The Pitch Clock: The Miami Marlins are scorching (feat. Kyle Sielaff)

The Pitch Clock: The Miami Marlins are scorching (feat. Kyle Sielaff)

[Music] 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. Interesting how you knew uh Reggie Jackson. That one. Okay, so let’s get this straight. You think that I Hi, everybody. Are we talking about last week? Yeah, last week’s show. You think that? Well, there was a controversy if he didn’t join us last week. Jeremy walked in. Everybody joins us everywhere. Jeremy walked into a room holding a paper like like and I was just like that guy clearly looked at. You have to understand that even I could have looked directly at that paper. You should have just walk in normally like just like all right, I’m holding this paper. I haven’t looked at it. But like the extended arm is just I didn’t want to see it. Yeah, but it’s just the extended arm implies that you cheated right before that. All right. Well, this is the pitch clock and Chris is just upset because he broke his win streak of four. I won last week. Hi everybody. I know Taylor already did it, but people wait for me to do it. So Taylor, tell us what our game is for today. Go ahead. It’s darts 501. So the objective of this darts game is for each individual to work their way down from 501. So like if it’s RBI’s in a single season, whatever your number is, we’re subtracting that from 501. You you’re trying to get as close to zero as possible. The only difference between this and normal darts is that you you you guys have to go past zero. So you have to be whoever is the closest darts. I don’t know how I don’t know darts. I’m with you. I kind of like when he first said darts 501, I was like what the hell is he talking about? But there is a game where in darts you start at 501 and everything you hit, if you hit a 24, you get 24 off the score. The goal is the first team to whittle down to zero from pool to we can go past zero is what you’re saying. Yes. But it once you go past zero, it’s whoever’s the closest to zero. Okay. Gotcha. It’s going to be best best of three. The first round is RBI’s in a single season. All right. So, Chris. All right. I’m going to go. You go ahead and go first. Paul Kerkco. Paul Canerko’s careerhigh or single season high was 117. All right. So, Chris, you’re at three you’re at 384. I was hoping he got to like 131 year, but go ahead. I mean, so Barry Bonds Barry Bonds single season high is 137. So Jeremy, you’re at 364. You’re at 384, Chris. Such a fun game. I just want to think of like random names. Like who’s the guy? There was just these guys that could just like drive. You could go as many rounds. I’m going to go with Damn it. I’ll just go Albert Pulos. It’s a good one. Albert Puos’s career or single season high 137. Uh Chris Cody, you’re at 247. Miguel Cabrera, it’s confusing. I know he like led the the league in RBI. I just don’t know what the time how many that was. Triple crown, right? Miguel Cabrera’s careerhigh in a single season was 139. So Jeremy, you’re down to 225. I am going to go with I’ll go A-Rod. Alex Rodriguez’s careerhigh in a single season, 156 RBI. No way. Chris Cody, you’re down to 91. Uhoh. All right. Babe Ruth, different time. Babe Ruth’s careerhigh in a single season, 168 RBI’s. Jeremy, you’re down to 57. Told you it was a different time. I’m not happy about that. You guys, a reminder, you guys have to go past zero. I’ll go I need to go I think I’ll go Hanley Ramirez. That’s a That’s a really good one. And mine I feel like his high be like 103 or something. Mine is from the exact same era of Marlins. So we’ll we’ll we’ll get to it in just a second once Taylor lets me know where you’re at. He’s probably had a 110 season. He has had a 110 season. His single season high was 111 RBI’s. So Chris Cody, your final score for for this first game is minus 20. So that means Cody Ross. Damn it. Cody Ross’s careerhigh in a single season. 79. 90 RBI. That puts him at minus 33. Oh, that’s going to be one point to Chris. Let’s go. That was with the Giants, wasn’t it? It was with the Marlins 2009. Dude, that nice season. And now we get to our 2025 Major League Baseball expert, the former radio voice, current TV voice in his first year on the television broadcast. It’s Kyle Celoff, who you guys might remember from some old clips on the Levit show playing around with Chris Cody and Billy Gil during spring training. Kyle, welcome to the show. Love the Teal Marlins hat. Uh, and thank you for joining me today. I know. This is the best, isn’t it? I was pumped when they wore them over the Hall of Fame weekend, so I had to grab one. But, uh, yeah, dude, it’s it’s great to be with you. It’s bizarre. You and I are doing this when we’re usually doing it on the broadcast together. That’s right. That’s right. And I’m normally upsetting you with all sorts of weird pop culture references, but today we’re doing baseball and baseball only. So, you’re here as the voice of the Marlins, and it’s time to start with the Marlins. I I’ve tried to avoid them as much as possible on this show, but now there’s a real reason to discuss the Miami Marlins. And for the people who have not been paying attention, the Marlins just now snapped a streak of six straight series wins as the Astros take this series from them this week. They went from 16 games under on June 13th to 500 by August 3rd with a sweep of the New York Yankees. They’re the youngest team in baseball. Kyle, how have they done it? Yeah, it’s a loaded question, but I think it’s a good one. I I you know, look, on on the surface, I I think you point to the pitching that’s obviously been much better up until recently in the last couple of days. I think the coaching staff fits perfectly because in addition to having the youngest team in baseball, they have the youngest coaching staff. Yep. I think when you start to put all that stuff together, and you do have to start in the front office, and hey, I’ll say this, too, and I’ve said it on the broadcast, it’s it’s the most unsexy thing in the world, but ownership has invested tens of millions of dollars to the infrastructure of the organization. I promise you, prior to them spending this kind of money, they had no chance because they weren’t going to keep up with the rest of the league. It required tens of millions of dollars just to be competitive, just to stay with the industry standard, whether that’s literal human bodies or technology and computers and all this stuff to give them a fighting chance. That to me is really where it starts. Without that stuff, I don’t think they’re any good. Again, you start to put all that stuff that I just said together, you can start to understand why they’re start to having they’re having success. So again, I know that’s a lot, but it’s it’s way beneath the surface of just well, they’re pitching really well. It’s going so much deeper than that to give them a chance to win here. And so now I do want to give you an opportunity to highlight a player here. So I’m going to pick three. You know, we talked about the pitching. I’m going to bring it to the the the starting lineup at the moment. You got Kyle Sters, who you and I both have been advocating to at least get some MVP votes and consideration considering what he’s done for this team and booing them in the early parts of the season before they got hot. There’s Augustine Ramirez who leads nearly every single offensive category amongst rookies uh certainly in the National League. And then there is Jacob Marcy who basically has lit the world on fire in his first five, six games here. You know, had a historic opening weekend, has shown a lot of patience at the plate, ability to drive the ball, and has made some pretty spectacular plays in center field. So, Kyle, I know it’s tough to pick one, but between Sters, Ramirez, and Marcy, let let’s focus on one of them and give these folks an opportunity to hear some more. Yeah, I think it’s Kyle Sters. Last season, Kyle Sters had an OPS plus Jeremy of 54, he was 46% worse than league average. If you told me at the end of last season and the Marlins made the decision to designate Kyle Starders for assignment, I think there’s a chance that 29 other teams pass on him. He clears waiverss. He ends up off the 40man and he’s a 4A player in Jacksonville. his OPS plus and you and I are chatting at 10:15 in the morning on August 6 prior to game three against the Astros is 155. He is literally 101% better year-over-year to to me just to look at that one number to literally be per the data in the analytics 101% better version of yourself year-over-year in less than a year’s time in the major leagues doing something that I personally think is the hardest to do than any other professional sport. So now we’ve got a new category career wins for a pitcher. Oh, good lord. Who the hell’s the alltime lead winner wins? I I’m just just cuz I can’t think right now and I need a second. I’ll go Randy Johnson first. Randy Johnson had 303. Wow. Just got So Chris Cody, you’re going to be at 198. This is going to be a short one. Yeah. And and it’s going to be so short because I know that I’m about to go over. If I’m going to guess in my brain, it’s 514. And it’s Sai Young. Sai Young had 511 wins. Why would Jeremy pitchers wins if it was going to be able to get just one name in the game’s over? Okay. I didn’t think he was going to guess Sai Young. Well, what else was I going to do? My boy Sai Young that I know is over 500 wins. The guy that’s the the pitching award is named after. He also has the most losses. Chris, guess Jeff Heisman. Chris, you could still win this. I know. Yeah. Easily. Tell me the number I need. What do I need here? You need 198, but you have as many rounds to get it. Like just you could name You could name pitchers that you think could start chipping away at 198. Don’t guess backtoback weeks a strategy to Chris. Interesting interesting bias that’s happening. Sandy Alcantra. I’m gonna trick. You’re just gonna really chip away. God. At the time of the recording, Sandy Alcantra, 46 wins. So, Chris Cody, you’re at 152. You know what? Let me just I’ll take a big chunk out here. Show Otani. It’s not that big of a chunk. Say like it’s a chunk though. I I was going to say Trevor Rogers. So, just be happy I said at the time of the recording, show Otani 38 wins. So, Chris Cody, you’re down to 114. That’s so fun. Keep chipping away, baby. So fun. Trying to think of someone who’s been in league for like three years but been damn good for like three years. I’m going to go Well, this is not three years. I’ll go Paul Skins next. I never got At the time of this recording, Paul Skins has 16 wins. I’ll tell you right now, the way Chris is playing a win is within range. It totally is. I got a good one that I think will help take a chunk out of this. Max Freed, at the time of this recording, Max Freed has 84 wins. So, Chris Cody’s down to 14. This sucks. All right. I almost just said Trevor Rogers, but that might be too much. Hold on. That’s not my guess. Yuri Perez. Did he get more than 10 last year? I don’t know. How long’s he been around for? At the time of this recording, Yuri Perez has eight wins. So, Chris Cody is down to six. Oh, that’s even Damn it. This is hard. I know the name that’s at the top of my head that I would go with just for fun. But I I think it would make it even more difficult on him. Screwable. At the time of this recording, 51 times Chris Cody’s at minus 45. Guess. Can I tell you? Can I tell? I would have gone 50 wins already. I was going to go. First of all, I think if you would guess Trevor Rogers, you would have beat me. Uh Trevor Rogers. He had 18 wins. Yep. I knew it. I I can’t believe that you literally from your second guess. We’re teasing Trevor Rogers. Trevor Rogers. Trevor Rogers. Incredible. Let’s talk about the Toronto Blue Jays. Huh. They’ve stormed back from being a pretty mediocre team, you know, in by the end of May. A team that was just two games over 500 entering June, now sitting around 20 games over 500. Kyle, what’s changed for them? And and what makes this team so good as a bit of a surprise in the American League? Yeah, I mean I I I I think they they pitch pretty well. Again, I think you if you don’t get good pitching and you’re constantly behind every night, it’s it’s it’s hard to win. But go look at Nathan Lucas and Addison Barger and Alejandro Kirk, Ernie Clement, Joey Lopero. Some of these guys that you’ve probably never heard of before are having great seasons and they’re huge complimentary pieces to a team that’s pitching well. The other thing too is I watch the the Blue Jays a little bit when I get an opportunity to do so. They do every little thing right. Yep. Generally mistake free baseball. They don’t bash their way to a win every night, but they just do every little thing right. And when they get on base, they’ll put pressure on you that leads to extra base hits or a base hit with two outs to score a run. So I that that’s a that’s a real team. I don’t think that’s a fluke. Let’s take a look at the AL Wildcard race now that the Blue Jays have jumped into that first place spot in the American League East and we could maybe pick a team to focus on here because there’s a couple of AL East teams that we’ll talk about. Red Sox, they’ve been surging, playing really good ball as well. Obviously, they had that Rafa Des trade earlier in the year and they’ve only played better since have some guys who were really standing out and young players who were standing out. There’s the Seattle Mariners who were really aggressive at the deadline. And they they acquire Yeno Suarez. They acquired Josh Naylor who’s like stealing bases at a record rate since he’s been acquired. Pretty funny. And then there’s the Yankees who have been falling apart at the seams. You watched it happen in Miami as the Marlins swept them. Which of those teams stands out to you that you want to highlight here, Kyle? Well, Seattle and Texas. I think the American League West is going to get really interesting, Jeremy, down the stretch here. I think Seattle had the best trade deadline above anybody. Obviously, everybody knows how good their starting pitching is, but to go out and get Suarez and Naylor and put those guys around Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh, that’s a real team. Um, I think if they get in, I I I I honestly think the Seattle Mariners could win the World Series. I really do think that’s how good they are. Um, Nathan Evaldi with the Rangers is an unbelievable story. like that guy’s made like million bucks and he’s been doing this for 15 years and he’s aging like a fine wine with Jacob Deg Gro who’s overcome his injuries. But if I took a dark horse to win the World Series right now, I think it’s the Seattle Mariners. Kyle, I I’m springing one thing on you real quick. I’m just going to look for a quick note. We normally do uh what we refer to as a golden era of baseball star of the week on this show. Just a quick note on Kyle Schwarber. We’ve talked to Kyle Celoff. We’ve talked about Kyle Sters. Kyle Schwarber has been ridiculous. Anything that you got on Schwarber? I think he’s the front winner to win the National League MVP. Every time they’re down on their luck, they’ve lost a couple games. They need a big hit to extend a winning streak. That dude comes up and it’s generally not a single, it’s like 35 rows deep somewhere. So, exactly. As long as he I I think he is in such good position to win the National League MVP if he remains very steady. doesn’t need to be elite in the left final two months. I think he’s going to win the National League MVP. We have Kyle Kyle Schwarber winning the National League MVP. Kyle Sters certainly the Marlins MVP and probably top five. Kyle Celoff, our MVP today. Thank you, Kyle. And now it’s time for us to get back to our game with Chris Cody. This round to settle it, it’s going to be I just wanted a game three. Yeah. Okay. Most strikeouts in a single season for a pitcher. Okay. Nolan Ryan. Nolan Ryan’s career high in a single season, 383 strikeouts. Jeremy, you’re down to 118. Um, Verlander. It’s a good one. In 2019, Justin Verlander had 300 strikeouts. So, that brings Chris Cody down to 2011. Perfect. Yeah. You know what? What career highs? That’s weird. I’ve got a I’ve got one. Eric Gier. I like the strategy. I get what you’re doing. Eric G’s careerhigh in a single season 137. Jeremy is going to go over, but he’s at minus 19. Ah, I overshot it. Which means I got to be under 220. Correct. Here. I’m at I’m at 2011. Yeah, you got to be under. You just have to be closer between 2011 and -9. between 2011 and 220 minus 19 is not bad. I’m going to go with a guy that I don’t think ever had like he was great in the playoffs, but I don’t think of this guy as ever having like a dominant season where he would have had like 250 260. And it’s a Marlin. Oh, and I just picture his careerh high being somewhere in this range. Yeah, I’m gonna go Josh Becket. Yeah, it’s a good one. I think it’s a it’s got to I wonder if he ever got to 200. Chris Cody, you’re at 2011. Josh Beckett’s careerhigh in a single season was 2009 with the Red Sox. 199. You’re talented, too. My terrible. Oh my god. Yeah, that’s not good. This guy I’m about to say, my the buddy of mine that like he’s not a buddy of mine. I just know who he is. He probably has like 47 career strikeouts. Like, you know what I mean? It’s one of those where it’s like, damn it. Oh, man. But whatever. The pitch clock’s running out on me. Whatever. I’m just going to guess it. I don’t have a better guess. Trying to think of like catastrophic injuries after like three starts. I got nothing. Tyler Kinley. Oh, Tyler Kinley. I bet. Oh god. He’s with the Rockies. He was with the Marlins. Like he’s he’s probably five seasons, but like he he’s like a I don’t know. He’s not a reliever that gets used a lot. I don’t know. I don’t know. I can tell. I don’t know. You were at two. He had 72 strikeouts. Chris Cody finishes at minus 70. Wow. I win. What a back to back. back to back. I ruined this. I I had a chance at Look, man. You know what’s most important? That you start playing your best ball in August and September. And that’s what’s happening here. All right. End July on the right note at the trade deadline. Start things off right in August. I’m feeling good. Pitch clock. Way to go, Taylor. That was fun. We’ll be back next week. [Music]

Kyle Sielaff is the play-by-play voice of the Marlins, who you may recognize from his Spring Training work with Billy and Chris. He joins Jeremy for some Marlins talk and to highlight the Blue Jays, the AL Wild Card, and our star of the week as Chris and Jeremy battle in Taylor’s Trivia.

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