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Aug 31, 2026
A Numbers Game | August 31, 2026 | Hour 2
A Numbers Game | August 31, 2026 | Hour 2
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46:22
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Transcript
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0:59
[upbeat music] This is VSiN, the sports betting network. [upbeat music] The numbers told the story. They always do. It's one of those idiots who believe in analytics. This is the Numbers Game with Gil Alexander on VSiN.
1:17
Hour number two of a Numbers Game at VSiN, the sports betting network, vsin.com, Game Plus, iHeartRadio, YouTube, Divvy, and of course SiriusXM channel 158, though that will change tomorrow, yes? That's right.
1:29
From 158 to 189. We'll let you know a little more in detail a little later, but if you, if you're programmed in, it'll automatically shift over for you. If you're not programmed in, then you gotta do it manually.
1:40
This is our last day at 158. We'll miss you, 158. Yeah. What are your favorite memories of 158? Oh man, so many. Yeah. So many. I know. I wonder what's coming next. I don't know.
1:49
I wonder what the next channel is up, taking our place. I don't know. Here it is. I believe they're just switching around the sports channels. Starting tomorrow. They, they, they do that from time to time. Yeah.
1:58
Starting, starting tomorrow we're moving to SiriusXM channel 189. SiriusXM, if you favorited VSiN already, again, it updates automatically, but if not, you gotta add VSiN to your favorites before tomorrow.
2:13
Same shows, same sharp betting info. There you go. Or as we like to call it right here, the second to last Monday before the real stuff starts. Mm-hmm. Yeah. College football week zero in the rear view.
2:26
We'll talk about that a little later. Week one, uh, coming up, and then of course the NFL's week one next week. This is that awkward week off in the NFL. Who are these children? That is Eva Jovovic on the left.
2:38
That- She's a professional player... that's Dandy's Eva Jo- Eva Jovovic? That's Dandy's Eva Jovovic. And that- Who's Jack Kennedy? He's, kid's like 12 years old. Jack Kennedy playing in his first- No way...
2:46
uh, professional tennis tournament. They- This kid is playing in the US Open. That's correct. Well, he's out already. He got beat in straight sets. [laughs] Yeah. [laughs] He's g- just graduated high school.
2:57
Kelly's like a squirrel. He gets distracted by things over there. That kid graduated high school? That kid, the both of them just graduated from high school, I think. I, he looks like he's 13 years old. Yeah. Wow. Okay.
3:08
Good for you, Jack Kennedy. This gentleman also graduated from high school, but I believe a little further back. Allegedly. It's Greg Peterson, everybody, courtesy of the Progressive guest line.
3:16
You can follow him on Twitter at gunit_81. Greg, what's happening? Not too much. If we had it, it would be my 15-year anniversary for graduating- Wow... high school, so I feel old. Are you a reunion guy?
3:31
Do you go to your high school reunions? I went to the 10-year reunion. That's the only one that we've had thus far, so I'm batting one for one right now.
3:40
I, e- five and 10 are interesting 'cause it's like you just like, you were having a conversation on, on a couch. You guys left for a few years and then you like- Right... continue the same conversation.
3:49
I don't even think we had a five-year. Then there's like awkward ones. And when you get to like 30, everybody's comfortable in their own skin, it's a beautiful thing. Yeah. I would, I would enjoy that. Yeah.
3:59
I have not been to a single one. Really? I, I know we had a 10-year one. I don't even think we had a five-year one. Do they do 15? I thought it was just like 20. 10 and 20.
4:07
Greg, when you go, when you go the next time, are you gonna have your like che- chest puffed out like, "Well, I'm Greg Peterson, everybody. Check me out"? You gonna do that kinda thing? "Look at me now."
4:16
I do not know, because that'll probably be at least five years from now. [laughs] We're on 15, so we'll wait and see what happens- All right... when we reach year 20, and if we have it as well.
4:26
Because the one thing with reunions is typically it, it goes to like the person that was either the valedictorian or like the president of whatever club.
4:35
It's like, wow, you're signing up to book like 10-year reunions, 20-year reunions. I'm glad I did not do that. Yeah. Oh, you mean the person that, that tries to shepherd everybody in, that tries to c- Yes...
4:46
contact everybody? Gotcha. Yeah, I might just be getting cut out. That, that's what might be going on. Oh, you think you, oh, you're not in the crowd. I coulda pissed someone off. Yeah, I coulda pissed someone off.
4:54
[laughs] That's great. Well, history is written by the winners. Yep. You know what they say. All right, Greg. Greg's Fab Five. You've got more plays always at vsin.com/picks for subscribers.
5:05
Every host, every guest, every sport, uh, it's all there. Greg, let's start with the Brewers today. Uh, you have a couple bets in the Brewers game.
5:14
Absolutely, and I love fading teams coming off of Sunday night baseball, and we've got the Cubs taking on the Brewers. Kyle Harrison has not been the same pitcher away from home rather than at home.
5:25
He gives up less than 0.7 home runs per nine innings at home, closer to two away from home.
5:30
His ERA darn near triples away from home, actually quadruples away from home, and yet I'm gonna take the Brewers on the money line because Clay Holmes pitching to a ton of contact.
5:40
Wind is gonna be blowing out once again in Wrigley Field. Like you saw that series between Reds and Cubs, every one of those totals flew over.
5:49
I think you're gonna get more of the same with two f- top five offenses in terms of run creation here. And for the Brewers, since July 1st, number one bullpen in terms of ERA in the National League.
5:59
Think they get a lot of contact.
6:01
I think the Brewers get the job done, so took the myriad even money on the money line, and I do like that nine and a half total to the over This was, you know, this series is a big one, right?
6:10
It's the Brewers first place in the, uh, NL Central, Cubs second place, and they have seven games left against each other, starting with tonight's at Wrigley.
6:18
But the Cubbies were hoping to be closer than eight back in this. So it takes a little bit of shine off this game, I would think. Anyway, Greg's on the, uh, the Brewers here, and the, uh, over you said.
6:27
It's the over as well as the, uh, Brewers? Yes. Okay, so two plays in one from, uh, Greg. All right, let's go to, uh, let's go to your second play here. This is, um, let's see here. What do we got here?
6:41
What's your next one? We'll go with the Chicago White Sox. Okay. I took them on the money line here on this one. For the White Sox, Anthony Kay has been more than okay recently.
6:50
In his last 12 starts, he's given up three in runs or fewer in 11 of them. And for Peter Lambert, we're starting to see things go downhill for him a little bit.
6:59
Still getting about 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings, but the walks have been racked up a little bit, and I'm really a believer in this White Sox lineup.
7:06
Top 17 in terms of run creation this year, and since July 1st, a top six team in terms of bullpen ERA. So they've been doing it in the back end.
7:15
What I also love about the White Sox is low-key out there in an American League where it might be the worst league I've ever seen in the history of baseball, they're the one team that has been consistent and hasn't really went on, like, a big losing streak or anything like that.
7:29
Like, we've seen that out of every other team out there in the American League, White Sox have been a pretty steady Eddie team.
7:35
I think that they can go into Houston, get the job done here, so do like them at plus money here on the money line. Okay, White Sox and Astros. Again, all, another game with, with implications, right?
7:46
Implications abounding, where the White Sox clinging, not really clinging, but I guess three-and-a-half game lead over the Guardians in the AL Central, and of course the Astros, uh, leading in the AL West by two games over the Rangers, five now over the Seattle Mariners.
8:04
All right, Diamondbacks in action today. Another team just on the outside looking in in the NL Wild Card play. You are on them today at slight plus money.
8:13
I am, and with Brandon Pfaadt, since June 30th, his team is 10 and one in his starts, most profitable pitcher in all of baseball in that time span. Absolutely love to see it.
8:25
And hey, Aaron Nola's been able to get it together as well. He's given up three in runs or fewer in each out of his last six starts.
8:32
Now overall for the season, Nola's still posting up a 50 RA, two home runs allowed per nine innings, three blocks per nine, and I will say this for Brandon Pfaadt, you wanna talk about a guy who's been a master of inducing soft contact, in this time span of the 11 starts I referenced, 5.5 strikeouts per nine innings.
8:49
So it's not like he's blowing teams away or anything like that, he's just doing a good job playing nice old school baseball. And for the Diamondbacks, that Ketel Marte situation has not really hurt them too much.
9:00
The offense has still been very rock solid without him. That bullpen, in my opinion, is better than that of the Phillies. The Phillies bullpen has been adventurous outside of Yordan this season.
9:10
So with the Diamondbacks, being able to get them even money, plus one here in the opener for the series, I like them here on the money line. By the way, my error.
9:18
Diamondbacks, as of this moment, a half game in the NL Wild Card, half game ahead of the Padres.
9:24
Philly's still, uh, looking up, uh, five games back of the Atlanta Braves in the, uh, NL East, but of course Philly's entrenched in the Wild Card as is.
9:34
They just coming off their win in August, most wins in the month of August. All right, the Braves. Speaking of the Braves, you are on them today. Yep, this opened up in a lot of places, right around minus 135, minus 140.
9:47
We're starting to see it tick upward, but like I felt like this is a number that should've been closer to minus 170, minus 180 personally.
9:54
So even if you're getting a little bit of a worse number, still on it on the money line. Anthony Molina's getting the start for the Giants.
10:01
He's got a 289 ERA, but the asterisk is that he has pitched nine and a third innings thus far this season. He was a reliever with the Colorado Rockies, and that's gonna warp your numbers as well.
10:12
Like, his career numbers is a 660 ERA, 5.9 strikeouts per nine innings.
10:16
Little bit of a revenge spot as well, because Molina was actually dealt from the Braves in the Tyler Mahle trade, so that makes things all the more interesting.
10:24
Meanwhile, you've got Bryce Elder on the flip side for the Ser- for the Atlanta Braves. He's only getting about seven and half strikeouts per nine innings, but the Giants have been dealing with a lot of injuries.
10:33
Will Harris is currently on the injured list. Still dealing with the injury to Casey Schmidt.
10:37
Do think that the Braves should be able to get the job done, and if you got a total here of either eight or eight and a half, do like that to the over as well.
10:44
Braves, by the way, in the race for most wins in Major League Baseball. The Brewers now with a two-and-a-half game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays, three-game lead over both the Braves and the Dodgers.
10:54
Uh, Yankees, Angels, you have a total play here.
10:59
Yep, we're gonna go with a sneaky under here, and the reason why it's sneaky is because you wouldn't think that you'd be looking at a under with Elmer Rodriguez on the mound for the Yankees and Wéber Uranus for the Angels.
11:11
But Wéber Uranus' actually been really good for the Angels.
11:14
Now, you have to be a little bit fearful that he has been giving up the five walks per nine innings, but sub 300 ERA, does a nice job keeping the ball in the yard, a half home run per nine innings.
11:23
And prior to yesterday, the Yankees had been averaging about 3.8 runs per game their last 55 games. They put up I think it was a 16 spot yesterday against the Boston Red Sox, so that helps you out a little bit.
11:35
Do think that things come back to earth a little bit. And for Elmer Rodriguez, this is gonna be his sixth career start, and, and he's been solid for the Yankees.
11:42
He's given up three earned runs or fewer in every one of them, albeit not a lot of length.
11:46
He has went four and two-third innings or fewer in four out of the five, but you don't need a lot of length out of him, because you've got a Yankees bullpen that is currently number one in the big leagues in terms of ERA.
11:56
And additionally, this is an Angels lineup that, man, they have not supplied offense at home. Out of 30 teams, they are 30th. They're getting 3.5 runs per game.
12:06
Zach Netto, Mike Trout, the only two guys in that lineup with more than 10 home runs this year. So I think that this is a nice spot for a West Coast under. Took that in Yankees versus Angels at eight and a half.
12:16
All right. Greg, who's in the World Series? If I had to, if you had to guess right now. I still think that you get the Dodgers in the World Series.
12:23
And in the American League, you just pick one of the teams that is in the post-season out of a hat, and that's who you're gonna be getting.
12:30
We'll go with the Rays because they have the best record, but man, I say that American League winner with absolutely no conviction whatsoever because that league is nutty, to say the least.
12:39
I wonder if a- after all this we get Yankees, Red Sox in the ALCS- Dodgers... and the Dodgers, Phillies in the NLCS. I'll take it every year, Gil. Yeah. Greg, thank you. Go to your 20th and your 25th.
12:51
Like, wait for those. Those are great. Thank you, Greg. Appreciate it. Thank you. Greg Peterson, everybody. Coming back on a Numbers Game at VSiN with some college football next. You're here because you want an edge.
13:02
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13:12
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13:23
[upbeat rock music] A Numbers Game on VSiN, the sports betting network.
13:39
Back on the Numbers Game live from Circa Resort Casino, downtown Las Vegas. Gil Alexander. That right there is Kelly Millen. Sup? [laughs] Sup? I was like, "Oh, I was gonna say something else, too."
13:51
Now it, uh, slipped my mind. Ever get like that where you had something to say and now you go, "It'll come to me." Oh, only 17 times a show. I was gonna say something. How about the, uh- Oh...
14:00
how about the, this is my favorite one, the, "Oh, I gotta g- I gotta go check or do this on my phone. It's over on my desk. I'm five feet away on the couch."
14:09
Walk over, grab my phone, and then see, like, a text or, or a tweet or something. [laughs] Oh. Four minutes later. Get distracted. "What did I come to my phone for?" That happens all the time.
14:17
Um, I don't know if Zach wants me to s- share this, but it was so funny, I u- I think I have to. Mariano Navone, who beat Novak Djokovic, I couldn't really place what he looked like yesterday. Mm-hmm. I was like, "Huh,
14:31
what does he look..." And Zach said afterwards [laughs] that his wife perfectly crystallized. He goes, "He looks like a jockey who just won the Kentucky Derby."
14:40
[laughs] Like, if you take a shot of him, oh my God, just put him in, put him in the Derby. Patrick Kelly on Twitter, "Agreed on ESPN tennis coverage, Gil. Needing to be much better.
14:48
Court announcers are great, but they need some producer, any number assistance. Until then, ESPN Plus," whatever it is called, Unlimited, "to have full international announcer coverage for every match. No studio."
15:00
Yeah, it's bad. You can't go away from matches in the middle of it when you've got people invested in it. Mm-hmm. Scotty, uh, I don't even know what that says, Scotty, what your handle is.
15:09
He says, "The Niners wide receiver created a Wikipedia page so that AI and Google search optimization picked it up. Guys have been lying to girls at bars forever. This guy just perfected his craft.
15:20
Morally, he gets an F in the karma department, but creativity, he's the valedictorian." I mean- Wow. Yeah. No, no, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna shoot down the creativity, but, like, there's official rosters.
15:32
Like, it's not that- This, it's n- it is not that great of a scam. Right. The fact that he got away with it is incredible. Google. Google the Niners to see if he's on the team.
15:42
Yeah, you know, like, I g- I get what the tweet is saying. Sure, you can, you can fudge a Wikipedia page, right? And th- they, yeah, but, like, that, that's it.
15:50
Shady McCoy l- uh, his, his, uh, his take on this was, "Girls been doing this to guys forever." [snorts] [laughs] Thank, thank, th- thanks. Thanks, Shady.
16:00
Uh, s- I like the, uh- Sean s- T- tell me how you've been burnt in the past- Yeah... without telling me you've been burnt in the past. [laughs] Yeah. You okay, man? Someone hurt you?
16:08
Uh, Sean Foxx plays, "You gotta give your props to University of Miami alum Chris 'The Horse' Felica for giving out the 11 to 1 his shot on, uh, 11 to 1 shot on Friday." Yes, he gets props for the second time already.
16:20
Props for that. Also asked Kelly how he feels about FSU becoming Navy 2.0. Go Canes, cut down the trees. Yeah, can we talk about FSU for a second? First of all, our, uh, right angle sports debut, not, not great. Nah.
16:34
Never had a chance to cover. No. Was never in cover range. FSU does get the win, um- I don't-... over New Mexico State, I should say, 34 to 17. But yeah, n- 31 points. N- never, never even flirted with that.
16:49
So how do you feel about your Seminoles after that? I don't, I don't know.
16:52
I guess I was a little surprised at, I mean, I sat here for five months looking at an ACC odds fullscreen that was just the most depressing thing ever with Miami, like, minus 150 and Florida State 35 to 1.
17:06
Everybody told me all summer long how they got no shot. They suck, they suck, they suck. And then man, if you could've seen my phone during that game. Oh my God, New Mexico, was they putting pressure on the quarterback?
17:15
Everything. I mean, but, like, I, like, I don't care if they're a 30-point favorite. All you got, every- everybody told me all summer long, "They suck, they suck, they suck."
17:22
And I get 17 text messages, "Man, this team sucks." I'm like, "Well, that's what you guys said. That's what you said."
17:28
Jesse Welch, "I honestly think the moment that they gave Joe Burrow the Comeback Player of the Year Award for the second time is the moment that the award became a joke." Yeah, you know what, though?
17:37
It's the moment that, in my opinion, it bec- it became pretty easy to get a read on. I cashed pretty- Not to me... I got cra- I, I cashed pretty big on that one. Yeah, but how can you say this award is easy to read on?
17:46
I mean, Joe Flacco won it in five games. Burrow won one after, well, he's like a kid, and they gave him Comeback Player of the Year.
17:54
Yeah, that's what, that's what- I, I j- I th- I think, uh, I think people m- I think these voters make up their own rationale every year.
17:59
Yeah, these, uh, I think these past few years, though, with all the arguments and the rules now being written up. A player died on the field. They didn't give it to him. Yeah, exactly.
18:08
That's what helped, that's what helped, uh, put this all into motion. You f- but you really feel that means you have a read on it?
18:14
I think between, between the chaos of the years of Damar Hamlin and then Joe Flacco, Damar Hamlin not winning, Joe Flacco winning it, I think the past couple years have now gone to at least the script that they've given us.
18:26
Well, you're a smarter man than me New Jersey, New York. Random question for you, Gil. Since starting this most wins in a month quest three seasons ago. Well, it's not a quest. We've, we've achieved it twice.
18:36
Has any team won the most games in a month and failed to make the postseason? Oh, interesting question. For whatever reason, I believe that every monthly winner has made the postseason.
18:45
Well, that'll come to an end this year if that's the case, and I'll have to check in previous years, the previous two years.
18:50
But the Miami R- or the Miami Marlins won a month this year, and so did the Seattle Mariners, and so did the Cincinnati Reds. Oh, God. So the first three times [laughs]- [laughs]... the first three months of this season,
19:03
n- none of them might make it. Mariners might have something to say about it here, but we could be oh for three those first three months. Bentley, uh, at that, at the, uh, at the T Bentley.
19:15
Will Hi- uh, William Hill's Blue Jays just went from 22 to one to 16 to one in front of my eyes after you gave it out. Red Sox went from 22 to 18 in front of my eyes when you gave it out.
19:25
ESPN, by the way, with a Red Zone channel for the US Open coverage as well. Oh, that's cool. That's ESPN Unlimited though, right? Yeah.
19:32
What, uh, you know, you know, I got one ESPN comment I have is, man, everybody really celebrating the, the bottom line ticker going away. What do you mean?
19:43
They've gotten rid of like, during games, they're g- they got, you know, the bottom line, just the ticker that goes through scores. Oh.
19:48
They got rid of it, and I, I didn't, I didn't realize it was that big of an issue for people, I guess, over the years. Oh, I didn't really notice that. Interesting.
19:54
I mean, I think the whole argument is we all have phones now, like, why do you need this? Like, I get that, but I don't know about you, Gil, I always enjoyed the...
20:00
I still like to enjoy, uh, like, uh, looking at the ticker throughout a game. Yeah. Like, "Hey, you got 40-" Ex- except for when I see a score and then I don't realize it's the WNBA or something.
20:10
[laughs] And I'm like, "What? What?" Like Seattle. [laughs] "Duke, Duke, Duke lost to who?" Or like college football. That's true. That does- College basketball... that does happen time to time.
20:17
College basketball or other, yeah. Uh, okay, week zero, real quick. Um, yes, UNC won. Yes, they beat TCU. But I'm saying if, if TCU could be more accurate in the passing game, I think that result is different.
20:31
But UNC gets the win 15 to 10 over there in Ireland. Uh, USC takes down San Jose State by 16. They were the only ranked team in action. Nobody showed up for the game in- Oh, really?... in Southern California.
20:44
I didn't see that. 'Cause it's 94 degrees in LA. Ugh. Now, I know if we say 94 in the desert, everybody's like, "That's beautiful." Yeah. But in LA, they don't do 94. No. So there was just nobody there.
20:53
Did, did you know this was the sixth year, sixth, I think I, I think it was sixth, sixth year of g- uh, game in Ireland? It feels like it- I would not have known that...
21:03
I would've guessed like three years, two to three years. Feel it been going on a while now. Uh, we mentioned shout out to Chris Felica 'cause he had Virginia. Everybody else seemed to have NC State.
21:11
Virginia just stomped the Wolfpack 34 to eight. Uh, FSU, as we mentioned, beats New Mexico State. Can't even come close to covering, though. Uh, the, the, the one that is...
21:22
And Memphis, by the way, outscoring UNLV 20 to seven in the second half. Beat them 27 to 21. A lot of people around here, uh, not happy. The bad beat-ish of the, uh, week, if you had Hawaii, I guess, against Stanford.
21:35
Hawaii goes up with less than four minutes left. Stanford needs two scores to cover at that point, and they get it. Oh, wow. They, uh, matriculate for the first touchdown, and then they scoop and score
21:48
for the Cardinal to get the, not only the, not only solidify the win, but get the cover as well against Hawaii. Sort of makes up for last year's result, if you ask me. Yeah, I watched a bit of that.
21:58
The, uh, the Memphis-UNLV game was very entertaining. I actually watched a lot of that. Week one. Uh, some highlights from week one. Finally, the full slate of college football.
22:08
Uh, Friday night, speaking of Stanford, Miami travels to the Bay. Miami's a 24 and a half point road favorite. You interested in that? Everybody thinks Miami's gonna be great this year. Boise State's at Oregon Saturday.
22:20
Number two ranked Ducks are also 24 and a half point favorites in that one. Um, LSU, if we can go back to that screen, guys, LSU on Saturday. Uh, the debut of Lane Kiffin as head coach for the LSU Tigers.
22:38
They are 10 and a half point favorites at home against Clemson. Um, and y- Biggest game of the weekend? What's that? Is that the biggest game of the weekend? Uh, I would say so. I mean, I know, uh- I mean, some-...
22:48
Lou- Louisville, Ole Miss is a shorter spread, but- Louisville, Ole Miss, I suppose. I don't know. I'm curious of, just of the big favorites, and I'm talking about Notre Dame hosting Wisconsin.
22:59
I mean, I guess you could throw Michigan hosting Western Michigan in there, but Oregon hosting Boise State, Miami at Stanford. Who's the most likely to flirt with, forget covering, flirt with a,
23:11
a nip and tuck game at the end, let's call it? I won't even say a loss. But who's the one where it doesn't become apparent they're gonna win till late? Uh, I hope it's Oregon. You- I would like to see that.
23:23
Oh, or Notre Dame. Lot of, so much Notre Dame love. I would like to see, uh, th- them have a little bit of a struggle, week one. They don't need to lose. I'm not rooting against Notre Dame. I'm trying to look up this.
23:35
This SMU, Florida State line has to have moved, right? Poke therapy. Where is Dr. Bob when you need him? Nobody's gonna be able to replace him. College football betting season might be dead before it even started.
23:46
Right, they were oh and a one. Let's give them a chance. [laughs] Let's give, let's give- Yeah, this is-... let's give them a run for it... this is SMU out to three, three and a half,
23:57
just after how bad Florida State looked. Yeah. Oh, it already passed the field goal line? I was g- That doesn't surprise me. I, uh, when I typed this up- That game-... was yesterday. It's too bad...
24:05
that game not till, not till Monday night. Not till Monday, yep. Yeah. The last Monday night of no pro football. SMU's at Florida State with the Mustangs now moving up from two and a half, past three to three and a half.
24:17
Wow. Uh, we'll talk college football later in the week with Felica, of course, with, uh, Right Angle Sports. Wes Reynolds joins us on the other side. It's a numbers game at Vsain, the sports betting network.
24:28
[upbeat music][upbeat music] The Sports Betting Network Back on The Numbers Game, live from Circa Resort Casino, downtown Las Vegas. Couple things, uh, Lionel Messi.
24:44
Lionel Messi, by the way, named after Lionel Richie of the Commodores, do you know that? Do [laughs] I had no idea. It's true. Yeah, they actually met finally. Really? Yeah.
24:52
Lionel Messi has just announced his retirement from, uh, the Argentinian national team. Okay. And he just... Did, did, did he score, like, four goals in a game, like, on Friday or Saturday or something? He did.
25:03
I missed it. He, he did. [laughs] It was- Handicapping takes... well, it might've been longer ago than that, but. Um, there's that.
25:09
And by the way, and to the, uh, to the person who, uh, asked the question, and I wanna give him credit for this question once again, this is from the person who asked the question, it was, uh, GV, New Jersey/New York, asked, "Hey, in the monthly MLB wins thing, has everybody before this season always made the playoffs?"
25:26
And I pointed out that the first three months of this year, we could have three teams that will miss the playoffs, Reds, Mariners, Marlins. Mariners will have something to say about this here down the stretch.
25:37
It's the second straight year where our March, April, May, and June teams didn't make the playoffs, 'cause last year- Oh, wow. Yeah, last year, the first three months of 2025, it was the Mets, Cardinals, and Astros.
25:48
None of them made the playoffs, and then the next three teams did, which appears that could be the case this year as well after the Red Sox and Phillies have won the last two months.
25:58
So anyway, there's the, uh, there's the answer to that question. Saturday. Yes, sir. I f- how could you, how could you miss the Inter Miami-CF Montreal game? How could you miss that on a...
26:08
Th- you had better things to do on a Saturday? [laughs] How dare you? S- sorry. Inter Miami wins seven to one, four of those by L- Lionel Messi. Named after the great Lionel Richie of the Commodores.
26:21
You know who knows something about Lionel Richie of the Commodores? This guy, Wes Reynolds, who was not named after Wes Unseld of the Washington Bullets.
26:27
Uh, he is part of the glue that holds this whole operation together. You can follow him on Twitter @wesreynolds1. That's the number one. Wes joins us now courtesy of the Progressive Guest Line. Good morning, sir.
26:37
Four goals in one game, Gil. Easy like Sunday morning, right? That's right, except it was a Saturday, yes? Yeah, it was. It was a Saturday. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. Well, that's all right. It, it was close. Yeah.
26:45
If it was an Earth, Wind & Fire song- [laughs]... we could make a Saturday claim, I think. I don't think the Commodores have anything with Saturday in the title. Wes, did you have Scottie Scheffler this weekend?
26:53
I did not. I did bet the without, so I got that half right, but I didn't get the guy in second right. [laughs] I know, unfortunately, like the, uh, like the previous couple weeks.
27:02
But, uh, yeah, uh, Scottie, I think, uh, you know, he probably...
27:07
And we're gonna do, by the way, Kelly, Matt, and I, an, an award show kind of on, like give our Longies or whatever we're gonna call them, the Long Shots Awards, and, uh, I'm sure Scottie Scheffler is gonna be in very high consideration for player of the year, uh, with his performance late in the playoffs.
27:22
You gotta win it at this point, right? There's n- there's no controversy here, is there? I wouldn't think so. Yeah. I, I know majors get valued, and, and, and all, and all the players kind of have that mentality, right?
27:34
You know, how do you do in the majors? How do you do in the big four events? And, and he didn't win one this year, but he was in contention in, in I think about three out of the four of them.
27:44
And, you know, it's not like he won, you know, little events, maybe the American Express, even though that was a very good field.
27:50
But you win two playoff events, and you have that many top fives and you have that many top 10s.
27:55
I think consistency throughout the season also matters, 'cause you had a lot of guys earlier in the year that won big tournaments, and they kind of faded away- Yeah... at the end of the season.
28:05
Maybe ran out of gas a little bit, and he kept playing consistently throughout the calendar year. Who's going to win the, uh, the Arnold Palmer Award for the, uh, Rookie of the Year?
28:16
I think it's down to two, because Rookie of the Year is kind of funny, uh, you know, a, a weird thing with some guys start late.
28:23
Like, some guys, if they start right out of college, where their college season goes into, like, April and May, like Jackson Koeven, uh, the kid out of Auburn, uh, that was, uh, on the national championship team.
28:34
He won a tournament in late July, but he hadn't been on the tour but for, like, several weeks.
28:39
So I think if you're looking full season, it might be Chris Ryttan, uh, the Norwegian who won the Truist, or Alex Fitzpatrick, the younger brother of Matthew Fitzpatrick. Uh, those seem like kind of the top two to me.
28:52
But these guys all start at different points now. So, like, you could be a DP World Tour player and be a, an old grizzled veteran, and if you get in the top 10 on their Race to Dubai, you get a PGA Tour card.
29:04
So you can be, like, a rookie now at, like, 35 or 40 years old, even though these guys are pretty young, in their early 20s. But I think it's gonna come down to the two Europeans, Ryttan or Fitzpatrick.
29:14
Back to Scott- Yeah. Back... Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. No, th- this is what, remember we talked about it? I know, I know you bet Pence, and that was at like- I did bet Pence... Pence is gonna be great. Yeah.
29:22
But we talked about it then, I'm like, th- this whole conversation right there is why, like, this award has not picked up more steam as far as a, a, a, uh, conversation just over the years.
29:32
'Cause you got these, he's got these guys coming in and out. You don't really know who's a rookie, when they're a rookie. Like, the fact that Koeven's not even gonna be in the conversation, Wes, seems a little silly.
29:41
But yeah, it's, it's probably down to those two. Let's go back to Scottie Scheffler for a second. This is from Kyle Porter, so I don't know if you caught this.
29:46
Scottie Scheffler yesterday set, set the all-time record, passed Tiger Woods, for the most money earned in the- Mm-hmm... history of the PGA Tour. And Kyle Porter breaks it down. By the way, it's 130-plus million now.
29:57
Tiger was at 120, a mere 120-plus. Thanks, Liv. Um, yeah, exactly. Mm-hmm. L- Liv helps, right? Uh, Scottie Scheffler, though, first 70 PGA Tour events, per Kyle Porter, zero wins, 11 top fives.
30:10
He made $9 million officially his first 70 PGA Tour events. 70 events, 9 million. His next 100, 22 wins. He won 22 out of the next 100. I don't know if you know that, Kelly, but that's more than, uh, 20%. That's 22%.
30:26
That's pretty good. Uh, 58 top fives, good God, and 121 million officially earned. I think someone else broke it down yesterday that of his 130 million, 78 million of it's the last two years.
30:43
Last, no, no, last 28 months, exactly. 28 months, pardon me. Now it would make sense, 'cause Steven, I, I know we've got Justin Ray too. Since the beginning of the 2022 season,
30:52
P- wins on the PGA Tour, 22 for Scottie Scheffler. So we said 22 since the beginning of the 2022 season. Man, that's a lot of 22s.
31:00
Uh, Scottie Scheffler with 22, Rory with 11, Godderup, Schauffele, and Wyndham Clark with six wins since the beginning of 2022.
31:08
So Wes, I've, um, you know, we get into this little sports talk radio talk every once in a while, especially this time of year.
31:13
Gi- give me the, give me Scottie Scheffler in the all-time golf pantheon pecking order at this point. He probably, I would say, maybe back end of the top 10. Uh, you know, or certainly approaching that.
31:28
It's so early in his career. Like, you think he's going to be there, barring that he stays injury-free of course. But, you know, obviously the top is Tiger and Jack and Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Tom Watson.
31:43
Uh, uh, I, I, Ro- Rory I think is actually in the, in the all-time top 10. So, and then you go back to the older guys, like Gene Sarazen and, and, and Walter Hagen.
31:54
But I think Scottie is on his way to getting in that top 10.
31:59
You know, once he finishes off that career grand slam, 'cause that's kind of what, what Rory did, like, last year, right, at the Masters, where it's kind of like, you know what? He's probably a top 10 player of all time.
32:09
He's certainly the greatest, arguably the greatest European player ever now, uh, wi- with what he has done. So I think that's where you're gonna see Scottie.
32:17
But, uh, where you're throwing those money or that, that, those dollar figures around, man, th- those are like chump change. I mean, these guys were, like, persecuted.
32:24
They had to create a whole new tour 'cause they weren't making enough money- [laughs]... uh, uh, funded by a, a certain government over there in the Middle East.
32:31
So, uh, but, uh, but I think that tour, uh, might be, uh, ending very soon. Um, I feel like also when I ask that question, just as it's coming out of my mouth, it's an unfair question because I think- It's fair...
32:43
you know, well, specifically with golf I think it is. Yeah. Because in golf I think you tend to romanticize the ancient players more than in any other sport. Mm-hmm.
32:53
Like tennis, people don't go around being like, "Oh, that Margaret Court, that Ken Rosewall." [laughs] Like, you can't beat those guys. But in golf, if you say Ben Hogan- Yeah...
33:01
or Gene Sarazen, uh, who my friend, or Bobby Jones or something, you know, someone like that, like you, you, you're reticent to ever say that someone was as good as those guys, right?
33:12
Not to mention Jack and Tiger- Yeah, yeah... who we saw. So I, for me, for me- Yeah... this is an impossible conversation- Yeah... because of two things. And one of them's, one of them fair, one of them unfair.
33:22
Equipment and how it has changed and evolved over time. We, we don't know what- That's right... Jack Nicklaus would, could be like if he was- That's right... using today's equipment, right? All true.
33:30
Now the other one- Applies in tennis too...
33:32
the other one where I'm not going to give any excuse to the older players, the fact that, like, Tiger Woods had to come around and revolutionize how these guys get in shape and exercise.
33:42
Like, I'm not gonna hold it against Scottie Scheffler that nobody cared about exercising on the PGA Tour in, in the 1980s. Like, th- they all could've done that. Everybody does it on the tour now. They go crazy. Yeah.
33:53
Who was, who was Tiger's, uh, was it Mark McNamara? What was the guy's name? Who was his buddy? Uh, who was it, who won a couple major- Mark O'Meara... Mark O'Meara. Yeah. Why did I Mark McNamara?
34:00
Mark O'Meara won two majors, right? Mark O'Meara tells the story about Tiger where, like, they, they went and they played a tour- they played a, a round of golf together, and Tiger shot a 59. Mm-hmm. Right? On a...
34:11
And the next day they went out, and Tiger, first hole, [laughs] he had a, it was a par three on the first hole, wherever they went to play, and he had a hole in one.
34:20
And Mark O'Meara walked off the course, got in his car, and drove home. He's like, "It's, I, uh," [laughs] "I'm not doing this anymore." [laughs] This is in... Can you imagine, 59 on the first hole the next day? Yeah.
34:31
You're like, "This is it," as it... But you're right, he was just something so... And Scottie wasn't that. Now to the point of did Tiger...
34:38
I lo- it's always interesting when people say, "Oh, Tiger didn't have as broad of a field of players to play against." Yeah, because he was so dominant. How do you know? Yeah.
34:47
Yeah, 'cause he was- I don't think that's fair... he, he, g- 'cause he was beating up on a bunch of out of shape dudes. But then Scottie had LIV, right? Yeah. So there's that. Anyway, Wes, sorry.
34:56
But I miss the charm of the old days, though. Uh- Me too... you know, when you, tho- those famous picture where Arnold Palmer's just got a cigarette in his mouth and he's taking an approach to the 18th.
35:05
It's like, I miss that. I miss guys, you know, getting- John Daly... hung over and pitching no-hitters in baseball, you know? Oh. Yeah, amen. So there's a certain charm of that before sports science evolved.
35:15
I do agree with that. Uh, Wes has some college football thoughts, maybe some plays. That's next. It's the Numbers Game at VSiN, the sports betting network.
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36:13
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36:27
"I like to scroll watching sports. If I'm watching something, even RedZone or whatever, I'm focused on watching that, not my phone, and therefore like to scroll to see updates.
36:35
Don't know if I'm right, but were there no news/sports scrolls at all until 9/11?" Well, that was all before my time. It's all over the place. No, it came earlier than that, right? But it's later than you think.
36:48
But beginning part of that, ding, ding, ding, that's what I'm talking about. Like, if you can give me the scores on the bottom so I don't have to go to my phone, I liked that.
36:55
Do you remember a time, you might be too young for this. There was a time for a large part of our lives of people my age- Yeah... where they didn't show the, they don't have a score bot on the screen during games.
37:06
You're like, "What was the score again?" No, that is, that's, yes, that's another one that you can't- Yeah... believe how much later that started. Oh my God. That was, like, not till the '90s. Mm-hmm. Listener Lance.
37:16
Oh, listener Lance is, is, is rolling right now. He's got Pete Crow-Armstrong 200 to one most home runs. Oh, man. PCA now two homers behind Kyle Schwarber. Schwarber has 40.
37:29
Pete Crow-Armstrong after a five home run outburst this weekend has 38. PCA, he also has MVP 40 to one. You're winning that one, Lance. You're winning that.
37:40
Both preseason bets, I'd like to say I'm a highly skilled futures bettor, but I am just a Cubs fan. PCA two back of the home run lead. Let's go. Real Knicks- ESPN with the bottom line since 1995.
37:51
Real Knicks: "Is it possible to already be done with college football? [laughs] Now I know why it's called Week 0. That was a prediction for the number of wins I would have Saturday.
37:58
Oh, well, I'm off to donate blood to make back some of my losses." And Brendan talking about the tennis coverage on ESPN. He says, "NASCAR does that, too. Goes away from the action for some simulation or something lame."
38:09
Wes Reynolds kind enough to join us for a second segment. Uh, Wes, uh, before we get to your college football, you said you wanted to say something about Novak last night? Were you watching?
38:17
Y- y- yeah, I was watching the end and, and, and, you know, he was just, you know, you could tell, like, he was getting kind of a tear in his eye because- Oh, yeah... he, he, it's like he knew it was over last night.
38:27
And, and, you know, just to see him. And, and obviously for the kid from, from Argents- Argentina, I for- I forget his name, uh, but- Navone. Yeah... yeah, Navone, like, that's the biggest win of his career.
38:38
I know he won, like, some 250 event on clay earlier this season. But that's the biggest win of his life, and it's like nobody outside of his box is rooting for him.
38:46
But this is I get to win on court at Ashe Stadium against the greatest of all time. And, you know, so I felt sorry for him, but then for Djokovic.
38:54
And I think he, the reality just set in and I thought, you know, Novak was still classy to sign for the kids that waited- Yes... and stayed late for the match- He was... at Ashe Stadium.
39:03
And, uh, you know, I hope it's not the end, but I hope it is the end because I think he should go out, like, on his terms, you know? He has that, he has that right to do that, and he has earned that right.
39:14
But it wa- you know, that, uh, I don't know if it was an injury or maybe it's just Father Time being undefeated. But that was sad, and then to follow it up with Venus Williams, who had, like, several set points.
39:26
And, and I'm like, I thought she retired like 10 years ago. So I, I, I don't know. Uh, that wa- that wa- that was a little bit of a sloppy, uh, late-night match. I don't know what the Venus thing is all about.
39:37
I know she said it's for health insurance, and she acted like she wasn't joking. But I, I don't know what that's about. Again, she turned pro in 1994.
39:44
Um, and then the Djokovic thing, just to follow up on what I said earlier. It did feel like a boxer in that fight beyond his prime, right? Who knew, you know, it's like the look in their eyes is Ali against Berbick.
39:56
It's Sugar Ray Leonard against Terry Norris. Uh, that's what it felt like last night. And, uh, I hope it's, you know, m- first and foremost, I hope this chronic illness that he is talking about, I hope he's okay.
40:07
Because there's certainly something going on with him beyond heat. This was, you could've made that excuse in Cincinnati, but this was not temperature related last night, uh, at Ashe. So I just hope he's okay.
40:19
And yeah, I mean, he's, he hasn't won a, he hasn't won a Slam since 2023. And for those of us who have watched tennis closely, it, it's not gonna happen anymore. This was, this was the shot. And so it's, it's over.
40:29
And, um, Zach said it best. Zach Cohen said it best. When he was crying, it was kind of, and I think Zach is right. That was the moment where it felt like it finally hit Novak for the first time that it was over.
40:44
Now, maybe he was just- The reality hit him, absolutely. Yeah. Maybe he was in pain physically, too. I'm not denying that. But it felt like that was the moment.
40:51
And it's tough to watch, uh, whether you're a fan of his or not, anyone from greatness, uh, fall from grace like that in such a public way. Um, 24 Slams. Greatest of all time, though, by that measure. Um,
41:03
part of the Big Three with Federer and Nadal. We will always have that golden age. College football, Wes. How'd you do this past weekend? You make any bets? I did okay, actually, uh, for week zero.
41:14
Usually it's, you're kinda trying to survive because we're all jonesing, right? Yes. We're all, you know, to get back into it.
41:20
And, you know, ended up surviving and, uh, you know, being on the right side of a couple of the ones that had some chicanery. Like the, uh, the Hawaii-Stanford late.
41:28
Now, now I would, took the conservative route and laid bunny line and thinking I was smart. But then Hawaii has the football and they're already inside the number. [laughs] So I'm like, "What an idiot I was."
41:38
And then, of course- Yeah... they get the, uh, fumble return for a touchdown. So I did he- I did see one thing, though. It's like, oh man, Stanford got in the back door. It's actually not the back door. No.
41:48
It's the front door when the favorite- Not the back door. Yeah... gets ahead of the number late. And then it's the back door when the underdog gets with inside the number.
41:56
So it was kinda one of those weird things where I guess people were calling it a bad beat. There's a, there's, I think, a, a line of demarcation between bad beat and tough beat.
42:07
It was a tough beat if you had Hawaii, but it wasn't a bad beat because Stanford was the right side, and probably the deserved side if you really go inside the stats and look at yards for play and all that stuff.
42:18
And the fact that Hawaii did nothing, like, the first three quarters on offense.
42:21
I think they had seven points, and then all of a sudden Stanford, uh, decides to kinda crap the bed a little bit [laughs] and make this- [laughs]... uh, a lot tighter than it needed to be. Technical, sir.
42:29
I agree with that. Yeah, probably not a bad beat. You're right. Just a tough one. Uh, what about week one? What are you looking at? Uh, couple I played. Uh, I, I'm still looking at the card, obviously.
42:41
And man, when you s- you used to have that graphic up, all these big games. Like, you usually get one or two in week one, and you've got so many featured match-ups. Uh, a couple I played, uh, this is a Friday night game.
42:52
I laid the 10 with Michigan State Against Toledo. And I don't think Michigan State is gonna be great this year. Uh, Pat Fitzgerald, by the way, is back in the Big Ten. Mm-hmm.
43:01
Lawsuit now settled officially with his alma mater at Northwestern.
43:04
So he takes over in East Lansing, and I don't think that they're gonna be that good this year, but I think they're finally playing the right quarterback, uh, Alessio Mollovich, if I'm pronouncing that name right.
43:15
He was the backdoor man last year.
43:17
Like, he got me in the backdoor, like, three times when they put him on to mop-up duty 'cause now, uh, Aidan Chiles, by the way, is the starting quarterback at Fitzgerald's alma mater, Northwestern.
43:26
But they're playing Toledo. Toledo, new regime there 'cause Jason Candell went and took the UConn job. So I know the MAC against the Big Ten, like, the MAC teams kinda always get up for the Big Ten, right?
43:38
Because a lot of those kids wanna play at Big Ten schools. But I think Michigan State is the right way to go, even though I don't think they're gonna win a lot of games this year.
43:47
I think they get the Fitzgerald era off to, uh, off to a, uh, right start at least. Go one and O against the Rockets. Spartans favored by 10. That's a Friday night game this week.
43:57
Week number one, remember, extends all the way through Monday night with the NFL not playing. Uh, what else piques your curiosity amongst the, uh, the bigger games perhaps?
44:08
Uh, well, uh, I, I'm interested I think in the, uh, in the Wisconsin, Notre Dame on Sunday because now Notre Dame, like, it's, it's kinda like, okay, they're gonna be in the national championship, right?
44:21
They got left out of the playoff and, and, uh, you know, now they're here, and they're playing Wisconsin at Lambeau Field, by the way. So this is a neutral site game.
44:30
Wisconsin, this is kind of the make or break year for Luke Fickell there. They've been a real disappointment.
44:36
Like, you thought they got him at Wisconsin, they're gonna start to win big, and they've gone nowhere but backwards. Uh, should be an improved team this year.
44:43
They have Colton Joseph, the, uh, transfer quarterback from Old Dominion. So I think the offense should be better.
44:48
Like, they were like dead last in offense in, amongst the Power Four teams in FBS in pretty much almost every category. So I think their offense is gonna be a little bit better.
44:59
I kinda lean Wisconsin inside the number because I think Notre Dame, that's probably gonna get to 21 because, you know, Notre Dame's that mission team that, you know, is wanting to make up for last season.
45:09
So you might wait on some of these. And, and the steam, if you looked at week zero, a lot of the early moves, i.e. TCU and North Carolina, wait on those numbers.
45:20
If you see a number moving early in the week, it may come back, like, o- on, uh, Friday or Saturday, kinda like that USC number got too out of whack against San Jose State, and then San Jose State gets popped, and they hang within the number the whole game.
45:34
So wait on that. You may get more than 21 here if, uh, you're looking to take Wisconsin. Yeah. Well, we used to have Dr. Bob on. He'd move it, and then sometimes it would come back.
45:42
I asked this of, maybe you just answered it with, uh, Notre Dame, but I asked this of, uh, Kelly earlier.
45:47
Of all the big favorites, I usually ask this on the mega pot for the NFL, and I say, "Who's the most likely to lose outright?"
45:52
I won't say it in college football, but who's the most likely to have to play a competitive game into the fourth quarter of all the big favorites this weekend?
46:01
They're not a big favorite, but of those high-profile games you have listed, I think Ole Miss is gonna get all they want from Louisville on Sunday night. We accept the answer. Thank you, Wes. Appreciate it as always.
46:12
You bet, guys. Thank you. Wes Reynolds, everybody, @wesreynolds1. That's the number one. Adam Burke will join us. We'll talk some NFL on the other side. It's the Numbers Game at VSiN, the sports betting network.
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