NL Wild Card Race: Evaluating Flawed Teams and Arizona's Potential
Transcript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Is this stretch run going to be as it pertains
00:05 to the NL wildcard race?
00:08 - It's funny because, you know, just before we went live,
00:11 I'm telling you how much I love the expanded playoffs
00:14 because of, you know, how it creates
00:15 so much more dialogue and interest.
00:17 And I think for those who may want to be
00:21 anti-expanded playoffs, this third wildcard spot
00:24 in the NL would be their supporting argument here
00:27 because each of these teams are so flawed
00:30 and have a lot of issues, I think.
00:33 But you look at San Francisco and where they're at,
00:36 I think they're kind of hitting a little bit of a wall.
00:39 Arizona turning it around says a lot to me
00:42 because they looked as dead in the water as could be.
00:45 They didn't end up really buying at the deadline.
00:47 It was more of this like soft buy, which helped.
00:50 They got, you know, Paul Seawald,
00:52 they were able to kind of make some things happen.
00:54 But in terms of sheer talent,
00:56 I think Arizona is the most complete team.
00:59 They need some help on the pitching side,
01:01 but you know, Merrill Kelly's finally been back in the fold.
01:04 We know what Zach Gallin can do.
01:06 You know, Cincinnati's relying on a lot of youngsters
01:09 to perform and I just think it's a little bit of a reach.
01:12 Yes, they could get Hunter Green and Lodolo back,
01:15 but it's like, okay, what are they gonna look like?
01:16 We saw Hunter Green's first start was not great.
01:19 And Miami, you know, I grew up a Marlins fan.
01:21 You know, I'm a Miami guy.
01:23 Sandy Alcantara's been throwing well.
01:24 Yuri Perez is back.
01:25 I just don't think that offense can quite keep up,
01:28 but I think their pitching will help them hang around.
01:30 To me, Arizona is the best team of this group.
01:34 And I think that if they can keep kind of playing this ball,
01:37 I think it's theirs to lose the rest of the way
01:39 because I really did not see them turning it around
01:41 like this and they're doing that with Corbin Carroll,
01:44 not really playing his best ball right now.
01:47 Arizona can make things happen.
01:50 (upbeat music)
01:52 (bells chiming)