welcome into another episode of Locked on Phillies in today's episode we're discussing the Phils getting the sweep at the Tampa Bay race and Nick castiano getting his sweet revenge for Tuesday night when he was hit intentionally a lot of stuff to get into on today's [Music] episode you are locked on Phillies your daily Philadelphia Phillies podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every [Music] day yes this is locked on Phillies I'm your host Connor Thomas we're part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day you may know me for some of my other work in the Sports Talk space I've been on Sports Talk Radio here in Philadelphia on 975 The Fanatic for five years now this is my third year as a credential Philadelphia Phillies media member and this is my third year as the host of lockon Phillies uh please make sure if you're watching this on YouTube You're subscribing hitting that subscribe button get you notifications when new episodes are posted takes like two seconds cost you nothing or if you're just listening to this in podcast form leave a rating leave a review I appreciate all that very much it helps us out big time here on locked on Phillies today's episode is brought to you by prize picks go to prize pick.com lockon MLB and use code it's all in lowercase locked on MLB to win $50 instantly when you play $5 go ahead and check out our friends over at prize pick great time of year for that with NFL and everything everything starting uh today we're going to get into a lot of stuff so we're going to start by discussing last night's game the Philly sweeping out the race they're just playing really really good baseball right now with some backup players too and we're going to take a peek at where the Phils are in the standings and what the clinching scenarios are and uh where they're at compared to other teams in the NL East the NL in general all of baseball the seaing just an overall standings look with a handful of games to go and then we're going to have a conversation about whether or not the PHS are clinching too early I know it might sound crazy it's more of a question than me actually making a statement to one side or the other of that because well there there's a lot to say about that one uh but let's start with last night's game right it was not the most exciting game it wasn't the biggest Victory ever but it was a three to2 win by the Philadelphia Phillies and we're going to get to Nick ctios I just want to talk really quick about Zack Wheeler and the bullpen and then about a couple of uh a couple of role players again so wheeler goes six Innings he allows four hits only two earned runs he does walk three but he struck out nine it wasn't his best performance but it wasn't his worst performance he gives up a home run late into his start there uh I don't know that's that's fine for me if you get that from Zack Wheeler you should win ball games right if you go out there and now you want him to go seven you want him to go eight you want to go deeper into ball games but as we get deeper into the season you're going to see this constant trying to balance of should he still be in the ball game do we need him to still be in the ball game do we keep him healthy for October with all the guys that are currently going down with injuries it seems daily for the Philadelphia Phillies uh yeah you're G to have to keep an eye on that and if he's gotten six Innings worth and only given up two earned runs you feel good about where you're at okay go ahead and take him out of the ball game uh got the win by the way 15 and six on the year adding to that Sai Young case every every single day the bullpen was great Matt Strom wonderful perfect inning Jose Alvarado really good I mean Jose Alvarado real quick oh this is why you don't give up on talented pitchers right this is why you don't give up on guys that look rough because you never know relievers can be streaky too Jose Alvarado is a streaky reliever but he's starting to go good right now if you add him to Strom and Hoffman and kirking and EST stez and all of these guys Tanner banks that you either acquired at the trade deadline or had from last year that were all stars this year you say yeah this Bullpen might be a little bit nasty I don't really know how you beat this Phillies team if they get to the bullpen with a lead or even like a sizable lead oh it's over so that's good to see a stez goes ahead and locks down the save is 25th on the year all that is well and good so a nice strong night from the pitching staff to hold Tampa Bay to five hits and only two runs now the Phillies were held to only five hits and three runs so it's not like they had an off defensive explosion Bryce Harper went 0 for four now he's been hot lately so that's okay Bryce has thought over for four in the leadoff spot he had to get bumped up there with Kyle schwarber getting scratched from the lineup so we'll keep an eye on the elbow thing for Kyle schwarber I think it was just like get him a day or two because he was initially in the lineup when the graphic was tweeted out on Philly's uh Twitter and then they removed him after that says he's close you have an off day today you play the Mets starting tomorrow I'd expect Kyle schwarber to be in the lead off out tomorrow to start that Series against the Mets and hey we'll see if maybe like JT rido is back in maybe well we'll take a peek right now you were a little bit hamstrung last night and you had some guys not have their best nights at the plate uh Brandon Marsh one for four Weston Wilson one for two and Johan r one for three were the only other guys with hits besides this guy that we're gonna talk about because Nick castanos I mean you're amazing in so many different way like was there any doubt that Nick castios was going to go yard yesterday the eighth Inning on Tuesday he gets hit by Edwin Etta he starts he throws the bat down starts jawing with the guy Bryce Harper comes sprinting in from second base he's yelling too Nick Cas was clearly worked up called it like a how his two-year-old axe when he tells him he can't have dessert which is just it's a great line from Nick castanos and this is the fire that we knew he played with sometimes and he's not afraid of Confrontation Nikki C is not and he's also a good enough baseball player to make it hurt if you annoy him if you tick him off he's going to want to come back and get you the next day and he he flat out did it it was just it's awesome when you see stuff like that right and that's just so sports that's how I see a player maybe I read too much into these moments but that's how I look at players that I don't have to worry about right when something happens to them when they face direct individual adversity or trash talk or anything you look at how they respond for example Bryce Harper last year in the postseason when he gets doubled off to end that game down in Atlanta by Michael Harris an incredible play and then Orlando AR opens his big stupid mouth and says something about adab boy Harper and then the next night well next game I should say Harper goes yard twice at Citizens Bank bark and stares down Orlando Ria that's a dude that's a dog that's a guy that when you're going to talk trash to him you're going to say something to him when you call him overrated from the stands he's going to go yard on your team that's just what he does and Nick casianos hasn't had as many of those opportunities because he's not the star he's not the focal point that Bryce Harper is right Nick casianos is a star player in his own right but he got listen he got uh plunked on Tuesday night and then he got his next opportunity and he said I'm not letting this one go by and he deposit it now barely got out but he deposits it in the Left Field seats for a two-run home run and set the tone early for the Phillies once you get that two-run lead with Zack Wheeler on the mound you feel pretty good about your chances of closing that one down especially against the Rays but there was a long way to go uh you had to have a Cody Clemens infield hit for the game-winning RBI in the middle Innings of this one so again depth shown off Ras Garcia who was catching in the game threw out a big time base r cabero tries to take second in the ninth inning with one out and he gets him that would have been the tying run would have been on second base so a single probably would have tied the game and he hoses him Carlos Estes makes a good pitch for him to throw on like there was a lot of stuff that happened in this game but like Nick castanos was the guy that you looked at and said all right buddy you're ticked off about yesterday go show it do something special been a good consist well I wouldn't say consistent you've been a pretty darn good hitter for us this year and you're starting to go into a little bit of a slump there for a second maybe this wakes him up maybe this zones him in remember this is a guy that has said sometimes it's hard to focus all the time during the regular season with 162 baseball games standing out there in the Outfield sometimes you you don't Zone in as much but I lock in in the postseason well guess what folks when you're in a pennet race when you're in an NL East divisional race when you're looking for the top seed in the National League this is time to start zoning in and Nick castanos did that and of course we also know Nick castanos and this weird witchcraft about him that's uh he picks very interesting times to hit home runs yeah well was there any doubt on that front either I don't know man that dude is like there will be studies done one day on Nick castios and the timing of his home runs I I it's inexplainable at this point I'm so glad I would almost give him a lifetime contract just to be able to talk about this just to be able to watch this for the rest of his career no they're not going to because that's dumb but like I can't even explain it I don't think anyone could explain it the timing of Nick castian home runs uh does not abide by the law of nature it makes me wonder if he could just go yard every single time but he just chooses the times where it would fit that narrative the best like I don't know I'm not getting too deep into it you guys know what you saw yesterday you guys know what happened it was a good win for the Philadelphia Phillies and the sweep is huge because it brings their magic number down to nine they start three games with the Mets tomorrow they have the off day today like I said so you have a chance to knock that down two games or I guess two numbers a piece for every game you can win against the Mets could be seven could be five could be three when everything's all said and done how good does that sound magic number of three in mid-september it's on the board I mean it's possible but the Phils sweep out the Rays they serve some poetic justice for the Rays being losers and hitting Nick casianos on Tuesday night and this team is just absolutely rolling right now even though they don't have their best gu so that's a great sign and uh we'll go ahead and take a look at another great sign where they're at in the standings and where they've been in the standings and how other teams seem to be not struggling but leaving the door very open for the Phillies to accomplish everything they could have possibly wanted to accomplish we'll discuss that coming up as we continue lock on Phillies but let's talk about prize picks first prize pick is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over five million active members prize pick is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports unlike other apps on prize picks it's just you against the numbers it's not like you set this lineup and then Joey down the street sets a better lineup and you're just out of luck no matter if yours was good or not no no you get it you win it that's how prize picks work so all you do is pick more or less on two to six player stat projections you watch the winnings roll in tonight week two of football season gets going in the Pro ranks big game Miami Buffalo lot of points scored in that one lot of yards scored or gained in that one I would imagine with guys like Josh Allen and Tu a Tong of by L under Center and Tyreek Hill running around out there like yeah go ahead and take a peek at that and see if you like some uh like some numbers on some of the players tonight in the football action you can also do baseball if you're going to watch some games that are not the Philadelphia Phillies because they have the off day you can check in a number of hits and home runs and strikeouts and all that great stuff it takes a minute to put a lineup together it's that quick it's that easy you can make a good amount of money and you download the prize pick app today you can use code locked on MLB and get $50 instantly when you play $5 that's code locked on MLB on prospects to get $50 instantly when you play $5 you don't even need to win to receive the $50 bonus it's guaranteed from prize picks our friends over at prize picks I love them run your [Music] game all right let me also tell you about FanDuel and fandel is the best they are America's number one sports book you've heard us talk about them a lot well we've got a little something different for you right now with football season beginning now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and what'll happen is you'll get a three- week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV then with a YouTube TV base plan you're going to be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out of Market game it's a great time for that fantasy team you probably got to keep an eye on maybe you like a team that's out of market and you haven't been able to watch them all you need is a Google account and a current form of payment and you can cancel any time and if that's not enough well be sure to check out fandel profit boost in the app and use it for FanDuel double your winnings for all of Sunday 9:15 this coming Sundays pregame moneyline bets birds are off Sunday you're just going to be hanging around watching football go ahead and take advantage of it profit boost will be live starting Thursday 912 view your account page now to learn more about your Boost and check out FanDuel America's number one sports book all right it's standings time we'd like to do these little check-ins on the Major League Baseball standings in General on off days now is a perfect time to do that because the Phillies are on an off day now just taking a look at their schedule the rest of the uh the way real quick they're off today preparing for a three- game series with the Mets next week they play every day uh the week after that the final week of the season they have Thursday off so they only have after today one more off day for the remainder of the season do you see why it's so important that they find their way to buy with Kyle schwarber JT rudo Alec BM edmundo Sosa Austin Hayes all currently banged up yeah it's going to be pretty important for them to get the rest that they can get and we'll talk about quenching scenarios in the final segment but they this is that shows you how close we are to this being done right one more off day the rest of the year that's the final stretch It's the final countdown is Europe what saying was that Europe I think so I think my band knowledge is solid anyway let's get to the standings instead of me rambling about rock bands from the 80s and 90s the Phillies still have the best record in baseball they're at 88 and 58 that's a game up on the Dodgers now technically two games because they have that tiebreaker over La due to winning five of the six games they face them in the regular season so you're in a good spot there uh that's a good sign the Phillies also are now tied for the highest run differential in all of baseball three teams at plus 124 the Phils the Yankees and those Milwaukee Brewers who we're going to talk about in a second but when you look at the Phils and the Dodgers that's a team that's going to have the only other shot to chase you down for the one overall right Milwaukee could catch the Phillies if the Phillies stumble but I don't think Milwaukee has a chance to do better than both the Phillies and the Dodgers like I think either philadelph felia or La is going to end up with the best record in baseball and the top seed in the National League I'm not too concerned about top seed I'm not I just want the first round bu because picking and choosing your opponent it doesn't work the same way in baseball all these teams have different skills and different deficiencies and I don't know people were asking me would you rather see the Padres or the Mets or the Diamondbacks or the Braves if they get in or like dude I I don't know man I really don't know last year the got knocked out by the Diamondbacks a couple years ago they took down the Cardinals and the Braves and the Padre like it I I just want the team playing hot and I want them to have as perfect of a path possible for where they're at healthwise right that to me seems the right way to approach this so one seed two seed either one of those I'm fine with if you start to play in the Wild Card round yeah that makes the road a lot tougher because then you can't get your rotations as set for the divisional series no I want them to I want them to get the Buy I want them to play in the divisional series first I don't care about the week off we'll talk about that in the second why that is in the final segment we'll talk about that but just looking around at the divisions in baseball just to give you a little bit of an overview the Yankees and Orioles are still kind of in a dead heat in the American League East one and a half games back Baltimore is of those Yanks uh Kansas City closing the Gap a little bit in the central uh they are four and a half games back of Cleveland they're probably the only team that can make noise in that division besides Cleveland the Seattle Mariners making a bit of a push three and a half games back at the Houston Astros who have been struggling lately so the American League is getting tight the national league is getting I guess the alternative would be looser but that sounds kind of wrong anyway the Phillies have an eight-game lead over the Mets in the NL East this division is over I'm not worried about it remotely I told you the Philadelphia Phillies they've got this unlocked they're not blowing an eight-game lead at this point it's just it's not happening they're playing good baseball they're going to get healthier they're not blowing an eight game lead so I feel confident to say the NL East will go to the Phillies what's interesting is the Mets are in second place the Braves are in third the Braves currently not in the playoffs with the season ended today could you imagine if Atlanta missed the playoffs after what they did the past couple of years wouldn't hate it um in the central Milwaukee is eight and a half games up on the Cubs Milwaukee is winning that division that one is also all wraps the question is will Milwaukee at 83 and 62 be able to make up the four and a half games that they have to on the Phillies to get to place where they get the first round by remember after you get done with the Mets you're heading up there to Milwaukee for a three- game series against the brw crew that's going to be a huge one you've got your best pitchers lined up for it but we'll discuss that when we get to that point and then in the NL West the Dodgers up five games on the Arizona Diamondbacks Diamondbacks Padres they're finding two of the final three Wild Card spots as it stands right now so three teams from the National League West could get in but I don't see either Arizona or San Diego tracking down La for that division title LA's just too good and they've got some winnable games I mean they will play the Braves coming up and they start a series against the Braves tomorrow night four games that's pretty darn big for both those teams because the Braves need those games to find a postseason birth the Dodgers need those games to try and track down the Phillies and close out their own Division if you're watching anything besides Phillies Mets if you're peeking over at stuff watch watch Dodgers Braves big- Time series out uh is it out west or is it in Atlanta no in Atlanta Big Time series in Atlanta um I guess the number one thing to think about with the standings is are the Philadelphia Phillies going to drop four and a half games in the standings to the Milwaukee Brewers over the remainder of the season the only way to do it would be to get smoked in that Series in Milwaukee and even if you win one of those games like if you just win one of those three because you swept the Brewers out of sions bank Park earlier this year you would get the season tiebreaker which means you add another game to the difference between you and Milwaukee a tie would lead to the Phillies being the higher seed which would be a one or a two seed at that point so I I don't know the Phillies are in amazing shape it turns out they were a good baseball team this whole time turns out everyone freaked out for nothing there's still a long way to go postseason totally different animal you still have to lock up seating I'm not guaranteeing that they're the one seed I'm not guaranteeing that they're two seed I think they're going to be a top two seed but it's not set in stone yet like I feel the division probably is uh but the standings all tell a good story for the Philadelphia Phillies and it shows you who they're going to be keeping an eye on as a National League playoff run wraps up over the next couple weeks but I got a question this morning again like some of the weird questions we get doing Sports Talk Radio or the weird questions we come up to or come up with doing Sports Talk Radio are the Philadelphia Phillies clinching too early might sound funny but I understand it I I don't buy it though and I'm going to tell you why coming up as we wrap up today's episode let's talk about tonal you try to get workouts in well for those of us who thrive on getting stuff done including workouts every moment counts that's why you need tonal the smart strength training system that takes the guesswork out of working out so you can make sure you're making the most of every rep when life gets busy fitting in a workout can be stressful and with tonal you can get efficient workouts personalized just for you you and are available with the amount of time you have so tonel is the world's smartest and most effective strength training system that helps get you stronger it's powered by AI so tonal learns with every rep so it can deliver workouts personalized just for you tonal learns from your movement and provides suggested weight recommendations for every move with detailed progress reports they even create personalized program and workout suggestions or recommendations based on your individual goals they got all of that stuff it's like having a personal trainer at home with you with total and unlike traditional Jim tonel uses adaptive digital weight to advance your training techniques the right way from professional athletes to the mama 3 Ton's trusted by thousands who have become the strongest version of themselves and right now tonal is offering our listeners $200 off your tonal purchase with promo code locked on MLB and that's tonal.com and use promo code locked on MLB for $200 off your purchase one more time tonal.com promo code locked on MLB for $200 off your purchase purchase all right so this question was once again posed by my wonderful cooworker JY Kate who does he comes up with amazing topics in questions sometimes I think they're crazy sometimes I think well that is crazy but I understand why you're asking it so let me explain why I think it's crazy and this was one of those moments this is always kind of a funny little conversation that pops up for great teams it's a good conversation to have because the norm means your team is in a really good spot the are they clinching too soon conversation and let me say first of all I get it we have seen in the past couple years in the postseason teams that get that top seed or the top two seeds and have that week off between the nlds and the end of the season while the Wild Card rounds are played come out flat right we've seen it with Atlanta we've seen it with the Dodgers we didn't see it with Houston on the other side of the bracket but we've seen it with a bunch of teams over the past couple years that are in those top two spots now it wouldn't be a bunch of teams it would be I guess four teams no eight teams with two on each side the sample size isn't huge which is part of the reason I don't worry about it but it's a fair concern right what if the Phillies clinch and their magic number like they knock down the NL East I told you if they win all three against the Mets this weekend it could be down to three they could clinch by I don't know what like Tuesday or Wednesday of next week and then you've got the rest of September to go and it might not feel like meaningful baseball now that's a pipe dream scenario because they're going to have to take care of business against the Mets but let's just say it happens right and they have all this time to spend where they're not playing Super competitive baseball games that matter well my initial argument is you're still going to be fighting for that one seed the Phillies are still going to want to have the best record in all of baseball they're going to want to have that top seed so that if the World Series occurs they're the home team if the National League Championship Series is them in La they're the home team they value their HomeField Advantage so I don't think that Rob Thompson is going to burn out people's arms or legs or bodies in general to fight the Dodgers for one final win when you could just be like the two seed and be fine like I don't think he's going to put guys at risk but I do think he's going to play that race out as well but let's say that one gets done with like a week left in the season are you going to take two weeks of non-competitive play that is John's concern and I think it's a valid one because I want this team to continue to play consistently good baseball so that they're firing on all cylinders when they get back on the field in October whenever that is and I imagine with where they're at right now it's going to be in the nlds after a week off but here's why I don't worry about it as much with this team because the Phillies are in a very unique situation when it comes to the way that players need to approach at bats think about well let's do this right here's what I'm going to read for you I'm going to read the lineup for yesterday's Philadelphia Phillies game the names that were in there and the reasons why the names were what they were because it was not exactly the most Stellar lineup Stott Turner Harper castanos Marsh okay all names you know right Weston Wilson Cody Clemens Johan roas Aramis Garcia like okay the bottom part of that lineup is were not going to be playing in the post Roos will but Weston Wilson Cody Clemens Garcia probably not playing in the postseason unless you need like an emergency pinch hitter and those guys are the ones that are available depending on what happens with edmundo s's injury and everything with his back spasms that he's currently uh dealing with right now but my point is this let's say the Phillies clinch Kyle schworer isn't playing baseball right now you think when he comes back like let's say he misses I don't think he's going to miss this much time but let's say he was missing another week something weird goes on with the elbow I think he should be back in the lineup tomorrow but something weird goes wrong with the elbow you think he comes back and sees the team clinch and say ah well I'm just gonna give up at bats for the rest of the year no he's gonna want to get back in the groove that he was in when he was mashing home runs every other at bat JT rido with the knee issue when he comes back he's gonna have to stretch that out he's going to have to get swings he's gonna have to see live pitching he's gonna have to be in a situation where his body feels good he's seeing pitches well he's going to have focus at bats uh I mean Austin Hayes with his kidney infection if he comes back before the end of the year that's a bit of a more tricky thing he's going to want to have at bats he's going to want to run down some balls in the Outfield he's going to want to be focused on building momentum towards the postseason I mean who am I missing Alec bow Alec bow needs to be red hot the postseason he's going to be a big part of this team being in the cleanup spot when he's healthy he cost the Phillies big time in the NLCS last year he's been a huge asset to them this year as an All-Star starter at third base do you think he's just gon to be okay with coming back and saying oh well we play the Nationals and we already clinched so I'm just going to give it bats away like no he's got to work back and Mundo Sosa's got to work back all of these guys that are currently out due to injury they don't care about not that they don't care about where the Phillies are at and the standings but clinching is not going to take them away from doing their business when it comes to preparing for the postseason I'm not saying it's a good thing these guys are hurt but I am saying that with them coming back and having to work through some stuff whether the team as a whole is taking these games with as much seriousness as they have with other games this year those guys will be fully focused on there at bats and that way they'll stay sharp it'll give them the ramp up time frankly I don't think they have enough ramp up time which is a different issue but that's why I don't really worry about it with this team because I believe the amount of guys they have coming back from injury over the next couple weeks will keep those guys focused we'll keep the team as a whole zoned in we'll keep them in a competitive atmosphere not to mention guys like Bryce har ER who hasn't hit a home run since 1973 he's going to be in a situation where he has to find that power somehow if they're going to find a way to be as good as they can be in the postseason he's G to be locked in on all his bats he may get a day or two but that doesn't mean that you're giving up those games it doesn't mean the guys are just giving away bats like some teams may have the luxury to do frankly the Phillies don't because of the guys on the injured list and them being dudes that you really need for the postseason so that's what I think it may sound like a silly question I don't think it's as silly as it sounds are they clinching too soon and then not playing competitive baseball for too long of a stretch they lose their Edge fair question those are the reasons why I don't believe it's a as valid of a concern for this team as it may be for other teams and I feel good about where the Philadelphia Phillies are at by the way the victory shirt just want to throw this in there red hot unbelievable appreciate everyone believing in it those that did those that didn't and didn't believe in the Phillies well you're going to learn next year or eventually because every year man it's just the same old thing tell you what's up with this team I wear the shirt it saves the season things happen it's not because of me but just people need to start listening a little bit better all right well thank you for listening to locked on Phil he's part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day now make your second listen locked on MLB locked on MLB podcast with Sully Paul Francis Sullivan it's awesome coverage baseball in general we did a little bit of that ourselves today with the off day but he's going to dive deeper into those storyline so check out the locked on MLB podcast available on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast also part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day as we are and please make sure you're raing reviewing and subscribing to the YouTube here for locked on Phillies that stuff really helps us out tomorrow we're previewing that huge series with the Mets in Analise Showdown it'll be a fun one I'll talk to you on the next episode of Locked on Phillies