Live Bet Saturday | August 15, 2026 | Hour 7

**Will Hill** (0:00)
This is Live Bet Saturday on VSiN, the SportsBetting Network.

**Brad Taylor** (0:07)
Top of the hour here, Championship Rounds here on Live Bet Saturday.
I am reporting live from the Mint Gaming Hall here in Franklin, Kentucky, right above the Circus Sportsbook. I am Brad Taylor along with Will Hill. We are keeping an eye on the NFL and the Major League Baseball going on right now. And without further ado, let's talk a little baseball. He is the MLB Analyst for CBS Sportsline, Angelo Magliocca. Angelo, how are you today, sir?

**Angelo Magliocca** (0:34)
What is going on? Thanks for having me, guys. I appreciate being here and chatting some baseball with you.

**Brad Taylor** (0:41)
Thank you, Angelo. Thank you for joining us on the Progressive Guest Line. We were talking about this a little bit before we came on the air in terms of maybe National League Rookie of the Year. That's kind of my favorite topic right now. I'm here in Kentucky. We're in Reds country. Sal Stewart is still an underdog for this National League Rookie of the Year, although he just tied the Major League lead for RBI.
How in the world can Sal Stewart still be an underdog? And he's going to lead the league in RBI. The voters can't give it to Weatherholt, even if he does that, can they?

**Angelo Magliocca** (1:17)
It's, look, the voters in the end, I hate to say it, but they have a few things they look at. One of them, the main things is war. And you get that defensive piece from Weatherholt, which adds to that war. And I get that, you know, it's kind of the same argument where I've been going for Otani for MVP instead of PCA. I get that the defense is important. Yes, it is. But at the end of the day, there's still a rookie leading the MLB in RBI. At some point, that type of history is something I would rather take over than just another analytic. There's so many analytics, but that's something historic that a rookie is doing, and I'd rather see that be the award winner.

**Will Hill** (1:59)
How about the other award that I find very fascinating? Otani's won a million of these awards, feels like he wins it every year, whether it's the American League, the National League. He's got some good pitching stats to the bank, but not as typical year, both sides of the plate. Karl Armstrong, obviously a worthy contender. Do you think the voters have a little fatigue? Both guys, kind of a coin flip to win now. How would you handicap the NL MVP race?

**Angelo Magliocca** (2:22)
I think if you didn't get on PCA even a few weeks ago, when it was 15-21, you missed the boat there, and now you've been presented with an opportunity to get a guy that has under two ERA, almost 100 innings, he should be back on the mound. They were already talking about him getting back on the mound this week to do some progressions and start to begin some level of throwing. So I do think he pitches at some point before the end of the season if it is just maybe a few starts or even a couple. But just getting towards that triple digits, a hundred innings, I think it really should be Otani. I think you're presented with a good opportunity to bet on a two-way player here that, yes, I get the fatigue. In the end, I think PCA probably has been the more valuable player to his team, right? But this is still a guy in Shohei Otani is doing something that we just have never seen on both sides of the ball. And you look at the, I mean, it's an under two ERA for almost a hundred innings. Like he was stifling teams, you know, quality starts, like he really was doing it all. So you've got to tip your cap to that. In my opinion, he's the MVP.
It is one of the more fascinating ones though, where Otani was a massive favorite, you know, into June there, right? And then all of a sudden it just completely flipped to now where it's a coin flip. It's crazy, crazy, crazy bet. But I've got some Otani shares I really would hope will work out.

**Brad Taylor** (3:50)
We've had a big day here at Major League Baseball. We got a couple more games coming up later, and those are for the hardcore baseball fans and gamblers like us. Royals and Angels, Rangers and Athletics. Do you have any opinions on those two games? Would you be leading anyway from a handicapping perspective?

**Angelo Magliocca** (4:07)