PTI - Which team will win the World Series?

Episode Date: October 1, 2026

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss the Phillies vs Braves, Red Sox vs Yankees, and the White Sox and Padres. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbon. It's National Poetry Day, Tony. I know you got one. I am Tony Kornheiser. Yes, I do. Roses are red. The Padres are fun. They played in 12 runs while your Cubs managed one.

Yeah, see, I told you that before the series started, and you and others tried to tell me that I was out. I told you they wouldn't score. No. Not score. And I got it. You bailed out on your team. You bailed out on your team before. I know that. You get credit for that.

You got that one right. I feel bad. I mean, you're not exactly hitting at 80%. I'm not mad at them. What you found them to be. Welcome to PTI, Bors and girls. In today's episode, the Yankees eliminate the Red Sox, the White Sox and Padres advance,

and Booger McFarland joins us for five good minutes. But we begin today with the only first round baseball series still current. The Braves-Filly's game, which was scheduled for a third straight 2 p.m. afternoon start, has been shifted to 8 p.m. tonight. The series is tied one to one. Whoever wins tonight moves on to face the Dodgers.

Both games have been tense and close, the best of all the wild card games. The Phillies will start Aaron Nola and the Braves are going with a bullpen game. Wilburne, which team do you see having an advantage? Tone, that sounds like such an advantage to say one team is starting Aaron Nola and the other team starts the game

by doing this three or four times. Except that. The Braves have hit Aaron Nola up and down that lineup, starting with Ronald O'Cunia Jr. Extra base hits, fat OPSs, home runs. They've just knocked Aaron Nola around. And so I want to be careful because pitching in October, and yes, we are now fully to October, not even you can debate that, you get a pitcher with Aaron Nola's experience and wisdom out there. And he can come out there and give you five or six innings at least

and get you through the second time through a lineup if some dope doesn't go to a computer to tell you how to do it himself. But I'm going to go with the Braves, and they step out there to that box, every one of those guys with knowledge that they have hit Aaron Nola, and I think that works to their advantage. So you're saying that the Braves have hit Aaron Nola. Everybody's hit Aaron Nola this year.

This year so far, seven and three. 12 and a 4-6-7 ERA, though he has been better lately. Look, I watch these teams all the time because they're in the same division with the Washington Nationals. And you've heard me say for the last two years that I think the Phillies' everyday lineup is the best in the National League. I think that was borne out last night when they were down 3-1 in the 8th and then Schwerber and then Harper, boom, boom, solo shots.

They tie the game and then Alec Bowman and the 10th hits a long shot and they win the game. I don't think the Braves have sudden power like that, though I think they have the best player on the field in Acuna Jr. I do think that. Yes, I'm vague about the pitching that the Phillies have. If it goes to the bullpen for both teams, this is a statistic that favors Atlanta. The Braves' ERA in the bullpen is collectively 3-4-4-4.

That's fourth best in the entire realm of baseball. The Phillies is 4-4-3. That's 21 best. That's a full run, Mike. That's a full run. So, yes, they should be favored. But unlike you, I like Philadelphia. I've watched them for a long time.

I'm not at all going to be surprised if they win because up and down that lineup, they've got home run power. And you never know when it's going to hit like it hit last night. You know what a statistic works against the Braves? They've lost their last six winner-take-all games. How about that? Really? Oh, I didn't know that.

That ain't working in their favor. No, no. Let's move to the Yankees sweeping the socks. Boston manager Chad Tracy pulled his starter early for the second straight night, and New York feasted again on Boston's bullpen, dope. Cody Bellinger had an RBI single and a three-run homer as the Yanks won nine-two. Afterward, Red Sox starter, Sonny Grace said, quote, I think I'm the best pitcher in the American League going through the order a third time. I think that's a fact.

I would have liked to have been trusted in that moment close. Quote, here, here. And Wilson Contreras lamented decision makers trusting data analytics over veterans. Tony, are you focused on how the Yankees looked without Aaron Judge or what the SOC said afterward? So I wrote a sports column for a lot of years, and if you're giving me this choice of a sports column, where I can talk about the effect or lack of effect of a guy who didn't even play in these games,

games, or I can talk about Red Sox lighten up their manager. This is a pretty easy choice for me. It's a pretty easy choice for you. You're going to talk about Red Sox lighten up the manager. You're going to talk about the fact that Sonny Gray said, not only I want to be trusted in that moment, but he said, I felt good, I felt crisp, I felt sharp. This Red Sox manager, Chad Tracy, was interim.

For the time he got the job till the end of the season, he was the interim manager. Get him out now. Then about a week ago, he was named, well, a week ago, he was named as the permanent manager. And I think, if you would, asked Contreras today and you asked Sunny Gray today, the guy would be out on the street. Look, Sunny Gray, been in the league 14 years, Mike.

His record, career record, 143 and 107. That's pretty good. 351 ERA. That's pretty good. This year, much better. 18 and 5 and a 272 ERA. In a hell of a year. A hell of a year.

And you pick him, you yank him at 70 pitches. You bring in a lefty reliever who immediately gives up a run scoring single. The same thing happened last two nights ago. in the fifth inning he brought in the lefty. The lefty, the same lefty, Miller, gave up a home run to Ben Rice. Mike, if you can't second-guess the manager on this sequence, you can never second-guess the manager.

I will second-guess it. I can second-guess the manager on everything. I don't have a horse in the race of Red Sox Yanks. I don't care. I like watching it for the theater that it is, for the history it provides people who love baseball like me. But you know what? Yep.

If you go out there when a guy like Sunday Gray has 70 pitches and you don't think he can get through the third order because you're waiting on some more. or Ron pushing a computer button, a done, to hell with you, get out. Chad, Tracy, get out. Red Sox, get out. I'm with Sonny Gray. I'm with Contreras, who may be a little bit of a hothead.

I don't care. You don't, you trust the, this is what's wrong with baseball now. It's wrong with baseball. If I was Sunny Gray, I would march into the offices tomorrow morning of the owners of the Red Sox and all the executives, I'd say, get your ass. is in here. Get me out. I don't want you people. You don't think I can get through the line up a third straight time. You want to trust a computer. Trust your computer. I'm out. Enjoy your offseason. Go fishing. Well, he is going to be out because he's a free agent. I will just

point out the contrary part of this, Mike. The contrary part of this that you would know if you had to write a column. The contrary part of this is the Red Sox. Got seven total hits in two games and the Yankees got 26 so back off spark you mean the computer couldn't help them get more hits how come the computer couldn't help them get more hits and their manager make that decision anymore because i'll go to the next leader i'll let you keep going and call somebody still good if you want okay we stay with baseball and move to two other winners from last night to chicago white socks and the san diego padres the white socks won their first playoff series since 2005 that's second longest drought in baseball. The Padres again

overwhelmed the Cubs, holding the top offense in baseball to just one run in 18 innings. The White Sox will play Cleveland in the divisional series. The Padres will play Milwaukee. Wilbon, are you more confident in the White Sox from your hometown or the Padres? You know who I'm more confident in because I've been talking

about this for a month. You can say the Phillies have the best lineup if you want. I'll take the Padres because they got the two best guys. Players on the field, all around players, Machado and Titis. That's what they got.

Plus, a lineup that's just as good in every way as Philly. They got a closer that Philly doesn't have. I'll take the Padres. The Padres are 19 and 3. What else do you want them to do? The Cubs had no chance. The Cubs were done, as opposed to the White Sox, by the way, who are full of life and energy. You can see the way they bounce onto the field off the plane.

The Cubs had fallen and they couldn't get up. This was easy to watch if you don't pay attention to the damn analytics and you had a beat writer in the dugout who could see what was happening or somebody around the batting cage and see one team was dead. The San Diego Padres is going to hurt some people that if you polled the Dodgers and said quietly and secretly, who would you rather not play?

It ain't Philly. Is it my turn? I was waiting for me. I don't know. I can filibuster like you did yesterday. Here's the problem. Here's the problem. Here is the problem for San Diego.

They're playing a really good team. They're playing Milwaukee, which had the best record in all of baseball this year, 103 and 59. Milwaukee won their last five and eight out of their last 10. They are hot as well. And they got the Miz. And they got the Miz on full rest in game one and game five if they need him. And they have them both times in Milwaukee, where this year, Mike, as I'm sure you know, He was 8-1 in Milwaukee with a 152 ERA, with 145 strikeouts and 95 innings.

And the one time he faced your Padres, he shut him out for seven innings and had 10 strikeouts. So I would worry about that matchup, whereas Chicago is playing Cleveland, a team they know very well in the same division, that only had one more victory than they did all year, and a team that they beat in the season series seven to six. So it seems to me the White Sox have drawn the easier. opposition. So my default position, that's my default position is to take the white side. You're right about

the Padres. They're a gathering storm. You're 100% right. But they're up against a much tougher team. This is true. And the other series is the undercard. I think you'll agree with that. Milwaukee San Diego is like,

that's a must see. No, no. We don't disagree on the analysis of the series of what we're looking. By the way, you've come so far on Mizoroski because you wanted skeins. Your boy, Skeens is at the crib, and the Ms. is still pitchers. You're right. I was a skeins guy, and I see what Mizorosky

have done. I actually see that. Let's take a break. Coming up, the Steelers and the Browns play tonight, we're going to ask Booger McFarlane which two to one two and one team has impressed them more so far. I'm also asking about Joy Porter, and if he actually brings something that's important to the cabal. We've got NFL and college questions for our great friend ESPN NFL and college football analyst, Booger McFarland,

today wearing a shirt from Baltimore in northern New Jersey. Two tracks there, really, really good. Let's start with this. The Steelers and Browns play tonight. Both teams are two and one. I will admit I'm surprised by that. Which team has impressed you more so far this year? It's probably the Cleveland Browns because we didn't expect anything. You know, you start the preseason and is it going to be Deshaun Watson or Shadura Sanders? Then it's Deshaun Watson. And then it's Deshaun Watson. And then we're like, okay, we know that's not going to last, especially after Jacksonville blast them in the first game. And then, oh, guess what?

Deshaun plays well and they win a game. And then they come to Tampa and they beat the Buccaneers. And so all of a sudden now you're looking at the Cleveland Browns being two and one. And here's the thing that I look at is that the expectations for the Pittsburgh Steelers have been through the roof. Aaron Rogers coming back. This is going to be his last year. This is the retirement tour.

Offensively, they've only had really one good game. And so I think the team that's really impressed me the most has got to be the Cleveland Browns because from an expectation standpoint, I don't know about you guys, but I didn't expect the whole lot. And so far, I've gotten more than I expected. You expected nothing to start this whole season, Porter. Let's move to the Steelers for a second, who late last night said cornered Joey Porter to the Cowboys for a sixth and a second. And miraculously, Porter may suddenly be healed. I got a back and play on Sunday. Does they do anything for the Cowboys defense?

This is just another overstated acquisition for them. No, I think he actually does something. Now, people on the surface may say, okay, the Cowboys run defense isn't very good and you go get a corner. So how does that help? Let me explain really quick. Stopping the run is simple. It's a numbers game.

You need to have more tacklers than they have blockers. And so what does that mean? That means you need to bring a safety down. That way you can have a free hitter and make the tackle on the running back. Well, in order to do that, you got to play some type of man coverage on the back end. The Cowboys didn't have corners. Chavon Revelle so far has been a disappointment. They don't have anybody on the back end.

So now you bring in Joy Porter Jr. And what does he do best, Mike? He plays man coverage, sticky man to man. And so now if you're the Cowboys, you put Joey Porter Jr. in man coverage, you bring the safety down. And maybe this rush defense that's been terrible gets better because you can overwhelm the run with numbers. I think Joey Porter Jr. is an ascending player. He's in the last year of his contract.

It's no secret. He had contractitis, okay? I don't think nothing was wrong with his back. He just had contractitis. He wants a new contract. Now, whether the Cowboys are going to give him a new contract or not, we don't know. But I know his days of playing in Pittsburgh are over, and I think he'll help the Dallas Cowboys because of his ability to play man coverage.

Booker, I love the way you simplify these things. You get right to the point. Speaking of which, let's move this conversation to the Great Midwest, where I am sitting, college football, Iowa, which is now 14, pulled off the win against Michigan last week. Are the Hawkeyes capable of doing this again and handing Ohio State its second loss this season? It's going to take a miraculous effort. The first thing they have to do is do the thing that the Illinois defensive coordinator who got fired on Monday didn't do, which is put two points. people on Jeremiah Smith. Poor guy, he kept putting those corners out there one-on-one,

and they, Jeremiah Smith, kept cooking them. They fired him on Monday. Now, the good thing about Iowa is they have a veteran defensive coordinator in Phil Parker. He is outstanding. Iowa's defense is not going to give up the big play. And so it's going to be incumbent upon this Iowa offense. In the red zone, they got to score touchdowns and not field goals. It's going to take a perfect storm for then to beat Ohio State.

But the number one thing they have to do is takeaway number four, and that's Jeremiah Smith. I expect him to be double covered and allow Bo Jackson or Chris Henry Jr. Make somebody else beat you. With all that being said, Michael, it's going to be a tall task. But Phil Parker is a veteran defensive coordinator.

And if anybody can slow the Buckeyes down, he can. We will get you out of here on this. Our last question will stay with college. Number four, Miami. Is it Clemson, which has won a couple of games lately? Number eight, Florida. Is it number 25, Missouri? Do you believe more in Miami or in college?

Florida. I know this is going to go against all things that people know for me. And that's being from the SEC. I'm not going with Florida. I'm going with Miami. I think when you look at Miami, they have Darien Minza. He's a top three quarterback in the country. They have Mark Fletcher Jr., one of the top two or three running backs. They got a big offensive line. Their defensive line is a top two or three defensive line in America. And on top of that, Tony, guess what? They don't play nobody but Notre Dame. That's the biggest game on their schedule. So if I'm buying stock in one team, I'm buying stock in the market. Miami hurricanes because number one, they're talented.

Number two, they're not going to get tested by a whole bunch all season long. Florida is a really good team. I love what Florida did against Ole Miss. Florida is going to be in for a dog fight on the road against Missouri. But if you ask me, if I had to pick between Florida and Miami, I'm going with the hurricanes. And just maybe, just maybe Tony and Wilbon, we can say the thing we've been wanting to say for the last decade that you might finally be back. Ooh.

Well, we'll see. I mean, it's a much easier path to negotiate in this. the ACC. You're right about that, Booger. Thank you, Booger. Thanks, man. Appreciate you. Anytime, fellas. Let's take one last break still to come. We could be looking at 100-degree temperatures for the Dodgers on Saturday.

Were they leaving the country to play a home game? And fever or ACE's tone, who wins the deciding game three tonight? That's a must-see. I'm going to watch that. 100 degrees? A hundred degrees in LA. It's going to be close to 90 in Washington, but not 100. No, no, August and September have been hot as Hades.

Happy time, people. Happy 23rd birthday Fernando Mendoza. Last year's national championship quarterback at Indiana and Heisman Trophy winner was drafted overall number one by the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders are most surprisingly 3 and 0. Haven't had to put Mendoza in a game yet. Kirk Cousins has been terrific so Mendoza can stand on the sideline and observe and learn from a veteran who has yet to lose a game

and is completing 67% of his passes, nine touchdowns, three interceptions. You like that? For decades, this is what rookie quarterbacks did. They watched and waited. It feels like a plan working to perfection at the moment. Tony was fun watching Mendoza's kid brother play this season as well because he's still a Georgia check.

But it seems like you've singled out Tom Brady for most of the credit there, but I'm thinking there's an ensemble of people. people who must have put this plan into effect, right? Sure, sure, has to be. Can't just be one guy. Absolutely. Happy anniversary, Juan Soto. On this day, seven years ago, with the Nationals down two runs and two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, Soto cleared the bases off Milwaukee's all-world closer Josh Hader for the runs that won the National League's one-game wildcard

playoff. That began the magical run to the World Championship for the Nats and for Soto, barely 20 years old in the World Series. In the World Series, Soto led the Nats and here, hits, home runs walks and runs scored. After his agent, Scott Borris, turned down a big Nats offer. Soto was traded to San Diego and then to the Yankees, where in 204 he had 41 home runs, 109 RBI, and a whopping 128 runs scored on a team that went to the World Series. Soto then left the Yankees for the Mets, Mike, which now feels like a

questionable decision. Yeah, it does. Tony, if he was in that Padres lineup, maybe there wouldn't be space. But my God, how could you get anybody? The team might win 115 games if he was in that lineup. Undefeated, unscored upon like the Rams. There you go. Happy trails to the Mystics.

Wilbon, you said the Mystics and the Wings would win last night. You were half, right? The wings won, but let's focus on the bad half. The Mystics went down and went down hard to the Atlanta Dream, losing by 18, getting swept out of the first round of the WMDA playoffs. Washington has won a playoff series since winning the title in 2019, while the Dream now advances to face the New York Liberty. Yeah, Tony.

I mean, these games have been entertaining as heck. And I don't have horse in the race, really, but I kind of do with the Valkyries. Veronica Burton, Northwestern Zone. So I'm excited about the postseason. Let's go to the big finish and talk about somebody with the dream. Angel Reese of the dream won WNBA defensive player of the year. Is that deserved? She owns the league record for rebounding.

Yes, Angel Reese is deserving. And then some. congratulations. Seahawks running back, Zach Charbonnet, has been cleared to return to practice. Is that a big deal? He's the reason Kenneth Walker is no longer on that team. So there's a lot of pressure on him to be a great running back. Victor Wembegama, who I know you love, said he would never endorse a sports betting company, and that it's sad to see some players do that.

Is that a shot at LeBron? Probably, but LeBron is saying, I'm going to pocket this 15 mil a year. You keep doing your thing in San Antonio, son, until you can win something. Temperatures could be 100 degrees. 100. And Chavez Ravine for Dodgers playoff game Saturday, your thoughts? It's hot. That's hot.

Is it too hot to play baseball? Maybe not. But it's hot. Last one, fever at aces. Tonight, winter advances. Who you got? Tony, this is hard. I'm going to take the aces narrowly, maybe an overtime game.

This is worth selling in and get your popcorn for. We're out of time. Try to do better than next time. I'm Tony Cornhus. I'm Mike Wilbon. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads. Tomorrow knuckleheads