0:02

It's the Lockdown Podcast

0:04

Network, your team every

0:06

day. We're

0:10

driven by the search for. Better. But when

0:12

it comes to hiring, the best way

0:15

to search for a candidate isn't research

0:17

at all. Don't surge match with Indeed.

0:19

If you need to hire, you need

0:21

indeed indeed is your matching and hiring

0:24

platform with over three hundred and fifty

0:26

million global monthly visitors according to in

0:28

the data, and a matching engine that

0:30

helps you find quality candidates fast. Ditch

0:33

the busy work use indeed for scheduling,

0:35

screening and messaging so you can connect

0:37

with candidates faster. Leveraging over one hundred

0:39

and forty million. Qualifications and Preferences

0:41

every day. Indeed, Matching Engine is

0:44

constantly learning from your preferences so

0:46

the more you use indeed the

0:48

better. It and listeners of this

0:50

show will get a seventy five

0:53

dollars sponsor job credit to get

0:55

your jobs more visibility. And indeed.com/lawless

0:57

Just go to indeed.com/lawless right now

0:59

and support our show by saying

1:02

you heard about Indeed on this

1:04

podcast Indeed, Dot Com slash Lawless

1:06

Terms and conditions apply. Need To

1:08

Hire You Need Indeed! and 1% on anything you buy with your Titanium Apple Card or Virtual Card Number. Visit apple.co.com/Card Calculator to see how much you can earn. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City Branch. Subject to credit approval. Terms apply. Happy

1:13

opening day to

1:15

all those who celebrate. You

1:19

are locked on MLB. Your

1:23

daily MLB podcast, part of

1:26

the locked on podcast network,

1:28

your team every day. Hello

1:40

baseball fans. Welcome to locked on MLB, part

1:43

of the locked on pockets network. What's

1:45

your team every day? This is the

1:47

daily podcast. We talk about all the major

1:49

league baseball. I am your host Paul Francis

1:51

Sullivan. Please call me Sully. I

1:54

have been a baseball podcast for well

1:56

over a decade now. I've done other

1:58

things. I've worked in television. I've been

2:00

a comedian, I'm now a teacher here in Los

2:02

Angeles County. But what I really love is

2:05

sharing my love of baseball with

2:07

you via podcasting. I used

2:09

to host the Sully Baseball Daily Podcast and

2:11

I've now been here at the Lockdown Podcast

2:13

Network. This is my sixth season and I'm

2:15

loving every minute of it. Follow us at

2:17

Lockdown and there'll be pods. Twitter

2:20

and Instagram, you can follow me.

2:23

I'm your pal Sully, I'm at Sully Baseball

2:25

on Twitter. Sully Baseball Podcast on Instagram. If

2:28

you are following us on all those sites

2:30

and you wanna leave any kind of comment,

2:33

let's just use that hashtag. Where's that

2:35

hashtag? Use that hashtag everyday Sully

2:37

so I have an idea of who's

2:39

listening every single day. And

2:42

if you follow me on Twitter or whatever the hell

2:44

it's called now, check out

2:46

my pinned tweet which is the In

2:48

Memoriam video that I produced, which I

2:50

do before every opening day

2:52

now. And quickly let's go

2:54

through the trivia question. Paul

2:57

Somindinger, the great doctor who helped us on

2:59

the episode I did yesterday. For

3:02

Roy White from Compton to the Bronx.

3:06

Roy White played his entire Major

3:08

League Baseball career as

3:10

a member of the New York Yankees. But he

3:12

did play for one other team and Arganite

3:15

Comedy got it correct that

3:17

he actually played a year with the

3:19

Tokyo Giants. When he was

3:21

done playing with the New York Yankees, he

3:23

was one of the players who, that

3:26

used to happen all the time. Where

3:28

you saw American players who had basically

3:31

played out the string in the

3:33

Major Leagues, off they went to Japan to

3:36

pick up some extra money. And

3:38

that's what Roy White did. I

3:40

am recording this one, pulling

3:42

back the curtain tiny little bit. I

3:45

am pulling back the curtain to tell you

3:47

that I am recording this before the games

3:50

start on Thursday. We're gonna have

3:53

basically a full slate of games going on. I

3:56

think the Mets game may be already rained

3:58

out. I could be wrong about that

4:00

but we're gonna see the

4:02

the baseball games are

4:04

gonna start tomorrow yes I know we

4:06

had the two games that were played

4:08

in Seoul and those didn't deed count

4:11

and you know we're gonna see yes

4:14

like the Mets game and the Braves Phillies

4:16

game are rained out

4:18

already fine but we're gonna see

4:20

you know Red Sox Mariners the

4:22

DBACS and the Rockies A's

4:25

Guardians Rangers Cubs Astros in the

4:27

Yankees that should be fun pirates

4:30

are gonna be playing the Miami

4:32

Marlins Tigers are playing the

4:35

White Sox the Dodgers resume

4:37

their playing with their home

4:39

opener with Tyler

4:41

Glasnow pitching against st. Louis Tampa

4:45

and Toronto were playing

4:47

the twins and the Kansas City Royals

4:49

play and anytime you have an AL Central

4:51

head-to-head that's gonna be interesting because that's a

4:53

division that's totally up in the air the

4:56

two teams that want to win the N.O. West over

4:58

the Giants or two more of the Giants over the

5:00

Dodgers were gonna be the Giants of the Padres they're

5:02

gonna be opening in San Diego Nax

5:05

Reds and the Angels

5:08

and Baltimore with Burns making

5:10

his first game for

5:12

the Orioles and probably

5:14

by the time you're listening to this

5:17

podcast you'll already

5:19

know what happened but I

5:21

want to record this episode

5:23

beforehand and we'll drop it sometime

5:25

tomorrow sometime on

5:28

Thursday where you'll be hearing this I was

5:30

thinking about this the

5:32

season's starting yes that's one reason I don't

5:34

like starting the season and stopping like they

5:36

did in Seoul I have no problem with

5:39

them playing games overseas I just think all

5:41

the team should open at the same

5:43

time because opening day is special I

5:47

was thinking about city of the day why is

5:49

this still such a special thing for me I'm

5:52

gonna be 52 years old pretty soon I I've

5:55

seen my favorite team the Red Sox win

5:58

four World Series my favorite national

6:00

teams, San Francisco Giants, I've

6:02

seen them win three times. So

6:05

clearly I'm not frothing at the

6:07

mouth hoping to see my team

6:09

win once before I die. That

6:11

ship has sailed. Why

6:13

is it still such an important thing

6:15

for me? Besides the fact

6:17

that I do the Lockdown Pockets Network, which

6:21

is great, but what

6:23

is it about the drives into baseball?

6:25

And for a lot of people

6:27

there are different reasons for their fandom.

6:31

It is a huge sandbox that we all get

6:33

to play in. Some people just

6:35

want to follow a local team and that's

6:37

it. It's very binary. Did the Dodgers win?

6:40

Did the Dodgers lose? Did the Giants win?

6:42

Did the Giants lose? Did the A's win?

6:44

Whoever you follow, it's just binary. Did they

6:46

win? They lose. It's just something very casual

6:48

they do. Some people do that with all

6:50

sports or they have the one sport that

6:53

they really follow. For me, it's

6:55

baseball. And

6:57

some people are interested in the stats. Some

6:59

people are interested in fantasy. And

7:01

we obviously have sponsors for those sort

7:03

of things as well. I

7:06

realize there's a couple reasons that drive me to

7:08

this game. And if

7:10

these aren't the same reasons that drive you

7:13

to following a regular season, all 162 games

7:16

into the postseason, you

7:18

may not have the same reasons. But I

7:20

was thinking about it. Maybe we can

7:22

all learn to share this a little bit. I

7:25

know a lot of people who focus on fantasy baseball

7:28

use a phrase which is, forget

7:31

the narrative. Forget the narrative. Focus on the

7:34

numbers. And that's fine if that's how you

7:36

enjoy the game. But one

7:38

of the reasons that I love the game is

7:40

the narrative. It's the fact that

7:43

it's a story that unfolds. And

7:45

it's not a short story. It's one

7:47

that takes several months to unfold. And

7:50

you think you know where it's going and it

7:52

goes in different directions and all over the place.

7:55

I have so many books around,

7:57

just even around my computer, which

8:00

are baseball history books, because I

8:02

love reading about the history of

8:04

baseball. I love that, you know, my

8:06

background is covered with pictures of the

8:09

history of baseball, and I love the

8:11

story of it. I

8:13

love to see how the story unfolds. I

8:15

love to see the plot twists. I love

8:18

to see the characters who change, the teams

8:20

who take over, the great moments, the bad

8:22

moments, the stupid moments, the glorious moments, and

8:25

the fact that when it's happening

8:28

in real time, it's truly

8:31

exhilarating for me, because

8:33

I don't know where it's going to go. When

8:36

you look back in retrospect, which I love,

8:38

as I said, I love reading about baseball

8:40

history. I am always consuming

8:42

a baseball history book somewhere. And

8:46

like right now, in my writing project

8:48

with the 71 World Series, I

8:50

know how that one ended. And

8:53

it's still thrilling for me to read about, knowing

8:55

how the A's wound up being the

8:58

reds or thing I'm reading right now

9:00

about the 33 World Series, which I

9:02

know that the Giants are going to win

9:05

over Washington. But to see how

9:07

everything unfolds, see how that crazy

9:10

season unfolds, is

9:12

exhilarating to read about the

9:14

ones that you know how

9:16

they end, but to be

9:18

in the middle of a season where you don't

9:21

know how it ends. Think

9:23

about last year. Think about

9:25

all the twists and turns we had

9:27

last year. The beginning of the year, Tampa

9:29

Bay looked absolutely unstoppable. They

9:33

won all those games at the beginning of the year.

9:35

And then it looked like the Yankees were going to

9:37

have a great season, especially with the way that Garakol

9:40

was playing. But then suddenly, you

9:42

had that injury involving Aaron Judge. You

9:44

saw the Yankees spiral out. Everyone

9:47

thought the Mets were going to be great, but they spiraled out.

9:49

And then you saw Arizona be

9:51

terrific for a giant chunk of

9:53

the season until they absolutely made

9:56

a nosedive in the going into

9:59

the season. to the end of the season and

10:02

they backed into the playoffs to everyone's amazement,

10:04

they wound up winning the pennant. It

10:07

looked like for a while, was Baltimore

10:09

gonna be the big story? Was the

10:11

Dodgers, was the NLCS gonna be an

10:13

inevitable collision between the Dodgers and

10:16

the Braves? And

10:18

then there were people like Corbin

10:21

Carroll who had years that you

10:23

weren't expecting. You had the whole weird, are

10:25

they gonna trade Ohtani? Are they not gonna

10:27

trade Ohtani? Ohtani hurt is Ohtani not hurt.

10:30

Is Jacob the Grom hurt? What's

10:32

gonna happen as Texas and Arizona

10:35

were both sputtering out of control

10:37

with a horrible stretches in August

10:40

and September only to be

10:42

the main story at the end of October.

10:46

And in many ways, the big

10:48

narrative at the end of

10:50

the 2023 season was Bruce Boce coming back and

10:56

the Rangers winning their first ever championship. This

10:59

year is gonna be filled with twists and turns

11:01

like that. And there's gonna be moments

11:04

of frustration, like

11:06

with AIDS fans knowing what's the

11:09

craziness going on with the team. And

11:11

last year you had the narrative of

11:13

the reverse boycott. And

11:16

then you also had things like the

11:18

new Orioles management. What's gonna happen with

11:20

the AIDS going into this year? The

11:22

death of Tim Wakefield, the death of

11:24

Brooks Robinson. There are

11:27

always twists and turns to

11:29

the story. And

11:31

the sitting back and knowing

11:33

that I'm about to have basically

11:36

a new baseball book whose

11:38

ending I do not know. And

11:41

whose ending you don't know. And

11:43

there's someone waking up today

11:46

who doesn't realize

11:49

that when the final moment of

11:52

the season happens and the victory

11:54

parade goes on for the World

11:56

Series Champion, they don't

11:58

realize that they. are the

12:01

main story of

12:04

2024. Seeing

12:07

how it unfolds, the

12:09

thrill of finding out

12:11

how the season unfolds is

12:13

something that really drives me

12:15

to baseball because it

12:18

unfolds over a long period of time

12:21

and requires patience, but

12:23

that patience is rewarded. But

12:26

there's more than that. It's

12:28

more than just my love of a great story

12:30

being told. In so many

12:32

ways, there are other elements

12:34

to the game that

12:37

quite frankly pepper

12:40

it with more than just, I want to

12:42

see a great story

12:44

unfold. There's something

12:46

deeper and more

12:49

profound and one that

12:51

frankly is worth bringing up

12:54

because I wonder how many people agree

12:56

with me on this reason to

12:59

love the experience of

13:01

a season. Say

13:06

goodbye to busted brackets because Fan

13:08

Duel lets you bet on every

13:10

game of the tournament. Whether you're

13:13

betting on a big upset or

13:16

a number one seed, it's time

13:18

to go dancing on

13:20

America's number one sportsbook. Right

13:22

now, new customers get $200 in bonus

13:25

bets if your first $5 bet wins.

13:27

That's $200 to use on point spreads,

13:31

money lines. You could even pick who's going to

13:33

win it all. It's going to be

13:35

Washington State. Just visit

13:37

fanduel.com/locked on and bet

13:39

on college hoops until

13:42

they cut down the nets.

13:45

That's FanDuel. We're

13:47

driven by the search for better, but when it comes

13:49

to hiring, the best way to search for a candidate

13:51

isn't to search at all. Don't search match with Indeed.

13:53

93% of employers agree Indeed

13:56

delivers the highest quality matches compared to other

13:58

job sites, according to a recent. Indeed

14:00

survey and listeners of the show will

14:02

get a $75 sponsored job credit to

14:05

get your jobs more visibility at indeed.com/podcast

14:07

just go to indeed.com/podcast right now and

14:09

support our show by saying you heard

14:12

about Indeed on this podcast indeed.com/podcast terms

14:14

and conditions apply need to hire you

14:16

need indeed. Are

14:22

you watching some

14:24

of those sports networks like

14:26

Fox Sports or ESPN on your TV all

14:28

day you have to turn down the volume

14:30

with all that shouting we'll make the

14:32

switch to locked on sports today free

14:35

24 7 sports streaming channel program

14:37

for you every day to bring the biggest

14:40

story without all the screaming lock

14:42

on sports a brings you can't miss

14:44

analysis opinions and news streaming 24 7

14:47

on YouTube or the free fire TV

14:49

channels app part of the lockdown pockets

14:51

network with your team every day I

14:54

try not to scream on that one there's

14:57

another thing that drives me to this

14:59

game because it fills a

15:02

part of my life that other

15:05

people have this fulfillment elsewhere I

15:08

don't talk a lot about certain

15:10

things in my personal life but I will say I am

15:13

not a religious person I'm not

15:15

a believer I am NOT

15:17

ashamed to call myself an

15:19

atheist but I also not proud of it it's

15:21

just a fact I don't believe in the supernatural

15:24

and I'm also not a religious person that's not

15:26

my my bag I

15:28

know many of you are and I respect

15:30

your beliefs and I respect how

15:32

you unfold your life I know for a fact there

15:35

are people who have been guests on my show each

15:37

time we house from lockdown

15:39

asses a very religious guy I know a lot

15:41

of you who followed me many

15:43

denominations of Christianity several

15:46

forms of Judaism I know I have

15:48

several Muslim listeners I know I

15:50

have a few Buddhist listeners I even

15:52

know that I I do have a

15:54

Scientology listener yeah I sometimes check on

15:56

the everyday Sully profiles

15:59

and one person is assigned thought whatever

16:01

it is that gives you happiness okay

16:04

I'm not gonna get in the way of however

16:10

I feel that many of the positive things

16:12

that people get from

16:14

their faith and their religion I actually

16:18

do get from baseball I

16:21

get a sense of

16:23

community that's certainly a positive thing

16:25

that when the the good

16:27

elements of religion is that sense of community a lot

16:30

of times people are their religion because

16:33

of a connection to their

16:35

ancestors well I certainly have

16:37

a connection to my parents and to my

16:39

grandparents in our love of baseball

16:41

it's something connects all of us and

16:44

a lot of times it's based upon your

16:47

family and where you grew up what

16:50

religion you're in or what team you root for

16:53

it's usually this is the

16:56

the team I was raised in

16:58

or where I'm growing up

17:00

this is where what we do and

17:02

where we go both have

17:05

rituals whether

17:07

it's wearing the hat or if

17:09

you go to Anaheim watching the

17:11

monkey jumping up and down or

17:14

you know the rally caps or

17:17

uniforms or singing sweet Caroline or

17:19

doing the roll call from the

17:21

bleachers these are all rituals that

17:24

are comforting oh I

17:26

went there my father

17:28

went here and did that I'm now going

17:30

there and doing that you

17:33

know rally caps foam we're number

17:35

one fingers maybe

17:38

tomahawk chalk some of you like it some

17:40

of you don't but it's certainly a ritual

17:44

that has been handed down and

17:47

that's that sense of community is

17:50

a positive thing of course

17:52

there are negative things can happen in

17:54

a religion just like there's negative things that happen

17:56

in a fandom and

17:59

we've seen Sometimes people

18:01

getting into fights because you're rooting for

18:03

the wrong team. Obviously, it was a

18:05

horrible story that happened a decade ago

18:07

of the Giants fan beaten up

18:09

so badly in the Dodger parking lot that

18:12

he was basically in a coma.

18:15

And that's based upon conflicting beliefs. We

18:17

don't want that. We don't want conflicting

18:19

religious beliefs. We don't have conflicting fandom.

18:22

And both require faith. Faith

18:26

is, at least the definition that

18:28

I use, is believing

18:30

in something without evidence. And

18:33

most religious claims of supernatural

18:36

or spiritual or whatever requires

18:40

faith. Because if

18:42

it didn't, then it would be science.

18:45

Then we would just have evidence. You

18:47

gotta have faith in this. You gotta have faith in that.

18:50

I don't know if I have any religious faith,

18:52

but I know I have baseball faith. I

18:56

know there are times I can watch my

18:58

team go, and I believe they have a

19:00

shot to win. Even though in my heart

19:02

of hearts, I have no evidence for it.

19:05

I believe, I have to put

19:07

in and believe, despite all

19:09

of the contrary evidence that

19:12

I see, that maybe

19:14

what I'm wishing for and what will bring

19:16

me happiness can come true. And

19:19

sometimes it doesn't. And

19:21

those days you say, baseball

19:23

works in mysterious ways. But

19:27

that's part of what is in

19:30

some people's lives. And

19:32

while I may not have it in

19:35

a church or

19:37

a mosque or a synagogue, I

19:40

do have it in a place of worship. I

19:43

do feel that when I go to

19:45

a ballgame and I feel a

19:47

connection to the past. I

19:50

feel a connection with my

19:52

fellow fans. I feel

19:55

a connection that we're all wishing and

19:57

hoping. Clasping

20:00

our hands together, trying

20:03

to get something to

20:06

happen the way we want it to, and that we

20:08

believe it. The

20:12

official video of the 2004 Red

20:15

Sox was called Faith Rewarded. I

20:18

understand that feeling. And

20:21

while I'm not a believer, and

20:24

I'm not a religious person, I do

20:27

like to think I'm a good person who does

20:29

good things, and I don't feel like

20:31

that's a hole in my heart and a hole in my

20:33

life. I have found it in

20:35

another way. And is

20:38

it always rational? No, but neither

20:40

is faith. Is

20:42

it always justified? No, but

20:44

neither is faith. And

20:46

I feel when I see someone

20:49

who is wearing a hat or the

20:51

uniform of the team that I'm rooting

20:53

for, I feel I have a

20:55

connection. And like those people who

20:57

go to different temples

21:00

or mosques or churches to see how

21:03

other people worship, I find

21:05

myself in many other homes of worship. And

21:08

I know to be respectful for that. If

21:11

I'm in someone else's home and I'm wearing a

21:13

Red Sox hat, I know I'm not going to

21:15

rub it in their face. I'm in your place

21:17

of faith. And

21:20

I don't feel like I'm losing out in my

21:22

life because I have

21:25

that. And baseball provides that to

21:27

me. But there's

21:30

one other thing that is more tangible

21:32

than stories and faith,

21:35

which in so many ways I realize is

21:37

the main reason why I'm

21:39

a baseball fan. Schwab

21:43

Trading is now powered by Ameritrade

21:45

to give you a new, elevated

21:47

trading experience that's tailor-made for trader

21:49

minds. Go deeper with Think or

21:51

Swim, the powerful, award-winning trading platforms

21:54

now at Schwab. Unlock support from

21:56

the Trade Desk, our team of

21:58

passionate traders who live in brief

22:00

trading like you do and sharpen

22:02

your skills with an expanding library

22:04

of online education crafted just for

22:06

traders. All designed to

22:08

help you trade brilliantly. Learn

22:11

more at schwab.com/training. Apple

22:14

Card is the perfect cash back rewards credit

22:16

card. You earn up to 3% daily cash

22:18

on every purchase every day. That's

22:20

3% on your favorite products at Apple, 2% and

22:26

1% on anything you buy with

22:28

your Titanium Apple Card or Virtual

22:31

Card Number. Visit apple.co.com/Card Calculator to

22:33

see how much you can earn. Apple

22:35

Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA,

22:37

Salt Lake City Branch. Subject to credit

22:39

approval. Terms apply. Hey,

22:44

did you know that Lockdawn

22:46

has launched the first ever National Sports

22:49

24-7 streaming channel on

22:51

YouTube and now it's available on the

22:53

Amazon Fire TV in the free TV

22:56

channels app. Lockdawn Sports Day

22:58

is here for you 24-7 covering the

23:00

top sports stories of the day with local

23:02

experts of Lockdawn plus our national shows covering

23:04

every league. Find Lockdawn Sports

23:06

today now available on the free

23:08

Fire TV's channel app. Do

23:11

you know what baseball in so many ways provides

23:14

you for these 162 games? Friendship.

23:21

Friendship in so many different ways. Certainly

23:23

amongst other fans. I

23:26

am going to a Red

23:28

Sox Angels game in

23:30

just a couple weeks. I bought my ticket on

23:33

Game Time, not a sponsor of today's episode and

23:36

I'm going to go down Anaheim and I'm

23:38

going to go alone. I'm going to

23:40

go by myself but I'm not

23:42

going to be alone. I'm going

23:44

to be amongst friends. Some

23:46

will be Angel fans. Some will be Red Sox fans.

23:49

Some will be baseball fans. But

23:51

there's going to be a connection. If I

23:53

go down there, there's going to be, well,

23:56

it's a no Tommy-less Angel game. So let's

23:58

be generous and say you'll be. 30,000

24:01

people and we all have

24:03

something in common. And

24:05

believe me, there'll be an Orange County.

24:07

There's gonna be a lot of people who are of

24:10

the right wing of politics. There's gonna be a

24:12

lot of people the left wing of politics. And

24:15

yet we'll have a friendship there. We'll

24:18

all have something in common. If

24:20

I go to a bar, if I go

24:23

to a place with a show and a

24:25

ballgame, I can go there and

24:28

not know anybody

24:30

and walk away being

24:32

friendly with people. We

24:34

have this sense, this connection.

24:37

I know I feel friendship with a lot of

24:39

the hosts here, the Lockdown Podcast Network, of

24:42

which I've met a grand total of zero

24:45

in person. I know some

24:47

of you who follow this podcast, some

24:49

of the Everyday Sully listeners, I

24:52

feel that they are my

24:54

friends in so many ways. And

24:58

I'm sure there's a certain connection that we feel

25:00

with the players. If you watch the In Memoriam

25:02

video that I dropped, and if you haven't seen

25:04

it yet, it's my pinned tweet. If you go

25:07

to Twitter and follow me at Sully Baseball, the

25:10

last line of the video is

25:12

Brooks Robinson saying, I've never

25:14

thought of you as being fans. I thought of you

25:16

as being my friends. It's

25:19

a beautiful sentiment, I must say. And

25:22

it's something I'm sure we all feel when

25:25

we watch a team. And

25:27

in so many ways, that's what

25:30

people who don't understand why

25:32

it's so important to

25:34

have, if you're a baseball fan, to be

25:37

following the team day in and day out. It's

25:41

not necessarily always going to be

25:43

about winning the World Series. Only one team can do

25:45

that. It's

25:47

they're your friends for

25:50

that spring and for that summer. They're

25:52

your companions. You check in

25:54

on them. You listen to the games. You

25:57

watch the games. You watch as many as you can. And

26:00

you root for them day in and

26:02

day out. They could win on Wednesday

26:05

and lose on Thursday. It's not always

26:07

about winning. It's about how

26:09

did they do? Who

26:11

did well? You check the box score.

26:13

It's very clear who did well. You see who

26:15

pitched well. You see who hit well. And

26:18

you get to know the players and you

26:20

get to know the relievers. And sometimes some

26:22

of the people who you feel a great

26:24

connection to aren't necessarily the big superstars. And

26:28

be part of the great podcast of Never Not

26:30

Funny, the best podcast

26:32

out there. And

26:34

his favorite player as a rabid Chicago

26:36

White Sox fan was Alan Bannister. Not

26:39

one of their big superstars. Not one

26:41

of the big all stars. And there were a lot of all

26:43

stars on those White Sox team of the late 70s. My

26:46

favorite player was Butch Hobson. You

26:49

get attached to players. You get attached

26:51

to the middle relievers. And they're your

26:53

companions for the spring and the

26:56

summer and into the fall. You're

26:58

really lucky they'll go deep into October.

27:02

For the most part, they're your companions

27:05

and they're your friends. And

27:09

basically when they go

27:11

away at the end of the regular season

27:13

or at the end of the World Series, it's

27:16

like you're missing your friends who you saw a

27:18

lot. And then now we're

27:21

seeing them again. This is one

27:23

reason why I love opening day. It's

27:26

a reunion with your friends. And

27:28

it's important to get that distance. It's

27:31

important to say goodbye knowing that they're going

27:33

to be coming back. And

27:36

sometimes it's a new group of friends. Sometimes

27:38

your really good friend is not wearing another

27:40

uniform, but you get to meet somebody new.

27:44

And sometimes the team stinks. And

27:47

sometimes the team is not competitive. I'm

27:50

a Red Sox fan. Do you notice the year I have up there?

27:53

Is it 04 or 07 or even 86? No,

27:55

it's 82. And

27:58

I bet I can name every bunny on that 80. roster

28:02

and that team didn't do piddly-poo. They

28:04

came in third. They were

28:06

good. They weren't great. But

28:09

I followed them all year. And

28:12

think about some of the teams that you

28:14

have that didn't win the World Series, that

28:16

didn't win the pennant. But

28:18

you really love watching them day in and day out.

28:21

And sometimes they're bad teams that

28:23

you get attached to. Sometimes they're competitive

28:25

teams. You're just happy they did well.

28:29

So why do I love it? You

28:32

get a great story that unfolds over a bunch

28:34

of months. I get a

28:36

chance to fill the void of

28:39

faith and ritual and community

28:43

that some people get from their religion. And

28:47

you get friends. Friends

28:50

who you watch in the game. Some

28:52

that you listen to. I mean, your announcers

28:56

in so many ways are your friends as well. They're the

28:58

ones watching the game with you. That's why Vin Scully said,

29:00

if you're just joining us, pull up a chair. A lot

29:03

of times with my dad, when he wanted to turn on

29:05

the Giants game, he wouldn't say turn on the Giants game.

29:07

He'd say, turn on Crook and Kite. And

29:09

they're wonderful announcers out there. You

29:12

know, Don Arcelo is fantastic.

29:15

And then you have Jason Benetti, who was the White

29:17

Sox announcer and now is over at the Detroit Tigers.

29:19

He's one of the best in the business. No

29:22

matter what you're following, do you know what?

29:24

They're your friends at that moment. And

29:28

so here we start. A

29:31

hundred and sixty two games of

29:34

a story, of

29:36

faith, and a friendship. We'll

29:39

break down the games and we'll talk numbers

29:41

and everything like that. But

29:44

I realized those are the reasons why I have it.

29:47

I'm a Boston Red Sox fan. I

29:50

don't think my team has a shot. I have faith

29:52

that they'll do well because that's what you have at

29:54

the beginning of the year. But

29:56

here's what I want to see. I

29:58

want to see a great story. Unfold I

30:01

want to see twists and turns. I

30:03

want to see players You're not expected

30:05

contribute big-time and teams that you thought

30:08

were gonna go great fall in their

30:10

face Only get them stand up and

30:12

dust themselves off. I want

30:14

a great story. I Want

30:17

a great sense of community with you all

30:19

experiencing it and I want

30:21

to make some friends and I'm

30:23

gonna be doing this all season

30:25

long Today's trivia question

30:28

is around I think

30:30

the best team or the most complete

30:32

team I may have ever seen in my life

30:34

and It breaks my

30:36

heart to say it was a New York Yankee team and

30:39

that team was the 1998

30:42

New York Yankees who stamp heated

30:45

to the World Series Stampeded

30:48

to a wonderful year where

30:50

they basically ran

30:52

over the entire the

30:56

all major league baseball to finish

30:58

the season 114 and 48 and sweep

31:02

a very good San Diego Padres

31:04

team the trivia question

31:07

is What

31:09

was the Yankees record in? 1998

31:14

after five games How did

31:16

they do in their first five games? That's

31:18

a trivia question put it down here on YouTube or

31:21

put it at lockdown and there'll be pods on Twitter

31:23

or an Instagram And I'm your pal.

31:25

So I'm at Sully baseball and Twitter so this will podcast

31:27

on Instagram Thank you my friends

31:30

for joining me to see this

31:32

story unfold and to chest

31:35

our faith This has been

31:37

locked on MLB. Happy opening day,

31:39

everyone. I'm yours Paul

31:41

Francis Sullivan. Please call me Sully

31:57

say goodbye to busted brackets because fan

31:59

dual let you bet on every game

32:01

of the tourney. Whether you're betting on a

32:03

big upset or one seed, it's time to

32:05

go dancing on America's number one sportsbook. Right

32:08

now, new customers get $200 in bonus bets.

32:11

If your first $5 bet wins, that's

32:13

200 bucks to use on

32:16

point spreads, money lines, and you can

32:18

even pick who's going to win it

32:20

all. Just visit fan dual.com/locked on and

32:22

bet on college hoops until they cut

32:24

down the net. You shouldn't

32:26

have to worry when you buy tickets for your next big

32:29

event. And with game time, you don't have to game

32:31

time is the fast and easy way to buy

32:33

tickets for all the sports, music, comedy, and theater

32:35

events near you. With incredible

32:37

last minute deals, all in prices, views

32:39

from your seat, and their best price

32:41

guarantee game time takes the guesswork out

32:44

of buying tickets. Download the game time

32:46

app today, creating account and use code

32:48

locked on for $20 off your first

32:50

purchase term supply. Again, creating account and

32:52

redeem code locked on, L O

32:54

C K E D O N for $20 off. Download

32:57

game time today, last minute tickets, lowest

32:59

price guaranteed. Too

33:02

smart for your trading app, tired of

33:04

brokers made for beginners. Then it's time

33:06

you get serious. It's time you joined

33:08

tasty trade, the tools and tech you

33:10

need for a tough market, plus low

33:13

and capped commissions, stocks, options, futures, and

33:15

more. All in one place. If you

33:17

trade anywhere else, you're missing out. Join

33:19

the club genius. Visit tasty trade.com. Tasty

33:21

trading is a registered broker dealer and

33:23

member of FINRA, NFA, and SIPC.