PTI - The MLB is Continues to Heat Up!

Episode Date: October 7, 2026

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss Dodgers beating Braves, Padres beating Brewers, Rays vs Yankees in Game 3 + more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbonne's random acts of poetry day, Tony. I bet you're ready to give us. I'm Tony Corrinheiser. Sure I am. Roses are red. Ben Johnson is brash. These rhymes are more fun when your teams are trash. Well, that couldn't be fun, could it?

No. My team ain't trash. So it's Ben Johnson and LaFleur. Right? They plain don't like each other. That's this week. Yeah. You're going to go there to that?

You're going to be at that? No, I'm worried. You worry that's going to lose. The Packers are hot, garbage. Right. And for us to go up there and win three straight games with a backup quarterback, you're not sure. You're not sure.

And ask it a lot. Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. In today's episode, the Padres bounce back. The raise goal for the sweep. And Steve Young joins us for five good minutes. But we begin today with last night's baseball, National League Playoff baseball. In a marquee matchup of starters,

the Dodgers Yoshinobu Yamamoto out-duled Atlantis Chris Sale. Yamamoto went seven innings, allowing just one run striking out 10. Sale was hit pretty solidly, left after five innings having given up three runs on two home runs. The Dodgers prevailed three to one. Wilbon, what was your reaction

to how this played out? It had nothing to do with either team or the result. It had to do with watching October baseball. You know how I love this, and I miss it. And we are in October. We are in October. And I miss it.

And I want to see two great pitchers go out there. And let's see who can get the best of one another. That's it. And I started to say, thinking about not just the days of my youth, I don't have to go back that far, although I could go back to Gibson Lollich. When Gibson is working on his third complete game of a series. Well, so was Lollich.

Lodzich. You remember this? On two days' rest. Yeah. Okay. On two days rest. Or you can come into a more modern time, Jack Morris going 10 scoreless innings in a game seven of the World Series and going against John Smoltz, who was great himself,

but he wasn't Jack Morris. And so now, Tony, I look at baseball and I'm disappointed, except for last night. When I watched that, I was encouraged. Baseball, even if I have to hearken back 40 years, there's something I can hang my hat on because I loved watching last night. I watched every pitch of that game.

And first of all, let me apologize for thinking that Chris Sale was going to win, which I said yesterday on this air. There was a moment where Sale and Yamamoto are out in the outer. Sort of just warming up, getting ready for the game. They see each other. They tip their hats literally to each other.

It was a gesture of enormous respect and sincerity. I mean, I just, it reminded me when fighters tap right before the bell rings and they go out to fight. I mean, let me see my notes here. Sale looked really good early, especially against lefties, but then Kiki Hernandez hit one out. And then, Freddie Freeman, who got robbed, almost going out to left field, got one out. got one out in right field. Yamamoto was in trouble once in the fifth inning. He got out of it with just one run.

He's a great postseason pitcher. He's the guy right now. He's eight and one for the Dodgers. He's just great. Look, as much as we love the pitching, and that's what guys our age love, Kike Hernandez. He's a great postseason hitter.

My God, I'm not going to turn him in a Reggie Jackson. But it's like once a series now in October, this dude comes through. I now think the Dodgers are, in fact, going to win. this series. I was unsure, but I now think they're going to win. I do. Look, the Dodgers have been set up for this, like the Ram they're supposed to win, according to everybody. Back in California, the Padre stayed alive against the Brewers. Jake Croninworth hit a go-ahead solo home run in the fifth.

Zander Bogartz scored an insurance run on an error in the sixth, and starter Michael King went back to his future to help a depleted Padres bullpen by recording a two-ins. inning save. Tone, what does last night's result say to you about each team? Well, neither of us is particularly surprised because we sat here and we said we thought the Padres. We weren't sure about the Dodgers. We thought Chris Sale would be dominant.

But we thought the Padres were going to win. This is another one-run game. All three of games in the series have been one-run games. So neither team has been dominant. I was amazed to hear this today, that the Brewers have now lost 12 consecutive road playoff games. That's inexplicable to me. I don't understand it.

The Padres had to win, or they were going to get bounced. They didn't have a choice here. Roughly half the time, a team is 0-and-2 in a five-game series, roughly half the time they win three and four, and they get to game five. Roughly a quarter of the time, they win five as well. So they certainly have a chance. I don't like them.

I mean, I think the Brewers, because you're going to have to beat the Miz in Milwaukee in game five if it goes that far. But the Padres were the hottest team in baseball coming into this. The small side note, neither of these teams is a lot. ever won a World Series, and it would be nice to see one of them. You know, Tony, it's interesting. Look, as much as I like the Padres and went crazy over how hot they were, finishing like 20 and 3 or whatever it is, the Padres, I wonder about them and just,

do they have tenacity? They've never demonstrated it, never. I mean, you can go back to 1984, the first time a team came to the World Series. They took the Cubs out five games. But other than that, tenacity? And yet, the Brewers, as you mentioned, this, this, this, this, This road frustration where they go out. They did this last year with the Cubs.

They couldn't cash in there. They had to go back to Milwaukee to win that series. Do you want to mention Michael King and what he did? Michael King. This is in Bumgoner territory. Yes, it is. Michael King essentially no hit the Cubs in the first Plow Series. He shut him down.

He gave up an infield. Five innings, one hit. And the one hit was not a hit. It just wasn't. I mean, it comes back. So Michael King seems like Tony. You talk about agreeable. And you talk about a guy who's taking one for the team.

It seems like he has said to everyone involved, whatever you need, Skip, that's what we got tonight. Did you like the last play of the game, the double header, the double play? He traps the ball, ball guards, and runs over and fires the first? Really nice. Really nice. Let's stay with baseball. Let's move to tonight's game three between the raise and the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. The raise have won the first two games by smothering the Yankees offense, giving up just two solo home runs by Ben Rice and 18 innings. Well, Bob, do you like the race to close out the Yankees tonight? No, not necessarily.

I mean, I don't think the Yankees are inept. I mean, I know they don't have Aaron Judge, but they got, as you mentioned, they got a big, strong dude in there who's 4-4-11, I think, against tonight starting pitcher for the race. Martinez is a starting picture. Look, Martinez is as good as anybody out there in the postseason right now. Martinez was 15 and 6th in season. And seven and three in road starts.

It's a road start for him. Yeah, but also, the Yankees have somebody going who went 14 scoreless innings against the race this season. 14 scoreless. That's okay. No, because Martina's three runs in 12 against the Yankees. Which is fine, but 14 scorless. Very good. 14 scores is better.

Much like I thought the Padres would win last night. I think the Yankees have one of them. So here's what I would say. you can make the comparison to the Padres and the Brewers. You can say the Brewers won the first two at home, San Diego gets home and they win, and the Yankees can do that. There's one difference.

What? That other series is a one-run series in every single game. The first game here is one-run. It's a one-nothing game, but the Yankees aren't in it. They have no hits until the eight. But they have no hits until the eighth. The next game, you take away the two home runs by Rice, and it's a five-nothing game.

I would say that in this series, one team has shown superiority compared to the Milwaukee series. That's why I'd be worried about the Yankees. Look, I'm not burdened by, you know, history here. I was a Mets fan, not a Yankee fan. I think the Yankees will win, but I'm not going to be surprised at it. The Yankees played the Little League game in game two. They made errors.

They made bonehead plays. I'm not convinced that that somehow... I think that really good teams and the Yankees are that. They're going to remember game one. And the question is, how can they scratch across? two runs against Tampa in Yankee Stadium tonight, and they'll do that. They're in the same division. Tampa finished five games ahead of them.

They're better. And Tampa beat them seven out of 13. Seven to six. One run. Then get one game. And by the way, seven, six is nothing. That's even. But it's not.

But it's actually not even. Let's take a break. Coming up, Joe Burrow, and I dropped back 58 times. English Major in last week's loss. 58 times. Should he do it even more? We're going to ask Steve Young. We're also going to ask him,

how much structure is too much for a quarterback like Justin Herbert? You know what I heard today? What's that? That Tampa is much better against righties than lefties. Isn't free to lefty? Doesn't he go out there as a lefty? Free is a leaptie. And the Yankees bullpen is better by almost a full-running game.

Almost. Look, if three goes out there and goes scoreless and continues at 14 anything, I'm rolling with the Yankees for one game. Baseball's been good. It's good. These four series. We've got NFL questions for our great friend and the man I taught to Shimmie and Juke.

Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young. Let's go with this. Joe Burrow dropped back 58 times versus just 13 runs in the Bengals lost to the Jaguars. And he said, quote, let's throw it more. That's what I do best. And we're really past protecting really well right now, unquote. If you were Joe Burrow, would you want to pass more? Yeah.

I would. But luckily there's coaches that won't allow a quarterback who wants to throw it a hundred times. Look, Tom Brady said it best. In today's game, the flats are always open, the middle of the field is unpatrolled and no one can hit me. So this is the era of quarterback. Joe Burrow should say to himself, I am going to smash these guys. And they should be able to throw it all over the field. But as you throw it all over the field, if you're really efficient at it,

the running game should be wide open behind you. We did that in the 80s and 90s to the 49ers. We'd rip people up with a passing game and then behind it, we'd end up with 200 yards rushing behind it. So it's like, I think you can't just, we know you don't want to throw it 75 times every week. It actually doesn't work. I wish it did. I know why Joe wants to, but in the end, following up with a great running game to complement it and have defensive linemen worry that they don't just get to just peel off and just go kill the quarterback, worry about something else. I would say, Joe, run the ball a little bit, a little bit, not a touch.

Speaking of the guys, we have some stuff to worry about a quarterback, Justin Herbert. He's been athletic his whole career, but Mike McDaniel has imposed more structure and deliberate footwork. Steve, I think this must make you cringe. But how much structure is too much structure for a guy who's been athletic his whole life? We know the kings of the game are the guys that can run around, the dynamic quarterbacks, right? It's my game today. And I just, so this dilemma that you just asked about is the dilemma of today's quarterback. When do you go?

How do you coach to stay? Because we know to go to the Super Bowl, Patrick Mahomes showed that you can play all Superman. Sooner later, you got to sit in the pocket and deliver. And so that process, my process was, and I think that Justin could be going through the same kind of thing. Because I break the huddle and I might be the best option. You know, it's like, we have a play. But I, you know, so you rush to that. You look, you look, you're like, oh, I take a look here.

That's not like, I'm gone. What you end up doing is you read it too fast. What could be happening is that you literally, I had to slow down to read defenses and read them effectively. I had to calm everything down so that it wasn't always on my way out. And so for Justin, it might be that he has to slow down and just be more methodical and really believe in the play, because I think Mike has proven in Miami. I have good plays.

But let's get on, let's sink it up. with the timing and settle in and let's put 10 plays where I don't move. I just deliver the ball. One, bam, bam, bam, bam. We go 10 for 10 and we'll start to kick into gear. I really do believe in Mike Badele. I know I believe in Justin Herbert. It has been terrible.

It's been odd, but we've got to get a fixed. I think he's trying to go too fast. I like asking you about receivers every now and then. So I'm going to that now with Efton Chisholm, who made this crazy touchdown catch for the ages. Carter from Drake May. And I'm just wondering, and you talk so eloquently about the relationship between quarterbacks and receivers.

Can a catch when it's something like that? Can it change the relationship between a quarterback and receiver? I think more than anything, it changes actisms, how he feels about himself. You know what I mean? Which can now lead to because I, like, you can be best friends. Brent Joel is my best friend, my roommate, for you. years. He was like, throw me, we're best friends, we have a great connection. Throw me the ball every time. I'm like, well, you're not open every time. So like, it doesn't matter. And you ask a receiver,

I'm always open. So the relationship is, is important? But the truth is, is he getting open? Because I always said, look, I throw, on third and ten, if my mom's open, she's getting the ball. Right? That's what, like, I don't care who it is. So in that way, the relationship is important, but yet are you getting open. And so I think that can help him gain confidence, a great reception, game-changing reception like that, maybe can catapult him to being open more, because that'll build a relationship if you're open. Well, I've got to go off-road for a second to follow up. What is your relationship like with Jerry Rice now today, 40 years later? We're better friends than we ever have been. We live down the street from each other. We raise tons of money together, philanthropy, and doing a lot of charity

work. I saw him the other day at the game. Like, Jerry and I, it's one of the great relationships. I love it. But when we played together, it was a transit, he had a transition from Joe, my left-hand spin. We've been through it and how to build that relationship. And I had, at one point,

you asked me the question, at one point, I had to go to Jerry and show him. Jerry, we played so many 25 games together. This is what's happened with those 25 games, and it's the best that's ever happened to you. This is like, he'd read the notes, He's like, oh, you're right.

Our relationship's better than I thought. That's great. We have a better relationship than I ever believe was possible. That really made a difference. We're happy for both of you, by the way. We'll get you out of here on this. Lane Johnson of the Eagles retired to focus on his mental health. Four years ago, he told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he was motivated by the anxiety of failure.

He felt like Michael Myers in Halloween was behind him on every single bush. you famously dealt with anxiety yourself. Can you identify with Lane's description? Deeply. I can tell you that Lane has a vigilant mind, a beautiful, vigilant mind. If you wanted somebody to be out, you know, the scout looking for the enemy

to watch for in the middle of the night, I want Lane out there. But there's the other side to it that is that you have to be able to get a handle on. It's the fear-based thinking that's a pattern probably since you're a kid on how you deal with a big moment that's coming up and you have this fear cycle of anxiety to get ready for it and you start to say to yourself, I pay, that's how I pay to make sure that

I do well. I'm going to do well because I go through this crazy rigor Thursday, Friday, Saturday, in the game that's really uncomfortable and debilitating in some ways. And that's how I make sure that I'm great. And that's where the fallacy is. That's where the fear-based thinking needs to get redirected. Because otherwise, you end up with what Lane talks about. I want out. I'm broken up and torn. I don't want to do it anymore because it is a fear-based thinking and a vigilant mind are not friends. And you have to kind of figure out how to separate the two so that you can be ready to play, but you don't have to pay this false cash into the cash register to buy your success. It's just a fallacy. And I think it's, it takes some work. I can tell you that.

Thank you so much for being on the breath of the interviews is so fabulous thank you steve thank you thank you let's love you guys let's take one last break still to come john rom makes a decision about his golfing future let me guess what that is the Phillies may have no choice but to take the interim tag off donnie basecraft it is so great to have steve on this isn't it it's just it's wonderful cyclopedic as we used to say it's wonderful how about the jerry rice story jerry wise story very good happy time people happy 40th First birthday, Evan Longoria. Longoria came up with the Tampa Bay raise in 2008

after they had drafted him in the first round in 2006 out of Long Beach State. Longoria was rookie of the year in 2008 and was on the Ray's World Series team. It was managed by your boy Joe Madden and lost to the Phillies. Longoria played third base in Tampa for 10 of his 16 major league seasons

and was so popular there that Tampa Bay retired as number three this past July. Longoria made one other World Series in 2023. one season he played in Arizona. Longoria was a career 264 hitter, 342 home runs. A lot of home runs. 1,159 RBR. For you stat nerds, Longoria has the greatest war of any raised player ever and maybe the best player in franchise history. I'm going off book again. Happy 59th birthday, Tony Braxton. She's become my goat. For my first 50 years or so, that was Shaka Khan. Right. But not anymore. Tony Braxton, still making music, still touring.

Lovely. Tony Braxton. Happy birthday. Lovely for you to do that. Happy anniversary, Edgar. Martinez. On this day, 31 years ago, the Mariners designated hitter hit one of the most iconic home runs in Seattle history, his grand slam off the Yankees John Wetland in the eighth inning to cap off a postseason record tying seven RBI in one game. The next day, Martinez hit an 11th inning walkoff double in the deciding game five to send Seattle to the ALCS. That double is credited with keeping baseball in Seattle as it helped rally support for a new taxpayer-funded stadium for the Mariners, now known as Team Mobile Park.

Martinez played all his Major League Baseball in Seattle. He made it to the Hall of Fame on his 10th ballot. He is currently Seattle's Senior Director of Hitting Strategy, whatever that is. I'm glad he's still there. Is that other than Fenway and Wrigley? Is that possibly the best ballpark in the major league? It's pretty, so you've been there, Seattle. So you don't even count Yankee Stadium?

Yeah, I do. Well, you didn't. But I didn't. You said, Penway and Ligley. You were a Mets guy. You hated the Yankees growing up. But I appreciate the stadium. Oh, okay.

Happy trails to Detroit's booze for Dylan Larkin. The Red Wing Center was booed at home at the start of his season debut last night. It was his first appearance on the ice since asking to be traded in the off season and getting stripped of his captaincy. But Larkin turned the booze into cheers when he scored late in the first period

and again when he was named the first star of the game after Detroit's five to three win. The 30-year-old Larkin has played his entire career for Detroit, which hasn't made the playoff since his rookie season a decade ago. Man. I think fans will go back to booing him unless he scored in every home game. Also last night, the Panthers lost another star as Brad Marchand left the game with a leg injury, Alexander Barkoff already out six to eight weeks. Going back to Detroit. I've been to dozens of sporting events in Detroit in my life.

Yeah. Red wings, pistons, tigers, lions. Booing? Yeah. Boeing? Detroit people don't boo. It's not Philly. He has to be traded. And it's, you know. He has to be traded. He has to be traded. One correction, Max Free did not have 14 scoreless against the raise this year. He gave up seven runs and two starts. Wilbon got bad info, but he did go 14 scoreless against the race last year. See?

And he's 5-1-1 with a 181-ERA against Tampa. Is that good enough to 5-1? Yeah, no. So you're not dumb like people think you're smart. You're smart. Big finish. John Rom, leaving the live tour, your thoughts. You think he's going to know the DP and not back to the PGA, don't you?

He'll be back in the TV. PGA after a year. Okay, D.P. I guess until then. I'll wake up early to watch him on the D.P. Alex Cora turned down the Phillies managing job for a second time. What about Donnie baseball? If he doesn't get the job within 48 hours, I don't know what's going on. Oregon baseball coach, basketball, I'm sorry, retiring ahead of this season. You surprised? Yes. Dana Alton seems like he can have seven to ten years left. I don't fully understand. Leonel Messi scored in his final international game while Cristiano R. Ronaldo released a 1,700 word statement as to why he quit Portugal's national team.

Bigger news? It depends on what Ronaldo said. If he slammed somebody, it's bigger news. No, it's got to be messy. You knew Messi was going to score. You knew it. Last one, WMBA playoffs, A-season Liberty tried to even their serious tonight. Will they?

Yes. I think each will even their serious. Haven't you been wrong at least half the time? At least half the time. We're out of time. Try to do better the next time. I'm Tony Kornheiser. I'm Mike Wilbine.

Same time tomorrow, Knuckleheads.