Takes

George Springer is the most clutch postseason hitter of the last 15 years

George Springer does it again. Maybe the most clutch postseason hitter of the last, what, 15 years? Third all-time in postseason home runs now, which is pretty crazy.

Fixing blackouts is at the top of Major League Baseball's priority list

Blackouts number one are at the top of my list in terms of things we need to deal with. Ideally where you would like to be is if you have a digital home for baseball, you can go there and buy what you want to buy.

The Phillies will lose to the Mets in five games

I mean, it's, it's going to go five. The Phillies are gonna go up 2-1. I'm going be comfortable... then the Mets are gonna have a heroic comeback in game four and then game five, they're just gonna smoke us and it's gonna be, it'll be like 4-0 Mets in game five. That's how it's gonna go.

The Shohei Ohtani investigation will take a long time to resolve

I think it's gonna be a long time... This is such a tiny little speck of a much larger investigation that's going on right now into this alleged illegal gambling ring in Southern California... Major League baseball doesn't wanna step on the toes of federal investigators.

The MLB will eventually sweep the Shohei Ohtani gambling investigation under the rug

I do think the MLB's just gonna sweep it under the rug. Of course they [will]. It's like, it's almost done. I'm telling you. I think it might be done. They're gonna reinstate Pete Rose and they'll be like under the new rules Shohei did very little wrong.

Craig Counsell to the Cubs is a sign the team is ready to spend and compete for World Series titles again

I also think this is the sign that the Cubs are ready to start spending and start competing for World Series again. Because you're not Craig Counsell... you don't go to the Cubs, your rival... unless you have a deal in place from Jed and Tom Ricketts being like, 'Hey, we're going for this.'

It currently pays to be cheap in MLB because teams with the highest payrolls are all failing

The Mets fucking suck... everyone's pissed off at [Buck Showalter] and it kind of like speaks to a larger trend in Baseball This year, which is that the teams with the highest payrolls, they are all underperforming. Yeah. So you it pays to be cheap in Major League Baseball.

Luis Arraez chasing a .400 batting average is as electric as a home run chase

Luis Arraez of the Marlins... he was hitting 401 as of Saturday... if he ends up like, I mean hitting 400 would be insane in this day and age. Going down the stretch... those are gonna be electric games to watch. Yes. It'd be still close to 400 every single at bat. That to me is, that to me is almost as good as watching like a home run chase.

I am fading the Oakland A's every single game this year

I think I'm gonna fade the As. Okay. All year long. So it's gonna be a combo, a parlay be of the under and taking the as. I think it's either to lose money line or, or lose by one and a half. I like it runs. I like it. I feel like the A's are gonna win 42 games this year. Ooh. Maybe less.

John Sterling has become a parody of himself and needs to retire from the Yankees booth

My hot seat is John Sterling. I think this is a bit at this point... he's blind. For the third time, it wasn't even close. He needs to quickly make the decision so he can say that he's retiring... it's getting like late Francessa where if you become a parody of yourself.

The Universal DH is a bad rule that will slow the game down

This designated hitter's going to slow down the game because—and I've said this before—if Tom Seaver threw more than nine pitches to the seventh, eighth, and ninth hitter... in the old National League, they would go right after [them]. In the American League, they didn't go right after [the DH]. ... It's going to slow the game down.

The 'Sampson Effect' causes players to perform worse when they join the Yankees and have to shave

If you have to cut your hair or shave to change your personal appearance, I bet it throws you off Sampson effect. I bet you it's almost every player that goes there... Randy Johnson shave his beard when he sucked, when he was in the eighties.

The Phillies will win the World Series after playing the Padres in the NLCS

I think it's going to be the Phillies against the Padres in the world series. I just think those are the two best teams. So they're going to face each other in the NLCS. And then the winner of that, I'm going to say as the real world series champion.

The Braves vs. Astros World Series will not interest a national audience

I feel bad the sport of the MLB. Cause like, let's be honest, Braves Astros. Doesn't really get the needle moving for a national audience.

Tony La Russa could win AL Manager of the Year

I'm also very excited for Tony. The White Sox are very good, and so Tony La Russa, he could win AL manager of the year. Which would be so funny.

Clayton Kershaw is the greatest postseason pitcher of all time

Clayton Kershaw has the most wins in my book of any starter in the last 25 years since the wild card came around. So yeah, he's he might be the best postseason pitcher out there of all time.

A 50-game MLB season will result in an asterisk for whoever wins the World Series

I think we're all resigned to the fact that it's going to be 50 Game season, which will result in an asterisk on whoever wins this world series unless it's the Nationals or the Cubs or the Red Sox.

MLB owners are stalling to play the smallest amount of games possible in 2020

We're going to play games so that we can get the TV money, but we're going to play the smallest amount possible. Because this is all about a business decision from the owners' perspective. So we're going to play the minimum available. 50 games.

MLB should use completely random divisions if they play a shortened season

I'm actually all for this because it's going to be such a weird season anyway. If they play a shortened season that why not have just completely random divisions and have it beat something totally different where we always look back and I'm like, oh, yeah, that was the season that the Cubs were in the same division as the Giants.

Chris Sale's Tommy John surgery timing is actually good for the Red Sox

I feel like it's a good thing because the MLB season probably never going to happen. So he's going to be able to basically get a free year. He's going to get all the rest and recovery he needs.

I am taking the over on the Astros season win total because they'll get on base from HBPs

I want to find out what the what the line is on the amount of times that the Astros are going to get beaned this year. And I'm going to take the over on it no matter what... I might take the the season win total over for the Astros. Just on that alone.

Astros players will get beaned all year long

Not a single player is being held responsible... guess what? No one's going to forget about it and everyone's gonna get beaned this year and I'm excited.

I am in on the proposed 14-team MLB playoff format

I personally, it's crazy. It's stupid. And I know baseball purists will hate it. But from a fundamental level of making September more enjoyable, making a lot of markets still feel like they have a shot, having just more playoff baseball... and eliminating the one game playoff that always kind of feels like it screws someone over. I'm kind of in on this.

Tim Tebow is better at baseball than Michael Jordan was

Better than Jordan at baseball, yeah. Oh, the stats will bear me out.

Gerrit Cole is going to 'shove' in the World Series

Gerrit Cole is about to show you... he's gonna shove. I'm saying it's gonna shove.

The Houston Astros are going to kill the New York Yankees in the ALCS

The Astros are going to kill the Yankees. the Twins should stop I feel bad for the twin if that's what's gonna kill the Yankees. Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole... he's insane. he's on a different level... the Astros are going to win the World Series.

I'm staying off social media to avoid cause trouble and responding to chirps

I decided this year, you know what, I'm not going to cause that much trouble on social media. ... I won't be responding [to Trevor Bauer] anymore.

The St. Louis Cardinals are going to win games in 'stupid ways' all through October

I have a bad feeling that the fucking Cardinals are just going to do this shit all October long. ... And just do it in stupid ways and just like come back. I know. I've seen this before.

Mic'ing up baseball players might actually save baseball

We were watching and they had someone at bat who was mic'd up. I think it was Freddie Freeman. And I have to admit, I think it might save baseball. With all that said, it could definitely save baseball.

Baseball should adopt an 8-team wildcard 'March Madness' playoff format

My feeling is we have to make the game more competitive... we're going to create a baseball March Madness so that you have the bottom three teams. So you have five, six, and seven. Seven... will play six, one game. Then the winner of that will play team five... Then you get into the divisional playoffs. So you're going to have three days of sudden death Major League Baseball playoffs.

The Red Sox will beat the Astros in 7 games in the ALCS

Hank, are you worried at all about the Red Sox against the Astros? The Astros are a wagon. [Hank:] I think it's going to go seven games where the Red Sox are going to win.

The 2018 World Series will be a Dodgers vs. Astros rematch

I think it's going to be a repeat. Dodgers, Stros. I think the Dodgers are going to – Rich Hill is going to do something. But playoff Kershaw.

Major League Baseball umpires are on the hot seat and we need electronic strike zones

My other hot seat is umps. So Ben Zobrist got tossed in the Cubs-Brewers game today, and on the way out, he said to umpire Phil Cuzzi... That's why we want electronic strike zones. And I think this is going to be the moment where we get this debate going again, and umps are now going to be on the hot seat because they fuck up a couple times a year, like, egregiously.

The Arizona Diamondbacks will play the Boston Red Sox in the World Series

D-Backs, Red Sox.

The Dodgers will be special and could win the World Series in 2018

It's not going to be Houston again. It's hard to go back to back. I believe the Dodgers can be a special this year.

Assuming that 50% of MLB players are taking Adderall

I have spoken to people in baseball, and the assumption is right around 50%. Now, I don't know what the rules are as far as if you just get a doctor to prescribe it, it's fine by MLB... obviously, if you're taking it and you have not done the proper steps to tell the league that you are taking it, you can get in trouble.

I'm worried Yu Darvish will 'nibble' too much and pitch slow games for the Cubs

The meatball fan in me was like, I'd like Jake Arrieta because he's been there and done that... [Yu Darvish] nibbles. Dude, when he gets in trouble, he nibbles. Nothing worse than watching a pitcher pitch like five innings for four hours.

The Diamondbacks will defeat the Astros in the 2017 World Series

I'll say Diamondbacks versus Astros then... Diamondbacks [win].

Clayton Kershaw is 'hurt' but not 'injured' and will play through the pain

I'm going to go with hurt because he'll be back. He'll just ignore the pain. ... He has that special like lizard part of his brain that he can just activate where it just blocks all of his pain sensors and he can just get back in there.

The Aaron Judge slump is caused by participating in the Home Run Derby

The Aaron Judge, did he fuck up his swing, is fully back. He's like one for 14 right now. I think we called that before the home run derby even started, right?

Winning the Home Run Derby will mess up Aaron Judge's swing

I'm going Aaron Judge's swing. Because everyone knows the home run derby, whoever wins it, it messes up their swing. It absolutely does... He was on track to win Rookie of the Year, maybe Triple Crown, but watch out. I already saw chitter chatter on Twitter that watched out for his swing.

Javi Baez is going to get a fastball in the ear hole for his showboating

I want to put one in Javi by his ear hole... and you better believe that he's going to get one in his ear hole soon. You see him he was like celebrating as he was tagging the other day... You don't go around another man's tag... Tebow's never been to—say what you want about Tim Tebow but he wouldn't showboat when he was getting to third base for the first time.

Teams that have spring training arguments over who their closer is will lose 90 to 100 games

I have also written down the 'who's the closer' argument. Those are teams that don't have a closer and they're trying a bunch of people out. Those teams usually will lose somewhere between 90 and 100 games.

MLB's extra innings rule changes are a David Stern-style publicity stunt

David Stern used to do this all the time in the middle of the summer when the NBA wasn't getting any headlines. ... I think MLB is trying to do something. Super Bowl just ended. They're trying to get everyone back into baseball season, get some people talking about baseball. So let's just throw a stupid rule out there that's never going to work.

Aroldis Chapman's ankle will be swollen and he will feel the injury in Game 7

Tomorrow it's going to swell. [Chapman] is going to feel it. He's probably, I don't know, maybe he's got some recovery water... but tomorrow it's going to swell. He's going to feel it.

The Cubs bats woke up because they started playing 'small ball' like Mike Scioscia

I think that the Cubs won because they finally listened to me and started playing some small ball. It's called foreplay, and Joe Maddon finally figured out you've got to get to first before you get to home plate. And instead of hitting home runs, they finally learned to build a rally with some bunts, some stolen bases. I call it socialism for Mike Scioscia.

Tim Tebow will be signed to a baseball team by next Wednesday

Tim Tebow update next Tuesday... Tim Tebow will be signed on a baseball team as of next Wednesday.

The Cubs will win the National League and the Blue Jays will win the American League

I like the Cubs still. I do like the Cubs... AL, I like the Blue Jays. I do like the Blue Jays, yeah... they had a little experience. They got some guys in the bullpen, pretty good starting staff, and a lineup's a joke.

I am the reason for the flat-brim hat trend in baseball

I live in Scottsdale, Arizona, and I see all these Little Leaguers wear 8-1-8 hats, so I feel like I'm the reason for that. So, you know, I'm definitely taking silent credit for changing the game, changing the hat-fitted game.

Tommy Lasorda was about to die but his life has been saved through prayer

There's one more. That's about to go, actually... It's Tommy Lasorda. but we may have intercepted here okay we may have... I think that we've already done that [asked for forgiveness to save him].