 How do you see the series playing out? I mean, the evenly matched home run wise, Yankees probably have the advantage in the bullpen. What are you seeing, John? Yeah, I've been looking forward to this series, actually, because the intrigue, to me, is well beyond what people would consider this to be more of a mismatch. You've got the heavily favored, or at least a lot of people think, because of the year they had. The Yankees, of course, did it in a variety of ways. But what I like about this series is it's going to match, as you mentioned, two prolific home run hitting teams. But they go about it in a different way. There's a little more strikeouts in the Yankees lineup, a little less strikeouts in Minnesota's lineup. Depending on their bench, I don't know if a rise is going to be able to play. But they've got two guys that you could almost guarantee to come off the bench in a run producing situation where they need contact. And they have like a 90% contact rate. And that's Austin D. Owen and a rise, but I'm not so sure on his health. And I just think this series is going to be heavily pressured on the Yankees ability to, can they stay patient, or do they go to the pen immediately? Like, it's the first sign of trouble. And the reason I say, can they stay patient? Because the tendency is going to be for Aaron Boone to want to get to that great pen as soon as he can. And I just think long term, that might be more of an undoing than if you're able to trust your team, trust your guy, and stay patient because to win 11 games, you're going to have to probably play some tough series. And we're really, really asking those guys to pitch every single game would be a little much. Now, having said that, that they pull off a Kansas City's royal situation and win in short series, then that bullpen is going to be the reason why they win the World Series. See, I was looking at it, like, when do you go to the bullpen? Like, what's going to be their motivation to go? The first sign of trouble or third time through the order? Yeah, and I think that's going to be the big question because a lot of things have been, you know, I'm sure they've gone over every scenario. And there's a scenario they haven't gone over that. But the game and the tightness and what you see is going to be just as important as the scenarios you play out. In other words, you can't, if Paxton's on his game, let him be on his game. And trust that your team and the late game, if you keep a lot of pressure on the Minnesota twins, that's where home field comes in to your, I mean, it's hard to go to Yankee Stadium, no matter how, what kind of year you've had and deliver in the clutch and in tight game. So that's where the advantage comes in for the Yankees, in my opinion, tight game. They know they've got more guys have been there. But the Minnesota twins, their ability to pitch in the pen is a little underrated because they've done a really good job without some household names. So I just felt like the year that the Yankees had, there's nobody that has more pressure on them than Aaron Boone because of what's looming in the pen. And the temptation to get there is going to be great. And I can't wait to watch how it manifests itself because if they do clean games and when those games, the way they're supposed to, then they're gonna move on. Now, we're talking with John Smoltz. He's going to be part of the broadcast group with Bob Costas and Tom Verducci on the MLB network. They'll have game one of the Yankees and the twins on the MLB network. My three starters for the Yankees, they haven't announced it, Aaron didn't announce it today, John, would be Tanaka game one, Paxton game two and Severino game three. How do you feel? What would you do? Yeah, I wouldn't go with Tanaka game one. That's just my opinion. I think Paxton provides an opportunity to give them a little bit more fits. I know they're a great fastball hitting team, but since he's changed his repertoire and getting more curveball mix, I'm just a big James Paxton fan, but having said that, you know, his pulse and heartbeat is going to be, we're gonna find out. He hasn't been in this situation yet. He's a laid back, kind of dominant left arm. I know Tanaka's the veteran, and, but I think if you go Tanaka game one, then you're basically saying you're gonna bullpen from the fifth inning on, unless you just can get out to a big lead. He's more of a contact type pitcher. And I just, for me, I want the guy at the top of the rotation that can limit the amount of that, you know, balls in play and give you the biggest opportunity. Whoever goes game one is gonna, you gotta line up for game five. And so that's the interesting choices that, you know, I'm really intrigued to see how they're gonna lay it out for the Yankees because of what they possess. You know, you mentioned if Tanaka goes game one, they probably go to the bullpen. I gotta tell you, John, I think they're gonna be really funky. They're not gonna be conventional at all. I think it's gonna be more like what the Brewers did last year. I think they've got lanes set up where they could bring in certain people where CC could open a game because you neutralize Kepler, maybe, and then you turn around the Switch hitter, the number three batter. So I just don't think they're gonna be conventional. The only thing I agree with you that I worry about with this team is that if you're gonna go to the bullpen every single day and use the four high leverage guys and five if you include Chad Green, one of them might not be on. I mean, it's asking a lot to have five guys be on. That's my point. That's why I said the patience in this series is actually going to be crucial, in my opinion. The patience might be two outs. It might be waiting two more outs. I'm not talking about getting a starter through seven. I'm just saying that you have scenarios where you're gonna have a full run lead and runners on first, and they're gonna be antsy or runners on first and second. The atmosphere of a playoff just seems greater than it actually is when you think that the game's closer than it is because everything matters. A guy on is a rally that crowds in every pitch. And you saw it last night. We saw the stretching guys out trying to get it all to be at one game. It's just hard every single time they expect every guy to be on their game. It is very difficult. Not saying that it can't be done, but a cleaner version of a Yankees win would look something like a six inning start and then three of those guys. But using four every single game is gonna be one of those things where it'll be a challenge. That's typically why, when people talk about this year's postseason, you lean a little harder towards or you might push the edge to a team that has your prolifical starters like Houston where you don't have to eat that many more innings out of the pen. So I think the American League has got showdown, great series. I think it's gonna be a blast. And I do think you're right. I think you're gonna see a lot of early pitchers, gonna see a lot of strategy, and it may come down to the team in this series that actually puts a ball in play a little bit more than the other one. You mentioned Paxton's never been here before. How does that manifest itself? What does he have to go through that kind of an atmosphere when he's never done it before? Well, you know, it's interesting and I used to always love to ask my teammates questions over the year, get to know them on situations like this. Is their heartbeat slow and does it stay slow? Or does it speed up? Do they speed the game up? Because really what you need is a slow heartbeat. And so a laid back kind of attitude might work if you don't get too amped up. I've seen guys so amped up that I looked at him. My next teammate go, we're in trouble. This guy ready to play a football game. You can't play a football game as a pitcher on the mound. You cannot be that intense. Now, having said that, once you learn the certain guys that they get to those points where, let's face it, Mariano Rivera had no heartbeat, that's why he was so awesome. And nothing bothered him, everything slowed down. So that's what I love about this kind of playoffs, but it can also be a moment for a certain player who does something they wouldn't normally do because that pressure, that rally, that mindset I was telling you about, gets to them. And I liken it to this, I never thought there was a rally in the regular season with a runner on first or even a runner on first and second, nobody out. It never bothered me. But then all of a sudden, the crowd never reacted the way they did. And so a three run lead with a runner on first, the place goes nuts and swear the tying runs at the place. And you have to block those things out. You have to slow it down and realize you're not chasing that atmosphere. You just try to execute. I say when you pitch a game like this, it'll be the longest game mentally you ever pitch. And thankfully you don't have to pitch 15 of them because you'd never make it. So that's the kind of atmosphere that I think Yankee Stadium will provide to put the pressure on the new Minnesota Twins. They're not a young team like everyone think they got a nice blend. And so it's always fun for me to watch guys see what this environment does to them. Now, John, I think you know this. Aaron Boone is one of the nicest human beings you'll ever meet. But if you want him to get snippy, just talk to him about, gee, can you win with a home run team in the playoffs? He thinks that it's imperative to be a home run team in the playoffs. And there's statistics to prove it that a greater percentage of runs scored in the postseason or via home runs rather than the regular season. But my comeback is always, you're facing the best pitchers in the postseason and great pitchers make good pitches and they don't give up home runs. What's your thought? I agree with that and home runs are. Now, he's accurate in that. I mean, you can go back and show the home runs are definitely the quickest and easiest way to score in the postseason, especially with what pitchers you're gonna face. But my two cents is no team ever wins a World Series leading in strikeouts or in the top five in strikeouts in all of baseball. They just don't. And that's where you start giving too many outs to these great pitchers. If you have to only cover 12, 10 to 12 outs in your infield or outfield and your pitching staff can give you 12 to 15 strikeouts, that's a huge advantage. Even if you're giving up solo home runs. And I think that's really where the raw meets, you know, this kind of format of long ball philosophy. It still comes down to being able to make enough contact to put enough pressure on the team you're playing. I always said, I never worried about a solo home run in the postseason, but it's the two and three run homers who never want to give up. And where the Yankees can put a ton of pressure on you, their line up has changed with Lameyou and Torres. If they're right, it's like trying to get three outs in Colorado. You're gonna have to be really good to get three outs in Colorado. That's what it's like facing the Yankees lineup.