Episode 51: Jolly Olive (Jomboy Media), Making A Cy Young Case For Luis Castillo, And This Is The Best The Mariners Have Played Since?

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Welcome to episode number fifty one of the Marine Layer Podcast. We have on Jolly Olive of john Boy Media. We talked to a little bit about the Mets series this upcoming weekend, making his YouTube channel and his time at john Boy. We'll dive into the Maritors haven't played this well since when and we'll also make a case for Luis Castilla for the CIM. 00:00:23 Speaker 2: Before we start the episode, a reminder to you guys that if you're listening on our audio platforms Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon, go download our episodes, go hit us with the follow, rate us and give us that five star review. Those downloads and the reviews they help us big time, guys, So just do us that short little favor. And then on the video side, you can head over to YouTube watch us. On that platform as well, you can subscribe, like comment, turn the notification bells on again. All that stuff helps us out big time as well. And then on social media Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube shorts at Marine Layer Pod. 00:00:57 Speaker 1: Let's get it rolling and we welcome you to this episode of the Marine Layer Podcast, part of the Just Baseball podcast network. Recording here on Monday, August twenty eighth and lal, I'm just gonna say to you what I've been saying all weekend while watching Mariners baseball, giddy happy. I've just been saying, Holy shit, dude, I cannot believe this. 00:01:29 Speaker 2: What if I had told you a month ago the Mariners were going to be in first place in the Al West. 00:01:35 Speaker 1: I would say, you're full of shit. But something I didn't realize that I've recently learned that the Rangers haven't even converted half their saves. If you told me that fact as well, then I'd be like, well, that might make a little bit more sense, But that would also require the Mariners playing absurdly good baseball, which they have been. So it takes two to tango. 00:01:57 Speaker 2: And both at the same time. I mean shout out our friend Jordan Schusterman. I thought he had a banger of a tweet this week when the Mariners took over the division. He said, how to lose a division in ten days? And it's a screenshot of the Mariners going nine to one in their last ten and the Rangers going one and nine in their last ten. 00:02:14 Speaker 1: It almost never happens between two teams directly next to each other in the standings that there's nine games made up in ten days. Like that does not happen. That does not happen. What we are seeing is historic, So soak it in. 00:02:31 Speaker 2: Teams do not make up ground that fast. When you see a team that's that far out of it, it takes a lot of time to build your way back up into that division. It really does. The fact that's happened this fast. I mean you said soak it in. Seriously do because we may never see a quicker turnaround ever. 00:02:49 Speaker 1: Again, how do you feel about this low? I'm about to propose something to you that was sort of shown this weekend that I really honestly didn't fathom until it actually happened. Do you realize that in the history of the MLB app on an iPhone, the Mariners past, say mid April, we'll say end of April, have never occupied the number one spot in the division in the history of the MLB app Where I pull it up right now and I open my MLB app and I opened standings, and I pull it up and I see Seattle Mariners at number one in the American League West? Do you realize that is like never happened, never happened. Look, look, this has never happened in this app's history, not in August, not in June, not in July. Like, what is this? 00:03:48 Speaker 2: He went full lebron on that, not one, not two, not three. Watch it on YouTube, by the way, if you want to see PJ putt it phone right. 00:03:55 Speaker 1: Yeah, there we go right in backwards too for all of you on YouTube, so decipher that. 00:04:01 Speaker 2: I feel like I've been using the MLB app forever now, at least since my freshman year of high school. I can't even really remember a time where I wasn't using it. Do you know what year it got created? I couldn't tell you. 00:04:12 Speaker 1: No, But we're seeing some history on it. History. They should get like a pardon for it. 00:04:18 Speaker 2: Honestly, you should make some shirts. MLB should make some shirts for it. 00:04:22 Speaker 1: And the real thing that hit home the other day was like, okay, so the last time the Mariners were in first place this late in the season, what was at August twenty sixth Well, August twenty six oh three, right, I think that was the date. 00:04:35 Speaker 2: It was two thousand and three. 00:04:37 Speaker 1: Yeah, And I'm thinking about and thinking about that, and like where I was, and I realized I had not even started. No, actually, no, I had to be a year pre No, I hadn't started kindergarten yet. 00:04:46 Speaker 2: Think about it, it would have been like a week before our first days of kindergarten, right. 00:04:52 Speaker 1: So I had not stepped foot in Salmon Bay Middle School, where I'd stayed for two many years. Eight years. Fucking insane. Oh, that's kind of weird. That is kind of weird. I think our storylines today as we transition to our Mariners' storylines, kind of highlight this. And I will just propose this question to you. This is the best the Mariners. This stretch that the Mariners are currently on, This is the best they have played since when. 00:05:22 Speaker 2: Two thousand and one? 00:05:25 Speaker 1: Probably probably, I mean, this current thirty game stretch they're on is historic. Think about this. This is from optastats on Twitter. The Mariners were thirty eight and forty two entering July, and since I think this was as of Sunday, they're thirty six and fourteen. That is the best winning percentage by any American League team in their first fifty games after entering the month of July. Under five hundred. Ever, that's ridiculous. 00:05:59 Speaker 2: I mean, look when they won fourteen in a row last year. That was electric, But when you look at the season as a whole, there was that fourteen game win streak and then there was a lot of hills and valleys in the season similar to twenty twenty three, although it didn't take as long last year. They did not start hot out of the gate. I mean, we're ten under five hundred at one point. It might have been more doom and gloom in twenty two than it was in twenty three before they really turned it around. But this stretch we're seeing right now. We talked about it over texts this weekend. We said, this is the best the team has ever played in our lifetime, and that might be true. The fourteen game win streak was great last year, but this prolonged stretch where they are just dismantling every opponent they play, nearly every opponent, is the best we've ever seen him play. 00:06:46 Speaker 1: A's hanging within a run tonight. 00:06:50 Speaker 2: I don't know. At the time of recording, JP already hit a home run, so we'll see and man he did. 00:06:56 Speaker 1: I didn't even check. Yeah, Oh that's funny. Yeah, we were joking before we started recording, and it's like, man, who's on the mound for the a's tonight. Oh it's Kyle Muller. It's like, let's see what a savant page looks like. It's like, oh, so he's a lefty version of Jordan Lyles. 00:07:14 Speaker 2: It looks like the cool blue Gatorade. That's what his savant page looks like. Not the glacier freeze, the good gatorade flavor. No, it's the dark Gatorade flavor. In other words, the dark blue Gatorade flavor. Meaning he has not been good. He gets hit incredibly hard, he does not get a lot of chase, He's got a bad year. How else can we say it? 00:07:37 Speaker 1: Do you want another tidbit on this historic Mariners stretch? This is from Sarah Langs. They're the first team in the month of August or later to have multiple eight game win streaks in a calendar month since the Orioles in August of nineteen eighty. 00:07:53 Speaker 2: There's so many historical traits about this team. Right now, we headlined all Julio's historical records that he shattered last week. Now it's the team as a whole. Everybody is just mashing right now, and we've talked about that's the whole difference in the turnaround. It's been the offense. It was never a problem with the pitching. It's been the offense. Look at this team now, they have ten qualified hitters with a WRC plus of one zero five or better. Oh, by the way, that does not include my guy Demo, who has a one to forty five WRC plus stillan more so, you're talking about eleven guys currently positioned on this roster that are above average hitters. How long have we talked about the offense being a problem over the last three years, because right now it's far from it. 00:08:37 Speaker 1: And how long did we just yearn back in May for the Atlanta Braves office offense in which the Maritors now have quite literally turned into the American League version of the Atlanta Braves. This current offense, with the way they're hitting, like that's what they do. Go look at this dats. I mean, they're very similar. We highlighted it last week. But when you say ten guys with a WRC plus US above one hundred and five, like, that's the Braves major strength is that they don't have any weak spots in their lineup. Marriers are the same way. 00:09:06 Speaker 2: Now. It's crazy. Everybody is hitting even Josh Rojas, who is not at one to oh five for the season because he had such a tough start in Arizona. We've talked about him at length over the last week or so. Now he has been awesome. He stayed hot this weekend against the Royals. He hit another homer. He didn't any he didn't hit any homers in Arizona this year. 00:09:27 Speaker 1: Here's some more context for you. I mean, we've just thrown out SATs, but there's so many fun stats about it. I just want to I'm just gonna keep reading. Our friend Michael Fisher, friend of the podcast, runs the Code of five account on Twitter. So over the Mariner's last thirty five games, he says, they're twenty seven and eight of those eight losses the Mariners lost them by a grand total of ten combined runs. Ten combined runs. And if we think about this current stretch where the Maritors had two eight game win streaks, and in those around those two eight game win streaks, there were four long three of them were in extra innings, and one was a blown ninth inning lead. Like, it's still relevant. With a win tonight, the Mariners will match their franchise mark in August of two thousand and one with a twenty and five record, And you would assume because all three of these games against the A's are in the month of August. Now, I told you before this series started the Mariners better sweep this series and win every game by five runs, because the way they're playing right now, that's the only way that's acceptable. But the absolute worst case scenario right now, as it seems, is the Mariners end this month twenty one and six. In August instead of franchise record for wins in a month, that's kind of bonkers. For as good as July was, I mean, they're gonna do more. They're gonna do better in August. 00:10:55 Speaker 2: What a ridiculous month. Just I mean, this team is so high. Look at some more of the numbers. I know we're kind of going down with the numbers here and reading off a bunch of them. But since July first, Luke Arkins put out a tweet about this, the Mariners are scoring the second most runs per game in the league. They are allowing the least amount of runs per game. They have the highest run differential in that time. Also, their run differential for the season is now one oh one, that's fifth in baseball, and this is an offense that did not hit for three months. 00:11:30 Speaker 1: Do you want some more context on that offense? This is another one from off the stats or really underrated, followed by the way they have this orange and grayish profile picture if you're curious. They do sports stats on all sports, but their baseball ones are great, and they've been all over this Mariners win streak on this Mariner's offense. This is during their second eight game win streak, and this was seven games into it. During that stretch, the Maritors had ninety three hits, thirty nine extra base hits, seventeen home runs, in thirteen stolen basems. No other team in Major League history has reached all those numbers over a seven game span. I couldn't believe that when I saw it, I'm like, there's no way, But apparently that's true. 00:12:15 Speaker 2: Credit all these bats. We've talked about Julio being hot, it's not a well there's a storyline on Friday, but let's just continue it here. Ta Oscar stays hot. He is by definition on a heater. Why everything he's doing right now? Everybody's hot, everybody's swinging it. 00:12:30 Speaker 1: Well, mean, JP is now past the entire shortstop crop. 00:12:37 Speaker 2: Essentially, there is not one hitter that is currently on the roster who comes to the plate, and I have a not in my stomach. Nobody. There's nobody that comes up to the plate right now where I say, yeah, I don't really want him up there. I am okay with every single guy being up there. 00:12:54 Speaker 1: Yeah, I am too. It's man, it's magical. Now they got to keep going through September because we've mentioned we said, we sat here and we said, okay, the Americas need to be three games into a playoff spot by the time they get through this weekend. Well, they're right now currently three games into a playoff spot. I believe they're three games ahead of the first team out of the wildcard if I'm correct, So that they are where they are right now, and we expect with a series against the A's and a series against the Mets this weekend, that's going to grow. Whether they stay in the division leader or not, we're expecting them to be more than three games up in a playoff spot. So now they got to hold it right. They're not going to get a soft August to continue. September is coming along, and I'm really not looking forward to them playing the Dodgers, by the way, the only team better than them over the last twenty five games the Dodgers. I didn't even realize that. I really kind of flew under the raider. Look up, and I'm like, oh, America's are best team in the league right now, and look at how Dodgers are, oh, twenty one to four in their last twenty five games. 00:13:57 Speaker 2: Which is funny because their roster on paper does not feel anywhere close to as good as it's been in previous years. But here they are. You know, if if you look at the Mariner's schedule before they truly hit that gauntlet we talked about after the Mets weekend is when it starts to get tough. There are some games in that next stretch of nine that they should win. They get the Reds, who are good and competing for an NL playoff spot. They're not a better team than the Mariners. They play the Rays, who we know are much depleted right now, and then they play the Angels. So that is a stretch where it's not easy, but they should come out on top in terms of win loss record over that period of games before the real tough schedule starts. But yes, they should be in this week of games between the A's and Mets five and one. Yeah, and then they should be above five hundred in that stretch against the Rays, Reds, and Angels before the true gauntlet of the schedule hits to end the year. 00:14:51 Speaker 1: Yeah. I concur with you on that. It's it's gonna be interesting how they see these next weeks going. Like Julio sid which I thought was a really interesting quote in one I feel pretty confident in, he said he doesn't even feel like the team is hot, right, he just feels like they're playing up to their standard. Now, that could just be players speak. I'd say some of it is they're hot, Like, you don't win all these games without being hot and doing everything correct. And part of being hot is everyone playing well at the exact same time, which doesn't always happen. But I'm curious to see, you know, how much is like momentum actually a factor. I'm personally not even really a big believer in momentum. I think momentum is only as much as something you can as something you can execute yourself, because that, like for example, yesterday's results won't win you the game tomorrow or today say get my days mixed up. But that like, that's kind of the point, right, So like if my theory is true and they're just like, oh, we're shit, we're just gonna keep playing well because we keep believing in ourselves. And it's nothing to do with momentum. It's just that they feel like they're finally at a point where they can all execute at the same time and they all feel comfortable with it, and then you keep rolling and you keep on and all of a sudden, maybe they take three or four from the Raise and take a series from the Dodgers and then beat up on the Reds and the Angels. So it's possible. 00:16:11 Speaker 2: You can't quantify momentum, which is a fair take that you don't think it's really a thing. I'm sure players believe it's a real thing. I'm sure people in that clubhouse believe it's a real thing. But yeah, you can't quantify it. So I think it's more the fact of everybody's just playing well right now. 00:16:28 Speaker 1: Can't complain, can't complaiin. They just got to keep mashing, and the starting pitch needs to stay healthy as well. 00:16:34 Speaker 2: Before we get to our second storyline here, quick word from our friends at Simply Seattle. They have the best Seattle sports apparel in the game. 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You get fifteen percent off of your purchase. 00:17:27 Speaker 3: This fall, stream your favorites and discover more with Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN Plus together watch the highly anticipated new season of Loki and see the ghost materialize in Haunted Mansion on Disney Plus. Catch more frights with the Boogeyman, an American horror story delegate on Hulu and on ESPN Plus. Get into the action with college football and NFL. All of these and more streaming now. Get the Disney Bundle with plans starting at nine to ninety nine a month plans with ESPN Plus starting at fourteen ninety nine a month. Terms apply. See Disney Bundle dot com for details. 00:18:09 Speaker 2: Okay, second storyline, Luis Castillo TJ has a real shot to win the cy young not being the not be in contention for it to win. 00:18:19 Speaker 1: It, and there's a lot of things working in his favorite too. I mean, not only now is the second in the league in era, in the American League in era, he's now second in innings so people get the volume they want. He's first in whip what. I couldn't believe that I saw that. I was like, it just really doesn't seem like he's allowed fewer base runners perading than everyone else. But he has, he has, and he's also got something that old voters love, lyle. He's in first place. 00:18:48 Speaker 2: I did want to talk about this because Garrett Cole, I think we can agree with the front runner right now, right. 00:18:54 Speaker 1: Yes, he is the odds on. I have the odds here if you want to hear him, Garrett Coles minus This is from fan duel. Garrett Cooles a minus two ten, so he's the favorite. Castillo second at plus three hundred, Gossman's right behind him at plus seven hundred. That's the three that the sports books are really like in then after that it's a bit of a drop off. George Kirby is actually next after that at plus twenty three hundred. But it's really a three horse race right now in the American League. And if we're looking at situations, and we're looking at exposure, and we're looking at winning, which we know some voters do actually really like, Castillo was on top of that list. 00:19:32 Speaker 2: So here's what I was going to pose. You look at the numbers. Garrett Cole leads in f wour in era, in XCRA FIP, he's actually got a pretty big lead. In b war four, it's a little closer. They are tied in strikeouts. Luis, however, has the edge in whip X FIP strikeout rate walk rate, so it is close. And there's a real world where Louise could pass Garrett Cole in a lot of these categories. Because a lot of them. The Cole leads in Luise is not far behind. If Garrett Cole and the New York Yankees were the team having a surging month of August in first place in their division, and two guys were neck and neck for this race, who would be the favorite. Oh, it'd be Garrett Cole because he's on the Yankees East Coast playing out of their minds. It's simple fact. So shouldn't Luis get the same credit? The fact he is the ace of a team that's the hottest in baseball right now and has a chance to win the AL West, where Garrett Cole is pitching unmeaningful games and has been for a few weeks now. I don't know. I'm just saying, if Old voters are big on winning, Luis is winning Garrett Cole's team, isn't. 00:20:41 Speaker 1: I think instead of asking me that question, you should ask it to John Hayman. I think he'll get a better answer. 00:20:47 Speaker 2: Oh, you know, John Hayman's voting for Luis Castillo's He's already mailed in his ballot. Oh Yankee or Mariner? Oh too easy for him. 00:20:56 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good point. That is a good point, and it's unfortunate because even with Garrett Cole in last place, he might still win. Might just still win. I mean again, he's got first place a lot of these categories. And for the most part, I mean, if you asked any ran any I would say, semi more than casual baseball fan who pays attention to the entire league, who's been the best pitcher in the American League this year? They would probably say Garrett Cole, and they they're not necessarily wrong. So in that case, it's like, well, Okay, wouldn't be the end of the world if he won the Cy Young. But the point you make there is phenomenal. If the roles were switched and you flip their stats over too, and it was Garrett Cole on the surging Mariners team or Mariners team, it would be a surging Yankees team. It wouldn't even be close. It wouldn't be close. But Cy Young or not for Louis Castill, I mean, we just need to really appreciate what we're seeing from Louis Castillo this season. I even though sometimes in some of these starts it really doesn't seem like, you know, he's a Cy Young. I mean to be honest, until maybe the last few weeks when people have really started pumping out his numbers. If you asked me if Luis Castile had a real chance of winning the American League cy Young this year, I'd probably said no. But you look at the numbers overall now and he is. It's fascinating to believe for a stretch I thought in the middle of the season, which was kind of mediocre at times. 00:22:22 Speaker 2: In case anybody couldn't hear the sarcasm in my voice a minute ago, there's no chance Hayman is voting for Luis Castillo. We actually get into this a little bit with Jolly Alive in our interview today about John Hayman and his hatred for the Mariners. But yeah, he is the guy that will not be voting for Luis Castillo anyway. To your point, DJ, three of Louise's last four starts have been as dominant as he's pitched in a Mariner's uniform. Aside from the playoff start in Toronto, look at his three outings against the Orioles, the White Sox, and his most recent one against the Royals. In those three starts, he has thrown twenty innings. He's given up eight hits in those twenty innings, and those three starts, he has allowed two earned runs, four walks, and twenty three punch outs. He has absolutely overpowered these lineups, including a really good Orioles lineup and that royal start on Sunday, nobody could touch him. 00:23:15 Speaker 1: Yeah, and a couple of those starts he's had in that stretch, the Mariners gave him the balls like, yeah, we have no bullpen left, good luck, and you know what he's done. He is, as I put as a labeled at my notes. I know you love this part where his X dog came out. You know how all the expected stats came out, his ex dog went into the one hundred percentile and he went out there and he absolutely shoved. Here's this nugget on Luise. The Mariners were ten out on July nineteenth till they played in Minnesota. Since that point, Luis Castillo has gone six innings in all eight of his starts. He's gone seven innings and half of them. That's what you want out of your ace, even if the run prevention isn't totally down. I mean, you need that guy eating up innings, getting outs and giving you a chance to win, and that's what he's done. And you really only had one blow up starts and that start in that stretch, a really strange game down in Anaheim where he gave up seven earned and there's still one Anyway. 00:24:10 Speaker 2: Is Luise's X him in the one hundred percentile too? He's him? 00:24:14 Speaker 1: Yep? 00:24:14 Speaker 2: Okay, so his X dog's in the one hundred percentile and his X him is the one hundred percentile. I think you should put that right in front of every East Coast voter's face and say, how are you not voting for this guy? He's a dog, he's him, And you'll have all these guys in their seventies being like, what is this terminology? It's like, it's it's the uh, it's the meme of Steve Buscemi with the skateboard and the hat backwards. It's like, how do you do? Fellow kids? That's what those these Coast writers will be seeing looking at those X numbers. 00:24:42 Speaker 1: Yeah, how do you think you would explain X him to John Hayman? 00:24:46 Speaker 2: He's him, John Hayman, Louise is him. He'd be like, yeah, he he is, he is, he is? 00:24:51 Speaker 1: What is my vote? 00:24:54 Speaker 2: No, he'd be like, yeah, he is he he Luis Castillo is is pitching. Well, it's like yeah, but Johnny's him. You just don't get it, dude, you just don't get it. 00:25:06 Speaker 1: It's been so cool to see the Mariner's fingerprints on how Luis Castillo has sort of evolved as a pitcher. I didn't even realize this until it was brought up today. Adam Jude wrote an article in the Seattle Times that published today here on Monday, talking about the Mariner's attempt at going after the first pitch strike percentage record by the way which they are currently. If they were the season were to end today, they would have the highest mark of all time, passing the twenty eighteen Dodgers. As a team, this Mariner's pitching staff has thrown a first pitch strike sixty four point four percent of the time, and you know, goes with their philosophy, throw first pitch, throw a good throw, a quality pitch for a first pitch strike every time. And Luis Castilla when he's in Cincinnati wasn't exactly a guy who had great command. I mean, his last full season he was there in twenty twenty one, he walked back as at a nine percent clip two seasons before that. In twenty nineteen, which is his best season as a pro so far, he walked batters over ten percent of the time. He walked a ton of guys. But now we get here to Seattle in his first full season with the Mariners, and his walk rate is now five and a half percent, And as we mentioned earlier, his walks and hits per innings pitch base runners per inning is the lowest in baseball. That's the testament to the Mariners organization and to Luis absorbing that information and executing it out on the field. 00:26:32 Speaker 2: Should we add in there that George Kirby ranks third in Whip and Logan Gilbert ranks fifth. The Mariners have three of the top five pitchers in baseball in WHIP And for those who don't look at WHIP that much, it literally means you are not giving up base runners. Those three guys who would probably be your three starters in a playoff series. Do not let guys on base, simple as that. 00:26:55 Speaker 1: It's pretty good and usually guys score runs by getting on base. When you don't let them get on base, they can't score. So simple man. 00:27:05 Speaker 2: Jason Churchill talked about it with us before the start of the season about the Castillo trade and the extension. He said he thought the Mariners always internally believed they could get even more out of Luis Castillo. Then he was showing in Cincinnati at the time that they traded for him. I think we're seeing exactly that walks are down, throwing more strikes, still striking guys out. He's done everything well. I mean, he looks so good right now, especially these last few starts where he has been at the top of his game. 00:27:35 Speaker 1: Now, the big thing for Luis is he's gonna need to finish strong. If there's one thing us Mariner fans know about cy Young voters, there's a hell of a lot of recency bias. If he goes out there and has even if the Maritors are solidly in a playoff spot, if he goes out there and has a blow up start the second to last week of the season and Garrett Cole doesn't, who do you think is getting votes? 00:27:56 Speaker 2: Yeah, well, considering Felix to this day should have I've still won the cy Young in twenty fourteen, but because of one blow up outing he had toward the end of the year, they yanked it away from him to give it to Corey Klueber. 00:28:08 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's it right. So Luis needs to finish strong, which we think he will, but he's also gonna have his work cutout for him because this is also gonna be one of the toughest stretches of the season. I mean shit, he might pitch the way the rotation lines up, he might pitch twice against twice, or they'd be twice against the Texas Rangers, which make you earn it. Their lineup is despite their bullpen, their lineup still still pretty good. So we're gonna have to keep an eye on that for Luis as we go down the stretch. Before we get to our interview with Jolly Olive, a word from Betterhelp is something interfering with your happiness or preventing you from achieving your goals, regardless if you have a clinical mental health issue like depression or anxiety, or if you're just a human who lives in this world who is going through a hard time. Therapy can give you a tool to approach your life in a very different way. And that's why I'm excited to tell you about today's sponsor, Better Help. 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You can easily switch to a new therapist at no additional cost without stressing about insurance, who's in your network, or anything like that. So if you're strugg link, consider online therapy with Betterhelp. Click the link in the description or visit betterhelp dot com slash Marine Layer Pod. Okay, we had a great conversation with Jack Oliver otherwise known as Jolly Olive. Good timing with the Mets series coming up this weekend. As we talked with Draftnickmark earlier in this year, it's a while ago now, but front of the pod Draftnickmark talked about some of those storylines between the Mets and the Mariners. Didn't really dive into that quite as much with Jolly, but it's very interesting to learn about his YouTube channel, what's gone wrong with the Mets, and working at John Boy Media, all things I think are a part of a very interesting conversation we've had and we're glad to finally able to track him down. 00:30:46 Speaker 2: He was awesome. I will say I think he might be one of the tamer Mets fans. Is that a their way to put a spin on this? He really knows to stop. His content is awesome, really fun to talk to. I would say he has a pretty level head on him about the Mets and where this team's future is headed, where sometimes we know fans in New York aren't exactly like that. I think he had a pretty good perspective on it. 00:31:11 Speaker 1: Yeah, he did, and we've been trying to track him down for months to be honest, scheduling and setting up a time, so it's been really nice to finally actually get him off. It was nice, and again the timing worked out too, and it was also nice. We did meet him at the John Boy media event they held in Seattle at Optimism of Brewing at Capitol Hill during All Star Week with good to get that initial connection there and finally make it happen on the podcast. 00:31:34 Speaker 2: It was great when don't We started messaging him earlier in the year April. 00:31:39 Speaker 1: May two, when the season started. 00:31:42 Speaker 2: We were trying to coordinate schedules and obviously he's always doing a bunch of stuff. He's really busy with all the stuff he's doing over at John Boy. And he said, honestly, what if we did this. The Mariners and Mets are going to play first weekend of September. What if we did it a little bit before then, that would be a perfect time to set it up and it would be relevant to both our teams. And we said great, So I'm at All Star Week, got to actually meet him a little bit in person, get to talk to him, and they were like, hey, we're still good for that week of September, and he said sure. End of August, He's like, absolutely, and here we are. We did the interview. He was awesome. He tells us a little bit about really what makes John Boy click, what made his channel blow up. He does a bunch of really cool content and we get into all of it with them here. 00:32:22 Speaker 1: So let's get you to that interview. Let's hear from Jolly Olive. 00:32:27 Speaker 2: All right, we've got Jack Oliver on with us. You guys know much better as Jolly Olive baseball YouTuber, also of John Boy Media, and maybe a better term would just be the John Boy Quiz guy. Jack? Is that what most people know you as? The trivia guy? 00:32:41 Speaker 4: A lot of the new viewers, I think they got to know me as the trivia guru. But I'm a man of several outlets. 00:32:48 Speaker 1: I guess how many hours does someone have to put into Baseball Reference to earn that title? 00:32:54 Speaker 4: You know, I've spent my fair share, probably more than I am proud to admit, But I believe it or not that office that I've spent way more than I have, and I'll know more than I ever will. 00:33:04 Speaker 1: So what's the trivia ranking in the office? Oh? 00:33:06 Speaker 4: Good question, What a way to start, well, the great The beautiful thing about it is that everyone is kind of a specialist in a different game. If you're thinking of the baseball recall game where they count backwards for a certain category, it's obviously Lucas. If you think ref guests, obviously you probably points in Max or even Jake. Is that a lot of wins, so it varies. You know. The connect crew is kind of BBD adult feely, so I try and cater to everyone's strength, so they all get their own spotlight. 00:33:35 Speaker 2: Now, are you guys allowed to be on fangraps in the office or is it just totally prohibited it's reference only. 00:33:41 Speaker 4: Oh no, I'm a big fangraps guy. I got my own accountant subscription, big fan of what they do. You know, one of the beautiful things about baseball stat heads is that each interface kind of offers something different, and if you're into certain things, you'll probably lean more one way than the other. Also, it just kind of works in my brain. I like that each of them are a different color, like references red. Pangrafts is green, Savant's blue. It's like, you know, it's perfect. 00:34:07 Speaker 2: Well, speaking of blue, for those who don't know, Jolly he is a fan of the New York Mets. This series is coming up between the Mariners and Mets. It'll be at the time of recording us, it'll be next weekend, but here in early September, that Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and when we plan to have you on. Originally, all those months ago, I figured, oh, this will be a marquee series come early September. When we got about halfway to that point, I thought, Oh, both of us are going to be or all of us are going to be miserable sitting on this podcast talking about our teams. And now TJ and I've picked up a little bit of optimism in the last few weeks. To put it lightly should but what's your vibe check the Jay these days? Jolly on? Where this team's at. 00:34:47 Speaker 4: You know, I mean the band aid has been ripped off, which I'm actually I'm actually pretty grateful for, because I've watched a lot of Yankee fans go through the crumbling of their own hope when their team didn't buy it, didn't sell, kind of just stuck in it. Steve Cohen and the front office kind of cut the string on my fantom and they said, hey, come back next year. This year is kind of a wash, so I've kind of just been watching passively and a little bit leisurely. And it's also opened the door for me to watch a lot of other teams that I didn't watch a ton of last year because the me that's one hundred and one games, and one of those teams is your Seattle Mariners, who have been playing a lot better of recent and I've had some spots on baseball today, so I've kind of really had to brush up on my knowledge of what's going on. And the team's just hitting. 00:35:30 Speaker 3: Man. 00:35:30 Speaker 4: The Mariners figured out how to hit again. I mean, it obviously starts and ends with Julio, but that whole lineup is back above in one hundred ops plus, which is exactly where you want to be. And I really liked that. I forget who posed the question, if it was us or somebody else, but they asked, what big three or what rotation are you most scared of, or you know, I think is the most fearsome going into the playoffs. I saw a lot of Seattle Mariners replies, man, because you got a special three up there with Castillo, Kirby and Gilbert. So I kind of dodged the question by talking about your team pretty much instantly, and then that's and then that's they'll be back next year and I'll see if they can make some noise then. But I will be going to the state and to watch the Mariners play for sure. 00:36:11 Speaker 1: The way you described watching the Mets, you did just describe how most people watch the Mariners for the twenty years prior to us doing this, so well versed, I would say, we know what it's like. Do you have a three year assessment of Steve Cohen? 00:36:26 Speaker 4: Yeah, that's an interesting question because anyone who says, you know, bring back the will Ponds, whatever, Steve Cohen doesn't changed a thing or instantaneously wrong, you shouldn't even entertain an argument with them. He hasn't been perfect, and I think a lot of people will want to put him on a pedestal already because they had a great season last year. He's made a lot of mistakes. You know, in twenty twenty one, there was a ton of mistakes between you know, Jered Porter getting hired, Zach Scott getting moved to a position of power, and those guys really fumbling those opportunities in pretty gross ways. But there's been a lot of progress, I think, and they made a smart business decision this year with this team, because this team was not going anywhere, and I think a lot of fans could have told you that, and they made the smart business business decision to not bet and rely on hope and rather use a proven strategy, which is selling off and garnering prospects for the future. And their farm systems looking a lot better. And there's a lot of guys to get excited about now. And I think that past ownerships either waited too long to sell or sold to the wrong people, and the Mets have never had a fire sell that I consider as successful as the one we've had this year. Obviously, we have to wait for the results to kind of pan out to see where those guys end up at, but I think there's much reason for optimism. I think the core is going to be intact, the guys that you love to root for, a Lonzo and Nemo, lindor all those and some young town will get infused into it. Plus all the spending spree that Steve con will probably go into this offseason once again, so I'm not super worried with I think he's done a good job so far. I don't think he's going to be able to deliver on the three to five years, let's win a world series kind of thing, And to be honest, I never really thought that was going to happen, because you never think you're gonna win a world series until you do. So I think at this point, I'm very comfortable with where we're at. I trust him at the helm. But it's a process, man, and you guys know that firsthand. To build a successful team through and through it takes many, many years and the right people in charge and just the right amount of moves to be made. 00:38:16 Speaker 1: We come from a fan base who thinks the Mariners don't spend enough money, and you come from the fan base that has spent the most money ever. Is it possible to spend too much money? Has Steve Cohen maybe been a little too aggressive whipping out his checkbook to sign older guys and try and supplement the roster that way? 00:38:34 Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean there is a line. I think. I don't know if we're there yet. And I do really appreciate ownership admitting mistakes and using the money they spent to basically essentially buy prospects, which was the popular phrase being thrown around at the Mets selloff, And I do think the Marrigers could stand to spend a little bit more, although I do think they did a good job locking down Castillo, they locked down Jay Rod. There are more pieces that I think they need to get sick here, but that's a good start. That's for the Mats. I don't I think they're gonna keep spending like they have like drunk sailors, because I think Steve Cohen has the money and he doesn't care, and he's he's a relentless man on a mission right now and the only way to really legitimize this team is to get them in the dance and get them far in the dance. So he's gonna keep spending, man. I mean, the freezing crop is not as star studded as it was last year, so I don't think it'll be the same you know, spending spree that we saw last season in the season before. But I would be I would be lying if I didn't expect, you know, Steve Cohen to open up the check book again. 00:39:33 Speaker 2: Okay, you're talking about spending money. You also mentioned Pete a Lonzo a minute ago. Is he staying in town because there's all these rumors swirling around right now. 00:39:42 Speaker 4: I mean, he's gotta right. This is really the only part of this year that has really perplexed me. All the moves they made I pretty much agreed with in trading Vierlin or trading sures Are, but training Alonzo, I mean the package has to be substantial. I mean this, this is a guy that's on pace to not just break every franchise record, but shatter every franchise record offensively in Met's history. A team that's been around for sixty years. To think that he's going to be that easily replaceable is a tall task. I mean, I've seen teams do it in the past. If you remember the Ragers traded Mark to Share they got a haul back that ended up getting them into the World Series back to back years. But it's rare man and it prospects you really never know, even with the best ones. So for Pete Alonzo to be dealt, it would have to be a surefire deal. And if you were going to get that deal, it probably was going to happen at this deadline when he had a year and a half of control. Now you're approaching next year, and if you do try to entertain a trade for him, again, he's going to be a rental at that time. Whatever value you get back probably won't be as much. Plus, if you trade him, he's probably not going to sign back here because you're the team that just traded him. So I think the Mets are going to try and work towards an extension this offseason. But if not, Pete A. Lonzo might have the contract year of all contract years next year and make Steve Cohen really open the check book. 00:41:01 Speaker 1: Why wouldn't they sign him? 00:41:04 Speaker 4: I mean, it's a number of reasons. I think one is that they project him being a DH in the future. He'll be entering free agency when he hits age thirty, which is always kind of scary in the baseball realm. And you know, power tends to wane as you get older in age. But Pete Alonzo is not just any power back. He's a very special power back, a guy that could hit you fifty any season if he stays healthy. He might even do it this year and what's been a down year for everybody. So in terms of them entertaining that trade, maybe it's just because they have a lot of large contracts in the books already. They have Lindor for the next hour many years, Nimo for the next eight years. If they don't view Alonso as a pure part of that core, than the rent course of action right now would be to trade him. But I just think he's a guy that you can supplement with other great offensive bats in the lineup and really make a powerhouse of an offensive team with him and Lindoor at the center of it. So I still don't understand a lot of it. I think it got leaked down by opposing teams, specifically the Brewers, because the Mets are head hunting some of the guys in their front office, so it kind of makes sense that they would want to deter that. Whatever point stands, I think the Mets trading Alonso is like trading you know, Tom sever I know it's a bit of an exaggeration, but you're trading a guy that has a chance to be on the mount rushmore of your team's history. 00:42:22 Speaker 1: That might be some other things that people forget. In terms of Steve Cohen weaponizing his money, it's like he's not just buying players. David Stearns, I saw your tweets about it. I mean, he has really rebuilt Milwaukee and turned them into really a pitching factory alongside a really solid winning team in a low middle market, and all of a sudden, you're like, Okay, now you have unlimited resources. Go ahead, Yeah, like the sky's sky's limit for you. 00:42:48 Speaker 4: So, I mean, especially when you consider what kind of team the Brewers were before he came around, along with Craig Counsel and the other guys. I mean, that was a team that if they snuck their way into the annal Central Crown, that's considered a really successful seat. He's another winning team every year. I think they're gonna win their fourth division title in the last like six years or something like that. They haven't gotten the big one yet obviously, and I just don't think they spend enough or draft well enough to really ever get there unless they get some kind of amazing player. So if I'm a guy like David Stearns, maybe I am thinking about, Okay, well, I can do more if I have more resources. Maybe I do want to jump ship and see what else I can do with my maximum amount of potential. But it's a big jump because it's a big city with a lot of big expectations that I've not been met yet. 00:43:35 Speaker 2: It's why I was always fascinated by why Billy Bean never was interested in taking that Mets job, because he was offered it a few years ago, but he didn't want to leave. And I always figured with the system he's used his whole career or nearly his whole career, paired with the money he'd be given to spend in New York, I always thought somebody like that might be interested in the Mets job. So maybe somebody like Stearns would think about it. 00:43:55 Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean there was that whole rotating door of nobody wanted the GM job, which was pretty odd. I mean, I think it the most publicized GM hunt had ever been. But yeah, it's a tall task. I think the Mets have developed a pretty poor reputation over the years of mismanagement and not allocating resources properly and mistreating players. So I get people's general aversion to wanting to work with them, even under this new regime. But that's that's part of this whole process of Steve Cohen trying to re establish this team is to get people to trust in the process again, which you know last year was a huge success. This year was a major step backwards and it's going to take more time to rebuild that. 00:44:31 Speaker 2: I've got one last Pedal Linzo question for you, but before the entire explanation came out, what was your first reaction when he chucked that Mason Win baseball into the stands. 00:44:42 Speaker 4: I actually I wasn't watching the game live because the games don't really matter anymore, so I only saw the clip hours later and all the out so I saw I read the outrage first, and I was like, what did he do? Because he's done a lot of stupid shit in the past in terms of just like saying the wrong thing to the media all that, and then I just see him shake the ball and whaled into the stands, and my honest reaction was that it was absolutely hilarious. Obviously, I felt better that Win got the ball back, because you know, that's a massive memento and if that gets lost, that's a way bigger deal. But once I found out that the thing was secure, I just thought Pete A. Lonzo would really be the only guy to do this, And he of course apologized profusely in postgame comments the people that love to hate him. That was perfect ammunition for them, but the people that I think love to see him be an absolute goofball and sometimes a little bit of a dufis that was also perfect ammunition. 00:45:31 Speaker 1: So everyone in the state of Georgia. 00:45:33 Speaker 2: Basically, yeah, yeah, you talked about you're going to go to this Mariners met series when they play, and you've talked about you've watched a lot of Mariners baseball. We've heard that a lot from more national people over the last year or two. It's all I like to watch the Mariners a lot. This is a fun team to watch. How did you get so attached to watching them all of a sudden over the last couple of years. 00:45:53 Speaker 4: For me, it actually it actually goes back a little bit further to the Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz, Kyle Seeger teams that I think it was either twenty fourteen or twenty sixteen where they nearly got into the playoffs, and I followed them a lot that season because the Mets weren't really doing anything, and I've always, I don't know, I've always had an attachment to them. I think it's because of the revolving door of like iconic players that they've had between Griffy and Ichiro and King Felix. But this is easily the most complete Mariners team, even you know, comparing the last year too. This is the most complete Mariners team I've ever seen, defensively, offensively, starting, pitching, bullpen, you name it. I really do think this team can go toe to toe with anybody. I think the standing that they have right now is only really an indicator of how poorly they were playing before. Because if you give this team another month, I really do think they could take the American League West. And it's exciting for Seattle fans because you know, I think anybody who watches a team go through a drought like that is inclined to root for them. Like when the Mets were in the playoffs and fifteen, I was watching the American leagu playoffs and thinking, Wow, this Royals team is awesome, Like they're really easy to root for, and then we had to play them in the end. Suddenly I hate them because they're much better than us. And I think a lot of teams are going to watch the managers and say, damn, they're a lot of fun. They're a lot of fun to watch play, and then they're gonna have to watch their team play them and go oh shit, Like, now I'm gonna despise this team a little bit, because that's the next step for the managers, for them to become a little bit more legitimate franchise in the twenty twenties, they're going to have to start taking names and winning big playoff series. And I think last year was a huge step in the right direction. You make it to the Dance, you win a playoff series, you really go toe to toe with the Astros, and no is a sweet but all those games are close. Now, I really do feel like this is a team that's better than the Astros, that's better than the Rangers, really doesn't have a lot of teams in front of them, and could go and really make some noise, especially if they get the right bracket. With wherever they fall seeding wise, They're a lot of fun to watch right now. 00:47:45 Speaker 1: Is the short of This is going to be a good place to debunk something that happened on the Peacock broadcast over the weekend. So you live about as far away from Seattle as possible, probably, and I forget who it was mentioned on the Peacock broadcast right at the Star Art. It might have been in the pregame show said that man Jui Rodriguez, imagine how much more exposure he'd get if he played somewhere else in a bigger market. Do you think his exposure is a problem, the fact that he plays nearly in Canada with you being all the way in the metropolis of New York. 00:48:16 Speaker 4: Not at all. I think if your East Coast or West Coast, your marketing is going to be there. It's different for guys in the central. Like I think if Cody Bellinger is having this massive redemption season for like the Yankees or something, or the Red Sox, it's a way bigger deal than I think some people are making it out to be. But Jay Rod, I mean when we went to Seattle, his face is plastered everywhere. He's in T mobile ads, he was all over the place. Not to mention that the Altar game was in Seattle, obviously, but in terms of you know, I mean, each era was a global phenomenon. When he was around, King Felix was widely regarded as the best pitcher they played for the Mariners. They didn't even play for good Mariners teams, they were just great on those teams themselves. So I really don't agree with that, because I actually I really enjoyed my time in Seattle as my first time going this year. It was a great city, and I think that it's really cool that a player of his caliber that young knew that he wanted to be there for the rest of his career, or at least the prime of his career, signing that big deal. 00:49:12 Speaker 2: It is interesting that that's still a narrative and maybe there'd be a little bit more exposure if a player like that is on the East Coast, but just a little bit. It's not like Otani doesn't have his exposure. It's not like movie Bets doesn't have his exposure. I think the West Coast is some like far off foreign land. These guys are still all over the place. 00:49:29 Speaker 4: Exactly totally agree. 00:49:32 Speaker 2: I've got one last Mets question for you before we transition a little bit, and so I've started to I've started to circulate back to this over and over over the last couple of years because I figured it was some fake storyline. But I've seen you tweet about it. Our friend Giraff Neckmark, who's now been on this podcast, has tweeted a bunch about it. I've seen a lot of Mets fans tweet about this, so I've got to ask, does Buster only actually hate your franchise? 00:49:54 Speaker 4: Who the hell knows? Man, I really, it's so like I know that every journalist is supposed to be unbiased, and you know in that regard, but they were all fans at one point, right, and like you know, when you're a fan, you developed distaste for other teams. I'm not going to pretend that I don't have that too, even though I'm also supposed to be unbiased in some capacity. I think most Early hates the Mets. I think he hates other teams too, but I do think that he definitely hates the Mets, and I think, you know what, you know what, I always remember a lot of people remember recent stuff. I will always remember him telling Mets fans that he would bet the family farm that George Springer was going to our team to play center fields, and then the next day he signed with the Blue Jays on a six year deal, because I think he just did that to get our hopes up. And I won't ever forgive before it, even though you know Nimo has been great and Springer's been fine. That got my hopes up. And it pissed me off. 00:50:47 Speaker 1: This podcast is represented well though, by each having a team that a national reporter hates. Have you seen? Have you does it? Does it seem to you that John Hayman hates any teams, because to us it appears that he he make it aint? Yeah, I think so. 00:51:03 Speaker 4: I don't know. I don't think that team John's a fan of. I think he hates the Yankees a little bit, which is where Arson jokes can really Yeah, I think I think so. I don't know. I'll have to look into. 00:51:16 Speaker 1: That seems kind of miserable, to be honest. 00:51:21 Speaker 4: I think a lot of the major is miserable at this point. They've had the jobs forever. 00:51:26 Speaker 2: That that is a storyline out here, just just I guess FYI. Mariners fans fully believe, not just us, but the fan base in general thinks, oh, John Hayman hates this franchise. 00:51:34 Speaker 4: Well, you know what, that's what you don't really want him to like your franchise. 00:51:37 Speaker 2: You know, that's probably fair. You know, you've been in the media world for a few years now. I mean you started your YouTube channel. I mean I guess that's where you really got your start. And when we met you during All Star Week. You were telling us how I didn't go to school for sports media. I didn't really think this was gonna be my path anything like that. But how did you start your YouTube channel? Because it's really grown over the years. 00:51:57 Speaker 4: I appreciate it. 00:51:58 Speaker 1: Man. 00:51:59 Speaker 4: Yeah, we we had a couple great conversations when we met at the brewery in Seattle, which was awesome. Thank you to anyone who's listening that was also there. We wait a great time. For me. It was I was working a tutoring job. I was actually working two jobs in college. The pandemic hit, so everything got kind of paused, and I used to be a playwright. I used to write a ton, but I used to write primarily in short plays, and when no one was putting on plays because COVID was happening, I had to kind of shift my writing itch towards something else. And I always watched baseball. Actually didn't have any friends in college that watched baseball, so I never talked about it with anybody. So that was a really good way to kind of use it as an outlet. Because baseball also wasn't happening at the time, so I thought, oh, what a great way to engage with other people because they're probably in the same boat as I am. I'll just throw it out into the nether and see what I can find. Writing articles does not go great, especially when you're starting from the ground up, so I just tried my hand at iMovie to see what I could throw together, and a big part of it was just listening to other people and reading other blogs and seeing what narratives they came up with and trying to mimic those. And it only took five or six videos because I think everyone was just looking for the same kind of content before one of my videos really took off and then the channel took off from there. But it's a grind man, especially that first year. I think I was at one point I was uploading three videos a week, all of them at least eight minutes to hit that threshold, and it was a ton of time consuming. But I really really loved it and I still do. And it's been nice to be with John Boy Media to help kind of like diversify what I do. So I'm down to one video a week and I do trivia videos and podcasts and all that other stuff. So it's great to kind of be involved in every capacity in terms of baseball media. But I'd be lying if I said this is what I thought I was going to be doing. You know, from twenty nineteen to now, it's been a big time roller coaster that's really only gotten started, which is pretty interesting. 00:53:54 Speaker 1: What do you think is something that you and John Boy Media fill in the media space that wasn't there before. 00:54:01 Speaker 4: That's a good question. I don't think a lot of people proclaimed that Jon Len Media is like trying to say with baseball, and I don't think that's the case. I think part of what makes our content great is that it's a mix of fan perspectives and establish analyst perspectives and also former athletes, and I think those are like three key voices in sports commentary. When you're able to bring that all together, you can get some really interesting conversation out of it. But also the fact that we don't take ourselves too seriously, Like I don't think that we think of ourselves as baseball journalists and any real capacity. But you know, we've taken advantage of a lot of great opportunities to work with great people and very smart people, and I'm glad that a lot of people have been along for pretty much the entire ride at this point to watch it all go down. But I mean the fact that I get to chat with Chris Rose or Trevor Pluff once a week is a blessing and it's helped me learned a lot and I get a lot better at what I do. And I think a lot of people listen in and recognize that, and that's really cool. 00:54:59 Speaker 1: Is like Chris Rose bring to that. I mean talk about like a superstar media personality. 00:55:05 Speaker 4: Yeah, I remember the first conversation I had with and I think I fawned a little bit too much or it was a little too startruk because that was a guy I watched non intentional talk all the time, and he definitely helps you and getting to take yourself a little bit more seriously and feel a little bit more confident. So after a few episodes of Baseball Today where we worked together for the first time, I found myself more engaged in conversation, willing to say more, willing to offer my piece, And I think he's really good at bringing that out of his co host but also challenging you. And you know if you if you present an opinion, he's going to contrast it and try and get you to expand on it. And I think that leads to a really great conversation. 00:55:39 Speaker 2: How did you wind up at john Boy Media after starting this YouTube channel? Of years? 00:55:44 Speaker 4: So I was doing YouTube for I want to say it probably a year at that point, or maybe less than a year. No, a year because it was July and I had just I become friends with a lot of people on Twitter. Was trying to collaborate as much as I can just to get my name out there, to network a little bit. So I worked with other channels like Stargriving Sports and draftic Mark that you mentioned before. And I had always really enjoyed watching breakdowns and I would interact with Jimmy and Jake on Twitter. Didn't get too much traction there, but I would DM once in a while with Jimmy and one of the times I DMed, he happened to just reply and say, Hey, you live in the New Jersey area, right, We're in the Bronx. We'd love to have you at the office just to hang out for a day. And I was like, oh cool. It didn't seem like a job opening of any kind. It was Hey, this is a baseball creator. Let's bring them in, let's do some content. I was like, that's perfect, that's all I need right now. And then at the end of that day they asked me if I wanted to join the team, and obviously it was an instant yes, and from there it's been pretty amazing. 00:56:43 Speaker 2: And how did the nickname Jolly Olive for him? I mean, I know Oliver is your last name, but where does Jolly stem from? 00:56:49 Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I told the story a few times, but I made my first video completed. It was really proud of it. Obviously it hasn't aged gray, but it was my first one. I was very excited about it and I wanted to upload it as soon as possible, but I sold him have a channel name and I could not, for the life of me, think of one, and I did for some reason. I don't remember why. I didn't want to do something with the word baseball in it, because I was thinking, Oh, if I ever want to trademark this, it might be hard to if I was the word baseball on it. I don't know why I was thinking that, But Jolly Olive was a nickname that I had in middle school from a girl I had a crush on, and I don't know why I remembered it, but I was like, you know what it'll make for cool marketing. I can make the channel green, that's my favorite color. Just throw an olive in the logo. That's easy, bam. If I feel like changing it later, I can just change it. And then, little did I realize things would skyrocket from there, and now I can't change it. So I'm pretty much pigeonholed into it. But I think I like it now now. 00:57:45 Speaker 1: One of the notable things about John Boy Media is your warehouse blitz ball games, which I don't know did they sell you that on that the first time you went in there was the was the warehouse there yet? 00:57:53 Speaker 4: The warehouse was not there yet. I think it was. It was only an inkling because when I was there, I was in the Bronx, so the alley was Actually it's still in use, but I do remember the day where they told us we weren't allowed to use the alley anymore, and the panic that set in in that room of like, where are we going to play now? Was palpable. But yeah, the warehouse I got to kind of watch come to life, which is really cool. 00:58:14 Speaker 1: So one of your defining moments at John Boy Media. Is your home run you hit off your boss, Jimmy? I mean, can you describe that feeling, the just the the matter of I got you? 00:58:29 Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it was. It was funny because what a lot of people forget is that before we went into bracket play, there was two regular season games and then the top seeds got to pick who they played. So I was with a really good pitcher, Drew Davis, who pitches in Major League with football, and he was able to allow no runs, so we were able to win one game, and then we lost one game in extra innings, so I believe we were the two seed, and a lot of people thought we were going to pick one team, but I told Drew I had no hits at this point, and I was like, if you want me to hit, I think we need to pick Jimmy and Jake because I think I can catch up to their speed but not anybody else's. And Drew didn't like the idea, but he let me do it because he wanted to see if I could hit and help him out. So we pick them, and everyone kind of like scoffed at it, like what are you guys doing? Because they had just come in second in the last blitzwell battle. They were a very good team. But then the decision got validated because I kind of just got real mad in my second at bat, let a violent swing go, and it happened to just connect in the right spot and made a little moment. 00:59:28 Speaker 1: It's cool. What is it about the blitz ball content that really grabs people? Is it just like a more fun version of a kind of serious game. 00:59:37 Speaker 4: I think it's the backyard spirit and kind of the competitive nature of like siblings playing were like, you want to win, but you're not taking it too seriously. You're keeping it light, but there is that competitive edge there. And then it's maximized by the production value of it all because the production that goes into warehouse games is insane, and I think without the production value, a lot of people wouldn't care as much. But when you have twelve different camera angles and the crowd reactions and jerseys and all this that goes into it, it helps you take it a little bit more seriously as well as much as seriously as we're taking it. And I think, weirdly enough, one of one of the biggest things that a lot of people who compete in the warehouse agree on is the fact that you're you're in there for three days straight and there's no windows means you kind of you're just living in the warehouse and it's all you really think about. And when it's all you think about, naturally you want to win more because everyone's there competing for the same thing. So I think it's a mix of the production and kind of us taking it as seriously as possible that makes it turn into a really good product. 01:00:35 Speaker 2: I was gonna say, when you hit that home run off Jimmy, it wasn't just a hole shrug your shoulders. The next one thing, you had a nine grade backflip. At least you're going nuts, I know the Chris Rose and Peter Moreland Moreland we're going nuts and like there was a long night. 01:00:50 Speaker 4: Yeah, kudos to Peter Wullan for saving the call because we actually we isolated the vocals after just to see what the call was, and it's just Proof and Rose screaming and they're just going, oh oh Unluckily, Peter has the wherewithal to actually put some words out into the sphere and he ends up putting together an amazing call in the home run which kind of puts it all together. 01:01:09 Speaker 2: Really, I think that whole thing is so cool, like TJ was just saying, And now the fact that you guys bring other people from the outside in, like I saw you guys just had the Savannah bananas in and all these people are invested in it now. I mean, this thing's taking on a life of its own. It seems like with the Warehouse Games. 01:01:24 Speaker 4: Yeah, it's really on the ground floor. It's a very cool thing and I'm really excited for because there are really fun plans that we have in store for next year that I can't divulge yet, but it's going to get people even more invested in the different games that we have, and I think it's gonna be great. 01:01:40 Speaker 2: Is there anything you still hope to do? I mean, I would assume the answer to this is yes, But things that you still hope to do in your media career moving forward? Is there anything on your bucket list that you're really itching to do? 01:01:51 Speaker 4: You know, it's interesting because I'm always cautious in terms of setting goals because I never want to be disappointed with where I'm at because I think, you know, whatever opportunity you should take and you should maximize it to the best of your ability. But if you ever get to the point where you're like, I'm expecting to do this at some point in my life, you might leave yourself disappointed. So I think my biggest goal is to just continue seizing opportunities and improving myself and trying to diversify my palette, because I think joining john Boy Media was really really important in terms of me branching onto other content and networking and meeting other people and taking myself a little bit more seriously. And now I'm just excited for what other opportunities can come through that, because you know, five years from now, this cycle may get a little stale and I might want to try something new, and all I can do is just be as ready as possible for those opportunities. 01:02:42 Speaker 2: Well that's all been, I mean, that's all awesome, and just to watch it from Afar and seeing what you guys do from Afar and like all the unique content, the way you bring fans in, like you pick niches that for a long time just haven't been tapped in the baseball world. And I think that's what makes john Boy Media so unique is it doesn't really stem from anything it's it's your own idea. I even think about the whole not immaculate, I mean kind of your own version of the Immaculate grid before the Immaculate Grid came out right, and you guys were doing it before it was popular, Like that's your thing. 01:03:14 Speaker 4: And that's it's really cool to see it kind of take on a life of its own. I think some people message me and we're like, hey, are you getting anything for this? And I wasn't the first to do it, I won't be the last, And I'm just happy to see other people take the idea and continue to breathe life into it because I think it's great that like baseball is so hot right now, and like it's the hottest it's been in twenty years, and everyone is, you know, talking about it, playing different games, enhancing their knowledge, getting even nerdier than they were before. And for me to have a shred of influence on that, I'm very happy. 01:03:42 Speaker 2: To well, Jack, this has been awesome. We've loved talking Mariners and Mets with you. We've loved talking about your media career with you, and we're looking forward to the series next weekend. Maybe you're not, but we are. 01:03:54 Speaker 4: You know, what it's it's win win because if the Mets win, cool, If the Mariners win, that means they're one inch closer to that vision title. So house money, that's money. 01:04:03 Speaker 2: Well, this has been awesome. We certainly hope to do it again at some point. 01:04:06 Speaker 4: Hell yeah, guys, thank you so much for having me. 01:04:10 Speaker 2: That conversation with Jolly Olive was awesome. Hopefully you guys got to learn a little bit about him and his journey. And here's two a good series this weekend between the Mets and Mariners. Let's hope the Mariners take two or three. With that. That'll just about wrap up this edition of the Marine Layer podcast. You guys know the drill. If you want to listen to the full form podcast, you can do so on Apple, Spotify, Google, and Amazon. If you do that, make sure to follow us, download the episode, and give us that five star review. The reviews and the downloads help us out big time. And it's only a couple extra seconds, guys, so make sure to go do that. Then head over to YouTube watch us on the video side, subscribe, like comment, and turn those notification bells on when you head over to the YouTube channel. On social media, check us out on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube shorts at Marine Layer Pie. We've got a bunch more player content coming, so stay tuned for that. That's t J. I'm Lyle. As always, we thank you guys for tuning in. We'll talk to you soon. 01:05:37 Speaker 1: Sh