Sports Business Update, CFB Season Preview, MLB Slate Breakdown | The Morning After Hour 2, 8/11/22

[Music] [Music] welcome to hour number two the morning after live right here on sports grid on this thursday in sirius xm channel 159 that is the home for sports grid radio on sirius xm you're also watching all across the sports grid network which now includes fubo tv thank you for joining us here all across sports grid nation let's ride i am ben stevens tons to get to here in hour number two we'll go across the sports business landscape with our sports professor rick horow tons of tv deals to get you caught up on in college football in the latest in the live golf drama against the pga tour then we'll talk college football on the actual gridiron with our sports grid cfp analyst joe lisi in the middle of hour two and we'll end things out with a preview of the field of dreams game tonight is this heaven no it's iowa bert murray our mlb insider joins us to break down everything across major league baseball but we begin here in hour number two with some more nba off-season news surrounding one kevin durant now i will say this with a small caveat nothing has really changed we're just getting additional reporting about what kd might or might not want of course earlier this week we brought you that feud between kevin durant and general manager sean marks and head coach steve nash and kevin durant making his ultimatum of pick me or management and joe tsai the brooklyn nets owner saying that he has the utmost confidence in his gm and head coach whatever that means right now but kevin durant still reiterated that trade request to the net's owner in josiah and according to kd at least from sny's ian bagley right now kd's two preferred trade destinations the boston celtics where apparently kevin durant wants to play alongside the reigning defensive player of the year and marcus smart and he also would be open to a reunion with james harden on the philadelphia 76ers some additional reporting this morning that robert williams bobby will as we know him is reportedly off limits in those trade talks if anything is to happen between brooklyn and boston right now so again what exactly does this mean for kevin durant and the brooklyn nets at this moment well we'll take a look at the eastern conference odds right now because the nets are right alongside the philadelphia 76ers and the boston celtics remain the favorites in the eastern conference to win this conference for a second straight season and they are also the favorites are the seas for an nba championship but right now in the east plus 210 for boston and you'll see philly and brooklyn with the same exact price alongside the miami heat tied for the third best odds at plus 700. so what does it mean for right now we're getting additional reporting but nothing has actually happened yet what is happening is the final week of the regular season in the w and the wnba with only a few games left of this regular season the final spots in the postseason all up for grabs four teams after last night's action now tied for the final two spots in the playoffs all four teams at 14 and 20 straight up and they played the each other last night or at least a couple of them did we start with the new york liberty against the dallas wings the second of back-to-back games between these two in dallas on monday the wings won to cringe that sixth spot in the postseason it was their fifth straight victory last night the liberty exact their revenge 91-73 the final but new york based on tiebreakers right now still outside that post season picture dallas already clinched that sixth spot they didn't really care about last night per se in new york cashes on the money line as a plus 140 underdog and a three and a half point dog on the road in dallas quickly hey welcome to our sports grid radio audience here the second hour of the morning after live all across the grid sirius xm channel 159 and all of our terrestrial radio affiliates as well i am ben stevens so the new york liberty 91 73 last night a win on the road in dallas new york improves their record to 14 and 20 which is the same exact record as the minnesota lynx the atlanta dream and the phoenix mercury all four teams tied right now with that same straight up record all battling for the final two spots in the postseason in the wnba and the minnesota lynx and the phoenix mercury played each other last night entering the game phoenix had a half game lead for the seventh playoff spot but the mercury shorthanded right now losing diana taurasi for the rest of the regular season they were a half game up for that seventh spot and only trailed the wings by a half game for that sixth and final spot as well but the mercury lose at home last night minnesota actually booked as a favorite laying three and a half against the mercury and they get the win last evening in phoenix 86 77 covering as a three and a half point favorite so again we have four teams now with just two or three games left in the regular season the regular season action comes to a close on sunday and there are four teams all tied at 40 and 20 straight up battling for those final two postseason spots now let's look at the wnba championship odds because we've seen a move at the top of this board this past week finally the chicago sky booked as the favorites the reigning wnba champions and a one game advantage over the aces for that number one seed in the wnba postseason and the sky are now the favorites on the fanduel sports book at plus 195 but only 15 cents ahead of las vegas a very tight gap right there but look at the drop-off from the five best odds ending with the washington mystics at eight to one to where dallas is in that sixth spot both in the standings and in the odds board the wings at 45-1 and it's an even further drop off to atlanta at 130 to 1. what should that tell you that maybe these four teams battling for the final two wnba playoff spots once they get to the postseason who knows what they'll be able to compete with more the morning and after up 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you learn from your adventures throughout these summer months hey wait a minute first of all let's burn this tape irs i was summer there's no vacation involved every time i'm on a golf course um i'm inspecting for seedlings and whether we can transport them to the u.s and i was

thinking about the liv golfers that might want to play on those courses here's my tip okay don't pack anything important if you value underwear don't pack it and the other thing is if you want to fly don't change planes because even with the industry as screwed up as it is today you're likely if you're going to put it on one plane they're not going to lose it by the time they take it off the same plane changing planes another matter eight days in a row without a suitcase air lingus get your legal department ready i'm coming right after you for all of the shirts i bought and as you know i need to change shirts three or four times a day especially us open or carnoustie shirts right i mean listen you do so much content for the sports grid network so many sports business minutes making appearances across a variety of programs i actually think your new clothes look pretty good clean crisp and by no means was i saying you weren't working on your travels and your adventures just that you were out on the world soaking up all of those moments but rick we need you back here because throughout the season and summer months in college football one of the main topics of course has been conference realignment and as i have tried to share with our viewers and listeners of the morning after the driver of the bus for conference realignment is tv contracts and those huge media rights deals that we are seeing for the sec and of course now for the big ten their current contract comes to a close at the end of 2022 so the big ten has already begun negotiations for its next tv deal its main partner is going to be fox but also cbs and nbc now in the fold as well espn that relationship with the big ten from a tv rights perspective apparently has come to a close so rick big money coming the way of the big ten conference what is your takeaway from all these reports we have seen about the big ten's next tv deal upcoming i just did a sports business minute on that it's coming up tomorrow so i'm not giving it away next no i won't do that so listen no no no no small preview give the people something more that they can want but give us a little bit of insight make some sense of it for us please all right here's a little bit of insight kevin warren the commissioner of the big ten good guy lawyer ran the minnesota vikings good friend he is astute he's a student of the game he will milk the wrong word he will leverage as much money out of the networks as possible how well specifically is it going to be a billion dollar deal how does nbc and cbs come into this what are the windows that are open now is there a fox noon game like there has been and then a 330 cbs and an nbc prime time maybe what does this do as far as a ripple well espn doesn't like to lose so they don't lose a lot but what does this do this opens up the big uh the pac-12 pac-10 pac-8 pac-2 whatever is going to be ultimately there because the window frankly for a 10 30 game on the east coast is great and espn is going to hop into that what does this do to notre dame does nbc bring notre dame into the big ten fold as part of a massive tv deal and then is we are we is we is we going to look at conference realignment as a function of the two biggies the afc is the sec and acc and the nfc is the pac-2 and the big ten and the bottom line together is they're driven by two big contracts the power five may become the power too how's that for a preview i would say it was a really good preview and it hit on a bunch of things that i'm going to ask you right now but there seems to be at least a figurative line in the sand the sec's partnership with espn and disney controlling one side of conference realignment the big tens partnership with fox and bring in cbs and nbc as well driving the other side and we have these two super conferences moving forward in college football this is the reality of where we are in college football and college sports in general and what might be coming in the future landscape of collegiate athletics but first let's start with the tv partner that will no longer be with the big ten espn has broadcast big ten football games abc and espn have broadcast big ten football games for more than four decades but based on reports that relationship is no more rick do you believe it's significant that espn will not broadcast big ten football games moving forward well you know the espn coverage of hockey before they regained the rights is a testament to the fact that if they don't cover it uh it doesn't exist so i'm not sure they could get away without reporting any big ten scores but certainly you know does game does game day ever go to a big ten town again i don't know does kirk herb street acknowledge the fact that he went to ohio state i don't know he may change networks so you know there are a lot of those subplots relating to promotion but make no mistake you can't ignore the big ten no matter how hard you try and this is setting up for a titanic battle here's what i predict jimmy pataro the president of espn and the guys from fox eric shanks and otherwise will finally emerge in a titanic cage match the winner wins all the rights i think it will be very interesting to see what the tv companies do at the end we'll see about that cage match and maybe rick coral can be the referee for such a cage match between tv executives so let's talk money now mr horo because that's something you know very very well you mentioned that cbs time slot the middle of the afternoon traditionally the sec on cbs but starting maybe in 2023 or 2024 that will be the big 10 on cbs 3 30 p.m eastern time that mid-day window and according to andrew marchand of the new york post that is valued right now for just that one single time slot 350 million dollars annually back to the big ten so when you put all of these components together fox's partnership with the big ten conference nbc rumors of apple tv in a friday night package what do you think we are looking at as total revenue for the big ten conference in their next tv deal over a billion uh and and i i do think at the end of the day that's a starter and you did throw in what i wanted to say and what everybody's doing which is streaming and apple and you know all of the streaming stuff was thought of as an afterthought nfl before directv and otherwise now it's not an afterthought it is a very important new window it's an experimental window you point out about a friday night uh if i'm high school football uh i try to focus on maybe thursday morning from 3 a.m to 6 a.m because that may be the only time i don't have any competition anymore it used to be leave friday alone no more it's a great point because thursday night football is now the nfl's king and that's amazon prime all of a sudden and friday night is becoming more of a college football night as those huge tv time slots need to be the utmost thing that these conferences look at and rick earlier you mentioned notre dame and the big ten's potential new partnership with the nbc which right now is the television home for notre dame fighting irish football their athletic director yesterday jack swarbrick mentioned how he considers the nbc's partnership with the big ten a very positive thing for notre dame what do you think the irish will do will they potentially join a conference or remain independent it is incredibly interesting and positive to give jack swarbrick and his predecessors the accolades of creating their own almost exclusive brand with nbc mike tarico pat hayden collinsworth you know cutting teeth on notre dame football the fact that jack schwarber who by the way is a contributor to the book a shameless plug is also talked about how he can develop this whole process and maybe bring in a notre dame and if you don't think notre dame wants to expand their horizons for dollars then you're wrong how about the the acc by the way i'm taking us to break so just calm down you have to do anything else so the bottom line of all this is just like notre dame in the acc they may do it in football in just a couple minutes we get the melodious tones of ben stevens back right cut it hi folks medicare part c plans with extra benefits like getting money added back to your social security check may now be available to you in your zip code make sure you're not missing out it's simple one call the number on your screen two they'll look up your zip code and see if you're eligible three they'll check for plans with extra benefits like prescriptions dental coverage and the benefit that adds money back to your social security check every single month call now i called to get everything i deserve i called to check my zip code for a plan with a benefit that adds money back to my social security check i called to check my zip code millions of people have called the medicare coverage helpline call check your zip code see if you're eligible and get what you deserve call now call 1-800-810-7576 that's 1-800-810-7576 now this is a paid 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the start of a new college football season in 2022 week zero is two weeks from saturday you can feel the excitement building on this football thursday live right here on the morning after on sportsmen i am ben stevens not only do i host the morning after i want to be co-host of football full circle each and every weekday live on the sports grid radio network starting at noon eastern time alongside the mastermind of the pigskin as i like to call them our sports grid college football analyst joe lisey joins the show here on tma lisi scale of one to ten how would you describe your excitement for college football in 2022 about a 22 a 25. i can't wait ben there's gonna be unbelievable outcomes fantastic finishes and it starts obviously august 27th in ireland with the big game between northwestern and nebraska it doesn't get bigger than that in terms of conference game for nebraska and more importantly all the pressure on scott frost and the winners in 2022. this is what it's all about to kick off the 2022 season i'm tight let's do it lisey and i are already workshopping a take that if scott frost somehow has his nebraska cornhuskers lose that football game against northwestern as a 12 and a half point favorite in aviva stadium in dublin ireland that maybe scott frost just looks for greener pastures and goes and becomes a farmer on the irish countryside and doesn't even board the plane back to lincoln nebraska but as of right now the huskers a 12 and a half point favorite against northwestern and nebraska has the second best odds to win the big ten west but we'll keep the big ten out of this four right now joe significant news yesterday from the acc winston-salem and wake forest sam hartman the quarterback who led wake forest to an acc atlantic divisional crown last year in an appearance in the conference championship game has been sidelined indefinitely with a non-football related medical condition head coach dave clawson saying after practice yesterday it is not expected to be season ending which is the good news but still scary stuff for the demon deacons entering 2022. joe how

significant is this for wake forest in their outlook for this upcoming year well i think it's significant in the sense they lose their veteran offensive leader right for that team that averaged 41 points per game he completed now 58 of his pass has been 39 touchdowns 14 interceptions but sam hartman was one of the best passers in terms of the acc last year led wake forest to an acc championship appearance they're going to miss him in the early part of the season now i will say this in terms of big picture for wake forest i still think they can get to potentially a bowl game i think the schedule was up against it this season compared to where it was last year and dave clarson has done a fantastic job in terms of coaching up the offensive defense alliance but more importantly let's not forget sam hartman was injured a couple of years ago at the end of the season and gave way to former georgia bulldog jamie newman that leather team three and one down the stretch they made it to a ball game in terms of that season so dave claussen understands what's needed to get this team back on track but when you lose a veteran leader such as sam hartman the team's going to miss him michael kern only about four pass attempts and i will say this in terms of just wake forest overall i thought they would be a minor regression back to like eight and four in that area because of the defense they allowed over 400 total yards per game and this might actually benefit i hate to say it but our vanderbilt bet which now is two and a half there they play wake forest in the early part of the season so if there is going to be growing pains with the new quarterback michael kern expect it to be in the month of september as opposed to maybe october or november for the demon deacons because lisey and i co-host the radio show together each and every day we formulate takes together we are both on the over of vandy's win total of two and a half at plus 145 right now their third game of the regular season and that non-conference portion is against wake forest sam hartman from a stats perspective shows his important for the demon deaks last year 39 passing touchdowns 11 rushing scores one of only 16 players in fps college football history to have 50 or more scores in a single season and through for more than 4 200 yards and how significant is this well at least from the odds perspective the acc championship market now off the board on fanduel sportsbook the atlantic divisional odds now off the board on the fanduel sportsbook that should show what sam hartman not only means to wake forest but the bigger picture around the atlantic coast conference as well joe on monday we got our first pre-season poll our top 25 rankings from the usa today coaches poll of this year in college football and only two group of five teams checked in in that top 25 at number 22 in the country cincinnati and rounding out the top 25 houston in that 25th spot let's focus on cincy first of course a group of five team for the first time ever to make the college football playoff last year that is what cincinnati was able to accomplish how do the bearcats follow it up this year joe in 2022 well they're gonna have to make up for three key losses right des ritter that's with the atlanta falcons jerome ford they lose pierce as well but obviously sauce gardner their big play lockdown corner that's gonna be the biggest loss for this defense that basically held opposing offenses right in the area of about 160 passing yards per game now they get a big test early on against a big physical sec offensive line in arkansas they're seven point dogs that is a good gauge to see where they're at from a physicality perspective because keep in mind ben they allow brian robinson and alabama to rush for over 300 in that ball game so if they can contain kj jefferson's show well i still think potentially they're a nine or a 10 win football team but expecting them to duplicate a 13-0 regular season and knock it off at notre dame like they did last year they have indiana as well i just don't see it i think they're there at 10-2 possibly 9-3 but i don't think they are they're even in contention for a college football playoff appearance and in terms of the aac right there with the conference odds i give the edge to gus malzahn and ucf mikey keane john rice plumley i think they have a great value and a great quarter talent with isaiah bowser at plus 250 on the board joe it is fascinating to see where cincinnati and houston and central florida all stack up from that odds perspective as we showed you two graphics to go to win a national championship cincinnati has better odds long odds mind you 250 to one but better than the cougs at 300 to one yet houston is the favorite 20 conference championship at plus 200 but both cincy and ucf only 50 cents behind houston has the benefit of not having to play either cincy or ucf in the regular season on what would set up to be a path to that conference championship game cincinnati made it to the college football playoff a season ago houston as we see with group of five teams in pre-season polls more of them at the end of the year than at the beginning but we did joe have four big 12 teams in the initial pre-season pull from the coaches perspective and both cincy and houston will be big 12 teams at this point next summer by the way but the four teams as of right now oklahoma at the top ranked number nine in the country baylor the reigning big 12 champs 10th oklahoma state 11th and despite one first place vote to be the number one team in the land texas checks in at number 18 but still four big 12 teams joe in that top 20 how do you think the big 12 conference plays out this season well i mean this is an intriguing one right because we saw baylor and oklahoma state come on basically out of nowhere and really shocked the college football world it was the best championship game they're coming down to the final play on a fourth and goal so i think when you look at this conference as a whole yeah you have the front runners oklahoma and texas i think oklahoma state will be there i expect baylor to regress a little bit and that's not a knock on dave veranda or blake sheep and their new quarterback but they lose a ton of talent from an offensive perspective and then the defensive leader for that team last year terrell their linebackers now moved on to the nfl i think they take a minor hit so i think they're in the area of about seven and five eight and four overall especially with treston edinder and abram smith moving on but i will say this there's a couple of teams you got to keep an eye out in terms of longer odds iowa state with mac amble there's not a lot of expectations there xavier hutchinson big play wide receiver all he does is coach up offense and defensive line play at 20 to 1 they could be live and i'm buying into joey mcguire they paid every college and student athlete right 85 of them 25 plus to come to lubbock and play for lubbock i tell you this program is headed in the right direction donovan smith in my opinion wins the quarterback job you have serrata rick thompson and taj brooks there this defense held eight of 13 opponents under 100 yards rushing last year ben six and two in those games keep an eye out for texas tech they can be live week three against nc state i'm in on this team i think they're a seven or an eight win football team in 2022 and they could potentially surprise for maybe getting to the conference championship at 50 to 1. maybe not enough to get to that point long odds at 50 to 1 but could disrupt things on that week-to-week basis in the big 12. did it mention texas are they not back joe the second best price to win the conference championship i guess we'll let that play out for the longhorns this year and year number two of steve sarkeesian quickly here joe we just discussed it with rick horo the idea that notre dame might be trending toward the big ten and if we look at the odds right now only ohio state and michigan out of that conference have better odds than the irish 20 national championship in 2022 only about 30 seconds left here lisey how do you think notre dame would stack up as a big ten member i think they would play very well now they they're from a defensive perspective as good as a lot of the mediocre teams in there uh you know michigan state penn state i think they can go toe-to-toe are they as elite as ohio state from an offensive perspective absolutely not but they could be live week one could be a conference matchup in the future the buck guy is a 15 and a half point favorite the first full saturday of that college football season against notre dame joe lisey you won the mass amount of pigskin for a reason thank you so much more tma up next [Music] if you've been injured in an accident that's not your fault and you don't have an attorney listen up we have legal professionals standing by to tell you what your case is potentially worth hello i'm gina along with spokesperson rob rob tell the folks at home who should be calling right now well just like you said gina anyone who's been injured in an accident that was not your fault you don't have an attorney give us a call right now and we're going to let you know what your case is potentially worth thanks rob so what kind of calls have we been seeing today well gina we're getting calls from all types of accidents today work accidents slip and falls truck accidents and most commonly car accidents so if you were injured in an accident that was not your fault you don't have an attorney take that first step pick up that phone and give us a call we're going to answer your questions and we'll let you know how much money you can get for your accident thanks rob all right folks at home you heard it go ahead don't hesitate take that first step and call now here's an important message from the diabetes solution center diabetics understand all too well the pain 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before buying an annuity and it's free call 800-273-2850 as a bonus we'll also throw in a free annuity rate report we researched numerous products and summarized rates and benefits of annuities all from silac insurance company call 800 273 that's 800-273-2815 call now you heard a screech outside at night but you can't see what it is because there's not enough light you need the bionic floodlight from bell howell this solar powered motion activated multi-directional flood light the versatile wireless safety security and outdoor lifestyle light you'll love and right now it's yours for just 29.99 and the shipping is free order now and we'll send a second bionic floodlight just pay a separate fee here's how to order call 1-800-604-7066 or order online at bionic floodlight.com sports grid network so [Music] back right here on the morning after on sports grid yes it is a football thursday but a big day in major league baseball hey is this heaven no it's iowa in fact it's dyersville iowa the field of dreams game tonight and we'll break it down with our guy bert murray here on the morning after an mlb insider for fansited he shares that insight with us each and every week it feels like he was all over the breaking news around the trade deadline and some more breaking news yesterday that we'll discuss in just a couple of moments but first we welcome you to the morning after once again how has the sleep been you've been able to catch up on some rest following the trade deadline thankfully i have that was probably the least amount of sleep i've ever gotten in a week's span uh and it took me probably a week to recover but here we are now we're in one piece we're ready to go about a week after the trade deadline which makes the breaking news yesterday out of major league baseball a little bit more peculiar as you got the notice yesterday and were part of breaking this news the detroit tigers have parted ways with general manager and vice president al avila which is not necessarily surprising burp because the tigers have the third worst record in the bigs right now on track for their sixth straight losing season but the timing of it is slightly weird why now more than a week after the trade deadline yeah that was something that i had gotten a bunch of questions from from people who have been following me they're asking why do this now after the trade deadline and after the mlb draft and they just they thought now was the time to do it and that was simply the reason you can't blame them for doing that because if you look at their past seven years with aloe vela at the helm it's been a consistent struggle they've been rebuilding this year they finally proclaimed that they were finally out of that rebuild and yet it's been more of the same if not even worse after they went out and signed javier baez eduardo rodriguez a lot of these guys are like high priced deals and now it gives them a head start in their search about two months before the season ends they can conduct a very thorough search which is what they intend to do they're going to look at external candidates internal candidates and try to find the best guy and i'll tell you that job like they got a lot of work to do whoever they end up hiring but that job becomes really appealing when you get to work with aj hinch that i've heard from numerous candidates who are probably going to be in the mix for that job saying they want it strictly because of hitch it will be something to follow throughout the rest of this regular season for detroit who are already focusing on this upcoming year in major league baseball they are 43 and 69 straight up 26 games below 500 and a loss yesterday to the cleveland guardians who now bert owned the top spot in the american league central over the last couple of weeks we have seen constant changes in the odds board and in the divisional standings in the al central now it's the guardians on top a one game advantage over the twins two and a half games in front of the white sox bert i ask you simply who wins the american league central when all is said and done well that's a great question we can rule all the tigers and the royals from the from the get-go here yeah but it's a three-team race at this point you look at the guardians of twins and the white sox they're all like evenly stacked up there in the odds i still think it's gonna come down to the guardians of the twins just because the white sox have not shown any reason to believe in them um and losing tim anderson for six weeks if not more uh is a huge blow to them but i'll go with the twins because i really like what they did at the deadline here uh they went out and acquired some pretty high profile guys tyler o'malley jorge lopez were there two big additions and those were that was probably the most active deadline they've ever had um and the guardians they had a very odd deadline like they were both trying to buy and sell like they were getting a lot of phone calls about their starting pitchers like zach please sack shane bieber they ultimately didn't do anything there but i love what the twins did and investing in that team when you have carlos korean some other guys i think that like is the tipping factor for me and why i believe they'll end up winning the division yeah and ultimately right now one of the reasons cleveland was probably a little bit stale at the deadline they have one of the youngest clubhouses in major league baseball trying to figure out what they're doing but at the moment a one-game lead in the american league central and the favorites but as you saw from the odds all three of those teams the guardians the twins the white sox not only within just two and a half games of one another but within 45 cents of one another from that odds perspective and most likely bert it's only one team out of the american league central whoever the divisional champ is because the ao wild card right now is dominated by teams from the american league east yes even including the baltimore orioles despite the fact the o's of the blue jays postponed yesterday right now the american league wild card standings toronto owns the top spot then the seattle mariners and the rays and the orioles tied for that third and final a wild card spot bert can the baltimore orioles actually do it can the baltimore orioles play post-season baseball i'll tell you i i won't rule anything out my friend like that to me is the biggest surprise of the season like what the orioles have been able to do they enter the season with no expectations whatsoever and yet they've cruised they've they even sold at the deadline they've traded jorge lopez and trey mancini and yet they're still playing extremely good baseball i know there was a tweet from one insider i think it was uh i think it might have been bob nightingale who said that the orioles waved the white flag and then it's been anything but that and yeah if there's anything that we've learned so far it's not through them out like they may not be like the biggest favorite to actually like advance to the wild card but i mean what they've been able to do now i'm not going to rule them out but they got competition here from the rays red sox are now out of it which that's a shocker to me but um i i think the orals have as good a chance as any team in in in that race right now i think they're doing a very good job here the o's have won 12 of 18 games a 12-6 straight up record since the all-star break have been booked as an underdog in 12 of 18 games and the best run line record so tons of profitability on baltimore all year long at 72 and 38 on that run line and that odds market continues to work in baltimore's favor 85-1 earlier this morning a shift in the odds now 60-1 the rays have moved back to 25-1 the blue jays are 7-1 and the mariners slightly moving up the board 13-1 following another victory over the yankees last night out in the pacific northwest so from the american league bert we go to the national league the new york mets have won six straight games they are 73 and 39 straight up they would be the hottest team in baseball if it were not for the hottest team in baseball the best team in baseball the los angeles dodgers 77 and 33 straight up this year riding a 10 game win streak but you see how close they are in the odds not only in the national league but in the world series market as well do you consider where we stand right now in early august that the dodgers and the mets are equals in terms of hunting down that national league pennant i'm going to say the dodgers have the slight advantage here just because they've been in this position before and this is the team that everybody is trying to catch like we saw what the padres did at the deadline acquiring juan soto josh bell brandon drury and all those guys it's their goal was to catch the dodgers and yeah what the mets have done this year has been extremely impressive but this is their first year truly in this position under steve cohen and i think they need to catch the dodgers and what we ended up seeing um what the like as i mentioned with the padres editions getting all those players they faced the dodgers almost immediately after and then the dodgers just stuck it to them the dodgers are in a class of their own right now i'm very curious to see what a seven game playoff series would be like between the dodgers and the mets strictly because the mets i think have the pitching with the grom and scherzer among others to like take them down but right now i have to go with the dodgers just because they've had this sustained period of success for so long here and there is still that slight advantage for the dodgers in the national league pennant odds as well favorites at plus 160 the mets behind by only 60 cents but still the second best price at plus 2 20. all right we turn our attention to the most wonderful atmosphere you can see in baseball dyersville iowa the field of dreams movie set for the field of dreams game tonight between the reds and the cubs and bert despite the fact that chicago is 20 games below 500 and cincinnati is 22 games below 500 it still feels fun to have this field of dreams game tonight where the reds a slight money line favorite by eight cents right now at minus one twelve the cubbies minus 104. let's start from an

atmosphere perspective as a baseball aficionado yourself how much are you looking forward to this evening for the field of dreams game you know i i think it might be the coolest atmosphere you could ever ask for in a regular season game like i mean you watch that you get the guys coming out of the corn fields you just the atmosphere it's like it's movie-like i mean it is a movie and the fact that we get to do this now on a yearly basis i think is extremely cool although while the thing or like the thing is like these two teams are not very good it's still a very like i don't know it's just it's a cool thing for baseball it's a great way of marketing the game but that being said i thought baseball could have marketed this game more because i was asked by a lot of different people recently like is it feel the dreams game gonna happen like we've hardly seen any commercials or anything like that for it um i thought that was a little disappointing but still the fact that we're doing this on an annual basis i think is great yeah last year it felt like there was a little bit more build up for the field of dreams game it was a lone event there wasn't pre-season football happening on the same night and it was the yankees and the white sox and the build-up match what we actually saw on the diamond if you remember tim anderson a two-run walk-off homer for the white sox to beat the yankees last year at the field of dreams game nine to eight and now we have the cubs and the reds nothing away from those two storied franchises which matches up with the history of the field of dreams game but maybe not the best product on the field the starting pitching matchup that we have tonight bert drew smiley for chicago nick lodolo for the cincinnati reds and their k props available for this evening from what we will see on the actual diamond how do you think these two starters stack up this evening yeah it's it's a case where with a guy like smiley he's just coming off an injury he's coming like he's somebody that the there's a lot of teams around the league who are really high on so i think like that to me i would end up going with smiley in this case uh just because i like the upside there um but yeah i'll tell you it's not like the high profile matchup like we saw last year with the white sox and the yankees but still like i i as i said before i think a favor smile a little bit in this case and it is in prime time tonight you should enjoy it as you watch your preseason football and you will hear me say this at least 37 more times today hey is this heaven no it's iowa that's what we love about the field of dreams game and that total of nine and a half i would lean the over given a small ball perk in what we saw last year from that offensive production perspective quickly here bert the two most competitive divisions right now in major league baseball the centrals we already broke down the american league central but right now in the nl central the cardinals maintain a one-game lead over the milwaukee brewers i asked you simply who wins the american league central it's the same question for the nl side of things who wins the cardinals or the brewers i'll give you a much more confident answer on this one i'll give you the st louis cardinals what they did at the deadline and addressing their needs in their rotation getting jordan montgomery for harrison bader which i think was one of the most surprising trades because there was no whispers that bader was available at all um i think it addressed her biggest need and they still have the outfield depth to take to like field a very capable outfield um i i thought that was a very by them um and then the brewers they traded josh hader like that was a move that i hinted at like and the the morning of or for at least um and everything that i've heard from that clubhouse was that it was floored and we got to see it even with the devin williams video at trade um so i'll go with the cardinal i like the pick perk i like the confidence thank you for everything as always more tma next are you over 50 would you like to get up to 33 percent more income in retirement then call now for this free book annuity do's and don'ts for baby boomers from a leading financial firm on maximizing your income in retirement that's right free this free book reveals little known secrets about annuity strategies in simple to understand terms that will help you make the right choices before buying an annuity and it's free call right now for your free book and as a bonus we'll also throw in a free annuity rate report we researched over 1200 annuities and summarize the rates and benefits of annuities from financially strong insurers again that's annuity do's and don'ts for baby boomers and a free annuity rate report both absolutely free for calling annuity general today supplies are limited call now call and i'm here 800-830-7360-830-7360 i just want to thank you because it saved my mother's life yesterday and i'd like to know the names of the people that came in and saved her it's a wonderful thing thank you with life alert one touch of a button can get you help fast [Music] for a free life alert brochure call 1-800-450-0515 1-800-450-0515 if you've been injured in an accident that's not your fault and you don't have an attorney listen up we have legal professionals standing by to tell you what your case is potentially worth hello i'm gina along with spokesperson rob rob tell the folks at home who should be calling right now well just like you said gina anyone who's been injured in an accident that was not your fault you don't have an attorney give us a call right now and we're going to let you know what your case is potentially worth thanks rob so what kind of calls have we been seeing today well gina we're getting calls from all types of accidents today work accidents slip and falls truck accidents and most commonly car accidents so if you were injured in an accident that was not your fault you don't have an attorney take that first step pick up that phone and give us a call we're gonna answer your questions and we'll let you know how much money you can get for your accident thanks rob all right folks at home you heard it go ahead don't hesitate take that first step and call now you heard a screech outside at night but you can't see what it is because there's not enough light you need the bionic floodlight from bell howell this solar powered motion activated multi-directional floodlight the versatile wireless safety security and outdoor lifestyle light you'll love and right now it's yours for just 29.99 and the shipping is free order now and we'll send a second bionic floodlight just pay a separate fee here's how to order call 1-800-604-7066 or order online at bionic floodlight.com sports grid [Music] [Music] we round out a football thursday our two hours together here on the morning after live all across the sports grid radio network and that's sirius xm channel 159 and wherever you've been watching on this thursday as well including now fubotv welcome to bleeding the winning edge right here on the grid i'm ben stevens thank you for joining us on this football thursday it is called a football thursday because we have two nfl games tonight to kick off preseason week number one in the national football league in foxboro the patriots a two and a half point home underdog against the new york giants in a pre-season powerhouse the baltimore ravens plays host to the tennessee titans right now the flock a three and a half point favorite so how can we get in what action can we get on nfl preseason football before we say farewell and before we say goodbye we'll have that exact conversation and do a little math here for you as we get ready for bye bye bye i don't just call the baltimore ravens a pre-season powerhouse for no reason they have won 20 straight pre-season games they have not lost a pre-season contest since 2015 and under john harbaugh their head coach baltimore is 42 and 10 straight up and 37 and 15 against the spread they are a three and a half point favorite tonight last year of course perfect in the preseason winning all three games their average margin of victory was 18 points per game where they scored at least 17 in all three of those games i did the math over the last three pre-seasons for the baltimore ravens in a sample size of 11 games they average just shy of 26 points per game and if we do the quick math okay baltimore three and a half point favorite the total is 32 and a half the team total is not out yet but you can estimate it somewhere around 17 17 and a hook so that's the play baltimore over its team total when it is posted on the fanduel sports book hopefully it is so and if not just lay the points with the flock because why not they're a pre-season power that does it for the morning after today on sports grid it's each and every weekday at 9 a.m eastern time i'm ben stevens dubs anderson filling in tomorrow they'll be back tomorrow at 9 00 a.m eastern talk to you then you

2022-08-14 22:34

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