Miscellaneous
Brian Cohen, cohost of The Challenge RHAP-Up podcast on the Rob Has a Podcast network, visits the Jack Vita Show for a lively conversation centered around the past week in baseball action. Brian is a diehard Yankees fan that is very frustrated with his team. The Yankees (5-10) own the worst record in the American League, after the Rays swept them in New York over the weekend. Brian provides his assessment of the Yankees, the Rays, and the AL East to open the season (0:00 - 26:45). What needs to happen for the Yankees to turn the corner, and look like the team they've been over the last four years? Is the seat warming for Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman? Were the Rays, who have started the season 5-1 vs. the Bronx Bombers, slept on entering the 2021 season? Brian and Jack discuss the league's most exciting players, including Ronald Acuna Jr., Mookie Betts, Juan Soto and Shohei Ohtani. Is the term "two-way player" the proper distinction to define Ohtani? (26:45 - 35:00). Brian and Jack discuss the first meeting between the Dodgers and Padres of 2021, the beginning of what hopes to be baseball's next great rivalry (35:00 - 37:15), the Atlanta Braves' early struggles (37:15 - 40:55), Cubs entering a rebuild? (40:55 - 45:25), the Mets' first place start and assessing the NL East (45:25 - 49:05), a look around the whole league and which divisions will likely look the most different at the end of the season from the way they do now, including Royals, Angels, Mariners and Red Sox, and a scoreboard update and weekend recap (49:05 - 1:00:45). Jack and Brian discuss 7-inning doubleheaders, the designated hitter, the Atlantic League's trial run of a further-back pitcher's mound and loss of the designated hitter spot when a starting pitcher is pulled (1:00:45 - 1:08:45). Brian and Jack each share one bold take/prediction accumulated from the first two and a half weeks of the regular season (1:08:45 - 1:11:55). Finally, Jack and Brian finish off with some thoughts on The Challenge: Double Agents upcoming finale, and the start of The Challenge: All-Stars on Paramount Plus (1:11:55 - END). Get a free one-week trial of Paramount Plus at jackvita.com/paramount.