Aaron Judge Returns + Shohei Ohtani Struggles | Pitch Clock

0:00Dude, I got the touch to Josh Beckett. Did-did-did? ... ... ... ... Welcome to the pitch clock. Here's the pitch. A two-part baseball segment, combining a nostalgic baseball trivia game and an interview with an expert. This is the pitch clock. The pitch clock is back. Ah, for blood. That's how I would talk to Josh Beckett if I met him, by the way. How did it just back it? I just talked to him. I was the first person to ask him a question during his unveiling of his Marlin's Legends Hall of Fame like, plaque. And then I interviewed him on the broadcast. And I got to tell him. I told him. I was like, hey, Josh Beckett. I was eight years old when you guys went to the World Series. Thank you so much for that. He was like, oh, so cool. You're from down here? And I was like, yeah, man. It was great. It was a very cool experience. And now, detrain this week. Good times. Hey. Baseball. We're tied in Artribia. Yes. That's very exciting. Jack McMullan. Not in your hearts, though. I'm winning by an at-

1:00I don't know about that, dude. I don't know about that. I think he's probably right. Let's break this tie. What do we got going on today as our trivia? So you guys know I like to make things about myself on the show. I was like, what's up? Are we doing that? No, I was in New York a couple of weeks ago. And I took in a Yankee game. Yankees blew out the red socks on that day. They hit like five home runs in the night. Didn't you? Anyway, I came back from New York. I was feeling really good about New York. I loved that city very much. And I was like, you know what? We haven't played Jeopardy in a while. Nice. We've played some Mets and Yankees theme Japanese. Love it. Let's do it. So your category is this week. Very simple. We've got some Mets history questions. We've got some Yankees history questions. We've got some series history questions. And then we've got all faces, final places. Great. All of these players played for, I believe, the New York Mets and the New York Yankees. Who am I? You believe? You believe? You believe? You believe? You believe? You believe? You believe? You believe? That's right. The board is yours. Let's start with Mets history for 200. Okay. He only spent seven seasons in Queens,

2:01but his 264 home runs are the most in team history. Jeremy Tache. Mike Piazza. That is incorrect. Cody, would you like to take stab? David or I? That is also incorrect. The answer is my buddy, Peter Lonzo. Oh, or the Gator. We're not doing negatives, correct? Correct. That's right. Let's start here not getting Peter Lonzo as the Mets home. All right. I'm home run leader. Okay. He broke the record last year. Anyway, Jeremy, the board is still yours. I really love it when Ethan condescends. Seeing the answers is correct. This literally, it was like a big thing that happened in the major league baseball last year. I think the audience probably loves it too. Yeah. Yeah. 400. Yep. This Hall of Famers, the Mets all-time leader in strikeouts with 2541, nearly 700 more than second place on this list. Jeremy Tache. Tom Seaver. Correct. Mets for 600. Okay. This Hall of Fame left these last act with the Mets was giving up seven runs in point one innings to the Marlins in the last game of the 2007 season.

3:02Chris Cody. Tom Glaven. Damn. That is correct. I feel like it was slightly premature. I'll give it to you. I'll give it to you. I'll give it to you. Chris Cody, the board is yours. I like, finish that sentence. Nothing. That ruin, that ruin my buddy Alex Riefman's eighth birthday. No one cares about that. It does. Why don't you say that? You said that right now. I care for people. I care. What's your- That sentence is going in your review. Just pick. It boards yours. Okay. New old faces, final places, 200. Okay. Where did Carlos Beltron finish his career? Chris Cody. Oh, I mean there's no harm in guessing. You did- Yeah, I did the asteris. He finished with the asteris. What? That's too late. All right. Give him the 200. Thank you. Our 2026 baseball expert for today makes me feel insecure about the tone of my own voice. And makes me feel like I got to do my limited fake, Benetti doing boog voice here.

4:05Jack McMullen of Just Baseball. And of course, the radio voice of the Miami Marlins joins me. Today nobody knows more about baseball than Jack. Jack, thank you for spending some time with us. Yeah, of course. Have you guys heard Benetti's Sean McDonough impression? Yes, of course. We're totally like Flynn. Dan literally with you. Yeah. Every single time that he is on our show, Dan basically turns him into a jukebox of needing to do impressions. And it ends up going all the way back to like the 40s and different characters there. So he is a character in his own right. I love Benetti. And I'm grateful to have you here as well, Jack, because we got some big names in baseball to talk about today. As we head down the stretch here, there are injuries on both ends of the spectrum. One guy coming back, one guy who's been struggling both of whom are last year's MVP's. And I want to start with Aaron Judge, who finally, first time since the end of May returns to the Yankees lineup this week. It's a big deal for the Yankees who have really struggled not in terms of wins and losses,

5:10but offensively since he went away. They're actually one of the worst teams in terms of scoring, which might shocks some people who are listening. What should our expectations be for Judge and how does this sort of shift the landscape of what's going on in the American League? It's funny you lay that out because I think a lot of people would expect, oh, they're the Yankees. They're going to be the Bronx Bombers no matter what. But it really is that simple at points when best hitter on planet gets hurt and line up gets worse. That makes a lot of sense, right? So I guess that makes sense that the Yankees took a serious downturn. I think you can expect a guy that is shaking off a little bit of rust, to be honest with you. But I also think you can expect the best hitter on the planet to show flashes for the final three weeks and be rip-roaring and ready to go for the month of October. It is a month that he has historically not performed to his season averages in. When you think about the Yankees and the playoffs, you think about Stanton really showing up and showing out. A lot of people happen to think about Judge kind of stooping down a level.

6:12But Aaron Judge, I believe the postseason OPS is still about like 810, 820. He's still a really good player. He's just not the 1050 OPS guy that regular season Judge has been over the last three, four years. I think that's more coincidental than anything because we're talking about a week and a half two week sample versus a six month sample every year. So I think you're going to see flashes of Judge for the final three weeks. But I also think you're going to see him go through a major league adjacent rehab. I hope nobody forgets that Shohei Otoni went through a two month ramp up process on the mount last year before punching out 10 and hitting three homers in the NLCS. Otoni had outings where he went in inning and then he went to and then he went three and then he went four and he built out to the point where he could go six in K-10. Judge I'm not saying is like going to DH for five innings and then sit and then DH for seven. But like there is a world that he plays right field for seven innings in his first game

7:13back or the world where he DHs and then sits like you're going to see a lot of scheduled off days for Aaron Judge. It doesn't make any sense to have Judge rehab with the summer set patriots. You're right. You should be rehabbing with the New York Yankees and you're going to see a rehab assignment type schedule. That is a really interesting point because I think people always anticipate when these guys come back. All right. It's full force and that's likely not the case. The whole premise is let's get Aaron Judge ready for this postseason and that's the most important thing with about two and a half three weeks left to go. You brought him up yourself. Shohei Otoni and you brought up a previous injury. This guy has been riddled with injuries all season long. Get talking about any sort of MVP race anymore. We're talking about can Shohei Otoni get back to his normal self over the last three weeks since August 20th. Shohei is hitting under 200 like he is really, really struggling offensively. He's finally officially ruled himself out from pitching for the rest of this season and admittedly he's dealing with several different ailments. So how concerned should the Dodgers be here as he has really been the thing despite how

8:19great their offensive players are around him. He's the thing that sort of makes them go. The big thing that I would be concerned about is this guy's power zapped because we've seen him go through Homer droughts that we haven't seen from Otoni in a Dodger uniform and we didn't see since it was young rookie Otoni or second year Otoni. So I'm just wondering if that 50 Homer guy is in there this year and he'll be back next year. There's no doubt about that. I'm wondering if he needs an offseason to get his legs back under him and his bicep back you know on him. I can't say under him because the bicep is technically like above his waist but I just don't know if this is the year where Otoni is full form in the batter's box and even if it's 70% Otoni it's a top 10 hitter and major league base. That's right. Chris 400. Where did Bobby Abrayu finish his career? Jeremy. Angels. Incorrect. Chris. Oh. Sorry.

9:19So do I. What is it? I'm going to say it. Five, four, three, two, one. Yankees. The New York Mets. We heard it. Yeah. That's the audio audience. That's who he was playing on in the photo. Yeah. You got to throw your arms. You got to keep it on your toes. 600. Where did David Cohn finish his career? Chris. Yankees. Jeremy. Oh, so no. Dodgers. The New York Mets. You're so annoying. Oh, that's so tough. I knew it was Mets or Yankees, but then it's so tough. I didn't. You sure the Yankees? 800. Where did Curtis Granderson finish his career? Jeremy. Marlins. That is correct. Yeah. I'll go to a thousand. Okay. Where did Robbie Cunow finish his career? Jeremy. Mariners. Incorrect. Chris. Oh. Goddamn. Other than Mexico. Five. Four. Yep. Diamondbacks.

10:20Incorrainders. He was in Atlanta, Brave, at the end of the year. Whoa. I forgot it. He played for the Brains. That was post-second Spanish. Wow. That's crazy. Yeah. My God. All right. Jeremy, the board is yours. All right. Let's keep rounding out Mets history. Let's go to 800. Yep. Very practical. He calls every Mets game and needs first baseman in gold gloves 11, but is somehow not in the Hall of Fame. Jeremy. That is correct. Mets history 1000. Everybody knows the Yankees play New York New York after their wins. But this funky hit rings out in city field every time the Mets raise the apple after a victory. Chris Cody. Alicia Keys. No. Jeremy. Funky Town. No. It's New York Groove by Ace Freely. Literally. Sing it. Yeah. I'm back. I thought that was Billy Joel back in the New York Yankees history 200. Babe Ruth obviously holds the lead.

11:20But this other Yankees legend sits second in team history. We're playing 136 home runs. I wasn't paying attention. I'm so scared of Yankees history now. Go ahead Jeremy. Lou Gehr. Give me a clap. Give me a clap. If you want it. Go ahead. This is the Roger Maris. It's not Roger Maris. This is 536 with the Yankees career home. Yeah. Yeah. Roger had 536 with the Yankees. This is going to go bad. Mickey Manell. That is correct. Wow. Really. So I assumed because of the injury plagued career that he didn't get that 536. Good thing you explained. My other thought. Hey. Chris Cody's board is yours. There's no need. I'm going to do the opposite of Jeremy. Yeah. Let me get Yankees history for 800. 800. Just hopin' around. Working alongside John Sterling for many years. This legendary radio voice was fired up when Roger Clements announced his return. From George Steinbrenner's box. Oh, I know. I don't. I can't think of his name. No. No. I'm so upset with myself for not knowing. Come on. Say his name. Chris Cody.

12:20I don't have that. I don't know her name though. Her name is Susan Walzen. That's legend. Damn. It was me. When they were trying to trick you. Yeah. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. I got it. I'm literally dramatic things. I've ever seen. Alright, we got it. Go ahead. By the way, we didn't need her impression as the question. Like it was come up. Give it had a way. It was good, dude. It was good. I'm up. Yeah. A series history for 600. Okay. This former Marlin dropped a pop up in a 2009 subway series matchup that led to a famous walkoff win for the Yankees, Jeremy. Louis Castillo. That is correct. A running the pop up. My buddy Alex Rieveman. Oh my god. Louis Castillo. All-time bench. Hold on a second. Gabe, can you turn around and punch Ethan in the face please? Thank you. I mean, to have literally two Alex Rievenen references. It's gonna be so happy when I tell him that. It's ridiculous. It's gonna be so happy when I tell him that. Jeremy.

13:21Yankees history a thousand. Okay. Famous for their 27 World Series wins, the Bronx Bombers are less famous for this number of World Series losses. Jeremy Tasha. 13. Close. Thank you for saying close. 11. Incorrect. 14. That's the correct answer. Yes. Yankees history for four. This lefty was outtooled by Josh Beckett's legendary complete game in Game Six to the 2003 World Series that clinched the Marlins second World Series title. Chris Cody. That's correct. That was right at the same time. What other lefties could they have had? David Wells. You could have been. You're still in it, dude. 2600 to 1400 right now. Series history for 800. A star in the 50s and 60s. This wicked lefty leads the Yankees in career wins with 236. Yeah. Is it lefty Grove?

14:21No. Yeah. Wait, what? It is. Go ahead. Go ahead. Whitey Ford. That is correct. We've talked about a couple of former MVP's, but now we are headed down the stretch. And before we get to our debate over who the star of the week on this show should be, I'm intrigued to see where your baseball brain might be here in terms of some bold predictions. So with about two weeks left to go in the season, what's your boldest prediction? Whether that be something to wrap up this regular season or something you're already thinking about as we look ahead at the postseason. Yeah. I think the blue jays make the playoffs. That's a big one that I just dropped on the just baseball show. Yeah. Yesterday, like I, I just see the path in there for Toronto. And I don't know if that's necessarily bold because they're a game back at the final wildcard spot in the American League at the moment, but they have dropped to an arrow. But before that, they were seven and one in their last eight. So like I think Toronto is built to make some serious noise when they get into a bad

15:22American League pennant chase. So I think if Toronto gets in the dance, you got to look at them as Loyola Chicago, where they're the 11 seed of the 12 seed. It's like, all right, well, they're ahead at the final four, huh? That's how I view the blue jays. I also know it's been a year from down under for Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. But October comes around. You feel like that guy's going to kick it into high gear at some point. So I think they have guys that have been there, done that. I think they have star power. I think we would be very blessed to see Dylan Seas throw big time ball games this year for the Toronto Blue Jays. I also just don't think the American League is very good at all. So I think anyone can get to the World Series from the American League. With all due respect to Tampa and Boston and the Yankees, I just think they're very, very beatable. I think there are pretty unbeatable teams in the national league. I think there are like three of them. Yeah. I think there are six incredibly beatable teams that get into the AELP postseason picture. I got one more for you.

16:22I have an award take for you. You're right. Please. I kind of want to throw a tinfoil hat on. I have a half drank Pepsi cans for that thing in the middle. Okay. Perfect. My tinfoil hat is I think that there's going to be this voter vendetta against sales steward in the national league. We're going to get a year. Why? I think we're officially going to see a pivot from who cares. He hits homers and he drives in a lot of runs to well, the F4 is pretty darn low, Jeremy. I think that there's a world where Nolan McClain gets a lot of first place votes. I still think that there's a world where JJ weather hold gets a lot of first place votes. I don't, I think sales steward wins it, but I think that he gets half the first place votes for NL rookie the year. The way those power numbers look right now, he should get all 30. It's crazy. It's crazy. It's crazy. When JJ got hurt, I was team JJ's the rookie of the year because he did defensively, but he got hurt. Like he's out for the last month. Right. I'm sitting here waving the white flag like, all right, it's sales steward.

17:23He should get all 30 first place votes, but he's going to get like 18 and it's going to, it's going to piss a lot of people off. No, it'll piss me off. I'm going to be honest with you because he has been so spectacular from the start of this season to the bitter end of this season, no matter where the reds have been. Heck, I remember watching him against the Marlins in the first week or two weeks of the season. It was early April and being like, good Lord. This kid is going to be a special player and he's been dominated from the jump, but I like that bold prediction. We'll come back and take a look at that in a couple of weeks and see where you're at once we find out those awards. But let's go ahead and jump to our baseball's golden era star of the week here and ironically on Sunday, the two guys I'm going to throw at you here pitched against each other. But I need to mention both of them because Tyler Malley has been such a surprise since being traded to the braves. He was a trade deadline acquisition. He's a name that I bet 90% of our listening audience right now is relatively unaware of.

18:25And yet he might be the second starter in this braves rotation as they head into the post season. He's got an ERA that is under two since joining the braves. And yet on Sunday, he was outdulled by Jesus Lazardo who has been spectacular since basically the middle of May. He has been maybe on a pitching staff that is absolutely loaded with Wheeler and Sanchez, the best pitcher on the Philly. So of those two players, who do we want to highlight this week as our golden era star of the week? Lazardo's the guy and you mentioned this guy's throwing the ball better than anybody else in that Philly rotation. Over his last seven starts, he's throwing the ball better than anybody in baseball. Last seven turns for Lazardo. He's 5 and 0 with a 1.08 ERA. That's 50 innings, six earned. He's caged 64 and walked 11. Now I want to expand this and I wrote this down for you. I did some prep for you. Look at this. This guy prepared.

19:26First four starts this year for Lazardo. He had three blowups in there. First four starts 22 and two thirds innings at a 7.9 ERA. Crazy. So I think it was 20 earned in 22 and two thirds. His last 25 starts starting on April 21st, 156 innings at a 2.13 ERA. He's fourth in baseball and ERA in that stretch. Only behind I believe Mizorowski Schlitler's sale and he's first in punchouts. He's got 191 strikeouts. So we're talking if you chop off the front four starts, this guy is fourth in ERA and he's first in strikeouts. It's ridiculous. He's been a top five arm in baseball since the end of April. It's amazing. Amazing to watch, Jesus, do this. Obviously, couldn't be happier for him. He's a great guy. We've gotten to know him down here in Miami. He also a local kid and anyone who's listened to the show for a while knows my personal tie to Hazus Lazardo dominating on the mound. But a guy who dominates in the booth, that's Jack McMullan.

20:26He's the radio voice of the Miami Marlins. He's the host of the Just Baseball Show. Jack, you're the man. Thank you so much for joining us. You're the man. You're a personable fella and I'm excited to chat with you at the ballpark. You're ridiculous. Thank you, Jack. Okay, so the score is 2600 for me, 2200 for Chris. And we have 200 series history, 400 series history, 600 Yankees history and a thousand in series history left on the board. 400 series history. Try to tie it up. The all-time subway series leader in home runs is this 2000s slugger. Jeremy, Mike Piazza. Incorrect. Chris, Jason Gianbi. Incorrect. It's Aaron Judge, of course. 600 Yankees history. Famously not named Lou Garrick. This Yankees slugger popped 61 home runs in 1961. A.O. record that stood until Aaron Judge popped 62 years ago.

21:30No, no, no, no, no. That was early. That was early. That was early. It was early. It was early too. I was going to say it. He has absolutely not. He has a hidden. Roger Mary. That is correct. Thank you, Jeremy. That's right. Thank you for getting this phone right. I put this one in. So you were just less early. But still early. There are 1200 points, including Final Jeopardy on the board. I'm about 1,000. Jeremy is up 1,000. Yeah. These are big. Jeremy, do you want 200 or 1,000? 1,000. OK. Seventh all time in wins for the Yankees, he's most famous in this office for his work as a pitching coach. Jeremy Tase. Mel Stoddell. That is correct, sir. The series history for 200. 200. The Yankees and Metz famously met in the World Series at the turn of the century with this superstar taking home World Series MVP. Jeremy Tase. Derek Jeter. That is correct, sir. He's one and only. Huge. All right. So going to Final Jeopardy. Chris Cody needs to double his total and get this one right in order to tie Jeremy.

22:35Unless Jeremy doesn't get it like to live dangerously. I'll risk 100. You'll risk 100. Yeah. All right. Are you going double enough? I'm not a Jeopardy guy. I don't really know. We need to. The way that this works is we need to like, Olivia, write it down. Maybe it's our piece of paper. We text them to you. Text them to me. Text them to me. I just need to just text me your way. Just do it. I also like to live dangerously. Just text me your way. Did you text a wager? I'm ragering it all. Okay. All right. Here. Because you got to risk it. We go to the biscuit. Correct. Don't say for the beast. Be more face to dream. Here we go. Final Jeopardy. We both answer this is the way Final Jeopardy. Correct. Correct. So we text it to you. You're going to text me the answer. Okay. Final Jeopardy. Okay. Here we go. Put it in the group text. This is one of the most difficult questions I've ever asked in my life. Traded from the Metz for 47 games of Javier Bias. This star centerfielder is currently the odds on favorite to win National League. Most valuable player. Is this stupid? All right. The text is said.

23:35You both got the correct answer. The correct answer is Pete Crowe Armstrong. He's at 41 and 35 right now. He's going to be one of the first players. The first player in comes history to go 40-40. He's the clear MVP this year. Obviously winning over Sohe O'Tani. It's over. The discussion is over. Sohe's not pitching again this year. Ethan. He's one of the greatest players. Sohe's having one of the greatest seasons in cup history. And he is the deserving MVP. If Jeremy risk negative 200. So here's what happened. Jeremy. Chris Cody obviously went double or nothing. So Chris Cody, you won 4400 points. Jeremy Tache wagered one point. Jeremy Tache, you are the winner. 4400 and one to Chris Cody's 44 good game, sir. And most importantly, Chris Pete Crowe Armstrong is the winner of the National Yep. I'm not touching. Okay. 4400 and one to 4400. And I believe it's a 13-12 leading series right now between us.

24:38Your country. Your country. Your country. You call it. All right, y'all. You could call this the subway series. Because we both like sandwiches. Replay the clip of him playing. You know why just let's go. Let's get out of here. Let's get out of here.