bro listen never in my life Associated the word boring with baseball we know we know what's up me yeah famous yeah and I'm like giddy over there there smiling like holy I mean we're about to win this did everyone give you crap give me a good like host story you know I'm like I'm not picking it up we both love the game we talk about it every day baseball having some popcorn you're ping around your phone i' have to way in line for 3 hours like hang on cuz it's about to be a wild ride there's no human being on the planet I'd rather be talking to right now than c m fact fact how are you I'm doing well good good so you've been through septembers before you've been through all kinds of septembers right yes a bunch of different ones so we we just we just actually I had um we were sitting here just over there with Andrew benintendi the white socks okay and I said Andrew like you have to understand when you made that catch in front of the standings to the scoreboard in 2018 the Orioles had like 48 wins yeah I mean it how long ago does that feel like for you I'd say It's a combination of both like it feels like it's way behind us in history and you know there are times throughout a season where we have to go back to those days and understand we're in a really good spot how so what advice is when you're young and you're you're going through something like that is there any advice you can give anybody in terms of Hey listen better times are ahead like they say better times are ahead yeah there's there's a a certain type of commitment that you need to have to to truly know that better times are ahead you know in the midst of that season you know um one of my better years you know it's just one of those weird things where as a team we couldn't really put it all together but there were a lot of individual performances that kind of showed that there were better times coming I think that's a testament to you though like the fact is you you're a young player you're having a good year and and it's hard to show up at the park man like yeah I was told you want to win yeah yeah I was told by a lot of guys on opposing teams that what I was doing was special you know to be able to go out there continue to stay locked in continue to perform well for the team in the midst of the struggle uh you know like you said Testament to me and just you know what I was bringing to the table back back in those days what give me give me a good lesson give me a good like something somebody told you let's see I was talking to I was talking to Altuve actually we were playing the Astros and we actually play them really well every time even when we weren't that good uh and I was on second base I think I hit a double or stole second and he literally told me he was like hey what you're doing is really hard to do you know to to perform the way you're performing on a team that's not really winning that many games you know keep at it good things are going to come with that he did it I mean he he went through it right yeah yeah he went through something similar to it to him about that we're in the M of a game so it's tough to you know I didn't know you loop back and say Hey listen hey I want to follow up on this conversation n i just uh I took his word for it you know just uh continued to really stay focused on you know what I could contribute and the rest kind of followed okay so this is this I love this conversation because you've gone through the tough times when did what do you remember about when did you remember it's starting to turn like and we can say again the promise is the promise oh no no no no no we got all these guys coming up Cedric like it's going to be okay but when did you actually feel like okay legit I mean you can tell now yeah I'm be honest uh in 2022 we had a pretty quick turnaround um that was ER adley guy called up you know he was a huge difference maker for us you know just uh brought a different life a different energy to Baltimore you know credit to him he was performing under a lot of pressure did you realize that that that was going to take like it did um I knew that he was going to have to go through his adjustments uh especially early you know he went through his struggles but there were clear signs that he had what it takes to be a successful big leager and like I said I think we finished did we finish above 500 you fin well you had a great SE close yeah yeah we were really close if not finishing above 500 and that right there was a huge Turning Point by itself and then 2023 was the year what it was but the thing is so I've seen teams that are like you have good septembers right it's like okay and then you picked and it sometimes it doesn't carry over I don't know when you show up to spring training like okay let's go like let go we can hang with the big boys and when I say hang with the big boys like that's just the reality of it right yeah yeah I'd say um I think a lot of guys approach to spring training is improving themselves to help the team you know if you can if you can improve yourself throughout a full 162 that's going to be uh better for the team itself and then you and when you have a full roster of guys that are self-improved you're 100% going and everyone came self-improved that everyone came self improved really so it wasn't just like we were good in 2008 we won the September 2022 World Championship yeah it takes a lot of guys uh figuring out adjustments they need to make and executing them so you get into that year 2023 is it right away I mean was it you know was it like again again like you I remember so that year actually I get my years Tempa that was year they started like 10 and0 or something right right yeah something like that yeah yeah but but that's the point it's like they knew when you win that much early you feel pretty good about yeah that's that's a heck of a head start I think they literally went like 15 and0 start the season it was um but we knew we were playing good ball and like you said it didn't feel immediate but we kept chipping away at it and we were finding ways to win I think that was our identity that year finding ways to win we had a lot of trail from behind victories um that's another thing too a lot of guys dogging out at bests for sure yeah and so you want to scream from the mountain tops hey everybody we're for real believe me you probably want to screen that for like 2018 uh but but you know but when you know when people have been sort of it took you know when you have a fan base it's sort of been beaten let beaten down a little bit you know it's like hey I mean you probably want to say hey everybody come on we're good I think uh I think the fan base is proud of us in terms of how quickly we made this turnaround I didn't I don't know if people expected this to be as snap of the finger as it was from going from 21 to 22 and having that much significant uh Improvement and then 23 literally following that doing even better so um you know it's it's that two-way streak you know we appreciate the fans very much for supporting us even during the tough times you know it's it is a waiting game at that point but once we started to show that Improvement they really showed out yeah when did that so I asked you like when you felt it about for the team when did you feel for the fan base we started to have some really big crowds come out outside of just the giveway days bobblehead outside of the bobblehead nights and and that was that was huge for us you know we we got to experience um like I'd say it to an extent playoff atmospheres like we got to experience every hit makes a difference every play makes a difference and to feel that energy we feed off of that energy 100% had do you had you felt that way there were moments where I felt that way even in 2021 you know like again it was a big year for me um I remember specifically I had I had my first t-shirt night and oh t-shirt night in Baltimore in 2021 and I had a showing I hit two home runs that day uh we won the game great crowd that that was a different feeling for me and that carried over for the past couple years t-shirt have had you ever know I mean t-shirt Nights T-shirt I said this Joe Kelly who owed LLC to this B this uh pun bobblehead this podcast okay he's had bobblehead nights but once you have a t-shirt night that's next level that's next uh literally rounding the bases the second time I noticed everyone twirling their t-shirt in the air and again that was just a sick view it was awesome that's I mean who when you were like 10-year-old Cedric Mullins to say like I had I'm going to have a t-shirt night that's pretty cool yeah I definitely did not expect you know 10-year-old me to see that coming in the future it's cool did you ever when you were a kid did you ever go to like did you who was your guy yeah so I enjoyed watching the Braves growing up and Andrew Jones was my favorite player so he Sweet Spot yeah he it was unbelievable watching him out there in center field and uh you know got got my bobble head or two on occasion and you know just again it just grew the Love of the Game for me that's The Sweet Spot of the Braves where you were growing up though right oh yeah oh my goodness that's awesome so anyway so you go to the the fan base comes in and now you're you're in and now you have have like the people spraying people with hoses and you know which is cool like this and you guys have the things in The Dugout and everything else I'm I'm just going to keep it is such an awesome story for you to go through it too like you should be I am like holding you up because I'm like this is like this is this is the lesson that you know you have to persevere personally as a team and everything I'm I'm building you up I know but it's like what a journey man yeah every time I have a moment to kind of reflect and think back on just kind of just how my career has gone so far it's it's definitely something to smile about I I get excited about what I've done and I get excited about what I you know want to do in the future too it must be so much easier to come to the park though you're winning right oh 100% you know it's it's easier to come to the park it's tough to come back after a loss is it yeah because we our expectations are high so you know Finding ways to come out with a win as that's when you know that you're good when you're losing when losing hurts more than celebrating winning does that I totally bodged that but you yeah I tell guys all the time I was like you know some guys get really hurt after a loss and I tell them I was like you don't know what losing is oh really they don't know what losing is you know some of the younger guys and was like we'll be all right he was like come at him tomorrow fresh mindset knock it out I mean that's I mean that's the tough part right as a baseball player it's such a long season and you see probably guys wear it and like listen dude to wear it over 100 times you know yeah I mean so and then the other part about this this story is you know this past off season where you have new ownership right and so so take me through where you it was I think it was backtack days right you get an ownership and then you make the Corbin Burns trade right yeah it was pretty quick where were you when all this I was actually when the when the new ownership had taken place I was at the house uh um news feeds coming through do you know what's coming do you have any idea um I knew there was talks about it for a while um you just never know when that's going to break through uh you know when it finally did I was more interested to see what the fan base was thinking of it you know uh the excitement was definitely brewing and then the burns trade following that I was actually in Baltimore when the burns trade happened so it was it was cool like I was uh at a sign interacting with fans you did you find out during the signing I found out right before we started actually so did you really I found out right before we started the must have been never been uh you know that that entire engagement was cool it was fun cuz again you know we're bringing in someone that has proven history of success wants to win is ready to come in and you know be a part of the culture that we uh kind of started over the past couple of years so it was he's been great but that's another thing you're waiting like you're you're waiting for that next L Evolution right we're like okay you know we got good young Talent we've evolved but we want to you have to commit like we we want to commit we want to be like in the again the big boys but that was a to me anyway that was the difference that was when they saying let's go yeah no I I agree um there's a lot of anticipation of what was that going to look like and when they announced that trade um it was huge I was like yeah like it's showing not only had a your step walking out of that it was awesome it was awesome you know it it showed everybody that we're going for it you know it's uh when you when you can look past the business side of things and you see the the true effort from the front office to hey we're trying to put a winning team out there to go get the get the World Series and good it's it was an awesome experience all right I want to talk about you congratulations you're like you're fun to watch yeah you are man like it's it's so it's how much better a player you go you talk about before but everybody evolves how much better a player are you this say than when we're looking at the standings uh and you're having a good year but your team isn't doing how much better a player are you you feel like yeah I think uh just being able to work through the ups and downs of a season has made me a player in general made it's made me more mature in the game uh understanding that you know as long as I commit to the process of what a full season brings I'm going to look up and I'm going to have a good season at the end of the year it's um there's a lot of challenges that come with that of course you know there's outside pressures there's you know your family wants you to do well so they're hitting you up all the time trying to figure out what's wrong and there's not much you can say you just know you know physically mentally you know where you are trying to get to and it's a matter of finding the steps to get there but you probably can handle like the family a little bit more yeah I've I've gotten a lot better at handling the family texts um I know it's all out of love you know that's I think that's what is the most frustrating about it is you know they're trying to help sometimes it's out of their league and other times it's exactly what you want to hear it's just a matter of their consistency you know at some point it's going to click did you get MVP votes you've got an MVP vot I've got an MV people okay what what was your highest finish what was it uh so that 2021 season 9 okay Co rations thank you um so I want to ask you not American League this is we've been asking people this Lor versus Otani right yeah you don't have to I mean if you don't feel comfortable picking this up to you but but I want to get your perspective of having I've never had been in the top 10 of MVP voting you have I have voted for MVP I probably voted for you I think I did vot for you I did vote for you for for MVP votes um so just give me your perspective on that cuz I think it's an interesting one because it's obviously DH versus position play yeah there's there's a lot of caveats that go into just winning MVP period um I haven't taken as full a dive into their numbers as I would need to make a full assessment on it but off the rip you know just from as an end of season standpoint Otani If he if he hits that 50/50 Mark that's tough man it's kind of like it's kind of like aone with a seven right yeah it's just it's never been done like how how does a guy that's done something that's never been done not win MVP it's just a very hard argument to make that's a good one all right last thing is we we've been asking people these two stupid questions Hot or Not Another good or bad okay candy corn I'm on the knot side it's it's never been something I've liked period And as far as I know people around me didn't like it either so I don't know who's hot on it that's totally on them all right I'm not going to judge nobody for liking what they like all right math cuz we're we're starting school I'm I'm great at math are you so I'm I'm hot on that yeah I I feel like that maybe like the math thing I'm going to get a lot of like because especially in baseball people like math but you know like there's always one subject you're like why am I taking this it used to be math math was you yeah math for me I enjoyed math I did that was that was my bread and butter honestly the highest I guess I don't know what levels per se they equate to but I took calculus in high school so I was pretty good that calculus was not easy it with my butt but still took it found a way to pass um I don't if I took it again probably do better but see I asked the wrong guy that question but I asked the the right you're the right guy for everything thank you man I appreciate it thank you