VSiN By The Books | August 5, 2026 | Hour 3

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
This is VSiN By The Books on VSiN, the eSports betting network.

**Dave Ross** (0:12)
Top of the hour, it is VSiN By The Books. I'm Dave Ross right here at the Mint Gaming Hall in Franklin, Kentucky, our closer Jensen Lewis back home in Cleveland, Ohio.
Going to get to Wes Reynolds a little bit later on breaking down maybe the last normal PGA Tour event we might see in quite some time, the Wyndham Championship where we get to the FedEx Cup playoff. So our best bets here, some viewer emails that are coming on. Going to break down the Tennessee Titans as well. Jensen, can't wait. Excited about that football team this year, but we love to do it. What goes up must come down. It's time for this week's edition of Stock Up and Stock Down.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:45)
Buy low, sell high, as long as you have a reason why. Whose reputation is soaring and who's on the verge of collapse? It's Stock Up, Stock Down.

**Dave Ross** (0:56)
Jensen, I've won the coin toss I've elected to receive this week. I will begin right there on the north side of Chicago and the south side of Chicago. I know Red Sox have been beating up the White Sox the last couple of days. The Cubs looking really good against the Dodger Blue here, going for the sweep today. And in the bigger picture, if you're in the great second city of Chicago, this is heady days, man, because, yeah, the White Sox are in first place. Yeah, the White Sox are in first place in August. And the Cubs, even though they're not in first place in their division, they're looking up at the Brew Crew, they might be trying to run them down. And even if they don't do that, Jensen, I think after the trade deadline, smaller moves in the south side, bigger moves in the north side, I think they look at this and go, both teams have said to our fan bases in Chicago, we're trying to win now.
And it's enough of passing the block and waiting till next year and trust the process.
Let's go win, baby. Let's go do it right now. We got the capital to go do it. We'll trade away some of those pieces and bring in some key pieces. In the bullpen specifically for Chicago, starting rotation for the Cubs. I think right now, boy, at least in the almost decade I was there, Jensen, even though the Cubs did win a World Series when I was there, for both teams, this is as good as it gets. And I'm trying to recall the last time both teams had high hopes going into September in the same year. So Chicago baseball fans, you're stock on both the north and the south side. It is way, way up.

**Jensen Lewis** (2:37)
Wild card races, Dave.
Wherever you may be listening or watching, up there in heaven, Bud Selig, thank you for doing what you did, because this year, perfect example of why the wild card means so much to so many fan bases. In the American league, Dave, we have six teams within two games of a wild card spot beginning play today. In the national league, we have five teams within four and a half games.
Technically five. We've got six teams within five games of a playoff spot. So many things can happen week to week. You get hot, things change. But for at least this year, and we hope we get baseball next year. We really do. It doesn't look good right now. But soak it up, America. This is as good as it gets. Scoreboard watching every night. Meaningful series no matter who you're playing because of all the implications of wins and losses. Stock way up major league baseball wild card races in 2026

**Dave Ross** (3:38)
That's what I love about you, Jensen Lewis. You have a little penchant for history of the game. I know some people think of Bud Seelig maybe for the tie in the all-star game. You should remember him for the wild card because everybody pushed against him when he did it in real time. And I'm so glad that you have a sense of history as to why it's been a good thing for the game of baseball. It's a great thing right now to be, dare I say, a running back in the NFL. Remember, this was a position that one you didn't draft very high anymore. And you certainly did not give second contracts and big renewals to running backs because you were out with yesterday's newspaper, Jensen, onto the new kit. No, no, no, no, no, not so fast, my friends. After what you just saw Bijon Robinson get down there in the ATL. I'll remind you, America, three years 75 max extension for Bijon to go with that. That annual average salary is now over 22 million, almost 22.2551 guaranteed. And then you look at Saquon Barkley, no spring chicken these days. On his second team, let alone a second contract, he's making over 20 million dollars and helped bring a Super Bowl to Philadelphia. Christian McCaffrey, 19 million. On his second team, by the way, in San Francisco after his beginning years in Carolina, Devon Achan's getting 16, and even the old king, Derek Henry, making 15 million. We're going to find out what Gibbs gets in Detroit. It's going to be a lot, but I'm actually happy to see that the running back positions, it might be a Renaissance right now.