MLB teams celebrate clinching too much or not enough?

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Chris Rose (0:30)

It is Tuesday, September 15th, 2026 This is another edition of Baseball Today, presented to you by T-Mobile. That is my man, Trevor Plouffe. I am Chris Rose, producer Dan along for the ride as well. Let me ask you, is that part of your shirt, or is that a band, Dan? What is that?

What do we got? Oh, oh.

Trevor Plouffe (0:50)

That producer Dan didn't even pick up on his forgotten rotten baby, putting the work in before we get into the lab on the Blitzball freaking in the warehouse.

Chris Rose (1:00)

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_4 (1:01)

He has no idea.

Chris Rose (1:03)

You travel with that thing, huh?

Trevor Plouffe (1:05)

He has no idea what I've been doing in the cages here at Target Field. And that should strike fear into your heart, Dan. And I know it does.

Chris Rose (1:13)

Oh, God, do I like this. I like this an awful lot. Can't wait to have that. We'll be together for Blitzball up in beautiful New Jersey later on in this week. In the meantime, a lot to cover. We have a couple more teams punching their playoff tickets. But first, how about a little tip of the cap to a guy? Even though his team has stunk it up this year, he has been masterful the last four to six weeks.

All right, that was fun. Ellie hit one 457 that literally leaves the yard. Cool.

Trevor Plouffe (2:02)

No, it's incredible. He's been on a heater. And when he's right, he's one of the most electric players in the game. There's so many things that he can do that just other guys can't. He's been blessed with some tools that you just, you have to be born with.

But again, when he's on fire, he's one of the guys you stop and watch. If you come across a game and Ellie's up, you stop and watch the event.

Chris Rose (2:26)

Wasted year for that franchise. They get great seasons from Ellie, from Sal Stewart, who by the way, is the latest guest on Dugout Discussions and was awesome. Chase Burns was incredible.

Just not enough. Disappointing year for them.

Trevor Plouffe (2:40)

It's a really good point to say before the season, you're going to have possibly the NL Rookie of the Year. Chase Burns is going to be a Cy Young 5 or Cy Young 6 guy, only because the competition is so good in the NL for the Cy Young. Yeah, a nice year from Ellie.

You're going to be where in the standings?

Chris Rose (3:00)

Nothing. We haven't even talked about them standing-wise in a while. Let's talk about some teams that are moving on to October, like the Dodgers who officially now have a chance to three-peat.

Ellie, with that 4-1 win over Cincinnati, meant the champs tied the Atlanta Braves teams of the 90s and through the first half of the 2000s with a 14th consecutive playoff appearance.

SPEAKER_5 (3:25)

It's not easy. I think it's a lot harder than people think it is. Human nature alone, when you're hungry, you're chasing something, it's a lot more easy to be motivated versus having been there, done that, it gets a little trite, a little old.

But to keep guys enthusiastic, focused, hungry, that's harder. But to their credit, they've stayed the course. And for me, we're just as hungry as we were in 24 and 25 And this is a separate season and our guys understand that.

Chris Rose (4:02)

How much should 14 straight playoff appearances by the Dodgers be celebrated?

Trevor Plouffe (4:08)

I think a ton.

It's a testament to the players they have each year on the roster. It's a testament to the front office. It's a testament to ownership. And I think it just kind of goes across the entire organization. And to not have one hiccup where you have too many injuries to overcome or just bad play is really incredible. And look, I know we expanded the playoff, so there's more opportunity than maybe in years past, especially when the Braves were doing it. But I just think that there's a reason that every person that goes and plays for their organization says this is the best run organization that I've been a part of. It's they do a lot of things right. I think you can talk about, okay, yeah, they got a lot of money to spend and they have a sweetheart deal with their TV deal. And you'd be right. There's no doubt about that that plays a massive part into this. To be able to carry the payroll that they do and defer the money to bring on more contracts, that is a huge part of why they've been able to do this. But I would say they're also willing to give up their prospects. They do that to bring in good players. They see it time and time again with them. And whether or not they develop players to have on their roster or to trade to get guys on the roster, they're still developing players. They do a great job at the Myron League level. So, I just think there's so many... Each year, there's probably a different reason as why they made the playoffs. So, I think it is like a testament organization-wide. And I think we should be celebrating it more. I feel like we talked about the Braves and what they were able to do. We kind of have that up on a pedestal and then we shunned the Dodgers because of their payroll side.