Paul Skenes Dominates. Bo Bichette is legit. WildCard, AL West Races

Paul Skenes continues to dominate hitters for the Pirates. Is the Cy Young contender the best pitcher in Baseball? Plus, we rip through all the races in MLB, Give Bo Bichette major love, and talk Kershaw vs Scherzer. All inside The Mayor’s Office presented by Fanduel. 

Full Youtube Broadcast here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J74nsFTYn5Q

Boom. Coming in hot. Chy, what’s going on, brother? Where’s the uh magical mystery tour? Taking the cases this weekend. I’m down to Florida, dude. I’m I’m catching uh trying to catch Jake’s game, but the fir I came down Wednesday, he didn’t play. Thursday, last night we went and the game got uh rained out. So, today he’s a double header and he’s in the first game. So, I’ll be tonight’s the first night I’ll see Jake play. All right. Well, you get dinner last night with him, though. Yeah. What’ you get? You get like steak and stuff. What do you get down there? Give me nice del Monaco steak right here. Dude, we’re staying at a place called the Fenway. It’s like over a hundred year old uh hotel right on the water. You’re not on the You can’t go. There’s no beach, right? You’re overlooking the water. Nice. So, it’s nice. But I got great food here, dude. Great food. Yeah. Let’s go. There you go. All right. Somebody who’s eating real good is uh Paul Skins. Dude, it’s funny. We were talking before we came on. And it’s like everybody’s like, “Oh, the Reds are going to win three straight against the Pirates and the Mets are going to lose to the uh Brewers and it’s going to be a wild card switch up thing.” But that like you’re not just playing the Pirates. You’re facing Paul SK yesterday, right? You might as well be facing like the 20 27 Yankees. No, seriously, you’re you’re facing a guy with a 194 RA now. And you know what? when you watch the Reds because everyone was like, “Oh, he he gave up the most hits he’s ever given up. Seven hits in six innings.” I was like, “Is that the most I can’t believe it. It’s crazy. Six big league starts.” I couldn’t believe it. And the, you know, I think that just shows how good Skings is. Dude, I want I wanted to uh there’s a I was I was reading an article and he he said something so good. I think this is good for so good for all the kids out there. Talk about accountability. You know when Paul SK so he said they were asking him they said uh skins enjoys the challenge of pitching with runners in the scoring position. He’s held his opponents to a 175 batting average in those situations this season. Then he says this. Yeah that’s where you see what you’re made of. I think that’s the biggest biggest thing said. I think every time you go out there you see what you’re made of. Sometimes when you get that external pressure rather than than internal pressure I guess if I’m pitching out of the windup it’s all internal pressure. however you want to call it, but you don’t have a lot of room for error there. So, you just see what you’re made of. I mean I mean I like that. Hey, we’re about to find out. You know, there’s a couple guys on base. The Reds have put together a couple singles, but we’re going to see what we’re made I’m going to see what I’m made of. What he’s basically saying is I’m going to see what I’m made of. And I and I and I say that to all the kids out there like go see what you’re made of. Go see what your work translates into. Go see what your mental game. If you’ve been talking to yourself the right way, having great selft talk, go see what you’re made of. It’s you versus you when you’re in that box or you’re on the bump. And I love that. You know, he’s not talking about the Reds. He’s talking about himself. I’m about to see what I’m made of here. I’m about to see how tough I really am or how good I really am. You know, if I can make a pitch here and there, then you look at, you know, teams are hitting 175 off them. The thing about skins, if you’re going to get them, you got to get them. You got to get them on a big fly. You’re not going to string together two, three, four hits against this guy and get a big inning. You’re just not. You got to hope for a walk or maybe a hit, but you got to hit him out of the park. If you want to beat Paul SK, you got to beat him into the stands. And you know, he doesn’t give up a ton of home runs. And a big reason why I change that mentality. You don’t think he’s thinking that every time about to see what we’re made of. Let’s, you know, let’s get it on oneonone. Yeah. Imagine uh having a 194 erra in 24 starts and being seven and eight. It’s unbelievable. He last year he won one uh he had 23 starts last year. He has 24 now and he’s basically just he had a 1960 RA last year. He’s got a 194 this year. It’s unbelievable. Dude James, do you think he can win the Sai Young being a below 500 pitcher? Absolutely. It’s happened, right? What did Grankie Grankie had a year with the Royals? Yeah, he’s like 12 and 14 or something or something like that. Yeah, I got no problem with getting the S Young award. If if if your team stinks and you’re great, that just it’s like it’s almost like amplifies how good he’s pitching. Like, yeah, exactly. I don’t know. Unbelievable. Um, another team that’s getting there and moving in the right direction. We talked about him a little bit last week, but dude, the Seattle Mariners are coming for the Astros. They’re coming for the wild card. The wild card is extremely exciting. Uh right now in the AL, you got the Red Sox who are doing great. You got the Mariners and the Yankees are teetering. You got the Guardians a game and a half behind. And then uh the Texas Rangers are a game and a half out of a wild card. So you got the the Central, the West is crazy, the Yankees are struggling, the Red Sox are awesome, and the Mariners are awesome. So let’s see. What do you got there? Well, I I love what Jerry Dotto did because you go back and look at the break, you know, look at the uh the deadline. people went for so much uh bullpen help. You know, that was the big thing. You know, the Mets got a ton of bullpen guys. The Padres’s did too. And it was all their bullpens are better. Well, the Mariners already had the pitching. They needed the offense. You know, they needed the length in that lineup. And they go out and get Suarez and Naylor, which Naylor was a little banged up last night. Hopefully, he’s okay. Had to come out of the game. But when you go look at this lineup now, Chanc Mariners, you look at that rotation and everything they have in the bullpen. Aros Arena having an all-star year. Raleigh having an MVP year. Julio Rodriguez really getting it going these last couple months. Nailers had an all-star type season. Um Suarez obviously what he’s doing close to 40 home runs. Uh Jorge Palanos now your seven hitter when before he was like your 34 hitter. He’s having a nice year. Um, so you know, JP Crawford, Canzone, I mean, there’s some really good that that lineup is now now really lengthened. Now you look at the Mariners, you go, they got a real shot. They got a real shot. They’re they’re one and a half back of the Astros. The Astros are struggling a little bit. Mariners have won four in a row. They’re what are they a game and a half up in the AO wild card, too. So I, you know, sometimes we forget about the West. I think sometimes it’s it’s nice to look at that race and go, “Okay, the Mariners are now right where they want to be.” The Rangers are kind of hovering. They’re playing better baseball. Our boy Brett Boone out there, you know, taking over as the hitting coach, he’s they’re doing better. So, uh, you know, it’s getting fun. It is. I’m looking at the, uh, team leaders in a lot of cate categories. Look at your Mariners now are they have the third most home runs in baseball. Not just the American League baseball. So you put that with their their your uh pitching staff and they’re they’re coming, man. On the the flip side, we got Hold on. Where were we looking here? We were just talking about this before. Uh sorry, I’ll edit this. Oh yeah, no, no, no. Wait, hold on. I’ll I’ll tighten this up. Let me I lost my train of thought for a second. Oh, the Rangers are going to bring up. Oh, all right. What What is your take on the Rangers? How good can they be? They I mean, they’re four and six in their last 10, but they are hanging in there in that area. They have like I think top pitching erra in baseball. They’re getting up there. Their pitching staff has been dominating. They’re not hitting too many home runs and hitting for too much power. But can they make a run? Who do you think the best pitcher is on that staff right now? I it’s it might be I valdi. There you go. Dude, I valdi’s four innings away from qualifying for the in the A leaders. Has a 138 erra, dude. Yes, 138. He he threw eight shutout innings the other day against the uh against the Yankees. I mean, we we think so much to Grom. Jack Lighter is having a nice year. You know, that rotations were setting up well, but I valdi might be might be the best pitcher in baseball, dude. I’m not kidding. I mean, obviously we have skins, what he’s done, everything like that, but Evaldi missed missed a little bit early on because of a injury, only a few starts. Like I said, he’s about four innings away from qualifying. It’s a 138, right? You know what’s awesome about him? Like when he was coming up, he had that like he was like the 100 mile per hour. He had all all the power pitching, but it wasn’t translating because I think again there’s some guys some pitchers have to learn how to be pitchers. Yeah. They could have all the stuff in the world and they have to learn how to pitch and and they’re doing that which is pretty He’s doing that. I mean, he’s become, you know, think about what he did in one of the greatest postseason games in the history of baseball for for a pitcher. Uh when 2018, right, with the Red Sox. Yeah. And I’m How old is he right now? Hold on. I’ll pull it up. He’s like 34. Yeah. You know, sometimes it takes Yeah. He was born in Yes. 35 years old and he’s better now than he ever has been, you know, and and again, he’s been putting it together the last few years. He’s become one of the games, you know, he could beat you at he could beat anybody at any time. He could go up against your number one and you could be like, “Well, we got Native AI on the mount.” So, right. No, it’s so true, man. So true. It’s It’s impressive. I I had no idea. I literally, to tell you the truth, I really didn’t know he had a 1380 already. Yeah. It’s unbelievable. I just didn’t realize it because you know when you think of the Rangers you’re thinking Deg Grom’s back. I mean they’re really getting after it and but now I’m like Yeah. And actually two of the best pitchers in baseball on that staff. Yes. Exactly. That’s what I’m saying. They you put them in a postseason a short postseason matchup and you’re in trouble. You don’t want you’re not going to want to match up against the Rangers because they still have the guys on offense who can who can who can they’re a good team. They’re a good team. You’re right. They’re a scary team. They’re like they’ve been hovering all year below 500. They’re starting to make a run. They’ve scuffed a little bit lately, but there could be another run in them, too, where they they get right back in this thing. Yeah. And I always go back their front office, they have guys who were like smart, hard-nosed baseball players in their front office. They got Young uh they have uh who’s your boy? The shortstop, who’s a consultant for the Rangers? Uh Michael Young. Michael Young. Yeah, they got Chris Young. Michael Young. Yeah, it’s you surrounded you surround yourself with guys who’ve done it before, right? Well, like you know, you’re a hitting coach. People probably looked at you a little bit different when you’re like, “This is how I did it. You know, you don’t have to do it my way, but there’s something to be said as a Major League Baseball player to be like, at least this guy knows what I’m going through right now. At least this guy’s been through what I’ve been through, right?” I think it matters. It matters when you’re having those conversations, you know, because the conversations aren’t necessarily what what am I doing like what am I doing technique-wise? You know, this game gets mental quickly. And the biggest thing when when it gets mental, when you struggle, you start to get passive. When you get passive, you get in trouble. So, like when you struggle, you got to you got to keep saying, “Hey, man, keep keep charging. Keep charging.” You know, stay aggressive. That’s the biggest thing. Yeah. One other thing that’s just really fun, and this happens, you know, once every few years, something crazy where a matchup happens. You are getting Kershaw versus Sherzer. Two 3000K club members are facing off as like the old men in the league when you know these were arguably the two best pitchers for a stretch and now they’re they’re facing off again in the twilights of their career and it’s pretty pretty freaking cool. I saw a clip uh 2008 Vin the Scully clip. They were talking about how it was the Diamondbacks versus the Dodgers. They were get it was getting ready to be the two oldest pitchers in the league and maybe one of the biggest matchups ever. Only the first time two 40 year olds had matched up and it was Randy Johnson’s vers Maddox. Those guys end up getting scratched for the game and Vince Scully goes, “Well, we got two youngsters tonight. We got Max Scherzer for the Diamondbacks versus Clayton Kershaw with the Dodgers.” Kershaw had two career wins and Sher had zero. Isn’t that incredible, dude? Like it’s amazing how the energy of the universe works where it’s like Yeah. Oh, now they’re the two 40-y old guys matching up. Two of the best guys ever. So, that’s pretty cool. Yeah, it is cool. I got one more question for you. I have a problem. Oh, I wanted to talk about one other guy really quick. Go. You know, I’d like to even do a clip on him, tell you truth. All right. Bo Bashette, man. Are you paying attention to what he’s doing? It’s been incredible. I mean, you go back and look at the Blue Jays the other day in that Rocky series. I think they scored like 45 runs or something more than 60 runs or something something ridiculous. And uh dude, Bo Bashette, you look at that lineup and you go, “Oh, you know, you think Guerrero is having a nice year hitting 879 OPS.” Bo Bashette, I believe, is leading the major leagues in in in hits. He’s now hitting 300 with a 815 OPS, 16 bombs, and 78 ribbies. Dude, he’s leading the Blue Jays in RBI’s, too. He’s got more than Guerrero has. More than Guerrero is hitting over 300, 16 homers, 815 OPS. You know, you talk about one of the kind of flying under the radar because coming into this year, Bo didn’t have a great year last year. He had his calf was a little banged up and, you know, I think people kind of wrote him off and you know, I think he came into this season saying, “Oh yeah, you’re going to know who Bo Bashette is when this you’re going to know that I’m one of the best shorts stops in the game when this season’s over.” And here he is, man. Toronto’s in first place. He’s a big reason why. He’s a huge reason why. If you watch these games, he goes to right field better than anybody in the game. Chance. He can take that ball middle in. Bam. Shoot that to right for a hit. And uh I just I’m excited, man. I’m excited for Bo. I’m excited for the Blue Jays for how they’re playing. It’s a fun team to watch. And right in the middle of all this awesomeness for the Blue Jays is Bo Bashette hitting home runs, hitting for average, driving in runs, and being the catalyst he’s been for years. And like you said, when you, you know, when you looked at the Blue Jays coming in this year, hey, we Vlad and and Bo are going to be free agents after the year. I mean, they have a real decision to make right now. The Blue Jays, you know, whether they bring back Bo Bashett or not, because this guy’s been one of the best hitters in baseball. Yeah. To your point, not only is he leading the major leagues in hits, he has 12 more hits than the number two guy, Manny Machado, in two less games. Okay, here’s another thing. He’s having he’s having a Shawn Casey type season. He’s hitting .301. He’s got 16 bombs, but he’s got 30 34 doubles and 78 ribbies. That is a very much like a Sean Casey. That That is That is Yeah, that’s it, dude. I love that. That 34 doubles. He be get get 40ome doubles. He’s gonna have 40ome bubble doubles, 20ome bombs, hit you 300. He’s going to drive in 100. I mean, dude, it’s a great year. He’s I think he’s flying under the radar too much. There you go. Yeah, because everyone wants the big home runs. This guy’s one of the best hitters in the game, man. Literally one of the best hitters in the game. And and at the end of the day, I know people still say, “Oh, average doesn’t matter.” You know what it matters to? The players. If I’m hitting 300, that means I’m I’m I’m doing something pretty much every single night, and I’m hitting good pitching. Yeah. And you love to see it. You got eight guys hitting me over 300 right now. And some of them are power hitters. That’s probably I I haven’t gone back and looked, but that’s probably higher than most years because we we haven’t had that in a while. And you got a couple guys around circling 298, 299, 296. Love that. And by the way, Vlad Guerrero is at 296. He’s a great hitter, too. He’s Yeah, you got guys back to back in the lineup who are going to put the ball in play. That’s real good stuff. And again, we not just because uh you know a guy who plays for the Blue Jays now that’s very close to you. We’ve been saying it for years how great that front office is. Everybody wanted them to trade either Bashette or Vlad last year at the deadline and the Blue Jays aren’t going anywhere. And now here they are one of the best teams in baseball this season because of patience. Patience with their players. No, you’re right. Sitting back and saying, you know what, this we like these guys. They’re they’re they’re, you know, we’re not going to go out and just trade them and get, you know, a couple prospects back. These guys are elite players and they’re going to be elite. If they’re elite, we’re going to be an elite team. And boom, they were right. Ross Atkins, Mark Shaparo, they were right. There you go. All right, we’ve said it all. All right. Hopefully, you get to see some baseball tonight. Who? Five o’clock game. I’ll be I’ll be right there. Right there in the I don’t know. You know, it’s general mission seat, so you can really pick your seat. I was going to say right there in the front row, but I like to go I like to go on the on the third base side so I can see Jake the side view of Jake hitting. I always think that’s fun. Oh, I like that. Yeah, that’s how I used to edit videos. I used to like seeing the videos of the side angle that you guys Yeah, you need the side angle, dude. It says so much. Yes. If you’re behind them like in, you know, sometimes at Ken State that the uh on the visiting on the in the visiting games, uh the the families would be on the over the the first base dugout and I would be always the outlier. Be no, I’m not watching the game. I’m watching it over here. There you go. This just reminds me one of the greatest big time uh World Series home runs of all time. Remember when Jim Laritz hit a home run? I believe it was off John Rocker in that World Series where the the uh Braves were crushing the Yankees and they they came back on the road and started winning. The reason later says he hit that home run is because Rocker uh not Rocker, I’m sorry. Who’s the guy? Uh was it Bowlers? Wallers. Mark Wers. Yeah, it was Wallers. Wallers threw a fast ball like 900 miles per hour and uh later fouled it straight back and everybody’s like, “Oh, he’s right on it.” And Waller said, “I thought he was right on it.” But later said it didn’t hit the good part of the bat. It just happened to hit at a point where when it ricocheted off, it went straight to the back. So he thought I was on his fast ball when meanwhile I wasn’t even close to his fast ball. Hangs one. Hits a home run. Yankees. He’s on the slider. That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Anyway, that’s why he needs that snide angle. All right, brother. Have a great night with the family. You too. What are you doing this weekend? I’m chilling, man. I’m solo. My wife is at the sphere in Las Vegas to watch uh the Backstreet Boys concert. Oh, no. What? Back streets. Back. All right. The Why didn’t you go, dude? You don’t not a Backstreet fan? She went with one of her friends. It was like a girls trip. I hope she’s all right out there. It’s Las Vegas. Crazy. Anyway, that that sphere looks incredible. I know. I do want to go see the Eagles, though. Oo, that’s good, man. My buddy Kim Knuck told me I got to go see the Eagles at the Sphere. I heard it’s I heard it’s it’d be incredible. Don’t you think? Yes, absolutely. Jess said like she’s so good at going to concerts. She knows how to pick the right seats. And they wind up going higher. I guess the the the the trick of the trade there is don’t sit close. Sit further back so you can get the whole sphere. Right. I heard that. I heard that tip, too. You want to be like front row with the sphere. There you go. All right. That’s the one time you want the dollar seats, but they’re probably not a dollar. No. No, they would not. They were. Yeah. How much were they? Were they good? It was expensive. Yes, it’s expensive. And there are other parts of that place that are like ridiculously explan expensive. Plus, it’s, you know, it’s a Backstreet Boys car. Dude, how excited are the Backstreet Boys? I thought they were kind of old news and now that in Vegas called I’m like, “How about the sphere?” Dude, they’re there. How about this? The new kids on a block have a Las Vegas residency. What? Yes. The new kid Donnie Wahberg. Donnie Wahlberg is like making more money now than Marky Mark and ever did in like anything, dude. He’s got that. He’s got his spin-off Blueb Blood show that’s gonna be in Boston. He was at Fenway. He was on it with I saw that. He was on it. Yeah. You know what you I’m serious because my daughter Jillian, you know, they’re on TikTok and stuff. You know what? You know what’s bringing back these guys? Tik Tok. Absolutely. Tik Tok songs be like, “Oh, dad, you ever heard this song?” I was like, “Yeah, it’s like 1980, 1990.” Oh my god. I This is the number one Tik Tok song and people are love. I go, “No wonder these guys are coming back. Everybody’s coming back because of Tik Tok.” It’s amazing. Yeah, there’s there’s people who have songs like from like the 50s and 60s that keep hitting number one on the charts because they become like a Tik Tok trend. Good for them. It’s about time people get paid around here in this country. I love it. Exactly. Bring them bring them back, baby. Hey, you know what I’ve been listening to lately? Remember the com the Commodores? Dude, I’m obsessed with the Commodores, dude. That that song on the night shift. On the night shift. Dude, when I was a little kid, Lo Richie Lionel Richie was my favorite guy because he had Richie in his name. So when I was little and Lionel Richie was popular. Hello. By the way, go here. One last thing. Google that the song. Google that song and and find out how scary of a song it is. It’s technically he’s stalking a girl in high school. If you look at Wait, the night shift. No, no, the other one. The Hello. Is it me you’re looking for? Oh no. He’s like a teacher in high school and he’s like obsessed with like Oh my god. Are you serious? That’s great. Yeah. You know, Springsteen has an incredible night shift. Really? I said, “Oh yeah, that’s what I’ve been listening to that version.” I’m like, who sings this? And and then I looked it up. It was the Commodores. There you go. I’ve been listening to a lot of Dead in Company like that. that the way they play live with John Mayer playing a guitar and they bring I’ve never seen the Grateful Dead live. I’ve never seen them either, but I would go see like Mayor. I would like to I gota I got to get into that more. There you go. Me too. I like that that song. I only really know like the old school. Yeah. Not like the real I’m not a dead head obviously. My man Greg Lynn was though my my first trainer with the Reds. Greg Lynn ultimate dead head. That’s amazing. All right. We said we’ve said it all here. All right. You have a great weekend, dude. Have a great weekend by yourself. I will. You know, I know you’ll figure it out. You probably go swimming. Yes, I will. Everybody out there, thanks for listening. Appreciate you big time. We’ll see you next week. See you.