PTI - Blue Jays-Dodgers Series Heats Up!

Episode Date: October 28, 2025

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss the World Series, Commanders-Chiefs, and Jack Eichel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, sports fans, the ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network and service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN Unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional calls. Visit activate.esPN.com to learn how to access your account or sign up, then start streaming in the ESPN app. It's all of ESPN all in one place. Sign up or activate now. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbaum, Tony. Last night, epic game lasted until nearly 3 a.m. in the east. Tony Cornheiser, I know.

I was just waking up. Briefly, I'm sure. Briefly. So, so you, you watched the Homer live, right? You were up for the 18th inning. I did. Tony, I went to sleep, though, in the 15th. And I missed the 15th and 16th.

And then I got up a little earlier for that. that 3 a.m. break you spoke of. Yeah, nothing happened in the 15th of 60. It was the 18th. Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. In today's episode, Show Hey takes the mound. The Chiefs win their third straight.

And Jeff Saturday joins us for five good minutes. But we begin today with the World Series and last night six hour and 39 minute 18 inning game that was finally won by a Freddie Freeman walkoff homer at 250 in the morning Eastern time. The Dodgers used 10 pitchers. The Blue Jays use nine, a total of 44 players were in this game. Shohayatani reached base nine times, four on intentional walks, four more on extra base hits, including two home runs.

Wilbon, what are your thoughts on this game? Well, you mentioned some of them. Otani, just there are no words. I mean, what Otani did, I mean, the home runs, double on base, the walks, O'Tani. So that's my first thought. The second thought is the very thing that made this game irresistible for old dogs like you and me makes it unwatchable for two generations of people. And I don't know if baseball benefits and gets a net benefit.

I don't really care, but I do wonder. Because I fell asleep in the 15th and 16th, but I woke back up to see the home run. Tony, Toronto got so many people thrown out on the base, Pat. How do you live with that in the ninth and the 10th at third base and home? It was just one gasp after another, the drama of it. You know, I mean, when I was a kid, I lived for the drama of baseball. Like you, for me. Baseball is my first sporting love.

And it was the World Series, and it was crazy things that seemingly can only happen in the World Series. And that was last night. But I just wonder, like, how many people stayed with it? Well, I mean, it was, you know, a 20-hour game. Come on, not everybody stayed with it. Look, I'm full disclosure. I didn't make it till the end.

I dropped out in about the eighth or ninth inning, and I was amazed when I woke up, Mike, to find that I missed an entire game, like nine or ten innings out there. So what I'm going to do now is give a love letter to baseball because that was everything you wanted, okay? There was scoring opportunities all over. 37 runners were left on base.

As you said, six different players thrown out either at second or third or at home. There were balls that were hit that carried all the way to the wall. It was a stunningly competitive game, considering they didn't score for hours. Craig Kershaw got in the game. That was fabulous. Yamamoto was warming up. He went nine two days before. So this is when a manager earns his money.

Who does he intentionally walk? Who does he put into the game with the bullpen? Dodger bullpen was unbelievably good, given what they have been. I talked yesterday about the circle of trust where Dave Roberts had two guys, Sasaki and Trinan. They both were in the game. Trinan gave up a go-ahead run at that point. Everybody else went 13 innings and gave up nothing. I mean, it was just so extraordinary.

They had people in there. Will Klein, I've never heard of him. Who is he? It turns out, Mike, the last two years, he pitched 22 and two-thirds innings over two full years. He went four last night. He'd never gone four. It was remarkable. The effort was remarkable.

Yeah, all of it was. For the rest of this show, I'm going to call you boss. Nobody will know what that is, just you and me. No rest for the weary tone. The two teams are right back at it tonight at 8 Eastern, five local time. Shoah takes them out. Despite Dave Roberts calling him spent after last night's effort,

the Js will turn to Shane Bieber, So, Tony, how does this game set up in your mind? Well, Shohei is the center of attention because now he's going to go out there and pitch. And let's review some of the things from last night. He got on base nine times. I understand it's an 18-ending game. But nine times. He was never out at first.

And he was walked intentionally four times by a good manager on Toronto. Now, why do you walk the guy? Because in his last six playoff games, Otani's batting 4.50. He has six home runs, nine RBI, nine runs scored, seven walks. His OPS is 1.9 something. That's why you walk him. I don't think he will get a pitch to see tonight. I don't.

But he's the focus of attention. But the more subtle thing that's going on is what if the starters don't go a long way? And you have to go to your bullpen. You used everybody last night. Both teams used everybody last night. And you not only have a game tonight, Mike, you have a game tomorrow night as well. Do you have guys who can go three straight nights? How do you portion out who can get there?

I mean, that to me, that's the subtext that's the most interesting to me. Me too, Tom, because pitchers, as we know, used to go all the time. You know, you think about guys like Eckers League, Gossage, guys who were starters early in their careers and late in their World Series careers, it was, give me the damn ball, skip. I'm going again. And I know how much you love those guys because I love them too. Yeah. And so, yes, that is what I'm looking forward to. But Tony, that's secondary.

It's Shohei. It's just Shohei. I don't care in what capacity. I just want to see him. Whether they're walking him, whether he's hitting it over somebody's rooftop, I just put him out there. Let me see Shohei and the rest of it will settle in. Let me ask you a question.

Let's play toss-up, you and me. which team do you think needs this game more? Do you think it's Toronto? Because if they go down 3-1, maybe they don't make it. Or do you think it's L.A. Because their bullpen, you're on borrowed time with that bullpen. You think it's Toronto? Yeah, I hear you.

It's a narrow call for me, Tone. But it's Toronto. When we've seen teams come back from 3-1, both with the two games on the road and the two games on them, the Cubs did it in 16. So I hear you, I'm going to play a hunch and say Toronto. All right. Let's move to the Monday night game where Kansas City scored three touchdowns in the second half

on Patrick Mahomes' passes and comfortably beat Washington 28 to 7. Mahomes was 15 or 17 in the second half for 196 yards in those three touchdowns. Without Jaden Daniels, Washington was once again dull on offense. Wilbon, what does this result say to you about each team? The chiefs are in the process of becoming the chiefs again. And it takes a while. And it doesn't need to be proclaimed. in week five by every former player on television.

It can take nine weeks, 11 weeks, 13 weeks, 17 weeks. And so the chiefs are in the process, it seems to me, of doing that. The commanders are in the process of being what I thought they'd be, which is, and I'm not pronouncing them dead. But I just thought if I was going to pick a team to take a step back, a step back is not that far. They were in the NFC championship game in January. January. But I thought the commanders would take a little backslide. They are doing that. They can

reverse it if, you know, Jay and Daniels becomes whole again and stays that way. But that's where those two teams are for me. Yeah, I mean, I live in Washington, D.C. I pay attention to the commanders, even though I hate the nickname. Yeah, I mean, they're three and five. They're 13th in the NFC. They were in the NFC championship game last year. Were they just lucky? because Jaden Daniels had this fabulous rookie season, and now he's missed all or parts of three games, and they've fallen like a rock? I mean, are they last year or are they this year?

Kansas City, and I know we agree on this, they are a reliable, dependable commodity. They are like the bread that you go to the store to buy because you like the bread, and it never disappoints you. Okay, they started out O and 2. Now they've won five out of six. In the last five games, they've scored 28 or more in all of those games.

In the last three games, here's a great number. They've outscored their opponents 89 to 24. And they've got the best football player in a planet. Mahomes still. And Kelsey can still catch things. You know, they are nothing, if not dependable. Although their next three, Mike, their next three is a gauntlet. At Buffalo, at Denver, Indianapolis at home.

Combined record 18 and 5, that's a gauntlet. Yeah. But Tony, you know what? I'll take them because of 15. So when I hear this other conversation out there about who in his category, his quarterback, shut up, please, because the answer is nobody. It doesn't make him the MVP every year, but he's the best football player. He is.

Let's take a break. Still to come with Lamar Jackson set to return. How should the Ravens protect him? We're going to ask Jeff Saturday. We'll also ask him about Steelers' Center, Zach Frazier, not being able to release his hand from the football. Dumbled. That's a really nice sport jacket.

Is that new? Is that a new jacket that you've got relatively? That's nice. It might be its debut. It might be a debut. That's, I'm jealous. Pardon the interruption is presented by the refreshing taste of twisted tea, hard ice tea. Please drink responsibly.

Part of Happy Hour. You are watching, Part in the Interruption, presented by Twisted Tea, hard ice tea. Part of Happy Hour. Let's dig into the NFL trenches with our great friend ESPN NFL analyst, Jeff Saturday. Jeff, let's start with this. Lamar Jackson is expected to return from a hamstring injury for the Ravens on Thursday night. I think they play Miami. I'm not sure.

As an offensive lineman, do you do anything different to protect a question? quarterback with that kind of specific injury, hamstring injury? No, honestly going in, Tony, as you have the conversation of, you know, how strong is this thing? If he's like, man, I'm 100% your condition that athlete's going to go athlete, right? But if it's one of those, hey, I need some protection, it's where's our launch point? You're going to stay behind the center. We're going to move from tackle to tackle. Like, our rollout still considered, you kind of get the lay of the land of what he's comfortable of doing. And honestly, you do more of trying to squelch.

his want and desire to get outside the pocket and go make place happen with his legs down the field because you can't control that. And it sounds crazy, excuse me, but most of it is the decal, right? Like, as he's sprinting and he's got to plant the decal, that's really where they end up pulling up lane more often. So you just try to encourage him, stay in the pocket, let other guys do yards after catch, yards after contact, lean on others, and let's live for another play. Jeff, one guy who seems to need no help right now is Jonathan Taylor who continues to kill it. And he got MVP chance on Sunday. A running back hasn't been MVP since 2012, which is absurd to old-timers like Tony and me.

One, can and should it happen this year. And how much is he benefiting from a pretty damn good offensive line? Yeah. Well, first of all, I definitely think so. And I was of the thought last year even with Sequin. Like, everybody's like, oh, these quarterbacks are having this great year. I'm like, you know, Sequin didn't play a game and still, you know, almost breaks the record. And so my whole thought is you're in a totally different air. That's where Jonathan Taylor is putting himself this year.

As he's in that different air, right? La Ledaon Tamlins and touchdown record is a potential if he continues on this. and he has had an insane impact on the hottest team, really in the NFL being the Indianapolis Coles. He does have a very good offensive line. Stuyken's done a really good job of coupling plays, making things look very similar, which opens up holes. But make no mistake, he is making plays as well. Once he gets past that line of scrimmage, he's making guys miss, he's using his speed, he's using his vision, he's setting up his blocks. They go hand in hand. This is not just he's being carried. This is a, benefit for both offensive line and running back, he should clearly be in the MVP conversation,

and we should stop making it a quarterback award only. I get they have more stuff to them. They've always had more stuff. It's like, I don't understand anybody saying. You don't think Tom Brady and Peyton Manning and Drew Brie, everybody, but Adrian Peterson has the year. He's the MVP. Let's stop taking it off the table for other players except for quarterbacks. another young running back who was having a different kind of impact early on cam scataboo he had that gruesome injury jeff and players you know who've seen everything it seems needed to look away when you are on the field and you had that kind of injury how do you how in the hell do you maintain focus or forget maintain how do you get it back within a few

minutes. Oh, it's brutal. And look, like when you guys get, you know, knees dislocated, ankles dislocated, all the things like you saw with Scataboo. By the way, the impact he had in New York, man, is, and it's your hoping comes back after this injury and gets back the energy, the effort, this guy, he's infectious, right? So it's not only what happened, it's who it's happening to because of how much impact he had on his teammates. But when you see something that gruesome, it is hard not to look, to look away. Because not. Not only are you seeing your friend in pain, you're seeing what could potentially happen to you. And you're trying to block it out of your mind as quickly as possible, knowing in, you know, four minutes, you're going to be doing this again.

And we understand the risk we put ourselves at, but when you visually see it, it definitely can play mind tricks on you. So you try to turn away, start talking to each other, kind of minimize how much is going on in your head until postgame. But the reality is, too, in practice, when guys get hurt, it's move the drill 20 yards and let's keep going. And so they've conditioned you's coaches and organizations of injuries are part of the game. We've got to continue to move on. And as a fortune of that is, it's just part of what we do in the NFL. I will get you out of here on this. Steelers Center, Zach Frazier, touched the ball because he thought the team was going to go into the hurry up.

And then he had to keep it there to avoid the penalty as a center. What do you think of all that? It's the worst. Here's the thing. We played so much no huddle in Indy, right? So I would go put my hand on the ball. And there would be times I'd be down in my stance for, you know, dang near 40 seconds, right? Because I got to the ball so quickly.

And so now Peyton's making audibles. He's making adjustments. I'm trying to look. Where's the safety? Where's the end? were the linebackers and you got your hand on the ball and they are very particular. So Frazier had to literally hold it. They walked back because, you know, no one wants to call to be heard.

You know, Aaron's trying to be got to be a little covert. So you got to sit there and try to listen. And then when the guard comes up, hey, what's the play, right? I mean, that's literally how bad this thing is. I thought it was comical. I loved it. And it just shows some of the silliness, right, of the rules. I understand if we're trying to get you to jump off sides.

But clearly that wasn't the intent here. that he couldn't get up and go walk in the huddle, just made it look like a spectacle, and I absolutely loved it because we shined in on a great center, and we give a tip of the cap today. My man, Frazier, congrats. You got solo time on PTI, baby. That's what I'm talking about. Always a pleasure.

Omaha. Thank you, Jeff. Thanks, Jeff. Thanks. See you guys. Love y'all. Let's take one last break. When we come back, Victor Wimbunyama, and the Spurs have yet to lose.

I keep telling you about him. Will Bunney. You paying attention? Yeah, sure you do. Uh-huh. And every hockey team is on the ice tonight, Tony. You're going to break it down, all 16 matchups. Yeah. Can't wait. I love the notion of the center being out there all alone.

And- Pardon the Interruption is presented by the refreshing taste of twisted tea, hard ice tea. Please drink responsibly. Part of Happy Hour. Happy time, people. Happy 29th birthday, Jack Eichel. The Las Vegas Golden Knights wrapped up Ikel's next nine years with a $108 million contract extension that will take Ikel through 2034. Eichael led the Golden Knights in scoring last season with a career high 94 points.

Eichl was the leading playoff scorer for Las Vegas's Stanley Cup champions in 2003. He came over to Las Vegas after six seasons with the Buffalo Sabres. There was disagreement over Eichael's medical treatment, and that trade was made in 2021. Eichler is a three-time All-Star and was a member of the United States team in the four nations face-off. He is likely to play for the United States in the upcoming Olympic Games. Tony, it seems the industry in the league are a little conflicted about whether you set those three weeks aside in the middle of the season to compete in the Olympics. I love it. I've been there a couple or three times for those Olympic games featuring NHL players.

I think as an outside person looking, it's worth it. It's hella exciting, I'll tell you that. I agree with you on that. Happy anniversary, James Hardin. Around this day, 13 years ago, Hardin was traded from Oklahoma City to the Houston Rockets after he rejected a contract extension with the Thunder. In Houston, Hardin led the league in scoring average three times

and once an assist per game. Hardin was the league MVP in 2018. Now 36, Hardin's on the Clippers, and through their first three games, is averaging 21.7 points, 10.3 assists, and five rebounds. Hardens' Achilles' heel is the playoffs. All of Hardin's numbers, points, assists, rebounds, and shooting percentage are down in the playoffs from the regular season. Curiously, Hardin is the last American-born MVP. Since Hardin, we have Anta-Compo,

Yokic, Ambid, and Gilchus Alexander. Tony, he's not in that grouping anymore, but the 10.3 assists per game is impressive. It's second in the league right now to only Joker. So Harden is still having an impact, you know, this deep into his career. Always loved him as a player. Always did. But the playoff stuff was, you know, the numbers of the numbers. Happy Trails the last night's game for the Toronto Raptors.

The Raptors fell to the Spurs by 18. Victor Wembeñama had 24 points and 15 rebounds. Shot 7 of 8 from the field, 10 of 10 from the line. It was the Spurs' fourth straight win to start the season. That ties a franchise record. And the team is doing this without starting point guard, De Aaron Fox, who's nearly recovered from a hamstring strain. Wimbanyama took nine threes a game last year, last night he took no threes.

Wimbanyama, Shohay. That's it. Shohay, Wimbanyama. Those two deserve the entire marquee until somebody else proves otherwise just them. Let's go to the big finish. Lori Markkin and drop 51 on the Sunday. Are you impressed? Yeah, I am, but he took like 32 shots.

You got to score 50, take 32 shots. Vikings quarterback Carson Went will have shoulder surgery and miss the rest of the season, your thoughts. Go to J.J. McCarthy. It was supposed to be his team. He's going to have half the season to take the team. The Saints will start rookie quarterback Tyler Shuck against the Rams.

Is that okay with you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. All 32 NHL teams will be on the ice tonight. Aren't you excited for that? They're calling it a frozen frenzy. What do you think of that? That's a nice phrase. I like that.

Last one, Nick's Buck's Clippers Warriors tonight, which is the more intriguing game? Oh, Clippers Warriors. Clippers Warriors, I can go click, click, click right beside a World Series game that might go into 2 a.m. How can you resist that? We're out of time. We'll try to do better the next time.

I'm Tony Kornhyser. And I'm Mike Wilborn. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads.