Brett is off in Europe, so this one is all Shane. No pressure, buddy. I’ll clue you in right now–it’s Brett writing this description after listening to Shane’s solo episode. Don’t let the title deceive you–he did a very good job! One might say this episode has less talk, and more content. With that said, I’m still going to take some return shots at the shots he took during the show, making for a shot-on-shot collision so strong, you’ll probably go blind. Bonus points if anyone gets that obscure reference.

Shane starts the show talking about the heartbreaking 33-31 loss to the Rams at home on Sunday, which has the Seattle fan base split on whether it was a positive harbinger of things to come, or if a loss is a loss, and Seattle’s still destined to be outclassed by the Rams for awhile. There were lots of positives for the Seahawks on Sunday, including Chris Carson rushing for over 100 yards, the passing game looking explosive, and the offensive line looking all right. On the other hand, there was the defense.

Seattle’s run game is looking strong, and shockingly incredibly deep. Should Seattle look to take advantage of that and send one of their running backs to somewhere like Philadelphia, who is in need of a rusher with Jay Ajayi out for the year? Shane strongly thinks definitely maybe that might be a good idea, possibly. Listen to him talk about which runner might be traded, and which one he would prefer to get traded.

The ALCS and NLCS are both set to begin later this week (personally I think only one of the correct four teams won in the ALDS, Milwaukee, but Shane has his own opinions–see how much the same or different they are!) and should feature some competitive, dramatic baseball.

The Brewers have won 11 straight games going back to the regular season, and are the team no one wants to play right now. Even though they’re the old stolen Seattle Pilots, they’re probably the most fun team left in the playoffs, with the best story to root for. How can you beat a story like Erik Kratz, a 38-year-old backup catcher who has played for 30 minor league teams and 7 major league teams, who is now deciding to hit like Buster Posey in the playoffs. Will it be enough? Well, Shane sure thinks it might or might not be…why don’t you listen and find out?

Over in the AL, you’ve got two absolute powerhouses, both of which are very annoying and hard to root for. Shane and I disagree on who to root for, but I think we can all agree it would be better if both of these two teams can lose. And hey, maybe they both will! But unfortunately that would mean one of them loses in the World Series, so we’ll have to watch them a little while longer.

Next, Shane takes a shot at WSU during their bye week by referring to this week’s game against Oregon as “rivalry week”…this despite Oregon winning 15 of their last 20 against Washington. But Washington has won the last two in convincing fashion, and really probably should win this one, too. Shane breaks down the match ups and shockingly arrive at a UW victory. I won’t give you his score prediction, but I’ll give you mine here since I’m in another country and whatnot: Oregon pulls off the upset and beats UW 31-21.

Shane dives into his plan for what the Mariners should do this offseason in the next segment, focusing on what to do with Dee Gordon, Nelson Cruz, and the pitching staff. Then he puts together his 2019 lineup. We’ll follow up his plan with mine next week!

One of my topics that I texted to your favorite Mr. Lantz who does a podcast with me during the week also gets a little run: is CC Sabathia a hall-of-famer? Shane offers his take, and we’ll revisit the subject more next week.

Finally, Shane talks a bit about the NBA preseason game between Sacramento and Golden State that was held at Key Arena last week, and potential NHL team names. Give it a listen if you know what’s good for you!