October 1, 2025 • 34 mins
LeBron James misses Day 1 of camp with glute irritation, instead dances on a livestream. This year is just going to be SO awkward with LeBron & the Lakers. I can see the amount of time he'll be "away" from the team be a weirdly significant amount & a daily story.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Hello, Welcome inside final hour tonight the Jason Smith Show
with my bes friend Mike Harmon. Poors up. Hey, check
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(00:50):
Be sure to hit the subscribe button. Don't stop there,
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Smith Show. Subscribe. Mike and I love putting this content
out for you every single night. We'll have more on
that crazy ass lebron story coming up in about fifteen minutes.
Because oh my goodness, it's already good, it's already awkward,
(01:12):
it's already off. Jason the Bad look is he's supposedly hurt. Yeah, well,
you know, let's mention it now he's shooting hoops. Oh yeah, yeah,
dude's pod he look today. Look, we talked about this
a few minutes ago. Just to tell you again how
awkward this is. First day of Lakers training camp was today.
(01:33):
Lebron is out and JJ Reddick had to tell everybody
he had a slight irritation in one of his glutes
and the goal is to get ready for Opening night.
But they're waiting all this crazy ass stuff to me.
And you do need to be able to activate your glutes.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
If you didn't work or you got it, you did
bring the ball up, make cuts, all of that stuff.
Absolutely held out for nerve irritation his glutes and.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Instead was dancing on a big live stream marathon. Ky
Sinnett and Mary told us about it earlier. You see
the video of him. He's dancing, he's cutting, Harry, He's
doing all this stuff. So it's not enough he's held
out of practice to be on a live stream. Okay, well,
you never know the timing of things. But the fact
that they said, yeah, he's got a glute irritation and
(02:18):
he is telling the Lakers. Blank you here, I am
on a live stream and I'm gonna dance, right.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
I've told well he was shooting baskets too, Jay, Yeah yeah,
I mean look look look Teddy turned down the shot
in the final seconds.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
This is why I really I can't believe he's not
been he's not on a new team, because you can
just tell it's a big blank you between he and
the Lakers. They can barely be civil with each other
off the court, right everything. They're not going so far
enough to get the gloves off, you know, the Lakers saying, oh, hey,
we want to make sure Lebron is ready to go
(02:52):
for this. We want to make sure he calls the shots.
We didn't sign him to another contract after this year,
but he's want to make sure everything is right for him.
He's earned the right all that bull crap you got
from Rob Polinka last week.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Look you see it's the giant sign that said we're
not giving him fifty million dollars or if he.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Wants to stick around. You see this back and forth.
The Lakers have pushed him to the outside once they
got Luca right, and you've seen the back and forth
between both sides. You know, that the relationship is frosty.
It's not what it was. Clutch Sports doesn't call the
shots the Lakers anymore. The Lakers were sold, and I
said going into this summer, he's gonna get dealt. He's
not gonna be a spare part on a team. And
(03:27):
the Lakers have said Luca is our guy. Now. Of
course they're gonna do that, because Luca is the guy
they got. He's gonna be the next level the Lakers
the next ten years. But basically thumbing their nose at
Lebron as it's going to let you know, you do
not do this anymore. Whatever the power trip that you
had over this organization, you and ad and we made
moves to help you guys out, that is not happening. Okay,
(03:48):
Lebron is never gonna not be in Alpha, So he
calls his shot to go someplace else. But either misjudged
the the trademarket form, which we've heard from Mark Stein
and Rick Buker over the course of the summer. Hey,
maybe a little bit not quite getting Lebron as teams
are at the point right now. Maybe Cleveland's not at
that point where they say, hey, we can go get
(04:09):
Lebron and bring him in and he's a guy to
get us over the top. But now he's stuck with
the Lakers. And so you had last week, you had
Rob Polinka answering those crazy ask questions with you know, oh,
you mean you're letting Lebron hit free agency because you
want to do the right thing by his family. If
you wanted a good player, you'd sign him, right, you'd
sign him. So don't give me that's a load of
(04:30):
crap with oh, we want to make sure Lebron is
taking care of It's a big thumb in your nose
at him, going yeah, we're just we're saying glowing things
about you when the reality is we're not gonna sign you.
You're done with this team after this year, we're gonna
be able to go out and build on whoever we
want to. So now here's Lebron a week later going okay,
blank me, no, blank you day one here of training camp.
(04:52):
Now my glute has bothered me. I'm going to a
live stream and I'm gonna dance on the live stream.
I'm gonna shoot baskets on the live stream. Yeah, I'm
held out of practice, but I'm going to go thromb
your nose in it. Like the It's like Stringer and
ave On at the end of the wire. They tried
to be friends, but you knew they're trying to get
each other. Like this is going to be so awkward
with the Lakers and Lebron this year. It's already awkward
(05:13):
day one of training camp. It's so awkward.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
It all goes back to the day he opted in.
Like you could have gone anywhere you wanted, now you
would you have made fifty three million dollars.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
No, but I'm.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Sure for the price is right, you could have gotten
one and the bonus deal from a number of teams
that you might have wanted to be part of. Right
for a championship contender in terms of trades, whether it's
Cleveland or somebody else, think about all the parts you
have to give back to make these salaries match up
under the NBA rules. Do you talk about the aprons
(05:46):
and all of that other stuff, Like it becomes a
very complicated situation to ours, Like wait this, we we
won because we had a nine man core. How many
of those guys have to go back to bring in Lebron?
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Right, So, like you're not gonna do that. Plus, as
you say, he can't not be the alpha. No, And
if that's the case, am I gonna take a team
that I've got great chemistry one through seven, one through
nine or whatever and bring him into that No, I'm not.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Well, here's where you talk about the alpha and the
big thing for Lebron was opting into that year. Okay,
because Lebron is never going to unless he can control
the narrative. He's never going to take less money or
diminish his stature at all, which is why I can't
believe he's back with the Lakers. But picking up that option,
(06:35):
that was kind of a not a panic move, but
just we got to make a really tough decision very early.
And the best thing for Lebron would have been if
he didn't feel things going right with the Lakers, I'm
gonna opt out and I'm gonna see what's out there,
because if it's not fifty million, and it's hey, I
can go and go here and take less money. Then
(06:57):
a team like Cleveland coming off of the way they
ended the season, Hey, okay, we can get into the
Lebron James business for actually can actually look at it.
It's less money to look at it. But the unknown
for Lebron didn't weigh as much for him as the well,
no matter what happens here, I'm getting fifty million dollars,
I'll get fifty million dollars, and who knows where the
future is gonna go. But I gotta make this decision now.
(07:17):
So the right decision for in basketball wise, would have
been to opt out. Maybe he stays with the Lakers,
maybe he doesn't, maybe he's with Cleveland, maybe he's with
the Knicks, whatever it is. But he also has set
up his business in Los Angeles. He set up This
is where his family has moved here the last few years.
You know, this where he's gonna want to be when
he's all said and done with whatever investments and adventures
and he has going on once he's done playing basketball.
(07:40):
So that decision was was the one that set this
course in this course of action and motion, because once
you opt in, okay, now you're hamstrung with what's gonna
do Now? The team could be able to say, hey,
we'll take you for fifty one million dollars. Are we
gonna be able to say, hey, we're gonna give up
pieces for you. No, but a Lebron James for free
(08:01):
trading wise and for less money. Yeah, there would have
been some teams in on that, but that was an
unknown for him at that point. And no matter what, Okay,
what do I pick if I'm Lebron? Do I pick
that unknown even though it's better for me basketball wise?
Or do I take the fifty one million dollars and
stay here and then see what happens and see if
things can we kick that can down the road and
(08:22):
then we get to it at a different day. So
Lebron opting in there, Hey, I'll kick the can down
the road. Well, guess what, we're down the road. We
can't kick the can anymore. The season's here, and now
things are awkward and both sides hate each other. And
now again day one of training camp, it's already awkward.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Yeah, but no matter where you go, you're not gonna
be the guy at this point, and you continue the
I'm not quite the Shacktice yet, but I'm on my
vagabond tour like I'm Shagne.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
But here's where he controls the narrative, and that I'm
the missing piece. If Lebron goes to the Knicks and
they win the title, if Lebron goes to the Calves
and they win the title. If Lebron goes to the
Mavericks and then where it is he's the missing piece,
they win because of him. I'm coming here, and no,
I may not be Donovan Mitchell. I might not be
Jalen Brunson. You know, I might not be Will Kyrie
(09:10):
is out. I might not. But but I go to
one of these teams and we win. I am the difference.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Now.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
It's a it's a risk for him because if he
goes someplace and they don't play, well, well, guess what, Lebron,
You're not that guy anymore. Where I can finish with
the Lakers. I won the title here and and my
legacy is not going to take a hit of any
kind again. It's it's it's risky stuff. And Lebron is
picking the sure things all the way along. My sure
thing is opting in for fifty one million here. I
(09:37):
am now that maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. But
basketball wise, for him, and the guy looks like he's
got at least two or three good years. He hasn't.
He hasn't fallen off that and he's still a top
fifteen player in the league. But you got to take
a chance at some point and take a risk, and
Lebron is not at that risk point in his career
where Okay, I'm gonna do this and see if it
(09:59):
works out. But if he went someplace else, he could
easily present it as I'm the reason. If he went
to the Knicks and they won, Yeah, jaylen Brunt is great,
but we needed Lebron to come to win. If he
goes back to Cleveland, he he won again with Cleveland. Hey,
it's great for Mitchell no Alston on the dais at
the end, they'll all have Lebron on their shoulders. They'd
all be so excited that they won because of Lebron James.
So he could control that narrative at least where I'm
(10:20):
the reason they won if he went somewhere to win.
But that's a big if for Lebron to say, Yeah,
I could throw my legacy into into flux because of it.
But if he goes to New York and then they lose,
can they make the Dallas runts and carry them as
far as Matthew dela Vedova and those other players he
could go? Is that where we go?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
The other is we got to sync up the abba
take a chance on me with the Lebron's dancing and
basketball playing from today. I mean, I'm glad that glutes
are able to activate so that he's really not injured.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Well, if you can do the worm, if you can
do the worm, like I actually, I mean you might
be sore.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
I mean you might need to, you know, bring out
the bombs and saves and whatever.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
To tell you this, because now you're gonna get the
visual list. Like I taught Zoe how to do the
worm like three years ago. She wanted. I said, oh,
I could do the worm. You taught because because and
here's how it because and I'm sure you did this
in football. You didn't hit its football right, which is
the worm? Right? You get them chopping, right, get yours chopping,
(11:27):
and then you dive to the ground with your hands
and then the rest of your body goes to the ground.
So I taught, hey, this is how you go to
the ground and do it and then you just and
then she's like, oh, okay, I get it. So I
showed her like the first part and how to do it,
and that's just the worm really well, and I'm like, yeah,
I touched up to the worm. Okay, that's great, but
you need.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Your glutes for the worm. What circumstances in your normal
day to day life you need to do the worm?
She was, well, well, I mean there's that, and so
I'm drinking tequila and this greasy spoon.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
No, she wanted to do it for a performance performance,
as I said, Okay, I'll teach you how to do the
worm because I could do it because I remember from football, Yeah,
the hit. I can do the worm. You can absolutely not.
I can absolutely I can do the worm. I can
do the worm. No you can't. Yeah, I can. He's
going to take the physical challenge. Yeah, I could do
the worm. I mean I'm going to warm up to
do it. I'm not going to do it right now
at ten fifteen at night, after you know, drinking diet coke.
(12:19):
But next couple of days I'll show you I do
the worm. The diet coke. The thing. Well, I'm kind
of fin I feel kind of full right now, uploaded
like I can't just you know, that's the thing. My dad.
You know, my dad's in his late seventies now, and
you know he's just he's having a rough night tonight.
He is, well, yeah, my dad, my dad in the
state of Ohio or having rough nights, not a great
night for Ohio. Not great, Bob. But like my dad,
(12:41):
you know, he was in Vietnam. He did a lot
of things like he needs when he gets up every day,
like he's got arthritis and all this stuff. And the
doctors tells him, hey, you know, you take your medication
and stretch, like they tell him stretch before he goes out,
and I go, He'll come over his I go, how
are you doing? I'm not great today? On my shoulders?
By go did you did you stretch? Hees, nah, no,
I didn't. I go, Dad, the doctor tells you got
(13:02):
you take your meds right, He goes, yeah, yeah, of course.
I go, why don't you stretch you? I like to
get up and go. I go, yeah, I know this,
but the doctor said, if you stretch, you'll have a
better day, Like you're not gonna be a sord but
take ten minutes to stretch in the morning. People like
to be pissed off. Okay, now I just want to
get up and go. I go, Dad, I get it.
But this is the thing. You're in your late seventies.
(13:22):
All they're saying is stretching. They're not saying, hey, go
through this all kinds of By the way, that's a
whole other thing going back to your football analogy. You know,
tell me you got to do it an American ninja
warrior course, Like they just saying, just stretch for ten minutes.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
But that's the other thing, going back to your your
football days. How much stretching did you guys do to
start a practice? Oh, we stretch for like we slesch
for like fifteen minutes. Yeah, we got we had behind
this five and a half minutes.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
No, no, no, we stretched so because we did leg razors
and arm raiser, which were awful. We did all kains.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
They couldn't race through ours fast enough to just get
to the hitting and hitting us in the head with
whistles and everything else.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
What hurts your dad more his bones? Are the Yankees tonight? Oh?
The Yankees? Easy? My dad would say, I could sit
on the couch and feel fine, but I still gotta
watch that. But it hurts your soul. Yeah yeah, but
that's I mean, like, I'm not gonna just try to
do the worm right now, because I'll screw it up.
I'll do something on my wrist. And do it. No,
I can do the worm. I'll need to stretch you.
(14:19):
I can do the worm. Trust me, I could do
the worm. I could do the worm. I've taken physical
challenges here many times over the last eleven years. I've
taken many physical challenges. I'll think, well, I'll do them. Yeah,
but I was still okay at the end. You know what,
though earlier, you're yesterday.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
These Strauss batting helmets, it's the closest I'm ever gonna
come to be and show Tony.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah, we got the Straus batting helmets. Pretty cool. Yeah,
you guys put those on? Yeah? Uh yeah. I had
a jam at OxT seven and a quarter. I'm like, oh,
my head is a little bigger than whose head's been
in that? Right? Whose heads have been in those? You
put it on?
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Yeah, he's cackuling like a madman.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
We've really hit another. Oh Toni's head. No, Tony's head
has been inside. Oh it's way dirtier than that. Oh
wow wow, okay, wow, I cleaned mine, cleaned yours. It's
not yours. They're here for whatever.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Well, the helmet i'd put on my head, okay, I
cleaned it.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Okay, I put it on. All right, all right, very good.
Exit up by now it's got exit swollen Dome. The
Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike carbon I
love that it's already so awkward with Lebron and the Lakers,
and it's just going to continue to be awkward as
the season goes. At Popcorn, that's awesome. October what twenty thirteen?
Se you that story here? Coming up next, we get
(15:36):
back into two big hot takes coming off at Day
one of the MLB Playoffs. Get you ready for Day
two Jason and Mike Fox Sports Radio, matts Yo.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. Hey,
this is Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire
with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing
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(16:23):
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Speaker 1 (16:36):
Radio, the Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon. Yeah,
day one of the MLB Playoffs in the books, so
much great drama, and first of all, I want to
say this to have an appreciation moment, just for a second.
Most of the games I mean, obviously not the Dodger
Reds game, most of the games today, and this is
(16:58):
why I love the early rounds of the baseball playoffs
when they played during the day like this. It's this
is what the playoffs were like when you and I
were growing up as kids, where they played the ALCS
the NLCS. One game was always right after school, and
it was a day game, and the crowd was always
(17:18):
nervous and sitting on their hands. It wasn't always as
loud as you expected me because it was it was
such a Every pitch was was fraught with tension, and
every game was low scoring, and it was an error
or a single and a stolen base that would be
the difference. And that was every game today, right.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
The only thing different from my childhood is the Cubs
were active in the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yeah right, but like that was every game today. That
was Tigers, Guardians, It was every game was a was
a pitcher's duel, and every base was was absolute gold.
If you got to second base with one out, oh
this is gonna be it. And and again the amount
of tension that you can see in the park, and
(18:00):
it wasn't just everybody going nuts to start the game.
It really was a great throwback. It was like what
the playoffs were like in the late seventies early eighties
when I remember watching coming home from school. The playoffs
are starting and it was cold, and everybody was bundled
up and no one could really loosely. You needed innings
for the crowd to loosen up because they weren't getting
(18:21):
a lot of hits, not a lot of runs. That
was every game up until the night game with the
Dodgers night when they just started hitting home runs off
of Hunter Green. It never stopped.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Yeah, just the celebration of pitching. Right. I'm the lunatic
that loves a low scoring defensive battle in football. Sure
I love big touchdown plays and runs or whatever, but
same thing with baseball.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
We all love home runs.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
They had ad campaigns, and we go back to the
what do we call it these days, the ped era?
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Sure, the Mitchell Report era. Yeah, whatever you want to
do with that.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
And we watched the home runs fly out, and then
everybody started complaining about It's like, no, we were duped.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Not me celebrate them all. It's all entertainment.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
But I always love to watch a workhorse pitcher go
go after it and get deep into games six, seventh,
eighth innings.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
And we got that today.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Schoobl did it today, Crochet Williams gage is sixty our
six innings and then you got sixty was how many
it pitches the Dodgers, Yes, the Dodgers.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Bullen had in the eighth in it's the fifty nine
in the in the eighth.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Yeah, But also you know, you look at Max Freed,
goes six and six and a third, six and two
thirds before he comes out, but he gives you one
hundred pitches and then they make the decision and you
go from there. But all of that to say in
the regular season, like, all right, are we gonna get
the guy? I mean, you got the lineup coming up
for the third time he's out right, Like no, now
it's that's our e's get back out there. If you
(19:54):
got anything left, you get to go and continue your effort.
Like Blake SNeW would have been fun to watch the fight. Right,
they've got a huge lead if Dave Roberts had tried.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
To go to him an inning earlier.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
He goes seven innings, but say after six, David's like,
you're done for the night, right.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Blake, Blake gives him them tumbo fingerwag No, no, no,
send Vesia back to the bullpen. I'm staying in. But
that's the that's the big thing. You want a couple
of big hot takes on the playoffs. Here, this is
why I said, what did you know about the playoffs?
Though my team was just in the playoffs last year,
we have no playoffs cast. That's that's what you're rusty,
(20:34):
is that I said last week Blake Snell needs to
pitch more than any other Dodger pitcher in the playoff.
But that I mean he needs to start game one.
He needs to come back whenever they need him. He's
the guy, right because Blake Snell's career and again once
he did he put a he put a stamp on
it with telling Dave Roberts. No, I'm staying in to
(20:56):
finish this game. I got it. I'm staying in. He's
on a Madison Bumgarner like path with his career. Right,
two lefty pitchers, both dominant. Blake Snell a little bit
more regular season dominant than Madison Bumgarner. Madison Bumgarner clearly
(21:17):
much more playoff dominant. Right, but you watch Bumgarner, who
during his career was pretty good in the regular season, right,
you know, there's his five six year run sixteen to nine.
ERA was pretty good. Tough dude, always would tell people,
don't peacock around the base as you go you go.
A bit of a jerk on the mound, but a
personality Blake Snell also personality on the mound, right, not
(21:40):
not afraid to question what's going on, not afraid to
give his opinion. And a little bit more regular season success,
but also a really good amount of posting success so
far as ERA in his playoffs is in the low threes,
which is great. Right, There's not many guys you could say, oh,
Clayton Kersher needed to be better in there. No, there's
not many guys outside of Bumgarner who you can give
(22:01):
the ball to in the last fifteen to twenty years,
you could say, yeah, he's shutting down and winning every game.
There's nobody else outside of Bumgarner. That's kind of where
Snell is going. If he stays on the Dodgers and
he becomes a playoff pitcher every year, He's already got
a couple of cy youngs. He's on that path because
we've seen him pitch great in the playoffs before the
legend of him in the twenty twenty World Series where
(22:23):
Kevin Cash asides him taking Blake Snell out and the
Dodgers did backflips because the knew they were gonna win
the game. Oh, we're so glad we got that guy
out of the game. Yeah, you go back to that
Game five was fantastic and he took him out of
the game. I mean, what are you doing. It's not
like he had a lot of stress of the season
on him too, because it was a COVID year. Right,
it's COVID. They didn't start playing until you know, the
end of August. Right, My parents are still pissed about that,
(22:45):
and if they're adopted. Spot two hits allowed, one air
and run, nine strikeouts, zero walks, and got pulled. If
he stays with the Dodgers, he is on that Bumgarner
path of being the next great postseason pitch.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Right.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
You saw him tonight into the seventh inning for the
first time with the Dodgers as dominant as they could be.
He left the game. The Dodger bullpen comes, it almost
gives up a ten to two lead. Right, he was
as good as advertised. He's the guy. He's got that attitude,
he's got that desire for the ball. Yamamoto's terrific, right,
Otani is Otani. These guys are great. But Snell's got
that when the stakes are higher, I have that ability
(23:24):
to raise my game. We saw it from Bumgarner all
the way through his career, right, winning every other year
with the with the Giants in the in the teams,
and I see that same kind of path for Blake Snell.
He's gonna be the net he could be the next
modern day Bumgarner, but staying with a team that's really
good in the playoffs, that can win, because look, Bumgarner
was with that team with the Giants every other year.
(23:45):
They were great, right when they won the World Series,
and and you know his legend coming out in relief,
pitching the last seven innings on like what four hours
rest to win the World Series over the Royals. Like
this is the kind of path that that that Blake
Snell is on. He needs a pitch game one, needs
to pitch all game ones come out of relief when
they need to. Anytime you give him the baseball, he's
(24:06):
that guy.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
Well.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
The beauty of it also is look finishes the regular
season five and four two three five ERA, but only
had to. He made eleven appearances in the regular season,
which means he's now just ramping up to full season shape,
right as opposed to having pitched thirty two times or
twenty seven times or whatever constitutes a full workload in
(24:29):
today's Major League baseball with the extra man in the rotation,
days off, bullpen games, the openers and all that other stuff.
He only pitched the what sixty one innings in the
regular season, so right now just rounding into shape. And
you've seen the last four appearances, including his seven innings tonight,
(24:52):
how dominant he's been. How much that translates. And we've
talked about him a lot over the last couple of years.
The greatness when he was with Tampa the Cy Young
Award winning seasons, the question of what you do with
a contract with him, Dodgers went all in and so
for year one. Now this is where he makes his
money and proves that it was a worthwhile investment. First
(25:15):
step in many for this postseason, he gets the w Now.
The other big take from today is you saw on
display the most dangerous team in the playoffs and a
team that nobody wants to play. Dodgers, Red Sox, red Sox. Now, no,
the Yankees don't want to play the Red Sox. You
saw the Tigers win today and show you why they're
(25:37):
the most dangerous team and nobody wants to play them. Yes,
they're coming off a regular season in which for a
while they were the best team in baseball and then
they hit the skids.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
That sounds familiar. Yeah, the Mets were the best team,
I had the best record, They hit the skids. Never
got it back. At least the Tigers got it back
a little bit. They also needed the Astros to completely
collapse at the end, which they didn't do with which
they did, and so they get in the playoffs. Sometimes
it's just as turning the page on the regular season,
(26:07):
sometimes as simple as momentum is your next day starting pitcher,
which is when it's schooball, Hey, he was the best
pitcher in baseball. It's gonna work struck out fourteen today,
it's throwing one hundred miles an hour in the seventh inning. Right,
And again I go back to he emptied the tank
in what he thought was his last inning because he knew, okay,
this is it for me. And then they said, hey,
we need you one more, and he, of course, I'll
(26:28):
go one more. Right, That's what I love at Full
Ocean's eleven. If we need more, one more, I'll go.
But the Tigers, I'm not that surprised at their collapse
during the season because this is not a This is
not a team that's built to withstand everything. This is
not a team that's too big to fail. It's not like, hey,
they got sluggers all the way up and down the lineup.
All their starting pitching is great, their bullpen is for
not They're not the Dodgers. They are built for the playoffs,
(26:52):
which is a team that can hit home runs when
they have to, but can play small ball. They have
an a starting pitcher, their defense is good enough, their
metrics are good enough. They're a top half of the team,
a league team. They're not going to cost themselves like
teams like the Mets do. But that's a team that's
built for the playoffs, for series, for short series, for
long series. You have an ACE. You have guys who
(27:13):
can play small ball, clutch hits. Tigers at the top
of all of these lists. This is not something that
always shows itself during the regular season, because it's about
six days a week, seven days a week, playing and
repeating every day. You can't do it. But during the playoffs,
when you show that, yeah, this is how we play,
that's a team you don't want to play. We saw
it last year. They're complete and total salary for the
(27:36):
team and the playoffs in the first round was like
not even a million dollars sure, Like I mean, Hobvey Bias,
who was sitting out, was making more money than the
entire twenty six members of the Tigers. Like, this is
a team that's just thrown out there. Hey, do what
you can. But in the playoffs, all of these things
you got an ACE boom. Great, you have a team
that can get clutch hits, yes, hit home runs, yes,
(27:59):
can you play small and that was every run they
were able to manufacture. They're playing small Did they play
good defense? Yes? Could the Guardians play good defense no?
Did they play small ball node? Did they hit home runs?
Speaker 3 (28:12):
No?
Speaker 1 (28:13):
As good as the Guardians have been, the Tigers are
much a much team, much more suited for the playoffs,
which is why they're the most That's one team I
don't want to play of anyone because Wow, suddenly every
run is worth gold and they're pitching has got you
and they're making the right decisions. It's so incredibly frustrating.
Do not want to play them? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (28:30):
What's curious is you got Riley Green at one hundred
and eleven RBI. They didn't have another guy over eighty
A lot of guys in the fifties and sixties. And
they also don't steal bases, no, no, And defensively they
tried to give it away in the ninth, but they
closed the door.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
That's how they do it. Telling you do not want
to play the Tigers? They have it exit out about
at Fresca Exit swalling down the Jason Smith Show with
my best friend Mike Harmon Time not to find out
what's trending in the wide world of Sports. So someone
who would called the Tarik school Ball of fire sports radio,
crafty southball. Every time we tell him we need you
for one more, he gives us one more. It's Steve Disager,
(29:07):
an actual compliment here.
Speaker 5 (29:09):
I want to tell you that one not entirely accurate,
but okay, by the way, with one ca after another,
in this day one of the postseason, first day of
the playoffs, we had seventy total innings pitched, ninety two strikeouts.
That's a strikeout rate of almost twelve k's per nine innings,
the most by Major league pitchers on any single day
(29:31):
that has at least four games in the modern era,
regular or postseason.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Did the Rockies play in every game today? Is that
what happened? No, but Cleveland did.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
It's just stay of Major League baseball, right, We've been
celebrating those eight guys with a three hundred batting average.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (29:46):
One in the NL. Cleveland's offense four for thirty fifteen strikeouts,
barely got the ball out of the infield. The Guardians
offense regular season was near the bottom and run scored
to one Detroit the final at Cleveland, scoring two unearned draw.
The losing pitcher, Gavin Williams six plus innings, eight strikeouts,
attendance just twenty six thousand. In Cleveland, trek scouob will
(30:07):
to win with fourteen k's in his seven and two thirds.
Garrett Crochet a Boston seven and two thirds, eleven strikeouts,
no walks in a three to one victory over the
Yankees in New York. Crochet threw one hundred and seventeen pitches.
He retired seventeen straight batters after giving up an early
home run. And this is the Yankee team that was
number one in the majors this year in homer's, RBI's,
(30:29):
in walks, in run scored. Yankees had bases loaded, no
out's bottom of the ninth against Eraaldus Chapman, and then
Chapman got a strikeout, flyout and strikeout to end the game.
Luke Weaver the losing reliever for the Yankees, ruining a
great start for Max Freed, who went six and a
third scoreless about one hundred pitches, left with a one
nothing lead but got no decision. Boston third baseman Alex
(30:51):
Bregman did play after illness over the weekend. He had
two hits, a walk in RBI double Red Sox took
the lead in the seventh on a two run pinch single.
Boston pitcher Lucas Giolito is expected to miss the postseason
with his elbow problems. In the National League openers are
the best of three wildcard series. Cubs beat the Padres
three to one. The loss to Nick Pavetta despite his
(31:12):
nine strikeouts in five innings. Cubs hit back to back
homers in the fifth. Padre offense got back to back
doubles in the second inning, but then went two for
twenty five the rest of the game. The Dodgers tonight
held on for a ten to five victory over Cincinnati.
La hit five home runs, including a leadoff shot from
Shoheo Tani. He later hit a two run homer in
(31:33):
the sixth. This is against a Reds team that had
trailed the Mets by six games about a month ago,
wound up getting the last wild card spot. Anyway, had
won eight of eleven coming in.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
We don't need to know the Reds history. They're playing
the game they lost. That's all we need to know. Okay,
we don't need an all thing about where they came from.
We don't need a prequel on the Reds. They won.
They're here.
Speaker 5 (31:55):
Okay, that's all, but starter Hunter Green, who's from LA,
gave up three homers in three innings. He'd only had
one bad start like this since April, and it occurred
at Dodger Stadium. Blake'snell the winning pitcher seven innings, nine strikeouts,
and then the bullpen had the near sixty pitch inning
in the top of the eighth, allowing three, so it
made it interesting. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, LA starter for Game two.
(32:16):
By the way, Pitcher Roki Sasaki is on the Dodger
roster this week. Clayton Kershaw is not, but would be
next round if the team advances to Philadelphia. Dodger catcher
Will Smith is on the roster. Took BP yesterday after
the broken hand, did not play tonight. They have three
catchers on the roster, but no Michael Confordo. The outfielder
is not. They kept pitcher Tanner Scott and did not
(32:38):
bring him in in a blowout game tonight. They did
not put lefty Anthony Bonda on the roster.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
I think they also had Key Hernandez warming up in
the bullpen in the ninth inning.
Speaker 5 (32:47):
Is it more of a realistic guy to bring Yeah, yeah, yah,
yeah eight two yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
I think you did Scott just to give Tanner Scott
a you know, the message, like you know when teams
get alrighty and a lefty up in the bullpen, like
you know, Hey, Tanner, Scott the lefty, Carnandez the righty.
Speaker 5 (33:01):
You know, if they were really interested in a message,
they could have left him off the roster.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
I think they had.
Speaker 5 (33:07):
Three different shots to.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Actually bring him in.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
Edwin Diaz, right, oh, you have played the Trump international
call in Cancun, though in the WNBA Semifinals ended with overtime.
In Game five of the best of five at Las Vegas,
the Aces beat Indiana one oh seven ninety eight Asia
Wilson thirty five points Vegas against Phoenix in the WNBA
Finals that opened Friday and Sunday, opposite the baseball playoffs
(33:31):
and the NFL great scheduling. The ed WNBA's worst team, Dallas,
fired its coach Chris Kochlanis. In the NBA, Golden State
re signed forward Jonathan Kaminga, the Warriors sign guard Seth Curry.
Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill had surgery on his dislocated
knee and the torn ligaments. The Ravens Wednesday are due
to give an update on quarterback Lamar Jackson's hamstring injury.
(33:55):
He could miss two to three weeks, according to The
Baltimore Son Back to You.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Thank you, Steve l. The Jason Smith's Show with My
best friend Mike Carbon. Okay, so day one of the
MLB Playoffs in the books, Day two tomorrow. What person
has the most at stake steak in the playoffs? Tomorrow?
Aaron Judge. Maybe we give you that answer coming up
(34:23):
next right here. The answer could be in his last
game with his team. Oh boy, depending on how tomorrow goes,
it can't be Pete Alonzo. Who is it? We'll tell
you next right here, Jason and Mike. This is Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Foxsports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every night on the
iHeartRadio app by searching FSR. Let's give this.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Hello, Welcome inside final hour tonight the Jason Smith Show
with my bes friend Mike Harmon. Poors up. Hey, check
out our little, brand new YouTube channel for the show.
Just go to YouTube dot com slash at Jason Smith Show,
or if you're already within YouTube, just search Jason Smith Show.
(00:50):
Be sure to hit the subscribe button. Don't stop there,
hit that thumbs up icon. Comment away. Go check out
our brand new channel on YouTube again, just search Jason
Smith Show. Subscribe. Mike and I love putting this content
out for you every single night. We'll have more on
that crazy ass lebron story coming up in about fifteen minutes.
Because oh my goodness, it's already good, it's already awkward,
(01:12):
it's already off. Jason the Bad look is he's supposedly hurt. Yeah, well,
you know, let's mention it now he's shooting hoops. Oh yeah, yeah,
dude's pod he look today. Look, we talked about this
a few minutes ago. Just to tell you again how
awkward this is. First day of Lakers training camp was today.
(01:33):
Lebron is out and JJ Reddick had to tell everybody
he had a slight irritation in one of his glutes
and the goal is to get ready for Opening night.
But they're waiting all this crazy ass stuff to me.
And you do need to be able to activate your glutes.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
If you didn't work or you got it, you did
bring the ball up, make cuts, all of that stuff.
Absolutely held out for nerve irritation his glutes and.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Instead was dancing on a big live stream marathon. Ky
Sinnett and Mary told us about it earlier. You see
the video of him. He's dancing, he's cutting, Harry, He's
doing all this stuff. So it's not enough he's held
out of practice to be on a live stream. Okay, well,
you never know the timing of things. But the fact
that they said, yeah, he's got a glute irritation and
(02:18):
he is telling the Lakers. Blank you here, I am
on a live stream and I'm gonna dance, right.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
I've told well he was shooting baskets too, Jay, Yeah yeah,
I mean look look look Teddy turned down the shot
in the final seconds.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
This is why I really I can't believe he's not
been he's not on a new team, because you can
just tell it's a big blank you between he and
the Lakers. They can barely be civil with each other
off the court, right everything. They're not going so far
enough to get the gloves off, you know, the Lakers saying, oh, hey,
we want to make sure Lebron is ready to go
(02:52):
for this. We want to make sure he calls the shots.
We didn't sign him to another contract after this year,
but he's want to make sure everything is right for him.
He's earned the right all that bull crap you got
from Rob Polinka last week.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Look you see it's the giant sign that said we're
not giving him fifty million dollars or if he.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Wants to stick around. You see this back and forth.
The Lakers have pushed him to the outside once they
got Luca right, and you've seen the back and forth
between both sides. You know, that the relationship is frosty.
It's not what it was. Clutch Sports doesn't call the
shots the Lakers anymore. The Lakers were sold, and I
said going into this summer, he's gonna get dealt. He's
not gonna be a spare part on a team. And
(03:27):
the Lakers have said Luca is our guy. Now. Of
course they're gonna do that, because Luca is the guy
they got. He's gonna be the next level the Lakers
the next ten years. But basically thumbing their nose at
Lebron as it's going to let you know, you do
not do this anymore. Whatever the power trip that you
had over this organization, you and ad and we made
moves to help you guys out, that is not happening. Okay,
(03:48):
Lebron is never gonna not be in Alpha, So he
calls his shot to go someplace else. But either misjudged
the the trademarket form, which we've heard from Mark Stein
and Rick Buker over the course of the summer. Hey,
maybe a little bit not quite getting Lebron as teams
are at the point right now. Maybe Cleveland's not at
that point where they say, hey, we can go get
(04:09):
Lebron and bring him in and he's a guy to
get us over the top. But now he's stuck with
the Lakers. And so you had last week, you had
Rob Polinka answering those crazy ask questions with you know, oh,
you mean you're letting Lebron hit free agency because you
want to do the right thing by his family. If
you wanted a good player, you'd sign him, right, you'd
sign him. So don't give me that's a load of
(04:30):
crap with oh, we want to make sure Lebron is
taking care of It's a big thumb in your nose
at him, going yeah, we're just we're saying glowing things
about you when the reality is we're not gonna sign you.
You're done with this team after this year, we're gonna
be able to go out and build on whoever we
want to. So now here's Lebron a week later going okay,
blank me, no, blank you day one here of training camp.
(04:52):
Now my glute has bothered me. I'm going to a
live stream and I'm gonna dance on the live stream.
I'm gonna shoot baskets on the live stream. Yeah, I'm
held out of practice, but I'm going to go thromb
your nose in it. Like the It's like Stringer and
ave On at the end of the wire. They tried
to be friends, but you knew they're trying to get
each other. Like this is going to be so awkward
with the Lakers and Lebron this year. It's already awkward
(05:13):
day one of training camp. It's so awkward.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
It all goes back to the day he opted in.
Like you could have gone anywhere you wanted, now you
would you have made fifty three million dollars.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
No, but I'm.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Sure for the price is right, you could have gotten
one and the bonus deal from a number of teams
that you might have wanted to be part of. Right
for a championship contender in terms of trades, whether it's
Cleveland or somebody else, think about all the parts you
have to give back to make these salaries match up
under the NBA rules. Do you talk about the aprons
(05:46):
and all of that other stuff, Like it becomes a
very complicated situation to ours, Like wait this, we we
won because we had a nine man core. How many
of those guys have to go back to bring in Lebron?
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Right, So, like you're not gonna do that. Plus, as
you say, he can't not be the alpha. No, And
if that's the case, am I gonna take a team
that I've got great chemistry one through seven, one through
nine or whatever and bring him into that No, I'm not.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Well, here's where you talk about the alpha and the
big thing for Lebron was opting into that year. Okay,
because Lebron is never going to unless he can control
the narrative. He's never going to take less money or
diminish his stature at all, which is why I can't
believe he's back with the Lakers. But picking up that option,
(06:35):
that was kind of a not a panic move, but
just we got to make a really tough decision very early.
And the best thing for Lebron would have been if
he didn't feel things going right with the Lakers, I'm
gonna opt out and I'm gonna see what's out there,
because if it's not fifty million, and it's hey, I
can go and go here and take less money. Then
(06:57):
a team like Cleveland coming off of the way they
ended the season, Hey, okay, we can get into the
Lebron James business for actually can actually look at it.
It's less money to look at it. But the unknown
for Lebron didn't weigh as much for him as the well,
no matter what happens here, I'm getting fifty million dollars,
I'll get fifty million dollars, and who knows where the
future is gonna go. But I gotta make this decision now.
(07:17):
So the right decision for in basketball wise, would have
been to opt out. Maybe he stays with the Lakers,
maybe he doesn't, maybe he's with Cleveland, maybe he's with
the Knicks, whatever it is. But he also has set
up his business in Los Angeles. He set up This
is where his family has moved here the last few years.
You know, this where he's gonna want to be when
he's all said and done with whatever investments and adventures
and he has going on once he's done playing basketball.
(07:40):
So that decision was was the one that set this
course in this course of action and motion, because once
you opt in, okay, now you're hamstrung with what's gonna
do Now? The team could be able to say, hey,
we'll take you for fifty one million dollars. Are we
gonna be able to say, hey, we're gonna give up
pieces for you. No, but a Lebron James for free
(08:01):
trading wise and for less money. Yeah, there would have
been some teams in on that, but that was an
unknown for him at that point. And no matter what, Okay,
what do I pick if I'm Lebron? Do I pick
that unknown even though it's better for me basketball wise?
Or do I take the fifty one million dollars and
stay here and then see what happens and see if
things can we kick that can down the road and
(08:22):
then we get to it at a different day. So
Lebron opting in there, Hey, I'll kick the can down
the road. Well, guess what, we're down the road. We
can't kick the can anymore. The season's here, and now
things are awkward and both sides hate each other. And
now again day one of training camp, it's already awkward.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Yeah, but no matter where you go, you're not gonna
be the guy at this point, and you continue the
I'm not quite the Shacktice yet, but I'm on my
vagabond tour like I'm Shagne.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
But here's where he controls the narrative, and that I'm
the missing piece. If Lebron goes to the Knicks and
they win the title, if Lebron goes to the Calves
and they win the title. If Lebron goes to the
Mavericks and then where it is he's the missing piece,
they win because of him. I'm coming here, and no,
I may not be Donovan Mitchell. I might not be
Jalen Brunson. You know, I might not be Will Kyrie
(09:10):
is out. I might not. But but I go to
one of these teams and we win. I am the difference.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Now.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
It's a it's a risk for him because if he
goes someplace and they don't play, well, well, guess what, Lebron,
You're not that guy anymore. Where I can finish with
the Lakers. I won the title here and and my
legacy is not going to take a hit of any
kind again. It's it's it's risky stuff. And Lebron is
picking the sure things all the way along. My sure
thing is opting in for fifty one million here. I
(09:37):
am now that maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. But
basketball wise, for him, and the guy looks like he's
got at least two or three good years. He hasn't.
He hasn't fallen off that and he's still a top
fifteen player in the league. But you got to take
a chance at some point and take a risk, and
Lebron is not at that risk point in his career
where Okay, I'm gonna do this and see if it
(09:59):
works out. But if he went someplace else, he could
easily present it as I'm the reason. If he went
to the Knicks and they won, Yeah, jaylen Brunt is great,
but we needed Lebron to come to win. If he
goes back to Cleveland, he he won again with Cleveland. Hey,
it's great for Mitchell no Alston on the dais at
the end, they'll all have Lebron on their shoulders. They'd
all be so excited that they won because of Lebron James.
So he could control that narrative at least where I'm
(10:20):
the reason they won if he went somewhere to win.
But that's a big if for Lebron to say, Yeah,
I could throw my legacy into into flux because of it.
But if he goes to New York and then they lose,
can they make the Dallas runts and carry them as
far as Matthew dela Vedova and those other players he
could go? Is that where we go?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
The other is we got to sync up the abba
take a chance on me with the Lebron's dancing and
basketball playing from today. I mean, I'm glad that glutes
are able to activate so that he's really not injured.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Well, if you can do the worm, if you can
do the worm, like I actually, I mean you might
be sore.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
I mean you might need to, you know, bring out
the bombs and saves and whatever.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
To tell you this, because now you're gonna get the
visual list. Like I taught Zoe how to do the
worm like three years ago. She wanted. I said, oh,
I could do the worm. You taught because because and
here's how it because and I'm sure you did this
in football. You didn't hit its football right, which is
the worm? Right? You get them chopping, right, get yours chopping,
(11:27):
and then you dive to the ground with your hands
and then the rest of your body goes to the ground.
So I taught, hey, this is how you go to
the ground and do it and then you just and
then she's like, oh, okay, I get it. So I
showed her like the first part and how to do it,
and that's just the worm really well, and I'm like, yeah,
I touched up to the worm. Okay, that's great, but
you need.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Your glutes for the worm. What circumstances in your normal
day to day life you need to do the worm?
She was, well, well, I mean there's that, and so
I'm drinking tequila and this greasy spoon.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
No, she wanted to do it for a performance performance,
as I said, Okay, I'll teach you how to do the
worm because I could do it because I remember from football, Yeah,
the hit. I can do the worm. You can absolutely not.
I can absolutely I can do the worm. I can
do the worm. No you can't. Yeah, I can. He's
going to take the physical challenge. Yeah, I could do
the worm. I mean I'm going to warm up to
do it. I'm not going to do it right now
at ten fifteen at night, after you know, drinking diet coke.
(12:19):
But next couple of days I'll show you I do
the worm. The diet coke. The thing. Well, I'm kind
of fin I feel kind of full right now, uploaded
like I can't just you know, that's the thing. My dad.
You know, my dad's in his late seventies now, and
you know he's just he's having a rough night tonight.
He is, well, yeah, my dad, my dad in the
state of Ohio or having rough nights, not a great
night for Ohio. Not great, Bob. But like my dad,
(12:41):
you know, he was in Vietnam. He did a lot
of things like he needs when he gets up every day,
like he's got arthritis and all this stuff. And the
doctors tells him, hey, you know, you take your medication
and stretch, like they tell him stretch before he goes out,
and I go, He'll come over his I go, how
are you doing? I'm not great today? On my shoulders?
By go did you did you stretch? Hees, nah, no,
I didn't. I go, Dad, the doctor tells you got
(13:02):
you take your meds right, He goes, yeah, yeah, of course.
I go, why don't you stretch you? I like to
get up and go. I go, yeah, I know this,
but the doctor said, if you stretch, you'll have a
better day, Like you're not gonna be a sord but
take ten minutes to stretch in the morning. People like
to be pissed off. Okay, now I just want to
get up and go. I go, Dad, I get it.
But this is the thing. You're in your late seventies.
(13:22):
All they're saying is stretching. They're not saying, hey, go
through this all kinds of By the way, that's a
whole other thing going back to your football analogy. You know,
tell me you got to do it an American ninja
warrior course, Like they just saying, just stretch for ten minutes.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
But that's the other thing, going back to your your
football days. How much stretching did you guys do to
start a practice? Oh, we stretch for like we slesch
for like fifteen minutes. Yeah, we got we had behind
this five and a half minutes.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
No, no, no, we stretched so because we did leg razors
and arm raiser, which were awful. We did all kains.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
They couldn't race through ours fast enough to just get
to the hitting and hitting us in the head with
whistles and everything else.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
What hurts your dad more his bones? Are the Yankees tonight? Oh?
The Yankees? Easy? My dad would say, I could sit
on the couch and feel fine, but I still gotta
watch that. But it hurts your soul. Yeah yeah, but
that's I mean, like, I'm not gonna just try to
do the worm right now, because I'll screw it up.
I'll do something on my wrist. And do it. No,
I can do the worm. I'll need to stretch you.
(14:19):
I can do the worm. Trust me, I could do
the worm. I could do the worm. I've taken physical
challenges here many times over the last eleven years. I've
taken many physical challenges. I'll think, well, I'll do them. Yeah,
but I was still okay at the end. You know what,
though earlier, you're yesterday.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
These Strauss batting helmets, it's the closest I'm ever gonna
come to be and show Tony.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah, we got the Straus batting helmets. Pretty cool. Yeah,
you guys put those on? Yeah? Uh yeah. I had
a jam at OxT seven and a quarter. I'm like, oh,
my head is a little bigger than whose head's been
in that? Right? Whose heads have been in those? You
put it on?
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Yeah, he's cackuling like a madman.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
We've really hit another. Oh Toni's head. No, Tony's head
has been inside. Oh it's way dirtier than that. Oh
wow wow, okay, wow, I cleaned mine, cleaned yours. It's
not yours. They're here for whatever.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Well, the helmet i'd put on my head, okay, I
cleaned it.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Okay, I put it on. All right, all right, very good.
Exit up by now it's got exit swollen Dome. The
Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike carbon I
love that it's already so awkward with Lebron and the Lakers,
and it's just going to continue to be awkward as
the season goes. At Popcorn, that's awesome. October what twenty thirteen?
Se you that story here? Coming up next, we get
(15:36):
back into two big hot takes coming off at Day
one of the MLB Playoffs. Get you ready for Day
two Jason and Mike Fox Sports Radio, matts Yo.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. Hey,
this is Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire
with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing
the same tired narratives down your throat every day. Straight
Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest sports headlines,
accurate stats to help you win big at the sports book,
and all the best guests. Do yourself a favor and
(16:23):
listen to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, Fox Sports.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Radio, the Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon. Yeah,
day one of the MLB Playoffs in the books, so
much great drama, and first of all, I want to
say this to have an appreciation moment, just for a second.
Most of the games I mean, obviously not the Dodger
Reds game, most of the games today, and this is
(16:58):
why I love the early rounds of the baseball playoffs
when they played during the day like this. It's this
is what the playoffs were like when you and I
were growing up as kids, where they played the ALCS
the NLCS. One game was always right after school, and
it was a day game, and the crowd was always
(17:18):
nervous and sitting on their hands. It wasn't always as
loud as you expected me because it was it was
such a Every pitch was was fraught with tension, and
every game was low scoring, and it was an error
or a single and a stolen base that would be
the difference. And that was every game today, right.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
The only thing different from my childhood is the Cubs
were active in the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yeah right, but like that was every game today. That
was Tigers, Guardians, It was every game was a was
a pitcher's duel, and every base was was absolute gold.
If you got to second base with one out, oh
this is gonna be it. And and again the amount
of tension that you can see in the park, and
(18:00):
it wasn't just everybody going nuts to start the game.
It really was a great throwback. It was like what
the playoffs were like in the late seventies early eighties
when I remember watching coming home from school. The playoffs
are starting and it was cold, and everybody was bundled
up and no one could really loosely. You needed innings
for the crowd to loosen up because they weren't getting
(18:21):
a lot of hits, not a lot of runs. That
was every game up until the night game with the
Dodgers night when they just started hitting home runs off
of Hunter Green. It never stopped.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Yeah, just the celebration of pitching. Right. I'm the lunatic
that loves a low scoring defensive battle in football. Sure
I love big touchdown plays and runs or whatever, but
same thing with baseball.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
We all love home runs.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
They had ad campaigns, and we go back to the
what do we call it these days, the ped era?
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Sure, the Mitchell Report era. Yeah, whatever you want to
do with that.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
And we watched the home runs fly out, and then
everybody started complaining about It's like, no, we were duped.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Not me celebrate them all. It's all entertainment.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
But I always love to watch a workhorse pitcher go
go after it and get deep into games six, seventh,
eighth innings.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
And we got that today.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Schoobl did it today, Crochet Williams gage is sixty our
six innings and then you got sixty was how many
it pitches the Dodgers, Yes, the Dodgers.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Bullen had in the eighth in it's the fifty nine
in the in the eighth.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Yeah, But also you know, you look at Max Freed,
goes six and six and a third, six and two
thirds before he comes out, but he gives you one
hundred pitches and then they make the decision and you
go from there. But all of that to say in
the regular season, like, all right, are we gonna get
the guy? I mean, you got the lineup coming up
for the third time he's out right, Like no, now
it's that's our e's get back out there. If you
(19:54):
got anything left, you get to go and continue your effort.
Like Blake SNeW would have been fun to watch the fight. Right,
they've got a huge lead if Dave Roberts had tried.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
To go to him an inning earlier.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
He goes seven innings, but say after six, David's like,
you're done for the night, right.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Blake, Blake gives him them tumbo fingerwag No, no, no,
send Vesia back to the bullpen. I'm staying in. But
that's the that's the big thing. You want a couple
of big hot takes on the playoffs. Here, this is
why I said, what did you know about the playoffs?
Though my team was just in the playoffs last year,
we have no playoffs cast. That's that's what you're rusty,
(20:34):
is that I said last week Blake Snell needs to
pitch more than any other Dodger pitcher in the playoff.
But that I mean he needs to start game one.
He needs to come back whenever they need him. He's
the guy, right because Blake Snell's career and again once
he did he put a he put a stamp on
it with telling Dave Roberts. No, I'm staying in to
(20:56):
finish this game. I got it. I'm staying in. He's
on a Madison Bumgarner like path with his career. Right,
two lefty pitchers, both dominant. Blake Snell a little bit
more regular season dominant than Madison Bumgarner. Madison Bumgarner clearly
(21:17):
much more playoff dominant. Right, but you watch Bumgarner, who
during his career was pretty good in the regular season, right,
you know, there's his five six year run sixteen to nine.
ERA was pretty good. Tough dude, always would tell people,
don't peacock around the base as you go you go.
A bit of a jerk on the mound, but a
personality Blake Snell also personality on the mound, right, not
(21:40):
not afraid to question what's going on, not afraid to
give his opinion. And a little bit more regular season success,
but also a really good amount of posting success so
far as ERA in his playoffs is in the low threes,
which is great. Right, There's not many guys you could say, oh,
Clayton Kersher needed to be better in there. No, there's
not many guys outside of Bumgarner who you can give
(22:01):
the ball to in the last fifteen to twenty years,
you could say, yeah, he's shutting down and winning every game.
There's nobody else outside of Bumgarner. That's kind of where
Snell is going. If he stays on the Dodgers and
he becomes a playoff pitcher every year, He's already got
a couple of cy youngs. He's on that path because
we've seen him pitch great in the playoffs before the
legend of him in the twenty twenty World Series where
(22:23):
Kevin Cash asides him taking Blake Snell out and the
Dodgers did backflips because the knew they were gonna win
the game. Oh, we're so glad we got that guy
out of the game. Yeah, you go back to that
Game five was fantastic and he took him out of
the game. I mean, what are you doing. It's not
like he had a lot of stress of the season
on him too, because it was a COVID year. Right,
it's COVID. They didn't start playing until you know, the
end of August. Right, My parents are still pissed about that,
(22:45):
and if they're adopted. Spot two hits allowed, one air
and run, nine strikeouts, zero walks, and got pulled. If
he stays with the Dodgers, he is on that Bumgarner
path of being the next great postseason pitch.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Right.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
You saw him tonight into the seventh inning for the
first time with the Dodgers as dominant as they could be.
He left the game. The Dodger bullpen comes, it almost
gives up a ten to two lead. Right, he was
as good as advertised. He's the guy. He's got that attitude,
he's got that desire for the ball. Yamamoto's terrific, right,
Otani is Otani. These guys are great. But Snell's got
that when the stakes are higher, I have that ability
(23:24):
to raise my game. We saw it from Bumgarner all
the way through his career, right, winning every other year
with the with the Giants in the in the teams,
and I see that same kind of path for Blake Snell.
He's gonna be the net he could be the next
modern day Bumgarner, but staying with a team that's really
good in the playoffs, that can win, because look, Bumgarner
was with that team with the Giants every other year.
(23:45):
They were great, right when they won the World Series,
and and you know his legend coming out in relief,
pitching the last seven innings on like what four hours
rest to win the World Series over the Royals. Like
this is the kind of path that that that Blake
Snell is on. He needs a pitch game one, needs
to pitch all game ones come out of relief when
they need to. Anytime you give him the baseball, he's
(24:06):
that guy.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
Well.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
The beauty of it also is look finishes the regular
season five and four two three five ERA, but only
had to. He made eleven appearances in the regular season,
which means he's now just ramping up to full season shape,
right as opposed to having pitched thirty two times or
twenty seven times or whatever constitutes a full workload in
(24:29):
today's Major League baseball with the extra man in the rotation,
days off, bullpen games, the openers and all that other stuff.
He only pitched the what sixty one innings in the
regular season, so right now just rounding into shape. And
you've seen the last four appearances, including his seven innings tonight,
(24:52):
how dominant he's been. How much that translates. And we've
talked about him a lot over the last couple of years.
The greatness when he was with Tampa the Cy Young
Award winning seasons, the question of what you do with
a contract with him, Dodgers went all in and so
for year one. Now this is where he makes his
money and proves that it was a worthwhile investment. First
(25:15):
step in many for this postseason, he gets the w Now.
The other big take from today is you saw on
display the most dangerous team in the playoffs and a
team that nobody wants to play. Dodgers, Red Sox, red Sox. Now, no,
the Yankees don't want to play the Red Sox. You
saw the Tigers win today and show you why they're
(25:37):
the most dangerous team and nobody wants to play them. Yes,
they're coming off a regular season in which for a
while they were the best team in baseball and then
they hit the skids.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
That sounds familiar. Yeah, the Mets were the best team,
I had the best record, They hit the skids. Never
got it back. At least the Tigers got it back
a little bit. They also needed the Astros to completely
collapse at the end, which they didn't do with which
they did, and so they get in the playoffs. Sometimes
it's just as turning the page on the regular season,
(26:07):
sometimes as simple as momentum is your next day starting pitcher,
which is when it's schooball, Hey, he was the best
pitcher in baseball. It's gonna work struck out fourteen today,
it's throwing one hundred miles an hour in the seventh inning. Right,
And again I go back to he emptied the tank
in what he thought was his last inning because he knew, okay,
this is it for me. And then they said, hey,
we need you one more, and he, of course, I'll
(26:28):
go one more. Right, That's what I love at Full
Ocean's eleven. If we need more, one more, I'll go.
But the Tigers, I'm not that surprised at their collapse
during the season because this is not a This is
not a team that's built to withstand everything. This is
not a team that's too big to fail. It's not like, hey,
they got sluggers all the way up and down the lineup.
All their starting pitching is great, their bullpen is for
not They're not the Dodgers. They are built for the playoffs,
(26:52):
which is a team that can hit home runs when
they have to, but can play small ball. They have
an a starting pitcher, their defense is good enough, their
metrics are good enough. They're a top half of the team,
a league team. They're not going to cost themselves like
teams like the Mets do. But that's a team that's
built for the playoffs, for series, for short series, for
long series. You have an ACE. You have guys who
(27:13):
can play small ball, clutch hits. Tigers at the top
of all of these lists. This is not something that
always shows itself during the regular season, because it's about
six days a week, seven days a week, playing and
repeating every day. You can't do it. But during the playoffs,
when you show that, yeah, this is how we play,
that's a team you don't want to play. We saw
it last year. They're complete and total salary for the
(27:36):
team and the playoffs in the first round was like
not even a million dollars sure, Like I mean, Hobvey Bias,
who was sitting out, was making more money than the
entire twenty six members of the Tigers. Like, this is
a team that's just thrown out there. Hey, do what
you can. But in the playoffs, all of these things
you got an ACE boom. Great, you have a team
that can get clutch hits, yes, hit home runs, yes,
(27:59):
can you play small and that was every run they
were able to manufacture. They're playing small Did they play
good defense? Yes? Could the Guardians play good defense no?
Did they play small ball node? Did they hit home runs?
Speaker 3 (28:12):
No?
Speaker 1 (28:13):
As good as the Guardians have been, the Tigers are
much a much team, much more suited for the playoffs,
which is why they're the most That's one team I
don't want to play of anyone because Wow, suddenly every
run is worth gold and they're pitching has got you
and they're making the right decisions. It's so incredibly frustrating.
Do not want to play them? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (28:30):
What's curious is you got Riley Green at one hundred
and eleven RBI. They didn't have another guy over eighty
A lot of guys in the fifties and sixties. And
they also don't steal bases, no, no, And defensively they
tried to give it away in the ninth, but they
closed the door.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
That's how they do it. Telling you do not want
to play the Tigers? They have it exit out about
at Fresca Exit swalling down the Jason Smith Show with
my best friend Mike Harmon Time not to find out
what's trending in the wide world of Sports. So someone
who would called the Tarik school Ball of fire sports radio,
crafty southball. Every time we tell him we need you
for one more, he gives us one more. It's Steve Disager,
(29:07):
an actual compliment here.
Speaker 5 (29:09):
I want to tell you that one not entirely accurate,
but okay, by the way, with one ca after another,
in this day one of the postseason, first day of
the playoffs, we had seventy total innings pitched, ninety two strikeouts.
That's a strikeout rate of almost twelve k's per nine innings,
the most by Major league pitchers on any single day
(29:31):
that has at least four games in the modern era,
regular or postseason.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Did the Rockies play in every game today? Is that
what happened? No, but Cleveland did.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
It's just stay of Major League baseball, right, We've been
celebrating those eight guys with a three hundred batting average.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (29:46):
One in the NL. Cleveland's offense four for thirty fifteen strikeouts,
barely got the ball out of the infield. The Guardians
offense regular season was near the bottom and run scored
to one Detroit the final at Cleveland, scoring two unearned draw.
The losing pitcher, Gavin Williams six plus innings, eight strikeouts,
attendance just twenty six thousand. In Cleveland, trek scouob will
(30:07):
to win with fourteen k's in his seven and two thirds.
Garrett Crochet a Boston seven and two thirds, eleven strikeouts,
no walks in a three to one victory over the
Yankees in New York. Crochet threw one hundred and seventeen pitches.
He retired seventeen straight batters after giving up an early
home run. And this is the Yankee team that was
number one in the majors this year in homer's, RBI's,
(30:29):
in walks, in run scored. Yankees had bases loaded, no
out's bottom of the ninth against Eraaldus Chapman, and then
Chapman got a strikeout, flyout and strikeout to end the game.
Luke Weaver the losing reliever for the Yankees, ruining a
great start for Max Freed, who went six and a
third scoreless about one hundred pitches, left with a one
nothing lead but got no decision. Boston third baseman Alex
(30:51):
Bregman did play after illness over the weekend. He had
two hits, a walk in RBI double Red Sox took
the lead in the seventh on a two run pinch single.
Boston pitcher Lucas Giolito is expected to miss the postseason
with his elbow problems. In the National League openers are
the best of three wildcard series. Cubs beat the Padres
three to one. The loss to Nick Pavetta despite his
(31:12):
nine strikeouts in five innings. Cubs hit back to back
homers in the fifth. Padre offense got back to back
doubles in the second inning, but then went two for
twenty five the rest of the game. The Dodgers tonight
held on for a ten to five victory over Cincinnati.
La hit five home runs, including a leadoff shot from
Shoheo Tani. He later hit a two run homer in
(31:33):
the sixth. This is against a Reds team that had
trailed the Mets by six games about a month ago,
wound up getting the last wild card spot. Anyway, had
won eight of eleven coming in.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
We don't need to know the Reds history. They're playing
the game they lost. That's all we need to know. Okay,
we don't need an all thing about where they came from.
We don't need a prequel on the Reds. They won.
They're here.
Speaker 5 (31:55):
Okay, that's all, but starter Hunter Green, who's from LA,
gave up three homers in three innings. He'd only had
one bad start like this since April, and it occurred
at Dodger Stadium. Blake'snell the winning pitcher seven innings, nine strikeouts,
and then the bullpen had the near sixty pitch inning
in the top of the eighth, allowing three, so it
made it interesting. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, LA starter for Game two.
(32:16):
By the way, Pitcher Roki Sasaki is on the Dodger
roster this week. Clayton Kershaw is not, but would be
next round if the team advances to Philadelphia. Dodger catcher
Will Smith is on the roster. Took BP yesterday after
the broken hand, did not play tonight. They have three
catchers on the roster, but no Michael Confordo. The outfielder
is not. They kept pitcher Tanner Scott and did not
(32:38):
bring him in in a blowout game tonight. They did
not put lefty Anthony Bonda on the roster.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
I think they also had Key Hernandez warming up in
the bullpen in the ninth inning.
Speaker 5 (32:47):
Is it more of a realistic guy to bring Yeah, yeah, yah,
yeah eight two yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
I think you did Scott just to give Tanner Scott
a you know, the message, like you know when teams
get alrighty and a lefty up in the bullpen, like
you know, Hey, Tanner, Scott the lefty, Carnandez the righty.
Speaker 5 (33:01):
You know, if they were really interested in a message,
they could have left him off the roster.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
I think they had.
Speaker 5 (33:07):
Three different shots to.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Actually bring him in.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
Edwin Diaz, right, oh, you have played the Trump international
call in Cancun, though in the WNBA Semifinals ended with overtime.
In Game five of the best of five at Las Vegas,
the Aces beat Indiana one oh seven ninety eight Asia
Wilson thirty five points Vegas against Phoenix in the WNBA
Finals that opened Friday and Sunday, opposite the baseball playoffs
(33:31):
and the NFL great scheduling. The ed WNBA's worst team, Dallas,
fired its coach Chris Kochlanis. In the NBA, Golden State
re signed forward Jonathan Kaminga, the Warriors sign guard Seth Curry.
Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill had surgery on his dislocated
knee and the torn ligaments. The Ravens Wednesday are due
to give an update on quarterback Lamar Jackson's hamstring injury.
(33:55):
He could miss two to three weeks, according to The
Baltimore Son Back to You.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Thank you, Steve l. The Jason Smith's Show with My
best friend Mike Carbon. Okay, so day one of the
MLB Playoffs in the books, Day two tomorrow. What person
has the most at stake steak in the playoffs? Tomorrow?
Aaron Judge. Maybe we give you that answer coming up
(34:23):
next right here. The answer could be in his last
game with his team. Oh boy, depending on how tomorrow goes,
it can't be Pete Alonzo. Who is it? We'll tell
you next right here, Jason and Mike. This is Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
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Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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