Guess what? We finally have game results. The
Tokyo series is done. Kenji and I are here to
break it down. And opening day is only six days
away. Okay, Kenji. the tokyo series is has come
and gone it was on the calendar it was months
and months out you know six months ago i guess
that's how math and time works uh but it passed
it was fun to watch it was really early in the
morning but it was in tokyo it's where you're
from you're from japan you got to see the japanese
superstars do their thing I want to hear your
takes on both games, if you had a chance to watch
them, what you thought about the Cubs, what you
thought about Shota, what you thought about the
Dodgers. They kind of dominated the whole time.
So I'm going to just jump right in and hand it
straight to you, man. What did you think of the
Tokyo series? I thought it was a blast. I had
a good time. I mean, of course, I did not wake
up at 3 in the morning to watch the games because
that's a little too early. Did watch both games
pretty much all the way afterwards. First of
all, getting to watch baseball without commercials
and just skipping is pretty nice. Yeah, lovely.
It's really nice. This has nothing to do with
the Tokyo series, but in the exhibition games,
I didn't know if you noticed, but there was no
pitch clock. Oh, really? I did not notice that.
Yeah, so you saw that the American pitchers,
the Cubs and Dodgers pitchers, They were pitching
at the pitch clock pace, but the Japanese pitchers
were taking around 20 seconds per pitch. Of course.
It was really off. Like, it was interesting.
But it makes sense because their movement is
so much more, I don't know, extra? Not extra,
but, like, I don't know. It's artistic, I guess.
I don't know how to call it without making fun
of my own culture. But, no, the Tokyo Series
was great. We talked about the trailer. The trailer
was great as well. They did a really good job
of just, the whole thing was amazing. It was
really entertaining, good games. I mean, great
marketing when you consider the amount of Japanese
players and how focused in they were. It's crazy,
yeah. The pitching map ships were fun. Yamamoto
looked great, to be honest. Sure did. So did
Shota. Shota looked great as well. He did have
some walk issues. But I think he's fine. I don't
know if you noticed, but Yamamoto has a two -seamer,
I think, now. Yeah, a little backdoor. Yeah,
which is perfect because that's what he's been
needing all last year. I was screaming at him,
like, just get a new fastball. Get a new fastball.
Dodgers are so good with that stuff. They did.
And so Rokey's definitely going to develop one,
too. But I had a blast watching it. What was
your thoughts on it? It was great. I mean, I
am all for growing the game. And I feel like,
I mean, Jeff Paston said this on the Pat McAfee
show that baseball has been trying to catch up
internationally for the last decade. And there
are a few sports in the world where baseball
is number one. Japan is one of them, if not the
only one. And so to get to see their excitement
for the game, to hear how much the tickets cost,
which was, I think, $3 ,500 apiece. It was like
the cheapest get -in price, which is $3 ,500.
No way. Something like that. Yeah, they said
it was more expensive than the Super Bowl. Holy
cow. How did anybody afford that? Japan's poor.
What would 3 ,500 yen be? 3 ,500 yen is like...
$28 probably? Yeah, no, it was definitely $3
,500. Jeez Louise, dude, that's crazy. Cars don't
even cost that much in Japan. They spent a ridiculous
amount. That game had been sold out in seven
minutes, they said, and $3 ,500 for a ticket,
which is just crazy. I had a blast watching it.
I, like Kenji, did not get up and watch. I watched
it after the fact. But, I mean, they were good
games. They were pretty brisk. Cubs really, like,
didn't. Looked like they were on the Dodgers
level the whole time. Kyle Tucker had some good
at -bats. Shota looked good. The Cubs have a
couple bullpen guys I like. But the Dodgers,
this was just kind of a Dodger showcase. This
was like the Shohei show and let Rookie and Yama
go do their thing. And thanks, Seiya and Shota,
for coming along for the ride, but you guys are
going to lose kind of deal. It was quite a blast
watching. It was good. Wasn't it? How unprepared?
Just the severity of the level, the differences
between the Cubs and the Dodgers. And the Dodgers
are missing Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.
If you look at the Dodgers roster without them,
you wouldn't call that lineup the best lineup
in baseball. I would take the Phillies lineup,
the Braves lineup, probably... The Mets? Yeah,
I guess. I like the Dodgers defense better than
the Mets. But the lineup -wise, yeah. It's nothing
crazy. It's talented. But when you have Mookie
and Freddie in it, it becomes the best thing
around. And yet, it just still seemed like they
dominated. That's what it felt like. I mean,
watching it just felt like the Cubs just never
really were in it. No, and the Dodgers bullpen
is so good. I mean, I don't think the Cubs scored
once on the Dodgers bullpen. I'm pretty sure
you could check me on that. But I'm pretty sure
– I think I'm going to check you on that. I think
they did get one run off the Dodger pen. Because
they got on game two – on game one they got one
run. It was against Yamamoto. And you have Scott,
Trinan, Kasperius, I think that's how you say
it, and Banda or Bonda. Yeah. They pitched shutout
innings. And then I'll go check. I'm looking
right now. I'm pulling up the box score. I'm
going to fact check you on this. Yeah, check
that. Yeah, Luis Garcia and the dryer kid both
gave up an earned run. Oh, Luis Garcia, I don't
know why he's there. He wasn't that good. Knack
looked good. Yates looked good. Vessia and Scott
looked great the night before. So Dodgers are
going to be fantastic is basically like the takeaway
is that even without their two, even without
Mookie and Freeman, they still looked. Markedly
better than the Chicago Cubs, who are the favorite
to win the NL Central. They're really talented.
The Cubs are very talented. It just felt like
there wasn't – I don't know. Maybe it's because
you know that that Dodger team is just Japanese
all -stars, but you look at the Cubs and you're
like, they got two really good Japanese players
too. I don't know. Really fun series. I'm super
happy about it. And Rob Manford went on the Cubs
broadcast and he talked about, you know, the
WBCs and next year and how the game's trying
to grow. So that's kind of where I want to pivot
to next. I want to ask you what the future of
the Tokyo and these international games are.
Do you think that, I mean, where else would you
like to see them go next? That's the first question
I'll ask. Where do you want to see them go next?
I heard them talking about, I think it was like
a reporter. I think he asked Shohei. um they
had like an interview session for like yamamoto
tani and sasaki were all on the panel and i think
uh i think it was taiwan like chinese taipei
taiwan that'd be fun a taiwan taiwanese lady
or man i can't remember asked him if he thinks
they would ever play in taiwan and i mean what
what is he really supposed to say he was like
oh taiwan's a great country uh but I'm really
focused on playing in Tokyo. What is Otani going
to do with that question? I don't think it'd
be a good idea to go to Taiwan. I don't know
if the market is as big as it is in Japan. Korea
last year was awesome, but I think it's pretty
obvious the Japanese series was a lot bigger.
I think they profited a lot more when it comes
to financial -wise. I wouldn't be shocked if
they were back in Japan next year. They said
they won't do. They're not doing games next year.
But after the WBC, maybe in 2027, they do some
international games. Oh, because of the WBC,
they won't? Yep, they won't do it next year.
That's fair. I just don't know how you could
bring the numbers out and be like, hey, playing
in this country, you know, like Taiwan or going
back to Korea or going somewhere like South America
is going to be more profitable. Because in the
end, it's a business. yeah yeah it's fun to see
but it just makes sense to go to japan because
japan is the only country that is up there i
think when it comes to structure wise player
wise and marketing wise um that even even like
sniffs the mlb okay so i think it'd be really
hard for other countries but like dominican republic
would be fun because there's just so much that
was the one i was gonna say is the dr i think
would be crazy you get them like playing all
their instruments which i was sad i mean i Side
note, I am going to talk about the Japanese not
doing all their cheers and things during the
games. But like the Dominican, go get how crazy
it was going. Like when they do the lead on series
that were Caminero took like two minutes around
the bases and flipped his bat above the top of
the stadium. Like to get an MLB. like regular
season games there oh my goodness that'd be fun
to get some people that are from the dominican
and have like get give me tatis and like the
braves give me a kunya tatis in the dominican
to open the season oh my goodness electric it'd
be so fun so i would love to see that but i agree
with you i think japan is like one of the prime
spots to open the season they've done it a bunch
of times before but never this big where there's
been this many marketable japanese superstars
I think it's a phenomenal thing for the sport.
I mean, Japan has such a crazy appetite for baseball
and they got a little, I mean, we got to see
it on the national stage. And I think if you
kind of look at the world, like I said, like
DR and Japan are going to like the two hotspots
for talent at the moment. And of course there's
more countries in other Asia, like Korea has
done a pretty good job and a bunch of other countries
in South America that bring up a bunch of talent.
But it kind of seemed to go into like Japan and
DR, like the main, I guess Venezuela, I can put
up there as well, are really giving you the most
amount of talent. And I don't know if any of
these players that played on the Giants or the
Tigers would ever have a chance in playing in
the majors. But it's helping them make their
case. Besides the WBC every four years, if you
go to Japan or DR, you're helping players put
their name out there. I think that's really good
for the sport as well. And so all in all, it
was a 10 out of 10 experience. It was awesome.
Yeah. So then what'd you think? Well, no, I'm
going to go back to my first point. I heard from
the Cubs reporter, their sideline reporter, their
dugout reporter, that the Japanese fans did not
do their typical, like they have the cheer squad
there. They did not do that. Because they wanted
to respect the American game, is what they said.
It was quiet. It was legitimately quiet during
the actual gameplay. And they said the reason
for that is because the people who managed the
cheer squad, I don't know what they're called.
I don't want to offend anybody by not knowing
their name, but I don't know their name. They
said that they didn't want to play to respect
the American game because they thought Americans
didn't want... the cheer thing or whatever. And
so then the Cubs announcers immediately are like,
well, tell them to start cheering, you know,
like we want to hear it. You know, so I would
like to see that. Cause I mean, when you watch
like Japanese baseball highlights or even when,
you know, when Japan was playing and then WBC
a couple of years ago, it's still, it's a rowdy
environment in there. So I guess the Japanese
people, I mean, it's widely regarded. They're
incredibly respectful. Like that's like. that's
that's just a culture right and so i would like
to see them be a little bit more like to dive
into that a little bit like we're in japan for
a reason like give us the cheering give us the
cheer squad like buy into it i thought soul did
a good job with that last year but i mean what's
your take on that did you even know that do you
even care i knew that they weren't cheering for
either of the teams they were cheering for players
Yeah. Anytime Japanese players were up, they
were cheering. Yeah. Except for Otani, everyone
was dead silent because they were just so excited
about everything. Everyone had their phones out.
And that was awesome to see him go yard. It wasn't
a homer. What? It wasn't a homer. I thought they
hit the fan's hand. It was fan interference.
It should have been a double, but it's okay.
I don't know how that works. And then people
were like, I think they showed a clip from last
year that happened to the Dodgers game. And they're
like, oh, Dodgers are cheating. And, like, you
people are on the internet are just so pathetic.
At that point, I was like, you know what? Give
Shohei the homer, man. He's in Japan. Give him
the homer. But I think a regular season game
where they have more camera angles of that, I
think that's a double. So that's how it works.
If the fan touches it, even though if he didn't
touch it, it would have been a homer, it's a
double? It's usually if the fan touches it and
it's clearly going to be short of the fence.
Because it was going to go over, I thought. I
thought it was short. Really? Yeah. Okay. That's
okay. Either way. I don't know. He got the homer.
They were cheering. Did you hear the PCA chants?
Yeah, I heard the PCA. I mean, stuff like that,
I think it was over there and down there. But
I wish they would have had chants. But the difficult
part is that every player in Japan has a specific
song or chant. I remember you saying that, yeah.
And so it is a bit harder to have one for a bunch
of random MLB teams. Americans. Yeah. And so
I think that probably played a factor into it.
Fair enough. Yeah, it would have been nice if
they were cheering. Yeah, I mean, I think next
time I would like to see that just because it's
like something that they talk about that happens
at Japanese baseball games. Prepare more, Japan.
Come on. I know I've talked to you about wanting
to go to Japan and wanting to go to an NPV game
because of that, because of the environment and
how drastically different it is from, you know,
just a Tuesday night, you know, American baseball
game. But I thought it was great for the game.
I love to see the Japanese players playing at
their home country on the international stage.
And it was two good teams. Like, I don't know
if this means much to the Cubs. I think you're
just kind of like, all right, whatever. I want
to flush it. Let's just go, like, actually play
the regular season. Like, that's probably where
they're at. And the Dodgers are like, cool, dude,
we're 2 -0. Let's go. I don't know. It kind of
sucks for the Cubs because you give up two home
games for that. I know. That was bogus. I was
shocked. I'm like, why would you make the Cubs?
It's so obvious the Dodgers are a home team.
I was like, why are the Cubs giving up two home
games? I guess they're trying to get an advantage.
The Dodgers still get two home games. I don't
know, man. Strange stuff. Yeah. It's like Shohei
gets to go back to his home country, but it's
an away game for him technically. Whatever. Whatever.
But it was good. I want to hear your thoughts
on Rokey and his outing. Yeah, I wanted to talk
about that. I want to talk about Rokey because
he, I mean, phenomenal stuff. We've talked at
length about his splitter and how nasty it is,
but what do you think finally getting to see
him against big league hitters? I mean, the reporters
were talking, or the broadcasters were talking
about just him getting worn out, right? And I
don't know if that's pressure or... Just a different
environment. But it's the same environment, but
a different situation, different ball. I mean,
there's a thousand factors that go into why he
was that exhausted after three innings. He looked
winded and definitely gassed, for sure. But I
just think he was anxious. I think so, too. I
mean, he hasn't probably pitched that seriously
in a while. Yeah, and the cameras kept panning
to him, and I was like... You could tell he was
genuinely freaking out. 23, you know? Yeah, you
could tell he was genuinely kind of tweaking.
He looks super anxious. He's touching everything
too many times. You could definitely see. And
it manifested itself because he did have some
command problems, but zero doubt that there is
wicked stuff with Rookie. I heard somebody talking
about how the Dodgers see him as a complete project.
They see way more potential in him that they
can add to, which is scary to think because they
do such a good job adding repertoires to pitchers.
So I'm excited. The slider looked really good.
It's a really good pitch to slide in there. But,
yeah, he's just got to fix his fastball. Yeah,
fastball command. Command, he needs movement,
either a sinker or a two -seamer. I know Dodgers
are really big into sinkers. hopefully they give
him that an issue i saw towards the end i didn't
notice it and i don't know if i want to go back
and watch okay but he's uh he was he was uh i
don't know if the batter could see it but he
was giving away his splitter at least on tv oh
yeah yeah he i noticed on one significant like
a two strike and it was just so obvious i mean
it's kind of obvious he was gonna throw a splitter
But usually you want to change your pitches inside
of your glove, right? But splitters are really
hard because you have to really put it in there
between your fingers. So I've never paid attention
to what other pitchers do. But he's so obviously,
I mean, the people were all, this is all audio,
but he had his glove, you know, on his chest
and his right hand. He was pushing the ball.
You could see it. Like, on his side. And as a
batter, I'm like, you have to know what's coming.
And the batter didn't even, like, blink. He knew
it was coming immediately. Was that only on splitters,
or did he do that for long pitch? Yeah, on splitters,
he would take a little longer from what I saw.
From then, I started watching, and it was pretty
obvious after that. But it was, like, on the
third inning, so towards the end of his outing.
He was just pushing it in and then coming up.
And I was watching him do a fastball and a slider.
It was a lot more simpler. And so I don't know
if he does that every outing or every time he
throws a splitter, but just something that I
caught. Yeah. Interesting. Probably shouldn't
be doing. Yeah, I mean, hitters are going to
pick up on that. I bet he has it fixed for his
next start. Because it's a pretty simple fix
for that. It's just grab. Even when I was pitching
in junior high, they would say, grab every pitch
like your most complicated one you can throw.
So if you're going to throw a knuckleball and
you have to really force your knuckles on the
ball, that has to be the thing that's in your
glove every time. So, like, if you have to hold
the ball behind you, it should be in the knuckleball
grip because it's easy to go from that to a fastball
or easy to go from that to a slider. But it's
really hard to go from a fastball to a splitter
without giving it away, that sort of thing. So
that's kind of the fix. I would presume that
the Dodgers pick up on that, too, and they're
going to work with him on it. That's the hard
thing about Rokey because when he comes set,
his hands are really high up, right? Yeah. I
was always, when I used to pitch, I would do,
like, little small things or tweak things. Like
I would on purposely play with your glove on
two strikes to make a synagogue on a curve ball.
And I throw a fastball. Yeah. Everyone's always
caught off guard when you're 14 years old, you're
overthinking everything. But I was never a fan
of coming set with your, with your glove high,
like by your head. I was always a fan of like
it kind of down by your chest or your stomach.
Cause I feel like you, as you're coming down,
you're able to adjust those pitches a little
bit better. And then. In Major League, you see
a lot of pitchers, like, go up and down a couple
times and, like, adjust their feet. And while
you're doing that, you're able to adjust those
pitches. And so, I don't know. I mean, Rogue
is not going to change the way he pitches because
he's been pitching like that for a long time.
But just something I noticed, just thought it
was interesting. Yeah, no, it's a good catch.
I had a blast watching him. I'm excited to continue
to watch his development. I think he's with the
perfect organization for it. And they just have
an embarrassment of riches. they could have picked
anybody to start those games. Like they, they
won, they went to, you know, they didn't have
Mookie. They didn't have Freddie and they didn't
pitch glass. Now they didn't pitch Snell. They
didn't pitch may. They didn't like, they just,
the Dodgers are going to be unbelievable this
year. That was my biggest takeaway is holy cow.
Like the Cubs are really good, but the Dodgers
looked like they were on a different level and
they still didn't have their best guys in, you
know? So big brother, big brother. Yeah. Everybody's
going to be playing a second fiddle to them this
year. Fun stuff. Rest up, Mookie. Mookie dropped
15 pounds, you said? 15 pounds, yeah. You could
see it on his interview. He sounded terrible.
He just looked so skinny, too, when he was warming
up at shortstop. His body is just... He's lost
so much muscle. They're saying he's going to
be ready for opening day. I don't know how that's
possible when he lost 15 pounds of mass. So,
I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised if Mookie
doesn't play for a little while. Because how
do you gain 15 pounds back in the season, you
know? It's a lot to get back. It's quick. It's
a pretty fast turnaround to add 15 pounds in
a hurry. So, hopefully he's back. And hopefully
Freddie gets his ribs figured out too. Yeah.
But if not, I mean, they're still going to be
fine. They're going to be totally fine. I mean,
look at what they did. They comfortably beat
the Cubs, who are favored to win the Central,
without the two best players. And arguably with...
their second and fifth best starter. So, like,
that's what just happened, which is crazy. But
still a blast to watch. I'm excited to see Shohei
go up against Scooble opening day. What a matchup
that'll be. What time does that game start at?
I don't know. Because we'll be in different cities
for opening day. I hope that it's, like, late
so we can watch. I'm going to be in Toronto,
and I'm going to be in Kansas City. which is
awesome that'll be my second baseball game i
ever watch wow what day is opening day a week
from when we're recording this march 27th 27th
so i'm looking right now um 7 10 eastern yeah
okay it's on espn it'll be scoobles snell so
i can't watch this on uh mlb no you can't they'll
have it on the regional networks too oh okay
yeah What time is it going to be in Canada? Canada's
Eastern time. I think Toronto's Eastern. So I'll
be 7 o 'clock Eastern, so I should be done. And
Kansas City's just an hour back, so it'll be
6 o 'clock in Kansas City. Okay. I don't know
when the Royals game is. The Royals game is at
4 p .m. Okay. A little before yours. But exciting
stuff. I can't wait, man. We're going to talk
more about opening day on Monday or Saturday.
Yes. Tuesday or. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, whatever.
Yeah. He's not privy to our recording schedule.
I just tell him when to show up and he's there.
Yeah. But yeah, we're going to go into all the
opening day pitching matchups and we're going
to rank them or at least like delve into the
interesting ones. Because opening day, I was
talking about this to my wife, Maddie. I love
you. You're probably not listening, but I love
you. That opening day is a top three day of the
year for me, the year all around. And I mean,
I might be alone in that sentiment, but I think
when you go to Kansas city, you're going to love
it. I went to Baltimore last year for it and
I absolutely adored it. Opening day is an incredible
celebration of baseball. I'm afraid of how much
money I might spend at the stadium. Yeah. You're
going to have a problem. They're bringing out
their powder blue jerseys, I guess, this year.
Every home Saturday game, they're wearing the
powder blue Kansas City jerseys. So if I see
one, and if I see a hat... Wait, do I have that
one? No, oh, this is... Okay, yeah, I'm going
to have to buy this one. yeah i'm screwed all
right for kenji's one i'm screwed yeah i'm gonna
buy a hat too and we're gonna buy food and whatever
so yeah pray for my wallet but yeah who cares
i'm excited for opening day but it's opening
day it's this it signifies the today is the spring
equinox if uh my memory serves me correctly but
spring doesn't really start until baseball starts
so next a week from today Thursday, March 27th
is the official start of spring, in my opinion.
But, yeah, that's the Tokyo series. Kind of all
we ever talk about. I mean, unless you care about
Alex Verdugo signing to the Braves. No. Don't
really care. Tomoyuki Sagano gave up 500 today
against the Yankees. Oh, that's no good. He got
shelled today. Jazz Chisholm had like five RBIs
off of him. I don't play jazz. Everyone's sleeping
on Jazz. Kenji loves Jazz Chisholm this year.
Took him third round in our fantasy draft? Third
round, baby. That's crazy. Second, third base
outfield eligibility with 40 stolen bases and
25 homers. 40 stolen bases? Holy cow. Still 40
last year. That's a lot to project, man. Just
watch. Just watch. He wants to win a silver slugger
this year, and I believe it. Okay. Although I
hate his batting stance. So vulnerable, but whatever.
That's baseball. He makes millions and I don't.
So that's right. We're recording here because
if we were out there, we probably wouldn't be
here. Good point. Yeah. Maybe we would. Who knows?
Maybe another lifetime, you know, maybe another
lifetime. I don't even know. All right. Well,
we're just rambling at this point. That's all
we have for the episode. Kenji, do you have any,
you've been asking questions. Do you have a question
or are we just sending the people away? I do
have a question. Sure. Shoot. Who was your most
proud pick in your fantasy draft? I got to pull
up the roster really fast. That's a good question.
We had our fantasy draft on Monday, which is
why we couldn't record this week. It was crazy.
It was not what we were expecting. My most proud?
Probably Trey Turner in the fourth round. Yes.
I had a second -round grade on him, and I got
him in the fourth. I think you're getting Strider
and Woodruff was awesome. Yeah, I was happy with
that a lot. Strider getting him because if he
comes back and does what he can do, I'm thrilled
with that. Yeah, I'm so jealous. I should have
pulled the trigger on him. And you have Contra.
But your team has a lot of risks in pitching.
It does. The Brahma, Contra, Strider, and Woodruff
are all coming off injuries. So pray for his
arms. But, yeah, Gabe's got a good team this
year, as always. Pray for my injured reserve.
Yes, pray for Gunnar Henderson too. Yeah. Dude,
he might not be ready. Everybody's like, oh,
he's going to be ready to play. No, he hasn't
played in spring training yet. We've got like
three games left. Coach, where is he hitting?
You're screwed. I know, so I've got to start
Jackson Holiday. It's short on opening day. They're
spending all this money to go follow the team
around, and I get to watch Jackson Holiday and
Ramon Urias play rather than Gunnar Henderson.
Oh. You're not going to put Kobe Mayo at third?
You're going to start Urias at third? After he
hit 170 in spring training? No, thank you. Oh,
man. Oh, man. Oh, man. That's the Baltimore Orioles
for you. Yeah. And that's our show. That's our
show. And that's our show, everybody. Thanks
for listening. We're going to be back in at least
a couple, at minimum. Or no, sorry, at maximum
a couple days with our breakdowns for the opening
day pitching matchups. Oh, yeah. Getting everybody
excited for the season. We are one week away,
people. One week away. Enjoy March Madness if
you guys watch basketball this weekend, but next
week it's all baseball. That's all we got. Thanks
for the show. We'll talk to you next time. We'll
talk to you next time. Thank you.