May Risers & Fallers
Rates & Barrels: A show about Baseball
The Athletic
4.7 • 875 Ratings
🗓️ 1 June 2026
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Things are looking up for two aces: Cristopher Sánchez and Jacob Misiorowski. After dominant performances throughout May, both have emerged as early frontrunners in the NL Cy Young race. Today, Eno and DVR break down what's fueling their success, while also examining which hitters made the biggest leaps at the plate from April to May. Later, the guys dig into the disappointing seasons of Bo Bichette and Austin Riley, and examine whether either star can turn things around before the year is over.
Rundown:
0:40 Eno’s Trip to Firestone Walker Invitational
4:31 The Miz & Cristopher Sánchez Go Off in May
6:37 Jake Bauers’ Approach Against Imai’s Slider
11:00 Imai Pitched Well Again
12:30 Yankees Send 18 to Plate During 13-Run Third Inning
18:21 Elly De La Cruz to the IL
20:11 Garrett Crochet Setback
27:00 Rafael Devers Turns It Around in May
32:25 Carson Benge is Clicking
37:02 Context is Key: Down Months Are Normal
40:30 The Long Game: Does Combo Bad Finish, Slow Start Worry Us?
46:29 Ildemaro Vargas, Jose Fernandez & Liam Hicks Cool Off
49:30 Bo Bichette’s Struggles
53:08 Austin Riley’s Quiet Start
57:38 One-Year wRC+ Leaderboard: The Most Surprising Bat in the Top-Five?
Follow DVR on Bluesky: @DVR.bsky.social
Follow Eno on Bluesky: @enosarris.bsky.social
e-mail: ratesandbarrels@gmail.com
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Hosts: Derek VanRiper & Eno Sarris
Editor: Jason Potere
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today on Rates and Barrels, we wonder if there's ever been two pitchers so deserving of pitcher of the month honors. |
| 0:07.0 | Speaking of two pitchers, I went to the Firestone Walker Beer Festival. |
| 0:10.4 | Give a little mini recap on that. |
| 0:12.1 | Only two? |
| 0:13.9 | I had a better month in a day than some of these hitters have had in May. |
| 0:18.5 | Yeah, we take a look at some of the biggest differences between April and May. |
| 0:23.2 | Let's go. |
| 0:33.7 | Welcome to Rates and Barrels. |
| 0:35.0 | It's Monday, June 1st. |
| 0:36.6 | Derek Van Riper, Enos Saris, here with you. |
| 0:38.9 | It was a fun weekend, Eno. You were at the Firestone Walker Invitational, which I was somewhat surprised to learn is not a California-based golf tournament. |
| 0:49.4 | I cannot play golf, but what I can do is drink beer. And so I went to a beer festival this weekend and it was great. It was really fun. If you're looking right now on YouTube, you'll see a Yuzu slushy from Yoho brewing in Japan. That was so good. It was a like a Yuzu lager. So it was a boozy slushy beer, but it didn't taste very boozy. And it didn't taste as |
| 1:12.9 | fruity as a lot of those slushy alcoholic drinks you'll have. It was just like a light, you know, |
| 1:19.4 | general, like, um, yuzu, like a light citrusy sweet taste. It was so good. Um, also had a cauterized, |
| 1:31.4 | uh, stout, which is they, like a hot poker in your beer and caramelized the sugar. It was like a cinnamon chocolate cartarized |
| 1:37.7 | stout from a place called Garage Project in Australia. I also had for the first time a Horace stout. That in in Australia. |
| 1:47.0 | I also had for the first time a Horace stout. |
| 1:48.2 | That's in L.A. |
| 1:50.7 | They don't even have a place to drink. |
| 1:54.5 | What they have is a warehouse, a list that they send out to, |
| 1:57.0 | and long lines in front of the warehouse on some releases. |
| 2:00.4 | It's just one of those like, you know, |
... |
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