PTI - What do you make of the Cleveland Guardians win?

Episode Date: October 15, 2026

Tony Kornheiser and Pablo Torre discuss the Tampa Bay Rays vs Cleveland Guardians, Milwaukee Brewers vs Los Angeles Dodgers, and the 24-team CFP. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pardon the eruption, but I'm Pablo Torre. It is National Conflict Resolution Day, Tony. How do you resolve conflict? I'm Tony Kornheiser, and I'm more of a create-conflict guy. I'm not into the resolution of conflict. That is what I've heard over the last 25 years. I tend to stew. I tend to clench.

And sometimes I invite that person out of my podcast to argue with me, but I resent. I resent like anybody else. I'm glad. I'm not burdened by that one memory. I've learned from the best. Yeah. Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. We've been on as a day off, so I am joined by our great friend of the host of the podcast.

Pablo Torrey finds out animatronic bird authority, Pablo Torre. Tronic Bird, huh? Not Larry Bird. Not Larry Bird, not Sue Bird, Animatronic Bird. And we begin today with the Guardians being the raised this afternoon to go up 2-1 in the ALCS. Pedy Halpin hit a two-run homer in the box. two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth that gave Cleveland a lead it never relinquished. Pablo, what did you make of today's result?

Gavin Williams. This kid, Gavin Williams, Tony, just for people who don't know, led the league in walks. Not this season, last season. Now he is in more control than any pitcher we've seen in the postseason by strikeout rate. He has the highest strikeout rate for any pitcher in baseball history. If you've thrown more than 10 innings, he has two pitches. One is now 101 when he ever he wants it, his fastball is four seasons. The other is one of these sweepers.

I don't know if you grew up knowing this pitch was possible. It's 88 and goes laterally and it's absurd. This kid is one of these players that you meet in the postseason and you never forget. That's the run he's on right now. So Gavin Williams, that's what I think about. Yeah, so going into this game, his ERA was 1.54 in the postseason. This is what's interesting to me. That game was moved up like five hours because of the threat of rain this evening.

so they started it at one. The beneficiary of that is Gavin Williams because his record in day games this year is seven and two. Look, I thought it was a good game. It was a good back and fourth game. He went five. They got him the lead at the bottom of the fifth inning. Then the bullpen comes in.

They go four innings. They give up no runs. Kate Smith, I guess, got the last four in a row. There was no sweat about that. I'm going to use a word. I don't know if you like this word or not. I find Cleveland charming. I understand that Tampa Bay should win this.

Tampa Bay won, I believe, 13 more games in the regular season in Cleveland. Beat them head-to-head six to two. Beat them head-to-head six to two. But here's Cleveland, which is now won, I believe, five out of their last six games, at home and on the road, three different elimination games.

And they've got, they, not Tampa Bay, they've got the lowest payroll left, and they've got the worst record left. and so I find them a charming underdog. How about you? I like that we're doing what's the word right now. It feels like you just patted them on the head and said, oh, that's cute.

It's cute that you guys are here and you apparently are going to the World Series. Look, I confess, if you're telling me to rank what teams was I interested in watching this postseason, I don't mention the Guardians. Of course. Nobody does. Just utterly uninteresting, except now for this ace that I'm like, okay, I guess I got. to remember who this kid is. That's why he's the lead to me. Yeah, I just think they are the longest shot on the board, and they are playing very, very well, and that is charming. To me, anyway.

It is. Adorable is another synonym there that I would approve of, but I want to move to the NLCS. The NLCS, that appears to be all but over, Tony. Jackson, Shurio put the Brewers ahead on Blake Snell's first pitch of the game. The Dodgers bounced back with two in the sixth, but Jake Bowers put the Brewers ahead for good with this two-run homer in the seventh. Garrett Mitchell followed with a solo shot, Milwaukee wins, 6-2, and now they hold a three-game-to-n-n-n-lead in the best-of-seven series. Sedd Max Muncie of the Dodgers, quote, we're playing like bleep and they're playing great. It's as simple as that, end quote. And so, Tony, is your focus here on what the Brewers are doing or what the Dodgers are not?

So I think in a 3-0 series, your focus can be on both things, because it's a very-old. It's obvious that Cleveland is doing just, not Cleveland, that Milwaukee is doing just about everything right and that the Dodgers are doing just about everything wrong. At the moment, the Dodgers are batting 165 in this series. For the playoffs, this is astonishing, because there are two-time defending world champion. In the playoffs, they're 3 or 32 with runners-in-scoring position.

That's really dreadful. And the thing that stands out to me, Pablo, is that the Dodgers have had the lead in every one of these games and have given that lead up. You do not expect that of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now, it was just announced in my ear that Shohei is going to bat leadoff tonight. Much of their greatness is when Shohei bats leadoff, so maybe that'll be good. Milwaukee, this is interesting to me as well.

Milwaukee does not hit home runs. Over the course of the regular season, they were tied for 29th in home runs. They hit less than one home run a game. In these three games, they have five. As you said, Churio hit the first Blake-Snell pitch out. Bowers then worked a lot. of these pitches and hit one out. You knew they had a bullpen.

Their bullpen ZRA in the series is 1.32. If they have power as well, sure, they're going to win. And you can tell me, I'll get out on this, you can tell me that they have better pitching, but we have seen Scoobel and Snell and they haven't won. This is why it's a Dodger story. If you're the editor of this newspaper, you're saying, we'll get to the Brewers in the World Series. right now we have the prohibitive favorite every season

paying their team so much money that we might not have baseball next year and they have all of these stars and they're all choking simultaneously pretty much and showy Otani him getting more at bats however they can and that means betting him lead off I think that's wise absolutely

but just keep in mind top to bottom in not just the lineup but the organization there is chaos the owner Mark Walter under federal investigation showy Othani with his deferred $700 million contract. He's absolutely looking like what I thought was impossible, which is not even mortal, but worse than that.

It is strange, and it feels like there's some other thing happening that we don't fully understand right now, honestly. Let me just take 10 seconds. I know the bell rang. In the history of baseball, only once in 42 times was a team that was down 03 able to win this series in the playoffs. That was the Boston Red Sox. A substitute outfielder on the Boston Red Sox was Dave Roberts.

So when he puts the team together and says, I know this can be done, he knows it can be done. And now to the future of college football. ESPN reports that the 12-team playoff is on the verge of doubling, hello, to 24 teams next season. The SEC initially fought the format but appears to have come around. Under the proposal, the season would start one week earlier. the Power 4 championship games would get cut. See you, no more. And the top eight teams would get first round buys.

Pablo, will make the playoff bigger, make college football better. You've been hosting this show for about 25 years, I am told in my year. About, just about. And I don't know how many times you've quoted Don Olmeyer saying that the answer to all of your questions is money. This is one of those stories. The SEC had objections because, wait a minute, we're not going to get the conference championship. the Big Ten had objections because wait a minute, we can make money ourselves.

Why are we helping the rest of you schlubs? You know, look, is it going to make the sport better? This is what I know about the playoffs as a product, as I have been traveling through this industry. We will watch any playoff game you put in front of us more than we will watch anything else that's not called a playoff. That's the thesis here.

We know college football is special because of these conferences and the season. But the power and great. of money, Tony. Will it be better? It will be worse as a qualitative product. It'll be more watched quantitatively. And so if that's your standard, that's your answer. Yeah, I mean, I know that people like to say if some is good than more is better. I'm not going to stand on the bridge and scream about this. Because what I've noticed in the last couple of years is that the interest in college football is greater than ever with the transfer portal. Because every year you got a chance

if you go into the transfer portal, and if you have more playoff teams, you have a bigger chance of winning the national championship. So I think it will be a success, whether I like it or not. What is amazing to me is this. Ten years ago, I believe, there were two teams that played in the playoffs. Then it went to four. What is it now? Is it 12 now? I think it's 12. Maybe it's four. It doesn't even matter because it's going to 24. I sort of long for the good old days when college football players actually went to college. They don't do that anymore. They don't know where the classroom is anymore. because they're professional football players. That's what they are.

They're just pros. They're not taking Cam 101. So, you know, I'm not going to scream about it because I think it will be successful, and I actually think that it's what people want. It's what they want. Every time this happens, the World Cup expands to a zillion teams, the NCAA tournament expands to a zillion teams.

We will watch because single elimination, as a general format, is the most exciting way to do this. So it is not the wheel be invented. There's one thing to be said, though. There's something to be said here. It's going to take most of these teams five playoff games to win. That's one more than to win the Super Bowl. College teams that win this are going to play 17 games.

They're pros. They're pros. Let's take, yes, yeah. Excuse me, could you direct me to the chemistry lab? No, I don't think so. Let's take a break. Coming up, what should we watch for between the Seahawks and the Broncos tonight? We will ask Booger McFarland.

We will also ask him whether Ohio State or Indiana has the edge on Saturday and in their postmodern literature seminars, which is a tough one. Is there a chance that you could bring an animatronic bird to the show later in the show, just so I can get a sense of what we're talking about? I don't even know where to start with Kelly Clarkson at this point. Oh. We've got an assortment of football question. for our great friend ESPN NFL and college football analyst.

Booger McFarlane, today wearing a shirt from Congressional, which is about three miles from where I'm sitting right now, up River Road. Let's start with this. The Seahawks Broncos, that's tonight's game. What will you be watching for? Tony, it's going to be the two quarterbacks. I'm going to start with Sam Donald, the Super Bowl MVP.

He hasn't quite been right this season so far. A lot of early interceptions in football games. He's got to be better than that, especially since their running backs are hurt right now. when you talk about Zach Charbonnet and Judarian Price. So more of the load is now going to be on Sam Donald. Well, Sam Donald has to prove he can carry that. The Super Bowl was last year.

He's got to do it again this year. And on the other side, what about Bo Nix? A lot was made about who's calling the plays, Davis Webb or Sean Payton. Well, guess what? Sean Payton is now back calling plays. Linus now has his blanket. So if you're Bo Nix, you got to step up and you got to be better. Because so far this season, Bo Nix has been this offense as Achilles here.

So I'm watching the two quarterbacks. Which one can take the next step up this early in the season? Booger, I'm watching the Cowboys defense, especially right now, because they had a players-only meeting. Brian Schadenheimer says he loves it. Mike Tomlin tells Kelsey's on their podcast. When you have one of those, you're dead. And so where do you land on the players-only meeting?

And nothing good happens in a players-only meeting, Pablo. Nothing good, because guess what? You don't have players-only meeting when things are. are going great. You only have players only meeting when things are going terrible. So what's going to amplify that? The players only meeting, they're going to make things even go more terrible because you're going to get a bunch of guys that're going to step up and tell you everything you got to do to be playing better. Well, guess what? The coaches have already told us that it's usually a way to get in the meeting and not tell everything that you tell outside the

meeting to the players inside. We don't want to talk to Pablo finds out. We don't want to talk to Adam Schefter. We don't want to find all those different things from anywhere else. If you have any grievances or anything that you want to share, you talk about it to us inside this meeting. That's the whole purpose of the players only meeting. Instead of things being dripped out to the media, I agree with Mike T. Pablo, nothing good happens in there. And guess what? They're usually had when things are going bad and things go from bad to worse. For the record, I'm always open to just a friendly phone call from anybody on the Cowboys defense if they want to reach out to me in the future, but I digress. This Saturday, bugger, number four, Ohio

State, number five, Indiana. Who do you like? I like the team that I know the most about so far, and that's Ohio State. I've seen Ohio State go on the road to Texas and be up 20 in the fourth quarter. Now, they didn't win the game, but I know a little bit about Texas. I know about Julian Sand. I know about the best player in the country, the wide receiver, Jeremiah Smith, wearing number four. I know a little bit more about Ohio State. Indiana, yeah, I know Kurt Signetti's good, but they got a new quarterback this year, Josh Hoover, come over from TCU. They got new receiver on the outside of Nick Marsh.

I get it. Charlie Becker's been there, but they got a lot of new at Indiana. And so Vegas didn't build all those tall buildings out there by going with things that they don't know or going with the anomaly. I'm going with the thing that I know the most about, and right now that's Ohio State. Now, that doesn't mean that Indiana can't win because I think Indiana has the best head.

coaching this matchup. Kurt Signetti is proven to be, if not the best coach in the country, one of the best coaches in the country. So I'll give the coaching edge to Indiana. But as far as the teams on the field, I feel like I know more about Ohio State today than Indiana. We'll see if that comes true on Saturday.

We'll stay with the last question in college sports. Number two, Notre Dame is at number eight, BYU. I'm reading this line, I'm sort of aghast at this, that the Irish are favored by 11 and a half. That's a lot of points. Are you concerned, are you convinced rather

that Notre Dame is the better team? Very convinced. As convinced as I am that Pablo has more hair than me and you combined, Tony, that's how convinced I am. Understand this. If you're BYU, they're going to be without their star tailback L.J. Martin. He's not playing. So now, what does that mean? That means

a lot's going to go to a guy named Bear Bogmire. Think about that, Tony. A quarterback named Bear Bachmire wearing number 47 is going to have to peak the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. But that's what it's going to come down to, because I don't think NYU is going to be able to run the football. So Bear is going to have to have a 300-yard passing day.

If you look at Notre Dame, I said before this season, I thought Notre Dame was the best team in the country. I think when you look at their weapons offensively, you look at their coaching staff, you look at their defense. I think they're as talented and they're as cohesive as any team in the country. Now, this will be one of their only two tests. They got Miami on November to 7. But this will be the first time I think Notre Dame gets tested.

But in the end, I think Notre Dame wins the game because I think they're supremely more talented team. So 11 and a half doesn't scare Booger. Thank you, Bug. Thank you, Booger. Anytime. Y'all have a good one, fellas. Let's take one last break.

Still to come, Alaric Jackson suspension gets reduced. I believe I had that. Where is Wilbon? He said it should go to three. I said it was going down to one. Wilbon pulling out his last remaining strand of hair. But meanwhile, the Eagles get some concerning news about Jalen Hertz. It's nice to hear Booger so confident about Notre Dame

because I would have thought that's a really tough test at BYU. I agree. I would have thought that's tough. The state of Indiana. Happy time, people. Happy 81st birthday, Jim Palmer. The longtime dashing ace of the Orioles won three size and three World Series. He's now television analyst for the Orioles.

He's really good. And he recently told the B-More Sports podcast that a text message he sent to manager Craig Albernaz in spring training to help outfielder Colton Couser against lefties went unanswered. According to the athletic, quote, Palmer seemed hurt and said he approached Alburnaz again in August, but the manager allegedly brushed it off as a long time ago and said it's a lot easier to talk about something than to do it, unquote. I'm sorry, this is Jim Palmer, Mr. Albinaz. You finished 79 and 82 and Kouser hit 158 against lefties. Maybe you could use some advice from a guy who's really smart.

I am trying to get the Tony Kornheiser hierarchy of adjective straight this show, and I got dashing ahead of charming. I'm wondering if the bronze medal goes to winsome. We have a winsome in the house, perhaps. Because, yes, Jim Palmer is all those things. Winsome. Happy anniversary, Nolan Ryan.

On this day, 16 years ago at age 63, the Ryan Senior Express throughout the first pitch of the Open game of the ALCS and was clocked at 85 miles an hour at 63. Ryan's catcher was his old teammate Jim Sundberg, a six-time gold glove. Ryan was getting loose under the stadium in a warm-up area, and Sunberg wasn't ready for an 85-mile-an-hour heater, quote, I had to bend down quick to catch it, he said. I split my pants, unquote.

Ryan came up with the Mets. He was on their 1969 World Series winner. He ended with the Rangers after pitching in the 60s. 70s, 80s, and 90s. He threw 222 complete games in his 27-year career. 61 shutouts, seven no-hitters, and had more strikeouts and more walks than any pitcher ever. Old school.

This is the guy you grow up thinking, okay, gunslinger in the dictionary. It is Nolan Ryan grunting as he throws, except you throw so fast that the grunt tells you nothing. It's too late you've already lost. Nolan Ryan, by the way, of all of it. still just Robin Ventura and a nuggie. Just to add that on there, can't help but imagine that. Everybody remembers that.

Happy Trails, Jalen Hertz. The Eagles quarterback is out for this Sunday's game against the Panthers due to a blood clot in one of his calves that he reportedly suffered after getting cleated while playing the Rams. Doctors first spotted the clot ahead of last week's loss to Jacksonville, but Hertz was cleared to play as it was deemed superficial. Hertz practice on Wednesday,

but an ultrasound that night revealed that the clot had moved. So the Eagles have sidelined their star for now while they figure out the best course of treatment. The Mormon Missile, Tanner McKee, is expected to start for Philly. There's a lot to process in which you just gave us. The Mormon Missile is now at the top of, you know, my newspaper section. But yeah, it's scary, Tony, a clot that moves. You don't need to know a lot about science to know.

This is scary, and so I wish him and the Eagles in general. Yeah, luck on that. A bonus happy trails to half of Alaric Jackson's punishment. The Rams left tackle had originally been suspended two games for punching Bradley Chauber the Bills after Monday night's game. But the NFL has reduced that suspension to one game on appeal, which means Jackson will only miss L.A.'s next game against Cardinals. I said yesterday I thought two games was one too many while Wilbon wanted three. I said it would be reduced. I wish he were here so I can stick it to him.

No offense, Pablo. I always appreciate the no offense when you wish someone else. was me. Thank you. Yeah. I love to have you here, but I don't yell at you like I yell at Wilbon. Let's go to the big finish. Christop's Porzingis will remain out indefinitely with undisclosed health issues. Your thoughts? He posted one of the weirdest tweets in the history of sports, and I wish him the best as well. John Rahm is reportedly giving up nine figures to get out of his live golf deal. Does that make sense?

Yeah, if there's no money left in a pot, nine figures is nine figures and nothing. NBA.com's annual survey of NBA GMs has 50% choosing the Spurs to win the title. Are you surprised by that? I'm not. This is a Victor Wenbanyama. I mean, lots of good players, but the Wembebeth. The athletic reports that Chase Utley and Raul Abanias turned down the chance to interview for the Phillies manager job. Your analysis? Further reporting indicates that Chase Utley didn't really want to be a manager,

and Abanyes was happy with his job with the Dodgers. I'm happy that Don Mattingly got that job with the Phillies. Last one, Gianni Infantino, apologized to FIFA today for his failed investment plan. You think he'll survive this? I will say that our investigation into this story is ongoing. It's an active curiosity. Let's say that. You're the sheriff, Pablo.

You're the sheriff. We're out of time. We'll try to do better the next time. I'm Tony Kornheiser. And I'm Pablo Torre. Thank you for watching. I do that podcast that Booker made fun of.