Gold Glove/Silver Slugger awards, a chaotic Game 5 to close the season, the long-awaited parade, and Asians in Free Agency

WHAT. A. SERIES. We’ve got you covered on Games 1-4 fashion, Naomi’s trip to the fall classic, Yamamoto’s debut, Ohtani’s injury, Tommy’s clutch hits, and the Anthony Volpe Slam Heard ‘Round The World. Were our Game 5 predictions right?? Listen now to find out!

Prociety 다저스 hat pre-order: https://procietyshop.com/collections/pre-order-dodgers-korea-script

Prociety interview: https://abc7.com/post/la-hat-shop-prociety-drops-exclusive-korean-dodger-caps-owner-says-tommy-edman-wining-nlcs-mvp-was-proud-moment-koreans/15482179/

This is an EXTRA beefy episode, so let's get right into it!

First, a moment for the passing of Dodger Legend, Fernando Valenzuela. Thank you for all your contributions.

Then, a Championship Series recap: Steven Kwan and Anthony Volpe both fight for their teams to make it to the final round, an extra special extra long segment about Yoshinobu Yamamoto's luxury handbags, all love for Sean Manaea's best year yet, and Tommy Edman becomes the first Asian NLCS MVP in MLB history!

Finally, World Series predictions, anyone??

Steven Kwan's ode to the Postseason: https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/steven-kwan-mlb-cleveland-guardians-baseball

Kwan's postgame interview: https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/steven-kwan-gets-honest-about-playoff-loss-to-yankees/ar-AA1sBA8Q

Sean Manaea's postgame interview: https://sny.tv/articles/sean-manaea-would-love-to-be-back-mets-next-season

Two weeks into the postseason, and the players have come to PLAY. Well…almost.

First up, we celebrate the Gold Glove nominations of Anthony Volpe and Steven Kwan!

Then, into the ALDS - Volpe finds himself in the middle of some Yankees-Royals postseason drama and Kwan hits a massive .524 and writes himself into the history books to help Cleveland advance.

Across the league, the NLDS was a pitching masterclass. Orion Kerkering has a solid postseason for the Phillies, Kodai Senga and Sean Manaea keep the Mets afloat, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Yu Darvish face off in a historic matchup.

Game 1 of the ALCS wasn’t much to write home about if you’re a position player, but the Guardians sacrifice Joey Cantillo to the Yankees’ Murderer’s Row and he pays the price.

In the NLCS, Kodai Senga struggles to get back into the swing of things but Sean Manaea stays cool, calm, and consistent in Game 2, and Ohtani is slumping at the exact wrong time but his teammate Tommy Edman shows himself to be the BUNT KING.

Volpe’s great catch: https://www.mlb.com/yankees/video/vinnie-pasquantino-lines-out-softly-to-shortstop-anthony-volpe

Volpe’s double play: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5835577/2024/10/10/yankees-royals-benches-clear-alds-game-4/

1977 ALCS: https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/yankees-jazz-chisholm-accuses-royals-maikel-garcia-of-trying-to-hurt-anthony-volpe-on-slide-sore-loser/

Andy McCullough article: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5838152/2024/10/12/dodgers-yoshinobu-yamamoto-padres/

Dylan Hernandez article: https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2024-10-15/shohei-ohtani-dodgers-nlcs-game-2-struggles

WOWOWOW. This Postseason is bringing the DRAMA!

First, the end of an era as the legend Choo Shin Soo retires after 18 seasons of pro ball, and Shota Imanaga’s interpreter Edwin Stanberry gets high praise.

Let’s get into the Wild Card: in the AL, Detroit leaves Kenta Maeda off the roster, Yusei Kikuchi never makes it to his start and will likely be released into free agency, and Tommy Pham is ever the postseason professional.

The NL Wild Card brought Sean Manaea’s first start of the postseason, the Asianless Brewers are eliminated, and Kyle Higashioka impresses big stars.

Now onto the ALDS: Steven Kwan has a big - if controversial - catch in game 2, Anthony Volpe has an impressive at bat but a costly error, and Kenta Maeda STILL hasn’t made the roster.

It’s the NLDS where things really start getting nuts: the Mets bring Kodai Senga back after only 5IP in the regular season, Sean Manaea dedicates his lights-out performance to his aunt, and the series with the most Asians - SD vs. LA - is getting HAIRY.

Steven Kwan’s big catch: https://www.mlb.com/video/steven-kwans-incredible-diving-catch

It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for…postseason baseball has arrived!!

First up, we talk Asians in the Wild Card, our friend Atsuko threw out the first pitch at the Cubs game, and Farhan Zaidi is fired by the Giants, leaving ZERO (0) Asian GMs in baseball.

Position players bring much administrative news this week: Rob Refsnyder does not want to retire after this season (bless!), Masataka Yoshida and Kim Ha Seong struggle with shoulder surgery woes, and Isiah Kiner Falefa sacrifices his bonus for his younger teammates to get playing time.

Over in pitching, Yusei Kikuchi reaches 200 Ks and has a red ass (?!?!?!), Yu Darvish is announced as a relief pitcher in the Wild Card, Kumar Rocker shows potential in his final game of the season, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto prepares for his first MLB playoff run.

In Ohtani news, can this man give us a break?!?! We run through his list of records of the week and chat a little Decoy, of course.

And finally, the Asians in Baseball postseason predictions! Will the Dodgers flame out yet again? Will Yu Darvish get the respect he deserves? Will any Asians make it to the World Series?!?!

All-MLB voting is LIVE: https://www.mlb.com/all-mlb/ballot

WTF is “red ass”???: https://tinyurl.com/vxk7dptr

Back from our week off, did we miss anything??

As you might have expected, we have a BEEFY episode this week, so let’s get into it!

It was Team Ichiro vs the High School Girls All Stars in the annual exhibition at the Tokyo Dome to promote high school girls baseball, and the former pros pulled NO punches!! Then, we must discuss the epic Cubs and Dodgers matchup that saw Imanaga face Yamamoto fresh off the IL, where all of our guys came ready to play (except Ohtani…)!

In position player news, Rob Refsnyder and Bo Bichette sadly close the season on the IL, Steven Kwan is activated just in time for the playoffs (and keep voting for him for the Roberto Clemente Award through Sunday 9/29!), and Seiya Suzuki is locked into his new role as the everyday DH.

And our pitchers continue to impress! Kumar Rocker has an incredible major league debut, Yu Darvish reaches yet another milestone with 2k SO, Yusei Kikuchi is undefeated as an Astro, Sean Manaea gets another W but Orion Kerkering takes the L, and will these journalists ever learn how to not disrespect our guys when trying to write positive articles about them?!

Lastly, what more could possibly be said about Ohtani? Uh, A LOT! Buckle up because we go through his historic game where he establishes the 50/50 club, the dizzying and strange ways he continues to be pitted against Aaron Judge for an award they can both win, and, as usual, people’s racism is showing!

First, a moment for James Earl Jones and his contributions to the on-screen world of baseball. Thank you, James.

To kick off this week, we give our predictions in the return of Yoshinobu Yamamoto after his stint on the IL…facing off against Shota Imanaga no less!

In position player news, Tommy Pham smacks his first homer and brings experience to the young Royals clubhouse, Rob Refsnyder follows in Travis d’Arnaud’s footsteps, Bo Bichette shares his priority for free agency, and Steven Kwan is the Guardians Roberto Clemente Award nominee.

In pitcher news, Kumar Rocker is set to make his major league debut on Thursday, Shota Imanaga leads Cubs pitching to a combined no-no, Joey Cantillo takes a perfecto into the 7th, Shintaro Fujinami is lights out in triple A, and Sean Manaea is just a regular guy…who happens to be really really really good at pitching.

And Ohtani continues to make history, barreling toward 50/50! We discuss the ever-heated MVP race - can’t we just celebrate everyone’s wins?!

Vote here for Steven Kwan to win the Roberto Clemente Award: https://www.mlb.com/community/roberto-clemente-award#vote

Article about Bryan Woo: https://www.mlb.com/news/mariners-split-series-with-a-s?partnerID=mlbapp-iOS_article-share

Article about Sean Manaea: https://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/mets/mets-sean-manaea-stj8n1l9