away in ten days, and they have a lot of decisions about the forty man roster that have to be made fairly soon.

This is another guy who has options like depth piece and catcher.

Sammie Leo's a free agent, all those things.

You want to have one more guy.

Look, Chuckie Robinson is not a guy that really matters, but a guy you might see next year potentially as the third fourth catcher in the organization.

Or the first time, yeah, the first time the Braves make an offseason move of any kind and and the club released CHUCKI.

Robinson from the team or whatever.

Certainly very very very possible.

Just why this is minute twenty nine of the podcast.

Is this because you know, we have no idea if that's gonna actually matter at all, but worthy of note another guy in sixty the I I mean, they were almost laughing about how many guys are on sixty day already, and there's a number one.

So it just keeps the roster machinicians in baseball at the end of the season when games don't matter anymore.

For bad teams are crazy and Alex's doing the right thing.

You just spray the board, just claim everybody you can do whatever you do, whatever you want.

To do, and especially on a bad team like usual injuries too, they have so many injuries.

Like you know, right, this is usually the time of year if you're if you're a good team that you're trying to find like the fastest player you can add, because he's going to be your designated pinch runner, like it was the Billy Hamilton Special for years where he couldn't do anything but run well.

Billy Hamilton always signed with a contender in the last two weeks of the year because he was your pinch running option late in games.

So yeah, very active forty man roster and a lot of moon overing for Alex and topless.

But hey, why not, Like, maybe Alex is bored, maybe he has the itch and just wants to make something happen before the offseason gets going.

That's board is probably the wrong word.

I think Alex is probably like gnashing his teeth about how bad the season's going because he's a competitive guy.

But you're right, maybe he's just like smashing buttons in this office doing things at the O temper.

All right, Scott, there's more to come on the podcast, putting a look ahead to the coming week, some interesting kind of pseudo playoff talk in more in just one moment after it worked from our partners.

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Okay Scott to tease this, but there's some playoff madness going on that involves the Braves tangentially the Tigers, who the Braves just swept.

Again, the Braves just swept.

The Tigers are playing for a lot, which made things really interesting this week because you were to think once you guys notthing.

To play for.

They're the ones allowed to play for, and the one that has noothing to play for sweat the team, which is a very baseball thing.

There's something, there's a reason why why we talking about all the time on the podcast.

You can want to win all you want to Baseball is a very random sport.

We love it, but a lot of things weird.

This happens in baseball.

But let's go Let's go to that first, and then the Mets are having a similar experience.

And the Braves hate the Mets and least Brace.

Fans do, so that's good.

Maybe the Tigers are only up by one game on the Al Central And if you have not followed this race, I get that everybody follows non Braves baseball, I understand.

But a couple of numbers for you on this The Tigers led the Guardians by twelve and a half games in the division on August twenty fifth, that's four weeks ago.

They were up twelve and a half.

Now it's one.

The Guardians were down by fifteen and a half games in July at one point, and you pointed this out to me, it was nine and a half ten days ago.

It was nine and a half.

On like September eleventh, they were nine and a half games ahead of the of the Guardians.

But since then, Cleveland can't lose all the final loss today, Cleveland final lost today, Cleveland can't lose, Detroit can't win, and like it's one game, Like that's that's insane.

It's like we were again only trragitionally part of this.

Watching it this weekend, it was like a slow motion car wreck because it's like, man, just win, please.

I have a hard time watching it because I hate collapses.

I'm in Atlanta sports fan, folks.

This has been my entire life.

It's hard for me to deal with.

Even though even even with no investment, I'm like, please don't collapse, like it hurts my soul.

And they are trying to collapse.

I don't know they're gonna do it, but they're trying hard.

You know.

It was interesting too, and this is not Braves centered, but you know, we talked on the show on Thursday night.

We figured that the Tiger Stadium was going to be like pretty rowdy and jacked up this weekend and final home stand of the year for Detroit.

And yes, they've been playing bad, but a chance to I mean beat up on the Braves, who were not exactly a postseason contender at this point.

And I mean that stadium was dead.

And maybe it's because they've watched a fifteen game lead of APPU eight of Vapor eight in that what where was that, Brad, It's fine, it's fine, man, it's you know, you're in deep September.

No one's listening anyway, But yeah, I mean it was.

The stadium was dead on Sunday.

It was like a morgue.

I know it was NFL Sunday, but it wasn't like the Lions were playing, but stadium was empty.

The Braves just completely dominated Detroit.

I don't know what's going on with them.

They were such a good story the first half of the season, but they have just been a free fall ever since.

And you know, good on the Braves for making life difficult.

I mean, it's again, it's the spoiler role that no one expected us to have.

But I mean Detroit looked terrible.

Yeah, Saturday was the game that was so brutal because they were up five to three in the ninth on Saturday, or was.

It the eighth it was late eighth, eighth anything.

Like to have that one in the middle of the middle of losing every game and you know, thank God for them.

Cleveland final loss today.

How about this?

This is more of a just a crazy baseball stat.

The Guardians in the middle of this run had an eighteen game stretch where they allowed twenty eight total runs.

That's that's ridiculous.

That's impossible, Like, how do you go twenty That's impossible.

Also, they play each other Tuesday, so if you are if you enjoyed baseball, that's a big series Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.

Guardians Tigers, probably for the division and one way to bring them back to the Braves.

I was reminded, I'm sure you were too.

We haven't talked about this when the Braves collapsed in twenty eleven.

It feels like that what the Tigers are doing.

If you are too younger, I remember this.

I'm sure we have some younger listeners who were like either kids or whatever in twenty eleven, but the Braves blew an eight and a half game lead in September in twenty eleven, they went nine.

They went nine and eighteen in September that year, and it was absolutely excruciating.

You and I were not doing podcasts yet together.

I think we might have been writing it together at that point something like that.

We were not podcasting, but boy, it all came flooding back to me.

I was like, oh, man, just the slow motion car wreck again, nine to eighteen.

The bridge that was hideous at the brit If you were not old enough, go back and look at what happened there.

I won't go get game to game.

It was not a lot of fun for about three weeks there.

I don't a lot of fun in speaking of hideous oooh, the New York Mets.

The New York Mets, just, I mean, the Mets are terrible.

They keep losing.

They got off to the terrific start, and they've been one of the worst teams in baseball for like three and a half months now.

Like statistically, they have been awful.

It's not just us piling on the Mets.

I mean they've been terrible.

The Cincinnati Reds won on Sunday, So now I believe those two teams are tied, and the Reds have the tiebreaker over the Mets, which is huge.

So even if those teams now that we have the wild card, there's no game won sixty three anymore.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

I believe it's just pure tiebreakers.

So I mean the Mets and their you know, uncle Steve dropping eight hundred million dollars every offseason.

The Mets are legitimately at risk of missing the playoffs altogether.

I just found this because you talked about how how long they've been bad.

In late July, the Mets were sixty two and forty four.

Yeah, I believe since then, but doing math right, they are eighteen and thirty two, which is eighteen that's really really not good.

And also they've lost live in the last fifteen they I pulled this earlier today.

Fangrass playoff oughts that have been at almost ninety seven percent about two weeks ago.

Now it's like fifty five if at after today's loss and the Reds winning.

So also, the Mets got on the road for the lastest games that could be good or bad.

Probably, Man, I do wish even what the Braves where they are, that the Mets will come to Atlanta this week, because that would just be like that, that'd be the one way to get Braves fans like really really invested this week.

Would be if they had a chance to keep the Mets out of the playoffs.

But that's not happening unfortunately.

But yeah, we would go live after every game.

Maybe, I genuinely think we probably we probably, we probably recapt games if like actually like deep dive recauts.

And even I'm not gonna harp on this because I fully understand that scheduling a one hundred and sixty two game season for thirty teams is not easy to do.

Like I know they have a computer algorithm and everything, but I mean, let's go over who the Braves.

Imagine if the Braves were in like an insane three way race with the Phillies and the Mets in the East.

The last candfull of games, they played the Mariners who are in the American League.

They played the Cubs different division.

They play the Astros American League team, They played the National six times.

They played the Tigers in the American League.

They play the Pirates who were in the Central To finish out the year, I think Baseball has to find a way to prioritize getting some divisional matchups in the last two weeks because it's just not the same.

Like, sure everyone's scoreboard watching, but how fun would it be, Like as we talk, the Mariners and the Astros are talking or are playing.

We need more of that for like the American League West balance hangs or in the Central with the Guardians in Detroit, Like we need more of that, not less.

And obviously it doesn't matter.

I get it.

It's an old man going on a rant here, but you know, let's let's not be playing the American League West the final three weeks of the season.

Yeah, this is one of those offshoots of the discusual changes where like everyone's playing their division rivals less.

Remember like there was the for the longest time that was really really heavily scheduled towards your rivals, and they've flattened that out in the last couple of years.

This is a one offshoot of that, is that it's not as easy to do this anymore.

But and it will always be this way.

But the Braves don't play either the Mets or the Phillies in the entire month of September.

Yeah, that's that's kind of insane.

Obviously didn't end up mattering, but everyone in the world was projecting those three teams to be the three teams with a chance to win the division this year, and they made a way to where the Braves played neither of those teams in the entire month.

Stember, that's that's probably not great.

I think it's the same way in twenty twenty six, Brad.

I don't have the schedule in front of me, but I think they're done with the Mets by like mid August.

It's just I don't know, man, That's one thing.

And it's funny.

Back in the day, there used to be six series between division foes, and now there's four.

Six feels like too many, and four feels like too few to me.

Scott wants five, exactly, everybody wants five.

Wonder if you could do, like, you know, when the CBA happens in a couple of years, And honestly, it's probably a moot point because if they do expand and change divisions and everything, then who knows what the schedule is going to look like.

True, it's weird.

Twelve or thirteen games does not feel like enough against your division Rivals, but nobody wants to watch the Braves and the Nationals play nineteen times, which is what they used to do.

Yeah, I've just.

Confirmed what you said.

The Braves are done with the Mets next year on August twelfth.

Now they do play the Phillies seven times September next year, so that'll be if that is a race, that'll be.

It's not the very end of the year.

It's got an early September, but still they play seven times, and I think it's like by yeah, by the Middles deeper that seven times, so more competitive probably in the Braves.

Next year end with the Reds and the Morelands Marlins West of Division foe this year the Braves.

As we'll wrap the show up with is now the Braves end with the Nationals and the Pirates about as uninspiring as it gets to be.

One hundred percent of us.

Obviously we are sick those We host a Braves podcast year round, so we'll be interested no matter what.

But if you're a casual fan, there isn't a whole lot to get you excited about this last week at this season, I have to.

Say, can you imagine if the Braves win fourteen in a row two end the season.

I mean, yes, I can't imagine it because it might happen because the Nationals and the Pirates are bad.

The Braves, like go back to SNET real quick snid is managing as if these games matter a lot.

Yeah I don't.

That's a different discussion for different for a different day.

Like for instance, John Carlos Laura came up, came up this weekend.

The boys talked about that on the last show.

We were all hoping he'd get into a game this weekend, but he never got into a game because the Braves are treating every game like it's October, not quite playoff level, but like today like a glass coming, They're still trying to play every game like it matters, which is just bride sticker to being bride snicker.

So it is interesting.

But yeah, I think because of that, like they could seriously, they really could win out by the way.

They probably won't because just look do the math.

But it's not a crazy thought.

It really isn't.

Yep, fourteen in a row, that would be I'm almost rooting for that now, just because the headlines right themselves, you know, Braves and season from hell full of misery and never ending injury with fourteen consecutive.

Wins, I want to know right now.

I want to know with truth serum.

I bet you Alex would.

Alex would, with truth serum, say I do not want to win the last fourteen games in a row.

Yeah, just to avoid the conversation altogether, because you know exactly what they won't be from us, but the topics, the local the local TV folks will be like, well, what's this mean about next year?

Like you can't quit, change, can't possibly change managers.

Now you just want for all these things.

So I think if you he wouldn't say this on the record, obviously, but I bet you could give Alex truth sierum.

He would be like, can we please just lose Somethinglease lose a game at some point in the next week, because I also, the Brads haven't won fourteen in a row in a yeah twenty so it's twenty twenty two.

They went forteen in a row, but longer than that.

Once ever, they won fifteen in a row two thousand, so fourteen would be there.

It would be there.

They would match their longest wing streak in twenty five years.

Can you imagine?

Uh No, But maybe.

Last thing before we get out of here.

It's Sale Monday, Waldrip Tuesday, Elder Wednesday.

I don't know if it's gonna be the last start for either Sale or Waldrop.

Like technically they could go twice.

I don't know if they will.

We'll see.

Man.

I'll say this now because you and I probably won't talk before then.

This should be it for Waldrop.

I would like to not have Waldrop pitch again after Tuesday.

He's already way over his innings for they's ever pitched before in his life.

I'm all set after Tuesday with Waldrop.

Sale.

If he wants to pitch whatever, let him.

I guess any thoughts on that before we get out of here.

I do agree completely on Waldrop.

For the love of God, you do not need to send this guy out there in game one sixty two.

Just don't do it.

Don't risk it.

I know it's so small, but don't.

Don't risk an injury, don't risk anything going wrong.

They're a bullpen game.

Call up somebody from Triple A.

It'd be Sunday.

Just do the math.

Everybody like he's pitching Tuesday, Waldrop, so he could go on normal rest on Sunday.

In the finale if they wanted, that would be the way to do it.

Anybody to pitches after Tuesday, that's it.

So Bryce Elder is on Wednesday.

That will be his final start, just to say that outlass.

So Tuesday is the last day that someone could go one more time if they were to stay on schedule.

And you know, the Nationals very bad team.

I know we saw them.

I mean we saw the Nationals a lot early and then went like five months without seeing them.

But Nationals are bad.

The Pirates are even worse.

Braves, you know, should win some games this week.

You know, we could have a whole again, another conversation about whether or not we want them to be winning these games or if it's for the betterment of the team to be winning these baseball games.

But final week of the year.

Brad can't believe it's here.

The year is somehow flown by despite everything bad that has happened.

It's, you know, we got the final six games of the year and then we have six months without Braves baseball.

Shoot, seven months without Braves baseball.

Now it's you know, it's always a sad day for me anyway, no matter how the season went, When things officially end.

We're almost there.

I mean this again this time.

In a week when people are listening, season will be over.

Yeah, I suppose.

I don't know.

I don't want to program on the air, but I suppose we'll probably do a podcast a week from today to wrap it all up and get ready to go with the off season.

But please ttune everybody, if you did not know this already, if you're new to the podcast, if you are catching for the first time, or whatever, we appreciate you being here.

We don't stop at the AUF season.

We'll be keeping it going.

We will have content each and every week on the show.

It will be a podcast or multiple podcasts every week from now it's till the end of time, unt til the end of us getting fire of by our bipoile territory or something.

Well, we'll be here regularly with content, So please go ahead subscribe, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, et cetera.

Comments, writings, reviews, all that appreciated as well.

You can follow Scott on social media at Scott Colan fifty five, where he will be trumpeting his three to oh Indianapolis Colts all week long.

I'm sure that is right.

Three and o'cults first time since two thousand and nine.

Brad, it's a weird feeling to have football happiness because there's not been a lot of football happiness for me the last couple of years.

Maybe that's balance and the universe winking at me with the Braves having such a bad year, giving me a little bone here to keep my sports fandom and everything going strong.

But not for you, my friend.

I was going to say, I'm going to no comment that as a I cover the Braves, I cover the Hawks.

It's a different relationship with those teams, particularly what the Hawks.

I pretty much just cover them professionally.

At this point.

The Falcons are the one team I could be a crazy person about, and that's mostly for the negative because the Falcons.

Are the Falcons.

They are one of the least accomplished franchises in history.

They do things that are stupid all the time.

And today that's by thirty points as a favorite and didn't score.

So we will sign off here before Brad loses our YouTube license.

Week three listen.

Of the four of us, I think I am the least likely to have a meltdown to have us lose our to have us lose YouTube or something.

I'm the least likely of the four of us to start swearing and melting down on the air.

I think I think that's probably fair.

Would you?

Would you agree with me?

It's one It's either you or me.

It's not.

It's not one of the other two.

I can tell you measured.

Yeah, especially a couple of years ago I was.

I'm pretty I'm pretty measured.

And let's not yelling about Ronald accunitys batting order spot.

All right, Scott, thank you for being here.

Please subscribe to Hamm Territory anywhere you find your podcasts.

Of course, Scott, my name is Brad.

We appreciate you being here.

I will see everybody next time.