Jeff Passan On Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout's 'Wasted' Career & the 2024 MLB Season 

Will Mike Trout win a postseason baseball game before his career is over?

Out of all the scoops guys on sports twitter (Woj, Schefty, Shams, etc) Passan is far and away the best. He's articulate, knowledgeable, and even funny. Shoutout Jeff

Passan pods are always fun. Baseball check ins (especially during the NFL offseason) are great.

Jeff is one of the best when it comes to talking baseball. The other guys can put you to sleep in a heartbeat. @JeffPassan - glad to meet another 3am to 7am guy. I have written and posted a 1400-word essay late at night. Working that late, there is a certain clarity of mind.

Great pod tho

Passan is the fuckin best, line about his kid in the beginning was hilarious

The coverage is a bit different from Japan because you so call "podcaster" and "journalists" are too warp in your head that Shohei is lying. Call me naive, but I believe and think Shohei was dupe and taken advantage of.

Jeff is a GOAT. This guy should be a full-time ambassador for the game even more so than he is now.. Put him on every show. This guy is gold hahahah such a bro

The guy on the right, laughs like the one song called Don't Laugh by WINX

Jeff gotta move the damn wind screen on the mic

oh, actually many Japanese haven’t forgotten the comments you made about Shohei when he moved to the MLB in 2018. High school level hitter right? so they knew your comments are NOT credible anyway. 😂

And here's why

I’ve seen Passan wonder a few times about who Ohtani’s team reported the crime to. Which investigatory agency? I’ll give you a hint, Jeff: other countries have law enforcement agencies as well.

Are you disappointed now? The 36 page affidavit came out and Shohei proved innocent with an overwhelming volume of evidence including the recordings of communication between Bank A and Ippei pretending to be Shohei. You’ve become very famous in Japan. Congratulations 😂🎉

Jeff is a dawg, the guy is a probably a 6”5 unit of a man.

Passan, whatta SOLID DUDE…

you sure that kids your jeff

19:45 If players from Latin American countries are well over 50%, MLB will be in severe trouble. That means that MLB has spent all of their resources towards child labor camps, aka academies, where MLB saves a ton of money & get to escape child labor laws in the US, Canada & Puerto Rico. These “academies” have boys as young as 5 years old doing baseball military-service-like training - w/o getting paid, no education, no healthcare & aren’t bothered to even teach them English. On top of that, you have unregulated “scouting”! These so-called scouts are more like a cartel! They will use false birth certificates, feed young players illegal enhancement drugs & take a 50% cut off their signing bonus & then for each new contract! Then you have the obvious problem but no one wants to speak about it. If half of your teams’ players don’t speak the same language as you & only speak through an interpreter, it will start to affect marketing abilities for player/fan relations. It’s not an issue so much now but will when the whole roster doesn’t speak w/o an interpreter. (This is true for any other country or their national teams) Also, Elly spoke to the press recently, he said he is working hard to learn English so he can be closer to the fans - & the reception to that was amazing! Elly learning English will also be a huge moneymaker in sponsorship. MLB does more marketing & outreach towards Latin American countries than for the youth (of every race, religion, ethnicity & economic class) in the states, Canada & even Puerto Rico. I think for the sport & the league to survive, they need to more proactive here as well. Lastly, when we celebrate Jackie Robinson in MLB, there are multiple teams without a single black American player and only some with only 1. I know it’s a day about the significance of breaking the color barrier but it’s crazy to see a segment of the population that once thrived in the sport now at a record low. The Phillies had like 5 black American players in the lineup like a decade ago & now have none. My comment wasn’t to disparage player or fan but to point out the obvious. Baseball needs to be made more available & an even drafting system with the international draft (which is favored now) Love the show! Go 🦅

Baseball will get great again when baseball players lose their freedoms, and have to play where they have to play, when they have to play, and only play. Nothing else.

Passan is...empty and plastic