MLB Picks, Predictions & Best Baseball Betting Odds [Friday October 7th]

Scott Spritzer:

I can’t wait to get started, man. And I got to tell everybody who’s watching this video or this broadcast, that if you see me doing this as we’re talking, it’s because I’m not rolling my eyes at anything TC Martin or Mark “Basewinner” Borchard happens to be saying or reflecting back on something stupid I might have said. I’m actually looking up at the Indians playoff game. Excuse me, The Guardians. You know, I’ve gone the whole summer without saying it, and finally it happened.

TC Martin:

[inaudible 00:01:27] the series already.

Scott Spritzer:

Yeah, I’m looking up at the game as we speak, because it’s about to get underway against the Rays. So that’s what I’m kind of doing here. I’m not rolling my eyes in anything any one of us said, even though maybe I should at my own stuff sometimes. But I can’t wait, man. This new format, it’s going to be a blast. And as you mentioned, a lot goes into the thinking on these series, which we’re going to talk about also today. Because we do have three straight home games for the higher seed in all three playoff series.

TC Martin:

All right, Basewinner, how pumped are you?

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

I’m so psyched, man. This is cool. This is unprecedented in MLB history. We get to be part of it, not only watching it, but talking about it and trying to help people win money at it. So how excited can it be? I mean, this is awesome.

TC Martin:

All right guys, let’s get cracking here. And again, what we’re going to do today is, we’re going to talk about really, and kind of in depth, of the three games that will be played a little bit later on. And for the most part, like I said, we’ve got day baseball today, three of the four games. And one later on. But I do want to touch on, as Scott mentioned, the Tampa Bay-Cleveland series. We’re not going to go into in depth handicapping because this game, first pitch, is basically happening as we start our show here today, if you are watching us live. But it is Shane McClanahan and Shane Bieber going to at it. It’s Tampa Bay at Cleveland. And Cleveland is the youngest team in Major League Baseball this season, and they are in the postseason. They’re one of the early teams to clinch, so they haven’t really played any meaningful games for almost two weeks now. But the season series saw Cleveland defeat Tampa Bay four games to two. Tampa Bay is in its fourth straight postseason appearance. So just some quick thoughts on this series, guys. Even though like I said, no action today because the game is just starting right now. Quick thoughts today on Tampa Bay in Cleveland, Scott?

Scott Spritzer:

Well first of all, did you do know the AL Central is 5-19 since 2017 in the playoffs? I mean, the Al Central’s been just dog meet. So we’ll see if Cleveland can snap out of that.

But I was doing a show yesterday over on Nisan, and one of the games I sent them the night before was the under. The first five innings in this nice pitching matchup. At one of the spots at one the books in Las Vegas, by the time we got on the air, it was down to 2.5. So I jumped it. I said, we’re not going to sit here and talk about a first five innings total that’s 2.5. If somebody sneezes wrong, there’s two runs on the board. But that was just what caught my eye. Was, I think he could have played full game under at six and been okay in that game. It’s just about ready to start. But yeah, it was a situation where I thought, you know, I do kind of like Cleveland in this game, with this pitchy matchup, but I’m not crazy about it. Two nights ago, I made a little bit of a move on the under first five as far as three. But at 2.5, I was actually kind of shocked it got that low at one of the main joints in Las Vegas. Mark, I don’t know if you were, but 2.5 Surprised me.

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

It got down to five, and then the full total got down to 5.5 About maybe 45 minutes ago. Which I kind of think is, personally, a little bit ridiculous. But I jumped kind of in front of you Scott, so I’ll let you kind of finish your thought there. [inaudible 00:04:36]

Scott Spritzer:

Oh, no, I was done. I was throwing it. Yeah, I was saying I was just shocked that it was below three for that first five. And I was like, I don’t even want to talk about that game on the show yesterday because I leaned that way with E3, but there was no way I was going to play it at 2.5. I mean, I’ve had plenty of first five inning bets over the years, the last few years, that I’ve had threes. But I’ve never jumped in on an under 2.5.

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

It’s tough. I remember a few years back they would go down to 5.5 With elite pitchers, one versus one in the first round. But you rarely see it. I think that you’re going to see some, though, in these playoff series. The ball’s a little bit deader and there’s some good pitching coming up. Let me just touch on this game and then I’ll tell TC how much the Houston numbers are looking good here. Moving through the playoffs, they look really good. I did a lot of work yesterday and they kind of scored high in a lot of categories.

As far as this game goes, it’s hard for me to price this. And this is kind of what I did with McClanahan, and I’ve been high at McClanahan all year. If you look at his overall Basewinner ERA, this is year to date, it’s 2.62. Seventh in baseball. So you’re thinking, well this guy’s pretty good. But he’s been trashy since he came back. And I wanted to get TC’s take on it, because I think TC’s really good at seeing if guys are injured and that type of thing. At least he has been really good on the show. Saying, hey, I don’t think this guy’s right. And he’s usually dead on as far as that goes. But just from a numbers standpoint, looking back from August 6th, where McClanahan has made starts, he’s got a Basewinner ERA of 4.71. The BB/K is 0.43, which is above league average in a bad way. He’s a little bit better with isolated power, he’s better than average on isolated power. But the control, you look at his strikeouts to walks over the last three games, he’s got seven strikeouts and seven walks. I mean to me, that’s not an ace, and I think there’s something wrong with the guy. So I actually downgraded him to an average pitcher, because that’s what I’m seeing right now.And I wanted to get TC’s take on that, because I think he can judge current form pretty well. As far as just watching games and looking at that.

TC Martin:

Yeah, I appreciate that, Mark. As far as McClanahan, he’s not a guy that I’ve been really focusing on too much. But just looking at those numbers and everything, it kind of tells me that, usually when you have numbers like that, it either is an injury or there’s arm fatigue. It’s usually one of those two things. Or the other thing is that, okay, guys have kind of figured them out a little bit. And it stuff, especially the breaking ball, is not moving as much. And I think it could be all of the above with McClanahan. As we know, I mean, this was a guy that was pegged as a potential Cy Young Award candidate earlier on. And this is a guy that, again, he’s gone a lot of innings earlier on. I don’t think he’s spent any time on the IL. You guys can correct me if I’m wrong on that. But it just seems like again, either, I don’t know if his velocity is down, but maybe there’s a little arm fatigue and he just doesn’t seem to have the same stuff. And again, when you see lack of command like that, that’s usually what it is.

Scott Spritzer:

Well we also, I think the number one thing you look at is velocity. If it’s down, there’s something wrong. Sometimes, we’ve talked about, I forget what pitcher, it might have been Garrett Cole we were talking about a month ago or something, where his velocity was just fine. I mean, he’s throwing nasty stuff as far as heat is concerned. He was just leaving it a little bit too far over the plate, a little bit too much over the plate, so he was having bad innings every once in a while. But that’s the number one thing for me: velocity. If a guy’s velocity starts to dip at the end of the season, it means he’s got arm weariness. And for me it’s been more of a case of, we’ll see today, but it’s been more of a case for me of, McClanahan just hitting too much of the plate. Now that also might mean his junk doesn’t have the same stuff on it that he had a month and a half, two months ago. So I think it’s just something to keep an eye on. I mean so far, one batter, two pitches, and he’s got one out. Just happened [inaudible 00:08:38] the game.

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

I think it’s always bad when our junk doesn’t have the stuff it used to have, so.

Scott Spritzer:

That left me about [inaudible 00:08:47] years ago.

TC Martin:

Yeah, that’s why they say junk in the trunk there, Mark. You have to be careful of you’re junk in the trunk.

We talk about odds boosts a lot with BetUS, and we do want to just point out a couple odds boosts today. And one is in this game, with Ahmed Rosario. Will he have one hit and the Guardians win today? And that thing got boosted up from 115 to +160 on that. So there are people that are thinking that that is not going to happen today.

Scott Spritzer:

You guys play any of that stuff?

TC Martin:

I don’t.

Scott Spritzer:

I was going to say, you get a win for a pitcher and he has seven or more strikeouts, and his team obviously wins because he got the win. I really, I’m not saying that you can’t jump into that stuff. It’s pretty cool. And it’s offered, obviously, at BetUS as well as anywhere. But it’s something I haven’t really, as I think, thinking about Mark and his handicapping, that I haven’t made a science out of it yet. To really jump in and look at that stuff daily. I’m so old fashioned and old school and still into, let’s figure out who’s going to win this game, and win our bet from a total or a side standpoint, that I really haven’t devoted a lot of time to it yet. Is it anything, Mark, that you’ve jumped into that kind of stuff in the last couple of years that’s become more popular?

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

Not really. I used to play props quite a bit. But you really have to have a lot of automation involved in doing that, I think, to do it right. And it’s something that I’m going to do next year. I’m taking a look at strikeouts right now. We have automation in process. But I think from a time standpoint, as a handicapper, you’re limited to the time that you have. So delving into props, while I think it is lucrative in certain spots, it’s very time consuming. And I think that getting the main stuff down probably should be your first endeavor. Whether you’ve been doing it a long time or you’re just starting out, I think you focus on the basics to start out. As far as the odds boosts, you got to take a look at them on an individual basis.

I know we have one going on right now at BetUS. Zach Wheeler strikeouts and the Phillies to win. I didn’t think that that was as valuable as it could be, I guess is probably the best way to say it. I’ve got Wheeler projected for 4.71 strikeouts. One thing, getting to that prop, is St Louis, a team offense strikeout percentage last 150 played appearances, and it kind of averages all the guys that are in that lineup, it’s really low. 0.167. In fact, it’s one of the lowest rates in baseball. So I think that that probably, betting the Cardinals to strike out the way that they’re not striking out with their very recent form, is probably not a good idea. Although I do like the Phillies to win today, if that makes sense.

TC Martin:

All right guys, let’s take a look at the matchups a little bit later on here today. And what we’re going to do is also give you some series prices and some series thoughts as well, after we handicap the game. So here we go. Philadelphia and St. Louis in the National League today. Zach Wheeler on the mound for the Phillies and Jose Quintana going for the Cardinals today. This is basically a turn back the clock game to 2011, if you’re thinking about the St. Louis Cardinals today. Because that was the last time they were in the postseason against the Phillies. And if you remember, going way back when, they defeated the Phillies in that series and went on to win the World Series. Oh and guess who was involved in that series? Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright, all in their kind of swan song for the Cardinals. But today’s game, 109 for the Cardinals. Phillies -101. It is virtually a pick ’em. Very low total, as you’ll see in a lot of these playoff games. 6.5 the total here, -120 towards the over side. Scott, we’ll start with you, with Wheeler and Quintana.

Scott Spritzer:

Yeah, solid season from Zach Wheeler. He had a couple of tough outings early on in the season, and then he was great up until his final outing. Before the All Star break, that game against Toronto. And then back on his game after that. The only exceptions to that were a couple of starts against the Mets. Both times he pitched against them after the break, a little bit of a struggle there. But he did slam the door in both outings on the Cardinals that he faced them this year. He didn’t allow a single run and he only gave up 11 base runners in 14 innings of work. I was looking back to September 1st, and St. Louis has really struggled at the plate at home against righties over the final month of the season. And they are near the bottom of baseball in the offensive metrics that I care about the most in this situation, going back even further. But the Phillies are basically middle of the pack on the road against lefties over the last month.

And Jose Quintana has been a fantastic acquisition for the red birds since the trade deadline. Here’s the thing. I mean, I know when they first traded for Jose Quintana, we talked about, boy, I’m not sure about that. I think we failed to mention who his catcher is. And I think Yadi Molina can take a guy who’s maybe throwing B stuff to a B+ or A-. And I think Yadi working with Jose Quintana has made a difference in Jose Quintana, and I really do. I mean, Yadi’s one of the best of all time, he’s a warrior, and he is going to get the best out of a pitcher if a pitcher has the ability to throw best kind of stuff. So I think we’ve probably have failed to give enough credit to Yadi when he’s catching Jose Quintana, and that jump that Quintana’s made since becoming a Cardinal. I mean, his hard hit and barrel percentages are outstanding since he’s been with St. Louis. This isn’t fluky stuff. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t come out tonight and gets knocked around, but it isn’t fluky stuff since he’s been a Cardinal.

And a final note on this one, I’m playing the first five innings under 3.5 In this contest because it’s more of a starting pitching thing for me. And the final key to this is that both of these starting pitchers pitch quite well the first couple of times through a bating order. And that first couple of times through a bating order means you get deep into that first half bet, sometimes as far as the fifth. And then you’ll see guys, if they go third time through, their numbers drop off as far as their innings worked third time through over the course of a season, and maybe their ERA gets a tad bit higher. But if you can get those first two times through and have like a 1-0 game, you’re kind of sitting pretty. So that’s what I did. I played under first five innings. Has nothing to do with what we talked about during the course of the season, and first fives and all that kind of stuff. This is just a bet on these two starting pitchers, Wheeler and Quintana, keeping things under control.

And last check, the wind wasn’t blowing in as much as it was in Cleveland. The wind in Cleveland was supposed to be, I didn’t see it this morning yet, as we started the show, but it was supposed to be gusty. Like, 15 to 17 miles per hour straight in. Well in St. Louis, it’s blowing in, but it’s kind of left to right and not quite as brisk as it is in Cleveland. But anyway, first five under 3.5 Phillies and Cardinals, is what I did.

TC Martin:

Scott, I want to add to your point about Quintana. And you’re right, catchers should get a lot of credit, especially the veteran catchers. And I’ll go back and I’ll use Houston as an example, with Maldonado. Maldonado is a .160 hitter and he bats at the bottom of the order, but he’s not in that lineup nearly every day for that. He is 100% in there because the way he manages the pitchers. And to see this guy, what he does with the pitchers in pregame. And I’ve seen him spend hours upon hours with his starting pitchers and his relief pitchers and everything. And that’s why you’ll see catchers matched with certain pitchers with Major League Baseball. And you bring up a great point about Molina, especially the veteran guys. And what I’ve seen with Maldonado is just phenomenal, the way he has really nurtured guys like Valdez, and Javier, and Urquidy and people like that. So it is a big piece to the puzzle. That unless you’re a pitcher or you’re a catcher that really, that goes unnoticed. So great point on that.

And I want to throw in about Quintana too. He’s had actually 12 starts with the Cardinals. His record’s only 3-2. And a lot of people will look at, ah, it’s the same Quintana. But his era is 2.01. He’s actually been fantastic. And if you go back to his last two starts with Pittsburgh, his last 14 starts, he’s given up two earned runs or less. And he has had a start against Philly earlier this year, where he gave up no runs, four hits in a game. So keep that in mind. That yeah, Quintana has shined and he kind of goes under the radar. And he is getting a game one start here. So I just wanted to add that.

Scott Spritzer:

And that hard hit barrel rate stuff, I mean, that means so much more to me than a pitcher’s record, his win-loss record. Because now how many times have we seen, there’s like been two pitchers a year that’ll have phenomenal numbers WHIP and ERA, and you’ll see his record is like 4-4 into the season.

Anyway, but I just want to say this real quickly before Mark chimes. I’m happy that it went to 2.5 And I stayed off it, because I already see a base hit given up by McClanahan, in his first trip to the mound, the bottom of the first here. So just going to throw that out there, give you a little report on what’s going on.

TC Martin:

Basewinner, what do you got here?

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

Yeah, I like this game. I like the Phillies in the series, I think the better play for me, and I try to narrow it down. I like Seattle too, the series play. But I wanted to give you guys what I thought was the best play for each of these series. And in this case, I think the series play is better than the side play for the first game. And as far as this game goes, my model really likes the Phillies here. I’ve got it priced at -192. You look at Wheeler, he’s 21% better than average, 23rd out of 150 pitchers. I’m not that high on Quintana. I’ve got him at a 112. He’s 90th out of 150 pitchers.

And if you look at the most recent strikeout percentage, I think that this is kind of indicative of how these guys are to form, in my opinion. And I know there’s some, Scott for instance, mentioned some location metrics and some hard hit metrics. And those are important. I think those are harder from a correlation standpoint, from a reliability standpoint, to trust. I think you need a larger sample size and I’ll get into that in just a second. But just the last 150 plate appearances strikeout percentage. You look at Wheeler, he’s 25.3%. And Quintana’s only 20%. And that kind of carries over from the whole year. You look at Wheeler, he’s 31% better than average as far as strikeout percentage, and Quintana’s not even to league average, with a 98.

One of the things that’s interesting to me in this game is, Quintana has really suppressed home runs this season. And in fact, last season he was at 21.4% home run to fly ball rate. This year it’s really scant, it’s 5.3%. To me, that’s more of a regressive stat unless a pitcher has done anything from a pitch mix standpoint to indicate that he’s done something differently. And he really hasn’t. The pitch mix is the same as it was last year. So to me, maybe there’s something with that location, Scott. I can maybe concede a little bit there. But if you look at the location comparison, this is Athletic pitching plus numbers. You look at the location comparison, Wheeler is in the 94th percentile. And Quintana’s good, but he’s only in the 73rd percentile. So we get a victory there. Stuff plus really favors Wheeler, although they’re not as high as I would think on Wheeler. He’s in the 57th percentile. But Quintana’s stuff plus number, 3rd percentile. So there’s a lot of things working there.

One thing I just wanted to touch on real fast is the bullpen three metric chart. If you look at Philly, they’ve actually kind of been better than what you would think. They’re 6th. And this is strikeout percentage and balls divided by pitches over the last 30 days. They’re 6th in baseball by that chart. And St. Louis is 28th. So we get a big advantage, I think, in the bullpen there. And Scott mentioned, St. Louis’ definitely preferred splits is versus left-handed pitching.

And I think that for tomorrow, I’ve got that game priced at -188. So definitely value on the series just from a pricing standpoint. On that real quick guys, sorry. I know there’s a lot of stuff to kind of go over. I’ve got the St. Louis Cardinals home team with a 40% chance to win this series, and they’re priced with a 57% chance to win this series. So a huge disparity in my line for this series versus what you can get in the market, and I think that’s the best play. I think the wrong team’s favored in the series here, guys.

Scott Spritzer:

If I was going to play a series, Mark. Well, we could talk about this later, but I was going to say, if I was going to play the series, it would be the Phillies. I would go that route. But I look at Quintana since he became a Cardinal. I don’t look at any stuff that happened as a Pirate. He’s got a different circumstance. And wins versus amount of games you’ve bet, that’s what I look at.

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

And the home run thing, he’s suppressing home runs, but how predictive is that number? You need a huge sample size to be predictive on that, I think.

Scott Spritzer:

Results, that’s all I care about baby, results.

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

Yeah. And I mean, we’ll see what happens. Just one thing before we move on, guys. I think that there’s a good bet at BetUS. It’s for the Phillies to sweep the series. That’s priced at +275. I think it should be priced at +133. So there’s a huge line disparity there. That’s a good bet as well, if you want to get a little bit more bang for your buck.

TC Martin:

One thing too, looking at the pitching matchups here, Wheeler 2-0 against the Cardinals this year. Went seven innings each one of those starts, too. So if you’re buying into that, take a look at that. He has performed very well against the Phills. All right, so we’ve got a series bet here with Basewinner, and then we got Scott with a first five play in this one as well, too. So that is part of their best MLB betting here today. But

Scott Spritzer:

That’s under, by the way. In case we didn’t make that clear, that it was under on that first five innings. So I don’t mind seeing Mark win, but let’s make it 0-0 going into the sixth.

TC Martin:

Right. First five under 3.5 runs for Scott, and then Basewinner has a series price, and he really likes the visiting team here. Which is somewhat unusual, considering that the visiting team is going to be the visiting team for every game. Again, unprecedented, like we talked about here. Looking at the series price here again guys, Cardinals -130, the home team. But Phillies even money in this one. So Basewinner does like that. All right, guys, let’s go to the next game. And let’s talk about the Seattle Mariners and the Toronto Blue Jays in this game that’s going to be a little bit later on today. And you got Alek Manoah going for the Toronto Blue Jays, and Luis Castillo who came on over from the Reds and has been the ace for the Seattle Mariners. The Jays a 123 favorite in this one. If you like Seattle, +113. Total in this one is seven shaded towards the under at -115. Basewinner, what do you think?

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

Oh TC, I’m going to play against you. I’m going to go with the Mariners here. I really like Castillo better than Manoah. And it’s controversial to some, I think. But Manoah’s walks and strikeouts really are concerning. And if you look at this particular game, you look at the last 150 played appearances for Castillo, he’s got a 28% strikeout rate. Now, that’s pretty impressive. But if you look at Manoah, his strikeout rate over his last 150 plate appearances is 0.193. It’s actually below league average. And if you look at my Basewinner number, I’ve got Manoah in at right about league average, at 101. And it kind of makes sense if you look at his game log. If you look at his last four starts, and we’ll go back from the four star back. He’s got five strikeouts, two walks; five strikeouts, four walks; eight strikeouts, two walks; four strikeouts, two walks. And I think that’s really kind of dangerous, that command that he hasn’t shown is pretty dangerous versus a Seattle team that, since the trade deadline, leads the league in away plate discipline at 0.531 walks divided by strikeouts. So I think that’s going to be a bad combination for Toronto.

And everybody’s been touting this Toronto team as, well, this is this power team and they’re going to hit more home runs. And home runs is really key in postseason baseball. The team that hits more home runs than the other team, your ROI on that is off the charts. I did a search on Killer Sports this morning. But what’s interesting is home runs per play appearances since the trade deadline. This is offensive. Number one team in baseball, your Seattle Mariners. 3.85% home runs per plate appearance. And that both at home and on the road. 3.94% home, 3.77% on the road. And Toronto’s 13th in baseball. 2.96%. So I think that that’s a surprising number to a lot of people in that particular comparison, comparing since the trade deadline. I mean, it’s hard to go against Seattle there, if you’re looking for the power team, in my opinion. So for all those reasons, I’m going with Seattle, guys.

TC Martin:

All right. Scott?

Scott Spritzer:

Yeah, I want to see if Winker is going to play. I think he was listed as questionable as we kicked off the show today. The DH for Seattle. I think that matters. But I mean, nothing that Mark says, I’m going to dispute. However, it looks like we’re going to go 2-1, even though it’s not a best bet here for me, 2-1 on Toronto. So Mark could have bragging rights on Monday if Seattle comes through here.

But you look at Luis Castillo’s road numbers as a member of the Mariners, they’re garbage. 4.81 ERA in six starts, 1.42 WHIP to go with it. He allows too many batters to reach base, and they find their way home. That’s what he’s been doing on the road as a member of the Seattle Mariners. Alec Manoah, eight quality starts in a row, I believe it is now. I mean, the guy has given up six earned runs and 47 base runners in those eight starts. That spans 54 innings of work. His shortest outing in those eight starts is six full innings. Both teams have been taking care of business, in today’s situation, as far as their offensive metrics and what they’re facing today. And that goes back to about September 1st, when I looked at those. Seattle’s been outstanding on the road in this spot since September 1st. Toronto’s home numbers against righties, they’ve been fantastic too since September 1st. It would really be a bummer of Winker’s not out there, because I’d like to see this team at its offensive best. And so we’ll see if he does get to play. It’s a neck injury, so we’ll see.

Here’s a thing, Mark. I’m not too sure I can play Toronto moving forward, after this game, when I look at the pitching matchups. But in this particular game, I do like the Blue Jays.

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

Yeah, I think tomorrow’s pitching matchup, Ray versus Gausman, I think that’s a tough matchup for Seattle. I like Gausman better than Ray, and Ray’s been, talk about garbage, he’s been garbage.

TC Martin:

Yeah. And Ray’s coming back. Remember, he won the Cy Young with who last year? The Toronto Blue Jays. That’s going to be interesting. Alek Manoah, guys, first playoff start, but I’ll tell you what I like about Manoah. I just loved his quote yesterday when he was talking about, he’s not feeling any pressure whatsoever. And he says, “Hey, pressure is something you put in your tires.” So I love his demeanor, I love what this guy’s done. And like you said, Scott, he’s had what? Eight quality starts in a row. The guy is 16-7, he is going to be the Al Cy Young Award runner up to Verlander. He’s probably going to finish second. ERA has been fantastic at 2.44 and he’s been pretty consistent. And he has one start against Seattle earlier this year, where he was very good. He went seven and a third. Two runs, only three hits. Seattle has won this series over Toronto, five games to two, but that’s when kind of Toronto was slumping and they had some injuries. So I don’t put a lot of stock into what these teams have done, for the most part.

I will tell you why I like Toronto. Yes, I like Manoah, but I love these Toronto bats when they’re healthy, and they’re healthy right now. And in this round, guys, it is definitely skewed towards the team with the higher seed here. And the Toronto Blue Jays have one of the best home field advantages in baseball. And in my opinion, they have the best home field advantage of any team in this opening round series. They play well at home. But if you’ve ever been to a game there, if you watch the game there, whether it’s TV or whatever, this crowd is loud, they’re boisterous. You got to remember, they have been amped up for three years because they couldn’t have games there. And this team has showed that, when you got a guy like George Springer at the top followed by Bichette, and Guerrero, and Chapman. I mean, I just think this is a breakout series for the Toronto Blue Jays. They play so well at home.

And you talk about Castillo, I’m glad you brought that up, Scott. Because I’m not as high on Castillo as a lot of people are. And I remember Castillo from his days at Cincinnati. And you got to remember, this guy, he had one postseason start in 2020, but that was really nothing. So he doesn’t have any experience as well either. I just think for this Seattle team, which is still a very young team, I think the stage is going to be a little bit too big for them, and I do not like the way they’ve closed the season. Their bats have been horrendous.

Scott Spritzer:

Well, wait. Mark’s right about, I mean, Seattle’s offensive numbers the last month have been really good in [inaudible 00:30:12].

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

Yeah.

TC Martin:

They have, but they haven’t been winning games.

Scott Spritzer:

I don’t want to say they stink on offense.

TC Martin:

Yeah, but they haven’t been winning games. And look at the competition they’ve faced. I mean, they haven’t faced any contenders down the stretch, and they’re life and death to score runs.

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

Come on, Detroit’s got the best starting pitching in the league. No, just kidding. But you know what? To fair.

TC Martin:

Mark “The Bird” Fidrych, let’s go.

Scott Spritzer:

Fidrych.

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

To be fair to Detroit, they’ve got a good bullpen. They hit good off of the Detroit bullpen, which is decent, so.

Scott Spritzer:

Mark The Bird, I love it. Mark Fidrych reference in 2022.

TC Martin:

There you go. I could’ve went Jack Morris, but I thought of you, Scott. You could appreciate The Bird.

Scott Spritzer:

I like Fidrych, yeah of course, of course, absolutely.

TC Martin:

Make sure you brush your teeth in between innings, Scott, okay?

Scott Spritzer:

That’s right. Well, who was that kid for the Cubs that did that?

TC Martin:

Turk Wendell.

Scott Spritzer:

He would run off his field. Turk Wendell. He would sit there and brush his teeth after every half inning.

TC Martin:

With black licorice, don’t forget.

Scott Spritzer:

Yeah, exactly.

TC Martin:

All right. So Basewinner and myself, we’re on opposite sides of this one. He’s taking Seattle in this game. I am taking the Blue Jays in this game.

Scott Spritzer:

Do either one of you guys like the over in this game at all? I didn’t play it, but I’m just, as we’re talking about, it almost feels like a nice spot. And again, you get low totals because of the playoffs, but it almost feels like a potential over here. I mean, this is the one game out of the three where I was absolutely not going to play the under. I didn’t play the over on it, but I was absolutely not going to play the under.

TC Martin:

Yeah, I’m with you on that too. If there’s going to be an over game, I think it’s this game. The others are unders, I think.

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

I’ve got a 7.9 projection on a seven total. So yeah, that would be one if you want to root for runs, I would suggest that would probably be your best option for today’s card.

TC Martin:

All right, there you go. Pressure: tires only. I love that quote.

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

But you know what? When you said that, TC, the dang pressure light on my car is up, so that just…

Scott Spritzer:

Oh that’s funny.

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

And I’ve got to drive like an hour to Buckeye right after the show, and I’m going to just let it go until I get back from there. So I hope I don’t have a blowout.

TC Martin:

You better take a Lyft or an Uber, my friend, okay? That’s what you better do. There you go.

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

Well I don’t know. You guys, does that happen to you? The pressure light comes on, on the tires, and then it goes off. And then you take in, and it’s awful.

TC Martin:

It has to do with the temperature, too. When there’s a temperature drop or a temperature rise, that’s when you have that. Yeah, so we have that out here a lot in Vegas.

Scott Spritzer:

Mine usually never pops up, Mark, until I’m about an hour away and we’re packing the car to go like on a six hour drive on vacation. That’s about the time that it usually pops up. So I guess that’s better than being out in the middle of nowhere.

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

The timing’s never good on that. It never comes over on a weekend when you have time to go attend to it, you know?

Scott Spritzer:

You’re running to the convenience store to grab a soda, it never happens then. But I guess that’s better than being halfway from Vegas to LA, out in the middle of nowhere.

TC Martin:

I think Basewinner, you better call Alek Manoah. He can help you with your tire pressure. There you go. He’s not worried about it.

All right, series price on this one, guys. Let’s take a look at that. Toronto’s 160. You got to lay a little bit, but again, I’m playing the series price in this. So add this to my best bets as well, too. Toronto’s going to win this series. I’ll lay the 160 with that. And again, it is solely based on three home games for the Blue Jays. They’re not going to lose two out of three at home, that’s the way I feel. Basewinner, you may disagree with that. Scott, you can chime in real quick.

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

Yeah, I disagree with it. I think that the wrong team’s favored here. I have Seattle winning this series 56% of the time, and BetUS has Toronto winning the series 62% of the time. So yeah, my numbers really disagree with it. I like Seattle in game three as well. So yeah, I disagree with you, TC. But since I don’t have a play on the show for the series, maybe Seattle, the best outcome for the show, if Seattle wins today, then you get two back. Because they could very well win tomorrow. I mean, Gausman versus Ray, I think that favors Gausman.

Scott Spritzer:

And when I said “wow” involuntarily, it wasn’t a knock against Basewinner thinking Seattle’s going to win. It was, you think the wrong team’s favored. That’s strong. I mean, that’s a strong opinion there. Based on really good stats that Basewinner, as far as I know, is one of the only guys who does that kind of stuff. That’s why I love listening to your stuff, Mark. But that was the “wow”. It wasn’t, oh my gosh, I disagree. It was like, wow, that’s something. When your price is that much different.

TC Martin:

Scott, you don’t have to apologize. I disagree with him.

Scott Spritzer:

No, it’s not.

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

Oh, I’ve been laughed out of the show before, it can’t be any worse than that.

Scott Spritzer:

It’s not an apology at all. It’s, I’m impressed. Because when a guy sees a +130 series and the team is playing no home games, and his numbers show that that team should be the favorite, I think that’s something you kind of got to think about. I still think, gosh, if Toronto wins today, I still think Seattle can win this series. I’m not going to bet on it. I tend to agree with you, TC, that I do think Toronto is going to win this series. If Toronto loses today, I think that Seattle can still win this series. The other way around, I’m not sure. I think this is a pretty big pitching advantage today for Toronto with Manoah over Castillo, and I mentioned Castillo’s road numbers. And if they get a win out of Castillo in this game, I don’t know if Toronto’s going to win the next few games. I don’t know if they could do that the next couple of games. So, you know.

TC Martin:

And this comes back to what we were talking about the other day, too, about believing in your numbers. Believe in your handicapping, believe in your numbers and back it. And that’s what Mark’s doing here. Scott, you talked about that the other day. And I’m the same way. If you feel that, you’re handicapping this series or a game or whatever, and stay convicted with your numbers

Scott Spritzer:

I like a guy who’s not pussyfooting around. I mean, Mark’s numbers come out and say this is the side, and he’s not going to he-haw about it. He just comes out and says, I like this side, my numbers say this side, and I’m either going to win or I’m going to go down fighting. I mean, I like that. I just love that kind of attitude when it comes to guys who step to the window. And I know he’s given both teams a chance to win. When he looks at his numbers, he’s not going in with any kind of prejudice towards one side or another. And that’s the way I try to do things. And it’s not easy, sometimes human nature comes into play. So when he said that, I was just impressed, once again is how I’ll put it.

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

Thanks Scott, I appreciate it. I love the way you guys handicapped too. I really respect all the stuff that you say and I take it to heart. And I think it’s a really good balance, I really do. Because we all have different ways that we approach the card, and I think that they’re all good.

TC Martin:

And again, not to pat ourselves in the back, but it kind of shows in the records as well too. So, again.

Scott Spritzer:

But no group hugs, that’s enough. Let’s start hating each other.

TC Martin:

Let’s go, let’s go, let’s start a street fight.

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

Well, I thought me and TC did a pretty good job on that.

Scott Spritzer:

You did.

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

Because we’re oppo, but we didn’t get in each others face on it, so.

Scott Spritzer:

Darn it.

TC Martin:

Next up guys, Padres and Mets. And probably this is going to get the most attention throughout the country, and that’s why they’re throwing this one in prime time tonight. The Mets are a 145 favorite. Max Scherzer going to the mound for the Mets and Yu Darvish going for the Padres in this one. This is the big money series, as I like to call it, guys, as far as huge payrolls. Because both these teams have monster payrolls here. So again, low total in this one too. What? 6.5, I believe is the number in this one too. Again, if you’re looking at season series, the Padres won four out of six games against the Mets.

Here’s my take on this, guys. You know how much I love Mad Max. Love Mad Max. But I don’t believe he’s completely healthy. There’s something wrong here with him. He’s had two stints on the IL, and one was fairly recent, it was a shorter stint than the one he had going back in June and July. His last start against the Atlanta Braves, he went five and two thirds, gave up four runs, nine hits. Three of his last seven games, he’s given up four runs or more. Now, he’s been good against the lower echelon teams, but those starts that I mentioned, those three, he had two against Atlanta, one against the Yankees. So I’m a little concerned with Scherzer. I do not think he’s the same Mad Max that we saw with the Nats, going back a couple years ago. He’s going to be a bulldog, he’s going to go out there, he’s a playoff madman. So I mean, it’s just great theater watching him pitch, especially in the postseason. Those Mets fans are going to be jacked up and it’s going to be good. I’m looking forward to that.

And as far as Yu Darvish goes, you know what you’re going to get with Darvish. He’s going to get his eight, his nine strikeouts. He has a tendency to give up some runs. But I’ll say this about Darvish, talking about matchups, if you buy into it or not, you got to take this serious. He’s 2-0 against the Mets this year, and his ERA is below 1.00. 0.64. 5-0 career. The Mets have never beaten Yu Darvish. And Darvish had some years where he gave up a lot of hits and a lot of home runs. So that tells me something there. And with these Mets and these free swinging bats, they kind of scare me a little bit. I really don’t like either team’s offense right now. I think we’re going to get a lot of low scoring games in this, I think we’re going to get some unders. But that’s my take on this series, guys, with these two pictures today. Basewinner?

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

Yeah, this is an interesting series for me because in this particular game, I think San Diego’s the value in this play. In the series, I actually like the Mets. I’ve got the series priced, Mets should be -203. In the market, they’re -175. But let’s take a look at this game first. And we can, I think maybe, split hairs between Darvish and Scherzer. I’ve got Darvish fifth in the 150 rankings. I’ve got Scherzer eighth. You look at the pitching plus the Athletic puts out, Darvish 95th percentile, Scherzer is in the 85th percentile. So both comparisons there, I would say are equal or favoring Darvish. If you look at the last 150 plate appearance strikeout percentage, those are super close too, Darvish is 29.3%. Very good. And so is Scherzer at 28.7.

I think really kind of where the pricing. And for me, I’ve got this game, I’ve got the Padres as a favorite of this game, -102. Where the pricing differential occurs is, I’ve got the Padres’ offense better than the Mets. Not significantly better than the Mets, but I’ve got the Padres’ offense, the way it’s comprised since the trade deadline, at best in baseball versus right-handed pitching. They’re a 120 projected weighted runs created plus. Versus the Mets, pretty good, 113 projected weighted runs created plus.

You look at the relief, I’ve got an edge here for the Mets. One of the things about the bullpen though. And this might end up, if you play the Padres, it might be better to play it on the first five innings, now that I’m kind of talking through this. You look at the top end of the bullpen, this is closer, setup eight, setup seven. And I ranked all 12 playoff teams in strikeout percentage and aggregated the last a hundred plate appearances for those particular guys. So it’s a very recent strikeout percentage, number one, that I think is very important and reliable. And the top team in baseball going into the playoffs, the Dodgers. 0.395 (39.5%) strikeout percentage. Houston is number two. 36.3%. And then the Mets are number three at 35%. San Diego is down, not bad, 28.7%, but that would rank them ninth out of the 12 playoff teams. So I think you do get an edge with the Mets bullpen there.

But in this particular, the way I have it priced, I think it’s pretty much a pick ’em game here. And then pricing the series out, and this was really kind of challenging for me because, what are they going to do with deGrom? I think that Showalter might not even start him tomorrow, and I don’t know if that’s official. I think that maybe he announced him to start game two. But who knows? They might say, if they win tonight, they might go Bassitt and save deGrom for the NLDS. So it’s hard to price. You got to put deGrom in there at some point, so I do have him put in at some point. In this particular, I have him in the third game. The Mets a 76% chance to win that game. And they got a 67% chance to win the series. That puts it at -203. So an interesting series from a pricing standpoint, kind of a fun one to price. But I’d go San Diego this game, Mets for the series.

TC Martin:

Scotty?

Scott Spritzer:

This was the toughest game of them all for me to handicap, to come up with a play. I told you that I like the under first five in the Cleveland game in game one. But if you couldn’t get three, down to 2.5, I jumped ship on that one. And then of course, my best met for the show is that Phillies-Cardinals game. And then I’m involved a little bit in that Seattle-Toronto game.

This one, I’m steering clear of and watching it. I’ll tell you a couple reasons why. If I knew that Scherzer was his normal self, if he was Scherzer-like, and he was healthy and we knew for sure he was, I did a number on this and I actually priced it close to 160. If he was 100% healthy. We don’t know if he is. If he is, he comes out, they probably win this game. If he’s not healthy, well, this could be a Darvish [inaudible 00:43:21], first game on the road type of thing.

You mentioned three of Scherzer’s last seven starts have been un-Scherzer-like. He gave up four runs in all three of those so-so outings. But also, as you said, all three came on the road. Yankees are pretty darn good in the Bronx. Someone told me one time that the Braves are pretty good at home too, so I’ve heard that rumor. So part of that is, man, he played against really tough opposition in really tough parks. And maybe he’s not the Scherzer that we saw when Washington won the World Series, but he’s good enough to win games like this at home. We’ll see. I mean again, it’s the toughest handicap of all the games in the Wild Card round as far as I’m concerned today.

Yu Darvish took some heat earlier about his road road results. But it’s like, man, he found the sweet elixir. Because over his last, What? He’s been pretty good. Like, in four or five road starts in a row now. So he’s got it together on the road, not just at Petco. I’m a bit concerned with his postseason numbers, and that does give pause for concern a little bit because he has had some issues when the pressure has been on, going back to Alec Manoah. Apparently Darvish didn’t receive the word that that’s what you put in your tires, because he was feeling the pressure in his postseason outings.

But boy this is tough. Because if you get Scherzer on his game and he’s not feeling any kind of arm weariness, if it just happened to be on the road against really good home teams when he struggled, then it’s going to be awfully tough, I think, for the Padre bats to get to him. Tough spot, man. Anybody could talk me into a side on this, and I’d still say, I’m not playing this one, I’m just watching it. So that’s where I’m at on this game.

TC Martin:

Yeah. And with Scherzer, it’s not so much I get concerned with his arm. He’s had kind of chronic neck issues in the past.

Scott Spritzer:

Sure.

TC Martin:

And that’s kind of, I think maybe where it is again. I’m not going to speculate, here.

Scott Spritzer:

Well it happened earlier in the season.

TC Martin:

And I don’t know that he’s hurt, but again, he just doesn’t look right. And again, for a guy like that to spend two times on the IL and then one fairly recently, it’s just… And again, I mean, he’s got a lot of wear and tear on that body. I mean, he’s a long time veteran.

Scott Spritzer:

Sure.

TC Martin:

All right, guys.

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

Scott, you made a good poin. Sorry, I just want to jump in real quick because Scott made a good point about Darvish’s most recent road starts. So since August 7th, he has 52 strikeouts and only seven walks. That’s impressive.

Scott Spritzer:

Absolutely.

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

So this is going to be a good game. It was interesting that they didn’t start deGrom here, kind of interesting strategy. I kind of like it, actually.

TC Martin:

Well you got to start Mad Max. I mean, the veteran experience, he’s been here before. I mean again, you can say ace 1 and 1A with those two guys. But we do know that Scherzer, despite we’re thinking that something might be wrong with him, he’s more healthy than deGrom. So let’s go with the series price here, guys. Let’s take a look at this. Mets and Padres, this is a very competitive series. Remember, the Mets have all three games at home in Queens. Mets a 175 favorite and the Padres 145. You guys like a dog here at all?

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

No.

Scott Spritzer:

I was just going to say, I don’t know. I mean it’s like, if Scherzer are a deGrom are on their game, this is over pretty fast. But, are they on their game? It’s just a complete pass from me, series and this game. Because deGrom looked a little funky down the stretch a couple of times too. So it’s just too tough to decide, unless you’re in that clubhouse, on if these guys are healthy or not. If they are, it’s game over, the Mets move on.

TC Martin:

Like I said, not crazy about either team’s bats, where they are at right now. Especially the Padres, that’s a little bit concerning. Okay guys, there we go. Let’s take some questions real quick before we get off and start watching some games here. Dave has a question regarding the Cardinals. He likes the Cardinals plus a run and a half here today. Guys, what do you think about that? Laying a bunch of juice for plus a run and a half?

Scott Spritzer:

What’s the price? I was going to say, it’s got to be pretty hefty, huh?

TC Martin:

It’s got to be pretty hefty. I don’t have that in front of me. But again, I know that the Basewinner likes Philadelphia in the series. I think it’s tough, man. It’s really tough to go against any of these home teams. Especially as you know, Scott, I mean, that Cardinal home field is very, very tough as well too. So I think that series is a toss up here. If you want to lay juice, you want to take a run and a half, I mean, that’s fine, but you’re going to be laying some heavy juice on that as well too.

First five play, there’s a question here from Gupree, and he’s asking about the Blue Jays in a first five today. Any thoughts on that, Scott?

Scott Spritzer:

I like it for everything we mentioned, TC. With Manoah and what he’s done his last eight starts, going up against a guy who’s struggled on the road badly since he’s been part of that rotation. I like it, first five on the Jays.

TC Martin:

All right. JT has a question. Wants to know what we think is harder to handicap. The playoff games going forward or the last day of the regular season? For me guys, forget the last day of the regular season and forget really any part of the regular season. I do look at, okay, how a team finished. Maybe within the last week. And I mentioned that with Seattle, with the momentum. But really, you got to look at health. I think that’s the main thing that you look at. And look at the matchup, who you’re facing, as well too. Look at these pitching matchups, look at the team matchups, look at that. But who’s playing well right now. And look at teams, do they have good road records? And you do have a couple good teams that have very good road records in all of these series as well too. So that’s how I would handicap it. What about you Basewinner?

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

Oh, that last day of the season was really tough to handy. I don’t know how I got to win out of that. I’m happy with it. But I mean, wow, that was a challenging card. The playoffs, to me, I enjoy handicapping the playoffs because you have a lot of really good pitching. I think that the good pitchers are probably some of the most reliable numbers. And not only in baseball, but in any sport. So I think you can really kind of get precise with your pricing. So I love the playoffs, I love watching good pitching, it’s my favorite thing. So not just with the wild card round, but kind of moving forward next week. Got some good things to say about a Houston, TC. We’ll save that for Tuesday’s show.

Scott Spritzer:

You know also? I was going to say real quickly is that, when it comes to the playoffs, you also get to factor managers into the mix a little bit more. The quality managers that have been there and done the right thing as opposed to the wrong thing. And I have a little plus/minus system that I use on managers, that I only use for the postseason. If I get a Dusty Baker versus Dave Roberts matchup, guess who’s the plus, guess who’s the minus in a World Series best of seven.

The three days that I hate to handicap, and not everybody does this, as far as day one of the season, opening day, I hate opening day for my style of capping. I hate the first game out of the All Star break. I never, I mean, I’ll play a game or two on opening day, I might play a game on the very final day of the regular season, even though I hate the final day of the regular season, I don’t remember the last time I played a first game after the All Star break. So those three days. Opening day, first game after the break, final day of the regular season. Boy, I don’t like those days. I start getting the shakes when I look at the card, so I just try to stay away from it.

But the playoffs are a different animal. And again, I think you got to factor in managers who have made the right calls in the past against managers who haven’t, and have a little plus/minus system, even if it’s only an informal plus/minus system.

TC Martin:

Great point. Let’s close this out with Ed’s a question here. He wants us to give us a quick handicap on tomorrow’s early game, Cleveland and Tampa Bay. Tomorrow, you got Tyler Glasnow going against Tristan McKenzie. I don’t know how much plays into you guys handicapping about what happens today, how you play tomorrow’s game. But just going to it blindly, a quick thought on Glasnow and Mackenzie in game two of the series tomorrow?

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

Yeah, I’ve got a price -101 Cleveland. Glasnow’s really hard to price, though. I mean, he’s got a really limited body of work. You don’t know how deep he’s going to be. I can tell you I have him in the model, 29% better than average. But I can say that that’s kind of a soft number because he just doesn’t have a large body of work. So it’s a tough game. I would almost recommend staying away from that game. Just because of, if it was during the regular season, I’d want to see more work out of Glasnow than I have.

Scott Spritzer:

Just, I’m looking at my notes right now, that I make. I think you said 101, mark? You make Cleveland a -101?

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

-101.

Scott Spritzer:

Yeah. Mine’s -108, but I don’t want to back myself into a corner. Because depending on what happens today, I might actually come back on a play. I don’t know we’re going to see these bullpens get work. Both of these pitchers right now, they’re into, I think, the top of the fourth and there’s no score. And both pitchers are cleaning up right now in this Cleveland-Tampa Bay game. So I just kind of want to see how it plays out before I jump in tomorrow.

TC Martin:

Okay. I expect a lot of unders in all of these series. All right guys, let’s wrap things up today with our best bets. And we got some that we like today for game one of the wild card round. Scott’s going with the Phillies-Cardinals first five play under the total of 3.5. In this one, Basewinner’s going with the Phillies in his series price. Likes the Phillies at even money to win the series. And then Basewinner and myself are on opposite ends. I’m going with the Toronto Blue Jays and Game one today. He is taking Seattle and taking +113. And then I’m also going with the Blue Jays to win the series over the Mariners. So there we go. So we got a couple series plays, we got a total play. And then Basewinner and myself, we’re on opposite ends of Toronto-Seattle. But looking forward to the playoffs. It is the post-season, it’ll be exciting and we will be here for you.

A programming note that, no show on Monday because there are no baseball games on Monday. Because these series go Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Off day Monday. And then the divisional round will begin on Tuesday. So make that programming note that we will be back at it again next Tuesday here on the MLB show on BetUS TV. Remember to like and subscribe to the show and to the channel. Also follow us individually on Twitter. Some good follows there. And of course, @BetUSTV on Twitter as well. Parting words, Scott Spritzer, for the weekend?

Scott Spritzer:

Go under in St. Louis. Let’s see. Just everybody have a great weekend. Man, there’s a whole bunch to do. Don’t go crazy on your bets this weekend. And just again, always play within your bank roll. I mean, that’s just the way I say it every time. Always play within your bank roll. Keep your bank roll separate from the bank roll that you pay your bills with. And I’m going to have a whole bunch of college and pro football going along with baseball. So those TVs I have in my house, we talked about the other day, they’re going to be burning all day long from eight o’clock in the morning until midnight Pacific time. So can’t wait for the weekend. And I’m still waiting for that hotdog invite to really come across on a text from TC here, Mark. So we’ll see if that comes through.

TC Martin:

Well, you won’t get it this weekend, because unfortunately, I’ll be on the road this weekend.

Scott Spritzer:

There we go. Yeah, Yeah, there we go.

TC Martin:

All right. I almost took a picture of my hot dog when I was at Freddy’s yesterday, and sent it to you, Scott. So, See? I changed it up a little bit today. All right Basewinner, enjoy your weekend, my friend. And good luck to you for the rest of the series, for the entire series as well.

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

Well yeah, but if you’re rooting for me, you got to be rooting against yourself. So I think that you’re rooting for Toronto to win the last two games in that series. It’s going to be an interesting series.

TC Martin:

They all are.

Mark Basewinner Borchard:

I mean, I think that we have, it’s cool to see Seattle in the playoffs. I really like that. I like San Diego in the playoffs as well. I mean, I think it’s good for baseball, to get a little bit of variety.

Scott Spritzer:

That’s a bummer, if both of those teams lose the series, they don’t get a home game. Especially Seattle, being so long, that’s just a bummer, but oh well.

TC Martin:

Yeah, it is. All right. We wanted a little expanded playoffs. We got it, but at the cost of having no travel, so it is what it is. All right, guys, have a good one. We appreciate everyone for joining us here on the MLB Show. Again, we will be back at it Tuesday for the divisional round of Major League Baseball postseason. MLB Show, for Scott Spritzer and the Basewinner, Mark Borchard, TC Martin saying, so long. Catch you next Tuesday at BetUS TV.