PTI - Dallas Cowboys Struggles and MLB Postseason

Episode Date: October 9, 2026

In this episode, Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon break down the Dallas Cowboys' loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and other upcoming NFL matchups. Then they analyze the MLB division series, college football and WNBA playoff action. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This could be your ad, reaching a brand new audience on Spotify. Launch your first campaign in minutes today with Spotify Ads Manager. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbon. Tony, your white socks lost again last night. I'm Tony Corneiser. My white socks, mine, nice try. Yeah. Nice try.

Tony's spent 100 years. They can't do it here. I'm sitting about four miles from what I still call. a Comisky Park like you would call a Comisky. Not guaranteed rate loan stupid name stadium, Comisky, and they can't do it there. But we got good vibes about Chicago and Cleveland. We got good vibes about that.

Well, you've won two in a row on the road. Everybody in the series is one on the road. I'm talking about 2016, dude. The Cubby's at Cleveland. Yeah, but you're not talking about 1906 the last time that they clinch. clinch a playoff series in Chicago. Welcome to PTI, boys and girls.

In today's episode, strong matchups ahead in the NFL, five good minutes with Eduardo Perez, and our thoughts on the passing of Mike Ditko. But we begin today with the Dallas Cowboys. That thud, you heard, was the Cowboys falling on their faces at home last night and losing to the previously O&4, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24 to 16.

Not only was Tampa Bay winless, but they were playing with a backup quarterback, an undrafted rookie Jalen Daniels. Wilbon, you love to trash the Cowboys. What does this result say to you about each team? I got plenty, and it's not going to be about the small picture of last night's game. I said to you yesterday, I asked Booger McFarland, why do we keep going on about the Cowboys every year,

and they stink every year to some degree? They get new players, they stink. They get new coaches, they stink. They get new schemes. They stink. They're not particularly creative. They're not particularly thoughtful. over the years. They don't seem

particularly bright. They just seem like dullards. They get players who seem overrated the moment they either get to the Cowboys or better once they leave the Cowboys. It's a marketer's dream. It really is. They got people, you know, fall in love with a

star on a helmet. In the meantime, they're Cleveland. They're Cleveland with a bigger fan base. That's what they are. They don't do anything and we'll go on year after year. They will hold the Cowboys will several networks hostage. While we talk about all about what they bring and what they're going to do and their defense is going to be better this time,

because they'll be able to shut up. Pay attention. The Cowboys stink. Yeah, I want to refute every little thing you said, but I'm not stupid. So I'm not going to refute most of these things. Look, I was stunned when they lost that game last night. I would have, I'd have lost my shirt. if I bet on that game.

But in that moment that everybody is seen on television, in the post-game tunnel when that employee of the Cowboys looks over at Deck Prescott and uses the word embarrassing. He is 100% right. That was embarrassing

from top to bottom. Look, I get that the Cowboys are fabulous draws for the NFL. They are the number one rated team year after year after year. They are probably the most popular team in American sports. But to paraphrase you,

how about them Cowboys now? They stink. So what I, and I also, I also understand, Mike, that that we are talked to, we're talk about the Cowboys on this network every single day and other sports shows on other sports networks every single day. So I'm proposing a moratorium on the Cowboys, where I would say, go out and get to be, get to be eight and five. And then we will talk to you because until then, until then, the only thing that would be newsworthy is if they fired the coach. And I do not wish that on them. I do not. I don't wish that.

I don't even know it's deserved, Tony, but real quickly, there's not even shame. There's no shame in continuing to just slurp the cowboys every day. And next week, oh, they're going to make them a favorite. It's the same junk. And it's the same junkie team for the most part. It really is. Luckily, we got a Sunday full of intriguing matchups, none of them involving the Cowboys. The headliner is definitely the NFC West battle between the 4-0-09ers and the 3-1

defending champion Seahawks. Yeah, they play in Seattle. But we also have the surprising Raiders at the Patriots, the chaotic Eagles facing the 3-1 Jaguars in London, and my bears in Lambo to face the hated Packers. Tony, which matchup feels most consequential to you? So I would have normally, my instinct would be to pick Buffalo at the Rams. But that is the Monday night game. So technically it's not on the weekend, even though it's Columbus Day weekend. Maybe it is on the weekend. But I will pick something else. I will leave

the Bears and the Packers to you. The sort of wise guy's side of me would like to point out that I would concentrate on the Texans versus the Titans, the clash of the Owen fours. And I would hope that they tied zero zero in overtime so that nobody got the win. The London game, Jacksonville and Philadelphia is intriguing to me. It's very hard for me to believe, Mike, and I know you don't care about points spread. It's hard for me to believe that Philadelphia is getting seven and a half.

That is a big number for me. The Ravens, who are they playing? It's an all-birds game. The Ravens at the Falcons. I would have liked that, except now there's a possibility that Lamar is not going to play in that game. He's not going to.

So I back off on that a little bit. Colts at Steelers harkens back to great franchises over a long period of time, but not right now. That's not great right now. And the other one I would talk about is the Raiders at the Patriots, because can the Raiders bounce back from losing to Kansas City and are the Patriots right now in turnaround? But you're right.

It's Seattle and the 49ers. Yes, and Tony, I like several of those others. And obviously I'm going to be into Bears Packers to go up, even though you've won two straight. And even though the Packers look damn near as embarrassing as the Cowboys, they're playing at home. And you got to go in there and win a third consecutive game with the backup quarterback. That's asking a lot, even though the first two games of backup quarterbacks have played well.

No, Tony, it's Seattle versus the 49ers. That's the game. The 49ers have looked, they got to be number one atop any reasonable power index at this point. And Seattle just came out to Washington, and you and I watched that game closely because it's in our backyard. And Seattle was like, we're not interested. We're not interested in this game. We're going to sleep through this one. Wake us.

They're going to be awake Sunday. Seattle, San Francisco. Let's move to the baseball playoffs in the only division series to reach the maximum of five games. Cleveland made that happen last night by beating Chicago in Chicago 9 to 5. Chicago won the first two games of this series, but once again will not win a clinching playoff game at home. And the last time they did, as said before, 1906. Wilbon, how do you see this matchup as we head to the deciding game five?

Tony, Cleveland's better, better lineup, better pitching. Their pitching is better positioned. I mean, there's nothing about Cleveland that you look at and say, oh, oh, wait a minute, the White Sox are better. The White Sox are fun. They're energetic. They're freewheeling. Oh, wait, they're too freewheeling. They will swing at anything.

They will swing at any pitch. They will swing and miss any pitch and come into the next inning and swing and miss more pitches. That's what they do. Yeah. That's what they'd be doing all season. I'm not going to criticize them for it because they've been losing 100 games a year. They came out, they play this style. They made the playoffs.

They did. And you know what, Tony? Yeah. There's no pressure on them in Cleveland tomorrow night. They just isn't. I expect Cleveland to win the game. I expected Cleveland to win the series. And the White Sox got off to the two-0 start.

I'm very happy. I want to see the White Sox win, but Cleveland carries every advantage in this series, every advantage. I have no idea who's going to win this game. What I do know is that the first four games were won by the road team. So I think that probably favors Cleveland. But, and here's the big but. In the last two games, Cleveland seems to have figured the White Sox out. They have scored nine runs in each of the last two games, and they have struck out White Sox batters

31 times of the 54-outs you get. Swing and miss, baby. 31 strikeouts. I can tell you that, you know, the great strength of Chicago is the bullpen. It's like they got 30 guys back there. Yesterday, by the way, both teams used 15 pitchers. But again, in terms of figuring it out, it may be that Cleveland has figured out the White Sox bullpen by now.

Either that or, you know, Jose Ramirez has picked a great time to get up from his slump because he's been killing it the last two days. Like you, I sort of want the White Sox. I want them to win because they went three straight years losing 100 or more. And to make the playoffs, it's totally wondrous. By the way, do you know how many times what the White Sox record is in deciding games in a playoff series with multi-games? They're record all time. It's zero and zero because they've never been in it.

How is that possible? Let's take a break. Coming up, should Tariq Scouble or the Miz be favored in their expected game one duel on Sunday? We're going to ask Eduardo Perez whom he favors. That's amazing, Tony, considering the White Sox have been playing since 1880. What? Never been in a multi-game final. Unbelievable.

We're going to ask Eduardo his take on tomorrow's deciding game five. Between the White Sox and Guardians, 150 years they're playing no deciding games. Cleveland is 2 and 9, which isn't very good. The White Sox haven't been there. They've either lost or won before you get. to the deciding game. Unbelievable. We've got baseball questions for our good friend ESPN baseball analyst,

Eduardo Perez. Let's start with this. What stood out to you about the Guardians tying up the series with the White Sox last night? Well, it's simple. I thought that at one point you had Kate Smith in the game, and then at the same time, you end up with Williams, the game five starter, also having to close it out.

I was really surprised when you have a game. game that is pretty much out of hand. The win probability is in the mid to high 90s, and you cannot go and get like one of the other relievers to finish it out and try to save Kate Smith as much as you can. You threw him 19 pitches the day before. He threw two innings, got six outs and 19 pitches. I get that. That's great. But then he had to go out and continue to throw the next day and get potentially six outs. Now, what kind of pitcher are you going to have for game five? You had the upper hand. They already had used Grant Taylor.

They waved the white flag. And yet it was surprising that Stephen Vote opted to bring in Kate Smith in the eighth inning with the bottom of the order instead of trying to see if you can write it out and play game five with your best. It's hard to figure these two teams out, as you know, Eduardo, going into game five. I have both of them losing to Tampa in three games, even though it's a – best of seven series. I got nobody winning the game and it being a clean sweep. We should be like Little League and declare it over after three.

Am I crazy? A little bit. And the reason I say a little bit is I think game one is going to belong to Tampa. Tampa's ready. They're pitching is lined up. Drew Rasmussen, we saw what he did against the New York Yankees. He's done this the entire season. He's done this for the last four seasons.

He's absolutely filthy. when you have three main pitches that are fastballs, but one cuts, one sinks, and one's a four seamer, and he has great control of it. And at the same time, you can throw the change-up at will. This is a very good pitcher that's going to have to go up against a team, if it's the White Sox, that swings and misses a lot.

And if it's the Guardians, what pitching are they going to have only with one day's rest as they'll be playing at 8 o'clock on Monday? All right, you're not nearly as old as Tony and me, but old enough to appreciate great October pitching matchups. The Miz versus Scoobel. What are you seeing, feeling there?

Is there one guy you give the advantage over the other as we move to the NLCS? Okay, so we know both of them have really elite velocity, even though the Miz has that extension and he also has the velocity. It gets there. But has he been proven in the postseason? Has he been able to do it consistently?

Now, I'll always take experience, I'll take velocity, and I'll take stuff. And I believe that what Scoobel has is stuff. And he has the pitches to neutralize not only left-handed pitching, but with the change-up, he can neutralize right-handed pitching as well. I got Scoobo just a little bit ahead of the Cy Young Award winner in the National League this year. That's going to be Jacob Mizorowski. even with his stuff, I think the Dodgers can get his pitch count up, just like in the last outing he had in the postseason.

You're killing Wilbon. Wilbon loves the Miz. Wilbon likes to lord hold of me that he's better than schemes right now. You always say he's the best pitcher. I want cheese head to lose. He is the best picture. Well, let's get you out of here on this. This is a big one.

Baseball has proposed reducing the regular season to 250, to 154 games, which it was when I was a kid, in exchange for a salary cap. How attractive you were a player, how attractive would it be to players to reduce their schedule by eight games, assuming they keep the same money into contract? It's hugely attractive, all right? Eight games, you get a day off in a week. Think about the teams that are in the West Coast that sometimes have to sacrifice their days off to be. able to travel from west to east and miss an entire day off. I think it would be great for the body. But I think it would also be irresponsible of the players to not see what the long-term effects are. This is a great little piece of meat that they're dangling out there. But at what

expense? And I think that's what they have to look at. You have to be able to understand the history of what the union has stood for for years. It took me a while. Let's face it. I want to I went through it as a son of a major leaguer, as my dad's Tony Perez. I went through it as a major leaguer as well. And now I'm seeing it in a different lens, but also with the same effect. It'd be great to have those eight days off, maybe bad for the fans, but great for the player, but at what cost? And I think that's what's going to really determine. Are you willing, they will be willing to raise the floor, but are you willing to cap the ceiling?

And I think that's the big story with the union. And I don't believe that the players will be willing to cap that. Great pleasure to have you, Eduardo. Thank you so much. Appreciate you. You got it. Thank you. Let's take one last break.

Still to come. Will Georgia coach Kirby Smart get his first regular season win over Alabama on Saturday? His first? He hasn't beaten them? Wow. And a few thoughts on the life and times of the one and only Mike. When you're a mid-sized business, you need every competitive advantage you can get. Like an AI solution that works for you, not against you.

SAP Grow is built with AI embedded at its core, working across every system. And it's ready to go from day one so you can hit the ground running. Bring it with SAP Grow. AI Cloud ERP for any size business. Happy time, people. Happy 33rd birthday, George Kittle. The 49ers Pro Bowl tight-end. missed seven games with injuries last season, but he's back with bells on this season.

Every time you watch the 49ers, it looks like Kittle is picking up big chunks of yards. In four games, he has 16 catches for 244 yards and four touchdowns, which leads all tight ends so far. And when Kittle spikes the ball after a big game, it is spiked. Kittle was a fifth round draft pick in 2017 by the 49ers out of Iowa. In his career, he has 611 catches for 8,000 52 yards and 56 touchdowns. He's a seven-time pro bowler, twice first-team all-pro, and it always looks like he's having a good time out there, Mike. Yes, it does, and he also seems like he's always sort of overshadowed

by the guy in Kansas City who plays his position who's married to the famous singer. And Kittles, I mean, come on now. Kittle looks like he's bound for the Hall of Fame, overshadowed. Happy anniversary, Dean Smith. This is posthumous, but on this day, 29 years. years ago, the great basketball coach at North Carolina announced his retirement after 36 years in Chapel Hill. Smith guided the Tar Heels to 11 final fours and won two national championships. He also coached the gold medal winning United States basketball team in the

1976 Olympics in Montreal. Along the way, he coached some people you may have heard of, Michael Jordan, for example, Larry Brown, Billy Cunningham, Phil Ford, Kenny Smith, James Worthy, Brad Doherty, Jerry Stackhouse, Charlie Scott, Vince Carter, Sam Perkins. Dean Smith was smart, shrewd, and masterful. And he was so beloved at North Carolina that they built a gym and they named it after him. Which is what they should have done, Tony. I'm grateful to have been young covering the ACC. And I got a chance several times to sit and talk to.

That means listen to Coach Dean Smith. Just an honor. I didn't know what to ask him. What are you asking? He's a museum by himself. He's encyclopedic. He knew more about basketball at that time than anybody. And so it was just unbelievable to be around him.

A melancholy trails to Mike Ditka. The legendary player and coach has passed away at the age of 86. Dicta grew up in Aliquipa, Pennsylvania, and starred at Pitt, but made his name in Chicago. First, as a Hall of Fame tight end and staple of the Bears' 1963 championship team, and later as the brash head coach of the... the dominant squad that crushed New England in the Super Bowl. Ditka's legend grew even larger, ever larger, rather, even after his tenure with the team ended,

with Saturday Night Lives, the Bears skit. Ditka was pugnacious, ornery, and determined, but was not without self-reflection. He called handing the ball to the fridge instead of Walter Payton in the Super Bowl, the biggest regret of his professional life. Wilbon, you loved him. What did he mean to you?

I did, Tony. If you're under 60, chances are you think Mike Ditka was a fictional character, he wasn't. He was irresistibly tougher, sweeter, gruffer, and more talented than everybody else. He smoked too many cigars,

drank too much before his own television shows, and ran his golf card, as you know, right up on the tee box whenever he wanted. But to those of us who cared about the Bears, Ditka was everything we believed in, everything Chicago believed in. Decades later,

people don't go to NFL games just like Parcells or Walsh or Shula, they come dressed like Mike Ditka, Iron Mike, de Coach. Our world is so much less interesting without him. So, I mean, I'm from a different area. You know, I'm hundreds of miles, if not thousands of miles away from Chicago sometimes. And I watch coaches. I watched Parcells. I watched Walsh. I watched Jimmy Johnson in the division, you know, where Washington plays. And so I don't really have a sense of Ditka as a coach, as much as I have a sense of Ditka actually being larger than life.

I think a lot of it is the Saturday night live stuff. I do. I mean, I can understand. Totally understand how you feel about him. We move to the big finish. Iron Mike, Tony. Absolutely. LeBron James went 10, 4 and 5 and 18 minutes in his preseason debut with the Sixers.

Are you impressed? No, no. No, we will decide what LeBron's doing after Christmas for starters. Georgia, number two, at Alistair. Alabama, number six Saturday, which way you lean it? I'm leaning Alabama because it's out of Alabama. And since 2017, Kirby Smart is 114 and 16 overall and 2 and 7 versus Alabama.

Number 21 UCLA, number 13 Oregon tomorrow. Who you got? By the way, I got Georgia and Oregon. Georgia and Oregon, both decisive. The U.S. women's soccer team takes on top-ranked Spain and a friendly tomorrow. Significant? Well, I guess it's a run-up to the World Cup, which is a year away. I guess so.

Last one, the Dream and the Valkyries can advance to the WNBA finals tonight. Will they? I'm just going to say, I don't know about the East. Hard to see Asia Wilson, the MVP, losing it at home. Hard to see that. We are out of time. We'll try to do better the next time. I'm Tony Kornheiser.

And I'm Mike Wilbon. Have a great weekend knuckleheads. And now, Mike, rest in peace. Do you want to attack the Cowboys anymore like you did at the top of the show? For sure.