Greatest Olympians Of All Time

This past week we witnessed some pretty incredible things at the Olympics. Numerous athletes getting medals and plenty of drama surrounding certain events. But there are two things in particular that caught my eye. The first is Katie Ledecky who owns the twenty fastest times in the 1500M swim. Even in the Phelps era we didn’t bear witness something like that. Sure, he won all the races and has more Olympic medals than anyone, but his dominance was not as overstated as Ledecky (who simply cannot be beaten in this distance). She won the race by multiple meters and it was honestly a sight to see. The other thing that caught my eye was Simone Biles who, at 27 years of age, is right on the cusp of coming back for the 2028 Olympics in LA. Biles was incredible, earning herself the Gold in the all-around and helped in guiding team USA to the team Gold as well. Biles also clapped back at a former teammate for claiming that the girls today don’t work as hard. I don’t know if all that’s true but congrats are in order to these GOATS. Do you think Phelps is the Greatest Olympian of all time? Let us know on next weeks episode of the Ocho!

Wheelin’ & Dealin’

The MLB trade deadline has come to pass yet again. There were a ton of moves as always but I feel like this year’s frenzy was bereft of a big time move. That trade where every MLB fan gives the exclamatory “WOW” as they scroll through reactions on Twitter. Skubal stayed put in Detroit. Garret Crochets demands for a new contract limited his options on who would pull the trigger and ultimately he stayed in the “South Side” while it turned to rubble and dust around him. The Giants have been reeling since Shohei decided on the more glamorous California city, and this season hasn’t been anything to write home about. This was a team that I thought would compete for a Wild Card spot and at the start of August. Now, that appears to be a pipe dream. Queue the Tim Robinson meme, because the A’s have absolutely no clue what they’re doing. They didn’t move Rooker or Mason Miller for some reason that even makes God ponder. 

With a deadline bereft of a big splash, the Boston Red Sox quietly patched the obvious leaks in the team.

They shored up the catcher position by sacrificing “Sticky Reese” in name of the Kama Sutra and acquiring Danny Jansen from Toronto. A good pull-hitter that should fit in at Fenway just beautifully and an upgrade defensively that was a solid under-the-radar move for Boston. We also brought back “Big Maple” himself, James Paxton, who got the start that day and recorded his 1,000th strikeout in that outing. Last, but not least, we turned our attention to the bullpen. This was their biggest need at the deadline and they acquired Lucas Sims from Cincy and Luis Garcia from the Angels. Our pitching coach has been teammates with Luis Garcia and has coached him in the past so that move is receiving a lot of love. Lucas Sims is a fiery pitcher who I’ve had my eye on all year as a good piece for this bullpen. The Sox just hope a scouting eye hasn’t lost its touch. The wildcard of acquisitions for the Sox has to be Quin Priester whom they shipped former first round pick Nick Yorke to Pittsburgh to bring in. He’s got some advanced metrics that give me hope he can turn into an efficient starter at the next level. 

I’m a guy who hates giving up prospects so it was a nice little bonus for me that the only big prospect we gave up in the madness was Nick Yorke. Yorke was also in a logjam of second base prospects and was probably going to end up being selected by another team in the rule-five draft anyway. This was Breslow’s first deadline making the calls and it went just how I wanted it to. Nothing too flashy. No developments that will take some major future piece to acquire no active positions that weren’t a need. This is a wildcard caliber team at the very least, and these moves should be enough to get the results needed to FORCE ownership to invest in this young core. 

What was the biggest move of the deadline to you? 

Any trade deadline acquisitions in your teams past that stand out to you? 

Who are you shocked didn’t get moved? 

Let us know on any of the socials or come chat with us during The Ocho live on YouTube/Twitter/Facebook Wednesdays at 8:00 EST.

No weekend wagers this weekend with F1 racing on summer break and baseball lines drop day of based on pitching match ups (if you want baseball bets join the Discord, it’s worth it) and while you are checking things out don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube!