VSiN By The Books | August 3, 2026 | Hour 1

**Dave Ross** (0:01)
This is VSiN, The Sports Betting Network.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:09)
This is VSiN By The Books on VSiN, The Sports Betting Network.

**Dave Ross** (0:21)
It is the Monday morning edition of VSiN By The Books. Dave Ross, right here at the Midgaming Hall, Franklin, Kentucky, our closer back home in Cleveland, Ohio. How was the weekend? Did you avoid the rains? The pictures look beautiful from out there in the golf course, Jensen.

**Jensen Lewis** (0:37)
Buddy, it always goes too fast when you're having a great time, and that certainly was the case. So Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania, we'll be returned shoppers to say the least. Dave, that course is about as good as it gets from feeling like you're kind of in the woods, but in your own world, if you will. Just pristine conditions. We got to play the Twilight Round on Friday for nine. We actually got 11 holes in. We were flying through, so we might have cheated and got a couple extra holes.
Then 18 on Saturday morning, no heat. We were under the cover of some clouds there, and then it broke open there at the end. But man, it was fun. It was just trying to decompress and kind of stay off the phone and just be in the moment there.
I know we got a lot of catching up to do on what's happened here the last 24 to 48 hours, but great to be back with you. Let's have ourselves a week.

**Dave Ross** (1:30)
Yeah, that's exactly the way God intended, I believe, kind of like Augusta National, right? Don't take those phones out there to the course. Enjoy the course while you're out there. Maybe you enjoyed it like Michael Thorbjornsson did in Detroit yesterday. We'll get to that in a second, but we're going to talk a lot of baseball. Obviously, Peter Appel, Peter Appel is going to join the program here in the third hour. He's the co-founder of Just Baseball Media. Peter is going to give us his insight here as we're at the trade deadline today, 6 PM Eastern. Can't wait to see what he thinks we might be in store for, if any more drama on this day. Marty Herney is going to join the program. Monday's with Marty's here talking some NFL. I mean, you know it's close and we have Marty back in the program, so we're very excited for that. But there was rather significant movement here before the trade deadline today. That went from Detroit to LA, and that's where we begin today's Highlights and Headlines.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:24)
Help your bottom line with today's Highlights and Headlines.

**Dave Ross** (2:33)
In the end, Jensen, it's not a surprise that Tarex Skubal is now a member of the LA Dodgers. I think for some, that's where the consternation begins. That this is not shocking that the rich get richer. When you go get the prized guy on the trademark, I think maybe the return is what some people are raising an eyebrow about when that's all it took to get Skubal out of Detroit. So you see here the three prospects going to LA or going back from LA to Detroit. We talked about maybe some ready-made major leaguers that would be there. That's not the case in this deal here, Jensen.
I know you're not surprised by this, but what'd you make of the hall, if you want to call it a hall, that Detroit got in return?

**Jensen Lewis** (3:15)
Yeah, obviously an A plus here for the LA Dodgers. And exactly the guy that they wanted to get, they didn't need him, but they wanted him. And for that package, it did feel a little bit light, Dave, a great friend of the program, Jim Bowden, putting out some grades and looking at kind of not only the big guy going out west, but also the youngsters coming back here for Detroit. You would think Zaire Hope is probably going to be able to challenge for an opening day spot as early as maybe next year, knowing what the outfield prospects look like there for the Detroit Tigers.
But I'll read his tweet, Dave. He said, so the Dodgers acquired Zaire Hope from the Cubs for Michael Bush and River Ryan from the Padres for Matt Beatty and drafted Brady Smith in the third round of 2023 and turned them all into Tarek Skubal. Got it. It felt like a lot of people in the industry looked at it. And I can tell you right now, catching up on some social media yesterday, there is the word collusion being floated out there amongst some fan bases thinking, all right, the owners want a salary cap. This could have been the final nail in the coffin for these owners to kind of put their hands up in the air and say, Oh, let's let this happen because that will get the fans on our side. Hey, that's for another channel and another show. But bottom line, the Tigers, they felt like they had to not have a show. Tony 2 happened, they make the trade. And the LA Dodgers, again, the decided favorites to 3-peat here this year.