A's Cast - A's Talk - September 27

0:00Every game day you show up for your team. Now it's your time. We go, we go, we go, we go. Ask your prescriber about Wigovie, some Maglatide Injection 2.4 milligrams, a GLP 1. Call 1-8-3-3-4 Wigovie or visit Wigovie.com to view the Medication Guide and to learn more about Wigovie. Why wait? We go, we go. It's time to hear from you, the fans from road trippers. It's a strike, it's a ball, same location, different call. Yeah. To fanatics. It's not a country club. And the rest. I'm so fired up up confused. This is A's talk. You know what's in there from my heart, take. Go ahead, Michael, what's your heart, take. Here's your host. He's like the kid. Why can't I be a part of it? Can I play in the game? Michael Barrabal. The curtain has come down on the 2026 season of Athletics

1:04Baseball. And we want to hear from you, the fans. This is the show for the fans, A's talk. And of course, you can reach us at 833-625-2278. We'll take your calls. We'll recap the season. We'll highlight some of our favorite moments. And do this one last time. Game 162-8. What a way to end it. A very unceremonious end. But you know, we were just talking during the break. It kind of sums up the season, doesn't it? Yeah, I mean, they weren't getting blown out that much towards the end. But yeah, I mean, you're down to your fifth stringers, essentially. So it's, I mean, it is what it is. Yeah, no doubt. I mean, you had the walks and obviously the pitching and the amount of time, Togin Harris and Luis Medina were used to caught up to him as they were essentially

2:04unavailable for the last two games. But when you look at this season, you know, I was thinking about this walking back up from Marquatze Postgame Pressor. Obviously, the expectations were not reached. But when you look at some of the diamonds you found, it doesn't completely erase what happened this season. But it does give you some hope. And that's what we're all looking for. That's what we're all going to look for, hopefully, in February, when pictures and catch report. That's the unique thing about baseball. There's hope every single year. The Rockies are going to have hope. Every team is the angels, they're going to have hope.

3:06We're going to have hope. That's the beauty of baseball. And you look at some of the great stories that the Ace found here in 2026. Really a lot of these were unexpected. Luis Medina, we weren't sure how he was going to respond after Tommy John surgery. We weren't sure what his role was going to be. Was he going to come back as you know, eventually join the starting rotation? Was he going to potentially be in line to be the closer? How is he going to stay healthy for a full season? All these were questions about Medina. He answered them all and had a heck of a season. Zach go off has battled injury after injury and really struggled over the 24 and 25 seasons. I mentioned his strikeout rate last year and just 92 at bat. He struck out 46 times.

4:08Good stay on the field, started the year in AAA. Jeff McNeil was brought in because there was really a lack of faith in Zach go off. Well, he earned that trust back with what he did this year. Showing his versatility, his athleticism, his power. Is a great ambassador for this organization. I mean, we were watching as the Ace walked off the field to the clubhouse that he was signing autographs and waving to the fans among other players. But you just knew Zach go off was going to do that because that's the person he is. And for him to have a comeback season like he has and had, you are now back on the Zach go off train. And he has re-earned the trust of this organization. Mark Cazze said, I believe yesterday, he's likely going to be the third baseman going into spring training next year. And he earned it and give him a lot of credit. Because again, a lot of question marks surrounding Zach go off.

5:08Didn't make the roster out of opening day. Came up was great. Had that great hitting streak before it was ended prematurely in San Francisco. And ended up finishing up the season on a real high note. Henry Bolte, we weren't sure we were going to see him. Had that amazing run in AAA. And came in, got off to a really nice start, had some trouble in July, really struggled. And what did he do? He adjusted to the league and not only solidified center field. I know we talked about this last night. He solidified being the lead off hitter for this franchise for a long time to come. And you look at how he matured. You look at his at bat. You've got how much better he got center field. He also has proven to you he can play left and right field

6:10when you need to. You look at what he's done to improve his stock and improve the trust the organization has in him. And I could go on and on. Lawrence Butler's turn around. The second half of the season, Towning and Sacks are just talking about it. We've talked about it. Calling himself out. Really at the end of July. And there was people, well, I was Lawrence Butler doing it. He said under 200. Well, no, to our knowledge, no one else did. He did and put all that pressure on himself and finished with a really ended up for how it started with him. You talk about him getting picked off all the time, struggled in right field. For what he started with, he ended up having a pretty good year when it's all said and done. I get expectations were higher and understandably so for Butler. But again, from where he started to now, you have to be pleased with how we finish. And now your hope with him is to do that over the course of 162

7:14next year, hopefully. Do it over a full season. No sluggish start. I know a lot of that had to do with him coming off the injury and the surgery and not having a ton of spring training reps. But you look at again, him really starting to find his groove. You saw that swagger come back. You saw him have a lot of clutch at bad to come up with clutch hits. He had the walkoff home run last homestan against Seattle. Almost walked off a roll to Chapman again when the red socks are here shortly after that team meeting. So give him a lot of credit. Really, you really have to. We saw JT again emerge. And what his potential looks like going in the next year. You saw flashes of Jacob Lopez. You saw flashes of gauge jump. And now it's just putting all of these guys, all of these things together. And of course, changes inevitable.

8:16There's going to be a new head of baseball operations. The landscape of the sport is going to be dramatically different. It looks like. This organization is going to look different. The philosophy is going to be different. And like I said, changes inevitable, change is hard. But change can also be a good thing. And so when you look at the overall landscape of the 2026 A's, the expectations were not met. Really weren't even close to being met. And injuries had a lot to do with it. We know that. But at the same time, a lot was learned. We found some diamonds, Alika Williams. I didn't even mention him. And Donovan Walton. How they stepped up. Alika Williams earning himself essentially a spot. On next year's roster going into spring training. Donovan Walton, I think is going to be heavily considered as well.

9:17So when a lost season, you had a lot of really good nuggets to talk about. And Nate, I don't know where you thought, I know I kind of went everywhere, Nate. Where, you know, what stands out to you? What was kind of your favorite story this season? But obviously, finding out about Bolte and the Gell-Ofts' resurgence. What was the favorite for you? Well, I hate to just go here immediately, but you got to get it out of the way. It's just, yeah, there were too many downs. And I mean, low points. And I mean, Towney just mentioned it on NBC, ACE CAS. But this team was on the way down before the injuries hit outside of Brent Rucker. And I do think that that wasn't a devastating blow, like Langa Lears or Kurtz would have been early on. I think just a huge disappointment, really.

10:18I mean, all over the field, I'm mostly pitching. And that was expected. You thought the offense would be able to make up for the lack of pitching. But outside of that, so that's kind of the spiel on disappointment. There was a lot of disappointment all over the place. What I was impressed with, probably the most this whole year, was the bullpen was horrific. And then all of a sudden, not all of a sudden, but you know, emo goes and then hubs, new guys start to come in and there's a regime change in the personnel. And they kind of turned it around a bit for the ACE. And that was really nice to see. And obviously seeing the young guys at bat, all the position players, I think Volta is probably the brightest spot. I think Lawrence Butler's turnaround was huge. But it's just such a lost season.

11:18And I think probably one of the most forgettable seasons the ACE will ever have, hopefully, just because of the scenarios that it's the middle season in Sacramento, which will be pretty like, OK, whatever. It's, you know, they were awful. The division, I think what makes it memorable is the mediocrity, like the Astra's winning. I think that's kind of the big thing winning at it with a 500 record. But I don't know. I guess you really got to be excited about Volta. That's that's what you got to be excited about as my plane lands. I mean, just keep going. You asked me, I saw you taking off your headset. I thought I was supposed to fill here. What do you want for me? I see you. What do you want? I could just go. Blah blah blah blah blah. Oh my god. And Henry Bolte and on and on and on and on. Henry Bolte, the last season. Hi Nate. Hey, Tony. Great to hear from you. I just want to say it's very obvious. I think if we go back to when we were younger, and remember when you throw a party,

12:23and it was only your really good friends would be there at the end to help you clean up. If you ever threw like a big party in college or when you're a young adult, because the people who really weren't your friends, they're out of there, right? Once, once the cakes are empty, and the good looking people have left, your buddies are gone, right? But your close buddies, the people that love you, they stick around to help you clean up. So are you implying that you're a good person? As I'm looking around at the three of us, you start to see in the end. You know, I don't see any. You see any other broadcasters around here? You see anybody else? Yeah. I see Raymond, my man. And Karate Kid Ray, by think he has to be here. We're, we're here for each other. Just remember this in this moment, who your true friends are, just like back in the day, who is helping you clean up at the end of the party. All right, coward. Is that a calling coward moment?

13:25But you're the only one who's left to him, so you want, yeah, yeah, Cody's gone. Are you getting me? Cody's already in back in San Jose. I mean, Delayers halfway home. Chris Kerry, Chris Kerry came down and like hugged us and he's been gone for a while. I mean, seriously, you see Johnny can, you know, Braden, they're all gone. Jack and Billy Shelley Shelley's gone. She was out of here. She's out of her. She didn't need to stay for the ninth inning. The third inning she was, she was home. God, the way you were explaining that Nate for, for, because I was trying to stay with you that whole time, you're gone. Um, kind of imagine like you're, uh, you're, you're, Cali, like you're sophomore, you're a high school. Yeah. You know, if you went to a four year school, um, you know, you come in as a freshman, you're, you know, you're kind of trying to fit in and like you think about your junior and senior, your sophomore years, kind of that, that, eh, here, this was kind of like your sophomore. So I'm, yeah, this was literally, there's sophomore year here in sack.

14:28So that, that's a pretty good analogy. But they're going to graduate early. Yeah. They're going to get, they're getting out. Or we're getting in IL money. We're getting out of here early somehow. Well, in that, you know, a great point because it is really, easy when you were, it's really easy when no games have been lost. No money has been lost for people to be this big bravado that I hear all the time. We're probably going to lose the season. Of course you talk tough before you actually have to really negotiate. Remember the collective bargaining agreement doesn't end till December 1st, correct? So right now we have an agreement for the next couple of months. So while there is an agreement and we have, we have, we have, we haven't even hit winter. We still got to get through the playoffs in the world series. Everybody can talk tough. But no one's lost one game yet. No one's lost one dollar. There's television contracts or all kinds of things that are out there that the owners

15:32don't want to lose. The players don't want to lose, but they don't have to, they don't have to come together in any way right now. They can sit on both their sides and talk a big game. Why? Because the fight really hasn't begun. This is like when you think about like, you know, boxing or MMA, when, when you're having the, the pre-fight press conference and both fighters are talking a big game, that's where we are. And then as Mike Tyson always says, everybody's got a game plan until you get punched in the face. No one's been punched in the face yet, but it's coming. And one of the great, and that's why we're very lucky with the relationships that we've built with the other teams broadcasters. Like we love like we're just seeing Sparks, see Jeff Blum, World Series hero, great Cal Bear, just saying goodbye to them on the way out. But Mark Kubazah, who, I mean, these, the guys in our division have helped us really build a gas because we started this thing from nothing, right? So they would come on, they gave us credibility.

16:32And it was Mark Kubazah, who said, you know what? No one's talking about the Padres new owners, spent almost four billion. Cronky, Stan Cronky just bought the angels for four billion. Guys are not buying in for four billion and are going to be cool with just losing an entire season and screwing up your future revenues because what happens is, is once we start having to renegotiate television contracts and the streaming contracts, if you don't have numbers, you don't have great leverage to negotiate. So let alone ticket losses and all that kind of stuff. There's potential huge losses going forward. The athletic had that article talking about how, if you only play XM, if you miss X amount of games, you're guaranteed the contract you have now with some television stuff and the owners don't want that. So can we all just slow down on the doom and gloom of the game forever? Once again, no one's been punched in the face yet, but they will be,

17:35and once you start getting punched in the face, you know, I can. And who knows? I mean, with where, where things work today, if you start having a long labor stoppage, there will be politicians that get involved. There will be a lot of people who get involved. So let everybody talk now. Let's just wait and see on the doom and gloom. We may be here. You never know game one. And we're back here. Actually, we start on the road, don't we? In Pittsburgh game, we're talking about, okay? Pittsburgh opening day. Actually, I believe the first road trips, Pittsburgh in New York. When would we be back here? I believe the first week of April is, I believe we'll have the white socks and cubs in town. We're going back to back Chicago to start the season. Nothing says a's baseball and West Sacramento like white socks and cubs. All right. Hey, both are in the playoffs. Three, we have a three city road trip.

18:36We have we're starting three cities again on the road. Three at Pittsburgh, three against the Yankees and four against the Rangers. And then we're back on the fifth three of the cubs through the white socks. All right. Bring it on. I'm excited. I am too. Well, I wanted, you know, on the TV, and I know everything's about being positive, but I do want some reality here, right? I mean, we can, we can say all we want that we had guys hurt, but we started losing with those guys that were not hurt yet, right? And we saw a ball club lose 20 at 21 the year before. And now we saw this ball club lose 17 of 20 with most of those guys not hurt. So I know I went to journalism school, don't allow facts to get in the way of a good story, but the story has always been lately that we had guys injured and what could have been.

19:39There's a lot of things that need to be fixed and the only way you fix them if you're realistic. And there's been people who floated to me around here that there's that there's been, no, we're not that far away. If you don't think we're far away, then you don't know what you're looking at. You need it. You want to be honest, it's hard to win. It is hard to win games with its baseball, its football, its basketball. It is hard to win at the highest level. And if you want honest with yourself and your business and our businesses baseball, if you're not honest with your roster and your depth and your 40 man, then, you know, some teams fall into long ruts and you hear people talk about stuff like, oh, we're not that far away. We are far away. You know why? Because this team hasn't won anything. And if you haven't won anything, how would you know if you're far away or not? If you haven't won there, if you haven't been there. So we need to be real honest. And I'm, you know, happy we're going to get some new leadership from the baseball operational side. And hopefully we get some really smart people in here and get us. When he pitching, we need to be better.

20:40We got to have better pitching, captain obvious, but we have to do everything better. We've got to be a far better defensive team. Don't go on the airs. They don't give people airs anymore. You just start looking at the inner metrics or defense has to get better. Our base running has to get better. We've got to be a smarter ball club. And then we need all our boppers. And we need our, we need our best players to be able to play the season. But there's a lot of places. If we want to be who we want to be, and which I think by 2028 is a at least 90 win team and above where you're battling for the division, you're in the playoffs for sure. Places rocking in Vegas. That's who we need to be. And we got to be honest with ourselves. There needs to be a lot of change. Yeah, no doubt about it. It's something that we were talking about before we got for you guys came in. It's, you know, you found a lot of really cool stories within the season. But at the same time, yes, you have to realize that this team was really hovering around 500. And then the trains start to fall off the tracks around what say late June, maybe shortly after Las Vegas.

21:44That trip is pretty much right after Las Vegas, you know, that obviously you saw the injuries. You saw them go down one by one. And look, it's going to be a huge, huge offseason. The sport, it's going to look dramatically different. It's looking like, but also our organization is going to look dramatically different or division. So we've had three guys who are heads of baseball operations. They all had different titles who are no longer with their team. So we are in, I mean, kind of unprecedented that our division had three heads shown the door. And one of them won the division still. And you got a new owner coming in the division. Mariners are firing Dan Wilson, a spot of this guy sounds like he's already there. He's already told him no matter what happens. He's out. So we're going to have different managers. We're going to have different GMs or heads of state. We got a new owner. Our division is going to be dramatically different next year, just the whole look of it.

22:45Nate, are you okay? Did something happen at the end of the game, Nate? We see you go and play in one in from like 50 yards out. There's a four rock. Pretty. How much time is left? 140 in the game. Yeah. That's how long our game went. Was it over three hours? Yes. Three or four today, of course. All these all these. It's on. You know, Sunday, get away. They're always. They're always long games. Nice. Seriously, how long are you guys going? Those long as we got jammed. Okay. I'll keep you all night. Yeah, you know, you need to get to the phone line. So this is just a drive by for me once again, because I said this the other night and it was late. So obviously this is a different audience. I want everybody out there. And if there's people who work for the A's, because this is the type of show, just a little wink, wink. This is the type of show they listen to. So just make sure you keep it cool. But this is the type of show leadership listens to. So I want them to hear this too. What these two guys did this season, taking over this show, which is a very popular show,

23:48whether people listen to it live, there's a lot of people who download it and they listen to it the next day. They took over a show and it's not easy to take phone calls. And especially when I've talked about Michael, this was Michael's first real time, big time opportunity to be a host. And this is your first time to really be talent. Nate's no talent. This was your first time as talent. That's when he know he's so into the Niner game. He has no. I mean, I'm not talent. I've never done that. I'm a butter presser. Brock, Brock, Bernie, Brock, Bernie. No, but what both you guys, what you have done in a season like this, it's really hard. Losing is hard. And day after day after day, trying to figure out how to be interesting, how to be funny, how to be entertaining, how to be critical, how to not be too overly critical.

24:50Because yes, no matter how bad you are, players, coaches, managers, GMs, front office people, they're sensitive. And he can be like, your record is what your record is, but they're sensitive. So there's a fine line with a lot of things that you have to deal with. And I just wanted to commend both you guys and what you've done. And helping the future of this show go forward. I think both of you have done a wonderful job. And I think, Michael, what you've done in your first year of learning how to be a radio talent, how to deal with the callers, how to ride the ups and the downs in a year. I mean, we should not have another year like this. So everything for the next few years, not going to work. Should be really good. You guys will have a much better time. But I just want to tell you guys, you did an outstanding job. Nate, what you've meant, Nate, Nate really has been kind of a glue guy for us. Ever since we've moved here to Sacramento, it's been very important. What he's brought to us and stability.

25:51And his, you know, we didn't know that Nate was going to be good on the mic. We had no clue. And we just kind of figured out, oh, we got something special here. So Nate, obviously what you've done the last couple of years has been fantastic. But Michael, what you've grown into in just a year one, I'm really looking forward to watching you continue to grow. And I just want to let you and I want everybody out there to know that you guys did a hell of a job this year with not easy circumstances. So when I look at my MVP's, I have Hogan Harris. And I have, and I have none of these guys behind us. You think them, I don't need to thank them. I'm coming in to talk about you guys. You think these guys, you guys did a great job this year. I really appreciate that. The people who love you or the people who are there for you to clean up the party when it's all over, but you're leaving. Why can't I picked up cans and I took the cake out here, though, too. He doesn't have to be here. That's true. Like this is, yeah, so they all left.

26:52Yeah, the other guys, this is cleanup crew. And then me and Mike, we're going, hey, man, thank you for sweeping up the kitchen. We'll take the garbage out. We'll wrap it up here. Shut the lights off. Take the garbage out on our way. Remember, you guys are the stars of the show. It's your time to take these calls and send us into the 2027 season. Oh, the lines are full. Thanks, Tony. We've got, look, look at who's on the line. We won't name it. Well, it's Uncle John, your uncle. Yes, that's popcorn guy. Do you want to talk to him? The popcorn guy, your popcorn is, remember, he has a special kernels and he educated us that, please give out the business that the popcorn is unbelievable. It is. You have five bags. Five bags. And cheddar. I've got five bags plus you, you ate half a coatings back. Fact. I don't get cheated. Enjoy the calls. Enjoy the off season. Thanks, Tony. And you guys did a hell of a job. All right. Thanks, Tony. Appreciate it. Good night now. The lines are full and we're going to get all your calls coming up next here on A

27:52Stock. Every game day you show up for your team. Now it's your time. We go. We go. We go. We go. We go. We go. Ask your prescriber about We Govie, some Maglatide Injection 2.4 milligrams, a G.O.P. 1. Call 1-8-334 We Govie or visit We Govie.com to view the Medication Guide and to learn more about We Govie. My Weight. We Govie. The final time we're going to take your phone calls here in 2026. And we got to start out with Uncle John because we got popcorn today. How we doing? Hey guys, I just want to show you I'm up here in beautiful, clean as California. I'm sitting in the man cave. I watch the entire game. And one of the things I love about the last look, you're going to have all your armchair producers and coaches call up and they're all great and they're going to give all their

28:53insight. But my insight is from the game today where it's a time of the year where your broadcasters give thank you to all the people behind the scenes. And it's one of my favorite parts of the season because as you know, Michael, I worked in the broadcast industry, local TV news for 20 years and the people behind the scenes never get any credit. And Chris Kerry and Dallas Braiden and the directors, they took time today and showed every single camera person, the ground crew. I mean, the game was just, the game was the game, but it was just a really neat love fest of the people who worked so hard behind the scenes. And I'm glad you liked the popcorn. The popcorn, it's not really about the popcorn. It's about Uncle John is one of those guys, you know, Michael, please thank you and you're welcome. I'm excited to use in life. And it's just a chance for me to say thank you to Michael and Nate. I want to finish with one cold hard question. Can I give a baseball question?

29:56Of course. It's the question no one's talking about and I was kind of hoping town he might be on. But my niece has been Seth Brown played for the A's for about what's seven or eight years and he always spoke so highly of Mark Cutsay, a true leader, you know, in the clubhouse on the field. And no one's talking about I'm nervous. What tell me what I'm nervous about his job security? I'm just going to talk about the quote unquote, thumper in the room, the elephant in the room. What's your take on it? It's a cold hard question, but I'm nervous and I really want him to stay. What do you think? Well, it's an interesting question, Uncle John. Thanks so much for the phone call. Take care and thank you for the popcorn. Uncle John's giving you a hard ball. He's coming. He's coming at me. Oh, that's some family on family crime. So he's dropped. I'll just go look. Floors yours. You're going to have a new president of baseball operations or someone heading up that department.

30:59And the question's going to be, is he going to want to bring his own guy in or is this going to be someone that is confident Mark Cutsay? That's something we don't know. We don't know who's getting hired. We don't know what the philosophy is going to be. His contract runs through 2028, which is the first year in Vegas. So two more and I believe he has an option for 29. So he is under contract for two more years. And it's I think it's going to all come down to whoever steps into run baseball operations is going to have to make that decision. Maybe that is going to be a part of who does get hired to step in. Is the answer to that question alone. So it's a very, it's an interesting question. And yeah, I'm getting drilled game 162, but I like it.

31:59It's baseball talk. And that's why we're here. So thanks so much to the phone call Bob and Chula Vista line three. You are on a stock. Bob. Hey guys, just wanted to make a last day call, you know, remind Nate that I was the one that brought up the townie for GM. Yeah, I'd like to apologize. I apologize in private to you. Yeah, I made that mistake. I forgot it was you, Bob. Yeah, that was that was probably that's probably the highlight of the entire season for me. Actually, that was that was an awesome show and awesome day. And it was. It started the floodgates. Yes, all the calls to the townie calling in and it was. Tim ribbing Cody just in the passenger seat. That was hilarious. You got we got like 10 drops. Yeah, I appreciate you guys. Appreciate entertaining you guys and any, you know, I want to say thanks to George from San Francisco. I've never met him, but you know, he kind of shouted me out the next day, but love your

33:01show. I just want to say you guys have done a great job. You've really improved over the season. If I may. And honestly, I wouldn't mind like some people might have thought it was a farce recommending townie for that job, but I would have no problem with county having a voice and personnel decisions for the a is going forward. Because like I'm down here in San Diego, we have AJ Preller who's like a whatever they call him and the potteries have made the playoffs the last three years, but you know, like a monkey with a dartboard and 500 million dollars could do it. Preller is doing it. And I think they need a lot more creativity than that. Was up there in Sacramento. I have a friend that actually plays for the Marlins Miami Marlins. So I was there when Yuri Perez threw his almost perfect game before they pulled him and it was super awesome to see the fans with their shame signs. That was so stupid. I pulled.

34:01Well, they pulled it. Well, that was just it was so like the signs that they pulled it. I was when Pedro Martinez threw a perfect game against the Padres. I think it was 95. It fact checked me on the year, but he threw a Pedro Martinez to a perfect game against the Padres and ended up getting the loss or at least gave up the perfect game and the 10th inning. So didn't get credit. So I've been at almost two perfect games. There's only been 24 and major league history going back to 1871 and I missed two. Anyway, love going to games in Sacramento. We got one more year. I'll be up there next year. I saw the Marlins play three games at Petco Park, Petco Park's beautiful, totally different experience. Sacramento and Joy at while you have it because you guys got a night. It's a beautiful place to watch a game.

35:03You can go in and it's it's just not the intensity of some other fields where it's like a major commitment to go to a game. So it's you know, love. I wish I would have met you guys, but love my saw a couple games up there last year against the Red Sox. County gave me some pre tickets for one of them, me and my son and yeah, just looking forward to seeing some people in spring training and maybe seeing Greg from slow with the black sheep, Tavern, if if if you ever go to hang out with him. It's actually pretty fun. No, I've never met him, but but I did tell Chris Kerry, he should he should have helped him announce that high school football. What? You don't know. Yeah, that was last year. Mike. Yeah. I met Chris Kerry last year. I mean, my son was talking to him. Really cool, dude, but he said I told him, hey, you only get this chance once and that's

36:07funny. He didn't take it. It's hilarious. I think, I think, I think, I, you know, County, I talked to him in person. He's very, he's a very legit guy. He's run businesses. He's partied in Tijuana as a teen. And, you know, those are all important experiences to have and signing guys is in my opinion. There's a future GM. Well, we'll see if that happens. Decisions will be made, but Bob, thanks so much for calling. Thanks for listening. I'm going to be using Long and we'll talk to you in 2027. You dump them already. Yeah, thanks for calling. That's a dump, right? No, I'm sorry. Thank you, Bob. I mean, hopefully we will see you next year. Stop with the doom and gloom. No, I mean, hopefully, like, I'll see you in part. I mean, just, I don't usually go out there. I'm not being doom and gloom. Yeah, it's true. Your popcorn was sitting here for two months. Yeah, and I got it. Yeah, yesterday.

37:07Yeah, I got two. Have you eaten it yet? No, because I did go to the movies yesterday beforehand, and I did eat a bunch of popcorn before. Not that I wouldn't eat more. I was just full. Yeah. And it's in my car ready to be eaten probably tonight. All right, I like it. Let's go to the mall or line four. What's up, mallor? Hey, guys, and you know what? You guys always throw me a curveball right before I come on the air. And it lose me with my train of thought of what I wanted to talk about. Nate, you went to the movies. Did you watch Moneyball yet? How do you go to the movies and still not watch the baseball? Well, they're not showing Moneyball at the theaters, mallor. Oh, for crying out loud. You want 20 to want me to pay you $50 just to watch it or what? No, maybe I've seen it. You guys don't know. Are we pushing this to like maybe that's true. Maybe I'll quiz you in the offseason.

38:08OK, yeah, give me a call. Give me a call. I'm, you know what? I'm glad you read the book, even if it was the Cliff Notes version. Yeah, it was the audio book. Anyway, so you know, this weekend with you guys bringing in all the guests that you had and and and and town. He coming in and town is just kind of laid it out. A lot of the reasons, like not reasons, but things that I've thought about, but then realize that I'm looking at it from the wrong point of view and he really set me straight after a minute. You know, we started off the season one and five and you said that we were had panic at the disco, but you know what? A lot of us psychos have followed this team. Very, very close. We had we had reason to believe one and five was important to pay attention to and then, but we, you know, yeah, we had a lot of bad luck with the with the injuries, but you know

39:13what I got out of this season? We're seeing a lot of the players that normally wouldn't get regular playing time. How often does that happen? It doesn't happen very often. And you know, with the volume of injuries, this team had to go through. Oh, yeah, you don't really see that when you have your major lineup, just totally, you know, what six, seven of the starters down at one time. But I like because you know what? It shows us what kind of depth we have. It gave the person the people that whether they're a part of the team next year or part of trading. Who knows? It up to their value and it gives their confidence. And like like we've all seen after that meeting in July, you know, I like to see a little more growth because, you know, Lawrence Butler stepped up and said, hey, there's got to

40:18be a little bit of accountability. And that's the one thing that I take away from the beginning. I don't know if there was a lot of accountability. There was a lot of ability, but I don't know if there was a lot of accountability. And that's what happens, I think, when a team grows, is then, you know, they start, they start growing together and geling together. And I mean, you take somebody like, go off and, um, Languiliers and Butler, probably the longest with the team. There may be a few that I'm missing. They all they've seen is losing. And what is the value of losing? It's about learning. And I don't like the word losing. I like the word learning. And that's what I'm hopeful for. Obviously the new regime change that happens. And that when these guys step on the field again, that they'll be hungry and ready to go and say, you know what, we don't want to do this anymore.

41:21But my two players that stick out my mind this year that really I like, I got it. I give like the comeback of the year award to go off. Even despite the two injuries he had, I really didn't think he was going to be a part of this team. After the injuries he's had and then, you know, the struggles he had at the play the few years ago, he just turned it around. And he's a very valuable part of this team. And I love seeing him progress and disappointed when he got hurt those two times, but he bounced back. The other one is bolt A. I mean, I'm with all you guys on him. I mean, he's incredible. But I do think that somebody has to work with them to cut down those strikeouts, especially if he's going to be in the lead off position. He's got to be the idea is he's granted. He's no Ricky Henderson, but it's going to be a good lead off hitter and you got good

42:23speed. You've got to get on base. I don't care if you walk, you hit, whatever you do. And I'd like to see that get better. Pitching wise, I was there the night that JT Ginn was throwing the no hitter. And dude, that guy's a bulldog. I've seen him grow through the season and I really like him. And I think he's an important part of this staff. And I like the way Jacob Lowe has turned around the second half after he went down to the aviator. But in closing, I want to thank all you got. Your show, you've grown in this show, you too. And I'm grateful for you guys. You give us something to talk about on the psycho feed. And you know, you'll probably play it sometime, but you know I could thank everybody. But I've been thanking them on my own, but there was a couple there I wanted to make sure that if they're listening and you know, Miele Schimmel, you know, I don't even, I've been

43:29to three games in Sacramento. But you know what, when I listen to the radio, I hear her over the broadcast. She's consistent. She's a great, great person with the A's given all that. And you know, another, the layer, Josh and Tommy, they're the only ones I know in the truck. But I'm grateful for those guys because I'm 3000 miles away and they give me those shots of Sacramento with the, you know, the, the, the, the makes me feel like I'm there, you know. And, and Mike bird too. I met him a couple years ago and I'm grateful for them. But that, that, I think everybody at one point in, I just want to thank the organization because, you know, I love this, I love the organization. So, hey, have a nice off season, boys. Yes, thank you, Molly. Thank you so much for the phone call. Thanks for listening all season long.

44:30And yeah, there's, there's a lot of people to thank. And I'm going to get to that in the third segment. I, I, I pre made a list to make sure I got everybody. And I'm sure I'll miss someone. I know, I know Ken did the same thing on the radio broadcast. But thank you, Molly. All right, I had to reorganize because the lines are still full. We're jam, Nate. Oh, yes. Yeah. We're jam. And that's good. Today's a good day for it. Oh, it's, it's great. All right, let's go to Jeff. Line two. What's up, Jeff? Hey, guys, live from the city. I'm actually, I'm at, where are you? I'm Oracle. I'm at Oracle and, you know, my crew goes in as good boys to the crowd. Can you hear him? Yeah, we can. And I, yes, pretty cool. Everybody's here. You know, telling them, by, I'm going to get off the speakerphone. Hold on. Do I sound a little better? Much better.

45:31OK. And, and listen, Nate, I'm going to have Mike quiet down so I can talk to you because this is AceCast. Thank you, Mike. I did an engineering trick. I had one radio tune to the AM, KMBR, and the other one tune to the FM KMBR. And there's just enough slap between the two broadcasts. It sounds like I'm at, you know, Oracle. I cheated, but have to have a little fun. But I did want to hear them. And they'll probably replay it at midnight on KMBR. There's somewhere you can get it. You know, are you broadcasters? Are you play by players, as opposed to the players on the field? You play by players. Tell us what's going on, not only on the field, but behind the scenes. And you guys have done as Tony complimented you on. One hell of a job in keeping this show going. And bringing it along even when it was difficult, when it wasn't exactly a winning record,

46:34which would have been a lot more fun. But I didn't agree with Tony. I thought, God, if they beat the Astros and get real close, and then flick them off at the very end, that would have been really great. But they aren't necessarily, you know, gonna do that well once they get into the playoffs either. Yes, they do. So you guys, with all the times that you've been on the air, after just heart-wrenching losses, and pushed it along, given us good stats info, stuff that we wouldn't have known otherwise, I can't tell you how much I appreciate what you guys do. And picking up the ball, literally, and figuratively, after Tony tossed it to you, really well done. Under really kind of harsh circumstances. So we will see what the future brings. And you pointed out how the team has a lot of hopeful aspects in that these new kids coming up.

47:35They just, you know, step up, step on the field, and amazes with their talents, Voltae, you know, others have gone down, and he's just really been a thrill. And I've enjoyed even as dismal as the one loss record has been listening to you guys bring us through, you know, not the best season, but there were highlights, there were fun times, that New York thing where they beat the meds, and they beat the Yankees. I agree with you guys at the top moment in their season. So let's hope that everybody who was injured this year heals and can stay healthy next year. I just think ahead to that, and it encourages me and warms my heart on the possibilities. And you guys keep doing what you're doing next year. Take a break and, you know, regroup at all. And I'm certainly looking forward to when you guys come back on the air, because, you know,

48:36no, I haven't found any other show like what you guys do, and giving us what we really need as baseball fans on top of these, you know, you give us all kinds of good information about the league. And even, well, even Japan, thank you, George. And listening to all the people that call in on the show, all the psychos, it's been a blast. So you play by players and color analysts, thank you because you guys communicate what we can't see. I love watching baseball and the radio, because Ken Korak and others that have been announcing for the A's and other announcers all over this country have honed their skills to be able to do that. So much appreciated. I can't tell you how much I want to, you know, tune into a baseball game here already,

49:39but this was 162. So I got the 162 blues, and we're going to the stove pipe league where we get to talk about it. You guys are right on, keep it up, enjoy your time off. I know you will, Nate, time off. And have some fun over the winter, all right? All right, Jeff, thank you, Jeff. I'm on the phone call, take care. Thank you, Jeff. It's kind of words. Appreciate it. Let's go to Colin, line six, you are in A's talk. Hey, how's it going, guys? Hey, Colin. What's happening? Hey, not my time. Doing great. I've been a lifelong A fan going back to 1968. My parents started going to games in 1968 when they moved to Oakland. And it's just been frustrating in the last few years. And I kind of had a few things I wanted to talk about. I'll go down my list. Hopefully I can get to some of them at least. One of the first things I like to say was, I don't like, I'm tired of kind of all this. Oh, we're talking about Vegas, talking about Vegas.

50:39Oh, we got to win in Vegas. Well, I want to still win now. I don't like telling you like, oh, well, we got to be ready for Vegas. No, we got to be ready. We should be winning now. Not I'm not focused on Vegas. I want to win now. I actually live in Sacramento now. So I can go to the games and I do. And I want us to win now, not in Vegas. Next would be when we're looking for a new GM for Oakland A's. I really hope that we get someone from the outside because I think for a long time, we've had someone from the inside. And I think it's time for a change for us. I think the A's need, they need to do some house cleaning up. And in my opinion, I think dudes got say being gone. And we need, we need a new focus, a new direction because what's happening right now is not, is in my opinion is not working. I mean, it constantly said basically two seasons in a row while 100 lost seasons and my eyes, that's just not acceptable. Not that he's not a great guy in the former A and I.

51:39He's definitely six and 86 last year. I know I can understand this year, but last year, they were 12 games better. Oh, okay, sorry. I must have got my numbers mixed up, but I don't know. I just, I just haven't been happy with him. I think he's just, he's just a numbers kind of guy. And I think we need some a different, I don't know. This is my opinion. As far as pitching goes, I think Severino, I would, I would like to see him gone. I know he was injured all year this year, but didn't really do much for us last year. You know, he, I don't think he really wants to be here in Sacramento. I think the only reason he took sign the contract was no one else has offered him anything. And I would just, I'd rather bring up someone from AAA and let him struggle a little bit than, then have him here. This one might be a little controversial, but I'm just not impressed with Butler. You know, he's just, he might be a fan favorite, but you know, he's like a career 230 hitter.

52:41This year has been horrible. Yeah, he had a decent second half, but you know, if you're batting 160 through like June, it's not very good. And he's also been making mistakes on the basis, making some mistakes on the outfield. And that leads me to, I would love to see Volte, go to Wrightfield. And that's his natural position. And I would love to see Denzel back in center. And I know that Denzel's, he's struggling at the plate a little bit, but I'd rather have his defensive prowess and center field, one of the key positions in the out, the key position in the outfield. Flagging down balls, running the outfield, and bat 200, then have Butler with all his issues in Wrightfield and put Volte in Wright field, which is his natural position. And then I looked at my outfield going, wow, you know, we got Soda from the left, Denzel and center, Volte in Wright. I think we have a stellar outfield, similar to when we had

53:42what's his name in center field, throwing a blank on his name, but that would be my obviously dream outfield. And then a lot of thing up, I would, I know that debris got hurt this year at the end, and he's having surgery, but I would love to see when he's ready and healthy to bring him up. We've gotten nothing to lose, and I would love to see them bring him up. I think ideally either second or short, and then move, if they put him at short, then move, I'm totally blanking on his name, to second base, and how those go guys be up are middle and fitters. I think that would be ideal for me. That's all I had to say. I've been wanting to call him for many, many months, but I get up at three o'clock in the morning for work and can't always stay up late to listen to you guys and calling, but thank you for letting me speak my mind. All right, Colin next. Thanks Colin. Thanks for the phone call. Appreciate it. Yeah, I hope to hear from you next year. Greg.

54:44What's up, Greg? It's fracking. Gentlemen, 162, it's in the books. How are you guys doing? You guys hanging in there? Yeah, yeah, what about, I mean, I can't speak to Michael. I'm lovely because I got to see you two days in a row. I had a great time yesterday, by the way. I had a great time. Thank you guys so much. I'm driving home right now. I'm honest. I'm fighting it. I got about 30 miles to Gilroy, and that's the two and a half hour mark and it's a red bull. Two and a half hours from Gilroy to slow. It's a red bull. It's a red bull. It is. Yeah, we'll be pleased to hear this way. Me and George checked out the capital at 2.15 in the morning last night. So it was. It was. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down. We had to see the capital. I had to see the capital. So me and George checked it out. The outside of the calendar. We got a new word back in the spot. Just the outside. Just the outside. Yeah, we got some pictures.

55:44And you know, it just just had a good, you know, had a good walk to the Uber and, you know, didn't, you know, called it a night and we're back at the yard today. So yeah, last last night was awesome. And that kind of leads to everything. This is supposed to be fun, you know, baseball's fun. It's entertainment, you know, for you guys, obviously, it's a job. And it's what you guys do for a living. But we'll fancy the game. It's supposed to be fun. And I think in a season that maybe wasn't real fun as far as results on the field wins and losses. You guys made it fun, you know, the A's broadcasters, you know, legendary voices that we've always had. You know, those guys made it fun guys like Chris Downs and they make it fun, you know, this, you know, my, my group, the psychos, we make it fun. So in a season that was so frustrating and so, you know, kind of sad to actually still have fun. That tells you how great of a job guys like, you know, guys like Michael, you know, Chris Kerri, I can go on the list.

56:44It's too long to give everybody shout out. So I mean, Charlie Dotsko was unbelievable last night. Charlie Diesel was cracking all of his up. It's a testament to our organization and really getting it right when it comes to guys behind the scenes, when it comes to the voices, when it comes to the cutting edge shows like A's talk, what we're doing right now. We are a step ahead of everybody else. And if we can kind of match that with decisions on the field and this is the front office, we're going to be just fine. You know, going forward, obviously Vegas. I'm so excited about Vegas. With that said, the last color touched on a lot of good points, you know, talking about Sacramento. If you're a Sacramento native, you can't blame a guy for saying that. I want to win now. I don't want to look towards Vegas, 2020. And I want to win now. And it hasn't been a frustrating last couple of years. It's been a frustrating six years because we really have it competed since 2020. And you know, for those of us that have been saying, really, 21 is not competing.

57:46So five years, my bad five years, you're right. Yeah, to a dad that's 86 wins. We didn't make the playoffs. We didn't have a great second half. But yes, thank you for correcting Michael. It's been a tough five years for those of us that go way back. You know, guys that are older than you, Michael and Nate. This has been probably the toughest five years that we can remember. I mean, I mean, you talk about the late 70s, early 80s days. Those are some tough years, you know, some tough years. But 2000 is the for a five year stretch of, you know, 99 losses, 100 losses. I mean, the blowouts, it's been probably the worst five years of A's baseball that a lot of us could remember. But again, it's been fun. And that's where it's kind of like it's a catch 22 because of what you guys do. You guys have made it fun. And it's really a testament to how great the organization is when it comes to the, you know, the actual production part of it. The voices, the shows, Ace, Cat, Live, the interviews. I mean, Towne goes to the winter meetings.

58:47I mean, stuff like that is just, it really makes everything really special. And that's a great to you guys. And, you know, I thank you guys for all that. That's the good news. You know, that's the good stuff. The bad stuff is we got to be better. I mean, when we talk about change and we talk about organizational stuff, it's not just behind the scenes, GM baseball off skies. There needs to be change in the dugout. There has to be change in leadership because what's gone on? It's historically bad. And you could point the finger at a, at a, at a, at a, not a great roster a few years ago. You could point the finger at injuries. But the fact is, this is a win lots business. And organizations around sports, not just baseball would not tolerate the dugout, the coaching. That's why we saw guys like emo get, let go. It's time for change. And we need a new voice to dug out. And, you know, a new GM is not going to tolerate what, what's going on in the dugout these

59:50last few years. It's just, it's not going to happen. It's not acceptable. So I look forward to that change. I look forward to, to, you know, the new guy coming in and really hammer and pitching because I think that's captain obvious. I think there's some guys that, that we really point fingers at that we depend on like a Jacob Lopez, like a Lawrence Butler. Those are guys that we know got talent. Those, those are guys that we know that can get it done. They got to get it done when it counts. You can't hang your hat on a guy that does it over 30 games out. You can't rely on that. And it's not a small sample size. We're not talking one year. You know, you can't go to the old star break hit one 96 with three home runs and call team meetings that thinks everything is going to be okay. It's not acceptable. It's just not. And he needs to step up and he's going to be a real leader. He's got a lead in May to July. That's what a real leader leads when you're in the hood and guys are maybe starting out slow. That's when you call team meetings. That's when you got a lead.

1:00:50And we know Lawrence Butler's excitement. We know what he brings to the field with his energy, with the talent, you know, the opposite field. When Lawrence Butler's going the other way with the ball, when he's running and he's we know that the talent's there, but this is not a small sample size anymore. And he's going to be the real team. I think counting me at a good point talking about Shayling a leader. To me, that's a leader. A guy that could have hung it up with a really serious danger. He comes back to the season. That to me is a team leader. And you don't get to say nothing. That's leading by example. Shayling a leader is an all star. That's a leader to me. So I would like to see that the organization go after Shay. Hopefully the contract talks. We can really lock him up and build around a guy like Shayling a leader. That's a leader to me. And I hope that a lot of the guys coming up, a lot of the guys in that dug out saw what Shay did. And well, you know what? That guy cares. That guy cares. He's a catcher with a knee injury and he still came back in the age to last month of

1:01:52the season. That is sorry. That is beyond impressive. I hope that like I said, guys take note of that. And then we can build around a guy like Shayling a leader. It's obviously a guy like Nick Kurtz. You know, guys got to prove they can stay healthy. But I think that's it guys. I think that's it. I know you got to tell a phone calls. I'm not going to be doing the glue with the whole labor situation. I think that that might be something that's going to get worked out a lot sooner than people might think because people don't want 1994 again. So people don't want no games. People lose money. People lose fans. That scared off a lot of people in 1994 and baseball had to really battle to come back from that. So I'm not so sure we're not going to get, you know, all games next season. How many ball games are going to get that question remains to be answered. But I think it might be sooner than people think. And that'll be good news for all of us because it's going to be a long off season, missing the A's, missing baseball. It's going to be a long off season, missing you guys. So enjoy your time.

1:02:53Decompress. Thank you for the weekend. Thank you for the whole season. I look forward to great phone calls coming. I know sometimes I can be a little bit negative. But when it's going good, no, I don't see that at all. Oh, yeah, we had we had simple conversations. It was peaceful. No, not at all. Hey, when it goes good, like 20, 21, when we're talking strategy and we're talking playoffs and we're talking who should start. We're talking all that. That's what it's going to be really fun. And that's what the future is going to hold Vegas. And I look forward to those days, gentlemen. I look forward to you guys in Vegas also. The future could not be brighter. All right, Greg. Thank you, Greg. Very nice. Appreciate it. All right, Nate. I need a break. You need a break. You want to take a break here? We got some callers. We're going to take a break. I got to go to the restroom. I got to go to the phone calls. See, what? I'm keeping you in mind, too. Thank you. Mike, you know, because I want to give you a break, too. This might have been our longest segment of the year.

1:03:56This is a coming up on a 40-minute segment here without a break. So maybe it's time. Yeah. We got some callers. We're going to get to those callers coming up next. And we'll wrap up the 2026 season here on Aestalk. The final segment of Aestalk in 2026. It's been a heck of a year for us here on Aestalk. And we're going to finish up with our somewhere final phone calls. Dennis, line one. What's up? Hi, Dennis. Going once, Dennis. We're going to have to call you. Oh, there's a call. Dennis, hello. They're calling you, Dennis. Hey, Larry. Hey, Dennis. Hey, Dennis. Dennis. I'm Michael. Dennis. I have to get a gas now. It was right below. It was either I got a gas or take the phone call.

1:04:56So I kind of did the gas first. You know what I mean? Well, they don't have gas stations in Hillmark. No. Well, remember, Tony says we got the horse and carriage. So I was looking for a bail and hey, actually. You want to feed my horse. Cheaper than diesel. Yes, yes, yes. Actually, I drive a diesel. So yeah, not good. But hey, I kind of, like I said, driving home, I brought my little grandson. He's the first time he's been in Sacramento. He had a great time. Michael, I want to thank you for throwing me that ball for him. I appreciate that. You know, reiterate where all the callers are said. You know, it's not about the last game. We know this season was very disappointing. But we didn't see, we got a chance to see a lot of our players that probably wouldn't have gotten an opportunity

1:05:57to see in a normal year. OK, without all the injuries. So that's a positive. But what I want to talk about today really quickly is the people in the organization. OK. We're all lucky as fans to have such a just a great just organization. All the people that are involved, you know, from the stadium to, you know, I don't want to miss anybody. But they're just real welcoming. And, you know, I got an opportunity as a 65 year old, AIDS fans since 68 throughout the first pitch yesterday. And it was so cool. One of the best experiences in my life. And you guys made it special. And Cody went down there with a crew and did all that. So, you know, I just, you know, like Chris, like Townsend said, like County said, you know, you, there's not too many teams

1:06:59that get this platform for their fans. So by you guys, you know, you guys got, kind of got ushered in on a year that was a real tough year. And you guys, you know, you guys have grown over the course of 162 games. And I'm proud of you guys. And, you know, Michael and Nate, I know the sky to limit for you guys. And I know that more college will say this. But for the bottom of my heart, I appreciate the program. You guys, and I'm going to miss you guys this tough season. So you guys have a great off season. And can't wait to talk to you guys again next year. Thank you, Dennis. Dennis, thanks so much for the call. Appreciate that. For calling all season and talking. It was fun. And have a good off season. You two guys, thanks. All right.

1:08:00All right. One more. We got one more. One more. Salty, you are the last caller for Ace Talk of 2026. How does that make you feel? Gentlemen, I get a close it out. Yes, sir. You're the closer. I'm talking. That'll make Greg happy. We have a closer. It'll be just like, well, originally, we're going closer by committee. But I've been out performing Greg. So I agree. I agree. Your ERA on the calls a little bit better. Actually, it's funny. You say that I feel like as a caller, I hit a pedestrian 240 with some pop. I had a couple good points. I hit the gym this off season, watch some tape. Are you towning? The never-ending. Yeah, watch some tape. I got to go to the gym at my country club. So in all seriousness, guys, we all love townie.

1:09:00And on opening night, he said that here's a pass of rings you guys. And we, and as sort of a site, not to speak for all the cycles, but we were not going to just automatically stay on board. And Michael, you honestly want us over. So we saw that. You made a good point. You listened to us. And we saw a lot of growth. And we all really respect you. And Nate, of course, you know, we've always loved you. But I want to say that you've earned all of our respect, Michael. This show is fantastic. I'm going to keep listening for years to come with Vegas. Our best days are ahead. And I just want to say thanks so much, guys. That's it. Thank you, Salty. All right, Salty, thanks for the phone call. Take care. Appreciate you listening and calling all year. That's a good closer. That's a great closer. Before we get to the our top moment of the year, according to A's talk, I just want to go down my list of thank yous. I wrote this list really starting last night.

1:10:02I kept forgetting people. So that's why I like to be prepared. So just to express my gratitude to the following people who have given me the opportunity to do this program and to take this over and or have supported me throughout the season and supported this program throughout the season supporting Nate, supporting myself. And let's just go down the list, of course, Ray Jensen, who was the guy that called me and said, hey, we want you to do this. We think you're going to do a good job. Delair Lewis, obviously, Chris Townsend, the commander, Andrew Garcia, who we worked closely with and made a lot of our videos. And graphics he was great to work with. Mark Brady, Andy Dickerson, Steve Sacks, Ken Korak, Chris Carey, Jenny Kavanaugh, Dallas, Johnny Dosco, David Feldman, Melissa Guzman, Dieter Page, and all of you, the callers and listeners for listening, for consuming us, for calling in.

1:11:03We really appreciate your support and, you know, taking us in with open arms. Thank you, Mike. Really? That's heartfelt. Really? What's the thank you, Mike? And you, Nate. Oh, thanks. No, seriously, Nate, you know, worth it. It was my first time obviously doing live. I've done some podcasting in the past and my background is in play by play. So this is different. It was different. This is way different, especially taking calls. Live is a different animal. No doubt, no doubt. And you made it so much easier for me and the transition was smooth and I can't thank you enough. Thanks, Mike. That's very nice. I appreciate that. It's been really fun. Doing this, I know I joke about, oh, get out of here or whatever, but it is nice. Everyone has been phenomenal all year. I guess if I could go through my list, similar people as well.

1:12:05But Andy, obviously working with him, the engineer right behind you right now, really appreciate him working with him. It's been great. Mark filling in for me is, you know, it would be really tough for me to do 162. I don't think I would be allowed to well plus spring training. So I appreciate that from him. Ray is the man working with him closely is great. I'm trying to go through all the behind the scenes guys. First, the Lair, to every time I've dealt with him is great. Rosie too with the TV crew with NBC after coordinate with them, phenomenal. The probably the biggest shout out I could give is to RJ DeSanto, the guy who just, I mean, I wouldn't be here. Andy wouldn't be here right now. If it wasn't for him, he runs the show. Really, he just everything is his. He's the guy. Like the ultimate kind of shadow figure when it comes to all these broadcasting, especially

1:13:06here in Sack, he was in the Bay beforehand, but he's the absolute man. I mean, yeah, it's been, it's been fun. Thank you to all the callers, Mike too. It's been, I'm lucky man to work with you. It's been, it's been a lot of fun. I guess there is a chance that this could, you know, we don't know what's going to happen next year. No, no, no, no. I just want to say this is the last time I'm here. It's not. I appreciate everybody. And it's been, it's been a lot of fun. I don't know what the future holds. I really don't. So I just, I'm just being honest. I'm, you know, it's a townie too. I didn't mention townies throughout the mentioned townie. All the guests, Chris Kerry. Oh, wow. Johnny Ken. I've talked about them all year, but just thank, thank you. It's been a lot of fun. I appreciate it.

1:14:07Absolutely. No, it's been, it's been really fun and definitely the highlights, you know, my first, you know, my professional career. It's been the best year so far. So thank you Nate. Thanks everybody. Well, we have our number one moment of our top moments of the season. And I think you guys can figure out where we're going. That's a three parter. It came early. It was early. We're talking about our first road trip next year. You're going to Pittsburgh, New York, Texas. Well, that's what's the second road trip of the season this year. And it started on the hot takes Tuesday. Before any of those six games started, there was a hot take, probably the hot take of all time by Chris Townsend on how that trip in New York would go. This is a flame thrower. And you know what? I want my, I want my boys to show me something. It's time to show me something. Just took two out of three slug fest.

1:15:10I'm sure Johnny was a nice flight to New York. People were very jovial after taking two out of three and winning on Easter. You got to day off in New York. Hopefully everybody slept in, go out, have a good dinner. You should be ready to rock. I have the A's leaving New York on Sunday with an eight and seven record. Eight and seven record. Do the math. What does that mean? They'll do in the next six games. I'm in one. Somebody's getting swept by the A's. I don't know if it's the Yankees. I don't know if it's the Mets. Somebody's getting swept. This is where the offense is, we're going to outslug these. We're really going to outslug these. We're really going to outslug these. I think the sweep comes Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I think we're going to outslug Mets. They're not going to be red. They haven't seen an offense like ours. And I say we take two out of three. We're going to leave eight and seven and wow. Everybody's going to be skipping back to Sacramento after this ball club goes five and

1:16:14one on this trip. Book it. That'd be a long skip from New York City from Queens specifically. What was? They did. They did it and they did skip. Yeah. Yeah. Well, when he said he'd outslug him and, you know, I'll be the negative guy that I am. They didn't really outslug him. There was only one game. I believe the Mets, the second game against the Mets was 11 to six or 11 to seven somewhere around. There's a high scoring. But other than that, well, I will let the highlight speak for itself in New York against the Yankees in the Bronx for the A's. Historically have struggled and had won a series in Yankee Stadium since 2016. So it had been 10 years since that had happened. And game one was a heartbreaker. You're up three to one in the eighth. You give up a home run to Ahmed Rosario. The Yankee send up winning five three. Well, this is how the A's responded the next two games of that series in New York. As weather's to the plate in the pitch.

1:17:16Tyler Lydry base hit right field in the store is Muncie of the A's leader. It won to nothing. Soldiers from eight or BI of the year. So a triple from Muncie, a single from Soda Strum and the A's are on the board. So the one to pitch my Harris. He turns, he delivers here. It is and swung on in miss. And the A's have won it with a brilliant pitching performance on this Thursday afternoon. The combination of Springs, Sturder and Harris. One hit the Yankees as the A's win the series. Sensational. One nothing in favor of the A's. The A's take two out of three. They took two out of three. And what a moment to us. Jeffrey Springs was pitching like an all star. He took a no hitter into the seventh, I believe. I forgot about that.

1:18:16I mean, you remember how good he was. He was so good for two or three games. He was lights out. I mean, my hot take, my first hot take of the season that he would win pitcher of the month at some point. It was looking good there. It was looking good for him. It was looking good in the first half. Not the shortest month. So that was that was quite a moment. Winning a series in Yankee Stadium. And really the A's, you know, Cam Schletler is going to win the Saiyung. But A's were really one of the few teams that got to him. I mean, he's been so dominant. You can look at his pitch line. There's only been a few teams. I think the A's scored three runs off him. And that's in whatever game he pitched. He's only done that. I think three or four times. All season where he's given up three or more runs in the A's or one of the teams to do it in the Bronx. So that was super impressive. So then the A's changed burrows and go to two queens and go to city field. The Mets who were coming off at disappointing end to the 2020 five season had been knocked out of the playoffs by the Marlins on the final day. Their expectations were sky high.

1:19:16I know the U of David Stern's as ahead of their baseball operations. And a lot of change really in their roster too. And the A's went in there and dominated the Mets for three games at city field in Queens. And Jeff swings away and lies at the left center for a base set. Wilson's around third. They're going to wave him. Here's the throw by Benj and it's way offline. And Wilson has scored in the A's lead to nothing. One oh count. And the Pistadenzel and he hits a shot up the middle base hit. That'll score Gelloff and here's Muncie around third. The photo of the plate is going to be cut off and a two runs single up the middle by Denzel Clark has double the A's lead. It's for nothing athletic. Three one pitch is swung on, driving a deep right center going back Taylor and Robert at the wall. And he is hidden out. Carlos Cortez, a three run homer at seven one athletics. Now run around third. Corners are in. It's swung on a drive to deep right field.

1:20:17Taylor going back at the track at the wall. And it's gone. Two run blasts for Sotterstrom and the A's lead four to one. And that is the first home run of the year for Sotterstrom. And the right hander throws. And Tyler drills one to right. Way back. And the A's at the track. He'll turn and watch it fly. And a two home or game for Sotterstrom. And the A's break it open. Moral to the plate. The pitch breaking ball swung on, driving a deep right field. That could be number one. Maybe going back at the wall. And it's gone. Nick Kurtz is first home run of the year. And it's one nothing athletics. Two out nobody on bottom of the knife. And here's Boba Shed. Kunl deliver is the pitch. Two bashed is a ground ball in a second. McNeil is right there. Field flips in time. And the A's have completed a remarkable trip to the big apple.

1:21:20They go five and one on the trip. They win the last five games. And three of those are shutouts. And two of them were one to nothing. Incredible. And the A's are over 500. And this cauldron, this 15 game stretch, sees the A's finish. Those 15 games at eight and seven. Heck of a week. There was hope. And to do that in New York against the Yankees and the Met's was truly remarkable. And as our number one moment of the season for the 2026 athletics. And let's reveal the results of our poll, which we had on our Twitter. I'm excited for this. And X page at athletics cast 24. Are we ready? So ready. With 12.9% of the vote, we have the June 25th come back

1:22:22against the Giants. 16.1% is the June 19th come back against the Angels. 22.6%. You had the double walkoff home runs last home stand from Butler and Donovan Walton. And number one, well, myself and the voters agreed on this one, the 51 New York Roach at 48.4% of the vote. Do you agree, Nate, with you, grew out the voters? Yeah. I think you kind of have to. It sucks that it happened so early, but it's nice that it happened at all. I think if JT again finishes out that ninth inning in L.A., I think that's probably in Anaheim. That's probably number one, because that was insane. That was just an insane day. And I'm looking forward to seeing him next year and seeing what ends up happening in regards to his contract,

1:23:23everything. But yeah, I think I mean, taking down the Yankees Mike No offense and beating up the meds when people still thought they were good. Beat those two teams. Yeah. In their in their palaces. In their yard. Yeah, that's awesome. And remember how I mean, it's April. So it's still freezing in New York. So you're doing it in a warm from your from a warm weather town. And you're in a very, very cold by the environment. You could tell. I mean, Ken was even a little under the last little cold going potentially there too. So it was it was it was rough. It's like hitting a brick with your back. 162 man to long season. Yep. We're going to we had to grind through it and all of us did. You did Andy Dickerson, our engineer in the booth who's still with us. He's riding with us the whole way. So still alive. Still appreciative of him and everything he did. He made sure everything was ready. Every time I came back from Marquette scrum.

1:24:24So very appreciative of you Andy and of course, Nate. It's been a fun year. I did 100. I didn't do any spring training, but 153 games for me. It's a long did you go to spring training? I did not. Oh, I thought you were there. No. So, but yeah, 153 games, something I've never done before, obviously. But yeah, you're three year three with the organization. It was fun and got to talk to you every day, which I guess was OK. Such a treat. You know, I mean, you had to deal with me too. Yeah. Or in between break conversations. So yeah, I mean, it was just just you telling me about how great the Yankees are. Every break. And me going over there was on a stage. Yeah, forks up and then you told me, oh, the diners are going to win. Oh, thank goodness. One time. Are they three and oh? Yeah, they're three and oh. Did the Raiders win? I yeah. So the Raiders are three and oh, too. Are Raiders.

1:25:24Yeah. That's crazy. I know, dude. That is insane. They're going to burn the city down before they get there. Let's do the act doing big things. Dude, I'm Kurt Cousins. Gentie. Yeah, no, that's nuts. But yeah, it was a good time. It was a good time. And we'll do it again. We'll do it again. It'll be nice to have a break. Ken mentions that, you know, by time January comes around. It's like, all right. Let's go. Yeah, we'll be ready. Yeah, I'll be pretty busy this off season, which is nice. But, you know, if you want to pick it. If you want to pick it. If you want to pick it. Yeah, I'm going to, I'm actually going to LA in November for a little while, which will be cool. And nice. Just, you know, just save up for that wedding. All right, so getting married, huh? Yep. So that's a see your fiance at the K-L-O-S-H-O-S-H-E. Yeah, it was cool. It was, yeah, it was nice to hang out with everybody. We hung out outside of work quite a bit.

1:26:27And it is, it's nice. I know it's right to figure out that you work with a bunch of psychos, both the listeners and us. Yeah, I think maybe she's a little worried about Johnny. Oh, I'm not kidding. The wedding. No, wow. That is true. That was the last night. I think Greg mentioned it. He was so funny. I barely got to talk to him. He's Mr. Popular. He is Mr. Popular. Yeah, everyone's lining up to talk to him. Yeah, there's a line out the door. Well, everyone's lining up to talk to your dad too. Your dad was superstar. He's hilarious. He's an avid listener of the show. Yeah, you got to meet him, finally. Yeah, I know. And your mom, too, don't can't forget your mom. Yes. It was nice to meet the bear bolts. They were very pleasant. It was a good time and, you know, I'm looking forward to next year. Absolutely. Well, thank you all. Listeners, callers, everybody, fans. We appreciate this is, you know, a show for you on this platform.

1:27:28And we can't thank you enough for your support and tuning in all season long, calling and having very civil conversations for the most part. And talking baseball, it was fun. And we look forward to doing it again in 2027. Thank you all for listening. Thank you. Andy, thank you. Once again, we really appreciate all your support. And everybody in the A's organization with Ray and Delayr, Cody, Towney, everybody involved. Thank you all for listening to A's talk for the 2026 season. And we will talk to you all in 2027. Thank you, Mike. This has been a presentation of the athletics. Every game day, you show up for your team. Now it's your time. We go, we go, we go, we go, we go. Ask your prescriber about We GoVee, some Maglatide Injection 2.4 milligrams, a GLP 1.

1:28:30Call 1-8334 We GoVee or visit We GoVee.com to view the Medication Guide and to learn more about We GoVee. Why wait? We go, we go. We go. We go. We go. We go. We go. We go.