Postgame Show: SpliffNotes and The Pitch Clock

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That's right.

It's Thursday Thunder, and it's presented by DraftKings.

DraftKings, the crown is yours.

Juju, what up?

What up, y'all?

Another two for three last week, man.

Two for three.

Put that on my tombstone, man.

Two out of three ain't bad.

But this week, we writing this shit, baby.

Tonight, I'm going with Thursday night football, and I'm starting with my dog, Joshua Jacobs.

Anytime touchdown scorer, my boy, lock him in.

He's got a streak, right?

What would this be?

How many games straight?

Nine?

Yeah, nine or either umpteen.

I forgot what the stats said.

I think it's umpteen.

Um team.

But nine.

Next leg, I'm going with Noah Brown over 22.5 yards tonight.

That Packers defense looking good.

And Jaden Daniels,

he's going to have to come up with some things tonight.

And we all know where he usually comes up whenever he has.

Little to no options.

Oops, there's Noah Brown downfield.

Touchdown.

I'm going with Noah Brown.

And I got to clear my throat.

$2.

Last leg, still there.

Last leg, I'm going with my dog, Jakore,

Krosky, Merritt, for over 10 rushes tonight.

Man, they're going to need him.

They're going to be in the trenches all night.

I'm not sure how many yards he's going to get, but he's going to be toting that rock tonight.

Lock it in.

Thursday, Thunder.

I see y'all.

Boy, Bill.

Juju, tonight's the last night of the WNBA regular season, yeah?

Yes, sir, man.

What a crazy last couple of weeks, man.

It's been for that last couple playoff spots, man.

The Seattle Storm, they locked in the last spot in epic, dramatic fashion the other night against the Valkyrie, who are already locked into the playoffs.

They find out their seeding tonight, you feel me, on the last game.

It's going to be interesting because the Atlanta Dream could face them or the fever.

I'm rooting for fever because the Valkyrie will punch you in the eyeball.

But yeah, man, great seasons this year.

Juju, how do we sum up Paige Becker's rookie season?

The Dallas Wings are probably going to finish last in the entire league.

Right.

That's it's rare.

All-time great, man.

I think she broke a lot of barriers.

She always speaking up for the right people.

She carries herself in the right way.

She didn't get fine by the team.

None of the shenanigans that people get into when they rookie season.

All the other players from other teams seem to love her.

There was no necessarily quote-unquote Caitlin Clark treatment for her this year.

I think she did a great job in the rookie campaign, and she's going to continue it to the Unrivaled League, who just added two new teams getting money over there in Unrivaled, the Hive and the Breeze.

Welcome to the Unrivaled League.

Is Angel Reese in Chicago next season?

You know what?

She is in Chicago next season.

I predict she ain't going nowhere.

They're going to do what's right over there.

It's a lot of stuff that gets reported.

I don't think

the whole truth ever really comes out, but I know that Chicago really, really loves her.

And I think they're going to get her back.

Juju, what do you make of Jane?

What do you make of her suggestions for baseball?

Do you want her to be commissioner?

Bruh, I think Jane should be the commissioner of the United States of America.

Go with me here.

Whenever she was talking, she wasn't giving y'all a little bit of Greg Cody and some of the influences and the infractions on her words.

I think she's a superstar.

We got to put Jane on the podcast every week.

Salute to Jeremy.

I love you.

But you need to have Miss Jane on there sometime because, man, I can lock in and listen to her talk all day.

How does Jeremy handle that right there, you think?

Well, I think that

was Juju just pitching her as a guest for Pitch Clock.

That was not Juju being like, you're gone, Jeremy, like we said.

Yeah, I actually hope Jeremy sees that interview and is like, this is a perfect guest for me to have on Pitch Clock because I think he'd be as big about Jane as anyone.

All right.

Except for me, she's already in my close friends and liking stuff.

At least the Greg Cody show featuring Greg Cody.

Y'all should, you know what I mean?

Give Miss Jane a call one of these weeks.

I'm with it.

Neither here nor there.

Juju, we got some polls to update.

I think from yesterday, also, right?

Yesterday we had one poll, and it wasn't the greatest of polls.

It was like, is cultural appropriation delicious?

I went against that one.

Over under when Dolphins fans will start booing this Sunday.

This is big.

Over 1.5 drives or under 1.5 drives.

77% of the audience says under 1.5 drives.

I'm going over.

I think it's a good one.

First drive of the game.

Wow.

I think it's going to come in.

I think it's right.

More for real, the Raiders or the Chargers.

88% of the audience says the Chargers.

Ooh, that was a fake out, Jude.

Good team.

They were the playoffs.

They were the playoff team last year.

So

if there's four division teams, in that division, there's four playoff teams.

Dude, that would be impossible, but that's had to be possible.

It's not impossible.

It's impossible.

It's possible.

It feels impossible.

I don't know if it's possible.

It feels that way, but it's not.

The AFC North has some players.

It is possible.

Like the AFC North was in.

But he's saying it feels impossible.

It feels impossible because they play each other twice here.

It's actually impossible.

No, mathematically possible.

Yeah.

I'd like to use this as a reminder for everybody to check out DLS hoops, man.

We got a great episode dropped yesterday.

Also, check out my boy Billy Gill this weekend, FIU in the booth.

Also, check out my dog, First Class Zazz, man.

On the road again.

Where you at this weekend, Zaz?

Baby, glad you brought that up.

I'm flying out to Knoxville tomorrow.

Tennessee, Georgia.

I've never been there before.

Talking about

the SEC matchup.

We're broadcasting on Saturday morning, Calhoun's on the River.

Apparently, that's an amazing spot.

The river there.

Oh my God.

I was there years ago.

I love that camera.

So I don't know.

You got listeners or viewers.

Have you ever been there?

No, I have.

Okay.

If anyone wants to come by and see how good I look, you can come check me out.

You like Tailgate on the boats, right on the river?

Yeah, apparently they all dock right where we're doing the show and the airstream.

So come and see me and Amber Wilson.

That'd be fun.

Yes, sir.

Did the senator know JJ McCarthy's name?

93% of the audience says no, he did not.

Damn.

Yeah.

He knows ball, though.

Last poll.

Did you like it better when the pitch clock was the sun?

52% of the audience says, yes, they did.

And those are your polls.

That's a shocking result.

Unfortunately, unfortunately, we now get to Jeremy and the pitch clock.

Don Lebatard.

Can I tell you something?

I don't know, it was maybe like a month ago.

And I decided to watch pitch clock.

And I told Jeremy, Stugats, this is a good show you're doing.

This is the Don Lebatar Show with the Stugats.

Do you think that the audience is going to notice that I wasn't on show today because I don't have makeup on?

Yeah, you look terrible.

I have the bags under my eyes aren't great.

I'm counting the bags.

Speaking of bags, like stealing bags, because baseball.

I thought you were going to go Jeff Bagwell.

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.

It's another episode of the pitch clock.

Hi, everybody.

Here on the Dan Lebetard show with Stu Gotts.

That's Chris.

I'm Jeremy.

Taylor is with us.

We'll have Adnan Virk, our monthly...

2025 MLB expert joining us in just a few moments.

But first, it's time for Taylor's trivia and I need at least a little bit of redemption.

Yeah, last week was truly and utterly,

I don't know if I've ever been dominated in a competition

the way that I was last week.

It was truly and utterly embarrassing.

And we had people DMing us and tweeting at us saying like, hey, was Chris cheating?

That's how good he was.

Yeah, that was a belt-to-ass situation last week.

So we're going right back to it.

Relax.

It's

501 darts.

You're trying to get as close to zero as possible.

Just a reminder: it'll be best of three.

Each round, you guys will get five guesses, and you can't go past zero.

So if you do go past zero with a guess, you'll just stay at that number.

All right, so what's our subject this time, Taylor?

So the first round will be home runs as a Met.

What?

All right, I'll just go ahead with uh uh

hmm, do I want a strong one or not?

Actually, I'll say David Wright.

So David Wright had 242 home runs as a Met, bringing you down to 259, Jeremy.

Daryl Strawberry.

I don't even know if he was a home run hitter.

So, Chris, Daryl Strawberry went deep 252 times in his career, bringing you down to 249 after one round.

You're within 10 of each other.

So this is now where strategy comes into place.

Because

it's like there are certain people that I'm thinking of that I feel like have to have more than that.

And so do you want to just start chipping away?

I will.

I will start chipping away.

Francisco Lindor.

Francisco Lindor has gone deep 136 times in his career as a Met, bringing you down to 123, Jeremy.

That's what I was looking for.

Carlos Delgado.

Ooh.

Carlos Delgado hit 104 home runs as a Met, bringing you down to 145, Chris Cody.

Man, this is kind of close.

Our 2025 MLB expert is back with us for the, what, fifth or sixth time this season, it feels like at this point.

Adnan Vurke is here.

Adnan, first of all, thank you for joining.

Of course, Jeremy, good to see you.

I'm glad I'm still leading in the clubhouse as far as overall appearances.

It's like games played.

I got to be that guy for you.

You're blowing everybody out.

Regular season record is officially yours.

You've clinched.

Congratulations.

I do have to make a clarification off the top of this before we get into our baseball.

Because last week, if you go back and listen to the end of the pitch clock, I accidentally, with Jason Bonetti, said that this would be my last season with the Miami Marlins broadcast.

I meant series.

This is my first season of hopefully 30.

I don't know.

I'd like to be on this broadcast for the rest of my life until the day that I die.

So let's make it abundantly clear.

Marlins broadcast, not the last season.

My last series is coming up against the Tigers this weekend, which is perfect synchronicity.

But anyway, let's get into some baseball here.

I want to talk to you about a couple wildcard races, and I want to start in the National League because, hello, San Francisco Giants, apparently you're alive.

12-3 in their last 15 games, going from 7 under to 2-over at the time of this recording.

Logan Webb has been remarkable on the mound.

I mean, Adnan, what has changed?

And do the Giants have a legitimate chance of catching the New York Mets for that final NL wildcard spot?

I do think they have a chance.

I don't think it will happen, but you're right, Jeremy, to bring it up that it's been an unbelievable story.

The guy I wanted to mention is Elliot Ramos because Jake Petey was telling me, he goes, this guy is going to be a superstar for the Giants.

It's wow.

He goes, people are not paying enough attention to how good Elliott Ramos is.

He's got 17 home runs this year, but really the queen for them has been the fact that they can bang.

And in the past, it's always been the pitching, no offense.

William Dominic has been closer to being, I believe he's at 27, the first Giants hitter to have a 30-home run season since Barry Bonds back in 2004.

And Rothfield Devers as well.

Jeremy's been much better since August 1st on.

We know it's been a tumultuous season, but ultimately he's going to be 30 and 100.

He'll figure things out there in San Francisco.

But you mentioned Webb want to close with him.

Career high, 201 strikeouts, 184 and two-thirds innings pits, 28 years of age, seventh season, first giant, at least 200 strikeouts since Rodon three years ago.

Webb is that guy, perennally underrated as one of the best pitchers in baseball.

It honestly reminds me a little bit of Jake Peavy and that he was always one of the best pitchers in the game, but never considered the actual best.

So it makes sense that you would bring his name up overall.

And anytime you could tell me there's a team that bangs, I'm very excited about it.

You look up and down that roster and hey, I mean, look, at this point, they really are stringing together some really good couple of months amongst a lot of these bats in the order.

But let's talk about the American League now.

Because there's another situation unfolding over there with another team that I believe at the time of this recording has won 12 of their last 16 games, going from three under to five over.

And a relationship between the two, Bruce Boce is the manager over here with the Texas Rangers, the former Giants manager, and he's always sprinkling some magic all over his teams.

It's really spectacular to see what's happening there, particularly as they deal with a slew of injuries.

No, Nathan Avaldi, who we spoke about a couple of months ago, Adnan.

I mean, I'm going to ask you the same question.

What's changed for the Texas Rangers?

And do they have a legitimate chance of catching the Mariners for the final wildcard spot in the American League?

So this one's completely baffling, Jeremy.

Yes, they have a chance.

Yes, they could catch him, but I can't imagine it'll happen.

I mean, come hell or high water with these injuries.

Now, you mentioned the fact that Evaldi's out.

It's been their best story.

He was in the Scion conversation the last time we'd spoken.

But Seeger being out app and deck to be probably done for the season.

Simeon being out.

Like, this is insane when you have your best positioned players and your best pitcher being done.

So collectively, they've stepped up big time.

Their offense has been great.

12 of 16, they've won, as you mentioned.

They've scored at least four runs in each win, held a fewer than those losses, but the offense has been helpful.

And that's really been the issue for them much of the season.

Now, their pitching has been really good.

Jack Leiter's really come on strong now, sub-four ERA.

You know, I think ultimately Texas is a team, I don't want to call it smoke and mirrors because they are winning.

And Seattle has been so shaky that that window and that door is still open.

But I just can't imagine Texas without having their big-time weapons being able to get in the playoffs.

But you're right about crediting Bruce Bruce Bocey, that veteran managerial magic.

He's got these guys believing right now, and somehow or some way, this Texas team-I can't believe they're still in the race, not in for the Walker, but even the division.

It's crazy.

I mean, it's really crazy.

And you talk about guys like Jacob deGrom and, of course, Meryl Kelly, who's one of my favorites because he looks so much like Roland Shit from Schitt's Creek.

But if I were really a person who was being more attentive to the show, I would have talked about Bruce Bocey having magical sprinkled juice, as Dan referred to with someone earlier in the week.

I'm going to go with legendary New York Met Paul LaDuca.

So Paul LaDuca

hit 14 home runs

as a Met, bringing you down to 109, Jeremy.

I worry that he's going to say a name, man.

Mike Piazza.

Oh no.

He didn't have.

He played for the Dodgers too.

So Chris, you were at 145.

You're going to stay at 145 because Mike Piazza hit 220 home runs as a Met.

Yep.

Daniel Murphy.

Daniel Murphy hit 62 home runs as a Met, bringing you down to 47, Jeremy.

All right.

Mike Jacobs.

Mike Jacobs hit 12 home runs as a Met, bringing Chris Cody down to 133.

Didn't he have like a 30 home run season before he was with the Marlins?

Did he go there after us?

So Mike Jacobs hit 11 home runs in 30 games with the Mets in 2005.

Then he went back to the Mets in 2010.

And in seven games, he hit one home run.

I'm trying to think of someone who has not hit a ton of home runs.

I almost don't even remember if he played for the Mets, but I'm pretty sure he did toward the end of his career.

And if not, I'll just take the zero.

Did Edgar Renteria play for the Mets at the end of his career?

That's a weird one.

I'm just trying to get a few.

I feel like it was near the end, but

I might be totally off base, and there may be a different shortstop that I was thinking of.

so Edgar Enteria never played for the Mets so Jeremy you're gonna be at 47.

I have a guy here I just don't know how long he played for the Mets

in my mind he played a good like four or five seasons there so that would be enough if he was like an 18 to 20 home run guy

Jeremy Bernitz so Jeremy Bernitz hit 53 home runs bringing you down to 80.

It's going to give Jeremy a 1-0 lead after one.

Jeremy Bernitz helps Jeremy Tashay.

I almost said Michael.

Michael Confordo was the only one that I was like, I almost said Michael Confordo.

He would have probably won you.

Chris, you were at 133.

Michael Confordo hit 132.

That's crazy.

God damn it.

Why did I argue?

I kidding.

Think of it.

It was like on the tip of my tongue and then it hit me like just

fucking you.

Beless.

There are other guys who always contribute as we get toward the home stretch of the season and even into the postseason.

So there are a lot of guys who come up after that trade deadline and become a part of some of these teams that are still contending to be a part of the postseason.

Adnan, who's one of the younger guys that you've seen come up in the last four or five weeks that you think come the postseason, people don't know him right now, but by the time we're getting to the playoffs, everybody's going to be talking about him.

I'll give you two for the price of one.

So everyone better talk about Nolan McClain.

This guy's been unbelievable so far as a New York Met.

A great pitch game against the Phillies last night.

He has everything you want, the tools, the poise, the command.

He's going to start meaningful playoff games for the New York Mets in the playoffs.

Jonah Tong, fellow Canadian from Markham, Ontario, is going to start, I believe, a critical spot for the New York Mets.

So these guys just got called up.

These guys could be really starring on Broadway for New York.

I think that's accurate.

First of all, starring on Broadway, you know, I love that line right there.

But second of all, to have these young arms going in who don't know any better and are just going to say, all right, here's my best.

It's sometimes better than having those guys who have been a little bit disappointing, but are the higher paid players.

It could be a lot of fun.

It makes the Mets an even more likable team than they were before.

But all right, time to get to our golden era of baseball, star of the week.

There are several guys that we can highlight here, Ad Nan.

I'm going to give you three names, and you're going to choose one of them.

So we've got two of the best nicknames in sports are the first two.

The big dumper, Cal Rowley, and I know we've talked about him before, but he's getting that much closer to tying and breaking Ken Griffey Jr.'s single-season home run record for the Mariners.

He's at 53 at the time of this recording.

Then there's the Pasquatch, Finney Pascantino, who we haven't spoken about, I think, since you predicted the Royals would be going to the World Series at the very beginning of the year because he had an awful first half.

Really, started to heat up toward the end, but 14 of his 29 homers here in the second half of this season, he's been great for the Royals, got them back into the wild card mix a little bit.

And then, of course, there's Beau Bachette, who I think this is the first time I'm mentioning his name this season.

And that is a travesty by me because he has bounced back in a big way from a disappointing season last year, dealing with injuries, dealing with a lack of success.

Take your pick, Vinny, Cal Bobachette.

Ball but Bobette, man.

This guy's unbelievable.

As you said, he's going to potentially win a batting title.

I believe he's going to lead the major leagues in hits.

At least by defensive metrics, he's fine.

But really, what he's done offensive, he's amazing.

The guy's been awesome.

And especially Bo late in the season, August, September.

He takes off.

He's always done that.

He's the Robin to Vlad Jr.'s Batman who's flirting with 300, 400 on base, 500 slug.

This Jays team right now, it's going to be precarious down the stretch.

The Yankees are right there.

So are the Red Sox.

But Bo Buchette's an outstanding player.

He's a pending free agent.

He's going to get taken care of either by the Blue Jays.

Or my prediction is maybe he goes to the Dodgers, maybe he goes to the Braves.

Great relationship with Alex Anthopoulos there with Toronto.

So I'm with you, man.

Bo doesn't get enough love, but that guy's an absolute stud.

He has been absolutely spectacular, like you mentioned.

And I don't think that there's been a single hitter this season of which I've been on a broadcast that Tommy Hutton, the great Tommy Hutton, has been more impressed with than Bo Bachette.

He was really blown away with his approach and his success when he was down here in Miami.

Hey, my last series of Marlins baseball is coming up this weekend against the Tigers.

I hope all of you watch that.

And of course, always watch Adnan Verk on MLB Network.

Adnan, thank you so much for for joining us.

And I'm sure we'll see you as we get a little bit closer to the playoffs or maybe even that first week of playoff baseball.

About to say playoffs, I'm going to be moving with you daily, whether or not you like it.

Absolutely.

Go buy my books to the file.

Available wherever books are small.

Thank you, buddy.

I own that book.

You should too.

Now, let's get back to this game between myself and Chris.

All right.

Let's get to round two.

What are we doing?

I want to get a win.

This category is going to be home runs as a Red Sock.

Ooh.

This is better.

I'm saying ooh a lot, and that's because I'm really excited about this.

Chris, go for it.

Trot Nixon.

Trot Nixon hit 133 home runs as a Red Sock, bringing you to 368, Chris Covey.

That's a fun one.

I'll just knock out a chunk.

Manny Ramirez.

You're going to put yourself in a spot where you need like 82 home runs.

Manny Ramirez hit 274 home runs as a Red Sock, bringing you down to 227, Jeremy.

I might screw myself here, but I don't think he hit that many.

Movon.

Move on.

So Movon hit 230 home runs as a Red Sock, bringing you down to 138, Chris Cody.

I'm just going to try to get a little chunk out, just a tiny little bit here.

Let's go Dustin Pedroia.

So Dustin Pedroia hit 140 home runs as a Red Sock, bringing you down to 87, Jeremy.

Uh-oh.

Okay.

I'm going to get crazy here.

This shit could be over, but he also could be right on the money, and I could have it another walk-off here.

Nomar.

So, Chris, you're at 138, and you're going to stay at 138 because Nomar Garcia Parra hit 178 as a Red Sock.

Damn, good for Nomar.

Sneaky power.

Wow.

Married to Mia Ham.

All right.

87 homers.

This is a complicated one.

Johnny Damon.

Johnny Damon hit 56 home runs as a Red Sock, bringing you down to 31, Jeremy.

Raphael Devers.

Raphael Devers hit 215 home runs

as a Red Sox.

Raphael Devers.

Dude, that guy's a home run hitter.

They're going to stay at 138.

I think I just need

to get closer to zero.

I don't want to try to get exact.

I'm going to go

Roman Anthony.

Jeremy, you're going to chip away.

Roman Anthony has hit eight home runs as a Red Sox, bringing you down to 23.

I'll take it.

I thought it was more.

I did, but I'll take 23 given the circumstances.

You got a window here, man.

If you get, it's what?

115 between 115 and 138.

You win.

I'm going to say a name that I'm not going with.

It's like a Red Sox, I would probably call him a Red Sox legend, but I don't think of him as a huge home run hitter.

But he played so long there that I feel like he had to have had that.

So I'm not going to say Jason Veritek.

Even though I think that I don't see him as a huge home run guy, I feel like he could be around there, but he's probably got more.

So I'm going to go with

instead of Jason Veritek,

Mike Lowell.

That's pretty good.

Mike Lowell

hit

80 home runs as a Red Sox.

Jeremy 2-0.

Go!

Damn it.

Yes!

So, Chris, when you were at 138, the name that I thought you were thinking of was Mookie Betts.

So when you were at 138, I looked up Mookie Betts.

139.

Oh, boy.

The story of this episode of the pitch clock is that I'm finally a winner.

Chris, no longer a cheater.

DM me about this, guys.

I'm excited.

I won, and I hate you.

Love you too.