PTI - MLB Playoff Predictions

Episode Date: September 24, 2025

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss the MLB, Dodgers/Cubs, and the Titans. Plus, Steve Young joins the show! 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 Wilbon. It's National Puntuation Day, Tony. What's your favorite punctuation mark?

I'm Tony Kornheiser. My proctologist says I have a fantastic colon. Oh, good for him. I'm going to trump. I'm going with the semicolon. Because my bet is there's only about a million people in the country left. Whoever learned what the semicolon is. You've got to be old.

They don't know what semicolons are anymore. People don't even use punctuation when they text. It just runs on forever. I use them every day. You can look at the pad. There's semicolons all over the world. Semicolon? I'm the last of the semicolon rangers.

Me. No, God. Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. In today's episode, the Dodgers bullpen blows it. Oklahoma State explains why it fired Mike Gundy, and Steve Young joins us for five good minutes. But we begin today with baseball and movements towards the playoffs. The Cleveland Guardians beat Tariq Scoubel and the Tigers last night, five to two, putting Cleveland and Detroit in a tie for the AL Central lead.

The Mets came back from six down against the Cubs and they won nine to seven to put them one game clear in the NL wild card ahead of both Cincinnati who lost and Arizona who won. And the Yankees and the Mariners clinched playoff burst with wins last night. Wilbon, what was the biggest deal among these developments? To me, it was the Guardians beating Scoobel in a while. way that was preposterous. I mean, in the sixth inning, they get like a couple of bunt hits. They get on

with two bunts. There's an infield grounder. They have three guys hit safely to start the inning and the ball doesn't, no ball reaches 40 feet in the infield. And you're like, what a school will have to do? Then you get this crazy circumstance where

a foul ball goes into somebody's face and busts him up, but it was a foul ball. wasn't a hit batter. And all of a sudden, yeah, they spray a couple of hits opposite field, and they get to Scoobo and they win this game. And Scoobo was just breezing along until he got to the sixth. And you're like, okay, Detroit's going to cling to this lead.

But the Guardians, they pitch. They pitch two. And Jose Ramirez, I think, is the most underrated player in the last 10 years in all of baseball. Because all he does is whatever his team needs, the Guardians, win. And so I care more about that matchup. Cleveland and Detroit being a son of the Midwest. I'm fascinated by it. I'm going to be fascinated by

it again tonight. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't want to try to predict it. I just want to consume it. Okay. So we are going to have a dull show today because I'm not going to disagree with anything you said. I was watching MLB network last night, which is really good. So I got to see a little bit of most

of these things that we're talking about. And the picture that I cannot get out of my mind is in the sixth inning at Cleveland, when Scoobel goes to field a bunt and then decides to throw it backwards between his legs to the first baseman. It goes, it goes way over the first baseman's head. And I'm sitting there literally saying to myself out loud, what are you doing? What are you doing? As you say, there's a two-nothing lead for Detroit. It ends up three-two at the end of that inning for Cleveland. Cleveland never looks back. Nothing leaves the infield. But it felt, Mike, it felt like a meltdown.

down by both Scoobel and the Tigers. I mean, because there's a wild pitch. There's a bulk. There's a wild pitch. There's a lot of things that happen right in the air. And this guy is the best pitcher in the league. So now Detroit has lost seven in a row and 10 out of 11. 19 of their batters struck out last night out of 27 outs.

Cleveland is now 16 and 2 in the last 18. And again, as you pointed out, holds a team under three runs. And again, the momentum is won. You know, I thought you were going to mention the Cubs because the Mets should never have won that game. Being down by five runs like that, 6-1, never win that game. Let's stay with baseball. Concentrate on pitching. The Cubs starter, Kate Horton, who was 11 and 4 on the year with a 267 ERA,

left last night's game against the Mets after three innings with stiffness in his back. Shoah Atani won six innings for the first time all season, striking out eight, giving up five hits, no runs. And the Dodgers bullpen blew the game as they have done routinely lately. So, Wilbon, which is the more concerning pitching issue from last night? Well, you just mentioned that the Dodgers routinely blow leads the bullpen. So that ain't it. It's Kate Horton. And by the way, Kate Horton came out after he finished the three innings.

He's in the dugout. You don't know if he's going to leave. You don't know what's going on. And Craig Counsel is very careful with him. This may be the result of some weird thing, illness, coughing, stiff back. It doesn't seem like something serious, but the Cubs have had a meltdown. The Cubs were the only team in baseball not to lose four straight games all season, and now they've lost five straight.

And they lost them to the Reds. They just gave them away. I understand resting people. Not only am I not a critic of correct counsel, I'm a big supporter of them. I think they've done a great job. But the Cubs have just flatlined in the last week of the regular season. It is so cubish, and I am so angry now. is I sit not far from Wrigley Field, where we will play the Mets again tonight.

But Horton has to be whole. So getting him out of there after three innings as a precaution is the wise thing. He's our ace, even if you have Imanaga start game one in the playoffs. But we haven't wrapped it up against the Padres for home field yet. Cubs, what the hell are you doing? So I knew that you were going to talk about Horton. You watch every Cubs game. I know you're thrilled that they're in the playoffs.

know that, but the thing about Horton is a couple of numbers matter. Since the All-Star game, he's got an 8-1 record in a 103-103-E-R-A. So if he can't pitch, if something's wrong, your head is going to explode. I'm going to go with the Dodgers here in the bullpen for the very simple reason that no starter goes more than seven. Most go maybe six innings. You've got to have a bullpen. If you don't have a bullpen, you can't get to the World Series. It's that simple. Let's go to some numbers. Shoahatani has now gone. on the last three starts, 16 and two-thirds innings, shut out ball in a row. Oh, my God.

If you count his last four starts, his ERA is 0.46, and the Dodgers can't win the games. In September, their bullpen ERA, I don't care about the bell, is 5-2-3. I got a better stat for you. In the Dodgers' last seven losses, all seven have been on relievers. Okay? Tanner Scott lost two of them, including last night. He now has 10 blown saves. His ERA is 4-9-1 in the last four road games he's gotten into.

He's allowed the winning run on a walk-off. Blake Trinen has five of these seven losses. Your boy, Blake Trinand. My boy. Yeah, my boy. He's one in seven with a 555-ERA. So let me repeat this again. Dodgers, I believe, are the best team in baseball.

But if they have no bullpen, you've got to get Clayton Kershoy into the bullpen or somebody else. Well, they're going to work. Not going to work. By the way, the Cubs were up 5-1 last night. Their bullpen was no better. They blew a 5-1 leading Wrigley with the wind blowing in. What? What did I mean?

Dad loss. A great entire summer. And now five straight losses. Very angry. So let's go to college football and a follow-up on Oklahoma State's firing of longtime head coach Mike Gundy. OSU's athletic director explained last night that he made the move when he did because of the teams wanting to start, despite the school making significant recent investments. Also to, quote, start the process of getting the program where we wanted to be, close quote. Tone, this was Gundy's 21st season in Stillwater.

Didn't he deserve to finish the damn season? So this is a tough question for me because the team was not performing at all. It was obvious. You're bad. They're terrible. They got blown out by Oregon after Gundy ran his yap about how Oregon had an unfair advantage with NIL money from Nike. The score was 69-3. That was a deliberate score because they pulled back in a fourth quarter. They didn't score any points in a fourth quarter.

Then Gundy loses to Tulsa in Stillwater for the first time in literally over 70 years. Tulsa has no business beating Oklahoma State. So the season is already gone. And so if you want to fire somebody, I understand that. Virginia Tech fired somebody. UCLA fired somebody. But, and here's the big but, 21 years, as you are saying, the best coach ever in football at Oklahoma State.

He's in John Wooden. Eight different times. Eight different times he had 10 wins or more. Okay? He had winning seasons 18 straight years. He went to 18 bowl games. His record is 170 and 90 and the Pieste. He's a grad.

He went to school at Oklahoma State. You just, I'm sorry. You can't do this then. No. You owe him the courtesy of letting him finish out the year. Mike, I don't think that Gundy disgraced Oklahoma State, and I'm beginning to think Oklahoma State disgraced Gundy. It's a cheesy low-rent move.

And don't tell me you have to get out there in the marketplace and hire a coach because UCLA fired one already and Virginia Tech fired one already. Come on. This guy, he's your guy. He's your John Wooden. He's your Bob Knight. What are you doing?

I mean, so twice in the last, I don't know, every 10 years or so. He says something crazy for a moment, and we can make fun of him. But the guy goes out there and wins, and he's been, he's got tough opposition. He's not playing some cream puff schedule. So no, this was just,

it was a low-rent move by Oklahoma. You wait till the end of the season, and you thank him and you move him up if he doesn't want to coach anymore. You don't do this. That was just love. I don't mind, I don't mind that you want to fire him. I don't like the timing of it.

No, not in the middle of the season. Third game. in Clemson. Do you think they're going to do this to Davos, Swinney? You're not going to do this to Davo. I don't know. This is wrong. I don't think. Not in the middle. No, no, no. Not in the middle. Let's take a break. Still to come, Jackson Dart makes his first NFL start Sunday,

and we will ask Steve Young whether the Giants have put him in a good position. We'll also ask him about my concern. Maybe insane that Lamar Jackson may be losing his burst, his otherworldly burst. I don't know. who the president is of Oklahoma State, but must hate, must hate Gundy, to allow this to happen.

You want to step in. We've got some NFL questions for our great friend, the man I mentored in our time together on the LA Express. Hall of Fame quarterback, Steve Young, let's start with this. The Giants are going to start Jackson Dart

at home on Sunday against the three and O charges. Team looks pretty good. As a rookie, how would you feel about this being your first test? Look, if you're worried about it, that's a huge problem. Like, it's the NFL. It's coming at you.

You're not, you know, there's no way to get ready for it. There's nothing to you better just be excited about. I remember maybe my second start. We go to Chicago in 1985, and the 85 bears, Mike, remember those days? And I walked in, and we went out warm up and we came back in the locker room, and Jimmy raised my assistant, I mean, offensive coordinator, he comes in. He sits saying, Steve, listen, man, I want you to be careful out there tonight. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, no, no, I try not to throw too many picks.

He goes, no, I mean, like, you can get killed. Like, I could die. I could die. And it was close. It was close. I would love that to someone to go into Jackson Dard and say, hey, bro, you know, be careful out there. You could die. But it's not going to happen.

Look, what he needs. Tony is he needs a running game. Young quarter, every quarterback does, but young quarterbacks need the running game. So at least they can do play action, turn their back, do the things they thought they could do in college. And they have not run the ball. Well, last week, not bad. Camp ran it better. But 28th in the league, and I think this week probably a little, probably the mid-20s,

I mean, if the Giants are going to support a rookie quarterback, you got to be in the top 10 running team. And that's got to change fast. Steve, I don't want to have you to have any nightmares or anything. But I watched Sunday's game in the soldier field. with Richard Dent and Otis Wilson. Just, you know, just to mention that, just throwing that out there. So you can hear it. I remember.

I got tattoos of it all. Scars. Those guys are still around. All right, so I'm watching the game, and I'm watching Lamar Jackson the other night. And I was mortified because I keep seeing guys catch him from behind. And I see him in scrums that he often, for years, emerged from at 100 miles an hour. And I have this thought. and please feel free to tell me I'm nuts,

that Lamar is losing or has lost some of his otherworldly burst as a guy who had burst. You know something about that? Am I crazy or is this happening? It's okay. Look, age has its, you know, it's undefeated, right? But I'm not saying that's happening, but I'm saying it's okay if it happens.

Because the truth is we are developing Lamar Jackson into one of the most sophisticated passers in the NFL. And as we do that, that will unlock all of the ability that I've said it could be the world's greatest football player if we can get all the way there and the Ravens would fully commit. It's getting closer. So he doesn't need to be Barry Sanders anymore. It's awesome if he could. And the other thing I noticed over the years that I played, as time went on, I never lost the ability to make somebody miss. Even when I was last year or 38 years old, I was like, I made people mess. It was fine. Maybe I wasn't quite as fast.

and he's never going to lose that ability to do what he needs to do to threaten the line of scrimmage. It won't go away. And if he's lost a quarter of a step, it's fine because what we're developing is him to be one of the best players that ever played a week. We're on our way. A guy who hopes he's on his way is Caleb Williams, who had a terrific game Sunday, but it was this a bad cowboy defense as a quarterback. Do you ever concern yourself with whether it's you or them, or is that just something that people are seeing from the outside? Well, it's kind of 50-50, right? Like when teams suck, it helps.

You know, I mean, like, it's not a bad thing. But it's not like college. It's not like you play the Colorado School of Mines, you know, or a Humboldt state. Like, you're not, it's not everybody's just wide open. The pros are paid. They're great athletes. And you play bad defenses. It does help.

So that's 50% of it. But I'm going to give coaching and the transition in what Ben's brought and what Caleb's feeling as an early sign of what that. that other 50% is, is a close kinship that gets built between coach and quarterback so that it gets easier for the quarterback. It gets simpler. That's why Kyle Shannon and Sean McVey and Randy Reader so famous and all the coaches that have left them is because they've made the job of playing quarterback easier. And I think Ben can do that. And it feels like maybe. I don't want to get it too excited, Mike, but it feels like maybe this is the beginning of something really cool.

We will get you out of here on this. And it's about quarterbacks, of course. How does one go from being bad against the Blitz to being good against the Blitz, which apparently just by changing teams, Daniel Jones has been able to accomplish? How does that happen? You get a lot of help. We just talked about it. Like, innovative quarterback-centric minds that can help quarterbacks deal with. One thing about Daniel is an incredible athlete, super smart. And probably, I think when he got him in the league, he thought he could do it all.

I could be Superman. And he tried to be Superman. and it just ran into the ground. And then Brian Dave will show up and simplified things. And it got better. And it really forced Daniels and say, look, I know you're super smart. I know you can take on all kinds of data. But sometimes there's guys that can sit in the classroom and are the smartest people alive.

But out on the field with the adrenaline and the speed of the game and everything that happens, their mind doesn't hold up. It just can't handle all the data. And so it feels like what the Colts have done is a run in the football, right? top five in the league. And when they blitz, I've got the threat of running the football at them, even in the blitz situation. And it just kind of slows everything down.

It simplifies things. If you want a quarterback to deal with the blitz, have their mind be at peace rather than racing. It's great. It's great. Thank you so much, Steve. Thank you so much. Thank you. Okay, guys.

Good to be with you. Let's take one last break. Still to come, we've got an injury update on Jaden Daniels. And Michael Pinnix Jr. gets a vote of confidence from his head coach. I never know what that means. I was supposed to. Happy time, people. Happy 52nd birthday, Eddie George.

George was a great running back for the Tennessee Titans. He's with that franchise in Houston and Tennessee for eight seasons, ultimately rushing for over 10,000 yards in the NFL. George made four Pro Bowls in Tennessee, rookie of the year in 1996, when he was drafted 14th overall out of Ohio State, where he'd won the Heisman trophy. After his playing career, George turned to coaching. He coached four years at Tennessee State, finishing with a nine and four season that earned him coach of the year

in the Big South OVC Conference. That got him to Bowling Green this year, where the Falcons are two and two so far. Tony, before turning to coaching, Eddie George has interest in higher education and business and pursue some of those opportunities. Now in the coaching, maybe a little delayed. There are people who think he is going to be on a rocket ship,

But you're going to see him moving up and up and up, and that will be interesting. I really like Eddie George. Happy anniversary Joshua Dobbs on the state two years ago. The journeyman quarterback led the Arizona Cardinals to a shocking upset over the two and O'N O'O Cowboys, one month after Arizona had traded for him. That was Dobbs' first win as an NFL starter after an O'N4 Schneide. Later that season, Dobbs was traded to Minnesota and within five days rallied the Vikes to a 31-28 win over Atlanta, throwing the go-ahead touchdown with 22 seconds left.

Dobbs is now backing up Drake May in New England. He has a great nickname, the Pastronaut, owing to his degree in aerospace engineering from Tennessee. It'll just be too bad, Tony, if we don't get to see him play this year. I'm not wishing anybody gets hurt so that he moves up. I'd just like to see him. His story's unbelievable. He might have some more magic in him this season, too.

Happy trails to a 20-point lead for the Lynx. Minnesota was up by that much on Phoenix with 545 left in the third of game two. But the Mercury fought back to tie it in regulation and win it in OT. A very rare home loss for the Lynx. The best of five series now moves to Phoenix tied at one game apiece. And last night's other semi-final result, the Las Vegas aces bounced back from the game one home loss to crush the Indiana fever 90 to 68.

Tony, those were a little bit predictable, but the game three is coming up on Friday. Very excited to see those with those series at 1-1. The postseason's had some fun moments in the WNBA so far. Did you get both of them right yesterday or just one of them right? You didn't have the links losing. You did not. No, no, I did not.

I only got one right yesterday. Just one. Okay. But I got some time. Let's go to the big finish if we could. Let's do it. Royola's sister Jean retired at age 106. Your thoughts?

Happy retirement. How about that? I just want to see more Sister Gene and March Madness. I need the Ramblers to win. Get in again. Jayden Daniels returned to practice as a limited participant. Is that significant to you? I'm not sure it is.

They play Atlanta this week. I think the team can beat Atlanta with Marcus Marriota. You don't want to rush Jayden Daniels back, right? Speaking of the Falcons, Falcons head coach Rahim Morris, says Michael Pennix Jr. will continue to start. Does that make sense to you? I don't know. You've got cousins here.

You're paying him $185 million or whatever it is. I don't know if it makes sense. The Nationals is reportedly hiring 35-year-old Red Sox assistant GM Paul Toboni to replace Mike Rizzo. How are you with that? I'm okay. He has drafted a lot of the good young Red Sox players. The Red Sox are a fine organization.

Theo Epstein made his mark with the Red Sox, I believe. Yes, he did. He's done pretty well. Last one. Yankees starter, Max Fried, can win his 19th game tonight. Do you like his chances? If you're going to go for number 19, why don't you just do it against the White Sox or the Rockies? In this case, the White Sox.

Yeah, I like his chances. We're out of time. We'll try to do better the next time. I'm Tony Kornheimer. And I'm Mike Will Bond. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads.