Baseball Isn’t Boring
What It's Like To Be Introduced To The Postseason For The First Time, By Ryan Pepiot
28 Sep 2025
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Yeah, there should be some passion. This doesn't have to be boring.
In the spirit of the postseason conversation, which is really all we have right now, right?
Chapter 2: What are Ryan Pepiot's thoughts on the postseason experience?
The spirit of the postseason conversation, we talked to Ryan Pepeo. Now, Ryan Pepeo isn't in the postseason with the Tampa Bay Rays, but he has lived a life which I think is intriguing because there's a lot of guys, a lot of players who are going to be introduced to this life. That is a very, very young player. diving headfirst into life in the postseason, life on a postseason roster.
What is it like? How intimidating is all of that? I love talking to Ryan Pepeo anyway. I love talking about this topic. I think it's a good one. And happy, happy, happy end of the regular season. It's been a great, great run. And I look forward to what's coming up in the next month. It's going to be awesome. Awesome. All right.
Well, speaking of awesome, here's one of our favorite guests, Ryan Pepeo. Guess what? There's no human being on the planet I'd rather be talking to than Ryan Peppio. And once again, what a run. Here we go.
We're back. What a run.
We're back. All right. Well, congratulations with everything. And sincerely, it is awesome to talk to you.
And does it feel like a long season? Yes and no. I think when you think about it and put it in your perspective of starting in February and spring training and it's end of September, yeah, it feels a little bit long, but also at the same time it feels like it's kind of flown by. And how are we at game 160 already? That's weird. The season just started a couple weeks ago.
You know, the days go by slow, but then the weeks and months kind of pass pretty quickly. It's weird. What's the hardest month? I wasn't planning on asking you, but I was thinking this. I think it depends on the year. For us, I would probably say August. Okay. A, it's hot anywhere you go. But B, for us, we had eight home games in the month of August. We were on the road a lot.
We had a four-city West Coast trip. And that was a lot of, you know, scheduling. It moved around because of where we were playing. But, you know, you only spend... eight days at home and only basically a three-game homestand, and then you go on the road for 14, 15 days, whatever it was, and then come back and there's only five days and you go back on the road.
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Chapter 3: How does Ryan Pepiot feel about his 2025 season with the Rays?
I think that was probably the hardest month. We talked about that, about what was... I think it was pretty early in the season, what had happened but was going to happen.
Looking back, do you sense that that dynamic caught up to you guys at all, or...
No, because we kind of knew how it was, like, going into the year. I mean, when you're in the middle of it, it's different and hard to put into perspective. But, I mean, you know, it wasn't something we had any control over. We still have to go out there and play and compete and win games. I mean, it's tough to not be in your own bed for two weeks. It's tough to...
pack for two weeks I don't know how you do that they did laundry service for us and for I mean I somehow packed enough stuff yeah well I had one player come on maybe I told you this who said that every single road trip he goes on oh was it it was Taylor Rogers yeah oh yeah I heard that that was hilarious I thought it was so funny every road trip he packs every pair of underwear well I did too I emptied my underwear drawer and I got back and I was like luckily I had an extra pair that was in there because I'm like I get home and I'm like I'd shower after I get off the plane and I'm like
My underwear drawer is empty. Do I have any left in my suitcase? I don't want to, like we get back late at night, I don't want to unpack. But I have to open my bag and grab it. I'm like, I'm good. I'm safe.
Yeah. That's basically the litmus test.
Yeah, exactly. You want to make it to the major leagues, but does anyone think about the underwear? The good thing is, you know, there's a TJ Maxx or Marshalls in most cities you go to. You go find a nice cheap pack of underwear, you'll be fine. Yeah, but... Listen, underwear should not be bought during the season. That's what spring training is for. That's a spring training thing.
That's what you figure it out then. So was that dynamic, other than August, but the whole everything about it, was there any surprises? Like you try to prepare the best you can, but what was it like?
I think the biggest surprise playing outdoors in Florida this year is we didn't have a single rain out.
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Chapter 4: What challenges do young players face when entering the postseason?
Oh, yeah. I stare right at it. I look at them building the roof right now. Before we left on this road trip, they had six of the, I think it's 24 panels total. Okay. Six of them are done. Okay. So they're making progress. I got some binoculars so I can see the guys. So you're staring right at it. Oh, I'm staring right at it. Really? Oh, yeah. Well, soon enough. It's not going to be a dark.
black hole anymore that i'm looking at but more importantly it's gonna save all kinds of gas money oh dude i make like four turns do you oh yeah it's like i'm so close i could walk if i wanted to maybe get a scooter or e-bike or something like that did you hit traffic is it a traffic um kids people don't know you bought a condo right next to tropical no i'm not right next to it i live in st petersburg but i'm not right next to it nobody needs to know where i live okay all right
No, but I'm close enough. I'm a little bit further from where I lived last year. I live in an apartment really close where I would walk home sometimes. But I'm a few blocks from where I was last year. But we love St. Pete. We love Tampa, too. I love St. Pete, too, man. But it's a small city vibe, but you still get the walkability and everything. That's awesome.
It's like one of the most underrated places.
I think so. Soon enough. I've seen enough. Soon enough. I mean, soon enough, because every single game, for 81 home games, I drove right past the Trop every day and just stared at it. I was like, I would already be here. I didn't have to worry about any traffic, nothing, you know.
Cheesy condos. You'd be home right now if you lived here. I know, exactly. Well, again, great things ahead. So one of the things I wanted to talk to you about was when you went with the Dodgers... Were you on a postseason roster? Yeah, 23. 23. But you were a young guy. Yeah.
So there's a lot of young guys going into the postseason right now who our eyes are wide open about, okay, what's this experience going to be like?
You were that guy, right? I didn't play. I know, but still. I was there. You were there. You lived that life. It was cool, you know, being around... Around those guys, being around that clubhouse, you talk to guys that have done it year in and year out, and they always have said, take it for granted and enjoy every single thing about it because you never know when it's going to be your last one.
We fell short the past two seasons. To have that experience, I know what it takes and know what it feels like, and I want that again. But honestly, for the young guys, soak it all in. Enjoy it. What kind of perspective did you have heading in? First of all, did you know you were going to be on the postseason roster? A couple days prior to it, I knew.
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Chapter 5: What surprising elements did Pepiot encounter during the season?
You know... Long season, career-high in innings, career-high in starts. But you must be happy, man. I am. Yeah, you should be proud of yourself. No, I'm happy. You know, to be able to make it through a full year, make every start. Besides one, we skip one.
But, you know, to take the ball every six days, no matter how I was feeling, to go as deep as I could and give us a chance every single time, that's all you can ask for as a starting pitcher and try to save the bullpen as much as possible. You know. Being a qualified starter is a big one for me.
You know, there's things I want to work on and improve on and go into next year just so that we're not playing meaningless games at the end of the year.
Okay. Last thing is, first of all, I said this at the beginning of the season with Joe Ryan, that you're going to win. You're going to be in the Cy Young conversation. He was. I'll put him in there. Yeah, he was. Yeah, yeah. So I'm going to say you're going to be in the Cy Young conversation next year. So if you finish top three in the Cy Young, will you get a baseballs and roaring tattoo?
Where do I have to get it? Whatever you want. It doesn't make a difference. If I finish top three, I mean, I don't have any tattoos, so my life won't kill me.
Well, I told you the story. Oh, yeah. Yeah, the Mr. Cartoon. So, like, if you have someone like that do it, you don't have to get another one. And also, your wife will allow you to do it.
Yeah. Anyway, we'll see. We'll workshop this. We'll workshop it. We'll workshop something. All right. Maybe it's like a chain or something like that.
Ooh.
Oh, that's even better. Yeah.
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