First, a moment for James Earl Jones and his contributions to the on-screen world of baseball. Thank you, James.

To kick off this week, we give our predictions in the return of Yoshinobu Yamamoto after his stint on the IL…facing off against Shota Imanaga no less!

In position player news, Tommy Pham smacks his first homer and brings experience to the young Royals clubhouse, Rob Refsnyder follows in Travis d’Arnaud’s footsteps, Bo Bichette shares his priority for free agency, and Steven Kwan is the Guardians Roberto Clemente Award nominee.

In pitcher news, Kumar Rocker is set to make his major league debut on Thursday, Shota Imanaga leads Cubs pitching to a combined no-no, Joey Cantillo takes a perfecto into the 7th, Shintaro Fujinami is lights out in triple A, and Sean Manaea is just a regular guy…who happens to be really really really good at pitching.

And Ohtani continues to make history, barreling toward 50/50! We discuss the ever-heated MVP race - can’t we just celebrate everyone’s wins?!

Vote here for Steven Kwan to win the Roberto Clemente Award: https://www.mlb.com/community/roberto-clemente-award#vote

Article about Bryan Woo: https://www.mlb.com/news/mariners-split-series-with-a-s?partnerID=mlbapp-iOS_article-share

Article about Sean Manaea: https://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/mets/mets-sean-manaea-stj8n1l9

The crew is back in full force, and not a moment too soon!

To kick us off this week, we’re excited to share that we were featured on Spectrum News! Thank you to reporter Taylor Schaub for spotlighting us!

In position player updates, Tommy Pham is picked up by the Royals, Connor Joe and Lars Nootbaar are jamming, and Corbin Carroll has turned his season all the way around just in time to dunk on the Dodgers.

Pitchers are crushing it this week: our guy Kumar Rocker makes a huge splash in his Triple A debut, Kenta Maeda finally gets a W, Kikuchi / Woo / Manaea continue to deal, and Yu Darvish is back!!

And Ohtani Talk finally gets the attention it deserves with the return of Naomi! His bobble head night has fans lined up 8 hours before Decoy’s first pitch, he makes history yet again in his quest for 50/50, and we prepare for his grand return to Angel Stadium.

What are our guys up to in these last few days of summer? Let’s get into it!

In position player news, Christian Yelich’s season sadly ends, Anthony Volpe fights through the Kim Curse, Masataka Yoshida and Seiya Suzuki are hot, Corbin Carroll is officially back, and Shay Whitcomb enters the Asians in Baseball Cinematic Universe.

Our pitchers look to cruise into the fall going strong: Brennan Bernadino commands a 0.00 ERA over his last 7 games, Yusei Kikuchi / Bryan Woo / Sean Manaea continue to post strong outings, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto participates in the Dodgers Foundation’s first ever dual language story time.

In Ohtani news, did anything even happen these last two weeks?? We kid! He manages to get out of a pickle - but MLB misses with the caption, reaches 40/40 in true Hollywood fashion, and what the heck is going on with the Shohei and Decoy bobblehead giveaway?!

Volpe’s elite baserunning: https://www.pinstripealley.com/2024/8/24/24226155/yankees-analysis-anthony-volpe-baserunning-aaron-boone-winning-player-shortstop

Corbin Carroll turns it around: https://www.mlb.com/news/corbin-carroll-hitting-home-runs-for-d-backs

Kikuchi’s translator Yusuke Oshima: https://www.chron.com/sports/astros/article/astros-yusei-kikuchi-translator-19665575.php

“Sneaky Sho”: https://x.com/MLB/status/1825720740928237601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1825720740928237601%7Ctwgr%5Ecdba0bf02340def224f09e26e6dd87da9ef2f65f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.si.com%2Fmlb%2Fdodgers-shohei-ohtani-cool-rundown-mistake