Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another
episode of Mound Visit. I have Kenji here with
me. Kenji's got some life news we're going to
make him share. But we're here for another episode.
We are just about two weeks into the season.
A lot has happened. but this episode is about
some life experiences most importantly our opening
day experiences both of us in two different cities
got to experience opening day for the first time
in that city and we're going to dive into this
a little bit more but first and foremost kenji
how are you doing you have an announcement you
have a big life announcement you need to share
yeah my big life announcement um is that i What's
the word? I'm hungry. You're hungry? I'm hungry.
I think that's the only thing I got for you.
Yeah, I hope she doesn't watch this. Oh, I'm
going golfing with my friends this weekend. Well,
my friends are golfing. I can't golf because,
oh, I hurt my wrist. There we go. I hurt my wrist
playing softball. It's been a tough couple days
on my pride. Can't go, can't golf with my friends
now. Kind of bummed out about it. Yeah. You know,
those are two pretty, those are, those are major
life decisions. You know, like those are pretty
big deals. So we're sorry to hear about Kenji's
wrist. Don't let, don't let CJ watch this episode
back. I don't think she does. Luckily. Probably
not. Probably not. I don't think Maddie watches
this, but I love you, Maddie. Even if you do.
Thank you, mom, for watching. We love you, mom.
No, let's not say that, Kinch. I don't know.
You're not about to love my mom. No, you're not
loving my mom. Stop that. Stop this nonsense.
Hey, I love my mom, but I don't need you hyping
up my mom. How would you feel if I just start
chirping at your mom? I'm like, hey. He's digging
a personal. Mrs. Holt. Okay, I'm engaged. That's
the news. Okay, we're moving on. He gives me
a little twerp bag. Yeah. Kenji's engaged. Congratulations.
Clap it up in the chat. Kenji's engaged. Yeah,
I'm going to clap it up. Let's go. Kenji's going
to be doing a little bit more clapping here in
a few months. Let's see. Preps to him for trying
to be righteous and responsible. Good for Kenji.
Yeah. Good for Kenji. All right, baseball. Baseball,
baseball, baseball. Kenji, you are in Kansas
City. for opening day with your not -fiancé at
the time, if I'm correct. Yeah. Yeah, he was
in Kansas City for Guardians Royals. Tell us
about the day. And I guess walk me through what
you think about the Royals so far as well. It
was an awesome experience. I had a couple goals
when I went to Kansas City, and, of course, it's
to have a good time. The other is to get some
cool hats. And I bought two hats in Kansas City.
I've never said this on here, but I'm not a big
fan of the normal Royals hats. They're not the
easiest things to wear. Wow. It's just kind of
a basic pattern. Oh, double play. Thanks, Michael
Massey. But I was looking for a unique design,
and I think I got one that I'm wearing right
now that no one can see. And I got another one
that's a little bit simpler. So I'm happy. I'm
happy about my hat choices. About the game, though,
it was quite disappointing. We lost in extra
innings. Mainly because of some horrific base
running. Yeah. But overall, I had a good time.
I'm glad I went. Beautiful stadium. It was a
beautiful day. And so far with the Royals, our
outfield sucks. I think... All three of our starting
outfielders have a combined, like, 1 -11 batting
average. So that's awesome. Yeah, that's not
crazy. That's super helpful. Yeah. And our starting
pitching has done pretty good. I've been pretty
satisfied. Chris Bubich has been awesome. Stupid
-ass Chris Bubich. I mean, sorry, 11 strikeouts.
And the back end of our bullpen is disgusting
with Hunter Harvey, Lucas Erceg, and Carlos Estevez.
So I have a lot to look forward to. There's a
lot of potential on this team. Jack Caglione,
I mean, munched on that ball in AA a couple days
ago. He did, yeah. That was new. Out of the ballpark
completely. So it's been a rough start on certain
parts, but I see a lot of potential. So I'm pleased.
I'm pleased. Okay. Tell me about how Toronto
was. Yeah, Toronto was great. Toronto was a blast.
Not quite as eventful as your Kansas City thing.
You sprained your wrist, you got engaged, you
watched your opening day. Toronto was great.
My dad flew out with me and he watched the O's
play in Toronto for the weekend. Canadians were
super nice, first and foremost. I was shocked
at how nice they were. They were all kind of
like the elephant in the room, you know, Donald.
What's he doing with these tariffs? You know,
like everybody had a little something to say
about that. But, I mean, the O's spanked them
on opening day. I was there. My dad flew in Thursday
night, so he wasn't there for opening day. I
had no reason to be nice to the Canadians as
the O's were beating the brakes off of them on
opening day. That was awesome. Crazy. I had good
seats. The O's were smashing the ball around
the yard. They tagged Jose Barrios. But overall,
really pretty park. Everybody said I have to
come back in the summer when the roof is open
because it was cold and rainy. But all in all,
the city was great. People were really nice.
They didn't really boo the national anthem, but
still quite an enjoyable experience. I mean,
opening day, I talked about this on the show
last year, was... a like top 10 experience of
my life getting to go back to my where I grew
up and watch opening day in Baltimore last year
and so good to get to go to another city follow
the same team and uh you know experience it somewhere
else was was not not as cool but you know still
really awesome so I can't really complain it
was a great time and the O's spanked them and
had a good night although they did end up splitting
the series which they the O's I mean that'll
go straight into kind of what I feel about the
O's although I do think Toronto is better than
we thought coming in, at least to start the season.
I mean, I think they're about to beat the Red
Sox if they haven't already when we're recording
this. Toronto's a good team. They did. Toronto's
a good team. They have a lot of talent. They
just signed Vlad Jr. to that $500 million extension
for 14 years, which is crazy. We'll get into
that at a later episode probably. They're a good
team. They have a lot of talent. They still have
good pitchers up and down the rotation. They
have Kevin Gossman, Jose Barrios. They have Bassett,
who did really well against us. They have Francis,
who looked really good in the second half, really
got them back in the bullpen. Blue Jays are like,
I've been really impressed with Toronto's start
of the year. If you're going to ask me about
the O's, it feels like they're still not playing
great ball yet. They can play way better. I saw
besides Cleveland, they have had the fewest home
games so far of anybody. And they've played everybody.
Everybody they've played has been over 500. So
they've, I mean, obviously over 500 is relative
this early in the season, but they're playing
competitive teams. They had a couple of AL East
matchups early and now they have the Diamondbacks.
So they're playing good teams. And I think. The
pitching was a question mark coming into the
season, still is. Eflin went down last night.
Who knows what his shoulder is going to bring
back. The lineup has to hit. In the games that
they're winning, they're scoring like nine runs
a game. In the games they're losing, they're
scoring like one and a half runs. So lineup has
to hit every night. That's what happened to them
in Kansas City. They just couldn't hit. Same
thing with at home against Boston, just couldn't
hit. They could not hit against Kansas City.
That is very true. They couldn't. What's your
analysis of the O's from afar? Because you did
watch them for three games against the Royals.
I did. It's just, I don't know. It's underwhelming
watching the O's play right now. It is. It has
been, yeah. They have a lot of talent. And I
think every player almost has flashed at some
point this season already. It's just. Your team
can never put it all together in the same game.
They did last night. You did last night? They
did last night. They did play well last night.
But you're right. There's better to come. Yes.
That's what I feel like watching this team. You
guys can get through April, especially if Eflin
goes down. But with Bradish and Rodriguez out,
like, you guys can hang around, be a couple games
back, you know, heading into July and August.
I think that's when the team's really going to
hit their stride is, you know, when they get
some of those arms back. Because I just think
right now they just feel a little short -staffed.
They feel like the injury bug caught them a little
bit. Couser immediately goes on the I .O. after
being an absolute moron and sliding into first
base headfirst. Gunnar was out for a while. Gunnar
finally looked like himself last night, but really
didn't at all in Kansas City. No, he was terrible.
He looked bad in Kansas City. But there's a lot
left to be desired for this team, at least through
the first 10 games, the 11 games, whatever it
is. But I'm really not too worried. If they get
to end of April or mid -May and they still –
A few games below .500, the rotation's not panning
out very well. Then maybe I start to panic a
little bit. But right now, everybody's separated
by a game in the AL East. Just go out and try
to play good baseball. Settle into the role.
Is Boston leading it? Sorry? Is Boston leading
it? Toronto is. Toronto's in the lead? Toronto's
leading it. And then I think with the Red Sox
loss, it's probably the Yankees and Boston tied.
The Yankees have dropped two games in a row now,
though. Yeah, and then it's... Rays and O's.
O's were dead last as of yesterday. Oh, gosh.
A Rays player just got hit in the head. Oh, he
says he's fine. But it's been lovely having baseball
back. Yeah, I mean, it's been absolutely fantastic
to have games on every day, every night. Opening
day, I will stand by, is the greatest day of
the sports year. I will stand by it. It's better
than the first day of March Madness. It's better
than the Super Bowl. It's better than week one
of the NFL season. I love opening day. Love it.
And I highly recommend everybody go watch an
opening day, no matter where you are. If there's
a team near you or you're a fan of a player or
a team, go watch them play on opening day. It
just doesn't get much better. God has this weird
way of shining down on the cities where they're
playing. Toronto was miserable, but the roof
was closed. Kansas City was miserable when I
was there over the weekend. It was beautiful
when Kenji was there at the end of March. So
go watch your team play. You got to. Opening
day is a very, very cool experience. I have to
go next year. Why do you have to go? I have to
watch Kansas City next year. If it's a home game,
of course. If it's not, then I don't think I
will. Okay, fair enough. But, yeah, it was cool.
It was pretty incredible. Yeah. I have a question.
Sure. What team has been a surprise to you so
far? The San Francisco Giants. Really? Really?
Yeah. How can they not be, man? They're like
9 -1 or something crazy. I think they're 8 -2
right now. Okay. Well, still, I mean, they've
been crazy. They're hitting well. They're pitching
well. They're not just hitting. They're getting
clutch hitting. They're running the bases well.
I mean, everybody up and down the lineup is doing
a really solid job. It makes you think, you know,
maybe this Buster Posey -led team is going to
be, like, legit. Like, they're going to come
out and play like they are because there's an
argument that they have the fourth -best roster
in that division, but they're sure not playing
like it. Oh, no, they might make the wild card,
Gabe. They might make the wild card. Isn't that
what you called? Yeah, that's what I called.
And here they are. Best record in baseball right
now. I know. Part of me still roots for the Mariners
because I'm praying for them to make the wild
card to prove me right. Have you watched the
Mariners game yet? I haven't. I have. I have
watched some of them because they're on late.
Again, they play a similar brand to what the
O's have been. It's just kind of boring. It's
really boring baseball. Yeah, it's just kind
of boring. But, I mean, they pitch well. They,
like, have a really good bullpen. I mean, if
they can hit when the weather warms up, they're
going to be fine. I still stand by it. I don't
know. I will say, on the note of surprising teams,
on the flip side, the Atlanta Braves have been
absolutely disappointing on every front. I'm
looking over my shoulder to see what the score
is because I know it's up on the screen. I think
they're up right now. They're up at 7 -6? I think
so. Austin Roddy, I think, just had a double,
and he brought in Ozuna. Of course he did, dude.
Yeah, 5 -6 Atlanta over Philly. Yeah. The Braves
are 1 -8. Maybe they get to 2 -8 after this.
And listen, baseball is a long season, so they
got time to make this up. But you never at any
point want to be six games under. You never,
ever want to be dead last in your division. Chris
Sayles had, honestly, three pretty bad outings.
Yeah. He does not look like himself. And, you
know, it's the beginning of the season, so you
don't know. But they kind of need him to be the
guy. And he hasn't been. Raylo Lopez is on IL.
Strider is still on IL. Strider will come back
next week. He is? Good for them. Good for them
because they need him. They do. I need him in
fantasy. That's true. Gabe's already on the injured
bug. Yeah, I sure am. But that's kind of what
I would say. Are there any other teams that stood
out to you thus far that you want to call out
here? Let me look at the teams. Oh, yeah, the
Cardinals. Yeah, that's a good point. The Cardinals
have been really weird. I mean, everyone's just
hitting. That's a good point. They're not pitching,
but they're hitting, you know. Yeah. It's a couple
years ago. I think the first year we played fantasy,
so three years ago. Okay. The Cardinals, when
the first half of the season, when Paul Goldschmidt,
Nolan Aranato, and Nolan Gorman were hitting,
they were a really fun brand of baseball to watch.
I used to watch the Cardinals games almost every
day. Yeah. And today, in the last couple of years,
they dropped off. But today, this year, they've
been great. Yeah. They've been fun to watch.
This talk about trading Nolan R not on the offseason
is looking like a joke now because he's playing
great. That's been fun. I've enjoyed watching
them play here and there. The Padres are better
than I think what we expect them to be. Padres
are very good. Although Jackson Merrill just
went on the I .O. He did? For what? Hamstring
strain. That sucks. The Cubs are very good too,
I will say. Oh, my gosh, yes. The Cubs are very,
very good. Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki. Have
yourself an amazing couple weeks. Holy cow. Yeah,
Seiya looks great having Tucker hit behind him.
And Kyle Tucker looks like he's playing for 400
M's. Like, that's what he's looking like. He
leads the NL in every hitting category. He was
the NL player of the week. Like, Kyle Tucker
is the man. Do you think he'll get more? AAV
than Vlad? Because he's not going to get more
years because he's three years older. He's 29.
I don't know. It's a good question. He's a better
player than Vlad. He's 29, he said? Yeah. His
war is higher. He plays in a more position. I
agree. I think he might. I think he might. I
mean, he's probably a $40 million a year guy.
I think so. I mean, he's so good. Yeah. I don't
think... Did you see his quote? they asked him
the other day after the Vlad signing, they asked
him like, Oh, he doesn't really care. No. Well,
they just asked like what, what he thinks about
his upcoming free agency and you know, the team
that he's with and all that. And he essentially
said something to the effect of like, yeah, I'll
deal with that next year right here. I'm playing
for the Cubs and Cubs fans were like, wait a
minute. No, no, no. That's not the response we
wanted. Like, no, we want him to stay here. I
feel like he, why would you not want to stay
there? I think you can actually see a World Series
potential with the Cubs right now. He looks like
a Cub. He does. He fits in so well. Yeah, he
looks like a perfect Chicago Cub. The Astros
just have a lot of team baggage. Yes. But there's
none with the Cubs. It's a historical team. Why
would you not want to play for the Cubs? And
they've got so much talent. It's a great place.
I'll ask this, and then we can wrap it up. What
do you think he's even a better fit or just as
good of a fit than Chicago? The Yankees? No.
Do the Yankees have 400 M's to give out to him?
I don't think he'd want to play for a Yankees
team. You don't think he'd want to hit in front
of Aaron Judd? I mean, who wouldn't? But I think
in Chicago, it's kind of his team. I mean, they're
like the second biggest revenue generator for
the league. Chicago is? Sorry, not second. Third.
Like, behind the Yankees and the Dodgers, they
make the most revenue. They don't sound like
it, though. Yeah, they don't. They make a contract
over $200 million. They don't. They sure don't.
So, it feels like he's a perfect cub. It's hard
to play fits. I mean, like, you know, maybe Giants
they could use. Yeah, Giants could. They could
give him his bag. It's not a good outfielder's,
I mean, a good hitter's park. Yeah. So, honestly,
I think. Chicago is the best place he could be.
I mean, he can come to the Royals if he wants
to. There you go. Okay. But we know that's not
happening. So I think he's in the best place
and the best situation he could possibly be for
himself. Yeah, he's in a great spot. Good for
Kyle Tucker and good for my fantasy team. Yes.
But that's our show, everybody. That's all we
wanted to touch on our opening day experiences.
We're going to come back with some actual, like,
covering baseball content, stuff that we've liked
so far and players were high on. Different things
like that. Yep. We were gone because I was out
for 10 days on the baseball trip. Kenji got engaged
and has been swamped with wedding planning. If
you could see it in his eyes right now, they're
lifeless. They look drained. He's at a day of
work and he came home and his wife just wanted
to plan the wedding. And he just was like, please,
I need some time. That's what he's saying. I
need to just be a man, a degenerate man and watch
baseball. Yep. Well, everybody, thanks for listening
to our show. Ken, do you want to send them away?
Well, we'll see you in a few days, boys and girls.
Until then, watch a lot of baseball. Don't take
life too serious. Thank you.