October 4, 2025 • 44 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmon podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from ten pm to two am Eastern
seven to eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the best of the Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Radio, Greenings.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Welcome inside. Happy Friday. The Jason Smith Show is Special Delivery.
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Speaker 4 (00:50):
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Speaker 1 (00:54):
Well, Steve, I have a big, hot basketball take coming
your way, But first I gotta say this.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Yes, I was one.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
I was nervous how I.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Was gonna feel today, right, because the intensity and anxiety
of the baseball playoffs that I normally get the first
week and once it starts, it's just an uptick of
It doesn't matter if your team is in it or not.
It's so intense. It's such a great change. I was saying, Okay,
do I want a day off on Friday? Or am
I gonna miss having a game? And I was thinking, wow,
(01:22):
am I gonna feel? And I said, no, no, you know what,
it's gonna be okay with a day not having a game.
I'm gonna be fine. We got college football, right, w
NBA Finals are going on, right, We're gonna be fine. No, no, no,
I wanted a game tonight. In fact, I wanted three
games tonight.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
I want I did.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
I didn't want a day off at the end. I
wanted I wanted there to be another fun. I wanted
there to be four games, even though the other games
were already decided, Like let you know, give the Reds,
let's let them have fun and throw out there even
though they were eliminated. Like I wanted more games tonight.
It's just that this week, the first week just takes
over and it's I don't know, like the change in
the calendar is so different than any other sport, right,
(01:58):
Like you see the intensity like to the NFL, yes,
you get to the playoffs, it's intense, but you know what,
the first seventeen weeks are pretty bleeping intense, right. The
NBA playoffs that's a bit of a change too. But
you know, obviously we get into the playoffs and it's
rare to see those big one to eight upsets. We
get in with the with the play in rounds where
the we play attention to the teams are only going
to be around for a couple of games and they're
(02:18):
going to get eliminated. But the Baseball playoffs, that comes
in and it's I have no time. I am I
completely locked in. I have no time for anything else.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Yeah. I've been going here in LA to Dodger playoff
games since the mid nineties. It is, and I mean
since then, a noticeable difference in how intense it is
in the park at these games. And I was there
at the last game and the same thing. It was
just a superb atmosphere from start to finish. And I
(02:45):
know Major League Baseball is probably tapping itself on the back,
say hey, we did a good job with all these
day off before you know, the next round, the best
of five doesn't start till Saturday. Everybody's gonna start on Saturday.
Why can't you have two games to and then a
couple others on the crowded Saturday sports schedule. They're probably saying, no, No,
we did a good thing because for the first time
(03:07):
in the young life of these best of three Wildcards series,
we had three of the four actually needed a game
three this week, an extra time off of the guys. Okay,
as far as the sports schedule goes, they could have
used a couple of games today.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Yeah. Oh well, I'm I'm, I'm one of the things.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Baseball should play in the playoffs, only on these days.
They should play Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday. Right, take those
big days off, you know, because look, honestly, I don't
mind taking days off in between games if it's resetting
you and letting you put out your best pitcher.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
I'd like to.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
See Tarik School will pitch three times in a series
or twice if I find need to.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
And plus you have the NFL on the calendar. The
rest of the days.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Okay, they got Sunday, they got Monday, they got Thursday.
Saturday is college football. You can play baseball at the
end of the day. Saturday into Saturday night. That's absolutely fine,
Like those are the days they should play, right, compete
with the NFL the other days, But play those days
every Tuesday, Wednesday and then Friday Saturday. Take two days
and you start again, and you still finish the series
(04:09):
in about the same amount of time. I don't mind
the length of the baseball playoffs because it's awesome. It's
just like a thrill ride for an entire month. But
like that, that would be the perfect schedule for me
baseball wise, to say, okay, because then every single night
of the sports calendar in October is insane, because then, okay,
let's throw win the beginning of the NHL season coming
up in a few days. Oh, by the way, let's
throw in the beginning of the basketball season coming up
(04:31):
in a couple of weeks. Like I needed that knixt
game yesterday and Abu Dhabi, like I needed that preseason
k next game to get me away from the Mets
and everything I.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
Needed that I need.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
But October this time is such a great moment, Like
don't don't miss a chance and try to get out
there every time you can, because boy, I'd love for
there to be two or three games to night here
in baseball, and.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
As your reference, the NBA preseason did start with the
Abu Dhabi game Thursday. Those two Nicks had beaten Philadelphia.
Those two will play again on Saturday, but I will
as far as the Saturday college football schedule tomorrow, they
didn't give us a whole lot of boy, I gotta
see this one type of matchups at least daytime Saturday.
And so yeah, again, baseball lucks out because the Cubs
(05:13):
open are at Milwaukee. And for those who are unaware,
yes they're in separate state. But the Cubs in Milwaukee
ballparks are closer than San Diego in LA. It's less
than one hundred miles. This is going to be a
great best of five rivalry and the Brewers are the
top overall seed this postseason. That's two pm Eastern time
for Game one on Saturday in Milwaukee, and it's a
(05:34):
day game for Yankees at Toronto on Fox TV. That's
four pm Eastern time. What are you going to be
watching at four pm Eastern Yankees at Toronto or Penn
State at UCLA college football? Because those are your national
TV options, Steve, Yeah, you sure er built. I don't
want to slight Vanderbilt.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
I mean, are you sure Ucla is still going to
be on television?
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Are you sure that's still time? I was amazed.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
I got sucked out at the scroll that it's only
a twenty four point favorite for Ben San Have you
seen Ucla?
Speaker 1 (06:04):
I can't believe they still have a football program, Like
I thought they would have gotten rid of it after
you know, it's just football is just not working here anymore.
It hasn't worked since cad mcdown. We're gonna we're gonna
back away from it. We don't need football.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
We're a basketball I can remember.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Just a few short years after cade mcdown when UCLA
football beat Alabama and Michigan in the same month. I
can remember seeing multiple times Ucla beating Texas. Those years
seem like so far ago compared to I mean, college
football has passed Ucla by I mean as a as
a campus, as an athletic department.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Now, I do want to say this before I get
into the big basketball hot take, speaking of the baseball playoffs,
right like, okay, I'm yeah, look, I'm past the Mets
getting knocked out like they fired all their coaches today.
Oh great, now we're gonna win one hundred almost literally
all of them. Yeah, the only one, Carlos Mendoza, the
only one left. He's like the.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Final space coach. Might be still, he's.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Like the final girl at the end of a horror movie,
the only one left. I was here with everybody.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
I'm the only one left now.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
But my wife and I are having lunch today and
sitting next to us, is you know, because every third
person in LA is wearing Dodger gear. Right, That's how
it is all year round. Right, you do this, you think, oh,
who's the big team in LA, you know, with the Lakers. No,
La is a Dodger town. It is a baseball town.
Guy next to me and a Dodger hat, and he's
and he's having lunch with one of his friends, and
they're just talking about the game, and my wife and I
(07:24):
were just sitting there having lunch, not say anything. And
one guy says, yeah, no, I got tickets for uh,
I got tickets for game two. And they're like, oh, oh,
oh really, He goes, I got tickets for the second
game in LA and they're like, oh really, yeah, I guess. Yeah,
Well that was the best part, is it? Like all
these mets fans had tickets and and like they were
all coming, and then they just dumped them right because
you know, they couldn't make the playoffs. So I got
my tickets for like face value from this Mets fan.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
It was awesome. I'm going I want to leave right now.
Check check? Can I leave?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I just say I looked up these things for the
Dodgers Red Series this past week. Face value in the
top row at the top deck was about ninety dollars,
but after the Dodgers scored I think it was ten
in the first game, it came below face value. For
Game number two, the clincher of the best of three,
it's about one hundred and thirty one hundred four, one
(08:13):
hundred and forty dollars for the similar seats for when
the Phillies are going to be in LA on Wednesday,
and by the way, that's another six pm Pacific, nine
Eastern start. The thing is, if there's still a game
four needed in this best of five Phillies at Dodgers
coming up, they could be moving it to three in
the afternoon in LA on Thursday, and then fans, you
(08:36):
might get some deals on ticket.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
I definitely noticed last year during the NLCS when they
played Game one was a Monday at one o'clock and
then Game six, the two guys.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
I went to Game one.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
In game six, I got to the Mets losing the
Dodgers celebrate Game one. Tons of Mets fans right during
the day one o'clock is apparently Mets fans. None of
us work, So tons of Mets fans a game one,
Game six not even close to as many Mets fans.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Not even close.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
I was like, oh, okay, game six at night on
the weekend. Okay, yeah, that was that was That was
much better attended.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
But in Major League Baseball, Jason has already announced today
that once we get to Game four of Phillies at Dodgers,
the latest it will start in LA is seven eastern
four o'clock in Los Angeles. It's either at three or four.
This is assuming the Phillies don't sweep the thing. And
you know there's not a game on Thursday.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
Wow, you I can't believe you.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Frostburg is going to key your car for saying the
Phillies are going to sweep the Dodgers.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
I believe, I believe the word if was it.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
You're not even supposed to say.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
If I can't believe you said, I'm at a news desk.
If if the series is still going, the latest start
is at three or four. Can I just mention that
when the Dodgers were in the last decade, had a
for a I think it was divisional round, best of
five also against the Washington Nationals, and they found out
literally the night before that it was going to be
a noon start because of television, and then the market
(10:06):
was flooded with people selling off tickets. I got in
to see Kershaw pitch and pitch well in a day
game against Washington for twenty five bucks. Wow series because
people were dumping them less and right, because literally it
was less than twenty four hours. Major League Baseball said,
you know that game that people thought was going to
(10:27):
be Yeah, no, it's it's noon. Sorry. They haven't done
that since, by the way.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Jason Smith, Steve Desaga here on Fox Sports Radio. Now
the big game of the night, coming down to it
right now, Game one of the WNBA Finals. Las Vegas
leads Phoenix eighty seven to eighty six. Alyssa Thomas has
just missed two free throws that would have given them
the lead. With twenty seconds left to go. So now
Las Vegas has the ball and the lead with about
(10:53):
seventeen seconds left.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Now will continue to give you updated on this game.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
But the big story before this game Kathy Engelbert, the
much maligned w NBA commissioner.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
Oh did she speak really? Yeah, she spoke and said
she has to do better.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Right, all this week you saw the FISA Collier's remarks,
a four minute.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Speech that changed.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Yeah, that changed the course of the league, saying how
bad their leadership is, how bad Kathy Engelbert is. How
she basically told Caitlin Clark she's lucky to be in
the league. How the rest of the players should be
thanking her, thanking Kathy Engelbert for the media rights deal
they got. And so many players came out in support
of the FISA Collier. They want Engelbert out, and eventually
(11:37):
it's gonna have to come to the NBA saying, Okay,
Kathy Engelbert is out because the NBA owning a part
like that's how it's gonna go. So she speaks today
and says I have to do better, but denied the
Caitlin Clark remarked that, hey, Caitlyn should be lucky that
she's in the league.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
And all all the hif.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Yes like because the players are upset about about the
the CBA coming up.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
They want a bigger pie out, they want better officiating.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Is no guarantee. There's w NBA opening night next summer.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
No, no, they want all of these things. They don't
trust Kathy Engelbert. They don't they don't love, they don't
like the officiating. That's number one. That needs to be
something else. And at least Kathy Engelbert said, hey, we
need We're.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
Gonna do better with the officiating.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
But it's clear that she is circling the drain and
the players who have a lot of power are completely
unhappy and they want her out. And you need someone
to come in that's going to be able to wear
so many hats, right, because here's the players Kathy Engelbert's
you know, when you come from a CEO background, you
come in the players, there's no belief in her.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
She's not because you didn't come up through the league.
She didn't play.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
But the owners like her because okay, she's she's a CEO,
she knows business. But this is a really big time
in the league for for having the right leadership to
get you from where the league was to where the
league is now, which is a big piece of the pie.
It's a big It's part of the national conversation every
single day.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
And I'm gonna tell you this.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
You know who the w NBA needs to be their
commissioner because he can he can service every single need
that the that the WNBA needs, that the NBA needs,
and owning the league and the players and the owners.
Magic Johnson, Magic, who has been a WNBA supporter and
owner for a long time.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
Now.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
He's someone that comes in with the cachet of being
a star player that the players believe in. He will
have great relationships with the players. Being an owner, now,
he'd have to give up his ownership of this spot.
But you know, hey, Magic, I think Magic will do okay,
I think money wise, Magic, I think will be all
right in the deal.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Ready, okay, thank you, But but the.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
W needs him.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
He would come in the he would have a great
relationship with the owners because he already knows them. He'd
be able to push the business because you see how
many bats he wears in business all across the last
twenty five thirty years of his life. Magic Johnson's the
guy that can wear all the hats and he can.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
Get the WNBA to that level.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
He would have the trust of everybody involved, and I
think that's a home run higher And I think if
they came to one asked them, Magic would say, you
need me, I could do it right. He would still
have time to go on his yacht and go away
and do all the Magic Johnson things right. But this
is what it is now. You know, when a big
star like Magic but the WNBA, Magic Johnson for commissioner.
I'd sign up for that one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
And I'm sure the players would because it's the former player.
As you were talking about one thing, as you mentioned
the CEO background, and we can update the last shot missed.
Phoenix loses by three at Las Vegas eighty nine, eighty
six Final Game Exhibition. Is Engelberg came off sounding like
a CEO because let's speak generally and truthfully about too
(14:39):
many ceo and too many businesses in this country. Is
they treat the employees like they're unbelievably replaceable.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Magic Johnson WNBA commissioner. I'm putting it out there, I'm
making it happen.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Just imagine the tweets.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
Oh my, oh my god, the tweets would be epic.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
We could play the Magic Johnson Twitter game every night,
every single night.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Tell you that Jet's Cowboys game.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Man upticked so many points in that game, steve so
many points, so many points. It's you know, look, that's
the power of the league. And that's where Hey, a
team that's won two and one of the team that
owned four. Hey, we got to make sure we keep
an eye on out one.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
That's that's the Cowboy and the Vikings have stayed in Europe,
Dublin last week. They're playing in London this Sunday morning
against the Browns. We say may be the best. By
the way the Browns are playing overseas.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
They may never be allowed to come back. I don't
know that they're like.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Maybe this is the excuse. Just trick them, send them
out and then they'll never get back.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
And I'm also wondering if this game was in the
United States, would the Browns have gone to Dylan Gabriel, Like,
would they have gone to Gabriel. You know, if it
was still in the United maybe.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Because it's a road game technically, yeah yeah, yeah, but
there's a road game and then there's a road Oh yeah,
this is like out of the game.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Yeah, I really wonder if that would have happened.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Like, hey, you know what, we're away, We're not gonna
you know, Dylan's gonna be able to get in and
focus as much as he can on football, because while yes,
him starting is a big deal, nobody knows who the
hell he is, Nobody knows about the draw, nobody cares
about the.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Not at the pro level.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
Browns quarterback nah at a. This is the week to
get him going.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Like I wonder if Flacco would have had another week
or so if they were still playing in the United States.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
I really wonder if they would.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
But this does give you options. You know, he can
roll out, he can run, He's much younger than Flacco.
And the offense has been scoring fourteen points a game
in Cleveland.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yeah, they'll score another fourteen this week. I mean, you
have great confidence. But Dylan Gabers, I think Dylan Gabers
will work. Not that I think the Vikings are gonna
suddenly start lighting it up, but uh, yeah, I have
more confidence that the Vikings and their playmakers will have
enough to get it done here.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
And Vikings are gonna be without two or three linemen.
It's kind of like Dallas this weekend.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
Yeah, but I have I kind.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Of have a sneaking suspicion. I like the in fantasy.
I like playing the Vikings defense overseas.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
I I kind of like that. I kind of like, yeah,
I kind of like that.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, I mean they they might finish with the most
points of any of anybody in Fantasy this week. The
Vikings defense stick they had forty last a couple of
weeks ago.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
They might do it again.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
But again, we'll take a look at the two biggest
games on the NFL schedule coming up in about twenty minutes,
but we are less than twenty four hours away from
the beginning of the Major League Baseball playoffs. We'll get
to the big controversy involved in the Yankees in a second,
but I promise is that you know, the other night
we talked about the Dodgers knocking off the Reds. A
couple are really really big concerns right Their bullpen is
(17:37):
absolutely terrible, and their defense is not.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Good, right, the test special defense, Yes.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
It's it's it's not strong. And and you got by
in that round because it was the Reds and the
Reds are bad and you hit the baseball. But this
is not a team that is going to win games
by flash and leather.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
It's not.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
They are weak in a lot of positions. And so yeah,
as good as they are, this is a team where
I can say, hey, the bullpen's gonna have a lot
to say. The defense is not good, and you know,
a bad play defensively is what sends you home when
you get to this level of the playoffs. But the
flip side of it is this, right, all of this
all so, Jason, you're dooming gloom.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
The Dodgers aren't gonna win. You think the Dodger. The
one thing I.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Will say, and this is this is the great equalizer.
Nobody hits the baseball like the Dodgers. And you look
at every other team that has played in the playoffs,
that played in the first round, they all had trouble
putting runs across the board. Everybody did. Some had more
than others. If a team scored four runs in a
game and they were lighting up the scoreboard, it's oh
(18:37):
my god, it's four runs. We're gonna win this game.
It's like it's twelve nothing. The Dodgers come out in
two games and they very feeling, almost feeling like it
was like it was a regular season end of the
year game. And they put up ten eight but without
even trying, like they just and they hit home runs,
and they hit off of good pitchers. Hunter Green shows
up and it's what happened. I was so good for
(18:57):
the entire season. I show up here and I'm out
of the game. My season's over in the second inning.
The Dodgers. Nobody hits the baseball.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Like they do.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Not the Phillies, not the Yankees. You know, the teams
that we didn't play so far, We're gonna see them again.
We're gonna see the marriage Toronto.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
I would add that they were the only team batting
average over two sixties. So George Springer's been white hot,
and they have Guerrero Junior, so they have something in
the Toronto lineup. And certainly the Yankees have power.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Yeah, oh oh, the Yankees. Look, you're looking for home runs,
the Yankees can get them for you. The Blue Jays
have it to a level, but nobody hits the baseball
with the confidence level with the ability of the Dodgers.
And look, Will Smith could be on his way as well.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
He's available to catch time. And he didn't play, not
just the past week, he hasn't played in four weeks.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Yeah, this is this guy who was the best hitting
catcher in baseball, you know, up until he got hurt.
And he's been an All Star for the last few years.
Like that, that's the one thing. If the Dodgers win
the World Series this year. Last year it was they
were the best all around team. They added Sho heeo Tani,
their starting pitching was good enough, their bullpen was terrific,
They hit the baseball, they they got stuff from unhralded
(20:04):
players like Tommy Edmund. But this year, if they're gonna win,
they are gonna mash their way to the World Series.
There's no other way there. They're not gonna suddenly show
up and wow, look at this. Look at this Dodger
rotation keeping everybody off the scoreboard.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Yeah, no, not happening. It's gonna be games with the Phillies.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
They're gonna have to win nine to eight and eleven,
nine and eight seven, Like this is how they're gonna win.
They are gonna win mashing their way to the World
Series because it's the only way they can because you're
not fixing the bullpen.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
You figure out the ninth inning in theory with Roki Sasaki.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Okay, that's great, but you are you are not getting
there any other way than scoring a ton of runs
every game. And the good news for them is they're
hitting the baseball with no problem. That's the only team
hitting the baseball with no problems so far.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
I wouldn't recommend a one run lead to the late
innings for the Dodgers, you know.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
I mean, like they get up nine or nine to
nothing or eleven nothing and hold on to win eleven
nine yea or nine to eight.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Well, it was the Phillies that had that legendary comeback
at Dodger Stadium years ago, where what it was a
twelve to one or something like that, that think of
fifteen to two, and they came back and wound up winning.
There is on the mound the Slugger Show. Hey Otani
pitching in Game one at Philly tomorrow. Let's just say
this in advance. I mentioned this during the regular season
(21:16):
when Otani has been on the mound as a pitcher,
and you know they have that pitch com instead of
actually the catcher putting down different fingers for the signs.
Otani has always had to and this is in a
normal game in July or August, had to cover up
his ear with his glove to be able to hear
the pitch come properly. And that includes at home games.
What's going to happen at Philadelphia tomorrow. That's going to
(21:39):
be something I'm looking at in inning one of Game
one of this best of five. By the way, the
great Sarah Langs baseball researcher points out that we've got
Otani with fifty five homers this year, Kyle Schwarber the
Phils fifty six homers. So it's the first time multiple
players with at least fifty five in a season have
made the postseason the same year. And we mentioned cal
(22:00):
Rawley's gonna be playing for Seattle tomorrow, but we assume
shoey Otani's gonna both pitch and lead off in the
batting order. He would be the first starting pitcher ever
to lead off in a postseason game, because no starter
has hit anywhere in the order except eight or nine
in a playoff game, except for Babe Ruth once batted
sixth and pitched for Boston in nineteen eighteen. So we're
(22:24):
gonna get a little history tomorrow. But again, it is
two games in Philly, the better team in the regular season,
and if there's Game five, it's back at Philly the
next Saturday.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Now there's Dodgers Phillies. How about Yankees Blue Jays. The
controversy you didn't know you wanted, but we're getting it
was in August when the Yankees were playing a series,
or I'm sorry, it was in early September when right.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
After the Yankees visited, right after the.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Yankees visited, and look, the Blue Jays won the division's
series against the Yankees. The Blue Jays were eight and
five against them overall, they were six and one in Toronto.
They had just beaten them. And so the Blue Jays
and the Astros are playing a series. And in early September,
former MLB major leaguer and manager Buck Martinez, who was
(23:17):
the Blue Jays TV analyst, had some very pointed things
to say about the Yankees, saying, quote, the Yankees, They're
not a good team. I don't care what their record
is okay, clip and save that and see if these
teams play again the rest of the season. Well, fast
forward now a few weeks and here the Yankees getting
ready to take on the Blue Jays, and Aaron Boone,
(23:37):
Yankee manager, had some thoughts on Buck Martinez's words, and
here he was talking about it earlier today.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
I feel like, you know, obviously the last couple of
months really started to play really well, and you know,
contrary to some thoughts up here, we're a really good team.
Speaker 6 (23:56):
Is that's all?
Speaker 3 (23:57):
That's been a theme I guess around the team of
feeling that way.
Speaker 5 (24:03):
What's that?
Speaker 1 (24:04):
That's only that you kind of stressed the team, but
both you say, contrary to thoughts up here.
Speaker 5 (24:10):
Oh, I know, I know Buck had some thoughts. That's
all ours sponded too, So he's wrong, But it doesn't matter.
We got to go play and we got to go perform,
as as everyone does at this time of years now.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
He had some thoughts, Jason, and he went on to
say that night, Buck Martinez, the Yankees have a lot
of wild pitches, They make a lot of mistakes in
the field. They don't run the bases very well. If
they don't hit home runs, they don't have a chance
to win. End quote. And this followed the month before,
remember the Yankee announcer Michael k talking about on his show,
I know the Blue Jays are in for there are
(24:47):
in a first place team. They are not, you know.
And so this has gone back and forth in the summer.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Yeah, look, and you could tell Aaron Booz, oh it
doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
No, clearly it does because hey, yeah, I know Buck
had some thoughts and all of this. And first of all,
let me say this, I get it because Aaron Boone
has had to listen for the narrative the last twelve
and a half months of the Yankees are a bad team. Fundamentally,
they're bad. They run the bases like little leaguers. All
the errors in the World Series, all the mistakes they made.
(25:16):
And this is on the coaches, right, when a team
plays like that, that's on the coach.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
Hey why do they play this way? Man? How do
they play that?
Speaker 1 (25:24):
And Aaron Boone has had to listen to that, and
it's been shots at him for the better part of
the last year. And this is why, like every like
I feel like he gets so close to getting fired
and yet somehow they pull it out of the fire,
and they win a couple of games in a row,
and here they are again. Aaron Boone is able to survive,
but you could tell it has really bothered him that
(25:45):
this is the narrative around the Yankees that fundamentally they're bad,
they're embarrassing. They play they they play the game in
a way that I can't believe they succeed the way
they do. You've had players around the league say it.
Now you have Buck Martinez saying I'm tough, I'm not
afraid to say it on television about the Yankees.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
And I get that Aaron.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Boone is really mad going into this because this has
been a narrative that he's had to deal with now
for over a year, ever since the World Series.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
And we brought it up on this show. The irony
is the Dodgers said after the fact, after they clinched
against all those Yankee mistakes in Game five of the
World Series last year, we knew we could count on
that from the Yankees. We knew from our scouting that
that was gonna come up, and it sure did. The
irony is the Dodger outfield has become that team this year,
which you referenced earlier, there's no confidence at all in
(26:34):
the Dodgers defensively. And I think you need look no
further than the guy who usually manned center field, who
is from Cuba, like Yasi Opuig. We're from Cuba. Andy
Pat has too often plays like Yasio Puig. He can
be spectacular, he can have power, and sometimes there's just
head scratching moments like wow, is this a seventeen year
(26:55):
old out in the outfit? How did this happen in
a major league game? So hopefully one of those won't happen.
The negative for Toronto going into this Yankee series that
starts tomorrow is their pitching hasn't been superb and they
allowed over two hundred home runs this year. The Yankees
head by far the most home runs hit of any
team in the Majors this year, number one in homers,
(27:16):
number one in RBIs, number one in walks. Yankees were
number one in runs scored also.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
So now you're looking at this series, right and look,
I already said last night, Look.
Speaker 4 (27:25):
The Yankees look like a team of destiny. Right.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
You had the new Jeter play when McMahon goes into
the stands to get it. Yeah, and Schlittler shows up
like he's the new Andy Pettitt, where all the plaudits
for him a rookie hasn't done that in the game.
In the playoffs, they're going back to big, big performances.
You're seeing names like Hoyit, Will Helman, Mike Bottaker and
all this stuff. I gotta tell you this is how
(27:48):
this series goes. The Yankees take the first two games
in Toronto. You talk about the Dodgers mashing, they are
going to mash. They're gonna hit. They're motivated, they are
hot at the right time, eliminating the Red Sox, seizing
momentum after the seventh inning of Game two, where ridiculously
the Red Sox decided to go conservative and play for
(28:08):
one run. And ever since that moment, when the Yankees
got out of that bases loaded jam, the Red Sox
didn't score and the Yankees were able to score enough
runs to win. They're gonna hit. They're gonna score seven
to eight runs the first two games. They're gonna go
back to the stadium. It's gonna be two nothing Yankees,
and the Yankees are gonna win this series and they
are gonna blow torch their way through Toronto. I get
(28:30):
how good Toronto is. I get they've been playing well,
but as you said, their pitching is not good. They
give up a lot of home runs. The Yankees hit
home runs. You're seeing Volpi get hot in the first
round of the playoffs. Chishom when he gets in the lineup,
he's affecting the game.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
Now.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Maybe sitting him out the first game was the best
thing because now he's really motivated the last couple of games.
But this is a team. Now Ben Rice has jumped in.
He was sitting out the first game, and he's played well.
They are going to absolutely destroy the baseball and it
could be a sweep.
Speaker 4 (28:58):
But I'll say, I'll be nice.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
I'll say Yankees in five, and they wind up winning
the series and they go on to the ALCS.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Game five would be at Toronto. Since Toronto finished as
division champion winning that tiebreaker against the Yanks, they had
finished tied in the al E standings. Keep in mind
the schedule. These are day games. This weekend in Toronto,
four pm Eastern Saturday, Fox TV Yankees at Toronto Game one,
Then four pm Eastern Sunday on FS ONE Yankees at
(29:25):
Toronto for Game two, and then FS one will have
Tuesday Nights Game three of the best of five from
New York.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
You like offense, It's going to be a Yankees explosion
starting tomorrow in Toronto. And maybe some errors too, but
enough hits and they're gonna wind up winning.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
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.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
And the guy we're going to talk to right now.
He is the owner, editor, proprietor of College Footballnews dot Com.
You're once op shopping for everything college football, all the picks,
all the prognostications, all the analysis. He is with us
now live from snap Dragon Stadium in San Diego. He
just can't stay away from good football. It is Pete
(30:16):
feu Tech. He's on Twitter at Pete few Tech. Pete,
what's happening, man.
Speaker 6 (30:20):
I'm witnessing the greatest show on turf here with San
Diego State. It was like my call of the week
was at San Diego State. Colorado State was going to
go under the forty one and they're at like ninety
five and like our first half or something right now,
don't even know anymore. No, it's going good. It's lovely
down here, and I like being on your Pacific time zone.
It's more fun. Why are you there this week kids
(30:42):
in college and parents weekend? And he's a senior. I've
never come out here for it. So I'm out here
among the pretty and beautiful people of San Diego for
the weekend.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Oh nice, Oh very good. And you're getting to see
a big win. They're up big over Colorado State. It's
a win win situation for you.
Speaker 6 (30:59):
Yes, my cat, my hard earned money going towards hopefully
like a pick in the second half or some more
more production from this.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
Yeah, over three hundred yards for the Aztecs first time.
Speaker 4 (31:10):
Yeah, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
You're gonna love waking up at eight thirty tomorrow to
watch Wisconsin Michigan.
Speaker 4 (31:16):
You're gonna love that.
Speaker 6 (31:18):
That's the best, absolutely the best. My honeymoon in Hawaii,
I think thank Don mcdammity, Eagles were going off at
like five in the morning or something like that, and
an AFC championship kids, I get so much part of
the East Coast. The Pacific time zone is just just
great for sports. I just move out here.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
Except for the London games. But we'll move on.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Yeah, that that happens exactly all right now, one of
the big games of the week, Steve, we talked about, Look,
arch Manning has to show us something tomorrow against Florida. Right,
it's a bad Florida team, but he's had three weeks,
he's had three bye weeks to figure out. It's still
Florida on the road. If he doesn't show us anything tomorrow,
I don't know that I can expect any from the
(32:00):
rest of the season.
Speaker 6 (32:02):
It's my call of the offseason. I had two big
calls of the offseason. One of them actually came true
is that Mississippi State was going to beat Arizona State.
This never works. But the other one was Florida was
gonna win this game. It just seemed like one of
those moments where we saw a couple of years ago
against Tennessee. We saw it late last year against LSU,
where every once in a while in the swamp Billy
(32:24):
Napier's Gators ended up rising up and rocking on defense.
And we still don't know what this this Texas team
really is. I mean, they at the one game against
Lawoa State where Okay, the defense look great, but they
don't really played anybody else's note. I think this is
one of those games where I'm sure, look, Arch is
(32:45):
gonna be fine, he's gonna be a good quarterback, he's
gonna be the number one overall pick whenever.
Speaker 4 (32:49):
And all that.
Speaker 6 (32:50):
But you're right, it hasn't quite happened yet. And this
is one of those games against the you know, for
all the proms that Florida's had this year, that defense
is fantastic. I think it is one of the those
games that Texas has the problems with fete.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
As far as Alabama, they lost to Vanderbilt last year.
Bama is hosting him this time. That's tomorrow. The quote
that jumped out at me from the Vanderbilt quarterback, Diego Pavia,
if we play our game Saturday, it won't be close.
End quote. Vanderbilt is a deserved underdog in this game
in tuscaloosad tomorrow, are they not?
Speaker 6 (33:22):
Yeah, Actually, he got his last name wrong. It's Diego Manzel.
That's that's exact type of player. And if he if
look if he if he's right and they win this
in Rock, heisan race kind of over right. I mean,
because there's no one else out there, and Pavia has
been great so far, and Vanderbilt and he's doing great
(33:44):
things with it. But look, I I we always kind
of you know, put you know, thoughts and ideas in
the heads, like, well, Alabama is going to care about
this one because the last year and this is going
to be one of those games and all that kind
of stuff. Yeah, but what I'm hearing this is one
of those things they are so sick of hearing about
Diego Pavia. They are so sick of that loss last year.
(34:07):
I think this is one of those games where they
just come out and thunder dunk on them. I'm just like, Okay, yeah,
this is cute and all. You're good in all, Vanderbilt,
but Bama's you know, Bama, and I think this is
one of those games whe they're going to come up
and do something special.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
All right, Pete, how many points would you have to
get to take UCLA over Penn State? Like the sprints
twenty four and a half. If you said fifty, maybe
I'll take forty. I'm still taking Penn State fifty maybe,
but forty I'm still taking Penn State.
Speaker 6 (34:38):
Well, is the thing about Ucla. They're sort of scoring
a little bit. They just don't seem to have all
the parts there. So I mean, you're right. I mean,
if you're telling me right now, I'm getting off the
bus up forty eight and a half to nothing. Yeah,
i'd probably, you know, go for something like that. It's
so bad, I mean you And the problem is also
their schedule. Look at who UCLA has left. They're going
(35:00):
over twelve. I mean, there's if it's done, there's some
massive upset along the way because they're going to be
double digit underdogs the rest of the way. And I'll
throw another one at you and you kind of brought
up earlier. Find me the Wisconsin win the rest of
the season and show me how without a massive weird
twist and something crazy going with this this Luke fickel offense.
(35:25):
Find me where that wins coming. He ain't coming tomorrow, Michigan.
Let's Fichigan decide to turn it over eight times.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
Actually, I think that's two great examples for my next question.
U CLA program Wisconsin program. Is college football starting to
pass by some of the teams that you speak competitive?
Things are so different in the world of college football.
Speaker 6 (35:47):
There's there's a bunch of different factors that play at
both of them. One Ucla for some reason, and this
is the program of John Wooden, you know, and Sam Gilbert. Okay,
you know, uh, they can't figure out Nil really, you
know Ucla, you know they give all the money to
the NIKO. They just don't have any other parts with them.
And their schedule is brutal. Wisconsin, it just isn't working
(36:10):
and their schedule is brutal. So like if you're a
team like Cal, or a team like look at what
Virginia has left to play, you could tell if you
give Wisconsin cal schedule, you could see how they're probably
going seven and five or eight four even. I mean,
but when you've got this brutal sway, and this is
the new world to college football, where some teams play
(36:30):
the good team, some teams miss them, and that's really
it's just a perfect storm for teams like this. But
except for UCLA, who's just flat out bad.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
You know, it's funny you say that Pete to go
back to Florida and Texas for a second. I mean,
I don't know if the team has had a harder
month schedule that I can ever remember than what Florida's
got right now that they're in the middle of number three, LSU,
number four, Miami number nine, Texas number six, Texas A
(36:59):
and M four top ten teams in a month. I
don't know anybody that's you probably gotta go back to
the forties when it was Army playing Navy and then
playing Columbia and then playing California Institute Technology.
Speaker 4 (37:11):
Like, I don't know about a tougher run than Florida's
got right now.
Speaker 6 (37:15):
Yeah, take a look at what Oklahoma's got coming up.
And here's another kind of funky twist. I think I
got this right where I don't think Texas University of
Texas the biggest athletic department in the country. It's Texas Football,
not Texas State, Texas Antonio University of Texas. I don't
think has a home game for like five weeks in
(37:36):
a row in the middle of the season, starting tomorrow.
I think I have that right. It's close to that.
But like, it's crazy how these schedules are being set
up with so many teams, especially in the SEC, who
just have these brutal, unmanageable suits where you're looking at
them unless there's something truly special, there's no way you're
going to the college football playoffs, You're gonna have at
(37:57):
least two losses coming out of these stretches. So it's
gonna be tough for both these teams.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
What about a matchup that Jason brought up earlier this
evening with Clemson at North Carolina, because realistically, these are
two winless programs so far this year. Carolina had two
cupcakes and Clemson beat Troy, essentially winsless. As they go
into the game at Chapel Hill.
Speaker 6 (38:21):
Tomorrow, I'm gonna harp on this again. Schedule, schedule, schedules.
I believe I came on this show, oh about a
few months ago, and I was asked the question, who's
that sweeper team out there? And I think I said
the Belichick because look at that schedule for North Carolina.
There's this game against Clemson and nothing else. And I
(38:44):
honestly said that that's the thing we would be talking
him in November about a oh wow, look at you
got a you know, one loss North Carolina team only
because of the schedule. They're bad and so kind of,
like I said before, we're about Alabama's kind of like
enough of this. I think you're gonna get that with
Clemson tomorrow and they with a week off, they're gonna
(39:04):
be like, Okay, they just need to tweak, They just
need something positive to go their way, and then everything
starts to rock. I think that starts to happen tomorrow
for Clemson.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
College Footballnews dot COM's Pete fu Tech our guest Jason
Smith Steve de Sega in from Mike Carmon. All Right,
big marquee game of the day. We got Miami in
Florida State. Not quite as marquee as it was after
Week one when Florida State played, you know, beat outbaut
But okay, but.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
Pete, at this point, I am.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
Kind of all in on Miami going undefeated. I mean,
I really I don't know where the loss is. This
is the best Miami team so far that I have
seen in years, and I don't know.
Speaker 4 (39:39):
Where the l is for them.
Speaker 6 (39:41):
I want to see if Look as I'm sitting here
on a Friday night, Friday night games are weird. It's
just they throw teams off their schedule. Nothing's quite right.
That certainly happened with Florida State last week. They couldn't
tackle a lick. So if they couldn't tackle Virginia. God
bless you against an NFL offensive line like Miami has.
(40:03):
Now it's Mario Christobal, So there's gonna be a fifth
it's you know what, when he was there was always
when at Oregon, there is always that November Arizona game,
and he was like three years in a row where
it was like Arizona or Arizona State where they kept whiffing.
And so there's it's like at SMU or some there's
gonna be some place that they're gonna make a mistake.
(40:25):
But you're right, they're gonna be eleven and one. I
think they win the ACC Championship, and I do think
they're a top four team. And if they show it tomorrow,
I mean, who knows. Maybe if Friday night think was
a blip for Florida State and they're back, we have
the team that played like they did against Alabama, I
don't think. So I think Miami comes back going because
I'm with you, I think, And I also keep thinking
(40:45):
Carson beck is cross possibly the most underappreciated player in
the country. He's not winning the Heisman. He might be
the number one overall pick next year.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
Ohio State is number one in the country. After the
game against Minnesota Saturday night. They have the big newonick
off in a week at Illinois, and Ohio State still
last to play Penn State. Do you believe in this
offense yet and this team yet for Ohio State?
Speaker 6 (41:08):
Kind of hard, I mean, but maybe not. But even
if you don't, this defense is shocking here. I mean,
it's unbelievably good considering all the talent that has to play,
had to replace. Last year's team had so much there
and now this year. Look at the red zone scoring
percentage for defense. You have three teams that are under
(41:31):
sixty percent, you know, so everyone else is giving up
six point sixty percent more times more. Ohio States at
twenty eight percent. Ohio State's not giving up anything in
the red zone and they're going to go. If they
keep Minnesota under ten points, it'll be the first time
this like nineteen seventy ish something that they've gone to.
(41:51):
This program has gone four straight games in a row
without allowing that many points a row. So this defense
has been at least for the last thirty years, is
still great and I think that's it's gonna keep carrying them.
The offense is just gonna be good enough to get by, all.
Speaker 4 (42:06):
Right, Pete.
Speaker 1 (42:06):
So lastly, we don't have a lot of big top
twenty five games tomorrow. Can you spot a big upset
You wouldn't be surprised to see whether it's a top ten,
top fifteen team, you got a big upset for tomorrow,
you wouldn't be surprised that I'm gonna.
Speaker 6 (42:19):
Stick with it. I mean, I'm all lay at this point.
I just kind of think that Texas. You're right, we
haven't seen anything about Ohio State yet except they played Texas.
We haven't seen anything in Texas except they weren't awful
defensively against Ohio State. I'm not buying in Texas. I
just think this is one of those that they're gonna,
(42:40):
you know, come up and either either they show out
tomorrow and they like, yeah, we're Texas. Were really are
that good? But again, I'm gonna say at home that
billion naper defense desperation. No one's thinking they're gonna do anything.
They're they've been keeping teams closed, and I think they're
gonna do something pretty good tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (42:56):
Last question for me is about Notre Dame. After the
zero to two start, we're still ranked. Do you expect
them after that start to win ten in a row
and beat USC and Notre Dames just fine.
Speaker 6 (43:07):
Oh yeah, I said it at the time. And not
only not only they lose those two games, they lost
to that Miami team, like we said, is probably going
to be in the ACC Championship, almost certainly in the
college football playoffs, and that was a close game that
came down to the final second Texas A and m there,
but for a miss snap and a fourth down stop
they get that one. So those are about as acceptable
(43:28):
as those losses that get and ten wins in a row. Yes,
Notre Dame's absolutely in the college football playoff and I
don't think it's closed. I think they're gonna be that.
This offense is unstoppable.
Speaker 4 (43:39):
CJ.
Speaker 6 (43:39):
Carr is being talked about now is a postential top
five overall pick someday. That running back tandem of Darian
Price and Jeremiah Love the best of the country. I
think they cruised the ten and two and I think
they are waltz right into the college football playoffs.
Speaker 1 (43:54):
He's on Twitter at Pete feu tech, that's at Pete feutech,
at college Footballnews dot com as the website, or at
snap Dragon Stadium for the second half of what is
going to be the over hitting for San Diego State again.
The big upsets for Pete Florida over Texas and UCLA
on the field over Penn State.
Speaker 4 (44:13):
Okay, well the first one.
Speaker 6 (44:14):
The nuts and the under in this San Diego State
Colorado stick game. It's not even gonna come close.
Speaker 4 (44:20):
Yeah, Pete, enjoy the game, enjoyed parents weekend. We'll talk
to you next week.
Speaker 6 (44:26):
City guys,
Thanks for listening to the best of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Carmon podcast. Be sure to catch us
live every weeknight from 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.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the best of the Jason Smith Show with
Mike Harmon on Fox Sports.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Radio, Greenings.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Welcome inside. Happy Friday. The Jason Smith Show is Special Delivery.
Steve de Sag're in for Mike Harmon. For over forty years,
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Speaker 4 (00:50):
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Speaker 1 (00:54):
Well, Steve, I have a big, hot basketball take coming
your way, But first I gotta say this.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Yes, I was one.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
I was nervous how I.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Was gonna feel today, right, because the intensity and anxiety
of the baseball playoffs that I normally get the first
week and once it starts, it's just an uptick of
It doesn't matter if your team is in it or not.
It's so intense. It's such a great change. I was saying, Okay,
do I want a day off on Friday? Or am
I gonna miss having a game? And I was thinking, wow,
(01:22):
am I gonna feel? And I said, no, no, you know what,
it's gonna be okay with a day not having a game.
I'm gonna be fine. We got college football, right, w
NBA Finals are going on, right, We're gonna be fine. No, no, no,
I wanted a game tonight. In fact, I wanted three
games tonight.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
I want I did.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
I didn't want a day off at the end. I
wanted I wanted there to be another fun. I wanted
there to be four games, even though the other games
were already decided, Like let you know, give the Reds,
let's let them have fun and throw out there even
though they were eliminated. Like I wanted more games tonight.
It's just that this week, the first week just takes
over and it's I don't know, like the change in
the calendar is so different than any other sport, right,
(01:58):
Like you see the intensity like to the NFL, yes,
you get to the playoffs, it's intense, but you know what,
the first seventeen weeks are pretty bleeping intense, right. The
NBA playoffs that's a bit of a change too. But
you know, obviously we get into the playoffs and it's
rare to see those big one to eight upsets. We
get in with the with the play in rounds where
the we play attention to the teams are only going
to be around for a couple of games and they're
(02:18):
going to get eliminated. But the Baseball playoffs, that comes
in and it's I have no time. I am I
completely locked in. I have no time for anything else.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Yeah. I've been going here in LA to Dodger playoff
games since the mid nineties. It is, and I mean
since then, a noticeable difference in how intense it is
in the park at these games. And I was there
at the last game and the same thing. It was
just a superb atmosphere from start to finish. And I
(02:45):
know Major League Baseball is probably tapping itself on the back,
say hey, we did a good job with all these
day off before you know, the next round, the best
of five doesn't start till Saturday. Everybody's gonna start on Saturday.
Why can't you have two games to and then a
couple others on the crowded Saturday sports schedule. They're probably saying, no, No,
we did a good thing because for the first time
(03:07):
in the young life of these best of three Wildcards series,
we had three of the four actually needed a game
three this week, an extra time off of the guys. Okay,
as far as the sports schedule goes, they could have
used a couple of games today.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Yeah. Oh well, I'm I'm, I'm one of the things.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Baseball should play in the playoffs, only on these days.
They should play Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday. Right, take those
big days off, you know, because look, honestly, I don't
mind taking days off in between games if it's resetting
you and letting you put out your best pitcher.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
I'd like to.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
See Tarik School will pitch three times in a series
or twice if I find need to.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
And plus you have the NFL on the calendar. The
rest of the days.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Okay, they got Sunday, they got Monday, they got Thursday.
Saturday is college football. You can play baseball at the
end of the day. Saturday into Saturday night. That's absolutely fine,
Like those are the days they should play, right, compete
with the NFL the other days, But play those days
every Tuesday, Wednesday and then Friday Saturday. Take two days
and you start again, and you still finish the series
(04:09):
in about the same amount of time. I don't mind
the length of the baseball playoffs because it's awesome. It's
just like a thrill ride for an entire month. But
like that, that would be the perfect schedule for me
baseball wise, to say, okay, because then every single night
of the sports calendar in October is insane, because then, okay,
let's throw win the beginning of the NHL season coming
up in a few days. Oh, by the way, let's
throw in the beginning of the basketball season coming up
(04:31):
in a couple of weeks. Like I needed that knixt
game yesterday and Abu Dhabi, like I needed that preseason
k next game to get me away from the Mets
and everything I.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
Needed that I need.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
But October this time is such a great moment, Like
don't don't miss a chance and try to get out
there every time you can, because boy, I'd love for
there to be two or three games to night here
in baseball, and.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
As your reference, the NBA preseason did start with the
Abu Dhabi game Thursday. Those two Nicks had beaten Philadelphia.
Those two will play again on Saturday, but I will
as far as the Saturday college football schedule tomorrow, they
didn't give us a whole lot of boy, I gotta
see this one type of matchups at least daytime Saturday.
And so yeah, again, baseball lucks out because the Cubs
(05:13):
open are at Milwaukee. And for those who are unaware,
yes they're in separate state. But the Cubs in Milwaukee
ballparks are closer than San Diego in LA. It's less
than one hundred miles. This is going to be a
great best of five rivalry and the Brewers are the
top overall seed this postseason. That's two pm Eastern time
for Game one on Saturday in Milwaukee, and it's a
(05:34):
day game for Yankees at Toronto on Fox TV. That's
four pm Eastern time. What are you going to be
watching at four pm Eastern Yankees at Toronto or Penn
State at UCLA college football? Because those are your national
TV options, Steve, Yeah, you sure er built. I don't
want to slight Vanderbilt.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
I mean, are you sure Ucla is still going to
be on television?
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Are you sure that's still time? I was amazed.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
I got sucked out at the scroll that it's only
a twenty four point favorite for Ben San Have you
seen Ucla?
Speaker 1 (06:04):
I can't believe they still have a football program, Like
I thought they would have gotten rid of it after
you know, it's just football is just not working here anymore.
It hasn't worked since cad mcdown. We're gonna we're gonna
back away from it. We don't need football.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
We're a basketball I can remember.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Just a few short years after cade mcdown when UCLA
football beat Alabama and Michigan in the same month. I
can remember seeing multiple times Ucla beating Texas. Those years
seem like so far ago compared to I mean, college
football has passed Ucla by I mean as a as
a campus, as an athletic department.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Now, I do want to say this before I get
into the big basketball hot take, speaking of the baseball playoffs,
right like, okay, I'm yeah, look, I'm past the Mets
getting knocked out like they fired all their coaches today.
Oh great, now we're gonna win one hundred almost literally
all of them. Yeah, the only one, Carlos Mendoza, the
only one left. He's like the.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Final space coach. Might be still, he's.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Like the final girl at the end of a horror movie,
the only one left. I was here with everybody.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
I'm the only one left now.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
But my wife and I are having lunch today and
sitting next to us, is you know, because every third
person in LA is wearing Dodger gear. Right, That's how
it is all year round. Right, you do this, you think, oh,
who's the big team in LA, you know, with the Lakers. No,
La is a Dodger town. It is a baseball town.
Guy next to me and a Dodger hat, and he's
and he's having lunch with one of his friends, and
they're just talking about the game, and my wife and I
(07:24):
were just sitting there having lunch, not say anything. And
one guy says, yeah, no, I got tickets for uh,
I got tickets for game two. And they're like, oh, oh,
oh really, He goes, I got tickets for the second
game in LA and they're like, oh really, yeah, I guess. Yeah,
Well that was the best part, is it? Like all
these mets fans had tickets and and like they were
all coming, and then they just dumped them right because
you know, they couldn't make the playoffs. So I got
my tickets for like face value from this Mets fan.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
It was awesome. I'm going I want to leave right now.
Check check? Can I leave?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I just say I looked up these things for the
Dodgers Red Series this past week. Face value in the
top row at the top deck was about ninety dollars,
but after the Dodgers scored I think it was ten
in the first game, it came below face value. For
Game number two, the clincher of the best of three,
it's about one hundred and thirty one hundred four, one
(08:13):
hundred and forty dollars for the similar seats for when
the Phillies are going to be in LA on Wednesday,
and by the way, that's another six pm Pacific, nine
Eastern start. The thing is, if there's still a game
four needed in this best of five Phillies at Dodgers
coming up, they could be moving it to three in
the afternoon in LA on Thursday, and then fans, you
(08:36):
might get some deals on ticket.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
I definitely noticed last year during the NLCS when they
played Game one was a Monday at one o'clock and
then Game six, the two guys.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
I went to Game one.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
In game six, I got to the Mets losing the
Dodgers celebrate Game one. Tons of Mets fans right during
the day one o'clock is apparently Mets fans. None of
us work, So tons of Mets fans a game one,
Game six not even close to as many Mets fans.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Not even close.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
I was like, oh, okay, game six at night on
the weekend. Okay, yeah, that was that was That was
much better attended.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
But in Major League Baseball, Jason has already announced today
that once we get to Game four of Phillies at Dodgers,
the latest it will start in LA is seven eastern
four o'clock in Los Angeles. It's either at three or four.
This is assuming the Phillies don't sweep the thing. And
you know there's not a game on Thursday.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
Wow, you I can't believe you.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Frostburg is going to key your car for saying the
Phillies are going to sweep the Dodgers.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
I believe, I believe the word if was it.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
You're not even supposed to say.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
If I can't believe you said, I'm at a news desk.
If if the series is still going, the latest start
is at three or four. Can I just mention that
when the Dodgers were in the last decade, had a
for a I think it was divisional round, best of
five also against the Washington Nationals, and they found out
literally the night before that it was going to be
a noon start because of television, and then the market
(10:06):
was flooded with people selling off tickets. I got in
to see Kershaw pitch and pitch well in a day
game against Washington for twenty five bucks. Wow series because
people were dumping them less and right, because literally it
was less than twenty four hours. Major League Baseball said,
you know that game that people thought was going to
(10:27):
be Yeah, no, it's it's noon. Sorry. They haven't done
that since, by the way.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Jason Smith, Steve Desaga here on Fox Sports Radio. Now
the big game of the night, coming down to it
right now, Game one of the WNBA Finals. Las Vegas
leads Phoenix eighty seven to eighty six. Alyssa Thomas has
just missed two free throws that would have given them
the lead. With twenty seconds left to go. So now
Las Vegas has the ball and the lead with about
(10:53):
seventeen seconds left.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Now will continue to give you updated on this game.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
But the big story before this game Kathy Engelbert, the
much maligned w NBA commissioner.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
Oh did she speak really? Yeah, she spoke and said
she has to do better.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Right, all this week you saw the FISA Collier's remarks,
a four minute.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Speech that changed.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Yeah, that changed the course of the league, saying how
bad their leadership is, how bad Kathy Engelbert is. How
she basically told Caitlin Clark she's lucky to be in
the league. How the rest of the players should be
thanking her, thanking Kathy Engelbert for the media rights deal
they got. And so many players came out in support
of the FISA Collier. They want Engelbert out, and eventually
(11:37):
it's gonna have to come to the NBA saying, Okay,
Kathy Engelbert is out because the NBA owning a part
like that's how it's gonna go. So she speaks today
and says I have to do better, but denied the
Caitlin Clark remarked that, hey, Caitlyn should be lucky that
she's in the league.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
And all all the hif.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Yes like because the players are upset about about the
the CBA coming up.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
They want a bigger pie out, they want better officiating.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Is no guarantee. There's w NBA opening night next summer.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
No, no, they want all of these things. They don't
trust Kathy Engelbert. They don't they don't love, they don't
like the officiating. That's number one. That needs to be
something else. And at least Kathy Engelbert said, hey, we
need We're.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
Gonna do better with the officiating.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
But it's clear that she is circling the drain and
the players who have a lot of power are completely
unhappy and they want her out. And you need someone
to come in that's going to be able to wear
so many hats, right, because here's the players Kathy Engelbert's
you know, when you come from a CEO background, you
come in the players, there's no belief in her.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
She's not because you didn't come up through the league.
She didn't play.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
But the owners like her because okay, she's she's a CEO,
she knows business. But this is a really big time
in the league for for having the right leadership to
get you from where the league was to where the
league is now, which is a big piece of the pie.
It's a big It's part of the national conversation every
single day.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
And I'm gonna tell you this.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
You know who the w NBA needs to be their
commissioner because he can he can service every single need
that the that the WNBA needs, that the NBA needs,
and owning the league and the players and the owners.
Magic Johnson, Magic, who has been a WNBA supporter and
owner for a long time.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
Now.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
He's someone that comes in with the cachet of being
a star player that the players believe in. He will
have great relationships with the players. Being an owner, now,
he'd have to give up his ownership of this spot.
But you know, hey, Magic, I think Magic will do okay,
I think money wise, Magic, I think will be all
right in the deal.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Ready, okay, thank you, But but the.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
W needs him.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
He would come in the he would have a great
relationship with the owners because he already knows them. He'd
be able to push the business because you see how
many bats he wears in business all across the last
twenty five thirty years of his life. Magic Johnson's the
guy that can wear all the hats and he can.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
Get the WNBA to that level.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
He would have the trust of everybody involved, and I
think that's a home run higher And I think if
they came to one asked them, Magic would say, you
need me, I could do it right. He would still
have time to go on his yacht and go away
and do all the Magic Johnson things right. But this
is what it is now. You know, when a big
star like Magic but the WNBA, Magic Johnson for commissioner.
I'd sign up for that one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
And I'm sure the players would because it's the former player.
As you were talking about one thing, as you mentioned
the CEO background, and we can update the last shot missed.
Phoenix loses by three at Las Vegas eighty nine, eighty
six Final Game Exhibition. Is Engelberg came off sounding like
a CEO because let's speak generally and truthfully about too
(14:39):
many ceo and too many businesses in this country. Is
they treat the employees like they're unbelievably replaceable.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Magic Johnson WNBA commissioner. I'm putting it out there, I'm
making it happen.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Just imagine the tweets.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
Oh my, oh my god, the tweets would be epic.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
We could play the Magic Johnson Twitter game every night,
every single night.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Tell you that Jet's Cowboys game.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Man upticked so many points in that game, steve so
many points, so many points. It's you know, look, that's
the power of the league. And that's where Hey, a
team that's won two and one of the team that
owned four. Hey, we got to make sure we keep
an eye on out one.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
That's that's the Cowboy and the Vikings have stayed in Europe,
Dublin last week. They're playing in London this Sunday morning
against the Browns. We say may be the best. By
the way the Browns are playing overseas.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
They may never be allowed to come back. I don't
know that they're like.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Maybe this is the excuse. Just trick them, send them
out and then they'll never get back.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
And I'm also wondering if this game was in the
United States, would the Browns have gone to Dylan Gabriel, Like,
would they have gone to Gabriel. You know, if it
was still in the United maybe.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Because it's a road game technically, yeah yeah, yeah, but
there's a road game and then there's a road Oh yeah,
this is like out of the game.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Yeah, I really wonder if that would have happened.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Like, hey, you know what, we're away, We're not gonna
you know, Dylan's gonna be able to get in and
focus as much as he can on football, because while yes,
him starting is a big deal, nobody knows who the
hell he is, Nobody knows about the draw, nobody cares
about the.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Not at the pro level.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
Browns quarterback nah at a. This is the week to
get him going.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Like I wonder if Flacco would have had another week
or so if they were still playing in the United States.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
I really wonder if they would.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
But this does give you options. You know, he can
roll out, he can run, He's much younger than Flacco.
And the offense has been scoring fourteen points a game
in Cleveland.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yeah, they'll score another fourteen this week. I mean, you
have great confidence. But Dylan Gabers, I think Dylan Gabers
will work. Not that I think the Vikings are gonna
suddenly start lighting it up, but uh, yeah, I have
more confidence that the Vikings and their playmakers will have
enough to get it done here.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
And Vikings are gonna be without two or three linemen.
It's kind of like Dallas this weekend.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
Yeah, but I have I kind.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Of have a sneaking suspicion. I like the in fantasy.
I like playing the Vikings defense overseas.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
I I kind of like that. I kind of like, yeah,
I kind of like that.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, I mean they they might finish with the most
points of any of anybody in Fantasy this week. The
Vikings defense stick they had forty last a couple of
weeks ago.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
They might do it again.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
But again, we'll take a look at the two biggest
games on the NFL schedule coming up in about twenty minutes,
but we are less than twenty four hours away from
the beginning of the Major League Baseball playoffs. We'll get
to the big controversy involved in the Yankees in a second,
but I promise is that you know, the other night
we talked about the Dodgers knocking off the Reds. A
couple are really really big concerns right Their bullpen is
(17:37):
absolutely terrible, and their defense is not.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Good, right, the test special defense, Yes.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
It's it's it's not strong. And and you got by
in that round because it was the Reds and the
Reds are bad and you hit the baseball. But this
is not a team that is going to win games
by flash and leather.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
It's not.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
They are weak in a lot of positions. And so yeah,
as good as they are, this is a team where
I can say, hey, the bullpen's gonna have a lot
to say. The defense is not good, and you know,
a bad play defensively is what sends you home when
you get to this level of the playoffs. But the
flip side of it is this, right, all of this
all so, Jason, you're dooming gloom.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
The Dodgers aren't gonna win. You think the Dodger. The
one thing I.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Will say, and this is this is the great equalizer.
Nobody hits the baseball like the Dodgers. And you look
at every other team that has played in the playoffs,
that played in the first round, they all had trouble
putting runs across the board. Everybody did. Some had more
than others. If a team scored four runs in a
game and they were lighting up the scoreboard, it's oh
(18:37):
my god, it's four runs. We're gonna win this game.
It's like it's twelve nothing. The Dodgers come out in
two games and they very feeling, almost feeling like it
was like it was a regular season end of the
year game. And they put up ten eight but without
even trying, like they just and they hit home runs,
and they hit off of good pitchers. Hunter Green shows
up and it's what happened. I was so good for
(18:57):
the entire season. I show up here and I'm out
of the game. My season's over in the second inning.
The Dodgers. Nobody hits the baseball.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Like they do.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Not the Phillies, not the Yankees. You know, the teams
that we didn't play so far, We're gonna see them again.
We're gonna see the marriage Toronto.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
I would add that they were the only team batting
average over two sixties. So George Springer's been white hot,
and they have Guerrero Junior, so they have something in
the Toronto lineup. And certainly the Yankees have power.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Yeah, oh oh, the Yankees. Look, you're looking for home runs,
the Yankees can get them for you. The Blue Jays
have it to a level, but nobody hits the baseball
with the confidence level with the ability of the Dodgers.
And look, Will Smith could be on his way as well.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
He's available to catch time. And he didn't play, not
just the past week, he hasn't played in four weeks.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Yeah, this is this guy who was the best hitting
catcher in baseball, you know, up until he got hurt.
And he's been an All Star for the last few years.
Like that, that's the one thing. If the Dodgers win
the World Series this year. Last year it was they
were the best all around team. They added Sho heeo Tani,
their starting pitching was good enough, their bullpen was terrific,
They hit the baseball, they they got stuff from unhralded
(20:04):
players like Tommy Edmund. But this year, if they're gonna win,
they are gonna mash their way to the World Series.
There's no other way there. They're not gonna suddenly show
up and wow, look at this. Look at this Dodger
rotation keeping everybody off the scoreboard.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Yeah, no, not happening. It's gonna be games with the Phillies.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
They're gonna have to win nine to eight and eleven,
nine and eight seven, Like this is how they're gonna win.
They are gonna win mashing their way to the World
Series because it's the only way they can because you're
not fixing the bullpen.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
You figure out the ninth inning in theory with Roki Sasaki.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Okay, that's great, but you are you are not getting
there any other way than scoring a ton of runs
every game. And the good news for them is they're
hitting the baseball with no problem. That's the only team
hitting the baseball with no problems so far.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
I wouldn't recommend a one run lead to the late
innings for the Dodgers, you know.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
I mean, like they get up nine or nine to
nothing or eleven nothing and hold on to win eleven
nine yea or nine to eight.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Well, it was the Phillies that had that legendary comeback
at Dodger Stadium years ago, where what it was a
twelve to one or something like that, that think of
fifteen to two, and they came back and wound up winning.
There is on the mound the Slugger Show. Hey Otani
pitching in Game one at Philly tomorrow. Let's just say
this in advance. I mentioned this during the regular season
(21:16):
when Otani has been on the mound as a pitcher,
and you know they have that pitch com instead of
actually the catcher putting down different fingers for the signs.
Otani has always had to and this is in a
normal game in July or August, had to cover up
his ear with his glove to be able to hear
the pitch come properly. And that includes at home games.
What's going to happen at Philadelphia tomorrow. That's going to
(21:39):
be something I'm looking at in inning one of Game
one of this best of five. By the way, the
great Sarah Langs baseball researcher points out that we've got
Otani with fifty five homers this year, Kyle Schwarber the
Phils fifty six homers. So it's the first time multiple
players with at least fifty five in a season have
made the postseason the same year. And we mentioned cal
(22:00):
Rawley's gonna be playing for Seattle tomorrow, but we assume
shoey Otani's gonna both pitch and lead off in the
batting order. He would be the first starting pitcher ever
to lead off in a postseason game, because no starter
has hit anywhere in the order except eight or nine
in a playoff game, except for Babe Ruth once batted
sixth and pitched for Boston in nineteen eighteen. So we're
(22:24):
gonna get a little history tomorrow. But again, it is
two games in Philly, the better team in the regular season,
and if there's Game five, it's back at Philly the
next Saturday.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Now there's Dodgers Phillies. How about Yankees Blue Jays. The
controversy you didn't know you wanted, but we're getting it
was in August when the Yankees were playing a series,
or I'm sorry, it was in early September when right.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
After the Yankees visited, right after the.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Yankees visited, and look, the Blue Jays won the division's
series against the Yankees. The Blue Jays were eight and
five against them overall, they were six and one in Toronto.
They had just beaten them. And so the Blue Jays
and the Astros are playing a series. And in early September,
former MLB major leaguer and manager Buck Martinez, who was
(23:17):
the Blue Jays TV analyst, had some very pointed things
to say about the Yankees, saying, quote, the Yankees, They're
not a good team. I don't care what their record
is okay, clip and save that and see if these
teams play again the rest of the season. Well, fast
forward now a few weeks and here the Yankees getting
ready to take on the Blue Jays, and Aaron Boone,
(23:37):
Yankee manager, had some thoughts on Buck Martinez's words, and
here he was talking about it earlier today.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
I feel like, you know, obviously the last couple of
months really started to play really well, and you know,
contrary to some thoughts up here, we're a really good team.
Speaker 6 (23:56):
Is that's all?
Speaker 3 (23:57):
That's been a theme I guess around the team of
feeling that way.
Speaker 5 (24:03):
What's that?
Speaker 1 (24:04):
That's only that you kind of stressed the team, but
both you say, contrary to thoughts up here.
Speaker 5 (24:10):
Oh, I know, I know Buck had some thoughts. That's
all ours sponded too, So he's wrong, But it doesn't matter.
We got to go play and we got to go perform,
as as everyone does at this time of years now.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
He had some thoughts, Jason, and he went on to
say that night, Buck Martinez, the Yankees have a lot
of wild pitches, They make a lot of mistakes in
the field. They don't run the bases very well. If
they don't hit home runs, they don't have a chance
to win. End quote. And this followed the month before,
remember the Yankee announcer Michael k talking about on his show,
I know the Blue Jays are in for there are
(24:47):
in a first place team. They are not, you know.
And so this has gone back and forth in the summer.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Yeah, look, and you could tell Aaron Booz, oh it
doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
No, clearly it does because hey, yeah, I know Buck
had some thoughts and all of this. And first of all,
let me say this, I get it because Aaron Boone
has had to listen for the narrative the last twelve
and a half months of the Yankees are a bad team. Fundamentally,
they're bad. They run the bases like little leaguers. All
the errors in the World Series, all the mistakes they made.
(25:16):
And this is on the coaches, right, when a team
plays like that, that's on the coach.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
Hey why do they play this way? Man? How do
they play that?
Speaker 1 (25:24):
And Aaron Boone has had to listen to that, and
it's been shots at him for the better part of
the last year. And this is why, like every like
I feel like he gets so close to getting fired
and yet somehow they pull it out of the fire,
and they win a couple of games in a row,
and here they are again. Aaron Boone is able to survive,
but you could tell it has really bothered him that
(25:45):
this is the narrative around the Yankees that fundamentally they're bad,
they're embarrassing. They play they they play the game in
a way that I can't believe they succeed the way
they do. You've had players around the league say it.
Now you have Buck Martinez saying I'm tough, I'm not
afraid to say it on television about the Yankees.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
And I get that Aaron.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Boone is really mad going into this because this has
been a narrative that he's had to deal with now
for over a year, ever since the World Series.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
And we brought it up on this show. The irony
is the Dodgers said after the fact, after they clinched
against all those Yankee mistakes in Game five of the
World Series last year, we knew we could count on
that from the Yankees. We knew from our scouting that
that was gonna come up, and it sure did. The
irony is the Dodger outfield has become that team this year,
which you referenced earlier, there's no confidence at all in
(26:34):
the Dodgers defensively. And I think you need look no
further than the guy who usually manned center field, who
is from Cuba, like Yasi Opuig. We're from Cuba. Andy
Pat has too often plays like Yasio Puig. He can
be spectacular, he can have power, and sometimes there's just
head scratching moments like wow, is this a seventeen year
(26:55):
old out in the outfit? How did this happen in
a major league game? So hopefully one of those won't happen.
The negative for Toronto going into this Yankee series that
starts tomorrow is their pitching hasn't been superb and they
allowed over two hundred home runs this year. The Yankees
head by far the most home runs hit of any
team in the Majors this year, number one in homers,
(27:16):
number one in RBIs, number one in walks. Yankees were
number one in runs scored also.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
So now you're looking at this series, right and look,
I already said last night, Look.
Speaker 4 (27:25):
The Yankees look like a team of destiny. Right.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
You had the new Jeter play when McMahon goes into
the stands to get it. Yeah, and Schlittler shows up
like he's the new Andy Pettitt, where all the plaudits
for him a rookie hasn't done that in the game.
In the playoffs, they're going back to big, big performances.
You're seeing names like Hoyit, Will Helman, Mike Bottaker and
all this stuff. I gotta tell you this is how
(27:48):
this series goes. The Yankees take the first two games
in Toronto. You talk about the Dodgers mashing, they are
going to mash. They're gonna hit. They're motivated, they are
hot at the right time, eliminating the Red Sox, seizing
momentum after the seventh inning of Game two, where ridiculously
the Red Sox decided to go conservative and play for
(28:08):
one run. And ever since that moment, when the Yankees
got out of that bases loaded jam, the Red Sox
didn't score and the Yankees were able to score enough
runs to win. They're gonna hit. They're gonna score seven
to eight runs the first two games. They're gonna go
back to the stadium. It's gonna be two nothing Yankees,
and the Yankees are gonna win this series and they
are gonna blow torch their way through Toronto. I get
(28:30):
how good Toronto is. I get they've been playing well,
but as you said, their pitching is not good. They
give up a lot of home runs. The Yankees hit
home runs. You're seeing Volpi get hot in the first
round of the playoffs. Chishom when he gets in the lineup,
he's affecting the game.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
Now.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Maybe sitting him out the first game was the best
thing because now he's really motivated the last couple of games.
But this is a team. Now Ben Rice has jumped in.
He was sitting out the first game, and he's played well.
They are going to absolutely destroy the baseball and it
could be a sweep.
Speaker 4 (28:58):
But I'll say, I'll be nice.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
I'll say Yankees in five, and they wind up winning
the series and they go on to the ALCS.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Game five would be at Toronto. Since Toronto finished as
division champion winning that tiebreaker against the Yanks, they had
finished tied in the al E standings. Keep in mind
the schedule. These are day games. This weekend in Toronto,
four pm Eastern Saturday, Fox TV Yankees at Toronto Game one,
Then four pm Eastern Sunday on FS ONE Yankees at
(29:25):
Toronto for Game two, and then FS one will have
Tuesday Nights Game three of the best of five from
New York.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
You like offense, It's going to be a Yankees explosion
starting tomorrow in Toronto. And maybe some errors too, but
enough hits and they're gonna wind up winning.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
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.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
And the guy we're going to talk to right now.
He is the owner, editor, proprietor of College Footballnews dot Com.
You're once op shopping for everything college football, all the picks,
all the prognostications, all the analysis. He is with us
now live from snap Dragon Stadium in San Diego. He
just can't stay away from good football. It is Pete
(30:16):
feu Tech. He's on Twitter at Pete few Tech. Pete,
what's happening, man.
Speaker 6 (30:20):
I'm witnessing the greatest show on turf here with San
Diego State. It was like my call of the week
was at San Diego State. Colorado State was going to
go under the forty one and they're at like ninety
five and like our first half or something right now,
don't even know anymore. No, it's going good. It's lovely
down here, and I like being on your Pacific time zone.
It's more fun. Why are you there this week kids
(30:42):
in college and parents weekend? And he's a senior. I've
never come out here for it. So I'm out here
among the pretty and beautiful people of San Diego for
the weekend.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Oh nice, Oh very good. And you're getting to see
a big win. They're up big over Colorado State. It's
a win win situation for you.
Speaker 6 (30:59):
Yes, my cat, my hard earned money going towards hopefully
like a pick in the second half or some more
more production from this.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
Yeah, over three hundred yards for the Aztecs first time.
Speaker 4 (31:10):
Yeah, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
You're gonna love waking up at eight thirty tomorrow to
watch Wisconsin Michigan.
Speaker 4 (31:16):
You're gonna love that.
Speaker 6 (31:18):
That's the best, absolutely the best. My honeymoon in Hawaii,
I think thank Don mcdammity, Eagles were going off at
like five in the morning or something like that, and
an AFC championship kids, I get so much part of
the East Coast. The Pacific time zone is just just
great for sports. I just move out here.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
Except for the London games. But we'll move on.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Yeah, that that happens exactly all right now, one of
the big games of the week, Steve, we talked about, Look,
arch Manning has to show us something tomorrow against Florida. Right,
it's a bad Florida team, but he's had three weeks,
he's had three bye weeks to figure out. It's still
Florida on the road. If he doesn't show us anything tomorrow,
I don't know that I can expect any from the
(32:00):
rest of the season.
Speaker 6 (32:02):
It's my call of the offseason. I had two big
calls of the offseason. One of them actually came true
is that Mississippi State was going to beat Arizona State.
This never works. But the other one was Florida was
gonna win this game. It just seemed like one of
those moments where we saw a couple of years ago
against Tennessee. We saw it late last year against LSU,
where every once in a while in the swamp Billy
(32:24):
Napier's Gators ended up rising up and rocking on defense.
And we still don't know what this this Texas team
really is. I mean, they at the one game against
Lawoa State where Okay, the defense look great, but they
don't really played anybody else's note. I think this is
one of those games where I'm sure, look, Arch is
(32:45):
gonna be fine, he's gonna be a good quarterback, he's
gonna be the number one overall pick whenever.
Speaker 4 (32:49):
And all that.
Speaker 6 (32:50):
But you're right, it hasn't quite happened yet. And this
is one of those games against the you know, for
all the proms that Florida's had this year, that defense
is fantastic. I think it is one of the those
games that Texas has the problems with fete.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
As far as Alabama, they lost to Vanderbilt last year.
Bama is hosting him this time. That's tomorrow. The quote
that jumped out at me from the Vanderbilt quarterback, Diego Pavia,
if we play our game Saturday, it won't be close.
End quote. Vanderbilt is a deserved underdog in this game
in tuscaloosad tomorrow, are they not?
Speaker 6 (33:22):
Yeah, Actually, he got his last name wrong. It's Diego Manzel.
That's that's exact type of player. And if he if
look if he if he's right and they win this
in Rock, heisan race kind of over right. I mean,
because there's no one else out there, and Pavia has
been great so far, and Vanderbilt and he's doing great
(33:44):
things with it. But look, I I we always kind
of you know, put you know, thoughts and ideas in
the heads, like, well, Alabama is going to care about
this one because the last year and this is going
to be one of those games and all that kind
of stuff. Yeah, but what I'm hearing this is one
of those things they are so sick of hearing about
Diego Pavia. They are so sick of that loss last year.
(34:07):
I think this is one of those games where they
just come out and thunder dunk on them. I'm just like, Okay, yeah,
this is cute and all. You're good in all, Vanderbilt,
but Bama's you know, Bama, and I think this is
one of those games whe they're going to come up
and do something special.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
All right, Pete, how many points would you have to
get to take UCLA over Penn State? Like the sprints
twenty four and a half. If you said fifty, maybe
I'll take forty. I'm still taking Penn State fifty maybe,
but forty I'm still taking Penn State.
Speaker 6 (34:38):
Well, is the thing about Ucla. They're sort of scoring
a little bit. They just don't seem to have all
the parts there. So I mean, you're right. I mean,
if you're telling me right now, I'm getting off the
bus up forty eight and a half to nothing. Yeah,
i'd probably, you know, go for something like that. It's
so bad, I mean you And the problem is also
their schedule. Look at who UCLA has left. They're going
(35:00):
over twelve. I mean, there's if it's done, there's some
massive upset along the way because they're going to be
double digit underdogs the rest of the way. And I'll
throw another one at you and you kind of brought
up earlier. Find me the Wisconsin win the rest of
the season and show me how without a massive weird
twist and something crazy going with this this Luke fickel offense.
(35:25):
Find me where that wins coming. He ain't coming tomorrow, Michigan.
Let's Fichigan decide to turn it over eight times.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
Actually, I think that's two great examples for my next question.
U CLA program Wisconsin program. Is college football starting to
pass by some of the teams that you speak competitive?
Things are so different in the world of college football.
Speaker 6 (35:47):
There's there's a bunch of different factors that play at
both of them. One Ucla for some reason, and this
is the program of John Wooden, you know, and Sam Gilbert. Okay,
you know, uh, they can't figure out Nil really, you
know Ucla, you know they give all the money to
the NIKO. They just don't have any other parts with them.
And their schedule is brutal. Wisconsin, it just isn't working
(36:10):
and their schedule is brutal. So like if you're a
team like Cal, or a team like look at what
Virginia has left to play, you could tell if you
give Wisconsin cal schedule, you could see how they're probably
going seven and five or eight four even. I mean,
but when you've got this brutal sway, and this is
the new world to college football, where some teams play
(36:30):
the good team, some teams miss them, and that's really
it's just a perfect storm for teams like this. But
except for UCLA, who's just flat out bad.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
You know, it's funny you say that Pete to go
back to Florida and Texas for a second. I mean,
I don't know if the team has had a harder
month schedule that I can ever remember than what Florida's
got right now that they're in the middle of number three, LSU,
number four, Miami number nine, Texas number six, Texas A
(36:59):
and M four top ten teams in a month. I
don't know anybody that's you probably gotta go back to
the forties when it was Army playing Navy and then
playing Columbia and then playing California Institute Technology.
Speaker 4 (37:11):
Like, I don't know about a tougher run than Florida's
got right now.
Speaker 6 (37:15):
Yeah, take a look at what Oklahoma's got coming up.
And here's another kind of funky twist. I think I
got this right where I don't think Texas University of
Texas the biggest athletic department in the country. It's Texas Football,
not Texas State, Texas Antonio University of Texas. I don't
think has a home game for like five weeks in
(37:36):
a row in the middle of the season, starting tomorrow.
I think I have that right. It's close to that.
But like, it's crazy how these schedules are being set
up with so many teams, especially in the SEC, who
just have these brutal, unmanageable suits where you're looking at
them unless there's something truly special, there's no way you're
going to the college football playoffs, You're gonna have at
(37:57):
least two losses coming out of these stretches. So it's
gonna be tough for both these teams.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
What about a matchup that Jason brought up earlier this
evening with Clemson at North Carolina, because realistically, these are
two winless programs so far this year. Carolina had two
cupcakes and Clemson beat Troy, essentially winsless. As they go
into the game at Chapel Hill.
Speaker 6 (38:21):
Tomorrow, I'm gonna harp on this again. Schedule, schedule, schedules.
I believe I came on this show, oh about a
few months ago, and I was asked the question, who's
that sweeper team out there? And I think I said
the Belichick because look at that schedule for North Carolina.
There's this game against Clemson and nothing else. And I
(38:44):
honestly said that that's the thing we would be talking
him in November about a oh wow, look at you
got a you know, one loss North Carolina team only
because of the schedule. They're bad and so kind of,
like I said before, we're about Alabama's kind of like
enough of this. I think you're gonna get that with
Clemson tomorrow and they with a week off, they're gonna
(39:04):
be like, Okay, they just need to tweak, They just
need something positive to go their way, and then everything
starts to rock. I think that starts to happen tomorrow
for Clemson.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
College Footballnews dot COM's Pete fu Tech our guest Jason
Smith Steve de Sega in from Mike Carmon. All Right,
big marquee game of the day. We got Miami in
Florida State. Not quite as marquee as it was after
Week one when Florida State played, you know, beat outbaut
But okay, but.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
Pete, at this point, I am.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
Kind of all in on Miami going undefeated. I mean,
I really I don't know where the loss is. This
is the best Miami team so far that I have
seen in years, and I don't know.
Speaker 4 (39:39):
Where the l is for them.
Speaker 6 (39:41):
I want to see if Look as I'm sitting here
on a Friday night, Friday night games are weird. It's
just they throw teams off their schedule. Nothing's quite right.
That certainly happened with Florida State last week. They couldn't
tackle a lick. So if they couldn't tackle Virginia. God
bless you against an NFL offensive line like Miami has.
(40:03):
Now it's Mario Christobal, So there's gonna be a fifth
it's you know what, when he was there was always
when at Oregon, there is always that November Arizona game,
and he was like three years in a row where
it was like Arizona or Arizona State where they kept whiffing.
And so there's it's like at SMU or some there's
gonna be some place that they're gonna make a mistake.
(40:25):
But you're right, they're gonna be eleven and one. I
think they win the ACC Championship, and I do think
they're a top four team. And if they show it tomorrow,
I mean, who knows. Maybe if Friday night think was
a blip for Florida State and they're back, we have
the team that played like they did against Alabama, I
don't think. So I think Miami comes back going because
I'm with you, I think, And I also keep thinking
(40:45):
Carson beck is cross possibly the most underappreciated player in
the country. He's not winning the Heisman. He might be
the number one overall pick next year.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
Ohio State is number one in the country. After the
game against Minnesota Saturday night. They have the big newonick
off in a week at Illinois, and Ohio State still
last to play Penn State. Do you believe in this
offense yet and this team yet for Ohio State?
Speaker 6 (41:08):
Kind of hard, I mean, but maybe not. But even
if you don't, this defense is shocking here. I mean,
it's unbelievably good considering all the talent that has to play,
had to replace. Last year's team had so much there
and now this year. Look at the red zone scoring
percentage for defense. You have three teams that are under
(41:31):
sixty percent, you know, so everyone else is giving up
six point sixty percent more times more. Ohio States at
twenty eight percent. Ohio State's not giving up anything in
the red zone and they're going to go. If they
keep Minnesota under ten points, it'll be the first time
this like nineteen seventy ish something that they've gone to.
(41:51):
This program has gone four straight games in a row
without allowing that many points a row. So this defense
has been at least for the last thirty years, is
still great and I think that's it's gonna keep carrying them.
The offense is just gonna be good enough to get by, all.
Speaker 4 (42:06):
Right, Pete.
Speaker 1 (42:06):
So lastly, we don't have a lot of big top
twenty five games tomorrow. Can you spot a big upset
You wouldn't be surprised to see whether it's a top ten,
top fifteen team, you got a big upset for tomorrow,
you wouldn't be surprised that I'm gonna.
Speaker 6 (42:19):
Stick with it. I mean, I'm all lay at this point.
I just kind of think that Texas. You're right, we
haven't seen anything about Ohio State yet except they played Texas.
We haven't seen anything in Texas except they weren't awful
defensively against Ohio State. I'm not buying in Texas. I
just think this is one of those that they're gonna,
(42:40):
you know, come up and either either they show out
tomorrow and they like, yeah, we're Texas. Were really are
that good? But again, I'm gonna say at home that
billion naper defense desperation. No one's thinking they're gonna do anything.
They're they've been keeping teams closed, and I think they're
gonna do something pretty good tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (42:56):
Last question for me is about Notre Dame. After the
zero to two start, we're still ranked. Do you expect
them after that start to win ten in a row
and beat USC and Notre Dames just fine.
Speaker 6 (43:07):
Oh yeah, I said it at the time. And not
only not only they lose those two games, they lost
to that Miami team, like we said, is probably going
to be in the ACC Championship, almost certainly in the
college football playoffs, and that was a close game that
came down to the final second Texas A and m there,
but for a miss snap and a fourth down stop
they get that one. So those are about as acceptable
(43:28):
as those losses that get and ten wins in a row. Yes,
Notre Dame's absolutely in the college football playoff and I
don't think it's closed. I think they're gonna be that.
This offense is unstoppable.
Speaker 4 (43:39):
CJ.
Speaker 6 (43:39):
Carr is being talked about now is a postential top
five overall pick someday. That running back tandem of Darian
Price and Jeremiah Love the best of the country. I
think they cruised the ten and two and I think
they are waltz right into the college football playoffs.
Speaker 1 (43:54):
He's on Twitter at Pete feu tech, that's at Pete feutech,
at college Footballnews dot com as the website, or at
snap Dragon Stadium for the second half of what is
going to be the over hitting for San Diego State again.
The big upsets for Pete Florida over Texas and UCLA
on the field over Penn State.
Speaker 4 (44:13):
Okay, well the first one.
Speaker 6 (44:14):
The nuts and the under in this San Diego State
Colorado stick game. It's not even gonna come close.
Speaker 4 (44:20):
Yeah, Pete, enjoy the game, enjoyed parents weekend. We'll talk
to you next week.
Speaker 6 (44:26):
City guys,
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